Supposed to be another humid, hot day, with a chance of rain. Disney parks are fine in the rain. Universal, not as much. Yesterday was mid 80sF with occasional cooler patches, mostly when it was raining. We avoided most of the rain, only getting sprinkled. I’m hoping for similar today.
See yesterday’s comments if you are interested in my day at the Magic Kingdom.
Today we’re either doing Hollywood Studios, Epcot, both, or something else. Sibling is a planner and an expert Disney user, so I let the wife and sibling plan the days. They’re built around the Lightning Lane availability, I know that much.
My mom has been doing great so far. We have a wheel chair to move her around the parks, but she ‘transfers’ to rides under her own power. She even rode Tron. The chair saves her a lot of energy and lets us move at our walking pace instead of hers.
Surprisingly, the park isn’t full of power chair scooters and double wide baby strollers. It must just be the time of the year. Lots of foreign tourists, mostly spanish speakers, but not the horde of brazillians we’ve had before. They are incredibly obnoxious so I’m happy to not have them. People say american tourists are loud and inappropriate, but the brazillians are horrible.
Just doing my part for international relations…
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FWIW, in the morning I walked through the security scanner without issue. And the entry system read my thumbprint fine. When we returned in the evening, the entry system wouldn’t read my thumbprint and the scanner flagged me for secondary inspection with a wand and a look under my shirt. I had my altoids tin first aid kit in the pocket of my shorts. The guard indicated it was what set off the scanner. They didn’t open it or look in it though. White male with an overshirt… walking alone. FFS, it’s like a stereotype. EVERY time I’ve been alone in the entry line I get pulled out. Airports too. Today I’m taking the kid with me.
I’m stacking some good times, I hope you have some too.
nick
Coffee is dripping into the carafe and the kinder have received their first round of poking. Sibling will be here soon, and then they will get up whether they want to or not.
Still not sure where we’ll spend our money today, but it’s gonna be fun.
n
One of my favorite Disney hobbies is playing chicken with the Brazilian kids who think they own any walkway they are on. I’ve run through quite a few of them over the years, I make sure I don’t drop them, but I also make sure they feel it when they don’t move out of the way.
Speaking of rude tourists, while in England, my wife and I agreed that the rudest people we ran across were the French.
Oh, and thanks for the Disney updates. We haven’t been since 2022. We may go back in a few years for the 30th anniversary of our meeting (we met at Disney World), but besides that, we will probably wait until we have grandkids (hopefully a few years off!)
That generally describes Dollywood any time of the year. Dollywood, who is now bragging they are America’s favorite theme park. In my opinion, the people who voted were carefully chosen to ensure the outcome. The park is good, but certainly not at the top of the food chain. And the tickets have gotten expensive, probably in line with other parks. A family of four can spend $1K on tickets, parking, meals and probably some souvenir junk.
The Nippon Steel bid for US Steel will actually result in some steel getting made.
Imagine.
The alternative, favored by Vanguard/State Street/Blackrock/etc., was to take Cleveland Cliffs (75% institution owned, 25% by the big three) and merge it with US Steel (100% institution owned, 25% by the big three) to increase efficiency by shuttering plants and cutting jobs.
Trump was initially in favor of the merger between the two US companies on the basis of “’merica”, but the Japanese owners understand that true wealth doesn’t come from shuffling paper.
The worst part of the hordes is that the South American tourists generally look bored, especially the older males.
Ticking a bucket list item.
Likely different kinds of horrible. The classic “ugly American” just thinks that the whole world works the same as the US. Everyone speaks English, everywere takes American dollars. I once saw a t-shirt that exemplified it: a world map, with the US in the middle (about 90% of the area), and all the other continents and countries dotted around it. Of course, that’s a minority of tourists, it just happens to be a very noticable minority.
Chinese tourists swarm. They come in huge groups, and have particular, specific places they absolutely must visit. This group behavior usually doesn’t matter, but once in a while you get caught in one of those swarms. Rarely do you see a couple, or a small group.
British tourists, and least those from the lower middle-class, have particular places they like to go, that they expect to turn into “little England”. Swaths of cheap resorts in Spain, for example, where they expect to get the same kind of food as at home. The same beer. The same television. One has to wonder why they don’t just stay home?
The French definitely come across as rude. Particularly the Parisians. I don’t think they actually _are_ rude, it’s just how their culture comes across. One specific example: personal space. The comfortable conversational distance for the French feels like they are encroaching on your personal space.
More than once I have seen someone being pursued around the room: The French person steps close to talk, the othe rperson steps back to get their personal space back. The French person steps forward. The other person steps back. Step forward. Step back. It’s hilarious, right up until you are the one with the Frenchman in your face.
I guess every culture has their quirks…
Stereotypes are a good first approximation, if properly used. Profiling is a thing, and (used intelligently) is a useful tool. However, I bet that someone runs stats on the racial makeup of people they pull over for searches. So they have to have a certain number of whites, to balance out those they really want to check.
A guy travelling alone may be less inconvenienced that a guy travelling with a kid, so…
This is a disease in modern business. It’s all M&A games, running up the stock price for insiders, squashing competition. Actually producing good products for competitive prices? Nah…
Government has really failed in its duty to regulate business, allowing capitalism to turn into cronyism and often outright corruption. It doesn’t take long for your average member of Congress to become a multimillionaire, and some (like Pelosi) are downright shameless about it.
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Went to a “geological tour” in a local town today. The guy is a professional geologist and clearly knows his stuff. Sadly, he equally clearly either has never given a public presentation before, or he’s just not very good at it. Peering at a rock through his personal magnifying glass doesn’t really explain anything to his audience, nor does running off on tangents for so long that he ends up skipping half of the things he intended to show.
Ah, well, still picked up a few interesting tidbits…
I finished the same bing last year and am up to speed. I watched “Origins” and liked it. No Hawaii or Sydney. I’m not sure T&Z will survive if it is not great.
Disney:
We are holding our semi-annual “Train The Trainer” summit for the first time at DW Swan. They offered us a good rate on rooms, catering, balllroom, and tickets. Contrary to what PLTs screech “tRump’s taking all the money by closing the DoE” there is plenty of money. It’s the States that screw it up. Remember Obola’s you just can’t go to Vegas…screed. Kakafornia wouldn’t come to Vegas for some time after that because of Governor asswipe. They also wouldn’t come to TX because of bathroom policies. The schools wanted to come but asswipe Governor wouldn’t let them. Fake girls must pee in the girls bathroom.
I hope tRump cuts KaKa completely off from Fed dollars.
The big three US mutual fund companies owning 20% of just about anything important in the country gives the management of the firms a lot of power to push their political agendas, particularly DEI at Blackrock and, since founder Jack Bogle died, Vanguard.
Detaching the three from the US economy would be painful at this point since it would throw a lot of Boomer retirement living standards under the bus. Trump may be considering it, however, as he signaled with the change in direction regarding US Steel merger.
Paul Pelosi was involved with big financial transactions long before Nancy ran for Congress.
Tom Cruise’s hand and foot prints in the Chinese Theatre courtyard in Hollywood.
“One has to wonder why they don’t just stay home?”
Desire to see sunshine?
Florida suffered for a long time due to “Treyvon” until Covid put the entire convention industry out of work for a couple of years in states that wouldn’t reopen that Summer.
The woman who helped craft the state criminal charges against “White Hispanic” George Zimmerman when local authorities punted on indictment is the new Attorney General everyone believes will eventually deliver … something … about subjects such as Jan. 6 and Epstein.
Don’t hold your breath for Bondi to deliver anything.
Americans go to Italy expecting to eat at The Olive Garden every night and end up being surprised that the cuisine is Mediterranean and light on meat.
To be fair, we heard complaints about the food from the Chinese relations who’ve also been to Italy. The West Coast expects The Old Spaghetti Factory rather than a Darden Orlando-style carbo load.
@Nick – If you have the time at mid-day, drive out to visit The Beefy King, a real Orlando landmark restaurant with history.
Classical economics. Wealth is created three ways: Mining, manufacturing, and agriculture.
Computers snd the internet had great promise for increasing efficiency and reducing the dissipation of wealth. e.g. cutting out the middleman.
It was working until the slicky boys grabbed controls and set it up as a means of siphoning off the wealth as new middlemen.
Preach it, brother. My primary hobby is ham radio, and I belong to 2 different clubs with monthly meetings.
It’s a huge task to get decent programs put together for most of the meetings, and I’m sympathetic to the club officers who have to do that. However, what you end up with, more often than not, is similar. Even though it’s a hobby with many varied sub-fields of interest.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve come home from a meeting and told my girlfriend “That was 2 hours I’ll never get back.” The presenter was intelligent, knowledgable, and (usually) had good and interesting material to cover.
But very often, maybe even most of the time, I’ll come away with the feeling that the most basic and foundational questions were not answered. And the slides and drawings are haphazard or disorganized, and even sometimes conflicting. And the program goes overtime.
My favorite example of wasted time is the subject of DMR, Digital Mobile Radio, as it applies to hams. I’ve watched 3 different presentations, by 3 different presenters, and I finally feel I have a grasp of the technology side of it. All the presenters were enthusiastic and experienced, and avid users of the tech.
Not a single one of them ever addressed what I considered to be the most basic questions: What’s in it for me? Why would I want to invest in the tech to do this? What do I gain from using it?
They have One Job and they can’t do it.
I saw comments here and there about this, but finally found the source post.
Curious, I went and read the first few pages of Bleak House at Project Gutenberg, a bit turgid but completely understandable.
Of course in the late 60s and early 70s we (my generation) were still reading books by Dickens and Steinbeck and Twain in high school and being forced to write, in legible longhand, reports and essays about them.
The western edge of the Disney property in Florida bumps up against Davenport, FL which used to be an agricultural community but has morphed into a retirement town with a seemingless endless number of Disney Adults, a large number of whom are pedophiles.
As much as The Mouse caters to that community within limits, a single man walking into a park alone will raise red flags.
Cheap beer and food, along with the sunshine. Otherwise they wouldn’t look to leave the UK.
>>Chinese tourists swarm. They come in huge groups, and have particular, specific places they absolutely must visit.
And everyone in the group must have a “selfie” with the Mona Lisa lest their vacation is ruined.
I just bought $75 of bbq at the Texas Monthly #8 LaVaca BBQ for our dinner. Just down the street from my parents house. And with three hand made banana puddings. Oh yes, I am way off my diet.
https://www.texasmonthly.com/interactive/top-50-bbq-2025/
The manager told me their sales are 3X since the list came out. They are even selling more than their Victoria bbq store.
I got three ribs with brisket beans. Mom and Dad got brisket sandwhiches.
Speaking of rude tourists, while in England, my wife and I agreed that the rudest people we ran across were the French.
I had a french lady call me rude American while me and my nephew were pulling our 40 foot motorboat up a 300 foot elevation change over six locks on the Midi canal in France.
I had a ¾ inch rope tied to the front of the boat and the lockmaster was screaming at us to get 4 boats in the lock. The idiot lady was standing on the edge of the lock with a 60+ foot drop into the lock.
My rope was sweeping her legs and she refused to move away until I started yelling Excuse Me at her. The lockmaster was already dumping thousands of gallon a minute in the lock and I was having serious trouble holding the boat in place. She had no idea how much danger she was in.
While in Germany we got on the train in the incorrect car for 1st class. We had to move forward about three cars. We we dragging our suitcases, on rollers, through the aisle. We came to a spot where three teenagers had their legs across the aisle. I stopped and aside “excuse me”. They didn’t move. I then said “pardon me”. They didn’t move not move and just looked at me. I pointed to their legs and my suitcase. They just looked at me and laughed. So I dragged the suitcases over their legs. They made some comment in German. I returned the universal digital response.
Long but good day. I’m ready for bed.
Hollywood studios in the morning thru mid afternoon, then Epcot after dinner til close…
The Star Wars stuff still impresses. There is a new Disney Villains show next to Rocking Roller Coaster that is PACKING in the crowds and sibling’s spouse said was ‘very good’.
New to me – Ratatouille in the French Quarter, really fun. Same for Guardians of the galaxy. Innovative mix of movement and projections although they are very different.
Attendance was light in both parks. We did standby and single rider for several things with only short waits.
The new nightime show at Epcot wasn’t much to look at and the rumor is that they will bring back Illuminations until they can figure out how to make it better or replace it again.
My feet are sore… for a lot of reasons this is a surprise and unwelcome. Not much I can do at this point.
Animal Kingdom and the Avatar stuff in the morning.
short post tomorrow as I need to sleep.
n
I had a french lady call me rude American while me and my nephew were pulling our 40 foot motorboat up a 300 foot elevation change over six locks on the Midi canal in France.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fonseranes_Locks
Not 300 feet up.
>>My feet are sore… for a lot of reasons this is a surprise and unwelcome. Not much I can do at this point.
(Preaching to the choir, but…)
We all should be learning from our prep “fails” and adjust accordingly.
What hurts? Just feet? Or legs too? Indicative of needing medical review?
What shoes have you been wearing at the parks? Ones you dedicate to extensive walking on concrete(?)? Rotating pairs to every other day? OOB insoles or upgrades?
What type of pain? Pain grade? DIY treatments? When can you administer them? I get transient neuro-based (or so says the Doc) pain that responds well to topical aerosol lidocaine spray (this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L4YQ4JQ?tag=ttgnet-20 YMMV)
Last, but not least, does this affect your backup plan for reaching your BOL location if you were forced to abandon your vehicle(s)? Presumably you have a sturdy backpack to include essentials? How much can you carry and for how far?
Good (Sunday) morning from the BOL. We had a summer cloudburst yesterday, with torrential rain, hail and a lightning strike about 200m away. It made an almighty bang. Power was out for about two hours while fire brigade and electricity company remedied matters.
Our internet modem on the old copper phoneline is doing a passable impersonation of a brick. Provider is sending a technician tomorrow afternoon, presumably to confirm cause of death and hopefully also bring a replacement.
This will be our third dead modem in six years, all victims of lightning surges via the copper cables. Provider has just finished laying glass fiber in the street, but we are not hooked up to it yet. I hope the glass connection will put an end to our succession of bricked modems.
So many good topics today on which to comment, but not while I am typing on a weenchy iPhone on 5G. Be well, all!