Arundel Mills Mall Wi-Fi Review

After spending a nice 3 hours in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, I decided to ride my TMAX to the Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Maryland. I wanted to put some more tokens on my Dave & Buster's power card only to find out once I got there, I'd forgotten the thing. :-( My 2nd objective there was to test the mall's FREE Wi-Fi. I found out from the mall's website www.simon.com/mall/arundel-mills that it offers free Wi-Fi though they warn you that you'll have to agree to their terms and conditions (standard for free Wi-Fi). As I didn't have a problem with their terms and conditions, I gamely tried to connect at the Arundel Mills Mall. On the list of Wi-Fi signals, you click on Simon WiFi. I did that, my Nook e-reader tried to find me an IP address and, I promptly started getting Wi-Fi errors. Uh oh! Shades of the Starbucks at the Trump Boardwalk Hotel. I decided to move around the mall to see if that would help and, it helped in that the log-in page came up. It asked for my first and last names and either an email address or cell phone number. It claimed this information was mandatory in order to hook up. The company that runs the mall would use your email address to send you emails telling you of specials at the mall as well as new stores. If you supplied your cell phone number, they'd text about such things. I filled in the information and tried to connect and repeatedly got errors where I had to go back and try sending the information AGAIN. After the 3rd try, I noticed a little further down was a box you could check that would get you out of the emails or text messages. I checked the box as I wasn't feeling generous with the mall after all the problems I was having connecting to their Wi-Fi.

Eventually, I did get the service to work though I suspect I spent at least 15 minutes or more repeatedly trying to connect. During the whole process, I would receive at least 2 more Wi-Fi errors. Once I did connect, the connection was sufficiently fast. I will give the mall at little slack as I wonder if part of the problem was a number of people using their free Wi-Fi. The mall was packed today I suspect because it being Martin Luther King Day. I'll have to test the mall's Wi-Fi another day when there aren't such large crowds.

For now, I can't rave about this mall's free Wi-Fi. I had a real job trying to get it to work. If you wanted an easier free Wi-Fi connection, the Arundel Mills Boulevard McDonald's I reviewed was close by. It was definitely easier to use than the mall's Wi-Fi. Still, you can put this mall on your list of places that do offer legitimate free Wi-Fi. Happy surfing all!

Update February 17, 2014: I tried connecting to the Arundel Mills Mall free Wi-Fi and, I had problems again.  I definitely wouldn't recommend their Wi-Fi. Also, while I was at the mall, I tried the free Wi-Fi at their Books-a-Million store. Their Wi-Fi worked great. However, Books-a-Million has apparently instituted a policy where if you don't belong to their Millionaire's Club, you have to pay a small fee to use their Wi-Fi. Club members get to use their Wi-Fi for free. As I'm a member, this isn't a problem for me but, it could be for others.

Jelly Belly Jellybeans at Arundel Mills Mall

One particular shop I like at Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Maryland is Sweets from Heaven. The reason I like them so much is because they offer over 40 different flavors of Jelly Belly gourmet jellybeans. Jelly Belly jellybeans are some of the best on the market and claim to be the #1 gourmet jellybean in the world. Price wise, the shop is equal to what you would pay on the Jelly Belly website http://www.jellybelly.com/Default.aspx. All the different flavors are priced at $2.25 per quarter pound (4 ounces). One particular flavor I'd recommend if you like peppermint is candy cane which is very pepperminty.

The shop sells other candies such as almond bark and candy corn though I can't tell you if those are any good. I go there just to buy Jelly Belly's. The shop is self service and, Jelly Belly's as well as a number of other candies are sold in bulk. The customer gets a bag and uses one of the scoops provided to scoop as much of each candy as they want. The shop has scales provided so, the customer can see how much they have and guesstimate how much their purchase will cost. When they're done getting what they want, they can take them up to the cashier and pay for them.

The shop's hours are:

Monday to Thursday - 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.
Friday & Saturday - 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Sunday - 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.

(Source: http://www.yelp.com/biz/sweets-from-heaven-hanover-3)

Happy snacking all!

Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's

Today, I decided to treat myself to some Spin & Win at the Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's. For those who don't know what a Dave & Buster's is, Dave & Buster's are a combination sports bar, restaurant and arcade. They have big screen tv's in the the sports bar part of the complex for the sports nuts. They have a restaurant section which is right next to the arcade with some tv's for the not so devout sports nuts and, they have a million dollars worth (supposedly) of arcade games. The games run the gamut from shooting basketball hoops to shoot em up games to skeeball and my game which is Spin & Win. Spin & Win is a game where you pull a lever which starts a light going around a big massive number wheel like Wheel of Fortune. You hit a pad on the console which stops the light moving and whatever number it stops on is the number of tickets you win. The ultimate prize of this game is winning 1,000 tickets. There are 3 spots on the wheel where you can do that. You just have to have great timing and hand/eye coordination. Also, you mustn't let yourself get distracted by all the noise, the people around you or the excitement of playing the game. It's not easy to hit the 1,000 ticket light but, it is really cool when you do it. I managed to hit it 5 times before I decided to call it quits though I still had over 350 coins on my powercard (I did a $100 re-charge).

When you're ready to cash out, you walk up to the Winners Circle where you put all your tickets in a big plastic tub and, they weigh them. They know by weight how many tickets you'll have won. Also, they'll tell you your total number of tickets you have on your card. After that, you can browse the prizes in the Winners Circle. They run the game from candy to game cartridges to small appliances like a George Foreman Steak Grill or blender. One particular neat prize I saw was a fake jukebox which plays CDs and, I believe it can play MP3 tunes. I saw a USB hook-up in it. This particularly nice prize was also the most expensive costing a hefty 110,000 tickets! Still, I thought it was pretty cool.

The Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's is easy enough to get to. It's in Hanover, Maryland just off of Maryland-100 or you can exit Maryland-295 (the Baltimore Washington Parkway, drive down Arundel Mills Boulevard (I think), turn left so the Tower Federal Credit Union is on your right and drive around the huge mall until you see the Dave & Busters's. It's right next to Chevy's. Parking wise, there is a lot of parking BUT, it can still be a challenge to find a spot on weekends and holidays like today. For those who like to ride motorbikes (like me), there is a special parking zone for motorbikes though this can get filled up like it did today.

Happy gaming all!

P.S.
Concerning the food at Dave & Buster's, I can't rate it. I never eat or drink there. All I ever do there is play Spin & Win and check out the prizes in the Winners Circle.

Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's

Yesterday, I decided to treat myself to a visit at the Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's. It had been over 2 months since my last visit. I enjoy going to the place but finances kept me away. Yesterday, I decided to see if I could add to my ticket horde. I read on Facebook where some person had amassed 1,000,000 tickets. I'd like to do that too though I don't like to think what that would cost me. Dave & Buster's would get big rich of me doing that.

Anyway, I rode my motorbike out there which was fun. Thankfully, Arundel Mills has a special parking spot for motorbikes on that side of the mall. It isn't super big but, it can accomodate at least 10 bikes. I recharged me card with a $100 worth of coins and headed to my favorite game Spin & Win. I'm partial to that game because you have a lot of control over how much you win on it. You don't with a lot of their other arcade games. One catch with the Spin & Win game is that your timing must be spot on. You have a split of second to stop the light on 1 of the 3 1,000 ticket lights. A split of second early or late and you end up with 20 tickets. That's what happened with me a LOT. To my frustration, I would just barely miss it. Still, I managed to hit the thing 5 times and won approximately 10,000 tickets. That takes my ticket horde up to 365,224 tickets. I'm still a long way from accumulating 1,000,000 tickets but, if I keep slogging away, I'll hit eventually. It doesn't hurt that Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's only had one prize I wanted - a steak grilling machine. I'm tempted to buy the thing vice trying to win 1 with tickets. I'm certain it would be cheaper money wise.

Overall, it was a nice visit though I need to do a better job with my timing. Also, there were times when I embarrassingly jumped the gun. I hit the 40 ticket lights a number of times because of that. I look forward to going to the Arundel Mills Dave & Buster's again when they have half price games (I won't go any other time). Cheers all!

Dave & Busters

Dave & Busters brought back half priced games this week. Normally, I find it very expensive to play their games. My favorite game is Spin & Win. I feel that game gives you the most control barring a hoop shooting game or some such. With Spin & Win, you decide when to stop the spinning light. If you time it right, you can consistently get it within the area where one of the 1,000 ticket lights are. At that point, it's just a matter of managing to stop it the split second it hits the 1,000 ticket light. Last night, I probably missed the 1,000 ticket light 40 or 50 times BUT, because I was getting it in the range of the light, I was able to hit it 16 TIMES! I ended up winning over 20,000 tickets which isn't bad for $100. I've seen others turn in just 2 or 3,000 tickets.

The half priced games promotion they had made it affordable to play their games. I'm sure Dave & Busters still makes money with that promotion. You look at what the prizes cost and what it'll cost you to win enough tickets and, they're making money. Still, it isn't able trying to find a bargain at Dave & Busters. It's about having fun playing the games and, they are definitely fun. I'd give a large whoop every time I hit the 1,000 ticket light.

To my delight, my ticket hoard is now up to 253,345. I can get multiple prizes of anything I want there. That's neat thinking about that. I still haven't been wiped out by the prizes they have at the Arundel Mills Dave & Busters but, I'm not going to win a prize. I go just to win the game and gets LOTS of tickets. I hope to go back next week and add to my hoard. Cheers all!

Dave & Busters

I had my first day off at the Post Office in 3 weeks (barring Sundays) today. To my annoyance, the weather was crappy. It was cold and rainy all day. I wanted to get out and do something. I decided to go to the Arundel Mills Dave & Busters Arcade and Restaurant. I haven't been there in probably 4 months. Today was a particularly good day to go as it was half price Wednesday. What that means is that all games cost half their normal price. As the game I like to play (Spin & Win) is expensive to play (8.9 coins with a Gold card), Wednesday is the day to play it. I splurged and bought $100 worth of coins. To my delight, I hit the 1,000 ticket light 16 times. All totaled, I won 18,680 tickets. My new total is now 129,574. I checked out the prizes they had at the prize booth but nothing really wiped me out. They have a nice small portable Sony Digicam but, I don't need one of those right now. They also had a cheap rice cooker but, I'm managing all right with regular pots. So, I kept my tickets for another day. It was fun winning them and, it was fun having people ooo and ahh at all the tickets I won. I just wish Spin & Win wasn't so hard to hit the 1,000 light. It can be really frustrating when you repeatedly come within 1 or 2 lights of hitting the 1,000. Oh well. It made for a nice day off. Cheers all!

Holiday Special at Dave & Busters

I've been wishing that Dave & Busters would offer another half price game day. To my delight, they have. During the holiday season, Dave & Busters will have half price game Wednesdays. On Wednesdays, all games will be half price except for photo morph whatever that is. This is a really good deal as the games can be very expensive at Dave & Busters. I'm certain that Dave & Busters will still be raking in the money. It still takes a lot of tickets to get some of the really cool prizes. However, this will make it easier for you to win the cool prize you've been wanting to get. See you there on Wednesdays. Cheers all!

Dave & Buster's Reminder

For any of my readers who live in the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area and who like the Dave & Buster's at Arundel Mills Mall, they're having a noteworthy special today. Today, all their games are half price except for the coin action or coin dispensing games. This can be a real bargain considering what it can cost to play some of their games. Also, if you play the games a lot, you shouldn't forget about upgrading to their Gold card. That can save you 10% on your game play. I forget how much you have to play to get a Gold card but, it is worth doing if you play their games a lot. See you at Dave & Buster's.

Dave & Busters

After wiping myself out on the elliptical machine yesterday, I decided to go to Dave & Busters at the Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Maryland. It's a fun place and I enjoy playing the super trivia game and Spin and Win game. I wanted to add to my ticket winnings and see what new prizes they had. I managed to win 3,156 tickets at a cost of $53. I had frustrating luck with the Spin and Win game as I missed the 1,000 ticket light by 1 or 2 light over 20 times. It hurts to get that close. A split second made all the difference.

In regards to prizes, I didn't see anything that really wiped me out. They had a DVD player recorder which seemed nice but, I'm terrible about watching movies. They had a shake mixer but, how often do I make milkshakes. So, I decided to hold on to my tickets. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they'll get an MP3 player sometime. I'd have bought one myself but, I'm saving the money to pay off my future travels.

One other item of note I want to let folks know about. The parking situation around Dave & Busters is really bad on weekends. You can expect to spend at least 5 minutes trying to find a spot. You may have to watch for folks leaving so you can get their spot once they leave. This is the only problem I have with Dave & Busters. Barring that, it is a a fun place.

New Show

Yesterday, I got to see the new show at Medieval Times in Arundel Mills Mall. I found the show nice. They did change the story line though they kept various bit from the previous show. King Phillip holds a tournament to honor the new peace between his kingdom and the Kingdom of Leon. So, you have knights jousting, spearing rings and throwing spears as before. Also, you get to see displays of fancy riding and a display of falconry.

Food wise, the menu hasn't changed. It's still all finger food barring your soup which you slurp. They served tomato vegetable so I had to use my fingers to scoop out the remaining veggies. They do give you a hot towel and plenty of knapkins to clean up with.

Service wise, barring getting a mug of ice tea poured into my lap, serving serf Matthew did a fine job. I made sure I tipped him as serving staff are the lowest paid people at the castle. It's expected that tips will make up for the low pay. Sometimes, it does and sometimes it doesn't.

Overall, I had a nice time and I was glad I went to see the new show. If you haven't seen it, you might want to check it out. You don't have to rush right out to see the new show as it will be playing for the next 4 years or so, you'll have plenty of time to catch it.

Side note: I bought the group photo that the castle takes of you when you arrive there. I know it's a bit of rip-off ($20) but, I wanted a memento of our group as we were wearing Medieval and Renaissance garments. I plan to post a copy of the picture on this blog later. I think it's pretty neat.

Dave & Busters

Yesterday, I took my Post Office friend Bernadette to Dave & Busters at Arundel Mills Mall. Both of us enjoy playing their games. Bernadette has her sights on a Sony entertainment system they have though she'll have to play a lot of games and win a lot of tickets to get it. It costs 48,000 tickets. For me, I played Spin and Win again. No other game there offers the payout it does. To my delight, I hit the 1,000 ticket reward 5 times! That said, I missed it by one or two lights something like 25 times. It can be a very frustrating game in that way. People saw how many tickets I was winning and asked me to play for them but, I declined. I didn't want them to pay out their tickets only to have me miss the 1,000 ticket marker.

I managed to get my ticket total up to 41,669 tickets. I still don't know what I want to get there prize wise. For now, I just want to run my ticket score up. In time, I'll figure out what I want. The fun right now is just winning tickets and managing to hit the 1,000 marker. Cheers all!

Changes at the Castle

I've been surprised recently by a number of changes at the Medieval Times I work at. I found out yesterday that the Reservations Manager had left a month ago. I found out so late because it seems those of us who work in Sound & Lighting are out of the loop as far as what is going on the castle. In regards to the Reservations Manager, I was sorry to see her go. She was always very kind to me while I was working in security. Sadly, I didn't see much of her after I moved to Sound & Lighting. I wish her the best at her new job with Holiday Day Inn.

I was also surprised to find out our Operations Manager had moved to the castle in New Jersey. I suspect this is so he can be closer to family up there. I was sorry to hear he'd left. I found he could be very kind. I remember having a hard day at the castle. He could see it'd been rough. He came up to me and told to me to take a break so I could recover. He was also very kind during my gall bladder surgery. Conversely, if he got a hair up his butt, he was someone to avoid. I found that part annoying. Overall, I'm sorry to see him go. He was very kind to me. He was instrumental in helping me get free tickets for some friends using my birthday voucher. I wish him the best of luck at the New Jersey castle.

One nice bit of news concerned a former co-worker in security. He's been working in security for over 3 years. He dreamed of getting the Lord Chancellor or King part. This year, he vowed to get one of the two parts. Just three weeks ago, he was selected for both parts. One of the people playing the King gave notice and then the main person playing the Lord Chancellor got fired. He's now scrambling to learn all the lines for the Lord Chancellor part. In my opinion, it's the hardest in the show. I wish him the best of luck with it.

Another delightful bit of news was a co-worker in Sound & Lighting getting selected for squire with the prospect of him becoming a knight in 2 years. He's a super nice guy and it's nice to see him get it. It's also nice to see the castle promote from within. Both, my former co-worker in security and my co-worker in Sound & Lighting paid their dues. It's great to see them move up to bigger and better things at the castle.

One last departure of sorts was a move from Sound & Lighting to Reservations. One of my co-workers decided to move to reservations as it would give her more hours and greater flexibility. She's a nice lady and I always enjoyed chatting with her. Today was her last day in Sound & Lighting. I'm saddened to see her move to reservations.

Later this week, I'll get to meet a new hire in Sound & Lighting. All I know about him is his name. As far as I know, he is a totally new hire i.e. not someone moving from another department at the castle. This week, he'll be busy learning how to operate the spotlight and the cues we use during the show. It shouldn't take that long for him to get up to speed.

That's all the news at the castle. I may get to work Thursday's matinee show this week. It would be my first matinee show in quite a while. I've told the Post Office I won't be working the city side Tuesday through Thursday. I've gotten a bit burned out at the Post Office and I don't want to see the place for a few days. Conversely, my job at Medieval Times continues to be fun. Unlike the Post Office, they don't treat me like a slave there. Hopefully, I'll get to work the matinee show. We'll see. Cheers all!

Restaurant Review - Potbelly

I've been wanting to visit the Potbelly restaurant next to Arundel Mills Mall for a while. It's a sandwich restaurant specializing in 11 different sandwiches. You can get turkey breast, pizza, roast beef, chicken salad, vegetarian, tuna salad, meatball, Italian, A Wreck (salami, roast beef, turkey, ham and swiss cheese) and peanut butter and jelly. All sandwiches are a flat $3.99 plus tax. You have a choice of white or wheat bread. They have bottled sodas or a soda machine. They also sell milk shakes, malts, yogurt smoothies, sundaes, and hand scooped ice cream cones.

I tried the chicken salad and roast beef sandwiches. To drink, I had a vanilla milk shake. I found the sandwiches to be good. They were made right in front of me. They toasted the bread and offered mayonnaise, mustard, italian seasoning, lettuce, onions, pickles, hot peppers, tomato and oil on your sandwich. My only complaint with their sandwiches is that one would not fill you up. Also, there is no way I'm going to pay $4 for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich though I suspect it's popular with the kids. Shake wise, I was very pleased with the vanilla shake I ordered. It was excellent and a lot better than the one you can buy at McDonald's. My only complaint would be its size. It didn't seem very big though it did only cost $1.59 (I think).

Decor wise, the restaurant had an old time feel to it. They had a potbelly stove in the restaurant and stored various sandwich fixings on old time store shelves. It's a pleasant enough place to enjoy a sandwich and drink. Hours were also convenient with the Arundel Mills restaurant open Monday to Thursday to 9 p.m. and till 10 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

Overall, I thought the Arundel Mills Potbelly was a nice restaurant. It's a pleasant place to eat. I don't think it's great value. Value wise, I think you'd do better at Chipotle's or Golden Corral. Still, if you're hunkering for a sandwich, it might be the place to satisfy your sandwich craving. Bon Appetit!

Disclaimer: All opinions stated here are my own. I didn't receive any kind of reimbursement from Potbelly nor do they know of my review of their Arundel Mills restaurant. Each person has different tastes so you may like Potbelly better, the same or worse than I did. If you try them, I make no guarantees whether you'll like them or not. For further information on Potbelly, you can check out their website at http://www.potbelly.com.

Dave and Busters

After I saw the movie "The Queen," I drove out to Arundel Mills Mall to play some arcade games at Dave and Busters. Dave and Busters are a chain on arcade/restaurants where you can play various arcade games and have something to eat or drink. They also offer large screen tvs where you can watch various sports events.

In regards to the arcade games, They have a large variety of them so there is something for everyone. If you want to play skeeball, shoot basketball hoops, shoot at targets or drive a simulated race car, they can accomodate you. In my case, I heard they had a trivia game where you can compete against as many as 5 other people. The higher number of people that compete, the higher the number of bonus tickets you can win. The disadvantage of competing against 5 other people is that only the top 3 win tickets. The bottom 3 get zip! I found it fun competing against others and trying to win the maximum number of tickets. The tickets enable you to win various prizes. Some of the prizes are very nice and some are very cheap. I suspect it would be cheaper to buy one of the prizes vice what it would cost you in playing the various arcade games and trying to win enough tickets. Yet, I think buying the item wouldn't be as much fun as winning it.

Overall, I found the arcades to be a lot of fun at Dave and Busters though it is very easy to spend some serious money playing the games. I would definitely watch what you spend there if you take kids there. Anyone under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. They do check IDs as I found out personally to my surprise. In regards to the food and drink they offer there, I haven't eaten or drank anything there since the place was known as "Jillians." I can't make any kind of recommendation as far as their food and drink. I have no idea if they offer good value in regards to their food or beverages. Perhaps in time, I'll try them out in that regard and then post something on this blog about that.