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Sue Holland -- March 2000 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite, SOG)

Who/When/Where:

Who: Sue (me - 41), DVC member and over a dozen fellow aol/DVC women who left hubbies & kids at home!

Dates: March 1-6, 2000

Travel Method: Personal car

Resort: Best Inn Maingate (1st night), Shades of Green (last 4 nights)

Experience: Extremely experienced, approximately 80-100 WDW vacations since 1972, over 50 nights in Disney resorts this year. Definitely NOT a believer that WDW should be a once or twice in a lifetime trip!

INTRODUCTION:

This is the second of several Disney trips for 2000, and the first of 2 trips that will involve several online friends. Last year at this time about a dozen lady DVC members who knew each other through an aol message board took a 5 day weekend trip to WDW, with no husbands or kids allowed! For many of us, it was the first time we’d met face to face, and it was a great weekend. I was only there for 3 of the days, but had a lot of fun.

About 11 months ago some of us got to talking about returning that same weekend in 2000. At the time I didn’t plan to attend. I only had 405 DVC points at that time (later ended up adding 270 more - so I would have had enough points but didn’t know I’d be adding points), and weekends really eat up points quickly, especially when you live only 3 hours away from WDW and am able to get there for frequent trips throughout the year. I just couldn’t see using my points for a weekend! One afternoon I got an email from one of the ladies from the trip. Debbie (deseylou) knew I didn’t like to spend my points on the weekends, and had just booked 4 nights at Shades of Green at a great price, and invited me to share the room with her. It took about 30 seconds for me to decide I would take her up on her offer - we’d met a couple of times, she’s very nice, and I thought we could share a room without wanting to kill each other, lol! The rest of the ladies are staying at Old Key West, but since I’ve never had the opportunity to stay at Shades of Green (and likely won’t ever have the chance again) I’m excited to be able to experience this resort. Their transportation doesn’t sound very good, but I’ll have my car and will most likely use it more than normal because of being at Shades.

Recently the ladies started planning the trip in more detail. Most of the others are flying in, from all around the country. Many of them come to WDW less frequently than I do, so they’re much more interested in doing some of the park stuff (Illuminations, MSEP, Fantasmic, E-Ride, etc) and most tend to eat more than 1 meal a day. Also, as hard as it is for me to understand, most people aren’t interested in the Comedy Warehouse every night of their trip , so I figured I’d let the others make most of the plans and then I’d figure out which meals/meets I’d join in on. It actually worked out pretty well, I think - there’s free time as well as group time planned. It’s tough to vacation with a large group for any extended period of time, which is something we learned last year. On the first trip we tended to start the day together, had a big group lunch, and then split off into smaller groups headed to different places. It was great to have time with different people in smaller groups, because it gave us the chance to get to know more about each other.

I plan to post the report daily, and frankly that’s the only concern I have about this trip. Some days look pretty busy, and if I don’t write the report until after I return from Comedy Warehouse at night it is going to be a very late night. For me, I don’t really mind, but since I’ve got a roommate, I don’t want to be a rude guest & keep Debbie up until 3am! So, I’ll try to break away and get the day written before heading out for the evening. Darla (iluvdvc) will be taking lots of pictures with her digital camera & will be posting nightly as well. I’ll try to remember to include a link to her page - so readers can get another perspective on the day as well as several pictures. I’ll be bringing my digital camera as well, and will post pictures on a site called Photopoint, in an album I set up for this trip. I still don’t have my web site set up with links & stuff, but Darla might help me with that while we’re at WDW.

Last week I was looking at my calendar at work, and I got to thinking that if I arrived a day earlier then I could have an extra night of Comedy Warehouse shows plus be able to go rollerblading early in the morning before heading to a park. That sounded more appealing than spending a night at home, and then the morning driving, so I rescheduled my meetings from that afternoon to the Friday prior, and decided to call the Best Inn for the cheapie FL resident rate when I got home. Later that day I was talking to my friend Bob (ex-boss) who now lives & works in Orlando, and told him I was coming up for the long weekend. He invited me to stay at his house (he & his wife just bought a big house in west Orange somewhere - 4 br for just the 2 of them, lol), but it turned out they had to be in Tallahassee on the night of 3/1. We did make plans to meet at Pleasure Island Saturday night. Both Bob & Donna are the nicest people you could ever meet, and I miss not working with him - but he’s loving his new job in Orlando.

One night I was IM’ing with Darla (iluvdvc), and she’d seen the skates I have on the QVC web site. I brought my skates on the December & January trips, so she’d read about them. They’re called RollerBalls, and are like roller blades except instead of 4 skinny wheels they’ve got 2 wide balls under each boot. They’re more stable, and a lot of fun. She decided to buy a pair and we agreed we’d go skating at WDW. The resorts don’t want people rollerblading in there, but I’ve found a few areas where it is allowed and the paths are good quality. There’s a sidewalk running from All Star Movies to Coronado Springs that is 5 miles round trip, and is most likely where I’ll skate on Thursday morning. There’s also a bike path from building #55 at OKW over to & thru the Disney Institute, which is where Darla & I will skate on Friday. The other location I haven’t skated yet, but it would be the bike paths in Ft Wilderness. Some day I’ll drive over to WL, put on the rollerballs & skate to & thru FW.

I’ll be spending every evening at the Comedy Warehouse again, but each night there will be a different group of people accompanying me. On Sunday night the entire group is visiting PI, many for the first time, so we’ll likely end up in the Adventurer’s Club as well. I’m still putting together another video tape for the CW cast, so I tape what I hope will be the funniest part of the comedy shows each night. It gives me a chance to play with my toy - the camcorder - and after I get home I go through the tapes and transfer only the really great stuff onto a video tape for the cast, and then reuse the tapes the next trip. From 4 hours of tape in December and just over 2 more hours in January, I’ve got about an hour’s worth of stuff on the videotape. I’ll add to it during the March trip, and give the tape to Layden (actor at Com Wse) on a future trip - either May/June or July. I think 90 minutes to 2 hours would be a good length, but I’m real picky about what I consider good enough, lol! Sometimes the cast has done a great job, but from where I was seated I couldn’t get their faces focused right due to the lights, or sometimes I get people carrying on conversations behind me and their voices carry onto the tape. It’s fun to play around with the taping, though.

I’ll include a mention of where the rest of the ladies ate, for the meals that I’m not participating in. Last year I attended all the meals on my days because I was only there for part of the trip & needed to maximize my time with all of them. This year I’m here for the whole trip, so I’m selecting not more than 1 meal per day. I just don’t want or need to eat 2 big meals, so I’ll pick the one that has the most appeal & work around that, grabbing a light snack to tide me over if need be. You know I’ll be making a stop at the Main Street Bakery for banana nut bread. I think I may skip the chocolate covered marshmallows on a stick rolled in m&m pieces thing this trip - because there may not be time to eat it. We’ll see - I think I said that last month, and ended up buying one (& eating it) anyway .

The plans so far...

3/1 - Work, hope to leave by 2, drive to WDW, Comedy Warehouse at night

3/2 - Roller blade in WDW, shower/check out Best Inn, AK or MGM, meet Debbie at 1pm, check in to Shades of Green, Comedy Warehouse at night with part of the group

3/3 - Meet Darla at MK, others arrive later to MK, skate with Darla at OKW, late lunch with the group, MK Fireworks cruise from Grand Floridian, Comedy Warehouse at night with part of the group

3/4 - Epcot, group picture by Spaceship Earth, lunch with the group, meet Bob/Donna at Comedy Warehouse at night

3/5 - AK, early dinner with the group, PI night with the entire group of ladies

3/6 - MGM, drive home early afternoon

As I’ve seen others do in their trip reports, I’ll try to remember to mention the “plan” each day and then we can see how close the actual came to that plan.

Finally, to explain the comment about not being a believer that WDW is a once or twice in a lifetime trip - someone took the time to write me a lengthy email after reading one of my previous trip reports, accusing me of “ruining” the experience by going so often. At first I just laughed, thinking someone was being silly/sarcastic, but read further & discovered that this was a sad pathetic person seeking only to criticize everything that he perceived to be true about me and my life. So, let me clarify up front - I welcome comments/questions about the report, but am not interested in reading why anyone thinks my life is “sorry” or in any way lacking. I’ll never be convinced that’s true - so don’t waste your time . Hopefully that person will take my advice and not subject himself to another of my reports.

Ok, back to pleasant thoughts - soon I’ll be on my way to WDW!

DAY 1 - WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1, 2000:

PLAN: Work, hope to leave by 2, drive to WDW, Comedy Warehouse at night

ACTUAL: After a busy yet productive morning I left work at 1pm. I didn’t take time for lunch, so I ate a FruitFulls Bar (a breakfast thing) in the car. Once on I-4 I stopped for gas, pleased to pay only $1.35 per gallon rather than $1.42-1.44 at home. There was quite a bit of traffic on the highways, due to it being tourist season in Florida. While I don’t mind any individual tourist, groups of them are a pain! Regardless, I pulled into the Best Inn Maingate just before 4pm. Desk clerk David was working, and recognized me again. He commented it had been a while since I’d been there (November) and I agreed. I could tell he was trying to remember my name, so I kept my mouth shut & just waited...but he couldn’t decide before 2 names so I let him off the hook, lol! He asked if I was back on business again, but I told him it was a vacation this time. It’s so weird to be remembered here, and I’m not sure I’m entirely thrilled at being considered a “regular” at this place ! He gave me an available room, one that had been renovated and was on the ground floor at the end of a building (quiet). Also, the new policy is they have free local phone calls - which was great news to me! Now I can get online while working on my trip report & if I lose the connection I’ll just dial back in without racking up $.75 charges all night long.

I brought my stuff into the room, but there was no need to unpack since I’ll only be here one night. 192 west is under construction right now, which is a pain. It’s ok for the one night, but it would get very tiresome if I was spending an entire vacation out here & having to commute! I grabbed what I’d need for Pleasure Island (refillable bottle, camcorder) and drove to Dixie Landings. An internet friend (Missy) had seen a Dixie Landings pin on e-bay and really liked it, so I went to the shop and bought one for her. Missy - just send me your address in a private email and I’ll get it out to you as soon as I can get to the post office. It’s very pretty - round, with a picture of magnolias, the resort name, and 2000. It is a gorgeous day - sunny & warm - quite an improvement over the cold weather in January! I headed out to the bus stop and got on the next Magic Kingdom bus, which came in about 5 minutes. We got to the MK just before 5, and Main Street was practically deserted. I stopped in the Main Street Bake Shop to see if there was any banana nut bread left, and I saw some, so I decided I’d stop to buy a piece on the way out. My destination was Space Mountain, where I picked up a fast pass for 5:40.

That done, I wandered around a bit, unsure of where I’d end up. Tomorrowland was full of birds flying everywhere, attracted by absolute JERKS who were throwing them popcorn or doing other STUPID things to attract them. I’ve never been mistaken for a bird toilet, but there were bird “poop” marks all over the ground and I hoped today wouldn’t be my day (it wasn’t). I ended up riding Its a Small World. I didn’t notice anything new, but everything looked fresh from the recent refurbishment. The skyride is partly disassembled - the cables are down, but the stations and poles still remain. The family behind me on Small World were determined to photograph the entire ride, so it was *flash*flash* every few seconds...very annoying. Towards the end my beeper went off - Bob saying he couldn’t keep our plans for Saturday night, and giving his office phone number. I decided not to even try calling from Fantasyland, as the music is too loud near the pay phones. Instead I called from over by Space Mountain. It turns out he’s in Tallahassee (as planned) but had called his secretary & asked her to beep me to let me know asap that something had come up for Saturday night. With his job, that’s not surprising, so I told her to let him know I’d gotten the message. We’ll get together on one of my future trips, but it’s too bad I’ll miss him this trip.

By now it was almost 5:40, so I sat & people watched for a little while and then entered Space Mountain. I chose the left side, and talked to a couple in front of me who were nervous about their first ride. They did great though, and of course I enjoyed the ride. It was close to 6pm by the time I got back outside, so I decided to leave MK and get the car to drive to Pleasure Island. First I stopped at the Bake Shop and waited in line to buy my banana nut bread. When checking out, the cashier said “one zucchini nut bread”, and I didn’t correct him. Once I got outside I took a good look at it and saw it really was zucchini, and not banana! Oh well, I like zucchini nut bread also, and it’s the ONLY way I’d ever eat that vegetable. Vegetables are definitely not one of my food groups, lol.

I wanted to get a chocolate Mickey truffle for dinner, since I knew there wouldn’t be time to eat anything decent, like a chicken empanada from Bongo’s, but the line at the candy store was too long. I left MK and just missed the DxL bus and had to wait 15-20 minutes for the next one. There was a lady on the bus with 3 out-of-control kids. Actually, 1 was ok, but the other 2 were out of control. She kept telling them to sit down, or stop doing something, but they just ignored her and she did nothing. Finally the bus driver helped her out by telling the 2 kids to please sit down for their own safety, and dim witted mother told the kids to sit because the bus driver said so. In my house, Chris does what he’s told because *I* say so. At least as much as any teen does as he’s told, lol. The bus got to DxL after 6:30, so I quickly went to the car & drove over to Pleasure Island.

I parked by the AMC theater, and stopped by the PI ticket booth. I’d gotten a letter in the mail about renewing my PI annual pass, and wanted to find out if they did it as a voucher or if it automatically would start on my old pass’ expiration date. It turns out that first of all I cannot renew until my current one expires (later this month) and then I’ve got 30 days from that date to get the renewal rate, so I’ll have to do it via the mail after I get home. The cm said the renewal would start on the expiration date of the old.

It was not quite 7, so I quickly walked over to the Candy Cauldron in the West Side & bought my Mickey truffle. I ate one of his ears (ouch) and then put it in my backpack and headed to Pleasure Island. Once inside, I got in line at the Comedy Warehouse. There were 2 new cm’s working outside, and nobody in line was particularly talkative so it was pretty boring but the wait wasn’t very long. I was seated down front, but up on a bar stool (better for me than being at a table on the floor) and my waitress was Debbie. I’ve known her for several years, and she’s very nice. I ordered my Bye Bye Blues and asked her to check the schedule, and she told me Layden would be in shows 2,3&5 tonight. I ended up seeing the first 3 shows, and knew I wouldn’t stick around for #4 or #5 due to wanting to get the trip report done. All 3 shows were good, but I didn’t tape very much - barely filled up a 30 minute tape, most of which most likely won’t be kept. After the first 2 shows I immediately left & got back in line, and ended up with really good seats for the first 2 shows. Third show I was about half way back, but that was ok considering the crowd by that hour.

At the first show I was seated at the end of the row, next to a couple. First Debbie recognized me when she came to take orders, so we chatted a minute, then Carol Stine the keyboard player came out & when she saw me she said “hi, how’ve you been” or something, so the couple turned to me and said they guess I’ve been here before, lol. After the 3rd show as I was leaving the actors had come out from backstage so Layden & I got to talking about stuff for a while. He asked how things were in Ft Myers (good memory). He’s aware of the trip reports, and the online friends, and the DVC stuff. He doesn’t spend as much time online as I do, but tried chat rooms a couple times but was turned off by people who went in there bash or criticize whatever the topic was (kind of like people coming to a Disney chat & then bashing Disney). It was nice talking to him - it was kind of strange that in 3 shows I never was in line or seated next to anyone who was a talker tonight...so this was a nice way to end the evening. A couple of the other actors (Mark - he’s excellent, and I think Krista) said hi also, which was nice. By now the club was empty & the doors had been closed a while ago, so I needed to get out of there. I returned to my car & left WDW.

Traffic getting out of WDW was bumper to bumper, but I’m not sure why since it was about 10:30 and the last park closed at 9. Once on I-4 and 192 it wasn’t bad, though, and I got back to Best Inn before 11. I recharged the camcorder battery, downloaded the digital pictures, IM’d with Barb (Dizyworld) who was impatiently waiting for the trip report , wrote the report, posted it, sent the digital pics to the web site, downloaded message board stuff, viewed/documented the camcorder tape, and called it a night well after midnight.

As for the plan - I beat the departure time by an hour, so that was good. Also, I got to ride Space Mountain & got Missy’s pin. So, I’d say the day went according to plan, except I got more done than planned.

Total miles walked: 3.0

DAY 2 - THURSDAY, MARCH 2, 2000:

PLAN: Roller blade in WDW, shower/check out Best Inn, AK or MGM, meet Debbie at 1pm, check in to Shades of Green, Comedy Warehouse at night with part of the group

ACTUAL: Before turning in just after 1:30 this morning, I put in for a 6am wakeup call. I forgot to mention, I did eat the rest of the Mickey truffle back at Best Inn last night, along with a little of the zucchini nut bread. It occurred to me that readers might have thought I lived on just the FruitFul bar and the ear off the Mickey truffle all day long, and although it certainly was not a day I’d want chronicled in a health magazine, I did consume a little more than that! My Bye Bye Blues (which was not made properly, not sure what it was but something was tangy/tart) went straight to my head last night, most likely because I hadn’t eaten. But, I drank t over a period of 3 hours or so, and was not feeling any effects of the alcohol when I left PI or else I would have walked to get some food in me before driving.

I got up at 6am, dressed, and was out the door by 6:20. I was headed to the world’s ugliest McDonalds - the one over by the All Star Resorts. However, once on property I got lost and ended up in Epcot. Boy, was that parking cm surprised to see me at 6:30am when the park doesn’t open until 9! He asked how he could help me, and I explained that I had taken a wrong turn and was looking for the All Stars. He asked if I knew my way or would I like him to point me in the right direction, and I gratefully accepted his offer of directions! I took another wrong turn, but figured it out before I ended up by the MK, and ~finally~ arrived at the McDonalds! Gosh, what a journey that was! I wasn’t here to eat...I parked my car, put on the roller blades and set out skating. I did the 5 mile loop from Coronado Springs to All Star Movies, and except for a few All Stars cm’s going to work and 1 guy out for a walk I had the path to myself. There’s been a discussion on RADP about an increase of rats/mice in the Orlando area, and I did pass a dead rat under the bridge next to the McDonalds - better a dead rat than a live one, I guess, although I’d prefer not to see any at all.

After skating I returned to the Best Inn to shower and get ready for the day. By now it was just after 7:30, and I still hadn’t decided where I was headed that morning, but I was happy that I’d gotten the skating in early enough to not lose most of the morning hours in a park. For breakfast I ate most of the rest of the zucchini nut bread and had my usual white chocolate truffle cappuccino. E-mail was pretty light, so I read that also. Maria (wdwmaria) is still stalking me , and IM’d me to say I was supposed to be checking out of Best Inn now. LOL, It’s like having mom keeping tabs on me. She also wanted to know if I wore my kneepads when skating this morning, and I did, like a good girl (I took a bad fall without kneepads a couple of weeks ago, so hopefully I’m a little smarter now).

I left the room shortly after 9am, and drove to Old Key West. Traffic on 192 was bumper to bumper gridlock, and it seldom moved faster than 20 mph. Thank goodness the Best Inn is only a mile from the WDW entrance. Arriving at OKW my conversation with the security guard went like this:

him “How may I help you?”

me “Checking in” (ok, so call me a liar, it was easier than explaining what I was really doing)

him “Name, please”

me “Rice” (lol, if this name didn’t work I had a long list of others to try)

him “Oh, the Points Queen - welcome home your majesty” (ok, not really, but he did say Welcome Home) For you non-DVC people, Points Queen is what we call Darla Rice (iluvdvc) because she’s acted so many times on her DVC point addiction and has something like 12 or 13 contracts!

I was going to have bell services hold the laptop and camcorder, since they expected it to be 82 or 83 degrees today and I didn’t want to leave them in the car. Once there I did find a shady spot, so I ended up leaving the stuff in the trunk knowing it would be cool enough for most of the day.

I got to OKW at 9:35 and hopped on the very next bus that was pulling in, and rode it to Animal Kingdom. It stopped at Blizzard Beach first, and then got to AK shortly before 10. There were lots of people entering as the tram from the parking lot had just let off a full load. The lines through the turnstiles moved pretty quickly, though. It’s another gorgeous day - sunny, warm & breezy. I walked back to Harambe to check out Kilamanjaro Safari, which had a 25 minute standby line. Instead I got a fastpass with a return time of 10:40-11:40, and then walked over to Dinoland. Countdown to Extinction had a posted 10 minute standby wait, but in reality there was no wait at all - I walked directly into the pre show movie. It was a fun ride, as always, and the final dinosaur was working again, but I could definitely tell the ride had been toned down some. It seemed to move a little slower, which is good in the sense that the ride seemed longer. It’s also still jerky, but not to the degree it was before. Overall I’d say it’s still good, but a little different. I was off CtX by 10:25 and headed to Asia to see the tigers on the Jungle Trek. The Komodo Dragon was out - boy is that sucker big! He’s several feet long, and not nearly as cute as the little lizards I’m used to seeing! I skipped the bats (don’t like the smell) and skipped all birds (not a bird person), but did stop to look at the tigers. They were all sleeping, but at least they were visible. One of the females was laying on her back, belly exposed & legs spread, asleep. I found out later that she does that to cool her internal organs when she’s getting hot.

By now it was Safari time, so I headed back to Harambe. The driver was very good - some guy from Utah - and we saw lots of animals. Only 1 lion was out, and he was laying on his back just like that tiger in Asia. After the safari I was getting hungry, so I decided to leave AK in search of something other than candy or baked goods to eat for lunch. The OKW bus was at the bus stop, but I wasn’t ready to head over there yet. Instead, I got on the Coronado Springs bus (which stopped first at Blizzard Beach) and got off at the first stop, in the Casitas section. I wandered through the Casitas and took a couple of pictures, then went to the Pepper Market for lunch. They had some Spicy Kung Bao Chicken that looked good, but they didn’t have a kid’s or half-size portion so I didn’t get it. I got the child’s pasta meal - penne pasta tubes, alfredo sauce, bread, slice of cantaloupe & a small cookie for $4.51 including tax. I ate outside by the lake, and it was very pleasant. I saved the cookie for later, threw away the pasta & bread that I didn’t finish, and then headed to the bus stop to start the journey back to OKW to meet Debbie (Deseylou).

The first bus to come was for Epcot, so I got on (I would have taken any bus except MK or AK). At Epcot I went to the OKW bus stop, but I’d just missed the 12:30 bus and had to wait for the next one at 1pm. They’d changed the bus stop locations over there. On our side is OKW first, then CBR, then PO/DxL. The other section is where the All Stars are now. They’ve also put the OKW sign up that has the bus times - the bus comes on the hour and half hour between noon and 5:30; every 20 minutes at other times.

The OKW bus was on time, and I got off at the first stop (Peninsular Road) and walked over to meet Debbie at the Gurgling Suitcase. She & her husband are friends with Russ, who works as the bartender there, so she was visiting with him. She’d also had only 3 hours of sleep the night before and was on her 2nd margarita, so she was getting tipsy, lol! Oh well, she’s on vacation and isn’t driving so it’s ok. We chatted a while, and then drove over to Shades of Green. Neither of us had stayed here before, and are here this week because her husband is retired military. We parked in the self parking lot, and went inside to check in. Happily our room was ready! We got our keys and decided to go check out the room.

Our room was about 1.75 miles from the elevator nearest to the lobby, lol! People whine & complain about how far the rooms are from the elevators at the BW - people here have just as long of a walk yet I’ve never read any complaints. Walking doesn’t bother me, so the room location is not a problem. The room itself? Well, it’s spacious, clean, and should be comfortable for the 4 nights we’re here. Does it look like a Disney room? No, at least no in my opinion. The furniture is ~cheap~. There’s no other way to put it, and working in State government for over 12 years I can recognize the cheap stuff! You can’t beat the room rate, though ($87/night) especially when you divide it by the 2 of us.

There are 2 queen beds, a night stand, armoire with 4 drawers & a 25” tv, another dresser with 3 deep drawers, closet, full balcony, a somewhat separated area with a sleep sofa and the table & 2 chairs. The bathroom has the tub/toilet in 1 room, with a door separating it from the room with the 2 sinks. There’s a coffee maker & hair dryer in the bathroom sink room. Our view is the tennis court & golf course.

We went back out to the car to get our stuff, but realized after we got it all out of the trunk that it might be more than we can handle. So, Debbie walked back to the resort to get a bellman. They told her to put the stuff back in the trunk & drive the car up. I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to bother with that, and then have to go park the stupid car again, so I suggested she pick up what she could carry & I’d see if I could get the rest. By stacking things on my suitcase with wheels, and carrying the laptop & camcorder on 1 shoulder and bags of groceries in my other hand - we made it up the hill! We gave bell services most of it, except for my thing on wheels and the stuff stacked on it - it was easier just to continue pulling it than to have him take it apart. We had the slowest bellman in the world. He was like a turtle - and stopped to point out every darn thing that we’d already seen on our first trip! He pointed out each restaurant, each bar, each pool, even the machine that rents videos! I half expected him to point out the potted plants in the hallways! They’re doing refurbishment on our hallways, so that was kind of a mess too. Once in the room, the bellman has to point out everything to us - this is the closet, this is your balcony, this is your sofa, this is your tv, this is your vcr, etc! I’m sure he meant well, but I can tell the difference between the closet and the balcony, lol! At least so far I have no clothes hanging on the balcony and haven’t sat in the closet!

He finally got his tip and left, and we unpacked our stuff. Debbie was really pooped out, so after unpacking she took a nap while I updated the trip report to this point. Tonight the group is doing dinner at Chef Mickey’s, but neither Debbie nor I signed up for that. In my case, I just don’t eat enough to bother with a buffet, I don’t need to meet the characters, and I knew I’d have time to see the others at the other meals planned. Debbie knew I’d be headed to Comedy Warehouse tonight and asked if she could come along, so we’ll grab something to eat somewhere and then enjoy the comedy shows. Since Debbie’s a TDS cast member she gets in for free - which is a good thing in case she’s too tired to get a second wind later!

Debbie woke up just after I finished on the laptop, and felt much better. We talked about what we wanted to do. The parks are not a priority for either of us, which is a nice match for roommates. She was missing the book she’d brought to read on the plane, and thought perhaps she’d left it in the Gurgling Suitcase so we drove back to OKW to look for it. Russ hadn’t seen it at the Gurgling Suitcase, and the bellman hadn’t seen it out front either. We checked to see if it was in the car, but it wasn’t there either. It was about 4pm at this point, and we decided it would be nice & relaxing to ride the Trumbo Ferry from OKW to Downtown Disney. However, we needed the car to be at Pleasure Island so we could go home easily after a night at the Comedy Warehouse. So, we drove to Downtown Disney and parked at PI. We walked through the Marketplace, stopping for our free chocolate sample at Ghiradelli. We continued to the dock and saw Rufus just pulling away on our boat! I called to him and he was able to come back for us - he wasn’t sure the winds would allow him to do so, but he tried & it worked. We enjoyed the nice ride, and at OKW got off the boat, went around and got right back on. This time it was a full load, and we got to talk to some nice people (non members) who were staying at OKW for the first time.

Back at the Marketplace we stopped briefly in World of Disney before heading to the West Side for dinner. We’d decided to eat at Wolfgang Puck’s Express - we shared the kid’s macaroni & cheese ($3.95) and Debbie got a spicy chicken pizza ($7.95). The mac & cheese was wonderful - nice & cheesy. Debbie’s pizza was good, too. After eating we sat around for a little while before entering Pleasure Island. There wasn’t much of a line at the Comedy Warehouse so we walked around the block and came back - to a huge line! We quickly got in line, and once inside I saw the schedule was already up front so I checked to see who was working and which shows Layden would be in. Debbie & her husband had liked one of the Jennifers from their December trip, and it turned out she’d be working tonight. Layden was scheduled for shows #2,3&4. I suggested we skip show #1 because it was so crowded so early we’d end up with crappy seats if we couldn’t get in line for show #2 until after #1 was over. So, we left & went to the Adventurer’s Club for a little while. I was shocked - we were the ONLY ones in there! We sat at the bar - I gave the Bye Bye Blues recipe to the bartender and he made one for me. Debbie ordered the Kungaloosh, which she liked, but I like my drink better. By the time we left this club things were starting to pick up.

Back over at the Comedy Warehouse the line for show #2 had formed. I talked to cm Joe for a while, and introduced Debbie to him. We got great seats, and it was a funny show. They only did 2 skits/games because the 2nd one (Torture an Actor) took so long. It was very good though. The other Jennifer was sent outside and when brought back in had to read the other actors’ clues to realize she was in the pentagon and the saying was “It’s the size of a stye in the eye of a flea on the neck of a gnat”. She did it, too, but it took a while! We left right away but the line for show #3 was so long I really doubted we’d get a seat that wasn’t directly behind a row of people :(

We went back to the Adventurer’s Club and hung around a while before going to Samantha Sterling’s Singalong in the library. That’s always fun! It’s the only Adventurer’s Club show that I don’t mind repeating. We headed back over to the Comedy Warehouse, but nobody was really in line yet so we went to 1 shop. We weren’t even gone 5 minutes and when we returned almost half the line area was filled in! We have no idea where all those people came from, lol! We lucked out & got 2 seats about the 3rd row back (not great, but not bad). By now it was getting late, the audience was drunker and the actors were decidedly more “adult” in their content. It was very funny, and very different from the earlier shows. After this show it was 11:30 or so, and time for us to leave. We didn’t stop to chat or to introduce Debbie to Layden because he was talking to a group of 4 people already. We left PI and drove back to Shades of Green, arriving just after midnight. Debbie’s exhausted & thinks she’ll be asleep almost immediately. I’ll spend a couple of hours finishing this report and doing the online stuff. Tomorrow’s an early day, but that seems to be the norm at WDW.

The day went according to plan. I do have some pictures posted at www.photo point.com There aren’t that many yet, though. I’ll try to take some pictures of Shades of Green tomorrow or the next day, and will have more pics to take when we meet up with the other ladies. To access the pictures go to that web site and scroll down to where it says something like view members albums and enter my email address (wdw1972@aol.com). From there select the March 2000 WDW Trip. When you click on that you’ll get thumbnail pictures, but click on the first one again & you’ll get full size with the caption/description. From there you can use the arrow to advance to the next picture. I think I can get 30 pictures to an album, but I’m not sure if I’ll exceed that & need to set up a 2nd album or not. Since there are so few pictures there now you might want to wait for another day, since it’s always going to start you at the beginning.

Total miles walked: 10.1

Total miles skated: 5

DAY 3 - FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2000:

PLAN: Meet Darla at MK, others arrive later to MK, skate with Darla at OKW, late lunch with the group, MK Fireworks cruise from Grand Floridian, Comedy Warehouse at night with part of the group

ACTUAL: We’d decided last night that I’d get up at 5:30 to shower, and Debbie would take hers at 6. I think Saturday morning is going to start later than that! I’m not sure either of us were thinking clearly but we’ll see just how much time we need to get ready in the morning sharing the room. I ended up going to bed just before 2:30, and when the alarm went off at 5:30 it was quite a shock to my system - I usually wake up to music, not a beeping alarm! It woke Debbie up too, and she shut it off because I didn’t have a clue where the buttons were in the dark. I laid there for a few seconds, trying to tell myself I was feeling refreshed from my nap, and then got my rear in gear and headed for the shower!

First sign of trouble was when the spray of the water was not what I wanted (it was the pulsating thing in the middle with spray around the outside perimeter. I’d prefer the overall spray without the pulsating water beating on me, and saw the arrows to indicate I could turn the shower head to adjust it. I reached up, turned it, and it unscrewed off in my hand! The whole thing had come apart, and I ended up having to turn the water off so I could reassemble the shower head, lol! After that I decided that pulsating water wasn’t all that bad - I didn’t want to be responsible for breaking government property .

I heated up water in the coffee maker and made a cup of french vanilla cappuccino to drink while I read some of yesterday’s message board posts. Debbie read some of the downloaded posts while I finished getting ready, and we left the room about 7:20 to drive Debbie to the breakfast in Darla’s grand villa at Old Key West. It was great seeing the ladies again - only Barb (Dizyworld), Darla (iluvdvc), Pat (PatMc23), Suzy (Parcel1907), & Peggy (mhj959) were there at that time so I greeted them and stayed a few minutes before returning to Shades of Green. I ate the last small piece of the zucchini bread and quickly read the rest of the messages I’d downloaded last night. About 8:20 or so I walked over to the Polynesian (path is very easy to follow) and boarded the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. I sat in a rocking chair in front of Tony’s to wait for Darla. Our first destination was Space Mountain, but we had to wait for rope drop. Darla hadn’t ridden this in about 10 years or more, and was excited. I got us each a fastpass for 9:45 while she held our place in the standby line. This was the first time I’d used the standby line, and it was a pain waiting. Once we finally got on, our rocket started up the first hill and the ride stopped! The lights came on and they announced technical difficulties. Not one to waste time, I took out my note paper and updated the trip report. Eventually a cm came down the stairs and told us they’d be sending us through with the lights on, and then we’d be allowed to ride again immediately once they turned the lights off. Yay - this was great news! Not many people get to ride with the lights on!

Finally it started, and let me tell you - riding with the lights on was scarier for me than riding in the dark, lol! I didn’t like being able to see when a drop was coming up - I’d freak out before we even started down the hill. Darla kept getting hit in the face with her necklace. After the ride ended we had to get out to wait, and Darla got her foot caught in the car. She ended up pulling her sneaker off while leaving the rocket, and was laughing about the way her sneaker was hanging off. A cm asked if we wanted to ride again, and of course we said yes. He walked us around to the loading area & got us put on another rocket - this time I had the front seat! It was fun - and as soon as it was over I suggested we use our fast pass to go again. Darla agreed, but she was very happy we only had the 1 fast pass, lol! Afterwards she was glad we were done. She was starting to think I was trying to kill her, lol. In fact, she said “Sue, are you trying to kill me?”

We wandered around the Magic Kingdom and decided to see the first show at the Diamond Horseshoe Review. It was the same show I saw last January, and I think they do the same show 5 times a day now. I was hungry but didn’t like anything they had so I just ordered a hot chocolate. The show was great, and Darla was picked by the magician guy to help with the last card trick.

After the show we tried to contact the others via the 2-way radio things, but there was no answer. Darla headed to the resorts and I went to the Bake Shop to buy my banana nut bread. In line I noticed the woman next to me was wearing a shirt that I thought was really cute. I glanced up at her face - and it was Tina (tlfarmer)! How strange to run into each other that way! Soon the others arrived, including Donna (iluvwdw) & her sister Beth, Pat, and Dottie (ilovebskts). I got my banana nut bread & we all chatted while in line. Some really rude person came in and started being rude to Dottie or Donna - bumping into one of them and then nastily saying they were in her way! It was very strange.... We separated at that point - Darla & I headed to the monorail and the others were spending time in the MK.

We rode the monorail to the Polynesian and walked back to Shades of Green. Darla had never been there, and thought the room & resort was pretty. We grabbed my rollerblading stuff and drove over to OKW. I changed into a cooler pair of shorts & a bikini top so I wouldn’t be so hot, and Darla changed into cooler clothes as well. We put on our skates, and tried to head on out. Darla had a tough time - she was not used to the skates, and the parking lot was not exactly smooth. I was ok, but have a lot more experience with the skates. She tried really hard, though, and kept plugging along. Once we got onto the path I kept going on up ahead and then coming back. She lost her footing and fell, fortunately on the grassy part. She wasn’t hurt though, but definitely lost her enthusiasm for skating. She ended up taking her skates off and carrying them, looking forward to the smoother part of the path. I went up ahead and saw that workmen had torn it up and were repaving. There was no way to get thru, and I knew Darla wouldn’t do well over there, so I told her what I’d seen and she decided to return to the grand villa to rest. I continued skating all around OKW for a while, getting some exercise.

I met up with her in the grand villa and downloaded the pictures taken today and went online to download mail & message board stuff. Around 3pm the other ladies came back, and we all shared what we’d been doing. They were especially interested how Darla did at roller blading. She regaled all of them with stories about how I was trying to kill her, lol!

At 3:30 we all went to lunch at Olivias, and were joined by Lisa (dvcmufasa), Linda (elfriar) and Barb’s daughter Jackie (here working in the college program). I guess there were 14 of us or so. Service was kind of slow, but everyone was happy with their food. The people with AP’s who’d ordered entrees or sandwiches got a free dessert also - most people took theirs to go since time was running short.

After lunch/dinner Linda followed Debbie & I back to Shades of Green so we could get changed for the evening. Debbie & Linda went to the store while I updated the report for a few minutes. Once we met and went out to the parking lot (down the hill) Debbie realized she didn’t have her sweatshirt and hadn’t left it in the car like she’d thought. So, she had to walk back up the hill and then down the 1.75 mile series of hallways to the room to retrieve it! We drove to the Grand Floridian, following Linda. The parking area Linda used to use was blocked off for valet, so we had to turn around and use the main entrance. I pulled up to the valet, but nobody acknowledged us (Linda was behind me after turning around), and we just sat there in line. A truck on my right wanted to get out and I was blocking him, so he started beeping. I was fed up with the whole mess - I really expected better service from the GF, so I pulled away and finally found my way into the parking lot for the convention center. It turned out to be a good spot, because it was very close to the marina.

We walked quickly towards the marina and saw a cm on a pontoon boat and asked him if he was the fireworks cruise driver (thinking we were the first to arrive). He said no, but they were waiting for us and pointed to a very large boat on the other side of the dock. Everyone was already there, laughing at us for being late to arrive! In addition to the people already mentioned, Kathy (Dznynut) was there - I almost didn’t even see her as I walked past her on the boat - and it was great seeing her, as always. Jason was our driver, and was a very nice young guy. He pointed out the hidden bear built into the Wilderness Lodge (visible at night) and drove us around the entire Bay Lake and Seven Seas Lagoon area. The sunset was beautiful, but I think most of us were so busy talking we really didn’t look much at what we were cruising past. The beautiful surroundings were wasted on us DVC/WDW veterans - but we had a great time! The fireworks were nice, and we had an unobstructed view. The people who’d also done the Illuminations fireworks cruise said this one was much better. After the fireworks Jason docked at the MK so the people going to E-Ride could disembark there. Then he took the last 4 of us back to the GF marina.

We said our goodbyes to Kathy, who had to head home. Linda, Darla, Debbie & I were headed to Pleasure Island so we got our 3 cars and drove over there. It was a zoo, partly because it was Friday night and partly because it was the first night of Mardi Gras at PI. We ended up parking all the way down in front of Cirque du Soleil (almost at OKW, lol) and hiked back to PI. I have a PI annual pass so I got Darla in for free. Linda used her PAP to get Debbie in for free (on Friday nights only, before 9pm). We got inside about 8pm, and the line at the Comedy Warehouse was long but we joined in. We were seated in the very last row (nosebleed section). The waitress checked the schedule & told us that Layden was not working tonight The cast working this show were all actors that I like a lot, but this show really struggled. It might possibly have been the worst show I’d ever seen there, and if it was my first visit I might not be anxious to return. I chatted with Jim Roberts (keyboard player) on the way out, and then asked a couple of the actors if Layden would be working tomorrow or Sunday. He doesn’t normally work Sunday, and I’d told the ladies group that he likely wouldn’t be there when they come to PI on that night, but it turned out he will be working (Saturday too). This was great news, as most of them have never been to PI before, only know about it from my trip reports, and they’re dying to see Layden after reading his name in the reports. They were still excited to be coming when I said he might not be there, but I’m sure seeing someone they’ve been reading about will be a nice bonus.

After the show we went back outside and went to the upstairs bar at the Adventurers Club for Debbie & Linda to get a Kungaloosh, then headed down the street to the pin trading cart. Linda found a couple of Pleasure Island pins she wanted, and Darla went to D’Zerts and got a peanut butter cookie. The ladies agreed to go into the Jazz Club with me to say hi to Nancy quickly if she was working. I asked the girl at the door and she took us inside and we waited outside the kitchen while she checked to see if Nancy could come out. The club was extremely busy, so I knew I wouldn’t get to chat with Nancy - I just wanted to say hi. The girl came back to say Nancy would be out as soon as she could. We waited by the kitchen door, and eventually started playing with a balloon that was on the floor. We’d try to keep it in the air while hitting it back & forth among the 4 of us. Then we added a 2nd balloon - and it was hysterical! It sounds dumb now, but we were laughing like crazy & having lots of fun. We even added a 3rd balloon, and then noticed that the rest of the club was starting to hit balloons around from table to table also - we got the club hopping! Unfortunately, this one cm didn’t appear to like us very much, and told us we couldn’t stay there near the kitchen. I told her we’d leave as soon as we had the chance to say hi to Nancy, and would step back out of the way. She huffed her way into the kitchen and I can only assume she told Nancy to get out there so we’d leave, lol! Nancy came out for a quick hug but she was swamped with work and couldn’t talk (understandably). She said she’d email me after she gets off work - so we said our good byes and the 4 of us left the Jazz Club. The audience & the band liked us, even though that one cm wasn’t amused.

We headed back up the hill and got in line for the 10:40 comedy show. It was so crowded we got in line about 40 minutes early, and were about 30-40 people from the front of the line. We saw the Mardi Gras parade, which was nice - we were too far back to catch any beads or other stuff. We’d all been beaded upon entering PI and later Darla & I were given more beads by some people from Bacardi (a major sponsor of the event), and Debbie had gotten an extra set from the bank in the Jazz Club. The guy in the band threw some to me too, but the people in front of me reached up & grabbed them before they got to me. As soon as the parade was over they seated people for the Comedy Warehouse. We were right down front but on barstools, and again the cast was full of great actors. This time, though, the show was GREAT! Everything just clicked together, and it was wonderful - the way they usually are.

It was now 11:30 and we all were ready to leave so we hiked back to the cars and returned to our respective resorts & home. The day went exactly according to plan, although Darla & I got to talking about how our trip reports must be getting awfully boring to people - we rode 1 attraction (3 times), saw 1 show, and that was it for the whole day, lol! We wonder if people will be reading our reports in the year 2042 when we’re headed to Space Mountain as a couple of 83 year old women on a DVC ladies’ weekend, lol!

Total miles walked: 8.36

Total miles skated: approximately 3

DAY 4 - SATURDAY, MARCH 4, 2000:

PLAN: Epcot, group picture by Spaceship Earth, lunch with the group, meet Bob/Donna at Comedy Warehouse at night

ACTUAL: Last night (this morning) I didn’t go to bed until 3am, and didn’t even take time to read the message boards and newsgroup except for the DVC folder. I wasn’t concerned about the late hour though, because we’d pretty much agreed we weren’t going to be doing anything before the 10:30 meet for a group picture at Epcot. Rushing out to be at the park at opening was definitely not a priority for us since we’ve seen it all so many times. The important stuff was relaxing and spending time with friends.

I got up about 7:15 and Debbie was already awake. Today it’s expected to be 80 degrees again, but a cold front should keep it only in the mid 70’s for the next two days. Florida sure is tough to take in the winter . I ate some of my banana nut bread (it’s delicious) and had a cup of the white chocolate raspberry cappuccino while reading some of the downloaded messages. We tried to access Darla’s web site to read her report & see her pictures from yesterday, but she messed up the link somehow and we weren’t able to get to it.

We left the room about 9:30 or so and drove to the Beach Club. I parked there figuring that after lunch I might go to Stormalong Bay if the weather was nice (I was registered as a guest in the grand villa so I had a DVC member resort id). By the time Debbie & I walked to the front of Epcot we were right on time for the 10:30 photo meet. Unfortunately, most of the others were late! So, those of us who were on time (me, Debbie, Linda, Lisa, Darla, Peggy, Mary) stood around for a long time waiting for the rest, who arrived in two groups with the last group being over 45 minutes late! They’d gotten delayed shopping again :::sigh::: but finally we were able to get started. A terrific cm took our group photos, and then while he downloaded the pictures we did our gift exchange.

We’d agreed to each bring a $10 Disney gift, so we stood in a circle and passed the bags to the left until the music stopped - then kept the gift we were holding. It was fun, and people loved what they got (of course we like anything Disney, lol). From there we went to the camera store to look at the photos. One had cut off the “2000” on Spaceship Earth, one cut out Lisa, and one had Debbie’s arm partly covering her face. Thankfully the final one was great - everyone had their eyes open, etc - so we ordered 13 copies and after the cm discount each picture was only $7. It makes a great keepsake of our trip, and I’ve still got the one from last year on display in my living room.

It took forever to select the picture, get them printed & paid for, etc. It is so difficult touring with such a large group! Our fireworks cruise event was perfect for a large group, but trying to get anywhere from point A to point B in a reasonable time frame was impossible, lol! By now it was time to head to our noon lunch priority seating. 10 were headed to LeCellier for noon, and the other 5 were going to the Garden Grille in the Land for 1pm. We split up, and then the group of 10 got split into smaller groups as we lost people while walking! LeCellier was able to seat the 4 of us who arrived first (me, Debbie, Linda & Peggy). After we got our drinks the other 6 (Donna, Beth, Tina, Dottie, Pat, Lisa) arrived.

I love this restaurant, and tend to eat here (always getting the same thing) every trip. Our waitress was Kara and she was interested in the story of how we’d met. During the trip several cm’s would ask where we were from, and we’d say all over the United States and explain that we are DVC members who met online thru aol. They all thought that was pretty cool. For lunch I had glass of white zinfandel and cup of the cheddar cheese soup ($9 after cm discount plus tip). Some people ordered the caesar salad (chicken or flank steak), a couple ordered the special beef tips over garlic mashed potatoes, and other orders included a portabello mushroom thing, cheeseburger/fries, and I don’t remember what else. Except for the beef tips I think everyone was pleased with their food. We had no room for dessert, so we left the restaurant to go walking.

I decided to skip Stormalong Bay and spend the afternoon walking & talking with my friends. We ended up circling World Showcase during the next couple of hours or so. Several of the ladies are avid pin collectors, and so we stopped every time we came to a cm wearing a lanyard or other guest pin traders. They made several pin trades they were very happy about. I don’t trade pins, and don’t want to get involved with that, but I do own a handful that I wear at WDW (a few DVC, a Pleasure Island & an Epcot). It was a very enjoyable afternoon, and we were laughing that it seemed every couple of countries we had to stop for someone to go the bathroom. Rather than doing more because we had left the kids behind, I think we were actually going slower!

About 3:15 the ladies decided to try the single rider line at Test Track. I went to Mouse Gears to look at watches and then left the park.

I’d gotten an email yesterday from someone asking if I could check on the construction at the new DVC location at Wilderness Lodge and post some pictures. Since I would be right near there on the way back to Shades of Green I decided to stop and see what I could do. The building is still fenced off, but I could see what it’s going to look like. I think the original building is prettier than the new one, at least at this point. I’m very disappointed in the ugly red shingle roof! I knew it was going to be red/rust colored but I’d assumed it would be a nice tile roof like the existing building - not some cheap looking shingle roof. Oh well, since this location really stinks for my style of WDW vacationing I doubt I’ll be staying there very much anyway.

I drove back to Shades of Green and updated the trip report to save time later tonight. I also loaded the pictures taken today and read Darla’s report from yesterday. It’s fun to get another person’s perspective on things, but I really was NOT trying to kill her, lol! Around 6pm I was ready to head back out for the evening. Bob & Donna would not be meeting me, as I mentioned in day 1. Instead, Linda was planning to join me for Comedy Warehouse and Debbie might show up around 6:30 outside Pleasure Island unless she decides to do something else.

On my way out of Shades of Green I ran into Debbie & Pat. They were planning to spend the evening at the Boardwalk and were here for Debbie to change into warmer clothes. I waited and gave them a ride to OKW so they didn’t have to walk back to the Polynesian and then use Disney transportation to go from resort to resort. After dropping them off I drove to Downtown Disney and parked by the AMC Theater. Thinking I might be hungry for dinner later, I walked over to Candy Cauldron and bought a chocolate mickey truffle ($.69). Of course I ate one ear, but saved the rest for later. For whatever reason, nobody was allowed to enter Pleasure Island until 7pm, so I stood in line at the turnstiles. Once it was 7, my turnstile broke a few people ahead of me, so we had to change lines.

I went straight to the Comedy Warehouse and arrived at the exact same time as Linda (coming from the other direction). We had great seats down front, and it was a very funny show. Linda thought it was the best one she’d seen yet - and she’s seen a lot of them! I think the 5 actors were Layden, Philip, Mark, Jen & Krista. PI was very busy, very early tonight. I was pretty sure the line for show 2 would be very long by the time we got out of show 1, and I was right. We decided to skip show 2 so we could see the Mardi Gras parade up close and then get in line for good seats at show 3.

We hung out at the Adventurer’s Club briefly, mainly to stay warm for about 10 minutes or so before waiting for the parade. The Mardi Gras parade runs thru Tuesday at 8:30 & 10:30 each night. I taped it tonight, and kept getting hit on the head by the coins they were tossing from the floats by the fistful! The crowd went wild cheering and making noise to get beads, cups & coins thrown to them. There were several small floats, and quite a few stilt walkers - and everyone had stuff to throw to the crowd. It was really a lot of fun! Linda got several more beads, and we both got a bunch of the coins. The coins are a silver color, just cheap stuff - but one side has the mardi gras clown guy and the other has the PI logo, so I was glad to get some. I also got a cup, which has the name/logo of all the PI clubs on the side.

Once the parade was done we got right in line for the Comedy Warehouse. It was about a 30 minute wait, but necessary because everyone had the same idea and the line filled quickly. We chatted with some nice people from Maine who were in line behind us, which helped pass the time. This time we had perfect seats - the front row barstools at the counter. I was seated next to a really nice man from Michigan who’s sister works at PI. We talked with him for a while, too. This show was also very good, but the earlier one might have been a little better. This show they asked the audience if anyone was an expert in anything and the person who raised their hand said “lingerie”. They pulled the person out of the audience & sent them backstage to get ready to be a contestant on an Up Your Alley talk show about lingerie. However, this person was some young girl - she looked like she was a teenager, and the cast had to really watch what they said since she was a kid. Philip was one of the contestants, and he’s always pushing the limits (that’s what I like best about him), and Mary was another - she is great at improvising risqué or suggestive stuff. Also in the show were Layden & Megan, but I can’t remember who was the fifth person.

Neither Linda nor I were going to stay for any other shows. The line would be too long for show 4 already, and show 5 doesn’t start until 12:05. We said goodnight and Linda left, while I stopped to chat briefly with Layden before I left. After I left PI I realized I’d left my refillable drink bottle in the club, but I didn’t feel like going back to get it. I’ve got 2 more at home, so I won’t worry about the lost one. Tomorrow night perhaps I’ll order the special Mardi Gras hurricane that comes in a plastic souvenir hurricane glass with the PI logo.

I drove back to Shades of Green, arriving just before 11. Hopefully tonight won’t be quite as late a night as the last few. I recharged the camcorder battery & finished up the trip report. Debbie got in around 11:30. She & Pat had spent time at the ESPN club and saw some guy who plays on the Miami Dolphins. They were going to go to Jellyrolls but decided not to bother. They shared a loaf of chocolate crumb cake from the Boardwalk Bakery that was very good (I got a bite) and a good value at only $4.

The day went according to plan except for losing Bob/Donna and gaining Linda for the Comedy Warehouse part. I hadn’t planned on watching/taping the Mardi Gras parade, and that was fun.

Total miles walked: 8.25

Way too windy for skating today!

DAY 5 - SUNDAY, MARCH 5, 2000:

PLAN: AK, early dinner with the group, PI night with the entire group of ladies

ACTUAL: Went to bed just after 1am, and didn’t get up until the alarm went off at 6:30. After showering and having the rest of the banana bread & some cappuccino I managed to quickly read ALL of the message board/newsgroup postings as of 1am this morning! Wow - I’m actually caught up (even though I didn’t reply to anything)! It’s sunny again today, 54 now but expected to be 79 (sorry, Ian - your day will come ).

We left the room around 8:00 and drove to Animal Kingdom. After we got on the tram the guy in the back repeatedly said “no further boarding”, “please do not pass thru the gray bars”, etc - and people just ignored him! One family was running towards the tram and he tried telling them in Spanish, but they ignored him & pushed their stroller right up to the tram & got on! It’s amazing that people can be so rude or so stupid (or both). The next tram was sitting right there waiting for us to get out of the way, too, so it wasn’t like they’d have to wait a while or anything.

We entered AK and walked back to Harambe to meet the others at the Kilamanjaro Safari fastpass area. Pat was the only one there - the others may have gone to church, or were just late getting up. Pat wasn’t about to miss her park time, and there’s no way you’ll ever find me in a church - vacation or not. However, if a person actually enjoys church then they might as well go while at WDW - I do plenty of non traditional stuff here myself, so I’m not criticizing their choices. Pat had already gotten her fast pass, so Debbie & I headed in to get ours. Unfortunately the machines had all just broken down, so we went to the standby line. It was posted as a 30 minute wait but I think it was more like 20 minutes. In any event, the time passed quickly as we chatted. Although I love my solo trips I would never put up with a 20-30 minute line when I was alone - that’s too boring. The only lines I ~do~ are the ones at the Comedy Warehouse (they’re worth the wait). We ended up with the 2 front rows of a wheelchair accessible jeep, so Debbie & I took the first one and Pat sat behind us. We got to see the female lion walking around and stopping to drink some water.

After we got off we picked up another fast pass and then headed to Dinoland to try to get on Countdown to Extinction before our fastpass time started in about an hour. Neither Pat nor Debbie were familiar with AK so they relied on me to lead the way - and except for stopping to let them check out pins we headed straight there. CtX had a standby time of 25 minutes, and the line was snaked outside of the building. Everyone knows that you can’t get another fastpass on your pass until your current one’s time has started. However, I noticed that since they’re both cm’s their cm id doesn’t get scanned in the machine - so they should be able to get a 2nd one. I also know that I can get a 2nd one by using my PI AP, so I led them to the fastpass distribution area. I got mine without any problem, but they were stuck because there was no cm there to issue the fast passes. Luckily I know how to operate the machine, so I issued them both a fast pass. The look on Pat’s face was priceless - but she was happy to get the fastpass.

We had about 30 minutes to kill, so we shopped, walked, and then sat on a bench & talked until it was time to go in. We were able to walk straight on - it was wonderful! They put us in the front row, which Pat declared to be her favorite (no heads in the way to mar the view). She agreed that it was kind of toned down, but Debbie thought it was awfully jerky still. After we got off we decided to split up. We’d already decided we’d skip the second safari ride. They were planning to see the Lion King show and then Tarzan (they ended up running into Donna & Beth after Lion King and the 4 of them went to MGM - and did nothing due to the incredible crowds there today). I was going to leave AK to do non-park stuff.

First I stopped to buy a chocolate Mickey truffle ($.69) figuring I’d be hungry soon if I didn’t and this would make a good quick snack since lunch would be late today. I ate the truffle on my way out of the park & while riding the tram back to the car. Next I went to the Boardwalk. Pat had shown me a pin she bought last night that reminded her of me - a Mickey roller blading - and she’d bought it at the BW. I thought it was cute, and even though I’m not a pin trader I figured I might as well get one. The pin cart outside was easy to find, I saw the pin and bought one. As I was headed out I passed a couple who were wearing tee shirts from the inaugural voyage of the Volendam. That’s the newest HAL (Holland America Line) cruise ship, so I stopped them to ask how they’d enjoyed the ship. They reported it was wonderful, and I mentioned I’d cruised on the Ryndam last November, and they commented that the Ryndam was their favorite ship in the line - and they’ll be back on it in July cruising to Alaska. HAL is my favorite cruise line, and really the only one I give any consideration to when planning a cruise. I will try the Disney Wonder in August, and am eager to see in what areas it lives up to, exceeds, or falls short of Holland America Line.

I left the Boardwalk and drove to Wilderness Lodge. There was actually a shady parking spot far out in the parking lot, so I parked there & put on my roller blades. I skated along the path to Ft Wilderness and skated all through the bike paths in there, thru the Cabins section and down to the main entrance/check in area before returning to WL. I don’t know for sure how far I went, but judging from my speed and the length of time I was gone (just under an hour) I’d say it was 7 miles. It was wonderful, too - nice & smooth, not too crowded, not too hot, and very enjoyable!

Back at WL I put the skates back in the trunk and grabbed my swimsuit. I changed in the resorts by Roaring Forks, got my DVC resort ID ready and headed out to get towels and a lounge chair. I ended up moving after I discovered I’d set up camp next to a smoker :( but luckily there was another vacant chair in the next row back. I was at the pool from 1-3pm, and had a very relaxing afternoon - so much better than standing in lines at a theme park (to me, at least). I went in the pool for a little while, and then sat in the jacuzzi & talked to other people who’d abandoned their families temporarily. There were also several attractive men worth looking at, lol! Don’t worry Rich - I didn’t do any swan dives onto their lounge chairs and I didn’t club any of them over the head and drag them off into the bushes - I was simply enjoying the view from a distance! It would be too embarrassing to get thrown out of a Disney resort for un-Disneylike behavior.

There were a lot of love bugs out - which is very early considering their ~season~ is typically May & September. For people who don’t know, love bugs don’t bite or anything, but they are annoying because the fly around and don’t try to avoid you at all. Usually there are 2 of them attached to each other, which is why they are called “love” bugs - but right now they were all flying solo. I got a fruit cup from Roaring Forks for lunch ($3.07) and ate that out on my lounge chair. Later on I went to the pool bar and got a pina colada ($8.37 including $1 tip). I thought that was pretty high - but I guess that’s life. It was pretty strong too - by the time I was done my lounge chair was starting to feel like it was spinning, lol. Usually when I’m at the pool and I want a pina colada I order it without the alcohol, figuring I’d save some of the calories, but I guess today I was just plain living life on the wild side .

When I left the pool area I got changed back into my regular clothes and drove back to Shades of Green. Debbie got back about 20 minutes later (almost 4pm) so we caught up on what we’d each been doing. She bought me a pin - the Minnie Mouse roller blading! It was so cute, and very thoughtful of her - thank you, Debbie! She put on some long pants and headed out. She was walking to the Polynesian to catch the monorail to the MK to transfer to a bus to OKW so she could visit with her friend Russ who works at the Gurgling Suitcase there. She’s skipping the Planet Hollywood dinner and will meet up with the group at the Comedy Warehouse later. I was planning on doing the dinner, but after the pina colada so late I’m not going to be hungry enough for a big dinner, so I’ll just meet the group at Comedy Warehouse also (I’d told Pat if I wasn’t at PH at the dinner time to assume I wasn't coming).

I downloaded the digital pictures and sent them to the photo point site, updated the trip report, and then got online for a little while. Also, I started packing so I didn’t have to do that tomorrow. Chris’ dad IM’d me while I was online to update me on what’s been going on. He mentioned that they had Chris’ ear pierced at the mall last night, and I about went through the modem after him! I don’t care for earrings on men, and there’s no way I’d want my 13 year old son to get one (and he’s never asked). What he does when he’s an adult is his business, but while he’s a kid it’s my business. Anyway, it turns out he was just teasing me...thank goodness!

I left the room about 6 and drove over to Downtown Disney. They had Pleasure Island roped off again. I assume that when there’s a big event in the street like the Mardi Gras parade they clear the island entirely so that everyone who gets to see the parade has to purchase an admission. On other nights you can be on the street for free if you get there before 7, but you can’t enter any of the clubs without the wrist band you get when you put your admission ticket in the turnstile. I wasn’t very hungry, but since it was my last chance I went to the Bongo’s outdoor window and got a chicken empanada ($1.33) to eat while walking around the West Side and the Marketplace.

At 7pm I entered PI and headed immediately to the Comedy Warehouse. There was no sign of any of the ladies yet, so I waited outside the queue area. I explained to the cm that a large group was of people who specifically wanted to see a show that Layden would be in were coming, and would he please go inside and find out which shows that would be. He said sure, and later came back to show me the schedule. Soon Debbie arrived, along with a DVC member named Hershel she’d met at the Gurgling Suitcase. Next came Linda, and then eventually we were joined by Donna, Pat, Peggy, Mary, & Suzy. The others had gone back to OKW after dinner, so it was the 9 of us. We were seated about half way back for the first show, and the show was terrific! The ladies all seemed to love it, and I was very glad since they were here because I always rave about the club. They felt Layden was especially talented, as do most people who come in. The entire cast is wonderful, and unless you’ve been there it’s hard to understand how or why so many people can single out Layden as being the best of the best. Trying to explain it here would be pointless.

After the show the group went outside and I stopped to talk to Mary (one of the actors). I had a message for her from her sister, who I’d met online a week or so ago. When I told her I had a message from her sister, Mary laughed and asked if I was the one her sister had met online - the sister (Patty) had already told Mary all about it. Mary is one of the few actors I remember from way back when at the Comedy Warehouse - I think she & Layden might be from the original cast. She’s very talented also, and the ladies loved her rendition of a Chinese comedian during the game show Schmeopardy.

We’d decided to skip the 2nd show so we could do the Mardi Gras parade. It was lots of fun, and we got a LOT of beads & other stuff. I had so many strings of beads I clinked when I walked, and it was almost uncomfortable from the weight! I also got about 4 more cups and several of the coins. I think Mary had the most beads - she had a huge pile around her neck. Overall it was a great time.

Once the parade was over we got back in line for the 3rd show. Hershel had skipped the parade in order to see show #2, but he joined us again for #3. We had great seats again, the show was hysterical, and after the show we waited for the other guests to leave. Layden was standing near the other end of my row so I went down and gestured to ask if we could get a picture with the cast after the guests left, and he agreed. Once the guests were gone the ladies descended upon Layden to express their compliments about the shows. The cast set up stools on the stage and invited us up for a group photo. Hershel took the pic, but unfortunately it came out so blurry you cannot even make out who is who - major disappointment! It would have been such a nice memory of tonight - the first visit to Comedy Warehouse & PI for so many of the ladies. We thanked the cast for their time and the photo opportunity, and left the club.

Donna & Pat headed to the Adventurer’s Club, and everyone else headed back to their resort for the evening. I still had to finish packing up some stuff and do the trip report/online stuff.

The day went partly according to the plan - I did do AK and PI, but skipped the dinner in favor of time for roller blading and laying by the pool at Wilderness Lodge. It was a great day & night (except for that picture not turning out).

Total miles walked: 6.5

Total miles skated: 7

DAY 6 - SUNDAY, MARCH 6, 2000:

PLAN: MGM, drive home early afternoon

ACTUAL: I forgot to mention something really exciting (to me at least) that happened last night. Everyone’s probably aware that pin trading is a really big thing right now at WDW. Some time ago I’d asked if they had pins for each of the clubs at PI, knowing that I would want to buy whatever Comedy Warehouse pin they might have. However, they only make a couple of general PI pins, none that are club specific. Today Linda was in Epcot pin trading again and spotted a small pin that said Comedy Warehouse on a cm’s lanyard - and quickly traded for it and gave it to me! I asked Layden what he knew about the pin and he said it most likely was from around 1989 judging from the style of the logo, and was something the club had when it used to carry merchandise for guests to buy. Thank you Linda - that pin is something I’ll keep forever.

I went to bed about 1:15, and once again the alarm went off at 6:30. We finished packing up our stuff & got ready for the day. I had one last cup of cappuccino but didn’t eat since we were headed to a farewell breakfast with the rest of the ladies. Some didn’t make it, but we ended up with 8 for breakfast at Spoodles over at the Boardwalk. I think because we’ve been friends for so long everyone is comfortable either attending a scheduled event or feeling free to do something else - which is good. This was my first time to Spoodles for breakfast, and it was very good. I doubt I’ll be back though, as I’m not a person who wants or needs a big buffet meal - I only went to see the DVC ladies for the last time this trip. With a cm discount and tip added in it came to $13 per person. They had some breakfast pizza, a couple of frittatas and then the usual breakfast stuff.

After breakfast we went to Property Control (each cm is allowed to bring in a guest) behind the Magic Kingdom and looked for bargains. I ended up getting a velvet Minnie Mouse dress for my niece - it was $40 but I paid $5. Unfortunately, most of the stuff is damaged - including huge holes, big stains, etc, and you have to dig through laundry carts full of stuff to find anything. That’s not the kind of shopping I enjoy - I like to find things on sale, but I like to see it hung on hangers so I can see it easily. The velvet dress appeared to be perfect - just out of season. I also picked up a pen with a flashing Mickey head on top for $1 and the 2000 Birnbaum’s WDW Without Kids for $3. The other ladies were searching and finding lots of stuff also - it was at least the 2nd trip here this trip for most of them. By 11am it was time for me to go, so we transferred Debbie’s stuff from my trunk to Barb’s car. I said goodbye to the ladies and drove away.

I was going to park at the Polynesian, but there was a line of traffic going in that extended out to the road! So, I kept on going and pulled in to the Grand Floridian and gave the car to valet parking with a minimal wait. The monorail was waiting for me when I got upstairs, so I hopped on for the short ride to the Magic Kingdom. The MK was packed! It was absolutely awful - no wonder I never come here on an early entry day! I walked to Tomorrowland thinking I’d pick up a couple of fast passes for Space Mountain. The standby line had a 65 minute wait, and the fast pass time was for over 2 hours away - I don’t think so! Instead I decided to ride the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and had to stand in line to get on this ride, lol! After getting off I couldn’t think of anything in the MK that I wanted to do badly enough to wait in a line, so it was time for me to head out.

I stopped in the Bake Shop to get banana nut bread to take home, but they only had the zucchini carrot bread. I bought a piece - it’s not as good as the banana nut but it’s still very good. I stopped to look at the watches in the store on Main Street, but didn’t find anything. I want another bracelet style watch (mine was damaged in a rollerblading accident) but everything I like is too big. Even removing the extra link the watch hangs half way down my hand. They need to make more for smaller wrists - not every woman has 8 inch wrists! The final stop was the candy store, where I got a chocolate covered marshmallows on a stick rolled in m&m’s thing (Chocolate Mallow according to the sign) to take home and a chocolate Mickey truffle for now.

The monorail ride back felt like it took forever, between waiting for it to arrive and then making 4 stops. I really do NOT find it convenient to be on the monorail at all - in fact, I find the location of the MK resorts to be the absolute worst locations in WDW. But, that’s just my opinion based on my experience vacationing at WDW repeatedly.

I got the car back from valet and began the 3 hour drive home. I’ll unpack & do laundry tonight because tomorrow after work I’ve got to pack for an overnight business trip - I’ve got a 6:25am flight out on Wednesday, and will be changing planes in Orlando. I did toy with the idea of just extending my stay at WDW, but I’ve just got too much to do at work to miss another day.

The day didn’t follow the plan today - I never made it to MGM at all this trip, and attended a breakfast I hadn’t planned on doing.

Total miles walked: Don’t know - I forgot to turn it on this morning

SUMMARY:

It was a great trip, and as always I hate to see a WDW trip come to an end. I was glad to try a new resort - Shades of Green; eventually I’d like to be able to say I’ve stayed at every WDW resort! You can’t beat the price at Shades of Green, but it would never be my first choice of resorts even if I was eligible to reserve rooms there. I think Old Key West has spoiled me - I expect to be able to walk into my room/villa and say “Wow” - and that just doesn’t happen at Shades of Green (or some of the other WDW resorts. As I’ve stated before, the location does not work well for me, and I’d encourage anyone who does stay here to make sure you have a car to use! Transportation is not done by Disney, and is on a schedule that did not impress me at all. You either catch a bus every 20 minutes to go to the TTC (where you have to transfer to Disney transportation along with all the people shuttled in from offsite motels) or once an hour you can get a direct bus to AK, Blizzard Beach or MGM. I’m glad I had my car - and so was Debbie!

Debbie was a terrific roommate, and it was great sharing the room & spending time with her. She swears my online time didn’t keep her from going to sleep when she was ready, and we got along well. Of course, Debbie is very easy to get along with anyway, so I didn’t expect to have any problems with her. It probably would have been more convenient if we were at OKW like the others, but Shades of Green was the best choice for us 11 months ago when we were planning the trip.

We had perfect weather the whole trip, and crowds weren’t bad either (provided you avoid early entry). I was so happy to spend 5 nights at Comedy Warehouse, and still see my DVC friends for enough other events to not feel like I was running out on them. Everyone got along very well, and we had a great time whether we were all together or off in smaller groups. Touring with a large group is very difficult, in my opinion (there’s always someone who wants to look over there or go to the bathroom, etc), so mixing up big events with free time where people can just get together in small groups or on their own worked very well.

My next WDW trip isn’t scheduled until late May, but I will be Disneyland for a few days in April before continuing on a non-Disney vacation in Las Vegas & Utah. It’ll be fun to visit Disneyland for a change - it will be my second visit and the first was back in 1981!

DISAPPOINTMENTS:

• The picture of the DVC ladies with the cast of the Comedy Warehouse did not turn out, and I was very disappointed by that. It looked like it would have been great, and would have been a wonderful keepsake of their first (but definitely not the last) visit to the club.

THE MAGICAL MOMENTS :

• The MK Fireworks cruise from the Grand Floridian was so cool! Everyone attended, and it was the only event that Kathy was able to join. Overall it was a wonderful experience, and something I’d be happy to do again.
• Riding Space Mountain with the lights on was exciting! That would have been great just by itself, but they let us ride again immediately when the lights were back off - I was thrilled to get an ~extra~ ride.
• Bringing the ladies to the Comedy Warehouse was wonderful. I was a little nervous, as most of them had never been, and were only going because I’d written so much about it over the years. I’d told Layden I was bringing them in, and he’d said he hopes it lives up to their expectations - and although I told him I was sure they’d love it - really I did feel a little anxious. Once in a while (not often) the shows are just “ok” and I really hoped that wouldn’t be the case this night, and in fact the shows they saw turned out to be hysterical! The ladies loved the club, and I was happy/relieved, lol! Layden arranged for the cast to pose for a picture with the group, which was really nice (if only it had come out).
• Mardi Gras was tons of fun - much more than I remembered from previous years. We got lots of beads (no, we did not have to ~earn~ them like at the real Mardi Gras) and trinkets, and it was such fun getting caught up in all the excitement!
• Spending time doing non-park stuff like roller blading and laying by a pool with a cold drink is wonderful. Ten years ago if you’d suggested I skip park time I would have thought you were insane, but today the parks are very low on my list of priorities at WDW. I enjoy them, but not as much as I enjoy doing other things at WDW.

Thanks for reading, and as always - if you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me!

Sue Holland

wdw1972@aol.com

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