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Karen Seemuth -- January 2002 -- Walt Disney World (ASMoR, AKL)
Friday, January 25, 2002 -- Day 1 I arrived at the Milwaukee airport 2-and-a-half hours before my 10 AM flight. I was checked in and through security in 30 minutes. Alane and Katie flew from Reagan National. They arrived at 1:40 for their 2:45 PM flight as recommended by US Airways. It was about 15 minutes through check-in. Then it was about 15 minutes through security. Alane guessed there were about 100 people in line, and was quite worried, but then people realized there were 2 lines. I flew Northwest through Memphis and arrived in Orlando at 3:30. Alane and Katie flew US Airways and arrived at 5:15. I had already gotten my bag and rented the minivan from Dollar (5 minute wait to rent the minivan) before they arrived. We collected their bag and car seat and headed to Albertson's just off Exit 11 on the Greeneway (417). BookBabe had done a web page for WDWIG on grocery stores and comparison-shopping. I think we spent about $20 less for our groceries than we would have at Gooding's. Thank you, Jenn! Chick-Fil-A was right near Albertson's so we ate dinner there. We had planned on a stop at DD for sundaes and milkshakes at Ghiradelli, but Katie was asleep in her seat, so I dropped Alane off to carry out our goodies. We relished an awesome hot fudge sundae and a chocolate malt. The rest of our trip we kept planning on when we could return for more! We got to All Star Movies and I went to check in. I had faxed our request for non-smoking and third floor, I said building location was not important to us. We discovered last year that staying on the third floor gives you a break from foot traffic, and the toilets flushing are much quieter than on the first or second floors. When I asked the CM about a third floor room, she said they had only second floor available. Then she said, "Just a minute." She went to the back and was gone for about 5 minutes. She came back and said, "We are putting you on the third floor of Toy Story." Woo hoo! It was a great location, overlooking "Andy's Room". Katie often pointed to our door and wanted to go out and "see Woody." I phoned housekeeping for a crib, iron and ironing board; they arrived within about 45 minutes. Instead of renting a refrigerator, I brought a collapsible cooler, which we kept cold with 2 Ziploc bags of ice from the ice machine. We unpacked a little and went to bed about 11 PM. Temperature in Orlando was 82. Saturday, January 26, 2002 -- Day 2 Saturday morning we woke up at 8:30. Ah, I really was on vacation. I usually get up at 5:30 or 6, so sleeping in was great! And because there is no longer Early Entry, I didn't feel compelled to get up at the crack of dawn to get moving. It's a good thing, because that is hard to do with a toddler. I was feeling the need to get unpacked and organized. My family and friends know that I tend to be on the obsessive-compulsive end of the spectrum, so it was not a shock to Alane that I was doing this. By the time we finished organizing and showering, it was 11:30. We had PS at Le Cellier at 12:30. We drove to Epcot and parked. The place was quite empty; in fact the trams from the parking lot were unnecessary because it was a short and easy walk from the parking lot into the park. It took about 30 minutes to get from the parking lot to Canada. This was my first visit to Le Cellier and we enjoyed it very much. It wasn't very crowded. Alane had the cheddar cheese soup and the Toronto chicken breast sandwich and enjoyed both. Katie ate the first of many orders of French fries on the trip. I had the mixed field greens with pecan scallion vinaigrette. It was delicious. We also were served 3 kinds of breadsticks, sourdough, multigrain and pretzel. We could hardly pass on Walt's 100 Years of Magic Birthday cake, chocoholics that we are. It was fabulous, 4 layers of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and a white chocolate disc and flower of chocolate ganache on top. (We split this dessert). We finished lunch about 2 and walked to Norway to check out the shops, buy some chocolate and look at the old Stave church, which we had not done before. Then we spent some time in Mouse Gear. It was not busy at all, in fact I noticed at least 6 CMs with nothing to do. Next we went to Universe of Energy. Amazingly, Katie fell asleep midway through this attraction, in spite of some loud sound effects. Next we went to Cranium Command. I had forgotten how loud that can be, and it frightened Katie. Then we spent some time just letting her wander around Wonders of Life, with supervision of course. Kids that age need nothing fancy, they are content to play peek-a-boo from behind a pole, or step on all the brass plates on the floor where the poles for queues are placed during crowded times. We were ready for dinner so we got food at Cantina de San Angelo and watched Tapestry of Dreams from there. I can't quite put my finger on why, but I preferred Tapestry of Nations. Next we strolled around World Showcase and enjoyed the train in Germany, the acrobats in China and all the flowers. I so enjoyed the beds of petunias, pansies and snapdragons, and all the azalea bushes in bloom in January! We got a seat near Japan for the 8:10 performance of Tapestry of Dreams. During this parade, one of the really tall puppets fell. It was after they had passed by where we were sitting, so I do not know if the CM was hurt or not. Then we just had to try a Kaki Gori. We shared the rainbow flavors and loved it. As we headed out of the park, Illuminations began. We watched as we walked, then stopped near the shops at the front of World Showcase to see the end of Illuminations. Katie liked seeing the fireworks and the noise didn't seem to bother her. We had not known if she would hold up long enough to stay for Illuminations, so I was delighted that we got to see it. I think it is the best version of Illuminations I have ever seen, and I really wanted Alane to see it. So the day ended on a really great note. We walked with everyone else out to the parking lot and got back to our room by 9:50. Temperature during the day today was 82, in the evening it was 70. Sunday, January 27, 2002 -- Day 3 We had a wake up call from Mickey at 7 AM. We had a 10:30 PS for Crystal Palace, so we wanted to be sure to get out of the room in plenty of time. We drove to the MK (really, the TTC parking lot) and then rode the monorail to the MK. Security checks were quick both at MK and at Epcot, since the crowds were light. We got to Crystal Palace about 10:35 and wondered if we would still get in for breakfast as the official breakfast time ends at 10:30. No need to worry, we were seated within about 5 minutes next to a window overlooking the bridge to Adventureland. A lovely view. Katie was able to watch the birds and ducks, one of the highlights of the trip for her, I think. Alane took Katie over to meet Pooh right away. As we feared, Katie was afraid of the characters, even though before the trip Alane showed her pictures with Pooh that were taken last year at Camp Mickey-Minnie. When we got back to our table I tried to head off Eeyore and Tigger. I was at the buffet when Piglet arrived. We hope Katie weathers the fright. I may have to help pay for psychotherapy someday... We enjoyed plenty of breakfast items, all your usual breakfast fare. Delicious. After breakfast we rode It's a Small World. Katie seemed neither impressed nor scared. There was about a 15 or 20 minute wait for Dumbo which Alane and Katie rode while I took pictures. They seemed to have a fun time. By now we were hot so we decided to view Hall of Presidents. Katie fell asleep and we ended up staying through 3 showings while she napped. I think we can now recite the names of all the presidents, in order. Naptime was finally over so we went over to Mickey's Toon Town Fair. We visited Minnie and Mickey's houses and Katie played for a while on the playground. In general I thought conditions at WDW looked just fine, but Toon Town was an exception. The paint on Mickey's fence was very chipped and there was a lot of mildew at the playground. Then we had a relaxing ride around the MK on the railroad. It was so relaxing we decided to ride a second time. By sitting through the Hall of Presidents 3 times and riding the railroad twice, we were able to decrease our cost per attraction for the day : ) At 4:45 we picked up Fast Passes for Space Mountain with a return time of 5:20. We went to Cosmic Ray's to get French fries for Katie. Alane and I picked up ice cream bars on the way. I had a Mickey Mouse bar and Alane had the 100th Anniversary Bar, chocolate ice cream with caramel. She would suggest waiting a couple of minutes for the 100th anniversary bar to melt a bit so the ice cream and caramel are both a bit tastier. We went back to Space Mountain and I rode while Alane stayed with Katie and then Alane rode while I stayed with Katie. This was around 6:00 PM and the park was closing at 6:30 that night. We decided to head back to the room and got to see the MK fireworks while we were walking out to the parking lot. We ate fruit, bagels, and yogurt in the room for dinner because the food court was mobbed at 8 PM. We started to pack our stuff as we were moving to AKL the next day, and turned in early--about 9:30. Temperature today was mid-80s. Monday, January 28, 2002 -- Day 4 I woke up about 5:30 and finally got up around 7 and drove over to AKL to check in while Alane and Katie slept. We had an Annual Pass holder's rate of $134 a night at AKL, standard view. I had not faxed any requests. We received a complimentary upgrade to Pool view, and the room was ready. I drove back to the All Star and we packed and ate breakfast in the room. I took Katie to the playground while Alane finished packing. We loaded up the van and then took pictures at "Andy's Room" and let Katie play some more at the playground. We drove to the Contemporary for our 12:00 PS at the Concourse Steakhouse. We heard they have the best burgers in all of WDW. Alane ordered a chocolate milk shake, which turned out to be more like a frappe. She was expecting something smooth and creamy, like a milkshake at Ghiradelli! She also had French onion soup and I had a salad, then we split a burger. It was good, but we wouldn't say it was great. We had missed our planned lunch there on last year's trip. So we had been waiting a whole year to try this burger. How could it possibly live up to a year's worth of anticipation? We shared Apple Brown Betty with caramel ice cream for dessert. Katie had the kids' mac cheese, which Alane said was excellent. (I am not a mac cheese eater). We drove to the AKL and brought in a few necessities and then we all napped. I brought in the rest of the bags and then went on the AKL tour at 3:30. It was an interesting talk about the art of the Lodge. I was hoping there would be a little greater focus on the animals, but, oh well. Maybe some of the other daily activities covered that. Alane and Katie stopped by the lobby to let me know they were going to the pool. After an hour of the tour I excused myself to swim a bit and then get ready for dinner at Jiko. The pool is very nice; it overlooks a savannah and the water was warm. The slide was a lot of fun. The pool is zero entry and there are 2 hot tubs nearby. Towels are provided at the pool as well as children's life vests. We went back to the room and got ready for dinner. Dinner at Jiko was at 6 PM. We were seated right away. We shared the cinnamon beef rolls, which were great. We also shared the maize tamales but neither of us cared for them. They were just odd. Also served with the appetizers was onion fennel bread with tandoori butter. It was very tasty. We split the pan-roasted monkfish with vegetables of the moment. It was a delicious dish including carrots, potatoes and some type of wilted greens. Katie had the kids' grilled cheese, chopped fruit and a small AKL cup of orange, pineapple and cranberry juices. She drank nearly the whole cup without stopping. I guess she liked it! We wanted to share dessert and couldn't narrow it down to only 2, so we decided to sample 3, the pistachio crème brulee, the chocolate coffee mousse and the cardamom chocolate ganache. The crème brulee was very good, but the chocolate ones were my favorites. We turned in for the night about 9:30. Temperature today was about 82. Tuesday, January 29, 2002 -- Day 5 Tuesday we slept in till 8:30. We debated whether to go to a park or just stay at the Lodge. Alane decided to save the last 2 days of her 4-day hopper for another trip and to just enjoy our time at the Lodge. We had breakfast at The Mara. I was very impressed with the setup. There is a lot of seating and a good selection of menu items. We spent about an hour and a half looking for animals at all the savannahs. In our whole stay all we saw were birds, antelope and ankole cattle. We wondered if the number and variety of animals seen is determined by your room rate. : ) We ate lunch in the room and while Alane and Katie napped, I drove to MGM and Epcot to get pressed pennies. I was collecting one from each of the 4 parks as a souvenir. I had gotten one at MK on Sunday and there was an AK machine in The Mara at the Lodge. First I drove to MGM. I thought I would try to get a ride on Rock n Roller Coaster if the wait wasn't too long. At 12:30 on Tuesday, it was a walk-on! In the shop on the way out I found a pressed penny machine for MGM. I walked back to the van and drove to Epcot. I asked a CM where I could find a pressed penny machine and she told me in Mouse Gear. So I went and got the penny and as I was walking out, it was 1:30 and time for the fountain to perform. I enjoyed watching it and then drove back to the Lodge. Alane and Katie were having pizza at The Mara and then we went to the pool again. We also spent some time at the playground and got a big kick out of the rubberized mat that looks like wood chips! We had a 5:30 PS at Boma and were seated right away. There are a wide variety of foods here--some pretty familiar and some a little more exotic. I find it too easy to overeat at buffets, so I would have to say I enjoyed our dinner at Jiko better. Our server seemed to have quite a few tables and she did not return to our table very often. We walked around again at all the savannahs in our quest to see animals. The Sunset Lounge just off the lobby near the check in desk is quite lovely. There are photos taken in Africa in the 1920s and 30s there, as well as some African items. Quite a nice relaxing place. Then we walked out to the pool area near the hot tub that is kind of off by itself. We sat and watched the stars and were amazed at how bright they were. We went back to the room and got Katie down for the night and Alane and I packed up as much of our stuff as we could and got to bed about 10:30. Temperature today was in the mid 80s. Wednesday, January 30, 2002 -- Day 6 We got up and made one last try to see some giraffes or zebras, but alas there were none. Once again we ate breakfast in the room and then finished packing our things. We loaded the van and drove to Downtown Disney. We finally made our return trip to Ghiradelli for sundaes. Then I had some shopping to do. We decided to divide and conquer and used our walkie talkies to keep track of each other. We left DD about 1:30 and didn't need to leave for the airport till 3. What to do? We decided to get some juice at The Polynesian and walk around there a bit. We finished there and then headed to the airport. We decided to take Osceola Parkway back to the airport and drove through a bit of Celebration. We did not drive as far as the "downtown" area, but having read Gretchen's Celebration Trip Report, I wish we had. Maybe next time. We got off at Exit 11 from 417 again, to fill the van with gas. The cost was 6 cents a gallon cheaper than the Exxon stations in WDW. The toll to get off was 50 cents, so if you need 10 or more gallons, you will save by filling up here. We dropped off the van with no problems and then went to check in. We got checked in and through security in less than 45 minutes. (US Airways had recommended arriving 90 minutes early). I walked Alane and Katie to their gate, then went over to my gate about 30 minutes before we boarded. I flew home via Detroit and was delayed there for over an hour due to snow. Alane and Katie got home uneventfully. Orlando temperature today: 87 and sunny Milwaukee temperature tonight: 30 and snowing Comments:
Karen Seemuth kswdwnut@yahoo.com Mail a Comment to Karen Seemuth |
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