Probably warm and humid here in central Florida. Maybe some rain, although I don’t think we’re in the rainy season. There is a front pushing through that might get us some clear sky for the next couple of days. Or not. We’ll see.
Did my errands in the morning, made it to the chiropractor and Costco for gas and sunglasses, and made it home in time to pack and leave for the airport in plenty of time. Of course we didn’t. And then the airport was all kinds of messed up. We’d have missed the flight if it wasn’t delayed an hour by weather. This has happened before, and I’m pretty much done letting my wife do the travel day schedule…
But we got here.
Today is one of the parks, not sure which. The itinerary was worked out long ago and I’m just along for the ride.
I’ll be keeping my eyes open and looking for the stuff most people don’t see. No stacking except memories and good times.
Stack a few yourselves…
nick
Forecast says hot and humid, thunderstorms later. Joy.
Keurig Duo in the kitchen, so just like home.
Ate too late last night and woke with acid reflux. First time in years. Yuck. Time to get moving.
n
Did you take your own coffee?
Just got two boxes of Black Rifle K-cups yesterday for those days when brewing a full pot is too much or too slow.
Smooth queuing.
A single day ticket for today is $159 on the website. Price varies. That doesn’t include the Lightning Lane passes or multi park privileges.
If mom and dad wanna get their drink on and the Jack Sparrow bar isn’t open yet, the multi prak privileges for today will be expensive.
The autocorrect wanted prat.
Hilarious. Maybe I should have left it.
“Multi prat privileges” would sum it up really well given the audience The Mouse is trying to attract these days.
“He’s in the guards and his father uses him as a waste paper basket.”
I have been in trouble with my wife’s father’s extended family for twenty years because I called a cousin a “smarmy git” in an old blog entry.
In addition to the Jack Sparrow bar in the Magic Condom, friends who are APs and DVC club members in Florida said that the Grand Floridian is building a significant bar at the expense of certain Christmas traditions at the hotel dating back to the opening.
Why get on that monorail to Epcot Mom and Dad. The bar at the Grand Floridian is ready to oblige and within walking distance. Well, kinda.
Your kids can feed he gators out back. Literally. Those critters are probably starving since Gooodings isn’t around to supply the chicken parts.
Heck. Who needs Gatorland with its reasonable food prices and family atmosphere. Go play, kids. Bottoms up!
I have been in trouble with my wife’s father’s extended family for twenty years because I called a cousin a “smarmy git” in an old blog entry.
The truth hurts.
I’m shocked at my increasing level of ambivalence about what my extended family thinks of me. I genuinely just don’t care. If I never speak to a 2ⁿᵈ cousin or a great nephew again for the rest of my life, I’m not sure I would lose any sleep over it at all or, in some cases, even recall they existed.
About 21 years ago, Smarmy Git rolled into my driveway in a new truck worth twice what I was driving with a wedding album behind the seat full of pictures from what would now be called a Lesbian Destination Dream Wedding in Hawaii (TM).
He then proceeded to solicit an invitation to live with us in Florida out of my wife along with a $700 trip to St. Armands Circle in Sarasota that we couldn’t afford which went on my spouse’s Amex.
Worst fight of my marriage. “F*ck you” and “a**hole” were thrown in my direction. I persevered. Smarmy Git did not live with us in the end.
Smarmy Git is is permanent name in my head. It could have been much worse.
Where’s this putz been for the last 50 years:
America’s top banker Jamie Dimon issues chilling warning about the country’s ‘enemy within’
Me thinks he is Deep State PLT. NWO.
Chase Paymentech made the widespread use of EBT cards possible.
JP Morgan handles a big chunk of the cards.
The hippie wannabe X-er girl in my GTE training class we referred to as “The Mousketeer” is now a director at JPM Chase, having joined Paymentech in Tampa prior to the Chase buyout.
Chase Paymentech made the widespread use of EBT cards possible.
JP Morgan handles a big chunk of the cards.
Capital One will be trying to get to get more of that card processing now that they own Discover’s worldwide network.
Dad and I went to see the new Mission Impossible movie in Victoria, Texas. Kinda draggy but ok.
Now Dad is getting to steam some Maine lobsters for us. Life is good.
One thing I did notice in the men’s bathroom in the Seattle airport was a tampon and sanitary pad dispenser. When I saw those I had to look again to make certain I was in the men’s facility. I have made that mistake once. But why have those items in the men’s room? Is there some chick in there with penile envy on its/shim/thing monthly cycle?
“Michelle Obama makes bizarre pro-abortion argument: The ‘least’ of what the female body does ‘is produce life’”
https://www.theblaze.com/news/michelle-obama-womens-repro-system
Something is really wrong with her. Every woman I know is incredibly concerned about having kids and raising them. Of course, most of the women I know are Christians.
My father thinks that she is trans.
Moochelle “Big Mike” Obola.
Way back on January 5th, I posted that we’re binging NCIS.
The first 11 seasons were on Hulu. When we finished them, we had to switch to Netflix.
We’re about halfway through season 12. Only 10 more seasons to go… And then I’ll think about the spin-offs and prequels and “Tony and Ziva”. Except I didn’t like the back-pilots for LA and NOLA. Love Bakula, don’t love NOLA.
I’m not saying it’s high art, and there are woke references in it, and a lot of Gurrl Power!, but it gives us something to look forward to each night. And several of the long-term characters go through growth, including Robert Wagner.
Long day in the Magic Kingdom. Good day though. Crowd was light. Between the lightning lane and opportunity knocking, we rode a ton of stuff, including Tron. It rained a few times, but that just clears out the amateurs. A bunch of stuff was small stuff but it was fun with mom and the kids.
We even rode the paddle wheeler in the Rivers of America. The Mike Fink riverboats are long gone, and the paddle wheeler is going away, along with Tom Sawyer Island, so it was worth the very relaxing ride.
The Jungle Cruise re-dress was ok. The stuff they got rid of wouldn’t have been noticed by most. Our boat driver was funny and had some lines I’ve never heard before.
The Country Bear Jamboree re-dress was good. They changed the songs to all songs from Disney movies, with a country flair, and it worked well. Hee Haw isn’t on TV anymore, and the show was really dated.
The Splash Mountain/Tatianna re-dress wasn’t awful. If I (or anyone) had seen the movie, it might have made sense, and if you didn’t know the story of the controversy or the old ride, you’d think it was adequate. Not charming. Weird mix of robots and projected movie, and static stuff. The character design is weird. It might be faithful to the movie, but I wouldn’t know.
Small world was clean and recently refurbed. Still Small World though, and it looked like they removed one country, but I couldn’t think what might have been in the empty space.
The overall condition of the park was less than I’d expect for the start of summer. There were areas with rust, some that needed paint.
There seemed to be enough staff although several said they were new to an area, a property, or a job.
Our DVC unit didn’t have the full inventory of kitchen stuff so cooking meant a half dozen calls to housekeeping for missing items. Housekeeping staff didn’t speak english, didn’t know the difference between pots and bowls, etc. Visually they were not typical hispanic hotel housekeeping, although some spoke spanish, others looked Caribbean.
———
IDK what we’re spending per day, but we ate breakfast and dinner in our Vacation Club unit, and took sandwiches to the park. Usually we eat breakfast in the unit, but eat lunch and dinner in the parks. Lightning Lane is worth it. The latest version is very good for the park goer.
We often get park hopper endorsements, but I don’t know if we did this time.
———-
Tron was really cool. It’s a mostly outdoor rollercoaster, with a standing launch, that you sit on like a racing motorcycle. It’s a VERY short ride, with a CRAZY long line. We had a Lightning lane and basically walked on.
Now I need a shower, and bed.
Tomorrow is Hollywood Studios or Epcot…
n
“New Orleans” got better as Bakula toned down the accent and his real wife, Chelsea Field, became a semi-regular as his character’s girlfriend, fiancee, and, in the last episode, wife.
We hit New Orleans about six months after the last episode in 2022, and the headquarters building set/production facility was still intact.
When we went early last year, the facade was still familiar but the production team had obviously ended the lease and moved out.
“New Orleans” was abruptly cancelled despite improving ratings to make way for “Hawaii” which was truly awful but starred the Lachey ex-wife.
“Hawaii” is already gone.
“New Orleans” will annoy you with the abbreviated 2020-2021 season and the blatant propoganda around Covid.
Parent “NCIS” was less preachy when it came back that season but killed a semi-regular with the virus.
At one point before Michael Weatherly left, some things emerged about Natalie Wood’s death which moved “NCIS” to use Robert Wagner less often for a while.
Weatherly himself was cancelled for a while after “Bull” concluded, delaying the “Tony and Ziva” green light for several years.
“Tariffs in American History” by John Steele Gordon
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/tariffs-in-american-history/
“Tariffs are among the oldest of taxes for the simple reason that they are easy to collect. Just send in the tax collectors and don’t let the goods being transported move until the duty has been paid. Being one of the earliest forms of taxation, it is not surprising that tariffs produced one of the earliest forms of tax evasion: smuggling.”
Interesting.
Development of “The Country Bears” in the mid-60s pre-dated “Hee Haw”, which premiered in 1969.
Both drew inspiration from the Grand Ole Opry, but, contrary to legends, Tex Ritter did not become a member of the Opry until after he retired from working in Hollywood and could devote the time required in Nashville.
Only Taylor Swift has a pass from the Opry to show up whenever she likes.
The Opry is serious country music.
The announcement of the re-dress was a few days after the 20th anniversary of John Ritter’s death which may explain why Disney kept the show relatively untouched after some PC changes about a dozen years ago.
“Elon Musk Outlines Ambitious Plan to Produce 10K Starlink Satellites Per Year”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/elon-musk-outlines-ambitious-plan-to-produce-10k-starlink-satellites-per
“In a presentation to SpaceX employees about plans to colonize Mars, Musk also said he wants SpaceX to make a staggering 1,000 Starship vehicles per year.”
Wow ! The man has serious goals.
““Those Starlink V3 satellites are each the size of roughly a 737 [Boeing plane]. They’re pretty big,” Musk said.”
Double Wow !
Weigel has “NCIS” on H&I right now. I assume they will run everything up to the point where Michael Weatherly left the show as a promotion for “Tony and Ziva”.
If you are a completist, I present the “NCIS” cast VW commercials.
Pauley Perrette – Wait for the money line … Abby!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7WnN7qPCg4
Cote de Pablo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ6x8ACIalU
Yes. Transmen.
Thank Governor Kirkland Brand.
Just be thankful one wasn’t in there using … his … “stand to pee” device at the urinal and making a mess.
We had two coeds at WSU Vancouver who turned themselves into abbreviated Grizzly Adams clones in about a year on hormones. After a couple of incidents in the bathrooms, they began campaigning for their own facilities.
The trans kink works both ways. Just as there are guys who fantasize in NSA internal chat rooms about having “a rack so big it causes back problems”, women exist who want male parts so they can pee standing up.
Which explains, in part, Trump’s interest in U.S. Steel. 1000 Starships will take a LOT of stainless steel.
>>The overall condition of the park was less than I’d expect for the start of summer. There were areas with rust, some that needed paint.
Time to defrost Walt and get him to kick some butt…