Trip Reports

• Time of Year: Fall
• Travel Method: Plane, Rental Care
• Resort: DL
• Accommodations: Standard Room
• Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult, Senior
• WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
• Comments: Bill's exhaustive report describes his trip with his wife and triplet daughters (9 years old) and father (who stayed in a separate room). It covers a lot of territory with a lot of detail.

"The Preparation"

This trip report will be broken up into several parts. This part covers the preparations we made, in some cases over a year in advance of the trip.

My family went to WDW from 11/23 to 12/1 this year, which was right over the Thanksgiving holidays. I thought this group might like to have a report on some of the organization that went into the trip, as well as a report on the crowds during Thanksgiving.

Our entourage consisted of my wife, my three daughters (triplets who are 9 years old) and my father who wanted to join us. We were coming from Provo, Utah which is about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. In general my father was coming along for the ride, had his own room, and just did those things he wanted on his own schedule. It worked out very well for all of us.

3/94 - Yes, 1994. We decided that we'd like to go to WDW and were trying to find a time that was possible with everyone's schedule. Because my wife is a school teacher we were tied to times when school was out, which in general meant that we were looking at crowded conditions. Some friends who had been to WDW during the week of Thanksgiving, specifically, the Saturday before to the Sunday after had highly recommend the Sunday through Wednesday before Thanksgiving as a good time to go with lighter than expected crowds. Clearly, Thanksgiving itself and the days after were going to have huge crowds. We decided that we'd take the girls out of school and my wife would arrange her schedule so that we'd go over Thanksgiving. Because we had just moved to Utah from California, we decided that 1996 would the year.

8/95 - Having decided that we'd go over Thanksgiving '96, we called to make reservations at Dixie Landings. Again, this was dictated by a desire to keep expenses somewhat under control while at the same time enjoying as of Disney as there was to offer. At this writing, the only "medium priced" resort which can handle 5 in a room (officially) is Dixie Landings, Allegator Bayou where some of the rooms have a trundle bed in addition to the two double beds. We were a little surprised to find that the MKC discounts and the AAA discounts were unavailable for the time and resort we were interested in. I kept calling during the year and never did find discounts for our rooms at Dixie Landings. Perhaps over a high demand time such as Thanksgiving there are no discounts.

Because we knew that we wanted to see the Hoop-Dee-Do Review, we decided to make reservations for that immediately. One of my daughters is visually impaired and so we were asking if we could have a table in the front for six. Although we were over a year away from the reservation date they had to check to see if any of the front tables were still free. Fortunately there were.

The moral of this story is, make your reservations as early as you can. There seems to be no limit to the demand for WDW products.

Because we were more than a year out, we did not make plane reservations since they require you to be within 10 months of departure. I started looking at Southwest Airlines, since they were inexpensive and were talking about flying to Orlando, but at the time we were doing this their rates were the same as Delta's cheapest fares.

We bought 5 day World Hopper passes with MKC discounts for everyone, thinking that prices on the tickets were likely to go up. We were right. (I haven't looked at the interest we lost by buying the tickets so early, but it was nice to have them). Effectively we'll have 7 days of vacation time, with a day at the beginning and the ending for travel.

1/96 - We can make air reservations. Southwest still isn't quoting fares to Orlando, although the fares to Tampa aren't that good. Fares on Delta are sky high. I called Walt Disney Travel to see what they could do. Since the trip is during the highest travel time of the year, we're not expecting great discounts, but would like to do better than paying full coach on Delta or changing planes on Southwest. (Normally I don't mind Southwest, but when you have to change planes with them, things get a little tricky. With three kids, I don't like the idea of anything complicated.)

Interestingly, Disney Travel was able to give us a package deal on lodging at Dixie Landings, air travel on Delta's non-stop flight from Salt Lake to Orlando, and a rental car for less than I was getting quoted on the air fare alone by calling airline companies. My brother who works at Delta said that Disney Travel buys huge blocks of seats on Delta at a very low price and then re-sells them at a profit to them, but a savings to us. If price were our only object (it is an object, but not the only object) then I'm sure that there are tour operators and hotels outside of WDW where we could have gotten a much better deal, but the arrangements we have seem to meet our needs.

We decided on a car, rather than using the Mears Transport, so that we have some flexibility to do other things. It's a lot more expensive to have the car, but we're willing to pay it in order to do other things on the spur of the moment.

Moral of the story: consider using Disney Travel and the MKC Travel to make all of your arrangements. Shop around and see who has the best deal.

9/96 - It's sixty days before we leave, time to make meal reservations. Our intentions are to eat simply for breakfast, have a nice meal at lunch time and see what suits us for dinner. Our experience with Disney is that their food can range from marginal to excellent, but that the prices are always high. (One year at Disneyland we paid $50 for lunch at a buffeteria in New Orleans Square. We weren't paying attention to what we were doing and let our daughters each order a meal which they didn't finish, when we should have been sharing. We've found that you can eat well and (relatively) inexpensively at Disney if you pay attention to what you're doing and what you want rather than just reacting to meal time. At least at Disneyland there are usually numerous fresh fruit carts which make for good snacking instead of eating an expensive meal.

I found in making the reservations that even on the very day that reservations are first open we can't always get the seating time we want, although we have been able to get all of the restaurants we want. Again, flexibility and forethought are important. I think it is the Sehlinger book "The Unofficial Guide..." which states that a WDW vacation is not a time for spontaneity. You better plan it or find yourself floundering. We're not planning down to the minute they way he suggests, but are making some arrangements.

One HUGE tactical error was in making the reservations for Thanksgiving dinner itself. I knew this was going to be a problem day and had intended to call WDW-DINE first thing in the morning. Because of my volunteer work with our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints), I am up and gone by about 6:30 am. I was so busy preparing to leave for church that I completely forgot to make reservations until 3:00 in the afternoon. I called WDW-DINE and discovered that the earliest time we could get a table for 6 at Artist Point was 9:30 PM! We ended up making a reservation for two tables at 6:30 pm. We'll report on how that worked out. (I kicked myself for the rest of the evening on how dumb I had been to forget to call.) I had even gone to so far as to find out when sunset was (about 5pm) so that we could have dinner while it was still light outside. As a backup I was able to make a reservation (again for two tables) at Cape May at 4:30.

We also made a couple of Character Breakfast reservations and didn't seem to have any problems there.

I've heard of some people who make reservations for every meal while they're at WDW. We're making about one reservation a day, thinking those meals will be the most expensive and on the others we'll see what presents itself.

11/23 - Salt Lake to Orlando

Because the weather between Provo and Salt Lake (40 miles) can be so unpredictable, we leave the house at 7:00 am for a 10:00 am flight. More than once we've been trapped at "Point of the Mountain" (about half way) by a large storm we haven't seen from our home. We arrive at the airport in good time and check in for our Delta flight. As discussed in part 1, we were able to go through Disney Travel and get a good package on air fare, lodging at Dixie Landings, and car rental. We had already bought 5 day park hopper passes earlier using our Magic Kingdom Club discount.

Unless you already have a travel agent you like, I'd suggest giving Disney Travel a call. They are able to give us a much better deal than we were getting on our own.

The plane to Orlando was a nonstop (I consider this critical in the fall and winter to avoid getting stuck halfway through your trip) and absolutely filled with children. The flight attendant came down the aisle placing stickers on seats of people who had ordered special meals. Over half the plane was getting the child's meal.

In Orlando the girls thought the shuttle from the gates to the terminal building was the first Disney ride. We picked up our luggage (we always tie a big orange ribbon to our luggage so that can pick it out in a crowd). Since we're staying for 9 days, we decided that we'd only pack for 5 days and do some laundry in the middle rather than packing and hauling around enough for all 9 days. Besides, we wanted to have some room for purchases on our return. We rented from National which has its pickup in the airport. As we like to do on vacation, we rented a mini-van. National had a little trouble actually finding one available, despite the reservation. With a little encouragement from me, they located one for us.

An earlier poster had mentioned that Florida doesn't like to post directions. I found that this was in part true. I had planned on driving north out of the airport to 528, then west to 4 and south to WDW. Not having my bearings, I followed the signs indicating WDW and found myself on completely unknown roads. After I figured out that I was going the direction I had expected, we were heading south out of the airport, I decided I'd just follow the road signs. At one point I noticed that we were passing highway 192 and I decided we'd gone too far and turned around (paying toll twice, once to get to a turn around point and again leaving the toll area). With a couple more detours, we eventually ended up on Epcot Center Drive, from which we found the road to Dixie Landings.

I have to agree with the poster who said that the road signs aren't particularly good. It is also irritating that every 2 miles they are asking for more tolls. I suspect that they have made a point of placing toll roads where tourists are likely to travel and the locals know how to avoid them.

It was a real thrill for all of us to see the big WDW signs, and then find Dixie Landings. Since it was dark, we couldn't really see much of the hotel or surroundings. Registration went very quickly, in 10 minutes we were on our way to our room. About a week ahead I'd called and made sure that our reservation and my father's were pointing at each other so that they'd assign rooms close to each other. I'd also asked for building 14 in Alligator Bayou since we were getting a trundle bed and had decided that we'd like to be near the main building. They put us in building 15, which was just fine.

Our room was on the second floor near the ice and soda pop machines. I was a little concerned that this would be a noise problem, since this is usually the case when I travel on business. But because they were behind doors and actually not adjacent to any of the guest rooms, this was not a problem and actually a little nice to be so convenient. The decor of Alligator Bayou is rather rustic, but I found the room very clean with everything I'd expect. The only down side was the air conditioner/heater was one of those units under the window. They are notoriously noisy and this one was no different. I suspect that to get really good air floor, cooling, and heating you have to stay in one of the more expensive hotels.

It had been a long time since lunch on the plane, so we went to the Cotton Mill, Dixie Landings' food court. It was better than I had expected, but not as good as I had liked. There was a bakery (very good brownies!), Mexican food, "American" ribs and chicken, pre-made salads and sandwiches, hamburgers, and pizza. Nothing much here looked like "the South" to me. We ate and prepared to make a tour of the parks and hotels via bus and monorail to acquaint ourselves with the layout before starting the real touring tomorrow. We road the bus to Epcot, took the monorail to the TTC, then boarded the "resort" line. By the time we got around to the Magic Kingdom, everyone was giving out, so we cut our tour short and found the Dixie Landings bus and headed back to the hotel to sleep. The next morning would be Disney Studios since they had early opening. With the time change it would seem to us that we were getting up at 4:00 am.

My father arrived at about midnight and was in the room next to ours.

There was no connecting door, but that was OK.

11/24 - Disney Studios, Magic Kingdom

<< NOTE, this next section contains spoilers concerning rides. >>

This was a very unorganized day. I think that it is Sehlinger in the "Unofficial Guide" who says something like: "This is a Disney vacation! Plan! This is no time for spontaneity" and "Get yourselves out of bed!" On both accounts we failed. This was the least productive day of the entire trip. First, we decided to have breakfast in the food court and then went to get my father's ticket. Next we went to the bus stop at about 7:40. As Sehlinger says, when the early entry time is 8:00, the park actually opens at 7:30, so we were already behind schedule. After waiting 15 minutes and no bus, we gave up and got our car and drove.

By 8:15 we were in the park trying to figure out what to do. (Bad move.) First we went to guest services to get a special access pass for my daughter who is visually impaired. Due to a congenital retina problem she is extremely near sighted and needs to be in the first or second rows or else she can't see diddily. They were very accommodating, but this took about 20 minutes to do.

By now it is 8:40 and we wandered over to the Tower of Terror where the line was still reasonable (20 minutes) and 4 of us rode. I'd convinced my wife, who doesn't like most roller coasters, that this wouldn't be that bad. (Yes, I know, ToT is not a roller coaster but try telling that to my wife for whom the difference was moot.) One of my daughters and my father decided to wait for us. I found it really interesting the number of people who were always milling about at the ToT exit. One thing that really spooked my wife were the three stories of doors on the outside of the ToT which open up as the ride vehicle races by. You can hear the people screaming a long ways off, and see them through the doors. Despite this provocation, she was brave and stayed with us, even when we found the chicken elevator just before you board the ride.

Disney is advertising a double drop, and I have to say that I think this makes the ride very interesting. You really feel like the elevator has a mind of its own. One of the things I love about Disney is the incredible attention to detail. The lobby and library looked just as if they'd been abandoned 70 years ago. The style of architecture, even the cracks in the water lily pond out front looked like they'd been there for years. I was trying to read the titles of the books in the library when the lights went out and the TV introduction started. I'm sure that there must be some interesting titles in there.

<< Spoilers ahead >>

I really got into the effects of the ride. The hallway dissolving into the star field was incredible. It almost gave me vertigo looking into what appeared to me to be an endless expanse of stars where only a moment before we'd seen the hall way and ghosts. Moving up to the next story we moved down the hall into the drop shaft and here's something I don't quite understand. We moved into the drop shaft and I didn't feel like we had moved up at all, but there was a sudden drop which quite took me by surprise. Because it was pitch black I don't really know how far we fell, but it seemed further than I thought our presumed height would have allowed. (At this point my wife locked her eyes shut, clenched her teeth, and kept telling herself that it would all be over soon. She missed everything from here on.) The drop stopped, we went shooting to the top of the tower with the doors on the outside opening as we passed. (Our collective screams echoing no doubt to the queue below.) The camera got our picture just as we arrived at the top. The pause at the top was agonizing. I knew we were going to drop, but it seemed like we were just holding and holding. Then "the cable broke" and we fell, stopped, shot to the top, didn't even pause, and fell again this time with lights and sounds making it seem like we were falling faster. The ride vehicle slowed and we entered another hallway where the ride completed.

<< Spoilers off >>

When it was over my wife asked about "the red light". I said "what red light". She was sure there had been some kind of bright red light in the middle. I think she was seeing the full sun light from the open doors through her tightly clenched eye lids.

The picture was great, so we got it. (What a racket. They don't charge for individual rides, like they used to do at Disneyland ages ago, but they get you with the pictures!) My daughter who had waited was disappointed now that we had this really nifty picture of all of us terrified. She wanted to do it, but the line was now out to an hour and I told her that we'd do it again some other time.

This is the point where our lack of organization showed. We wandered over to "The Little Mermaid" saw that the line was real long and bailed out. Then we tried The Great Movie Ride. Nice. The line moved well. In quick succession we did the Monster Movie Sound Show and Star Tours.

In the middle of Star Tours, the whole ride shut down. I half expected that someone was doing something stupid, but as we settled it was clear that a little girl (about 3 or 4 years old) was very upset with the ride. The CM opened the doors and asked the mother if the girl would like to get off. She seemed very grateful. My wife (who loves Star Tours, no this isn't consistent with her usual dislike of roller coasters) mentioned that the CM had warned the mother before the ride started that it was probably too rough for the child, although she did pass the height restrictions. There's a camera in the front, upper, left hand side were the CM in charge of the ride can watch the guests.

Resetting the ride turned out to be a bit of a problem for the CM. First he shut the exit doors, then tried to get the ride to start. It wouldn't. He recycled the system, which caused the exit doors to pop open. Just at that moment people from another vehicle were exiting and apparently the doors surprised them because they shrieked. He tried to start it again. No go. He opens the exit doors again and someone else shrieks. We all start laughing and waving at the people on the exit and entry sides. Another cycle. No go. More doors, another shriek. This is kind of fun! Finally he calls maintenance and they do something from their side and get the ride running again. Just before the crash door opens and the real ride starts, we all wave to the CM through the camera. The rest of the ride was as usual. I'm looking forward to a new destination which has been rumored to be in preparation for Star Tours.

We had lunch reservations at the Prime Time Cafe, so we had to just hang around since there wasn't time to wait in any lines. My daughters wanted to see the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground. So we did that. This was amusing, but could be missed.

Although we had "priority seating" we ended up waiting about 30 minutes to be seated. I found in general that Disney expects families of 4 and no more. Most of the time smaller parties were seated much quicker than we were although we had reservations, oops, I mean "priority seating." Our "mom" was OK and the food was good, but "Uncle Gary" at the next table was great! He lectured all of us on keeping our elbows off the table, showed us a "happy plate" which had been cleaned of the whole meal, and really hammed it up. I was consistently impressed with how accommodating everyone at WDW was. One of my daughters can't have extra salt on food (such as on French fries). Our mom arranged to have the fries unsalted for her.

Our delay in seating threw off my schedule of getting a good spot for the Toy Story Parade. We did manage to find a place where two of our three girls could stand. I put the third one on my shoulders. Boy, was that a mistake! First, it killed my shoulders and neck, and second I never heard the end of it for the rest of the trip. "But you put Tricia on your shoulders!" We thought the parade itself was short and not very interesting. The best part was the green army men.

After the parade we did the 101 Dalmatians Back Stage Tour. It was OK and we missed our reservations for dessert at the Sci Fi Cafe. We all decided we were too stuffed from lunch any way. At this point everyone (excluding me of course) was feeling whiny, so we went back to the hotel for a nap. We were very consistent on this. Naps and/or swimming at midday to improve everyone's mood. It was amusing that every day someone, and often everyone would say, "I don't need a nap. I'm not tired!" We'd say, "OK, just lie down and shut your eyes for a minute." Within 5 minutes everyone was sound asleep. This REALLY helped us get through a whole day without killing each other.

I know there's an on going debate about on-site versus off-site. For us, on-site was critical for this reason alone. From the point that we decided that we were going to go back to the hotel and nap, to the point that we were in our rooms was about 20 minutes at the outside. Again, a point of debate is rental car or not. Although many posters rely on the buses, we found them to be very time consuming. With a little ingenuity we found the car much more efficient than the bus in all instances.

After naps, we were going to try and make it to the Magic Kingdom for the 6:30 parade, not to see the parade, but to do some of the popular rides while a majority of the people (we hoped) were watching the parade. We eventually worked out a much better method, but on this, our first attack on the MK, we just drove into the main parking lot. Well, if we'd parked where the little signs said, we would have been closer to the Gobi Desert than to the TTC. Again, it was dark, the parking area was dark, and I didn't have a clue where we were relative to anything. (There's something about living near mountains as we do that makes you want to be able to see land marks for figuring out where you are.) I followed some cars that seemed to know where they were going and ended up in "Chip and Dale". Those of you familiar with the MK will recognize this as one of the areas close to the TTC, well within walking distance, but I didn't have a clue. We got out of the car, the parking lot was dark, due no doubt to the very few light posts there, and noticed there seemed to be some light "over there." We began walking in that direction, not knowing where the trams might be to pick us up, and discovered we were heading toward the TTC.

I'm going to take a detour here and say that was the last time we parked in the TTC parking lot. I found that experience very unsettling, not knowing where we were and a very dark parking lot, and from there on we parked in the lots for the resorts. I've read here that some people park in the lot of the Contemporary and walk. We chose to park in the lot of the Polynesian and take the monorail. (OK, I'm a sucker for the monorail.) This is another good reason for staying on-site. As a resort guest, we were allowed to park at any of the resorts. We always found a parking place within three aisles of the monorail entrance at the Polynesian. At the end of the day, the line for the TTC monorail was always a mile long. The line for the resort monorail was always just a walk on.

Returning to our MK visit, we had missed the parade, but found that the line for Splash Mountain was only about 15 minutes as people were watching the fireworks. We then went over to Thunder Mountain and waited about 20 minutes. By now it was getting late and the rides had shut down. Our eating plan was to have one "big" meal a day and snack for the others. We stopped at the bakery on Main Street and had some very nice pastries.

On our way back to the hotel, we swung by Goodings in the Cross Roads shopping center. Earlier in the day we had requested a refrigerator for our room, mostly to hold some medication my wife takes. We get breakfast food so that we can just eat while getting ready instead of spending time at the food court. Goodings is pretty amazing. It reminds me of a grocery store in Menlo Park, California where I grew up. The food is quite expensive compared, I'm sure, to a Lucky's or Smith's or wherever you do your normal shopping, but the quality seemed to be very good. They also had a fountain in the store. I pointed it out to my wife mentioning that Draegers in Menlo Park didn't have a fountain. But Draegers does have an escalator, she reminded me.

Home again, and sleep for all.

11/25 - Magic Kingdom

MK has early opening today, and we get our act together! Up at 6:00 am (are you SURE we're on VACATION?), breakfast in the room, and we're out of there by 7:00 am. I don't think my father much cares for this kind of "take the hill" vacationing, but we're determined. We get into the MK by 7:30 which has already opened its gates for early entry and head straight for Fantasyland. (BTW, I think that they might actually open the gates as much as 45 minutes before the posted time, or at least it seemed so.)

Being a frequent Disneyland visitor as I was growing up, I get very disoriented in the Magic Kingdom. Nothing is where I expect it to me. I finally admit defeat and start referring to the map. My daughters and wife love the Tea Cups, so we start there. Then move on to Peter Pan. This was a disappointment for all of us.

Occasionally this group discusses the differences between Disneyland and WDW. Some years back (perhaps 10?) Disneyland remodeled Fantasyland and took what had been essentially flat facades and flat rides and improved them greatly. Peter Pan is an example of this. Peter Pan at Disneyland has one scene where you fly over Neverland (no not Michael's home, Peter's! Get out of here Captain EO!). Neverland is floating in a sea of stars, but not two dimensional stars, somehow the whole thing seems to me to be three dimensional with a star field which extends in all directions into space. Peter Pan at the MK didn't live up to this. There were a number of attractions which I felt were superior at Disneyland. Also a number which were superior at the MK. Interestingly, the newer attractions at the MK seemed better than their counterpart at Disneyland.

The girls wanted to do more things in Fantasyland and I wanted to experience Alien Encounter. After reading trip reports, we had decided that the girls were not doing Alien Encounter. My dad and I trooped over there and found about a 30 minute wait. Overall the experience lived up to my expectations, but I can see why they aren't likely to do it at Disneyland (based on rumors reported here). Having experienced it once, I may go again, but I doubt that I'd go 10 times. I've heard that Disneyland has a higher repeat rate than WDW and this probably affects how attractions are received. For instance, the Country Bear Jamboree at Disneyland has almost always been virtually empty when we've gone there, but at the MK there seemed to be a sizable line. Likewise, the Carousel of Progress at the MK had a good audience, but before they closed it at Disneyland, I noticed that there were fewer and fewer people. A show may be entertaining a few times, but after years of the same show without some other factor (like having your brains rattled) there may be less draw.

During the pre-show S.I.R., our audio animatronic host, was great. As a feat of engineering, I was impressed with the fluid motion. The show itself was indeed intense. Even though I have read in this group a description of the show, I was startled by some of the effects. I really think it is hard to judge at what age a child will find the show acceptable. As we were done there was a girl, perhaps 11 or 12 who was crying. It is a little "gooey". I'm glad I didn't have to peel any of my girls off the walls.

We met up with my wife and daughters and decided that my "brave one" wanted to do Space Mountain with me. This is one ride my wife absolutely refuses. We set a meeting time and place and took off. The wait was about 30 minutes and when I saw that I would not be sitting next to my daughter in the cars, I was a little worried about how she would take that. We discussed it in the line, looked at the chicken door, but decided to tough it out. I really like the open effect above the internal line. (I know, some people say it has ruined the ride.) It didn't seem too light to me, but it appeared to be as light as Space Mountain at Disneyland. I don't have anything to compare it with.

The rest of the day is pretty uneventful. We ride Pirates (Disneyland's is MUCH, MUCH, MUCH better), visit Mickey's Starland (Toontown and Roger Rabbit at Disneyland are much better), have lunch at Pecos Bill (Disney at its mediocre worst), see Carousel of Progress (a real time trip for me), go home for naps, and come back to find spots for SpectroMagic. In general I liked SpectroMagic better than the Main Street Electrical Parade (oops, I'm on somebody's hit list now). For one thing the music doesn't burn a hole in your cerebral cortex like Baroque Hoe-Down of MSEP. (Speaking of burning holes, we managed to miss It's a Small World. Just hustled the girls right past it without mentioning it. The entrance is so small, you can do that at MK. No way to miss it at Disneyland.)

Right after the parade we hustled over to Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain. That's two times.

We get to the exit and note the huge line for the TTC monorail. There's a guy announcing that you have to show resort IDs to get on the resort monorail. That's no problem since we have those, but there wasn't really anyone doing that. As we pass the TTC we notice the huge lines for the trams. We're really glad we're parked at the Polynesian resort, just a few steps from the hotel entrance.

11/26 - EPCOT

Early entry at EPCOT (or is it Epcot, I've seen it both ways). We wake up to rain, which is pouring outside our room. We're prepared for this and intend to march right on through having brought ponchos for everyone. We drive over to EPCOT and park in the first row of parking. By now the rain is letting up.

<< Possible Spoilers ahead! >>

We do Space Ship Earth (very nice) and head over to Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Boy, it's hard to know what's going to upset kids. I was loving the show (mice grossed out one daughter) when the snake came by. I knew it wasn't going to leave us alone and as it struck I heard a wail from my right. One of my daughters was really frightened by this. She couldn't calm down after the show and we had to find something very soothing. We took into Journey into Imagination which did the trick. But from then on we had to really talk her into going to any of the 3D shows.

<< Spoilers off >>

From there we did Body Wars (I see how it can make people nauseous), Universe of Energy (GREAT show!) and Horizons (ok...). By now World Showcase is open and we have 11:30 lunch reservations at Akershus in the Norway area. We kill time looking in the shops along the way.

We were really impressed with the architecture of the restaurant. My wife is originally from northern Germany and we both love the food of northern Europe. Although each country is unique, there are many similarities between them. Our waiter, Stian, chatted with us about his home and showed us the various dishes on the buffet. I was a little concerned about the girls since one of them is, how shall I say this, particular about the types of food she eats. ("No sauce" is the primary commandment.) They had a kids buffet and even a separate menu so it worked out.

Our meal was extremely good. One poster mentioned that there was a lot of fish. This is true, but I suspect accurate of the region. The herring salad (herring in sour cream and onions) was very good. The meat balls were probably a concession to American taste. The mashed rutabagas were quite good, as was the stuffed pork. This was one of our favorite meals of the whole trip.

After lunch we rode Maelstrom (interesting, particularly the backwards/forwards switches), got ice cream in Italy (not really gelato in my opinion since what I wanted was lemon ICE, not lemon ice cream), and went home for naps.

Afterward we were back for dinner at Coral Reef. We violated our "one big meal a day" rule here because I wanted to eat at this restaurant. In general I wasn't really pleased. First, the aquarium part is only along a single wall of the restaurant. True, everyone has a view, but it wasn't as encompassing as I'd expected. Second, we were already very full from lunch and didn't feel like a big meal. And third, I just didn't much care for the menu. My wife and I ended up splitting an order of the salmon. They were very accommodating in this. BTW, I found that virtually all restaurants were accommodating to what you wanted to do. They didn't even blink when we asked to split the meal. They even brought it on two plates. I had been fully prepared to do the surgery myself at the table. My father had a appetizer as a dinner and then we marched on.

Saw the Living Seas (ok...), did the "twisty things" in Space Ship Earth, did the exercycles in Life, the Rivers of Time in Mexico (ok...) and then decided to stake out a place for IllumiNations. The wind whipped up and it was cold. Finally the show started and we had a good view from right in front of Norway. (Hmmm... I wonder if they have hot chocolate in the bakery?) We stopped by the Norway bakery and discovered something wonderful. Although they didn't have really good hot chocolate, they did have ring cakes! As you'd expect from the name, these are small rings about four inches in diameter, made of....

(drum roll)

MARZIPAN!

(Also known as almond paste, but not really... Marzipan, is primarily ground almonds, sugar, rose water, and sometimes additional almond oils and/or flavorings.) I've died and gone to heaven! We've got to come back here!

After we finished our ring cakes the park had cleared out and we walked all the way from Norway, through Future World to our car. (More on this later.)

One of the hidden little attractions which makes Disney for me is some pavement on the Innovations Plaza near the side. They embedded fiber optic channels in the pavement and shine light up through the fibers. This happens both during the day and at night but the effect at night is much more dramatic. The patterns change color and seem to dance.

We learned a couple of things. First, from World Showcase to the EPCOT parking lot is a long walk. We could have walked back to the hotel in about as much time. Second, at least for us, having two meal reservations back to back is too much. This probably isn't true for everyone (now don't hit, I didn't call you a big eater!), but it is true for us. Third, having two meal reservations, particularly while in the parks constrained our time too much. We didn't do other things because we were close to a meal reservation. Lastly, staking out a place for IllumiNations in a cold wind is not worth the effort.

11/27 - Disney Studios, EPCOT, Hoop-Dee-Doo Review

Early opening is at Disney Studios. We're there by 7:30 and are admitted immediately. We head for Tower of Terror. This time my wife and father wait while I take all three girls. The picture is great again, and since my daughter who didn't ride the first time REALLY, REALLY wants it, we order the picture and request that it be sent to package pickup immediately since we're planning on leaving at noon.

Next is Muppet 3D (very amusing and well worth the wait!), but we have to talk my 3D-phobic daughter into it. Star Tours again, this time without scaring the wits out of anyone, the Backlot Tour (a little slow if you ask me), and then Hunchback.

At Hunchback we're about ½ back in the line, so that by the time we get to the theater all of the close seats are taken. We show our pass to the CM who says she can get three of us up front. Due to a little miscommunication among us, my dad, two daughters and I end up front and center. I'm concerned that my third daughter (and wife, but I'm more concerned about my daughter at this point) are somewhere in the back of the theater. I'd prefer that all three daughters sit up front. At one point a pre-show entertainer comes out to do some juggling. He does a very good job and has a very good act. At one point he says he's a college graduate, but what else can a graduate in humanities do but be a juggler! I have to laugh since I work at a university. Anyway, I'm sitting almost exactly underneath this guy, but I'm turning around trying to find my wife and daughter in the crowd. It just isn't working so I decide to stand up and walk to the side so that I can get a better view of the audience without interrupting (any more than I have to) this guy's performance. As I walk to the side, he says "Hey! I didn't walk out when you came in!" He'd been threatening the audience with a squirt gun for some time. Well, I'm not paying a lot of attention and I find my wife. She's about four rows back, but behind a pillar. I go back there to talk to them and feel something wet on my head. He actually got me from that far away! I smile, wave, and send my third daughter to sit with grandpa in the front row. I was a little sorry about interrupting this guy's performance, but people were walking around, coming in, talking anyway, and I really wanted all three girls to have a chance to sit up there together. I bet he gets all kinds. He was really good at juggling. More on this later, but I'd read that the lead of Quasimoto was played by a student from the university where I work, Brigham Young University.

After Hunchback we're heading over to EPCOT and lunch at that little Norwegian bakery! We stop at the package pick up to get the ToT picture and it's not there. The CM takes my receipt and runs over to ToT to get it. He takes a real long time and comes back with two pictures instead of one. He had an extra made up "for our bother."

Since EPCOT has been open for a long time and we're heading for World Showcase, we decide to park in the Beach Resort parking lot. The walk through the hotel and along the waterway is very pleasant and it gets us to World Showcase in a lot less time than parking in outer reaches of the EPCOT parking lot and hiking through Future World.

We have open faced sandwiches and RING CAKES for lunch. Then we do China and its whiny time, so we head back to the hotel. We have reservations for the Hoop-Dee-Doo Review so we have to keep our naps short today.

We leave plenty of time to get to Fort Wilderness, pick up the bus to Pioneer Hall, and discover that although we have reservations, they want us to pay for the show before hand. Had I thought about this I would probably have figured it out. We could have done this at our hotel and saved a lot of time. The computers at Pioneer Hall are out to lunch and it takes forever to pay. Meanwhile, my family browsed through the petting farm, fed the goats, and saw "Minnie Moo" the cow with a not so-hidden Mickey on her side. I'd made reservations 14 months ago and stipulated that we needed a table up front so my daughter can see the action. They do an excellent job with a table in the second row in the center. We all really enjoyed this show. The food, as has been reported, is good, but no spectacular. But you're not doing this for the dinner. You could get a much better dinner for less money at the Wilderness Lodge in Artist's Point. You're doing this for the show, and it is a very good show. We really loved it. The music was good, the acts were very funny, and I think the whole thing well worth the money (in Disney terms, that is).

After the show we make a mad dash back to the Disney Studios to see the Osborne Lights. They took the residential street in the backlot and about 4 million lights, most of which some from a private collection in Arkansas, and make an absolutely incredible display. You can hardly believe your eyes. This collection was displayed in a residential community in Arkansas, but was declared a nuisance and ordered taken down. Apparently the owner took the issue to the US Supreme Court and lost. Disney offered the studio's backlot and that's where they are this year at least.

I was amused that they were selling hot chocolate and putting fake snow on people's heads. It was probably about 68 degrees. At that point it was snowing for real at home in Utah. If that was all the snow I had to deal with, I'd be a happy person.

11/28 - Thanksgiving Day

We knew Thanksgiving Day would be a mad house in the parks so we stayed away and scheduled a character breakfast at Artist's Point in the Wilderness Lodge. We got there a little early and had to wait. We were all really impressed with the lodge! I've seen the lodges at Yellowstone and Yosemite, which were the inspiration for the WL. I have to say that neither Yellowstone or Yosemite can live up to the standard set by Disney in the WL. The main lobby is magnificent. The atrium goes up several stories but is supported by huge poles which are carved. There's a stream which starts in the lobby and runs outside, over a waterfall, and into a swimming pool. Down by the lake there's a geyser which goes off every hour. My father was so impressed he took a hotel brochure so that he can come back sometime.

At last our table was ready and we were seated. This character breakfast features Pocahontas, John Smith, Governor Radcliff, and most important of all Meeko! The food was quite good and consisted of an "all you can eat" table service. They bring you a plate with breakfast meats, pancakes, waffles, and eggs. If you want more you just ask for what you want. Of course, the most important part of the meal was Meeko! At one point Meeko was to lead all the kids in exercises, but he didn't want to. He tried to run away, but John Smith caught him by the tail and made him come back. All the kids go together and did the Meeko dance. I've always wondered who does those characters? They must have some acting or mime experience because they show a lot of emotion and character without saying anything. Meeko was great.

Next we went shopping to the Disney Market Place, and World of Disney store. There had been several times in the parks we'd seen things we liked and postponed getting them thinking they'd be at the World of Disney store. Sehlinger in the "Unofficial Guide" even recommends this approach. In reality, we found that the World of Disney store did not have all of the things we found in the park. For instance, 101 Dalmatians was just being released and the parks had some really cute shirts. We expected to find them at the store, but the store had a very limited selection of only about five styles of adult sized shirts. We ended up going back to the parks to get what we wanted.

Advice, if you see it and you like it, get it and have it delivered to your room if you're staying on-site.

After our spending spree, we dropped my dad off at the hotel and we went to Blizzard Beach. Typhoon Lagoon was closed for refurbishment. It was a little cool, about 65 degrees and almost no one was at the water park. The girls liked the wave pool, which kept everyone happy for about 45 minutes. Then we went on the river around the park. I really like how long it was and the cave you go through. Next we did Teamboat Springs, a family raft ride. At the end of this my smallest daughter was shivering so we got hot chocolate all round. What a strange picture this was, five shivering people drinking hot chocolate at a water park. We finally decided this was a little silly and went back to the hotel for naps.

Remember the trouble we had with our ToT picture yesterday? They misplaced the original and gave us two copies because of the mishap? Well, just as we're arriving back at the hotel, a CM shows up with the same picture! We now have three copies of the darn thing. Well, that's probably for the best, now each girl can put one in her album of the trip.

At 6:00 we had dinner reservations at Artist's Point. At the requisite 60 days I was making all of our meal reservations. Due to brain fade on the day of making the reservations for Thanksgiving, I completely forgot until about 3:00 pm. The first reservation for 6 by then was at 9:00 pm. This is a little late for us, so the lady helpfully suggested that I make two reservations for 3 at 6:00 which she could do. I was a little concerned about this because I was not prepared to sit 3 nine year olds at some table separate from us, but didn't want to break up the adults either. When we arrived for our reservations (oops, did it again, I mean "priority seating") I explained our problem. The maitre'd was very understanding and said that he'd take care of it. We were seated, after a wait, at two tables pulled together.

The setting for dinner was outstanding. The dining room itself has glass around it. Although it was night, the waterfall and stream outside were lit. We were right next to the window and thoroughly enjoyed the view. Because it was Thanksgiving, they offered a nice traditional dinner, but I spied a better choice on the menu. They had a salmon, seared with a maple glaze which sounded incredible. It came with couscous and nicely stirfried vegetables. I never pass up a good salmon. Everyone else was traditional. We also had a very nice appetizer of smoked salmon, buffalo meat salad, scallops, and goat cheese (I could have passed on the goat cheese). If you like salmon, make an effort to go to Artist's Point. The desserts weren't as good as the dinner.

We waddled out of Wilderness Lodge and headed back to the Disney Market Place for more shopping, and then back to the hotel, which was feeling a lot like "home" by now.

11/29 - Kennedy Space Center

Because my father is traveling with United on a "pass", he leaves today so that he has half a chance of getting home before Sunday's rush.

I grew up in the 60's watching the space program (boy, does that date me) and have always wanted to see the Kennedy Space Center.

But first, we had another character breakfast at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian. This one is with Mary Poppins and assorted Disney characters. Again, we were a little early and had to wait for our table about 25 minutes. We spent the time admiring the Grand Floridian itself. For my taste, I think that the Wilderness Lodge is more interesting. I'm sure that the service and accommodations at the GF are superior to the WL, but the WL seemed more relaxing.

For the Character Breakfast they plant Mary Poppins in the foyer of the restaurant so that everyone can get pictures. We waited in line and got a couple of good ones of the girls with Mary. How would you like that for a job? Stand here with all these kids and let fawning parents take pictures while you get facial cramps from smiling demurely and saying poppins-ish things. I'm sorry, I guess the Disney magic has worn off. I really thought it was cute at the time.

The breakfast is different than at Artist's Point in that it is a true buffet. The food is also a cut above that at Artist's Point. They had a larger selection of items, including blintzes! I'd found my breakfast, blintzes with strawberry sauce. They also served real fresh squeezed orange juice, which we had in quantity. The characters were Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Chip. I had my picture taken with Pluto who had always been my favorite as a kid.

Then we're off to KSC. The drive is about an hour, but you get to stop and pay tolls constantly. I was amused to note that the first toll was $.25, then $.50, then $1.00. There was a fairly good crowd there, but we got on a bus tour within 15 minutes of getting to the front of the ticket lines (about 45 minutes). The bus tour was fun, but they never let you get real close to anything or get off the bus at any of the launch sites. We also saw their 3D Omnimax movie. I was expecting the Omnimax movie to surround me, but it was just on a very big screen in front. Again, the 3D had to be discussed with my daughter. I'm glad I went, but I don't think I need to go again.

We get back to the hotel at about 5:00, have dinner at the food court and go swimming in Old Man Island. We're tired and ready for the mother of all Disney days tomorrow!

11/30 - EVERYTHING IN THE WHOLE PLACE

We bypass early entry today and go directly to the Disney Studios. The park opens at 9:00 and we're there by 8:15 and are immediately admitted. We go to get in line for the first showing of Indiana Jones. In our previous visits to the studios we've missed most of the shows. Today we're going to see what we can do. Well, not only are we first in line, we're the only ones in line. This is a little silly. My wife sends me off for breakfast. I find "Starring Roles" and get cinnamon rolls for everyone. (Really good!) Then I take the girls over to Star Tours for a third ride. We walk straight on. By the time we get back a line is beginning to form so we join it.

Because of my daughter's pass, we get to enter the theater before the rest of the crowd and pick out some seats in the front. Before we sit down we notice that they are all wet, so we take out some napkins and dry them. Then some CMs enter and start drying all the seats in the theater. They must hose them down as a part of the cleaning process in the morning.

<< Possible spoiler ahead >>

As we're waiting and the crowd is coming in, a cleaning lady wanders on stage mopping up some stuff. Her back is to us and she goes over to one of the statues and starts brushing its teeth and cleaning its nostrils, all the while singing the Indiana Jones theme with a really bad voice. She turns around and jumps, having just "discovered" that we were all there. This was "Rosie" and she decided that she'd talk with us. I can't possibly convey how funny the whole thing was. At one point she was going to give this guy about half way up a big kiss for having helped. She starts smearing on this thick red lipstick and we hear the shark theme from Jaws. It was a hoot. She's getting closer to this guy and he's really getting nervous, the music is building to a crescendo and she plants a big one right on top of his bald little head. The audience loved it. The guy didn't look real happy. I think the audience liked it so much because it wasn't one of us she was doing this to.

<< Spoiler off >>

I really, really liked the pre-shows. In fact, I'd almost say that the pre-shows were as good as the main shows.

After Indiana Jones we rushed over to Beauty and Beast. Again, my daughter's pass got us into the second row. I won't go into details, but again, there was a really surprising pre-show which was very enjoyable. The show itself was short and not as good as "Hunchback." If you weren't familiar with the story you'd still be at sea after seeing this show.

During the show, I kept on looking at Gaston, thinking that I'd seem him somewhere before. I couldn't see how it would have been one of the other shows since they conflicted with this one and he couldn't have been in both. Then I struck me, I'd seen him in some student productions at BYU! It was primarily his mannerisms which clued me in. We'd seen him as the wolf in "Into the Woods" and the pirate king in "Pirates of Penzance" and loved his performance in both. Recently I'd been a little disappointed that we hadn't seen him in a while and wondered what happened to him. After the show we went up to a CM to confirm who he was. At first she wouldn't give, maintaining that he was Gaston. Then she told us his name, which my wife remembered. (She remembers names. I remember faces and voices. We make a good team.) It was really funny to find him at WDW!

Now we were off to EPCOT to finish off the countries. Again, since it was mid-day and we were headed for World Showcase, we parked at the Beach Club. We were hungry for lunch and didn't want to brave the crowds in the park. We asked if there was a sandwich shop in the Beach Club resort and were directed to "Beaches and Cream", a small ice cream parlor which also served sandwiches. We walked right in, took a table and ordered lunch. It was much more relaxing than fighting for lunch in the park. We noticed that they had really good sundaes. Take note of this for later.

Once we're in the park we clean up all the countries we haven't seen yet. The highlight was getting pictures with Tigger in the UK. Eventually we get around to Norway and hear our name being called by the ring cakes! One more round for everyone is in order!

It's about 4:00 by now and we had promised the girls that we'd all go to swim at Old Man Island at our hotel again, so we leave by way of the International Gateway, stopping at Beaches and Cream for just a little something to build our strength. The sundaes are absolutely huge! My wife and I decide on sharing a Mud Slide (chocolate brownie, vanilla ice cream, lots of fudge sauce, and Oreos), the girls share a No Way Jose (peanut butter topping, chocolate ice cream, fudge sauce). Again we just walk in and sit down rather than waiting around as we would have in the parks.

After our swim we head into the home stretch at Magic Kingdom. We arrive about 10 minutes before the 8:00 parade. There's no way we're going to get through Main Street, so we take the train to Adventure Land and do Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain (for the third time and my wife insists that I mention that she's the one leading the charge for Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain. I can't get her off them!), then the Haunted Mansion (better at Disneyland), the Jungle Cruise, and on our way to see Time Keeper we get trapped by the parade again. There's no way around it so we find a good place to watch and wait it out. After the parade we go to Time Keeper and walk on.

Now the park is closing and we head out to the main entrance. The line for the TTC monorail is a mile long again, but we're parked at the Polynesian so we hop on the resort monorail without waiting and are back at our car in no time.

12/1 - Discovery Island, Going Home (sniff, sniff...)

We've used up our 5 day world hopper passes, but as a part of our package they had included individual tickets to Discovery Island. We decide to sleep in (at last something like a real vacation) and have breakfast at the food court. (I pine for the buffet at 1900 Park Fare.) We pack, do a little last minute shopping at Fulton's store, fix a minor problem with our bill, and leave the hotel for Fort Wilderness.

After the constant running of the last 8 days, this is a very nice change. We take the bus out to the dock at Pioneer Hall and wait about 10 minutes for a boat to come. The day is clear, we can see the Wilderness Lodge across the lake, and we're really relaxing now. On Discovery Island we head straight over to the reptile show. One of my daughters is totally fearless around these cold blooded beasts. The herpetologist doing the show at one point asks for volunteers and my daughter just about jumps out of her seat. Fortunately he called on her. Her job was to feed eggs to a 5 foot water monitor (looks like a Komono Dragon, just a little bit smaller). She loves it, we get some great pictures, and daddy's glad he wasn't any nearer the beast than he was. Then we hustle over to the bird show and when that's done just take a walk around the island. The aviary had a large flock of scarlet ibis which live up to their name. Even against the pink flamingos they were incredibly bright.

We reluctantly figure that we need to be off to the airport. I'm a bit of a nervous traveler and decide that since we aren't familiar with the Orlando airport, or what the crowds will be like checking in (I've seen check-in lines that were over an hour long at Salt Lake airport), we're going to arrive about 2 hours before our flight. The drive back to the airport goes without getting lost. I ignored the signs pointing to routes I was unfamiliar with and relied on my map. We get there, turn in the car, and check in quite quickly. As you'd expect for the Sunday after Thanksgiving, the plane was packed. The rest of the trip was uneventful and we were very sorry to be home.

The Lund Family Comments about a WDW Vacation.

** Staying on-site has real advantages.

1) We got more accomplished in the first two and a half hours from early opening to the hour after the official opening than we did the rest of the day. 2) Having a resort ID allows you to get very creative about where you park. The main parking lot for a park is not usually the best place to leave your car unless you are at the beginning of the day. 3) At least for us, naps are essential, and having a quick retreat saved time.

** Our Favorite Restaurants.

Artist's Point for dinner. I personally recommend the salmon! - 1900 Park Fare Character Breakfast. See if Mary is still there and have the blintzes! - Beaches and Cream at the Beach Resort. A very nice lunch and mid-afternoon snack near or on the way to EPCOT. - Akershus in Norway at EPCOT (if you like northern European food). - Norwegian Bakery in Norway at EPCOT. RING CAKES!! - Hoop-Dee-Doo Review. The food is OK, but the show is great!

** For Visually Disabled Persons.

Get the special access pass at any park guest relations office. - People with low vision; get the pass and use it!

** Maps

The Unofficial Guide recommends writing for a property map. This was the best map we had. It even helped us find a "back door" into the roads surrounding the Magic Kingdom so we could avoid using the main entrance.

A good second is AAA's "Orlando and Southern Metropolitan Areas" map which includes a special inset for WDW. The only problem is that it doesn't show where the guard gates are, which roads are limited access (e.g. the roads into and around Fort Wilderness), and where the hotels are located.

** Dixie Landings

We were really pleased with this resort. The grounds are "wild" around the Alligator Bayou section and manicured around the plantation houses. The rooms were large enough for a family of 5. The kids didn't mind the trundle bed. There are quiet pools near the clusters of rooms and a larger pool with a small water slide in the middle.

** Thanksgiving Crowds

In general the crowds could have been a lot worse, but it was by no means a complete walk-on for all the rides. I had heard from friends that the days BEFORE Thanksgiving were very light, but I don't think that I'd characterize them as such. They were definitely do-able, but long lines at popular rides were the rule during most of the day. Obviously after Thanksgiving was a real crush.

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