Finding our now ready room was really easy, and it turned out to be just perfect for us now. Even though I am not a big Cabana theming fan at Coronado,,,, wow,,, you could nto beat our location with our room. And we were close enough to the Ranchos that much of our time would be spent by THAT pool, since the Cabana pool is as exciting as a Motel 6 pool that is not 10 feet from a highway!
Unfortunately, we don't have much time,,, we need to get to Epcot because it's the last day that 3 Dog Night is playing at the American Gardens Theater,,, and yes,,, I want to see them.
Back around '91 or so, they played in Carpentersville during the fall "Jamboree" days,,,, and even though it was only Two Dog Night then,,,, they were just outstanding!
Today they are down to ONE of the three,,, Chuck Negron, but I don't care, I want to go see One Dog Night!
So, as she's attacking the dresser and putting stuff away,,
I figured there was no time like the present to go in search of the ice machine. This turned out to be quite a bit of a walk, those machines are usually in the center of the buildings and we were close to the end.
But there's a problem no,,,, we still have no mixer.
We got our new mugs,,, but still haven't filled them as of yet, this time it was Smidgy's turn to go and get a bottle from the vending machine, but irst she called for our suitcases, which I gave the guy a 5 buck tip for bringing.
The first and strangest thing about the room is an important one,,,,,
The table with two chairs near the front of the room is GONE.
It has been replaced with a rectangular mahogony colored desk with a single, computer type desk chair in front of it!
No, you are not sitting there and playing Gin Rummy late at night, or Strip,,,,,, um,,,, never mind,,,it's there to put a laptop on it,,,, with six available outlets and ISB connections and alll the kind of CRAP I want to get away from on vacation!
We really hated this, otherwise it's a great room. Two queen beds, 8 pillows total, might have even been more on the wire shelf, even the folding partition from the vanity area has been replaced now with a double sliding doors.
And I liked that there's a regular vanity with counter top instead of the pedestal sinks they used to have.
Ok, that's enough, I'm getting too helpful and actually informative now.
Smidgy had to try a couple of vending machines in a couple of buildings on different floors even to get one that would take her money and not spit it back out at her.
Don't you hate that when the machine takes the bill half way in,,, and then spits it back at you?
It's like it's saying,,,,"Yeah? How thirsty are you? What else you got a bit bigger in that there wallet?" as it's sticking it's hand out on the side.
By the way,,, a bottle of vending machine Coke or Sprite,,,2.75,,,I think they are 20 ounces, or 149 Decacentimililiters for you Canadians,,,no, I don't forget this is a multi-racial trip report for all nationalities.
After a drink in the room,,, we are officially opening things up with Fuzzy Cups tonight,,,which Diane is now making up for us.
No, I'm not talking about protective athletic wear cups,,,
Oh,,,, ooooooo,,,ok,,, even I"m gonna just stop that one right there,,,,, Ewwww.
I only had a minute or so,,,, so I grabbed the camera for a quicky "walk-up" to the room,,, trying to imitate what I did at CBR last trip. Ok, you know the routine,, gotta click on it to make it come alive,,, and don't forget to turn the sound on. Geesh,, do I have to tell you everything?
No, I don't know how this turns out, but I've got a pretty darn good idea,,,, and the key word is CRAPPY.
I'm afraid if i listen to it first, I just may delete it, and I don't want to do that,,,,so I'm going by the "what I don't know right stinkin now can't really hurt me."
I do remember that it was right about this time that the degree of Smidgy's contagious, infectious disease was just becoming known to us, as you can hear her expectorating in the backgound even though the lights clearly said, "Filming in Progress, be quiet."
Yes, I grabbed a couple other shots real quick before it was time to go.
Pictures, not whiskey.
and ah,,, the wonderful double window inside,,,,, LOVE, love,love the extra window with the corner room.
For some reason,, the beds came with throw rugs on them, not sure why but this thing could have really come in handy at home. No, we didn't, but we wanted to, and I had to wonder, how many they lose everyday?
Around 4 oclock we took off for Epcot, each armed with a fuzzy cup drink for the ride, and I have a little airplane bottle for each of us in my pockets. For us, this is packing light.
Ever since Smidgy got busted at Magic Kingdom with little bottles STICKING out of her pockets, I'm the one who usually gets the honors of smuggling them into the parks.
Yes, cargo pants come in handy for nightime park time.
As we head to the bus stop,, I'm looking at my hunched over shadow trying to keep up, I could tell it was in a lot of pain and wished I would slow down. And I'm also listening to her hacking and I'm already mentally changing our schedule all around.
I have the feeling once again,, and again,,,, the water park is not a gonna happen. We each still have 8 water park tickets left on a no expiration pass,,, best deal we ever made,,,,
IF we use them!
Let me explain this one more time, in case you missed it before, I thought it was brilliant on our part.
We had two trips planned in '10, so rather than buy an AP, or two 5 day packages,,, we bought a 10 day package, and added the no expiration option to it, came out to be the same price as two regular 5 day plans.
THEN,,, it costs 52 buck then to add the "water parks and more" option,,,, WHETHER you have a two day pass or a ten day pass,,,, IT"S STILL THE SAME PRICE!
So for 50 bucks a person,,, we got 10 water park days, which is almost like a lifetime water park pass.
We havent been to Blizzard Beach since september of '07,, and , well, we still havent' after this trip.
I'm looking forward to being 80 years old with skin and flab just hanging from me along with my then man-****s, wearing nothing but a speedo and parading around at Typhoon Lagoon!
There you go Ponzi,,, sleep well!
Back on track here:
But it's 3 Dog Night that is why we are here today.
A new group added to the Flower Power Concert Series, and i was looking forward to them/him.
On the way I'd take an occasional picture of topiaries and whatnot.
On this next picture,, well, this is where I throw my hands up in the air to look like this guy,
I have no idea what this is supposed to be, The Mount Apemore of Life? But I'm reasonably certain,,, that the giraffes are not real.
And one more, for those of you newcomers that are maybe wondering just what it is that you're actually dealing with.
Here they are, all the way from C'ville Illinois, otherwise known as District 12, Kantkiss and Peatamoss!
Ok,, the Kantkiss was stolen from a parody book out there now,, The Hunger Pains, and yes,,, Smidgy is a good kisser.
( some jokes aren't worth the intrinsic dangers they hold, or the necessary disclaimers afterwards)
By the time we got to Phoenix,,, I mean,,,to World Showcase,,, our Fuzzies were dead, and we stopped for a beer before we continued on our way.
Really wasn't much for us to do here now, with Test Track closed down, they told us Soarin' fastpasses have been gone for hours. And the only way I am riding Imagination,, or seeing Captain EIEIO is if you pay me.
By the time we got to Tulsa,,,I mean American Gardens Theatre,,, I was hurting,,,, I softly cried Vicodin, right out loud."
We sat with about 20 minutes still to kill, and again, I got the feeling this could be a very short visit. Not just from me, Smidgy's voice is starting to sound more and more like Mercedes McCambridge when she dubbed in over Linda Blair in the Excorcist!
I don't know what I was more afraid of then,,,
her head spinning around,,, or the green vomit shooting,,,
or,,,
I could have just said her voice sounded hoarse.
hmm
sorry
Ok, the show starts,,, and I take one look at Chuck Negron, and I can tell he's in trouble.
He's a big dude, with a belly,,, and I can tell by the way his belly is sticking out,,, that his BACK is just killing him.
My heart went out to him.
You can tell that,, straight up, almost bent a bit backwards stance some people take when the back goes out,,,and he's got it. Walking like he's got a 2 x 4 stuck up the back of his shirt.
The strangest thing though about this 35 minute concert, was the play selections.
Let me start by saying that they were all terrific, at least I thought so and was totally entertained the whole time.
One of the lead guitarists was his son,,, and while Chuck was doing band introductions, he did mention something about his back.
I'm sure if his mother had seen how he was walking, she would have told him not to come.
sorry
But as far as their selections go,,, they opened with a minor hit,,, One Man Band.
Then they did one every body knows,,, Mama Told Me not to Come.
Then, another minor hit that I liked but thought it was a strange choice,,, "The Show Must Go On". You'd know it if you heard it,, sounds like circus music.
This was followed by an even more obscue song that I think only sold one 45,, I was with my buddy John when he bought it,,,,"Pieces of April".
It's a great song,,, just wasn't a hit for them, or anybody.
Then,,, they did an extremely drawn out opening for Eli's Coming,,,, which was just great,, Three different band members sang the opening line, each in their own, slightly different way until Chuck took over, and finished up by blending right into "One", which was probably their biggest hit of all.It was also very fitting because of the original 3, it's just him now.
Either that, or he was saying that's how many Dogs are left. Hey, it's Florida,,, you only need a One Dog Night there.
While I love the show, I could't help thinking about the songs they didn't play,,,,"Liar",, "Old Fashioned Love Song", "Out in the Country" , heck,,, what about "Jeremiah was a bullfrog?", or "Easy to be Hard? "that one was my favorite. They even left out "Celebrate, dance to the music"
Let's see what I can find in the picture gallery I took:
We then headed slowly out of WS, and paused in front of Off Kilter in Canada that was jus starting.
I hate to say that I'm not the biggest fan,,,, no, sorry,, rock and bagpipe music to me is not a good fit.
Honestly,, I don't think bagpipe music and ANYTHING is a good fit,, except maybe if it accompanied a 757 taking off.
But a few years ago,, a coworker went to Epcot and just loved them, even bought a CD,, and lent it to me.
On it was one song without the bagpipes that I really liked, and right now they played,, "Farewell to Nova Scotia" I think is the name of it,,, and it stayed with me for the next 3 days of the trip. It reminds me of an Irish folk song.
After a brief discussion, we decided neither of us were in park touring mood, so let's just go eat and be gone.
Ended up down in the Land, Sunshine Seasons and went for something we had I think on our last trip,,, the evil Dr. Pork Chop meal.
It was a big, juicy, tender pork chop, garlic mashed potatoes and something else,,, Smidgy,,, HELP,,, was it beans? I also got a creme brulee for desert.
I think.
But we were both very pleased with the meal,, a drink came with the counter service plan too, and I ended up ,, believe it or not,,,no, no beer, no drink, no pop,,,
a small carton of 2% milk. I seldom like any alcohol when I am eating.
It was just starting to get dark, and Smidgy was sounding worse and worse so we took off.
That was ok,,, we got to see the band, the main reason we came, and amazingly,,, back in our room, I pulled out the pristine, un opened little bottles we never even got to.
In summary,,, we have only heard one bad band so far at
the Flower Power concert series,,, and that was the Association,, they couldn't seem to harmonize anymore.
But just because these guys are old,, a lot of them may really surprise you. Our list that we've seen at Epcot now includes Lovin' Spoonful, B.J. Thomas, Davy Jones, (RIP), Association, (RIP) (sorry, that was mean), 3 Dog Night, and one more group that we are going to see next Friday.
Thankfully, no real plans for tomorrow, hang by the main pool, then when we're ready, head on out to DD for dinner at Planet Hollywood using our voucher and converting our tickets into AP's.
See you then!
( ok,, I had to listen,, why does my voice sound so high and squeeky in the video?)
must be the new underwear.
I wish Smidgy would have told me she's wearing a smaller size now.
With that, adios,,, we are heading out to dinner
and soon to join us in the ahlf century club!!!! when is your birthday? your trip? where are you staying?...gotta train that hubby right!!!
anway, he thought if we were in 7B we could be by that quiet pool, and close to the Dig site. and the whole cactus, rocks, adobe theme is kinda cool.
I feel exactly the same way. The older I get the more medication I need to relax on a flight. I'm currently pricing flights for my birthday trip next year. It will be the first anniversary of my 49th birthday and I think I should do something special like take the whole family to Disney World!
And yes, I was reading your TR aloud to my husband. He is still in the process of assimilation to the ways of the DISers. I'm optimistic.
)
That would just stink!
