Comments | mariness: Catch-up

mariness

Catch-up

Dec 27, 2008 18:10

Much thanks for all of the birthday wishes and holiday greetings over the last few days :) And now, for some meandering catchup:

1. Notable gifts:

A. gargoylerose enduring lectures on dolphin rape (I can't help it, people. It just kinda rambles out of me.

B. coldecho not enduring lectures on dolphin rape ( Read more... )

holidays, teddy bears, sea world, dolphins

Comments 15

fbhjr December 27 2008, 23:54:40 UTC

If you send your mother to Hydraxis, and look up Ingolar, we can get her in a guild.

mariness December 28 2008, 15:11:45 UTC

Will do.

We have promised her that this can be simple or complex. Also, we told her she could head to Spanish servers and play there and practice her Spanish if she wants to.

norda December 28 2008, 01:31:18 UTC

That is truly sad about the salt water aquarium. Yes, some of us go to aquaria to see aquatic life!

4. Kmart was surprisingly, shockingly, near empty on December 26, which does not, I fear, bode well for the retail market. Nor were other people jumping at buying the 50 to 75% off items.

You're telling me. I got very little response to my after-holiday sale until I put it up on Twitter.

mariness December 28 2008, 15:16:51 UTC

That's really my only reason to head to SeaWorld -- and for crying out loud, I'm even considering hitting their next door waterpark solely because that waterpark has Commerson dolphins, which I'd love to see. If they get completely rid of the fish and the horses (not that we had time to see the horses on this particular trip) I have no reason to go.

I will say that this particular Kmart, to put it mildly, sucks (even by Kmart standards) which was probably part of the problem -- I did hear that the Millenia Mall, Belz Outlets, and the Florida Mall, all much much nicer retail places (and more tailored to the tourist markets) were busy, so that's a small bit of hope. I would not be surprised, however, to hear that this particular Kmart will be closing soon -- nobody ever seems to be in it.

malterre December 28 2008, 02:34:48 UTC

. My mother - yes, my mother - has been given World of Warcraft. She needs a guild, people. I'm just saying.Er What?

mariness December 28 2008, 15:17:30 UTC

tgregoryt's idea. He figured she was already spending a lot of time playing on the computer :)

technoshaman December 28 2008, 04:20:46 UTC

The mall, on the other hand, was an absolute ZOO today, and this is the 27th, not even the 26th.... from the looks of the line, at least REI is going to be doing well, and Eddie Bauer as well....

OTOH, Fred Meyer (a Kroger company) I think is gonna suck, from the sheer deluge of leftover decorations and such offered at 50% off...

mariness December 28 2008, 15:20:53 UTC

You know, I have to give that Kmart credit for one thing -- they clearly had not over ordered Xmas decorations -- they weren't completely cleaned out when we stopped by at 4, but much more so than I've seen Kmarts cleaned out in the past.

(Kmart sells oversized Christmas teddy bears, marked on their paws with the year, for $6 day after Christmas, so I always get one if I remember.)

I think it's definitely going to vary store by store, and specialty store by specialty store. Even at the very touristy Florida Mall pre Christmas, the Hot Topic was jammed by people wanting Edward and Isabella stuff, while other stores were utterly empty.

blondeheroine December 28 2008, 06:14:22 UTC

Sea World is just dumb. You'd think as long as they've been in the business, they'd know that copying doesn't net as much business as differentiation. It's the fish (I just typed fist and giggled like I was five) that people go to Sea World to see. Not some dipshit coaster.

You can't be everything to everyone.

Oh and PS - Universal sends me surveys constantly and each time I tell them how stupid that parking center is. I'd say this was solely in your honor, but truth is: it's a stupid parking center.

mariness December 28 2008, 15:38:30 UTC

What's really odd about this is that for years the SeaWorlds were allowed to operate at a loss -- they were seen less as profitmakers and more as beer advertisements. The Busch Garden parks were told to earn money, but not the SeaWorlds -- Anheiser also used the SeaWorlds as tax and charity writeoffs, since they could legitimately say that the SeaWorlds were engaged in education/research -- all while happily promoting the various Budweiser beers.

I understand, of course, that Islands of Adventure brought their sister park, Tampa Bay Busch Gardens, some real pressure -- and if Disney really does go ahead and build park number 5, that will just intensify the competition. (Busch Gardens by many reports has been hurting.) But I'm puzzled by the extreme investment in new roller coasters for SeaWorld. Perhaps that one roller coaster really did expand the crowds for a bit -- but my alternative theory is that coaster opened up at the end of the 90s, when all of the parks were experiencing a boom in business, and a new coaster might not ( ... )

blondeheroine December 29 2008, 03:48:53 UTC

I have been to Busch once. Once. That was enough. I found the park to be lackluster, the animal viewing areas to be subpar considering how they were promoted and half of the rides were continually breaking down. I felt like I was in RollerCoaster Tycoon with an amateur player at the helm ( ... )

mariness December 29 2008, 04:24:18 UTC

I have to say that I had a decent time on both of my trips to Busch Gardens, although since I don't do roller coasters anymore, I haven't really seen the point of heading there. That said, when the Harry Potter park opens up at Islands of Adventure, yes, yes, I will be there. Not opening weekend. But I will be there. In wheelchair, doubtless, complaining about the parking lot, doubtless. But there ( ... )

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