DOUG ON THE GO

You don’t really think of those three things together, do you?  Me either. Every year a radio station (K92 FM) in Central Florida has an acoustic music jam that is done in part for the Ronald McDonald house.  The radio station brings in about 8 artists into the Hard Rock Café with just their guitars and they play away.  This is my fourth year attending and it’s always a great time.  To date they have raised well over a million dollars for the charity.

One of the morning show guys at our radio station and I went down to the event and instead of driving back after the show, we decided to crash there for the night.  We arrived at our hotel ‘The Hard Rock’ and checked in.  Staying in hotels my whole life, I have to say this hotel tops the cake!  The driveway is the shape of a guitar which is so cool. Walking into the hotel there is a projected clock image that shines down on the floor so you know what time it is.  Since most people go there for vacation, does it really matter what time it is?

 There is a music theme through-out the whole hotel and lyrics on every little thing from the ice machine (Ice, Ice, Baby) to the privacy sign you hang on the door. They provide you with amenities you need in the room and amenities you didn’t even think you needed.  Our room had two queen size beds, a nice wet bar with a fully stocked fridge (pay per item), tons of lotions and cosmetic crèmes in the bathroom, coffee bar and a great view overlooking a courtyard.  I want to say there was internet in the room too but I didn’t bring my laptop with me, I needed a breather from the online world. 

If you haven’t ever been to Universal Orlando, there are three hotels on the property and they are all connected to the Universal theme parks and City Walk through a series of paths and water taxis (no charge).  Universal doesn’t own the hotels, they are owned by a large outfit called Lowes Hotels.  At first we were going to eat at a trendy restaurant called The Kitchen (on property) but they had a limited menu til 5 pm so we went to City Walk over at Universal and ate at ‘Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville.’

Margaritaville has mostly seafood on the menu along with your traditional burgers and fries. Walking into the place makes you feel like you are on the beach in the Bahamas.  You can expect to pay around $15 per person there for food which is reasonable for a vanity type restaurant at a theme park.  A bacon burger, fries and a pickle was on the menu for me.  Since you can’t really go to Margaritaville without a couple of beach drinks….  I hadto take part (calorie central).  There is also a big volcano along the back wall of the restaurant and hourly is erupts into a big mixer.  One very cool thing that Buffet had on the projection screens was him on a beach somewhere talking about the earthquake in Haiti and how we call could help.  I thought it was very cool that he has that airing at all his establishments.

The acoustic show at the Hard Rock music venue started at 7 pm, so we went back to the hotel and got ready.  The show was great. I tried to take pictures inside the venue but security was out in full force and the last thing I needed was for them to try to take my iPhone away from me (I would die)!  The show ended around 11 pm.  All the artists were equally great and it wound up being a sold out show. 

After the show, we went to check out the Velvet Room inside the Hard Rock hotel. This is the room where a lot of the VIPs go when they are in town (and I guess us too).  We were walking through the lobby and I saw this guy sitting at a table with a bandanna on. It was Hulk Hogan!  They film wresting in central Florida so he was set up signing autographs. As we walked into the Velvet Room there was Rick Flair, a semi- retired professional wrestler.  They had all their security around them so we really couldn’t talk to them.  We chatted with Hulk Hogan’s finance and she set us up for a picture.  It was really dark in the room so the picture didn’t turn out too great.  The highlight of the night is when Rick Flair was going to leave, he turned towards the bar and used his traditional trademarked "Woooooooooooooooooo!" as he casually left.

They have these really great martinis in there and if you ever go, you should stop in. The average drink ran about $10.  I had a chocolate martini and a key lime martini. That pretty much concluded my night.  As I write this, I am still buzzing about meeting Hulk Hogan and Rick Flair..... or maybe it's the martinis.

Share on Facebook