| The Badger's Feb. 1997 Trip Report
Note: you can find this report, with pictures at
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/7074/trip97.html
The Cast: Ed & Deb, Children Amanda & Eddie.
Disney veterans, Ed having made the trip 12 times before.
SUMMARY: We got an American Express card to get "The White Gloves
Treatment". For that $70 card cost, I got a $40 discount on the BSM tour.
And three fanny packs. No other special consideration for the two weeks.
No other special treatment or discounts. You decide if its worth it.
We all wore out 1996 VIP guest badges. All the CMs would refer to us by
our first names. That was a nice touch. I wore the radp pin through the
entire trip, I didn't see any others, and noone acknowledged the pin. The
weather for the trip was HOT, mostly sunny. We stayed at three different
resorts, CBR, ASM, and WL, with visits to FW. Meals at Crystal Palace,
Rainforest Cafe, Chief Mickey's, HDD, and more. Deb had a course at the
Disney Institute, while I took the Backstage Magic tour. We used Annual
Passports for the first time. We liked that, and the difference it can
make in touring.
DETAILS:
This trip began back in Jan of 1996 as we returned from our last trip down.
To calm the
shock of leaving the world we started planning this trip. Getting
reservations 13 months in advance is never too early. And when we can to
the part about buying APs, we decided on a second trip in December of 97 to
use our passes again. So we actually planned two vacations at once. One
mistake on our last trip was not making reservations for the behind the BSM
tour ahead of time. Didn't miss that this time. And keeping a countdown
calendar helped us not to miss making reservations for Deb at Disney
Institute.
You can only make these reservations 14 days in advance. Trip reports like
this help you hold the memories of the trip and can pass on information to
others making the trip. So we take our laptop with us and take notes. And
our video camera for pictures. Sit back, relax, and have a Disney minute or
two as we tell you about our trip....
Feb. 14th, o'dark hundred. all packed and ready to go. We were supposed to
leave on the 15th, but found an extra day and were lucky enough to shuffle
the schedule. We like traveling by Amtrak, so we'll pick up the train just
outside of Boston, Mass. We had an uneventful trip to NYC. Switched trains
for the remaining leg. Amtrak wanted to start our vacation right by
assigning us to a coach that was probably on its last trip before its
retirement. To get me in a Disney mood, I was assigned a seat that reminded
me of setting on the sidewalk waiting for a parade [20 hours of waiting on
it]. I found out later that my seat was the only one in that condition.
Then they filled the coach full of hyperactive kids 2-6 years old. Being
concerned for their education, Amtrak eliminated the movies, so the kids
would not be distracted by them. Their parents, provided audio entertainment
for all by bringing games rich in audio to be shared by all. Smoking rules
have changed. Smokers can only smoke for a 1/2 hour every three hours, and
only in the lounge car. That must be hard on them.
Feb. 15th, Saturday
After about 20 hours on the train, the kids began to act like kids anywhere
confined for 20 hours. But, the train pulls in to Kissimee early. We call
up Dollar rental and they come pick us up and take us back to their place on
route 192. Another rental car gimmick is discovered. To list more than one
driver, we have to pay an extra $3/day. We weren't told about this in
advance. But, then came a stroke of luck, they didn't have our midsize, so
they gave us a choice of downsizing to a compact or taking a convertible for
the same cost. No choice there! Of course with 10 pieces of luggage [we
never travel light]. We had pieces of luggage hanging all over the place
from the rental place to CBR.
We got lost on Disney property trying to find the CBR. Not to well marked.
They make an assumption that one relates CBR to Epcot resort when they made
the signs. We didn't. We were assigned Jamaica 4402. Nice room, but
really not worth the extra $40 more than ASM.
CBR complex is big. We go over and pick up our APs at MGM then on to the
Disney village to do a bit of looking and to join up with our son, Chris who
came down to join us from Kings Bay Georgia, where he is stationed in the
Navy. We go off to find Bill Wong's Famous buffet recommended by Mike Scopa.
Nice meal, pricey though. Family of 5 for $90. On the high side for an
external restaurant. This place can't be more than 10 miles from CBR, but
it took us nearly 2 hours on a Saturday night 6-8PM to return. Roads are
jammed. Now I remember one reason to stay on property. To avoid these
traffic jams. real bad. 192 was real bad.
Feb. 16th, Sunday 3rd day of rain. light crowds [Daytona 500 today ]
Mickey wakes us up at 7AM. Early admit day for MGM. Chris and Eddie head
out together to go to TMK. We go out to the bus stop to go to TMK
ourselves. After a few busses pass us by full, we give up and take our car.
Jamaica is not a good place to be to catch the bus. It's near the end of
the route. Getting the bus may be impossible. I really don't think CBR is
worth $40 more than ASM. Certainly not a good place to be if you don't have
a car. Now I know why Mike has been pushing rental cars on people, he just
stays at the wrong resort. We park our car at the Poly and take the
monorail to TMK. We are there for the 9AM opening. My AP will not read my
fingers in the machine, they finally wave me through. We head down to POC,
my wife's favorite ride.
Then on to JC, TB is not open, so we head over to CBJ then onto HM. My wife
has never been on HM, but goes with us this time. We noticed that characters
now ride the steam ship. We went for a ride with Davey Crocket, who was
running for congress, and the country bears. Davey didn't like me as I was
a Yankee. The bears were getting kisses from all the girls. Davey did
explain how special Mickey wood was as the fire in the cabin has been
burning for 25 years. Then onto HOP. I was hoping that we would have a new
president, but we weren't lucky enough. I wonder who writes the speech. I
finally found out that they piece together parts of several of his speeches
to make that one. I really think they need to give a current president a
rest, since the whole world may not be too thrilled with how they are
performing. I'm embarrassed that guests to our country have to listen to
it and how it implies that only our country can save the world. And the
same sick narrator is talking though the movie. And the shorten history.
Maybe in 4 years we'll be able to visit this attraction again. Our opinion
on the castle. Bad news. If it were a birthday cake, I'd love it. But
taking away our castle, unforgivable. Amanda and Debbie get their portraits
painted. Unable to ship them back to the rooms even though they say
anything bought in the parks can be shipped back. The express package
delivery isn't express, and all packages can not be delivered. Any package
they take will see your room the next day. So, back to CBR for lunch and a
rest. On the way back, we stop by the welcome center for our GOH badges
[nice] , film and lithograph.
Monday, Feb. 17th, Sunny & warm
My day for the Backstage Magic tour. Up at 7:00AM off to Epcot by 8AM
I'm going to write something up as a separate entry for this tour. It was
7.5 hours long, a lot of walk, touring. Worth it if you have the time to do
it. You do have to reserve several months in advance. I'd advise if you
were taking it to do it mid-way through your stay, so you could visit the
attractions first, then go on the tour, then revisit with family. Only 16
people a day take the tour. Meantime, the wife and kids went off to
Discovery Island. It's the last day it's open during our stay, so it will
be the only time they get to go. I don't really care if I miss it. They
drive over to WL, get coffee and bagels at the Roaring fork before going on
to DI. The pools were packed with people. After DI, they went back and sat
by the fireplace. They bought me a 25 anniversary pressed quarter at WL.
Then drove over to the Marketplace and had character portraits of the kids
and came back to the room and wrote postcards.
After the tour, they dropped me off at my room and I joined up with the
wife. We went shopping and off the Denny's for supper.
Tuesday, Feb. 18th, Sunny & Hot
This was Deb's day at the Disney Institute. She had to be there by 8:00 AM.
The computers were down, so they were a bit late getting started. They were
over booked by two people. The course she took was celebrations. Learning
how to cook for crowds and parties. The classroom was kinda like a kitchen.
The classroom had four long benches. Everyone wore an apron and washed up.
A downer was that two kids about 8 years old were enrolled. The kids kind
of got in the way. They showed you how to cook the stuff and then gave you
a chance. They made shrimp type salads, pastry swans, and other themed
items. They ate what they made. She learnt some good tips like using kosher
salt instead of regular salt. It was more than Deb had expected. She
thought it would be more demos, but this was real hands on. Deb had a
great time, while learning a lot of good ideas. She said she'd do it again
When she was done in the course, she went over to WL and spent time in the
lobby people watching.
Eddie went off to MGM, rode the TLTOT [20 minute wait], rode start tours[10
minute wait]. Then on to EPCOT, crowds were too big for him so he went on
to the market place and hung out for an hour, then on to ASM for lunch, then
back to the market place.
This was checkout day for us at CBR, Amanda and I packed up the room, called
luggage to come get our bags. On our checkout, we had over prepaid by $15,
so we got money back at checkout. Nice surprise. I had prepaid all the
hotels prior to our vacation. One less thing to worry about.
We then take the bus to EPCOT. Of course the first stop is Journey into
Imagination. No line. The line that was there was for HISTA, kinda got in
the way to get to see figment. Since there was no line, we jumped back into
a second ride to visit figment. Then on to buying more Figment stuff.
They now have reduced the Figment store to a small corner where you get off
the Figment ride. Not fair!
Then we spent a lot of time upstairs playing.
Next we went over to the character greeting. I got a big hug by Minnie.
Amanda got a lot of kisses by Mickey. It seemed like they were trying to
make each other jealous.
Then we went down to horizons. Nice ride, but it is getting old. By this
time, World Showcase is open
so we stop by Mexico for lunch. We like the salads there. And feeding the
birds after. Warning, don't feed the birds while you are eating, or you'll
get more company than you can handle. The birds do show restraint until you
do start feeding. Then on to American adventure. Nice waiting spot for
Voices of Liberty. I recorded the whole show. After, on into the American
Adventure show. Kinda different watching it after seeing it from backstage.
I'd recommend that anyone planning on taking the backstage magic tour see
this attraction prior to taking the tour. You'd have a ton more questions
to ask.
Having an AP allows you to sample WDW in small bites. kinda nice.
We go to ASM to check in. They were originally going to send us to the far
end of the world. But I was polite, but insistent that they could locate us
somewhere in WDW. We finally come into agreement that room 430 in Calypso
would be ok. Ok? perfect! right near the pool, near the bus stop, near the
food court, first floor, quiet. The only difficulty they finally had was
that it as not a landscape view as I had ordered. They'd have to refund me
money. I'd have taken it even if they hadn't refunded me money!
I guess the lesson here is you don't have to settle for the room that they
assign you. Gentle pressure can get you what you want. Above all, not
being rude to a CM. Too many other people are. I don't think that that
would get you as far. I've seen so many rude people this time that I doubt
I'd ever want to be a CM.
The room wasn't ready, so I went down to the village market place to meet
up with the wife and Eddie for supper at RFC. RFC is a place not to be
missed. forget the atmosphere, if that's not your thing. The food is
excellent! And, there is atmosphere. And service. I'm not a big tipper,
but when I get good service, I do put out, and I did. For appetizers, we
got the Rainforest Pita Questadillas. Unforgettable. For main course, Deb
got the "Edge of the Forest" - a fried chicken, red mashed potatoes, carrots
with red, green peppers, mushrooms with country gravy. excellent. Amanda
had "The Congo Mogambo" - shrimp & linguine,
again, excellent. Eddie and I had the "mojo Bones" a ribs diner over onions
with waffle fries. Excellent.
The nice thing about going in a family is that you can sample each other's
food. and we did. We know we want to go back, but what do we order? We
love everything. The quantity served is more than enough. We all left food
on our plates. I also had had a strawberry dackery. The waiter had
explained in detail the whole menu as it was our first time there. He also
came and sat and chatted with us for a while during the meal. Bill for the
four of us came to $80. Not bad.
We shop around for a while. Note RFC is not part of Disney, they only rent
the space. So forget any MKC/AE discount. We head back to ASM. Our bags
had arrived from CBR and waiting for us.
Eddie went off for some rollerblading. They do not like rollerblading.
Discourage it, but seem to turn their head when he does it. I can
understand their concern, but for Eddie, who rollerblades year round in New
Hampshire, not being able to rollerblade while on vacation would be enough
for him to pressure us to find another off site resort.
Eddie and I head off to TMK. We stop at AE. This was more intense than I
had remembered.
then on the WEDWAY [ok, TTA] and dream flight [boring]. It was nearly time
for Spectromagic so we found our spot and watched it. I liked the Main
Street electrical Parade. SM is a bit too long, a bit to repetitious, and a
bit boring. I noticed that people started getting up and moving on about
half way through it.
We hoop a bus back to ASM. Traffic really bad. worse as the road heads off
to 192 & 4. That area is really bad. I'd hate to be staying at a resort
out there. Oh, one other thing I noticed being in TMK 3 times now, there
doesn't seem to be any main street horse drawn trolley or main street cars.
Even when I had to use a C ticket, I liked riding these things.
Feb. 19th, Wednesday, hot, sunny, big crowds
Up at 7:00 AM, again Mickey waking us up. Since he/s the only character
doing the wakeups, perhaps they did away with all the others? MGM was going
to start our day. We head off to TWTOT. 45 minute wait. When it got time
to choose the elevator, my wife and I preferred the chicken one. The
picture did not come out of the kids on the elevator. If I had gathered
enough courage to ride it, I'd have been pissed if the picture didn't come
out.
About 45 minutes before BATB, so we wait and take it. about 1/2 hour before
the show, four 'audio techs' start adjusting the equipment, and after a
while start singing. Nice preshow. The real show was nice too. after that
show we head of to IJ show. Rosy, the same woman who had lunch with me on
the BSM tour, was doing the preshow. Toy Story parade started after the
show. we got to see it twice. Once from where we got out of the IJ show,
and the 2nd time as we tried to exit the park. You really have to be near
the edge of the parade to see all of it. The best position I was in was 4
back. From there you can't see all activity on the street. For us, it was
a miserable event. It was very hot by now, I don't know how anyone could
come here in the summer. We were glad for the AC in the car, forget the top
down, too hot. Back to ASM, pizza for lunch. There was these little black
flying insects all over the place at ASM. CMs were going around spraying
these bugs off the doors, windows, and walkways.
We decided on a nap after lunch and the kids went out on their own.
The kids didn't get in until after 10PM. They had gone their own ways by
the end of the day. Nice thing about being on property, we feel safe with
them on their own, and we don't have to provide transportation.
Feb. 20th, Thursday, Sunny, Hot crowds moderate.
.
Amanda and I head off to EPCOT while Deb and Eddie rest in. They later went
to a flea market. Spaceship Earth was our first stop as there was no line.
I miss "tomorrow's child and Walter Cronkit.
After the ride, we call back to the room with the 'family phone', no one
there so we leave a message. Then into Innovations. I find the PC that's on
the Internet, unfortunately it's via AOL. Javascript pages like my
countdown page can't be viewed. I did get to my Disney fan page and leave a
pointer in the favorites file, I'll check back in a few days to see if its
still there. Then its off to Universe of Energy.
Perhaps it's now better than the dull film there was before, but here I miss
the theme song they used to have. You have to like Ellen's dry humor to like
the way it is now. I find it just a reminder on how PC Disney has become,
and how anti-religious. Next off to Body wars and Cranium Command. No lines.
We wanted a Sundae for lunch so we head over to the ice cream shop at TMK.
We ask for and get the front of the monorail. It was early entry day for
TMK, but the crowds don't look bad. Before going in, we look for our brick
in the Walk Around the World, and find it in good condition They've
extended the walkway a good distance. OK, in to get our ice cream, and get
welcomed again so we could get another lithograph. We took a trip around
the MK on the railroad. Again, Disney is re-writing history to be PC with
the Indians. Watch out Jungle Cruse, it'll have to be PC with head hunters
next.
I don't remember being able to see the monorail barn from the train, but we
were able today. They also have a new walkway from Mickey's starland to
tomorrow land that runs next to the train tracks.
Friday, Feb. 21st, Sunny, hot, light crowds
Deb and Eddie head off toward Tampa to visit Deb's mother. Amanda and I go
to MGM. First stop was VOTLM, a walk on. At least we didn't get so wet
this time. A tip here is to be mid way on the right as you face the doors
for a better seat. If you are off too much to one side, you miss some of
the show.
Next back stage tour. OK, you need your maps, they've changed things around.
You pick up backstage tour in a different place. You start out seeing the
water pool that used to be the start of the now missing sound stage tour
[and Pee Wee Herman]. They've changed the bone yard around a bit with
Walt's plane moved. I can't believe people, some started standing up to
take pictures as we went around, only to cause the tram to be stopped so
that they could be seated again.
As I mentioned, the sound stage tour is gone. in its place is a take off of
the making of 101 Dalmatians. it incorporates some of the space the sound
stage tour used to have. The bumble bee room was replace with a bike shot
[copying ET?], the lottery commercial was replaced by some models of 101
set. Sound stage 1 was occupied by a structure that all you could see is
the top wood. big deal. They are shooting an HBO special directed by Tom
Hanks, To the moon, or something like that. Sound stage 2 had some space
capsules. they didn't show any of the editing rooms. This is really a
boring trip. I think the CM was really disinterested in the tour too.
We saw the GMR before heading off to FW to get our HDD tickets for Saturday
night. We used to love the campground. now its even worse. It would be
like camping in the infield of Daytona speedway.
Yes, you can hear the racetrack big time here. Campers beware! If you
don't like camping in the infield of a raceway, perhaps you should check their
race schedule.
After getting our tickets we head over to WL for lunch at the Roaring fork.
Ok, comparison time. We had Philli steak subs for lunch. The same order
as we had a CBR. The ones in WL were $1 more and 25% smaller. The
refillable mugs are bigger at WL than ASM with CBR mugs being the smallest
of the refillable. My preference is the WL size. the CBR mugs are more
like throw-away paper cups.
After lunch we hung around in the lobby waiting for the 3:15 PM tour of WL.
I had taken this tour before, but did not get the chance to get on the roof.
I wanted to get on the roof. They have two tours, a morning tour at 9:15AM
and an afternoon tour at 3:15. The afternoon tour includes a stop at the
smoke house. At this stop you get your fill of smoked ribs [they didn't
limit us]. Getting on the roof is the grand ending of the tour. From
there I was able to see the tree of Life in the new Animal Kingdom. You
can see into Orlando and all around. This tour [free] is nice if you have
the time.
Stan, the tour guide looked the part of an old ranger, but was a lot less
knowledgeable than the guide we had last year. After the tour, we take the
buss[es] back to ASM [1.5 hours!]
Back at ASM, Deb and Eddie had returned, so Amanda and Eddie head out to
TMK. Deb and I head out to a restaurant that's been advertised heavily
since we got here. It's west on 192, Advertising all the
lobsters and Primerib you can eat for $19.95. Sounded like a good deal.
MISS IT! The lobster, although it looked like Maine Lobster, but a lot
smaller, was actually Canadian lobster. No offense to our neighbors to the
north, but it does not taste like Maine lobster. My wife and I are lobster
nuts. I ate one, and my wife ate less tha half of hers. The rest of the
items were less than remarkable. It is one of the first times we walk away
from a buffet with room to eat supper. $50 later, that is.
Feb. 22, Saturday, Sunny, HOT [87], afternoon showers crowds light
We drive to WL and take the boat to TMK and tommorrowland. and spent the
morning. Most rides were walk ons. I did see the horse drawn trolleys, and
were told they use them in the mornings. I'm afraid these are going to be
a thing of the past. I don't see the motorized cars. We head over to FW
for lunch. We used to like camping in FW, but disagree with the busses
they use for transportation. And now with the race track inside.. and it
was active today. We bought sandwiches at the Meadows trading post and ate
at picnic table. Then we just wandered around FW resting the afternoon.
They did away with the hammocks, I was looking forward to a nap on one. I
had to settle for a nap in the rocking chair outside Crocket's Tavern.
This was HDD day for us. We took in the 5PM show. Same old show, the only
same actor recognized was 6pence. After the show we head over to WL We
wanted to make reservations for our last two night for WL. They can't do
the reservations, we have to call the CRO. We can't get two nights in the
same room, they were booked. so we take two night in two different rooms
with the chance that we'll get the same room two nights in a row. If not,
they'll just have to move our luggage to the new room. No big deal. We
also decided that we want to spend at least a week in WL when we come back
in December. The mattresses in ASM are a little weaker than we remember.
Our backs are beginning to hurt us. We figure two nights on a stiff bed in
WL combined with the hot tubs at WL will put us in shape for the train.
Yes, in one week we'll be home. Oh, I think its a family concencous that
we like a castle better than a cake. I hope they start brining back our
castle on the next trip.
Feb. 23rd, Sunday. Sunny, HOT
This was a non Disney park day, a time for some rest. We did a little
shopping during the Day.
That afternoon, we went over to RFC for supper. We got there at 3PM and
there was an hour wait.
I requested the elephant room this time. We had the gorilla room the first
time. There is a lot more activity in the elephant room. Animals move and
make noise, you are in the middle of the storm. In the gorilla room you
were near falling water and saw activity going on in the other rooms. Food
was really good again. Deb and Eddie we to the rest rooms. Deb reported
that they have perfumes on the counter for use, and the attendant passes you
your towel to dry you hands. You are expected to tip them. I haven't seen
this since the old country fairs. They turn the tables over fast as soon
as one groups leaves, they seem to be seating the next. We didn't feel any
pressure to hurry, though. About the only downer was the volume of the
background music. The music didn't seem to have any relation to the theme.
Covered up the animals noises, and made it hard to talk to each other. I
hadn't noticed it the last time we went there.
Feb. 24th, Monday, Sunny, HOT.
I don't know how people do it in the summer. It's just too hot now. Eddie
and Amanda head out to TMK, while Deb and I go to EPCOT. We do the typical
Future world and World Showcase. We do make
note that Disney is not too imaginative with their children's strollers.
The same old blue ones. While Sea World has Dolphin strollers and Universal
has surfari jeeps. There's got to be some way Disney could jazz up the
strollers. They do have [what seems new to me] children activity areas
near most countries.
We had fun feeding the birds after lunch. Most of the birds are tame enough
to eat out of your hands.
Feb. 25th, Tuesday, Sunny, HOT, MGM, TMK
The weatherman was saying rain. It looked like rain, we got out our rain
jackets and forgot them. It was early entry into TMK, so Deb, Amanda and I
headed for MGM, while Eddie headed to TMK.
First stop VOTLM, good seats toward the front, middle. After that, Deb's
ankles were really hurting.
She thought she'd have to go back to the room. I suggested a wheel chair.
Got one for $5.00 rental.
Headed for Hunchback show. We were 45 minutes early, no one else around. In
fact there were light crowds at MGM. Since we had a wheel chair, we were
given front row seats. Since we were so early,
we'd have only been one row back anyway. This is a nice show with song,
dance, puppets, and storytelling. You should try to get to it. We haven't
seen the movie yet. The songs weren't as memorable as those of the other
animation's of late. After the HB, it was off to the backlot tour and 101
Dalmatian tour again as Deb hadn't seen them. More boring than ever for me,
although Deb did like the 101 tour, see said it helped to have seen the
movie first. Then the great movie ride. We did get a good seat with the
wheel chair, front row seat. You could see the signal system of green and
red lights
I assume for clearance. I was nearly convnced that the driver actually
controlled the forward motion based on these lights until I see the car move
with the driver forgetting to start it up. The steering wheel is clearly
non functional. We only got a few sprinkles during the day, then the sun
came out. Eddie over at TMK, said they got a lot of rain, He even came
back to the room to change clothes. So, I guess the weather can be a lot
different even within WDW. By now it's time to head off to TMK for supper.
We had 4 PM reservations at the Crystal Palace, a character buffet We joined
up with Eddie there. We had Tiger, Pooh bear, and Eeyore for characters.
The meal was $100 for the
It was time for SW and TB. The BSM tour guide had said that the main Tiki
Birds breathed. I didn't
see any. We got a great spot to view Spectro Magic parade. right at the
circle by the Birthday cake, looking down toward the train station. Yes, I
sat through it again. The wife enjoyed it.
After the parade, we went to the train station to view the fireworks. It is
not the same seeing tinker bell fly off a birthday cake. What a stupid idea
[getting rid of the Castle].
By 8:30 PM, it was not too bad getting back to the car. This area must be
full of rental cars, all looking alike. Even white convertibles. We tried
to get into one parked near where ours was. Didn't work.
Feb. 26th, Wednesday, headed to WL for two nights.
We check out of ASM and get our luggage picked up. Deb drops me off at
EPCOT. She heads over to WL to rest for the day. Can't check in yet.
I go to HISTA, no lines. I can't see 3D, but I twisted my head just right,
and was able to see some of the effects. Then on to a final visit with
Figment. The CM played ignorant of any modifications that were going to
occur at JI. Off to see the LK at the Land. Then on to answer the
question about where or not my addition of a favorite place on the AOL
terminal lasted. It didn't.
I found our there are a lot of places to get on the Internet. There is a
MAC terminal across the way, then Oracle has about ten terminal all hooked
up to the Internet. All empty. No wonder, they are connected to the
Internet via 110 baud modems. The terminal were really small TV monitors,
looked bad. Then they had a really bad browser to work with. I asked the
CM why they would possible have such a setup, he kinda shugged his shoulders.
I take a bus back to WL to have lunch with Deb at the Roaring fork. Then
to TMK for the Lion King Adventure. And a Pineapple float. Also a look at
what used to be 20k. Now its a character greeting area.
CMs are either pretty ignorant about things going on, or very tight liped.
Even the buss drivers aren't talking. Used to be, you could take a bus
when it was empty and the driver would pour out more information than you
could find in a guild book. Now they either plead ignorance or double talk.
For instance, I've really been trying to find out about the horse drawn
trolleys. I was told that they have to rest the horse a lot. Then I asked
about the motorized cars on main street. no really good answers. I was
tempted to ask if they needed a lot of rest too, but keep my tongue. I
fear the horses are an endangered species. Then I asked the bus driver
about some strange looking tents in the EPCOT parking lot.
"I don't know" is a popular answer.
Deb's WL tour seemed a little bit more detailed than mine. They told that
they are building a western town over at the campground. They will be
loosing a couple loops in the CG to the town, but replace those loops by
taking away some of the trailers. If they register for the new hotel, they
will be registering at WL, they will be taking a train with their luggage
from WL to the new resort. The are relocating the race track over to the
sports complex due to the noise - GOOD IDEA you can even hear it from WL.
It was originally to be temporary, but now they seem to be active every day
with the new program at the track where people can race in a car themselves.
They are going to be building a Metterian hotel on the monorail system.
It'll be the last one on the loop. They had started, but it was too swampy,
and they have been working
That night I go over to Boardwalk. You can't get there from here. I head
over at about 7 PM. It takes about an hour. There is no way to get there
cleanly. The TTA used to be the center of the transportation sys No
more. Most resorts now have busses going to each theme park. That leaves
a scatter bus to pick up people from each resort on route to the Marketplace.
From the marketplace you can now get anywhere. After a while... I don't
know if Boardwalk will ever be a major nightspot with these transportation
problems. Boardwalk looked a bit sterile. The boardwalks I knew were a bit
dirty, a bit of graffiti, beach, and ocean. There is none of that here.
There are no rides, except for a tram that goes around. There's plenty of
places to join the Disney timeshare. You find these booths everywhere.
I go into Jellyrolls, a bar with 'dueling pianos'. The two piano players
did a good job with comedy, sing along and knowing a wide variety of music.
This is a bar and with bar atmosphere. No kids allowed inside. I was really
interested in going to the Atlanta Dance Club to listen to big band music.
The first surprise was th
Deb had stayed at WL, viewed the fireworks at TMK from our room balcony.
We can see the cake from our room. After, Deb went out to one of the common
balconies overlooking the lagoon to watch the Electrical parade. It was
upposed to occur at 9:35 PM. AT about 10 PM she found out that it was
canceled. Good weather, never found out why it was canceled.
Feb. 27th, Thursday, Sunny, hot
This was a day of rest before heading home. I went to reregister for one
more day at WL. We were able to keep our same room. We ate at the Cracker
Barrel out on 192, and did some light shopping at the new Wal Mart. About
11AM the 192 was backed up headed back to WDW, so we detoured over to 536
to come back in. That whole 192/4 area is bad news. The good news is that
going the back route into WDW can avoid all the mess. Eddie then heads
over to TMK to get his portrait done, thus completing all of us, while Deb
goes over to the Marketplace for last minute shopping. Then the laundry.
I loaf around WL all day.
For our last meal at WDW, we wanted to eat with Mickey. So we booked Chief
Mickey's. An excellent buffet. Our best meal. RFC comes in second. Meal
for 4 with drinks and tip was $100. They had a large variety of food for a
buffet. Any one item would have been a good meal. And the desert table was
great.
We were visited by Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale, and Goofy. We took an extra
roll and a few crackers so we could feed the fish off the dock back at WL.
We had planned on going p to the 15th floor to watch the fireworks at TMK.
But so didn't a few others. It was a little crowded, so we headed back to
WL. If you plan it right, this would be a great place to watch the
fireworks, or just enjoy a beer looking over at TMK.
Back at WL, we stop at the dock and break up food for the fish. They come
up and grab it off the water.
It was raining a bit. Deb and I spend a while out on our balcony watching
the monorails and ferry boats taking people away from TMK.
At about 9:15, we headed out to the common balcony to watch the electrical
parade. It supposed to start
at 9;35. At about 9:45, it starts well short of being in front of WL, we
get to see only a part of it. It appears to have some different music. A
disappointment not being to see it.
Feb. 28th, Friday, On track, home.
Nothing too eventful. I tried putting pennies on the rails to get pressed
pennies, but never did find them after.
Feb. 29th, Saturday. HOME
It's always nice to get home in your own bed after. No snow, we find out
it's been kinda warm up here too. In the mail, the Amtrak tickets for
December trip have arrived. Room confirmations for the WL
stay we had arrived.
|
| The Hagen Family trip report: Rick, Lori, Matt (almost 9) and Scott (6)
April 18-26
Because of the kids, we went at a leisurely pace and concentrated mostly on
the Magic Kingdom.
Friday, April 18
It was a beautiful sunny morning. The perfect day for our first day in the
Magic Kingdom. First I went to Aloha Isle and saw that it was closed. Bummer.
Next, the kids wanted to ride the riverboat, so we got on. Just as it's leaving
the port, it started rocking and it capsized. All I could think of is Scott
can't swim, so I swim over to where he was and I keep calling but there's no
answer.
I woke up at 4:45 a.m. and realized I just had a bad dream! What a way to start
my Disney vacation.
It was raining hard. I checked the weather for Orlando on the Internet and it
said rain for Sunday through Tuesday. Great!
We packed up and left the house around 8:00, stopping for bagels on the way.
The traffic to Logan was heavy due to the rain but we got there in plenty of
time for our 10:40 flight (US Airways), which was on time and uneventful,
except for some strong turbulence. We arrived in Orlando on time. It was
perfectly sunny and in the mid 70's - warm compared to Boston. We gathered
all our luggage and boarded the Hertz bus. At Hertz, there was no line so
we got our car, a brand-spanking-new Malibu, rather quickly. I couldn't find
my AAA card, which I accidently left at home, but the clerk gave me the
discount anyways. I don't even think she was going to ask me for the card.
By the time we left the counter, there was a bit of a line forming.
We drove to the CBR and checked in very efficiently. We got room 2360 in
Martinique - a 2nd floor corner room as requested. It had a view of the
courtyard. If you have no sense of direction, then this is a terrible place to
stay. All the buildings look alike and are arranged sort of haphazardly. My
sense of direction is so-so, and I became easily disoriented. Matt's sense of
direction is pretty bad, and he could never find the way back to our room
without our help. :)
The room is "OK" - nothing special. I'm a bit disappointed overall. The decor
seemed kind of ... drab to me, I'm not quite sure why. None of the funiture
in the room matched, and the carpet looked old and worn. We had a moldy/
mildewy smell by the bathroom sinks for our entire stay. One nice thing about
it is the beds are high enough off the ground so you can store luggage
underneath. The grounds at CBR are really nice, as is the pool at OPR,
although it was usually crowded. There was a note in our room explaining that
the Martinique pool and laundry facilities are closed for renovations. Lovely.
I planned on doing at least one load of laundry while staying here.
We took two of the mugs - the 25th Anniversary mugs - and headed for OPR for
dinner. Why are all those strings strung overhead outside OPR? Is that some
sort of bird control? After dinner we drove to Goodings. I had intended to
buy a cheap, styrofoam cooler to fill with ice and keep juice boxes and sodas
in, but Goodings only had REAL coolers, and they weren't cheap, so we didn't
buy one. Instead, we decided to fill the wastebasket in our room used for
recyclable materials with ice and use that as our cooler. That worked out just
fine. I noticed on the way to/from Goodings that there is a LOT of road
construction going on Buena Vista Dr.
Back at the room the kids and I relaxed while Rick went for a run. We went to
bed early, for tomorrow the Magic Kingdom opened at 8:00 and for Disney guests
that meant a 7:00 opening! (The desk clerk at the CBR confirmed this for me.)
Saturday, April 19
I got up at 5:15 and got myself ready, letting everyone else sleep until 6:30.
The weatherman said today is supposed to be sunny and 77 degrees. Currently
it was 53.
Mickey phoned at 6:30 to wake us up. Matt answered the phone was was excited
to be awakened by the Mouse. We had a quick breakfast in the room and headed
for MK by 7:00. The sun was barely up and we were going to MK! We got there
around 7:15 and there were long lines waiting to get in. They didn't open the
gates until 7:30. We had purchased 5-day hopper passes a month or so ago from
the Disney Store. The kids' tickets worked just fine and they entered without
a problem. Rick's and my tickets were rejected, however. The gate attendendent
suggested we go to City Hall and get it straightened out. Boo hiss! I'm
raring to go but first we gotta stop at City Hall. The cast member there told
us that Guest Relations (?) voided out our tickets. WHY? She tried to find
out, but the line was busy when she tried phoning someone, so she disappeared
for about 10 minutes with our tickets, then came back smiling, handing us new
tickets saying not to worry. I would have liked to find out what the snafu
was, but I didn't want to waste any more time. It was already almost 8:00.
We headed for Tomorrowland and did Alien Encounter (no wait). This was pretty
cool. Then we did Space Mountain with a fairly short wait. Scott cried
because he didn't want to go on it and couldn't understand why he was waiting
in line for it. He didn't understand how kid-swap worked. First I rode it
with Matt, then Rick rode it with Matt. Next we rode the racing cars at the
speedway. As we headed to Fantasyland, the kids got autographs from the Queen
of Hearts, Twiddles Dee & Dum, and Alice.
Scott and I rode the teacups. Then the 4 of us did Toad's Wild Ride and
Snow White, with about 5 minute waits. Then we did Lion King, which had about
a 20 min. wait. We all really enjoyed this show. The kids wanted to ride the
skyway back to Tomorrowland. It was a 30 min. wait. The park was starting to
get crowded, so afterwards, we left to get some lunch.
After lunch we took the kids to the pool at OPR for some sun & fun, and then
came back to the room for a short rest. Housekeeping finally showed up at
around 4:00! (This was my biggest complaint with CBR - the late housekeeping).
So we went outside and sat in the courtyard while our room was being made up.
We ordered pizza for dinner and then returned to the MK.
We decided to park at the CR since we were staying for the firewords and didn't
want to fight the crowds taking the monorail or ferry back to TTC. The "guard"
at the guardhouse asked why we were there, even though we had resort IDs. So
I lied and said we were coming for dinner. He asked if we had reservations and
where we were eating. Geez! Security sure seemed awfully tight! My kids
later gave me grief for lying, too.
At the MK we did Swiss Family Robinson's treehouse, the Jungle Cruise, and then
the kids drove those little token-operated mini-jungle boats for awhile. Next
we had a short wait for Pirates. The boat kept stopping during this ride.
Must've been technical difficulties of some sort. On the way out, the boys
spied some nifty pirate rifles they just HAD to have, so they each bought one
with their money. Then we staked out a spot on Main St. for SpectroMagic,
right across the street from the ice cream parlor. We were in the third row,
counting the curb-sitters. A nice woman invited our boys to sit on the curb
in front of her. Matt did, but Scott declined, so Rick had to hold him up so
he could see, and I got to do the videotaping. I thought this parade was just
awesome! I can't wait to view the videotape of it. After the parade there was
a mad dash for the exit, but we stayed put for the fireworks. Tinkerbell flew
down promptly at 9:30. The fireworks were nice, but not impressive, and it was
all over by 9:40. We were back in our room by 10:00. The kids had fallen
asleep in the car. (They're used to going to bed at 8:30 and 9:00.)
Sunday, April 20
I got up at 6:30, and everyone else got up at 7:00. Mickey called us at 7:05
and this time Scott answered the phone. The weatherman said today would be
sunny and 80 degrees, and only 20% chance of rain Mon. & Tues. Great!
We got to MGM around 8:15. This was an early opening for Disney guests and
we should have gotten there by 8:00. There were lots of characters out front,
so the kids wanted to get autographs before going in. They got Tigger, Eeyore,
Chip & Dale, and Green Army Man. We didn't get inside until 8:45 and we
headed straight for the TZToT, like everyone else. The line was all they way
back to BATB! The sign said a 90 min. wait. Oh well, we decided to stick it
out. It turned out to be about an hour wait. The four of us went on and we
all loved this, except for Scott who claimed he was lucky to still be alive!
It wasn't anywhere near as scary as I thought it would be. We bought the
picture on the way out. Heading out, I noticed the line was considerably
shorter than it had been when we were in line. It figures.
We tried to make reservations for lunch at Sci-Fi, but it was booked solid.
I figured we'd be back to MGM on Tues., but they told me they couldn't accept
reservations that far in advance. Huh?
Next we did Muppets 3D and the Backlot Tour, and then grabbed some hotdogs at
Rosie's. Then the kids played at Honey I Shrunk The Kids playground. Whatta
zoo! We were afraid of losing them. Then we staked out a spot under a tree for
the Toy Story parade. This parade was OK, but it only lasted 5 minutes and
wasn't worth it, IMO. We had trouble seeing it because of all the people who
shoved their way in front of us. After it was done, it was hard to walk any-
where in the park. We decided to leave, and it took us 1/2 hr. to get out.
Apparently alot of other people decided to leave then, too. First the kids
got a couple more autographs - Gov. Radcliff and (I don't remember).
Back at the CBR, Matt and I decided to go swimming. Rick and Scott tried to
take a nap, but housekeeping woke them up around 4:00 so they joined us at
the pool. When we got back to the room, we noticed that housekeeping didn't
bother to empty our trash cans.
We left for EPCOT around 5:00, first stopping at the Customs House to pick up
our HDD tickets for tomorrow. Unfortunately their computer was down and we
have to come back tomorrow. AT EPCOT, we grabbed a quick bite at the Electric
Umbrella at Innovations. Then Rick got a chocolate mousse at the Fountain
View Bakery, where they have a nice selection of desserts and coffees.
We got in a short line for Spaceship Earth, and this ride stopped three times
along the way for whatever. Next was Unerverse of Energy. We all liked this
ride (better than the old one), but I'm not a big fan of Ellen DeGeneres so I
could have done without her. Afterwards, we walked over to the Plaza Towers to
watch Illuminations. Rick and I were so impressed with this, it makes me wonder
how the old one could've been better. Scott was so tired that Rick had to
carry him all the way back to the car.
Monday, April 21
Today is my birthday but it doesn't really feel like it. We slept until 7:00.
I answered the wake-up call this time, expecting to hear Mickey, but instead
it was some advertisement for WDW golfing. Bummer.
Today was Typhoon Lagoon day, and it didn't open until 10:00, so we had a more
leisure morning. Of course, this is the day housekeeping comes at 8:30! We
asked them to come back a little later.
After a quick stop at the Customs House to pick up our HDD tickets, we headed
to Typhoon Lagoon and got there right at opening time. We made a dash for
KetchaKiddie Kreek and snared a table with chairs underneath a roof. It was
very sunny and warm, so we really wanted to have the shade. After a couple
of laps around Castaway Creek, we rode the family tube ride and then got some
lunch. At lunch, I got overcharged (for some chili fries I didn't order) so I
had to get a refund. After lunch, we surfed in the wave pool for awhile and
did another tube ride. Then I walked around the rest of the water park to
check it out while Rick and the boys rode Castaway Creek again. We didn't have
enough time in this park, since we had to leave by 2:30 to get ready for the
5:00 HDD. On the way out, we stopped for a free sample of Arctic Dots - these
are really good. They are tiny ice cream pellets. We didn't buy any, though.
On the way back from TL, we noticed that we got charged for 2 adults and 2
juniors for the HDD, when it should've been 2 adults and 2 children, so we had
to stop back at the Customs House and get a refund. (This was about a $40
mistake!) I'm surprised at all the Disney snafus we've encountered so far,
and it's only Monday!
Back at the CBR we changed our clothes. Housekeeping showed up around 3:30 so
we went out in the courtyard to read while the boys played.
We drove to FW and rode the bus to Pioneer Hall for my birthday dinner HDD show.
We got there a little early so we sat in the rocking chairs outside Crockett's
Tavern, people-watching. We were starving so Rick bought a couple of cookies
for us to nibble on while we waited. It was getting cloudy out and was rather
humid by this time. Finally we were seated in Pioneer Hall. Our table was
almost exactly in the center of the floor. And it was FREEZING inside. I don't
mean cold, I mean FREEZING. It was SO COLD, that the waitresses were bringing
blankets, tablecloths actually, to all the kids, and to any adult who wanted
one, to wrap up in. Our waitress, Jeanette, told us the AC was all computerized
and they couldn't override it. Yeah, sure. Our waitress also explained that
the show was starting late because "they were having problems backstage",
whatever that meant.
The meal was pretty good, although my kids hardly ate anything. I did notice
at the table next to ours the kids had some sort of alternate meal. One looked
like macaroni and cheese and something else, the other looked like pasta and
vegetables, so I guess it's possible to request something else besides ribs and
chicken.
We all really enjoyed the show. Miss Clair sat on Rick's lap and started
flirting with him. I grabbed the videocamera and started taping. Then Jim
scolded her for flirting with a married man in front of his wife. The rest of
the show was really funny, and Matt kept talking about it for days afterwards.
After we got back to the CBR, we decided to rent one of those bicycle carts
built for 4, but by the time we got there, the rental place was closed. So we
stopped in the gift store for some snacks and post cards, then we walked over
to Parrot Cay and let the kids play on the playground there. We walked back to
our room past Aruba and Barbados, stopping to try the hammocks on the beach.
Boy I loved those hammocks! Guess what I want for Mother's Day this year?!
I was originally planning to request a room in Aruba, but more than one person
told me Martinique would be better, but I wish I HAD gotten a room in Aruba.
Our room in Martinique was about as far from OPR as you can get and still be in
Martinique. Aruba was closer, I think, and the building colors seemed more
cheerful and warm. Speaking of warm, it was the first balmy night (didn't
need jackets) since we got here.
Tuesday, April 22
I woke up at 6:00 with a slightly sore throat. Probably from freezing last
night at the HDD. Everyone else woke up at 7:00. Again, our wake-up call was
an advertisement for golf, and not Mickey.
We didn't leave for the MK until 9:00ish. It was pretty crowded then and it
took us awhile to get IN the park. We rode the railroad to Frontierland and
rode BTMR. Scott wasn't going to go on this but changed his mind, and ended up
loving it. Then we took a raft to Tom Sawyer's Island. By 11:00 we were
hungry, so we had burgers and hotdogs at Pecos Bill's. Then we did Haunted
Mansion and looked around Liberty Square for awhile. It was getting hot so we
boarded the train and rode it to Main St. Rick took the kids for ice cream,
while I walked to Aloha Isle for a pineapple Dole Whip. Delicious and perfect
for a hot, sunny day. (They also come in chocolate and vanilla. It seems to
me they shouldn't use Dole in the name, then.) We left MK around 1:30 and went
back to CBR. Housekeeping was just leaving! Yipee!
We walked to the pool at Barbados and I did a load of laundry while Rick and
the kids swam. We forgot to put sunblock on and we all got a tad red. I think
the pool at Barbados was closer to our room than the pool at Martinique. It
definitely wasn't as crowded as the pool at OPR.
We decided to eat dinner at OPR. Scott and I had spaghetti, which was watery
and bland. Then we went back to EPCOT's Future World. We made a quick stop
at Innoventions before getting in line for Honey I Shrunk The Audience. This
was way cool! Loved the mice! Next we did Journey Into Imagination and
Image Works. Then we stopped at Fountain View for dessert - no chocolate
mousee today, so I got chocolate mousse cake. We saw the dancing fountain
show, where the fountain "performs" with music and lights. We loved the music.
As a matter of fact, all the music at Disney seemed really good - for the
parades, Illuminations, etc. I saw a CD in one of the EPCOT stores titled
Disney Parks Music", or something like that. I should have bought it.
Anyways, we went back to Innoventions because the kids loved playing all those
video games. I sent an email to my mother-in-law from the ATT booth. We left
EPCOT at 8:30.
Wednesday, April 23
I woke up at 6:00. My nose was very stuffed up. I'm definitely getting a cold.
Mickey phoned at 7:30 and I finally got to listen to his wake-up message.
We requested Express Check-out, and our bill was waiting for us on the door-
knob by 8:00. It was very cloudy out, but warm. Around 72 degrees. The
weather lady said we were in for severe weather this afternoon, but the rest of
the week is supposed to be sunny and in the 80's.
This was the day we chose to go to Blizzard Beach, and hopefully the clouds
will keep the crowds away. First we stored our luggage at the Customs House.
Then we left for BB. We got there about 9:40, and Rick locked the keys
in the car. He stopped at the customer service booth just outside the gates
and told them his problem, and in no time they had a BB security person with
a gadget that opened the car.
As soon as the gates opened, we headed for the Ski Patrol Training Camp, a
pre-teen area that I thought my kids would love (they did). We claimed a
picnic table under the roof - this time in case it rained. The wind was really
picking up now. First we did two runs on Teamboat Springs. This is a long
family raft ride and pretty fun. The second time, as we were standing in line
near the top, it started thundering and lightning. I thought for sure they
would close the park, but they didn't. Just before we got in our raft, it
started raining in torrents, and it was a cold rain. We went down the ride in
the downpour, but the rain stopped by the time we reached the bottom. We were
drenched! The kids wanted some time in the Training Camp area, so I walked
around the rest of the park, videotaping some of it. This park looks alot more
fun than Typhoon Lagoon, IMO. It had lots of slides and tube rides that I
wanted to try. But the sky was getting very black, and the wind was strong -
so strong that they had to shut down the chairlifts. It felt like the
temperature was dropping, too. So I ran back to our picnic table. Rick and
the boys were just getting out of the water complaining they were cold. I was,
too. It was still thundering and only about 11:00, but we decided to leave and
see if we could check into the Wilderness Lodge yet. We were also getting
hungry so we went to McDonald's drive-thru first. (We weren't dressed to go
anywhere else.) And if the weather improved, we would go back.
While eating lunch in the car, it really started storming - rain, thunder and
lightning, wind. We also heard about tornado warnings, and about "the severe
weather in the EPCOT/MGM area". It's a good thing we left BB when we did.
After lunch I tried to check into the Wilderness Lodge. Now THIS is a hotel!
Very nice. The lobby really grabbed my attention, even though I had seen
pictures of it, they didn't do it justice. The kids walked in and just said
"Wow!" :) I had requested a bunk-bed room and luckily they had one, on the
7th floor, but unfortunately it wasn't ready yet. So we drove back to CBR and
picked up our luggage and drove back to WL. We were still in our wet swimsuits
and water shoes. :-P After about an hour, we checked and our room was ready,
so we quickly changed into dry clothes. This is a pretty nice room. It has
a balcony, but because we're on the top floor, you can't really see over it
unless you are standing. (The balconies on lower floors had iron railings that
you could see through.) The boys really love the bunk beds.
It was still raining out, so we went downstairs to look around, and bought a
snack at Roaring Fork while the boys played in the arcade. Since it was so
cool and stormy out, I was disappointed that there wasn't a fire going in the
fireplace. Next we took the 3:15 tour of the lodge complete with free samples
of ribs from Whispering Canyon, and free samples of salmon from Artist's Point.
Unfortunately, because of the weather, we didn't get to tour the smoke house
or go up to the roof, which are normally part of the tour.
After dinner, it began clearing up so we went for a walk around the pool and
dock, and waited for the 7:00 geyser eruption, before going back to our room
for the night.
Thursday, April 24
We got up bright and early because it was early entry day at the MK. It was
sunny, cool, and dry when we caught the 7:40 launch to MK. We needed to wear
jackets.
First we went to Tomorrowland. The line for Space Mountain was VERY long,
because it hadn't opened yet, so we did Timekeeper, first. Then we got in line
for Space Mountain (about 45 min. wait), and Transit Authority (no wait). We
walked through the big, pink castle to Frontierland to do Splash Mtn. This was
about a 50 min. wait but well worth it. Scott refused to go on, so we did the
kid swap, and I rode first with Matt. The big drop happened so fast, and my
face got so drenched (my sunglasses were so wet I couldn't even see out of them)
that I barely remember that part of the ride, so it didn't seem scary to me
at all. Matt didn't get wet at all either time, and Rick just got a few
splashes on his arm. The rest of the ride was very entertaining, and Rick and
I thought this was the best ride at MK.
At 10:50 we were hungry already, so we tried to grab a bite to eat at Pecos
Bills, but it was packed, so we tried Diamond Horseshoe Review, but there was a
show in progress, so we ended up at Pinocchio Village Haus. The park seems
really crowded today and it's even hard to walk. After lunch we did It's A
Small World and Peter Pan (30 min. wait for each), Country Bear Jamboree, and
BTMR before using up the rest of our tokens on the Jr. Jungle Boats.
We began to head out, stopping for ice cream on Main St., and for truffles at
the Sweet Shoppe. We left just before the parade started, catching the launch
back to WL. Yeah - housekeeping had done our room already! We stopped at our
room for a short rest before heading out again.
Around 4:00 we headed to MGM. We really wanted to see the Indiana Jones show,
and the last show was 5:45, but we got there too late. The last show for this
day was actually 4:45 since the park closed at 7:00, and it was already filled.
So Scott and I walked on to Star Tours. This was the mildest simulator
ride I've ever been on, so we told Rick and Matt that they would have no
problem with it (they are prone to motion sickness), and we all rode it with
just a short wait.
After dinner at the Backlot Express, we caught VOLM. I thought this show was
really awesome! There was no wait for the Great Movie Ride, so Matt and I rode
this while Rick took Scott to the bathroom. Rick and Scott rode it after we
did. We caught up with them later and noted we both had the "gangster" side,
so we went on again, trying to get the western side. At that point they were
only running the gangster side, so we got that again.
We decided to do TZToT again, but it was after 7:00 and the ride was closed, so
we left and came back to the hotel. At 9:30 I went down by the pool to tape
the water pagent, which was supposed to come by at 9:35, but it was almost over
so I only caught the end. I did get to see the MK fireworks, though.
Friday, April 25
This is our last Disney day, and we decided to go to MGM and see all the things
we keep missing there, especially Indiana Jones, and then spend some time at
EPCOT's World Showcase. I got up at 6:00. Rick got up early, too, and went
for a run. My nose is still pretty stuffed so I took a Dimetapp and packed a
few dozen Kleenex in our backpack. I called and made preferred seating
arrangements at Sci-Fi Dine-In for noon today.
We got to MGM at 9:00. First stop was Starring Rolls for some breakfast
goodies. Then we waited in line for BATB. BATB was good, but we really
enjoyed the pre-show group "Four For A Dollar", which sang acappella. As soon
as BATB was done, we RAN over to IJ for the 11:00 show, but at 10:45 it was
full already, so we went to SuperStar TV. Then we headed to Sci-Fi for lunch.
The kids really loved this place. We enjoyed it, too. The food was pretty
good, and there was a good selection. Our waiter was pretty funny, too. After
we ate, we were getting nervous that we'd miss the next IJ show, so I took the
kids to get in line, while Rick waited for the bill, and we met up with him
inside.
Diligence paid off, because we had center seats about 8 rows up. Everyone liked
this show a lot. Afterwards, we tried to catch Monster Sound Show, but it
was closed for about an hour because of the parade, and we didn't feel like
waiting for it.
Although we all loved the shows at MGM, Rick and I thought this was the most
annoying park. The shows were scheduled such that when you finished one, you
couldn't see another for a while, and everything seemed to shut down for an
hour for the 5 min. Toy Story parade. Early opening meant only three rides
were open, and they all had long lines so it wasn't worth it.
We decided to leave, but on the way out we saw Pooh, and the kids wanted his
autograph, so we got in line, which wasn't that long. His handler said he only
had 3 more minutes, but after about 30 seconds, just as my kids were next, she
dragged him off, so we never did get his autograph.
We went back to WL for some pool time. It was pretty hot (I later heard it went
up to 90) and starting to get cloudy.
We went to EPCOT around 4:00. First we rode Rio del Temp in Mexico. Then Matt
wanted to buy me something there for a birthday gift (he ended up getting me
a Christmas angel). Next we rode Maelstrom, which had a 30 min. wait. It was
good, but not THAT good. Rick and Scott thought they wanted to eat dinner in
China, but when we got there they didn't see anything on the menu they wanted
so we continued on. Matt saw the fuzzy monkey puppets he was eyeing at MGM, and
he really wanted to buy one in spite of the price ($36). We told him to think
about it over dinner.
We ended up eating dinner at the Liberty Inn. I was still stuffed from lunch,
so Scott and I just split a salad. We had just missed the American Adventure,
and the next one didn't start for over an hour. The Voices of Liberty
apparently only perform in the afternoon and were done for the day. Bummer.
So he head over to France to look at the desserts, but the cafe was too
crowded. I looked at the toy shop in England for a Pooh or Tigger sweatshirt,
but no luck.
Rick took Matt back to China to buy his puppet and Scott and I shopped at the
Plaza Towers shops. Scott picked out a stuffed Eeyore for his souvenir, which
I LOVE. I still couldn't find a Tigger or Pooh sweatshirt, or even a T-shirt
that I liked. My toe is starting to hurt, and I later learned I got a small
blister. Oh well, at least it's our last day.
We stopped again at Fountain View Bakery (can you tell we liked this place?)
for chocolate mousses and watched the dancing fountain again. On the way out,
we rode Spaceship Earth one last time. I stopped in a shop near Spaceship
Earth and bought a Tigger T-shirt, and then we left.
Back at the WL, we walked down to the dock and watched the water pagent, which
was running late this evening.
Saturday, April 26
I got up at 6:30. Rick left to go for a run, then. Mickey called at 7:00
but the kids were still asleep so I answered.
It's a grey, overcast day and it feels rather humid. I started packing up all
our stuff.
At 8:00 we left for the Grand Floridian for our 8:30 character breakfast at
1900 Park Fare. We had to wait in the lobby for about 15 minutes for our table,
so the kids got Mary Poppins' autograph. Pluto came over almost as soon as we
were seated and we didn't have time to videotape him with the kids. At least
I got a picture. The breakfast here was delicious - a large variety of foods,
and alot of the stuff is miniaturized so you can sample lots of different
things without getting too full on one thing - mini muffins, mini bagels,
mini donuts, mini Mickey waffles. Minnie came to our table, and so did Chip,
who was very good and very animated, and finally Goofy, who took offense at my
Tigger T-shirt.
After breakfast we finished packing, filled the car with gas, and returned it
to Hertz. Our flight was a little delayed, and it was pouring rain when we
boarded. It seemed to fit our mood at leaving.
Summary
Overall we had a wonderful time...only one day of rain bothered us.
Matt seemed to be the perfect age for a WDW vacation. He just loved everything
and soaked it all in.
We hit everything at the MK we wanted to, except the Mickey Mania parade, and
everything at MGM, except Monster Sound Show. I would have liked to have spent
more time at EPCOT than we did, (I wish I could have gone on Body Wars) and
next time I definitely want to spend a (sunny) day at Blizzard Beach. I also
wanted to go to Rainforest Cafe, but we can always go to the one in Minneapolis
the next time we're visiting the in-laws.
Typhoon Lagoon was buggy, probably because of all those tropical plants.
Wilderness Lodge is really nice...I would definitely stay there again. CBR
was OK, but I probably wouldn't stay there again.
One of the nice advantages to staying on-site was the resort ID, which enabled
us to charge anything and everything to our room. We didn't need any money
while we were down there, except for gas and tolls.
I was surprised how tight security was - requiring a resort ID to get into
the other resorts or else a good story. I was pretty surprised to be so
thoroughly questioned at the Contempory when we parked there one time.
We ran into MORE people from Massachusetts! Our kids wore their Red Sox
baseball caps and all sorts of people stopped us and asked if we were from
Boston, and they told us where in MA they were from. We also saw a lot of
people wearing Red Sox clothing. You could tell it was school vacation week
in MA!
We saw two big cranes building some sort of structure behind MGM - it looked
like a multi-story building.
We saw the Coronado Springs Resort. The convention center looks finished, but
there's still some work to be done in the lodging area. It's supposed to open
in August.
I only saw two separate groups of "shirts" (with flag) the whole week! At one
of the souvenir shops at Plaza Towers, there is a Brazil section, complete with
Brazil sweatshirts and T-shirts with various Disney characters. How much
longer before Brazil has a pavillion in World Showcase?
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