Motherfletcher
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=peach
- Joined
- Sep 18, 2003
- Messages
- 3,823
This was one of those trips that I planned out every minute as opposed to the trips when you just jump in the van and take off for Universal. The players were DD12, DS17, DS friend 17, DW and yours truly(17 at heart). IOA official opening time was posted as 8am because of the Grad Bash on Friday and Saturday. I thought that the first hour would be a vacant park. I got up at 3 and loaded all of the bags that should have been packed the day before. The black lab was already at the kennel and the chocolate lab puppy was with friends so it was a real quiet morning. I had planned to leave at 4 but it took until 4:30 with threats of torture to get them all loaded. Once in the van they all went back to sleep.
We arrived at PBH at 7:45 and I knew that we couldnt check in and get to IOA by 8 so I was going to Plan B in my head. We self parked on the second floor and found a spot near the elevator. Everyone had to pee so when we got to the lobby floor we went through the first set of doors as you leave the elevator and with a little sprint you get to the area that looks like an alleyway in old Italian village and the closest bathrooms. We got to the check in desk the back way and I looked all over for the Loews 1st check in. Not! A couple of people were checking out and when I said we were checking in they looked surprised. I told them my name and they found it and said I was upgraded to the Villa Suite and I asked for the top floor of the West Wing and she said thats where they had me. I asked if there was Club privileges with the room and she said, No. I asked what it would cost to upgrade to club and started fumbling through my correspondence that I was sure said we were Club. She started fumbling as well and after quite a while she said, Oh, you are Club. Whew! She had a hard time understanding how I got that room and club for the rate. When all that was over she got our names and gave each of us 3 keys ( One for the room, one for the parlor and one for the club). By that time IOA was open so we went to the club lounge for breakfast. The breakfast fruit was laid out on the fancy eatin room pool table and I looked all over for the raspberries without any luck. Hope they are in season before thedisneymom gets there in June. We ate them out of bagels. The boys and I decided to go to the Studios and after giving a little PBH tour we hit the bus and US was open before we arrived.
Going through the turnstiles I told Jim about the Villa Suite and told him that he would have to come over and visit. DS and I have PAPs and I had bought a 5 day ticket for DS friend through Ebay. Jim stopped him and told me the ticket was a Kids free ticket. He sent us to guest services where we joined a queue. There was an irate customer at the window yelling at the clerk and demanding to see his manager which provided some live entertainment. When I finally got to the window I found out I was ripped off and had to buy the kid a 3 day ticket. We took the ticket back through Jim and I told him that I was glad that I knew him or I would have been embarrassed. Our first stop was Shrek. DS friend had never been to US/IOA so we had to be cool and not spill the beans. We walked towards Mummy and I asked my son how much hed give me if I rode the Mummy. We settled on $5. I had secretly dropped the Dramamine on the road so it was a piece of cake. I was even cool for the photo. We walked toward MIB and they got wrapped around the wheel in the Midway. They spent a bunch of money on the 2 basketball shooting games. They wanted to go on Jaws but I convinced them that it would be better at night during Grad Bash. At MIB the boys didnt get over 200k while I was a heartbeat away from all 9s. After 2 rides they wanted to move on. I got another $5 from DS for BTTF. Our car was on the ground floor so I wasnt scared at all. The attendant had put our group of 3 with another group of three and a couple. With 4 seats in front and 4 seats in back that means one party will be split up. The shuffle took a while. Our next stop was Horror Makeup. Mark James made fun of the boys since we were in the front row and they sat there straight faced with arms folded across their chest. He called them the Happy boys. And when Eddy was chasing the volunteer Mark threw a leg to DS who didnt catch it and was further chastised. Our last stop for the morning was T2 and we left US for lunch.
We were going to meet DD and DW at NBA City and saw them arrive on the boat as we walked towards the restaurant. DS17 has never asked me for anything. That changed as he shopped the restaurants store. He found a T-shirt and pair of shorts with Miami Heat logos and wanted it. Together they were $140 which made DD want a $100 basketball jersey. Thank God they didnt have her size! Since the clothes had an NBA logo they wouldnt give an AP discount. I was just trying to get into the restaurant while I still had enough money to buy lunch. I tried the lasagna which was burnt on the bottom but otherwise really good. The others had burgers that no one flipped over. DS was mesmerized by the basketball highlights and made DW mad when her questions went unanswered. It ended up that I didnt have enough to pay for lunch so I had to use the room keys charging privileges which had the waiter in a tizzy because we didnt have a room number yet. We promised to call with the number and left for PBH.
We shot some pool in the Club Lounge and DD was glued to the computer. I asked the concierge about the Grad Bash event for the following night. She said she was PBH concierge and I needed to go to USO concierge at the desk outside of the club. I took my questions to them and wanted to know if we needed tickets since all they had sent was a letter and some colored I.D. bracelets. She got on the phone and was asking group sales for info on Grad Night. I looked at the other girl and said that Grad Night is Disney. She said that the other girl had just come over from Disney. She talked to several people and ended up telling me that what I had was all that I needed. (Not the case!) When I went back in to the club I asked the PBH concierge if she could check on the room. She found that the parlor was clean but they were still working on the bedroom. I told her that the parlor was good and we could at least get our luggage up there and wait for the bedroom.
Entering the Villa Suite Parlor through the double doors that opened to a view of the bay beyond the balcony takes your breath away. Off the foyer of the Parlors is a study as well as a single sink bath with huge shower. The parlor has a sofa, two easy chairs, entertainment center with DVD, large heavy granite coffee table, service kitchen, and 8-person dining table. What a beautiful room! The adjoining bedroom doors were open on both ends of the parlor and DW went into the wrong bedroom and flopped on the bed. I scurried her out and told her that bedroom wasnt ours. The 2 queen bedroom on the other end was ours. We wondered around the rooms with our mouths agape saying, Look at this look at that . The three separated balconies with outdoor seating and tables were impressive. We had just enough time to empty our suitcases and get to the Mandara Spa for my wifes scheduled Swedish massage. I went into the locker room and back to the co-ed, 10 person whirlpool and had a nice soak. I was all alone which was relaxing. The boys were working out in the fitness room as I left so I joined them conning my son into a $10 bet on the leg lift machine. At 410 pounds I wasnt too sure that I would be able to beat him but did. We waited for DW to get out of her treatment and she came out smiling so it must have been good.
My planning was so precise that we had just enough time to change clothes and scurry down to the bus to get to meet our ressies at Tchoup Chop. We were seated at one of the long tables between the kitchen and next to the center water feature with the lily pads. The boys and DW went with steaks. DD loves their kids menu chicken fingers. I ordered the Chefs Tasting Menu which had 4 courses. To welcome us back to TC they brought out an appetizer which looked like a Dorito with bee-bee size white balls and miniature red peppers on top. These scared everyone and I was the only one to try it. It wasnt very good but I felt like I had to eat a couple of the others so the waiters wouldnt ask why. My first course was a salad that was tasty. My second course was a chunk of fish smothered in sauce over some mashed potatoes. Nothing to write home about. They got their steaks as I got mine. Theirs were 3 times bigger than mine but my steak was good and I managed to swipe a couple of their onion rings. My desert was pie like wedge cookie with macadamia nuts and white chocolate. This course was sensational.
We returned to PBH via bus and stopped at the club lounge to look at the Harbor Nights doins. Im glad I didnt pay another $30 for that. When we got to the room I could barely get my One Fish, Two Fish pajamas on before I fell asleep. The kids went to the Beach Pool and had to be surgically removed at closing.
Saturday morning I got out of bed and my feet hurt so bad that I thought Id have to crawl into the bathroom. I managed to take a shower and get dressed. I had to wear my Rocky and Bullwinkle house shoes to the club which turned a few heads. We filled 2 trays and toted it all back to our 8 person dining room table. After eating our fill I took the remaining bagels to the balcony and threw pieces to the ducks. Before we were done the fish, ducks, coots and flying rat seagulls were in on it. I decided to forego the park and take in the elegance of the room. The kids left mom and I for IOA. I spent most of the morning trying to arrange a meeting with my childhood friend, Jerry and his wife who were in town for his SILs surgery. We met them and took them to Margaritaville for lunch. When Jerry had called to tell they were going to be in Orlando he begged me to go to Grad Bash with me as a chaperone. I bought his ticket and did all of the paper work and at lunch he let me know that he wasnt going to go. After lunch we returned to PBH to show off our room and had a nice visit until the kids got back and it was time to get ready for the Grad Bash. We had to be at IOA at 7 and at 6:45 we were looking all over PBH for DSs friend. We went to the Club, the fitness center, the Villa and Beach pools and no luck. Finally I told the kids that we had to leave without him. We went to the boat dock and waited for the water taxi. As the boat appeared from under the bridge DW ran out on our balcony and said that his friend had just showed up after falling asleep in the fitness locker room. He ran to the boat and barely made it on. When we got to IOA it was chaos. The paper and wrist bands did not work at the turnstile like the concierge had promised and we spent nearly half an hour talking to a flustered lady in Group Sales through a little hole in the glass. When we got the tickets our next hurdle was the metal detector. I was worried that the wand guy was going to require a body cavity search on me. I dont know why its beeping! I finally relinquished my AK-47 and they let me enter. A guy grabbed me and told me that chaperoned had to check in over there. An Indian lady put me through the ringer to get a beeper. She was genuinely mad because I didnt take my drivers license or a cell phone to the parks. I gave her my room key so she would be assured that I would return the beeper. She didnt tell me where to return the beeper to but I assumed she would be in the same location. Alright kids I think we can enjoy the festivities. The Port of Entry was crowded and we worked our way to the Hulk which was more crowded. These resort keys that worked so good during the day were useless. I told the kids that I wasnt going to stand in line so they told me Bye.
All alone in a theme park crammed to the brim with high school seniors I checked the map for the chaperones lounge. Mythos! Cool! When I got there it was hard to even walk through there. I grabbed a free soda and checked out the gaming tables they had set up. Blackjack and roulette but no craps. I decided to work my way to US and check out Pantages theater (Horror Makeup) where the other chaperones lounge was set up. They had a few TVs playing sports so I thought I would go to the ole reliable MIB to waste time. After all I only had 6 hours to go. They werent allowing anyone to use the single riders line so we had to go through the Universe and You pre-show. I entered the room to find it full of a bunch of loud giggly girls. The attendant told them to make a circle which they did by putting their arms on each others shoulders and jumping up and down singing, Circle jerk, circle jerk ! In the elevator it got worse when the lights went out. Two girls dressed like MIBs met us as the door opened. The ride was uneventful and I was high score in our car and we beat the other car pretty bad. The second time I rode a girl lost her cell phone. The third time I rode I was seated between a couple of black kids that were friends and they were telling each other how they were going be high score. I revealed a hundred dollar bill and asked if they were gamblers. They backed down but still maintained they would win. It was hard to shoot the targets because these two were all over the place. I went way ahead in points at the crash site and never looked back. I think I beat them both by over 400k and that was without an opposing car or its exhaust port. The fourth ride I was seated in the back seat with two girls. One looked at me and said, Mister, this is a war! We have to beat the front row!, which a boy and his girlfriend. I told her that I would try to carry my weight. At the end of the training room the guy had 250 points. And no one looked at my score until we got the suit. I had 825k to the closest score of 125k in the car. I asked the girl, So, howd I do? They thought the gun was broke or a target registered too many points or something. I was getting bored beating all of these teenagers so I wandered back to the Pantages where they were now showing King Kong on the two theater screens. I wasted some time there and was already noticing some foot pain. King Kong is a looooong movie and parts are way boring so I left and went to check out the Soundstage 33 chaperone set up. They were going to serve us free breakfast at 11 so with an hour to kill I went to the Boneyard. Chris Brown was on stage. They were playing someone elses music and he was dancing and was pretty impressive. The kids in the audience were all popping and grinding. But when Chris sang his own music it was a different story. His stuff was too slow.
I returned to SS#33 for breakfast which was painful. There were tons of half full 12+ seat tables and I found one where one guy was sitting and asked if I could join him. He said, Sure. So I was off to load up a plate. The catered food wasnt bad but when I returned to the table that one guy turned into 3 couples that appeared to be old friends and from what they were saying this was like their 5th or 6th Grad Bash. They didnt speak to me and I couldnt eat fast enough to get out of there. I returned to the Yard and a bench by Monsters Café where I was to meet the kids at Midnight. They showed up and I gave them pre-purchased tickets for breakfast and they went inside. I went in later to find that only my son had used the tickets that I had bought and the other two were eating pizza that they had to pay for.
I asked the kids how it was going and they said that they were in line for DD for over an hour. They said there was a funny guy riding with them on JPRA. They said they rode Jaws and the Capt. strayed somewhat from his regular spiel to fit the teenage passengers. We went to Jimmy Neutron and the attendant there was really bad and would surely have received a reprimand had she said the stuff she was spewing during the day. It took forever to load the cars because of all the musical chairs that were going on. After Jimmy we just kind of hung out in the Yard. After Chris Browns second set everyone started wandering back to IOA and the exit. By this time my dogs were killing me. When we got to the exit we looked all over for Apus mother so I could return the stupid beeper. I asked and was told that the beepers had to be returned to SS#33! Thats only about a mile out of the way! Since the kids would likely screw it up I had to be the one to walk it all the way back. DS friend and DD sat by CITH to wait for DS and I. After the trek we made our way to the exit and it was packed and was getting worse with every minute until I thought it was going to be a Who concert and I die in the Stampede. Its funny that in the morning when there are a lot of people waiting at the turnstiles they open early but when there is a crowd of exhausted, frustrated, angry young people they wait until the strike of 2am to open the damn gates! By now I was seriously contemplating suicide to relieve the foot pain. We hobbled to the boat docks and the boat took forever to get there and those waiting for it had just been kicked out of the closing CityWalk bars. I got on the boat first and sat in one of the front seats and the kids continued and sat in seats by themselves. I told them to join me but they paid no attention so I got up and sat with my son who was in a seat in the middle of the other two. People kept boarding and they were walking sideways and were in a festive mood. DD12 was joined in the back seat by 5 other people and the girl that sat next to her was dropping f bombs about how the boat had ran into the seawall earlier. DDs eyes were telling me that she wished that she would have sat with me when I had asked. The Capt. stopped at HRH which was out of the norm but OK since half the drunks went ashore and we set sail for PBH. One of the PBH drunks was trying to arrange a late night pot party and the boys looked like they were game but we ducked into the West Wing elevator entrance and everyone else kept walking. I told DW to call in the morning and ask for a late check out before I passed out. Its a good thing because I didnt wake up until 11 and DW said they gave us until 12:30.
We loaded our luggage and I spent too much time arguing for $3 to come off the $1000+ bill because the email confirmation said that self parking was $7. DSa friend wanted to stop at TC for lunch so he could get something to go for his mom. We parked in back to avoid any parked charges and walked through the convention room area and showed up with no ressies. There was no problems getting seated we had a good $150 lunch and I thought we were on our way home. But Downtown Disney beckoned my wife so we had to stop and further torture my already miserable feet. That place was a zoo and I waited outside for them to shop. We left DD at about the time I had planned to be home. The one saving grace was I had taken Monday off to recover from the whole ordeal. Recovery took nearly a week!
I sent an email thanking them for the upgrade and telling them how nice the Villa Suite was. They returned it with an email to let them know how they could meet my every desire in the future so Im plotting our next trip.
We arrived at PBH at 7:45 and I knew that we couldnt check in and get to IOA by 8 so I was going to Plan B in my head. We self parked on the second floor and found a spot near the elevator. Everyone had to pee so when we got to the lobby floor we went through the first set of doors as you leave the elevator and with a little sprint you get to the area that looks like an alleyway in old Italian village and the closest bathrooms. We got to the check in desk the back way and I looked all over for the Loews 1st check in. Not! A couple of people were checking out and when I said we were checking in they looked surprised. I told them my name and they found it and said I was upgraded to the Villa Suite and I asked for the top floor of the West Wing and she said thats where they had me. I asked if there was Club privileges with the room and she said, No. I asked what it would cost to upgrade to club and started fumbling through my correspondence that I was sure said we were Club. She started fumbling as well and after quite a while she said, Oh, you are Club. Whew! She had a hard time understanding how I got that room and club for the rate. When all that was over she got our names and gave each of us 3 keys ( One for the room, one for the parlor and one for the club). By that time IOA was open so we went to the club lounge for breakfast. The breakfast fruit was laid out on the fancy eatin room pool table and I looked all over for the raspberries without any luck. Hope they are in season before thedisneymom gets there in June. We ate them out of bagels. The boys and I decided to go to the Studios and after giving a little PBH tour we hit the bus and US was open before we arrived.
Going through the turnstiles I told Jim about the Villa Suite and told him that he would have to come over and visit. DS and I have PAPs and I had bought a 5 day ticket for DS friend through Ebay. Jim stopped him and told me the ticket was a Kids free ticket. He sent us to guest services where we joined a queue. There was an irate customer at the window yelling at the clerk and demanding to see his manager which provided some live entertainment. When I finally got to the window I found out I was ripped off and had to buy the kid a 3 day ticket. We took the ticket back through Jim and I told him that I was glad that I knew him or I would have been embarrassed. Our first stop was Shrek. DS friend had never been to US/IOA so we had to be cool and not spill the beans. We walked towards Mummy and I asked my son how much hed give me if I rode the Mummy. We settled on $5. I had secretly dropped the Dramamine on the road so it was a piece of cake. I was even cool for the photo. We walked toward MIB and they got wrapped around the wheel in the Midway. They spent a bunch of money on the 2 basketball shooting games. They wanted to go on Jaws but I convinced them that it would be better at night during Grad Bash. At MIB the boys didnt get over 200k while I was a heartbeat away from all 9s. After 2 rides they wanted to move on. I got another $5 from DS for BTTF. Our car was on the ground floor so I wasnt scared at all. The attendant had put our group of 3 with another group of three and a couple. With 4 seats in front and 4 seats in back that means one party will be split up. The shuffle took a while. Our next stop was Horror Makeup. Mark James made fun of the boys since we were in the front row and they sat there straight faced with arms folded across their chest. He called them the Happy boys. And when Eddy was chasing the volunteer Mark threw a leg to DS who didnt catch it and was further chastised. Our last stop for the morning was T2 and we left US for lunch.
We were going to meet DD and DW at NBA City and saw them arrive on the boat as we walked towards the restaurant. DS17 has never asked me for anything. That changed as he shopped the restaurants store. He found a T-shirt and pair of shorts with Miami Heat logos and wanted it. Together they were $140 which made DD want a $100 basketball jersey. Thank God they didnt have her size! Since the clothes had an NBA logo they wouldnt give an AP discount. I was just trying to get into the restaurant while I still had enough money to buy lunch. I tried the lasagna which was burnt on the bottom but otherwise really good. The others had burgers that no one flipped over. DS was mesmerized by the basketball highlights and made DW mad when her questions went unanswered. It ended up that I didnt have enough to pay for lunch so I had to use the room keys charging privileges which had the waiter in a tizzy because we didnt have a room number yet. We promised to call with the number and left for PBH.
We shot some pool in the Club Lounge and DD was glued to the computer. I asked the concierge about the Grad Bash event for the following night. She said she was PBH concierge and I needed to go to USO concierge at the desk outside of the club. I took my questions to them and wanted to know if we needed tickets since all they had sent was a letter and some colored I.D. bracelets. She got on the phone and was asking group sales for info on Grad Night. I looked at the other girl and said that Grad Night is Disney. She said that the other girl had just come over from Disney. She talked to several people and ended up telling me that what I had was all that I needed. (Not the case!) When I went back in to the club I asked the PBH concierge if she could check on the room. She found that the parlor was clean but they were still working on the bedroom. I told her that the parlor was good and we could at least get our luggage up there and wait for the bedroom.
Entering the Villa Suite Parlor through the double doors that opened to a view of the bay beyond the balcony takes your breath away. Off the foyer of the Parlors is a study as well as a single sink bath with huge shower. The parlor has a sofa, two easy chairs, entertainment center with DVD, large heavy granite coffee table, service kitchen, and 8-person dining table. What a beautiful room! The adjoining bedroom doors were open on both ends of the parlor and DW went into the wrong bedroom and flopped on the bed. I scurried her out and told her that bedroom wasnt ours. The 2 queen bedroom on the other end was ours. We wondered around the rooms with our mouths agape saying, Look at this look at that . The three separated balconies with outdoor seating and tables were impressive. We had just enough time to empty our suitcases and get to the Mandara Spa for my wifes scheduled Swedish massage. I went into the locker room and back to the co-ed, 10 person whirlpool and had a nice soak. I was all alone which was relaxing. The boys were working out in the fitness room as I left so I joined them conning my son into a $10 bet on the leg lift machine. At 410 pounds I wasnt too sure that I would be able to beat him but did. We waited for DW to get out of her treatment and she came out smiling so it must have been good.
My planning was so precise that we had just enough time to change clothes and scurry down to the bus to get to meet our ressies at Tchoup Chop. We were seated at one of the long tables between the kitchen and next to the center water feature with the lily pads. The boys and DW went with steaks. DD loves their kids menu chicken fingers. I ordered the Chefs Tasting Menu which had 4 courses. To welcome us back to TC they brought out an appetizer which looked like a Dorito with bee-bee size white balls and miniature red peppers on top. These scared everyone and I was the only one to try it. It wasnt very good but I felt like I had to eat a couple of the others so the waiters wouldnt ask why. My first course was a salad that was tasty. My second course was a chunk of fish smothered in sauce over some mashed potatoes. Nothing to write home about. They got their steaks as I got mine. Theirs were 3 times bigger than mine but my steak was good and I managed to swipe a couple of their onion rings. My desert was pie like wedge cookie with macadamia nuts and white chocolate. This course was sensational.
We returned to PBH via bus and stopped at the club lounge to look at the Harbor Nights doins. Im glad I didnt pay another $30 for that. When we got to the room I could barely get my One Fish, Two Fish pajamas on before I fell asleep. The kids went to the Beach Pool and had to be surgically removed at closing.
Saturday morning I got out of bed and my feet hurt so bad that I thought Id have to crawl into the bathroom. I managed to take a shower and get dressed. I had to wear my Rocky and Bullwinkle house shoes to the club which turned a few heads. We filled 2 trays and toted it all back to our 8 person dining room table. After eating our fill I took the remaining bagels to the balcony and threw pieces to the ducks. Before we were done the fish, ducks, coots and flying rat seagulls were in on it. I decided to forego the park and take in the elegance of the room. The kids left mom and I for IOA. I spent most of the morning trying to arrange a meeting with my childhood friend, Jerry and his wife who were in town for his SILs surgery. We met them and took them to Margaritaville for lunch. When Jerry had called to tell they were going to be in Orlando he begged me to go to Grad Bash with me as a chaperone. I bought his ticket and did all of the paper work and at lunch he let me know that he wasnt going to go. After lunch we returned to PBH to show off our room and had a nice visit until the kids got back and it was time to get ready for the Grad Bash. We had to be at IOA at 7 and at 6:45 we were looking all over PBH for DSs friend. We went to the Club, the fitness center, the Villa and Beach pools and no luck. Finally I told the kids that we had to leave without him. We went to the boat dock and waited for the water taxi. As the boat appeared from under the bridge DW ran out on our balcony and said that his friend had just showed up after falling asleep in the fitness locker room. He ran to the boat and barely made it on. When we got to IOA it was chaos. The paper and wrist bands did not work at the turnstile like the concierge had promised and we spent nearly half an hour talking to a flustered lady in Group Sales through a little hole in the glass. When we got the tickets our next hurdle was the metal detector. I was worried that the wand guy was going to require a body cavity search on me. I dont know why its beeping! I finally relinquished my AK-47 and they let me enter. A guy grabbed me and told me that chaperoned had to check in over there. An Indian lady put me through the ringer to get a beeper. She was genuinely mad because I didnt take my drivers license or a cell phone to the parks. I gave her my room key so she would be assured that I would return the beeper. She didnt tell me where to return the beeper to but I assumed she would be in the same location. Alright kids I think we can enjoy the festivities. The Port of Entry was crowded and we worked our way to the Hulk which was more crowded. These resort keys that worked so good during the day were useless. I told the kids that I wasnt going to stand in line so they told me Bye.
All alone in a theme park crammed to the brim with high school seniors I checked the map for the chaperones lounge. Mythos! Cool! When I got there it was hard to even walk through there. I grabbed a free soda and checked out the gaming tables they had set up. Blackjack and roulette but no craps. I decided to work my way to US and check out Pantages theater (Horror Makeup) where the other chaperones lounge was set up. They had a few TVs playing sports so I thought I would go to the ole reliable MIB to waste time. After all I only had 6 hours to go. They werent allowing anyone to use the single riders line so we had to go through the Universe and You pre-show. I entered the room to find it full of a bunch of loud giggly girls. The attendant told them to make a circle which they did by putting their arms on each others shoulders and jumping up and down singing, Circle jerk, circle jerk ! In the elevator it got worse when the lights went out. Two girls dressed like MIBs met us as the door opened. The ride was uneventful and I was high score in our car and we beat the other car pretty bad. The second time I rode a girl lost her cell phone. The third time I rode I was seated between a couple of black kids that were friends and they were telling each other how they were going be high score. I revealed a hundred dollar bill and asked if they were gamblers. They backed down but still maintained they would win. It was hard to shoot the targets because these two were all over the place. I went way ahead in points at the crash site and never looked back. I think I beat them both by over 400k and that was without an opposing car or its exhaust port. The fourth ride I was seated in the back seat with two girls. One looked at me and said, Mister, this is a war! We have to beat the front row!, which a boy and his girlfriend. I told her that I would try to carry my weight. At the end of the training room the guy had 250 points. And no one looked at my score until we got the suit. I had 825k to the closest score of 125k in the car. I asked the girl, So, howd I do? They thought the gun was broke or a target registered too many points or something. I was getting bored beating all of these teenagers so I wandered back to the Pantages where they were now showing King Kong on the two theater screens. I wasted some time there and was already noticing some foot pain. King Kong is a looooong movie and parts are way boring so I left and went to check out the Soundstage 33 chaperone set up. They were going to serve us free breakfast at 11 so with an hour to kill I went to the Boneyard. Chris Brown was on stage. They were playing someone elses music and he was dancing and was pretty impressive. The kids in the audience were all popping and grinding. But when Chris sang his own music it was a different story. His stuff was too slow.
I returned to SS#33 for breakfast which was painful. There were tons of half full 12+ seat tables and I found one where one guy was sitting and asked if I could join him. He said, Sure. So I was off to load up a plate. The catered food wasnt bad but when I returned to the table that one guy turned into 3 couples that appeared to be old friends and from what they were saying this was like their 5th or 6th Grad Bash. They didnt speak to me and I couldnt eat fast enough to get out of there. I returned to the Yard and a bench by Monsters Café where I was to meet the kids at Midnight. They showed up and I gave them pre-purchased tickets for breakfast and they went inside. I went in later to find that only my son had used the tickets that I had bought and the other two were eating pizza that they had to pay for.
I asked the kids how it was going and they said that they were in line for DD for over an hour. They said there was a funny guy riding with them on JPRA. They said they rode Jaws and the Capt. strayed somewhat from his regular spiel to fit the teenage passengers. We went to Jimmy Neutron and the attendant there was really bad and would surely have received a reprimand had she said the stuff she was spewing during the day. It took forever to load the cars because of all the musical chairs that were going on. After Jimmy we just kind of hung out in the Yard. After Chris Browns second set everyone started wandering back to IOA and the exit. By this time my dogs were killing me. When we got to the exit we looked all over for Apus mother so I could return the stupid beeper. I asked and was told that the beepers had to be returned to SS#33! Thats only about a mile out of the way! Since the kids would likely screw it up I had to be the one to walk it all the way back. DS friend and DD sat by CITH to wait for DS and I. After the trek we made our way to the exit and it was packed and was getting worse with every minute until I thought it was going to be a Who concert and I die in the Stampede. Its funny that in the morning when there are a lot of people waiting at the turnstiles they open early but when there is a crowd of exhausted, frustrated, angry young people they wait until the strike of 2am to open the damn gates! By now I was seriously contemplating suicide to relieve the foot pain. We hobbled to the boat docks and the boat took forever to get there and those waiting for it had just been kicked out of the closing CityWalk bars. I got on the boat first and sat in one of the front seats and the kids continued and sat in seats by themselves. I told them to join me but they paid no attention so I got up and sat with my son who was in a seat in the middle of the other two. People kept boarding and they were walking sideways and were in a festive mood. DD12 was joined in the back seat by 5 other people and the girl that sat next to her was dropping f bombs about how the boat had ran into the seawall earlier. DDs eyes were telling me that she wished that she would have sat with me when I had asked. The Capt. stopped at HRH which was out of the norm but OK since half the drunks went ashore and we set sail for PBH. One of the PBH drunks was trying to arrange a late night pot party and the boys looked like they were game but we ducked into the West Wing elevator entrance and everyone else kept walking. I told DW to call in the morning and ask for a late check out before I passed out. Its a good thing because I didnt wake up until 11 and DW said they gave us until 12:30.
We loaded our luggage and I spent too much time arguing for $3 to come off the $1000+ bill because the email confirmation said that self parking was $7. DSa friend wanted to stop at TC for lunch so he could get something to go for his mom. We parked in back to avoid any parked charges and walked through the convention room area and showed up with no ressies. There was no problems getting seated we had a good $150 lunch and I thought we were on our way home. But Downtown Disney beckoned my wife so we had to stop and further torture my already miserable feet. That place was a zoo and I waited outside for them to shop. We left DD at about the time I had planned to be home. The one saving grace was I had taken Monday off to recover from the whole ordeal. Recovery took nearly a week!
I sent an email thanking them for the upgrade and telling them how nice the Villa Suite was. They returned it with an email to let them know how they could meet my every desire in the future so Im plotting our next trip.
How can the rest of us become PBH royalty? 
My DH is at USF tonight suffering through a Bob Dillan concert. Yes, I'm sitting here on my comfy couch reading the DIS. 
. You were very honest with me with a deal we made last year and you didn't deserve to be taken like that. No one does. It's such a shame you can't trust many people in the world these days. I'm sure the situation will be rectified in your favor and thanks for being an honest guy with me.
