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

[declansdad]

Even after all this time I still have the gift of killing chat.
Is FB the only place that things are discussed on here? If we get back into DVC and more Disney stuff we probably will need to talk to ppl more often. May need to setup a dummy FB acct.

There are only a handful of guys still posting in here on a regular basis and I'm not sure any of them are DVC owners. Facebook is much more active.

 

[Rental01]

There are only a handful of guys still posting in here on a regular basis and I'm not sure any of them are DVC owners. Facebook is much more active.

Dang. Alright - dummy FB account coming up.

 

[pkondz]

Dang. Alright - dummy FB account coming up.

There are a couple here who have DVC, I think. You could hang on a bit before taking the FB plunge.

I, however, am not one of those people.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

Even after all this time I still have the gift of killing chat.
Is FB the only place that things are discussed on here? If we get back into DVC and more Disney stuff we probably will need to talk to ppl more often. May need to setup a dummy FB acct.

Sorry, I initially didn't respond due to being so new to DVC (bought resale in late 2022).

You may have more luck on the DVC related boards. There's always a lot of chatter there discussing new versus resale, use years, home resorts, family-related things, etc. And there are a lot of dads on there.

Our first DVC trip in August, so I'm not really a great resource as to what DVC is like on the property. We have only stayed in one DVC property (OKW in April 2022) and we chose to buy in at the Poly. I loved the relaxed feeling of OKW, but my wife wanted more transportation options than just the busses and I know our boys will love the lava pool. I'm always happy to answer any questions, but there are a ton of people with more knowledge and experience on the DVC boards. Just a suggestion.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

There are a couple here who have DVC, I think. You could hang on a bit before taking the FB plunge.

I, however, am not one of those people.

Personally, I would rather ask Jeeves than join FB. The DVC boards on here are full of really kind, knowledgeable people who won't make you feel stupid when asking even the most basic questions (which are generally not very basic since there is just so much to learn before and after taking the plunge into DVC).

 

[Rental01]

Personally, I would rather ask Jeeves than join FB. The DVC boards on here are full of really kind, knowledgeable people who won't make you feel stupid when asking even the most basic questions (which are generally not very basic since there is just so much to learn before and after taking the plunge into DVC).

But as a DISDad, I am required to only ask other DISDads for things like this. As a security conscious person, I made a locked-down dummy acct on FB with zero tracking enabled using a private-mode browser and generic images other than our name. Even used a dummy email address. The only thing I didn't do was use a VPN but I may still do that down the road.
My pihole (dns blocker on my network) does a great job at blocking all the tracking traffic on sites like Facebook and its ilk. I think we are okay as long as we only use it from home where my network kills most of that kind of thing.

Also, I kind of miss the old crew. I am back in the area for 2 more months, but Disney has been super weird with AP holders so even if there was someone at the parks it would be hard to get to see them for a meetup.

Anyway, I was more asking in a generic "has anyone who has had these problems in the past noticed any changes lately" kind of way. I also asked on the DVC group on reddit and got responses where some people had zero problems, others knew what I was taking about and said that things have improved, and others who said that it is all crap and they hate their lives. So par for the course, really.

 

[Jack Kerouac]

But as a DISDad, I am required to only ask other DISDads for things like this. As a security conscious person, I made a locked-down dummy acct on FB with zero tracking enabled using a private-mode browser and generic images other than our name. Even used a dummy email address. The only thing I didn't do was use a VPN but I may still do that down the road.
My pihole (dns blocker on my network) does a great job at blocking all the tracking traffic on sites like Facebook and its ilk. I think we are okay as long as we only use it from home where my network kills most of that kind of thing.

Also, I kind of miss the old crew. I am back in the area for 2 more months, but Disney has been super weird with AP holders so even if there was someone at the parks it would be hard to get to see them for a meetup.

Anyway, I was more asking in a generic "has anyone who has had these problems in the past noticed any changes lately" kind of way. I also asked on the DVC group on reddit and got responses where some people had zero problems, others knew what I was taking about and said that things have improved, and others who said that it is all crap and they hate their lives. So par for the course, really.

You're way ahead of me on the security front, as my general disdain for FB is due to all the banter (to put it mildly) related to politics and such. I like this site because that's one of things that is not allowed for the most part.

We fell in love with the DVC accommodations at OKW and the parks, and we've gotten a lot of good advice on the innerworkings of DCV. But there are also a lot opinions that are usually more qualitative and anecdotal, making them a bit less useful. Quite a lot of the people claiming the magic is gone and they will be selling their points as soon as resale prices rebound to all-time highs again. Hopefully you can weed out some of the negativity and continue to get some useful advice.

 

[CapeCodTenor]

Morning, Gents! Hope all are well. I'm now down to 40 days until my trip to the World with the family and I finally got myself back into the gym. I won't lose the weight I want to lose before I leave, but at least I'll get my stamina back. I'm helped by a friend of mine who also wants to lose weight. So, having a workout buddy, is going to help me to get back in shape. That's about it. Hope all are well.

TTFN

 

[Rental01]

Morning, Gents! Hope all are well. I'm now down to 40 days until my trip to the World with the family and I finally got myself back into the gym. I won't lose the weight I want to lose before I leave, but at least I'll get my stamina back. I'm helped by a friend of mine who also wants to lose weight. So, having a workout buddy, is going to help me to get back in shape. That's about it. Hope all are well.

TTFN

Congrats!

 

[pkondz]

Morning, Gents! Hope all are well. I'm now down to 40 days until my trip to the World with the family and I finally got myself back into the gym. I won't lose the weight I want to lose before I leave, but at least I'll get my stamina back. I'm helped by a friend of mine who also wants to lose weight. So, having a workout buddy, is going to help me to get back in shape. That's about it. Hope all are well.

TTFN

Good for you. I've been putting on weight unfortunately and need to do something about it... but must admit it ain't easy.

 

[Rental01]

You're way ahead of me on the security front, as my general disdain for FB is due to all the banter (to put it mildly) related to politics and such. I like this site because that's one of things that is not allowed for the most part.

We fell in love with the DVC accommodations at OKW and the parks, and we've gotten a lot of good advice on the innerworkings of DCV. But there are also a lot opinions that are usually more qualitative and anecdotal, making them a bit less useful. Quite a lot of the people claiming the magic is gone and they will be selling their points as soon as resale prices rebound to all-time highs again. Hopefully you can weed out some of the negativity and continue to get some useful advice.

We had a lot of issues early on and I have very specific security needs (the ability to VPN into my own home when abroad, I run my own NAS and Plex server, etc), so this was built out of necessity. That said, FB and other social sites will curate what you see and hear to build an echo chamber for you where your own thoughts are echoed back to you. Users on that platform then feel accepted and welcomed because the algorithm is only feeding them what they want to see and hear, so they spend more time on it. It's a dopamine farm to keep people invested. The more comfortable they feel the more likely they are to share personal details. Then FB collects those personal details and sells them to advertisers who publish ads on their platform.

We LOVED VWL, but our 150 pts were rarely enough to get into the cheap rooms we normally wanted (deluxe studio) since they all sold out on the 1st day of the 11 month window. Instead, our normal 5-7 day stays required a 1-2 bdr villa which meant we didn't have enough points. We would have to waitlist everything and nothing would open for us so we'd end up having to bank it and hope to pay for a more expensive room in the next use year.

I do agree with a lot of people that the magic seems to be, if not entirely gone, at least on hiatus. We've had many instances where we have received terrible service or just rude interactions with CMs, both in the hotels and the parks. In our conversations with our friends who work for Disney, they were all worried about losing their jobs under Chapek for wrongthink (accidentally using the wrong pronouns for a fellow CM or guest and being fired or reprimanded for it, the sheer number of ppl in the parks requiring much longer days and no financial compensation for this, guest frustrations with the changes in the parks and pricing increases causing animosity in the parks, etc).

That said, I still like the hotels and my son is getting married soon and we would like to have a fun place to go with them and eventually their littles. We could do the other options like Hilton's vacation program, but even if we don't go to Disney parks while at the DVC resorts, we can still appreciate the amenities and go to Universal or Sea World for the day.

 

[Rental01]

Good for you. I've been putting on weight unfortunately and need to do something about it... but must admit it ain't easy.

I've been on keto then carnivore for a looong time, then I went totally off the reservation like 2 years ago and gained all my weight back and my blood sugar was crazy. Now back on keto/carnivore (I eat some greens when I want it but rarely if at all) for 4 months and my blood sugar is still not stabilizing. I'm also not losing any weight which is weird because the last time by this point I was down 25 lbs. My doctor just put me on this shot that's supposed to kind of jump start the process. We'll see how it goes.

That said, we just got off the Fantasy for our anniversary cruise and they did an awesome job with my diet. I may have averaged 5g of carbs per day and I had a great variety of things to eat.

 

[afwdwfan]

I told them they shouldn't ever feel totally comfortable spending large sums of money.

That's actually a great life lesson. I still get that way about business expenses for the farm. Yes, I know I have to write this check to buy seed, but it still makes me feel sick to spend that much money.

Just now getting back over this way, as we were doing a little bit of anniversary traveling last week.
Took a bit of a Fla. road trip. Not much Dis involved this time around, but we did stop by DS for a little bit on our way toward St Pete...

Happy anniversary! I hope you guys had a great trip! And I'm glad you were at least able to drop by Disney Springs for a bit.

HELLOOOOOO HUMAAAAAANS!

Hello! Welcome back! I'm no DVC help at all, but it looks like you did find the group on FB.

Morning, Gents! Hope all are well. I'm now down to 40 days until my trip to the World with the family and I finally got myself back into the gym. I won't lose the weight I want to lose before I leave, but at least I'll get my stamina back. I'm helped by a friend of mine who also wants to lose weight. So, having a workout buddy, is going to help me to get back in shape. That's about it. Hope all are well.

This has been a struggle for me. I've been having some health issues over the past 2-3 years that have zapped my energy and stamina. I already needed to lose some weight, but I've gained about 25 pounds and just feel lethargic most of the time. I was getting on track at the beginning of the year, but then had to take a month+ off after a procedure I had done and I've just struggled with getting myself back on track. Anyway, congratulations to you and I'm glad you have a workout buddy. That should certainly help you find motivation and encouragement along the way. Good luck!

 

[declansdad]

Welcome to Monday All, or whatever day it is in your part of the world pkondz.

 

[pkondz]

Welcome to Monday All, or whatever day it is in your part of the world pkondz.

Third Monday

 

[Rental01]

This has been a struggle for me. I've been having some health issues over the past 2-3 years that have zapped my energy and stamina. I already needed to lose some weight, but I've gained about 25 pounds and just feel lethargic most of the time. I was getting on track at the beginning of the year, but then had to take a month+ off after a procedure I had done and I've just struggled with getting myself back on track. Anyway, congratulations to you and I'm glad you have a workout buddy. That should certainly help you find motivation and encouragement along the way. Good luck!

The biggest thing for me that got me going was realizing that I needed to make sure my wife had a comfortable retirement after I passed which means I need to work as long as I can to make this happen. If I don't live long enough to help this happen because I like to eat bread and cookies, then what good am I as a provider?

 

[Maroonag1]

Here's a decent quick guide to all of the watering holes on board:

Thanks for the guide

Is FB the only place that things are discussed on here?

No but we mostly get on here from work so the weekends are slow.
And heaved forbid you have to get on FB. I gave it up and deleted my account about 8 years ago.

 

[Rental01]

No but we mostly get on here from work so the weekends are slow.
And heaved forbid you have to get on FB. I gave it up and deleted my account about 8 years ago.

I may drop FB after I get our questions answered. It is nice to be able to talk to ppl about this stuff tho - esp when it's ppl I know. Fwiw, this is my "does it make sense" guide to start with:

 

[Jack Kerouac]

We had a lot of issues early on and I have very specific security needs (the ability to VPN into my own home when abroad, I run my own NAS and Plex server, etc), so this was built out of necessity. That said, FB and other social sites will curate what you see and hear to build an echo chamber for you where your own thoughts are echoed back to you. Users on that platform then feel accepted and welcomed because the algorithm is only feeding them what they want to see and hear, so they spend more time on it. It's a dopamine farm to keep people invested. The more comfortable they feel the more likely they are to share personal details. Then FB collects those personal details and sells them to advertisers who publish ads on their platform.

We LOVED VWL, but our 150 pts were rarely enough to get into the cheap rooms we normally wanted (deluxe studio) since they all sold out on the 1st day of the 11 month window. Instead, our normal 5-7 day stays required a 1-2 bdr villa which meant we didn't have enough points. We would have to waitlist everything and nothing would open for us so we'd end up having to bank it and hope to pay for a more expensive room in the next use year.

I do agree with a lot of people that the magic seems to be, if not entirely gone, at least on hiatus. We've had many instances where we have received terrible service or just rude interactions with CMs, both in the hotels and the parks. In our conversations with our friends who work for Disney, they were all worried about losing their jobs under Chapek for wrongthink (accidentally using the wrong pronouns for a fellow CM or guest and being fired or reprimanded for it, the sheer number of ppl in the parks requiring much longer days and no financial compensation for this, guest frustrations with the changes in the parks and pricing increases causing animosity in the parks, etc).

That said, I still like the hotels and my son is getting married soon and we would like to have a fun place to go with them and eventually their littles. We could do the other options like Hilton's vacation program, but even if we don't go to Disney parks while at the DVC resorts, we can still appreciate the amenities and go to Universal or Sea World for the day.

I'm glad you know your way around the FB security issues/information selling. I do not, so my only option is to stay off. And yes, the dopamine farm is spot on, even if its not making people any happier.

I would certainly be frustrated as you were with the booking windows filling up so quickly. When we bought at Poly, we looked at the points chart and determined we would need at least 200 points to be able to stay in a lakeview studio for a week any time of year with the lone exception being around Christmas. We decided to buy 220 so we could go for 7-9 nights or go to a less busy resort and get a 1BR or 2BR for 6-7 nights. So far we haven't had any issues with booking, but I've heard Poly is quite easy even at 7 months.

Seeing how much trust and goodwill that Chapek destroyed across the WDW family (guests, CMs, etc.) it will take some time to get it back, if it does come back. I have my hope that Iger will continue to respond positively to the concerns that CMs and guests have.

Congrats on your son's upcoming wedding! It took us until we had son number three to decide to make an annual trip a reality, as I don't want to miss this time with my boys. I'm actually looking forward to the days when the boys are getting settled as newly working adults and my wife and I can go to WDW and just relax at the resorts. Sounds like you have some good days ahead of you, even if its not on Disney property.

 

[Rental01]

I'm glad you know your way around the FB security issues/information selling. I do not, so my only option is to stay off. And yes, the dopamine farm is spot on, even if its not making people any happier.

We'll see how well it works out. I'm still not comfortable with being on FB for now.

Congrats on your son's upcoming wedding! It took us until we had son number three to decide to make an annual trip a reality, as I don't want to miss this time with my boys. I'm actually looking forward to the days when the boys are getting settled as newly working adults and my wife and I can go to WDW and just relax at the resorts. Sounds like you have some good days ahead of you, even if its not on Disney property.

Thanks! We have been waiting for littles for a while and apparently kidnapping is "illegal" or whatever, so now we are just waiting for his fiancee to get her visa in order so she can come here. He was in Japan for school and met her while they were there, but she is from Russia so there is a LOT of paperwork to work through. It may be months before she gets here, but they talk literally every day for hours on *******.