DDC XXXIV: The Original Home Of The DISDads!!!

[jaqsdad]

Evening Gents,

I sit to type this when I should be finalizing the packing. After working a full week, I leave in about an hour to catch the red eye out of PDX to spend a long weekend at Disney. Yes, I am flying cross country, about 12 hours one way once you factor in the travel time to the airport, arriving 2 hours early, layover, etc. just to spend one and half days at the Magic Kingdom.

How did the foolishness come to be you ask.... or maybe you didn't... but I'm going to tell you anyway.

When Disney announced that Happily Ever After is going away "forever" at the end of September, my better half decided she just HAD to see it one more time. I explained all the reasons it would not be a good idea. Among those reasons, we have to juggle three schedules at the last minute. We already have a week long trip scheduled in October. She can watch excellent videos online any time she wants. We would be traveling almost as long as we would be in Florida. It is last minute and flights would be expensive. My reasons were logical, well thought out, and well argued.

I looked at her as she processed all the information.

Then, I opened my laptop and proceeded to book a trip. So, within a month, I juggled three schedules, found and booked airline flights, got cheap rooms on Priceline (at Coronado Springs no less - 1st time staying there), and secured park reservations.

All because the love of my life NEEDS to see Happily Ever After, in person, one last time.

We've all been there, right?

 

[declansdad]

That's a serious investment in Happily Ever After.

Enjoy the trip.

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Evening Gents,

I sit to type this when I should be finalizing the packing. After working a full week, I leave in about an hour to catch the red eye out of PDX to spend a long weekend at Disney. Yes, I am flying cross country, about 12 hours one way once you factor in the travel time to the airport, arriving 2 hours early, layover, etc. just to spend one and half days at the Magic Kingdom.

How did the foolishness come to be you ask.... or maybe you didn't... but I'm going to tell you anyway.

When Disney announced that Happily Ever After is going away "forever" at the end of September, my better half decided she just HAD to see it one more time. I explained all the reasons it would not be a good idea. Among those reasons, we have to juggle three schedules at the last minute. We already have a week long trip scheduled in October. She can watch excellent videos online any time she wants. We would be traveling almost as long as we would be in Florida. It is last minute and flights would be expensive. My reasons were logical, well thought out, and well argued.

I looked at her as she processed all the information.

Then, I opened my laptop and proceeded to book a trip. So, within a month, I juggled three schedules, found and booked airline flights, got cheap rooms on Priceline (at Coronado Springs no less - 1st time staying there), and secured park reservations.

All because the love of my life NEEDS to see Happily Ever After, in person, one last time.

We've all been there, right?

 

[londontime]

I sit to type this when I should be finalizing the packing. After working a full week, I leave in about an hour to catch the red eye out of PDX to spend a long weekend at Disney. Yes, I am flying cross country, about 12 hours one way once you factor in the travel time to the airport, arriving 2 hours early, layover, etc. just to spend one and half days at the Magic Kingdom.

Good man.
Have a great time!

(fireworks have been cancelled this week , Chapek cost cutting)

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Evening Gents,

I sit to type this when I should be finalizing the packing. After working a full week, I leave in about an hour to catch the red eye out of PDX to spend a long weekend at Disney. Yes, I am flying cross country, about 12 hours one way once you factor in the travel time to the airport, arriving 2 hours early, layover, etc. just to spend one and half days at the Magic Kingdom.

How did the foolishness come to be you ask.... or maybe you didn't... but I'm going to tell you anyway.

When Disney announced that Happily Ever After is going away "forever" at the end of September, my better half decided she just HAD to see it one more time. I explained all the reasons it would not be a good idea. Among those reasons, we have to juggle three schedules at the last minute. We already have a week long trip scheduled in October. She can watch excellent videos online any time she wants. We would be traveling almost as long as we would be in Florida. It is last minute and flights would be expensive. My reasons were logical, well thought out, and well argued.

I looked at her as she processed all the information.

Then, I opened my laptop and proceeded to book a trip. So, within a month, I juggled three schedules, found and booked airline flights, got cheap rooms on Priceline (at Coronado Springs no less - 1st time staying there), and secured park reservations.

All because the love of my life NEEDS to see Happily Ever After, in person, one last time.

We've all been there, right?

Dedication...
and on a number of different levels.

Enjoy, and may the trip be exactly what it needs to be.

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Happy Friday!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Yes, I am flying cross country, about 12 hours one way once you factor in the travel time to the airport, arriving 2 hours early, layover, etc. just to spend one and half days at the Magic Kingdom.

You're not expecting this group to talk you out of it, are you?

My reasons were logical, well thought out, and well argued.

I think I see the problem.

All because the love of my life NEEDS to see Happily Ever After, in person, one last time.

We've all been there, right?

Happy wife...etc, etc.

 

[budamacdvcr]

Have a great weekend Dads! Bacon, Bourbon, Cigars & Mickey Bars!

Evening Gents,

I sit to type this when I should be finalizing the packing. After working a full week, I leave in about an hour to catch the red eye out of PDX to spend a long weekend at Disney. Yes, I am flying cross country, about 12 hours one way once you factor in the travel time to the airport, arriving 2 hours early, layover, etc. just to spend one and half days at the Magic Kingdom.

How did the foolishness come to be you ask.... or maybe you didn't... but I'm going to tell you anyway.

When Disney announced that Happily Ever After is going away "forever" at the end of September, my better half decided she just HAD to see it one more time. I explained all the reasons it would not be a good idea. Among those reasons, we have to juggle three schedules at the last minute. We already have a week long trip scheduled in October. She can watch excellent videos online any time she wants. We would be traveling almost as long as we would be in Florida. It is last minute and flights would be expensive. My reasons were logical, well thought out, and well argued.

I looked at her as she processed all the information.

Then, I opened my laptop and proceeded to book a trip. So, within a month, I juggled three schedules, found and booked airline flights, got cheap rooms on Priceline (at Coronado Springs no less - 1st time staying there), and secured park reservations.

All because the love of my life NEEDS to see Happily Ever After, in person, one last time.

We've all been there, right?

That is great stuff right there - enjoy! We all need to do more things like this, have a great time!

 

[AirGoofy]

Morning, Fellas! Well, the vacation saga continues as I type this from the Land of Cape Cod. The flight that I booked on United Airlines was cancelled, not because of weather in Boston, but because of the weather flying to my destination. So we are now leaving today....supposedly, this we shall see.



Thanks and after a couple of starts and stops, I think I might actually get out today....but we'll see.



Sounds nice.



Well....that's not cool. Hope things work out for you.



That may be true right now, but I think at some point it'll start to tip in the other direction. That's just an opinion.



Sounds like a nice drive.



My version of a trip to Disney World was planning my day out to a point. And by that I mean plan what park I wanted to do first, and then area/land/ride etc. After that, I'd then just walk around, so the whole planning 2 months out thing was too much for me. Will this eliminate the need to plan 2 months out? Maybe. But if there's one thing that'll be guaranteed is that you'll need to purchase one of these enhanced genie things to ride every new ride/attraction when they first open. Ok, can't really guarantee that, but you know it'll happen.



Thanks, my friend.



I'm no expert, but I don't think you're supposed to do that. And cleaning the house does sound detrimental to ones health. I may have to think twice about cleaning in the future.



We don't have responder badges, but a lot of the offices do have emergency panic buttons that alert the police...and they do work. I personally have never had to use one, but I know people who have.




At some point it does become greed. If Disney hadn't taken away so much, then I'd more than likely be inclined to think that they are just trying to figure out the crowds/lines getting too long. And maybe they have those intentions, but this comes on the back of cutting back on other things, which, like you, leads me to believe this is greed.



This was a great post. As for the highlighted, you the hit nail on the head. We all know Disney's a corporation and needs to make money, but we really think of Disney as ours, and therefore will complain when changes are made. Kneejerk reactions? Yes. I know I had one. But will this change be for the better? Who knows, but people will complain over the changes. I know that going forward, whenever Disney opens a new ride/attraction, it'll be a few years before I go on it because I'm not willing to pay extra to ride it. Ok, I could stand in the regular line, but I somehow think Disney will try and turn that line into a miserable experience to get people to spend more money....but that's an opinion.



Thanks, my friend.

And the flight/ trip went ...

Happy Monday Dads! If there is such a thing. Hope all in the Northeast are in good shape after this weekends weather. About an hour west of where we lived got hit with almost apocalyptical floods with over 20 dead and 40 missing as of this morning. 17-18" rain in less than 24 hours. Be safe out there.

Just a half of a Half & Half

Right there with you. Supply Chain / Manufacturing / Distribution roles should be getting "combat pay" right now with all the challenges.

Well done and congratulations!

OK looks like I sparked some interest with the topic. We are fortunate enough to be able to enjoy WDW on a regular basis. Being DVC helps with that not only with rooms but with discounted APs, 20% discounts on a lot of things, etc. Also can't remember last time we didn't use points to fly there (SWA Visa card benefits including normally earning enough per year to have Companion Pass reward). That being said I do not take prices increasing lightly, however, look at prices of just about everything, prices up, supply low and services lower. I do shake my head a bit when some of the ranters on social media act as if Disney should operate at lower profits, their websites end in .com not .org. I know some say it was less expensive back in the day but I remember when our family was starting out having to seriously save and put away money here and there to enjoy those first few early trips. I was raised in a middle class family yet we made it to WDW only once and off property so let's not pretend Walt and Roy weren't making a great profit.

Regarding the Genie+ stuff.....................

1. Remember paper FP? We all loved running around the parks getting those but could not always get what we wanted and how much time was spent trapesing from one end of the part to the other. Gennie+ does not require running all over and you can see what has the next available time to fit your schedule as opposed to running to BTMR kiosk only to find out those were all gone. Score = Genie+ for the win
2. FP+ you had to book 60 days in advance on property, and 30 days in advance off property. Oh how those staying off property would complain about not being able to get the main attractions and those on property raised the roof over having to plan so far in advance "I don't know what I want to do that far out, all this ruins being spontaneous." Score = Genie+ for the win
3. FP+ - limited to only 3 passes per day and at only 1 Park. Score = Genie+ for the win

Strategy wise, we are early risers so rope drop takes care of most of the major attractions for us. Also see using the $15 Genie+ option maybe twice on week long trip, one for MK and 1 for HS. Between RD and number of attractions don't see the need for FP at AK or EPCOT just yet.

I am not a fan of Cheapeck and his style and approach. I am more concerned about the lack of park maintenance, why the parks are not back to full offerings (Fantasmic!) and why they went to a DJ at the Train Station on Main Street pumping tunes dressed in a black t-shirt and black pants - that's staying within theme eh and that is the type of thing that would P off Walt.

Paper FP were the best, because they didn't enforce the expiration time, just a date. So, I hoarded them early in AM and saved them until when it got crowded, and then didn't have a wait.

Came searching for a bit of humor given the way things have been going and the lack of fart jokes is shameful. Disney costs, as well as other things, have probably made our last trip to the World the last one unless things change. The bikini-clad jumpers lightened the mood a bit and I fully approve.

DD is struggling with school, hormones, life, stress, COVID, etc. and don't have much wisdom to impart to her. I told her LBJ said " sometimes you just have to hunker down like a ******* in a hail storm and just take it" but that just confirmed I am old and out of touch. Not much worse than being the dad of a teenage girl living through a pandemic other than being the teenage girl.

Anyone seen the PolitiZoid "Its a woke world after all" youtube? It is worth the 2:15 to watch it.

I will check it out. My favorite woke meme so far is to wear a mask to the abortion clinic - remember to save a life.

 

[jaqsdad]

We have success!

All flights were on time, short wait for DME, we were the first resort to be dropped off and we made it to Magic Kingdom around 12:30. Almost everything was a walk on all day. The only thing we waited for was 7DMT and even that wasn't bad. Lunch at Pecos Bill was fantastic.

We secured excellent spots on Main Street, right at the entrance to the hub and had center views on Happily Ever After. The Kid recorded some video, I took lots of pictures. Tears were shed, and when I looked over at my wife, she was crying too (we both have allergies, yeah, allergies, that's it.)

Because we rode almost every ride at MK yesterday, we called an audible, and are changing our plans. After spending the morning swimming, we are going to Epcot today to take in Epcot Forever. I know it is only a placeholder, but we've never seen it, so why not?

I did learn that red eye flights are no longer as easy to do as they used to be.

 

[declansdad]

Happy Sunday all.

All set to watch a very wet Belgian F1 race. One car crashed on the lap out to the grid, could be an interesting race.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

And the flight/ trip went ...

Wonderful!

Morning, Fellas! Well, as you can see from the picture below, I finally made it back to the mothership. Because of the storms/weather from Hurricane Henri, we didn't make it out until Monday. Instead of flying Jet Blue, with the new schedule, we flew United and had a great flight. I wound up spending extra for economy plus/premium seats, and I'm really glad I did. We got to Albuquerque late and stayed the night before leaving for Roswell. The trip to Roswell is about 200 miles, about 3 hours, and we took our time getting down there, stopping along the way take some pictures. We also went down to Carlsbad Caverns, I'll try to post some of those pictures later. Had a good flight back, but didn't get home until almost 3 am, so yesterday was a day to relax and take naps. Well, off to

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

'Morning all...
Aaaaaannnnd, that's pretty much all I got.
Well, it is Monday, so...

We have success!

Sound's like y'all crushed it.
Hope the second day worked out just s well as the first.

Albuquerque late and stayed the night before leaving for Roswell. The trip to Roswell is about 200 miles, about 3 hours, and we took our time getting down there, stopping along the way take some pictures. We also went down to Carlsbad Caverns,

Good that y'all finally did get out that way and enjoyed the expedition.
Nice images too. examples of what I would call lonely pictures.
The B&W presentation adds to the drama in them as well.
Looking forward to seeing some of the caverns.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Morning, Fellas! Well, as you can see from the picture below, I finally made it back to the mothership. Because of the storms/weather from Hurricane Henri, we didn't make it out until Monday. Instead of flying Jet Blue, with the new schedule, we flew United and had a great flight. I wound up spending extra for economy plus/premium seats, and I'm really glad I did. We got to Albuquerque late and stayed the night before leaving for Roswell. The trip to Roswell is about 200 miles, about 3 hours, and we took our time getting down there, stopping along the way take some pictures. We also went down to Carlsbad Caverns, I'll try to post some of those pictures later.

Welcome back! Glad it was a successful trip. Nice photos! We visited Carlsbad Caverns a few years ago--fun place to tour.

Aaaaaannnnd, that's pretty much all I got.
Well, it is Monday, so...

Yes, it is. Got a call at 1:30 a.m. that a dump truck driving around with its bed up had hit one of our signals, pulled the pole down. Lovely start to the week!

 

[londontime]

Afternoon guys from an overcast London. Public holiday here today, so pottering around, eating rubbish.

Morning, Fellas! Well, as you can see from the picture below, I finally made it back to the mothership

Nice job. Did you see Randy Quaid?
Welcome back mate, hope you had a good time. Nice pix.

Yes, it is. Got a call at 1:30 a.m. that a dump truck driving around with its bed up had hit one of our signals, pulled the pole down. Lovely start to the week!

I guess slightly worse for the guy that owns the company responsible for the truck?

 

[budamacdvcr]

Top O the Mornin Dads! Another Monday but this is a 4 day work week for me and a 4 day work week next week with the Holiday weekend. Enjoy the week and be safe out there!

We have success!

All flights were on time, short wait for DME, we were the first resort to be dropped off and we made it to Magic Kingdom around 12:30. Almost everything was a walk on all day. The only thing we waited for was 7DMT and even that wasn't bad. Lunch at Pecos Bill was fantastic.

We secured excellent spots on Main Street, right at the entrance to the hub and had center views on Happily Ever After. The Kid recorded some video, I took lots of pictures. Tears were shed, and when I looked over at my wife, she was crying too (we both have allergies, yeah, allergies, that's it.)

Because we rode almost every ride at MK yesterday, we called an audible, and are changing our plans. After spending the morning swimming, we are going to Epcot today to take in Epcot Forever. I know it is only a placeholder, but we've never seen it, so why not?

I did learn that red eye flights are no longer as easy to do as they used to be.

Good to hear things worked out for you and the family. It was dusty when we saw HEA in July and didn't even know it was going away permanently.

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Got a call at 1:30 a.m. that a dump truck driving around with its bed up had hit one of our signals, pulled the pole down. Lovely start to the week!

Isn’t there a shovel you could lean it against?

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

I guess slightly worse for the guy that owns the company responsible for the truck?

Or at the very least for the driver.

Isn’t there a shovel you could lean it against?

Now why didn't I think of that?

 

[declansdad]

Isn’t there a shovel you could lean it against?

Now why didn't I think of that?

 

[jaqsdad]

Sound's like y'all crushed it.
Hope the second day worked out just s well as the first.

The second day was just as good as the first. We decided to sleep in (that is allowed while on vacation, right?) and go to the pool in the morning. While puttering around the pool and enjoying the slide, a family meeting was had and the motion was made and passed to go to a water park during our next trip. My Better Half and I did the water parks on our honeymoon, but not in the years since then. The Kid has never been to any water park. While waiting for lunch at the pool bar, the skies opened up and the pool was cleared.

We spent the afternoon and evening at Epcot. Again, no lines anywhere. We grazed around World Showcase and enjoyed Epcot Forever. It is not my favorite show by any means but the music was catchy enough. I do hope that Harmonious is good enough to make up for the monstrosity in the middle of the lagoon.

After staying at a moderate for the first time, I am now a hotel snob. It is going to be difficult to go back to POP.

Now it is back to work for all three of us. There's nothing worse than the first day of work after a vacation.