crcormier
<font color=green>We laughed, as it was quite appr
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2003
- Messages
- 7,862
Day 5 already. Its somewhat depressing thinking that Im already down to one full day left here. This is one place I never get homesick; it really is like a second home to me. But the upside is there are two exciting events that are happening on this last day. Dining with an Imagineer for lunch and a meetup with several DISers tonight at Jellyrolls. So my destination today is MGM.
Out of bed and showered, Ive now opted for sneakers instead of my sports sandals, since I have actually managed to sunburn the tops of my feet. But only a square in the middle. Not a bad burn, but it does look rather amusing to have a red square on each foot.
Along with the new attractions for the Happiest Celebration on Earth, the Flower and Garden festival, today is also another first time experience for me here at WDW. Today marks the beginning of Star Wars weekends, which Im quite excited about. I saw the first movie at four years old in the back of our station wagon with one of my best friends and his family at the drive-in. And Star Wars proceeded to dominate both my toys and playtime for a good portion of my childhood thereafter. So I am looking forward to this experience.
Remember how yesterday I complained about the 46 miles I had to walk to get to my room at the Boardwalk? Remember how you rolled your eyes and silently chastised me for exaggerating too much? Well, today that is actually an advantage. Being at the far end of the building actually lets me walk down the staircase two doors down and come out a third of the way down the canal walkway to MGM. So since it would actually take longer to hike back to the Boardwalk or the Swan to catch the boat, I just mosey my way on down.
I arrive at the gates to MGM and breeze through security to hear someone causin a commotion up ahead. (And it wasnt Brer Fox and Brer Bear. If youve ever been on Splash Mountain when it broke down, youd know what Im talking about. Over and over, youd know what Im talking about.) Lo and behold (is there such a thing as Hi and behold?) the entry way has been commandeered by Stormtroopers! Four of them on top of the gates, eyeing us, looking for rebels disguised in colorful, flesh revealing clothing. Which of course, is all of us. Luckily someone strong in the force has intervened and they dont need to see their papers. They can move along.
There's one... set for stun...
Armed with yet another birthday button I head into the park and stop for a couple photopass pictures on my way over to the Tower of Terror and the Rock n Roller Coaster, two of the best attractions in all of WDW, in my opinion. Lines were short, so I decided to grab a fastpass for ToT and head over to RnRC, which you could still just walk on. I zoomed through the line, marveled once again at Steven Tylers acting abilities (pause pause pause Wait a minute, I love that idea! Great singer. Actor, not so much.)
Since the line was so short, I decided to go for the front of the limo, where I had never ridden before. I had a young lady join me who was in the second line but was a single rider from a party of three. And we both proceeded to scream our heads off. It really is a much different ride from the first seat. I know theres a hidden Mickey in there somewhere, but heaven knows how anyone can actually spot it. Offloaded I jumped right back in line for a second go, this time for the last car. The most violent seat. I think I saw the Mickey this time, but then I realized it was actually just double vision from my head bouncing back and forth. Twice the ride for the same price. My brain sufficiently jumbled I walked over to the ToT for a ride there before venturing to the rest of the park. Technical difficulties caused one shaft to not be working. (Bob Dole doesnt like the sound of that.) (Twenty points for anyone who understood that joke.) So the wait time turned out to be about 40 minutes, but this was filled looking at details, watching the closed circuit TV at the bellhops station in the entrance, chatting with various people. (There are four different cameras to monitor queue lines, one in each room and two in the basement queue. So when you get to the fork in the line in the basement where you can go left or right, look up and to the left and wave. Youre on Tower camera!) Engineering finally resolved the problem, nothing like being the guinea pigs on the first ride after a breakdown to add to the excitement. But since I am writing this, I obviously survived.
It was around 10:30 by the time I got out of the Tower, and I had to be at the Brown Derby at 11:15, so I went over and grabbed a fastpass for RnRC so Id have one for each to use later, and decided to head down Mickey Avenue over to Star Tours to see what characters were out. I came across Boba Fett (Boba Fett? Boba Fett?!? Where?!? WHACK! My apologies to non-Star Wars fans for jokes you wont get.) Also a couple of sandpeople, who I think are really the creepiest characters from the original trilogy. Darth Vader was in the studio where you can usually get your photo with Sorcerer Mickey. Over by Star Tours were Luke and Leia (can she pick up satellite radio on those buns?) and an Ewok, whose name I actually cant remember, though I know it wasnt Wicket. Perhaps they couldnt afford his booking fee.
Boba Fett?!? Boba Fett?!?
Just after 11 so I headed back over to the Brown Derby to check in for Dining With an Imagineer, which I am very much looking forward to. I have never eaten in the Brown Derby either, so I had a lot of fun in the lobby looking at all the caricatures and old pictures, getting excited because one of them has George Burns and Gracie Allen in it eating dinner, two of my favorite Old Time Radio stars. (Yes, Im a comic book, Star Wars AND Old Time Radio dork. Its a triple crown of dorkiness.) The manger came out and gathered us in the main dining room to tell us a little bit about the restaurant. (One tidbit, all of the caricatures are actually reproductions by the main artist who used to work for the REAL Brown Derby. I thought they were just reprints, but this man actually came out of retirement to redraw all of these pictures he had done for the restaurant over the years. Now thats a heck of a detail!) We also were asked if we were either reporters or had our own website, since we would possibly be privy to confidential information and had to promise not to publish it. That agreed, we went into the very nice recreation of the Bamboo Room for our lunch.
Now since we were asked not to discuss anything said Ill basically have to just give you a review of the experience, Im afraid. And it was great. Our Imagineer is a graphic designer for the company and has worked on a slew of things you would see every day. He was also a chatterbox, constantly going off on tangents, the best kind of person to have for an event like this. There were eight of us, including him, and everyone was very nice. One daughter was there with her mother who was turning 85 today, and she was a card. When we went around the room to introduce ourselves she went on for about five minutes with her life story, then told her daughters life story, much to the daughters embarrassment. Lunch itself was fantastic; we all had personalized menus that we could keep and got a Tortilla soup, a Cobb salad of course, since the owner of the Brown Derby is the one who invented it, and a choice for a main course of beef, chicken or fish, with myself choosing the grouper, which was excellent. And for dessert, a crème broulet. He talked pretty much non-stop for the entire 2 hours we were there, and we all got (per party) a commemorative plate which he personalized with a message and signed for us. He also told us that Imagineers DO read message boards, so if youre reading this, HI THERE!
The entire package cost $75 with tax and tip included, and I cant cant CANNOT say enough how it was worth every penny. It truly was the highlight of my trip. And I am TOTALLY determined to become an Imagineer now, so, purposefully left nameless Imagineer, you can expect to see me around sometime soon! 
Purposefully Nameless Imagineer in Plaid Shirt
(A quick side note, if anyone who was at the May 20th lunch and is reading this, when I got home and unpacked I realized they gave me someone elses plate with the Horizons If you can dream it, you can do it slogan, instead of the Disneyland Paris Toad Hall sign of No Consumus Frogleggus. Im completely happy with the Horizons message, because thats a great one too, but if you want to trade back, PM me.)
Dining With An Imagineer Commorative Plate
With lunch over and the last few of us straggling chatters, I decided to head over towards Millionaire and the Lights, Motor, Action stunt show, two things I wanted to get in today. The stunt show has three shows in the afternoon, so I caught a taping of Millionaire before the 3:55 stunt show. Didnt make the hot seat this go around, but I did end up in second place by the time the second person lost in the hot seat. Ill come back after the show for another try.
I made it just in time to catch the 3:55 stunt show, and this new show is amazing. I really, really enjoyed it. If I recall what I read somewhere correctly, it was designed by a famous French stunt coordinator who does lots of big name movies, like The Italian Job. And there was also a cameo by Herbie, promoting his new movie. I love Herbie, though Im a little unsure of this new movie with all the digital effects. But now Im being like an Imagineer and going off on tangents. See, Im halfway there already! They did have an incident before one of the segments where a car malfunctioned backstage so there was a ten minute wait while they figured it out and got a replacement ready, so this was a great chance to see truly annoying people who are impatient about everything muttering and getting up to leave, only to stop and stand in front of you when the action resumed. I think not, sir, sit your butt down. The show concluded and I just sat there and applauded, since there were some truly amazing stunt drivers out there.
I wandered down to Star Tours and back to Mickey Avenue and saw some more characters, and an amazingly long line for exclusive merchandise, and got to be used as a human shield for a Gammhoran Guard protecting himself from a light saber wielding child. It was amusing, but probably would have not been such if I had been whacked.
Back to the Millionaire for a second showing, and a fastest finger person in the hot seat, I went at it again. By the end of the 1000 point question I was in second place, and by the 32,000 point question when the contestant lost I was pretty confident and nervous that I was in the number one slot, and lo and behold, I was. So for the third time in as many trips I was down into the hot seat. It doesnt really get any easier. I flew through the first eight questions, used the audience lifeline on the ninth, just to be certain. Got through the tenth and eleventh questions, and at the twelfth question (or 125,000 points), I got semi-stumped. The question was the piece of track that is used to change cars of a train while leavening the main track clear, and I thought I knew it, but none of the answers were what I thought it was. I used the 50/50 and was down to a wye and a semiphore. I had never heard of a wye and had heard of a semaphore in regards to trains so I went with the latter, since I would need a train buff for a stranger to have that be any help. Unfortunately, as I recalled later, a semaphore is actually a red/green light. Ah well. I now have three polo shirts, baseball caps and 100 through 32,000 pin sets. Any pin traders out there interested in a set of 10 Millionaire point pins? I have two sets Id be willing to trade.
After the show I went over and got my picture taken with Jedi Mickey, since Darth Vaders line was too long. It also took a ride on Star Tours in honor of the day, and saw a jedi training class for the kids which was really cute. They also had a lightsaber game where it was a video game on the screen and you held a lightsaber and fought with it. A little quirky, but fun!
The Cheese will be With You... Always...
As it was getting later in the day and I had people to meet, I headed back to use my fastpasses and take a final trip through ToT and RnRC, before hiking back to the Boardwalk. I got back around 8 and decided a quick dip in the pool and hot tub were in order (dont start any arguments about hot tubs and close my trip report!) to cool off and massage my tired muscles from the long days behind me. After a quick shower I trotted down to the Boardwalk and grabbed a slice of pizza to soak up the beer, I mean atmosphere, I would soon be consuming.
Nine oclock, and time to head into my favorite night spot Jellyrolls!!! I walked in, and it wasnt crowded yet, but most of the tables down below had filled so I squinted my way around trying to find someone that looked like RickinNYC (Rick), his partner Joe, or Bajanswife (Coco) all of whom were supposed to be here. Well, I finally looked up towards the bar and saw an average height guy and a very tall guy both squinting back at me, so I walked that way, and Hi and behold (I thought Id try it out) it was indeed Rick and Joe. Coco was holding the table with some friends of hers from Orlando while Rick and Joe had come up to the bar to have a smoke. We all shook hands and chattered for a while and then sat down to enjoy the piano playing. Tonight had Tommy and Chris (and I also found Michael actually co-owns Jellyrolls during a trip to the mens room where Chris was chatting with some folks), and Jason and Michael, a new piano player. Michael wasnt bad, but still has a bit more warming up to do.
We laughed and chatted and then Rick found a reason to be ashamed of being from New York. This couple came in already two sheets to the wind and between them had brought the clubs OSHA hearing safety level beyond parameters. These two were screaming about everything, and singing (if you can call it that) at the top of their lungs with every song and were indeed the most obnoxious people I have ever encountered. Poor Rick went over at one point to try and chat them up about being from New York, in hopes of perhaps placating and calming them, but she instead pulled him into her bosom, not knowing that was a futile effort. Though I am straight and would not have wanted to go there either!
There were a few birthdays, as all the men were requested to come up and surround a young lady to serenade her with Youve Lost That Loving Feeling. It has nothing to do with her birthday, but it is probably the best way to embarrass a woman by having 20 men surround her singing and getting down on their knees. Even drunk obnoxious guy sang to her. And then I think he high fived her. We sat back down and after a few requests had been played, I was up at the bar with Rick and heard my name called as I was beckoned to the stage. Seeing forced innocence on the faces of Coco and Rick as they pointed at each other, I stepped up to join Chris as we did the Tree Dance for my birthday. You know and the green grass grows all around, all around, and the green grass grows all around.. Yeah, that one. Luckily I had just done this one on Tuesday so I was fresh on the movements. What I was not prepared for though, and what I had never seen at Jellyrolls before, was someone getting heckled for being on stage for their birthday. Yes, I did say heckled. Drunk obnoxious Long Island woman was yelling boo hisss during the entire thing. Why, I dont know, but she was. And all I could think of was that scene from The Princess Bride. (All hail the queen of rubbish!) Chris and I looked at each other and shrugged and finished the dance and I got off stage, got high fived by the partner of hissy woman and went back to my seat thoroughly reddened.
(The obnoxious people did get ejected shortly thereafter when he spilled a beer on the woman at the table next to him. For the second time that evening.)
Chris and I Get Heckled Doing the Tree Dance
All this time Rick and I had been keeping and eye out for Sheri (EsmeraldaX) and her boyfriend Chris who were supposedly coming, and thanks to the fact that shes one of those people that never photographs the same way twice, we almost embarrassed ourselves with two different women we thought might be her. Finally just after 11 I looked back and poked Rick and we both agreed that this was in fact her and started to wave, just to get back a nice deer in the headlights, are those people really waving at me? look. When convinced we were in fact waving at her Sheri and Chris came down and joined us.
Me with Sheri (EsmeraldaX), Chris, Joe, Coco (Bajanswife) and Rick (RickinNYC)
Now Sheri is a big Adventurers Club every night fan, but after tonight she has admitted that she will now likely split her time between there and Jellyrolls. And since she did not pay me enough I will tell you that she did, shortly after sitting down and when we got up to bid Coco goodnight, spill an entire Smirnoff all over the table and my feet, which were luckily back in sandals and easily wiped off. (Hey, no harm, no foul.) Joe and Rick finally headed back around 12:45, since this was their arrival day and they had been up since 4AM. So Chris, Sheri and I stayed until the last song was played, and then I drove them back to the AKL where headed out back to see which animals were up that night and chattered until about 3:30, when we finally all agreed that sleep was no longer an option but a necessity. So I bid them goodnight and headed back to the Boardwalk and off to sleep. With Stacey. (You thought Id forgotten her, didnt you )
So today was a great day, an incredible lunch, another miss on the cruise, a great stunt show, lots of characters for dorks, and a meetup with 3 really nice DISers and their significant others. And please, no booing my report.
Out of bed and showered, Ive now opted for sneakers instead of my sports sandals, since I have actually managed to sunburn the tops of my feet. But only a square in the middle. Not a bad burn, but it does look rather amusing to have a red square on each foot.
Along with the new attractions for the Happiest Celebration on Earth, the Flower and Garden festival, today is also another first time experience for me here at WDW. Today marks the beginning of Star Wars weekends, which Im quite excited about. I saw the first movie at four years old in the back of our station wagon with one of my best friends and his family at the drive-in. And Star Wars proceeded to dominate both my toys and playtime for a good portion of my childhood thereafter. So I am looking forward to this experience.
Remember how yesterday I complained about the 46 miles I had to walk to get to my room at the Boardwalk? Remember how you rolled your eyes and silently chastised me for exaggerating too much? Well, today that is actually an advantage. Being at the far end of the building actually lets me walk down the staircase two doors down and come out a third of the way down the canal walkway to MGM. So since it would actually take longer to hike back to the Boardwalk or the Swan to catch the boat, I just mosey my way on down.
I arrive at the gates to MGM and breeze through security to hear someone causin a commotion up ahead. (And it wasnt Brer Fox and Brer Bear. If youve ever been on Splash Mountain when it broke down, youd know what Im talking about. Over and over, youd know what Im talking about.) Lo and behold (is there such a thing as Hi and behold?) the entry way has been commandeered by Stormtroopers! Four of them on top of the gates, eyeing us, looking for rebels disguised in colorful, flesh revealing clothing. Which of course, is all of us. Luckily someone strong in the force has intervened and they dont need to see their papers. They can move along.
There's one... set for stun...
Armed with yet another birthday button I head into the park and stop for a couple photopass pictures on my way over to the Tower of Terror and the Rock n Roller Coaster, two of the best attractions in all of WDW, in my opinion. Lines were short, so I decided to grab a fastpass for ToT and head over to RnRC, which you could still just walk on. I zoomed through the line, marveled once again at Steven Tylers acting abilities (pause pause pause Wait a minute, I love that idea! Great singer. Actor, not so much.)
Since the line was so short, I decided to go for the front of the limo, where I had never ridden before. I had a young lady join me who was in the second line but was a single rider from a party of three. And we both proceeded to scream our heads off. It really is a much different ride from the first seat. I know theres a hidden Mickey in there somewhere, but heaven knows how anyone can actually spot it. Offloaded I jumped right back in line for a second go, this time for the last car. The most violent seat. I think I saw the Mickey this time, but then I realized it was actually just double vision from my head bouncing back and forth. Twice the ride for the same price. My brain sufficiently jumbled I walked over to the ToT for a ride there before venturing to the rest of the park. Technical difficulties caused one shaft to not be working. (Bob Dole doesnt like the sound of that.) (Twenty points for anyone who understood that joke.) So the wait time turned out to be about 40 minutes, but this was filled looking at details, watching the closed circuit TV at the bellhops station in the entrance, chatting with various people. (There are four different cameras to monitor queue lines, one in each room and two in the basement queue. So when you get to the fork in the line in the basement where you can go left or right, look up and to the left and wave. Youre on Tower camera!) Engineering finally resolved the problem, nothing like being the guinea pigs on the first ride after a breakdown to add to the excitement. But since I am writing this, I obviously survived.
It was around 10:30 by the time I got out of the Tower, and I had to be at the Brown Derby at 11:15, so I went over and grabbed a fastpass for RnRC so Id have one for each to use later, and decided to head down Mickey Avenue over to Star Tours to see what characters were out. I came across Boba Fett (Boba Fett? Boba Fett?!? Where?!? WHACK! My apologies to non-Star Wars fans for jokes you wont get.) Also a couple of sandpeople, who I think are really the creepiest characters from the original trilogy. Darth Vader was in the studio where you can usually get your photo with Sorcerer Mickey. Over by Star Tours were Luke and Leia (can she pick up satellite radio on those buns?) and an Ewok, whose name I actually cant remember, though I know it wasnt Wicket. Perhaps they couldnt afford his booking fee.
Boba Fett?!? Boba Fett?!?
Just after 11 so I headed back over to the Brown Derby to check in for Dining With an Imagineer, which I am very much looking forward to. I have never eaten in the Brown Derby either, so I had a lot of fun in the lobby looking at all the caricatures and old pictures, getting excited because one of them has George Burns and Gracie Allen in it eating dinner, two of my favorite Old Time Radio stars. (Yes, Im a comic book, Star Wars AND Old Time Radio dork. Its a triple crown of dorkiness.) The manger came out and gathered us in the main dining room to tell us a little bit about the restaurant. (One tidbit, all of the caricatures are actually reproductions by the main artist who used to work for the REAL Brown Derby. I thought they were just reprints, but this man actually came out of retirement to redraw all of these pictures he had done for the restaurant over the years. Now thats a heck of a detail!) We also were asked if we were either reporters or had our own website, since we would possibly be privy to confidential information and had to promise not to publish it. That agreed, we went into the very nice recreation of the Bamboo Room for our lunch.
Now since we were asked not to discuss anything said Ill basically have to just give you a review of the experience, Im afraid. And it was great. Our Imagineer is a graphic designer for the company and has worked on a slew of things you would see every day. He was also a chatterbox, constantly going off on tangents, the best kind of person to have for an event like this. There were eight of us, including him, and everyone was very nice. One daughter was there with her mother who was turning 85 today, and she was a card. When we went around the room to introduce ourselves she went on for about five minutes with her life story, then told her daughters life story, much to the daughters embarrassment. Lunch itself was fantastic; we all had personalized menus that we could keep and got a Tortilla soup, a Cobb salad of course, since the owner of the Brown Derby is the one who invented it, and a choice for a main course of beef, chicken or fish, with myself choosing the grouper, which was excellent. And for dessert, a crème broulet. He talked pretty much non-stop for the entire 2 hours we were there, and we all got (per party) a commemorative plate which he personalized with a message and signed for us. He also told us that Imagineers DO read message boards, so if youre reading this, HI THERE!
The entire package cost $75 with tax and tip included, and I cant cant CANNOT say enough how it was worth every penny. It truly was the highlight of my trip. And I am TOTALLY determined to become an Imagineer now, so, purposefully left nameless Imagineer, you can expect to see me around sometime soon! Purposefully Nameless Imagineer in Plaid Shirt
(A quick side note, if anyone who was at the May 20th lunch and is reading this, when I got home and unpacked I realized they gave me someone elses plate with the Horizons If you can dream it, you can do it slogan, instead of the Disneyland Paris Toad Hall sign of No Consumus Frogleggus. Im completely happy with the Horizons message, because thats a great one too, but if you want to trade back, PM me.)
Dining With An Imagineer Commorative Plate
With lunch over and the last few of us straggling chatters, I decided to head over towards Millionaire and the Lights, Motor, Action stunt show, two things I wanted to get in today. The stunt show has three shows in the afternoon, so I caught a taping of Millionaire before the 3:55 stunt show. Didnt make the hot seat this go around, but I did end up in second place by the time the second person lost in the hot seat. Ill come back after the show for another try.
I made it just in time to catch the 3:55 stunt show, and this new show is amazing. I really, really enjoyed it. If I recall what I read somewhere correctly, it was designed by a famous French stunt coordinator who does lots of big name movies, like The Italian Job. And there was also a cameo by Herbie, promoting his new movie. I love Herbie, though Im a little unsure of this new movie with all the digital effects. But now Im being like an Imagineer and going off on tangents. See, Im halfway there already! They did have an incident before one of the segments where a car malfunctioned backstage so there was a ten minute wait while they figured it out and got a replacement ready, so this was a great chance to see truly annoying people who are impatient about everything muttering and getting up to leave, only to stop and stand in front of you when the action resumed. I think not, sir, sit your butt down. The show concluded and I just sat there and applauded, since there were some truly amazing stunt drivers out there.
I wandered down to Star Tours and back to Mickey Avenue and saw some more characters, and an amazingly long line for exclusive merchandise, and got to be used as a human shield for a Gammhoran Guard protecting himself from a light saber wielding child. It was amusing, but probably would have not been such if I had been whacked.
Back to the Millionaire for a second showing, and a fastest finger person in the hot seat, I went at it again. By the end of the 1000 point question I was in second place, and by the 32,000 point question when the contestant lost I was pretty confident and nervous that I was in the number one slot, and lo and behold, I was. So for the third time in as many trips I was down into the hot seat. It doesnt really get any easier. I flew through the first eight questions, used the audience lifeline on the ninth, just to be certain. Got through the tenth and eleventh questions, and at the twelfth question (or 125,000 points), I got semi-stumped. The question was the piece of track that is used to change cars of a train while leavening the main track clear, and I thought I knew it, but none of the answers were what I thought it was. I used the 50/50 and was down to a wye and a semiphore. I had never heard of a wye and had heard of a semaphore in regards to trains so I went with the latter, since I would need a train buff for a stranger to have that be any help. Unfortunately, as I recalled later, a semaphore is actually a red/green light. Ah well. I now have three polo shirts, baseball caps and 100 through 32,000 pin sets. Any pin traders out there interested in a set of 10 Millionaire point pins? I have two sets Id be willing to trade.
After the show I went over and got my picture taken with Jedi Mickey, since Darth Vaders line was too long. It also took a ride on Star Tours in honor of the day, and saw a jedi training class for the kids which was really cute. They also had a lightsaber game where it was a video game on the screen and you held a lightsaber and fought with it. A little quirky, but fun!
The Cheese will be With You... Always...
As it was getting later in the day and I had people to meet, I headed back to use my fastpasses and take a final trip through ToT and RnRC, before hiking back to the Boardwalk. I got back around 8 and decided a quick dip in the pool and hot tub were in order (dont start any arguments about hot tubs and close my trip report!) to cool off and massage my tired muscles from the long days behind me. After a quick shower I trotted down to the Boardwalk and grabbed a slice of pizza to soak up the beer, I mean atmosphere, I would soon be consuming.
Nine oclock, and time to head into my favorite night spot Jellyrolls!!! I walked in, and it wasnt crowded yet, but most of the tables down below had filled so I squinted my way around trying to find someone that looked like RickinNYC (Rick), his partner Joe, or Bajanswife (Coco) all of whom were supposed to be here. Well, I finally looked up towards the bar and saw an average height guy and a very tall guy both squinting back at me, so I walked that way, and Hi and behold (I thought Id try it out) it was indeed Rick and Joe. Coco was holding the table with some friends of hers from Orlando while Rick and Joe had come up to the bar to have a smoke. We all shook hands and chattered for a while and then sat down to enjoy the piano playing. Tonight had Tommy and Chris (and I also found Michael actually co-owns Jellyrolls during a trip to the mens room where Chris was chatting with some folks), and Jason and Michael, a new piano player. Michael wasnt bad, but still has a bit more warming up to do.
We laughed and chatted and then Rick found a reason to be ashamed of being from New York. This couple came in already two sheets to the wind and between them had brought the clubs OSHA hearing safety level beyond parameters. These two were screaming about everything, and singing (if you can call it that) at the top of their lungs with every song and were indeed the most obnoxious people I have ever encountered. Poor Rick went over at one point to try and chat them up about being from New York, in hopes of perhaps placating and calming them, but she instead pulled him into her bosom, not knowing that was a futile effort. Though I am straight and would not have wanted to go there either!
There were a few birthdays, as all the men were requested to come up and surround a young lady to serenade her with Youve Lost That Loving Feeling. It has nothing to do with her birthday, but it is probably the best way to embarrass a woman by having 20 men surround her singing and getting down on their knees. Even drunk obnoxious guy sang to her. And then I think he high fived her. We sat back down and after a few requests had been played, I was up at the bar with Rick and heard my name called as I was beckoned to the stage. Seeing forced innocence on the faces of Coco and Rick as they pointed at each other, I stepped up to join Chris as we did the Tree Dance for my birthday. You know and the green grass grows all around, all around, and the green grass grows all around.. Yeah, that one. Luckily I had just done this one on Tuesday so I was fresh on the movements. What I was not prepared for though, and what I had never seen at Jellyrolls before, was someone getting heckled for being on stage for their birthday. Yes, I did say heckled. Drunk obnoxious Long Island woman was yelling boo hisss during the entire thing. Why, I dont know, but she was. And all I could think of was that scene from The Princess Bride. (All hail the queen of rubbish!) Chris and I looked at each other and shrugged and finished the dance and I got off stage, got high fived by the partner of hissy woman and went back to my seat thoroughly reddened.
(The obnoxious people did get ejected shortly thereafter when he spilled a beer on the woman at the table next to him. For the second time that evening.)
Chris and I Get Heckled Doing the Tree Dance
All this time Rick and I had been keeping and eye out for Sheri (EsmeraldaX) and her boyfriend Chris who were supposedly coming, and thanks to the fact that shes one of those people that never photographs the same way twice, we almost embarrassed ourselves with two different women we thought might be her. Finally just after 11 I looked back and poked Rick and we both agreed that this was in fact her and started to wave, just to get back a nice deer in the headlights, are those people really waving at me? look. When convinced we were in fact waving at her Sheri and Chris came down and joined us.
Me with Sheri (EsmeraldaX), Chris, Joe, Coco (Bajanswife) and Rick (RickinNYC)
Now Sheri is a big Adventurers Club every night fan, but after tonight she has admitted that she will now likely split her time between there and Jellyrolls. And since she did not pay me enough I will tell you that she did, shortly after sitting down and when we got up to bid Coco goodnight, spill an entire Smirnoff all over the table and my feet, which were luckily back in sandals and easily wiped off. (Hey, no harm, no foul.) Joe and Rick finally headed back around 12:45, since this was their arrival day and they had been up since 4AM. So Chris, Sheri and I stayed until the last song was played, and then I drove them back to the AKL where headed out back to see which animals were up that night and chattered until about 3:30, when we finally all agreed that sleep was no longer an option but a necessity. So I bid them goodnight and headed back to the Boardwalk and off to sleep. With Stacey. (You thought Id forgotten her, didnt you )
So today was a great day, an incredible lunch, another miss on the cruise, a great stunt show, lots of characters for dorks, and a meetup with 3 really nice DISers and their significant others. And please, no booing my report.
