Rumors of Light (ROL discussion thread)

[Supermom3]

We arrived back home from Disney this morning to be greeted by rain and 46F weather. Augh! I can do without the 92F we had at MK on our last day but where is the sunshine? It's so bleak here.....

And what is up with security screening at MCO? We were waiting in line longer than we had to wait for any rides, even the standby queue for 7DMT. Oh, and we were delayed leaving Orlando for 2hrs because of a door malfunction on the airplane and of course there was also an issue with the plane A/C while on the ground (which the pilot pointed out before the door incident) so it was an almost unbearable two hours on the plane with the A/C just blowing out warm air. And of course the entertainment system wasn't running yet either - have you ever tried entertaining 3 kids who have to remain in their seats with nothing but a plush and two picture books for two hours? The flight attendants brought out some crayons and coloring books for DS7 and DD3 after a little while so they were entertained for a while but my DS11 got pretty bored... I felt so bad I had told him to put his book in the checked bag because he would be sleeping most of the time on the red eye anyways.

But we had such an awesome time at both Universal and WDW! We stayed for the Kiss Goodnight on our last night and all my kids yelled "Bye bye Mickey!" at the castle before we headed down Main Street to leave the park for the last time.

Glad to hear you had a great trip. We are adding 2 1/2 days at Universal at the end of our Disney trip. It will be our first time there. I'd love to hear any tips you'd like to share.

 

[maryj11]

I always said the same thing to my kids when at Disney in September..."What happens if it rain?"...we get wet

 

[elmoandzoey]

Glad to hear you had a great trip. We are adding 2 1/2 days at Universal at the end of our Disney trip. It will be our first time there. I'd love to hear any tips you'd like to share.

I'd gladly share our experience at Universal Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. It's quite different to Disney, especially when it comes to child swap (I LOVE Universal's child swap!).

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

Well sadly for DH he lost both parents within a year and all work was on him (and he probably took it harder than anyone, both sudden). He sees the fracture now that the glue is gone - and very hard to accept. She plays this (makes you want to throw up) sweet as pie, hugs and love (fake) with many including him. She knows I see right through it which is why she CC him. Found out she also called him in advance. She likes to set things in play to make others look bad, so if I didn't respond she'd take that and run with it. I told him I emailed what she needed. He then said she was asking if "you could get discounts on tickets and hotels and what about CM friend." Replied: Uh, no. She has what she needs. It's a highly complicated situation and best option is he needs to have a relationship outside of the group, meet for dinner, catch up etc I have nothing to say to her, and believe me I will sit silent, she cut deep deep wounds.

When we finally get old enough we finally can say "you can't make me do it" .......... toxic in my life is optional. I am exercising my options.

But hey, I can enjoy knowing she will be miserable at Disney in July even if she won't admit it.

I hear ya'! I lost my Dad suddenly about 2 yrs ago, and my Mom about 9mos ago, so I certainly feel for your DH.

That said... for me, their loss helped me to finally draw boundaries with people... Probably should have drawn more with them for years. Liberating, in an odd way -- though, of course I still miss them. Would have been their wedding anniversary the day before yesterday, and my Dad's bday today.

As important as family is, being family doesn't give them the right to manipulate, use, etc.

In any case, I am sending you plenty of and piles and piles of patience!!

 

[figmentfan423]

I'd gladly share our experience at Universal Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions. It's quite different to Disney, especially when it comes to child swap (I LOVE Universal's child swap!).

I'm so happy your family had a magical vacation.

 

[Pixie Dust ✨]

Not in Houston. I was in line with only 25-30 people in front of me. Was that way last month when I flew to Phoenix

We sped through MCO security. I was shocked. They didn't have anyone remove their shoes & were using dogs as you went through the line. I waited much longer at my home airport.

This summer is really going to be a bear when it comes to long airport security lines. Everyone knows it's coming, but will the TSA send out staff at the levels they know they'll need...

 

[Delgado]

I think part of the problem is filling positions. It sounds crazy because so many people would go crazy for those jobs, but the background checks and training they have to do. Unfortunately tsa cant just put anyone in positions anymore.
We celebrated my birthday and had people over. My DS7 made a sign for the front door that said "the rules, no guns and enjoy" it was funny but so sad that he is worried about people carrying guns from all the violence.
Another reason why I appreciate DISNEY, when we were there during december last year, you could see police and security presence. The dogs were doing their job. You saw it, it gave you a sense of security but you didnt feel bombarded. They figured out how to handle it discretely.

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

It sounds crazy because so many people would go crazy for those jobs, but the background checks and training they have to do. Unfortunately tsa cant just put anyone in positions anymore.

I know this is OT, but I am GRATEFUL if they are finally being selective in hiring for these positions! It was crazy to me when they weren't!!

 

[jlundeen]

More OT...according to the news last night, TSA hires and trains about 120 new agents but loses about 118 every month (I think that was the time frame they reported). At that rate, it's easy to see how the lines are increasing. Not sure why they loose so many people, though.

 

[disfamz]

So interesting fact about Wishes! They load the fireworks in every day and they HAVE to go off. So if it's raining/lightening during Wishes time and they can't go off then, they will set them off eventually at some point during the night, even if it's like 3 AM. It is apparently a law of some kind that if the fireworks are loaded, they have to be set off. I thought that was so cool!

 

[Delgado]

I know this is OT, but I am GRATEFUL if they are finally being selective in hiring for these positions! It was crazy to me when they weren't!!

I agree. I am not a fan of flying. Ive taken a flight to the middle east and had never been on a longer flight. It was painful. But seeing the security overseas vs usa in glad were doing much better. Ill wait in a line for hours if security isnt compromised

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I agree. I am not a fan of flying. Ive taken a flight to the middle east and had never been on a longer flight. It was painful. But seeing the security overseas vs usa in glad were doing much better. Ill wait in a line for hours if security isnt compromised

Agreed. We likely need to invest more in people doing the screening. My issue is with things like those body scanning machines that studies showed ahead of time we're NOT effective, yet the government claimed otherwise and invested millions putting them in every airport. Crazy. Doesn't inspire confidence.

 

[sunshinemelody]

So interesting fact about Wishes! They load the fireworks in every day and they HAVE to go off. So if it's raining/lightening during Wishes time and they can't go off then, they will set them off eventually at some point during the night, even if it's like 3 AM. It is apparently a law of some kind that if the fireworks are loaded, they have to be set off. I thought that was so cool!

I wonder when they load them, because that's $40K of a wasted show. :/

 

[disfamz]

I wonder when they load them, because that's $40K of a wasted show. :/

I think early morning or so. One trip they moved them back an hour or so due to weather and a lot of people missed them because they left due to the rain. It was SO much less crowded!

 

[Delgado]

Agreed. We likely need to invest more in people doing the screening. My issue is with things like those body scanning machines that studies showed ahead of time we're NOT effective, yet the government claimed otherwise and invested millions putting them in every airport. Crazy. Doesn't inspire confidence.

Agreed the body scanners are a joke. Ive seen so many people by passing those for one reason or another which makes them even more ineffective!l I love when I see k9 dogs at the airport! You cant sway those dogs. And they give me something gorgeous to look at while I wait in line

 

[Delgado]

Agreed. We likely need to invest more in people doing the screening. My issue is with things like those body scanning machines that studies showed ahead of time we're NOT effective, yet the government claimed otherwise and invested millions putting them in every airport. Crazy. Doesn't inspire confidence.

Agreed the body scanners are a joke. Ive seen so many people by passing those for one reason or another which makes them even more ineffective!l I love when I see k9 dogs at the airport! You cant sway those dogs. And they give me something gorgeous to look at while I wait in line

 

[sunshinemelody]

I think early morning or so. One trip they moved them back an hour or so due to weather and a lot of people missed them because they left due to the rain. It was SO much less crowded!

Sounds awesome to me!

 

[disfamz]

Sounds awesome to me!

I'm one of those weirdos who enjoy Disney in the rain lol. But it was definitely cool. We got to talking to a CM who let us know about the need to set them off and if we stood around for a while we might get a surprise so we did!

 

[bluezy]

So interesting fact about Wishes! They load the fireworks in every day and they HAVE to go off. So if it's raining/lightening during Wishes time and they can't go off then, they will set them off eventually at some point during the night, even if it's like 3 AM. It is apparently a law of some kind that if the fireworks are loaded, they have to be set off. I thought that was so cool!

Now that you mention this, I remember hearing that about Illuminations. I will say that when we were at Disney during Monsoon Week May 2009, despite there being rain all but one night (and many times it was a torrential downpour), the fireworks at each park went off every night. We were staying at Pop Century and could easily see Fantasmic and Illuminations every night. And if we walked to the corner of our building, we could see Wishes off in the distance. Ironically, my big plan for that trip was to see all of the fireworks shows. We had only ever seen Fantasmic prior to that. On our first night there, we were planning to watch Illuminations. The rains started pouring down around 6:30 and because we were not well prepared, we were drenched in no time. We decided to just go back to the room that night and catch Illuminations on our next Epcot day. Little did we know that we would experience never-ending rain that week. We actually did finally get to see Illuminations on the 2nd last night of our stay but because we had no desire to stand in the rain to watch fireworks, that was the only fireworks show we "officially" watched that week as that was the only evening it wasn't raining during our entire visit.

 

[Tiggerette]

Hey Loungers,

In a strange twist of fate, Star Wars fans are experiencing similar angst with the Star Wars Firework / Dessert party (lack-of) schedule. Lots of folks planning a trip in the next few weeks (early June) are unable to make solid plans since the lack of information is so pervasive. It's deja-vu. It's a good thing for me I've already had my hootenanny training! However, with the anticipated May 20th rapidly approaching, I'm getting back into the 6am wakeup call rhythm.

Did anyone ever see the work out with Gilad TV program? I loved it, he'd work out on the beach in Hawaii and occasionally tourists would join in the workout. So funny. Would be a nice addition to the 6am ADR-check routine.