Disney Plus - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Like ten million other Disney fans, I signed up for Disney +.  If you are still wondering if you should too, hopefully this breakdown will help you to make a decision.

The Good

 - Massive catalog of all things Disney, and more.  There is only one thing missing and I'll get into that later.

 - Overall decent quality.  Pretty surprising for a new service. When compared to other new online services at roll out, this one has been rather solid.  It's not perfect, but it's good.

 - The value is very good.  Beyond just the back catalog, the new shows are very good.

 - The Imagineering show is exceptional and inspiring. 

 - The Madalorian is the best Star Wars thing Disney has ever done.  The only one that comes close is Rogue One.  It's far better than The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi.


The Bad

 - The search function is not good.  If you search "rock climbing" you will not get Free Solo.  How?  That's just an example of some of the odd results, or lack of results, that you will find.

 - It's missing some titles, for now.  Just and example - the Matterhorn.  I remember seeing it as a kid.  I looked for it.  If it is there, the search is too broken to find it.

 - Things are not organized well.  You really have to go digging into the menus to find anything that Disney does not have on the main page.  Even then, a lot of things can only be found via the search function.

 - Adding things to your watch list is straight forward.  Removing them is not.  The only way I found to remove it, is to open the item, check the + like you would to add it, then click the check box that appears.  It's just odd.


The Ugly

 - The racist double standard.  It's no surprise that Song of the South is not available to stream, but with Disney +, Disney just undermined it's biggest reason for not having it. 

I have seen and I own a copy of Song of the South.  Parts of it are racist.  There is no arguing that.  But, here is the problem - Davy Crockett is much worse.   I saw it a few times as a kid.  Now watching it as an adult, I was shocked.  I didn't remember how racist it was.  It's depiction of Native Americans, and the terms used for them, is utterly offensive.

Disney knows it has a lot of offensive content.  To handle this, they provide a warning on some titles.  I applaud this.  Too often Disney approach has been to sweep things under the rug and pretend something never happened.   This is not a healthy approach.  It takes away any opportunity to learn from those mistakes and use them as teaching tools for future generations.

Will Disney release Song of the South?  No.  Davy Crockett is worse, but it does not have the notoriety of Song of the South.

 - No vacation videos.  I'm talking about the Stacy videos, the promotional videos, and the vacation planning videos.  Maybe they are hidden by the bad search, but I don't think they are there.  I will admit that this one is personal.  Disney + has so much nostalgia on it, that this would push it over the top.  Imagine being able to see the parks as they were when you first went.   This seems like a big missed opportunity.

Why I Didn't Like The Last Jedi

I know a lot of people loved The Last Jedi.  I am not one of them.  Let me explain why before you rip me apart.

WARNING - SPOILERS!!!!

1 - The Fin story is hot garbage.

Fin is a great character. Rose is a great character.  Put together they are even better.  So what should you do with two great characters?  Send them off on a stupid plot point, so you can harvest some stuff off if later.

I sat there watching this and wondered - Wait...you can get Finn and company off of the ship, unnoticed, but you couldn't have them save a few people in process?  Also, sending them off to find some code breaker, is just dumb.  A much better idea, would have been to have Rose accomplish the same thing with her engineer skills.  If this was Star Trek - Scotty, Jordi, or another team of engineering would have found a way.

2 - Leia needed to die. 

Instead of having an epic send off for a beloved character,  you killed the newbie.  Why?  Why even introduce Laura Dern's character?  Killing her off makes the whole comma thing seems like a total waste.

3 - Why kill Snoke?

This made no sense to me.  He wasn't in the two movies for a more than a combined ten minutes.  What a complete waste of a character.  He was a mystery until he showed up in this one.  He showed up just in time to kill him off. 

4 - People tend to get wiser with age - Unless you are Luke Skywalker.

Luke is now in his sixties and he's beyond dumb.  I know some people love how he showed weakness.  You can do that without being a total Muppet.  The other Jedi we know and love gained some measure of wisdom with age.  Luke did not.  He was as bad as a whiny teenager, crying in his room.

5 - They wasted Yoda. 

Yoda needed to come a lot sooner, instead he comes in, and lacked the impact of old Yoda.

6 - Umm... Space doesn't work like that.

Two things - 1 - Leia would have exploded.  Her eyes would have burst, her ear drums popped, and a lot of other awful things, never mind frozen solid.

Second - "We need fuel to stay ahead out of range of bad guys."  On Earth - yes, in space - no.  There is no friction in space.  If ever keeps their rockets going, you keep gaining speed.  The physics of this plot point is mind numbing.

7 - Why did we need to have a video call with someone in a gun fight, who didn't need to be in the movie?

Enough said.

8 - Rey's parents were wasted.

This could have been huge.  Instead the mystery was tossed out like rotten food.

9 - You killed a legend with hardly a mention.

RIP Admiral Akbar.  You deserved better.

10 - Phasma - the new Darth Maul

For years after killing him off in the Episode 1, the powers to be regretted killing off Darth Maul.  I think (if she really is dead) we are going to miss Phasma.  We hardly knew her.

Now you might think I hated the entire movie.  I did not.  It had some awesome scenes.  You should see it for the following.  Most of these are  purposefully vague.

1 - BB8 kicks butt, kicks some more butt, and then blows away a whole bunch of Storm Troopers.

2 - Who needs to pick up a broom?  If you see it,  you'll know what I am talking about.

3 - Warp speed Mrs. lady with the purple hair.

4 - We don't know if it tasted like chicken.

Secrets Playa Bonita Panama: Day Seven - Hmmmmm.....

Things on the service side have continued to improve.  It's amazing the impact a good old firing can have.  There are still some glaring issues.  The Seaside Grill is much improved but remains the weak link in the bunch.

The other services issues remain.  For example, I've been to the front desk five times.  four of those were negative experiences.  The only time it was decent was when an employee named "Maria" waited on me.  She actually smiled and was helpful!

There is another thing that really concerns me and could be a factor behind the poor service.  Many of the employees have been working six to seven straight days.  That would be bad enough but it appears that some of them work over 12hrs a day.  It's no wonder they act like they don't care.  The only way someone can work like that, is when they contract like a cruise ship.  It's not easy, but the prospect of having three months of paid time off can be very motivating.   It's possible that the employees here have a six months on, three months off kind of deal, but that seems really unlikely.

It's also possible that they are working the grueling hours to get the resort off the ground.  Many of the staff have name tags that say "Training" on them.  I don't doubt that Secrets had to do a big purge and a big hiring.  That's what's happens when you take over a failed resort.

The one stand out thing that I will give this resort is are the grounds.  They are very nice.  They've done a great job keeping them up and you can see the workers all over the place.

If nothing else you can hide under an umbrella and enjoy the view.  On the downside, there are few available and they fill up fast.  If you want any kind of decent shade for the day, you'll need to get out there before eight in the morning.  That's a tall order for most people on vacation.

The weather has been great.

If you feel like walking, you can walk all the way down the beach in both directions.  Down the far side, near the other resort, you will find some mangroves that you can walk through.  I know they are not true mangroves, but who'd want to walk through them?

It's a neat area to check out.

As a side note, for anyone who is from a culture where going topless is common, if you want to, you can sunbathe topless.  They will not stop you.  There is a French lady that has been out sunbathing every day....No....I am not going to take photos!  Don't even ask!  There are no boobies on this blog!

Well...okay.  If you really want to see some boobies....

A lovely pair of boobies.

Come to think of it....the bar service guy seems to be over there a lot.  She never has a hard time getting a drink.  Hmmmmm....

Secrets Play Bonita Panama: Day Six - The Man In the Green Shirt

He's a tall Mexican man with an athletic build.  He carries himself with an air of confidence and people react to his presence.  He's a man on a mission.

I have yet to speak with this man, but I know why he's here.  I've heard from other guests about him.  Secrets shifted gears, terminated the food and beverage manager, and sent in one of their own from Mexico.

I've never seen one person have such a sudden impact.  Look at my review of lunch from yesterday.  I was a joke.  It was hard to find anything good about it.  Six hours later we ate dinner at Portifnio.  It was like visiting an entirely new restaurant.  We ate here on day one.   We cannot compare the experience we had on day one with this one.  The change was too dramatic.

The service was what you'd expect from a Secrets.  The wait staff was attentive and did a good job.  They still don't always respond when you thank them, but some of them did.  The food is now the low point.  Not that the food is bad, but the new food and beverage manager will need to address it.

What is the problem with the food?

It's not always consistent and the descriptions on the menu do not match what is delivered to you.

For instance, guess what this is:

Looks like a chocolate covered cake, right?

According to the menu, this is a Sambuca fruit salad.  What this really is, is a kind of mint custard covered in chocolate.

That's not the only example of getting food that isn't even close to the description on the menu.  When you order here, the food isn't going to be terrible, but it's not going to be what you ordered in most cases.   You'll need to do some trial and error to find out what means what.

It'll be interesting to see if the man in the green shirt has an impact on the Seaside Grill.  So far that's been ground zero for spotty service.

Considering the impact one man has had, Secrets needs to send in a general manager.  The problems here go far beyond the food and beverage service.

On a somewhat positive note, the phone is finally fixed.  It took three days and three complaints, but it's fixed.  The IT guy came up and worked on it for over an hour.  In the end he had to move it to a new jack and reconfigure it.  At least it's working now.

While he was working I noticed something really annoying.  Someone before the IT guy, knew the phone was busted.  It had been intentionally unplugged and left where it was.  Super fun time!

Secrets Playa Bonita: Day One - Welcome to Misery

I've now been at Secrets: Playa Bonita Panama for roughly 24 hours.  Those hours include our transfer to the resort, the check in process, our first night, and our first breakfast.

So how does it stack up?

First off let me say this:  Secrets is a chain of resorts run by AMResorts.  Secrets is the no kids, higher end, all inclusive resorts.  Typically they are in the top third when it comes to all inclusive resorts.  

Also to note:  Playa Bonita has only been operated under the Secrets name for a few months.  I believe that explains a number of things, as you will see.

I've long been a critic of out sourcing if you take no responsibility for the end product.  Case in point is what we went through upon arrival in Panama.  Secrets does not offer transfers from the airport to the resort.  Instead they refer you to Gamboa Tours.  

The process for booking the transfers was not fun.  It included faxing information.  In this day and age that alone makes you stand out as behind the times.  Despite that, they seemed nice enough and fairly responsive.  We didn't have any concerns off the bat.

Jump ahead to Panama!  We navigate the miserable and poorly signed airport and to customs.  Now, I will warn people about something.  This is not the US.  Do not expect US customs.  This is different.  They are going to take a photo of you and record all of your finger prints.  Some people would be freaked out by that, so be prepared.

You get through customs and to the baggage claim.  After you have your bags, they collect your customs declaration and x-ray your bags.  It seems odd.  If you could get something past all the other security you've already been through, what are the odds they are going to find something?

Once you are past that round of security, you enter the area where all the taxis and pickups are.  Like Gamboa said, someone was right there holding a sign with our name on it.  (so far so good, right?)  Sadly that's where things fell apart.  The first thing the lady does is apologize to us (that gives you a good feeling). She tells us that the way they scheduled the bus, we'd have to wait "a while".  She told us to take a seat by the rental agencies.

I sat down and then got up about five minutes later.  I wanted to know what "a while" was.  I approached the lady and asked if we were talking an hour or two, or what.  After all, if it had been a two hour wait, I would have demanded my money back and gotten a cab.  My paperwork said they were going to pick up at 2pm and drop me off a the resort at 2:45.  

She quickly told me that the plane she was waiting for was already on the ground so maybe 10min or so.  In my head I automatically doubled that so I wouldn't be disappointed.

45min later, she came and got us.  Needless to say, we were already annoyed.  According to our paperwork, we should have already been at the resort.  We group up with a bunch of other people and then fight our way through the packed terminal to a waiting bus.  All of us sit down and wait... and wait, and wait.  Finally she shows up and said that she's missing two people who were on the same plane.  She took off to find them.  Great.

We wait, and wait, and wait.  Guess who shows up?  The lady and the two people....and six others.  Apparently they were breeding like rabbits.  You can't leave those pesky tourists alone for ten minutes!

Finally we get underway.  She gets on a microphone, turns it up to 11, and spouts off an on the fly tour.  Before she really got going, she said that the trip should be much faster than usual since it's not a week day and the traffic won't be bad.  She actually said, it might only be 25min.

25min later I realize that this lady has no concept of time.  I'd never made the trip before, but I researched it.  I knew that at the 25min mark, we were barely halfway there. 

Okay so enough about the transfer from hell.  I blame Gamboa for that and shake my head in disapproval at Secrets.  Don't refer people to a transfer company that incompetent.

Time for the check in!

Transitioning from the bus to the resort was handled well.  The guys doing the luggage seemed competent (and ended up being some of the most competent).

While waiting in line, the staff did as much as they could to speed the process up.  They then came through and handed us some champagne.  (Cool beans, right?)

Our turn to check in came up.  Thus begins one of the worst vacation experiences of my life.

Everything goes well until they ask to see the credit card I booked the room with.  I pull out the card that is tied into that account.  Not good enough.  They need to see the ACTUAL card.  That poses a problem.  That ACTUAL card was compromised and automatically blocked by the bank to prevent fraud.  I explain that.  They don't care.

I try to get pull up my statement on my phone.  Too bad!  I had never accessed my account on that phone.  Even with Wifi, I can't get in.  Being in a foreign country, I can't text the security code back without inuring an expense.  They don't care.

I ask if they can call the bank.  They do.  It takes the lady a while but she manages to connect to my bank.  They tell her that it's the same card and that they see the charge on the account.  Guess what...they don't care.  They want to see something physical.

At this point my wife asks if there is anything that can be done,  The lady shrugs.  What kind of a reply is that?  Guess what my wife did?  She went into dragon mode and demanded to speak to someone else.

I pull up my Tripit Confirmation!  That would work right?   Nope.  Not good enough!

Before I go further, let me outline what Secrets has in their hand:

1. Both our Passports.

2. A rep from the bank saying that it's the same account and that they see the charge paid.

3. The confirmation email that shows the total amount paid.

4.  The credit card assigned to that account.

Two different supervisors come over and hem and haw over it.  Their offer is to put a hold on our card for the full amount of the room (not the deal amount we paid for it) and then see if the booking office can do anything in a couple days when they are open again.  That would involve us putting our vacation on hold when Monday hit.

Thankfully, the girl at the bank broke the rules for us and emailed us the credit card statement that showed the transaction.

Check in time - 1hr.  Annoyance level - considering writing off Secrets for life.  At the very least we totally wrote off going to the spa or the private dinner.  We were not spending a single extra dollar after putting us through that nonsense.

We finally get to our room.  It's not bad, but it's not up to Secrets standards (look for the upcoming room review video).  There are no snacks in the mini-fridge.  That was a bummer for us because we hadn't eaten since breakfast.

We quickly get changed and go looking for food.  That's never an issue at a Secrets resort.  Ha! Surprise!  This just became a Secrets resort, so you can shove it!  There is only one place open.  We head over there.  The lady struggled big time when it came to communicating.  She said they were not open yet.  We pushed and found out that it was open, but only for appetizers.  Good enough.

We sit down and order an app.  The app we picked wasn't an option.  She said they didn't have it (super).  We order some nachos instead.  

While we wait for the nachos, we see a seemingly endless stream of burgers, pizza, chips and dips, and a number of other things not on the app menu pour out of the kitchen.  (Grrrrrr).

We get our nachos.  They were on par with the nachos you'd get at a ball park, but they had some weird stuff that looked like liquefied boogers.  Yes....that was their guacamole.  I've never seen guacamole like that before.  I never want to see it again. 

After a few beers and other assorted drinks, we headed to dinner at Portofino.  That's their Italian dining location.

The food tasted good, but it was ugly.  I ordered pasta e fagioli, a soup with pasta and beans.  I got a soup that looked like baby vomit with a piece of bacon floating in it.  See for yourself.

Behold!  Baby Barf and Bacon Soup!

The place was obscenely loud.  That make me look around to see why.  There was no themeing, no decorations, and only hard surfaces.  It seemed half finished. 

Portofino

We finished the meal off with Tiramisu.  At least that's what they called it.  It was not Tiramisu.  My wife called it Tiramisu flavored cheesecake, minus the lady fingers.  Great way to end that night.

Good morning!

Time for breakfast!   We head to the Market Cafe.  It's the only option for breakfast.  It's terrible.

We get seated at a table with one napkin (on one side) and one coffee cup (on the other side) and wait, and wait, and wait.  No one comes so we just get up and get food.  No one showed up while we were eating either.  We never got coffee, which was good since they only had one cup on the table.  We never got water.  We never got napkins.  The people seated next to us (and after us) got service.  We never did.

Market Cafe

On a side note.  Market Cafe is Portifino.  They just shove you through a different door.

Why is it so bad?

First - you can tell the staff was never trained.  They have no concept of classical service.  They make a tooooooonnnnnnnn of mistakes.   They avoid eye contact with you.  They do not respond when you say thank  you half of the time.  Most of them act like they do not want to be there. 

Second - The place is not a Secrets.  I know it has the name, but it is so far below the curve, it actually drags the Secrets name through the mud.

Helpful Tips

Do not try to get a drink outside.  There is only one bar.  It's a small bar.  It has to handle the orders from all the roving servers, the dining location right next to it, and ALL the outside guests.  It's a stupid setup that leads to HUGE backups.

Instead, wait till 11am and go to the inside bar.  It's much less crowded.

Do not go to the buffet for dinner if you want a table for just you and one other person.   It's a group style buffet.  You will have to sit with people you don't know at large tables. 

Do not expect good service.  The people work hard, but don't have a clue.  They have never been trained.  

Do not expect Secrets style amenities.  They do not exist here.  For instance - nothing is self serve.  There are no water coolers all over the place.   Expect nothing and you might be happy.

DO NOT pay rack rates for this place.  Do not pay over $200 a night for this place.  You will be disappointed!  Secrets can charge a premium at Jamaica and some of their other resorts, because they are worth it.  This place barely hits the industry average.

Movies You Didn't See: The Lone Ranger

My journey of movie sadomasochism continued this week when I sat down watched The Lone Ranger.  As I did so, I tried to maintain a positive attitude.  I tried to put abominations like John Carter out of my mind.  My positive attitude lasted about two minutes.

When the credits rolled I found myself facing an enormous challenge.  How does one sum up, what is wrong with this movie?  After I few minutes it occurred to me.  This is the only way to sum up The Lone Ranger:

“Ruth Wilson was great.”

Why is that the perfect way to sum up The Lone Ranger?  Because, it is literally the only positive thing I can say about this festering pile of monkey feces.

Trying to explain why this is such a bad movie, is like trying to explain how bright the sun it.  Unless you see it for yourself, you will never quite understand.  

I’m going to list a few of the worst aspects.  Keep in mind that what I am going to list is a minuet fraction of the actual issues this film has.

Tonto:  Tonto’s role in this movie is offensive, foolish, and discredits the original character.  The only thing more offensive than Tonto, is the fact that Johnny Depp is playing him.   Casting Depp in this role should be ranked as one of the biggest casting mistakes in the history of film. 

The Lone Ranger:  I hated this guy.  I wanted him to die so the movie could end.   Giving this guy the tile of The Lone Ranger is disgusting.   This is not the Lone Ranger!  Everything about this character was wrong.

Writing: I harp on this a lot.  There is no excuse for a story to be poorly written.  There are plenty of talented, creative writers out there who could craft an excellent and exciting plot.  I scratch my head and wonder how a plot this terrible makes it to paper.   The only explanation I could come up with was that someone with too much power, and too little talent forced his ideas through.  The plot of this movie is so bad it makes you want to cry.  I can honestly say that it was so bad I sat down and penned out an outline that would be far superior.  It took me less than five minutes.

Violence: This really angered me.  The Lone Ranger is a disgustingly violent movie.  In my opinion, it should have been rated R.  The number of people who die graphic, violent deaths in this movie is shocking.  This is without a doubt the most violent movie Disney has ever made.  If I had brought kids to this, I believe I would have walked out.  This is not a family movie my any stretch of the imagination.

Legacy: This movie has crippled the genre.  It’s a blight on anything called a Western.  It took a beloved subject and characters, and crapped all over them.

I hope The Lone Ranger serves as a lesson to all the studios out there.   Invest more in your stories.  Don’t take something from the past, throw some actors in it, and dump it on the public.  If you are going to remake anything, make sure it’s a quality product.   Thanks to Disney’s horrific efforts in this movie, The Lone Ranger is unlikely to ride again.  If he does, it’ll most likely be decades from now.  It’s going to take a long time for the stench of this movie to dissipate.

CMDTA’s Worst Movies of All Time

Top Ten lists are common but who really takes time to give a nod to the worst? I DO!

1. From Justin to Kelly (2003) – Do I really need to say more? I lasted five minutes…FIVE MINUTES!

2. Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey (1991) – Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure was a fun movie that really gained a cult following. The sequel is proof as to why some movies should never have sequels. This movie is just awful.

3. Lady in the Water (2006) – Awful doesn’t quite describe this movie. The stench of this movie is just epic. It’s an awful story that just doesn’t work and makes me sad to even think about it.

4. American Pie (1999) – A lot of my peers love this movie. I HATE THIS MOVIE. It tries to use gross out humor but it ends up being more, gross out than humor. This movie also had an awful story. I actually think the story offends me on many levels. I really hate this movie.

5. 2012 (2010) – Special effects, no matter how good, can’t make up for a story that could have been written by a brain damaged monkey.

6. The Day After Tomorrow (2004) – Not even Emmy Rossum (one of my favorites) could save this moldly turd of a movie. I don’t even want to go into details. It’s just not good. However, it is a better movie than 2012.

7. Relic (1997) – In this history of converting a book to a movie this has to be the worst case I’ve ever seen. Relic is an amazing book with indepth characters. Many people also call this book the 1st Agent Pendergast book. They cut Agent Pendergast out of the movie. This movie is so bad I wouldn’t let my wife see it after she read the book.
8. Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End (2007) – How you go from one of the best movies ever made (Curse of the Black Pearl) to this movie astounds me. I hated this movie. The story is rotten. After the first film they really gave up on story and just tried to amaze people with special effects.
9 – Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) – The Poseidon Adventure was creepy and fun. This movie was just stupid. They tried to capitalize on the success of the original and ended up with an awful movie that makes my brain hurt when I think about it.
10 – Alien Resurrection (1997) – This movie had it’s moments but in the end it just wasn’t good. The story was crummy and failed in so many ways. It’s a shame that the Alien movies got progressively worse and worse.

The Grumpiest Job in the World

I can think of a lot of jobs that wouldn’t be fun. Disney is full of them. Somehow most of the cast members keep smiling. This always amazed me. You might be moping up barf at the exit of Mission Space but you somehow seem to be happy.

On my last trip to the WDW I found one job that seemed to be the most miserable. I base this assumption on numerous experiences and observations. It’s a job I never thought was that bad but it must be. The job I am talking about is a WDW Bus Driver.

Throughout my last vacation a majority of the bus drivers were moody, grumpy, and seemed to be overall miserable. There were a couple of exceptions but as a whole they were shockingly bad.

The first example was the first bus we got on. The bus driver didn’t great us or even look in our direction. I didn’t think much of it until we got going. There was a kid on the bus who was cranky and being noisy. The kid was awful. I’ve dealt with and ignored much worse. I guess the bus driver hadn’t because he cranked the volume for the music through the roof. He had to be asked to turn it down. I had to bite my lip so I didn’t start laughing. I didn’t want the person driving to go postal because I was laughing at him.

Another example was a bus driver who looked like they should have been hanging out with the trolls on Maelstrom. He had a personality to match. He didn’t crank the volume on us but he was not pleasant. When my wife and I get off a bus we thank the driver. When we did this we got a grunt in response.

Another bus driver was clearly grumpy and proved it to everyone through his driving. To say he was aggressive is an understatement. For a minute I thought we got on the bus version of Lights Motors Action. He also seemed confused when it came to using a break. Instead of consistent pressure he’d pump the break. My wife didn’t get motion sickness on any ride on our last vacation but she got it on this bus.

I tried to figure out why the bus drivers would be so grumpy. I cam up with a few ideas:

1 – They’ve had the same outfits for over ten years. The uniform hasn’t changed in at least 10 years and that would be assuming the uniforms changed just before my last trip as a single guy in 99.

2 – Disney only uses medical test subjects for bus drivers. This would make sense. I think it would explain a lot of things.

3 – The bus drivers are told to do their best imitation of Grumpy. I actually think this would be a good solution. Just make the drivers dress like Grumpy. They you’d think they were acting.

4 – All the bus drivers are raging alcoholics and are actually hung over. Sadly this might be true in a few cases.

5 – Cutbacks have made the job just plain awful. Ok this is the most likely reason.

Whatever the real reason is I’m amazed at the number of grumpy bus drivers. There was one bus driver however that really stood out from the rest. I mentioned the bad but here was the one outstandingly pleasant bus driver:

On Saturday, February 27^th 2010 my wife and I ate at the California Grill. Around 10:00pm we got on the monorail and went to the TTC. Around 10:15 to 10:30 we went to the bus area. There was a bus parked there. We walked up and said we needed to go to the Boardwalk Inn. The lady driving the bus was very nice and told us to hop on. No one else showed up. She personally drove us over to the Boardwalk Inn and chatted to us the entire time. This was hours into her shift and she had a few hours to go. She also drove like a sane person. Imagine that.

Wow That Was Bad

I did a post a while back called “The Hit or Miss Ride.” It was about how having the right skipper either made the Jungle Cruise one of the best or one of the worst rides.

On my 2008 vacation we had an amazing skipper. She was awesome. On our last vacation we had a bad skipper. He wasn’t interactive, we couldn’t hear him, he didn’t do anything fun. He was just going through the motions. It was so bland that I can’t think of one thing that was good about it.

I’ve posted the video on YouTube so you can see what ride is like. Click here to see it.

I don’t have anything against this guy. He just really needs to take some notes from the other skippers. He could vastly improve. I hope he’s new. At least then I would understand. I guess he could be having a bad day too.