AlexandNessa
<font color=red>Proud Redhead<br><font color=green
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2003
Ah, we were tired and we slept in. And when I say slept in, I am emphatically referring to that which is an inalienable right when staying onsite at a Universal onsite hotel. God Bless America. God bless unlimited express. And, thank the sweet Lord that I actually married the man who understands me and indulges my need for vacating approximately every 3 months, and that I didnt marry the loser I dated forever previous to Mike who wound up sucking me dry and couldnt afford the cable bill, much less maintaining the all-important Platinum status weve attained at the Loews hotels. But thats a story for Danielle Steele or the Lifetime Network, and not the Disboards, or this trip report that I am writing at 3 in the a(ngry) m(ike) hours and will just kiss up to God and hope it makes sense in the end.
We realized that we had been at Universal since Saturday, here it is Thursday, and we had yet to ride Spiderman and the Hulk. How did that happen?
I can tell you how it happens: after you have been to Universal so many times and you have an extended stay, you tend to say, We still have 4 days left or were coming back in 6 weeks. This also leads to forgetting to bring your camera. I dont mean to sound like we take our Universal vacations for granted. Well, maybe we do. Next trip, were going to live it up like its our last. Until we decide to go back 5 months later.
Now, I love the walking paths between the hotels and the parks, and this, honestly, is one thing I look forward to the most. Oh how I miss the days when those paths were Rickshaw free and not littered with the peddling peddlers. I wish they had their own path so we didnt have to regularly dodge out of their way as we try to enjoy our walk. Im sure they serve a purpose to those with injuries or cranky children. I hate them, however, and never miss an opportunity to say so in any survey I receive from the Loews Hotels or Universal. Thats just me.
And so we were off to a late start and arrived at Islands of Adventure at the ripe hour of about 1 oclock or so. One of the reasons that we started out slow was that I was not feeling so well. I figured it was mind over matter and I would NOT get sick on vacation. No way, baby. Only losers get sick on vacation, and I was not one of them. No way, Jose. I figured that I would stay hydrated and feel better once I stepped outside and got some fresh air. For the most part, I was able to get forget about that pesky little problem, and we enjoyed Spiderman, The Hulk, and both sides of Dueling Dragons. Mike also decided that he was hot and he wanted to do Cat in the Hat with no line. He usually doesnt like CITH. At least he never volunteers for it. There was no one in line on that ride, not a soul in sight, and I was embarrassed to be flashing our express passes at all. Mikes philosophy is that weve got the passes; we might as well use them.
Since it was not Water Ride day, we skipped most of the other rides at IOA. And, as usual, we also skipped Dr. Dooms which after how many visits to the parks, we have never ridden. Mike and I play chicken on this ride, and we always say next time. Except that weve been saying next time for 4 years now. Im sure Dr. Dooms is nothing to write home about. We ride Tower of Tower with no qualms whatsoever. Mike attributes his hesitance to Dr. Dooms being outside, without the safety of ToTs enclosure. Hey, whatever lets him sleep at night.
We did a quick run over to the Studios. Well, more like a light jog. Who are we kidding? Youre not allowed to run between the 2 parks. We always seem to ride Jimmy first, and there is no rhyme or reason to that either, other than its the first ride you come upon as you enter the park, and Mike really doesnt care for Shrek 4D that much. We made a casual circle around the park that included stops at The Mummy and MIB, and then, magically, it was 4 oclock and time for Happy Hour at NBA City.
Our buddy Axe was working, and we had two beers with him and went back to the room for a bit before deciding what we were going to do for the evening. We told Axe maybe wed see him again before happy hour was over.
We relaxed in the room for a bit. At 6:30, I had to light a fire under Mikes bum if we wanted to enjoy one more beer at Happy Hour prices. He reciprocated in kind with this pic:
Nice, huh?
Does someone look annoyed? Possibly?
On our way there, we noticed they had changed out a poster for American Gangster. I first stood with my fist to my chest. Mike said that was wrong, and instead, instructed me to pose like this:
Mike told me that was a Gangsta Pose. I dont see it.
For the record, the kid in this picture is not ours:
We made it back to NBA City by 6:50, 10 minutes prior to Happy Hour ending. There was only one problem: not only were there no seats at the bar, but people were standing 3 rows deep trying to order and beat the end of the special pricing.
Mike and I stood back and entertained ourselves with pictures like this:
Clearly, we are easily amused.
I happened to look up after we snapped the picture to see a beautiful sight: Axe had 2 beers and he nodded at me. I went to the bar, and he said This ones yours, and this one is the Coors Lite.
Thats right, baby. We were about 20 people behind others that were trying to order, and we strolled right in, got served, and didnt even have to run a tab. Woot!
Why am I feeling like a VIP at NBA City and not at the Hard Rock? Hmmmmm.
By 7:15, happy hour prices were over, and we were easily able to move to the bar. They have a video game right at the bar, and appropriately, Mike played the game where you have to get the drunk home. I wish I remember what the name of the game is called. Essentially, you have a drunken man who takes a huge swig of beer and tries to stumble home by way of an alley. You have to keep him straight or else he falls and the game is over. I believe Mike had high score. Well be curious to see if hes maintained that when we go back at the end of this month. (Seriously this month. Did I just say that?).
Our friend refilled our beers without asking, and we relaxed for a bit and decided what to do next.
We went to settle up, and our best friend said simply, You guys are good.
Really, no bill? Could this night get any better?
We left a tip, and decided we might check out Pat OBriens as City Walk seemed to be pretty busy, and Pat Os is only good when its crowded. We meandered to the second level of City Walk, only to find that much of that part of town had been bought out for the evening for private parties.
Figures. Mike went to talk to someone to find out what was up, and it would seem that that area would be closed until after 10 or 11 and was bought out by some businesses. Can you imagine the cost of that? Yeah, I want to close out the Latin Quarter, Pat OBriens and City Jazz and the area between the clubs for about 4 hours, and dont let anyone else in. Sure, for $237 thousand dollars you can. I dont know what it cost, but I do know it was big bucks.
It was then we were stopped by a pleasant lady who noticed that we didnt make the cut into Patty Os, and she apologized for interrupting, but wanted to know if wed be interested in a comp to the Red Coconut because they were having a charity event for CORE (Children of Restaurant Employees: http://www.corewish.org/). They were having a band (I believe it was Bob Mason?), and all profits were going to support CORE.
Sure, we had nothing better to do at the moment, and if youre telling us that if we bought a beer, wed be drinking for a good cause, who are we to say no?
They had hats and everything:
We had fun people watching. Check out this ladys hair. Mike and I tried to figure out if it was real or not. I was going to follow her into the bathroom just to see if she had to do a wig adjustment or something, but I was unfamiliar with the stalking laws in the state of Florida and rethought that one.
Not that I wound up following Raggedy Ann into the bathroom, but I must say, the bathrooms at the Red Coconut are among the nicest bathrooms in all of City Walk. Even Mike was impressed. They were only missing a bathroom attendant. Its that type of bathroom. Really. Im not lying.
Unfortunately, the band started, and it really was not our type of music. Wed had enough of the band after about 2 or 3 songs, and it didnt matter if we were drinking for charity or not.
The block of City Walk was still closed, so we made our way to the Hard Rock Café where the music tends to be more to our liking, and at least the beer was on draft:
Mike was digging me in my new hat. He went to snap a picture, but I told him to give me a second to get rid of my double chin. He didnt give me a chance to adjust properly, and in case you were curious as to what someone in the middle of trying to hide her double chin looks like, I am proud to show you this completely unflattering pic:
It was here that we met our new friends, Ann and Jessica. We chatted for a bit, and then decided we were going to over to Margaritaville.
Margaritaville was having a band that night, and they wanted a $7 cover from each of us. Now, I actually had the gall to flash our comped Red Coconut tickets (they looked like regular City Walk passes. How was I supposed to know that they were only good for charity and not bar hopping?). Needless to say, they didnt work, and I dont know what I was thinking, but I just stared at the kid, and he asked, did you visit the parks to today?
Indeed I did. With my annual pass. I handed him my pass, and said, Try this.
He gave me a look like I had about 7.5 heads, but humored me and slid my AP through his computer. To both of our surprise, my AP actually worked for free admission into Margaritaville that night. Now, did Mike remember his AP too, or were we going to have to fork over $7 for him?
Mike never brings his AP, but somehow he pulled it out of his pocket, and he was good to go.
Wow, is this new or a one time thing for HHN or did we lucky? I am not sure. Weve never tried using our APs for club admission before, and I dont know that Id ever have the cojones to do that again. If anyone knows, please speak up!
So, we bellied up to the bar:
We ran into our friends Ann and Jessica again. In fact, that reminds me that I have to send them the pic we took of them. Duh. I am bad about that kind of stuff.
Ann was celebrating her 39th birthday. We had lots of fun with them.
Lets just say that the night ended with even Mike dancing (that NEVER happens!). It also ended like this:
We had a good, fun night, which was fortunate youll learn why when I get to the rest of the report.