TLinden16
Scotty and Ray at Jelly Rolls are the best!
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2002
- Messages
- 16,243
Day 2--Friday, July 29, 2005
I woke up at 5:30, long before my 6:10 wake up call. I took a quick shower, and got dressed. I had a light breakfast in the room, and took a walk around the resort. Saratoga Springs is a beautiful resort. The grounds are beautiful, and very peaceful. I probably won't stay there again, though. It's much to big of a resort for my taste. It's just too spread out. I don't think I'd want to stay there again unless I had access to a car. I was told my room was about a 15 minute walk to the main building, and it wasn't even the most remote building in the resort. I guess I just like my resorts a bit more compact, and a bit more busy.
A taxi came to get me right at 6:40 to take me over to the Oak Trail golf course, where I would be playing nine holes this morning. I had made a 7:20 tee time. When I arrived at the course, I was able to get a discounted rate of $20 (rather than $38) after explaining that the only option when I tried to book online was the junior rate, so I called and was quoted the same rate. I also rented clubs and a pull cart while I was there.
I have always wanted to golf when I've gone to Disney, so I was very excited to be playing. The course was relatively flat and straight. A couple of the holes were longer than I expected. There fairways were very beat up with lots of divot marks. But they had a lot of people working on the course. I saw lots of people mowing the grass, and working on the greens. I had an OK game--I was driving great, and putting good for me, but my mid-game (usually my strongest part of my game) was horrible. After the first hole, I made the decision that I was not going to keep score anymore. For the sake of this trip report, we'll say that I got a 33, or 3 under par for the day
After golf, I took a taxi back to Saratoga Springs to get ready for the day. I showered, and got dressed. A bellman came to pick up my bags and transfer them to the Swan for me. I was going to walk to Downtown Disney, but there was a bus at the bus stop when I passed, so I decided to hop on that instead, and I'm glad I did, as it was very hot and humid that day.
I popped into a couple of stores as I made my way over to the West Side to go to Disney Quest. I arrived at Disney Quest a few minutes before opening, and got in line. I was in the first elevator to the third floor. I headed straight to Cyber Space Mountain, where I designed and rode two roller coaster. I really love this attraction. I then went to play Mighty Ducks pinball. I was then going to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, but the line was already pretty long, and I decided it wasn't worth the wait.
I then headed over to go on Aladdin's Magic Carpets, which was fun, and surprisingly my mask didn't stink! I then went to Ride the Comix, and the Invasion ride (or whatever they are calling it now). The lines at Disney Quest were starting to get line, so I took that as my sign to leave and head over to Wolfgang Puck's Cafe for lunch.
I was seated right away, and I began my meal with the Asian ribs. When I ate at Wolfgang Puck's Cafe with TigerLily03 back in May, everyone was getting the ribs, so I really wanted to try them. They were just OK. The meat was fine, but the sauce was very mild. Nothing special. I've had better ribs elsewhere. For my main course, I got the Bolgenese spaghetti, which was fantastic. It was a bit heavy, and filling, though. It had an Alfredo sauce, and a meat sauce on it. The sauces were fantastic together, and I really enjoyed my meal. I didn't save room for dessert.
After lunch, I walked over to the marketplace to do some shopping, even though I promised myself I wasn't going to buy anything, as I didn't have much room in my suitcase. A shirt and a few other odds and ends later, I was out the door of the World of Disney. I stopped in Goofy's Candy Co, and I couldn't resist getting a banana slurppie in a Goofy cup--the people at work are going to think I'm nuts when I show up at work using my Goofy cup for my water.
I then took a bus over to the Swan to check in. When I arrived, my room wasn't ready yet. The front desk person explained that they had other rooms ready, but they had assigned me to a junior suite, so she didn't want to switch me to another room unless I absolutely needed my room now. I agreed to wait for the junior suite since my bags probably weren't there yet anyways, and headed over to Epcot.
When I got to Epcot, I went to Soarin' to see what the Fast Pass Return time would be, but it was going to be too late for me, as I had plans for the evening. I stopped at Innoventions to take advantage of the Disney Visa Character Experience. If you have a Disney Visa, make sure you do this, because it was totally worth it. Mickey and Pluto were in the room when I walked in. Pluto was rolling around on the ground. They were very playful. Pluto was chasing me around, and Mickey was scolding him. Pluto saw my bag on the ground, and he crawled over to sniff it. He rubbed his tummy. I told him that I didn't have food, but I had money to buy him something. Mickey scolded Pluto, and motioned that I didn't have to get anything for Pluto. They took about a dozen pictures of me with Mickey and Pluto. I wound up choosing a candid shot of Pluto on the ground, and Mickey with his hand on his head, as I looked on laughing. I decided to go with the candid shot rather than the posed one, as it seems like most of the shots I have are posed ones.
I went over and road Spaceship Earth, and did the Single Riders line for Test Track. I then headed over to the Rio del Tiempo. I slowly made my way around the lagoon on my way to the American Gardens Theatre to see American Vybe, one of my favorite acts at Walt Disney World. They did a rousing set, which included one of my favorite songs--"Seasons of Love" from the Broadway musical Rent. It was a lot of fun seeing them backed up by a full band, and having loads of room to dance, but I still prefer them in the Rotunda at the American Adventure.
After American Vybe, I made my way back to the Swan so I could get ready for the main purpose of taking this trip--seeing Jellyrolls pianoman Scotty's band, the Kilwein Family Tree-o (you can check them out at www.tree-o.com). I went to my room, and got settled in. I was in room 743, a junior suite with four large windows, and an amazing view of Spaceship Earth (if the bed had been pushed over about six feet, I would have been able to see it from my bed). There was a king size bed, a pull-out couch, and an arm chair in the room. There was also a large round table with four chairs, and a desk. The room was L-shaped, and huge! It sure was a nice treat to be upgraded to a junior suite!
After showering for the third time this day (darn humidity), I headed over to the ESPN, where I would be having dinner with my friend Ellen before the concert. I got the barbeque pulled pork sandwich, which was just OK. It was a bit bland and dry, even with extra barbeque sauce poured on top. The bread was extremely dry. Ellen got a turkey club wrap, which she enjoyed.
It started raining while we ate, but we had a concert to get to, so we made our way through the rain to Ellen's car in the Boardwalk parking lot. The Kilwein Family Tree-o was playing at the Hard Rock Live over at Universal. The ride to Universal seemed to take forever--partially due to the downpour, partially due to hitting every light, and partially do to my over anxious excitement over going to see the band.
We made a quick stop along the way to pick up Ellen's friend Patti, and pulled into the Universal parking deck a little after 8:00. As we were heading over the moving sidewalks to City Walk, we noticed that a couple of the Jellyrolls pianomen, Tommy and Pete, were right in front of us. I walked right up behind them on the moving sidewalk, and said, "Boy, they'll let anyone in this place." As he turned to see who was behind him, he said, "They sure do." Tommy seemed a bit surprised to see me there, as he knows I don't live in Orlando (even though he once thought I was a local). With a little coaxing, Pete remembered me from my May trip. He told us they were "Going to the Scotty Kilwein Show" and we told them that was where we were heading as well.
We arrived at the venue shortly before the Tree-o's 8:30 p.m. start time. I was in one of my full-blown sleep-deprived, giddy excitement moods that night (if you've been to Disney with me, you know how I can get when I am tired and over excited at the same time). We met up with a few more people, and stood right in front of the stage as the Kilwein Family Tree-o took the stage.
I've had their CDs for nearly two years now, and I absolutely love their music. They are a real fun band--I describe them as a Barenaked Ladies with a horn section, and I highly recommend their CD. The show was so much better than I ever imagined it would be. One of the reasons I love watching Scotty at Jellyrolls so much is that you can tell how much fun he is having onstage on every song. Now, take that, and multiply it by about 100, and you'll get how much fun he seemed to be having onstage, performing with his brothers, singing their own songs. They just had so much energy, and passion for their music. They did a rousing 45 minute set of original tunes, including some of my favorites "What Makes Me Happy" (my new personal theme song), "Chasing," "Girl In the Front Row," and "The Wein Cellar" (their traditional closing song). It was totally worth the trip down to Orlando to spend that 45 minutes watching Scotty and his brothers onstage.
After the show, I stepped outside to make a phone call and happened to run into Scotty. Of course the phone call was quickly forgotten so that I could say hello to one of my favorite people. We chatted for a while, and he seemed truly happy (and a bit surprised) that I flew down for the show. Scotty was having trouble talking though, as his voice was a bit shot from the wear and tear of singing at Jellyrolls several nights each week. He told me he would be taking a couple weeks off work to rest his voice. I didn't want to make him talk too long, so I said goodbye, and told him I'd see him at the bar the following night.
I also ran into Scotty's brother Mike, who I had met at Jellyrolls in May. Mike had e-mailed me about the show, and he was happy that I went down for the show. Mike had an event planned for some folks from the Tree-o website the following evening. I hadn't planned on going, as I don't really know the folks on the website, but agreed to stop by after Mike asked me to go.
We then left the Hard Rock Live to head back to Disney. I had Ellen drop me off at the Contemporary so I could go to the Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom. I was a bit disappointed in the Extra Magic Hours. The park was extremely crowded, and the lines were almost as long as they were during the day. When I walked into Tomorrowland, the line for Space Mountain was about 40 minutes long, and the line for Buzz Lightyear was around 20 minutes, so I decided to skip both of them.
I walked over to Fantasyland and went to see Mickey's Philharmagic, which is amazing. This is my favorite 3D movie on Disney property. The affects are outstanding. I then went for a ride on It's A Small World. Everyone sing along:
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small, small world
I then headed over to Frontierland. Both Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain had long waits, so I decided to skip them as well. When Splash has a line out the building, you can bet I'll save it for another time.
I then went and took a ride on the Jungle Cruise. Our skipper was Alex, and he was the best skipper I've ever had. He had so much personality, and he had some jokes that I had never heard from another skipper before. I made sure to thank him on my way out of the boat. I then went over to Pirates of the Carribean.
It was after 1:00 a.m. by this point, and I wasn't really doing much because the lines were so bad, so I decided to head back to the Swan and hit the Heavenly Bed. It had been a long day, and sleep sounded like a good idea.
I woke up at 5:30, long before my 6:10 wake up call. I took a quick shower, and got dressed. I had a light breakfast in the room, and took a walk around the resort. Saratoga Springs is a beautiful resort. The grounds are beautiful, and very peaceful. I probably won't stay there again, though. It's much to big of a resort for my taste. It's just too spread out. I don't think I'd want to stay there again unless I had access to a car. I was told my room was about a 15 minute walk to the main building, and it wasn't even the most remote building in the resort. I guess I just like my resorts a bit more compact, and a bit more busy.
A taxi came to get me right at 6:40 to take me over to the Oak Trail golf course, where I would be playing nine holes this morning. I had made a 7:20 tee time. When I arrived at the course, I was able to get a discounted rate of $20 (rather than $38) after explaining that the only option when I tried to book online was the junior rate, so I called and was quoted the same rate. I also rented clubs and a pull cart while I was there.
I have always wanted to golf when I've gone to Disney, so I was very excited to be playing. The course was relatively flat and straight. A couple of the holes were longer than I expected. There fairways were very beat up with lots of divot marks. But they had a lot of people working on the course. I saw lots of people mowing the grass, and working on the greens. I had an OK game--I was driving great, and putting good for me, but my mid-game (usually my strongest part of my game) was horrible. After the first hole, I made the decision that I was not going to keep score anymore. For the sake of this trip report, we'll say that I got a 33, or 3 under par for the day
After golf, I took a taxi back to Saratoga Springs to get ready for the day. I showered, and got dressed. A bellman came to pick up my bags and transfer them to the Swan for me. I was going to walk to Downtown Disney, but there was a bus at the bus stop when I passed, so I decided to hop on that instead, and I'm glad I did, as it was very hot and humid that day.
I popped into a couple of stores as I made my way over to the West Side to go to Disney Quest. I arrived at Disney Quest a few minutes before opening, and got in line. I was in the first elevator to the third floor. I headed straight to Cyber Space Mountain, where I designed and rode two roller coaster. I really love this attraction. I then went to play Mighty Ducks pinball. I was then going to go on Pirates of the Caribbean, but the line was already pretty long, and I decided it wasn't worth the wait.
I then headed over to go on Aladdin's Magic Carpets, which was fun, and surprisingly my mask didn't stink! I then went to Ride the Comix, and the Invasion ride (or whatever they are calling it now). The lines at Disney Quest were starting to get line, so I took that as my sign to leave and head over to Wolfgang Puck's Cafe for lunch.
I was seated right away, and I began my meal with the Asian ribs. When I ate at Wolfgang Puck's Cafe with TigerLily03 back in May, everyone was getting the ribs, so I really wanted to try them. They were just OK. The meat was fine, but the sauce was very mild. Nothing special. I've had better ribs elsewhere. For my main course, I got the Bolgenese spaghetti, which was fantastic. It was a bit heavy, and filling, though. It had an Alfredo sauce, and a meat sauce on it. The sauces were fantastic together, and I really enjoyed my meal. I didn't save room for dessert.
After lunch, I walked over to the marketplace to do some shopping, even though I promised myself I wasn't going to buy anything, as I didn't have much room in my suitcase. A shirt and a few other odds and ends later, I was out the door of the World of Disney. I stopped in Goofy's Candy Co, and I couldn't resist getting a banana slurppie in a Goofy cup--the people at work are going to think I'm nuts when I show up at work using my Goofy cup for my water.
I then took a bus over to the Swan to check in. When I arrived, my room wasn't ready yet. The front desk person explained that they had other rooms ready, but they had assigned me to a junior suite, so she didn't want to switch me to another room unless I absolutely needed my room now. I agreed to wait for the junior suite since my bags probably weren't there yet anyways, and headed over to Epcot.
When I got to Epcot, I went to Soarin' to see what the Fast Pass Return time would be, but it was going to be too late for me, as I had plans for the evening. I stopped at Innoventions to take advantage of the Disney Visa Character Experience. If you have a Disney Visa, make sure you do this, because it was totally worth it. Mickey and Pluto were in the room when I walked in. Pluto was rolling around on the ground. They were very playful. Pluto was chasing me around, and Mickey was scolding him. Pluto saw my bag on the ground, and he crawled over to sniff it. He rubbed his tummy. I told him that I didn't have food, but I had money to buy him something. Mickey scolded Pluto, and motioned that I didn't have to get anything for Pluto. They took about a dozen pictures of me with Mickey and Pluto. I wound up choosing a candid shot of Pluto on the ground, and Mickey with his hand on his head, as I looked on laughing. I decided to go with the candid shot rather than the posed one, as it seems like most of the shots I have are posed ones.
I went over and road Spaceship Earth, and did the Single Riders line for Test Track. I then headed over to the Rio del Tiempo. I slowly made my way around the lagoon on my way to the American Gardens Theatre to see American Vybe, one of my favorite acts at Walt Disney World. They did a rousing set, which included one of my favorite songs--"Seasons of Love" from the Broadway musical Rent. It was a lot of fun seeing them backed up by a full band, and having loads of room to dance, but I still prefer them in the Rotunda at the American Adventure.
After American Vybe, I made my way back to the Swan so I could get ready for the main purpose of taking this trip--seeing Jellyrolls pianoman Scotty's band, the Kilwein Family Tree-o (you can check them out at www.tree-o.com). I went to my room, and got settled in. I was in room 743, a junior suite with four large windows, and an amazing view of Spaceship Earth (if the bed had been pushed over about six feet, I would have been able to see it from my bed). There was a king size bed, a pull-out couch, and an arm chair in the room. There was also a large round table with four chairs, and a desk. The room was L-shaped, and huge! It sure was a nice treat to be upgraded to a junior suite!
After showering for the third time this day (darn humidity), I headed over to the ESPN, where I would be having dinner with my friend Ellen before the concert. I got the barbeque pulled pork sandwich, which was just OK. It was a bit bland and dry, even with extra barbeque sauce poured on top. The bread was extremely dry. Ellen got a turkey club wrap, which she enjoyed.
It started raining while we ate, but we had a concert to get to, so we made our way through the rain to Ellen's car in the Boardwalk parking lot. The Kilwein Family Tree-o was playing at the Hard Rock Live over at Universal. The ride to Universal seemed to take forever--partially due to the downpour, partially due to hitting every light, and partially do to my over anxious excitement over going to see the band.
We made a quick stop along the way to pick up Ellen's friend Patti, and pulled into the Universal parking deck a little after 8:00. As we were heading over the moving sidewalks to City Walk, we noticed that a couple of the Jellyrolls pianomen, Tommy and Pete, were right in front of us. I walked right up behind them on the moving sidewalk, and said, "Boy, they'll let anyone in this place." As he turned to see who was behind him, he said, "They sure do." Tommy seemed a bit surprised to see me there, as he knows I don't live in Orlando (even though he once thought I was a local). With a little coaxing, Pete remembered me from my May trip. He told us they were "Going to the Scotty Kilwein Show" and we told them that was where we were heading as well.
We arrived at the venue shortly before the Tree-o's 8:30 p.m. start time. I was in one of my full-blown sleep-deprived, giddy excitement moods that night (if you've been to Disney with me, you know how I can get when I am tired and over excited at the same time). We met up with a few more people, and stood right in front of the stage as the Kilwein Family Tree-o took the stage.
I've had their CDs for nearly two years now, and I absolutely love their music. They are a real fun band--I describe them as a Barenaked Ladies with a horn section, and I highly recommend their CD. The show was so much better than I ever imagined it would be. One of the reasons I love watching Scotty at Jellyrolls so much is that you can tell how much fun he is having onstage on every song. Now, take that, and multiply it by about 100, and you'll get how much fun he seemed to be having onstage, performing with his brothers, singing their own songs. They just had so much energy, and passion for their music. They did a rousing 45 minute set of original tunes, including some of my favorites "What Makes Me Happy" (my new personal theme song), "Chasing," "Girl In the Front Row," and "The Wein Cellar" (their traditional closing song). It was totally worth the trip down to Orlando to spend that 45 minutes watching Scotty and his brothers onstage.
After the show, I stepped outside to make a phone call and happened to run into Scotty. Of course the phone call was quickly forgotten so that I could say hello to one of my favorite people. We chatted for a while, and he seemed truly happy (and a bit surprised) that I flew down for the show. Scotty was having trouble talking though, as his voice was a bit shot from the wear and tear of singing at Jellyrolls several nights each week. He told me he would be taking a couple weeks off work to rest his voice. I didn't want to make him talk too long, so I said goodbye, and told him I'd see him at the bar the following night.
I also ran into Scotty's brother Mike, who I had met at Jellyrolls in May. Mike had e-mailed me about the show, and he was happy that I went down for the show. Mike had an event planned for some folks from the Tree-o website the following evening. I hadn't planned on going, as I don't really know the folks on the website, but agreed to stop by after Mike asked me to go.
We then left the Hard Rock Live to head back to Disney. I had Ellen drop me off at the Contemporary so I could go to the Extra Magic Hours at the Magic Kingdom. I was a bit disappointed in the Extra Magic Hours. The park was extremely crowded, and the lines were almost as long as they were during the day. When I walked into Tomorrowland, the line for Space Mountain was about 40 minutes long, and the line for Buzz Lightyear was around 20 minutes, so I decided to skip both of them.
I walked over to Fantasyland and went to see Mickey's Philharmagic, which is amazing. This is my favorite 3D movie on Disney property. The affects are outstanding. I then went for a ride on It's A Small World. Everyone sing along:
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small world after all
It's a small, small world
I then headed over to Frontierland. Both Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain had long waits, so I decided to skip them as well. When Splash has a line out the building, you can bet I'll save it for another time.
I then went and took a ride on the Jungle Cruise. Our skipper was Alex, and he was the best skipper I've ever had. He had so much personality, and he had some jokes that I had never heard from another skipper before. I made sure to thank him on my way out of the boat. I then went over to Pirates of the Carribean.
It was after 1:00 a.m. by this point, and I wasn't really doing much because the lines were so bad, so I decided to head back to the Swan and hit the Heavenly Bed. It had been a long day, and sleep sounded like a good idea.
