2010 March 10 Wednesday
For lunch, we went to Bob Evans just a couple of blocks east of the resort. Then we went to Downtown Disney to walk around, people watch, and enjoy the outdoors. Actually a little too hot in the sun today - that’s a first for this year’s FL stay! There are some new things there since our last visit, one being a new restaurant featuring dinosaurs. Very well done, interesting to me, and I’m sure a great hit with pre-teen kids. We didn’t eat there but just walked in and looked at the décor. For those who don’t know, Downtown Disney has no admission fee, is mostly shops and restaurants, and has a free ferry ride that goes to resorts and other areas. We watched a ‘princess’ parade, with little girls, many of them wearing special dresses and with their hair done up special. Inside one of the big Disney stores, there is a ‘salon’ where (for a fee, of course) little girls get a great hair styling, with pink extra hair and a tiara. There also is a huge Lego’s store, and just outside their doors is an area with lots of legos in bins that kids can make race cars. Then there is a ramp where they can race. It was fun to watch the kids getting excited when their creation won. No Starbucks here, but we did share a root-beer-float at a Ghirardelli‘s store, sitting by the lake in the shade in a nice breeze. We got a call from the place that is selling our 5th wheel, and he said there has been some interest. They are having a special show this weekend, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that there will be some buyers attending. Home for supper, then watched the boys on American Idol. We agreed with the judges that Big Mike was by far the best. As with the girls, it seemed most of the guys did better than usual.

WEATHER: High 81, low 65, very humid. The forecast says mostly sunny today, but 80% chance of rain Thursday and Friday, with the chance of some severe weather.

FL NEWS: “SPRING BREAK MEANS LOTS OF LIQUOR IN THE SAND”
DAYTONA BEACH - When spring break hits the beach, the hip-hop beat throbs, young women line the sand, young men toss a football, dodging traffic. And Volusia County Beach Patrol Capt. Rich Gardner scans the crowds, looking for plastic cups, beer cans, and liquor bottles. He doesn't need to go far. Gardner spies a group of men milling around an open car trunk, refilling their black plastic mugs. A few minutes later, the mugs and a plastic jug with their Captain Morgan rum concoction are poured onto the sand, and Gardner writes up a $218 ticket to the lone underage drinker. Visitors might not know that you can't drink alcohol on the World's Most Famous Beach. Gardner usually lets off those of legal age with a warning — and the disposal of their beverage. He has enough to do flagging the obvious offenders: the 19-year-olds who get nervous as he approaches, or the car cruising the sand, packed with people passing around beer cans. Gardner was driving behind one such car, which had trouble navigating a soft patch of sand. Seven people jumped out to push, including one guy who put his beer can in the sand. Gardner checked IDs and found a few 18-year-olds among the group. All the beer, including 15 cans in the cooler, were then emptied. A few moments before that, the officer flagged a group from Virginia sitting on the sand when one of the guys tried to conceal a Miller Light behind his backpack. Gardner did a backpack check and found at least a dozen beers, a gallon of Southern Comfort and a gallon of Captain Morgan spiced rum. "Compliance is key, and if they cooperate and not give us an attitude, we won't give them the ticket," Gardner said. But he will write up those who lie, such as the 19-year-old woman from Ga., who had memorized the data on her fake ID — a license that belonged to a 23-year-old woman. But she flubbed the address and didn't have the same eye color or weight — details that Gardner easily checked on his laptop computer. After having to admit that she really wasn't "Sophia," the woman regretted it. Gardner continued typing out his report to ticket her. "What were you drinking?" he said. "It was rum and punch with O.J., lemonade and banana, but it wasn't even that good," she said. "It wasn't worth it and so not worth $218."