ThemeParkCommando

I have not been to the Fort's dog park, but I have owned and loved whippets since 1983. I've had over 8 whippets in my life, and fostered a dozen others for whippet rescue. Since you have over a year to plan here are my suggestions for your new whippet family member: Teach your whippet to respect baby gates in your house. If the dog learns not to jump a baby gate, they generally will not jump a short fence. Make a flirt pole and teach your pup to love it. I use a buggy whip ( bought at a feed store) with a 4 foot length of rope on it. I have a rubber donut tied on the end, to which I attach a cured rabbit skin ( can be found at hobby lobby or craft stores). You can use the flirt pole at the dog park if you are the only dog in the place or if there is an open area where other dogs are over 25 yards away. Most dogs don't go after flirt poles. 10 minutes of flirt pole play, 20 minutes of walking or regular play then 10 more minutes of flirt pole play will make for a tired whippet. Invest in a 30 foot long lead. This can also be found at a feed store, as a horse lunge line. When you are out in a big field where there are no fences, you can stand on the end of the lunge line and still safely play with the flirt pole. Caveat: Never play fetch with any loose toy while the dog is on the lunge line. If the toy gets away, the dog may hit the end of that leash going 35 MPH, and that is dangerous. Use the lunge line to practice recalls and check ins. Let the dog roam to the end of the leash, then call them back and have a spectacular reward waiting ( like steak / liver / stinky cheese) Praise, reward and then let the dog roam off again. Also, invest in a loud whistle that you can take with you on walks. Teach the dog to come to the whistle, both on and off leash, with the same spectacular reward. Whistle sounds carry further than human voice, and if your whippet ever gets lost this is a great way to help them find their way back to you. Using Doggy Day Care at Best Friends may also be a good bet. If you get your pup in on the first or second day of your vacation, it should keep them tired for 2 days after. If you whippet is less than 2 years at the time of your trip, s/he'll have a great time at day care. If they are over 2 years, you can expect them to be a little more reserved around other 'non sighthound' dogs, but still have a good time at day care. Whippets are snobs, and prefer socializing with other whippets / greyhounds / sighthounds as they get older. They will start to ignore other breeds. Feel free to message me if you would like any other whippet related tips.

HA! of course I can find chorizo. It's everywhere, and I don't really like the stuff I find here. What they served at EPCOT though.. OMG. I guess they make them there. They are just barely bigger than cocktail sausages, have a firmer texture than most Mexican chorizo, but still have the chili/ garlic flavor profile. It's a little less than a year until my next visit to WDW, and I can't wait to get back to that restaurant.

San Angel Inn was good. I remember a nice shrimp cocktail, and overlooking the Three Caballeros ride is fun. I prefer La Hacienda de San Angel, outside the pyramid. The 2 person grilled sampler was SO over the top good. We got the one with beef, chicken and chorizo. I thought I would like the beef the best, and it was really good, but I still dream about being able to find those little sausages again. Everything about that meal was amazing to me. The sides, the dessert, the chicken was even better than the beef. Also, I can't go to EPCOT without eating at least once at Nine Dragons. I always get some sort of chicken dish, and have never been disappointed. It's different than the usual Chinese food you get in the USA. It's fresher somehow, more snappy a flavor profile. I've never been to Coral Reef, and count me on the list who were not impressed by BOG. Too noise, food sub par.

From the way Josh ( easywdw) was talking about the virtual queue, that is the DAS return time. There is no standby line, and no FP+ for RotR. Once your boarding group is called, you have 2 hours to get to the ride. Everyone is reporting that once you get your boarding group called, your wait time will be no longer than 10 to 20 minutes. If the ride goes down while you are in the early part of the queue, you will get an anytime FP+ added digitally to your MDE. If you are already on the preshow or ride when it goes down, you will get a paper anytime FP+. Those FP+ are the ONLY ones currently good for RotR. If you happen to be in a late boarding group, and your group never gets called that day, Disney has been giving out a one day Park Hopper pass along with an anytime FP+ good for RotR. Current rumor has it that the boarding groups move slower in the morning, due to Disney accommodating the previous days non-worked boarding groups.

What a nice story. I love these little bits of magic.

I second the French Bakery at EPCOT for breakfast. Sit outside in the area, and it's the perfect setting to discuss things like 'Where in the world would you really like to visit?" and gets a great 'what do you want your future to be' conversation rolling. It's fun to hear what your kids dreams are, when they are that close to adulthood. To keep the conversation moving, agree with everything, don't bring reality like money into it.

I'll bet you anything that $40 is their normal rate per night, and the $100 rate is for special events. Someone forgot to put the special event rate into the system, for the dates of the Balloon Fiesta. I would speak to someone there in management, to try to hold onto that rate. I know that when the hotel chain I worked for forgot to enter their event rates in time, they honored the rates as long as the reservation had no changes. If you changed the reservation at all, even to just cancel some days, the event rates would apply. I am pretty sure it is legal for them to change the rates this far in advance and with the number of days notice they have given you. However, if you bring in bad publicity, or insist upon keeping the rate, they may hold for you. It really all depends upon how many people booked at that rate, and how many will not complain and pay the new rate.

Nice! My husband is the big Star Wars fan, and he is happily tucking away money for his lightsaber. He'll be happy to know it's going to be worth it. I get attached to the ships, so I expect I'll be crying when I see the Millenium Falcon for the first time. For instance, in the Star Trek universe, I did not shed a tear when Spock died. But when they blew up the Enterprise, I jumped up, shouted "NO!" and broke down crying in the theater. Thanks for the up to date reporting, it's very helpful!!

But Jason... the urgent question.. did you get your lightsaber?!

My husband is saving up for his lightsaber. We are going to watch the results of the experience over the next year, to decide if it will be worth it.

SeaWorld is doing something right this year. Here in San Antonio, we went last Saturday and it was PACKED. We came in at 4pm, and they were using the overflow parking area. I've not seen that parking area in use on a regular park day in years. I saw actual lines at all the rides. Usually, it's not worthy buying the Quick Queue option, because most of their rides have 10 minute waits or less. Not on this day. I saw ride lines that were up to and hour and half wait. Just amazing for this park. I hope our park does something for Natl. Coaster Day.. I gotta go look.

I would have been striding through with my magic band, and taking as much advantage of the lower population in the park as possible.

It's possible they didn't open the date, as they haven't gotten word on the final decision on rates. When I worked for a hotel chain, it was normal to hold special events closed until special event rates could be decided upon. Sometimes, the bigwigs were not available to make the final decisions, by the time we were ready to open the rooms 1 year in advance of the event. We regularly held Mardi Gras, Superbowl, Fiesta and other events closed for up to a week after the 1 year opening period, in order to make sure the agreed upon special event rates were in place. Maybe Disney's just running late on their rate decisions.

SeaWorld San Antonio is building a new wooden coaster for 2020. Rumored name will be "ABYSS". Claim to fame is that it will be the longest wooden coaster in Texas. Our park is only seeming busy on the weekends, but attendance does appear to be up over last year. The new Turtle Reef area is drawing attendance, but right now they are shooting themselves in the foot. The new biofilter is not working as expected, I don't believe. The turtle aquarium was SO green with algae last week, you could barely see the turtles unless they were right up on the glass. I'm thinking it's currently a PR nightmare.

The report I read said the family was escorted out of the park and told to leave. I can't imagine for what charges they could sue Disney. Park Security turned them over to Anaheim police, who initially didn't arrest anyone because no one wanted to press charges. Now that the police have seen the video, they are reviewing whether or not they can bring charges based on that. I hope they do. I'd think: 'Disturbing the peace, assault and creating a public nuisance' could apply.