Gina-Gina-Bo-Bina
Life is short. Live it well.
- Joined
- Sep 12, 2008
- Messages
- 13,825
Tuesday, October 18th (continued)
We had long since decided (way back when we were knee-deep in the planning process) that rather than drive to Capone’s, we would give Uber a try for the first time. We had read that alcohol was not only plentiful, but also very good, at Capone’s…..more than just your typical beer and wine….so we both wanted to indulge in a beverage or two (or three, or….) without the worry of driving back to the resort. Just before our departure date, we pre-purchased a Livingsocial voucher for $6 which entitled us to three Uber rides of up to $8 each, so our transportation there and back was going to be VERY cheap. Not only was it inexpensive, but it was FAST: within 5 minutes of summoning a driver, we were tucked into the back seat of a very clean vehicle and on our way to a night of fun
.
While the dinner listed an official show time of 7:30 pm, guests who upgraded to the VIP package were directed to arrive at 6 pm to enjoy the full benefits of the VIP lounge. There were about a dozen people already there when we arrived at 5:55 pm, milling around the entrance in the warm and pleasant evening weather. Promptly at 6 o’clock, a small group of Al’s gangsters emerged from the solid front door and began to provide us with our entrance tickets which included our secret password. With tickets in hand, each party entered together in a group, gaining entry only after the secret password was exchanged through the tiny hole in the door with the New York accents on the other side. [Our password was “2 Cherry Cokes”]
Once inside, a very colourful array of Capone personalities took our mug shots (souvenir photos were offered for sale later in the show, delivered right to your table) and then a gangster wasted no time in leading us up to the VIP lounge. From the lounge, we had a great view of the lower level seating area and the stage, and we wondered aloud where we would be placed when it came time for dinner:
Once in the lounge, we were each provided with a complimentary alcoholic beverage of our choice: I should note that these were different from the drinks that were included with the meal (more choice/greater selection). I let Steve chat up the bartender and surprise me with whatever he thought I’d like while I went to snag us a small table and stools. After a very loud and animated discussion with the bar staff, he came over to me with these:
While it had taken a half hour plus in line last night for two drinks, Capone’s had us rehydrating in under 5 minutes flat (with half of that time a product of the gangster-style banter in which Steve was happy to participate). We were already off to a WAY better start
.
I’m still not sure what they were, but they were both strong and quite tasty. Not much of a drinker, I sipped mine very slowly, otherwise I’d be sound asleep on the floor in short order
(yes, I'm a bit of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol....but I suppose none of you are surprised by that). Once past the bar, there was a small buffet assortment of hot appetizers and snacks for VIP guests to enjoy at their leisure: offerings included crispy onion rings, pepperoni pizza, nachos and cheese, French fries and fresh popcorn. The onion rings were particularly good, but we resisted the urge to fill up on the appetizers before the Italian feast which awaited us.
Just down from the area where the appetizers were being offered, they had a roulette table and a Blackjack table, each staffed by a very engaging gangster. Never having gambled a day in my life, I had vowed before I ever arrived that today wouldn’t be the day I started: but that was before I met Snaps
.
Snaps beckoned us over, placed some free chips in our hands, and directed us to place our bets. Identifying the blank look on my face, he paused long enough to explain the concept of the game and then gruffly told me he’d give me my first turn with no risk: I lose, he gives me back my chips and I can give it another try. I win, he gives me whatever chips I win and I keep playing. What the heck…..when in Rome, right?
Well, it turns out this girl was having a bit of a lucky run that night, which led to Snaps exclaiming loudly “Holy Crap Canada!” [my gangster-given nickname of the night] … “I thought you said you’d never played this before?!?”. While I narrowly missed winning the signature Capone’s t-shirt (which was awarded to the roulette player who had the most amount of chips in hand when it came time to be seated for dinner….unfortunately the person who beat me had a significant head start before I made it to the table) my beginners luck impressed the affable Snaps enough that he performed his special card trick, just for me.
Snaps, along with Vito the bartender (who would later be Vito the super-amazing-incredible wait staff), would be stand-outs throughout the night: Steve and I could not say enough good about those to gents. Not only were they superbly in character, but they had an incredible knack of making us feel like they were looking after us and only us. Even after we retreated from the VIP lounge, they made a point of personally attending to our every need throughout the balance of the evening……even Snaps, who was assigned to a completely different section, rolled through regularly just to make sure we had everything we needed.
The VIP upgrade here was half the price of our VIP upgrade at Pirates, and so far had provided us with a ton more value: while both offered pre-show admission and extras, Capone’s was already blowing Pirates away. The staff, the atmosphere, the food, and the lounge experience at Capone’s was far and away superior to Pirates: add in the fact that the pre-show drinks were free here (versus the $20 we were out of pocket the night prior) *and* the entertainment value of the roulette and Blackjack tables just made the first part of the evening so much fun. It only got better when our last name was called and we were escorted to our table:
Front and center, and immediately adjacent to the stage
. We had, quite literally, the best seats in the house. How exactly that happened I have no idea [VIP’s were granted preferred seating but this completely exceeded any expectations], but we were going to be close enough to reach out and touch the actors once the show began.
The gangster who seated us took our preferred drink orders (a rum runner for Steve, a vodka and cranberry with a splash of sprite for yours truly), and he assured us that Vito would be down shortly to take over our service for the night. We were invited to partake in the buffet as soon as we were ready, and Steve didn’t even both to sit before beating a path toward the scents of turkey, meatballs and pork tenderloin that were wafting in our direction. Mama Capone had whipped up a massive Italian feast, and we were expected to mangia, mangia!
More of Capone’s is next.
We had long since decided (way back when we were knee-deep in the planning process) that rather than drive to Capone’s, we would give Uber a try for the first time. We had read that alcohol was not only plentiful, but also very good, at Capone’s…..more than just your typical beer and wine….so we both wanted to indulge in a beverage or two (or three, or….) without the worry of driving back to the resort. Just before our departure date, we pre-purchased a Livingsocial voucher for $6 which entitled us to three Uber rides of up to $8 each, so our transportation there and back was going to be VERY cheap. Not only was it inexpensive, but it was FAST: within 5 minutes of summoning a driver, we were tucked into the back seat of a very clean vehicle and on our way to a night of fun
.
While the dinner listed an official show time of 7:30 pm, guests who upgraded to the VIP package were directed to arrive at 6 pm to enjoy the full benefits of the VIP lounge. There were about a dozen people already there when we arrived at 5:55 pm, milling around the entrance in the warm and pleasant evening weather. Promptly at 6 o’clock, a small group of Al’s gangsters emerged from the solid front door and began to provide us with our entrance tickets which included our secret password. With tickets in hand, each party entered together in a group, gaining entry only after the secret password was exchanged through the tiny hole in the door with the New York accents on the other side. [Our password was “2 Cherry Cokes”]
Once inside, a very colourful array of Capone personalities took our mug shots (souvenir photos were offered for sale later in the show, delivered right to your table) and then a gangster wasted no time in leading us up to the VIP lounge. From the lounge, we had a great view of the lower level seating area and the stage, and we wondered aloud where we would be placed when it came time for dinner:
Once in the lounge, we were each provided with a complimentary alcoholic beverage of our choice: I should note that these were different from the drinks that were included with the meal (more choice/greater selection). I let Steve chat up the bartender and surprise me with whatever he thought I’d like while I went to snag us a small table and stools. After a very loud and animated discussion with the bar staff, he came over to me with these:
While it had taken a half hour plus in line last night for two drinks, Capone’s had us rehydrating in under 5 minutes flat (with half of that time a product of the gangster-style banter in which Steve was happy to participate). We were already off to a WAY better start
.I’m still not sure what they were, but they were both strong and quite tasty. Not much of a drinker, I sipped mine very slowly, otherwise I’d be sound asleep on the floor in short order
(yes, I'm a bit of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol....but I suppose none of you are surprised by that). Once past the bar, there was a small buffet assortment of hot appetizers and snacks for VIP guests to enjoy at their leisure: offerings included crispy onion rings, pepperoni pizza, nachos and cheese, French fries and fresh popcorn. The onion rings were particularly good, but we resisted the urge to fill up on the appetizers before the Italian feast which awaited us.Just down from the area where the appetizers were being offered, they had a roulette table and a Blackjack table, each staffed by a very engaging gangster. Never having gambled a day in my life, I had vowed before I ever arrived that today wouldn’t be the day I started: but that was before I met Snaps
.
Snaps beckoned us over, placed some free chips in our hands, and directed us to place our bets. Identifying the blank look on my face, he paused long enough to explain the concept of the game and then gruffly told me he’d give me my first turn with no risk: I lose, he gives me back my chips and I can give it another try. I win, he gives me whatever chips I win and I keep playing. What the heck…..when in Rome, right?
Well, it turns out this girl was having a bit of a lucky run that night, which led to Snaps exclaiming loudly “Holy Crap Canada!” [my gangster-given nickname of the night] … “I thought you said you’d never played this before?!?”. While I narrowly missed winning the signature Capone’s t-shirt (which was awarded to the roulette player who had the most amount of chips in hand when it came time to be seated for dinner….unfortunately the person who beat me had a significant head start before I made it to the table) my beginners luck impressed the affable Snaps enough that he performed his special card trick, just for me.
Snaps, along with Vito the bartender (who would later be Vito the super-amazing-incredible wait staff), would be stand-outs throughout the night: Steve and I could not say enough good about those to gents. Not only were they superbly in character, but they had an incredible knack of making us feel like they were looking after us and only us. Even after we retreated from the VIP lounge, they made a point of personally attending to our every need throughout the balance of the evening……even Snaps, who was assigned to a completely different section, rolled through regularly just to make sure we had everything we needed.
The VIP upgrade here was half the price of our VIP upgrade at Pirates, and so far had provided us with a ton more value: while both offered pre-show admission and extras, Capone’s was already blowing Pirates away. The staff, the atmosphere, the food, and the lounge experience at Capone’s was far and away superior to Pirates: add in the fact that the pre-show drinks were free here (versus the $20 we were out of pocket the night prior) *and* the entertainment value of the roulette and Blackjack tables just made the first part of the evening so much fun. It only got better when our last name was called and we were escorted to our table:
Front and center, and immediately adjacent to the stage
. We had, quite literally, the best seats in the house. How exactly that happened I have no idea [VIP’s were granted preferred seating but this completely exceeded any expectations], but we were going to be close enough to reach out and touch the actors once the show began.The gangster who seated us took our preferred drink orders (a rum runner for Steve, a vodka and cranberry with a splash of sprite for yours truly), and he assured us that Vito would be down shortly to take over our service for the night. We were invited to partake in the buffet as soon as we were ready, and Steve didn’t even both to sit before beating a path toward the scents of turkey, meatballs and pork tenderloin that were wafting in our direction. Mama Capone had whipped up a massive Italian feast, and we were expected to mangia, mangia!
More of Capone’s is next.
. I am feeling woefully under-traveled in comparison!
.
.
. If he happened to stumble, Miss Jewel could be a dead woman. Apparently all my worries were for naught, though, as even being three sheets to the wind, my Steve cut a rug like a professional dancer 
. 
. I have to hand it to the whole cast, in fact: they seemed to have an incredible ability to take whatever came up and just keep on rolling as if it were perfectly planned. Even with the unscripted interaction with the audience, their quick replies were perfectly timed and hilariously appropriate. True professionals in every sense.
.
. As he so succinctly stated “I owe ya one for earlier, Table 19”.
.
) so they ended up filing a claim with Southwest, who cut them a cheque for a new seat, before leaving MCO. We could tell they were a bit frazzled from the day’s events, so we walked over to their villa and spent an hour or two with them after Capone’s: since their kids needed to hit the sack, they were grateful that we could visit with them at their villa rather than them have to come to us. It ended up being a VERY late night (rather, make that an early morning!) so we started off Wednesday…..which we had expertly scheduled to be a “down day”, anticipating that their young family might need a day to settle in…..with a relaxing morning of sleeping late 
.
…...and were greeted with shrieks of delight and hugs from the nieces and nephew. Joe looked shell-shocked (the kids were VERY excited and Daddy was very over-tired) and Lisa was continuing to work on bringing order to the room, as they hadn’t done much organizing when they arrived late the night before. When everyone was ready, we offered to take them a tour around the resort so they could get acquainted with some of the facilities that the kids might enjoy while they were there. Since it had been dark when they pulled into the parking lot, they hadn’t yet seen the Activity Center, the second pool, or even the playground. It was a spectacular, warm, sunshiny morning so it was perfect for enjoying a walk in the great outdoors 
. The kids were thrilled to be wearing shorts and flip flops in October 
.
.
. It was fun, though, to see and feel their genuine enthusiasm and delight: we had a feeling that every park, every meal, every experience was going to be a huge adventure while they were in town. 
.
.
.
