disneyfan1313

Yae!! New Katamari!!! The 2 player mode in the first one was a bit week so it's good to see them try a different approach - even if it does look a bit weird! Animal Crossing 2 for the DS has me excited also - I think I might need to buy one now!

Ugh.. you guys flew Korean also?!?!?! What an interesting experience.. We went through a consolidator (also called a bucket fare shop) and got the LAX-NRT segment for around $540 R/T. The downside is we didn't get frequent flyer miles due to the fare class. We then booked the MCO-LAX segment separately. Barry - Take a look at flying out of MCO - I see roundtrip fares MCO-NRT pretty frequently in the sub-750 range. Sign up for travelocitys fare watcher and you can see how much it fluctuates.

wow.. It is amazing how fast it is going up! I've gotta plan another Japan trip! The major change is a lack of Twilight Zone theming and the twist of the new york theme. It should be great (just like everything at TDS )

Count me in for defiantly 1..perhaps 2. Defiantly dinner.. perhaps earlier.

Turtle Talk is going in the Animation Building in DCA.

I vote for Indian food... or Ohana... Or both.. At Once!!! ....loves to eat...

Just as an FYI.. There are no illuminations cruises available.. I called and checked. We could do a boat rental of a big pontoon boat during the day and tool around 7 seas lagoon and bay lake and I could give you all my WDW Lake 'O History tour.. I vote for somewhere on WDW property but thats cause i'm a disney geek Oh.. and I will defiantly be there.

(random I realize..but I know there are some NiN fans here who might want to share their thoughts) So I just got back from driving around and listening to the new CD that was released tonight at Midnight (got it at the Virgin Megastore at Downtown Disney). Sigh. It's .....OK. I guess part of me wants to reclaim that feeling that I got when I listened to NiN in high school.. that feeling that Trent understands my angst.. that pure driven feeling of Pretty Hate Machine and TDS. I shoulda seen it coming down the pike over the last few CDs... This isn't a bad CD.. Heck.. it's got some great tracks on it. It just feels kinda muddled and thrown together and without the story of TDS or the creative WTF feeling of The Fragile. Perhaps it will grow on me.. The standout tracks to me are... 2. You know what you are? A driven, creative and angry track that feels like old school NiN. Creative sounds and mixing. 4. The Hand That Feeds - The *very* radio friendly single that really is catchy and gets better as you realize the depth to the song. 6. Every Day is Exactly the Same - Probably going to be the next single.. very catchy and a great Trent whine sound. 8. Only - Hmm.. even tracks only good? Weird and good in a fragile kinda way. 13. right where it belongs - Great trance/ driving song.

Interesting discussion... I am fully in favor of systems that allow you to purchase a better experience in the park... why? Because *anyone* can do it - some just choose not to. In your example with the guy from Palm Beach vs. the mother from GA. The mother from GA could have saved up the money, planned, or made different choices in life to be able to have used the service. It is not as if Universal is saying that only people who have a british background whose family has made over 100k for 3 generations can purchase them.. anyone can! Some simply make poor decisions in life (either in planning vacations or budgeting money) or choose not to based on their opinions of what their time is worth. Will I always purchase Q-Bot or Express passes? No. I take a look and see what the lines are like and figure out what that would make my time worth per hour. If I have the cash and I have planned well.. I will use them. I will never begrudge someone for using these types of services because I could have as well.. Everyone looks at what is important in their life.. To me it is time. I work very hard to get the vacation which I do and I want every moment of it to be used well... Not spent waiting in line at a six flags. Plus - I would argue that Gold Q-Bots and VIP tours at Six Flags do not have much impact on the lines at all.. probably less than 200 people a day in the whole park. Regular Q-Bots and Fastpass systems do have an impact on the lines due to the amount of people that use them.

We have done a few "woodsy" type ones but for the most part we stick to the urban caches. (not a big fan of snakes and such!). The urban ones imho are also more fun 'cause you have to avoid being seen most times.

The food area is totally changed. It is now scramble style where you can go to all the different grills or bakery areas and then proceed to a register to check out as one group. Think food court in a value or moderate resort. I believe the menu is a bit different as well.

It really is *a lot* of fun. Elissa- you and Robb would have a great time doing it - stacey and I do it kinda as a "date" thing for fun sometimes. Occasionaly ones do get "muggled" (term for unknowing persons taking caches) but it doesnt happen that often. We purchased our GPSr just for this but it actually has come in handy quite a bit on trips and such a decent base model that you can connect to your computer will run you $120 bucks or so but you can get cheapy ones that work just fine for about $50. We even placed one near our apartment (around 50 folks have found it and it has been there since Feb!)

Geocaching is the sport of using a GPS receiver to locate hidden "caches" or treasures hidden around the world. In urban areas these could be "micro" caches with just a log book to sign or it could be a larger waterproof container sometimes with pretty cool swag. The reason why I thought people who count coasters might like it is the website tracks how many caches you can find (there are 100's of thousands all over the world) and it is fun to do while traveling (we found one recently when we were in france!). Anyways - Type in your zipcode at the website http://www.geocaching.com/ and see how many are near you! Even if you do not have a GPS device you might be able to find a few near you using only the directions.

With the exception of once or twice, in history, Disney is ALWAYS the first one to price hike. SW is usually last. I can't remember the last time SW price hiked first. You may think they did it first because they waited so long to match the others. And WDW promptly raised their price even more. Neither Universal or SW has ever had prices above WDW, at least as far back as I can remember. Trust me when I tell you that is incorrect. If you wish you can search the orlandosentinel archives for the information - Sea World was the first after 9/11 to raise prices and did so 2 other times as well. They had front page articles in the OS business section about it. Historically? Disney is usually the first - however that tide has changed recently.

I think any coaster that doesn't have a photo on RCDB is pretty rare. Also - these credits in cuba would be pretty tough to get http://www.rcdb.com/tv.htm?continent=1&country=54&state=301

Actually the last 3 times Sea World was the first to raise their prices with universal next and Disney last (with the exception of the price raises in January). It's not price fixing as it is not restricting competition (as is how price fixing is generally defined) - it's playing a well balanced game of judging supply and demand. A normal price ticket to a six flags park is just under $50 bucks for attractions which are not nearly as themed, service which is not nearly as good and food and merch which is usually more expensive. A broadway show (which lasts at the most 3 hours) costs more than an all day Disney theme park experience - all broadway shows cost about the same - is that price fixing as well? Ugh.

Seriously.. WTF is right!! I love this show - I think this is the best season yet!

Hiya! And welcome to Themeparkreview.com! Immigration and passport control will be in new york. A 2 hour layover should be fine but I would go directly though to ensure you have enough time. I'm not sure how long it will take for non-us citizens but I would checkthe US department of state website to see if you need to know anything specific. Not really - but you might notice some increase in attendance on weekends due to all of the Halloween events at the parks the later in the month you go - October really is one of the best months both with weather, crowds and all the special events. All the ones you listed are separate tickets - the parks websites will have more details as the time gets closer. Most of the attractions are open for all of the events (although they have not announced yet which park HHN at UO will be at.) They are all great events for diferent reasons. I personally love Mickey's Not-So-Scary at the MK - tons of free candy, lots of characters, a cool special parade and a cool special fireworks show (this event is very differnet than the one at DLP). This event always sells out on the 31st and most fridays and saturdays. Halloween Horror Nights at UO is great as well with great haunts , great theming and a so-so parade with free beads (no candy though! ) This is insanly busy to the point of almost not being fun on Saturdays and some weekends will sell out. If you know in advance which day you are going to go buy them on the parks web site.

Hmm. We will probably have to agree to disagree on this one but please name any major theme park that does not charge for parking (besides Holiday World)? Parking at WDW is only $8 which is below the national average at theme parks and is below all the other Orlando parks. A bottle of water or soda is now only $2.00 at WDW which is lower than any theme park, sporting event or concert that I have ever been to. It's the nature of the buisness - it does not justify stealing. Plus - don't forget the cost to have the lot maintained (lots of repaving and maintinance), the costs of the trams, the costs of security, the cost of the piece of land the lot is on.

Sigh. The average guest probably couldn't / wouldn't go out of their way to go all the way around to do that. Heck - you could also park at any resort and take the transportation for free or come in through the back end of property above the MK. It's good to do the right thing though..

MeMeMe!!! Stacey and I should be able to make it depending on work - we could also look into renting Water Mice (the little speedboats) or a pontoon boat during the day or something. (or if you want to do something totally wacky we could plan a wdw scavenger hunt or something!)

With all the excitement around your west coast TPR meet this summer I was wondering if you guys had considered doing a Florida one? I was thinking if we got 10 folks to comit to coming we could do an Illuminations cruise at Epcot (it's really fun!). You can put up to 12 folks on the cruise which departs from the boardwalk and go on an hour cruise and watch illuminations from the water next to France for around $170 or so (so about $15-$20 a person depending on how many would go). Plus it does not require theme park admission so anyone could do it. Just a random idea - but it would be fun to have a meet over here!

No. Soarin' is inbetween the land and imagination pavilion in the Future World section of Epcot. There is no construction behind Mexico besides general upkeep stuff.

I love my phone! I have the Samsung i500 - It's a palm pilot and a phone (imho better than the Treo).

Jose- Are those ruddy Abyssinians? We used to always have abbys and russian blues growing up- now we have a just as wonderful orange tabby.