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Fluffy Bunnies posted:I have a pal going at the same time. It's a good time to go. Thank you for the tip!
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Feb 10, 2018 16:16
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remigious posted:Thank you for the tip! Happy to help. I hope you have a ball.
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Feb 10, 2018 16:32
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I rope dropped Flight of Passage this morning for early magic hours. Park opened at 7am, I got there at 6:24am and there were about 1000 people at the gate. They let us through at 645am, we were herded to Pandora and at 6:57 I officially passed the standby/fastpass sign. I was off of it by 7:20am. It was breathtaking. My elderly 70s parents want to do it now and we are all rope dropping tomorrow morning. Get an Uber/Lyft from your resort to Animal Kingdom and get there 30-45 min early minimum. It was amazing, I would wait no more than 90 min (my personal waiting preference). They didn’t have the lab lighted up so I didn’t get to see the sleeping avatar, but that’s no biggie. It was super foggy out and it made the mountains even more mystical.
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Feb 10, 2018 20:24
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That sounds crazy. Our AK day, I'd scored 4 of our group FPs for FOP but the other members joined us a little too late for me to do anything. We also had 8am reservations at Tusker House so we got in a full hour before rope drop and they rushed out immediately after, but they still had to wait 150min. Jokes were on us because our first try the ride broke on the pre-mission briefing video. We have to be loaded into another bay.
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Feb 10, 2018 20:51
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Tim Whatley posted:Is Disney able to add people to FPs after? There's somebody in my party that it says I manage and am friends with and am staring at their reservation. It'll let me choose their significant other but not them for fastpasses I woke up early on a Saturday just now to make and I am ripshit. Majority always rules with fast passes. For example if you have a group of six, and two don’t have fast passes, they will still let you on.
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Feb 10, 2018 21:56
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nbakyfan posted:Majority always rules with fast passes. For example if you have a group of six, and two don’t have fast passes, they will still let you on. That's good to know! MDE said I was managing all four people but when I looked at the fourth person, they didn't have a chosen avatar, and the one on their reservation did, so I knew I had the wrong profile. Sure enough I go to make them and I can only do the three of us because the fourth doesn't have a valid ticket. It's kind of a dumb system. The first person told me I needed her email address and it's a significant other of my friend and was 7am on a Saturday. Thought I found her email so I call again and the second person redirects me to the help desk who tries the email and that's not it, so I was SOL. Finally I wake up my friend and he gives it to me, and I call back with the right info, and this person didn't even ask for it and just added her to my friends list. 
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Feb 10, 2018 22:04
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That sounds awful. Rope dropped with the family for FOP again today, explained again the whole “wake up early, line wait” etc and they were all good with it. Got there at 705am and maybe 400 people waiting. They let us through the gate at 730, staged us at the Tree of life until 745, and we were on the ride at exactly 8am. Worked out well. The getting back from MK at 130am was a little rough though.
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Feb 11, 2018 16:03
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Wow that trip was insane. Got home late last night, and the first thing my wife & I talked about this morning was the crowds. I don't subscribe to Touring Plans, so I don't know what their calendar said, but Undercover Tourist had our six days as 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 6 (of 10). BULLSHIT. 75 minute wait for Pirates is not a 3. Day 1 was understandable, as we hit the MK about 1 PM after checking in, and immediately saw a million Eagles jerseys. We figured the Super Bowl parade would be that day, so we rolled with it. Still, insanely crowded with even minor attractions having 60 minute waits and all the headliners at 90 to 150. We has FP+ for Space, Dwarves and Big Thunder. Then we got a fourth for...I don't remember. Buzz Lightyear, maybe. SPEAKING OF WHICH, we've been coming to WDW regularly since 1999, and I surprised my wife with the news that you can just hold the button down on Buzz and the gun will fire continuously. the view from our room:  Big Pine Key, 5th floor, lagoon view. No view of the castle (would normally cost extra, or you ask for a free upgrade), but we were really happy with the room. My default request is always for "highest floor available." Tomorrowland, viewed from Teacups:  This is a pretty good "average" crowd density while we were there. Sometimes lighter, sometimes heavier. Me, flirting with death:  I didn't actually lick it. Finished the evening at Tambu Lounge, next to O'hana. We walked into Trader Sam's, but there wasn't any good seating. It wasn't really that crowded, and there were a few empty seats (none together), but it was incredibly loud. I'm hard of hearing (very, very old) and it was too much for me. So we're like 'gently caress this noise,' and we went upstairs for $12 cocktails. Ugh. Like, a glass of beer is $11 at Tambu Lounge. Crazy.  Day 2 began with breakfast at O'hana. We took the monorail rather than walk. Thank heaven Disney is keeping us safe:  for reference: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-disney-epcot-monorail-doors-open-20180109-story.html Went back to the Flo after breakfast, then got on a bus to Hollywood Studios. They now have these monitors at the bus stations, which were really handy:  The ETAs would go up or down based on the bus' proximity, so it's a pretty sophisticated system. This is HS 30 minutes before the turnstiles opened:  This is the least-popular park, on a Tuesday that's supposed to have very light crowds, 30 minutes before they even open the gate. We still had to wait another 20 or so for rope-drop. So much for the "crowds will thin after the Eagles fans go home" theory. So we ran to RNR Coaster, rode it twice, then did ToT, then did all our FP+ rides. We did all the headliners by late-morning, and took a boat to Epcot. Spent the rest of the day there and got drunk with a retired couple from upstate New York that afternoon. Visited la Cava del Tequila for the first time ever. The guy recommended the jalapeño margarita. It was awful. Then beers at Germany, then Frozen Ever After. I believe I posted my opinion on that attraction immediately after riding. Day 3, back to MK. Still crowded AF:  I bought that hat earlier in the day after losing mine on Splash Mountain. We immediately rode Big Thunder, and my wife lost her just-purchased sunglasses as we were pulling back into the station after the ride was over. At least I lost my hat during the Chick-a-pin Hill drop. And by just-purchased, I mean she bought them at the Emporium on the way into the park that morning. Dumbo looks great at night:  Day 4 we hit Epcot at rope-drop, did all the headliners and hung out at World Showcase for a more leisurely mid-day and afternoon. We had to get back to MK late-afternoon for the Tomorrowland Terrace fireworks dessert party. Nice view:  Between the 7:15 castle projection show and the 8:00 fireworks, this lady came out to give every table a big cellophane-wrapped souvenir bag of M&Ms. This one guy apparently couldn't wait the 30 seconds it was going to take for her to make it around to his table, so he went up to her cart when her attention was elsewhere and tried to grab two bags with one hand. He must have poked a hole in one with his finger, because as soon as he lifted it off the cart it opened up and a million M&Ms went K-CHHHHHHHH all over the floor. Karma. Holy poo poo that lady was mad. Day 5 was Animal Kingdom day. We weren't able to make rope-drop, but we had FP to Flight of Passage, Everest and the night-time safari. We waited in the stand-by line for Na'vi River Journey, and while it was nice, it sure as poo poo wasn't worth the posted 75-minute wait (we actually waited in line for exactly one hour). Flight of Passage was great, but should have been built with a higher capacity. I predict 2-hour waits will be the norm for the next several years. Disney could have built a few more ride-rooms into the system. Yes, the infrastructure is expensive, but why didn't they learn their lesson from having to add a third theater to Soarin'? Or a third track to Toy Story? One ride-room (don't know what else to call it) holds 16 people, and the ride itself is 4.5 minutes. I don't know how many ride-rooms they have, but even combined with the pre-show room, they don't take much space. The hourly capacity of the ride is about 1500/hour. That's worse than Space Mountain, Jungle Cruise, Soarin', ToT, RNR Coaster -- and on par with 7 Dwarfs. That's also the old hourly capacity of Toy Story before they added the third track, and the 2-track version was considered an epic disaster from a wait-time perspective. The reason we waited until our last full day to do the Avatar stuff was because it was the only day we could score a FP+ to FoP, and we booked our Fastpasses as soon as we could. We ran into multiple families that didn't know how to game the system properly, and went without FPes to a lot of headliner attractions. I don't care what anyone else here says, the system is deeply flawed, and actively screws over first-time visitors or people who can't plan 60 (not 59, 60) days in advance, for whatever reason. Keep in mind that we booked our AK Fastpasses 65 days early and still barely got a FoP FP. None were available any other day of our vacation. Day 6 was our final day, and we had to board our Magical Express bus at 2:00 PM. We checked our bags that morning (our boarding passes were delivered to our room overnight), and stashed our carry-ons with the bell desk. Our Magical Express experience was completely flawless, and is one of the best things Disney does. We went from the bus --> security check --> gate. No physical check-in, no bag-check. And we're both TSA Pre-Check, so we breezed through airport security. Highly recommended. Spent the half-day at MK from rope-drop to about 1:00 PM. We had FP+ for Space, Big Thunder and Dwarfs, so we hit all the other headliners right away, then rode whatever minor attractions we hadn't been on yet, as the lines were relatively short. I got to be a knight in Enchanted Tales with Belle:  I don't look too stalky here, do I? I do? Well, I'm actually looking at my wife, who's taking the picture. The two "knights" are the last characters to pose with Belle, and it's inevitably two creeper dads. Bog-standard poo poo-eating grins:  Man, that actress playing Belle has a really hard gig. She was 100% "on" the entire time, and they allow time for anyone who wants to interact with her. I know this because I had to hold up that knight's helmet for a good ten minutes after the actual show was over. Don't know what they pay her, but she earns it. I was amazed and disappointed at the number of grownups who insisted on getting a picture with her. She took it all in stride. Waiting to leave, one last shot at the hotel:  That's Richard, and he's been working at the GF forever. He greets people as they're arriving, and he was kind enough to pose for the pic. So, the crowds weren't close to July 4th or Christmas Day levels, of course, but they were way higher than we expected, and we specifically planned to visit that week because crowds were expected to be much lower. Talked to a few cast members about it, and the consensus seemed to be: BRAZILIANS It was still summer break for Brazilian and Argentinian students, and we definitely saw our share of tour groups. But they weren't loving everywhere like we've seen in the past, so that was good. Still, we heard more Portuguese than English some days. Always on guard for line-jumpers. At one point I told my wife, "We should go on vacation in Brazil and spend a week making GBS threads-up their country," but then I remembered they had beaten us to it. CHEERLEADERS The second half of our stay coincided with a dance/cheer competition, so there's another 15,000 people in the parks. HURRICANE IRMA A lot of people had their WDW vacations interrupted by Hurricane Irma in 2017, and Disney re-scheduled most of them for late January and February. So for our next visit, we've agreed on two things: we'll schedule it for fall (October or so), and we'll triple-check for special non-Disney events (cheerleaders, Pop Warner) that could impact crowd levels. Lincoln fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Feb 11, 2018 |
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Feb 11, 2018 17:11
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Great post. Looks like you had fun even besides the crowds and yeah, agreed with River Journey. That said I find it better to assume Disney will always be atleast a 6 and if it’s anything less then I’ve gotten lucky.
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Feb 11, 2018 17:43
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I love casual racism
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Feb 11, 2018 18:28
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Who doesn't!
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Feb 11, 2018 18:39
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Cheerleading Nationals this week was ugggghhhhhh but only in the evenings. Our only big snafus so far were the fact that we checked in weird because of our delay so credit room charges weren’t working well until it got reset late Friday, and literally stood at AK bus stop for the transfer to HS at 915 and no buses for HS/EP/MK showed up for 40 min while loving every all star bus rolled in to drop off, so we had to drop our Toy Story FP. Things I accomplished that were new and cool (with one day to go): -rope dropped AK successfully two days in a row for FOP and total time spent was about an hour each from outside the gate to walking off the ride. Definitely agree it needs more screens in that mountain - today at 845am the standby line was to Tiffin’s. That’s horrendous. -Hoop Dee Doo was hilarious and cute, food okay, but those actors really work it -It’s Hard to Be a Bug was surprisingly funny for me and finally walking under the Tree was really cool -Stormalong Bay was wonderful and every pool needs sand bottoms. I floated a mile total around that lazy river, per my watch -Space Mountain was even better than the last time I rode it, I feel I actually paid attention to everything, and it felt almost brand new to me. -Trader Sam’s was cool, hopped in by myself for an hour and got a free shot from a nice couple who I chatted with for awhile, which was completely unexpected and kind. I can see how you can drop a couple hundred there easily with a group of people. -SCHOOOOOOL BREAD and Lefse yessss All that’s left is to meet Kylo Ren with my Leia stuff, and go see the Canada and France movies, and my list is checked off. Can’t wait to come back again. Pandora needs to be bigger or have another ride. It’s sooo pretty to look at but needs more stuff to do inside.
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Feb 11, 2018 19:19
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When do 2019 reservations start to open up?
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Feb 11, 2018 19:35
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I think 2 attractions is fine for the size of Pandora, but compared to the rest of Animal Kingdom which is brimming with stuff to do and real animals to see it feels light on content. Going to try and rope drop Flight next week with my little cousins and blow their minds.
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Feb 11, 2018 20:13
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I agree with the attractions, I guess I wish there were more interactive things to do - it’s absolutely gorgeous and I can tell this is several billion dollars. But if you’re not in line(s) or not in the one shop/food places, you can only look at the scenery for so long. You can’t really have CMs dress up like Na’vi for dancing/performances/interactive things like you find in other lands. Hopefully with the upcoming movies, we will get more things to fill the land with those experiences - and then I think it will be perfect.
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Feb 11, 2018 21:05
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i fell into the marketing hype and thought there would be na'vi walking around or more intensive pandora langauge, especially since they tried to teach us for like a walk how to speak na'vi. but once they realized that was a failure i realized it wouldn't be so "big"
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Feb 11, 2018 21:41
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They should've done Beastly Kingdom
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Feb 12, 2018 00:01
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Beachcomber posted:They should've done Beastly Kingdom At least when they started this whole thing, Avatar was huge. In hindsight, Beastly Kingdom would’ve been 100x better, but then James Cameron decided a decade was an appropriate length of time between sequels. Either way, Avatar sucks, but Pandora is pretty cool.
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Feb 12, 2018 00:10
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Lol at the in depth review with the little “I’m racist” disclaimer at the end
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Feb 12, 2018 02:37
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Let's maybe not drop casual racism my dude. D23 Japan panel is happening right now. GotG Epcot confirmed is a roller Coaster with an innovative track system. Opens 2021. https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2018/02/d23j-update-guardians-of-the-galaxy-at-epcot/?CMP=SOC-DPFY18Q2wo201180019A Runaway Rail opens in 2019 Star Wars hotel is connected to the park RNR in Paris is getting rethemed to Iron Man and Avengers. Can't help but think ours will get the Marvel treatment. Tim Whatley fucked around with this message at 04:40 on Feb 12, 2018 |
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Feb 12, 2018 04:33
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Doesn't WDW have a permanent no-marvel order in effect?
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Feb 12, 2018 07:05
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They have a very limited range of characters they can put in the park, yeah. GotG being the most notable, they just got really lucky that those were nobody characters that became some of the most popular and recognizable in the world. Universal has the big stuff: X-Men, most Avengers, etc.
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Feb 12, 2018 08:58
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Let me be the first to welcome all of you to the Something Awful forums, where other people often tell offensive jokes. I think you’ll like it here.
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Feb 12, 2018 10:20
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I've read that post like 12 times now and I'm still not seeing any racism. Tim Whatley posted:Let's maybe not drop casual racism my dude. That big monsters inc door coaster rumor is still floating around, too.
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Feb 12, 2018 11:55
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You know what's cool? Driving into Orlando the night before your trip starts and deciding to eat at the Contemporary Cafe for dinner. Then you take the monorail and decide to stop at the Poly for a Dole Whip, only to find that you've accidentally timed it perfectly to see the fireworks show from the beach. Then you look over and see the love of your life crying just a wee bit because she just loves Disney magic that much. That, my friends, is a pretty cool way to start a Disney vacation. 
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Feb 12, 2018 12:51
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:I've read that post like 12 times now and I'm still not seeing any racism. He talks poo poo about Brazilians, and "racist" has come to mean "any stereotype of a group of people regardless of whether or not they are actually a distinct race or ethnic group". Lloyddy posted:It can be difficult to get the most out of Disney World without a touring plan for each day. However it may be possible if you follow the one golden rule with Disney theme parks: get to the entrance 45 mins before opening time and hit the big rides first. You'll get more done in the first two hours then you will for the rest of the day. Then get the hell out in the afternoon and enjoy a nap and the hotel pool. Go back to the park in the evening for fireworks. Thanks! My main issue is that my back starts to really hurt, a lot, if I stand for more than about 2 hours in a day. Like brutal almost-cannot-stand-the-next-day type bad if I stand for more than 4-6 hours in the previous day. Oddly I can walk nonstop for days without any issue, and an MRI didn't help at all figure out the issue *shrug* but anyway it makes anything that involves substantial standing in line a total no-go for me. So I've only been to Epcot since I've been an adult since it's line-free, and TBH I thought it was pretty "ehhhh", but the fireworks show at the end was absolutely incredible. So incredible that I have honestly not particularly enjoyed any fireworks I've seen since. Saladman fucked around with this message at 13:25 on Feb 12, 2018 |
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Feb 12, 2018 13:21
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Silly Burrito posted:You know what's cool? Driving into Orlando the night before your trip starts and deciding to eat at the Contemporary Cafe for dinner. Then you take the monorail and decide to stop at the Poly for a Dole Whip, only to find that you've accidentally timed it perfectly to see the fireworks show from the beach. Then you look over and see the love of your life crying just a wee bit because she just loves Disney magic that much. I believe the words you said were "You're a Disney dork." Yes, I am.
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Feb 12, 2018 13:33
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He called you the love of his life, things must be getting pretty serious!!!
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Feb 12, 2018 13:53
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Price increases dropped yesterday. Parking going from $20 to $22 has to be annoying, especially for cash payments. FL resident PP AP's went up $60, ouch!
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Feb 12, 2018 14:04
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:I've read that post like 12 times now and I'm still not seeing any racism. Lincoln posted:BRAZILIANS Brazilians college kids enjoying themselves at an amusement park equals making GBS threads up our great nation according to Mr Lincoln. Not sure how you could see that as anything but racism?
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Feb 12, 2018 14:18
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Fluffy Bunnies posted:I've read that post like 12 times now and I'm still not seeing any racism. I would say that openly saying a group of people are "making GBS threads up your country" after stereotyping them is kinda goddamn racist. Price increase kind of sucks as an out of state AP, but I'll never be able to get over the endless stream of bitching comments on lazily written articles about how nobody can afford to go anymore when really the bulk of the news is one day tickets going up $2-$5 with the AP stuff fairly hidden. I'm so hype for the Guardians Coaster, but Tron maybe more.
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Feb 12, 2018 14:19
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Empress Brosephine posted:He called you the love of his life, things must be getting pretty serious!!! 3 kids and 16 years later, she may just be the one. 😁
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Feb 12, 2018 14:31
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Tim Whatley posted:I would say that openly saying a group of people are "making GBS threads up your country" after stereotyping them is kinda goddamn racist. Facts about the brazilian tourist groups acting like poo poo a lot (it's reported everywhere, especially the line cutting)=/=racism. But hell it's not like I have some kind of horse in this race. I've run into some good brazilian folks and some poo poo brazilian folks with the tour groups. If they try to cut I'm fat enough to just block them so that doesn't exactly matter to me. Tim Whatley posted:I'm so hype for the Guardians Coaster, but Tron maybe more. We have a Lot of incoming coasters and I'm hoping after all of these are in, we see some more dark rides or some new innovations. I'm getting kind of tired of coaster announcements at this point.
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Feb 12, 2018 14:49
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Chiming in on the Brazilian talk to say that the problems you hear mostly stem from them being entitled teenagers. You mix that with the cultural traits of being very excited about having a good time, chanting, ect. it can come off annoying. What is neat though is that we also get a lot of Brazillians who work for us, and many have been a part of one of those tour groups, and they often look at us when a tour group comes buy and go "Ugh. I hope I wasn't like that when I came to Disney on a trip" They aren't making GBS threads anything up. Although, when I have 90 of them in a Haunted Mansion stretch room, and they won't shut up, I do have to restrain myself from screaming at them to shut up. Tim Whatley posted:Let's maybe not drop casual racism my dude. As cool as a superhero overlay to RNR in Orlando would be right now, the only Marvel property we can really do anything with is Guardians, because Universal never included them in anything for Marvel Superhero Island. I am sincerely shocked that wasn't the location for the Guardians ride here, to be honest. Them building an entirely new ride with an "innovative" ride system for a property that is already known for being used to retheme attractions is intriguing. Star Wars Hotel is interesting because they basically designed a Star Wars cruise ship that doesn't go anywhere. I imagine prices will be similar to a cruise ship as well Runaway Rail is going to be a fun little ride, but I fear it will not be even close to being a good replacement for GMR
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Feb 12, 2018 16:07
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If the Marvel agreement is truly just stuff that's in Universal then they could still do some neat stuff with RNR. I could see a crazy Dr. Strange ride with going through dimensions or Ant Man going through a giant world as the size of an ant.
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Feb 12, 2018 16:24
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TheBigBudgetSequel posted:They aren't making GBS threads anything up. Although, when I have 90 of them in a Haunted Mansion stretch room, and they won't shut up, I do have to restrain myself from screaming at them to shut up. That sounds like making GBS threads it up for other people. quote:Runaway Rail is going to be a fun little ride, but I fear it will not be even close to being a good replacement for GMR I feel like it should've been put elsewhere. It's not a bad idea but I agree that I don't think it should be replacing GMR.
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Feb 12, 2018 16:40
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TheBigBudgetSequel posted:Star Wars Hotel is interesting because they basically designed a Star Wars cruise ship that doesn't go anywhere. I imagine prices will be similar to a cruise ship as well The current cost being floated is $1000 per person for a 2-night stay. It makes sense since it's supposed to be a full immersion environment, including clothes to wear and interactive theatre-style elements that work together with the ones at Hollywood Studios.
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Feb 12, 2018 16:45
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What’s Runaway Rail supposed to be? Also, teenagers talking loudly in Portugese is no worse than teenagers talking loudly in English. If you only have a problem with the former, you’re a racist. If you have a problem with both, then it sounds like Walt Disney World isn’t for you? 
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Feb 12, 2018 17:21
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Considering rather than saying "teenagers are making GBS threads up our country," he said Brazilians were making GBS threads up our country, it's pretty clear where he stands.
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Feb 12, 2018 17:24
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The takeaway here is that literally every person that isn't you is an annoying piece of poo poo and Walt Disney World has plenty of people. Your ability to tune out minor inconveniences and outside stimuli is largely going to determine how much you can enjoy a theme park. edit: or spend enough money to offset inconveniences.
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Feb 12, 2018 17:29
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