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Lisa Zerr -- January 2001 -- Walt Disney World (WL)WHEN: January 19-28, 2001 WHERE: Wilderness Lodge, offsite WHO:
BACKGROUND: Let's back up a bit (shall we?) to 1999 when we as a family took our first trip to Disney World. Being from California and having gone to Disneyland every year with my dad's company for So. Cal. Gas Company night (which was awesome), I had never really had much interest in going to Disney World. I guess I figured it would be pretty much the same thing in Florida that it was in California. I had been working full-time and taking classes at night for years (with a break when I had my daughter), in order to sit for the CPA exam. Finally I had enough classes, and after studying non-stop for 4 months, I took the exam in May 1999. At some point during the studying time, I decided we were going to Florida after the exam was over, as a "thank you" to my family for putting up with me during that time. So, two days after the test, we went. And it was great!!! So great, in fact, that we ended up coming back a year later, in May 2000. We bought annual passes at that time, with the plan of making one more trip before they expired. This brings us to the current trip, January 2001. Knowing that this was going to be our last trip to Disney World for quite a few years makes for very interesting planning. On the previous two trips, my daughter was not yet in school, so we were able to pick a less busy time of year to go. This time, we actually took her out of kindergarten for a week (I know, it's horrible), but I would most likely not do that again, and since we have decided NEVER to go in the summer and get trampled by the crowds, I think we'll be waiting awhile. And that's okay. I think waiting awhile until we go back will make everything that much fresher and exciting when we do. So anyway, we started making plans back in Sept/Oct 2000 for our Jan 2001 trip. We wanted to go at a very uncrowded time of year, and we wanted to get a good deal because we were going to be staying onsite for the very first time. We had a choice between the Port Orleans at $89 or Wilderness Lodge at $149. We decided on WL for 3 nights, and 5 nights offsite at the new Vistana Villages Resort (just opened in 2000). We made a priority seating for Cinderella's breakfast for Sunday morning and we looked forward to trying early entry for the first time. In addition, we were thinking we might want to try the E-night on Tuesday. Other than that, we were pretty open. Depending on the weather, we thought we might try a day at the beach. We also thought we might make it over to Sea World. THE TRIP: DAY 0, Friday, Jan. 19 Plan: Finish packing, fly out of Baltimore at 5:30 p.m., arrive at Ramada Westgate hotel at around 9:30 p.m., get some sleep before our first big day. Reality: I realized partway through the day that I probably should have just gone to work instead of taking a vacation day, since my husband (who works from home) was on the phone with customers all day anyway and not a huge help. Oh well... I did some last minute shopping, picked Caylin up after school, and we headed to the airport at around 3:45 for our 5:30 flight. Unfortunately, when we got to the Southwest gate, the sign already showed a one-hour delay on that flight. So we got our boarding passes and headed over to the airport Burger King for dinner. Which is a mistake (if you ever find yourself at BWI, don't go there). It took them 3 tries to get me a burger without ketchup (which I'll grant you is a special order, but how tough is it?) and they were sooo slow. Also, considering the state of my husband's stomach the next morning, I have some serious suspicions regarding their sanitation. The flight finally took off 2 hours late, and we arrived in Orlando Airport at around 10:00 p.m. Took the shuttle to Hertz rental car, no lines, no problems, nice Corolla four-door for our cheap rate ($99/week). Arrived at Ramada Westgate in Kissimmee around 11:00. Went to bed. Day 1, Saturday, Jan 20 Plan: Free breakfast at the hotel, visit Belz Outlets in the morning, Animal Kingdom in the afternoon. Check into Wilderness Lodge. Dinner offsite at Friendly's. Go to Fort Wilderness campfire, then watch Electric Water Parade. Reality: Well, this I can say about the Ramada Westgate: it was cheap. I had gotten it for $40.90 over the internet, and I got what I paid for. It's located on a rather sleazy-looking strip of I-192. It was a moderately clean room with one full and one double bed. A few ants running around the sink area. The bed Caylin used seemed much more comfortable than the one Jim and I shared (think hide-a-bed, bar-in-your-back kind of comfort). Plus, our room was located right next to the ice machine, which you could hear all night long. Not the greatest, but we decided to look on everything on this vacation as an adventure, so we laughed it off. Fortunately we were only there for the night. We got a free hot breakfast which was good (eggs, bacon, cereal, rolls, etc). For some reason, no orange juice, which seemed weird for Florida. It was at some point during breakfast that Jim started complaining about his stomach, but he decided to march ahead. While eating breakfast, we saw on TV that the weather was supposed to be nice in the morning, turning to a possible storm in the afternoon, so we decided to switch our plans and do AK in the morning and Belz Outlets in the afternoon. Headed over to AK. I have to say that this is the most uncrowded day I have ever spent in AK. Usually it's wall-to-wall people. I just couldn't believe it....and it was a Saturday!! We arrived at around 8:45 and walked onto the Kilimanjaro Safari. Then Jim got a Sprite for his tummy and took Caylin to the Boneyard playground while I went on Dinosaur, no lines. As I was walking back to the playground to pick them up, I spotted my poor husband retching over a fence and my daughter running after him. Let me just say thank you to the nice CM who gave Jim a napkin to wipe his mouth and asked if he was okay. After that rather disgusting interlude, Jim was feeling a lot better, so he went to clean up a bit in the restroom, and we headed over to the Tarzan Rocks show. This was a first for us, and Caylin absolutely loved it. Jim and I thought the acrobatics were good, but the "lounge singer" guy was kind of cheesy. We ate lunch (well actually Caylin and I ate lunch, Jim decided on just hot tea) at Pizzafari. An individual cheese pizza, side salad, lemonade, and hot tea cost $10.48. I love the inside of that place! We hadn't been there before, and the food was good. Also, it had started getting cold outside and this had inside seating, so it was a good bet. As an aside, I bet Disney World sold a lot of coffee the week we were there---brrr! After lunch, we saw the Flights of Wonder show and enjoyed the birds, then headed over to Camp Minney Mickey to try to catch some characters. Really not big lines at the character trails. My daughter, who got an autograph book as a present before the trip, was totally into getting autographs. I think I liked it better when she just wanted to give them hugs. Oh well. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Chip and Dale, etc, then headed to the Pocohontas show. Caylin likes that the kids get to sit in front. I don't think I ever need to see this show again. By this time, we were ready to head out. We stopped by the Wilderness Lodge to see if we could check in (was around 3 pm) but the room was not ready, so we decided to drive over to the Belz Outlets and see if we could find any Disney bargains. Found a nice AK t-shirt for Caylin and bought it ($8.46). Found a nice t-shirt for myself that I should have bought but didn't. : ( We stopped off at Publix and got some snacks and a gallon of drinking water ($9.14) and were then able to get into our room at WL. The WL room was very nice, 2 queen sized beds, and a small balcony overlooking the resort. Jim was still feeling poorly, so he went to bed, while Caylin and I scouted out dinner at the food court, Roaring Forks. We split a chicken salad sandwich and drink ($7.93) and Caylin had a Mickey bar for dessert ($2.54). We had a great time. I don't get nearly as much one-on-one time with my daughter as I would like, and chatting with a 5-year-old is very informative if you have lots of time to spend. While we were eating, we decided it would be really fun to catch the boat from the Wilderness Lodge to the Magic Kingdom tonight and go on Caylin's favorite ride, Buzz Lightyear. So, in the spirit of adventure, off we went! Caught the boat over (everybody shivering on the boat dock), and arrived at MK just in time for the first showing of the Main Street Electrical Parade, so went to where the parade starts and watched it. As it turned out, this was the only time we saw the parade on this trip and now it's going away, so I'm glad we got the chance. After it passed, we headed up Main Street and went through Adventureland to go on Pirates. We then took the long way through Fantasyland (which looked quite crowded) to Tomorrowland to go on Buzz. Line wasn't bad so we went twice. Caylin must've hit something really good, because I think she got 100,000 points in one shot! We finished off the evening by riding the TTA, and had the amazing bonus of being able to see Tinkerbell and the fireworks from the ride. It's a great view, I highly recommend it! Took the boat back to WL, checked in on daddy who was feeling better by this point. Appreciated the comfortable beds at WL and went to sleep. All in all, a great day! Day 2, Sunday, Jan 21 Plan: 8 am priority seating at Cinderella's Royal Table, visit Dumbo, Toon Town, and Buzz. Take Monorail to Epcot. Dinner at Land Pavilion. Reality: Our first challenge of the morning became transportation. We walked down to the boat dock, only to find that the boats don't start running until 8:30, sort of a problem if we have PS at 8:00. Contemplated taking the bus, but finally decided to take the car over to the Epcot parking lot, leave our car there to pick up this evening, and take the Monorail to MK. This would have worked beautifully except for one problem: the express monorail from the TTC to MK was not running and we had to take the resort monorail with all the stops. We hit the MK at a dead run and sprinted up Main Street. Ended up about 15 minutes late but no problem, we were seated right away and ready for a great breakfast. This breakfast was another first for us, and we had a great time. Our server was excellent and very friendly. Caylin enjoyed seeing Cinderella, Prince Charming, Jasmine, Aladdin, and her favorite, Snow White. She had them all sign her autograph book, but got very shy and didn't say much. I really enjoyed watching all the children interacting with the characters, very cute. One little girl and her sister were dressed head-to-toe in their princess outfits for the occasion! Jim was feeling better, but still being conservative on his food consumption, so he didn't eat as much as he probably would have. Cost including tip was $50. After breakfast (and a quick trip to get a picture with the Fairy Godmother in the castle foyer), we arrived downstairs right at rope drop at 9:00 and went first thing to Winnie the Pooh, which we all agree is a great addition to Fantasyland, the controversy over Toad notwithstanding (and it's still there in Anaheim if you really must...). Then on to Tomorrowland where I went on Space Mountain while Jim and Caylin rode Buzz a few times. Quick trip on the TTA, and then over to Toontown to wait for rope drop there. Anybody have any idea why Toontown now opens an hour after the rest of the park? Once we got in, we all went on Goofy's Barnstormer twice and through Minnie's house. No lines at the Toontown Hall of Fame so we went in. Goofy had a lot of fun teasing Caylin about her fuzzy red autograph book that talks, and he took it around to show all the other characters while she chased around after him. Really funny! After getting our autographs, we stopped to ride Snow White and then finished off MK for the day by seeing the Carousel of Progress (which I will really hate to see go). It was about 11:30 by this time (we get a lot done in a day, don't we?), and we hopped the monorail over to Epcot to begin the second part of our day. Jim picked up Fast Passes for Test Track, and we went first to the Wonders of Life pavilion where Caylin and I saw The Making of Me while daddy rode Body Wars (guess he was feeling better). Enjoyed a delicious smoothie while we watched the Anacomical Players, which Caylin thought were absolutely hilarious. We all took in Cranium Command (we like it, Caylin hates it). Stepped over into World Showcase to ride Rio Del Tiempo, then headed back over to Test Track to use the Fast Passes. Unfortunately, this led to a big argument between Jim and myself when I realized that he only got 2 passes, didn't get one for Caylin because he didn't think she'd want to ride. I finally said I'd just wait with Caylin and skip the ride, and chucked my fp in the trash (I know, whole big ugly scene). So anyway, it ended up that nobody got to ride. We rode Ellen's Energy Adventure, Journey Into Your Imagination, and Living with the Land, and then decided to stop for dinner at the food court in the Land Pavilion. My daughter had really enjoyed her corndog kids meal combo there last year and it had come with a great toll house cookie (as the pavilion is sponsored by Nestle). Please note that the kids meals no longer have cookies, they're extra (still good, though). I had a chicken caesar salad and Jim had a turkey sandwich. After restoring our energy, we saw Food Rocks and the Circle of Life movie, then headed over to the Living Seas. We had never been there before and my daughter was absolutely fascinated by the manatees. She could have sat in front of the tank all night watching them eat lettuce. After this very busy day, we were ready to head out, but stopped off for a ride on Spaceship Earth, which I always enjoy, and back to the room. Split a pizza from the food court and then off to bed. Whew! Day 3, Monday, January 22 Plan: Early entry at MK, lunch at Diamond Horseshoe Revue. MGM in the afternoon, Fantasmic. Reality: Reality hit us at about 2:00 in the morning when Caylin woke up with a fever. We got a taste of the wonderful Disney spirit when we called down to the front desk and they opened up the gift shop for us at that hour to get her some Children's Tylenol. Didn't charge us either. This went a very long way with us. At that point, we decided to just sleep in and go from there, since we didn't figure we'd be up in time for early entry. However, Caylin woke up bright and chipper and raring to go, so we ended up hopping that first boat over to the MK for a great time! When we made plans to stay at a Disney onsite resort for the first time, the early entry at the Magic Kingdom was definitely on my list. I wanted to see how big a difference it made from just coming at rope drop. Now that I've done it, HUGE DIFFERENCE! It's probably more crowded at other times of year, but in January, it's completely awesome. While Jim went to ride Space Mountain, Caylin & I went on Dumbo (the only time in my life I have EVER seen Dumbo be a walk-on!), Snow White, and Pooh. Then we hooked up with Jim and all rode the Tomorrowland Speedway. Then headed back to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan twice without getting off, then It's a Small World. It was getting close to official opening time, so we went over to Adventureland to wait for the rope to drop so we could ride Splash Mountain. One of the cast members leading us over there was dressed like an old time prospector, and kept making jokes about why our group would want to "take a bath" in this weather (it was extra cold today, low 40's in the morning). After a chilly Splash, we went to Haunted Mansion and Country Bear to warm up a little. Then over to Jungle Cruise (another ride where you rarely can escape a wait, but a walk-on today), Pirates, and Tiki Room. At 11:15 we headed over to Columbia Harbor House for lunch. Jim and I split a fish/chicken order and a bowl of clam chowder (a big seller that day) and Caylin kind of picked at her mac and cheese. You could tell she was starting to drag and still wasn't feeling too good. After we ate, Jim ran over to Sleepy Hollow and brought back one of their wonderful homemade ice cream sandwiches and a large coffee for us to share. It really hit the spot, and on a cold day, I highly recommend that strategy. We took the boat back to the hotel and settled in for a nap since Caylin was still feeling kind of warm. Again we figured, well, we'll just see how things go. But again, Caylin woke up feeling better so we drove over to MGM for the late afternoon. Rode the Great Movie Ride (my favorite), then saw the Doug show (Caylin's favorite). Beauty and the Beast was down for rehab while we were there, which was disappointing. We took the Animation Tour and Caylin was thrilled to see the tour guide draw a picture of the llama from The Emperor's New Groove which she had just seen over the holidays. After a quick play on the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground (quick because they closed it 10 minutes after we arrived), we headed over to the amphitheater to see Fantasmic for the first time. We arrived about 45 minutes before the show started and luckily found some pretty good seats. I have to say that Disney did a great job of entertaining us during the wait. People were dancing, jumping up and down, doing the wave. It was a lot of fun. We really enjoyed the show. The reason we had not seen it on previous trips was that it usually didn't start until 9:30 or 10:00 which was kind of late for Caylin. In January, they do it at 6:30, so we were able to see it and still have time to go out to dinner after. We headed offsite for dinner at the Cattleman's Steakhouse on International Drive. Food was okay, nothing too tremendous, but pretty good value. Caylin was dragging in the extreme at this point and feeling hot again, so we went home to bed. Last night at the Wilderness Lodge. Tomorrow we would check into our offsite room at the Vistana Villages. Day 4, Tuesday, January 23 Plan: Check out of Wilderness Lodge, AK in the morning, lunch at Tusker House. Check in at Vistana, dinner at Bahama Breeze on International Drive. E-ticket night at MK. Reality: We said goodbye to the Wilderness Lodge, checked out, loaded our stuff into the car and off to the Animal Kingdom. Today was again a very cold day. Arrived at AK at around 9:00 and took the Safari, then the first Lion King Show of the day. Show was disappointing. It is one of our favorites, but due to the extreme temperatures, the monkeys did not do any of their usual acrobatics, which is, in my opinion, one of the highlights of the show. AK was a lot more crowded this day also. We took the train next to Conservation Station, another first for us, and really enjoyed seeing the animals. We especially enjoyed a presentation given by one of the CM's about snakes. Caylin got to meet Rafiki over there and add him to her autograph book. We visited the petting zoo and petted all the goats, then watched part of a presentation about birds but it was getting progressively colder and windy, so we snuck out and took the train back over to Harambe. Finally had lunch at Tusker, I had been meaning to do this for awhile. It was very tasty and a cut above the usual hotdogs and hamburgers. Total was approximately $22. We played for awhile afterwards in the Boneyard while daddy rode Dinosaur, and Caylin greatly enjoyed digging in the sand for dinosaur bones. She made friends with all the kids, and we were actually glad that daddy had a fairly long wait for Dinosaur so we could play longer. After he came to get us, we left AK and drove to MGM for a few more attractions. At MGM, we saw the Hunchback show which we love (very chilly in the bleachers, though), did a proper play on the HISTK playground since we had gotten kicked out the day before. Watched the Little Mermaid, and then saw Indiana Jones (which was in rehab when we went last year). We decided to call it a day at that point and go check into our new hotel since it was after 4:00. All I can say about the new Vistana Villages is "WOW"! The suites are really beautiful, well decorated, and contain anything you need. This brings me to where all the Disney-ites will probably blast me: on the onsite/offsite debate, I have to go with offsite every time. At $89/night at the Vistana, we were 10 minutes away from the parks (really all the parks, Seaworld and Universal included) and also about 10 minutes away from the International Drive restaurants. Plus we had a one-bedroom suite (a little privacy is good), Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom and a full kitchen. The Wilderness Lodge cost us $149/night for a regular hotel room. Although the boat to MK was a nice feature, Jim and I both agreed that our accommodations were much better at the Vistana, and the food options much more varied. I just don't think the atmosphere (as nice as it was, and I did like it) was worth the extra $60/night. So blast away if you like, but that's my opinion. We ate dinner that night at the Bahama Breeze on International Drive. This was far and away the best meal we had anywhere on the trip. If you can get to this restaurant, definitely go! I had an absolutely delicious pasta and shrimp/scallops dish and Jim had a steak which he declared "perfect". The strawberry/mango/pineapple margarita was awesome, and we were way too stuffed to attempt dessert, but we got a slice of key lime pie to go, which was very very good. Cost including tip was $60 for the 3 of us (very good value compared to Disney restaurants, and consider that we had drinks and dessert, too). I cannot say enough good things about this restaurant. The atmosphere is lots of fun and the waiter was great. I will mention that you should either go early or late to this restaurant. We did not have to wait at 5:15 on a Tuesday, but when we tried to go again on Saturday, it was packed (more on that later). Headed home and to bed. These early closings at the parks really worked well for us on this trip. We could stay till closing, go out to dinner, and still have time to relax in the evenings, watch a little TV and get a good night's sleep. As an aside, we decided earlier in the trip to not do the E-night tonight, because the crowds had been so minimal, it didn't seem worth it. If you don't have to wait for rides during the day, why pay extra to ride at night? Maybe it would be worth it if you felt you needed some more hours in the parks, but we really saw everything we wanted to during the regular hours. Day 5, Wednesday, January 24 Plan: Epcot, lunch at fish and chips stand. Dinner at House of Blues, wander Downtown Disney. Reality: Off we went to Epcot! We had seen most of Future World earlier in the week, so just stopped for a few highlights. We started at HISTA, which we had not seen before, and Jim/myself loved it, Caylin hated it (just what you would probably expect). We took another trip on Living With the Land, and were pleased to get a guide from Baltimore. (nice to hear the tour with a "Balmer" accent!). We walked through Innoventions which was another first for us (a lot of firsts on this trip), and sent some e-mail postcards to family and friends. The House of Tomorrow was too crowded so we decided to come back later. Saw the movie in Canada after a brief discussion about whether we wanted to wait 20 minutes for it to start. We got lunch from the Harry Ramsdale fish and chips stand and it was actually warm enough in the sun to sit outside to eat, a nice plus! One of the women working at the stand was telling a customer that she never wanted to go back to England, because she loved it so much in Florida. I agree. Every so often, my husband and I will say that when we retire we want to move down to Florida and work part-time at Disney World. Probably will never happen but fun to think about! After lunch, we stopped outside the France pavilion to watch the World Showcase Players, who were hilarious. Stopped for a French pastry and glass of wine, and headed on around the world to the American Adventure. We saw a really good singing group inside that pavilion called American Vybe and then saw the show. Continued around counterclockwise to catch the Dragon Legend Acrobats in China. Those guys are amazing! Rode Maelstrom and was interested to see that they did not have the doors closed where you exit the ride. Don't you normally have to wait before you go into the theater? This time we were able to walk off the ride, through the theater, and out the door. We walked back into Future World and stopped again at the House of Tomorrow where there was now no wait. We really enjoyed the presentation, although I think we were the youngest ones there by about 20 years! Maybe we're just not very hip happening people, you think? After that, Caylin was begging to go back to the Living Seas to see the manatees again. We stayed for a long time, and bought Caylin a small stuffed manatee since she liked them so much. She named him Flash and he followed us around for the rest of the trip. One last ride on Spaceship Earth and we headed out of Epcot and over to the West Side for dinner. House of Blues was one of the things I had really been looking forward to on this trip, because I love Cajun food. Unfortunately, the meal ranks as one of the most disappointing of the trip. I had a really nasty margarita (supposed to be frozen but really wasn't) and my food was lukewarm. After eating for awhile, I asked the waitress if she could heat it up for me, and she did it gladly, but even so, things didn't really meet my expectations. Maybe I was expecting too much, or maybe dinner the night before was so good that this couldn't really measure up, but in any case, I thought it was a waste of $75 (including tip). After a little shopping on the West Side, and a stop-off at Gooding's supermarket for morning bagels, we were back to the hotel for the night. Day 6, Thursday, January 25 Plan: Open day, maybe SeaWorld. Dinner at Tony Roma's. Reality: After much discussion, we decided to go back to MGM and see whatever we had missed so far. Rode Star Tours (another first, we liked, she hated, figures). Next were the Muppets which everybody likes, and then the Backlot Tour. Noticed that in colder weather, they do not get volunteers for the water tank stuff, just use the dummies. Probably a good move on their part. We ate an early lunch at the Toy Story Pizza Planet (around $20) which is lots of fun if you have kids. The atmosphere is nice, we were sitting next to a big martian guy suspended in midair, and they have video games if you're looking for somewhere to drop some money. We went to see Bear in the Big Blue House, Doug (again!). Then Backstage Pass where the guide talked about how they are working on creating the Who Wants to be a Millionaire set as an new attraction at MGM. The audience will all get to play the "fastest finger" and instead of the "phone a friend", you will get to phone a stranger (somebody standing in line outside). It sounds like fun. One last ride on Great Movie Ride, and we stood out on the curb to watch the Mulan parade. Then we headed to Downtown Disney for some souvenir shopping (have to bring something back for the boss, you know!) and off to dinner at Tony Roma's on Intl Drive. This is another place I have to recommend. We have eaten here twice, it's never crowded, and the food is good. A little shopping at the cheesy souvenir place next door and back to the hotel. Day 7, Friday, January 26 Plan: MK for the day, watch afternoon parade. Dinner at Cape May Café at the Beach Club resort, fireworks at Epcot. Reality: This ended up being a very full day. We got to MK for rope drop and rode Pooh, Peter Pan, Haunted Mansion, Splash, Big Thunder twice (Caylin decided today that she LOVES roller coasters), Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Tiki Birds. Lunch was again at Columbia Harbor House, really like that place. Then a ride on the Liberty Belle Riverboat (yet another first). Tried to see the Hall of Presidents but it is closed until October (I guess they have to install "W"). Quick Dole Whip on our way across to Tomorrowland - yum! Caylin and I rode Buzz a few more times while Jim tried Alien Encounter. He said it was scary. Saw Carousel of Progress one more time. Can you believe some lady answered her cell phone during the show?? Pretty rude. Went on the TTA, Small World, Goofy Barnstormer twice (the roller coaster thing again). Then we took the train all the way around to Frontierland to get a good vantage point for the afternoon parade. After the parade, we rode Splash again and visited Tom Sawyer island for a while. Left MK and drove to the Beach Club. The Beach Club is being renovated, by the way, and there is construction everywhere. The parking lot is torn up, and it's really not an attractive place to go right now. We were somewhat early for our Cape May reservation so we wandered around the Beach & Yacht Club resorts and somehow ended up at (I think) the Yacht Club convention hall. There was a convention going on for Ford employees and we bumped right into Mickey and Minnie with nobody else around them. I guess the conventioneers were not interested in hanging out with cartoon characters, so Caylin had them all to herself and Mickey and Minnie were glad for the attention. Just goes to show, you never know what you might find at Disney, just around the corner. We ate dinner at Cape May. It was good and we were completely stuffed when we finished, but I think we might skip it in the future. I'm always so uncomfortable when I eat too much. After dinner, we walked over to Epcot. We had some time before the fireworks, so we went back to Innoventions to send another e-mail postcard to my dad (got his e-mail address wrong before). Then rode Test Track with a 15-minute wait (in the regular line, I swear it's true!!). Final ride on Spaceship Earth and Rio Del Tiempo, and then stepped outside of the Mexico pavilion to watch the Tapestry of Nations Parade and then line up for the fireworks. We ended up sort of under a tree, but still had a pretty good view. On my list of things I like the most at Disney World, I really enjoy the walk around the lagoon to the International Gateway exit after the fireworks. The music is playing and everybody is happy. It's really nice. Only one more full day at Disney! Day 8, Saturday, Jan. 27 Plan: MGM in the morning, lunch at Pizza Planet. MK in the evening for parade and fireworks. Reality: On our last day, we headed to MGM. I realized as we arrived in the parking lot that I had left my purse (with all my cash and credit cards) on the kitchen table in our hotel room. I was very concerned about it, and after a ride on GMR, Jim said he would go back to the room and get it for me. I married a good man! While he was gone, Caylin and I saw Little Mermaid and Muppets. Okay, here's a bad Disney moment. Because the park was not very full, I guess they were holding the Little Mermaid show open for a few extra minutes to try to get more people. Caylin and I were walking by, when the cast member from Mermaid looks over at us and yells "well, are you coming or not? We're holding the show for you!" So we made a run for it, although, in retrospect, I probably should have told her off. Didn't seem very Disney to yell at the customers. Met up with Jim and played one more time on the HISTK playground. Then Caylin and I went to get our final Doug fix (thank God) while Jim rode Tower of Terror and Rock and Roller Coaster. By this time, Caylin could yell out all the answers during the pre-show, greatly impressing the folks around us. During the show, the older lady sitting next to me leaned over and pointed out what a great butt the lead singer had! You gotta wonder about somebody who is checking out people's butts in the Doug show. Although, maybe she was just bored... After that, we decided to switch plans and go to AK. Once we arrived, we had a nice lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue and then did a final Safari (where the woman behind us talked so loud that you couldn't even hear the driver, and discussed how stinky the diapers are when you use soy formula, and pointed out all the animal poop along the trip to her kids. Obviously, she was a real winner). Next we saw the Flights of Wonder show and granted Caylin's request to see Tarzan again. This time we were very close to the stage and had a great view. However, once again, the people behind us were a total pain. There was a group of teenage girls screaming for the "lounge singer" guy at ear-popping decibel level. We almost turned around and punched out their mother, who thought her kids were just "so cute"! As our final ride we took turns using our fast passes on the Dinosaur ride. This was the only time we used Fast Pass on the entire trip, the only time it was necessary. When we left AK, we made the decision to just have a quiet evening and skip MK. Although we would have liked to go, we knew it would be extremely crowded on Saturday night of Superbowl Weekend and we were finally at this point theme parked-out. So we went back to the hotel, and Jim and Caylin got to go swimming for the only time during the trip. Brave, aren't they? I decided to take a rain check on it. After that, we tried to go to dinner. Now, here's where it gets kind of ugly. There was a PGA convention going on that weekend and traffic was at a standstill. We drove up International Drive and made it about three blocks in 45 minutes, before we turned around, got lost, tried to go to both Bahama Breeze locations to no avail, and finally ended up 1 1/2 hours later at the Pizzaria Unos at the Crossroads Shopping Center. Thankfully there was no wait for a table and our server was fabulous. We had a nice chat with her and a great meal, so everything turned out all right in the end, but it was not the way I would planned our final evening. Back to the hotel, lots of packing for the morning. Departure Day, Sunday, Jan 28 Not much to report. We returned our car to Hertz with no problems, and got on our 11:00 am flight back to Baltimore. Everything ran on time and we were able to get back in time to watch our Ravens fight their way to victory in the Superbowl. Final thoughts: This was a very nice trip. Although there were several setbacks we were not expecting (illnesses, etc), we had lots of good time together as a family which is always the best part.
Thanks for reading. Lisa Zerr jimandlisazerr@erols.com Mail a Comment to Lisa Zerr |
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