The limbo, the Cold Duck, the crowbar night watchman line.......I feel so close to you.......Like I know you. Are you my Brother-in-Law from another Mother-in-Law??? AND my DS(15) is now thoroughly convinced that I have lost my mind because I am LOL.....You're a funny guy. Can't wait to read more.
Let's see, I'm trying to work this out;
Brother in Law from a different Mother in Law,,,,,,, um,,,,, that would then make me,,,,,,,,,,,,,confused.
Thanks for joining in Stepsister. I mean Stepdisney.
sounds like we have the same kind of "luck"
I call it bad luck my dh calls it a lack of orginization
I truly feel for you if you're like me, cuz on this trip we haven't even really started with PAIN, yet.
With Smidgy done hopping around and our room ready, I sighed.
For some reason I always enjoy the pool time waiting for our room to be ready, I guess at this stage of the trip after all the driving I just wanted to relax for a while by the pool with a couple of my favorite painkillers.
She saw the look on my face and glanced down at my knee. "Does it hurt as much as it looks like it does?"
"Actually, it hurts, but not THAT bad."
For some reason, even though I've really only been sitting in a car all this time, it was swollen more than it ever has been, probably because it's my right knee, the driving knee and it had to stay in one position all this time.
She offered to unload everything but I told her no, I'm comin', I'm comin' Mr. Dillon.
(I know, you're all too young to get that ref.)
Back through the lobby, and woontcha know it, right next to the twin elevators in an unarmed, unmanned luggage cart.
We brought it down with us to the garage where 5 of it's brother were waiting at the bottom. Oh well.
After loading the thing to the max, my bathroom bag's strap held in my teeth, I pushed it back to the elevator with her guiding.
She pushed the button, I positioned it in front and shortly I heard a "Ding".
I couldn't really see through the hanging clothes, so I waited a second to make sure someone wasn't getting off, then I shoved it forward.
"WHAM!"
Whoops, wrong elevator.
Hey, I had a fifty fifty chance.
She held the doors open while I repositioned it and we found our room on the 3rd floor.
(me and Disney elevators have never gotten along.)
But the room was a surprise.
We had seen diagrams of the Inn rooms, and they were nothing like this.
You walked in the door down a hallway, then you made a left to find the rest of the room. It was bordering on huge.
it was also bordering on Arctic, I went straight to the thermostat and saw it was set on 65........I raised it to 71. As I was doing this, I hear "WOW, Steve, come look at this."
I did, and this is what I saw from our balcony.
and.......
20 minutes later we were mostly unpacked and headed back down to the pool.
The pool is a gated community, access by room key card.
Well, you would need to use the card if there wasn't this endless line of peopled going into and out of the pool area.
It was crowded.
All the tables with umbrellas were taken, and there were a lot of them. We ended up grabbing a couple of loungers a little back, but still in a good area.
Once we settled in I was off in search of the designated smoking area, which turned out to be pretty close.
Then we lied there a while, talking about our good fortune in scoring that room, and the whole trip so far in general.
Even with the 331 mile detour and the lost six hours, we still got here about when we hoped to, and all that was now behind us.
I smiled.
And again.
She looked at me quizically.
I bent my leg, straightened it out, then bent it again.
"Ah, pills kicking in, huh?"
"What pills?"
As we lay there, I can hear snippets of conversation from this family next to us, but I couldn't be hearing right, it sounded like they had caught a turtle and were keeping it in the bathrub for now.
I had left my aids back in the room, so I asked Diane if I heard that right.
Yep, she said, she couldn't believe it either.
It's like this;
This stretch of the coast is extremly popular to loggerhead turtles and they do their nesting right on the beach.
They are endangered.
I hadn't seen the beach layout yet, but I knew this is one thing you don't mess with.
There are even signs in the lobby not to mess with the nests.
For about every 100 hatchlings that try to make it back to the ocean, about 20 survive. Usually it's done in the middle of the night, but the gulls and crows set their watches by them not wanting to miss the midnight buffet.
Even if it wasn't a loggerhead they were talking about but a regular mud or box turtle, still, it's against the law to take them out of this state.
The rule is, "What's born in Florida, stays in Florida."
It was easy to figure out who the mom was of this fine group, and for the rest of the trip she became known as "Turtle Lady."
Even now I still regret not saying something, but sometimes you can't be sure that you've got the story right.
It took only about 15 minutes to get to the basting stage and we headed to the water.
Now my ideal pool temperature is about 86. Anything colder, especially on the hottest days like today, can really be a shock when you jump in.
Believe me, the last thing I want to do is have a heart attack from the shock and go toes up at a Disney resort.
(I'm not a fun date)
But this was incredible. You couldn't really feel the water, it was like an exact match. I've never been in a pool this warm since I was 6 years old and my parents stuck 8 neighborhood kids in a little wading pool.
It wasn't the heat that made that water warm.
This had to be about 92, actually, too warm, not even refreshing.
A little later Smidgy noticed this couple behind apparently preparing to leave, they had one of the covetted umbrella tables, but she also saw turtle lady eyeballing them too, and her group was already occupying at least four tables and a mess of loungers. Which were all mostly empty.
So Diane cheated.
She went up to the woman and asked if they were leaving, which they said yes in a few minutes, and Smidgy asked if she could put a bag on the table now, before they leave.
(take that, turtle lady)
We really needed the shade at this point.
But it really is a nice complex in here. Big slide, playground, and on one side is a 9 hole miniature golf course that costs two bucks to play. Yeah, it was very basic, but still.
On the entrance side of the pool is the refillable mug station, next to that is the Bleachers Grill, a take out counter with the usual Disney stuff and next to that the rental shop for bikes, putters, basketballs, tennis rackets and what not.
Later on we changed and made ourselves a travel drink in the refi mug and went to get a better lay of the land.
From talking with some people, it seemed to me that there was more of an upscale clientelle hear, turtle lady excluded. At first I was telling folks that we were interlopers renting points, but after a while I decided heck with it, I can pretend I'm a DVC owner for these 5 days.
Before we left the lobby, Diane wanted to know the best way to get to the Orchid Pizzaria, she read on line that it had great pizza and was in easy walking distance.
Now, the woman at check in told us that one thing we really should try during our stay is the pizza from the restaurant right here, Shutters.
She told us they totally changed the regular Disney pizza recipe, and now it's way improved.
Right now we just want to know where the other pizza place is for later in the week.
Smidgy spots a cast member standing to the side and we approach him together. Smidgy asks her question and he says just take the road we came in on to the right and it's about a block down.
"Thank you," and we turn away.
"But......"
"You really should try the new and improved pizza here, it's nothing like the typical Disney pizza you've had in the past."
"Ok, tha...."
"Really, it's excellent."
"It's cheesy, spicy,tastes great, it's scrumptious!"
"scrumptious?", I thought.
I could see what was happening, and I needed to stop it before he said it.
He was on the path, he just hadn't gotten there yet, and I did not want him to say the big "IT", not if I can do anything about it.
"What? "Are they running a sale on adjectives at Wallmart?", I said.
"Ha ha, real funny," he replied, and then I could see the little light go on behind his eyes and I knew I lost.
He knew it too, for that light turned into a little side smirk and he leaned forward towards me and said;
"But really, it's TO DIE FOR!"
This is one of those overused saying that just makes me cringe and really sticks in my craw.
(those of you who don't know where your craw is, ask your mothers)
It ranks right up there with; "Have a good one", "24/7", and "At the end of the day."
I just hung my head, nodded and mumbled thanks as I skulked away, a beaten man.
Back outside we headed back to the pool, only this time at the entrance we made a left and walked down this short path to a deck that then leads down to the beach.
For the first time today we are finally getting an unobstructed view of the ocean.
There's a good chance that the dates on the photos don't match up with my story, but it really doesn't matter, these five days were pretty much interchangable, and I'm not positive I had the date set right on the camera.
Gazing out over the ocean, one of the dumbest political quotes I have heard in years popped into my head, and I couldn't resist.
"Hey, look! I can see Sarah Palin from here!"
Soon we left and continued on. There really isn't much "on" to continue to, just to the studios that we considered staying in before we chose the Inn.
We made the right choice.
The studio buildings were arranged in horseshoe shapes facing the ocean, but where it looked like there would be a courtyard in the middle turned out to be overgrown with landscaping.
They were really pretty dark and gloomy, and if you stayed here, you would probably never really have a reason to go in the main building, unless for dinner.
On the way back we stopped for a smoke at the DSA on the porch and Diane said she's run up and refill our mugs.
I started talking to some guy who just reeked of pompous success.
"So, where you from?", he asked.
No, "Hi, how are you." Just that opening line.
Didn't bother me so I told him Chicago.
For some reason, Chicago still has a stigma attatched to it, I think it goes back to the mobs and Al Capone days.
He was from New Jersey.
Not Trenton, or any other city, people from New Jersey always seem to just say,"New Jersey."
Then businessman in the dark sunglasses when it's just about night asked me, "So, you looking forward to seeing your ex-governor, Rod Blagojevich thrown in the slammer?"
Had to give him credit, he even pronounced the name right,,,and spelled it correctly too.
lmao
So I told him my opinion.
"He'll be lucky to get a slap on the hand"
His face turned red, he almost shouted, "What are you talking about? He's guilty as sin for trying to sell the Senate seat,,,,And I"m a Democrat!"
"Ok, I'm an independent, not that it matters, but the problem with a lot of people's thoughts on the subject is that he DIDN"T sell the seat, you see, it's not illegal to be an incompetent moron."
His eyes lit up, said something like "Holy Cow I never thought of that", and now I had his respect and a best friend for life.
And that was all the political crap I was going to deal with this trip.
From now on, I'm from Milwaukee.
Diane came back down with the drinks and I introduced her to him and his brother in law.
Then I finished by saying,,,,"They're from a suburb of New York City".
(boy, I just know a couple of readers are gonna let me have it)
But he just laughed and said, "New Jersey."
"Like I said."
They did ask us if we were going to the campfire the next night and I said "why not?" What else is there to do?"
Back in the room we had Chicken Ala King for dinner, with Cottage Cheese and a hunk of summer sausage. Then we spent a little time just looking around form the balcony.
Sure was pretty at night.
Then we talked about tomorrow.
I'm the morning person and the pool opens at 8, and we had a feeling for a decent spot we should be there close to opening so I was elected.
I'm not worried, how many people go to the pool that early?
goodnight
... anywho.. Dan was out of town up to the day we left.. in that week he called to tell me our car was hit.. and other drama.. I was just thinking... I am going to Disney, I am going to Disney.. Well I was in charge of the packing. Dan got home around midnight when we were leaving for the airport around 3-4am. I closed the bar... and I am BEYOND excited.
.... but our cruise stuff was in there...
Loving the new report my friend...cannot wait to read more~
Smidgy I am seeing this in my minds eye and just laughing and tears are pouring from me.
with everyone of them. Glad you're back! 
