The Spirited Seventh Heaven ...

[Crafty]

A Spirited serious question to all the folks who still have pixie dust in their eyes: what currently going on at WDW has you excited enough to burn through thousands of dollars by visiting in 2014 or 2015?

We own AKV DVC and love to stay there. Sitting on the balcony and watching animals come and go is priceless. The night vision goggles experience was interesting.

The parks, though, not so much.

At EPCOT there is nothing I want to ride and the world shops seem to have the same stuff year after year. We have never been to Food and Wine and so we might try that.

At DHS we like the Star Tours ride and the Mermaid show. We were pretty disappointed in Star Wars Weekend. We had an insanely overpriced meal at Hollywood and Vine. I am still muttering about value received for money spent.

At MK I like the retro rides the best. The new show where they project it onto the castle is worth seeing. Also liked the fire breathing dragon.

Haven't been to the AK in a while. There is a shortage of air conditioning and I am sensitive to the heat. My daughter went on the Kilimanjaro Safari and was impressed. When they add nighttime hours, we will reevaluate.

On our next trip we will stay at AKV Kidani and go to Universal to see the Harry Potter additions. We are all excited to ride the Hogwarts Express and see Gringotts Bank.

Speaking of thousands of dollars, it is very easy to spend that much. The magic bands make it even easier. We won't spend that much on our next trip. We are pretty experienced and know how to cut costs. Even with care, it is very expensive. Don't get me started about the dinner at Hollywood and Vine. It won't be pretty.

 

[Crazydisneyfanluke]

A Spirited serious question to all the folks who still have pixie dust in their eyes: what currently going on at WDW has you excited enough to burn through thousands of dollars by visiting in 2014 or 2015?

Everyone at WDW talking about DL and TDL.

 

[GoofGoof]

A Spirited serious question to all the folks who still have pixie dust in their eyes: what currently going on at WDW has you excited enough to burn through thousands of dollars by visiting in 2014 or 2015?

Serious answer: sadly, there isn't much new to get me too excited. I'll hopefully ride Mine Train on my next trip (I might need to break out the thigh master to slim down the legs). Other than that not much new going on. I still love the classics so I'll enjoy those and I love the resorts. My main motivation for dropping thousands on these trips is probably mostly my kids (4 and 7). They still think WDW is amazing, magical and perfect (they also still believe in Santa and the toothe fairy). I probably enjoy watching them experience WDW more than experiencing it myself. We like to do other things for vacation too which is why we won't be back to WDW in 2014, but I'm already thinking about a 2015 trip even with nothing substantial coming between then and now. In a few years when I think I can stomach a 6 hour flight to CA with them I'll be taking the kids to DLR, but until then WDW is where we get our Disney fix.

WDW isn't perfect. It has seen better days. @ParentsOf4 post about the decline in reinvestment was pretty telling. I remember the Disney decade. I remember going back and having so much new to check out every visit. Multiple rides, new resorts, even whole new parks. There was even a section on the official WDW website where you could enter the date of your last visit and it would give you all of the new stuff that opened since then so you wouldn't miss anything. I haven't checked in a long while, but I'm assuming that feature is gone. I'm still hopeful that we can some day see a return to a time of growth and free spending. Until then I'll continue to enjoy the parks with my kids and remember the good old days. Nostalgia is a powerful thing.

 

[GoofGoof]

Any of y'all see (or attempt) to see whatever Disney was doing with Mark Hamil? I wonder if he's at the BW with the rest of the 'talent'?

I found him:

I'm thinking he'd rather be frozen in carbonite or even thrown in the pit of Sarlacc and slowly digested over 1,000 years

 

[the.dreamfinder]

So did Teddy Newton leave Pixar?
https://twitter.com/LinoD/status/475065260823412736

 

[Kman101]

Not much is drawing me to the parks. I've been back a few times this year simply because it had been quite a while since I have been, and have had some decent down time lately to be able to. The weekday pass was a birthday gift so if not for that, I probably wouldn't be going at all this year, except on the off-chance of maybe a couple of days. So to get use out of the pass I'll be back a few times after this summer (the pass is blocked from now through August 14th), which suits me fine. No desire to walk the parks in that heat and not much new to bother checking out. Since I have the pass I'll at least check out the new Harambe section later (Animal Kingdom, aside from a few minor problems, is well themed and I've always enjoyed walking around there), attend the villains money grab (I know ... I know ... lol) and maybe a few Eat the Beat "concerts" at Epcot simply because I have the pass. I also wanted to give the magic bands a go. I hate to say it but I can't complain about it really. Haven't had an issue with it at all and it's been nice to book FP's day of, switch around times, etc. It has some nice functions. Necessary? Not really.

It was also interesting to check out the 24 hour event last month. And I guess to finally check out "new Fantasyland" (and while the Mine Train was a fun little coaster, I could have waited on all of that, really. Maybe by 2016/2017 we'll see the Mermaid makeover).

I'll give them some kudos for the new MK parade. It's enjoyable to me, but not necessarily "go out of my way to see".

But again, I highly doubt I'll be in the World next year after my pass expires in May (I'm planning my second trip to Anaheim next year, been way too long, so my money is going to that Disney park, it would have been this year but I'll wait for the 60th stuff, whatever that may be). After that, I'll probably still skip the World (despite it being about an hour away from me) in 2016 (unless miracles happen in terms of new things, which doesn't seem likely apart from Rivers of Light, but there's YouTube for that and I can see it in 2017), and likely try and give Tokyo a go. 2017 I'll probably head back to the World.

It's pretty sad when you can go years (and I mean several years) without visiting WDW and not much changes. Really sad, actually. And still seeing the same problems.

 

[Mike S]

I found him:

I'm thinking he'd rather be frozen in carbonite or even thrown in the pit of Sarlacc and slowly digested over 1,000 years

Speaking of Mark Hamill at SWW I saw this earlier and had a good laugh.

 

[Animaniac93-98]

Mark Hamill is my favourite Joker.

 

[truecoat]

Spirited Friday Afternoon Quickees:How far we have come : Gay Days are going on and beyond a hater that can afford a banner plane, all is quiet. Not even a thread here. Frankly, that's just the way it should be.

I am amused every time I see a plane, billboard or sign like that. Another ignorant person wasting their money and making me laugh.

Will someone let me know when Soup and Salad Sandra writes her first WDW story? I'd like to critique it here.

I love this nickname.

Anybody go to Disney Stores at all? I haven't been to one since picking up a gift card last year.

It should be called the Disney Kid Store. Nothing for anyone over 10 except for blu ray or dvd. I guess they are trying to bring this image to the parks too.

So, none of the Star Wars fanbois here have an opinion over Disney's film deal with Abu Dhabi? But you do have opinions over whether Hoth is cooler than Endor? Why ... Why do. I bother?

Return of the Jedi filmed the tatooine scenes in the Yuma desert of Arizona. It's a money grab plain and simple. Human rights? Hollywood cares about that when there's an Oscar on the line.

 

[truecoat]

Thus again.. showing your plain ignorance of Norway and it's demographics. I'd just let it go if i were you...

As for the age comment.. I probably incorrectly crossed you with jakester - sorry about that. I have a confession... I can't keep all these posters separate when everyone has usernames off the same root. Like... for all you posters that start with Goof<something> sorry - you all get lumped together in my memory.

Flynnibus, you make me laugh.

 

[truecoat]

As I have stated in other threads, my visits were 1985, 1986, 1992 and half a day in 2013 (part of a cruise). I don't go multiple times a year. A few years ago before Kid 1 was born in 2008 my wife and I were planning a WDW trip and that line of thought stopped dead cold when the kid was born. We said we would do it in a few years when she was older, then a few years later Kid 2 was born and once again we pushed it down the road a few years. In 2012 when DCL annouced cruises out of Galveston we jumped on that, and then again in the Spring of 2013. The thought there was we could easily cruise with the kids without much trouble. Unlike many people I just hated the thought of pushing kids in a stroller over the course of a week at WDW. Board a cruise ship and you do your thing, go back to the cabin when the kids get tired... repeat.

Up until a couple of weeks ago I was seriously shopping a DLR vacation. Why?

• Because the previous advantage that WDW had, in my mind, of more to do with 4 parks has been minimized with the addition of DCA. Fro
• I have a 3 1/2 year old boy. He is uhhh kinda into Cars a little bit.
• We live in Texas. There is no geographic advantage to going to WDW over DLR. Its pretty much a draw as far as distance is concerned.
• I like the idea of being able to walk from whatever hotel we choose to a park.
• From what I have read, there seems to be a great deal less planning when at DLR over WDW and I like that. I just would like to go and see how the day goes.

However, DCL announced their plans for the rest of 2015. DCL is returning to Galveston for a few weeks and once again we jumped on that. So anything I can do without dealing with airplanes or airports with two kids is a plus for me.

We are spending thousands of dollars in 2015 to cruise on the Wonder for 6 days. We will get to spend a week on the ship in all its Christmas splendor. (something aside from a transatlantic or Panama Canal cruise that I really wanted to do). The best thing of all is we are not telling the kids. They will NOT know anything about this until we park to board the ship.

WDW has nothing as far as I am concerned to make it more appealing than DLR or DCL. I do want my kids to experience the parks, one or the other or both, but from my perspective I had rather spend time and money on a ship.

It would interesting to hear your opinions of DLR as a first time visitor.

 

[dhall]

Still waiting for the last bill from my daughter's wedding in May so I can tally up the total cost - it felt like I was hemorrhaging cash! And the start date on my kitchen redo is in August - just paid the first draw. And finally, my youngest has one more year of college. So no, no big trips this year.

But a trip to Oxford, England (my daughter and son-in-law's new home) is definitely in the planning stages.

We just got back -- Oxford was a really nice side-trip. Really liked wandering around the different colleges, but we happened to go on a Monday when many of the museums were closed.

 

[jakeman]

Thus again.. showing your plain ignorance of Norway and it's demographics. I'd just let it go if i were you...

As for the age comment.. I probably incorrectly crossed you with jakester - sorry about that. I have a confession... I can't keep all these posters separate when everyone has usernames off the same root. Like... for all you posters that start with Goof<something> sorry - you all get lumped together in my memory.

I never said I was an expert on Norway, that was you.

And it's okay, I don't think much of you either.

 

[Goofyernmost]

flynnibus said: ↑
Thus again.. showing your plain ignorance of Norway and it's demographics. I'd just let it go if i were you...

As for the age comment.. I probably incorrectly crossed you with jakester - sorry about that. I have a confession... I can't keep all these posters separate when everyone has usernames off the same root. Like... for all you posters that start with Goof<something> sorry - you all get lumped together in my memory.

Funny thing... all posters that have a name that start with "Fly in a bus", or something like that, get all messed up in my mind.

 

[Goofywilliam]

I tend not to make assumptions about an entire country based on my experience, regardless of how extensive, with only one city.

I would hate if all of Michigan was judge on Detroit. I'm sure the converse is true for most of the residents of Austin and the general perception of Texas. I've lived in Raleigh all my life and we don't even have the same barbeque in the next county over.

Countries are made of people and people are different and I'm not going to hold one country to a singular standard based on one person's observation.

So true, especially about the barbecue I'm from just north of Raleigh and it's crazy how competitive people are about the barbecue here (you can't go wrong with Smithfields though)

 

[GoofGoof]

I have nothing to add...just trying to confuse @flynnibus with 3 goof posters in a row

 

[dhall]

Spirited Friday Afternoon Quickees:
Anybody go to Disney Stores at all? I haven't been to one since picking up a gift card last year.

I don't think I get inside a Mall more than once a year now: if I hit one of the anchors, I park right outside & leave when I'm done. Disney Store's problems are bigger than just their own mismanagement.

 

[bhg469]

I have nothing to add...just trying to confuse @flynnibus with 3 goof posters in a row

I'm not a good but I approve this post!

 

[Goofywilliam]

Anybody go to Disney Stores at all? I haven't been to one since picking up a gift card last year.

Walked into my local disney store the other day and it still had the typical merchandise. The princesses have raided the store with all sorts of dolls and dresses but surprisingly there wasn't much frozen merchandise other than this craft thing. I enjoy looking through the vinylmation and movies but that's about it. The kids sure do love that giant stage/table of stuffed animals. The store could use some serious dusting. It's the old style with the animatronics all up on top of the shelves and the window scenes. Hopefully they will address that soon. The cast members were also very nice.

 

[dhall]

A Spirited serious question to all the folks who still have pixie dust in their eyes: what currently going on at WDW has you excited enough to burn through thousands of dollars by visiting in 2014 or 2015?

Personally? My next Disney trip is either to California in 18 months or so, or Paris (maybe next spring, but that's fairly unlikely). My next Orlando trip will be Universal only (never been to either park).