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Lisa Zaleski -- June 2000 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)June 10-17, 2000 Comments: This is the big trip that we have planned for the last year. It all started in the spring of 99 when Mom and Dad (Joe and Joanne) asked if they could take our family (Steve, Lisa and 3 kids) to Disney World with them. The trip would be on them. We were totally speechless (still can't believe it), but very eagerly said yes! So, after lots of planning, off we went...
DAY 1:June 9, 2000 Friday Since our flight left very early in the morning and our house is almost two hours from the airport, we started the trip a day early and headed to Milwaukee to stay in an airport hotel for the night. Lisa worked until 3 pm while Steve stayed home to mow the lawn and tie up loose ends. We left the house at about 4:30pm. We went to dinner in Milwaukee at Fudruckers. What a great dinner! Burgers are the best and the kids of course got chicken tenders. We got to the hotel at 7pm. I had made the reservations for this room in January and had explained that we were leaving from the airport the next morning and would need to leave our car at the hotel. The assured me that this was fine. We could take the free shuttle. When I checked in, and paid, I asked about parking the car there and taking the shuttle. The receptionist looked at our reservation and said that we had not paid the "park and stay" rate. I explained what I had told reservations on the phone. She took a look at our reservation and saw that we had made this in January, and said we could park the car for the lower rate. Very nice of her! The kids wanted to swim, so we went to the pool and met other families flying out to Disney in the morning just like us. We jokingly said that we'd see them there. Back at the room we had our first big laugh of the trip. Curt was wanting to go into the bathroom and walked straight into the mirrored closet doors across from the bathroom! We all laughed and Mom breathed a sigh of relief that he wasn't hurt and didn't break the glass. Bed at 9:15. DAY 2-Saturday, June10 Here it is, the day we've been counting down to for months! Our day started with a wake-up call at 4:45. Yuck!! Everyone got right up. The girls were complaining of tummy aches--I think because of being nervous over the flight. We got down to the hotel lobby about 5:45 and had a free doughnut (except Caralyn). It only took about five minutes for the shuttle and we were off to the airport. Only a few people ahead of us in line. At the gate the kids were excited to watch them load our suitcases on to the plane. It was a very smooth flight. After we were in the air the girls stomachs felt better. Renae had lots of ear pain since she had just finished with a cold. She chewed gum but that didn't seem to help. We landed in Charlotte to change planes. Mom and Dad were meeting us here after their flight down from Syracuse. We waited about 15 minutes at their gate and then all went to the new flight. This plane was a new Airbus and it was noticeably smoother and nicer than the first. It was bumpy going in to Orlando, which Curt thought was just great. He was ready for all the wild rides! We got our luggage and after a bit of confusion picked up the rental mini-van (booked with National on the internet: only $198 a week and then we got a 10% AAA discount--big savings!). Stopped at Wendy's for lunch and then checked in at the hotel. The Vistana (www.vistana.com) is an all suite time share/hotel in Lake Buena Vista. Great location!! We had a very roomy two bedroom/two bathroom/full kitchen suite with a sofa bed in the living room. ($130 a night) The kids took a quick swim in the pool closest to our room (there are seven at the resort) and hunted for salamanders (none of those in Wisconsin!). Then it was off to Chef Mickeys for a 5pm priority seating character dinner. We parked and took the monorail right to the Contemporary. When we got off there was a huge line waiting to check in. No one could understand why we had to wait in this line if we had PS. It was very confusing and there were no CMs around to let us know what was going on. We waited in line for 30 minutes just to check in. After checking in, we had a family portrait taken and mingled with Donald in the waiting area. The food was good but not great, but the kids were thrilled!!!! They got autographs and hugs from Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, Dale and Donald. Renae especially was just beaming with the world's biggest smile! Curt saw Minnie and said "I think she's kind of pretty". Caralyn acted like she was way too grown up to pose with the characters. She did give a big smile when Chip surprised her from behind with a big hug! There was lots of clapping and napkin waving that we all loved. On the way back we took the monorail to the TTC to buy our tickets. No lines!! This was a great way to do it. We used our MK Club card and saved $20 per person for a 5 day park hopper. We went back and got the kids to bed and went to the grocery store to stock up on snacks and breakfast food. The grocery store in Lake Buena Vista is very expensive--twice as much as at home. The air was hazy with smoke from the wild fires that have been burning near Orlando for the past three weeks. We joked that we would bring the rain with us since it had been the wettest ever May in WI. Bed by 9:30. Day 3: Sunday June 11, 2000: Magic Kingdom: What a great day! We got up at 6:30 and had a breakfast of toast and cereal at the hotel. There is a little general store at the hotel where Dad can go pick up his paper and get some coffee in the morning to start the day. We left at about 8am and had no traffic at all. We totally embarrassed Dad and Steve by singing "Zip-i-dee-doo-dah, zip-i-dee-ay, my oh my what a wonderful day..." as we were entering the parking lot. I'm sure the parking lot attendant has heard it before. We got to the MK parking lot and waited a while w/ lots of others for the tram. We finally decided (along with about half of those waiting) to walk instead. It didn't look as if the trams were running yet. We got to the gate for the monorail right around 8:30 and they still had the gates locked. They had us all count down to the opening 10...9...8...7...etc. and then a family from Germany cut the ribbon to open for the day. What Fun!! Since there were hordes of people heading for the monorail, we took the ferry. We were the last ones through the turnstile for the first ferry. After a nice ride across we walked down Main Street singing, "We're walkin' right down the middle of Main Street USA...". We turned right at the castle and had to wait about 5-10 minutes for the rope to drop. I guess the parks do not open earlier that posted times, like the guidebooks said. Then it was off to Fantasyland and Pooh's ride. Curt and I (Lisa) rode together and Caralyn rode with Eeyore! Pooh was in the car behind them. Eeyore had his arm around her and gave her a kiss!-he paddled the boat in the part of the ride where it hits the rain storm. What a great moment!!! The kids loved the ride. I thought it was good but it was very hard to understand what was said and the cars went so fast through the areas, it was hard to enjoy it. Then we went to Snow White. Curt was scared and had his hands over his eyes during some of it. We looked at the line for Dumbo, but at 9:20am, it was already an hour long. Sorry kids. We went to Peter Pan. Caralyn giggled (that visit with Eeyore loosened her up), and Curt and Renae just loved it. They wanted to go again. It still remains one of my favorite rides. We went on Small World--very enjoyable. No waits for rides so far. We went to see Ariel in her grotto. The kids liked playing in the water and there was no line to see her. Renae had a great photo with her and got her autograph. Then we went to the teacups. Mom, me and the kids all rode. They spun as fast as they could. We laughed so hard!! Since there was no line, the kids rode again. Two times was a bit much for Renae. Her stomach was a little queasy. Bathroom break and off to Haunted Mansion. We walked right on! They all loved it!!! You could hear the kids laughing from the other cars. Then Steve and I put our tickets in fast pass for Splash Mtn. We went and saw Country Bear Jamboree. We waited about 15 minutes. Bad timing. We must have just missed a show. It was good but they didn't like it as much as HM or PP. By the time it was over it was time for Splash Mtn. The wait w/o fast pass was 1 hour 30 min, and w/ fast pass it was about 15-20 min. It felt great to walk past the line. About half way through the ride I could see up in the front that Renae was crying. The little drops in the dark scared her. She wanted to get off, but there's no way off now! She was a mess after the big drop! The rest of us screamed and ended up buying the picture. Curt is such a wild boy, he wanted to go again. We went to lunch at Pecos Bills. There were plenty of tables but the lines were huge!!! Food was expensive but very good, with very large portions. While we were in there it started pouring. We only had two ponchos with us, since the weather report didn't call for any rain. Little did they know, we had brought it with us. After lunch the rain was light so we headed over to Pirates of the Caribbean. Renae was scared and trembling the whole time due to the Splash Mtn experience. On to the Tiki Birds. Walked right in. What a cute show! So much better than the old one. This is the kids favorite so far. Now it's pouring and we're getting soaked. Under a tarp there were Rafiki, Balou and a bear from CBJ, so the kids stopped for pictures and autographs. On to Jungle Cruise. Good thing there's covers on those boats. We had a very talkative captain and we all enjoyed the ride. About 40 min left until the parade and it's still pouring. Over to Tomorrowland to find more ponchos. We lost Caralyn and Mom in the process. After about 20 minutes, we were all together again with the ponchos. Went on TTA to get out of the rain and by the time we got off the rain had stopped. It ended up raining for about 2 1/2 hours. It's now 3pm and we went to the parade. Very crowded! Very hurried! The kids loved seeing all the characters-especially Mary Poppins. Decided to come home and swim, since it was now VERY humid. Swam in one of the hotel's bigger pools, the Cascade pool. Tried to go to an Italian restaurant I pulled up off the internet over on I-drive, but the restaurant is now a Mexican restaurant. So, we went to Bennigans instead. Good choice. I'm really glad we did not get a hotel over in that area. It's a pretty long drive and it's very crowded and congested. I like that our hotel is right next to "The World". Home to bed by 9:30. P.S.- Curt has been singing the Tiki Bird song all day long and Renae wants to move here. Day 4: What an exhausting day! This ends up being the low point of the vacation. AK opens at 8am so we were there by 8am along with a huge crowd! As we were going through the turnstiles, the computers went down and Caralyn and Steve were stuck on the outside. A bad omen of things to come... They ended up stuck with huge lines forming behind them for about 15-20 minutes. When they came through, we (along with everyone else) headed for the Kilimajaro Safari. As we were going over the bridge towards the tree of life, a CM stopped us and took our picture with the tree in the background. What a beautiful sight. It is absolutely incredible!!! When we got to KS there was already a 30 minute wait. We did fast pass and went through Panjani Exp Trail while we were waiting. What a bust! We saw only 1 mercat, 1 bird and 1 gorilla that was very far away. Lots of walking for so few animals. We realized that we had forgotten our water bottles at the hotel so we bought more ($2.50 each!). Time for the safari. We had a very animated guide and saw lots of animals. We all enjoyed it, although I don't think the kids paid any attention to the script. We went to see ITTBAB in the Tree of Life. Renae really didn't want to go but we sort of talked her into it. As soon as something jumped out at us, she started crying. She stayed on my lap with her eyes closed crying the whole time. Everyone else laughed...especially at the stink bug. We went to get in line for the Lion King. Had time to get an ice cream on the way. Nice to sit down. Waited for 25 min to get in and then had to sit in the last row. The people who came in 5 minutes before the show got the front seats. We won't get there ahead of time in the future. The kids were cranky from the line but the minute the show started they were all in awe! What a great show!!! Not to be missed!!! Such great talent. It is a Broadway caliber show. We went for lunch at the pizza place. While we were waiting, Steve went to get us fast passes for Kali River Rapids. Lunch was expensive but quite tasty. Mom got surprised by Chip coming up behind her and giving her a kiss as we were finishing eating. After lunch we went over to KRR. By now, it's almost impossible to walk along the paths due to the wall to wall people, We walked past the line(2hour wait) and got right on. I don't understand why more people don't use fast pass. What a fun ride!! Very short though. A couple from the UK got soaked on our ride and we just got a little wet. The kids (grown-ups too) wanted to go again, so we got another fast pass. Since Flights of Wonder was close, we went there while we were waiting for our fast pass. Nice surprise!! It was an amazing show with real birds. They fly right over your head. There is a cute little script to make it fun for everyone. This ends up being one of Steve's favorites. It is now 95 degrees and wall to wall people. AWFUL!!! The poor people with electric wheel chairs can't even move because the crowd is so thick and barely moving. We tried to use our fast pass at KRR but the fast pass had broken and given out too many tickets and the fast pass line was now just as long as the regular line. We were too wiped out to wait for a two minute ride. We made our way out--not easy with all the people. We bought the picture at the gift shop on the way out. The thermometer in the van says 112 degrees. We were overall very frustrated at AK because of the poor design (narrow pathways, all paths lead to tree of life, too few attractions-too far apart). What we saw was great but it wasn't worth the heat and the masses. Back to the hotel to swim. Steve and I went to EPCOT for dinner on our own for our anniversary dinner. We ate at the Chefs de France. It was so nice to be in EPCOT where it is so spacious and well planned. My dinner was great but Steve's meat was almost raw. They had to take it back to cook it. We had a very nice waitress from southern France near where I had studied in college. She even chatted with me in French for a bit. We stayed to watch Illuminations. It was just beautiful. We loved how the music coordinated with the fireworks. There were crowds on the way out but it moved right along. Mom and Dad and kids stayed at the hotel, ate at the hotel restaurant and swam in the pool. Nice night out for Steve and I. Day 5 Tuesday June13, 2000: Magic Kingdom: We got a little later start than we had planned, so we got into the MK at about 9:30. We went right to Buzz Lightyear- 10 minute wait. Everyone loved it. Scores ranged from 400-80,000. The neat part was that Renae and Curt (who had the lowest scores) were thrilled to get any points. They were just as happy as if they'd gotten a really high score. Then Steve, Curt, Caralyn, Lisa went to Space Mtn while Mom, Dad and Renae went to re-do Peter Pan. (Renae wanted to go but we didn't want a repeat of the splash mtn experience). We had fast pass for space mtn and we were at the door when they came out and said that the ride was broken down. They didn't know if it would take 5 min or 1 hour to fix. We waited for 20 minutes and then left. The line was HUGE outside at this point and no CMs had come out to the line to tell anyone what was going on. We told people in line so they wouldn't be waiting forever. We even ran into a few of Steve's students waiting in line. They did tell us that our fast pass would be good all day any time we wanted to use it. We went to Grand Prix racing to meet Mom, Dad and Renae. They had gone to do Peter Pan and then went into Cosmic Rays Starlight Cafe to get a drink. Renae was enthralled with Sonny Eclipse who is a robot like guy who sits and plays Sinatra like piano songs. Also...some kids noticed that the garbage can was talking. All of a sudden it started singing "Renae is my girlfriend. Renae is my girlfriend..." She was just thrilled. The rest of us never did see the talking garbage can. We waited in line at the grand prix for 45 minutes in the blazing sun. The kids liked it but it was a very long wait for this ride. At this point, it was mobbed and hot with 45 min lines for every ride so we decided to go back to the hotel and swim and come back again at around 5pm. On the way out, the Timekeeper was about to start so we ducked in there. We all liked it but we had to hold the kids so they could see. Went back to the pool and came back at 5pm. Still quite crowded but cooler. We took the RR over to the Toontown Fair. We went through Mickey and Minnies houses but didn't wait in the lines to meet them. We all went on Goofy's barnstormer. Zippy little roller coaster. I thought it would be a slow little roller coaster for pre-schoolers but it goes fast! Back to Space Mtn to use our fast passes while Renae and Mom and Dad went to re-do Buzz Lightyear. Curt just made the height cut-off for SM. The seat bar was quite small so Steve had to hold down his shoulders from behind so he wouldn't fall out. We were worried it would be too wild a ride for a five year old. He loved it!!! What a wild boy. They kids wanted to go again but Mom and Dad needed a breather. We all got back together and went back to Haunted Mansion for a second ride. We made our way over to BTMRR. There is no fast pass for this and every time we had been by there, there was a long wait. There was still a 30 min wait but it was cool, so we waited. Even Mom and Dad went on it. The kids loved it but the grown-ups were all a little queasy. This ride is very herky-jerky. We then lined up to wait for the Main Street Electrical Parade. Once it started, we had about a half hour wait since we were at the end of the parade route. Finally it was here. What a great parade. Lots of lights and characters. It was much better than the daytime parade. As the parade was ending, it started to rain. We had a half hour wait until the fireworks. We put on our ponchos and sat down and waited. It was a nice show. After we headed out with the crowds. Inside the MK we moved along but when we got to the monorail there was a HUGE line. We decided to line up for the Ferry. By this point, Curt was asleep on Steve's shoulder and Renae was asleep on mine. The crowd was shoulder to shoulder and it took us about an hour to get on the ferry. During the crush of the crowd, we lost Mom and Caralyn. I just kept praying that they were together, and Caralyn wasn't alone and totally separated. We ended up on the lower level of the ferry which was very hot and stuffy. In fact, two people passed out and they had to call the ambulance to meet us at the dock. Then there was a long wait at the tram. But, we ran into Mom and Caralyn there. They had ended up on the ferry behind us. We waited about a half hour for the tram. All in all, it took about 1 1/2 hours to get back to the car from the MK!!! Horrible experience!!! Not worth the fireworks!! To bed about midnight or so. Day 6 Wednesday June 14:Cocoa Beach This is beach day so we slept in. It felt great! Slept until about 9 and didn't leave for the beach until 11am. We decided to go to the beach instead of the waterparks since we were very sick of the crowds at this point. We stopped at Walgreens to get some sand toys and we were on our way. We hit construction in Orlando so it took 1 1/2 hours to get there but took a different route of the way back so only 1 hr 5 min. We went to Lori Wilson (?) park. Public park on the beach with bathrooms, soda machines and umbrella rentals. The water was warm and we had a great time in the waves! First time to the ocean for Curt and Renae. We stayed until 4:30 or so and came home. We changed and went out to dinner at Giordanos in Lake Buena Vista. Very good italian restaurant with reasonable prices and no wait. Came home and realized that we had not reapplied the sunscreen enough. Steve (who never burns)is BRIGHT RED! Lisa, Caralyn, Mom have red backs and shoulders. Curt and Renae are only pink. Dad stayed under the umbrella so he's ok. We gave the kids baths to get the sand off and everyone got a liberal layer of green aloe sunburn lotion. Bed by 9pm. Tip: If at all possible, take a day to go to the beach. It is a real shame to go all the way to Florida and not visit one of their beautiful beaches. This day ended up being a real highlight of our trip. I will always carry memories with me of jumping the waves and laughing with my mom and the kids and Steve. Day 7 Thursday June 15: EPCOT Up and out by 8:30 am. As we entered EPCOT we looked for a CM taking pictures so we could get a group picture in front of the "ball". Sure enough, we found one. She was great! We asked her to take our picture and she said "Let's go have some fun!" She was laying on the ground on her side looking up at us to get a good shot. We picked the picture up later and it came out great. First we went to Spaceship Earth. No line and we all liked it. Then a 10 min wait at the Universe of Energy. We liked it, but I had real reservations about Disney presenting the Big Bang Theory and evolution as fact. I didn't have a problem that they presented it, but they should have presented it as a theory and not fact. My kids have a strong biblical background so they know the truth about how the earth was created. Other children going through may not have this background and may believe all that Disney feeds them. We got fast passes for Test Track. Then we went to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Renae was scared of the mice but did ok by closing her eyes through most of it. The dog sneezing caught all of us by surprise! We went to Living in the Land after a 25 min wait. Adults liked the ride but the kids weren't thrilled. Lunch at the Land foodcourt. No crowds!!! This was the best place to eat at Disney. We saw the Circle of Life movie with the Lion King characters. The kids liked it. On to the Living Seas. Ironically, the kids favorite part was seeing the manatee poop and having it stick to his stomach. Kids! Time for fast pass at test track. Dad sat this one out after memories of BTMRR. About a 10 min wait. Great ride!!! We liked going fast. The shoulder straps really dug into the sunburn though. Got a drink at a cool station where water was misting out. Nice place to cool off. On to Mexico--very hot today! Road the boat in Mexico and Norway (30 min wait). Everyone is tired by now. Went to America to see the movie but there was a 20 min wait, so we took the boat back to the World Showcase entrance. Went to Innovations on the way out. The kids loved this. We stayed about 45 minutes but the kids could have stayed for hours. Back to the hotel by 6pm. Mom and Dad had reservations for the Luau at the Polynesian at 8pm for their night out. They sat right in the front in the center and enjoyed the show. The rest of us stayed at the hotel and ordered pizza at the room. Swam until 9pm and went to bed. DAY 8 Friday June 16: MGM/MK We ended up not seeing much at MGM because we were so tired of walking after being at the parks all week. We started out at the Great Movie Ride. Renae was scared when the gangster came and took our driver. The adults enjoyed the movie clips but the kids thought it was boring. We went to Star Tours and again Dad passed on this. It really wasn't that wild. I thought it was pretty tame. The kids liked it. It took a few extra minutes because as soon as we got on, it broke down. It took them about 10 minutes to fix it. We went to see the Muppet Vision 3D. This was really cute. Renae was so freaked out after the 3D experiences in HISTA and ITTBAB that she wouldn't even put on the glasses. It was really refreshing to have an attraction that wasn't interested in scaring you. Then we went to the Backlot Tour. We liked the water crashing down towards us but the kids thought this was boring too. We wanted to go to some of the shows but the wait for Little Mermaid was 45 min and there was a long wait until the others started. It seemed like our timing just wasn't right for the shows. We got fast pass for Tower of Terror and sat down in the hot sun to eat lunch. Poor planning on Disney's part to have all the restaurants out in the heat. After lunch, Steve and the kids went on Tower of Terror. Curt and Renae loved it and Steve and Caralyn weren't too thrilled. This ended up being the ride Renae talks about most(go figure!). Caralyn really wanted to go on Rockin Roller Coaster but the fast pass time wasn't until 7pm. We went to the hotel to swim , and to the Marketplace to shop, so we could hit our favorites at MK that night. Dad stayed back at the hotel and the rest of us headed to the MK around 5pm. Mom and Caralyn headed back to EPCOT to see Illuminations. The rest of us ate dinner at Cosmic Rays (had to see Sonny Eclipse again), went to the Tiki room and then split up. Curt and I went back on Splash Mtn and Renae and Steve went on BTMRR. We definitely did not want to get stuck in the MK after the fireworks, so we started heading out just as the Electical parade was starting. We got to the monorails before the crowds but the monorail broke down! We were stuck waiting about 45 minutes on the monorail platform. When we got to the car in the parking lot, poor Mom and Caralyn had been waiting for 45 minutes! They didn't even see much of Illuminations because they were trying to get back to the car in time. Bed by 11pm. DAY 9 Saturday June 17:Breakfast/home Since we had liked the character dinner so much we decided to add a character breakfast on the way home. I called on Thursday and was able to get PS for The Grand Floridian. This was wonderful!! We got there about 20 minutes early and they let us right in. The Mad Hatter greets you and then there is Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, Gepetto, and Pinocchio. It was a much nicer atmosphere than Chef Mickeys and the characters stayed with the kids for longer. Alice was at our table for quite a while. The food was good and there was a lot to choose from. They even cooked omelets to order. Unfortunately it was time to head to the airport. Everyone was very sad that the trip was over and we were even sadder to leave Grandma and Grandpa. We all went home with memories to last a lifetime! TIPS Before the trip I read oodles of trip reports and every guide book I could find. I got lots of great tips. Here are some of ours:
Lisa Zaleski slzaleski@harvest-efc.org Mail a Comment to Lisa Zaleski |
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