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Steve Picard -- June 2002 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)
Background This will be my 7th trip to Walt Disney World and my 5th within the last year. My last WDW visit was just before Christmas with my children (see my Holiday 2001 trip report). Previously in 2001, I had made weekend stops in December, September, and a longer solo vacation in July (my first trip report)... all of which were connected to business trips between Los Angeles and Atlanta. (I figured as long as the boss was picking up the air fare to get me to the Eastern Time Zone, I could afford the additional gas to get to 'the World' for a couple of days.) I wanted to make one more trip to WDW in July before my annual pass expired as a birthday present to myself. In my previous reports, I described visiting WDW both as a solo visitor, and as a single parent with a teen and pre-teen. This trip will be different still, as I have invited my friend, Pamela, to join me. Pam lives near Atlanta and over the past year has become very special to me. When I visit town I like to spend as much time with her as I can, and I've grown very fond of her (and I think the feeling is mutual). She is reaching one of those 'milestone' birthdays, the week after mine, and I wanted to do something really special for her... like take her to Disney World. My original plan was to be at WDW on the weekend between our birthdays in July. However, it looked like Pam would be traveling for her work on that weekend... so given the choice of going sooner rather than later, we opted for sooner, and made plans for the weekend of June 28/29/30. I made the flight arrangements on Delta via Expedia.com in April. I forget the original departure times that I booked the tickets for... they changed more than once over those three months as Delta adjusted its flight schedules. But by June 28, I was leaving LAX at about 8am, scheduled to arrive in Orlando a little after 4pm EDT. I booked Pam on a flight out of Atlanta scheduled to arrive at about 5:30pm. At the time I booked her flight, there was some question as to how much of a work day she'd have to put in before leaving for the airport. So the plan was, if she could get out of the office earlier, she would and try and catch an earlier flight to Orlando. In April, I booked a 2-bedroom condo at the Holiday Villas through dreamsunlimited.com. I was looking for a 2-bedroom situation, but I wanted a living room as well, i.e. I wanted a suite. Also, a refrigerator is a priority. I prefer to do breakfast in the room, getting fruit and so forth at the market. And, I like a nice cold beer after a long day at the parks. Feet on the coffee table, beer in hand... a nice way to end the day! The condo had a 2-couch living room, a kitchen and dining area, and also 2 bathrooms. (It also had a laundry area with a washer and dryer, which we didn't use, but would come in handy, I'm sure, for a longer stay.) The price with taxes and cleaning fees and everything was about $145/night, so I felt like we were getting good value for the price. Holiday Villas is not on the Disney property, doesn't have a balcony overlooking anything, or any kind of a view, but a 2-bedroom suite at the Boardwalk is just too rich for my blood. The Holiday Villas condo was clean and very comfortable, and reasonably affordable--I would definately stay there again and recommend it, especially for a family with children. The only (small) minus was its location on Poinciana Blvd, south of Irlo Bronson Hwy (US 192)... I really hate Hwy 192 traffic (reminds me too much of home!). But we quickly figured out we could almost completed avoid Hwy 192 getting to and from the parks by taking Poinciana Blvd north, crossing Hwy 192. Poinciana then intersects Osceola Parkway which is a direct shot to the Disney property. Also, if you dislike toll roads as I do, you can continue north on Poinciana as it hits Hwy 535 just past the toll road; a left onto 535, then another left on World Center Drive also gets you onto the Disney property just about as quickly. I don't think it took us more than 10 minutes coming or going to WDW on any of the three days (Friday night, Saturday, or Sunday morning) we were there. The Holiday Villas also has a pool on premises, but for the short time we were there we didn't check it out either. But I'm getting a little ahead of my story. By the week before our scheduled departure, I was already in 'disney nut' mode. I was on MousePlanet every day reading trip reports and Brian's Notes. And every couple of hours, I'd click over to wunderground.com to check the current weather in Orlando (there's a link from mouseplanet.com under the Walt Disney World section). Watching the weather patterns over the preceding week convinced me to make sure I packed the umbrella. I addition to checking the Orlando weather radar, I clicked on expedia.com and watched the little plane icon travel across the USA map for each of our flights, checking the on-time performance of our flights to get an idea of what we might expect. (I had the Disney bug bad.) Day 1 -- Friday, June 28 -- Travel, Arrival, Dinner on the Boardwalk I got myself up at 4am Pacific Time and arrived at LAX in plenty of time for my 8am flight, which arrived in Orlando a few minutes early, just before 4pm. The earlier flight from Atlanta arrived at the gate right next to mine about 5 minutes later, but Pam wasn't on it. I waited as the passengers deplaned, looking for this pretty blond girl with the beautiful smile... but she wasn't on that flight. I checked my cell phone later and discovered Pam had left me a message saying the earlier flight was full, and she was fixin' (Southern for 'getting ready') to board her scheduled flight. So while she was in the air, I went down to baggage claim to get my bag (my bag was already there), then over to the Dollar Rent-a-Car counter to get the car. There were about 10 people in line, and since I wasn't in any hurry, I sat down in one of the chairs in the rent-a-car lobby and read the Orlando paper, waiting for the line to disperse. Well, there wasn't a time during that half hour or so when there weren't at least 10 people in that line, so I got up and put myself in the line. When I had finished the paperwork, I sat down again, and within about 10 minutes I looked up to see this really attractive girl walk up to me and say 'hey' and give me a big hug. It had been about 6 weeks since I had seen Pam, and did she ever look good--the proverbial sight for sore eyes! We got the car and drove south out of the airport to Hwy 417 toward Walt Disney World. Hwy 417 has more toll booths between the airport and WDW than Hwy 528 which runs on the north side of the airport, but I believe Hwy 417 to be generally less crowded (maybe because the tolls are slightly more expensive), and on a Friday night I didn't want to mess with more traffic than absolutely necessary. Except for the toll booths, there were no slowdowns, and we found the Holiday Villa offices on Vineland without any difficulty. Check-in was easy, there was no wait. The directions to the condo were easy, too--about a half mile away. It was around 7:30pm by the time we got the gear moved into the place. We were both hungry, so we opted to go to dinner directly, and make a run to the market for supplies on the way back. I really like the Boardwalk at WDW, either for a meal, or just a beer, or even just to walk around and relax. I enjoy the ambiance, especially at night, and I hoped Pam would enjoy it, too. So we drove over there, and walked to the ESPN Club for dinner. We were both a little weary from traveling, so I wanted a more 'up beat' place to eat. We walked up to the door, and a larger party was waiting to be seated, but since there was just the two of us, we were seated right away. The main dining area was nearly full, and there were a lot of families with children. I had a Killian's draft and Pam had a glass of wine... I think she was pleased that one of her favorites (and mine, too), the Kendall-Jackson chardonay, was a featured wine. I had the chicken sandwich and Pam had the caesar salad... both were really delicious. The only downside to the experience was the noise level was a little loud IMO... I don't remember it being quite that loud when I've eaten there before... maybe because it was a Friday night. After dinner, we strolled along the Boardwalk for a little bit, as I pointed out the Yacht Club and Beach Club across the lagoon. It was about 9pm and I was thinking we might head over to Downtown Disney for a couple hours. But after discussing it, we decided to make our run to the store for supplies and head back to the condo for a quiet night, to catch up with each other. It's funny, but for just sitting around, airplane travel sure tends to take a lot out of you. So an early evening was OK with me, and I appreciated the quiet time at the end of the day. Day Two -- Saturday, June 29 -- Epcot I didn't set my alarm, but was awakened by a very bright sun prying through the slats of the blinds in my east-facing window... the 2nd minor thing wrong with this condo was that the bedroom windows faced due east. Anyway, Pam was stirring at about the same time, so the double bathroom came in handy. We had some coffee and I had some strawberries we picked up at the market the night before. When I travel to 'the World' I always bring 2 things: a day pack, and a collapsible cooler. The night before after returning from the store, I froze two bottles of water to carry with us. I also put our umbrellas in the day pack, along with Pam's camera. (Note: I always forget at least one thing each trip, this time, it was my camera. 2nd Note: while I froze 2 bottles of water, I should have frozen 4--I had plenty of room, and we would have used them, and the extra weight wouldn't have made any difference.) In the collapsible cooler, I put several more water bottles and a couple of unleaded beers, and some ice. I've learned from past trips that a cold drink after arriving at the car really hits the spot after a long Disney day. I put the cooler in the trunk. Finally, we each packed a change of clothes to leave in the car, in case of deluge. (3rd Note: I should have packed a light, long-sleeved shirt of some sort in the day pack for Pam to wear indoors; while it's hot and humid outside, and a sleeveless blouse works good outdoors, when you're inside, the air conditioning can be a bit chilly, especially in the restaurants.) OK, ready to go, and out the door by 10:30am. It took all of 10 minutes, maybe, to get to Epcot. Pam had never been to Epcot before, and as she explained it, agreed to go only on my recommendation... she felt like it would not be anything she would necessarily be interested in, and would most likely not have gone to on her own. I had a strong feeling that even though this would be new and different for her, it would be something she would really enjoy, given that she is pretty open to new experiences, and looks for the best aspects in those new experiences. I was interested to see exactly which attractions would be her favorites--I was less sure of which ones she would enjoy the most--but I was quite sure she'd have a good time... and looked forward to showing her around Epcot. My strategy was to do more of an 'overview tour'--we'd try a see a little of every area, but not necessarily everything in a each area. We parked close enough that we didn't bother to wait for the parking lot tram and walked directly to the front gate. I have an annual pass, but I needed to buy a 2-day admission for Pam. There was no line whatsoever at the ticket counter--we just walked right up. Similarly, going through the turnstiles, there was maybe a 3-person line at each gate. Security checked my bag and moved us right on through. I was pleasantly surprised that attendance seemed so light. But I wasn't really worried all that much anyway, since Epcot is so big. Even if there is a good sized crowd, it tends to spread out... I've never been to Epcot where I felt crowded... that may be part of the reason it has become my favorite Disney park. We passed Spaceship Earth on the way in, and I suggested that we pass on this the first time by. This is a classic, must-see attraction IMO, but it's also the first thing everyone sees as they enter the park, and in the morning the line was doubled around on the side of the building. No sense in waiting in line even for 20 minutes, when you can come back later in the day and just walk on... so we passed. Instead, we headed toward Test Track to get a fastpass, since this attraction always has a line. On the way, we stopped at Mouse Gear for Pam to get a Disney visor. A hat or visor and sunglasses are a definate requirement in the hot summer Florida sun. We collected our Test Trak fastpass--it was already 11am and our fastpass time was set for 4:50pm... so it was a good thing we got the passes early in the day. (They would all be gone when we returned at 5pm.) From Test Track, we backtracked a little past the still-under-construction Mission: Space... to the Wonders of Life, and Cranium Command. This is a very cute journey through the brain of a teenage boy, and I laugh every time I see this show. (It is very well cast!) Pam enjoyed it, too... but I think it's even more entertaining for us who have teenaged boys at home. We arrived at Cranium Command about 2 minutes before the next show was to start, so this attraction was a walk-on. From there, we continued around the east side of Future World to the Universe of Energy. The pre-show had already started as we walked into the large entrance room, so we missed a little of the intro. Because I've seen the Primieval World diorama at Disneyland more times than I can count, I guess I kind of take the Disney dinosaurs for granted almost... but they are pretty amazing and realistic, and Pam seemed very impressed, and I think she liked this ride very much. This is one I think kids, especially boys, really like... I know my kids do. We then crossed over to the west side of Future World, to The Land, and the Living With the Land attraction, where we had about a 15-20 minute wait in line. I am always amazed at the greenhouse technology on display in this attraction: vertical crops, drip irrigation, hydroponics, and sea farming are featured. I was very disappointed, however, in the cast member who narrated our ride through the exhibits... the man mumbled... badly. As Pam put it, "That man should have been backstage... flipping burgers." And speaking of burgers, it was now 1pm and time for lunch. Instead of eating in the food court in The Land or at the Garden Grill (which for some reason was not rotating today), I suggested that we leave Future World and head over to World Showcase. Before I left home, I had made a priority seating reservation for dinner at the San Angel Inn, so we looked for something besides Mexican for lunch, and settled on the Lotus Blossom Cafe, the counter service food option in China. Pam ordered the ginger chicken with fried rice and I ordered the vegetarian lo mein noodles... and we shared. The food was tasty, reasonably priced, and filling. (And there was no wait, and plenty of seating in the patio area.) I had a mango slushy, very refreshing in the heat and humidity. Pam had water, but ordered the Chinese wine, which I believe is plum wine. It was good... for a dessert wine... more like a sherry and very sweet... not something I thought that was particularly suited for lunch (but after a large dinner, I'm sure would have hit the spot.) We spent some time at the China pavilion, looking at the exhibits while we waited for the circle-vision movie, "The Wonders of China". I was particulary intrigued by the wall map depicting the dispersion of the many ethnic groups through the Chinese population--I tend to think that Chinese is Chinese... but the country is really made up of many ethnic groups. "The Wonders of China" is an excellent movie, and it was the first time Pam had experienced a circle-vision presentation, and was favorably impressed, I think. From China, we continued clockwise around the World Showcase, stopping to admire the model railroad (and a trespassing Florida lizard) in Germany, and taking in the architectural details of each country's pavilions. We continued on to the American pavilion where we heard a performance by American Vibe and watched the presentation of "The American Adventure". I had heard American Vibe on a previous visit and I enjoy their performance very much--their harmonies are very tight, and the dome of the entrance hall contributes some great acoustics. Their performance was over much too quickly. "The American Adventure" is also a very quality audio-animatronic presentation, with hosts Benjamin Franklin from our first century and Mark Twain from our second. I always feel a renewed sense of patriotism and pride in country after experiencing that show. We continued past Japan and Morocco, and on to France, where we stopped and Pam bought us a couple of glasses of French chardonnay from the outdoor vendor. Maybe it's my French heritage, but next to the American pavilion, I am most affected by the ambiance of France. We had a 4-minute wait for the next showing of "Impressions de France", my favorite film in the World Showcase. The music of Saint-Saens, Offenbach, Ravel, and Debussy is simply magical and complements the visual images of both the French countryside and the city of Paris perfectly. I never tire of this show, and have to see it at least once every time I visit Epcot. Unfortunately, Imaginum, the statue mime, was nowhere to be seen either before or after our viewing of Impressions. I know Pam would have liked this performance--I tried to explain what she was missing, but words don't do Imaginum justice... you have to see it. Again, a presentation I can see again and again. We pulled our umbrellas out for the first time as we exited Impressions, as a light rain began to fall. From France, we walked over the bridge that crosses the canal that connects the World Showcase lagoon to the Epcot Resorts lagoon, and I pointed out the International Gateway and the walkway that leads back to the Boardwalk where we had dinner the evening before. (On my visit to Epcot a year ago, I had seen the International Gateway, had no idea where it led to, and decided to check it out. I discovered the Boardwalk and have returned each visit since.) We walked through Great Britain, past the Rose and Crown pub... which we will visit on a return trip, perhaps. We continued on to Canada. Today, unfortunately, was a day off for Off Kilter... the outdoor stage area was shuttered, and no performance times were listed on the marquee. It was still sprinkling just a little... at about the rate that you thought you might want your umbrella, but it's not raining hard enough to really be worth the effort. We climbed the steps back into Canada to the theater for the movie "O Canada". This is another circle-vision presentation that is very well done. Today, however, one of the nine projectors was malfunctioning, and we only got 8 screens out of 9... I tried to ignore the blank screen, but I thought it detracted from the full effect. However, I very much enjoy the theme music, especially the closing song, and the sound was good. It was now approaching time for our Test Trak fastpasses. It had stopped raining for the moment, so we thought the weather might hold long enough for us to get our ride in. We walked back to the east side of Future World and made our way through the Test Trak queue area. Fastpass has somewhat diminished the affect of the queue (a very interesting presentation of the various tests the automotive manufacturers put their vehicles through, IMO)... half of the presentation is viewable only to the stand-by line, the other half is viewable only by the fastpass line... you really need to ride this ride twice, once in each line, to get the full effect. We made our way almost all the way to the head of the fastpass queue... and then they put the attraction on a stand-by stop. Apparently, it wasn't raining outside, but lightning was sighted nearby, and they were waiting to see what direction the storm was moving and how quickly. This was the first time all day that we didn't walk right on an attraction. But while we were waiting, we got the chance to meet a really nice family from Portland, Oregon who was just in front of us in line. Actually, it was their outgoing son, my guess is he was about 13 or 14--about the same age as my boy--who started the conversation. They were in the 2nd day of a 16-day trip, and we compared notes--what we had already seen and liked, and where we were going next. You meet some of the nicest people standing in a Disney line! After about 10 minutes or so, they closed Test Trak completely. Apparently, the storm was moving toward us, and the lightning was not letting up. We were given the option of waiting until the storm blew over, or getting a raincheck that would allow us back in line at any time for the rest of the day, if in fact, Test Trak did open again. I asked the cast member's advice--I figured he would know what to expect with these afternoon Florida storms better than this California boy--he suggested taking the pass... it sounded to him like it might be raining for a while, so we took the raincheck and left. (Hindsight would prove his advice to be good.) It was raining, enough to take out the umbrellas, but it wasn't coming down all that heavy. We headed toward the entrance to Spaceship Earth, which we had bypassed when we entered this morning. At this time of day, there was hardly any line, just a fraction of what it had been when we first arrived, so saving this attraction for a later time was a smart thing to do. Spaceship Earth is a slow moving ride where you journey past various scenes depicting milestones in man's history of communications. It's very well done, and a must-see... just not as the first thing you do when you arrive. After Spaceship Earth, we returned to the west side of Future World to the Imagination pavillion. "Journey Into Your Imagination" was closed for rehab when my children and I visited Epcot last Christmas, so I was glad for the opportunity to see an attraction I hadn't seen before. I had experienced the original version of Journey about 20 years ago and loved Figment and the great Imagination score. (Apparently, there was a version of the attraction in between the first one and the current one... which I've only read about, none of it good. Hopefully, the current incarnation would be better.) Long story short, we both agreed this attraction was a waste of time. Fortunately, we didn't waste that much time because there was no line... no wonder why. We then went around to "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience". I've seen this show many times both at Epcot and at Disneyland, and hoped Pam would enjoy this one... especially after the Journey disappointment. The 3D special effects are very good, and the story line is cute. Pam enjoyed the whole thing very much, and thought this was the best attraction of the day to that point... except for the dog sneeze at the end! LOL. The rain had let up by the time we left the 'shrunk' show. We had a 7pm priority seating at the San Angel restaurant in Mexico, and it was about 6:30. We walked past Mexico to Norway and the Maelstrom. This is kind of a cute Norwegian long boat ride through troll country and onto the North Sea. Not a great adventure, but reasonably entertaining. The wait was about 15 minutes, and it seemed the air conditioning was set a little colder than some of the other buildings we had been in... maybe to make the Norwegian cast members feel more at home. We skipped the movie at the end of the ride... I think we were hungry. We arrived at San Angel Inn at 7:02pm and were seated in just a couple of minutes. In front of us was a party of 6 without priority seating and they were told they would have about a 10 minute wait, so the restaurant was not overly crowded tonight. I had made the priority seating reservations several weeks in advance. Pam likes Mexican food, and I was sure she would like the ambiance with the Mayan pyramid and Mexican volcano in the distance. One thing I didn't care for was that the temperature inside seemed cool... maybe the margaritas we ordered contributed to that. I was comfortable, but Pam would have liked to have had an extra shirt or sweater to put on inside. The other thing that I didn't care for was that the tables are very close together... I don't mind seeing what food is brought to other people's tables, so I can see what looks good... but I really don't need to feel like I'm in the middle of their conversations... the tables are that close. Everything on the menu looked delicious, but I was mildly amused that several entrees included a side of garlic mashed potatoes... definately not authentic Mexican... and formerly trendy, on the verge of passe by now. The Mahi appealed to both of us. Pam wondered if this dish could be considered Mexican. I know Baja cuisine includes a lot of seafood... and Mahi is fish, but I don't think it's caught off Baja. It was served on a bed of sauteed chayote, which is a Mexican squash. But the topping of sauteed mushrooms probably wasn't too Mexican, now that I think about it. Authentic or not, the meal was delicious, and the portion was generous. I could barely finish mine, and could not eat any of Pam's leftovers. We finished our margaritas and passed on dessert... which looked very inviting at the table next to us, but we were stuffed. Our server was Cinthya, who seemed young, but very, very sweet. One of the things I enjoy about dining around the World Showcase is chatting up the cast members if they're not too busy, to hear about where they are from and their experiences in this country, especially their work at Walt Disney World. When we declined dessert, I asked Cynthia to "close us out"... and she looked at me with a quizical look, saying, "What is this, 'Close us out'? What does this mean?" I explained it meant we were done with our meal and she could bring me the check. She apologized for her lack of understanding of my slang, saying that American idioms were difficult for her. She then asked what the term 'raincheck' meant... apparently she had heard that one recently and didn't have a clue. I explained it came from American baseball, that if you bought a ticket for a game that was cancelled because of rain, the owners would give you a voucher, called a 'raincheck' that would allow you to attend another game of your choosing. Cinthya was a college student from Acapulco, who was studying Engineering at the university in Mexico City. She had taken a year off after completing her 2nd year of studies to come to WDW to work for a year. She had only a month to go before her tour at Disney was completed, and she would soon return to her studies in Mexico City. She was a little apprehensive about returning, worried that she had been gone a long time and would have forgotten a lot. I assured her that one of the benefits of being young was that even if you did forget some things, you'd re-learn what you had forgotten very quickly. She said she had enjoyed working at WDW, had appreciated the opportunity to work here and learn English, but that she was ready to return home. One final comment: I don't know what they put in those margaritas, but as soon as we got outside... Pam noticed it right away... they had been very strong! Neither of us drinks a lot, but we've both been around pitchers of margaritas before, and the single margarita each of us had was killer. I wouldn't feel mine until the next morning, when I woke up with a splitting headache. I believe the pouring hand was heavy and, possibly, the liquor was cheap. By the time we left the restaurant, the storm had blown over and the sky was at least half clear. We listened, and could hear that Test Trak was running again. It also meant that Illuminations would be presented as well, if the weather held. We staggered over to Test Trak with our raincheck, walked through the queue area again, and this time were accepted as crash test dummies. Test Track is really fun and very, very popular. The 60mph test ride is the high point, but the other 'tests' are fun, too. You also get your picture taken, which you can buy for a price... I forget exactly where they snap the shot... all I know is I looked cool, and Pam had her mouth wide open, LOL. When we left Test Trak, we had about 10 minutes before the start of Illuminations. We walked clockwise around World Showcase again, looking for a good viewing angle. It seems there were a lot of people at this end of the lagoon. In previous visits, I had seen Illuminations from the far end of the lagoon, once from Morocco and another time from Italy where there had been plenty of room along the railing. We headed in that direction but only made it as far around as the African Outpost area when the lights dimmed and the show began. We stopped where we were in an area that was not too crowded, where we could see. It wasn't the best viewing area because our view was partly blocked by the island in the lagoon. But it wasn't a bad view, and we could see the pyrotechnics as well has the images on the revolving globe. The lights, images, and music are woven into a very effective presentation that I enjoy more each time I see it. It's definately worth staying around to see. After Illuminations, we hiked back to the car, stopping one more time at Mouse Gear on the way out to pick up some souveniers. That store is big, with lots of stuff, and lots of people, and I'm glad I was with someone because I'm not sure I could have found my way out by myself. We found our car easily enough... attendance must have been really light... it didn't look like too many rows of cars had been parked past ours, and again, we didn't bother to ride the tram, we were close enough to the entrance. We enjoyed a couple of cool drinks that awaited us from our cooler, then drove back to the condo. We had seen just about every attraction, walked completely around the World Showcase, both sides of Future World, enjoyed a delicious dinner, and had a great day together. Pam expressed that at the start of the day she didn't really know what to expect, but had thoroughly enjoyed herself, and would like to return sometime with her daughter. Day Three -- Sunday, June 30 -- the Studios, travel It's happened to me before, but not often: I set the alarm clock, but don't set it right... so the alarm didn't go off. Despite best intentions to get up early, I ended up sleeping to 9:30. Since checkout time was 11am, I made sure Pam was up, and we got ready, and hustled to grab coffee, fruit for breakfast, re-pack the daypack and the cooler for the parks, and pack the rest of the gear so we could checkout on time. We chose to spend our last day of this brief trip at the Studios. I'm sure we would have had a good time at the Magic Kingdom or at the Animal Kingdom, but the Studios seemed like a more appropriate 'adult' destination... plus Pam is a fan of Millionaire and wanted to see that show, if possible. We got ourselves checked out on time and arrived at the Studios at about 11:15. The lines to enter the park were almost non-existent; my day pack was inspected, but there wasn't any delay to speak of. It seemed like attendance would be light here as well. On entering, we walked up Hollywood Blvd and turned right on Sunset toward the Rock N Roller Coaster to get a fastpass. We admired the look and feel of the 1930's Hollywood style, the cross between Spanish and art deco that is so defining for that time and place. For this Angeleno, it's nice to see that style new and pretty and clean, and I enjoy the stroll on those Studio streets almost as much as I enjoy walking up Main Street at Disneyland or WDW Magic Kingdom. We got our RNR fastpass, then walked over to the Tower of Terror. Our wait in line was only 15 minutes, which didn't seem even that long, because the themeing in the queue area is so interesting, IMO. I really enjoy this ride, and have experienced it probably 10 or so times on previous visits. However, this time I experienced something I hadn't felt before. There literally was a moment, probably only a second or two, when I really couldn't tell whether I was rising or falling. Very strange. Very fun. When we exited Tower of Terror we still had about a half hour before our Rock N Roller Coaster fastpass time. So we headed over to the Great Movie Ride. In my previous trip report (July 2001) I expressed some disappointment with the casting, in that the performer wasn't very good at all and it seemed to me she was cast more for her gender than for her acting ability. This time, the role of the gangster was also played by a female, but I am pleased to report that she was definately cast for her ability... she was very good... very 'new joisey' and put some feeling and attitude into the role. Our fastpass for Rock N Roller Coaster was now due. I don't really like rollercoasters... actually, I don't like feeling beat up after riding one. Usually, either my head, neck, back, butt... or something hurts after being bumped around on those things. At my age, who needs that. Pam, on the other hand, is quite a bit more adventurous than I am and will ride anything... twice. (Bless her heart!) But I really like this coaster because it is soooooo smooth! It gets two thumbs up from me, and Pam liked it, too. As we exited RR, we noticed it had clouded up significantly and was starting to get dark... not just dark, but ugly dark. We could hear some pretty good claps of thunder, although they still seemed to be at some distance. It was nearly 1pm, and we were hungry (again). We walked through the open air food court on Sunset Blvd (which does remind me of Farmer's Market on Fairfax in Los Angeles), checking out our options. Most of the tables in the outdoor eating area were taken, though there appeared to be a couple still available. I mentally tried to picture how close we would have to huddle under the umbrella of one of these tables if the skies opened up while we were eating. Pam felt more like an inside-a-restaurant lunch, and after thinking about it, that sounded better to me--I knew we weren't getting fed on the plane to Atlanta tonight, and we'd have to catch some sandwiches on the way to the airport... so having a sit-down meal at midday seemed like a good idea. As we made our way up back down Sunset to the corner of Hollywood Blvd, it started to rain. The closest restaurant was the Brown Derby. I had not eaten there before, but from the reviews I had read on-line, it was definately on my would-like-to-do-sometime list. Now seemed like the right time. My only question was: could we get seated without priority seating, and if so, how long would the wait be? To my surprise, we walked up and were seated within 10 minutes! This was a real treat for me. As I mentioned, I had not ever eaten at the Brown Derby before... either here at the Studios... or in Los Angeles at the real deal. But I am old enough to remember the round Brown Derby building in Los Angeles... I believe it was on Wilshire Blvd.... driving past it when I was in high school. It's long since been torn down. I had read about the famous Cobb salad and looked forward to trying that dish and experiencing a little nostalgia for the Hollywood of the '30s and '40s. The restaurant at the Studios is beautiful--very spacious and just a very beautiful place to enjoy a meal. I ordered the Cobb salad and was not disappointed. I guess the story is that Mr. Cobb, the owner of the Brown Derby, was asked to whip up a late night snack on very short notice for Sid Grauman (of the famous theater on Hollywood Blvd). Mr. Cobb diced and chopped up whatever he could find in the walk-in, and the signature dish was invented on the spot. I like to imagine that the salad I had was the same as Mr. Cobb prepared those many years ago, because it was one of the best I've ever eaten! On the recommendation of our waiter, Pam ordered one of the specials--an entre of spinach pasta in a creamed buttery spinach sauce... which was about the best pasta dish I've ever sampled. We agreed this was the best meal of the trip, and I felt very fortunate to have had the opportunity to dine at such fine establishment... with such lovely company. (Thank you, Pam.) As we were finishing our meal, we heard some very loud, very close thunder, and as we headed to the entranceway, we could see that it was raining quite hard. Actually, that is an understatement... a monsoon had arrived in full effect! The heavens had opened up, and I imagined for a minute what Noah must have experienced! The area under the awning of the Brown Derby was full of refugees seeking shelter. There were a few tables with umbrellas in the area near the restaurant, and people were huddled underneath each attempting to take advantage of even the little shelter they provided. Only a couple of idiots and ducks were moving around outside. It was coming down so hard you couldn't see very far, and the drains in the pavement couldn't handle the amount of water that was coming down either, so lakes were forming. We were watching all this from the telephone room adjacent to the main wait area at the entrance of the restaurant. That first room was full of bodies, and they were beginning to spill over into the room we were in... and, personally, if I'm going to feel like a sardine I'd prefer be in the ocean than the can, so we decided we'd risk venturing out. We had a couple options, though neither one was particularly close, but at least they were in the same direction: Millionaire, and "One Man's Dream". I figured there would be room inside at least one of those attractions that we could wait out the storm and be doing something at the same time. So we edged our way to the door, Pam took off her shoes and put them in my day pack to keep them from getting wet. (She figured her feet would dry, but her shoes would get ruined if they got that wet.) I was wearing sandles so my feet were going to get wet, regardless. Up went the umbrellas and out we went. We made a beeline for Mickey Avenue. The water was an inch deep in several places, and we had to be very careful with the steps down to Mickey Avenue to the right of the Great Movie ride building... they had become a miniature waterfall. We walked to the entrance of Millionaire, but the doors were closed, and every available spot under the canopy in front of the building was occupied... except at the fastpass distribution machines, so we pulled in there. I figured we might as well make use of the opportunity and got fastpasses for 3:55pm... which would make this the last thing we would do in the park, since that would put us right about the time we'd need to start heading to the airport. We then went back into the wet and backtracked on Mickey Avenue to "One Man's Dream". This exhibit on Walt Disney's career, his motion pictures and his theme parks is a 'must see', IMO. This was the 3rd time I had walked through it, and I enjoyed it as much as I did the first two times. After "One Man's Dream", it was not quite 3pm, and we decided that because we were in the area, and even though we had fastpasses for a later show, we would try and get into Millionaire earlier. That turned out to be good thinking. The doors to Millionaire were open, no one was waiting outside; we were able to walk right in with about 50 seats available 2 minutes before the next show was to start. Pam says she watches this show on TV a lot, and this was one of her things that she really wanted to see today. I don't think she was disappointed. The first question to put the initial person in the hotseat was to order a list of 4 Elvis songs in chronological sequence. I'm not a big Elvis fan, but I'm familiar enough with his music that I got them into the right order... but not nearly fast enough. The winner was a 13-year old kid, who pressed 4 buttons at random faster than anyone else in the building, LOL. He turned out to be a real entertaining contestant, and did a very good job, IMO. Part of the entertainment factor was that he used his 3 lifelines on the first 3 questions... but after that, settled down and made a respectable showing for himself. You could tell he was very nervous, but he was respectful, and I thought showed a lot of poise for one so young. I made it all the way to number 3 on the top ten board, the best score I've made on any visit to this attraction. When we left Millionaire we headed down Mickey Avenue toward New York Street. It was still raining, not as hard, but still hard enough. The Backlot Tour was closed. We walked down New York Street, which is quite a scene all by itself, and wandered over to the Drew Carey movie "Sounds Dangerous". In my previous trip reports, I mention that this movie is good about once, and after that, the darkness is useful for a nap. Seriously. I thought Pam might like it because it is entertaining (once), and she kind of likes Drew Carey on "Who's Line". Well, I guessed wrong on this one, and she thought it was pretty much a waste of time, and not as good as most of the other entertainment at the Studios. Oh, well. At least we were indoors and not getting wet. The only other item to note here is that we saw (i.e. heard--bigtime!) the first and only kiddie meltdown of the trip. Although you are warned in the pre-show announcements, and in the cast member instructions at the beginning of the show, that most of the show is in total and complete darkness... and it is (that's why naptime is so possible!)... and that if you have small children that are afraid of the dark this may not be the attraction for them. We sat in the next to the last row, and behind us in the last row was a family with a small child. As soon as we reached the part of the show where the theater goes completely dark, the child--I guess to have been about 4 years old--went hysterical... like the end of the world had arrived. The cast member quickly responded to the situation with a flash light and, fortunately, this family was the only one in that last row, so their exit didn't disrupt anyone other than with audio interference. Being a parent myself I am very aware that you can't predict how your offspring will behave in every situation (and you live for those moments where they completely surprise you in a good way), but you'd think someone might have a clue that their young child might be afraid of the dark. We had time for one last attraction. I was hoping that the disappointment of "Sounds Dangerous" wouldn't be the last thing we did before going out the gate. So with umbrellas up, we sloshed over to Star Tours. I've ridden this at Disneyland with my children more times than I can count, and it's a quality attraction, one that entertains time after time. So I was counting on this being something enjoyable for Pam as a last ride of the day. And I think she liked it. There is humor and thrills, and the themeing of the attraction is first rate. And we only had a 5-10 minute wait. Sadly, it was now time to take that last walk down Hollywood Blvd. The rain had lightened, and more people were moving around, almost all with either ponchos or umbrellas. We caught the parking lot tram and found the car--actually, Pam found the car... if left to my own devices, I'd probably still be looking for it. Again, the cold beer (unleaded) left in the cooler really hit the spot. It was about 4:30pm as we drove out of the parking lot, and it was still raining. I was a little worried that our flight would be delayed, or even cancelled due to the weather. We exited the Disney property to Hwy 192 and drove east to find a Subway and pick up some sandwiches for dinner on the plane. As I mentioned before, I knew we weren't getting fed on the plane and the dining options at the airport terminal are pretty limited. (The guy behind the counter at Subway was a hoot and a half--a very nice Southern gentleman, and I think we were his 2nd and 3rd customers all afternoon; the weather had not been kind to his business that day.) From Subway, we continued east on Hwy 192 a few more blocks then turned north on Poinciana and north on Vineland and picked up the 417 tollroad to the airport. We made one more stop for gas on the way to the airport, exiting Hwy 417 temporarily at Landstar, the exit before the airport exit. Just north of the tollroad there is a convenience store Mobil station... and next door to that is a McDonald's. (We didn't stop there--just mentioning it for informational purposes for anyone who's reading this.) We got back on Hwy 417, got to the airport and returned the car and were at the terminal at about 6pm, an hour before our scheduled depart time. Because it was still raining, the curbside check-in was closed, but the line inside the airport at the ticket counter moved reasonably quickly. (Check-in lines always move slowly, but if you get to your gate on time, it's reasonable.) File this last little event under "simple things amuse simple minds".... I follow Pam through the security checkpoint at the airport, and as my bag is still on the x-ray machine conveyor belt and after I've walked myself through the walk-in machine, the technician at the x-ray machine logs herself out to go on break, and it's several minutes before another technician comes over to take her place. All the while, the baggage screening line is at a complete standstill. I'm not worried, but several other people in line are getting a little nervous. Anyway, from where I'm standing, I've got a pretty good view of the screen showing the security person the x-rayed images of the items in peoples' bags... and they're different colors depending, I suppose, on how dense the material is they're made of. And I'm watching bag after bag and seeing the stuff inside each, and wondering when my bag was going to be on the screen so I could see what my stuff looked like... when I get a tap on the shoulder. It's Pam... "Uh, Steve, your bag went through about 5 minutes ago". I guess you had to be there! Our flight to Atlanta left on time... a big plane, a 767... which was nice. The flight back was kind of interesting, with the pilot flying an "S" pattern over central Florida to avoid the leading edge of the storm, then heading east and making a left turn at the Atlantic and following the coast north, with another left turn at Savannah to head toward Atlanta. We were a little later than our scheduled arrival time, and parked at the E Concourse. The E Concourse at Atlanta Hartsfield is so far away from the main terminal, we would have had enough time to have had dinner--if any eating places had been open--and still would have beat our bags to baggage claim. But we arrived safely, and that's the important thing. Highs, Low's and Notes for Next Time Highpoints :)... no crowds to speak of either at Epcot on a Saturday or the Studios on a Sunday; every attraction was either a minimal wait (Living With the Land, Tower of Terror), available with fastpass (Test Trak, Rock N Roller Coaster), or a walk-on (everything else); we got to see everything we wanted to see. Pam liked "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" at Epcot and Millionaire and Star Tours at the Studios. I am still in love with "Impressions de France" at Epcot. Illuminations was worth waiting for. All meals were excellent, especially lunch at the Studios' Brown Derby. The accomodations at Holiday Villas were very good quality for the price. Lowpoints :( At Epcot... the mumbled narration on Living With the Land; non-functional screen in Canada circle-vision... and "Journey to Your Imagination", which was a waste of time. At the Studios, we should have skipped "Sounds Dangerous" and done the Muppet show instead. Notes for next time... The daypack proved it's worth again, as did the cooler with drinks in the car. Hats, sunglasses, and umbrellas were required. Frozen waterbottles in the daypack were a good idea, but I could have carried more. A light shirt to wear inside, especially the inside the restaurants, would have been good. Steve Picard spicard526@earthlink.net Mail a Comment to Steve Picard |
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