I was wondering what was in store for MousePlanet in the upcoming months.

I've been following MousePlanet for awhile and was thinking about the direction it is heading.

I love this site. I go nowhere else for my info on Disney. I love the new straight forward Park updates that appear on the home page.

However, it appears that there is a void left by Al etc and I'm wondering if MousePlanet will be getting another Disney reporter to assist David Koenig in covering "all things Disney".

My concern is not intended to be a harsh criticism, but merely a genuine concern from a fan.

:) Brad

I agree, I am not intending to criticize, but, there is something missing.

I understand so many people can only do so much, but, is there something planned?

To my understanding, there are no plans to replace Al & Kevin.
What you see now is what you get.

MousePlanet will probably end up another LaughingPlace type site.

But hey, there's always the message boards

Originally posted by zapppop
To my understanding, there are no plans to replace Al & Kevin.
What you see now is what you get.

MousePlanet will probably end up another LaughingPlace type site.

But hey, there's always the message boards

Zappop,

To put this as nicely as possible, you don't know what you are talking about. Since you are not included in our internal discussions, you really can't have an "understanding" of what MousePlanet is or is not planning for the future. :rolleyes:

If you are getting your "understanding" from external sources, I would suggest that you stop considering it to be the gospel truth.

Brad,

We appreciate your concern. I won't discuss internal MousePlanet policies at this moment, but we are *always* looking at new content areas, and new writers. On our Contact / About page (http://www.mouseplanet.com/mp/about.htm) , any interested writer can submit a writer interest form. (Or just send an e-mail to writer-inquiries@mouseplanet.com)

AVP

Consider this a criticism and not simply the concerns of a fan. I am willing to give MousePlanet some time to regroup, but the current offerings about Disneyland make this site nowheresville on the internet roadmap.

Frankly, I don't care. Things come and things go. But I worry that the dullness of MousePlanet will have a negative effect on MousePad (and, in fact - just before reading this thread - I started a thread in the Lounge on this subject).

I would certainly like it if MousePlanet were a juicier read. The world won't end, though, if it remains in its current dormant state. But if the website gets so bad that its viewership plummets, then our beloved MousePad community is in real danger of ceasing to exist!

For the sake of all that is holy, I truly hope there are some plans in the works to get some Disneyland correspondents on the job!

judging by the fluff that's been published over the last several months, I doubt they have the resources that Al or Kevin have for more "juicy" content

ZPP

I doubt if your doubts are based on anything but doubt. You have no inside track with MP; you are simply a poseur.

And when I wrote "juicy," I did not necessarily mean gossip-laden controversy - - merely more details, more depth, and generally more inside information than can be gleaned from merely walking around the Park.

I am very tempted to submit an MP writer interest form myself - but while I am a decent writer, I don't have much of an inside scoop on Disneyland (unless they want a column on backstage and other guest-prohibited areas).

Meanwhile, I will simply consider this to be a transition period for MousePlanet that I hope it comes out of with flying colors.

I will have to go and read the contract/about page.

I think that it is great if people are able to at least have the chance to write an article and have it reviewed.

I really understand that the people that are running MousePlanet are very busy with what they are running.

Actually, I have no real idea on what I would like to see. What I read was always interesting to me because it was something I didn't know.

I actually did like the reviews by people just walking around the park. Not everyone has the leisure time to go during the week and I loved the reviews giving the details of an ordinary day.

But that's me.

I don't think that MousePlanet is going downhill. I think/thought part of the deal was that there isn't really much going on? Period?

Now how about that Soap Opera Weekend?????? :D

I won't discuss internal MousePlanet policies at this moment


Oh why not?

It's quite ironic that a website that specializes in airing one company's dirty laundry, won't say a word about their own.

And like it or not, most of the readers of Mouseplanet and miceage LOVE dirty laundry. :~)

No one said anything about 'dirty laundry'.

We were just asking if there was anything on the horizon.

I personally like the people who run this board and who write for it. I think when and if anything comes down, they will inform us. {Can't help but be curious.}

That is one thing I like, they don't announce something that isn't definite.

The inside dirt they might release is to our benefit. As far as I am concerned, anyways.

based on past history I doubt you'll ever see 'dirty laundry', "inside DIRT" or whatever you want to call it intentionally put out on the public forums.... Since it's inception MP and the people who run it have shown style, grace and class whenever staff have left to pursue other interests. As to the future....I hope that the Admin of MP continue their tradition of being a class act....my nephews favorite saying is that "change is bad" but I don't agree, change is change....and we move on to the next phase of the adventure called life... same goes with any online site.. change is change and we move foward....

Yes, mammasilva, we have to be able to go with the flow.

Life throws us change every day. :)

And, to clarify, the 'dirt' I meant was about the rats in the resort. That is dirty to me. :o

Information on safety issues, cleanliness issues, where all of the bathrooms are, okay, that is different.

Other stuff, I don't care to know. Not my business.

How does that song go, don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see? Something like that.

MouseWife.. I was actually responding to Tikiboy.. I guess I should have quoted him, and his remark about dirty laundry...

Originally posted by tikiboy
Oh why not?

It's quite ironic that a website that specializes in airing one company's dirty laundry, won't say a word about their own.

And like it or not, most of the readers of Mouseplanet and miceage LOVE dirty laundry. :~)

That's the conundrum of all journalistic enterprises (and I like to think we fall somewhere under that very large umbrella). Nobody says "no comment" faster than a reporter unexpectedly on the wrong end of the question.

I can't speak for any staff members' dirty laundry except for mine and DocKrock's.

Currently, we have a Kenmore washer and dryer (gas-heated,) although I fantasize about the Maytag, I think it's called Neptune- the side-loading washer with matching dryer. :drool:. My set's only 7 years old, so I probably won't get to upgrade for awhile.

I use Tide with Bleach and store-brand dryer sheets. I tried the name-brand dryer sheets once because I can get those from Costco, but they made the Doc's skin really irritated and rashy (Ivory soap does it to him, too,) so I stick with store-brand. Go figure! I love the smell of Downey fabric softener, so I've toyed with the idea of switching to that. When we stayed with some friends on vacation, they use it and Doc didn't react to it.

My favorite stain tip is Biz. I make a Biz Paste with the powder and water and it works pretty well. I also have achieved success with the Shout Stain Gel stuff with a little brush on the top of the bottle.

When my boys were infants, I put white vinegar in the rinse cycle on all loads with their clothes in them- to "neutralize" their laundry from all the base of the soap. Never used Dreft or anything like that- except for free samples I got various places.

Doc helps out with the laundry a lot, although I probably actually do more of the loads. We have tall wicker baskets we use for separating colors and the boys have this cool wicker basket I got at Target, with a blue liner in it, for their laundry.

Adrienne K

ohhhh I drool over those neptunes everytime I walk by a pair.....

AK... have you tried the oxy stuff that they advertise on TV for an outrageous amount but that you can get at costco for a reasonable amount? I've had great success with it for stain removal both on clothes (I add it to every load of laundy these days) and for stains on carpets! It actually got cherry kool aide out of my blue/grey living room carpet!

I've used the oxy-stuff when we cleaned our carpet (does dirty carpet count as dirty laundry? Cuz if it does, we have LOTS of dirty laundry!!) I mixed it more than full strength in a squirt bottle and treated the rug stains before we used one of those grocery store rug doctor rental thingies. It worked pretty well but now we have new stains on the carpet.:rolleyes: The Kirkland grape children's acetaminophen stain is pretty much terminal but the Oxy stuff did the best job on it to date.

I haven't used it on laundry because I have lots of Biz still and I love my Biz.

Adrienne K

Before Brandy I could use Biz and bleach... now nope.... she can't have any bleach/biz/perfumed nada detergent or softner and I always do the white vinegar rinse .. I buy the stuff by the gallon, I actually had a clerk ask me what the heck I need so much vinegar for and looked stunned when I said for my laundry....now I'm stuck with "free" everything .. thank goodness she isn't the only one and it's widely available NOW...

Stop me if you've heard this before: I get my white vinegar at Costco ;) Fortunately, it's inexpensive.

Adrienne K

ok I get the 'duh' ploma today I always get mine at the base commissary so it's not expensive but I need to comparison shop to see if it is even cheaper at costco! I can't imagine why I never even thought to look there for it....:rolleyes:

Originally posted by mammasilva
Before Brandy I could use Biz and bleach... now nope.... she can't have any bleach/biz/perfumed nada detergent or softner and I always do the white vinegar rinse .. I buy the stuff by the gallon, I actually had a clerk ask me what the heck I need so much vinegar for and looked stunned when I said for my laundry....now I'm stuck with "free" everything .. thank goodness she isn't the only one and it's widely available NOW...
What does a white vinegar rinse do?

Is it common for people to be allergic to dryer sheets? I think I am.

reactions to the soaps/dryer sheets are a lot more common than a lot of folks realize.. symptoms might be as mild as 'itchy feeling' to full blown rash.. brandy looked like a measle case gone really really bad... ended up at a dermalogist at 2 weeks old....diagnois... all soap/laundry products... try doing newborn clothes with all natural cleaning products :(..

White vinegar 'neutralizes' the chemicals some how? I don't know the science of it but I bet Doc Krock could explain it better.. all I know is that if I use anything but dreft/ivory and dye free/scent free everything free downey and her vinegar rinse Brandy can't wear her clothes for more than 10/15 minutes before she is scratching all over... I even take a set of sheets with us on vacation for her to sleep comfortable at hotels

Soap is a base. White vinegar is an acid. Water is neutral (ph=7).

Acids and bases cancel each other out. So the white vinegar neutralizes the soapy water.

That's the less-scientific explanation.

Adrienne K

You really don't need to be drooling over those Neptunes. They aren't as great as they are marketed to be and they're way overpriced. Also, you won't get any savings over the life of the unit from any energy/water/soap conservation. So even though they cost less to run, you spend more over the life of the unit simply due to their initial higher price. (I've done the math and it didn't work out to be cheaper even over 10 years.)

Also, Maytag may have once been a reliable name brand, but their quality control has really gone downhill over the last few years. Just a couple years ago we decided to go with Maytag because of their brand name recognition and past performance. We bought the model of washer that is just under the Neptune (can't remember what they called it at the time) and it lasted about 5 days. The hot water valve stopped working. A repairman said it would take too long to get the replacement part and it would just be faster to have Sears replace the whole unit. The 2nd lasted only 2 days and had the same failure. We swapped it again and the third unit failed the same way.

This time a repairman came out and did a major troubleshooting session (instead of just guessing at what was wrong) and found it to be a bad main board. He said that this is typical of the Maytag washers and that the quality control isn't like it used to be. It's not just bad QC though, it's also bad engineering and bad manufacturing. He said to either get a Neptune (much higher price but it doesn't use the same main board), get the lowest end washer Maytag sells (again, different main board), or buy another brand all together. We tried another brand, the Kenmore high end one that is suppose to be just as good as Neptune (and is just as expensive), but it wouldn't get the clothes clean so we returned it.

We ended up buying a low-end regular Maytag with no special features. It's been running great for over 2 years.

And it's not just the washers. We also had to have the drum replaced on the Maytag dryer just days after we bought it! It was making a knocking noise and the repair(wo)man said the drum was out of round and had to be replaced.

The reason that Maytag repairman is out of work in those commercials is because the Sears repairmen are doing all the work! :rolleyes:

well now I don't feel so bad ! My Maytag side by side has had issues with the ice maker/dispenser since we bought it, thank goodness I bought that extended warranty insurance, I just had to call AGAIN (4th time in 2 years) to have it replaced... open the freezer to a cascade of ice icicles dripping from the ice maker to the bottom of the door UGH