Trip Reports

• Time of Year: Holiday Season
• Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
• Resort: Port Orleans
• Accommodations: Standard Room
• Ages Represented in Group: Adult
• WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
• Comments: Terry and his wife spent a few days at WDW and concluded that they wouldn't return! Read the report to find out why...very interesting point of view. Even though I disagree with Terry's conclusion, he says some nice things about my web site, so he must be an ok guy.

Preliminary

Cast of characters : Terry Ratliff, age 29, Registered Pharmacist, my wife Linda, age, 31 Purchasing Agent. We have been toying with the idea of going to WDW for about 2 years, finally in Feb. 96 we booked the trip for Dec. 5-12 1996. I bought a copy of Birnbaum's and the Unofficial Guide to WDW. I also read the entries on RADP, and read a lot on several internet sites. My favorite site was Brian Bennett's Trip Planning Resource, especially the trip reports. Well after waiting for 10 months the time for the trip was at hand.

Day 1 Dec 5, 1996

We awoke about 3:30 am for our 7:30am flight out of DFW airport. The early morning was uneventful as was the flight, except for quite a bit of turbulence. We arrived at OIA at 10:50am. After deplaning we had to catch a shuttle to the main terminal. We walked up to the baggage claim area and our luggage was already coming around. Mears shuttle was located right outside of baggage claim, and we only had to wait about 3 minutes for a shuttle bus to pick us up. It took about 25 minutes to reach P.O. All totaled it only took about 45 minutes from the time we left the plane until we were putting our luggage in the room, I was extremely impressed. We arrived at P.O. at about 11:35, I was not expecting our room to be ready, but it was we were given room 1325. This room is in building 1, which is as far away from the bus stop and food court as you can get, this didn't't bother me though. What did bother us is that this nonsmoking room reeked of cigar smoke, some people can be so inconsiderate, so we called housekeeping and they brought us a can of odor neutralizer, this worked wonders after about one day the smell vanished. After dropping off our luggage we went to Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory, which is the food court at P.O. We each had a cheeseburger platter and a large soft drink, the bill was $11.70. The food was not great, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting after reading all the trip reports of other people. After lunch we caught a bus to Epcot, it was about a 5 min wait for the bus, and then a 15 min ride to Epcot.

We arrived at Epcot at about 12:15, we rode Spaceship Earth first, we were able to walk right on. This ride was a kind of human history ride, it was a pleasant ride. After that we went over to The Universe of Energy, and were able to walk right in to a just beginning show of Ellen's Energy Crisis, the show and dinosaur ride was just OK, but the sound system was awesome. Then on to Horizons, I heard this ride has been refurbished, apparently someone forgot to refurbish the sound track, it was awful. The ride itself was sort of boring. The ride also broke down halfway through and we had to wait about 2 minutes for it to restart. Next we went over to the Living Seas, if you like aquariums you will love this pavilion. We spent about an hour here. Then we went over to The Land, we were going to ride Living With The Land, but the line was very long room for a well deserved rest.so we went over to Journey Into Imagination. We went over to see HISTA, we had to wait about 5 min to get into the Kodak commercial, oh I mean pre-show. This show was very, very good. My wife almost had heart failure when the "mice" went running through the theater. After we exited it was beginning to sprinkle so we went into innoventions to the Pasta Piazza. We each had a slice of cheese pizza, I had a large soft drink and my wife had water, the total was $8.70.

We then went over to Mexico and rode El Rio de Tempo. The fireworks at the end of the ride were very good. We went over to Norway to ride Maelstrom, but the line was very long. It then began to rain so we ran over to the Odessy restaurant for cover. About 10 min later it began to let up, it was now about 5:30. Since we had been up since 3:30 am we decided to call it a day. We caught a bus back to P.O. and stopped at the food court, we split a brownie sundae, it was the largest sundae I have ever seen, more than the 2 of us could eat. We then went back to the room.

Day 2 Friday Dec 6, 1996

We awoke about 7 am, got ready, and had some breakfast at the food court. We then caught a bus to MK. We arrived at MK at about 8:30, we waited at the bridge to Adventureland. At 9:00 we went into Adventureland and toured the Swiss Family Treehouse, then over to the Jungle Cruise, we were able to walk right on to a waiting boat. Next was Pirates of the Caribbean, again no wait, then over to see the Country Bear Christmas Show, this was by far our favorite attraction of the day. We then went over to the Haunted Mansion, maybe I read to much, but I was very disappointed. We were then going to ride Peter Pan, but the sign said it was a 30 min wait so we went over to Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café for lunch. I had the Chicken Caesar salad, very good $5.95. My wife had the grilled chicken sandwich $4.95, she said it was also good. After lunch we went to the Timekeeper, this was a lot of fun. We then went to Take Flight, this was very boring, then over to the Carousel of Progress, the ride was ok, but it broke down half way through the middle and we had to wait about 5 minutes for the ride to restart. We then went over and rode the TTA, I liked this ride a lot. One small note, I am absolutely terrified of heights, so I do not ride roller coasters or rides like Splash Mountain. Overall my wife and I were disappointed with the MK. It was now about 1:00, so we took the monorail over to the Contemporary Resort. There was not much to see there so we monorailed on over to the Grand Floridian, the christmas tree in the foyer was very impressive. I would estimate that at the base of the tree the branches were at least 30 feet in diameter, and that it was probably at least 50 feet tall. We spent about and hour there going through the stores, we then monorailed back over to the MK, then caught a bus to P.O. We then took the boat over to the Disney Village Marketplace. We spent about an hour in the World of Disney, we then went over to Pleasure Island to see Planet Hollywood. We split a Margarita Pizza, the bill was $15. We then caught the boat back to P.O., after a rest we decided to have dinner a bonfamilles. I had the Prime Rib, my wife had a chicken dish, we each had a large glass of water. My wife also had Key Lime Pie for dessert. Everything was wonderful, the total was $31.29, we then went back to the room to rest.

Day 3 Sat Dec 7, 1996

We got up about 7:30, got ready, and caught a bus to MGM-Studios. We arrived at about 9:00 am. The first thing I noticed was that Earful tower was painter to look like Dalmatians. We entered the park and went straight to Star Tours, we only had to wait about 2 minutes. Being that I am a Star Wars/ Star Trek fan this ride quickly became my favorite. We then went over to Muppets 3D, I thought this was much better than HISTA, the old men in the balcony were a hoot. We then went over to the Monster Sound Show, I enjoyed this. It was now about 10:40, and since we hadn't had breakfast we headed over to the Sci-fi dine in. I had heard a lot of negative reviews, but I personally thought the food was very good, however it was a little pricey. I had the mega-burger $10.40, my wife had the ½ pound hot dog$8.75, we each had a soft drink, and my wife also had a hot chocolate, the total bill was $24.75. After lunch we went to the Great Movie Ride, this was pretty good. After we exited the theater it was beginning to rain. The weather forecast had said it would be 81, with a 30% chance of showers. It was actually about 60 and the rain made it feel very cold, since we were in shorts, so we decided to go back to the room and change clothes. We changed clothes and caught a bus back to MGM. Just before we got off the bus it began to rain a little harder, I started to ask my wife if she wanted to ride the bus back to P.O. and then back to see if the rain would let up, but I didn't. We got off the bus, BIG MISTAKE. About halfway to the entrance it began to pour, even though we were wearing ponchos, by the time we made it to the ticket booths by the main entrance we were soaked from about the mid thigh down. Our shoes and socks were also soaked, as the water was running about 2 inches deep on the ground. About 45 minutes later the rain finally stopped and we caught a bus back to P.O., ironically this was our longest wait for a bus the whole trip, about 35 min, it seemed even longer being that we were so wet. It was about 3:00 when we returned to P.O., and beginning to rain again so we decided to just stay in and rest. There were several football games on this afternoon so it wasn't to bad. It was still raining off and on at dinner time so we ordered a pizza from the Sassagoula Pizza Delivery. It was very large, and very good. $17.85 for a 16" cheese pizza and 2 cokes delivered. We watched more football into the evening then went to bed.

Day 4 Sun Dec 8, 1996

We slept in and leisurely got ready, we then caught a bus to MK. We then took the boat over to the Wilderness Lodge, we had 11:30 priority seating for the Whispering Canyon Café. We were seated about 11:45, we had the all you can eat sampler. It came with roasted chicken, pork ribs, fried cod nuggets, corn on the cob, and baked beans, it was very good. We each had a soft drink, the total bill was $28.04. We wondered around the lodge a bit, then caught the boat back to the MK. As we were boarding the boat we learned that there was a power failure at the MK. When we arrived at MK, they were letting anyone in with any kind of a ticket because the scanners weren't working. Once inside we took the train from the Main Street station over to the Frontierland station, and then went over to Tom Sawyer Island. We had to wait about 30 minutes to get over to Tom Sawyer Island, and we didn't stay very long. We had an apple pie and ice cream at Aunt Polly's Landing, $4.85. We then went back across to frontierland for the 25th anniversary parade, this was our first encounter with pushing or shoving of any kind. We enjoyed the parade, but we began to notice that there were a lot more people here than there was on Friday. I had intended to stay for Spectromagic, but my wife and I just didn't have anything to do in the park for 3 hours and I didn't want to fight the crowd leaving the park after Spectromagic so we went back to P.O. We got back to the room at about 4:00, right when the Dallas Cowboys were kicking off, we won the game, although it was a rather uninteresting game with the Cowboys winning 10-6. However since both Philadelphia and Washington lost we were in first place in the division. We had the left over pizza from the night before for dinner, then we watched the Sunday night football game and went to bed.

Day 5 Mon Dec 9, 1996

We got up about 7:00 am, got ready, and caught the bus to EPCOT. We arrived at EPCOT a little after 9:00am. Just an observation: If you stay at Dixie Landings I would advise staying near the South Depot. The buses pick up first a P.O., then head to the four stops at D.L. Only 2 times did a bus we were on make it to all 4 stops. Most of the time the bus would be full after picking up at P.O., or after the first stop at D.L. which is the South depot. Well anyway the first thing we did at epcot was to ride Body Wars. I was a little concerned after reading how rough this ride was. My fears were completely unfounded, this was the tamest motion simulator ride I have ever been on. Next we went to Cranium Command, this was very good. We then went to the Electric Umbrella for an early lunch. I had a cheeseburger, fries, and a large coke. My wife had a grilled ham & cheese sandwich, a small coke, and a hot chocolate, total was $12.70. After lunch we went to Norway and rode Maelstrom. Then we went through the rest of the countries. Actually I would sit in the sun, it was rather chilly out, while my wife would go through all the stores. We got to America and saw the American Adventure, we both thoroughly enjoyed this. Afterward we went to the Liberty Inn for dessert, I had apple pie with ice cream, and my wife had a drumstick, total was $6.57. We did the same thing through the rest of the countries, and saw O'Canada, I wasn't really impressed. We then went over to The Land to ride Living With the Land. We had to wait about 20 min, but it was worth the wait. It was now about 3:00, so we went over to Innoventions and played Sega games until about 6:00, we then headed over to Mexico. We had priority seating for 6:30 at the San Angel Inn, they were telling people who were walking up that they couldn't be seated before 9:00. We were seated at about 6:35. We usually don't eat Mexican food other than places like El Chico, so we didn't recognize much on the menu. We finally decided what we would eat and dinner was very good, we each also had dessert. The total bill was $60.14. My wife and I both make very good livings, but I must admit this was the most expensive dinner we have ever eaten, our previously most expensive meal was about$40 at the Outback Steakhouse. Well it was about 7:45 now and we were both tired, and it was getting rather cool outside so we grabbed a bench inside the Mexico pavilion and waited until about 8:30, then we went outside and found a good spot to watch Holiday Illuminations. This was a very impressive show. Illuminations ended at about 9:10, and a huge throng of people headed for the exits. We caught the 3rd bus back to P.O., and were in our room by 9:45. I have to say that I was very impressed with the way Disney can move so many people so quickly. As we were in line for the bus as far as I could see they had busses lined up waiting, and as soon as one filled up and left another would pull in to take its place. Well as you might guess when we got back to the room we watch a little Monday Night Football before going to sleep.

Day 6 Tues Dec 10, 1996

We awoke about 8:00 and leisurely got ready, we left about 10:00 and caught a bus to EPCOT. We arrived at epcot at about 10:15, we entered the park and very slowly began walking to the World Showcase. When the world showcase opened at 11:00 we walked through the International Gateway and over to the boardwalk. We had to wait a few minutes until 11:30 for the ESPN club to open up. We then had lunch. We both had the Slider burger with cheddar cheese and bacon, we gave the burgers 2 thumbs way up. The total bill with 2 soft drinks was $21.36. I highly recommend lunch or dinner here. After lunch we walked all the way around the boardwalk and the Yacht and Beach Clubs. We then re-entered epcot and went out the main entrance and caught a bus back to P.O. My wife wanted to go back to the Village Marketplace so she caught the boat to the marketplace while I went back to the room. The long day yesterday was beginning to get to me, so I laid down about 1:00, I don't remember when I went to sleep but I woke up about 4:00. My wife returned about 4:20, and I was feeling a lot better so we decided to go to MGM to see the Osborne lights, We caught the bus to MGM and arrived at about 5:00. We walked on to Star Tours and rode it twice back to back. We then walked over to Residential Street and sat on a bench and waited for 6:00. The lights were unbelievable, it would be very difficult to describe how incredible the light display was. After walking through very slowly we made our way out of the park to the bus stop. We had to wait about 30 mins for a bus, we got back to P.O. at about 7:15. We had dinner at the food court. I had a double cheeseburger, fries, and a large diet coke, my wife had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich off of the childs menu and a small coke. The total was $9.16. We got back to the room about 7:45, and watched a little college basketball and then went to bed.

Day 7 Wed Dec 11, 1996

We awoke, got ready, and caught the bus to MGM, we arrived at about 10:30. We went over to see the Magic of Animation tour, we had to wait 10 minutes, it was kind of boring to me. Then we went over to the Commissary for lunch. The trip package we purchased included 1 flex coupon, and we decided to use it here. We each had a ½ pound mega burger, fries, soft drink, and apple pie. The total would have been $20.56, it was nice of Mickey to pick up the tab for lunch. After lunch we walked right in to the 12:15 Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular show. It was excellent, highly recommended. However I must confess, I would probably stay in the theater for 30 min if they just played the theme music from the movie, I really love that music. After Indy we made it across the parade route, we were just not in the mood for another pushy, shovey parade crowd, over to the backlot tour. The tour with Catastrophe Canyon was very good, the heat from the flames made it seem very real. After the tour we slowly made our way to the exit, we were leaving our last park for the last time. We caught the bus back to P.O., we stopped at the food court on the way to the room. I had a mickey bar and my wife had a Nestle Crunch bar, both were $1.59. About 6:00 we went over to the food court for dinner, I had the chicken ceasar salad and my wife had cream of mushroom soup and breadsticks. The total was $9.76. I was very impressed with the variety of food and baked goods available at the food court. We made 1 last trip through the Jackson Square gift shop, I selected a couple of magazines for the flight home, we came back to the room to pack, then went to bed.

Day 8 Thurs Dec 12, 1996

Mears picked us up at about 10:00, had an early lunch at the airport, and had an uneventful flight back home.

Final thoughts

I want to begin by saying my wife and I had a wonderful time, this was the best trip we have ever been on. But I must admit that we were both a little disappointed, I probably had read and studied to much in preparation for the trip and our expectations were way too high. We are both glad that we took the trip, but also agreed that we probably would not go back. Our favorite rides are motion simulation rides, and there are only 2 at WDW, and Body Wars is not very good.

Now for my very pleasant surprises. At each park we went to there were several Foreign tour groups, after all the negative things I had read this concerned me. All of these groups were well behaved I never saw anyone in any of these groups pushing or shoving their way to the front of the line or chanting or anything of the sort. Also I was never ran into by a stroller, nor did I see anyone else ran into with a stroller. I must also commend Disney on its fantastic transportation system, it amazes me how well Disney can move so may people so quickly. However, I do remember the frequent look of disappointment on the face of people staying at D.L. upon getting on an already full bus and having to stand in the aisle to ride to the park. For this reason alone I would not concider staying at D.L. Another pleasant surprise was the lack of lines, only once did we have to wait more than 20 min for a ride, however the number of people in the parks did seem to be increasing every day. There were however some disappointments. The largest disappointment for my wife and I was the Magic Kingdom, most of the ride seemed 25 years old.

Granted I realize we did not ride the 4 most popular ride: Space & Splash Mountains, BTMRR, and Alien Encounter. My wife was also very disappointed with most of the rides at epcot saying that they were boring. We spent about $1700.00 for the room, airfare, and unlimited admission to the parks, and added about $700.00 in food, tips, parking at the airport, and souvenirs for a grand total of about $2400.00. Again overall we were pleased, but probably will not be going back. Our favorite type of ride is the motion simulation rides, we went to Las Vegas in Oct 94 and rode the Secrets of the Pyramid in the Luxor hotel, and Deep Earth Exploration at the MGM Grand Theme Park. Both of these rides are much better than either Star Tours or Body Wars. We are planning a return trip to Las Vegas some time in either Nov or Dec 97. The Las Vegas Hilton is currently constructing a new attraction called Star Trek: The Experience. This is supposed to include the most realistic motion simulation ride ever created, I can hardly wait. I want to add 1 last thing to all those planning your first trip to Disney. Don't put your expectations to high, and I guarantee you will be very pleasantly surprised.

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