schumigirl
It's a bit of a roodie doodie word for lady parts
- Joined
- May 15, 2007
I think I need to not write as much as it took 3 posts to cover one day.....lol.......oh dear........
Oh you didn’t miss much this year with HHN.......it was the poorest year we have ever seen....
oh nooo...bummer to hear that We are looking fwd to doing HHN for the first time in years, so hope we're not too disappointed. (But honestly, not having been there in a while and not really knowing many of the IP houses other than shining and a little AHS, we're probably ridiculously easy to please. You guys are the real HHN experts, so you're probably harder to impress than us.) LOL.
While I wish you both would have enjoyed HHN more, it still sounds like you had a good time anyway!
True, MVille's food is not as good anymore, I do love their atmosphere, as I'm a big Buffet fan. I like their burgers and especially their Margarita flight.
Appreciate the time you invest to write such a detailed, interesting TR.
Yay.....someone else who knows F1!!!
I grew up on F1.......was lucky enough to have family members in the business and got to many races quite young. And loved the fact when I met Tom he was as big a fan as I was...........
Love Kimi Raikkonen........he is such a character......something that is lacking these days in the business........our guy now is Sebastian Vettel and we do like Ferrari.......Vettel was Michael Schumacher’s protege.......now, Michael is our ultimate hero in sports. We first saw him race before he ever hit F1......he was always amazing and to us there will never be anyone’s like him......hence my user name.........miss him dreadfully.
We do like Fernando Alonso too......he is quite resilient despite having no luck last few years and has a good sense of humour about his lack of performance this last few years........but the guy we detest is Lewis Hamilton........can’t stand the guy....and he’s going to win the WDC this year........sadly.
European GP’s are generally good........Spa is a classic and funnily enough our two least favourites are the British Grand Prix and Monaco.........yep, the history in Monaco is amazing but the race is usually quite dull........not enough overtaking apart from a few moments of magic..........it’s a nice weekend but there are so many better races.......
It’s a sad reflection of what it used to be though.......too many restrictions and limits today......we miss the F1 of 10-15 year’s ago........when it really was the pinnacle of motor sport.............politics and money now control it.
But.......Orlando.......yes, coconut shrimp and key lime pie were two things we did enjoy in M’Ville.......and yep, the cocktails are nice!!!!
You must be around the same age as me or younger as I loved the Elm st and particularly Halloween movies came out........they were unbeatable as scary movies..........
Glad you’re still enjoying reading.........
You write as much as you like - we love every minute of it and are sad when it ends!I think I need to not write as much as it took 3 posts to cover one day.....lol.......oh dear........
I remember the dragon coaster from years back, at that point there was no potter and I remember it being fairly secluded so we could just walk on. Its a little disheartening that they are not replacing it with another serious coaster ride. I love universal and Disney, but they can be a little too tame.
I didn't grow up liking autoracing. My husband has been a fan for a long time, and I got into when we met over 20 years ago. I grew up liking fast cars though. Everyone in my family is into cars and many had automobile related jobs. We go to the Indy 500 almost every year, but we haven't got to do F1 a lot until they built the track here in Austin. We even camped out in the infield at 24 Hours of Le Mans with our son when he was 3 Vettel is a very talented driver. I liked him more when he started out. That's true of a lot of the drivers though. They are usually so much more unassuming and humble then. Our son's name is Alex after one of our favorite drivers (F1 a little, but mostly American open-wheel racing), Alex Zanardi. Our other choices before he was born were Alonso, whom we liked a lot at the time, and Max after another American open-wheel and sports car driver, Max Papis. But he looked like an Alex. We liked Hamilton when he first started, but his attitude has gone down hill. I think my favorite driver of all time though, both American open wheel and F1, is Juan Pablo Montoya. I love his attitude, and he's one of those drivers that thrives on the edge of control. He has the fastest hands I have ever seen. Plus, we like BMWs a lot and loved that he raced for them in F1.
Monaco is definitely not a good race for racing, but we love the history and the movie Grand Prix. Spa would be awesome. That track is amazing. Silverstone just doesn't look interesting to us either. I would have loved to see a race at the old Nordschleife at the Nurburgring. We tried to take our rental car on it when we visited Germany the first time, but the track had been rented out. When we went to Italy, we visited the Ferrari museum in Modena and tried to peek through the fence at the track to see them testing. They have the best hot chocolate in the world in the cafe at the museum
I turn 45 next month, so not too far behind you. Those movies were so scary when they came out. I used to love being scared. Nightmare on Elm St is still pretty scary. Friday the 13th is just too predictable now. I still love Halloween. Jamie Curtis is such an awesome female "victim". She's really strong, smart, and pretty, unlike most of those obnoxious characters. My son really enjoyed watching it. I like John Carpenter though. We saw an amazing interview with him by Robert Rodriguez on the El Rey network. He had to do a lot of that movie, including the sound track, himself, because the budget was so low.
I love Port of Entry. I don't know why I haven't been in the Christmas shop. We love the Grinch, and I didn't know they had such cool stuff. That is a must on our next trip. Do you ever listen to the Unofficial Universal Orlando Podcast. They had a cool episode where they spent the entire time discussing Port of Entry and it's backstory. We don't spend enough time there though, because we are usually in a hurry at park opening and are usually beat when we are leaving.
I laughed at your description of a trip to Walmart. I go with a list, and always leave with many more items that were not on the list! I think htey jump into the cart.
Creme Brulee is my favorite dessert ever (I have been known to pick restaurants based on having it listed on the menu!)
I adore your detailed posts, please do not shorten them.
Your report is part of my day, I make my hot tea, log on and slowly read (and re-read) your posts.
You write as much as you like - we love every minute of it and are sad when it ends!
I enjoyed all the Port of Entry pics. I love theming and background music of that area. Great Hogsmeade shots, as well. I'm very excited to see what is put in the place of Dragon Challenge.
You both looked great for your meal at The Palm. The food looked delicious. Great installments as always!
THURSDAY cont.........
Quickest shower and change of clothes ever which we had to wait for as our room hadn't been cleaned. I can live without my bed being made, but I wanted clean towels and products.......tried to call housekeeping from the room but it was permanently engaged. So I went down to the front desk to ask if we could get fresh towels and products....I really did expect the room to have been done at this time of day. I went back up and within 10 minutes a young lady appeared with a mass of towels and products and asked rather surprisingly did we want our room serviced.....why she had to ask I don't know, we said no it was fine just the towels.............but again, I have to say the hotel was immaculately clean and most of the staff were very friendly excluding the two at check in........
One of the managers we had spoken to stopped us on the way out and asked how our stay was and I asked if she really wanted to know......she laughed it off really, but asked if she could help with anything........actually there was, we told her we needed a car to take us to JFK tomorrow afternoon around 4.30pm. We had been told b the concierge in the NY Palace that cab drivers wouldn't be keen at that time of the day as it was change of shift........so we asked if she could arrange a car for us. She said yes, they used a company regularly and she would book it for us. We just had to be outside and it would be there. The cost was only $20 more than a cab, plus tip of course.....it would save us worrying about getting there..........we thanked her and headed outside.
So we headed to the pub next door......another local institution that was a local lifeline after the attacks. It was called O` Hara`s......I don't usually go into places like this but again, it was historic. The place was filled with badges of police and Fire officers badges from all over the world all hanging all around every wall in the place.........very emotional again.........but we sat at the bar and Tom ordered a beer and I ordered a white wine........going by the reviews we were unlucky.......we got the unfriendly barman........but, turns out he was sick.....literally........I tasted the wine and it was disgusting.......so I just didn't drink it.....it was a nice place to sit though and incredibly busy with folks from all different walks of life......every walk of life!!! We didn't plan to eat there as Irish pub menu`s don`t appeal to me in the slightest, but the food did look good.
We asked for the check and another barman asked if we could wait while our original barman threw up....he would be back.......the look of horror that stretched across my face must have been visible as he asked if id never thrown up and laughed.........eh just the check buddy and we`ll pay it now.......at this point I told him the wine was dreadful.......he then told me I was in an Irish pub........I was mad......then noticed the giant vat the wine had come from.....yuk......Tom said we weren't paying for it....so he just flung out some random cost for the beer.........and he was annoyed.......sorry buddy, this place might have the heart of the locals and I can see why, but he was the only person in 10 years we didn't tip. I wouldn't go back. Which is a shame as it does get a lot of love.
We planned to wander over the other side of the street and see the Westfield Mall.......it looked so pretty.......but first we stopped off at The Fritz Koenig Sphere.
This was originally the centerpiece of the World Trade Centre.........but though badly damaged in the attacks it survived. Without going into the whole story, it had been in Battery Park for years.......thanks to the efforts of some like Michael Burke who`s firefighter brother died that day it now overlooks the Plaza of the National 9/11 Memorial. Strangely they didn't want it to be part of the display they have in there. It`s bronze and an impressive 27 foot high.
Again, it`s quite a reflective place to be, but not as sobering as the pools.........and it feels right actually where they have put it. I have no clue as to the politics of it, but I`m glad it`s still there as an eternal symbol.
This was a nice place across the street........and strangely enough I had been in part of this building before. I saw the ground floor and realized that in 2013 my niece and I had gone on there with a little tour and they let us take pictures across the street to the then unfinished new tower........so I took a picture to show her.....and we headed around to where the shops were.......
Now this impressed me.........it almost made the Mall at Millenia look dull and lackluster!!! It was sparklingly clean and everything was immaculate.....and it did have some very nice stores. We mostly window shopped but did want to look for something to eat too.......we knew where the food court was but first we wanted to go out here.........
I was amazed how close we were to the river.....now I know Manhattan is narrow, but I forget just how narrow at times.....and didn't realise the river was just across the street from us.......it was beautiful here........really tranquil but at the same time it was buzzing.......so many restaurants around and places to have a drink and they were full of people.......this was an area that would be so much fun to spend some time.........
We sat and had a glass of champagne and watched the changing light over the water.......it was warm and the atmosphere was so nice......we did choose somewhere a little quieter as there was a few bars that were very raucous and we just wanted to sit somewhere we could hear ourselves think a little.....maybe we were indeed getting old......lol......it was almost perfect, and the champagne was nice too.
We headed back inside the mall as Tom was getting hungry now.........unusual for him as it`s usually me......he`s the type that can go all day without food or drink.......me?? I start shaking if I don't eat regularly........I don't know how he does it.......but he was quite hungry........so we started back inside and planned to have a look at a few stores before checking out the food court........
We wandered around for quite a while and the food court was indeed nice, but nothing really appealed........what we both admitted we wanted was pizza again.......and a lot of pizza!!! This was my kind of guy...........now I felt hungry!!!
So we set off back through the mall and headed back over the walkway that crossed that busy road and back to the Trade Centre side of the road......we had enjoyed the waterside area and would have spent longer if strangely, we had more time. We did like this downtown area, there was so much to do and see and we hadn't even touched the surface of things we would have liked to have done.
But for now........food was calling........we had seen a few pizza places around the hotel, but one had caught our eye and I vaguely remember someone mentioning it at some point.......but who it was evaded me at this point.......it literally was next to the Essex Café we had enjoyed eating in.....and didn't look the fanciest of places, but there were seats inside and loads of choices of pizza........I do like different toppings on pizza and adore bbq sauce as a base.......something that some regard as a cardinal sin........but, we like what we like.......
Tom went straight to the bathroom as we`d had 2 glasses of champagne......while I checked out the pizza.........I had sat our bag down on a table while I looked......and I turned round to see a guy sat at the same table for four........I thought how rude. But I walked over and said oh I`m sorry I didn`t know you were sitting there......but nicely as I thought maybe I had taken his table and I was the rude one!! He looked horrified and said he hadn't even noticed my bag.......I did believe him, he moved and we began to chat as always. Tom came out of the bathroom and wasn't surprised to see I hadn't ordered yet and was chatting to yet someone else.........
So we looked at the choices and very greedily decided on 2 slices each..........Tom got Pepperoni and Pepperoni with sausage, I went for Pepperoni with jalapenos and BBQ chicken.........oh my goodness they were so good.......I had been tempted by spicy Hawaiian.......it looked lush too.......
This was lush!!!! Really lush.........we didn't think we would eat all of it.......but apart from a few crusts......we demolished them......and they were big, but by now we were indeed hungry. We got a little bottle of their wine which wasn't great but for $8 I didn't expect much and also 2 bottles of my favourite Snapple...........this was by far one of our favourite meals.........pizza was so good. And as I type this I could just eat them right now.......then I remembered who told me about this place........it was the police officer who I had been giggling with the other morning........he had said we should try it here if we liked pizza........I was glad I had listened to him..........
We were full. So we waddled around the corner back to the hotel.......it wasn't late by any means so we went to the lounge and saw the two lovely members of staff were both working........they were so nice........so we ordered a couple of glasses of wine and decided we would stay here a while......it was a little busier tonight which was nice........we took our glasses and sat outside for a while......it was stunning and there was only one other couple out there tonight......so we got chatting like we usually do.......they were so similar to us it was quite scary.......but we took our usual array of pictures and kindly took each others too..........
Last one is a little blurry.....I think well, I`ll call him Simon had enjoyed a few more wines than we had......lol.......but it was a nice way to end the evening. We had another glass of wine and thanked the bar staff then headed to bed rather reluctantly........must have been around midnight at this point.
We hoped we would sleep tonight.
Love your purple cake...
I know it was wonderful to finally be home at RPR. I felt the same way when I barely made it to Cabana Bay due to Irma.
I am glad you mentioned Ash v Evil Dead -- my boyfriend LOVES the movies and TV show... I thought maybe we should go this year to HHN because of it, but we were so busy with other things, we didn't. Now I'm kind of glad!
On another note, I played in a tennis lesson with one of my friends, Trina, who is from Scotland. We were all talking in the lesson how we could listen to Trina talk forever. And, it was QUITE windy, so she let out quite a few curse words -- which from her just sound brilliant. LOL. Anyway, I now hear her voice when I read your posts.
I think I need to not write as much as it took 3 posts to cover one day.....lol.......oh dear........
We did Saw and thought it was incredibly poor.
The theming of this zone was the best of the event.......so much detail......the pumpkins alone were fabulous.
I had brushed up on this before we left, as I thought I was the only one that had never seen the Evil Dead series of movies.
It had a 5 minute wait......no wait for EP then.........so we walked, and we walked, and we walked, and then walked some more.........where the heck were we going..
and this was just too dark.....you could barely see anything.
Our entrees were for me the 11oz filet served medium rare and Tom ordered the Wagyu steak.......served medium......then he relented and asked for medium rare for a change........nice........and we shared as usual the potatoes au gratin.......they are large enough to share........
I'm enjoying your trip report!! It's fun living vicariously through you!!
So many great pics I've never seen of the area! Do believe whomever snapped that last shot got fancy & attempted bokeh but didn't quite succeed lol.
Shaking head at the infamous NYC attitude you received from the barkeep, yikes.
The luggage issue @ MCO certainly odd. At least your bags all showed up at the correct airport
Laughed when i saw the enormous size of the shrimp at the Palm. Thinking of the scene from the dinner party in Beetlejuice! Just know if i show my better half he will be clamoring to finally try it out.
Never seen a purple cake either . Talk about ticking off all the boxes!
Carole is typically spot on re HHN, actually in most things I've discovered. I must admit i adored the house, as most fan girls & boys lol, no accounting for taste as they say . You could probably find a video run thru on youtube by now. did have one definitely 'off' run thru of it, timing everything in that one as really not much meat to it. The last scene alone is my defining moment of HHN this year, a sad thing unto itself.
Sorry to hear that the houses have been disappointing so far. I have not been hearing a lot of good things about HHN this year. It has never been my kind of thing (I am a chicken LOL) so it is not something I would do, but I always like reading about other peoples experiences. I hope it gets better for you.
No, no and no. Your detail is what makes it so great!!
You and Smiling Tom in WalMart.....I feel your pain. I go into Target for toothpaste and Charmin and never come out for less than $100. I blame it on cookies.
You're a fast writer! I fell way behind commenting during the NY section, but I've been reading along.
Sorry about your flight situation, that would've panicked me too! I actually spent about a week worrying before deciding to reschedule our longer trip completely, then spent another week worrying about whether our flight would take off in time for our weekend trip too.
I'm just going to quote from this last page so it isn't too long
Saw was definitely my least favorite too.
Yes! Loved the pumpkins.
Did you watch the Ash Vs Evil Dead show too? The house was based more off the show than the movies (the movies just provide some backstory). Because if you didn't watch the show a lot of the events and characters in the house don't make sense.
It was the longest walk ever to get there though.
Yes! We couldn't see a thing when we did Hive.
Yum! We're thinking of going there for Josh's birthday in December, it looks like a good choice.
Hi! I'm still enjoying your trip report! Great pictures!
I took some time to enjoy Port of Entry on a recent trip, and the little details are definitely fun.
We were at IoA on the last day of Dueling Dragons. We rode each dragon a couple times to say our fond farewells. Have you seen any details on what is coming? I've heard it will be some sort of family (less thrilling) ride; I've heard the area will be Forbidden Forest themed (makes sense); but I have not heard any details. There are lots of possibilities! Maybe a combo coaster/screen ride on the Weasley car racing through the forest with giant spiders, giants, unicorns, centaurs ...