Mike Jones
<font color=993300>....nothing clever to say... ju
- Joined
- Jun 23, 2003
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- 1,372
Part 6 - Thursday 17th June 2004 Virgin checkin at DTD, Islands and Universal Studios again, Home!
I set both my mobile phone alarm last night, and the hotel bedside one too, for insurance, because we were getting more and more weary as the days progressed. I woke as planned at 5:45am and had a shower I left Scot snoring gently until 6:05. We stuff the last few things back into our cases and, leaving them in the room, take one last picture of that wonderful view across IOA before heading down to the Orchid Court Lounge for coffee and Danish. We like to get our moneys worth out of hotel accommodation and facilities, so when an opportunity arises at the 4th floor for us to check out the lift call buttons again, as a faintly puzzled man stops the elevator and climbs aboard, we leap at it! Out we go! Oh, b****r! Not again! We wait a few seconds, so as not to frighten the new occupant of our former transport, and call for a new one!
We walk into the lounge and approach the counter, which is attractively laden with a variety of yummy-looking breakfast comestibles. Scotts clumsy gene kicks in again, and he ends up juggling a whole tray of cakes, just managing to stop them from falling on the deck! (That will be $52 for your breakfast sir!) ..Actually the CM on duty didnt seem to have a sense of humour, so we stopped giggling while she conveyed the serious message of cheap refills on the coffees - as long as we retained our cups, I think!
Its a lovely lounge, but there is also a stunning, ornamental pond and garden in the centre of this floor, overlooked by all the lobby and lounge areas. We take our breakfast (Danish something or other and a large, blueberry muffin for me, plus a black coffee, one Danish and coffee for Scott) outside and sit on the raised side of the pond to enjoy. What a lovely place!
We take our time over the coffees and chat about the imminent return to the real world - jobs, bills etc! Theres one happy note on the horizon weve been invited to a black-tie birthday party on Saturday night, with our partners, and it promises to be a cracking night. Scotts a bit concerned about his baldy head, which has picked up a lot of colour this week what if it starts to peel before the party? Dont worry, Michael, I tell him, Im sure it wont. Michael? He asks, puzzled Sir Michael Gambon, I reply you know, the Singing Detective! His reply is one of the few things I cant share with you, dear reader, as the censors may take umbrage!
We drag our cases down to the Lobby (and hey, we manage to stay in the lift for the whole journey!), and are told the account is settled no extras to pay.
Its 7:25 as we walk out to the car. Another lovely day in prospect, not a cloud in the sky, and already slipping towards hot. Roof off, I reckon! We tootle off to Downtown Disney, an easy 9 mile journey at this time of day, particularly heading away from Orlando, and arrive in an empty car lot behind La Nouba at 7:45. The Virgin desk is deserted, so we take a last few piccies of each other in the car we dont want to give it back!
A bored looking young man appears at the Check in, probably an employee we reckon, as he has no bags with him. We walk across, not sure where to stand, just as a large 15-seater van disgorges a family of 10 dispirited looking Brits and their luggage (which includes a 5 foot cuddly dog!) We form an informal crowd in front of the desks, and chat about the misery of going back to Blighty. Our co-depressees are from the North East. Theyve had a fine holiday, and are planning to slob around their villa until the last possible minute after dumping their bags here. About 8:00 the first Virgin reps turn up a fairly officious, South American chap instructs us to queue from this end, please, and kindly get your bags out of the road as the lorries will be here imminently! They indeed are, 3 of em, parking side by side, the drivers flinging open the rear shutters before sitting on the tailgates to chat between themselves. The Virgin Sergeant Major bustles around like Basil Fawlty dealing with idiot guests dont we know we should leave all our bags next to the wagons and line up? Tsk tsk. This just wont do. You get the distinct impression that we are a big disappointment to him!
Other passengers appear, until by 8:30 there are somewhere in the region of 50 people behind us. More Virgin staff have arrived, and they take the covers off and bring out scales and chairs from somewhere. At 8:35 we are called to the far desk, nearest the lorries. Our attendant is a pleasant Scottish lady, who refuses our request for a complementary upgrade, but lets us down very nicely! We do retain our reserved seats though. We learn that our 18:15 flight is now scheduled to leave MCO at 19:20 or so and she hints none too subtly that we may be wasting our time going too early! We press for more details, but although she doesnt want to start any rumours she thinks there have been some problems on the way out, and we might face an even bigger delay! Oh joy!
Having identified our cases and watched as she attaches the labels for Manchester, we leave by 8:40am and set off back to Universal Orlando to hammer those FOTL passes! We park in Spiderman 452 at 9:10 am, before taking the moving walkways from the enormous garages, through the central hub, (where they are always giving free gifts away for some promotion or other cheap, crappy nylon rucksacks today!) and into Citywalk. Some people complain about the time this transfer takes, but it always seems to be 10 minutes for me, and I like the build up, with the loud pop music blaring away to get you in the mood!
Into Citywalk, keeping straight ahead to the gates of IOA for 9:20. We are admitted swiftly enough, saving an admission ticket by stuffing Scott into my rucksack to test the efficiency of the Security check, but they dont spot him under the camera, video and petrol bombs.
A lady Universal employee asks if we would spare a minute to complete a survey it will only take a couple of minutes, apparently. Sure, we reply, weve got FOTL passes! We can give you, ooh, 4 or 5 minutes should you need them! She asks a lot of predictable questions: how long you here, where you staying, how many previous visits, will you be back etc. She thanks us and wishes us a great day, and we proceed through Port of Entry, turning right this time, to head through Seuss Landing to The Lost Continent.
We learnt a lesson yesterday UE is a bit ineffective at Duelling Dragons, so we intend to get there first, while the main crowds flock around Hulk and Spiderman, and hammer the beasts to death before 10:00am.
We take the regular entrance, which seems a lot longer than the UE path, and find the loading platforms virtually empty. They seem more geared up today, as they already have two trains on each side, and we take front seats on Fire for our first ride. Wheeeee!!! Fantastic! We use the re-entry doors to ride Ice next, in the back row, before number three, in the centre of Fire, as the lines are growing slightly for the front seats. As we exit the platform, some young boys in front of us turn immediately left after the platform, going through double doors clearly marked No Entry we follow, intrigued, and find ourselves back on the platform! We get back, on the same train for our last ride!
Its 10:05 now, and we have an appointment with some superheroes! We walk anti-clockwise, back through Jurassic Park, pausing to laugh at a family who got too close to the fence at the viewing area next to the River Adventure exit, taking a real soaking and probably ruining their video cameras! Everythings for the last time now, and so we pass through Toon Lagoon and enter Marvel Super Hero Island for the last time!
We approach Spidey (for the last time!) and cast a mocking glance at the 45 minute Standby time! Oh how Ill miss this plastic passport! In we go total time elapsed from the door to the ride vehicle is exactly 3 minutes! Another cracking ride, with Scott getting even more of the detail. Its 10:35 as we leave, with the weather remaining very hot & sticky. Moving against the flow, we proceed to the Hulk lockers (for the last time!) and walk straight on (standby is also 45 minutes here!) Normal, stunning ride! As we exit, I suggest we try Storm Force Acceleratron next door for a change of pace. We enter an empty UE line, as opposed to a 20 minute Standby, but are kept waiting for a few minutes before being let in.
This is a fun ride, a lot like teacups with menace, but it feels somewhat tame to us seasoned coaster freaks! The big laugh is, we could have ridden the faster loading attractions like Hulk or Spidey at least twice in the time it took!
Back into Hulk to prove the point (for the last time! Sob! .Ok, Ill stop now!) we are back at the lockers within 10 minutes! We actually spend longer here than on the ride, as we forget our locker number and have a cast member opening a variety of possibilities before recalling the correct one! Id have written the number down in my note book, but I cant carry it onto the rides!!
We get sorted eventually, and strike out of the Park for . Hah, you thought I was going to say the last time, didnt you? Wrong! We strike out for Universal Studios, using the short but steaming hot journey through Citywalk to call home. As I turn the cellphone on I get a text from Scotts GF, Di, saying enjoy your last day of freedom, boys! I send a reply advising that our flight has been delayed by a week and to expect us back on the 25th June!
Its 11:25am as we enter Universal Studios. We decide to grab some food before hitting the rides, and pick Mels Drive In at the head of the lagoon, mainly as its the closest outlet! We both choose Bacon Double Cheese Burgers with fries, to which I add onion rings and a large Coke ($15.10 for me) and Scott has a regular Sprite (total $10.76).
Mels is themed as a 50s diner, lots of chrome and melamine, with the cute touch of a jukebox terminal on each table, costing 25c for 2 plays. We put Sam Cookes Wonderful World and La Bamba by Richie Valens on, but they dont get played before weve finished lunch. We walk across to the shelter at the end of the lake to finish our drinks.
Scott phones Di while we sit there, and I take a few photos. The jet ski stunt troupe are playing nice out on the water again. We decide to get the Mummy under our belt first, as even with UE it took a while yesterday at this time. I take a few more piccies as we walk across.
The crowds outside and the scrum at the lockers suggest it will be no different today! However, we both wait at different locker stations to see who gets in first (Scott) and it only takes a couple of minutes before we enter the building for our final fix of this superb and intense ride.
It takes 15 more minutes to reach the cars (as opposed to the 75 minutes for standby!) and we get our adrenalin levels boosted once more. What did that kid say? Awesome!.
We recover the bags eventually, (boy, does this area need a re-think!), as you have to wait for the specific terminal where you deposited them, and, of course, we get behind some real muppets who dont get the idea at all!
Moving around the park in a clockwise direction, past BeetleJuice, we enter Amity and decide to give Jaws another go. The 20 minute line for "3rd class, no UE" customers is ignored, and we are aboard our cruiser inside 2 minutes! Todays pilot is Minnie (no, silly, not her!) and she puts on a much more convincing show than her colleague yesterday. A good way to finish this somewhat dated but very appealing attraction. Moving on, we re-stow the bags at MIB and experience yet another UE walk on. Great fun, as always, but we must be tired, as our scores are terrible just under 100,000 for me, just over for sharp-shooter Scott. Back to the Future doesnt appeal, so we walk past, pausing briefly at the shop to increase my stock of souvenir (squashed) pennies for Adams collection back home. Its 1:20pm now, and we are hot and a little weary all these early starts, late nights and the heat are taking their toll! We grab a frozen drink from a vendor stall, and make our way towards the exit making the Universal Studios store our last stop. We both manage to find a couple of bits to complete and enhance our family gifts, and we make our sad but satisfied way out onto Citywalk at 1:45pm, taking a moment to get one last shot of ourselves under the Universal globe.. thank-you, anonymous, American youth for a great last photograph.
In the relative cool of the garage (ok, 86 degrees F, according to the car thermometer, but it soon rises to 98F as we exit the shade!) we tidy the car interior and boot, putting all the empty water bottles, parking tickets and other assorted trash in a carrier bag for disposal later. The journey back to the International Airport via I4 and 528 is an easy 16 miles, arriving at MCO at 2:30pm. Im always amazed at the ease with which you can return your car in the States in the UK theyd have you walking miles with your bags, looking for a grey shed buried deep in the shadows of a distant building, before completing 5 or 6 sides of unnecessary paperwork and waiting while the underpaid and unpleasant attendant subjects the vehicle to a minute, inch by inch check! Here, we get out of the car with our hand luggage (cases were left at DTD, remember? Ill miss that next year!), wait about 1 minute before a perfectly pleasant employee uses a handheld pc to enter our reg. and mileage before printing out our final statement and wishing us a safe onward journey! And people ask why I keep coming back to America!
We enter the terminal and go upstairs to level 3, where we camp for a while just before the main lobby, taking a few minutes to sort our documents and video each other summarising the holiday my sister-in-law did this first, in 2001, and it really personalises the video record of the trip. I decide that Kens remaining beers might not travel as well in the aircraft locker as in me, so I down another one (Sierra Nevada Pale Ale lovely, thanks, Ken!) before we move on.
We are very impressed by the huge, central lobby or atrium, with its fountain, palm trees and Hyatt Hotel rooms, but, as we cant find any mention of our flight on the boards here, we press on to security, passing through without incident, and catch the shuttle tram to the Virgin gates. Where we discover that there is absolutely nowhere to smoke, so, after checking our flight actually exists (it does, scheduled to leave at 7:20pm) we turn round and retrace our route to the main building if youre interested, the shuttle takes 65 seconds! Its 3:35 now, and we find an outside area for Scott to top up his blood nicotine levels! (I have a cigar too, so take no notice of me!)
Fixed for now, we camp outside Starbucks and I join the short line to liberate two coffees and some pastries. At around 4:00pm I leave Scott resting his weary feet and take a walk around the lobby stores I could have done at least half my gift shopping here! Theres a well stocked Disney shop, a Universal outlet and a Seaworld store! I need nothing that I see, though, and after a quick restroom stop I return to Scott, half expecting to find him asleep! Im wrong hes chatting happily to a middle-aged guy from Colorado whos on the way home after treating his kids and grandchildren to a once in a lifetime vacation to WDW! Although well into his sixties, he doesnt expect to retire anytime soon, and will be back at his job as a driller only hours after returning home later today!
At 5:00pm we have a last ciggy outside, and pass back through security. There are plenty of seats in the area of our gate, so we wander off to do the shops (same old junk as every other airport in the world!) & pick up some Duty Frees for Scott ( I never bother), which we cant take with us, but are assured will be delivered to us at the gate. We make camp near our gate, and visit the Restroom in turns to freshen up and change for the flight. Sometime after 6:00pm we receive a text that England have won their latest Euro match 3:0, so that lifts the mood a bit!
At 6:30 we hear an announcement that pre-boarding will commence shortly, which it does, for the Premier and less able passengers. I wander over to check the plane its Honey Pie again! We are called at 7:00pm, collect the DFs at the gate, as promised, and board, before having our only minor tiff of the trip, when Scott tries to take my head off with his duty frees as he loads the lockers! I dont suppose I help by falling to the ground, feigning grievous injury fatigue, sadness, lack of nicotine and fear of flying have temporarily disabled his sense of humour gene! Im tired enough to snap back at him not to be a grumpy b*****d, and we take our seats! The mood lasts only a minute, and we both grin our apologies. Im actually grateful to Scott, as my concussion will probably help me sleep during the flight!
We have the first left-hand row of seats where they drop from 3 to 2, numbers 62A and C, (3rd row from the back of the plane) giving us a decent amount of gear space at the side.
We taxi out at 7:35pm (12:35am UK.. Ive switched my watch back now) and are finally airborne at 12:50am. As soon as the plane levels off, the flight crew serve drinks whisky for me, Stella for Scott. Im not as smitten with the in-flight entertainment as I expected to be before the trip, as the system goes off-line periodically, and you cant always get the game or film you want to load. I manage to see Shrek without too much grief (cant wait for Shrek 2!)
Dinner (tea? supper?..what do you call a main meal at 2:00am?) is served and is lovely chicken in white wine, pasta and cake) and shortly afterwards we hit modest turbulence, so the seatbelts stay on for the next hour or so. I sneak off to the loo when the stewardesses are absent, as I want to get some sleep and dont have a prayer on a full bladder I smile as I leave the toilet, as half the planes passengers have followed my lead and are waiting outside, much to the annoyance of the returned cabin crew!
A quick aside here the crew on the way out were lovely. The ladies (not seen a Virgin male yet, if you know what I mean!) on this leg are very different snappy, unsmiling and generally unhelpful. They are efficient enough at the main events, but disappear completely between tasks. Shame.
The last time I check my watch, its 2:40am. I snuggle down with eye mask, earplugs and a blanket and try to ignore the dead feeling in my legs as I try to stretch them out under the seat in front (occupied by a really short chap, who doesnt even try to recline the whole flight! Cheers!) the next time I look at the time, two whole, delicious hours have passed! Whooppee! Thats a first for me! I deal with the cramp that probably woke me by walking around the cabin and having a good stretch behind the rearmost seats. Scott soon awakes from his catnap and joins me for a while.
About 5:00am now, and I watch an episode of the Simpsons. Im extremely thirsty, and buzz for a stewardess, but there is no response in 5 minutes, so I wander forward. In the central galley area there are a selection of drinks laid out, and the resident crew member indicates with a curt wave of her hand that I should help myself. She doesnt make eye contact and I come pretty close to reacting. I call upon my reserves of tolerance and leave it for now, but promise myself that I will complain after the flight (I didnt!)
A stunning sunrise is staining the horizon a deep, deep pink now, and it seems to last for ages! I read a few chapters of my book from 6:00am until 7:00 ish, napping briefly before the warders serve an acceptable brekkie at 7:20 fruit salad, blueberry muffin, OJ and coffee. The sky is much lighter now, with some gorgeous, almost Arctic views over endless cloudfields.
Time passes quite quickly, with the anticipation of landing, which occurs on time at 8:40am. After taxiing for 10 minutes we wait a further 20 for the rest of the plane to disembark, touching UK soil (oh, alright, fussy, UK lino floor!) at ten past nine. No one even looks at us as we move through immigration, and on to the baggage hall. The bags start to come through fairly soon, before the carousel breaks down! Good old England its so good to be home! A mumbled tannoy explanation and a 20 minute wait later it restarts, and we reclaim our cases without further trouble. A quick call to the car company and we are picked up within 10 further minutes hell, its cold out here! Grey skies and probably less than 50 degrees! No problem picking the car up, and I feel a lot fresher than after previous trips. The 25 minute journey back to Scotts is fine, and I stay there for 15 minutes or so to see nephew Sis delight at his B2TF T-shirt! See you later buddy, and off home , arriving at 11:00am to a lovely hug from Heather and a crazed assault from our mutt, Meg! Thankfully the kids are still; at school, so I bring Heather up to speed whilst staying awake fro the next few hours .
Summary..
What a holiday! I still occasionally pinch myself to check that it actually happened! (And that I got away with it!) I know a lot of you wouldnt dream of leaving your kids at home while you trot off to Florida, but I also know a lot of you would love to! My kids are pretty sanguine about it theyve got lots of their own memories already, having been 4 times in 3 years, and were all back again next Easter for 18 days. And Heather still loves me!
The schedule was very full, quite tiring, but essentially trouble free. It was such a joy to show someone new around my favourite places, especially my mate Scott, whos been through some real crappy times in the last 5 years since losing his dear wife Kath. Hes now fired up and saving like mad to take his family, and hes learnt a heck of a lot that will help him avoid nearly all the rookie pitfalls.
We saved a lot of time by judicious use of tips and schemes aired on the DIS & Dibb. The two best wrinkles were the get your car before the 2nd baggage reclaim at MCO and the Rainforest Café Shortcut into Animal Kingdom ruses!
Highlights? Seeing Illuminations twice, swimming in the Gulf, superb birthday eve in the Daiquiri Deck on Siesta Key, Broken Egg breakfast and Epcot on my birthday, the Chrysler Sebring convertible, Jellyrolls, US and IOA with permanent FOTL (I cant imagine going back there without it now!) and just sharing the experience with Scott. Lowlights? Nothing worth a mention! Even the rain was warm!
Would I do it again? Of course, Id love to, but next time Ill insist Heather comes instead of buddy boy! Well probably leave it a few years though, until the kids think its un-cool to go away with mum and dad!
Youve probably realised by now that I can ramble on and on forever with only slight encouragement, so Im calling a halt here! Lots of thanks to everyone whos read these reports, especially those of you whove been kind enough to give me such positive feedback. Its been a delight to share these memories and to relive every day and detail of such a unique vacation. Ill be back with another journal sometime after March 2005!
Mike Jones
28th June 2004
I set both my mobile phone alarm last night, and the hotel bedside one too, for insurance, because we were getting more and more weary as the days progressed. I woke as planned at 5:45am and had a shower I left Scot snoring gently until 6:05. We stuff the last few things back into our cases and, leaving them in the room, take one last picture of that wonderful view across IOA before heading down to the Orchid Court Lounge for coffee and Danish. We like to get our moneys worth out of hotel accommodation and facilities, so when an opportunity arises at the 4th floor for us to check out the lift call buttons again, as a faintly puzzled man stops the elevator and climbs aboard, we leap at it! Out we go! Oh, b****r! Not again! We wait a few seconds, so as not to frighten the new occupant of our former transport, and call for a new one!
We walk into the lounge and approach the counter, which is attractively laden with a variety of yummy-looking breakfast comestibles. Scotts clumsy gene kicks in again, and he ends up juggling a whole tray of cakes, just managing to stop them from falling on the deck! (That will be $52 for your breakfast sir!) ..Actually the CM on duty didnt seem to have a sense of humour, so we stopped giggling while she conveyed the serious message of cheap refills on the coffees - as long as we retained our cups, I think!
Its a lovely lounge, but there is also a stunning, ornamental pond and garden in the centre of this floor, overlooked by all the lobby and lounge areas. We take our breakfast (Danish something or other and a large, blueberry muffin for me, plus a black coffee, one Danish and coffee for Scott) outside and sit on the raised side of the pond to enjoy. What a lovely place!
We take our time over the coffees and chat about the imminent return to the real world - jobs, bills etc! Theres one happy note on the horizon weve been invited to a black-tie birthday party on Saturday night, with our partners, and it promises to be a cracking night. Scotts a bit concerned about his baldy head, which has picked up a lot of colour this week what if it starts to peel before the party? Dont worry, Michael, I tell him, Im sure it wont. Michael? He asks, puzzled Sir Michael Gambon, I reply you know, the Singing Detective! His reply is one of the few things I cant share with you, dear reader, as the censors may take umbrage!
We drag our cases down to the Lobby (and hey, we manage to stay in the lift for the whole journey!), and are told the account is settled no extras to pay.
Its 7:25 as we walk out to the car. Another lovely day in prospect, not a cloud in the sky, and already slipping towards hot. Roof off, I reckon! We tootle off to Downtown Disney, an easy 9 mile journey at this time of day, particularly heading away from Orlando, and arrive in an empty car lot behind La Nouba at 7:45. The Virgin desk is deserted, so we take a last few piccies of each other in the car we dont want to give it back!
A bored looking young man appears at the Check in, probably an employee we reckon, as he has no bags with him. We walk across, not sure where to stand, just as a large 15-seater van disgorges a family of 10 dispirited looking Brits and their luggage (which includes a 5 foot cuddly dog!) We form an informal crowd in front of the desks, and chat about the misery of going back to Blighty. Our co-depressees are from the North East. Theyve had a fine holiday, and are planning to slob around their villa until the last possible minute after dumping their bags here. About 8:00 the first Virgin reps turn up a fairly officious, South American chap instructs us to queue from this end, please, and kindly get your bags out of the road as the lorries will be here imminently! They indeed are, 3 of em, parking side by side, the drivers flinging open the rear shutters before sitting on the tailgates to chat between themselves. The Virgin Sergeant Major bustles around like Basil Fawlty dealing with idiot guests dont we know we should leave all our bags next to the wagons and line up? Tsk tsk. This just wont do. You get the distinct impression that we are a big disappointment to him!
Other passengers appear, until by 8:30 there are somewhere in the region of 50 people behind us. More Virgin staff have arrived, and they take the covers off and bring out scales and chairs from somewhere. At 8:35 we are called to the far desk, nearest the lorries. Our attendant is a pleasant Scottish lady, who refuses our request for a complementary upgrade, but lets us down very nicely! We do retain our reserved seats though. We learn that our 18:15 flight is now scheduled to leave MCO at 19:20 or so and she hints none too subtly that we may be wasting our time going too early! We press for more details, but although she doesnt want to start any rumours she thinks there have been some problems on the way out, and we might face an even bigger delay! Oh joy!
Having identified our cases and watched as she attaches the labels for Manchester, we leave by 8:40am and set off back to Universal Orlando to hammer those FOTL passes! We park in Spiderman 452 at 9:10 am, before taking the moving walkways from the enormous garages, through the central hub, (where they are always giving free gifts away for some promotion or other cheap, crappy nylon rucksacks today!) and into Citywalk. Some people complain about the time this transfer takes, but it always seems to be 10 minutes for me, and I like the build up, with the loud pop music blaring away to get you in the mood!
Into Citywalk, keeping straight ahead to the gates of IOA for 9:20. We are admitted swiftly enough, saving an admission ticket by stuffing Scott into my rucksack to test the efficiency of the Security check, but they dont spot him under the camera, video and petrol bombs.
A lady Universal employee asks if we would spare a minute to complete a survey it will only take a couple of minutes, apparently. Sure, we reply, weve got FOTL passes! We can give you, ooh, 4 or 5 minutes should you need them! She asks a lot of predictable questions: how long you here, where you staying, how many previous visits, will you be back etc. She thanks us and wishes us a great day, and we proceed through Port of Entry, turning right this time, to head through Seuss Landing to The Lost Continent.
We learnt a lesson yesterday UE is a bit ineffective at Duelling Dragons, so we intend to get there first, while the main crowds flock around Hulk and Spiderman, and hammer the beasts to death before 10:00am.
We take the regular entrance, which seems a lot longer than the UE path, and find the loading platforms virtually empty. They seem more geared up today, as they already have two trains on each side, and we take front seats on Fire for our first ride. Wheeeee!!! Fantastic! We use the re-entry doors to ride Ice next, in the back row, before number three, in the centre of Fire, as the lines are growing slightly for the front seats. As we exit the platform, some young boys in front of us turn immediately left after the platform, going through double doors clearly marked No Entry we follow, intrigued, and find ourselves back on the platform! We get back, on the same train for our last ride!
Its 10:05 now, and we have an appointment with some superheroes! We walk anti-clockwise, back through Jurassic Park, pausing to laugh at a family who got too close to the fence at the viewing area next to the River Adventure exit, taking a real soaking and probably ruining their video cameras! Everythings for the last time now, and so we pass through Toon Lagoon and enter Marvel Super Hero Island for the last time!
We approach Spidey (for the last time!) and cast a mocking glance at the 45 minute Standby time! Oh how Ill miss this plastic passport! In we go total time elapsed from the door to the ride vehicle is exactly 3 minutes! Another cracking ride, with Scott getting even more of the detail. Its 10:35 as we leave, with the weather remaining very hot & sticky. Moving against the flow, we proceed to the Hulk lockers (for the last time!) and walk straight on (standby is also 45 minutes here!) Normal, stunning ride! As we exit, I suggest we try Storm Force Acceleratron next door for a change of pace. We enter an empty UE line, as opposed to a 20 minute Standby, but are kept waiting for a few minutes before being let in.
This is a fun ride, a lot like teacups with menace, but it feels somewhat tame to us seasoned coaster freaks! The big laugh is, we could have ridden the faster loading attractions like Hulk or Spidey at least twice in the time it took!
Back into Hulk to prove the point (for the last time! Sob! .Ok, Ill stop now!) we are back at the lockers within 10 minutes! We actually spend longer here than on the ride, as we forget our locker number and have a cast member opening a variety of possibilities before recalling the correct one! Id have written the number down in my note book, but I cant carry it onto the rides!!
We get sorted eventually, and strike out of the Park for . Hah, you thought I was going to say the last time, didnt you? Wrong! We strike out for Universal Studios, using the short but steaming hot journey through Citywalk to call home. As I turn the cellphone on I get a text from Scotts GF, Di, saying enjoy your last day of freedom, boys! I send a reply advising that our flight has been delayed by a week and to expect us back on the 25th June!
Its 11:25am as we enter Universal Studios. We decide to grab some food before hitting the rides, and pick Mels Drive In at the head of the lagoon, mainly as its the closest outlet! We both choose Bacon Double Cheese Burgers with fries, to which I add onion rings and a large Coke ($15.10 for me) and Scott has a regular Sprite (total $10.76).
Mels is themed as a 50s diner, lots of chrome and melamine, with the cute touch of a jukebox terminal on each table, costing 25c for 2 plays. We put Sam Cookes Wonderful World and La Bamba by Richie Valens on, but they dont get played before weve finished lunch. We walk across to the shelter at the end of the lake to finish our drinks.
Scott phones Di while we sit there, and I take a few photos. The jet ski stunt troupe are playing nice out on the water again. We decide to get the Mummy under our belt first, as even with UE it took a while yesterday at this time. I take a few more piccies as we walk across.
The crowds outside and the scrum at the lockers suggest it will be no different today! However, we both wait at different locker stations to see who gets in first (Scott) and it only takes a couple of minutes before we enter the building for our final fix of this superb and intense ride.
It takes 15 more minutes to reach the cars (as opposed to the 75 minutes for standby!) and we get our adrenalin levels boosted once more. What did that kid say? Awesome!.
We recover the bags eventually, (boy, does this area need a re-think!), as you have to wait for the specific terminal where you deposited them, and, of course, we get behind some real muppets who dont get the idea at all!
Moving around the park in a clockwise direction, past BeetleJuice, we enter Amity and decide to give Jaws another go. The 20 minute line for "3rd class, no UE" customers is ignored, and we are aboard our cruiser inside 2 minutes! Todays pilot is Minnie (no, silly, not her!) and she puts on a much more convincing show than her colleague yesterday. A good way to finish this somewhat dated but very appealing attraction. Moving on, we re-stow the bags at MIB and experience yet another UE walk on. Great fun, as always, but we must be tired, as our scores are terrible just under 100,000 for me, just over for sharp-shooter Scott. Back to the Future doesnt appeal, so we walk past, pausing briefly at the shop to increase my stock of souvenir (squashed) pennies for Adams collection back home. Its 1:20pm now, and we are hot and a little weary all these early starts, late nights and the heat are taking their toll! We grab a frozen drink from a vendor stall, and make our way towards the exit making the Universal Studios store our last stop. We both manage to find a couple of bits to complete and enhance our family gifts, and we make our sad but satisfied way out onto Citywalk at 1:45pm, taking a moment to get one last shot of ourselves under the Universal globe.. thank-you, anonymous, American youth for a great last photograph.
In the relative cool of the garage (ok, 86 degrees F, according to the car thermometer, but it soon rises to 98F as we exit the shade!) we tidy the car interior and boot, putting all the empty water bottles, parking tickets and other assorted trash in a carrier bag for disposal later. The journey back to the International Airport via I4 and 528 is an easy 16 miles, arriving at MCO at 2:30pm. Im always amazed at the ease with which you can return your car in the States in the UK theyd have you walking miles with your bags, looking for a grey shed buried deep in the shadows of a distant building, before completing 5 or 6 sides of unnecessary paperwork and waiting while the underpaid and unpleasant attendant subjects the vehicle to a minute, inch by inch check! Here, we get out of the car with our hand luggage (cases were left at DTD, remember? Ill miss that next year!), wait about 1 minute before a perfectly pleasant employee uses a handheld pc to enter our reg. and mileage before printing out our final statement and wishing us a safe onward journey! And people ask why I keep coming back to America!
We enter the terminal and go upstairs to level 3, where we camp for a while just before the main lobby, taking a few minutes to sort our documents and video each other summarising the holiday my sister-in-law did this first, in 2001, and it really personalises the video record of the trip. I decide that Kens remaining beers might not travel as well in the aircraft locker as in me, so I down another one (Sierra Nevada Pale Ale lovely, thanks, Ken!) before we move on.
We are very impressed by the huge, central lobby or atrium, with its fountain, palm trees and Hyatt Hotel rooms, but, as we cant find any mention of our flight on the boards here, we press on to security, passing through without incident, and catch the shuttle tram to the Virgin gates. Where we discover that there is absolutely nowhere to smoke, so, after checking our flight actually exists (it does, scheduled to leave at 7:20pm) we turn round and retrace our route to the main building if youre interested, the shuttle takes 65 seconds! Its 3:35 now, and we find an outside area for Scott to top up his blood nicotine levels! (I have a cigar too, so take no notice of me!)
Fixed for now, we camp outside Starbucks and I join the short line to liberate two coffees and some pastries. At around 4:00pm I leave Scott resting his weary feet and take a walk around the lobby stores I could have done at least half my gift shopping here! Theres a well stocked Disney shop, a Universal outlet and a Seaworld store! I need nothing that I see, though, and after a quick restroom stop I return to Scott, half expecting to find him asleep! Im wrong hes chatting happily to a middle-aged guy from Colorado whos on the way home after treating his kids and grandchildren to a once in a lifetime vacation to WDW! Although well into his sixties, he doesnt expect to retire anytime soon, and will be back at his job as a driller only hours after returning home later today!
At 5:00pm we have a last ciggy outside, and pass back through security. There are plenty of seats in the area of our gate, so we wander off to do the shops (same old junk as every other airport in the world!) & pick up some Duty Frees for Scott ( I never bother), which we cant take with us, but are assured will be delivered to us at the gate. We make camp near our gate, and visit the Restroom in turns to freshen up and change for the flight. Sometime after 6:00pm we receive a text that England have won their latest Euro match 3:0, so that lifts the mood a bit!
At 6:30 we hear an announcement that pre-boarding will commence shortly, which it does, for the Premier and less able passengers. I wander over to check the plane its Honey Pie again! We are called at 7:00pm, collect the DFs at the gate, as promised, and board, before having our only minor tiff of the trip, when Scott tries to take my head off with his duty frees as he loads the lockers! I dont suppose I help by falling to the ground, feigning grievous injury fatigue, sadness, lack of nicotine and fear of flying have temporarily disabled his sense of humour gene! Im tired enough to snap back at him not to be a grumpy b*****d, and we take our seats! The mood lasts only a minute, and we both grin our apologies. Im actually grateful to Scott, as my concussion will probably help me sleep during the flight!
We have the first left-hand row of seats where they drop from 3 to 2, numbers 62A and C, (3rd row from the back of the plane) giving us a decent amount of gear space at the side.
We taxi out at 7:35pm (12:35am UK.. Ive switched my watch back now) and are finally airborne at 12:50am. As soon as the plane levels off, the flight crew serve drinks whisky for me, Stella for Scott. Im not as smitten with the in-flight entertainment as I expected to be before the trip, as the system goes off-line periodically, and you cant always get the game or film you want to load. I manage to see Shrek without too much grief (cant wait for Shrek 2!)
Dinner (tea? supper?..what do you call a main meal at 2:00am?) is served and is lovely chicken in white wine, pasta and cake) and shortly afterwards we hit modest turbulence, so the seatbelts stay on for the next hour or so. I sneak off to the loo when the stewardesses are absent, as I want to get some sleep and dont have a prayer on a full bladder I smile as I leave the toilet, as half the planes passengers have followed my lead and are waiting outside, much to the annoyance of the returned cabin crew!
A quick aside here the crew on the way out were lovely. The ladies (not seen a Virgin male yet, if you know what I mean!) on this leg are very different snappy, unsmiling and generally unhelpful. They are efficient enough at the main events, but disappear completely between tasks. Shame.
The last time I check my watch, its 2:40am. I snuggle down with eye mask, earplugs and a blanket and try to ignore the dead feeling in my legs as I try to stretch them out under the seat in front (occupied by a really short chap, who doesnt even try to recline the whole flight! Cheers!) the next time I look at the time, two whole, delicious hours have passed! Whooppee! Thats a first for me! I deal with the cramp that probably woke me by walking around the cabin and having a good stretch behind the rearmost seats. Scott soon awakes from his catnap and joins me for a while.
About 5:00am now, and I watch an episode of the Simpsons. Im extremely thirsty, and buzz for a stewardess, but there is no response in 5 minutes, so I wander forward. In the central galley area there are a selection of drinks laid out, and the resident crew member indicates with a curt wave of her hand that I should help myself. She doesnt make eye contact and I come pretty close to reacting. I call upon my reserves of tolerance and leave it for now, but promise myself that I will complain after the flight (I didnt!)
A stunning sunrise is staining the horizon a deep, deep pink now, and it seems to last for ages! I read a few chapters of my book from 6:00am until 7:00 ish, napping briefly before the warders serve an acceptable brekkie at 7:20 fruit salad, blueberry muffin, OJ and coffee. The sky is much lighter now, with some gorgeous, almost Arctic views over endless cloudfields.
Time passes quite quickly, with the anticipation of landing, which occurs on time at 8:40am. After taxiing for 10 minutes we wait a further 20 for the rest of the plane to disembark, touching UK soil (oh, alright, fussy, UK lino floor!) at ten past nine. No one even looks at us as we move through immigration, and on to the baggage hall. The bags start to come through fairly soon, before the carousel breaks down! Good old England its so good to be home! A mumbled tannoy explanation and a 20 minute wait later it restarts, and we reclaim our cases without further trouble. A quick call to the car company and we are picked up within 10 further minutes hell, its cold out here! Grey skies and probably less than 50 degrees! No problem picking the car up, and I feel a lot fresher than after previous trips. The 25 minute journey back to Scotts is fine, and I stay there for 15 minutes or so to see nephew Sis delight at his B2TF T-shirt! See you later buddy, and off home , arriving at 11:00am to a lovely hug from Heather and a crazed assault from our mutt, Meg! Thankfully the kids are still; at school, so I bring Heather up to speed whilst staying awake fro the next few hours .
Summary..
What a holiday! I still occasionally pinch myself to check that it actually happened! (And that I got away with it!) I know a lot of you wouldnt dream of leaving your kids at home while you trot off to Florida, but I also know a lot of you would love to! My kids are pretty sanguine about it theyve got lots of their own memories already, having been 4 times in 3 years, and were all back again next Easter for 18 days. And Heather still loves me!
The schedule was very full, quite tiring, but essentially trouble free. It was such a joy to show someone new around my favourite places, especially my mate Scott, whos been through some real crappy times in the last 5 years since losing his dear wife Kath. Hes now fired up and saving like mad to take his family, and hes learnt a heck of a lot that will help him avoid nearly all the rookie pitfalls.
We saved a lot of time by judicious use of tips and schemes aired on the DIS & Dibb. The two best wrinkles were the get your car before the 2nd baggage reclaim at MCO and the Rainforest Café Shortcut into Animal Kingdom ruses!
Highlights? Seeing Illuminations twice, swimming in the Gulf, superb birthday eve in the Daiquiri Deck on Siesta Key, Broken Egg breakfast and Epcot on my birthday, the Chrysler Sebring convertible, Jellyrolls, US and IOA with permanent FOTL (I cant imagine going back there without it now!) and just sharing the experience with Scott. Lowlights? Nothing worth a mention! Even the rain was warm!
Would I do it again? Of course, Id love to, but next time Ill insist Heather comes instead of buddy boy! Well probably leave it a few years though, until the kids think its un-cool to go away with mum and dad!
Youve probably realised by now that I can ramble on and on forever with only slight encouragement, so Im calling a halt here! Lots of thanks to everyone whos read these reports, especially those of you whove been kind enough to give me such positive feedback. Its been a delight to share these memories and to relive every day and detail of such a unique vacation. Ill be back with another journal sometime after March 2005!
Mike Jones
28th June 2004
