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Allan and Carol Bennett -- January 2000 -- Walt Disney World (OKWR)My wife Carol and I left our home in Shelby Twp, MI. about 8:00 AM, with a reading of about 8 degrees on the outside thermometer. We headed west on I-94 then south on I-69 and I-65 to Louisville, KY, where we stayed in a nice Comfort Inn overnight. We continued the next morning to Savannah, TN and visited the Shiloh Nat'll Military Park, the site of a vicious Civil War battle then stayed overnight in Savannah in a Day's Inn. We left the next morning and went thru Corinth, MISS. in the extreme Northeastern corner of the state, just to say we had been in Miss. We continued east to Huntsville, AL., where we visited the Marshall Space Center. We enjoyed a 1-1/2 bus tour of the area, visited the Space Museum including the IMAX theater, and the hundreds of space exhibits and displays. Dozens of pieces of space hardware, including every kind, type and size of rocket was on display out-of-doors; but it was raining "cats and dogs," so outside exploring would have been uncomfortable to say the least. We remained at the Marshall Space Center almost five hours -- so we saw plenty. On to Birmingham, AL. were we stayed overnight. My wife and I were surprised to notice that Birmingham is a very hilly city -- I had expected flat land, but we were surprised. The next morning continuing on I-65 and US-231 to Tallahassee, FL where it was shirt sleeve weather, about 65 degrees. The next morning to Orlando, FL, via I-10, I-75, and the FL. Turnpike where is now Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 18, and 75 degrees. We arrived in Orlando just after noon, after having an early lunch in Ocala, FL. and visited the Belz Malls where we checked out a number of outlet stores. On to Downtown Disney where we visited the enormous Disney Store, looking for pieces for my Son's Mickey Mouse Executive Desk Set. Soon after 3:00 PM we arrived at WDW and Old Key West Resort, where the Guard at the Gate to the Resort said, as we were passing him, "Welcome Home." Wow, what a wonderful feeling to be back to that most magical part of this planet. Our check-in went as smooth as silk -- no snafus at all! Our Studio unit was No. 4716, just across the road from the South Pointe bus stop at the south end of the resort, and not too far from the outside swimming pool (where there were a number of children and adults in the water), After moving in, we called friends in Davenport, FL. and met them for dinner Tuesday evening. It is Wednesday, Jan 19 about 65 degrees with a little misty rain on and off. After a bagel, coffee and juice in our studio, we headed for the bus and arrived at the Magic Kingdom about 9:15 AM. We did a bit of shopping initially (to keep out of the rain) and watched the Dapper Dans Barber Shop Quartet sing on Main Street. We finally walked over to the Jungle Ride and the Pirates of the Caribbean, where we literally walked right onto the boats (no line), then went to Thunder Mountain (a short line) then by raft to Tom Sawyers Island. I didn't ever remember ever going to the island before. Crowds are so much less than during the busy times of the year, but even so there were amazing crowds at the popular rides. We had lunch at Columbia House (Fish and Chips -- yum, yum!). After lunch we attempted to ride the Aerial Skyway, but it was closed down, as was "It's a Small World." We walked past the children's rides where the lines were the longest. We enjoyed the leisurely ride on the TTA, and strolled Main Street again and then strolled out of the Magic Kingdom. We took the bus back to our Studio, got our car and rode over to Celebration, Disney's Victorian- looking village a few miles from WDW. Wow -- talk about $$$$. Walked along main street visiting the cutsey shoppes, got an ice-cream, then went back "home" for a nap. In the late afternoon, we drove over to Boardwalk and checked out the Spoodles menu. Our appetites suggested we go to Epcot, so we took the boat. Finally, at 6:15 PM we decided to eat at Germany and the Biergarten. The umpa, umpa band was playing outside, and it wasn't too long before they began to play inside. After a 10 minutes wait (holding a hand held "buzzer" to let us know when our table was ready) we were escorted to our table with three other couples; one couple from New Jersey, the two other couples from Philadelphia. We enjoyed nice conversation, and chose a number of food selections from a very good buffet, for $19.95, which included salads with two exceptional dressings, Apple-Mustard, and Tarragon. There were a variety of sausages, beef rolladen, potatoes, vegetables, apple strudel with warm vanilla sauce, to-die-for, black forest cake and cheesecake. Wow, what a meal. We left Germany and found it to be raining, just enough to be miserable. We headed "home." Thursday morning, Jan. 20, found us doing our slow routine and arrived at MGM about 9:15 AM. We went straight for The Tower of Terror, and before going on, we enjoyed watching the faces of obvious first timers coming off the ride. We took our ride on The Tower of Terror - I think it's my favorite ride at WDW. What a blast! Then we went on the Back Lot Tour and the Backlot Pass tour which was different from the last time. We took the bus to Epcot and were so surprised to find the beautiful gardens between the Ticket Takers and Spaceship Earth almost gone, and replaced by granite monoliths inscribed with the faces of Disney lovers who want to pay $35 to have the likeness of their faces engraved into the granite as a permanent "memorial." Looks a little bit like "Stonehenge" in England. We had lunch at the food court at the "Land." Our next stop was "Journey into Imagination"; it was quite different from what we had remembered from previous visits. We then walked along the Rose Garden Pathway where many were in bloom. Other flowers included snapdragons, pansies, rose of Sharon, magnolia bushes, spierea, and a poinsettia here and there. Who would have believed -- all these beautiful flowers in living color in January. Our next stop was the new 2000 Millennium Village. It was an experience to see people and exhibits from fifteen other countries than those already found at Epcot. Probably the most exciting was the exhibit from Israel (looks to me like it could become a permanent exhibit at Epcot after this 2000 celebration is over at the end of the year). It involved a ride -- "Journey to Israel" and you were in cars which moved and jerked you this way and then that way, as if you were on a "flying book," traveling around Israel. It caused me a bit of motion sickness. Each of the individual country exhibits, included people dressed in their native costumes, and offering native foods for sale at their individual country exhibits. We then headed for our Studio and got back about 2:40 PM. Carol did some washing, I took a nap. At 5:30 PM we drove to Epcot, and got a real-up-close parking spot. On our way in we noticed that Race Track had a 65 minute wait, We walked all the way around the World Showcase, on a rather cool evening -- light jackets -- and finally ended up at Morocco, where we ate at the new "fast food" Morocco, right in the front -- apparently so new it isn't in Birnbaum's WDW 2000. We enjoyed a beef/lamb combo at $8.95 -- filling, tasty, good, and inexpensive. We continued around the World Showcase, and returned to the 2000 Millennium Village and enjoyed a "baklava" at the food court. We continued our walk thru Innoventions which has been completely redone for the 2000 celebration -- both east and west. Back to the car and to our Studio. We look forward to a return visit to WDW in the future. On our way home, we visited friends in Ft Myers and Clearwater, FL. and then watched the Weather Channel to plan our trip home thru the storms that were raging across the country. We finally left Florida Sunday morning, Jan 23 and arrived home in Michigan on Tue. Jan. 25 after driving in some rain, and few snow flurries in the Ohio and Michigan, and Sunny and cloudy skies in between. Thank you Brian and Barbara for a wonderful trip. Allan and Carol Bennett AWB11112@aol.com Mail a Comment to Allan and Carol Bennett |
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