Trip Report COMPLETED - Let's do the Time Warp (to 2013) and go find my liver!!

PART ONE - THE JUNE TRIP THAT NEVER HAPPENED

Well......this is probably not a good idea, just cause I don't have a lot of time right now, but most things I do are not good ideas, so this will fit right in perfectly with the rest of my life.

But........ since my 2015 trip report was pretty fun to write, I've since realized that I have enough pics from 2013 that I could write a sequel. Errr......prequel.

However, be warned, that with the exception of Godfather II and Aliens and maybe a few more that I'm not recalling right now, sequels and prequels generally suck, so don't expect too much.

Of course, this particular trip had at least three major disasters, one of which takes place right away, so at least you can expect a bit of drama.

So with that in mind, travel back in time with me two whole years, folks, to the delightful 2013. Miley Cyrus twerked. Anne Hathaway won an Oscar. Reese Witherspoon got arrested for drunk driving, and Lohan went to rehab. As you may recall, it was a VERY eventful year.

And over on Long Island, Phil and Buddy had been saving for the trip to end all trips for over a year. To remind you, Phil does not agree to go to Disney easily, and every time he does, it's like a freaking miracle. He acts very put upon, like it is a great hell for him to go. He acts like he's just agreed to eat a scorpion covered in grape jelly.

This time, we had decided on Yacht Club for June 2013. After a year of planning and saving and reserving restaurants, and waiting, it was finally the day before the trip. And then my phone rang at work.

It was Phil.

His 90++++ grandmother had just passed away.

Trip instantly cancelled.

So that's the end of the trip report folks, thanks for reading.

Kidding.

So, Phil's grandmother had been almost catatonic for a very long time, and although we were not at all expecting this to happen the exact day before we were supposed to leave, we knew it was a possibility. For that reason, we had flight insurance, and that was refunded, and although we did not have insurance for the room (not sure if that even exists), Disney refunded every last penny within 24 hours. They were so cool about the whole thing.

This was a very difficult situation - no one ever wants a Disney vacation replaced by a funeral - Basically happiness replaced by sadness. It was completely awful on so many levels.

Yeah, that's a horrible pic but we were feeling horrible.

Luckily this guy was there to try to cheer us up. He was secretly happy, because he wasn't going to get left alone with a cat sitter for five nights.

Phil and I were both really, seriously sad. Obviously about the death of his grandmother, but also about the ruined trip. I thought we needed something to cheer us up and as it happened, Cinderella (not the Disney version) was playing on Broadway that weekend, and I was able to get discount tickets for about fifth row center. This was kind of a life saver It was uplifting and magical and.....oh, well, please, enjoy for yourselves:



Yeah, that'll do it.

I honestly didn't think we were going to reschedule the trip, but after the show, we were feeling a bit better, and Phil said "Why don't we reschedule it for September?"

And we did.



Coming up -
Phil's birthday is in September and he milks it for every drop
Another insane drink around the world. Bristolsmom/Buzzkillington - beware!
Not So Scary turns scary when two adult males dress like Michael and John from Peter Pan
And the infamous lock out happens!

It all happens this season on.......a Disney trip report

 

[Figgy1]

Buddy I hope both you and Phil will be safe and the storm doesn't head your way. Have you stocked up on adult beverages just in case?

 

[doylekm]

I'm at work LOLing (yes, it's a verb!) Good thing my office is in a remote corner.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

WOW!!!! I would have DIED if I locked myself out! At first I almost blurted out "MAGIC BAND.. USE YOUR..-- Oh. Universal"

I think you did the only thing you could do! lol. I can only imagine Phil's face!

 

[catmom46]

WOW!!!! I would have DIED if I locked myself out! At first I almost blurted out "MAGIC BAND.. USE YOUR..-- Oh. Universal"

I think you did the only thing you could do! lol. I can only imagine Phil's face!

Yep, I'd pay good money to get my hands on that security camera video!!

 

[Figgy1]

Yep, I'd pay good money to get my hands on that security camera video!!

We need to start a collection for that!

 

[catmom46]

We need to start a collection for that!

Agreed! Now we just need to figure out who we can bribe over there...

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

"I'll be back to you with that final chapter tomorrow"

I fear that any final chapter will be nothing less than a complete letdown after that last story.

Better to just take a bow and lock the thread now

 

[catmom46]

"I'll be back to you with that final chapter tomorrow"

I fear that any final chapter will be nothing less than a complete letdown after that last story.

Better to just take a bow and lock the thread now

Oh, you don't know Buddy very well, do you??

 

[Figgy1]

Oh, you don't know Buddy very well, do you??

What she said X2

 

[BuddyThomas]

"I'll be back to you with that final chapter tomorrow"

I fear that any final chapter will be nothing less than a complete letdown after that last story.

Better to just take a bow and lock the thread now

Hey now, no lockin my thread.

But you're right. I'm not gonna be able to get the next part to compare. All that happens next is that we get attacked by a werewolf and a horde of zombies and we drink a couple of 190 Octanes out of a plastic bag.

There's some other stuff too but I'll get into all that a bit later tonight.

 

[DisSplash]

OMG!! I cannot even. LOL!! I think I may have went for those curtains anyway, or at least tried to stand behind them? Maybe they weren't long enough for that tho. What I cannot believe is that you went back for the 190 octane the next day after all that!! You all are Crazy Town -- but awesomely hilarious!

 

[BuddyThomas]

OMG!! I cannot even. LOL!! I think I may have went for those curtains anyway, or at least tried to stand behind them? Maybe they weren't long enough for that tho. What I cannot believe is that you went back for the 190 octane the next day after all that!! You all are Crazy Town -- but awesomely hilarious!

Hey, how did you know my middle name? Buddy Crazy Town Thomas

 

[catmom46]

Hey, how did you know my middle name? Buddy Crazy Town Thomas

That will be the title of your next TR.

 

[BuddyThomas]

That will be the title of your next TR.

It'll be more like "Phil got swallowed by a whale and I got an unexpected bonus at work, so Disney, here I come!"

Those are sort of the circumstances that would have to happen in order for me to make a new trip happen.

Anyone know where I can find a hungry whale?

 

[Tony the Tigger]

It'll be more like "Phil got swallowed by a whale and I got an unexpected bonus at work, so Disney, here I come!"

Those are sort of the circumstances that would have to happen in order for me to make a new trip happen.

Anyone know where I can find a hungry whale?

I have only responses that would probably be inappropriate for this message board.

 

[BuddyThomas]

I have only responses that would probably be inappropriate for this message board.

Damn. I knew I should have rated this thread NC-17.

 

[catmom46]

It'll be more like "Phil got swallowed by a whale and I got an unexpected bonus at work, so Disney, here I come!"

Those are sort of the circumstances that would have to happen in order for me to make a new trip happen.

Anyone know where I can find a hungry whale?

If I ever win the lottery, I'll be sure to include you and Tony in our group chit chat WDW trip! Now I just need to start buying tickets...

 

[BuddyThomas]

Buddy I hope both you and Phil will be safe and the storm doesn't head your way. Have you stocked up on adult beverages just in case?

Hey, thanks so much for this. During Sandy, we lost electricity for like 14 days so that better not happen again. But yes, we are well stocked, LOL:

Yep, I'd pay good money to get my hands on that security camera video!!

Hey, what the----?!?!?

But luckily, they already found the surveillance footage, and here I am:

Oh wait, actually, it's a little more like this:

 

[BuddyThomas]

PART FIFTEEN - ONE FOR THE ROAD

Our last vacation day had he following schedule - Islands of Adventure followed by Halloween Horror Nights. We had front of line passes for Islands due to the resort stay including them, and we had purchased express passes for Halloween Horror Nights. If I'm not mistaken, the express passes for HHN were actually more expensive than the tickets themselves, but one of the Universal fans will correct me if I am wrong.

The day began with a dip in the pool, which we had not done previously. The pool here is awesome, but it was full of ducks, which is cute and everything until you realize that you are probably swimming in duck poo.

This is still an amazing pool and we had a great time before heading over to:

I love this place.

The theming is as close to Disney as you can get in my humble opinion, and we quickly went from ride to ride to ride without any waits due to our express passes. That is hands down the best benefit to staying on site at Uni.

I think we were pretty much done by 4-ish, and we went back to the resort to change for Halloween Horror Nights.

We had an early dinner reservation at Finnigans at Universal, which would put us in the park for the Horror Nights rope drop.

But before we got there, we stopped by this Walking Dead car, because Phil had to pay homage to Sophia.

That was pretty cool. And full disclosure - this picture was actually taken the previous day, but I'm putting it here just because I don't have that many pics of the Horror Nights.

And strangely enough, that bottle of water that Phil is holding actually contains water! A miracle!

Computer freezing. Back in a few minutes.

 

[BuddyThomas]

PART 15 - continued

So, we had our dinner at Finnigins, which was awesome pub fare, and then it was time for Halloween Horror Nights!

Oh, hurray. Drinking again. That's just what out bodies ordered.

That thing behind us was some sort of really glam press junket that we, of course, were not invited to, but which made us realize that we were at the very first night of that season's Horror Nights, and that meant one thing: It was MOBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBED.

I think every living person in Orlando was there that night. Sardines in a can have more room than we had most of the evening at Halloween Horror Nights. And, in case I did not mention, it was the temperature of a locker room in Hell.

These were our haunted houses:

Like I said, I don't have many pics from this, but the below short video pretty much sums up the vibe of that first night:



Zombies were everywhere:

Crowds were EVERYWHERE, I mean, is this New Year's Eve?

And drink kiosks were were everywhere, and these drinks were super expensive.

So anyway, to make a long story short, we were not too impressed. It was crowds, crowds, crowds, and our close to $100 (each) express passes were not working too well at all. We never walked right into a haunt. The minimum wait was always 30 minutes, and we waited close to an hour for one of them. I can only imagine what the people who didn't have these passes had to wait.

Again, this was first night, and I hope it is not like this every other night of the event.

We finally finished the houses, and I looked at Phil and said "Fat Tuesday?"

And he nodded. And we hightailed it out of the park and onto City Walk.

I wish I had a video of this, but it was the end of the night as we sat there at Fat Tuesday with 190 Octanes as we watched an endless mob of humanity flow out of Universal Studios. It went on and on and on. They seriously oversold that place, and they definitely oversold the express passes. But sitting with 190 Octanes in the deep dark Florida night, it was kind of hypnotic watching what looked like all of humanity exiting the park over a good 20 - 30 minute period.

So then it was time to head back to the resort, so we both figured we'd take one for the road. You don't have to stay at the bar to drink these, you know, but what we didn't know is that when you try to walk back to your resort with them, you are stopped by a security guard at a certain checkpoint and told that you cannot take the drinks any further.

"But we're resort guests," I protested.

"Doesn't matter," said Security. "You have to drink them out here, or toss them."

Toss them?!?! Clearly, he didn't realize who he was dealing with if he thought I was going to toss a drink.

There were a bunch of shops still open, so I said "Come on, Phil, I think we need to do some shopping."

Phil looked at me like he usually does - like I'm insane. But off to the shops we went with our 190 Octanes.

I marched straight up to the front counter of some souvenir shop and said "Excuse me, do you think we could trouble you for a plastic bag?"

"Why of course" said Mr. Souvenir, and he pulled one right out.

"Thank you kindly," I said, and off we went, out of the store.

Phil had no idea what evil plan I was concocting, but he found out soon enough.

"Gimme your drink" I demanded.

"What for?" he wanted to know.

I yanked it out of his hand and placed it gingerly at the bottom of the plastic bag. Then I placed mine right next to his.

"You're nuts", He said.

"BLAH HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA" I said.

So like Laverne and Shirley trying to pull one off on someone, we walked back over to the security checkpoint, and the same guy was there. He was eyeing us with great suspicion, but I was like,

"Just two boys returning to the hotel after a night in the parks..."

And we walked on my him.

SUCCESS!!!!

We took contraband into the resort area. Go ahead. Ban me for life! Send me back to Russia! Fire up the electric chair and put it on high roast!

Annyway, I thought I was so clever with my little plan, until we got back to the room to find that the drinks has spilled all over the place in the bag, and we now quite literally had a plastic sack full of quickly melting 190 Octane.

Phil threw a little fit about how stupid that was, but I just pulled out two glasses from the room, siphoned the sweet nectar of the gods into them, and all was well in the world....except for a little melti-ness. Ya can't have everything.

The next morning, our brains were fried, our vacation budgets were shot, and our trip was over.

A car was coming to pick us up and take us to the airport, and all of Orlando was breathing a sigh of relief.

Before we went, we took a quick photo shoot.

As you can see, Phil was very happy to be leaving.

And I just had to lie down for a minute with my new lady friend.

And that is pretty much it, folks.

Errrrr, okay, this was kind of boring, so maybe that person who commented was right and I should have wrapped it up with the lockout. But I can't do something insane every day, people. Some days, you just have to be normal and drink a frozen cocktail out of a bag.

Anyway. We flew back to NYC and didn't return to the World until 2015, and for all of you who were lucky enough to have avoided the equally reprehensible 2015 report, please do not click on the below link unless you want basically a virtual replay of what you have just read, except with fewer disasters. Like I said, I'm a one trick pony:

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...aked-again-boardwalk-villas-june-2015.900556/

But seriously, thanks so much for all the views, the likes, and the comments. I don't have any trips scheduled in the foreseeable future, but I guess that could change at any time. If I can just take Phil somewhere else, anywhere else, first, then maybe I can convince him to do one more Disney trip. Even though he gripes and groans about it every time I bring it up, once he is there, he has a good time.

I will see you cool folks around the boards. And here's a fall pumpkin from me, in the meantime, and I don't mean my round pumpkin shaped head either. Happy Fall!