Before we came out to Orlando we called Orlando MINI to order some grille badge holders as you can't get them in the UK. We arranged to pick them up at the start of this week so this morning after brekkie we headed over to the dealership - only 5 miles from our hotel.
Got to the dealership to find it deserted, all the doors shut, lights off and some tumbleweed crawling slowly across the lot. We went round the back and found a parts guy slowly loading the last stock from the dealership into the back of a van. We asked him what was happening and he said they had moved over the weekend. It turned out the brand new dealership building was 20 miles north, into the Winter Park area (for those who know Orlando you'll know Winter Park is waaaay up north, past Orlando Downtown.)
So, looking very bemused at the guys directions he said, "I'll be heading up there once I have the van loaded, so you can follow me if you like." The offer of a guide was too much to turn down so I readily agreed. I had a quick look in the guys van and the inside of the service bay and realised we could speed things up, so I offered to give him a hand to load the van.
So there I was, in Orlando, USA, helping a parts guy from MINI USA load his van with MINI Batteries and storage bins and boxes of parts. Once the van was loaded he led us up to the new dealership. The new premises look cool but the showroom isn't finished yet so no MINI's to look around inside, just the ones in the lot. And, strange as it may seem, they all looked like MINI's.
Was good just to be around MINI's though even if for just a short spell. I asked if they did MINI hire as we would hire a convertible next time we're out but they don't. Shame really, convertible MINI around Orlando would be cool.
Despite the fact they had just moved the entire dealership in 2 days, the parts guys found our order within 2 mins - top marks to them. I commented that it looked a bit like chaos, to which the parts manager replied, "No. It's a MESS. Chaos would be a step up. We could deal with chaos." Despite all this they were in good spirits and we were well looked after.
Anyway, our wee MINI adventure. Just thought I'd share.
Oh, yeah, and.... these guys have a great web site URL: www.iwantamini.com - Class!!
A.
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haha!! Enjoy the rest of you stay 
Originally Posted by Craig
