Trip Reports

• Time of Year: Summer
• Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
• Resort: Caribbean Beach Resort
• Accommodations: Standard Room
• Ages Represented in Group: Adult
• WDW Experience Represented in Group: Frequent
• Comments: Melanie Emmons stayed at CBR during this trip. Her report features hidden Mickey searches as well as the usual WDW sightseeing.

MY SUMMER VACATION

This is my very first trip report submitted, but since we were in Orlando for nine whole days and nine whole nights, I will probably have to break it up into at least two parts. My hubbly (I would like full credit for coining that word, but feel free to use it) John and I are the "we" taking the trip. This was our fourth trip in about seven years, including our first trip, our honeymoon. We stayed in Caribbean Beach, which was about my fourth choice for hotel, but it was the only thing I could get with our MKC discount. Needless to say it was very hot and mostly humid.

I think that I have to start with the week before the trip (very briefly). Thursday, August 15, we got up at 5:00 a.m. to go fly to Iowa for John's brother's wedding. After four days and three mostly sleepless nights, we arrived home some time around midnight on Sunday, August 18. I spent the next four days working late trying to get as much work done as possible before leaving for Florida. I did not arrive home before 7:30 any night that week and I still had to figure out what to take to WDW. I had arranged to take off Friday, Day 0, as well.

Day 0, Friday, August 23

I get to sleep a little late, but I still have much packing to do AND a nail appointment (can't miss that!). Somehow I managed to (over-) pack in time for our 4:00 taxi pickup. We arrived at the airport (JFK) in plenty of time - of course, we only live a few miles away. Our plane, due to take off at about 5:30 was delayed due to runway traffic. We finally arrived in Orlando about 9:00 p.m. and I was totally exhausted from the wedding the weekend earlier and working late all week. I felt like I was coming down with a cold, as my throat was all scratchy. I was not a happy camper, but I kept telling myself that I would not get sick. I'll cut to the chase and tell y'all that I managed to get thru the week without ever getting really sick, but I was tired and my throat stayed scratchy all week. My mantra was, "I will not get sick; I will feel better." Today (Monday) is our first day home, and that cold may have finally caught me!

One of my missions (other than having a great time) was to find, confirm, dispute, update as many Hidden Mickeys as possible. (For those of you not familiar with Hidden Mickeys, please go to http://www.oitc.com/Disney.) Side comment - I can't believe how many people think any three circles together are a Hidden Mickey. In MY book the ears have to be smaller than the head, and they have to be in the right proportion and position. I took many pictures of HMs which will (hopefully) be posted on the Spacecoast Hidden Mickeys List.

By the time we got our rental car, stopped for a few groceries and a throw-away cooler, and got to Caribbean Beach, it was 11:00 p.m. Oh, by the way, we followed the street directions (no tolls) posted here awhile back - they were great! We got to our room in Trinidad South and we were not happy campers. We were in THE very last section, in THE very last building, miles from Old Port Royale (the food court) -- good thing we had a car-we drove to the food court and then on to the parks the first two days. As some of you might know, the fall rates kick in on August 25. We had one reservation for Friday night and Saturday night, and a second reservation, including a partial length-of-stay, beginning Sunday night. Fortunately, we were able to move to Jamaica on Sunday night. I was MUCH happier with our new digs! Both rooms were corner rooms - I don't know if they were any bigger or not, tho. Although I was happy to find a purple mug in the first room (y'all know about the mugs, right?).

Day One, Saturday, August 24

We got up early, ate breakfast at Port Royale and went to Disney/MGM Studios. I am a firm believer in Sehlinger's Unofficial Guide. Unfortunately, we got there a little late, not according to plan. The only relatively long line we encountered was at Tower of Terror (about 40 min.). I figured it would only get longer. I don't think it took that long, happily. Everything else was pretty much walk-on. The crowds were relatively light. I enjoyed the Toy Story Parade - it took about three days to get the song out of my head ("Strange things are happening..."). Ate lunch at The Commissary.

They've started an "animation celebration" thing. The actual animation tour has changed a little - the stuff on the monitors in the work areas is now Hunchback stuff/interviews. Also, after you pass through the work area into a stand-up theater where they used to show some boring movie, they now have a real, live animator, who draws a character for you (in our case, it was Frolo). They've also changed the backstage/tram tour. You used to board the tram sort of next to the animation building. Now it's way back, sort of near the NY street section. It's where they used to let you off, I believe. The tram tour starts with the water tank/sfx bit and then on to the tram. The tram tour itself is about the same (maybe even shorter). OK, so, where the tram tour USED to be is part of the animation celebration thing. There are three basic sections - one is a mini- theater where a live animator does a bit of a show (slightly interactive with video monitors and player piano) and also draws a character for you, but it's part of a storyboard here. The second section is about four kiosks with interactive things - all having to do with Hunchback-stuff like choosing appropriate background music for the scene they show you on the monitor. This is located along the curb where the trams used to pick you up The third section (under the overhead area where the line used to form-the monitors are still up) is learn-how-to-draw-a- character. We did Pumbaa; others did Pooh. I think the character to be drawn was chosen by the kid that yelled loudest! They have about six tables set up and they seat you in groups of about twelve. Also, the topiary Mickey with the clapboard that used to be back in this area is now in the center "island" in the main plaza, in front of the Chinese Theater.

The park was open late and Sorcery in the Sky fireworks were scheduled, but I didn't plan very well --- I had made a 7:15 reservation for Hoop De Doo for that evening weeks earlier. Had I realized that the parks were closing early all the next week, I would have made the reservation for Monday or Tuesday. I was hoping we might have been able to get back to the Studios for the fireworks, but I didn't count on it. I was right. Oh well... I did, however, see my first Disney bunny from the bus to Pioneer Hall.

Hoop De Doo was fun. I know there's been a lot of discussion about it, but even I, a kultchad Noo Yawker, managed to get in to the spirit of things. It's all in your state of mind - if you think it's silly then it is. If you plan to have fun, you will. Free beer or wine helps, too. The chicken and ribs were good, some of the better Disney food I've eaten. I don't know if it's worth $36 each, but hey, it IS (all-you-can-eat) dinner AND a show. After the show we packed it in, went back to the room and crashed. We arranged for the room switch and for a bellman to pick up our bags in the morning and hold them until we checked back in later, Sunday night.

Day Two, Sunday, August 25

We got up super-early, got all our stuff together (fortunately, we had only unpacked the necessities), grabbed some coffee from Port Royale and headed for Universal Studios (for breakfast we had some fancy bread we bought on our way in Friday night. Ate it in the car). We got there in plenty of time before the 9:00 opening. We bought discounted tickets at AAA before we left, so we pretty much just walked in around 8:40 when the gates opened. We walked on to everything, including Back to the Future (our first ride). When we exited the staffer asked if anyone wanted to ride again (still no line). The only wait we had was for T2 3D, but even then, we were lucky. When you walk into the building, the line splits, and the sign reads "Use both sides." EVERYONE was lined up on the right side, but NO ONE was in the left line. We furbled up to the front of the left line, about 20 people from the front. I don't think it mattered, because the theater holds some 500 people. I'm sure we would have gotten in either way. It was supposedly a 30-minute wait, but I think it was more like 20. It was excellent - I think it's the best 3-D movie of them all. Warning: when we rode Jaws, I got totally soaked. I sat on the far left side, and at one point about 6 inches of water came over the side. I was sad to find they discontinued the tram ride. Everything else was pretty much the same. We saw the animal show, which we had never seen before - that was fun, too. We rode Back to the Future one last time (with about a 20 minute wait) and left by 5:00. I learned that you can go into the park for an hour with a "shopper's pass." They way it works is that you go to the guest services window, they take your name AND your money (park admission) and give you a pass. You have to come back within an hour and show the pass and a dated/timed receipt in order to get your money back. Otherwise, they keep the money (park admission). We had never heard of such a thing before, and thought that it made a lot of sense for the park to do that. I don't know if they refund the parking fee, tho.

Back to Caribbean Beach, we re-checked in to find yet another glitch! We were booked for seven nights (Sunday - Saturday) but only wanted length-of-stay for seven days beginning Monday, ending Sunday (not eight, as you would expect). They changed our reservation for a one-night stay (Sunday) and then six nights/seven days beginning Monday. So, on Monday morning we had to check out and check in again! Again, our new room was a first-floor room in Jamaica, plus they delivered our bags for us, a painless way to move!

I had made late reservations for the Clam Bake at the Beach Club. Yum! The only thing "wrong" is that they don't leave the clams and mussels in the juice they were steamed in. This makes for dry clams (even tho they offer clam juice on the side). Also, an authentic clam bake would have fried clams with "bellies" not the strips they offer. What do you expect from a clam bake being held in a land-locked Florida city? Great desserts, I might add, and more yummy ribs. After we overate, we walked around the pool area a little. I had heard/read great things about it, and everything is true! It is the best hotel pool I've ever seen. Back to our room-I saw my first Caribbean Beach bunny on the way. I was told by a certain amphibian-lover from Miami that the grounds were overrun with them. I only saw four the whole time : - ( -- and, since I always saw them in the same area, there may have only been the two I saw together on Monday night and not four different bunnies. I was also told that the bunnies eat Skittles - this I believe to be true, since every morning I saw an empty Skittles package in the bushes outside our room. Took a late evening dip in the "local" pool and met a couple from the very same town we live in! We also went over to the main pool at Port Royale. It's a very nice pool, well-themed, but I found it a little too crowded-but not horribly crowded, and the water didn't seem as clear (more people sweating off their sunscreen, I guess.)

Day Three, Monday, August 26

Checked in AGAIN for the very last time. A day at EPCOT. Nothing special to report - short lines, walk-ons for most attractions. I was very excited to find my first, unreported Hidden Mickey in Horizons. We found out it was the very last day for the Energy of Universe (I still have some of THAT song in my head, "...en-er-geee..."). Of course, we got into the theater and THAT broke down. Interesting side story: we honeymooned in WDW Christmas week, 1989. Neither one of us had been to WDW before. Our very first park:

EPCOT. Our very first attraction: Energy of Universe. We wait in line in the cold forever, finally get to see the dull pre-show, get into the theater, the movie starts, and then stops. Yup. We got thrown out due to technical difficulties. Deja vu all over again! We came back later and got our last look at the most boring movies in EPCOT, along with the cool dinos. We were told that the dinosaurs would stay the same, but an Ellen animatronic would be added (actually, the CM told us she was there, hiding behind some rocks, headless, visible if you knew where to look, but we couldn't spot her) and the movies would be all new.

Lunch at the "healthy" place in The Wonders of Life and dinner at the restaurant in Norway (10% MKC discount). Star Tours is definitely better than Body Wars. I enjoyed "Honey I Shrunk the Audience," but HATED the mice. By late afternoon it had started raining. A lot. Occasional thunder and lightning. Hardly stopped raining. We kept going, getting soaked, and finally broke down and bought a poncho to try to keep the cam corder dry (we were afraid the case would soak through). We were told at 8:00 that Illuminations would still be performed at 9:00. Instead of watching it in the rain, we decided to go see the 8:55 showing of the American Adventure. About 2/3 of the way through, the animatronics broke. The 1930s gas station was still up, but FDR and Will Rogers didn't pop up when they were supposed to. The CM quickly pulled the curtain and politely threw us out. I don't think they did run Illuminations, because it would have still been going on when we left the American pavilion. Oh, funny thing overheard: pouring rain, thunder and lightning. We pass a family and a 12-ish-year-old girl says to her sister, "We won't get hit by lightning immediately." (Does this mean they'll get hit eventually?)

Day Four, Tuesday, August 27

Another day at EPCOT. We chose the Hidden Treasures tour as our flex-feature, so we arrived at EPCOT at 9:15, as we were told. We took the tour that covers Mexico thru America. It was very interesting, but the one thing that I learned that stands out most, was that the American pavilion was supposed to be at the Future World side of the lagoon, with its natural neighbors, Mexico and Canada bordering it. The Imagineers felt that putting it on the far side of the lagoon would draw people in, and so it was moved AND redesigned. When our tour was over we saw The American Adventure without any glitches. We had lunch at the Garden Grill, which is now an all-you-can-eat character restaurant (10% MKC discount.). I got my picture taken with Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale. Nothing else exciting that day either. Saw "Food Rocks" and decided I liked silly Kitchen Kabaret better ("veggie, veggie, fruit, fruit!" will always put a smile on my face). I'm drawing a blank, but I think we left early (4:00?), took a dip in the pool again, and went back to EPCOT for Illuminations. We tried to get into the park by England, but it was roped off for a private party. Feh! We watched from France, but couldn't see the entire lagoon. Still, it is impressive.

Day Five, Wednesday, August 28

Finally, the Magic Kingdom! We arrive relatively close to opening. Tip: If you have a car, drive to Wilderness Lodge and take the water shuttle. Not too crowded, no trams and crowds to deal with, plus you're delivered right to the front gate of the MK. I believe that all resorts now have the same IDs - yellow (with a subtle yellow Mickey in the background) with your name, your stay dates and a code on the front. No hotel name. No room number. They didn't check IDs, anyway. If you don't do that, you should take your resort's bus over - it's still less hassle than driving to the MK parking lot, taking a tram, taking the boat or monorail and finally getting to the magic gates! We finally got to experience Alien Encounter (wasn't open yet on our last trip) - I was REALLY scared of what was going to happen, but it turns out the anticipation of being scared was worse than the actual attraction itself. Oh, and we got stuck on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. About halfway through the ride, when you get to the center of town, and both tracks actually meet up, we stopped dead. The other track kept running for a while. Then that side stopped. (Thankfully they turned down the blaring music after a bit.) The other side started again, and we were STILL sitting there. Finally, after maybe 10 minutes, we started moving again. Finally saw the Mickey Mania Parade.

After a day of short lines and lots of fun ("yo, ho, yo, ho, a pirate's life for me!), we had an early dinner at Whispering Canyons at Wilderness Lodge. We had eaten there/stayed there on our last trip (1994). I think the food was not as good now as it was then. Still, the fun is watching the "show" put on by the wait-staff. We had some time to kill before the Electric Water Pageant, so we went Hidden Mickey hunting. I attracted a small crowd as I laid down on the floor of the restaurant trying to get a photo of the HM at the very bottom of the fireplace grating. Turns out the kids participating in the evening program were also on an HM hunt. I really love this resort, and was sad that I was unable to get a room there in the first place. We watched the water pageant from lounge chairs on the beach. There has been discussion about the change in music. As far as I could tell, the first half of the "sea creature" music was the same, but the second half was music from "The Little Mermaid." It was OK, but the other music (Handel's Water Music?) was better.

Day Six, Thursday, August 29

We slept in and head for Blizzard Beach. I was not terribly impressed. The beach chairs were packed together so tightly that you could hardly get around/between them. Plus, there was very little shade, in the sitting areas, on the walkways, and, most importantly on the "creek" that encircles the park. Even tho we had sunscreen, we both got a little burned. Also, the water in the wave pool was pretty fierce. I grew up swimming in the ocean, and one of the reasons I go to a pool is to avoid the undertow. I don't mind a wave pool, but again, this was a little bit too strong for my tastes. We rode the ski-lift up. (A major feat for me, because, while I'm not actually afraid of heights, I'm afraid of falling from heights. I realized for the most part, the ski-lift only gets about 10 feet above the ground.) We rode "Teamboat Springs" down - boy, was it fun! About a million times better than the multi-person raft at Typhoon Lagoon (don't remember what it's called; we didn't get there this trip.). What a rush! After a while we went over to the Marketplace to do a little souvenir shopping (10% MKC discount). The big, new character shop is almost done. We had a late lunch/early dinner at the Rainforest Cafe (no wait). It was good, the atmosphere fun, but a little overpriced (but not terribly overpriced). We went back to Caribbean Beach, showered dressed, and went to Pleasure Island for the evening. We spent most of the evening getting tipsy at the Adventurer's Club. We were able to keep getting back into the Library for the various "shows." (We had never gotten in to the Library before). It's fun! We ate a really late dinner (midnight?) at Planet Hollywood. There's no wait that late at night. It was my first Planet Hollywood, and even tho I was tipsy and tired I enjoyed the atmosphere.

Day Seven, Friday, August 30

We slept very late and went to the Magic Kingdom in the afternoon (1:00?), finished up a couple of rides we skipped, rode some others again. We went over to EPCOT for Illuminations again. This time, we got dinner at the Mexican restaurant (the one on the lagoon) and actually got a table with a view! By the time the show started, tho, everyone was standing, so we had to stand to see, too. We had a MUCH better view this time. I was glad we saw it again from a different angle. Went back to the Marketplace to buy a couple more souvenirs, including a Mickey pocket watch for John (still a 10% MKC discount).

Day Eight, Saturday, August 31

One more trip to Disney/MGM. Again, we arrived late (12:45- ish) but since it was almost parade time, we were able to ride Twilight Zone Tower of Terror FOUR times back-to-back. We literally walked on the first two times. They were letting elevators go that weren't filled to capacity. The last two times there were maybe 10, 15 people in line. On our last visit to the Zone, we finally got a picture we liked. It's HARD not to squint against the bright daylight after having been in the dark elevator shaft! We rode a couple of other rides again and saw one or two things we missed the first time, grabbed a bite of lunch and headed over to the Magic Kingdom to see SpectroMagic and the fireworks (this would be our only chance to see them this entire trip). We had lots of time and rode a couple of rides, videotaped a couple of others. We rode TTA just to finish off the tape in the cam corder and got to see something one rarely sees-Space Mountain with the work lights on! And we even have it captured on videotape! Somehow we lucked out and got a table outside the "Mile Long Bar" in Frontierland, right by the exit for the Country Bear Jamboree around 8:00. John got us each a smoked turkey leg, which we enjoyed while watching the crowds trying to find a spot to watch the parade. We did have to stand when the time came, but it was worth it. I love that parade. A rumor has been going around that this parade was being canceled later this year. As far as I can tell, this is not true. The Electric Main Street Parade in Disneyland, California is closing in October, NOT SpectroMagic in Walt Disney World, Orlando. In fact, I heard they were expanding the parade (adding floats) for the 25th Anniversary. They need to do something to take people's minds off the hideous Castle. After the parade, we asked a CM if we could see the fireworks from where we were sitting, and boy, could we ever. Even tho it looks like the fireworks are going off behind the Castle, they are actually going off over the Rivers of America (or whatever the big lake with Tom Sawyer's Island is called). The fireworks were perfectly framed by the trees. Couldn't have asked for a better view! It was, of course, a mob scene trying to leave. We did not follow our own advice -we had parked in the main lot only because we hadn't parked there before, and it took forever to get back. Crowded ferry, crowded lines for trams. Never again!!!

Day Nine, Sunday, September 1

Last day. Sigh. We get up early enough to get our stuff together in time to check out on time. We arrange for our bags to be picked up and held for us to be picked up on our way to the airport. Sigh. Eat brunch, make one last trip to EPCOT. Another viewing of "Honey I Shrunk the Audience," fortunately, the mice didn't seem to get me this time. Took a good look at "Test Track" - there's a track (roller coaster, maybe) running around the outside of the pavilion. Found a THIRD talking water fountain-it's located near the restrooms that are behind Innoventions WEST, sort of between Innoventions and Journey Into the Imagination. Took the monorail over to TTC and got to ride up front for the very first time! We also got to ride up front on the way back. By then it was time to hit the road. Sigh. I had made another reservation for the clambake, this time for 5:30. We drove back to Caribbean Beach, got our stuff and then headed for the Beach Club. Ate dinner and pretty much headed for the airport. Sigh. Our flight left on time (approx. 9:10 p.m.) and we arrived home around midnight. Sigh. Only glitch was the taxi driver went to a different terminal from which we had arrived (we came in at the international terminal, not the domestic one). Not necessarily his fault, but not the happiest thing to happen after having to leave WDW. Sigh.

A couple of other tips I'd like to share

If you must buy gas on property, it seems that the gas station on the corner across the street from the Boardwalk and Caribbean Beach had the cheapest price. Also, there's a mini-mart there, and you could buy a Powerade that they were selling in the parks for $2 for $1.39 there. We went into Goodings at CrossRoads one evening, and I thought they were incredibly overpriced. We went down the road to the 7-Eleven/Citgo station and found they had 2-liter bottles of soda for 99¢. If you're looking for a few basic supplies foodwise, I would recommend the 7-Eleven over Goodings. They also opened a Publix supermarket pretty close to the I-4/192 exchange in Kissimmee, but we didn't go in. This trip we hardly went into Kissimmee - in past years we'd gone about every other night for dinner and a soda stash.

Can't think of anything else to add right now. It's taken me a good two days to write this, but the cold I mentioned early on has come out in full force. Sigh. Oh, well, at least it didn't ruin my WDW vacation!

©Melanie Emmons, September 4, 1996

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