This morning was the opening of Disney’s “Park Pass” Reservation system. I managed to get a couple of reservations, and I (might?) write about that process later. In the meantime, what is your favorite Disney World waiting page:
A little over 3 years ago, I wrote a post about a podcast to keep an eye on. In that post I talked about how Backside of Magic hosts Ryan and Jeremy were discussing techniques to enhance people’s enjoyment of Disney vacations, and how—as early as episode 3–they really seemed to be hitting their stride in that space.
Since that post, and for the past 3 years, Ryan and Jeremy have continued their exploration of time saving and trip planning. As they mentioned in their last episode today, techniques and terms they coined such as “bump and run” are now regularly used in Disney (DisTwitter?) discourse. Also, whether or not you had issues with the appropriateness of some of their more “aggressive” techniques, information like Flight of Passage Fastpass+ drops is invaluable for people planning Disney vacations and Ryan and Jeremy were always at the forefront of providing that. When I had a trip to Disney World coming up, I always made sure I had listened to—at least—the last 3 episodes of Backside of Magic (if I hadn’t already listened to them the morning they came out) to make sure that there were no new bits of information I needed to be aware of.
Saldly, for us Disney fans, Ryan and Jeremy are hanging up their microphones today. It’s been a fun ride for the past few years, and I’m glad I kept my eye on the show. From the various other feedback I see in the Disney community, it sounds like a lot of other people kept their eyes on it, too.
Enjoy podcast retirement, y’all. Pop a Jai Alai. You’ve earned it.
Big day tomorrow for Disney podcast fans…
????One last time…
Going to teach them how to say goodbye…???? pic.twitter.com/jvAXScDsum— John Kivus (@kivus) May 21, 2019
One of the reasons Elyssa and I started this site was to be able to interact more with our fellow Disney fans. This community (which the ModernMighty Men of Mouse get the entire credit for creating) has been so caring and supportive of Elyssa and me as we fought through our own problems, that we try do anything we can to return the favor. Sometimes, that means traveling to Disney World to hang out with Wes, Josh, Eric, or the Fabulous Gluesdells. Other times, it means pointing out when one of our friends is doing something cool. In this case, it’s friend of the site Howie from Maryland’s son, Levi, trying to win a year of his favorite italian ice and frozen custard. That’s why, Elyssa and I are asking all of you to go to this online poll and vote for our favorite ninja turtle:
The voting closes at Noon Eastern on April 5, 2017 (the Wednesday after this post goes up.) Vote early and vote often! (with all your approved email addresses, etc…) Good luck, Levi! You can do this!
It’s NCAA tournament time (again), which means that everyone is going to be filling out brackets, joining “bracket pools”, and trash talking about how well their favorite teams are doing in the tournament. Last year, I asked on Twitter if there was a bracket group for us Disney World fans that read each other’s website, listen to each other’s podcasts, and interact online. Since no one seemed to know of one, Elyssa & I decided to create one.
So, welcome To the this year’s editionRope Drop [dot] Net NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge!
Here are the details:
Though Elyssa & I are contemplating a few things, there are no official prizes for entering, winning, etc… (If you’re a fellow Disney fan, site proprietor, podcast host, etc…, however, who wants to contribute some swag to a possible “prize pack”, please get in touch.) That said, the hope is there will be some fun competition and trash talking amongst the contestants that will give the winner some fun “bragging rights.”
To help facilitate the communication, I am suggesting the Twitter hashtag “#ropedropbc” to use when talking about the challenge. (Though you never know if another hashtag will take off, instead.) You can use that tag for talking about the tournament, as well as asking for help on getting your bracket picked, getting into the group, etc… I’m pretty sure that people will be willing to help others or have questions.
At this point, I think that covers all the basics. Feel free to reach out online to ask for questions, or let Elyssa know if we missed something. Good luck on your tournament picks!!
![Rope Drop [dot] Net Bracket Challenge](https://i0.wp.com/ropedrop.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/img_04111.jpg?ssl=1 "Rope Drop [dot] Net Bracket Challenge")
In late June of 2013, the TouringPlans podcast network introduced me to a new (to me) Disney World-centric podcast, Mighty Men of Mouse. It featured three guys from Rhode Island, talking about Disney World, statistical analysis, and a little bit of Boston sports. I was hooked. I listened to the show’s entire back catalog and I declared it my favorite Disney Podcast. Since then, Elyssa and I have become friends with show hosts Russ, Kip, and Dutch, and even appeared on the show a couple of times. Through interactions Twitter and a series of Disney-related drafts , we’ve become part of a larger community that Russ, Kip, and Dutch have built, the BOATRIDE Club (hat tip to the Bullet Club.)
During Elyssa’s and my various trip to Disney World, we’ve met up with locals like Gosh and The Admiral (and their lovely wives, Carye and Kristi.) We’ve even run into fellow BOATRIDE Club members like Howie from Maryland while traveling to other parts of the country. But we’ve never had a situation where other BOATRIDE Club members planned specific trips to Disney World so we could all be together. That changed this past weekend.
In order to satisfy my “I have to go to Disney World every 4-5 months to stay alive” requirement, Elyssa agreed to a weekend trip during the heart of wedding season if I would be okay with her doing some photography work while on the trip. Around that same time, Wes was also planning a trip to Disney World and we suggested that we try to get those trips to align. It wasn’t much longer before Howie also committed to joining us. Throw in locals Eric and Josh, and we had the makings for a pretty nice BOATRIDE Club “fleet-up” (term credit to Eric.)
Elyssa’s and my first fleet-up event was saying hello to Eric on arrival night, followed by closing down the Magic Kingdom with Wes during the After Dark even. That was followed up by a safari with Howie and Wes on Friday morning, dinner at Via Napoli with Howie, Wes, and Josh on Friday night, and then drinks with Howie, Lite ‘Em and Brandon Glover at Jock Lindsey’s to close out the day. Saturday we got to see the child-like (?) excitement of Howie getting to see Captain Phasma in person, including epic “behind the scenes” periscopes of the event by Wes. The main event, however, was the epic Whispering Canyon dinner with Howie, Wes, Josh, Carye, Eric, and Kristi. We talked over beers and skillets. We joked about Josh’s punctuality (or lack there of), and truly converted friendships that developed online to friendships that existed “IRL”.
We followed up the skillet meal as only BOATRIDE club members could, with rides on Pirates and Splash. 8 friends, filling the 8 seats in one of Disney’s signature (boat)ride vehicles. All of us brought together because 3 guys in Rhode Island started talking about Disney World and putting it on the Internet.
The MMoM listener community is one of those things that’s good about the Internet. It consists of people who are friendly and supportive, even during tough times. Elyssa and I feel lucky to have found it, and even luckier to be included as such a part of it. I am sure we are not alone when we say a huge “Thank you” to Russ, Kip, and Dutch for what they have built.
NOTE: If you’re thinking your late October calendar looks suspiciously devoid of Disney World trips and that you need to correct that, drop Elyssa or me a line. Maybe we can try to do something like this again.
Today is a big day here are Rope Drop [dot] Net HQ, as Elyssa and I are proud to announce a new collaboration with the fabulous Mighty Men of Mouse podcast: The Rope Drop [dot] Net Mic Drop. The Mic Drop will be a recurring segment on the MMoM podcast (probably around every 3-5 weeks) during which Elyssa and I will discuss some of the recent happenings we’ve been writing about on the site. If that sounds good to you (and we hope it does), then you can check out the very first Rope Drop [dot] Net Mic Drop in this week’s MMoM episode! In this segment we talk about our recent trip and highlight some of the places that we ate. We hope that you enjoy it. (Also during this episode of MMoM, Elyssa enters the Disney Podcaster’s Studio with Russ Liption and answers “the questionnaire.”)
Of course, this post would be incomplete without thanking Dutch, Russ, and Kip for inviting Elyssa and I to join them on their show. Elyssa and I have been singing the praises of Mighty Men of Mouse since long before we started Rope Drop [dot] Net, and we are honored that the guys asked us to be even a small part of it.
It’s NCAA tournament time, which means that everyone is going to be filling out brackets, joining “bracket pools”, and trash talking about how well their favorite teams are doing in the tournament. I recently asked on Twitter if there was a bracket group for us Disney World fans that read each other’s website, listen to each other’s podcasts, and interact online. Since no one seemed to know of one, Elyssa & I decided to create one.
So, welcome To the Rope Drop [dot] Net NCAA Tournament Bracket Challenge!
Here are the details:
Though Elyssa & I are contempating a few things, there are no official prizes for entering, winning, etc… (If you’re a fellow Disney fan, site proprietor, podcast host, etc…, however, who wants to contribute some swag to a possible “prize pack”, please get in touch.) That said, the hope is there will be some fun competition and trash talking amongst the contestants that will give the winner some fun “bragging rights.”
To help facilitate the communication, I am suggesting the Twitter hashtag “ropedropbc” to use when talking about the challenge. (Though you never know if another hashtag will take off, instead.) You can use that tag for talking about the tournament, as well as asking for help on getting your bracket picked, getting into the group, etc… I’m pretty sure that people will be willing to help others or have questions.
At this point, I think that covers all the basics. Feel free to reach out online to ask for questions, or let Elyssa know if we missed something. Good luck on your tournament picks!!