Things I Don't Recommend

I tend to be a reasonably positive person, so most of the things that I write about are things I've had good experiences with.  There's plenty of things that go right in my days that leave me feeling upbeat, but not everything has been perfect.  For instance, it's 2am and I'm up writing this because there's a party going on in the room next to ours.  While I appreciate the musical choices (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun is on right now) I'd rather be asleep.  Since I'm not, I thought I would write a little about things that I can't recommend so far on this trip.

- Delta baggage handling.  I like having time to visit the bathroom after a flight and still have time to get to baggage claim before my suitcase arrives, but unless it was a really rough trip, 45 minutes is more than I need.

- Hyatt Place Universal food credit.  The rate said $20 food credit per day.  The vouchers said two drinks and one appetizer per day.  I'm sure there's a combination somewhere that will add up to $20, but you shouldn't advertise it at a $20 food credit.

- Pizza Hut 7060 International Drive, Orlando.  Every other Pizza Hut I've been to in resort areas still participates in the national specials.  Why don't you guys?  Combining that with being in a really seedy area and having brutally slow service isn't exactly a winning recipe.  On the positive side, when we finally got it, the pizza was good.

- Universal Orlando Wait Time Boards.  The wait times for the attractions are fine.  Your ability to report them accurately sucks. 

- U-turns.  There's an art to doing u-turns, and they probably should be banned in resort areas where 95% of the drivers are already struggling to figure out where they are going.  (Disclaimer: I am NOT good at u-turns, but I usually go around the block instead of making them.)

- Hotel Wi-Fi.  I appreciate that you are giving it for free now, but once you open it up to everybody the speed on it becomes relatively useless.  Also, put a password on it please.  Ever heard of Firesheep?

- Epcot Theme Park.  One of the problems when you theme your park as "A journey into the future" is that eventually the future arrives and your park seems dated.  That seems to be what's happened to Epcot.  I liked their version of Finding Nemo better than the one in Disneyland, and Mission: Space was good.  Everything else was pretty mundane, and Test Track was downright boring.  If I'd waited in the 100 minute line for that, I'd have been pissed.

- Hyatt Grand Cypress.  This one hurts because I was really looking forward to staying here.  They position themselves as a four star resort, but it comes off as more of a party hotel.  There's tons of great activities for the kids, but getting to them involves running a gauntlet of rude and obnoxious people.  When I have to spend most of my time explaining to my kids why other people can break all the rules but they can't, I'm in the wrong place.

Well it's 3am now, and the party next door has switched gears from the 80's music I was enjoying to some kind of low bass music that I can't tell if I like or not.  I was considering calling over a request for some Depeche Mode, but I've decided it would probably be best not to prod the (non)sleeping giant.  Besides I'm not sure if I can communicate with these folks, as their vocabulary seems to consist entirely of words my children are not allowed to use.  Instead I think I'm going to try and get some sleep and refocus on the things that bring me enjoyment in life, such as thinking about how long I'm going to let the alarm ring when it goes off early in the morning.