The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[Songbird76]

Ugh. I'm sorry, how frustrating. Odd what positions kids get placed in. Mine when young always got worn playing at pool. Plus if you want a relaxing resort/pool vacation there are much cheaper and more luxurious places to do that around the country/world for less.

It reminds me of the last family trip to WDW that we allowed my Dad to go with us. Mom could but not him this was a Christmas New Year vacation, beyond expensive and need of some plans. But my Dad was the master at changing plans my entire life. When he was done we were all done. My Dad when tired or had enough of anything was great at putting us to bed saying WE were tired. We were too old to be told to go to bed but we all knew there would be heck to pay if we all rebelled. On the last trip my Dad was allowed to go to WDW he was a pain in the butt. He constantly after a few hours in the park upset the apple cart by asking my kids if they wanted to go swimming now? You don't want to stay here anymore, its crowded. You already saw the fireworks, we have fireworks at home right? He was only with us one of the two weeks and we actually extended the trip by 4 days while down there that trip just to have time to get past how many times he upset our plans. So much so we never allowed him to go back again. But that was my Dad in life always. His way.

Yep....I don't think my hubby was QUITE that bad, but he was definitely close. If HE was done, we all needed to be done. And he had let me do all the planning and I would say "Ok, I was thinking we'd do this at this time, and that way if we like it, we have time to do it again. What do you think?" And he'd say "Sounds good" but then the time would come and he'd say "But we can skip that, right?" And I had told him we had a few hour rest period every day to go back to the resort and nap. He said "Oh good!" and he seemed truly relieved when I said that, but then every day it was "Well, we don't have anything planned right now, do we?" And I'd say "This is our rest period today" and he'd say "Well, how about we stay here and do this now, and go back to the resort after dinner tonight. Call it an early day." and I'd remind him of the night shows and he'd say "Well, this isn't our last day...we'll do that the next time." I think it was day 3 that DS was being a pill and hubby says "We have GOT to do something different because they are just so tired and they can't be constantly go-go-going" and I said "Well I planned a rest time every day, but you keep wanting to skip it!" And finally he said "Fine...from now on we'll follow YOUR plan." which he said in a way that made it sound like it was all my fault we had kept going every day instead of following my plan, but he finally did leave it up to me and then we were actually able to function. I think he didn't like having to be up for rope drop, but he didn't realize how much more you got done by doing that. He wasn't the one to do the research, so he had no idea that you can do 4 rides in the time it takes to do ONE in the afternoon. So he was wanting to sleep in every day instead of taking a nap, but the morning hours are so much more productive, not to mention not as hot.

 

[Gabe1]

We tell the kids we are good for four hours at their speed. We go off and do other things, nap back to the room watch cartoons. And have an early dinner for hubby and me. Or just sit in a lobby listening to music. The kids go for the hours they want to, and we get the rest we need.

Perfect.

When I was small my Dad was real big on beach vacations and we would stay in South Florida for upto 4 weeks in early Spring. Very routine.
Get up early breakfast pool, beach, mid afternoon homework, go out to dinner, bed and repeat. Nothing made my Dad happier than to sit by the pool or if cool enough to walk on the beach. Two kids not so much. I think that is why we enjoyed our day at the MK when it opened when I was a little older.

 

[Gabe1]

Yep....I don't think my hubby was QUITE that bad, but he was definitely close. If HE was done, we all needed to be done. And he had let me do all the planning and I would say "Ok, I was thinking we'd do this at this time, and that way if we like it, we have time to do it again. What do you think?" And he'd say "Sounds good" but then the time would come and he'd say "But we can skip that, right?" And I had told him we had a few hour rest period every day to go back to the resort and nap. He said "Oh good!" and he seemed truly relieved when I said that, but then every day it was "Well, we don't have anything planned right now, do we?" And I'd say "This is our rest period today" and he'd say "Well, how about we stay here and do this now, and go back to the resort after dinner tonight. Call it an early day." and I'd remind him of the night shows and he'd say "Well, this isn't our last day...we'll do that the next time." I think it was day 3 that DS was being a pill and hubby says "We have GOT to do something different because they are just so tired and they can't be constantly go-go-going" and I said "Well I planned a rest time every day, but you keep wanting to skip it!" And finally he said "Fine...from now on we'll follow YOUR plan." which he said in a way that made it sound like it was all my fault we had kept going every day instead of following my plan, but he finally did leave it up to me and then we were actually able to function. I think he didn't like having to be up for rope drop, but he didn't realize how much more you got done by doing that. He wasn't the one to do the research, so he had no idea that you can do 4 rides in the time it takes to do ONE in the afternoon. So he was wanting to sleep in every day instead of taking a nap, but the morning hours are so much more productive, not to mention not as hot.

I think when my kids were younger we hit rope drop one time in a decade and that was the first year AK opened. It was crowded there, hot, most attractions or restaurants didn't have A/C and only a few attractions did. We were not morning people and at times it got pushed so much that by the time we actually got to a park we needed to have lunch. Still we generally closed the parks. My kids sleeping in could be night owls. Rare if we ever went back to the resort for a break due to late starts.

I think we were blessed when they were small. There wasn't FPs at all the first 10 years. While some lines were long like Splash if we waited a few hours for the E tickets we didn't have the issue getting on these during the parades. All the attraction lines moved because the were not mixing in FP with stand by. Even when FP was first introduced you could grab one and still go and do other attractions that didn't have FP so those lines moved quickly. The more FP that were added the more complicated it became and structured with less flexibility. Our vacations were long and we were not faced with that now or maybe never. For us anyhow it was a more relaxed way to do the parks with kids.

 

[Gabe1]

I miss decent computer access. After tomorrow morning I may have none for a while

 

[Songbird76]

Okay, so as some of you know, I'm taking Phil to Key West for his birthday and that satisfies the "We have to go somewhere else before we go back to WDW" requirement, and although he has continued to say no, no, no way in hell, I finally made some progress and got him to agree to a short trip for Food & Wine. I know, ohh the torture,right?Anyway, I'm going to post some details in a pre-trip report, but looks like this Fall is going to be a Key West-a-palooza!! Real Key West in September followed by Disney Key West in November! Whoo-hoo!!!

So happy for you that you got it worked out! Though I admit that I can't wrap my brain around having to convince someone to go to Food and Wine if they don't have to worry about the money part of it. What's not to like?? Even if you aren't a Disney fan, Epcot is the least "Disney-ish" of the parks in my opinion, and my understanding is that Food and Wine is almost a completely separate entity...it's probably not that much different than going to a wine tasting (on a much larger scale), which I thought Phil was a huge fan of? So what part of it is he opposed to? Or is he just pretending to be opposed to Disney so you'll butter him up with other trips in between?

 

[Songbird76]

My brother dragged raced, and wrecked a really nice car. He got a pass for that.

Well, to be fair, my brother was a pretty good kid. Neither one of us were very wild. We were both too busy with school activities to cause trouble...both straight A students ( I got a B a couple of times in high school, but not more than one in a school year, usually in Math or Science, and I DID get a C in Calculus my senior year for one quarter. But, it was calculus.) Both in speech and debate, student council, honor society, German Club, Drama, and I had my music. Plus we both worked. So it wasn't like my brother didn't DESERVE to have some freedom and independence...just that I did too, and he was the only one who was given that precious gift. The one and only time I came home late...it was in the summer and I was helping my friend get her sheep ready for fair. You have to get muscle on them, so we walked them like dogs every night. She had too many to walk by herself, so I helped...it wasn't like I was goofing off or anything, but it was an approved activity AND a way for me to hang out with my friend. But this particular night, the sheep were being really stubborn and weren't wanting to walk, so it was taking a bit longer, and I really needed to go to the bathroom and the only one open was at the gas station, which was a bit out of the way of our normal walk. 15 minutes later than usual and she was already out looking for me, had called EVERYONE she knew to ask if they'd seen me, and when she found me, I got grounded for 3 weeks. For being 15 minutes late. One time. EVER. This was before cell phones, so I couldn't have called her to tell her I was going to be late. But I thought 3 weeks was a bit of an over-reaction to a one time 15 minute offense. Most kids I know wouldn't have even gotten a warning...their parents would have asked why they were late and when they heard the reason, they would have excused it as long as it didn't happen again. And I was 17 and it was 10:00 in the summer. That's not even that late, certainly not for a 17 year old!

 

[Songbird76]

And now my car won't start. The engine cranks, but won't turn over.

*sigh* This is why I was thinking maybe I need to get a new car after graduation.

I hope it's nothing big. I had that happen once and it was a hole in the distributer cap....it only cost like $10 to fix. Here's hoping yours is something small like that!!

 

[Songbird76]

she wrote the play?
I keep reading that someone else wrote the play, and now she finally wrote an official book recently based on the play..

She didn't write the play, she wrote the story that the play is based on. It's HER story, written by people who know how to write plays because she says she doesn't know how to write plays. She said somewhere in an interview that she really felt this story was best displayed as a play rather than a novel, but she's always said she isn't a playwright. When they started making the books into movies, they asked her if she wanted to write the screenplays, but that isn't an area that she knows well, so she said no. So now, with this story, it lends itself to theater, which she is not comfortable writing, so she got Thorne to do the script.

 

[Songbird76]

I'm a business major. It comes with the territory. Also, it's the cold, hard truth.


Walmarts are much bigger than Disney shops are and, for the most part, aren't doing any unique merchandise. The majority of their stuff they are producing themselves. Whereas if Disney is producing at their maximum and lowering prices would increase demand, then yes, production costs would increase.

It is also worth-noting that Disney's products purchased on property are pretty on-par with other "specialty" merchandise purchased at venues. For instance, I use prices I pay for food and merchandise at Orioles games to Disney's prices. Disney's food prices are slightly higher, but the quality of their food is overall better (in spite of Camden Yards having pretty decent food). Disney's merchandise is actually cheaper. Food prices at Hershey Park (which has cheaper tickets) were similar to Disney's prices.

Believe me, I believe Disney is far from perfect, but their pricing, from a business perspective, makes sense.

Sorry...but I don't think $27 for a headband makes sense. From my perspective, yes...they need to make a profit. But, if I can make that same headband for $5, I would expect them to charge $10....they are making a huge profit on that. Even $15 I would accept, because hey, it's the brand. But $27 is not even close to reasonable. I was SO proud that DD made the choice not to buy them...that she decided herself that it was not worth the asking price. She thought of all the other things she could buy with that money and that she would rather buy something she COULDN'T make and that she would use more. She is pretty wise for her age. She saw it as the money-grab that it is.

 

[Songbird76]

Obviously, they are not infallible.

I'm actually wondering if it got stolen a while ago. There were some Noodles and Company locations up here that were hacked, including one I went to once, and I'm pretty sure the card I used was the one that had the fraudulent charges. Then again, it could have been stolen elsewhere. Who knows.

Does your card company hold you responsible for fraudulent charges? Or are you safe from having to pay?

 

[Songbird76]

I think when my kids were younger we hit rope drop one time in a decade and that was the first year AK opened. It was crowded there, hot, most attractions or restaurants didn't have A/C and only a few attractions did. We were not morning people and at times it got pushed so much that by the time we actually got to a park we needed to have lunch. Still we generally closed the parks. My kids sleeping in could be night owls. Rare if we ever went back to the resort for a break due to late starts.

I think we were blessed when they were small. There wasn't FPs at all the first 10 years. While some lines were long like Splash if we waited a few hours for the E tickets we didn't have the issue getting on these during the parades. All the attraction lines moved because the were not mixing in FP with stand by. Even when FP was first introduced you could grab one and still go and do other attractions that didn't have FP so those lines moved quickly. The more FP that were added the more complicated it became and structured with less flexibility. Our vacations were long and we were not faced with that now or maybe never. For us anyhow it was a more relaxed way to do the parks with kids.

Yes, I think my main problem is that the way it's set up does not match my family's travel style. We are not commando park visitors and my husband really wants to sleep in on vacation. I do, too, come to that, but when it comes to Disney, you can't really do that if you are wanting to do the most popular rides and I was prepared for that. I think Epcot is the worst for fast passes because really the only ones you HAVE to have a fastpass for are all in the same tier, so you can only do one per day if you aren't going to get there at rope drop unless you are willing to stand in long lines, which we are not. Test track was at 80 minutes on a day that wasn't busy. We used our fastpass on our 2 epcot days for Frozen (I knew the kids were going to want to do that one twice), which meant we didn't have a fastpass for Soarin' or Test Track on those days. The only way to do them was by going at rope drop. We DID have a fastpass for Soarin' after one of the waterpark days, but the kids wanted to do it again, so rope drop was important. Sleeping in just wasn't conducive to seeing everything. Plus the fact that, even if they slept in, they'd still get worn out in the afternoon and we'd have still had to skip the evening stuff. My kids just need that afternoon nap if they are going to make it through until 9 or 10 (or later). I think hubby maybe pictured us sleeping in every day and just heading to the park at 11 and being able to walk up to everything and get right on. He thought that only the most popular rides would have wait times or something and that we just wouldn't do it if it was more than a few minutes. I think the reality hit him kind of hard...that he either had to be willing to give up some sleep or spend a LOT of time waiting in lines, so it made him grumpy.

 

[MichWolv]

Yes, I think my main problem is that the way it's set up does not match my family's travel style. We are not commando park visitors and my husband really wants to sleep in on vacation. I do, too, come to that, but when it comes to Disney, you can't really do that if you are wanting to do the most popular rides and I was prepared for that. I think Epcot is the worst for fast passes because really the only ones you HAVE to have a fastpass for are all in the same tier, so you can only do one per day if you aren't going to get there at rope drop unless you are willing to stand in long lines, which we are not. Test track was at 80 minutes on a day that wasn't busy. We used our fastpass on our 2 epcot days for Frozen (I knew the kids were going to want to do that one twice), which meant we didn't have a fastpass for Soarin' or Test Track on those days. The only way to do them was by going at rope drop. We DID have a fastpass for Soarin' after one of the waterpark days, but the kids wanted to do it again, so rope drop was important. Sleeping in just wasn't conducive to seeing everything. Plus the fact that, even if they slept in, they'd still get worn out in the afternoon and we'd have still had to skip the evening stuff. My kids just need that afternoon nap if they are going to make it through until 9 or 10 (or later). I think hubby maybe pictured us sleeping in every day and just heading to the park at 11 and being able to walk up to everything and get right on. He thought that only the most popular rides would have wait times or something and that we just wouldn't do it if it was more than a few minutes. I think the reality hit him kind of hard...that he either had to be willing to give up some sleep or spend a LOT of time waiting in lines, so it made him grumpy.

My family likes to sleep on vacation as well, and FP+ is about the greatest thing we could have ever hoped for. Now we make our FP selections for noon to 4. No need to be there at rope drop to get on the most popular attractions without waiting. We sleep in, hit the parks, use our FPs and hit a couple of things that have no/short lines, then see what additional FPs are available. Other than for Frozen, this worked perfectly last week. We waited 40 min for Frozen during EMH, and otherwise didn't wait more than 15 minutes for anything all week. And the earliest we left the hotel was the day we went to Blizzard Beach at 10.

 

[betty rose]

I'm going to take one for the team and stop at Marharitaville Wednesday night just so all of you get a drink review lol

Oh, boy!

 

[betty rose]

My family likes to sleep on vacation as well, and FP+ is about the greatest thing we could have ever hoped for. Now we make our FP selections for noon to 4. No need to be there at rope drop to get on the most popular attractions without waiting. We sleep in, hit the parks, use our FPs and hit a couple of things that have no/short lines, then see what additional FPs are available. Other than for Frozen, this worked perfectly last week. We waited 40 min for Frozen during EMH, and otherwise didn't wait more than 15 minutes for anything all week. And the earliest we left the hotel was the day we went to Blizzard Beach at 10.

We are the same way, hubby and I never make rope drop. We are two hours behind Florida's time. It would mean getting up at an early crazy time. We only do rope drop when our kids and grand kids are along.

 

[betty rose]

View attachment 157041

13 days until Labor Day.

That's a cool dude!

 

[betty rose]

I wonder how long you've had that condition. Interesting that it was just discovered recently. Some people have that since childhood.

My sister had it from a very young age.

 

[betty rose]

Happy you've been able to stop by here a few times during your vacation!! It's been fun hearing about your vacation, and I know that there's plenty more to come, once you get back home. Looking forward to that!!

Ditto!

 

[betty rose]

Well, to be fair, my brother was a pretty good kid. Neither one of us were very wild. We were both too busy with school activities to cause trouble...both straight A students ( I got a B a couple of times in high school, but not more than one in a school year, usually in Math or Science, and I DID get a C in Calculus my senior year for one quarter. But, it was calculus.) Both in speech and debate, student council, honor society, German Club, Drama, and I had my music. Plus we both worked. So it wasn't like my brother didn't DESERVE to have some freedom and independence...just that I did too, and he was the only one who was given that precious gift. The one and only time I came home late...it was in the summer and I was helping my friend get her sheep ready for fair. You have to get muscle on them, so we walked them like dogs every night. She had too many to walk by herself, so I helped...it wasn't like I was goofing off or anything, but it was an approved activity AND a way for me to hang out with my friend. But this particular night, the sheep were being really stubborn and weren't wanting to walk, so it was taking a bit longer, and I really needed to go to the bathroom and the only one open was at the gas station, which was a bit out of the way of our normal walk. 15 minutes later than usual and she was already out looking for me, had called EVERYONE she knew to ask if they'd seen me, and when she found me, I got grounded for 3 weeks. For being 15 minutes late. One time. EVER. This was before cell phones, so I couldn't have called her to tell her I was going to be late. But I thought 3 weeks was a bit of an over-reaction to a one time 15 minute offense. Most kids I know wouldn't have even gotten a warning...their parents would have asked why they were late and when they heard the reason, they would have excused it as long as it didn't happen again. And I was 17 and it was 10:00 in the summer. That's not even that late, certainly not for a 17 year old!

I had to be home at 9:30. No excuses, I was a high school senior, with those ridiculous hours.

 

[Songbird76]

I had to be home at 9:30. No excuses, I was a high school senior, with those ridiculous hours.

Yeah, during the school year, outside of school activities, I had to be home by the time it was getting dark. So, in the winter, that might be 5pm...as a high school senior as well. The only exceptions were play practice, or work, or a school dance, etc. But my mom could see the school from our house, so when the parking lot started to empty, I had to get home because she could see it was over. She was a LITTLE more relaxed when my brother was in high school...I had to be with him, but as long as I was with him, I could be out a bit later. She would let us go to the movies in the next town. But not by myself. Then my brother went off to college when I was a senior and he wasn't around for her to rely on and she just didn't trust me on my own. I never gave her any reason not to trust me, but she just saw girls as not as responsible I guess. And of course I proved her right when I went off to college and, you know...dated. And apparently I turned my brother gay by not spending enough time with him, and he had to go find other friends and the LGBT group was the one that welcomed him. (yes, because he couldn't possibly make friends without me and his whole freshman year he never made a single friend?) She told me I shouldn't be dating until I was at least 30, because I should have a college degree, a steady job, a home, and have done everything I want to do in life before I started dating. I told her I wanted to have KIDS before I was 30, and as I wasn't planning on doing that until I was married, I kind of needed to start dating before then. And also, the things I wanted to do, I wanted someone to do them with...I didn't want to travel by myself, I wanted to share the experience. She said I couldn't be sure my mate would want to travel, too...I said that was kind of a deal breaker for me. If he didn't ever want to go on vacations, that wasn't going to work for me. She relaxed a bit once she met my (now) husband. She loved him, and I think she was a bit relieved when she passed that I was "taken care of". And I think she saw that we fit together...he was nothing like my dad and he obviously loved me and I think that made her feel better. I had a boyfriend in high school that she didn't know was my boyfriend. He lived on the other side of the state so I never actually SAW him other than my Junior year when we went to Prom together. She liked him, but I don't know how she'd have felt if she had known he was my boyfriend.

 

[Songbird76]

Black Cherry Lemonade at the pool bar. It was delicious. Sweet, but tart as well. And alcoholic, which of course was the best part.

Where was this? Which pool bar, I mean? That sounds fantastic!!