Travisma

Discount sites are available to all Floridians on the 32cd and 33rd of each month!

I rank the Muppet Show just behind Country Bears as being the best shows at the MK.

Oooh the mommy bloggers will eat that up! For an extra $20 per person you will get Mickey shaped band aids and ice packs.

So again the Fort gets the short end of the stick.
Other resorts have rules and certain wings/rooms are dog friendly, but that's too much to ask of the Fort.
Just like their own site says "dogs not allowed in PUPS and tents", but we've seen plenty staying in them.
Just wait until someone gets sick from or bit by a dog and the lawyers will have a field day.
How can they be so thick headed that they can't designate a loop or 2 for dogs to stay in.

So again the Fort gets the short end of the stick.
Other resorts have rules and certain wings/rooms are dog friendly, but that's too much to ask of the Fort.
Just like their own site says "dogs not allowed in PUPS and tents", but we've seen plenty staying in them.
Just wait until someone gets sick from or bit by a dog and the lawyers will have a field day.
How can they be so thick headed that they can't designate a loop or 2 for dogs to stay in.

I guess it's me personally but if I had a service animal I'd have no problem carrying papers or an ID type card for my pet saying that it was a trained legitimate service animal. Most service animals have gone through lots of training and there's no reason that emotional support animals can't go through training if the haven't already. Registering your service animal with a state or federal agency and obtaining an ID card for them, I wouldn't see as being a bad thing for anyone other then the people who don't have legitimate service animals. Sure some people would still get their animals certificated and registered who don't necessarily need them but it would cut down on people abusing the fact that service animals can be taken almost anywhere without question. The cards wouldn't have to give any medical information, just description/picture of the dog, owner's name, and certifying that it was trained.
Will this ever happen probably not and that's because all the people who abuse the laws will fight and make a big stink about invasions of privacy or that their rights are being denied. 
I'm sure not everyone will agree with me just how I feel personally.

From Orlando Weekly
New York Times lists Disney Springs among top places to go in 2018
 
Disney Springs, the Mouse's solution to tourists not visiting downtown Orlando, was recently placed on the New York Times list of 52 places to go in 2018. 

The shopping and retail area ranked 41 on the list, behind Branson, Missouri. Other destinations on the list included: Bristol, England; Chandigarh, India; Belgrade, Serbia, and the Route of Parks, Chile. 

From author Nell McShane Wulfhart: 
Plus, they have a Uniqlo, "Florida's most popular store."
 
The sentence about Uniqlo is in reference to this story
 
Uniqlo is Florida's most popular store, says an incredibly dumb Business Insider article
Posted By Colin Wolf on Wed, Dec 27, 2017 at 4:14 pm
Did you know that Uniqlo is Florida's most popular chain? Do you even know what Uniqlo is? No? It's OK, because there's literally only one location in the entire state.  

A recent article from Business Insider attempts to identify each state's most popular "department stores, clothing stores, and big box store chains" by using arguably the dumbest methodology in existence, Foursquare. 

According to the incredibly misinformed article, "Foursquare looked at the average number of visits per store in each state to determine its ranking. That allowed for some smaller chains like Uniqlo and Fred Meyer to beat out Walmart and Target in some states." 

So basically, because some people who use Fourquare checked in to Uniqlo in Disney Springs, the store is now the "most popular store in Florida." That's like saying the most popular pizza place in Orlando is the Pizza Hut Express inside the Target on Colonial Drive because a ton of people walk by it every day. 
    Uniqlo – which, don't get me wrong, is a fine department store – may very well be the most visited single store in Florida (according to the people who check in on Foursquare), but it is without a doubt the least deserving of that headline. 

If you've spent more than five minutes in Florida, you can probably think of a few. 

Monsieur Paul was real good, a little pricey.
Duck was unbelievable and so was the chocolate dessert.

You're missing the point.
 
It's not whether or not the FP's are for any good rides, it's like Dave posted, the bragging she'll do. 
 A lot of these people purchase everything Disney throws at them, just so they can one up each other.
They don't care if they use what they purchased, enjoy, it, or even consider if it was worth it.
They just want to tell everyone that they did (whatever is the latest most $$) at WDW.
Years ago our friends sister and family came to Tampa and drove to the MK late one morning.  They were back in town by 7 that night saying they saw everything there was to see. They did I think 2 rides and saw 1 show, but she couldn't wait to get back to NY and tell everyone in her circle that they went to Disney!

Multiple Sam's Clubs close without notice in Houston, across nation
 
  CONNECT TWEET LINKEDIN GOOGLE+ PINTEREST HOUSTON -- There are reports coming into the KHOU 11 Newsroom that several Sam's Clubs locations across the country are closing effective immediately, including at least four in the Houston area.
Stores closed in Houston include one on the South Loop across from NRG Park, one at 7950 Cypress Creek Parkway and one on Westheimer at Eldridge Parkway. A newer store northeast of Houston in New Caney also closed.
Some employees tell KHOU 11 News the stores closed without notice, and they only learned of the closure as they arrived for work early Thursday.
Sam's website has already removed the closed stores, and if you call any of the impacted locations there is a taped message that announces the store closed Jan. 11.
The news comes the same day Sam's parent company, Walmart, announced raises for some store employees.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
============================================
If you Google this, all that you get are  local news reports, which are similar to the above one.
Some stories say the clubs are just closed for today, some say they are reopening tomorrow, and some say they are reopening tomorrow with discounted items and will be closing again on 1/26.
Haven't found a comprehensive list anywhere yet.

Here's the list from Business Insider, 63 stores.
17835 Gale Ave, City of Industry, CA 91748 12540 Beach Blvd, Stanton, CA 90680 69 Pavilions Dr, Manchester, CT 06042 355 FL-436, Fern Park, FL 32730 5135 S Dale Mabry Hwy, Tampa, FL 33611 2994 Turner Hill Rd, Lithonia, GA 30038 501 N Randall Rd, Batavia, IL 60510 21430 S Cicero Ave, Matteson, IL 60443 900 S Barrington Rd, Streamwood, IL 60107 1055 McHenry Rd, Wheeling, IL 60090 808 S Illinois Rte 59, Naperville, IL 60540 460 S Weber Rd, Romeoville, IL 60446 3015 W 86th St, Indianapolis, IN 46268 10859 E Washington St, Indianapolis, IN 46229 4024 Elkhart Rd #1, Goshen, IN 46526 9598 Cortana Pl, Baton Rouge, LA 70815 9750 Reisterstown Rd, Owings Mills, MD 21117 3745 Louisiana Ave S, St Louis Park, MN 55426  2800 27th Ave S, Moorhead, MN 56560 81 International Dr S, Budd Lake, NJ 07828 2649 Erie Blvd E, Syracuse, NY 13224 720 Fairmount Ave, Jamestown, NY 14701 700 Elmridge Center Dr, Rochester, NY 14626 1600 Marketplace Dr, Rochester, NY 14623 4825 Marburg Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45209 9570 Fields Ertel Rd, Loveland, OH 45140 1805 Getwell Rd, Memphis, TN 38111 1615 S Loop W, Houston, TX 77054 13331 Westheimer Rd, Houston, TX 77077 901 S Grady Way, Renton, WA 98057 1101 Outlet Collection Way, Auburn, WA 98001 13550 Aurora Ave N, Seattle, WA 98133

And we have 

Too late... the Democrats are already falling in behind OPRAH for President... and you get a car, and you get a car....
No one has a chance against her!

Walt Disney World Monorail Door Opens While In Motion With Guests On Board [VIDEO]
Walt Disney World offers all sorts of different transportation for guests visiting its parks and resorts, but it certainly seems as if an upgrade is needed on its monorails. A video is now making the social media rounds and it has people in a frenzy as it shows guests riding on a monorail to Epcot with one of the doors wide open. This is an extremely frightening situation considering the train is indeed in motion and they’re very high up in the air.
WDWNT has pointed out that new “Caution” stickers have been put up in every single monorail car.
I noticed stickers above the doors that said do not lean on the doors with a drawing also.  That was this past Friday.
 
FULL STORY with video (maybe)
https://www.inquisitr.com/4726382/walt-disney-world-monorail-door-opens-while-in-motion-with-guests-on-board-video/
 

Toy Story Mania Starts Period Of Track Closures Leading Up To Full Closure Before Opening Of Toy Story Land
 
In May of 2016, a third track opened for Toy Story Mania, which drastically helped with the number of guests that ride it each day. For now, though, that third track is closed as of Jan. 3, 2018, and it will remain closed for an unknown length of time. This will likely cause an increase in wait times for the attraction, but it’s only the beginning.
Toy Story Mania remains fully operational, as stated by a Disney spokesperson, but the closure of the third track will slow things down a bit. It is temporarily closed so that construction can be done in preparation for the opening of Toy Story Land later this year.
 
Full Story
https://www.inquisitr.com/4717933/toy-story-mania-starts-period-of-track-closures-leading-up-to-full-closure-before-opening-of-toy-story-land/#utm_source=relatable&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=right_rail_desktop_sidebar_top

The world's largest Disney gift shop is about to get a major facelift
Now WDWMagic.com is reporting that the entire store will receive a major overhaul that will take the majority of this year. An empty store in nearby the Town Center section of Disney Springs will become a small pop-up store during the remodel. 
 
The entire World of Disney store won’t close. Instead, the remodel will close half of the store at a time. The bad news is the remodel seems to be also removing the unique theming that is the signature of this World of Disney. WDWThemeParks.com notes “The refurbishment is expected to remove a significant amount of theming from the store in order to facilitate quickerchanges to product and floor plans.” 
 
FULL STORY
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2018/01/08/the-worlds-largest-disney-gift-shop-is-about-to-get-a-major-facelift

If you want to see real wildlife
The Blue Spring manatee cam is the best thing on the internet right now
With colder temperatures, comes herds of manatees. 

At this very moment, hundreds of manatees are jam packed into the warm waters at Blue Spring State Park in Orange City, which means the live stream is arguably the best thing on the internet today. 

As of this morning, the park staff counted 363 manatees from the boardwalk and Save the Manatee Club staff counted 418 in the canoe. 

Since it's not always a guarantee that you'll get in to the park (they often hit capacity early in the day), the fine people at the Save The Manatee Clubhave a handy live stream that is definitely worth checking before you make the drive.
 
If you're having trouble viewing the manatee cam, try it from here. It's also worth noting that in the evening they typically run an edited loop.

Blue Spring State Park is about 30-45 minute drive from Orlando, and charges $6 a car. Get their early.  https://www.savethemanatee.org/manatees/manatee-webcams/
 
3 Sisters Springs at Crystal River on the West coast of FL  has a huge population of visiting manatees depending on the temperature of the gulf water.
Last week they had over 300 crowding around the spring outflow of warmer water.
Tampa Electric's Big Bend manatee viewing area had a lot last week due to the cold water also. They gather in a canal where the warm water from the power plant comes out.

I don't think that's very considerate of the guests staying on the 100 loop. 
Guests aren't supposed to use their cars to drive around the Fort.
TCD

Couple of Passholder items.
You can renew your pass and probably purchase a new one at the back entrance to EPCOT.
My daughter renewed hers there yesterday, they had 4 people in the booths and no one in line.
If you think about it, most people going in that entrance probably already purchased their tickets at their resorts, or have packages.
 
Went to Captain Cooks at the Poly yesterday 1/7/18.  They no longer offer passholder discounts, CM told me only the table service restaurants accept them.
That was a disappointment , because we had been getting the special 20% (which I know was a limited time).
SeaWorld/Busch gives us 10% off of everything, and 20% at our "home park" San Antonio.

I know that a lot of the items I post don't specifically pertain to the Fort, heck some aren't even Disney related.
But I would much rather post items to this board than any other ones I have found and belong to.
Here you can say what you feel, even if it's Disney Bashing... GASP!!! and not be condemned and exiled.
People here have real lives and although we all like Disney and the Fort, other things do matter to us and sometimes we need to get them off our chests.
Yes TR's complete with tons of stunning photos are marvelous, but they can take a lot of time out of our real world lives.
Things ebb and flow, and we will see an uptick to TR's and interesting postings again I'm sure.
 

That's it in a nutshell.  Liability.

Someone on FB posted two notices from their kids schools.
The one from FL said that the schools would be closed today due to extreme weather conditions.
The other was an email from their kids previous school district in WI.  "The district will cancel school when they have a sustained wind chill factor of minus 35 or lower.  Please make sure your kids are dressed appropriately for the weather."

Disney, Universal, Legoland, SeaWorld, Margaritaville Resort, Aquatica, and Gatorland, 
 
Full story link
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2018/01/03/9-big-additions-coming-to-orlandos-theme-parks-in-2018
 

Possible return of BeaverTails to Walt Disney World. 

The fried dough topped with sweets is a Canadian delicacy. At one time it was one of the must-have snacks at Epcot, where a small kiosk in the Canadian pavilion consistently drew long lines.
 
Link to the full story
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2017/11/22/one-of-the-most-popular-snacks-at-disney-world-might-return-after-more-than-a-decade?utm_source=widget&utm_medium=articleblog&utm_campaign=endofarticle&utm_content=RelatedStories
 
 

Disney, Universal, Legoland, SeaWorld, Margaritaville Resort, Aquatica, and Gatorland, 
 
Full story link
https://www.orlandoweekly.com/Blogs/archives/2018/01/03/9-big-additions-coming-to-orlandos-theme-parks-in-2018