The kid in us comes out

We have arrived in Orlando! We are settling in and pretty much wasting a day. We went to a presentation first thing this morning. They spent some time trying to get us to buy into this resort. It was tempting but not for the obvious reasons. We are in the “Weeks” program with RCI. Of course, the Weeks Program is being replaced with the “Points” program. When we bought into the Sea Mist, there was only the Weeks program where you bank weeks that you do not use and transfer to other facilities to spend your weeks. Then “they” invented the Points program which gives you much more latitude in the way you use your banked time. You can use it a day at a time if you want rather than a whole week at a time. The nicest resorts are all being listed as Points resorts so the population of resorts we Weeks people can transfer to are growing smaller. When Weeks resorts are overhauled and upgraded, they become Points resorts. You can get your Weeks time changed over to Points but in order to do this, you have to buy into a points resort. Once they get all of us changed over to Points, I am sure there will be another classification and they will immediately start trying to get people to buy into those to get their Points changed. A never ending cycle. Not this time!!

We did get a “breakfast” (Krispie Kremes, bagels or cold cereal) and a $100 Visa gift card so I guess it was an hour well spent. These presentations are pretty much the same. They get friendly with you. In this case it was easy as we both were wearing our Pats sweat shirts and today is the big Pats/Chargers game. Then they give you all the information about why you should change to the Points program. There was a great hesitation when I mentioned that we had seen this presentation before and balked when we found that it required that we purchase another unit. They gave us reasons whey this wasn’t bad but eventually had to admit that we weren’t interested and bring in the gun. The manager was just another salesman who had a different package. He admitted that we weren’t interested in moving in the near future but had a package of “stuff” including a pile of Points that we could experiment with and a free week back here in Orlando (for a fee that could be spread out @ 0% interest). I told him that Orlando was not high on our places we loved to visit but that every 10 years; we ventured back to visit the Mouse and his buddies. He finally had to give up and give us our $100 gift card and our $20 back (they get you to give them $20 to make sure you show up and then they call you a half hour before the presentation to make sure you have gotten out of bed). Oh, did I tell you that they promised that they knew we already had timeshares and they wouldn’t try to sell you another week but just wanted to let you know about a new program (that of course you had to buy another week to take advantage of). It wasn’t all that new. We heard the same pitch 2 or 3 years ago at the Outer Banks. This resort has just been renovated and changed from a Weeks resort to a Points resort so I guess they are making a pitch to get the people here to buy into additional weeks.

Nuff Said! Following the presentation, we wandered around the property and found 3 pools and hot tubs, several tennis courts, a basketball court, exercise facility and shuffleboard. With the football game scheduled for 3 pm, we did some grocery shopping (high prices and low quality). We also visited a flea market. After the Red Barn in Bradenton, we had high hopes but found little to be interested in. It was mostly T-shirts and beach towels and was very cold!!!

Our condo has a Jacuzzi tub in the master bath. We will head over to the exercise room and then hit the Jacuzzi before the game. We want to be completely relaxed. We are considering heading out to a sports bar for the game but might just watch it here.

The exercise room was a bit of a disappointment. One of the weight machines was out of commission. There were no instructions on the Stairmaster and we spent about a half hour just figuring how to make it work. The treadmill was a little more straightforward. We worked out for a while then headed back to the room. We had a kind of quesadilla with Italian cold cuts and cheese then we got ready for the game. It was a pretty typical Pats game. Close for the first half but the halftime adjustments made the difference. Good game!!!

I was kind of rooting for the Packers since we haven’t played them this year but the Giants won out in overtime. We have been amazed how many Patriots shirts and hats we have seen in the couple of days we have been here. After the Giants win, we have seen a lot of shirts from the Evil Empire too. Everyone is getting psyched up for the game. We talked to several of the Evil Empire fans and they didn’t seem too bad. It was surprising how many of them like the Giants, Jets and Mets and just hate the Yankees. They have a bone to pick with Steinbrenner and the way he has managed and destroyed the Yankees. They seemed to be happy that the Giants got to the Super Bowl and feel that their run is ending. They recognize that the Pats have a great team. I am not as sure because I remember 2004 when everyone said the same things about the Patriots against the Rams and we all know how that puppy went down.

We got up this morning and took care of some stuff. We were pretty slow getting going but eventually headed out to Disney. The last time we Disneyed, the Animal Kingdom was under construction so we headed over there to start off our vacation. We had no idea how many days to get but it worked out fairly well. If you bought 1 day, you paid the full price. Each day lowered the price; 5th day was $3 and 6 and 7 were $2 each. At this rate, we bought a 7 day ticket figuring if we threw anything away it would only be the $2 tickets. They did throw a curve at us. In the past, you could flash your AAA card or your AARP card and you would get a 10% discount on your tickets. Of course, that has changed. Now you need to get a paper from the AAA office before you come to buy the tickets. No more “here’s my card, where’s my discount?” There was nothing in any of the literature about this. I am sure that they are making a lot of extra money with this change.

Discouraged (we lost a $45 savings) but still excited like the little kids (and their parents) in the Disney ad, we headed into the Animal Kingdom Park. The nice lady in the ticket booth highlighted some of the activities that we should not miss so we headed for the back of the park and the first item. We pretty much ran by everything to get to the Safari and get our first “FastPass”. Then we slowed down and headed for another of the biggies. There seemed to be a large crowd for a weekday until we realized that it was Martin Luther King Day and all of the schools were out. Tuesday will give us a better idea of how busy everything will be.

Our next stop was “A Bug’s Life”. Of course, we were met by a nice young girl from Buffalo who in a rather embarrassed manner let us know that the Bug’s Life was broken and no one had any idea when it would be fixed. We spent the day around the park. This was Disney’s attempt to move from “make believe” to reality. The animals here are all real rather than the animatronic versions that Disney had heretofore been famous for. It was successful to a point. The big ride is the safari. They load a bunch of you into these jungle trucks and tote you through several different formats of Africa showing you the indigenous animals of that region. There is, of course, some hokey storey that runs along with the tour about poachers. This ride gets a C at best. There is a walk that does better. The highlight of the walk is the gorilla area. These are magnificent creatures and there are several of them to watch. It was easy to spend a half hour watching them from different vantage points. It brought back memories of the movie “Gorillas in the Mist” as you watched them in the vegetation. Best part of the tour.

They have a new coaster here. It is reminiscent of the old style wooden coasters but is still a steel coaster. It is called expedition to Everest. It is mostly inside the mountain but at one point, you come to a stop in front of a section of torn up track. They leave you there long enough to contemplate this fact and then you roll back into the mountain backwards. I assume that there are switches that change the tracks because you roll around backwards for quite a while in the dark before stopping again and rolling forward back into the sunlight. I found it to be an interesting coaster but not the killer coaster that one expects these days.

I did meet an interesting guy in the line to this coaster after Cheryl bailed on me. He works as an accountant for Disney Cruise Lines. He was just starting on a vacation stint. They work 4 months on a ship then get 2 months off. He says they work hard on the ship and don’t make big money but they have nothing to spend it on either as everything on the ship is paid for. He can bring friends and relatives on the ship for free. His last girlfriend spent more than a month on the ship. The bennies are pretty good even if the salary is less than spectacular.

We rolled out of the parking lot after the park closed and found that our condo was easy to get to. That is the best news of all. Easy in/easy out. Roast pork, sweet potatoes and green beans with a bottle of Pinot Grigio ended the day (and I pretty much mean ended). About an hour later, we were both crashed on the couch fast asleep. The end of an interesting day.

I guess my overall impression of the park after years of anticipation was that it didn’t knock my socks off. The live sidewalk shows were the best part of the day unless you include the cherry turnover with cappuccino (a generous piece of puff pastry folded over a large amount of cherry pie filling-whoa mamma was that good).

After reviewing the computer, I found that they advertised an extra hour’s program where one park opens an hour early each day and one closes 3 hours late each day. Of course, the first day, the computer told us that the Animal Kingdom closed at 7:00 pm and it closed at 6. Today, the late closing was listed for the MGM Studio (now called Disney Hollywood) so we head off. It closed at 7 so I guess we can’t believe their own web site. They have a “laser” show after dark and advertise 2 shows for that (7 and 8:30). This is a huge amphitheater and was filled to the brim for the 7:00 show. The shopping areas stay open after the park closes so people hang around there for the second show. The show was spectacular. It was a Mickey vs. the combined Disney villains plus some. It started out with Mickey directing music and dancing fountains. Then the fountains sprayed out into fans and animation was projected onto the fans. It was clever. It was intermingled with live action and barges with scenes on them and lasers and fireworks and a huge snake with the snake segments each being separate sections with people in them. The climax was a huge dragon which Mickey slays (sort of) to save the day. Then Mickey as Steamboat Willey comes across the lagoon in a 3 story riverboat with all the characters dancing and waving. Cool show even if we had to wait so long for it.

MGM has been freshened since we were last here (10 years?) There were several new rides/shows. There was a star wars ride and a great auto show. It was done by people who do the car chases and stunts. They were out of Paris and were originally set up at the Disney Park in Paris. It was an interesting show. Lots of fun.

They also had a new roller coaster here. The Rock & Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. As you can imagine, it is nonstop Aerosmith Music while you are in line. The coaster is unique. You go from a standing stop to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds. That is a real thrill. It is also entirely indoors and mostly in the dark. As near as I could tell there was one loop and one corkscrew. We might have been upside down more than that but I am pretty sure about those two. Great Ride but certainly a long line.

According to the parking lot, the park wasn’t real busy but you wouldn’t know it from the crowds in the park. There was still a 40 to 70 minute wait for the really big rides but the others were little waiting at all. It seems that the biggest part of the crowd was South Americans and Canadians. With the decline of the American dollar, the Canadians are streaming here and the South Americans are on their summer vacations. It is certainly not the walk in the park it used to be when you went in the off season.

Another evening of crashing early. We got a great nights sleep and are ready for the next page in our adventure. My cousin and her husband are coming to spend a few days with us. They want to see Sea World so we will shift gears for a while and visit with Jan and Shamu (not her husband). This morning, I have to put together a menu and do some shopping. They will be here around noon and then all bets are off.

Catch ya later! comments to estabrke@gmail.com

We're off to see the Wizard (or the Mouse at least!)

On the road again!!! I’m so glad to be on the road again. This has not been one of our better starts; however, we did get the accident out of the way early in the trip rather than wait until we got a whole lotta miles away from home. We were within towing distance of home. We set out a day early because of a storm expected on Friday. After studying the weather maps east of the Mississippi, we saw a large storm in Louisiana that was working its way east swinging toward the north. We gave ourselves an extra day in case the storm got difficult. We took the Camry so we were concerned. We hoped to get down into Virginia before the storm got bad. They were predicting snow and icy conditions late Thursday. We figured we would drive into the rain and put up when it started to get slippery. We would then sleep in on Friday morning, let the sun come up and head out. The storm was supposed to have broken down there and the weather improving. At home, however, it would be just hitting. Leaving on Friday gave us a very tight schedule in order to get to Orlando by 4 Pm when we can check into our Condo. Any delay with that tight a schedule could prove disastrous. Discretion being the better part of valor (and being retired), we decided to head out early.

I checked over the Toyota, changed the oil and got everything ready for a trip. We beat ourselves to death getting ready to go (at the last minute of course) and eventually hit the road this morning at 6:30 am. Traffic was heavy even on 236 as the Navy Yard traffic was in full song. We hit Kittery and the Interstate and headed south. We are headed to Orlando and 2 weeks of sun, fun and various assorted cartoon and movie characters.

The traffic continued to thicken and soon we were bumper to bumper at 75 mph. Then we started to accordion. We would be tight and close and then some space would appear then we would tighten up again. We were listening to WHEB on the radio and they were just starting “Fact or Fiction” an ongoing trivia contest between their news guy and one of the DJs. That was as far as I got. The next thing I knew was that the entire 3 lanes of traffic had formed a wall with no where to tippytoe through. I hit the breaks hard but the road was damp and slick. The Toyota’s nose took a deep set and slid under the Taurus wagon in front of me. The Taurus handled the ride pretty well but the Toyota tore its front end apart. I pulled around the Taurus, got out and went to make sure everyone was ok. There was a young woman driving with her son in the back seat. She was quite pregnant and pretty shook up. She didn’t seem to be hurt but immediately called her husband. I called 911. I have often wondered how cell phones handled he 911 emergency calls. There was a dispatch center related to the cell phones. He asked about the accident and its location. Once I gave him the information, he transferred my call to the appropriate dispatch center and they asked me much more detailed questions. I told them where I was, that the woman in the other car was quite pregnant and pretty shook up and that there was a child. He asked the condition of the cars and said the police would be there shortly; he would call an ambulance to the scene to check out the woman and would send a wrecker for my car. For some reason, I kept waiting for someone to say “You just wait until your father gets home!”

A local police officer was first to arrive and he did a preliminary check on all of the participants. Then he asked me to explain what happened. Next to arrive was a fire car followed immediately by an ambulance. The medic checked over the woman and the boy. The fireman determined that he did not need to call in fire equipment and left. Soon after, a State Police car arrived on the scene. The officer had to be 6’ 10”. He was an impressive figure. He talked to the local officer and asked me for license and registration. Right about now, the wrecker arrived on the scene. He explained the drill and hooked up my car. Once the paperwork was completed, we were off to his base. Once there, I tried to call my Insurance Man for instructions. There was no answer and I was shifted to a machine. I left a message but called again and went through their directory trying to reach someone I knew there. That also was unsuccessful. I was not happy until I realized that it wasn’t yet 8:00 am. Next I called Ben’s Auto Body, my favorite auto body. They said to have the towing company bring me to their shop and they would take care of bill. Soon we had returned most of the way home. Ben’s took charge of my car and lent me a car to go home to get my jeep.

With Jeep in hand and forms filled out at the Insurance Office, we once again headed south filled with much trepidation. (note: we just passed a rear end collision on 95 just south of Newhaven) Of course, the Toyota was full of gas and the Jeep was empty.

The traveling has been good although we hit little clots of traffic but so far, nothing big. I have turned on the GPS system that gave us trouble on the Alaska trip. Even though I knew the way, I turned on the GPS program. When I set up the route, I checked to make sure it went the way I wanted to go. Along the route, I turned it on and twice it told me that I had made a wrong turn and to get off the road onto the side streets to rectify the problem. I ignored it and within a few minutes, it fell back into the right route. Go figure!

We traversed the Bronx and crossed the GW heading into Jersey. As we headed south through Jersey, it started to sprinkle and as the temperature fell began to snow. We drove for a while but the traffic was heavy and they were moving slowly as the big white fluffy flakes faithfully fell. We moved with the rush hour traffic through NJ. The weather got worse as we progressed. At exit 8a, we decided to have a look at the hotels. The snow was falling heavily (big wet flakes) and the temperature had fallen below 32 deg. We wanted to avoid ice (I wonder why?). As we pulled off, we saw a Crown Plaza and a Marriot Courtyard. We hoped for something a little cheaper but drove for several miles and found nothing else. We figured the Marriot to be cheaper and checked it out. They wanted $169 (plus tax, no small feat as you will see). We said no thanks (only looking for a place to crash (not a good term today), oh by the way, which way to the restrooms. We used the facilities and headed back into the storm.

We discovered that exit 8a was not exit 8 in a specific direction but a whole different exit from the regular exit 8. Apparently they did not want to renumber the exits just to add one and they hadn’t adopted the interstate numbering system of mirroring the mile markers. We ended up at exit 8 (that’s how we figured out the numbering system) and found the medium priced hotels. Figuring that they all seemed to be in the same price range, we picked the Hampton Inn which we seem to favor.

The rate was still higher than we would like for a traveling night but with the day we had, we just took it. The hotel was nice. The room was large with a King bed and a fair bunch of channels. We debated a bottle of wine but thought better of it. We made some nice sandwiches, followed by home made brownies and a bottle of water then went for a walk around the hotel. We checked out the pool and the exercise room and decided that we were pretty beat so we decided to have a piece of fruit and a cup of coffee/cocoa and call it a day.

I checked the weather a couple of times and just before we went to bed, it changed from snow to rain. In the morning, it was pouring and all the snow was gone. I woke around 1 am and was all stuffed up. I could hardly breathe. I sat up for a while and it seemed to get a little better. I turned on the TV and put it on timer and was soon asleep again (I can’t sleep with my glasses and I can’t see the TV without them so I listened to a movie and went back to sleep. We awoke around 6 with a pretty decent nights sleep. I was still stuffed up suffering terminal dry mouth but we arose, got ready and dressed and headed down for the “complimentary hot breakfast.” Today was sausage patties and eggs (rather bizarre looking eggs; completely symmetrical but looking manufactured) with biscuits, bagels, toast, fruit, juice, cereal, yogurt and Danish. You were pretty fussy if you couldn’t make a pretty good breakfast out of that. We seemed to be the first to arrive and got everything hot and untrampled by the other campers. The USA Today seemed to concentrate on the Chargers and said little about the Pats. Yesterday, they had a couple of nice articles on the pats including one nice one on Junior Seau.

Ok, we got a lot of miles to cover today if we want to be within easy striking distance of Kissimmee tomorrow. Yesterday hurt us in a lot of ways more than losing a car. We set out under clouds but encountered little traffic that early. I couldn’t for the life of me remember the road in from the highway but as soon as I pulled out onto the road, I knew just how to get there.

Our goal was to get into Georgia before we quit. That would leave us with only a few hundred miles and we could cover that in time to check in at 4. Did I mention We were using a couple of our timeshare weeks we had banked? We had one week that was in danger of evaporating soon so we conjured up this trip. We threw in another week from our bank so we don’t have to worry about any weeks for a while. The motorhome has precluded us from using the timeshare weeks because we would rather go in the motorhome and make it a month long trip rather than a week.

We have been picking them up and putting them down all day. It is 5 pm and we are in the middle of South Carolina. I had a hard time keeping her from stopping at South of the Border. She always has to stop there and peruse the “crap” but I put blinders on her left side and we managed to sneak by. I know this will cost me before the trip is over.

While we were passing through Virginia and part of North Carolina, it was sad to see miles of the roadside forest cleared for future construction. They had cut down a lot of trees and soon there will be more hotels, restaurants and gift shops. I can see lots of places that they should tear down and build on and save the trees.

Well, I guess I ought to load this up to the blog. Send any comments to estabrke@gmail.com . put blog in the comments line so I won’t delete them.

Later!