Highlander & Slothful Trio Tour Orlando Hotels Day Four

[highlander447]

Highlander
Main planner, grouchy at times Me : Steve (aka God "honest")
Slothful Trio
Peacemaker, maid, and chief: Jacquie (aka Wife puts up with me)
Chief spender, shopper, moody: Stephanie (15 aka Daughter & first born)
Chief pain, wind up merchant: Danny (13 aka the "boy" my heir)


Day 4 Sunday July 2nd weather today Sunny interrupted for 2 hours with a thunder and rain storm

Awake at 6:30, call star service for late checkout we get use of room till 2pm, I dress and head for orchid lounge staff still remember me from previous trips, I believe her name is Maria and she's been there last 3 years we have visited, she brought me my coffee over as I was joining the queue, think this was to prove she really did remember me, the set up at the lounge had changed a bit with coffee etc being on other side now, although counter was same, but coffee cups kept behind counter now, although still free refills till noon at weekend's. I head back to room a litle after 7:30 to wake up u guessed it the sloth's, once everyone is dressed we head to the lounge for breakfast 3 pastries and 1 cereal & milk plus 3 juices $18 incl tip.

 

[highlander447]

After breakfast we head to USO key cards in hand first of we do a family favourite Shrek excellent as always, love the seat belt gag by CM always gets the first timers, then its on to the Mummy we ride this twice still too short but fun, ride times are now in 50-75 min zone and its just gone 10am (smiley), Jaws is next DD passes this one as she's too scared by it, then we do MIB 4 times in a row agents each time and I beat them all each time, we have a light lunch at Swabbs kids have ice cream me and DW share a sandwich and we get a refill on our cup $15 in total with AP discount, we then head for Beetlejuice as we all love it I was interested to see how it would compare as they had recently revamped, glad to report its better than ever, the monsters have more of a part in it and I can confirm Hip & Hop look hotter than ever (smiley), on way out of park I purchase a new t-shirt of Shrek this took ages as till's where playing up, I was pretty annoyed as staff didn't seem to have a clue but I later found out this was the start of a more major problem for USO.

Head back to the hotel to finish packing, we are debating whether to use the pool when the storm breaks, decision made for us we check out at 1:30pm, get a taxi back to QII $8, a good driver who actually spoke to us, on arrival at QII we unpacked and watched the rain fall there was also a letter from hotel advising us that the room carpet was going to be cleaned tomorrow, we decided to get a cab to Wal-Mart, phoned Mears for a cab driver ripped us off for $20 he took us long way around, wasn’t sure at first but return journey was $13 tip incl and I gave him 20% tip as he hadn't ripped us off and we where stuck in a traffic jam sadly this was not an isolated incident this trip, in Wal-Mart we bought new case plus loads of other crap and a 3 litre of Gallo wine for $9 total was $366 (so I guess we bought a lot of crap).

 

[highlander447]

Once back at QII we put supplies etc away, got a cab back to RPR as I had a reservation at NBA for 6:15 made online via open table, cab driver we got was same driver who we got earlier from RPR told him about driver ripping us off he advised us to challenge a fare we thought unreasonable as a dishonest driver would back down as Mears would fire them, I said perhaps because Brits have a bad reputation for tipping that was reason, but he said no that in his experience we actually tipped pretty good and that perhaps it was true years ago but not anymore. Once at RPR we walked to City Walk as boats where sporadic at best, although there are now people in pedal cycles who pull a carriage to transport u as well they work on tips only though, we arrived at NBA a little after 6:15 but are shown to a table straight away upstairs, only problem was it was a table for two they where trying to squeeze us into, I complained straight away and told the trio not to sit, I explained to server I had booked this months ago and this was unacceptable, she disappeared and returned within mins and gave us a booth, turned out they had some NBA star who had taken over half the restaurant upstairs with his body guards, we all ordered 4 sodas, I had maple glazed pork chop served with mash it tasted delicious, DW had General Jins this was chicken breasts mini fillets of 6 with noodles etc she couldn't finish it there was so much but she said it was tasty, both the kids ordered the baby back ribs these where huge with fries and coleslaw, they managed to eat the ribs but the fries and coleslaw never saw a fork, there was no chance of desert here we where stuffed bill came to $78 after AP discount.

After dinner we literally waddled to USO as I had made arrangements to meet Anna here, she works in guest services for USO and had kindly offered to extend our passes by way of an apology for no one acknowledging a complaint I had made over our passes, I thought that was very kind of her till I met her she's an ogre of a women she made fun of my accent constantly, but I jump too far ahead lets go back, we get into USO easily enough despite two guests before us trying to use their Disney tix to get in ( I kid you not, they thought they where at Disney ), but there's a huge queue for guest relations and I mean huge, remember the problem we had in the store turns out it was affecting the ticket machines etc as well, eventually we get to see Anna (she does have a real name and its not Anna but think she's afraid some dibber may stalk her)aka the phantom, she apologises for our wait and explains what's happened, then every time I say something she asks Jacquie to translate it for her, very funny lady and genuinely nice she introduces me to one of her colleagues who tells me he's heard all about highlander , the staff in guest services are in good spirits despite having such a bad day which was good to see, Anna extended all our passes till July 2nd 2008 which was really good of her after being laughed at and made fun of for 10 mins we say our goodbyes, but not before Anna/phantom tells us where's a good spot to see USO 360 the new show and it is a great spot



We then do Mummy twice and MIB three times, some people tried to skip into express queue with no express tickets which held up our line as they refused to join normal line eventually they joined normal line after causing quite a bit of hassle, one thing I did notice this trip express passes where checked and marked of at every ride and queue management was much better at USO & IOA. After doing the rides I bought a beer from Louie's plus a drink refill for cup, we then sat outside Louie's and watched the new show, very impressed by show some of the film clips they showed where from some of the old greats, lights and lasers etc as where the fireworks. We head for City Walk to get a cab back to QII driver yet again goes long way to I-drive but this time I challenge him at first he feigns ignorance then lacks English as a language, but eventually after threatening to call Mears he suddenly explains he thought this way would be quicker and if I'm not happy just pay him what it cost me to get there before, he gets $10 despite a $18 reading on meter, what a joke seriously you expect a company like Mears to be more reputable, once back in room get ice and have a night cap while writing up notes, we are all asleep a little after midnight.

 

[clairelovesorlando]

We might go to Wal-Mart just for the wine we like a glass or two ok more like 5.
Claire

 

[highlander447]

We might go to Wal-Mart just for the wine we like a glass or two ok more like 5.
Claire

Me too u can get more than 5 from this bottle

 

[SpideyHulk24]

I think I have gained 5 lbs just reading your reports....

Thank you for the great reports!

 

[Disney owl]

a very busy day

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your report ~ Thanx for sharing.