The Fountainview is closed

I'm glad to see people watching Illuminations: Reflections of Earth,
and exiting from, the United Kingdom/Canada side of the World Showcase.

Why?

Because, that side of the World Showcase has the prevailing winds blow
the smoke/ash from I:RoE into your eyes better than 90% of the time.
So, this leaves me more room and less congestion on the other side (as
long as you kill enough time to let the "Mexico" bottleneck clear
before exiting) :)

I used to watch the 90's version of Illuminations (opened with
"Beethoven's 5th Symphony") from the International Gateway Bridge
(which, for some reason, didn't get the smoke/ash like it does now...
although Canada always did).
In any event, one of my favorite exit time-killers was to hang-out in
the garden area behind the United Kingdom shops. Typically, I was the
only one there. Great quiet moments :)

More recently, I used to hang-out in Norway's Stave Church (when it had
the religeous display). The last few times I went by the Stave Church
after I:RoE, the doors were already locked :(

On 20 Jan 2007 10:17:21 -0800, "BigBob" <BigBobxxx@cfl.> wrote:

>I'm glad to see people watching Illuminations: Reflections of Earth,
>and exiting from, the United Kingdom/Canada side of the World Showcase.
>
>Why?
>
>Because, that side of the World Showcase has the prevailing winds blow
>the smoke/ash from I:RoE into your eyes better than 90% of the time.

Really? Huh. I've found it the exact opposite. Anytime I've watched
from the China/Norway area has been miserable. The smoke sometimes was
so think I couldn't see much of anything happening on the lake. So we
usually now find something on the east side. Or by Italy/Germany.


Dave in Dallas - The one and only!
Accept no substitutes.

Dave in Dallas - The One And Only <Daveintx@swbell.net> wrote:
: On 20 Jan 2007 10:17:21 -0800, "BigBob" <BigBobxxx@cfl.> wrote:

: >Because, that side of the World Showcase has the prevailing winds blow
: >the smoke/ash from I:RoE into your eyes better than 90% of the time.

: Really? Huh. I've found it the exact opposite. Anytime I've watched
: from the China/Norway area has been miserable. The smoke sometimes was
: so think I couldn't see much of anything happening on the lake. So we
: usually now find something on the east side. Or by Italy/Germany.

It may have something to do with time of year. But the trips I used to
take in Oct and the more recent trips in Dec the wind has much more often
blown more to the UK side. On the other hand I remember only one
Illuminations cruise (Dec) when the show was obscured by smoke (but far
enough off the water that no "burning eyes"). I guess I'll get to remind
myself of the prevailing winds in early Oct this next year at the RADP
meet. :)

But I make it a habit, when watching from the promenade, to do the old
"wet finger in the air" routine when I am deciding where to watch from
and choose somewhere that is at least 90 deg away from downwind. Even
using this routine I still have 3/4 of WS to choose from. And I have
spotted several good to decent locations all around the lake. One nice
thing about being a solo traveler, there are many places where one person
can get a good view while everyone around you is partially obscured. :)

Randy

==========
Randy Berbaum
Champaign, IL

On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 04:17:19 +0000 (UTC), Randy Berbaum
<rberbaum@bluestem.prairienet.org> wrote:

>But I make it a habit, when watching from the promenade, to do the old
>"wet finger in the air" routine when I am deciding where to watch from
>and choose somewhere that is at least 90 deg away from downwind.

D'Oh! I've honestly never thought about doing that. Excellent idea! I
mean "Duh!", of course do the wet finger routine.

> Even
>using this routine I still have 3/4 of WS to choose from. And I have
>spotted several good to decent locations all around the lake. One nice
>thing about being a solo traveler, there are many places where one person
>can get a good view while everyone around you is partially obscured. :)

Yeah, I've notice that when I've been solo, as well. Add to it, I'm
6'3" so it's not hard for me to see over heads when I want to watch
parades or ground level shows.


Dave in Dallas - The one and only!
Accept no substitutes.

Getting back to The Fountainview...

On Friday, 1/26/07, I observed that all the chairs from the outdoor
patio had been removed and were stacked-up inside the cafe itself (in
plain view through the windows).

Also, the steps leading up to the patio and front doors have been
roped-off with the "Fountainview is not serving breakfast at this
time..." sign.

Year of a Million... nickel-&-dime cutbacks :(

BTW, the parking-lot tram(s) were not running on 1/26/07 either!
This was despite the fact that the "Press Event" was still going on,
they were parking vehicles way out in the extremes of the parking-lot
and, at the end of the day, the parking lot was packed (which would
explain why they were parking regular guests in the extremes of the
parking-lot earlier in the day).

On Jan 27, 9:07 am, "BigBob" <BigBob...@cfl.> wrote:
(snippage)
>
> Year of a Million... nickel-&-dime cutbacks :(
>

I like that--Year of a Million Nickel & Dime Cutbacks. Would be a
great subject line for a new thread.

In truth, though, I didn't really notice much in the way of cutbacks
on my last couple of trips EXCEPT in food services, where they seem to
be experimenting to see what the least acceptable food in the fewest
acceptable venues might bet. Maybe we should call them nickel and dine
cutbacks.

--
Caren
TDC Queen of Adventureland