Dylan’s Trip To Orlando
As you can see, I'm home again. I'll be back in Orlando in the fall/winter, assuming we get the funding we want to expand the project.

Anyway, for your amusement, here is a quick summary of my trip...

Days spent in Orlando before we saw sunshine through the rain clouds: 6
Nights Dylan went to bed with a half drank bottle of alcohol beside his bed because another day of shooting was put back because of the rain: 6
Total bottles of vodka and/or rum consumed by crew at the hotel room: 6

U-turns made because co-producer who lives there was never paying attention to where we were driving: 4-6 per day

Trips to the beach: 2
Sunburns: 2

Total travel hours it took to get to Orlando from Vancouver, including a 3 hour layover in Chicago: 10
Total travel hours coming back due to storms and flight delays: 18
Total number of flights: 4
Number of flights where I had a crying baby within 2 rows of me: 4
Total number of flights that showed a movie: 3
Number of flights that showed the movie Daredevil: 3
Number of times it sucked: 3


Biggest conundrum: Why the hell is Florida orange juice more expensive in Florida than it is Canada??? Even without the exchange difference… Madness…

Most painful shoot: Waited for 6.5 hours to shoot a 30 second interview with a golf celebrity who kept having better things to do than talk to us. In revenge for putting us off for so long, we stole the remote for his plasma TV and put it under the tire of his Escalade on the way out. Ok, we didn’t actually do that, but we wanted to after waiting 6.5 hours.

Favorite fast food: Moe’s – sort of a Mexican version of Subway. Fantastic.
Coolest restaurant: Race Rock (thanks to Joe Carney for a night out there)
Best food surprise: Going to Ponderosa Steakhouse & Buffet with a couple vegetarians and getting to eat everyone’s steaks. (the buffet without the steak is only $0.50 less, so I made them order it)
Biggest food disappointment: Finding out I couldn’t get alligator burgers at McDonalds.

Celebrity Highlight story: After leaving a sports medicine center with about a dozen people (cast and crew), I saw a brand new Viper parked right beside our rented Astro van. I walked up to the Viper and in a loud voice so everyone would hear me, said “Damn, anyone seen the keys to my Viper?” Unexpectedly, a voice right behind me said “Don’t worry bud, I got ‘em right here”. Busted in front of everyone. I turned around and it was this big pro-athlete looking guy and his hot hot hot girlfriend. We chatted for a big about the benefits of the Astro van over the viper, like if you see 6 hot girls hitchhiking (happens to me allll the time), the Viper is useless. Anyway, he left with a nice smokey burnout to impress us all. As the rest of the people I was with caught up to the rest of us, I heard someone say that the guy was baseball’s John Rocker, famous for his racist comments about New York a few years ago.

Extra thanks to Joe Carney for coming up to Orlando and dragging me out of my hotel room out for some great food and conversation. And for sending me home with an extra big bottle of one of the finest vodka's to be found in the USA!

He is being modest. This vodka is called 'Iceberg Vodka' and it's Canadian.
And..
It's outstanding. A friend of mine who owns a local bar
turned me on to it. Rated a close second to Gray Goose for
taste, and less than half the price. I dragged Dylan to ABC liquor to make sure he got a bottle.

If you like vodka, get it before it gets 'discovered' and the price triples.

Can't miss it, the word 'Iceberg' down the side of a blue bottle.

Try putting the bottle in the freezer (they have those in Canada right =) overnight.

Mighty tasty........

It's Canada. I just put it outsided my back door for 5 minutes and it's frozen!

BTW, Joe, I found it here. Must have been here all the time and I just never tried it.

Glad you found it.

I just got back from Wash D.C., so haven't been posting since the 3rd. Had a great time with my family though.

Hey Dylan,

Sorry that the weather wasn't cooperating when you came down to my fine hometown (but that's what happens when it's the middle of the hurricane season). Just wanted to let you know that the weather should be much nicer if you come down in the fall/winter (just don't leave all the sweaters in Canada; it can get a bit on the chilly side here).

And I have no idea why the OJ is so expensive here; maybe it has to do something with the fact that you can't get gator burgers at McD when the state is full of them . . .

Thanks Elizabeth :)

I should be back in the late fall, whats the temperature usualy like then?

In late fall, (Oct., Nov.) the temperature is usually in the low 70's/upper 60's (30-20 C) although it can drop down into the 50's (15ish C). The rainy season usually winds down in September, so it should be quite a bit sunnier for your trip.

Pretty acurate. But it can, and will, continue raining through December. Then it gets really cold and windy!

Yeah, it's not unheard of for the nighttime temps to drop around freezing in Jan. and Feb.

Damn! It'll probably be nicer in Vancouver!
Oh well, can't win em all. :)

We intentionaly keep the weather like this... It keeps the tourists from wanting to live here :)

You just went to the wrong part of Florida Dylan.

It's always beautiful on the beaches of Clearwater : ) Although lately it has been wetter than usual because of all this tropical stuff in the Gulf. (Oh, the orange juice is cheap here also)

Jim Quinlan
Clearwater, Florida

Videoholic

You wouldn't have any pictures of that viper (even better with
the girl), right Dylan? Never seen one in real life...... hope one
day I will :)

Rob, nope.
But I do have some video of a Ferrari F360 that belongs to a moderatly famous PGA golfer.

>>t's always beautiful on the beaches of Clearwater : )<<
Jim, last time I was there, the place stunk of dead fish all over the place. Beautiful sand though.

Dylan...Try Boca and Ft. Lauderdale. Constant breeze off of the Atlantic keeps it cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. We are usually 10 degrees (farenheit) warmer than Orlando in the winter. Hotel rates go up after Nov 1 untill April 1. Before that you can get excellent bargains.
It usually doesn't get any kind of cold until Feb. Then it only lasts a couple of weeks. When it hits 59, people roll out the fur coats, lol.