Useless Conversation

[NowhereMan]

In preparation for a BBQ tomorrow I've just finished putting a load of chicken legs and thighs into marinate, applied a nice rub to some pork loins and have bought 1L of Pimm's. Here's to the weather imploding tomorrow! I should note it's for a friend's 30th, I've bought her a couple of half bottles of Sauternes since I doubt she's ever tried it and I imagine all girls like sweet wine. Man I really want to drink that stuff now.

[Ironwood]

After a scorching week, I've just packed the wife into the car to go to her friends BBQ.  It now looks as if it's about to piss down.

I am going to lol.


While watching Dr Who.

[NowhereMan]

 

[Mrbloodworth]

I'm going to Disneyworld in September. 

[Merusk]

I'm going to Disneyworld in September. 

You doing one of the included meal plan trips they've been advertising?  Enjoy the trip, it's always fun.

[stu]

So, I know a kid who got a letter from Uwe Boll alleging that he downloaded one of his movies...

There's probably a good documentary there. He should send a letter back requesting money for having his time wasted. Then he can challenge Boll to a boxing match.

I'm astonished that anyone would download a movie by that guy. It's not like he was searching for scheisse porn, which would have a larger market.

[Mrbloodworth]

I'm going to Disneyworld in September. 

You doing one of the included meal plan trips they've been advertising?  Enjoy the trip, it's always fun.

Yep, whole shebang. Airfare, hotel (moderate), food thingy.... This will be my first time, so, we are trying to do everything Disney. 7 days!

Anything you recommend? Mainly looking for the best restaurants or other tips.

[Lantyssa]

Anything you recommend? Mainly looking for the best restaurants or other tips.

Don't let the goat eat your pass.  That traumatized me for life.

(Long ago they used to have paper tickets on a rubber band you could put on a belt loop which let you enter certain attractions.  A goat in the petting zoo decided to eat half mine.  I was convinced I wouldn't be allowed to enter anything at the park after that.  To a 10 year-old at Disney, that's like being tossed in Hell for eternity.)

[Cyrrex]

I'm going to Disneyworld in September. 

You doing one of the included meal plan trips they've been advertising?  Enjoy the trip, it's always fun.

Yep, whole shebang. Airfare, hotel (moderate), food thingy.... This will be my first time, so, we are trying to do everything Disney. 7 days!

Anything you recommend? Mainly looking for the best restaurants or other tips.

Assuming you are going to be doing all the rides and stuff, always, Always, ALWAYS...use their fast pass system (or whatever they call it).  It is shocking how many people do not know about and/or use the fast passes.  The looks on people's faces as you go to the head of the line on all the best rides is priceless.  If you plan it well enough, you will practically never wait in line.

[Merusk]

We went in '08 so some of this may not apply anymore.  However, Disney is fairly static on the restaurants. Also, I'm one for planning my vacations days almost to the point of excess before I go.  I may not keep to the timetable if something takes too long or is really fun, but I at least like to have a plan for knowing what I'm doing each day.  If I just sit around trying to figure out what I'm going to do I get stressed OR I find that I've wasted half the day.   If you're not like this the my tips will probably seem overly-anal and unfun.

Restaurants:

Definitely hit the Sci-Fi Diner for one of your meals.  It's in Disney MGM Hollywood Studios.  You sit in a little car booth while they show clips from old 50's trailers on a screen.  Great fun, and the burgers and shakes were really good.

We also at at the restaurant in "The Land" attraction in Epcot.  I can't recall the name of it, but the food was great.  They grow everything they serve there in the attraction and serve your table 'family style.' The catfish was awesome as were the green beans and potatoes.

We had breakfast one morning at the Animal Kingdom and they served this fantastic juice blend.  It's also a great way to get into one of the parks earlier than opening so you're in deep and can hit-up some stuff before even the other on-site guests.

When the wife and I went for our Honeymoon in '98 we ate at the Italian place in Epcot.  I enjoyed the Italian food wish we hadn't gone there for lunch as it was really rich and heavy.  Our trip was also in September and its still fairly hot in Orlando that time of year.  It made the rest of the day less enjoyable.

I'd also avoid "Mikeys Kitchen" in the Contemporary Resort.  It's a buffet and the food quality was actually pretty low.

If you feel like a night-off just hanging around the hotel/ pool/ whatever, you can use 2 adult meals to order a pizza to your room.  The pizza was excellent with a true hand-tossed crust and really good cheese. IIRC it also came with drinks

Tips:
Well you're already doing the biggest one, the included meal plan.  I don't know if you're doing the Quick-service, Dining or Deluxe dining plan, but we did the standard "dining" plan, which was one sit-down, one quick-service and one snack a day. The "quickservice" meals were often pretty big themselves so I can't imagine eating the 3 full meals of the Deluxe, but you can "downgrade" to a quick service at any time without any hassle. The only crappy part was it didn't include the refillable mug that the other 2 plans did, but you can buy them at your resort for - I think - about $8.

Like I said I like to plan.  What took a look at the restaurants available to us on the dining plan.pdf on the disney.go site, decided which we wanted to eat at and then worked out the schedule of what park on what day from there.   I'd allow one day for Hollywood, Half to 3/4 a day for Animal Kingdom unless you're REALLY into animals a day and a half for Epcot and two days for Magic Kingdom.

Be sure you visit Downtown Disney at some point.  They've got a lot of shops and (until Lego started building them everywhere) the coolest Lego store I've ever been in.  If you don't have kids, I hear the nightclub scene at Downtown is pretty fun.  If you DO have kids and still want to check it out, there's on-site and in-room babysitters you can hire but I have no idea how much they cost.   We waited to buy souvenirs until after we'd hit DD to see if there were any unique items there.  

If you want any of the unique Star Wars shirts/ merchandise you can only get it in Disney Hollywood. We found this out the hard way when the son wanted one and we said we'd get it the next day at DD, so a special trip had to be made back to the park.

If you don't have the Park Hopper option and want to get back into a park to buy a piece of merchandise, go to the customer service desk at the ticket collection area.  Explain the situation and they will sell you a ticket that can be refunded so long as you're back within 30 mins.

If you buy a lot of merchandise, just have it sent back to your room. Another of the perks of staying on site is that you don't have to lug your crap around after you've bought it.

The main drag is Buena Vista Drive.  This is important to know if your automobile breaks-down and you're calling the tow company.  Just telling them "I can see the damn gate to the park. I'm from out of town, so no, I have NO IDEA what exit I'm off of." doesn't help.  

Hit the back of the park first and work your way forward. So many people do the opposite and then meander about that even though this advice is given for every park, ever, it still works well.

Definitely watch some of the laser light/ Fireworks shows.  The park channel in your room will tell you the park hours for the week and what night each show is at.  Depending on if you've got the park hopper or not this may cause you to alter which parks you see on which days.  I really liked the Epcot show and the Hollywood one.

Must Ride: Space Mountain (TMK), Big Thunder Mountain (TMK), Mad Tea Party (TMK) Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (TMK), Peter Pan (TMK) Snow White (TMK) the Tower of Terror (H), Star Tours (H), the Aerosmith roller coaster (H), The Great Movie Ride (H), the GM Test drive (E), the World of Imagination (E), The Land (E), The Maelstrom (E), Soaring (E)  

Must See: The Hall of Presidents (TMK), The Bear Country Jamboree (TMK) -tho this is looking tired - The Haunted Mansion (TMK), Pirates of the Caribbean (TMK) Muppet Vision 3-D (H), both stunt shows (H) A Bug's Life 4-D (AK)

I have no tips about the water park or golf, since I've avoided those.

[Lantyssa]

Be in line to enter the park by 7:22 sharp.  Before that and you'll zip right in.  A minute later and you'll be waiting for an hour after opening.

[Mrbloodworth]

we did the standard "dining" plan, which was one sit-down, one quick-service and one snack a day.

That's the one we did, we lucked out and its free for the time period we are going, so score, I don't have to worry about overpriced food (mostly). As far as transportation, we will be using the buses, I have no want to drive anywhere. I don't suppose we lucked out an any F13'ers will be there between September 23-29? Would be cool. There are some things I want to personally hit up, and we figured we would do a park a day, and use the last few days to hit up whatever we wanted to go back too. I don't really want to plan anything, just enter the park and chase shiny after shiny for the day, but it sounds like you say not all parks are a days worth, we may upgrade tot he park hopper if you guys strongly recommend it. Not doing the water parks, could care less about golf.

Thanks for the reply's.

[Minvaren]

Merusk covered pretty much everything Disney, but I'll add a couple minor things:

- Seafood restaurant in Epcot was amazing
- If you stay on-site, charge stuff back to your room and just clear the bill when you check out
- Aerosmith (Rock and) Roller Coaster - I hate roller coasters, but loved this one to death.  YMMV.

[Merusk]

Since you're using the buses, plan to leave a lot earlier than you think you need to.  The bus service is great but sometimes you run in to problems in 'just missing' a bus and having to wait another half hour because .. I really don't know why.  We waited 45 mins for the bus to Downtown Disney the day after the car broke down and had to have the front desk call to find out wtf was going on, since they're supposed to be every 10min or so.  Nobody really knew why, and no explanation was given but they dispatched a bus to pick up just our hotel, which filled the thing by that point.

It's not that all parks aren't worth a day, I just find we tear through them quicker than that.  Also, some parks close earlier than others anyway so you'll find you have your evenings free that day on the park-a-day plan.  For example, Animal Kingdom closes at 5 or 6pm so they can feed the animals, and Hollywood closes 7pm, while its laser show didn't start until 9. The Magic Kingdom also closed early the Thursday we were there for their Halloween Event, which starts towards the beginning of September.  That isn't included in the price of the day's admission and was about $50 a ticket.  Some of the costumes were REALLY nice though, so the people watching was worth hanging out at the entrance until they kicked us out.

It might be worth the park hopper since it IS your first trip there and you don't really know what you will or won't enjoy, plus it lets you pick a different park to go than that evening's laser light show.  Also; parks like AK suck if it starts to rain that day since the animals hide, but Magic Kingdom has a lot of indoor attractions you could hit up.

Which reminds me of two things. One, bring your own raincover.  Ponchos were something like $6 or $7 apiece for a garbage-bag level piece of material.  You can always leave it in a locker or the room if it clears up or doesn't look like it's going to rain.  Two, get there early for the light shows.  You might think you're wasting your time camping out an hour or more just sitting around the Epcot Lake or in the amphitheater, but you're not.

[Bunk]

I find it funny that I went to Orlando four times for conventions for work, and never once stepped foot in Disneyworld. I have ridden nearly every ride at Universal and seen all of Seaworld though. If you are bringing kids, a half day detour to the aquariam is worth while.

[Strazos]

Funny - I've been to Disney Land, and Eurodisney, but never Disney World.

[schild]

Funny?

[Musashi]

Nope.

[Mrbloodworth]

wut?

[RhyssaFireheart]

IDK my BFF Rose?

On a different note, had another interview today with one of the local community colleges.  Position would be part time hourly only, but it would get me back into the work swing and give me more project management experience outside of just IT hardware.  So I'm hoping it would prove worthwhile to do (aka the pay is enough to make it worth going off unemployment) and that it would/could possibly turn into a full time position.

[voodoolily]

In preparation for a BBQ tomorrow I've just finished putting a load of chicken legs and thighs into marinate, applied a nice rub to some pork loins and have bought 1L of Pimm's. Here's to the weather imploding tomorrow! I should note it's for a friend's 30th, I've bought her a couple of half bottles of Sauternes since I doubt she's ever tried it and I imagine all girls like sweet wine. Man I really want to drink that stuff now.

Not all girls like sweet wine. I think all girls like alcopops though. I wish we had them here.

[Signe]

No, I don't like sweet wine much, either.  I don't drink loads of wine but I mostly like it dry, red and French.  I'd trade a bottle for an Archer's Aqua Peach right now, though!

[rattran]

Heh, Valet-Parkinsons.

[RhyssaFireheart]

/never had an alcopop before.  Don't even know what they are.

/prefers sweet wine.

/knows she is strange.

[Murgos]

My girlfriend absolutely hates sweet wine, I on the other hand, love it.

If your friend doesn't like the Sauterne feel free to send it to me.

[IainC]

I got to find out on Friday specifically how having a heart attack sucks. That was fun. Turns out I'd strained my heart at the gym about a week earlier and a bout of flu that was just settling in at the time triggered a whole bunch of stuff that can be condensed down to myocarditis. I was taken to hospital in a hurry with a suspected heart attack and was only allowed to go home about three hours ago.

I've now got to spend the next 6-8 weeks doing absolutely fuck all. I can't go shopping in the street outside my house at all or climb the stairs in my apartment more than once a day. I am going to go absolutely crazy.

[Murgos]

You said you had been at the gym before it happened.  Were you on a regular routine or is it something you had just started?

edit:  Also, that really sucks.  It's something I am paranoid about.

[MuffinMan]

I too have been becoming paranoid about heart problems. My uncle had triple bypass at 38 and grandpa had quadruple at 50. This reminds me to make an appointment to get my cholesterol checked.

Hope you recover well and don't go stir-crazy.

[Ironwood]

I got to find out on Friday specifically how having a heart attack sucks.

I put it to you, since you're posting, you didn't actually find out the extremity of how a heart attack sucks.

[Nebu]

I got to find out on Friday specifically how having a heart attack sucks. That was fun. Turns out I'd strained my heart at the gym about a week earlier and a bout of flu that was just settling in at the time triggered a whole bunch of stuff that can be condensed down to myocarditis. I was taken to hospital in a hurry with a suspected heart attack and was only allowed to go home about three hours ago.

I've now got to spend the next 6-8 weeks doing absolutely fuck all. I can't go shopping in the street outside my house at all or climb the stairs in my apartment more than once a day. I am going to go absolutely crazy.

Sorry to hear it.  That has to be a very sobering experience. 

Please listen to your physician's advice and get a good cardiologist.  If you do what they ask, the likelihood of another will be minimal for quite some time. 

[Lantyssa]

Take care of yourself, Iain.  I suggest painting minis.  Maybe take commissions for a bit to keep you occupied.

[HaemishM]

Good to know you're not dead, IainC.  The gym will kill you. Also, aren't you glad you live in Socialist land where your healthcare is taken care of?

[Nebu]

Also, aren't you glad you live in Socialist land where your healthcare is taken care of?

No shit. 

In the US you have the stress of an MI that becomes compounded by the stress of the bill.  Why?  The fucking insurance company decides that your heart attack wasn't bad enough to be considered an emergency and they deny coverage. Awesome!

[IainC]

You said you had been at the gym before it happened.  Were you on a regular routine or is it something you had just started?

edit:  Also, that really sucks.  It's something I am paranoid about.

I have been a regular at my gym for a few months now. Since I work at a desk, eat all kinds of fried stuff and don't really get any organic opportunities to exercise in my normal routine (I live about 300m from my office), my weight has ballooned over the past couple of years so I started going to the gym to increase my general fitness, burn off some of the extra weight I'm carrying and generally work my heart a bit harder than it normally has to in the course of things. I had a cardio routine that I worked out specifically for all of that with the trainers.

The thing that most likely triggered it was a mild tonsillitis infection that I had prior to going to the gym (but that didn't actually manifest itself until a day or so later). I was on penicillin to clear that up for a few days and then unstable angina hit me a full week after my last gym visit.

Also thank fuck for socialised medicine. I dread to think what two nights in an ICU, three nights on a general ward, an MRI test, catheter and the rest of the battery of things they did to me would have cost in the US. No charge for any of that here.

[Pennilenko]

You said you had been at the gym before it happened.  Were you on a regular routine or is it something you had just started?

edit:  Also, that really sucks.  It's something I am paranoid about.

I have been a regular at my gym for a few months now. Since I work at a desk, eat all kinds of fried stuff and don't really get any organic opportunities to exercise in my normal routine (I live about 300m from my office), my weight has ballooned over the past couple of years so I started going to the gym to increase my general fitness, burn off some of the extra weight I'm carrying and generally work my heart a bit harder than it normally has to in the course of things. I had a cardio routine that I worked out specifically for all of that with the trainers.

The thing that most likely triggered it was a mild tonsillitis infection that I had prior to going to the gym (but that didn't actually manifest itself until a day or so later). I was on penicillin to clear that up for a few days and then unstable angina hit me a full week after my last gym visit.

Also thank fuck for socialised medicine. I dread to think what two nights in an ICU, three nights on a general ward, an MRI test, catheter and the rest of the battery of things they did to me would have cost in the US. No charge for any of that here.

Had this happened to you in the united states even with insurance it likely would have financially ruined you. You would have been better off dying if you lived here.