southernview -- Ray

I wonder how many young fledglings got their start with chalk and later graduated to spray paint.  Check all of the rail cars you see going down the track and the surfaces of a thousand walls and structures.

Here is something that you won't see very often. 
My home in Mt. Olive, Alabama, December 7, 2017.
The weather has been very odd this year all over the eastern half of the country.

 
 

Many loops are half empty some three-quarters empty and the place looks like a ghost town.
The 300 loop and 1600 loop are completely empty and it appears they might be about to do some work on 300 as there is a machine in it.
They have put almost everyone on 1700, 1800, and 1900. The 1700 and 1800 have only one empty space in each and 1900 has only 12 empty.
Probably just the time of the year, but it's been some time since we have found it this empty.  No traffic on the roads and no golf carts to dodge.

I spent a week at Lake Louisa State Park by myself and didn't have any strange looks.  I even rode my Granny Cycle around and chatted with a few folks and no one asked any questions.  One fellow was interested in the Granny Cycle.

It's necessary to have all these security updates, but they don't come cheap. 
Look for even more price increases in the future to pay for these changes.
I'm just thinking how sad it is that our country is such a far cry from what it used to be.  In some ways, the nut- jobs and terrorists out there have won a great victory.  Never again will we have the same freedoms that we once enjoyed.

If you went by the number of sites that are filled, it looks like they are planning on maintenance for several of them.  I was through the 1000 loop Tuesday and it was about three quarters empty.  Today, it had gained to a little over a quarter full.  There are several loops in here that look deserted.  I'll do some more looping on Thursday.
 
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I don't know about the rest of the IT world, but there are several indications and a lot of evidence that the banking community is going down a similar road. 
 
My DW had worked in IT in the banking industry for almost 30 years, 12 of those being with the last company she worked for and, along with many others, received almost the same treatment as did the Disney workers.  The difference was, that they were moving their work to Mexico and they were required to stay and train these new people under the same circumstances as were the Disney people.
 
They sent the people up from Mexico and had the employees work with them directly for two months and when it was apparent that they could not learn the system in that time frame, they had to keep some of the American workers over and she was one that they held over for another month to try to get them trained.  Finally, they had to send them back to Mexico to work in the center there and had to keep a skelton crew locally in order to keep things going as they needed to go.  Those people are still there to this day and they report that the Mexicans still can't get some things straight---this after eleven months have passed.  In the meantime, they also had an outage that shut the operation down for over a day and had to be brought back up by the American workers.  We were told by one of the supervisors that are still at work locally, that they doubt that these people will ever be able to take over the whole system without their help.  One of the main problems is, that these people can only speak English at about the first grade level.  However, the bank is saving money, just not as much yet as they first thought.
 
Turns out that they did my DW a favor though, as she now has a much better job in IT with another company that she just loves.
 
People in this country need to wake up and see what is happening.  I, for one, after my DW's experience, feel guilty for patronizing Disney and I certainly would not do business with a bank that send most of their money out of the country, not to mention all of their customers confidential business.  The Federal Reserve did make them do a few things differently after finding out they were doing this, but I still wouldn't trust them.  As a side note, this particular bank had already been bought out by a foriegn banking firm and they also lied to the employees about them losing their jobs for over eight months.
 
I hope I gave the name away without saying it, as I'm not sure about posting it here.  Since this happened, I have also read where the whole banking industry is looking at doing the same thing and after what happened at Disney, it looks like they are not the only ones.

My grandmother grew up being excited about seeing the first "autocars" coming down the street.  The norm was horse and buggy.  I always thought hers was the generation that would see the most change in civilization -- cars, mass transit, color TV, space exploration, etc.
 
I grew up with a black and white television with an antenna on top of the house.  We had a "party" line phone shared with at least six other families who enjoyed listening in to each others' conversations.  I remember a loaf of bread being 12 cents and gas being 17 cents a gallon.
 
At my first job I made a whopping $300 a month and thought that was great.  I paid $2,700 for my first brand new car.
 
Fast forward a few years from that first job and we started visiting Disney.  We visited with my parents and shared a suite in the Contemporary that cost a whopping $145.77 a night, including tax.  Park tickets were cheap, and we only got the "A-E" tickets, but we made the best of them and had a great time.  In those days you could walk in and out of any attraction or restaurant without a wait.
 
Our three children each attended private school with day care before and after, and I think we paid around $100 a month for each one.
 
Meanwhile our incomes soared, prices soared, and we continued to visit WDW without complaining about the prices.  
 
Then 10 years ago we took early retirement from our company.  And a few years ago we started collecting Social Security and went on Medicare.  WDW prices continue to rise at a phenomenal rate.  Our income is stagnant.  Our children are struggling financially, and we have to help them.
 
We always dreamed of wintering at the Fort.  I don't think that will ever happen.  We have reservations for 4 weeks at the Fort this fall, and hopefully we'll have another 4 weeks in 2016.  After that, I'm afraid we will be outpriced.
 
And I'm now thinking my generation has seen 10 times the change in civilization that my grandmother did.  What will my grandchildren have to go through?

Were it not for the uniqueness of WDW, this would have caught up with Disney a while back.  Thing is, where else can one go to have the Disney experience and what other place has the mystique of Disney going for it, and has the national, and even global draw, that Disney enjoys because of this?  There is a lot of truth in what lightbikes says:
 
 
It's just my opinion, but I think that Disney can give the poorest service possible and raise rates at the same time, and still have their business increase.  There are so many people in this country, and abroad, that have never been to WDW, that those alone will provide a lot of business, not to mention those that may come every five years or so. that Disney doesn't have to be too concerned.  This doesn't take into account those that receive poor service, but just choose to overlook it because---well, where else are they going to experience Disney?  What chance does this have to "catch up with them?"  I put the chances of that as slim to none.
 
The only thing that might possibly create a problem for them in the future is overcrowding.  So called Fast Pass lines will soon be, if not already, just another line like it was before.  Adding a small addition to each park may may help some, but nothing short of very large additions will be an answer.  The ability to increase attendance through a method to finance tickets has already increased the crowds and will continue to do so.  The only thing that could hurt attendance would be the increase in rates which, while it might squeeze people like myself out, will have a negligible effect overall.  People such as myself, if we still want to go, only have to hope for discounts during their "slow" times, which are becoming less and less with passing time.
 
I might like to entertain the thought that they really care if I come or not, but I am not delusional.  

Were it not for the uniqueness of WDW, this would have caught up with Disney a while back.  Thing is, where else can one go to have the Disney experience and what other place has the mystique of Disney going for it, and has the national, and even global draw, that Disney enjoys because of this?  There is a lot of truth in what lightbikes says:
 
 
It's just my opinion, but I think that Disney can give the poorest service possible and raise rates at the same time, and still have their business increase.  There are so many people in this country, and abroad, that have never been to WDW, that those alone will provide a lot of business, not to mention those that may come every five years or so. that Disney doesn't have to be too concerned.  This doesn't take into account those that receive poor service, but just choose to overlook it because---well, where else are they going to experience Disney?  What chance does this have to "catch up with them?"  I put the chances of that as slim to none.
 
The only thing that might possibly create a problem for them in the future is overcrowding.  So called Fast Pass lines will soon be, if not already, just another line like it was before.  Adding a small addition to each park may may help some, but nothing short of very large additions will be an answer.  The ability to increase attendance through a method to finance tickets has already increased the crowds and will continue to do so.  The only thing that could hurt attendance would be the increase in rates which, while it might squeeze people like myself out, will have a negligible effect overall.  People such as myself, if we still want to go, only have to hope for discounts during their "slow" times, which are becoming less and less with passing time.
 
I might like to entertain the thought that they really care if I come or not, but I am not delusional.  

This was a predictable situation from quite sometime ago and this is why I also think that FP+ is also just a means to an end.  Sooner or later the lines for FP will be just like the regular lines always were.  When you have finite space and ever increasing crowds who will be taking advantage of FP, how can it not be?  When the attractions are not increased and everyone is trying to get on the same popular rides it appears to me that the situation can't get any way but worse.
 
Have you ever wondered why the campground is never enlarged?  By Disney standards of building new resorts and the such, it would appear that spending a comparatively small sum to add a few campsites would be chunk change.  Again, we have to look for the money trail which brings us to what was built right out from the entrance to the Fort.  Of course, this is the American way of doing business so who can blame them.  Disney is no longer, if they ever were, primarily interested in building something for family entertainment, rather they are looking at how they can produce the most profit. 
 
I'm sure there will be many that will disagree with me on this and maybe Disney will expand the campground in the near future.  Perhaps they will decide to properly train and supervise their CM's so they can regain the standards they had a few years ago.  I ask myself why they should when those of us that love the place will continue to come anyway and the newer crowds won't know the difference so they will continue to come primarily because it is a "one of a kind" place that can't be duplicated anywhere else.  Disneyland duly acknowledged.

All the talk about removing the Sorcerer's Hat and changing the view in a park has reminded me of a favorite view that I always liked in Epcot that was changed over the years.
 

 
 
 
 
This picture is a scan of a slide that I took at Epcot in 1987.  The picture was taken at twilight without a tripod, so it could be a little clearer, but I am wondering if anyone remembers that lighted glass prism in the foreground.  I always really liked that view, it really looked good viewing back toward Spaceship Earth.  Anyone know about when it was removed?

I could not have said it any better.  As much as we love the Fort, we can stay at plenty of nice places two nights for $130 per.

It should be mentioned that, if the trailer has ST rated tires like most of them do, the top towing speed is limited to 65 mph.  Before you tow any trailer at top interstate speeds I would challenge you to calculate the time you might save by driving that speed, or higher, against the actual time it will take you driving at 65 Mph or less.  You might be surprised when you find what a  small difference there is and then compare that savings with the extra danger you are putting yourself in to save an hour or so.
 
I would second the advice about trying the camper out before coming to the Fort.  Personally, I would never take any camper on an extended trip without checking everything out thoroughly.  All of the items listed above should be checked.

Welcome to the whatever it is.  I'm not a smart-ass, I'm just a glutton for punishment and stick around here.

I'm fairly new also--don't let this group scare you, underneath the good natured ribing lies the best Disney information that can be had.  Trust me, it's worth the trip.  Welcome, join right in the melee.

I just want to say that the wife and I also enjoy the Christmas displays. I did, indeed notice the Fort Fiend signs and, in fact, one display had some cards available advertising this site. I already knew about the site, but that convinced me to sign up and I'm glad I did.