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The Miscellaneous Thought Thread

Distorian

Distorian

Member
I haven't been to Disneyland since '22, and as much as I'd love to go again, I know that between the changes in the park and the decline in quality, I simply cannot justify the outrageous cost. Only if I were to win tickets or be given them as a gift would it be worth returning to the park, and even then the cost of dining, parking, and lightning lane is all so outrageous. I cannot grasp how people do it.
 
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Distorian said:
I haven't been to Disneyland since '22, and as much as I'd love to go again, I know that between the changes in the park and the decline in quality, I simply cannot justify the outrageous cost. Only if I were to win tickets or be given them as a gift would it be worth returning to the park, and even then the cost of dining, parking, and lightning lane is all so outrageous. I cannot grasp how people do it.
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Definitely has been a decline in quality/ guest experience but $104 for the one of, if not the best theme parks in the world does not seem that outrageous in 2026. It’s hard to leave your house around here without spending 104 dollars.
 
Distorian

Distorian

Member
mickEblu said:
Definitely has been a decline in quality/ guest experience but $104 for the one of, if not the best theme parks in the world does not seem that outrageous in 2026. It’s hard to leave your house around here without spending 104 dollars.
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I would be content paying $104, but unfortunately the only time I'm in California is in the summer when tickets range from $150 to $200. That's just insanity.
 
coffeefan

coffeefan

Well-Known Member
DavidDL said:
The quality of the food served at Hungry Bear these days doesn't even come close to touching what they used to serve at the all you can eat BBQ that Big Thunder Ranch used to provide.

Speaking of food downgrades, my wife sent me a video showcasing that Disney has apparently made some pretty sweeping changes to many of the food offerings in the resort early this year and many of them are downgrades. A lot of stuff appears to just quietly be disappearing, like the popular bacon-wrapped asparagus over at Bengal Barbeque, just as an example. One of the biggest blows is seemingly the removal of all other types of potato (mashed, film-strip fries, tater tots, crinkle cut, etc.) and them all being replaced with the same generic theme park fries or steamed rice.

Here's the instagram reel she sent me for anyone who wants to take a look. Went to the Bengal BBQ page to confirm if the changes were true and it appears to be so. Bummer! Also, sorry if this has been talked about already. I'm just now catching wind of it.

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Disney is greedy for sure, but some of this was to be expected with tariffs and inflation continuing to rise. And unless something changes, I don't see that slowing down this year. I'm curious if Disney will use the same strategy at their premium eateries though, or if they will just raise prices there.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
We returned to Disneyland yesterday with the family. Most of them haven't been in Disneyland for fifteen years. It was a great day. The lines where typically half of the posted time. The family loved Rise of the Resistance. My wife didn't get sick on Falcon even with my son and I driving. There seemed to be more people outside of the attractions than in the queues. DCA was more crowed than Disneyland. We used single rider a few times and got in almost instantly. We got through 18 rides between DL & DCA with no lightening lane used. We where exhausted. Tried to get on RSR but it kept going down all day. That will be for day 2. The Walt AA was impressive even if he did look like the My Pillow guy.

Two rides broken down while we were on them. Big Thunder stopped when we were just about at the station. Not a big deal. Runaway train broke down in the Daisy room. She looked like she was meditating and would occasionally twitch. The rest of the ride made no sense since scenes were half finished when we entered. Strange ride.

My brother works at the park so he showed up and introduced us to some of his fellow cast members. He took us in to meet Darth Vader. They were all great and excited to be there. Even the ones he didn't know where upbeat and extremely helpful. Very different cast member vibe from the Knotts/Six Flags employees as of late. The moral is to treat them well and be friendly to them, they may offer to make some magic for you. Always leave positive comments in your Disneyland App for them. They do get rewarded for this.

All in all a very exhausting day at the parks. Now we got to figure out day two and three before mid May.
 
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mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Finally finished Stranger Things. Watched season 1 when it came out in 2016. Then nothing for years until I rewatched season 1 and watched season 2-5 over the last few weeks. Why did Season 3 get such poor reviews? It was my favorite of the 5. Dustin and his gf singing The Neverending Story song when the world is about to end!? Fantastic.

My ranking:

Season 3
Season 1
Season 4
Season 5
Season 2
 
wdwmagic

wdwmagic

Administrator
Moderator
Premium Member
mickEblu said:
Finally finished Stranger Things. Watched season 1 when it came out in 2016. Then nothing for years until I rewatched season 1 and watched season 2-5 over the last few weeks. Why did Season 3 get such poor reviews? It was my favorite of the 5. Dustin and his gf singing The Neverending Story song when the world is about to end!? Fantastic.

My ranking:

Season 3
Season 1
Season 4
Season 5
Season 2
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Great show, and I think they did a very good job of the ending. Very clever approach. And yeah the Never Ending Story part was epic.
 
Phroobar

Phroobar

Well-Known Member
mickEblu said:
Finally finished Stranger Things. Watched season 1 when it came out in 2016. Then nothing for years until I rewatched season 1 and watched season 2-5 over the last few weeks. Why did Season 3 get such poor reviews? It was my favorite of the 5. Dustin and his gf singing The Neverending Story song when the world is about to end!? Fantastic.

My ranking:

Season 3
Season 1
Season 4
Season 5
Season 2
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Watch the making of Season 5. It seems they took the Marvel approach of being in production without a script. They had no idea how to end it and it shows. They had no idea where they where going from season 1.
 
D.Silentu

D.Silentu

Well-Known Member
Fun show through and through. I’m sure I’m not the only one who experienced rushes of nostalgia. There was one episode in particular where Dustin was wearing a shirt I used to own! Personally, I would’ve ranked season two higher and season four much lower. If you’ll pardon the phrasing, I liked when the goings on in the show were stranger and the villains less defined. While it didn’t necessarily hurt my enjoyment, I didn’t care for the show feeling more Marvel in the late seasons. The series was at its best when it was a pure 80s pastiche. I will miss it though, and a big hat tip to the Edward Scissorhands homage at the end.
 
mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
D.Silentu said:
Fun show through and through. I’m sure I’m not the only one who experienced rushes of nostalgia. There was one episode in particular where Dustin was wearing a shirt I used to own! Personally, I would’ve ranked season two higher and season four much lower. If you’ll pardon the phrasing, I liked when the goings on in the show were stranger and the villains less defined. While it didn’t necessarily hurt my enjoyment, I didn’t care for the show feeling more Marvel in the late seasons. The series was at its best when it was a pure 80s pastiche. I will miss it though, and a big hat tip to the Edward Scissorhands homage at the end.
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I agree on the 80’s pastiche which is why my favorite season was Season 3.

I don’t think the way I ran through these seasons is ideal. My ranking might be different had I consumed them as they were released or at a slower pace. So I’m kind of just left with how I felt and/ or maybe there wasn’t as much memorable about season 2 that sticks out as a sort of part 1 of Season 2/3. Season one was probably the best objectively but Season 3 got me with all the 80s nostalgia, humor and it was just a lot fun. Season 2 felt kind of heavy and I think I was sick of seeing Will being tormented.

Didn’t like the Steve - Robin storyline. I liked where it as going and they should have ended up together instead of her being a set up for Will.

Season 4 was lonnnnng and of course gave me the heavy Freddy Kruger vibes. Didn’t necessarily hate or love that. Only by chance did I come to realize that was Mr Kruger himself playing Victor Creel. I noticed that some of the Mr What’s it theme music had a Child’s Play inspiration. A little too much Russia for me. Season 4 had a couple standout episodes, particularly the one where Henry reveals himself which is why it ranks at # 3 for me. Great performance by that actor.

Season 5 was ok. I think I was just burnt out. That was a lot Stranger Things in 3 weeks. I think I got a little sick of the repetitive formula by then too.
 
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D.Silentu

D.Silentu

Well-Known Member
If you ask me, the funniest moment in the show was in season 2 when Steve is bringing flowers to Nancy’s house and Dustin appears saying, “She’s not here, we’re leaving!” The beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Season three was really great, though I had an odd hangup about it. Oddly, the thing that stretched my suspension of disbelief was the idea that the Soviets had used the construction of a mall to secretly build an underground base that puts the utilidors to shame.

As I’m leaving random thoughts, I suppose I should mention that while it is no fault of Jamie Campbell Bower, I just couldn’t get into the Vecna character. A silly song lyric sums my feelings best: ‘…he’s wearing that dumb Power Rangers mask, but he’s scarier without it on.’
 
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mickEblu

mickEblu

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
D.Silentu said:
If you ask me, the funniest moment in the show was in season 2 when Steve is bringing flowers to Nancy’s house and Dustin appears saying, “She’s not here, we’re leaving!” The beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Season three was really great, though I had an odd hangup about it. Oddly, the thing that stretched my suspension of disbelief was the idea that the Soviets had used the construction of a mall to secretly build an underground base that put the utilidors to shame.

As I’m leaving random thoughts, I suppose I should mention that while it is no fault of Jamie Campbell Bower, I just couldn’t get into the Vecna character.
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Something random but if I’m not mistaken there was not one demagorgon in the finale? I thought it would have been a nice touch to kind of go full circle and end it with one. Just one. Especially since the whole second hour of the finale had no action.
 

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