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Ian David Parkinson -- October 2000 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)9th - 23rd October 2000 Before I start the report I thought I would give you a little background to the people on this family trip. My name is Ian Parkinson, I'm 39 years old and this was my 6th trip to WDW in the last 7 years. I usually like to stay 'on property' at one of the All-Star Resorts, but this time I would be staying at a rental villa in Kissimmee. This would also be my parent's (Alan and June Parkinson) 6th visit. They have stayed in various locations around Orlando but never at WDW. They are both seniors and my father is semi-disabled needing a wheelchair if a lot of walking is required. The other people on the trip have never been to WDW before; in fact they have never been to the USA before. They are my sister (Gail Jarvis, 35), my brother-in-law (Douglas Jarvis, 37) and my nephew (Ryan Jarvis, 8). We did not travel to Orlando together, as I live in Paris (and yes I do go to Disneyland Paris on a regular basis, I'm an Annual Pass holder) and the rest of my family live in Manchester in the UK. For this report I am writing about the trip from my point of view as sometimes we did not do everything as a group but often went our separate ways. Ticket information We pre-purchased some of our WDW tickets in the UK, as this seemed to be a way of protecting ourselves against the every worsening Pound - Dollar exchange rate. We bought the following tickets :
We would buy the other tickets at the park using my Magic Kingdom discount card (I get it from work). In the end this proved to be a slightly cheaper option than those bought in the UK. Monday 9th October - Travel Paris to Orlando I had booked my flights to Orlando with Air France / Continental through the travel agent we use at work. I got a great deal with a return flight from Paris to Orlando via Newark for only 3100FF (about £280). I left Paris on the 6 am train having walked to the RER station at Les Halles. The train was on time and I arrived at CDG Airport Terminal 2 at 6:40 am. Check-in opened on time and I was first in line I asked for an emergency exit row. I was first on the plane (a 747 Jumbo Jet), only to find I did not have the row I requested. Although we all seemed to be on the plane on time, we did not actually take off until 11:10, which was 45 minutes late. The plane was very full, as far as I could see all the seats were taken. I had the isle seat 20J, I sat next to a couple from Switzerland, they seemed OK, spoke English anyway (sometimes very loudly). I had one film to look forward to on the flight, Shanghai Noon staring Jackie Chan. We arrived in Newark at 13:15, about 30 minutes late, but it then took till 14:00 to get through Immigration and Customs. My luggage was just coming round the carousel when I arrived at the baggage hall, so I was quickly through to the connecting flight area. I transferred my bag and caught the shuttle bus to terminal C. The plane to Orlando had been delayed until 16:04, which is a very strange 19-minute delay. We actually left Newark at 16:45, which was exactly 1 hour late, having also changed gates from 113 to 74, quite a walk. The expected time of arrival in Orlando was 19:10 (according to the announcement from the pilot), so the 8pm meeting I had arranged with my parents was out. I also think I won't make the 9pm meeting, so I expected to see them at 10pm. I landed eventually at 7:30 and then had to catch a bus to get to Alamo car rental. The car pickup was quick, I decided not to go for an upgrade from the economy car I had booked, this turned out to be a good move, because as usual they did not have any 'small' cars left so I got a compact instead for the same price. It was now 8:20,and I wondered if I would get to Downtown Disney in time to meet everyone at 9pm. I left the airport and went down the 417-toll road direct to WDW; I arrived at Downtown Disney at 8:55 and ran to the front of The World of Disney to be greeted by the rest of my family. They had only just beaten me, so had not been waiting long. We had a short discussion on food and decided that even though we were all very tired that we would get something to eat. After thinking about the options available at Downtown Disney we decided to walk down to the West Side and try to get a table at Wolfgang Pucks. The restaurant was very full but we did manage to get a small table in the bar area and we ordered 2 pizzas, 3 portions of fries and drinks. The food came quite quickly and the pizzas were excellent, really good crispy bases with fresh tomato and cheese for the topping. After the food it was time to go to the villa we had rented at South Chase. I followed the car being driven by my father out of WDW, on to I4 then along Sand Lake Drive and then down Orange Blossom Trail to our villa. Having looked at the map when I got in the villa I realized we had traveled about twice as far than we needed to. We were staying very close to the intersection of Orange Blossom Trail and the 417; the best way to WDW is directly down the 417 paying $1.25 in tolls maximum. This would be the way we used in the future. The villa was big if a little dated on the decorating front. We had 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms a large lounge / dining room / kitchen and a covered pool. We all went to bed at about 10:30pm and got ready for our first Disney day in the morning. Tuesday 10th October Disney / MGM Studios, Ponderosa Today we choose Disney / MGM Studios as our first park to visit. We left the house in 2 cars at 8am and reached the gates to the Studios at 8:40, although the park was on a 9am opening time the gates were already open and people had started to fill the park. First port of call was to get a wheelchair for my father; he has ostioarthritis in his right knee and can't walk for long periods. Now I know a lot of people are going to say that we only have the wheelchair to jump the queues. This is not the case, as all other wheelchair pushers out there know it is no fun pushing a fully-grown man around. Apart from the weight, the hills and the tortuous routes you have to endure (always the longest way everywhere), there is also the problem of inconsiderate people who think it is easy to stop a wheelchair when they walk directly in front of one. I must also add that more and more rides are becoming fully wheelchair accessible, which means joining the queue along with everyone else and navigating the twisty route in the process. Well now I have that off my chest, on with the story. We headed directly for the Hollywood area of the park to get some fast Pass tickets for the Rock 'n' Roller coaster. We collected 6 tickets and then headed for the Tower of Terror, there was only a 15-minute wait in the standby line so in we went. The actual wait was only about 10 minutes including the pre-show, so no problem there. Tower of Terror is such a great ride, super theme and thrills. The latest changes to the drop profile mean you spend even more time in the falling elevator. I counted 5 drops and a lot of screams from my mother and sister. We came out and had a look at our ride photos, they were so funny we bought 2 including frames (about $19 each). As it was now time to ride the Rock 'n' Roller was we headed off to the ride. The Fast Pass line was very short and soon we were watching the pre-show. The ride dispatch area is really good for this ride as you can watch the cars being launched at full speed down to the first loop. My parents had decided no to ride so we only used 4 of our Fast Pass tickets, which meant 2 of us, could ride again. We got into the cars and rolled around the corner ready for the launch. The music started and the countdown began..5..4..3..2..1...GO. What a rush, 0-60 in 2.8 seconds, then into the first vertical loop, round to the next inversion and through the Hollywood sign. Around the next bend and into the Corkscrew then through a huge donut, a screech of breaks and the ride was over. We pulled up at the rock concert, stepped onto the red carpet and into the store called "Shop till you Rock". We bought our photos with frames again (bigger and more expensive than Tower of Terror, about $26) as the faces on my sister and brother-in-law had to be seen to be believed. We still had two tickets left so my nephew and I rode again, we loved it, this would be something we would be visiting again and again. The rest of the day we did most of the studios including Voyage of the Little Mermaid (used Fast Pass), The Great Movie Ride (no wait), Star Tours (no wait), Indiana Jones (used Fast Pass), Muppets in 3D (no wait), Backlot Tram Tour (30 min wait) we would save the other attractions for a later visit. We had burgers / fries / etc for lunch at the Backlot Express nothing of note to report there, the usual Disney standard for fast food. A 6:30pm took our places in the Fantasmic! Amphitheatre ready for the 7:30 show, we were given seats at the rear of the centre section in a special wheelchair access area. This place is huge, it was full and the gates closed a full 30 minutes before the show started. It's worth while noting that if you leave after they have closed the gates they will not let you back inside, so make sure you have all your party together (we did). There are restrooms, food / drinks and other spending opportunities available so it should not be a problem being held captive. It was getting quite cold by the time the show started, but this did not detract from the great effects and fireworks. Personally I would like to see less 'film' used in the show and more lighting, fireworks, etc. The show ended at 8pm and the huge crowd headed off to the parking lot via a backstage route opened especially for the end of the evening. The crowd moved pretty quickly and we were soon off in the car to find some food for our dinner. We went home via 192 so we could call into my parent's favourite restaurant 'Ponderosa', we had steaks and the all you can eat buffet. It has to be said for what little you pay, you certainly get your money's worth at Ponderosa. We got back to the villa at 11pm and decided to have a quick trip to Wal-Mart to stock up on a few essentials (Oreo's in my case); we went to the store at the intersection of Sand Lake and John Young. We got all we needed and a few things we didn't including a set of Motorola Family Radios 9more about those later). Wednesday 11th October - EPCOT After our busy day at Disney / MGM Studios we seemed in the mood for more excitement and headed off to EPCOT. As everyone was not ready at the same time in the morning, Ryan and I set off before everyone else and agreed to meet up at 11am. We got to EPCOT at 9:15 so the park was already open and guests were streaming in, we headed straight over to Test Track to get our Fast Pass tickets. We had tickets for 10 - 11am and so had about a 45-minute wait before we could use them, with this in mind we avoided 'Energy' and headed over to Imagination. Now it may be due to all the adverse reactions I have seen to the new Journey Into Your Imagination ride, but I was not as disappointed as I thought I would be. Admittedly there must be an issue as we walked straight on to the ride, no line at all, in fact no one waiting to board even. The queue area / pre-show is nicely done, great lighting and TV screens (actually a TV projection) of Eric Idle. We boarded our cars and I expected the worst. What I got was a pleasant surprise, some of the scenes are poor, but others including the last 'Imagination' scan are great. Ryan really liked it so we rode again and again !!!! We then headed back over to Test Track and joined the Fast Pass line, it took about 10 minutes to reach the load area. It seemed that Test Track had been operating well so far and had not had a shutdown, this was not to be the case on other visits. I have been on Test Track before, and it is a really great ride well worth the wait even for repeat rides. The section where you reach full speed around the outside of the Test Track building gives you a real buzz. It was now about 10:15 so we moved over the The Land and saw the crazy Food Rocks show, Ryan liked it but it does seem a bit dated and this is the recently revised version (in the last 5 years at least). It was now getting close to 11am so I turned on one of the Family Radios we had bought ($19.99 each at Wal-Mart). Then the fun started, I did not expect so many people to be using the things, and although I could quite happily talk to the rest of my family we could also hear everyone else's conversations and them ours. Still it was fun at times to hear the strange and weird conversations being had. We met up with the rest of our group under Spaceship Earth then headed back over to Test Track to get another set of 4 tickets. As you can guess my father and mother did not ride so Ryan and me got to ride again. After Test Track we all moved over to Energy and entered just as the pre-show was ending. The cast member in charge of loading spotted our group with the wheelchair and directed us to the special row of seats at the rear of the theatre specially designed to accept wheelchairs. The show started and off we went, all was well on the ride until the film sequence immediately after the dinosaurs. When our vehicle entered the large circular room, I though it was strange that part of the usually hidden screen was visible at the top centre where the curtains meet. The cars continued into the theatre and the lights dimmed, then nothing. Very quickly the working lights came on and then the announcement you dread 'We are experiencing technical difficulties', our show was over. It seems the curtain had jumped the track and could not be opened. They took the wheelchair guests and parties out first and then the rest of the 400+ crowd. Lunch was next on the agenda, it would be a fast food affair at the Electric Umbrella, we had Burgers, Chicken Strips, Hot Dog, Fries, etc. It was quiet at the time we got served so the queues had not started to form and the food was good. The rest of the afternoon we split up into 2 groups some heading off to Body Wars other to Spaceship Earth, meeting up again to visit The Living Seas and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Late in the afternoon we headed off on a clockwise tour of World Showcase, riding Mexico (terrible) and Norway (OK but short) on the way round. I love the American Adventure and so that was a must on my list things to do. We saw a great pre-show of vocalists before we got into the main show. I like the American Adventure for a couple of reasons, one I am involved in theatrical productions as a hobby and the American Adventure is stunning as far as effects, etc go. I am also a big fan of the Golden Dreams music, which is used at the end of the show it never fails to bring a tear to my eye. As a side note here, I did get an extra special treat on a previous visit to WDW. I had arranged to go on the 7-hour backstage tour and would you believe that the first port of call would be the American Adventure. It was a great insight in to how the show is presented, I was able to see all those great sets and Animatronics and how they are all stored in sequence under the Audience. We had a 'snack' when we came out of American Adventure. We continued our walk around the lagoon and finally stopped in Canada to choose our position for the Illuminations 2000 show. Before the Illuminations show you are also treated to the new EPCOT parade 'Tapestry of Nations', this was a nice show and it filled that usual boring waiting time around the lagoon. The music though is very addictive; you can't get it out of your head afterwards. I hope the parade cast members and any others who have to see it over and over again will be receiving some sort of therapy. The same can't be said for the music used in the Illuminations 2000 show, it is a wonderful piece perfect for what must be one of the best fireworks shows around. Illuminations 2000 has to be seen to be fully appreciated, words cannot express the perfect blending of Music, Lights, Fire, Water and Pyro that go to make this show. This would not be the last time I saw the show, I was certain of that. With the day over at EPCOT we headed back to the villa and some well-deserved rest. Thursday 12th October - Blizzard Beach, Pointe Orlando Today was to be a day of rest and recuperation, well that's what the people who had not been to Blizzard Beach before thought. We set off from the house quite early and got to Blizzard Beach just before the official opening time of 10am. A small crowd of maybe 100-200 people were waiting outside the gates. A cast member was talking to the crowd using a mike; they were selecting a 'VIP' for the day, who would open the park by descending Summit Plummet. At about 9:55 they opened the gates and we made our way to the water. As we had 6 in our group we decided not to use the lockers but would instead take turns to look after our bags etc. This is a good move if you want to get a good spot in the park, as you can go straight to the sun beds and avoid the queues for locker keys, etc. All the flumes and pools were open, but I did notice a number of food / drink stations did not open all day so the queues around lunchtime did get quite bad. The park didn't get too full, but as the weather was very good, it was certainly not quiet. Lines for some flumes did get to about 20-30 minutes at times; this can be a problem in some areas as there is little shade. Be especially careful if you queue for the family raft ride 'Team Boat Springs', as the shade is minimal but you get a cooling wind as you are the top of the mountain, very easy to get burnt. We stayed for most of the day leaving at about 4pm; the park was still busy. After a quick shower back at the villa, we headed out for dinner at Pointe Orlando. There are a number of restaurants here, we went for the best-looking steak place, I can't remember the name, but it's sports themed and looks like a baseball celebrity owns it. We could not get a table immediately, but would be seated in 20-25 minutes. After nearly one hour of waiting, I got a little cross with the staff and they eventually seated us. Things did not get much better, basically the service was very, very slow. We did comment to the staff, but they did not seem interested, needless to say they did not get a good tip. My recommendation - avoid. Friday 13th October - Universal Studios I have only realised when writing this report that we had a Friday 13th during our holiday, not that I'm superstitious. Today was going to be a day I had to myself, so I chose to go to Universal Escape as it is not really suitable for may parents and the others had decided to give these parks a miss. Universal have a good offer on at the moment, if you buy a 2-day ticket you get in the park early each day and jump to the front of the ride queues (in front of those people with only 1-day tickets). I have to say that I was very impressed by the theming at Islands of Adventure, you can see that a number of Disney Imagineers have moved across to Universal from the detail and quality of the design. I headed straight for the Marvel Super Hero Island section of the park and onto Spiderman the Ride. The sign outside said there would be a 10 minute wait, what it actually should have said, was there was a 10 minute walk to the ride. I have never seen so much capacity in lines like they have at Universal; every ride has a huge queue area. When I got to the ride (through an excellent themed line) I boarded my vehicle and popped on my 3D glasses ....... and WOW what a ride. I don't think I have ever seen such excellent merging of technologies. The car movement, sets, 3D film, special effects and sound have never been used better. A real winner, miss this one at your peril. Next Dr Dooms Fear Fall, after Spiderman this was a disappointment; Tower of Terror is a lot better. The acceleration up the tower is not very exciting and then it's over, you don't really 'fall' at all. Next over onto the Hulk coaster, no line here (they have a single rider line as well), in fact the longest queue I saw here was only 10 minutes. Now this is a good ride, and the launch up the start hill is amazing. Great set of inversions, good speed and nice little tricks. Off now to the Toon Island area of the park and the first ride I headed to was Ripsaw Falls (water flume), now maybe I should have looked at the ride first before I got on. There was a long walk but no line; I rode on a 6-man boat but with only 3 people in it. I knew things were going to be bad after the first chute, I was very wet. Another 3 chutes later, including the incredible one at the end and I was absolutely soaked to the skin from head to foot. At least it was a hot day so I would dry quickly; little did I know that the next ride 'Jurassic Park - River Adventure' would get me even wetter. Jurassic Park -River Adventure is a good ride; it could be a little scary for the young, especially the scene with the Raptors and T-Rex just before the final big splash. My advice if you don't want to get to wet; is to sit towards the rear of the boat; the front row gets very wet. You have been warned. The Lost Continent was the next area to visit and another coaster 'Duelling Dragons', unfortunately today they were not duelling as the 'Fire dragon' was down for repairs. Still it did not effect the ride on the 'Ice Dragon' which was excellent, a real thrill. The next attraction I wanted to see was 'Poseidon's Fury', but it had a 30 minute wait. They had Fast Track passes available (not like Disney though, just handed out by a cast member at a table), I decided to get in the line and wait. You enter the attraction through a huge archway / waterfall area and through a long set of corridors. Next you are welcomed into a small pre-show area, where you get to meet the storyteller. He tells the tale of Atlantis and then takes us into another room to see the portal that leads to Atlantis and Poseidon. Suddenly the portal starts to unlock and open, you are then presented with an amazing effect of a water vortex, which you walk through into a very large main show room. Here you see the battle between Zeus and Poseidon, great fire, water and film effects; there is a very big surprise ending to this show, which I won't spoil here. This is a great attraction, good effects and a great ending; you could here people saying 'how did they do that' on the way out. I thought the next area at Islands of Adventure would not interest me, but I was very pleasantly surprised by how well Seuss Landing has been designed. It is a real 'fantasy' land, very much in the style of Mickey's Toontown Fair. I only rode one attraction here, which was 'The Cat in the Hat', and what a fun ride it is, very bright and colourful. It works on the same principal as the Roger rabbit Cartoon Spin at Disneyland but you don't control the spinning, the artwork in here is so much better than the 'blacklight' effects at Disney. After completely covering the Islands of Adventure park and riding all the star attractions you would have thought most of the day would be gone, but not so. It was now only 12:45, I had arrived at the park at 8:45, so I had only been here for 4 hours. I assume the reason for this was the early opening and being ahead of the crowd on the way around the park. I decided to head off to Universal Studios to see what I could do there. The Studios seemed busy, but not uncomfortably so. I had a small snack to keep me going as I made my way over to the new Men in Black ride. This is the latest attraction at Universal Studios and I expected a long line, it looked to be about 30 minutes. Then I noticed the single rider line (they have these at some rides in both parks) and made my way in here. I seemed to be going into the ride via a route not normally used by guests and eventually I joined up with the rest of the guests but in a different line. The line I was in lead directly to the loading area, no wait at all, I was on the ride in 3 minutes from entering the building. This is a really good idea for a ride, and almost works. The ride vehicles are very good, sitting 6 in each and the 'shoot up' guns work really well. What this ride lacks though is some change in height or angle of the ride vehicle as it progresses through the ride. Basically it stays at street level throughout the whole ride, a few ups and downs (as in the Buzz Light-year ride) would add another dimension and the ability to add a few more effects / surprises. A little tip for you sharp shooters out there, after your vehicle had been scanned for Aliens, shoot the top of the tall black column on the rear of the opposite car. If you hit it you will be rewarded with a bonus and spin their car in the process. I had a slow walk around the park after Men in Black to take in the atmosphere and have lunch at Richter's Burgers in the San Francisco area. The food was quite good here, nice burger and fries, but the Oreo Cheesecake was dry making it impossible to finish. I did not intend to stay much longer at Universal Studios so I headed for the 'Twister' attraction, there was a Fast Track desk here so I collected a ticket for a show 30 minutes away and I went to look at the Flintstones sets and nearby shops. The Fast Track entry for Twister is through a small waiting room, which takes you into the front of the pre-show area just before the next group of guests appear. This gives you the perfect opportunity to get in the best position for the pre-show and full show. When you do get into the main show head for the front row as this gives the most intense presentation, and be prepared to get a little wet (just a few splashes). Twister is one of those shows that builds and builds to a stunning finale, I really like this attraction but will not spoil it for those who have not seen it yet, just go and be amazed. I had such a great day at Universal Escape that I decided to buy some 2 day tickets for my Sister, Brother-in Law and Nephew. They had not budgeted for these parks in their trip, but I could not let them miss such a great day out. I picked up the tickets at guest relations and headed home. Saturday 14th October - Magic Kingdom, Celebration Today we split into two groups my sister and brother-in-law went to Universal and the rest of us headed off to the Magic Kingdom. The intention today was to stay until the park closed so we could see the 'Fantasy in the Sky' fireworks. We drove to the Ticket and Transportation Centre and parked in the Medical parking area (my father has a pass for this) and then caught the Monorail over to the Magic Kingdom. As soon as we reached the park entrance it was clear it was going to be a busy day. We picked up the wheelchair for my father and entered Tomorrowland. First ride this morning would be 'Buzz Lightyear' as I know the lines can get very long, as we reached the line the cast member waved us into the Fast Pass line (because of the wheelchair). 'Buzz' is an OK ride, not very clever in terms of effects, etc, but it does have that bit of excitement because you are involved. My nephew really liked it, but got a terrible score !!! Next we transferred over to Space Mountain and again we were pulled out of line by the cast member and sent down the Fast Pass line even though we explained that my father would not be riding. This was very considerate of them and meant we did not have to leave him sat outside on his own while we queued inside. My mother is always thrilled when she rides Space Mountain as she feels she has achieved something for her age. I do remind her that although this is a thrill ride, she has also ridden Space Mountain in Paris, and that one has three inversions. Space Mountain was great, the only thing of course that is missing now from this ride is the onboard music, I hope they install it before my next trip. Next over to Alien Encounter, not much of a line here, so we only waited about 20 minutes. I was a little concerned about taking my nephew into this attraction. I have been in it before and seen some very distressed kids, much older than my 8-year-old nephew. So to reassure him a little to prevent an early exit, I explained that it was make believe and that nothing could hurt him in the show. He seemed happy at this point so on with the show. I am a real fan of Alien Encounter for two reasons, one it uses great technology and two it allows your imagination to run riot. Your senses are really put to the test with great sounds, vision and tactile moments. So how did our young guest react to the show, he loved it, scared him lots, but than that is what he liked. It was till a little early for lunch so we crossed the park and entered Frontierland with the hope of riding Splash and Big Thunder Mountains before we ate. Our best option seemed to be to get a Fast Pass for Splash and join the standby line for Big Thunder. We tried to enter the Big Thunder line, but the cast member directed us to a small waiting area for guests with wheelchairs. There were about 6 parties in front of ours so it took about 20 minutes before we rode. By the time we had been on Big Thunder Mountain, looked in the Briar Patch store, etc it was time to use our Fast Pass for Splash Mountain. The cast member checked our tickets and we entered the line. Now if you have been on Splash Mountain you will know that the standby and Fast Pass lines both enter the ride via a staircase. I was interested to know how Fast Pass was going to work with our wheelchair. Well I got the simple answer, as we reached the bottom of the stairs we were pulled out of line by the cast member controlling the standby line. She opened the rope line and directed us to the exit of the ride where we were met by another cast member who took us to the unload area. A few boats later we were in the ride and having a great time, this I think is my mother's favourite ride. Now I'm not sure if you have spotted the obvious mistake made by the cast members running the disabled Fast Pass line, but we still had our Fast Pass tickets, no one had collected them from us. We did not actually feel like riding again right away, as we really needed to eat before all the food outlets got very busy. So I had a look around the Fast Pass distribution area and spotted a family of four who were going to get a set of tickets (Fast Pass wait was now 2 hours). I offered them our tickets, which were still valid for 10 minutes, and we made a family a little bit happier. Now we needed to eat but had no idea what sort of food we felt like, so off we went on a voyage of discovery. Well we found food OK, the three adults all had a huge roasted turkey leg bought from a vending cart along the banks of the Rivers of America, and my nephew had a Hot Dog. The turkey legs I have had before and they can be varied in their quality, sometimes a little tough. Today though they had been cooked to perfection, juicy and tender. As we were not far from the Haunted Mansion that would be our next port of call, followed by a quick trip into Fantasyland to see 'The Legend of the Lion King'. I think they have done a great job with the Lion King show, they really capture the whole film and compress it into a fast, fun and lively presentation. We joined the line with everyone else and waited about 20 minutes before we entered the pre-show. As we had a wheelchair party we got a great position down at the front of the pre-show. This is the only area of this attraction that is poorly designed. The audience have to stand to watch the pre-show, any children that are not in the first 2 or 3 rows of the theatre are unable to see the show at all, except via one small TV monitor. The same cannot be said for the main show area, which is fully seated with every seat having a great view. We got a set of seats right on the front row, which has its good and bad points. It's great to see the close-up of the puppets, but hard to see the action on the far sides of the stage. Great show, great music and LOUD !! The only other attraction we wanted to see in Fantasyland was the new 'Winnie the Pooh' ride that had replaced Mr Toad. This is a Fast Pass attraction and also a very popular ride. When we reached the Fast Pass distribution area the tickets were being issued for 3 hours from the current time. We got our tickets and moved into Adventureland to pass the time. The first disappointment here was that Jungle Cruise was closed for construction of the Fast Pass line. So over to Pirates, this is a fully wheelchair accessible ride so we used the normal entry and waited about 20 minutes to ride. Ryan and I then headed up the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse and back down for some Ice Cream from the Dole Pineapple kiosk. We had fresh pineapple juice topped by a whipped pineapple flavoured ice Cream, delicious. Time for a little shopping spree, so I gave Ryan $10 to go and buy whatever he wanted (no guns allowed, in fact I'm surprised they sell them). Now this could have been a waste of $10, as you know the type of things kids buy when they have a free hand. Off he went into the first store; nothing caught his eye there. Next over to the store at the exit to Pirates, here things began to interest him, mainly because the prices were in his range. In the end we were both happy with his choice, he bought a Pirate Hat, Telescope and a Sword all for less than $10. We had our very own little Pirate for the rest of the day. By the time we had been on Pirates, climbed the treehouse, shopped, eaten Ice Creams and taken in the sun for a while, it was time to return to 'Pooh'. What a disappointment it was, why the great long lines for such a weak ride. Where are the great effects, jokes, fun and innovation? The only original part of the ride is the bouncing with Tigger section. If you are thinking of riding 'Pooh' my advice is use a Fast Pass or wait no longer that 10 minutes in the standby line, any longer would be a waste of your time. The park was now getting very busy and to be honest we did not fancy waiting around for the fireworks at 9:30pm as it was now only 4:30pm. So we left the park, travelled back across the lake on the Ferryboat and headed back home. It was then I remembered that my parents had never been to Celebration; so we took a little detour. For those of you who don't know, 'Celebration' is the town that has been created by Disney, it lies at the bottom of the WDW property, near to I4 and 192. In Celebration you will find residential streets, a Town Hall, Hospital, School, Restaurants, Cinema and Stores, everything you would need in a small community (maybe this is closer to Walt's ideas for EPCOT, than the version we have today). We had picked a great day to visit, they were having a 'Falling of the Leaves' event which included a performance by singers from WDW, market stalls in the street, a Pumpkin Patch (with free mini pumpkins for the kids) and a real fall of leaves (paper ones) at 6:30pm. We enjoyed the feel of this little town and thought it would be nice to eat here to finish the day off. We chose the Front Street Grill, which had a great looking menu and reasonable prices. I have a mixed review of this restaurant, although the service and food overall were excellent we did have no major problem. When the main courses arrived for the 3 adults, the children's meal (a Hot Dog and fries) did not. After a couple of minutes I pointed this out to the waitress who said it would be here in a minute. We explained to Ryan that his food would be here soon, but that we would start, as ours would be going cold, he was fine with that. After 10 minutes and three more comments to the waitress his food had still not arrived, by this time we had eaten half of our food. I was getting very angry by now, as it is very unfair to treat a child so badly. I left the table and got the attention of one of the 'senior' servers and made my views very clear, they promised his food was on it's way. It did arrive eventually a full 15 minutes after ours this was totally unacceptable. What I find most disturbing about the whole episode is that the management or staff made no attempt to apologise to us or more importantly to my nephew. They presented the bill, which I paid, but not without speaking to the manager to highlight the problems we had experienced. He was very apologetic and said what could he do to fix the problem; he offered a dessert on the house. By this time the rest of my party had left the restaurant so I said it was a little late to be trying to fix things now and that it should have been dealt with much earlier by his staff. He said next time we were in the area please come back again and they would 'make things OK with us', but really we did not feel like going back and probably never will. Sunday 15th October - Florida Mall, Wal-Mart, Barbecue Not a very exciting day today, it was going to be a rest day, but unable to sit still for very long we did some shopping. We spent a few hours and a few dollars at Florida Mall in the morning and a few more dollars at Wal-Mart in the afternoon. We rounded off the day with an evening by the pool and a very tasty barbecue, cooked by our expert chef Dougie. Monday 16th October - Animal Kingdom We are now entering the second week of or holiday and time always seems to go much quicker as you approach the time to go home. Today was a group trip to Disney's Animal Kingdom and it would be an eventful one. We split up into two groups, my Mother, Father, Ryan and myself getting to the park early, with Dougie and Gail joining us later. First on the agenda, pick up the wheelchair and then head off to the Killimanjaro Safari as this is best seen as early as possible in the morning when the animals are still awake. We collected Fast Pass tickets but joined the standby line, hoping to use the tickets a little later when the rest of the group arrived (Mum and Dad did not want to ride twice). It was a short wait, only about 10 minutes as it was still quite early, probably only 8:30am. We had a good Safari, seeing most of the major animals except the Lions. We came off the ride and contacted Gail and Dougie on the radios; they had just entered the park and were making their way over to the Africa area. We had a quick breakfast of Muffins, coffee, etc and four of us headed off to the Safari again using the Fast Pass tickets. Now is were the excitement begins........... We had been on the Safari for about 10 minutes and had left the Elephant area and were now in the Rhino area with the Leopards off to the left. As we turned a corner we noticed a young Rhino very close to the truck on the right hand side (actually it was right next to me, I was on the right most seat on the last row of the truck with the family to the left of me). The truck slowed down for us to see the Rhino or so I thought, but in hindsight I think he may have stopped because one of the parents (I don't know which as I'm no expert on Rhinos) of the young Rhino came charging at the truck. This was quite a shock, the parent lunged at the truck a couple of times (not touching it) and then they left together into the bushes. How exciting we all thought, it was to get even better. As we drove away we noticed a hissing sound, and then the driver announced that the Rhino had actually rammed the truck at the front and burst one of the tires, we would have to wait here to have it repaired. By now we had a line of 4 trucks behind ours all unable to pass. We waited in the truck for about 10 minutes before a Jeep arrived carrying Park Rangers and a pickup with the maintenance me. They were being very careful; as soon as the rangers got out of the Jeep they ran over to the truck and climbed up out of the reach of any further Rhino attacks. Now at this point we began to get a little concerned, the Disney staff although very professional did look worried. They formed a ring around the truck keeping a lookout for the Rhinos while the maintenance men changed the tire. Then a funny thing happened, one of the guests suddenly realised that the events with the Rhino were not part of the ride and that this was real !!! It was so funny to see the realisation of our situation sink into the 4 people in their party. No one panicked, even when my sister spotted the Leopards moving a little closer for a look and said in her humorous way "Oh my god we are going to be eaten alive". Eventually the tire was changed and we got back on our way, to the credit of the driver, he did not cut back on the rest of the ride, but did the full spiel and we even had the Jeep chase at the end. When we reached the unload area we were greeted quite informally by some 'Disney Suits' who hoped we had enjoyed our excitement. We thought it was a great addition to our visit to the park, but no doubt someone will try to get a lawsuit out of it. After our excitement in the morning the rest of the day at Animal Kingdom was pretty much by the book. We all got very wet on the Kali River Rapids, had a laugh in 'It's Tough to be a Bug' and had an off road ride on 'Dinosaur'. We also saw the 'Festival of the Lion King' which was a special moment for Ryan as he was chosen from the audience to make an animal noise. Of course the area we sat in was 'Lion' section so he made a great roar and the show started. Later in the show he was in the action again, helping play instruments during one of the songs. It's surprising how a little fame goes a long way, later in the day we had a break outside the entrance to Dinoland USA, when a lady we had never met before spoke to Ryan and said "well done in the show, great roar", he was thrilled. Tuesday 17th October - Sea World Another day, another theme park, not Disney today though but a 'quiet' visit to Sea World. I like to visit Sea World as it never seems to get the same crowds as the Disney or Universal parks and now with the recent addition of 'thrill' rides has something new to offer. The main reason for my to visit Sea World this time was to ride 'Kraken' and 'Journey to Atlantis' both of which had been built since my last visit. We did also see the other attractions including a great show at the Shamu stadium. But for this report I will concentrate on the new rides, first on the agenda was 'Kraken'. This is the latest roller coaster to come to the area, and is reported to be the fastest, longest and tallest in Orlando. Kraken uses the latest in ride vehicles, you sit in a seat with shoulder restraints and no floor beneath you. It gives you a very exposed feeling and the thrill of speed. I was very surprised when I reached the ride to find no line at all; in fact people were being allowed to stay on the ride over and over again as no one was waiting. The only line was a short one for people waiting to ride the front row (more on that later). I took a seat in the middle of the vehicle on the outside of the row (there are 4 seats on every row). We left the load station and started our accent up the hill. If you are scared of heights this will blow you mind. You sit suspended above nothing, just the ground a very long way down. Then it's down the first hill and into the first of seven (YES seven) inversions at speed of up to 65mph, what a rush. Guess who stayed on the ride 3 times in a row !!! Later in the day I returned to Kraken to see what the deal was with the front row, but shock, horror, the ride was down. I hung about for 10 minutes and then great news the ride was open again, and as I was near the front of the line I would not need to wait long for a front row seat. I was not prepared for how different the ride on the front row could be, you are so exposed. The thrill of watching the track disappear below your feet and the wind at 65mph in your face, not to mention the views as you loop and roll, it's well worth the wait. The other new attraction at Sea World is 'Journey to Atlantis' a cross between a water flume ride and a roller coaster. Overall I have to say that 'Atlantis' is a mixed bag, the thrills are great but the theme is not done very well. They have not really managed to get the same level of theming as Disney have on Splash Mountain, there are big bare areas with no attempt to cover up the mechanics of the ride. The two big water drops though are excellent and feel much steeper and longer than on Splash Mountain, the roller coaster surprise at the end is also excellent. I won't say anymore, so I won't spoil the surprise. After a fun day at Sea World we ate a Sizzler on International Drive, quite a good meal, great service, and all at an even better price. Wednesday 18th October - Typhoon Lagoon Typhoon Lagoon would have the pleasure of our family today, and what a great day. The weather on our holiday so far has been perfect, we have had not one drop of rain and today would be no different. I have to say that Typhoon Lagoon is my favourite of all the Disney water parks, it has a much more relaxed feel, and the wave pool is out of this world. We did the usual thing and chose not to have a locker, this time we also took a cool box with us containing drinks, etc. This proved to be a mistake as Disney have a great offer for drinks at the water parks (we missed it at Blizzard Beach). For about $10 you get a big thermal drinks holder that you can get refilled at any of the food outlets all day long. We must have had ours refilled at least 8 times, making it really good value. I don't have much more to report about Typhoon Lagoon other than we had a great day, got very wet and a little more sun-tanned. In the evening Gail, Dougie and I had arranged to go Pleasure Island. I don't know why but on the way home from Typhoon Lagoon I decided to call in at Downtown Disney for a couple of hours before going home to get ready for our night out. It was a good job that I did call in as Pleasure Island was closed. A private function was taking place from 5pm until 10pm, not very nice to find. My advice if you are planning to go to Pleasure Island, call first to see if they are open. Thursday 19th October - Universal The remainder of this trip report is going to be a little shorter than the rest as it involves parks we have already been to earlier in the holiday. Ryan and I had a great day at Universal and there are a couple of stories I thought you might like. Universal Island of Adventure has some great thrill rides, but unfortunately they come with some pretty tall height restrictions. I knew that the 2 main coasters would be well outside the limit for Ryan, but Dr Deaths Fear Fall was very close. In fact on the visit that he made with his Mum and Dad he rode the attraction with no problems, he was just tall enough. Of course today it was a different story, he had shrunk, the cast member would not let him into the attraction, and Ryan was very disappointed. I told him not to worry and that I had a plan, if it worked out he would be on the ride later. We rode Spiderman and made our way round to the 'Jurassic Park - River Adventure' where we got very wet. We had our lunch in the Jurassic Park visitors centre (Burgers and fries) and then headed back to towards 'Dr Death' with a pile of paper napkins in my pocket. I had often heard that if your children are not tall enough to get onto a ride, and just miss the mark by a half-inch or so, you can give them the extra height they need. You do this by carefully folding the napkins provided into a wedge and then place them in the back of the child's shoes. We did this, much to Ryan's amusement and headed off to the ride, making sure that the wedge stayed in position (tip here, don't walk too far). We got to the greeter who checked Ryan against the measure; we were in. He had a great ride and I don't think we put his safety at risk, but if you know better I stand to be corrected. After all they were happy to let him ride on his previous visit. We has another busy day at Universal taking in all the rides at Islands of Adventure, including 'The Cat in the Hat' - 5 times. We also had a great time in Universal Studios riding Men in Black, ET, Jaws, Terminator 3D, Twister and Back to the Future. Friday 20th October - MK and EPCOT Today was going to be my second attempt at seeing the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. This time we chose Friday rather than Saturday, as it had been very busy on Saturday the week before. I must add here that the fireworks are only shown on Friday and Saturday nights during most of the winter season. I was not going to see the fireworks today either, the park was even busier than the week before and we only managed to ride Splash Mountain; Big Thunder was down all morning. We decided to give up our visit to Magic Kingdom, so we changed parks and went to EPCOT. It was much quieter here; we managed to ride Test Track quite a few times. Saturday 21st October - MGM and EPCOT This was another visit to both of these parks for Ryan and myself. We had a list of things we wanted to do again, and a few things that we had missed on our previous visit, and boy did we cover some ground. We managed to fit in the following at Disney / MGM :
Then over to EPCOT where we :
And a host of other things, we finished the day off with the 'Tapestry of Nations' parade and 'Illuminations 2000'. Sunday 22nd October - All Parks The photographs you can see in this report were all taken during our holiday in WDW, but what you don't know is that I took them all on the same day. I had made up my mind not to carry the camera around with me during the entire holiday, what actually happened was I hardly took it with me at all. The result was that I had this great fun day ahead of me where I would visit all 4 Disney parks in one day and get all the photographs I wanted. This part of the report tells the tale of my 'Journey Round the World', using WDW transport only. I had decided to park the car at the Ticket and Transportation Centre as this would give me the best option for getting to and from the parks. It would also still be open when I left the last park that evening, which would be EPCOT at about 9pm. First park of the day would be Magic Kingdom, so I caught the Monorail over the lake and started to take my photographs. I managed to fit one ride in at MK; I went on Splash Mountain for the last time this visit. Then on to the next park, back on the Monorail to the Ticket and Transportation Centre, and then on a bus to Disney / MGM Studios. I got the shots that Jim Hill specifically requested for a future story he is writing. I also got a little surprise as I was heading down Sunset Boulevard to see how long the line was for the Rock 'n' Roller coaster, I met the rest of my family. I was in luck; they had Fast Pass tickets for the Rock 'n' Roller coaster and had a spare one, as my parents did not want to ride. I did the ride, said goodbye and went to catch my next bus to Animal Kingdom. I did not have much time at Animal Kingdom as it was getting quite late and the park was closing at 6pm. I saw some of the Tarzan Rocks show, I was not very impressed, it seemed very, very loud. I did manage to ride 'Dinosaur' again and get all the photographs before the park closed. It was quite nice to be there as night fell, it takes on a very different feel when it is dark. Back on to the bus and off to my final park for the day and for the holiday, EPCOT. This was always going to be the last part of my holiday, as I wanted to finish on a high, by seeing the Illuminations 2000 show one more time. I took up my position near the Italian pavilion, watched the 'Tapestry of Nations' again and then waited for the final event. I was not disappointed; the show was as good as ever and will always leave a lasting impression with me. Then the slow walk around the World Showcase Lagoon and past Test Track for a night-time photograph. But what was this, Test Track was still open and running. It seems that if they have had a few breakdowns in the day they keep Test Track open for and extra hour after all the other attractions have closed. I quickly got in the standby queue and had one more 'thrill' ride (well two actually as it was a short line) before I left the park and caught the Monorail back to pick up the car. It's always a sad moment when you drive off Disney property for the last time on your holiday, this was especially so as it was such a great family trip. Of course I will be returning again soon, probably October 2001. Monday 23th October - Travel Orlando to Paris The trip home was uneventful, the flights were more or less on time and I landed back in Paris pretty much on schedule. It had been a fantastic holiday, perfect weather, the company of my family and of course great Disney entertainment. I can't wait until the next time. Ian Parkinson parky.in.paris@wanadoo.fr Mail a Comment to Ian Parkinson |
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