Episode 17 - Checks In The Mail

[John]

The INTERCOT Insider LiveEpisode 17 - June 14, 2011“Checks in the Mail!”

Carol, Ian, Nanci, Jeff & John

Jeff gets the mentions out of the way at the get go

Nanci from Magical Journey’s goes over new promos and 2012 packages.

Needing a PhD to plan your vacation & the price of a vacation

Stroller parking at Soarin and in general

Ticket price increases & the cost of a vacation

INTERCOT’s Best of Desserts - Sit down and otherwise…- Carol says grapefruit cake at Brown Derby and Dole Whip.- Ian’s got a new saying - “yummy deliciousness.” He also goes with Creme Brule at Chefs de France and mourns the loss of the Beaver Tail (recipe at: http://www.food.com/recipe/canadian-...astries-119576)- Nanci likes the Ohana Bread Pudding and Candied Almonds.- Jeff prefers the Deep Fried Wontons & anything from Norway with Viking Coffee.- John kind of liked the sampling deserts at the Wave or anything at Kona and Churros/Maragira pairing.

Food and Wine Festival including new Oddysey Lounge.

Rehabs, Park Calendar, Sounds Like Summer quiz

Fantasyland Storybook Circus

Rapunzel to become the 10th Disney Princess

Comparing wait times at DW vs DL

Darth Vader goes to Disneyland:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di6oT7Y0-Zw



>> DOWNLOAD - LISTEN - LOVE

[Melanie]

Listening now......finding myself wanting to interject every now and then.

Good listening so far!

[Melanie]

Holy cow John - Bee Gees?

And Carol - I wanted the MAVS to win!

OMG - that Disneyland Darth Vader commercial is INCREDIBLE! I hadn't seen it.

[Carol]

Oops. My bad. I thought I remember you were excited when the trade for LeBron went done.

[Melanie]

I thought I remember you were excited when the trade for LeBron went done.

Excited for Ryan, for sure. My poor misguided son and his sports teams. LOL!

[jennbunn]

I would love a show about disneyland.

[BrerGnat]

I would love a show about disneyland.

I agree, although Intercot is really a Walt Disney World site (first and foremost), Disneyland is really becoming a place lots of WDW fans are heading to more often. I see a LOT of Walt Disney World t-shirts on the backs of park guests at DL these days (my own included!).

Don't worry, there's enough Disneyland "talent" among the moderators that one day, it could be done.

[BrerGnat]

My "yummy deliciousness"= 'Ohana Bread Pudding as well. And, I don't even LIKE bread pudding!

Great show guys! It was nice to hear some "new" voices, but I missed you Mel and Gary!

Love that Darth Vader commercial! It was posted on the Disneyland FB page a couple weeks ago. So funny!

Disneyland really is a different culture! I don't understand (even as a local), heading out to the parks to stand in a 4 hour line for ANYTHING! However, new rides have always commanded that kind of ferocious attention over here. However, it tends to be short lived, and wanes within a few weeks. I do find it sort of funny, though, how different Toy Story Mania and Soarin are over here, in terms of commanding lines. Toy Story, although it doesn't have Fastpass, rarely has a line over 45 min long except on the busiest of days. Soarin, too, rarely exceeds the 60 min wait time, and usually is around 40 min standby on busy days. There is FP, but it isn't an all out stampede to that ride when the gates open. These two rides have been at WDW now for a few years. I can't believe how insanely popular they STILL are over there! It's funny to me how people have to actually formulate a plan to ride these at WDW. Crazy!

Keep up the good work! Love listening to the podcasts!

[Ian]

I would love a show about disneyland.

I could definitely envision us dedicating an entire podcast to Disneyland. All of the hosts have been there multiple times, so I think we could fill an entire show quite easily.

I do find it sort of funny, though, how different Toy Story Mania and Soarin are over here, in terms of commanding lines. Toy Story, although it doesn't have Fastpass, rarely has a line over 45 min long except on the busiest of days.

Well that's probably because there's no Fastpass. While FP is great for those who have one, it significantly drives up the standby wait times for those who don't.

[BrerGnat]

Well that's probably because there's no Fastpass. While FP is great for those who have one, it significantly drives up the standby wait times for those who don't.

That was my point, I guess. I think WDW goes overboard on the FP. I mean, why does Peter Pan have FP? I'd rather a steady 20 min line than an hour+ with the FP option.

Toy Story is not a ride that should have FP. They should have done a regular line, and a single rider line. Makes a lot more sense.

[diz_girl]

Finally caught up on all of the Podcasts. Whew.

Never had a BeaverTail. They could have been removed because of the whole no trans-fat/healthy eating issue. But BeaverTails is actually a Canadian-based chain of food stands that sells, you guessed it, BeaverTails. So maybe there was a falling out with the parent company. I don't know, but maybe someone else does.

[Ian]

That was my point, I guess. I think WDW goes overboard on the FP. I mean, why does Peter Pan have FP? I'd rather a steady 20 min line than an hour+ with the FP option.

Toy Story is not a ride that should have FP. They should have done a regular line, and a single rider line. Makes a lot more sense.

Well not to knock any of my CM friends who may or may not be involved with queue management at DHS, but I have to say that Disney World seems to have a poor handle on the TSM queue in general.

This past trip it was just so bizarre. They were allowing parties of one or two to break off from the main part of the line right where the FP split occurs (at the stairs). Now parties of one I can understand ... you need to fill in space from odd pairs, but why parties of two?? It's not like Test Track where the ride vehicle seats six and you might need two to round out a party of four. The TSM cars seat four people?

And what I find even more irritating and arbitrary is the fact that it's not good enough for you to split off from your party of say ... five ... and go as a single. Oh no. You actually have to be in the line by yourself or you're not allowed to use the single rider line.

Which makes absolutely no sense at all since, at least ostensibly, the single rider queue fills a need. Why should they care what single person fills up a seat that would otherwise be empty? If I want to go on ahead of my party and ride by myself, why should Disney care?

Sooooooooooo weird.

[JPL]

The ride did open with a Single Riders line but it closed shortly after opening because it wasn't working for some reason. I know I heard stories about other guests complaining about riding with a stranger. I tried to us eit the few times I was there when it was still open and they had it closed down due to capacity. The one CM stated that it was a 65 minute wait for Single Riders so they closed it until they clear it out. Now this really didn't make sense to me because TT and Everest Single Rider lines work very well and rarely have much of a wait at all. I really think it's a CM training issue more than anything else at WDW that can be blamed for the problems with single rider lines and FP.

[Fangorn]

I could definitely envision us dedicating an entire podcast to Disneyland. All of the hosts have been there multiple times, so I think we could fill an entire show quite easily.

Plus, there are others here that are either local or, like myself, grew up at Disneyland. I, as arguably the Intercotee to first set foot in a Disney park, could bring a pretty interesting historical perspective to the conversation.

Steve

[princessgirls]

Great Pod-cast guys!! A lot of useful information!!!

Not to beat a dead horse, but I COMPLETELY agree with Ian about the value factor. We are a family of 4, kids are 10 & 9. My Disney trip for 10 days is not ANY more than a week at the beach for us with ALL costs factored in. Yes, I look for deals (why shouldn't you???) and I save my Disney reward dollars by solely using the Disney Visa for the last year, and have a couple hundred dollars in spending money on it...reward dollars, not coming out of my pocket dollars. I still see value in it.
Interestingly, if you look at prices on the disney web, they always default the park passes to the hopper and waterparks and more options. Those add on $$. You have to manually go in and take those options off, it also defaults you to the best rooms at the resort. You can shave off a couple hundred just on that. I'm still under $4,000 with airfare, for a ten day trip,9 day park hopper, waterparks, and dining...I think that's a good value for ALL that I'm getting. I know some on the boards argue that it's outrageous...a 7 day trip to the beach costs me $3,000 and I'm not having to cook, clean, or do much in Disney but ENJOY!!

Enjoyed the dessert talk!!!

Until the next podcast....

Julie