Episode 57 - Really Realistic Swirling Animals

The Cast: John Yaglenski, Melanie Bounds, Gary O'Brien, Christine Warner, Ian Mitchell

- We learn what SNOAP is... who knew and then it leads to talk about the weather.

- Ian starts asking TOO MANY QUESTIONS.

- Changes coming to Animal Kingdom with new Avatar Themed Land and Discovery River Nighttime Show! We try to figure out where exactly this will be taking place.

- We look forward to Disney's Animal Kingdom being open at night.

- Enough about the Lands.

- John's Trip to The Disney Worlds and his MyMagic+ Experience

- He liked the room key, he liked the paying with your band but hated the preplanning & fastpass experience. Ended up not using scheduled times at all.

- MyMagic+ for dining at Be Our Guest - got John to try something he woulnd't have otherwise and was a good experience.

- Christine has worries for local guests.

- John is hopeful the system will be tweaked before wide rollout.

- False start.

- Parking lot views, still no sugar free syrup at the Kona (COME ON!), John says just get the plain coffee, sushi chefs have moved.

- RFID paper cups. Ian claims John made this up and Mel's head is about to pop off!

- Starbucks - AWESOME!

- Universal & Simpsons Area

- INTERCOT's Take It or Leave It - Character Meals. Mel says take it unless it's Chef Mickey's. Gary says it's situational but take it. Ian takes it - always a highlight. Christine says leave it - hates the hustle and bustle of it all. John says leave it now - kids are grown.

- Glow with the Show debuts.

- Main Street bypass & hotel pools.

- The crew laments the demise of Epcot attractions.

>> Listen, Download, Love, Share, Enjoy...

Just started listening to the podcast but I had to drop in to say I used to love Labyrinth. Jim Henson, Lucas, and David Bowie as the Goblin King. Lots of fun. I wonder how it holds up?

Back in the days when video stores were alive and well we went through a period where we would check that movie out several times a month and our son would watch it over and over. I'd forgotten about it until this podcast. Thanks for the reminder. I may have to visit Amazon (one of INTERCOT's affiliates) for this.

The rest of the podcast was great as well. Thanks John for your observations and first hand accounts of some of the new systems and procedures that you encountered during your recent visit to WDW.

TAKE IT. I think character meals are a memorable part of the Disney experience. At the same time I agree with Christine that if you are looking for a quiet, relaxing meal this is not the place to be.

When our kids were young we would always do the character meal at Goofy's Kitchen (Disneyland Hotel, Disneyland) on our check-in day. It wasn't so much about the food but gave us a sense of being at Disneyland on a day when we didn't have tickets to the Park. We may still visit a Character Meal location from time to time now that we are all adults. But it is usually one that is a bit more toned down. The Characters will politely stop by an all adult table to say hello or pose for a picture if you want, but don't usually linger as much as they do with the kids. Like Melanie said, they are fairly good at reading your body language and know when you are good with a quick greeting and then move on.

HEY NOW. I WILL TELL YOU I AM NOT THE ONE WHISTLING OFF-KEY!!! How DARE you Mr. Mitchell, accuse me of such a horror!!! :D:D:D
Those are all of Mike's whistles layered up. LOL!

By the way, he's got a new outtro for the segment for you guys, I just gotta email it to you!

Oh and here are the official credits for it:
Jenn played the music.
Roy (her husband) is a recording engineer so he recorded it.
I wrote the words.
Mike sang it and did the off-key whistling! HAHAHA!
I'm glad you guys like it! We had a lot of fun fooling around making it!

In the meantime, I will say TAKE IT for Character Meals. But, they are usually just a "once a trip" thing for us. I think if we did more than one, it wouldn't be as special of an occasion. I totally understand what Christine means about it being stressful and I'm just trying to eat my plate full of bacon but I have to keep getting the camera ready and make sure the kids are clean for their pictures... it is a whirlwind! So one a trip is about all we can take.

I lost count of how many times during the podcast I said, "YES!" or "EXACTLY!"

Rant away my friends
RANT. AWAY.

Take it or Leave it: I say take it only because I don't like standing in lines to meet characters. However we do less and less character meals because I think the cost is freaking ridiculous. We have a trip planed in Dec and again in June - no character meal in sight.

Closing the pools at 10pm - I wouldn't care to much except that 10pm is so early! Most nights we are back in our rooms by 8 or 9 - grab somethign to eat and hit the pools. 10 pm is early.

RFID in the disposable soda cups - Are You Kidding Me? I have a question - if it is good for 4 refills - is it 4 refills over lets say 2 hours...or is it only within an hour. The soda cups are a decent size so we typically share 2 in our family of 4. How annoying that now we can't refill at our leisure. I guess I will see how this works in Dec - but if it becomes an issue - I see a grocery run in my future and I'll just buy cans of soda and bring them in my book bag. Granted no refills this way either - but I will have also saved $1.

My Magic + - so far it is working against me since we will be buying APs

$ to make ADR - I like/dislike this. I like it because it does stop people from making 3 ADRs and clogging up the system and keeping others from not being able to make reservations. I dislike it because it leaves very little wiggle room for people who don't plan their vacation to down to the minute. I agree with Ian - how about you set up the computer so that people can't make multiple ADRs for the same 3 hour period in a day.

Parties/Special Events - Again we are going in Dec and skipping the Christmas party. The price is outrageous when you figure we already purchase AP's. We'll just go to another park or try to enjoy the pool until is closes ;) I remember going to the Christmas party in 2004 I think it cost around $40 a ticket and there were more activities and freebies.

Basically all these new policies do for my family is encourage us to spend LESS money in Disney. We don't tour parks commando style - we bring food with us for breakfast, I could schedule a grocery delivery to cover soda and other foods we might like while we are down there and eat more often in our room. Not my ideal vacation but I also don't like feeling like I'm paying more $ and less return.

Now that my kids are getting older we no longer feel like our trip has to be all Disney all the time. We are DVC owners so we will always stay on property - but Universal and other attractions are just a hop, skip, and jump away.

Okay getting off my :soapbox:

~Amanda

Christine was talking about how she was told by a CM that since the FP+ would be so spread out, that there would be same-day FP+ available to AP/local guests.

This actually does make sense if the company goes to the tiered system. Obviously, if there is no tiered system, the FP+ for Soarin' and Test Track will both be gone and there will be no same day FP+ available for those rides.

But if it is a tiered system, and people can only choose a FP+ for 1 of those 2 rides, there would be a much smaller amount of people getting the FP+ for each ride (maybe 50%) and therefore there would be same-day FP+ available for those rides for AP/local guests!



And the only reason I can think of for spreading out the 4 refills over time is to avoid people filling up a cup and pouring it into a family members personal (not-purchased) cup.

I don't think this was ever a issue, but maybe they thought it would become one with the new system? It's all about the bottom line, isn't it?

From Amanda’s great bullet list…my take(s).

"YES!" or "EXACTLY!" – mee too. Pretty much agreed.

Take it or Leave it – many subjects.

Leave The Character Meals: Never liked them. Did that silly Mickey’s Backyard BB-Q few years back…should be called Mickey’s WWF!!! No character handlers and people were just pounding on those poor CM’s in the costumes on the dance floor. I don’t mind Chef Mickey’s but we have only done that once – so it don’t mean too much to me or DW. We do like the Epcot Character Spot for our photos. We can map out a time to spend there and get most of all the pics we want with characters done all at once during our trip. OPTIMIZE our time if you will. ;) BTW, I almost fell off my treadmill this past Sat when I had this podcast on...CW - your view and dislike about the character meals as you explained...LOL!!! And Ian's mouth full of eggs!!! NOW THAT IS TOO FUNNY!!!

Closing The Pools At 10pm: Makes no difference to DW and I. Our favorite resort as of now, past 4 years, CBR…we head to the beach with a nice cigar and adult beverage in the later evenings after a day at the parks or FLA sightseeing. YES we do use the pools at that resort during the early mornings till 3PM on our “pool days”. BUT closing at 10PM is no deal breaker for us.

RFID In The Disposable Soda Cups: Funny a few weeks back I tweeted to JY this for an idea on the podcast. I see it as total confusion for NEW 1st time quests to the WORLD. YUP – more confusion. I get that Disney is trying to control costs and stop the hemorrhaging of money. Nothing costs nothing…sorry IAN. I have no issues with this – but DW and I are not soda/pop drinkers. Machine glitches and NEWBIE’s lack of understanding…could be the fail of this new deluxe system. I liked JY’s comment about “US” being in the know and we are confused – lease it was something like that – I think. Think of the newbies – they will have no clue on this procedure and it will put a mark on their vacation. Some only get to the WORLD once in their lives. SO you want this memory of soda’s to be the one they remember forever? REALLY?!?! We get our coffee or bottled milk or whatever with our QS meals or whatever. Yes in the past we have purchased the plastic mugs that are now RFID too. I think we seldom use them…mostly we forget them as we walk to the food court at CBR. And we never pack them for park use. I get the mugs are being totally abused too from years past. If I could chose to NOT pay for the MUG at all in my QA plan and just get my juice or water or milk or coffee as part of my beverage – we’d be fine with it. Never seen the “2 liter fill ups” some say they have seen at the soda fountain machines – BUT I don’t doubt some people do it. I don’t think of this as a money grab…but I do think Disney needs to control costs where ever possible so they can continue to do what they do so well – THAT WE ALL LOVE too. We use Garden Grocer and really love this service. Yes in the past we shopped locally but the past few years we just pay to have our stuff delivered to CBR. It’s worth it to us. We check in and usually in the past 5 years of using this service our order is being delivered to us. LOVE IT!

My Magic +: I am not very happy about this whole thing at all. We will not PLAN OUT OUR COMPLETE VACTION TO USE THIS. Once they make it so we can just walk up to a kiosk or location and get a FP for a ride/attraction we will prolly use it. I like the FP paper! Some have said in the FUTURE walk up wristband bumps for FP will be available. I hope so or we won’t be using it. Just not willing to spend more time on vacation planning or being restricted from hopping and canceling things etc. AND WHO IS PAYING FOR THESE FANCY BANDS and the entire special packaging? Must be US!!! REALLY!!! ALSO having our expenses done by this wristband/bump stinks too. So did the KTTW card. We use our WDW VISA for discounts on everything. And you need to use the actual CC PLATE/CARD for the transaction to get the 10% off. YES it’s over $50 – but that is easy. Disney Co. and Disney Visa need to get their act together on this. Why can’t I link my DISNEY VISA to my KTTW or Magic+ Wristband and get my discount – accumulated over my vacation/stay? So far you cannot. Don’t listen to the concierge desk at the resort. Been there – done that - lost out. You need to use the actual charge card in person for the discount. So the wristband purchases are not a seller for us.

$ If You Miss An ADR: YES charge’em! You should not be able to make multiple bookings either in the same day! You can’t be at more than one at a give time right? TIME TRAVEL??? CLONING??? Ian I agree with you 110%... it’s a computer and it can stop this nonsense. BUT if you don’t show up after you booked – YOU PAY A FEE. Folks like me can’t get in since some make multiple bookings and don’t go to any at different times I’ll bet. Of course I’m not speaking about a no-show for an emergency that may have come up. I’m talking about ignorance and laziness in the parks from folks who could care less if a better thing has come up. Penalties need to be enforced. I get its Disney. But abuse ruins it for everyone – sooner or later.

Parties/Special Events: During our only WDW Dec trip in 2008 we did pony up for the MK’s MVMCP. We did enjoy it! BUT I’ll admit it was pricey but we got the free dining for that trip so it did sort of offset our overall costs. The MOUSE still got his cheese!!! We’d like to do the Halloween party too…and if we get to visit WDW in October we will likely pony up again. UNLESS the price is much higher.

AND I do feel for the AP/local residence folks. Not sure this whole Magic+ thing was rolled out as well as it should have been. Almost seems like you are being left out for now. I do hope this ALL changes. AND I hope it system will get tweaked and become less a hassle.

MAGIC has a price. For now it’s doable…but if it gets much higher I can see DW and I being more selective during our trips.

I say take the character meals (although I don't like several of them). We love Tusker house, think its the best meal on property, and we have enjoyed 1900 park fare (supper). We found that the character interaction at 1900 park fare and akershus were top notch and well worth the experience. we would love to try garden grill on our next visit.

I also enjoyed using my magicband for MOST things (DDP, room charges, room access, park tickets, not having to leave things unattended at the pool) but do not like the FP+.

What I do like about FP+ is being able to get a late day FP without having to be in that park and time it correctly, for instance we would go to MK in the am while having FP's for TSM and RnRC for later in the day. this way we rode the major attractions in the standby lines at MK while it was slower, then hop over to HS and was able to have FP's for the major attractions over there for when we wanted them. using the "old" system we would have had to go to HS in the am and wait for the fp window to be 7pm in order to get a fp for 7pm or end up waiting standby in the evening.
I would like the system to allow you to book any 3 rides, at any park, not 3 per park, but 3 total. several times we would have (as an example) 3 fp's for MK, we would go to mk and use 1 fp leaving us with 2 more booked fp's. now the kids decide they want to go to epcot. we still have 2 fp's booked that we cant change up or put back into the pool, but arn't going to use (cause we're going to change parks), and now we cant get anymore fp's when we go to epcot. I think we should be able to return fp's to a "pool" and if other fp's are available (even if its at a different park) we should be able to get them as long as we don't use more than 3 per day, total. long winded I know but I think you can follow all that!

anyways, another great podcast!

RFID cups: yes if you want a ton of ice and only fill 10oz you can guzzle it down and then immeadiately fill 10 more oz. once you reach the 20 oz (I believe this is the amt) it locks out for two minutes (I believe this is the time limit).


Creepy magic band moment at lunch @ BOG:
We ordered and paid with magic band. They found us at our table using a GPS like computer ap on the carts to deliver our food. We asked how they would know where we were seated. We were told its "magic". Didn't really want that blatant reminder of the capabilities of the magic bands while in the parks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kenny1113

RFID cups: yes if you want a ton of ice and only fill 10oz you can guzzle it down and then immeadiately fill 10 more oz. once you reach the 20 oz (I believe this is the amt) it locks out for two minutes (I believe this is the time limit).


Creepy magic band moment at lunch @ BOG:
We ordered and paid with magic band. They found us at our table using a GPS like computer ap on the carts to deliver our food. We asked how they would know where we were seated. We were told its "magic". Didn't really want that blatant reminder of the capabilities of the magic bands while in the parks.

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It's actually the Rose (or as I call it the hockypuck) that they give you that locates your table - not the magic band ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by John

It's actually the Rose (or as I call it the hockypuck) that they give you that locates your table - not the magic band ;)

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That's just it, they didn't give us one (or two because we were two different purchases at one table). It was the band.

Your right it does look like a hockey puck.