Two’s Company, Three’s the Mother-in-Law (Completed)

[xmattodx]

This is a trip report.

A trip to Universal studios.

A trip that was to be one thing but soon spiraled into something completely different.

“The Cast” (as they say):

You met Swell and Sheepie last year.

Swell and Sheepie live in Atlanta, GA but are desperate to leave (wanna buy a nice condo in downtown Decatur?). To that end they spent three weeks in late February and early March working in Nome, Alaska and surrounding villages.

It was cold. Although not as cold as Swell feared. Sheepie is Canadian. The cold in Nome, Alaska is no worse than the cold in Edmonton, Alberta. The cold in Wales, Alaska on the other hand…

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Their job in Nome was a temporary job. They were there three weeks and then anticipated having six weeks off followed by another few weeks of work.

What should they do with six weeks off?

No really, I’m asking. What should they do with six weeks off?

Because they are irresponsible adult-children they decided to go and visit some good friends in…

…Maui.

You thought they should go to Universal Studios didn’t you? It’s ok, they will. This is just the long version of the story. If you want the short version you’re <s>plum</s> <s>plumb</s> simply out of luck.

Maui was fun. They had a cheap place to stay. (A friend was between roommates so they just took over the second bedroom). Sadness was found in Maui. A very dear friend’s father, K, –who had also become close to Swell when she lived with the family for a summer a number of years ago – was feeling ill when Swell and Sheepie met with the family for dinner. Jokes were made about not being long for the world. Two days later he was diagnosed with leukemia and is currently bravely battling for his life in Honolulu.

K is a pastor of a church in Maui. His last sermon before leaving for treatment was on Good Friday. It was moving and many tears were shed.

Swell and Sheepie’s pleasant, restful vacation became emotionally and spiritually draining.

What should they do with their last four weeks of their break from Nome?

Don’t answer. This isn’t a choose your own adventure “novel”. What’s done is done. They went home.

To Atlanta *blech*.

To find more temporary work (they aren’t getting paid to sit around you know) and have their nephew visit from Edmonton.

And to clean their condo up (i.e. put junk in storage) so that it would look more purdy when the real estate agent starts showing it.

They were going to list their condo for sale… but that has become another problem that would be better told on a you-think-our-place-is-worth-what?-then-why-is-the-identical-floor-plan-listed-at-nearly-thirty percent-more?-the-building-is-over-priced?-are-you-delusional?-you-call-those-comps?
-they’re-not-even-in-the-same-city-now-we’re-out-of-state-and-have-to-find-a-new-realtor-on-the-internet? board.
Or a sub-forum on a board that just barely tolerates the topic.

Why, dear God, is this so long you may ask?

Well the author is literally stuck in the middle of nowhere and has run out of DVDs.

And is bored.

So bored.

Curse you Little Diomede, Alaska and your prevailing Northern winds! Let me go Nome!

Anyway to move along and get to the point/the gist/the climax/the food/the glorious food if the six weeks off turned to eight (a long story that need not ever be told) and an advertised three weeks of local work for Sheepie turned out to really be four days <b>over</b> three weeks what should they do?

Swell: “Thank you Sheepie for getting me those passes for Universal Studios for my Birthday so many months ago.”
Sheepie: “You’re very welcome. That’s just the kind of guy I am. I got you something that was really for me and gave it to you along with those other gifts – how is that broom working by the way?”
Swell: “We should use them before we move and to add to our emotionally and spiritually draining Maui vacation. Do you think we can go this week?”
Sheepie: “Well that is a very good idea. I think we should go soon. It turns out that I don’t work at all next week. Lets go and call it our Anniversary trip as we’ll be in Nome for our Anniversary and Nome is kinda boring.”

The preceding conversation took place on a Friday.

Swell and Sheepie hopped in their car on the next Tuesday with a two night reservation at the RPR and a four night reservation at the PBH (a split stay was required due to a combination of rates and availability).

Happiness was in the air.

Oh! Wait. This is still the “the cast” part of the story.

There is still one person you haven’t met.

Sheepie’s Mother-in-Law.

<b>Saturday</b>

Swell: “I told my Mum that she could come and visit me in Atlanta before we went back to Nome. She has five days off next week so she said she wants to come then.”
Sheepie: “But our trip.”
Swell: “Oh. Ummm…I’ll ask if she wants to go to Orlando with us instead.”
Sheepie to self: “But <i>our</i> trip…”
Swell: “Yep. My dad can get her a positive space ticket so she’ll be coming on Thursday and staying until Monday.”

So Mother-in-Law was on board. She lives in Washougal, Washington. She is a Romanian immigrant having fled communism over twenty years ago. Has never been to a theme park. Struggles that her only child didn’t move back home after 7 years of college. Struggles that her only child moved across the country and doesn’t write, call, or visit enough. Doesn’t listen to child when said child does write, call, or visit. Master at (un?)intentionally making child feel guilty.

<b>The Trip</b>

Swell and Sheepie woke up at 5:30 on Tuesday morning hoping to beat the Atlanta traffic. The car was gassed up and they were well on their way by 6:30. Pam-Pam (their trustworthy albeit temperamental GPS) was zeroed in on City Walk (the only Universal Orlando destination contained within Pam-Pam’s undersized database).

When they arrived at the RPR by 2 pm they were confused. They were also confused as to why Pam-Pam had told them to drive down a toll road this year. Last year she had done no such thing and the trip took an eternity.

They parked the car and entered the luscious and surprisingly un-busy lobby of the RPR. With Loews Gold Card in hand they approached the desk. As a heartfelt Aloha greeted them they realized that their vacation had started.

Check-in went very smoothly although their room was not yet ready.

That was fine. It was lunch time.

A short walk to city walk led them to Bubba Gumps. They had just eaten at the Maui Bubba Gumps and wanted to do a scientific comparison of the two.

Nah. They just really like Bubba Gumps.

Lunch was Fish and Chips for Sheepie and a Fish Sandwich and a Lotsa Lava for Swell (Sorry no pictures from today – camera was left in our luggage).

Lunch was, of course, great despite being seated at a dirty table. (When the waitress came and asked what we wanted to start with I simply said a clean table.)

After lunch we walked over to IOA to change our Costco tickets into real tickets. No problems with that so we decide to enter IOA. We made a beeline for Spiderman walking right on without having to break stride despite a 40 minute standby line.

After a very enjoyable ride we left.

That’s right we left.

One ride. And gone.

We were on vacation and were just going where the winds led us and at this time the winds led us to Publix to buy some water and fruit. While at Publix we received word that our room was ready.

We walked into our basic room and were surprised that our welcome gift of milk and cookies (remember we’re adult children) waiting for us. Delicious, delicious cookies.

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We looked around the hotel after checking out our room as we had never been to the RPR. We were duly impressed.

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Our plan was to head back to City Walk to have dinner but it was <i>freezing</i> out so we just headed back to the room. I don’t remember what we ate for dinner so it must not be important.

That was the end of day one. Day two would be our last day without MIL and was spent at US. I’ll write about it soon.

 

[Metro West]

Great so far!

 

[pixeegrl]

Love your narrative! Can't wait for more!!!

 

[NH-R-T-Cha]

Love It! Can't wait for Day 2 ...

 

[tlinus]

I really enjoy your writing style - cannot wait to hear about the rest of your trip......please continue

 

[macraven]

more more more .....

 

[xmattodx]

If this tale were a tale of fibs I would write “On the second day of their vacation Swell and Sheepie woke up at the crack of dawn to a beautiful sunrise. It was evident that today would be a beautiful warm Orlando day.”

Because this tale is not a tale of fibs I’ll have to write “On the second day of their vacation Swell and Sheepie woke up at the crack of 9 am to a cool blustery day. It was evident that today would be a not so beautiful Orlando day.”

Disappointment was evident in both Swell and Sheepie because of the cool weather but they would not be disheartened. They grabbed an apple and a bottle of water each and began their walk to US.

They choose to walk to the parks or City Walk more often than take the water taxi because:
1) It is usually faster than waiting for the water taxi
B) Sheepie is fat and needs the exercise
iii) It is a very pleasant walk

So they walked bundled up in sweatshirts eating their apples and drinking their water. It was a cold day.

So it was a Universal Studios day. No water rides. No windy outdoor roller coasters. Just a lot of fun indoor type things.

Being adult-children the first ride they wanted to ride was ET.

They arrived at the gates around 10:00 am for the first of many problems with entering the parks. You see Swell’s finger scan thingy never, ever works. One gate attendant hypothesized that her fingers were too narrow and light was escaping on the sides rendering the scan non-functional.

Whatever the cause may be it sure was annoying. On top of that the gate attendants would later in the week inform Swell and Sheepie that their <i>Costco tickets</i> were locking down the scanners.

Oops. Sorry for anyone that was behind them.

If you know anything about Universal Studios you’ve already figured out the flaw in their plan.

ET doesn’t open until 11 am.

They thought that they were being oh so bright in taking shortcuts to get to ET lickety split.

They got there quick as bunnies only to find the area roped off. Bummer.
What to do?

Well why not MIB?

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Jack Nicholson is apparently a ride attendant on MIB now. Times must be tough for him. Or he just likes helping tourists out.

Watch for him when you ride MIB. He doesn’t talk much but he’s there.

In the flesh.

We won’t talk about Swell or Sheepie’s score on this, their first ride of the trip. We will say that the lines were short, the ride was fun and that tourists are stupid. How many times must they be told to put their things in the lockers and to use only one of the three lines available? Sheesh.

In order to get to MIB from ET Swell and Sheepie walked by the Simpsons ride. They were sad that it was yet to open but took some pictures to tide them over until they get to ride it some other time.

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After MIB (they only did it once this time around as they wanted to keep moving. Did I mention it was cold? So cold.) they headed over to a new treat for them. Disaster.

Without giving it away it away they thought it was a hoot. A lot of fun. The second part of the pre-show (after they pick volunteers) was quite amazing. Very well done.

The wait for Disaster wasn’t too long either. It was still early and they were using their Manna from Heaven (FOTL passes).

After Disaster it was still too early for ET (you can get a lot done with FOTL in a short time) so they went onward to Mummy.

Now Swell does enjoy this ride but it takes her a little while to gather her courage. This is the unfortunate part of FOTL. She has no time in line to gather her courage. For others this is the good part of FOTL they don’t have time to lose their courage.

Well they walked all the way down the FOTL line up the stairs and with barely a pause were told to sit in Row 1.

Swell froze. And an almost primitive sound came from her lips. It sounded like a wounded animal gasping its last breath.

“Nooo…ugh..ooo”

Translation – “under no circumstance am I going to sit in the front row on this, my first ride of the trip.”
So they were ushered to Row 2. (Like that 2 feet really makes a difference).

Last year they had been disappointed in the Mummy as they had remembered it being a darker ride. This year? No disappointments. It seems that they turned out the lights once again.

Fantastic ride and the only thing that kept them from riding it again were:
1) Swell’s knocking knees and
2) The fact that it was 11:00 o’clock!

Time for ET!

They skipped hand in hand down to the wonderful area of Universal Studios that holds that fantastic treat of a ride known as ET.

They were among the first to ride that day. Sheepie was first in line to give his name and said “Hi my name is Ronald.”
Swell then gave her name “Hi my name is Reagan.”

Truth be told it took them hours to come up with such a stupid plan.

In the queue it was beautiful. The trees were still there. The spacemen were still there. Everything was as grand as they remembered.

They gave the worker their interplanetary passports (interesting note the family in front of them were disappointed that they didn’t get to keep them – the ride attendant ended up scanning them and handing them back. So if you want yours just ask.) and were soon on their bicycles.

Front row with a prime view of ET.

What a cute little guy they thought.

When they were finished saving the green planet (you’re welcome) they listened intently for their names… Reagan, Ronald…

Dagnabit they scanned the passports in reverse order.

Oh well. They still had fun.

After ET?

LUNCH TIME!!!

They love them some lunch.

Where to go when in US? Well Finnegans of course.

It’s a tradition.

They were among the only ones in the restaurant as it was an early lunch (around 11:30 am) but were still given a kinda crappy table. Oh well. The food was bound to make up for the non-prime seating.

And it did.

Remember that Swell is Romanian. She lived there until she was almost 10. When growing up in a Romanian family bread becomes an important staple of any meal.


If a Romanian is eating anywhere near you, you better hope that there is bread around. Or watch out.

Going out to restaurants is often a hoot with Swell and her parents. No matter what type of food is being served the cry of “Where’s the bread will be heard?”.

Asian? Where’s the bread?
Italian? Where’s the bread?
Middle Eastern? Yippee they eat a lot of bread here!
Mexican? This isn’t bread.

And so on.

And so forth.

Finnegans serves bread. Really very good warm bread with apple butter. A meal in itself. Yummy.

Swell had Homemade Misty Isle Potato and Leek Soup which she loved. Sheepie devoured the delicious New Castle Chicken (described on the menu as Grilled chicken breast topped with our homemade garlic mashed potatoes, root cellar vegetables and topped with peppercorn butter).

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No desert. Remember Sheepie is fat. He’s not allowed desert.

After lunch both Swell and Sheepie were feeling on the full side.

ALL SHE HAD WAS SOUP AND BREAD HOW CAN THAT BE FILLING?

I really have no idea.

But feeling full they were so it was off to T2 for a post meal rest. Sheepie likes T2. Swell thinks it’s too loud.

Sheepie likes it because he can actually see the 3D part of the show. Due to some minor eye issues (Convergence excess for those that care) he can’t fuse fast moving 3D movies. His eyes just don’t relax quickly enough so he gets a nice little headache and two movies for the price of one (i.e. double vision).

T2’s 3D parts are not all that rapid moving and Sheepie is able to appreciate the full effect.

And for that he is happy.

They just missed a seating and were forced to stand in the waiting area for some time. Wait they did as they didn’t really want to be anywhere else.

They were excited to see their favourite PR/media control woman as the host.

Not being facetious. They really like this one in particular (the actress if you want to be crude).

The show was enjoyable as usual and upon exiting the theater it was still super cold outside.

And overcast.

And blah.

After T2 it was back to MIB.

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Scores improved but were still pretty bad compared to many. It was after this ride that they started to question how they could do better. The answer to that question would be hotly debated for the rest of the week.

After MIB it was back to the Mummy and the back row. It was at about this time that they started to notice that the express lines were a tad longer than they’d ever seen them before. This would be a trend that would be hotly debated for the rest of the week as well.

They love the Mummy especially in the back row. The best row on the ride if truth be told. Funny faces were made at the camera. Sheepie on purpose. Swell because she was still a touch scared.

A big baby she is.

At this time Swell breaks the news: “All I had for lunch was a bowl of soup and some bread. I’m still hungry.”

So they got her a stale Churro (disappointing <b>and</b> expensive a great combination!) and a Starbucks.

Sheepie doesn’t <i>do</i> coffee as it is the most disgusting beverage known to man. If you want to drink garbage water go ahead but don’t expect him to join you. For that matter don’t expect him to drink any warm beverage with you. Yuckity yuck!

After spending a good long time with the stale Churro and the coffee and the people watching they returned to MIB. Scores still improving. By this time Sheepie was getting in the low 300 thousands and Swell was getting in the high 100s low 200s. This was better than anyone else in their car but not up to their high standards. They would keep practicing.

The lines were longer than they wanted to deal with – even in express – so they left the park after running into these two.

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And wandered and looked in stores and shopped without spending money and looked at what movies were playing at the theater. And took pictures.

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They eventually ended up at Margaritaville and shared the largest plate of Nachos either of them had ever seen.

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And had some drinks.

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But not those kind of drinks.

They don’t drink those kind of drinks.

Why not?

They just don’t.

Well Sheepie doesn’t. Swell does on very limited occasion. Like after hearing a sad sermon on Good Friday.

That’s right she went to the store bought a tiny little alcohol after church ON GOOD FRIDAY to drown her sorrows (well really it was for her ice cream but still!?).

Heathen

Day 3 soon.

 

[jakuch]

Thank you so much.

Karen

 

[NH-R-T-Cha]

Too funny ... (or is it two funnies?)
This is a trip report that I hope goes on FOREVER!!

 

[chrissyc]

Oh boy! This is a great report! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[tlinus]

loving the report - can't wait for more

 

[NH-R-T-Cha]

Hurry Hurry Hurry
My face is turning blue from holding my breath waiting for Day 3

 

[xmattodx]

Sorry, sorry, sorry.

Work took a toll on me this week and next week I'll be doing village travel which means 14-16 hour days and no internet(?). I'll write while I'm in villages and then have something up next weekend.

Thank you to all who are reading. It will be finished soon!

 

[NH-R-T-Cha]

Ahhhhhh (That's the sound of me exhaling)
Have a great week. We'll look forward to the next installment of your trip

 

[tarheelmjfan]

Great trippie! I'm looking forward to more.

 

[ldadar]

Hooray for sleep deprivation. Love your TR!

 

[xmattodx]

If Swell and Sheepie were to label the days of their vacation today would be simply “Thursday”.

Not a day that turned into anything special although there was hope at the beginning of the day that it would be special.

Today was the day that Swell’s Ma was arriving.

So the day started early. Ma was arriving at 6:45 am and Swell and Sheepie were to pick her up from the airport and take her to RPR for a short rest before checkout time came around. Then they would transfer all there stuff to the PBH for the rest of the vacation.

Sheepie entered Airport as the destination into Pam-Pam and they were on their way.

Sheepie: “I think we’re on a toll road. Do you have any money?”
Swell: “Yep”

Toll was paid.

Sheepie: “What the heck? Another toll! Do you still have money?”
Swell: “Yep”

Toll was sadly paid.

Sheepie: “For goodness sakes. Did you see that sign?”
Swell: “What sign?”
Sheepie: “The one that said Airport ¾ of a mile and Toll plaza ½ a mile.”

Toll was very grudgingly paid.

A toll ¼ of a mile from what is seemingly an important and oft sought exit further cemented the idea that some people have no souls in the minds of Swell and Sheepie.

But despite paying the requisite tolls they were happy to be at the airport. It’s always fun to introduce someone to the wonderful world of Universal Studios. While it’s fun to re-experience Universal Studios it is a different kind of fun to see someone experience it for the first time.

Ma’s flight was on time and despite her across country red-eye flight she was rather chipper.

She was, after all, in the same city as her daughter.

The drive back to the RPR was uneventful.

Traffic was light and the sun was shining – but the wind was blowing. Another disappointingly chilly Orlando day.

Ma was fascinated by the RPR. She loves Hawaii and spent a number of weeks in Maui when Swell was doing an internship there many moons ago. Ma felt that the RPR was able to capture the feeling of the Pacific Islands. She was particularly fascinated with the frog sculptures along the walkway to the lobby. It took many, many minutes to walk those few feet.

Ma insisted – foolishly – that she was not tired and did not, in fact, need the last couple of hours before checkout to sleep/rest.

So they checked out.

Sheepie is fascinated by TV check out. But has never, ever been able to get it to work right. He’ll go through the entire process and then the TV will say something about processing the checkout.

It will process.

And process.

And then process some more.

Just when he think that a TV couldn’t process anymore than this TV is processing it comes up with the wonderful message that the checkout could not be processed and they should report to the front desk.

As if.

He’ll never report to the front desk.

They’ll ask if he had a car.

Then he’d have to pay for parking.

He’ll never pay for parking.

Ever.

So he did the “quick” checkout of dropping the little piece of paper in the bin in the lobby.

He thinks the checkout bin is simply a pretty garbage can.

They were checked out and on their way.

Parking was not paid for then nor was it put on their credit card bill.

Score.

The car was loaded up with their suitcases and they made the long drive to the PBH.

Not surprisingly their room was not yet ready. An upgrade was requested. They are after all GOLD Loew’s members. The front desk person smirked a little as they said they would try.

You see there was a European McDonald’s restaurants convention somewhere in Orlando and the hotels were packed to the rafters with seemingly wealthy McDonald’s franchise holders.

Have you ever eaten at a McDonald’s overseas? Its like heaven. Swell and Sheepie NEVER eat at McDonald’s in the US but overseas? Sometimes you just get tired of eating what the locals eat.

They walked for miles looking for a McDonald’s in Cairo. They found one and it was good. For goodness sake they had a Chicken Big Mac there. No word of a lie Sheepie ate a Big Mac made with Chicken instead of beef.

They made the silly mistake of asking for a cheeseburger at the airport in Jerusalem. Apparently Cheeseburgers aren’t kosher. Who knew?

Any way the folks who sell these treats in European McDonalds’ were at the PBH in full force.

After receiving their Manna from Heaven (FOTL passes) it was brunch time and Swell was hungry. And only Swell was hungry.

First stop before brunch was

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Swell wanted to treat her Ma to a Mani/Pedi. Sheepie was invited to join them but refused because he knew if anyone in his family found out he would be ridiculed for decades. That and he hadn’t painted his nails in years…


An appointment was made for both Ma and Swell for a few hours later. Now setting up this appointment was not all that easy. It took FOREVER. Sheepie found the staff to be lacking. The services offered at this spa are rather expensive and one would assume that the staff would act accordingly. They didn’t. Very aloof. Didn’t look at you when they spoke to you. It was like being in Atlanta. Not a great first impression.

The staff told Ma and Swell that they should arrive 30 minutes before their noon appointment.

So the trio hopped on the water taxi. They took the water taxi only because it was there. Calling to them as they walked past the dock.

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Ma’s park ticket had been purchased online with the Pick up at the park option. So they went to get her ticket. They had the confirmation number available.

And it was long.

So long.

My goodness that was the longest confirmation number ever.

They had time to kill before the mani/pedi appointment and no one was hungry (but Swell and who really cares if she’s hungry?) so they entered US.

AGAIN!!! you might shout.

Again they would answer.

It was cold out and they were only going to do one thing.

Shrek.

They took out their key cards. Entered the Express line excited to show Ma how they rolled.

Front of the Line.

Royalty among peasants.

After standing at the merge point of the lines for a bit the line attendant kindly re-routed the line as it was getting too long.

This wonderful re-routing started by telling Swell, Sheepie and Ma to turn and walk down this way and that way. It soon dawned on them.

They were being re-routed to the back of the stand by line AFTER group after group had entered the stand by line.

They would have been further ahead in the line had they entered the standby line rather than the express line.

Irritating.

Because they are above standing in such long lines.

But it was Shrek and half of the city of Orlando can be seated in that theater.

So they Shreked. And Ma screamed and dug her undone nails into Swell’s arm throughout the show.

And her introduction to fun began.

Swell’s parents don’t do fun.

They do work and they do home and they do travel to Bucharest, Romania but they don't do fun.

As everyone knows Bucharest is the armpit of Romania and worse than that is Pantelimon which is a small community located on the outskirts of Bucharest.

If Bucharest is the armpit of Romania, Pantelimon (where Ma’s family lives) is the infected sweat gland of the armpit of Romania.

Yuck and blech. Bucharest/Pantelimon is as far from fun as one can get.

Dang communists took away all the fun and it has yet to return.

But Shrek was fun and Swell was hungry.

And they had to leave fun for pampering.

And that would be fun.

And Swell was hungry. And a hungry Swell is not fun.

It was too early for a big meal so they walked back to the PBH enjoying the wildlife along the way.

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Now the PBH is a great hotel. Great to look at.

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Nice rooms. But they do lack affordable food. So Swell got a very, very expensive bagel (Point of information – if you are staying at PBH BYOB (bring your own bagels)) and ate it.

And liked it.

But hated that it was so expensive.

But it solved the hunger problem.

They sat and watched the sights. The rich McDonald’s kids throwing balls around.

The rich McDonald’s kids chasing birds.

The rich McDonald’s Dad ensuring that all those around him knew that he was on the phone with someone and they were going to do a multi-million dollar McDonald’s deal.

You go European McDonald’s dude. You go.

Well it was nearly 11:30 and as luck would have it Sheepie was getting hungry.

Well let’s not lie. He was always hungry. He just wasn’t saying anything because he had a plan.

His plan was to gorge himself on bad food while the women were being more beautified.

So they headed over to the Spa and while the women were checking in for their appointment Sheepie was ordering food from that place by the pool.

Hamburger please.

Of course I’ll take fries with that.

Oh and a coke thank you very much.

His sneakiness didn’t work though.

Because just as he ordered his food and picked up his coke Swell and Ma appeared.

Swell: “Well we went in to check in for our appointment and they said ‘Well you’re early so you’ll just have to sit and wait.’”
Sheepie: “But they told you to come early.”
Swell: “I know. You know. Apparently they forgot.”

So they sat some more. Sheepie hoping they were gone before his food arrived.

They weren’t.

Ma and Swell didn’t say anything.

But they were thinking it.

Noon rolled around.

Ma and Swell went to the Spa. Sheepie went to the poolside and found a nice lounge chair under an umbrella.

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Very important that someone with Sheepie’s pigmentation (read lack thereof) get an umbrealla.

And he sat.

And sat.

And sat some more.

While he sat he waited.

And waited.

And waited.

He heard a pool staff member get yelled at for being late to work the previous day. (Ummm… recommendation. Manager of the pool people go to the office to ream your staff out. Vacationers don’t want to hear your staffing issues.)

He also saw a young girl of 7 or 8 who he is sure was a McDonald’s daughter running around topless.

He was pleasantly surprised that the pool staff tracked the parents down and told them she needed to put a top on.

Well they didn’t tell them. They pantomimed it as it seems that the family did not speak English.

The five minutes of pantomiming was quite entertaining as Sheepie waited. And waited.

How long can a mani/pedi take?

Apparently two hours.

And the women weren’t even that impressed.

True they had fun but hey found the service to still be lacking.

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And Swell got poked with some instrument of torture. A little blood was drawn but luckily an infection never followed. They weren’t offered more than flavored water to drink. Basically it wasn’t worth the money. Swell thought her Pedicure in Maui was far superior even though it was done in a strip mall for ¼ of the price.

So if you’re going to Universal Studios don’t feel bad about skipping the spa for more time eating and playing.

Coming up: Back to US. Again? Again. And the now infamous PBH room debacle.

 

[pixeegrl]

waiting for more more more!!!!

 

[macraven]

i don't understand why you wanted to get out of paying the charge for parking your car at the hotel?

 

[xmattodx]

i don't understand why you wanted to get out of paying the charge for parking your car at the hotel?

Thank you. That part of the "trip report" was only partially true (artistic license). I was perfectly willing to pay for parking. For some reason we've never, ever been billed. We've told them we have a car each time we've gone and have never been billed.

We never had to scan our card to get in or out. The gate was always opened for us by the attendant. I've read others haven't paid for parking either.