The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[StarWarsGirl]

Oh, I forgot my other news.

One of my best friends is coming to WDW with us in February. We're talking about renting some points so we can all stay at Boardwalk. She was going to just stay at All Star, but I hate for her to be over there by herself.


We're going to see if our third friend can join us since there's no extra adult fee in the villas.

It'll be nice to be able to go with my parents but not have that much, ER, togetherness, with them.

 

[Songbird76]

I haven’t seen them around these parts but have wondered about them frequently.

Her last activity was at the end of March. I hope everything is ok!!

 

[Songbird76]

I genuinely feel your pain.

I felt it for academics for my daughter, she hit that ick word, 'gifted' academically. There were many backwardly sexist provisions back then for boys vs girls, math boys vs reading girls. Academics meant a great deal to me like sports mean a great deal to you. Me my solution was to run for public election.

Education meant so much to me along with genuine change to the sexist education where we live. I ran for election and won. I was able to bring change for young women that had long lasting change over the years. I suggest that to you. Complaining only goes so far. Putting yourself in the ying and yang of both sides in the cross hairs of both sides of the issue can bring both reflection of common compromise vs individual wants and needs.

Public service through election to pubic office is rewarding and enlightening. Something to think about if you wish to bring upon change to an established system that the majority are fine with because it is the norm. The backside is the kiddos get stuck in the cross-hairs of the parents wants and desires. My son escaped my desire for girls to be treated equally, my DD did not. The girls thereafter did. Know if you are willing for yourself and your kid are willing to take the backlash. We can usually take it as adults, our kids not always. Think carefully if your kid is up to the backlash. Ultimately I viewed my success was not for my daughter but the other daughters that followed her. My daughter got it. She supported it. I knew what I was trying to change was for those who would follow, not for my own child. Sadly any change is not often quick no matter what the topic, often the fight is for those that follow. It is a hard choice. Go with the long established protocol or buck the system despite the fall out for the kid for the parents choice to buck the system. I get it. I did it for academics vs sports. I wish you the best no matter what you choose for your son. Pixie dust.

You reminded me that I forgot to tell you all....so, my husband joined the school....board isn't quite the right word. They don't really have any power and it's only for DD's school, not all the schools. But they basically tackle all the concerns and try to come up with solutions to problems. Obviously, he had already been working on the bullying problem since he joined the board like....2 years ago? And one of his main points is that this system they use, called "Kanjer training" (kanjer is kind of like...champion, or star), didn't work in our experience because while it was a great guideline for teaching kids to communicate, in reality it wasn't helping because there were never any consequences for bad behavior. The kids were supposed to talk it out when they had a disagreement, but when a kid intentionally does something, talking it out won't really help, and they also need an adult to facilitate it, which the school didn't do....they made the kids do it completely on their own and only stepped in enough to say "Don't do that anymore" when the kids couldn't work it out themselves. But the school was insistent that they use this method and it's great and bla bla bla. DH was driving to work Friday when the news came on the radio and said that studies have proven that the Kanjer Training method doesn't work....it's ineffective. So he has now added that to the agenda for the next board meeting....what to do about it since it obviously doesn't work, which is now proven, not only by our own experience, but by scientific study. DH will be leaving the board at the end of this school year, since DD goes to high school next year and DS is no longer at that school...I hope the other members keep it on the agenda so no one else has to go through what DS did. I know he wasn't the only one...there are others, and hopefully the board will keep working on it and not lose momentum now that DH will be gone. But I had to say a "hallelujah!" when I heard that was on the radio. We TOLD them it didn't work. They didn't want to believe it was anything they were (or weren't) doing. Now they can't deny it....they have to admit it and either choose to ignore it, or do something about it. But they can't pretend they are handling it well now.

 

[Songbird76]

You didn't ask me but I'm going to add my 2 cents. Be online at 6:59 and be ready to jump. Do FOP, RNJ, FEA and & 7DMT in that order. If you're a rope drop person do fps starting at 10 am except for FOP get whatever time you can get. If only one AK day get FOP and ROPE DROP RNJ and by rope drop I mean be at the park an hour before opening. Good luck!

@SteveBrickNJ , This ^^^^, but I'd also add, when you get to that 60 day mark, you can actually make FPs for your entire trip up to 10 days. This means if you are staying for 10 days, you can make a fastpass for FOP for your 10th day before the people for whom that day is their 60 day out mark.. You stand a better chance of getting a fastpass for one of your last days....book those first!!! Anything that's a hard to get, schedule it for later in your trip and make those the first fasspasses you look for because fewer people have access to those days at that point. FOP should definitely be the very first FP you go for if that's one you want to ride. Then I'd suggest doing the Toy Story ones if you want to do any of those, since that's the newest and will be busy for a while. And then Frozen and 7DMT. I don't know what RNJ is...so I'm not sure where that fits in.

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

@SteveBrickNJ , This ^^^^, but I'd also add, when you get to that 60 day mark, you can actually make FPs for your entire trip up to 10 days. This means if you are staying for 10 days, you can make a fastpass for FOP for your 10th day before the people for whom that day is their 60 day out mark.. You stand a better chance of getting a fastpass for one of your last days....book those first!!! Anything that's a hard to get, schedule it for later in your trip and make those the first fasspasses you look for because fewer people have access to those days at that point. FOP should definitely be the very first FP you go for if that's one you want to ride. Then I'd suggest doing the Toy Story ones if you want to do any of those, since that's the newest and will be busy for a while. And then Frozen and 7DMT. I don't know what RNJ is...so I'm not sure where that fits in.

We are doing three days. My dining reservations are locked in.....so....so are the parks we will attend.
MK Wed. Nov. 7th.........AK Thurs. Nov. 8th.........Epcot Fri. Nov. 9th
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I'll take your advice and try for FOP first.....that's our 2nd day.

 

[Songbird76]

How many Fast Passes per person, per day?
Do I use "My Disney Experience Planning" website to accomplish this?
Assume I know nothing.
Thank you everyone!

You can make 3 per day for everyone in your party, in advance. But they all have to be in the same park!! So you can't book Flights of Passage and Frozen on the same day, in advance. So you make all your fast pass selections at 60 days from check-in...including ones for later in your trip. Then once you are in the parks, after you've used that day's pre-reserved FPs, you can make more for anything that's still available. And yes, you use My Disney Experience. I would set a reminder somewhere for the day before, so you remember when to make your fastpass reservations. And be ready when the fasspass system comes online for the day. You can have your MDE app/website open and ready to go to make your fastpasses, so as soon as the clock strikes 7, you can just press a couple of buttons to be one of the first to make that selection.

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

You can make 3 per day for everyone in your party, in advance. But they all have to be in the same park!! So you can't book Flights of Passage and Frozen on the same day, in advance. So you make all your fast pass selections at 60 days from check-in...including ones for later in your trip. Then once you are in the parks, after you've used that day's pre-reserved FPs, you can make more for anything that's still available. And yes, you use My Disney Experience. I would set a reminder somewhere for the day before, so you remember when to make your fastpass reservations. And be ready when the fasspass system comes online for the day. You can have your MDE app/website open and ready to go to make your fastpasses, so as soon as the clock strikes 7, you can just press a couple of buttons to be one of the first to make that selection.

Ah ha. This Fastpass Reservations system is not something I can preview. It won't be viewable to me until the literal 60 days before?

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

Ah ha. This Fastpass Reservations system is not something I can preview. It won't be viewable to me until the literal 60 days before?

Yup. I went to My Disney Experience......by the Fast Pass symbol is a padlock. I clicked on it anyway in the hopes it would provide my eligibility date. It did!
Friday, Sept. 7th
It will be the 1st week of school at that point. I'll try to be organized and not be a confused rookie. I have you guys and Youtube probably has something too.
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Came back to this post and I'm gonna add a video. You guys don't need it...I do I'm just putting it here for safe keeping :

 

[Songbird76]

We are doing three days. My dining reservations are locked in.....so....so are the parks we will attend.
MK Wed. Nov. 7th.........AK Thurs. Nov. 8th.........Epcot Fri. Nov. 9th
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I'll take your advice and try for FOP first.....that's our 2nd day.

Sounds good. I also forgot to mention, only the first 3...the ones you reserve in advance, have to be in the same park. After you use those, 3 you can get more in ANY of the parks, if you have park hopper tickets.

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

Sounds good. I also forgot to mention, only the first 3...the ones you reserve in advance, have to be in the same park. After you use those, 3 you can get more in ANY of the parks, if you have park hopper tickets.

We are purposely staying in one park each day. I have an app on my phone. Blue background....white circle....inside the circle is a white Mickey image....no eyes or mouth.....just blank. This app is only identified as "Disney World". When opening it, the current wait times are provided. Is THAT app useful for making Fast Pass reservations while in the park...after the original 3 are used? Is there a DIFFERENT app I should download?
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Checked it out further...Coming back with added comments: Seems like that app WILL allow me to make reservations once I'm eligible.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

We are purposely staying in one park each day. I have an app on my phone. Blue background....white circle....inside the circle is a white Mickey image....no eyes or mouth.....just blank. This app is only identified as "Disney World". When opening it, the current wait times are provided. Is THAT app useful for making Fast Pass reservations while in the park...after the original 3 are used? Is there a DIFFERENT app I should download?
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Checked it out further...Coming back with added comments: Seems like that app WILL allow me to make reservations once I'm eligible.

Yes, that's the one.

 

[Songbird76]

I just wanted to say, since I wasn't here yesterday, that while I know Memorial Day is technically to honor the fallen, I thank those of you who have served and I am so sorry for each loss of someone you knew who didn't make it home. That must be horrible, and most of us probably have no idea what that is like. Their loss affects you, their loss is your loss, so your sacrifice is also important to be remembered on Memorial Day.

 

[MinnieM123]

Did you know that you can modify them at any time? Sometimes when in the park you can get ones that weren’t available before. I’m constantly modifying and adding FPs.. but with FoP that’s probably near impossible.. we weren’t able to get one either. I think the best way for FoP is rope drop if a FP can’t be found.

EDIT at 7:51 p.m. -- I just read a whole bunch of fastpass helpful posts for you, so ignore this one below from me, if you want. Sorry, I was at work all day and got home about 1/2 hour ago, so I'm behind.

@SteveBrickNJ , this is a good piece of advice from 21stamps -- so if you want, get the app for your phone. It will give you more current openings if you're heading toward a park. (I didn't get the app--I just used my home computer before I left, because I wasn't really "into" the fastpasses--all I really cared about was trying to get one for FOP, and that didn't happen.)

Also @ajrwdwgirl had mentioned in one of her previous posts somewhere on here, that if you've reserved a top level attraction, but want to see what else is available (or if new times have opened up on your first choice) just select the attraction you've signed up for, and hit "modify" and that will bring you to other possibilities in the park. You won't lose your present reservation, unless you actually delete it, and add something else.

Beyond that, I really don't know much about online fastpasses -- except that you can only reserve up to 3 attractions (1 top tier one, and 2 other lesser ones) for one park, a day. Now, if you go past your window of the third attraction (let's say you're in MK and your third fastpass selection ends at 1:00 PM)--and you want to "hop" over to EPCOT, you can start reserving fastpasses on the same day for EPCOT--but not until you've gone past the time of your 3rd fastpass for MK.

There's a whole forum of help here on WDWMagic about Fastpass and My Magic Plus -- maybe check that out. Incidentally, I didn't do any of my hotel reservations from any of the Disney web sites -- but if you want to use online fastpass, everyone has to create a My Magic Plus account (free). My hotel was on Disney park land, but not one of the Disney-owned hotels. I only used My Magic Plus for fastpass.

 

[MinnieM123]

I had gone to WDW at least three times after 7DMT opened and was never able to get a FP for it. I don't have to tell you how long those lines were (and maybe still are). Finally, one evening as the parade was starting. (yes, I know they have no evening parade right now, but they do have castle projections) Anyway, I went to the entrance and the wait time was published as 90 minutes. I decided to bite the bullet and get in line because I figured the only way to see it was to stand the line. I entered the queue at 8 pm and got through the queue, rode it and was walking out the exit at 8:20 pm. Sometimes you just have to take a calculated chance.

I walked by it and the wait was 55 minutes. Pretty much, that's the waiting time I've often seen it, over the past 3 years I've gone there (in mid-to-late May). So yes, still very popular.

 

[MinnieM123]

Today is my colleague's turn to conduct some school concerts. He does the chorus.
So, I'm free right now because my band students will be in the audience rather then at their band lesson.
Later I'll let them come for lunch with me....we'll eat fast fast fast and then they can still play their clarinets.
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Anyway.....I just when on my Disney app and saw the Park opening times for today;
MK is 8AM
Epcot is 9AM
Hollyw. St. is 9AM
Anim. K. is 8AM
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In Nov.(when we go) it will probably vary like that as well? Never do they ALL open at 8AM???....and all of them open by 9AM, never later than that, correct?

Park times ebb and flow with anticipated crowd levels. I've seen them cut back hours, and I've also seen them add hours--sometimes within just days ahead.

 

[MinnieM123]

This is a good perspective, that people having a good weekend and having a cookout is what it's all about. It's what we were all fighting for. But as a service member, it's impossible to just look at it in that simple way. You know some of the men and women who didn't make it home. You visit their graves. You bring their mom flowers. You knew what their hopes and their dreams were. To you, the very act of living is heavier; because this very real person who had a very real family and very real future plans, was doing exactly what you were doing and in the same amount of risk you were in, and they didn't come home but you did. Why them? Why not you? Why any of you?

It's.... different. Memorial Day weekend is just different for those who served. It's hard to be happy seeing those families and kids being happy, because we're thinking of our brothers and sisters who aren't out there having a good life too.

Hugs, and thanks for sharing your perspective on what this holiday means to different people.

 

[SteveBrickNJ]

@SteveBrickNJ , this is a good piece of advice from 21stamps -- so if you want, get the app for your phone. It will give you more current openings if you're heading toward a park. (I didn't get the app--I just used my home computer before I left, because I wasn't really "into" the fastpasses--all I really cared about was trying to get one for FOP, and that didn't happen.)

Also @ajrwdwgirl had mentioned in one of her previous posts somewhere on here, that if you've reserved a top level attraction, but want to see what else is available (or if new times have opened up on your first choice) just select the attraction you've signed up for, and hit "modify" and that will bring you to other possibilities in the park. You won't lose your present reservation, unless you actually delete it, and add something else.

Beyond that, I really don't know much about online fastpasses -- except that you can only reserve up to 3 attractions (1 top tier one, and 2 other lesser ones) for one park, a day. Now, if you go past your window of the third attraction (let's say you're in MK and your third fastpass selection ends at 1:00 PM)--and you want to "hop" over to EPCOT, you can start reserving fastpasses on the same day for EPCOT--but not until you've gone past the time of your 3rd fastpass for MK.

There's a whole forum of help here on WDWMagic about Fastpass and My Magic Plus -- maybe check that out. Incidentally, I didn't do any of my hotel reservations from any of the Disney web sites -- but if you want to use online fastpass, everyone has to create a My Magic Plus account (free). My hotel was on Disney park land, but not one of the Disney-owned hotels. I only used My Magic Plus for fastpass.

Thank you for your very complete and thoughtful post

 

[MinnieM123]

Here’s some photos of the park yesterday.. nowhere near as cool as the new one in Columbus will be.. but I love the clock tower!


(I didn’t tell T to salute.. but was proud and a little amused With him doing so, his face is so serious)

All the photos are great, and I think it's wonderful that T is allowed to learn about the true meaning of the holiday. His salute is perfect, by the way!

 

[21stamps]

All the photos are great, and I think it's wonderful that T is allowed to learn about the true meaning of the holiday. His salute is perfect, by the way!

Thank you.

I’m rarely in that area of Cincinnati, but we make a point to visit now and then. Personal story about that park.. my grandmother and grandfather were involved in the planning and donations.. My grandfather loved that park. The two of them used to drive there to take walks daily.

When my grandmother passed away, my grandfather donated a bench with a plaque in her name. He would still take a walk there daily.
My grandfather passed last April, my mom and her sisters got a plaque to put next to my grandmother’s, and they also sponsored a tree in the family name. The tree is still small.. but I’m looking forward to watching it grow, and I enjoy sitting on the bench. I hope my son will someday do the same with his children.

 

[MinnieM123]

Thank you.

I’m rarely in that area of Cincinnati, but we make a point to visit now and then. Personal story about that park.. my grandmother and grandfather were involved in the planning and donations.. My grandfather loved that park. The two of them used to drive there to take walks daily.

When my grandmother passed away, my grandfather donated a bench with a plaque in her name. He would still take a walk there daily.
My grandfather passed last April, my mom and her sisters got a plaque to put next to my grandmother’s, and they also sponsored a tree in the family name. The tree is still small.. but I’m looking forward to watching it grow, and I enjoy sitting on the bench. I hope my son will someday do the same with his children.

That's really very nice.