VWL Groupies & Lovers Thread (Special Collectors Edition 2.5) updated 2 February 2025

[Granny]

On to happier times...Booking Aulani for a Sept. trip today! We have always wanted to make a trip to Hawaii and DVC has allowed this to happen. Love our DVC

Jimmy...that's awesome! Cindy and I have talked about taking that trip, and trying to book GCV (?) at Disneyland to make a super trip. But we haven't pulled the trigger on that. And you're right, only our DVC membership allows us to even think of such a trip. Here's hoping you & Tammy (and anyone else) have a wonderful trip.

 

[Granny]

Aulani, like so many Disney Resorts, is a place where you really never have to leave to have a great time, but . . . . . Please, Please, Please make plans now to visit the Pearl Harbor Memorial AND the Punch Bowl (National Cemetery). Both are different than you may think. So impressive, so moving; you will talk about them for a lifetime!

Great points, DDad! Jimmy, we know what a history buff you are so I guess I just assumed you would make it to these locations. But great that DDad pointed them out for you. I agree wholeheartedly with his comments (including the security issue). Lots of threads about how to snare Pearl Harbor Tickets, and I'm sure you are in the research mode now!

 

[circhead]

Enjoy Aulani. Kaare and I went many, many years ago and I can still remember the feelings seeing Pearl Harbor and the Punch Bowl gave me.
It was both inspirational and sad at the same time. Thinking about what those men and their families sacrificed for me and mine.

Hoping to do it again in a few years for my 60th but I want to take my children and grandchildren also.
I'm a bit of a history buff myself and I want them to understand what was given for them.

Jimmy - one of my favorite trick questions:
What is the difference between the battle of Manassas and the battle of Bull Run?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

I think your team will be in the mix for quite a few years to come Jimmy! Although.......I'm hoping for Purple to be there in the next year or two instead of that Blue. I know reviews were really mixed on the game but I can appreciate a defensive battle just as much as an offensive one and I never got bored with the it even if my expectations for Carolina to bust out the offense never came to fruition. It really was a display of the Denver defense.

On to happier times...Booking Aulani for a Sept. trip today! We have always wanted to make a trip to Hawaii and DVC has allowed this to happen. Love our DVC

Awesome!!! I think you all will really love it!

On another note, keep your wallets and valuables close at hand; leave nothing in your car. Aloha!

Very wise advice. Violent crime is very low - petty crime very high.

Jimmy - one of my favorite trick questions:
What is the difference between the battle of Manassas and the battle of Bull Run?

I'm relatively certain I know what you are referring too and it's one of the things about the civil war that has always driven me batty!

Hope everyone has a great week!

 

[wildernessDad]

Jimmy - one of my favorite trick questions:
What is the difference between the battle of Manassas and the battle of Bull Run?

They are one and the same. The north calls it the battle of Manassas and the south calls it the battle of Bull Run.

 

[Granny]

Jimmy - one of my favorite trick questions:
What is the difference between the battle of Manassas and the battle of Bull Run?

I'd say this is pretty much the same as the difference between the Civil War and the War of Northern Aggression.

 

[Granny]

Looks like WDad got in the response first. Nicely done!

As long as we are into American History trivia, what is the ironic aspect of the Battle of Bunker Hill?

And to keep this thread kind of close to on topic...what place is generally accepted as Peter Dominick's inspiration for the Wilderness Lodge look and feel?

 

[Granny]

They are one and the same. The north calls it the battle of Manassas and the south calls it the battle of Bull Run.

WDad...as I re-read your response, I think you may have it backwards? I think the Union called it Bull Run.

 

[twinklebug]

Looks like WDad got in the response first. Nicely done!

As long as we are into American History trivia, what is the ironic aspect of the Battle of Bunker Hill?

And to keep this thread kind of close to on topic...what place is generally accepted as Peter Dominick's inspiration for the Wilderness Lodge look and feel?

Not sure if we Massachusetts 'kids' qualify for answering this one as we all took many-a field trips to Bunker Hill (as well as other historic areas, so were forced to know this stuff)
Hint: The answer is quite funny when you're standing there.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Looks like WDad got in the response first. Nicely done!

As long as we are into American History trivia, what is the ironic aspect of the Battle of Bunker Hill?

And to keep this thread kind of close to on topic...what place is generally accepted as Peter Dominick's inspiration for the Wilderness Lodge look and feel?

Was it not Old Faithful Inn?

WDad...as I re-read your response, I think you may have it backwards? I think the Union called it Bull Run.

Yep.

And maybe this is the only battle that this happened with but I feel like I read of a lot of civil war battles and then they continue to say.....oh, and the North called it such and such. Or the South referred to it as so and so.

 

[circhead]

Good catch Granny - to the Union it was Bull Run to the South it was Manassas.

The irony of Bunker Hill is that it was fought on Breed's Hill.

 

[Granny]

Not sure if we Massachusetts 'kids' qualify for answering this one as we all took many-a field trips to Bunker Hill (as well as other historic areas, so were forced to know this stuff)
Hint: The answer is quite funny when you're standing there.

Yes, it is weird how something like this gets "misnamed" and then not corrected for 200+ years!

Was it not Old Faithful Inn?

Yes, it was Old Faithful Inn...nice!

Good catch Granny - to the Union it was Bull Run to the South it was Manassas.

The irony of Bunker Hill is that it was fought on Breed's Hill.

This is correct! Bunker Hill was actually the next hill back. But someone, somewhere called it the Battle of Bunker Hill and that stands today. I do like the Bunker Hill monument in Boston that you can see from downtown.

 

[circhead]

And maybe this is the only battle that this happened with but I feel like I read of a lot of civil war battles and then they continue to say.....oh, and the North called it such and such. Or the South referred to it as so and so.[/QUOTE]

The confusion caused by this is because there were two battles fought at Bull Run giving you 2 battles with 4 names.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

And maybe this is the only battle that this happened with but I feel like I read of a lot of civil war battles and then they continue to say.....oh, and the North called it such and such. Or the South referred to it as so and so.

The confusion caused by this is because there were two battles fought at Bull Run giving you 2 battles with 4 names.[/QUOTE]

Ahhh, no wonder I can't keep it straight.

 

[jimmytammy]

Dad I am very much looking forward to seeing Pearl Harbor. It has always ranked at the top of my list as places to see in Hawaii. My folks went probably 20 yrs in a row, and went to PH every time.

I cant believe I missed out on all this history talk!! When there was a river or creek or some body of water nearby, the battle would often be referred too by the name of said body of water by the North. Likewise, the town closest by would be what the South referred to same battle as the name.

A strange little side note about 2nd battle of Manassas/Bull Run, when James Longstreet's troops(southern General under Robert E. Lee's command)were soon to be over run by Northern troops, and were running out of ammunition, they picked up rocks and started throwing them at the oncoming swarm of Blue. They did this just long enough to hold them at bay until re-inforcements arrived. A little bit of useless knowledge to carry you through for your day

Can I just say how cool all you folks are that we can share our love of WDW, VWL and talk history all within the same thread.

 

[sleepydog25]

Dad I am very much looking forward to seeing Pearl Harbor. It has always ranked at the top of my list as places to see in Hawaii. My folks went probably 20 yrs in a row, and went to PH every time.

I cant believe I missed out on all this history talk!! When there was a river or creek or some body of water nearby, the battle would often be referred too by the name of said body of water by the North. Likewise, the town closest by would be what the South referred to same battle as the name.

A strange little side note about 2nd battle of Manassas/Bull Run, when James Longstreet's troops(southern General under Robert E. Lee's command)were soon to be over run by Northern troops, and were running out of ammunition, they picked up rocks and started throwing them at the oncoming swarm of Blue. They did this just long enough to hold them at bay until re-inforcements arrived. A little bit of useless knowledge to carry you through for your day

Can I just say how cool all you folks are that we can share our love of WDW, VWL and talk history all within the same thread.

Though I knew why Bull Run and Manassas were used interchangeably, in further reading of those battles it seems there is quite a bit of debate over Gen Thomas Jackson's nickname--Stonewall--which I didn't know. The camps are fairly evenly split between the notion that when Confederate General Bernard Bee said the famous words, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall," it wasn't necessarily a compliment but rather a pejorative accusing Jackson of being slow to reinforce Bee's brigade. Regardless, the moniker stuck. As for Bunker Hill, that is a bit of trivia I never learned.

 

[circhead]

Have any of you read the book "The Class of 1846 - From West Point to Appomatox"?

It is absolutely fascinating - many of the civil war generals were classmates at West Point or in the case of Grant there at the same time.
Sorry - I am absolutely enthralled by the civil war - there was so much more to it than we are taught in school.

It started for me in grammar school when I had to do a paper on the Battles of Bull Run - and then got kicked into high gear in the 70's when I read Michael Shaara's book "The Killer Angels".
He died in 1988 but his son Jeff finished the trilogy with a prequel and a sequel to Killer Angels. Gods and Generals and The Last Full Measure. Well written with copious notes at the end along with a listing of his sources,
many of which I then read.

I'll stop now because I have to start working on next year's projected budget. Have a good day all.

 

[Granny]

Pat...thanks for the referral for the book. I'll have to get that one. I've read Shaara's books and they are excellent, as are the two movies based on them.

 

[ottawagreg]

Good day VWL Groupies. I have have fallen off of the board for several weeks. I guess that I am just not as committed as I should be. I get too busy with life and then when I get a breather and come by here a realize how long it has been. It appears that we are talking about American wars now, we are a diverse group aren't we? I wish I knew more about the revolutionary war than I do, so I find the information on bunker hill quite interesting. I wonder how they could have mixed up which hill it occurred on. I have been to Manassas twice and enjoyed the visit very much. One interesting thing to see there is the cannon ball in the wall of the stone house. It is near the doorway about head high. It is difficult to believe people packed picnic baskets and went out to watch a battle.

I have visited several other battle sites, the Wilderness, Gettysburg, and Chancellorsville. However Fredericksburg really moved me. We went to the Sunken Road at the top of the hill. You could look directly down into the center of town. How one could give and order to charge the hill is one thing, but to do it over and over and over is surreal. They say that one could walk over the entire battle field and not touch earth because of so dead many bodies. It left me speechless. Now the battlefield is developed with homes and paved streets. Same story Gettysburg. Fast food restaurants several hundred yards from the bloody point. It all seems sacrilegious to me. When I think of it that way it kind of seems trivial about them blowing up the hidden springs pool at the lodge.

Well, I best get back to work. I hope all are well. Spring is coming fast! We go back to the castle for four nights in march to see our daughter and the high school band perform at the water stage in Disney springs. We are blessed. Have a great day.

 

[twinklebug]

I've got a good piece of trivia for you: Revolutionary war. The battle at North Bridge is well known as the first place where the militia of the colonies rose up against the British and fired that infamous "shot".

A) What was it that the British Army was searching for?
B) What prompted the militia men to fire upon the the King's men when they arrived at the North Bridge in Concord?

I'm pretty sure you know or can find the answer to A, but the answer to B is not well known except to tour guides and those living in Concord.