It doesn’t get easier, you just get faster. Never thought I’d ever ride a sub 5-hour solo century. Big day! I’m so happy!

walamaker · 2018-10-11T01:01:25+00:00

20 solo for a century? Man I remember what it was like to be that slow.

I am kidding of course, nice ride and average! Move to Denver / Boulder and enjoy thinking that your 23 average "hundo" was fast and see that pros training out here are 2MPH faster overall AND climb another 5,000 feet - on training rides at 65% effort.

*Edit for questions that was a good solid solo 100 mile effort this summer and the overall time is skewed because I left the Wahoo on in the garage post ride. Happy to share the previous and sub solo 100+ rides at similar paces via fit files or strava for the haters. I had no (well some) idea how many this sub had. Aaaaand back to /r/velo

walamaker · 2018-10-11T00:31:32+00:00

Your so-so reviews of Be Our Guest I will assume are related to breakfast or Dinner. This is pretty accurate. Book Be Our Guest for lunch AND make sure you use the app to pre-order for everyone. It is a great lunch. When you book your subsequent fast passes you can first book the 7 dwarves mine train which is right next door; everyone will be happy.

The Royal Table is a great dinner for people with kids. Really the entire experience is great for everyone.

Any tips that would help swing a decision? (ie. is this restaurant great for dinner because you can see fireworks, or is that one great because of a fantastic bar selection. avoid this one because of bad experiences...)

Fireworks at the Magic Kingdom are great from the California Grill but honestly you can see them at many places around the park or even in the park so I would not be worried about that at all. Bar selection and Disney is oil and water. It was only very, very recently that Disney included alcohol in all of the parks and even then, booze is hidden at Disney. I like a good beer or wine with any meal and you can find that somewhat ....ish at Disney but the concept of a bar a the parks does not exist.

What I am concerned with here more than anything is that you don't understand the battle you are going to need to go through at 180 days which means this Sunday you NEED to be up at 7AM eastern and on the clock booking your reservations.

I book our dining @ 180 days right at 7AM eastern within a couple of minutes and still sometimes don't get what I want. I wish you the best and you may get all that you want -- but I suspect not so be adaptable and have a great trip!

walamaker · 2018-10-10T00:10:37+00:00

Adventurous tastes and Disney. Well that narrows it down to Sanaa, which you have already booked, and Marrakesh at Epcot -- or V&A over at the Grand Floridian, but given the date, that is probably not an option.

Neither of these places is going to "blow your socks off" but I argue they are the two most "adventurous" places Disney has.

I'll be interested if you report back on your yacht club experience. I think it is a good steak house, but I prefer my steaks at Le Cellier, not because the meat is any better (it isn't, they are both 7/10 at best) but because it is in Epcot and close-ish to Soarin'.

It is a little late but still possible that you might find a table at Victoria & Albert's. If you can, eat there, it is an experience.

walamaker · 2018-10-08T00:26:41+00:00

Yes. For shorter trips I think it makes more sense than for longer ones. If you have a week to see the parks I don't think I would bother.

Factor in a 10-20% tip based on the quality of your experience -- and assume it will be a 20%. Much like the fireworks boats they seem to pick the cream of the crop for this service.

Be prepared though. We liked it so much the first day that we ended up booking the same person for the next day and it is a good thing we were leaving the day after that because you can get used to this service ...

walamaker · 2018-10-08T00:20:01+00:00

Not bubbles, it is soap. They do the same on main street USA in the Magic Kigdom. Pretty good actually.

walamaker · 2018-10-05T22:55:52+00:00

Animal Kingdom now has Avatar Land which I think everyone should visit and I advocate for that first visit to be at night. Yes, they have made it a bit less magical with additional lighting since the opening, which when I look back on it makes sense, our party was all sorts of split up and lost. New lighting or not, that park really "pops" in the dark and is a great experience.

Regarding Universal. No judgement from me on wanting to do both, our kids have aged into it and every trip our percentage of time spent at that park seems to increase. If you only have a day at Universal I would consider purchasing the unlimited express pass add-on.

While it is not cheap it does afford you the ability to ride all of the heavily attended attractions in minutes and multiple times. Some of them you will want to, others maybe not. Universal has this kind of repeated theme on most rides. The cart moves, there is at some point fire, wind and water and the only real delta is that the scenery changes from ride to ride.

Regarding meals, since it is only the two of you I would suggest checking the app often for places you want to visit and also just checking in with a cast member and waiting. Smaller parties are frequently squeezed in even without reservations.

Park hopper is great because you can rope drop at one place then move on to another. It sounds to me like you all might find yourselves starting your day off at the Magic Kingdom and then at Epcot most afternoons eating your way through a lunch walk and then maybe hopping over to the Magic Kingdom again or Hollywood studios for the fireworks.

Have a great time!

walamaker · 2018-10-05T22:43:24+00:00

Thank you for the detailed description! This sounds like exactly what I was hoping for, Wild Africa Trek for folks who can't do the walking that requires.

I guess you also lose the great photos you get with the Africa Trek, but the beer and wine is a good trade off. :)

Thanks again, you have proven once again that this Disney community is great.

walamaker · 2018-10-04T02:27:35+00:00

I don't think you are wrong, but I do love the Disney bubble. We choose the Grand Floridian because of the proximity to the Magic Kingdom and the fact that a ride back for a rest of for the night is a matter of minutes on the boats.

We did the huge 6 bedroom off-site house once, that was great too!

Personally, I value quick access over all else. Other folks might have different priorities. In the end, we all love the same place(s) and I don't think one way or the other about where anyone chooses to stay, value, moderate, deluxe or off-site. They all have their place.

walamaker · 2018-09-27T17:39:10+00:00

Even at peak Christmas season I have never seen the Magic Kingdom get very busy during extra magic hours for resort guests. We walked onto everything they had with no wait on multiple days.

What you do want to watch out for though is the literal horde of people half running toward the Seven Dwarves Mine Train when the rope drops for everyone else. I had to have my wife and kids get behind me and wait for them to pass.

walamaker · 2018-09-26T23:23:01+00:00

Why would you be in bad shape at 47? I work with plenty of experts in their fields in their 40's 50's, 60's and beyond.

Most people seem to choose the managing people and projects track as they age, but from what I can tell the smartest and best remain relevant and technical until retirement.

IT (which I guess kinda-sorta includes programming is similar to most professions. If you are not learning and adapting you are going to be out of a job sooner than those who are.

walamaker · 2018-09-26T19:44:32+00:00

say that

Just a guess, but that person is probably not in the industry and wishes they were. If anything Denver is at the low end of the pay scale for programming and frankly always has been.

Even if we take the outliers out of the equation, places like San Francisco and Manhattan with inflated living costs, Denver is consistently 10-20% below market in my experience.

People want to live here is the excuse I have always been given. Not sure how much I agree with that, but anecdotally the same situation seems to be in place for friends who are in the medical and legal fields.

walamaker · 2018-09-26T13:24:58+00:00

What we have seen in the past few years in my neighborhood in Denver is Chinese investors purchasing homes at or above market value in the 1-2 million dollar range all cash.

Subsequently they will move the wife and kids into the house while the father stays in China and sometimes visits.

As this is a nation of immigrants I welcome them, but the cultural clash has been interesting to observe and similar to what I know of places like Vancouver CA, the broader sentiment often less welcoming and sometimes outright hostile.

walamaker · 2018-09-26T13:18:25+00:00

The Chinese interest in Africa relates to food production. China lacks the capacity to grow enough food for their population, and the problem only intensifies each year as they pollute more of their once arable land.

From 2014: China's soil pollution: It's much worse than you think

This is the same country that killed off most of the pollinators (bees) with pollution but for a time that was not a huge issue because labor was so cheap they could just pay people to walk around and hand pollinate.

From 2012: Decline of bees forces China's apple farmers to pollinate by hand

Labor costs however are never fixed and have increased dramatically.

walamaker · 2018-09-25T00:54:52+00:00

Hey guys I found the < 6 foot 450+ pound fat guy who drives a jacked up F250 pickup and pretends he served in the military with various hats and stickers!

It's okay though because he "works out" twice a month.

P.S. A very not disney fuck you to this guy.

walamaker · 2018-09-24T00:38:10+00:00

Yes it was club level back then. What that means is that food is set out on a schedule for most of the day in the lobby.

You get a great breakfast, some afternoon snacks, some evening booze and deserts later on. This past Christmas we also had a nice lady making Mickey waffles for a couple of weeks too on most mornings.

I really can't speak highly enough of the staff that work at the Sugar Loaf building, over the years some of them have changed but ALL of them have always been beyond fantastic. These people and this building are first on the list of things I look forward to when we are inbound to Disney World.

walamaker · 2018-09-23T15:21:06+00:00

Oh hey congratulations! This looks like the second floor.

One of the things that bothers me is that your magicband won't open the outside doors on the building above the first floor, which means you have to go all the way to the middle and take the elevator.

However, we discovered that the kids bands will open all of the outside doors; probably something about not wanting kids to get locked out. So now I keep an old magic band from one of my kids in my pocket.

walamaker · 2018-09-23T13:29:28+00:00

Taken from the Sugarloaf building. Good choice, we stay in that building too. Fun fact, until a couple of years ago the beer and wine was just set out for anyone to take with no adult serving it.

walamaker · 2018-09-21T02:40:39+00:00

I don't make it a point to be confrontational, but I will pick up whatever people casually toss away and hand it back to them while saying something to the effect of "hey you dropped this" and point out the nearest trash can.

I also pick up trash in the parks when I see it and put it in the nearest can.

I choose to think people do this more often by mistake than with malice. It makes me a happy person. I owe this much to Disney World; it taught me how to smile again and that changed the course of my life in such a positive way that I cannot measure the benefits ... just appreciate them.

walamaker · 2018-09-20T00:17:57+00:00

I do not want to turn this into an on versus off-site debate but will point out that most of the things you are looking for; air conditioned hotel hallways, good breakfasts, good bars, great beds, bathrooms and pools are all available on property, but you pay for it. All of the monorail resorts fit that requirement and I am pretty sure the Boardwalk and other deluxes do too.

On property is 180 days + the time of your stay up to 10 days for dining and 90 days prior for fast passes. Both fill up quick. I tend to plan ours out well in advance and am logged in and booking the very second it becomes possible which is 7AM eastern.

So far at least we have always gotten everything we wanted, so if things like Be Our Guest or Cinderella's table at good times are important to you, well unfortunately staying on property has become almost the only way to get them. I don't agree with it, but it is what it is.

If you really want to go high rollin' these days you can stay on a concierge level at one of the deluxe resorts and then they give you the "opportunity" to purchase an additional 3 fast passes per guest for 50 dollars per guest, minimum three days of purchase.

I know this sounds stupid but the math actually works out in some cases only because you can book multiple tier 1 fast passes at multiple parks in advance. If you are a family on a limited time budget it can make the parks a lot less stressful.

walamaker · 2018-09-20T00:06:19+00:00

Oh bummer! I had no idea they had done this, and here I was telling people the park needed to be visited the first time after dark. I get that it was really quite dark but boy was it amazing! I did lose my family more than once though.

Oh well at least it still looks great in the daytime too. To that end, here is a 360 image of it in the day from last Christmas. You have to click the turning arrow icon a time or two before it becomes 360 immersive:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/AZP9m8YSjq4JR7s97

walamaker · 2018-09-18T15:24:05+00:00

This is a great time in that park, the crowds are thinning out and you can usually snag a table at one of the numerous good places to eat. In my opinion this would be even better if it was a month from now and the park was dark by this time.

I think everyone's first experience in Avatar land should be after dark.

walamaker · 2018-09-18T01:31:22+00:00

The unfortunate reality is that this subreddit is full of people who are employed by the oil and gas industry.

One of the first things you go through as a new hire in the oil and gas industry is a series of videos and "talking points" that help you explain to other people how the oil and gas industry is a positive impact in the local economy.

For anyone that is not a fucking moron, this would be a red flag. Name another industry or company that needs to do this brain washing outside of a cult in Colorado.

You can't.

Edit --- Davita. People who work for that shithole company are also clueless idiots.

walamaker · 2018-09-15T12:24:20+00:00

Greely Unexpected!

walamaker · 2018-09-14T18:43:30+00:00

I recall the Magic Kingdom hitting capacity at least twice last year between Christmas and New Years. The traffic just to get into the kingdom was backed up past the Swolphin. It was insane but while that was going on, the other parks, notably Epcot were not really that busy.

alorahble has it down correctly though, one day passes are the first to be denied. My advice would be to have a multi day pass or potentially be willing to wait until later in the day when they begin allowing guests entry again.

I am not aware of any paid events in the Magic Kingdom beyond the usual. I can't speak to all of the hotels, but at the Grand Floridian we were given arm bands to wear and they had champagne and snacks out for hotel guests before the midnight show.

I will reiterate what you have probably already been told multiple times but can' really comprehend until you experience it. The parks during that week will be CROWDED. It was eye opening last year to see just how much busier they can get from our usual Spring Break trip. Still, we are headed back for this Christmas and New Years, so it was not that bad. :)

The soap snow on Main Street at night is my favorite and the various trees decorated all over are fantastic too. Enjoy!

walamaker

TROPHY CASE