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Taken for a ride: 5 clever ways theme parks bleed you for extra {WalletPop}
Jul 7th 2009 8:43AM The unfortunate truth is that all amusement parks do that...charge for strollers and wheelchairs. If people in wheelchairs were suddenly free, we'd be seeing a lot more fake injuries. I see it all the time at Disney - people ride a wheelchair all the way through the quick access line and then walk unassisted (sometimes 30+ feet) into the ride. Imagine if these people could now get in free...it reminds me of the businessmen who used to "limp" down the jetway when airlines used to preboard "anyone needing extra time."
Plus, remember, strollers and wheelchairs add a cost (personnel to loan them out, the physical cost of them, and a little maintenance). Everyone's ticket would go up, especially at a company like Six Flags, which is trying to recover from poor management, rather than just those who use wheelchairs and strollers if they were included.
Taken for a ride: 5 clever ways theme parks bleed you for extra {WalletPop}
Jul 7th 2009 8:33AM You made a mistake when discussing the Fastpass system - I have been going to Disney for the last 17 years (Fastpass has only been there for part of that, so I have been with the system since its inception). The statement that you can hold only one Fastpass at a time is false. The maximum interval that Disney will lock you out of the system for is 2 hours. If at 10AM you get a Fastpass for 6-7PM on a ride, at 12PM (10+2 hours), you can get another Fastpass. Generally speaking, only one or two of the 4-6 Fastpass rides per park get this backlogged on Fastpasses, so one loss of two hours usually doesn't cost the opportunity to jump the line on something else.
You were very applauding of Disney (and rightfully so in my mind) except this one piece, which you had wrong. I think it would change your opinion of the Fastpass system now because the only "screw the consumer" you mentioned was the ability to only hold one, yes?
Passengers protest peanuts, prefer pretzels {Gadling}
Feb 23rd 2009 3:41AM Drive in my own car to Europe?
Passengers protest peanuts, prefer pretzels {Gadling}
Feb 23rd 2009 3:40AM Does the presence of wool in the air risk killing you? I doubt it. People think of allergies as inconveniences that you take something like Claratin, Nasonex, Flonase, etc. for, but this is a different type of allergy.
Honestly, I don't even think we should use the term allergy for peanut allergies. Much like there is asthma (innate) and then exercise-induced asthma (caused by exertion), we should call it peanut-induced anaphylaxis.
Passengers protest peanuts, prefer pretzels {Gadling}
Feb 23rd 2009 3:38AM Some mild peanut allergies can be delayed or repressed with Benadryl, but for the majority of them Benadryl only helps to delay the problem and epinephrine and medical care are needed. Peanut allergies are fatal in small doses, unlike cat and dog allergies which make you itch and sneeze.
Passengers protest peanuts, prefer pretzels {Gadling}
Feb 23rd 2009 3:34AM This isn't about "majority rule." Actually, the United States was never about "majority rule." If all liberals banded together and decided to pass a law mandating the mass execution of all conservatives (I say this because Dems outnumber Repubs), then this would not be acceptable. Like it or not, America is about protecting the weak minority.
But that digresses. We aren't saying make your lives miserable, we aren't saying don't fly. The point here is that there is one tiny concession that can help ease the concerns of thousands. Peanuts are prohibitive for some people to fly, but pretzels are not. It's as simple as that. If you want peanuts that badly - bring your own. (For almost all of the peanut allergies out there [I do know of exceptions where being in the room with one snickers bar is fatal] One person isn't a problem, it's when the whole plane opens the bags at once that people with the peanut allergy start feeling the pain.
You are accusing us of being selfish, but allow me to turn the tables on you. Aren't you being selfish by saying you will not refrain from eating peanuts or instead eating pretzels in order to allow us to fly? It's not about majority rule, it's about maximizing the good. Airborne pretzel particles don't kill people, airborne peanut particles do, so why can't this one concession be made so that people can fly?
By the way, in New Jersey, a peanut allergy is a legal disability. Should we not have handicapped parking spaces because you want to be able to park close to the store? After all, majority rules...
Passengers protest peanuts, prefer pretzels {Gadling}
Feb 23rd 2009 3:28AM The issue here, more than anything else, is the fact that gluten allergies aren't airborne and peanut allergies are. I am allergic to peanuts, but I am also pragmatic, when they come out, if I have trouble, I breathe through a towel to filter the air. If it gets really bad, I run to the back of the plane (irrespective of the seatbelt sign if necessary) and sit in the bathroom for twenty minutes. The point is more the courtesy - someone will not be able to eat the snack, we all know that. Therefore, we should choose the least deadly form - i.e. gluten pretzel fumes won't kill someone, but peanut fumes may, so take the pretzels.
VA Judge: Preserve Military Ballots {Politics Daily}
Nov 4th 2008 6:30PM Here we will an interesting test of Obama's and Mccain's class. If the votes in Virginia end up "not mattering in the end" (unlike Florida 2000), he should simply concede this point and we can chalk this up to a problem to fix in the future. However, if those votes do matter, Obama should join McCain on this one. Obama has been telling people to vote, no matter for whom, because this is an historic election. If he truly believes in the democratic electoral process, he should join the McCain-Palin campaign against the board of elections. Even if the law is that the ballots require a witness signature, any protector of democracy would want these votes to count. We're not talking about mysterious people named Mickey Mouse - we're talking about people who can be confirmed as abroad fighting for our freedom and who, I'd gather, would be more than happy to "vote again" knowing that rule.
If anyone wants to scream bias - I don't like either mainstream candidate and voted third party, but I am a registered Republican.
