The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[donaldtoo]

I guess that is all in where you live. When I see it happen in my everyday world I am too appalled. It is rare to find any trash around here and when there is it is usually from the top loading garbage trucks emptying bins on a windy day. When we have summerfest and the drunkies toss cups they are picked up by the next morning by the men's league who hosts the event. The Mc'Ds here is very clean as is its property.
When I was small there was a large effort to clean up the roads and highways and here the Chicago River. The Give A Hoot, Don't Pollute campaign. Same went for the Universities my kids attended. Look at any pictures of the Quad, there is not trash, lots of garbage cans and they are used. WDW is a unique place, all types of cultures coming from all areas of the US and abroad. Some with manners, some not.

Yep, our neighborhood (and most of Austin in general) is pretty clean.
I can't even remember not discarding trash properly. We don't just drop stuff on the ground, or chuck it out the car window, and neither do our kiddos. My folks didn't raise no pigs, and neither did we.

 

[MOXOMUMD]

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

I planted all my flowers and herbs today. It only took me and hubby about 40 minutes to get it done. But I must be getting old, because just doing that for a short amount of time has made my body achy. It will be worth it though when I enjoy my first mojito of the year with my own mint.

 

[donaldtoo]

I really agree with the flexibility to plans. My DD is a planner. A spread sheet type planner type gal

When we did almost 2 weeks when she graduated we'd bail on part of our day often when weather or attractions were interfering with our plans. We'd drive ourselves nuts if we stuck to the agenda. But my DD agenda did get us on what was on our must dore were just a few nights we bailed early, we were tired, one night we saw the weather approaching after seeing fantasmic and were happy we went back to the resort. We just got up earlier than planned because our heads hit the pillow earlier and caught the rope drop in the morning again at the MK and Tonga Toast once more. Bucket lists and fate was nice to us on that trip. It was her graduation trip so I followed the leader with very few buckets on my part.

The trip before that I went down to visit DS, he got me on every must do by day two so the rest of the trip was gravy. I was there on the last day that the old Test Track was open, we rode her twice for a final farewell. I was there for the first opening of Circus, both night and day versions, very different. Rolling with it is just as important for a successful and enjoyable trip.

DWifey and oldest DD are our planners. Although, on our most recent Princess 5K trip in Feb., they didn't pre-plan a whole lot. We had only 2 days in the Parks, so we only did MK and Epcot. The 5K goes through Epcot. They did make 3 FP+ reservations per Park, but, only one ADR, and that was an early anniversary present that we gave oldest DD and SonIL for a Kona lunch on our first (MK) day, while we ate at CHH.
As I've posted before, we scored a walk up for lunch at Via Napoli on the day of the 5K, and DWifey also called from the resort the night before and got a T-Rex lunch reservation for a non Park day the day we left. Other than that, we went with the flow, and other than the fact that it was a whirlwind trip, it was very relaxing.

 

[donaldtoo]

Are your folks still Disney fans?

It's funny, we were kinda' raised on Disney stuff, especially by mom, but, I wouldn't necessarily call them huge Disney fans in the last coupla' decades. Nor, none of my sibs. We did go to DL 3 times over the 8 years we lived in No Cal, I remember seeing many Disney movies, and we watched Wonderful World of Disney, etc., every Sunday night. I think the last time they were at DL was in '87, and WDW was during a HS choir trip with my 12 year younger sis back in either '92 or '93...? I remember, because pop ended up getting picked to be "interviewed" by Johnny Carson on some now long-extinct show at Disney/MGM.

 

[MonorailRed]

Oddly enough, I did have a burger. Surf and Turf burger at Grand Floridian Cafe.

The Surf and Turf burger has to be my favorite thing to get at the Grand Floridian Cafe!

 

[donaldtoo]

I always had to take a family friend to the daddy daughter stuff. My dad wouldn't take time off for stuff like that. Heck, my dad wouldn't even take a day off for my wedding. He rearranged his schedule and swapped shifts so he could be there, but I can't remember him ever taking time off. I don't think he came to my high school graduation...I don't remember him being there anyway. He couldn't swap shifts or something...and I KNOW he wasn't at my college graduation...and I can only remember him coming to one musical I was in and he didn't come to my Senior Recital. My mom came to everything, though. But I'm betting your daughters appreciate that you were there for that kind of stuff, that you make time for them. You are an awesome dad.

Sympathy like. Sorry to hear that.
And, thank you. Nowhere near perfect, but, I did, and still do, try...!
I can't even remember an event (large, medium, or small) of our 3 kiddos that I missed over the years. My folks were pretty much the same way. It also didn't hurt that at the firm two of the main partners started their families the same time we did and family was always stressed over everything else. Although, DWifey and myself would have found a way to make it work anyway. It was all just too important to us...!

 

[donaldtoo]

Good morning everyone!

Must have woken up on the right side of the bed today...feel very good - like I just got the best sleep in months...I have no clue what I did...I wish I knew!

 

[donaldtoo]

I remember the first time my family ate dinner at Disneyland. We all had pancakes, because that was what my folks could afford after a long day in the park. My little brothers thought it was the best that their's were shaped like Mickey, and they filled in his facial features with raisins and powdered sugar. Come to think of it, maybe it was chocolate chips? They were maybe 1 and 2 at the time. I must have been 9. Still the best pancakes I have ever had in my life.

Great memories! Thanks for sharing!
I first visited DL in '68 at the age of 6...I'll never forget it...!

 

[donaldtoo]

I tried to simplify it by mentioning a fart.

 

[donaldtoo]

Most of my pictures came out hideous as usual. This one isn't too bad. (I didn't go inside the attraction as this one I generally pass on, but I liked the flowers out in the front.) (Click on the small photo below to expand.)

View attachment 143077

I like it...!

 

[donaldtoo]

Oddly enough, I did have a burger. Surf and Turf burger at Grand Floridian Cafe.

Sounds awesome!
I've never had that, but, I have had the Surf and Surf Burger (crab cake with fried popcorn shrimp) at Landscape of Flavors food court at AoA, and it was great...!

 

[donaldtoo]

OK gang, back to the grind tomorrow, so I'm a goner...
Sweet Disney dreams to all...!
Laterrrrrrr...!!!

 

[Cesar R M]

That's a very good point; I forgot about the more nocturnal animals. I still wonder about the noise level though and how that may affect "some" of the animals.

they probably took that long to "train them" to get used to the cars.
I mean, I do not see them attacking nor worried about the trucks.

 

[Cesar R M]

I can't speak for anyone else, but, at my age, I cannot trust a fart anymore. It's not always what it seems.

You get betrayed by your own butt?
A shart instead of a fart?

 

[Cesar R M]

Oddly enough, I did have a burger. Surf and Turf burger at Grand Floridian Cafe.

a ground mignon burger with a lobster tail? or how does it work?

 

[Cesar R M]

Sounds awesome!
I've never had that, but, I have had the Surf and Surf Burger (crab cake with fried popcorn shrimp) at Landscape of Flavors food court at AoA, and it was great...!

I never had anything remotely close to that.
I wonder if I should try that on my next trip.

 

[Gabe1]

It's funny, we were kinda' raised on Disney stuff, especially by mom, but, I wouldn't necessarily call them huge Disney fans in the last coupla' decades. Nor, none of my sibs. We did go to DL 3 times over the 8 years we lived in No Cal, I remember seeing many Disney movies, and we watched Wonderful World of Disney, etc., every Sunday night. I think the last time they were at DL was in '87, and WDW was during a HS choir trip with my 12 year younger sis back in either '92 or '93...? I remember, because pop ended up getting picked to be "interviewed" by Johnny Carson on some now long-extinct show at Disney/MGM.

Kinda funny how that happens. Even with the downturn of Disney World upkeep that few can deny-I can't imagine my world without it. I'm getting up there in age but my first trip to Disneyland was when I was 18 months old, opened WDW its first year, honeymooned in DL, raised my kids Disney from infancy. Scary but it is a lifestyle with my family for over 50 years now.

I can only imagine how much money my entire family has dumped into the Disney coffers over a half a century. A statistic I will not calculate or I might stroke out. I still have all the package vacations/costs and perks since my son was born. Our first trip for 8 days with him was $1300. Instead I will take comfort in the fact that we are stockholders. Whatever gets ya through the night.

 

[Gabe1]

DWifey and oldest DD are our planners. Although, on our most recent Princess 5K trip in Feb., they didn't pre-plan a whole lot. We had only 2 days in the Parks, so we only did MK and Epcot. The 5K goes through Epcot. They did make 3 FP+ reservations per Park, but, only one ADR, and that was an early anniversary present that we gave oldest DD and SonIL for a Kona lunch on our first (MK) day, while we ate at CHH.
As I've posted before, we scored a walk up for lunch at Via Napoli on the day of the 5K, and DWifey also called from the resort the night before and got a T-Rex lunch reservation for a non Park day the day we left. Other than that, we went with the flow, and other than the fact that it was a whirlwind trip, it was very relaxing.

I'm not remembering. I was so disappointed with Via Napoli the last time we ate there. Did you have a better experience? How about you @StarWarsGirl have you ate there lately. I hope it has regrouped. I loved it the first few times, really really loved it so the last time being such a grand fail was disheartening.

 

[Gabe1]

I never had anything remotely close to that.
I wonder if I should try that on my next trip.

While I know this dump everything on a burger or a hotdog is a trending thing right now to me there is nothing better than a burger seared well and flavorful that lacks the need to cover it up with unrelated gunk atop. I'm a real fan of good flavorful burgers and don't appreciate the distraction of mac and cheese or eggs dumped on top of them. Just me.