keith_h

1 hour ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

Ugh.  2 things I wanted to do this trip that DH wouldn't let me... go around taking phones out of people's hands who were surfing Facebook while missing out on all kinds of cool stuff around them; and tuck in people's shirt tags that were sticking out. 

I hear you. My wife won't allow me to go around and offer a piece of rope to the saggy pantsers  until they can find their belt.

There are times I swear we've become nothing more than a country of voyeurs. 

It could come to pass but we also don't know what types of conditions or restrictions the DOJ might put on any merger. I think getting Hulu would be good for Disney given the poor way in which they handle IT implementations. I'm also not so sure it would be as negative on Fox TV as the article states. Disney still will need an over the air outlet for the TV shows like The Simpsons and Family Guy assuming the show's producers want to work with Disney.  

Too bad it won't be closed the following week when we will be there and hopefully in the 1300 loop on the canal.

On 11/27/2017 at 11:01 AM, h2odivers...Ray said:

Cant people already read the chip on my back issues CC?

 

I had a CC number stolen once and all fraudulent charges made were over the Internet.  I wasn’t required to pay any of those charges.  I can’t believe merchants would be held liable with so much E-commerce that happens every day. 

Reading the chip is useless as it is very hard to counterfeit the chip to the point it is mainly researchers who have the funding and time to attempt it.

There's a difference between in person transactions and phone or internet transactions as far as liability. With the advent of chip enabled cards any merchant that accepts a chip enabled card by the magnetic stripe or hard copy becomes liable for any fraud. This was done as a means to encourage merchants to migrate to chip based transactions.

Internet and phone transactions are still covered by the credit card companies. However unless the physical card is stolen the CV2 code should prevent fraud as it is not located in the chip or stripe. The problem is too many merchants don't require this for every transaction so if someone can get the card number they can frequently use the stolen number to buy goods. Personally I don't think the card companies should allow any transaction to complete without completing all of the security steps regardless of the type. It would go a long way to stopping fraud and should lower costs which the card user ends up paying in the end through higher prices to cover the losses.

5 hours ago, mouseketab.....Carol said:

Something ssems odd to me on the dog park rules.

No. 11 says no food, snacks, or treats (for human or pet consumption) are permitted in the dog park.

I thought having dog treats in your pocket to give to pets as positive reinforcement for good behavior was a thing? (I don't have any pets, but every time I see pets and animals with handlers on TV, they get fed little treats constantly).

So if you are taking your dog to the dog park to let them run off steam and they behave appropriately, you can't give them a treat till you get back to your camper?

I think it has to do with other dogs that are at the dog park. No telling how an unknown dog might react to the smell or sight of food. I know the miniature dachshund we had when I was young was very protective of any food or animal product chewy to the point it would attack another dog if it were too close. On the other hand the German Shepard I owned in high school could have cared less.  

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

As far as them keeping dogs on certain loops, I was assigned to the 2600 loop, and the CM told me that they did not have any open cabins on the two designated dog cabin loops. 

So did they put you in a dog cabin loop or non-dog loop? I'm just curious to see if they will enforce the pet rules any better than they did when they still had designated pet camping loops.

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Resort guests are required to select a PIN for MB transactions as part of the check-in process. 

In that case it should be pretty straight forward to add a direct link to a credit card with reasonable security. 

1 hour ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

In theory, no charges can be made to the MB without the PIN.  In practice, CM's can and do override that requirement- which means a lost MB can be a real problem if there's a credit card attached to it.

You bring up the weakest link in any security plan and that is the employees. Whether through ineptitude or dishonesty it only takes one to screw up a well thought out security design.

54 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Make each transaction like a debit card, scan MB, enter a PIN.

And the new card readers at most of the check-outs stink.  I have to swipe my card at least twice to get them to read.

One CM, told me not to scan until the green light came on and stayed on.  That seemed to work better.

None of the others ever said that.

In the case of credit/debit cards the PIN is cached in the card itself and is verified locally in the reader. I have never used the MB to charge items but if it relies upon the same reader that is used for credit cards then PINs wouldn't work without a change to the MB itself. If it has its own reader then it would depend upon the point of sales terminal as to whether the existing reader could be used for the PIN. None of it is insurmountable but the potential cost could be high. 

Another thing that comes to mind is how to handle a lost MB. With direct charges fast disablement becomes more important than with charging to the room. Also who would be responsible for the losses  Disney, the CC company or the guest? I suspect legally it would not be the CC company since it isn't their device. Charging the guest, even though they are culpable, would be bad business and probably bring lawsuits (valid or not). In the end I think Disney would have to eat the costs something I'm sure the bean counters and lawyers would be against.

16 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

That would definitely be convenient. 

Im not an IT guy. But how hard would it be for AP holders to have CC on file that they could charge to when they are NOT staying at a Disney resort?

that would be even more convenient for us AP holders that stay off property. 

It shouldn't be very hard to add a credit card to the MB. It would just take some coding. Not having the MB details one security problem I could see with a direct credit card link is people having RFI chip readers and stealing the MB information. By charging to a room the band owner gets a chance to review their statement for fraudulent charges before paying. Even if the fraudulent MB charges went through with chip enabled cards I believe the liability shifts to the merchant if the chip isn't used for in person transactions. For Disney that could add up to a lot of money. 

Registered and playing the additional videos for extra chances.

On 11/20/2017 at 10:56 AM, Tri-Circle-D said:

If you have allergies to dogs, or don't like sitting on furniture after a hairy dog and/or fleas, it's time to ask for a pet-free cabin loop:

TCD

Won't help if they enforce it as well as the did when they had pet loops.

5 hours ago, Travisma said:

This was an Orlando based article.  I'm sure that each state that I-95 goes thru listed their own worse stretch.

It shows the deadliest city for each hwy in the chart. Jacksonville, Fl gets the honor for I-95.  Charlotte, NC gets the award for I-85 and Texas has the most with 5 entries across three cities. 

Florida Hospital is where my brother was treated and also handled his hospice care towards the end. I thought the staff and doctors were very caring which surprised me for such a large institution.

They show Jacksonville, Fl as the deadliest city on I-95 which I can believe with all of the merges and the curve to the bridge. There isn't a lot of room to recover from a mistake. 

4 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

why did you live in a town called the “bathrooms”???

"The Baths" to be more specific. To the west of town in the mountains were rock depressions that were filled with water from a spring or stream, I don't remember which, that the sun heated. The Spanish priests use to stop to bathe and relax on their rounds to the various missions. Kind of funny that with all the Spanish involvement the area is heavily populated by Portuguese and to a lesser extent Italians. My all time favorite restaurant is there. It is called the Wool Growers Association Hotel Dinning Room. They serve Basque food family style and the meal includes a bottle of the house red wine. Haven't been there in ages but it use to be 5 or 6 side dishes served with the meal with a choice of 3-4 entrees. 

2 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

but there is a stretch of Hwy just south of Fresno on Hwy 99 that seems to have more 20, 50, and even 100 car pile ups than any other stretch of California Highway. 

That also use to be the main drug running route for big rigs. A former neighbor was on the task force that oversaw that area of road for drug interdiction.

2 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

They call it Tule fog.  (Why?  I don’t know.). 

It is named for the Tule, a type of rush or marsh grass, that is common in the San Joaquin Valley wetlands. I use to live in the middle of it in a town called Los Banos. In the winter The Tule fog would come up and stick around for weeks if we didn't get a good storm to clear it all out. I felt sorry for my wife as she had it 24 hours a day but I could at least get away from by going to work over in the Santa Clara Valley.

I will say I-4 is the scariest hwy I've driven these past few years and that is comparing it to I-95 between I-40 and Washington DC.

I'm looking for a new A/V receiver but doubt the one I am looking at will be reduced. The same goes for the rear surround speaker I want  to replace as well. You never know though so I'm holding off on buying until after Cyber Monday.

Good to hear you were able to get some time for yourself and unwind. Great pics of everything as well.

We like the 1300 loop and always request a site there along the canal with 1200 as the backup. Never have stayed in 1200 as they always have been able to get us into the 1300 loop but it seems nice from walking around it. The only thing about 1300 is the Meadows Trading Post pool is across the canal. During the day up to around dinner time they run pool parties which can be loud. It doesn't bother us as we are usually away from our site other than an hour or so in the afternoon. With the shorter and potentially cooler days of winter I don't know if it would even last till dinner time if at all. Others that frequent the Fort that time of year would probably know more in that regard.  

1 hour ago, Travisma said:

D-Lights is a paltry $259 per person.

I'm sorry but I don't consider $250/person paltry.

I saw that on NBR tonight. They also said the parts Fox would be keeping is where the larger share of revenue comes from. Given the decline in cable I'm not sure the Fox entertainment channels are worth much and could weight down any advantage of owning the movie studio and film properties. Disney might be better off with a straight up trade of ESPN for 21st Century Fox.

1 hour ago, Cortezcapt (Derek) said:

*I typed this on my phone, I don't know why my phone decided that Gators needs to be capitalized but I'm to lazy this morning to change them all. 

You live in Florida and can't figure out why Gators would be capitalized? Tsk, tsk. Might be something to do with that little university down y'alls way. 

My brother had gators living in the drainage canal 20 ft behind his apartment porch. The whole Orland area is dotted with lakes, ponds and waterways all with alligators. You can remove them all you want and more will just move in to replace them.