Operation Big Thunder: the Dole Whip Conspiracy COMPLETE

[Captain_Oblivious]

And let's face it, who has 2 hours to sit around a wait for a table to get a pizza?

Seriously. You've have to be a moron to do that.

Hold on, let me Google it....

Find anything?

Holy crap...it's a train wreck...I....can't...look....away....

It is sort of...mesmerizing...

Nope. The World's largest was the one set up in the Olypmic village in London - which as we all know took place July 27-August 12. However, you checked out of AKV on July 25th, a full two days before the Opening Ceremonies. However, I have a hard time believing that the London McDonald's didn't open at least a few days before the games started. (I started Googling "ubiquitous", but that got boring really fast)

I'm not sure a temporary McDonald's really counts. Although rumor has it that it was temporarily the best restaurant in England.

It's still got to be better than Pizza Hut, right? Right?

Probably. I can guarantee it's better than the "pizza" at Chuck E. Cheese.

Every few months my kids' school has a fundraising night at Chuck E's. We always seem to be busy that night, darn the luck. One time I was busy rotating the air in my spare tire. That's an important maintenance task that is often overlooked.

I'm glad you reminded me! I was going to do that right after I replaced the splicing wad.

It's good to see that the Rally Monkey has found new employment.

He was going to start showing up at Eagles games, but then decided it was futile.

Playbills? They hid their Broadway play programs? That seems like an odd thing to want to keep from falling into enemy hands.

It would be a disaster if the rest of the world suddenly knew who the understudy was.

No, but under my mattress I keep some of my dad's old Playb....oh...I see what you were doing up there in that last comment.

There are some excellent articles in that magazine. So I'm told.

Everyone seems to be meeting up with Fed at the state line. I kind of have to avoid him at all costs.

The trick is, you have to be able to slow down and stop in order to meet him.

Hey kids, want to see what I just confiscated?

He did show us the answer to "What's In Fed's Trunk?" I'll give you a hint: it's something really cool. And you'd never let your kids touch it. Especially Evan.

Excellent choice. How was the hotel bathroom when you left in the morning?

Feels like you're setting me up for a joke here...must resist obvious joke...

Wait, I can never resist obvious jokes, especially when it comes to bathroom humor. Those hash browns were scattered and splattered!

I know I totally missed commenting on your last update.

It's because, you know, I've been so busy updating my TR.

No worries. You'll probably have trouble on the pop quiz, though.

And hey, I think I saw an update in your TR! (quick, everybody, go read Barry's TR if you're not already doing so!)

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

at the end of the day, be sure you go home alive. Here endeth the lesson.

The Untouchables

See, they're McDonald's... I'm McDowell's. They got the Golden Arches, mine is the Golden Arcs. They got the Big Mac, I got the Big Mick. We both got two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles and onions, but their buns have sesame seeds. My buns have no seeds.

Coming to America

Nailed 'em both.

After reading many of your posts for some strange reason John Lennons song
"Beautiful Boy" pops into my mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAdn_7LJF20

I would change it to "Beautiful Family".

You are a great father!!!!

I have one grandchild and hope to have more. You gave me many ideas
and I thank you.

Thanks and

Just don't take your grandchild to the McDonald's. Disney is much better.

Ugh - no matter how hard I try to be first, someone always beats me to it.

Yeah, these guys are quick. Jill must have had lots of boring conference calls lately.

Another great update. What? no stop at South of the Border on the way home!

You know, we thought about it, but I couldn't find it on the way back. It's so hard to spot. You think they'd want to spend some money on advertising.

What? no savannah view. Curious? Where did you stay near Savannah? Was it cheap? Was it OK. I have to pick a place to stay on the way down in June. I definitely want to see Saint Augustine.

We just stayed at a Wingate by Wyndham right off one of the I-95 exits--it was pretty close to the state line. I usually choose hotels by a) price, 2) location and d) free breakfasts. This one gave us a room for around $75, was right off the exit so it was an easy stop, and had breakfast. So it fit the bill. Otherwise there was nothing particularly special about it.

I remembered on our last road trip that my Mysterious Benefactor had given us a "Friends and Family" code to reduce rates at Country Inns, but when I tried to use it this year, it said I had to actually be able to name the "friend" who worked for the hotel in order to be able to use the rate. D'oh!

So, hypothetically speaking - if I leave Savannah at 8 am and tour St Augustine for a couple hours, how long will it take me to get to Orlando. Ball Park. I like how the visitor center is within walking distance to everything. I am definitely stopping there this summer.

That will be a full day, but the good news is that you can do it in a day. Savannah to St. Augustine will take you about 3 hours: 2 to get through Georgia and another hour in Florida, give or take depending on the traffic around Jacksonville. Figure 2-3 hours to walk around the fort and Old Town in St. Augustine. From there, it's about 2 hours (maybe a little less) to Disney. Again, depending on traffic in Orlando.

You got some great shots that I didn't copy and paste because I was too busy copying movie quotes. Oh well. I love the kids in time out. Awesome. Is that on your Christmas card this year?

Thanks! That one actually did not make the cut on the Christmas card. Julie seemed to go for the "nice" shots instead.

I am so bummed your TR is over. Is it really over? Guess you need a Hawaii PTR!!!!! Just saying.

I'll be honest: I don't really "get" PTR's. Which is probably why I spend less time on that board. When I do the preview of the trip in my last chapter, I'll outline the whole plan. And once that's done, I don't really feel like I have much to talk about, other than saying, "Yup, we're still going!" So that's why I've never done one. I'll have a lot more to say after we've gone.

That Mc Donald's was h-o-r-r-i-b-l-e. Talk about sensory overload.

To be fair, they did have air hockey tables. So they get points for that.

And really....shouldn't they have Savanna view rooms in Savannah? I mean....really.

They tried it once, but all you could see were mosquitoes.

 

[jedijill]

Yeah, these guys are quick. Jill must have had lots of boring conference calls lately.

Yep.

Jill in CO

 

[that's nice]

I can't believe your trip is coming to a close.

At least you were keeping the Disney theme going eating at Mickey D's! I must say that McDonalds was ugly.

St. Augustine looks really neat. Another history lesson for the kids ->

Another FED meet up! Did he show you his trunk?


MMMMMMMMMMMMMM Waffle House.....

 

[glennbo123]

Trying to catch up on a few TRs. I counted, and I've got over a dozen that I'm behind on. I guess I can either do an update, or stay updated, but not both.

...there was a definite sense of going from the penthouse to the outhouse.

The worst part is that long elevator ride....down to go out to the outhouse, then back up again to get back into the penthouse. Sheesh.

We went way out on a limb and got Mcburgers and fries and Happy Meals.

It would've been funny if you finally got something other than a hamburger.

We parked in the town garage and walked into the Visitor Information Center. Inside, some workers were building a replica of a Spanish galleon.

Boy, aren't they industrious on their lunch hour? I usually just read the DIS.

Oh, you mean they were paid to do that...nevermind.

The wooden-and-earth wall is a replica based on the original designs.

The original design that some guy scratched in the dirt with a stick back in 16-whatever?

The walls are made of coquina, which is a mixture of sea shells and coral that holds up surprisingly well under attack—instead of shattering when hit, it absorbs cannon balls and the like much like a sponge.

Why don't they just make them out of sponges if that's what they want???

So, when you have an un-breachable fort, you defeat it by laying siege, which is typically what happened. Cutting off all of their supplies eventually forces a surrender.

A boring war (not to e confused with the Boer War), but it works.

We didn’t have hours to spend exploring, but we were able to take some time to wander the various rooms and battlements. You enter the fort via a bridge over the “moat” area.

Also known as the Kill Zone.

Oh, right. Anybody have a newspaper?

No, but you can borrow a Bathroom Reader.

We did manage one more gourmet meal for dinner, though.

Jim Gaffigan - Waffle House


Nice chapter Captain!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Just had to quote that.

I simply told the truth.
You should try it some time.





This one’s a fairly obscure reference…

Second prize is a set of steak knives.

The next line: “Third prize is you're fired.”

The film: Glengarry Glen Ross



And remember: “get them to sign on the line which is dotted”





By the way… I am reading along still, I just can’t get the time to comment on the whole update the way I want to.
Maybe tonight. We’ll see.
Oh well... back to work

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Our cash supply (and our PB&J supply) was dwindling so low at this point, we did the unthinkable—we decided we needed an extremely cheap lunch and stopped at…

A dumpster?

McDonald’s.

Same thing.

Actually, I’ve been known to roll trough their drive-through to grab just a plane cheeseburger if I had a long drive ahead of me and no time to stop and eat something that was actually “good” (about the only time I ever stop at McDs). Not having much to them, they’re not too sloppy and therefore easy to deal with while driving. Of course the same could be said for a handful of saltines (which might be considered haute cuisine by comparison).

stopping at McDonald’s felt like a bit of a disappointment from that perspective. And after dining at Via Napoli and the Kona Café just a couple of days prior

Really, that’s an unfair comparison.
Pixy-dust vs Saw-dust?
There’s no way the clown could even begin to compete.

That spectacularly awful-looking building is the World's Largest McDonald's.

They just wanted the architecture to rival the bill of fare…

They did offer some unique choices on the combo menu:

Well that does make for a “happy meal”

(including a spot for McPizza)

We didn’t get too many pictures of the play area (and none of them turned out all that great) because it wasn’t all that photogenic. It was basically a mass of slides, climbing areas and arcade games all crammed together. If you’ve ever been in an arcade or a Chuck E. Cheese (one of Barry’s favorite places), you’ve seen what this is like.

I still have nightmares from the birthday parties held in those purgatories that my boy was invited to during his formative years. So as not to catch his attention and risk having him ask to go there, we’d refer to the place (when forced to refer to it at all) as: “Charles Fromage”. It took him years to figure that one out.

We actually ate our meals in the car so we could keep moving. Not quite 2 hours down the road was our next destination: St. Augustine, Florida.

Approved!
A far better choice then the McPlayland to be sure.

We thought the history of this place warranted a stop for the kids’ education. Plus we had to go to the bathroom.

Always good to keep you priorities in order

Across the way, the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument guards the bay and the entrance from the Atlantic Ocean. This was our main destination, because any time you get the chance to wander around a cool fort, you have to take it.

It also gave us the opportunity to get a coveted National Parks passport stamp.

I may have to look into one of those. I may also have to look into one of the “Star Wars Passports”, while I’m thinking about it.

I won’t go into detail about the history of the town and the fort, but if you’re curious, Rob (GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes) put together a couple of excellent chapters on the subject in one of his previous trip reports. You can find them here and here.

By far everyone’s favorite room was the magazine, which was a “secret” area where the soldiers hid their Playb—uh, ammunition

Good catch. We all know that a proper soldier would hide his “Playb-“…
He’d cut out all the images and plaster them up on the walls.

…in order to protect it from a direct hit under bombardment.
Which would be, you know, bad.

I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad"?

Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.

Right. That's bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon.

You had to enter the room by crouching through a small tunnel. This “secret” entrance immediately enhances the room beyond. There could be a half-hour-long It’s A Small World ride in there, and it would be cool because you had to crawl through a tunnel to get there.

The Imagineers should be taking notes here…

Sheesh, these kids. Where do they get these ideas?

Oh, right. Anybody have a newspaper?

So…you both decided to put your brain into the maw of a mortar?
(sorry about that one Mark… I just couldn’t resist. I’m a bad boy)

We finished our brief tour of St. Augustine and then hit the road again for Savannah. Along the way, we called my fellow DISDad Michael (DisneyFed) once again, and this time he must have run out of excuses to avoid us because he agreed to meet.

Very cool.
Fed I mean… He raises the level of whatever else is around considerably.

Ever watch NCIS? That’s what Fed does in real life.

Like I said…

Night was falling quickly, and with it any chance of being able to explore the city of Savannah. I felt bad about that

Naaaaaa…
You just need to go back some time.

I love Savannah, but if I could get down to Disney instead I know which trip I’d be taking.

We did manage one more gourmet meal for dinner, though.

The Awful Waffle!!

Good breakfast…
bad coffee… (worse then the Nesca-crap at Disney and that takes effort)

We made it to the hotel and checked in, and pretty much passed out for the evening. In the morning, we discovered that instead of the Savanna View Room we’d enjoyed the past few nights, this hotel had given us the coveted Parking Lot/Gas Station view.

In Disney speak, that would be a “Garden View” room and would be an upgrade from the “Standard View”.

Of course, if it were at Disney you wouldn’t really care, now would you?

Sigh. I hate coming back to the real world.

The next day was all driving, straight back to Delaware. I’d try and make it sound like it was interesting, but then you’d have to call out the whole chapter as a lie.

So you didn’t stop in Florence, SC to see the remaining fragments of the nuclear devise that the Air Force dropped on my home state then?

Operation Big Thunder was a success.

That is certainly not a lie.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Heading back to the real world is never fun. The last broke day. I know it well and can easily see how it might result in a McDonalds misadventure. Ugh.

We got no money, we got no jobs...our pets' HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!

Waffle house though I love that place! That would lessen the pain a little.

And it's also cheap! I like listening to the short-order cooks rattle off the orders.

Looking forward to the wrap up and preview.

It's always good to have another adventure on the horizon.

Just had to quote that.

I understand.

I'll take a Disney World pass, to go!

Would you like fries with that?

That must be an Orlando thing. Even at Disney they can't seem to be consistent in the method of ordering.

You'd think it would be easier to figure out.

And I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that the noise level was a few decibels more than a 747 at take off.

Maybe a few less decibels, but a little more annoying.

Does a town that old even have modern facilities?

When we asked to use the bathroom, the guy handed us a shovel and pointed us toward the back yard.

Apparently not.

How did you get a cannon ball there????

Dude, we just came from McDonald's.

It sucks.

I'm glad there's a next trip on the horizon!

Me too! I need to have something to look forward to in order to get through the days here.

Well you made the most of going home.

Anything to delay the inevitable.

You delayed leaving property until you really had too.

You took a chance on the wildest lunch yet.

Made time for a DISmeet and a tour in the oldest city.

Drove somewhere else- Savannah and crashed for the night only to get up and drive some more....

I. AM. TIRED...

I would have broken up the return trip even more, but we were completely broke at that point. Disney tends to do that to you.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

We got no money, we got no jobs...our pets' HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!

Dumb and Dumber

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

I understand.

And I was defending you at the time.
Obviously, I chose… poorly.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Yep.

Jill in CO

You don't talk much...I like you!

I can't believe your trip is coming to a close.

Well, it actually ended in July. I'm just getting around to talking about it now.

At least you were keeping the Disney theme going eating at Mickey D's! I must say that McDonalds was ugly.

Well, it certainly makes a statement.

St. Augustine looks really neat. Another history lesson for the kids ->

Great place to explore. I'm not sure how much of a "lesson" the kids retained, but hey, the fort is cool.

Another FED meet up! Did he show you his trunk?

He did! Actually, it was the back of the cab in his pickup truck. But it was just as dangerous.

MMMMMMMMMMMMMM Waffle House.....

Trying to catch up on a few TRs. I counted, and I've got over a dozen that I'm behind on. I guess I can either do an update, or stay updated, but not both.

Sometimes it's really hard. I can only keep up with so many TR's at one time. And even then, it's easy to get behind.

The worst part is that long elevator ride....down to go out to the outhouse, then back up again to get back into the penthouse. Sheesh.

That's if they even let you back into the elevator.

It would've been funny if you finally got something other than a hamburger.

We stopped at another fast-food place the following day, and I got a bbq pulled-pork sandwich, because I was sick of burgers. Really.

Boy, aren't they industrious on their lunch hour? I usually just read the DIS.

Oh, you mean they were paid to do that...nevermind.

Building model ships sounds a lot more fun than the stuff I get paid to do. I need to look into this.

The original design that some guy scratched in the dirt with a stick back in 16-whatever?

Ok, you're the stick, and you're the bottle cap. When I say "Hike", you run a down-and-out and I'll fake it to you. Then go long.

Why don't they just make them out of sponges if that's what they want???

I hear sponges didn't work out so well during hurricanes.

A boring war (not to e confused with the Boer War), but it works.

Look at you with the erudite pun!

Also known as the Kill Zone.

Or the spot where you stand and argue with the guy on top of the wall about the air-speed velocity of a swallow.

No, but you can borrow a Bathroom Reader.

Same difference.

Jim Gaffigan - Waffle House

Looks like I'm going to need to catch up with this at home.

Nice chapter Captain!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

You don't talk much...I like you!

Up

 

[glennbo123]

Look at you with the erudite pun!

And you, with the erudite verbiage.

Or the spot where you stand and argue with the guy on top of the wall about the air-speed velocity of a swallow.

A Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Ok, you're the stick, and you're the bottle cap. When I say "Hike", you run a down-and-out and I'll fake it to you. Then go long.

A variation on part of one of Bill Cosby’s routines

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

This one’s a fairly obscure reference…

The next line: “Third prize is you're fired.”

The film: Glengarry Glen Ross

And remember: “get them to sign on the line which is dotted”

+1

Good catch!

By the way… I am reading along still, I just can’t get the time to comment on the whole update the way I want to.
Maybe tonight. We’ll see.
Oh well... back to work

Looks like you managed to do just fine!

A couple more obscure quotes out there...

don’t kid yourself. It’s not that organized.

(In the movie, they were referring to organized crime)

Nailed 'em both.

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Yup I missed that one...

don’t kid yourself. It’s not that organized.

Sneakers



Good film (under rated)

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

Nailed 'em both.

Lethal Weapon 2


had to look that one up...
just didn't remember.

 

[KatMark]

Slowly catching up after our trip.

We've passed that McDonalds numerous times and always avoided it. After seeing your pictures and description, I believe we will continue to do so.

for another DIS meet.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

A dumpster?

Same thing.

There's probably less of a line for dumpster-diving.

Actually, I’ve been known to roll trough their drive-through to grab just a plane cheeseburger if I had a long drive ahead of me and no time to stop and eat something that was actually “good” (about the only time I ever stop at McDs). Not having much to them, they’re not too sloppy and therefore easy to deal with while driving. Of course the same could be said for a handful of saltines (which might be considered haute cuisine by comparison).

You could certainly do better than Mickey D's, but you can also do worse. They actually just came out with a "CBO" sandwich (Cheddar Bacon Onion) that is pretty good.

Really, that’s an unfair comparison.
Pixy-dust vs Saw-dust?
There’s no way the clown could even begin to compete.

Yeah, that's like bringing a knife to a gunfight.

They just wanted the architecture to rival the bill of fare…

Well, it certainly is...memorable.

Well that does make for a “happy meal”

How awesome would it be if they put Disney tickets in there instead of crappy plastic toys?

I still have nightmares from the birthday parties held in those purgatories that my boy was invited to during his formative years. So as not to catch his attention and risk having him ask to go there, we’d refer to the place (when forced to refer to it at all) as: “Charles Fromage”. It took him years to figure that one out.

Good one! Thankfully my kids were traumatized enough by our one experience there that they haven't asked to go back. It's really hard to screw up pizza, yet somehow they accomplish it.

Approved!
A far better choice then the McPlayland to be sure.

I figured you'd be onboard with the choice.

Always good to keep you priorities in order

When you gotta go, you gotta go.

I may have to look into one of those. I may also have to look into one of the “Star Wars Passports”, while I’m thinking about it.

The kids like collecting the stamps. Gives them one reason to look forward to National Parks, anyway. Anything that sparks their interest works for me.

We had printed the Star Wars passports for the ride, but when I asked a CM about them they said they don't do the stamps for them anymore.

Good catch. We all know that a proper soldier would hide his “Playb-“…
He’d cut out all the images and plaster them up on the walls.

Good point.

I'm fuzzy on the whole good/bad thing. What do you mean, "bad"?

Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light.

Right. That's bad. Okay. All right. Important safety tip. Thanks, Egon.

+1

The Imagineers should be taking notes here…

Nah, forget it. If they haven't made IASW cool after all these years, it's not gonna happen.

So…you both decided to put your brain into the maw of a mortar?
(sorry about that one Mark… I just couldn’t resist. I’m a bad boy)

I was going to get really angry and defend myself, but Julie agrees with you.

Very cool.
Fed I mean… He raises the level of whatever else is around considerably.

Yes. Yes, he does.

Naaaaaa…
You just need to go back some time.

I love Savannah, but if I could get down to Disney instead I know which trip I’d be taking.

You can plan things out on paper, but sometimes you can cram too much in. It would have been too much for us. So we had to be flexible. I thought meeting up with Fed was more important.

The Awful Waffle!!

Good breakfast…
bad coffee… (worse then the Nesca-crap at Disney and that takes effort)

I can't remember if I've had the coffee there or not, but I'm really having a hard time imagining something worse than Nescrape. Do they serve Pennzoil?

In Disney speak, that would be a “Garden View” room and would be an upgrade from the “Standard View”.

Of course, if it were at Disney you wouldn’t really care, now would you?

Disney parking lots are by definition much more magical than anyone else's.

So you didn’t stop in Florence, SC to see the remaining fragments of the nuclear devise that the Air Force dropped on my home state then?

No, we didn't. I guess I'd better add that one to the bucket list.

That is certainly not a lie.

Nope. But there is one in the chapter.

Dumb and Dumber

+1

And I was defending you at the time.
Obviously, I chose… poorly.

Yeah, and then you hit me with the "brain in the mortar" comment.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Up

+1

And you, with the erudite verbiage.

Me talk English good.

A Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference.

+1

A variation on part of one of Bill Cosby’s routines

Some similarity, but it's not a movie/TV reference. I wasn't really going for one there, anyway.

Yup I missed that one...

Sneakers

Good film (under rated)

+1

That is a fun movie. Good cast, too.

Lethal Weapon 2

had to look that one up...
just didn't remember.

+1

Nothing wrong with doing a little "research".

Slowly catching up after our trip.

We've passed that McDonalds numerous times and always avoided it. After seeing your pictures and description, I believe we will continue to do so.

for another DIS meet.

Welcome home Kathy! I hope the trip was a blast.

Never say never! Remember, you should always be open to trying new things. You will either discover something you love, or you'll have a really great story.