Happy Anni-birth-aversary...A 33 night Celebration & HHN too.....SF & RPR September 2022 TR

[schumigirl]

I’m so sorry, Carole. What a terrible tragedy

Thank you Andrea, a truly dreadful tragedy.

Oh my god. My heart already broke hearing about this fire but to hear about Lindsay makes my heart break again.

May she rest peacefully. May the others rest peacefully. May their family, friends and coworkers find peace.


I am so so sorry

Thank you BH. From what I`ve been told, her family have a strong faith.

I’m so very sorry, Carole. Your pictures really captured Lindsey’s joyful spirit. Her loss is truly heartbreaking, and I will pray for the comfort of her family and friends.

Thank you. She did have the most amazing spirit and lived life to fullest anyone could. Prayers are appreciated for them all.

My jaw dropped and I don't know either of you. I'm so sorry to hear. She seemed like a beautiful soul from your writing and certainly much too young.

Thank you. She genuinely was a beautiful person, and yes, shockingly young.

 

[schumigirl]

So very sorry for your loss. My condolences to all involved. Wow !

Thank you. She will be a huge loss to her family and all who knew her.

OMG Carole, i had to read that post twice. Hadn’t heard of the fire, let alone knowing people had perished in it. That has to be so heartbreaking for her family and all that loved here.

had enjoyed reading of her in your TR, your tribute has done her honor. She sounds as though she had a wonderful spirit and touched the lives of many in her short time here. RIP

Janet, I thought you`d get my email before you read it here. Yes, everyone who ever met her said the same thing, she touched so many with her kindness and thoughtfulness. For someone so young, she was incredibly mature, considerate and just beautiful.

Oh my god Carole....I'm so sorry for your loss.

Thank you saskdw, appreciate the thoughts.

I'm so sorry Carole and Tom.

Thank you.

What a devastating tragedy. So unfair. My sincere condolences on the loss of your young friend.

Thank you, it is incredibly unfair and so tragic for all involved. Seems so senseless.

 

[schumigirl]

OH, Carole and Tom, I am so sorry to hear of your dear friend, LIndsey's, untimely death. She came through on your reports as a funny, loving person. I, too, have not heard of the fire at UO? I also feel that people come into our lives for a reason, and her spirit and beautiful soul showed through.

Thank you Ruth, I know we`ve already spoken about this, but she was everything and so much more. Yes, I`ve always believed that about people who come into your life, good or bad, she was definitely for the good.

This is absolutely shocking. Oh Carole, I am so sorry. I am glad that you posted the photos as a loving tribute. She seems to have brought joy wherever she went, and of course it is fitting to honor her with those special moments. Rest In Peace, Sweet Girl.

Thank you Maria, I love those pictures and I`m glad we have so many more as all come with some lovely and mostly fun memories.

From your earlier TR, one could tell she was a special person. I'm so, so sorry. Thank you for sharing this tribute. Condolences to all touched by this terrible tragedy.

Thank you Aurora, she was special, incredibly special.

I’m so utterly shocked. What an absolute tragedy. Prayers for you and the families and all involved.

Thank you, I think her family and loved ones will appreciate some more prayers to get them through this. I haven`t quite processed this unbelievable tragedy yet.

My heart breaks for all her loved ones. If a sudden and horrible tragedy like this isn't already difficult enough to deal with, the timing, right in the middle of the holiday season, is especially cruel.

Thank you shh. Yes, there`s something about this beautiful time of year that makes tragedy and death seems so much worse. It is heartbreaking.

 

[schumigirl]

Oh, Carole. How heartbreaking. My deepest sympathy to you and all who loved her.

Thank you Cara. She was one of the most loved people I have ever met.

How utterly tragic, no words, I can understand how devastating this is for you and her family.

Minnie, Thank you. Yes, sometimes there really are no words.

I‘am so sorry to hear of this tragedy. How devastating for all of you who knew her and loved her. Prayers for her family and all of you, especially her Spider-Man.

Thank you Robbie, it was devastating news, and her Spider-Man and family must be going through hell with all of this.

Carol, I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. So young and that is so heartbreaking.

Thank you SCDizFan, yes, she was far too young and had such a wonderful future ahead of her.

Carol, I was so shocked and gutted to read of Lindsey's death. Though I did not know her, I feel like I did through your trip reports. My heart goes out to all of you who knew and loved her.

Thank you MLB1974. Yes, it was the most shocking thing I`d heard for the longest time. I`m glad you felt you got to know her a little, she was wonderful.

Oh no. My sincere condolences to you and Tom. Sometimes you just mesh with someone and you could see through your pictures and writing that this was one of those times. I haven’t met you but wish I could just reach out to give you the biggest hug right now!

Margaret

Thank you too Margaret. I`ll take a virtual hug....we just clicked straight away, both her and Alex who is also in the lounge both felt like they were "our little girls" We have a lot of memories made in a short time, I`m grateful for that.

 

[schumigirl]

Carol, I am so sorry for the loss of your friend. So young and that is so heartbreaking.

We are now looking at doing SeaWorld next fall because Universal has turned into such a crazy crowded experience so thank you for your review!

We had an amazing time in London and yes, it was very cold! Fortunately I wore warm cashmere layers and pleather pants and was able we were able to drink plenty of lager to keep us warm. The flight was amazing and really enjoyed the tea they served on the ride home on Virgin Atlantic. The Christmas lights were stunning.

As we were walking through Spitalfields Market, I thought of you! We were walking and came up on this art installation of life sized elephant sculptures! It was the Sheldrick Trust installation of about ten of their current orphans and I cried! I didn't know this existed and you know I am a huge supporter. If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest. It was so moving. It has all of the elephants names and current ages and their relation to a specific heard.

I am so happy you had an amazing time and also that you enjoyed VA!

London has some beautiful Christmas lights, i`m glad you got to see them, yes we are having a cold winter this year, so wrapping up warm and some alcohol would help.

I thought the elephants were in a different area of London? Seems they must have been moved, I haven`t seen them personally only photo`s from my godson who lives in London and another friend, but yes, it looks beautiful and a wonderful way to bring their plight to folks awareness. Thank you for sharing that.

I have some more review from Seaworld, I`m glad you will be giving it a go, we really enjoyed it.

Again, I`m so glad you had such a wonderful trip.

 

[KathyM2]

Oh wow, Carole I'm so sorry. That is just so sad. What a devastating thing to have happen to anyone.

 

[schumigirl]

Oh wow, Carole I'm so sorry. That is just so sad. What a devastating thing to have happen to anyone.

Thank you Kathy, it`s horrific and yes, terribly sad especially for her family and Devin who honestly just adored her.

Her funeral is today.

As you can imagine, haven`t felt much like writing a TR right now, but I will.

 

[schumigirl]

I know we didn`t really notice which order we did the houses in tonight, but we did wander through some excellent scare zones while we went from one to the other.

We were genuinely impressed with the scare zones over HHN, we got so many scares and the zones here although smaller and more low key, gave us some of the best scares of the trip.

Deadly Ambush was a deserted campsite and the darkened path to this one had the best of scares.......poor Janet was certainly ambushed several times and it was hilarious to see as the SA were popping out of the bushes at your feet and behind any bush that appeared in front of you. I loved these scares and did get a couple too, but I admired Janet`s cool exterior among these excellent SA.....but it was funny.

You genuinely never knew when they were going to appear as it was so dark and who knew they could fit in those tiny bushes!!!

There were SA who had metal blades on their knees and would appear near you at immense speed and drop to their knees as the whizzed by you and it made the most offensive and loud sound which was actually terrifying if you weren`t aware of them coming behind you, even when they appeared in front of you, they were so fast it still gave you a good old scare.

But, we did absolutely love their scare zones, they may not be as polished as HHN, but they were scarier and much more atmospheric which was helped by the lack of crowds and the eerie fog which appeared at the right times as you walked through.....the scare zones won it here.

This house coming up, Dead Vines was one we were looking forward to more than the others as our Lindsey had worked on this house last year and had shown us her behind the scenes pictures from the things she had worked on. Seeing a plain old prop turned into something eerie and sinister was a joy to see and although we knew roughly how much work went into these houses, seeing a scene evolve from scratch was fascinating and incredibly interesting. For us to see the artistic processes she spoke so fondly of was lovely.

This house was excellent, lots of good scares and I loved seeing all the props I recognised from the pictures Lindsey had showed us, it had been revamped a little from the previous year, but it was basically the same house.

Terrors of the Deep scare zone was a new zone for this year, and to be honest my memory of it now is not so clear, but Tom did say it was fun.

Cut Throat Cove was a small scare zone but effective as we did get some good scares despite it being quite open. Here we could really appreciate the make up involved with these SA as you were up close and it wasn`t too dark everywhere. We would see more of these SA later.

One thing we were all excited to see was the show in Lost Souls Hideaway Bar which had a Drag Show with the wonderful Serpentina Moray..

This was an add on to your regular ticket and you had to book which show time you wanted to attend, we didn`t want to miss this one! Nothing like a good drag show for a giggle and a half.

We arrived in nice time and only waited a few moments till they let us in for the show. There were some tables at the front that were for their version of RIP tours, but there were no bad seats really as everyone could see clearly and the star of the show did wander round the audience, but we did have a very good view from the table we picked.

They had a bar just for the show and themed cocktails of course, and these were rather nice I have to say.

Janet had the Hex and I had the Flame and the guys both had beers I think from memory, the cocktails were a decent strength and tasted nice! And it was a very hot night so they went down rather well! And it was nice to have a seat for half an hour or so......

I think Janet and I were admiring the Star of the Show at this point as she wandered round her admirers.

Serpentina Moray was indeed one for making an appearance.....and she had her trusty side kick who was rather easy on the eye too.....and a couple of biceps we could all admire!

And she could hold a tune!

The show was vibrant and entertaining, she interacted well with the crowd, and Tom too.....lol.......

She was funny, but you did get the feeling it had been a watered down show from her usual type of observational comedy, she was still good but if you`ve ever been to an adults only Drag Show, you would see the difference, I guess it still had to be slightly family friendly, but there wasn`t a single kid in our audience.

Friends who also saw the show said the same thing, and they had been to some expert Drag Shows so I knew what they meant. It was toned down, but still very entertaining, I would have paid more for that show than we did as it was fun. I think if you wanted a gentle way in to drag shows, this would be ideal as it wasn`t as adult humoured as most of them are.

And we all got pictures with the fabulous lady herself, although the lighting wasn`t the most conducive for decent pictures.

We came back out at Cut Throat Cove again and we were spooked several times by some very impressive SA......

Our next house was Blood Beckoning and I do remember these next houses well. They were exceptional and unlike the Ice one, there were no long gaps in the house, every part of the scenery was adorned with something spooky or scary and the SA were amazing. Again we loved the pulsing of guests in smaller groups instead of the incessant conga line at HHN.

I think we were all impressed with this house, and again we were so grateful we had their version of Express Pass as although the park didn`t seem overly busy, the lines for the houses were long and because of the pulsing, it might seem a little longer to wait than normal. But we were delighted with their Express as we had little to no wait, I think our last house we waited around 5 minutes.....no time at all.

Witchcraft Bayou was a wonderful, dark and creepy scare zone and it had everything a scare zone should have and we were terribly impressed with the SA and scenery.

Captain`s Revenge was our last house of the evening and it was one of the best ones......the detail in this one was probably the best we had seen and for us, was in every way as good as a HHN house. The entrance into this one was also very good and again we were so impressed with the house, scenery and SA.

TM here, even though we didn`t have a lot of interactions with them all seemed perfectly competent at what they were doing. There were no non essential stops for no reason and they kept the park flowing well.

After all this time I forget which show these lovely dancers were from, but they were all very good.

Our experience of the houses had been fabulous, we had been terribly impressed by them and thought they had some very good scares in all of them with some of them being exceptional for scares.

This was our final rating of them......highest rated to our least favourite.

Siren of the Seas

Captain`s Revenge

Dead Vines

Blood beckoning

Beneath the Ice.



The scare zones too were absolutely fantastic in their simplicity at times, SA`s coming out of every corner and bush was a lot of fun to see and the SA in every zone played their parts to a tee!!!

It was time to leave now, I think we were all whooped and it was right about now I wished we had a few more nights to enjoy this amazing event.

We headed out to the exit, which was about 375 miles from where Ubers and Cabs would pick you up....this was the only negative of the event as far as we could see. I mean, it wasn`t dreadful, but after all the walking we had done, I wished the exit wasn`t so far from transportation.

Janet`s Uber came first, so we said our goodnights and we waited for ours.....and we waited.....and we waited. The App showed he was 100ft away for too long....after 10 minutes we cancelled it as he was obviously nowhere near us and ordered another, where "Sophia" arrived in about 3 minutes and we were never glad to see our car in our life. We were home in about 20 minutes and we showered very quickly before literally dropping into bed, completely exhausted.

This had not only been our first visit to Howl o Scream, but our first to Seaworld and we had been incredibly impressed by so many things.

The staff were very nice, SA were phenomenal and the whole event completely blew us away with how much fun it was. It made us realise how much HHN had not been the wonderful and fun event it used to be. Lack of crowds and a genuine feeling that this event was setting out to impress you and scare you was obvious to us. It didn`t feel like a complete money grab as prices were very reasonable.

The enthusiasm of the SA`s was a joy to see, the theming of the houses were top notch as were the Scare Zones, we hadn`t really enjoyed the HHN scare zones earlier in our trip, but these scare zones were fabulous.

I used the term maybe not as polished as HHN, and I think that`s a correct observation, but it had a pulse and you could feel the life and soul run through this event, everyone was out to impress and it showed.

I know I already said it, but we wished we had gone earlier in our trip and numerous times, we enjoyed it a lot.

Mainly thanks to Janet who had planned where we would go to maximise our enjoyment and see as many events in the park as possible and we wouldn`t have seen as much if it hadn`t been for their knowledge of the park and how to maximise routes and times.

And we were glad of the Express Pass through the whole evening......we had been surprised how busy the lines were for the houses, with their EP, we wouldn`t have seen or done as much.

We also had an absolute blast with our mates the Keisha`s.....the fact we were with them for the evening also completely enhanced our visit, it wouldn`t have been the same without them.

This night had been a complete highlight of our trip and we enjoyed this event immensely, yes, it was better than most of our visits to HHN this year.

 

[BroadwayHermione5]

Carole thank you for writing this. I know it has been rough, and I can’t imagine what you are going through. You didn’t have to do this, but you did and I think I speak for all of us when we say we are grateful.

Keeping you, Tom, Devon and Lindsay’s family and friends in my thoughts and prayers.

 

[schumigirl]

Carole thank you for writing this. I know it has been rough, and I can’t imagine what you are going through. You didn’t have to do this, but you did and I think I speak for all of us when we say we are grateful.

Keeping you, Tom, Devon and Lindsay’s family and friends in my thoughts and prayers.

Thank you BH, that`s kind of you to say.

I do want to finish it, if something is worth doing and all that......and I know Lindsey would kick my butt to finish it as she loved reading it too.

Appreciate the thoughts and prayers

 

[schumigirl]

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 26TH​

We slept like rocks last night, and although it was just after 1.30 when we got to bed, we were still up before sunrise......although Tom would grumble he could have slept till midday!!! Not a chance.

We had planned to meet our friend in the lobby of Sapphire this morning as this would be the last time we saw him at that point, little did we know. But, we had arranged to meet him around 9.30 so of course I`m always very excited to see him, so I was up extra early, which meant Tom was up too. I think there may have been some grumbling about sleep deprivation techniques as I, not so gently encouraged him to get up.......lol.......

I was in the shower when I thought I heard our phone go. It was.

We had to go back to Seaworld this morning due to a mix up in the check and it was for a decent amount so we`d pop down there later after we met our friend. But, first breakfast as I was ready for some tea and toast. The lounge was busy but we managed to get a table with Matt and Rob and shared our adventures from the previous evening, we told them we had loved the event and would go back again. They were going to The Palm tonight and we hoped it was going to be amazing for them, we said we`d meet in the lounge before hand so we could have a couple of glasses of fizz with them. We had plans for dinner too tonight.

But, we headed over to Sapphire around 9ish and got a few pictures of the lobby area before our friend came out of his office to chat.

This staircase is quite spectacular, certainly one of the more photographed staircases in a hotel.

We saw our friend and went up to sit near the huge window to chat and it`s always lovely to see him. He was asking if our flights were still going ahead on Wednesday, I said well we haven`t had any notifications yet, but we hadn`t ruled it out. he said if we did need to stay it would be no problem, they`d make sure we had a room which was nice to hear as the TM had already been allocated for staying with family for when the hurricane was going to hit, but I knew they`d take care of us, they are the best.

Eventually we had to say goodbye to someone who we absolutely adored, we do keep in touch away from our trips, but he is the kindest most adorable man on the planet and we love him a lot. But, we eventually set off to walk back over to RP to get our car and head down to Seaworld.

We explained to the man on the gate, we were going in to meet someone from the restaurant and weren`t going into the park as such, so we didn`t have to pay parking and he explained where we should park, I think it was a kind of short stay area with a half hour limit.

We got to the gate and explained to a seriously disinterested person that we were to see someone from the restaurant, she was cluless as to what she should do, so she said she`d get a supervisor who we duly waited for and when she appeared, I mean no disrespect here, but she was 17 if she was lucky and also didn`t have a clue what to do with us. She said we absolutely couldn`t wander down on our own and there was no one who could escort us, so we turned it on them to decide how best to help us.

It was bloomin hot stood there for such a time and eventually two women appeared and one was the Food and Beverage Manager for the whole of Seaworld......Miriam was her name and she was fabulous!!! She also used to work for Disney and Universal previously so chatting to her was very interesting. We explained the situation and she said she`d walk us down to the restaurant to get it fixed and we chatted all the way down to her. She was especially interested when we told her we had actually been at Howl o Scream the night before, she was interested in our opinion of the food, cocktails, bars and so on, she seemed to really care what folks thought of their offerings.

We got to the restaurant and I really wished I had put sunscreen on at this point and had a hat! That sun was hot today. She asked us to wait at the bar while she sorted it out and offered us drinks, we asked for water as we were hot by now, she asked if we were sure, did we want wine or whatever, it was very kind of her but we really only wanted cold water at that point.

A few minutes later, our issue was sorted and she thanked us for being so patient and understanding, not a problem.

She then asked what we were doing the rest of the day, we told her we were meeting someone for lunch and she said aww, we`d be happy for you to stay and spend as long as you like in the park today which was extra kind of her, but we had no sunscreen or hats with us and we had plans, but we`d have been delighted to take her up on the offer otherwise.

She did however ask if we had seen under the sharks from the tunnel, we said no so she insisted we head down there so we could see it, that sounded good. We chatted some more and she left us at the tunnel again telling us we could stay as long as we liked and enjoyed any of the rides or attractions!!! We missed out there, but it wasn`t meant to be, however we thanked her profusely for her help and kindness, she was a very nice lady and a credit to SW.

We did enjoy the wander through the tunnel, it was quite impressive and not too busy, so you could really take your time and eye up the fishy things in the tanks.

We headed out and found the Dolphin Nursery, which is not as big as I thought it would be, we did get some pictures of a very cute looking dolphin.

We could see they do look after them well, despite the tanks being smaller than you`d expect.

We were having to leave for lunch, so we headed through the shops as it was blooming hotter than heck now, we were trying to stay in the shade as much as possible as we both get sunburn so easily and it isn`t easy in this park towards the entrance.

We drove the very short distance to Cheddars Scratch Kitchen, our lunch choice today.

We had never been here before and had heard very mixed reviews......it was either folks loved it, or hated it. I was a little nervous about our choice.

Our lunch date was already there and we noticed the place was fairly quiet, we had heard it was always mobbed......not today.

We sat down and were immediately impressed with the honey butter croissants they serve you as you peruse the menu, they were delicious and still warm, we really enjoyed these.

Our waitress who was very nice brought us menu`s and I asked for the Cheddar Painkiller cocktail...she asked without a smile did I want Tylenol or Advil with that.....I burst out laughing saying I was glad it was going to be strong. She said thank goodness you get the joke, some folks just looked at her as if she had two heads when she made that joke.....lol......

It was nice enough, but nowhere near as strong as it was made out to be. They only let you order two per person of them, but they`re not that lethal. Tasty though.

Our waitress then became like the invisible woman, eventually we asked one man passing if we could order please......she did appear back and LD ordered a steak, I thought that sounded good so ordered the same both rare, and Tom ordered the Monte Cristo sandwich which he had heard a lot about, nothing complicated on this order.

After a long wait, and I mean a long wait, our food appeared, well Tom`s appeared and we told him to tuck in as ours wasn`t there yet.......he had only just started when both our steaks appeared at the same time.

His fries were overdone and quite cool, but he loved the rather unusual sandwich which was ham, turkey, two different cheeses which is then battered and fried and comes coated with icing sugar and a pot of raspberry preserve and comes with fries.

Didn`t sound a healthy sandwich, but it looked good.

LD and I both looked at our steaks which had been incinerated....they were the same colour as the mushrooms on top and tiny which wasn`t the worst thing as it was only lunchtime, but LD`s was almost invisible and both our fries were overdone and cold.

Oh dear.

Tom had finished by the time we found our invisible woman waitress......we sent them both back, I said I didn`t want a replacement, but LD asked for his to be done again and it came back with no mushrooms or coleslaw and although the fries were sizzling hot, the steak was again overcooked to incineration. I did laugh with him and mentioned although I was sorry his food wasn`t good, I was glad it wasn`t just me that got poorly cooked food!!

We again searched for our waitress.....seriously, there were about 8 people in the restaurant and she didn`t seem to be taking care of any of them, so we had no idea where she was. She took the steaks off the check naturally and could only apologise claiming they didn`t have a chef today!!! Who the heck was cooking then....

We were glad to leave and were disappointed as so many had said we`d enjoy it, well Tom had but he wouldn`t rush back due to service and we had poor meals served to us. Never mind, we had enjoyed chatting to LD for a while. He was heading to work now so we said our goodbyes and as he left he told us we wouldn`t be flying on Wednesday no matter what anyone said......now we were beginning to wonder.

It was late afternoon by the time we got back home, so we freshened up, got changed and headed down to the lounge and waited for Matt and Rob to appear......

As always we love our time in the lounge and the crew tonight were fabulous too.......

We started on the bubbly before the guys arrived and got some pictures of the food tonight, which was a fresh salad, chips and dip and the hot offering was empanadas. I think we got some chips and dip and added tabasco to our dip which helped it immensely, we like spice.

Tonight`s wine and beer offerings.

If we do have some salad, this citrus champagne dressing is one of our favourites and is very popular with guests alike, it`s a perfect mix of flavours for any salad.

The guys joined us quite soon and were all dashing looking as they were going to The Palm......and we did enjoy several glasses of bubbly together before we each set off for dinner tonight, and we had the most fun time. We could chat to each other for hours at a time and we laughed a lot, and we weren`t looking forward to saying goodbye to them on Wednesday, we were almost joined at the hip by now in the lounge.

They set off for their Uber before we left, we`d see them in the morning. Not long after they left, one of the managers came up to ask if we knew if we needed a room after Wednesday, would we be flying, they needed to know so they could get it sorted for us......we were honest and said as of half an hour ago we were convinced we`d be staying due to some conversations we`d had, but would contact Virgin. Virgin at that point were still saying our flight was going ahead......looking at the weather, there was no way we we`d be leaving. So, we said yes, we`d probably need to stay. But, we planned to keep checking for any updates.

Around 8.30 we headed down to Orchids Lounge as we were meeting our "# 2 son" Colby who we have known since he started in Loews, he worked in the Club Lounge for too many years before finally heading down to the Sushi restaurant where he was very happy I`m glad to say. He was meeting us after he finished his shoft and we always love spending time with him......he continues to try to get us to buy him a car as we are his adopted parents......lol....maybe a Matchbox one!!!

Marielle who we have known for a few years now was taking care of us tonight, she is one of the supervisors here and is very nice and of course knows Colby well too.

We order a bottle of bubbly and wait for Colby, who appeared a few moments later, he is so effervescent and we knew it would be a good dinner tonight.

The miso soup here is very nice and although it could be warmer tonight, it was still delicious.

My friend had told me I should order one dish that they served in a martini glass, it was raw tuna and avocado with a seaweed base and it was absolutely gorgeous!!! Nicer than the way they have it on the menu, she knew exactly what I meant when I described it to Marielle and she knew who had told us about it.....lol.......the tuna was coated in a wasabi which gave it an extra punch and this really was a special dish, beautiful.

We also ordered the Mexican Roll for some more spice

This plate was the Large Sushi Combo which included 12 nigiri pieces, California Roll and Spicy Tuna Roll too.

Everything you get from Chef Dan and his team is perfect, everything is completely fresh and full of flavour, Cowfish could learn a thing or two from his team about what makes good sushi.

Our #2 son.......I`m always telling him he needs a haircut and a shave, I`m wasting my time I think!!

We pass a lovely few hours with Colby and enjoyed some lovely food too. Orchids never disappoints for food or service.

Colby sets off for home and we stay for another drink before heading upstairs and we make the decision we`re not going to wait for Virgin to cancel, tomorrow we`ll call and make arrangements to change our flight and we also decided to take the rental car back a day early rather than worry about getting it there on Wednesday when we imagined the airport would be crazy, although they hadn`t announced the airport was closing yet, but we knew they would be.

So, we went to bed with all of these thoughts rumbling round our heads.....so much uncertainty but we`d hopefully get everything sorted easily.

 

[I-4Bound]

Oh, I’m sorry your experience at Cheddar’s wasn’t good! We’ve been there twice and liked it a lot. We ordered the painkiller, too

We got back a week ago from 4 nights in Orlando. The Macys Parade was wonderful, and the crowds were so low! We had a fab time meeting characters, which is something we don’t usually do.

 

[SCDizFan]

OMG the suspense during a hurricane! We really lost sleep over that one being that we have so much family on the West Coast of Florida, Orlando, and the panhandle and we are in Fort Lauderdale.

I can't imagine what it was like being in a hurricane in another country 4500 miles away from home. Massive stress!

There is a Cheddar's by our house in the North Carolina Mountains (Asheville) and we keep thinking we might try it. It looks like that is a big NO now.

I'm sorry y'all are having such bad luck with restaurants!

I was mistaken about the number of Sheldrick Wildlife Trust elephant installation, there are 21 instead of ten.

 

[saskdw]

Sounds like the janitor was doing the cooking at Cheddars!!

Well we ate at Bigfire a couple nights ago and we all loved our meal. We will probably eat there again sometime this week.

I think we are going to Strong Water Tavern on Monday evening for some Carole’s punch!

 

[schumigirl]

Oh, I’m sorry your experience at Cheddar’s wasn’t good! We’ve been there twice and liked it a lot. We ordered the painkiller, too

We got back a week ago from 4 nights in Orlando. The Macys Parade was wonderful, and the crowds were so low! We had a fab time meeting characters, which is something we don’t usually do.

lol....the cocktail was nice, anything with coconut I`m there!!!

I`m over the moon you had a lovely trip, low crowds are fabulous that time of year and yes, the parade is wonderful....and you were meeting characters too!!! It`s so much fun and so easy at Universal to catch impromtu meets......glad you had such a good trip!!!

 

[schumigirl]

OMG the suspense during a hurricane! We really lost sleep over that one being that we have so much family on the West Coast of Florida, Orlando, and the panhandle and we are in Fort Lauderdale.

I can't imagine what it was like being in a hurricane in another country 4500 miles away from home. Massive stress!

There is a Cheddar's by our house in the North Carolina Mountains (Asheville) and we keep thinking we might try it. It looks like that is a big NO now.

I'm sorry y'all are having such bad luck with restaurants!

I was mistaken about the number of Sheldrick Wildlife Trust elephant installation, there are 21 instead of ten.

Oh goodness that must have been terrifying. As tourists we saw the massive effort that went into helping everyone, in many ways it`s so much easier for us as we are completely taken care of in the hotels, but to worry about your homes and loved ones, much worse than those that worried about losing a day of a trip. Once the flights were sorted (not fun) it was absolutely fine for us. Of course watching the news of what folks were dealing with was dreadful.

So many folks love Cheddars, but again maybe we were just unlucky, I think staffing was a problem again, I will say the place was immaculately clean and maybe dinner would have been better as there may have been more staff?? Who knows. This was definitely a trip of several bad experiences when usually we have the best wherever we go.

I googled them!!! Yes, they did move and I didn`t realise it. It`s very impressive and I do hope it raises more awareness of their wonderful charity and hope folks do something positive for them.

Can I just say.....North Carolina mountains just sounds so beautiful!!! We have a hankering to go to Colorado at some point (not for skiing, not fit enough for that) but folks say we don`t have to go all the way out there, look closer and we`ll find some beautiful mountains and scenery to impress us.

 

[schumigirl]

Sounds like the janitor was doing the cooking at Cheddars!!

Well we ate at Bigfire a couple nights ago and we all loved our meal. We will probably eat there again sometime this week.

I think we are going to Strong Water Tavern on Monday evening for some Carole’s punch!

lol....Tom said something similar about the cook!!!

I am so happy you enjoyed BigFire......good news is always nice to hear. We have some friends who went a week ago and it was a disaster, all five of them sent their entrees back and then the waiter forgot about them. They ended up in Orchids for food, I did do the "I told you so" voice to them.......lol.......but I`m happy you are going back, always a sign food was good.

The lovely worfiedoodles tried Carole`s Punch this past week in Strong Water.....she loved it too!!! Hope you like it too and hope your trip is wonderful!!!

 

[luvpoohandcompany]

Sincerest condolences to you and Tom. Thinking of Lindsey’s family and friends too at this saddest of times. You have some beautiful photos of Lindsey that I’m sure you will treasure now more than ever. So happy you got to know her and so sorry for your loss.

 

[schumigirl]

Sincerest condolences to you and Tom. Thinking of Lindsey’s family and friends too at this saddest of times. You have some beautiful photos of Lindsey that I’m sure you will treasure now more than ever. So happy you got to know her and so sorry for your loss.

Thank you. I have no idea how her family even begin to get over this.

I‘m very thankful we have so many other pictures too of us together and some of her with Devin and on her own, they will be treasured. We felt very lucky to get to know her and have her in our life, even if it was for such a short time. They visited Ireland in the summer, I have some stunning pictures of her and Devin there, and they planned to visit Scotland and England next, they were going to stay with us for part of that trip. It breaks my heart as she would have had a wonderful life and made a difference with everything she chose to do.

Hope you’re doing good…..haven’t seen you post for a while

 

[Worfiedoodles]

It appears you have found the hidden gem that is Howl o Scream! What a wonderful experience, and I’m so glad you enjoyed it more than HHN, which seems to have been more stress than scares.

The Cheddars looks like a total miss. No need to repeat that debacle.

And by the way, your punch was absolutely delicious!! I highly recommend it