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The Spirited Back Nine ...
- Thread starter WDW1974
- Start date
doctornick
Well-Known Member
So Halloween has just passed and I know we have had debates on these pages about what passes as popular franchises among the youth these days. I figured I'd toss in some anecdotes from my childrens' elementary school. Basic background: grades K through 5, about 50-60 kids per grade, suburban upper middle class. They d a parade of the whole school that I went to and took some mental notes of the costumes. Some observations in no particular order....
1. Disney princesses are still the biggest choices among the girls. A bunch of Elsa's. A few Anna's and a smattering of other princesses (I remember seeing Rapunzel, Belle, Merida, Cinderella at least). And a Maleficent.
1a. I remember at least 2 Olafs
2. Superheros were the biggest category among boys. Marvel moreso than DC. Captain America was the most represented, probably about 6-8 in the whole school. A couple of Iron Man/Iron Patriot. A couple of Star Lords. I remember seeing Thor, Drax, Spider-Man, Wolverine, even a Falcon. Also a cool self made Loki, horns and all.
2b. In terms of DC, there were a few Batman, one Superman and at least one Supergirl. One Wonder Woman as well.
3. Not as much Star Wars as in years past, but there were a couple Darth Vaders, one Boba Fett, one Storm trooper and one Obi Won (with a Clone Wars cartoon mask). Oh, and one Leia (in white, not the gold bikini, you pervs).
4. There were two Harry Potter themed wizards (one boy, one girl) and a third that I think was supposed to be HP themed but might have been more generically wizard.
5. A couple of Teenage Mutant Turtles
6. 2 or 3 Transformers
7. A couple of Mindcraft themed costumes
8. At least 2 Minions
That's the main IPs I can remember. I think there were some video game inspired ones that I don't know. Certainly a decent number of more classic costumes like vampires, Frankenstein's monster, witches, police, firefighters, etc. I will say that for older grades, it trended more towards creative costumes or stuff with blood & guts and less with IPs. A lot of 4-5th grade girls with kinda gothic costumes (thankfully nothing too skimpy, just more dark in tone). Bunch of kids dressed as candy bars.
And, yes, no Na'vi.
Curious to see what other trends people noticed this Halloween.
1. Disney princesses are still the biggest choices among the girls. A bunch of Elsa's. A few Anna's and a smattering of other princesses (I remember seeing Rapunzel, Belle, Merida, Cinderella at least). And a Maleficent.
1a. I remember at least 2 Olafs
2. Superheros were the biggest category among boys. Marvel moreso than DC. Captain America was the most represented, probably about 6-8 in the whole school. A couple of Iron Man/Iron Patriot. A couple of Star Lords. I remember seeing Thor, Drax, Spider-Man, Wolverine, even a Falcon. Also a cool self made Loki, horns and all.
2b. In terms of DC, there were a few Batman, one Superman and at least one Supergirl. One Wonder Woman as well.
3. Not as much Star Wars as in years past, but there were a couple Darth Vaders, one Boba Fett, one Storm trooper and one Obi Won (with a Clone Wars cartoon mask). Oh, and one Leia (in white, not the gold bikini, you pervs).
4. There were two Harry Potter themed wizards (one boy, one girl) and a third that I think was supposed to be HP themed but might have been more generically wizard.
5. A couple of Teenage Mutant Turtles
6. 2 or 3 Transformers
7. A couple of Mindcraft themed costumes
8. At least 2 Minions
That's the main IPs I can remember. I think there were some video game inspired ones that I don't know. Certainly a decent number of more classic costumes like vampires, Frankenstein's monster, witches, police, firefighters, etc. I will say that for older grades, it trended more towards creative costumes or stuff with blood & guts and less with IPs. A lot of 4-5th grade girls with kinda gothic costumes (thankfully nothing too skimpy, just more dark in tone). Bunch of kids dressed as candy bars.
And, yes, no Na'vi.
Curious to see what other trends people noticed this Halloween.
Last edited:
RivieraJenn
Well-Known Member
Le sigh... Is there anything else to say here? A faux celebrity restaurant (Disney really has a thing for Iron Chef, eh?); an in-crowd steakhouse that charges $12 for a basic side salad and $8 for a side of broccoli (outside WDW!); and a headphone store. All in an environment retrofitted to look like an urban revitalization project. I guess its better than a Magic Band kiosk??
ThemeParkJunkee
Well-Known Member
Well, I think I have sufficiently skimmed the latest thread started by Mr. Spirit and I am really not surprised by what I am reading. I just returned from a 16 day vacation to Orlando which included visits to WDW, Sea World, Busch Gardens Tampa, and US/IOA including HHN. I got home Saturday night. The announcements were predictable for the most part and really serve to support my future planning.
According to DBF, our next WDW trip will be a "drive-by" one night, two day stay in about five years if there is anything new on our way to the beach. We will be going to Europe and other destinations before we ever go back. We might do HHN again though. He was hooked.
I will comment on details of my impressions as the topic comes up in various threads. A trip report would be too much like a novella at this point.
According to DBF, our next WDW trip will be a "drive-by" one night, two day stay in about five years if there is anything new on our way to the beach. We will be going to Europe and other destinations before we ever go back. We might do HHN again though. He was hooked.
I will comment on details of my impressions as the topic comes up in various threads. A trip report would be too much like a novella at this point.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
Pretty much what I observed here too. Lots of Marvel, a smattering of Star Wars and a few minions. I didn't see any Harry Potter or Avatar costumes. I did see a kid dressed as a toilet. When he lifted the lid the "bowl" held his candy. Very clever. It was not a Tangled toilet or themed in any way. Just plain white.
RivieraJenn
Well-Known Member
Kids these days. No respect at all for theming or detail. I bet there wasn't even a Hidden Mickey.
ThemeParkJunkee
Well-Known Member
I had dinner inside the park on a Sunday, Monday and Wednesday nights and it was pretty crazy. Lots of groups "drinking around the world" or getting their passports stamped (impeding actual ordering) etc. On our "lunch around the world" day, we tried four items and gave up on the park.
Absimilliard
Well-Known Member
Going to Japan from some airports in North America does not involve crossing the Pacific anymore. Flights to Japan from Toronto for example go over the canadian Artic, Alaska, Russia and then arrive in Japan. It is much shorter that way! Flight Air Canada 005 goes from Toronto into Tokyo Haneda and this is the flight path.
Edit: To further clarify on the flight length and how much time polar routes save, Toronto to Vancouver is around 4.5 hours away by plane. But, while Toronto to Tokyo is 12.5 hours... Vancouver Tokyo is 10 hours! It is 1.5 hours faster to do the polar route.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/ACA5/history/20141103/1845Z/CYYZ/RJTT
GoofGoof
Premium Member
That's an interesting route. Not sure how much longer Russian airspace will be open to foreign carriers, but I guess they could cut straight down from Alaska.
ThemeParkJunkee
Well-Known Member
Hmmm....I was just checking the airline routes from MSP to Tokyo which is primarily over water but I can actually fly direct...planning to begin soon. Gotta do the Germany family reunion thing first thought.
Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
The bolded was my main point on why DAK is in better shape right now. Outside of Chester/Hester, they haven't screwed the park up yet. It's simply underbuilt.
And saying Epcot doesn't need new rides because the park does fine is a cop out response.
EVERY WDW park needs a ton of money put into them. MK is the only park i'd say doesn't need a solid Billion+ to fully realize what the park should be.
TalkingHead
Well-Known Member
On the subject of EPCOT's revisionist history: my 4-5 year old self wasn't interested in EPCOT. I think I liked Kitchen Kabaret and Imagination. I slept through the American Adventure. Maybe the park played better for older kids, but I didn't get much from it at my kindergarten age. You'll never make me believe that 4-5 years old loved EPCOT Center, but I'm sure someone will tell me they loved it at the age of 24 months.
TalkingHead
Well-Known Member
I don't know where they were, but I can't tell you how excited I am for the upcoming lineup of 37 Marvel movies over the next 6 years. They won't be retreading any beats by then...
Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
Dude, i'm not even close to an Epcot fanboy and I think the same thing.
What I meant by my statement is that DAK, as a whole is set up great (everywhere except C&H). The theming is perfect, the atmosphere is there, the exhibits are nice, etc, etc. It's just an underbuilt park.
Epcot is in a weird stage where it doesn't seem to know what it wants to be as a park. Yes, the park will be fine, but a lot of that is because of WS, which is just a glorified bar/mall. JII needs helop, UoE needs help, Mission: Space is in terrible condition (at the very least needs a refurb badly), and then there's WoL. There needs to be a way they can figure out how to use that - or at least the Body Wars ride building (possibly from a separate entrance?)
I'm not saying the park is a bad experience. It's still fun, but much could be improved. DAK's only main problem as I said is it's underbuilt. Both will take a lot of money to get them to the standard we should expect of them.
Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
Starting is $9.00/hour, so much higher above minimum and every year you work at WDW you get a .50 raise now. So there is some incentive if you have no other options.
Cesar R M
Well-Known Member
HAH! castaway island swirled past you
Cesar R M
Well-Known Member
probably due of the Inverse winds in high attitudes. aka "Jet Streams"
very strong between Japan towards the US.
Thus flying from US to Japan = more time and uses more fuel.
GoofGoof
Premium Member
Here's my logic:
If they put $1B into an EPCOT refurb they could fix the vast majority of the issues and make the park a complete experience again. You can't just remove World Showcase from the equation, it's part of the park.
If they put $1B into AK (which they are almost doing) it still needs more. Avatar looks solid, but it's not enough. The original poster that I responded to asked why AK needed more love than EPCOT. That's the reason. It needs more to make it a complete park.
I don't dispute that each park needs major work (even MK). The question was which ones need it more. Nobody can argue DHS is #1 now by a lot since Avland is coming to AK. I still think EPCOT is 3rd but way more needy than MK which is a distant 4th.
stevehousse
Well-Known Member
I think the gist of the wage debate really relies on American wages and the economy as a whole. Yes back then in the 70s and even 80s, you could actually live off of a minimum wage job and be ok financially, but once the economy started to climb and prices starts to increase as much as they did, without minimum wages being raised to reflect those changes, that's when the problems started. Yes today, the minimum wage at Disney is $9 an hour, but the federal minimum way is still only at $7.50 an hour, which realistically should be double that for today's standard in pricing and trying to live...
Next Big Thing
Well-Known Member
The custodial role is one of either two things: Streets or Bathrooms. Both are fairly easy and bathrooms aren't nearly as bad as most would think.
Once custodial clock in, you get told what your task is for the day, and you basically have all day to do it. Streets is basically keeping the area clean, doing trash runs a few times a day, and guest service. They don't call the role "Custodial Guest Service" for nothing. The amount of questions you get asked is really mind boggling at first. No one sees it coming. Then there's pin trading, water art, etc.
Yes, the highest priority for custodial is Code V's, but everything else gets done as well. As I said, guest service is a main part of the custodial role, so talking is part of the job. Talking amongst co-workers could be as simple as asking if someone knows the answer to a question or most likely, waiting during the parade/fireworks because tasks can't be done while those are going on.