Orlando Vacation: Day 6 - Free Day

Given that it was supposed to rain all day I was pleasantly surprised to get up and discover the sun pouring through our room’s windows. When I looked out I could see the clouds in the distance and knew we wouldn’t have long before the rain soaked our day.

Dan and I got ourselves ready and left Chris in the room while we went and played a round of mini golf at one of the three on the resort grounds. According to the sign it is Florida’s only Official Championship Putt-putt Golf course. I would highly doubt it since it seemed pretty poorly maintained and that I have been to many a mini golf over the many years I have been visiting Florida. Either way it was fun and I clobbered Dan. I attribute my win to my Grandmother who was always very competitive and taught us how to putt and challenged us every visit we made. Even as she got older she still putted better than all of us. My two hole-in-ones certainly didn’t hurt either and left Dan clearly annoyed. Perhaps I should have let him win since it was his birthday after all.

After our mini golf we returned to the room and decided that we would head to the movies today to see Zac Efron in the Neighbors since the weather was not good and it would be miserable to walk around a theme park in the rain. Everyone agreed and we headed over to the Regal Point Orlando. The theatre and all of Point Orlando was like a ghost town. I expected to find the theatre packed but we were one of only a few small groups enjoying a movie.

After the movie ended it was still raining so we decided to check out the outlet mall again. I wanted to pick up a few more of those Johnston and Murphy shirts. We didn’t stay at the mall very long and began wandering around the city of Orlando. As we were driving I saw the since for Ripley’s Believe it or Not and asked if everyone wanted to check it out. Everyone seemed interested.

Even before entering we noticed that the building/odditorium as they call it looks like it is falling into a sinkhole with its significant lean. That was just the start of the strange and unusual things we would find inside.

Read my Ripley’s Belive it Or Not Blog Entry

After enjoying the strange and unusual we again found ourselves wandering around Orlando stopping at a variety of different Souvenir shops before deciding to grab a bite to eat for dinner. First we stopped at Dick’s Last Resort where the place was more than 75% empty and were seated at one of their many communal style tables. Given the lack of patronage currently in the restaurant we spread out a little since it was kind of cramped and were immediately told we had to move back since they were going to seat more people next to us.

I commented that there are plenty of empty seats to fill before putting someone on top of us. I know Dick’s has a reputation for being crass and rude but the rudely put response from the server that he didn’t care and that we needed to move back or he wouldn’t serve us was more than I was going to tolerate. As a group we decide that we would leave and try a different restaurant more accommodating to our need for a little more space. As we got up another waitress asked us where we were going. I responded that we were leaving and again the obnoxious comments came forth. “What are you too good for us? Are we not high class enough for you prima donna’s she barked.” I simply replied “You hit the nail on the head there sweetheart” and we walked out to more of their chastising. I understand the concept of Dick’s Last Resort however at the end of the day the needs of their customers should be meet and when they aren’t and a customer decides to leave they shouldn’t be chastised relentlessly.

After our less than appetizing experience at Dicks we moved on and found a different restaurant where we got burgers and fries and had a great time. After dinner and the rain still pouring down we headed back to the resort to relax and get some much needed rest. After all we had plans for our last full day at Universal Studios.