Trip Report *Food Update* The Get Out of My Way, Watch Your Child, Turn Your Flash Off & SHUT UP Trip Report!!!

Food Update here *Food Update* The Get Out of My Way, Watch Your Child, Turn Your Flash Off & SHUT UP Trip Report!!!


Wow, so I am just digging in here on this thing. Picture editing, camera issues, and pure laziness has had this on delay.

Before I get started though I want to say thanks to Tom (WDWFigment). He really has helped me in so many ways with camera questions, photoshop, lens stuff. Anything I asked he has been great and always willing to take a phone call from a disgruntled "photographer". Pretty much any great or good pictures you see...he knowing, or unknowingly had a hand in there some how. So in all seriousness...thanks bud.

Now a little bit about my upcoming trip (that already happened)...

Travel Dates were August 25th through September 7th.

We have a 6:30pm flight to leave Pittsburgh.

The stars of this show will be my fiance Colleen, and myself. There will be some guest appearances but you guys only are here because of me so screw them. HAHA no we will get to them once their spot come up.

Leading up to this trip the time FLEW BY. 1 year went by so fast that it's pretty crazy when I sit back and think about where all that time went. It seemed like 180 days was here in an instant. Then 100 days, then before I know it my Magical Express and Vouchers are in my mail box. Then I am on the airplane...

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The flight was pretty interesting to say the least. I am not the most relaxed person so to speak when on an airplane. It's not my most favorite thing in the world to take part in...flying, that is. We were flying down as the Hurricane was flying up. So winds in Orlando were pretty wild, and the flight was pretty bumpy. Nothing CRAZY but still...the more smooth the better. With that said the captain kept giving us weather updates for Orlando saying it was windy and raining. We flew right in and touched down and there was no wind or rain. I was very happy about that.

So we exit the plane and walk over to the tram and this greets me...

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Yeah so now I am pretty amped up at this point and I am starting to get that feeling that "Okay...we are here"

So off the tram and down to the Magical Express area. Now anyone who "knows" me or read my trip before you know that I am a huge fan of taking pictures of people who are doing weird things, wearing odd clothes, or speedos. Some of you are fans of it and some of you are not. I have said time and time that I do not look for this, if it presents itself I will snap it and so on. Well we are not even in line yet and something crazy presents itself...

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Yeah this lady was dragging her child around on her luggage through the whole first level of the airport. Aint that like half a mile, or does it just seem like it? Anyways for the most part that is pretty much the only "people pics" I got. There are 2 or 3 more so I am sure that will have some of you on the edge of your seat biting your toe nails...

Anyways back to the adventure...

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We are on the bus!!!

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We arrived at All Star Sports and Nick was waiting for us at the front door. I quickly said what's up and ran to check in before everyone else. Online check in this time was pretty shocking. I walked up to the counter and everything was ready. Dude basically handed my packet and room keys and basically was like "peace dude". I was like ummm is that it?

Our room was located right on the first building outside the cafe on the left. Touchdown something...I forget. But to my surprised the football field was all fenced off. I am immediately ed. I go look and they have new turf down, painted plays all over the field. It looked pretty much like it was almost finished so I calmed down a bit. So we went to our room, put our carry on bags down and headed out the door to go to Planet Hollywood and to meet up with a buddy! We got to Planet Hollywood where we met up with Karen (MillerPoppins) who just happened to be hanging out in Orlando while we were there! Prior to leaving she messaged me and told me she would be down there for a good portion of our trip and she wanted to try The Crunch Chicken. I agreed to meet up with her after careful review. Turns out she was okay. My review was dead on and we are very happy to have got to meet her/know her.

After Planet Hollywood we said out goodbyes and discussed meeting up again and that was that. Nick dropped us off and I dragged Colleen back to the lake at Sports that I wanted to fish at. First we stopped at "The Tennis Court" because I wanted to get a picture of Donald with a new friend next to him...

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After seeing the lake we walked back through the lobby for some stupid reason...

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Here are a few room shots...

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That concludes the first night....

More to come!
 
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blackthidot

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
Yes
Our last day...

We always spend our last day at Magic Kingdom. Even though we spend our last night at MK...we still like to make sure our last moments in the parks are at MK.

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blackthidot

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
Yes
Final Thoughts...

As always...who could imagine that 2 weeks could go so fast? The whole entire year actually flew by like that though, it was pretty crazy when I actually think about it. If not for doing this report and going through all those pictures I would have a tough time remember a lot of it to be honest.

The parks were all VERY clean. The refurbishments on Main Street were awesome to see. Especially at night when they were all lit up. It was really awesome!

Cast Members:

They were all very good as usual. They were not as "giddy" as they have been but they were still good at what they were doing, always around, always a smile and a happy birthday!

Wait Staff:

I said this is my last TR about people who complain that the quality of service goes down once free dining takes effect and I will say it again. It must be you and your family. We had the best service we could get from all the places we ate. Nobody "hated" on us because we were on free dining. Our wait staff the whole entire trip was amazing and I can not say it enough.

Resort:

We had some issues with our room, and the story with the football field being closed down without warning. Other than that it was good. Can't be great because of the issues we had (I'm not going to get into that because they fixed it and it's not worth talking about) but All Star Sports NEVER had waits for the buses. There were COUNTLESS times our bus filled up and we did not even go to Music, and Movies like we are supposed to. There were times we would go to Movies and there would be a line full of people waiting and we only took 2 and left. For that reason alone...I don't care how nice or little bit bigger the rooms might be at Movies, and Music...that is what makes Sports 10X better than the other two. You are ALWAYS picked up first, and dropped off first. There is no room (that we BARELY are in during our vaca) that could make all that waiting, and cramming into a bus more "worth it". Not that Sports rooms are small or dirty, my point is that a bigger, "cleaner" room will never out weigh how the buses run. I've stayed at Pop, and I stayed at Music...NIGHTMARES waiting for buses. Not so much at Pop the issues at Pop were there were just SO many people staying there and the bus drivers took the long way to the parks 90% of the time.

Guests:

Wow...can people you see for 30 seconds in a day really make you want to just punch 34 people in the face?

People are so unbelievably rude, ignorant and inconsiderate. I do not care where you're from. if it's America, Brazil, the UK or wherever. The park is not yours. You do not own the park. You and your idiot families are not the only guests in the park. It's just crazy to me the way people were "picking on" CM's. It was beyond people just being rude...they were in a state of bullying almost.

People leaving garbage everywhere...Smoking everywhere. It was just insane.

The foreigners were especially out of control. I know some of you on here are not from The States. I am not going to hold you accountable here because I am sure from you being on here you are aware of "manners" and such. If this does offend you...then you're probably the jerks who I am complaining about. I understand that different countries do things differently than we do here. That is fine. I am not knocking them for that. However... YOU ARE IN AMERICA. If I was going to go to a different country for a week or 2...you better believe that I am going to freshen myself up on things that are custom, and how the people there act. You can bet your last dollar that you will not catch me over there making myself look like a fool.

The language...Yes we all know that you do not speak English...BUT that does not mean you have to talk like you learned how to whisper in a helicopter. Everywhere...especially the resort, it was AWFUL. Just adults, and kids SCREAMING to each other in a different language. You are right next to each other SHUT THE F UP. :mad: I don't care if your foreign or local...there is NO need for all that.

Ignorance is bliss...I love standing in line with a group of people who are speaking perfect English...but they are not American. However when they are flashing their camera on dark rides and someone says something to them, they no longer speak English. Unreal. I just want to go to that glass shop on Main Street, buy a $600 sword and stab someone in the ear hole with it.

People just do not follow rules...

The biggest one here is the flash photography on rides in the dark. I seriously hope that a satellite would fall from space and land right on your face. No lies. It's THAT annoying. If you are alone on a ride or whatever...go for it. Stay in the parks late so you can go last and flash away. But you know the rule. You read the sign. You heard them tell you before your ship set sail on Pirates. Nobody want to be in the dark and have a flash going on in front of behind them every 7 seconds. For real man...right on your face from space.

Trying to cut in line. I was not having it. This goes on more than people are aware I think. Especially at The water parks. I don't really eve care that I have to wait maybe an extra 20 seconds to get on a ride cause you cut...it's the fact that you think you are entitled to cut the line because someone you know is up there. Let alone you just try and walk by everyone like it's your right to be up there with them. No I aint having it. You are not getting by me. Its the principle. If you said excuse me can I get in my family is up there. I would have no issue. But there is no chance you're knocking me over and not saying sorry so you can cut the line.

Kids:

Parents you need to discipline your kids. I don't really care WHAT you have to do. If you have to go behind a wall and beat the tar out of them, or just go back to the room. Do it. Just because you built a tolerance to your child acting like an idiot does not mean that the rest of us have. We were walking through Italy and some little idiot kid is running around with his stroller pushing it through people and ran over Colleen's friends foot. They watched it and said NOTHING. So I stopped and walked over and yelled oh she is okay...don't worry. The father looked at me and said whats the problem. I said oh yeah my bad...god forbid little Tommy does not get to run around like an idiot and do what he wants, and just walked away. I can't tell you how many times kids are standing by me and in crowds swinging swords and I just look at the parents with the look like "You know that thing is getting broken if it touches me"

Colleen and I were raised that we are not going to act that way in public. Colleens mother would have taken her home, my parents would have pounded me. I am not sitting here saying we were angels, but if we went somewhere...we knew our place and our parents weren't going to let us let them look like idiots. Because after all the kid is being a kid...you are the one who looks like an idiot.

Wow I almost forgot this one...if you've even been in a show and someone stepped all over you, and "accidentally" hit you in the face with his camera/tripod bag...That was me. You're supposed to keep moving, not stop in the middle so your 6 month old has a better seat.

"Friends"

We did meet some great people though. Just regular people we sparked up conversation with, people who recognized us, or people we were supposed to meet up with.

SeaCastle - Was really nice running into you at Epcot and was really glad we were able to get you that Filet...even more glad we could make you feel alive! Haha

Monty - What can I say? I can say $9 that is how much it cost me to text you while we were in Disney. But it was GREAT meeting you and Morgan and hearing your stories about the naked lady and the spider, and Morgans punishments. Hopefully we are there together again!

Tater - Good seeing you and the wife after Wishes that one night. Sucks it was not earlier so we could not get a lunch or hang a bit longer.

Miller Poppins - Karen Karen...My nudity. Haha :D It was WONDERFUL meeting you at Planet Hollywood. So glad we got to give you your first dose of Crunch Chicken. Also glad we got to spend the night in MK together as well. Hopefully you and your boo are down there again next year. Maybe we can eat at Via Napoli this time!

Other than that...We DID have a great time. It was so much fun being there alone with Colleen everyday and not really having anyone else on vacation with us. Normally someone is always joining us at some point...it's not a bad thing. It was just really nice being us two.

There I am done. And before Wednesday too! I am sure I will remember things and add to this...I am also sure someone will get their panties in a bunch and I will defend what I have said. Before you do though. Just remember that you're not going to change my feelings. Saying "wait till you have kids" won't change my feelings either. When I do have kids there is not chance I am taking them with us until they are able to walk themselves. I am not pushing strollers, or carry ANYTHING around all day. I hated carrying my 2 pound camera around all day let alone a child. If I do end up doing all the above some day then I am an idiot and you can call me one. Until that happens I stand by what I said! :king:
 

Lynn1030

Well-Known Member
The biggest one here is the flash photography on rides in the dark. I seriously hope that a satellite would fall from space and land right on your face. No lies. It's THAT annoying. If you are alone on a ride or whatever...go for it. Stay in the parks late so you can go last and flash away. But you know the rule. You read the sign. You heard them tell you before your ship set sail on Pirates. Nobody want to be in the dark and have a flash going on in front of behind them every 7 seconds. For real man...right on your face from space.

I couldn't agree more with this one. On our last trip, we had some punk kid and his mom flashing in our faces. After the 3rd time, we said "no flash photography" but they wanted to argue that they were allowed to take pictures, which we said was fine but they just couldn't grasp the no flash part. So they put the camera away and grumbled the rest of the ride. Fine with me since I no longer had a flash in my face!

On a more positive note, it looked like you had a great time and thanks for sharing your trip report!
 

blackthidot

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
Yes
I couldn't agree more with this one. On our last trip, we had some punk kid and his mom flashing in our faces. After the 3rd time, we said "no flash photography" but they wanted to argue that they were allowed to take pictures, which we said was fine but they just couldn't grasp the no flash part. So they put the camera away and grumbled the rest of the ride. Fine with me since I no longer had a flash in my face!

On a more positive note, it looked like you had a great time and thanks for sharing your trip report!

One time after Pirates these people were behind us flashing AFTER they had warned our boat and they snickered and said "yeah right" I set my camera to flash and to take continuous pictures. Once we got on the ramp I put my camera to their faces and held the button. I then said "That kind of sucks, doesn't it?" They did not say a word.
 

WDWFigment

Well-Known Member
Final Thoughts...

As always...who could imagine that 2 weeks could go so fast? The whole entire year actually flew by like that though, it was pretty crazy when I actually think about it. If not for doing this report and going through all those pictures I would have a tough time remember a lot of it to be honest.

The parks were all VERY clean. The refurbishments on Main Street were awesome to see. Especially at night when they were all lit up. It was really awesome!

Cast Members:

They were all very good as usual. They were not as "giddy" as they have been but they were still good at what they were doing, always around, always a smile and a happy birthday!

Wait Staff:

I said this is my last TR about people who complain that the quality of service goes down once free dining takes effect and I will say it again. It must be you and your family. We had the best service we could get from all the places we ate. Nobody "hated" on us because we were on free dining. Our wait staff the whole entire trip was amazing and I can not say it enough.

Resort:

We had some issues with our room, and the story with the football field being closed down without warning. Other than that it was good. Can't be great because of the issues we had (I'm not going to get into that because they fixed it and it's not worth talking about) but All Star Sports NEVER had waits for the buses. There were COUNTLESS times our bus filled up and we did not even go to Music, and Movies like we are supposed to. There were times we would go to Movies and there would be a line full of people waiting and we only took 2 and left. For that reason alone...I don't care how nice or little bit bigger the rooms might be at Movies, and Music...that is what makes Sports 10X better than the other two. You are ALWAYS picked up first, and dropped off first. There is no room (that we BARELY are in during our vaca) that could make all that waiting, and cramming into a bus more "worth it". Not that Sports rooms are small or dirty, my point is that a bigger, "cleaner" room will never out weigh how the buses run. I've stayed at Pop, and I stayed at Music...NIGHTMARES waiting for buses. Not so much at Pop the issues at Pop were there were just SO many people staying there and the bus drivers took the long way to the parks 90% of the time.

Guests:

Wow...can people you see for 30 seconds in a day really make you want to just punch 34 people in the face?

People are so unbelievably rude, ignorant and inconsiderate. I do not care where you're from. if it's America, Brazil, the UK or wherever. The park is not yours. You do not own the park. You and your idiot families are not the only guests in the park. It's just crazy to me the way people were "picking on" CM's. It was beyond people just being rude...they were in a state of bullying almost.

People leaving garbage everywhere...Smoking everywhere. It was just insane.

The foreigners were especially out of control. I know some of you on here are not from The States. I am not going to hold you accountable here because I am sure from you being on here you are aware of "manners" and such. If this does offend you...then you're probably the jerks who I am complaining about. I understand that different countries do things differently than we do here. That is fine. I am not knocking them for that. However... YOU ARE IN AMERICA. If I was going to go to a different country for a week or 2...you better believe that I am going to freshen myself up on things that are custom, and how the people there act. You can bet your last dollar that you will not catch me over there making myself look like a fool.

The language...Yes we all know that you do not speak English...BUT that does not mean you have to talk like you learned how to whisper in a helicopter. Everywhere...especially the resort, it was AWFUL. Just adults, and kids SCREAMING to each other in a different language. You are right next to each other SHUT THE F UP. :mad: I don't care if your foreign or local...there is NO need for all that.

Ignorance is bliss...I love standing in line with a group of people who are speaking perfect English...but they are not American. However when they are flashing their camera on dark rides and someone says something to them, they no longer speak English. Unreal. I just want to go to that glass shop on Main Street, buy a $600 sword and stab someone in the ear hole with it.

People just do not follow rules...

The biggest one here is the flash photography on rides in the dark. I seriously hope that a satellite would fall from space and land right on your face. No lies. It's THAT annoying. If you are alone on a ride or whatever...go for it. Stay in the parks late so you can go last and flash away. But you know the rule. You read the sign. You heard them tell you before your ship set sail on Pirates. Nobody want to be in the dark and have a flash going on in front of behind them every 7 seconds. For real man...right on your face from space.

Trying to cut in line. I was not having it. This goes on more than people are aware I think. Especially at The water parks. I don't really eve care that I have to wait maybe an extra 20 seconds to get on a ride cause you cut...it's the fact that you think you are entitled to cut the line because someone you know is up there. Let alone you just try and walk by everyone like it's your right to be up there with them. No I aint having it. You are not getting by me. Its the principle. If you said excuse me can I get in my family is up there. I would have no issue. But there is no chance you're knocking me over and not saying sorry so you can cut the line.

Kids:

Parents you need to discipline your kids. I don't really care WHAT you have to do. If you have to go behind a wall and beat the tar out of them, or just go back to the room. Do it. Just because you built a tolerance to your child acting like an idiot does not mean that the rest of us have. We were walking through Italy and some little idiot kid is running around with his stroller pushing it through people and ran over Colleen's friends foot. They watched it and said NOTHING. So I stopped and walked over and yelled oh she is okay...don't worry. The father looked at me and said whats the problem. I said oh yeah my bad...god forbid little Tommy does not get to run around like an idiot and do what he wants, and just walked away. I can't tell you how many times kids are standing by me and in crowds swinging swords and I just look at the parents with the look like "You know that thing is getting broken if it touches me"

Colleen and I were raised that we are not going to act that way in public. Colleens mother would have taken her home, my parents would have pounded me. I am not sitting here saying we were angels, but if we went somewhere...we knew our place and our parents weren't going to let us let them look like idiots. Because after all the kid is being a kid...you are the one who looks like an idiot.

Wow I almost forgot this one...if you've even been in a show and someone stepped all over you, and "accidentally" hit you in the face with his camera/tripod bag...That was me. You're supposed to keep moving, not stop in the middle so your 6 month old has a better seat.

"Friends"

We did meet some great people though. Just regular people we sparked up conversation with, people who recognized us, or people we were supposed to meet up with.

SeaCastle - Was really nice running into you at Epcot and was really glad we were able to get you that Filet...even more glad we could make you feel alive! Haha

Monty - What can I say? I can say $9 that is how much it cost me to text you while we were in Disney. But it was GREAT meeting you and Morgan and hearing your stories about the naked lady and the spider, and Morgans punishments. Hopefully we are there together again!

Tater - Good seeing you and the wife after Wishes that one night. Sucks it was not earlier so we could not get a lunch or hang a bit longer.

Miller Poppins - Karen Karen...My nudity. Haha :D It was WONDERFUL meeting you at Planet Hollywood. So glad we got to give you your first dose of Crunch Chicken. Also glad we got to spend the night in MK together as well. Hopefully you and your boo are down there again next year. Maybe we can eat at Via Napoli this time!

Other than that...We DID have a great time. It was so much fun being there alone with Colleen everyday and not really having anyone else on vacation with us. Normally someone is always joining us at some point...it's not a bad thing. It was just really nice being us two.

There I am done. And before Wednesday too! I am sure I will remember things and add to this...I am also sure someone will get their panties in a bunch and I will defend what I have said. Before you do though. Just remember that you're not going to change my feelings. Saying "wait till you have kids" won't change my feelings either. When I do have kids there is not chance I am taking them with us until they are able to walk themselves. I am not pushing strollers, or carry ANYTHING around all day. I hated carrying my 2 pound camera around all day let alone a child. If I do end up doing all the above some day then I am an idiot and you can call me one. Until that happens I stand by what I said! :king:

This is a long and thoughtful post, which for an illiterate person is quite an accomplishment, so I'm going to leave a long response in kind. Plus, I agree with a lot of what you're saying, so I might as well ‛vent' with you.

First, as a preliminary matter, your earlier retort about my dad doesn't make you look any better. You realize my dad and I aren't the same person, right? If you want to be doing (impliedly) bad things with him, that's your prerogative.

Resort:

You are quick to point out that negative experiences with wait staff are outliers or isolated incidents based on others' families. While I completely agree with this, have you ever considered that your negative experiences at the other Value Resorts are similar outliers? I'm not trying to convince you to stay elsewhere, as I know the football field is a big enough deal for you to make AS:S your resort of choice even if all were equal, but far too many people read your trip reports (apparently there are 28,000 or so, thus far, idiots out there ;)) so it's worth pointing out. We've had roughly the same bus service at all of the Value Resorts. Mind you, we've often stayed there during seasons when they each have their own buses, so our experiences are different than yours, but my point is that it's a "your mileage may vary" type thing. I've had great bus experiences at resorts that are often knocked for their buses, and bad service at supposedly "good" resorts. I think it's really too hit or miss to paint with such a broad brush that one resort is "good" or "bad" at transportation. Because of that, we never make resort choices on transportation, unless it's staying at an Epcot resort so we can walk to Epcot. However, my feet are consistently awesome at walking, so I can count on that walk to take roughly the same amount of time everyday.

Guests and Kids:

We've noticed some of the problems you've mentioned more and more in recent years. I've said some pretty "controversial" things about this elsewhere, but you are far more blunt, so I think it's safe to say here that I agree with most of what you're saying.

This is something, from my experience, that you really don't see as much in more expensive vacation destinations. I'm sure this will offend plenty of people, and I realize financially well-off people can behave poorly, too, but I think a lot of this is a direct consequence of Disney being priced at a level that draws all levels of the financial spectrum. As much as we may complain about prices, Disney can be a very cheap vacation destination, comparatively speaking. I think it's great that everyone can afford to take a Disney vacation at least once in their lives, but people need to drop the "this is my special trip, the world should cater to my every whim" attitude that is so prevalent. I think this is really a problem at Walt Disney World, because it fosters an attitude in a lot of people that they can do whatever they want if they claim it's "for their kids." I've seen many times when this has resulted in parents forcing upon their kids things the kids clearly don't want (you WILL get Goofy's autograph and you WILL enjoy it. I paid a lot of money for this trip, we're making memories, damnit!!!). That is really unfortunate.

As for kids, I think that's just a sign of the times. It's definitely a bad thing. Today's children have shorter attention spans, parents think it's acceptable to let the television raise them, and childhood obesity, among other things, are serious problems. Parents just don't give a ________. I could go on and on about this, but I think we're on the same page.

I think I'm quite lucky that my dad was a military-man. If I got out of line, I knew I would incur his wrath. He spanked me. He let me ‛know' when I was misbehaving. Some of you probably shook your heads disapprovingly when you read the "spank" line. I'm not making a value judgment on that type of discipline, but it certainly helped teach me right from wrong. My dad never raised his voice inappropriately, nor did I ever feared him. I respected him and I knew right from wrong because he enforced things like "rules" and "respect." I remember one year growing up when we took my wild and frequently misbehaving cousins to Walt Disney World for a week. By the end of the week, they were well-behaved. Two weeks later, we saw them at home with their parents and they were back to the same crap. Parents nowadays are afraid to be disciplinarians because that might encroach upon their "friendships" with their kids. Parents, you're not your kids friends.

Enough of that, though...

There's only so much you can do about people who aren't you on your trip, so I've largely learned to block others out. Slow moving people who randomly stop in the middle of walkways in front of me still irritate me to no end, but I've learned to put on blinders, so to speak, towards everyone who doesn't directly impact me. The parks are simply too fun to be in a sour mood because of some other idiot, if even for a few minutes. It's just not worth worrying about anyone else.

Now, to end on a high note, this is easily your best trip report to date. First, the obvious. The photos. You've come a long way on these, and I expect these photos to be at least twice as good next year. That might seem like a lofty expectation, but I have a rough idea of how much you know about photography right now, and I think if you put your mind to it, you can EASILY double the quality of what's here. You have the natural "eye," which is without question the most important component.

A bit less obvious, I think the style of your trip report has evolved nicely, and I really appreciate the greater detail, even if it is you about things sometimes. I remember your first trip report, and it was probably 1/6th this long. You may not like writing, but you have an engaging writing style, and you say things that others think, but are perhaps hesitant to say (myself included). That "buffer" that most people have between things they think and things they say...you clearly do not have, or just choose to ignore. Either way, I like it, and clearly your style appeals to others as well. I know others were clamoring for you to get this finished, but I personally would have been fine with this dragging along for another couple of months while you really fleshed out the detail. Still, it's a great report, and I'm betting the next one will be longer.

I really hope you heed my advice and start your own Disney website. You may be a despicable human being, but I think a lot of people would enjoy reading your opinions in a centralized location, and would also benefit from the wealth of knowledge you've gained by spending way too much time reading about Disney.
 

blackthidot

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
Yes
This is a long and thoughtful post, which for an illiterate person is quite an accomplishment, so I'm going to leave a long response in kind. Plus, I agree with a lot of what you're saying, so I might as well ‛vent' with you.

First, as a preliminary matter, your earlier retort about my dad doesn't make you look any better. You realize my dad and I aren't the same person, right? If you want to be doing (impliedly) bad things with him, that's your prerogative.

Resort:

You are quick to point out that negative experiences with wait staff are outliers or isolated incidents based on others' families. While I completely agree with this, have you ever considered that your negative experiences at the other Value Resorts are similar outliers? I'm not trying to convince you to stay elsewhere, as I know the football field is a big enough deal for you to make AS:S your resort of choice even if all were equal, but far too many people read your trip reports (apparently there are 28,000 or so, thus far, idiots out there ;)) so it's worth pointing out. We've had roughly the same bus service at all of the Value Resorts. Mind you, we've often stayed there during seasons when they each have their own buses, so our experiences are different than yours, but my point is that it's a "your mileage may vary" type thing. I've had great bus experiences at resorts that are often knocked for their buses, and bad service at supposedly "good" resorts. I think it's really too hit or miss to paint with such a broad brush that one resort is "good" or "bad" at transportation. Because of that, we never make resort choices on transportation, unless it's staying at an Epcot resort so we can walk to Epcot. However, my feet are consistently awesome at walking, so I can count on that walk to take roughly the same amount of time everyday.

Gonna reply as I read this but I never said people at resorts have different experiences based on them being idiots. I said that how they act at restaurants determines that, MAYBE. All I said was from what I read about people not wanting to stay at Sports because of smaller rooms and what not has no influence on me because we shower and sleep there. That is it. I have never had a bad experience at the other value resorts other than the bus situation. Or Pop being immensely over crowded.
 

blackthidot

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
Yes
Guests and Kids:

We've noticed some of the problems you've mentioned more and more in recent years. I've said some pretty "controversial" things about this elsewhere, but you are far more blunt, so I think it's safe to say here that I agree with most of what you're saying.

This is something, from my experience, that you really don't see as much in more expensive vacation destinations. I'm sure this will offend plenty of people, and I realize financially well-off people can behave poorly, too, but I think a lot of this is a direct consequence of Disney being priced at a level that draws all levels of the financial spectrum. As much as we may complain about prices, Disney can be a very cheap vacation destination, comparatively speaking. I think it's great that everyone can afford to take a Disney vacation at least once in their lives, but people need to drop the "this is my special trip, the world should cater to my every whim" attitude that is so prevalent. I think this is really a problem at Walt Disney World, because it fosters an attitude in a lot of people that they can do whatever they want if they claim it's "for their kids." I've seen many times when this has resulted in parents forcing upon their kids things the kids clearly don't want (you WILL get Goofy's autograph and you WILL enjoy it. I paid a lot of money for this trip, we're making memories, damnit!!!). That is really unfortunate.

As for kids, I think that's just a sign of the times. It's definitely a bad thing. Today's children have shorter attention spans, parents think it's acceptable to let the television raise them, and childhood obesity, among other things, are serious problems. Parents just don't give a ________. I could go on and on about this, but I think we're on the same page.

I think I'm quite lucky that my dad was a military-man. If I got out of line, I knew I would incur his wrath. He spanked me. He let me ‛know' when I was misbehaving. Some of you probably shook your heads disapprovingly when you read the "spank" line. I'm not making a value judgment on that type of discipline, but it certainly helped teach me right from wrong. My dad never raised his voice inappropriately, nor did I ever feared him. I respected him and I knew right from wrong because he enforced things like "rules" and "respect." I remember one year growing up when we took my wild and frequently misbehaving cousins to Walt Disney World for a week. By the end of the week, they were well-behaved. Two weeks later, we saw them at home with their parents and they were back to the same crap. Parents nowadays are afraid to be disciplinarians because that might encroach upon their "friendships" with their kids. Parents, you're not your kids friends.

Agree 100% except fully on the parents want to be friends. I think it's more of they are worried about what people think. And when you said about your dad spanking you and people getting upset. That is what it is. Someone don't want to hit little Billy because of what someone else will think, do, or who they will tell. That is why kids are such sissy's these days. You can't discipline them, or yell at them. It's so obvious that the kids are running parents lives and the parents are in denial of the whole thing.
 

blackthidot

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
Yes
Enough of that, though...

There's only so much you can do about people who aren't you on your trip, so I've largely learned to block others out. Slow moving people who randomly stop in the middle of walkways in front of me still irritate me to no end, but I've learned to put on blinders, so to speak, towards everyone who doesn't directly impact me. The parks are simply too fun to be in a sour mood because of some other idiot, if even for a few minutes. It's just not worth worrying about anyone else.

Now, to end on a high note, this is easily your best trip report to date. First, the obvious. The photos. You've come a long way on these, and I expect these photos to be at least twice as good next year. That might seem like a lofty expectation, but I have a rough idea of how much you know about photography right now, and I think if you put your mind to it, you can EASILY double the quality of what's here. You have the natural "eye," which is without question the most important component.

A bit less obvious, I think the style of your trip report has evolved nicely, and I really appreciate the greater detail, even if it is you about things sometimes. I remember your first trip report, and it was probably 1/6th this long. You may not like writing, but you have an engaging writing style, and you say things that others think, but are perhaps hesitant to say (myself included). That "buffer" that most people have between things they think and things they say...you clearly do not have, or just choose to ignore. Either way, I like it, and clearly your style appeals to others as well. I know others were clamoring for you to get this finished, but I personally would have been fine with this dragging along for another couple of months while you really fleshed out the detail. Still, it's a great report, and I'm betting the next one will be longer.

I really hope you heed my advice and start your own Disney website. You may be a despicable human being, but I think a lot of people would enjoy reading your opinions in a centralized location, and would also benefit from the wealth of knowledge you've gained by spending way too much time reading about Disney.


I feel you bro...I really do. Especially on the "just let it go" take...But remember you go 8 times a year for a few days. I go once a year hopefully twice...But the once a year is a 2 week trip followed by a 5 or 6 day trip later. So by the 6th day of continuous ignorance I have absolutely had it. and at that point you are going home and I got 7 more days to deal with it! Haha

I am working on getting better at taking pictures. Well better in terms of edits and all that junk. I really do listen to what you tell me, and trust in what you say. I would have to be a complete idiot not to. I'm only like 35% idiot.

As far as me saying things that you or someone else would not I have always been that way. Especially when I KNOW that other people agree or are thinking the same thing. Where I am from my friends and I were CONSTANTLY making fun of each other...always ripping and what not. So I think that is where it comes from when people are doing off the wall or the "wrong" things.

I am gonna start working on a site soon here eventually. I have the time. It's just figuring everything out, and basically how I would like to do it. The theme, and what not. I would really have to "tone down" as well doing something like that. Here, for the most part you all know me. You know I like to goof around and I am sarcastic. On a website anyone can see that and I don't want a world wide of hate. I can deal with 4 or 5 people on here crying but I don't want to deal with a thousand so to speak. Easier in a forum as well because for the most part I know that 99% of you will agree with things I say and feel, and will defend me. My own site it's just me and not something I wanna deal with so when I do have a site I expect to keep it light, but maybe not as vulgar or "calling out" as this place.
 

blackthidot

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
Yes
Oh and as far as dragging it out...Next trip I will drag it out till my next trip after that. So if its in Sept again I will do like 1.5 days a month. If its in March I will do 2 days a month. How's that buddy?
 

WDWFigment

Well-Known Member
Oh and as far as dragging it out...Next trip I will drag it out till my next trip after that. So if its in Sept again I will do like 1.5 days a month. If its in March I will do 2 days a month. How's that buddy?

Actually, I was hoping for each report to take about 2 years. Maybe like a half day per month.
 

gaga4disney

Well-Known Member
re: little boy crying

not sure but it's possible that the boy has autism. my son, who has autism, will just break down and have a tantrum. from an outsider's perspective it would appear that he was just severely reprimanded. when a child with autism is having a tantrum yelling or punishing them makes it worse. it's possible his mother was not merely ignoring him but letting him cool down himself. as for the interaction with his brother, my younger son is very compassionate towards his brother's autism. and when he see's him upset he tries to console him. you may see this a lot at disney. there are many people with autism. for some of them going to amusement parks is fun or can be overstimulating and terrifying.
i am not saying that was definitely your experience but it certainly reminds me of what we go through sometimes with our son.



BTW, great report!
 

blackthidot

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
In the Parks
Yes
not sure but it's possible that the boy has autism. my son, who has autism, will just break down and have a tantrum. from an outsider's perspective it would appear that he was just severely reprimanded. when a child with autism is having a tantrum yelling or punishing them makes it worse. it's possible his mother was not merely ignoring him but letting him cool down himself. as for the interaction with his brother, my younger son is very compassionate towards his brother's autism. and when he see's him upset he tries to console him. you may see this a lot at disney. there are many people with autism. for some of them going to amusement parks is fun or can be overstimulating and terrifying.
i am not saying that was definitely your experience but it certainly reminds me of what we go through sometimes with our son.
BTW, great report!


I have 2 twin brothers 13 years old with autism. I know what you mean...
 

gaga4disney

Well-Known Member
after reading the rest of your report i have to agree with you: there are many people who have no respect and feel disney revolves around them. i wish that magic you feel when you are there would some how affect manners and some decency. i guess some people are just very excited to be there and aren't thinking straight (am i a being too generous). i wish disney would post signs everywhere to keep reminding guests to be courteous and respectful.

about autism or anyone with a family member with a disability, i have witnessed inconsiderate people at disney and wish that people would be more aware. disney does a great job with their services but it's hard controlling there guests.
 
You are right about kids not behaving in the parks. Autism aside...very few kids know how to behave in public. My husband and I have 2 daughters, 8 and 6 and let me tell you, they know how to behave in public. They may have had small meltdowns here and there over the years but nothing major and nothing to really bother other people on vacation. Usually a hunger thing that a little snack fixes, or a meal if it is that time.

My parents and in laws say it best, "as long as they behave in public". That is exactly how they are...they know how to behave and know what is expected of them when they are out.

Now as for you not taking your future kids until they can walk....and not wanting to use a stroller. I know almost everyone on here talks about the stroller crowd and they don't like us but strollers are fantastic!!! Forget about having to carry around that camera bag, stick it in the bottom of the stroller and push it!! We used a stroller in December when our girls were 5 and 7. They took turns in it so they got a break from all that walking and did not have that melt down. We are very conscious about not running people over in our stroller or running into heels. (sometimes it is difficult because you get those people who move slow and stop short in front of you as you mentioned, but still we have never had a collision.)

Even once they start walking it is still a lot to expect of little kids. The experience of seeing your young child meet his or her favorite character is priceless. When our youngest was 2 1/2 and she meet Mickey and Minnie at the same time and her expression is priceless. It is a picture I will always cherish. I would not trade that trip for anything. When both girls met their favorite princesses on their first trip those are also priceless pictures. Next trip will be stroller free since they are too big to push around but I can't lie....I will miss not having it so I don't have to carry the camera bag or the backpack with sweatshirts or whatever we would need to carry.

Great trip report. Fantastic photos!!
 

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