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Michelle Clark -- November 2001 -- Walt Disney World (OKWR, ASSR)
PRE TRIP PLANNING: Our friends Harry and Wanda asked us come to WDW with them on our next trip. We decided to go in November to celebrate Erin and Taylor's birthdays. Erin will turn 8 on November 2 and Taylor will turn 12 on November 7. Harry booked a two-bedroom suite at Old Key West for Sunday, November 4 through Friday, November 9 (5 nights). He also made reservations for the Hoop De Doo for Sunday evening. We can't wait. Later in the summer, I got a card in the mail from Disney advertising rates at the All Stars for $49 per night. Why not go down early and stay Saturday night at the All Stars? I called and couldn't get any rooms at $49 but got 2 rooms at $59 at the Sports. Good enough! We also decided to make priority seating arrangements at Chef Mickey's for Monday night, Whispering Canyon for Tuesday night, Cape May Café for Wednesday night, and O'Hana for Thursday night. TIP: I read many restaurant reviews on the web and also found several sites with menus from WDW restaurants. We also read Birnbaum's Official Guide, the PassPorter, and the Unofficial Guide to WDW. This really helped us decide where to eat and plan our trip. During my web surfing (which I did a lot planning this trip) I found that Sea World and Busch Gardens is offering free admission for any law enforcement, fire, or emergency workers and their families until the end of the year. So we added a day at Sea World to our itinerary. Friday, November 2: Harry and Wanda decided to go down today. I checked with All Stars to see if they could get their room for Friday and Saturday nights and then we could come in on Saturday, which I was told would be no problem. Saturday, November 3: Phil, me, and the kids left about 3:00 am and arrived at the All Stars about 10:30 am. Harry and Wanda were outside waiting on us. Our room is not ready so we crashed in their room. Phil and Harry made a McDonald's run for burgers and fries to eat in the room. We made priority seating that night for O'Hana because Phil couldn't wait until Thursday to try it! Our first excursion out was to the Disney outlet at Belz factory outlets on International Drive. This is only the first of several trips to the outlets. NOTE: YOU MUST TRY THESE OUTLETS!!! We bought t-shirts for $7 that are sold inside WDW now for $17. That afternoon Wanda and I took the kids to the pool while Phil slept off the 7 1/2 hour non-stop drive down. O'Hana (Polynesian): We were seated rather quickly. The food is brought to your table family style and includes, salad, fried rice, stir-fry vegetables, and grilled steak, pork, turkey, and shrimp. This is some of the best food we had at WDW. Phil, who prides himself as the expert griller, was especially fascinated with the skewers of meat as they were cooked over an open fire. Taylor participated in the coconut race and the girls hula hooped to "Hakuna Matata". The entertainment is a Hawaiian singer who comes to table to table. He sang Happy Birthday to Erin. After dinner, we got on the monorail and made the resort loop to kill some time before the fireworks started. Then we went down to the beach to watch the fireworks over the castle. The kids went wild over the pool and waterslide at the Polynesian. Sunday, November 4: We thought about doing Sea World today but our laziness won! We slept in. Harry checked at Old Key West to see if our rooms were ready. They weren't. After a late breakfast in the room, we decided to tour the AK Lodge. It is beautiful and we saw many animals from the resort. The smell from the restaurant was so appetizing we decided to make PS for Tuesday night at Boma instead of Whispering Canyon. Wanda and I decided to hit the outlets again while Phil, Harry, and the kids played mini golf next to Blizzard Beach. We visited another Disney outlet, this one is at the Orlando premium outlets (the pink buildings visible from I-4). Our rooms were ready about 4:00 p.m. so we headed in. Phil and I are amazed at how nice the rooms are. Everything is so beautiful and spacious! Hoop-de-doo: Our reservations were for 5:00. We left the room about 4:00 because you have to catch a bus at Fort Wilderness to get to Pioneer Hall. Harry and Wanda have done Hoop-de-doo many times but this is a first for the Clark's and we had no idea what to expect. Everyone greatly enjoyed the show and the all you can eat fried chicken and ribs. The highlight for us was when Harry was picked to participate in the grand finale. I don't want to give it away for those who haven't been, but for those who have, Harry was the "star" at the end! Monday, November 5: MK opens at 9:00 so we left OKWR at 8:30 by car (Phil gets motion sickness, so we didn't use the buses). When we arrived at the TTC there was a sea of people waiting to get to the monorail. For some reason they were holding the crowds back and not letting them get on the monorail. We waited about 15 minutes to get on the monorail. When we arrived at the MK, our bags were checked. My backpack was full of snack food but security didn't seem to mind. We headed left through Adventureland to Frontierland. We rode Big Thunder Mountain. twice with no wait at all. Next we went directly to Splash Mountain with no wait again. We rode Splash 3 times in a row. After the 2nd time the cast member asked if we wanted to ride again without getting off. Of course the kids did! Next we headed to the Country Bear Jamboree, a favorite of the adults. However, I think the kids endured such shows. Their main interest is ride ride ride! Our next destination is Tomorrowland. As we walked through Fantasyland we noticed a line for It's a Small World. We never saw a line for that last year! Pooh had a 60-minute wait and Peter Pan had a 45-minute wait. Phil, Harry, Taylor, and Lauren wanted to do Alien Encounter. Wanda, Erin, and I did not, so we went over to Buzz Lightyear which had a 25-minute wait. Everyone met up at Space Mountain which we rode 3 times with no wait. We decided to check out Epcot because MK is getting pretty crowded. But first we stopped at Casey's Corner for hot dogs. If you like hot dogs, you'll love these. Then we rode the monorail to Epcot. Epcot has significantly less people than MK. We headed to Universe of Energy because Phil, the kids, and me didn't do this last year. We all enjoyed it. Next we decided to check out the Land. That's also something we didn't see last trip. Living with the Land had a 60-minute wait, so we did Food Rocks instead. It was cute but not one of the kids' favorites (they want to ride all the time!). Since it's next door, we headed to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Last year Erin was afraid of this show but she fared better this time. It's a great show! Of course the #1 attraction for our kids in Epcot is Test Track. So we promised them we would head there next. Harry and Wanda, in all their trips to WDW, have never ridden Test Track. The Fastpass is down for Test Track, so we waited about 25 minutes. Wanda chickened out at the last minute and wouldn't ride. By now it's close to 5:00. Our PS for Chef Mickey's is 5:45 so we head towards the exit. Wanda, the kids, and I rode the monorail to the Contemporary while Phil and Harry went back to TTC to get the car. Chef Mickey's: This time was not as good as our visit last year. We were seated in the smaller dining area away from the main dining room. Each character visited us once. Last year each character came to our table 3 or 4 times. TIP: I would request a table in the main dining room if interacting with characters is important to your family. However, I don't think it bothered our kids. I guess they are starting to outgrow that! Tuesday, November 6 MGM: We arrived about 15 minutes before park opening (9 am) and waited on Hollywood Blvd. for the park to open when it was announced that Rock & Roller Coaster was down and would open later in the day. Our first stop was Star Tours. Taylor is a major Star Wars fan, so this is a must. Motion sickness prone Phil skipped it. Next is Muppet Vision, which I think is the best 3D show in WDW. Afterwards, the Hunchback of Notre Dame was just starting, so we darted inside. Phil and Taylor suffered through the show, but the girls enjoyed it. We decide to try the Backlot Tour since it has changed from our last trip. Backlot had a 50-minute wait so we headed toward Rock & Roller Coaster to see if it is running. It's not due to a computer problem. A cast member is handing out fast passes for 3:45. Phil and the kids wanted to do Tower of Terror next. Harry and Wanda decided to check out the shops instead. I went over to the Walt Disney One Man's Dream because I knew no one else would be interested. Unless you're a major Walt fan, you won't enjoy this either. We met back at the Rock & Roller but it was still down. So Phil, Lauren, and Erin went back to Tower of Terror while Harry, Wanda, Taylor, and I checked out Who Wants to be a Millionaire - Play It! We walked right in. This was much more fun than I expected because the audience answers every question with the contestants. We met up with Phil and the girls and went back to the Backlot Tour which was only a 10-minute wait. It's not much different than before. We considered going to Indiana Jones but we saw it last year, so we wanted to try something we haven't done before. We went in Sounds Dangerous with Drew Carey. It's pretty good but I wouldn't wait in line for it. By this time the kids were getting anxious, was the Rock & Roller open? It was! Everyone but Wanda jumped in line. We waited about 15 minutes to ride. Harry and Wanda decide to return to the room and rest. Phil, the kids and me got back on Rock & Roller and went directly to the pre show with no wait. Then we went to Tower of Terror and walked directly in. After ToT we checked out the gift shop and bought ToT t-shirts for the kids for $7.99! By this time our Rock & Roller fast passes are due, so we headed back again! By now we've been flipped enough, so we went to the Great Movie Ride. We've done everything we wanted to do in MGM, so we headed back to OKWR. Boma (AK Lodge): Our PS is not until 8:45. We thought we'd head over early and see if we could get a table. We got there at 7:30 and was told they would try to seat us early if they could. We checked out the gift shop and found t-shirts and sweatshirts on sale! Our table was ready at about 8:00. The food was good and included prime rib, marinated flank steak, and a variety of desserts. There were also a lot of items we'd never heard of. It was something different to experience. The girls did not enjoy it; the kids' bar with chicken fingers and macaroni & cheese was a lifesaver for them. Wednesday, November 7: AK is our first destination. The Clark's didn't do the safari last year, so that's a priority for us. It appeared that was the case for everyone else in the park too. Everyone made a beeline for Africa. So we stopped at the tree of life for It's Tough to be a Bug. Erin chickened out of this one last year. Harry and Wanda had never done it either. We waited about 5 minutes to get inside the theater. This is my least favorite of the WDW 3D shows. Several small children were very frightened of the show. However, Taylor, Lauren, and Phil loved it. Our next stop is Dinosaur, one of Taylor's favorites. Wanda and Erin sat this one out. I like this ride but a word of warning, it is scary! I have to tell myself, "This is make-believe. You will make it out!" during the ride! We considered seeing Tarzan Rocks but the first show wasn't until 11:15 and it was only 10:00 now. So we headed towards Harambe to Kilamanjaro Safari. We waited about 20 minutes, which didn't seem bad considering the rush of people going towards the Safari this morning. This is a good attraction that everyone can enjoy. Taylor and Lauren wanted to go to Kali River Rapids next. Kali is almost identical to Thunder Mountain at Six Flags over Georgia which we can see anytime, so they decided they would rather go back to the MK. Back at MK, we again headed towards Adventureland. We tried to interest the kids in Pirates or Aladdin but there were no takers. Splash Mountain is their favorite at MK, so that's where we went first. About a 10-minute wait today, which is great for Splash. Next I insisted we do Hall of Presidents. After all, we did take them out of school for a week, so they should do something educational. And George W. is there now. They agreed. So did Harry and Phil, it's one of their favorite nap spots. We headed to Haunted Mansion next. Erin was afraid of this last year and didn't want to ride it again, so she and I sat out. Our next stop was to be Peter Pan, but the line was ridiculous! We headed to Buzz to get fast passes and rode Space Mountain while we waited. Buzz is another favorite that anyone, no matter what age, can enjoy. By now, it's 4:30. Our PS are at 5:30 for Cape May Café, so we headed out. Cape May Café (Beach Club): I cannot tell you how much we enjoyed this restaurant. It is advertised as a clambake but has much more than seafood. It also had the most beautiful dessert bar I've ever seen! Don't miss the mashed potatoes. Taylor picked this restaurant for his birthday, and he made a great choice. Phil also voted for Cape May because Birnbaum's WDW guide voted it the best buy in WDW restaurants. We agree. Thursday, November 8 We decided to go to Sea World today. Harry and Wanda stayed at the room for some R & R and shopping later. As I said earlier, Phil can get us in free because he's in law enforcement. At the ticket counter we were also given 20% coupons for one total purchase in any gift shop, 20% off our entire meal at any restaurant, and several other coupons. If anyone in your family is law enforcement, fire, or emergency workers, you really should take advantage of this offer! We arrived when the park opened at 9 am. Kraken and Journey to Atlantis didn't open until 10, so we fed the dolphins while we waited. Kraken is a great coaster (if you love coasters which we do). Atlantis is a boat ride similar to Splash Mountain. However, we don't think it was nearly as good as Splash. The Shamu show is great and was surprisingly full, as was the dolphin show. We had to stand up in the dolphins. Next to the Shamu stadiums is the Polar Bear exhibit which includes a simulated helicopter ride to the Artic. This is similar to Body Wars or Star Tours but is better than either, in my opinion. Motion sickness prone Phil did not enjoy it as well as the rest of us! We pretty much saw everything we wanted to see at Sea World by 2:30, so we went back to the room. When we arrived, Harry and Wanda had a surprise for us. They booked our suite for an additional night. So we could get a good night's rest Friday night after our last day in the parks. Great! Harry and Wanda also went back to the Disney outlet and bought us all matching t-shirts for $7.99. Taylor's was too small so Wanda, Lauren, and I head back to the outlets again to exchange it. Lauren wanted to get her hair wrapped but it was $1.50 per inch at WDW and $1.60 per inch at Sea World. Wanda found a place at the Orlando premium outlets that did it for $1.00 per inch. If you don't know, this is the going thing for girls. They take a small section of hair and wrap it in different color threads and but beads on the ends. So if you have a 10-year-old girl, chances are you'll be dealing with this too. O'Hana: This was so good the first time we had to go back. We sung Happy Birthday to Taylor (one day late). Friday, November 9: Today we planned to hit all the favorite attractions and then spend some time at Epcot. Our first stop was MK. We arrived at the TTC at about 8:45. The crowd today was bigger than any we had seen so far. It took nearly one hour to get to the park from the TTC. We couldn't believe how many people were there. If people were worried about terrorist attacks or the economy you couldn't tell here. The crowds headed straight for Tomorrowland so we took our usual route to Frontierland. We tried to get the kids to ride some of the attractions in Adventureland but they just weren't interested. So we did Big Thunder and Splash Mountains. We wanted to see Peter Pan but it had a ridiculous wait, as did all the Fantasyland rides. Buzz and Space Mountain both had 45-minute waits. We decided to leave MK and try Epcot again. As we were leaving MK there were still droves of people entering the park. Harry and Wanda stayed behind in the MK to shop, so we drove to Epcot. The number of cars parked at Epcot was probably a fourth of the cars at MK. The crowds were much better at Epcot. Our first stop was Living with the Land, which Phil and I enjoyed. I think our kids were slightly bored. Next we headed to the Living Seas. After spending yesterday at Sea World, this attraction didn't hold our interest. If you're including a visit to Sea World, don't even bother going to the Living Seas at Epcot. By this time the kids are ready to ride, so we headed to Test Track, which was only a 15-minute wait. We then went to the Wonders of Life to see Cranium Command, which everyone enjoyed. If you like Saturday Night Live you need to see it because several SNL cast members are in Cranium Command. Next we did Body Wars. We then headed toward the countries. We were given a map of the Epcot Food and Wine Festival when we entered the park. Phil and I wanted to sample some foreign food. Since we hadn't eaten lunch, we decided to stop in each country to try their food. We bypassed Mexico and headed to Norway to ride Maelstrom. Next we stopped in China and shared eggrolls. We watched the Chinese acrobats. In Germany we shared a bratwurst. Our next stop was near Italy where we got pizza samples for the kids at one of the Food and Wine carts. Our next stop was America. We watched the Fife & Drum core perform. They led the crowd in singing "God Bless America". While we waited to see The American Adventure the group "American Vybe" performed under the rotunda. The American Adventure is another attraction I insisted on for educational experiences! However, I think it is one of WDW's best. The next country we visited was Morocco. We went inside the Tangerine Café and tried the Mediterranean Pizza, which was delicious. Phil asked the chef if he could try the lamb and he gave him a nice sample to taste. The cast members were all from Morocco and were very friendly. We will definitely eat here again! A band was playing outside the Morocco pavilion. France was next. A living statue was performing outside the pavilion. We stepped in the bakery and ordered one ham & cheese croissant and one ham & cheese quiche. These were the kids' favorites of all the countries. Our next stop was United Kingdom for an order of fish and chips. British Invasion was performing behind the UK shops. However, you could hear them anywhere in the area. Canada was the last country. We went to the 360-degree movie here which was very good. We saw the China movie last year but I enjoyed O Canada more. Outside Canada we sampled Salmon from another Food and Wine cart. At the end of the World Pavilion, the kids said they enjoyed touring the countries better with sampling foods along the way. We spent about $50 on food & drinks in the countries, which was $10 per person. So this might be a way to bribe your uninterested children into the World! The kids endured the countries for us, so we headed back to Test Track again. By now it's dark outside, which made the ride a little different. Try it! A cast member told us Test Track would be running until 10:00, during Illuminations. It was nearly 8:00 and Illuminations would start at 9:00, but I think everyone was pooped. So we headed towards the exit, stopping to ride Spaceship Earth, our last ride at WDW. SUMMARY:
Michelle Clark clark7371@yahoo.com Mail a Comment to Michelle Clark |
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