When Amazon Web Services went offline, people lost control of their cloud-connected smart beds, getting stuck in reclined positions or roasting with the heat turned all the way up.

I’ve been a fan of the visitor toll pass service at MCO since they rolled it out. If you aren’t familiar, they have a service where you get a hangtag for your rental car for tolls and they just charge you for the tolls without any fees. Most rental car companies charge various convenience fees if you use license plate tolling, so it is pretty nice. Every now and then something would get messed up and I’d get a bill from my rental car company AND visitor toll pass, and I just sent the receipts to visitor toll pass and they’ve refunded the fees from the rental car company. For my recent trip to Retromagic, I just got a bill from National for a $4.20 toll on 528 plus a $4.95 (!) convenience fee. So I sent it to the Visitor Toll Pass people and they are refusing to refund it because my pass “didn’t pair with my license plate in time”. I think they have cameras in the garage exits that look for the barcode on the pass and then associate that with your license plate. It is all automatic; on occasion I’ve gotten a text message that they weren’t able to do it automatically and they ask me to manually enter my license plate into their app an hour or two after I leave the airport. In this case, I never got that text message, but according to their system, my license plate wasn’t paired until I was already at my hotel taking a snooze…and somehow this is my fault. Since I had to take a toll road to get to that very important nap and it was before they paired my license plate, I’m liable for the toll and (absurd!) fee. Short of pulling over on the side of the road before I get onto 528 to check to make sure the license plate is paired, I’m not sure what else I should have done. Making matters worse - Visitor Toll Pass has just stopped responding to my emails requesting help. Going forward, I believe E-ZPass that we use in NJ is now usable in Florida, so I’ll just try to remember to bring my tag down with me. I’m done with Visitor Toll Pass.

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Paul Osterhout shared this recording of the Muppet performers being recorded as part of the audio animatronics programming for MuppetVision 3D

At Magic Kingdom Park, just beyond the Walt Disney World Railroad on Main Street, U.S.A., you can listen to the cheerful sounds of classic Disney tunes and lively ragtime melodies that fill the streets in front of Casey’s Corner. Guests often pause, drawn to the upbeat sounds and rhythms from the restaurant’s piano, masterfully The post Casey’s Corner Pianist Grayson Smith Honored with The Walt Disney Legacy Award appeared first on Disney Parks Blog.