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Lindy Higham -- February 2000 -- Walt Disney World (ASSR)

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

• Lindy ... me, I'm 27 and work as an office manager, a promotion since my last report. Mother of Samson, my loveable Yellow Lab. I love traveling, music, theater, and all things Disney (of course!)
• Della ... my older sister, she works in accounting in the same office as me. She is the mother of Luli, the queen resident feline.

We're both single and very content to be so, how else could we go on all these trips!?!

INTRODUCTION

Wow. I can't believe I'm actually starting a new trip report! To be honest, I just emailed Brian last year's report a few days ago. I know, I'm a slacker, it was even finished about three weeks after we got back last year. I've been so busy that I haven't even had a chance to plan our trip very much. Actually as I write this, we're waiting in the first big queue of the trip, I think we're fifth in line to take off.

A little refresher background on me before we start. I've been a Disney fanatic my whole life, I was a mere one year old when I was introduced to Disneyland. Every year after that my family and I did the annual pilgrimage to So Cal. Those trips hold so many fun memories and magic for me. The best thing a family can do is to travel (especially to a Disney park) it brings them together and creates a bond that never breaks! When I got older, my dream was to go to WDW in Florida but it was not in the cards till I graduated from high school and got a job. I was going to college when I took my first big trip in 1993. Della and I did a combination Caribbean cruise/Disney World trip. It was then that I realized I could go on several trips with the cost of school. We've been on a cruise/Disney trip every year since, needless to say I didn't finish college. I think that I've gotten an excellent education by traveling, though. I have a fab job, quite a promotion from what I have been doing and I have a corner office with marvelous windows looking out at the majestic Rocky Mountains! It's actually the best office in the entire building!! I'm the youngest of four, my oldest sister is married with four kids and I have a trip report on Brian's site of our August 99 trip to Disneyland, which was a blast! My older brother is married with three kids and then there's me and Della ... dare I say, the smart ones? Enough about me, on with the intro ...

We always combined the Disney World trip with a cruise but last year we separated them, which we actually liked better. We decided we'd do the same this year. Last year when we went on our cruise in February, we had some problems with planes on the way home and had to stay over night in Atlanta. The airline, which will remain nameless ... Delta, gave us only a $5.00 meal voucher for the both of us. The hotel we stayed at had only one choice for breakfast which was $10.00 per person and was yucky. So Lindy, moui, wrote a letter, and in return the wonderful people at Delta gave us each a $10.00 refund check (which was used at Mama Melrose last April) and we each got a $100.00 air voucher (it pays to complain!) We knew they expired in March but March kind of crept up on us. We booked a cruise in May so ... WDW here we come. Even with the voucher, fuel prices caused airfares to go sky high, no pun intended. I called and the cheapest I could find was over $300.00, the most being $600.00. I checked the link on Deb Wills' site that lists cheap airfares and found a Continental quote of $138.00, we wouldn't be able to use our voucher but this would be cheaper than using them. I called and seats were very limited. We'd probably have to fly separately and on totally different days and we could stay either three days or three weeks. Not really what we had in mind. (Although I really liked the sound of three weeks!!) I was sort of giving up on the trip when our travel agent and buddy Pam found us a deal on Delta for $222.00, with our voucher that makes airfare only $122.00 ... yippee I'm going to Disney World!!!! But wait, now we have the airfare, could we get reservations at that late of notice? I called CRO, first requesting All Star Movies, then All Star Music ... nothing. All Star Sports, yes, but I didn't want to stay there. I then had them check the moderates but what they had left really wasn't a very good deal. So I took the Sports ($88.43 a night including tax with AP discount). I was bummed for several days, but then I thought, I'm going to be at my favorite place on the planet, does it matter where I sleep and shower? NOPE! I did try and call a couple other times to see if something else opened but nada. I spoke with a CM from CRO that said that the Sports was her favorite out of all of the All Stars, so I razzed myself up a little bit. The next few times I called CRO, they had absolutely no availability at any of the All Stars, nor did they have any moderate availability ... ouch! Sounds like this might be the most crowded visit yet, which is pretty disappointing. On a side note, CRO said that they would hold the reservation on my VISA, which they haven't been able to do for quite a while.

Okay, airfare booked, CRO called, reservation made, leave approval signed by my new supervisor, Tiffany Town Car called and coupon printed off their site ... I'm really going!!!! I hurried and called the Disney Store in order to order our APs, which we didn't renew last year ... I know, I regret it every day, it would've saved us a bundle, but, live and learn. They said that it would take 2-3 weeks to get here, oh oh, we would be leaving in less than three weeks. The Disney Store CM said that she thought that I could get them there. Excuse me, of course I can, but I have an AP rate on the hotel and I'll need to show it upon arrival. Then she said, just pick them up on your way to the hotel. I explained to her that I have Tiffany picking us up at the airport and taking me directly to the hotel. I'm sorry, I must say I was a tad irked. No one can challenge my Disney World knowledge, not even a Disney Store CM! Finally, she ordered them and they arrived in a week. Now we have our APs and a brand spanking new MKC card. I am a little disappointed how the benefits of these cards have decreased this year. We got discounts on several restaurants last year with the MKC and our APs. Oh, well...

I emailed Off Kilter but they haven't responded, so I'm hoping that they'll be there at least some of the time that we're there. I am totally crossing my fingers that MY Quasi will still be there this year! I promised Della that we wouldn't be commandos this time, it will be tough! Della's just now getting over a really bad flu and her strength has been zapped big time, so I won't push her. I was thrilled to find out that there will be a meet this week! YEAH!! So I will be meeting Rob and others at Pecos Bill's on Saturday. I was also excited to hear so many radpers and regular trip report posters will be there during the week! I hope to see many of you! We also found out that a couple from our church will be there this week and we'll be having breakfast at Cindy's with them on Wednesday. I'm pretty stoked to go to the castle, we're vegetarians so I'm not sure what all we'll get for $15.00 a pop - but I think it will be fun eating at the castle! This is also going to be our first character meal! We'll see how that goes. Friday is E-Ride Night, and as is tradition, we'll do that. Like I said earlier, I didn't make many plans. I think when it comes to WDW, I'm happy just being there! No matter what I'm doing!

Well, it's too late if I've forgotten anything since I'm 37,000 feet up looking down on snow capped mountains! Hope the weather will cooperate with us!

Here's to another wonderful trip!! Quasi ... here I come!!!!!!!

********************************************************************************* I can't even express how much I love this place!!! Either I'll really get my money out of my annual pass or it's really gonna cost me!!! It's funny how I find something that I love at the tail end of our trip! We feel like we know everyone at the Backlot Theater and if we'd had a couple extra days ... the Doug Live! CMs would know us as well!

I'm so addicted! I have the next two trips planned already. One with Della (September) and I decided that I will for sure be a part of the December Meet ... it was so much fun meeting people that I knew from the Internet!

On with the show ................ *********************************************************************************

Tuesday, February 29, 2000

Day One

Happy Leap Day!

Travel Day ...

Spent a lot of last night getting ready; packing, programming the VCRs and putting last minute touches on my compilation tapes to take on the plane with me. It was after 1:00 a.m. when I laid down but was so excited I couldn't sleep. So, of course, I flipped on the TV. Low and behold, the commercial that was on was the Disneyland commercial where the kids and dad were too excited to sleep! That was me ... to a tee! Got up about every hour but stayed awake after 6:00 a.m. I called Tiffany to confirm our pick up and put in another request for Ian. They have us scheduled but Ian is in England ... DRAT! Mohammad will be at the baggage claim waiting for us and will be our driver. After getting already, kissing and hugging the dog and cat, we were on our way to the airport. It was a lovely, sunny, FREEZING morning! We checked our bags with the sky cap, tipped him ($1.50) and moved into the PACKED airport. Man, where are all these people going? We made it to our gate and found that a sizeable number were following us to Orlando, it was hard to even find four places to sit together. A very nice man on his cell phone scooted over so we could all sit together, we noticed tons of people on their cell phones this trip! I gave my dad $3.00 for parking and we were called. We bid farewell to our parental units and we were on our way!

The flight was okay as flights go. I had called in and requested vegetarian meals for us this time and it was a rice/veggie mix, salad and fruit (instead of cake). Ironically, one of the choices was veggie lasagna! What are the odds?! The flight was pretty packed, lots of kids! They were all very excited to go to Disney World, but I doubt any were as excited as me!

The time pretty much flew by (flew by!?!) 1/4 being so anxious. We arrived on time and made our way to the baggage claim to look for Mohammad holding a sign with my name on it. Mohammad proved to be quite the body builder, he carried almost all of both of our bags. Quite deceiving. He was a fine driver, he also told us on the way that Ian has moved back to England 1/4 Ian, we'll miss you! He took us on a way that neither of us had been on, which got us there in record time, I think I clocked it under 30 minutes. We paid and tipped him ($40.00 was my share). In no time a very helpful bell serviceman had all our bags on a cart and we were in the lobby. Well here we are All Star Sports, yuck! BUT 1/4. I'm HERE!!!!!! We walked right up to check in but we were there quite a while. We were each using a personal check for our room, I called and they thought that it would be perfectly fine. It took us over an hour just to get the stupid checks cleared! Needless to say, we'll use the plastic from now on. The CM that checked us in was very nice and since we were waiting a while, I think we heard her life story. I decided we'd better give Mom a call, so I whipped out the cell phone and gave her a ring, unfortunately she thought we'd crashed. I should've called sooner! My bad! Finally we're cleared to stay. YIPPPEE! We were put in the Homerun Hotel, which by the way was the cutest in my opinion from pictures that I had seen on the Internet. We each paid $320.10, which included our humble abode for the week with our AP discount and our E Ride Night ticket for Friday.

I, of course stopped and got my mug, $9.62, with green lid and handle!! First coke, and counting! We walked through the Touchdown area, which is even cheesier in real life! Plus, there were always football games going on everywhere and you were in danger at any given move. We made it to our home for the week. Get ready ... It was the cutest!!! I LOVE IT!!! Our room was facing trees/parking area/All Star Music and our bags were already waiting in the room. We took a few minutes to freshen up a little and headed to the bus stop. I pondered whether the Music bus stop would be closer but never tried it because ours was a really quick walk. Our destination was EPCOT to activate the APs and to get a bit of dinner. Since our check - in was so long, we were later than we hoped to be and EPCOT was the only park open.

I called Mom again from the bus that was waiting when we got there. On our way, we could see the 2000 sign on the EPCOT geo-sphere ... how cool is that!?! Made it to EPCOT after stopping at all the other All Stars and made our way to Guest Services. Of course, we went to the window that had a new CM shadowing. We were delayed yet again. Since it was Leap Day, our expiration date was listed as March 1, 2001, which it should've been anyway. It was now after 7:00. We walked into the park and I must say I didn't much care for the pictures on the Stonehenge walls, no, I definitely wasn't impressed with the monoliths. We couldn't even really make out the pictures very well, those of you who get one of these, better make sure you know where yours is ... you might not be able to recognize yourself!

Della thought that the veggie lasagna sounded good so I suggested the Sunshine Season Food Court at the Land Pavilion for dinner. The lasagna was $5.89 and included a yummy bread stick, it was fun to know that the ingredients were grown right here. It was a lovely evening, the EPCOT ball was magnificent, I can't even describe how cool the 2000 is! I was fine with my long sleeved shirt on but Della was cold and wished she'd have brought her jacket.

I suggested a beaver tail for two reasons; one of course was just cause I wanted one. The other was to maybe catch an Off Kilter show 1/4 I know, I'm starting already! Unfortunately, their stage was down again, oh well, I guess we'll just be spending more time at the Backlot Theater! The beaver tail was delicious! We ordered the chocolate/hazelnut which is my favorite! We each paid $1.75. Where are the tables that used to be by the beaver tail cart?

We decided to head back so we could get unpacked and settled in, since we were going to do an early morning tomorrow. As we were walking out, I looked longingly at the Imagination Pavilion, I'm a devout fan of Figment and have missed him terribly! Della knew I wanted to go, so she gave her thumbs up. It was a walk on 1/4 it better have been! In a word, I HATED it! Why in the world would they have taken away my Figment for THIS!?! I've heard rumors that a budget has been allotted to re-redo this. I hope they're true! We walked away singing 1/4 two tiny wings, eyes big an' yellow, horns of a steer, what a LOVEABLE fellow 1/4 in memory of a wonderful ride and two fun fellows, Figment and the Dreamfinder. Della didn't like it either and she wasn't as much into Figment as I. Norway and the Trolls were calling to me but we wanted to be out before the dreaded Illuminations bus crunch. Hey trolls, I'll see you soon!!! I grabbed a show schedule on the way out. Yeah!!! Off Kilter is performing but at the American Gardens Theater! WHOO HOO!

Headed out to the bus stop, which they have totally improved for the Illuminations crunch, especially the All Stars. The bus that was waiting at our stop was packed so we walked slowly and a new bus pulled right up. We waited just a few more minutes and went home! I stopped and got an autograph book at the gift shop, $5.89. I don't know what I'm getting myself into but since Katie (my niece) and I had so much fun getting autographs at Disneyland last August, I'm going to get autographs for her.

Got settled in, Della ran down to the Food Court and got me another coke to drink while we watched "Angel" on TV.

Don't you love first days!?!

Total spent: $387.69 (OUCH!)

Wednesday, March 1

Day Two

Happy March!!

Weather: Perfect!

I set a wake up call for 6:45 a.m. this morning. I was planning enough time, just in case transportation didn't cooperate. Our PS for Cindy's was 9:30 a.m. and the folks we were going with really wanted us there early. I figured if we had to wait 20 minutes for a bus to the MK and stop at all the other All Stars, we should be down at the bus stop in between 7:30 - 8:00 a.m. Mickey didn't wake us, but waking up in our little Homerun room was enough to get me going! We made it out even earlier than we expected, only to find an MK bus waiting for us! We even went straight there, no stops at either of the other All Stars. This luck put us at the MK at 8:00 a.m., a whole hour before the park opened ... this has never happened to us before! It was fun seeing the emptiness of the park, in the daytime. Although there were quite a few folks there for it being closed. We shopped around Main Street, which was open. I picked up a fat 2000 pen (hard to find anything without the year 2000 plastered all over it) for character signing, $2.65. I actually wanted a sharpie but forgot to pick one up before we left. The autos from Disneyland's August trip that were signed with a sharpie just look better. Oh well ...

After wandering for a while, we found a lovely bench and just relaxed in the atmosphere and the warm Florida sun. We watched the official opening and the giant Dumbo rush but didn't take advantage of the non lines because we were still awaiting the arrival of Brenda and Richard. We probably would've had time to pop on a few of the Fantasyland rides but were worried we'd miss them. Knowing what we know now, we would have because 9:00 came and went, 9:30 came and went, finally I went and checked us in at the desk. They told us there would be no problem waiting for the rest of our party. As we were waiting, Suzie and Perla (Cindy's mice friends) came out and were all alone, I took advantage and got the very first of my autographs. I have to admit, I was a tad bit embarrassed at first but good heavens, was it ever fun! I think I'll like this autograph thing!

Richard and Brenda finally came running through the castle at 9:45, they are staying off property and had some trouble with their shuttle driver. We told the CM at the desk that we had all arrived and they took us right in the waiting area, how cool is this!?! We were actually called to be seated right away, I was worried I would miss the Fairy Godmother but they assured us that we would meet her. So we wound our way up the spiral staircase that I've read about so many times but never seen for myself ... I love this place! We walked in the main dining area and Della and I immediately fell in love, with the place and Prince Charming! There were breakfast pastries; muffins, rolls, croissants, etc. that we could help ourselves to at the table, they were all very tasty. Our server came and told the Lords and Ladies of the table what was being served and how the character greeting would take place. Unfortunately, everything happened so soon that we didn't tell her about our vegetarianism. Within just a few moments orange juice arrived as well as a huge plate of food. We loved the French toast! For those of you who don't know about this French toast, it's got cream cheese in it ... yum! As a side note, Richard ordered both breakfasts and was charged for only one. So those of you who want the toast, bacon, etc. but would like some of the healthy choice bfast, you can order some of each. Needless to say, he didn't even put a dent in any of it.

The characters all made their rounds and were all so very nice and personable. We met Cinderella, Snow White, Jasmine, the Fairy Godmother came, and of course that handsome Prince Charming. We're not sure whether he was Snow's Prince Charming or Cindy's but Della and I would be very happy to take him off her hands! Funny side note, Della and I were both getting our picture taken with him, Richard was taking the picture and for some reason he couldn't figure out how to work the camera ... so Della and I were arm in arm with him, one of us on each side for a long time while Richard was trying to get the camera going. Of course, we didn't mind a bit! I mentioned to the Prince that this wasn't planned ... Della added that we could've planned it! What fun!

Breakfast was fab! We were full and we had a total blast with the characters! By the way, the Princesses all used a crayon to sign with and they turned out really good. The breakfast was $18.00 with tip, but well worth it! I must admit I had a coke, it was included in the price and was marvelous! It was all frosty and icy in a chilled glass. NEW BEST COKE! Every year I rate the best Coke in the "World." Previous winners are Port Orleans, Lotus Blossom Café, and the Tusker House, but Cindy's is by far the best! We left and bid our fellow Utahns a fun trip. What a perfect beginning of our vacation ... a new tradition for us!

It was a beautiful day when we walked out of the castle, crowds were starting to grow though, so we decided to hit the Haunted Mansion and exit stage left. We waited just a few brief moments to be ushered into the stretch room. I love the Haunted Mansion so much! It's my 'can't miss' at the MK. After visiting my specter pals at the Mansion we headed out by way of Adventureland, just to see if Pirates was for sure closed. It was. Drat! So we left the Kingdom of Magic and made our way to the Kingdom of Animals. We took a monorail to the TTC, no front cab seats available, then a short wait for a bus to DAK.

Once we arrived, we made a beeline to Africa and got fast passes for the safari. Thanks to the trip reporters who let us know our room key would work as well as our annual passes ... mighty helpful tip. So we got two fast passes each, just in case we'd be able to go twice in our allotted time. I grabbed a Coke from the Tusker House to drink while watching Tarzan Rocks. I remembered reading a trip report that mentioned eating in the theater, so I thought it would be okay and it was. The Coke wasn't as good as it was last year but it was still tasty. We arrived about 15 minutes to show time and the theater was packed! I'm certain the Jungle Book show didn't ever bring in this kind of crowd. We ended up sitting in the very back bleachers but I was on the look out and when they opened a handicap row - I was there! I was even sitting on the new bench before Della even noticed I was gone! She found me and we had a decent view of all the action going on. While we waited for the show to start, we chatted with a CM who was visiting the park and watching the Tarzan Show which she'd be ushering starting next week.

The show was pretty good. It was fun seeing Nakawa from the Festival of the Lion King as the lead singer. I guess we won't be seeing him in the Festival this year, what a bummer! The show itself was a vast improvement from the Jungle Book Show. Tarzan only makes a brief appearance (darn!), but the stunts were neat. Loved the bladers and Nakawa but the dancing was odd as well as their costumes. Marvelous music though! Can't go wrong with Phil's tunes! We decided we'd come back and sit closer but we weren't terribly impressed.

We quickly made our way back to Africa for our fast pass safari time. We walked through the entire queue, but there was no one in the stand by line either. There were tons of people at the fast pass machines, I wonder if they even checked the stand by wait time? We noticed that quite a few times. The safari was great though. "Safari Megan" was our guide and she was very good. She slowed down enough for picture taking and good viewing of the animals, and was our smoothest driver yet. There were tons of animals out, even the lion and his lioness (Simba and Nala) were resting on Pride Rock. Funny thing is, I didn't take any video because I have SO much footage of the animals but wished I would've taken some.

We skipped Pangani and made our way to Camp Minnie Mickey for the Festival of the Lion King. We were sat in the giraffe section. No crocodile! Every year we seem to see the same guy playing the crocodile at least once. I quite like him and was looking forward to seeing him, but he wasn't there! What a disappointment. As a side note, it was fun to see my crocodile man in the Animal Kingdom sing-a-long! But a pretty good show. Not the best, not the worst. I suppose once you find a cast that is so incredible, it's hard to replace them. I must admit, I always cry every time I hear Circle Of Life. Shhhhh .... everyone listen ......

It was now time to move over to the Studios to watch ... the Quasi show! YEAH!! Again there was a bus waiting for us. We had missed the 4:05 show so we made our way to the Hollywood Tower Hotel ... I LOVE THIS RIDE!! It dropped us more times than either of us remembered. What fun!! The Tower, by the way was a walk on, and it was like 4:30. We decided to check out the line for the Rock 'n Roller Coaster, the CM said it would probably be about 15 minutes. Della didn't want to go on this one and I didn't force her. She's not into coasters, especially inverted ones. I met a guy and his son that I ended up chatting with in line. What a blast! It was a very short ride but packed with fun and very imaginative! The scenery was neat and I really liked the Aerosmith association. I was waiting for a big drop but it never came ... It was getting close to the time for Quasi so we made our way over there, stopping for a chocolate-covered strawberry at the Villain's candy store. Della treated, they were $2 a piece, but very tasty.

We got to the Backlot Theater early enough to get a fabulous seat and started a conversation with a very nice lady and her daughter, Annette and Sarah. They both are very well known in the theaters at the Studios and they love the Quasi show. They had a wealth of information about the different Quasis. I found out that my Quasi's name is Robby ... ahhhh, Robby! It was so fun chatting with them. The daughter, Sarah, is even going to be a CM. She is friendly with Four For A Dollar, who perform the pre show at the Beauty and the Beast show. She said that they will only be doing the pre-show for the first show tomorrow, so we'll hit that first thing in the a.m. We exchanged email addresses and I was promised they'd keep me up on things. Thanks Annette and Sarah!

The Quasi juggler pre-show came out and it wasn't Matt ... this is a first. We were so excited to actually see someone else. The juggler was Randy, and boy is he ever cute! His show was really fun, especially since we both participated in a way. First of all I tossed the bowling pin to him and then Della did the same but with a twist. Randy threw one to her and she was going to throw one to a guy across the runway, and he was throwing his to Randy. Very confusing, but it worked out well. Della was so impressed, she gave Randy a kiss. Well, Randy pointed for her to kiss his cheek, then he turned so instead she planted one right on the lips ... she was very embarrassed! Lucky for me, I have the whole thing on film!! We wooed Randy ... liking him a ton! We hoped to see him more, but for some reason, we never did. Which is interesting when you see how many times we went to this show!!

Then it was time for the show to start, butterflies were flying in my stomach ... I'm here!!! The Clopin was amazing and had the cutest dimples, he quickly became my favorite Clopin, we'd later find out his name is Shawn. Frollo was played by last year's Phoebus, kind of hard to get used to at first but I didn't like him as Phoebus, as Frollo, he was pretty good. Esmerelda, I didn't care for, she just couldn't compare to last year's Esmerelda. Now, the important part ... Robby wasn't there ... but Aaron was and he became a fast favorite! It was sure fun to talk to those gals ... any info that I can get on this show, is great! We were so excited. The show was amazing, even without Robby. It's our first day!! Oh and I know who to ask for tomorrow ... Robby!

We thought we'd hit the Great Movie Ride on the way out and who would've thought, we walked right onto the car! We got the cowboy side, without even asking, usually we get the gangster side. We both noticed they had added some new footage in the film finale. It was kind of fun to see some new shots. It was getting close to the time that the park would be closing and I wanted to be back to the room by 8:00 for TV shows. I feel bad, this could've been the day that we hit all four parks in a day but there were shows on that I didn't record at home. On the way out I treated us to a carmel apple to eat while watching TV, $3.50 a piece.

We then caught the bus that was actually waiting for us and went home ... I decided that I was sort of hungry so we shared an individual cheese pizza, bread sticks and fries, $4.11 each. The food from the Sports food court left much to be desired. That was the only thing that I think lacked from the Sports. If their food court was a touch tastier, hands down, this is the place to stay ... I know, I didn't want to stay here in the first place but I LOVE IT NOW!

Della called housekeeping and requested an iron and ironing board ... her clothes were just too wrinkled! So they brought them up along with more pillows and we watched the shows while eating apples and Della ironed. What a perfect day!

Total Spent: $34.15

Thursday, March 2

Day Three

Weather ... perfect, again. Can this last?

"The Adventures of Della and Lindy in their quest for Robby ..."

We slept a little later today. Our plan was to hit the Beauty and the Beast show first thing this morning, in order to catch Four For A Dollar. So we got all ready and popped on the awaiting bus and went straight to the Studios. There were times that the bus made stops at the other All Stars but we couldn't figure out the schedule. We were always first picked up and first to be dropped off, though. Huge perk!! We made it to the Theater of the Stars in plenty of time but followed huge droves of dance groups. The parks (and the Sports) were full of dance groups this time. We also saw literally tons of South American youth groups. Fortunately, we were able to find a great seat up close though. We loved Four For A Dollar ... we wished they would've sung longer! The main show on the other hand was a tad bit odd. It was no where near the caliber of the Quasi show. I've got to tell you, Gaston was way handsome and if this girl were Belle, I'm afraid the show would've ended very differently! This show, although it was a cute and colorful show, next time we'll leave after the pre-show.

Getting out of the theater was another thing. I wanted to hit the first Quasi show, which would be starting in like 10 minutes but I didn't think that we'd make it. We booked! We missed Matt's routine and there weren't any really fantastic seats left but I was watching and when they opened up a reserved row, we were there! This was one of the best moves of the whole trip! Because when the curtain was pulled and Quasi was ringing those bells ... that was my Quasi! Robby! Shawn was Clopin again and the good Phoebus, last year's Frollo and yesterday's Esmerelda but nothing else mattered because Robby was there! It was a fantastic show and one of my trip highlights. I got up the nerve to ask one of the ushers when Robby would be performing next. She told me the 2:00 show. Guess where we'll be at 2?

I had made a priority seating at Sci-Fi for 11:30 so we made our way over there, me floating on Cloud Robby! We were taken right away and were parked in the back of the Drive-In. We ordered the veggie sandwich with fries to share and I had a Coke. They changed the sandwich, which used to be called, "They Grow Amongst Us." We loved that sandwich! The new one just didn't measure up. {One question, why does every vegetarian dish have to have huge Portobelo mushrooms? I'm afraid I got totally sick of those guys! Does Disney have some sort of a contract with the Portobelo mushroom farmers of the world?} It's always so much fun to eat at the Sci-Fi but we just didn't like the new sandwich, looks like we won't be going back in the near future. $9.50 was my share of lunch.

After lunch, we visited Kermie and Company since Robby wouldn't be doing the next show. When we got out of Muppetvision we sauntered around New York Street a bit and stumbled on a slew of characters including, Darkwing Duck, Frollo, Jafar, Chip and Dale, Meeko, Pluto, Pinocchio and the Tweedles. This character thing is pretty fun after all, I was running around getting them all. They were all really into their characters. Jafar and Frollo were actually very intimidating! While I was getting autographs, several of the characters were interacting with Della who was waiting for me on a planter in the sun. I guess sometimes you don't have to go to the characters. They'll come to you.

We waited around and headed into the theater as soon as they opened it up. I got the camera all ready - this time I'm recording the whole show! Matt came out and did his routine, he actually had a couple of new jokes! I was all set with my camera but it was Aaron, not Robby. I was very disappointed but it was still a wonderful show. I stopped recording (which I regret greatly!) We talked to the CM and she apologized and said she must've been wrong, to come back to the next show and Robby would be doing that one. So we meandered over to the Backlot tour, which we haven't done in three years. It was a tad bit different then we remembered and is fun to do every other year or so - not something we'd do every year. We got out in just enough time to get seats for the next Quasi show. I think I'm already getting a tad bit tired of Matt's spiel. Again I had the camera ready but was EXTREMELY disappointed to find a whole new Quasi, who wasn't good! He was just singing and saying the lines ... it wasn't like you were actually seeing Quasi like when Robby and Aaron play him. He just wasn't in character or anything. I asked the CM again. Man, am I gutsy or what? She didn't know what the situation was or why Robby wasn't working but was very nice and apologized profusely. I did ask the name of the Quasi so I could avoid him in the future ... Tom.

We hit the Tower again (no wait) before heading out. We took the boat over to the Yacht/Beach Club, then walked through the International Gateway into World Showcase. We had just missed Off Kilter so we made our way over to the Trolls at Norway. As we passed Italy we saw Gideon, the talking cat from Pinocchio and got his auto. We had a hard time squishing through the folks lined up to watch Tapestry of Nations but managed. We waited just a few minutes and before we knew it, were in the Viking ship. "Yu are not ze first to pass zis vay ..." Love those trollies!! We stayed for the movie, which I'm very fond of. We stopped in the store to look at the trolls - it's a tradition for me to buy a troll each visit but I'm having a hard time deciding, I'll have to think about it some more.

We were pondering eating in Mexico but the place was mobbed. Decided to just go back and wait for the boys to start. We got great seats up front, right in front of Mark! I just wish he wouldn't shave his head, he's so cute but much cuter with more hair. It was great seeing them on a real stage with backrest benches. The fire and fireworks were a great addition as well! I wish they could stay here! They sounded great and even sang a couple of my favorites right off.

As we wandered, deciding what sounded good for dinner, I spied a table in the African Outpost. I thought it would be a good spot to watch Tapestry of Nations. So I saved the table and Della went to get some Chinese from the Lotus Blossom. The food was great! We had the vegetable lo mein and we split an order of fried rice and picked out the ham, we each paid $6.86. She got us ice water, which was delish. By the way, glasses of ice water are free. I saw so many people drinking bottled water for $2.50 a pop but if you don't mind tap water, an icy glass is free. After I finished my water, I was in need of a Coke, so I ran over to the counter service at the Outpost and got me one and Della some more water. Coke was $2.00 for a large.

Tapestry of Nations started and I must admit, I wasn't impressed at all. We both thought it was odd. There was a cute drummer though and I loved the music. Hey ya, hey ya hey ya, hey ya hey ya, heeey hey ya. We left before Illuminations because we were both getting a little cold. Well, I was getting a little cold, but Della was freezing!

Back to the resort and to bed, watched a little bit of Diagnosis Murder before falling asleep. That Charlie Schlatter is just too cute!

Another great day at WDW!!!! ROBBY!!!!!!!

Total for the day: $18.36

Friday, March 3

Day Four

Weather ... Perfect (I sure could get used to this!)

E Ticket Night!

Today we decided would be a Rainforest day. We slept a little later, knowing that we had our E night tonight and arrived at Animal Kingdom at 10:30. I asked at the elephant when they would open for lunch and they said, right now. We got a table right away, in fact there was hardly anyone there. We ordered our Plant Sandwich and my beloved Forest Flatbread. Our server was the best one that we've ever had at a Rainforest! Our food arrived and as much as it was still very tasty and the portions still huge, it just wasn't up to par. This sandwich changed, too, what's up with that? Didn't like it as well either. The flatbread was still marvelous, but wasn't quite done, the cheese wasn't all melted. My total was: $13.22. I'm afraid it was a tad disappointing. After praising our server, we looked at the store and I, of course, found several shirts that I liked.

We moved on into the park, one thing that Della has been wanting to do ever since Animal Kingdom opened was the bird show, Flights of Wonder. I guess I just have never really been up for it but she's been so cute going to all of the shows that I want, I caved. We went in about 1/2 hour prior to show time and had second row seats. I'll be honest, I loved it and Della said that she is now happy for the rest of the trip now that she's seen the bird show. It was very well done, and the birds were all very cute. The bird with the lizard is my favorite! All the birds performed wonderfully, the parrot sang us two different songs and it was awe inspiring to see the bald eagle. I wish that I would've taken some video, Della loved it so much!

After the birds, we moved onto Tarzan. We got third row seats right by the runway, since we were sitting so far away last time, we thought we'd try for a close up view. Unfortunately, Nakawa wasn't there but the very muscular Tarzan was there swinging about. This show isn't one that I would go to repeatedly, but once, it's pretty neat. The music is amazing, though! Felt the need for a Coke and so I purchased a 20 oz. Coke for $2.50 ... ouch! As we were sitting there waiting, we saw several parents using that, "Tarzan would want you to sit nicely for his show." Amazingly enough, it worked. We also heard, "Tarzan will be out soon, honey, I promise." They shouldn't have promised because it's quite a ways into the show before Tarzan even makes an appearance. I really think he should be included a bit more, after all, it is his show.

The crowds so far have been very doable but today it was downright packed! We went over to Asia to walk through the trek but there was no room to move! I did manage to say hello to my bat friends. The tiger area was way too crowded, so I said, "get me outta here!" We made our way out of the park, stopping only to pick up one of the shirts I liked from the Rainforest, $15.89. We took a bus to the Yacht/Beach Club and walked to EPCOT via the International Gateway. We went straight to the American Gardens Theater, Della stopped for a moment to pick up a Khaki Gori for us from Japan and I saved us a seat up front, on Mark's side. Love these guys! We have noticed that Jamie seems to be a bit more hyper than usual ... a few too many beers in between shows? The Khaki Gori was yummy and Della's treat. We were going to stay for two of their shows so we found a table outside the American Adventure and Della wrote postcards while I just soaked in the atmosphere. After the kiltmen, we stopped to look at the trollies again before we walked out of the park. I think I've almost made my decision ... almost. We took a bus back to All Star Sports so we could change into jeans and grab a sweater before heading over to E Night at the MK.

Now, I have to explain. Before we left, I took a bunch of notes from different sites on the Net. I had in my notes that the MK closed at 8:00 p.m., it was a Friday. I was planning to get to the MK just prior to closing, maybe do a couple of non E ticket things or get a bite to eat. As we were getting ready, I looked at the MK schedule and they close at 7:00 ... oh, oh, it's 6:15 now! We hurried and probably had our longest wait for a bus, about 15 - 20 minutes. I was getting a tad bit worried because last year we waited for about an hour and a half for a bus to take us to the MK for E night. We got there, traded our tickets for wrist bands and headed for the egg roll cart. Nope. It was already closed. Everything was closed. I remembered last year when we had nothing to eat before E night and I was a little grouchy, so I thought we should just get some fries from Pecos Bill's to sustain us, $3.28 for two orders.

We then started our E Night, not very systematically because we kind of zig zagged our way around the park. We started out with my buddies, the Country Bears. I just love those little guys! We then walked right on the Haunted Mansion ... love it at night. Next was Big Thunder, which we waited just about five minutes and we were in the back, yes! We thought we could cut through the Caribbean Plaza, but no go. Back, back, back ... made our way to the hub and stopped for pictures and autos of Winnie and Minnie. We then walked right onto Buzz ... we really got into Buzz this year in a big way! I scored 43,000 points this time, much more than Della, he, he (gloating!) We then waited about five minutes for Space Mountain. After a bit of discussion we ran back over to Buzz to see just who really scored the highest. It was a walk on again. This time I found the 100,000 point target and hit it till I was maxed. My score was 999,999. Yes, I am the best! And that had nothing to do with luck ... skill only!! Just kidding, it had EVERYTHING to do with luck! During the rest of the time, I was steering which turned out to be quite the experience! With all my spinning, Della could never hit any of the targets, well, except for the guy in the rocket behind us who was having the same problem. I have a new favorite at the MK ... Buzz Lightyear's Space Spin!!! The dance people were holding their awards ceremony in Tommorowland's theater tonight ... Man, I've never seen so many pre teen dancers in my life!

E Night was quickly running out so we made our way to the other end of the park again to do Splash Mountain. We saved it for last just in case we got wet. We did get quite wet but had a blast. We managed to salvage our sweatshirts, so we took off our tee shirts and just wore the sweat shirt, that way our tops were dry at least. We had enough time to do one more ride, I picked Haunted Mansion. We were pretty much alone on it this time, I think there were about five other people in the stretch room with us. On the way out through the hub, we snagged Goofy's auto. We peacefully walked down Main Street, stopping to get a cookie, which was marvelous and Della's treat. On the way out of the bakery we ran into Gilda, a fellow radper ... what fun to meet all these fellow Net folks! She said to email her and she would send me a green Internet pin. A funny thing, she saw my radp button and said, "do you go on radp?" I thought she said, "do you go 'unwrapped'?" It took me a few minutes to get it right. Yes ... I was tired. Thanks Gilda, it was nice to meet you!!

This was by far the funnest E Night and the best few hours I've ever spent in the MK. I know, we didn't set foot in the Studios and didn't see a Quasi show. I'm feeling the withdrawal too. A perfect day at the "World" ... I LOVE THIS PLACE!!!

Total spent: $34.89, including the Rainforest Café shirt.

Saturday, March 4

Day Five (They are slipping by so quickly!)

Weather ... perfect again, what no rain at all this year?

I can't believe how fast the days fly by! I'm already feeling sad, we're already on the down hill slide of our trip ... BOO - HOO!! Earlier I spotted a girl on the bus that had some really cute black flip flops on with a Mickey head on each shoe. I loved them so much, I asked her where she got them, she said in the pool area on a cart. Each day I looked for them but when we left the cart hadn't opened yet and when we returned the cart was closed. Today, the cart was open so I took the opportunity to grab a pair, $19.26. Della ran them back to the room while I spent some time sunning on a lounge chair by the pool. Where several of the dance girls were sunning their near naked preteen bodies. When she returned, we hopped a bus to the MK, first stop was to get fast passes for Pooh. The time would've been perfect but when our passes came out it showed a different time, which would be right when the meet would be taking place. What a bummer! We made our way over to Tommorowland to see Carousel of Progress, unfortunately it doesn't open until 11:00 so we killed some time on the TTA. The park had only been open for about an hour and a half, but it was packed!! Being Saturday, and an EE day probably had something to do with that but what a contrast from last night. After the TTA, we waited for about 15 minutes for the Carousel of Progress, which was a "must" for Della. We walked over to Pooh again but the fast pass time would run into our Liberty Tree Tavern PS. Oh well ... so much for Pooh! We meandered over to Pecos Bill's for the meet ... I can't believe I'm here for a meet. Thanks Rob! We got over there and Marta Metcalf was there, then Rob arrived and Bruce (what a celebrity!) Then a few stragglers arrived, Mickeymom and her family, and John. Bruce said that Joe Hurley was sick and wouldn't be able to come, poor Joe ... hope he felt better soon! We didn't stay for lunch or the Splash Mountain ride. It's amazing but even in a week, we weren't able to do everything we wanted to do, and we needed to eat at Liberty Tree, and this would be the last day at the MK for us. Meeting everyone made up my mind for sure. I WILL be at the big meet in December! It was so much fun to actually meet folks that I knew from the boards ... Thanks all!!

Our PS time for the Liberty Tree Tavern came, so off we went, bidding adieu to my new buddies! The place was mobbed but since we had a PS we only waited about 10 minutes. We sat in the Betsy Ross room and had the Capitol Idea and Tavern Fried Cheese, splitting them both of course. When they brought out our Capitol Idea, they split it on two plates but it looked like we each had our own. We couldn't even finish the halved portion. I also had a Coke, very yummy! Liberty Tree has wonderful bread that they give you with apple butter and honey butter. They even brought us out a second basket. It's definitely worth going for the atmosphere (Della's favorite restaurant on property) and for the bread. My share of lunch was $11.37. Coke was also very good! Next was the Hall of Presidents, Sam the Eagle, I mean Della just loves those patriotic shows! It was a nice rest for me ... especially after that big lunch. It also started to sprinkle a little when we went in but really didn't amount to anything since it was sunny and dry when we got out. We thought about hanging around for Pooh but I wanted to get to the Studios, remember I had no Quasi yesterday. Even though we were so full from lunch Della bought a bucket of carmel corn in Liberty Square to save for later.

We took the monorail over to the TTC and the bus to the Studios. While we were waiting just a few minutes for the bus, we were watching guests come and pick up their dogs from the kennel. I wanted to go and pet the dogs but didn't know how the people would feel about that. I'm missing my doggy far too much!

Once we got to the Studios we went right over to the Backlot Theater. I asked the ushers about Robby and no one seemed to know but everyone was looking for CM Judi. When I found Judi I found the answers to all of my questions. Unfortunately, Robby hurt himself at that show we saw him in on Wednesday. He'll be out for several weeks!!! GREAT!!! Judi did tell me who would be playing Quasi for these last two shows though, what a pleasant surprise to find that cute little Aaron would be doing the first and Tony the second. We've heard a lot of good things about Tony, so we were excited to see him. She also said that when Tom performed, it was his first time and so I guess I shouldn't have been so hard on him. I don't think he was ready yet, but with Robby out with ankle trouble he had to go in. Thanks for all your help, Judi!! Matt was the juggler again, I think we could both quote his show verbatim by now. No offense to Matt, we love you but, we want Randy again.

Gotta love Aaron! Watch out Robby or you just might be replaced ... nah, I don't know if that's possible but it was nice to have a really good replacement for him. New Phoebus (didn't like him as well), new Clopin who was no where near as good as Shawn but still very good. Our favorite Esmerelda was there today though, and Aaron was marvelous!

This was a really fun show, not only because the show itself was wonderful but there was a little girl in the audience, about four years old and she was adorable. When Frollo's about ready to light Esmerelda on fire, she yells out, "NO NO!!" Then when everything's all happy she yells out, "YEAH! Quai saves the day!!" She was like this the whole show, Aaron was really cute with her at the end of the show. He even gave her a kiss ... do you think if I did that ... ? No never mind.

In between shows we went over to the Buy the Book store and picked up some post cards to write, I know here it is day five and I'm just now getting post cards. I really don't get into writing post cards but I know that the nieces and nephews and the folks at home like to get them so I got some, $6.24 for post cards and stamps. The next show was basically the same except with Tony playing Quasi. Now, I'm a Robby person and fast becoming an Aaron person, so ... I didn't really like Tony. It's just Robby and Aaron are so good, it hurts the mediocre people.

We traveled over to EPCOT, again via the boat and the International Gateway. Saw an Off Kilter show ... ahhh, kilts! We thought some spring rolls from the Millennium Village would just hit the spot, so we wandered over there. I stopped dead in France though, when I spied Phoebus ... HELLO PHOEBUS!! Oh and Esmerelda and Cinderella too. I have Cindy's auto already but what fun to chat with the adorable sun god! I, by the way, got my picture taken with him too ... can I take him home with me? I was in line to get Es when the CM started ushering them away, she gave me her auto though and I think finished out the line that was there. She was very cute, and made us all sing Happy Birthday to the little girl in front of me.

After spending time with my pals from Hunchback ... we meandered over to Millennium Village, which is very bright and sort of out of place, nestled in between the very classy Canada and the UK. We weren't really interested in any of the displays, Della liked the looks of the dancing going on in the theater but it was totally packed. We found the food court area and the Asia stand, ordered the spring rolls and got a Coke (canned for a lot!) with an EPCOT 2000 mug ... I just had to get it! Cost for spring rolls, 2000 mug and gold in a can, $8.00. Those spring rolls were fantastic!! Next time, we'll get a glass of ice water before going in, the sauce was super hot, but yummy! Headed out, and caught a bus home. We had the best bus driver in all of our week, what a fun guy, wish I could remember his name. We did some laundry ($2.00) and popped some popcorn to eat while watching The Others before hitting the hay.

Again ... another perfect day at the "World." I don't think I want to leave ...

Total spent: $46.87 including flip flops, post cards and laundry.

Sunday, March 5

Day Six

Weather ... perfect again.

Today our first park was to be Animal Kingdom, we headed straight back to see my bats without crowds. It was perfect timing because they had just put out their food and were eating and fighting over who got the biggest bell pepper. Even though I vowed not to take any video of the furry friends, I ended up taking a bit of them, quite a bit actually. There was one bat that was gathering all the best fruit and veggies and standing guard. There were a few that were willing to stand up to him and take a piece, but not many. We moved over to the tigers but they were just napping, so we took some pictures of them and left the trek. There was the cutest monkey that was just singing at the top of his lungs at the entrance to Asia. They must've had a microphone set up because he was loud. We had brunch at the Flame Tree BBQ, a favorite of mine. We had the salad in a bread bowl without the turkey and some of their potato wedges ... yummy, one of my favorites in all of WDW. Total for lunch was $10.86.

We then made our way to Africa and got a fast pass for the safari and made our way over to the Lion King Theater. We got to sit in the lion section this time, my favorite Lion King viewing area. Again, no crocodile man (DRAT!) but a pretty good show. Man, was Kiume ever 'masculine and strong'! He flexed and wow, did he ever have a bicep! I guess no cast will ever measure up to the one we saw the first time, three years ago. Next, back to Africa and another safari. The safari was once again, one of the best we've ever been on. Cindy was our guide, and we saw tons of animals, but we saw several that were really close to the jeep. So close, Della just about had a cow ... again, I was recording none of this ... shame on me! As a side note, there was no one in line, but mobs of people waiting to get fast passes.

We did Pangani next and had a great time watching the youngest gorillas having a wrestling match. They were so funny that I had to record some of them ... ahem, about 10 minutes! We moved on so others could see. The adults were actually having some play time too, at least I hope they were just playing! They could've rivaled any WWF match!! We also saw the meer cats for the first time ... hey, Timon! I got a final Coke and a Snickers Cheesecake (heavenly) at the Tusker House, total, $5.25. We bid farewell to DAK and moved onto the Studios, which was packed to the literal rafters. This has been the most crowded we've ever seen it the last couple of days.

We didn't get fast passes for anything because it would run into the Quasi show times. So we just meandered for a bit until it was time to get a seat. The ushers were doing nothing for me this time, how rude! I sat in front of a reserved row and one of the gypsy girls came from back stage and met a guy. He must've been in-training for the show, I just caught little bits of their conversation so I can't be sure. He was pretty cute, though. They had a couple of sign language interpreters at this show so it was pretty fun to watch. We sat at the end of a row, just in case. Unfortunately for us it was Tom so we left. Sorry Tom, I'm hoping you'll get better with time. We walked around for a spell, just soaking in the atmosphere of my favorite park. We checked The Little Mermaid but there's no way I'm waiting that long for that show! We did get a couple of fast passes for the Tower and took a gamble on the next Quasi show. Della was embarrassed walking out the last time so we decided we'd stay no matter who it was. We sat next to the runway but we got there late so we had to sit pretty far back. I started chatting with a girl in front of me who seemed like another Quasi groupie. Turns out she's a college program CM from New York. She actually requested to be an usher at the Quasi theater because she loved the show so much but alas, they put her at the MK as a greeter. Apparently, not the best place to be. We were talking about all the different Quasis. Her favorite is Robby too. She happened to mention, "oh, did you know that Robby also does the Doug Live Show?" Lindy: "WHAT!?!" So I guess you can guess where we'll be going tomorrow? She also told me that there was a benefit show on Wednesday. One of the Studio CMs got in a car accident and the other Studio CMs were putting on a benefit show for him to raise money for his medical bills. She said that I could go with her ... but we leave on Tuesday ... DARN IT! It was fun to chat with her ... thanks Carrie Anne.

Much to our very pleasant surprise ... it was Aaron! This was in the top three of the best shows we saw (and you know, we've seen quite a few!) This one, the first one and the one with Robby. We said goodbye to Carrie Anne. I noticed a CM that had been helpful one other day and she told me that Tom would be doing the last show, so Della and I decided we'd use our fast passes for the Tower. We walked right into the library. Who should I see in the library but the guy that was sitting behind us at the first Quasi show (the maybe in-training Quasi show guy) with an extremely good looking guy. He was tall, dark and had dimples. He looked so familiar ... I couldn't stand it. I followed them into the left queue of the boiler room, this was one time I didn't mind there was a wait. I couldn't place him but I was sure he must've been in the Quasi show, I of course didn't ask. I know, what a dope! They even sat in front of us on the elevator. I was thinking he might have been Shawn because they both had cute dimples ... wishful thinking, I guess. I should've just asked! I'm such a wuss! When we got off, Della and I decided on one more ride, so did they ... Still didn't ask, even though we pretty much were behind them all the way out of the park. They knew I was watching them, but when you're that cute, you've gotta just expect it!

We high tailed it over to the Beach Club, via the boat and went right over to Beaches and Cream. We actually got to sit at a booth this time, yeah! We had just ordered our fudge mud slide, when all of a sudden the lights flickered and just about every CM in the place came over to one of the tables, the ceremony of the Kitchen Sink. For those of you that don't know, the Kitchen Sink is gigantic, it actually comes in a sink, faucet and all. It costs $20 and if one person can finish the whole thing in an hour, it's free. The guy was fairly confident and by the time we left, he was almost finished. Our slide was great! There's actually no way that I could finish a whole one by myself, Della and I couldn't even finish it all with both of us working on it. As we were walking out, I told the guy good luck and he said he didn't need any ... he was almost done! My share of the slide, $4.00.

We left the Beach Club and made our way to the International Gateway. The plan was to see Illuminations, Reflections of Earth tonight. I've never gotten into Illuminations, we've only ever seen it once all the way through but in the planning video, there's a guy says you've just got to see it ... underlined fifty times. We decided to plant ourselves in France, right by the outdoor carts. It was a great spot for us. Tapestry of Nations started and I must admit, I loved it this time! I even recorded a bit ... actually quite a bit of the cute drummer! It was an added bonus to watch the puppets cross the bridge from the UK ... I'm so glad that I got to see Tapestry again, I liked it so much better tonight. After Tapestry, the crowds herded right over to our spot, making for quite a squishy wait. The wall was blocking all of the wind so we weren't even cold, not even Della. We loved Illuminations and were so glad that we saw it. We didn't have the most ultimate view of the globe but we could see very well and loved our spot. We made our way to the buses with all the rest of the masses. We were pleasantly surprised to not have to wait only a few minutes. I was quite impressed with the new system for the All Stars at EPCOT.

Back to All Star Sports, surprisingly hungry. Della went back for my mug and I got us a grilled cheese sandwich with fries. They even put lettuce, tomatoes and pickles on it for us and was quite yummy! Total, $8.54 for two grilled cheese meals, what a bargain! Headed back to the room ... only one more full day ... WAHHHHHHHH! Della even called bell services to have them schedule a pick up for our luggage on Tuesday, which seems so FINAL.

Yup, another perfect day!

Total spent: $28.65

Monday, March 6

Day Seven

Weather ... perfect again, what more could we ask for ... um, another couple days!?!

If you haven't noticed, we've done three parks every day but day one, so we absolutely couldn't break the chain. We first went to Animal Kingdom, picked up a dinosaur for Robert from Dinoland. It was totally packed today! By the way, we named the dino Cyril. We then took the EPCOT bus, and were surprised how many people were leaving the park already, it was only 9:30. The only thing we were planning on doing was getting the dino, wonder about everyone else? The plan was to do Spaceship Earth, but the line was way too long! I guess, no Jeremy this trip. We wandered a bit and decided to wait for World Showcase to open over by the Odyssey building. We had a little over half an hour, but it was very peaceful. We called our sister on my cell phone and chatted for a while, don't you just love cell phones? Isn't it so cool to be able to call someone from ANYWHERE? I hope I still think so when the bill comes. While we were waiting, we had the schedule out determining what we would do. I wanted to do Maelstrom again and get my troll. We were going to eat at Mexico's Cantina de San Angel, see Voices of Liberty, and do the American Adventure. According to my schedule, there would be no Off Kilter, so I've seen the last of those boys for a while.

When the rope dropped most folks stopped in Mexico but our destination was Norway. It was so neat because about 15 Norwegian CMs came out waving flags and ringing bells welcoming us to their country ... how cool was that!?! They even were handing out samples from Kringla Bakery. We went on Maelstrom, watching the movie again. Then we spent some time deciding for sure on my troll. I finally decided, and now there's another sack for us to hold. Since, we're leaving tomorrow, we can't use package express, so we're holding Cyril, the dinosaur and my troll. Total for troll, $40.28, yes an expensive tradition. We back tracked to Mexico and ordered combo plates from the Cantina de San Angel. They veggized them for us, $9.54 with a Coke. It was very tasty and we enjoyed eating by the water. I wanted to do El Rio De Tiempo, so we walked right on and enjoyed our ride. Della asked when it would be redone, I thought it probably would've already been closed but who knows. There was a rumor going around that this would be changed into a Three Caballeros ride, haven't heard anything for a while though. We made our way around the Showcase, our goal, the American Adventure and Voices of Liberty. We stopped and met Terk on the way, I'm a big Rosie O'Donnell fan, so I had my picture taken with him/her, does anyone know if Terk is a boy or girl monkey? We happened to hear that the seven dwarfs would be out any minute so we waited around and got autos of six, I guess Sleepy slept in. We were on our way again, but wait, what's that I hear? Off Kilter? Yup, they're there so I ran over and watched the rest of the show, in my favorite spot in front of Mark. After the show, we went to catch Voices of Liberty but the next show isn't until ... what? 2:30? I look at my schedule again and it ended yesterday. No wonder Off Kilter was there.

We needed to see Voices so we went in and caught the American Adventure and were going to come back. After our adventure through American history, I ran over and watched the tail end of another Off Kilter show. I just love Randy, I'm so glad he joined the band. When we first saw Off Kilter, they had a different guitarist, but Randy is so much fun and he adds so much to the band and the show! I wanted to try and find some Quasi merchandise, so we headed over to France. We were side tracked at Morocco when I saw the Genie and Della found a show with Moroccan men bending themselves in half. After I got the Genie's auto, I asked the CM if Quasi is ever found in France. She said he should be out in about 10 minutes ... YIPEE! I told Della I'd meet her in France. By the way, there was no Quasi stuff in France. DRAT! If there ever was anything, I would for sure buy it but there never is. While I watched for Quasi and Della, I got Belle's auto and she also signed for the Beast. I met up with Della and Quasi came out along with Suzie and Perla (Cindy's mice) but I already had them and Clopin. Clopin was my all time favorite character interaction ... I had such a blast chatting with him, I told him he was my hero! I loved him, what fun! We saw a whole slug of Robin Hood characters in the UK but I would've felt bad if I would've missed Voices. So I missed getting more autos but Voices were amazing! There were a few new faces and a few favorites. Great show! Off Kilter was starting a new show but it was time to move onto the Studios so I bid farewell to my kiltmen. We heard them until Morocco and then we heard the British Invasion (which we missed again) we could hear them until the EPCOT boat dock. They sounded great, I feel bad we missed them again.

We headed over to the Studios via the boat and went directly to the Quasi show, none of the ushers knew who would be performing Quasi, so we went in blindly. It was Tom again ... we didn't leave, though. Happily, Shawn was there performing Clopin. We found Judi after the show and she said that Tony was supposed to be there but he called in sick. What a dilemma, Robby injured and Tony sick. She told me that Jeremy would be doing Quasi for the last show. I would've liked to have seen Jeremy because we hadn't ever seen him but I also wanted to catch a Doug Live show to see if by chance Robby was working. I didn't know if maybe he was too injured to do Quasi but okay to do the Doug Show. I wish we could've caught them both but alas, they were at the same time.

I asked a CM at Doug Live and she said that Robby has been doing the show but she wasn't sure if he was there today. We went in and waited. I've only ever seen Doug once with my niece Katie, it was cute but I didn't get into it very much. The pre-show was very entertaining, it was a video showing the making of a Doug episode. We were seated in the theater, which was inside and air conditioned if you're hot, try a Doug show. I was a tad unsure about this, I thought it would be hokey. We sat down and a multi colored guy came out and picked some audience members to participate in the show. Four adults to play the Beets? And a little boy to play Quail Kid? It sounds pretty hokey but we were on the look out for Robby. The show started and let me tell you ... I LOVED IT! Doug wasn't Robby but for some reason, I thought he was then. It took watching the video I shot last year of Robby playing Quasi that did it. More on this later ... Doug was so undescribably attractive, and he had an amazing voice. I'll tell you I was hooked! I did record about eight minutes but it wasn't enough! If you've never seen Doug the TV show, you can still follow Doug Live. It really is a cute show!! I was just abuzz with exuberance from watching that Doug Live Show! I practically floated to the Fantasmic! Theater. We got wonderful seats just about 45 minutes prior to show time. I spent the time taking trip report notes and watching the bell hops pre show. I bought another 20 oz. Coke for $2.50 at the theater, I was totally parched. I must say that I loved the show!! Last year I was a tad disappointed because I was used to Disneyland's version but this one has grown on me. It was a great show and it had been a fantastic finale day of our trip! I was feeling very melancholy walking out of the park, thinking that this is the last time I'd see it in the dark ... I LOVE THIS PLACE!!

We took the bus to Downtown Disney to pick up the remaining souvenirs for family at home, of course we always wait until the very last day. The World of Disney store was PACKED, and it was so confusing. We thought we knew what we'd get everyone but gave up and called on my cell phone. We decided on a 2000 WDW frame for Rebecca (she'd be coming in a few weeks with her high school a'cappella choir), ear rings for Rachel, Eeyore for Katie, Daisy Duck for Kea and Goofy beanies for Corey and Elijah (the two babies.) We also got character truffles (darn cute!) and some chocolate pecan turtles for our parents. It was a very tense and stressful hour or so and I was just thrilled we were finally done. With Cyril, my share of the total for all our souvenirs was $51.16. I picked up two 2000 shirts, one which was clearanced, total was $57.25. That MKC discount sure adds up when you have big purchases, and these were pretty mild compared to some folks that looked like they were buying thousands of $$ worth of stuff. They were out of Millennium CDs so I'll have to keep looking. I was going to check the Virgin store, because I heard it's cheaper there but I was bushed and just decided I'd get it next trip.

We got a pizza from Wolfgang Puck's Express to share for dinner, it was very tasty, $4.22 each. Then we hopped a bus back home. This is the last time we'll see night this trip ...

It had been a near perfect finale full day ... if only we would've seen Aaron do Quasi again. But how can I complain ... one word ... DOUG!

Total spent: $122.17 (Including all the souvies from World of Disney)

Tuesday, March 7

Day Eight

YOU MEAN I HAVE TO GO HOME!?!

Weather: Florida ... perfect again! Salt Lake ... cold and, yikes, snowing!

Bell service came and picked up our bags to put in the storage promptly at 8:00 a.m. We checked out and went right over to the Studios for our last few hours. We were actually at a park before opening twice this trip, which is a record for us. Before the park opened, we popped in Celebrity 5 and dime and I had a new guest of honor badge made, mine got melted a few months ago and we couldn't find anywhere to have it done until now, $5.30. We did the rope drop, and we followed the bell hops to the Tower and walked pretty steady through the whole queue. It was a wonderful trip through the Twilight Zone, except it's the last for this trip ... sob! We checked the Rock 'n Roller Coaster but the fast pass machine was on the fritz and the wait was over 30 minutes, I guess once will have to be enough this time. I decided I needed a director Mickey beanie so I purchased one at the cart in front of the Tower, $7.42.

We stopped at Min and Bill's for a strawberry waffle with vanilla ice cream and whip cream, pretty yummy, Della treated. I was trying to find out casts from Quasi and Doug (remember, I thought Doug was Robby so that's who I asked for.) No go on Robby at Doug, but the one that we saw yesterday was probably there and I missed out big time ... you have no idea how many times I kick myself for that flub. We'd only be able to see the first two shows and Tony, who came but still didn't seem like he was feeling well was doing the first and Tom was doing the second. We stayed for the first Quasi ... man, will I miss hearing Matt's routine every single day. Tony was noticeably still sick but put forth a valiant effort. Shawn was there and so was the cute Phoebus from the first couple of days ... so although we didn't go out with a huge bang, the show was fabulous! Stupid me, we should have gone to that second Doug Live!! Instead we wandered over to Rosie's and I had the veggie burger and fries, Della had soup and fries. Total, with a Coke for me, $11.45. My veggie burger came out not looking very veggieish ... in mid bite, Della said, "are you sure that's not a real hamburger?" I took it back and they assured me it was but I ended up scraping the cheese off and having a non burger burger. We took a final turn of the park, me trying not to cry. I will miss you but I won't be gone long!!! I decided I needed a Spring Break 2000 mug, since we survived the massive crowds the last few days but once I got to the stand I ended up getting a Disney-MGM Studios mug too, $6.00. We stopped at the villain's candy store and I got us each a carmel apple to eat on the plane, $7.00.

We left the park, me totally dragging my feet! A bus was waiting for us and we made it back to the resort in plenty of time. We got our bags from bell services and changed into long jeans for cold Utah weather. We took turns changing so while I was gone our driver came, over a half an hour early. Della was stressed but I came back and we sped away from my favorite place on the planet. I was sauntering, being all sentimental, looking at this and that for the last time, it's good, I wasn't any longer!! As a side note, Mohamad didn't come and the guy that drove us didn't tell us his name, I dubbed him "No"homad. We didn't care for him very much, so he only got $3 tip per girl. We went in to see if we could book the non-stop flight instead of going through Ohio, but no go. So up to the gate, where we saw Penn from Penn and Teller. He was acting all big shot talking very loudly on his cell phone. He knew that I recognized him and I'm sure he wanted me to ask him for an autograph ... come to think of it, I should've had him be the final auto in Katie's autograph book but didn't. I'm sure he was deflated.

The flights were uneventful and before you know it, we're home and it was hard to believe we were even gone. Thus ends another wonderfully, fabulous trip to Orlando.

Total spent: $40.17

FINAL THOUGHTS & SUMMARY

I love it when trip reporters put final thoughts and summaries at the end of their report so here are mine ...

The next few weeks were to be tough for me to get through. Not only was I having major WDW withdrawal but I got pneumonia which turned into a really bad case of asthma and my Dad had open heart surgery, which was very scary for a week or so. He's home now and I'm majorly medicated for my asthma. We have our cruise in May so we'll be taking a September trip together and then I'll hit the "Big Meet" in December!! Amazingly enough, I loved All Star Sports so much, our ressies are for there in the fall.

Hotel - All Star Sports

I didn't have a positive attitude about this when I got my ressies, but from now on, it will be my first choice when it comes to the All Stars. We were in the Homerun Hotel which was really close to the food court, bus stop, etc. but far enough to feel out of the way. The pool at Homerun was really cute, it had Goofy pitching balls of water and the kids always looked like they were having fun. We were facing back so we got no noise from the pool. The laundry facilities were really close and convenient. The food court lacked from what the other All Stars offer but is close enough to the Music that you could probably walk over there if you wanted. It suited us okay when we went over there for something. There is also the walkway over to Coronado, which we never did but if we had more time, we probably would have. McDonald's was also just a hop, skip and a jump away, if you're interested in that. Housekeeping was great! Della called and requested an ironing board and an iron and they left it for us the entire stay. They asked if there was anything else they could do and brought us four more pillows. The CMs were all very accommodating and friendly. From the girl that checked us in, to the bell serviceman that took care of our luggage, to the cooks in the food court. We had nothing but great experiences with the staff. The bus service was always great, if ever the bus stopped at the other All Stars, we were the first to be picked up and dropped off, which was a wonderful perk. Since we're on the subject of buses ...

Disney Bus Service/Transportation

We used the Disney transportation a lot. Not only from our resort but from park to park, from the TTC and other resorts. We rarely had to wait more than just a few minutes. The longest wait for a bus was probably when we were waiting to go to the MK from All Star Sports on E night, which was about 15 minutes. The All Star resorts has marvelous transportation and is one of the big reasons we like to stay there. We also used the boats that connect EPCOT and the Studios and the surrounding resorts. They were always very timely and the skippers were great fun to talk to. It takes a little longer but is very relaxing. I heard that the walk way is finished to the Studios from the Boardwalk area resorts, I'll definitely check that out next time. There was a record set this trip. We never had to stand ... amazing!

Dining

I love to eat ... and we ate at some fun places. There were a couple of disappointments but on the most part, we had wonderful meals. I guess my biggest disappointment this year would have to go to the Sci-Fi, our favorite sandwich isn't on the menu any more and the vegetarian sandwich that replaced it wasn't very good. Maybe next time we'll go just for desert since we both love the atmosphere and the corny B-rate science fiction trailers. My favorite would have to be the Blob song. We always just order one entree and split it because we'd never eat it all. This works out very well for us and allows us to go to more fun places that are on the more expensive scale. Most of the times, we sent back some of our shared food. I'm also a very "normal" food girl, if the name of the entree is too long, odds are it's too exotic for me.

I'll always pick an atmospheric restaurant before anywhere else. I would like to see some better options at the Studios, since I seem to be there the most. I'll list my favorites and must dos in no particular order.

Favorite Dining Experiences

Cinderella's Royal Table - MK (Character Breakfast ... all you can eat)

The Spotlight here wasn't really the food but Della and I both enjoyed it. The French toast was marvelous and the atmosphere is unbeatable. It is now a new tradition for us! The adorable Prince Charming didn't hurt either ... hubba hubba! BEST COKE!

Liberty Tree Tavern - MK

A must for us, not only because the food is great, but Della is a total patriotic gal (she and Sam the Eagle are pals.) The atmosphere here is great, the bread is fantastic, the food we get is not the average and is a good change. We always get great service here, they take special care in splitting our entree and making both portions HUGE! The coke here was also yummy!

Flame Tree BBQ - AK

I love their salad and potatoes! If you go after 4:00 p.m., there's an MKC discount, it used to be all day but that's been changed, hopefully once the big Millennium celebration gets over with things will go back to normal. Our only complaint is that they charge us the same when we don't have the turkey ... what's up with that!?! It's lovely to take your food down by the water, it's always so peaceful.

Rainforest Café - AK

I was trying to decide if this one belonged on the disappointment list but I'll always love it here. The Forest Flatbread is yummy and the atmosphere is fun. The Plant Sandwich changed this year and just didn't appeal to us. Next time we'll go for two appetizers and the waffle fries.

Lotus Blossom Café - EPCOT

In a word ... yummy! It is a very inexpensive option but very tasty. I was a tad disappointed in them last year but this year it was delicious. It's also very mobile, so you can get it and take anywhere in the park to eat.

Favorite Snacks

Beaver Tails - EPCOT (Canada)

Khaki Goris - EPCOT (Japan)

Spring Rolls - EPCOT (Millennium Village) We used this more as a meal but they were YUMMY!

Carmel Apples - Disney-MGM Studios (Villain's Candy Store)

Snickers Cheesecake - AK (Tusker House)

Chocolate Chip Cookies - MK (Main Street Bakery)

Best Coke

Hands down had to be Cindy's but Liberty Tree Tavern was pretty close ... Tusker House was also very tasty but there's just something about having it served in a chilled glass glass.

Favorite Shows

I know that there is a lot said that the shows are simply advertisements for Disney movies, TV shows, etc. but I love them and they are a huge part of my WDW experience. After I saw the Quasi show the first time, I came home and bought the soundtrack and the video. Where I didn't much care for it before, it's now my favorite Disney movie of all time! Also, keep reading and you'll see what the Doug Live Show did to me. So I guess their advertising worked on me!

I know you already know the answers to this one but ....

The Hunchback of Notre Dame - Disney-MGM Studios ... This show is marvelous! No matter who you see play Quasi and Clopin but my personal favs would be Robby and Aaron playing Quasi and Shawn playing Clopin. We didn't get into the names of the other characters, if we would've had another week or so, who knows? We did have a favorite Esmerelda, Phoebus, Frollo all three Gargoyles, and gypsies. All kidding aside, this show is truly a Broadway calabur show!! I've heard of so many people that don't even know about it. It is tucked away in the Backlot area and should not be missed! It is one for all ages ... The juggler pre shows are great fun, even if you watch it ten times in a week. We saw Randy once this time and it was a highlight, and Matt almost felt like a friend at the end of the week.

The Doug Live Show - Disney-MGM Studios ... okay, stop laughing. Even if the guy who played Doug wasn't the most attractive guy on the planet, this was a fun show! I'd only seen Doug once before and didn't really remember it but it was a really cute show. The actors are all great and the show is really well done. I managed to record eight minutes of this show and I think they are the most watched eight minutes of all time!! I've since become a Doug junkie and I think in the past four weeks I've seen four years of shows. You can find it on digital cable five times a day and seven times over the weekend. I record them all while I'm at work and watch them later. I also own Doug's 1st Movie! The Doug shows are all very fun - and always have a very good message! I'll never think of quails the same again!

Fantasmic! - Disney-MGM Studios ... Hands down the most inventive of all Disney night time shows! This is a great show and should be caught at all costs. It takes up a bit of your time because you should be there 30 minutes to an hour prior to show time. Bring post cards, books, magazines, etc. to keep you busy. The Tower bell hops are pretty fun but they're hard to see if you're sitting far back. Keep in mind that they do have the priority seating if you eat at the Brown Derby or Mama Melrose's for dinner, which is a pretty good deal.

Off Kilter - EPCOT ... I have to mention my boys in kilts. They put on a pretty good show and are great fun to watch. Their sound is rock/new age/celtic/misc. but you'd be surprised at the diversity of their crowds, you see all types and all ages getting into it. Della's not a huge fan, but is always very nice going to the shows with me.

Festival of the Lion King - Animal Kingdom ... The cast we saw the first year AK was opened sort of spoiled us. They were unbelievable and we've never found a cast that quite measured up but still a great show ... how can you go wrong with that music?

Favorite Rides

Disney-MGM Studios - The Tower of Terror ... my favorite ride anywhere!

MK - Haunted Mansion and believe it or not, Buzz was a blast this time! Get it ... BLAST!?!

EPCOT - Maelstrom ... love the trolls! Since my Figment and the Dreamfinder are gone, it has no competition.

AK - Gotta be the safari, we have so much fun spotting the little animals and also Asia's trek, I could watch the bats for hours.

Character Interaction

I thought I'd just mention character interaction since I was so leery of it. This was basically my first time at WDW to even really notice the characters, outside of saying, "Man, look at that line, what a waste of time!" We even ate at our very first character breakfast, which will be a new tradition for us. I just have to say, I loved the time we spent interacting with the characters!! NOT a waste of time at all!! The breakfast was a blast and the characters were very kind and definitely in character. I got quite a few autos for Katie and I promised to keep taking it with me until it's filled. Another fun thing about getting autos and pictures is you get to chat with and stand next to drop dead gorgeous men with their arm around you. HELLO ... Phoebus and Prince Charming!! I should've got into this MUCH SOONER!

Weather

How can I put this ... PERFECT! We've never had such good weather before ... couldn't have asked for any better! Besides a few sprinkles on Saturday, no rain ... another record!

Crowds

This was a mix, the first couple of days we had no problem with crowds but then hordes and hordes of folks joined us and we had the most crowds we've ever seen. At some points it was even unpleasantly crowded, Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom (on Saturday) but we just moved elsewhere. I think they should have shirts made up that say "I survived Spring Break at WDW." Who knows, maybe it was the Millennium Celebration that brought the crowds.

We had a marvelous time! Every time we go, it ends up being our favorite trip. I can't seem to get over the WDW blues ... is it possible to be "homesick" when you're at home?

Well there it is ... I love the reports that are written very detailed that way it almost feels like I'm there with them. Therefore, I suppose you write what you like to read. Thanks for sticking with me!! Any ways, I hope you had as much fun reading my report as I do reading yours. Till the next time, which will be very soon!! See ya in the parks!!

Lindy Higham

nrdwr.migham@state.ut.us

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