The Email Warbrides decided to have a get together in Orlando on the weekend of July 11th 1998. Nine Cary Grant fans attended from the U.K and across the U.S.A. This was the first annual caryvention - although back then we weren't entirely sure g that a second would happen!
Read accounts by: Zoë | Betty & Jen | Traci & Carey | April | Jenny | Helen
Zoë Diamandopoulos' Account:
Where to start. First off, I was in Florida for three weeks from July 4th 1998. It was fantastic. Very hot, humid
with fantastic thunderstorms. Everyone was warning me about how the humidity can get you. However, my main problem
is coping with the heat whether dry or humid. In Aberdeen, you simply don't have heat. It doesn't exist. Anything
above 18 degrees C (don't know what that is in Faranheit) is shorts & T-shirt weather. Once I got used to the
heat, I had a great time. Of course, the reason I really went to Orlando for my holiday was to attend the Cary-vention!
My first week was spent shopping & theme-park visiting in Orlando. I made loads of Cary purchases and also
a preliminary trip to Universal Studios to check out the rides and find all the Cary references.
On the Thursday of the first week, I met with Helen & April. Also attending this meeting was my possibly-maybe-only-if-colin-asks-me-future-mother-in-law. We met at the not so glamorous Pizza Hut. This was chosen because of its close proximity to Helen & Aprils hotel - having heard about them having difficulty getting to it we thought it a good idea if they didn't go to far!! So we had pizza. I am sure Helen & April got the wrong idea of me - the way I polished of that pizza is no means a usual reflection on my appetite (okay, I lie - so I like pizza. I could live on pizza!).
It was great to meet face to face with people I have "spoken" with for so long.
April did seem somewhat enthralled by our British accents. Noreen with her Scots and me with my English. Little
did I know how this was to affect April at Universal studios on Saturday!!!! Helen gave me a copy of the Jerry
Vermilye book, you know - the one with the georgous moustache picture. We decided the reason Cary didn't keep the
'tache was because he looked so much like Errol Flynn with it. And of course, I received my wonderful Warbrides
mug. Thank you so much for these gifts, Helen, my morning cup of tea tastes so much better when I can gaze at Cary
at the same time!!!
And then, it was the big day. Saturday, July 11th - the Cary-Vention. I awoke early eager, like a little kid at
Christmas (actually, come to think of it, I still get up early and get excited at Christmas - so perhaps I should
say big kid), to get on with day. Colin & his dad drove me to Universal Studios, and left me standing all alonr
by the big globe at the entrance. As people came past I scanned the crowd for Cary t-shirts. And then, after not
too long a time, came Helen & April. I was no longer alone. After a while, we decided to make ourselves more
visible by standing on one of the benches, and as if by magic two other Cary t-shirt wearers appeared. They were,
of course, Traci & Carey. So there we were, all 5 of us in identical t-shirts, waiting for Jenny. I'm sure
we got a few strange looks, but soon enough we were spotted by Jenny!
And then into Universal we went. And we had a great time. We did Twister, Back to the Future
(still my favourite ride of all the parks I've ever been to: its awesome!), Terminator, Hercules & Xena and
of course Hitchcock. Hitchcock was amazing. The 3D effects were great, but the best of all, was that it was the
first time I have EVER seen Cary on the big screen. And that was more than awesome! That was incredible! Fantastic!
Unbelievable! Unreal! Incredible....er....I'm repeating myself now. Many of you will have forgotton by now how
you felt the first time you saw him on the big screen - I hope I never forget. This was brilliant!!! And as soon
as I got over the first fleeting glimpse, there was another clip, another clip, another clip and so on. I would
go back through that show just to see Cary again. I can't wait for Bristol - I am working on getting CG shown on
the big screen there. Then I can truly enjoy it!!!
Okay, enough raving. After that, we went shopping. I showed them all the shops that had some kind of Cary in them
(disappointingly few). I think the lady behind the counter in the expensive clothes shop was more than slightly
taken aback when I started taking photographs of the wall. It had a mural of famous movie stars, and our Cary was
among them, so I had to take the picture!!!
One of the most blinding Cary omissions in Universal, is the fact that there is *NOT* a star with his name on in the ground. Heck, they have (literally!) everyone else, but not Cary Grant!! How can they justify having Olivia Newton John (no offence to any ONJ fans), but not having Cary Grant??!?!?!? Letters of complaint to be addressed to.......well, you know what I'm getting at.
Anyway, after shopping, I think we went and watched the Wild, Wild, Wild West Stunt Show
(which incidentally, is not a patch on Indiana Jones at MGM) before going to meet Lori, Jen & Betty at the
Hard Rock Cafe. As you have heard in other people's versions of this tale, we got soaked on the way there in a
sudden downpour. The waiter looked at us strangely when he saw our t-shirts, and then Jen came over and took us
to our table(s). And yes, the waiter did have a "how do you shave in there?" hole. And I think he thought
we were all mad. Which is probably true, but who isn't???!?! He was probably quite glad when we left!!
We then went on to Helen & April's hotel room. And watched Cary!! It was great to watch in the company of other
fans. Usually I have to make do with Colin or my mum, but they aren't fans in quite the same way as me!!
And then, at 11.30pm (half-way through Walk, Don't Run - I had forgotton how good that movie was), my dear, sweet, Colin came to collect me and return me to the real world. A world where not everyone was obsessed by Cary Grant. I kept him up half the night telling him about my day!!!!
And that was that. The end of the Cary-vention. It has left me more eager than ever to
organise a bigger and better Cary-vention in Bristol next year.
Traci Martin's Account:
I have just returned from the Cary-vention where we had a GREAT time. Saturday morning Zoe, Helen, April, Jenny,
my husband Carey and I met at Universal Studios. It was really great to have some faces to put with the names.
We had a wonderful time at Universal. "Back to the Future", "Terminator", and "Twister"
were all big hits with the Warbrides. We met Lori, Jen and Betty for supper at the Hard Rock Cafe. Next we all
went to Helen and April's room to watch "Big Brown Eyes" and "Walk, Don't Run". (Thank you
Debbie for providing the copy of BBE!!) Then a group of exhausted Warbrides said our goodbyes to each other. It
was a long, exhausting day, but also great fun.
Betty & Jen Wadsworth's Account
Jen and I had a wonderful time meeting up first with Lori at the Hardrock Cafe, then with Zoe, Jenny, Helen, April,
Traci and Cary as they came in slightly wet from a sudden downpour from their long day at Universal Studios. Our
waiter had a dimple in his chin which reminded us all of........., you guessed it! We chatted over dinner then
carpooled over to the Radisson where Helen and April hosted a lovely evening of CG viewing including "Big
Brown Eyes" which I don't think any of us had previously seen. It was great to see something so new to us.
Then we followed that one with "Walk Don't Run" one of my 4 favorites! It was a hoot. That was new to
some of the brides in attendance and they really enjoyed it. I think it is generally overlooked by the movie-showing
TV channels, for some reason.
Several of us related doubts expressed by co-workers and friends and relatives about going off to meet total "strangers" away from home and many "be careful" warnings, etc were to follow. They needn't have worried. The brides who attended the CaryVention were all great. And we had our own token Cary, Traci's husband who joined us and was every bit as big a fan as the rest of us.
Lots of thanks to Debbie who sent along "Big Brown Eyes" for us and a little preview of herself on the tape, so she was kinda there with us. We really enjoyed the tape and meeting you, Debbie, via the tape.
Now I have a few more tapes to view for the 1st time, including "Amazing Adventure".
April Parrish's Account:
You have heard about the interestinghighlights
of the trip, but you haven't heard the useless trivia and unimportant stuff that you odn't care about. That is
what I am here to tell you about. :)
My trip started out meeting Helen at the airport. We ended up at two separate terminals without realizing it so she had me paged. I walked over to her terminal and I see and adorable red haired lady holding a sign that said, "Are you a Cary Grant warbride?" I knew I had found who I was looking for. :)
We got lost trying to find our hotel room. We had to stop and ask directions two or three times and turn around 5 or 6 times. The problem was that she appointed me as the navigator. That is the blonde leading a red-head. Very bad idea. :)
We finally got to the hotel and got in touch with Zoe and headed off to dinner. I have to say that Zoe and her possible, future, mother-in-law both had charming accents. :) After eating we hung around going to several shops that Zoe sniffed out for us.
The next day
Helen and I went to Epcot. It is at this point that I should tell you about our latin lover. His name was Daniel.
He was the valet guy. Oh ... he was wonderful. Dark hair. Dark eyes. Gorgeous brown eyes and the cutest smile.
*sigh* Anyway. Helen and I had a grand time at Epcot. It had been raining so everyone stayed away. We enjoyed very
short lines. I got my picture taken with Tigger!!! Woo-hoo!!! In honor of Cary we ate lunch at the English pub
at Epcot. Helen had fish and chips. We both had wonderful desserts. We felt like Cary was wtih us the whole time.
At the breakfast that morning I had asked for the low calorie syrup and they gave me Cary's syrup. *sigh*
The next day was Universal. Loads of fun. I bugged poor Zoe all day asking her to talk
and talk. Jenny kept telling me I was terrible. We all had a lot of fun. Getting to talk to everyone face-to-face
was a very weird feeling. :) Carey got his picture with Xena and he was happy. I got about 4 or 5 pictures of Cary
along with 10 postcards and that made me very happy. The best ride for me was Back to the Future.
That night was the best part though. Watching Cary movies with other Cary fans was a marvelous experience. It was nice to know that I was not the only insane person in the world. Everyone else laughed when I did. We were all very tired though so the night did have to end. Debbie: Thank you so much for your BBE tape. Everyone really liked the movie.
The next morning Helen and I had a hard time saying good-bye. I had to get a taxi to go
to the airport. The first attempt didn't work. I had to go to the valet people, my latin lover was not there, and
ask for a taxi. I was talking to one gentlemen about the taxi when my eyes fell down to his name tag. His name
was Carey. *sigh* I swooned ... literally swooned. The perfect ending to my Orlando trip. Carey called my taxi
so as I drove off in the taxi his name was on the dashboard monitor. I got to stare at Carey's name all the way
to the airport. :-)
Jenny Curtis' Account:
Well, I've returned from Orlando. We had a great time. It was so cool to meet everyone and they were all sweet.
Helen brought us mugs and Lori brought us little Orlando Welcoming baskets. It was great to go home with a little
treasure from the trip. Yes, Universal was cool. Traci and Carey talked us into going to Hercules and Xena and
Carey got to star in the little show they put on. He did really well playing one of the soldiers from the Army
of Hades. For me the highlight of Universal was the Alfred Hitchcock exhibit, which featured lots of Cary clips
and the 3-D version of Dial M for Murder and a new very realistic 3-D clip of the Birds. I was swatting at those
birds for real.
But the very best thing about Cary-vention was to sit in a room full of Cary FANatics watching CG movies, yammering
away about Joan Fontaine. The consensus of the group: Joan Fontaine was a meanie who overacted, and did wierd things
with her eyebrows. I kept kicking my feet during Suspicion, saying "I can't stand it. He's soo charming."
Sometimes it just frustrates me to watch that movie because Joan is so frosty toward him and I find him so irresistable.
I am used to watching movies with people who kinda sorta like Cary, but it is truly wonderful to be with people
who appreciate CG as much as I do and don't feel a bit shy about expressing it.
Next we watched
BBE. Debbie, your little introduction at the beginning was sweet and we all missed meeting you. Thanks so much
for providing the movie and the little message. By that time I was a little tuckered out so I kept dozing off--no
reflection on the company or the flick. I liked the movie alot, but it had been a really late night the night before
and a long day in the hot sun. When I woke up there were three people with cameras over me laughing. Oh boy, those
are gonna be attractive photos. We started watching Walk Don't Run. I had forgotten how much I love that movie.
It was hilarious. It's a dream come true to think that you could just put an ad on a bulletin board and it would
be answered by Cary Grant! Sigh. What was I saying? Oh yeah, the movie. Anyway Zoe had to leave before it was over,
but I went down with her to the lobby and met Colin. He is nice and yes, Traci, he has a Scottish accent. No asking
him to say things!
Cary-vention was great and I highly recommend to all Brides who couldn't make it to seriously
consider Bristol because it is going to be Uber fun. The only sad thing was saying good-bye. I wished it could
go on for a few more days. The next day I felt a little depressed and mostly slept because I kept thinking I should
go hang out with Helen, Traci, Carey, April, Zoe, Jen, Betty and Lori. Betty and Jen were incredibly sweet and
invited me to stay with them in Tampa, but I went to visit my aunt and got too sleepy to drive anymore. My aunty
just filled me up with krispy fried grouper (a kind of Florida fish) and I didn't think it was safe to get behind
the wheel after that. Thanks for the offer and I'm sure I'll be back down that way sometime to see you.
Helen Fredericks' Account:
I can't believe a whole week has gone by since the Cary-vention in Orlando! It was such a whilrwind trip and so
much fun! Everyone, and I mean everyone I met at the Cary-vention was friendly and just great!
My adventure
began on Thursday trying to find April. I finally had her paged to meet me in baggage claim B. I had made up a
sign the had a photo of Cary and said, "ARE YOU A CARY GRANT WARBRIDE". I received a few strange looks
and when a little girl asked her Mom who the man was in the picture, Her Mom quickly detoured her around the "crazy"
lady!
April and I did meet and as she said we got lost on the way to the Hotel. I pride myself on being able to get around most cities...but Orlando had me confused the whole time. (Uh no comments from either Debbie or Donna, please!) :-)
Thursday night we met Zoe and Noreen, her soon to be maybe Mom-in-Law. We met for dinner at Pizza Hut and had a wonderful time! It was like meeting old friends!! Zoe is great! It was amazing, sitting there talking with people I had written to for a year and half and finally getting to meet them!
April and I shared a room..she was a perfect roomy! We had fun sitting up talking and laughing!
It was a so much fun sharing a room with her! April fell hopelessly in love with Daniel, our Latin Lover, as she
called him! (he was quite cute!)
Friday April and I went to Epcot! I loved it! It was cloudy and rainy most of the day, which made the lines short! We saw a couple of the rides and then shopped our way "around the world!" We ate at the English pub. Our waitress was from Iverness, Scotland.
Saturday was the BIG event! We put on our t-shirts, had breaky and headed off to Universal! We saw Zoe as we headed to the main gate! Then there were three, all in the same t-shirts. We watched a a couple, Traci and Carey, came towards us...in the 'Offical t-shirt" of the day, then there were five. The last to arrive was Jenny!
Into Universal we headed! It was amazing, again it was like old friends meeting up, not six people who had just met face to face. I find it amazing that this technology called the internet can bring togther people from all over the world. We stayed together as a group and went from ride to exhibit to store. If one person saw anything Cary, they pointed it out to everyone! We had a Universal Employee take a group photo, with everyones camera...that's 5 I believe!
The Hitchcock exhibit was awesome...beacuse we got to see Cary on the Big screen!! They showed clips from Hitch's movies, uncluding the ones that starred Cary! The 1st time he showed up on screen, I heard a swoon come from Zoe...but I'll let her tell you her experience of seeing Cary on the big screen for the 1st time!
Although, I know the highlight of Carey's day was the Hercules/Xena show! He got to do
a part of, some evil warrior and did a, well, interesting dying scene! As we walked around they had Hercules and
Xena available to have your photo taken with. I must say that Carey was so gentle as he pushed the kids out of
his way as he ran towards Xena! (only kiddidng, he waited his turn, impatiently, but he did wait!)
Just as we were geting ready to head over to the Hard Rock Cafe, It began to rain, and rain hard! We ran part of the way and then waited with others in a small store. Finally, we decided to make a run for it.! By the time we got to the Hard Rock, we were soaked! (I pretty much resembled a drowned rat!)
As we entered the back of the Hard Rock, a guy told us and everyone else who had just entered, that we had to go around to the front. I told him we had reservations, he looked down at our t-shirts and said, "Oh it's you guys, let me see where they want you.!" While he was gone, Jen came over and showed us to our tables. Lori and Betty were there and Lori gave everyone a surprise bag to welcome us to Orlando!
After dinner, we headed over to mine and Aprils room. Zoe and I were the first ones there and since the VCR had finally gotten into the room that day, we had to put Suspicion in to make sure it was working correctly! This was the best time of the weekend!
I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to sit with other Cary fans, people who love this
man as much as I do! We laughed so hard, took pictures, talked and laughed some more! Debbie taped a greeting at
the front of BBE! We all wished Debbie could have been there and the tape made it seem like she was! (And yes,
she did remind me of Audrey Hepburn...a lovely person!)
Zoe had to leave during WDR, but everyone else stayed till the end, about 1:30 AM or so. Yes a few did take a cat
nap here or there...Jenny...but we managed to wake them up with our laughter and flashbulbs!
It was so hard to say goodbye to everyone! We all said we'd meet again next year in Bristol!
The hardest to say goodbye to was April! I enjoyed her company so much and it was sad to put her in a taxi and send her on off to the airport! But as she said, Carey, a bellman a the hotel, sent her off with a smile on her face!
Well, that's my story in the Caryvention adventure! I am so glad I got to meet each and
every one of you!