After arriving at MCO, and our first monorail ride of the trip, we reach the main part of the airport.
We were told that our checked bags would be upchucked at
baggage claim number 4.
We went there.
Nothing.
But the one next to it started to spit things out, number 5.
(Johnny 5 is Alive!)
Sure enough, here comes Smidgy's "just under the legal limit, probably alcohol wise as well," suitcase.
She snatches it off the conveyor belt.
Which goes over, around, back in, past the hole, and then returns to us.
I started to look at it as a clock, as the big, pink, suitcase went around, and around, like the second hand.
Then it seemed more like a stage to me, with new performers joining the belt that got spit out from the hole in the wall.
We waited and watched the show.
It was pretty boring, I had a hard time following the plot but we were still a captive audience.
Then we waited some more.
Wouldn't you think that two suitcased that were checked into the airport at the same time would end up being at least close to each other, in cargo?
"Clutch Cargo, with Spinner and Paddlefoot will be right back!"
And nobody remembers that, do you?
After a while, no new performers were taking the stage, and most of the older ones were leaving the stage.
The hole had quit spitting.
After a while, Diane went in search of assistance, I'd heard about countless stories from people with lost luggage, but it's never happened to us.
I kept vigil.
Still nothing.
Diane doesn't return for another ten minutes or so, but this time with a guy in tow.
Things are now coming out on station 4, and I'm running back and forth trying to watch both.
Back at numer 5, Diane is now explaining to the guy what it looks like, as he's staring at the almost empty, conveyor.
After she finishes her description, he says,
"You mean it looks like this one?"
And grabs my bag as it's just passing by.
I don't know where it came from.
I had been looking at the hole and did NOT see it spit up
another one!
But it's here and I don't care and I quickly unzip it and my Black Velvet is in there and all my little bottles are there
and Toto we're home, we're really home and I love you all very much!
As I'm doing this, her suitcase just falls over.
Nobody touched it, it just fell over on it's own.
Turned out the bottome was busted up, that holds it in an upright position.
It's 6 days old, I just bought it last week, this is it's first trip.
From Wallmart.
Rest in pieces suitcase, she took it back when we got back. It had already gotten on her Ca Ca list because the handle didn't extend enough.
We then had to choose between Mears or a taxi. The guy at the taxi stand said they accept credit cards, so did Mears I think, but we chose the cab, since it would be a direct route without other people's stops.
We should have gone with Mears.
He even added in tolls, then when he pulled up at Doubletree, it was,,, "oh no, cash only, no credit cards accepted."
I really didn't want to have to hit into my cash reserve this hard, this early, but I had no choice now.
The Doubletree turned out to be a little fancier than I expected.
If you are wondering why we are spending one night staying at the Doubletree, it's simple.
The next day is one of the busiest travel days, and expensive, of the year. We save 200 in air fare by leaving a day sooner.
We checked in, our room was ready and I might have our first pictures to post here on this report.
They were just starting the Christmas decorating then, on the 24th.
It was in the low seventies, so we went out by the pool.
The problem was, this hotel is huge, and this time of year, the sun, even way down in Florida, is really low in the sky.
So we are back to playing hide and seek with the building's shadows, I swear, you can actually see them move!
It was a pretty nice pool area, no, I didn't go in the pool, that doesn't happen when it's not in at least the eighties with me, but we both did go in the hot tub, had it to ourselves.
Biggest hot tub I've ever seen! You could swim laps in there if you wanted to.
Back at our loungers, they are now in shade so we moved them.
Ten minutes later, we're in the shade again, and it was chilly. I could tell that the whole deck was going to soon be in shade, so we gave up and went back on up.
I keep thinking I'm so much further south than in Chicago that it will be a big difference astronomy wise, but it's really just a drop in the celestial bucket I guess.
This is ok, we just start Cocktail Hour early today, and that's allright.
We nixed walking over to CityWalk at Universal, it wasn't quite as close as we were led to believe, not even sure if there's sidewalks the whole way, and the way my luck has been going, I really don't want to be hit by a car, but out the window, I can see a TGIF down below us, so we decided to have dinner there tonight.
Baby, those commas are a flowing tonight!
I wish I could run-on as far as my sentances do.
This window:
Then she asked me if I was up for Yahtzee.
I feigned deafness.
I've played that game with her before.
Literally!
Dinner I think was burgers, but I do remember the highlight was the way they made mozarella sticks, really big, crispy, and flat, not the super chewy things I've always had before. Even Smidgy liked t hem.
_______________________________________________
Sunday, Nov. 25
We are packed, well, we really never "unpacked", and out front letting a guy hail us a cab.
You can't "call" a cab, cabs have to be "hailed"
"Oh hail Billy Joe, where's the durn cab?"
I tried to sleet a cab once, nothing happened.
I'll stop now.
This guy wanted cash too, but it was a short ride and didn't cost that much. It's like they all have that invisible sign in the window; "In God we trust, everybody else pay cash".
Shortly, we are back at our beloved Royal Pacific resort, Universal Orlando.
I'm sorry all you Disney purists, but it's not a bad thing to give money to Disney's competitor,
keeps them on their toes.
Out in front, a guy runs up to us with the big luggage cart and starts grabbing our bags and placing them on it as they were coming out of the cab's trunk.
He then made what was close to a fatal mistake, as in, "the last thing he ever did" kind of mistake, when he went for my Carrion bag.
You know, the one that has my "prescription painkillers " in it.
"Touch that bag and you die!"
I don't believe in beating around the bush.
I didn't think eyes could open that wide.
During check in, Diane reminded the girl I was a Loews First member, entitling us to either a free gift or a room upgrade, (if available) and I handed her my card. This is now our fifth time staying here, and it, too, feels like home to us. We have always been put in Tower 2, which was the smoking tower. Now, it doesn't matter.
Wait, hold it.
OOOOHH, smoke, wonderful smoke, inhaling, deeply, exhale,,, OOOOH.
Ok, I'll be allright now.
It doesn't cost anything at all to join Loews First. But you're supposed to USE it more than once every few years.
One time we got a free bottle of wine, another time a nut and fruit basket, and one time we were upgraded to a KING SUITE! That was the last time we were here.
She assigns us room 2600.
I like the simple number.
And, it was READY at 9:30 in the morning!
Ready for the short tour? Turn up your speakers a bit to hear me. But all I ask is please after you view the video,
it's going to be really tempting to watch the other videos I took that will pop up, so, DON'T! No, really, takes the fun out of it then.
Isn't that the coolest thing?
Upgraded to a King Suite again! And we came because we got a PIN code for 40% off in the first place. Our room (s) is/are, costing us I think it was 134 a night!
A pic of the grounds:
This is now going to bring us to our first head to head matchup; Dis vs. Uni.
Staying at one of the 3 Uni resorts is very much like staying at an Epcot resort. You can walk to two parks, they both have classy resorts, But Uni has Citwalk, which I think beats out Boardwalk activities. And staying at any of the Uni Hotels let's you use ANY of their pools and slides.
The scale tipper though is that when you stay at a Uni resort, you get automatic fastpasses for everything, unlimited times, and that's the deal breaker.
Uni 1, Dis 0
At ten thirty Sunday morning, we passed throught the turnstyles for Uni Studiios. Oh, first we did have a problem with getting our tickets that we ordered on line, but guest relatiions straightened it all out.
I hate when I have to have relations with other guests.
US can be a hassle though with their show times schedule, running a lot of them at the same times so you can't get out of the park early. We headed right to the new Despicable me.
It was ok, better than the Jimmy Neutron it replaced, which was worse than the Hanna Barbara it replaced. The pre show is really funny, with Steve Carrol going all out.
No, Dis doesn't have anything comparable.
Then we went across the street to Shrek 3'D.
Good pre show, the movie sucks though.
Dark, grainy, annoying moving seats.
Now here's a good head to head, puppet/CGI characters in 3'D;
Muppetvision is better.
Uni 1, Dis 1
It's now time for Terminator 3'D to start, and I'm getting 3' D'd out. Actually, I can't see 3'D stuff like I used to. They have to be 3' D type tricks for me to get any use out of it, like when Ariel Lunges forward in Philharmagic, that's what i like. Apparently, you need TWO eyes to see the 3-D movie stuff, and I'm basically down to just one, now.
But Terminator 2, 3'D is the best of all of them, no arguments, case closed. I think Smidgy might choose Philharmagic, but she can write her own dang trip report.
Uni 2, Dis 1
We then had to hustle to get to the back for the next Beetlejuice Graveyard ReVUE. (Oh, Smidgy is going to be so proud I spelled it correctly)
He was good, the show was good. Disney has nothing like it.
Oh, that's right, I took a video. Crank it UP!
I liked it when Dracula sang "I want a girl like Frankie's girl, where can I find a woman like that?"
Next we are over at Disaster, which used to be Earthquake, and guess who got picked as a volunteer?
No, not me, as br'er Rabbit says, " I learned my lesson" at the Indy Stunt Show, but Smidgy is leaving me now to join the cast. No kidding, if there is ANYTHING, any show, any attraction, ANYTHING AT ALL, she has gotten picked for it!
I'm surprised she hasn't flown down from the castle yet to start Wishes!
I once got stepped on by PUSH, the talking trash can cuz he didn't see me.
In the first pic she's way on the right side of the stage, sitting with a couple others;
Then I got her leaving when her role was done, which I'm still not exactly sure what that role was, except to sit on the far right side of the stage for awhile.
It was finally time for the Mummy, even though I really wanted to do this at night, only there wasn't going to be a "night" here at the Studios, since it closes at six.
There was a fifteen minute wait for the Mummy.
Ha! We flashed our cards and were on in 5.
Let's see, does Disney have an indoor themed roller coaster? Yes, two to be exact, but I'm going to use Rock'n Roller Coaster in the head to head. I'm sorry, Space Mountain is just a Wild Mouse ride in the dark.
Now I'm going to get people mad at me, but I choose The mummy as the winner, a lot better theming, cooler effects and generally more fun. It's also a longer ride, RRC doesn't last two minutes.
Uni 3, Dis 1
I realized then that I HAD to do Rip, Ride, Rock it. We were here the last time when it just opened, and the liine was over an hour long.
Now?
It's walk on! Don't even need the room card.
And I'm nervous.
Been a long time since I've tried a new coaster.
Smidgy walked up with me, took my hat and glasses, and
I was muttering, "dumb husband, dumb husband" (smile ladyH)
Hey, I'm getting older, I heard heart attacks are no fun.
You're supposed to pick your own music you want, but I was in a single rider line and didn't get a chance to choose squat.
I didn't care, not here for the tunes.
It's a better coaster than I expected, I probably like it better than the Hulk next door. No Dis comparisons.
I guess we'll call it quits there, so,
"To be continued"
YES I am! Good thing to clarify this day on age though.
Might explain a little bit about me, now that I think about it.
) that should have sucked them right in.
