Theme park, schmeme park, as long as you're having fun

The Orlando Doubletree Universal, our home for the June 27-July1 NMA reunion, is, of course, located adjacent to the Unviversal Studios resort. I won't likely be visiting that attraction; I managed Memphis without a trip to Elvis's mansion, and I think I'll come home from a get-together with my shipmates with no regrets over having missed out on Woody Woodpecker's Nuthouse Coaster and the Green Eggs and Ham Cafe.

Disney World is also close by. Eleven miles, actually. I've never been there, and I don't see how it could measure up to my visit to the Tokyo Disney Land with the 7th Fleet Band, an excruciating afternoon of hidden speakers blaring a non-stop version of "It's a Smarr Word After Oar."

I suspect that, among jam sessions, band rehearsals,concerts, meetings, dinners and dances, I'll have plenty to do right at the Doubletree.

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11 miles from Doubletree (upper right) to Disney World (lower left).