 |  |
| Discussion Boards | Reviews | News | Trip Planning | Shop | Travel | Site Map |
| Disney Trip Report Archive An archive of reader-submitted trip reports | |
| Alex Stroup, editor | Search just the Trip Report Archive. |
|
John T. Brock -- June 2000 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)THE CREW:
THE TRIP:
THE PLAN: This is my second trip report to be posted on Brian's web site. The first report was for our October 1997 trip during the 25th anniversary celebration at WDW. The circumstances surrounding this trip are somewhat different but I used a lot of the same planning techniques this time that I used in '97. I won't repeat the information here (to save storage space and bandwidth) but you are more than welcome to read the '97 report. I received quite a few messages about that report from people who said they used some of my ideas and they worked well for them also. I figure that's what these reports are all about - helping each other have a great time at WDW! Thanks also to Deb Wills for her fantastic web site: http://wdwig.com. We started planning this trip late in 1999 after we found out the Millennium Celebration (MC) was going to last well into the year 2000. From our '97 trip during the 25th Anniversary we knew the parks would be more crowded than usual but the special MC events would help to "offset" that problem some. Our original plan was a mid-April visit during Lane's spring break at school. My wife, Paula, works for American Airlines and because of the way vacation time is earned she would not be able to take off during that time period so we had to move the trip back several months to June. Lane would be out of school for the summer starting that week and taking vacation time is never a problem for me. The biggest difference this trip over the last is Leah going with us. Her going will actually accomplish several things for us. First, it will help Lane enjoy the trip much more because he'll have someone with his energy level to "run around" with. The age difference between them meant there has never been any type of sibling rivalry. They have ALWAYS had fun together. Second, Leah going with us gives me one last shot at doing something big with "my little girl". Due to circumstances I won't go into I've always felt that we (well, mostly I) missed out on her late teen years and I never really got that chance to walk with her as she moved from "child" to adult. I know that probably doesn't make sense; it's hard to put into words. Let's just say that her going with us is important to me. Third, she has gone through some very traumatic events this past year and she could use a little of that Disney magic herself. Besides, God blessed us with some extra money for this trip so why not take both of my kids? For a rental car in Florida I've again chosen Interamerican Car Rental (1-800-327-1278). Read the first report and you'll see why I did not hesitate to use them again. We've selected a Chevy Cavalier with unlimited mileage for around $150. This includes a weekly rate of $115, all taxes, and airport fees. I've checked many other car rental companies and Interamerican is still the best deal. I haven't found any discount coupons like last time but I'll keep looking. We'll be flying into Tampa instead of Orlando because of the type of tickets we'll be using. As Paula is an employee of American Airlines we receive a discount fare any time we fly. The catch however is that we must fly standby. Also, it's a lower priority than a non-employee flying standby. In other words, everyone gets on board before us. If the plane is full, we're bumped to the next flight. Because of this fact we are always looking for alternate airports or using less preferable travel times, both of which can mean lower flight loads and a better chance of us getting on the plane. Hence the 6:45 AM departure for Tampa. Paula has been keeping an eye on the flight loads for several months and the flights to Tampa always have empty seats while the flights to Orlando are almost always full. The rental car has unlimited mileage and should offer good economy so the extra drive up Interstate 4 won't be an issue. Interamerican has several offices in the Orlando/Kissimmee area in case we need them. Besides, we've never been to Tampa. We'll get to see some of Florida that we've not seen before. We'll be staying in our time-share at Westgate Vacation Villas. We had carried over our week from last year and banked it, planning on using it this summer somewhere on the coast (or at least we had mentioned doing that). Turns out we'll use it at WDW instead. I didn't call early enough to make the change so we didn't get the 2-bedroom loft we would normally get. We got the standard 2 bedroom instead. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to make do with 1400 square feet instead of 1700! Lane likes the loft but I'm sure he'll never miss it. Just for grins here's a link to Westgate Vacation Villa's floor plans: http://www.westgateresorts.com/images/floorplans/wvv3_2loft.gif We purchased 5-Day Park Hopper Passes at one of our local Disney Stores ($790 with Magic Kingdom Club (MKC) discount) and also purchased some "Disney Dollars". We'll use the Disney Dollars to give Lane for his souvenirs (within accepted parental limits of course). We purchased each ticket as we saved up the money and that way didn't have to take money out of the "Disney Fund". Plus, it became a big event each time we purchased a ticket because we knew we were that much closer to going. We bought the standard 5 day Park Hopper and not the Park Hopper Plus because we're not sure if our schedule will allow anything other than the 4 major parks. I'm hoping we can send the kids to Blizzard Beach one day while we check out the Disney Vacation Club but that will be subject to events after we arrive. I have scheduled priority seating at Prime Time Cafe for a late lunch, Chef Mickey's for dinner, and a character breakfast at Minnie's Menehune. All were made at least 60 days before the scheduled date and I received my asked for time at all three. All other meals will be walk-up, off-site, fast food, or something simple back at the villa. We will pack light since we can do laundry in the villa and plan on buying 'extras' and consumables at Wal-Mart after we arrive. We are going to get everything into one carry-on each so we will not have any checked baggage. That way if we should get bumped our "luggage" will be on the same flight as us. We are going to buy Lane a couple of those cheap hand-held electronic games to play with on board the plane and while standing in long lines. He will also have his own disposable indoor camera we will give him to take pictures at the character meals. We did this last time and he took some remarkably good pictures! Some of his shots were as good as mine and I use a high-dollar Pentax SLR! Fanny packs will be used to carry extra film, Band-Aids, aspirin, etc. We plan to avoid the early entry parks each day as well as all the parks on June 3. Sorry, nothing personal, but I'd just as soon not take my 8-year-old to the parks on Gay Pride Day. Wednesday is a "planned" off day for Mom and Dad. We're thinking about checking out the Disney Vacation Club and thought the kids could try out Blizzard Beach. We'll see how it goes. The remaining time will be spent driving around and exploring all of WDW. I still haven't seen the Wilderness Lodge and this trip I'm going to see it! That's the plan up to now. I know things will quite possibly change after we arrive and we will make adjustments as required. Now all we do is wait. I still hate this part!! ============================================================================== THE ACTUAL TRIP: The last day finally arrived. I took off Friday, June 2, to take care of last minute needs (mow the lawn, get everything from the bank, charge all the batteries, etc., etc.) and finish up my checklist of "things to do". I was pretty much packed and ready by the time Paula got home from work. She finished packing and gave one last check of Lane's bag while we waited for Leah to arrive. She finally arrived and we all tried to get some sleep before the early morning rise. * DAY ONE - SATURDAY JUNE 3rd - TRAVEL, ARRIVAL, CHECK-IN, REST Paula is up and dressed by 3:00 AM to make a trip out to the airport to get us "listed" on the flight to Tampa. We can "list" up to 4 hours before a flight and the earlier the better when it comes to stand-by travel. The flights up to this date all had empty seats so we didn't figure we would have any trouble. Were we in for a surprise later on! You'll see what I mean when you reach the report for the last day. The taxi arrived about 30 minutes early (previously arranged) and we were taken to DFW Airport without any trouble. Since we were already listed on the flight, had our tickets, and did not have any baggage to check, we headed straight to the terminal gate. We were the first ones there. It didn't take long though before the waiting area began to fill up. The gate agents finally arrived and we checked in just to be told that the flight was full and there may not be room for all of us. OK, plan B is now in play. Paula and Lane will go now and Leah and I will go on the next flight in about 2 hours. Paula will get the rental car in Tampa and pick us up at the airport when we get there. That's plan B. Soon, just about everyone has loaded on the plane except for about 6 or 7 people, besides us, who were still waiting. At the last minute, Leah and I were called and we were able to board the plane. I don't think any of the other folks waiting were able to get on. Paula's getting up at such an awful hour had paid off. The flight down was uneventful and we arrived in Tampa about on time. We headed for the rental car counter, called Interamerican, and they picked us up about 5 minutes later. There were at least 8 families ahead of us at the counter when we arrived at the lot. Busy place. I found out Interamerican offers a one-class upgrade to airline employees and I had changed our reservation to include the upgrade. Unfortunately (so they said) they were out of that particular size and type of car. Long story shortened, we didn't get an upgrade or a discount. They also listed the amount of gasoline wrong and I didn't catch it until we were half way to Orlando. Lesson learned - check EVERYTHING on the car before you leave the lot. Don't take their word for anything, no matter how insignificant or unlikely. People do make mistakes. We arrived in Kissimmee a little early for check-in so we decided to "cruise" around WDW a bit. Well, I finally got to see the Wilderness Lodge. Wow! All those trip reports I've read are true. The place is absolutely breathtaking. I could just set in the lobby and soak it all in for hours. So much attention to detail; the floor, the walls, the lights, everything. Truly remarkable. One day I'll spend a trip there. We left (slowly) and headed over to the All Star resorts. We knew these would probably be more to Lane's liking and we were right. He could have stayed there for a solid day just running around all the giant props! He used up at least half of the film in his camera snapping pictures of everything! We left there and made our way around more of the property before finally heading for Westgate. Westgate has started on the next phase of expansion that will include a movie theater, grocery store, beauty salon, full health spa, and many other amenities, not to mention about 1500 more units. They intend to connect several of the smaller lakes with the one large lake and offer "canal boats" as a means of transportation from the different areas. With everything they have planned you could almost spend a week there without leaving. Since I started writing this I've learned that Disney now has a booth inside Westgate's main clubhouse. Actual Disney cast members are there to make on-the-spot ticket sales, priority seating reservations, help with event planning, and anything else to plan your trip to WDW. Check-in was painless. I handed them my owner's card, they asked how many keys I would need, and we were done. Took less than 5 minutes. Our "owner services rep" Joey met me with a bottle of champagne and a couple of long stem flowers and led us to our villa. Pleasant surprise, we got a loft after all. If you remember I was told all the lofts were already taken. There must have been a cancellation I guess. Lane was excited! He was going to be able to sleep upstairs and not have to share the TV with Leah. Priorities are sure different when you're 8 years old. We dropped our luggage, cooled of for a minute and headed out to find the Wal-Mart on Hwy 192. What a mess! The section of Hwy 192 that runs through Kissimmee is being expanded and the entire area is under construction. It will be nice when it's finished but it's a booger right now. Be ready for this it you plan on making any trips into Kissimmee. The Wal-Mart has been expanded into one of the Super stores so we bought groceries as well as the other items we needed (87 cent rain ponchos!). We stopped off at Burger King for a bite to eat (late lunch) and headed back to the villa. We had the "Welcome back" dinner later that night so we unpacked, put away the groceries, and rested for a while. Later we went down and had our free dinner, watched and listened to a Blues Brothers act (not bad at all!) and finally went back to get some much-needed sleep. * DAY TWO - SUNDAY JUNE 4th - ANIMAL KINGDOM Since this was our earliest park entry (8:00 AM) we decided to do it first. We knew we would have the opportunity to get to bed early Saturday night so we should have plenty of sleep regardless of the early rise. We arrived right at 8:00 AM (after a trip through the Burger King drive thru) and headed for the handicapped parking. It is still quite a hike to the main gate so if you have someone in your group who has trouble walking you should keep this in mind. We passed through the gates and went to rent a wheel chair. (Wheel chairs and electric carts are located on the right after entering. Lockers are on the left side after entering.) Cost for a chair is $7 ($6 per day with a $1 deposit). Keep the ticket they give you to get your deposit back. Also, just like the $6 parking fee, this receipt is good for the entire day, even if you transfer to another park. Just show the receipt at another park on the same day and you'll get another chair if one is available. The cost for an electric cart is $40 per day ($30 with a $10 deposit). There are two sizes of wheel chairs - normal and extra wide. Some of the parks have orthopedic type chairs that have footrests that can be elevated. You have to ask for the extra wide or orthopedic chairs when you pay. I'm not sure if any special electric carts are available. First order of business was FastPass for Countdown to Extinction (which I believe is now just called Dinosaur). Well, our second pleasant surprise of the trip (and pretty much our last) - the park is not as crowded as I thought it would be. If fact, FastPass is not on when we get to Dinosaur. Only a 5 minute wait listed on the board! It was actually a walk on. The four of us rode in a car by ourselves! The adults enjoyed the ride but Lane was a little bit scared. He latched on to his mom in the beginning of the ride and didn't let go until it was over. He didn't scream or cry on any of the rides the entire trip but he was more frightened at 8 years of age than he was our last trip at 5 years of age. Go figure! The thing that really sticks in my mind about Dinosaur was how bumpy and rough it was. You really get slammed around. We played around in Dinoland awhile, checked out some of the exhibits, and let Lane dig in the boneyard. The Disney folks came up with a good idea for the dig site by using very small screened gravel instead of sand. It is still soft enough to not hurt the kids if they fall in it, but it will very easily wipe off your clothes and bare skin when you're ready to leave. Great idea. This was the place I introduced Leah to the world of "hidden Mickey". There is a fan and two hard hats in the tool shed at the boneyard that form a Mickey. We headed for the Tree of Life and on to FastPass for the Kilimanjaro Safaris. We had a couple of hours before our time so we checked out the Asia section. Not much was going on. At the Maharajah Jungle Trek we were only able to see the top of one well-hidden tiger and all of the other animals were nowhere in sight! Very disappointing. Lane decided he had to ride the Kali River Rapids or life would have no meaning. No one else was ready to get soaked so Leah walked though the line with him and got out of line just before he boarded. He managed to stay fairly dry and declared the ride a hit. Sorry, just not our thing. I hate being dressed and wet at the same time and because of this I'm the guy who ALWAYS gets capsized on one of these rides. The people who WANT to become half drowned won't get nearly as wet as I will. Must be an unpublished Murphy's Law. We walked around some more before getting our FastPass ride on the Safaris. We enjoyed this. You feel more in touch with the animals when you're "out among them". Disney did an excellent job of making the barriers as invisible as possible, which helps create the illusion of "open plains". Other reports have commented on how hard it is to take pictures but I noticed all the vehicles stopping often around the animals so people could take pictures. If you try to videotape the entire journey it will be shaky but we didn't have any trouble getting some great still shots of all the animals and the landscape. And, what's the big deal about the poachers? Several reports have made negative comments about the poachers and how it is done. Poachers are a MAJOR problem in the wild life reserves of Africa and I think Disney is just trying to get that point across. As long as people are killing these magnificent creatures just for their teeth or the hair from their tail we need to be aware of it and try to do something to stop the slaughter. Is it the firearms the game wardens are holding that upsets everyone so much? Then you better avoid the Indy Jones show at MGM. OK, I'm off my soapbox now. Sorry. At this point we decided to get a bite to eat. Leah wasn't very hungry so we decided to split a chicken salad from the Tusker House restaurant and take some time to cool off. Was it just us or does Animal Kingdom seem hotter than the other parks? If you look at the outside of the park as you're driving in or leaving you can see Disney has created a vegetation barrier around the park. I'm sure this is to isolate and protect the animals. But I think what this barrier has also done is cut off any breeze which would blow through the park and help keep it cooler. As we left the park later that day there was a very strong breeze blowing in the parking lot. It's Tough to be a Bug was next with a close up view of the Tree of Life. What a magnificent piece of architecture! The Tree has to be tops on my list of Disney engineering magic. Plan on spending some time (and film) looking at all the images captured in the trunk and branches of The Tree. I made the mistake of leaving my telephoto lens back at the villa. Next time I'll be sure and bring it. If nothing else, I'll bring a small pair of binoculars so I can get a closer look! Everyone liked the "bug" show. I made Paula transfer from her wheel chair to a regular seat. I didn't want her to miss the "special effects". I can't remember the exact order in which we did the following things but I thought I'd give you our spin on them. "Festival of the Lion King" - this was an excellent show. Wheelchair parking is bottom row so we felt like we were in the middle of everything. I really needed the wide-angle lens for my camera to capture all that was going on. A great show to watch. "Dinosaur Jubilee" - interesting for adults but kids were ready to move on very quickly. We spent maybe 10 minutes here tops. "Tarzan(tm) Rocks" - yet another excellent show produced by the Disney folks. All the shows we saw while at WDW were great. "Conservation Station(r)" - again, this was interesting for the adults but most of the kids were ready to go after just a few minutes. The petting zoo area was no different than dozens of others Lane has been to. "Flights of Wonder" - this was enjoyable. It kept Lane's attention and he was talking about it for a while after we left. For him, that's a tribute. By now we had more or less done everything that seemed of interest to us so we headed for home. The heat was beginning to get to everyone and I was getting tired from either pushing the wheel chair up all of the hills or trying to hold it back on the down side. If you can afford the extra expense of an electric cart this is the place to use one. None of the other parks seem to be as bad as this one. We'll know better next time. We dropped off the wheel chair and headed for the car, finally getting some much needed breeze. We had 8:00 PM priority seating at Chef Mickey's so we had some time to cool off and relax back at the villa. A dip in the pool helped as well. We arrived at the Contemporary Resort for our dinner date with Mickey about 7:45. The waiting area was full but we were taken to a table just a few minutes later. Gotta love those priority seatings. At this time we had our first turn of major bad luck. Leah has a problem with migraine headaches (inherited from me) and she had been fighting to keep one back all afternoon. Well, she lost the battle. Just as we were being seated it hit full force. We were going to leave and take her home but she insisted we stay and eat. We asked if there was anywhere she could lie down and the waitress didn't know of anywhere but went to check. I took her out to the lounge area just outside Chef Mickey's and explained to them what was going on. They were more than helpful. There was an isolated area not being used that had a sofa she could lie down on and the waitress keep everyone away from her. Leah said she even heard the young lady ask a group of people near by to hold the noise down! I came back several times to check on her and we ate a very hurried meal. We felt terrible leaving her like that but I knew she would feel even worse if we had left because of her. To top this all off the table we were given was way back by the kitchen area and had a view of absolutely nothing (except everyone coming and going from the kitchen). This was not the dinner experience I had hoped for! We ate and left quickly and remained in the lounge with Leah to allow her some time to sleep and for the medications to hopefully help. She had gotten sick at one point and that had helped reduce the pain enough so we could take her home. The young waitress got a nice tip! If you have migraines you know what these things are like. Believe me, they are no fun. A side effect of the headache is for the next 3 or 4 days you feel like you were hit by a truck. You just feel awful. Dizzy, head hurts, blurred vision, sensitive to light and sound - just like a hangover. And we're on vacation at the world's largest amusement park! Everything you would want to avoid with a migraine hangover! This was NOT what I had planned for. * DAY THREE - MONDAY JUNE 5th - EPCOT, FUTURE WORLD Today we arrived at EPCOT at around 9:00. Again, the handicapped parking leaves you a long way from the front entrance. In fact, the tram will drop you off much closer to the gate. So, if you can see that you will be parking on a row that will leave you near the tram pickup you would be better off. One thing I didn't think about until the day we left was asking the parking CM if we could park on the end near the tram pickup. The overall walk would be much less. Next time I'll ask. We entered the park and went to pick up a wheelchair for Paula. They are located to the far left before you reach Spaceship Earth. Paula insisted on an electric and after yesterday I didn't put up much argument. Besides, it was nice having the basket on front to carry cameras and "stuff". The line for Earth was rather long (20 minutes maybe) so we headed for Test Track FastPass. The standby line was already up to 90 minutes and FastPass was for 3 hours later. Plenty of time to do some other things. We back tracked to the Met-Life Wonders of Life building and played with some of the "toys" there. We watched Cranium Command and decided we felt brave enough for Body Wars. Of all of the rides at WDW this one gives me motion sickness. However, I was ready this time. I had a strong dose of Dramamine pumping through my veins and Leah had taken some as well. It worked great. Leah even did OK with her migraine hangover. Everything else from here on should be a piece of cake. Back tracked a little more to the "Universe of Energy". We walked in to the very beginning of the pre-show (didn't miss a word) and then took our spin back through time. I noticed that the damp musty smell that normally hits you first thing was missing this time. Lane didn't really like this (he loved it in '97) and clung onto my arm the entire time the dinosaurs were visible. From here we made our way to "Innoventions East and West". Lane could have stayed here the entire trip. Computer games everywhere! We let him play with a few dozen of them while Paula and I checked out the exhibits for the more "mature" crowd. Leah kept an eye on Lane and played a few of the games with him. Lunch was a hamburger, fries, and Coke from the Electric Umbrella Restaurant. We left the Elec. Umbrella and went to check on Spaceship Earth. We found the wheelchair entrance around back and had to wait a few minutes for the proper cars to come around. We had a nice relaxing trip up through "the big ball". For the purposes of discussion Jeremy Irons is fine with us doing the narration. After "Spaceship Earth" it was time for "Test Track". We made our way through the FastPass line to get almost to the pre-staging area just to have the Track go down. It was about a 20 minute wait for repairs and by now the FastPass line how grown rather long behind us. This is a great ride! If you have the time (we didn't) it could very well be one of those you want to do twice, or more! The high speed run around the banked track is super! Be sure and get there early because the FastPass tickets were out when we got off the ride (and it was open until 10:00 PM that day!) We now made our way around to the west side of Future World and started with a trip through "The Living Seas". This has never been one of my favorites and it seemed to have even less luster today. Leah was really shocked when I told her the hydrolator (elevator) only moves a couple of inches. The illusion really worked on her. Lane still thinks we dropped to the ocean floor. "Living with the Land" is next and I was really glad for that electric scooter - quite a hill up to the entrance. From the elevator (far left side) we went straight to the boat ride. It's still fun seeing the different ways they can grow plants. The soil-less method (spraying water and nutrients directly onto the hanging plants' roots) is still amazing. "Food Rocks" was next. I really miss the old "Kitchen Kabaret". It was a much better show. Some of the new show is nothing more than painted plywood with a hinge on the bottom. It was time for a snack now so we grabbed a bite (I forgot what we bought - it was sweet though) and shared a Coke to wash it down and headed back to the elevator. We watched "The Circle of Life" next before leaving and heading to the new "Journey into Imagination" (is that still the name?). My comment to Paula after we got off - "Is that it?" I'll admit the old ride was probably due for some improvements and unfortunately we think it STILL needs some improvements. It just wasn't as much fun as it once was. I can remember signing the song for days after leaving the old ride. I don't even remember it there WAS a song on the new version. We didn't stay long after we got off. Next was about the only thing Lane remembered from '97 - "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience". No FastPass necessary. Cool! This was new to Leah and she really got a kick out of it. It was good to see her laughing and having a good time after feeling so bad for most of the day. By now it was about 6:00 PM and we had done all we wanted in "Future World". We took the short cut around to the west side of "World Showcase" just in time to catch an "Off Kelter" show in Canada. Don't think I've ever seen bagpipes used in a rock band before but it works! The adults enjoyed the music while all Lane wanted to know was where the next ride was. From here we went around to "Millennium Village". We did a quick run through here hoping to catch more next Thursday when we planned on coming back to EPCOT. I spend some time in Saudi Arabia about 20 years ago and the young men at the Saudi pavilion were quite impressed that I remembered so much of their language. I really got a warm welcome from them. We spent too much time here and had to fly through the rest of the Village, taking time to try out the Israeli pavilion and their ride. Wow, what a propaganda story! Everyone is just one big happy family. Christians, Jews, and Muslims, all respecting each other and just getting along nicely. I left their pavilion quickly before I said something I shouldn't. Leaving the "Millennium Village" puts you directly outside a reserved wheelchair viewing area for "Illuminations 2000". The location was excellent and the wind direction was from our backs so we didn't have to contend with the smoke. Great show. They have never done any of these shows that I didn't like. Maybe some of the old versions were better but I've enjoyed each and every one. After the show we very slowly made our way back to the front and turned in the chair. Tomorrow was going to be our first day at the Magic Kingdom. * DAY FOUR - TUESDAY JUNE 6th - MAGIC KINGDOM Today we start off with an 8:00 AM priority seating at 'Ohana for Minnie's Menehune breakfast. I really like eating here, breakfast or dinner. Food is served family style in a very large bowl. It included scrambled eggs, thin sliced ham, sausage links, potatoes, biscuits, Mickey waffles, fresh fruit, and your drink. On the way to your table you pick up a platter of banana nut bread and another type of bread, both of which are great. Paula and I are big eaters but between the four of us we only ate about half of the food. Minnie, Chip, Dale, and Goofy all came by to see us, with Minnie coming by twice. Minnie and our "cousin" waiter were really hamming it up for us and made the meal a really great time. A little girl next to us was having her birthday that day and all the characters made a big deal out of it. It will take weeks to get the smile off that kid's face. Once again for us, 'Ohana/Minnie's Menehune was well worth the price. I just wish we could have stayed longer, but "Splash Mountain" was calling. We caught the monorail around to the Magic Kingdom (MK) and rented another wheelchair. The MK is fairly flat (with a couple of exceptions) and we didn't feel we needed the electric model. Slowly down Main Street we went, soaking up all that Disney magic. We finally found one of the photographers and we had our picture taken with the castle in the background. This is a picture where several of the characters are drawn on the lens (I guess) or they're added to the front of the image when it prints. Regardless, you have a picture of you and the characters all standing in front of the castle. (We bought two). Off to "Adventure Land" and the first stop is "Jungle Cruise". It wasn't supposed to be open yet from a rehab but it was so we took advantage. The wheel chair entrance allowed us to skip the line (which was only about 15 minutes - no FastPass) but just as we were about to board a boat broke down and our boat had to unload and go rescue the others. Maintenance people came out (first time I've ever seen any) and after they pulled the boat in they let the people off and then pushed the boat back into a maintenance area. All the boats behind the broken boat pulled in and unloaded, reloaded, and away we went (after a few comments about whether or not we would make it back). Just as we were about to pull back into the dock they stopped us and pulled 6 more boats out and put them into service. They must have been almost touching each other going around the river. We finally got to dock and we headed for the Pirates. There was actually a 10-minute wait for the "Pirates of the Caribbean", only the right side was running. Still love this ride. Don't know why, I just do! OK, it's time to catch the FastPass ticket for "Splash Mountain". This was a mess! People were everywhere! It took us several minutes just to figure out where the FastPass ticket machines were located! You had to push your way up to the ticket machine and then fight your way back out. Everyone was standing around the FastPass entrance waiting for their time to go in. After we got our tickets we fought our way around to the wheelchair entrance to "Thunder Mountain". People were flying up the exit ramp and with all the blind corners there were several people who probably still have bruises on their ankles from flying into the wheelchair. The whole Splash Mountain/Thunder Mountain area was in near riot conditions. We left as quickly as we could after riding Thunder Mountain. The bad part was we were going to have to do this again later! Country Bear Jamboree was next. Wheelchairs go on the front row so there was enough light to take a few camera shots without the flash. At least that is what my Pentax's computer was telling me. I went into manual and set the aperture wide open so we'll see how they look. Usually the computer does a good job of reading the light levels for me. Next order of business was to work our way around to the "Haunted Mansion". The line was out to the fence but the wheelchair entrance is once again through the exit. The bad part of having to use the wheelchair entrance to most rides is the fact that you don't get to see any of the "pre-show". No elevator ride with the disappearing door for us. Lane rode with me and was a little apprehensive at first, but finally figured out that nothing was going to eat him. Again, this is one of my favorites. It's just so much fun. We said our good-byes to the 999 ghosts and decided it was time for lunch. This makes my 5th trip to the MK and I've never eaten lunch anywhere other than Columbia Harbour House. It has always offered good food at a reasonable price. The adults all got chicken strip baskets and Lane got the kids hot dog (if I remember correctly). The chicken strip basket was around $5.50 and contained a very generous portion of chicken and french-fries (or carrot sticks). So much so that we could have ordered one less basket and still had food left over. We gathered up the left over chicken, rolled it in several napkins and sealed it inside one of our zip lock bags. It came in handy later on - made a nice snack for everyone. We headed north towards "It's a Small World" and everyone decided to skip it this trip. Next came "Snow White" and "Peter Pan". Again, Lane is clinging on my arm like a leech. I'm not sure why he is so worried or scared by these rides but he is. I just kept hugging him and laughing at the rides in hope that he would find them fun as well. "Winnie the Pooh" is closed. "Dumbo" and the "Carrousel" met the same fate as "Small World". By now our FastPass is ready for "Splash Mountain" so we work our way back around. I wasn't planning on getting this far away but we were working our way around faster than I thought we would. At the bridge by the big drop we run into a solid wall of people. Some are trying to get wet, others are watching, some are just standing around blocking the way. This bridge has a significant incline to it and it's not easy trying to hold a wheelchair in position and get people to move out of the way or not cut you off. We finally got across the bridge and the crowd is even worse on the other side. It took at least 10 minutes to get to the FastPass entrance from the bridge. We had to use the wheelchair has a battering ram to get through the crowd! Paula was using her cane like a cattle prod to get people to move. "Excuse us, pardon me" didn't have any effect. What a mess! There was one CM at the entrance who was trying to check passes and control the mob. He was completely overwhelmed. I certainly hope Disney does something about this situation before the really heavy summer crowds hit. Once we got through the checkpoint it was smooth sailing the rest of the way except for one spot where you have to cross the standby line to get over to the wheelchair entrance. Again we had to resort to rodeo tactics to get across the line! If Splash Mountain wasn't so much fun it would not be worth the effort it takes, even with a FastPass ticket. This was the only time during our entire trip that the number of people was a severe problem. Even leaving EPCOT after Illuminations wasn't this bad. After Splash Mountain we decided to see how many more ankles we could bruise on our way to Thunder Mountain (several more - slow down people!) This time only one boarding side is being used. I still haven't ridden this ride after dark. It's supposed to have a completely different feel at night. Maybe next time I can get that after dark ride. Ok, it's now time to move to the other side of the park. NOTE: I must apologize to everyone for my report from this point forward. I started writing this report right after we returned home. Paula was scheduled to have surgery on her ankle one week after we returned and I wanted to get the report finished before this. Also, at that point everything was still fresh and detailed in my mind. Well I couldn't get finished and nurse duties came first. Four months have now passed (it is late October now) and Paula has just now started walking with only a cane. Our home is finally starting to regain some degree of normalcy and I'm now able to find time to finish my report. Unfortunately my memory of the events and details of the reminder of the trip are now sketchy at best. I will try and give you the high lights (and low lights) as best I can. I hope that as I write the reminder of the report I will be able to recall more of the details. Again, I apologize. We made our way over towards Space Mountain to check out the FastPass times. FastPass was about a two hour wait. We did Carousel of Progress after about a five minute wait, Astro Orbiter after about a 30 minute wait, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (no wait), and Alien Encounter (20 minute wait). Once again we would not let Lane into Alien Encounter. Paula took him over to the Indy cars while I introduced Leah to WDW's scare fest. The only thing I told her was to sit up very straight in the seat while the harness lowered. She found out the rest on her own. Enough said. I heard her squeal a couple of times when some of the "better" events occurred. Maybe next trip for Lane. While waiting for Space Mountain we also did Timekeeper and managed to catch Buzz Lightyear with hardly any wait. Leah had the high score. Now it was Space Mountain time. Paula found a nice shady spot while I took the kids for our spin through space. It was very weird walking down that long path by ourselves while there is a solid line of people next to you. It was over an hour wait in the other line. Love that FastPass! I remember as we approached the "Command Tower" a cast member was checking tickets and a group of about 6 or 7 that had been walking ahead of us got sent back - no tickets! I don't know if they were line jumpers and just didn't hang on to their FastPass tickets. No matter because they didn't get on the ride. A word of caution can be found here. We went from Tomorrowland over to Toontown and played around there for a while. Lane was not that interested in getting autographs so we didn't stay there long. We came back down through Tomorrowland and noticed Space Mountain with a 30 minute FastPass wait (the other line was a 45 minute wait - go figure) so Lane and I went one more time. He loves this ride. I guess I do too and the Dramamine worked wonders! It was now getting time to find a spot for the fireworks and TinkerBelle's flight. We found a good wheelchair viewing area for both between Tomorrowland and the Castle. TinkerBelle is one brave soul let me tell you. After the show we very slowly made our way down main street to the camera shop and bought a couple of copies of the picture that had been taken of us that morning. I dropped everyone off by the monorail ramp and took the wheelchair back. We had a nice quiet ride back to the Poly, picked up the car and headed back to the villa. I'm sure we stopped for something to eat but I don't remember what or where. I do remember how good that shower felt. * DAY FIVE - WEDNESDAY JUNE 7th - OFF DAY (COCOA BEACH) Today was our scheduled off day with no real plans to do anything. We slept in late and decided we wanted to go to the beach. Lane has never seen an ocean and he was ready to go. We loaded up everything we would need and headed for the Bee Line. As we got closer to the coast the wind kept picking up until it was blowing around 20 to 25 mph by the time we arrived. There were some pretty good size waves crashing onto the shore and the beach was almost deserted. We picked out a spot for our blanket and coated ourselves with sunscreen. It was mostly cloudy but you can still cook yourself without that stuff. Lane and I spent the next few hours trying to stand up in the water (BIG waves), look for seashells, or cover each other with sand while the girls did the sun tan routine. Actually Paula was trying not to burn even with the sunscreen. We did the expected tourist thing and make our trip to Ron Jon's Surf Shop and did our part to support the local economy. If I remember correctly we made a swing through somewhere for a burger and fries before heading back "home". We all washed the sand out and off and decided to go explore WDW a little more. We went to the Boardwalk. We slowly walked around and took in some of the sights and sounds before finally picking a place to eat. We decided to try the Big River Grill, mostly because of price and waiting time. All the other places were either too expensive, too crowded, or both. We were very pleased with our choice. I can't remember what we all had but I do remember we tried to get three completely different things. Seems like I remember getting a Southwestern style grilled chicken breast that was very good. Everyone was pleased with their selection and the total price wasn't too bad either. By now we were really starting to drag so we headed "home" for bed. * DAY SIX - THURSDAY JUNE 8th - EPCOT and ELECTRIC LIGHT PARADE We were going to finish up with EPCOT today and try and catch a few things at the Magic Kingdom as well. After we filled up on the continental breakfast at the villas we headed out for our final day at EPCOT. We had done everything of importance (to us) in Future World and were going to concentrate on World Showcase. The park was in its final week of the annual flower show (can't remember the name) and large pots and groupings of flowers and plants were everywhere! It really made the park look great! I remember at one point I saw a cast member working in one of the large flowerbeds. I made a point to go over and tell her the park looked great and she was doing a wonderful job. She got a grin on her face that went from ear to ear. I think I made her day. After picking up a wheel chair we headed up towards the fountain and made our way around to Mexico. We rode the little boat ride and spent a couple of minutes looking at some of the "vendors" there in the town square. One day maybe I'll try the restaurant and see if the food is really authentic or not. Remember, we're from Texas and can get the real thing from 100's of local cafes and restaurants at home. We rode the Maelstrom at Norway and stopped off for something sweet at the bakery. I don't remember what we got but I do remember we all enjoyed it. We found during this trip that we could get a single snack or two, a couple of drinks, and split everything between us. It worked out very well. No one over ate (darn!), we managed to keep the expense down, but at the same time we were able to try some things that we hadn't tried before. You might try this yourself and see if it works for you. We slowly made our way around the lake heading for the American Pavilion. We stopped a few times along the way to look and taste and smell. I think that's one of the nice things about EPCOT, you seem to have more time to soak in everything. Maybe it's just me. We were able to listen to the Liberty Singers (is that their name?) inside the rotunda and they were as good as they have always been. Once again we enjoyed The American Experience. The props and animation are truly wonderful. Leah had forgotten about this presentation but remembered it after it was over. Lane, as before, took the opportunity to catch a quick nap. After we came out of the building there were several characters available for autographs but again Lane didn't want to get them. We never did figure out what his reluctance was to getting signatures. We moved on around the Showcase with brief stops at most of the shops and countries. We were in luck at France and managed to catch a performance of the Living Statues. I'm glad we finally got to see one of their performances. It was a load of fun! Paula convinced me to go up for a picture and I stood there for quite a while and nothing happened. Just as I started to walk off the statue grabbed me around the neck, pulled my head over to his chest, and would not let go. I made a comment about hoping I could get away before the pigeons came back and the statue went into another poise and I made my escape. Everyone had a good laugh. We continued on around the lake and stopped long enough to catch most of a British Invasion set. Gosh, those guys even look like the Beatles (except for the drummer - blonde hair). By now it was getting to be late afternoon (or early evening) and we wanted to make it back to the Magic Kingdom for a couple of repeats and the Electric Light parade. By the time we got back through Future World, returned the wheel chair, caught the monorail, picked up another chair at the Magic Kingdom, and finally made it under the railroad track it was too late to do anything except find a spot for the parade. Luckily there was a wheelchair spot just past the train station close to City Hall. This spot was right outside the entry point for the floats and up against the rope. Great spot! I really loved this parade when it was here before and I still think it is their best nighttime parade. When it was over we were able to get out quickly and beat almost the entire crowd that was exiting at that time. Still haven't rode Thunder Mountain at night, oh well. We caught the monorail back to EPCOT to pick up the car, which was one of the very few left in the lot, and made an easy exit back to the villa. * DAY SEVEN - FRIDAY JUNE 9th - MGM This was our last day at any of the parks and as it turned out it was the highlight of the trip. MGM was always number 3 on my list after Magic Kingdom and EPCOT but this trip it went to at least number 2 if not number 1. Again I want to apologize for not having more details that you might be able to use on your next trip. I'll try to hit the high points and what details I can. We got to the park just a few minutes after opening. I was really proud of my family for being able to get up and get out of the villa very quickly each morning. I think they were even a little surprised at how fast we were. First order of business was another wheelchair, which can be rented at the filling station to the right of the main gate just as you enter. Lockers are in the same area. Next order of business is either The Tower or Rockin' Roller Coaster. The Tower of Terror was almost a walk on! What a surprise! I can't remember how many drops we made but I think it was 2 full and a half. Lots of screaming and laughing from everyone on board. We went straight to the FastPass booth for Rockin' Roller and picked up passes for about an hour and a half later if I remember correctly. We made our way back into the heart of the park and started making the rounds. We managed the gangster side of The Great Movie Ride. Luckily no one was wounded during the shoot-out and we quickly made our escape! Everything had very short lines as best I remember and the park wasn't very crowed (at least it didn't seem crowded). Indy Jones was closed for repairs and this was about the only "major" attraction we didn't get to see. We made our way back to Rockin Roller Coaster and waited a couple of minutes for our time period to open up and in we went. This was the first time for all of us on this ride and we were not disappointed. What a rush! The takeoff alone is worth the wait! The cars are very tight and you are really held in place by the seat and the roll cage so if you have a problem with tight spaces keep that in mind. We had to wait for a couple of minutes after boarding before we were able to "get on the freeway" and then there was a brief pause before unloading at the end of the ride. It bothered me a little each time but I was able to keep my attention focused on Lane. That helped. This claustrophobia thing with me didn't show up until I was in my late 30's. Don't know where it came from. It was time for our priority seating at Prime Time café so we made the trek back that direction. There was hardly any crowd at all and when we checked in we were taken straight to our table. The food seemed to be better this time around but we were disappointed once again with our "big sis" waitress. The lady could barely speak English (STRONG Pakistani accent) and did very little to interact with us. I got the impression she was fairly new on the job as well. I did the elbows on the table thing, restroom trip, the whole nine yards, and never got challenged. Luckily a large group at another table in our room had a MUCH better time than we. They had a seasoned veteran waitress who knew ALL the tricks. One of them had to go stand in the corner with his nose against the wall - didn't eat his vegetables. There were several other really big interactions between them, enough that their group became "the life of the party", so to speak, for everyone else. At least my family got to see how the fun is supposed to be. This was our second trip to Prime Time and we left disappointed each time. Next time I think we'll try one of the other restaurants. As best I remember the only thing we didn't do or see was the Indy Jones Stunt show. It was supposed to open on Saturday and we had hoped they might get it open early but no such luck. Oh well, there's always next trip. I wish I could give you more details of everything we did. We all felt we had the most overall enjoyment this trip at MGM as opposed to the other parks. With that in mind you'd think I could recall more of it. The last thing I do remember was Fantasmic. If you have never seen this show you must make it a top priority. Get there early or the huge amphitheater will be full. I don't think you can have a bad seat but getting there early will insure you get the best seat. This show was the perfect ending for our weeklong visit. It took quite a while for us to get out of the amphitheater after the show. I'm sure it seats several thousand people, all of whom are trying to leave at the same time. We finally made our way out onto the street and began a slow walk toward the gate, soaking in as much as we could along the way. We returned the wheelchair, retrieved the camera bags, and made our way to the car. * DAY EIGHT - SATURDAY JUNE 10th - RETURN HOME We slept in as late as we could before we got up and began packing. We made one last pass through the villa to make sure we had everything, filled out our "report card" for the maintenance people, and locked up for one last time. Check out is nothing - you place your key in a drop box at the main gate as you drive out. Simple. We made a quick trip through Mickey D's drive thru window and headed for I-4 west to Tampa. Traffic was worse today so it took us a bit longer than I had planned. We needed to get to the airport early in order to be "listed" for our flight. When we got back to Interamerican they were going to charge me an extra day rental because we arrived at 12:10. We were supposed to be there before 12:00. I didn't completely blow a gasket but I did vocalize my frustration with them and the car. I reminded them about the upgrade we didn't get and told them about the mistake with the gasoline. Not only did I not have to pay the extra day but they also had an employee personally drive us to our departure gate instead of making us wait for the shuttle bus to return. Score one for vocalization! We made it to our gate to find the flight had more people than seats. MANY more people than seats! And for the next six flights too! I won't go into the details (I was asked not to) but the return home was horrible and costly, costly to the point of almost doubling the expense of the entire trip. Enough said. I'm beginning to get upset again. Let's just say that flying, as an employee of the company, won't happen again. When we all finally got home it was good to sleep in our own bed again. * FINAL THOUGHTS AND COMMENTS We had been expecting really large crowds at the parks but we were pleasantly surprised. The most popular rides had long lines (Test Track, Space Mountain, Rockin' Roller Coaster, etc.) but by and large the crowds were not bad. We made quite a few rides with hardly any wait or no wait at all. I expected the June dates and Millennium Celebration to have the place packed but it didn't. Even the restaurants seemed slower than usual. Our last trip was late October during the 25th anniversary and the crowds were massive. Go figure. Once again we were very pleased with our Westgate timeshare and would recommend them to anyone seriously considering such a purchase. And now with Disney representation on site it should be even better. I was not as pleased with Interamerican Car rental as I was last trip, but it was a different office and location I was dealing with. It's not that I had a really bad experience, but it could have been better. I will try the Orlando office again next time and see if they measure up to their initial high marks we gave them. The traffic along Hwy 192 through Kissimmee was an absolute mess due to all of the construction. By now I would hope it is better but they were really doing a lot of work. Be prepared for the traffic slow-downs just in case. With Westgate so close to the south entrance it wasn't that much of a problem for us but travel eastward into Kissimmee was a bit testy. The weather was very pleasant for us. We never had to open those great 87-cent Wal-Mart ponchos. Never even came close to any rain the whole trip. The only day that was difficult (heat-wise) was Sunday at Animal Kingdom. Again, I believe this was because of the way the park is laid out and landscaped. All the other days were very nice - warm but not hot. When I say this keep in mind where I call home. June here is upper 90's with humidity about the same. We had over 40 days of 100 plus temperatures this summer (a few over 110 degrees) and over 50 days without a single drop of rain. Does that give you a better definition of my meaning of "pleasant"? One area I want to cover concerns the treatment of people with disabilities. Our last two trips to WDW have required a wheelchair for Paula in most cases. Next time, because of her recent ankle fusion, she will be in a wheelchair the entire trip. Because of this I have a newfound awareness of people with mobility problems and the trouble they go through to have the same fun as everyone else. Paula loves WDW as much as I do and would love to be able to walk through every line, attraction, display, and ride. But it is not going to happen anymore. While we were making our way around the parks I constantly had to stop, slow down, change directions, etc. just to keep from running over someone with the wheelchair. I don't know how many people have bruised ankles from cutting in front of us trying to get somewhere "now". I finally got to the point that I told Paula to keep her feet on the foot rests and I just continued to walk in the direction I needed to go. I didn't try to hit anyone but I didn't try not to either. Not everyone was this way of course and some people were very polite and courteous but there were always people who acted peeved because we were where they wanted to be. Parents were one of the worst offenders. I felt sorry for all the little kids who were dragged in front of us by their parents with no regard to the child's safety. I was usually able to whip the chair to one side and not hit them. Most times the child would look back at us and you could see in their eyes that they knew this wasn't right but they couldn't help it. Mom or Dad would just continue on, hell bent on being the next one out the door or in line. Some times the child would have to jump over Paula's feet to keep from hitting the wheelchair. The parent never slowed down or looked back. The point I'm trying to make is to be aware of the people around you. Everyone in the park spent a lot of money to get there and deserve to have just as much fun as you. Just because a person is in a wheelchair doesn't mean you can treat them with disrespect or outright contempt. And stop treating your kids like they were roll-around tote bags! I'll get off my soapbox now. All of my comments about the rides, attractions, accommodations and etc. are strictly how we felt. Please don't avoid something just because we didn't enjoy it. We've had two bad experiences at Prime Time Café. Maybe "bad" is too harsh a word. Let's say we didn't have the really great time that a lot of people seem to have when they eat there. You may have the time of your life when you go. Everyone's opinion will be different so if it sounds interesting to you, go for it! Animal Kingdom (AK) was not all that exciting for us. In fact, I'm not sure we'll spend much more than a few hours there next trip. Just hit the "high spots" and then head for one of the other parks. We were very disappointed in AK overall. EPCOT was more or less unchanged from last time. The flower displays were nice and the park looked even better than it usually does. MK was fun as always and the most crowded, as always. But this trip MGM took the grand prize. I'm not really sure why but we all seemed to have the most fun here. I think Leah was finally getting rid of her migraine hangover and was able to enjoy herself. Plus, our ADHD son seemed to have a better day at MGM than the other parks. I guess it was just a combination of things that made MGM our winner this time. Last time we did fine without a mid day break and it worked well this trip too. We tried to break up long periods of walking with a sit down snack break or an indoor show. Wild rides were followed by tame ones if we could. If the weather had been really hot we probably would have done things differently. It looks like Leah is going to be back at WDW in mid April 2001 for a honeymoon. We are going to let them use the Westgate timeshare and I've already set things in motion for that. I'm sure they will have a blast there together. My future son-in-law has never been so Leah can be his VERY personal tour guide! Thanks for reading my "novel" (bad grammar and all). I hope I've given you some good tips and ideas to help make your up-coming trip even more wonderful. A special thanks to Brian for making this website available to all of us, and to all of you other folks like Deb Wills (http://wdwig.com/) and John Tschinkel (http://members.aol.com/eatwdw/eatwdw.html) who furnish your time and money to help us all have a great Disney experience. John T. Brock jtbrock@bigfoot.com Mail a Comment to John T. Brock |
|