Ka-ching!

First off we’d like to share some info with our fellow RVers. Generally when we have work done on the RV we are pretty pleased with the outcome, but that’s not the case with Hotties Detailing Mobile Service here in the Orlando area.  We normally wash the RV ourselves, but this time decided to save time and energy and pay to have it done.  Let us just say that they did a poor job (Russ even checked with a couple of neighbors to make sure we weren’t being too picky, and they agreed).  He called to complain and they came back a couple days later, but the result was still not satisfactory (had to wait till it dried to tell and Russ could go up on the roof).  We chose not to call a 3rd time but rather to advise others not to waste your money using this company.

This weekend’s concert series featured Paul Revere & the Raiders, and though we’ve seen them at the Festival before, they’re always entertaining (even if it’s the same old jokes…we all still laugh). We arrived for the 6:30 show, and Paul, who is 75, seems to have endless energy. Of course he had
    the old folks jokes and one of my favorites was that at 75 he’s not really old in Florida…in fact Florida is where old people bring their parents! He crammed many of his hits (ka-ching!) into the 30 min. set, and every time he’d announce a song, he’d say “I think that was a solid gold hit, let me check”, then
hit a button on his keyboard, and a cash register ka-ching! would sound, and he’d say “yeah, it was!” If you’ve never seen him, he is a riot! His guitarist and bass player have been with him 40 years and are accompanied by a keyboard player (with him 33 years) and the newest addition (4 years) is the drummer who played for 27 years
with The Buckinghams (he’s fun to watch!) Rounding out the group is “baby Raider” (meaning younger guy) who handles the lead vocals. Since we had decided to hang around for the fireworks, we decided to also attend the 8:00 show.  Both shows are pretty much the same with slight variations but still entertaining.

 

Since our time in FL was winding down, we were trying to fit in as much Disney as possible.  A couple days later we returned to Epcot but got there when it opened so we could ride on the re-imagined (Disney for refurbished) Test Track.  There are 2 rides at Epcot that you want to get on first thing (or get a Fast Pass) if you want any chance of riding:  Soarin’ and Test Track.  This ride now starts in the

Chevrolet Design Center where you create your own virtual custom car including handling, maneuverability, fuel efficiency, power, color, and body design while you wait to board.  Now this is a virtual car you’re creating so you ride in a standard open air “car”, but along the way at each “checkpoint” you see how your design would have handled on the track as you fly through straight-aways, curves, and hills before reaching a peak speed of 65 mph!

Afterwards you exit through a showroom with hands-on exhibits where you can create a commercial, see your car’s test results, or pose for a picture with either a Chevy car or the one you created against a backdrop of your choice and they'll be emailed to you.  Since this was our first time, not sure we did such a great job with our design as we were trying to figure out the screen, but you can see how it turned out in the photo above left.

Now that we were done with that, we headed over to get a Fast Pass for Soarin’, which meant we had a couple hours to kill before we could ride.  We checked out the butterfly garden again, and this time there were more butterflies flitting around than I’d ever seen before at one time!  We also rode Journey Into Imagination With Figment

(really geared more for little kids but cute), cruised over to The Seas to catch that super dude Crush in “Turtle Talk” (always a hoot!), and then went upstairs to check out the aquarium.  While there we got to observe a 10 min. demonstration of some research the staff is doing with the dolphins teaching them a

symbolic language.  I love dolphins and found it very interesting and fascinating.                                                                                     After riding Soarin’, we strolled over to Ellen’s Energy Adventure (a 45 min. presentation and ride starring Ellen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Alex Trebek), and then we finished with a ride on Spaceship Earth (known to most people as “the big golf ball”.)  It's really too dark in either of these places for decent pictures, but there really is so much to do at Epcot, and this only touches the surface!