The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Gabe1]

Hey there. The new job is crazy busy, but I guess it's going well. Now I just have to get busy and book a trip to WDW, but my indecisiveness on when to go is killing me! Food & Wine? Holidays? Wait until next June? Ahhhhhhhh! I'm afraid I'm going to fritter away my severance before I decide. I better suck down a few glasses of wine tonight and just bite the booking bullet.

Hope you are well too!

Oh don't fritter away that severance Sir! Close your eyes and pick! Does HE like the holidays? It is a wondrous time and before the actual holidays it is more economical. So pretty.

 

[Gabe1]

We need an easy vacation, at this time of our life. And we have gone to Disney since it opened. A lot of wonderful memories there. We took our daughter, when she was two. She loves Disney too. Has a web sight and has written a few books. She is going next month to do more for her web sight. She pay's her way, and gets nothing from Disney, to my knowledge. She just's loves the place. Our grand sons do too. I guess we have been a Disney family for a long time. We bought into the DVC, when hubby's parent's passed and left us enough money to do that. We thought that was the best way to honor them, they loved vacation's. We go in June, with the DVC and pay for one more week. That will be coming to an end this year, but we have built up a ton of memories. I remember the oldest grand son loving small world, he was three. His eyes lit up like saucers. He loved Disney at Christmas. I danced with him in Hollywood Studios, to Felice Navidad. (sp). He was 4 at the time. Kids, make Disney extra special. I fed our second grandson, outside of Space ship Earth, while the parents took the oldest one on Space ship earth. Those times are so special for me. Disney made those happen.

I can close my eyes and flash back to all the memories each year that we traveled to WDW with our kids, DS 14 months and DD 2 months old and onward. It has made for wondrous family memories.

 

[Cesar R M]

At our age, we go with the all in vacation. No driving, get to the destination and enjoy. We are mostly doing a cruise or Disney. Next year, we will do a cruise in the Pacific. Or fly to Vancouver and cruise to Alaska. We have always wanted to see that part of the country. Or maybe the Northeast, I would love to visit historical sights. I've always been interested in American history.

alaska is beautiful, went on the wonder.. worth it.
by the way.. the wonder is supposed to get improved. I bet its goingto be better for you.

 

[Cesar R M]

Hey there. The new job is crazy busy, but I guess it's going well. Now I just have to get busy and book a trip to WDW, but my indecisiveness on when to go is killing me! Food & Wine? Holidays? Wait until next June? Ahhhhhhhh! I'm afraid I'm going to fritter away my severance before I decide. I better suck down a few glasses of wine tonight and just bite the booking bullet.

Hope you are well too!

Dont know about you, but id rather go to disneyland(60th festivities before they start to reduce hours..etc..) right now and wait for next year for WDW (Avatar).

 

[Cesar R M]

We have gone on RCL. The Oasis Class Boats, so fun...lots to do .....zip line, rock climbing wall, on board water skiing simulator. Comedy clubs. Many kinds of musical clubs at night. All kinds of music. Classic, jazz, contemporary, etc. Cheaper than Disney, and more adult kind of boat. I like Disney and this too, for a change. Zika kept us out of our Caribbean Cruise this year. We will travel, on RCL in the Pacific next year. A repositoning cruise is cheaper too!

I wonder, do repositioning cruises offer shows as well?
or they just cancel almost everything?

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

I wonder, do repositioning cruises offer shows as well?
or they just cancel almost everything?

Speaking to someone on the transatlantic to europe yes they show all the shows

 

[MinnieM123]

Below is the USOC statement in its entirety:

Two U.S. Olympic swimmers (Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger) have given statements to local authorities today regarding the incident first reported on Sunday, August 14, 2016. Their passports have been released and they recently departed Rio.

After providing a statement earlier in the week, a third (James Feigen) provided a revised statement this evening with the hope of securing the release of his passport as soon as possible.

Working in collaboration with the U.S. Consulate in Rio, we have coordinated the athletes' cooperation with local authorities and ensured their safety throughout the process, but we have not seen the full statements provided by Bentz and Conger.

However, we understand that they describe the events that many have seen on surveillance video made publicly available today. As we understand it, the four athletes (Bentz, Conger, Feigen and Ryan Lochte) left France House early in the morning of August 14 in a taxi headed to the Olympic Village. They stopped at a gas station to use the restroom, where one of the athletes committed an act of vandalism. An argument ensued between the athletes and two armed gas station security staff, who displayed their weapons, ordered the athletes from their vehicle and demanded the athletes provide a monetary payment. Once the security officials received money from the athletes, the athletes were allowed to leave.

The behavior of these athletes is not acceptable, nor does it represent the values of Team USA or the conduct of the vast majority of its members. We will further review the matter, and any potential consequences for the athletes, when we return to the United States.

On behalf of the United States Olympic Committee, we apologize to our hosts in Rio and the people of Brazil for this distracting ordeal in the midst of what should rightly be a celebration of excellence.

And I saw this on the early news this morning (WCVB TV Channel 5 Boston - ABC News) - text below:

U.S. Olympic swimmer Jimmy Feigen agreed to make an $11,000 donation to a Brazilian charity in an effort to resolve a dispute over claims of being robbed in Rio de Janeiro that authorities say were made up.

ABC News reported that Feigen's lawyer in Rio, Breno Melaragno Costa, announced the agreement early Friday morning, hours after he sat down with a judge and officials from the prosecuting ministry at a police station in Rio for four hours on Thursday.

Feigen agreed to donate 35,000 Reals, or roughly $11,000, to a Brazilian charity called Reaction Institute.

Feigen is the last of the four U.S. swimmers caught up in the controversy over an alleged robbery remaining in Brazil. Costa said that Feigen's passport would be returned and he will be free to leave the country after the payment is made.

 

[Figgy1]

We had free dining plan on our trip, and that's the ONLY reason we did 4 character meals. Otherwise, we wouldn't have done that! The prices are insane!

last night we did one 90 for the 4 of us that was with 2 adult beverages

 

[MinnieM123]

Great pic. Lovely to see you smiling.

Yah, that's a great photo of @Goofyernmost smiling, along with his grandkids. (For someone who has shared with us before that he's "dead inside", I'd say that picture just blew his cover, don't you agree, Jennifer? Sure looks like a sweet, happy, doting grandfather in that photo!! )

 

[Figgy1]

@BuddyThomas here's to hoping you get philmonster to Orlando sooner we found a few adult beverages at uni for 2 for 14 dollars insert slurp face here lol

 

[Songbird76]

I agree. It's different for marketers. Marketers need to understand trends within an age group to be able to market to that age group. That is needed. What is different is applying negative stereotypes to individuals. And then other stereotypes, such as entitlement, I think apply to the general human population, not just millenials.

As far as the DCP goes, I find that the two nicest groups of CMs are CP kids and older workers. I assume many older workers are ones who love Disney and decided to retire here and work here. The CP kids also genuinely want to be here and usually are very friendly and hard working. I find that CP kids are nicer to me than adult employees can be. Some are really quite rude, whereas the CP kids are never rude, to me or my parents.

So from Disney's point of view, they get a group that wants to be here and learns the ropes and may eventually transition into working for the company, plus they are cheaper and willing to do jobs many adults probably are not . Hmmm...

I definitely agree that the sense of entitlement is not limited to any one group. You see it in a LOT of people. My in-laws took us out for dinner the other night to a buffet restaurant. They had this 3-tiered candy dish on the counter...a really big one. This guy ahead of us, after he paid and was then to follow a hostess to his table, grabs the whole dish like he's going to take it to his table. The hostess was just a young girl...probably 17 or so...she just looks confused. Is he being serious or is it just a joke. One of her older colleagues comes and takes the dish and sets it back on the counter and he laughs...it appears to be just a joke in really bad taste. But the girl takes him and his party to their table, and then he comes back...maybe they weren't happy with their table, I don't know, but they came back and while they were occupying the hostesses, he went over to this wall where they have tubs of candy...mostly gummies, but some suckers, and licorice, etc...it says on there that you can take what you like, but have to eat it in the restaurant. You can't fill a baggie to take home with you. The guy reaches in, grabs a piece and eats it, then just takes the whole tub under his arm and walks off back to his table with it. Who cares that there are other patrons in the restaurant that might want some, or that the management has already told you once that you can not take the whole container of candy to your table? He obviously considered himself more important than anyone else and too much so to follow the rules of the restaurant, or social norms, etc. I let the staff know he had again relieved them of an entire load of candy, and they sent someone to retrieve it, but I walked by his table several times as I went to different parts of the buffet and he was a rude, obnoxious, loud, arrogant jerk who THOUGHT he was very funny. (it wasn't just about the candy) He may have been drunk, I don't know, but he was definitely NOT a millennial. Just an entitled donkey.

 

[Figgy1]

Omg we have to sort over 3000 pics for our tr it may take a while to get up when we get home. Dh isn't going back to work until the pics are all on the computer. 3 cameras and 2 phones equals lots of pics. BTW lots of food drink and Potter pics

 

[Mr Ferret 75]

I definitely agree that the sense of entitlement is not limited to any one group. You see it in a LOT of people. My in-laws took us out for dinner the other night to a buffet restaurant. They had this 3-tiered candy dish on the counter...a really big one. This guy ahead of us, after he paid and was then to follow a hostess to his table, grabs the whole dish like he's going to take it to his table. The hostess was just a young girl...probably 17 or so...she just looks confused. Is he being serious or is it just a joke. One of her older colleagues comes and takes the dish and sets it back on the counter and he laughs...it appears to be just a joke in really bad taste. But the girl takes him and his party to their table, and then he comes back...maybe they weren't happy with their table, I don't know, but they came back and while they were occupying the hostesses, he went over to this wall where they have tubs of candy...mostly gummies, but some suckers, and licorice, etc...it says on there that you can take what you like, but have to eat it in the restaurant. You can't fill a baggie to take home with you. The guy reaches in, grabs a piece and eats it, then just takes the whole tub under his arm and walks off back to his table with it. Who cares that there are other patrons in the restaurant that might want some, or that the management has already told you once that you can not take the whole container of candy to your table? He obviously considered himself more important than anyone else and too much so to follow the rules of the restaurant, or social norms, etc. I let the staff know he had again relieved them of an entire load of candy, and they sent someone to retrieve it, but I walked by his table several times as I went to different parts of the buffet and he was a rude, obnoxious, loud, arrogant jerk who THOUGHT he was very funny. (it wasn't just about the candy) He may have been drunk, I don't know, but he was definitely NOT a millennial. Just an entitled donkey.

Whats wrong with being a Donkey
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_of_Guernsey

 

[Songbird76]

You definitely need to go back to Harry Potter World since your experience was terrible. It is actually fantastic.

Yes, I'm betting that adding in the Hogwarts Express and Diagon Alley have relieved some of the pressure by distributing people more to other parts. Before, it was all concentrated into the one area and now people are dispersed more evenly...there are 2 sections, plus the transportation between them. I think when they built the first part and opened it, they hadn't actually anticipated that the number of people who visited per day would increase by that much. I think they completely underestimated the size of the fandom. So they maybe expected to see a surge initially, but they were completely blown away by the size of the surge. I read they were hoping for 2% more visitors. I don't know how many more than that they got, but I'm sure it was a lot. So they hadn't actually designed it for quite that many people. I really want to see Diagon Alley, since I haven't seen that at all, and I'd also like to see Hogsmeade again because it was so packed with people when I was there that you couldn't see anything except people...you couldn't really see the theming. And I SO want to ride the Hogwarts Express!!!!

 

[Figgy1]

Yes, I'm betting that adding in the Hogwarts Express and Diagon Alley have relieved some of the pressure by distributing people more to other parts. Before, it was all concentrated into the one area and now people are dispersed more evenly...there are 2 sections, plus the transportation between them. I think when they built the first part and opened it, they hadn't actually anticipated that the number of people who visited per day would increase by that much. I think they completely underestimated the size of the fandom. So they maybe expected to see a surge initially, but they were completely blown away by the size of the surge. I read they were hoping for 2% more visitors. I don't know how many more than that they got, but I'm sure it was a lot. So they hadn't actually designed it for quite that many people. I really want to see Diagon Alley, since I haven't seen that at all, and I'd also like to see Hogsmeade again because it was so packed with people when I was there that you couldn't see anything except people...you couldn't really see the theming. And I SO want to ride the Hogwarts Express!!!!

do hogsmead early or late it still gets a bit busy. It's small

 

[Songbird76]

Wish I could do Food and Wine but it is pretty much in the beginning of the school year and for a teacher that doesn't work.

I'm the same...I really want to do food and wine, but over here, you are not allowed to take the kids out of school for vacations. You get major fines if your children are not in school when it's in session, unless they are sick. Until the kids are no longer school-age, we have to keep vacations to school breaks. I'm working on hubby for our anniversary in 10 years...it's in the last half of September, so right around food and wine, and our youngest will be 18. Hubby and I could go just the 2 of us for food and wine, and hit WWoHP at Universal, too.

 

[Songbird76]

As far as I know they do not do airport to resort transportation. We always take a towncar from MCO to Uni and towncar to Disney for the second half of the trip.

I love the transportation by boat to the parks/City Walk. It is a hub. You go to the dock, board boat it drops you to a central hub and you can either go to City Walk, mini golf, or either park. It reminds me of Disneyland, you don't waste a lot of time getting to the parks and if you hop it is mere minutes or you can easily pop out of the parks go back to your resort swim and be back at the parks or City Walk for a meal.

The map is the best I can find but Uni uses their waterways to transport guests from the resorts to the parks. The back up for severe weather is buses but I've never been on one of their buses. We stay at the Portofino (bottom right) board the boat, sometimes add guests at Hard Rock in off hours and then it dumps you off at the parks and or City Walk.

That seems WAY handier than WDW. It took SOOOO long to get anywhere. You needed at least an hour and a half each way if you needed to transfer...since there was no transportation between resorts, you had wait for a bus to a park, get to that park, then transfer to the other resort transportation. We BARELY made it to Whispering Canyon...we had to go from Blizzard Beach to...I think it was maybe Animal Kingdom? Then to Caribbean Beach, then to Magic Kingdom, then to Wilderness Lodge. And we were LUCKY that we never had to wait long for a bus.
I looked it up, though...Universal DOES have transportation from the airport, but you have to pay extra for it.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Link please

Here is the article I wrote. I have sent in some other ones but they haven't been bought yet. If they do get published and you guys are interested I can post a link.

http://www.wdwinfo.com/disneylandcalifornia/carnation-cafe-review-a-tale-of-two-meals/

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Dont know about you, but id rather go to disneyland(60th festivities before they start to reduce hours..etc..) right now and wait for next year for WDW (Avatar).

The 60th festivities end September 5. Paint the night will still run sometimes. But Disneyland is great at any time. We are going back next July. We are going to brave the D23 convention too.

 

[Songbird76]

you need to forget that mentality considering how much Universal has changed recently.
Many people were the same and were surprised to see how much Universal has improved. And they could have missed it if they kept that "Only Disney" mentality.
I was kinda the same.. and the free visit to Hogsmeade changed my views during that cochlear convention.

Yeah, we went to UNI for one day on our honeymoon and were not impressed. Disney CMs were SOOOO much nicer and the whole thing was just magical, but at Uni, there wasn't that much that wowed us and the lines were a LOT longer. We never had to wait for anything at Disney (that was because of September 11th), but for some reason Universal didn't seem to have the same benefit. We had decided not to waste any more time there. But then they opened WWoHP and since we had already been planning on being in Orlando for about 2 weeks, we got one day tickets to Islands of Adventure, just for that. Though that was NOT a great experience, I hear from others that it is MUCH better now, and I SO want to see the new stuff. So someday I will go back, whether Hubby comes with me or not (which I hope he does). But my understanding is that WWoHP changed the whole dynamic of the park.