The Goat Pen

I"ve been wanting to take a train from Chicago to Glacier and get a sleeper room but I know two people that did it and they said it sucked

I just wanted to experience sleeping / eating / relaxing on a train but don't want to spend $700 per just for the experience. I probably would have until those two people told it wasn't a good experience.

Damn, I thought it sounded pretty cool. How far are you from Chicago?

about 5 hours

I can take the train from Cinci to Chicago as well, but I would just want to get a coach seat for it . Its like $67 one way

I'm not saying its horrible, its just they said "yea we did , it was a bucket list thing but we'll never do it again"

said food was surprisingly good, but the sleeper was lame - too small, the train stop and started all night , one told me they didn't have hot water for their shower -

I just checked - A "Roomette" during peak season which is chairs by day, a sleeper at night , with a shared bathroom/shower and all meals included round trip is $1476, price goes to $1800 total for two people

That would be 31 hours on the train one way, so essentially 4 meals on board. If you ride coach, which is big roomy seats with a power outlet and access to the dining car but also the ability to bring your own cooler, the cost would be $367 per person. I think I'd be inclined to just go to the bathroom and wash my ass/pits and save my money.

I paid for my mom about 10 years ago to travel from Memphis to New Orleans via train , she was in coach and had a big time hanging out with group of women who all brought food in coolers and drinks. They shared with her and it was highlight of her trip (and that included going on a cruise to Cancun with my family)

The Memphis —> New Orleans line has some legendary stories…

I bet that would be a helluva party like the Friday before Jazz Fest

One day at Disney for family of 5



$1400

No surprise you can’t afford it

Almost no one can afford it. Disney vacation club fucks up the prices a bit as well.

When people asked me how best to afford a Disneyworld vacation, my stock answer has always been the same thing: rent a 3 bedroom timeshare just a mile outside of Disney and pack 3 families in it, drive to Orlando even if it takes 24 hours of driving as opposed to airfare and rental cars, eat instant oatmeal breakfast in your timeshare kitchen not a restaurant, bring sandwiches into the park, buy your souvenirs at WalMart, and don't pay for the park hoppers. That can chop the price in half even if it feels more like a poverty trop as opposed to the most magical place on earth.

And then they can ask you for you recommendations for best cruise line entertainment...

one year I had so many Marriott Points I was able to rent a Marriott branded timeshare that was close to Disney for me and the extended family.

The place was so big it had its own food court and golf cart rentals. The biggest benefit was not being locked into Disney restaurants, so we'd go to the parks and in the evening we'd go to wherever - one night it was Medieval Times, another night pizza.

With the kids growing up , we did Disney 4 times.

Once in the park at the Contemporary Resort, I don't know if Hedge remembers but I gave a daily account of how frustrated I was while I was there, so while its cool to be in the park with the monorail just outside your door (one time the monorail didn't even stop and I made eye contact with the old man driving the thing as he went by), I don't remember it being particularly great. Another time we rented a house with a pool thru VRBO, One time we stayed at the now defunct Nickelodeon hotel, and the beforementioned Marriott Timeshare.

I took my daughter to Disney 4 times before she was 8 and she doesn't remember hardly any of it. Even in early 2000 money, that was easily $10K worth of vacations that she has no recall of doing.

My wife is a big Harry Potter fan and she wanted to go to Universal Studios a few years back and I nixed that shit. I'm not paying $3K for a vacation just to stand in line to ride a goddamn broom.

watching a video about places to avoid in Cincinnati - all of them are Westside

basically east of I-71 is where you want to be in Cincinnati

"Once in the park at the Contemporary Resort, I don't know if Hedge remembers but I gave a daily account of how frustrated I was while I was there"

Oh I remember. You frustrations have fueled this board for years...

asians with cameras

its all coming back to me now

Ecat the Contemporary resort hotel was the very first place I ever stayed in Florida as a child. The only other times I have ever returned to it was on the monorail zipping through the inside of it.

For some reason I do recall you talking about the Medieval Times, I can't remember if it was just in passing or if they were the object of your fury. Surely there must've been some complaint...

eCat wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 10:30 am watching a video about places to avoid in Cincinnati - all of them are Westside

basically east of I-71 is where you want to be in Cincinnati

I'd get lost on the west side.

Please go there immediately...

$1400 per day for a family of 5? Are they staying at a Motel 6? Was it a day trip?

Last year we did the Grand Floridian with a water / park view room for seven nights, two days at Magic Kingdom and one day at each of the other parks with a rest day. We also had the meal plan. We used lightening lanes extensively. We did two character breakfasts, the Snow White dinner and the princess dinner in the castle, and we did Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique one morning for our kid for a makeover. We did not do park hopper. I drove down there and spent the night in Jacksonville headed down with a drive straight through on the return. Between the travel, food and booze not covered by the meal plan, the character experiences, all the stuff we bought our daughter and the trip package itself, I spent well north of $15,000 and probably closer to $20,0000. I would need to pull up my Amex statements to total it.

We are going back next weekend leaving the 18th and returning the 26th. We are staying at the Polynesian but without a water view. We aren’t doing animal kingdom this time but will do one day at both Hollywood studios and Epcot along with two days at magic kingdom. We are doing the meal plan again. I was able to snag a 30% off promotion or some such, and we are not doing park hopper. The total came out to around $7000, and we are flying this time. The wife insisted on paying this time and bought the plane tickets (round trip for three first class on delta from RDU was over $2k which I think is fucking stupid, but she has her own business….so fuck it). However, I told her I’ll pay for the meals, experience stuff, merch shit and non-covered food and booze, and that will cost me a few grand.

It’s worth it to me though. I deal with misery and anger every day. At Disney though, I get to see my little girl have an amazing time. She has talked about Disney every single day and she cannot wait to go back ever since we left. Plus, it’s great being around folks who are generally happy and who are leaving me the fuck alone, and the customer service is very good. The food isn’t worth the price, but it’s not bad. Our daughter is going to lose her mind next Friday night when we tell her we are leaving for Disney on Sunday, and I cannot wait to see that.

Granted, heights / being upside down, confined spaces and midgets scare the fuck out of me to the point I still have regular nightmares about each, but I really enjoyed it. My daughter was four and loved the friggin tower of terror of all things and wanted to do every ride she could do at 42”. She begged me to do tower of terror with her, and I damn near died from a heart attack. Plus, my daughter heard me screaming every profanity imaginable. I won’t do that this time though, and i won’t do space mountain or anything that goes too fast, too high or upside down.

Also, how do people do Epcot without getting shitfaced? I got toasted there last year and when going to eat at a Japanese restaurant fell over into the bushes and destroyed some speaker in there and proclaimed I was alright because I was only reenacting the bombing of Hiroshima. My wife was aghast to say the least despite having been with me since 2014 and knowing my predilection for a good drunk a few times per year at the worst times.

DooKSucks wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:06 pm $1400 per day for a family of 5? Are they staying at a Motel 6? Was it a day trip?

Yes, day trip. They were locals.

DooKSucks wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:06 pmLast year we did the Grand Floridian with a water / park view room for seven nights, two days at Magic Kingdom and one day at each of the other parks with a rest day. We also had the meal plan. We used lightening lanes extensively. We did two character breakfasts, the Snow White dinner and the princess dinner in the castle, and we did Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique one morning for our kid for a makeover. We did not do park hopper. I drove down there and spent the night in Jacksonville headed down with a drive straight through on the return. Between the travel, food and booze not covered by the meal plan, the character experiences, all the stuff we bought our daughter and the trip package itself, I spent well north of $15,000 and probably closer to $20,0000. I would need to pull up my Amex statements to total it.

yeah, that sounds right.

DooKSucks wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:06 pmWe are going back next weekend leaving the 18th and returning the 26th. We are staying at the Polynesian but without a water view. We aren’t doing animal kingdom this time but will do one day at both Hollywood studios and Epcot along with two days at magic kingdom. We are doing the meal plan again. I was able to snag a 30% off promotion or some such, and we are not doing park hopper. The total came out to around $7000, and we are flying this time. The wife insisted on paying this time and bought the plane tickets (round trip for three first class on delta from RDU was over $2k which I think is fucking stupid, but she has her own business….so fuck it). However, I told her I’ll pay for the meals, experience stuff, merch shit and non-covered food and booze, and that will cost me a few grand.

It’s worth it to me though. I deal with misery and anger every day. At Disney though, I get to see my little girl have an amazing time. She has talked about Disney every single day and she cannot wait to go back ever since we left. Plus, it’s great being around folks who are generally happy and who are leaving me the fuck alone, and the customer service is very good. The food isn’t worth the price, but it’s not bad. Our daughter is going to lose her mind next Friday night when we tell her we are leaving for Disney on Sunday, and I cannot wait to see that.

Granted, heights / being upside down, confined spaces and midgets scare the fuck out of me to the point I still have regular nightmares about each, but I really enjoyed it. My daughter was four and loved the friggin tower of terror of all things and wanted to do every ride she could do at 42”. She begged me to do tower of terror with her, and I damn near died from a heart attack. Plus, my daughter heard me screaming every profanity imaginable. I won’t do that this time though, and i won’t do space mountain or anything that goes too fast, too high or upside down.

I choose "not-to-afford" staying IN the park, when we are at Disney. Its usually an $800 weekly timeshare rental (or whatever the market rate is now) just a mile or two outside the 43 square miles acquired by those four scheming LLC companies Walt spun up in 1965 to buy that swamp land, pennies on the dollar.

When we DO stay at the park, its the former 1970s Golf Resort now known as the "Shades Of Green." That is it. My father is disabled veteran and he books the rooms as part of his DAV benefits. That we can afford. And it is quite nice. It is not Grand Floridian nice, obviously. And it doesn't have monorail access. But the Department of Defense did do some very nice upgrades over the last 20 years and the buses, they are on time.

DooKSucks wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:06 pmAlso, how do people do Epcot without getting shitfaced? I got toasted there last year and when going to eat at a Japanese restaurant fell over into the bushes and destroyed some speaker in there and proclaimed I was alright because I was only reenacting the bombing of Hiroshima. My wife was aghast to say the least despite having been with me since 2014 and knowing my predilection for a good drunk a few times per year at the worst times.

EPCOT is the best park because it is the adult park. It is a park made by adults, for adults, which is why adults enjoy it, insist on attending it, and want to drink in it. French pastries, A+. Best drinking experience there is, getting chips and salsa and margaritas in Mexico and sitting by the lake and watching the 30 minute long laser and fireworks show.