All trip ratings are on a 1 - 10 scale: 1 the worst, 10 the best, 4 roughly equivalent to watching Jeopardy on t.v. with my mom.
5/22/03
Getting up REALLY early to get Su to work by 8 AM: 3
Working like a madman from 8 AM to 11 AM to get a key document done before the trip: 2
Getting it done: 8
Getting on the plane to Florida: 9.975
First flight: 8
BBQ Beef sandwich in DFW: 6
Second flight: 8
Getting to Florida: 9.975
Luggage taking FOREVER: 2
Hertz taking FOREVER: 1.5 (not exactly...)
Going from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale in rain through the night: 5
Su's effort to get us there quickly and safely: 9.99975
Us finally getting there at roughly 5AM: 9.99999999999999999995
5/23/03
Z and Vickie actually letting us sleep in: 9.99999999995
Getting psyched for golf: 9.5
Carrying our clubs downstairs to find it pouring rain: 2
Lunch at Max' Grill: 5
The "3 for 1 Happy Hour" being kind of false advertising: 3 (for 1 ?)
"Lerch" the waiter: 2,5
The pouring rain with thunder and lightning right near us: 2
It replacing golf: 1
Seeing The Matrix: 4
The ending of the movie: 2
It replacing golf: 1
The rain finally stopping: 7
Su and I swimming before dinner: 8
Dinner at Shuck n Dive's: 9
Su finally having fried green tomatoes after 2 years of hype: 9.5
The lady singer of the band at Lulu's: 9.75
Her only singing 2 songs: 2
The fishbowl drink with the alligator in it: 9.5
Z naming the alligator "Ralph": 3
The mega-bug on the steps leaving the Lulu's area: 1
Me not stepping anywhere near it: 9.95
5/24/03
The sun coming out: 9.9995
Swimming in the pool: 9.8
Getting psyched for golf: 9.5
Finding out Vickie likes Diet Coke as much as me and has other really good eating habits: 9
The first hole: 8
The rains pouring down and knocking us off the course again: 1
Immediately going to the Roadhouse: 8 (Fine consolation prize)
Sitting outside at the Roadhouse: 5.5
Ambience near the river: 8
Good Weather: 8
Rain stopping, but golf not happening: 4
No peanuts outside: 2
Charlie (the horrible waiter): 3
Drinks during happy hour: 8
My steak sandwich: 9
Watching t.v./sleeping for roughly 3 hours afterward: 3
Missing IPW-Hardcore in nearby Davie: 3
Not going to the show: 5 (it wasn't THAT big a deal)
Sleeping through the first hour of it: 1
Going to Jai Alai: 9
Seeing Z atually win $75 on a quinella: 9.5
Him realizing he won "by accident": 9.25
Seeing him promptly lose way more than $75: 3
Su and I being close a zillion times and never winning a thing: 2
Stopping for pizza on the way home: 8
Everyone eating the pizza near the beach: 9
5/25/03
Waking up ULTRA-early for golf: 9.5
Actually playing 18 holes in the beautiful warm sun: 9.9
Vickie doing great on the second nine holes: 8
The lady in the little lunch place: 2
Making us drink celery-flavored soda: 2
Warning us about going to Miami Beach and getting "cut up": 2
Lunch itself: 4
Swimming in the pool after lunch: 9
Swimming in the ocean: 7
Experience itself: 9
Su, Vickie, and Z trying to make me go WAY too deep: 5
Seeing the wacky funnel cloud and being scared of approaching tornado: 1.5
It not actually being a tornado that reached land: 9.99999999999999999999
Drinks outside of Shooters: 8
Dinner at Shooters: 7.5
Shuffleboard and games at Blondies: 8
Z and I losing to Vickie and Su: 2.5
Going back to Lulu's again, and then having the same band there without the lady singer: 7
Lulu's itself, including brief dancing and another fishbowl drink: 9
Not getting another alligator: 4
An exhausted Su barely getting out "That's where Ralph was born" as we drove past Lulu's on the ride home: 9.995
Convincing everybody that we should go on the chairs on the beach: 9.999999999999999995 -- I still don't know how I did it!!
Su trying to "play with" the massive mega-bug near the beach and getting completely scared: 8 -- Sorry Sweetheart, but you deserved it for trying to make fun of my fears!!
Falling asleep almost immediately on the chair: 9.75
Getting woken up to go back in: 2
Being told that nobody was getting up early for golf since it was 3AM: 1.25
5/26/03
Sleeping through golf: 1.125
Breakfast at Pumpernicks: 5
Going swimming in the ocean again: 9 -- Not nearly as deep!!
Swimming in the pool in the beautiful sun: 9.85
Going to Primati Brothers for lunch on Vickie's demand: 9.75
My sandwich with the french fries in it: 9.75
Having to pack to leave: 2
Having to see Vickie off at the Fort Lauderdale airport: 1.01
Having to see Z off at the Palm Beach airport: 1.01
Realizing that we did NOT have to leave Florida for another 5 days and were on our way to Disney World: 9.999999999999
Getting to Coronado Springs and having the rain stop: 9.75
Late dinner at Coronado Springs: 8
Short hammock nap at Coronado Springs: 5
Hammock itself with Su: 9
HUGE bug on tree next to Hammock: 1
5/27/03
Getting up REALLY early: 9 -- SO excited!!
Great hot sunny weather; 9.5
MGM Studios: 9
Little Mermaid: 9
Muppets 3D: 8.5
Buying customized Disney-wedding towel with Su: 9
Having Su tell them to send it to the hotel when finished, even though I thought we should pick it up there in case they made a mistake: 5 -- at the time
Who Wants to Be A Millionaire: 8
Disney popcorn: 8
Freezing Diet Coke in a bottle: 9
Other various attractions: 8
Not having to go on Tower of Terror with Su: 9.99999
Not having to go on Rock and Roller Coaster with Su: 9.99999
Going back to the pool exhausted at roughly 4PM: 8
Going to the pool: 9
Being completely exhausted: 7
Pool warmth: 8
Slide at the pool: 9.5
Dinner at the All-Star Food Court: 8
Su's taco salad: 9.75 -- her Disney favorite
My pasta: 8
The French Fries being SUPER-hot: 9.5
The meatballs having cheese in them: 1
Not getting into Fantasmic by roughly 30 seconds after I stopped to use the bathroom against Su's wishes: 1
Su at least getting on Tower of Terror again: 9
Us trying to go shopping at Downtown Disney but being too exhausted to move: 3
Finally getting to bed completely sapped of all energy: 9.75
5/28/03
Sleeping relatively late (9AM): 9
Cancelling golf for the afternoon since we needed more time for Disney parks: 1.5
Beautiful sunny weather: 9.5
Breakfast at Coronado Springs: 5
Seeing the Wedding Pavillion and Grand Floridian: 8
Seeing Rev Jack: 9
Not having him recognize us: 3
Blizzard Beach Water Park: 9
Su making me do the chair lift first thing when we got there: 1
Most of the slides we did: 8
The toboggan race Su made me do: 3 -- too steep for me
The rapids ride we did: 8
Me ALWAYS going backward down the drops: 2
Me not being hungry enough for a snow cone even though they had 16 flavors: 2
Them having 16 flavors: 9.75
Getting the custom towel at our hotel -- only to find out it had the incorrect date on it: 5
Me being correct about them making a mistake: 9.975
Us having to make an extra trip back to MGM to fix it: 1.5
Dinner at Maya Grill: 7
Having cream sauce on part of my steak: 1.5
Finding out about 3DO going Chapter 11 right before Cirque du Soleil La Nouba: 1.5
Cirque itself: 8
My enjoyment of it given the work situation: 4
Talking to guys at work before bed: 2
Crashing exhausted into sleep: 8
5/29/03
Waking up REALLY early: 9 -- so excited!!
Magic Kingdom: 8
Fantasyland rides we usually skip: 8
Cinderella show: 9.5 -- I am not kidding!!
"New" Tiki room: 5
Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin: 8.5
Bear at end of Country Bear Jamboree singing "There was blood on the floor and blood on the ground....blood all around, etc.": 8.5
Other assorted Magic Kingdom activity: 8
Stopping at MGM to return the towel: 4
Disney staff allowing us to park close: 9
Su insisting on going in alone leaving me in the car for 20 minutes: 2
Su inconceivably telling them to deliver it to the hotel AGAIN, even though I insisted they'd probably screw it up again and we should get it there: 3 -- at the time
Epcot: 8
Being too tired to walk around the lake to Germany: 2
The boat finally taking us to Germany: 8
My much-anticipated pretzel in Germany: 6 -- not as good as at the wedding
Japan pavillion: 9
It being air-conditioned in France: 9
Su and I both falling asleep during the French movie: 9
Su's cell phone waking us up during the movie: 1.25
It being Vickie to tell us she was coming to California next week: 9.5
Assorted other worlds including Canada: 8
Going back to the pool COMPLETELY exhausted at roughly 6PM: 9
Going to the pool: 9
Being completely exhausted: 7
Pool warmth: 5
Jacuzzi Warmth: 9.5
Dinner at Pepper Market: 7
Dinner quality: 8
Su and chef having misunderstanding about blackened fish: 6
Su finally getting fish, but being too full to enjoy it: 5
Getting back to Epcot for Illuminations: 9
Miraculously ending up with "front row" location for show: 9.5
Show itself: 9.5
Super music creshendo that I'm still singing today: 9.975
Exhaustedly falling into bed: 9
5/30/03
Us both sleeping THROUGH alarm, yet still being close to on-time for golf: 9.5
Being on-time for golf by about 30 seconds: 9
Beautiful sunny weather: 9.5
Golf at "Hawk's Landing" course with Ricky Saperstein: 9
Getting to Ricky S' house: 9
Seeing the kid with the massive live bass right away and him not releasing it: 2 -- First, Su was mad he wouldn't throw it back. Second, I wouldn't consider swimming in the lake given that there were these massive fish in it
Meeting Kelly, host on Golf Channel: 8
Su being too scared to ask Kelly for golf advice: 2 -- She's a former touring pro!
BBQ at Ricky's: 7.5
Su waterskiing: 9.5
Su losing her favorite hair scrunchie while skiing: 2
Swimming in screened-in pool at Ricky's house: 9
Being too exhausted to do more late night: 2
Late dinner at Pepper Market: 5
Getting custom towel at our hotel -- only to find out it had the wrong NAME on it this time: 9.5
Me being correct about them making another mistake: 9.999999995
Us having to make ANOTHER extra trip back to MGM to fix it: 1
5/31/03
Getting up really early for Animal Kingdom: 9.5 -- SO excited!!
Beautiful sunny weather: 9.5
Animal Kingdom: 9.5
Being almost first ones in the park: 9.75
Safari: 9.5 -- best ever 'cause it was so early, rhino right next to us!
It's Tough to be a Bug: 3 -- I HATE this show at this point
Surviving "It's Tough to be a Bug": 9.5
Kali River Rapids: 8
Ride itself: 3 -- shortest rapids ever
Me and Su going backward through both drops on the ride: 3
Us being absolutely DRENCHED and being only 2 in raft to be wet at all: 9.5
Seeing "living tree" person: 9 -- Note: We found out later that this lady is named 'Devine'
Seeing Tarzan Rocks show for the first time ever: 9.5
Skater tricks in show: 9.5 -- best I've seen in a show
One of skaters trying to steal Su's sunglasses from behind: 9.75
Pocohontas Show: 6
Festival of the Lion King: 9.25 -- the monkeys rule
Stopping at MGM to drop off the towel again: 1
Us telling them we'd get it there later in the day: 9
Epcot: 8
Being completely exhausted before we even did any attractions: 2
Having an unexpected "front row" location for the "Jammitors": 9.975
Lunch near "Food Rocks": 5
The Land: 5
The Living Seas: 4
Imagination: 7
My fear of doing Test Track: 2
Test Track itself: 7
Me surviving Test Track: 9.5
Short stint in pool to rest legs: 9.95
Going back to MGM: 9.5
Picking up towel there -- and it actually being correct: 9.5
Getting 4th row seat for Fantasmic: 9
Final Disney popcorn of trip before show: 9 -- extra salty and good!!
Fantasmic: 9.25
Late dinner at Pepper Market: 8
Finally finishing all Su's shopping: 8
Falling into bed exhaustedly: 9
6/1/03
Leaving Disney World: 1.2
Getting on plane to leave Florida: 1
Having slight cold: 1.5 -- insult to injury
Flights: 7
Getting picked up at airport by Su's brother Ed: 8
Remainder of day: 6 -- too tired to enjoy it
Finally falling into bed exhaustedly: 9.5
Overall ratings:
Trip Overall: 9.7
Fort Lauderdale Section: 9.5 -- Marked down only due to weather
Orlando Section: 9.9 -- Best we've had yet in Orlando, and that's saying something
Z: 9.5 -- Would have been higher, but you blew off Disney World and didn't consider IPW-Hardcore
Vickie: 9.5 -- SUPER effort for a rookie, would have definitely been higher if you didn't eat cheese and/or went to Disney World with us
Ricky S: 9 -- Only saw us one day so couldn't score him higher, but made an incredible effort that day
Su: 10+ as always...
People making the towel at MGM: 2 -- but at least the third time was the charm
