Thursday, May 8, 2008

Pop Goes the Comfort Level

After two days of rehearsals in L.A., we flew to Florida for two more days of rehearsal. That's just the way we roll.

We were booked to stay at Disney's Pop Century Resort. The band and dancers were all speculating as to what type of hotel it was. "What kind of theme could Pop Century" be? Pop music? Pop culture? Popcorn?" We couldn't figure it out.

Once we got there, it became a little clearer. The decor was a mishmash of eras, colors, and random pop culture. Each building represented a different decade.

Here's the 70's building:

Apparently the Rubik's Cube was the only important developement in that era.

And the 80's building:

Is "Totally Awesome" an 80's phrase? I still use it. But I'm no gauge of cool.

After the receptionists took several years checking us in (I have no idea what took so long), I was informed that my building was all the way at the other end of the resort. This was basically the equivalent of staying in the next town. They told me to "follow the path past the giant 8-track, past the life-size Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, and around the computer pool." What is a "computer pool" you ask? See for yourself:

Exactly as described

When I finally reached my room much later, I was surprised by what I found. This was basically a motel. "Resort" is a relative term, I guess. The bed was harder that the "glorified floor" in Seattle. The walls were paper-thin, so I could hear screaming children on all sides. I was afraid of the shower.

At dinner with the band, we all compared notes on how ghetto the hotel/motel was. Everyone agreed that we were depressed about going back and sleeping there.

Stacy placed a call to our tour manager, Omar, who felt exactly the same as we did. So Omar placed a call to some higher-ups, and said we had to be moved.

No answer yet as to our fate.

We still stayed there that night (convinced that we were being nibbled by bed bugs), and the next morning we showed up stiff and groggy at rehearsal.

After we finally snapped out of our Pop Century comas, we ran down the entire show, then there was a little family jam:



That's lil' Braison Cyrus on drums. And Miley gets better at the guitar every time we see her. Jaco taught her a few new chords.

Which she learned in, like, three seconds. Smarty.

Rehearsal ended fairly early, and we were notified that we would be moving to the Hyatt Cypress Garden. There was much rejoicing. Yaaay.

The difference between Pop Century and the Hyatt couldn't have been more polar. At Pop Century, there was nothing to do. Literally nothing. And there was only one restaurant, which was basically a cafeteria stocked with fried foods. The Hyatt, on the other hand, was absolutely stunning. It had the biggest pool I've ever seen, which surrounded several man-made caves, waterslides, and a massive lake with kayaking and paddle boats. I went kayaking several times. I do love me some kayaking. There was also a full golf course and many restaurants featuring everything from bar food to sushi. Paradise. I have no pictures of the Hyatt, cause I was far too busy having a wonderful time to whip out the camera.

With a big chunk of spare time, we spent much of the day lounging by the pool, preparing for the next day's big show, which I'll tell you about tomorrow at 11:55pm. (How's that for specific!)

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13 comments:

  1. Great blog Mike! I would never have booked you guys at Pop Century - holy crap! Would have been Grand Floridian all the way! But the Hyatt sounds like some place I'd like to stay.
    Thanks again for the stories.

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  2. was miley staying at the pop century hotel too?

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  3. are you kidding anon?

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  4. HEY! I like your little Jonas shout-out! Or was that no pun intended? anyway, funny but sad story! I wish Jaco would teach me some chords! I've had a guitar for over a year and I can play it....but I play horribly! I need a teacher! lol

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  5. Hands down, the Pop Century is the scariest place on earth!! I'm glad you managed to escape!

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  6. i'm glad you got out of there! i love all things 80s and 90s, but that hotel FRIGHTENS me! can you believe people ACTUALLY book it and PAY to stay there?!

    ::shivers::

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  7. All those cheap hotels on Disney like the Pop Century place are absolutly disgusting and insulting. The first time I went to Disney was the Music one, and we ended up transfering to the Carribean, thank god. My dad aparently had spiders in his bed.

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  8. disneys amazing--but i have no idea why they would book such an amazing band and group of dancers at such a "cheap" hotel. id have you guys at ATLEASSTTT Carribean Beach. Anyway i thought miley already knew guitar? Please clear up im so confused. love the blog

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  9. anonymous#1: No. They would never book Miley at a place like that.

    christina: Miley did already know guitar, but she's been improving by leaps and bounds.

    Wow, you guys all feel the same way about Pop Century. I guess I'm glad to hear that. :)

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  10. where was miley staying???

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  11. Anonymous, obsessive much? Well, i'll be waiting on your blog at 11:55pm SHARP so you better be on time mister! No... i'm kidding. But, Pop Century is SO loud. The themeing i guess is cute for little kids or something... but not for such an awesome band and crew, that's totally unfair to put you in a place like that. The greatest place would have been the Contemporary or Polynesian... now that my friend is a NICE, clean, hotel ;) Anyways, i'll be waiting for the next installment. I drove 4 hours to see ya'll out there and it totally was worth it. Mileys new song is soo kickass, i especially love Fly on the Wall! It has such an awesome beat. I hope there is alot of more videos... cause i love videos, loads and loads! :)

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  12. no.... i am not obsessive...i was just wondering were she stayed because i was there too.

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  13. Mike, I love reading your blog and I am so glad they got you out of that cheap motel and into something better. You deserve the best! Thanks for the clip of Miley and Braison.

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