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Bill Balloni -- December 2001 -- Walt Disney World (PORR)December 1-8, 2001 Cast of Characters:
Introduction and Planning I want to start out this report with the details of the planning for our trip to WDW in December of 2001. Our family went down to Florida for a week of vacation in early March of 1998. We decided to split our time between WDW and Clearwater Beach. We started at WDW and really loved it. Unfortunately, we only had 3 days in the World before we headed to the beach. That made for a bit of a rushed WDW visit as we saw each park in consecutive days. The general feeling after the trip was that we really enjoyed WDW and wanted to return for a longer, more relaxed stay. Nancy actually surprised me by saying that we should plan a trip inside the next two years! Great with me! I really love planning these trips. My goals are to do the things we really want to do and save as much money as possible. We KNEW we wanted to stay on-site again (the 1998 trip we stayed at Port Orleans and really loved it). After spending a good bit of time on the Internet and lurking on RADP, I figured Dixie Landings (DxL) was the best bet for us. As far as time of year, we figured an early March 2000 trip would be perfect. We really had great weather and bearable crowds in March 1998 (another of my strong desires, low crowds), so it seemed a great time to go. I was able to secure DxL for the first week in March. I also made reservations for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue dinner show. We saw the show on our 1998 trip and loved it! But, mother nature had other plans for us... Nancy became pregnant in the fall of 1999! This would obviously change the plans a lot. After Jeremy was born we decided to go for March 2001. The March 2001 planning was in full swing when we talked to Nancy's sister. Her family had gone in the summer of 1997 and thought a trip in March was right for them. The more the merrier! In August 2000 we re-booked a room at DxL for 7 nights at $174 a night. After thinking about it for a while, we started to worry about taking a 10 month-old to WDW. Given our concerns, we regrouped and decided for December 2001. Ahhhh, Christmas time! And value season to boot! Around Christmas 2000 I received a mailing to join the Disney Club (DC); I was a Magic Kingdom Club (MKC) member through work. I called CRO to see if there was a DC discount for December 2001. The CM initially wouldn't tell me since I wasn't a DC member. After a little of "but how can I decide to join if I don't know if a discount is available?" he put me on hold and checked. Bingo! A DC rate was available for $103 a night (now that's more like it!). And, I could get that rate for Nancy's sister's family as well! After convincing Nancy's sister of the merits of a December trip, I joined DC and we re-booked our rooms at DxL (now Port Orleans Riverside, POR) for December 1-8, 2001. I also changed our Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue reservations for the new dates. In July I received a DC mailing that had an extra discount down to $98 a night. I was able to secure this rate for our dates! For planning our priority seatings (PS), I used the tools of the PS Planning Guide site at http://pscalculator.net/. This site is great for calculating the dates to call to make PS arrangements, along with some other nice tools; there's no guess work at all. With the dates in hand, I was able to make the 120 days-out PS's in early August. The next big milestone was the 60 days-out PS's in early October. This was the big one because we wanted a PS at Cinderella's Royal Table. A few other details are worth mentioning. I was torn as to whether or not to rent a car. We rented a car for the first day in 1998 through National. For $30+ we were able to drive ourselves to WDW and make a leisurely stop at the grocery store. I then dropped off the car at the National facility on-property and caught the National shuttle back to PO. This time we will get a car for the entire stay. With an 18 month old we will need to make a few grocery store trips. And I like the freedom of being able to drive instead of waiting for busses. I was able to use the DC discount and a free weekend day coupon code to get a compact car rate of $126 for the week with National. I also purchased our admission media, 5 day park hoppers, at the DC rates for both families. Although I can't recommend DC for any other reason (we rarely use it for merchandise, etc.), it more than pays for itself in WDW vacation discounts. Note that some travel sites such as Expedia have onsite room rates comparable to DC rates. Planned Itinerary Here is the planned itinerary for our trip: Day 1, Saturday, December 1:
Day 2, Sunday, December 2:
Day 3, Monday, December 3:
Day 4, Tuesday December 4:
Day 5, Wednesday December 5:
Day 6, Thursday December 6:
Day 7, Friday December 7:
Day 8, Saturday December 8:
An Update Much has happened since the planning portion of this report was written, not the least of which was the September 11 events. The recent WDW cutbacks had a big effect on planning too, especially elimination of Early Entry (EE). We had planned on using EE on a few mornings. As an example, we planned to do the MK on Thursday, an EE day. I had made a PS for 9:30am at the Crystal Palace under the assumption that we could get in nearly two hours of park time before breakfast. With the discontinuing of EE, the 9:30 time meant we really had little or no time to tour the park before breakfast and would be burning prime time while we eat! Argg! I was able to change the breakfast time to 8:40am, the earliest PS time I could get. We intend to arrive early in order to get done with breakfast as close to park opening time as possible. The Crystal Palace PS was necessitated by the fact that, after 20 minutes on hold starting at the opening time of Disney Dinning, I was not able to get a PS at Cinderella's Royal Table. I'm not really sure how one gets a PS there, short of dumb luck! Our flight was also affected. The original flight leaving at 7:00am was replaced with a new flight leaving at 2:25pm. Because of the flight change, I was able to get a refund on the original flight's $210 tickets and rebook the new flight at $169! The down side is the later departure and that we wouldn't have much, if any, time to do anything once we arrive. The special December 5 Walt event at Disney-MGM Studios also threw a monkey wrench into the plans. This event will close the park at 4:00pm! And there isn't a public Fantasmic! show that day either. We had planned on doing the Fantasmic! dinner package. We re-planned and moved our "off" day to Wednesday the 5th and the Studios day to Tuesday; not a bad tradeoff for us, actually. Lastly, on the Tuesday before we were scheduled to leave, Nancy's sister's husband went into the emergency room with chest pain. The diagnosis was blocked coronary arteries that required a quadruple bypass the next day! He came through with flying colors. Nancy and I scrambled to cancel their reservations and try to get back as much money as possible. They didn't do too bad (Disney took $100 for the broken room reservation). And Now... The Trip! Day 1, Saturday, December 1 - Travel to Orlando Well, today is finally the big day! I took off Friday (the day before) so I could help pack and do the last minute running around. This included travelers checks and getting last minute items at the store. Our flight is scheduled for 2:25pm out of Milwaukee, non-stop to Orlando. We arrived at the airport more than two hours early and breezed through check-in and security. I guess this must have been a light travel day or something. The flight was a little late in taking off - about a half hour or so, not too bad. Our airline, Sun Country, really operates a "cattle-car" shuttle to Orlando. But the price of $169 was right, so a couple of cramped hours were bearable. We arrived around 7:00pm Orlando time, deplaned and waited for the luggage... and waited.... Maybe it was just the anticipation, but it felt like an eternity before we got our luggage. While I waited for the luggage, Nancy went to the National counter to take care of the car. Because of my underestimating the amount of luggage we would be bringing, we stepped up from a compact to an intermediate car. Once Nancy returned and the luggage arrived, we flagged a skycap who brought us and the luggage to the National cars. We picked out a car and were on our way! We arrived at Port Orleans - Riverside (POR) at close to 9. I checked in with little trouble except for the fact that the room we received was in building 34! I had faxed my request for building 14 four days before. In the room assignor's infinite wisdom we were placed about as far from where we wanted to be as was possible! I was told that we would have to accept the room but that they could move us into building 18 the next day. This wasn't ideal, but we were tired and ready to relax. I assume my fax was not honored due to our late arrival time. Faxers beware! I also wanted to resolve a problem with one of our park hoppers during check-in; I had purchased a child hopper for Joseph who is 13. While I would have expected this to be easy, I was informed that the park hopper had already been used (and was given the exact October dates of use!). Needless to say, we had not used the pass. I asked them to check the other passes and was told that one of them was a MVMCP pass. I told her to check the back of the pass to confirm that is was, indeed, a 5 day hopper. After two trips and about 30 minutes in the back room, she informed me that she had entered the wrong numbers into the computer. She then issued me a new adult pass for an extra $43 and we were done. Total check-in time was over 40 minutes! With check-in complete, we went to the food court area and grabbed dinner. With purchase of refillable mugs, we ended up spending over $70 for dinner; welcome to Disney! After this we headed to our building 34 room and went to sleep. It was a pretty long day. Day 2, Sunday, December 2 - Animal Kingdom We woke up for our first day at about 7:30 and got ourselves ready for our first park of the trip, Animal Kingdom (AK). This morning would be a bit more difficult since we needed to have all the bags packed so that we could move to our new room. After I showered, I drove to the main building to get coffee (refillable mugs) and some donuts for breakfast, and to make sure the room change was to take place today. I then went back to the room where Nancy had the kids ready to go. I called bell services and told them the bags were ready. Within minutes a gentleman was there to take our bags. We then found the west bus depot at POR to catch the AK bus. After about a 20 minute wait the bus arrived. Overall the busses worked quite well and we used them often during our trip. On the way to AK we passed the site of what I assume was the new Pop Century complex. There were buildings that looked ready for guests and others that were in various states of construction. I wondered, with the recent cuts, if the new construction was still active. It was Sunday so I couldn't tell for sure. Once we arrived at AK we queued for the bag search. This happens at all parks just before the turnstiles. It takes a few minutes but isn't too bad. But, I bet that if they are still doing this during the busy times there will be BIG delays. Once we cleared the turnstiles, we immediately made our way to Africa to ride Kilimanjaro Safaris (KS). Our first view of The Tree of Life on our way was really spectacular! It really is a great and appropriate icon for this park. The KS Fastpass return time was about an hour so we got our first (of very few the entire trip) Fastpasses and went back to The Tree of Life to see It's Tough to be a Bug. We all liked the show, except for 18 month-old Jeremy. This is not a show for little ones. This is something I remember reading on RADP, but forgot. By the time we got to the bug spray part he was very upset and crying. I took him out the exit doors only to find six or so other parents with crying little ones sitting on the benches outside. It didn't take Jeremy long to calm down and the show ended about 5 minutes after I left. I met up with the rest of the family and we leisurely made our way over to KS, admiring The Tree of Life along the way. KS is a very nice attraction. We saw a good number of animals, including Cheetah and the head of a Lion over a hill. We then headed over to see the Festival of the Lion King show. We had a 10 minute or so wait in the sun before we made our way into the theater. Even though the temperature was in the mid-to-high 70's, it still felt hot in that sun. I can't imagine what this would have been like in the summer. I have to concur with those that say that AK is the hottest of all the parks. Anyway, Festival of the Lion King was a great show, the best of the trip in my opinion! Jeremy was a little concerned when the volume rose, but he loved the monkey bit. We made our way out of the show and over to Tusker House for lunch. I had a chicken sandwich and Nancy had the turkey wrap sandwich. The kids had kids meals; mac-and-cheese and a hamburger. The food was good and hit the spot. We ate outside in the courtyard in back. This is a great place to eat, peaceful and quite, much nicer than inside. I liked the kitchen sounds that can be heard out back; another one of those Disney details. After lunch we made our way to Asia to check out Kali River Rapids. I really dislike walking around in wet shorts, so Joseph and Julianna went on the ride while Nancy, Jeremy and I got something cool to drink. This was our first real opportunity to use the new family radios that Joseph received as an early Christmas present. We were given a wonderful blow-by-blow description of the ride queue experience. After they got off they rang us and we met up again. They were not that wet at all, although they assured me others in the same boat were much more so. If I had gone I KNOW I would have been one of those others! Next we went into DinoLand U.S.A. to experience Dinosaur! Nancy waited with Jeremy while Joseph, Julianna and I gave it a whirl. Whoa! I liked this ride. It was pretty intense, more so than I expected. But, it was a great thrill! After meeting up with Nancy and Jeremy we went over to catch Tarzan Rocks! Actually, Tarzan kind of bites! This show was not good at all. Tarzan doesn't even appear until mid-show. It's really a mini-pop/rock concert. Being a former musician, I appreciated the quality of the band, but the show, overall, is a real stinker. We saw more people walk out in the middle of this show than any other. We saw a little of the parade and then went over to the Rainforest Café for dinner. We had a 4:45 priority seating (PS). We were seated after a 15-20 minute wait. The kids chose their dinners from the kids menu. Nancy and I split two appetizers. This was a great way to go; something I had read about in trip reports. The food was good but a little pricey for what you get. I suppose the interesting atmosphere of the place compensates for the price. Jeremy loved the large fish tanks at the restaurant entrance. After dinner we caught the bus back to the resort. We had to stop at the registration desk once again to get the new room keys. This experience was much better and I was done in about 5 minutes. We went to our new room in building 18 and had bell services bring the bags. For those that don't know it, building 18 is a smoking building. The room did have a faint smoke smell that first night that faded by the next day. This didn't bother us but I'm sure it would many others, so beware of this building! The location, though, is excellent. We definitely got our money's worth out of the refillable mugs because the main building/food court was so close. I then took a trip over to Goodings to get some milk for the baby, snacks and breakfast stuff for the week. We finished the day with the kids all taking a dip in the nearby quite pool before bed. Day 3, Monday, December 3 - Epcot and Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue Our first day at Epcot! This is Nancy's favorite park, especially World Showcase. I got up, took a shower and did the morning coffee run. We got the kids up, got some breakfast down them and were out before 9:15. We arrived at Epcot shortly before opening (10:00am) and found ourselves waiting for the rope drop with the Test Track (TT) crowd. A few minutes later and it was a mad dash to TT. Actually, the dash wasn't as mad as I have heard some rope drops described. And I assume it was a "rope," although we were a few people deep and couldn't really see it. We made it to TT, got Fastpasses and then headed over to see Ellen's Energy Adventure. We saw the Mission: Space construction. It is looking pretty awesome so far! We had a short wait for Ellen. This ride is a fun, fun ride. Ellen is great, as is Bill Nye. After Ellen we headed back over to TT for our Fastpass time with only about 10 minutes to spare. Despite using the Fastpasses we still waited for more than 15 minutes, more than any other attraction we used Fastpass on. Complaining about 15 minutes shows that we were really spoiled by the short lines this week. The first week in December is a great time to go! TT track was a good ride and I enjoyed it. It is interesting in that it's immersive and really gives you the feeling of being in a car. But, it wasn't a stunning ride by any means. Ellen and Honey I Shrunk the Audience are more entertaining in my opinion. By the way, the kids really loved it, a lot! After TT, Nancy, Jeremy and I separated from the older kids who wanted to go back and again get Fastpasses for TT. We headed for The Land to check out Living With the Land. We again used the family radios to keep in touch. We met up again and waited in the standby line for the ride since the kids had already gotten Fastpasses for TT. The wait was about 25-30 minutes, the absolutely longest of the trip. The ride was relaxing and very interesting, worth the wait. After Living With the Land we grabbed some lunch for the kids since it was after 12 by now. Nancy and I held off for Morocco and the Tangerine Café. Next stop... World Showcase (WS). We made our way to Canada, past the UK and France, straight to Morocco. Joseph and Julianna wanted to go back to use their TT Fastpasses. And again, the family radios worked nicely. The Tangerine Café food was very good, worth the wait and walk. At near $10 a plate for lunch it is a bit pricey, though. While we ate we were called on the radio by the kids. TT was down and they were on their way back to meet us. The radios allowed me to guided them right to us. By now it was early afternoon. We decided to make our way back through WS the way we came, to the busses and back to our room. This time, though, we made some stops in the shops of France and the UK. By 4:00pm we had made it back to the beginning of WS. We continued on to the entrance to catch a bus but were temporarily diverted by Spaceship Earth. Heck, it was a walk-on so why not? I like Spaceship Earth, as did everyone else. The backwards descent at the end gets to Nancy a little, but not too bad. After the ride we made our way out, found our bus and returned to the room to get ready for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Revue (HDDR). We caught the bus to Ft. Wilderness. I had considered driving or bussing over to MK and catching a boat. But, we were a little tired and went the path of least resistance. After you arrive at Ft. Wilderness you need to take another bus to Pioneer Hall, the location of HDDR. We got there early and were able to see the MK fireworks from the beach, a cool perk for getting there early. We then checked out the gift shop and got in the HDDR check-in line. Having made our arrangements in March, I just had to ask how our seats were (we received table 11). I was told we had the best seats in the house. Next, it's the picture line for the optional $20 package. They bring the developed pictures to your table during the show, at which time you can decide to buy them or not (we didn't). At 7:15pm they opened the doors. We took our time queuing to get into the hall since the tables are pre-assigned. When we were led to our table we weren't disappointed; our table was in the first row, stage left! This is where the steps to the stage are that the performers use very often during the show when they visit the crowd. We actually got to talk to a number of them several times throughout the show! While I think the absolute best seats might be second row center, this was a great table nonetheless. Early reservations really paid off! The show is a campy, corny, vaudeville-style show with a western flair. I think it is the most fun you can have in an hour and a half at WDW! First, you are seated with salad and bread already at the table. Soon after the performers enter and perform a number, including introductions of the characters. Then the main course food is served. By served, I mean buckets of ribs and fried chicken are literally slammed down on the metal plates on the table by the servers. The performers take a short break during dinner, but soon return for the main show. Later, dessert is served as the servers become part of the show. There is lots of audience participation throughout the show, as well. It was really a great time. After the show we headed back to the busses. The nice part of returning to the resort is that the busses go directly from Pioneer Hall to the resort, no need to catch a second bus like on the way in. We relaxed in our room for a while and were off to bed. Day 4, Tuesday, December 4 - Disney-MGM Studios Today is the day we first step foot in my favorite park, Disney-MGM Studios. I don't exactly know what it is about this park. I like the intimate feel, the quirky layout, and the really different attractions. I repeated the morning ritual of taking a shower and doing the morning coffee run. We got everyone ready and were out around 8:30. We arrived at the Studios shortly after opening (which was 9:00am). We made our way in and walked up Hollywood Blvd. This was our first good look at the hat. I actually like it! It is pretty cool. I do think it is badly placed in the park, though. It just doesn't belong in front of the Chinese Theater that holds The Great Movie Ride. I hope that they consider moving it to a more suitable location after the 100th celebration. We took a right onto Sunset on our way to The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (ToT) and Rock n' Roller Coaster (RnRC). A quick check showed 10 and 13 minutes standby lines. I think these are the shortest times they will display. We went over to the ToT standby line first. Julianna had been scared by the first part of this ride on our 1998 trip. We just wanted to make our way to the elevator-part of the ride and Nancy would take her to the gift shop to wait for me. But, the pre-ride stuff spooked her. This trip she was really determined to ride the ride. And she did! She really enjoyed it! She has become a real daredevil in the last few years. I enjoyed it as well. The drop sequence seemed much improved over my first time on the ride in 1998. After exiting ToT we did RnRC. RnRC is a great ride. A little more of a traditional big coaster feel, but still with that Disney difference that other traditional amusement parks just can't match. The start will take your breath away the first time you ride if you aren't careful. This is an indoor coaster with several upside down loops and corkscrews. It is quite a bit more intense than Space Mountain, the most similar ride to RnRC at WDW. After RnRC we decided to catch the Beauty and the Beast - Live on Stage show. It was a nice show. Joseph was pretty bored by it. The rest of us enjoyed the show. It is the retelling of the story in the movie so there aren't any surprises. After the show we backtracked along Sunset Blvd., over Hollywood Blvd., past Echo Lake to Star Tours (ST). ST was a walk-on. We ended up doing a baby swap with Nancy going first with the kids and me waiting with Jeremy. I like Star Tours but it is getting a little dated. Especially with the newer movies out, they need to update this to reflect the most recent movies. I understand that this will require George and Michael to get past some issues. Next it was on to Muppet Vision 3D. This is always a fun show. We sat in the very back so as to minimize the scare factor for Jeremy. He actually did great. It was just the loud noises that bothered him, but not too much. Sitting in the back does degrade the 3D experience somewhat. After Muppet Vision it was lunch time, so we found 50's Prime Time Café for our lunch PS. The place was very busy. I checked in and was told that the wait would be 15-20 minutes. I met up with the family outside and we went into the "living room" to wait to be seated. It was about 25 minutes before our name was called. Our "cousin" played her part well, although I could see others got the more deluxe treatment. This included one guy made to stand with his nose against the wall for having his elbows on the table; very funny. Our cousin reminded us not to do the same, to eat all our vegetables if we wanted dessert and complimented me on sharing some of my food with Jeremy. The food was OK, nothing special; it is expensive for what you get. But it hit the spot and the place was a nice diversion. After lunch we went to see The Magic of Disney Animation. It was interesting. The Studios is currently doing a feature animated film (forgot the name). They also did Mulan at the Studios. We got a demonstration from one of the animators who afterwards answered questions from the audience. After the tour Joseph decided he wanted a "how to draw" book and chose Tarzan. Joseph is actually quite talented in art and drawing. I think he really liked the tour. After the tour we headed over to the Backlot Tour. I liked this a lot the first time I took the tour in 1998. This time they have updated the part of the beginning where you see how Naval battles are filmed with miniatures. Now it features bits about the making of the movie Peal Harbor. I can't remember if they did it before, but they had an audience participation thing where they film several small, disjoint scenes and put them together to create a clip. It was fun to watch. Jeremy didn't like the loud noises but made it through. Next we went out to the trams to actually tour the backlot area. I assume that if this is a working backlot, as is claimed, that there is much more to it than is shown on the tour. I also remember seeing some of the sound stages in 1998. Not this time.We were taken down the road of residential houses that is the focal point of The Osborne Family Spectacle of Lights display. You could see the lights there but, of course, they weren't on as of yet. By this time we were starting to think about our 5:30 PS time at Mama Melrose's, so we headed that way. We took a leisurely stroll down New York Street. This is a really cool area of the Studios. There was some kind of "show" going on with a woman in the street and a guy in a window of a building. Since we came in on the middle of it I wasn't really sure of what it was about. We watched for a few minutes and moved on. We finally made it to Mama Melrose's. We were a little early when I checked in. About 5 minutes later we were seated. This is a nice restaurant for the Studios. It is not a themed restaurant in the same way 50's Prime Time of the Sci-Fi Dine-in are, it is simply a nice little Italian restaurant. The kids ordered from the kids menu and Nancy and I ordered and split a couple of appetizers. After dinner everyone was pretty tired so we started making our way out of the park. We hit New York Street again and saw our first glimpse of the Osboure Lights. Wow! We got a pairs of 3D glasses that were being handed out for free that made some lights have an aura of 3D angels around them. Pretty cool. The view up New York Street was spectacular. The street was even filled with barricades separating those entering from those leaving the display. Since we were tired we decided to skip the display and head back to the room. We eventually would make it back another day. We caught the bus back to POR and checked out the quite pool again. The kids had fun but really wanted to check out the Ol' Man Island pool. This we would do the next day. Day 5, Wednesday, December 5 - Downtown Disney and The Boardwalk This would be our relaxing day, although, in retrospect, it was pretty busy as well. No wakeup call today! Nancy and I rolled out of bed at around 8:00 or so. The kids followed a while later (except for Jeremy who was the reason Nancy and I were up at 8 in the first place). The first thing on the agenda after coffee and breakfast was to get a couple of laundry loads started and to take the kids to Ol' Man Island and the big pool. I helped Nancy get the laundry started and took the kids. Nancy would meet us later at the pool. This was our first real chance to walk around the Riverside grounds. The place is really beautifully landscaped. We passed by the fishin' hole where a few people were trying their hand. Finally, we made it to the pool. The pool is nicely themed, and comparable to the Port Orleans - French Quarter pool. The older kids went in immediately while I found a place for towels and got Jeremy ready. Jeremy really likes swimming pools we discovered on this trip. He needs to be watched literally every second because he will take off on you. I took him down the water slide. He liked it, although I had a hard time keeping him above water the first time. I did figure out the secret, which is to point your feet and toes down as you hit the pool! This way your legs immediately go down putting you right on your feet. Nancy met us about an hour later. A short time later we packed up and went back to the room. Next on the schedule, after showers, dressing and lunch in the room, was Downtown Disney for shopping and exploring. We piled into the car and were off. The parking wasn't too bad, probably due to the season. We stayed in the Marketplace area of Downtown. We hit all the big stores, including the World of Disney. It was pretty clear that the majority of the non-park-specific merchandise can be found. But we didn't see much of the stuff that has the name of a specific park on it at the Marketplace. Moral of the story: If you like something you see at the parks, and it has the name of the park on it, buy it! We bought a sweatshirt for Jeremy at AK that had Pooh looking at a tiger through a magnifying glass and asking "Is that you Tigger?" I'm glad we did because it wasn't anywhere at the marketplace. We stayed for a couple of hours and bought a few things. We had a PS at Spoodles on the Boardwalk at 7:30, so we returned to the room. After stashing our loot from the Marketplace and preparing for the evening, we headed out to the Boardwalk. A note here about making preparations when you have a little one. We had a re-freezable ice pack that we used with a collapsible cooler bag. This allowed us to carry two bottles worth of milk for Jeremy. This really worked well for us. I had purchased a gallon of whole milk at Goodings on Monday that lasted to Friday. We arrived at the Boardwalk and stopped at the guard shack. I mentioned that we were going to the Boardwalk for a PS. He asked to see my ID and asked which restaurant we were going to. I told him and he directed us to the parking area. This area is in the very back of the lot and is a long walk to the Boardwalk lobby. We made our way to the lobby and to an elevator that took us, stroller and all, to the Boardwalk itself. The Boardwalk has a nice atmosphere, although I have to say I was expecting more. It was smaller than I had imagined and there was no strolling entertainment in sight, as the Disney vacation planning videos always show. We walked for a short while stopping at a few stores and shops. Nancy insisted that we make a stop back at the bakery once we finished dinner. After our initial walk we stopped at Spoodles to check in. We were about 45 minutes early, but they said it wouldn't be a problem to be seated. They also said that business usually picks up after 7:00. Spoodles is a Mediterranean seafood place, primarily. We had a great server (Rowland I think was his name). He was very personable and helped us with recommendations. I had read that ordering a selection of appetizers is a great way to eat here. Jason actually suggested this before we asked about it. We ended up splitting 3 appetizers and a flat-bread (to over simplify, a fancy pizza) between Nancy, Joseph and myself. Julianna and Jeremy stuck with the kids menu. The food was great! After Spoodles we decided to make another pass on the Boardwalk. This time the atmosphere had picked-up a bit -- we saw at least one performer, although I can't remember what he was doing. And there were more people about, but not too crowded. I bought a sweatshirt and Nancy made her stop at the bakery. By this time we were ready to head back to the room for the night. This was a more busy day than I anticipated. We did a lot of walking and kept busy. In the future I would probably make sure we had a truly relaxing day in the schedule. Day 6, Thursday, December 6 - Magic Kingdom, Osbourne Lights, IllumiNations The wakeup call came at 7:00 for our first day at the Magic Kingdom (MK). We wanted to get to our 8:40am character breakfast PS at the Crystal Palace early in hopes of getting seated early and maximizing our early park time. Skipping the gory morning details, we made it to the MK at about 8:10. We told the appropriate person with the list about our PS and were allowed to enter the park. Once through the bag search and turnstiles we stopped for a picture. Next, it was on to the Crystal Palace to check-in. Amazingly, they said we could be seated in about 5 minutes. And 5 minutes later we were called! This breakfast is buffet style, different than the character breakfast we did at the Garden Gill on our 1998 trip. We specifically chose the Pooh and Friends breakfast because Jeremy really loves Pooh! After being seated our server gave us the lowdown on the way the characters would make their way around. This way, we wouldn't miss them while getting food. Tigger, Pooh and Eyor stopped by our table (Piglet only worked the lobby for some reason). Jeremy was excited and not at all timid. He even kissed Tigger and received a kiss in return. The food was good with a good variety. I did feel that, while the food was good, it doesn't stand on its own merits; the characters clearly make the deal worth the price. After breakfast we made our way out. It was a little after 9:00 so the park was open at this time. We walked to Adventureland and rode the first thing that caught our eye, Aladdin. This is a fun "Dumbo"-style ride with an added twist, a spitting camel. I didn't even notice it but Joseph did. He used the up/down control to place me right in the stream. Oh well, a little water couldn't hurt a beautiful day. After Aladdin we stepped over to Juggle Cruise. It was a walk-on so we hopped on. Our tour guide was a hoot! She had to be a comedian when the park closed! She made the "2 week" trip a lot of fun. The ride itself is pretty dated, especially now that there is an entire park dedicated to animals. But I still appreciate the anamatronics and what an advanced ride this must have been when it opened. From here it was on to Tiki Room. I could have done without this "show." But it is a Disney classic so I'm happy to say I've seen it. From here it was on to Pirates of the Caribbean. Since I don't remember ever seeing Pirates it was great to do. Again, the anamatronics must have been stunning when it opened. Next it was time to hit another land, so off we went to Frontierland to ride the mountains. And again, more walk-ons! This must have been a great day to do MK because nearly everything was a walk-on. The Fastpass machines were often covered at the parks during our whole stay. One thing that seemed odd was that the parks seemed busy, not overly so, but I certainly wouldn't call the place deserted either. Yet so much was a walk-on! I think this has spoiled me for this time of the year. I liked the mountains, but Splash Mountain is my favorite. Even though Big Thunder Mountain is themed, Splash mountain has a real story to tell. The kids liked both mountains, although Julianna is a little jaded by RnRC. The suspense of the little drops of Splash Mountain made this ride more interesting to her. After the mountains we made our way to Liberty Square and up to the Haunted Mansion (HM). I waited with Jeremy, who finally took a nap, while Nancy and the kids did HM. He hadn't napped much in the parks so far, so it was good to see him get some rest. I hoped it would pay off around dinner time. It was nice to just sit and watch the world go by for a while. I don't remember ever actually doing this for any amount of time. Julianna liked the ride even though she was a bit apprehensive given the name. Next, off to Tomorrowland. The one ride Joseph really wanted to do was Alien Encounter (AE). I didn't let him do AE last time because I had never seen it myself. This time he was anxious to do it so we got in line. To my surprise Julianna also wanted to do it! I warned her and prepared her and she still insisted on doing AE. AE was the biggest surprise at the MK the last time we were there. I still can't believe that this attraction made its way to the MK. I would think the Studios would be more appropriate, especially given the movie reference in the name. Well, Julianna made it through with only minimal screaming. She actually asked me if that was all after it was over. Although the grip she had on my hand betrayed her bravado a bit! We sat in the second row from the front. I seem to remember AE being more intense sitting up a few rows where the alien looks you more in the face. Still, this is the most intense ride in the park, maybe all the parks. Next it was time to do Space Mountain. They had only one side open (we found out riding TTA later) and the standby line was 25 minutes. So we grabbed Fastpasses and met up with Nancy. We then did the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA). This is a chance to rest the feet and get an interesting view of Tomorrowland. After TTA, we noticed that the Space Mountain standby line was suddenly 10 minutes! I assumed they had opened the other side of the ride, which they had. So, we decided not to wait for the Fastpass time and got in line (call the Fastpasses souvenirs :). It was probably about a 10 minute wait at most to get on. A big part of that is the long walk to the boarding area. After Space Mountain it was time for lunch. We grabbed fast food at Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café. It was good for fast counter service food. Nancy liked the grilled chicken sandwich. My hamburger we about what I expected, nothing special. After lunch we headed for Fantasyland. The main goal was The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. The standby line was over 30 minutes, one of the longest of the trip. Thus, we got our Fastpasses and continued on to Dumbo. Dumbo was listed as 15 minutes but the wait felt much longer. After Dumbo it was off to It's a Small World, a walk-on. I paid special attention to the condition of the attraction. It looked pretty fresh and in good condition to me. After Small World it was off to the Carrousel. After this it was off to Pooh. I liked Pooh, as did Jeremy. I had noticed that many of the attractions probably caused overload for him. Often he would simply stare in awe at things. But he actually smiled and reacted to some of the things on this ride. By this time it was nearing 4:00. We had wanted to see the Osbourne Lights two nights before but didn't have the energy. So, we decided to use the Disney transportation, and the hopper feature of our passes, and head over to the Studios. We went back to the room via bus to refresh the milk supply and then caught the bus to the Studios. We headed straight to New York Street, making it there at around 10 minutes to 6. This was great timing since we were able to get our 3D classes and to hear the introduction. The start of the snow and the turning on of the lights was really cool. This was one of my best memories of the entire trip. The lights are spectacular, as the name suggests. I am so glad we went back to do this. We always had IllumiNations in our plans for today. So after Osbourne Lights we left the Studios for the last time : ( and found the boats. We had asked the bus driver on the way to the Studios if the boats went between the Studios and Epcot. He said no and suggested we get off at the Yacht and Beach Club and walk to the International Gateway entrance. Well, as those of you who already know are probably thinking, he was wrong! The captain immediately said our stops would be Swan and Dolphin, Yacht and Beach Club, Boardwalk and then Epcot International Gateway entrance. The ride was a bit over a half hour but was a welcome rest. We reached Epcot, entered and made our way over to Rose and Crown to check-in for our 7:30 PS. The thought all along was to try and get seated outside overlooking the lagoon. As I approached the busy check-in I heard the woman before me asking for lagoon seats. The CM gave her what I assume is the standard story about not being able to guarantee such seats. She walked away without acknowledging his statement at all. I figured I had a chance to be more charming and gracious! I asked for the same thing and got the same answer. I let him know that I understood they were busy and that he couldn't guarantee anything. I also let him know I was willing to wait longer for outside seats and thanked him very much. I received a very cool iPaq "pager". These things played video, among other thing, and were really cool. Nancy was told that they would be used at many other WDW restaurants in the near future. Nancy took the opportunity to visit a shop or two in the UK while I waited with Jeremy. While I waited a large "cherry picker" was positioned right in front of the Rose and Crown check-in to do some filming. A large crowd also gathered to watch something happening on the other side of the street. Joseph and Julianna later informed me that Charlotte Church had performed (the cherry picker was obviously filming it). Nancy was told that they were filming for a Christmas morning special to air on ABC. A half hour later our fancy iPaq pager went off and we were seated right in the middle of the outside upper row. I had to go back to the stroller to get the milk and profusely thanked the CM for the great seats. We leisurely ordered drinks, an appetizer and main dishes. Nancy and I split the pie sampler and bangers and mash between us. It was good but nothing special. We didn't get much attention from the server as our drinks went dry. IllumiNations started soon after we finished eating. What a view, it was perfect! Even the smoke blew away from us. Unfortunately, the loud fireworks spooked Jeremy who started crying. I took him into the now empty inside and watched most of the show from there. Jeremy watched in that blank-stare look, but the sound was considerably quieter so he calmed down and stopped crying. The show was great. Nancy really liked it a lot. As the show was wrapping up I took Jeremy back outside. Oops, forgot about the finally! This upset him again but it lasted only a minute or so and was over. After the show we joined the mob heading for the exits. It wasn't as bad as I had imagined and we made it to the buses in about 20 minutes. A nominal wait and a crowded bus ride later we were back at the room. Everyone was exhausted from our longest day of the trip. But, it was a great day of seeing some special things and using the Disney transportation facilities to their fullest. Day 7, Friday, December 7 - Epcot and Downtown Disney For our last full day we had planned on splitting time between the MK and Epcot. But, we decided to make it an all Epcot day with a side trip to Downtown Disney Marketplace for shopping. The Marketplace trip was necessitated by our 11:55am flight out the next day and the 9:30am store opening time. We woke and got ourselves out to the bus platform by 9:30 or so and were at Epcot shortly after 10:00. We decided to try and catch some of the Future World attractions we missed so we made our way to The Living Seas. Joseph was more interested in exploring Innoventions, so we split up with plans to contact each other by radio in an hour or so. I had a lot more expectations of The Living Seas than I should have. The opening movie was interesting but not spectacular. I really expected to see some pretty cool stuff at SeaBase Alpha. I was disappointed; without the Sea Cabs I had read about it just seams a little bland. And, we saw better fish displays at the Rainforest Café! I continued to walk through the different areas and took the time to read and experience a couple of displays. But it simply was of limited interest. After a short while we made our way back to the "surface" and called Joseph. We met up with him and decided to hit Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. I don't really remember the original Journey Into Imagination, and I haven't had a chance to see the new Journey Into Your Imagination (JIYI). Both attractions reside in the Imagination! Pavilion that houses Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Now that JIYI is closed for rehab, I guess I'll never know what the furor was all about (unless, of course, they get it wrong AGAIN). Honey is a great attraction! It is the best 3D presentation I saw at WDW. The affects are great and at times intense (the snake bit is a thrill, to be sure). Yet, Honey is still a fun and playful story. I found It's Tough To Be a Bug at AK a bit more stupid and even mean spirited at times. This story is not like that. The kids enjoyed it as well. Unfortunately, Nancy had to wait outside with Jeremy. We didn't want a repeat of the Bug experience! Next it was nearing rope drop time for World Showcase. We wanted to move clockwise this time since we had made it all the way to Morocco our first day. We hit Mexico first. El Rio del Tempo was a walk-on so we all climbed aboard. Most attractions make you go through some sort of gift shop or shopping area as you exit. Here in Mexico you must pass through a Mexican shopping area in order to find El Rio del Tempo. This area is actually pretty cool with a lot of authentic stuff. In general we liked the fact that the shopping in World Showcase is so different than any place at WDW. After Mexico we made it to Norway and got Julianna a frosted pretzel for lunch. Joseph held out for food at our next stop, China. Once Joseph was settled we left him and Julianna and proceeded through Outpost to Germany. I went and got a brat at Sommerfest, along with a Beck's dark. The brats are great here. I ate and waited for the kids while Nancy visited some shops. A short while later the kids called on the radio and I guided them to me. We all met up and strolled past Italy to U.S.A. We got the times and duration of the Candlelight Processional. Nancy wanted to do this so we made tentative plans to return for it that evening. People we talked to on the bus said they really liked it. The Processional is a Christmas event that features singing and a reading from a celebrity orator. It lasts a little short of an hour. The guest today was Phylicia Rashad. We continued on through World Showcase on our clockwise tour, stopping at a few of the shops and small attractions. We caught the Beatles band The British Invasion in the UK. They were pretty authentic, and it was a nice opportunity to rest for a while. After we passed Canada we made our way out of the park and onto a bus to the Downtown Disney Marketplace. The route was interesting, kind of the back door route it seemed. We got off at the Marketplace stop and hit a few stores. Jeremy only snacked at Epcot so I split up with Nancy and took Jeremy, with Joseph, to McDonalds (kids love those fries). Afterwards we went over to the Lego store to kill time. Jeremy was fascinated by the snoring Lego man once he worked up enough courage to get close to him. Nancy finished up her shopping and called us up on the radio. We met and made our way past Pleasure Island to the bus stop. A short wait later we were on the bus back to POR. This gave us a chance to relax and load up on milk before we headed out to our last PS of the trip, 'Ohana. I am really looking forward to this PS after reading about 'Ohana. I thought the kids might like it as well given its family orientation. We took the bus from the resort to the MK, and from there, the boat to the Polynesian. The boat first stopped at the Grand Floridian. The water view rooms of the MK must be incredible, especially when viewing the fireworks. We got off the boat at the Poly and walked to the Great Ceremonial House. 'Ohana is a level up so we took the elevator to the next level. I have always thought I would like staying at the Poly if we could afford it. The Great Ceremonial House is nice, and I know a lot of people really like it, but to me it feels more like a mall. Anyway, we found our way to the check-in desk of 'Ohana. We got there at about 7:00 and I eventually was able to check in and get our pager. Nancy had one or two more things she wanted to get so we went over to the gift shop on the same floor. After about 20 minutes we received our page and were seated. We were seated not far from the check-in area. I took a little stroll through the place and realized that the area near the windows has a wonderful view of the water and the MK. The moral, ask for a table with a good view of the water at check-in! The food started with some salad and vegetables. These were very good and made a good starter. Julianna, our fussy eater, quickly realized that this was not the kind of food for her. I asked our server if they had more traditional kids meals. Chicken strips to the rescue! One thing I didn't realize until we paid the bill was that the chicken strips were considered a substitute for the normal food, at the normal (kid) price! I had expected a five or six dollar kid's meal. The skewers of meat soon arrived. These are very large skewers, 2-3 feet long, brought to the table two at a time by the server. I liked the turkey best, followed closely by the steak. Nancy liked the shrimp, which were very big, almost the size of prawns. Shortly after we started eating the first of the kids activities began - a hoola-hoop contest. It wasn't really a contest per se, which meant all the kids could have fun. Jeremy even got into the fun. We finished our meal and ordered a dessert to go. We decided to make the monorail trip around the resorts. We would then get out at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) to catch a bus back to the resort. This was the start of monorail hell! Now, I know all you more experienced WDW types are saying, "The TTC doesn't have busses that go to the resorts!" And, you would be completely correct, as we found out the hard way. We first stopped at the Grand Floridian, followed by the MK and the Contemporary. As we pulled up to the Contemporary we were informed over the public address system that we would be staying there for the duration of a fireworks show that was to start in 15 minutes! By this time everyone was tired and not really feeling like a 30 minute wait aboard a monorail, but that is exactly what we did. A short time after the 5-10 minute show finished up we finally set off again. I'll skip the ugly details of looking for our bus only to realize it didn't exist at the TTC. We got back on the monorail, getting off at the MK. We waited 25 minutes or so for the bus, our longest wait at a park, and made it back to POR. It was a long, LONG day, and it felt good to get into bed. Day 8, Saturday, December 8 - Travel Home The last day. I think everyone was ready to take an early flight and go home. We got up, packed and loaded up the car. We got out around 9:30 for the trip to the airport. Our flight was at 11:55 so we shouldn't have any trouble with time. We said goodbye as we drove past the big welcome signs that had greeted us 7 days before. After a quick gas refill trip we were off. While the Orlando airport feels like a maize, the signage is clear and we found the National drop off. We made it to the terminal to our airline counter only to be told that the airline (Sun Country) had discontinued all its flights! Holy crap! After a long, tiring vacation this was the last thing anyone would want to hear. Having the entire family along only made it worse for me; I felt a little guilty putting them through this. We were sent to the ATA counter by a FunJet representative and told that they would be able to get us on a plane that afternoon. So, we hiked to the other end of the terminal and stood in line. When I finally made it to the counter they told me I was not in their system and they couldn't help me! The rest of the story isn't pretty so I won't go over the details. But, after a couple of hours of waiting and a post-boarding mechanical problem, we made it home, only 6 hours later than anticipated. Not bad considering our airline essentially went bankrupt the day before. I have to thank the FunJet reps for their help - I need to mail the company a letter, as well. It was good to be home! Epilog On the last day at WDW, everyone was ready to go home, including me. At the time I thought to myself that I had absolutely no desire to come back any time soon. But within a week of leaving I had this yearning to return. It must be the Disney magic! I've even begun lurking on RADP again and researching DVC points renting. I think Nancy has had her fill of Disney vacations for a while. We will probably try some driving vacations the next few years - New England or maybe out west. But I'm sure we will find our way back to Disney again when Jeremy is older. Mickey is calling and the magic awaits! Summary What we liked:
What we didn't like:
What we learned:
That's it. Let me know if you want any clarifications. And, have a great time at WDW the next time you go! Bill Balloni Bill.Balloni@bigfoot.com Mail a Comment to Bill Balloni |
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