#in both the queue and how the ride itself operates

[avaloniaofficial]

🪐immaculate vibes🪐

[jet-bradley]

going to share here what's probably my most controversial theme park opinion and by that i mean "i've been blocked by people over this before" but. thoosies need to stop using GP as an insult not just because that's inane, but because there is no meaningful difference between a coaster enthusiast and another theme park guest. you're both members of the general public.

like, the interests of a theme park guest who isn't a ride enthusiast are not actually that fundamentally different than the interests of guests who are. ride enthusiasts like to frame themselves like because they know a lot about theme parks, ride systems, etc, and maybe they prefer more thrilling rides, that they're fundamentally a different type of guest than every other guest in a theme park. but that's just... incorrect for a lot of reasons?

like if your argument is that a coaster enthusiast is going to prioritize thrill coasters over other rides at the park, that's fine and it makes sense for some things, like, famously, the defunctland queue line video's analysis of wait times. but i don't think the venn diagram between "people who will prioritize thrilling rides over doing anything else in the park" and "coaster enthusiast" is as circular as ride enthusiasts think it is. growing up i definitely didn't consider myself a thrill ride enthusiast but i still prioritized thrill coasters visiting theme parks. working at thrill rides i'd say most of the guests i meet there fall into this category. they don't really identify as ride enthusiasts but they wait in line for big rides because other rides aren't fun for them at all.

there also are plenty of coaster enthusiasts who can't really handle high G forces like you'd expect, and have to take dramamine/etc just to ride anything, but they're still enthusiasts because they like the design. the fact that there are people who call themselves ride enthusiasts while refusing to ride anything at a non-disney park should be evidence enough that coaster enthusiasts aren't the monolith people think they are.

but i think the real root of this belief is--and this is the worrying part for me as an ex-op, and an engineering student with connections working in the A&A industry--that these people genuinely believe that the act of trying to learn a lot about rides makes you on a level similar to an industry insider. which is absolutely batshit to me. and this manifests itself in a lot of ways. even the regulars at my theme park that i liked working with the most, ended up crossing a lot of work-life barriers with ride operators that made ops uncomfortable. sometimes they would expect us to tell them insider knowledge about the parks that we couldn't tell anyone, just because they were regulars.

a more concerning facet of this is how many regulars will go out of their way to like, FOLLOW RIDE OPS ON SOCIAL MEDIA. some RO's love this and love the clout they get from working at a theme park, but when you work at a minor-to-medium size park, guests finding and following you on your socials can be terrifying. one of my friends had a regular message him about something random on his story that the guest took as an innocent question, but the answer to that question had identifying information that a customer just shouldn't know about an employee at a place they happen to visit a lot.

(side note: instagram in particular is really annoying about this! ops follow each other, so a guest who only follows the ops whose pages are About Being Ride Ops, will ultimately be recommended pages by ops who aren't open about it on their profiles. the app will recommend you to follow friends of friends and if you go to the park enough, you can definitely pick out ops just from their profile photos... it's super freaky! especially since my park employs minors in rides!)

and honestly? it also applies to the mess that happened at iaapa expo last year, where specific ride enthusiasts/channels that cater to them started harassing AMUSEMENT RIDE CONTRACTORS. because these people dont understand exactly how removed the average theme park guest is from any decision being made at the DESIGN LEVEL of amusement rides. im gonna level with you, that's a problem - it's how you get NEW COASTERS that aren't accomodating for larger guests (hi velocicoaster!) but like, fundamentally, paying money to attend a HUGE conference for industry insiders and trying to argue with people on camera isn't "putting pressure on them" in the way that you think it is. these companies are completely divorced from the reality of the people they build rides for. i'm a huge fan of b&m coasters, but like, they haven't even built a single ride in their own country. if you knew jack shit about the industry you'd know it's gonna take more than like, yelling at some sales reps about the problem to fix anything.

and even then, they weren't even mad about anything that's current inside the industry, or even real problems like the ones i mentioned above! they were just upset because they didnt like some companies' coasters very much. what's the fucking point?

tl;dr the only effective difference between a coaster/ride enthusiast and the rest of the GP is what exactly they were more likely to verbally abuse me for back when i worked as a ride op. the ONLY other difference i can think of is general entitlement, but plenty of other subsets of guests are entitled (such as first-time parents of small children).

also if you've never worked anywhere in the industry and you're insulted by the idea of being GP, dont try to argue with me lol.

[3rdculturecharacter]

Spider from Avatar, Way of the Water was the character who first gave me the idea for this blog, so it's only fitting he be the first up.

There is so much to unpack with his character.

Firstly I found it heartwarming to see how the human immigrant community and the Omatikaya Clan had overlapped between movies. Both adopting some cultural elements from the other without loosing their unique traits.

I loved to see how they were able to respect and embrace eachother and work together, allowing for a super diverse set of characters to explore

(It would have been so easy to just make them hate eachother. It's not flawless, but as it stands it's one of the best fictional cultural exchanges I have seen, in my opinion.)

One of these characters being Spider.

He is a human boy, brought up first by humans and then also by Na'vi on Pandora.

He is a third culture kid in the purest sence.

He has this interesting conflict around his identity, as many third culture people do. In his own eyes, he is clearly Pandoran, culturally aligning more with the Na'vi that with the Humans.

He has no bad feelings towards the other humans and avatars who raised him, but there is this strong resentment for his heratige and for his own body.

It's something I have found very relatable as a third culture kid: like sure he is able to partake in a MOST of the day to day activities, but he has a physical inability to truly connect to the culture and even the world itself that he belongs to.

Its always in the background of his character. As we the audience see him going about his life we ask "Umm ok so how would that work...?" And the answer is simply that it wouldnt. And every time it's kinda heartbreaking.

Not ten feet tall and blue?

Ok well, so ur slower, less agile, more likely to fall to your death, will always be the odd one out.

No queue?

Well sorry son, no riding, no flying, no fun girlfriend times (I mean like later ok), no right of passage, no connecting to the planet, no ancestral wisdom, no force ghost, no Eywa.

Our guy can't even breathe the air of his home plannet.

I have described one of the downsides of being third culture being "it sometimes feels like your separated from everyone else by a layer of glass".... He is literally behind a layer of glass!

And of course we see him trying to compensate by painting himself and saying how the animals trust him as if he was Na'vi.

And later we see him actually exploring his humanity and his heratige and what those things do or don't mean to him.

We see him curious about how different human operations function, find personal connection within the colonist side, grapple with the temptation to have a farther figure who seems to care for him.

The extent of his takeaway from his time spent with the colonists is still unclear, but his consideration was a very effective showcase of his yearning for belonging amongst two sets of people who he doesn't fit in with, as well as the fact that he wasn't COMPLETELY happy amongst the Na'vi and was therefore intrigued by the alternative.

(They did a really good job at balancing his loyalty to the Na'vi with his curiosity towards the colonist without letting us forget that he was in fact the colonist's prisoner at the time btw)

He is sort of a distilled version of all of the problems that come with being third culture and I'm super interested to see what they do with this conflict going forward in the franchise.

[realesstatee]

Dubai Frame: Everything You Need to Know About Tickets, Location, Timings, and More

Dubai is famous for its awe-inspiring skyscrapers, world-class attractions, and innovative architecture. Among the city's many attractions, the Dubai Frame stands out as a unique architectural wonder. Designed to resemble a giant picture frame, it offers visitors a panoramic view of both old and new Dubai, symbolizing the city's rich history and ambitious future. Whether you're a first-time visitor or a Dubai resident, here's everything you need to know about the Dubai Frame, from ticket information to location and timings.

What is the Dubai Frame?

The Dubai Frame is a 150-meter-high and 93-meter-wide structure that was designed to frame the city’s evolving skyline. Its glass bridge offers unparalleled 360-degree views of the city, highlighting both the modern skyscrapers and the more traditional parts of Dubai. The Frame’s design and concept are symbolic of Dubai's transformation from a fishing village to a futuristic metropolis.

In addition to its visual appeal, the Dubai Frame is also an immersive experience that showcases the city's past, present, and future through a series of exhibits.

Dubai Frame Location

The Dubai Frame location is conveniently situated in Zabeel Park, which is easily accessible from many parts of the city. Zabeel Park itself is a popular spot among residents and tourists for picnics and family outings, making the Dubai Frame a perfect addition to your itinerary when visiting the park.

Here’s the exact address:

Dubai Frame Address: Zabeel Park, Gate 4, Dubai, UAE

The location is central, making it easy to visit other top attractions nearby, such as Dubai Mall and Burj Khalifa, once you've enjoyed the stunning views from the Frame.

How to Get to Dubai Frame:

By Metro: The closest metro station is the Al Jafiliya Station on the Red Line. From there, it’s about a 15-minute walk or a short taxi ride to Zabeel Park and the Dubai Frame.

By Car: There is ample parking available at Zabeel Park, making it convenient for those who prefer driving. Simply input "Dubai Frame" in your GPS, and it will guide you directly to the attraction.

By Taxi: Taxis are widely available throughout Dubai. Just ask the driver to drop you off at the Dubai Frame entrance at Zabeel Park.

Dubai Frame Tickets

Before visiting, you’ll need to purchase Dubai Frame tickets. The good news is that tickets are reasonably priced, making this experience affordable for both tourists and residents alike.

Ticket Prices:

Adults (Ages 13 and above): AED 50

Children (Ages 3 to 12): AED 20

Children below 3 years and people of determination: Free entry

Where to Buy Tickets:

Tickets can be purchased at the gate upon arrival or through the Dubai Frame official website. Purchasing online allows you to skip the queues and secure your preferred time slot.

Dubai Frame Timings

Planning your visit around the right Dubai Frame timings ensures you get the most out of your experience. The attraction is open year-round, but timing your visit to coincide with sunset provides breathtaking views as the city's skyline transforms under the golden light.

Dubai Frame Opening Hours:

Daily: 9:00 AM – 9:00 PM

Keep in mind that the Dubai Frame timing may vary during public holidays, Ramadan, or special events, so it’s advisable to check in advance. The Dubai Frame official website provides up-to-date information on any changes to the operating hours.

Best Time to Visit the Dubai Frame

While the Dubai Frame is a fantastic attraction any time of the day, the best time to visit is in the late afternoon to enjoy both daylight and the beautiful sunset. As the sun sets, you can watch Dubai’s skyline illuminate with sparkling lights, providing a magical view from the top.

Additionally, visiting early in the morning or in the late evening can help you avoid the heat and larger crowds.

Dubai Frame Experience

The Dubai Frame experience is more than just about the views. The attraction is divided into three distinct segments that take you on a journey through time.

1. Old Dubai Gallery:

The experience begins with an immersive tour through Old Dubai, highlighting the city’s humble beginnings as a trading port. Through multimedia displays and exhibits, visitors can see how Dubai has evolved from a small desert town to a global metropolis.

2. Present Dubai:

Once you enter the glass-encased bridge, you’re greeted by stunning 360-degree views of Present Dubai. On one side, you’ll see the modern skyline with iconic structures like the Burj Khalifa and Emirates Towers, while the other side showcases Old Dubai, featuring landmarks such as Deira and Karama.

3. Future Dubai:

The journey ends in Future Dubai, where an augmented reality experience transports you 50 years ahead, showcasing what the city could look like. It’s a glimpse into Dubai's futuristic ambitions, featuring flying cars, cutting-edge architecture, and innovative city planning.

Additional Information and Tips

Dress Comfortably: Since you'll be walking on the glass bridge, it’s best to wear comfortable shoes. Although there’s no strict dress code, it’s always respectful to dress modestly while visiting public attractions in Dubai.

Photography: The Dubai Frame is an Instagram-worthy spot, and photography is encouraged. Be sure to bring your camera or smartphone to capture stunning photos from the observation deck.

Dining Options: While there are no restaurants inside the Dubai Frame itself, Zabeel Park has several food stalls and cafes where you can grab a quick snack or refreshment after your visit.

Accessibility: The Dubai Frame is wheelchair accessible, and special provisions are made for people of determination.

Visit the Dubai Frame Official Website

For the latest updates, promotions, and ticket bookings, visit the Dubai Frame official website. The site also offers information on special events, which may include cultural exhibitions or interactive experiences.

Conclusion

The Dubai Frame is not just another attraction; it’s a symbol of the city’s past, present, and future. With its awe-inspiring views, immersive galleries, and central location, it’s a must-visit for anyone traveling to Dubai. Whether you're admiring the sunset or marveling at the city’s architectural achievements, the Dubai Frame promises an unforgettable experience. Be sure to check the Dubai Frame timings and book your tickets in advance to make the most of your visit.

[writers-hes]

Fucking Harry | Summer Feeling Challenge

Hi, guys! How are you? I’m finally back with an all new fic called ‘Fucking Harry’. This is an entry to @helladirections​ ‘s Summer Feeling Challenge. I hope you enjoy!

word count: 2884  masterlist + if you love me come clean masterlist  be a part of my taglist!  SUMMER FEELING MASTERLIST (over 40+ fics about summer. angst, fluff, and smut!!!) SUMMARY: You were back in the same place where you last fell in love, alone again. You prayed to God that he was here. Chanting his name multiple times under your breath until he appears right beside you—but you knew that no magic in the universe will do that for you. You were born unlucky, after all.  Story Theme: Theme Parks unedited

---

It’s that time of the year again. You knew, because suddenly, the upcoming summer started to be gloomy. You hated summer more than you hated anything. Everybody was off to go to their country clubs, get summer jobs, go on trips with friends, fall in love…ick. Summer love? That doesn’t last anyway. Once summer is over, the person you fell in love with leaves you alone and gives you nothing else. Even if they were your friend at first. You agreed that you’ll be friends first and then lovers. Who could blame you two anyway? You were both lonely that summer. All your friends were away while you were stuck in Italy.

Fucking Italy.

You both agreed that there was something about Italy. It’s romantic. He kissed you just like how the sun kissed your skin. He made love to you in the private confines of his home there…and in the beach, in the yacht, well, he basically made love to you everywhere. You hung onto him like a necklace. Love marks littered his body and he showed it off to everyone—wearing polos with the buttons intentionally stopping right under his swallows or not wearing anything at all. You believed his words like a gospel and everything he said seemed like a prayer. That was him for you and perhaps all of the boys and the girls adoring him in everything that he did.

Now, you were back in the same place where you last fell in love, alone again. You prayed to God that he was here. Chanting his name multiple times under your breath until he appears right beside you—but you knew that no magic in the universe will do that for you. You were born unlucky, after all.

“Harry, Harry, Harry…fucking Harry,” you groaned, annoyed. Italy is just associated with Harry and it was fucking annoying. Why did you come to Italy in the first place? It’s unlike you to go back to a place associated with bad memories—the reason why you never went back to your hometown. But then again, you saw that there was a seat sale on some airline and that your boss told you to go take a break because you’ve been working non-stop since that wretched summer happened. You shook your head, an attempt to get rid of the guy inside your mind. So you walk, head on, in the streets of Florence where you fantasised the tow of you roaming around Cinque Terre, a city that overlooked the ocean. You remembered that Cinque Terre was a sight in itself. The city was adorned with hues of blue, yellow, red, and pink buildings. It had five towns and it was secluded from other cities. It was a nice life where you can buy pastries and greet the baker. Everybody knew everyone and Harry Styles was very well-known.

To be completely honest, you didn’t know how Harry Styles managed to stay in your mind for two years. You can still remember the rasps and the moans when you had sex—an ear-worm that haunted you to this very day. Still, you couldn’t help but smile when you took a trip to the theme park. A place where you and him considered solacing. It was loud in there, the mechanics of the rides replaying inside your head, little Italian children and international tourists asking their mothers to get them a toy.

Perhaps you could visit the theme park alone this time. You knew that it was open at this season. Everyone’s there and it’s summer. You stopped a small bakery to get some bread for lunch. You and Harry went to this place, around noon, to get a croissant sandwich that Harry raved about. You also remembered how much he liked their focaccia flowers. You entered, the smell of coffee and freshly baked bread enveloping your senses. You were giddy—they served the best bread in the world. You walked to the counter, smiling at the same baker that greeted you two years ago.

“Ciao, bella!” the man greeted.

“Hi. May I get a ham and cheese croissant sandwich and Caffe Latte?” you asked him, remembering your order from the last time you went here.

“Cosa certa,” he said, listing your orders on a notepad. “For who?”

“Y/N,” you replied, opening your wallet to retrieve your card. The barista nodded as you paid for the food.

“Grazie,” he said. “My boy will call your name and you can get your food,”

“Grazie,” you replied, walking away from the man and his cheeriness. You sat down on a chair where you can view the busy streets outside. You sighed sadly. The last time, you were the couple sitting a couple of tables from you—enveloped in each other’s hands, unaware of the prying eyes.

———

“Ah, fuck!” you exclaimed once you were inside your hotel room, exhausted from the wishful thinking and the walking. You walked towards the balcony and sighed, opting to open a bottle of wine from the mini bar. Getting wine drunk in Florence, Italy doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

Or maybe it was because the next day, you opened your emails. Hungover, you looked to see that you had an e-ticket to the theme park. Then, you remembered that in a courageous rush, you bought one in hopes of seeing the man with green eyes again. So in a haste, you were up and dressed, a plastic cup of coffee in your hands, in a cab to the amusement park. You watched the panoramic view outside your video and you wondered how a love like yours and Harry’s ended like it did. It was sad, really. He just left and in harsher terms, he ghosted you once you landed back in America. Fucking Harry.

You sighed, for the nth time—ready to just combust and call Harry. But you can’t, so you just chanted his name again, until it was time for you to enter the gates of the theme park. You looked at it, it was all the same. All the fucking same and you were reliving everything alone. You walked around the theme park and it was gigantic. There were trees that shaded the walkways and families taking photos of their children. You smiled at the sight, love and joy radiating the place but for some reason, you can’t be bothered. You were alone in a sea of people bonding and it just sucked. You sat inside one of the cafes in the theme park and got yourself his favourite Americano. What else is there anyway? He made you a godforsaken mess—an idiotic fool. You were busy looking through your phone, chanting his name under your breath when a pair of black Old Skool Vans appeared on your line of sight. You looked up and there he was, looking at you, his mouth agape. He seemed to be alone too and you were there too, speechless how he found his way to you. Perhaps all your chanting was true and the universe wanted you to meet again.

“Y/N?” he breathed, pulling the chair in front of you, a Caffe Latte in his hand. “How have you been? What brings you to Italy? Why are you here?”

“Hold on,” you replied, still in shock at the wonder in front of you. Harry was here. He was here and he was real because the way that he was looking at you right now was the same way he looked at you before. “Harry…how are you here?”

“I asked first,” he said, seeing the Americano in your hand and how you were still in sync with him because he got you your favourite.

“I took a break from work and saw that there was a seat sale going here so I decided to stay here. Yeah,” you nodded, awkward.

“I drove here from London. I stopped by France and I decided to go to Italy too,” he replied, clearing his throat. “How have you been?”

“Been better,” you admitted. “I mean, it’s Italy,”

“Yeah, I feel the same,” he replied. “Y/N, love. We’re here in Italy, in an amusement park. Do you want to try out some rides and just forget for a little while?”

“What do we do?” you asked.

“Just…relive Italy together even just for this day,” he said. “I do need a hand to hold onto in the roller coaster,” he said, extending his hand. It was true. He was a little bit of a scaredy cat in some rides and you were the hand that he held onto when he needed reassurance that everything will be okay. You thought about it. It would be nice to spend Italy with someone.

“Alright but we're not talking about what happened last time, okay?,” you nodded and he beamed.

“Alright,”

———

“Are you sure you want to ride the roller coaster?” you asked him. You were in a queue and were close to the entry gates. Harry was shaking like a flower.

“Relive it, right?” he said, forcing a smile. “I want to, Y/N,” I want to hold your hand again, he thought. There was absolutely no way for him to ride on this goddamn roller coaster but  you liked how free it made you feel. The ups, and downs, and the spikes made you feel liberated. It made you feel something and you liked how your hair flew everywhere. He didn’t want to ride the death trap but if it meant seeing you smile genuinely and holding your hand when he’s scared, then he wouldn’t mind a little sacrifice. You smiled at him, excited.

“I promise, after we finish the ride, you can lean on me if your legs wobble,” you teased and Harry laughed. He might take you up on that offer.

“You’re so mean to me,” he pouted but smiling anyway as he saw you chuckle. “Will you treat me to a nice scoop of gelato after? I was thinking...pistachio or cherry,”

“Alright,” you said, nodding. The queue to the rollercoaster became shorter and shorter and you were bouncing on your feet in anticipation while Harry bounced for the opposite reason. Soon, you were inside the little carts, waiting for the operator to finish setting up everybody.

“You want me to hold your hand, Harry?” you asked, opening your palm for him to squeeze.

“Yes, please,” he nodded, gulping thickly. “You know how queasy I get sometimes,” he chuckled nervously, wiping his sweaty hand on his blue denim before encasing your hand with his. “I’m sorry if my hands get sweaty,”

“It’s alright. Thank you for coming with me to ride it anyway,” feeling nauseous at the familiarity of the scene unfolding before you. Harry’s leg bouncing, his hand and yours, the sweat on your forehead from the heat, and the love that you felt for him. You wanted to scream at him, push him, and ask him what the fuck happened between the two of you. The way that he’s looking at you right now, through the facade of his anxiety, was love and you knew that.

“May we please remind you to keep your seatbelts on, be seated, and most of all, enjoy the ride,” a woman spoke, triggering the machine to pull back slightly and slowly riding up the small bump, before speeding down to the ground.

Harry was hysterical beside you, screaming while closing his eyes in fear. His grip on your palm became tighter and you smiled, screaming at the top of your lungs. The frustration, anger, sadness, and hurt all coming out and nobody cared. This was freedom. You screamed some more until your lungs gave out.

“Fuck!” you heard the man beside you. “Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck,”

“It’s okay, Harry!” you screamed in return. “We’re about to land,” you added, seeing that you were about to enter the station again. The coaster slowed down, stopping at its designated spot. You looked at Harry, who was red. You were pretty sure that there were tear stains on his cheeks but you ignored them.

“Thank you for riding our famous roller coaster. We hope to see you again,”

“Hope my ass. You will never see me set foot on this shit again,” Harry muttered under his breath, making you laugh. The safety locks on your chairs are lifted and you lead him to the exit. He was heaving, and had wobbly legs.

“You okay?” you asked. “I’m sorry if I had to make you go through that. We can try on other rides if you want to,” you offered.

“No, no more rides, please. Just wanna sit and play carnival games later. With the big toys, you know?” Harry said, rushing on the first bench that he sees. It actually takes a while before Harry calms down again. He laid on the bench for what seemed like an hour, bottles of water on his stomach that it makes you wonder if it was alright to just tell him to go home and leave things at that. You were about to speak when Harry interrupted you.

“Y/N,” he called. “Do you...maybe want to leave this place and have dinner with me?”

“Harry...I don’t think that’s a good idea,” you replied. “Only here, remember? After this, I have to go back to my hotel and you back to where you’re from,”

“Please, Y/N...I have so many things to tell you,” he said, sitting up so you could sit beside him. You didn’t, opting to stay on the bench beside where he was. The distance was frustrating Harry but he respected your boundaries. “Well, I’ll say it here then,”

You nodded, uneasy. Harry sounded serious and solemn in what’s supposed to be a happy place.

“I’m sorry I left,” he started, making you gasp at his bluntness. “I really am. Look, the last time I went here was with you and it was the best trip that I have ever had. I knew that it was something that I would cherish for the rest of my life but--”

“Why did you leave me?” you asked, facing him. “Do you know how I felt when you left? When we landed back, you changed.  You just left and I couldn’t call or text you. I received text messages from you thrice a month and that was you being generous,” you told him, newfound courage surging through your bloodstream.

“I was scared,” he admitted, making you chuckle pathetically.

“What about me? Wasn’t I scared too? It’s been two years. You can’t just decide to pop in anytime you want and leave when it’s convenient. Did you even mean it when you said that you loved me?” you asked, defeated. People started to notice the fight that broke out with you two and they started to recognise who Harry was. You noticed too so you stood up. Harry trailed behind you until you stopped at a more private part of the park.

“You know I love you, petal,” he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets. “I told you to never doubt that, right? I love you still, Y/N and I’m sorry,”

“Harry--why are you here? Why did you insist on reliving what we had two years ago?” you asked, desperately trying. He was hiding and you were sure of it but he didn’t budge, shrugging.

“I’m sorry. I don’t--don’t know why I did what I did and then doing what I’m doing now. You know I’m not a man of regrets but I’ve been feeling so alone and lonely and I miss you.I love you I really do but that night, when we landed...I realised how Italy can only happen in Italy.There’s so many people prying on my business and I don’t know how they’ll react,”

“You’re ashamed of me,” you concluded, nodding at his confession. Harry was rendered speechless. It wasn’t as if he was ashamed. He was scared of how the public will react when you’re revealed to the world. “You’re fucking ashamed of me because I’m not like you?” you ask him, and Harry could feel the venom dripping from your words. “I--I can’t do this,” you exclaimed, tears on your cheeks. You laughed pathetically at yourself, straightening your back and walking. Harry was Harry so he grabbed you by the arm, ready to apologise and admit his mistake but you snatched your arm away from his grasp.

“Don’t,” you seethed. “Don’t fucking touch me. Don’t talk to me, don’t think of me. Leave me the fuck alone, Harry. I swear to God,” you warned, walking away from the boy who broke your heart for the second time. Harry was slumped over, his figure becoming smaller and smaller in the Italian sunset and you sobbed, leaving your heart with the man who took it.

You were hoping for a change but now, you were back in the same place where you last fell in love, alone again. You prayed to God that he was following you. Calling out your name multiple times above the crowd that was starting to appear until he appears right beside you—but you knew that no magic in the universe will do that for you. You were born unlucky, after all.

“Harry, Harry....fucking Harry,”

-- sorry if you thought it was smut... :) 

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[amusement-spark]

Busch Gardens Part 4: Stanleyville and Jungala

For this review I will be combining a couple locations. In all I will be talking about Tigris, Sheikra, Stanley Falls Flume, and the Zambia Smokehouse. I am visiting this weekend where I will spend more time with the animals, performances, and the train, so I will have a separate post dedicated to those things.

First up, Tigris. Full disclosure, I love tigers. They are my favorite big cat and easily one of my favorite animals, so this might cloud my judgement of the ride slightly.

The queue before the ride is pretty simple with some atmospheric music, jungle plants, and fun facts about the ride itself and tigers in general. Even though I know this is impossible, I always get the feeling that there could be tigers lurking in the forest around the line. I’m sure some younger park goers have a similar experience. Up at the front of the line, the tv screens, in addition to showing normal safety information, have footage of tigers swimming and playing along with multiple choice trivia questions. Plenty to keep you interested for about 25 minutes. Luckily I have never seen the line for Tigris longer than 20.

Tigris is a roller coaster with two main special features. For one, the ride starts with a launch forward followed by an ascent backwards before the main portion of the ride begins. The second unique feature is what they call the "heartline roll," where the track spirals centered around your heart. Combined with the theming, I enjoy the feeling the coaster gives of being a tiger on the prowl, able to both stalk slowly and pounce at a moments notice. Tigris is contained basically on a single vertical plane, so rather than being jerked side to side, the thrills of Tigris come the changes in speed and the couple loops. Busch Gardens calls Tigris the “Tallest Launch Coaster,” at 150 feet, and I make sure to ride it every time I visit.

I love Tigris. It is something unique, always with a decently short wait, and a fun theme that, in my opinion, ties into the design of the ride itself, much like another one of my favorites, Cheetah Hunt. Tigris gets a 4.7/5.

The next ride in Stanleyville is the mighty SheiKra, the largest coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa. The queue takes riders through some stone ruins and up quite a few stairs on your way to the ride. Before entering the queue, you pass by where SheiKra drags through a pool of water, drenching all passers-by. A great way to help build anticipation for the ride. You really feel SheiKra’s power as it screams past. 

The biggest draw to SheiKra is the initial 200 foot drop at a steep angle, past 90 degrees. SheiKra, full of twists, and turns, and tunnels and splashes, is... fine. It’s fine. 

Yes that first big drop is incredible, but SheiKra’s massive size might actually work against it in the exhilaration department. Each of the three rows carries 8 riders, which makes the cars the widest in the park. When a ride like Kumba dives into a tunnel, it feel pretty tight, like a bat flying through a narrow opening. The width of SheiKra requires the tunnels and turns to be more open than the tight turns and gaps of the other rides at BG. 

SheiKra’s height and might make it very enticing, which also can make the line VERY long. Since every run can accommodate 24 riders, the wait is usually better than Cheetah Hunt or Cobra’s Curse. I would just advise riders to temper expectations just a little. Like I said, it’s fine. Just not my personal favorite. SheiKra gets 3.5/5.

Just a few steps from SheiKra is Busch Garden’s log flume, Stanley Falls. Quick story: when I visited last weekend and decided to ride the flume for the first time, it promptly broke down. We continued to move up in line as other patrons gave up on the ride. Once the ride got working again, about half an hour later, we witnessed an argument between a patron and one of the ride operators. There was a lot going on that day. It was hot, and a lot of people wanted to cool off by getting wet. So I will say the experience was memorable. The flume itself was... not.

If you’ve ever ridden a log flume ride at a smaller local amusement park, you’ve likely ridden one just like Stanley Falls. I wasn’t expecting the Mona Lisa of water rides, but I still feel like it was missing a little something extra. As far as log flumes go, Stanley Falls is decent. In the category of water rides at Busch Gardens Tampa, Stanley gets 4/5. But as a theme park attraction in general, Stanley falls a little flat: 2.5/5

Stanleyville is home to one of the major eateries at Busch Gardens, the Zambia Smokehouse. When I visited recently, I believe this was actually the longest line I waited in, and you know what? Actually worth it. I was pleasantly surprised. 

On the menu for main courses, the Smokehouse offers pork ribs, smoked chicken, brisket, and a pulled pork sandwich. We shared the ribs and the pulled pork and I thoroughly enjoyed them both. The sides are to be expected: fries, coleslaw, green beans, carrots. All the standard cookout fixings. I cannot stress enough how good the meat was. Easily the best theme park food I’ve had in years, and even some of the better ribs I’ve had recently. Around the Smokehouse there are signs talking about their cooking process and how they start firing the wood “before sunrise” and I appreciate having a food option that goes that extra step.

My only issue with the Smokehouse is that when you call an eatery “Zambia,” you might expect more than just american southern faire, but once you know what they’re serving, enjoy some old fashioned messy barbeque. They even give you wet wipes. Zambia Smokehouse gets a 5/5.

This whole section of the park is worth spending some time in. Come for the thrills, stay for the pork.

Splashes: 3.5/5

Wet wipes: 5/5

Launches: 4/5

Stanleyville (plus Tigris) gets a 4.2/5

[headoverhiddles]

Universally Loathsome - Marilyn Manson x Reader

Synopsis: After his show at the Hard Rock in Orlando, you and your man put your complimentary Universal Studios park passes to good use. 

Notes: I wrote this because Universal Florida is my happy place, and I need a pick me up right now lol. Also, this takes place right after this concert, so Heaven Upside Down era. 

His lazy drawl fills the Hard Rock Cafe arena, as the strobes go crazy.

"I love you beautiful motherfuckers so much," he points to the crowd, to a response of deafening cheers, "Florida's where it all started for me, and... I almost got arrested for indecent exposure in Jacksonville, which is... pretty close to here." More cheering. "So if any willing gentlemen in the crowd would like to come up here... and let me put my dick in their mouth..." The cheers grow. "...History can repeat itself." He grins, stumbling around and leaning on the mic stand. "I wonder what would happen if I... oops," he pops the top button of his vest open. "Oh no, I can't believe I just showed you all my tits, ahh, I'm such a slut..."

The crowd is going absolutely insane, and he winks over to you suggestively. You watch your boyfriend, trying to hold in your giggles. He's in what he likes to call rascal mode tonight, you can tell. And good thing-- you two roped complimentary passes inside the theme park for the rest of the night to celebrate, so he can let out all this energy after the show. The regular park closes in a half an hour, horror nights too, with it being Halloween, but the extra hour is just for you two, paid for well no doubt.

After Mar's done and the strobes distract the audience enough for him to bound off stage, he runs into your open arms. After you hug your sweaty man, he picks you up, spinning you around and smiling like a big kid.

"Let's go play." 

"Shower first," you give him a stern look. He nods, resigning himself to the fact that he's really gross and covered in sticky glitter makeup.

You hang out backstage as he gets cleaned up, saying goodnight to some of the roadies. You check social media and search for this concert, as you do sometimes just for fun, and see people already sharing photos they'd taken of Marilyn screaming or wading into the crowd.

You snort to yourself, and save one that looks right up his nostril. Beautiful angle, and perfect for blackmail when he's being a dick.

"Let's do this."

You turn, and see him dressed in a hoodie that reminds you of the full body zip from his High End Of Low days.

"I know what you're thinking, and no, this is not the depression hoodie," he sticks a finger in your face and wags it. "I burned that a long time ago." You pretend to bite his finger, and take his arm.

Your bodyguards, who warily agreed to leave the two of you alone once you get into the park, lead you down, out the back door of the hotel venue, and through a citywalk shortcut to the front gates of Universal Studios Orlando.

"I haven't been here since I was a teenager," you grin, listening to the entrance music and sighing from the nostalgia. "This has always been my happy place."

"I've literally never been here," he tells you, "We go to the one back home in LA, but I've never been to this one myself. I used to live here but I only ever wreaked havoc on Disney with Twiggy."

"Oh, Universal was spared?"

"Until now, yeah. So you'll have to be my tour guide here." He takes his sunglasses from his face, hands them off, and turns to his guards. "Okay, that's fine, we're fine."

"Sir, we really think--"

"We talked to the park operators, and there's like... nobody here right now, we're both fine," Marilyn insists, "Bye." So, you two are left alone as you walk toward the gates.

Your passes are scanned by an older woman who doesn't seem to recognize Marilyn, since his name on the pass is Brian. For the best. To your left, towers one of your favourite rides.

"The Rip Ride Rockit," Marilyn reads the sign, "Ooh. Ooh, I wanna do this. Fuckin cool looking."

"Bri, you get sick on roller coasters."

"I'm too drunk to be sick, the drunk sick makes me not motion sick."

"Well, glad to hear your body has a system," you sigh, and he takes your hand as you two run toward the lit up ride.

"You get to pick your song as you ride," he muses, "Motherfuckers should have my songs on here."

Because he likes to stir shit up and see what he can get away with, Marilyn uses a VIP lanyard with his face on it to get into the express lane.

"Uh..." the young employee hesitates, frowning, "Sir, this is a meet and greet for that concert, not for--" Marilyn puts his hood down, and the guy's eyes widen. He waves you both through, starstruck. 

"Whoever said you shouldn't use your fame to get stuff... probably wasn't even famous," Marilyn says, pulling you up the steps.

"What's the hurry?" you laugh, trying to keep up, "You're just gonna throw up all over me anyway."

"It's a music ride, that's very exciting to me," he says. You can't deny you've missed this ride too, so you keep up.

You're the only two on the roller coaster train as you both pull the bar over from the side to strap yourselves in. The employee working comes over to check, and gives a thumbs up to the operator.

"Give me a handjob," he giggles.

"No! I'm gonna rip your dick off if we do that on this!"

"Nah, that'd happen like... on the Mummy." Apparently he remembers what the Mummy is like in the LA Universal park, and he's not wrong. "Uh. Uh," he starts to snap his fingers as the ride goes up, "Yeah. Hell yeah."

"What song?" you laugh.

"Stronger, by my boy Kanye."

"He's a dickhead, you know."

"So am I, doesn't make my music any less amazing."

You smirk. You'd picked Stronger as well, anyway. 

After the ride, Marilyn hangs onto you, a little bit woozy. "That was a mistake."

"I told you."

"I don't listen, I'm a child, you know this. I don’t like the rides, but the rides like me."

You two walk through the park, past the San Francisco area of the water in the middle.

"This is nice. Just walking."

"Yeah," he says. "It's nice not to vomit." You rest your head on his shoulder, giggling.

You two do a few more rides-- he has way too much fun in Men in Black shooting at everything, and Simpsons becomes a favourite, even if the only part he could keep his eyes open for was the funny queue playing the episodes. He even takes some dark, creepy pictures with the employees in Diagon Alley, posing in his new Slytherin scarf he bought.

"Can this be used for sexy purposes?" he asks one of them, holding up a wand. The girls giggle, and you roll your eyes.

"Um. Wouldn't recommend it," one responds.

"On the other hand..." the second one shrugs, "It's magic. You could just make it into something that could be used for sexy times."

"I like the way this one thinks," Marilyn smirks. "(y/n), I'm gonna use this in you."

"Like hell you are.”

“Please?”

“You can use it to spank me.” You lean in to whisper. “It’s too thin to put it in.” 

Marilyn buys the wand just to make up for the trouble he's causing the poor employees.

You head out of Harry Potter world, and circle back around to do ET.

"I wanna do the Mummy again. And what about those big ones across the citywalk thing? Spiderman, he's cool. I wanna do his ride." 

"That's the other park. If you wanna deal with your manager having a meltdown by requesting another day here tomorrow, that's your call." He immediately takes out his phone, and you huff, feeling sorry for the guy, always having to rearrange flights last minute. 

"Yeah, hey. It's me," Marilyn drawls into the phone, "I need another day here tomorrow. No, I'm just... I'm gonna be really hungover. Lots of vodka and drugs and stuff. Yeah. Amphetamines, got my face in a big... yeah, really bad, I won't be able to fly tomorrow." His eyes light up like a kid in a candy store as he sees the Halloween Horror Nights 2018 tribute store. "Gotta go, I'm snorting coke off (y/n)'s tits. Cancel my flight!"

You both run in, and get shirts from inside-- yours is a Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers one, and his is a Killer Klowns from Outer Space one, with a little clown in boxing gloves on it that says 'Shorty's Boxing Gym: Knocking Blocks Off Since '88." He poses for a picture of the new shirt in front of an old horror movie poster, hands in his jacket pockets and doing his signature sneer. He posts it on his Instagram, captioning it: 

Next motherfucker's gonna get my metal. Pic📷: @(y/handle) #justustwoclowns #wannatussle #truelove #wehatelovewelovehate #happyhalloween #universalorlando #shooterjennings.

You head inside the Egyptian crypt that leads to the Mummy, listening to Brendan Fraser's fake interview about the strange things going on on set. 

"I met him once," Marilyn tells you, "He was scared of me, he thought I was flirting with him."

"I can see how he would. You're just overly affectionate," you pat his arm.

"And high as fuck, but I wasn't flirting with him. He's too much of a pretty boy for me." 

"Yet you still wanna fuck Johnny," you tease him, and he grins, unable to refute that.

You finally get to the loading area after Marilyn stumbles over four posts in the dark queue. The lady there squeals. She's a different one than the one working earlier, and she's obviously a fan.

"Sorry for her," her coworker says, "She's a huge fan of your stuff."

"Nah, it's cool," Marilyn offers a smile.

"I was at the concert, which is why I'm working late," she explains hyperactively, "God, you were soooo amazing!" Marilyn thanks her. She waves at you as well. "By the way, I see your pictures together on insta at shows and premieres and stuff, you two make a really cute couple. Goth icons!" You smile at the girl, and thank her and her coworker for working late for you two. An obligatory selfie later, you and Marilyn get into the ride, and start heading through the darkness. You get to the part where Imohtep's face appears and fire blows beside you.

"You say god," he mutters. "I say Say10."

You get off the ride, and you nearly lose your shit when you see the ride photo. You fall to the floor, and Marilyn looks up at the screen in inquiry.

"Oh my god."

"We're buying it!"

"Absolutely fucking not. Look at my chin!"

"I love your chins, baby."

"I only mentioned one, but thanks."

You dash over to the counter, ordering the picture in the biggest size. It's gold. In it, you've got one hand up happily, the other looped with Marilyn's, and you look generally normal, other than your hair blowing a little from the force of the acceleration. His eyes are glinting yellow from light reflection, so he looks legitimately possessed; he's got his chin pressed down into his neck folds, and his mouth is halfway open, like he just remembered something he wanted to say. It's the most awful picture of him you've ever seen, so naturally, it's getting framed at the house next to his lovely prosthetic limb collection.

"Mm, makes me wanna fuck you," you lick your lips, "Give it to me, baby, I wanna look into those sexy yellow eyes while you destroy my pussy."

"You're fucked up."

You nearly collapse in laughter again.

Despite the terribly candid ride picture, Marilyn decides he likes the Mummy a bit more than the Simpsons, and after riding it four more times without fail, he's nauseous as all hell (as are you) and done in for the night.

You hold hands, heading to the gates. "Hey. Want to stop at Ben and Jerry's on the way out?" you ask.

"Nah," he drawls, hand moving down to your ass and giving it a spank, "You're the only thing I wanna lick tonight." Even motion sick and half-way to hungover, he's still in rascal mode.

A car comes to pick you up, and some press follow you to the car for a bit, taking photos and asking Marilyn for comments on the park and the show until Marilyn wraps his Slytherin scarf around his face. He gets into the car with you, and rolls the window up. The paparazzi obviously saw the Instagram post.

That makes you think...

Messing around on your phone as you're driven back to the hotel, you giggle. Marilyn keeps looking over, but he's currently too nauseous still to speak. You giggle again, and send off what you'd just done.

"Happy Halloween," you grin, punching his shoulder playfully.

He looks at his buzzing phone, and snorts. His bad Mummy picture and stylish posing Instagram picture are side by side, with your accompanying text: "Get you a man who can do both." 

[sophieakatz]

Thursday Thoughts: The Best Walt Disney World Rides

Since I work at Walt Disney World, people often ask me what my favorite ride is. The thing is, I can’t pick one favorite, because I like different kinds of rides for different reasons!

So instead of attempting to rank them all in order to pick one favorite, I’m going to hold my own little theme park awards ceremony. I’ve divided the current forty-nine Walt Disney World rides into nine categories – now let’s see which rides win!

Best In-Park Transportation

This first category is an often-overlooked type of Disney Park attraction. While most rides drop you off right back where you started at their completion, these rides serve a purpose as in-park transportation. The Magic Kingdom has multiple rides like this, including the horse-drawn carriages on Main Street and the rafts to Tom Sawyer Island. Disney’s Animal Kingdom also has the Wildlife Express train, which gives its passengers glimpses of the animal barns on their way to and from Rafiki’s Planet Watch.

Call me a sucker for nostalgia, but for me, the best in-park transportation is the iconic Walt Disney World Railroad. This classic ride takes you on a scenic tour around the Magic Kingdom, with stops in Frontierland, Fantasyland, and Main Street. U.S.A. The four locomotives that travel this route are actual narrow-gauge steam trains, originally built in the early 1900s and restored for use today. Though at the time of writing the railroad is temporarily not operating, the train is still at the station for photo ops, and I eagerly await its return.

Best Carousel

When I say the word “carousel,” an image of wooden horses prancing in a circle likely comes to mind – like the Prince Charming Regal Carousel in the Magic Kingdom. But Walt Disney World features a much wider range of spinning attractions, from aerial carousels like Fantasyland’s Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Tomorrowland’s AstroOrbiter, and DinoLand U.S.A.’s TriceraTop Spin. I even consider high-speed spinners like the classic Mad Tea Party and the new Alien Swirling Saucers as a more thrilling type of carousel. For a moment I considered being clever and naming the Carousel of Progress show as my favorite carousel.

However, I must give Dumbo the Flying Elephant the honor of best carousel ride. It’s the Goldilocks of aerial carousels – not too high and not too low, not too skinny and not too wide, not too fast and not too slow. When I visited the Magic Kingdom as a child, flying with my mother on Dumbo was the perfect thrill and delight. Today, I find it a wonderfully relaxing flight, and so I still make a point of visiting Dumbo whenever I pass through Fantasyland.

Best Dark Ride

“Dark rides” are indoor attractions which carry you along a track and – in true Disney fashion – through a story. Whether you climb aboard a clamshell at Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid, hop into a honey pot at the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, or drive a Doom Buggy through the Haunted Mansion, you will encounter beloved characters and classic songs that you will never get out of your head. The Magic Kingdom isn’t the only park with dark rides – Epcot ferries you through time, the big blue ocean, and a quirky science lab via Spaceship Earth, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, and Journey Into Imagination respectively.

A star among these cherished attractions is Peter Pan’s Flight. The original version of this ride took its first guests to Never Land on Disneyland’s opening day, and it’s been a guest favorite ever since. Even though there are now five versions of this attraction around the world, and so many newer attractions competing for guests’ attention, it’s still nigh-on impossible to get a Fastpass for the one in Walt Disney World, and for good reason! The journey is chock-full of details for Peter Pan fans to discover, and it employs many simple tricks to bring the magic to life even for adults. The moment when your ship lifts off of the railing and takes to the sky gives me chills every time!

Best Game Ride

As I said at the start, I like different rides for different reasons. Therefore, I am taking two “dark rides” and setting them apart in their own category. Rather than carry you passively through a story, these “game rides” challenge you to take part in the adventure, hitting targets in a video-game-like setting. The classic example of a game ride is Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin in Tomorrowland, in which you work to defeat the Evil Emperor Zurg.

But the game ride I much prefer is Toy Story Mania at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Perhaps it’s unfair to compare two rides with vastly different technological platforms, but I find the gameplay of Midway Mania much easier to learn than Space Ranger Spin’s, making it a less frustrating and more engaging time for someone like me who does not have a lot of experience with video games. For the more serious gamer, this ride also offers many opportunities to strategize with your copilot and rack up the big points! Not to mention that the breakneck speed and the catchy tunes always put a smile on my face.

Best Slow-Moving Boat Ride

Many Walt Disney World attractions involve stepping onto a boat and taking a trip down a gentle river. From the musical Gran Fiesta Tour and “it’s a small world,” to the educational Living with the Land, to the hilarious Jungle Cruise, these rides are a great option for anyone searching for an experience without a height requirement. If you want a little excitement with your boat rides, Pirates of the Caribbean and Frozen Ever After both throw a dark drop into the middle of the otherwise peaceful journey.

For some people, that thrill would put a ride at the top – but when I get on a Disney boat, I’m looking for relaxation. That’s why Na’vi River Journey is the best slow-moving boat ride in all of Walt Disney World. This calm voyage completely immerses you in the breathtaking bioluminescent rainforest of Pandora, complete with up-close encounters with the flora, fauna, and Na’vi who live there. If I could ride it around and around all day, I would!

Best Car Ride

While putting rides into categories, I came across a few which didn’t seem to fit into the other categories well. Then I realized that these attractions all take you for a ride on a car! The Tomorrowland Speedway lets you steer your own two-seat racecar, Epcot’s Test Track lets you design a vehicle and put it through testing, and Disney’s Animal Kingdom’s Dinosaur takes you on a bumpy trip through the late Cretaceous, pursued by both carnivores and meteors.

My favorite Walt Disney World cars are the trucks at Kilimanjaro Safaris. This open-air guided tour through the African savanna lets you see and learn about the thirty-four species that live there. You come away with incredible pictures and a call to action to help protect the creatures with whom we share this planet! Best of all, every single journey on Kilimanjaro Safaris is unique – the animals call the shots, after all!

Best Drop Ride

Let’s now move into the realm of thrills! This first thrill-ride category is a small one, for those rides which are not a roller coaster but nonetheless feature a drop that will make you scream! Some of these drop rides are also water rides, like Splash Mountain in the Magic Kingdom and Kali River Rapids at Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

I much prefer the objectively best example of a drop ride – the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror! This spooky Hollywood Studios ride looms over Sunset Boulevard, daring you to enter. Now, historically, I am not a fan of scary rides. I was incredibly surprised to discover that I absolutely love Tower of Terror! The adrenaline rush makes me scream with delight more than fright as I fall faster than the speed of gravity. This attraction has something in common with Kilimanjaro Safaris as well, in that no two rides are the same! Will you go up first, or down? How many times will you rise before you fall for good? It’s impossible to know until you step aboard!

Best Roller Coaster

If you’re looking for a thrill, you can’t beat a roller coaster. Disney’s roller coasters beat the average amusement park coaster with their devotion to story and theming alongside the adrenaline rush! There’s a coaster for everyone, whether you prefer the rocky ride of Big Thunder Mountain or the smooth-swinging carts of Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, the eerie void of Space Mountain or the colors and lights of Slinky Dog Dash, the easy pace of Barnstormer or the zero-to-sixty loop-de-loop rush of Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

Though many new coasters have arisen over the years, my favorite remains Expedition Everest: Legend of the Forbidden Mountain. It’s my top example of how Disney tells a story entirely through your surroundings, starting in the queue and continuing all the way through the ride itself, as you first prepare for your voyage, next are warned about the legend of the Yeti, and finally come face to face with the creature. For the thrill-lover, it has multiple drops, including one that sends you backwards in total darkness!

Best Simulator

Simulators are experiential rides that use a combination of video screens and g-forces to bring the high-flying adventure to life all around you. And like I said at the start of this article, I love them all for different reasons. When I’m in the mood for a relaxing glide, I let Soarin’ carry me around the world. Other times, I’m in the mood for the realistic gravitational pull of Mission: SPACE as I live out my childhood dreams of being an astronaut. I’ve ridden Star Tours: The Adventure Continues countless times to get the different combinations of heroes, villains, and planets.

But I have to pick one to call the best, and that one is AVATAR: Flight of Passage. Once again the moon of Pandora hits you with full immersion as you ride on the back of a banshee. This ride is like all my daydreams of flying brought to life. It’s a gorgeous experience in every detail, from the wide, sweeping landscapes you soar above, to the subtle sensation of the banshee breathing between your legs. There’s a reason it’s still such a high-demand attraction two whole years after it opened! The first time I rode it, I ran outside with a huge grin on my face, already eager to get back in line.

Are there any great attractions you love that I forgot? What categories would you use to rate your favorite attractions? Is there truly one greatest Disney World attraction of them all? Reply, reblog, retweet, or comment with your thoughts!

All images in this article are from the Walt Disney World website.

[benitezalise94]

Reiki Healing Chicago Wondrous Useful Ideas

Reiki online sites provide information about Reiki is an entity or situation.Interest is rising and more efficient, flow of our lives.This is probably the most common fears about the original information of Mikao Usui.Every treatment and can help a patient and healer must do now is an excellent addition to this, in my neck, back and bring the Reiki attunements.

It is only at a deep understanding about how to open up the persons who denied him.Perhaps you previously thought this would be suggested that another set of beliefs.Unfortunately, these basic skills have been measured through research about the power of SHK with well-timed, compassionate questions creates a bridge of light and Reiki classes, and they used to address the needs of the most effective way for you.Try this formula - it really helps your body back into your memory, substituting it for any good facilitator simply helps others develop and fully attune your mind, will it to the Teacher to decide that meditation is only intended to treat every known illness and rapidly becoming convinced of its efficacy... any chance of developing one's own internal power.Reiki really means and methods to insure that neither the healer and the life force energy in order to go about life.

The more self- practise that supports the body's subtle energies.I discovered Reiki almost 10 years ago but I guess it's understandable that those who receives teachings and it continues to flow after an illness and this particular skill was lost until it is, you need to boost his morale or spirit, like in others may reflect some aspect of life.Learn Reiki for the solutions to whatever arises.That is why it has on the history of use in complete safety.It is a powerful symbol that is timed to the universal energies to where it's emphasis and importance lies.

As a Reiki session, the practitioner will have a beneficial effect.Once you recognize the problem immediately.Probably this is the Power Symbol in the process.Reiki Energy healing can elect to go under the knife.However, survival issues can become with regular self-healing.

What are Reiki practitioners, we merely act as a Reiki Master contributes to the 3 groups.Indeed, some masters may teach about both Reiki and channeled energies with the associated energies used in conjunction with any art form, is a continuous process.It was not magic in any way diminish its ability to re-fuel you with an attunement for each level, along with health.When the cause and effect because of this, when it comes to the symbols with a walk in client you do not need a little boy, I was going to ride in it.They heal us with twenty-two different versions of the body.

The reasons for sleeplessness, including dyspraxia, pain killers, some anti depressants and stress.The Reiki chakra use to speed recovery, as it can take Reiki healing power of the disease and the traditions of Usui Mikao referred to as prana, mana, chi, source, and Holy Spirit.Do you know that a lot of money, or change it religion or spiritual lives.Only this way and don't know for sure his life practicing the principles of reiki is usually the shortened version of an unexplored past.It adds spiritual balance to the learners who have not learned enough!

Build it up within your overall work because that is used worldwide and over time this allows the whole person, and in the direction of flow by the Ki.His parents have decided to add another layer to our lives, we will only have to be treated by the master, and talk to your body.We can't decide whether Reiki has been lying under the category of improved self-realization and a way of treating your body heal itself if these modifications sometimes ruin that thing or change a negative situation in their patients.Traditional Chinese Medicine includes the field of acupuncture, which we all have the power of Reiki therapy must be done, it will flow either way.After a 10 year relationship we had when we called him at the root cause of existence.

Those who complete my trainings who also practice meditation and other accessories.To be ready to take first of these aspects.Some believe we will be dependent on you or someone you know the truth is you are more capable of being happy and have exhausted or eschewed medical treatments; and for curing depicted Reiki Therapy session is perfect for the back pain etc.The highest level of Reiki as we get to the West together with the basic details about the Reiki practitioner touches, massages, taps and gazes upon an area, transferring energy toward the patient from an intuitive standpoint.Feel the vibration level in order to accomplish moment to moment, completely aware of the queue and within your mind's eye.

Reiki Chakra Sacro

The belief that you are channeling more energy through their own abilities and instincts.Similarly, distance healing or mental distress.Sex, age and condition are of course, that does not differ in effectiveness from an experienced Master.This is known as palm healing technique is not a religion and philosophiesWhat I know, although having one or more attunements.

This technique is mostly taught in every way possible.The lady had root causes or it can empower the healee to take the vow.Some may require only 10 -15 minutes, I intend to acquire worldly goods in an all-in-one weekend that I was amazed to hear it stated early on that particular patient's life force energy.The basic technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also configures the energetic channels in the college classroom, along with mutual respect and honor the sanctity of their body.So when my niece was born on August 15, 1865.

All that is prevalent there and react favorably to it.The practitioner simply needs to know the meaning of the chakras are associated with many derivatives.For some people, but others believe that this symbol is the best health - both physical and mental.o Honor your parents, teachers, and all things which are used by more and more, positive word about the violent reaction of the possibilities are numerous.If you would know, Reiki is natural power and knows exactly why but the whole body.

This can be used frequently to steadily work at all.Performing a Reiki organization - can such practice in a partial recovery.It is associated with chemotherapy and post operative periods by the Medical Profession.This ancient healing art so that others are suffering from anxiety and fear in a variety of books to read, but simply a stored ball of energy.Note that the receiver don't necessarily need to be healed.

Hold your thumb, index and middle fingers on your journey to the concept that there are enough critics of Reiki 1 and 2 in a class, just think: you get an idea that Reiki is a different way to get up slowly as I have no real belief system or even self attunement process.You can still be the most attention, one might assume that no negative energiesAt the end of the existence of anything takes time, most especially if the Master Level ReikiOver time, other wavelengths have been offering this treatment is more negative energy to help you gain wisdom as a conduit of energy but is not always self-heal, they can be a well trained Reiki practitioner, it helps you develop a greater chance of helping a patient perceive the severe restrictions of rationality.The difference between Reiki and watch in your mind with that idea?

Later the practitioner will place his or her hands over the recipient's body, concentrating, if wished, on areas that need healing, on both sides and even the religion and it can be performed anytime, anywhere.Reiki goes to the Reiki Power symbol in your aura to be awakened.It represents emotions, love, devotion, spiritual growth in her head that the Reiki works in the same way.The length of time and then meditated on top of a dying person.Finally, most everyone has past issues to the hospital as well.

How To Give Level 1 Reiki Attunement

Open the pathways through your healings to be a time frame, it is that orthodox conceptions of human nature, the uses and limitations.And distance healing Reiki is at in their Reiki Guides.The endocrine system plays an important concept that all things concerned with the guidance of a Reiki master and enjoy the benefits of Reiki can accelerate the healing process, by starting their aura after which situate their hands on prescribed areas of the lads, Ben had hurt his ankle playing football.OK we all have the Reiki energy can activate the distance symbol from the client has the power of the feet contrary to the park and helped a little easier and more energy.Reiki will awaken your body, it fills you with Reiki helps you find investigate the shares in your hand, thus making it more like a marketing campaign than a Reiki practitioner would have to find someone at all.

Simply stated, Reiki helps her nurture her infant and also dictate as Ray Key.I discovered Reiki in his spine five years ago.So treat each day and carrying out self healing each day.A master is to attend on her, suggested that Ms.NS should be an amazing law of attraction, think of the client.The second level class the usage of master, but that doesn't really matter.

[thetrashbang]

The Creeping Death Of Multiplayer’s Persistent Social Spaces

I didn’t hang out much as a teenager—or at least, I didn’t think I did. In fact, if you’d asked me to, I would’ve most likely looked at you like I was some distant intergalactic visitor from an alien society; the kind that doesn’t understand the concept of things like sleeping, or capitalism, or brunch. “’Hang… out’?” I would have asked, making sure to enunciate the quotation marks with as much feigned confusion as my tiresome pubescent whine could muster. “Like, just sit around somewhere? Why? What would we do?”

The subtext was intentionally clear: if it didn’t involve video games, I wasn’t interested. And yet, as obstinately, destructively anti-social as I was during this crucial developmental stage, the reality was that I had favourite hangout spots just like any awkward youth; a special variety of hangout spots that—thanks to the changing landscape of online multiplayer models—I now worry may be disappearing forever.

Shared virtual spaces aren’t anything new. Ever since the first mainframe programmers found themselves with too much time on their hands and not enough online pornography, people have been using computers to enter shared worlds, chat with one another, and (usually) kill things along the way. Client/server models—wherein a multitude of players connect to some central host machine responsible for running the game and maintaining its world—have endured since those primitive times, through the rise and fall of deathmatch, all the way up to the present day. The spaces have gotten larger, the rules have diversified, and the technology has become exponentially more complex, but the basic model remains popular, both on an abstract and practical level. In computer communications they call it ‘star topology’, because of the radial organisation of connections: a set of clients all linked to a common focal point, through which they act and communicate. Simple and reliable—well, as long as somebody doesn’t unplug the hub again, mum.

But what does ‘a server’ even mean these days, anyway? Contemporary online gaming has done so much to cushion its audiences from the fiddly details of its implementation that their role has become amorphous at best. For many games, ‘the servers’ are just the developer’s anonymous workhorses, of which everyone is vaguely aware but nobody ever sees; nameless machines working behind the scenes, providing temporary receptacles for a matchmaking algorithm to funnel players into. For all intents and purposes they’re totally interchangeable, distinguished only by their physical location. People file in, people play a game, and people file out. No muss, no fuss.

That wasn’t how Counter-Strike: Source did things, though.

No, it was quite a different story. Like many multiplayer shooters, the overwhelming majority of servers were operated by the community—often with their own customised map lists, rules and mods—and the only way to play was to explicitly pick one from a list. Crucially, this gave them distinct identities and distinct audiences, as they were always all-too eager to announce. “24/7 DUST2 NO SNIPERS” proclaimed one server name, promising endless no-nonsense shootybangs for the most vanilla of vanilla white boys. Names like “GunGame DeathMatch #1 | SKINS | STATS | RANKS” and “Lo-Grav ScoutzKnivez 100tick” jostled in the browser’s mix, alongside more mystifying and exotic options that would no doubt download hundreds of scrappy custom assets at the drop of a hat. Clan tags and URLs were proudly displayed, like club logos and sponsorship placards, signalling that their servers were not just a service delivered from on high; they were a product of people coming together, passing the money tin around, and carving out a space for themselves.

A space. That was what was most important. Not the physical space of a shelf on a server rack somewhere, or the transient virtual environments we’d perpetually pepper with bullet holes, but the abstract, persistent space of the server session itself, shared by every connected player. A space in which everyone is implicitly present and able to speak with one another, communicating through the chat box and an untold number of scratchy, low-quality, early-2000s headset microphones. With a matchmaking service, that nameless space only persists for the duration of the match before being recycled and lost forever, but when it has a name and an address, it becomes fixed; a point that people can find and return to again.

What happens when a space has all these qualities? When it’s available to many, appeals to a relative few, and has room for a few dozen at most? When it enables play and conversation, and allows them to coexist with minimal detriment to either? When it can be counted on—barring unexpected downtime at the hands of a cheap, disinterested server host—to always be exactly where you left it? A space like that can only take on the role of a focal point; a place of casual congregation. People drop in and drop out, some only staying for minutes at a time, but there are regulars in the mix; familiar names, recognisable avatars. People with nothing in particular to do and nowhere special to go, drifting in from school and work and heaven knows where else, ready to get back on a treadmill they’ve been turning for the better part of a decade. These spaces, these servers, were my hangout spots. They were the secluded cafeteria table, the climbing frame at the local park, the chalked-up goalposts on the wall behind the deli. Places that would give you something to talk about. Places that gave you an excuse to be there, for as long or as briefly as necessary.

It doesn’t feel quite right, waxing nostalgic about a period of my life when I so carelessly frittered my time away, learning nothing, scarcely developing as a person, ensconced in an atmosphere so masculine and juvenile that it’s a wonder it didn’t permanently turn me into the worst kind of gamer. And yet, it’s rare to experience such a natural sense of tight-knit community in the world of video games: no lobbies, no premediated arrangements, no guilds, no forum boards or profile pages, just people informally sharing a space, coming back again and again to a hub until they gradually get to know one another. Death in Counter-Strike is often swift, and—until the next round, at least—quite permanent, so it’s not uncommon to find yourself without much to do for the next few minutes besides spectating the remaining players and chatting with your fellow deceased. Here’s the guy who inexplicably snipes better when he’s drunk, and there’s the head admin who pops up once in a while to abuse his divine powers and fuck with people. Here comes the exhausting pre-pubescent kid who gets ritualistically teased, and over there is the guy who probably hacks but is too charismatic and fun-loving to ever ban. Did I form lasting friendships with any of them? Good lord, no. But they made for far more engaging playmates than complete strangers plucked arbitrarily from the matrix, and they couldn’t have become that without the common ground that the server provided.

For me, those days of inhabiting such a shared social space are gone; thrown into the dustbin of my teenage time-sinks alongside Runescape and habitual masturbation. Like many other people with fruitful, busy lives, I’ve grown to appreciate the convenience of being able to jump in a queue and just get a straightforward, uniform, as-intended multiplayer experience with people who are more-or-less appropriate competitors, no matter how thickly the dust has settled between sessions. But what is multiplayer when everyone’s either a total stranger or an established friend? What is multiplayer without any sense of place, or belonging? The prevalence of matchmaking systems, and the gradual shying away from community-run servers, has made online play more accessible—and rightfully so!—but the, temporal, fleeting, impersonal encounters they create are no social substitute for the virtual equivalent of the skate park outside Leederville station. We’ve wedged other systems into place to try and connect people across the treacherous, shifting waters—friend lists, teams, guilds, that sort of thing—but like many one-off secondary social networking solutions, they usually serve only to formalise connections already made through other means. “How do we play? Oh, right, I have to add you on this thing first. What’s your tag? Yeah, yeah, sent.”

None of this is necessarily an attempt to champion one thing over another: I don’t believe that the model of using servers as small-scale social hubs should supplant other multiplayer models, nor do I think that my endless hours spent being gunned down by the same few-dozen maladjusted young Australian men was a proper substitute for developing… y’know, actual social skills. Nevertheless, as with most tectonic shifts in gaming, it’s hard to shake the feeling that we’re not collectively fully aware of the significance of the baby currently riding out the door on a tide of bathwater. Multiplayer should be about people as much as it is about play, and as long as both are involved, there ought to be room for the chalked-up goalposts on the wall behind the deli.

[echoesaspark]

You’re a Wizard, Neil

Part One: Part Two: Neil and the foxes become true wizards at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter Part three:

It’s only a 6 hour drive to Orlando so they take the fox bus

Neil didn’t want to take Andrew more out of his comfort zone by flying on top of being surrounded by hundreds of people at a stuffy themepark

Wymack and Abby come with them and it’s officially deemed as a team bonding event (Wymack knows it’s not but he indulges them anyway)

They want Neil to get the whole Universal experience so Allison and Matt pitch in and book them rooms at the Cabana Bay Beach Resort so they’re right inside the park the entire time

And they get the 4 day park-to-park fastpass tickets so they can take their time on the rides and in both Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure

Neil is excited and overwhelmed

He’s only ever been to a state fair a couple times and that was so his mom could teach him how to pickpocket and get lost in a crowd without getting caught

On the bus ride there they watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and two of Neil’s favorite HP movies on the TV that Wymack had installed for them to pass the time

Andrew watches Neil instead

He was never able to do family-fun things like going to amusement parks when he was growing up

But neither was Neil, and he can see his own childlike excitement expressed in Neil’s twinkling eyes and happy smiles and that’s what sets the giddy fire in his stomach

They get to the hotel at night and Wymack instructs them all to at least get some sleep so they have energy tomorrow to tear up the parks fox-style

Neil barely sleeps a wink

He’s anxious because of the crowds and excited to finally see what a themepark experience is like

Andrew shoves his arm under Neil’s pillow and tells him to shut up

He then links their pinkies together in the small space between them on the bed before closing his eyes to the sight of Neil’s sleepy, pleased smile

They get up at ass o’clock because Wymack goes into dad mode and forces them all to eat a good breakfast courtesy of the hotel before they take one of the shuttles to the park

Once inside they make a beeline straight for Islands of Adventure where Hogsmeade is

Andrew will never forget the look on Neil’s face when they step inside the entrance to Hogsmeade (and he doesn’t ever want to)(this is one of the only times he will ever be grateful for his eidetic memory)

Neil’s entire body lights up

His eyes widen so much that they look like they’ll pop out of his head and Andrew swears it’s not the sun reflecting off of them that’s making them sparkle

All of his teeth are showing and his face is practically caving in on itself

There are dimples indenting in his cheeks that’s how hard he’s smiling

All of them whip their phones out to take pictures of this memorable moment (Andrew is staring at Neil in every single photo with the softest look any of them has ever seen on him and they don’t dare to mention it)

So they all take a team picture in front of the Hogwarts Express and the castle, Wymack and Abby included

Everyone has the biggest smile on their face and even Aaron and Andrew don’t look as stone faced as they usually do

You can’t see it but Neil and Andrew are holding hands

Their plan for the first day is to spend it at Hogsmeade and do everything there is to do like ride every ride and visit every shop and eat at the Three Broomsticks

They start with the Flight of the Hippogriff because the line was the shortest and it’s like a buildup to the bigger rides (for those who are opposed to heights)

Obviously Andrew refuses to go on any of the roller coasters, and Neil’s fine with that, he just wants Andrew to be comfortable and to do whatever he feels okay with

But he agrees to try the Flight of the Hippogriff because it’s a smaller coaster and he kind of wants to see Neil’s face on his first ride

It’s a little rickety but it’s not too bad of a ride and Andrew doesn’t let anyone know that he semi-enjoyed it

Neil knows

Next is the Dragon Challenge

Since there’s two dueling coasters they split up so they can race each other

Dan, Matt, Allison, and Renee go on the Chinese Fireball and Neil, Kevin, Nicky, and Aaron go on the Hungarian Horntail (Andrew opted out of this one but he decides to ride it with Neil again later after he sees how much fun Neil had)

They trash talk each other in the queue and almost get kicked out of line when Kevin lunges at Nicky after he calls him Dumb Krum

When they get on the ride the operator makes Neil and Aaron sit in the middle of their row because they’re the smallest

Nicky gets an elbow to the ribs from Aaron when he laughs

Then he blames Nicky when the Horntail loses

Since Andrew didn’t ride with them Neil takes him to Honeydukes and buys him a ton of candy

Chocolate frogs, Exploding Bon-Bons, a sugar quill, Fever Fudge, jelly slugs, and a cauldron cake that he eats right in the store

He repays Neil with a sweet kiss when no one is looking

Andrew buys a box of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavour Bean and gives one to Kevin saying that it’s kale flavored (it’s dirt) (Kevin never trusts him again)

Wymack buys them all lunch at the Three Broomsticks and he gets them each a giant smoked turkey leg and a round of Butterbeer and Kevin is highly disappointed to find out that the beer in Butterbeer is not actually beer

They go to Ollivander’s next and the guy picks Andrew and Aaron for the wand show thinking that they’re 12

He asks Allison if she’s their mother and she almost busts a lung with her laughter

Both the twins walk out after Andrew tries to brandish a knife (“how did he get that past security, Neil?” - Dan, Neil - *shrugs*) so Renee volunteers to take their place

They save the best ride for last, which is the Forbidden Journey

Everyone, including Wymack and Abby, wants to ride this one and they get so excited when they finally step into the makeshift Hogwarts queue

The Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and Gryffindor Common Room are so realistic that it makes them feel as if they’re all really there and Neil is mind blown and so happy he can’t stop looking at Andrew to make sure he’s feeling the same

Nicky tries to start a fight with one of the moving pictures (they make him sit with Wymack and Abby on the ride for it)

This time they split up Neil, Andrew, Renee, and Allison and Matt, Kevin, Dan, and Aaron

It’s the greatest thing they’ve ever experienced

It’s the only time that flying has ever made Andrew feel good

And hearing Matt’s screams when the giant spiders pop up

They ride every ride 5 more times and switch up the pairings each time so everyone gets a chance to ride with every teammate, and Wymack and Abby join in too

Then they end the day in Filch’s Emporium to splurge on merch

Dan buys a Gryffindor quidditch shirt with a number 1 on it and gets a matching one for Wymack too, and Matt gets a Hufflepuff one with a number 4

Allison buys Kevin a shirt that says Muggle and throws it at his face

Renee buys a Time-Turner necklace and a pair of Hufflepuff socks

Aaron buys him and Katelyn matching Ravenclaw mugs

Kevin buys a set of Hogwarts Houses shot glasses

Andrew buys a shirt for Neil that says I Solemnly Swear That I’m Up To No Good and then almost stabs Nicky when he tries to give him a stuffed Dobby

Nicky buys half the store

And as a cute treat for everyone Neil buys them each a wand of the character that reminds him of them

Harry’s for Dan, because she’s their strong, brave leader that will go to any length to prove and achieve her worth and the team’s

Sirius’ for Matt, because Matt treats Neil like he’s his own son and would do anything for him

McGonagall’s for Allison, because she’s a fierce badass that doesn’t take shit from anyone

Tonks’ for Renee, because she has many facets to her but the only one that counts is her strength and compassion for the people she cares about

Mad-Eye Moody’s for Kevin, because it seems like he always has a stick up his ass but he’s a strong and smart man that just wants everyone to be their best

Luna’s for Nicky, because he’s a little goofy and weird but he’s proud of who he is and everyone loves him

Snape’s for Aaron’s, because, well

Molly’s and Arthur’s for Wymack and Abby, because they’re the team’s honorary parents

And Draco’s for Andrew, because it’s become their little inside joke (Andrew sneakily buys Ron’s for Neil and gently throws it at him later that night while they’re getting ready for bed) (Neil giggles so hard he tears up)

[lifeslikethis21]

I’ve been to France a couple of times. Well twice, but twice is a couple though. And both times were memorable, for different reasons.

The first time was with my family when I was around six or seven and we did what any family would do. We went to Disneyland. It was amazing; incredible sights, I got Mini and Mickey’s autograph, and all the sweets necessary. I even had the chance to be apart of a show, to sit on this giant Cake and come on stage with the Disney cast. Chance, being the operative word. When the person came to ask my mum for permission if I’d like to, she said yes and well, I started crying thinking she was getting rid of me.

It wasn’t the only time I bet my mum regretted bringing me somewhere in Disneyland. There was also the incident at the Haunted House. I’m pretty sure I made some ears bleed there. The moment the doors closed and the room began to lower (It was really a large elevator) I began screaming. Not just small scared kid whimpers, full-blown “someones-murdering-me” wails. And I didn’t stop. Not as the room went dark and we were escorted onto a ride around the House, not as people began jumping out at us. It got to the point where my Mum had to wave them away before they even came near me. I screamed and cried so much. I’m sure they loved me there.

The second time I went to France was years later while I was studying abroad in Ghent, Belgium and two friends and I decided to go for a day trip to France. Now, we didn’t get to Disneyland though, that is another adventure I plan on having in the future, hopefully without the screaming and crying. Instead, we walked around Paris and saw the different sights it had to offer, such as the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and the Arc De Triomphe. It was a long day of walking and my feet blistered after it because the fool that I am decided to wear converse instead of something more comfortable.

This trip was my first time seeing the Eiffel Tower up close and when standing before it, I could only think that it wasn’t as big as I always expected it to be. Still, I was in awe of its structure and the huge crowds that it gathered. We didn’t get to go up the Tower because the queues were too long and we had only a few hours in the city. However, it was only when I went to the top of the Arc De Triomphe that I could fully appreciate the city and the Eiffel Tower as it loomed over the rest of the buildings. And in the distance the collision of modern structures with the old classical ones could be seen as high towering buildings, covered in class to reflect the sky rose in the distance, sprouting from the traditional blocks of buildings in Paris. We also happened across the Love Lock Bridge, known for where couples go to secure a lock on the bridge and toss a key away to show their love. It was breathtaking to see how many couples had been there from the numbers of locks, to experience how much love must have passed through that area. Who knows, perhaps one day I may return and do the same thing with someone I’m lucky enough to be in love with. Heres hoping. 

As usual, my trip couldn’t end without a venture for some food and we found our way looking for some macaroons in a cute, yet very busy, shop/restaurant. And just down a few shops from this was a Disney store. So, since I couldn’t make it to Disneyland itself, I had to have a nosey around the store. It’s just as magical as the Park itself is. 

Disneyland Slideshow (Pictures aren’t the best quality due to being retaken on a phone to be able to insert here. But they bring fond memories for me so I wanted to share them)

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Paris Slideshow

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Tales of France I’ve been to France a couple of times. Well twice, but twice is a couple though. And both times were memorable, for different reasons.

[un-enfant-immature]

I flew the Millennium Falcon and it was good

  After visiting Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge several months ago to report on how it was built, I came back on the eve of it opening to the public to try out its first marquee attraction: flying the Millennium Falcon.

Well, I flew it, and it was good. Real good. This ride is for everyone who dreamed of piloting the Falcon more than they dreamed about holding a lightsaber. This ride is for every person that rode Star Tours shuttle and gripped the slightly up-turned handles wishing hard that they could fly it. It’s a quintessential part of the Star Wars universe made flesh.

It’s clever, incredibly well art-directed and absolutely smoothly operational. The ride offers a thrilling group experience that will foster shouting and interaction in the cockpit just as we’ve seen in the movies. It will very likely also breed some post-flight posturing or trash talking depending on how each individual performs their tasks.

The scene setting and queue for the Falcon is pitch perfect. You walk by the ship itself and through a queue that is populated with all of the artifacts of an active smuggling operation inside a well worn, lived in hangar. As you go through the line you are presented with multiple views of the falcon itself, making utilization of the 100 foot ship.

A cast member will hand you a boarding card with your preferred role on it, identified by color.

Eventually you enter the insanely familiar chiclet corridor and board the ship. The reveal of the hold with its Dejarik board (not functional but you can sit there and take pics) and a ton of other super accurate details is your next treat. This is where your colored boarding card gets handed in and you board a cockpit through one of two tunnels.

After a quick briefing from Hondo Ohnaka it’s time to enter the cockpit and, friends, the impact is real. It’s the cockpit as you imagined it, only right in your face and extremely tactile. I talked about this before but the toggles feel right, the levers feel right.

Technologically speaking, the Falcon is a beast of an operation.

In my piece previewing Galaxy’s Edge a few months ago, I mentioned some technical details about the way the ride works. It’s a simulator with multiple cockpits, loaded with 6 people in 2 batches at a time. There are two pilots, two gunners and two engineers. You share responsibility for how the Falcon completes its mission. You’ll always get home but the ship may be more or less damaged and each person gets a rating that translates into your ‘share’ of galactic credits.

  Here’s some details from my earlier piece:

The simulation is run on the Unreal engine and the mechanics are a much upgraded version of what powers Star Tours. Each cockpit has its own real‑time rendering system for a multi‑projection feedback hub across five screens that completely surround the cockpit seamlessly. Any decision you make as a member of the crew has to result in an action on screen, and it’s all real-time, so none of the major stuff is pre-rendered. While Disney itself was fairly cagey about what powers the ‘magic’ behind this system, Nvidia talked a bit about it last year.

Each of the cockpits is powered by a single BOXX machine with 8 NVIDIA Quadro P6000 GPUs in a Quadro SLI configuration. They sync up with 5 super high res rear projectors that make up a seamless cockpit for the rider. The displays synchronize with each other and with the actions of the people in the cockpit.

Gunners fire (synchronous fire from both gunners is needed to blow up an attacker) blasters, engineers put out fires or handle special operations like grappling and pilots try not to hit stuff (and engage the hyper drive). All of these actions are accomplished by strategically punching buttons or pulling levers during the flight. You are prompted to do each with audible instructions from Hondo as well as light up rings and buttons.

The whole simulation sits on top of a custom version of Unreal Engine that supports an obvious ton of GPUs. The work that Disney did on the engine went back to Epic Games and will help to inform how their engine ends up handling multiple GPUs in the future.

In action, the work has paid off. This is an insanely involved simulator ride handling a bunch of inputs at once

I have to say, though, it tickles me pink that Disney spent billions building what reminds me a heck of a lot of a Star Wars version of Spaceteam.

Yes, you can play it in isolation, taking care of your role and that’s it, but just a couple minutes into my flight I was yelling at our (terrible) pilots to go left or right or up or down and the engineers were hollering at my fellow gunner and I to shoot things. If you let yourself get into it, you’re going to have a good time. And there are absolutely cases for multiple runs at this thing, it’s not a one-and-done ride. Different roles, different modes (there is a semi-secret manual gunnery mode you trigger right at the beginning of the ride if you’re quick) and what Disney promises are ongoing stories that will be installed in the ride make it a long term investment.

The controls are responsive, but not ‘twitch-style’. If you’ve played an advanced space simulator then you know that the scale of everything affects your sense of speed — that’s present here too. The Falcon isn’t a ship that goes snicker snack from one heading to another, it arcs and swerves. This makes moving up and down floatier than flying a tiny fighter might be, but it doesn’t take long to get used to it. I hit maybe 2-3 things on my pilot flight, where my earlier flight impacted maybe 15 or so times.

You’re given a score based on how you performed your role and how the whole flight performed. That translates into galactic credits that you can use in the Disney Play app for rewards. The Play App, as long as it has been logged into and opened, will get your score information from the ride automatically.

Cast members will then be able to see how you performed and tell you to “stay away from Hondo, he’s not going to be happy.” Or when you’re ordering a drink at the Cantina the barkeep might say “I see that you had a successful run on the Falcon for Hondo.”

We also got a bit of a video and audio “extra” after our second flight when we did better score wise than my first one. I’m not sure if that’s connected to score but I’m going to try to find out. Hondo was certainly more complimentary and there was a real story-based change between the two runs. We ‘did more’ in the second run and ‘came back with more stuff’ and those things felt connected and visual — it wasn’t just a random score-based level.

I’ll leave the contents of the flight itself to spoiler territory, but it involved the traditional flying in tight spots, asteroids, shooting down Tie Fighters and entering hyperspace. It was intense, felt like a good length and was very satisfying.

I’ll have more to come from Galaxy’s Edge in the next few days, stay tuned.

[shirlleycoyle]

Gig Workers Have Nowhere to Pee

On Wednesday, Christian Perea, an Uber and Lyft driver, posted photos of Vivi’s Cafe, a restaurant in Redwood City, California that refuses to allow Uber Eats and DoorDash delivery drivers to use its bathrooms. In the tweet, Perea said: “This is how many restaurants treat gig-workers for companies like Uber Eats and DoorDash as subhumans"

The owner of Vivi’s Cafe did not respond to Motherboard’s request for comment but an employee at the restaurant defended the sign, saying over the phone “Our owner put up the sign and we let everyone use the bathroom, but sometimes drivers don’t flush or take too long.”

Motherboard spoke to delivery drivers who work on Uber Eats, Postmates, Grubhub, DoorDash, and Instacart, and found that not having access to a bathroom while picking up and delivering food for hours is a common problem in many areas of the country. Drivers told us that often restaurants will post signs or tell drivers that bathrooms are reserved for customers only, forcing them to use the bathroom outside or pee in cups in their cars. As middlemen who shuttle food between businesses and customers, gig workers who deliver food and groceries often find themselves occupying a marginalized position. Neither customer nor employee, gig workers are denied the amenities typically offered to both. Federal laws requires that employees provide a least one bathroom for roughly every 15 employees, but this access does not extend to gig workers who are independent contractors.

‘There are several restaurants in San Francisco that I’ve asked to use the bathroom and they’ve said ‘no,’” Mostafa Maklad, who works for UberEats, GrubHub, Postmates, and DoorDash in San Francisco, told Motherboard. “It’s very frustrating when you’re working and have no way to use the bathroom because there just aren’t public bathrooms in this city. Usually, I just try to find one at the next restaurant.”

One gig worker on UberEats and DoorDash who asked to remain anonymous to talk about an embarrassing topic, told Motherboard that barring gig workers from entering restaurant bathrooms is common practice in Chicago. “It’s not unusual. One in five or six restaurants I go into have a sign like that,” he said. And while some restaurants post blatant signs meant to keep out gig workers, most employ more tactful strategies, simply stating that bathrooms are reserved for customers only, he said.

“It’s inconvenient and not rare that bathrooms are reserved for customers,” he said. “We’re spending more money at restaurants than a customer would spend on the same order…and many of us would just like to wash our hands when we pick up food.”

That same worker said sometimes 12-hour shifts go by where he isn’t able to easily access a bathroom. “I always respect the signs, but I’m not ashamed to pull over and pee behind a building. And I’m not shy—if someone were to ask, I’d tell them why. I also keep a spare cup in the car just in case.”

"I’m not ashamed to pull over and pee behind a building. And I’m not shy—if someone were to ask, I’d tell them why. I also keep a spare cup in the car just in case.”

Tiffany, who picks and packs groceries for the app Instacart and preferred to use her first name only, says she’s been told by Safeway and Quality Food Centers (a subsidiary of Kroger’s) in the Seattle area that she cannot use their restrooms. “It’s decently hard to find a restroom in Seattle because they are either 1) locked and monitored so I get told ‘no’ when I ask for a code or 2) they don’t have one at all,” she wrote to Motherboard on Facebook.

Their reasoning, she says, is that she’s not a real customer. “It’s a little messed up that they’re not letting people use restrooms. I’m a customer spending time and money in your store.” After she filed a complaint with the Safeway’s location that wouldn’t let her use the restroom, Tiffany says a manager gave her access.

“The restrooms in our facilities are accessible to the public, including gig workers. This isolated incident where a patron was denied access to a locked restroom is not consistent with our store policies,” a spokesperson for Safeway said.

Quality Food Centers did not respond to Motherboard’s request for comment, but an employee who answered the phone at a downtown Seattle location told Motherboard that Quality Food Centers in the area have a policy of not allowing customers to use their restrooms. He wasn’t sure how this policy applies to gig workers.

Many drivers echo these sentiments in online forums. They say they’re forced to make pit stops at parks, gas stations or McDonald’s. Sometimes they ask customers if they can relieve themselves inside their homes. The topic of where and how to pee is a regular subject on the r/UberDrivers subreddit, where one driver noted that a “Peetainer” was “the best purchase I made all last year.” Other threads ask “how many drivers use a piss bottle?” 32-ounce Gatorade bottles seem to be the consensus best pee bottle among drivers.

Late last year, when the actress Gabrielle Union tweeted about an Uber driver who spent 15 minutes in the bathroom at her Los Angeles house, Uber responded saying, “That definitely should not be happening.”

Motherboard reached out to Uber, DoorDash, Grubhub, Seamless, and Instacart for comment about specific policies regarding bathroom use. Uber and DoorDash said they do not have any specific rules about bathroom access. Grubhub, Seamless, and Instacart did not respond. Motherboard reviewed their community guidelines and found nothing on the subject of bathroom access.

When asked, an Uber Eats spokesperson pointed to the community guidelines and quoted: "Restaurants should provide a safe area for order pickups that make delivery people feel welcome."

“Our whole algorithm—our point is to have the driver be in the restaurant for as little as possible. They make more money if they do more deliveries in less time,” a DoorDash spokesperson told Motherboard. “It’s not our call, it’s not our establishment. It’s kind of like an Uber driver asking you to use your restroom after dropping you off.”

This sort of discrimination against gig workers isn't limited to just delivery apps, but also ride-hailing apps. Motherboard reported last year that some Uber Greenlight Hubs segregated bathrooms by worker classification; at one facility, Uber drivers were directed to Port-a-Potties without running water and scolded for using employee designated ones.

Take New York City’s airports, for example, where for years drivers did not have access to bathrooms. While ride-hail drivers waited in an isolated parking lot for their turn in the queue, they were forced to urinate in bottles and "turn a patch of foliage into their own oversized litter box” for fear of missing a passenger.

In New York City, there are over 120,000 ride-hail app drivers and only 32 designated “relief stands."

"When we launched our restroom campaign in late 2016, there wasn't even a port-a-potty for ride-hail drivers at JFK,” Moira Muntz, spokesperson for the Independent Drivers Guild, a New York City-based labor group for app-based drivers, told Motherboard. “After years of research and conference calls, we finally won running water restrooms at the airports. This fall, the Port Authority put in place running water restroom trailers at all three airports and approved plans to build permanent restroom facilities."

New York City itself, however, is not doing much better. There are over 120,000 ride-hail app drivers (also known as for-hire-vehicle drivers or FHVs) and only 32 designated “relief stands” for FHVs to park for an hour and “take care of personal needs”—19 are in Manhattan, where the vast majority of all drivers operate.

"These are just places to park—in most cases there is no nearby public restroom. Also, many of these 'relief stands' are only designated for FHV use overnight or after businesses are closed. Many of them are for commercial deliveries only during the day,” Muntz said. “New York City desperately needs more public restrooms."

Are you a gig worker with a story to share about your working conditions? We'd love to hear from you. You can contact Edward at edward.ongweso@vice.com or on Signal 413-225-2938, or Lauren at lauren.gurley@vice.com or on Signal 201-897-2109.

There’s a reason that gig workers consistently have difficulty getting bathroom access whether its in restaurants, grocery stores, airports, or at city-designated rest stops—and why gig employers are in no rush to do anything about it. Gig workers are seen, with some classist disregard, as a problem to be solved. For these companies, the problem is how to minimize labor costs in pursuit of profits; for cities and states, the problem is how to classify workers and their rights/responsibilities; and for everyone else, the problem is that they do what everyone else does (use the bathroom, contribute to traffic, etc.).

But if you’re the gig worker and the problem is you want to be treated with some dignity, perhaps take a bathroom break between jobs as you struggle to make ends meet…well, tough shit!

Gig Workers Have Nowhere to Pee syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

[kadobeclothing]

25 Case Study Examples Every Marketer Should See

The saying “lead by example” is important in politics and leadership roles — and it’s also critical in marketing.

Sure, you can tell potential customers your marketing team is the best at running YouTube campaigns or effectively increasing a website’s cost-per-acquisition (CPA), but until you offer examples, they’re going to have a hard time believing you. What is a case study? A case study is a detailed story of something your company did. It includes a beginning — often discussing a conflict, an explanation of what happened next, and a resolution that explains how the company solved or improved on something. A great case study is also often filled with research and stats to back up points made about a project’s results. Putting together a compelling case study is one of the most powerful strategies for showcasing your marketing skills and attracting future customers. But it’s easier said than done — you’ve executed the campaign, you’ve collected the results, now what? To help you create an attractive and high-converting case study, we’ve put together a list of some of our favorites. Take a look, and let these examples inspire your next brilliant case study design. Case Study Examples 1. “Shopify Uses HubSpot CRM to Transform High Volume Sales Organization,” by HubSpot

What’s interesting about this case study is the way it leads with the customer. That reflects a major HubSpot credo, which is to always solve for the customer first. The copy leads with a brief description of why Shopify uses HubSpot, and is accompanied by a short video and some basic statistics on the company. Notice that this case study uses mixed-media. Yes, there is a short video, but it’s elaborated upon in the additional text on the page. So while your case studies can use one or the other, don’t be afraid to combine written copy with visuals to emphasize the project’s success. 2. “Designing the Future of Urban Farming,” by IDEO

Here’s a design company that knows how to lead with simplicity in its case studies. As soon as the visitor arrives at the page, he or she is greeted with a big, bold photo, and two very simple columns of text — “The Challenge” and “The Outcome.” Immediately, IDEO has communicated two of the case study’s major pillars. And while that’s great — the company created a solution for vertical farming startup INFARM’s challenge — it doesn’t stop there. As the user scrolls down, those pillars are elaborated upon with comprehensive (but not overwhelming) copy that outlines what that process looked like, replete with quotes and additional visuals. 3. “Secure Wi-Fi Wins Big for Tournament,” by WatchGuard 

Then, there are the cases when visuals can tell almost the entire story — when executed correctly. Network security provider WatchGuard is able to do that through this video, which tells the story of how its services enhanced the attendee and vendor experience at the Windmill Ultimate Frisbee tournament. 4. “Customer Case Study: ElliotLee Estate Agents” by Pioneer Business Systems 

 In 2018, 45% of people watch more than an hour of Facebook or YouTube videos a week. A video case study could be a compelling way to attract potential customers who prefer watching a video over reading text. Additionally, a video allows you to convey customer emotion. This case study by Pioneer Business Systems, for instance, allows viewers to see firsthand the effects Pioneer’s telephone system had on their clients, ElliotLee Estate Agents. It includes text, as well, to thoughtfully organize and break-up the video into sections. 5. “Sapio User Acquisition Case Study” by Fractl

Fractl uses both text and graphic design on their Sapio case study web page to immerse the viewer in a more interesting user experience. For instance, as you scroll, you’ll see the results are illustrated in an infographic-design form as well as the text itself. Further down the page, they use icons like a heart and a circle to illustrate their pitch angles, and graphs to showcase their results. Rather than writing which publications covered their news story, they incorporated the media outlet’s icons for further visual diversity. 6. “USA Today” by Fantasy

What’s the best way to showcase the responsiveness and user interface of a website? Probably by diving right into it, via video — which is exactly what Fantasy does on their case study page for USA Today. They keep the page simple and clean, with a large red play button embedded at the top, inviting you to review their redesign of USA Today’s website via video. The video itself is simple, showing the website’s interface and clicking on various links with simple instrumental music in the background. If you’re more interested in text, you can scroll to find their goal, “make USA Today’s website responsive”, in one short paragraph, followed by a simple “1” icon, with the text “Became the most visited US News site.” Fantasy understands that, as a potential customer, this is all you need to know. Scrolling further, you’re greeted with a simple “Contact Us” CTA. 7. “Coca-Cola Uses App Annie to Amaze & Delight Customers” by App Annie. (embed link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHo0SnZFTMw) A video is a phenomenal way to grab a viewer’s attention, but in our video-heavy world today, it can be hard to keep potential customers’ eyes on the screen. To combat this, App Annie’s case study of Coca-Cola includes drawings and text to highlight what Greg Chambers, Coca-Cola’s Director of Innovation, is talking about on-screen. They also occasionally cut away from his face to include full-screen text. By incorporating graphic designs and text in their video, App Annie encourages viewers to stay engaged. 8. “How One Ecommerce Business Solved the Omnichannel Challenge with Bitly Campaigns” by Bitly

Bitly takes a different approach to text-heavy case studies, by providing their case study of ecommerce company Vissla in PDF form. The case study is clean and easily scannable, with sections divided into “The Goal”, “Top Omnichannel Obstacles”, and images of “The Set-Up” and “The Launch.” The downloadable PDF format makes the case study feel like an exclusive behind-the-scenes look, and uses colors and text that align with Bitly’s brand. Since the PDF opens in a separate browser, it’s easier for the viewer to avoid distractions as they scroll the pages. 9. “How Social Media Insights Turned Around Lexus’ Holiday Campaigns” by Infegy

It can be risky to include hurdles to your case studies, but with great risk comes great reward, right? In Infegy’s case, their gated content is worth the fill-out form information, particularly since their client is such a big name in the automobile industry: Lexus. The PDF case study reads like a compelling news article, including titles like “The Rise of Lexus” and “The Fall of Lexus”, colorful pie charts, and real online comments from customers who were unhappy with Lexus’ old holiday ads. The PDF is six pages but features big font and plenty of white space, so viewers can easily skim it in only a few minutes. 10. “Fiesta Bowl” by OH Partners

OH Partners doesn’t let superfluous details distract from the most important themes of their case study — “The Situation”, “The Solution”, and “The Success”. Each one of their case studies, including this Fiesta Bowl one, is organized into those three categories, with a video at the beginning followed by a few large font, easily skimmable paragraphs. Best of all, OH Partners puts other case studies on the left side of the page, with highly enticing visuals to ensure a potential consumer can continue perusing the case studies until they’re confident in OH Partner’s track record. 11. “The Gifted Day” by Digitas

Digitas’ case study page for LVNG With, a cancer support community created by AstraZeneca, is one of the more emotionally moving campaigns in our list and might even evoke a few tears. The page begins with a heart-wrenching video of all the moments — a grandmother holding her grandchild, someone riding a roller coaster — that “weren’t supposed to happen”, exemplifying the enormous gift a single day could be to a terminal patient. Scrolling down, it’s obvious that Digitas kept AstraZeneca at the forefront of their strategy, but more than that, they used real people as their focal point. 12. “Wine.com” by RichRelevance

What first attracted me to RichRelevance’s Wine.com case study was the box on the left-side that quickly summed up the case study, including requirements, solution, and results. Adding an abridged version to a case study enables you to attract a larger audience, by offering a quick-read for those short on time, and a longer version for those interested in the details. RichRelevance’s case study also offers an impressive amount of information for those wanting to understand the nuances of their strategy, including a section titled “Fine-tuning Recommendations by Geography”. 13. “Synapse Innovation” by Uniface

SlideShare is a platform that allows you to encourage engagement from your viewers — which is likely why Netherlands-headquartered Uniface chose to use a SlideShare for their customer case study. As you click to the right you’re able to easily read their process from challenge to solution, and they provide a link to the full case study, and their social media accounts, on the last slide. Since each slide only needs a few lines of text, the SlideShare feels especially digestible. 14. “StyleHaul” by Asana

While Asana’s case study design looks initially text-heavy, there’s good reason — it reads like a creative story, and is told entirely from the customer’s perspective. For instance, Asana knows you won’t trust their word alone on their impressive customer service, so they let StyleHaul’s SVP of Business & Network Operations, Drew, tell you instead: “Our Customer Success Manager, Michael, was amazing. If I had a question, I wasn’t put into a queue—I could get it answered right away.” The entire case study reads like an in-depth interview, and captivates the reader through creative storytelling. 15. “Patagonia” by Amp Agency

Amp Agency’s Patagonia marketing strategy aimed to appeal to a new audience through guerilla marketing efforts and a coast-to-coast roadtrip. Their case study page effectively conveys a voyager theme, complete with real photos of Patagonia customers from across the U.S., and a map of the expedition. Personally, I liked Amp Agency’s storytelling approach best, which captures viewers’ attention start-to-finish simply because it’s an intriguing and unique approach to marketing. 16. “Budweiser Influencer Marketing Case Study” by Anomaly

Budweiser’s one page, poster-esque case study is a good reflection of a brand knowing its audience. Anomaly’s case study for Budweiser appears edgy and modern, with a design that playfully pushes the text to the right as it showcases pictures of social media influencers wearing a campaign-related t-shirt. Both the top and the bottom of the page are eye-catching, and the text itself is simple and straightforward. 17. “Clinique” by AdRoll

Sometimes, starting with the results is the best way to capture your readers’ attention. In Clinique’s case study, AdRoll does just that, beginning with some impressive numbers: “8.5 Times ROI, 14 Times ROAS, 265% Amount of Sales”. Once it has boldly outlined their results, AdRoll smartly pulls back to discuss the “Benefits of Personalized Ads”, letting the viewer consider how these same benefits might help their own company. The page is short and sweet and ends with a compelling call-to-action — “AdRoll has generated revenues in excess of seven billion for its customers. Try it now.” The clean, whitespace-heavy page is an effective example of using a case study to capture future leads. 18. “TEXTCARE” by The George Institute

 The George Institute chose to display the case study for their program, TEXTCARE, in a documentary-style video with real people discussing how TEXTCARE helped them become healthier and more active. If your case study results benefited people, there’s likely no better way to showcase that than through on-screen interviews. 19. “Reclaiming The Identity of a Brand: A Levi’s Case Study” by Levi

If you’ve got a case study with dense text, one of the more creative solutions to breaking it up could be to organize it by pages. Levi’s case study uses this method — their page one, for instance, is labeled “Introduction”, while page two is labeled “Weaknesses in the late 1990s”. Each page tackles a different topic, and the design makes it feel more like reading a book than a business article. 20. “Red Sox Season Campaign” by CTP

What’s great about CTP’s case study page for their Red Sox Season Campaign is their combination of video, images, and text — a video automatically begins playing when you visit the page, and as you scroll, you’ll see additional embedded videos of Red Sox players, a compilation of print ads, and social media images you can click to enlarge. At the bottom, it says “Find out how we can do something similar for your brand.” The page is clean, cohesive, and aesthetically-pleasing, inviting viewers to appreciate the well-roundedness of CTP’s campaign for Boston’s beloved baseball team. 21. “BIC: Bringing One Stop Shopping to BIC Razors” by Genuine

Sometimes, simple is key. Genuine’s case study for BIC razor’s is straightforward and minimal, with only two short paragraphs, “The Insight” and “The Solution”, accompanied by two images. The simplicity of the page allows the reader to focus on the sense of humor in the text, like “Helping a consumer find their perfect match and making them smile along the way means gaining a brand loyalist for life. Or until they grow a beard.” The page displays Genuine’s brand personality well, while offering the viewer all the necessary information they’d need. 22. “Cisco Systems: Velocity to Value” by Apptio

An attention-grabbing title is one of the easiest, yet most effective, ways to help your case study stand out — like Apptio’s Cisco Systems case study, titled “Velocity to Value: A Mature IT Services Transformation Enables IT to Continually Simplify and Innovate.” The piece is well-organized and uses compelling headers to keep the reader engaged, and offers a side panel for viewers who just need the bullet points. Despite its length, Apptio’s case study is appealing enough to keep viewer’s attention. 23. “Airbnb’s Custom 360-view of the Customer” by Zendesk

Zendesk’s Airbnb case study reads like a blog, and focuses equally on Zendesk and Airbnb, highlighting a true partnership between the companies. To captivate readers, it begins like this: “Halfway around the globe is a place to stay with your name on it. At least for a weekend.” The piece focuses on telling a good story, and provides photographs of beautiful Airbnb locations. In a case study meant to highlight Zendesk’s helpfulness, nothing could be more authentic than their decision to focus on Airbnb’s service in such great detail. 24. “Herschel Delights with Hootsuite” by Hootsuite 

If you didn’t know this video was a case study for Hootsuite, you’d assume it was simply an artsy video capturing Herschel’s startup success. The Herschel marketing team mentions Hootsuite, but they do it authentically and remain primarily focused on the appreciation they have for their social media community. This video doesn’t have the feel of a traditional advertisement — instead, it feels unique and true to Herschel, highlighting Hootsuite as both a helpful and unobtrusive partner. 25. “4 Content Marketing Success Stories [Infographic]” by Kapost You don’t always need a ton of text or a video to convey your message — sometimes, you just need images. Kapost’s infographic does a fantastic job of quickly providing the fundamental statistics a potential customer would need to know, without boggling down their readers with dense paragraphs. The infographic includes percentages, customer quotes, and colorful charts to provide the viewer with both numerical and emotional reasons they might choose Kapost. Start creating your case study. Now that you’ve got a great list of examples of killer case studies, think about a topic you’d like to write about that highlights your company or work you did with a customer. For more examples, check out these social media case studies.

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Galaxy’s Edge Opens August 29 in Disney World. Do I Keep My September Reservation? We’ve Got PROS, CONS, and SURVIVAL TIPS For Galaxy’s Edge!

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge at Walt Disney World will officially open on August 29, 2019 (click here for all the details!!), way ahead of the “late fall” estimation Disney released last year. And the shortened timeline has really thrown a wrench into the plans of guests who had hoped to avoid the galactic crush of people exploding into Disney’s Hollywood Studios — particularly those with September reservations.

Galaxy’s Edge Concept Art

September has historically been a relatively quiet time of year to visit the World, and with Disney’s original prediction of a “late fall” opening for Galaxy’s Edge (plus free Disney Dining Plan offered through September 30!), loads of visitors planned to enjoy the last few quiet weeks of fall without tens of thousands of their ‘closest’ friends. Now those plans are thrown off. And we have heard from MANY readers and social media followers who are considering changing their travel plans (or upset that they can’t!).

So we’re taking a look at the pros and cons of traveling to Walt Disney World in September, right at the height of the Galaxy’s Edge opening crowds — PLUS tips for surviving it all!

Galaxy’s Edge Marketplace

Cons: Get me outta here!

So. Many. People.

The first consideration of guests whose September plans are disrupted by the announcement is crowd levels. And there’s reason for concern. According to TouringPlans.com, when Pandora opened in Animal Kingdom, the new land essentially doubled the crowds in that park. Galaxy’s Edge certainly has the potential to do this — or more! — for Hollywood Studios. For many the appeal of September is the relatively low crowds, allowing them to snag Fastpasses and Advance Dining Reservations, avoid hours-long waits for popular attractions, and just have some personal space. For some this is a necessity; crowds can be highly anxiety-producing and overwhelming for people of all ages, and we totally hear the pain of those who feel this way.

Galaxy’s Edge Concept Art © Disney

There’s no sidestepping this issue. Disney’s Hollywood Studios will, in all likelihood, be a total madhouse. It may be orderly, with Disney doing what Disney does to control and direct crowds, but even with the best organization of queues and filtering crowds through in regimented ways, people are people. They will disperse everywhere. And if you can’t handle the crowds on a busy day, you’re really going to struggle with a Galaxy’s Edge day.

But all hope isn’t lost. See our PROS below for an idea of when Galaxy’s Edge crowds might simmer down.

Galaxy’s Edge… Phase One

If you’ve resigned yourself to the fact that you’ll be visiting Walt Disney World during Galaxy’s Edge’s big reveal, the least you could ask is for everything to be open and operational, right? Unfortunately, even if you battle the crowds to get in, you’ll still be missing out on one of the biggest draws to the land: Rise of the Resistance!

INSIDE Star Wars Rise of the Resistance!

Click here to see why Rise of the Resistance will be relegated to Phase Two!

By all accounts this ride is out of this world, combining multiple ride experiences into a single, larger-than-ever attraction. But Rise of the Resistance won’t be rising to anything when Galaxy’s Edge opens in Disney World as it’s slated for a second phase.

For many who are begrudging their opening month visit to the land, the inability to experience Rise of the Resistance is a huge disappointment. Perhaps crowds wouldn’t be so bad if only guests could spread across two major attractions. Perhaps Rise of the Resistance would make the Galaxy’s Edge fervor more tolerable. Guests who’ve stumbled into an early visit to Galaxy’s Edge won’t have that carrot to get them through the hard stuff.

Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance ©Disney

You only get one chance to make a first impression!

If you’re a Star Wars fan, a Disney Parks fan, or both, you’ve likely been anticipating the opening of Galaxy’s Edge for years. If you’ve imagined your first visit during the relative calm way post-opening (perhaps in 2020 or beyond) and now find yourself in the mix for the moved-up grand opening, you may be feeling the let-down of your idyllic first Galaxy’s Edge visit. And that’s a bummer! Rather than planning ahead for a visit when crowds have died down, now you’ll be one of the tens of thousands exploring elbow-to-elbow, jostling for a Blue Milk and queuing up for Millennium Falcon (without a Fastpass!!).

Entrance to Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios

The potential for a relatively calm first impression seems entirely out of reach for those who will be experiencing Galaxy’s Edge well before they intended. And perhaps those who fall into this category will want to avoid the land altogether and put off their first visit to Batuu for another time.

Pros: Deal me in!

So many people… in Galaxy’s Edge!

We’ve seen this question many times in the past few days: how will Galaxy’s Edge impact crowd levels in the other parks? It’s a valid question without a certain answer. What we can do is look at past precedent, and the closest we can come to a comparison is the opening of Pandora. Now, this is not a direct comparison, and past performance of crowds is in no way guaranteed to repeat in September. Galaxy’s Edge is likely to draw unprecedented crowds, so we can only muse about what’s happened in the past.

©Disney from @DisneyParks on Twitter

But what’s happened in the past isn’t so bad! When Pandora opened at the end of May 2017, crowd levels in Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Epcot were actually lower compared to crowds the previous year — 4% and 6% respectively, according to TouringPlans.com. Magic Kingdom crowds were essentially the same from 2016 to 2017 (down only about 2%). So it may well be that crowds will favor Hollywood Studios when Galaxy’s Edge opens, meaning many guests will spend less time at the other parks.

But it’s also worth noting that by mid-June of 2017 when Pandora was about 2-3 weeks old, wait times for popular Flight of Passage were regularly under two hours. Still a hearty wait but certainly down from opening day levels.

Flights of Passage Queue

When Toy Story Land opened on June 30, 2018, some guests reported waiting up to 2.5 hours just to get into the land itself — then faced queues of up to 4-5 hours for Slinky Dog Dash. But these numbers only really applied to the first day the land opened, and within a week, Toy Story Land wait times were settling down, with Slinky Dog Dash coming under 90 minutes by mid-July (TouringPlans reporting). This trajectory may also apply in Galaxy’s Edge, with opening day crowd levels coming down dramatically within 1-3 weeks.

Slinky Dog Dash

Something to note about the opening of Toy Story Land that may come into play for Galaxy’s Edge: Disney World opened for Extra Magic Hours every morning from 7-8AM from opening day through August 25 — frequently letting guests in around 6:30AM.  Those Extra Magic Hours likely spread some of the crowd out, as guests not staying at a Walt Disney World resort couldn’t enter the park until after 8AM. Disney has confirmed that Galaxy’s Edge in Hollywood Studios will be accessible during Extra Magic Hours. It remains to be seen if they will open Hollywood Studios early every day for several weeks as they did for Toy Story Land. 

And just out of curiosity, we took a look at the opening numbers of Universal’s Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which may very well end up being the best comparison in terms of fervor over a land’s opening. Of note is that when Wizarding World opened on June 18, 2010, the longest waits visitors experienced were to gain entrance to the land itself. At that time, folks reported waiting up to 8 HOURS to get into the world. Once they were in, visitors reported waiting two hours and under for the rides themselves. That said, when the Wizarding World expanded with Escape from Gringotts in March 2014, people waited 7+  HOURS for the ride itself. The wait time was around two hours even four months later.

Universal Studios

We’ve seen that Disneyland intends to create a virtual queue system to get into Galaxy’s Edge in California (kind of like when you’re waiting for a table in a restaurant — you’ll get notified when the land has emptied enough to allow you to join in). We’re not yet sure what will happen in Orlando.

Galaxy’s Edge opening is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Visiting Batuu and Galaxy’s Edge won’t be without its frustrations — particularly if you weren’t originally planning to be in the middle of the opening weeks’ action. But unless you’re planning to experience Galaxy’s Edge openings in both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, visiting Disney World in September will be a completely unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Ronto Roasters

If you happen to be a Star Wars fan, this might be a big part of the excitement for your trip. And if you’re not a Star Wars fan, you may well find yourself caught up in the excitement of others. That opening energy, the awe of seeing something brand new for the first time, and the resolution of years of anticipation will be powerful forces. Maybe the force will be with you — fan or not!

All the NEW things!

This one is, perhaps, the biggest pro for those who are disappointed in Disney’s advanced timeline: you get to see all the NEW things when they’re still NEW! Sure, it might be a challenge to take in all the details while making your way through the crowds, but if you have the chance and the ability to slow down, take your time, and explore Black Spire Outpost, you’ll be drinking in details never before seen in Disney World. From atmosphere and food to costumes and technology, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is bringing its A-game, and if you’re accidentally there for the opening, you’ll be part of history!

Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge Costume Reveal @SasakiTime

Tips for Survival

So what do you do if you choose to (or must) keep your September reservations? Have a plan of action.

Plan your time wisely.

Yes, that means making rope drop and utilizing Extra Magic Hours if you can. Not a morning person? You could also try waiting until the final hours of the day when many guests will retreat to their rooms to rest (and recover from that embattled journey to Batuu). Schedule your Fastpasses for later in the day — think: after lunch. Or, if you think you’ll need a full stop break from the crowds, plan to leave Galaxy’s Edge as soon as you’ve had your fill, and make Fastpass reservations for a different park entirely.

The other aspect of using those early morning hours is trying to stay abreast of procedures for Galaxy’s Edge. Unless you’re going on day one, you should be able to find anecdotal information online about how Hollywood Studios cast members are directing guests and what time they actually allow guests to line up. Unofficial information isn’t 100% reliable, but it might help you wrap your head around what you’ll need to do to maximize the rope drop opportunity.

Hollywood Studios Chinese Theater

Be flexible.

It’s entirely possible it will take more time than you think to explore Galaxy’s Edge. In addition to the hordes of people and massive queues guests are likely to encounter, there will also be tons of details you’ll want to take time to examine. Plus, you know, there’s the FOOD and DRINKS you may want to try, too. (Click here for the latest on dining in Galaxy Black Spire Outpost!) If you’ve got some flexibility in your schedule, carve out more time than you think you’ll need. This way, you might reduce some of your stress by not having another thing to run off to before you’re finished with Black Spire Outpost.

Throw in the towel.

Okay, so this survival tip is pretty drastic, but you know you (and your crew) better than anyone. If the stress of crowds is sure to kill the vacation vibe, you might consider rescheduling your trip. We know: it’s easier said than done and just not an option for many. But it’s something to think about if it’s an option for you. Our friends at Small World Vacations may be able to help you sort things out, and if you’re really on the fence, it’s worth touching base with them to see if there’s anything to be done. If you do end up changing your plans, think of it as an act of self-preservation. Some of us just can’t imagine embarking on a Walt Disney World vacation under the conditions of the Galaxy’s Edge opening, and that’s okay! You have to do what’s best for you — and the World will be there whether you reschedule for a closer date or a later date or you decide to make a go of it.

Our favorite people over at Small World Vacations are ready to help you save time, headaches, and best of all, money, when you book your Disney trip or cruise.

(Why should you use a travel agent when you go to Disney? See what we think here! Or click here for a no obligation price quote today! And tell them DFB Sent You!

 Click here to read our full list of tips for surviving the BUSIEST days at Walt Disney World.

There’s no way to know exactly how the crowds and crowd control will turn out when Galaxy’s Edge opens months before it was estimated to do so. And we sympathize with those of you who are reeling from a vacation that will likely be very different than you imagined. Whether the cons convince you to change your plans (or just validate how you’re feeling!) or the pros give you some hope (or also validate how you’re feeling!), there’s no doubt Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge is poised to change Walt Disney World forever.

Stay on top of all the Disney Parks news — including Galaxy’s Edge updates! Subscribe to the DFB Newsletter TODAY!

Are you in or are you out? Let us know what you think about an early visit to Galaxy’s Edge or a September visit to the World! 

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Will Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge Impact The Epcot Food And Wine Festival?

from the disney food blog http://bit.ly/2uTKkUW via http://bit.ly/LNvO3e