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Bill Nuzzo -- November 2002 - Walt Disney World (AKL)Hello all, I was fortunate enough to make a brief visit to WDW on a recent work-related trip to Florida. I was assigned to do an extradition from Broward County, to NY. I was going to go to Ft Lauderdale with another Investigator, and return the following day . I checked with the kind folks on RADP, and found that it was only about a 3 hour drive from Ft Lauderdale to WDW. We had our flights arranged so we arrived Thursday morning, 11/14 at 11:00am. We were due to leave Ft Lauderdale the following evening, departing at 7:20pm. This trip was arranged on Tuesday, 11/12, which didn't leave much time to plan things. After the trip was confirmed, I called Disney Club, and made a one night reservation for Animal Kingdom Lodge, getting the $109 passholders rate $121 with all taxes). This was well within the limits the DA's Office had given us for lodging costs. The DA's Office also took car of the car rental for us, arranging for us to have a full size car at Dollar. The TR follows : Who Bill, 44, NYSP Investigator, AP holder, and veteran of numerous WDW trips. In fact, my last trip was 6 weeks ago, and my next one is scheduled for 12/7 through 12/17/02. Mike, late 30's, NYSP Investigator, and has never been to WDW. The plan We met at our work station at 5:30am, both of us were pretty tired having worked the night before. In fact Mike got tied up in a robbery case after I had left, and stayed until 3:30am, giving him just enough time to go home, pack, shower, and get back to the station. We drove to Newark Airport, arriving around 7:00am. We presented our paperwork , and were escorted through the checkpoints and to the gate. We lucked out on the plane, and got an exit row, which allowed a lot more legroom. The flight left shortly after 8:00am, and we arrived in Ft Lauderdale just before 11:00am. We then went down to the Dollar Rental Counter, and I gave the clerk the reservation information. I use Dollar frequently at MCO, and am also a Fastlane member, and have been very happy with their service at MCO. However , the clerk at Ft Lauderdale kept trying to push extras on me. He tried to tell me that they had a gas program that was much cheaper than the outside prices. I was very surprised, since I had never heard of such a thing from a rental car company. When I asked him for specifics, he told me for the low price of $25, I wouldn't have to fill up the car for the return. I told him that unless the car had a 20 gallon tank, and I returned it on fumes, that it would not be a good deal for me , but would most likely be a good deal for Dollar. He then tried to push the extra insurance on me, which I declined as usual. He then told me, in a rather condescending tone, that if anything happened to the car, it would be my responsibility. I told him that if Dollar didn't have insurance on the car, then it was their responsibility, and since the car was being paid for by the DA's Office, and on their credit card, it wouldn't be my responsibility. He then told me that I had to put my personal credit card on the car, not the DA's Office card. I've used their card on previous rentals, and never had a problem. If I was paying for the rental myself, I probably would have walked over to another counter at that point, but since it was already arranged, I was stuck with it. The guy was really getting on my nerves at that point. He also kept trying to push an upgrade on us, which we had no need for. He did assure me that my card was to be used only for the hold, not the actual payment on the car. It turned out, when we returned the car, that wasn't the case, and we had to go into the office to make sure that the DA's Office card was charged. Eventually we finished with the clerk, and had to go outside to wait for a shuttle. We ended waiting about 10 minutes, and finally were taken to the rental lot, where we received a Dodge Intrepid. We loaded up the car, and hit the road at 11:30am. We drove 595 to the Florida Turnpike. We stopped once along the way, at the Fort Pierce service area, and had some greasy Burger King, since neither of us had eaten that day. We continued on, taking Fla Tpke to Osceola Pkwy, right into WDW. We arrived at AKL at 2:30pm. Check-in at AKL went smoothly, and the CM Amanda was exceptionally nice. She gave us an upgrade to a pool view room, and we had our bags in the room by 3:00pm. I took a quick shower, and then we left the resort to head over to Epcot. We decided to park at Boardwalk, since we were going to hit ESPN after Epcot closed. We found a parking spot, and walked along the BW towards Epcot. The weather was very nice, a bit cloudy, with a breeze. I stopped at the pin cart, which is now located near ESPN. I saw the CM had a Tinkerbell Topiary Lanyard series pin, so I traded with her for that. We then continued over to the International Gateway entrance to Epcot. Mike bought a 1 day pass ($53), while I used my AP to enter. We entered Epcot around 3:30pm, and headed right over the bridge into France. Our first stop was the Food Festival booth, where I had chicken coq au vin ( I think that's what it was called ), and Mike tried the escargots. The chicken was very good, and was a nice sized portion for the price, which if I recall was $3.00. We then wandered through Morocco, and Japan, but didn't see anything we wanted to try at the food booths. We did find a beer booth, and had a frosty one for our trek. We arrived at the American Adventure just in time to catch the end of the Fife & Drums Corps set. They drew a nice crowd. We then went inside the pavilion. I was hoping to catch Voices of Liberty, but it was their day off. The other group, American Vibe , was scheduled to perform. I don't care for them as much as Voices of Liberty, and don't feel they fit into the theme of the pavilion as well as VOL. They came out under the rotunda, and performed their set, doing a nice version of Minnie the Moocher, and a Duke Ellington song, which I can't recall. The set was nice, if unspectacular. We then followed the crowd into the theater, and caught the American Adventure, which is one of my favorites. Mike was duly impressed, especially with the audio-animatronics. When the show ended, we exited the pavilion, just in time to see that Chubby Checker was performing in the America Gardens Theater. We hadn't planned on sticking around for his show, but while we watched from the back of the theater, it was very entertaining, and we ended up staying until it was over. Our decision to stay was aided by the Sam Adams beer tent right behind us. One of the CM's came out and took a picture of us in front of the Beer Garden sign, and we each had a Sam's while watching the show. The Chubster must be in his 60's, but looked great for his age. He did the limbo song, among several others, and ended up his high energy set with The Twist which segued into Let's Twist Again. He brought several people onto the stage to twist during those two songs. All in all, it was a very nice set, and really added to the enjoyment of being at Epcot. After Chubby's show was over, we continued walking east. I noticed the Living Statue was performing outside of Italy, I thought they only performed at France. We continued on, stopping at Germany. I ordered a glass coffee mug for my wife, and another one for one of her co-workers. The mugs, with names etched, came to $26 for the two of them. I told the clerk we'd come back to pick them up between 8:30 and 9:00pm. Mike saw some nice Christmas ornaments in the shop, and since we were coming back later he decided to get them when we returned. We then started walking ,stopping to look at the display set up for Spain. I also found a booth selling the South African Durban chicken, and bought one. It extremely spicy, but was very good. We then continued on, passing by China, Norway, and then Mexico. We had wanted to catch Tapestry of Dreams, and I thought it still ran all the way to Mexico. It turns out that it now only runs from Morocco to Germany, so we had to hoof it back up to Germany. We arrived back in Germany in time for the parade, and watched it from the lagoon side. I checked on my mugs, and found they were done, so I picked them up. After the parade finished, we caught the boat back to Mexico. After we exited the boat, we walked to Future World. I made a brief stop at Pin Central, but didn't see anything special. We then went over to Spaceship Earth, and rode it without a wait. After Spaceship Earth, it was about 5 minutes before our PS time at Le Cellier, so we hustled on over there. We checked in, and were told it would be 10-20 minutes. They were turning away walk-up customers due to it's being so busy there tonight. We finally were seated at 7:45pm ( from our 7:20pm PS), and settled in to chow down. I ordered the Steakhouse Caesar salad, with the 7oz Filet Mignon. Mike ordered the Caesar, and the Rosemary Chicken. We had coke with our dinner. The waitress was very personable, telling us about her native Vancouver, and also explaining the different breadsticks. I had the pretzel breadstick, which was soft, and warm, and very good. Mike tried the multi grain breadstick. Our salads came, and they were excellent. We finished the salad, and ended up waiting a bit for the entrees. They finally came out, and Mike saw that his had the wrong potatoes, he had asked for the garlic mashed, but instead they gave him roasted spuds. So he told the waitress, who took it back, and didn't bring his entree back for almost five minutes. The filet I had was very tasty, and the garlic mashed were very good also. Mike said his chicken was just OK, and wasn't that large. The total came to about $58, and we left a $12 tip. It was now going on 8:30pm, so we headed back to Germany so Mike could get his ornaments for his girlfriend. Of course we had to stop on the way, and grab a couple of frosty ones from the stand outside the UK. With cold refreshments in hand, we ambled back to Germany. Mike got his ornaments with time to spare, and we each had one last brewski from the Becks stand at Germany. We found ourselves a spot east of the boat dock in Germany to view Reflections of Earth. I must say, it was a great feeling being there in Epcot, watching ROE, especially when it was such an unexpected visit. Mike was very impressed with ROE, and he said he is a big fireworks fan. When the show was over, we then headed west towards the International Gateway exit. We stopped at World Traders gift shop, and I spoke at length with CM 'Enri, who was a pleasure to chat with. He told me quite a few things about Epcot, including some things to come. We looked around the shop, but didn't buy anything, I was actually trying to find a tie, but wasn't having any luck. We then left Epcot, and walked to Boardwalk. We decided to hit the General Store first, but neither of us found anything we needed. I saw that they now have a Ticket & Transportation Center add-on for the monorail train set, but On Friday, we had a 9:00am wake-up call. We took our time getting ready, and finally left the room at about 10:30am. We checked Mara, but didn't feel like food court food. We then checked the gift shop one last time, and headed to the car. When we left the resort, I wanted to stop at MGM to get the new Annual Passholders pin that was due out today. Mike agreed to wait in the car, and read the paper. They let us park right up close by the bus area, and I went into the park and straight to the BAH. I got two of the new AP pins, plus a couple of other limited edition pins. I also stopped at Keystone Clothiers on the way back, and found a nice black Goofy tie, which was $29. I then exited the park ( one of the perks of an AP, you don't feel bad about only spending 10 minutes in a park), and we drove from MGM to Disney Marketplace. We checked out World of Disney, and Pooh's Corner, but didn't buy anything. I checked the Disney Pin Trader shop, and ended up trading with a lady, trading her the Tinkerbell Lanyard pin ( which we already had one of at home), for a Dumbo Topiary lanyard pin. We then left DD, and hit the Waffle House on 535, for a very hearty repast. After breakfast, we drove back to Ft Lauderdale, making it in just over two and a half hours. We went to the jail, picked up our prisoner, and went to the airport. The airport is very poorly marked for the rental car return. We even asked a deputy, and the deputy wasn't sure. We eventually found it, and when we returned the car, I found out that they were in fact going to charge my personal card, not the DA's card, which is not what the original rude clerk had told us. We had to go inside to get it straightened out. We then caught the shuttle to the terminal, caught our 7:20pm flight to Newark, and landed in Newark at 10:00pm. All in all, we accomplished a lot for such a short trip. We caught several shows, had a nice dinner, saw a parade, Reflections of Earth, and met some great CM's. The trip was well worth the drive, and was a nice warm-up for my next trip in a mere 20 days. I also had my first meal at Le Cellier, which I thought was very good. I also had my first visit during the Food Festival, and while I enjoyed it, I doubt I will be going back during November anytime soon, as I would much rather visit in early December for the Christmas festivities. Thanks for reading, and take care, Bill Nuzzotrprt@mhcable.com Mail a Comment to Bill Nuzzo |
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