Episode 62 - Once Upon A Vine at Bardwalk

[John]

The Cast: Christine Warner, Melanie Bounds, Ian Mitchell, & John Yaglenski

- The Return of Gary - It’s GARY!

- Singing Starts…

- March Madness Disney Style - INTERCOT Consulting: we needed
pins or t-shirts!

- Seven Dwarfs Mine Train - INTERCOT will be covering.
John’s invitation got lost - was later found mailed to the
wrong address. No soft openings?

- FastPass+ Changes - lots of new things coming

- Konami Code gets a reference

- Mel loves ET

- Once Upon A Vine - wonderful wine!

- #runICOT and #cheerICOT - Coming to Marathon Weekend in
January

- John ran his first 5k in a Vineyard!

- ROYGBIV pack - pink, purple, cyan and lime for #runICOT

- Gary says he’ll go if John agrees to run a 5k and a 10k -
this is epic. Mel, John, Ian and Gary are ALL in!

- That’s Not A Pillow!!!!

- Take It or Leave It - Staying off property. Ian says leave
it. Gary says leave it. John says take it as does Mel.

- We loose Ian and BOOM he’s back

- Jon Pinette passes away

- Small World 50th Anniversary

- D-tech Me returns for Star Wars Weekends. Breakfast with the Characters from the movie. Mark Hamill will be there too!

- Kouzzina closing at Boardwalk

- Bardwalk and the Shakespeare Theme Park

- Oswald debuts in park.

- What have we learned?

>>> Listen, Love, Share, Enjoy and tell 327 Friends

[Christine]

Was I on this show?! Lol!!!

[Melanie]

Once upon a time, I drove all day, and then had too much wine.

The End

[GMRO]

Was I on this show?! Lol!!!

Your kidd'n right? A podcast less the CW flavor is not a podcast... BTW, that emoticon is awesome!

YES - I'll down load it... but I'm keeping the suspense for our trip on 10 days. Don't ruin the surprise - IF - you are on the podcast or not.

MEL - that is too funnnyyyyy!

[dpamac]

Once upon a time, I drove all day, and then had too much wine.

The End

Mel, you were awesome in this episode. I've been the tipsy one before so I know how you have that "Oh Jeez" moment (I just got sleepy and slurred and didn't say much), but your reactions to things were great. I think the exhaustion and everything gave you this exasperated, "let me tell you..." state of mind that was really relaxed and entertaining. Plus, the later it got the more Carolina Mel came out. I like Carolina Mel.

[dpamac]

Was I on this show?! Lol!!!

We needed to round out the cast so we put a webcam on a fern and then drew out of a hat who it was. Originally we drew Michael, but we couldn't get the hoodie to stay on it and it kept saying it had dinner reservations, so you were drafted. It did very well. Every once in a while it would shake it's glass and its husband fern would lovingly refill it.

[Christine]

Every once in a while it would shake it's glass and its husband fern would lovingly refill it.

Hahaha! I do have a good fern hubby!!!

[Melanie]

Fern hubbies who bring drink refills are the best! AND, they know when to cut you off.

[Melanie]

Oh, and Gary, it was great to have you back. I missed ya!

[Buttercup]

Haha Wizard of Au Jus!!!

I would like to say I still have my old Atari and YES I even have the craptastic ET game. Oh man it was awful. Jenn and I would start playing it and shut it off within a couple minutes. But I still have it... Can't stand to play it though.

Anyway I would say TAKE IT for staying off site. We just got back from a trip where we stayed at a vacation home and it was so great having our own pool to sit at and play cards outside while the kids went to bed. With 2 families in the house the cost was split so it was a really cheap but luxurious vacation! We've also stayed at some of the hotels on I-192 and some have been gross while others great. You just have to be choosy.

I'm really looking forward to the next RunICOT trip! Can't wait to speed walk alongside you fine folks in the 5K!

[dpamac]

They officially dug up those buried ET cartridges this past week. Unlike wines and bourbons they did not age well. The game still stinks.

[Quadstriker]

The konami code is up up down down left right left right b a (select for 2 players) start. Ian was somewhat close.

Got a lot of gaming memorabilia including a copy of E.T. and some sealed 2600 games.

Back in January, my friend Neil did a speedrun of E.T. for Awesome Games Done Quick, a VG speedrunning marathon that raised a million dollars for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.

His run is available here
http://www.twitch.tv/speeddemosarchi...59?t=16h11m10s

[disneykidsince1970]

Thank for another great podcast guys!

buttercup listed a lot if good take it or leave it's too!

Eager to hear the discussion around new Poly renderings next time... No central waterfall effect in the lobby..... I will miss it but heard that the maintenance was very problematic.

Ciao from Switzerland....where your Disney magic travels all the way to me! .... And I am so grateful for it.

[dpamac]

Ciao from Switzerland....where your Disney magic travels all the way to me! .... And I am so grateful for it.

Sweet! That means I need to start throwing in some Lykke Li and Jens Lekman when I sing on the show. Or, oooh Lasse LIndh. Or Robyn! Or the Hives.

[Jul]

Thank you, John and Ian, for making my day! I was born and raised in Norristown, PA (went to Methacton). I grew up with A-Treat. The cream soda was my favorite. It was red! Also, great little tribute to John Pinette. My mom works at the Keswick Theater and had him back in November and said he was a class act. Sorry to see him go so young.

Ian, I heard you mention Roller Coasters! My brother and I used to fight over who got the Pac-Man pasts and who got the Coasters!

The podcasts are awesome! Keep up the great work and welcome back, Gary!

[Dopey's Girl]

Yay that Gary is back! I love the rest of the Podcast Characters, but the Gary, Ian, John combo just makes me laugh. And Once Upon A Vine Mel cracked me up this time too.

10k day was my favorite too Mel (even considering the 4 AM wakeup and wait at Boardwalk!) It was so much fun being the only group there, and you could tell people loved the encouragement!! I'm staying in the Epcot area this year, I'll bring the coffee and I'll be sure to have a parking pass for you!

Take It or Leave It, I have to leave it too. Even though most times I don't do EMH, and I rarely use Disney transportation, I just can't leave under that sign each night. I did that last April (had a free room with my best friend who was there for work), and even though the room was amazing, and the resort was beautiful, I won't ever stay offsite again. It was too much back and forth and running around. I missed the Mickey magic!

[Septbride2002]

Take it or Leave It: Leave it. Being DVC I "own" the Magic. The only reason I could see staying off site would be at a vacation home that we were sharing with another family of 4. Otherwise - we love the Disney resorts and we love being in all the magic. I will say it is easier to keep in touch with the outside world now that they have expanded the cable channels available. I was super happy when that happened.

[KylesMom]

Another fun and amusing podcast, guys. Mel, you were especially entertaining Welcome back Gary! Christine, you were missed!

Take it or leave it: Until my last trip (ICOT) I would have said leave it. My first trip to Disney World on my honeymoon DH and I stayed off site. It was HORRIBLE. When DS was born and we began our yearly trips, we swore we would never stay off site again. And this was said while staying at the All Stars before we moved up to Deluxe accommodations. Needless to say, I spent a few days at a Hilton suite hotel where the space was as big as three regular Disney property rooms and I was sold. A few miles away from Downtown Disney but it was great-and exceptionally affordable. While I still love love love my WL, I doubt I will spend $250+ a night to stay there again. In these times of financial uncertainty, not knowing when I will next be able to return, the value just isn't there for me. I will say that it was really tough to move over to an All Star room for the last few days after staying at Homewood!

Mel, I believe your "creepy Star Wars chick" is Aurra Sing, bounty hunter. Would either be her or Zam Wessel. We have had some fun run-ins with both of them at Star Wars Weekends of past years. Sure wish I was going this year!

[GMRO]

Very entertaining podcast. AND welcome back GARY! Missed the flavor for sure over the past few PC’s.

TAKE IT far as the staying off property. YES we do love property…but we started off property. Pending your situation and length of stay keep it.

FP+, yes nice enhancements since the 1st release/plan. HOPEFULLY they will have more in the future. We were just at the WORLD 5/15 – 5/24 and it worked – far as FP+ is concerned. HATE HATE HATE running to keep up with the clock for the advance FP’s scheduled. Broken record, just let me walk up to a kiosk near a ride/attraction and bump my magicband and get a FP is they are available. I want this like the old legacy FP’s…let me decide which line I will stand in for length and which I’ll take a FP for based on standby lines and park attendance that moment. NOT days before. Hope the next code revision allows this. Was it nice to use 3 and be able to get more…? We never even used the 3 on some days. And on some days we didn’t even have anything scheduled. Some days we did cancel them as we just didn’t want to even deal with it. I feel this whole FP+ thing made US ride less. We still enjoyed the vaca and rode less based on the scheduling parameter required to use FP+. Not a PLUS for me. Just fix this Disney!

ET, yes rode that ride when we “used-to” visit US/IOA. Great ride. Game cart does ****! hehehe

Mel, did you use your EPCOT wine glass on this PC? OR just a straw in the bottle? LOL No really it was fine, very enjoyable!

Thanks for the runDisney updates too! Though I feel this is the next “money-grab”. Soon every character will have their own high priced challenge weekend for 5K,10K, and ½. I see them soon scheduling them at DL and WDW on the same weekends…or B2B weekends which will make it very difficult or make you chose which event to run. Guess we will see when this implodes.

So where is the runDisney store at DTD with all the runDisney hype these days? Visited the 2Fit2Run place or whatever it’s called…and didn’t like it. Bunch of kids working there during our visit. I doubt I’ll be back to that store. I stood on the machine they had barefoot to show the pressure points of your feet to see if an insert would help. While I’m on the machine a kid/girl comes over and asks me if I need help. I said yea the inserts; can they work in both running shoes and day to day shoes? She looks at the screen and says well you are a heel striker…and your shoes must be really worn out on the heels. These inserts won’t help you. You need to get better shoes. I said I’m not a heal striker and told her none of my shoes are worn out at the heel. I picked up a pair from the shelf/display and showed her where my shoes wear. And I said I just had a set of running shoes hit 1000 miles that I retired and a set at 450 miles and the heels are not whipped out on either pair. My fronts/toes take the wear – more to the outside edge vs. inside. The rear/heal is fine. She throws me a look and I said yea - ok, wrong answer. And DW and I left. I hope they are not affiliated with Disney and are just RENTERS of space.

And JY great you’ve got a new hobby – RUNNING! Enjoy all the perks. Did laugh when you said it took 3 days to recover after your 5K. hehe Train abet for your 5 and 10 in Jan2015 or they will be pushing you around in a wheelchair afterwards once you get home. OR get you a “rascal” 3 wheeler. LOL Glad you like it really!!! GARY great way to motivate/challenge him too. I hope you folks have a blast but don’t wish it here too fast as that means we all just lost summer.

Oswald, nice shirts in the parks when we were just there too. Not nice enough for us to buy but we did get a little plush for our collection.

Small World, oh where to begin… It’s OLD I get it…now get over it. Few years back they spent 7 million a referb for it. Needless to say that was 6.5 million too much! Past 2 May vaca’s they have had the front of the ride masked off with scrims and are re-doing and painting it. Lots of paint? You can’t polish a turd…but guess they think they can paint it instead.

Soft Openings of 7DMT? YES!!! During our stay on land we did see the ride running with only "invited" CM's with special lanyards on their necks. Figured that's all we'd see...BUT – we did manage to get on it during Friday’s 24hr Rock Your Disney Side Party at the MK where it was opened for 24 hrs!!! WOW! We never attended any 24 hr events usually due to US not being residents...but we figured IF the ride was to be open at all “earlier then when they officially have it dated to open” - this was our best chance. And besides Disney would be dumb to not try and capture the 24 hr hoopla during this day right? We did hear during the same week that it was open very sporadically for short periods of time. We got lucky and we rode it. It was like the icing on our cake/vaca - mostly since we won’t be back to WDW till 2016 per a planned Alaska Cruise in 2015. That is another story… Anyway DW and I spent just under 60 mins in line at the 7DMT - no FP’s were available. AND the whole line moved very very fast since everyone in the line was STAND BY. Maybe IAN needs to relook at numbers…this experience has made me rethink the purpose and efficiency of FP all around. Jus’sayn… I know this is a jump ahead in PC and topics…but we really liked the ride a lot and see that we will need to ride it at least 6 more times to see everything going on – or more times! VERY BUSY ride when you are on it and we feel it is done very well. I can’t wait to hear the next PC and JY’s take on the whole MEDIA DAY and his ride thru of this new ride. And everyone else’s review once ya’ll get a chance to ride it.

AGAIN, thanks CREW for the great PC. I enjoyed this one at 10:15AM with my first beer of the day while on vaca @ CBR. Awesome entertainment at poolside!

Ummm…missed ya’ CW on the PC and at the parks. We looked and looked for ya - thought we’d run into you. Maybe next time!

[PopPhan]

I know I'm late to the rodeo on this podcast, but I just got my first chance to try a couple of the Once Upon A Vine wines - The Big Bad Red Blend and The Fairest Chardonnay - and have to put my 2 cents in......

I am not a big red fan, but this was a very flavorful blend. Very fruity with a light aftertaste. Higher alcohol content than I would have expected for something (however loosely) related to Disney. I would definitely drink this again. Much better than most of the wines available in the resorts! LOL

A good chardonnay is my preferred drink, when I am drinking wine. To me, this was the big test......I think I have found a new favorite! The bottle I opened had a great nose and, once allowed to breathe for a bit, a great flavor. Slightly drier than my regular go-to chardonnay ([yellow tail]), this offering had a nice fruity flavor and left a subtle aftertaste that was quite refreshing. Like the red, this had a higher alcohol content than expected.

These were the only two available in PA's Wine and Spirits stores. I hope to get an opportunity to try the rest of the family......