Sci-Fi Drive In Diner – MGM Studios – Walt Disney World

Sci-Fi Drive In Diner – MGM Studios – Walt Disney World

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Sci-Fi Drive In Diner – MGM Studios – Walt Disney World

I ate that this restaurant in 2000 and then again in April of 2007. Things haven’t changed much.

This time I took my niece (age 14) and nephew (age 18) to this restaurant. They picked it because of the theming. I have to admit the theming is excellent. The premise is that you are going to a drive-in movie and eating in your car while you watch the movie.

The setting of the restaurant is a semi-dark “drive-in theatre” with a big movie screen up in front. The seating looks like cars, old fashioned Cadillac-type cars with 3 rows of seats. The walls are painted to look like outdoor southern California with palm trees and gentle hills. While we were waiting to be seated my nephew had to use the restroom, so he got a view of the restaurant before the rest of us entered. When he came back I asked him, “What did you think?” He said “It was all I hoped for and more.” I did not detect any adolescent sarcasm in his report. I have to agree with him that the ambiance is excellent.

When we got out seats, the young people sat in the front seat of the car (it’s only 2 people wide) and I sat in the second seat. Eventually, we picked up two more “hitch hikers” in the third seat of our car. (There are a couple of tables that have a car front and back attached to a regular table. In this seating arrangement, the party is sitting with the movie screen to their side rather than straight ahead. This would work if there was a person in a wheelchair, a very large size person, or a party that was more interested in interacting with each other than in the theming. In the last instance, there are much better restaurants for spending quality time with one’s friends or family.)

The eating surface is a shelf-type affair, affixed in front of your car seats. There is a low-level light all along the shelf for reading the menu. It’s not much good for anything else.

As for the movie screen, it is huge and really looks like the old drive-in theaters that I used to go to with my family in the mid-1960’s. There is a “speaker” on the pole by each car (just like the drive-in) and the sound is good. The movie screen plays a series of trailers for old and really bad sci-fi movies (I even watched some of them as a child) as well as a number of ads for the drive-in theater. The ads are also classics for the snack bar, just the kind you used to see at the old drive-ins. The film is on a loop that lasts about 45 minutes, which is about all the time that you want to be spending in this restaurant.

At the end of the meal, instead of a check for your meal, you are presented with a “speeding ticket” for the damages.

Now, as to the food… When I first visited this restaurant in 2000, I just had dessert because I wanted to see the restaurant, but I had a smaller income and could not afford a whole meal there. (Compared to all Walt Disney World restaurants, this one is not especially expensive. It was my job that was the problem, not the price of the restaurant).
This time, I had more food. My niece, who hardly eats anything, had a child’s hamburger. She reported that it was “fine.” My nephew ordered the chili with salsa topping off the appetizer menu. He reported that it could afford to have more chili and less salsa. I also ordered off the appetizer menu and had the tortilla chips with artichoke/parmesan dip. There were plenty of chips, but the dip was quite bland. Given the quality of the food, I was pleased that none of us were really hungry when we visited this restaurant. One of the items on the menu is spare ribs with bar-b-que sauce. I tried to imagine eating ribs with a lot of sauce and trying to keep track of everything in the semi-darkness. Not a pretty picture.

On the beverage menu they offered, besides the usual things, Spite soda mixed with flavored syrups. I had the green apple, which was quite good. I only wish they had had a diet version.

Overall, the theming is fun and carried out well. It would probably be the most fun if you’re of the age to actually remember some of the bad movies and/or going to drive-in theaters. Even though I can now afford the food, if I take people there in the future I will stick to my original dessert-only plan. If you go to this restaurant be clear that you’re going for the theming experience and not for the food.

RepairitQuick product review.

RepairitQuick product review.

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After we moved into our house it took some time to discover that the master bedroom sink on my side (dual sinks side by side) was leaking water.  I inspected the problem and found that the bottom casement was cracked.  It was obvious to me that this occurred during manufacture process and I supposed allegedly that no one had drawn attention to this defect with Meredith Homes within the warranty period.  Well it was obvious that I was stuck with the problem now.  I envisioned replacing the whole sink top, which was a huge beast, quite long.  I went to Home Depot and talked to one of the clerks.  He suggested a product called RepairitQuick, a multi-purpose epoxy.   A few months later, I tried to use this product.  It comes in a plastic tube.  One has to cut off how much you think you need and kneed it with your fingers so the two chemical components mix to a grey color.  One ingredient is white while the center ingredient is dark in color.  You have 4 to 7 minute work life and it sets up rock hard within 60 minutes so you had better know how what your going to do with it pretty quickly.  Well the stuff worked splendidly.  It has been in place for over one year without any leaks.  I just pushed the epoxy into the wide cracks and smoothed the outside surface to my liking and that was it.

I next used this product on my Toyota 4 Runner side passenger seat plastic side seat cover.  People would roll out of the seat and their rear ends would press down upon the side seat panel and break the front inside plastic mounting tab.  I used this epoxy to reinforce the tab and this worked for about four months or more until the next knuckle dragger broke my efforts.

The next use was to repair a table lamp.  The lamp allegedly was all-metal except if you looked inside the base there was a very thin plastic insert that acted as a spacer for the lamp.   If the spacer broke, the nut that held the bottom tight would be loose and because some idiot designed the lamp, one could not just thread the nut in closer.  I used the RepairitQuick epoxy to fill in the broken void.  I also went out and purchased a large fender washer and put in over the epoxy to offer some solid base for threaded pipe to be attached too.  This worked perfectly.  I recommend RepairitQuick as a homeowner toolbox item to be included.  It just has too many applications to be ignored.

Suggestions for Reforming State College and Universities.

Suggestions for Reforming State College and Universities.

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Exit interviews should be required for every staff member that leaves a college or university for any reason. The Sovereign power of the state, the people, owns the company, the college and university. The Sovereign power has final decision making for performance issues. It makes sense to require this check for performance.

All exit interviews should be made public. The people of the state own the college and university. One could equate the people’s interests in their institutions much like that of being the owners of the business. It follows that the people have full right to examine why every individual exits their business.

It should be required that any lawsuit brought against a state college and university can NOT allow requirements that the parties that settle out of court be required to not disclose the terms of the agreement by which the parties settled. Far too many lawsuits transpire against state colleges and universities where the facts in the case might cast unflattering performance or corruption against the institution management. Managers are in position to order state attorneys to settle cases that might otherwise reveal behavior that the people of the state needs to know.

House “Intelligence” Committee corruption.

House “Intelligence” Committee corruption.

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It was reported in a Los Angeles Times article, by Greg Miller, Monday July 16, 2007, section A, page 1, titled “Bribe scandal report says panel was used”. The story gives the reader quite a few facts but one stands out in my mind as being egregious to the Sovereign. The offense was that the new Democratic leadership of the House Intelligence Committee decided to not release a report that portrayed the committee as being dysfunctional and possibly corrupt. How interesting it allegedly is and self-serving that the committee can shut down the disclosure of its own alleged unethical behavior. The Sovereign power, the people of this county should demand full disclosure.

Doctorate Degree

Doctorate Degree

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The word doctor comes from Latin and means “teacher”. The title was used as a qualification to teach at universities. One of the earliest universities was the University of Constantinople, 849, considered to be constituted in a form that might be considered to look to be close to what universities are today. In Ernest Volkman’s book, Science Goes To War, the author describes how Kaiser Wilhelm, (about 1911), helped toward building a premier science community within Germany to move that country into achieving more military power and thus national power. A reward for scientists that cooperated with this effort was the awarding of titles of “Herr Doktor” and “lifetime tenure as a university professor” (p142). So out of a mechanism toward moving a European country into being an important war machine, we now are burdened with titles that further stratify our society.

Astronomy book by Ian Ridpath, (out of print)

Astronomy book by Ian Ridpath, (out of print)

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I then went to a used book store in Yorba Linda called Books Redux and purchased a wonderful astronomy book by Ian Ridpath. It was a American Nature Guide series called Astronomy and Gallery Books is the publisher. The cost was $4.00 and some change for the state tax. The book was copywrited 1990 but most astronomy books do not go out of date that quickly. The book is terrific. The explanations are concise and explained very well. The page material is almost cardboard thick. The binding is spiral so the book lays flat which is really neat for the star charts. The star charts are quite good, done by Wil Tirion. The printing is color and black and white and very good quality. I did find the star charts a bit hard to see with the star chart size being so small and resulting print size so small. I would carry a magnifying lens to view the star charts. The moon feature part of the book is simply terrific. I have not seen many books that offer both moon features and star charts under one cover. The instrument and observing chapter is a bit thin but the rest of the book is simply all there. The size is not that large, about 5″ and 7 1/2″, not shirt pocket but small enough to throw in the tripod bag. The weight is not back pack friendly, if you are looking for a book to take while camping out (Collins gem Stars should be considered instead, same authors as above). I do recommend this book to be used with your telescope. It is worth keeping an eye out for at book sales and garage sales. Also, check Internet sales.

I really recommend that this book be updated and released again with the same wonderful features.