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12/21/2017 0 Comments

Chill 2017 at The Queen Mary

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Last week Scott and his wife headed out to The Queen Mary to experience Chill 2017. The event looks to have undergone some more changes for 2017 but one constant is the holiday cheer. 

​Let's check it out 

Written by Scott Linder
Welcome to Chill 2017! 
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Lots of lights to be seen around the ship
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And of course Ice Skating 
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Welcome to the North Pole 
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Ice Cube? =) 
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Lots of places to explore 
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Tubing is awesome!! 
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It wouldn't be a Queen Mary event without a bar 
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Welcome to Germany 
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Wheeee!!! 
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Let's head over to Switzerland 
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Lots of cool lights 
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Dooooooooome ... 
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Sup weird looking tree things 
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We hope you enjoyed this look at holiday fun at The Queen Mary. 

For more information on Queen Mary Chill click here. 

Related Updates: 
  • Spending the Holidays in Las Vegas (and MGM Life Preview Room Review) 
  • The Many Possibilities of a Disney/20th Century Fox Deal 
  • Review: Super Mario Odyssey for the Nintendo Switch
  • Winchester Mystery House Mansion Tour
  • ​An amazing look at the Walt Disney Family Museum 


​If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. 

If you have any comments, please share them below
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12/12/2017 0 Comments

Spending the Holidays in Las Vegas and a look at MGM Life Preview Rooms

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Last weekend we headed to Las Vegas to celebrate our 22nd Wedding Anniversary, we also were excited to check out one of the preview rooms for the upcoming MGM Life Hotel (new name for the Monte Carlo). 
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We ate all the food, saw an amazing show and had a fantastic time. 

Written by Gregg Condon
First, let's take a look at the fancy new MGM Life Rooms 
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The rooms are great. They've definitely gone with a more "modern" feel. 
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Fancy ... 
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Spacious bathroom and shower 
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If we had to be a bit nit-picky, this is the only "dresser" in the room. Which is fine for a weekend stay but if somebody is staying longer than that, they will still have to live out of their suitcase, which is weird. 

The only other very small thing we noticed was there was only 1 small trashcan in the room, and none in the bathroom. Could have just been an oversight in our room. 
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But other than those VERY small things, we loved it. The bed was very comfortable, we couldn't hear our room neighbors AT ALL and it was all in all a very pleasant stay. We can't wait until the entire hotel finishes it's renovation!! 

​Oh, and the view wasn't bad either. 
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After freshening up a bit after our drive we headed over to Aria to have a fantastic meal with our friends from Is It October Yet?. 

Seven Magic Mountains display!! We decided we'd stop at the actual one on our next trip. 
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We ate at Javiers at Aria ,and it was simply fantastic. 
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After lunch it was just a quick tram ride over to Bellagio to check out the glorious holiday decorations. 
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Lots of bears for our bear fans 
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They always do such an amazing job here 
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We hadn't been to the Mirage in about 10 years so we figured we were overdue for a visit. 
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Our original plan was to see Beatles Love for our anniversary but sadly it was dark last weekend. 
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Because the Rodeo was in town, cowboy hats were everywhere. Even on the Dolphins. 
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Penguins!!! 
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The Venetian, always one of our favorites. 

We played some computerized (kind of) blackjack that had an actual dealer, everybody got the same card and then there were "community" cards. It was weird. If anybody knows how it works, let us know!!! 
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Beautiful 
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One thing I want to give Kudos to all the casinos we visited this weekend is the elimination of cigarette smoke. Not sure if it's less people smoking or if they've finally found a way to effectively recycle air, but as somebody with asthma, it was greatly appreciated!!! 
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After sun went down we headed back to Bellagio to check out the fountain show 
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Hi Paris, we didn't come visit you this time, sorry. 
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After a quick rest in our hotel we headed over to NY/NY for dinner ... Zumanity has me. 
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We ate at the Burger Bar ... and it was quite yummy
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Like seriously yummy 
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Next Morning was Anniversary Day that was kind of filled with our Vegas traditions. First up, the buffet at Flamingo since they are Kristi's Favorites. 
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I promise I didn't do anything ... 
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Since we got married at Circus Circus we had to go pay it a visit. 

This property is very #sad. It really needs to just be imploded at this point. 
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After heading back to our hotel and playing some at NY/NY (where we've already decided we are staying next time) we headed over to Rio to see Penn and Teller. 
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It was a totally amazing show, we recommend it highly!! 
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Oh, and if you ever do see the show, stick around and you may just meet the stars!! 
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After sleeping in a bit on Sunday we headed over to MGM Grand and had brunch at Avenue Cafe, highly recommended!! We will definitely be back. 
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And that's that. Another amazing Vegas weekend in the books and we are already talking about our next trip. 

​Hope you enjoyed!!! 

Related Updates: 
  • The Many Possibilities of a Disney/20th Century Fox Deal 
  • Review: Super Mario Odyssey for the Nintendo Switch
  • Halloween Season Officially Kicks off at MidSummer Scream 2017
  • Winchester Mystery House Mansion Tour
  • ​An amazing look at the Walt Disney Family Museum 


​If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. 

If you have any comments, please share them below
0 Comments

12/12/2017 0 Comments

The many possibilities of a Disney and 20th Century Fox

Now that the Disney buying Fox is all but a done deal (all indications are that it is indeed a done deal) this creates some rather fascinating possibilities for some Disney owned franchises, namely Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 

So we figured we'd take some time to outline these a bit
Written by Gregg Condon

Star Wars Universe

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Since Star Wars is on everybody's mind right now and we all should have our tickets for The Last Jedi this weekend, why don't we start here. 

Some people are talking about Star Wars movies having the 20th Century Fox Logo in front of them because it's somehow weird without it. Hogwash. 

Would it be cool, sure, is it going to happen, not seeing that as a top priority AT ALL. 

No, what we need to see is: 
  • Total re-do of the prequel trilogy
There are some things the prequels got right, there are a LOT of things the prequels got wrong. Things to keep: Darth Maul, Ewan McGregor as Obi Wan and that's about it. Honestly, I wouldn't even hate Hayden Christiansen coming back. Some aspects of Anakin's fall to the Dark Side are good, of course you have to have a love story in order to get Luke and Leia, but it doesn't have to be cheesy and full of sand. Anakin should complete his fall to the Dark Side by the end of Episode II and Episode III should bridge the gap between the Rise of the Empire to Episode IV, well, Rogue One now. 

Or just make Episode III I/II to bridge the gap. Who knows. Maybe bridging this gap is the next Rian Johnson Trilogy. Or perhaps the gap between Episode VI and VII. 
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  • Release of Remastered Non Special Edition Original Trilogy in HD 
No brainer, this would be like printing money. 

There's really nothing more that needs to be done other than that at this point. Disney was going to keep making Star Wars movies without 20th Century Fox. 

Marvel

There's a reason why Disney has not yet announced what's coming in Phase 4 of the MCU. All indications are that Avengers: Infinity War and it's sequel are going to shake up the MCU in a MAJOR way. Including the departure of a few of the Marvel characters we've grown to love over the last decade. 

Sure, the introduction of other characters like Black Panther, Captain Marvel, the continuing stories of Ant Man and The Wasp are going to be amazing. But if you lose Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man and possibly the Chris' as Captain America and Thor that leaves a HUGE hole in the MCU. 

A hole that could EASILY be filled with X-Men and Fantastic Four. It would't even be considered a downgrade of the MCU. 

Let's also not forger that Hugh Jackman said he may play Wolverine again if he were to join the MCU. While I don't personally see this happening it's fun to speculate on this. 

When it comes to Fantastic Four, Disney has the perfect model to "reboot" a franchise without actually starting from scratch, and that model is Spiderman: Homecoming. All you need is a new cast, some nods to the origin of the Fantastic Four and one of the existing MCU members to play a small role in the movie. Done, Done, and Done. 

Heck, you can even add the 2005 version of Fantastic Four into MCU canon and use that as your origin story. Because it was a good movie. But as I said above, you'd need a new cast unless Chris Evans is going to switch roles. 

The biggest question about 20th Century Fox and Marvel is probably with Deadpool. Any deal that would change what Deadpool is would be bad. Not saying they couldn't eventually add him to the MCU, but his solo movies should remain Rated R. It would be a HUGE mistake to do anything different with that character. 

Other IP's

A list of 20th Century Fox IP's that Disney could take advantage of: 
  • Avatar
  • Planet of the Apes
  • Alien
  • Predator
  • Dude, Where's My Car
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Ok, that last one is a bit of a joke, but Disney already has a relationship for the Avatar franchise in Disney's Animal Kingdom. Planet of the Apes could be another potential franchise to bring to parks as well. And of course, this includes distribution for future films in all of these franchises. 

Streaming, Streaming, Streaming, Streaming, Streaming

Don't let this deal fool you. While sure, having distribution rights to all Star Wars movies is great and having the X-men in the MCU is awesome, and having access to all other IP's for both sequels and theme park use is a nice cherry on top, the REAL meat and potatoes of this deal is that it opens up an entirely new set of possibilities for Disney's streaming service. 

If you include the movies we've already talked about like Star Wars, Marvel Movies, Avatar, Apes, Alien, and yes, Dude, Where's My Car you also have movies like Cast Away, Ice Age, Walk the Line, The Devil Wears Prada, Die Hard, Taken, Kingsman. 

Oh, and did you forget TV distribution as well? This would include many shows that are now or in the past have been on Disney owned ABC but still the property of 21st Century Fox. 
LA Law, 21 Jump Street, The X-Files, NYPD Blue, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Andy Richter Controls The Universe, Modern Family, 24, This Is Us, THE SIMPSONS, Family Guy, King of the Hill, Futurama, 
There are a LOT of possibilities for this deal IF it goes through. But it could mean another feather in Bob Iger's cap who's rumored to be staying on board through 2019 to help the transition of this deal, because it's a BIG one. 

So what do you think? Is this a good deal for Disney? Are you excited about the opportunity for new characters being brought into the Disney universe? Let us know in the comments below. 

​Related Updates: 
  • Halloween Season Officially Kicks off at MidSummer Scream 2017
  • Winchester Mystery House Mansion Tour
  • ​An amazing look at the Walt Disney Family Museum 
  • 2016 Holiday Event Reviews
  • Team Park Journey reviews the Legacy of Arrow ​​​


​If you enjoyed this update please share with your friends and make sure you "like" us on Facebook and "follow" us on Twitter, Instagram and YouTube. 

If you have any comments, please share them below
0 Comments
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