Hey Jaime, and Monica, thanks for the laughs.
And Connie? If you are that sick, there is a tr up in the completed section. It was my first shot and boy did it start out herky jerky, took me awhile to figure out what I'm doing. Crap, I still don't know what I'm doing. Anyway, it was placed up there on new years eve, I believe, (oh please, make me stop rhiming), and it's called "If it's Tuesday, this must be Epcot." the date might help you find it.
We're going to try something a little different here tonight. And that is to see if we can actually move the plot line along more than an hour. So this is gonna be, Uni facts and opinions, you know, "Just the facts, ma'am."
And NO rhymin.
And I ain't lyin.
Crap
Be serious.
At five o'clock, miss Smidgy and I left our room. Why? Because of our mission. That mission was to see if the "on line ticket purchase" actually worked.
The two manhattans have helped. My back is back under control, you have to remember, I am flying sans Vikes this whole day.
I vaguely remember standing in front of a mirror, holding this appliance in my hand, and seeing a giant flash. I'll let forensics solve that one for me.
Just as the door to our haven was closing due to our embarkation on our quest, I put my finger right in the way of the jam, to prevent the final closure.
Boy, was THAT a mistake. That door probably weighs 200 pounds, and once it get's a closin',
I smiled at her.
She's always liked my smile.
She says it reminds her of Christmas.
It only comes once a year.
I pick up my finger and run back into the room.
Using our trusty Sunny D bottles, I quickly made us libations to go.
A dirty job, but somebody had to do it.
Ok, I can't take this anymore, say goodnight mr. friday.
The walk from Hard Rock to Universal Studios is truly a stone's throw.
And the other park, Islands of Adventure, is another whopping five minute walk from there.
There is a guy standing at the entrance to the park areas, at the end of the walkways from the resorts. He is your go thru the purse, check the bags guy, and make sure your not bringing in any alcoholic beverages.
"Excuse me sir, what's in the bottle?"
"Me?"
"Yes, you sir, would you mind telling me what's in the bottle?"
"Me?"
"Oh, It's Sunny D, SIR!"
And I held up the bottle with the Sunny D label on it.
"Sir, Sunny D is orange, that stuff is brown."
"Yeah, your right, I didn't put enough cherry juice in my manhattan."
He laughed. And then he told us he had chosen us for this special givaway.
He handed us a coupon.
This coupon was good for half off an appetizer at the "Kitchen" at the Hard Rock Hotel. With the purchase of two entrees.
Ok, now , let me tell you something about eating at Universal Orlando.
It. Is . Totally. A. JOKE!
All 3 of the resorts have at least a "Few" restaurants. And they are all ridiculously priced. The Royal Pacific, which is the cheapest resort even has an Emeril's.
Even Emeril can't afford to eat there.
The coupon that was given us that required two entees to use, would have cost us a minimum of 60 bucks. Not including drinks.
What a swell guy to make us feel so "special".
the real joke part is that food in the parks, and especially at CityWalk, which is their nightime entertainment area, is totally reasonable. We have been now to Royal Pacific 3 times, and Hard Rock once, and never eaten at a resort.
On the way into the Studios, I see some young folks heading out.
"Hey! Wanna buy some free coupons?"
The one guy stopped and it looked like he was heading my way.
Diane grabbed me and shoved me off the other way.
We find the Kiosk.
( I just love that word, great word)
It's now the moment of truth time. Will it actually work?
I slid my credit card in the swiper.
The screen changed and asked for the confirmation number.
She punched that in, pressed "accept".
And,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
Out popped two tickets. All we had to do was sign them, and that's it!
Wow, worked just like it was supposed to. Easy, p
The ticks cost 86 a piece, good for the next 5 days.
To both parks and Citywalk.
Can't. Beat. That.
There are things though that I can beat, though, and very soundly.
The parks both close at 7.
It's not even dark yet. I have always wanted to see what "Islands" looks like at night, I'll bet it's terrific.
But, I still don't know. They only stay open later in the peak season, early may doesn't rank.
So with an hour and fifteen minutes left on the clock, we head into the Studios to see what we can "Knock off", tonight. We want to try to catch a last show, because it's the "shows" that will ruin your schedule. Just like Sea World and Busch Gardens, they time the shows so you can't go from one to another.
They usually start within 5 minutes of each other so they can keep you in the park longer.
We pick up a times guide and see that we have only ten minutes till "The Gory Grusome, Makeup Show.
It's one of those things that we never get tired of. It's way cute, and just a whole bunch of fun.
On the way over there, and the park is emptying out big time by now, it was a deja vu thing all over again.
There was Lucy and Ricky sitting on a park bench, just watching people go by, totally by themselves. Just like last year when we snuck in a couple of rides after check in, just before the park closed. And again, Diane ran up to them.
" Lucy, Lucy, Will you cry for me?"
And, on cue, Lucy started to wail, "Oh, why do you want me to cry for you?"
She was good, don't think it was the same actress, but she could wail.
Then, they sat back down and I took this.
We just made it in time to the Gory show, sat in the second row and then we had to check out the audience to see who was the two schmucks that were going to be chosen.
Actually, there are 3 schmucks. I promise you, one is always Japanese, one is a little kid, and the other is a good looking woman sitting in the first row.
Ok, spoiler alert, um, retroactive. If you didn't want to read that, pretend you're Diane, and it will go in one ear and out the other.
That was a joke honey. Honey?
The main host is going to make a grand entrance and do his dying scene with a knife embedded in his chest, and ask a pretty girl in the front to save him, give him mouth to mouth. Yes, Diane got chosen for that too.
And she was more than willing to comply.
She did balk though when he said, "Now, the way the French do it."
But this time we're in the second row, no kissy for smidgy.
It really is a lot of fun, and what also makes it fun are the little jabs they take at Disney. At one time he even says, "Hey kid, this isn't Disney here, I don't have to be nice to you!"
And that always gets a great laugh.
Ok, one "show" knocked off, no more shows left tonight, and we run over and do Jaws.
This is a really hokeyy show, and , like Jungle Cruise, the ride depends on how good the driver is.
I guarantee you that if you sit on the left side of the boat, the flames will definately get your attention.
My advice is to ride it the first time, left, front. And if you do it again, sit as far in the back as you can. It's pretty cool to watch the props all "reconfigure" themselves after you have gone through each "scene", for the next boat cominng through.
Leaving there I saw a smoking area and we had a quick one. Well, almost a quick one. I smoke regulars, she smokes trees. I 'm always done before her, and her 100's. As I'm standing there waiting, I see a young couple look at us, and take a couple of steps toward us. And stop. Talk. Another couple steps, stop. And talk. You could tell exactly what was going to happen next.
He was going to stop walking, and she was going to ask me for a smoke.
And he did, and she did.
I obliged, and as I gave her one, I said don't you want one for your friend too?
"Oh yeah mister, that would be cool, you are so awesome." The funniest part of this whole exchange was something I just can't descibe. Since I gave the smokes, and you have to stand right there and smoke them, they kept talking to me. And I kept looking at Diane and she had that polite, permagrin firmly locked onto her face. Once again, kudos to La La for coining that phrase, it is so perfect. But even when we walked away, she still had that look.
"Stop it! Stop it NOW!"
"I Can't!"
" It's stuck."
From there, we got right on MUMMY. This is an indoor rollercoaster type ride, that used to be in the King Kong building. As a coaster it's just so so. But the scenery and the props are just incredible.
I honestly don't really need to do Rock n Roller Coaster again. I'm just bored with it. But so far, I have not tired of THE MUMMY. And there's no loops. Even Smidgy likes it.
I think.
Anyway, she'll do it.
At five to close, we snuck into Jimmy Neutron for a final ride. This is an indoor simulation theatre type thing, and even though we know we once tried it before, it's not that old, we just couldn't really remember it, much.
So, we tried it again.
There was a reason we couldn't remember it.
It sucks.
Little kids might like it, but that's about it.
Closing time. Time to get out. And it's only seven. This is a main gripe I have with Universal, there is absolutely nothing for a nightime show.
No Wishes
No Illuminations
No Fantasmic, I guess they have started something now for the summer, but, hey, C'mon!
Back to the room we go, we pass by the same checker guy and I said,
"Hey, thanks, the appetizers were great."
He looked at us, and remebered, and smiled, but just for a second I believe.
When he realized that we are now just heading back to the resort that the coupon was good for.
I'm hoping he smiled again, couldn't tell, we were too far past him by then.
Back in the room, I'm immediately on the phone. Spent a good five minutes on the phone and never said one word. But got what I needed to be done, done.
The Walgreens automated touch dialing refill prescription numbers.
They'll all be ready by nine o'clock tomorrow, or so the robot voice said.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to punch in Four different prescription code numbers and work your way through the flow charts, one by one, with a wife saying, " Who you callin', ? You still on the phone? Now what are you doing?"
When it was finally done, I said outloud,
"Yes, I was going to order some Porterhouse Steaks, up to our room, 1008, but you kept me on hold, and I think they'd be cold, you big dummy.
Diane walked over, saw the one bottle of meds in front of me, and then knew.
"Funny"
coming up, mondays at Islands.
or Tuesdays with Morrie, can't remember. gnight
I am really enjoying your report.
, try and get it out of your head now! Muahaha!
)
