Panhandle purgatory 2017.. NOW COMPLETE!

[Orlando Soon]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

FAMILIAR GROUND AT LAST! BUSCH GARDENS 04/05/2017.

The pressure was off! Everything from here on in was extremely familiar ground that we have covered many times before. Any shortcomings would be unlikely and in any event, clearly my fault.. although I know for a fact that Ann and Gary would never call me to task for it.. It was time to show Ann, Gary & George what Central Florida theme parking was all about!

After a bog standard Comfort suites Breakfast, ( Whilst Gary insists on Breakfast.. In the Army, it was generally a bonus.), it was a short drive to the park, a trolley to the entrance and away... We all know the drill.

Mandie does not like or do Coasters. Since an experience on Nemesis in around 2002, she has never again stepped on one. She was concerned that Ann clearly intended riding everything with George. Gary, meantime seemed unusually evasive on the subject! It was only fair that Ann should be made aware of Mandie's firmly and fairly held position.

Mandie, Ann, Matt and George started with the Giraffe Feed Safari, always best at early doors and very highly recommended to anybody who has never done it.

And then it was on to the rides, (minus Mandie) for Sheikra, Kumba, Montu etc, Whilst Ann, Dan, Matt, George and I would do them multiple times, Gary was clearly only going for one on each. We were getting through things really well.. then Gary declared that he needed lunch.. because he always has lunch. Ann seemed somewhat less than impressed, stating that she had come to ride.. but 'Lunch' it was... Chilli Cheese and chips for all. I have never rated Park food and generally avoid it, taking in a picnic when possible and then 'pigging out' in the evening... but this looked like Diarrhea on Chips with some molten radioactive vomit on top. To be honest, it tasted no better than described. I slid mine off the table and some onto a post, where a Squirrel bounded over, took a sniff, looked at me in disgust and then ran off. Gary was the only one who managed to eat it and I strongly suspect that it was only pride that kept him going... marvellous entertainment for the rest of us, though!

Chilli chips anybody?

The discerning Squirrel says no!

Gary plays drums on a fibreglass Hippo, making it echo...


Mandie confided that she would try Cheetah Chase, probably after Gwazi, the very last ride that I would suggest to a person wary of Coasters. Her reasoning was that she hates the 'cranking up the slope' of conventional Coasters whereas Cheetah Chase uses a magnetic catapult. She did it, she didn't like it, but was clearly happy to have braved it.. and me? I was very proud of her.

Mandie, after the ride.

Matt plays pilots, regrettably Gary would not join him, adding that it was not a simulator that he recognised.

I try a new hat.

Then it was on to our Villa in Davenport. We had selected our Villa many, many months before through Holidaylettings.co.uk, 4 bedrooms, 2 with en-suites etc etc..and just 5 weeks before vacation, received notice that the Villa was sold and my booking cancelled. A disaster. Holidaylettings were brilliant and flooded us with suitable replacements in the days that followed. We were thus in what was very much a last minute booking, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms with only 1 en-suite, 4 of us and 3 of our friends with the rental split right down the middle.

The villa was lovely and the master bedroom much bigger as well as grander than bedrooms, 2,3&4. My reasoning was that as our friends had paid a half, rather than 3/7ths of the rental and also because we were to all effects the hosts, they should have that master bedroom. Mandie disagreed, stating that as we did the planning, research and buying in, then we should have had it. We must agree to differ on this one, even 4 years later. I welcome the viewpoints of any other DIBBERS!

Anyway, it was a marvellous, spacious villa with a good pool and we loved it, other than that there were damaged blinds in the master bedroom, which Ann reported to me. Mandie only comment was that as it was their bedroom, they could make the call to the maintenance agency responsible. Why should it be us?

All that remained was a trip to Walmart for Gin... Wine... Orange Juice... oh, and some food because Gary cannot move before breakfast.

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I’m with you re master bedroom, as a host it is the nice thing to offer and hope people do not accept said Kind offer.:

I am late to this tripe. PLEAEE STOP WRITING. I am working from home and have just spent a lot of time really enjoying this fantastic report. Hope my boss doesn’t find out.
We have just found out that the villa we have booked in four corners has just been sold, and have now booked one in Davenport (an area we have never stayed before) so really looking forward to reading the rest (in my next tea break of course&#128514. Thanks for all your hard work, it makes me feel we could get there this year (postponed from last year)

[tapley]

Originally Posted by cornishfrogboy

Everything is absolutely fine, Brian.

I am still winding my way to final retirement and NHS pension to top up my other one (and get back my SERPS opted out years (May 2024 beckons)). If something happens that I do not like, then I am in the rather fortunate position that I can simply walk.

Mandie is now a WCO as the CCIO job no longer exists in her Office.. and not particularly enjoying things as they are. Let’s just say that the dynamics have changed in Truro in recent years.

Stay in touch!
David.

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David sorry to hear things have changed and Mandie is not so happy. It is a real shame she was very good, even if she worried to much🤣. Please pass on my best wishes

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by tapley

David sorry to hear things have changed and Mandie is not so happy. It is a real shame she was very good, even if she worried to much🤣. Please pass on my best wishes

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I will. She does worry. Unlike me, she cares.

[cornishfrogboy]

KISSIMMEE OLD TOWN 04/09/2017.

I have never been to old town, but having purchased tickets from Attraction Tickets Direct, we each had $25 of E Card to blow frivolously at a fun spot and this seemed as good a place as any! Ann, Gary and George were to have a chill out day.

On arrival, we invested in a refillable Soda Cup and then we were off...

Initially it was a tour of the shops.

I was particularly taken by this tasteful, ecologically friendly chair.

Dan was considering a hat.

We had to invest in this. A realistic electric chair! The smoke from under the helmet when you threw the switch was pretty cool.

We invested in some radioactive looking ice cream.

And then Matt and I hit the carts. it was similar to a multi storey garage with tight bends, ramps both up and down and pretty fast! it was excellent and Matt was more excellent than I was.. I put it down to the fact that he is much lighter!

He was also pretty vicious and unforgiving on the Dodgems.. or in his case, Crash'ems.

There is a pool in the middle with a Cormorant..

And of course, Turtles..

Lots of Turtles.

Suddenly we were down to our last 44 cents!

All that remained was for us to do something unusual and buy a souvenir.. other than our traditional Photo Frame, Photo Album and Year Pin…

Mandie was really taken with it.

What to do in the afternoon? Well, after eating the most disgusting Hot Dogs ever, we headed to Premium Outlets and stocked up on Levis and Timberland Shirts plus some Vans Shoes plus T Shirts.

As we were in the general area, we then paid a visit to a great favourite of ours, Bahama Breeze on Vineland, (Hitting it dead on happy hour of course)

I have a real weakness for the Tropical Chicken Salad (after the Artichoke and Spinach dip of course).

There was an issue with the bill. I presented our preloaded card and the restaurant reported that the bill had not been cleared. We presented it again and this time, all was ok... we thought.

And then back to the Villa to join our friends for Wine O’Clock. At this time I checked our preloaded card account to find that I had paid twice for our Bahama Breeze meal. I phoned them and we agreed to sort the issue out the next day.
Back to the wine!

[cornishfrogboy]

ANIMAL KINGDOM 04/10/2021

Breakfast done, it was decisions time!

Today was always going to be the day when we forked out for a 1 day ticket. For Ann, Gary, it was easy in that they very much wanted to see Harry Potter.. Or so they thought. When this revelation was put to George, he replied that he would rather they spent the day by the pool. Ann made it very clear indeed that if the stayed at the Villa, there would be no computers whatever from then till bed time. George decided that Universal was not so bad after all!

For us, it was more difficult, particularly given my aversion to the Mouse and my refusal to even go there since the advent of the new Fastpass system. I like to get up in the morning and make decisions based on our moods, the previous days events and of course, the Weather. Clearly this places a person at a massive disadvantage when they like a dynamic, evolving vacation.
We have done Universal to death and therefore after passing on Disney for the previous 3 visits, Mandie made a strong and fair case for a day in Animal Kingdom. having seen Aircraft galore, an Armaments museum, A Battleship and a Submarine in the previous week, I could hardly argue otherwise. The boys simply shrugged their shoulders in resignation. My Goose was cooked and Animal Kingdom beckoned.

Off we went, our separate ways and predictably we arrived for Rope Drop, as is compulsory in our family. It was the first time that we have ever paid at the gate on a Disney Park and it really hurt me! We have never done other than the old paper Fastpass system and it was for sure that the lack of FP was going to hurt even more. We clearly did not have any!

First up was the Safari, Little Red was no more, so no hammy rescue story, but the queue was not too bad and the Safari is generally best in the cooler, morning air.

And after all the years, I finally got to see the Lion standing up.

Matt was actually asking some great questions.

We then moved on.. on to most of the minor rides, plus the rather good, Expedition Everest and a favourite of ours, it's a bugs life. Regrettably, the queue for the Kali River Rapids was simply too long and we gave up.

One really good thing that we encountered was an educational tour of a number of stations throughout the park, where completed stickers resulted in a completed card. Matt was rather enthused by this!
At the conclusion, he was asked by the cast member what he thought should be done to stop Poachers. His very honest reply seemed to knock her back a bit...
"I would shoot them all".

All in all it was a rather pleasant visit, albeit I will never have any great enthusiasm for Disney Parks. Sad to say that the one thing that would have hooked me, namely Pandora, was apparently complete but not ready to open. It looked really impressive in the distance.

Back to the Villa where we joined up with Ann, Gary and George, who had really enjoyed their visit to Universal Studios. We then had an as always, excellent Steak in the Longhorn.. A Rare Flo's Fillet, large in my case.

An evening of poolside wine capped a good day!

[cornishfrogboy]

AQUATICA, CHEESECAKES AND LOSING MATT 04/11/2021
LAST DAY IN ORLANDO..SEAWORLD AND EXTREME READING.

This was our second last day and the decision was.. Aquatica. After breakfast, cold for us and cooked for Gary, we were out and relatively early at that!

Our family had decided that we would head for the Cheesecake Factory, whilst our friends made their way back to the villa. We had set Matt a return time so we waited.. and waited.. and waited. We searched, but no joy and began to worry. An hour later, he turned up as if nothing was wrong at all.The panic was over.

As was usual, the Cheesecakes were awesome.
Strawberry for me.
Chocolate Tuxedo for Mandie.
Oreo for both of the boys.
We returned to the villa and ate them in front of our envious friends.

That evening and after a power nap, it was off to Bahama Breeze in order to,
1. Sort out the double payment from last time.
2. Eat another Spinach & Artichoke Dip before another Tropical Chicken Salad!

A reminder of just how lush it is.. as good as a couple of days ago.

LAST DAY, OF SEAWORLD, EXTREME READING AND LONGHORNS! 04/12/2021.

Breakfast was done and we were out for our last Orlando day.. and some schoolwork.

Before School break up, Matts class had been set a challenge by the English teacher.. an extreme reading challenge with a prize for .. the most extreme read. Mako it was, then.

We thought he was on a certainty.. but time proved us wrong. 1st prize was a girl sitting on a Haystack and 2nd a girl by a waterfall... Matt came a disappointed third.

As the image came from a 3 pack deal for $40, these are the others, a little out of focus, almost as if there was water in the camera!

It was one of those quiet days when you can absolutely hammer the coasters and by the time we went for a Shamu show, we were up to..
Mako x 4
Kraken x5
Manta x4

A bit of Cow Ray feeding.

On to Shamu.

And then the Whales waved goodbye!

The evening was spent at the Longhorn where I had... wait for it... Flo's 9 oz Fillet Steak, rare of course!
As a souvenir we purchased a set of Longhorn Steakhouse knives, a bargain at just $39 and used to this day!

And then it was back to the Villa for... wine.

Daytona Beach tomorrow.

[Rozzyb2011]

Loving this !

[Ivegottadream]

Really enjoying your report, thanks. I've never been to Cheesecake Factory by it sounds like something DH and DD would like.

[cornishfrogboy]

Originally Posted by Ivegottadream

Really enjoying your report, thanks. I've never been to Cheesecake Factory by it sounds like something DH and DD would like.

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Cheesecake Factory is really good and we must have been well over a dozen times to the one at Millenia Mall. The Cheesecake is not to be confused with the lower quality stuff that they also sell through Walmart, Publix and elsewhere. It is very, very fresh at the restaurant and in probability lacks preservatives..

The Cheesecake portions are huge and generally too much after an entree. Imho the entrees are just.. ok. A popular choice is to either take away your Cheesecake as a doggy bag, or to visit PF Chang’s next door and then walk the Mall before then just going in and ordering Cheesecake as a takeaway.

I believe that there are now a couple of other Cheesecakes in the area. (And indeed, Restaurants!)

[cornishfrogboy]

DAYTONA BEACH AND THEN HOME.. PLUS OBSERVATIONS.

Well, finally it was our last day, the Villa was cleared out in no time and we were headed to Daytona Beach, a mere hour and a half away and yet another really interesting place to tick on my list.

We passed the truly impressive Daytona Speedway on the way in and parking was clearly marked, just a couple of blocks behind the Promenade and as it turned out, pretty much at the South end, where there is a pier.

Approaching the promenade.

Daytona from the Pier.

Gary did mention (once or twice) that he had visited Daytona Beach in his days on board HMS Alacrity and indeed, that he had seen Dale Singleton win the Daytona 200 in 1979. Along the promenade were etched plaques detailing the historic winners of both the Daytona 200 and the 500. (Personally, I would sooner have seen the great Kenny Roberts in 1980).
Later investigation with a former crew mate on Alacrity (and close friend of mine) revealed that in fact, whilst he was certainly there, it was unlikely that he saw anything at all, given their collective state of intoxication.

Then it was on to Sloppy Joes. The real one, famous as Hemingways Bar is in Key West (I have been drunk there, I will have you know). This one was in a high rise and just.. ok.

Well impressed with Daytona and despite it not being as I hoped (No racing on the Beach), it was now time to head to the nearby Daytona Beach airport. The airport was small and with just 2 flights taking place on that day. Mandie has since described it as along with the similarly named Dayton OH airport, the best airport she has passed through. Whilst arriving and then waiting, we had some great views...

The flight was very short and the layover at Atlanta, just 1 hour and a little bit, just time to see this.

A tribute to a great man.

The flight to LHR was uneventful and likewise, the long drive back to Penryn... And there you have it, Pensacola Purgatory.. other than my observations!

WRITING THE TRIP REPORT.
I am generally pretty proud of my other trippies. I write most of the text and post up the initial pictures each evening, over a glass and after all has gone quiet, when my mind is extremely fresh. I then constantly update it over the days and months that follow, expanding it, hopefully inserting humour and certainly, trying to make it entertaining to others. I also now have the very comprehensive and lovingly prepared scrapbook of Mandie, that takes considerably more time than my trip report to consult.
This time, I have only had distant memories, a raft of photographs and the Diary of a 14 year old. I apologise if this trippie is not of the same quality as its predecessors

VACATIONS WITH FRIENDS.
We survived.

We are still friends.

We are in agreement that our idea of a perfect vacation differs considerably.

Whilst Ann and Gary have stressful jobs and want to simply relax on vacation, I have a dull as ditchwater job after my previous career on C.I.D and keep my mind active with the challenge of increasingly complex vacations.

Whilst we are great friends, it is extremely clear that Matt and George are not, rubbing each other up at every opportunity. That should have been taken into consideration.

Ann and Gary like to drink on vacation and we did likewise on this occasion. This is unlike us. On the 2019, 3 week vacation in my signature, After visiting Boston, NY, Dayton, Cincinnati, Orlando and Naples, I had consumed 7 drinks including in flight, whilst Mandie had drunk 8... (Plus maybe 4-5 bottles of wine between us).

A two family vacation needs very, very careful consideration before a decision is made for the go ahead.

I mentioned earlier that Mandie was hoping Gary's dress code would smarten me up and it did (albeit a little). Ann later confided that she had hoped that my 'casual' style would have relaxed Gary's dress code!

At the end of the vacation, Gary came out with "Phew, I think I need a vacation after that deployment !'.

We are outwardly similar and with a lot in common, careers (Military and then Police for me, Military, Police Civilian Staff and Police for Ann , Military for Gary and Police Civilian Staff for Mandie). Inside, we are just a little different, when it comes to vacationing. With that in mind, I believe that each group came a little towards each other and we had an absolute blast through sensible compromise!