Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, Soul, I.S.S. & Fisker Ocean

Now I am fully caught up to the events of January that I wish to share. There isn't much news in the way of restaurants new to me, instead, more than one spot was revisited. Some interesting places are scheduled to open in my county throughout 2024 so I have that to look forward to. The most interesting experience will be discussed first: after almost two full years, I was finally able to ride the indoor roller coaster Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind at Epcot on Wednesday.

In recent years, how Disney has done lines and queues for its most popular new rides is not “customer-friendly.” Until recently, there were only two times a day where you had to rush to the Disney World app on your phone and hope you are blessed by the gods & were able to join a virtual queue, and you have to arrive at the ride within a certain window of time. See what I mean about “customer-friendly”? Recently, with this there was a new option but that required paying for Lightning Lane (their new and vastly inferior version of FastPass) and then ANOTHER fee to ensure I'd be able to get on. While I waited to get on, I used Lightning Lane on one of the few attractions that were operative and hadn't run out of virtual passes for the day: getting to ride on Soarin' Over California one more time was neat but boy is Disney just not the same when it comes to treating their customers right.

That is a crying shame especially in this case, as Cosmic Rewind is a great attraction. I'll be vague and there's always YouTube & Wikipedia for those that do want details... it's like Space Mountain, only more modern and quite wild. Expect to hear a popular song from the past on the ride; it rotates between a half-dozen songs you expect on Star Lord's mixtape. This whole rigmarole will have to be done again at the Magic Kingdom for the purpose of riding the new TRON attraction... one where opinion is sharply divided on its quality or lack thereof. It may be one that disappoints, which would sting.

The rest of my time at Epcot was spent walking around, admiring the new garden they have where the old Fountain of Nations used to be, and looking at the art available during The Festival of the Arts that is now a yearly tradition at the start of the year. Also, as I walked back to the car to head home, what a surprise it was to see a Fisker Ocean electric SUV in the parking lot; it was so new that temporary paper tags were on it instead of license plates. It was smaller than expected yet still was appealing to my eye. That's the company which in a previous iteration a decade ago had the great-looking but questionable-in operation Fisker Karma, which was a plug-in hybrid and totally flopped. At least I was lucky to see one in person at a Publix grocery store parking lot, of all places.

Otherwise, not too much else to say, except that there were two theatrical releases seen this month. I'll mention the second first: I.S.S. The reviews were mixed yet the premise of a thriller on the International Space Station still intrigued. Sadly, the movie was totally “meh” & forgettable so while not terrible, it could never even be called good. In contrast, Disney released 2020's Soul to cinemas as they weren't able to at the time due to COVID. That's a great film between the animation, the story, the characters, the music... while it should have been seen by me on Disney+ before, the first time experience being at a cinema was grand.

Who knows when I will return next. Like last February was, next month should be rather eventful.

Francisco Ciatso, 7UP Tropical, Hangry Bison, & Manta Mirage

On Friday I'll post another update where I'll mention the other activities I've done so far in January 2024, but the main reason to write now is to mention an unexpected death in a world I used to be a part of: local independent pro wrestling in Florida. This past Friday night, one of its competitors died in his sleep at only the age of 48. I'd seen Francisco Ciatso (sometimes known as Frankie Capone) wrestle many times through the years; he was not someone I'd ever really talked to but that is irrelevant. A lot of people are upset by the news; I feel awful for all the people “in the business” he was pals with along with all the fans who knew him better than I did. 48 is far too young, to state the obvious.

To be more upbeat the rest of the way, one detail I should have mentioned last month was that when I was in Kansas, a soda only sold at Kroger was 7UP Tropical, which I was able to have. As Kroger only has that grocery delivery service and no actual stores, it was a brew unable to be sampled before. One late Sunday afternoon, I returned to the Hangry Bison in Winter Park for dinner. The only other time was almost 4 years ago; someone there claimed to recognize me, and that's probably true. There's no one out there who looks quite like me!

The other activity I'll mention in this installment: as customary, one day was spent at the Mecum Auctions in Kissimmee. Unlike typical, the day before there was heavy rainfall. That resulted in some rather muddy areas although thankfully the grass parking lot did not suffer that same fate. The variety was as expected; plenty of muscle cars from the 60's, supercars of all ages from Ferrari, Lamborghini, Porsche & the like, various oddities, etc. As wild as it is for car geeks to see a Ferrari F40 parked right next to a Ferrari Enzo (both are literally worth millions now), I can be amused by seeing a few Chrysler Crossfires-remember those?-and a 70's kit car w/ avant-garde styling (many may say “ugly”) based on a 60's race car known as the Manta Mirage. It apparently has performance like a race car so I couldn't imagine driving one.

Driving home from Mecum, I was able to stop at a place mentioned a few months ago: Colbie's Southern Kissed Chicken. It was even less busy there than the first time, making me wonder if I'll have the opportunity for a third visit. That'd be unfortunate, as they have decent food. It's not quite at PDQ level-which is an issue-but on that happy note... like I said, the next time will be four days from now.

Botanica, The Wichita Gardens, City Bites, Robot Servers & 25 or 6 to 4

Those that missed it, I posted something yesterday which discussed the theatrical films I saw in December. Now, the other activities I did during the month. A few days I was rather ill but otherwise I can't complain about how 2023 concluded. As for why I quoted a famous Chicago song, I just saw an ad for Prime which used it; there's a tune not heard in a long time by me.

As always, the highlight of each December is heading on out to Wichita to see one of my sisters and the rest of her brood. Everyone there is doing fine; another “as always” is that three pre-teen boys is a handful and there is one of many reasons why it's a good thing I am not a parent. One night we went out to see Christmas lights at Botanica, The Wichita Gardens; those looked tremendous. Another night was dinner at a new Japanese hibachi restaurant known as Umi; the place looked great and the staff was augmented by robot servers... the first time I'd seen such a thing in person. Unfortunately, the robots were more reliable than the rest of the staff and none of the food tasted as good as a standard Kobe's, let alone JMK Nippon in Rockford, Illinois. You live and you learn... however, City Bites (a sandwich shop w/ funky décor) and River City Brewing Company (w/ an explosion of Christmas décor inside) both had tasty food.

Overall, it was nice to spend a few days out in Kansas. The trip there and back was on the low-buck airline Allegiant; at least the prices were still acceptable when airline tickets in general are a lot more than the pre-COVID days. The trip out to Wichita was fine except that the plane left more than an hour late. The way back was fine also... but what an incident at the airport in Wichita. As I was dropped off, a sight you'd never want to see at an airport was present: cop cars, ambulances and fire trucks on the cargo runaway. It wasn't until arriving home that the full story was known: a plane traveling from Newark to Denver had to make an emergency stop due to engine problems. That isn't automatically a sign of something bad but this time it was: an engine fire happened on the ground! No one was hurt in all that calamity, which is the important detail.

Otherwise, December wasn't too exciting for me... I went out to see Christmas lights on more than one night; a random late Tuesday had me visiting the new Raising Cane's in Orlando. Probable even now that location is still slammed with customers most of the time; even at the late time the place was busy. The food was still delicious, thankfully. Just two nights ago I went to a new restaurant in my hometown of Clermont: Portillo's just opened a location here, sooner than expected. No complaints about the food there, either.

Sometime late in the month I'll return. There are a few places I plan on going so there should be plenty of activities to discuss.