Our Time In Florida…

Is coming to an end. The days we have left now will be working a few shows with Scootaround which always ends up being a great adventure in itself.


The next two shows we are working are going to be so much fun, one is an Air Show and the other is a Car Show at Daytona International Speedway.


We talk a lot about hooking up almost every day while we are constantly on the road, well today we unhooked and hooked up 3 times…ridiculous! The reason we had to do that was the pure miscommunication at Daytona International Speedway. This was one of the major complaints we had while working there several times, but we always thought it was just during the NASCAR events. Well, it seems as if it’s not just for NASCAR events but for all of them. We were told one thing then another then another and each time we were moved to another spot. But, the good news is that we are currently parked in a Lake Lloyd site. During NASCAR events these sites go for thousands of dollars...we are living right!


What a great place to be, even though it may not be NASCAR, we are here and camped in Lake Lloyd. Maybe one day we will be in this spot during a NASCAR event…we can only dream…oh, yeah!


Jerry is already drooling at some of the cars they are bringing in, we will post more photos of the really cool cars they have here as soon as we can!. The Spring Show runs from Friday through Sunday.

The past few weeks here in Florida have been sunny and downright hot. We have been using our air conditioner during the afternoon hours, but sleeping under covers with our windows open at night…absolutely wonderful!

Since we will be heading north in just a few short weeks, we have been keeping a close watch on the weather up towards Cincinnati. So far, no snow lately, only rain and chilly temperatures. Hopefully, these next few weeks will see higher temperatures, if not, we will be wearing our winter clothes once again. But, for now, we will continue to enjoy this great weather here in Florida.

Bee’s RV Resort

20260 US Highway 27
Clermont, FL 34715
352-429-2116


We stayed here on two separate occasions while we were in Florida and we paid $10 per night using our Coast to Coast membership for a pull-thru FHU including WiFi but we used our MiFi. Cable can be included for an additional cost but we used our DirecTV dish, so we can’t comment on what they had available.


If you want to make sure each site is full every day, then treat your customers the way this resort does, especially not charging any additional “Resort Fees” as many of the other resorts throughout Florida do.

What they lack in manicured maintained lawns, they well make up for it in customer services. This is a people park, once you are here, you feel like family. They have a pool, shuffleboard, horseshoes, and loads of activities that we participated in and felt welcomed at all times.


They only have one laundry room and it is usually in use, but the dryers work so well, it takes no time to finish the task at hand. The restrooms and laundry areas are not in the best of shape and not kept as clean as they could, but they are not filthy.




One of the strangest things about this place is the trash area is way out of the way and they do not pick up at your site. It was nice to take a walk or bike ride through the park to the trash area, but it would be difficult if we had heavy trash to take out since we do not have a vehicle with us. In that instance, the very friendly staff or other guests would be more than willing to give us a hand.

Each time we began our walk to the laundry room with our clothes, somebody always stopped and offered us a ride. It is the friendliest place we have ever been.

We did not see any instances with any pets while we were there, so they must adhere to their rules. Pet Policy - Pets must be on a 6’ leash (or shorter) at all times and must be picked up after. No aggressive pets!

On Tuesdays, they offer an all-you-can-eat Fried Chicken Dinner and on Fridays, they offer an all-you-can-eat Fish Dinner for under $10. We took advantage for both offers and both were really tasty.

If we are ever in the area again, we would definitely stay here. For all of our photos, check out our Picasa Web Albums.

Disney’s Fort Wilderness Resort

4510 North Fort Wilderness Trail
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830
407-824-2727


We paid $107 for the weekdays and $112 for the weekends for a FHU, back-in with cable. We had excellent Verizon phone and MiFi coverage which was good since they did not offer WiFi at our sites. We also had difficulty getting a clear signal on our DirecTV Dish due to the extensive trees everywhere, so we used their cable. Every other channel was affiliated with Disney or cartoons and they had several languages for every channel.


Customer service is high priority in every part of our visit here. There was not a rude look, or comment, or a shrug, or eye roll, or anything that could have been looked at as anything but truly accommodating from each and every worker we came in contact with. From the clerks, to the maintenance, to the toilet cleaners, they were all smiles and very congenial.


The entire park is very well maintained and manicured, a top notch resort. If you do not see what you need, all you have to do is ask, again the high priority of customer service is apparent everywhere right down to the tiniest details of the cleanliness of the facilities.




The price is exuberant, but when you take into consideration the cost of parking, and the time to travel to and from each park, we believe it is well worth it to stay right on the property and if we ever come back to Disney World, we would again stay here.

They adhere to their pet policy (included below), we had no instances of any kind with any of the pets, wish we could say the same about some of the children.

Pets like to go on vacation, too, so we offer a limited number of pet-friendly Preferred Hook-Up and Premium campsites.
All pets must be confined in the interior of the owners personal recreational vehicle. For pop-ups and tents, pets must be secured in containers such as portable cages or kennels.
Campsite Guests with pet privileges may take their dogs to play in the off-leash Waggin' Trails Dog Park or walk the many on-leash trails. So that our Guests with pets can enjoy ample time at the Walt Disney World theme parks and destinations, day and overnight kennel care is available at Best Friends Pet Care.
Pet owners are required to pick up after and properly dispose of their pet's droppings.
Pets that interfere with the quality of the Guest experience at Disney's Fort Wilderness Resort & Campground in any away (such as aggression, noise, etc.) or generate a legitimate complaint to management will result in the pet owner being required to discontinue the pet's inappropriate behavior, remove the pet to an off-site kennel or leave the Resort.
Check out all of our photos at our Picasa Web Albums.

Exploring More Parks at Disney World

We were up early on Friday to take full advantage of our early entrance time exploring Magic Kingdom.


Instead of taking a bus to the park, we had to take a boat. We rode our scooters to the dock area and were instructed to take the boat with the green flag.


We chose the windiest and coldest day of our vacation to ride the boat to our destination, and even though it took the boat two attempts to dock due to the wind, we were on our way in no time at all.



We had a long list of the rides we wanted to go on here, so we wasted no time for our fun and excitement to begin. As we entered the gates, Pluto stopped by and made Jerry’s day by giving him a hug, we knew it was going to be a fantastic day.



Then we both met Mickey and had our photo taken with him too!


The longest wait we had was for Tomorrowland Speedway, since they do not offer a Fastpass for this ride, we waited over an hour to drive a car around the track for less than 5 minutes.


But, we took full advantage of Fastpass for all the other much longer lines which is free with each ticket. We did end up riding all the rides we wanted to and many of them were fun and exciting, but, our favorite still remains to be Splash Mountain.


This one park is just about totally mirrored to the one at DisneyLand in Anaheim, California, so we had experienced many of the rides before, but chose to ride them all again. With each ride, we could see the similarities, but the many differences as well.


On Saturday, our last day, we had so much fun, enjoying our adventures at Hollywood Studios. This park was so different than the others and the scenery in itself was worth checking out. The attention paid to all the minuscule details in every set they create was abundant everywhere in the park.


Our ride on the Tower of Terror was the most exhilarating thing ever, we both screamed like little girls for the entire time and we literally left our seats several times, thank goodness for the seat belts. Each ride is a different experience and the one we had was the longest, most drops, and the best one ever.




The rest of the day was spent enjoying Backlot Tours,


Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show,


and unfortunately the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Show was pre-empted by a Cheerleading show which we were not interested in at all.




And, then onto some shopping at Downtown Disney. We collect magnets for our refrigerator and pins for our travel map and even though we were told by several people that if we do not find it while at the parks, we were sure to find it at the many stores in Downtown Disney…not true!

While we were still at the parks we found several we liked, but could not make up our minds so we thought we would wait to decide on our last planned day of shopping at Downtown Disney. They had stores that were supposedly dedicated to selling only pins and magnets. The pin store was just that and boy did we score, they had Disney pins galore. But the magnet store was a total bust, even though they were all magnets, none of them were Disney magnets at all. And, the clothing stores, well, we never found the one shirt that I fell in love with but had run out of the size I wanted.

Disappointing?

Yes, but we found a great restaurant while we were there, so make sure to check out the separate review we will be entering for Fulton’s Crab House, the food was amazing.

Even though each park had their own uniqueness about them, our all time favorite would have to be Epcot, followed closely by Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios.

We will also be entering a separate review for our camping experience at Fort Wilderness Resort. What a 5-star experience!

These are just a few of the photos we took while at the parks, be sure to check out all of our photos, we have loads of them on our Picasa Web Albums.

Fulton’s Crab House

Downtown Disney Marketplace
Orlando, Florida
(407) 939-3463



We spent around $70 including tip for an absolute marvelous experience. The food was just not excellent but also the ambiance and service was exceptional. Disney really knows how to treat people and they seem to manage to have service people who know just how to treat people too.


We shared the Corn Fritter appetite and is was crisp on the outside but warm and tasty on the inside.


For our main course, I had the Lobster & Crab Bisque...Without a doubt, it was the best tasting Bisque we had ever tasted. It was creamy and we tasted the Lobster and Crab with every spoonful.


A Cobb Seafood Salad...The salad was fresh with just the right amount of crisp. It surprised me that the crab, shrimp and scallops were raw and an even bigger surprise to me was it tasted wonderful.


Jerry had the Fried Seafood Combo...Jerry had a hard time talking while he ate the succulent pieces of fish, scallops, calamari, shrimp and pieces of fried onions. Each bite made his mouth want more.



It was set in an authentic riverboat replica docked right on the waterfront in Downtown Disney Marketplace. They offered so many fresh specialties, both seafood and non-seafood.


We highly recommend this place and if we are ever in the area, we would eat here again. For a look at all our photos, check out our Picasa Web Albums.

Rainy Day at Disney World

Does not make for the “Happiest Place in the World”, at least for many that is true, but for us we’re thankful for the day off. If the rain stops as it is forecasted to sometime mid-afternoon, then we may spend the evening at Hollywood Studios.


Our first Disney World adventure began with us waking up before daybreak. We were super excited to drive the few miles over to Camp Wilderness for our stay. Stay tuned for the review of this resort when we leave. We were hoping to be able to check in early. If your site is available, they allow at no extra charge for you to do so and if not, they have an area you can stow your RV while you are at the parks. Fortunately, we did not have to use the latter. It was 8 a.m. and they let us move onto our site…Yippee!!! Let the Memories Begin…!


The first park we opted to visit was Epcot, we also chose not to purchase hoppers because one park a day for us we thought would be plenty and we were right on in that thinking.


Even with the scooters that we have from Scootaround, we are exhausted. The walks alone within the rides are thousands of steps that we chose not to take advantage of going through the handicap lines with the scooters. Instead, we leave our scooters out by the entrance, which we need to learn exactly where we should leave them because they continue to move them. What a freaky feeling, knowing you parked them in one area and then they are not there or seeing them elsewhere and wondering if we both have lost our minds. For folks who know what they are doing, moving them is simple. Disney World has an exceptional bus service and they take really good care of us and the scooters. We did remove the canopies, since they became very encumbering. We were able to see all we wanted to see in half the time, we are so grateful for them.


During our first day at Epcot, we soon realized that it was Flower & Garden Festival season. Everywhere we looked, there were characters created with flowers and plants and they were spectacular. Our photos do not begin to describe just how absolutely amazing they look. The decorators have magic hands and fingers to create such magnificent artistic images.









We dined in Germany at the Biergarten Restaurant where they serve authentic German food. Even though my mother was from a Polish decent, we were raised with plenty of German meals and it was so nice to taste that kind of food again.


We went on several of the attractions, but our all time favorite at this park is by far the Test Track. It is presented by General Motors and is the longest, fastest attraction in Disney history…oh yeah! It begins a bit quirky, but boy when it takes off outside around the building, it is exhilarating!


The next day brought us to Animal Kingdom and because we are staying at a Disney Resort, today was an early open day just for us…well us and a million other folks. When we arrived, we high tailed it for Expedition Everest - Legend of the Forbidden Mountain, where we rode the most spine-tingling roller coaster since our last experience. We opted to wait a few extra minutes so we could be in the front row, and the wait is truly worth it. This was our kind of roller coaster ride we both love, not the spinning and jolting ones but the kind that takes you through an amazing ride that when you are finished you don’t feel queasy, instead it makes you feel energized. We rode several other rides, but this was our favorite of them all.




We dined in Africa at the Tusker House Restaurant, where the cuisine had an African touch. They had different types of rice mixtures, couscous concoctions, and different types of food we had never heard of, thank goodness it was a buffet style so we were able to taste them all. Some were good and others not great, but for the most part, we didn’t hate any of it. Our favorite was the sauce used on the pork loin, that was honey-mustard with a spicy flair that was the best sauce we have ever had.


So far we are having a great time, we are a bit annoyed at the terribly rude people and it is very crowded, but we are still having fun. We did decide to stay with our original plan of leaving on Sunday, we feel that is more than enough time to visit all the things we want to see. It is really different visiting this type of place without our grandson with us, we know he would have loved it.

Be sure to check out all of our photos so far from our adventures at Disney World at our Picasa Web Albums.

Working the Central Florida Fair in Orlando

Work a little…play a lot! We will be doing this for most of this year but just for less than a month left in Florida.



This was a new account for Scootaround this year and our first Fair with them. We have worked Car Shows, Quilt Shows, Antique Shows and an Air Show, but up until now we had not worked any Fairs. It is a bit different. We are camping right on site, with only electric and water. There is a dump station that we are able to use, but what a pain that is. They also offered a dumping service for a fee which we took advantage of, so we did not have to move our home.


The food booths were abundant. We tried so many different types of food. We always prepare for these shows to eat at home, much less expensive. However, after smelling this delicious aroma day after day, hour after hour, we weakened and just had to sample some of the local cuisine. That we did, as you can see with the photos we tried many things we never tasted before, and there were plenty of others items we ate that we did not take photos.






The Central Florida Fair is located right on a lake, which is a beautiful setting.


It is open for 11 days and the hours are only long on the weekends, otherwise during the week they are only open in the evenings. We not only rent scooters, but we also provided wheelchairs, strollers and wagons, the latter is what we rented most.


We knew from opening day that this was going to be rough, we just really didn’t realize how rough it would be. We were warned from day one about being in “Gangland”, as other vendors called it. The first night really opened our eyes to things I haven’t seen in a very long time. I worked hard all of my life to keep us out of this type of environment, but life has brought me right back to it and I have to admit, it is not a good feeling. It began on the first night with fights, then escalated to a shooting and cop attack, depending on who you speak with is what story you get. One of our customers said he heard a gunshot, then we heard from the news there was only an attack on a police officer. We heard about an assault to one of the vendor’s daughter in the restroom. We witnessed a shoving match between two vendors. Several vendors pulled out after the first weekend. We thought about it and discussed it several times but chose to stay.

We are told that the other fairs we are going to be working are nothing like this, we are very happy to hear that since this will be the last time we work this particular fair. There was never a time we were actually in the line of fire, but we were not comfortable which led to us shortening our hours of operation but we hung in there until the end of our contract.