Joshua Bailey and Brandon Pickering, appeared in Davenport, Iowa, at The Last Picture House on Tuesday, June 2, 2026, with their film about Black Market Disney merchandise, “Stolen Kingdom.”
Writer-Director Josh Bailey is 31. Producer/Cinematographer Brandon Pickering partnered with Bailey in Austin, Texas. where both have day jobs in television. They worked on “Stolen Kingdom” for 5 years. Bailey and Pickering are on a 13-city tour with the film that opened the Florida Film Festival (both are Florida natives). “Stolen Kingdom” has done well on the film festival circuit. It was also well-received by an enthusiastic crowd at this stylish boutique theater in the Quad Cities. Chicago native Shane Simmons, a fellow actor/writer/director joined the duo as moderator for the evening.
The “Stolen Kingdom” team included Joshua Bailey (Writer/Director), Producer/Cinematographer Brandon Pickering, Sam Fraser, and Fugazi drummer Brendan Canty (who wrote the score). They have created a well-paced, visually-interesting, absorbing documentary about obsessive behavior that caused one film subject to say of himself, “You look like a psychopath!”
FLORIDA ROOTS
Both Bailey and Pickering are originally from Florida (Tampa). Both worked at Disney (or Universal) theme parks as youths. Pickering mentioned Halloween Horror Night at Universal. He volunteered the information that he was fired. “We both dropped out of the same film school.” (Valencia College in Tampa, Florida). This in-depth knowledge of the Disney World was invaluable to the project. I hope it is not the only subject the two filmmakers are this dedicated to, because it demonstrated real creativity with good pacing, great photography and comedic verve. The entire project also represented a lot of time and effort. Just organizing the material must have been a Herculean task! And now they are on a 13-city tour to cities they have probably never visited, like Davenport, Iowa. (Welcome to the Quad Cities! I’ll see you in Austin.)
Some photography of shadowy figures was impressive artistically and finding Richard McGuire (AKA Southern Pirate), who throws out the batshit theory that Disney is running a “torture prison” on its abandoned island attraction, was Cinematic Gold. (Yikes!)As Bailey told interviewer Simon Thompson in a February 14, 2025 Forbes magazine interview:”I had grown up consuming this content, made by people like Adam The Woo and Leonard Kinsey, some of the previous generation of creators, so when it started up again, we were really intrigued by it.”
However, as Bailey said, “If we don’t have Patrick (Spikes), we don’t have a movie.” He also said, “We were determined to break this barrier of anonymity with Patrick. We met with him one night and gave him fake names.” (The meeting took place at a 7-Eleven behind the Customer Member Parking at the Magic Kingdom in August of 2018.) “We had thought about trying to do this ourselves as urban explorers at Disney against our better judgment, so we created all of these social accounts, and I think that gave him some kind of trust in us. I think we were the first people to meet up with him, figure out who he was, and be boots on the ground with him.
“Patrick told us, ‘I have this and that celebrity’s phone number on speed dial. I call them and say, ‘Hey, I have this prop if you want to buy it.’ So we got in his car and drove around the property. There are a bunch of public roads behind Magic Kingdom, office buildings, and other things, and we found the redhead animatronic that had recently been removed from the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. He’s making calls, frantically texting people, and trying to make a deal. We don’t really know what was going on in his head. We left at about four in the morning, went home, and we were like, ‘This needs to be a documentary.'”
Brandon Pickering, Connie Wilson, and Joshua Bailey at The Last Picture House on June 2, 2026.
Patrick, himself, said, “I was the heart of the Black Market for a while.” He rattled on about being offered $75,000 for the Redhead from Pirates of the Caribbean and mentioned being offered $70,000 to steal Buzzy (which, later, he changed to $50,000, claiming he did not steal the animatronic figure). The off-the-wall scenes with the police interviewing Patrick and confiscating his phone and Patrick subsequently faking illness so he might be able to use a hospital phone: priceless black humor, The scenes are inter- woven skillfully, moving on to true tragedy as we learn of the death of Ed “Chief” Barlow, who died from malignant melanoma.
Hoot (real name – Dave Ensign) Gibson met Ed in 1986 and the two loved Disney’s parks, thinking that their jobs there would be a relief from high school bullies and teen age unhappiness. After signing on as Disney employees, however, they realized,”It’s basically high school in a different place.” Still, the two went adventuring in the abandoned attractions many times and became best friends. Dave’s grief at Ed’s passing is palpable. [The focus on these obsessed fans of abandoned sites was treated in a 2005 novel by David Morrell entitled “Creepers.” “Scavenger” in 2007 was the sequel. It’s a whole other world, Folks.] Hoot described himself as grief-stricken after Ed’s death. “I think I’m done being Hoot Gibson for a while. I just don’t care any more.”
We see Hoot scattering the Chief’s ashes at a Disney park.That is not a completely easy task for Dave. He was banned from Disney. Dave/Hoot’s take on stealing from the park is totally different from Patrick’s. Hoot/Dave spoke of stealing costumes and other expensive items as wrong; he seemed to consider it almost sacrilegious. He was genuinely touched and touching when he teared up while remembering his old friend Ed.
The film about a bizarre sub-set of people who obsess about visiting Disney and owning Disney memorabilia reminded me of another great documentary, “Secret Mall Apartment,” which was a hit at SXSW in 2024. https://www.themovieblog.com/2024/03/secret-mall-apartment-is-a-hit-sxsw-2024/
TRENDS TODAY
(L toR) Brandon Pickering, Shane Simmons and Joshua Bailey at the showing of “Stolen Kingdom” at the Last Picture House in Davenport, Iowa, on June 2, 2026.
According to Pickering, they used cameras from their day jobs in Austin television to keep cost(s) down. The film was made on a shoestring—less than $150,000. Currently, two films that are leading the box office on June 2, 2026, were also low-budget movies. “Obsession,” one of the two, rackedup $5.3 million, while the Big Budget film “Star Wars: The Mandalorian” took in only $2.2 million. Working your way up via YouTube is becoming one way for a filmmaker to make it in the industry. Another is to win big on the film festival circuit (Slamdance, Big Sky,et. al. qualify “Stolen Kingdom”). As ABC reported today, Generation Z may just save cinema; going to the movies is becoming fashionable again (along with buying at thrift stores.)
Jake Williams got a shout-out from the duo tonight and assisted some with the making of the film. He runs a YouTube channel (since age 17) that covers bankrupt and abandoned businesses. The two Florida natives —who said “we just found each other” (in Austin)— began their documentary about obsessive Disney fans (known as Pixie Dusters) in 2018, before the theft of Buzzy.
Buzzy had been sitting inside the shuttered attraction Cranium Command for eleven years before the 600-pound theme park remnant disappeared.
What happened to Buzzy?
That is a question that has other YouTube videos debating it. One of the filmmakers this night said, “It’s like the O.J. Simpson thing. There is literally no other suspect” (besides Patrick Spikes). Of course, any number of famous celebrity buyers could have purchased Buzzy via BackDoorDisney.We see Neil Patrick Harris describing a bit of Disney memorabilia that he bid on. Indirectly, Harris called out Jeff Bezos as another top bidder for a piece of Disney history. John Stamos admitted his own desire to own a piece of Disney history (his wife looked less thrilled with Stamos’ passion.)
DENOUEMENT
One famous purchaser who bought a bit of Buzzy’s clothing from Patrick was NBA basketball star Robin Lopez. Lopez was actually to be repaid $10,700 according to the 2020 court sentencing for Patrick Spike and his cousin. The duo was arrested in 2019 and the sentencing in 2020 (no contest) dictated $25,308 in restitution, including the Lopez refund and $6,703 to Disney. Patrick was also sentenced to 10 years of probation and 250 hours of community service.
The film will be rentable by August 1st and is available through Waterbox Video Store.
Bruno Mars’ Romantic Tour, his first since 2014, goes on the list of Top Three Live Concerts, for me—and I started my life of live concerts with the Beatles at the San Francisco Cow Palace in 1965. This May 15thconcert was spectacular and lived up to the excellent Chicago Tribune review. A truly Top-Notch Experience.
Other memorable live concerts include Steel Wheels in Ames (the Rolling Stones), and I’ve seen the Rolling Stones 10 to 12 times, including in Indianapolis at the Indianapolis Speedway on the Fourth of July, in Minneapolis, Chicago, Ames and at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. Saw Paul McCartney at the United Center and have seen him three times, including with Wings and solo at Wrigley. And then there were U2 concerts, including the one with the colossally large central stage and the one where Bono ran around on a heart-shaped stage, in Chicago. Bravo Bruno!
Time to post some pictures of the Bruno Mars Romantic Tour that played Soldier Field on May 15 and 16th.
Bruno Mars & the Hooligans on Saturday, May 15, 2026.
Daughter Stacey and good friend Amanda and I first began the weekend with dinner at Giordino’s, all while wearing our Main Street Pizza matching shirts.
David Letterman and Stephen Colbert atop the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater on May 14, 2026.
Tonight, May 14th, 2026, Stephen Colbert—approaching the beginning of his last week in what was David Letterman’s late night television show—had Letterman, himself, as one of his final guests. Dave showed up with the unattractive Father Christmas long white beard he has worn since leaving the air. (Lose the beard, Dave.)
It was a night of nostalgia, with Colbert paying tribute to Dave’s stewardship of The Late Show 33 years prior. Now, thanks to a president of the United States who is so thin-skinned that he cannot stand any criticism or mockery, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is going to be replaced with the late night comedians who previously followed in the wee hours (and were never that funny).
It’s a loss to late night show fans, whether you preferred Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyer or John Oliver (some might include Jon Stewart) and may signal the demise of late night shows, in general, as unscripted reality shows or late night comedians perfecting their routines is cheaper to put on the air. And we, the audience, are the losers, while DJT gets to further boost his extremely fragile narcissistic ego by killing one of the shows calling him out on his undemocratic and unpatriotic actions as president. [God help us all!]
Dave displayed photos of his new puppy, Doc, mentioned his son (who is graduating from college) and, after inquiring about the blue chair on which he sat, asked who owned the furniture. Stephen, of course, acknowledged that the chair Dave sat upon (and a duplicate blue one) were CBS property, as was Stephen’s own chair, which was an Eames. The Eames classic chair is “extraordinarly expensive” and vintage versions of the chair go for well over $10,000. “It is an expensive chair,” said the originator, who compared it to a well-worn baseball glove.
David Letterman and Stephen Colbert tossing watermelons off the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater on May 14, 2026.
Viewers got to see David Letterman and Stephen Colbert toss the two blue chairs and Stephen’s Eames classic host’s chair off the roof of the Ed Sullivan studio in New York City. They also tossed watermelons and Dave saluted Stephen, thanking him for all he was doing for the country in pointing out the gap between reality and fantasy that the current administration tries to foist on the public daily. (Remember: it’s not a war, it’s an “excursion”—which is probably a misuse of the term “incursion” by the dunderhead using it.)
LATE NIGHT WIth DAVID LETTERMAN
Many years ago I was in New York City for one of the Thrillerfest conventions. This was so long ago that Letterman was still sitting in the host’s seat. I did not have tickets purchased in advance. In fact, I had given no thought at all to attending a taping of “The Late Show,” but I wandered out of the formerly owned Trump hotel that is attached to Grand Central Station to take a walk in NYC.
At a traffic intersection I was approached by someone who wanted to know if I watched David Letterman’s The Late Show, and when I answered in the affirmative, I was told that—if I could answer a question correctly—I could attend that night’s show. The question was for me to give the name of the deli owner whom Dave frequently visited in person. Although my mind went temporarily blank regarding Rupert’s Deli, I was given so many helpful hints that I ended up queued up in the lobby entryway of the studio, being grilled on how to demonstrate appropriate enthusiasm when the host and guests appeared. This went on for a good half hour while we all patiently stood in the long queue, not much different than approaching the TSA agents at the airport.
A memento of my visit The Late Show with David Letterman (cursor pad).
My seat turned out to be about 10 rows from the left front portion of the theater–not too far from where Letterman and Colbert came to rest tonight in the audience, after 6 men removed all of the guest and host chairs to the roof. The night I attended, the guest was Eva Longoria, who tottered out on very high heels. I don’t remember much about the rest of the program, except that the studio was chilly, as has been pointed out. We were warned not to go downstairs to the women’s rest rooms that were located there, because the building was old and dipalidated and the plumbing might not be up to snuff.
From the remarks that Colbert made to Letterman while they were seated in the audience, that last bit of information is out-dated, because Stephen explained how ALL of the audience seats were replaced when he took over The Late Show in 2015. They widened the seats from nineteen inches to twenty-four inches. I would speculate that the downstairs rest rooms also received a facelift, because, as Letterman pointed out, the theater ceiling also had an extensive make-over, which Dave compared to the very ornate Bellagio ceilings.
I’m going to miss Stephen Colbert’s Late Night Show from the Ed Sullivan Theater, a venue of historic importance now being run into the ground by its owners at CBS. Courtesy of Wikipedia: “Colbert’s work as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s news-parody series The Daily Show gained him wide recognition. In 2005, he left The Daily Show to host The Colbert Report. Following The Daily Show‘s news-parody concept, The Colbert Report was a parody of personality-driven political opinion shows including The O’Reilly Factor, in which he portrayed a caricatured version of conservative political pundits, earning Colbert an invitation to perform as featured entertainer at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in 2006, which he did in character. This event led to the series becoming one of Comedy Central’s highest-rated series. After ending The Colbert Report, he was hired in 2015 to succeed David Letterman, who was retiring as host of the Late Show on CBS. Colbert hosted the 69th Primetime Emmy Awards in September 2017.”
David Letterman thanking and congratulating Stephen Colbert on his career helming The Late Show, which Letterman originated 33 years prior on May 14, 2026, one week before the show ends. CBS has buckled under to DJT in a clear violation of Freedom of the Press and the freedoms granted to Americans by our Constitution, which are being attacked daily by sycophantic followers of the current POTUS.
I will really miss the gentlemanly humor and intelligent repartee of Stephen Colbert. I would like to join David Letterman in thanking him for doing his best to defend our First Amendment Freedom of Speech in the face of the autocratic and bullying tactics of the MAGA crowd and Donald J. Trump. I pray that patriotic Americans will wake up to the damage being done to our Constitutional rights and freedoms by the current administration and some of them will grow a spine and stand up to the man who has, at the moment, perched the world on the edge of WWIII.
This was one of our last night in Austin.
Austin at sunset.
We set off for our return to the Midwest on Tuesday, May 11th. Need to be in Chicago for Bruno Mars on May 16th, with the daughter and Dutch daughter Amanda.
The weather has been cooperative, unlike our trip down in 2024, when we were broadsided during a tornado in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.
Tonight, we are in Okmulgee again, and I took a picture of the Auto Zone store, which I jogged through after we were hit at the intersection as I was looking for a bathroom. While there was no bathroom within the Auto Zone store, I did notice that there were many twist ties, and, after my 2024 red Prius was totaled at the nearby intersection, I suggested we twist tie the damaged vehicle together and attempt to drive the 6 hours to Austin with the car more-or-less intact. When we would be told “Speed zone ahead” I would say, “Act invisible.” It’s still quite the family story that we made it, in time to vote in the presidential election of 2024 (for all the good it did me). I just knew that I’d feel guilt if I did not make it to the polls, and that remains true for the upcoming November 3rd mid-term election, when I’ll be pulling for James Talarico.
Tonight, we have revisited Okmulgee and you can see the Auto Zone sign in the picture if you look carefully—the run through the store that gave me the idea for how we might make it to Austin in time to vote and with all of our stuff still in our possession. There are no car rental agencies in Okmulgee and we had too much in our car to jump ship and take a plane (which would have meant driving quite a few miles to Tulsa, anyway.) Plus, our Triple AAA representative, supposed to come to the Holiday Inn where we spent the night, to check out the damage no showed, so twist tie city it was.
Our 2024 accident in Okmulgee, Oklahoma on the way to Austin, during a driving rainstorm/tornado.
RIP my 2024 Anniversary Edition Prius.
Dallas, en route to Chicago.
Dallas, en route.
We took a VonLane bus to Houston to see the Freda Kahlo exhibit on Friday, April 24th. We stayed at the Hotel Zaza, which is quite near the Art Museum.
I am one of the many who thinks that Selma Hayak did a good job of portraying Frida, but Selma was far prettier than the actual artist. I will post a picture of the real Freda and the cinema Freda for you to judge for yourself. (below).
The real Frida was born in 2007 and had infantile paralysis (polio) as a child, which left her with one leg that was far shorter than the other. She also was involved in a serious bus accident in 2025 at the age of 18 when a pole pierced her body and left her with even more serious injuries, and, as a result, she had back pain and problems and had to wear metal corsets that accounted for her short leg and her painful pelvis. She often wore floor-length dresses to conceal her condition. Some of these contraptions were on display and they looked like torture instruments from the Middle Ages.Her 1940 self-portrait titled The Dream (The Bed) holds the record for the most expensive work by a female artist ever auctioned at $54.7 million.[5]
Freda’s love life with the more well-known (at the time) painter Diego Rivera was explored and the guide headphones said that she did not want to have children with him, because he had already impregnated two previous women and left them when they bore him children. At first, when she learned she was pregnant, she tried to abort the child, but when that didn’t work, she was going to go forth with the pregnancy, except that she had a miscarriage.Kahlo’s interests in politics and art led her to join the Mexican Communist Party in 1927,[1] through which she once again met fellow Mexican artist Diego Rivera (who had first met her when painting a mural at her school). The couple married in 1929 and spent the late 1920s and early 1930s travelling together in Mexico and the United States.
I have appended some of her work below.
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo
View from F6617 at the Royal Sands, Cancun, Mexico.
Today is April 15th.
It was predicted that it might rain here (35%), so I made an appointment at the spa (massage). Prior to that, we enjoyed the sun poolside. As mentioned previously, it has been windier and cooler this week.
I have managed to finish off 3 books and am currently reading a copy of “The Godfather” that someone left on the freebie bookshelf, because, in the wake of completing “The Last Kings of Hollywood” I am interestedin revisiting the source material for Francis Ford Coppola’s masterpiece. It is interesting to hear how he came to make the film in the first place, and how he and Mario Puzo collaborated on the script while holed up in Reno in a hotel.
Puzo was a novelist, but not a screenwriter and, after the original movie hit it big and there was talk of sequels, he thought he should, perhaps, learn more about writing a screenplay. He checked out a book on writing a screenplay and, within it, found praise for his script for “The Godfather,” written when he knew nothing about the actual craft, so he shut the book and soldiered on. One of the anecdotes that both Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo’s son mentioned in the Introductions fo the book was the note that Puzo made (to FFC) that Mafia members “don’t brown; they fry.” I don’t know why this particular “note” was seen as significant, but the entire book about Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas depicted these three titans of Hollywood and told so many interesting stories.
At La Isla Mall on April 14th.
But the thing that stood out, for me, was how influential the women in their lives had been, but how most of the wives or girlfriends had to shelve their own dreams and aspirations in order to support their husbands or boyfriends. It was the old “Stand by your man” mantra. Eleanor Coppola, who died in 2024 after a 14-year fight against a chronic disease for which she refused to do chemo, was, herself, a director of documentaries and had many other goals. Her book, written from her journals, about the making of “Apocalypse Now” really made an impact on me when I read it upon its initial publication. She talked frankly (and intensely) about how FFC, while filming for 17 months on location, had an affair and lost massive amounts of weight. What she didn’t share was that her husband since 1963 had been seeing Melissa Matheson, Oscar-nominated screenwriter of “E.T.” for the better part of 7 years, a well-known “secret” that most of Hollywood knew, even if Ellie did not.
Eleanor Coppola (1935-2004) in 2023.
I sat down and wrote to Eleanor Coppola (who wrote me back), expressing my admiration for her no frills style and her interesting content. I had never written to anyone before, and—aside from David Sedaris—I have never written to anyone since.
My snail mail letter was full of praise for the book. I learned that the rest of Hollywood was not quite as forgiving, as they viewed it as a sort of “revenge” piece, retaliating for FFC’s affair (although she did not name “the other woman.” I recognized Melissa Matheson as the woman who became the eventual wife of Harrison Ford (she did not write the “E.T.” screenplay until much later when encouraged to do so by Steven Spielberg). Matheson died at age 64 in 2004. (Harrison Ford, of course, went on to marry Calista Flockhart years later, but they were divorced at the time of Matheson’s passing.) Marcia Lucas, George Lucas’s first wife, was a talented film editor who greatly enhanced his films during their partnership.
It seemed that FFC would go to Matheson to hear encouraging words and praise. She is described as soft-spoken and calm (probably a good listener.)
Director Francis Ford Coppola.
But Coppola was reluctant to break up his marriage—spurred by Eleanor’s pregnancy in 1963—and dragged his feet on any kind of rupture of his Italian family, which originally included children Gio, Roman and Sofia. The death of their firstborn son, Gio, because of the rash driving of a speedboat by Griffin O’Neal (son of Ryan O’Neal, but not the son of Farrah Fawcett as I may have erroneously assumed in an earlier piece—that son was Redmond) is covered and obviously deeply impacted both Coppolas. Nothing worse than the death of a beloved child, and Gio was learning his father’s craft and moving up in the world.
It’s a good read, if you’re interested in the movies and these titans of the Hollywood film industry. It explains how the “auteur” films of the 70s will not be allowed to return, as we now have to have “tentpole” movies with built-in audiences, as it is all about the bottom line.
Having just heard Steven Spielberg speak for an hour in Austin, and having heard Coppola speak at the Chicago Theater for my birthday last July, I really enjoyed the book.
Today was Tuesday and I had to return to the nail girl to finish my pedicure. She is a very nice young girl, but possibly the slowest nail technician I have ever met. I also have never seen a nail technician use their own finger to smear something sticky on the nail fill acrylic area. Nor have I ever had brown mud and salt rubbed on my forearms. I was asked to remove all of my jewelry. Fat chance of that! I haven’t had my wedding ring off my ring finger in years. My ring finger was jumped on back in high school when playing intramural basketball (thanks, Judy Postel!) and the joint buckled backwards and is now permanently enlarged. For a while in the 60s I wore a brace thing to try to force my ring finger to lie flat.
I took off my watch and the fun continued. I did not enjoy the mud, which had something to do with a coupon I had inadvertently found in a coupon book and was apparently representative of some ancient Mayan manicure. All I know is that, after I had been there since quarter of 4 p.m. (nobody but me in the shop for 15 minutes) on Monday, waiting, Valeria entered and we snail moved into action. There was one other woman getting a pedicure, but she spoke Spanish,. I do not speak Spanish, so it was a quiet 2 hours.
La Isla Aquarium.
The manicurist took a LOOONG time and at 6 p.m. I finally suggested the splitting of the pedicure part off to the next day, as we had 7-ish restaurant reservations and I still had not had a shower nor changed my clothes. I never did have enough time to do either of those things. I did them today, after the postponed pedicure. At least the chairs DID massage you, which was very good news, as my back has been hurting, which my daughter would say is because of the mattresses. (I blame it on old age. Mine, not the mattress.)
We went to La Isla tonight to an Italian restaurant that has been in business for 40 years, Cenacola. We had a hard time finding it, as our cabbie failed to mention that there were 2 La Isla Mall sections and we were wandering around floor 2 of the wrong part.
I asked 3 people for directions to this restaurant, after the cab driver gave us a bum steer. I had not been to La Isla for years. It has changed about as much as the airport, which bears no resemblance to the airport we flew into in 1990. La Isla is a very high end mall with every brand name you can think of, but very few people actually shopping in those stores or buying anything. Sadly, I have learned that the one remaining store that sold perfume in Kukulcaan Plaza near us is moving to La Isla next year.
Wedding on the beach.
Royal Sands, view from F5517.
Tomorrow, a massage at 3 and fried chicken, which is how we began this adventure.
Thursday, the Veranda, where we dined last Thursday on beef and chicken, which was good.
The weather this week is windier and in the high 70s. It was in the low eighties last week and there was very little wind.
Back in Illinois and Iowa, tornado warnings.
Connie, Craig, Stacey, Will at Nicoletta’s.
Pensive.
Cancun, Mexico.
Ava.
Elise.
Elise & Ava.
Elise.
Ava & Elise, horsing around.
Elise, son Scott, Ava at the Royal Sands pool.
We’ve been coming to Cancun since about 1990.
We first stayed at the Fiesta Americana Condessa for 2 years. Then, we rented at the Royal Mayan for 2 years Then Ricardo, our enterprising sales guy, suggested that we should purchase a unit at the Royal Islander, which had not been open long.
We purchased Unit #4492, which was a penthouse unit, and we enjoyed that unit every year until the entire Islander went back to the state (Mexico) 2 years ago. The view was unrivaled, as there is no other Royal property that was 9 stories tall, but our unit was perched atop the store and looked out at the beautiful multi-colored blue ocean. We still miss the Islander. And, for that matter, the days of wandering from the Caribbean (gone) to the Mayan (gone) to the Islander are long gone and so is our favorite restaurant, Captain’s Cove.
When the Islander went back to the state, we decided to try to purchase a second unit at the Royal Sands on the secondary market. The Royal Sands had opened in 2000. The lease is for 50 years, whereas the Islander was either 25 or 30. So a unit bought when we purchased a second week to replace the Islander was purchased before we found out that the Holiday Inn was buying up the Royal Resorts chain.
The restaurants at the Islander were superior to the Sands (especially the Conquistador, which moved there from the Mayan when it closed) and, by the time we purchased a second unit on the first floor of the Sands, we had already been coming here for something like 10 years—although not always at a place we owned. Now, we have been coming back every Easter for roughly 36 years. Gone are many of the amenities we used to enjoy, like the Taco parties on Tuesdays and the open bar party with limbo contests. On the other hand, this year they are not pressuring us to come to a meeting to try to sell us a unit, because, as of now, the PTB would prefer that all owners, like us, fork over our units so that the desk can charge whatever the traffic will bear to rent them out. We really don’t know what the daily rate is here (although we should ask) but I know that at the Pueblo Bonito chain in Mazatlan it is something like $483 a night.We pay maintenance fees, which have steadily risen from about $500 a year to 3x that much, but that is still quite a bit less than the bill would be to pay $500 a night for a week.
Front: Jesse, Joy, Ava and Elise; middle row – Will Allison, Stacey (Wilso), Norma (Jessica’s Mom), Jessica; back row: Steve Nelson,me (blonde), Regina Nelson, Craig Wilson, Scott Wilson.
We see changes every year, and some are improvements. There is now a children’s park outside our B5108 unit, which used to be a tranquil garden. Not sure that’s an improvement, but the little people probably like it. We miss restaurants that have closed and we don’t go downtown that much any more, especially after the unrest in Puerto Vallarta. It seems calm here, although, sadly, we have watched the decline and fall of Kukulcaan Plaza over the years. It used to be a bustling mall and we still like to dine at Ruth Chris’ Steakhouse within it, but, aside from the make-up and perfume and purses you can purchase at the end of the mall closest to us, there isn’t much left open inside. The other mall, La Isla, was always the “high end” mall, but we haven’t been there yet. The teenagers chose to go to a place called the Market on their shopping spree, so we have no recent reports of changes there.
It was very sad when the Islander reverted to the state of Mexico, and they are now making it into another All Inclusive place. I don’t like anything about the idea of HAVING to eat every meal at just one place, and I also want to be able to throw together a quick lunch or breakfast, if I feel the need. The places that have redone themselves have often ripped out the kitchens entirely and have made the bathrooms fancier. This is not what I would have wanted if I had a young family, and it does not really scream “Improvement.”
We prefer having a full kitchen and pots and pans and plates so that we can make breakfasts and lunches, if we choose (not to mention snacks). We go out to very nice restaurants at night, and we sometimes order food around the pool or at the beach, but we don’t like HAVING to eat all meals here at the Royal Sands, which, as owners, we don’t have to do.
Will (Allison) and Stacey (Wilson).
On Saturday everybody else (13 people total) will fly home.
We will become just an old couple doddering around on our own, reading books and watching our Super Box and probably dining much less fancily.
The weather has been wonderful and, so far, the sale that took place last year of the entire Royal family to Holiday Inn Vacation Rentals has not made a huge difference, although the place seems busier than normal, even though it is Easter break time.
It will be easier to move from the first floor to the fifth floor to the unit we purchased 2 years ago. We used to have to take everything down to the Islander by cab, but since the Royal Mayan bit the dust, the Royal Caribbean became Uno, and the Royal Islander is temporarily closed and under construction the only Royal Properties left are the Royal Sands and the old one downtown and the Royal Hacienda, which is way out of town.
This year my son has his 17-year old twins and two of their friends, Joy and Jesse, and we have our daughter and her fiance, Will, in our unit. Son Scott also has his mother-in-law in tow and there was one day of shopping and there has been one day at the spa for a massage.
We have had game night here twice, which has been Balderdash, Fish Bowl and euchre. Except for a semi-fall onto my bad knee last night at Porfirio’s, there have been no horror stories. I asked for (and got) ice immediately and sat with ice on my knee throughout the serving portion of the festivities. Fortunately, aside from a bruise on my wrist when I caught myself on a chair, I have been able to walk normally and did not re-injure the already fragile left knee.
