I want to finish up this DisAd business and get back to the forensics universe.
There isn’t much to say about Animal Kingdom. We rode the rides, we saw the animals, we ate lunch in the shade. That night we stuck to the theme and went to Boma’s for dinner. Disappointingly, the cocktail lounge there no longer has its own drinks as it did last time; there had been some great ones there. Not that this stopped us, but when Disney cuts back on something unique, well, I can’t ever think that’s a good thing. Like there’s no more literal rope drop in MK, for instance, and no Mickey-hand waving on the way in. That’s small stuff, but the details are what make Disney Disney. Anyhow, as we were drinking away, Kaz returned, and our merry little band was whole again.
Friday was Hollywood Studios. Again, we did all there was to do, pretty much. O’C started out spending a lot of time going on Star Tours, which is new since our last visit, and which now mixes and matches possible experiences. He was wearing his Darth Mickey Ears, and by about the hundredth trip the ride operators were pretty much convinced that his guy was Nerd Numero Uno without a friend in the world. So when we all showed up with him later in the day, needless so say, we pretended we didn’t know him. (Not true, of course; in fact, even I stocked up on merch at Tatooine Traders.) In fact, because of the variations, the whole load of us rode ST twice, and it was indeed different. Another very nice upgrade. Another fun thing was watching the paduwan training. Little kids who could barely hold their little sabers in battle with Darth Vader. Highly entertaining and cute. Later in the day O’C got picked to be color in the Indy stunt show, which made his day on face, until he was there in the hot sun in a caftan for an hour waving his arms around; it always adds a pall to the day when they carry the extras out on a stretcher. After a longish day, Liz and I slipped out and met up with JV back at the hotel lounge. A nice glass of wine and a little salad instead of Fantasmic? Just this once, you betcha!
Saturday was our valediction, a bit of a sleep in and later start on Epcot. Liz and I tried the Behind the Seeds walking tour of The Land, a really interesting change of pace. OC and I agreed that next time (???) we’d do backstage at MK. Doing Seeds meant skipping Captain EO. Thank God! Then we did all the countries we hadn’t already done, snacking, eating, watching movies, shopping, etc., wrapping it all up with the now traditional (except next time I want to go somewhere else) dinner at Germany and, of course, Illuminations.
After the DiDeAd four years ago, it seemed as if the stars had come together just right, and that the fun would never happen again. That was not true. The stars were in whatever was the right conjunction, and the proverbial lightning did strike twice. 8 people, many but not all of them of the forensician persuasion, can come together for four days of peace and love and rock and roll—wait a minute. Wrong event. And it’s more like ten days of fun in the sun under Disney skies, provided a little planning to avoid lines and to secure good food is spent ahead of time.
In other words, as far as I could tell, a splendid time was had by all.
Showing posts with label Disney. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disney. Show all posts
Monday, September 01, 2014
Friday, August 29, 2014
In which we swim, golf, eat, clog, ooh and ahh and consider assassinating the ten-year-olds who beat the crap out of us
Our second full day at WDW was a day off. Some of us went to Blizzard Beach and spent the morning flying down waterslides. Some of us went to Winter Park to look at Tiffany objects. O’C met up with friends for brunch. In other words, one does what one wants on the day off.
Blizzard Beach is fun, but like anything else, get there early before it crowds up. The 4 of us who went were only slowed down by the need to climb every mountain from which the slides commence. By noon, though, our quittin’ time, there were lines going up those mountains. By then I was navigating the lazy river portion of the experience. The others had gone on for a little more tobogganing before lazy rivering themselves.
By now, btw, Kaz had gone off to Lexington to learn how to be a teacher in her new job. Despite the fact that many of us would have offered expert testimony that this initiation was unnecessary, she was gone from Monday night to Thursday. This means she missed out on the Mini-Golf Tournament. We played at Winter/Summer Land, which is attached to Blizzard Beach. Lots of Santa and snow. After last summer’s hard fought battle in the shadow of Stuyvesant, the heat was on, but I managed to bring my record against Vaughan to one-one. We need a tiebreaker. Are there any tournaments on the circuit near to any mini-golf venues? That’s definitely a problem debate needs to solve.
That night we visited the Boardwalk and ate Greek food at the soon-to-close Cat Kora’s. It was pretty good, but not to die for. The next day was the first of two at Epcot. The new version of Test Track is a dramatic improvement over the original. You get to design your own car and that is what you are testing during the attraction. I went on with JV, who was thoroughly pissed that the two ten-year-olds sitting behind us designed a better car than we did. (Not that Joe is competitive or anything.) Then there’s a design-you-own-ride called Sum of All Thrills, sort of a hidden attraction, lots of fun. Then Space and, of course, Soarin’. After that, over to England, Japan and, for lunch, Morocco. And by now it’s way into the afternoon, and time for a nap, since the night’s entertainment was Raglan Road (Irish dinner with clog dancers), followed by Cirque de Soleil. Fantastic evening all around. Cirque is always a big crowd pleaser. The clog dancers were pretty good too, and the six of us had to tie Vaughan down to keep him from joining them, as he claims to have spent his entire youth in clog classes. Whatever.
I will point out that by now we were taking a relatively easy pace through the parks. They were no longer as crowded as they had been, plus by their nature, the parks other than MK at WDW are easier to handle. Even if there were no lines at all, I can’t imagine doing everything at MK in one day. Then again, at this point in my Disney life, I can survive skipping an attraction that I’ve already done. There’s always next time.
By the way, I've posted some pix of Universal on FB. I'll get the WDW ones up by the end of the weekend.
Blizzard Beach is fun, but like anything else, get there early before it crowds up. The 4 of us who went were only slowed down by the need to climb every mountain from which the slides commence. By noon, though, our quittin’ time, there were lines going up those mountains. By then I was navigating the lazy river portion of the experience. The others had gone on for a little more tobogganing before lazy rivering themselves.
By now, btw, Kaz had gone off to Lexington to learn how to be a teacher in her new job. Despite the fact that many of us would have offered expert testimony that this initiation was unnecessary, she was gone from Monday night to Thursday. This means she missed out on the Mini-Golf Tournament. We played at Winter/Summer Land, which is attached to Blizzard Beach. Lots of Santa and snow. After last summer’s hard fought battle in the shadow of Stuyvesant, the heat was on, but I managed to bring my record against Vaughan to one-one. We need a tiebreaker. Are there any tournaments on the circuit near to any mini-golf venues? That’s definitely a problem debate needs to solve.
That night we visited the Boardwalk and ate Greek food at the soon-to-close Cat Kora’s. It was pretty good, but not to die for. The next day was the first of two at Epcot. The new version of Test Track is a dramatic improvement over the original. You get to design your own car and that is what you are testing during the attraction. I went on with JV, who was thoroughly pissed that the two ten-year-olds sitting behind us designed a better car than we did. (Not that Joe is competitive or anything.) Then there’s a design-you-own-ride called Sum of All Thrills, sort of a hidden attraction, lots of fun. Then Space and, of course, Soarin’. After that, over to England, Japan and, for lunch, Morocco. And by now it’s way into the afternoon, and time for a nap, since the night’s entertainment was Raglan Road (Irish dinner with clog dancers), followed by Cirque de Soleil. Fantastic evening all around. Cirque is always a big crowd pleaser. The clog dancers were pretty good too, and the six of us had to tie Vaughan down to keep him from joining them, as he claims to have spent his entire youth in clog classes. Whatever.
I will point out that by now we were taking a relatively easy pace through the parks. They were no longer as crowded as they had been, plus by their nature, the parks other than MK at WDW are easier to handle. Even if there were no lines at all, I can’t imagine doing everything at MK in one day. Then again, at this point in my Disney life, I can survive skipping an attraction that I’ve already done. There’s always next time.
By the way, I've posted some pix of Universal on FB. I'll get the WDW ones up by the end of the weekend.
Thursday, August 28, 2014
In which the DisAd hits MK
We kicked off at Magic Kingdom, the most Disney of the WDW parks.
The day begins early, of course. You don’t go to Orlando to sleep in. One needs to be inside the gate at 15 minutes prior to opening to watch the welcome ceremony, which puts one in the proper Disney state of mind. Then follows the all-important first hour of E tickets. The best way not to wait on long lines at any park is to hit as many E-ticket attractions as possible within the first hour. This means moving along swiftly, but it pays off in the end. By ten o’clock we had done Space, Splash and Thunder plus Under the Sea (or whatever they call it). Then we headed to Haunted Mansion, a whole 20 minute wait, and the worst of the day. After that is was mostly walk-ons, thanks to having dispensed with the biggies, or scheduled FastPasses for them later in the day.
In the new FastPass+ system, you sign up in advance, so that’s another 3 E-tix, if you play it right. It was obvious that a lot of noobs were in the parks, especially on MK day (a reported 8 out of 10 crowd, per Touringplans.com). I mean, what’s the point of a FastPass for Space Mountain at 9:00 a.m. when you can just walk right on? Or what’s the point for a FastPass for an attraction that never has much of a wait any time of the day? Successful navigation of Disney parks requires a combination of Unofficial Guide planning, time management and FastPass savvy. Regulars know all this, but irregulars don’t. One morning we had off, we went to breakfast at our hotel at around 9:00 and the place was packed. These are the people who, later in the day, will be waiting an hour for a two-minute ride. I encourage them to maintain their late-sleeping habits, at least when I’m on property.
New stuff at MK? 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, a cute and short little kiddie coaster cum dark ride, not worth waiting for, but since it’s new, the line for this was humongous (in the sun in the heat). The aforementioned Little Mermaid, a simple dark ride writ large, also cute. Some kiddie and princess stuff we didn’t do (except for O’C, who after waiting half an hour for Cinderella’s signature examined said signature with all the tools of the graphologist’s trade to assure that it was the same as the signature of Cinderella 4 years ago, even though, as I’ve repeated ad nauseum, there is no Cinderella, and if there were, it isn’t her). Tiki Room back under old management, enjoyable to any Disney nostalgic. And I think that’s about it. Otherwise it’s the same old same old that we always love. It was a long day, ending with the electrical parade and fireworks and, oh yeah, one other new thing, a son et lumiere projecting images on the Castle, which was way cool.
And so to bed, with most of us having made it through the whole day. And one important note: Part of our traveling includes knocking little kids and invalids out of the way on our way to the exit buses. Please note that my attempt to take a shortcut through the Emporium was stymied by one doofus ambling along as if he was shopping or something. Those aisles are narrow and there’s no play, unlike Main Street where there’s always an opening. This is wisdom for the ages, people!
The day begins early, of course. You don’t go to Orlando to sleep in. One needs to be inside the gate at 15 minutes prior to opening to watch the welcome ceremony, which puts one in the proper Disney state of mind. Then follows the all-important first hour of E tickets. The best way not to wait on long lines at any park is to hit as many E-ticket attractions as possible within the first hour. This means moving along swiftly, but it pays off in the end. By ten o’clock we had done Space, Splash and Thunder plus Under the Sea (or whatever they call it). Then we headed to Haunted Mansion, a whole 20 minute wait, and the worst of the day. After that is was mostly walk-ons, thanks to having dispensed with the biggies, or scheduled FastPasses for them later in the day.
In the new FastPass+ system, you sign up in advance, so that’s another 3 E-tix, if you play it right. It was obvious that a lot of noobs were in the parks, especially on MK day (a reported 8 out of 10 crowd, per Touringplans.com). I mean, what’s the point of a FastPass for Space Mountain at 9:00 a.m. when you can just walk right on? Or what’s the point for a FastPass for an attraction that never has much of a wait any time of the day? Successful navigation of Disney parks requires a combination of Unofficial Guide planning, time management and FastPass savvy. Regulars know all this, but irregulars don’t. One morning we had off, we went to breakfast at our hotel at around 9:00 and the place was packed. These are the people who, later in the day, will be waiting an hour for a two-minute ride. I encourage them to maintain their late-sleeping habits, at least when I’m on property.
New stuff at MK? 7 Dwarfs Mine Train, a cute and short little kiddie coaster cum dark ride, not worth waiting for, but since it’s new, the line for this was humongous (in the sun in the heat). The aforementioned Little Mermaid, a simple dark ride writ large, also cute. Some kiddie and princess stuff we didn’t do (except for O’C, who after waiting half an hour for Cinderella’s signature examined said signature with all the tools of the graphologist’s trade to assure that it was the same as the signature of Cinderella 4 years ago, even though, as I’ve repeated ad nauseum, there is no Cinderella, and if there were, it isn’t her). Tiki Room back under old management, enjoyable to any Disney nostalgic. And I think that’s about it. Otherwise it’s the same old same old that we always love. It was a long day, ending with the electrical parade and fireworks and, oh yeah, one other new thing, a son et lumiere projecting images on the Castle, which was way cool.
And so to bed, with most of us having made it through the whole day. And one important note: Part of our traveling includes knocking little kids and invalids out of the way on our way to the exit buses. Please note that my attempt to take a shortcut through the Emporium was stymied by one doofus ambling along as if he was shopping or something. Those aisles are narrow and there’s no play, unlike Main Street where there’s always an opening. This is wisdom for the ages, people!
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
In which the DisAd switches venues
Arriving at WDW is way different from arriving at Universal. WDW is the size of Romania, for one thing. You drive quite a bit from the moment you enter the grounds to the moment you find your hotel. And once you enter those grounds, you know you are at Disney. It just feels like Disney, from start to finish. The underlying tissue missing at Universal is at WDW in spades. And keep in mind that, while figures on an individual park are hard to find (Disney groups the parks together), each one generates about a billion dollars revenue a year. There’s 4 parks at WDW, i.e., four billion dollars. Magic Kingdom gets about 19 million visitors a year (all of whom are often on line in front of you for Space Mountain). August is not a peak period, but the parks are far from empty. So let’s say that MK generated $4 million the day we were there, spent by about 50 thousand people. One park, one day. So while one is in awe of the physical plant that services a crowd of this magnitude (roughly times 4, daily, on an average day), one still feels that sense of "Disney reassurance" that certain critics have written about. I won’t go into that now myself. I just bring all this up because, predictably, at some point the members of the DisAd looked around and said Wow and started googling facts and figures to try to get a handle on it. Even people who hate Disney from the bottom of their souls are encouraged to go and study it just in terms of management of crowds, machines, hotels, restaurants, entertainment, etc. Tis a wonder.
We stayed at Coronado Springs, one of the moderate hotels. It’s the biggest of this category because it caters to business conferences, and at times one wished one were at one of the more intimate spots. The rooms are all the same no matter where you are, however, presumably short of the Grand High Poohbah Suite at Swan and Dolphin, and one doesn’t spend a lot of time in one’s room wondering what to do to pass the time, so ultimately it doesn’t matter much. The first thing most of us did on arrival was hit the quiet pool near our room, something repeated for the rest of the week at every likely possibility. When it’s almost a hundred degrees out, a dip in the pool is just the thing, even if the water is hotter than your shower that morning. Wet is wet.
Our inaugural WDW dinner was at California Grill, at the top of the Contemporary Hotel. This is a classy joint with a view of the MK to die for (and to stay for, if you want to watch the fireworks). Because we were celebrating about a hundred events, including an anniversary and a (belated) honeymoon, they decorated our table with little Mickey tinsel. Jason, our waiter, was memorable, and we went so far as to get our picture with him. The wine flowed like wine, the food flowed like food, and the main portion of the trip was underway. And so to bed early, for a c of d start the next morning.
We stayed at Coronado Springs, one of the moderate hotels. It’s the biggest of this category because it caters to business conferences, and at times one wished one were at one of the more intimate spots. The rooms are all the same no matter where you are, however, presumably short of the Grand High Poohbah Suite at Swan and Dolphin, and one doesn’t spend a lot of time in one’s room wondering what to do to pass the time, so ultimately it doesn’t matter much. The first thing most of us did on arrival was hit the quiet pool near our room, something repeated for the rest of the week at every likely possibility. When it’s almost a hundred degrees out, a dip in the pool is just the thing, even if the water is hotter than your shower that morning. Wet is wet.
Our inaugural WDW dinner was at California Grill, at the top of the Contemporary Hotel. This is a classy joint with a view of the MK to die for (and to stay for, if you want to watch the fireworks). Because we were celebrating about a hundred events, including an anniversary and a (belated) honeymoon, they decorated our table with little Mickey tinsel. Jason, our waiter, was memorable, and we went so far as to get our picture with him. The wine flowed like wine, the food flowed like food, and the main portion of the trip was underway. And so to bed early, for a c of d start the next morning.
Monday, August 25, 2014
In which we begin debriefing DisAd14
So first I guess we need to get the DisAd out of the way.
We arrived from the four corners of the earth (i.e., New York) on a Friday and met up at the pool of our hotel at Universal. To put it simply, it was hotter than Hades, and remained that way for the duration. Occasionally the skies opened up and the winds howled and you were reminded of India during the height of monsoon season, but mostly it was just hot and humid. To expect otherwise of Florida in August would be sort of, I don’t know, Polyanna-esque? Anyhow, after swimming off the muck of air travel, we moseyed on over to Emeril’s for our welcome dinner. It was much better grub than you might expect, and we were primed and loaded for the next day.
Staying on property at Universal gives you two things: access to the Harry Potter attractions an hour before the park opens to the riff and the raff, and line-passing for all the other attractions for the duration. This meant getting up at the c of d on Saturday, but the payoff would be not waiting two or three hours for the HP rides. Definitely worth it. Of course, on our way in Saturday, three of our hearty troupe got separated, confusing Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley (some people just aren’t up on their Pottering), but a quick trip on the Hogwarts Express solved that one. The main agenda was Diagon Alley and the Gringotts attraction, and in a word, it’s amazing. You walk through the bricks and there you are. And the ride was by far one of the best around. After that, we (logically) rambled over to track 9 3/4 and rode the HE over to Hogsmeade. A few of us rode the dragon coasters. Fewer of us rode and rerode them. Then we looked at the line for Hogwarts and it wasn’t that long, so we staggered over there on legs still loosey goosey from the dragons, with the words of Sheryl K ringing in our ears that it was not much more than Soarin’ in its kindness and gentleness. It’s a great ride and all, but by the time it was over, at least Vaughan and I were reeling like drunken sailors on day three of shore leave. Apparently as the ride vehicle (so to speak) comes around after the passengers have disembarked, there’s a team with power hoses washing off the vomit, a tiny fact Kaz somehow overlooked. After digesting her review of Hurlwarts, more than a few of us vowed never to believe a word she said ever again. We also vowed next time not to ride the dragons first (or maybe at all). By the time we scraped ourselves off the pavement to line up for butterbeer, Kaz, who was with the wandering group, reappeared, and we beat the crap out of her with broomsticks. Butterbeer, by the way, is very sweet and probably best taken as an ice cream flavor. Somewhere in all of this I bought myself a Slytherin cap, but the maid at the Disney World hotel stole it—which makes cosmic sense to me—so you won’t see me wearing it at tournaments any time soon.
After filling up on HP, we did various other Islands of Adventures things, reminding ourselves that Spiderman remains one of the great dark rides. Having gotten soaked on Jurassic Park, we found some lunch and moseyed back to the hotel for a break just as the monsoon du jour started. A short nap later we were back at the other side, doing all the rest of the rides and whatever. Having gotten all of HP out of the way, we didn’t need to get up so early the next day, which was nice, and all in all, we did Universal efficiently and to the proper extent. There was a lot of fun stuff. Despicable Me and Shrek were cute. The Mummy was so good we did it twice. The Simpsons Ride was up there on the Gringotts/Spiderman level, and it’s hilarious from the moment you get into the line. If Back to the Future had to go, at least it went here. The new Transformers ride had a narrative that was completely incoherent, making it A) predictably Michael Bay, and B) a pale imitation of Spiderman. Oh, well.
Overall, with the exception of the HP areas, the theming of which is astounding, Universal remains a place with a lot of fun attractions, but no underlying tissue holding it together. I would recommend anyone interested in going to do what we did. Stay on property for the benefits of early and/or line-free access, in which case you’ll be able to wrap it up in a day and a half, as we did. It was a perfect start for the trip, and mid-afternoon on Sunday we packed up and headed over to WDW.
We arrived from the four corners of the earth (i.e., New York) on a Friday and met up at the pool of our hotel at Universal. To put it simply, it was hotter than Hades, and remained that way for the duration. Occasionally the skies opened up and the winds howled and you were reminded of India during the height of monsoon season, but mostly it was just hot and humid. To expect otherwise of Florida in August would be sort of, I don’t know, Polyanna-esque? Anyhow, after swimming off the muck of air travel, we moseyed on over to Emeril’s for our welcome dinner. It was much better grub than you might expect, and we were primed and loaded for the next day.
Staying on property at Universal gives you two things: access to the Harry Potter attractions an hour before the park opens to the riff and the raff, and line-passing for all the other attractions for the duration. This meant getting up at the c of d on Saturday, but the payoff would be not waiting two or three hours for the HP rides. Definitely worth it. Of course, on our way in Saturday, three of our hearty troupe got separated, confusing Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley (some people just aren’t up on their Pottering), but a quick trip on the Hogwarts Express solved that one. The main agenda was Diagon Alley and the Gringotts attraction, and in a word, it’s amazing. You walk through the bricks and there you are. And the ride was by far one of the best around. After that, we (logically) rambled over to track 9 3/4 and rode the HE over to Hogsmeade. A few of us rode the dragon coasters. Fewer of us rode and rerode them. Then we looked at the line for Hogwarts and it wasn’t that long, so we staggered over there on legs still loosey goosey from the dragons, with the words of Sheryl K ringing in our ears that it was not much more than Soarin’ in its kindness and gentleness. It’s a great ride and all, but by the time it was over, at least Vaughan and I were reeling like drunken sailors on day three of shore leave. Apparently as the ride vehicle (so to speak) comes around after the passengers have disembarked, there’s a team with power hoses washing off the vomit, a tiny fact Kaz somehow overlooked. After digesting her review of Hurlwarts, more than a few of us vowed never to believe a word she said ever again. We also vowed next time not to ride the dragons first (or maybe at all). By the time we scraped ourselves off the pavement to line up for butterbeer, Kaz, who was with the wandering group, reappeared, and we beat the crap out of her with broomsticks. Butterbeer, by the way, is very sweet and probably best taken as an ice cream flavor. Somewhere in all of this I bought myself a Slytherin cap, but the maid at the Disney World hotel stole it—which makes cosmic sense to me—so you won’t see me wearing it at tournaments any time soon.
After filling up on HP, we did various other Islands of Adventures things, reminding ourselves that Spiderman remains one of the great dark rides. Having gotten soaked on Jurassic Park, we found some lunch and moseyed back to the hotel for a break just as the monsoon du jour started. A short nap later we were back at the other side, doing all the rest of the rides and whatever. Having gotten all of HP out of the way, we didn’t need to get up so early the next day, which was nice, and all in all, we did Universal efficiently and to the proper extent. There was a lot of fun stuff. Despicable Me and Shrek were cute. The Mummy was so good we did it twice. The Simpsons Ride was up there on the Gringotts/Spiderman level, and it’s hilarious from the moment you get into the line. If Back to the Future had to go, at least it went here. The new Transformers ride had a narrative that was completely incoherent, making it A) predictably Michael Bay, and B) a pale imitation of Spiderman. Oh, well.
Overall, with the exception of the HP areas, the theming of which is astounding, Universal remains a place with a lot of fun attractions, but no underlying tissue holding it together. I would recommend anyone interested in going to do what we did. Stay on property for the benefits of early and/or line-free access, in which case you’ll be able to wrap it up in a day and a half, as we did. It was a perfect start for the trip, and mid-afternoon on Sunday we packed up and headed over to WDW.
Thursday, August 14, 2014
In which we test the app
I thought I'd load the app for potential live blogging of the DisAd. I'll add a picture.
Monday, August 11, 2014
In which movement is slight, and the weather prediction is, for lack of a better word, predictable
I check in on the Pups waitlist every day, and there’s literally no movement. I sent out a begging message to people to get honest and move out if they’re not taking their allotted slots, but I might as well have sent out a message offering free pokes in the eye with a sharp stick.
Tonight I’ll chat up CP and O’C on the whole waitlist issue. I wanted them particularly because CP invented the software that manages it, and O’C has enough waitlisted entries of his own to populate another couple of tournaments entirely. Yes, there will be attrition, but still… We’ll go over what people said on the NDCA site. We ought to be able to wrest a plan out of that.
Meanwhile, the assembled DisAd14 multitude is champing at the bit. At least I’m champing at the bit. I acquired a new camera for the journey, one of those small DSLRs that weigh about half as much as a regular DSLR. I broke it in over the weekend. I’m still learning the ins and outs of it, but the pictures look great and, in a shocking development, I can report that it is much easier to lug around something that weighs half as much as you’re used to lugging around. It’s really not a noticeable burden anymore, and that’s with an extra lens in the backpack. Although I’m thinking that the longer zoom may be the better normal lens, all things considered. It’s 40 on the bottom, which plays out, I think, a little bigger than 40 used to be on a camera (don’t ask why I think that—it’s technical, and I learned it on the street from the other kids, and look how badly they screwed up the birds and the bees for me). In any case, my experience makes me wonder if I would be happy just leaving it on most of the time. We’ll see. The DisAd should give it the workout it needs. Key for me is the ability to shoot with a polarizing filter. Blue skies, nothing but blue skies!
Okay, I just looked at the extended weather forecast for Orlando. In the 90s every day with a likelihood of t-storms. In Florida in the summer? Whoda thunkit?
Tonight I’ll chat up CP and O’C on the whole waitlist issue. I wanted them particularly because CP invented the software that manages it, and O’C has enough waitlisted entries of his own to populate another couple of tournaments entirely. Yes, there will be attrition, but still… We’ll go over what people said on the NDCA site. We ought to be able to wrest a plan out of that.
Meanwhile, the assembled DisAd14 multitude is champing at the bit. At least I’m champing at the bit. I acquired a new camera for the journey, one of those small DSLRs that weigh about half as much as a regular DSLR. I broke it in over the weekend. I’m still learning the ins and outs of it, but the pictures look great and, in a shocking development, I can report that it is much easier to lug around something that weighs half as much as you’re used to lugging around. It’s really not a noticeable burden anymore, and that’s with an extra lens in the backpack. Although I’m thinking that the longer zoom may be the better normal lens, all things considered. It’s 40 on the bottom, which plays out, I think, a little bigger than 40 used to be on a camera (don’t ask why I think that—it’s technical, and I learned it on the street from the other kids, and look how badly they screwed up the birds and the bees for me). In any case, my experience makes me wonder if I would be happy just leaving it on most of the time. We’ll see. The DisAd should give it the workout it needs. Key for me is the ability to shoot with a polarizing filter. Blue skies, nothing but blue skies!
Okay, I just looked at the extended weather forecast for Orlando. In the 90s every day with a likelihood of t-storms. In Florida in the summer? Whoda thunkit?
Monday, August 04, 2014
In which we manage the Pups
Talk about your flurries of activity.
The Pups opened on Friday. It was all waitlist, mostly because we want to be able to manage things a little bit, especially to allow people who need to fly in to have time to make arrangements. I’ve learned over the years that for some people, being on the waitlist and therefore not guaranteed a slot is not fair reason to be hesitant about buying a non-refundable plane ticket. I’ve also had people on waitlists tell me they have a ticket and that therefore they should be taken off the waitlists. I’ve had those people be ones who registered two weeks after a tournament opened.
I have learned from all of this.
On Saturday and Sunday JV and I cleared the waitlists. The thing is, there were up to three times as many registrants as there is capacity in some of the events. Holy Pup Moly! Big Jake also seemed to have very high numbers this year. Is there something in the water we don’t know about? With the Ivies, of course, it includes a lot of people just wanting to visit the school. Even when some of these venues were, shall we say, stinkers, people were still breaking down the doors. With Jake, though, it’s pure desire for $ircuit debate, or at least mostly that desire. It’s not exactly a vacation in Manhattan, despite its official name. The tournament is in the Bronx, and you’re probably staying at a motel in the world famous town of Elmsford. Not exactly bright lights, big city.
Anyhow, the Pups strategy was, first, clear off the far-aways, then hit the rest first-come, first-served. When we were done, I sent out a message to one and all, which immediately generated the predictable when am I going to get off the list questions. Given the numbers we’re talking about, e.g., 200 capacity in PF and 227 on the waitlist after hitting that capacity, I can honestly say that I haven't a bloody clue. Unless you’re, say, next on the list, how can I possibly tell? Although CP says he has some new metrics built into tabroom to track registration dwindle. I’ll be curious about that. Nevertheless, the old mail box was quite full, reminding me of what the season actually looks like once it begins. I had forgotten.
I also dickered a bit with CP over the removal of TBAs. He maintains, I think correctly, that people just put in phony names if you call them on their unassigned slots. But I think that those people are the ones who are really coming. A name change or two won’t hurt anybody. But at the very least, TBAs still on the waitlist disappear when you press the button to do so in tabroom. It makes the lot of the waitlist manager that much easier. In any case, we’ll eliminate them the first week of September. Poof!
And in other news entirely, I was forced today to throw away one of my Disney souvenir tee shirts. The shoddy piece of crap was falling apart. Jeesh! It had the 20th anniversary logo on it, meaning that I had bought it in 1991. I provide this to you as a warning: if you’re buying Disney wearable merchandise, don’t expect it to be around after 23 years or so. The stuff just doesn’t last.
The Pups opened on Friday. It was all waitlist, mostly because we want to be able to manage things a little bit, especially to allow people who need to fly in to have time to make arrangements. I’ve learned over the years that for some people, being on the waitlist and therefore not guaranteed a slot is not fair reason to be hesitant about buying a non-refundable plane ticket. I’ve also had people on waitlists tell me they have a ticket and that therefore they should be taken off the waitlists. I’ve had those people be ones who registered two weeks after a tournament opened.
I have learned from all of this.
On Saturday and Sunday JV and I cleared the waitlists. The thing is, there were up to three times as many registrants as there is capacity in some of the events. Holy Pup Moly! Big Jake also seemed to have very high numbers this year. Is there something in the water we don’t know about? With the Ivies, of course, it includes a lot of people just wanting to visit the school. Even when some of these venues were, shall we say, stinkers, people were still breaking down the doors. With Jake, though, it’s pure desire for $ircuit debate, or at least mostly that desire. It’s not exactly a vacation in Manhattan, despite its official name. The tournament is in the Bronx, and you’re probably staying at a motel in the world famous town of Elmsford. Not exactly bright lights, big city.
Anyhow, the Pups strategy was, first, clear off the far-aways, then hit the rest first-come, first-served. When we were done, I sent out a message to one and all, which immediately generated the predictable when am I going to get off the list questions. Given the numbers we’re talking about, e.g., 200 capacity in PF and 227 on the waitlist after hitting that capacity, I can honestly say that I haven't a bloody clue. Unless you’re, say, next on the list, how can I possibly tell? Although CP says he has some new metrics built into tabroom to track registration dwindle. I’ll be curious about that. Nevertheless, the old mail box was quite full, reminding me of what the season actually looks like once it begins. I had forgotten.
I also dickered a bit with CP over the removal of TBAs. He maintains, I think correctly, that people just put in phony names if you call them on their unassigned slots. But I think that those people are the ones who are really coming. A name change or two won’t hurt anybody. But at the very least, TBAs still on the waitlist disappear when you press the button to do so in tabroom. It makes the lot of the waitlist manager that much easier. In any case, we’ll eliminate them the first week of September. Poof!
And in other news entirely, I was forced today to throw away one of my Disney souvenir tee shirts. The shoddy piece of crap was falling apart. Jeesh! It had the 20th anniversary logo on it, meaning that I had bought it in 1991. I provide this to you as a warning: if you’re buying Disney wearable merchandise, don’t expect it to be around after 23 years or so. The stuff just doesn’t last.
Thursday, July 03, 2014
In which we point out how the DisAd will transpire
We have established some guidelines for DisAd14, which begins in exactly 6 weeks.
First of all, everyone must go on “it’s a small world.” If we have to, we’ll strap people to the mast of the boat, Odysseus-style. And we will not allow Kate to arm herself with a slingshot.
We will not be hiring a wheelchair-bound person to get front-of-the-line access to the attractions. Apparently the Disney organization is now wise to this ruse, and only lets wheelchair-bound people do “it’s a small world” and the Hall of the Presidents. (Then again, if O’C decides not to come, maybe I’ll give Abhi a call, just to sound him out on things.)
We will not tweet every time a certain person on the trip squeals like a 12-year-old girl. We can’t afford the extra data charges.
We will make no snide comments when O’C goes off to get Cinderella’s autograph. Again. (Well, let’s be realistic: we will make no more than five minutes of snide comments, promise.)
JV will not swear once in the presence of a poor innocent child. (He will swear multiple times.)
Seriously, members of the DisAd will be allowed to wander off at will, despite the fact that I have planned out every single second of the trip from the moment of arrival, including potty breaks, catnaps, snacks, sips of water (not so many that they incur extra potty breaks), eye-rolling, mad dashes through the crowds at the end of the day to get on the buses first honed through years of speed-walking through tourist-thronged Manhattan streets, etc.
If anyone falls behind my schedule, we will abandon them without a qualm. This is war, people. Bloody feet don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
Speaking of which, with any luck the mini-golf game of me, JV, Kt and Richard will not result in bloodshed. Or at least too much bloodshed. However, it will no doubt be the most serious segment of the trip. This is not a foursome that wishes the other player well. (“Your ball went into the ditch and was carried away by red ants and dropped in front of that rattlesnake? Well, the rules say, play it as it lies. Here, have a tourniquet.”)
We will not lie and say things like, no, that elevator in the Tower of Terror is just decorative, all you do is walk around the hotel and look at the dust and then come out the back. People are still complaining that at the DiDeAd we failed to mention anything about a certain Everest descent going backwards...
We will not wait for an hour in Diagon Alley for the Gringotts ride and then whine that we preferred it back in the olden days when it was the Jaws ride.
If certain members of the DisAd decide to drink their way across the world at Epcot, we will not discourage them, especially if they’ve beaten us at minigolf earlier in the week and we think we can trick them into playing again, this time completely intoxicated, for double or nothing.
We will not complain that we’re getting up every morning at the crack of dawn. This is a vacation, people. If you want to relax, go back to work.
First of all, everyone must go on “it’s a small world.” If we have to, we’ll strap people to the mast of the boat, Odysseus-style. And we will not allow Kate to arm herself with a slingshot.
We will not be hiring a wheelchair-bound person to get front-of-the-line access to the attractions. Apparently the Disney organization is now wise to this ruse, and only lets wheelchair-bound people do “it’s a small world” and the Hall of the Presidents. (Then again, if O’C decides not to come, maybe I’ll give Abhi a call, just to sound him out on things.)
We will not tweet every time a certain person on the trip squeals like a 12-year-old girl. We can’t afford the extra data charges.
We will make no snide comments when O’C goes off to get Cinderella’s autograph. Again. (Well, let’s be realistic: we will make no more than five minutes of snide comments, promise.)
JV will not swear once in the presence of a poor innocent child. (He will swear multiple times.)
Seriously, members of the DisAd will be allowed to wander off at will, despite the fact that I have planned out every single second of the trip from the moment of arrival, including potty breaks, catnaps, snacks, sips of water (not so many that they incur extra potty breaks), eye-rolling, mad dashes through the crowds at the end of the day to get on the buses first honed through years of speed-walking through tourist-thronged Manhattan streets, etc.
If anyone falls behind my schedule, we will abandon them without a qualm. This is war, people. Bloody feet don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.
Speaking of which, with any luck the mini-golf game of me, JV, Kt and Richard will not result in bloodshed. Or at least too much bloodshed. However, it will no doubt be the most serious segment of the trip. This is not a foursome that wishes the other player well. (“Your ball went into the ditch and was carried away by red ants and dropped in front of that rattlesnake? Well, the rules say, play it as it lies. Here, have a tourniquet.”)
We will not lie and say things like, no, that elevator in the Tower of Terror is just decorative, all you do is walk around the hotel and look at the dust and then come out the back. People are still complaining that at the DiDeAd we failed to mention anything about a certain Everest descent going backwards...
We will not wait for an hour in Diagon Alley for the Gringotts ride and then whine that we preferred it back in the olden days when it was the Jaws ride.
If certain members of the DisAd decide to drink their way across the world at Epcot, we will not discourage them, especially if they’ve beaten us at minigolf earlier in the week and we think we can trick them into playing again, this time completely intoxicated, for double or nothing.
We will not complain that we’re getting up every morning at the crack of dawn. This is a vacation, people. If you want to relax, go back to work.
Thursday, June 05, 2014
In which we see that 2014-2015 probably will happen
It’s about two and a half months till the DisAd. Time to shake away the cobwebs and nail everything down that isn’t already nailed. Not that there’s all that much that isn’t nailed, except for a few odds and ends and, on the important side, the FastPasses. I’ve gone over the tools in TouringPlans.com to figure out what passes to get, and now it’s just a matter of getting them. Of course, our best hope is that the parks aren’t too too crowded, which they shouldn’t be at that time of year. Except for Universal, which will probably be drowning in locals drawn to Diagon Alley. Negotiating Harry Potter is going to be the biggest deal of the entire trip, from the looks of it. I’m listening to the books, and am up to #3. I read them all, needless to say, and have seen all the movies, but I figured a refresher course wouldn’t hurt. And Stephen Fry doing the reading makes it slightly less than onerous.
Lots of planning going on in the debate world also. Nailing down the Pups, for one thing. That’s the problem with early tournaments—you have to plan early. Also there’s been the movement on the NYCFL front that I’ve already mentioned because of the national CFL meeting early in the season, and given that Catholic Charlie is now the Grand Imperial Poobah, he can’t exactly skip it, nor should his local regent, Mr. Beck. Where what will land I can’t quite say at the moment. And then we need to pin down the MHL workshop, but I’ll wait on that until O’C gets past the Soddie memorial this weekend.
It’s not only early tournaments getting the once over. There may be some big weekend switches in the new year, although no one’s committed yet. And God knows where the qualifiers will end up, since I know that JV and Catholic C want to move Districts, and there was a general shuffling of feet over the Last Chance, Even More Last Chance, Last Chance This Time We Really Mean It, and Last Chance This Time We Really Mean It More Than Last Time. Bump, on the other hand, will be where it has been in the middle of November, so don’t even think about it wandering off.
And speaking of Sailors, Capt Jake tells me he’s working on recruiting. This is good. It is also usually futile. Last year we get team members because the present team browbeat likely novices, prodding them personally to show up. That’s the Sailor way!
Lots of planning going on in the debate world also. Nailing down the Pups, for one thing. That’s the problem with early tournaments—you have to plan early. Also there’s been the movement on the NYCFL front that I’ve already mentioned because of the national CFL meeting early in the season, and given that Catholic Charlie is now the Grand Imperial Poobah, he can’t exactly skip it, nor should his local regent, Mr. Beck. Where what will land I can’t quite say at the moment. And then we need to pin down the MHL workshop, but I’ll wait on that until O’C gets past the Soddie memorial this weekend.
It’s not only early tournaments getting the once over. There may be some big weekend switches in the new year, although no one’s committed yet. And God knows where the qualifiers will end up, since I know that JV and Catholic C want to move Districts, and there was a general shuffling of feet over the Last Chance, Even More Last Chance, Last Chance This Time We Really Mean It, and Last Chance This Time We Really Mean It More Than Last Time. Bump, on the other hand, will be where it has been in the middle of November, so don’t even think about it wandering off.
And speaking of Sailors, Capt Jake tells me he’s working on recruiting. This is good. It is also usually futile. Last year we get team members because the present team browbeat likely novices, prodding them personally to show up. That’s the Sailor way!
Wednesday, May 28, 2014
In which we bid the proverbial fond farewell
Our journey ends on Saturday at Epcot.
We won’t get there at the c of d, but more like 10 or 11. I will shore up a Soarin’ FP because one does need to do this more than once, and maybe we’ll finish off anything else we can think of on the Future World side before moseying over to Mexico and, essentially,drinking strolling our way across the world.
World Showcase is not a lot of rides. If Russia had come through, there would be a coaster. If Japan’s original plans had gone through, there’d be a coaster and a trip through the history of the Floating Kingdom; that latter one is in Disneyland Tokyo. Apparently the back of Germany is also an abandoned ride. Oh, well. Mostly the countries are movies, simulacra, shopping and food. China and France are the best movies, I think, China because it’s about as close as I’ll get, and France because you get to sit down and look at people with berets bringing home baguettes to the accompaniment of Saint-Saens and Bizet. It’s fun to walk through the recreations of world sites and watch the various entertainments like Chinese acrobats, all of whom are about seven years old, and Off-Kilter, the Celtic rock band, and the Pearly People and Japanese drummers and whatever other cliché, twisted or not, that you can think of. And of course there’s the American Experience, which like the Hall of the Presidents, is a real conversation starter or, for some, the best nap on property. Mark Twain and Ben Franklin take you on a tour of American history from day one up to the opening of Epcot, with I think maybe a picture of Obama tossed into a montage at the end to make you think it’s up-to-date. Not to disparage it: I am not one of the nappers at this one. I’m thinking that this will be Richard’s most comprehensive introduction to American history other from what he cleans from trivia night at the local bar in Brooklyn. God bless the Queen!
Lunch will be whatever on valedictory day. Dinner has been chosen to occur at Germany, where we closed the DiDeAd. Tradition, in other words. And very large steins of beer and an oompah band. Following which we watch Illuminations with a tear in our eye, and bid a fond farewell to WDW and the DisAd14.
We won’t get there at the c of d, but more like 10 or 11. I will shore up a Soarin’ FP because one does need to do this more than once, and maybe we’ll finish off anything else we can think of on the Future World side before moseying over to Mexico and, essentially,
World Showcase is not a lot of rides. If Russia had come through, there would be a coaster. If Japan’s original plans had gone through, there’d be a coaster and a trip through the history of the Floating Kingdom; that latter one is in Disneyland Tokyo. Apparently the back of Germany is also an abandoned ride. Oh, well. Mostly the countries are movies, simulacra, shopping and food. China and France are the best movies, I think, China because it’s about as close as I’ll get, and France because you get to sit down and look at people with berets bringing home baguettes to the accompaniment of Saint-Saens and Bizet. It’s fun to walk through the recreations of world sites and watch the various entertainments like Chinese acrobats, all of whom are about seven years old, and Off-Kilter, the Celtic rock band, and the Pearly People and Japanese drummers and whatever other cliché, twisted or not, that you can think of. And of course there’s the American Experience, which like the Hall of the Presidents, is a real conversation starter or, for some, the best nap on property. Mark Twain and Ben Franklin take you on a tour of American history from day one up to the opening of Epcot, with I think maybe a picture of Obama tossed into a montage at the end to make you think it’s up-to-date. Not to disparage it: I am not one of the nappers at this one. I’m thinking that this will be Richard’s most comprehensive introduction to American history other from what he cleans from trivia night at the local bar in Brooklyn. God bless the Queen!
Lunch will be whatever on valedictory day. Dinner has been chosen to occur at Germany, where we closed the DiDeAd. Tradition, in other words. And very large steins of beer and an oompah band. Following which we watch Illuminations with a tear in our eye, and bid a fond farewell to WDW and the DisAd14.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
In which we hope against hope that O'C will be chosen to participate in the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
We should be all tanned, rested and ready for DHS on Friday. I have to admit, I still call it MGM Studios, because I want it to be MGM Studios, but time marches on.
This is a fairly easy park to manage. Hit Tower of Terror and Aerosmith first thing, with FP for Toy Story Mania. Given that we’re with O’C, we probably have to go on Star Tours a couple of times, so one FP goes there. After that, I’m not quite sure. Nothing else looks terribly hard to get into in a reasonable amount of time. And some things, like the Great Movie Ride, you really want to stand in the line as long as possible to see all the coming attractions. We should be able to hit everything pretty much without any hassle. I'll probably do FPs for return trips to Rock n' Roller Coaster, if nothing else presents itself.
Food is a big issue at DHS. I was pushing for something different, but O’C used fiat powers to demand a return to Sci Fi Diner. Kate used fiat powers to start MK with Space Mountain, come to think of it. And general fiat agreement put us into Germany for the closing dinner ceremony on our last night. So if someone really wants to do something badly enough, the group will do it. If someone wants to wander off and get Cinderella’s autograph—yet again—on the other hand, they can wander off alone. O’C has said that he may do Star Tours a couple of hundred extra times, just being who he is and knowing that the word on the street is that this batch of rides (there’s a variety of possibilities for each time you ride it) will change after this year. Perish the thought he misses the Jar Jar Binks side trip to Balaclava. Anyhow, as I said, I was pushing for something different mealwise, like maybe the Brown Derby, because there’s ways of tying in your lunch with special seating at Fantasmic!, but I’m not against SFD, not by any means. I don’t even think the food sucks, although that’s the general consensus on the blogosphere. It’s a burger. How bad can it be? Meanwhile you sit in a convertible and watch coming attractions of 50s SF movies. Nothing wrong with that. As Kate and O’C both said, it’s an attraction in and of itself.
I do miss the old Disney-MGM Studios, though. Real animators on-site, the recreation of the old TV shows (one year my mother was in the soap opera, while another year I was the bearded guy from Home Improvement), and the really elaborate backstage tour, complete with Siskel and Ebert. Oh, well. S and E are both dead, production is long gone from the property, and all the great MGM memorabilia and merchandise has been sold off never to be seen again. I had this t-shirt I really loved, with a big Leo the Lion on it…
This is a fairly easy park to manage. Hit Tower of Terror and Aerosmith first thing, with FP for Toy Story Mania. Given that we’re with O’C, we probably have to go on Star Tours a couple of times, so one FP goes there. After that, I’m not quite sure. Nothing else looks terribly hard to get into in a reasonable amount of time. And some things, like the Great Movie Ride, you really want to stand in the line as long as possible to see all the coming attractions. We should be able to hit everything pretty much without any hassle. I'll probably do FPs for return trips to Rock n' Roller Coaster, if nothing else presents itself.
Food is a big issue at DHS. I was pushing for something different, but O’C used fiat powers to demand a return to Sci Fi Diner. Kate used fiat powers to start MK with Space Mountain, come to think of it. And general fiat agreement put us into Germany for the closing dinner ceremony on our last night. So if someone really wants to do something badly enough, the group will do it. If someone wants to wander off and get Cinderella’s autograph—yet again—on the other hand, they can wander off alone. O’C has said that he may do Star Tours a couple of hundred extra times, just being who he is and knowing that the word on the street is that this batch of rides (there’s a variety of possibilities for each time you ride it) will change after this year. Perish the thought he misses the Jar Jar Binks side trip to Balaclava. Anyhow, as I said, I was pushing for something different mealwise, like maybe the Brown Derby, because there’s ways of tying in your lunch with special seating at Fantasmic!, but I’m not against SFD, not by any means. I don’t even think the food sucks, although that’s the general consensus on the blogosphere. It’s a burger. How bad can it be? Meanwhile you sit in a convertible and watch coming attractions of 50s SF movies. Nothing wrong with that. As Kate and O’C both said, it’s an attraction in and of itself.
I do miss the old Disney-MGM Studios, though. Real animators on-site, the recreation of the old TV shows (one year my mother was in the soap opera, while another year I was the bearded guy from Home Improvement), and the really elaborate backstage tour, complete with Siskel and Ebert. Oh, well. S and E are both dead, production is long gone from the property, and all the great MGM memorabilia and merchandise has been sold off never to be seen again. I had this t-shirt I really loved, with a big Leo the Lion on it…
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
In which we go to Animal Kingdom
Thursday of the DisAd is Animal Kingdom.
The first thing about AK that you need to know is the controversy over Expedition Everest. Is it the best coaster in WDW, or the worst? We first rode it when it opened, back when the yeti was in full animatronic swing, so I miss that, but otherwise, in terms of a themed coaster, as far as I’m concerned it’s as good as it gets. The naysayers are those who are somewhat dismayed when the ride runs out of track and they’re forced to careen backwards for a while. We had not warned anyone about this last time, taking the position that this was too much of a spoiler, and if you like coasters, it won’t bother you. Compare this to Tower of Terror, where it’s clear that if someone doesn’t want to plummet down an elevator a whole bunch of times, they’re not going to like it, period, so don’t push it. That I understand. But a little backwards time on Mt. Everest? Why not?
I bring this up because AK is, ultimately, a small park, and if you run to Everest first thing, and have a FastPass for the Safari, what else do you need FPs for? I’ll say the Rapids ride, which I’ve never done, and that leaves one more. I say, return to Everest. Others say, you’re out of your mind. Jeesh.
I think of AK as the most photogenic park, because I’m fond of animal photography. If I decide to bring my SLR (the jury is still out on that one), AK will be the reason why. I was perfectly satisfied, however, with the photos from my little compact Canon in Europe last year, so I don’t know. Bring both? Just the little one? Hard to say. I don’t feel the need to bury myself behind the lens for the whole trip, but I do like taking pictures. Tough call. There are two walks in the park, so to speak, which are essentially paths through various animals. They don’t like to call AK a zoo, but by me it compares well to the zoo experience, if you dress it up a bit and theme it to death. Anyhow, these walks are where you’re up c and p with the animals, and the added benefit of a long lens comes in handy. As I say, the jury is still out.
AK also has a couple of musical experiences that are quite pleasant, one based on Lion King and the other on Finding Nemo. It’s nice to sit down in air conditioning in Florida in August no matter what your opinion is on these sorts of shows. I’m quite the fan of AK, and if it were up to me, this would be the starting park, working one’s way up to the ultimate experience of MK. If I were bringing kids, that’s what I’d do, because, honestly, they might not appreciate the lesser impact experiences of the other parks after they’ve seen Paree. But with adults, I’ve bowed to O’C on this and agree that we hit ‘em hard right from the start.
That evening we’re doing dinner at Boma, an African buffet at the AK Lodge. This keeps everything themed the same way all day. And it’s good food! All in all, this is a pretty easy day, without a lot of running around, and a swell time should be had by all.
The first thing about AK that you need to know is the controversy over Expedition Everest. Is it the best coaster in WDW, or the worst? We first rode it when it opened, back when the yeti was in full animatronic swing, so I miss that, but otherwise, in terms of a themed coaster, as far as I’m concerned it’s as good as it gets. The naysayers are those who are somewhat dismayed when the ride runs out of track and they’re forced to careen backwards for a while. We had not warned anyone about this last time, taking the position that this was too much of a spoiler, and if you like coasters, it won’t bother you. Compare this to Tower of Terror, where it’s clear that if someone doesn’t want to plummet down an elevator a whole bunch of times, they’re not going to like it, period, so don’t push it. That I understand. But a little backwards time on Mt. Everest? Why not?
I bring this up because AK is, ultimately, a small park, and if you run to Everest first thing, and have a FastPass for the Safari, what else do you need FPs for? I’ll say the Rapids ride, which I’ve never done, and that leaves one more. I say, return to Everest. Others say, you’re out of your mind. Jeesh.
I think of AK as the most photogenic park, because I’m fond of animal photography. If I decide to bring my SLR (the jury is still out on that one), AK will be the reason why. I was perfectly satisfied, however, with the photos from my little compact Canon in Europe last year, so I don’t know. Bring both? Just the little one? Hard to say. I don’t feel the need to bury myself behind the lens for the whole trip, but I do like taking pictures. Tough call. There are two walks in the park, so to speak, which are essentially paths through various animals. They don’t like to call AK a zoo, but by me it compares well to the zoo experience, if you dress it up a bit and theme it to death. Anyhow, these walks are where you’re up c and p with the animals, and the added benefit of a long lens comes in handy. As I say, the jury is still out.
AK also has a couple of musical experiences that are quite pleasant, one based on Lion King and the other on Finding Nemo. It’s nice to sit down in air conditioning in Florida in August no matter what your opinion is on these sorts of shows. I’m quite the fan of AK, and if it were up to me, this would be the starting park, working one’s way up to the ultimate experience of MK. If I were bringing kids, that’s what I’d do, because, honestly, they might not appreciate the lesser impact experiences of the other parks after they’ve seen Paree. But with adults, I’ve bowed to O’C on this and agree that we hit ‘em hard right from the start.
That evening we’re doing dinner at Boma, an African buffet at the AK Lodge. This keeps everything themed the same way all day. And it’s good food! All in all, this is a pretty easy day, without a lot of running around, and a swell time should be had by all.
Monday, May 19, 2014
In which we do our first day at Epcot
Epcot Center (which it will always be to me), is almost a two-day park. It’s not that we expect to do everything in it, since some of the things aren’t on even my lightest of hit lists, but we’ll do most of it, with lots of leisure for roaming and eating and the like. It’s that kind of park. You have to hit a few of the attractions hard and fast, or get FastPasses, but mostly you can take it as it comes. There’s never a line for the Japanese department store, for instance. For that matter, there’s hardly ever lines for any of the attractions except Soarin’, Test Track and Mission Space. Come to think of it, the longest line is probably the one to avoid watching the Norway movie, although maybe Frozen now means that this poor little film is getting at least some love.
We’ll start our first Epcot day at rope drop, with the traditional trip over to Test Track to kick things off. I haven’t been on this one since they updated it; apparently you now pick out certain aspects of your car to make it somewhat Tron-ish. Whatever. After that, there’s this thing called the Sum of All Thrills, where you create your own virtual roller coaster ride. It’s in one of the Innovention places (are they still called Innoventions?). Then Mission Space, the wimpy side, since when O’C went on the non-wimpy side many years ago it shook his brain loose in his skull and he’s never recovered, and then over to the Land for its various attractions, which should get us to lunch or so. I’m figuring a FP for Soarin’ and Space and some other random thing for this day. Lunch will probably be at Morocco, and on the countries side of the lake we’ll do Morocco, Canada (which is mostly a movie about how everybody you think is from the USA is actually not, although you wouldn’t mind sending a few of them back) and the UK. I want to catch the various shows that I can in any of these. They have musicians and traveling players and so forth. Which should get us through to mid-afternoon, at which one might attack another round of miniature golf, or if the spirit doesn’t move one toward the tiny links, maybe a shot back to the hotel for a little rest and swimming before dinner at Raglan Road, very high-toned Irish food with music and dancers, and finally the Cirque de Soleil show, La Nouba.
According to the countdown, there’s 87 days to go. If you’ve been following it, there’s been a lot of hoo-ha over the opening of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride, which has been eclipsed by even more hoo-ha over the opening of Diagon Alley. Goblins vs Dwarfs? The Wicked Witch vs Voldemort? In a way, I feel sort of sorry that Disney is putting up a D ticket against a Super-E down the road. So it goes. They could have had Harry if they had really wanted him. Instead they’re creating an Avatar land of some sort for the far distant future, although ground has been broken. Avatar? Why not? Of course, building the full Star Wars land, which you know will happen some day, is the killer. Not yet, though.
Sigh.
We’ll start our first Epcot day at rope drop, with the traditional trip over to Test Track to kick things off. I haven’t been on this one since they updated it; apparently you now pick out certain aspects of your car to make it somewhat Tron-ish. Whatever. After that, there’s this thing called the Sum of All Thrills, where you create your own virtual roller coaster ride. It’s in one of the Innovention places (are they still called Innoventions?). Then Mission Space, the wimpy side, since when O’C went on the non-wimpy side many years ago it shook his brain loose in his skull and he’s never recovered, and then over to the Land for its various attractions, which should get us to lunch or so. I’m figuring a FP for Soarin’ and Space and some other random thing for this day. Lunch will probably be at Morocco, and on the countries side of the lake we’ll do Morocco, Canada (which is mostly a movie about how everybody you think is from the USA is actually not, although you wouldn’t mind sending a few of them back) and the UK. I want to catch the various shows that I can in any of these. They have musicians and traveling players and so forth. Which should get us through to mid-afternoon, at which one might attack another round of miniature golf, or if the spirit doesn’t move one toward the tiny links, maybe a shot back to the hotel for a little rest and swimming before dinner at Raglan Road, very high-toned Irish food with music and dancers, and finally the Cirque de Soleil show, La Nouba.
According to the countdown, there’s 87 days to go. If you’ve been following it, there’s been a lot of hoo-ha over the opening of the Seven Dwarfs Mine Ride, which has been eclipsed by even more hoo-ha over the opening of Diagon Alley. Goblins vs Dwarfs? The Wicked Witch vs Voldemort? In a way, I feel sort of sorry that Disney is putting up a D ticket against a Super-E down the road. So it goes. They could have had Harry if they had really wanted him. Instead they’re creating an Avatar land of some sort for the far distant future, although ground has been broken. Avatar? Why not? Of course, building the full Star Wars land, which you know will happen some day, is the killer. Not yet, though.
Sigh.
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
In which we take a day off, so to speak, from commando theme park attacks
At this point the DisAd14 has gathered and eaten on Friday, attacked Hogwarts and other points Universal on Saturday starting at the crack of dawn, attacked Gringotts and other points Universal on Sunday starting at the crack of dawn, and put away the entire Magic Kingdom on Monday, starting at, yet again, the crack of dawn.
Time for a modicum of sleep.
Blizzard Beach opens at 9:00 a.m. For me, this would mean up at about 8:00, which is as late as I ever sleep, so it’s a pretty good deal. The plan this day is for the group to break up a little bit. Some folks may head over to the Morse Museum in Winter Park, which I’ve been to and found quite interesting. But if the sun is shining, I’m more likely to head over with the Blizzard Beach contingent. The best part of BB is the toboggans, if you ask me. I’ve gone down the virtually vertical water slide, and didn’t enjoy it much. It’s just sort of ZAP and you hit the water. The toboggans twist and turn and go all over the place, for much more entertainment value. Do this for a while, then share a raft down from the top with whoever else is around, and you’ve eaten up a couple of hours, at which point the commoners have arrived in force and the lines have grown and it’s time to lollygag along in a big tire-thing along the sleepy river or whatever they call it. Blizzard Beach being ice-themed, occasionally you get shot with a blast of cold water, but mostly you just relax and soak up the idea of not doing anything.
After lunch, there will be the first of our mini-golf tournaments. I hold the honors from the DiDeAd, but have since been beaten by JV on our m-g day in Manhattan last summer. (Yes, there is a mini-golf course in the city, within falling-out-the-window distance of Stuyvesant.) So there will be much grudge-match venom being brought into this game. The Blizzard Beach course (actually, there’s two), are Christmas and beach themed. Shouts of “Fore!” cutting through the “California Girls” and “Jingle Bell Rock” music, in other words. I would advise those of the betting persuasion not to count the daughter out in your handicapping, not to mention the son-in-law whose golf skills are totally unknown. However, putting your money on O’C to take it all is just throwing it away. O’C’s lack of athleticism extends even to mini-golf, which is about as non-athletic as you can get without being in a coma. He’s enjoyable to watch, however, much in the way a traffic accident is enjoyable to watch, as long as it’s not your car involved in the pileup. If his golf skills are contagious, we’re all in for trouble.
That night we’re doing Greek food at Cat Cora’s on the Boardwalk, followed either by Jellyroll’s, a singalong piano bar, or karaoke at a very serene Japanese sushi place. I’m sort of leaning toward the former, although the latter may prove the crowd favorite. We’ll see.
Time for a modicum of sleep.
Blizzard Beach opens at 9:00 a.m. For me, this would mean up at about 8:00, which is as late as I ever sleep, so it’s a pretty good deal. The plan this day is for the group to break up a little bit. Some folks may head over to the Morse Museum in Winter Park, which I’ve been to and found quite interesting. But if the sun is shining, I’m more likely to head over with the Blizzard Beach contingent. The best part of BB is the toboggans, if you ask me. I’ve gone down the virtually vertical water slide, and didn’t enjoy it much. It’s just sort of ZAP and you hit the water. The toboggans twist and turn and go all over the place, for much more entertainment value. Do this for a while, then share a raft down from the top with whoever else is around, and you’ve eaten up a couple of hours, at which point the commoners have arrived in force and the lines have grown and it’s time to lollygag along in a big tire-thing along the sleepy river or whatever they call it. Blizzard Beach being ice-themed, occasionally you get shot with a blast of cold water, but mostly you just relax and soak up the idea of not doing anything.
After lunch, there will be the first of our mini-golf tournaments. I hold the honors from the DiDeAd, but have since been beaten by JV on our m-g day in Manhattan last summer. (Yes, there is a mini-golf course in the city, within falling-out-the-window distance of Stuyvesant.) So there will be much grudge-match venom being brought into this game. The Blizzard Beach course (actually, there’s two), are Christmas and beach themed. Shouts of “Fore!” cutting through the “California Girls” and “Jingle Bell Rock” music, in other words. I would advise those of the betting persuasion not to count the daughter out in your handicapping, not to mention the son-in-law whose golf skills are totally unknown. However, putting your money on O’C to take it all is just throwing it away. O’C’s lack of athleticism extends even to mini-golf, which is about as non-athletic as you can get without being in a coma. He’s enjoyable to watch, however, much in the way a traffic accident is enjoyable to watch, as long as it’s not your car involved in the pileup. If his golf skills are contagious, we’re all in for trouble.
That night we’re doing Greek food at Cat Cora’s on the Boardwalk, followed either by Jellyroll’s, a singalong piano bar, or karaoke at a very serene Japanese sushi place. I’m sort of leaning toward the former, although the latter may prove the crowd favorite. We’ll see.
Thursday, May 08, 2014
In which we imagine JV cursing at Winnie the Pooh while elbowing Minnie Mouse out of the way to get his morning coffee
We kick off the WDW portion of the trip with dinner at California Grill, one of the best eateries on property, high up in the Contemporary. It has a great view of MK, plus great food. I didn’t make a late reservation, where you watch the fireworks from the balcony, although we might still be there if we dawdle enough. Honestly, my feeling was that we’d see the fireworks the next day on the ground when we’re actually in MK, and we needed to be up at the crack of dawn for the opening show there, so why push it?
The opening show at MK, with the arrival of the train and all sorts of singing and dancing and the Mayor of Main Street greeting the guests, is pretty much what I’m thinking of as the Vaughan acid test. If he can make it through that, he can survive anything, up to and including “it’s a small world.” I’m not suggesting that JV is something of a cold-hearted cynical bastard. It’s just that he is, shall we say, more likely to play the part of Captain Hook than Peter Pan in our particular production of the show. This week will be bringing out his kindlier, gentler side, if any. O’C, on the other hand, is nothing but kindly and gentle, with the odd teardrop appearing in his eye at the very mention of Cinderella (who, I keep reminding him, is not real, and if she were, isn’t that person pretending to be her signing autographs in the park). I’m a softy myself, to tell you the truth, although it may not be readily apparent. Kate’s more on the JV side, given that she’ll only go into small world if she’s allowed to bring a bazooka.
The MK day is a long one. You get a bunch of E tix out of the way early, with a few FastPasses in your back pocket for later (probably Peter Pan, Seven Dwarfs and Splash Mountain). By around 11 o’clock the riff and the raff are pouring into the park, and you start gravitating toward the C and D attractions, which never really line up much. When the stomach starts growling you pop onto the monorail for a ride through the Contemporary over to the Polynesian for a nice, quiet lunch and break. I will inevitably fall asleep on the five-minute ride back to the park, fully refreshed for the rest of the day. People might veer off for their own amusements (or peace and quiet) for a while at this point, but eventually we’ll regroup and finish up things. I’m usually not that interested in the day parades, but there is a new one I’ll probably want to catch, mostly for the fire-breathing steampunk dragon. But I’m definitely in for the nighttime light parade (the Baroque Hoedown is a permanent punishment for the Sailors on my iPod) and, of course, the fireworks. One thing we’ll definitely do again is the evening Jungle Cruise—much better than during the day. A reride of Thunder Mountain in the dark isn’t bad either, if the lines aren’t too long.
The final attraction of the day is the run back to the bus to the hotel. You may need to push a few toddlers to the ground on your way, or throw some wheelchairs down a few stairwells, but Kate and I pride ourselves on our speed walking skills, honed through years of Manhattan-tourist-avoidance. I’m expecting the rest of the group to keep up, or suffer on their own. I’m not tucking anyone in but myself, and as far as I’m concerned, getting home as quickly as possible is top priority when you have to get up again bright and early the next morning.
But wait! We’re not getting up all that bright and early. The next day is Blizzard beach. For all practical purposes, we sleep in.
Aaaaah.
The opening show at MK, with the arrival of the train and all sorts of singing and dancing and the Mayor of Main Street greeting the guests, is pretty much what I’m thinking of as the Vaughan acid test. If he can make it through that, he can survive anything, up to and including “it’s a small world.” I’m not suggesting that JV is something of a cold-hearted cynical bastard. It’s just that he is, shall we say, more likely to play the part of Captain Hook than Peter Pan in our particular production of the show. This week will be bringing out his kindlier, gentler side, if any. O’C, on the other hand, is nothing but kindly and gentle, with the odd teardrop appearing in his eye at the very mention of Cinderella (who, I keep reminding him, is not real, and if she were, isn’t that person pretending to be her signing autographs in the park). I’m a softy myself, to tell you the truth, although it may not be readily apparent. Kate’s more on the JV side, given that she’ll only go into small world if she’s allowed to bring a bazooka.
The MK day is a long one. You get a bunch of E tix out of the way early, with a few FastPasses in your back pocket for later (probably Peter Pan, Seven Dwarfs and Splash Mountain). By around 11 o’clock the riff and the raff are pouring into the park, and you start gravitating toward the C and D attractions, which never really line up much. When the stomach starts growling you pop onto the monorail for a ride through the Contemporary over to the Polynesian for a nice, quiet lunch and break. I will inevitably fall asleep on the five-minute ride back to the park, fully refreshed for the rest of the day. People might veer off for their own amusements (or peace and quiet) for a while at this point, but eventually we’ll regroup and finish up things. I’m usually not that interested in the day parades, but there is a new one I’ll probably want to catch, mostly for the fire-breathing steampunk dragon. But I’m definitely in for the nighttime light parade (the Baroque Hoedown is a permanent punishment for the Sailors on my iPod) and, of course, the fireworks. One thing we’ll definitely do again is the evening Jungle Cruise—much better than during the day. A reride of Thunder Mountain in the dark isn’t bad either, if the lines aren’t too long.
The final attraction of the day is the run back to the bus to the hotel. You may need to push a few toddlers to the ground on your way, or throw some wheelchairs down a few stairwells, but Kate and I pride ourselves on our speed walking skills, honed through years of Manhattan-tourist-avoidance. I’m expecting the rest of the group to keep up, or suffer on their own. I’m not tucking anyone in but myself, and as far as I’m concerned, getting home as quickly as possible is top priority when you have to get up again bright and early the next morning.
But wait! We’re not getting up all that bright and early. The next day is Blizzard beach. For all practical purposes, we sleep in.
Aaaaah.
Wednesday, May 07, 2014
In which we show it day-by-day
These are the DisAd14 days in order from beginning to end.
Friday - Arrival at Universal
Saturday – Hogwarts then general Universal
Sunday – Diagon Alley, finish up Universal, transfer to WDW, Coronado Springs.
Monday – MK
Tuesday – Break day. Blizzard Beach, minigolf.
Wednesday – Half day early start at Epcot. Minigolf rematch. La Nouba.
Thursday – AK
Friday – DHS
Saturday – Epcot half day, late start.
That gives us three days in a row of early commando attacks on the parks, a sort of sleep-in day, three more early starts, a final sleep-in day, and then disappear back to the real world. That’s not a bad balance, and there shouldn’t be too much craziness the way the days have been planned. As I’ve said, it’s not the busiest time of the year, and we are equipped with all the tools of the planners trade.
We’ll kick things off with a nice dinner on Friday at Emeril’s at Universal. You wouldn’t expect it to be much more than a noisy theme restaurant with lots of duck fat, but we ate there ages ago and it was top drawer. Universal has a stretch of restaurants and shops outside of its two parks, and we are staying on that property, so my plan is to arrive in the afternoon, lollygag by the pool, stroll the shopping boulevard, eat like a king, then tuck in nice and early for a crack-of-dawn start in the a.m. Staying at Universal means you get first shot at the Harry Potter attractions before the gates open to the hoi and the polloi. It also means front-of-the-line status on, I think, everything else, so aside from hitting the boards early, it will be easy after that. I’m expecting to be able to take a break midday for a quick nap (which those who know me know that I can do standing up while tabbing and doing the crossword puzzle at the same time), then head back for part two of day one.
Sunday is another early start, to the other side of Harry, the new attractions at Diagon Alley, which are scheduled to open in July. Leave after lunch and mosey over to WDW to our hotel, for some more lollygagging.
I’ll be really curious to reactions to Universal compared to WDW for our newbies. Richard, after all, is a total WDW virgin, and JV hasn’t been there since Mickey Mouse was in black and white. Will they feel the immersion in the latter, the total Disneyfication of their inner souls, as compared to the just generally nice collection of rides in the former? We’ll see.
Friday - Arrival at Universal
Saturday – Hogwarts then general Universal
Sunday – Diagon Alley, finish up Universal, transfer to WDW, Coronado Springs.
Monday – MK
Tuesday – Break day. Blizzard Beach, minigolf.
Wednesday – Half day early start at Epcot. Minigolf rematch. La Nouba.
Thursday – AK
Friday – DHS
Saturday – Epcot half day, late start.
That gives us three days in a row of early commando attacks on the parks, a sort of sleep-in day, three more early starts, a final sleep-in day, and then disappear back to the real world. That’s not a bad balance, and there shouldn’t be too much craziness the way the days have been planned. As I’ve said, it’s not the busiest time of the year, and we are equipped with all the tools of the planners trade.
We’ll kick things off with a nice dinner on Friday at Emeril’s at Universal. You wouldn’t expect it to be much more than a noisy theme restaurant with lots of duck fat, but we ate there ages ago and it was top drawer. Universal has a stretch of restaurants and shops outside of its two parks, and we are staying on that property, so my plan is to arrive in the afternoon, lollygag by the pool, stroll the shopping boulevard, eat like a king, then tuck in nice and early for a crack-of-dawn start in the a.m. Staying at Universal means you get first shot at the Harry Potter attractions before the gates open to the hoi and the polloi. It also means front-of-the-line status on, I think, everything else, so aside from hitting the boards early, it will be easy after that. I’m expecting to be able to take a break midday for a quick nap (which those who know me know that I can do standing up while tabbing and doing the crossword puzzle at the same time), then head back for part two of day one.
Sunday is another early start, to the other side of Harry, the new attractions at Diagon Alley, which are scheduled to open in July. Leave after lunch and mosey over to WDW to our hotel, for some more lollygagging.
I’ll be really curious to reactions to Universal compared to WDW for our newbies. Richard, after all, is a total WDW virgin, and JV hasn’t been there since Mickey Mouse was in black and white. Will they feel the immersion in the latter, the total Disneyfication of their inner souls, as compared to the just generally nice collection of rides in the former? We’ll see.
Monday, May 05, 2014
In which we plan every last minute
In the olden days, you went to Disneyland and bought a ticket for anything you wanted to do. Those tickets evolved into ticket books, ranged from A to E for corresponding attractions, with a certain number of each, to spread people around. The point was, the park had X number of E-ticket attractions, and you were given X-Y number of E tickets. Crowd control was built in, and on the guest side of things, you hadn’t even gotten through the door and you were already faced with choices. I was lucky when I was little to be traveling with adults who were happy to pass along their Es to build up my supply, so I didn’t have to miss anything, aside from the pressures of time and lines and whatnot working against the average park-goer.
Eventually the park was general admission with all attractions included. Which meant that going to WDW was a matter of engineering the best course through a given park, minimizing the amount of time spent on lines. Rule number one for this, which you would think would be obvious to everyone capable of breathing, is to get there at park opening. But you’d be surprised how hard this is for some people. For whatever reason, they are unable to gather their forces for the firing of the opening shots, and they miss out on the first hour or two when you pretty much walk on to anything you want without waiting. If you get the (now virtual) E tickets out of the way early, you breeze into the less busy attractions for the rest of the day without having to give it too much thought, provided it’s not one of the busiest days of the year. The DisAd, in mid- to late-August, is only a moderately busy time, so that won’t be a problem for us.
Rule number two is to use the Unofficial Guide, which I have sworn by since its earliest days. For all practical purposes, the Guide is the aggregate of untold numbers of line engineers processing the best paths for speedy touring and passing along the results. For years I was a dedicated follower of the book. Whoever was with us, they trusted me and I trusted the Guide, and even though we were occasionally caroming all over creation, we were seldom waiting on a line. Life was good. In fact, even during busy times, and we did occasionally visit during such times, the Guide was a lifesaver. Plus showing up early. I think one of the big reasons people come home dissatisfied from a Disney trip is poor planning on their parts. Granted one might not want to attack an amusement park with the diligence of Eisenhower contemplating the invasion of Europe, but for me planning has become part of the whole fun of the trip. And the satisfaction of a good trip as a result is more than enough payback.
A while back, Disney introduced the FastPass. This was a reservation for a ride that you picked up in advance. You could get one of these for an E ticket a couple of hours hence, and after a certain interval, you could get another one, etc., etc. Adding the FassPass tickets to good tour management allowed things like repeat rides on one’s favorite attractions. You can ride Star Tours, if you’re O’C, maybe 20 times in a row. The old FastPass would help you on at least a couple of those trips.
Now Disney has what they call FastPass+. These are reservations made not while you’re in the park (for the most part, although you can make them in the park, and augment the ones you’ve already gotten after you’ve used them), but up to two months in advance. In other words, the park commando now plans his touring in general, plus when and which of a handful of FastPass+ reservations, 100 days before the trip, and remains poised to enter them the moment they become available (60 days in advance if you’re staying on property). I’ll be able to solicit passes for the entire DisAd, once everyone has ceded to me their reservation rights, which they have mostly all done.
Add to this the fact that the Unofficial Guide, which I still swear by, is now an app that you can adjust to your heart’s content, moving things this way and that way, augmenting with FastPasses, etc. I’ve already got MK and Epcot planned out. I started working on AK today, but hit up against a server problem, so I’ve postponed until tomorrow, but obviously, no soon is too soon for me!
If anyone needs help planning their Disney trip, let me know. I’ll plan everything for you, including breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks, bathroom breaks, rides, shows, catnaps, family arguments, snakebite first aid, parking assignments, gas-passing and general albeit scheduled serendipity—gratis. It’s like playing a computer game, Sim Disney. Except real people get to be the sims.
Hey! Vaughan! Get over here! It’s 11:38. There is no scheduled bathroom break now. You’re supposed to be in the India section of “it’s a small world” at this very moment. You want to spend the rest of the day in the guard house? Suck it in, bub! You’ll pee when the Unofficial Guide says you can pee, and not a minute before.
Jeesh!
Eventually the park was general admission with all attractions included. Which meant that going to WDW was a matter of engineering the best course through a given park, minimizing the amount of time spent on lines. Rule number one for this, which you would think would be obvious to everyone capable of breathing, is to get there at park opening. But you’d be surprised how hard this is for some people. For whatever reason, they are unable to gather their forces for the firing of the opening shots, and they miss out on the first hour or two when you pretty much walk on to anything you want without waiting. If you get the (now virtual) E tickets out of the way early, you breeze into the less busy attractions for the rest of the day without having to give it too much thought, provided it’s not one of the busiest days of the year. The DisAd, in mid- to late-August, is only a moderately busy time, so that won’t be a problem for us.
Rule number two is to use the Unofficial Guide, which I have sworn by since its earliest days. For all practical purposes, the Guide is the aggregate of untold numbers of line engineers processing the best paths for speedy touring and passing along the results. For years I was a dedicated follower of the book. Whoever was with us, they trusted me and I trusted the Guide, and even though we were occasionally caroming all over creation, we were seldom waiting on a line. Life was good. In fact, even during busy times, and we did occasionally visit during such times, the Guide was a lifesaver. Plus showing up early. I think one of the big reasons people come home dissatisfied from a Disney trip is poor planning on their parts. Granted one might not want to attack an amusement park with the diligence of Eisenhower contemplating the invasion of Europe, but for me planning has become part of the whole fun of the trip. And the satisfaction of a good trip as a result is more than enough payback.
A while back, Disney introduced the FastPass. This was a reservation for a ride that you picked up in advance. You could get one of these for an E ticket a couple of hours hence, and after a certain interval, you could get another one, etc., etc. Adding the FassPass tickets to good tour management allowed things like repeat rides on one’s favorite attractions. You can ride Star Tours, if you’re O’C, maybe 20 times in a row. The old FastPass would help you on at least a couple of those trips.
Now Disney has what they call FastPass+. These are reservations made not while you’re in the park (for the most part, although you can make them in the park, and augment the ones you’ve already gotten after you’ve used them), but up to two months in advance. In other words, the park commando now plans his touring in general, plus when and which of a handful of FastPass+ reservations, 100 days before the trip, and remains poised to enter them the moment they become available (60 days in advance if you’re staying on property). I’ll be able to solicit passes for the entire DisAd, once everyone has ceded to me their reservation rights, which they have mostly all done.
Add to this the fact that the Unofficial Guide, which I still swear by, is now an app that you can adjust to your heart’s content, moving things this way and that way, augmenting with FastPasses, etc. I’ve already got MK and Epcot planned out. I started working on AK today, but hit up against a server problem, so I’ve postponed until tomorrow, but obviously, no soon is too soon for me!
If anyone needs help planning their Disney trip, let me know. I’ll plan everything for you, including breakfast, lunch, afternoon snacks, bathroom breaks, rides, shows, catnaps, family arguments, snakebite first aid, parking assignments, gas-passing and general albeit scheduled serendipity—gratis. It’s like playing a computer game, Sim Disney. Except real people get to be the sims.
Hey! Vaughan! Get over here! It’s 11:38. There is no scheduled bathroom break now. You’re supposed to be in the India section of “it’s a small world” at this very moment. You want to spend the rest of the day in the guard house? Suck it in, bub! You’ll pee when the Unofficial Guide says you can pee, and not a minute before.
Jeesh!
Monday, April 28, 2014
In which we plan some of the more mundane aspects of DisAd14
Ah, a nice quiet weekend. I hear the TOC was happening while I was puttering around the house. Presumably without incident, as always.
Sarcasm? Moi?
We made our DisAd14 arrangements with the same travel agent as with the DiDeAd. She did a great job for us then, and given our complications this time, with all sorts of different people and needs, there was no reason not to use her again. Our original plan, after much discussion, was to return to Port Orleans. The thing I most like about that resort is the boat ride to Downtown Disney (or whatever they’re calling it these days as it makes its latest transformation). It’s a nice way to travel, especially when the alternative is a bus. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Disney buses, but a boat ride is so much nicer. What Port Orleans doesn’t have that I like is small pools scattered around the complex, but you can’t have everything. We already had our reservations when the agent told us that we could pull down a substantial savings by switching to Coronado Springs, a comparable Latin American themed resort (with scattered pools). Switching was a no-brainer, and so we did. Let’s face it: you don’t spend a lot of time in your hotel at WDW. While the fanciest resorts are really nice, it’s hard to justify spending the money. At the same time, I’m a little reluctant to go for the cheapest resorts. I envision them being overrun with out-of-control kids screaming in the halls at all hours of the night (much like a debate tournament), and offering the fewest possible amenities. So I stick to the moderates.
I will point out, though, that in the earliest days, when there were no moderates, we stayed at the Contemporary, the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian at one time or another, the latter two with a young Kate. With a kid, being on the monorail is very desirable. You go off-season, you visit some park until it’s nap time, you come back and nap, you dawdle in the pool, maybe you go back and visit some more park. Very civilized and kid-friendly. But also very expensive, and hard to support when there’s an alternative at half the price. I do like midday breaks, though, especially for the Magic Kingdom, which can run you ragged, even when it’s not packed, if you don’t pace yourself. A little break in the middle with the feet up never hurt anybody. I assure you that we have such a break planned for the DisAd. Recharging the batteries is a really good idea that I can’t recommend highly enough.
Another item we bought into was the Meal Plan. Last time we got this for free, and I doubt if that will happen again, but one nice thing about it is that it takes thinking about meals out of the equation. You get a counter service meal, a real meal, and a snack for each day, and you’ll use that easily enough, so why not? You just flash your credentials at the smiling waitstaff, and there you are.
The only other big early planning issue was transportation. Given the need to get to Universal first, then to WDW from there, and for at least one other out-of-the-parks excursion during the trip, I’m opting for a car for the 5 people including me on my side of the group. The others are probably sticking to cabs and resort-offered transportation. I don’t think we’ll use the car for park trips, but maybe for some evening things. We’ll see. In any case, when you think of it split 5 ways, it’s not very expensive and it is very convenient. The only thing to keep in mind—I haven’t actually rented it yet—is that it’s best to have a car to pick up at the airport rather than off somewhere in Timbuktu, as many of the services are.
Thus were the nitty gritty details seen to.
Sarcasm? Moi?
We made our DisAd14 arrangements with the same travel agent as with the DiDeAd. She did a great job for us then, and given our complications this time, with all sorts of different people and needs, there was no reason not to use her again. Our original plan, after much discussion, was to return to Port Orleans. The thing I most like about that resort is the boat ride to Downtown Disney (or whatever they’re calling it these days as it makes its latest transformation). It’s a nice way to travel, especially when the alternative is a bus. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Disney buses, but a boat ride is so much nicer. What Port Orleans doesn’t have that I like is small pools scattered around the complex, but you can’t have everything. We already had our reservations when the agent told us that we could pull down a substantial savings by switching to Coronado Springs, a comparable Latin American themed resort (with scattered pools). Switching was a no-brainer, and so we did. Let’s face it: you don’t spend a lot of time in your hotel at WDW. While the fanciest resorts are really nice, it’s hard to justify spending the money. At the same time, I’m a little reluctant to go for the cheapest resorts. I envision them being overrun with out-of-control kids screaming in the halls at all hours of the night (much like a debate tournament), and offering the fewest possible amenities. So I stick to the moderates.
I will point out, though, that in the earliest days, when there were no moderates, we stayed at the Contemporary, the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian at one time or another, the latter two with a young Kate. With a kid, being on the monorail is very desirable. You go off-season, you visit some park until it’s nap time, you come back and nap, you dawdle in the pool, maybe you go back and visit some more park. Very civilized and kid-friendly. But also very expensive, and hard to support when there’s an alternative at half the price. I do like midday breaks, though, especially for the Magic Kingdom, which can run you ragged, even when it’s not packed, if you don’t pace yourself. A little break in the middle with the feet up never hurt anybody. I assure you that we have such a break planned for the DisAd. Recharging the batteries is a really good idea that I can’t recommend highly enough.
Another item we bought into was the Meal Plan. Last time we got this for free, and I doubt if that will happen again, but one nice thing about it is that it takes thinking about meals out of the equation. You get a counter service meal, a real meal, and a snack for each day, and you’ll use that easily enough, so why not? You just flash your credentials at the smiling waitstaff, and there you are.
The only other big early planning issue was transportation. Given the need to get to Universal first, then to WDW from there, and for at least one other out-of-the-parks excursion during the trip, I’m opting for a car for the 5 people including me on my side of the group. The others are probably sticking to cabs and resort-offered transportation. I don’t think we’ll use the car for park trips, but maybe for some evening things. We’ll see. In any case, when you think of it split 5 ways, it’s not very expensive and it is very convenient. The only thing to keep in mind—I haven’t actually rented it yet—is that it’s best to have a car to pick up at the airport rather than off somewhere in Timbuktu, as many of the services are.
Thus were the nitty gritty details seen to.
Thursday, April 24, 2014
In which we consider Universal
The Universal experience is very different from the Disney experience, but it’s hard to pinpoint why. After all, often the attractions are designed by literally the same people; there’s only so many jobs for people who can list imagineer on their resume. And if you missed that memo, Disney bought Marvel not long ago, yet much of Universal is Marvel themed. There’s dinosaurs in both Disney attractions and Universal attractions, there’s themed lands, there’s Lucas here and Spielberg there, and the ultimate landing place of the Potter franchise could have been either one (the films being neither Universal nor Disney properties) and who would have questioned it? But still, there’s an underlying feeling about WDW that pulls it all together. They don’t necessarily do it better, so much as they have a unified history dating back to the silent film era, held together by themes and characters still very much in the public eye. Universal also goes back to silent films, but their hold on the American psyche isn’t the same as Disney’s. Maybe it’s a question of heart. In the formative years of each corporation’s growth in the 30s, one was creating Dracula and Frankenstein movies, and the other was creating Snow White and Pinocchio. The latter simply connect better to the child within us than the former, and we all connect to our inner child better than to our inner monsters. Arguments can be made, on a more immediate level, that the theming in WDW actually is deeper and more meaningful than the theming at Universal, and that may be true, but it’s not the real difference, if it is a difference. Disney coopted our dreams generations ago. Universal makes movies. Therein lies the difference.
The DisAdders have had extended discussions about things like where to start and how to build the arc of a trip. To that I will had that I have, in the past, jaunted over to Universal from WDW in the middle of a trip. Universal, when you do this, tends to pale by comparison because it is not as all-encompassing. Everything in Disney is of a piece; everything in Universal is standalone. But at the same time, much of Universal, as far as the attractions are concerned, is amazing. So my thought is that by starting at Universal, and only Universal, there will be no paling by comparison because the comparison doesn’t exist yet. On its own, it will be a great collection of attractions, and a lot of fun. It will be the hors d’oeuvres before the entrees at WDW. It will set things up, it will be the warm-up phase of the trip. And then we’ll head in for the main event.
The plan is to meet up Friday night for dinner at Emeril’s, which I’ve eaten at before and really liked. I had expected something hokey, and got really good food. As the DisAdders are really appreciate of really good food, it’s the way to start. Then, at the crack of the next dawn, we head to IOA and Hogwarts, beating the crowds because we’re staying on-site. Then we do the rest of IOA and a little of the main park, with a break in the middle, one of the perks of staying onsite. Then back for more, but at a fairly leisurely pace, since front-of-the-line privileges will remove the necessity of commando-style line planning. Dinner will be whatever; I’m thinking that we’ll want to see the Universal fireworks end-of-day extravaganza, so we won’t be eating our little butts off that night. We’ll have already done that the previous day and, for that matter, the next day. There’s no point in overdoing it.
As for Sunday, we head to Diagon Alley where there should be a roller coaster ride of sorts at Gringotts, just like the real (real?) Gringotts, taking you to your vault, presumably with a dragon on hand for excitement. Then the rest of the attractions not yet seen, then midday one packs up and heads over to WDW. And there you are.
Pulling Universal, a one-day experience, out of the middle of the DisAd and placing it as a one and a half day experience at the beginning made for lots of changes from the original, initial plans. A total day off, for instance, where those of the spa persuasion could get their nails polished and their butts massaged while the rest of us explored something other than our nails and our butts went off into the ether, but everything else pretty much remained intact. That’s one nice thing about planning days on an electronic calendar. You move this here and that there until everything fits just fine. Which, I hope, is what I did.
By the way, O’C is going down early for whatever he has to take care of, and Kaz is going down early to visit Sea World. Her reason for the earliness is saving money on transportation, as if you travel during the week it’s way cheaper than traveling on a weekend, as most of the rest of us are doing. Of course, even though she’s flying out of Newburgh, her first stop on the way to Florida is, I think, Butte, Montana, so I question exactly how great an idea that really is. Butte (or maybe it was Detroit) just isn’t on the way to Florida, last time I looked.
The DisAdders have had extended discussions about things like where to start and how to build the arc of a trip. To that I will had that I have, in the past, jaunted over to Universal from WDW in the middle of a trip. Universal, when you do this, tends to pale by comparison because it is not as all-encompassing. Everything in Disney is of a piece; everything in Universal is standalone. But at the same time, much of Universal, as far as the attractions are concerned, is amazing. So my thought is that by starting at Universal, and only Universal, there will be no paling by comparison because the comparison doesn’t exist yet. On its own, it will be a great collection of attractions, and a lot of fun. It will be the hors d’oeuvres before the entrees at WDW. It will set things up, it will be the warm-up phase of the trip. And then we’ll head in for the main event.
The plan is to meet up Friday night for dinner at Emeril’s, which I’ve eaten at before and really liked. I had expected something hokey, and got really good food. As the DisAdders are really appreciate of really good food, it’s the way to start. Then, at the crack of the next dawn, we head to IOA and Hogwarts, beating the crowds because we’re staying on-site. Then we do the rest of IOA and a little of the main park, with a break in the middle, one of the perks of staying onsite. Then back for more, but at a fairly leisurely pace, since front-of-the-line privileges will remove the necessity of commando-style line planning. Dinner will be whatever; I’m thinking that we’ll want to see the Universal fireworks end-of-day extravaganza, so we won’t be eating our little butts off that night. We’ll have already done that the previous day and, for that matter, the next day. There’s no point in overdoing it.
As for Sunday, we head to Diagon Alley where there should be a roller coaster ride of sorts at Gringotts, just like the real (real?) Gringotts, taking you to your vault, presumably with a dragon on hand for excitement. Then the rest of the attractions not yet seen, then midday one packs up and heads over to WDW. And there you are.
Pulling Universal, a one-day experience, out of the middle of the DisAd and placing it as a one and a half day experience at the beginning made for lots of changes from the original, initial plans. A total day off, for instance, where those of the spa persuasion could get their nails polished and their butts massaged while the rest of us explored something other than our nails and our butts went off into the ether, but everything else pretty much remained intact. That’s one nice thing about planning days on an electronic calendar. You move this here and that there until everything fits just fine. Which, I hope, is what I did.
By the way, O’C is going down early for whatever he has to take care of, and Kaz is going down early to visit Sea World. Her reason for the earliness is saving money on transportation, as if you travel during the week it’s way cheaper than traveling on a weekend, as most of the rest of us are doing. Of course, even though she’s flying out of Newburgh, her first stop on the way to Florida is, I think, Butte, Montana, so I question exactly how great an idea that really is. Butte (or maybe it was Detroit) just isn’t on the way to Florida, last time I looked.
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