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| Run around Sea World Orlando (yellow line) |
Staying at the Rosen Plaza hotel for the first time I set out on what was to be a 5 mile run around the Orlando convention center and Sea World recreational park. The run started out like a typical run would at a new location; I plotted the run on a map program, wrote the street names and a crude diagram on paper and headed out the door. I quickly found the convention center and began to wind around the back side as hoped to do. I immediately became aware of a lot of activity going on even though it was early in the day. There was security all over the place it seemed. This made me a bit on edge as I never want to overstep boundaries, plus I was u familiar with the area. As I pressed on I was impressed that the center staff had the ability to close off t he entire road behind the center. This got my mind wondering as to what kinds of celebrities may entertain here, or is this merely a product of post sept 11?
I pressed on. Off my left was a road that I wanted to get onto. The
Problem was that this road appeared to be in the "SECURE AREA." I really needed to get on this road as it was the only I way across the freeway that let to part 2 of my run; circling Sea World Orlando. I kept moving along Exhibit road looking for a spot that did not have security personnel watching over, not that I was going to do anything wrong, I just didn't want to stop and take the time to explain what I wanted do do when I really wanted to be running unimpeded. As it turned out at the very last minute before the road rose up to cross over I found my entrance point, nobody seemed to notice me. Well, I wasn't really looking to see I merely ran on trying not to hear anyone saying, "hey you, Halt!".
Once over the overpass it was fairly smooth sailing all the way around sea world. I thought it was interesting that there was an apartment complex on the west side of sea world, such that it was lodged between Sea World and the freeway. I wondered who would live in such a place: People that work at sea world? I remembered back when I was a working teen. My first job was of all places at sea world! I could not imagine being able to afford to live in a place like this on what I was paid! I wonder if sea world owns this place.
The other thought I had while circling the park was why does the sidewalk lure me to one side of the street only to abruptly end and start up on the other side? I decided that sea world must have been there before they were required to put sidewalks in. The hotels I was now passing came later and part of their agreement to build included building a sidewalk on that side of the street. So I crossed the street a few times to try and stay safe, only to give up on the south end and stick to the sea world side.
Now for the best part of the story... Coming up the east side and final stretch of my run I could see the 2 towers of my hotel ahead. I entered the lot and confirmed it was the Rosen hotel. The sign said Rosen Center anyway. My key said Rosen plaza, so this must be the convention center entrance,, right? My watch shows that I have only been out for 40 minutes. Humm this is odd as I don't usually run this fast when I'm not competing. I go into the hotel and it looks right, except everything is backwards like a mirror image, the pool is there and looks right but I must be on the opposite side. I get in the elevator, go up to the 5th floor where my room is an, what is this maintenance is in my room, wait my bed is stripped? The guy looks at my confusion as I pull out my key and he says in broken English, "Rosen Center, no Rosen Plaza". He points up the street. All of the sudden it all makes sense. So I didn't really do my 5 mile run in 40 minutes without breaking a sweat. I was at the wrong hotel! My hotel was about a mile up the road! This was the southern of two hotels that sort of bookended the convention center! Now that I realized this I said my goodbye and slipped back into the elevator, out the door and jogged off as if I was just starting my run. About 8 minutes later I arrived at the twin hotel to the north, the one where my room door was closed, and my key opened the door to reveal that my belongings had reappeared!
Note: I told this story to the crew on the way to the airport that day. A flight attendant who was riding along with us said, "the same thing happened to me" in her best southern belle accent. Well, it turned out that it was not exactly the same. Her experience was that she and her husband came back to the wrong hotel after driving out for lunch. But I think it confirms that there may be a problem with having hotels with similar names, layouts and decor!
