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Spring 1997 WDW Trip Reports
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- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
- Resort: DL
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veterans
- Comments: Derek and Anne took their first anniversary
trip in May of 1997. They were married at WDW last year. If
you're interested in knowing how to have great second honeymoon,
this repot can give you some great ideas!
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane
- Resort: ASSR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Teen, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent,
Rookie
- Comments: Barb's report is very short, less
than one page, but has some information that is useful to anyone
that is planning a trip. The report was originally just an email
message to me, but Barb granted permission to add it to the
trip report list. Major lesson learned was that four and a half
days is NOT enough time for visiting WDW...
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Personal Car
- Resort: OKWR, DL, Offsite
- Accommodations: Two-Bedroom Vacation Home,
Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Teen,
Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran,
DVC Members
- Comments: Niel and Nancy always take nice,
long WDW vacations (my favorite kind!) and always write wonderful
reports to remember them. This is the first time I've been able
to talk the Bratteli's into letting me post one of their reports,
a wonderful documentary on their most recent visit. The family
drove from their home in Texas and saw several things along
the way. They also spent some time in Orlando visiting non-Disney
attractions before checking into OKWR for the bulk of their
trip.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
- Resort: PO
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Infant/Toddler,
Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran,
Infrequent, Rookie
- Comments: Marilyn wrote a wonderful summary-style
report that may be particularly helpful for families with toddlers
and/or preschoolers. The report covers a lot of details on the
attractions, restaurants, and so on.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: FWH
- Accommodations: Fort Wilderness Home
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
- Comments: Paul, Andrea, and Holly McKenna spent
nine (9) days at Fort Wilderness. This was a laid-back trip,
not rushed at all. A lot of the McKenna's time was spent meeting
and greeting other RADP newsgroup users. I enjoyed the report
especially because of the critical appraisal of the Fort Wilderness
Homes, which I've been considering renting for a future trip.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
- Resort: DLe
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent,
Rookie
- Comments: Mike, Ruth, and almost five-year-old
daughter Danielle had a wonderful late May trip to WDW. The
trip was definitely geared toward Danielle's interests, which
is an interesting twist to the usual WDW trip report. Mike and
Ruth really enjoyed watching Danielle's reaction to the characters
and the attractions.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: OKWR, CBR
- Accommodations: Two-Bedroom Vacation Home,
Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Teen, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
- Rookie, DVC Members
- Comments: Lori's group spent eight days at
WDW. Most of the group stayed at Old Key West, but one couple
was at Caribbean Beach Resort. They did a lot including several
character meals, the parks, Typhoon Lagoon, and Universal Studios
on their last day.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Personal Car
- Resort: CBR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Infant, Toddler,
Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran,
Rookie
- Comments: Donna, her husband Cliff, and 6-month
old daughter were joined by Cliff's parents, sister, and 3-year-old
nephew. The group stayed at the Caribbean Beach Resort and covered
a lot of territory during their stay. This is an interesting
report that shows how a larger group can handle a WDW trip.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: WL, YCR
- Accommodations: Suite, Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Frequent,
Infrequent
- Comments: Jane and her husband were joined
on this trip by their two sons and a daughter-in-law: David,
a Lieutenant in the Air Force, and Geoffrey and his new wife,
Debbie. The group had a wonderful, relaxing kind of trip...just
the way I like it!
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
- Resort: BWR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Frequent
- Comments: Joe and his friend Todd stayed at
the Boardwalk Resort. This is another of Joe's trips without
kids, and the perspective of no spouses and no kids might be
very helpful if you're planning a similar excursion. Joe has
a particular love for Epcot, so he spends a lot of his time
there...and the descriptions he gives of the park are excellent.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: Offsite
- Accommodations: Suite
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Teen,
Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran,
DVC Member
- Comments: This is another of Dotti's excellent
reports. It's particularly unusual because the Saroufim family,
who are DVC members, actually stayed offsite since Dotti's husband
was in Orlando on business. Of course, this fact brought up
a very interesting onsite vs. offsite discussion in the text
describing the first day of the trip. The family is going back
to WDW in August for their annual DVC trek, so the Saroufim's
will get a double dose of pixie dust in 1997 (and hopefully
we'll get another trip report out of the deal, too.)
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
- Resort: DL
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent,
Rookies (children)
- Comments: Sue and her family spent a wonderful
time at Dixie Landings. Sue's report covers a lot of territory.
It's written from the perspective of a very infrequent visitor,
so a lot of "newbie" issues are addressed here.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: ASR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Infant/Toddler,
Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veterans
(and one former castmember)
- Comments: Michele, Caleb, and their children
go to WDW far too often. They make me quite jealous. After a
wonderful holiday trip in December, the Warner's followed it
up with another this Spring. Michele's reports are always chock
full of useful information...
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: OKWR, BWR, Vero Beach Resort
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie,
DVC Member
- Comments: Jim and his wife spent several days
checking out their new "home" at the Disney Vacation
Club resorts at WDW and Vero Beach. This trip was a scouting
preliminary for an upcoming family trip in November...now all
I have to do is get Jim to write another report for that trip...
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Personal Car
- Resort: Offsite, CBR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
- Comments: The Fellows family visited WDW in
April for the very first time. This report is actually the journal
that Brenda wrote throughout the trip. It wasn't intended to
be published, but it certainly captures a lot of useful information
for any family that is traveling with several young children
(including a baby).
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: YBCR, WL, DL
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult,
Senior
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent,
Rookie
- Comments: Michael took his family and parents
for an eleven day trip to WDW in early April. They stayed at
Dixie Landings for the first part of the trip, then moved to
Wilderness Lodge (his parents) and the Beach Club Resort (Mike
and his family) for the last few days. They covered a lot of
territory and Mike certainly did his homework. I especially
enjoyed reading about his visit with a Disney architectural
project manager that he'd arranged through a friend before leaving
home.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: WDW Swan
- Accommodations: Concierge Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Adult, Senior
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran,
Rookie
- Comments: Patricia's report is certainly NOT
the typical blow-by-blow, minute-by-minute WDW trip narrative.
Instead, she treated her report as a wonderful collection of
anecdotes and observations. This is certainly written in a unique
style, but full of full for the veteran -- and useful information
for the rookie.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Personal Car
- Resort: CBR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
- Comments: Ruth and her family tried CBR this
time after a couple trips to WL. I must admit that this style
of trip isn't my favorite. The Smith's spent almost every waking
hour in the parks and covered a HUGE amount of territory during
their stay. On the other hand, if you really want to see a lot
in a short time, Ruth's report can show you how to do it well.
The family even squeezed a day in at Universal if you're interested
in seeing Disney's Orlando competition.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Personal Car
- Resort: FWC
- Accommodations: Camping
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Frequent
- Comments: Lisa and her family (husband, daughter
- 8 and twin sons, 6) stayed at Fort Wilderness Campground during
their lengthy trip to WDW. This is a fun report because it focuses
attention on FWC (trip reports to the campground are rare, for
some reason) and a lot of attention on the "minor"
parks.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
- Resort: CBR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Frequent
- Comments: Michelle and her husband Jim visited
WDW for their third anniversary. The trip was planned on the
spur-of-the-moment, so they only had 3 1/2 days to get ready.
The couple stayed at their favorite resort, CBR.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Unknown
- Resort: ASR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Teen,
Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Unknown
- Comments: David's report is a short one, but
it covers a lot of the bases. The hints and tips that he has
spread throughout the narrative are of particular interest,
even for the WDW veteran.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Personal Car, Plane, Autotrain,
Rental Car, Shuttle Service
- Resort: PBR, WL, BWR, Offsite
- Accommodations: Unknown
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Unknown
- Comments: Liz and her husband Art moved from
resort to resort more often than a WDW bus on this trip. They
stayed at three on-site resorts and had one night off-site for
good measure. I really like Liz's conclusion about on-site versus
off-site, but you'll have to decide for yourself if you agree,
too.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
- Resort: PO
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Unknown
- Comments: Dennis and his family stayed at Port
Orleans during their recent visit. This is a shorter summary-style
report, but it does give a lot of details about Port Orleans
and the attractions the family enjoyed the most.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
- Resort: ASR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
- Comments: Daniel and his girlfriend spent several
days at WDW in April. They did several things to keep costs
down (Dan does a great job of describing those tactics) but
didn't skimp on fun. They stayed at the ASMR and used Mears
to move them around Orlando.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Airplane, Rental Car
- Resort: WL
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Teen, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
- Comments: Virginia and her family visited WDW
during the Easter season this year. In addition to an informative
daily account of the trip, Virginia includes a useful list of
trip planning tips for Spring visits to Walt Disney World.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Shuttle Service
- Resort: ASR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
- Comments: Prim and her friend Ginger spent
a wonderful week at WDW. They stayed at ASMR, kept track of
their daily spending, and maintained a running total of the
number of squished coins they collected. This is a wonderful
report, well written, and full of tips, summary information,
and details on trip planning.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: WL
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Teen, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Frequent
- Comments: Rick and his family visited WDW again
after having such a great time on last years family vacation.
Rick is a professional photographer, so his report has a lot
of detail on how to photograph and videotape the sights and
sounds of WDW. The report format is "summary-style",
but the details are rich and informative. Wilderness Lodge is
about to be officially dubbed "the Chase family Florida
vacation home."
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: CBR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
- Comments: Sue and her family (including two
sons) visited WDW in March for ten days. In addition to a nice
blow-by-blow trip report, Sue wrote an itemized restaurant review.
Lots of useful details in this report.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: Offsite
- Accommodations: Suite
- Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
- Comments: Viki and her family spent several
days aboard Premier's Oceanic, then added a few more days at
WDW and other land-bound attractions. One of the neat aspects
of Viki's report is the many tips that she points out during
the narrative.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Personal Car
- Resort: Offsite
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
- Comments: Chris's report is unique because
he is a part-time Cast Member. Much of the report details his
meeting with friends from the past few summers of working at
WDW (at the MK and the Studios).
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane
- Resort: YBCR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
- Comments: Beth's report is an excellent treatise
on "how to visit WDW when you're physically-challenged."
This report is a summary-style report that focuses, not surprisingly,
on the issues of dealing with attractions, restaurants, and
so on...when wheelchair bound. Excellent report!
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
- Resort: ASR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
- Comments: J.D.'s report is a wonderfully written
document on "how to visit WDW alone." A surprising
number of folks have emailed me over the last few years asking
about going to WDW alone. J.D.'s report will be my recommended
reading for such inquiries in the future. Another neat feature
of J.D.'s report is that he visited Busch Gardens on the trip.
His description of that park could be very useful to anyone
that is considering a side trip.
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Personal Car
- Resort: CBR
- Accommodations: Standard Room
- Ages Represented in Group: Infant/Toddler,
Adult
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent,
Rookie
- Comments: Stephen and his family drove all
the way from Colorado to visit WDW this trip. Stephen's narrative
is especially wonderful because he describes all of the character
experiences that his almost 4 year old daughter Nicollette had.
I'm not usually very sentimental, but Stephen had me misty-eyed.
I just kept thinking about those years ahead when Allan will
experience those same things. I can't wait!
- Time of Year: Spring
- Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
- Resort: OKWR
- Accommodations: 1 Bedroom Vacation Home
- Ages Represented in Group: Infant/Toddler,
Elementary, Teen, Adult, Senior
- WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran,
DVC Member
- Comments: Gaylene and Bob took a wonderful
trip to WDW. They stayed at OKWR since they are DVC members.
One really unique thing about this report is that Gaylene used
a pedometer (walking mileage meter) to measure how much walking
she really did do each day in the parks. You'll probably be
as surprised as I was that the mileage is so low...it seems
so much more when it's YOUR feet that are tired...A couple side
trips to Universal Studios and the DVC resort at Vero Beach
rounded out the trip.
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