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Joseph L. Riccitelli, Jr. -- January 2000 -- Walt Disney World (PO)

• Dates of Trip: Jan 5-12, 2000
• Accommodations: Port Orleans - January 5-12, 2000
• Experience: 5th trip to Walt Disney World 
• Cast of Characters: Me (31) and my sister, Mary Rose (32)
• Travel Methods: Plane, Mears Shuttle, and Disney Transportation

Background

This is my fifth trip to Walt Disney World. My first trip, with five friends, was from July 12-21, 1996, for which I still have not written a trip report. My goal is to document it in some form eventually. All my other trips have trip reports available. They include my second trip in the summer of 1998 when I was part of the Walt Disney World College Program. I worked at the Columbia Harbour House in the Magic Kingdom from June 2-August 23, 1998. My third trip was with two of my friends from June 4-18, 1999. My fourth trip was a month before this one, from December 1-8, 1999, which was my first experience during “RADP Weekend!”

Planning the Trip (1999)

I started thinking about this trip even before my December 1999 trip! How can I think about and plan two trips at one time? Let me tell you, it was not too hard. I love Walt Disney World so much, and I think I am happier in my ‘normal’ life when I am planning trips. Therefore, the more trips I am planning at one time, the happier I am. I think it also made planning my December trip easier. I could skip many things that I usually only do once per trip and concentrate on all the RADP meets and attractions that I visit more than once per trip. I think other “Disney Compulsives” understand exactly what how this can happen!

It was around August when I made the final decision to go to WDW during RADP weekend in December. Around that time, my sister mentioned that she was due for a vacation and she was not sure where she wanted to go. I, of course, suggested that she should go to Walt Disney World. I told her I was planning to go in December and if she wanted to go, she should let me know before I purchased the tickets. Time past and she did not get back to me. I found a great deal for the airfare for December and I booked the flight without her. A few weeks later she approached me and said she wanted to go with me in December. I told her that I already purchased my airline ticket and that I may not be able to get her a spot on the flight. I also told her that I had thought about it, and my trip in December was really to visit with friends and fellow RADP members. I did not think that it would be a good time for a ‘first-timer’ to go to WDW. Since I would not be during any major touring, she would miss more than she should. This is not something that should happen to someone on her first (and probably only) trip. I told her that if she wanted to go in January, I would go again with her then and show her everything! She said that she really wanted to go, so she said to go ahead and plan for it.

I mentioned to her that going so soon after my last trip, I would not be able to afford any part of the room. I could afford the airfare, and my annual pass is good until June 2000, so those were no problem. Since they base the prices at every Disney resort on ‘double occupancy’; she would be paying the same amount for the room without me, as she would be with me. In addition, I told her that if I went I might be able to save her money on the room since I have both an annual pass and an MKC card. She told me she did not mind paying for the whole room; she just wanted to go. With that decision, I called up Disney on October 8, 1999 and asked about availability at one of the moderate resorts for January. The reason I wanted one of the moderates was because I stayed at a moderate on my first trip back in 1996, and, aside from a deluxe resort, it is a better place to stay for a first trip. The value resorts are nice, but I want my sister to stay at a slightly better resort to make her first (and possibly only) trip more memorable. Moreover, with a possible discount I could get the room for about the regular rate of the value resort. The CM told me that there was an annual pass rate at the Caribbean Beach for the dates that I requested. I told her to make the reservation (#292810618422).

The dates that I picked were January 4-11, 2000. For some strange reason, I thought that the fourth was a Wednesday. I have no idea what calendar I looked at to come up with that fact, but it was erroneous. The reason it matters is that my sister’s normal days off are Wednesday and Saturday. By departing and arriving back home on Wednesdays, three of the 8 days would be her normal days off. She works at a small veterinarian clinic, and does not get a ‘traditional’ vacation. Her boss does not give paid vacations, but if someone wants to go on vacation for a week or two, he does not care as long as they find someone else to cover the shifts! By traveling Wednesday to Wednesday, she would only have to find someone to cover for five days.

Anyway, when the confirmation arrived in the mail a few days later I noticed the error with the dates. I tried to figure out how I mistook the dates, but I came up empty! I called back CRO on October 15, 1999 and instead of just asking her to change the dates on my existing reservation, I asked her to check for availability at the other moderates. Since I stayed at the Caribbean in 1996, I really wanted to stay at another resort. She came back and told me that there was an MKC rate at the Port Orleans for the dates I requested (January 5-12, 2000). Although the package price was $79 more than the price at the Caribbean Beach, I told her to make the reservation (#292882042213). It was worth the extra money to stay at a different resort. In addition, the Port Orleans is smaller than the Caribbean Beach, which makes the atmosphere more enjoyable! I did not even mention my old reservation at the Caribbean Beach. The reason is that I only have two weeks to send in the deposit. One week had already passed, and if I had transferred the reservation I would only have one week to send the deposit in, but by making a new reservation, I would still have the full two weeks. Without the deposit for the first reservation arriving, it would just cancel automatically.

Three days later I read up on RADP about the Millennium Insider Rates. Since they did not seem to require anything special (like a Gold MKC card), I decided to call back CRO and see if I could get one. Much to my surprise, I was able to get one for not only the dates requested, but for the same resort as my previous reservation, the Port Orleans. This package was still $11 more than the first reservation at the Caribbean Beach, but it was $68 cheaper than the MKC discount. I immediately had the CM reserve the room (reservation #292912493539). Again, I did not mention my old reservation for the same reasons as before. On October 22, 1999, I mailed in a $100 deposit for the room…which had a total package cost of $703 for seven nights. I am assuming that the extra $11 is for the lanyard that comes with the Millennium Insider Rate, but I will not know until I arrive.

I am always looking out for bargains when it comes to making my trip to WDW cheaper. I am sure most others feel the same way. On my last trip, the room I stayed in for an entire week cost me less than $40.00! If you read my last trip report, then you know how I did it. For those of you that may have missed it, I will detail it very briefly here…as it does not pertain to this trip, but I felt it is important enough to let people know about it.

There is a site online called Free Ride where you visit daily and earn points by visiting web sites, purchasing items, or filling out surveys, etc. When you earn enough points you can trade the points in for all sorts of nice items…including gift certificates to the Courtyard by Marriott that is right on Disney property! I earned enough points from July-November, 1999 to pay for almost the entire seven-day stay! It is easy and quick to do! If you want to reduce the cost of your next trip, and have a few minutes to spare a day, then this is the way to go! If anyone is interested in joining this perfect (and easy) way to get free things, just visit their web site, http://www.freeride.com. When you sign up, make sure you put in my user-name DonaldD23, and you will begin with 100 points. If you leave it blank, then you will begin with zero points. If you have any questions about how to join or about the program itself, just email me at Yankees23@donniebaseball.com.

On October 31, I finally found an acceptable rate for a flight. I booked a direct flight, both directions, from Hartford to Orlando on Delta Express for $177.00 each! This was the cheapest that I ever flew direct to Orlando! Last month, I flew for almost $20 cheaper, but I had a stopover in Atlanta on the way down.

On November 7, I called up Disney and made priority-seating arrangements for the trip. A few days earlier I talked to my sister about where we should eat, and since I am on a limited budget, I could not handle more than two “sit-down style” restaurants. I showed her a map of each park and explained the dining options. I asked her to pick out two that she would like to try, and she choose the Sci-Fi Dine In Theater at the Disney-MGM Studios and Akershus in Norway at Epcot. I checked the calendar, made the decisions as to which days we would be in each of those parks, and I made the reservations. We will be eating at Akershus on January 6 at 4:00 PM (#16200515) and the Sci-Fi on January 10 at 12:55 PM (#16200531).

From this point on, I did not do much in regards to this trip. I still had my December trip to plan for, and then I actually had to go on that trip! Once I returned from that trip, I still had to write a trip report for it; this took me about two weeks.

On December 17, E-Ride Nights for January were announced. There will only be one during my trip, January 11. This is the last night that we will be at WDW, so it seems like a good way to end the trip.

On December 22, I finally finished the trip report for December and I started to plan this trip. The first thing I did was collect the money from my sister so that I could purchase her park pass when I went to the Disney Store in 2 days to pick up my weekly Millennium pins. I also talked with some people on RADP about getting a vegetarian meal at the Hoop Dee Doo Review, because my sister does not eat meat. From what several people told me, there should be no problems. I now have to pick the day that I want to go and call Disney. I should not have a problem with getting a seat. It is the ‘off season’ and when I went during the ‘busy season’ in the summer of 1998, I was able to book a table a week before the show.

The next day, I went to the local Disney Store and bought my sister her 5-Day Hopper pass with my MKC discount ($200.34.) I considered a 5-Day Park Hopper Plus pass, but that would have cost about $230.00. It would have included two visits to either a Water Park or Pleasure Island. However, since we will not be going to the water parks and only one visit to Pleasure Island, I thought it would be more sensible not to spend the extra money. By purchasing a one-day pass to Pleasure Island, with my MKC discount, it would cost her only $17.00, instead of the extra $30.00 it would have cost with the other pass. Moreover, we have the added benefit of going to Pleasure Island on the day that she will not be going to the parks. With a Plus pass, you need to visit the ‘minor park’ visit on the same day that you visit a ‘main park.’ I like the extra flexibility of going to Pleasure Island on a separate day. Of course, it is irrelevant to me, since I own a Premium Annual Pass and I can go to any park at any time! You have to love that! J

On Christmas, I called up Disney and made reservations for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review on January 8. I booked the 9:30 PM show so that I could get the 20% discount with my annual pass. Grand total was $74.12, or $37.06 per person. I mentioned that there would be one vegetarian, and the CM made a notation, but told me that I should remind them when I pick up the tickets. The reason that I waited until now was because I did not start planning the itinerary for this trip until I finished the trip report to my last trip.

I had completed the report about two days ago, and with last minute Christmas shopping and holiday gatherings, I did not have any time to start planning the daily activities until this day. The only thing that I planned on this day was which park we would be going to each day. No specifics, just broad planning. The specific events will come later. I wanted to make sure that I did not plan two buffet style meals on the same day, nor did I want to plan a buffet breakfast the day after a buffet dinner.

A few days later, I started work on an Excel Spreadsheet and planned a day-to-day itinerary of what I will be doing. I have done this for the last two trips, and it worked out fantastic! I saw almost everything that I wanted to! I hate coming home and thinking about the things that I should have done, etc., and doing this on the past two trips helped prevent some of those ‘regrets.’

The next thing I planned was transportation to and from the airport. Last June I used Tiffany Town Car for the first time. The service was excellent and I definitely recommend using them. However, in June I went with two friends so we simply shared the cost. It came to approximately the same price that one person would pay to use Mears. Unfortunately, the price is a too steep for just two people, so I had to go with Mears on this trip. I used them twice before. Once in1998 when I participated in the college program, and a few weeks ago in December. I did not run into any problems with using Mears from the airport to my destination. I was rather lucky, and the shuttle departed almost as soon as I boarded it each time. The return trip to the airport was not as agreeable, as they forced me to leave earlier than I would have liked to. I do not like that, because I hate leaving Disney property any earlier than I have to, but I understand why they need to do it that way. Luckily, I have plenty of $3 coupons for Mears, so the shuttle should cost me us only $22.00 each.

On January 2, 2000, I faxed my room requests to the Room Assignor at the Port Orleans. I requested a room in building five and for a non-smoking, water view room. I stressed that being in a non-smoking room was highly important. My sister has asthma, so she does not get along well with smoke. I am a former smoker, so if I get a smoking-optional room, the smell will not bother me, but with her, it is not an option. I requested building five for several reasons. Number one, it is a non-smoking building and it is close enough to the lobby/bus stop so that the walk will not be tiring. Number two, depending on what side of the building they assign me, I can be either right next to the pool, or within a short walking distance. I hope they accommodate both of those requests. The third request, a water view, is not that important. I reserved a standard view, so that is what they might assign me. However, if I can get an upgrade to a water view without paying extra, I will not complain! In June 1999, I requested the first floor when I stayed at the All-Star Sports. I do not care this time if I am on the first, second or third floor. It will not ruin my vacation if I had to climb stairs. I also do not plan to call to verify the request, as I did with the June trip, mainly because these are not outrageous requests. I think we should have no problem getting a non-smoking room, and even if we do not get building five, the others are adequate for our needs.

I then called Fort Wilderness directly and made reservations for horseback riding on January 9. I have never ridden a horse before in my life, but have always wanted to. My sister has never been on one as well, but she loves animals. As I have said before, she is a vegetarian because she loves them so much, and not only that, she also works for a veterinarian.

When I called, the CM who answered told me that I was smart making the reservations in advance. She said that most guests just arrive at the kennel and try to get a horse. A few of them are lucky and can get one, but they turn most of them away because there are not enough horses for them.

I picked this day to go horseback riding because today is the day of the Walt Disney World Marathon. From what I have read, it usually does not interfere with visiting a park, but I wanted to be on the safe side and avoid it. Also, it is the halfway point of the trip, and I thought it would make a good day to rest. Therefore, we will not be visiting any parks today, so I had to find something to fill the void. I thought that this would be a good way to start the day, after sleeping late! To accommodate the late wake up, I made the reservation for 10:00 AM. This means we must arrive at the Fort Wilderness Kennel by 9:30 AM, which will give us plenty of time to sleep later than we would the other days. I have not told her about this, and I do not think I will; I want it to be a surprise.

Two days before we left I packed. Then I helped her pack, because she had no idea what to bring. Not only has she never been to WDW, but also she has never taken a vacation in her adulthood. Therefore, I had to help her decide what she needed to take, as well as make it fit all in one suitcase. I know if she wound up bringing two suitcases, I would have to carry it around for her in addition to my own, which is not something I wanted to do!

The day before I left, I picked up a few items that I wanted to bring with me. I purchased some more film, although I had an adequate supply left from my December trip. I also picked up some granola bars as a snack or quick breakfast. I usually bring pop-tarts as well, but I plan to eat a little better in the morning on this trip because my sister is used to eating breakfast every morning before work. I usually just get out of bed and leave, which is an unhealthy way to approach each day.

The day before my trip I made sure my VCR was set and had a tape in it. I also set up my extra VCR on mother’s television because there were two things on at the same time and I wanted to watch both of them! Normally, I watch one and tape the other, but since I will not be home to do so, and I am not leaving a park early to watch one, I had to do it this way. Luckily, I own two VCRs. I cannot miss my regular shows, even for Walt Disney World!

I was glad that we were about to leave, because my sister was anxious to go. Ever since I returned from my December trip, she had asked me almost daily if I was excited to be going. She kept saying how thrilling it was to be going. Now, you must remember that not only has she never been to WDW, but also she has not been on a ‘real’ vacation since our childhood…back in the 1970’s! In addition, this will be her first time ever in a plane! Therefore, I can understand her excitement, but she has to remember that although I am always happy to go to WDW, I will never get as excited about it as I did for my first trip in 1996.

Wednesday, January 5, 2000

The day had finally arrived and we were off to Walt Disney World. In keeping with my normal pre-trip ritual, I had trouble falling asleep the night before I departed. I went to bed early…at 9:00 PM, however I did not fall asleep until 1:00 AM. Normally this would not have been that large of a problem, unfortunately I had to be up at 4:00 AM in order for me to make my flight. On every trip to WDW, I have had problems falling asleep. I am assuming that it is the anticipation of going there. I still get so excited that I cannot fall asleep, which I think it is amazing that even after all my trips there…including three within this past year.

Anyway, I awoke at 4:00 AM and showered. I woke up my sister and called my friend who was driving us to the airport. As we waited for her to arrive, I had a quick breakfast of a corn muffin and milk. When my friend arrived, we took off for the airport. We arrived in plenty of time for our 7:00 AM flight.

Although I was assigned the window seat, I let my sister sit there since it was her first plane flight. She was not nervous at all; in fact, she seemed excited about it. She loved looking out the window, and she was amazed at the sight of the clouds below us. She was even more delighted when we flew through a cloud!

The flight itself was uneventful. I tried to catch some sleep, but I failed as usual. We arrived in Florida right on time at 10:05 AM. We disembarked the plane and headed to baggage pickup. While waiting for our bags to show up, I saw Darcy, who was my driver in June when I used the Tiffany Town Car service. He was a great driver and I wanted to say hello to him, but I went to the restroom first. When I returned, he was already gone.

We claimed our bags, headed to the MEARS booth, and purchased our round-trip tickets to the Port Orleans. The woman behind the counter informed me that on January 1, MEARS increased their prices from $25 to $27 per person. Luckily, they still accepted the $3 coupon from Disney so the cost was $24 per person.

After purchasing our tickets, we headed out to the terminal to catch a bus to the Port Orleans. We just missed the last one headed there, so we had to wait about 20 minutes before we could leave. Luckily, our resort was the first stop so we did not have any delays in arriving.

We entered the resort and waited about 15 minutes in line before we could check in. The CM who waited on us was from a town I used to work in, about 20 minutes from my house. We received our two lanyards that are ‘gifts’ for booking the Millennium Insider Rate. Although it was about 3-½ hours before normal check-in time, our room was ready and it was in building five, as I requested. I also requested a 1:00 PM check out for the day we departed. She entered it into the computer and told me that I should call to confirm it the day before we checked out.

We walked to the room, which was about a three-minute walk from the front desk, and we were pleased with the accommodations. We were in room 5232, which was on the second floor. It gave us a lovely view of the grass courtyard, and it was an extremely short walk to both the pool and the boat launch. The only thing that could have been better was if that gave me a water view, but that would have put us further away from things that we used more frequently. We were right next to the stairwell and the ice machine; it was a perfect location.

We called home to let everyone know we arrived safely. Then, at 12:45 PM, we walked to the boat launch and headed to Downtown Disney. The boat departed as soon as we boarded. It was a gorgeous day, very warm and sunny, and the boat ride was fabulous.

We walked directly over to Planet Hollywood, where we planned beforehand to have lunch. The restaurant was not very busy and we had no wait. I had a Caesar salad and the Penne Chicken, which was so huge that I could not finish it. I had an ice tea, which the waitress kept filled to the top…great service! The total bill, with my 10% annual pass discount, came to $29.29. I handed the waitress the $15.00 gift certificate that I earned using Free Ride and $20.00. Out of the $35 that the waitress received, $12.00 came out of my pocket.

After stuffing ourselves, we headed over to the World of Disney, where my sister bought some items as gifts, using my 10% MKC discount. I picked up a great deal of items myself…making up for not buying anything last trip! I purchased the following items: a “2000” Logo Luggage Tag, a Goofy pen (as a gift), the 1999 WDW Official Album, four postcards (to mail), a “2000” Logo reusable window sticker, a Millennium mouse pad (to replace my 5 year old Mickey Mouse one), two different WDW Millennium books, and a “2000” photo album. Grand total after my MKC discount was $85.80.

We had the items shipped to our room, which my sister thought was great, and then we walked around the Marketplace. We did not go over to the West Side at all, which I regretted because I wanted to shop in the Virgin Megastore.

We sat on a bench to watch the birds outside the Rainforest Café, and my sister informed me that her feet were hurting already! Our plane had only landed about five hours ago and already she was in pain. This was a sign of things to come, because her feet were killing her by the time we left for home. My feet, which bothered me in December, did not cause me much discomfort this trip. I do not know if this was because I took a more relaxed pace this trip, or because my feet are getting used to all the walking!

We boarded the boat back to the Port Orleans at about 3:20 PM and went back to the room. We unpacked and I took some photographs of the room, as I usually do on my trips. My sister took a walk to the Dixie Landings, while I relaxed and watched some television. I met her by the pool at about 4:45 PM and we headed over to Guest Services. I tried to pick up my tickets to the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review on Saturday and for E-Ride night next Tuesday, but the CM informed me that it was too early to pick either of them up. My sister, who is usually shy and reserved, became sort of an extrovert at WDW. She saw the CM’s tag, which said that she was from New York, and my sister started talking to her about how our mother is from New York. She repeated this scene almost every day while we were there. She would just start up a conversation with a CM, which is something she would never do back home! When I asked her what came over her, she just said that it was the ‘Disney Magic’ working! Disney affects people in the strangest ways!

We caught the 5:00 PM bus to the Magic Kingdom. I entered the park while my sister sat on a bench outside the gates. She only has a 5-day pass, and to use it today would have been a waste. Since I have an annual pass, it does not make a difference if I only use it to enter a park for a few minutes…as I did this time!

The purpose of my entrance to the Magic Kingdom was to enter the tunnels and pick up a copy of last week’s Eyes & Ears. The cast newspaper comes out every Thursday and I wanted to make sure I picked up a copy of the latest issue before the new one comes out.

After I picked up a copy, I exited the park and took my sister onto the resort monorail. She laughed when she heard the English/Spanish announcement about ‘standing clear of the doors’, because I say it to her (and everyone else) constantly!

We went over to the Polynesian, where we walked through the resort and then out to the boat docks. She saw a swing set on the beach and we went over to it so she could swing on it. The sun was now setting and we had to get going. We walked back through the resort and boarded the monorail over to the Contemporary Resort. We took the elevator up to the 11th floor and then used the stairs to get to the observation tower. We arrived at exactly 6:30 PM, just as they were starting the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. The view was spectacular, and my sister enjoyed seeing them! The last time that I viewed the fireworks from up here, I could barely hear the music. They play the music inside the California Grill restaurant so the guests eating dinner there can get the full effect. However, those guests who are outside the restaurant and on the observation deck cannot hear it as well since the speakers are inside the building. This time someone left the door to the restaurant open and we heard the music rather well. I do think that they should install at least one speaker outside the restaurant so those guests can hear the music clearer.

It was starting to get a bit chilly that high up, so we walked back down to the 11th floor and used the elevator to return to ground level. In case you are wondering why I used the 11th floor to access the observation deck, it is because I think it is rude to walk through a restaurant like the California Grill just to access something else. If it were during the day when the restaurant was empty, then I would have no problems using it to access the observation decks. However, in the middle of the night when it is full of guests eating, I think it is out of line to walk through it. Moreover, the climb is good exercise!

We walked to the Magic Kingdom from the Contemporary and caught a bus back to the Port Orleans. Upon arriving at the resort, we went to the Sassagoula Floatworks & Food Factory for dinner. I had the fried shrimp, which came with corn on the cob and French fries. ($7.41) I asked for a cup of water and the CM gave me a cup. When I went up to the soda fountain, I cheated and filled it up with ice tea instead. However, this was the only time that I did not drink water when I ordered it.

We were back in the room by 7:45 PM. We relaxed a bit, watched some television, and read. Since I was exhausted from having slept very little last night, I was in bed and asleep by 9:45 PM.

Thursday, January 6, 2000

After a good night’s sleep, I awoke at 7:00 AM. Every night I set the alarm clock and arranged for a wake up call. Except for today, every other day I was awake and in the shower before the alarm went off and before the wake up call. However, today I was still in bed when the wake up call came. I answered and said hello, but there was no sound on the other end. I wanted to hear Mickey, but there was nothing! Every other day my sister picked up the telephone and it was Mickey! I miss everything!

We headed over to the Sassagoula Food Court, where I ordered French toast with bacon and a cup of water. Total was $4.66. After breakfast, we walked back to the room where my sister dropped off her Port Orleans refillable mug and we headed to the bus stop.

We boarded the first bus to Epcot at 8:05 AM. As we entered the park, we had the CM photographer take three different photos of us using her digital camera. We meant to look at it before we left the park, but we did not remember! It is just as well, since we probably would not have purchased it anyway; it was nice posing for them though!

We waited in front of Spaceship Earth for the rope drop at 8:30 AM. This was the first time that I was ever at Epcot at the exact opening, so it was a pleasure listening to the opening music and speech. The release of the doves was a nice touch as well!

Since we were one of the first guests to enter the park, and there were not a lot of other people waiting with us, I changed from my normal routine. Usually I head directly to Test Track, but we hopped aboard Spaceship Earth instead. This was my sister’s very first ride at Walt Disney World and when it was over, she commented about how much she loved it! I knew right there that we would have a good time the entire trip, even on the lamest of rides!

We headed over to Test Track, where we walked through the queue and went right into a debriefing room. She was slightly scared about the ride, but during it she started to yell and cheer, which would be a common occurrence throughout the trip! The only disappointment with the ride was immediately after the high speed run outdoors, the ride stopped as we were sitting under the thermal imaging camera. We waited there for about 10 minutes before we started to move again. A CM walked over to us and told us that one of the cars in the loading area died and they had to push it manually into the maintenance area. The good thing was that we they allowed us to ride it again without getting out of the car. Both times our high speed was 64.8 MPH.

After Test Track, we headed over to the Universe of Energy. We walked in about two minutes before the pre-show began. My sister enjoyed this attraction, as did I! I also took notice of the yellow helicopter that is used during the film sequence because I would see it later in the ‘bone yard’ during the backstage tour at the Disney-MGM Studios.

When that was over, we headed over to the Wonders of Life Pavilion where my sister rode the bicycle through Disneyland! We then entered Body Wars with no wait. I actually felt a little queasy during the ride, which never happened before. I still do not know what caused it, but something strange happened during the ride that made me feel better about my sickness. I had put my camera bag securely in the net under my seat. I never had a problem before whenever I placed an item there. This time, however, when I went to retrieve it after the ride it was not there! I started to worry, but then my sister picked it up from under her feet and handed it to me! It had jumped from the ‘secure’ net under my seat and landed by her feet during the ride. I checked the net and it was in good working condition, so I am assuming that the ride was just bumpier than usual. How that could happen, I do not know, but how else do you explain my queasiness and the camera’s movement?

From there, we headed over to Cranium Command with about two minutes until the pre-show. We were making good time, and catching all the attractions at the perfect time. This was either great planning on my part, or pure luck. I guess you know which option I think it was!

My stomach was still upset from Body Wars, so while I used the restroom my sister played around with the toys in the area outside Cranium Command. Upon my return, I felt 100% better, so I think the problem with Body Wars was simply that I had to use the restroom!

I took a photo of my sister in front of the quote from Helen Keller. My sister is a huge Helen Keller fan, partly due to them sharing the same birthday…June 27. She had no interest in seeing the Making of Me, and since I had seen it many times before, we skipped it.

There was nothing else to do, so we exited the pavilion. We headed across the park and into the Imagination Pavilion. We saw Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, which she enjoyed. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the show to begin, but it was nice watching the pre-show. I know most people think it is a commercial for Kodak, but the music is enjoyable and so are the photographs. I am an amateur photographer, so perhaps I enjoy looking at photographs more than other people do. Anyway, the mice in the show surprised her and I heard her laugh a few times. It really was fun showing around someone who had never been there before. I wish I had someone to do that for me during my first trip. I went at the worst time of the year (July) and waited in outrageously long lines, and I did not see half the things that my sister wound up seeing!

After the show, we headed into Journey into Your Imagination. I really do not care for this new version, and it was not even on our pre-trip plan. However, we were well ahead of schedule and I wanted to see what she thought of it since she did not have the old version to compare it too. She said that although it was not great, she enjoyed it and thought it was unique.

We headed over to the Land Pavilion at noon, and headed right into the Circle of Life movie. My sister is a huge animal lover, and I caught her crying during this movie. The sights of the bird swimming in oil polluted water and other tragedies were too much for her. I agree that we should do something to help preserve the Earth, and I do my part by, among other things, recycling.

We then waited about 5 minutes for the Living with the Land tour, and my sister was amazed at some of the ways that they are growing crops. When the tour was completed, we headed to Food Rocks, which my sister seemed to enjoy although she was not a fan of any of the music groups that they parodied.

It was now about 1:00 PM, and we had lunch reservations at Akershus in Norway at 4:00 PM. I knew that I could not make it and I broke down and bought a bag of honey glazed peanuts outside the pavilion ($3.00.) They were delicious and much better than the kind you can buy at a store.

We headed over to the Living Seas, where we watched the manatees. We were hoping for a short show, as I had seen once, but there was none scheduled during the time we were there. In addition, we had to start making our way over to World Showcase if we wanted to stay on schedule. We took a brief detour into Ice Station Cool, where I threw a snowball at her! She sampled all the different flavors, and agreed with me that the Italian flavor was horrible, which is shameful since we are Italian!

We then headed to World Showcase, where we entered the Mexican pavilion. Immediately upon entering, we saw Donald Duck in his Mexican outfit signing autographs and posing for photographs. My sister mentioned beforehand that she wanted to get some photographs with the characters, and this was her first chance. I pointed it out to her, and she did something that almost caused me to disown her and abandon her immediately! She said that Donald Duck was not one of her favorite characters! To me this is sacrilegious! She knows, as does everyone else who knows me, knows that Donald Duck is a god in my eyes! Her refusal to take a photograph with Donald Duck struck a nerve with me and I just gave her an evil look for the next hour or so. She kept trying to apologize, and after we rode El Rio del Tiempo, she said she changed her mind and wanted to pose with Donald. I told her that it was too late, and it was because Donald Duck was no longer there. I told her that the characters do not stay out all day, if you see one you have to go right over to them because they can disappear at any moment.

Eventually I forgave her, and we headed over to the American Adventure where we saw the 2:45 PM performance of the Voices of Liberty and then the American Adventure show. She had told me beforehand that she did not like a capella music, but she retracted that statement after she heard the Voices of Liberty. Their voices blend so beautifully that you have to be tone deaf if you do not enjoy them! She also told me later that the American Adventure show was her favorite thing at Epcot! One other thing, it rained quite heavily while we were inside because when we came out everything was soaked and we saw dozens of people wearing ponchos. This was the only time it rained all day, so luckily we missed it!

When the show ended, we headed over to Norway and checked in at Akershus. We arrived about 10 minutes before our priority seating, but they seated us immediately. The CM showed us the buffet, and we helped ourselves to some extremely delicious food. I loved almost everything that I tried. I would definitely recommend this restaurant, and I will return someday. We stuffed ourselves with all the seafood, but saved some room for dessert. I tried the special Millennium dessert, which was a large dark chocolate replica of Spaceship Earth, filled with a rice pudding and topped with a delicious cream and strawberries. It was expensive (almost seven dollars), but well worth it! The total with tip came to $45, of which I paid $25.

After dinner, for which we they charged us the cheaper lunch price and not the dinner price, we headed to Maelstrom. This wound up being our longest wait the entire trip, about 20 minutes. This ride always has a long wait, and I still do not know why. It is not a very good ride, but it is the best ‘ride’ in World Showcase. We stayed at the end to watch the movie.

We then headed over to the Viking Ship so that my sister could climb aboard it. Then we headed over to China. We looked at the exhibits inside while we were waiting for the movie to begin, and then we caught a surprise. The Pu Yang Acrobats were performing in the promenade just outside the theater entrance, so we watched them. I had always wanted to see them perform and now I finally got my chance. They were excellent, and I cannot imagine how many hours that these young children must practice to get so good. Whatever it was it paid off because they were fabulous.

About five minutes after they finished the show, the Wonders of China movie began. This was my sister’s first 360-degree movie, and she enjoyed the sensation of motion that it provides. She originally did not want to see any of the movies, but I convinced her that she would be missing some of the great sites around the world that she may never see otherwise.

When it was over, we headed over to Germany where we waited for the 6:30 PM performance of Tapestry of Nations. I had never seen this before, so I was waiting anxiously for it. I selected a perfect spot for it. Not only could we see the beginning of the parade, but also the end of the parade that began in Mexico. It was great to see the Sage of Time’s opening and closing speech without moving! I was very impressed with this parade, and I wish that I had made time for it last month on my previous trip!

When the parade ended, we headed over to France where we briefly watched a Living Statue perform. Then we headed to the theater to try to the movie, but we missed it by 10 minutes. The next one would start in 20 minutes, but we did not want to sit around and wait. We headed over to Canada to see O Canada, which I love simply for the music. When it was finished, we had plenty of time to go back to France and see the 8:00 PM showing of Impressions de France, so we headed there. My sister was happy that this theater had seats, because her feet were really bothering her.

When the movie ended, we headed to the International Gateway and staked out a place to watch Illuminations 2000: Reflections of Earth. We had to wait for the second showing of Tapestry to pass by before we could claim a spot on the bridge, but we wound up getting a front row view!

We had to wait about 25 minutes for the fireworks, but we killed the time talking about how much she was enjoying her trip so far. The show was great, however the wind was blowing too much in our direction, and it obscured some of the effects.

When it ended, we walked as fast as she could to exit the park. I knew that her feet were bothering her, but I did not want her to have to wait in a long line to catch the bus home. We walked right onto the bus at 9:35 PM and went directly to our resort. We were in our room by 9:50 PM, where I saw that there was a message waiting for us on our telephone. I checked the messages, and it was from the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review informing me that they canceled the 9:30 PM show on Saturday, which I had booked! This was becoming a regular event during my trips. In June, they canceled the Polynesian Luau that I had scheduled!

It was too late to do anything about it now, so I made a note to call them tomorrow. I then wrote out some postcards before heading off to sleep!

Friday, January 7, 2000

I woke up at 6:30 AM and took my daily shower. Then my sister and I headed to the Sassagoula Food Court for breakfast. This trip was similar to my 1996 in the respect that I ate a decent breakfast everyday! On all my other trips, I just had a quick pop tart or some other non-sensible breakfast. I made sure to get up early enough to eat breakfast because I know my sister is used to eating a good breakfast everyday. I ordered the French toast with bacon again, but this time I ordered a side dish of biscuits. I was expecting only one or two, but they handed me a plate with four biscuits on them! I could not finish all of them, so I shared two of them with my sister. Later in the week, my sister ordered a side dish of biscuits with her breakfast and they only gave her two! I wonder which order they messed up on…hers or mine? I had my usual glass of water, and the total cost was $6.03.

I mailed the postcards that I wrote out last night, and then headed over to Guest Services to straighten out the Hoop-Dee-Doo problem. While I was doing this, my sister returned to the room to drop off her mug and I told her to meet me in the lobby.

The CM, Anita, called up the Hoop-Dee-Doo to find out why they canceled my performance, and to see if I could re-book it. The CM at the Hoop-Dee-Doo did not tell her why it was canceled, only that the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday performances at 9:30 PM were all canceled! They allowed me to re-book it for the day after I wanted it, Sunday, for the 5:00 PM show. They told me that they would honor my 20% annual pass discount for this performance since they canceled the only one it was good for. They also offered me my choice of front row seats if I wanted it, because I was the first party to re-book. I accepted it without question! The grand total for the Hoop-Dee-Doo was $74.12 (or $37.06 per person), that I paid for with cash. I also purchased two tickets to E-Ride Night at the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday, January 11. Total cost was $10.60 per person.

When I was finished, I looked around for my sister, but I could not find her. I went back to the room, and there she was lying on the bed reading her book. She told me that she thought that I was going to meet her back at the room! I asked her why I would do something as stupid as that? We were heading to the Magic Kingdom as soon as I straightened out the Hoop-Dee-Doo problem. I asked her why I would want to walk all the way back to the room, and then turn around and walk all the way to the lobby again? I told her that was why I sent her to the room without me, so that she could drop off the mug without wasting any of my time. This was our only real communication problem all week, and it was not a serious problem.

We headed to the bus stop, where we caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom at 7:45 AM. We arrived there and walked right through the gates at 8:00 AM. We walked around Main Street and the hub, and then I took her through the castle. We had plenty of time before the rest of the park opened, so we sat on a park bench hear the entrance to Liberty Square. Yes, it was only 8:30 AM and her feet were already hurting her!

As 9:00 AM neared, we headed over to the entrance to Liberty Square and waited for the rope drop. There was no opening music, and the CM’s finally gave up waiting for it and they let us in at about 9:05 AM. We went directly to Splash Mountain, where we were one of the first ones on the ride. We got a front row seat; and, in fact, we were the only two people in the log! They gave us the opportunity to ride it again without getting off, but we still had plenty of things to see in this park, and I knew we were coming back on E-Ride night. When I go to E-Ride night, I only ride three attractions…the three ‘mountains’, so there was no point in riding this again at this time.

After Splash Mountain, we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad where I waited for the rear car…as usual! From there, we headed over to the Pirates of the Caribbean. This was a walk-on, and it was a pleasant ride. Afterwards, I purchased a Donald Duck pirate beanie baby ($7.42.) My sister started a conversation with the CM about pennies. I handed the CM $8.02 for the beanie. My sister started off on some tirade about how ‘people hate pennies!’ The CM started to agree with her, probably just being nice, and I gave them weird looks. I asked my sister why she thought I hated pennies, and she told me because I was always in a hurry to get rid of them. I gave her another weird look and told her that if I did not use them, then they would start to get heavy in my pocket. In addition, I was using them exactly as the government intended them! If I had handed the CM $8.00 for the beanie and told her that I did not want the three pennies that I would get in change, then I could see my sister saying I ‘hated pennies.’ However, this was not the case! She sure is weird sometimes! J

Anyway, I had the beanie shipped to the room and we headed over to the Jungle Cruise. The line was longer than I cared it to be, but I saw that the Enchanted Tiki Room…Under New Management was getting ready for its next show, so we headed there instead. We watched the pre-show, which always makes me sad because it has Phil Hartman’s voice. I was a fan of his, and his murder was such a tragedy.

My sister loved the show, as I did. Neither of us had ever seen the original version of the Tiki Room, so we could never compare it to that. I am glad, however, that they kept some of the original song, because I really love it. I catch myself humming, “In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki room…” all the time!

After the Tiki room, I noticed that the line for the Jungle Cruise had decreased. It was still a 10-minute wait, but since we were not coming back to Adventureland, I thought that we should brave the line and see it now. We sat in the front of the boat, and although it was enjoyable, it was not the best I had ever experienced.

We left Adventureland and headed over to Frontierland where we made it in plenty of time for the 10:45 AM performance of the Diamond Horseshoe Review. I was beginning to get thirsty, and when I saw that they sold birch beer, I bought one for myself. I also purchased a sprite for me sister. Total cost for me was $1.24.

We sat on the main floor, which was a first for me as I always sat upstairs. The show was excellent, and the singing cowboy dragged me into part of the fun! He started to sing a song called, “It’s not me…it’s him!” Moreover, during the middle of it, he made everyone point to me during that part. Luckily I was not the only victim during that song, as he made them point to about two or three others.

The magician did not bring a child onstage as in all my previous performances. He came out onto the floor and did some amazing card tricks! The Can-Can dancers were great as usual…but I guess I am not old enough yet to be picked for the guy’s part. They always pick three men that are at least 50!

When it was over, we headed to the 11:35 Country Bear Jamboree show. My sister enjoyed it, but after seeing the Christmas version last month, I cannot help but think that I preferred that version!

I took a quick restroom break, and then we headed over to the Haunted Mansion. I pointed out the hidden Donald Duck to my sister, and then we exited the ride. We headed over to the Liberty Belle Riverboat, where we had a leisurely ride around Tom Sawyer Island. We sat at the front of the boat on the first level. It started to rain very lightly and very briefly while we were sailing along the Rivers of America. By the time we docked, it has stopped. My sister enjoyed the ride, probably more so because we saw a turtle swimming in the river!

After we disembarked, we headed over to the 1:00 PM showing of the Hall of Presidents. My sister enjoyed this, but I probably like it more than she ever will. She is patriotic, but not to the extent that I am!

We went to Fantasyland, where I made her ride It’s a Small World (IASW) for two reasons. The first reason is that everyone must ride IASW at least once in his or her life. The second reason is that WDW was closing it for a short rehab in three days and I wanted to make sure she rode it before then.

We were both hungry by now, so we checked the menu at the Pinocchio Village Haus. She could not find anything on it that she could eat…she is a vegetarian…so we headed over to Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café. I knew they had three different menus, so I knew that she would find something to eat. They wound up having veggie burgers, so that is what she ordered. I had the spicy chicken sandwich with French fries and a glass of water. I also went over to the fixings bar and made a side dish of mushrooms! The total was $6.89. We grabbed a seat in front of Sunny Eclipse. My sister thought it was cute, and she snapped a photograph of him!

After lunch, we headed over to Space Mountain where we grabbed a FastPass. We then headed to the Carrousel of Progress, which my sister loved. She is very nostalgic for outdated items, and this was something that made her wish that those days were back. I am the total opposite, I say, “the more change, the better!”

When it was over, everyone lined up at the exit door, but it did not open. I was talking to my sister so I was not paying attention. However, after a few minutes I wondered what was going on. It seems as though the people in the front we waiting for the door to open, which was what was supposed to happen. I thought that was silly, so I just walked up to the door and manually pushed it open! I thought it was funny; we have ‘progressed’ so far that we expect doors to open themselves!

We had about 20 minutes before we could use our FastPass for Space Mountain, so we relaxed aboard the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. When the announcement said that we were entering Space Mountain, my sister thought that we were going to ride it now. However, I had to tell her that we were just passing through it. She enjoyed seeing the model of Walt Disney’s Community of Tomorrow!

When we exited the TTA, we headed over to Space Mountain where we went right on it. We rode on the right side, and when we were done, I asked my sister if she wanted to ride it again on the other side. She said that she did, so we entered the line. The time posted above the stand-by line said that it was a 30-minute wait, but it was actually a walk on!

After riding the left side, we headed over to Alien Encounter. She was not scared, but she enjoyed it. She agreed with me when I said that it had no repeat value.

We then went to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, where I found someone who was worse than me! I only scored a measly 40,100…good enough for Ranger First Class, but my sister only scored 10,000! This was my worst score ever; I have no idea how anyone can score high on this ride!

It was now about 4:15 PM, and we headed over to Fantasyland and rode the Mad Tea Party. We did not get the fast cup, like I did on my previous trip, but it was still fun.

From there we made a quick visit to Mickey’s Toontown Fair, but we felt that we still had some rides to go onto and we could hit this later since it is mainly just walking around and observing. We headed back to Fantasyland, where we waited five minutes for Snow White’s Scary Adventures. Yes, I think it is lame…but it is there to please the children and not me. I then sat down and changed the film in both of our camera while my sister rode Cinderella’s Golden Carousel.

While we were waiting for the 5:20 PM performance of the Legend of the Lion King, my sister rested on the steps near Cinderella Castle, while I went downstairs into the tunnels. I was looking for the latest issue of Eyes & Ears, but it was one of their special color issues. Unfortunately, those are only obtainable when a CM picks up their check! I had no luck finding one, so I just returned to the park and we walked over to the theater.

The Lion King show was great as usual, and the death of Mufasa made my sister sad! We then headed toward Main Street and bought ice cream cones from the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor. I had mine made with cookies and cream ice cream ($2.65.) The line was the longest one that we waited in all day…almost 20 minutes!

We did not mind the wait because the only thing that we had left to do was watch the fireworks. By the time we got the ice cream, we had 15 minutes until the fireworks. We sat down at the tables next to the parlor and ate our ice cream.

When the music started, we got up from our seats and headed to the center of Main Street to watch the fireworks. We both enjoyed them, but I will never forgive them for replacing the music that they used during 1998-99 on my earlier trips!

We left the park after the fireworks and caught the ferryboat to the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC.) We had plans to go back to the resort, but it was still early and my sister wanted to ride the monorail again. I suggested that we ride the longer monorail to Epcot and then just catch a bus to the Port Orleans from there. She agreed, so we hopped aboard the monorail.

When we arrived at Epcot, we disembarked and walked over to the Port Orleans bus stop. We were back at the resort by 7:30 PM. I purchased another crushed Donald Duck penny from the machine in the Jackson Square Gift & Desires shop ($0.51) and then I purchased a Port Orleans license plate with Donald Duck on it ($8.48.)

I returned to the room at 7:45 PM and called home. Then I headed out to the pool to relax and read a bit. I was back in the room and in bed by 9:30 PM.

Saturday, January 8, 2000

I woke up at 6:15 AM, and showered. We headed to the Sassagoula Food Court, where I ate pancakes with bacon and a cup of water…total cost was $4.66.

We dropped my sister’s mug back at the room, and then we headed over to the bus stop. We caught the 7:15 AM bus to Disney’s Animal Kingdom.

The park was not open yet, so we picked a line and waited in it. About 10 minutes before they opened the gates to let us in, I noticed a girl at the front of the line I was standing in. I noticed that the ticket she was holding was one of the free tickets that Disney gives to cast members. I had a few when I worked there that I let my friends use last June. She was standing behind a pole, so I could not see her face clearly, but she looked familiar. A few seconds later, she moved away from the pole and happened to look at me. I gave her a second look, and said my name. It was Jillinda, who you may remember from my Summer 1998 trip report!

Jillinda was in the college program with me, and we knew each other from the apartments we lived in, Vista Way. Her and I became friends that summer, and we went to the movies together a lot. Since our internship ended, we have lost touch. She came over to me, and we gave each other a long hug. We caught up on what each of us was doing and, in fact, she did the college program again last summer working at the Pizzafari restaurant right here at the Animal Kingdom! She was leaving the next day, so although she asked for my resort and room number, I knew that we would not have time to get together. We were both down her showing our sisters the parks, which was an amazing coincidence.

After chatting for a few minutes, the CMs were getting ready to let us in, so we said goodbye. Sure, we could have hung out in the park today. However, if we did that, and my sister missed seeing something that she wanted to because we ran out of time, then I would have been upset. It was great seeing her and I hope to talk to her again someday, but there was no chance of us getting together this trip.

When we finally entered the park, we headed directly to Countdown to Extinction. My sister sat in the ‘best seat in the house’ that the CM directed me to on my last trip. My sister enjoyed the ride, and even rode it again later in the trip. I think it is a nice ‘once per trip’ kind of ride. It has no repeat value for me, as it is just ‘bumpy’ and not ‘thrilling.’ However, that is simply my opinion.

We then headed over to the Kali River Rapids, where we proceeded to get wet…but not too wet! My sister then took photographs of the monkeys that live near the entrance to Kali.

We then went to It’s Tough to Be A Bug, which my sister enjoyed. She seemed pleasantly surprised when the ‘maggots’ left the building first! She liked the Tree of Life, but she made no remarks about it, which leads me to believe that she was not impressed with it. I enjoy the ‘atmosphere’ that the actual park and its architecture gives off as much as I enjoy ‘thrill’ rides. My sister, on the other hand, seems to care less about atmosphere and is more interested in the ‘thrill’ rides. Oh, well…to each his or her own!

After Bug, we headed to the Kilimanjaro Safari, where we had no wait! My sister loved this, even the lame ‘poacher’ story line. She took more photographs during this ride than she did the rest of the trip! She loved it so much, and when we came back to this park a few days later, she rode it again.

When we finished the safari ride, we headed back to Asia to see the 10:00 AM Flights of Wonder show. We both enjoyed it, but my sister does not seem as interested in birds as she is with other animals. Still, it is a great show, and I highly recommend it.

After the show, we headed over to Camp Minnie-Mickey, where my sister proceeded to get her photograph taken with a few of the characters. I had my photograph taken with all of them on previous trips, so I went off to use the restroom. When I met up with her, she told me how she met about seven or eight characters with no wait at all! She met Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and a few others. We were waiting for the 11:30 AM Lion King show, so I figured that if there was no wait, I might as well kill some time and meet them again. However, by the time I got there, there was at least a 10 to15 minute wait for each character. I guess I learned the lesson that I taught my sister when we were at Epcot…if you want to meet a character, go when you first see them or else you might miss out! Oh, well!

We walked over to the entrance to the Festival of the Lion King, and I purchased a sugar cookie at Chip & Dale’s Cookie Cabin ($1.75.) We waited about 10 minutes before they let us into the theater. I picked a seat in the lion section, and soon the show began. My favorite performer played the giraffe. I think she is just simply lovely, but I never seem to take any photographs of her or the show. I have seen it about 10 times, and I have no photographs of it. I saw it again later in the trip, and, again, no pictures!

When the show ended, we went immediately over to Grandmother Willow’s Grove to see Pocahontas and Her Forest Friends show. My sister enjoyed it, probably because of the live animals, but if it were not for her, I would never see this show again. It is terrible, and the woman that they had playing Pocahontas looked terrible. She did not remind me of Pocahontas at all. No offense to her, but they need to recast the lead!

When the show ended, we headed back to Dinoland where we saw the 1:00 PM performance of Tarzan Rocks! We sat in the front row of the seats in the middle of the theater. This way, we would have a good view of the front stage, and a front row view of the performers who came out into the walkway. I enjoyed this show, as did my sister, but I still think Tarzan and Jane and not in it enough.

When the performance ended, we headed over to Pizzafari because we were starving. I purchased a pepperoni pizza and a cup of water for $5.72. My sister liked the idea that there were no straws or lids to protect the animals and thought that every place should ban them! I told her that that was going too far…they are necessary, at least until someone invents something to replace them.

It was much warmer than it was this morning, so we decided to get wet on Kali again. We had a short wait this time, about 10 minutes, and we got soaked! Luckily, that did not happen this morning, because it was slightly chilly, but now it was warm enough so we did not mind.

At this point, everything that was a ride or a show with scheduled times was completed. The only things that remained were the animal trails and Conservation Station. We did the Maharajah Jungle Trek first, and my sister really enjoyed seeing the tigers. Then we took the relaxing train ride to Conservation Station. This was my first trip there since 1998, and not much has changed. I still do not see anything worthwhile there. We listened to the sounds of the Rainforest, which is just a shorter version of the technology used in Sounds Dangerous at the Disney-MGM Studios. However, it was still nice and relaxing.

I watched some videos about monkeys, while my sister walked around the building. When I was done, I went to look for her and she was not in sight. I figured she went outside to the petting zoo, and I was correct. As soon as I walked out of the doors, there she was petting some goats. I went over to her and told her to take her time, we were in no rush. I sat on one of the benches, and a goat came over to me…so I pet it.

When my sister was ready to go, we washed our hands and boarded the train back to the rest of the park. It was about 3:50 PM now, and my sister went to walk through the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail while I called the Hoop-Dee-Doo to discuss my sister’s vegetarian meal. I did not have a dime on me, so the call cost me $0.50 instead of $0.35, but it was still cheaper than the $0.75 it would have cost me had I called from the room.

The lady I spoke we gave me a list of items that my sister could choose from, but I had asked my sister earlier and she said that pasta would be fine…so that is what I choose. I also picked out a side dish of steamed vegetables for her.

I walked back to the entrance of the Pangani Trail and I sat down in the small gazebo and waited for my sister to return. She returned at about 4:20 PM, and I asked her if she was ready to go…or if she wanted to do anything else. She said that she did not mind leaving, except she wanted to shop first and pick up some souvenirs of her ‘favorite park!’ We went over to the Island Mercantile where she picked up a bunch of items. She had the CM charge her an extra $1.00, which is donated to the Conservation Fund that Disney sponsors! She had the merchandise shipped back to the resort, and we exited the park.

Our plan was to board a bus to the TTC, but it was full. There were still guests waiting in line for the next one to show up, so I decided that we should take a bus to the Contemporary and walk over to the Magic Kingdom. The Contemporary bus was sitting there almost empty, and it took off as soon as we boarded it.

We arrived at the Contemporary and walked to the Magic Kingdom, arriving at 5:15 PM. As we entered the park, a Japanese couple asked me to take their photograph, so I did. I have done this for at least one couple every trip since 1998, so I am keeping my streak intact!

Our main purpose of this visit to the Magic Kingdom was to visit some attractions that we missed during our visit yesterday. The first place we went to was the Timekeeper, which had a 15-minute wait until the next show. My sister used the time to sit on the floor because her feet were not feeling any better. She enjoyed this attraction, although it was a ‘stand-up’ attraction.

After the show, we headed to Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café to grab some dinner. My sister had her veggie burger, while I had the Caesar salad, with a cup of Cream of Chicken soup. I also splurged and purchased a cup of iced cappuccino, and a cup of water since I knew the cappuccino would not be enough for me. Total was $9.80.

After dinner, we headed over to Liberty Square to watch the Main Street Electrical Parade since this was the only day that it was running during our trip. On the way there, I stopped by Sleepy Hollow to say hello to Don, who I worked with when I was on the college program.

We waited about 15 minutes for the parade to reach us, and when it ended at 7:10 PM, we walked down to Main Street to watch the fireworks. A funny thing happened at this performance…at exactly 7:30 PM, the lights on the castle dimmed and it started to sparkle as usual. However, there was no music!

About 8 minutes later, it started over, and this time the music played and the fireworks show went on as scheduled! My sister sat this one out on the side, while I stood in the middle of Main Street watching them.

It was during the fireworks display that I felt an overcoming sense of illness. I had not been feeling well the entire trip, but it was nothing serious. I think I had a mild case of the flu, but I cannot be sure. Anyway, I rushed over to Tomorrowland where I put my sister on the line for the Tomorrowland Speedway and I headed to the restroom. The ride had a 20-minute wait, so I knew she would have something to do while I was being sick.

After my visit to the restroom, I was feeling 100% better. I went over to the Speedway, where I went up to the viewing area. When I arrived, my sister was just stepping into a car, so I snapped a photo of her and then sat down and waited for her to travel the entire course.

I met up with her at the exit, and informed her that I was feeling much better. I had previously told her that we would leave after the Speedway, but I decided to head to Fantasyland to see if Pooh or Peter Pan had acceptable lines. Pooh had a 40-minute wait, but Peter Pan’s Flight had less than a 5-minute wait, so we rode that!

While we were halfway through the ride, it stopped. Although the ride stopped for only a minute or two, it was long enough to tell my sister that she was back luck on rides! If you remember, we were stuck on Test Track earlier in the trip!

It was 8:35 PM when we finished Peter Pan and we decided to leave the park. It was less than a half-hour until the park closed, and I did not want to fight the throngs of guests who would be leaving at that time. I knew her feet were killing her and I did not want her to have to wait in line for the bus. We exited the park, and immediately boarded a bus to the Port Orleans.

We were back in our room by 9:15 PM, and asleep by 10:30 PM.

Sunday, January 9, 2000

Today was our planned day off from the parks. I did this for several reasons. First, it was mid-way through our trip and we needed a rest from all the walking that is needed when going to the parks. Second, today was the day of the Walt Disney World Marathon. Although this should have no affect on attending a park, since it is usually over by the time the parks are open; I still wanted to avoid it.

I woke up at 7:30 AM, and took my daily shower. We headed to the Sassagoula Food Works for our daily breakfast. I had the French toast with bacon again, and a cup of water. Total was $4.66. After breakfast, we went back to the room to drop off my sister’s mug.

We caught the 8:30 AM bus to the Magic Kingdom. However, because of the marathon, they were not allowing any buses in the bus-loading zone and they dropped us off at the TTC. This worked out perfectly, since our plan was to go to Fort Wilderness and the ‘Boone’ buses to that resort stops at the TTC.

We stepped off the bus we were on and immediately boarded the ‘Boone’ bus. We went to the Pioneer Hall bus stop at Fort Wilderness so that I could show my sister the petting zoo and Minnie Moo, the cow with the hidden Mickey! When I told my sister about Minnie Moo, she said that it was cruel for them to paint a Mickey Mouse on the cow. I laughed and told her that the cow was born that way, and Disney paid a lot of money to the owner to bring her to Walt Disney World.

After letting her look around for awhile, we boarded the ‘Chip’ bus to Gateway Depot at the front of the resort. From there, we walked over to the kennel, where we checked in for horseback riding. We had to sign a waiver in case we were injured, and we both declined wearing the protective helmets. We paid for the event ($23.00 each), and then we walked over to the corral where the horses were. At about 9:45 AM, the two CMs who were going to accompany the trail ride showed up and helped us all onto the horses. Besides my sister and me, there were two other couples, a father, and his son. Only the ones who opted to wear the headgear were the father and son combination.

They mounted my sister on her horse first, and then the other two ladies were next. After they put the boy on his horse, I was the next one to get on. I was put on a beautiful horse named Famous Amos. The trail ride lasted about 45 minutes, and it was enjoyable. A few times my horse got too close with the one in front of him and there was some trouble, but it was nothing serious. However, the horse in front of me did not seem to like the horse in front of him and he showed it. I thought that they man in front of me was going to be thrown from his horse, because his horse bucked a lot!

When it was over and we were back in the corral, my sister and I had our photos taken on the horses. It was both of our first times on a horse, and probably my last. I enjoyed it, but my right foot started to hurt after about 30 minutes. I do not think it was in the foot restraint properly, but I accepted it and just enjoyed the ride.

My sister did not know about it beforehand, and she was pleasantly surprised when she found out. She said it was one of the best things about the trip, and she was glad that I kept it as a surprise!

We walked back to the bus stop and caught the ‘Chip’ bus back to the Pioneer Hall bus stop. From there, we walked to the boat launch and caught the boat to the Magic Kingdom. It was very hot by this time, in the 80s, and we could not wait to get back to the resort and get in the pool. I had never swum in January before, and I was really looking forward to it.

We caught the bus back to the Port Orleans and arrived back at 11:45 AM. We went back to the room, where I ate a granola bar that I had brought with me from home. I went to the pool, known as Doubloon Lagoon, and swam for about 45 minutes. I went down the large slide only once, but it was fun. The slide is actually the tongue of a large sea serpent! When I was done, I read by the pool for awhile and then went back to the room to watch some television. My sister returned to the room at about 1:50 PM.

While I was in the room, I called and made a priority seating at Bonfamille’s Restaurant. I wanted to eat there because I had heard so much about it, and I made it for the day we were leaving, Wednesday morning at 7:30 AM. (PS #16743906)

I told my sister that we had plenty of time before we had to leave for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review, so I told her she could go back to the pool. I took the path along the river to the Dixie Landings and took some photographs. I headed back to the room at 2:30 PM.

My sister arrived shortly after I did and we walked to the bus stop and grabbed a bus to the Magic Kingdom. When we arrived there, we boarded the boat to Fort Wilderness and checked in at Pioneer Hall at 4:05 PM. We had our photograph taken, but I knew that we were not going to purchase it.

We sat on the bench across from Pioneer Hall and waited until they let us in. Once we were in, the show started at about 5:10 PM. The food was delicious, and I just love the butter that they serve for the bread. I just hope that I never see that butter in a grocery store, because I think I would put it on everything! I try to avoid the butter section at the store just for that reason!

Anyway, we had great seats…front row and center! You could not ask for better seats! We had a great view of the performance, but when the performers went out in the audience, we had to keep turning our heads to see them. The show was just as good as I remember it, and I participated more this time than I did last time. However, I let my sister take the spoon to the washboard!

One thing that I did notice from sitting that close is that the men’s have their microphones attached to their shirts, but the ladies have their microphones in their wigs! I thought I was crazy when I saw that, but it is true! I do not know why they do it that way.

When the show ended at 6:45 PM, we walked out to the bus stop and caught the ‘Crockett’ bus to the TTC. From there, we transferred to a Downtown Disney bus and we went to the entrance to Pleasure Island.

I purchased a ticket to Pleasure Island for my sister using my Magic Kingdom Club card, and then we entered the gate. They did not check us for identification as they did on my last visit. I guess I look older than 21 now. How sad! L

We went to the 8:15 PM performance of the Comedy Warehouse. They were very funny, and many of the performers I recognized from my previous visits. There were two that I had never seen before, but they were good as well. They did not make the ‘phone call’ to an unexpected guest in the audience, but it was still a good show. They did a skit about anteaters, and when they asked for questions from the audience, my sister was the first one to shout out one! She is more outgoing at WDW than she is back home! I am the same way; I wonder how many other people have complete transformations when they are at WDW?

After the show, we went right back in line for the next performance at 9:20 PM. This show was funnier than the previous one, and they did do the ‘phone call’ this time!

I thought about going back a third time, but my sister was tired. I was also feeling tired, but I could have made another show if she could. However, she could not, so we left Pleasure Island and walked through the Marketplace and grabbed the boat back to the Port Orleans. We had to wait for the second boat to arrive, but I did not mind. It was a bit chilly that evening, but it made the ride enjoyable.

We arrived home at 10:50 PM, took the short walk to our room, and went directly to bed.

Monday, January 10, 2000

I woke up at 7:15 AM and got myself ready for the day. We headed over to the Sassagoula Food Works and had breakfast. I ate an egg and cheese on a croissant sandwich, with a side order of fried potatoes. I had my usual glass of water to go with it. Total cost was $5.39.

We dropped my sister’s mug back at the room, and then we headed to the bus stop. We caught the 8:20 AM bus to the Disney-MGM Studios, where we entered at about 8:40 AM.

We went directly to Sunset Boulevard, where we waited for the rope drop. I had never heard the opening music, etc. for the Studios, so it was a nice beginning to the day. Unfortunately, there were some unpleasant people near me. One man stepped on my foot about 4 times, and when I made a comment to him about it, he muttered something to me in a foreign language. I swear that if he had done it one more time I was going to punch him in his face. Luckily for him, he called a CM came over and said something to him; in English, mind you! After their brief conversation, the CM let him through the rope, and led him and his family towards the Tower of Terror. I do not know why he they gave him this treatment, he did not look special, and I doubt it was because of me, but I had no complaints.

Another unfortunate situation happened while we listened to the opening music. The CMs had removed the ropes, but made us all wait until the opening announcement was completed. A very loud, obnoxious woman next to me kept yelling at the top of her lungs about how ridiculous it was that we had to wait! She went on for almost the entire ceremony, and it really took something away from it for me. I cannot understand why some people do not have any patience…after all; no one was beating us up the road. Anyone who wanted to get there at this time was right next to us.

Anyway, after the ceremony ended, we proceeded up the boulevard. My sister and I walked just fast enough so that the throngs of people behind us did not trample us. We were not the first people to enter the Tower of Terror (TOT), but we were part of the first group into the Library.

My sister and I are huge fans of the Twilight Zone, so I knew that she would enjoy this attraction as much as I do. What I did not know was that after we rode it she declared that it was her favorite ride! From this point on, she made it a point to announce that “the Tower of Terror Rocks!” at any chance that she could! I pointed out some of the references to certain Twilight Zone episodes in the lobby (broken eyeglasses from ‘Time Enough to Last,’ and in the library (the yes/no fortune teller machine from (I believe) ‘A Penny for you Thoughts.”)

After the TOT, we headed over to the Rock n’ Roller Coaster starring Aerosmith. After we rode it once, I asked my sister how she liked her first inverted roller coaster. She thought it was cool, but she did not recall going upside down! I looked at her as if she was crazy. Although the ride was in the dark, I was almost positive that you could tell it went upside down. She told me she remembered it twisting and turning, but she did not think that she was actually going upside down. I told her that we had to ride it again, and I told her to pay attention this time!

While we were in line, at the part where Aerosmith is talking to us, one of the arms on my sister’s glasses broke off. The screw that held it in came loose and it was lost. Therefore, for the remainder of the trip, she only had one arm on her eyeglasses. The funny thing about that is the arm on my glasses broke off a week before the trip, and I had my eye doctor squeeze me in to get my eyes examined earlier than planned. I had an appointment to get them checked in April, but I needed new glasses now, as the old frames were almost 4 years old. I did not want to have him order me new glasses with my old prescription, when I might be getting a new prescription a few months later. Therefore, he made room for me on his schedule, and we picked out new frames. Because it was a holiday weekend, it was New Year’s Eve the week before we left; my new glasses arrived the day before I left for the trip!

This time, however, my sister did notice that we went upside down! I also noticed something that I had not before. Although I knew there were five different Aerosmith songs that played. Which one you hear depends on which limousine you sit in. The one we sat in the second time had Aerosmith singing, “Love in a roller coaster” instead of their hit song, “Love in an elevator.” I did not know that the five songs you heard were new recordings specifically for the ride. I have to pay attention the next few times I ride it to see if I hear a different song!

After our second ride on the roller coaster, I took my sister back to the Tower of Terror. After walking right onto three consecutive rides, we had our first wait. This was only a 10-minute wait, however, so it was bearable. Upon exiting the ride, we walked through the gift store, where I recognized a woman that I used to work with about 12 years ago at a grocery store. In fact, I had gone to her New Year’s Eve party that year; I remember it well because I have photographs from that party. Anyway, she was working behind the counter in the gift shop! I did not say anything to her, because I had not seen her since I quit that store, and also because she had a long line of guests to wait on. My sister and I rode the Tower a few more times, but I never saw her in there again.

After the TOT, we headed to Star Tours. It started to drizzle slightly while we were walking, but it was over by the time we reached the ride. Again, my sister and I are huge Star Wars fans, so I knew she enjoyed this attraction. However, having seen it many times, I am ready for a new film!

We headed directly to Muppetvision 3D after Star Tours. We saw the entire pre-show, which is almost as good as the show itself. We stood directly under ‘A Net Full of Jell-O’, which I pointed out to my sister as we were let into the theater. She got the joke as soon as I said it!

Immediately after the Muppets show, we headed over to the Backlot Theater where we saw the Hunchback of Notre Dame show. We caught most of Matt the Juggler’s act, which was just as good as the one I saw in December.

We then headed to the Backlot Tour at 11:40 PM. We had two delays during the tram ride. The first one was at the bone yard, directly next to Walt Disney’s plane. I noticed that Catastrophe Canyon was dumping water and I saw the flames shooting up over the top, so I knew that there was another tram in there and we were waiting for it to depart. The second delay occurred while we were inside Catastrophe Canyon. We sat there for about 5 minutes before the rain began. They say it takes only three minutes to reset the scene, but after this incident, I think it takes longer than that.

When the tram ride ended, we headed over to the Sci-Fi Theater for lunch. Although our priority seating was for 12:50 PM, I checked in at 12:30 PM. We went into the Writer’s Stop bookstore to kill some time while we were waiting for them to call us. Ten minutes later they called our name and we entered the restaurant. My sister loved it! As I have mentioned before, she is a nostalgic person and the drive-in is a historic location. We used to have one in a neighboring town, but it has long since disappeared.

Our waitress was Meriah, who was a very nice, energetic, and beautiful woman. She asked where we were from, and after we told her, she asked if me missed it. I immediately answered, “NO! I hate Connecticut!” My sister volunteered the information that after I finish college I was moving to the Orlando area. Her eyes lit up and she told me that I should look her up when I move here! I do not know if she was simply being friendly or if she was genuinely flirting with me. Either way, I will take her up on her offer when I move there…that is, of course, if she is still working at the Sci-Fi Theater!

Anyway, I ordered the spicy grilled chicken with French fries and an ice tea. I did not realize it when I ordered it, but it came with a blue cheese topping. I hate blue cheese, and I should have sent it back for one without the topping. However, I did not want the food to be wasted, so I simply scraped the topping off with my knife and I ate the sandwich.

When we were finished, I asked for the bill. I did not mention this before, but we had seats in the last row of the car. There were two rows in front of us, which was a family of four. They were seated before us, but we finished first because they ordered dessert and we did not. When Meriah brought us our bill, she pointed out that she stamped it “speeding ticket” because we finished before the driver! She told me that she would try to get the judge to go lightly on us because she thought we were nice people!

I love the little things that CMs do to make a guest’s day brighter. I did not even mind paying the bill, because I enjoyed every second of the place (except for the blue cheese!) The total, with tip, was $40.00…of which, $19.00 was my share.

After lunch, we headed over to the Great Movie Ride. Upon entering the courtyard in front of the Chinese Theater, my sister and I looked at some of the footprints on display. In June, I saw Donald Duck’s web prints and I had to take a photograph of that. This time, I noticed one of my all-time favorite actors…Jerry Lewis. I always thought that this man was a comic genius, and he does not seem to get the respect of American critics as much as he deserves. In Europe, especially France, they revere him, but in his home country, the critics treat him with disdain. In any case, I photographed that and we proceeded into the theater.

We sat in the first vehicle, which meant we would get the ‘cowboy.’ I finally saw the hidden Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse hieroglyphics in the first Indiana Jones room, thanks to my friend Beth. If you read my December 1999 trip report, then you know Beth, as we hung out a great deal then. We are on the same Disney mailing list, and I mentioned to the list that I could never find it. She was the first to respond and gave me an exact detailed description of where it is. I found it with no problem thanks to her!

After the Great Movie Ride, we headed over to the Animation Tour. I enjoy the film with Robin Williams at the beginning, and my sister enjoyed the seats! When we were with the animator, he was drawing the tiger from Tarzan. Sorry, I forgot the tiger’s name. The animator said this is normal because they only mention the tiger’s name once in the entire movie. Before he gave us that fact, he asked if anyone knew whom he was drawing. A few people answered, “the tiger from Tarzan,” but no one could give his name. He told us, but, as I have said, I forgot.

When he came to the part where the guests could ask questions, one lady asked him if he knew the names of Huey, Dewey, and Louie’s parents! He gave a puzzled look and said he had no idea. The lady responded that a Disney bus driver had asked her that question, and the animator responded, “Ahhh…a bus driver’s question! Ha! Ha!” It was very funny, but I guess you had to be there. It was slightly embarrassing for me, because I am a huge Donald Duck fan and I should have known the answer, as their mother is Donald’s sister. I remembered their mother’s name after we exited the building. Her name is Della, and she is Donald’s twin sister. However, in the movie, ‘Donald’s Nephews,” she was referred to as Dumbella. In addition, renowned Disney comic book artist, Carl Barks, wrote a ‘Duck Family Tree’ in the mid-1950s. In his version, he called Donald’s sister, Thelma. However, other that in that family tree, no one, not even Carl Barks himself, has ever used that name. As far as I can tell, no one at Disney has ever given the father a name.

While I am at it, Donald’s parents are Hortense McDuck (Scrooge’s sister) and Quackmore Duck (his great-grandfather was Cornelius Coot, the founder of Duckburg. He has a statue in Mickey’s Toontown Fair!)

In any case, back to the trip report! After the tour it was about 3:00 PM and we used the telephone to call home, since it had been a few days since I checked in with our parents. After that, we headed over to the Tower of Terror to see how long the line was. It was almost non-existent and we rode it twice in a row. My sister also decided it was time to purchase a Tower of Terror T-shirt.

From there, we went back to the Writer’s Stop, where I had been eyeing those large Rice Krispies Treats that I saw earlier when I was waiting to eat at the Sci-Fi restaurant. I had decided earlier that I would have one for dessert, but when I had finished lunch, I was too full for dessert. I was now ready for that dessert, so I choose the one that had M&M’s baked inside. I also ordered an ice tea, and the total came to $5.75. However, the treat was huge, and I had the CM cut it into three pieces.

My sister bought a cookie, and we went over to the benches across from the Writer’s Stop and ate our snacks. While we were sitting there, we noticed a camera crew filming guest’s comments. We noticed them several times throughout the day, and we even saw them at the Magic Kingdom the next day. I wonder what they are going to use the footage for…perhaps the next version of the Disney Planning Video.

When we finished our snacks, and believe me, mine took awhile, we walked over to the car outside the Sci-Fi and I took a photograph of my sister in it. We then walked over to the Star Wars speeder and I took a photograph of her on that as well.

We then headed over to Sounds Dangerous. In the pre-trip planning, I left this off, because I really did not enjoy it…although I am a huge fan of Drew Carey’s. However, my sister seemed to enjoy the sounds of the Rainforest at Conservation Station at Disney’s Animal Kingdom and this attraction used the same technology. It was also only 3:30 PM, and we were well ahead of schedule. In fact, there was nothing left that we wanted to do that we had not done already. We could not see The Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular because they closed it for rehab, which it desperately needed after 10 years of constant use. We also did not see the Beauty and the Beast show because my sister said it did not interest her. However, now that we are back she regrets missing that one. We also skipped the Doug and Big Bear shows, since I had seen them both and I know she would not enjoy them.

Therefore, we entered the attraction and she did enjoy it. As we exited, a CM asked us if we wanted to participate in a survey regarding the attraction! I jumped at the chance! I told her that I did not enjoy it as much as the Monster Sound Stage Show that was there on my first trip in 1996. I added that I preferred it to the One Saturday Morning show that was there during 1998. I stressed that it was a decent attraction, but when compared to the Monster show, it was a dud. I suggested that they should bring back the Monster show because it had guest interaction and this attraction had none. I even suggested that they should have Drew Carey film a new segment for the Monster show if they did not want to bring back the original version with Chevy Chase and Martin Short! It took about 10 minutes to perform the survey, but she thanked me and told me that my comments would help the Imagineers decide the future of the attraction!

I decided that I wanted to attempt to photograph the hidden Donald Duck in the Great Movie Ride, so we entered that attraction. Unfortunately, I wound up sitting in the seat directly behind the tour guide! There was no way that I could ignore the ‘no photographs’ rule sitting directly behind the CM! I should have requested the last row, but I did not think about it then. We also wound up sitting in the first vehicle, so we got the cowboy version again.

I have a question about the music that they use as a score to the movie clips at the end of the ride. I was hoping that someone knew the name of the music that starts playing when the scene from Gone with the Wind appears (Rhett is carrying Scarlett up the winding staircase.) It ends about a minute later, I think it segues into the Star Wars music, but I cannot remember. Anyway, if someone can tell me the composer and the name of the piece, I would appreciate it. I absolutely love that music and I want to purchase a copy of it!

After my failure to obtain the photograph, we attempted to ride Rock ‘n Roller Coaster again, but the line was too long. I considered getting a FastPass, but I wanted to see how long the line to Tower of Terror was before I chose. If the line to TOT were too long, then we would get a FastPass to that since my sister enjoys that ride more. We went back to TOT and saw that the wait was only 10 minutes, so we joined the line.

It rained again briefly as we exited the ride. There was nothing left to do now. We could ride TOT and RnR repeatedly, or attempt to photograph the hidden Donald again, or we could leave. The only thing left to see was Fantasmic, but that was about 2 hours from now. We did not want to wait that long, so we decided to leave.

We caught the bus to the Boardwalk resort, and walked the short distance to the International Gateway and entered Epcot. I had two goals to accomplish with this visit, to eat dinner at the Lotus Blossom Café in China (for their Shanghai Chicken!) and to visit Millennium Village.

We headed directly to China, since I was starting to get hungry, and because it made more sense to go their first since Millennium Village is closer to the exit! As we walked to China, we saw Tapestry of Nations performing, so I was able to enjoy that during our walk. Once we arrived, my sister only had a soda, since she was not hungry. I ordered my Shanghai Chicken…which is so delicious…and a cup of water, total cost $6.89.

After my dinner, we walked around the rest of World Showcase and went to Millennium Village. I had to use the restroom, so I waited until I arrived there because I had heard so much about their huge bathrooms. I have to agree that they are huge, not as large as the bathrooms that I saw at a casino I went to, but close enough to them!

We entered the pavilion and watched a Brazilian soccer game that was in progress. It looked like fun and we wanted to try the next one, but they did not start another one when that one ended. Therefore, we continued deeper into the pavilion and came across Saudi Arabia, where we both had the CM from there write our names in Arabic. She mentioned that her brother had the same name as me, but it is written (and pronounced) Yousef.

We continued through the pavilion, looking at the various things to do, and we walked upstairs through the four seasons of Sweden. Call me a chauvinistic pig if you wish, but those Swedish CMs were lovely!

We then went to Jerusalem to ride the simulator ride. My sister knows more about the history of that region, and she saw nothing in the film that could offend either side.

At this time, my sister was really complaining about her feet. Mine were also beginning to hurt, and we had a long day ahead of us tomorrow…I planned to visit all four parks…so we decided to leave. We walked to the bus stop and hopped right onto a bus. We were back in our room by 8:45 PM.

I watched some television, read briefly, and went to sleep at 10:00 PM.

Tuesday, January 11, 2000

I awoke at 7:30 AM and quickly prepared myself for the day ahead. We went to the Sassagoula Food Works for breakfast, as usual. I decided that I would try the beignets that I had heard so much about. In case I did not enjoy them, I also ordered a banana nut muffin. I also had another cup of water. Total cost was $4.86.

The order included six beignets, which are a type of powered donut. They were good, but not great. I do not think I would order them again. I might enjoy them as a dessert, but as for a complete meal, I would not recommend them. They were simply too sugary and rather bland tasting for me. I could not even finish all six, so I gave one to my sister and threw one away. I do not know if it was the beignets or not, but I was not hungry after that, so when we went back to the room to drop off my sister’s mug I left the muffin there for later.

From there, we proceeded to the bus stop, where we caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom at 8:40 AM. Our goal here was simple…to ride the horse drawn streetcar down Main Street and to see if we could ride Pooh without a long wait. We accomplished both, along with a nice bonus!

We entered the park at 8:55 AM and immediately boarded the horse drawn streetcar to Cinderella Castle. As we stepped off the streetcar, we heard the opening music for the park. My sister took some photographs of the horse and the CM who handled the reins, and then we walked through the castle and into Fantasyland.

Upon exiting the walkway through the castle, we went directly to the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh to see if we could ride this without a long wait. It was just as I predicted it would be at opening…empty! We walked right onto it, and my sister seemed to enjoy the ride…especially when the car started bouncing like Tigger!

We then headed towards Mickey’s Toontown Fair because we had not been there yet, but then I remembered that it does not open until 10:00 AM. However, we received a nice surprise next to the teacups! Donald Duck was there with a camera crew in front of him. They were filming him, and a few other characters that were in the area. My sister decided that she wanted to make up for passing him by at Epcot, so we waited for the camera crew to walk away before we went up to him. I took a photograph of my sister and Donald, and then I had her take one of me. Although I had my photograph taken with Donald before, he was never wearing his trademark sailor suit. This time, however, he was, so I jumped at the chance to take a pose with him.

After my sister took our photograph, a CM who was standing around asked us if we wanted a photograph of both of us with Donald. I said that we would, and I told my sister to hand the camera to the CM. After retrieving the camera, we decided that we were done with the Magic Kingdom for now. We would be returning here tonight for E-Ride Night, so it was not difficult leaving.

We exited the park, and boarded the ferryboat to the TTC. Other than the crew of the ferryboat, we were the only people on board the boat. We received some strange looks from the guests that were waiting to board the ferryboat at the TTC. I guess they were surprised that people would be leaving the park at the time!

We walked over to the bus-loading zone and caught the bus to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. When we entered the park, we made plans to meet up at the room around 1:00 PM. My sister went her own way for the first time this trip. She was a little leery about being oh her own; in fact, she had refused to separate a few times earlier in the trip. I think the only reason that she agreed to it this time was because I had no interest in riding the safari again, and she could not wait to do that. Therefore, she had no choice but to separate from me.

I went to see the 10:30 AM Festival of the Lion King, while she went to the safari, Countdown to Extinction, and a few other things that I do not remember her telling me. The Lion King show was excellent as usual; however, my favorite performer was not at this performance! I was disappointed, but I still enjoyed the show.

When it was over, I headed out of the park and caught the 11:10 bus to Epcot, which departed immediately after I boarded it. It stopped at the Disney-MGM Studios first, and then headed over to Epcot.

As soon as I got off the bus at Epcot, I used the telephone to call MEARS and schedule a pick up for tomorrow. ($0.35) They gave me a pick up time of 3:15 PM, which gave me plenty of time to do something tomorrow morning.

I entered the park, walked through Innoventions East to see what it looked like, and then entered Test Track using the singles line. The stand-by line was 45 minutes long, oh how I love the singles line! I was sitting in the vehicle less than 10 minutes later, and we reached a top speed of 64.8 MPH.

I headed over to the fountain and looked at some of the pins at the Pin Trading Station. I decided that I was too hungry to wait until I got back to the resort, so I backtracked over to the Wonders of Life Pavilion, where I purchased lunch. I ate at the Pure & Simple restaurant, where I ordered the chicken veggie wrap with potato chips that I always order there. I also decided to try one of their fruit smoothies, which was delicious! Total cost was $9.00, but well worth it!

When I was finished eating, I walked through Mouse Gear, but did not see anything that I wanted to purchase. I exited the park, and caught the bus back to the Port Orleans at 1:00 PM.

I went to our room, and I noticed that my sister was back. I noticed that her clothes were on the bed, which led me to believe that she went swimming. I grabbed my book and headed over to the pool to relax while I read. After awhile, I walked over to the spa to soak my feet, and I ran into my sister. She mentioned that she was hungry, but since I was holding her money, she could not get something to eat. I asked her if she forgot about her room card, which had charging privileges! She admitted that she had forgotten, and I told her to go to the food court and eat, since I already had.

After soaking my feet for about 15 minutes, I headed back to the room. I changed my clothes and ate the muffin that I had purchased at breakfast. My sister returned shortly after that, and I told her to get ready because it was time to leave.

At 3:00 PM, we headed to the bus stop and caught a bus to the Disney-MGM Studios. We had three goals, to ride the Tower of Terror and Rock n’ Roller Coaster again, and to photograph the hidden Donald/Mickey in the Great Movie Ride!

We headed directly to Rock n’ Roller Coaster and walked right onto it with no wait. From there, we headed to the Tower of Terror, where we had a 10-minute wait. As I have said before, my sister absolutely loves this ride, so when we were done, we went right back in line for it. This time, however, we had a 15-minute wait. I wound up getting the seat-belt seat for the first time in my life, and I loved it! The sensation of falling is much greater than in the seats with the lap bar, and my feet actually floated in the air in front of me! It was truly awesome, and now that I have ridden it like that, I will request that seat in the future!

We headed to the Great Movie Ride, where we got the rear car! I told my sister that even if I did not get a photograph of the hidden Donald/Mickey, at least she would get to see the ‘gangster’ version instead of the ‘cowboy’ version that we had gotten every other time. She asked me how I knew, and I told her that I have been here enough times to know things like that!

The gangster version is slightly better than the cowboy version, perhaps since I do not get it as often as the other one. We were sitting almost in the rear of the vehicle, so I figured that I would be able to snap a photograph as we were driving by. We entered the room, and I grabbed my older camera, which is just a simple point and click, instead of my newer camera which is an automatic focus. We would be moving past it to quickly and since it is in a dark room, but might take too long for me to get a good focus using the good camera. I hoped for the best as I raised the old camera and snapped a picture. I did not know how well it came out until I returned home and had the film developed, but it came out fine. A bit too dark and distant, but still acceptable. I can try to get a photograph with the newer camera on another trip.

We were all done with the park, and it was time to head to the Magic Kingdom and grab dinner before E-Ride Night began. However, before we walked out, we stopped at Sid Cahuenga’s One-of-a-Kind shop to look at movie posters. When we were done, we grabbed a bus to the Contemporary Resort and walked from there to the Magic Kingdom.

We exchanged our E-Ride tickets for wristbands, and then headed to the railroad station to grab a ride on the train. While we were waiting, we watched some of those hand-crank movies that they have up there. I had never used them before, and they were cute. Total cost was 3 cents!

When the train arrived, we boarded it. My sister wanted to ride it all the way around, but they announced that they were only going to stop at Frontierland and then Toontown. Everyone had to disembark at Toontown until the fireworks were over, and then they could re-board the train.

We got off at the Toontown station, but decided against re-boarding it when the fireworks were over. We decided to walk through Toontown, since we had not been in it up to this point. We went through Mickey’s house first, and then over to Minnie’s home. My sister commented how Minnie’s house has interactive items, while Mickey’s house has each room blocked off so that you cannot enter. I wonder why that is the case? In any event, as we were walking through Minnie’s house, I listened to her answering machine for the first time, and I was pleasantly surprised that Donald Duck had left a message on it! It was so cool…I loved it!

After walking through their homes, we visited Donald’s boat, the Miss Daisy, where we avoided getting wet. We decided against riding Goofy’s roller coaster, for several reasons. The line was too long, and I wanted to watch the fireworks one last time. In addition, we wanted to eat before E-Ride night began, so we headed to Fantasyland where we watched the fireworks on a bench behind Dumbo. The fireworks were nice, but they lose something when the castle is not in front of them.

I had wanted to eat at my old place of work, the Columbia Harbour House, this trip, so that was where we starting walking to. Then I remembered that they close one hour before the park does, which meant that they were not open now. Therefore, we doubled back to Tomorrowland and entered Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café. This would help with E-Ride, since we could just get onto Space Mountain when we finished eating.

At Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café, we ran into some trouble. Only one side of the three menus was open, and it was not the one with the veggie burger. We stood in line in front of the only one that was open, and we tried to find something for her to eat. The CM mentioned the Caesar salad, and I said that my sister was a vegetarian and that came with chicken on it. She said that we could always take the chicken off, but I said that if we did that then not only would the chicken be going to waste, but we would be paying for something that she did not eat. The CM clarified that she meant it we could order it without the chicken on it for a cheaper price, and I apologized for the confusion. My sister decided that that was what she wanted, so she ordered it. I ordered the ‘Big Dipper’, which was a ½ stacked meat sandwich with a side of cream of chicken soup. I also ordered a glass of water. Total cost was $5.83.

When we were finished eating, it was now five minutes after seven PM. We headed to Space Mountain, where we showed our wristbands and entered the line. We waited about 20 minutes in line, but probably because it still had people who entered the line before E-Ride started. In addition, they only had the right side open.

After our ride through the star field, we headed across the park and onto Splash Mountain. It was getting colder, and we had not brought our jackets, so we figured that we should ride this now before it gets too cold. The ride was a walk on, and we sat in the front seat. In fact, we were the only ones in the log. We did not get wet at all, so we decided to ride it again. This time, two others sat in the rear seat of the log, and they must have brought bad luck because we got soaked this time!

We took our wet bodies over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, where we sat in the next-to-the-last row of the train. The rear seat is the best, but this one was close enough. We would have had to wait for the next train to get the rear seat, but since they were only running one train on the track, we would have had a long wait.

Upon exiting this train, I got another pleasant surprise! My sister and I were walking towards the exit, when I noticed the cast member. I thought I recognized her, but I was not sure. I walked past here and looked at her nametag, which read ‘Erin’, and then kept walking. As I was walking, it hit me that I did know her. I had worked with her at the Columbia Harbour House (CHH) in the summer of 1998.

I went back over to her and said hello. She gave me a funny look, but then she said, “What are you doing here?” I told her I was on vacation with my sister, and then I introduced them.

The reason I did not recognize her at first was for several reasons. First, when I worked with her, it was only for three weeks. She lives in California, and only comes to Florida a few weeks out of the year to stay with relatives. When she is in Florida, she works at WDW. She arrived to work at CHH at about the time my program was ending. However, if you read my Summer 1998 report, you might remember her as the girl that I ‘bonded with over grapes!’

In addition, she had curly hair then, and now it was straight and she was wearing a hat. The final thing that threw me off was her nametag. She spells her n