Yes, that's correct. This was also unexpected.
Unexpected because I planned on doing this tororrow night. However, I'm bored to tears right now, and the next thing I knew I had a manhattan in my hand. And, when I have a manhattan in my hand, it seems like I should be pounding out a chapter. So, shall we return to the Y and B Club?
At Beaches and Cream, Marita had to go after a while, so she left and stuck us with buying her water. Plus I was so pleased with myself; I didn't vomit up my sundae event once. It hit the spot.
The four of soon left afterwards, saying we are going to meet back up again at quarter to eight for dinner at Rose and Crown.
Diane and I take off. We still have more resorts to check out decorations at.
While still at the Yacht Club, I think this is from there, maybe the Beach Club, they had a village set up with a little train going around it.
Here's a better picture.
Next door we check out the Beach Club carousel. Again, my notes say it was from there, and frankly, I don't care if it's really at Pop Century, it's at the Beach Club in this trip report!
(hmmm, your Ol' Uncle Nebo seems to have a bit of an edge going today.
Must be because he's thinking about the Rose and Crown dinner!)
From there we walked ALL the way over to check out S and M.
I mean S and D.
Swan and Dolphin.
And how come it's always the "Swan and Dolphin?" Never the "Dolphin and Swan.
(what is wrong with me today? this is gonna be listed under "rip reports".)
There was a lot of construction going on over at the Swan, especially in the lobby. The only photo I have left from this area is just a basic background shot, I still think it's kind of pretty though.
Done here, we hop on the boat and let them take us back to Epcot. It's around 3 now, mentally I feel good, but my back is killing me, with a lot of walking and standing left in the day.
HEY! I KNOW!
Yes, my little friends make an appearance.
Again.
Although, they only stayed briefly. Very Briefly.
On the boat, we head over to Boardwalk, that's the next stop.
People get off, no one gets on. We sit a while, then our female captain drives over to Y and B Club. Again, no one gets on. She gives up and now it's just the captain, (Karen), and me and Smidgy.
Smidgy and I.
Even though we are sitting near the front, Karen comes back a bit and just starts talking to us. I mean nobody is driving the boat except for the boat itself.
As she is talking, I'm looking around, looks safe so far, but I try to get her mind back on the fact that the channel is coming up.
"Boy Karen, you've go an awful big boat for just the three of us."
"EXCUSE ME?"
I saw the first fire in her eyes, and I didn 't get it, then she had a big grin on her face and the nickel again dropped in.
"I mean you could have gotten all of US over there in a CANOE."
'Yeah, yeah, I think you should quit while you're behind," she said.
"What about my behind?"
I got a "touche'" , out of her.
In Epcot we walk down to The Land, and grab a couple of fastpasses for Soarin again. Ok, ok, Diane runs down to get them, I'm in the nearby smoking section.
Wanna know how to make points with your spouse at Disney World?
When she get's back after running up the ramp past all the strollers, then down the ramp, down the stairs , through the counterservice area past all the crowds to reach the fastpass machines, then do it all backwards again, say this to her;
"What took you so long?"
Yeah, that'l work!
I did let her have a smoke though.
Then we went back into Canada and just kept moseying along.
I am real good at "Moseying" once my friends kick in, like they are doing right now.
I mean in the "trip report" right now, not "typing the trip report" right now.
My back is still hurting like hell, but at least I don't give a crap.
Around Morroco, I see them. A bunch of them, and the next thing I know, I'm yelling out "Hey look! Slurpies!"
She turns to me, "What?"
I point to all the guys, mostly with shaved heads and all wearing bright orange robes, "Over there, Slurpies!"
Diane looks, and then her own personal nickel goes "ka-ching".
"Oh, the Muslim tour group." "Monks". "But why did you call them,,, Oh, Serpas."
"Yeah, that's what I said, Slurpies, those wise men that sit high on the mountain tops and dispell great wisdom to all that take the effort to convene with them. "
She looked again. "I'm not sure about the universal "wise" part."
"One of them is trying to get into the women's bathroom."
I looked where she was looking, it had a line of women waiting outside it, but it was actually a "Companion" restroom. I know, I have done battle in the same john befor. But I didn't tell her.
"Yes. Woman's Bathroom. Slurpie you are wise beyond all my years," and I bowed to him.
Mostly we just hung around that side of World Showcase that afternoon, the crowds were kind of light unless you got too close to the American Adventure where the Candlelight Processional was still goin on.
I'm in real trouble today. The vikes are wearing off already, and now my foot is acting up. Only problem is, I'm out. The rest are back in the room.
Suddenly, enlightenment dawned on me.
Then, the sun broke through the clouds, right before dusk.
The Red Sea opened up. Moses was pointing to the Promised Land from the top of Mt. Nebo,,,,,,
and he was pointing right at my pocket.
The "Other" pocket.
What had dawned on me was the bloody shirt. I must have a lot of estrogen in me also, because there are shorts that I will usually where with a certain shirt. If I wore this shirt that night at MGM, there was a good chance I also wore these shorts. And I remembered how that night I wasn't doing too badly to need any vikes, I was having more fun seeing the Ozzie Lights and watching John try to score a beer. The last I remembered thinking of them that night was after my camera played "No nose is good nose", on me, but it was dark in the theater, and afterward, the little bleeding it did stopped and I forgot all about them.
But I had so much crap in my pockets that night, that I remember moving them to that little "change" pocket on the right side, the one I never, ever, use.
All of this "Divine Intervention" was revealed to me on another boat, this one from the Morocco station over to the Plaza.
(there, I have now spelled that country two different ways, I know one of them is right)
With a trembling, shaking hand, I gingerly touch the outside of the pocket, I don't want to blow it all immediately by thrusting my thumb in there.
Inconclusive.
I'm sitting, and sitting creates extra "folds" in the fabric. Not to mention, belly, hip and thigh fat.
No way I can get my thumb in that little pocket now, it's too tight. So midway across the lagoon, I do what I have to do.
With a packed boat, and everybody just kind of sitting there exhausted with a glazed look on their face and not knowing what to stare at:
I stand up!
All heads turn to me, thinking the entertainment is starting.
"No no folks, nothing to see here, move along, return to your homes."
No, I didn't say that, what I DID do though was thrust my thumb into that little slit of a pocket, thinking the whole time, "even if I didn't take them that night, what are the chances that they didn't fall out of this pocket that is all of an inch deep?"
The tip of my thumb hit interference before the bottom of the pocket came into play. "Could it be?" "Yes!"
And I scooped out 3 "tic-tacs", spearmint flavored and shoved them in my mouth and swallowed them.
With everybody still watching me. \
Ok, I lied. I scooped out 3 "extemely cozy" vikes, extra strength, kind of bent over backwards and went, "Ahhh" as I stretched my back, then sat back down. This is a magician's trick.
As my right hand was about to go in my pocket, I flamboyantly waved my left hand before it went to my back, and that is where all the eyes went.
The "Ahhh" was just frosting.
Now comes the hard part. I don't really want all 3, but that's what I now have in my hand.
No way am I going to risk the reverse, and go through all that just to get one back in. You can't go to the well too many times without getting caught!
"Hey, FREEZE!"
"Yeah, hold it. WHat have you got in your right hand?" "We all want to see!"
So now I have to "dry" swallow them.
"Honey, you didn't bring any of the little bottles with you, did you?"
"No Steve, we weren't going to drink much tonight, remember?"
"Yeah, I remember."
Me and my big mouth!
Pretty funny. Even though I have a prescription for the things, I feel like I am committing a felony. Kind of like when I was younger and three of us would leave my buddy's basement and sneak out to the garage and smoke that stinky stuff. Then hope that no one would stop us on the way back in.
That's usually when I just dive through a window, closed or not to get away.
And you know they all KNOW!
So here I am, they all know, and now I have to dry swallow these critters.
The first one was easy.
I put my hand to my mouth, and "lightly coughed". I get it down.
It gets harder now. For all the boat zombies, that cough WAS exciting, and pulled their attention back to me.
Going to have to be creative here.
Ok, I take off my camera from around my neck, and, "Oopsy," I dropped the whole case. As I bent WAY over to pick it up, number two went in my mouth, screw the little kid sitting across from me that saw something.
What I am thinking is this. "C'mon saliva, c'mon, do your thing, we don't want this thing to play and M and M on me here.
Finally, with a great gulping motion, I get it down.
Three quarters of the way. It feels like it's stuck in the middle of my chest.
One to go.
For the third one I stood up, got there attention, and said, "Thank you for cruising on the World Showcase Lagoon, we will all be docking soon at the World Showcase Plaza in just a few minutes. If you look behind you and to your left, you will see the water."
Of course they looked, and I popped.
No, no. I didn't do that. Would have been funny though, and probably worked. I did think of holding it up and going, "Diane? Want a tic-tac?" But, you never know, there was a slim chance she might have said "yes", and then all kinds of merry mayhem would have ensued.
I'm not really sure how I got the last one down, I think the second one got me coughing and when I was done I coughed one more time and got it in my mouth. But I couldn't swallow it, not without a major puke that would have negated the entire operation, not to mention the war, and sent the entire country on a downhill spiral.
This time I didn't try to make any jokes with the captain, I had my pill clenched tightly into a corner of the mouth, but it was dissolving, and the taste is really terrible.
When the boat pulled up, I vaulted a wheelchair that was prematurely making it's move, swung around the outside of a pier post, and ran to the nearest john, that usually has a drinking fountain. When Diane caught up with me she said "What in the world was that all about?"
"Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go!"
We walked over to Soarin, time to use our fastpasses, with me only sporadically gagging now and then.
But it's still too early. This is another thing that strikes me funny. Once your fastpass time is due, it is good for the rest of the day, even though it doesn't say that, it is.
But JUST TRY to get in five minutes early.
JUST TRY!
"I'll get you my pretty,"
Considered going into a Communicore to kill some time, but instead ended up in a smoking section again. Yeah, yeah, Innoventions.
This is another word that cracks me up.
Here they call it Innoventions.
At my house we always had Interventions!
But Innoventions never really did much for me, I still get bored in there.
I'm thinking they should have an "Intervention" for "Innoventions".
After Soarin' (that appostrophe is trademarked), we head on back to England, time to meet Colleen and Adrian again, and also maybe "eat" something.
They were already there when we got there, already checked in and soon we were seated.
The whole idea of eating here is that we should be done just about the time that Illuminations starts, and they have a separate viewing area behind the restaurant, down by the lagoon. I have never been there, but it was worth a try.
Diane was happy because now we are "knocking off" another restaurant in World showcase that we have never eaten at before. Now, the only countries that we haven't had a sit-down dinner in are China, Norway, and of course, America. As far as Norway goes, I don't see me EVER eating at Akershus.
I've seen the menu, and I don't even want to waste a "free dining' meal on it.
Let me also say, there is a reason we haven't eaten HERE yet either.
I've looked at this menu too. Many times. I'm sorry, I don't even like the SOUND of an entree called a "meat pie".
Or a "shepherd's pie".
And I like chicken pot pies.
But if Swanson had a thing sitting in the freezer at your local grocery store that just said "meat pie", uh uh, I'll pass, thank you very much.
So I'm just looking for something "safe" on the menu tonight. I have a lot of vikes invested in me, and not going to lose them on a "cottage" pie.
For the record, the Chicago Cubs have a Felix Pie, but he was just sent back down to the minors, as well he should be.
Ok, here we go again, another great Nebo restaurant review, that will keep him from any possible future Disney employment!
I have no idea what Colleen and Adrian had that night, never thought of putting that in my notes. Hmm, know what? Now that you mention it, I didn't take any notes that night anyway.
I just asked Smidgy, she said she had "bangers and mash". Said it was ok.
But, being the self-centered, egocentric, person that I am, I remember EVERYTHING about what I ordered! Believe me, it made a "stuck in the throat" vicodin sound good again.
And Adrian didn't help!
We ordered a beer for me and Diane, Guiness, I believe. I don't know, could have been Billy Beer.
I think Tigger got a "glow thing". I remember my eyes just staring at the thing.
When it came to my turn to order, I still didn't know what to get. However, they have on the menu, "Fish and Chips".
Hmm, know what? That sounds safe right now. I've had the fish and chips form the counter service outside, and it tasted like what you get at Columbia Harbour House, or any of the counter service eateries. "Yeah, I'll have the fish and chips, thank you."
Boy, when I'm dumb, I'm dumb to the third power.
As we are sitting there haveing our drinks, a waitress walks by carrying a platter, and she passes close to Adrian.
He gives out a supressed, "EWWW", and we all turn to him.
"What, what did you see?" Colleen asked.
"Nothing, t'weren't nothing at all," he replied.
Now it's my turn.
"Oh, no no no no no."
"You have a civic responsibility to inform all those that may be upchucking in the very near future, and may I remind you that it will happen at your very own table, so please, tell us what you saw." and,
"May I remind you that you are under oath?"
"Ok," he said, "It was just this huge fish that still had it's head attached to it, that's all."
"EWWWW!"
That was from me.
There was only one fish item on the menu.
And THAT IS WHAT I ORDERED!
Diane grabbed the waitress before I could. "If you have any concerns about the cleanliness and sterility of the restaurant, you will make certain that when my husband receives his fish it no longer has a head attached to the main body."
I'm thinking, "yeah, yeah", but what comes out of me is only "I don't eat things that are looking at me."
Now, I still, to this day don't know if Adrian was pulling my leg or not, doesn't really matter at this time, and, no, we never actually asked the waitress if it did or not. We just made sure,,,,,,,NOT!
She came back with our plates, set mine down last.
I just stared at it.
For a long time.
I wasn't exactly sure what it was.
It ,,,,,, notice that I keep referring to my dinner as "IT"? It was served on an oval platter, and hung over both ends of the platter, lengthwise. At first I thought it might be a sturgeon, but it seemed too long and skinny, kind of like an eel.
Then, to make matters worse, as I was staring at it, a stupid song popped into my head,,,
"When the moon's in your eye, like a big pizza pie,,,,,"
You're going to hate me for this........
"That's a moray."
You know,,, Disney has been going a lot more "green", lately. Giving us more "healthy" options, more environmentally healthy food choices. And I'm all for trying to eat more "green".
I JUST DON'T WANT TO EAT SOYLENT GREEN!
But I still had to eat it.
I took a couple of bites, Diane is looking at me very intently, she knows how I am, and THIS doesnt even look good to her!
Everybody moved away from me, to the far side of the booth.
I took another bite, put my fork down, and said;
"Hmm, hmm, different. Just need one thing here."
Diane perked up. "What, salt? Tartar sauce?"
"Nope."
"ANTIDOTE!"
I just picked at the thing. I did eat all my chips though. I was still a bit hungry when it dawned on us. "Hey, we never got any bread!."
Well, since the waitress served me that eel, she knew better then to come back around. Finally, someone flagged her down and asked what happened to our bread.
"Yeah, I realized I forgot to get it for you, but I figured that it was too late to bring it out now."
Great! And now she really is correct, time to get out for the fireworks.
Going out the back door, we station ourselves on a patio overlooking the lagoon. It really turned out to be a great spot, sometimes a new angle can make it seem like a whole different show. Plus, they still had the extended version in the schedule.
Saying a quick goodbye go Colleen and Aidz, (we are going to meet them again in the morning), we take off on our EPCOT ESCAPE RUN.
Ok kids, it's time to close. Hope you enjoyed the "director's cut". I figured I am near the end of all this, and wanted to do something special. I guess this started out today at a "rip report", and ended up a "quip report." Don't worry, I'm outta quips.
Believe me, I'm not fishing for compliments, or posters, but I am concerned that some of you might have fallen into the "excommunication' hole that has happened here on the DIS, if you are still with us, I'd like to hear from you.
As Red Skelton used to say, "Goodnight, and God bless."
