keith_h

1 hour ago, Duane said:

Does your mini-van have a roof rack, and if so, have you investigated placing the bikes on the roof?  That way, your back gate operation is not hampered and you don't have to worry about messing with the glass.

This is what I was thinking as well. I think the pickup truck is a good idea as well particularly if you have a dog. Dogs love trucks.

5 hours ago, WannaBeImagineer said:

I was on United so I kind of figured we were in a secondary area since Miami is a AA hub.  

My main complaint is that the terminals are not connected beyond security.  I thought this far past 9/11 the airports would be updated by now.

WBI

I use to have that problem flying into JFK with commuter flights. They told us we were supposed to go to the front of the terminal to reenter via screening. It was a heck of a walk that I usually just worked around it. You were unsupervised and if you walked far enough you could enter a restroom then turn around and go on your way.

52 minutes ago, twiceblessed....nacole said:

Hmm...Smoke Mountains NP.  That's only 3 hours from us.  Maybe we should visit it sometime, instead of driving across the country 

It's a bit longer for us but in the 20+ years we've lived in NC we have never made a trip of any type to SMNP. We had talked about a day trip the last time we were in the southern portion of the Blue Ridge Pkwy but decided to hike to Mt Pisgah instead. In fact it has no and never will be an entrance fee as that was a condition of the donation of the land to the US government.

24 minutes ago, Seals said:

Especially since these are mostly or all destination parks that one builds a vacation around.

Yosemite and Sequoia/Kings Canyon have a lot of local visitors. Olympic fills a similar niche in Washington. I know if it was $70 to enter plus the nightly camping fee it would have impacted us when we lived in NorCal. I could see this affecting younger families that might make a couple of spur of the moment weekend camping trips a year.  It seems to me the  $70 for seven days is like they want to push people into the annual pass.

9 hours ago, bdm said:

I can't see the picture.

1 hour ago, Travisma said:

Another time it was a large pet bird that squawked and screeched all day.

A bird is the only problem we've had with pets. We have seen plenty of dogs in the non-pet 1300 loop before they got rid of loop designations but never had any barkers. One visit our neighbors had a Cockatoo that was outside from sun up to sun down and all it did was squawk the hole time the family wasn't with it.

A lake would fit with a golf course. Adds to the challenge of playing your ball where it lays when you have a few gators hanging around.

6 hours ago, Travisma said:

If it works out for them I can see a large new line of pet supplies being sold at the resorts.

And of course concierge services at additional costs. 

Don't want to be back in 7 hours, we had board certified pampered pooch dog walkers/sitters for the low low fee of $30 per hour (minimum 3 hours).

Mickey Bars safe for fur babies, only $10.

 

The sitters isn't all that improbable. My sister has a couple of doggy daycare places near her. For a fee you can drop your dog off for a few hours or a day of playgroup fun while you do your thing. I could really see Disney doing this or making a deal with a franchise to do it.

26 minutes ago, Beckers said:

I wonder if this is more to drawl the locals to stay?

With all of the Northerners that have moved to Florida I'm not sure there are that many locals with a drawl anymore.

13 hours ago, h2odivers...Ray said:

I’m still waiting for that lawsuit when someone gets bit inside a store. I can here it now. 

Not bit but injured when they are loading something on the cart and the dog's leash trips them. The last thing I want near me when I'm picking up a sheet of plywood or drywall is an animal.

With your pictures as your avatars you even had a chance to recognize each other.

2 hours ago, Travisma said:

I wonder if the jerseys will look like a NASCAR car with all the sponsors listed? 

That same thought popped into to my head as well.

55 minutes ago, Travisma said:

Interesting, a renewal online or at WDW doesn't require a down payment again.  Wonder if that is just for an initial purchase?

I suspect the down payment is to cover the cost if the jersey to prevent people from showing up to get the jersey then cancelling.

We've had the same thing happen going between Liberty Square and Frontierland when they've closed the road down for the parade. The sidewalk was moving along fine and then stopped. You couldn't turn around as people were still trying to get through from both sides. All I was thinking is how do they rescue someone having a heart attack or stop them from getting crushed if they fall. We finally decided to to work our way to the road and take our chances of getting yelled at since the parade wasn't in sight yet. While not as bad we had a similar crush when leaving the park that evening. Disney really needs to do something by limiting the number of people in the various park choke points or add more back ways for those of us that try to avoid the crowds and take advantage of the shorter lines. 

2 hours ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

It's a good point and one of those things where you really need to know your dog.  Our dogs are used to traveling and would do fine in their crates for 7 hours, even in a strange location, but not all dogs would be.

I suspect there are more people that won't crate their dogs than will so there will be less incentive for the dog to wait the return of their owners.

We've talked about getting a border collie if we ever decide to get a dog. They are high activity but we have the space for one to run around and to be honest the extra exercise wouldn't hurt me at all.

I'm not sure what it was with Lucy. They could be outside playing with her and she would just drop everything to come over and hangout even if we weren't playing with her. It was also very common to come home to her sleeping under our covered patio table waiting for us to get back. Our neighbor George couldn't figure it out either. It all start when she was a puppy and kept up through her life. Maybe something to do with my animal magnetism. Ha.  

37 minutes ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

I know that people have died at the Fort.  But, they take them off property before pronouncing them dead.

I think management needs to have more foresight. How are they going to keep the Haunted Mansion stocked if they take everyone away? 

It's obvious the person who wrote the article knows nothing of the sanctity of the Man Cave.

I agree with you Mo. I much rather sit in the spa on a deck surrounded by water.

1 hour ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

I'm not sure what's worse - upping prices a little bit across the boards, or cutting things that people have come to expect.  

I rather they just up the price. Seems to me they are insulting their customer's intelligence by trying to hide a price increase via a product reduction.

5 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

Cecilia?

What kind of name is that for a balloon baby?

The mom has a cool Fort name: Clementine.

That gets me to wondering- has there ever been a baby born at the Fort?

TCD

You would think over all of the years it's been open there would half to have been a few.

4 hours ago, dblr....Rennie said:

 To much planning and I myself do not like being on a schedule to return to take care of one, not that I don't like dogs, when camping we always walk after dinner to let her get her dog loving in, lol

This is why Rene and I have decided against a dog. We had dogs and other pets when the girls were younger but the planning for pet care fit right in with having to plan everything else due to the kids. Now that the kids are adults we like the freedom of not having to worry about what we need to do if we want to stay out late or decide to turn the day trip into an overnight. We also have children and neighbors with dogs if we feel the need for animal contact. In fact when she was still alive one neighbor's border collie actually seemed to like us better than them. All of the Frisbee tosses in the world wouldn't stop her from coming over to our house for hours if she heard us outside. Even their current chocolate lab will stop over to say hello. However much like grandkids we can send them home and let the owners/parents deal with the dirty stuff. 

40 minutes ago, djsamuel said:

Also, maybe someone can answer this since I don't know at all.  Do normal service animal rules and special access require a "license"?  I never heard of a licensed service animal, and thought all anybody needed to do was get a vest.  I think a license, as long as it was a free or inexpensive license, would be great since it would help protect those who actually need a service animal from those who simply use the term as a means to take their dogs everywhere with them.

Basically you cannot ask for proof. Straight from the US Gov. ADA website:

"Therefore, such documentation generally may not be required as a condition for providing service to an individual accompanied by a service animal. Although a number of states have programs to certify service animals, you may not insist on proof of state certification before permitting the service animal to accompany the person with a disability. "

Edit:
I don't know of any government entity that doesn't require dogs to be license and to display their tags. I don't see why a special tag couldn't be issued for animals that qualify for special treatment under the ADA. It would clear up the whole question and stop the many lying owners who make it bad for people with legitimate needs. We do it for handicapped parking without complaint and this isn't really any different. 

When we've owned dogs we've always arranged for their care at home or a kennel.

What I can't see coming out of this is the long term or short term for that matter desirability of rooms. Let's forgo the replaceable stuff like furniture that a dog might damage while the owners are gone. Instead how many dogs will have accidents of various types. No matter how you clean the carpets not all of it comes out and the smells will build up. The floors underneath are concrete and will absorb fluids as well. Even if they use a flooring like Pergo the fluids will work into the cracks. Unless they use something like linoleum or epoxy painted floors I can't see how the rooms won't begin to stink after a while. Even if I owned a pet I don't think I would put up with that. 

Another concern is how will the dog react to being in a room that has belonged to so many others? I could see this bringing out poor behavior as the dog tries to figure out where they are all coming from. Some dogs I have known would become really hyperactive trying to figure out where all of those other dogs have come from. I also suspect it would make one of my oldest daughter's dog become aggressive  as she becomes very protective around other dogs.

Lastly, how do you handle barkers? Not all owners care that their dogs bark. What if it yaps for hours while the owner is at the parks? Does Disney go in to remove them? Will FP's really compensate the neighboring room that has to put up with it? I just don't think it is a good idea as the negatives just don't outweigh the positives from my perspective.

4 hours ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

maybe they looked at the calendar and decided it was a good time to bug out.   

I always figured they'd wait until Thanksgiving and hunting season gets closer knowing the Fort no longer has full size ovens in the cabins.

This thread was going along pretty well but seems to have gone down the drain.