News Round Up 2019

[rteetz]

My Jackery bar was $20 and has been going strong for about 4 years. Love it.

Yep I have the same brand!

 

[TheMaxRebo]

NEWS

SeaWorld Orlando and Busch Gardens Tampa introduce new all-season dining pass

and as a bonus, if you buy for 2020 you get to eat for free for the rest of 2019!

https://www.laughingplace.com/w/new...-tampa-bay-unveil-new-all-season-dining-pass/

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1187722981352574978

 

[Tiki Birdland]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1187706072439672832

That was breakfast for us on most park days. Very efficient and the kids NEVER complain!

 

[mikeamizzle]

That’s why I never bought one. Wasn’t worth it when you can get a pretty great one for $30 or a bit more.

i got an iphone 11 pro partially due to being so fed up with how the disney app destroys phone batteries; they need to better optimize the app one of these years

 

[BaymaxFan78]

I use 2 portable chargers from Costco. I think the brand is called Ubiolabs. It was around $40 for two 10,000mAh chargers. They work really well, unless you're like me and forget to charge them, it can take a few hours to get a full charge.

 

[TheMaxRebo]

That was breakfast for us on most park days. Very efficient and the kids NEVER complain!

my kids would never complain of that - since we refuse to take them to McDonalds (so this is one closure that doesn't impact us - but I do know a lot of people that stop here)

 

[rteetz]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1187747422585401344

 

[splash327]

We have several fuel rods, but I've only bought one in Disney. We bought the others at airports. Right after they showed up in the parks the airport machines had them for $15. We bought most of them then and used them multiple times in the parks. Lately though I've gotten a couple dead ones when swapping.

 

[tlmadden73]

News

https://www.kennythepirate.com/2019/10/25/breaking-disney-fuel-rod-locations-to-end-free-swaps/

Unless they up the battery storage amount in them, I don't see this as a smart business move. Adding a fee to one of your key selling points seems odd. This was a good idea, but probably not a sustainable model.
Eventually you get enough people with a Fuel Rod and no longer spend money .. and just continue to swap for free. So once that initial surge of people buying NEW Fuel Rods was over .. they were just supporting a bunch of vending machines that wasn't making them income.

I suspect we'll see them disappear from Disney Parks (and everywhere) in not a very long time.

 

[rteetz]

Unless they up the battery storage amount in them, I don't see this as a smart business move. Adding a fee to one of your key selling points seems odd. This was a good idea, but probably not a sustainable model.
Eventually you get enough people with a Fuel Rod and no longer spend money .. and just continue to swap for free. So once that initial surge of people buying NEW Fuel Rods was over .. they were just supporting a bunch of vending machines that wasn't making them income.

I suspect we'll see them disappear from Disney Parks (and everywhere) in not a very long time.

Disney was the last to get this change for the most part. Universal has charged for swaps for a while. Other places charge $2 for a swap.

 

[tlmadden73]

Disney was the last to get this change for the most part. Universal has charged for swaps for a while. Other places charge $2 for a swap.

Ahh .. so they used the "free swap" thing at first as a promotional thing to get people to buy into it initially. Makes sense. I guess the old adage "it seems too good to be true" applies. There is no way that business model could have been sustained giving away free swaps forever.

When it comes down to it .. $2-3 isn't bad for an "insta charge" (as a society we spend a lot more on conveniences - (such as buying a $4 bottle of water in the parks when we know we could buy a whole case of them for $4) .. but I could see owners of Fuel Rods just using the money they would spend on swaps to buy a bigger charger. (at least I would)

 

[Farro]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1187722981352574978

oh my god, it gets better and better!

 

[disneygirlsng]

NEWS

McDonalds on WDW property to close for refurbishment beginning on Oct 30th at least through the end of the year

https://twitter.com/x/status/1187706072439672832

Dang it! Where am I supposed to stop for my mid-half marathon potty/coffee break next Sunday? Haha, jk. But I always get a kick out of the people who run down that hill or come back up carrying some kind of food/drink in the middle of the races.

 

[rteetz]

Photo Update

Fountain of Nations News

 

[sachilles]

I'm sure fuel rod feels they have the critical mass to start charging. Probably can't quite keep up with demand for the swaps, or the service life of the battery is now approaching end of life, so they need to add to their swap inventory. We have 2, Disney was the prime reason for the purchase. We can still cycle them in, and charge at the room. Haven't HAD to swap much, as we could get through the day with what we had and charge at night. Sometimes we did swap because it was an option, and it just made sense to swap out as the opportunity was there.
I will say my samsung s9+ handles a full day of park stuff, where my s7, just couldn't last half a day. So I think in general phone battery life is improving across the board.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Dang it! Where am I supposed to stop for my mid-half marathon potty/coffee break next Sunday? Haha, jk. But I always get a kick out of the people who run down that hill or come back up carrying some kind of food/drink in the middle of the races.

I don't even have balance and concentration half the time to walk with a drink and/or food let along running

 

[TheMaxRebo]

oh my god, it gets better and better!

I saw DSNY on twitter suggested that they have Sonny Eclipse be the house band which I thought would be fun

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Photo Update

Fountain of Nations News

Welp there went my good mood today (j/k..but still sad to see)

 

[TheMaxRebo]

NEWS

Unable to leave the 80s theme to Universal/Halloween Horror Nights, Tervis introduces New Disney Villain Tumblers

https://twitter.com/x/status/1187800661775278090