As you know by some past posts (my most popular posts in fact) I’m a big Disney Parks/Disney Vacations fan and part of the fun for me is planning.

I just found a great resource over at WDWPrepSchool.com that I wanted to share.  If you’re new at planning Disney vacations there are a lot of great resources available – absolutely add WDW Prep School to your list of helpful sites.

Here is their infographic on planning a great trip to Disney World in Florida.  Or maybe I should say great planning a great trip.

If you want cheap crap that takes over 30 days to receive NoMoreRack.com is your place.

I’ve only placed 2 orders with them – both were terrible experiences.

Both took almost 6 weeks to arrive. My first order was for what was advertised as iPad charging cables. Problem is – THEY DON’T CHARGE the iPad!!! So, that’s a small problem.

Second order was for Hello Kitty hair clips for my daughter. Just over 30 days later, what should arrive but imitation wanna be Barbie like doll hair clips. So it took them a month to send me the wrong product. Hey, it happens I supposed. So I emailed their customer service this time. Their response was terrible. Basically the told me that I could return the product if I didn’t like it at my expense. So let me get this straight – they send the wrong product, and I have to pay to return it?? And no offer to send the right product.
I followed up by email explaining that I didn’t think I should have to send back the wrong product at my expense and I wanted what I ordered and would return what was sent with a prepaid shipping label. No response.
2 subsequent emails – no response.

So, AVOID NoMoreRack.com – DO NOT BUY unless you feel lucky, like crap and are very patient.

Just my 2 cents!

Back again with my 2012 Disney Crowd Calendar broken down by week.  This utilizing the data from the fantastic website TouringPlans.com but organized how I use it that I thought you might find helpful.  I’ve created estimated crowds by week.  This year both Saturday – Saturday weeks and Friday – Sunday weeks.  This way, at a glance I can see what weeks are least busy, or at least should be less busy than other weeks.  If you’d like to see what the calendar looked like for crowds last year see my 2011 crowd calendar.

As of the first of the year it looks the least busy weeks for Disney World crowds will again be in September – the week ending 9/15/12 and 9/22/12.

Looking at the charts below keep a few things in mind – first these are estimated crowds based on average wait times throughout all the parks for these times of the year and are shown for the week ending with the date indicated.  Also remember that this data will change throughout the year but rarely enough to change the overall information and advice these charts can provide.

There are many factors that go into planning a Disney World Vacation but if crowd levels is part of your planning in 2012 I hope these help.  Please contact me if you have any questions.

Here’s the same data as the Saturday – Saturday Crowds shown above, just a different view in the chart:

Again, same data as represented in crowd level charts above just another way to look at it.

 
So there you have it – a quick glance at the estimated crowds you might find at Walt Disney World throughout 2012.  It’s one of many factors that should influence your Disney vacation planning.

But keep this in mind…..there is no bad time to go to Walt Disney World, only less crowded times  ;)

Between work, extra work, family and sleep it’s tough to have time for too many hobbies.  Which is okay of course.  But maybe I need a new hobby….

A long time ago I collected baseball cards, but didn’t all kids?  Then I turned it into a small side business, then a job for a few years but now – years later the industry is very different and I just have the interest anymore.  Plus, one big factor for me in thinking about a new hobby is something I can do with my kids and my son isn’t a huge sports fan so baseball cards doesn’t seem like a great option at this age.

There’s coin collecting – that might be interesting but their are a lot of coins – where would I even start and I’d probably be tempted to just spend the money.

I already play a lot of fantasy football in the fall and do pretty well thanks to custom fantasy football cheat sheets from FantasyDraftEdge.com but again, my kids aren’t football fans so it’s not something I can share with them and I probably already am too involved in it already.

Does yard work count as a hobby?  I do a lot of that.

Maybe woodworking?  That certainly seems to take some patience and a lot of equipment and supplies like router bits, saw blades, shaper cutters and I’d probably need some kind of special table.  My neighbor across the street does a lot of woodworking so I might have a resource to help me out if I decided to go this route with a new hobby.  But I’m not sure I have the patience for woodworking and I’m certain my son does not have the patience.  I’ll have to give this one more thought.

I enjoy planning our family vacations, as evidenced by my Disney World Crowd Calendar from 2011, I’ll be doing another for 2012 at the end of the year.  But again, not sure that’s really a hobby.

I’ll keep thinking about it.  Not that it matters, I still don’t really have much time anyway.  Someday I will, and then traveling often will probably win out as a hobby.

I am a huge fan of Disney World and a huge fan of the Touring Plans Crowd Calendar; heck I’m a huge fan of everything Touring Plans has to offer.  Planning a potential upcoming trip I decided to look at the numbers how I need them.  Basically Saturday – Saturday (although now thinking why not add a night and go Saturday – Sunday, but for now this data is Sat – Sat) for the entire year.  So here’s a quick look at what I found and how I did it.  I put all the crowd calendar numbers for 2011, except the first week because I started late and didn’t go back and fix it, into a spreadsheet.  Then I totaled the crowd level number for the 8 days from all Saturday to Saturdays for the year.  So of course, the lower the number the less the crowds across all 8 days.  I then made a few charts to represent this, now I’m sharing.

According to TouringPlans.com (as of 1/4/11) the least crowded week at Disney World is 9/17 – 9/24.

Followed closely by any week the rest of September.  The last week of January is also expected to have very low crowds and short wait times.

There are of course a great many factors when determining when to go to Disney World besides simply crowd levels but I thought this was interesting data and some people might agree so I thought I’d share.

Click on an image to view the image larger.

Disney World Crowd Calendar Chart 2011

Crowd Calendar Numbers - Disney World - Jan 2011

TouringPlans.com updates this data as needed – usually when Disney changes operating hours and of course these are only estimates (but TP is really, really good at it) so subject to change for multiple reasons.



Just got my T-Mobile G2!!!

A quick bit of background.  I had a G1 very early on – pre-ordered and got pretty quickly.  This replaced by Blackberry (which had replaced my Palm) and I absolutely loved my G1.  When the Nexus One came out – again, I jumped on it quickly.  Ordered within minutes of availability and got it very quickly.  LOVED IT!  But…it had issues:  wouldn’t hold WiFi signal at home (well documented issue on forums), battery life is not good at all, and my top button has now died.  Froyo was like getting an entirely new phone – the speed boost was amazing!

So it was not easy to give up Nexus One but if I can solve the issues I had AND get a physical keyboard back (never really loved the virtual keyboard) I was ready to try it!

Ordered the G2 shortly after midnight when it became available.  And on 9/30/10 it arrived!

Here are my first impressions after only hours of use:

Love the touch sensitive pad over the trackball (although I liked the trackball).

The G2 is a bit thicker, and heavier but feels sturdy and isn’t THAT bad.

Keyboard feels sturdy and the buttons are pretty good for a phone that size – I do miss 5 rows (love the dedicated numbers on the top row).

Screen is amazing!

The G2 is absolutely as fast as the Nexus One – no question about it!!!

SO FAR – The wireless connection is holding at my house!!!!!!!  Huge plus for me!!  Hopefully this continues to be the case with more use but the Nexus One would drop pretty easily and although show connected would pass no data.

Battery life – we’ll see…..I hope, I hope, I hope.

Having my top power/sleep button back is very nice.

I don’t care for the camera button – it’s big and very noticeable.  I like the theory of having the quick access button to the camera but it’s a bit intrusive.

That’s it for now….like I said, very initial thoughts – and I’ve literally had it for only hours.  But SO FAR SO GOOD!  The Nexus One may be headed for eBay very soon!

Just moments ago I got a text message from T-Mobile confirming that my T-Mobile HTC G2 Google phone has shipped!!

Scheduled delivery date according to UPS is TOMORROW!!!  Yes, delivery date for my G2 is 9/30/10!!

Stay tuned for a possible unboxing video MUCH sooner than expected!

I don’t have energy to re-write all the details – mainly because it just makes me angry all over again.  But the bottom line is pretty simple: CyberPower SUCKS!  Below is an e-mail I sent to them in some effort to get some satisfaction.

The highlights are this:

CyberPowerPC sent me my new, rather expensive, computer several months ago.  Not all the memory I ordered was showing up.  After several hours of troubleshooting it was determined the motherboard was damaged in shipping so it wasn’t seeing all the memory.  When I tried to ask Cyber Power PC for refund for the upgraded shipping I paid for since it clearly didn’t work, I was ignored – by several levels of people I attempted to contact.

Now my video card is failing – yes, the one installed by and purchases from CyberPowerPC.com and they expect me to send it back and then sit around and wait for them to send me another with no access to my still relatively new computer.  When I expressed (politely at first, and then more loudly but never cursing as I was constantly interrupted) that I felt this was an unreasonable option for a PC still under warranty I was simply told, time and time again “that’s our policy” – like having that policy made this ridiculous solution okay somehow.

Anyway, I already more fired up again than I wanted to me so I’ll just say it again.  CyberPowerPC sucks – I highly recommend that you DO NOT buy anything from them!

Here is the email I sent, we’ll see if I get any response——————————-

Apparently it is literally impossible for you to send me a part to replace the bad part in my PC without me first returning the bad part.  In this case a video card, which means I essentially have no computer for a MINIMUM of 3 days, probably closer to 2 weeks IF you actually have the part available when you get mine because again apparently it is impossible to secure one of the few replacement parts in stock while you wait for mine to arrive.  Sounds stunningly ridiculous as I type this, yet it’s true – it is your policy.
It is your policy apparently that within 30 days – when on arrival (despite having paid for enhanced shipping, and subsequently having my inquiry about a refund of upgraded shipping granted since clearly, it didn’t work) I had a motherboard problem.  A problem that took A LOT of my time with your techs to finally diagnose.  The only reasonable solution, besides me having to essentially rebuild my own computer by replacing my own motherboard was to live with less memory than I originally wanted, ordered and paid for.  So not a great start to my experience with Cyberpowerpc.com – and to pour salt in the wound my request of a refund for the enhanced shipping was simply ignored.  I paid upgraded shipping, still received damaged goods and I was ignored.
So it should not surprise me that your service has once again failed.  Unfortunately I’m spending a lot of time typing this email up and fully expect to be ignored (in fact it won’t surprise me if the email just bounces and the tech just wanted me off the phone as he refused to let me speak to his supervisor or anyone else).
A few weeks ago one of my monitors would not stay on after my PC came out of sleep mode, I have to turn it on and off several times before it will finally stay on.  Suspecting that the video card (still under warranty) could be a problem.  After several emails of troubleshooting had narrow it down to possibly being the video card, the support team offered an exchange.  And my only option was to return my current video card, the failed video card that you installed in the PC I bought from you BEFORE getting a replacement part.  Thus leaving me without a PC (since PCs are really hard to operate without video) for 3 days – 2 weeks (if you had a part in when you got mine).  This policy is stunningly ridiculous.  I can’t remember the last time advanced replacement wasn’t offered in such an exchange by any other company.
Like I said, I don’t expect a response, you’ve already shown on multiple occasions you don’t care about your customers.  And I certainly don’t expect any effort to resolve this satisfactorily.  Perhaps at least knowing I tried to alert someone to my dissatisfaction would make me feel a little better.  Oh well.

HIGH SCHOOL – 1959 vs. 2009

Scenario  1:
Joe  goes quail hunting before school and then pulls into the school  parking lot with his shotgun in his truck’s gun rack.
1959  - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Joe’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Joe.
2009  - School  goes into lock down, FBI called, Joe hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers..



Scenario  2:
Johnny and Mark get into a fist fight after school.
1959  - Crowd gathers. Mark wins.. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2009  - Police called and SWAT team arrives — they arrest both Johnny and Mark. They are both charged with assault and both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario  3:
Jeffrey will not be still in class, he disrupts other students.
1959  - Jeffrey sent to the Principal’s office and given a good paddling by the  Principal. He then returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again..
2009  - Jeffrey is given huge doses of Ritalin. He becomes a zombie. He is then tested for ADD. The school gets extra money from the state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario  4:
Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.
1959  - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college and becomes a successful businessman.
2009  - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse.. Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang. The state psychologist is told by Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison.  Billy’s mom has an affair with the psychologist.

Scenario  5:
Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.
1959 - Mark  shares his aspirin with the Principal out on the smoking  dock.
2009 - The police are called and Mark is expelled from school for drug violations. His car is then searched for drugs and weapons..


Scenario  6:
Pedro fails high school English.
1959 - Pedro  goes to summer school, passes English and goes to  college.
2009 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against the state school system and Pedro’sEnglish teacher.  English is then banned from  core curriculum. Pedro is given his diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak  English.

Scenario  7:
Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from the Fourth of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle and blows up a red ant bed.
1959  - Ants die.
2009 - ATF, Homeland Security and the FBI are all called. Johnny is charged with domestic terrorism. The FBI investigates his parents  – and all siblings are removed from their home and all computers are confiscated. Johnny’s dad is placed on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario  8:
Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort  him.
1959  - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing…
2009  - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison.  Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

We were at Schlitterbahn Kansas on opening day! A quiet opening with not all of the phase I rides open yet but still a fun few hours with an exceptionally small crowd. The potential is absolutely there for a great water park but not just yet….as expected for the first few weeks until the final touches are on the remaining phase I attractions. In a few years it will be amazing once it’s 100% done at full strength. Here’s a video (that we are in if you look closely) from Fox 4 News in KC!