Has anyone been following along with the new Disney resort policy of " Housekeeping security" demanding entry to you room on a daily basis for "security" checks? Apparently if you decline housekeeping, OR if Housekeeping has not gotten to your room before the housekeeping "security" designate is on patrol, this person will literally pound on your door and demand entry (If you are in the room) to search all the way into your Disney Resort room and your bathroom. They are not searching your belongings (at least they are not supposed to). When this person "knocks" you MUST let them in the room immediately no matter what you are doing. They will keep pounding on your door until you do. Housekeeping servicing your room that day "counts" as a security sweep. I find it especially laughable that other (usually male) housekeeping CM's are being tasked with gaining entry to your room to conduct these searches. How have they been trained to do this. What are they going to do if some guy is on the other side of the door with a machine gun? People who have experienced this ham handed approach are upset. As a women who travels alone I find it especially galling that I would have to open the door and let a man search my room upon demand. That basically means that ANYONE can now knock on my door and demand entry and I would HAVE to let them in. How the hell am I going to know if they are legitimate? You can buy Disney name tags off of the web... Before, with the Do Not Disturb signs, I could decline to let someone in. Now I am required to let these clowns in upon demand. They have keys to get into your room but criminals also would have the means to key into these rooms. In addition to the deadbolt lock, that swing bar bolt is easily defeated by a thick piece of paper or other tool. (google for yourself and see how to do it). I'd like to point out that the CM's doing these room inspections are not wearing uniforms that would designate them as such and when it was cold out some of them were wearing coats and you could not see a Disney name tag or any kind of identifying indicator that they were an employee. Disney removed the do not disturb sign and replaced them with a "room occupied" sign. The small print states that they can now enter your room at any time for any reason. So that's just a heads up about what is going on at Disney resorts. DVC people now get daily "Trash Removal" that counts as their security sweep. These same a-holes are barging into rooms like this at DVC resorts. I'd also like to point out that if you request with the "front Desk" that you need privacy in the room they are not really honoring that request. They are still barging in at will. The housekeepers can't even keep up with cleaning the rooms when they are supposed to, so how are they going to find time to do these stupid security sweeps? What a crock of crap.... Supposedly this is because of what happened in Las Vegas. I think we all know (except Disney's Lawyers) that this "SECURITY THEATER" is completely ineffective at preventing this type of situation from occurring. I am so glad I am staying off site. ~Joanie
Mark your calendars: According to Southwest's Travel Tools page, you can book your Southwest flight to Pixelmania beginning March 8, 2018.
Allegiant (which I am stuck flying on) opened up a few days ago. Though my potential flight home departs at 7am. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Our flights for Southwest are not as good as they used to be. We only have one non stop a day now and the flights most often not good for me. Getting a lot more difficult to fly to Orlando now.
I’ve now discovered that when I thought I’d have an extremely early flight home, Peoria flies into Tampa/St Pete over the same dates. And the airport is only about 20 minutes longer drive-wise than Sanford/Orlando. So I’m thinking I’ll be flying thru there and renting a car on both ends. I think I’d rather drive the extra time than leave for the airport at 4am. Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Hi Nancy! Pixelmania is an informal get together of fans of Disney parks photography. The meet up is not affiliated with Disney. All are welcome to attend and there is no charge or other fees. A park ticket is required for admission to Disney parks and that would be your responsibility to supply for yourself. You can come and go as you please as we get together for photo walks through the park. Our dates this year are Wed. October 24 to Sunday October 28, 2018 I put out the announcement on the Facebook Institute of Disney Photography page so that people would have any advanced notice that they might need to make plans to join us. All are welcome to join us regardless of their ability or equipment. The planning board will be releasing specific information about the scheduled park of the day and other activities like dining reservations or attending Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween party together as these dates get closer. Be sure to check back on these boards for more information as time goes by. ~Joanie
Yes, for example I am staying off site but others are staying on Disney property. As a scheduling example, we might put on the schedule: meet Thursday at 11am at Starbucks in Epcot and then we will ride test track at 11:30 am using a fast pass that we each reserved beforehand on the My Disney Experience. Then we will go to Canada to photograph the gardens or what ever the planning board recommends. That's an example of what the planning might be like. Pixelmania attendees come and go as they please, deciding what they would like to do with the group. Plans sometimes change on the fly but we communicate with each other using a smart phone App like GroupMe so people can keep informed of any changes. We will recommend fast pass selections, usually one, perhaps 2, per day of Pixelmania when the fast pass window for resort guests opens up. We also will have made dining reservations and we will open spots for attendees that sign up on our Pixelmania 2018 registration page. You can opt to do as much or as little as you would like with us. I hope that helps to give you a better idea of what to expect. Feel free to ask more questions. ~Joanie
I’m marking the dates on my calendar . Is there ever interest in going to some of the resorts and taking photos?
some of us do, although we tend to do that more during december pixel manias, in case no one told you we alternate between october and december, 2019 will be in december usually first week
Southwest Flights open for booking during the Pixelmania period: March 8, 2018 through November 3, 2018. This date is subject to change! Get those reservations in order! ~Joanie
Southwest reservations are available now. Got a great deal, though they seem to have reduced the number of non-stop flights to and from my airport.
Happy Booking Day to my fellow Southwest travelers! Dennis, I noticed the same thing. My favorite return flight was gone. The new 9:55pm flight home on Tuesday night was tempting at $70, but I know I can't function well at the office the next morning on 3hrs sleep, so the earlier more expensive flight will have to suffice. My usual inbound flight Friday night moved later which means less time off work, so I guess it isn't all bad.
When is everyone going? I know dates are October 24-28th, do you arrive the day or 2 before and leave day after?
That varies person to person. We have some folks who arrive the night before and leave the morning after and then we have folks who arrive several days before or leave several days after. And sometimes people arrive and depart during the event as their schedules allow. We haven't gotten too far into scheduling yet, but the first day (Wednesday 10/24 this year) is a group dinner somewhere on property and a trip to the River Roost to see Yehaa Bob. So you could arrive that morning/ early afternoon if you wanted. We will announce the park(s) of the day before the ADR window opens. We also take care of one large group ADR each day, which will be dinner Wednesday and usually a late lunch or early dinner Thurs-Sun. Those will be announced with Signup pages much closer to the event once the schedule is finalized.
mSummers, thank you. Are meals usually planned as a group, or do your own thing ? Sorry for all the questions
No need to apologize for questions. That's what we're here for! The primary focus is photography but we do like to eat, so we typically schedule one meal a day as noted above. Since this is a photography event, we don't schedule a meal at sunset/ blue hour so we can be out shooting, hence the late lunch / early dinner noted above. The Planning Board makes the appropriate ADR's for those meals. We have Signup threads for those meals closer to the event only so we can release excess seats back into the system for other guests, but we're a long way off from that. As you've probably seen posted elsewhere, everyone is welcome to come and go as they wish, so eating with the group isn't mandatory. We will post the tentative Park of the Day before the ADR window opens so anyone who wants can make their own dining reservations accordingly. I say tentative Park of the Day because once in the 9 year history of the event, Disney threw a last minute curve ball at us by altering DHS fireworks schedules which resulted in the only last minute park of the day change that I'm aware of in the history of the event. Anyway I recommend making your own dining reservations just in case you don't like the ones we select. You can always cancel them after we post the signups.
