CJHokie

why do you have to bring your MH?  I am not bringing mine...I am just using the popup.  The MH stays at home for this one.  The MH is too much work and this girl is gonna have some fun!

 

Come join us!

Wish I hadn't sold my popup. That I felt completely comfortable towing. We do still have a couple of tents. 

Hmm, if I could get up the nerve to drive my MH down, I'd be in!

Hmm, sounds very familiar. Tom Johnson Concord?  That is our dealer and their service is incredibly slow and they were bought by CW.

We were having slide issues - not going in all the way, very loud pop when going in. That is our big slide which is hydraulic.  

So, the time ours didn't go in all the way, we were camping and Mr. CJH was prepared to drive it back like that. I told him we should put the jacks up and try it. He thought that was hogwash, but sure enough when we put the jacks up, it went in all the way, but with a really loud pop.  

We made an appt. to drop it at the dealer and then waited 3 or 4 weeks for them to start working on it, then 2 or 3 weeks to pick it up.  They said they lubed it and that was it.  Of course we put it out when we took it back to storage and it made a loud pop again.  I don't think we heard it or it was as bad when we left the Fort on NY day.

Mr. CJH just said if it pops when it stops it's probably a problem with the tracks, but he is not a mechanic nor did he stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

I would say stay away from 300 (preferred).  It's pretty tight in there.

We (40' class A) stayed in 500 (premium) last time. It was way tighter than we were expecting, but was doable.  There was a little difficulty getting in our spot (I think 521) due to a tree on one side and a fire hydrant on another and too many "helpers".

We went through all the loops looking at Christmas lights and I saw Class A's in pretty much all the premium and preferred loops.

We have only stayed there twice in ours, so it's a little different perspective driving through in a Class A and riding through loops on bikes, so maybe some other big rigs here can give some more info. I would say stick with Premium for the best maneuverability.  

I did not even do online check-in, as I planned on faxing and Jason said somewhere here that the online check-in seemed to override the fax.

I was talking to a guy at the dog park and told him we were trying to will every camper by the empty spot next to us so our friends would get it.  He suggested I go park in it or just tell people not to take it. 

I was like, what?  Doing this would never even occur to me.  And we didn't.

Satan and Lame?

 

You're going to get hit upside the head when Judy reads what you wrote!

 

 

 

Wow.  Bad timing for your coach to retire!

 

I didn't pay attention to this game- they are expecting it to draw the largest attendance for a college football game in history:

 

The game, scheduled Sept. 10, 2016 on a playing surface in the speedway infield, is expected to attract a crowd of at least 150,000, easily giving the facility — nicknamed the Last Great Colosseum — the record for attendance at a college game. The current record is 115,109 at University of Michigan's stadium — the so-called “Big House” — when the Wolverines played Notre Dame Sept. 7, 2013.

 

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/2015/10/07/bristol-motor-speedway-nascar-races-college-football-tennessee-virginia-tech/73542248/

 

So, are you going?

 

TCD

Well, we should be, but we do not have tickets. I grew up about 30 min from Bristol in Weber City, VA, which is right next to Kingsport, TN. Saying all that to say I know just how many UT fans there are in the Tri-Cities. While the number of Hokie fans in the area has grown significantly since I graduated, I'm pretty sure there will be a huge amount of obnoxious rednecks Vols there, some of which are friends and family.   And how well can you actually see what's going on? I read all the plans but it seems like it will be easier to watch from home. 

FTR, it is a toss-up on who I dislike most, UT or UVA, with FSU coming in a close 2nd.

I'd guess Bristol is about halfway between UT & UVA and I think people (maybe just Frank Beamer) have been trying to get this game to happen for a while.

Another new name? I still call it MGM half the time.

Agreed.  Saw it once.  That was enough.

We used to see it every time.  In 2014, we were all bored during it.  This past trip we overruled Mr. CJH. We skipped a lot of the shows and movies in the parks this time because we knew they'd be the same old thing.

We have been trying to play UT again for years. Finally they are good again, we are bad, and that is our first game next season, at Bristol Motor Speedway. 

What I don't understand is why are the swings disappearing? Parks in our town are older then me with the original swings still there.

I think it has to be intentional. Some kid probably got hurt and they are either

1) taking them away one by one so hopefully no one notices or 

2) taking them away when they are bad and not replacing them.

We went to Universal on Christmas Day and then another day the next week. They had a few scanners past the bag checks, but no one directing anyone anywhere.  The first day there were only a few people in line so we just walked by them.  The second day there were long lines at the scanners, so I assumed everyone was supposed to go through and got in line.  I was wrong, people just kept walking by. But since I had been standing in line, I was afraid to get out of it, like that would look suspicious. 

We just went in Dec.  I got new ones mailed to us but took our old ones from Mar. 2014 just in case. Of course my husband lost his the second day and he was able to use the old one no problem.

I just went and I thought EPCOT was the only tiered one. Did not have a problem with HS, but really the only one we want is TSMM. We did get that & ToT. I guess those are different tiers? I was annoyed that we couldn't use our ToT replacement FP on TSMM. That seems like a tier issue.  Now I'm confused.

We've only been twice in the age of magic bands, but we have 3 sets.  Yes, when I added a day to the end of our res they gave us a whole new set. Actually when I re-checked in (which is incredibly ridiculous) the CM said I could opt out of them, but I figured, may as well take them in case someone (Mr. CJH) loses another one.

I for one love not having to keep up with a ticket or money. So, thanks for that magic band.

But FP+ sucks.  Hard.

I thought it was bad our friend's sway bar got stolen at the Fort, but that is truly awful. I'm sorry. There are a lot of scumbags out there. 

How long did you stay in the area of the lights?  The dancing part happens periodically, but all the times I've been, it seems like maybe only 10-15 minutes between each dancing session.  If you got there just as a dancing session ended, and walked right on through, you could be in and out before the next dancing started.

 

Or maybe something was not working right when you visited?

 

TCD

That is probably what happened.  We walked through at a leisurely pace, but didn't linger. 

We also missed the dragon breathing fire in Diagon Alley the first day there.  Second day, I was like, whoa!, and then discovered it was every 10 minutes. Not sure how we missed that either; I guess it always happened when we were in stores.

Please someone answer Beckers so she doesn't have to ask again. 

LOL

So, true story: the boys & I saw the Lights twice on our recent trip and both times they were just lights staying on with Christmas music playing.  Our friends saw them a different night and said something about how it was neat how they went along with the music. I was like, okay. Then I saw here you all talking about the final "performance" and I was like, huh? After seeing this video I understand.  Not sure how we missed it both times, and I wondered why it was called a dancing spectacle when they didn't actually dance.

 

 

To take a tangent. One of my favorite training tests was a disorientation chair. It was used to get pilots to trust their instruments and not their senses. It had silent bearings and you would sit in it with blindfold on. The chair would start to rotate and it was your job to indicate the direction you were turning. During the run the rotation direction and speed would be changed. Without sight it was impossible to determine which way you were rotating after a few seconds. It didn't matter how good a person was you always failed.

I think I was fine on Everest until it got pitch black and I couldn't tell which way I was going.

We were on 500 a couple of years ago and could easily setup our 9 x 12 dog pen, 33' camper and 19-ish' Excursion - parked straight on and very easily, and with feet to spare.

The one we were on was not that long.  We had our 40' MH and just enough room to park the Jeep with the 4 bike rack sticking out.

And, they're adults for the buffet restaurants, but not for room reservations.

 

TCD

I forgot about that.  We went to Biergarten a month after my oldest turned 10.  Of course when they asked how old he was he told them.  My kids have always been very picky and not big eaters, so he probably ate about $3 worth of food.  It's really hard to tell your kids that it's okay to lie sometimes. 

I can ride some roller coasters.  Usually I can't ride anything that goes around in circles.  At Disney I can usually ride BTM no prob, but the one & only time I rode RnR I came really, really close to throwing up.  Have ridden Everest a few times, most with no problem, but as I mentioned in my trip report I threw up this last time.  Space Mt. made me feel bad in 2014, so I didn't ride it this time.  Harry Potter made me start to feel sick right at the beginning, so I closed my eyes the whole rest of the time.  Haven't ridden Star Tours or whatever the body one is/was called since the 90s when I almost got sick.  I did do the less intense M:S in 2014 with no issues, but I almost got sick this time in the stationary seats of the Minion ride.

Have had problems with 3-D movies. Can't really read in the car, but can be on iPad unless we are in traffic and Mr. CJH gets super touchy on the braking.  

Did not really have a problem on our Disney cruise, but I took Bonine every night and had to pull out those bracelets with the pressure points a couple of times. It did take me 5 days back on land before I stopped being swimmy-headed.  Interestingly, we were at dinner when we left port, and I said, oh, we just left, and no one else at our table of 8 had felt it. 

I know some people have motion sickness as kids and outgrow it, while others never have a problem until they get older.  I have had it my entire life. Also, it's weird how it affects people differently.  One friend insists on driving everywhere because she gets car sick, but she can ride any roller coaster at all with no problem. I have seen this first hand as we rode a big one at Carowinds together once. I broke out into a cold sweat and had to go sit down for a while to keep from throwing up and she was like, let's go again!  And my oldest son has gotten sick after a long car ride, after M:S, after Everest, but is fine with Harry Potter & Space Mt.

PS - I can usually ride Soarin' with only a threat of feeling bad.  Did not get to this last time as we needed a break the day I had the FP scheduled. I hate the EPCOT tiers.

I am confused by what you're saying here. I think there must be a typo.  Telling them that everyone is an adult would not avoid the charge.

 

Do you have a campsite or cabin reservation?  For the past many years, including 2015, I have not been charged the extra adult charge for any of my adult children, and they are correctly listed on my reservation as adults.  Just to make sure nothing has changed for 2016, I just went through the process of booking a campsite with 5 adults, and there is no extra charge being assessed, nor is there any mention of it in all of the fine print about the rate.  They definitely do charge extra for each adult beyond two at all of the other Disney Resorts, and for the cabins, but not for the campsites. This is a giant loophole that cheaters gleefully exploit when they book "dummy" reservations.

 

Putting adults on the reservation as children isn't going to work if you want to take advantage of booking FP+'s 60 days out for them. They need to be correctly named on the reservation in order for the system to recognize that they are eligible to book FP+'s.

 

TCD

I am confused by what Disney considers an adult. 

My kids are 15 &13.  They are adults when buying tickets to the parks (at age 10!) , but not adults for say, the Segway tour.