Trip Reports

December 14th to December 20th 1997

Introduction:

Participants:

Me (Mike) – 26, Groom, Tour Guide
Becca – 25, Bride, Happy Companion
On December 31st 1996, I proposed to my now wife, Becca. She accepted and approximately 3 days later we were at AAA booking 7 days, 6 nights at the Caribbean Beach Resort with the Food ‘n Fun plan.

December 14th:

Arrived at the new Buffalo Airport with my new wife at around 6:30. I’m very excited about the trip I can hardly keep still. Becca’s excited to but still very tired. The new airport is nice, but I am not very impressed with it. Other than the impressive entrance it isn’t any nicer than the original airport. Checked in at the desk and told the woman at the counter it was our Honeymoon and she bumped us up to first class, the only place that it did happen. The flight was good from Buffalo to Pittsburgh, the flight from Pitt to Orlando, though, had a lot of turbulence, I did not know if Becca was gonna make it, but she pulled through.

Finally landed in Orlando at around 11:30. I can hardly wait. The Airport was really nice. They sure let you know you are in Orlando, Disney everywhere, In the stores, on the walls even hanging from the ceiling. Off to the baggage claim, which was easy, our bags were first, then to the Mears shuttle van. I do not know how they know what is going on, it was very chaotic. We finally were loaded and off to Walt Disney World.

A short twenty-minute drive and we passed through the gate on to Disney World property. Our first stop was the Caribbean Beach Resort. This resort was beautiful, everything looked perfect. All the "Islands" were magnificent. Each one had its own color theme and different trim pieces that made each of them unique.

We were dropped off at the customs house where luggage services took our bags as we checked in. We walked right up to the check-in desk without a wait and we were given our original room in Aruba. When we booked our honeymoon we requested a king size bed but were told when we checked in that they did not have one available. We told her that we were on our honeymoon and would like to have one, and after a couple of calls we had our new room in Jamaica with a king size bed and a garden room for no extra charge. All you have to do is ask. Unfortunately the "surprise" I arranged was waiting for us in our original room. That’s O.K. I figured that it would be in our room later today or tomorrow.

Finally in our room. It’s better than I imagined. Very tropical, lots of pineapples on the furniture. The view is great. We have a corner room so that means we get two windows looking into the courtyard. While Becca unpacked and rested I took a walk over to Old Port Royale to get us something to eat. A quick turkey sandwich and we were off to EPCOT at around 5:00.

This was my first time at EPCOT in about 10 years and seeing it at night was incredible with all the lights combined with the futuristic architecture was incredible. What was even more impressive than the structures were the fact that we walked on to every ride with no wait that was great. The rides were pretty good. Spaceship Earth, OK; Body Wars, OK; Cranium Command, Great; Ellen’s Energy, Very Good and Honey I Shrunk the Audience, Great. By now EPCOT was closing so we watched a very festive Illuminations.

By this time we were pretty hungry so we headed to Downtown Disney (along with everyone else) to hit Planet Hollywood. Overall I was pretty happy with the Disney Transportation system. Downtown Disney was pretty neat, we took a quick look around and went right to PH where we were sat right away. What a cool restaurant, and the food was really good too. When the bill came I just whipped out the food and fun card and everything was taken care of, even the 15% tip. It was nice not having to deal with money while paying for dinners; just whip out the plastic and everything is taken care of. By now it was pretty late so we went back to Jamaica to get some sleep for the Magic Kingdom tomorrow.

December 15th:

Up early today (we have a big day). It’s about 10:00 and we are heading off to catch the bus to the MK. As we walk up you notice the park all decorated for the holiday season (although it does not seem like Christmas without snow but oh well). We make our way down Main St. and head over to Adventureland where we walked right on Pirates. Then we head over to Tomorrow land to catch Timekeeper, Take Flight and Carrousel of Progress while the park is empty.

After Carrousel we dodge the cold raindrops and head over to Cinderella’s castle for lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table. We were the second party seated in the room and were given "the best seat in the house". It really was a great view, right next to the glass looking into Fantasyland.

After lunch we walked around a little, but it was very cold (around 50) so we headed back to the CBR to rest a little and get ready for dinner at the Poly. The people at the Luau had other plans though, not only was the Luau canceled because of the weather but the special surprise was not in our room so I headed to the customs house to ask them about it while Becca was in the shower. At the customs house I rescheduled the Luau for Friday and asked why the surprise was not in the room. Barbara told me that they were very sorry but promised me they would be in the room tomorrow. She could tell I was upset and told me to charge our dinner back to the room and she would have it taken off our bill. When I got back to the room I received a call from Barbara and she told me that she got us reservations at the Rainforest Cafe for 7:00, which is awesome ‘cause RC does not take reservations.

So we headed to Downtown Disney and walked right into RC. The atmosphere was amazing with fake animals and fake trees. The food was outstanding; we ordered everything expensive because CBR was picking up the bill. After dinner we went through all the stores in DD. We ended up getting a few things and had them shipped back to our room (I love that). The Lego store was so cool and the world of Disney store was huge and had everything.

December 16th:

I was really excited about today because we were going to MGM Studios. I have never been there before and was looking forward to a new park. Walking in to the park was like walking into a movie set. All the buildings look as they were used as a backdrop for a shoot. The first thing I wanted to do was the Tower of Terror because there was no lines. This ride was awesome and very spooky. Next was on tot he Little Mermaid show. This show was amazing, the lighting, the effect and the show itself was very entertaining. After LM was the Backstage Tour, which was O.K. If it was not for the catastrophe canyon it would be kind boring.

We had just enough time to squeeze in the Beauty and the Beast Stage Show. It was pretty good, luckily Becca was there to explain what was going on. After the show we had to hurry to get our 11:45 reservations at the primetime 50’s cafe. The lunch was really good, I had the chicken potpie, and it tasted very homemade. The atmosphere was very funny the way they made it seem like you were back home eating at your mom’s house. After lunch we headed off to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. This was a really good show and very informative the way they explained what they were doing and how the stunts are done. Next we headed over to Star Tours, which made me dizzy, and then to the Muppet 3D, that I really enjoyed. By now it was getting late so we decided to browse through some of the shops. I checked the tip board and saw there wasn’t a wait for the TOT so I headed there for one more ride. Boy I love that ride.

We headed back to the CBR at around 3:00. Finally the surprise was in the room. I ordered a bouquet of tropical flowers to be delivered to our room. Becca loved them. Tonight was our first fancy dinner; we had 7:00 reservations at The California Grill.

We arrived at the CG at around 6:45 and asked for a window seat. The receptionist told us that all the window seats were taken. We were kinda bummin, so I mentioned that we were on our honeymoon and we really wanted a window seat to see the fireworks. She told us that if we wanted to we could sit in the lounge, which I think was the best seats in the house. The restaurant was very modern and very impressive, but the view from the 15th floor of the Contemporary Resort was even better. It was breathtaking, all the brilliant lights in the Magic Kingdom, along with the resort lights and the lights of the boats along the lake was beautiful. Before the dinner got there we walked out on the roof top lounge to get a total unrestricted view of the resort grounds. It was the most incredible view in the whole resort. Dinner was delicious, and right as we were about to finish the lights dimmed and the music began and we watched the fireworks from the best seats in the park.

After dinner we wanted to check out some resorts so we decided to go to the Boardwalk. This resort was incredible. It was set on a small lake looking out to the Yacht and Beach Resort. The hotel had a wooden plank walkway that separated it from the lake. The Boardwalk was very busy, especially since it was 10:00 at night and about 50 degrees out. There were restaurants and specialty shops in the hotel with street performers on the boardwalk. We headed over to the Swan and Dolphin to see what Graves could do here, apparently not too much. Although the interior was interesting and fun with its unique ornaments, the exterior is nothing more than a painted wall.

In order to get back to CBR; we had to catch the bus over to Pleasure Island, so we decided we’d talk a quick walk through to see what it’s like. It was very dead, but it was still pretty cool. It was just like a few city blocks were dropped next to the lake. Nobody was there (probably because it was about 45 deg. out) but it was still awesome. They had a DJ booth right on the intersection of the two major crossroads that you could see from the street that pumped out the music into all the streets to set the mood.

December 17th:

Becca was very excited for our breakfast today. We got up around 9:00 and headed over to the MK for our Winnie the Pooh character breakfast at the Crystal Palace. We made our morning trek to the bus stop and once again saw the Jewish couple at the bus stop, we run in to them every day. The bus soon came by; the busses are still running pretty good, no major waits. Anyway, on to the MK. We pass through the gates and walk out on to Main St., and are greeted with the organ music competing with the sound of the trains passing by, while the smell of the Main St. bakery’s fill the air with sweet smells. The streets of Main St. are lined with Victorian style buildings taking you back to a small town street in the turn of the century. Main St. is my favorite part of not only MK but of the whole Walt Disney Resort. We had a little bit of time so we took in Alien Encounter before our breakfast. This is a great ride, but it’s the kind that will never be as scary as the first time you went on it. By now it was time to eat, not soon enough either.

We made our priority seating at The Crystal Palace and were seated at the side facing Adventureland. What an awesome view of the Castle and its beautiful landscaping surrounding it. The food was really good. It was our first "real" breakfast since we got there, and lucky for us it was buffet. The restaurant had a very warm setting with all the sunlight coming in through the all glass structure and plants were hanging off of all of the columns. Tigger and Eore were walking around the restaurant while Pooh was at the foyer standing in front of the floral foyer so the kids could see him as they come up to get there food.

After breakfast we headed out through Adventureland on our way to Tom Sawyer Island. This was really fun, although we went the wrong way. It had a lot of fun hands-on things to do. I really liked it but Becca was kinda cold so we took the next ferry off the island and headed out of the park where we grabbed a bus to Port Orleans/Dixie Landings to take advantage of our Food ‘n Fun pass.

We got off at PO and headed through the resort to the marina. We grabbed a canopy boat and loaded on all our gear. The free rental for the hour we had the boat saved us about $44. The boat ride was one of the most enjoyable part of my vacation. First we headed up river to Dixie Landings. This was a really nice resort. All the buildings were designed to look like a southern mansion. DL wasn’t too far away so we turned around and headed back past PO. It was an enjoyable trip down a winding river with little inlets along its banks. One of the rivers took us to the Old Key West Resort that you can buy vacation time in. Nice idea but its way too much money and we live to far away. After cruising by the OKW to headed down to Pleasure Island to take a look at it during the day and then we set our course for PO.

By now it was getting to be a little late so we headed back to CBR to get ready for our big dinner at Victoria and Albert’s. We had 7:15 reservations and found the restaurant just in time to make our seating. The restaurant was very exquisite and also a little smaller than what I expected. We had our own V&A who waited on you hand and foot. The dinner was a 7-course meal that had just about every kind of meal there is, cold appetizer, warm appetizer, soup, main meal, etc. The whole dinner took about 2 hours, but it was very nice. The atmosphere was very elegant, with the architecture, harp music and the flower arrangements. After our $150 dinner we took a little walk around the Grand Florida to see how the other half live. It was a beautiful hotel that was decorated in a Victorian Christmas fashion. We had originally wanted to head out to PI but by the time we were done with dinner and walking around the hotel we decided to just call it a night.

December 18th:

I woke up around 8:00 this morning and headed out on my own. I wanted to make it to he Wilderness Lodge for the architectural tour they have every morning. I took the bus to the MK and wanted to grab the ferry over to WL. In my excitement to see the tour I ended up getting ready very early and had about a half-hour to kill. I decided I’d go into the MK and check out Main St. and get a little bite to hold me over till breakfast. MK was awesome. I think this is my favorite part of Disney World. After quick danish I was off to the WL. This was my first time visiting this resort and I was very impressed with it. I had only seen pictures of it on the Internet, but it was more beautiful than the pictures had shown. It was very authentic, and made me feel like I was in the northwest.

The tour was fascinating and the guide was very knowledgeable. It started in the lobby then made its way by the pool. After he pointed out some interesting facts about the exterior we headed down to the docks, pointing out certain foliage along the way. While we were on the docks the boat that Becca was in pulled up, perfect timing. We joined up together and walked back to the resort with the group. By this time it was getting close to our reservations for breakfast at Whispering Canyon. We said good-bye to the guide and went to the restaurant. This was one of those restaurants where the waiters and waitresses were loud and obnoxious, trying to embarrass you. I didn’t really enjoy the atmosphere but the food was great.

After breakfast Becca relaxed by the pool while I visited the facilities. Evergreen foliage and a creek that appeared to drain into the pool surrounded the pool. There was also ducks that were waddling around the deck and then went for a swim. We both really loved this resort and I think we’re gonna try and stay here in fall of ‘99.

We grabbed the fairy, what a beautiful ride this is, and headed back to the MK to catch our bus back to CBR. When we got back to our room we got into our swim gear and made our way to the bus stop to Blizzard Beach.

Blizzard Beach was the most amazing water park I’ve ever been to. The Imagineers really outdid themselves with this park. Every aspect of the park had a ski lodge reference. The park was really empty, probably because it was a little on the chilly side, about 65 deg. Since Becca doesn’t like public water it was pretty understanding of her to go here, knowing I was gonna go on every water ride there. She wanted to go on a few of the calmer rides, so I talked her in to going on the lazy river. Well needless to say the water was really cold, I convinced her to stay on it for a whole lap, although it was tough.

After that experience Becca had had enough of the water and told me to go on the slides myself, that she’d grab a lounge chair by the wave pool. This park is incredibly fun when there’s no one here. There wasn’t a long line for anything. My first ride was a timed double dip, which I was really slow on. Next I went on the toboggan races and the slalom course, walking right on everything of course. BCE and I then walked to the water slides and made the long trek up to the top. I loved jogging by all the signs that said 45 minute wait from this point that was great. After about a half-hour on the slides I decided it was time for the big rides, Mt. Gushmore.

I went on the double dipping slide first. As it turns out this was actually scarier than Summit Plummet. It gave you three dips, the third one I actually became airborne for a second. Next was the last ride of the day, Summit Plummet. After the LONG walk to the top I stood up there trying to get a glimpse of the drop but you can’t see anything till you start to fall. What a rush. I met up with Becca, got changed and we headed back to CBR after a great afternoon.

We decided that we were gonna grab dinner at the CBR food court thinking that we would snack at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. After diner we took a nice relaxing walk to our room and enjoyed the atmosphere. After a short rest we got bundled up and headed to MK for MVMCP.

We got to the gait around 7:45 to find they ere already letting people into the park. We headed toward the lockers to unload some junk and walked out right onto Main St. in front of the Christmas tree. Main St. was incredible, every character was out to get pictures taken with them. They even made it snow on Main St. and had the smell of cinnamon in the air.

We made our way tom Tomorrowland and had our picture taken at the family portrait kiosk along the way. We also grabbed some complimentary hot chocolate and cut out cookies. The Night Before Christmas was just about to start in the theater so we sat down to watch a little. The show was really good, a little long though so we ducked out to see the parade. The parade was the same one as the one the show on Christmas morning.

After it was over we walked through fantasyland to hit some rides. At this point the park was starting to thin out. We went on pirates again then made our way to Thunder Mountain Railroad. We still hadn’t been on Splash Mountain, and after a little persuading and telling Becca she could wear my coat so she wouldn’t get wet we walked right on. Sure enough we walked off almost as dry as we were when we went on. By this time it was getting pretty late so we made our way to Fantasyland for the carousel and Snow white, and then went to Tomorrowland to go on Space Mountain. The park was pretty empty when we got out, probably because it as 1:00, so we took a casual stroll down Main St. and caught the bus back to CBR.

December 19th:

Our last full day at WDW. Since we had such a late night on Thursday we slept in a little to rest up for our day at EPCOT. We had a coupon for a free breakfast at the CBR food court that we used to hold us till our Luau. The breakfast wasn’t the best but it was free. We caught the bus to Epcot and we were on our way. Today was a beautiful day, probably around 70 deg, so us northerners were in out summer gear. We were really suprised to see so many people with jeans and sweatshirts on; they must have been boiling. We started at Canada and made our way around the lake counter clockwise. The countries all had amazing architecture. In England we got to meet Mary Poppins. She was pretty happy to see Michael Banks again. I tried to put my arm around her for a picture but she slapped my hand.

France was also an interesting country. We saw the movie which was great and had some French pastries. Next was our favorite country, Morocco. The architecture was incredible. Everything was tiled and the shops had some great merchandise, I felt like I was in the middle of Aladdin. A few other things we really liked in the showcase was the Japan and China pavilions, their architecture was amazing. Norway was really cool too. The Maelstrom ride was neat. It wasn’t really that great of a ride but since it is the only one in WS, besides Mexico’s, it seems a lot better than it really is. Mexico was also a great pavilion. The Imagineers placed it indoors to control the lights letting it seem like a Mexican street front at night. The only thing I didn’t like about the WS was the smell at the German restaurant, I really thought I was going to get throw up.

We finished the WS at around 3:30 and caught the bus to CBR to get ready for dinner. Tonight was finally our Luau. Being so close to Christmas the parks were starting to get really crowded. We didn’t take that into account and got to our room really late. We rushed to get bundled up and took the bus to MK to take the monorail to the Polynesian Resort. We finally got there about 15 minutes late, of course the Luau was at the furthest point of the resort from the monorail. The hostess greeted us and took us to our seats. I don’t know how it happened but pair of front row seats were reserved for us.

The show was incredible. The dancers were so talented, and the food was really good too. The luau lasted about three hours and was very entertaining. At the very end of the show the dancers came out into the crowd to grab "volunteers" to dance on stage. I had a funny feeling about this and sure enough I was picked to go up on stage. As I was up there my dancing partner took me backstage and put a grass skirt on me. I didn’t think anything about it at the time, but when we came back out we were the only two people on stage. It was really fun being on stage, I tried to look for Becca but with the lights I couldn’t see anyone. Our dance finally ended and I got a big round of applause as I walked off stage.

After my performance the show ended and we walked around the Polynesian Resort to take in the atmosphere. This is a really beautiful resort and I enjoy taking in the atmosphere every time I come to WDW. It brings back memories of the time I stayed here in ‘79. We only stayed for a short time, ‘cause dinner ran so late and we wanted to go to Pleasure Island.

This being our last night we went to PI to club hop. This was a really fun place, it would have been even more fun with more people but we still enjoyed ourselves. The countdown to midnight was fun, but what I really loved the fact that they had shot girls walking around the streets and they were selling drinks in booths set up along the street. We did go into a couple of clubs, the 70’s club was really fun, and the dance club with the revolving floor was packed. We also hit the beach club, I liked the music here the best, any club that plays Beastie Boys is OK with me. After our club hopping it was about 1:00 and we headed back to CBR for our last night there.

December 20th;

Our last day at WDW. We had called Mears the day before and everyhting was all set for that so, we got our luggage together and called the baggage service to hold our luggage. We also decided to check out early which proved to be a great idea later. After check out we were off to enjoy what was the most beautiful day of our trip, of course it’s our last day. We noticed that we still had almost $100 on our food ‘n fun and we wanted to get our money’s worth so we headed to the Polynesian resort to rent a boat. We rented a water sprite with no charge, about a $25 savings, thanks FnF. Becca didn’t really enjoy the ride, she felt to close to the water. I loved it; I’ve always wanted to rent a sprite from PR.

By this time we were pretty hungry and I wanted to find out if the Concourse Steak House really did have the best burgers as I had read. They were very good. We totally went all out this lunch; it’s nice when money doesn’t matter. We each got two shakes, appetizers and even a Rueben sandwich for the flight home. The food was great and I would definitely eat there again. After our huge lunch we walked over to the MK for one last visit. Walking up to the park it was obvious that it was only a week from Christmas, the place was packed. We walked down Main St. buying a few snacks. There were way too many people on Main St. so we decided to take one last train trip around the park and head out. The train was a nice way to end our trip to the parks then we grabbed the bus back to the CBR.

We went to Old Port Royale to grab more snacks & use up the rest of our FnF money. After the food court we strolled over to the customs house along the lake, taking a quick break to relax in a hammock along the lake. We said our good-byes to CBR and walked over to the customs house to grab the Meals shuttle. Luckily we had checked out earlier, customs house was very crowded because of Christmas season.

We quickly got loaded up on the shuttle and we were on our way. It was a pretty quick, and quiet, ride to the airport. We checked in and the lady at the counter told us there was a flight for Pitt leaving in 20 min. that we could catch so we didn’t have to 1 1/2 hours wait for our flight out of Orlando. We left Pitt and landed in Buffalo right on time.

Mike Banks

rsbarchitects@worldnet.att.net

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