Yesterday we thought Shoneys was the worst….But this morning we decided at the last moment we would try Mcdonalds for breakfast. Maybe it would be our last blast before returning to our normal menu. What a mistake. For clarity we were at the Sanatee, South Carolina location. I ordered 2 Sasuage Egg McMuffin meals at 08:55. At 09:15 two couples before me were asking for refunds. People started screaming for better service. I stuck it out until 09:18 (according to their take out window clock). First they gave me the wrong order, then finally at 09:19 they were able to get what I ordered.

Well we finally had to leave the warmth of Florida and start making our way back home. Tonights stop was at the Holiday Inn in Santee, South Carolina. After checking in, we went out for supper. We decided that we would try Shoneys, a pretty big chain down here in the States. Well….our waitress came and took our order. Stephanie ordered the Steak and Wedge Salad, I ordered the 8oz Sirloin Steak. The waitress came back and informed us that they were out of steak. OK we thought, Stephanie reordered the roast chicken salad with rice pilaf. I ordered the Philly Steak sandwich. About 20 minutes later, I got my sandwich, and Steph was informed that they had run out of pilaf. She chose the carrot/broccoli mixed veg. 10 minutes later she received her chicken that was overcooked, and her mixed veg….broccoli/green beans/squash. It was a disaster. If your wondering why I’m spending lots of time on this, its because the junior members of the Rover Crew could top the cooks of this place, hands down !! We may give Shoneys another chance some other time, but not in the near future.

We needed a return trip to this wonderful world. Stephanie and I decided to visit Islands of Adventure today. During our visit, we were privilaged to visit Ollivanders – “Makers of fine Wands since 382 BC”. The clerk at Ollivanders demonstrated to us how he matches wands to the wizard. It was quite interesting. John enjoyed a few roller coasters and we ended the day on the Cat in the Hat trolley ride. It was a great way to spend Valentines Day.

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I think I know whats happening. Its been a running joke between Pat and Brian and Stephanie and I. Every time they come down and visit us here, Florida experiences record cold spells. This year when they arrived with their grandson Riley the temperature was in the high 20′s. The day after he returns home, Florida dips to 0. thats ZERO!! The day after they leave (Monday) the teperature is supposed to hike up again into the high 20′s……go figure.

This visit deserved its own posting. I have to admit that I have not kept up with all the Harry Potter books or movies. The series started getting a little dark for me. But Universal has done such excellent job on this portion of the park its fabulous. Riley and I started with the Dragon Challenge, the blue side. Next was Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. This was an IMAX style ride with a little mix of real set pieces. We finished with the Flight of the Hippogriff. We didn’t wait any longer than 10 minutes for any of the rides. We then took some time and explored the store fronts. All the Inhabitants of Hogswarts and Hogsmead were very helpful at answering any questions we had.

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