This Bud is for You

The people in the State of Florida know how to treat their visitors. Tourism is big business in the Sunshine State and the people in the industry take it very seriously. Visiting Disney World with our family, our eight-year old grandson had everything planned down to the last minute of every ten-hour day.

The Disney folk know how to move people and the lineups were bearable. You were never long in one place, but always near a shop where converted Canadian dollars seemed to disappear like magic. It is not called the Magic Kingdom for nothing. With more employees on staff than the total population of North Bay, all wearing a smile, a visitor could not help but ‘Have a Magical Day’. Everything was clean. If you missed lobbing a drink container into its appropriate bin, it would be whisked away before you could bend down to retrieve it. There was a two dollar per bag charge for garbage per family, but it was hidden in the admittance price.

We did learn that EPCOT stands for ‘Every Person Comes Out Tired’. Many things you saw at Disney were not ‘real’ but when the spitting stink bug sprayed me in It’s A Bug’s Life, I was more convinced that it was real than my grandson. Disney gets thumbs up for their transportation system, but when you move so many people through the turnstiles, you had better have your system running smoothly. The value for money was there except for the price of a disk of your photos that smiling photographers took each day. Scanning your entrance pass to tag your photo made the whole process so easy that one was caught unawares when they asked you for $139.00 for a CD of your photos when exiting the grounds. I hope they were using Re-Writable discs.

After a day of rest for the grandparents and parents, we headed back to Orlando to visit Sea World. Again, our grandson had the day completely planned from our ETA at 1000 hours until gate closing at 1800 Zulu. Our Daughter-in-law is a former travel agent and knows what questions to ask when buying tickets, so at the gate she asked if there were any Military Discounts that day. The people at Anheuser-Busch are known for there support of the American military (after all, they have a lot of good beer-drinking customers in the services), so we were not too surprised when the ticket attendant said yes there was a military family discount.

Upon showing his Canadian Forces identification, the attendant welcomed our son and his family to Sea World. For the price of one child’s ticket, we four adults were admitted free! Anheuser-Busch has a plan where any member of the military, serving or veteran, can enter one of their theme parks free of charge on their first visit. Furthermore, at the opening ceremonies all service personnel we asked to stand and be recognized, and be darned if the video camera did not catch our family on the big screen!

I asked my son if he had ever been recognized so well for his military service, and other than admitting that he had enjoyed flying around on the taxpayer’s dollar, he said not. His home province of Saskatchewan allows anyone with a veteran’s license plate to park free, but the reception at Sea World trumped that. (Free parking for veterans might be an idea for North Bay as a sign of appreciation to military personnel.)

Sea World was a complete success, our grandson giving it a higher rating than Disney. Shamu is one big whale, and touching rays and dolphins only added to the day. Of course when we finally got to the Budweiser barn to see the big Belgian horses, I spotted a hall where they were giving away samples of the golden brew. I tried the stout, but I did raise my glass and say, “This Bud is For You!” Thank you, Anheuser-Busch.