The Spirited Sixth Sense ...

[bhg469]

Yes, I said Fun With Tweets was done, but this really is special.
It takes a lot to have me ROTFLMFAO but this did. Should I get tees and pins made up saying Spirited Disney Menace to Society? Who would buy one?

Philip Kippel ‏@kippelphilip223 Mar 17
@DarthDopey @hintofspy Anyone who's a friend of WDW1974 is an enemy of mine! That guy is a menace to society!

I unfollowed one of those people recently. I find myself doing that more often, I guess you have a higher tolerance for the thoughts they spew. I guess I got tired of hearing about their life long achievement of marathon sessions on the people mover and then how wait staff at wdw know them by name..

 

[bhg469]

I remember looking at what he was putting on his twitter account and who he was communicating with over Winter and well what he was doing wasn't very PG almost into the deviant category.

After looking at that twitter closer he is almost certainly not a grounded individual. I will refrain from mocking him for fear of ending up on a milk carton.

 

[Lee]

Guess this makes me enemy number one. How childish.

I can be enemy number two!

Hey, hey....stand aside you two.
You can't bump me down the list until Kippel actually calls you out by name. Multiple times...

 

[Californian Elitist]

Hey, hey....stand aside you two.
You can't bump me down the list until Kippel actually calls you out by name. Multiple times...

Haha, good point! You're number one, by far.

 

[HM Spectre]

Why do people continue to go to WDW in larger numbers. Service is down and costs are way up.

We have been going to WDW since the early 90's. Last August we had a trip that was the worst one ever. It was so bad that we cancelled our Dec trip to WDW and went to DL instead. We have a May trip planned to WDW. If this trip isn't a lot better than the August trip, it will be our last trip.

I am sure that hordes of people will fill in our gap. Hopefully they will buy our DVC points for a nice premium. The only way to impact Disney is with $$$$.

If I keep my magic band in a metal box while at the parks, will it prevent the data mining?

It's a testament to the former product that they can water it down this much while raising prices and still attract guests.

The issue they run into is that as they scrimp more and more, the less they can rely on selling the product itself. Kind of like the "memories" campaign, they decide to sell you on intangible feelings and brand loyalty vs. actual offerings (or even worse, they market their new tracking system as Uni advertises Potter). That can't last forever.

Memories are great and all but they're formed by the special little moments of magic, ridiculous high quality and standards, etc that made WDW famous and made a WDW vacation stand out... all of which have proven to be very easy corners to cut for them.

It doesn't happen overnight but at some point, when Disney doesn't stand out like it used to (especially vs. the competition next door), "memories" can be made somewhere else that offers more bang for their buck. Even the mouse himself can only command so much loyalty.

 

[71jason]

Every friend that I have who lives in O-Town seems to be miserable. Some who work for Disney, some who work for UNI, some who work for themselves.

I honestly wish they'd all move away as fast as is possible because I don't believe what any of them are looking for can be found there.

I don't know your friends--well, I guess I know a couple of them, maybe even a few given LBV is really just a small town--but there's two things to keep in mind.

One, that's true of most everywhere in Florida, at least the transient tourist towns. Yankees and Heartlanders moving to Florida to escape their problems predates WDW by decades, but to quote Uncle Remus, "you can't run away from trouble, there's no place that far." People in the corrupt, drug-ridden hellhole that is Daytona always seemed far unhappier than anyone I've met in Orlando, and I had three friends move to Miami in the past 2 years--none are still there.

Two, how to put this delicately. The people in Orlando who ARE happy and enjoy life down here--they don't spend a lot of time on message boards and Twitter discussing WDW. They're too busy with their jobs and their families. The Disney fan community is self-created by people who can bother to be fanatical about Disney in the first place..

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

Just spent 6 days at DLR....I agree...The curse of Colglazier has attached itself to Disneyland. Each day I was there featured multi attraction downtimes. At one point, Pirates, Splash, Space, and DLRR were down at the same time. Another day Space, Indy, Mansion and Matterhorn were down. BTMRR was open for AP-ers and DVC members, but was constantly going down. Even the Mark Twain had to bypass passengers while mechanics jumped on board to correct whatever was causing it to limp along. (All the attractions listed above were down multiple times during my stay.) Fantasmic had major issues one night, including Mickey's fingers misfiring (leading to a restart of the show) and later, Maleficent stuck in her pit. Throughout the week, I heard many, many guests complaining about broken down attractions. Adding to the capacity pressure was that the Subs, Alice and Small World were down for refurbs (and Indy going down on Monday). Have maintenance budgets been cut, causing the attraction downtimes? Was that the MO of Colglazier at DAK? From my point of view, I'd guess so. Also noticed more than a few CM issues. While I usually find WDW CM's in a Disney haze, I found many DL CM's to be very curt when addressing guests. It seemed that all their patience was gone. I also noticed that while ALL Main Street transportation options were in operation daily (of which I highly approve), the operators seem to take pleasure in "almost" colliding with guests walking in the street. Especially the older gents driving the jitney and fire engine. I chuckled each time a guest would jump out of the way at the last second. I fear an accident in the future might cause some of these options to disappear if more caution isn't used in their operation. Finally, I noticed how long the grass was. Disney (both DL and WDW) always had well manicured lawns, but I noticed that DL's lawns were way past due for mowing. The most startling was at the entrance to the park in front of the train station. The blades of grass were so long, that they were actually bending over. Maybe the landscapers are just too busy repairing the damage to the flowers by the hundreds of ducks that seem to enjoy plowing through-and sleeping in-the planters.

I had a great time, but was generally surprised to find these issues (and many more) at DL.

This is so utterly disappointing to hear.

I hope they get the park together for the 60th. I'm planning on being there, both spring and autumn. WDW isn't getting my money until they earn it.

 

[NowInc]

Every friend that I have who lives in O-Town seems to be miserable. Some who work for Disney, some who work for UNI, some who work for themselves.

I honestly wish they'd all move away as fast as is possible because I don't believe what any of them are looking for can be found there.

I realized that years ago. I moved up there for work, but as soon as that work exhausted itself it was immediately back to south florida. The negatives to O-town are just too numerous to justify living there.

 

[bhg469]

I don't know your friends--well, I guess I know a couple of them, maybe even a few given LBV is really just a small town--but there's two things to keep in mind.

One, that's true of most everywhere in Florida, at least the transient tourist towns. Yankees and Heartlanders moving to Florida to escape their problems predates WDW by decades, but to quote Uncle Remus, "you can't run away from trouble, there's no place that far." People in the corrupt, drug-ridden hellhole that is Daytona always seemed far unhappier than anyone I've met in Orlando, and I had three friends move to Miami in the past 2 years--none are still there.

Two, how to put this delicately. The people in Orlando who ARE happy and enjoy life down here--they don't spend a lot of time on message boards and Twitter discussing WDW. They're too busy with their jobs and their families. The Disney fan community is self-created by people who can bother to be fanatical about Disney in the first place..

This past winter has broken my spirit. I love my clients in buffalo but if the opportunity comes along to service a possible client in Tampa I am sure going to jump at that. MLB is way more demanding but I am pretty busy up here as well.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

I realized that years ago. I moved up there for work, but as soon as that work exhausted itself it was immediately back to south florida. The negatives to O-town are just too numerous to justify living there.

I don't know guys. Everyone has a beef with where they live. But right now, Orlando sounds fantastic compared to this crapshoot. It's 31 degrees and I haven't seen sunshine in so long that I fear I've forgotten what it looks like.

This winter will never end.

 

[NowInc]

I don't know guys. Everyone has a beef with where they live. But right now, Orlando sounds fantastic compared to this crapshoot. It's 31 degrees and I haven't seen sunshine in so long that I fear I've forgotten what it looks like.

This winter will never end.

Thats why i moved SOUTH. Still warm, better job market, slightly less traffic (very slightly), and far less tourists (tho that has been steadily increasing these days). And hey, I get to drive by not one, but TWO disney cruise lines every day.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

Thats why i moved SOUTH. Still warm, better job market, slightly less traffic (very slightly), and far less tourists (tho that has been steadily increasing these days). And hey, I get to drive by not one, but TWO disney cruise lines every day.

If you don't mind me asking where did you end up?

 

[NowInc]

If you don't mind me asking where did you end up?

Living in North Fort Lauderdale, I work in Coral Gables (about a mile from the University of Miami). The commute is brutal, but you could never pay me enough to live in Miami.

 

[Fe Maiden]

OK, only one review, but not real happy to read this as I was very much looking forward to catching this on Broadway later this year.

http://variety.com/2014/legit/reviews/broadway-review-disney-aladdin-1201140780/

Skip Aladdin and go see Rocky.

 

[Soarin' Over Pgh]

I don't know guys. Everyone has a beef with where they live. But right now, Orlando sounds fantastic compared to this crapshoot. It's 31 degrees and I haven't seen sunshine in so long that I fear I've forgotten what it looks like.

This winter will never end.

Five minutes after I posted this it started to snow. Big, fat snowflakes.

It will never end.

 

[PhotoDave219]

A few final notes for the night ... I'll be here for a while, but between being ill for a month (nope, not dead yet ... sorry, Dr. Blondie, InoverherheadMeg and Weatherman -- Jenn should appreciate the fact I placed her with people she'll never be mentioned with again no matter if she lives to 115!), being so behind in so many things and, naturally, planning my Faux Top One Percent Spirited Spring Holiday Far, Far Away From WDW, I did want to mention I will be taking another sabbatical from MAGIC in the near future. But like a bad case of herpes, I always come back.

But that is down the road ... I will be here on into April.

Finally, what do you do when you have a friend whose life has been taken over by Twitter? When you really care, but don't know what to do and you don't have @Lee around and his HOT wife to help mellow you out at the intervention? Tweeting 28 hours a day isn't a problem, is it?

I would suggest taking them somewhere without Internet Access. Like a cruise. Or Universal.

 

[ford91exploder]

For those of you who may have wondered about this company, this story may give some insight into who Disney is in business with. As to the whys, well, I can't help you with that. Where would the fun be in that?

http://forbesindia.com/article/100-...-a-ciafunded-data-miner/36101/0#ixzz2gNYiwUoL

BTW, the company (someone I trust has told me) uses a scenario of evildoers blowing up the MK in parts of their sales pitch ... again ... you jump to your own conclusions as to what this has to do with NGE and MM+ ... BTW, I played around with it. So cool to book rides on Soarin from the sofa. What a revolution to the theme park industry.

I find it fascinating that the it's the INDIA edition of Forbes which brought this forward, Not the government lapdog press we have in 'Murica I find it disturbing that I need to get my news from BBC/Times of India and wait for it PRAVDA! Unfortunately Fox is the best of a bad lot in the US - the only thing that can be said about them is they are the only news organization which presents BOTH sides of the story.

How I long for the days of Walter Cronkite and Brinkly etc...

 

[PhotoDave219]

Every friend that I have who lives in O-Town seems to be miserable. Some who work for Disney, some who work for UNI, some who work for themselves.

I honestly wish they'd all move away as fast as is possible because I don't believe what any of them are looking for can be found there.

I have an escape plan....

 

[ford91exploder]

AAA sells isolation carrying cases for the Cards in their offices. A couple of different kinds. I didn't look that close because my degree of paranoia hasn't reached that high a level yet.

If you have done any information security work you would know that it's not if you are paranoid, It's are you paranoid ENOUGH, As the INFOSEC teams at several major retailers this holiday season were clearly insufficiently paranoid to satisfactorily perform their jobs.

 

[Goofyernmost]

If you have done any information security work you would know that it's not if you are paranoid, It's are you paranoid ENOUGH, As the INFOSEC teams at several major retailers this holiday season were clearly insufficiently paranoid to satisfactorily perform their jobs.

I suppose, but, no matter how hard I try, I cannot come up with anything that I do in a Theme Park that is going to come back to bite me. Other places, no problem, I will be as paranoid as anyone, but, WDW... sorry, it just isn't registering.

I don't care if they track me and I would think that whomever was tracking me would either quickly fall asleep or perish from boredom. If Disney decides to use a company that specializes in that type of thing as it relates to how they do business, then, silly me, I think it is a wise thing to do. Why not go with the experts. Seems like it would cut down considerably on the trial and error aspect.

Face it, one way or the other they are going to track us in an effort to see what they can do to help encourage us to spend more money, or ease crowding in certain areas, but, for the life of me, nothing comes to mind that even remotely alarms me.