The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

[MySmallWorldof4]

From my gardenView attachment 353732

Lovely! If there are any daffodil buds here, I wouldn't know. They would be covered in 6 inches of snow.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I was talking to a Disney friend about wether moving to Orlando would make WDW less magical. It would be great in theory to be so close by that you can go every weekend or an evening but I'm worried it will make it less special. Maybe it would be better to live within easy driving distance so we could visit lots of weekends? What do my Disney friends think?

I would not think the magic would go away. I would love to be able to go after having a not so magical day in the real world. I could be 5 minutes away, no problem.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I hadn't thought about airports but it is actually an important consideration, so thank you for that.
I am thinking being close to WDW has more pros than cons, house prices are also quite reasonable.

House prices are going up. Not as reasonable as a few years ago.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

YEEAAAAAAA!!!!!! Good for those kids!!!! (And kudos to the parents of the kids, for being so supportive and helping them achieve such a wonderful goal.)

Thank you! They have the kindest and most dedicated coaches who really teach them well. They are great role models for the kids.

 

[12in12]

Seaside was very different in '81!

But it was already starting to take a turn, so we started going to Point Pleasant.



I'm partial to the Melbourne Beach area. B grew up there, nice "small town" feel but with all the big chain stores. The drive to WDW can be annoying if you take 192 all the way out, but still no more than an hour-ish, I think.

I'll have a look at Melbourne Beach, thank you for the info.

We go in the late spring, usually late April to late May, or early September to mid October. We often take the bicycles and ride around different resorts, especially Fort Wilderness, a great place to bicycle.
When we stay at Saratoga Springs or Wilderness Lodge we always bring our own bikes as both of those are great places to ride. At SSR you can ride all around the expansive grounds and ride over to the treehouses and follow the boat canal for a scenic ride over to Old Key West.
At Fort Wilderness, you can ride for miles and miles along the pathways and round the camping loops and follow the nice, paved pathway over to the Wilderness Lodge. That is a lovely ride through the woods. If staying at WL, the pathway over to Fort Wilderness is just down from the bus loading area past the DVC Villas.
When we go to Fort Wilderness to ride when staying at other places, we just have the bicycles on the trunk rack on the back of the car and at the gate we tell the attendant we are not checking in but just visiting. They always want to see ID then will show where to park. We just park up front, unload the bikes and ride for miles.
Same for PORS and POFQ, and the pathway along the river between the resorts is a nice place to ride. We have never been turned away when driving to other resorts, but again we have not tried driving to other resorts during the busy summer season or during holiday times, when I am sure they are more restrictive.
Our other favorite place to ride is over at Celebration, where they have many miles of bike paths.
As for security curtailing bike riding, maybe we have just been fortunate, but they have never once said no and some have even pointed out the best place to park to unload the bikes and make our way around, especially at Fort Wilderness. We have not taken the bikes to Boardwalk, but that area does not seem to be good for our kind of riding. And you can't take the bicycles through Disney Springs, but you can ride over there from SSR and there is a bike rack to lock up your bike while you walk around DS, then afterward you can go back to the bike and ride back over to SSR.
We have also ridden through SSR, the tree houses and OKW when staying at a couple of the Hotel Blvd. hotels, just by going over to the pathway entrance to SSR from DS and riding into SSR at that entrance.
Here are some photos, first one at SSR, second at Fort Wilderness.

View attachment 354173

View attachment 354174

That looks so relaxing, I love that you just ride around WDW property. I could see myself doing that.

 

[12in12]

House prices are going up. Not as reasonable as a few years ago.

Compared to London, Florida is pretty reasonable.

 

[12in12]

My whole facebook page is lit up with this:

Luke Perry dies aged 52 just days after stroke

The Beverly Hills 90210 star had been rushed to a California hospital on Wednesday morning from his home in Sherman Oaks, and remained there under observation until his death.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I hadn't heard, how tragic, he was still so young.

 

[12in12]

I would not think the magic would go away. I would love to be able to go after having a not so magical day in the real world. I could be 5 minutes away, no problem.

I do think I would enjoy being so close but I also have always dreamed of living near the sea...

 

[epcotisbest]

I'll have a look at Melbourne Beach, thank you for the info.


That looks so relaxing, I love that you just ride around WDW property. I could see myself doing that.

It is a lot of fun, and we like seeing places there that we have never seen. I bet there are plenty of people who stay at OKW or SSR that don't even know the path alongside the boat canal is even there. As we have gotten older, we spend way more time at the resorts than in the parks so there is plenty of time to explore, ride bikes, etc...

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

You really do need to at least learn the basics. When I first moved here, I was pretty miserable. I couldn't speak a word of Dutch, I lived with my in-laws and my FIL can't speak a word of English. I couldn't really leave the house unless I was with my MIL or DH because I have NO sense of direction and I was scared I'd get lost and not be able to ask for directions to get back home. It took several months before I was placed in the language school and people were REALLY judgmental about me not speaking Dutch yet. I had only been here for 4 months when DH's uncle was at the house for my MIL's birthday and I hadn't been placed in school yet. So I'm sitting there and everyone around me is speaking Dutch and I couldn't talk to anyone, and then DH's uncle asks DH "Why isn't she speaking Dutch yet??" and DH explained that we had to wait for the paperwork to get me a social security number and then they'd place me in school. And the uncle says "She's been here for 4 months! She should be fluent already! Rhonda speaks pretty well!" And DH says "Well Rhonda has been here for 2 years!" (Rhonda is his cousin's wife, who is also American, and for the record, she did NOT speak at all fluently, and the government made her go back and take more classes after she had already been here for something like 7 years because they found out she didn't speak enough to meet the minimum requirements) Anyway, it was miserable and I just wanted to go to school and learn the language already! I don't understand how people can live here for 20-30 years and still not speak even rudimentary Dutch, but one of my friends has been here for almost 20 years, says she hates the language and refuses to learn it. My next door neighbors only speak a few words and they are very hard to understand. I couldn't do that. I HAVE to be able to communicate. I felt so...alone I guess, when I couldn't speak Dutch. A complete outsider. I notice at work, too, during the breaks, the foreigners all sit together at one table....except for me. People treat you differently when they know you speak the language. And it just makes everything easier when you can make yourself understood.

I think it was very rude of dh's uncle to judge you as he did.Dutch is definitely not an easy language, and even though English has a lot of German derived words, it is hard. I assume that many of the relatives speak English? They should have been kind enough to include you in conversations by speaking English. You must have felt so awkward and lonely.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

That is awesome!! Congratulations! Where are nationals held?

There are 8 places around the country. The Northeast is in Virginia Beach. Then the top ranked from each event get rejudged through the video recorded routines sent to new judges. They then assess the routines and you get a final nationwide ranking.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

If I ever do move there I would have to be away for work weeks on end since I can't do my job there. I could do short contracts and have breaks in between at home so could go to the parks then. At the moment this is all just hypothetical but it's nice to think about.

I love your hypothetical thought.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Congrats!!

How exciting for her and for the team!!!!

Thank you! A parent recorded the result ceremony for their division after 4th place was announced and they hadn't been called. When 3rd was called and it wasn't them, the area where us parents were sitting started getting a little loud. We knew at that point they were going to US Finals with a 2nd place bid. ( You need to be invited to go to compete.) Then when second was called and it wasn't them, we were even louder out of shear shock. I am thinking maybe a bit too loud??? Then when they called first we were out of our seats in a jiffy. Tears on everyone's faces. A day to remember. They were the second or smallest team. Only 9 girls. The other teams had way more kids. I thought we had no chance, but apparently the coaches know how to put a routine together. They just about maxed out the difficulty points.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Maybe I just have a thing for Brians who love Disney. But this deserves a viewing every now and then. Eh, @BuddyThomas ?



P.S. he’s a state representative in PA.

Not my rep. This was hysterical! Thanks for posting.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Sorry gang, can’t resist postin’ this one...Emy’s outfit for mass this mornin’...!!!!!!!

View attachment 354006

She is probably the cutest baby in your church. You can totally tell she has a sweet disposition.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

Yah, I loved the sound of it years ago (and now), but never really understood what was behind the composition. What I liked about the movie was how they really got into the storyline behind the songs. Fascinating.

Need to rent it.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I CAN discuss 8 tracks... my parents had them, and my first car, my 1977 nova had one, which I used occasionally to play my Heart 8-track.

eta, my parents even had a thing to record their own 8 tracks!

Then in that case, there is no need to deny it... you are old. If it's any consolation I was around when TV's were small round screens and the picture consisted of mostly snow. Radio was AM only... there was no FM. When FM first came out it was set up for stereo so for a promotional thing to let you know how FM would sound (kinda) you had two AM radios tuned to two different stations and they simultaneously broadcast the same music to make it stereo, just so we would know what it sounded like. Another thing I remember was a promotion where they tried to show what Color TV would look like. The provided a color acetate of the bottom half of a screen. They then broadcast a black and white picture (still frame) and you superimposed the acetate on the screen over the B&W image so you could compare the two.

In a contest to determine what was older, myself or dirt, it would be a close call.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I saw it in the theater with DH and DD. Great movie, and of course the music is amazing. I had to go home and look a lot of stuff up because I wasn't sure how much was exaggerated for the screen. Apparently they took a lot of license with the time line. And the character that was the producer guy didn't really exist. And Freddie did not meet the band when their lead singer quit in the middle of a set. He was a roommate or friend of the guy who quit. But the stuff about making the Bohemian Rhapsody at the studio in that house in the country was all true, which is pretty cool to see. I really liked the movie overall and I liked researching what was real and what wasn't, but I'm a nerd like that.

I do the same thing.

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

I don't know if anyone else mentioned this, but The Little Mermaid came out of the vault this weekend.

A has been obsessed with Ariel for over a year now and she's definitely grown into her favorite princess. She even sings part of your world completely on her own now. But she had never seen the movie because it was in the vault and I don't have a VHS player, lol. It was pretty darn special for her that they released it on her birthday weekend!

Happy belated birthday A!

 

[MySmallWorldof4]

It might have been covered before but I just missed it. How many have seen Mary Poppins Returns? I saw it back awhile ago and even though it started out seeming like sacrilege, once I let myself get emotionally involved, I found it to be very good. Some of the songs were as touching as in the original, and the ones that were light hearted and fun (The Cover is not the Book) and some very moving (Place where lost things go). There isn't the degree of acceptance that the original received, but, if some stayed away because it was not going to be the same missed out on some good things not to mention some of the prop used in the first movie. The scene with D ick Van D yke was amazing to see a 90+ year old man doing a little dance on a desk and the original Jane in a cameo.

I saw it and liked it as well. Dick Van was wonderful!!!