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Disney World, Florida, Internet Service.

04/21/2007 Score Card Comments 0 Comment

Disney World, Florida, Internet service, some notes.

I am about to tell you of a little trick. I do not guarantee this will work for you. I can only share with you a situation that we experienced.

Disney World in Florida at the time-share facilities offers Internet service as follows. The cost is about $9.95 for 24 hours contiguous. This means that as soon as you start the service the clock never stops until the 24 hours are up. If you shut down your laptop, the clock is still running. The service charges goes to the final bill for the room. It would be very wise to choose to start your Internet service at a time when you would get the maximum utilization out of it.

We could not find more than one Ethernet port in our apartment. We found our Ethernet wall port next to the kitchen, behind the dining room table along the wall in the bar section, while staying at Old Key West. In All Star Music, we found the port located on the desk in the form of a plastic box. Our apartment offered a single Ethernet cable. Make sure you leave that cable when you check out, as you will be billed for it if it is missing.

Getting the service turned on is quite clever and easy. Just plug your laptop into the room port using the Ethernet cable provided. Open a web browser and up pops a Disney offer to subscribe to the Internet. If the correct web page fails to open, close the Internet browser and then open it up again. You just might have to delete the previous chosen home page from your preference setup so your laptop will better find the Disney logon page. I did not have to do that but I did have to launch my browser twice to get one of my sessions started.

My research of Internet connectivity for the Disney resorts failed to answer all my questions. The Internet sites failed to tell me how the service worked. I decided to take a gamble and take with me, on this vacation, an Ethernet hub with support cables (one short from port to hub and two long cables from hub to laptops). One day on our vacation I decided to subscribe to Disney’s Internet service but before I did, I hooked up the hub to service my laptop and my son’s laptop. After I completed the subscription logon using my laptop, both my son and I experienced good Internet service on the two machines. We figured that this little trick saved us money and this trick rocks when you take into account that there was only one port implying only one computer normally could gain internet connectivity at a time. Evidently, the subscription opens the port to the room and not the individual computer. I just could not believe my luck. Thus, one can save money by hooking up a hub or switch to add service to more than one device from each wall port. Including a port, or switch into your luggage will increase space and weight. Try to find a small lightweight hub. When we returned home, we found that my luggage was over weight. At the Delta check in, I had to quickly move some items out of my suitcase and into my son’s case to avoid a $25 penalty charge for being over 50 pounds.

I do implore everyone not to hook up a wireless unit. That would only call attention to this opportunity to extract improved service and might move Disney to only provide service to individual computers. Let us all keep this little trick a secret – please.

Shootings at Virginia Tech.

04/20/2007 Score Card Comments 0 Comment

Reflection and comments on the shootings at Virginia Tech.

The horrific shootings that took place at Virginia Tech must be studied and some sense made of what happened, if at all possible, and then a progression toward preventing this from occurring again is called for. I have already heard it said that these events just happen and we can not preventing them. Even if that were true, I detest that line of reasoning as it stops all effort at us trying to find some solution. I scarcely have even a good collection of the facts but I have already come to some preliminary conclusions that might be totally off base but I think we need to throw into a pot all the ideas we can come up with and see which ones hold any merit. Here goes. I am trying to figure out why any young man or women would think to participate in any killing especially a mass killing. Let us assume that there was no brain tumor or chemical imbalance in the person but try to target the process, which the young person was brought up, raised just to see if there are any factors that contributed because if this is true, we as a society just might have some control. Here are the “facts” that I have been presented to me. Probably the statement that makes the most sense to me was someone said that the shooter “…was raised as a prince”. Another fact, this young man was a minority, Korean. His family apparently did not have a lot of money but he attended a university that had a lot of children from wealthy homes. He was away from his family and any support group that he might have had. He chose English instead of philosophy, sociology, or psychology, which would have been better choices for a troubled youth. He stalked women and took pictures at one event of the female students in a manner that was inappropriate. Very quickly I have put together the pieces like a puzzle, for me, in my mind, and have come to the following conclusions:

While you read this try to keep in mind and count all the alleged negative factors in this young man’s life. Raised like a prince denotes to me a spoiled child, possibly sheltered and given things that he wanted, maybe not that he earned. I would have to guess that this boy was not active as a younger child in groups such as Boy Scouts, team sports, youth groups, church groups, and summer camps. I have had experience watching boys attend a Boy Scout troop and have seen a couple of fathers intervene in their son’s lives to the extent that the boy is protected in two ways. First, the boy is shown special treatment that he did not deserve so he is thought he was special. Second, the boy is not allowed to get full and complete feedback from the other parents at boards of review and at other events. When parents live their children’s lives and other adults and children cannot file away at the rough edges, the socialization process might not be complete for that child. Parents need to get their children involved in a lot of social groups and only get involved in their child’s activities by taking the child too and from the event and only intervene is there is truly some wrong that has been done. And, otherwise, butt out of the group socializing process.

Troubled youth that have family lives that are troublesome, many times take up psychology in an effort to figure out their own problems in life and if they have been successful in doing so, finding answers to their own problems, they often times have a sensitivity and compassion for other individuals that are leading troubling lives. Sociology is a wonderful discipline to take in high school and college to help explain social interaction problems. For a young person who is trying to figure out what life is about might do well to take up philosophy. The shooter took up English, which for me was probably a self-expression medium for this young man. I would guess this young man needed to express his anger. At the same time he utterly failed to come to the realization that he had a problem that he had to address. That might indicate that his problem was very serious in that he did not see his own responsibility in the feelings that he held. If that is true, the boy was self-delusional and then society must intervene. It is my guess that he thought all his problems were coming from the people around him. Having a new peer group surrounding you and that peer group so socially successful, having good social skills when the shooter was a loner must have been a huge burden for the shooter to fathom, why he was so different and incapable. The shooter looked around him and the students he was immersed in were obviously on track for achieving good employment and had few real life worries. Schools are social gatherings for young people. Beginning with middle school the social skill interaction between boy and girl, generally, picks up. In high school the social interaction is obviously more developed and most families approve dating. The point I want to make is going to college thrusts a whole new collection of individuals together who do not know one another. If a young person does not have the social skills to interact by this level of schooling, it just might be too late. The best one can do is for the people around a shy, reclusive individual is to not force but confront by actively looking out and reaching out to entice the young person to come out of their shell and above all give that person a lot of social skill opportunities. We must become proactive and intervene some times in the lives of people around us. It takes some awareness of others and sensitivity and a lot of common sense to pull this off correctly. The last thing you want to do is try to draw a person out and they discover that is your intent. It must look to be genuine interest in the individual. That is my thoughts at this time. I cannot accept the viewpoint that we just sit by and wait for another event to occur.

All Star Music at Disney World in Florida.

04/16/2007 Score Card Comments 0 Comment

All Star Music, at Disney World in Florida (4-14-07)

This facility is not a time-share but cost per day facility and considered for people on a budget. The cost of our room during spring break of 07, considered high season was expensive at $265 a day for a â€œsuiteâ€ (with tax, $299.45). This â€œsuiteâ€ is listed as being able to sleep six. We had to move to this facility, our last day, to extend out vacation to ten days. I was somewhat happy we did to see the contrast in facilities and provide more information to you.

The facility did have a music theme but the overall impression was gaudy almost clashing building colors. It was like a child gone crazy with a paint set. The reception area, cafeteria, and most public spaces were harsh, fast food decor, nothing soft in the building presentation. Disney was not going to let you forget that you were in a budget facility because everywhere you looked it was not pleasing to the eye. This was definitely down scale from Old Key West.

Our luggage was waiting for us in our room, which was quite nice. We had five people in our party. Boy this â€œsuiteâ€ was tight for this many people. I liken it to being on a cruse ship, that tight. My son remarked that while at Old Key West he liked just hanging out in our apartment and not rushing out to the amusement park areas. Here at All Star Music, I do not think anyone wanted to hang out in the â€œsuiteâ€.

Here is the list of the rooms in our â€œsuiteâ€.

Living room had a very small round table with two chairs. By small I mean two people can use it but no more. To continue, the living room has a large TV housed in a wood enclosure that took up way too much floor space. Disney needs to switch over to flat panel TVâ€™s for these rooms to provide more space in this room. This living room has two sofas, two seats and a three seat, which can be extended out for the use as beds. The two-seat bed was good for one person sleeping and two-person sofa was good for two people sleeping. There was also a chair footstool, an ottoman that can be opened up for another single person bed. Problem is when the two sofas are extended where do you put the ottoman bed? We placed it in the short hallway connecting living room and the kitchen. With the beds extended out fully, the living room is pretty much toast for moving around.

A separate bedroom was not very large. It was provided with a door from the rest of the â€œsuiteâ€. Mom and dad would certainly take that separate bedroom and the children would sleep in the fold out beds and ottoman in the living room. This separate bedroom had its own TV housed in a sort of dresser unit.

A small desk was to the side of the TV and there was a row of AC outlets provided, which was nice. This desk offered Internet for a cost of $9.95 for 24 hours contiguous use, meaning the clock ran, non-stop from when you started the service. It was quite easy to use this Internet service. All you had to do is plug an Ethernet cable from a small desk box to your laptop and then start up your computer and launch any web browser. A startup screen would present a Disney screen offering the Internet service for a fee. The bed would sleep two and at both sides are nightstands. Each stand had a lamp and one stand had an alarm clock.

There are two separate bathrooms next to one another. A sink is just outside of each bathroom and there is a curtain that can be drawn for a dressing area. There was a closet area in each bathroom. The vent fans for both bathrooms were quite noisy. To turn on the light in the bathroom would also turn on the vent fan. One had to practically climb over the toilet to get to the shower, a slight exaggeration.

We found that the air condition unit for our bedroom was not as quiet as we would prefer. The sounds from the other units around ours, we did not notice. We could hear people walking up and down the outside second floor balcony walkway but this was not bad just barely noticeable.

Unlike the Old Key West Resort rooms there were very few AC outlets. I had to move the night sand away from the wall to get to plug in my laptop computer. I would strongly suggest that you bring an AC outlet strip if you have any number of technology gadgets that need charging.

An alcove offered a pretty small and very limited kitchen for us. The coffee pot could provide only enough for two cups of coffee. The refrigerator was very small as was the microwave. Only two people could fit into the kitchen area at one time. Some basic utensils were provided. We especially appreciated the corkscrew.

A major problem with this â€œsuiteâ€ is there were only two areas that one could use, the living room area and the separate bedroom. A vacation consists of, I believe, being able to escape from other family members when one needs to. At the Old Key West Resort, I counted at least four separate areas for a person to choose and get away from the rest of the family. It appeared to me that most families used the large pool area as an escape from their â€˜suiteâ€.

Review conclusions: I am at a loss to figure out why Disney did not try to make this facility more visually and functionally pleasing. They seem to be using a device that fast food establishments use to move customers along, in and out, that being, loud obnoxious colors, huge boring wall surfaces and very little to no acoustical noise reduction treatment. I am guessing but this just might be a sophisticated marketing ploy to get families to sign up for time-share. It is all about money isnâ€™t it for corporate America. Disney does not seem to care about their employees one bit, from conversations we had with employees during out stay, so keep that in mind when looking at the time-share program. Disney just might treat you the way it treats the people working for it. For us, the Disney time-share at Old Key West was at one end of the continuum and this facility was at the other end in a lot of ways. I think this facility is ok for young families that are raising children and are climbing up, hopefully, the ladder of success but cannot yet afford expensive resort prices. The time-share concept is one solution but I have yet to figure out if it makes sense for us and for whom else does it make sense? I would personally look to facilities outside of Disney property before you come here. Use the Internet to compare prices and then decide. If you do choose to come to Disneyâ€™s budget facilities, you do get a wonderful, â€œfreeâ€ transportation system.

Tip: Once you are inside this park, no one will ask you where you are staying so you can use any Disney bus to take you from one park to another. If you even want to crash a resort, you probably could do so and no one would be the wiser. The resorts have a LOT more for you to do than just a pool.

Chef Mickey at Disney World, Florida.

04/16/2007 Score Card Comments 0 Comment

Chef Mickey at Disney World, Florida.

Here and at quite a few other restaurants at Disney World, Disney characters make a birthday a very enjoyable and special occasion for the birthday child. The Disney characters make the rounds going from table to table with particular attention paid to children celebrating their birthday. They show special attention toward birthday children like no other restaurant does. If your child has a birthday, this is a must attend restaurant. The Disney characters do a fantastic job. This restaurant does offer family photographs. For the adults, it is way more comfortable than Rainforest. Here is the meal review:

Main meal reviews:
Prime rib was dry, a bit tough and overall just fair.
Ribs were tender but had a slightly odd flavor.
Salmon had a good flavor.
Garlic mashed potatoes were a favorite, excellent flavor. I recommend that when you try these, you do not put any gravy on them but try a small amount to get a pure original flavor experience. The gravy only masks the flavor of this surprise dish.

For the desert reviews:
Mickey moose was very good.
Sugar free brownie was fair. For being free of sugar, I guess it was good.
Cheese cake, nothing special here.
They offer ice cream and devices for laying on top of your desert a whole lot of different sprinkles.

I do not normally mention servers unless they are above average. Melvin was an older gentleman who was excellent. He gave us very good advice throughout the meal.

As parents, we enjoyed this restaurant almost as much as our children.

I warmly recommend this restaurant for your birthday child. As for adult food quality, it was ok.

Coral Reef Restaurant at Disney World, Florida, Epcot.

04/14/2007 Score Card Comments 1 comment

Coral Reef Restaurant located at Disney World, Florida, Epcot. (4-14-07).

Five of us had dinner at the Coral Reef Restaurant located at Disney World, Epcot. Upon entering we found the entrance to be a very colorful wide hallway.

The walls on one side were waves of color and the ceiling had colorful lights with tentacles cutting into the light beam.

Our wait for a table was not all that long as we had reservations. We were escorted down the rest of the hallway to the dining room. As we turned a corner into the dining room we found a really colorful very interesting layout. I was actually quite taken a back by the presentation of this dining room.

We appeared to be entering into a theater with four very deep rows angled down toward the stage or front of this theater. The stage area, for the lack of a better term, consisted of four huge openings bordered by huge pillars. We were looking into a huge single tank of fish all across the front of this dining room but cut into four â€œscreensâ€ sections of view.

The room was dimly lit, quite dark to enhance the visual appreciation of the fish tank. Looking into the tank it was also quite dark but a few lighted portions existed of light that was closer to white than the dark blue almost black portions not illuminated. I had never seen a fish tank so dark before. Each row of seating consisted of front and rear tables, so there were two sets of tables for each of the four levels, front and rear table rows. We sat at the very back of the restaurant in a curved booth, which was quite nice. We could not see the bottom of the fish tank because the back row did suffer that problem but most of the fish tanks were in full view.

At our table, single spotlights from overhead lighted each table in the room so the food was well lit on the table but the people around the table were not illuminated well at all. I have seen this before at other restaurants and it does seem to work especially if you have in attendance ugly people in your dining party like me. Coasters, napkins, ceiling and beverage glasses were all done in blue.

Our server arrived and was very good and explained a lot more about the place and our dishes than one normally finds at most restaurants.

Here is the food review:

The meal starts with bread and they do give you a good amount. The bread was refilled at our request with no problem. It tasted quite good but not remarkable.
The lobster soup was perfect. It was incredibly creamy a gourmet quality selection.
The Cesar salad was very good. The dressing was strong, probably due to the anchovy flavor. This is probably not a children’s salad. My son did not like it but Janice Edwards liked it, giving it an 8 out of 10 score.
The ahi tuna steak was very large in size. The ginger soy sesame flavor was quite strong.

I asked this steak to be medium rare and it came to me exactly that condition, I was quite impressed.

The mahi mahi was medium in size, great flavor but a bit dry. The sauce helped recover from the dryness.
The shrimp pasta had a strong fish flavor.

Janice Edwards declared it to be ok, not great.

Note: We noticed that a chef came out to consult with some people at a nearby table. It is stated on the menu that the cooks will work with any patron that has special needs. I thought that was a terrific policy.

Conclusion: This restaurant is great to recover from dining at buffet style restaurants. The ambiance is just simply remarkable and memorable. I recommend you come and enjoy the bread and the lobster soup and if you need an entree, I suggest you do a split of two dishes if more than one person is in your party and you can agree on the split.

Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Downtown Disney, at Disney World, Florida

04/13/2007 Score Card Comments 0 Comment

My wife and I had dinner at Wolfgang Puck located at Walt Disney World, Florida at the Downtown Disney location. We attended April 13, 2007 for dinner. We had prior experience with Wolfgang Puck restaurants, as there was one in Orange County California in the Block of Orange. Due to being in a bad location, a teenager hangout, it closed down. We had tried most of the signature dishes from previous visits to the Orange County facility. I must admit a propensity to favor this restaurant because Orange County lacks really good restaurants of gourmet quality. The Wolfgang Puck restaurants appeared to me to bring gourmet quality to the masses at affordable prices but the masses must be capable of appreciating really good food.

While at Disney World in Florida one day, Janice Edwards took our children to another restaurant so my wife and I could have a nice quiet meal together. One of those rare romantic interludes that married couples only dream of when they have children. We had reservations for 5:30, arrived early and were seated early by about 5:20. When being seated, I faced the restaurant and my wife faced the windows so she could have a view of the lake just outside the restaurant.

We knew that we wanted the butter nut soup and try out an appetizer. I suggested something new. Why not order one appetizer and the butternut soup for each of us? I asked our server, Nicole, and she said it was ok. Nicole was great as our server. I told her that after we started with those two items we would call her over and then decide what next if anything we wanted. We ordered the butternut soup and calamari. I went outside to take pictures of the front of the restaurant for this blog and noticed that restaurant employees were dragging out in front of the restaurant two separate podiums. I had noticed the two podiums inside and two separate people at each but nothing registered with me why two colored registration podiums were in front of me. I walked back into the restaurant to take some more pictures inside.

How to describe the restaurant decor on the main floor? Well my wife and I came up with the following: eclectic mish mash of bold spring colors and lots of geometric shapes.

Here are the component parts of the restaurant. The line, just to the left as one enters the front door, where a whole line of cooks are actually in the restaurant for you to view preparing meals and in some places one can sit to eat while watching these cooks.

In front of the line is a long slender table where the expediter looks over each dish for correctness and might garnish a dish and where about five food runners pick up each dish. This restaurant does not use heat lamps.

They try to get the food to you quickly. To the right of the main entrance is the sushi bar and an eating area for that dining. There is outside patio dining around the outside of the restaurant.

Beyond the line is the pantry where salads, and crab cakes are made. I noticed that a few people could sit at a bar and get a very close view of about three people doing the food preparation there. This would be a great place for a husband and wife to “loose” the children for a while. Just ask the people that seat you your intentions and make sure you also get a table that has a good view of your children if they sit at this bar.

The next part of the restaurant is the dessert island and coffee drink preparation, under the stairs leading up to the second floor and toward the center of the restaurant. A glass case on one side of this island showed off a selection of desserts.

I made my way back to our table to find that the bread had arrived along with the drinks. One of the bread items was olive bread. I found this to be utterly wonderful. My wife told me they use Kalmata olives. There was second bread but less distinctive but still quite good. The butternut soup arrived and was consistent with previous visits and wonderful.

My wife loves calamari. We had that for an appetizer. That plate was enough for four people. After the soup and calamari we quit, totally full. I was so glad that we had not ordered another dish. My wife made the comment that the people at the front, that make the seating arrangements, should, when they spot a middle-aged couple, not seat them close to noisy children. We had at least two families with young children next to us that were quite noisy.

Somehow I discovered that there was an upstairs dining area. I think my wife spotted that possibility. I made an inquirer and was told there was a separate restaurant on the second floor. I went up to take a look. It was quiet, less than half full of people. A lot of tables were empty.

I was offered a table; the person offering it to me had no idea that I had already been seated and finished my meal at the restaurant below.

At the time we dinned (5:45 PM) the main floor restaurant was practically full of people and thus very noisy. I had never experienced this much noise before. I became to realize that this restaurant was close to being a fast food establishment by the number of people attending and the resulting noise. I was beginning to feel that this place was not the experience I wanted for the two of us. We were eating really good food but the ambiance was all wrong. It seemed that every restaurant experience at this resort was noisy. We found out that the restaurant on the second floor was called Wolf Gang Puck Dinning. It opened up at 6PM. We had arrived too early for that restaurant to be offered to us. I wish someone had still offered us this possibility. My wife and I would have for sure ordered a drink and waited. I hate to wait for anything but for a better dining experience, I will sacrifice if I think the benefits outweigh the wait.

My wife and I requested the menu for the restaurant up stairs and found it enticing, different than the main floor offerings. I sensed that my wife would have wanted to attend the second floor establishment. My wife figured the prices were two to three dollars more for the same dishes found on the main floor.

Conclusion: Wolfgang Puck food is fantastic for me. It was my first experience in Orange County California of what I consider gourmet quality food. The food is always well-prepared, presented well and a taste so different than the normal fare and maintains goodness in my mind that I want to come back for more. This restaurant brings gourmet dining experience to the masses because the prices are every reasonable and the type dishes are memorable. The down side is to make this place profitable, they have to attract a lot of customers and provide food quickly. I really recommend this dining experience when the restaurant is not full of people.

Down side: I really felt bad that we had not tried out the restaurant up stairs, Wolfgang Puck Dining. I really do think the people at the hostess table need to understand more than just seating people but how to seat people. I cannot recommend that restaurant as I have yet to try it out. This review is only for the Wolfgang Puck Restaurant. I left this restaurant with less than a satisfactory feeling for not being offered a chance to attend a new dining experience.

Updated post December 18, 2021 by providing improved link to find Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill web site.