TLinden16
Scotty and Ray at Jelly Rolls are the best!
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2002
- Messages
- 16,243
Day 5--Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Scotty plays at the big boy piano!
I was up bright and early yet again this morning. I don?t know what the heck we were thinking, but Kaycee and I decided it would be a good idea to make a 7:30 a.m. priority seating for the character breakfast at the Cape May Café. This is usually my favorite character breakfast, but this time it was a bit disappointing. I have always enjoyed the food there, but today it was cold (I wouldn't even describe it as being lukewarm). But we ate it anyways. They did have Krispy Kremes and some yummy pineapple on the buffet though.
We had a lot of great character interaction at the breakfast. Within just a minute or two of sitting down, Goofy came over to us. Each character came to our table at least twice. Goofy was very impressed that I drew a picture of him on our placemat. I made friends with the cutest little boy sitting at the next table. His name was Glennon, and he was just having a blast with all of the characters.
After breakfast, I headed back to the Boardwalk to meet up with Lily, who would be leaving that day.
I sure had a lot of fun with Lily on this trip, and I hope she had a good time with me as well (I hope I didn?t annoy you too much, Lily). I was sad to see Lily leave. I made Lily take some pictures of me standing on my balcony from outside before she left.
I quickly changed to get ready to head over to Typhoon Lagoon. I had never been to Typhoon Lagoon before, and since I now had a premium annual pass, I figured I?d give it a try. I walked Lily to her town car, and got right on a bus to Typhoon Lagoon. I met a really nice mom with her two sons on the bus. They used to live in Boston. Her older boy was a sweetheart--just from the short time I spent with him, I could tell he was a great kid (and later in the day when we ran into each other, he smiled and said, "So we meet again"). Her younger boy was just adorable. He was singing, and I had fun doing "The Wheels on the Bus" with him.
I wasn?t overly impressed by Typhoon Lagoon--I like Blizzard Beach much better. I found Typhoon Lagoon to be much more spread out, and the layout to be much more confusion. I enjoyed the Lazy River and the wave pool, but that was about it. I wound up leaving Typhoon Lagoon in favor of a dip back at the Boardwalk Pool.
I really enjoyed the time I spent at the Boardwalk pool. It was pretty empty when I got there. I chatted with a woman from Milton, MA who is also a DVC member. It was fun sharing tips with another DVC member.
After my dip, I went and got a meatball sandwich at the Pizza Window on the Boardwalk. I brought it back to my room. It was delicious. I always have to get a meatball sandwich there when I stay in the Boardwalk area.
After lunch, I got ready to head over to Epcot, as there was a meet planned that afternoon. I made my way over to the American Adventure to catch a couple of sets by Epcot Vybe, and then headed over to see Off Kilter for the DIS meet. I met a lot of nice DISers who I had never met before, and many others who I had met before (too many to attempt to mention). It was fun chatting with them, and seeing their families. DIS meets are always a very good thing.
After the meet, KatyPop, Kaycee, SafetyMom, and I headed over to the American Adventure to catch a set by Epcot Vybe (did you know that I love Epcot Vybe?). We then said goodbye to SafetyMom, and walked over to ride Rio del Tiempo. I really enjoy this ride, especially the fireworks at the end. They look so cool.
We ran over to Soarin' (and we did run because there were storm clouds a brewing) and grabbed some fast passes. We had some dinner at the Land. I really like what they did to the Land food court. It looks really nice down there. Very contemporary. I'm not sure if they have enough seating down there, though. It seemed very small. I wasn't overly impressed by my meal, though. I got a steak salad on a flatbread, and while the meat was very tasty, it was a bit tough. It wasn't very filling either.
KatyPop had been hoping to catch the Lovin' Spoonful, and Kaycee had been hoping to catch Off Kilter, but a downpour nixed that idea. We wound up staying in the Land until our fast pass time rolled around. Kaycee grabbed a cup of coffee, and I grabbed a chocolate chip cookie, which was very yummy--warm, gooey, and chewy. Kaycee and KatyPop were amazed that I was able to lick the chocolate off my face when some chocolate got on my chin and cheek.
We then road on Soarin' again. We were in the front row again. After Soarin', we made our way back upstairs only to realize it was still pouring, and Kaycee and I did not have umbrellas or ponchos (I had three ponchos back at the room--lot of good that did me). KatyPop had a poncho, so she was our hero for the day and walked to get a poncho for me and an umbrella for Kaycee.
We then began our trek to the Boardwalk to go to Jellyrolls. As we walked along, we sang as many rain songs as we could. So if you walked by three crazy ladies singing "Singing In the Rain" and "Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain" (which is a really stupid song), that was us! Kaycee ran back to her room while KatyPop and I soggily sat down in the front row at the bar.
Tommy and Jason were already onstage when we arrived. I really enjoy the first hour at Jellyrolls because the piano players are very chatty with the audience, and you can shout out requests that might not be played later in the evening (like I always have to make Tommy sing "Fire & Rain" by James Taylor for me).
Tommy and Jason started chatting with the people at the table next to me, and it turned out it was Scotty's uncle and cousins. Later in the evening, Scotty's brother Mike showed up. Throughout the evening, Tommy and Jason started playing little snippets of "What Makes Me Happy," a song Scotty wrote that appears on one of the CD's he made with his brothers in their band The Kilwein Family Tree-o. (You can check out the band at www.tree-o.com).
When Scotty walked into the bar, Tommy said, "Hey Scotty, Uncle Jim is here." So, Scotty walked over to his family, shook his uncle's hand, and hugged and kissed his cousins. Tommy says, "Just wait. He goes around to every table and hugs them every night." Of course, I was sitting at the next table, so Scotty comes walking towards me with his arms out, so I stand up and give him a hug, and then he hugged KatyPop (Kaycee had to go back to the room--so she missed hug time with Scotty). Everyone in the bar probably thought it was just a gag, not realizing that I actually know Scotty, too.
When Kaycee got there, I asked Tommy to play "Big Yellow Taxi" for us. When the song ended, I got up to head back to my room for a few minutes. Tommy and Jason asked me where I was going, and I said, "I heard my song. I'm leaving." One of them said, "Really?" I replied, "I'm just running back to my room. Does anyone need anything?" Jason said, "A chocolate mint or something." I said, "OK." He said, "No, don't bring anything back. I won't eat it." Tommy said, "I will." Jason said, "Don't bring anything back. She really would." So, of course, I had to bring them something back.
So, I left the bar to run up to my room for a few minutes. I stopped in the gift shop on the way back and bought some candy. I brought a Hershey bar back for Tommy, and M&M's for Jason. Jason threw $3 at me for the candy, and I told him I didn't want it. He told me to use it for songs, and I told him they'd be getting a lot more than that from me anyways. He insisted I keep it, so I threw it on the piano, and told Tommy that Jason gave him a tip. Tommy was confused as to how it happened, but threw the $3 in the tip jar anyways.
When Tommy and Jason's set ended, Scotty and Michael (another piano player I had never seen) took the stage. Much to my delight, Scotty was sitting at the big boy piano (i.e. the piano on the right-hand, where the piano players run the stage lights). Now, anyone who has been to a chat, or been on these boards for more than 30 seconds knows that Scotty and Ray are my pianomen, and that Scotty is one of my favorite people because he is always incredibly sweet and welcoming whenever I walk into that bar. So, seeing Scotty playing on the right-hand piano was a very proud moment for me. And it suits him very well. I turned to Kaycee mid-way through the set and commented on how happy he seemed to be sitting there. I mean, Scotty is always happy, but he seemed even happier sitting on the right-hand side.
Michael was by far the lowlight of my trip. I had heard that he wasn't very good, but I tried to go in there to see him with an open mind. While I totally respect the job the piano players do, I have to say that Michael (who is a co-owner of the bar) just couldn't hold a candle to the talented group of piano players who work there. When Scotty sat down, he started chatting up the audience, which is what they do when they start their first set in an attempt to get a feel for the crowd. Right away, Michael just broke into a song. It just seemed out of place. I also noticed that he didn't communicate very well with the players I saw him with. I felt that his voice wasn't strong enough, nor was his piano playing (I noticed several times where he made major mistakes in his playing). I hope he eventually steps down rather than taking shifts away from the talented group of guys he employs. The cheers were noticably lower for him than any of the other players I saw the two nights I saw him.
Throughout the trip, I had randomly broken into song. One of the songs I kept on breaking into was "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" from the "Carousel of Progress." I told Kaycee that Scotty knew it, but I couldn't put the request up there in my handwriting. So, Kaycee wrote it out, and I gave Scotty a sizable tip to play it. Scotty broke into a medley of Disney tunes, beginning with the Mickey Mouse Club March, followed by It's A Small World, There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, Supercalifragilisticexpialidotious, and some instrumental from Fantasmic. He ended it all with the end song from the Mickey Mouse Club. It was a nice little set, and well worth the tip.
Mid-way through the Disney set, Scotty and Michael were talking about Disney music, and some guy stood up to put a request on the piano. Michael said, "I'm sure he's not requesting Disney music." So, Scotty looks at the request, and says, "It says the Muppets." The whole crowd starting roaring. Michael said, "I see this big strapping guy coming, and he requests the Muppets." At the end of the Disney set, Michael and Scotty were joking around about the requests, but Scotty did break into the theme songs to the Muppets. While he was playing, I jokingly put up a request for the Barney theme song, and Scotty actually played a bit of that as well.
I wound up chatting with Scotty's brother Mike for a few minutes while Tommy and Jason were playing. Mike had been sweet enough to burn a copy of the Kilwein Family Tree-o's first CD for me last year, so I wanted to introduce myself. We chatted about the CDs for a bit, and I told him how Scotty had walked into the bar and hugged everyone. I said, "But Scotty only hugged me because I throw money at him." Mike said, "I'll give you a hug and you don't even have to give me money." Mike is almost as sweet as his little brothers. Those Kilwein boys were raised right. Great guys.
Much to my disappointment, when Scotty came out for his second set of the night, he was back on the left-hand side. Scotty's voice was a bit tired, and I think he just needed to take it easy the rest of the night. He still sounded great, but I could tell that he was holding back, and he skipped some songs that he'd normally do that were a bit more taxing vocally. I had commented to Kaycee how his voice sounded a bit tired, and at the end of the night, even Scotty told us his voice was going.
One of the highlights of the night for me was seeing when all of the guys took the stage to sing "Drift Away." I had commented to Kaycee that Tommy did a good job on it, but Scotty wound up singing it, and he did an amazing job on it, despite the fact that his voice was a bit off that night. They followed it up with a rousing version of "Pour Some Sugar On Me," which is probably my favorite thing to hear Jason sing.
At the end of the night, we stayed to say goodbye to Scotty, as it would be the last time I would see him on the trip. I joked with him, "Isn't it better when I sit in the back?" Scotty said, "Yeah. It's easier to control you." He was his incredibly sweet self, commenting that he was glad I got to spend time with his family. I told him that I would wait on my balcony when he walked by, and threatened him again with water balloons. He said, "Don't do that." I said, "I wouldn't throw water balloons at you--there are other people I would do that do, but definitely not you." I told him again that he was one of my favorite people (I always tell him that). He gave me a big hug, and I told him that I would see him in November.
I walked back to my room, and as I had promised Scotty, sat out on my balcony to wait for him to walk by. When I heard talking below, I stood up so that Scotty, Tommy, and Jason see me. Scotty was looking for me, and waved goodbye. The four of us chatted very briefly, and I watched them walk away through the doors into the Boardwalk.
Scotty plays at the big boy piano!
I was up bright and early yet again this morning. I don?t know what the heck we were thinking, but Kaycee and I decided it would be a good idea to make a 7:30 a.m. priority seating for the character breakfast at the Cape May Café. This is usually my favorite character breakfast, but this time it was a bit disappointing. I have always enjoyed the food there, but today it was cold (I wouldn't even describe it as being lukewarm). But we ate it anyways. They did have Krispy Kremes and some yummy pineapple on the buffet though.
We had a lot of great character interaction at the breakfast. Within just a minute or two of sitting down, Goofy came over to us. Each character came to our table at least twice. Goofy was very impressed that I drew a picture of him on our placemat. I made friends with the cutest little boy sitting at the next table. His name was Glennon, and he was just having a blast with all of the characters.
After breakfast, I headed back to the Boardwalk to meet up with Lily, who would be leaving that day.
I sure had a lot of fun with Lily on this trip, and I hope she had a good time with me as well (I hope I didn?t annoy you too much, Lily). I was sad to see Lily leave. I made Lily take some pictures of me standing on my balcony from outside before she left. I quickly changed to get ready to head over to Typhoon Lagoon. I had never been to Typhoon Lagoon before, and since I now had a premium annual pass, I figured I?d give it a try. I walked Lily to her town car, and got right on a bus to Typhoon Lagoon. I met a really nice mom with her two sons on the bus. They used to live in Boston. Her older boy was a sweetheart--just from the short time I spent with him, I could tell he was a great kid (and later in the day when we ran into each other, he smiled and said, "So we meet again"). Her younger boy was just adorable. He was singing, and I had fun doing "The Wheels on the Bus" with him.
I wasn?t overly impressed by Typhoon Lagoon--I like Blizzard Beach much better. I found Typhoon Lagoon to be much more spread out, and the layout to be much more confusion. I enjoyed the Lazy River and the wave pool, but that was about it. I wound up leaving Typhoon Lagoon in favor of a dip back at the Boardwalk Pool.
I really enjoyed the time I spent at the Boardwalk pool. It was pretty empty when I got there. I chatted with a woman from Milton, MA who is also a DVC member. It was fun sharing tips with another DVC member.
After my dip, I went and got a meatball sandwich at the Pizza Window on the Boardwalk. I brought it back to my room. It was delicious. I always have to get a meatball sandwich there when I stay in the Boardwalk area.
After lunch, I got ready to head over to Epcot, as there was a meet planned that afternoon. I made my way over to the American Adventure to catch a couple of sets by Epcot Vybe, and then headed over to see Off Kilter for the DIS meet. I met a lot of nice DISers who I had never met before, and many others who I had met before (too many to attempt to mention). It was fun chatting with them, and seeing their families. DIS meets are always a very good thing.
After the meet, KatyPop, Kaycee, SafetyMom, and I headed over to the American Adventure to catch a set by Epcot Vybe (did you know that I love Epcot Vybe?). We then said goodbye to SafetyMom, and walked over to ride Rio del Tiempo. I really enjoy this ride, especially the fireworks at the end. They look so cool.
We ran over to Soarin' (and we did run because there were storm clouds a brewing) and grabbed some fast passes. We had some dinner at the Land. I really like what they did to the Land food court. It looks really nice down there. Very contemporary. I'm not sure if they have enough seating down there, though. It seemed very small. I wasn't overly impressed by my meal, though. I got a steak salad on a flatbread, and while the meat was very tasty, it was a bit tough. It wasn't very filling either.
KatyPop had been hoping to catch the Lovin' Spoonful, and Kaycee had been hoping to catch Off Kilter, but a downpour nixed that idea. We wound up staying in the Land until our fast pass time rolled around. Kaycee grabbed a cup of coffee, and I grabbed a chocolate chip cookie, which was very yummy--warm, gooey, and chewy. Kaycee and KatyPop were amazed that I was able to lick the chocolate off my face when some chocolate got on my chin and cheek.
We then road on Soarin' again. We were in the front row again. After Soarin', we made our way back upstairs only to realize it was still pouring, and Kaycee and I did not have umbrellas or ponchos (I had three ponchos back at the room--lot of good that did me). KatyPop had a poncho, so she was our hero for the day and walked to get a poncho for me and an umbrella for Kaycee.
We then began our trek to the Boardwalk to go to Jellyrolls. As we walked along, we sang as many rain songs as we could. So if you walked by three crazy ladies singing "Singing In the Rain" and "Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain" (which is a really stupid song), that was us! Kaycee ran back to her room while KatyPop and I soggily sat down in the front row at the bar.
Tommy and Jason were already onstage when we arrived. I really enjoy the first hour at Jellyrolls because the piano players are very chatty with the audience, and you can shout out requests that might not be played later in the evening (like I always have to make Tommy sing "Fire & Rain" by James Taylor for me).
Tommy and Jason started chatting with the people at the table next to me, and it turned out it was Scotty's uncle and cousins. Later in the evening, Scotty's brother Mike showed up. Throughout the evening, Tommy and Jason started playing little snippets of "What Makes Me Happy," a song Scotty wrote that appears on one of the CD's he made with his brothers in their band The Kilwein Family Tree-o. (You can check out the band at www.tree-o.com).
When Scotty walked into the bar, Tommy said, "Hey Scotty, Uncle Jim is here." So, Scotty walked over to his family, shook his uncle's hand, and hugged and kissed his cousins. Tommy says, "Just wait. He goes around to every table and hugs them every night." Of course, I was sitting at the next table, so Scotty comes walking towards me with his arms out, so I stand up and give him a hug, and then he hugged KatyPop (Kaycee had to go back to the room--so she missed hug time with Scotty). Everyone in the bar probably thought it was just a gag, not realizing that I actually know Scotty, too.
When Kaycee got there, I asked Tommy to play "Big Yellow Taxi" for us. When the song ended, I got up to head back to my room for a few minutes. Tommy and Jason asked me where I was going, and I said, "I heard my song. I'm leaving." One of them said, "Really?" I replied, "I'm just running back to my room. Does anyone need anything?" Jason said, "A chocolate mint or something." I said, "OK." He said, "No, don't bring anything back. I won't eat it." Tommy said, "I will." Jason said, "Don't bring anything back. She really would." So, of course, I had to bring them something back.
So, I left the bar to run up to my room for a few minutes. I stopped in the gift shop on the way back and bought some candy. I brought a Hershey bar back for Tommy, and M&M's for Jason. Jason threw $3 at me for the candy, and I told him I didn't want it. He told me to use it for songs, and I told him they'd be getting a lot more than that from me anyways. He insisted I keep it, so I threw it on the piano, and told Tommy that Jason gave him a tip. Tommy was confused as to how it happened, but threw the $3 in the tip jar anyways.
When Tommy and Jason's set ended, Scotty and Michael (another piano player I had never seen) took the stage. Much to my delight, Scotty was sitting at the big boy piano (i.e. the piano on the right-hand, where the piano players run the stage lights). Now, anyone who has been to a chat, or been on these boards for more than 30 seconds knows that Scotty and Ray are my pianomen, and that Scotty is one of my favorite people because he is always incredibly sweet and welcoming whenever I walk into that bar. So, seeing Scotty playing on the right-hand piano was a very proud moment for me. And it suits him very well. I turned to Kaycee mid-way through the set and commented on how happy he seemed to be sitting there. I mean, Scotty is always happy, but he seemed even happier sitting on the right-hand side.
Michael was by far the lowlight of my trip. I had heard that he wasn't very good, but I tried to go in there to see him with an open mind. While I totally respect the job the piano players do, I have to say that Michael (who is a co-owner of the bar) just couldn't hold a candle to the talented group of piano players who work there. When Scotty sat down, he started chatting up the audience, which is what they do when they start their first set in an attempt to get a feel for the crowd. Right away, Michael just broke into a song. It just seemed out of place. I also noticed that he didn't communicate very well with the players I saw him with. I felt that his voice wasn't strong enough, nor was his piano playing (I noticed several times where he made major mistakes in his playing). I hope he eventually steps down rather than taking shifts away from the talented group of guys he employs. The cheers were noticably lower for him than any of the other players I saw the two nights I saw him.
Throughout the trip, I had randomly broken into song. One of the songs I kept on breaking into was "There's A Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" from the "Carousel of Progress." I told Kaycee that Scotty knew it, but I couldn't put the request up there in my handwriting. So, Kaycee wrote it out, and I gave Scotty a sizable tip to play it. Scotty broke into a medley of Disney tunes, beginning with the Mickey Mouse Club March, followed by It's A Small World, There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow, Supercalifragilisticexpialidotious, and some instrumental from Fantasmic. He ended it all with the end song from the Mickey Mouse Club. It was a nice little set, and well worth the tip.
Mid-way through the Disney set, Scotty and Michael were talking about Disney music, and some guy stood up to put a request on the piano. Michael said, "I'm sure he's not requesting Disney music." So, Scotty looks at the request, and says, "It says the Muppets." The whole crowd starting roaring. Michael said, "I see this big strapping guy coming, and he requests the Muppets." At the end of the Disney set, Michael and Scotty were joking around about the requests, but Scotty did break into the theme songs to the Muppets. While he was playing, I jokingly put up a request for the Barney theme song, and Scotty actually played a bit of that as well.
I wound up chatting with Scotty's brother Mike for a few minutes while Tommy and Jason were playing. Mike had been sweet enough to burn a copy of the Kilwein Family Tree-o's first CD for me last year, so I wanted to introduce myself. We chatted about the CDs for a bit, and I told him how Scotty had walked into the bar and hugged everyone. I said, "But Scotty only hugged me because I throw money at him." Mike said, "I'll give you a hug and you don't even have to give me money." Mike is almost as sweet as his little brothers. Those Kilwein boys were raised right. Great guys.
Much to my disappointment, when Scotty came out for his second set of the night, he was back on the left-hand side. Scotty's voice was a bit tired, and I think he just needed to take it easy the rest of the night. He still sounded great, but I could tell that he was holding back, and he skipped some songs that he'd normally do that were a bit more taxing vocally. I had commented to Kaycee how his voice sounded a bit tired, and at the end of the night, even Scotty told us his voice was going.
One of the highlights of the night for me was seeing when all of the guys took the stage to sing "Drift Away." I had commented to Kaycee that Tommy did a good job on it, but Scotty wound up singing it, and he did an amazing job on it, despite the fact that his voice was a bit off that night. They followed it up with a rousing version of "Pour Some Sugar On Me," which is probably my favorite thing to hear Jason sing.
At the end of the night, we stayed to say goodbye to Scotty, as it would be the last time I would see him on the trip. I joked with him, "Isn't it better when I sit in the back?" Scotty said, "Yeah. It's easier to control you." He was his incredibly sweet self, commenting that he was glad I got to spend time with his family. I told him that I would wait on my balcony when he walked by, and threatened him again with water balloons. He said, "Don't do that." I said, "I wouldn't throw water balloons at you--there are other people I would do that do, but definitely not you." I told him again that he was one of my favorite people (I always tell him that). He gave me a big hug, and I told him that I would see him in November.
I walked back to my room, and as I had promised Scotty, sat out on my balcony to wait for him to walk by. When I heard talking below, I stood up so that Scotty, Tommy, and Jason see me. Scotty was looking for me, and waved goodbye. The four of us chatted very briefly, and I watched them walk away through the doors into the Boardwalk.
It's *tip* money, huh??!! 
Jellyrolls is a very expensive outing for me. 
. I love all the details you include; it's like I'm right there with you. I can't wait until the next time I get to be there again with you and a bunch of our DIS friends 
when I try 
