Orlando Tropical
Third weekend in July, a bunch of us went up to Orlando (Epcot) for my friend Christian's birthday. The following is a true account of the events of that weekend.
Christian, Dennise, Hans and I drove in my car on Friday evening, with Glen, Mandy, and Mike following, and got dreadfully lost. Phil and Kathleen had driven up earlier in the rented Mustang and had dinner with his mom and sister. Brian and Wendy had gone up earlier as well. Holly was there all day, getting set up and cleaning and making it look pretty. We finally got to the villas and met up with everyone and stayed up for a looooong time.
Next day - got up not at all early and got to the park by about 11. Wendy and Brian had to leave at 4 to make a dinner meeting, but before they left we managed to ride a bunch of rides (Living on the Land, Mission Space, etc.) and eat and drink quite a bit. After they left we rode Test Track and tried to get sake. That ended up being its own special event. We tried to go sit in the sake lounge but there wasn't room for 16 people. They wouldn't sell us a bottle, so we ended up buying a bottle from the gift shop and wrangling 16 cups out of a vendor. We sat in Japan and drank sake. It felt vaguely wrong somehow - drinking in public at Epcot, despite the obvious encouragement offered by the beer and wine stands everywhere. Maybe it was the fact that it was straight from the bottle.
We left the park and headed for dinner, at Sweet Tomatoes. I kept eating and eating - lots of potatoes. Got back to the villas, tried to figure out what we were doing. The original plan was to go to Pleasure Island but everyone was tired and hot and so we decided to just chill out. It was a nice relaxing night.
Sunday morning, got up (had to be out by 10), packed up, and went to Shoney's for breakfast. Holly had brought an ice cream cake for Christian so we ate that - although we did respect his wishes and didn't get the servers to sing and embarrass him. After that, Phil and Kathleen headed home (they had to return the Mustang) and the rest of us headed over to Medieval Times. They weren't really open, but there was a little gift shop that we looked in and then wandered around the place. Brian and Glen went down to the arena and probably would have played in the sand but for the gentle and not unwarranted discouragement of their significant others. There being only so much you can do in a closed Medieval Times, we then went to the outlet mall and shopped for a bit. I got a cool belt and a Hello Kitty notepad. And a lollipop. Can't forget the lollipop.
Headed back home, finally - made some dinner at Christian/Phil/Brian's house (hereafter known as CPB, for ease of typing), chilled out, and finally headed home at a relatively reasonable hour so that Kathleen could pack, as she was scheduled to leave at 8:15 AM the next day.
A nice trip, somewhere between exhausting and relaxing; or maybe just a little of both.
**By now, it should be perfectly obvious to all concerned that I will most likely never get around to posting pictures. So, I give you links to pictures instead: on Phil's blog and on Kathleen's blog.
Christian, Dennise, Hans and I drove in my car on Friday evening, with Glen, Mandy, and Mike following, and got dreadfully lost. Phil and Kathleen had driven up earlier in the rented Mustang and had dinner with his mom and sister. Brian and Wendy had gone up earlier as well. Holly was there all day, getting set up and cleaning and making it look pretty. We finally got to the villas and met up with everyone and stayed up for a looooong time.
Next day - got up not at all early and got to the park by about 11. Wendy and Brian had to leave at 4 to make a dinner meeting, but before they left we managed to ride a bunch of rides (Living on the Land, Mission Space, etc.) and eat and drink quite a bit. After they left we rode Test Track and tried to get sake. That ended up being its own special event. We tried to go sit in the sake lounge but there wasn't room for 16 people. They wouldn't sell us a bottle, so we ended up buying a bottle from the gift shop and wrangling 16 cups out of a vendor. We sat in Japan and drank sake. It felt vaguely wrong somehow - drinking in public at Epcot, despite the obvious encouragement offered by the beer and wine stands everywhere. Maybe it was the fact that it was straight from the bottle.
We left the park and headed for dinner, at Sweet Tomatoes. I kept eating and eating - lots of potatoes. Got back to the villas, tried to figure out what we were doing. The original plan was to go to Pleasure Island but everyone was tired and hot and so we decided to just chill out. It was a nice relaxing night.
Sunday morning, got up (had to be out by 10), packed up, and went to Shoney's for breakfast. Holly had brought an ice cream cake for Christian so we ate that - although we did respect his wishes and didn't get the servers to sing and embarrass him. After that, Phil and Kathleen headed home (they had to return the Mustang) and the rest of us headed over to Medieval Times. They weren't really open, but there was a little gift shop that we looked in and then wandered around the place. Brian and Glen went down to the arena and probably would have played in the sand but for the gentle and not unwarranted discouragement of their significant others. There being only so much you can do in a closed Medieval Times, we then went to the outlet mall and shopped for a bit. I got a cool belt and a Hello Kitty notepad. And a lollipop. Can't forget the lollipop.
Headed back home, finally - made some dinner at Christian/Phil/Brian's house (hereafter known as CPB, for ease of typing), chilled out, and finally headed home at a relatively reasonable hour so that Kathleen could pack, as she was scheduled to leave at 8:15 AM the next day.
A nice trip, somewhere between exhausting and relaxing; or maybe just a little of both.
**By now, it should be perfectly obvious to all concerned that I will most likely never get around to posting pictures. So, I give you links to pictures instead: on Phil's blog and on Kathleen's blog.
posted by Bunny | 15:30
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