The Spirited Back Nine ...

[ford91exploder]

Yeah but that only applies to local broadcast stuff which is a special case - not general principle

True - but up here we have seen Comcast try to drop ABC affiilates a few times and the FCC has whacked them hard.

 

[TeriofTerror]

All the new 4G plans top out at 10GB per month with a $10-25 charge per gig over the cap, And the minimum is plan is between $80-100 per month. There is no such thing as an unlimited plan anymore except for T-mobile and even they throttle you to 56K after you exceed your plan limit.

I love my Ting. My phone bills are a mere fraction of what they used to be, and data usage is never an issue.

 

[ford91exploder]

Then it's a powerful point against letting others go about dictating what must be for decades. Maybe some pain will be a good lesson.

In many cases these agreements were presented as take it or leave it, So you could have no internet or internet on $PROVIDERS terms. Which is the average town council or board of selectmen going to choose given the population is neither Amish or Mennonite.

 

[WDW1974]

Spirited Musings:

I see a thread about PotC at MK here. Just wanted to add that the attraction is a total disaster from sound to projections to AAs to getting wetter in these new boats than you get on Splash Mountain. It is godawful show, has been for a few YEARS now and needs to be shut down for six months to a year and given a top to bottom rehab.

Not really in the mood to discuss net neutrality and what and how it affects people in the big picture. But I do want to rip Comcast. Regardless of what they are doing with their theme park business, they are a disaster in many other areas. One would be the damage they are doing all across my city as they move in and install their own infrastructure (we had a monopoly here from the 1980s, you can thank Disney for that as it developed my city and sold the infrastructure for cable TV and Internet). Floods, holes, trees butchered, grass ripped up ... you name it, that's the welcome to our town that Comcast is giving.

So, Knott's announced a kewl dark ride for the entire family today. No, I don't recall telling y'all that was coming last spring. Nope. Not at all. Never any news in my threads.

It is a great move in what has been a remarkable turnaround on the old Berry Farm. They are getting away from bland generic theme park thrill coasters and back to their history and heritage. And they are doing it with guest satisfaction at the forefront. They are also doing it while keeping their product truly affordable. While I love DLR and think UNI is worth a visit just for the Studio Tour alone, it really speaks volumes about what can be done with great management that really does care what their guests say.

So, ABC canceled Selfie, a show I never had one iota of desire to see. Yet, they had to buy it it while canceling a half a dozen comedies that were better and had promise (everything from Happy Endings to The Neighbors to The B in Apt. 23) over the last few years. Unfortunately, they haven't canceled SHIELD yet.

Anyone who wants to see what an hour long superhero show should be, should be watching The Flash (or Arrow for that matter).

Yes, I am watching Disney's machinations with the South Fla Water Management District over destroying yet more wetlands (you know, Walt said that ''We have enough wetlands here to destroy for as many timeshares and roads as we can possibly imagine.'') I would not get excited by these moves at all. They don't signal fifth gates. They don't signal new water parks. They don't even signal new resorts.

Why is Disney acting this way? Simple. They are looking at major road work and development to make up for haphazard way the property has expanded in the last 15-20 years. That is why there will be major development and a new entrance going in behind the MK and why Property Control is headed out to the middle of nowhere -- Flamingo Crossing!

It's amusing to visit my local Disney outlet and see people wanting Frozen items and the only thing for sale is a talking Olaf toy (with Disney Store marked on it) for $21.99 and CMs telling Guests they can buy merchandise online or at Disney Stores when if they were honest they'd just say ''Walk out of here to the right about 100 yards to Books A Million, which has almost a million Frozen products from books to magnets to dolls to tees right in the window.''

The after hours Halloween event for the Studios has been shelved again pending the major construction projects that will begin next year and last for ... who knows?

So, how about that hard-hitting Soup & Salad Sandra taking over the Disney beat from Jason Garcia at the Sentinel? ... What's that? ... chirp ... chirp .... oh, crickets.

Primetime NFL football arrives in Miami tonight and ... what ... looks like the stadium is 2/3rds empty. Shocking.

I saw @WDWFigment tweeting about this a while ago, but I have to chime in (yet again) regarding folks so angry that the BAH (named by a Disney Lifestyler, she does deserve credit for it!) is being removed having a fundamental lack of understanding into true Disney theming and setting place and time versus places to visit and experience multiple Disney BRANDS being shoved down your throat at every corner (insert your own Imagineer/Fanboi joke). There is a battle (think of it like the Force!) between Disney fans who were theme park fans before Y2K and the ones who never knew the place when there weren't faded purple road signs, massive traffic and congestion and any timeshare.

I am about as impressed with the new Poly DVC units on the water as I thought I'd be. But more are coming ... yes, at the WLV (no, they may well not be Teepees, despite that being the original concept) and possibly another resort as well.

Anyone who visits the MK and says it's packed and what a shock it is and how it signals some sort of cosmic and karmic proof that Disney and TDO and Bob Iger are right need some reality. The MK has these days now because so many days every week are 7 p.m. closes for hard-ticket events. If you have four parties in seven nights, then it stands to reason the park will be packed on the other days (one of which is always going to be a Saturday). This is simply common sense.

 

[WDW1974]

Interesting, but I wonder if you would like actually living there for years on end. There's more than weather to consider when moving, and California is not exactly free of issues (prices in general are extremely high for everything and anything). Anyway, it is nice to have different views and opinions. To each his own!

I am confident I would. ... Yes, they have issues. But they attempt to solve them. Brown has been doing a great job in investing in infrastructure (I have seen freeways that haven't had significant work done on them in my lifetime, get it in the last 3-4 years). They will make high speed rail a reality there. They care about the environment. They are one state (other than Mass.) that has made the ACA truly work for the majority of people. And they have more diversity than anywhere in the USA that isn't NYC.

Oh, they also have one of the most beautiful states as well.

Cost of living is certainly a factor. But living in most places that aren't in the middle of nowhere (say Kansas or Iowa) isn't cheap either.

 

[WDW1974]

I really want NBC and ABC to team up to do the Black-ish List.

You deserve more than eight likes for that post.

 

[WDW1974]

might be because if that 1200 square foot house cost 500000

I'd agree, but I'd also advise you to take a drive 10 minutes west of Flamingo Crossing to see all the massive construction starting on homes that start at $250,000 and go up to well over $1 million. Where in the (blank) do these real estate developers -- and worse, banks that are financing this -- think their market is??!! Truly.

I don't care if you're one of the few that has a good job at Disney or UNI. You aren't doing well enough to purchase some of the homes I toured a few weeks ago. To be honest, though, they were built better and laid out better than what I saw at Golden Oak.

 

[WDW1974]

But you certainly never shy away from taking cheap potshots at those who support this site.

Huh?!!

What exactly are you talking about?

There are few here that support this site like I do. I drive traffic and page views, which do equal $$$s. I break news here, which gives the site attention elsewhere. I KNOW that is quite more valuable than paying $4-5 a month and contributing nothing of substance to the site. Oh, and I also tell folks to come and read here and join the community.

Again, I'm not sure what you are getting at.

 

[WDW1974]

I want to know who will get that lifetime pass on opening day, you, @Lee or @WDWFigment ?

None of us. I guarantee you that the family will be Chinese. And none of us fits that demo.

I do think @WDWFigment will be afforded special admission to continue his somewhat strange hobby of taking pics at sunrise in the parks but only IF Dr.Blondie can handle the Commies. And having worked over there, my money isn't on the one with a PhD in texting!

 

[bhg469]

Spirited Musings:

Anyone who visits the MK and says it's packed and what a shock it is and how it signals some sort of cosmic and karmic proof that Disney and TDO and Bob Iger are right need some reality. The MK has these days now because so many days every week are 7 p.m. closes for hard-ticket events. If you have four parties in seven nights, then it stands to reason the park will be packed on the other days (one of which is always going to be a Saturday). This is simply common sense.

^^This x 100,000,000,000

If there is one thing that makes my blood boil and, not just on the internet, are the horribly reduced hours. It is really just sticking it to everyone, CMs that need more work, vacationers that want to spend time there and not want to pay for an after hours party, and people like me who occasionally go to FL for work and want to try to spend some off time in the place that I have some of the strongest memories of my youth.

 

[WDW1974]

We moved from upstate Illinois next to Wisconsin (where the wind chill the winter before we left reached minus 75) to So. Cal. beachside south of LAX, and agree that the weather can't be beat. Especially near the beach, where we didn't have, nor need, air conditioning. That was nearly perfect.

But then we moved to Florida. Why? State income tax of 12%. About 14 million people in the same area as Brevard County with about 500 thousand people. Concrete everywhere; the only trees were imported, and didn't do shade. The insane traffic, where half the drivers were doing 20 mph over the speed limit, while another 25% were doing 20 mph under the speed limit. In the left lane. The fact that the first time I ever heard of a jumbo mortgage was when we were looking for place to live.

All in all, you can't beat the weather in So. Cal., and especially San Diego, but everything else was going to lead to an early grave. The stress levels are just unbelievable.

There is stress everywhere and FL is one of the worst states I have ever been to for that. Angry, depressed and disenfranchised people? All over the damn place. And then we arrest 90-year-old activists for trying to feed homeless people. Yep. One MAGICal place.

People are stressed here plenty.

Drivers here are worse than SoCal and the roads are becoming as bad or worse (I'd say worse since we're allowing lanes for the rich to whiz on by the rest if they are willing to pay for it ... on roads WE ALL PAID for).

I can honestly say that I have never been anywhere with so many lost souls. And, no, the fact the Bills and Dolphins are playing football at night in November in 74 degree weather doesn't change the fact that this isn't a great place to live at all.

 

[bhg469]

There is stress everywhere and FL is one of the worst states I have ever been to for that. Angry, depressed and disenfranchised people? All over the **** place. And then we arrest 90-year-old activists for trying to feed homeless people. Yep. One MAGICal place.

People are stressed here plenty.

Drivers here are worse than SoCal and the roads are becoming as bad or worse (I'd say worse since we're allowing lanes for the rich to whiz on by the rest if they are willing to pay for it ... on roads WE ALL PAID for).

I can honestly say that I have never been anywhere with so many lost souls. And, no, the fact the Bills and Dolphins are playing football at night in November in 74 degree weather doesn't change the fact that this isn't a great place to live at all.

The dolphins are going to lose but at least its a beautiful night to do so.

 

[WDW1974]

Yes Mr. Spirit, I do understand the SoCal and SoFla difference and I do choose to live here in the Frozen North (sorry). However, two years ago it WAS in the 60s here in mid-November and that is what we get...the most fickle, unpredictable weather. I just had the great fortune of being in Orlando during two weeks of the best weather anywhere between October 17 and November 1.

Yep. That is true. I was there for a week in the middle and, no doubt, it was beautiful. It usually is around this time of year. Problem is that it doesn't last long enough. You really lucked out as the Weather Service said our rainy season ended this year on 10/16 ... the last few years there have been bouts of rainy and warm weather all the way thru October.

 

[BrerJon]

I'd agree, but I'd also advise you to take a drive 10 minutes west of Flamingo Crossing to see all the massive construction starting on homes that start at $250,000 and go up to well over $1 million. Where in the (blank) do these real estate developers -- and worse, banks that are financing this -- think their market is??!! Truly.

They're going to be targeting rich foreigners, I assume, who want that Golden Oak thing of being able to say they have a home in Disney World (just about), but don't want to spend the full whack or deal with all the rules that a Golden Oak house would entail, especially if it's just a vacation home to use once in a while, or to rent out to other tourists.

 

[WDW1974]

When the board looks to reset and rediscover the company.. have them call me I'll be the brand advocate... but the type of advocate you have on the inside of the company

Disney is, like 98% of corps in the USA, extremely arrogant.

There are a good dozen people on this site (yes, including you and I) that I'd be talking to about coming aboard. And they have full files on every single one of us (don't need MAGICal tracking bands to do checks on people when you are Disney), but no one reaches out because they truly and delusionally feel they know it all.

And just look at their record profits?!?! They must know what they are doing , right?

 

[BrerJon]

^^This x 100,000,000,000

If there is one thing that makes my blood boil and, not just on the internet, are the horribly reduced hours. It is really just sticking it to everyone, CMs that need more work, vacationers that want to spend time there and not want to pay for an after hours party, and people like me who occasionally go to FL for work and want to try to spend some off time in the place that I have some of the strongest memories of my youth.

I really think if Epcot was open until midnight every day, like it used to be in the olden days, it's flaws would be much more noticeable.

Cutting park hours is yet another of the ways Disney avoids having to build attractions - the shorter the hours, the more you have to rush around to do what is there, the less time you have to think 'gee, is that it?'.

 

[WDW1974]

The snow means nothing to me. It's the extreme cold. When you get a couple weeks of high temperatures of 0 with a -25 wind chill, it makes you want to hibernate. I'll take 3 feet of snow and 25 degrees all winter long.

I hear ya there.

I spent almost two months in Germany (with a week in Paris) last winter and I was fine the entire time until my last weekend when we traveled 300 miles north to Berlin and arrived when it was eight degrees. I hadn't felt cold like that since I was about eight years old. The entire almost four days, it never went above 20, even with sunshine. I couldn't take that kind of cold at all.

 

[BrerJon]

Okay hold on for a second… Now baron mind I'm in the car, on Florida's Turnpike trying to read this in between stretches of traffic….

I love the fact that you were commenting on net neutrality while driving on a road that only those who pay more than normal can access, in order to cover distances faster than regular speeds allow.

 

[WDW1974]

Controversial opinion time: Skipper John should be removed from the company along with the three stooges and then better products may come about both parks and other divisions from the company.

I think that is an insane opinion.

John Lasseter is, truly, the closest thing to Walt at TWDC ... someone who cares, a creative with vision, and someone who not only led Pixar to being the top animation company on the planet, but then helped lead a rebuild of a near death WDFA that only resulted in Frozen.

The company would be far, far lesser sans JL.

And, understand this: his influence on P&R is often greatly exaggerated by fanbois. Not because he doesn't care or because Iger and Co don't want his input, but because he only has so much time. The only resort he has had significant input on ... again, the ONLY resort ... is DLR. And the major projects he had input on (BVS and CL at DCA ... well, I think they turned out just swell).

Losing John would be a huge blow to the company, devastating even.

 

[WDW1974]

The potential "Yeti" in Diagon Alley is a particular fog effect on EfG. When it works right, that part of the ride is extremely effective. When it doesn't, it's obvious. I've ridden EfG 4 times. Worked twice, didn't work twice. Keep a watch on that one.

Truth.

It also worked half the time when I was there a few weeks ago. And when it doesn't, it harms the ride arguably more than Disco Yeti (and I am in NO way advocating what Disney has allowed to happen there). It just has to work or the illusion is blown.