DAY 11 - FRIDAY 27TH OCTOBER
Up at 7.45am as
we have to finish packing and go and pick up Susan (our friend
from Tulsa) from the airport.
We eat a quick breakfast and load up the car. Tam and I are going
to fetch Susan while Deb and Matt tidy up the villa and then take
the girls with them to the Boardwalk. Matt is under strict
instructions not to sell the girls into white slavery no matter
how tempted he is.
Tam and I leave
at 9.00am to try and be at the airport for 9.30am to meet Susan
by the taxi and bus pick up area. As we approach Orlando
International problem number one arises. Terminal A or Terminal
B? We plump for Terminal B on the basis that Susan flew in last
night and stayed at the Hyatt and that is located in Terminal B.
Wrong!
We park the car and hunt around to ill effect. At 10.10am we find
a phone and ring Susan’s mobile. She is happy to hear from
us as she has been worried that we’ve been in a car crash,
struck by lightening, abducted by aliens or some other such
tragedy. Actually I quite fancy being abducted by aliens and
carried off to the planet Booze where experiments would be
conducted to establish my tolerance to beer and ladies in tight
orange hot pants. As long as they don’t come near me with
that probe I’ll be happy.
I digress. Susan (the foolish woman) has chosen to wait at
terminal A on the basis that this is the terminal she arrived at
last night. A poor excuse. Over to terminal A where we find Susan
waiting. I jump from the car and shout ‘Where the heck have
you been? We haven’t got all day you know’.
I have to confess this isn’t quite the truth. I actually say
‘Hi Susan, lovely to see you again’. One reason being
that it IS lovely to see her again and another that it is mostly
my fault for not specifying more accurately a pick up point.
We load up the
already full car and the poor little thing huffs and puffs along
the road to the Boardwalk, arriving around 11.00am.
The rest of the gang are there waiting for us and Deb and Matt
meet Susan for the first time. Susan survives the experience so
that bodes well for the rest of the holiday.
Off to Epcot
for more Food and Winery. This time there is no driving involved
so we indulge ourselves as is appropriate.
Here’s another list of what we experience:
France – Goats Cheese Tart 8.5, Chardonnay 6.5, Riesling 7
Spain – Papas Con Chorizo 7, Albondijas 7.5, Monticello Criazza 7
Morocco – Beef Kefta Pocket 8.5, Chicken Bastilla 8, Casa beer 8
Hops and Barley (mucho beer baby!) – Boston lager 8, Cherry wheat 7.5 (it really does taste of cherries), 11th anniversary festival beer 8, Hefeweizen 6, Octoberfest 8
Australia – Wills Domain Cab Sav 8, Yellowtail Shiraz 8
Scandinavia – the meatball thingy again 9, Salmon Tartare 9
Chile – Porotos Granndos 5, Chilean custard thingy 9, Reserve Cab Sav 8
Mexico – Chilaquilas 8.5, Dos Equis 8
Now, as you can tell from some of the highly accurate and detailed description of the foodstuffs, it was Tam’s job to take the notes. I’ll have to have a strong word with the woman. I mean, who knows what the heck a Porotos Granndos is?
We return to the Boardwalk where our 2 bedroom villa is ready at 3.50pm. We are in 3015 and 3017, which is in a fine position just above the Big River Brew Works and Grill, although Matt moans about the long walk from the lobby. Deb and the girls do the requisite admonishing.
Not a bad view from the balcony.
Bell services deliver our luggage and I’ve got to feel sorry for the poor guy as we must have about 20 different packages and suitcases. He tells us there is good news and bad news. The bad news is some of the beer bottles got smashed. Boo! The good news is that they are sending up 24 bottles to replace them. Hooray!
Susan has
brought gifts for all of us and spends an age handing them out,
as there are so many. There are sweatshirts, T shirts, watches,
books, Halloween stuff, Disney dollars for the girls, stickers
and on and on and on. You think I exaggerate? I do not. She is a
wonderfully generous person. One of my favourite gifts is a
limited edition paperweight that is a replica of the Epcot
opening day ticket.
After all the activity we give Susan our paltry gifts.
The living
arrangements are discussed. Me, Tam and the girls are in the
studio, while Deb and Matt have the bedroom of the one bedroom
unit. This leaves Susan with the sleep sofa in the living room.
The hardest part for them is definitely going to be the bathroom
facilities. It has the potential to turn into a Brian Rix farce
with so many doors. I can just see Matt with his trousers round
his ankles as the vicar’s wife enters the room. Or the Benny
Hill theme playing as Deb (dressed in a nurses uniform) chases
him around the Boardwalk trying to hit him with a bedpan.
Perhaps my imagination is getting the better of me.
Unpacked,
showered and changed we are out to Epcot just after 7.00pm. We
don’t do anything much except stroll around to my favourite
spot in Norway to watch Reflections of Earth. It is quite crowded
tonight due to Extra Magic Hours, so we join a long queue for
food in the Cantina in Mexico, along with a Dos Equis.
We watch RoE, which is as wonderful as ever, Tam says it always
makes her want to cry.
At this point
we leave the girls to have fun in Epcot while the adults walk
over to Jellyrolls.
As we are queuing to enter Deb shouts out ‘Sam!’ This
isn’t a mild case of Tourette’s, she has spotted
Fantasia Sam, a friend of ours from the DIS Boards. Sam comes
over to chat for a while. She is a very bubbly person and full of
fun (and, at this point in the evening, alcohol!).
We sit on stools at the back of the room, but later manage to get
a table. It’s pretty full and we enjoy a great night being
entertained by the highly skilful piano players. There are a
group of people by the bar from Ohio who keep shouting out their
state name and spelling it in sign (think of YMCA) ‘O’
‘H’ ‘I’ ‘O’. Thank the lord they
didn’t come from Mississippi.
How we manage to look quite sober I'll never know.
There is also a convention going on and it’s a first time experience for me watching a whole throng of singing, dancing chiropractors. Let’s face it, that’s not an every day occurrence. If someone throws their back out tonight, they’re in the right place.
We close the place down and stagger home (not far, one of the joys of staying at the Boardwalk) at 1.50am. The next day someone says it was raining as we walked back. I didn’t feel a thing.