Spirited News, Observations & Thoughts IV

[Clever Name]

Strollers don't have anything on slings. You can carry a kid up to age 4 in those things if you need to, and they wad up in your bag when not in use.

I used to wad my kids up in a bag when they were not in use until they were 7 or 8.

 

[donaldtoo]

Favorite thing ever: when people who do not have kids declare what they will do when they do have kids. I appreciate this more because I was absolutely the same way, then I learned about the realities of life with your own child.

I'm the oldest of 4. My younger sibs knew everything about raising children when they were unmarried and DW and myself had just started having ours. Sorry, but it was kinda' funny to watch the know-it-all train wrecks that ensued when they started theirs.

 

[donaldtoo]

I like the Shanghai castle! It looks like a huge version is WDW. I also love that a boat attraction runs under the castle!

It's not a castle...good grief, it's its own "land"...!

 

[crispy]

Favorite thing ever: when people who do not have kids declare what they will do when they do have kids. I appreciate this more because I was absolutely the same way, then I learned about the realities of life with your own child.

So, so true. I gladly brought my stroller to WDW when my daughters were younger. We don't spend every waking hour at the park or make them go until they are exhausted, but we do a lot of walking in the parks and a stroller just made life easier when the were 4 and under. It also keep them from running off and getting lost which I fear more than anything when we visit WDW. We also only used an umbrella stroller because it was easy to fold, and I didn't stress about it getting stolen.

 

[trr1]

So, so true. I gladly brought my stroller to WDW when my daughters were younger. We don't spend every waking hour at the park or make them go until they are exhausted, but we do a lot of walking in the parks and a stroller just made life easier when the were 4 and under. It also keep them from running off and getting lost which I fear more than anything when we visit WDW. We also only used an umbrella stroller because it was easy to fold, and I didn't stress about it getting stolen.

they also come in handy for carrying bags and such

 

[unkadug]

I used to wad my kids up in a bag when they were not in use until they were 7 or 8.

If the kids won't fit in the pockets of my cargo pants then they get left in the room.

 

[GoofGoof]

Maybe it's more indirect, but the proliferation of strollers has required Disney to respond. They have to pay additional staff to manage strollers. As well as build large parking lots. The size of strollers also impacts crowding and walkway design.

The cost of staff to manage strollers is more than offset by the profit from renting strollers ($15 single, $31 double per day!!!!).

As someone stated earlier the strollers today are the size of a Fiat. That does add to the amount of space needed for parking. Disney has done a good job of carving out more space for stroller parking in the parks. You could make the argument that the space reserved for stroller parking could be used for something else in the parks, but it isn't like they are hurting for free space. If the areas weren't stroller parking they would probably just be empty space.

 

[mgf]

Here is another one of those overwhelmingly positive MM+ experiences [] posted by some experienced traveler friends:

"So far our tickets have been screwed up costing us half our fun money, my magic band wont work & they can't figure it out, and now it's pouring down rain. I am trying really hard to stay excited!!!! At least I am in disney world right?!?! ( I just can't get in the parks or my room....)"

 

[GoofGoof]

Here is another one of those overwhelmingly positive MM+ experiences [] posted by some experienced traveler friends:

"So far our tickets have been screwed up costing us half our fun money, my magic band wont work & they can't figure it out, and now it's pouring down rain. I am trying really hard to stay excited!!!! At least I am in disney world right?!?! ( I just can't get in the parks or my room....)"

I thought they were giving out cards too during testing in case there were issues with the bands. Did this stop now?

 

[ford91exploder]

Here is another one of those overwhelmingly positive MM+ experiences [] posted by some experienced traveler friends:

"So far our tickets have been screwed up costing us half our fun money, my magic band wont work & they can't figure it out, and now it's pouring down rain. I am trying really hard to stay excited!!!! At least I am in disney world right?!?! ( I just can't get in the parks or my room....)"

System needs some tweaking it only got HALF of your fun money

 

[ford91exploder]

I thought they were giving out cards too during testing in case there were issues with the bands. Did this stop now?

What do YOU think, Of course it stopped system is perfect got 100% reviews now its all on the guest just because they can't use tickets or get into room - well Disney is offering only the Opportunity to get into park or room not a guarantee of same

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Do you know if the lockers have been removed at the MK park only? On many trips through the years, I've used the lockers over at Epcot to store my carry-on bag on the last day of my vacation, before I left for the airport. They're convenient; hope they don't remove those . . .

From memory, last trip I used lockers just outside the MK (to the right of the entrance), and just outside DHS. The ones below the MK train station were closed. Didn't try EPCOT or DAK.

 

[The Empress Lilly]

I guess two questions come to mind. Even if the child in the stroller is obese, when did that become everyone else's business?

Obese kids amounts to child neglect. This is very much everybody's business.

I have also struggled with weight most of my life from childhood on, and I can guarantee you that being pushed around in a stroller was not the reason, nor was sitting in front of a TV all day even possible...we didn't own one. I was outside playing all day, yet, I got fat anyway...go figure! Anyone got a simple answer for that? No? Didn't think so.

I know why you can play outside all day long and still get fat. This is because your food is poisonous junk. Unlike your grandparents, who ate healthy traditional American food, so they suffered no such problems.

It's as simple as that. But Americans don't want to hear it. The food lobby has spun obesity from a public health issue into one of personal weakness, rendering any criticism of obesity rates a personal issue to Americans, an insult. Big Food poisons American kids, then cries personal responsibility (which always resonates with Americans), turning obesity into a matter of personal shortcoming. With the result that any criticsm of exploding obesity rates is taken as an insult by Americans, an accusation of personal shortcoming. Even in EPCOT - to make this on-topic! - last year the food lobby managed to immediately have the healthy food Innoventions exhibit removed...in order to 'protect children'.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/...nti-obesity-disney-world-epcot_n_1299664.html

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Nope sorry...couldn't help myself...

Plenty of fat Europeans walking around.

If it is we'd be dead.

Pretty much every American knows that bad food is bad for them. They are under no disillusion that McDonalds on a regular basis is a healthy diet.

Again, just silly. Ask any American how they feel about fast food. Oh...you can't.

I have seen no evidence that Europeans are any more or less slender. That's supposition.

So Europeans are stupid enough to smoke, and think it's "good for them" based on 50 year old or older propaganda, but Americans are just as stupid to eat cheap and available food? That, for the record, Europeans also eat?

Meh...just meh...refine your point and come back tomorrow.

I see my rubbishing of Big Food proved very popular all around.

All the more reason for some spirited activism! Here goes:
To say that there are also fat Europeans is akin to proving the Sahara isn't hotter by pointing out Finland has sunny days too. Try Bolna's link for a source.

Yes, Americans know bad food is bad for them. They also know fast food is junk food. They don't know that their normal food is junk food too.

As short ago as the middle of last century, Americans were the healthiest and best fed people on the planet. Today, Americans - despite spending more on healthcare than anybody else - rank 37th(!) in health, and 33th(!) in life expectancy. You are being killed by your food.

And your health is being ruined too. There is more to health than being a) dead or b) alive. Basically, you die earlier and are longer disabled if you live in America than anywhere else in the developed world. The entire industrialised world is healthier than your children - despite every US family's best efforts to raise their children healthily. If anything, Americans are more health conscious and exercise more than most anybody. To no avail however, simply by buying the 'food' sold to Americans (and consuming it in far too large quantities).

 

[Nemo14]

I'm sure we've all noticed by now the long absence of the very man who started this thread about himself...

How dare he have a life beyond WDWMagic?

 

[scout68]

"Spaceballs Strollers?!" "Oh, @#%!. There goes the planet thread."

 

[The Empress Lilly]

Themed Bathrooms,

With all the elaborately themed bathrooms appearing at WDW, I've begun to develop a theory that they are more of a in-joke by WDI perpetrated on the clueless TWDC executives, Clearly as DisneySea shows WDI is still capable of creating awe inspiring attractions, Mysterious Island, @the.dreamfinder concept art, Radiator Springs Racers.

Since WDI probably shares the opinions of the 'doom-n-gloom' brigade in large part ie WDW is being allowed to slide into the crapper, Why not BUILD a bunch of crappers as a monument to the decline of the parks.

This is just the sort of thing that allows WDI to state their opinion and in a beautiful way the WDW and TWDC executives do not even realize they are being mocked.

Just a theory, But look at the utilitarian bathrooms from the 'Disney Decade' and DL and what's happening now since WDI is not being allowed to be creative on attractions, They are being creative in other ways.

Actually, I think we are witnessing an effort to invest in the parks, and to invest in quality. The investments in amenities may not be the $500 million E-tickets we want, but they are investments nevertheless.

I have many criticisms of NFL and of the new bathrooms. But not that they look cheap. Surely, it is in itself commendable that TDO is willing to invest in quality? It is 2013, bathrooms don't need to look as sparse and Spartan as they did in 1973.

All toilet humour aside, an adequate amount of bathrooms, clean, of quality design, adds to the general sense of quality of a theme park. It is very much a decisive difference with the seashore amusement park.


Edit: how on earth did I end up with discussing strollers, nutrition and bathrooms for a hobby? Mother was right, I should've learned a respectable trade!

 

[Disneyhead'71]

We stopped with the stroller as soon as we no longer needed to tote the diaper bag. Which means that by the time the youngest was 3 she was walking.

 

[flynnibus]

I guess two questions come to mind. Even if the child in the stroller is obese, when did that become everyone else's business?

Because their unnecessary stroller has a negative impact on the experience of everyone else in the park.

Second, at what point does someone using a stroller or being obese something that directly affects other people, in other words why aren't we all just taking care that we aren't doing something wrong ourselves and not so obsessed with what we think others are doing?

Because we don't live on an island... we must share public spaces. And people's selfish decisions lead to situations like this...

 

[flynnibus]

So, so true. I gladly brought my stroller to WDW when my daughters were younger. We don't spend every waking hour at the park or make them go until they are exhausted, but we do a lot of walking in the parks and a stroller just made life easier when the were 4 and under. It also keep them from running off and getting lost which I fear more than anything when we visit WDW. We also only used an umbrella stroller because it was easy to fold, and I didn't stress about it getting stolen.

Ditto...