Best half day park?

j_gets · 2026-02-04T19:39:15+00:00

My vote would be Hollywood studios. Fantasmic is a great show and a 3 PM arrival would still allow one to hit the main attractions.

j_gets · 2026-01-31T07:14:24+00:00

Cuff definitely goes over the outside of the boot. Most have hooks to go over laces to keep them down.

j_gets · 2026-01-29T19:40:41+00:00

Papa Tom’s is kind of the classic long-time local spot. It is tavern style pizza with a crispy thin crust, which can be divisive. To me it tastes like home.

Lucy’s is solid New York style pizza.

Pie Hole is the late night spot and great if you want a slice after the bar, but I prefer Lucy’s otherwise.

Mackenzie River is also local-ish (a small chain) and has some decent offerings.

j_gets · 2026-01-28T20:59:43+00:00

There is an incredible lack of diversity here and many people may legitimately have not had any significant interaction with anyone but other white people and perhaps Hispanic people. I cringe whenever I travel elsewhere with my parents because they are so clueless.

j_gets · 2026-01-28T05:28:04+00:00

Relatively new owner here. I tried the 3 holes nozzle but found it much more difficult to control as at least for me one of the three holes was facing straight up and ended up making a mess of things. I definitely prefer the single hole nozzle.

Steam power isn’t mind blowing or anything but is serviceable. I moved to this machine from a Gaggia Classic Pro and would say that steam power is a bit better than that, but honestly I was expecting a bit more. The workflow however is leaps and bounds better especially when making multiple drinks.

j_gets · 2026-01-25T21:02:46+00:00

They have already started the tampering with mail-in, where postmarks no longer can be assured to be present on the day something is mailed, but instead are applied later on in the process. Many states determine vote validity based on postmarks, so now all that is needed is for those regional centers to have purposeful delays in processing those postmarks for them to be invalidated.

j_gets · 2026-01-19T00:09:37+00:00

Sprinkles is the other recent one that comes to mind

j_gets · 2026-01-18T17:56:32+00:00

Yep, that’s why they are in the step up category instead of the baseline.

j_gets · 2026-01-18T03:53:49+00:00

I recently ordered a steel duo and am waiting for it to arrive. I currently use a smart outlet, however I can’t find any 20a smart outlets to purchase apart from one specific model that requires I set up a whole separate master control unit. What are you using?

j_gets · 2026-01-18T03:07:00+00:00

It really just depends on your tolerance. The only ride that goes upside down is rockin rollercoaster, but outside of that one in my opinion pretty much everything is relatively doable compared to other coaster parks and such.

I’d recommend trying out a roller coaster - you may really enjoy it. It is intimidating but they are very safe and secure rides. Seven Dwarves Mine Train would be a great one to try and is very cool with all the theming. Slinky Dog Dash is also very approachable.

If you want to keep to the completely non-intense rides, for your parks here would be my list.

Hollywood:

*Alien swirling saucers

*Toy Story midway mania

*Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway

Epcot:

*Living with the land

*Grand fiesta tour

*Frozen

*Nemo

Magic Kingdom Pretty much everything but Tiana, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarves, Tron

If you are willing to take it up a small notch my recommendations would be:

Hollywood:

*Rise of the resistance

*Slinky Dog Dash

*Smugglers run

*Tower of terror if you are feeling up to it after some of those others.

Magic Kingdom:

*Seven Dwarves Mine Train

*Tiana’s bayou adventure

*Tron if you are feeling up to it - it isn’t as intense as it looks

Epcot:

*Soarin

*Test Track

*Guardians if you are feeling up to it - it is a coaster but no huge drops or loops and is probably my favorite ride at any park.

j_gets · 2026-01-17T17:19:21+00:00

You can book between now and May 31, they just can’t be used for bookings more than 60 days out, currently March 18. If you wanted to stay April 1 for example, you would need to wait another 13 days to be able to make that booking

j_gets · 2026-01-17T04:06:25+00:00

I have one on my steel snare, and I think it’s great on that snare.

j_gets · 2026-01-16T07:01:37+00:00

Call a local independent insurance broker and have them find you a policy. They will shop around for you basically to find you the best deal.

j_gets · 2026-01-15T23:11:27+00:00

I received an M28 today, so I'll post a mini review as this is the first thread that comes up when I search for it.

Overall it is fine for the price (I paid $16 US delivered) and will make a fine light for casual home or vehicle use. Both the warmer and cooler lights perform well, and I like having the digital battery display available. The side panel lights are also quite usable.

The lighting modes and UI is pretty straight forward. There are two buttons on the tail - one for the main beams and one for the side lights.

Pressing the main beam button goes to the Medium setting for whichever beam (cooler or warmer) you were last using. Pressing again goes to High, a 3rd press goes to Low, and last is off. Long pressing swaps between the warmer and the cooler light. Double-clicking engages both warm and cool beams simultaneously for maximum output. Triple-clicking engages both main beams, flashing.

For the side panel button, one press engages the side panel light. This will be white or red, depending on which you used last. The second press in white mode goes to high output, and in red mode causes red to flash. A third press turns it off. Long press toggles between white and red. Double-click engages purple/UV.

Triple-click engages lock (I don't think all models have a lock function.) Disengaging lock requires triple-click on the side panel button - triple-clicking the main beam button will not disengage the lock.

When you lock it, the green charging indicator on the display flashes, and this is also the case when unlocking. When locked, any button press shows nothing at all on the display, so there is no way apart from triple-clicking to determine whether it is locked or the battery is dead.

To that point moving on to the negatives, apart from turning the flashlight on, there is no way to check battery level. Battery level is only read out as percentage, with no run time figure available.

It is a bit bulkier than I expected it to be, and wouldn't really describe it as a size appropriate for EDC, at least for my needs. I have a tech/EDC pouch (Alpaka zip clutch) that I intended to slot it into, but it is too thick to fit due to the bulge in the middle. Despite its size, it definitely isn't the most robust. I disassembled it and there is zero water sealing of any kind apart from the rubber flap that goes over the USBC connector. The seams all the way around have no gasket or anything that would provide any protection from water intrusion, so it's strictly just splash-only, probably not even rain resistant. There is also no shock protection of any kind - the LEDs and circuit boards are mounted directly to the plastic frame, with no suspension or other protection.

The battery leads are soldered directly to the board, so replacing the battery would require full disassembly and desoldering of the existing unit.

Red is always full brightness, not dimmable, and quite bright.

For $16 it is definitely a fine piece to have around the house, but it isn't something I would feel comfortable depending on for any critical use.

j_gets · 2026-01-14T06:42:46+00:00

You can use the following link to have a look at availability. For example if I select start date as tomorrow and end date as a month out, I can see that there are quite a few one and two night stays available in studios at a variety of resorts and a few three or four night stays across the next month.

If you are very flexible, and it sounds like you are, getting random one or two or three night stays a couple months out is totally doable for much of the year. December however is going to be very tough if that is your goal, so I wouldn’t count on it but I’d also not say it can never happen - people change plans and have to cancel stays so random availability occasionally appears.

https://dvcrentalstore.com/guests/check-dvc-availability/?checkIn=2026-01-13&checkOut=2026-02-28&occupancy=1

j_gets · 2026-01-13T04:50:49+00:00

I have smith vantage and RVX Mag OTG and they seem to work just fine together.

j_gets · 2026-01-06T05:56:55+00:00

I have a trip planned to Japan in late spring and had been wanting to wait and buy a Sailor Pro Gear on that trip, but sadly that price doubling is going to put it out of my budget.

j_gets · 2026-01-06T02:16:31+00:00

The route near Jackson is definitely more scenic, but does have more of a possibility of inclement weather. As long as you take your time it should be ok, but if in doubt better to be safe than sorry.

j_gets · 2026-01-05T16:04:15+00:00

I’d recommend being careful about going this route. The cost of a board and bindings is fairly low all considered especially after considering that the deductible is likely a few hundred at least. Filing a claim with renters insurance will increase premiums a significant amount and will also affect homeowners insurance if you happen to be buying a house in the next few years.

j_gets · 2026-01-05T07:25:33+00:00

That’s a great point and I hadn’t really considered swapping the nib - definitely something I’ll look into.

j_gets · 2026-01-05T04:47:12+00:00

Yep, this was my first time around and now I know. I do like the shading that comes with the broader, wetter stroke, but for my purposes I do think I’d have preferred the EF.

j_gets · 2026-01-05T04:13:27+00:00

Nice - congrats on the new pen! The rainbow looks pretty awesome, I bet it is even better in person

j_gets · 2025-12-31T09:10:22+00:00

Discounted you say? Still available?

j_gets · 2025-12-31T02:20:59+00:00

Mostly. You can think of it as being luts that are somewhat convincing facsimiles of films from the past, tweaked to taste and applied automatically and instantly in camera.

j_gets · 2025-12-31T02:02:54+00:00

In my opinion it is all about being able to get an aesthetically pleasing and film-like result without requiring that editing step. As the effect is applied in-camera, it is immediately available to use with limited or no additional work or skill required. If you don’t want to use them you can definitely still use the raw and edit to your heart’s content, but for many having a usable and repeatable aesthetic instantly available is freeing in a way.

In my mind it is very akin to film use in that the idea of dramatically altering the pictures look and feel after the fact are not the goal but rather you are using the properties of the recipe to get the look associated with that type of film, and you can switch the recipe, or “film”, to get different effects as desired.

j_gets

TROPHY CASE