The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
figmentfan423 said:
I got a bit of Disney magic this morning I was able to move my 8pm BOG dinner to 7! Yea we'll be out in time for Wishes and ELP
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Congratulations!! I've been debating moving my 1900 Park Fare dinner on the day of arrival a little later, but I think we're ok. I might still see if I can move our whispering canyon dinner back just a little bit, though. I just booked our magical express to pick us up and take us to our resort. And I only have 6 more days till I can book our fastpasses!!
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Goofyernmost said:
No, Bets... it's not about being upset by the joking, it is that we have gotten to the point when we are ridiculing something that we once held in esteem. I don't know whether Disney deserves that or if we are taking our actions based on the gloom of others. Some that cannot seem to see anything positive about anything. If something different then it was 20 years ago, then it is automatically bad. We, I feel, have been brainwashed into following that line of thought. I have said over and over that after 44 or more trips to WDW, I don't see where the place is falling apart. I am aware that they have not been building new stuff to any noticeable degree (in the parks) for a long time. But, I don't see any decline in appearance that cannot be explained by remembering that 20 years ago we all had respect for the place and did our best to keep it in pristine condition.

Just yesterday, I read a post where someone had thrown an empty water bottle on the bed in the Peter Pan ride. Why? Why? Why, would anyone do that and was it a problem 20 years ago? It is easy to blame Disney for all the problems that exist, but, we, as guests, are guilty of a lot of what we see today. That particular post was posted by someone that apparently was on the ride while that was happening because an announcement came over the system asking people to keep all objects within the ride vehicle. But, for awhile, until they could correct the situation it was to be seen by hundreds of people before they could even get to it to fix it. They would have to shut down the ride probably for at least a half hour to prevent anyone else from witnessing it. It just makes me sad that those of us that still enjoy the escape, that still find our own personal value in being there are now ridiculed for feeling what we feel. It is hard to keep trying to put a different light on events to keep that feeling alive. Some things are just going to happen, but, the negativity is so strong now that it filters into everything. Someone mentioned that there shouldn't be more then one major attraction down at any given time. The ones listed are in different parks. Is it fair or realistic to think that with all the complaints about lack of maintenance, we should not be happy that they are working on things or is it more fun to have it breakdown and make a big thing out of how awful maintenance is? We have to make up our minds. I have never been to WDW in all these years when something that was my favorite wasn't down, but, it is a fact. Even if they only had one scheduled to be worked on doesn't prevent another from having an unexpected problem on the same day.

I think that some of the posts on the "because of budget cuts" thread are quite humorous. Your contributions were clever as well and it is having fun with a real or perceived situation. It's just disheartening to see it happen when for so long we held the place at such a high level and the more I participate the more tainted I become. I need a place like WDW to erase real life from my mind for a few minutes. I would like to see the place as I saw it before, because I don't really believe that it is all that different, it's just that some of the wort's have now been pointed out and we can't help but see them ourselves. And I am tired of being labeled as something of a worshiper of a company, instead of worshiping those that are painting a much different picture. I'm not even sure what motivates them to do that. They say that they don't hate Disney, but, with friends like that you don't need enemies.
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I appreciate your point of view. I've long been a fan of all things Disney, but I've only been to WDW a few times, and DL once and I wasn't even a year old then so I don't remember that. For me, as someone who doesn't know all the music, hasn't even seen all the parks (I've never been to Animal Kingdom and I've only been to Hollywood Studios once, back when it was MGM Studios) I don't have the history that you all do. I see so much about how it's going downhill, but even without all the big rides, I will have a ton to see this time that I didn't even know existed before I found this forum. I can't regret that I ever found the forum because I have learned OODLES about what there is and how to get the best out of our vacation..I'm going to have a SUPER time, a lot because of the people on this forum (mostly in this thread!). My kids are going to have a way better experience than I could have given them without all of the advice and tips from you all. So there's a double edge to it...of COURSE it's disappointing when one of your favorite rides is down (last time I was there, I had been so looking forward to going on It's a Small World with the kids...it's one of my quintessential Disney attractions...but it was closed), or when they have changed one (Journey into Imagination) or one no longer exists (maelstrom). And I think people need to kind of commiserate with others who understand, which is why they come on here to do it. But we have to be careful not to get jaded by those comments, too...there's still PLENTY to enjoy (as evidenced by the fact that I can't decide which fastpasses to use or how I will possibly fit in ALL the things I want to do with only 2 days in each park and one in each waterpark, etc, and that's WITHOUT the things that are closed....just makes it easier to choose what to do. lol) But it's nice to hear from someone who says "Yes, it's different, but that doesn't make it bad". I'm coming in as a relative newbie...you all talk about experiences I wish I had had, or things I vaguely remember, but wish I remembered more...it would be nice if I could show my kids things like the World of Motion, which was one of our favorites. (for the longest time, I was convinced that the scenes I remembered were from Spaceship Earth, until I came on here and people talked about it and I went and looked it up on youtube and HEY, THAT'S what I remember!!) But I will have NEW experiences with the kids and we will have just as much fun discovering things together that I've never seen either. So thank you for being positive. It reminds me that I can still have a great time, no matter what anyone else is disappointed about missing out on...in a way it's nice not knowing what you're missing!
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
betty rose said:
I remember the days, when we dressed up to go to Disney. That era just seems to be gone at the moment. I do blame the guests for lack of respect of Disney's property. Without being graphic, the women's restrooms can appear at times, like a pig sty. It's the people that trash them. I'm appalled at what people do when there isn't available space to throw things away. They feel like the floor is just one big trash can. Sometimes you find hazardous waste on the floor of the stalls. I don't know how we go about changing the culture at the theme parks.
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I don't really think it's just the theme parks. You see it everywhere. The bathrooms in a mall or department store might be filthy, highways are full of litter. We were just commenting the other day in the car...we were driving home and the road we take is close to a McDonalds...there was McDonalds trash all over the shoulder of the road. Garbage cans everywhere, but people throw it out the window onto the road instead...it's easier. A couple of years ago, DD had a dentist appt. I sent DS (aka Mister Man, aka MM) to a friends house after school until I could pick him up after the dentist. I got there and he had been given a popsicle and the mom had allowed the boys (6 and 7) to walk alone to the grocery store. I NEVER let my kids go alone...they have no reason to be there, they don't carry money around with them, so they can't buy anything, and it's too easy to get wrapped up in shoplifting or something by going without an adult. But the mom told me the boys had gone to the store...so I started walking there and found the boys with popsicles and MM gave me his wrapper and said he didn't know what to do with it...the other boy says "Oh, just throw it here in the bushes" and I said NO, DO NOT. He asks why. We were just across the street from the store with a garbage can outside...all we had to do was cross the street and we could throw the wrapper away. How lazy is it to just throw it into the bushes instead of walking 20 feet? I explain to the boy that someone else has to clean that up and it's not that hard to hold onto it until you find a trash can. His mom just taught him to throw it on the ground. THAT is the culture we live in...it's not a theme park problem.
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
Songbird76 said:
I appreciate your point of view. I've long been a fan of all things Disney, but I've only been to WDW a few times, and DL once and I wasn't even a year old then so I don't remember that. For me, as someone who doesn't know all the music, hasn't even seen all the parks (I've never been to Animal Kingdom and I've only been to Hollywood Studios once, back when it was MGM Studios) I don't have the history that you all do. I see so much about how it's going downhill, but even without all the big rides, I will have a ton to see this time that I didn't even know existed before I found this forum. I can't regret that I ever found the forum because I have learned OODLES about what there is and how to get the best out of our vacation..I'm going to have a SUPER time, a lot because of the people on this forum (mostly in this thread!). My kids are going to have a way better experience than I could have given them without all of the advice and tips from you all. So there's a double edge to it...of COURSE it's disappointing when one of your favorite rides is down (last time I was there, I had been so looking forward to going on It's a Small World with the kids...it's one of my quintessential Disney attractions...but it was closed), or when they have changed one (Journey into Imagination) or one no longer exists (maelstrom). And I think people need to kind of commiserate with others who understand, which is why they come on here to do it. But we have to be careful not to get jaded by those comments, too...there's still PLENTY to enjoy (as evidenced by the fact that I can't decide which fastpasses to use or how I will possibly fit in ALL the things I want to do with only 2 days in each park and one in each waterpark, etc, and that's WITHOUT the things that are closed....just makes it easier to choose what to do. lol) But it's nice to hear from someone who says "Yes, it's different, but that doesn't make it bad". I'm coming in as a relative newbie...you all talk about experiences I wish I had had, or things I vaguely remember, but wish I remembered more...it would be nice if I could show my kids things like the World of Motion, which was one of our favorites. (for the longest time, I was convinced that the scenes I remembered were from Spaceship Earth, until I came on here and people talked about it and I went and looked it up on youtube and HEY, THAT'S what I remember!!) But I will have NEW experiences with the kids and we will have just as much fun discovering things together that I've never seen either. So thank you for being positive. It reminds me that I can still have a great time, no matter what anyone else is disappointed about missing out on...in a way it's nice not knowing what you're missing!
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The danger is when no one puts the opposing view out there. Many of the people that are convinced that WDW (for example) is not as good as it once was are leaning on their memories of when they went during their childhood. The memories of kids contain a lot of things, but, one of the weakest is the reality. Even as an adult, on my first visit, I was overwhelmed by the shear volume of visual stimuli that was placed in front of me. However, I do remember many things that I'm sure a first time, young, person would not have noticed. My first visit MK was just a little over 10 years old and EPCOT was 4 months old. There were many flaws in both of them, but, other then crowd control at EPCOT nothing was really distracting. Today, I walk up Main Street USA and see 40+ year old buildings that are cleaner, brighter and more colorful then they were in '83. There are flowers everywhere, detailed and wonderful to look at that didn't exist back then. Since it was my first visit I would have had no way of knowing if an AA wasn't working or if it were meant to be stagnant. It didn't matter, the place was great anyway, and still is... but it is different. Many of the attractions that I found so totally amazing back then, like 20K, are now gone, but, even though it took them forever to replace it, what is there now is good as well. It isn't automatically bad (or kiddie in Fantasyland of all places), it is prettier, better themed and more interesting with, whether they admit it or not, more things to do. 20K was the one and only ride and that took forever to get on. The ride itself was very well themed, but, the wait was in the hot sun for what seemed like hours at a time. Other then the semi-themed partial cover over the queue, it was like standing in a field watching grass grow.

It is just frustrating to me how distorted so many of those other observations are. I've used this example before... if you, as an adult, go back to the house you grew up in, aren't you amazed at how small it is now. It didn't shrink it's just that the childhood observation is much bigger then the actuality.
 
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