Reply #69: I went to a convention in Orlando in November 2008

[Lydia Leftcoast]

Our hotel was located right outside Downtown Disney, and admission there was free, so I took a stroll around. Bleccch. Cheap souvenir shops selling Disney-themed crap and containing ads for other Disney-themed crap, located between overpriced restaurants selling mediocre food.

I had no interest in seeing Disney World or any of the other theme parks, but I had some spare time, so another translator and I went to Cirque de Soleil, which has a permanent troupe in residence. The tickets were WAY overpriced, too, but at least the show was thrilling.

Then we walked back to the hotel, past the now-closed souvenir shops and the mediocre restaurants, which were now emitting the sounds of mediocre music and hordes of drunk tourists.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with the British soap opera Eastenders, which plays on some PBS stations, but as we were having a pre-show dinner, in walked a group of Brits (evidently two families). They looked, dressed, acted, and talked as if they had just walked out of Eastenders. I started laughing, but my companion, who had never seen Eastenders, didn't get it.