CMDTA On Vacation: Secrets Day Three and Four

Sorry but I didn't get a video of the Tepan Edo style dining location.  I didn't even get pictures.  Long story.  Anyways it's a shame I didn't because it blew Tepan Edo out of the water.  It was more exciting and more entertaining. The food was about the same and you still sat with a lot of people you don't know.

We also hit the French restaurant.  The service was very good. Some of the best yet.  The food was good but a couple things were odd.  The onion soup was off.  I don't know what was wrong with it.  I think maybe the cheese wasn't right but I couldn't quite tell.  It was still tasty though.  

For desert we ordered the creme brulee.  It tasted okay but it was warm. That's a little off putting.  You'd expect the custard to be cool like normal creme brulee.

So after days of sitting around and doing next to nothing what do you do?  You go snorkeling! There was a nice spot just off the beach.  normally you don't see much just off of the beach but that's not the case here.  

First of all I'll explain that I do not have a water kit for my DSLR.  I own a little Fuji Film XP camera which is water, drop, dust, and freeze proof.  The photo quality isn't top notch but for what it does I can't complain.

First of all it's school time!  What I am talking about?  Think of Finding Nemo.  Yes we have a sting ray in the house.  Now I don't know if the teacher in Fining Nemo is a sting ray or a manta ray but I know he was a friendly fellow...not to mention big.  This fellow on the right is big.  The picture doesn't do it justice.  I was at least 15 feet above him when I took this.  His wing span is about eight to ten feet. He's huge! If you look closely at his tail you'll notice a brown stripe.  That is his stinger.  It's big, it's barbed and you don't want to get hit with it.  Thankfully sting rays are gentle giants and almost never sting people unless the person is annoying, attacks, steps on, or a similar act.  Sting rays just want nothing to do with people unless you are feeding them.  I do not recommending feeding a wild sting ray.  That has bad news written all over it.  However if you go to Grand Cayman you can feed them at sting ray city.

Next behold the amazing lion fish.  This is one fish you do not want to mess with.  The pack a wallop. those barbs hold a toxin that can rock your world.  If you are allergic to that toxin there is a good chance you will be dead before they can get you to shore.  

Amazingly the lion fish is not native to the Caribbean.  It somehow made there from the Red Sea.  Most likely someone dumped a former pet.

CMDTA on Vacation - Secrets Jamaica Day Two

Day two at Secrets is now over.  It was a decent day.  Mostly the same as day one.  For some people that is the biggest problem with an all inclusive vacation.  It ends up being the same thing day after day.  It's not like Disney where everyday is dramatically different.  It's not even like a cruise which can be very different day to day.  

I mentioned the pools earlier.  Most of them are endless (see the picture above) and most of them are split.  By split I mean half heated and half cooled.  You get to pick what you want.  Some of the pools have swim up bars.  I like the idea of a swim up bar but something bothers me about them.  You see people at the swim up bar all day.  I mean ALL DAY.  They never get out of the pool.  Either their bladder can hold a couple gallons or...

Now the pools have lots of lights in them which is nice.  Even more so at night.  The heated pool is very warm.  If I had to guess I'd say it hovers around 90 degrees.  The cool pool is very cool.  I mean it's colder than the ocean.  I'd place it at 70 degrees.  It's nice to have both because then you can shift gears as the sun goes in and out. When the sun it out you jump in the cool pool to stay cool.  When it's in and the wind is blowing you can jump in the warm one.  The only problem is at night they turn the heat off.  It's mainly to save energy but still it's it's kind of a bummer when you get use to the nice hot water to get into lukewarm water. 

For dinner tonight we hit Portofino which is the Italian dining location.  It was good.  The atmosphere was a little more profound than the Blue Mountain.  They had some nice fake stone work to make it seem more Italian inside.  At least they tried.  Still it was no where near what you find at Disney.  The food was good.  Overall it was very good.  The only problem was the desert.  Their tiramisu was not good. My wife liked it but I honestly thought it was one of the worst tiramisus I have ever had.   It was way too sweet and didn't seem to have any lady fingers.  BLAH.

Tomorrow we are hitting their Tepan Edo style dining location.  I'll grab a video to share with everyone.  Then you can compare it to Tepan Edo in Epcot.

 

The Importance of Food and Drink

This post is not about dining in Disney World.  It's about getting the most out of your vacation.

A lot of people in the US only walk about a mile a day. The next largest segment walks about three.  Those two groups represent more people than all the other segments combined. 

The average person on a Disney World vacation will walk 10+ miles a day.  Another way to put it is the average person will take 20,000 steps a day while in Disney World when they only take 2000 - 6000 steps a day at home.

Why all the statistics?  Because more than your muscles need attention when you are at Disney World.  There are some vital things you need to do each day that you might over look.  Follow these simple tips can help you deal with the physical shock your body is going to face.

1. Take a 30min a day walk starting a month before your trip.

This is important because it will drastically reduce the painful side effects of a huge increase in physical activity.  A 30min will only help.  It will not eliminate the shock your body is going to go through.  30min is about a mile for most people but the benefits are huge.

2. Drink water in the morning.

If you need coffee than have a cup.  However, you need to drink water in the morning.  Even if it's not hot out your water needs increase dramatically when in Disney World.  When walking the average persons heart rate jumps.  For some people it can go as high as 120bpm.  This increases your breathing.  Every time you take a breath you expel some water out of your body. Drinking water in the morning (even when you are not thirsty) will prime your body and prevent issues later.

To explain how vital this is over the long term on your trip consider this:  I hike a lot.  I climb an 1100 foot mountain about three times a week.  At this point I can do a major hike (3000+ feet over 10 ten miles) without having sore muscles the next day.  Last week I woke up, didn't drink any water, and then climbed the 1100 foot mountain.  Doing this has not made my legs sore in months.  My legs were sore the next day.  Dehydration will MURDER your legs. This leads me to the next tip.

3.  Drink when you are not thirsty.

If you wait until you are thirsty it's normally too late.  You're already starting to dehydrate. You can get a cup of ice water at any counter service location in Disney World.  Do this often.  Nothing will help you more over the long term than proper hydration.  This will help to prevent headaches, cramping,  and helps your skin from drying out.

4. Eat small amounts often.

Eating 100 calories an hour isn't a bad idea when you are walking 10 miles a day.  This will prevent weakness, grumpiness, headaches, and has another important benefit.

You need salt.  This might sound odd but your body needs some salt.  When you are sweating more and taking more water in your body can actually run out of salt.  If this happens you will be in a world of hurt.  I've run into this before it's not fun.  If you run out of salt you will not feel good and anything you drink will go right through you.  This is very dangerous.  Eating small amounts will help to prevent this.

5.  Avoid massive meals.

Massive meals take a huge toll on your body.  There is a reason why you are tired after a big meal.  That's because you body is working overtime trying to breakdown all that food.  If you eat smaller meals you will feel better and can go longer. 

If you are like me and are a food junkie than you can counter huge meals with proper planning.  After a huge lunch take a break and go back to your room for a nap.  Have your dinner as late as you can so you can go back and crash after.

6. Drink a glass of water before bed.

This will help your muscles to spring back after a long day.  You might need to get up to pee during the night but your muscles will thank you in the morning.

7.  If you can - take an over the counter pain killer each day after day one.

Most OTC painkillers thin your blood.  This can help your body by reducing swelling.  That alone will help you to keep going over the long haul.

New Video Posted - Sunset Over Ft. Lauderdale

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usco6beJcGYA video of a sunset over Ft. Lauderdale has been posted to YouTube.  The video was taken from a couple miles out to sea. The video is in full HD - 1080p.  The speed of the video was boosted to 3X.

The video can be seen here.

CMDTA on Vacation – Carnival – To Do or Not to Do?

After everything is considered would I go on Carnival again?

Let’s consider a few things first.

• They are much better than NCL (no surprise there)
• The food is very good
• The price is often half of what Disney charges
• VIP check in is great
• The waiters are acceptable
• The entertainment is much improved.

So would I go on them again?

No.  This was my last cruise on Carnival and I don’t say this lightly.  I’ve been on a number of Carnival cruises and I have some good memories of them.   I also have some horrific memories that Carnival did nothing to fix or try to prevent over the years.

Here are some of the issues:

• The customer is never right and you never have a problem worth addressing
• Customer service is awful
• Maintenance is awful.  They tried four times to fix our stateroom door and failed. I finally figured out how to fix it myself.
• The sales culture has invaded in full force to the point where it’s annoying
• Excursions are overpriced
• Alcohol is overpriced – even for a cruise ship
• Major cutbacks could be noticed throughout the entire cruise
• Nothing about the service makes you feel welcome

Carnival is now at the point where I never want to cruise them again.  My fear is next time things will have gotten so bad that the experience will be similar to what you get on NCL. I have no desire to punish myself like that.  Right now Carnival is heading in the wrong direction.  Their biggest problem is their customer service.  It’s just bad.  Hopefully they can right the ship before it’s too late. If they don’t they will find themselves in big trouble.  NCL is already dominating the crappy cruise market.

CMDTA on Vacation – Carnival’s Entertainment

If you’ve read my past overviews about cruising you know how I normally detest a majority of the “entertainment” that can be found on a cruise ship.

Upfront I will say that Carnival has done a great job with their entertainment.  In the past a majority of the shows were those awful Vegas Review style shows that I hate so much. Sometimes they would throw in a comedian to spice things up but other than that the entertainment was bad.

This time there were only a few Vegas style shows.  The first night you had the usual kickoff  show.  It’s not bad but it’s not great either.  It’s full of the cruise director and others talking about what’s coming up.  They also had a couple of comedians do some short sets.  They actually found decent comedians which was a nice surprise.

Carnivals main show was a Beatles tribute.  The only thing that saved the show was the Beatles music.  Without that it would not have been good.  One really odd thing about this show came at the end.  A band came on stage and did a few Beatles songs.  The odd thing was they looked nothing like the Beatles.  I realize that a lot of tribute bands don’t really look like the band they are imitating but these guys looked like the opposite of the Beatles.  In fact you would have been hard pressed to find four people who looked less like the Beatles.

Another night there was a show themed around Frank Sinatra.  We didn’t make it to that show but I got a detailed report from the couple we had dinner with.  Before I tell you what they said let me say that they like the Vegas style entertainment.  They like most cruise ship entertainment. They hated this show. They said it was a strange show with a guy who didn’t sound like Sinatra who liked to talk about himself.  I’m really glad we missed that one.

The rest of the week was filled up with a ventriloquist and some other forgettable shows.  They weren’t bad they just average.

The final show was a talent show.  Guests could get on stage perform.  I had to go to this one.  I love a good train wreck.  I was not disappointed.  One person out of all of them could sing. The rest were awful and I mean awful.  One girl tried to do a Brittany Spears song.  She did it so poorly she made Brittany Spears seem like she has some talent.  For that to happen you have to be beyond bad.

The only one who did well was an old guy who sang a Garth Brooks song.  I’ve never listened to Garth Brooks.  I don’t know if he did good or not but his singing didn’t hurt my ears so I assume it was good.  Most of the crowd sang along too and really got into it.  It was funny at the end because my wife asked me if I’d ever heard the song before.  Neither of us had.  When you live in New England you don’t listen to country music.

Overall Carnival was much improved in the entertainment department but is that enough to save them overall?  You’ll know soon.

What Would You Do?

Over the past few years Disney has been releasing discounts like popcorn.  In fact Disney has released so many discounts that people don’t wait for them anymore.  People have started booking the resort they want and sit back and wait for a discount they can apply to their booking.

That’s not a bad idea but it poses the question – What happens if no discount is released? Do you take it one the chin and pay rack rates or would you cancel your booking?

What it boils down to is how much have you invested already.  You can get your deposit back if you cancel in time.  What about airfare?  That can be a major issue.  If you get a good price on airfare and lock it in you might be stuck with it unless you pay a large fee.  It’s not uncommon to pay a $100 per ticket change / cancelation fee when you try to cancel a flight you have already booked.  On the other hand if you wait to book your airfare the price might shoot through the roof and you’ll pay much more if you do decide to go.  It’s a sticky situation.

If I had booked my airfare I’m going to take the vacation unless something really bad happens.  It’s really hard for me to turn around and tell people I’m not going anymore.  Work would be annoyed because they already did the scheduling for it and my wife would be annoyed because she would have been looking forward to it.

For some people though it does make sense to cancel outright. If you are driving down or live near Disney you can easily sit it out and wait.  In that case you might have little or no monetary loss if you cancel your trip but can you mentally deal with?

CMDTA on Vacation: St. Lucia

If you have little to no money what can you do in St. Lucia’s Port?

First of all St. Lucia has an odd port.  It’s a mix of old and new.  There are some nice shop areas that are new and updated.  Right next to that there is what I’d call a flea market.  The flea market feels confined and you keep thinking someone is going to try to mug you while you are in it. This might sound odd but that’s the place to go.

The clean area has your normal port stores so in other words it’s nothing special.  The flea market has a lot of odd stuff. Stuff you might not be able to find in other places. The people in the flea market are also interesting.  They are true locals.  That might sound odd but there is a reason why that stands out.

Often the tourist stores hire non-locals.  Some of the major ones even hire Americans.  Some of these employees work year round for these companies.  You might wonder how they get through the off season.  The answer to that is rather interesting. 

My wife and I were in St. Thomas one year and we walked into a Spectrum store.  Spectrum specializes in ammolite which my wife likes but we could never afford. However because she likes it we always check out the stores selling it.  The sales rep knew us.  He knew us because he tried to sell us some ammolite in Ketchikan.  Ketchikan is in Alaska. Turns out a lot of the workers you see in the Alaskan ports spend their summers in the Alaska and their winters in the Islands.  I don’t know how much money is in that but how awesome does that sound?

OK back to the port in St. Lucia.  Other than the flea market there isn’t a whole lot in the port for poor people.  One thing you can do is head to the end of the port where you’ll find a bar that does karaoke.  It’s always fun to listen to drunk people try to sing.

If St. Lucia didn’t have the flea market and the karaoke bar I’d say skip it if you can’t afford to take a tour. However, those two places make it worth getting off the boat.

CMDTA on Vacation: St. Kitts

Continuing on my overview of islands when you are broke – St. Kitts!  St. Kitts has one of the most generic port areas in all the islands.  It’s crammed full of shops, bars, and touring companies.  80% of the shops are jewelry stores, 10% are liquor stores, and the rest sell crap.

If you can’t tell already I wasn’t impressed by the shopping in St. Kitts.  The bars weren’t much better.  Unlike in St. Maarten the prices for beer are insanely low.  You can find some good deals but you’ll have to hunt for them.  If you want a mixed drink you are going to pay a fair amount for it. 

On the subjects of drinks I should mention my experience with non-alcoholic drinks in St. Kitts.  I was being good so I ordered a Diet Coke.  What they gave me was a Coke Lite.  Coke Lite looks like a Diet Coke but tastes very different.  I can understand why the name is different but I’m not sure why you would change the formula.  It wasn’t awful it was just different.

On really strange thing you’ll run into in a lot of the shops in St. Kitts are the skeletons.  It seems like every shop has some creepy motorized skeleton that shakes. I might be able to understand this if it was Halloween but not a week after Thanksgiving.  I really don’t know why all the shop keepers thought these were a good idea.

A final note about St. Kitts – Look out for the monkey people.  There are a lot of people walking around the port are with monkeys.  Most of the monkeys are wearing diapers. Their goal is to put a monkey on your shoulder so you’ll pay them money to have your picture taken with the monkey.  I don’t know about you but I don’t want anything wearing a diaper on my shoulder. 

Overall St. Kitts isn’t the best stop if you are broke.  You might be better off just staying on the boat unless you want to grab a couple of beers.

CMDTA on Vacation – St. Maarten – St. Martin

No, I didn’t misspell the title and no I am not talking about two countries.  St. Martin is an island in the Caribbean.  It has two names because it’s technically two different countries.  It’s up to some debate but the Island itself is called St. Martin but the island is divided into two sections.  The French side is called St. Martin and the Dutch side is called St. Maarten.  Just to clarify my wife and I visited St. Maarten.

Sadly on this trip my wife and I couldn’t afford to do any excursions so my reviews of all islands will be based on what you get in the port.  I actually hope this ends up being a helpful way of reviewing islands considering how expensive excursions have become.

St. Maarten has a pier.  Right off the bat this puts it above other islands.  I hate getting tendered on and off a cruise ship.  From the pier you could walk to the shopping area but that would be a long walk.  Instead you go to the right hand side of the port and take a water taxi to the shopping area.  It’s only a five minute boat ride and it’s totally worth it.

Where the water taxi drops you off is a long sandy beach which is lined with bars and cheap shops.  Beyond the bars and cheap shops is a street that is lined with numerous shops.  This is a great island shopping area.  I use the term “island” because it’s a typical example of what you find on almost every island in the Caribbean.  These shopping areas consist of lots of jewelry, liquor, clothing, and what I call tourist junk stores.

Tourist junk stores is where you find all the crap you laugh at when you are home, but are compelled to buy when you are on vacation.  I don’t think I need to say anything else.  You know what I am talking about.

The best part of this destination is the beach.  You can rent a beach site for next to nothing, the water is clean and warm, and the bars will serve you if you want.

Included in the beach are the bars. I say this because if you are looking for a beer you will be in heaven here.  To explain what I mean I first have to inform you about beer on cruise ships.  Carnival (Royal Caribbean and NCL) sell “beer buckets” on the ship.  These are insanely expensive four packs of beer.  Bud Light or Bud (which are both like pee in a bottle) will run you around $15 when you count the gratuity.  In St. Maarten you can buy a “beer bucket” for $10.  Oh and by the way these beer buckets have six beers, you can pick what beers are in there, and it’s not “pee in a bottle” beer.  Normally you can pick between six or so Caribbean and Mexican beers. WOOOOOOO!

So that is the St. Maarten port area.  If you are broke it’s the place to be.

CMDTA on Vacation – Carnival: The Food

One of the biggest features on any cruise is the food.  The food can make or break a cruise.  You need to look no further than my overview of my NCL cruise to see how bad food can get on a cruise ship.  Honestly the food was so bad I was concerned that the standards had plummeted throughout the industry.  Thankfully Carnival has not lowered their standards.

I can’t even compare Carnival to NCL when it comes to food.  It’s just not fair.  Carnival beat NCL in all but two places and those two places are so foolish they are not a factor.

The food on Carnival is very good.  It’s not top notch but it’s consistently great.  The food in the buffet is good for buffet food and they mix it up a lot.  The pizza at the pizza bar is very good.  The self serve ice cream and frozen yogurt is great. The food over all is fresh and well presented. The bread isn’t stale (I have to mention that because of NCL).  The deserts seem like they were made recently and not pulled out of a box (again I have to mention that because of NCL).  The food was hot when it should have been hot and cold when it should have been cold (again…NCL).  The waiters were nice and wanted to do their best to serve you.

It’s hard to imagine food that is cooked on such a massive scale being as good as it is on Carnival.  I say without any doubt that they match Royal Caribbean any day of the week. That’s impressive considering Royal Caribbean is often much more expensive.

Earlier I mentioned that NCL beat Carnival in two areas.  The first area is the coffee.  Carnival has 24hr coffee machines that provide coffee or hot water.  NCL has 24hr machines that do coffee, espresso, and cappuccino.  If you want better coffee on Carnival you have to pay for it.  The second area is the self serve ice cream.  NCL gives you a topping station.  Those are the only two areas.  Like I said they are not a factor at all when comparing the food the two cruise lines offer.

CMDTA on Vacation – Carnival VIP Check In

I recently spent 8 days on the Carnival Miracle. After my last cruise I was prepared for the worst. After all, NCL helped me to define what a terrible vacation is.

For the first time we got to try out Carnival’s VIP check in. Anyone who has cruised with Carnival 10 or more times or booked a qualifying stateroom gets to use the VIP check in. So how did it work?

I showed up at the port around 11:15am on the day of departure. We went in the separate entrance reserved for the VIP check in. Right off the bat we passed dozens of people who were waiting in the regular line. Next went through a separate security screen which was amazingly fast. After that we dealt with our first employee. We didn’t have to wait at all. She processed us and sent us up the escalator.

At the top of the escalator we went to another separate VIP check in area. Again there was no line. An employee gave us our stateroom cards, took our info and had us on our way in less than five minutes. She also informed us that they were already boarding VIPs. We followed the signs to board the ship and passed a few hundred people who were using the standard check in.

By 11:30 we were on the ship. I’ve never even come close to that timeframe on any other cruise I’ve been on. To be honest getting on the ship could not have been easier.

If you have the chance to use the VIP check in on Carnival, use it. It’s awesome.

Upcoming Vacation Topics

About a year ago I did a series of topics called CMDTA on Vacation.  Those posts coved my horrifying (and it was horrifyingly bad) cruise with NCL.

I’m pleased to announce that the CMDTA on Vacation is coming back! WOOOOOO! Here are the upcoming topics which should debut around late December:

Carnival Miracle

Carnival Spirit Class Vista Suites

Carnival Overall

St. Marten

St. Lucia

St. Kitts

Carnival at Sea

Carnival vs. NCL

What’s the Next Vacation?

Now if any of you are disappointed that I’m not going on NCL again I just want to remind you that a certain warm place hasn’t frozen over yet.  NCL was so bad I’ve almost blocked the entire trip from my memory.  I remember the details but it now feels more like a nightmare then something that actually happened.  Why don’t you go on NCL and blog about it?  I won’t be doing that anytime soon.  If I want to waste my money on something that depressing I’ll burn it in my pellet stove.

Want to know all the really bad stuff about cruising?  Check this out:

People Actually Like Deeks

Being a Disney fan and being over the age of 18 often brings strange looks, a number of questions, and a little teasing.  Some people are discouraged by this and try to keep their secret deek identities hidden.  I’m here to let everyone know that it’s a mistake to keep your deekness hidden.

If people know you’re a deek they might tease you a little but in reality they do not forget the fact that you know more about Disney than they ever will.  This normally proves itself within a few years.

If there is one thing you can bank on it’s that people change.  People get married, have kids, and go on vacation.  On a number of occasions I’ve been approached by co-workers, friends, and even friends of friends who are going to Disney World for the first time and have no idea where to start.  Some of the very people who made fun of me for being a deek came to me for help after they had kids and realized they are going to Disney World whether they like it or not.

The best thing about someone coming to you for help isn’t talking about Disney.  It’s not the fact the other person is eating a little humble pie either.  The best thing is knowing that you are helping someone avoid some of the biggest Disney mistakes.  It’s knowing that you are making someone’s vacation much better.  It’s knowing that in a few months the world will have another deek.

Want to expand your deek prowess? Try one of these:

Getting the Most Out of the Dining Plan

Before I get going on this subject I want to let everyone know one thing.  The dining plan can be a great value if you use it correctly and do a little research.  If you do not use it correctly, Disney makes oodles of money off of you.  Also in the article I will be comparing the regular dining plan to the deluxe dining plan. I will not be mentioning the quick service plan because I’ve never used it.

First things first - always make an ADR if you are going to use the dining plan.  This will help you to avoid eating at restaurants that provide little value when on the dining plan. This might sound odd but where you eat will make or break the dining plan.  If you can’t get into your first choice, always have a second choice ready.

Next thing you need to do if figure out the monetary value of your credits.  For example one day on the deluxe plan is about $75.  I think that’s over but it is close enough.  For that price you get three table service credits. That breaks down to about $25 a meal. Knowing this detail helps you to decide where to eat.

After you figure out the monetary value of your credits look at the menus for the places you want to eat.   Would you spend $25 a person there if you were not on the dining plan? If the answer is no, then don’t eat there.  If you look at the menu for the Plaza Restaurant in the Magic Kingdom you’d realize that it’s impossible to get a good value there if you are on the dining plan.  Doing this with each place you want to go helps you determine if you want to use your credits there or pay it out of pocket.

Signature Dining locations seem to strike fear into the hearts of people who are on the dining plan.  Don’t be afraid just do your research.  Two big things to remember when it comes to signature dining – one what do you get for your two table service credits and two – what are the reviews for this dining location?

Let’s compare two signature locations to see what a little research is vital.

Cinderella’s Table: The price is different for lunch and dinner.  At its most expensive the price is $60.  In both cases you get a photo package.  Now check the reviews.  For a place that’s so hard to get into, this place has really poor reviews.  It’s not what you’d want from a signature location.  If you go to dinner you basically break even on your credits but if you go to lunch you’d be better off paying out of pocket.

California Grill:  To be blunt the prices here are high, very high. My wife and I dropped nearly $200 the last time we went there.  Is that worth two table service credits?  That’s putting lightly. Now check the reviews.  They are overwhelming positive.  Bottom line the dining plan will save you a ton of money at the California Grill.

Another VERY helpful tip is to compare the lunch menus to the dinner menus.  In some cases they can be drastically different.  Possibly the biggest difference is at the Liberty Tree Tavern.  This is one of the rare places where lunch is more of a value than dinner.  In fact if I were on the dining plan, I’d avoid the dinner there like the plague.  The reason being – dinner is a fixed price family meal with no selection.  On the other hand Lunch has a full menu.

Know when you can use your credits.  You can start using your credits as soon as you check in.  Some people think your unused credits go away when you check out. You can use your credits even after you check out.  Your credits don’t expire until the next day. 

One final tip and this is the most important tip – Make a list of all the days you are in Disney.  Next fill in where you want to eat. After that compare it to the number of credits you have.  Have extra credits?  Go back and see where you can fit them.  Waste a credit or two and you go from getting value out of the dining plan to being fleeced by it.

The Disney Vacation Rules of Etiquette

Don’t be “that” guest. You know the guest I’m talking about. The one who drives everyone else crazy and think they have the right to do it because they paid good money for their vacation.

Make sure you follow these rules and reminders:

1 – Thou shall not let thy kids go uncontrolled because they are on vacation.

2 – Thou shall not fart in the queue.

3 – Thou will not yell at the cast member because thou didn’t have the sense to make an ADR, understand the dining plan, or were refused alcohol in the Magic Kingdom.

4 – Thou shall wear proper clothing. Not clothing that leaves little to the imagination, is offensive, obscene, or dirty.

5 – Thou shall smoke in the smoking areas not any where thy feels like it.

6 – Thou shall remember that thy waiter is not a baby sitter.

7 – Thou shall not cut in line. This includes parade and fireworks viewing.

8 – Thou shall turn off thy viewfinder on dark rides.

9 – Thou shall remember that sound travels and not discuss topics of a person nature in a crowded location.

10 – Thou shall not give the person with the turkey leg a dirty look because thy does not eat meat.

11 – Thou shall chew with ones mouth CLOSED.

12 – Thou shall not speak while chewing.

13 – Thou shall not complain about large crowds when thy did not check TouringPlans.com or another similar resource.

14 – Thou shall not belch loudly in a dining location.

15 – Thou will not complain about sore feet when thy wore improper footwear.

16 – Thou will not remind thy child that thy paid a lot for the Disney vacation when said child is acting up.

17 – Thou shall remember that a wheelchair is not a battering ram.

18 – Thou shall not over indulge in alcoholic beverages and then toss thy cookies in front of everyone.

19 – Thou shall not complain if thy spent all day in the sun without sunscreen.

20 – Thou shall not be stupid.

I think 20 sums up all the others. When all else fails refer to number 20.

Back in the World

Against all odds it looks like I’m going back to Disney from October 19^th to the 26^th, 2011. I guess Food and Wine was a big enough draw from my wife and my niece. I’m also banking on the fact that Disney is going to release a round of discounts for that time period. I just hope it’s not the normal “free dining.” I want a good room discount. 40% off a deluxe room is much better than free dining.

I’ll be hitting up some new stuff to review. Here are some of those subjects:

Resort Review: The Polynesian

Dining Review: Ohana

Dining Review: Tony’s Town Square Restaurant

Dining Review: Biergarten

Dining Review: Momma Melrose

Dining Review: Akershus

Dining Review: Jiko

Dining Revisit: Chef’s De France

Dining Revisit: Le Cellier

Dining Revisit: San Angel Inn

Dining Revisit: Kona Café

Dining Revisit: Yack and Yeti

Dining Revisit: Brown Derby

Dining Revisit: Liberty Tree Tavern

Dining Revisit: 50’s Prime Time

Random Disney Stories

Food and Wine Festival

Review: Star Tours: The Adventure Continues

Overview: Fantasy Land Expansion Progress

These subjects could change. I think that goes without saying. We’re 13 months out and nothing has even been reserved yet.

Sorry I seriously doubt I’ll be doing Fantasmic so don’t ask. The only guaranteed way I’ll end up seeing it is if it starts playing everyday. There is a chance that if one of our days ends early and Fantasmic is playing that night we might head over to see it.

Another Ride I Want to See Gone!

Everyone knows I don’t like Stiches Great Escape. However, as I’ve stated before that ride is fixable. I can also name about a dozen other rides that really miss the mark and need help but there is one I think is beyond help.

To put it simply, Mission Space is a one ride wonder. The first time you ride it you think it’s entertaining. The second time you ride it (if it doesn’t make you sick the first time) you realize that it’s really a crummy ride. The preshow stinks. The story stinks. The waiting area stinks. The ride is a glorified Turkish Twist only not as exciting. In fact the only thing I enjoy about Mission Space is the queue.

Of course since Mission Space is considered a thrill ride and it cost oodles of money to build I don’t think it’s going anywhere anytime soon. I say that but the first crack is showing in its armor. That crack being the fact that I’ve never waited in line on Mission Space and I do the “Orange Team.” That is not a good sign when you consider its next door neighbor, Test Track, always has a line and it’s a much older ride.

There is only one ride in Epcot I can think of with a shorter wait than Mission Space and that’s the Imagination ride. You know you are in trouble when you can be compared to that ride.

The real killer just occurred to me when my mother asked me if she should go on Mission Space when on her next Disney vacation. I said no. I really could not recommend it to my mother and she’s been on everything else in Disney World.

The saddest part is, you could have a killer ride with a space theme. Space is such a diverse and exotic subject you’d think the Imagineers would have a field day with it.

I know some people might not agree with this but I’d like to see a good old fashion space themed dark ride that goes through the history of space exploration and some future possibilities. I think that would have more shelf life that Mission Space currently has.

Year of a Million Screams

It’s funny what grabs your attention when you go on vacation. In December of 2008 my wife and I were amazed by the number of ECVs that could be found in the parks at Disney World. In February 2010 something else grabbed our attention. It seemed like every time we turned around there was a kid melting down.

I really think they Give a Day, Get a Day should be replaced with “The Year of a Million Screams.” The meltdown is something that has always amazed me. In many cases meltdowns can be avoided but if parents did that I would have less to write about.

There are two very different types of melt downs. The first is the classic scream as loud as you can / disagree with everything meltdown. These tend to be cause by utter exhaustion. These often happen after 3pm depending on the age of the child. The scene is classic, a screaming kid and a parent who looks half dead carrying / dragging them. These can be avoided by a noontime break / nap. These can also be avoided by not keeping your kid awake for the 9:30pm Hoop Dee Doo or the 9pm La Nouba or ANYTHING that late.

I know this is off subject but – WHY WOULD YOU DRAG A KID TO La Nouba IN THE FIRST PLACE! That is not a kids show. The 9pm show just blows my mind entirely.

The second kind of melt down is the acting out followed by the stern lecture by a parent. This is like a double melt down because both the parent and the kid are melting down. These are some of the funniest melt downs. The canned lecture is awesome. They always include a reference to how the kid is ruining the vacation for someone else and a reference to how much money is being spent. You think I’m kidding? I quote:

“The way you are acting is ruining this vacation for your mother. I spent a lot of money for this vacation and I’m not going to let you ruin it.”

I overheard that by the cash register in the Emporium on Main Street USA in the Magic Kingdom.

Another classic is when the parent threatens the child with something ridiculous. I overheard a parent threaten to leave the park and drive home. This was about an hour after the park opened. Kids are not dumb. You need a real threat.

What cause this kind of melt down? There are two things. One is a total lack of ever discipline your child. The other factor having an overly structured vacation that results more attention being given to doing everything than enjoying time with your child. To prevent this take it easy, be flexible, and remember that enjoying what you are doing is better than trying to do everything. If you kid wants to do a ride again, do it again. It’s their vacation too.

When You're Ten Days Out

Ten days to go is an important mark when you are waiting for any vacation. When you hit ten days you can start to check the weather. Most people would check the weather at their destination. However, for anyone who lives in New England, the destination comes second. During the winter you always check the local weather first.

Why would you check the local weather first? Because booking any airfare in the winter is a gamble. You cross your fingers and hope a storm doesn't hit the day you fly out. Thankfully I've never had a storm hit the day I've had to fly out. My wife however has.

What do you do if a big storm is going to hit the day you are trying to fly out? You gamble. To put it simply you book another flight for the day before and book a cheap hotel at your destination. This is a gamble because if the weather isn't bad enought to cancel you get stuck paying for two flights. Granted you only do this for slam dunk storms. Normal storms you keep your fingers crossed and hang out at the airport.

You might wonder why you wouldn't just buy travel insurance. I do buy travel insurance but I'd rather enjoy my vacation than get reimbursed for lost days. That's an awful way to start your vacation.