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Deborah Callahan -- June 2000 -- Walt Disney World (BVR)
Day 1 Left Shreveport, LA at 6 AM. Boarded the dog and guinea pig at the vet's the night before. The car was packed except for the things we would be using in the morning. Drove to Ocala, FL where we stayed at a Comfort Inn for the night. Approximately 850 miles via I-49, I-10, I-12, I-10 again and I-75. Meeting the Plan - This day went exactly as scheduled. No deviations from the plan. Day 2 Left Ocala at 6 AM because we were anxious to get to WDW. We arrived at the Boardwalk about 7:15 AM and checked in. This is our usual routine to check in, but not unpack until our room is ready. This way we have our parking pass to get into all the parking lots without a hassle. We have Premium Annual Passes this year and will get to use them on three trips. We headed to AK which opened at 7:30 AM. We headed for the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. There was a short wait, less than 10 minutes and we were on the safari. We saw lions, hippos, elephants (lots of them), gazelles, etc. Quick breakfast at Kusafiri Coffee Shop and Bakery. Cheese Danish, coffee, milk. Approximately $10 for the three of us. Got on the train to Conservation Station at 8:30 AM when it opened. This is a nice place to go. Quiet, entertaining, educational. They had a millipede that was huge. Petted the goats and sheep. Bill petted a snake. Not me. Listened to the Song of the Rainforest. This is the best thing. It is so relaxing. Then back on the train. Purchased an AK water bottle for Will - he was dying of thirst and we could refill this, plus freeze it each day. Got back out to the parking lot and couldn't find the car. We were in Unicorn lot, but we forgot to look at which row. We found the car after a little search (we were in row 21) and drove over to Blizzard Beach, which is very close to AK. Rented a large locker ($8 with a $2 refund when you turn in the key) and purchased a plastic box to keep our passes and car key in ($6). We brought our own beach towels, so we didn't have to rent towels from them. We got there early enough to get three lounges in the shade. We did the Cross Country Creek about 3 times. Bill and Will did the wave pool as well. Ate lunch at Lottawatta Lodge. Two hot dog meals, a pretzel and one Powerade - $17.97. Headed out about 1:15 to see if we might be able to get into our room at the Boardwalk Villas. Room wasn't ready yet, so Bill and Will headed for the pool at Luna Park while I sat under an umbrella at a table. Pool wasn't too crowded. Room was finally ready about 3:30 PM and Bill had our stuff taken to the room. We were in Room 5058 on the top floor, not too far from the elevators. Our view the dead on center of the pool. We had asked for a Boardwalk view or Illuminations view, but this one was good. Our room was a Studio Plus which meant it had a queensized bed, a double sleeper sofa and a child's day bed. This day bed wasn't as big as the one at the Polynesian (I had slept in that one once or twice), but this one was just right for Will. The Studios at the BWV's are not known for their drawer space (only two small drawers under the TV), so we also used the closet shelf, moving the extra bedding for the sleeper to the floor. We had also brought along a bunch of wire hangers (left over from Bill's shirts) which we hung up all the shirts and t-shirts. There were plenty of towels, but not places to hang them after we used them. The bathroom could use an extra towel bar or two. Also, no kitchen towels to dry off the dishes (two cups and four glasses only) after we used them, only a roll of paper towels. I also asked for a laundry basket, but all they gave me was another plastic laundry bag. Oh, well. We had Priority Seating at Teppanyaki at 5 PM for dinner so we walked over. We had a short wait and were seated with a couple and another party of three. The couple was friendly and talked during the meal, but the others didn't say a word to us. The chef was an excellent cook, but not much of a showman. The food tasted better than last time we ate there. Bill and I both had the beef tenderloin, shrimp and lobster combination and Will had the child's sirloin. Will loves eating with chopsticks after they fix them for him using the wrapper and a rubber band. Bill had the chestnut mousse for dessert. Total bill for three including tip was $100. After dinner, we watched Tapestry of Nations, nearly one of each puppet reached out to Will. This was the earlier parade, so it was still light out. Next we saw the Buckinghams at the Flower Power concert. This was wonderful, took me right back to the 60's. I felt like a kid again. Knew all the words. They sang all their hits, plus several other songs by other groups of the same era. What a great show. It had been a long day, so we decided to skip Illuminations and go back to the BWV. Will wanted to swim some more, so he and Bill headed for the pool. I headed for the Boardwalk Bakery to get breakfast - strudel, cheese Danish and a croissant. We were in bed by 9:30 PM. Will fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Meeting the Plan - We arrived earlier than we thought we would, so we added AK. We had planned on going to TL instead of BB, but the proximity to AK was a plus. Rest of the day went as planned. Day 3 I slept until 5:30 or 6:00. Will slept until 8 AM, he was very tired. About 8:30, we were off to AK again. We parked in Dinosaur this time, and noted the row we were parked in. Walked right on to It's Tough to be a Bug. The audience just howled over this show. It was so funny. A little crowded, but not full. Next off to Festival of the Lion King, got there about 10 minutes before the show started. The arena was already filling up, but we found seats in the Warthog section. This is a great show. The singing is wonderful, as is the dancing. Only this time the bird (Bluebird?) didn't fly overhead. She just danced around on the stage. Stopped at Flame Tree Barbeque for an early lunch at 11 AM. Not as good as Texas Barbeque, but not bad. Bill and I both had the Beef sandwich with coleslaw. Will had popcorn. Large lemonade and large Coke ( total about $22). Bought Will an AK tanktop and Bill a Safari hat. We found the car right off this time. I dropped Bill and Will at the BW so that they could swim and I drove over to OKW to get a hat, shirt and DVC beach towel. Then over to Downtown Disney to get sheets, glasses and kitchen towels. With the DVC discount, I saved 10%. I could have used my MKC or AP discount as well, but they are all the same here. World of Disney was very crowded. Topped off the gas and headed to Wal-Mart to get some water shoes for Bill. He was already getting sores on his feet from pushing Will all around the lazy creek and the pool. The construction on 192 is horrible. It must make it hard for all the hotels on 192 to keep their guests since it is very difficult to get on 192 and head to WDW if you are on the wrong side of the road. Back to BW at 2:15. Left of the MK via Epcot using the monorail about 4 PM . It started raining we waited under the gazebo near BW for a few minutes to wait for the rain to stop. Talked with a couple about DVC while we waited. They seemed very interested in the concept. By 4:30 the rain stopped and we were on our way. We were on the monorail by 5 and arrived at the MK by 5:20. We headed to Cinderella's Castle since we had Priority Seating at 5:45. We were seated about ten minutes early. We were served by Shay who was completing her first day. She was very charming and a lot of fun. Bill and I had the King's Feast (tenderloin) and Will had the cheeseburger. Alas, no macaroni and cheese on the kids' menu. Bill and I also both had the Golden Sipper, a raspberry smoothie that was delicious. Our steaks were outstanding and we all had dessert. Will had ice cream and cookies, Bill had the Apple Custard and I had the cheesecake with raspberry sauce. Total for the bill about $112 including tip. Took pictures at the wishing well and then rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (no line, as usual). Thought about going on Buzz Lightyear, but the line was too long. Over to Small World, no line, Swiss Family Treehouse (again no line) and then to Pirates of the Caribbean (very short line). Jungle Cruise line was over 1 hour, so we skipped that. Looked like rain, saw some lightning, so we took the bus back to the BW. There was a short wait then the bus arrived. First stop was Yacht Club, then Beach Club, then Boardwalk. Quick trip to Boardwalk Bakery then to bed. We have Early Entry at MK tomorrow. Meeting the Plan - The day went almost exactly as we had planned. Only we had planned to arrive earlier at MK to see the afternoon parade and we left earlier than we had originally planned. We didn't stay for the Main Street Electric Parade. Day 4 Mickey woke us up at 6 AM. I got up at 5:30 so I showered before Bill and Will got up. We were out of the BW at the bus stop by 6:30. Caught the bus at 6:40. Met Jane from Gifts of a Lifetime along with her daughter and a young couple from Indiana who were having their trip recorded by Jane. They had rented points from a friend and thought DVC seemed very good. We were the first ones at the park. We arrived about 7. There was a group of College Program students learning the gate that morning. They asked Will if he would like to open the park that day. So Will, Bill and I got into the park at about 7:20. When they shouted Will's magic word (MICKEY), Will tossed up a cupful of pixie dust and the park was opened. Will was given a special certificate with his name on it. We headed for Dumbo and Bill and Will rode it once. Then over to Tomorrowland Speedway to drive the cars. Bill and Will rode together and I rode alone. These are tough to steer. I hit every curb in the place. Off to Buzz Lightyear where we rode one time. Next Snow White's Scary Adventure, then Peter Pan. Pooh was shut down for renovations, but they said it would reopen on Saturday. We waited for the rope to drop, someone in the line told Will he did a good job opening the park. Then a short wait on Splash Mountain - about 15 minutes. Bill sat in the first seat, and Will and I sat in the second. Next we rode the train over to Toontown. As we got off, we noticed several characters just outside the building next to the train tracks. Will got photos and autographs of Robin Hood, Friar Tuck. Prince John, Mr. Smee and Shaker Bear. King Louie was also there, but he couldn't write. Checked out Donald's Boat and Goofy's Barnstormer. Will and Bill were going to go on the Barnstormer, but the line was too long. Got back on the train to ride to the front of the MK. We left a message for Jennifer who had been our tour guide on the Family Magic Tour on Christmas Eve. She had stopped working there only a few weeks earlier, but they said they could get a message to her for us. We wanted her to get a look at the pictures we took of her, Peter Pan and Will last December. We rode the horse drawn trolley over to the Castle and walked back to the candy store. We had a photo made on Main Street, but didn't wait to pick it up. We were out of the park by 11. We saw Jane again on the bus ride back to the BW. Then we ate pizza at the pickup window at Spoodles. Good pizza. Total about $18. Walked over to the Beach Club for ice cream. While we were eating, I thought I saw Sue from the DVC list. I introduced myself and we talked for a short while. She was on her way back to OWW and I had ice cream to eat. Bill had a root beer float and I had a chocolate shake. Total for these were about $9. Only problem with the shake, they use chocolate ice cream instead of vanilla and chocolate syrup. Tasted exactly like melted chocolate ice cream. Not my favorite. We were off to Typhoon Lagoon at 2:30 found a parking spot close to the entry. People were already leaving for the day so we also found a couple of chairs under an umbrella. We had worn our suits and we had the plastic case, so we didn't need to rent a locker. We also brought our own beach towels again. We all floated on Castaway Creek several times. Unfortunately Will had gotten sunburned the day before when I had done my shopping instead of joining the guys for a swim. Bill had missed a spot on his shoulder and he had developed a bad blister. Bill took Will over to First Aid where the nurse checked him out. Told us to keep it clean and keep applying aloe vera or other topical first aid ointment. Beginning that day, Will wore a t-shirt to swim everyday. Bill got to snorkel with the sharks at the shark reef while Will and I watched from under water through the viewing windows. We left TL about 5:45 and drove back to the BW. We decided to eat on the Boardwalk and chose the Big River Grill and Brewery. We had eaten there at Christmas time and had a good meal so we decided to do it again. We wanted a table outside, so there was a short wait. The hostess gave us a pager and told us to stay real close, because the table would be ready shortly. We sat on a bench near the water, very near to the seating area. We were watching and saw several people who had arrived after us get seated. Bill asked what had happened and was told that we had been paged but had not responded. When we told her the pager didn't go off, she insisted that it had. Then she sat us at a table that was only in the process of being cleared and still had wet clothes and dirty dishes on it. Another guy came to finish setting the table up and told us that we shouldn't have been seated there yet. The Manager came over and apologized to us for the rude behavior by the hostess. Bill's meatloaf was cold inside, not just lukewarm, but actually cold. Well, two strikes and you are out. No more Big River Grill for us. Total cost for child's grilled cheese, brew burger and char grilled meatloaf - about $35. Off to Seashore Sweets then back to our room to sleep. Meeting the Plan - We had planned to go to River Country instead of Typhoon Lagoon. We planned on eating dinner at Beaches and Cream instead of a snack. Also planned on miniature golf at Fantasia Gardens, but didn't get around to it. Day 5 Mickey woke us at 6:40 since we had Spoodles for breakfast at 7:30. This is a nice breakfast buffet. Will ate three waffles. Not crowded at all. The bread pudding was delicious. Our server was Francine, who had to wear a different name tag since she had forgotten hers. They gave her Norm to wear, but she looked around for a female name instead. She was very pleasant. Spoodles breakfast buffet for two adults and one child was $42 including tip. We rode the boat over to Disney Studios and had to wait for the rope drop. While we waited, we talked to Shawn, a CM at the Great Movie Ride who was holding the rope. He has worked for WDW for over 10 years, the last few at Disney Studios. He worked the Kilimanjaro Safari when it first opened. Now he runs one of the vehicles at the GMR. He drove the first car while we rode in the second. Bill got run over by one of the mad stroller dads which left him with a big cut on his ankle. We walked right on to the GMR. We had the gangster show on this ride. Our driver was Mandy. After this we walked right on the Voyage of the Little Mermaid (love this show), then right over to the Beauty and the Beast Show with almost no wait. Not many seats left in the theater, but we got three. Next we walked over to see Doug Live. This was a great show! What fun. I would have loved to be one of the Beets. The little girl they picked to be Quail Kid was real cute. She did her line very well. Next we went to Once Upon a Time to shop for some kitchen items. Got some coffee mugs for our Gourmet Mickey china, an ice cube tray and a Gourmet Mickey pitcher. Had them sent to the room. Rode the boat back to BW. Rested for a bit in our room. Off to Epcot for the Ice Cream Social at 3. There was some mix-up at the desk. The person checking our PS couldn't find it, probably because she was looking for us as a lunch reservation. We did get seated and had Raymond as our server. Very nice and a seasoned server. Had his own lines and made it very fun. There were very few people at the Ice Cream Social, probably because they aren't giving out the free coupons any more. The characters at the Ice Cream Social included, Mickey, Chip, Dale and Pluto. Total cost for two adults and one child - about $25. Next we went down to ride on the Living with the Land boat ride. Very short wait, about 10 minutes. Nice relaxing ride. Interesting to see such large vegetables grown without soil or very little soil. After this we walked over to Ice Station Cool. Will loves this place. Warned a few people not to try the Beverly. Stopped over at Mouse Gear, then Ellen's Energy Adventure with no wait. Bill likes this one a lot. Must be the Exxon kid in him. Back to the BW at 6:30P and we swam until about 8. Had pepperoni pizza from the Spoodles take out window. Took it up to the room where we ate it. We were all in bed by 9:15. Meeting the Plan - We had planned to spend the day swimming at Stormalong Bay, but went to Disney Studios instead. We headed to Epcot a little later than originally planned and stayed a little later. Didn't go back to AK for an evening safari. Day 6 Mickey woke us at 6:15. Will slept until 7 and we dressed and headed back to AK. Wore our bathing suits and rode Kali River Rapids three times in a row. Another family joined our raft on the second trip and they stayed with us for the third ride. They were so funny. The older man in the family (grandfather?) had a plastic poncho on, but he got the big one when we went down the slope. He got soaked anyway. The CM's at KRR asked if we wanted to go again, but we had plans to meet. We ate breakfast at Kusafiri Bakery again - cinnamon roll, cheese Danish , cereal and a brownie. Headed over to Typhoon Lagoon. I really like this place. It's so fun. Got there at 9:30. Found a good spot with an umbrella and spent lots of time floating on Castaway Creek. Stayed until 3 PM. Headed back to Boardwalk where we cleaned up and rested a bit. Will fell asleep on the day bed. We had Priority Seating at Alfredo's for 6PM, but it started to rain just as we were leaving to walk over to Epcot. Bill got ponchos at the General Store while I tried to wake Will up. He was plumb worn out. Rode the boat over to Epcot and got to Italy just in time. Our server was Marco. Will and I both ate Fettuccine Alfredo and Bill had the Veal Chop Parmagiana. All delicious, but no room for dessert. Total cost - about $72. Rain ended while we were eating. After dinner, we watched a bit of Tapestry of Nations. This is a great parade. I love the music. Then walked over the Ice Station Cool. Next to Cranium Command. This is really cute. Will thought it was fun. Did a few other things in the area then walked over the Spaceship Earth. Walked right on. Next on to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Walked right on again. The CM there told us we would miss Illuminations, but we didn't mind. We saw it at Christmas several times. Illuminations was over right before we got out of HISTA, so we had to swim upstream through the crowd to get back to the Boardwalk. Right to bed as soon as we got back, our latest night yet. We have early entry at MK tomorrow. Meeting the Plan - We had Disney Studios planned but since we did that yesterday, we went to AK and Typhoon Lagoon again. We had planned on Blizzard Beach, but we did that so many times before and never did Typhoon Lagoon but this trip, so we did TL again. We had planned on Illuminations, but it was a good opportunity to do some rides. Day 7 Will was tired and so was Bill, so they both slept in. I hadn't felt very good during the night, so we decided to skip the early entry at MK. Instead I went to the Member Update at the Community Hall at BW. They seem to be trying to get members to go places other than the Disney Resorts. The entire time they talked about the Concierge Collection and the Adventurer Collection. Sorry, but this family will be spending our time at OKW, BWV and maybe Vero Beach. We finally left for MK about 10 AM. Rode the bus and it was full. We went to the Camera Center to see if they still had the picture that was taken on Monday, but no luck. They only keep them two days. So we had a picture made in the Camera Center with the Castle as a background and characters in the foreground. They can do all sorts of things to improve the picture. Resize it, clean it up, remove the red eye, etc. We had it sent to the room. While we were there, we saw Perla, Pinocchio and Geppetto and got autographs and photos. The Camera Center is a good place to get photos and autographs. You can always find at least one or two characters there. And you can do some fun photos there with some cute backgrounds. We thought about doing Buzz, but the line was long again. So we rode Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Then we needed to eat. It was too late for breakfast, so Bill and Will had burgers and hot dogs at Cosmic Ray's. I had an apple juice since I was still feeling a bit poorly. Total at Cosmic Ray ' s - about $17. Walked over to Haunted Mansion and there was no wait. We walked right on. Pirates had a short wait, about 10 minutes so we did that also. We had ice cream at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor. About $10 for all of us. I wasn't about to pass up an ice cream sundae. Rode the bus back to the Boardwalk. Bill and Will went out to the pool and I did laundry. The laundry room is on the first floor near the elevators. There are three washers and six dryers. A large folding table, but only one chair in the room. TV and vending machine available. Got three loads done, including one load of beach towels. Decided to go to Disney Studios and left about 4:30 by boat. Just about got to the Swan and Dolphin when I realized that I had left the passes in the room. Got off the boat, walked back to the room and got the passes. Bill was starting to develop an ear infection from all the swimming, so he opted out of Disney Studios and stayed behind. Will and I got the boat over to Disney Studios and headed for Pizza Planet Arcade. He got a stuffed alien and a stuffed lion. We had pizza for dinner. Afterward, we walked onto Muppetvision 3D with no line. Then we went on the Great Movie Ride, again with no line. This time we got in the first car, so we got the gunfighter/cowboy scenario. The bank really burns up good. Will got a cute Pluto hat ($16) and we walked back to the boat. Got there just as it was getting ready to take off. We got off at Swan/Dolphin and beat the boat back to the Boardwalk. Bill had eaten at the Flying Fish while we were over at Disney Studios. He said the red snapper in a potato coating. He said it was wonderful. (About $30). In bed by 10. Meeting the Plan - We had originally planned on AK this morning, but changed to MK. We were going to see the Mulan parade, but didn't get there in time. Also planned on Fantasmic, but missed that one, too. Day 8 Bill was really having problems with his ears, so he headed to Centra Care about 7:30 to be there when they opened at 8. Will and I took the bus to AK and we planned to meet up at the Bakery in Harambe. Will and I arrived at AK just as it opened. We joined the mob heading back to the safari. No long wait at all. We got on a safari with Kate as the driver. Cheetah posed for us on a rock. There was a hippo out of the water, first time we saw that. Lions were also posing. Will and I hurried over to Kali River Rapids where there was no wait. We rode alone on the first time. The second time, CM Didin rode with us. She asked Will if he wanted to sit with her. He was shy and shook his head no. So she asked Will if she could sit with him. He said yes enthusiastically. She was so cute. Her friends told her to ride, but she didn't want to get wet because she would have to work with wet clothes. Her co-workers insisted that she ride. Well, she and Will got the big splash at the end of the drop. Will and I rode again, this time with a family. One woman with the group didn't want to get her shoes wet. I laughed and told her that they would get wet. The guy with the group boasted that he would stay dry, but he got wet as we rode up the hill and then he got the big splash at the end of the drop. We opted not to ride a fourth time because we thought Bill might be waiting for us. Bill met us a few minutes later and we headed right over to Typhoon Lagoon. Got a good spot with an umbrella. Bill spent most of the time under the umbrella. He got antibiotic drops for his ears and painkillers. He was there a while since he was filing with our insurance company. The others who came in paid cash and didn't file with their insurance. Will and I did the wave pool and lazy creek two times. Will got cold so we stayed out on the beach for a while. We got one of the big drinks - refill it all day long for $9. We filled it three times. About a liter or more. The guy who sold it to us told us that we could buy a sticker for it at any water park for $4.85 and get free refills for the day. A pretty good deal. Will and I had our picture taken on Castaway Creek that turned out great. They can cover up any other people in the photo and touch it up. Bill was in pain, but the meds were working. As we were leaving, we had our picture made with the Gator at Singapore Sal's. Back to the Boardwalk at 1 and we rented a canopy boat at the Yacht Club for 1/2 hour. We drove around the lake and canal to Disney Studios. We got the Annual Pass discount and saved 10%. Total cost was about $19. This was fun. We returned to the room where Bill laid down and Will and I washed the beach towels. Tonight we have dinner with the Villains at the Grand Floridian. We drove over to the Grand Floridian about 4:30 for our 5:15 priority seating. Valet parked with no problem. This was a fun dinner. The villains tonight were Capt Hook, Snow Witch, Prince John and the Queen of Hearts. I was a bit worried that they might tease the kids, but they were really rather fun. When Will saw the Snow Witch, he remarked that she looked real scary. And he was worried that Capt Hook might try to take his hat. The Queen of Hearts was very tall and didn't make the rounds of the room. She waited outside the dining area for photos and autographs. The evening was still young and it was our last night at WDW, so we decided to drive over to Downtown Disney. We stopped off at OKW and walked around. We decided to ride the Trumbo Ferry over to Downtown Disney. This was a great way to end a trip. The ride was very calming and pleasant. It took about 20 minutes. The boat dropped us off at Capt Jack's. We walked over to the Lego Store for a few minutes, then we scoped out the World of Disney Store. We rode the boat back to OKW about 8:30. It was still light out and we thought it might be fun to ride at sunset. We drove back to the Boardwalk and started getting things together. Meeting the Plan - We had planned on going to Epcot, but Bill's ear infection changed those plans. We had planned to go to Typhoon Lagoon and the Grand Floridian. We had planned on E-ticket night, but decided that we didn't really want to go on most of those rides. Instead we would get up early for one last Early Entry. Day 9 Got the car packed up and checked out before 7. Kent helped us get all our things out to the car. We talked about the resort while he packed us up and he told me that they were refurbishing the BWV right now and were up to the fourth floor. The fifth floor wasn't done yet, but it should be completed shortly. We drove to the Grand Floridian and valet parked the car. Rode the monorail to the MK and got there with no line at the front gate about 7:45. The monorail before us was rather full, but ours wasn't even half full. Will and Bill rode the teacups once, then Will rode two more times alone. No line. We all walked over to Buzz and rode three times in a row. Will hit a big target because he scored 552,000 on his last ride. We hadn't been able to do Pooh's Honeypots because they were being refurbished. We stopped there before we headed to the teacups and they said they would be opening about 8:30 or 9. We got back to Pooh about 8:30 and got in line. It was our longest line, but we knew that we wanted to do this at least once before we left. They didn't start the ride until 9, so lots of people got out of line. It would have been nice if they had notified all the families with little kids because the little ones really wanted to ride and they had a long wait. Normally, Pooh is open for early entry, but they kept it closed until 9. Rode once and headed over to Snow White. Very short line and rode. Next to Small World - again no line at all. Then to Haunted Mansion where we again found absolutely no line. After HM, we decided that we had to head to Tony's for our 10:30 AM Priority Seating for breakfast. We had a short wait and were seated about 10 minutes early. Bill and I had the Italian Toast and Will had waffles. Total bill for breakfast - about $30 including tip. A quick trip to the Camera Center to see if there were any characters there we hadn't seen. Only Pinocchio. So we headed to the monorail to ride back to the Grand Floridian. Got our car from valet parking. Had a little problem finding our keys. But all was fine. By noon we were on our way out of Orlando and headed towards Pensacola. We arrived at Pensacola Beach about 6 PM (Central Time - we got back our hour). Checked into the Clarion Resort for two nights. Meeting the Plan - This day went exactly as planned. Day 10 Slept in a bit, and headed to the beach where we spent nearly nine hours under an umbrella and in the water. The 30 and 40 SPF sunscreen really worked well. Rental of the beach chairs, cushions and umbrella cost $22 for the day. Pensacola Beach has no fast food restaurants on the island, so we drove over to Gulf Breeze to get dinner. We had a complimentary continental breakfast and junk food for our other meals. Meeting the Plan - This day went exactly as planned, which is to say that we had no plan other than to kick back and relax. Day 11 Bill and Will spent a little time out at the beach collecting shells and walking in the water while I packed up the car. We ate the continental breakfast again, paid our bill and headed back to Shreveport. We arrived in Shreveport about 4:30. Picked up the dog and guinea pig from the vet's office and got a few groceries from Krogers. We are home after a most wonderful vacation. Now we only have five and a half months until we head back to WDW and a week at OKW for Thanksgiving. We are already planning our June, 2001 vacation for the same time next year. Maybe two days at Vero Beach if we can get them and five days at OKW. Meeting the Plan - This day went exactly as planned, except we got home a little sooner that I expected. The Vacation Overall - We had planned a lot of late night events, parades, fireworks and such, but didn't do any of these. We decided that we really liked hitting the parks early in the morning to get the opportunity to do some rides we really like. Being at the water park when it opened was a smart move for us, too, since we wanted to get an umbrella each time. The one day we headed to TL later in the afternoon also worked. We never got to River Country, but will probably try in November if it is open. Didn't play any miniature golf this time - it was just too hot. But in November we should be able to get in a round or two. The Boardwalk Villas were very nice. We had a great location, looked right out at the center of the pool, and close to the elevators. The queen sized bed was very comfortable, but the sleeper sofa was a little rough. Will fit perfectly in the youth sized day bed. The room could have used a bit more drawer space and towel bars, but we managed. There was a baby's play yard in the closet for a baby to sleep in. Where they would put it was beyond me, especially if they had to open up the sleeper sofa. The refrigerator and microwave were nice extras, but it would have been nice to have a few more dishes - small plates and silverware. The little alcove at the front door is a bit of a mystery to me - what is its purpose? They should have turned it into a closet or armoire. Our home is Old Key West, but I could see us coming back to the Boardwalk again. Or maybe the Beach Club Villas when they open. We really loved Typhoon Lagoon. There are so many things to do there. We loved the wave pool and lazy creek. The shark reef was also a lot of fun. Getting the plastic box on a cord was a smart move to save us from having to get a locker each time. Since I only spend minimal time in the water (I'm not much of a swimmer) I didn't have to worry about getting the contents of the box wet. It isn't waterproof, but it is water resistant. The all day sports mug was also a good buy. We will bring it back with us in the future. Early entry to MK is the only way for us to get to ride the rides we like. We found very short or no line at all almost every time. AK was a great park to go to early also. You can ride more than once if you go early. And if you plan on going swimming later on, wear your suit on Kali River Rapids and don't worry about getting wet. Now in November, we may be changing our plan a bit. Since we were staying at the Boardwalk Villas, and you can't park your car outside your home away from home, we used valet parking all the time. The only time we didn't use valet parking was at the parks and at OKW. We only used the car once a day, so the cost was very low. We spent a lot on meals, especially character meals and sit down restaurants. Next time when we stay at OKW, we will make better use of the kitchen and save a few dollars on meals. We didn't buy as many souvenirs this time, so we will look at that as well as a way to save some money. We will have our Annual Passes next time, too, so we won't have to worry about that cost. Having a car is very convenient some times. We couldn't have gotten to AK so early and then to the water park using the bus. Especially if we had to carry our beach towels and other stuff. The bus isn't bad though, and the boats are great. By the way, we saw Capt Ron several times on the boat from and to the Boardwalk. We will probably ride the Trumbo Ferry on our last night from now on, unless we have something else to do. That was really fun. In November, we will also try to do more parades and fireworks since the crowds may be a little lighter earlier in the week. We still haven't seen much of the West Side of Downtown Disney. We didn't do much Epcot this time, we will have to go by the Millennium Village one more time before they close that. How can we top Will's opening the MK? Don't know, but we will have to see what we can find!!!! Deborah Callahan callahanbill@msn.com Mail a Comment to Deborah Callahan |
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