P.O.T.C. On Stranger Rides! The Missing Chapter,,Final Thoughts,, Preview Thoughts.

[winkers]

Since you won't believe me I guess I'll have to reveal that I find him slightly attractive in a very bizarre kind of way.....


I can't believe I just said that out loud!

 

[nebo]

Mine too, and it is closing too


What? the magnet store is closing too? That I didn't hear. Darn every time I like a place there they close it down, the Virging store, magic shop, and of course, The Adventurer's Club, I still can't believe they couldn't save that, or move it to Animal Kingdom or something, we loved it there.


:

Well if that's the view from the parking lot, sign me up. Maybe I can just sleep in the car.....

That was totally AWESOME what you did at Planet Hollywood. I bow to you. I have such irritation for servers like that, trying to make you feel bad for not spending more of YOUR money.

Had it happen one other time in Disney, at Narcoosee's of all places when the waiter just couldn't get it through his head we didn't want to order a 40 dollar bottle of wine.

Buzz's DH here.

Ouch!! Buzz and I were convinced that something had changed on the POTC ride. We were on rows 5 and 6 of the ride several times and thought if we didn't take a direct hit from the faux cannon balls that we surely were going to capsize from the water coming in the boat. I think I would take sitting in water and having wet clothes to your row 3 and a half!!! I wonder if you had been at the "other park" if you would have come out in Diagon Alley?!? I'm not willing to try it but maybe someone else could test it out and let us know.

Hey Mr. Buzz, nice to meetcha. It does sound like they made changes to the ride, I have never gotten so much as a spritz on the ride from any water doings. And as for Diagon Alley, I rode Dueling Dragons back in '03 be3fore the Harry Potter connection was there, and back then the queueing area was also in an underground cave, and even though I could see better back then, it was even worse than POTC, you walked and walked for what seemed like a mile before you finally saw the outside again where you loaded.


And back to me, Buzz. Your description of the panzer and infantry troops swooping in makes me think you have Starship Troopers on the brain. Pre-Disney trip, you mentioned that movie as a good one to watch and I have watched it, but it has been awhile so I need to rewatch it.

Funny taht you mentioned that about Starship Troopers: it just premiered on AMC two weeks ago and I did watch a lot of it again, so maybe you're right.


Hmm, my computer just threw up and suddenly added in a post from yesterday with all the multi quotes I'm doing now, not sure how this is going to turn out.





So the POTC thing....seriously there has had to have been some tweaking of the cannonball blasts. Rows 5 and 6 are something else now and I was stuck on those two rows 5 of the 6 times we rode it. I mean my pants were soaking wet. You know, it's not just the dark that I think might make POTC a potential death trap for you, it's the twisty queue, particularly when you elect the line to the right and the uneven ground everywhere. Let's see....dark, uneven ground, winding,sharp turns and yes, I can completely see where you might feel like a ball in a pinball machine. The visual of you going through the queue was quite entertaining.

Again, you are right, as we were going through the line Diane said, "this all seems different, don't we usually go to the left line?"

Ah yes, it's good to be back in the Nebo TR world. Sad to be back home from the quick trip, but the next best thing to being in Disney, in my opinion, is reading a Nebo TR!

And I thank you for that.

Great CBR photos! Maybe DH and I should rethink our POFQ loyalty....

Shannon, Smidgy herself works weekends waitressing at a fine dining restaurant and she'll be the first to tell you that it's really dumb to risk ticking off customers for something like that; two six dollar glasses of wine comes to 12 bucks, so you are risking making them angry for maybe increasing your tip by 2.40 cents.
She is an excellent server. She's also an even better bartender, but nowadays most places want somebody no older than 25 behind the bar.

Funny story about The Sixth Sense. My friends and I were watching the DVD during a girls weekend. At the end of the movie there's an interview with the director who explains that whenever one of the ghosts was upset it would get cold.

My friend asked in all seriousness, "Is that really true? Does it get cold when ghosts are mad?"

Yeah, and why is that a funny question?

Wow! Does Disney own that grocery store? That sounds like resort store pricing.

Sure does, doesn't it?

I don't remember the magnet store. I'll have to look for that next trip.

According to Janet, you may have to hurry.

There's gotta be a catch with that meal and a movie deal. $15 sounds too reasonable for Disney.

I never did inquire about what the meal was, now that I think about it, I'm surprised I didnn't.


CBR looks beautiful and I love the parking lot's view!

Ok, now you're just saying that to get my goat, right?

CBR was our first Disney experience, in 2008. We fell in love with it. Your pictures are making me wish I was there right now...



We can visit the Poly for their restaurants, but I think the next time we go to Disney, we'll be back at the CBR.

Does this mean I have to go back and eat at Ohana's again?

That doesn't include the "meal" part

Ah, ok, probably different seating, maybe with tables and a server you're paying for the oppoortunity to add food to your movie.

Phew...just caught up. I've been sick for over a week so I haven't been on the computer. You know I'm sick when I don't get on the computer.


Belated Happy Birthday Smidgy. Got to love those October babies, I'm one too.

Hope you're feeling better Shirley, by the way, do you know what happens on Oct. 5th? More people celebrate a birthday on that day than any other day of the year. If you back up 9 months it puts conception on New Year's!

Darn champagne!

Nebo sorry about the eyes. I hope everything starts turning for the better. I went yesterday for my follow up and everything is looking good. She did say the left looks like it is starting to get scar tissue so if it starts bothering me I will have to have it shot with a laser to make it go away.

that's something I can't comment on, never had anyth8ing done with my eyes with a laser.



I love all the pictures that you have taken and can't wait to see some more.

I must say Nebo that I would love to be at WDW and see you skipping with the butterflies, making sand angels and specially walking like a duck.

Waiting for your next installement.

Hey Marita, you still out there? I think it's time to tell your bosses about all the great feedback and advertising I'm creating for you old home base in Disney, just a nice, new PIN code would do.

Good thing you didn't have to make a midnight run to the market or anything.. you would have awakened everyone in the area... for the unsuspecting there might have been a code brown!! You would have been making more noise than the your favorite soccer groups!!

I would not have even considered it late at night.

Ahh the dreaded Central Florida afternoon shower!!!

By the way, the city in the US of A with the most lightening strikes? No, not Orlando, but close, Tampa.

I'll have you know, that when we were there last november/december at SSR (you know when we had all those super warm days in early December) we saw the balloon go up quite a bit.. couldn't miss it, we could sit on our patio and watch it. Although I have no idea if anyone was on it. For all i know, it was going rogue!!!

Ok, so how come you didn't get in it?




Yep and there they are.. the 10 minute gully washer!!
Great picture of Diane.. but no fuzzy cup..

Yeah, how bout that, no fuzzy cup, that's cuz she drove, after how swell everything has gone with the driving down I can just see adding a DUI for open liquer in a vehicle.


I agree PH is crazy expensive.. and $15.95 for a hamburger now. Yikes
They are reallly good, but that's too much for a burger and fries.. Even at Disney, although i have to say we overpaid at T-Rex last year too.. probably wouldn't do it again, but it was kinda neat to go.. and of course at PH you had your coupin too that makes it a little easier to swallow.

You know, sometimes I just hate my logic patterns; I would have enjoyed the burger so much more than the chicken sandwich and we are talking a two dollar difference, big deal but it was the principle to me at the time, NOBODY SPENDS 16 BUCKS FOR A BURGER.



The coffee fairies have descended upon your most majestic corner room (yes i think you mentioned you had a corner room!!) and delivered the java juice!!

I did mention we had a corner room? Oh good, I thought I left that part out.


And more good ones.. nice view from the parking lot too.

Ok, the parking lot's view picture:
I remember taking the picture and thought it was funny in my mind to do the parking lot thing in reverse, like I did.
The only problem was, I could'nt remember when, or where I tooke the picture from, so after I got them all loaded into 10 pages worth on Photobucket, now they are too small to really see which one looks like I took it from a parking lot, so I just chose one picture from the beginning and designated that one to be, "my parking lot's picture."

It turned out that after all the pictures I took of the resort, I nailed it, picked the right one. Once it was posted in large format now, if you look right above the date stamped in the lower right hand corner you will see a small corner of the parking lot.


Another great chapter my friend.. makes me wish we were there now.. (of course that's pretty much most of the time). We'll have to do a little resort hopping this trip.. I'll try to get out here and take some pics of CBR all decorated up for Christmas.. I'm most looking forward to Ozzy's lights at DHS.. I was in awe last year (first time experience).. hoping i'll have the same experience this trip.

We have never seen CBR at Christmastime, but I doubt they do much with it there. Hope you have a great time agin this year, and that it's warmer this time.

You know, it's funny, when I do a chapter I guess at what's going to be the most quoted line from it the next coupld days, often times I'm no where near it and this chapter is no different. No one has quoted the line yet.

c'ya, nebs

 

[mrsksomeday]

That waiter would have made me mad too. Your pictures of CBR are amazing, almost makes me want to book there but we don't use the pools, but you never know.

As for Rte. 57 we hate it too. We never drive it unless we absolutely have to. There are too many wrecks on that road, it makes me nervous.

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Hey Marita, you still out there? I think it's time to tell your bosses about all the great feedback and advertising I'm creating for you old home base in Disney, just a nice, new PIN code would do.

Of course I'm still here, I wouldn't leave you and Smidgy

Just dont have much to add to Disney vacations, never done one, LOL.

If a current co-worker gets the job she applied for in Pricing, maybe I can persuade her to add a special pin code just for you

However, I do have a tip to add for any Neboites with 3 kids (do you have any? I dont think so.... hmmm,) Grandparents, there we go!
The new Alligator Bayou rooms at Port Orleans Riverside start up in November from refubishment with Murphy style beds instead of the awful trundles on the floor, and queen beds. I went to an open house for the staff today, and the reaction from the housekeepers was amazing, they hooted and hollered at then improvements, it was so fun, i stayed for 30 minutes just to watch. Little things even, like tub surrounds instead of tile (no more mildew to clean, woohoo!!!!). Bed boxes under the beds, nothing to get lost under the beds or vacuum, YAY!!). It was a lot of fun to watch. Plus new Keurigs, and a few other new things to be announced.
Dont tell anyone I said this....

ETA: AB rooms sleep 5, French Quarter no longer does due to Queen beds

 

[shan23877]

Shannon, Smidgy herself works weekends waitressing at a fine dining restaurant and she'll be the first to tell you that it's really dumb to risk ticking off customers for something like that; two six dollar glasses of wine comes to 12 bucks, so you are risking making them angry for maybe increasing your tip by 2.40 cents.
She is an excellent server. She's also an even better bartender, but nowadays most places want somebody no older than 25 behind the bar.



I'm in fine dining myself (steakhouse), and she's exactly right. The worst part about the 25 and unders behind the bar? Most of them have no idea how to make a manhattan, old fashioned, etc. Not to mention that they know very little about wine, and less about scotch

I once got up from my table to teach a server at Red Lobster how to open a bottle of wine for another table. I felt really sorry for that guy, he needed help, and his boss was no where to be found.

I find that being nice and doing my job well usually gets me that extra $2 whether the customer orders wine or not

 

[smidgy]

ok, all you parents with kids at disney (which , I know is 80% of you)...bear with me.
I know kids love to be entertained.. and I know parents LOVE IT!! when SOMEONE ELSE entertains their kids., however...

we do not have to be constantly entertained!!! whatever happened to: going back to the resort to RELAX by the pool? what about the parents who were hoping the little one would snooze by the pool ?


ok, allright, I get it. I admit it, kids do have fun (and adults, too, playing bingo, disney trivia,water balloon toss, etc. my only problem is .. WHY does it have to be so LOUD!!???? CBR was the worst. you culd not hear yourself think. it literally hurt my eardrums (and I am not kidding). forget reading.

when we got to BLT, the first time we went up to take a nap and as high up as we were, with the doors closed, I couldn't sleep. . at AKL, at both the main pol and the kidani pool, I found out, that if you nicely ask the "yellow shirt" ( usually a 19 year old girl), they will turn down the volume for the music. I said, "look I get it that parents want the kids entertained constantly, but does the music have to be so loud? esp. since all you are playing is teeny bopper music... I never want to hear Katy Perry "Fireworks", or "let's Get THis Party Started" again.

sorry, I sound like a grumpy old cuss, but when you are staying at a nice resort, and want to get away from the hub bub of the parks and relax by the pool, you want to do just that.. relax.

but they did tone down the music volume a bit at AKL.

 

[smidgy]

shannon, you are so right! the restaurant (last year) hired a sexy girl for behind the bar. didn't know how to pour a drink, didn't know a rob roy from a perfect manhattan, thought a VO and 7 was a vodka 7.. aaargh!
and I have 20 things to get to in the next 5 minutes (you know how it goes) and she is trying to look "cute" to the guys at the bar while she does a terrible job getting my drinks..and making the wrong change for me.. and.. I'm supposed to "tip her out"? (she didn't last long)

customers, in the bar or in the dining room, want professional, friendly service.

 

[smidgy]

wow! looking back on those pics of CBR, I want to go back there.. soon!

 

[Millie12591]

we do not have to be constantly entertained!!! whatever happened to: going back to the resort to RELAX by the pool? what about the parents who were hoping the little one would snooze by the pool ?

I have kids, although not young enough to be entertained by the hula-baloo that goes on by the pool....but I'm totally with you!! When I'm a the resort I want to relax and wind down, it's the main reason we stayed at Coronado Springs Resort on our last visit.

Hmmm, since you stayed at a different moderate resort, I'm wondering if they have big and loud there too?!? I always assumed it was just at the value's.

Oh, and Happy Belated, sweetie.

 

[hushupu]

I hope its not true about the magnet store. It's a great place to get cheap Souvies for the cat sitter.

 

[fsmith2845]

wow! looking back on those pics of CBR, I want to go back there.. soon!

Nice. you know you jsut opened the door for Steve to start planning the next trip... of course from teh sounds of it he never STOPS planning trips.. and now with the Bosses endorsement!!

I sense another adventure to the world coming on.

 

[shan23877]

shannon, you are so right! the restaurant (last year) hired a sexy girl for behind the bar. didn't know how to pour a drink, didn't know a rob roy from a perfect manhattan, thought a VO and 7 was a vodka 7.. aaargh!
and I have 20 things to get to in the next 5 minutes (you know how it goes) and she is trying to look "cute" to the guys at the bar while she does a terrible job getting my drinks..and making the wrong change for me.. and.. I'm supposed to "tip her out"? (she didn't last long)

customers, in the bar or in the dining room, want professional, friendly service.

I hear ya sister! It can be so frustrating! At least Ms. Sexy Pants didn't last long. I seem to be "tipping out" 20 year old college girls whom I'm stuck with until they graduate.

Unfortunately doing what I do for a living makes me hyper-critical of the service I receive. I need to learn to relax.

 

[Sandy Mouse]

ok, all you parents with kids at disney (which , I know is 80% of you)...bear with me.
I know kids love to be entertained.. and I know parents LOVE IT!! when SOMEONE ELSE entertains their kids., however...

we do not have to be constantly entertained!!! whatever happened to: going back to the resort to RELAX by the pool? what about the parents who were hoping the little one would snooze by the pool ?


ok, allright, I get it. I admit it, kids do have fun (and adults, too, playing bingo, disney trivia,water balloon toss, etc. my only problem is .. WHY does it have to be so LOUD!!???? CBR was the worst. you culd not hear yourself think. it literally hurt my eardrums (and I am not kidding). forget reading.

when we got to BLT, the first time we went up to take a nap and as high up as we were, with the doors closed, I couldn't sleep. . at AKL, at both the main pol and the kidani pool, I found out, that if you nicely ask the "yellow shirt" ( usually a 19 year old girl), they will turn down the volume for the music. I said, "look I get it that parents want the kids entertained constantly, but does the music have to be so loud? esp. since all you are playing is teeny bopper music... I never want to hear Katy Perry "Fireworks", or "let's Get THis Party Started" again.

sorry, I sound like a grumpy old cuss, but when you are staying at a nice resort, and want to get away from the hub bub of the parks and relax by the pool, you want to do just that.. relax.

but they did tone down the music volume a bit at AKL.

As a grandparent who always travels to Disney World with grandkids, I really love the idea of someone else entertaining the kids for brief periods, but I see no reason to have the music so loud. (I'm old and crotchedy and easily annoyed) They could tone it down a lottle (to use Nebo's newly minted word) and the kids would still have fun.

And Nebo, I feel your pain over the high price of a good burger. I had the best burger I've ever eaten in the Houston airport - an airport, of all places! - on the way home from Las Vegas last weekend. Best of all, it was $10. Thick and juicy and the service was fast. I only had an hour and 10 minutes between flights, and there was plenty of time to eat and get to the gate.
Great, Now I'm craving a hamburger.

 

[nebo]

Alrighty now, a few callouts and I wan't to get to work on the next chapter that I hope to have up tomorrow night.

Since you won't believe me I guess I'll have to reveal that I find him slightly attractive in a very bizarre kind of way.....


I can't believe I just said that out loud!

Me either! If he had a set of wings I could see him getting orders to "Bring me Dorothy and her little dog, too!" Yeah, he does look like that the more I thing about it.

That waiter would have made me mad too. Your pictures of CBR are amazing, almost makes me want to book there but we don't use the pools, but you never know.

I'm kind of surprised that French Quarter isn't your guys favorite place, being that it's compact and the pool sucks there. It just seems right for you and Bill, but maybe you do like it there and I missed that.



As for Rte. 57 we hate it too. We never drive it unless we absolutely have to. There are too many wrecks on that road, it makes me nervous.

YEs there are and I don't know why: there are virtually no bends or turns at all on that highway, and it's well separated between the north and south lanes.
Maybe because there ARE no bends or turns on it that peo;le fall asleep there easily.

Of course I'm still here, I wouldn't leave you and Smidgy



However, I do have a tip to add for any Neboites with 3 kids (do you have any? I dont think so.... hmmm,) Grandparents, there we go!
The new Alligator Bayou rooms at Port Orleans Riverside start up in November from refubishment with Murphy style beds instead of the awful trundles on the floor, and queen beds. I went to an open house for the staff today, and the reaction from the housekeepers was amazing, they hooted and hollered at then improvements, it was so fun, i stayed for 30 minutes just to watch. Little things even, like tub surrounds instead of tile (no more mildew to clean, woohoo!!!!). Bed boxes under the beds, nothing to get lost under the beds or vacuum, YAY!!). It was a lot of fun to watch. Plus new Keurigs, and a few other new things to be announced.
Dont tell anyone I said this....

Ok, what in the heck is Keurigs? Sounds like the name of one of Jupiter's moons. And are Murphy beds those things that hang off a wall? How in the heck to you sleep on a wall without falling off? Do you tie your feet to the ceiling fan?

ETA: AB rooms sleep 5, French Quarter no longer does due to Queen beds

Now this is the absolute truth:
about ten minutes after I posted about trying to get a PIN code from you, I signede off and went to read some old emails I needed to catch up on, I'm not kidding,
"Nebo family, a Disney gift to you!"
It was a PIN code, but it was almost laughable, good for only a couple of upcoming dates, you had to stay at least 5 nights, AND buy not only park hopper passes, but ALSO water parks and more were required also.
If you spent on all these requirements you could save up to 17%. Geesh, why bother, AAA is good for at least 15 percent without having to buy all the bells and whistles, but I just could not believe the timing and when it came.

I'm in fine dining myself (steakhouse), and she's exactly right. The worst part about the 25 and unders behind the bar? Most of them have no idea how to make a manhattan, old fashioned, etc. Not to mention that they know very little about wine, and less about scotch

I once got up from my table to teach a server at Red Lobster how to open a bottle of wine for another table. I felt really sorry for that guy, he needed help, and his boss was no where to be found.

I find that being nice and doing my job well usually gets me that extra $2 whether the customer orders wine or not

You ought to tell us where you work is it's around Chicago so we can maybe stop in and say hi or for dinner sometime, PM me if you don't want to put in out in public. I'm sure Diane has said many times where she works on this thread, but just to be sure, I'll let her answer herself where she bartends and where she waitresses at.

ok, all you parents with kids at disney (which , I know is 80% of you)...bear with me.
I know kids love to be entertained.. and I know parents LOVE IT!! when SOMEONE ELSE entertains their kids., however...

we do not have to be constantly entertained!!! whatever happened to: going back to the resort to RELAX by the pool? what about the parents who were hoping the little one would snooze by the pool ?


ok, allright, I get it. I admit it, kids do have fun (and adults, too, playing bingo, disney trivia,water balloon toss, etc. my only problem is .. WHY does it have to be so LOUD!!???? CBR was the worst. you culd not hear yourself think. it literally hurt my eardrums (and I am not kidding). forget reading.

when we got to BLT, the first time we went up to take a nap and as high up as we were, with the doors closed, I couldn't sleep. . at AKL, at both the main pol and the kidani pool, I found out, that if you nicely ask the "yellow shirt" ( usually a 19 year old girl), they will turn down the volume for the music. I said, "look I get it that parents want the kids entertained constantly, but does the music have to be so loud? esp. since all you are playing is teeny bopper music... I never want to hear Katy Perry "Fireworks", or "let's Get THis Party Started" again.

sorry, I sound like a grumpy old cuss, but when you are staying at a nice resort, and want to get away from the hub bub of the parks and relax by the pool, you want to do just that.. relax.

but they did tone down the music volume a bit at AKL.

Whoa, you go girl! I couldn't agree more.

shannon, you are so right! the restaurant (last year) hired a sexy girl for behind the bar. didn't know how to pour a drink, didn't know a rob roy from a perfect manhattan, thought a VO and 7 was a vodka 7.. aaargh!
and I have 20 things to get to in the next 5 minutes (you know how it goes) and she is trying to look "cute" to the guys at the bar while she does a terrible job getting my drinks..and making the wrong change for me.. and.. I'm supposed to "tip her out"? (she didn't last long)

customers, in the bar or in the dining room, want professional, friendly service.

..... and girls just want to have fun.
I loved it when I stopped in and ordered a JB and soda and she gave me Jim Beam!

I have kids, although not young enough to be entertained by the hula-baloo that goes on by the pool....but I'm totally with you!! When I'm a the resort I want to relax and wind down, it's the main reason we stayed at Coronado Springs Resort on our last visit.

Hmmm, since you stayed at a different moderate resort, I'm wondering if they have big and loud there too?!? I always assumed it was just at the value's.

.

Camille, from what we have now seen, the yellow jackets are at ALL the resorts, price, class, politics or religeous affiliation have nothing to do with it.

I hope its not true about the magnet store. It's a great place to get cheap Souvies for the cat sitter.

I thiought the same thing: when we stopped in there I bought a little helicopter type flying thing for our grandson for 5 bucks, we threw it in with his other birthday gifts but I really wanted to see if and or what it did but he had too many other things to open and play with that day,,,,,,,,SO I NEVER GOT TO PLAY WITH IT!

Nice. you know you jsut opened the door for Steve to start planning the next trip... of course from teh sounds of it he never STOPS planning trips.. and now with the Bosses endorsement!!

Funny you should mention that: I was just goinjg through all the point charts from the literature we got from the DVC guy that we saw to get the gift card right before we left. I never got to really look at it until now.
Something struck me as strange for 2012:
the raised the points it seems for SSR, it's now just two points behind the Boardwalk with a Boardwalk view room!
And WLV are almost as much as BCV now, I'd pay a lot more for BCV than I would for WLV where most of the views from your balcony is a solid tree mass right in front of you not to mention the "walk to Epcot" factor.

Oh, that's right, you can "swim to Magic Kingdom".

I sense another adventure to the world coming on.

We're trying, trying vewy vewy hard.

And Nebo, I feel your pain over the high price of a good burger. I had the best burger I've ever eaten in the Houston airport - an airport, of all places! - on the way home from Las Vegas last weekend. Best of all, it was $10. Thick and juicy and the service was fast. I only had an hour and 10 minutes between flights, and there was plenty of time to eat and get to the gate.
Great, Now I'm craving a hamburger.

Wow, are you brave. No way in the world would I ever eat something like a greasy burger right before a flight, I have absolutely no doubts about what the result of that would be.

 

[pkondz]

Things were going very nice by the pool, it wasn't crowded at all, only a couple clouds with temps about 90.
We kept switching from the loungers

lungers

to the table with the umbrella when we couldn't stand the heat anymore.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Oh, wait... pool, table with umbrella, few clouds... never mind.

Of course, if I say things are going just peachy, well, you know we just can't have that, now, can we?

Peaches. One state north please. You hafta use oranges in Florida. So things were going orangey, go on... and thank you're lucky stars you weren't in Hawaii!

Apparently, Disney has decided that we at the pool don't know how to entertain ourselves on our own, so they hired someone to do it for us.
She started out just blasting a few songs, but then she had ot get
a bunch of kids together and start playing games.

Right up to this point I thought you were talkin' 'tour groups'.

It was just that she was so loud!

Well if you took your hearing aids out at the pool like you're supposed to, it wouldn't be a problem for you now, would it? Of course Smidgy's a whole other story.

We first encountered a Yellow Shirt last year at Nero's Beach Resort, then again later in the same trip over at ASMU, remember the water balloon toss?

Oh yes! One of those stories that gets repeated often.

Luckily, we were going to leave in a half hour anyway and at about 2 o'clock we were back in the room, changing.

So Smidgy is Nebo now and Nebo is Smidgy? Didn't change into each other? Hmmm... Or are you werewolves and there was a full moon?

The first thing we do is both of us walk over to the front tire and stare at it again. Brad Pitt never got stared at as much as this tire has!

Having a flat is the pitts, isn't it?

And we both jump when she starts it up, I knew it was going to be loud, I just forgot HOW loud.

<sigh> Again.... hearing aids, removal of.

Our first stop is right down Buena Vista Drive, the Goodings supermarket to replace the forgotten sausage that's still in the freezer back home.

You're not gonna let this one go, are ya? Sometimes you just gotta let go of the sausage, man.

I just spent a 1.49 for Oscar Mayer.

Well, everybody wishes they were one.

One last time I gave Diane the "evil glare" for forgetting the good stuff, no, Goodings didn't carry the Johnsonville Beddar with Cheddar that I love.

No, I guess you're not gonna let it go.

Since they put the thing in DD we have never, not once, seen the thing in the air. I don't think it's reeally supposed to go up, like they say it does,
I think they're full of hot air.

They were thinking hydrogen, but… Oh, the humanity!

We went into the Magic Shop, we were the only ones in there and looked around a bit but there really isn't much to look at.
I mentioned to the guy behind the counter, "So, you're closing at
the end of the month, huh?"

His jaw dropped. "How did you know that?"

Noooooooooo! My favorite store! I loved going there and watching the magic demos. Bought two myself.

Then the rains came, and boy did they.

drizzle, showers, rain, pouring gangbusters, sheets or here's Noah?

The cheeseburger and fries now cost 15.95!

No cheeseburger is worth that… unless of course it’s an angus burger.

I'm sorry, you add cheese and bacon to ANYTHING and it improves it 100 percent, I'd buy cheese and bacon ice cream if they came out with it. Hear that Ben and Jerry's?

Gotta agree with you on this one.
“Your beluga caviar and foie gras, monsieur. Will there be anything else? Champagne perhaps?”
“Nope. Just some cheese and bacon and I’m good.”

When we were just about finished, he came by and kind of snottilly said, "Well, I can assume you're not going to order any dessert, right?"

Now THIS, ticked me off, so I said, "Gee, I don't know, what have you got?"

And I made him go through the list, reciting from memory all that they have, often interrupting him with a question or two, sometimes saying, "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you, would you mind repeating that last thing you said?"

good.

Smidgy set the coffee maker up last night so all I have to do is press the button and, "Voila!, It's a miracle, there's coffee in the pot".

Halleluja! Now if you can part the coffee in the pot…

Believe it or not, once in the past I asked a clerk, "don't you have a penny tray on the counter?", many places by us have that so if a person is only a few cents short, or if your bill comes to like, 3 dollars and 2 cents you can just hand the clerk 3 bucks and they'll take the two cents from the tray.

Got ‘em up here, too. Great idea. Actually, there has been some movement up here to get rid of pennies altogether.

It is the coolest thing!
It transforms itself from a bridge into an island, with little nooks and crannies leading off into hidden grottos.
(gee, that sounded almost poetic, I should write brochures)

Looks (and sounds) nice!

Tell me, isn't that the most inviting thing a kid could possibly see? A bending wooden walkway through a tended wooded scene.

That’s the most inviting thing a kid could possibly see.

But look at all the foliage in the photo, doesn't it look like it belongs in the Triassic Period?

Dunno, did you check at Dinoland?

And,,,,, I love to hear her mumble to herself while she's waiting.... "Someday my prints will come!"

And how thrilling that moment will be
When the prints of your dreams comes to thee

It was so quiet, I could hear birds, crickets, and not a cloud in the sky.

Not to contradict you, but I did spot some clouds. I’ve taken the liberty of indicating them on your photo. I guess with your eye issues, you could miss a little thing like that, so you’re forgiven.

Then the Panzer Division pulled up from the rear, Two guys on separate riding mowers splitting up now and working each side of the pool area.

Then the infantry moved in armed with gas powered gigantic leaf blowers that they used around the pool deck instead of power washing it, this was two more guys.

This all just paved the way for the worst offender of them all, a guy then arrived with a gas powered chain saw or hedge trimmer that put the others to shame.

So what is with you guys and pool/landscape cleaners? Last time, this time… next time?

Even the beach looks inviting, doesn't it?

Yes it does! Too bad you can’t actually swim there.

You know how I always talk about the dreaded "parking lot view?"
Well, I thought it was time to give the parking lot a fair shake and let it publish it's own view,

so here we have, A Parking Lot's View!

That’s our Nebo, always thinking of others…

Thanks for the great update!

 

[shan23877]

Sorry, I'm in Bloomington. If you're ever down this way though, let me know

 

[pkondz]

Got to love those October babies, I'm one too.

As mentioned earlier, my DW has the same birthday as Smidgy. My DSis is in October. Our anniversary is in October. And of course the most important birthday in the world is in October.

 

[nrod]

You know Smidgy, I do have children the right age for the entertainmnet and I totally agree. At some point the kids do need to relax a bit (not to mention us parents!). My husband and I were JUST talking about how loud all the kids stuff is. Everyone is yelling all the time on the kids shows. There are a few I won't let them watch, just because the characters are ALWAYS yelling and it drives me nuts. We are raising a generation who are going to be deaf before they are 40!

 

[nebo]

You know Smidgy, I do have children the right age for the entertainmnet and I totally agree. At some point the kids do need to relax a bit (not to mention us parents!). My husband and I were JUST talking about how loud all the kids stuff is. Everyone is yelling all the time on the kids shows. There are a few I won't let them watch, just because the characters are ALWAYS yelling and it drives me nuts. We are raising a generation who are going to be deaf before they are 40!

There was a famous tv show when I was young that my folks watched all the time, and I hated it cuz everybody was always yelling on it, well, at least one person was.
To this day, I still don't really care for it because of that reason and no, I"m not talking All in the Family, though I was never the biggest fan of that one either due to the constants screaming, I'm talking about, and no, I'm not going to make you "wait for it", The Honeymooners.

Ok, gots to get back to work, I'll catch up later, hopefully I can still get a chapter up tonigh, I had to watch the Bears try to blow a game they dominatied in until the fourth quarter.
later

 

[nebo]

After returning from my picture excursion, bushman was moved somewhat away from me now so I sat back at the table to read the paper for a bit, but I could feel the effects of the pills and I really just wanted to keep looking around,
I just love how cheerfull it looks here!

I sat there watching these four ducks just slowly swim around the pool, I kept waiting for a little bubble to come up and have the one in front turn around and say to the other one, "Nice."

Then the Brady Bunch walked into the pool area, including the maid, and it appeared they brought their good friends, the Partridge Family with them.

They were all standing around at the next table and it seemed like they were deciding to stay here or go to the main pool. And the ducks seemed to be an added bonus to them as they were pointing and running around to get closer to them.

It was time to act in any pathetic way that I could to insure my domestic tranquility:

"If you're planning on staying here, I think you should know
that those ducks are feral."

Hey, that's all I had.

A couple of the adults looked at me, then said something among themselves and they all walked around the pool and out the beachfront entrance.

Whew! That was close.
Can ducks be feral?

Finally, I did read the paper for awhile, but not the front page section.
Uh uh, I want to get away from all that stuff, just let the world turn without me
for two weeks, if something really important happens, I'll know.

I glanced at the sports pages and that was bad enough;
"Sox lose again."
From now on I'm sticking to just the comics and puzzle pages and read my book and my Bathroom Reader.

What I didn't realize though, was that this table had a cloaking device, sitting here I was invisible.

I saw Smidgy enter kitty corner from me, walk all the way down the side and seem to look right at me, then walk back.
I figured she had to see me and was just going to get something she had put down, but no, she was almost out the entrance again, so I called out, "Diane."

She stopped, turned around and walked back to where she was when i first thought she saw me, then she looked right at me again and turned around and started walking away again.

"Hey, DIANE!"

Geesh! I'm supposed to be the blind guy here!

Now she sees me and comes over and she's mad at me,
thought I was hiding from her.

I convinced her it's just the invisible table and we enjoyed a couple of nice hours there without any yellow jackets yelling in our ears.
I had to take her though and show her that way cool smoking section in the courtyard with all the benches aroung an in ground planting with the big pots for ash trays. She just shook her head, "It figures."

About noon, we got thirsty and headed on back to refill our mugs and transfer to our own pool in Dominique.

Then, the strangest thing happened to me:
We were back at our pool now, I haven't had a thing to drink yet, so I can't blame that, and I got the feeling.
The feeling that tonight is our last night, and I DON"T WANT TO LEAVE.

I don't care that we're going over to Bay Lake Towers, I like it here and I have that dreaded feeling I am wont to get that the trip is just flying past. How can this be?
We just checked in?

And I really have this feeling that I'm not going to like BLT much except for it being walking distance to Magic Kingdom.

Man, a three night stay can just shoot past, it's really only two full days.

Ok, gotta shake it off. I grab my camera once again and take a solo walk.

Then, I'm back where I started from.

As we sat there talking, I thought it might be time to introduce you all to Uncle John, so I gave the camera to Diane.

As you may have seen in the picture from DD I took of Smidgy, her cheeks were pretty red form the sun and she's constantly moving her chair around because of the sun.
I quit trying to keep up with her so some times we were facing 180 degrees apart. Hey, it may have looked stupid, but at least nobody could sneak up on us!

Actually, she just looked like she was in a snit:

I then asked her, "Well, what do you think?"
Her response was," I say go for it, we've been blowing it off for years, " se we packed up and returned to our room.

After changing and me making that long trek to the ice maching that was right around the corner,, did I mention we had a corner room?
We had a couple of Mai Tais this time, nothing too strong though and around 4 o'clock or so we went down to the car.
But before we did, I took a really stupid picture:
I thought I'd chronicle my "tanning" progress, I've got a good start now so I'll take a picture and then take one later at the end ot the trip and see the difference.

One thing about me tanning, I tan easy enough but it's a real crappy color. Mine is never a "Oh, and he had the most golden brown tan", my skin looks more like a " My goodness, when's the last time this guy took a shower?", it's just a dirty looking brown.

Here now is where never taking your watch off comes in handy for "tan checking".
No, I'm not going to go and look for a dog to come up behind me and pull down the back of my bathing suit like the old Coppertone commercials with the little cartoon girl.
Just reading this now will probably scar Ponzi for life when he inescapably pictures it. Well, probably Thumper and Frank and Shawn and Jay too.

Once again, we are just following Buena Vista Drive around the bend, but this time the other way. CBR is the best resort if you are doing a lot of your own driving, I can't think of a better, more centrally located resort to come and go from.

I just mainly listened to Smidgy direct us to a parking spot and we were there.

Where?

We have not used one of the vouchers that come with the package in years, and we have never been here, the one time we did was over by the Dolphin, Fantasia Gardens.

The lot was kind of crowded yet, but I could see a lot of people heading for cars now coming from Blizzard Beach so we have no idea who's on the golf course.

It didn't look too promising, right in front of us was a family of 5 or so heading in.

It turns out, this family in front of us is THE ONLY family, or person, or anything that's on the course right now.

The group in front of us is definately a fivesome, if you count the little 4 year old which they tried to get in the game, but I heard the guy in the booth tell them 4 is the max per group and the little boy is really too young anyway.

They take off for the first hole, and I try to hang back a bit until we pay and get started cuz we wanted to try the same side as them, the Christmas side, but wouldn't you know it, a young couple is now coming up behind us so we use our buy one get one voucher and wait for the big group in front of us.

Ok, let's get the pictures out of the way:

there's really not a lot of color here like you would think there would be for a Disney Mini Golf, well, there is if your favorite color is white!
I'll show you.

Yup, that's the predominate color, here.


It didn't help that it got all overcast now, too, if it wasn't for the sweat dripping down my nose I would have thought it was a cold, dreary Chicago day.

The group ahead of us moved to the next hole so I put my ball in the little indentation to get teed up.
Before I could smack my first ball, Smidgy was one step ahead of me:

"Now Steve, if you do hit the ball too hard and have to yell a warning like they do in golf, it is NOT 'Foursome' or 'Fourplay', or 'Foreskin', or even Four Weddings and a Funeral, it is just plain old, 'Fore!', ok?"

Dang, I had already even picked out the hole I was going to yell it on doing the back nine but she beat me to it.
But that's ok, I've got a comeback for her;



"Yes dear."

I hit the ball, and that's when I found out this is going to be a lot tougher than I thought it was.
I hit it and it vanished!
Then I saw it again, but it moved like a strobe was on it.

This is now the result of all the eye problems I'm having now, it is so hard to follow a nearby moving object.
They say cats have the same problem, especially up and down movement and why you have to use your finger to point out a treat that's fallen on the floor and drag your finger from their nose to the treat, but at least cats can see at night!

My ball went three quarters of the way up the ramp,,,, then rolled back down.

Long story short, Smidgy is no great putter, but after 3 holes I had a score of about 17 and she was beating my by about 8 shots!

I had only one chance to still pull this off and beat her;
I had the pencil, I had the scorecard, I was the scorer!

No, don't worry, I didn't cheat. You know what always struck me as funny or ironic? After all that came out,
Mr. Woods was no Tiger, he was a Cheetah!

But what was even worse was now the group in front of us, since they are away from the booth and the booth cops now, are letting the little kid whack away to his heart's conent too. Then we'd have to wait for them go go and find the "yellow" ball that is in the bushes 5 holes away up against the perimeter fence.

We finally had enough of this, the young couple that was behind us got smart and went on the other course, and I went up to them and asked very nicely if we can play through.

Of course they'll let us, there's five of them and only two of us, we won't slow them down more than 5 minutes, at most.

The lady, "Mom", her eyes bugged out, her jaw dropped and she started to shake.
You would have thought I had told her I want to move 50 Brazilian Tour Groupers in front of them right before they board Toy Story Mania.
Before she could blubber something, the dad just said, "Oh sure, go right ahead."
And we did.

In a funny way, I almost was a bit disappointed in the outcome, I really wanted to hear what she was going to say, and I would have loved to hold up my digital camera with pictures of Junior playing the game he wasn't supposed to, nor was he paid to do.

Oh well. One thing about this course though, the biggest obstacles weren't the moving doors, ramps, water bridges or windmills.
It was the lizards!

Man, they were everywhere here. I took a shot, then walked to the end to
find out where it came out and right in front of it sits an anole.
Then Smidgy shot and the ball whisked right past the thing within about 4 inches but it didn't budge.
But lean over and put your hand within two feet of it and it's gone!

And slowly, very slowly, I was chipping away at her lead.
The one other time we played mini golf her at Disney we did Fantasia Gardens. It was a few years ago and I blew a big lead and we ended up a tie.
I caught her on the 17th hole, I had learned the tricks to how to line things up better, and the 18th hole is just the "ball grabber" so once again, we ended up in a tie.

This next part really struck us as funny though.

When we tried to turn in our pencil and putters, he gave us a buy one, get one coupon again, good for right now or tomorrow, "Would'nt you like to try the other course?"
Crowds aren't an issue so they can easily afford to do this, but if we did, then they would have gotten us to pay full price now for the mini golf after all! And I think it's about 12 bucks a person there, we aren't talking the 5 bucks a head for Adventurers Golf, in Kissimmee.

I got Diane to pose for one more picture which she'll probably yell at me for posting this too.

We passed,and rumbled our way back to the resort.

In our room we grabbed some premade drinks and put them in plastic cups for walking, then put a bit of our liquors of choice in our refillable mugs and went for a walk to Old Port Royale.


We weren't ready to eat yet, (we still haven't even eaten at the food court), but we wanted to look again and see if we missed something.
I believe it is now 6:15, or 6:30, which is the time it starts.

This is one of those daily ritual type things the cast members are forced to do, I could tell by the first two notes of the song that started what was going on way to the side of the gift shop.

Back in '92, when I blew out my MCL trying to win a bottle of Cold Duck or Riunite, I had a sign made up and dedicated to me that hung behind the bar where we hung around at, this was a "just say no" sign,,,,,, to Limbo!

No, I never had even one small idea of getting out there and reliving "good" times. Smidgy would have tackled me even if I had.

We then added the mix and ice to our refillable mugs and got a table next to where we sat two nights ago watching Beauty and the Beast.

But it's still light out now, and Diane pulled out the dreaded, "Yahtzee!"

You don't know what frustration is like until you've played Smidgy in Yahtzee!
You could have the "probably odds" charts in front of you and work only from that while she keeps going for inside straights,,,, and she will hose you.

I get a Yahtzee maybe one out of ten times playing,,
she doesn't get a Yahtzee about one out of ten times.

I started and got a FullHouse. 25 points.
On her second shake she got 5 twos.

"I don't suppose you want to take a ten on your two's huh?"

You just want to quit right there, and she understands that,, "We can start over if you'd like."

No, it doesn't matter, then I'm just prolonging the inevitable.

Thankfully, it got too dark out and they started setting up to show a movie again. She ran back with the game and
refilled our mugs which we turned into another drink cuz now
I just have to find out what the movie is.

I couldn't have made a better choice.
We watched about a third of Finding Nemo, then Illuminations started so we left our great table and went up to the rail and watched that there.
You do get a pretty good shot of it at CBR.

Then we went inside to eat before all the theme parkers get vack and hit the food court.

I'm sorry, but all I got was a hotdog and fries, but I got Pickles and onions and lettuce on a small plate from the ordering station, then at the condiments I got little cups of bbq sauce, packets of relish, mustard, ketchup, mayo,,,
I could turn my plain dog into a Chicago Style Hot Dog by building a salad on top of it.
Besides, there, and only there, for some reason I make up these strange combos in the little paper cups for dipping my fries into.
Hmm, mayo and mustard is kinda a Dejon.
BBQ sauce is great for dipping fries.

Smidgy tried something different:

The Caribbean Burger.

This was a cheeseburger, with strange things that don't belong on cheeseburgers on it. Kind of a "Cheeseburger in Pesticide!"

One thing it had on it was plantains.
Plantains are bananas that didn't have a proper upbringing
and don't know what they are supposed to look or taste like, these just don't have appeal.

Her revue?
It was edible, but I won't get it again.

With that, we are soon back in the room doing what we said we won't do until tomorrow morning, packing.

Crap, looks like we really are going to have to leave, after all.

But it's to a bigger and better place, right?
Of course it is, it's brand new. It's on the Monorail.
It costs a fortune!
It's Bay, Lake, Tower.!

night