Here is the last picture I took on vacation.
Thanks for sitting through the last two weeks of me rambling on about a magical place run by a greedy corporation.
Last Picture at Disney, 1:24AM.
Last Disney Shot
And now with video
It’s 9:44 of your life you’ll never get back. But for me it was a fantastic two weeks of fun and frolic.
OnSwipe
I woke at 4am to a cat fart and my brain wouldn’t stop.
Restless, I fired up my iPad and visited blogs I don’t have time to visit (or limited access to during work). At Fortress of Solitude (get that cable, will ya?!) I was shocked to find he had changed his theme. But no… not a theme change as that my finger can now scroll through his content. An iPad plug in? Can it be true?
If you’re looking at DeadRobot.com today, you’re looking at it through OnSwipe, giving you iPad navigation and better finger poking abilities. I love how it transformed my little 2D blog into something like Flipbook, making pages flap over like a magazine (yeah, old school) and displaying buttons a little larger for fat fingers.
The settings could be a bit more robust (not sure where a cover image is presented, or why my logo shows up twice) but it’s certainly an exciting start to something dynamic and simple to use. Me likey!
If you’re not looking at DR.com with an iPad… Hi! Uh… Want a cookie?
Caption Your Brains Out
Pics ReMix
Some of my ComicCon Toronto pics made it to TechRepublic! Most are near the end of the gallery…
Alligator Bayou
We’ve just come off the cruise ship and we’re punchy happy as we enter into the off-white lobby of Port Orleans – Riverside Resort. It’s around 10am and the check out/early check in people are filling up the lines to speak to the Cast Members behind the counter. SharkBoy leaves me in line to visit the loo and I notice that I’m standing behind a woman of about 70 years.
She keeps looking back at her husband, resting comfortably on a couch in the lobby.
“Sheldon! Sheldon!!” she calls out, to no avail. Sheldon doesn’t look over.
“I think he’s talking to that beautiful young woman,” I joke.
“She can have him! After 55 years I need a break.”
We chat and she’s like us, but in reverse: Disney World first then off on a looong cruise. She was lovely and beamed brightly when SharkBoy joined us. “You young kids…” she said as she eyed us both.
The line grew and true to Disney customer service, 3 new Cast Members come out from the back to take on the surge of people. Our turn next. We wind up with a shift supervisor Cast Member named Ally.
“Hi Ally!” SharkBoy starts, “We’re hoping that our reservation request is intact. We’d like Alligator Bayou, water view…” He’s excited. Bursting.
“Oh no. Not Alligator Bayou for just two people…”
Back in December, Disney did something to their reservation system that wound up losing a lot of room “requests” information. We didn’t call in after hearing this, deciding that we were arriving early enough in the morning to put in our request, and wait the day with our luggage in the car, if need be.
SharkBoy really wanted to be in the block of rooms called Alligator Bayou.
Riverside is basically shaped like a big “O”. The outside of the “O” is where all the room buildings are with the main lobby situated at the south end of the “O”. The actual “O” itself is a river that surrounds an island. The island holds a large pool area and beautiful landscaping – it’s all very beautiful.
Alligator Bayou is sort of at 10:00 on the “O”, close to the north bus depot and near a bridge over to the pool. The building itself is sprawling and has lots of waterview rooms, which we wanted.
Back to the Cast Member…
SharkBoy doesn’t bat an eyelash. He starts to chant in a rumba beat and does a white-guy, running man kind of dance: “Alli-gay-tor Bay-YOU! Alli-gay-tor Bay-YOU!”
Both Ally and I are in shock. Ally’s eyes go down to her monitor.
“Alli-gay-tor Bay-YOU! Alli-gay-tor Bay-YOU!”
Her fingers fly.
“If it’s helpful…” I start.
“Alli-gay-tor Bay-YOU! Alli-gay-tor Bay-YOU!”
“…we can hold our luggage in our car…”
“Alli-gay-tor Bay-YOU! Alli-gay-tor Bay-YOU!”
“…and come back much later.” I offer.
“Alli-gay-tor Bay-YOU! Alli-gay-tor Bay-YOU!”
“I think I have something…” Ally says, punching keys and smirking.
“Alli-gay-tor Bay-YOU! Alli-gayt—YAY!!”
When we got to the room, much later in the day, it was perfect.
I have to remember this next time I’m asking for a seat on a plane.
Spirit of Aloha Dinner At Polynesian Resort
December 2010 and I pick up the phone to book one of the dinner shows I’ve always heard about as a kid. The Spirit of Aloha show was “burned” into my memory from various Wonderful World of Disney TV shows that aired on Sunday night.
Did we want to use our dinner points (2 if you’re counting) or would we like to pay the full amount? $167 later we had our booking, but didn’t know where we were seated.
We arrive at the Polynesian in near full darkness, only a couple Tiki lamps to cheer us as we waited in line. If any line needed an up-tick (like the Winnie the Pooh ride), this was one. Thankfully at one point we could see fireworks shooting over Magic Kingdom. Fun!
Our host greeted us and as we walked to our table. She was an Amazon of a woman who was all smiles and welcomes – not an ounce of insincerity . As we weaved in and out of tables (the theater is huge!) she explained that it was a set menu, drinks were included except for specialty drinks (see pic below) and that our server would be with us shortly. Narrowly missing a chair being pushed out, I asked how long she had been working at the restaurant.
“33 Years,” She answered without pause, without a hint of cynicism.
“Really? That long? Is it fun to work here?”
Her smile was as large as her arm that swept across the crowded, kinetic room, out to the view of the Seven Seas Lagoon, across to Magic Kingdom. “Absolutely!”
She then indicated our seats were waiting and lead us to a table for two, in the front row. It was a magical moment…
Here are some pics of the show – click to enbiggen! Ohoiho!
Gorilla Repose
Gorilla at Animal Kingdom’s Pangani Forest Exploration Trail. (S)He looked utterly bored. To get the shot, I had more difficulty with the fucking humans on my side of the glass.
One Does Not Simply RAVE into Mordor
Pogo’s latest release! Yay!!
Wizard World Convention
The kid brother of the big comic con rolled into town this weekend and brought some pretty hefty stars this time, like Peter Mayhew, Billy Dee Williams and Scott Thompson
He has a new, excellently drawn comic book out based on his Buddy Husk character, which he signed for me.
Actually in all my years this was the first time I’ve ever approached a celebrity and gushed a bit. I told Scott about the time SharkBoy and I were playing “here’s your husband” on the patio of the Black Eagle and he walked through the door.
The con was fun, we watched the 501st table for a little while and hung out with BobaDoug (see his amazing Boba Fett costume below…) did some light shopping (new trooper tee shirts!), but it felt a but low key, compared to the big Con. Still, it was a good afternoon, considering I was with my husband!
Full photo set here, some below if you’re too lazy to click through.
