Arabian Nights

We are here in beautiful Titusville, Florida for our annual visit to the American Police Hall of Fame…to attend the Police Memorial Ceremonies that they provide for the surviving family members, Law Enforcement and anyone else who might be interested. They have been doing this for a really long time now (since 1960) and are very good at it too. (more on this subject tomorrow)

Each year they try to do something wonderful for their guests and this year is no exception. They arranged an excursion to Arabian Nights, in Orlando, for dinner and a show. That was SO much fun! They had 4 buses here by 3:45 and over 200 survivors eagerly awaiting the trip. It was about an hour and 15 minutes to the attraction and it was rather uneventful (meaning I took a nap) and we arrived in good time to get everyone inside, seated and comfortable before the show…but not so long as to be bored by the time it started.

This is not your typical seating arrangement…instead of tables there are long benches with backs and almost a trestle type table to eat on, about 18” wide and 15 people long with a 3” raised ledge on the front portion, so you don’t accidentally send your food down the back of a diner at the ‘table’ in front of you. These tables are set up in a ‘stadium seating’ type of arrangement so all can easily view the entertainment, which takes place in the arena below. We were really excited to see this show! It is a loosely woven story of an Arabian Princess coming into her own and being introduced to her own personal Genie, who is rather inexperienced and needs the practice to protect her new mistress. In the course of this tale we are treated to a visual extravaganza of horses in various settings, the Wild West doing a square dance on horseback, the Native American with symbols painted on her steed, the chariots of yore – complete with a very competitive race in which the two sides of the arena cheer on their champion – trick riders jumping rope, jumping through flaming hoops and doing back flips – all while riding bareback on beautiful horses. And of course they evoked the Black Stallion! There was a nice mix of suspense, yearning and comedy. It was a delightful show and I would feel comfortable recommending it to you as a nice bit of light entertainment. Of course if you have a horse crazy child it might end up causing trouble as they will almost certainly want to do those things themselves and I think that might be something you would want to discourage. Lol

We were a little concerned about the quality of the meal. I’m sure you have all been to places that mass serve, and usually that means inferior quality. We had a choice of one of the following menu items…

New York strip steak

Grilled chicken breast

Certified Black Angus chopped sirloin with gravy

Children’s chicken tenders or

Primavera penne pasta bowl (vegetarian/vegan option)

Almost all the folks at our ‘table’ chose the New York Strip. When our food arrived it really didn’t look that great…the Strip was coated in pepper and looked dry, we had mashed potatoes and a broccoli/carrot mix, and a roll. I was pleasantly surprised when I took my first bite of that steak…it was tender, juicy and flavorful, despite the pepper (which I’m sure you know I DON’T DO PEPPER, so that’s a pretty high accolade from me). The vegetables were tender and with a little butter on top the potatoes were really good. It was a bit difficult to eat in the dark whilst screaming, er I mean cheering on our champions, but we managed without any mishaps. (unless you count the butter that somehow managed to fly through the air and attack Larry a row behind us) Our waitress had a great sense of humor and was really quite good even with all the people she was serving; I think she had either two or three of those long tables. The entire experience was one I would happily repeat if the opportunity arose and I hope you all get a chance to do the same.