|
Survivor Longa-Walka-Hallway
Episode XIII
Bribery, Deceit and the Imperial Court
It
is moving day, out of the Boardwalk into the Dolphin. Kimball heads over before
the crack of dawn, or at least before the crack of coffee which is essentially
the same thing. She secures a room. How she gets rooms at before the crack of
quarter to coffee in the morning is beyond the collected wisdom of the web
boards but she does.
We have American Express cards, the Starwood
Preferred edition. Unlike Kimball’s mine isn’t lost at the Galaxy Palace
Theater.
By the decree of the Empress, I am to carry
this card at all times 24x7x365 and use it in the course of normal purchases
when ever possible. You see it gets it earns Starwood points. These points in
turn get the Imperial Entourage a suite at the Dolphin on the weekend so we
don’t use as many DVC points.
The Empress has DVC and Starwood point
management down to an exacting science. No doubt more computing power is
dedicated to point management than was used to put a man on the moon.
She likes the stay at the Dolphin to extend
the vacation without using more DVC points. A week to her is getting to be fly
down Thursday night and get into the parks early Friday morning, stay through
ten days and fly back Sunday night, preferably late so she can get park time in
the morning and early afternoon.
The Dolphin has a nice room as hotels go. Very
nice, in fact the nicest hotel space I have ever seen. Two nice size rooms, well
one big one and one huge one that is part living room part huge bed room.
Our view looks out over Boardwalk and the Bell
Hop says we will be able to see the Illuminations fireworks at night. That is
all well and good but I get down to business, in the act of slipping the guy a
tip I mention how much I like the soap.
You see the Swan and Dolphin have the greatest
oatmeal
frufru soap. Kimball is in the Dolphin to extend our vacation economically.
I am there to collect soap.
The bell hop is to understand this as he
accepts my tip. It is important to get the timing right so as to establish the
proper quid pro quo. Mention soap milliseconds before handing the cash. Seconds
later the bell hop is back with a hand full of soaps. Exactly!
So begins the bribery and deceit that the
Imperial Court considers a vital hallmark of a good Dolphin stay. Suffice it to
say that the Emperor collected an sufficiently adequate amount of soap to hold
him over to the next Imperial visit possibly and possibly longer.
“We” were pleased.
There are a lot of group sales going on this
time of year.
We started off our adventures in at Pop
Century. It was infested with cheerleaders.
We have been watching Pop Werner football
teams moving about all week. They have their own fleet of chartered busses.
Apparently they are an infestation at the All Stars resorts. The Dolphin is
swarming with young Garry Kasparovs, Vladimir Kramniks, and Bobby Fishers.
They are literally playing chess in the halls.
It is kind of cute, yet sick and perverted at the core.
Who takes a kid to Disney World and sends’m
off to play football, cheer or play chess in the Dolphin’s 25,000 square foot
convention center?
Oh well nice to know all these kids cheering,
punting, passing, and playing chess in the hall will not be competing for space
in the Rock ‘N Roller Coaster line or the Millionaire hot seat.
One chess mom I talked to in the elevator, said her
son’s team was one game from being in the football tournament too. She had been
worried they were going to be running between football and chess. I was happy
for her; on the other hand I am not that competitive a parent. About the most
worry I can work up over organized youth activity is about getting my kids
between MGM and Beaches and Cream.
We went to MGM and played a little
Millionaire. This may have been the day Kim and I ware both in the hot seat in
the same game. Ladies first but I got a shirt, small and Connor wore it.
Take that brainy chess kids.
After Millionaire we stopped in to say hi to
David at the animation gallery. David gave us all a chance to paint cells, just
like all those years ago when Kelley and I first met him. It was pretty cool,
just like all those years ago when Kelley and I first met him. (Click
for video)
We got another chance to draw at the Animation
Academy. It was kind of bitter sweet and we cursed Gloria and her ancestors.
For lunch we headed over to Beaches and Cream.
We were meeting Auntie Carol. There were so many things to find out: Would Carol
still sound line a Wall Street trader on amphetamines after a late night? Would
the same extra in efficient hostess be there and could she be any slower?
Yes Carol talks just the same.
Same hostess too, but even slower so Kimball
was even more aggravated. Carol and I sat at a table and laughed and now that I
could understand southern we made fun of Kim. Eventually we were seated at a few
tables but managed to upgrade fairly quickly to the counter. The counter is
where you want to be at Beaches. It’s a counter kinda joint.
We ate like pigs. Then we ordered sundaes for
good measure. Carol was going home and we were sending her off full. The kids
split tow No Way Jose between the 4 of them, Kimball and Carol had chocolate
chip mint with marshmallow (I am not making that up.) I ate clean up, Literally.
Carol was going off to see her dad. We bid
fair well to Carol, that sounds like a line to introduce a song in a Gilbert and
Sullivan show but we don’t sing or dance we waddle, like fat ducks.
We waddled back to the Dolphin and as we
rolled our fat bellies around to the side door we ran into none other than Side
Show Bob. We chatted with SSB as we walked, ok he walked, and we rolled. Making
it Walk’n Roll (LOL I kill myself sometimes) OK it wasn’t that funny but we
moved around the lemonade stand. He returned to his lemon crushing duties and we
sought out something to settle our stomachs.
I have no idea what else we did that day; I
think I was in a sugar coma. I seem to recall we went to see 7,000 people and
Fantsamic. It is always entertaining to watch the line at the boat dock as you
walk back after Fantasmic. It must take hours to clear that line. Walking is the
way to go, not enough to wear off all the beaches and cream but still faster to
get back to bargain for more soap.
They were still playing chess in the halls.
Love Ya / Mean It and BadShoe.com Pins
Tony, Delaney, Connor -
Love Ya / Mean It
Robin & Del, Kimball & Bennet (aka Delswife & Scuba Steve, Zurgswife
& Zurg) are
proud to announce two unique limited edition trading pins to
benefit research to help find cures for Juvenile Diabetes and
Muscular Dystrophy.
We love going to Disney World and writing
funny trip reports, after all it is how we became friends.
We care just as much or more about helping these two great causes. All the
profits from pin sales will go to JDRF
and MDA because, well, Robin thought it would be a fun idea.
So if you enjoy the trip reports
please chip in and buy a pin or two. Pins are $10.00 each including shipping and
handling (North America.) Send an email to pins@badshoe.com
with how many pins you would like and we will get the pins rolling.
The BadShoe.com pins have sold out. Existing orders are being filled but
we can't take anymore BadShoe.com pin orders, sorry. There still Love Ya /
Mean it Pins (there were more to start.)
If you feel inspired click
either MDA or JDRF's logo or both and make additional contributions.
| 
