 |  |
| Discussion Boards | Reviews | News | Trip Planning | Shop | Travel | Site Map |
| Disney Trip Report Archive An archive of reader-submitted trip reports | |
| Alex Stroup, editor | Search just the Trip Report Archive. |
|
Julie Price -- January 2000 -- Walt Disney World (CR, OKWR)
Dates of our visit - January 16th - 22nd Method of Transportation - Plane, Car Accommodations - Boardwalk Villas, 2 bedroom Some background - Initially, we had invited some friends to join us on this vacation who have never been to “the world”. Due to what I feel was lack of planning and commitment on their part, they backed out of the trip about 4 weeks prior. Our dear friends, Mike & Katy, had traveled with us in October and love Disney as much as we do. Since he is a self-employed artist, they were able to join us on fairly short notice. They are our “old, reliable” friends. In the future, I will be careful about inviting others and committing our points for a 2-bedroom unit unless they can make a definite commitment to going! I was a little frustrated with our other friends, but very happy that Mike & Katy were able to join us. Since their son is now 20, they were looking forward to returning to WDW with children. Saturday, Jan. 16th - We normally fly to FL, but since our original friends were unable to afford the airfare, we had decided to drive with them. When they backed out, it was really too late for us to change our plans. So, we drove from Central IL while Mike & Katy flew on some miles that they needed to use. We left very early in the morning in an effort to beat the traffic and let the kids sleep. Traffic was very light and we made great time! The last time we drove to Florida was over 12 years ago when the speed limits were 55 mph. With 70-mph limits in most states, it made a huge difference. We found ourselves in Atlanta by noon and decided that we were going to make it to Orlando by 7:00 p.m. or so. Since, we had planned on taking 2 days to drive there; this was a big bonus. I tried calling CRO on the cell phone to get a reservation for tonight. But, since it was a holiday week-end there were absolutely no rooms available. Not even at the Village. We ended up with a $99 rate at The Doubletree Castle hotel on International Drive. Since it included breakfast, we were very happy with this. We pulled up to the hotel as we predicted at around 7:30 p.m. ET. Check-in was quick and easy and we were in our room within 15 minutes. I have never been to International Drive, so this was an experience. Since I cannot imagine staying off property for an extended period of time, I would not consider staying here again. But, it served our purpose for this night. There were many restaurants in walking distance. We wanted to try Café Tu Tu Tango, but there was a 1-½ hour wait. Since it was late, we walked to a nearby Steakhouse and waited only about 15 minutes before being seated. The kids had hamburgers, I had salad and Nathan had some breaded alligator tail. We weren’t very hungry after traveling 16 hours, but it felt great to sit and relax and just to be HERE! We left 15-20 degree weather back home and to us, the 60-degree night felt absolutely wonderful. After dinner, we walked back to the hotel and settled in for the night. Nathan was glued to the weather channel since he had planned on golfing almost every day with Mike. The weather forecast looks perfect - low to mid 70’s each day. Sunday, Jan. 17th - We slept in until 8:30 a.m. or so. Had a complimentary breakfast of omelets, potatoes and pastries at the hotel and then stepped outside to a gorgeous day! With the sun shining brightly, we drove to Disney property with the Official CD of WDW playing. I got a little misty eyed as we passed through the main gate to the strain of “When You Wish Upon a Star” playing. I told Nathan that it does not get much more perfect than that. We drove to Boardwalk to check-in and get that out of the way. Of course our room was not ready, but we got our keys and purchased e-night tickets for next week. There were no Boardwalk views available, but we were promised a pool view room. After check-in, we drove over to Fantasia golf. There is an AP deal that allows for 1 comp round with the purchase of another, so it only cost us $17 to play. We had a lot of fun enjoying the day and watching the adorable ducklings that lived around the course. After playing, Nathan dropped us off at Boardwalk while he went to play 9 holes at the Oak Trail course. First, I checked the gift shop and got 2 of the DVC member pins. They are hilariously top-secret about these. I had to show ID before the CM would even show them to me! We took the water launch over to EPCOT and enjoyed walking around World Showcase. We checked out Millennium Village and the kids really enjoyed talking to the friendly CM’s from around the world. We weren’t too impressed with the exhibits. I’d say the highlight is visiting with the CM’s who are anxious to talk to you and answer questions about their homeland. Zac wanted to try some drinks from South America (a carbonated beverage made with the nut of a berry found in the Rain Forest) and Thailand (Lychee fruit drink). Neither Sydney nor I liked either one of them. Zac loved the Lychee fruit and was less enthused about the other. They also have some food that you can sample from the various regions represented, like Empanadas from S. America, Jerk Chicken from Jamaica, etc. After leaving the pavilion, we decided to go to Le Cellier for lunch. We were seated within 10 minutes. I enjoyed the cheese soup (of course) with grilled Caesar salad, Zac had the chili and Syd settled for a hot dog. Both had the snowcap pina coladas. We wanted to try the special Millennium dessert (a chocolate Spaceship Earth filled with mousse), but we were too stuffed from the breadsticks. Lunch came to around $35 with tip. We walked around and rode the ride in Mexico since it was being refurbished when we were here in Sept. Sydney loved this and she and I rode it twice in a row. Zac waited for us outside. When we got off the ride, he had found a crystal Mickey golfer in Arribas Brothers, so we purchased it for Nathan’s desk at work. We then worked our way over to Norway for Maelstrom. This was the longest wait that we found (25 minutes). We sat in the last row on the boat, so that we could waive at everyone waiting in line as we headed backwards toward the waterfall. In China, we found the activity stations that they have for children. They can make a mask on a stick and get the stick stamped in each country and also add some decoration to the mask. In China, they wrote Syd’s name in Chinese on the stick. She really loved finding the other stations around WS and adding items to her mask. The kids stopped and enjoyed a Kaki Gori (rainbow) while I called to check on the room. It was available (time was around 4:00 p.m.) and Nathan was already there. I asked him to go ahead and pick up the anniversary cake that I had ordered from Boardwalk Bakery for Mike & Katy (It was their 27th anniversary last week). We then headed back to the room. We were on the 1st floor right by Luna Park. It actually was a good location. We could walk right out of our room to the pool or to the walkway that leads to Boardwalk. The room cannot compare to OKW. It is quite a bit smaller, but that is understandable since this resort is more compact. However, we found the location to more than make up for this. I also enjoyed more of a resort hotel feel here since you have internal hallways/entrances and have the advantage of room service, etc. At around 5:10 p.m., Katy called us from the mobile phone in their Tiffany Towncar to let us know that they were pulling into the gate. Their flight arrived on time at around 4:15 p.m. We told them our room number and since we already had their keys, they could avoid checking-in. We lit the candle on the cake and wished them a very happy anniversary when they came in the door. They were so happy to be here. I love the beginning of vacation. All of the anticipation of what a wonderful time you will have over the next week. And, it is so much better when you share it with friends that you love. They were overwhelmed by the room and their “Master Suite”. They have stayed at all WDW resorts but thought these accommodations were the most beautiful. By the end of the week, they were seriously considering becoming part of our DVC family! We had 6:00 p.m. PS at “The Flying Fish”. Another thing that we loved about Boardwalk, was all of the dining options that are within walking distance. Dinner here was fabulous! For starters, I had delicious crab cakes, Zac had tuna tartar, Nathan chose the wonderful lobster bisque, Mike had a watercress salad and Katy had a Caesar. For entrees, I had the salmon served over cannoli beans, Mike had their specialty dish - a grouper in a crisp potato crust, Katy and Nathan had the scallops (and they were phenomenal), Zac had bottleneck clams in garlic butter and cilantro and Syd had the fried fish. This meal was just scrumptious! I would highly recommend coming here for a special occasion. As our waiter said, it is currently one of the most highly rated restaurants in Central FL. Everything is fresh - the seafood is within 8-10 hours of being caught. Dessert was also exceptional. Nathan had the banana napoleon, Zac & I shared a sampler, Mike had the chocolate lava cake and Katy had the pineapple upside down cake. Dinner for the 6 of us was $250 before tip. After dinner, we walked along the Boardwalk and then headed to the dock for our Illuminations cruise. Mike & Katy treated us to this as a thank-you for being their host for the week. As you will see from this report, they were wonderful guests. Very thoughtful and generous and we truly appreciated it! Bruce was our captain for the evening. He took us over to EPCOT early so that we could watch “Tapestry of Nations” from a perfect vantage point on the boat. We had seen Illuminations 2000 in October and weren’t that impressed. But, from the boat it was excellent! The globe is right in front of you and it really seems like more of a “front-row” seat. After the show, Bruce drove far out in WS lagoon to turn around. There had been a private party in the area by the pub and he pulled alongside the CM who was cleaning up so that he could toss us about 25 glow in the dark necklaces for the kids. As we cruised around for another 25 minutes or so, Bruce gave us a ton of information re: the latest news. I told him that he was my new Disney inside source! Some of the info that he passed on: By 2005-2007, all parks will be connected by monorail, along with many of the resorts. He showed us where there are blocks of module rooms at The Dolphin and Swan that will be removed to allow for the monorail to run through the hotels. They are going to build 2 additional DVC resorts at WDW. One will be by Animal Kingdom and the other adjacent to or near the Yacht & Beach Club. The Animal Kingdom Lodge should be done by late this year or early 2001. He has seen the plans for the new value resorts that will be themed by decades. I told him that this did not appeal to me at all, but he said that the plans look incredible. They will be adding 2 roller coasters at Animal Kingdom. One will be in the new section (Beastly Kingdom) and 1 will be in DinoLand. They will also be adding another park - one more geared to thrill rides to compete with Islands of Adventure. He told us that Disney owned the design for the Dueling Dragons coasters that is at IOA, but since they had no plans to use it in the near future, they sold it to Universal. They anticipate breaking ground on the park after the new park in Tokyo is completed - so it will be quite a few years before this happens. He said that it took them 5 years to develop the new Illuminations 2000 and that the fiberoptic “earth” cost $5 million. Each night they spend $40,000 for fireworks alone. He was a virtual plethora of information and we exchanged e-mail addresses so that he can keep me updated on the all of the latest. After this very enjoyable cruise, we headed back to the room to turn in early since we have early entry at MK tomorrow. Sorry for running so long on today’s activities - just had so much info to share. Monday, January 17th - All of us woke early to Mickey telling us to “Get up and enjoy the day!”. We drove to the Poly and parked, taking the monorail to the park. Katy, the kids and I were able to ride up front and all get our co-pilots license ; - ) We walked right in and savored the first few moments on Main St. USA. I just love this park and I enjoyed seeing the new statue at the beginning of Main St. with Roy Disney and Minnie. Very sweet! But, the “Partners” statue with Walt is still my all time favorite. If anyone knows where I could get a desktop version of this, I would love to have one. I thought they were available at one time, but have not ever seen one available to purchase. We went to Fantasyland, where Syd & Nathan and Mike & Katy rode Dumbo with no wait. There was an interesting incident. The CM was not going to start the ride because a guest absolutely refused to get off. After quite a delay he went ahead and ran it, but made the adult leave after that ride. We then walked over to Peter Pan (our fave Fantasyland ride) and were able to ride 2 x in a row since there was no line. Small World is currently closed for renovations, which the majority of my family did not mind. We went to Pooh, where we rode 2x (not able to stay in the ride since there was a tiny line). Then, we did Snow White and the Carousel. By this time, I thought we should check in for our 9:15 PS at Cinderella’s Royal Table. It is a good thing that we checked in early as we ran into a snag. When she wrote out of PS card, I noticed that she requested 2 tables of 4. I told her this was unacceptable, that our party of 6 wanted to be seated together. She said that is how the reservation was noted and she could not even guarantee if we would be seated in the same vicinity. I then approached the CM handling the seating. He was very busy and basically shrugged me off. But, I have to give him credit. About 2 minutes later, he told us to go upstairs and be seated - he cleared a table for us. I really appreciated the way he handled this and we were very happy they resolved the problem. We actually were seated about 10 minutes early. Breakfast was great as usual and we got plenty of pictures with Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, Belle and Peter Pan. After breakfast, Sydney and I stayed in the park while the rest of the Gang went to a tee time at The Magnolia. Zac and Katy decided that they wanted to ride along and watch Nathan and Mike golf. This gave me the opportunity to spend the day with just my little girl, something that I had never done at WDW. We had a great time - walked onto Splash Mountain and got soaked in the front - then, strolled around the park and went on a few more rides before heading to The Grand Floridian for lunch. A sidenote - this year there is a great deal for AP holders. At many of the resort restaurants (and some in the parks) you get either a free child’s meal or dessert with the purchase of an adult entrée. Sydney and I had lunch at The Grand Floridian Café using this deal. I had chicken salad and her hot dog/drink was free. Since children’s meals are $8.95 at this restaurant, I was really happy with the savings. We used this deal several times during our trip. I was not aware of it until I received my Mickey Monitor the day before we left and of course had made almost all of our dining arrangements by then. But, when we return in August, we will definitely take more advantage of this. After lunch, we strolled around the hotel and looked in the gift shops until it was time for her Tea Party at 1:15 p.m. This appears to be a very popular event as it was completely filled. They had 20 boys and girls with ages ranging from 4 - 10. The tea was set up adorably at 1900 Park Fair with fresh flowers and individual pots of tea (actually apple juice) for each child. Mad Hatter and Alice made an appearance and they frosted cupcakes and told stories. Afterward, they gathered the flowers and made beautiful bouquets as a gift for the mothers. This was well worth the $20. While Syd was at tea, I went to all of the Monorail resorts and checked out the gift shops. I have never been by myself at WDW, so this was another treat. After picking up Sydney at 2:30 p.m., we took the monorail in an attempt to catch a bus back to Boardwalk. There was a group of girls from the tea party waiting with us and the conductor let them ride in the front with no adult. I can imagine all of the giggling going on up there ; - ) At MK, he let me sneak up front to ride with Syd. I thought we were going to the TTC, but then I realized that I should have gotton off at MK to catch the bus. The thoughtful conductor let us ride up front another loop to MK. Sydney received her 2nd co-pilots license of the trip. We returned to the room at around 3:45. It took forever to get back to Boardwalk, since we had to wait for the bus and it stops at The Yacht and Beach Club first. I am just not used to taking WDW transportation since we usually drive to the parks. Zac and Katy were already in the room. They left the guys after 9 holes and came back for a relaxing afternoon. Zac really loves spending time with Mike & Katy since they treat him with the respect of an adult and he is at an age that it is very important for him to begin feeling more independent. He enjoyed having some time with just he and Katy. She treated him to a coney dog on the Boardwalk and they strolled around and enjoyed the afternoon together. The guys arrived back at the room at 4:30 p.m. Katy took a nap while Mike (who is Mr. High Energy) took Syd for a walk around Boardwalk. Nathan’s back was bothering him, so he went to the hot tub. I told Zac that if he wanted to go to EPCOT early and meet us for dinner, I was comfortable with that. He was thrilled. I could tell that he felt very adult and was happy that I trusted him enough to allow him to do this. He later told me that he walked around World Showcase, watched some performers and rode Maelstrom before meeting us at 7:30 p.m. in front of the Teppanyaki restaurant in Japan. Our PS was for 7:45, but they were swamped and we were not seated until 8:15 p.m. Dinner was good, I had steak/shrimp, Nathan and Zac had steak and Syd had shrimp. Zac also had the chilled tofu appetizer. We were seated with a nice young couple from Orlando. Dinner was about $85 with tax. This was our first dining experience here. It was OK, but since we have several Teppanyaki restaurants back home that we frequent, it was nothing special. We probably will not return. Nathan still was not feeling well, so we left during Illuminations to beat the crowd. We found it more convenient to walk back to Boardwalk during the week, since the boat stops at The Yacht Club, Swan/Dolphin before returning to Boardwalk. The walk takes about 5 minutes vs. up to 20 for the boat. At the room, Nathan and Zac were tired and went to bed early. The rest of us stayed up and chatted, sharing some of the anniversary cake. Tuesday, January 18th - Another beautiful day forecasted - sunny and 74 degrees. It looks like we have lucked out with the weather this week. January weather is unpredictable. As I am writing this report the week after we returned, there are currently freeze warnings in Orlando, so we are thankful for the near prefect weather that we experienced. The guys left early in the morning for their “Golf In Depth” clinic at the Disney Institute. This was a 3 hour program with one of the golf pros. It was $65 after a $10 DVC discount. The guys were very enthusiastic about this program and would highly recommend it. There were a total of 6 in their class, the other 4 being Disney employees on a “team-building” mission. The pro was the same one that Nathan took some private lessons from over 10 years ago. Both Nathan & Mike said that they he had a great sense of humor and was an excellent teacher. They both benefited from this program. When it was over at 11:00 a.m., they played 18 holes at Lake Buena Vista. OT - the pro told them that Tiger Woods uses the DI spa facilities for workouts when he is at home in Orlando. He said that he had been in several times that week. The rest of us slept in - I was up at around 8:30 and the kids both slept until 10:00 a.m.! Unheard of for them. When they work up, Sydney and I decided to head to the pool and Zac stayed in the room and read a little bit before joining us. I had purchased the book, “Remembering Walt”, before we left and all of us really enjoyed reading bits of it throughout our vacation. I have such high esteem for and sentimental fondness for Walt, that I thoroughly enjoyed the insight into his character that this book provides. I would highly recommend it! Anyway, we were the only ones at the pool. The water was heated to 80 degrees, so it felt like bathwater. The kids really enjoyed having the slide to themselves. Around 11:30, we had hot dogs and nachos from Leaping Libations. The bartender opened a tab for us so that the kids could go up and get a snack or drink when they needed it. Around 12:30 or so, Katy came out. In my attempt to make sure that she had total privacy, we had misconnected. She said that she was up since about 9:00 a.m. and thought we were still asleep. She had peeked her head out and did not see me since I was laying on the couch reading. Anyway, we had a good laugh about it and she enjoyed spending pool time with the kids. She is such a good sport. She went down the slide several times with them, something that I will not do. I was enjoying sitting in the sun, relaxing until another guest sat at a table next to me. The whole pool deck was empty, but she chose to sit by me while she had a cocktail and smoked. GAG! I can appreciate that perhaps she wanted to smoke, but I wish she would have done it FAR away from me. Fortunately, once she finished her cocktail, she left. We finally decided that we would head in and get ready to go to MK. We took a bus at around 2:00 and just enjoyed strolling around leisurely. I really love having annual passes and visiting the parks frequently since I can enjoy the atmosphere without feeling like I have to rush around and do all of the rides. Katy was hungry, so we stopped at “Casey’s Corner” for a hot dog. We were thrilled with their condiments bar. It has the normal ketchup, mustard, relish, along with saurkraut and cheese sauce. We enjoyed some cheese fries while she ate and then headed to Adventureland. They now have a Fastpass for Jungle Cruise, but the standby line was only 20 minutes, so we waited. We had an excellent skipper who really cracked me up with his dramatic delivery. We then headed to Pirates, only to find that it was temporarily closed. Since Katy had not seen the new Tiki Birds, we went there next and walked into the next show. She enjoyed it, but being a traditionalist missed the old routine and song. After Tiki, we went back to Pirates and it had opened. We strolled through the Adventureland shops afterward and then headed to Haunted Mansion. By this time, it was close to the 4:30 time that we were to meet the guys at City Hall. I went to meet them, while Katy did more shopping in Adventureland. While still waiting for the guys, we got our e-ticket wristbands for the night. Several characters came out to greet guests at the entrance, so Syd and I went to see Minnie. At 4:50 p.m., the guys were still not there. I started to get nervous since we had 5:10 PS at “Tony’s”. They showed up at close to 5 and were very apologetic re: being late, but play was slow on the course today. We walked over to “Tony’s” and were seated immediately. WE love their anitpasto salad, so Nathan & I both had that and I also had a child’s portion of spageiti. Sydney had spagetti with butter and Zac had the Mickey pizza. Dinner for the 4 of us was $35 before tip. Mike & Katy think that this is the best deal on property, since they shared a salad and each had a child’s portion of spagetti (the portion is more than enough for an adult) and their bill was only $20. Big difference from their $100 dinner at Flying Fish! We skipped dessert since we wanted to get some treats from Main St. Confectionary. Nathan had a caramel apple, I bought some Mickey turtles and one of Sue’s (WDW1972) infamous marshamallow sticks. Now, I can see how she can make a meal (or several ) of that thing. It is HUGE and very rich. Delicious! We rode around on the park on the train and then got back off at Main St. in time for the fireworks. We then headed for Tomorrowland to start our E-Ticket night. Nathan, Mike & Syd went ahead of us to Space Mountain and rode it 2x while we relaxed and enjoyed watching the people. Zac went on Buzz 2x while we waited. Then, all of us went on Buzz 3x in a row. My score has finally inched over 100,000, so I was happy. While the guys went on Alien Encounter, we browsed through some more shops and then all of us headed to Haunted Mansion. Sydney backed out at the last minute. I think she was intimidated by the Mansion at night. We had an excellent CM here. Very morose. In the stretch room, as she walked around I pointed at Mike & Katy who were innocently looking in the other direction. She stepped forward and grabbed Katy and she let out a bloodcurdling scream. Too funny : - ) After the ride, we headed to Splash Mountain. Zac waited this one out since he cannot stomach the drops. On our 1st go around, we didn’t get very wet, so we stayed on for another trip. Zac was waiting on the bridge, so after the big drop we let him know what we were doing. The 2nd trip was also fairly dry so we stayed on again. The 3rd one we were BLASTED by the other log going under the “briar patch”. I looked over and just saw a wave of water heading straight for me. Nathan and I were soaked. It was a chilly night, but fortunately this was the last ride as it was past 10:00 p.m. and they made us get out of our log. After reaching the end of Main St., we watched the “Good Night Kiss” with the lights twinkling on the castle and the colors changing as they talked about Walt’s dream of making this a place where all our dreams could come true. OK - I was misty eyed once again! We took the monorail to the Poly where the guys had parked and headed back to the room. The kids fell asleep immediately and the adults decided to head to the Spoodles window for some pizza and beer. The window is open until midnight. We enjoyed sitting outside while munching on delicious pepperoni pizza. I opted for hot chocolate instead of beer - all treated by Mike. After just 1 beer, Katy was a little loopy. We decided that it must have happened since she hadn’t eaten for 6 or more hours. We were just dying laughing at her. Then, Mike told us the story of the time when they went to San Angel Inn and she had 2 of their huge margaritas and couldn’t hardly walk out. He said that the waiter told them, “Senor, I will carry her to the bus stop if you need help”. What a crackup! After helping her back to the room, we all turned in. Wednesday, January 19th - The guys were up early and headed to “Kona Café” for some tonga toast while the rest of us relaxed. Katy was wiped out and decided to stay in for the day. The kids and I headed to EPCOT. It is SO convenient to just walk over from Boardwalk. This morning was the first day that had a little bit of drizzle, but it had stopped by around 9:30 a.m. or so. Today, we wanted to do some things in Future World. We headed for the new Journey Into The Imagination Ride. This is very disappointing. None of us cared for it and the kids missed seeing Figment. I doubt that we will make a point of seeing this in the future. We then walked into HISTA and loved it as usual. It had been years since we went into The Land, so we headed there next and walked into “Food Rocks”. This used to be a favorite of Zac’s when he was younger, so we all enjoyed this. We waited about 15 minutes for the boat ride. Zac did not remember ever going on this and I think he found it fascinating since he is a science nut. We decided that when we return in August, he and I will take the greenhouse tour. After leaving The Land, we strolled over to Spaceship Earth and this was also a walk-on. I love this ride and don’t think any trip to EPCOT is complete until we have gone on it. By this time, we decided to head to “Coral Reef” for lunch. We were seated right in front of the aquarium and enjoyed watching the sea turtles, sharks and rays in particular. Zac had a Caesar & cajun spiced mahi-mahi, I had the delicious lobster bisque and grilled chicken, and Syd had a hot dog. She is on a big hot-dog kick this week. It is so strange, because she never eats them at home. Her meal was free with the AP discount and we also received a free dessert. Zac and I shared their liquid chocolate cake and it was very good. Syd loved her “peanut-butter playdough”. It tasted like cookie dough and they brought pretzels, chocolate chips and sprinkles to use in “playing” with it. Our lunch was about $50 with tip. We headed toward WS since I wanted the kids to see the Living Statues. They are SO cool. I took a picture of her holding out Zac’s ears like Dumbo. One of the must do’s on my list was to watch “Impressions de France”. It’s always been my favorite film in WS and I had not seen it for years. It didn’t start for 20 minutes, so I looked through the shops and found some wonderful things in one of the boutiques. Some fresh herbs (lavender, thyme, rosemary, etc), mustard with wine and seasoned sea salts from Provence. I purchased some for me and some for my mother as a gift. We walked into the theater for the show and once it started I knew that this is where I want to go for our 20th wedding anniversary in 3 years. Nathan & I had talked re: either France or possibly Tahiti (since he is a scuba diver and we are real tropical lovers). But, the absolute beauty of France overwhelms me and I told him that afternoon that I have decided. Now, hopefully he will concur when it is time for us to make our travel plans. We headed back to the room to meet up with the rest of our group. Katy decided that she would just stay in for the night, so the rest of us went to dinner at “Big River Grille” on the Boardwalk. We shared a hot pretzel appetizer with honey mustard dip. Nathan had a brew sampler that featured all 6 of their brewed beers including the new Millennium version. To eat, he had a BBQ sandwich, I had the grilled meatloaf and the kids both had burgers. The total for dinner was about $35 before tip. We found this to be another reasonable restaurant that we will probably return to if in the area. The thing that I love about the Boardwalk restaurants is that they all (except Flying Fish) offer al fresco dining. In warmer weather, I think this would be wonderful. After dinner, we walked around Boardwalk and had Sydney’s face painted (with a swan). It started to sprinkle, so the entertainment on the Boardwalk was cancelled for the evening. We stopped in the bakery and picked up some cookies and rice krispie treats to take back to the room and Mike stopped at the pizza window to pick up some pizza for Katy. I had a sore throat all day that I had chalked up to getting soaked on Splash Mountain the night before. But, I decided to turn in early. The guys ended up going to Jellyrolls and Atlantic Dance to see what was going on, but they said both clubs were dead and they came back to the room fairly early. Thursday, January 20th - Another golfing day for the guys - this time at Osprey Ridge. The rest of us decided to head for MGM. I am anxious for them to finish the walkway from Boardwalk to MGM since it takes SO long to get there by boat. We happened to miss the 1st boat so it took us about 30 minutes to get from the BW dock to the MGM dock. This made us a little late for our PS for lunch at “50’s Prime Time”. The park was empty and all of the waiters/waitresses were outside Prime Time doing the hula hoop, so our lateness was no problem. We were seated at one of the “TV’ tables and enjoyed being waited on by our “cousin”. We had picked this for lunch since our husbands do NOT like to eat here. Lunch was OK - I was still nursing a progressively worse cold so I had chicken soup and ½ sandwich. Zac had a vanilla shake and Dad’s Fish Fry (grilled salmon) and Syd once again had a hot dog. For dessert we all shared a banana split. After lunch, we walked into Muppets 3-D. We sat in the front row in order to be close to the live action character. An interesting thing happened here. A CM seated a mother and her son next to me. It appeared that he had some special needs. The CM put a stand with a reflector in front of him. I later found out that when the live character comes out with the flashlight looking for the bunny, he sees the reflector and pays special attention to the person sitting behind it. This is a really nice idea, but the mother moved the reflector in front of me - so the character kept coming up to me. I pointed to the boy next to me and then he paid some extra attention to him. I thought this was a really great way for them to communicate to the character so that he can focus on a particular child like this. After the show, we walked through the backlot and there were a lot of characters out. I didn’t have my camera with me, but Sydney wanted to wait in line to see Goofy. She hugged and kissed him and he just fainted dead away from her attention ; - ) She got a big kick out of that. We wanted to definitely see Little Mermaid and decided to get a FastPass to return for the next show. While waiting for our return time, we walked onto The Great Movie Ride. I will be sorry to see this close, we always love it. The Doug Live show was starting immediately, so we walked right in and were seated in the 2nd row. I don’t know much about Doug, but this was a cute show with a good message to just be yourself and you will be accepted. Since we were sitting close to the front on the right side of the stage, when Pork Chop throws a bucket of confetti into the audience it was right on us. You may want to remember that if you go the show since Sydney in particular got a kick out of that. By the time the show was finished, it was time to return to Little Mermaid. It had been years since we had seen this and we really enjoyed it. We were to meet Nathan and Mike on Sunset Blvd. at 4:30. We walked over and sat down. Katy went to get some drinks and a slice of pizza and while she was gone the guys came up. They had gotton here early and already been on the Rock -n Roller Coaster. This is Mike’s favorite ride and he wanted to go on it as much as possible. After relaxing a little and talked about our day, we went back to RNRC. The ride was being reset and they couldn’t say when it would reopen. We decided to wait it out and also got Fastpasses so that we could ride a couple times in a row. Sydney really wanted to go on this. It looked like she just made the height requirements. But, once the ride reopened the CM measured her and she was just an inch or so too short. Nathan waited with her while Mike and I went on the ride. We ALWAYS ride in the front - it is the absolute best seat. When we were finished with the ride, Mike & Nathan went back on while I waited with Sydney. By the time they were through, we went back to meet Katy & Zac so that we could go on Tower. Zachary waited for us in the gift shop while the rest of us walked right onto the ride. Sydney was determined to ride in the seatbelt seat. She did, but she held on VERY tightly to Mike & Katy who were sitting next to her. I had to buy the picture of this! We went right back on for another ride, but Sydney didn’t want the seatbelt this time, so Nathan took it. I just love this ride now that it has more drops. I actually think it is less scary since there is not so much anticipation of the BIG drop. The guys & I went back for one last ride on RNRC. When we finished, the line for Fantasmic was huge. I told Mike & Katy re: the Fantasmic dinner package that we did in September and they agreed that it would be worth it just to avoid standing in the line. We had not planned on seeing Fantasmic this trip and I am glad that we didn’t do it this night because it ended up being cancelled due to high winds. After one last trip on TGMR, we left the park. The guys had parked in the lot after they golfed but neither one of them bothered to remember where they parked. Just a minor detail. Fortunately, they remembered they were parked near “trees” and could see the car from the tram. We headed over to The Contemporary for our PS at “Concourse Steakhouse”. We were about ½ hour early, but were seated immediately. By this time, my cold was worsening and felt like it was turning into bronchitis. Mike bought me a stiff martini which tasted like lighter fluid but actually made me feel better. I started with french onion soup, Nathan had the house salad. Zac had the child portion of the filet with garlic mashed potatoes. Nathan had the mango ribs with mashed white sweet potatoes and I had the porterhouse with roasted potatoes. Another hot dog for Sydney. Dinner was good, but I don’t think we will feel a need to return here in the near future. It is a little noisy since it is right next to “Chef Mickey’s”. After dinner, we headed back to the room and I turned in for the night. We have an early day scheduled for tomorrow at AK . . . . Friday, January 21st We were planning on going to Animal Kingdom early this morning, but my cold was much worse. I decided to stay in and rest this morning. Mike & Nathan took the kids to AK, but Katy decided to stay in with me. She told me that she wanted to treat me to breakfast. As much as I protested, she wouldn’t take no for an answer. I slept in until around 10:30 a.m., when she knocked on the studio bedroom door to deliver a true feast. I told her that I felt like a queen! She ordered eggs, a double order of bacon, potatoes, strawberries with cream and whipped cream, toast with butter & jelly, bagel with cream cheese, orange juice, bottled water and hot tea with honey. She was pampering me to the extreme and it paid off because I felt much better by the time that the rest of the group returned at around noon. They said that AK was empty and everything was a walk-on. They did the safari, ITTBAB and CTX two times each. They did not stay for any of the shows and it was a little too cool for the rapids. In a way, I was glad that the kids had a chance to spend some time on their own with their father since he had been golfing every day and not really spent much park time with them. It was a beautiful, sunny day so we decided to head back to Fantasia Golf to play. We decided to do the other side and that was a mistake. The traditional mini golf side is SO much more fun. The 2 golfers in our group were really frustrated by this little course since they swore that no skill was required. It is really hard! After golf we headed to The Poly and walked around some of the shops. We had 5:40 PS at “O’hana” and were seated right by the window. The food was excellent as usual. Katy, Mike and I each had their specialty rum drink in the pineapple. It is strong and we were feeling pretty happy! We love the potstickers and turkey. Plus, the fresh pineapple dipped in caramel is excellent. Sydney jumped up every time they were looking for kids to participate in the coconut races and hula hooping. We also had the added bonus of watching the fireworks over MK (they pipe in the music) at the end of our meal. What a great way to end our last night here. We drove to Downtown Disney and looked through the shops. Katy had promised Sydney that she would buy her a princess dress, so after agonizing over the decision, she chose a gold lame "Belle" dress with crown, scepter and shoes. Katy also purchased an "Exclamation pen" for Zac (he is at an age where is it really tough to buy for him). It was such a pleasure to have Mike & Katy as our guests and they were very generous is expressing their appreciation to us for providing the accommodations. We by no mean expected this, but they refused to let us say no. We are fortunate to have such friends and to be able to share a vacation together at such a wonderful place. We had a wonderful week here with our friends and it was sad to see our trip draw to a close. But, we have magical memories that remain and are anxiously awaiting our next trip in August. Thank you for letting me share our family vacation with you. Julie Price FOURPRICES@aol.com Mail a Comment to Julie Price |
|