The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[StarWarsGirl]

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.

One of the more overrated spots in WDW IMO.

I went to Via Nappoli in January. I've been several times and haven't been thrilled, but in January, I wasn't thrilled (disclaimer: I did not feel well while we were there and didn't have the pizza). The Caesar salad and the minestrone soup I had were okay at best. The pizza, which I did not have because I thought the prices were completely ridiculous (I would have had to get my own for food allergy reasons), although I have had their pizza in the past, I didn't think it was anything fantastic for the price. The area of Maryland where I live has a surprising amount of immigration, and consequently, a lot of local places that offer ethnic food, including a lot of Italian places. I can get amazing pizza five minutes from my house that costs about $2-$3 per slice, so for me, pizza is pretty much excessively overpriced everywhere, but especially Via Nappoli. The service and the restaurant's ambiance weren't great, either. It wasn't necessarily bad, but just not worth the money, and if all they're good at is pizza, they have a problem. I'd go there before I'd go to Norway or Biergarten, but there are much better places in World Showcase.

Italy is sadly one pavilion I pretty much bypass every time I go to World Showcase.

 

[Gabe1]

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.

Yeah, it is sad to think some areas live with pigs.

My DD and I walked through town square tonight with Walt. It has a beautiful gazebo where it is inundated with prom pictures ad nasum. Swarm of teenagers and parents doesn't begin to cover the masses. There are plenty of garbage cans however due to the masses and a weekend without public works they filled all available cans with the given Starbucks and corsage containers, not one single bit of litter was in the park and the park is large. While the garbage receptacles were beyond overflowing, in a heap next to the cans was all thexcess cups and containers of Saturday evening. Who could expect more. I'm happy to live in a civilized community. People mock the millennial generation but really they are pretty darn concentrate and civilized here. Sad for those who live with Piglets.

 

[Gabe1]

One of the more overrated spots in WDW IMO.

I went to Via Nappoli in January. I've been several times and haven't been thrilled, but in January, I wasn't thrilled (disclaimer: I did not feel well while we were there and didn't have the pizza). The Caesar salad and the minestrone soup I had were okay at best. The pizza, which I did not have because I thought the prices were completely ridiculous (I would have had to get my own for food allergy reasons), although I have had their pizza in the past, I didn't think it was anything fantastic for the price. The area of Maryland where I live has a surprising amount of immigration, and consequently, a lot of local places that offer ethnic food, including a lot of Italian places. I can get amazing pizza five minutes from my house that costs about $2-$3 per slice, so for me, pizza is pretty much excessively overpriced everywhere, but especially Via Nappoli. The service and the restaurant's ambiance weren't great, either. It wasn't necessarily bad, but just not worth the money, and if all they're good at is pizza, they have a problem. I'd go there before I'd go to Norway or Biergarten, but there are much better places in World Showcase.

Italy is sadly one pavilion I pretty much bypass every time I go to World Showcase.

Blah. Disappointing but not different from what I experienced the last time. The staff was downright awful the last time we were there. The empty tables and many of them were not bused, we sat next to a table that had plates etc from long departed guests next to us the entire meal. The ADRs were not close to on time and there were plenty of dirty tables about. The pizza wasn't the same. Though those little donuts with chocolate and whipped cream at the end were still amazing. Bad service and openly dirty is a big turn off with me. What a waste cause we do not have that type of pizza available here.

 

[Gabe1]

I tried to simplify it by mentioning a fart.

 

[Gabe1]

how much those costs?

$9.99

 

[Gabe1]

That looks absolutely delicious! Love a good burger

I so want to try it before they likely dumb it down. Slurp.

 

[Gabe1]

I've often thought that AK at night would be a great experience. I've also wondered how it would impact the animals. Obviously, the Disney people (vets, etc.) have thought that one through; yet, my main concern is anything like a big splashy nighttime show--wouldn't that spook the animals? (Is it far enough away from the animals that it might not affect them?) I'm sure no one here actually has the answer to this, but again, I have thought about this and wondered . . .

Yeah I have wondered about the animals too. Even with the low lighting there is the noise of the vehicles, the talking at night. The giraffes have had a consistent bedtime for a very long while. I can't imagine that many of them cannot hear or see the activity in the sky with all the light. I know they considered all that bu then I think about the profit margin and wonder what they could possibly consider a risky that is worth taking. It isn't like a CM Vet really has power over the executive decisions.

 

[Gabe1]

I watched a VLOG last week from All Ears and they talked about the lighting on the safari. They said it was really hard to see some animals unless they were right under the lights and there was supposed to be some sort of "sunset" which they said didn't look like a sunset as much as a spotlight. They said the overall tour was cool, but don't expect to see a bunch of animals if you do the safari at night.

All Ears is really a site I've had a great deal of respect for over the years. A solid reputation and zero drama. I've never found them to be anything but reliable.

 

[Gabe1]

Breakfast today, I just licked the heck out of my monitor! Slurp.

You guys might consider this for one of your QS meals. I'd love pictures and a review.

 

[Cesar R M]

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.

Same, I just want to see if it tastes good (aka being curious).

anyway, like I had said a few times. The best burger I had was a simple big ground beef burger with fresh bread in a sports bar in vancouver near the airport.
I had never remotely close to that anywhere I went (that includes WDW and Houston and Pittsburgh). I guess I need to search a proper place to get a burger that is not fast food.

 

[Figgy1]

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

That was a wonderful picture. I agree it's a bit outdated but it's fun in a cheesy type of way, besides that's what my boys call a mid day break

 

[Figgy1]

Well, what I read in the Unofficial guide is that they recommend doing that. Usually there are 2 main headliner rides, so you get a fast pass first thing for one and head straight for the other. That way you get those out of the way first thing in the morning. So like, get a fastpass for test track and head for Soarin. Your fastpass has a window of time, right? So you ride whichever one you DON'T have a fastpass for and you can still make your fastpass window. If you don't get a fastpass for ONE of them, by the time you get out of the other, the standby line for the one is longer already. That was my understanding anyway. Another reason they recommend that is that if you use all 3 of your fastpasses, you can get more if there are any left, but you can't schedule fastpasses within an hour of each other. So people will do 9, 10, and 11 and then they can go get one for a night show or parade later in the day. I was planning on getting a 9:00 for Soarin' and head straight for test track, but that was before they announced that Frostrom will be open then, so now I'll have to do a Frostrom for 9 and head straight for Soarin one day and test track the 2nd. And I haven't figured MK out yet. I'm reluctant to do splash too early in the day because if it's not a hot day and you get wet, you're going to freeze the whole day. But, it's a really popular attraction, so if you wait, the line will be insane. And I don't know if the kids have decided yet whether they want to do Space Mountain or not. But with BTMR, Splash, space, AND 7 dwarfs...where do you start???

Do you have the pay service for TP? It will make you a customized plan for your day including the fps you've made. You may want to put in the days, parks and rides now with no fp's scheduled and that may help you figure when to get what fps.

 

[Figgy1]

Yeah, my thought was that we might want a day to not be running right after traveling. We'll be staying with my cousins in Denver on the 24th and leaving at 6:45 in the morning on the 25th...which means we'll have a long drive on the 24th to get to my cousins, a long travel day on the 25th...we're going to want some downtime, get used to the Eastern time zone, etc. So from the sounds of it, you don't much want to be at the water parks in the afternoon because it's so busy that you'll spend more time standing in lines than you do in the water. So I figure we go as soon as the waterpark opens, play until lunch and then hot-foot it out of there as soon as it starts to get crowded and either head to DS or to whichever restort we have a dinner reservation for. (I didn't do any in-park ADRs on our waterpark days so we don't HAVE to enter the parks on those days if we want to avoid the crowds. So we have a dinner at Whispering Canyon on one waterpark day, and a dinner at 'O hana the other waterpark day.) We can just explore the resorts that day. My other option, if we feel like it, is to split up the World Showcase and do a Pavillion or two in the afternoons before our ADRs on waterpark days. We'll just see what we feel like doing. I have several plans and we'll just go with whichever one feels right for that day.

That's a great plan!

 

[Figgy1]

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.

Ha I've already had mine! It was a virgin one but at least it had fresh mint from my garden After the mild winter my mint is coming in really well this year Oregano and thyme are also coming in strong

 

[Figgy1]

Blah. Disappointing but not different from what I experienced the last time. The staff was downright awful the last time we were there. The empty tables and many of them were not bused, we sat next to a table that had plates etc from long departed guests next to us the entire meal. The ADRs were not close to on time and there were plenty of dirty tables about. The pizza wasn't the same. Though those little donuts with chocolate and whipped cream at the end were still amazing. Bad service and openly dirty is a big turn off with me. What a waste cause we do not have that type of pizza available here.

Sympathy like.

 

[MinnieM123]

All Ears is really a site I've had a great deal of respect for over the years. A solid reputation and zero drama. I've never found them to be anything but reliable.

That's an excellent site. I've read it for years, and it is very credible. Learned many helpful things from them. WDW Magic is my (one and only) forum site, although I do read the various updates they post here as well. I think that this site and All Ears are the two best Disney sites on the web for reliable information.

 

[Figgy1]

Good morning moonshine It's going to be a great week even with my boys' goofy schedule. Shorts, flip flops, camis and it will be nice enough to go to the pool this weekend.

 

[MinnieM123]

@Cesar R M , after returning from WDW a few days ago, I just wanted to add my thoughts to something you shared (maybe a few months ago) about the resort buses and the ECVs. Having seen it myself, I now understand what you were saying.

I noticed on this trip that some of the resort buses had been reconfigured inside for the ECVs in particular, and wheelchairs. (Although wheelchairs didn't appear to take the same amount of space as the ECVs.)

From what I could see, the ECV will take up the space of 3 regular seats (that fold up out of the way), and then the new retrofit added a metal divider behind it (taking away one seat permanently). Then behind that, are 2 seats that can fold up for perhaps a smaller ECV, or a wheelchair. (So, that's 6 seats right there, if there's 2 ECVs.)

So here's what I couldn't understand about this new system. Now, keep in mind that I ride city buses all the time at home, and we have occasional wheelchairs riders, and far fewer ECV riders. But the difference is that on my city buses, 2-3 seats fold up for a wheelchair/ECV space; however, the person still sits in the wheelchair or ECV for the duration of the ride. (The bus driver merely hooks a restraint on the wheels, so that the wheelchair or ECV doesn't move in transit.)

However, on the Disney buses, the person then sits in a regular seat, while an empty ECV is taking up the space. So essentially, one ECV can take up 3 seats--and the person then sits on a regular seat--thereby, using 4 seats for each ECV rider. When a bus is crowded, losing these extra seats is an issue; and I think a simple solution could be if they just had the people remain seated on their ECV (or wheelchair), thereby freeing up at least a few seats.

I support Disney's efforts to accommodate all guests with any disabilities, but it does seem reasonable if they'd just ask the guests to remain seated in their own ECV during transit. Just wondering what you (or anyone else here) thought about this idea.

 

[Figgy1]

@Cesar R M , after returning from WDW a few days ago, I just wanted to add my thoughts to something you shared (maybe a few months ago) about the resort buses and the ECVs. Having seen it myself, I now understand what you were saying.

I noticed on this trip that some of the resort buses had been reconfigured inside for the ECVs in particular, and wheelchairs. (Although wheelchairs didn't appear to take the same amount of space as the ECVs.)

From what I could see, the ECV will take up the space of 3 regular seats (that fold up out of the way), and then the new retrofit added a metal divider behind it (taking away one seat permanently). Then behind that, are 2 seats that can fold up for perhaps a smaller ECV, or a wheelchair. (So, that's 6 seats right there, if there's 2 ECVs.)

So here's what I couldn't understand about this new system. Now, keep in mind that I ride city buses all the time at home, and we have occasional wheelchairs riders, and far fewer ECV riders. But the difference is that on my city buses, 2-3 seats fold up for a wheelchair/ECV space; however, the person still sits in the wheelchair or ECV for the duration of the ride. (The bus driver merely hooks a restraint on the wheels, so that the wheelchair or ECV doesn't move in transit.)

However, on the Disney buses, the person then sits in a regular seat, while an empty ECV is taking up the space. So essentially, one ECV can take up 3 seats--and the person then sits on a regular seat--thereby, using 4 seats for each ECV rider. When a bus is crowded, losing these extra seats is an issue; and I think a simple solution could be if they just had the people remain seated on their ECV (or wheelchair), thereby freeing up at least a few seats.

I support Disney's efforts to accommodate all guests with any disabilities, but it does seem reasonable if they'd just ask the guests to remain seated in their own ECV during transit. Just wondering what you (or anyone else here) thought about this idea.

Now I'm wondering why people can't remain on their EVC like on city buses. One would almost have to think it has something to do with insurance, it doesn't make any sense to me why they would cut capacity otherwise.

 

[MinnieM123]

Now I'm wondering why people can't remain on their EVC like on city buses. One would almost have to think it has something to do with insurance, it doesn't make any sense to me why they would cut capacity otherwise.

The restraints to hold the ECVs look similar to the ones on my city buses, so that's another reason why I was baffled about why the people were not sitting on their ECVs. True, insurance rules can vary from business to business, and even from state to state. (All I can compare the Disney buses to is my own city's major public transportation system.) Oh as a side note, the ECVs and wheelchairs on the subways or commuter rail trains are not restrained. It's up to the individual rider to put on a brake.