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Bill Lund -- September 2000 -- Walt Disney World (PR)
This is a trip report to Walt Disney World for the Lund family from September 6 through 11, 2000. We won the Disney Magic Sweepstakes First Prize for the second quarter of 2000. The participants are two parents (Bill and Eileen) and three daughters who are 13 years old (triplets!). We live in Provo, Utah and this will be our second trip to WDW as a family (my fourth trip, but don't remind my family of that!). You can read about our previous trip in November 1996 on MousePlanet. Winning the Prize and The Preparations May 15, 2000 As is my practice at work, I read my email first to find out what things I have to deal with that day. In a typical day I'll have between 20 and 40 email messages so I usually just work my way through them, reading the titles and senders to figure out which ones I want to read first. Usually, I'll first read those messages from people whose names I recognize or where the topic is of current interest to me. In that mode, I passed right by the email message titled "Disney Magic Sweepstakes First Prize Winner." I subscribe to a number of Disney related listservs and also the Disney Store has my address so I receive several Disney emails a week. After I had read the "important" messages, I noticed this one and was curious that the email filters hadn't sorted this one out and filed it for me in my Disney folders. I opened it and read: "As the official judging organization for the Disney 'Magic Sweepstakes', it is our pleasure to inform you that you have been selected as the First Prize Winner for the Millennium Theme pending receipt and verification of this email... "The First Prize consists of a WALT DISNEY WORLD Millennium Celebration trip. The First Prize winner and up to three guests will enjoy a round-trip coach airfare for four to ... WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort, 4 nights/5 days of accommodations in a selected hotel at the WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort; four Park Hopper Plus Passes, which entitle the winner and each guest to five days of unlimited admission to the MAGIC KINGDOM Park, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, and DISNEY'S ANIMAL KINGDOM Park, plus a choice of two of the following: two visits to Disney's Blizzard Beach water park, Disney's Typhoon Lagoon water park, Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex, or Downtown Disney/Pleasure Island; ground transportation throughout the WALT DISNEY WORLD Resort; and $500 Disney Dollars." I read this several times, thinking that it was some type of advertisement or announcement of a contest before I figured out that it was talking about me as the winner! I read it again and again and then called Eileen to figure out if it was real. I read the message aloud to her and we finally decided that it sounded real enough. I'd better respond to the email since the prize was contingent upon that. After emailing the contest organizers, I decided that I would call them too. The lady I spoke to asked if I was excited because I didn't sound like I was. I assured her that I was very excited. She emailed me some forms that I needed to print out and return to them. Now it occurred to me that I had a problem, there are five of us, not four. I had to return the documents, along with three dates for travel. I decided that I would include a letter asking them to allow us to increase the number of people by one at our expense. The account manager taking care of this, said that she would forward the letter to the sponsor to see what they said. We also pushed them a little on the dates since they said we had to complete travel by September 15 and we wanted to go after Labor Day to avoid crowds and to accommodate to my work schedule. July 2, 2000 We have all of the details of the trip worked out. We've been dealing directly with Walt Disney Travel. They wrote to us while we were on vacation so when we got home we had to hustle our response back to them with the names of the people traveling. They had approved our travel dates of September 6 through September 11. We hadn't really given them much choice since all of the dates selected were within one or two days of that. Out current itinerary is that we'll fly from Salt Lake to Orlando on Wednesday, September 6, returning on Monday, September 11. This means that we have to pay for one night which is OK. To our great surprise we are going to be staying at the Polynesian Resort. I was sure that they were going to put us in the All Stars resorts, which are much less expensive. This is good and bad. The rooms at the Polynesian are significantly larger than those at Dixie Landings or the All Stars resorts and they sleep five (two Queen beds and a day bed which makes out at night). Most of the rooms at the Polynesian also have either decks or small patios. The bad part of this is that my dad isn't going to join us. He would either have to pay about $300 a night for a room or stay at another resort that would be complicated operationally. I'm sorry that he isn't coming since I think that he would enjoy it. I've already started making reservations for meals. They've changed their policy and you can now make reservations for most restaurants 120 days in advance. We're well within that range now. Currently we have reservations for the Hoop-de-do Review on Thursday evening, lunch at Restaurant Akershus at Norway in Epcot on Saturday, and the Character Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian on Monday. I'd still like to make reservations for the Prime Time Cafˇ at the Disney Studios and the buffet at 'Ohana in the Polynesian Resort. We'll see. I'm trying to get everyone to begin to make some agreements on what we're going to do, but I'm not getting a lot of cooperation yet. When we travel as a family I like to have everyone think about things they'd really like to do, and then make sure that we do everyone's top items. One of the advantages to being at the Polynesian is that we will try to stay in the rooms closest to the Ticket and Transportation Center which has buses to all locations in the park. We can also use the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and to Epcot. I'm going to request a room in the Tahiti building because it is closest to the TTC. July 9, 2000 We have agreement from everyone on our schedule and I've made some more reservations for meals. We've added the 'Ohana buffet at the Polynesian on Sunday and the Rose and Crown in Epcot on Saturday. The only way I could get people to agree to see Illuminations was to make reservations at the Rose and Crown late enough that we can stay at our seats for the show. I hope this works. I've read a lot of very positive things about that plan. Likewise the only way I'm getting people to agree to see Fantasmic is to try and make Fantasmic dinner reservations once we get there. They only allow those within 5 days of the event and can only be made on-site. The only problem there is that the only restaurants in the Disney Studios, which provide this, are Mama Melrose's and the Brown Derby. Neither restaurant really has a menu that suits Eileen and the girls' tastes. This week I'm going to make reservations at Prime Time Cafe since they are still a 60-day reservation. August 23, 2000 I can hardly wait for our trip to come. Two weeks from today we will be on our way to Orlando and by this time (5pm MST) we will be at our hotel. The tickets arrived from Walt Disney Travel, including the ticket for Eileen and the four Mears vouchers. We'll have to buy a transfer for Eileen too. I'm trying to get everyone used to the idea that we'll be trying to take things a little calmer than last time, seeing less, but hopefully enjoying it as much. Our last trip as a family was for 10 days. This time we're there for five so I want everyone to scale down their expectations. We can't do it all. My dad has offered to stay at our place with the dog. This will help keep expenses down. We're going to be getting the girls to finish their homework before we leave. Yesterday we talked to the girls' teachers about missing four days. I hope we don't cause problems. September 4, 2000 On Saturday I faxed in our room request to the room controllers at the Polynesian Resort. We've asked for a non-smoking room, with a balcony, near the Ticket and Transportation Center. Since we're going to be dependent on the buses at Disney World, I wanted to bring us as close as possible to the main hub. I downloaded a video of walking from the TTC to the lobby of the Polynesian Resort and it took about 5 minutes to walk to the first set of rooms. Unless you're staying at the far end of the resort, near the Grand Floridian the TTC is very accessible. Wednesday, September 6, 2000 - Traveling from Provo, Utah to Orlando My dad offered to drive us to the airport to help us save on parking. He's also staying at our home to take care of the dog, which also helps us save some money. We arrive at the Salt Lake airport about two hours before the flight, which is OK since you never know how things are going to turn out with the freeway construction and the possibility of accidents. (They are completely rebuilding the freeways in preparation for the Olympics in 2002.) As we are checking in we tell the Delta agent that we won a trip to Disney World. He's amazed at how little luggage we're bringing, only two bags. We looked at the weather and decided that since the low temperature is supposed to be 72 degrees, we don't need to bring sweaters and coats. After checking in we get out to the gate about an hour before the flight. Thinking about the trip, there are clearly three phases: the anticipation, the event, and memories. In most respects, the anticipation and the memory are more important than the event. In fact, I seem to forget the more difficult parts of our trips and remember only the good. Some times the anticipation is as important as the memory or the event itself. There have been several times when I've reverted to daydreaming about WDW during particularly boring meetings. The flight to Orlando is non-stop and goes well. We fly out over the Gulf of Mexico at about New Orleans and are over water for about an hour of the flight. There was a little turbulence, but not much. Landing in Orlando is always fun. The gates are far from the terminal and you use trains to get back and forth. Taking the trains always seems like the first ride at Disney World. We're very surprised to find that our luggage is waiting for us when we get to the baggage claim area. I look around for the Mears desk since we have to buy a ticket for Eileen, the other four tickets having been included in the prize. After purchasing the ticket, they direct us down to another floor to the Mears transportation area. There are already a number of people also waiting to be taken to their hotels. After about 10 minutes, it is our turn and three other people and we are off. The other passengers get off at the Wyndam Resort at Disney World and then we're taken to the Polynesian Resort via the back. Frankly, it is always a thrill for me to see the big Disney signs at the entrance. From the Wyndam Resort to the Polynesian, our driver took us on a back road through cast areas, which I hadn't seen before. For example, I didn't know they had a day care facility on site for the employees. We emerged on the road to Fort Wilderness, then straight on to the Polynesian Resort. We pull up to the main entrance, right underneath the monorail. The front of the hotel begins the themeing with lush tropical plants, flowers, fish ponds, and waterfalls. It is everything I remember. We go inside and I step up to the registration desk. It's about 6pm and there is no waiting. The girls love the lobby. It is full of tropical vegetation and one daughter is in love with the parrots. She loves all kinds of animals. The CM at the desk seems a little new and takes some time to work through all of the instructions on our reservation. Arguably, it is a little complex since Disney is paying for some and we are paying for the rest. We have to pay for one night since we're staying five nights instead of four. The cost is an outrageous $317 for one night. I can't imagine staying here very long and paying for it ourselves. He gets our envelope with the tickets and $500 Disney dollars. There is one difference from what we were promised. The documentation for the trip says that we will receive Park Hopper Plus Passes, which would have let us choose the extra things, such as the water parks. Instead, we are given Park Hopper Passes, a water park ticket and a Pleasure Island ticket. These all expire on October 1 and are identified as prize tickets. I suppose this is partly to prevent the winners from selling the tickets and keeping the cash. In the end this didn't make any difference because we were too tired to go to Pleasure Island in the evening and we only wanted to do one water park any way. Eileen's ticket, which we purchased before leaving Utah, was a true Park Hopper Plus ticket. We also pay for our tickets to the Hoop-Dee-Do review, since paying for them the night of the performance can be a little difficult if there are a lot of people. We also make reservations for the Fantasmic Dinner at Hollywood and Vine in the Disney Studios. I had read at WDW Information Guide www.wdwig.com that they had added Hollywood and Vine to the list of restaurants offering the Fantasmic Dinner package. The CM had no idea and I had to insist that he look it up. It turns out that our faxed request was almost completely ignored. Our room was #2817 in the Rarotonga building, directly next door to the Great Ceremonial House, the main lobby. We're on the second floor and the monorail is directly outside our window. Of the things we had asked for, the only thing we got was the non-smoking room, which is probably the most important thing. The room had two queen sized beds and a day bed. When we had been at Dixie Landings previously, the beds were very small. Here, Eileen and I were very comfortable which makes me believe the beds are larger than those at Dixie Landings are. Two of the girls share one of the double beds and the third takes the day bed. The room dˇcor was nice, having a Polynesian flare. The bathroom is also much larger than at Dixie Landings, although only one person at a time can use it. There was no sink outside the bathroom as at other WDW resorts. It turned out that we weren't too far from the TTC and we used it effectively on many occasions. Outside our window was beautiful vegetation, the monorail, and the parking lot. I suspect that since the room was for the most part free we were given one with a "parking lot view." This is not a problem since we don't spend a lot of time in the room. I actually enjoyed seeing the monorail glide past so we're all happy with the accommodations. It was early enough for us, still being on Utah time, to do some things in the evening. One of the things we really enjoyed last time was Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club Resort. I consider this one of the hidden treasures of WDW. I've spoken to many people who frequent WDW and many have not heard of it. It is a small full service and take-out restaurant themed to the Beach Club Resort. The dinner menu is pretty good, but its real strength are its desserts, enormous sundaes! Every time we've been, we have either been seated immediately or had a short wait. We decided to go there for dinner. At this time of night (7:00 pm), the "official" way to get there is to take a bus to Pleasure Island, then transfer to a bus to the Beach Club Resort. The first bus to Pleasure Island came fairly quickly. As we were waiting for the Beach Club bus to arrive, we saw one going to the Boardwalk. Since they are directly across from each other, we decide to take it. A bus in the hand is better than one around the corner. The girls are getting a little tired of traveling and buses. We've been at Disney World for hours and haven't actually been in something really Disney yet. We finally arrive at the Boardwalk and walk through the gates. We're finally here! The walk around the lake to the Beach Club is pleasant at this time of night. Arriving at Beaches and Cream, they have a table available. It's been a while since lunch on the plane so we all order dinner and plan to order dessert too! I had a cheeseburger, which was OK. For dessert, I have a caramel sundae, since it's a little late for me to have chocolate. The food is very good, the dessert excellent and we begin to walk back to the Boardwalk to catch a bus since it appeared that the buses serving the Boardwalk are coming quite frequently. We discuss the possibility of renting one of the six seater surreys to ride around the lagoon, but it is a little late now and the trip is beginning to take its toll on us. Right as we're passing over the bridge between the Beach Club and the Boardwalk, Illuminations starts in Epcot. We have a good view and stop to see it for a while. By now we're all really tired and decide to go back to the hotel ASAP. Unfortunately, the only way to get there is the way we came, via Pleasure Island. Arriving at Pleasure Island we see a bus leaving immediately for the Ticket and Transportation Center (TTC). We decide to take it and find our way to our room from there. The girls are amazed at how long it takes to get around Disney World. I remind them that it is twice the size of Manhattan, which we had seen earlier this year. Once we arrive at the TTC, I debate taking the monorail to the Polynesian, but decide to figure out how to walk there instead. As it turns out, it is a short hike along well lit paths. In no time we're back at our room and in bed. Tomorrow we have to get up early to catch the 7:00 am bus to the Animal Kingdom. It will seem to us as if it is 5:00 am. It will be early. I call Mickey and arrange for a wake-up call at 6:00 am. Thursday, September 7, 2000 - The Animal Kingdom This is the day for the Animal Kingdom. Two years ago when I was in Orlando on business I added an extra day and visited the Animal Kingdom with my father who joined me. This time we chose this day for the Animal Kingdom based on the recommendation of Bob Sehlinger's "Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World." Also, based on recommendations of the Unofficial Guide, we're planning on going to early entry parks for the first couple of hours each day, then switching to another park. The goal is to take advantage of early entry during the early morning hours, then avoid the crowds generated by early entry later in the day. Consequently, the Animal Kingdom will be the only park we stay in for the entire day, and the only park where we use the touring plans from Sehlinger's book. Our plans call for us to leave the Animal Kingdom at about 3:00 to 4:00 pm, return to our hotel for a rest, then proceed to Fort Wilderness and Pioneer Hall for the Hoop-Dee-Do Review. We got up at about 6:00 am in order to catch the first bus from the Polynesian to the Animal Kingdom at about 7:00. The night before I had engaged the "Mickey Mouse" wake-up service so when the phone rang at 6:00 all my wife could say is "It can't be 6:00 already!" In our jet-lagged state it seemed like 4:00 am and it was dark outside. At home it is usually light at 6:00 this time of year. Patricia answered the phone and Mickey informed us it was time to get up. Trying to keep expenses down, we brought juice boxes and pop tarts for some of our breakfasts. That always seemed to be one of the most time consuming and expensive meals in our last trip. Everyone got up, washed, and grabbed something to eat and we were out the door. At the bus stop there were a couple of other people waiting. After only a couple of minutes the bus for the Animal Kingdom arrived and we were whisked away. In general, I'd say that the bus transportation from the Polynesian and TTC was quite good. I think there were only one or two times we had to wait more than 10 minutes for a bus. This was not our experience at Dixie Landings during our previous visit. I suspect that the bus service varies by resort. We arrived at the Animal Kingdom at about 7:30 and the official opening is at 8:00. I had read on the www.wdwig.com site that the Animal Kingdom does not open earlier than the posted times, unlike the other parks. This certainly turns out to be the case since they didn't let people into the park before 8:00. The exception to this were people going to the character breakfast. In that case you were escorted to the breakfast. At one point it appeared that a family had strayed from the appointed path to the character breakfast and was escorted back to the main gates where they had to wait with the rest of us. At opening we made a dash for Kilimanjaro Safari. There were quite a few people before us but even so we only had to wait for about 5 minutes. This is one of the big attractions at the Animal Kingdom and with good cause. I love riding the trucks out into the "savanna" seeing the animals. I noticed this time that between us and the lions is a deep pit which isn't really that visible. We saw a lot of animals, but no giraffes. They had some baby hippos which were really cute. From there we made a dash to Kali River Rapids, following Sehlinger's plan. Again there was no wait and we walked right on. The queue is quite elaborate, winding through what looks like Indian or southeast Asian buildings. The attention to detail is wonderful as they build the anticipation of ride. It seems that every time I see Indian buildings depicted, they are falling apart. Is that they way it really is in India? Near the beginning of the queue there's a sign which says "You will get wet, you may get soaked." I don't pay a lot of attention to it since they have to warn you about each ride. We get on the turn table which serves as loading and unloading for the ride. Each raft has seats for about 10 people. We are alone on the raft. In the middle is a place to put things so they won't get "real" wet. Everything is covered in water. The ride is pretty rough with lots of geysers, water falls, and waves which can splash up over the side. There is a spot where the rain forest is on fire and you can feel the heat of the flames. At one point in the rapids part we get pretty wet and lots of water sloshes into the raft but we don't get that wet. Once we get back to the loading/unloading dock we ask if we can go again and since there is no line, they say we can. We all jump back into the raft for another round. This was just tempting fate. This time around in the rapids portion, a wave comes up behind me and drenches me from head to toe. The girls and Eileen think this is very funny. I was as wet as if I had jumped in a pool. I'm wearing long denim jeans. For the rest of the day, I do not dry off. I'm dripping water for an hour and I am quite uncomfortable. From Kali River Rapids we go to Dinosaur which is a walk-on. I'm going to sound like a wimp, but this is so loud and the lights so bright that I basically keep my eyes closed for the entire ride. I look silly in the picture because everyone is reacting to something big and I'm just sitting there with my eyes closed. We didn't get the picture. Annemarie really likes it and Eileen goes with her again. I stand in a door way through which cool, hopefully dry air is passing. This doesn't help all that much. From there we go to "It's Tough to be a Bug." Eileen and the girls are concerned about the part with the spiders. I tell them not to worry, but the spider part kind of jumps out at you. I'm still trying to get dry. Since we've seen the major attractions we look at the show schedule and make a dash for "Tarzan Rocks." The show is OK, but in general I liked the Jungle Book show better. I don't understand the premise of the Tarzan show. Tarzan is beefy and swings through the theater, but I don't get why the rock band is there. I suppose that being essentially naked is alright when you're working in Florida and it is 90 degrees. From there we charge across the park to catch The Festival of the Lion King. This is a great show, but like all of the shows in the Disney parks, if you didn't see the movie you're not going to get the point of the show. (I saw Tarzan and still didn't get the point of his show.) I really like this show. The monkeys are a riot and the gymnastics they do are fantastic. For both shows we essentially walk in minutes before the show starts and still get a great seat. Now it's noon and we're hungry. Amazing how much we got done before noon! I really wanted to go to the Flame Tree BBQ. We walk over there, check the menu out, and decide that it will work for all of us. I get the pork BBQ. One of the things I like best about the Flame Tree is the wonderful eating areas which are down by the river. We had a great table overlooking the river. One of the things I like best about the Animal Kingdom is its "wildness." You look out over the river to Kali River Rapids and you see the Indian temples. The plant growth looks wild like you are in India. Animal Kingdom is much less manicured than the other parks. I like its uncontrolled feeling. After lunch we go to see "Flights of Wonder" which everyone enjoys. They've changed the show a little since I saw it last. From there we go to the Maharaja Jungle Quest and enjoy looking that the tigers. One of them was lying in the water with its tail floating on the surface. It really looked funny. I had not idea that the tiger's tail would float independently. Next we take the train to the Conservation Station. As we walk into the building they are about to start a live demonstration. Eileen says, well let's hope it won't be spiders. It is spiders and so she and the girls get up and leave, along with several other people. We go out side and it begins to pour. The storm lasts about 20 minutes and then we walk back to the train station. From there we go to Pangani Forest to see the gorillas. I've always felt sorry for the gorillas here. When we were there they were sitting in corners with their backs to the people. I understand that gorillas consider staring to be an aggressive act. With all of us gawking at them, it must be uncomfortable for them. We're done and it's about 3:00 pm. My criticism of Sehlinger's touring plans is that you end up walking all over the park getting to the big name attractions. You also miss the ambiance of each area as you dash through to the next ride. Some of the magic of Disney parks for me is the depth of the illusion they create. For example in Harambe there are sounds coming from the buildings and little alleys which want exploring. The buildings look authentic and it feels real. (I really have no idea if they are authentic, having never been in West Africa.) You miss all of this by following the touring plan. I'll have to agree that if you stand around soaking up the atmosphere, you're going to end up waiting in a lot of lines. But from my view, the attractions and the atmosphere blend and need to be appreciated. I think the only solution is to come during the very off season, such as the early weeks of December. This is perhaps less true of the Magic Kingdom or Epcot which has less depth to the illusion, but is certainly true of the Animal Kingdom and parts of the Disney Studios. We head back to the bus stop, wait a few minutes for our bus and it's back to the Polynesian. We spend a little time resting in our room. I change into dry clothes (it took two days for my jeans to dry out completely). We have dinner reservations at the Hoop-Dee-Do Review in Fort Wilderness at 7:30. I'm not sure how long it will take to get there, but I don't want to take the bus. From the Polynesian we take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Previously I had called and determined that boats leave from the Magic Kingdom about every 20 minutes for Fort Wilderness. We catch a boat from the Magic Kingdom. This is a wonderful way to get to Fort Wilderness. I'm noticing that if you ask the hotel employees how to get from one place to another they just give you the party line, although there are other, sometimes faster, ways of doing it. For example, the guy at the front desk said that we should take the monorail to the TTC, then transfer to a bus for Fort Wilderness, and within Fort Wilderness take their internal bus. First, this is a long ride in buses and second, the boat is a lot more pleasant. At the Magic Kingdom dock they were having trouble getting the rope untied from the dock. One of the passengers offered to help and the captain would have none of it. After a couple of minutes they got it taken care off and we're off. We glide across the Seven Seas Lagoon and across the water bridge near the Contemporary Hotel where the road goes underneath the water. We cross Bay Lake, by the Wilderness Lodge and Discovery Island. I was sorry they closed Discovery Island, but I guess that after they opened the Animal Kingdom it was a little redundant. We arrive at Fort Wilderness and I've under estimated how long it would take to get here and we have about an hour to kill before dinner. We check out the petting zoo and then find the rockers on the porch of the cafeteria building. I'm happy just to sit for a while. Annemarie finds some little tiny lizards, which are running all over the place. She convinces one of them to climb up on her. At last they start letting us into Pioneer Hall. I had made the reservations about two months prior, and thought we might end up on the balcony. To my surprise we had a very good table about two rows back in the middle. The show was as good as I remembered it. It is very slapstick, but we all enjoy it very much. Surprisingly the food was better than I remembered it being. The menu hadn't changed, ribs, chicken, bread, corn, baked beans, salad, strawberry shortcake, but it tasted better than I remembered the last time. After the show we thought we'd try to catch the boat back. We went out to the dock with a number of other people and waited, and waited, and waited. I thought we were going to have to take the bus. Then we could see a boat coming. When it got there, it was heading to the Contemporary Resort which wasn't my original plan, but since it was served by the monorail, we hopped on it. The ride was very different, but very beautiful. We could see the Magic Kingdom and other resorts on the lake. Once we got to the Contemporary we hiked through the grounds, past the pools (they are a little plain) up into the hotel. A monorail came soon and we were back at the Polynesian within minutes. We were all tired and went to sleep quickly. Tomorrow we begin to switch off between parks. Friday, September 8, 2000 - Epcot, Typhoon Lagoon, Disney Studios, Fantasmic Today will be a marathon day. We're starting out with Epcot to take advantage of early entry. Then when Typhoon Lagoon opens we'll go there until we're tired. Then we're going to the Disney Studios for dinner and Fantasmic. We're going to try this business of catching early entry and then bailing out when the park gets crowded. We have Mickey call us again for wake-up, but this time no one wants to answer the phone and I end up doing it. It's 6:00 am. It's dark outside and Eileen says, it can't possibly be time to get up!? Are you sure we're on vacation? We drag our sorry bodies out of bed, eat our miserable breakfast of poptarts and juice boxes and walk over to the TTC to catch the monorail. I've packed all of our swimming stuff into my backpack, along with plastic bags. We catch a monorail to Epcot and arrive after the gates have opened although it is only about 7:00 am. We go first to the Test Track since that is on our list. There is no line and we walk on. This is a lot of fun! The inside part is interesting with the different tests, but the really fun part is when we head outside and hit 65 MPH. Going around those curves that fast is really exciting. We look at the picture they took but decide not to get it. I know that I'd like to have one picture taken by Disney, but I don't know where that will be yet. We decide to do Test Track again and there is a 5 minute wait. From there we go to the Wonders of Life. Last time we all got sick on Body Wars so we decide not to do that. We had missed Cranium Command so we go there instead. It is cute. Then we see The Making of Me. I had heard that it was somewhat direct about human reproduction. It is just like everything else that tries to be discrete. If you don't already know what they are talking about, you aren't going to get any additional information. Now it is getting close to 10:00 when Typhoon Lagoon opens. I can't figure out how to get there more directly, so we take the monorail back to the TTC and catch a bus to Typhoon Lagoon. We have to wait about 20 minutes this time. I think that was about the longest wait we had during the entire trip. At Typhoon Lagoon we find the towel and locker rental. We all get towels and we get one large locker. The changing rooms are right by the lockers. The men's changing room has a fairly large area with benches for changing into your swimming suit. In the back are showers and curtained areas. On the side in the front are restrooms. The changing room wasn't too crowded but I think they must have hosed it down because everything is wet. It was difficult to keep my clothes from getting wet while changing into my swimming suit. Once we're all ready we put our clothes in the locker and head out. We find a shady spot where we dump all of our tee-shirts and sun screen. One of the things we wanted to do was the shark pool. We actually get all set to do this and then discover that the water is really cold. I suppose that for some this is no big deal, but when I get into cold water I can't breathe. We all back out of the shark pool and opt instead for looking through the windows. From there we decide to do the family raft ride. This is about 1/3 of the way around the park. Last time we went to Blizzard Beach and had a great time on the family raft ride. This one is much shorter than at Blizzard Beach, but we still have fun. We've brought along an underwater camera and so we start taking pictures as we go down. Once we're at the bottom of the run, they have a person taking pictures and he gives us a tag to identify the picture later. The wait was about 10 minutes and we do it twice. Then we head for the lazy river which is really long. It is really nice that they provide all of the inner-tubes you need and you don't have to rent them and guard them the rest of the day as at our local water park. The lazy river is really wide and at one part divides into two pieces. The landscaping is great with all sorts of objects left by the "typhoon." Once we've gone all the way around we get off and go on two of the tube runs. Eileen doesn't like these so she just waits. From there we go out into the wave pool. This is a real experience. The wave comes about every 5 minutes but it is six feet high. You are standing there and you hear a "swoosh" and a six foot wave is racing at you. By the time it gets into the more shallow part of the pool it is only about two or three feet high, but it still is enough to go over your head. Some people try to body surf, but unless you catch it out where it is big, nothing much is possible. At one point we were in the shallow area and a mother and small child are splashing when the wave started. The little girl looked around, saw this enormous wave coming and screamed. She jumps into her mother's arms. By the time the wave gets to them it is only about a foot high. The girls really enjoy the wave pool. Eileen and I stay out there for a while and then go back to sit on a wall where we can dangle our feet into the water. When a wave comes it still washes up over us. After a while we're all hungry and go to Typhoon Tilly's for lunch. This is nothing to write home about. The food is so-so and expensive. But this is Disney. I have a Philly cheesesteak sandwich. Everyone else had fish and chips or hamburgers. After lunch we went back to the wave pool, then we go to find some ice cream at Happy Landings Ice Cream. Everything they serve looks enormous so we only get a couple of cones. After that we decided to leave. We picked up our towels, pulled everything out of the lockers and went to the changing rooms. They were a lot more crowded now and I had to wait a while to get a shower since I didn't want to smell like chlorine for the rest of the day. We checked the pictures which were taken by the park photographer, but I don't like them. The angle makes it look like I'm naked. I don't think I need to hang this in my living room. As an aside, the underwater camera didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. It seemed that the lens was obscured with something, most likely sun screen which we always slather on with abandon. Then, quite frankly, I don't look that good in a swimming suit. One of the pictures the girls took of me underwater makes me look like a manatee. I don't need that one either. The girls think it is really funny. From Typhoon Lagoon we went back to the Polynesian and rested for a while. (My jeans from yesterday are still not dry.) Comparing Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, I think that I prefer the wave pool at Typhoon Lagoon, the family rafts at Blizzard Beach, the lazy river at Typhoon Lagoon and the overall atmosphere at Typhoon Lagoon. If I were going to spend a whole day at one or the other, I think I would go to Typhoon Lagoon. I might even try to figure out how to snorkel so that I could go into the shark pool. From the Polynesian, we take the bus to the Disney Studios. I've been informed by Eileen and the girls that we're not going to stand in line for hours to see any of the fireworks shows. Last time we waited about 45 minutes or an hour to see Illuminations, a 10 minute show, and no one wants to do that again. That was in November with a cold wind. Consequently, we've made dinner reservations at Hollywood and Vine for the Fantasmic Dinner Package. This arrangement gives you "priority seating" at Fantasmic without waiting in line. We arrive at the appointed hour for our reservations at Hollywood and Vine and discover that we are one of perhaps four tables occupied. Hollywood and Vine tries to be a high class buffet, but the food is still buffet. Frankly, I didn't care much for the meal and the was in my mind exceedingly high since none of us eat that much. I think we ended up paying $20 for the girls to have a couple of hot dogs and some dessert. After dinner we went to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. We got a seat in the front row about five minutes before the show started. The last time we were here there was a pre-show with "Rosie." This was one of the funniest things we saw at Disney World. We wondered if we'd see her again, but they went straight into the show. Later we asked if Rosie was still around and they said "she" (I think "she" is a guy.) does do a pre-show when there are large crowds. From there we went to Muppets 3D which was fun. We'd seen that previously and still enjoyed it. Since it was getting close to the time we needed to take our "priority seating" at Fantasmic we went shopping. I found a number of items in the Christmas store which I thought I might buy. Again since there just weren't many crowds, I'm not sure that the priority seating was necessary. In fact, people were walking into Fantasmic sitting not far from where we were for 15 minutes after we were seated. We've seen Fantasmic at Disneyland and I have to say that I think the one in Anaheim is superior. The one at the Disney Studios spent too much time projecting films on the water screens. I thought there was more action and fireworks in the one at Disneyland. Naturally after Fantasmic there's a huge crowd waiting to go home. We fortunately catch the second bus going to the Polynesian and are home within 15 minutes. I don't even bother to have Mickey wake us up. I set the radio clock alarm. Saturday, September 9, 2000 - Magic Kingdom and Epcot Today we're going to go to the Magic Kingdom for early entry then move on to Epcot at lunch time and stay there through Illuminations. Or at least, that's what we planned. The alarm goes off today and no one moves. After a while I get up to shower and start getting everyone else up. The Magic Kingdom opens officially at 9:00 and for early entry at 8:00, however, the Sehlinger says that they really open at about 7:15. By about 7:20 we're waiting for the monorail and we're whisked around to the Magic Kingdom. By the time we get to the front gates of the Magic Kingdom it's about 7:30 and we've missed the actual opening. Interestingly, we were never asked to show resort Ids for early entry. They have a whole troop of photographers on Main Street taking people's pictures. I would like to have a nice picture of us all, so we approach one of the photographers and ask him to take our picture. One of my daughters and I have planned on going on Space Mountain and we convince everyone else to join us. Space Mountain at Disney World was the first one built. In general we all enjoy it. It is amazing to me that the top speed on Space Mountain is 35 MPH. By the time we're done with this the rest of the park is opening and we walk over to Thunder Mountain. This is Eileen's favorite ride. We walk on the ride and thoroughly enjoy it. I think that one of the pleasures of Thunder Mountain is that you have three lifts instead of just one. The ride really does feel longer than your average roller coaster. Then we go to Splash Mountain. After my experience with the Kali River Rapids (by the way my pants are just barely drying out at this point) I decide to use one of the ponchos we brought. I probably didn't need it but I was not about to wander around all day in wet clothes again. (I probably should have gone back to the hotel on Thursday to change rather than be uncomfortable all day.) Eileen and the girls maintain that the Disney World version of Splash Mountain is lighter than the one at Disneyland. I maintain they are the same. After Splash Mountain we have another go on Thunder Mountain and then proceed back to Fantasyland for the Pooh Honey Pots. This was a lot of fun. They have incorporated some of the technology used in the Indiana Jones and Dinosaur rides in a slow Fantasyland ride. The honey pots have independent movement from the track. When you're in the scene with Tigger, the pot hops up and down. It is a pleasant ride. Next we head for the Mad Tea Party. Eileen and I take one car and the girls are in another. I remember when all five of us would fit in one car. The girls whirl around, but Eileen and I decide that we're getting too old for this and it makes us sick. We just take it easy. By now it is getting close to the time when we need to go to Epcot for our lunch reservations at Restaurant Akershus in Norway. There's time for some shopping and we also stop at the place to pick up our photographs. We like the picture and have it sent to our room. We catch the monorail to the TTC and there change to the one going to Epcot. After arriving at Epcot we start the long march toward Norway. It is amazing how big Epcot is. The Norway exhibit had been one of our favorites last time. Restaurant Akershus had a lovely buffet, the bakery had ring cakes made out of marzipan and Maelstrom had been fun. We arrive at Norway just a few minutes early and go straight in to the restaurant. They seat us immediately. This was a lovely lunch. The cold buffet was actually more to my liking than the warm, but everything was very pleasant. I could have eaten quite a bit more than I did, but didn't want to overdo it and regret it later. I particularly enjoyed the lox, the sliced cheeses and breads. They also had pickled herring in sour cream (one of my favorites) and several other cold fish dishes. The deviled eggs were very good. Once we finished lunch I went into the bakery to see if they still had ring cakes, which had been our favorite last time. Eileen and the girls go into the shops. They didn't have ring cakes but had an almond cookie. I bought a couple and we all had a taste. It didn't live up to our expectations. Next we rode Maelstrom, which is one of my favorites. I also insisted on watching the film at the end. I really enjoy northern Europe and liked seeing the pictures. At about 2:00 there was going to be a concert of 60's music over in Great Britain so we start heading that way. We stop in Mexico for some shopping. My animal loving daughter and I stay outside looking at the parrots. Then we move on around to Canada where we got some great pictures of a very large and dark cloud coming our way and then to Great Britain. The concert was in the small park in back of the country. As we were waiting it started to rain a little bit, but no big deal. As the concert progressed the rain got heavier and heavier to the point that my umbrella was almost pointless. The rain was coming through the fabric. The entire audience dashed inside the stores and under cover. Eileen, Two of my daughers and I ended up in one store and we couldn't find our third daughter. I dashed across the road into the other stores and found her there. By this time the band had given up and pulled the curtains around their bandstand. I knew the rain was going to give up eventually so we all just hung around in the stores waiting for it to stop. After about 30 minutes it finally let up and we proceeded on around the lagoon. In France I found an interesting exhibit in the shops out front. There was a second story in which they had framed documents and pictures of famous people. For example, they had documents signed by Charles de Gaulle, Albert Schweizer, Berlioz, Jules Verne (this was the most expensive one at $6000!) Picasso, and Sarah Bernhart. You could completely miss this and I found it to be one of the most interesting exhibits in Epcot! We continued on around through Morocco and then to Japan. By this time the candy lady was setting up. She was a very short Japanese woman who made candy figures for the people. If you were standing up front she'd ask you what you wanted. There was a huge list of possibilities: unicorns, whales, all sorts of birds. The candy was some type of sugar and starch mixed together which she would color using color paste. Then she would wrap this around a stick and using a knife, scissors and her hands create beautiful candy shapes. One of my daughters was right up front and got a pink unicorn. The other daughter was passed over this time. Our animal lover was off looking at the ducks in the pond. The candy was a pain in the neck to carry since it was in a clear inflated bag which you had to be very careful of since it would break. Later when it had started to melt because of the humidity (averaging about 85% as compared to Utah's 20%) we ate it. It didn't taste like anything, just sugar. All form, no substance. We continued on around to Germany, passing the US and Italian exhibits. I've always been a little disappointed in the Germany exhibit since it focuses mostly on southern Germany. We were all very thirsty and had some drinks. The candy lady was going to come back, so we went back to Japan to see if one of my other daughters could also get a candy. She was chosen and got a blue unicorn. At this point our feet are beginning to give out. We walk over to the boat dock by Italy and hitch a ride across the lagoon. We've seen all the countries we wanted and so were heading back to Future World to catch some of the rides there. Our first stop is the Universe of Energy. This is such a huge ride that there's no waiting. We get a bench all to ourselves and I'm tempted to lie down and take a nap instead of watching the show. Next we move on to Journey into Imagination. We've seen "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" a couple of times before so we just try the ride. It is amusing. At this point we're really tired. We have reservations at 7:40 for dinner at the Rose and Crown. The plan is to linger over dinner and watch Illuminations from there, but the thought of another big meal lasting 1 1/2 hours isn't appealing to any of us. We decide to walk (oh, my aching feet!) to the Beach Club Resort and have dinner and dessert at Beaches and Cream instead. Afterwards we plan to rent one of those six seater surreys and ride around the lagoon at the Boardwalk. While we're walking out of Epcot Tapestry of Nations has started. We watch a fair amount of it from the waterway leading to the Boardwalk. We arrive at Beaches and Cream and have to wait about 15 minutes. This isn't too bad. This time we get a table instead of a booth, which is a little cramped, but we're all tired and hungry so we don't complain. I tried their version of a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich which was quite good. Then we have dessert. I have a caramel sundae. Their desserts are very good and quite large. Being fortified, we walk over to the Boardwalk, just about get run over by some people racing surreys, and we find that they do have a six seater surrey available. The paperwork to rent one of these things is as involved as renting a car. They needed my room key, a credit card, and I had to sign a document saying I was liable for injuries to anyone. OK, with that being taken care of we all jump onboard and start peddling. There were a lot of instructions. Only the front left-hand person can steer. Everyone has to peddle forward. If we peddle backward the chain will come off. But despite all of these we take off. There are a lot of people at the Boardwalk, being Saturday night, so we have to go real slow while on the Boardwalk proper. We've rented the surrey for 30 minutes (costing $20) so I'm not sure how far that is going to get us. While walking you don't notice that there are a lot of little hills. We were warned that if necessary we should get out and push the surrey. The first hill takes us by surprise. It is actually the bridge between the Boardwalk and the walkway to Epcot. We get past this and run down the hill. We have a bell to ring, which I do liberally as we come up behind people. Passing the Beach Club and Yacht Club Resorts we settle down and just enjoy the evening air. At the point we should turn back into the Boardwalk, I try to go straight towards the Swan and Dolphin, but they have someone posted there to make sure we don't do that. We have to stop while going up hill which means we can't get started again. Everyone out to push! Back at the surrey rental place we see this has only taken about 15 minutes. We make one more round, aware of the hills this time so we don't stop. Renting the surrey had been one thing we wanted to do the last time we were at Disney World so the girls are really happy we did this. By now Illuminations has started. We walk back through Epcot catching most of it. Right about Britain we find a good place to watch the rest of the show so we do. I really like the fireworks. At the end we join the crush heading out of Epcot. Getting to the monorail station there must be a thousand people waiting, even so we get on the second monorail back to the TTC. From there we walk to the Polynesian. Everyone collapses in bed. This was a long day. The parks were definitely more crowded than on our first two days, but it is still very pleasant. We haven't needed any fastpasses or waited in any lines longer than 10 minutes. Sunday, September 10, 2000 - Disney Studios and the Magic Kingdom Today we're going to catch early entry at the Disney Studios, try to find a time to do a little laundry, and then catch more of the Magic Kingdom. Again I use the alarm instead of Mickey. I prefer to be wakened to music instead of a phone ringing. We get ourselves moving, eat our breakfast in the room, and are down at the bus stop by about 7:45. Notice that it's getting a little later each day? I've noticed that at each park where we are taking advantage of early entry, no one has ever checked to see if we are hotel guests. They never encoded our hotel keys with our passports so there's no link there. Eileen's ticket was even purchased separately so there's no indication whatsoever that she is a resort guest. I wonder if they are more lax when the parks are not crowded. After entering the Disney Studios we go straight for the Tower of Terror. Eileen doesn't want to ride this but the rest of us do. This is still one of my favorite rides. The detail in the hotel itself is amazing. The lobby with the dead plants, dust everywhere, and that look like someone was just here is perfect. The illusions on the first and second stories are great. This time the elevator just keeps on jumping up and down. I lost track of how many times it went up and down. Next, two of my daughters and I go to the Rock'n'Roller Coaster. One of them is not sure she wants to do this, but I talk her into it. I've heard a lot about this roller coaster. Rather than dragging you up to the top of an incline and dropping you off, they use a catapult system to launch you into the track. This means that you don't need to go very high since all of the speed is gained through the launch. Further, Disney does all of this in the dark. This is an interesting concept. The ride building, though large, isn't nearly as large as some of the big roller coasters which use gravity to get things moving. The launch was pretty hair-raising and as I looked straight ahead all I could see was the track looping up and around, our first loop. This ride runs you through so many loops and spirals in the dark you hardly have any notion about which way is up. I didn't think you really knew when you were upside down. My daughter who had been reluctant was really unhappy about this ride and when one of my other daughters wanted to do the Tower of Terror again, she didn't want to go along. The line is just a little longer for ToT and we're back together again. From there we go to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, which we missed last time. We walked in about 10 minutes before the show started. I really liked this performance, especially the special effects. One of my favorites was using the laser light to give the appearance that the audience was under water and we were going to the bottom of the sea. A very nice effect. By now it was just about time for the first Animation Tour. We had also missed this last time. I found it quite interesting. Next we went on the Great Movie Ride, then Star Tours and it was time for lunch at the Prime Time Cafˇ. We enjoy our "cousin" who was waiting on the table. We use up the last of the Disney prize money at this meal. We thought we had planned on enough clothes to get us through, but the heat and humidity are taking their toll as we are changing clothes more frequently than planned. We go back to the Polynesian for rest and to do laundry. I wander around the place looking at the pools and shops at the Polynesian. Eileen puts the laundry in and everyone else crashes. I think that on our next visit to Disney World I'd like to take a more leisurely approach. The hotels have wonderful facilities for just relaxing, but we never use them as we charge from park to park. When the laundry is done, one of my daughters and I go pick it up and we're all off to the Magic Kingdom. This time we go to Space Mountain to grab a couple of fastpasses then we start with Buz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. I've heard that people really like this but I'm not sure what it is. Once we get in to the ride, the girls go in one car and Eileen and I in another. I figure out that we are supposed to zap things and get points. It really is fun. We don't get that many points since we're trying to figure out how to aim and steer. The line is so short we decide to do it again. From there, two of my daughters and I go to Space Mountain while one daughter and Eileen shop. To tell you the truth, fastpass didn't buy us much. The standby and fastpass lines ended up being about the same length inside the ride. Next we run across the park to Thunder Mountain, then Splash Mountain, and Thunder Mountain again. By now it is getting close to closing and we decide that we're still too full from lunch at the Prime Time Cafˇ to use our dinner reservations at 'Ohana at the Polynesian so we just grab a little something at the Main Street Bake Shop. Since it is just a little after 7:00 pm we decide to go back to the Polynesian and go swimming. The pool styles has definitely changed over the years. The newer resorts have themed pools with exciting slides and interesting coves to explore. The Polynesian only has a single small slide. Nonetheless the girls enjoy it. Eileen and I sit by the side of the pool and enjoy the night air which is cool. I sneak a virgin strawberry Margarita which the girls don't see. I know that at about 9:00 pm the Electrical Water Pageant will come by. I had seen this briefly from the monorail at a previous visit. As it arrives the girls get out of the pool and we wander out on the dock to watch. We really enjoy it. After the pageant goes away the girls swim just a little longer and we go back to the room. This is the earliest we've been to bed the whole trip. Monday, September 11, 2000 - Our Last Day. We try to do it ALL. Thoughts on WDW. Sigh... this is our last day and we're going to try and see all four parks before we have to catch our bus at 3:00 pm from the Polynesian. For starters, we have breakfast reservations at 1900 Park Fare at the Grand Floridian. We did this last time and thoroughly enjoyed the characters and the breakfast. When I originally made the reservations, the person at CR said that you couldn't really walk from the Polynesian to the Grand Floridian, so we catch the monorail. I'm not sure that I agree with that now, since it seems like the walk would have been very pleasant in the morning, going around the lagoon and passing the wedding chapel. In any case, we are just a few minutes early so we look at the lobby which is very impressive. I've been to the Hotel Coronado in San Diego and can see the influence of that building on the exterior, however, the interior is nothing like the Hotel Coronado which is very closed in and dark. I really like the open lobby. We check in at the restaurant for breakfast and are seated immediately. This is a wonderful buffet of all sorts of breakfast foods. There is everything under the sun. There's so much that you couldn't possibly sample all of the different offerings. My favorite items are the blintzes with berry sauce and the omelets, made to order. I could really over eat here, but I keep it under control. After breakfast, we go back to the Polynesian to pack and checkout. We deliver our luggage to the bell captain to hold until 3:00 pm and we catch the bus to the Animal Kingdom since we all seemed to have enjoyed that park the most. There we decide that we will ride on the Kilimanjaro Safari. (Someone suggests that perhaps I'd rather ride on the Kali River Rapids. Very funny, ha, ha.) Since we're a little later in the day this time there is a line of about 20 minutes. The sign up front said it would be about 35 minutes. We've noticed that even with fastpass, there is usually a point where the two lines converge to a single line. It seems that from that point to the ride itself it can be from 5 to 10 minutes. We also noticed that the time to wait and the return time for fastpass were often the same. For instance, the "standby line" was 35 minutes and the fastpass return time was about 35 minutes from that point in time. If your goal was to get on the ride in the least time, the standby line would be your best bet. If on the other hand, your goal was to minimize your time in line then fastpass worked best. I'm sure this doesn't necessarily apply to those times of year when the lines are huge and fastpass times are hours in the future. This time on Kilimanjaro Safari there are a lot more animals out. We see giraffes and a couple of other animals that were not out the last time. From the Animal Kingdom, we go to the Disney Studios. There isn't a great deal we want to do here. We go back to the Christmas shop near Muppets 3D and buy some ornaments: Tigger, Pooh, and Eiyore on snowflakes and some chipmunks. From there we find the "Singing in the Rain" umbrella and take a picture. When you grab the umbrella and step on the black square nearby, it rains on the umbrella. It is kind of cute. Then we decide to see if we can have something light at the Sci Fi Diner. Originally we were going to have lunch, but we're just too full from breakfast. Our waiter was really nice and brings the girls root beer floats although they aren't on the menu. He's really surprised they aren't since people order them all the time. This reminds me, all of the Disney waiters are very accommodating. If you have any special requests at all, they will try to help you out. When he brings my soft drink there's a toothpick with a lemon wedge. He says, "Look, it's the Titanic sinking in the icebergs," and pushes the lemon wedge underwater. Very amusing. We look at the time, 1:00 pm, and decide that we can't do both Epcot and the Magic Kingdom and opt for the later. We catch a bus for the TTC and then the monorail to the Magic Kingdom. Everyone has just a couple of more shopping items so we pause at the stores on Main Street. From there we go back to Frontierland, pausing at Splash Mountain to pick up some fastpasses before going to Thunder Mountain. Ideally we'd like to do both. The Thunder Mountain line is about 20 minutes so by the time we're done, we really don't have time to do Splash Mountain after all since the fastpass line itself is 20 minutes long. I look around for a group of five and hand them our fastpasses which they seem to appreciate. There's time for us to take the train around the Magic Kingdom, so we catch one that is just arriving at the station. It is interesting to see behind the scenes. There's a lot of room to expand within the railroad tracks if they wanted to. From the front gate, we can take either the monorail or the boat. I'm a little concerned about the boat since I don't know how long it will take to get to the Polynesian so we take the monorail. Wouldn't you know it, there's some problem with the monorails and we sit on the tracks for 10 minutes. When we finally get to the TTC, we get off and walk to the Polynesian. We actually get there before the monorail. Since we still have a few minutes we all get ice creams to cool off. The Mears bus arrives, we climb on and we're on our way. The bus stops at the Wilderness Lodge but can't get all of the luggage on so they have to call another van to carry the overflow. From there it's back to the airport, check-in, wait for our plane, get on, eat dinner, arrive in Salt Lake. All very anti-climatic. I help the girls with homework on the plane. My dad picks us up at the Salt Lake airport and we're home in our own beds by about 11:00 pm. Lund Family Thoughts on Disney World Here are some of our thoughts on a Disney World vacation:
Little Known Treasures I was surprised when I was talking with members of the local Disney club of the things we had enjoyed, which they were not familiar with. For example:
How Much Does "Free" Cost? I'm not grousing about having won a trip to Disney World and the expenses we incurred above the prize were our own choice, but here's the low down on what it ended up costing us.
Summary Now that we're back, we're just left with the memories of the trip. As I said earlier in the report, the anticipation and memory of a Disney World trip are perhaps more valuable than the trip itself. Some years back I attended a class on building a market-focused organization. One of the examples they cited was the Disney Company. When asked what product Disneyland sells, the Disney manager replied: "memories." The memories certainly last longer than the trip and often are more glowing than the trip itself was. I hope the readers of this have been able to share in some of our memories. Bill Lund bill_lund@byu.edu Mail a Comment to Bill Lund |
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