DaptoFunlandGuy

Don't worry - judging by the profile - there isn't much to lose... ...and before anyone gets butthurt - i'm just saying that clearly - he's still quite young... (although these days anyone under 25 is young to me) so unlikely it'd be a big bet.

DisneyTouristBlog (DTB) do what they call DailyTripBlueprints(DTBs) that might be of great help. I've not yet made it to Florida, but i've done a lot of research on how many days you need for certain things when the DTBs came up. I found them a very good read, and definitely the best way to fit in as much as possible. They have other DTBs for some of the other parks there too so i'd recommend starting there to get a feel for how much you might get done. http://www.disneytouristblog.com/1-day-epcot-plan/ September isn't necessarily a quiet period though, so just be prepared for that... TBH theres never a quiet period, but September isn't really 'low season'...

Your personal views do not matter. Because Disneyland. But seriously though - I share these conversations with my wife from time to time - She is a true convert. When I met her, she had no interest in theme parks whatsoever. Wouldn't even ride Scooby Doo! and hadn't been to a park since the early 90's with her family as a kid. In less than 5 years, she's gone from that, to having favourite rides and favourite parks - even compares WHICH version of space mountain she prefers. We were married at a park and celebrated by riding a roller coaster between our vows and our reception... our honeymoon was 13 straight days of theme parks across two states of the US (and another week of other stuff)... After explaining to her how you felt about Disneyland - she wanted me to tell you this... And I think many others here would agree with me on this point - SO MANY PEOPLE have no idea what Disneyland \ Disney World is - they think it isn't for them... but spend ONE DAY in any Disney park - and I promise your opinion will change.

​See - I tend to take a lot of the Disney media outbursts with a grain or two of salt. The thing to remember is that they ARE a prime target so a lot of things that corporations do every day suddenly warrants interest because it comes out of the house of mouse... If ABC Textiles and Manufacturing Co laid off 0.01% of their workforce`in place of a perfectly legal alternative - there is the possibility that this news might feature in the Backwoods Herald Weekly... But this gets shared around the world on facebook in 3.2 seconds... Because Disney. I enjoy a lot of Deadmau5 music... Brazil (2nd Edit) was played at my wedding... but I wouldn't call Deadmau5 enterprises "a small business". Zimmerman himself has admitted the similarity, claiming 'disney fell asleep on that one'... by all accounts it sounds like they are both now working together on a reinvention of Fantasia - would that make you visit? As for the childcare centres and other small businesses - a company has a right to protect and defend it's intellectual property regardless of the size or identity of the infringer... but do I assume this means that you disagree with the current wave of litigation against individuals (clearly smaller than a small business) who download movies illegally? Because current production companies involved in such litigation include 20th Century Fox, Universal, Warner Bros, Paramount, Disney and Columbia (which also includes Sony)... This would mean you don't visit Universal Studios parks, Village Roadshow parks, Six Flags Parks (WB Characters) either? So pretty much you've got Cedar Fair parks - except they use the Peanuts characters which is currently being produced into a film by 20th Century Fox.... you're running out of options! Seriously though - you really can't blame a company for vigorously defending it's IP...

Webslave, if you write solely to get a rise out of someone, you need to find a new hobby. As for your taxi example - of course you don't pay full fare - the contract is unfulfilled - the contract was to get you from point A to point B and they failed to deliver. As for the airline example - the citation escapes me right now but you should look into Qantas Airways vs. Commissioner of Taxation for an interesting ruling on what constituted their contract of carriage and what didn't. I think it had something to do with GST... at any rate - With QANTAS, the FLIGHT is what you contract for, and anything else included as part of that - such as food, beverages or onboard entertainment is just incidental, with no cash value, and therefore isn't compensable. If you were charged and paid separately for a meal (like say - on Jetstar) you would be entitled to a refund for the item you didn't receive - likewise if you pay QANTAS an extra fee to choose your seat, and they don't provide you with your selection without a justifiable safety reason, you would likely be entitled to get that refunded. (I have done so). You fall down in your examples because the park HAS fulfilled their contract - they have allowed you entry into the park - that is all your ticket entitles you to: This is further proven by the following statement in the T&Cs - showing that the price you pay is the same regardless of what you do or do not ride: And finally - just in case you think the part about admission "covers all rides" gives you an out: Source: http://themeparks.com.au/References/Info pages/terms-and-conditions.aspx THIS is the contract you enter into when you purchase and use a ticket, annual pass or other form of admission into these parks. It's like selling your house at auction unreserved, and then crying foul to the media when it sells for a buck. Back to the single day passes... if people (locals) are paying full single day ticket price when the VIP option is presented to them at every ticket window, online, print media and on TV - then more the fool them... I have no sympathy for them whatsoever if they should visit a park and find rides are closed for maintenance or otherwise affected by bad weather, or unforeseen breakdowns. these things happen.

In other news - things that happen every day continue to happen... GL is a gimme - you can't really blame the park for that one at this stage - the investigation is clearly out of their hands. Arkham is down for its annual maintenance... yeah and? It needs to be maintained at some point doesn't it? Surely this information is listed on the Park's website and at the front gate (as is the GL downtime I'm sure) Other than that we're whinging about YOSEMITE SAM'S TRAIN???? Geeeeeeezus - they make out like the park's only running one ride! By what I can account for - Scooby, WWF, JL, BW, Roxy, HWSD and most if not all of WB Kids is open... and SE was running - only with some minor downtime. I love how they try to show "balanced" reporting by pointing out that one ride is closed at Dreamworld (EFMadagascar) for maintenance - I notice that they failed to mention all of Wiggles World being closed - thats 3 or more attractions there - plus the vintage cars and the trains which rarely (never) run on weekdays... Webslave - the park isn't advertising the closed attractions. They clearly and prominently display the planned closures on the website and at the gate. technical faults that occur after morning sign-off can't be helped. As for anybody in Brisbane or the Gold Coast claiming that they spent $80 each (or hundreds for a family) for just one day at the park - I call bullshit. Nobody is that frickin stupid when VIP passes exist. As for this 'coming at a time when they stopped the VIP Gold' passes - they were bloody free upgrades anyway!!! (Not to mention that the park has already indicated an upgrade option providing gold benefits would be released later)... G C Bulletin has to be about on par with Sky News UK at this point.

^and that's probably down to good customer service and public relations - considering your photo is on the pass, they'd be able to see it was you. The turnstiles won't "reauthorise" you if you attempt to scan again to prevent the pass being used twice by two different people. (so for those playing along at home - the lesson is to send the bogus person in first, and then have someone bring out the passes for the actual pass-holders... instead of the other way around....)

*replies so Allegro has something to read*

Your VIP pass can be used to gain admission to all 3 parks once per day. You should be mindful of this as if you intend on coming back to one of the parks in the afternoon after being there in the morning - you will need a pass-out stamp when you exit. Your pass will not let you back into the same park you've already been in.

​Quoted for truth...

Perfect option to add to the end of any Flowrider session - call it Blowrider... great way to dry off (yes, that name probably isn't a good idea)

^Facepalm! How did NOBODY think of that before? Fits the cyclone theme perfectly... still features a turbine.... DREAMWORLDYOUNEEDTODOTHISSORTOFSHITYESTERDAY!

Ask and you shall receive... Mark I think if you were asking these guys for money to fund Australia's first B&M - they'd all gladly empty their pockets and piggy banks... ... hey there's an idea...

^absolutely. In the recent 60th Anniversary launch, where the park was open for 24 hours straight, I tuned into several live webcams at both parks. I enjoyed just watching Main Street traffic go by, an occasional street performer or entertainment group - probably spent 20-30 minutes just watching the world go by... Of course later I had alarms set to prompt me to tune back in so as to catch the Main Street Parades in both WDW and DL, and later - the fireworks over both parks also... Last time they did a 24 hour event - they had a webcam overlooking Fantasmic - which I made the special effort to watch also. There's just something about the magic of a Disney park - you don't need to go on a single ride, or see a single show, and somehow, you can still enjoy a day just watching the world go by inside it's gates. On my last trip to DL, There was a girl who had her leg in a very serious looking cast. Clearly - she wasn't riding anything. Her friends would walk her from smoking area to smoking area (there was about 3 we saw her at in the park) and she'd spend an hour or two sitting, enjoying the sunshine (and having an occasional cigarette) whilst her friends rampaged through the rides nearby. Given that they could have easily used her as an excuse to be backdoored in many of the attractions, she clearly enjoyed 'just being' within the park.

Richard - you have friends who aren't interested in theme parks? What's that like?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-XgvHPt1cg

^that's some damn good advice. As for your answers to my questions - Since you've done Disney before, you can probably cut down the time you spend there. Sure you'll need some time to get through the additions to DCA, but DL itself hasn't changed 'too much' so you can definitely cut down time spent there. I'd still go for 2 days so you can be sure to catch the new WoC and Fireworks shows as I hear they're both well worth it (And if you're going within the next 12 months you'll catch the D60 celebrations too). I wouldn't miss Knott's, and as Gazza mentioned if you time it right USH would be worth the trip... If you haven't done them before (or in a while) you could probably spend all your time in and around L.A. and still enjoy yourself immensely... just depends on how many days and how far you want to go - but check out some of the trips Gazza has done to get an idea of the pace he keeps...

There are petitions online in social media, and slathered all over Sky's pages calling for her to be fired.

Is this purely a Coaster pilgrimage? Have you done any Disney parks before? Disney parks are worth the trip - but Florida is going to need a heck of a lot more time to get around it all than California will - if Coasters are your aim, Cali can be done in a day, and 2 days will cover almost everything (i believe 3 is necessary) - WDW by all accounts requires far more time to 'do it right'. Whilst you're based in LA, USH & Knott's are kinda a given, and each offers their own pros and cons (again - if it's purely a coaster pilgrimage - i'd say skip USH, but don't miss Knott's. Cedar, Dollywood are also on my to do list, but I guess it depends on what sort of coverage you're going for. I'm frequently amazed at the mileage Gazza gets out of his trips, and know that I could never come close to that kind of endurance... so you need to work out precisely what you want and where. Everyone is going to have different suggestions, must-dos, and even 'theres a credit that's only a 10 minute detour off the highway that only costs $5' - for me - those kinds of "credits" aren't worth it... unless the ride itself is actually very good, and worth the stop...

^Precisely. Many think that the animals aren't fed well enough if they don't perform. Simple fact is that each animal's diet is carefully monitored, and those animals having an 'off' day will still receive the same quantity of food (and this is why sometimes you'll see 2 dolphins doing aerial stunts, and sometimes more - it depends who is 'in the mood'). The animals who don't perform aren't "punished" but they do receive negative reinforcement - which is usually the trainer ignoring them beyond necessary interactions - ie: they receive their food, but not the usual back scratch \ eye contact \ praise \ playtime. There is no punishment, only the restriction of positive behaviour.

Well, the source is reliable...

I got it in one Brad - Richard likewise responded just as the Merlin guy did and held it well.

I mean the point she kept trying to make - that they're going to extra lengths to ensure safety - that's like saying that a car manufacturer, or an airliner manufacturer builds unsafe passenger carrying vehicles because one vehicle crash identifies a one-in-a-million fault, which - nevertheless each manufacturer immediately spends a fortune retrofitting every one in their fleet...

^that woman needs a shovel to the head.

Testify! Amen Brother!!!