Trip Reports

TRIP REPORT ("HONEY, I SHRUNK THE LINES")
LENGTH OF REPORT
This trip report is 21 pages when printed. Yes, that is pretty long. I'm sorry if it's too long for some of you to read. If so, please ignore it. For those of you who might be interested in it, I hope you enjoy it. We sure enjoyed our trip. I have separated the report into 9 sections, the first of which is this introduction. Enjoy...
SUMMARY
AUTHOR:

• Darren Foster (DFoster@redhawk.cnchost.com)

PLAYERS:

• Darren Foster, visited WDW once before in 1975, (age 31)
• Shana Foster, my wife, never visited WDW before, (age 28)
• Andy & Carolyn Benjamin, our friends from England on their honeymoon, both have been to WDW before.

DATES:

• October 4th thru 13th, 1997

TRAVEL METHOD:

• Flight to Orlando, Rental Car from National

RESORT:

• Wilderness Lodge (While on Site)

ACCOMODATIONS:

• Woods View Room, 2 Queen Beds, 7th Floor

"Paging Mr. Morrow, Mr. Tom Morrow"
WAITING TIMES
Before I get into this report I want to mention one thing. We saw every attraction and rode almost every ride we wanted to over a period of 6 days and never waited for anything longer than 15 minutes. We walked right onto the majority of the rides without any wait at all. I couldn't believe how easy it was.
HINT - AVOIDING LINES: Here are a few suggestions that worked for us. TAKE AN AFTERNOON BREAK: Most Important: If staying on sight, take a break everyday around 1-3pm. You avoid the heat and the lines. Plus, it makes everyone a little more pleasant in the evening. EARLY ENTRY: Either use it or avoid it. If you are staying on site and want to get up early, show up for early entry just before they let you in. After it starts to get crowded switch to a different park. If you don't want to get up early, avoid the early entry parks all day long. E-TICKET: If E-Ticket is available to you, do it. Not only do you get to check out all the popular rides at night, when they are most fun, but you can relax during the day and not feel the rush to get them all in. SKIP THE LINES: If a line is long, skip it. Most likely it will be shorter later in the evening. Don't waste your time in long lines.
THANK YOU
I want to thank everyone that helped us plan our trip. Without the generous support of the Rec.Arts. Disney.Parks Newsgroup (RADP), this trip would never have gone as smoothly. Rarely did we find that a piece of advice given to us by the members of this group was incorrect. Individual thanks to Brian Bennett for access to so many trip reports on his web page (Brian Bennett's Disney Trip Planning Resource Net (BBDTPRN)). Not only were these useful but they helped to pass the time before it was our turn to go. In addition, a very special thank you to Deb Wills, not only for the most comprehensive Walt Disney World (WDW) page on the Internet (Walt Disney World - Information Guide (WDWIG)) but also for always responding whenever I had a question. Thanks to all and I hope you enjoy my report.
GLOSSARY OF TERMS AND WRITING STYLE
In this report I will use some common abbreviations for places and attractions at Walt Disney World (WDW). The first time I use them I will also type in the complete name. In addition I have added a glossary to the end of this report. I will try not to use too many abbreviations, but as I write, I'm sure I will get lazy. I hope this won't cause any confusion.
At the end of this trip report I have also included a ranking of rides and attractions as we see them. I know that many folks may not agree, but this is just our opinion. In addition, as we come to the attractions, restaurants, car rentals, etc. in the report, I will draw attention to each by a bullet point and capitalize the name.
INTRODUCTION
Howdy. My name is Darren and this is our trip to Walt Disney World. We planned this trip for 8 months and shortly into it I became obsessed. I was an avid reader of RADP and I must have hit WDWIG at least 50 times. Last time I was at WDW was in 1975, before they started to build EPCOT. I've wanted to go back ever since. Shana, my wife, has never been to a Disney park. She expected WDW to be an amusement park like Six Flags. I tried to explain what it really is, but as we all know, it's hard to explain the Disney magic. She now understands.
A LITTLE ABOUT US
Shana and I have been married for a year and a half. We live in Overland Park, Kansas (just outside Kansas City). I'm from KC and Shana is from Boulder, Colorado. Our children are Jake & Jess. Jake is a 9-month-old yellow lab and Jess is a 1-½ year old Great Pyrenees. We rescued them both about 6 months ago from different shelters. My parents took care of the pups while we were in Florida. During the day I'm a Manager of Marketing Information Systems for Sprint and Shan is a Benefits Coordinator, also for Sprint. In my free time I play percussion for local civic groups and churches and love to ski and play ping-pong. Shan plays piano and also enjoys tennis and landscaping.
A GREAT WAY TO MEET FRIENDS (Andy & Carolyn Benjamin) About 7 months before our trip we received an EMail from Carolyn Alkin in England. She had seen our name on one of the WDW web sites and noticed that we would be there the same time they were. It turns out that she and her fiancé, Andy Benjamin, were to be staying at the Dolphin for their honeymoon from Oct 1st through Oct. 15th. Since then, we have corresponded via the internet with both of them on a regular basis and have become quite good friends. We decided to meet at the California Grill on Oct. 5th for the first time. They are both about our age, Andy works for the BBC and Carolyn used to work for the BBC, but is currently seeking other opportunities. Andy also plays guitar in a band called "Phenomenon" and Carolyn volunteers for the local animal rescue club. They have no children but do have an older German Shepherd named Bruno.
PLANNING & PREPARATION
Eight months ago we booked a trip with our travel agent. We decided on 6 nights at the Wilderness Lodge (WL), 2 nights at the Villa Nina Island Inn (VNII) on North Hutchinson Island, just south of Vero Beach on the Atlantic, then one night at Quality Inn - Airport back in Orlando. We booked the trip through Delta Dream Vacations. Trip Package for 2 Adults: Our package included 6 nights at WL, Length of Stay Pass, rental car for 9 days, and roundtrip airfare from KC. Package price: $2300. I know it was pretty expensive, but I must admit, the trip was well worth it.
Since then I had been doing constant research on the area. I booked three priority seatings at WDW restaurants. Shana & I don't often eat out at expensive restaurants and we could save a little money by eating at nice restaurants only occasionally. I booked our other lodging, finding both on the internet, and I scheduled the "Keys to the Kingdom" tour for four (including our new found friends from England, the Benjamins).
The week we were to leave was finally here. We packed our bags and I was almost too excited to sleep. The fact is I had so much fun planning that it felt like I had two vacations. In addition, the planning really paid off.
DAY 1 (SATURDAY) - FLIGHT TO ORLANDO / WILDERNESS LODGE / EPCOT
Wake up time, 4:45 am. Yes, it was early. Shan was not exactly happy with me but I didn't want to be late. We packed the bags in our car and headed over to my folk's house to pick up my Dad at 6:00 am. He was wide-awake. My folks actually like to get up at that hour. We arrived at the airport around 6:45 am and my Dad dropped us off and drove our car home. At 8:00 am our flight was pulling away from the gate and we were on our way. We had a short stop in Atlanta where we grabbed a couple of hot dogs for lunch and at 1:40 pm Eastern Time we arrived at Orlando International Airport. All our flights were on time.
We picked up our bags (yes, they all made it) and headed to the car rental…
NATIONAL CAR RENTAL: We had a short wait for an agent. All paperwork was in order and in about 5 minutes we were heading out to our car. We walked down a long line of Cadillacs and Town Cars and came to our beautiful green 4-door Geo Metro. The car worked great except for not having any overdrive. Thus, when we were driving on the highway at 70 mph it sounded like it was in serious pain. All in all, National was easy to deal with and the car worked great. I would recommend skipping out on the gas tank fill-up plan. You have to have the tank almost completely empty when you return the car to make it pay off. I had printed out Deb's directions from WDWIG and followed the Green Way. The drive is beautiful and feels like you are out in the country. If it weren't for the exit signs for WDW you wouldn't know you were there.
WARNING / TOLL: We had to pay tolls a couple of times. Unfortunately at the last toll booth when you exit onto Osceola Parkway there were not any agents and it cost 25 cents. You may not believe it, but we had no change. I had a car behind me so I finally decided to run it. We pulled over and I walked back to the tollbooth but no one was anywhere. We are honest people and it was frustrating to be put in that situation. Thus we drove on and never heard a word about it. From then on we always checked that change was in the car.
We drove down the highway and were awestruck by how quiet it all was. Both of us were amazed and how many trees and how beautiful the roads were in WDW. We expected to be able to see lots of hotels, parks, and other billboards on our way in, but we didn't. By taking the Green Way method from the airport to our hotel, we never saw the real tourist areas until we left 6 days later. We passed exits for EPCOT, MGM and others and drove up to the gates for the Magic Kingdom (MK). OBSERVATION - PARK GATES: Every time we drove through a gate a sign asks you to stop. We do and tell the agents that we are staying at Wilderness Lodge. Sometimes they just wave us through. Other times they look at us confused as if wondering why we stopped. I must admit it was confusing.
WILDERNESS LODGE: After passing through the MK gate we saw our turn for the Wilderness Lodge(WL). The drive up to the lodge is beautiful but it was nothing compared to the lodge itself. From the outside it was remarkable. We checked our baggage and parked our own car. We then walked into the lobby. It was much larger than I had imagined. What an awe-inspiring site. We never became tired of looking around that room. We checked in at the desk. Everything I had asked for was ready. I had called a few days earlier and requested a room on the 6th or 7th floor on the MK side. Since we had paid for a woods view room I read on RADP that this was the best location. They were right. We had room 7058. I also bought two E-Tickets for Oct. 7th and they gave us our IDs and some information on the lodge and the parks. The Cast Member (CM) was very friendly. We walked up to our room and it was great. We had two queen beds, a little desk, and a balcony. Yes, the balcony did have a solid wall instead of wrought iron, but it did have a view of the MK castle, Space Mountain, the Contemporary Hotel, the Grand Floridian and the Polynesian. The room was small, but we had plenty of room for the two of us. In addition, our room was just over the smokehouse and the aroma was wonderful.
After we received our bags and got unpacked we decided to look around the lodge a bit. We were again amazed. The lodge and grounds were so beautifully laid out. I knew instantly that we made a great choice in staying here. We saw the geyser going off and took a look at the pool, docks and other grounds. The animal tracks in the concrete were especially a nice touch.
ROARING FORKS: We walked back up to the Roaring Forks for a snack. I must admit, this was one of the few disappointments of the WL. It was about 3:00 pm and there was still a long line. In addition, you have to wait until you reach the cash register to order any hot food. It took us 25 minutes to finally get a mini pizza and it wasn't very good. The place was also very noisy and crowded since it was right next door to the arcade. We tried to avoid this place as much as possible from then on. We took our pizza back up to our room and rested for a little while.
RADP MEET AT ARTIST POINT: Sorry that we didn't join you all. Joel Raskin left a message at our room when we arrived and we were really tempted to attend. Unfortunately, we had just arrived at WDW are we both were really eager to make it to a park. I hope it all went well and thanks to Joel for keeping us in the loop.
EPCOT
BUS TRANSPORTATION: Shana and I decided to head over to EPCOT. We were really excited to see what this park looked like. We waited about 15 minutes for the bus. This was the longest we ever had to wait for a bus with the exception of E-Ticket night, but I'll cover that later. The bus driver didn't talk at all. Only once did we have a bus driver who told us bad jokes and fun facts about WDW. I wish more of them did. Still, the buses from WL were very efficient. We only used the car for trips to Marketplace / Pleasure Island and to get some groceries. We arrived at EPCOT around 4:00 pm. Spaceship Earth was beautiful but not quite as big as I had imagined. We walked in the front gates and right under Spaceship Earth. I was expecting that at 4:00pm we should not have to wait more than 20 or 30 minutes for some of the attractions and that this would be a good time to see some things and be ahead of schedule.
SPACESHIP EARTH: I saw the queue gates outside with nobody in them but I had no idea how long the lines would be inside, so I asked the CM standing at the gate to the ride how long the wait was. His answer, "How ever long it takes you to walk from here to there." He was pointing to the entry door about 20 feet away. We walked up the ramp and directly onto one of the cars. Absolutely no wait. I was flabbergasted. We both really enjoyed the ride. The end was great and the animatronics were fun to watch. I talked to Shana after the ride and I sensed that she suddenly realized the difference between Disney and everyone else. Our adventure had begun. We exited into the AT&T display, looked around a bit, but didn't try any of the displays. There were no lines in here, but each display had somebody at it and we wanted to head on.
OBSERVATION - STROLLER FRONT LINE: We walked through Innoventions on our way to Living Seas. In front of Living Seas and The Land we saw our first example of a "Stroller Front Line", as I called them. Probably about fifty strollers lined up in front of each attraction. Often forcing us to go around them to get to the door. It was funny to see them all lined up like that. By this display we thought there would be a long line inside, but no… LIVING SEAS: We entered and again walked briskly by the displays in the queue area inside. We watched some of the pre-film and then walked into the other theatre and watched the second film. The hydrolators were a nice affect. They did a good job with them. The ride through the tank was enjoyable. What a huge tank! We walked around the displays a little. We enjoyed seeing the Manatees and a few other displays. After about a half-hour we headed back out through the hydrolators. The whole attraction was nice but I was slightly disappointed. I guess I expected more.
We left Living Seas and walked over to the Land. The balloons in the ceiling and colors of the pavilion were very creative. LIVING WITH THE LAND: Our first line. It didn't look too long so we decided to try it anyway. It only took us about 10 minutes and we were on a boat. It was a very nice tour. I thought it was pretty good and my wife really enjoyed it. She liked the greenhouse sections especially. CIRCLE OF LIFE: We walked up the stairs and decided to try the Circle of Life. We caught the pre-show with only 8 minutes left. I must admit, I was confused on the two Lion King attractions at WDW. I thought this one had the animatronics and live characters. Instead it was only the film. Still, the film was well done and we both enjoyed it for what it was.
LAND CAFETERIA: I'm not sure of the name of this place. We decided to get some dinner at the BBQ place in the Land Cafeteria. We had 2 beef sandwiches, 2 fries, 1 corn, 1 beans and it only cost about $15. The sandwiches were good but the beans and corn weren't that great. Still, not bad compared to what food costs elsewhere in WDW.
We then walked over to Imagination. It was a little after 8:00 pm and people were heading over to World Showcase to get seats for the 9:00 pm showing of Illuminations. We decided to keep doing attractions. We had plenty of time to see Illuminations later.
HONEY, I SHRUNK THE AUDIENCE: There was a 10-minute wait for this ride. We decided to try it. The pre-show was good and we were let into the theatre. The show was excellent. The best 3D effects I've ever seen. The special effects at this attraction were well worth it. We both really enjoyed ourselves.
SPURTING WATER (Don't know official name.) - The water that shoots from fountain to fountain in front of the Imagination Pavilion is a lot of fun to watch. Shana and I were both amazed at how they developed these water jets as we stood there for a while watching them. This is another detail that demonstrates the wonderful Disney difference. JOURNEY INTO IMAGINAITON: We walked right onto this ride. It was very colorful and somewhat interesting, but we both felt it was out of date. I was not impressed by this ride and we both knew we wouldn't be back. What would be a good show elsewhere unfortunately doesn't compare to what else Disney has to offer.
FOUNTAIN OF NATIONS WATER BALLET: We headed back out to the center of Future World and caught the end of the Fountain of Nations Water Ballet. That was a great show, especially at night with the colors and Spaceship Earth as a backdrop.
CHARACTER SIGHTINGS: We wandered into the shop at the end of Innoventions on the Horizons side and saw Chip (or it could be Dale, I honestly don't know) and Pluto. We took pictures with each of them. We then walked up to World Showcase just to check out a bit of Illuminations.
ILLUMINATIONS: Five minutes before Illuminations started we moved through the crowd and stood just at the entrance to World Showcase from Future World. We could see pretty well. The show was impressive, especially the lasers and the way they timed the fireworks. We watched for about 10-15 minutes but we were really dead on our feet so we started back out. We didn't miss much because just as we hit Spaceship Earth the show ended. I was glad because we beat the crowds out and caught a bus back to WL right away.
We got back to the lodge and to our room around 9:30pm exhausted. It had been a long day and I wanted to get up early to catch MGM early entry.
Shana went to sleep and I stayed up a little taking notes for my trip report. Good Night…
DAY 2 (SUNDAY) - MGM STUDIOS / HOTEL TOURING / CALIFORNIA GRILL
Woke up at 6:00am. This was the day that I started to acquire my nickname as "Sergeant" from Shana. I think she wasn't too happy that we woke up at 4:45 yesterday and again at 6:00 today. I promised her, though, that she would have breaks everyday and other mornings she could sleep in. Anyway, we left the lodge at 7:05 am and caught a bus right away. We arrived at MGM at 7:20 am, walked down the street to the roped off area by 7:25am. We walked all the way up to the rope. There must have been only 100 people here waiting. At 7:30 they dropped the rope for Early Entry and we headed for the Tower of Terror.
TWILIGHT ZONE'S 'TOWER OF TERROR': As we walked down Sunset there were three bell hops in front of us walking at an average pace and the entire crowd had to stay behind them. This was a great idea. It kept it from being a rat race to the ride and allowed us to take in a little of the surroundings on our way down the street. We walked right inside the hotel. Nice lobby. We watched the pre-show and headed through the boiler room to our elevator. No wait at all. Sat in the back row of the elevator. This ride was a lot shorter than expected, but still a great ride. I didn't expect the elevator car to move forward. The mechanics of this ride are amazing. I never saw the eye that I read about in RADP, let alone the reflection of us. When we reached the shaft, we had one short drop, then two long drops. It was awesome. I loved it. Shana liked it but was more cautious of rides later in our trip. She wanted to make sure no more floors would drop out. For me, this was the best ride so far.
THE GREAT MOVIE RIDE: We walked back down Sunset to the Great Movie Ride. Again, we walked right on. I couldn't believe how long the queue was inside. No time to see the movies in the pre-show considering there was no one in there. We climbed into the back of two cars. The front one stayed empty. It was a fun and entertaining ride and was about what I expected. The gangster scene had live action and the actor was a lot of fun.
STAR TOURS: It was now 8:15am. Still time before others are allowed into the park. We headed over to Star Tours. We walked through almost all of the queues. Again very long. We did find a short line but only had to wait less than 10 minutes before we were assigned a shuttle. I have been on this ride before in DL and remembered it. MOTION SICKNESS: Unfortunately, we soon found out that simulator rides and movie-motion rides make us a little uneasy. Both of us closed our eyes during parts of this ride. As I've gotten older, I've found myself more likely to get dizzy on those types of rides. On roller coasters I do fine, but when there is a movie screen in front of me that makes you feel like you're moving, I start to feel a little ill. Anyway, the ride and special effects were great and it was one of the best queue areas so far. As we left I was a little queasy and Shan was feeling worse.
MUPPET VISION 3D: We rested a little outside and decided to check out Muppet Vision since it was a show and not a ride. If the film bothered us, we knew we could close our eyes. We walked into the pre-show area and it had just started. Shana and I are both huge fans of the Muppets and had been looking forward to this attraction for a long time. The pre-show was great. I loved how they used the multiple video screens. We entered the theatre and we felt like we were in the same theatre from the "Muppet Show". The 3D effects weren't as good as "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" but the humor was wonderful. We both loved this show and would have done it again in a heartbeat.
STUDIO'S BACKLOT TOUR: Shana was still feeling a bit uneasy but I was feeling much better. We joined the line for the backlot tour. In about 10 minutes we were taken to the pre-show. This was pretty funny. It was fun watching the volunteers take unexpected revenge on each other. We then walked quickly through the prop room and boarded a tram. I was sitting in the back seat on the right side. We took the tour of the sets and saw the Golden Girls and Empty Nest houses. We drove through the costume department. Along the way we could see them putting up the Christmas decorations already. Then of course we arrived at Catastrophe Canyon.
WARNING: WETNESS ALERT: As you board the tram they mention, after kidding a while, that the left side of the tram will be the wettest. This was true for all but me. In the very back seat of the tram, the water that landed on the top of the tram had a tendency to curl under the roof, back in about a foot and then drop. Essentially, it soaked my entire right side. Fortunately, I was holding my camera in my left hand. I had no warning that this was going to happen. Oh well, that's show business.
The tour was fun but I must admit the Universal Studios tour I took about ten years ago in California was even better. I was somewhat disappointed by this tour but it was still enjoyable.
We decided to slow down a bit. We wandered down the street and saw that they were shooting the Apollo series for HBO. Unfortunately, they did not have any open sets today so we moved on. Ahead was the animation tour and we decided we would try it.
ANIMATION TOUR: We walked into the queue and there were only 4 people in front of us. We soon realized that we just missed the previous tour. Still, we only had to wait 15 minutes and then we were taken inside. The pre show with Walter Cronkite and Robin Williams was hilarious. We then took the tour of the offices. Unfortunately, it was a Sunday so nobody was working. Still we did get the presentation by a Disney animator and it was fun to see how quickly he could draw some Disney characters. They were currently working on the movie "Milan".
It was about 11:00 am and we were getting hungry. We walked around for about 20 minutes trying to decide what we wanted. PRIME TIME CAFÉ: We walked over to the Prime Time Café and asked them if we could get in. We could, no reservations. The interior was pretty wild. The wait staff was great but our waiter was sort of calm. I actually appreciated this because at this time neither of us were up for abuse. Food was okay, but really expensive. I'd have to say that it wasn't worth it. Oh well, we tried it.
As we left the café we noticed that there was a long wait for a table. Good timing again. We then saw all the confetti on the street and realized that the Toy Story parade must have just gone by. That's okay, we weren't really interested in it. We walked around a little and saw a few shops and then decided it was time to head back to WL for a break. We caught a bus within a few minutes and were back in our room.
Shan decided to take a nap and I took some more notes. Shortly after we got to the room it started to pour outside. Someone must be watching over us because our timing was impeccable. It really started to come down and I couldn't see more than maybe 50 feet from our room. WEATHER: We were pretty lucky with the weather during our trip. While we were at WDW we had warm days, even a little too warm some days, and little rain. Only two times did we see rain. A couple of days the heat was in the 90s and the heat index was in the 100s. This didn't bother us too much because we usually took a break in the middle of the afternoon. We were almost always comfortable in shorts and T-shirts. When we went down to North Hutchinson Island for a couple of days the weather turned ugly, but while we were at WDW, it was beautiful. GOODINGS SUPERMARKET: After about an hour or so the rain let up and we decided it was time to get some snack food for the room. I know there were a couple of grocery stores mentioned on RADP but the only one I could remember was Goodings. We walked outside and asked a bellhop how to get there. In typical Disney fashion he ran over, grabbed a map, and highlighted the back way to the store. It worked great. We bought some summer sausage, crackers, canned cheese, cherry balls, pop, and other stuff. This helped a lot and really saved us some money. You can sure tell the difference in service though. Compared to CMs, the employees at Goodings were down right nasty. We returned to our room. Perhaps other grocery stores might have been less expensive.
At about 5:00pm we decided to go hotel hopping. We had priority seating at California Grill at 6:30pm where we would meet Andy & Carolyn for the first time (see "A Great Way To Meet Friends" at the beginning of this report for more info on Andy & Carolyn).
POLYNESIAN HOTEL: We took a bus to the Polynesian Hotel. Beautiful grounds and hotel. Shana wasn't too fond of the orange color on some buildings, a little too 70s. Still, everything else was beautiful. Also, being on the monorail route makes this resort our 2nd favorite only to our own WL. We were really impressed. We decided to hop on the monorail and take it to the Grand Floridian. We followed signs to the monorail from the grounds of the Polynesian and kept walking, and walking, and walking. Before we knew it we were back at the Ticket & Transportation Center (TTC). Why they would put signs for the monorail leading you to the TTC at the Polynesian which has it's own monorail station is beyond me.
MONORAIL: We climbed aboard the monorail at the TTC and by mistake we boarded the one that goes non-stop to the MK and back. This was okay though because riding the monorail was lots of fun. We tried a couple of times to get up front but there were either people already there or already waiting for it. Anyway we returned to the TTC and switched to the MK monorail that stops at the hotels and we took it to the Grand Floridian.
GRAND FLORIDIAN: We walked into the lobby at the Grand Floridian and it was very beautiful. Unfortunately, they were doing kids games in the lobby and the leader was on loudspeaker. It was very loud and annoying. We walked around the grounds and saw the beach and pool. I must admit we weren't impressed. I thought it would be a lot grander than it was. Oh well, it only makes the WL look that much nicer. It's also a bit too Victorian for us. We much prefer a more country, laid back atmosphere. CONTEMPORARY HOTEL: We hopped back on the monorail and headed to the Contemporary. I was still so impressed at how the monorail enters the grand lobby of this hotel. That is still amazing to me. The hotel looks like it was decorated by the Jetsons in that 70's, futuristic style now prevalent in Tomorrowland. It was interesting and well done, but still not our style. A little too much concrete for us.
It was about 6:10 pm by now and our seating was for 6:30 so we headed for the elevator. Our plan was to have dinner and then head out to the catwalk to catch 8:30 show of MK fireworks.
CALIFORNIA GRILL: I checked in with the hostess and thought I might ask her if a window table was possible. She said they wouldn't have one until 7:15. We decided that 7:15 would be good. This would allow us to relax at the lounge for a while and have a window seat for the fireworks. Shana and I sat at a table at the window in the lounge and waited for the Benjamins. They showed shortly after 6:30 and I recognized them from the picture they had sent us. It's funny, shortly after we started talking we felt like old friends. At 7:15 we were called to our table, right on time, but we were in no hurry. We had a nice table by the window. What a great view from up there. We could see most of the Magic Kingdom and all of the resorts on the bay. We ordered two flatbread appetizers and I had the Tuna w/Chili Seasoning for dinner. My dinner was excellent. Some of the others weren't so excited about their meals. The dinner was very expensive but the setting was wonderful. Our CM (waitress) was Sheila and she was great, the best so far. She had to explain most of the things on the menu because we didn't know what half of it was. All in all, I felt it was a great experience. MAGIC KINGDOM FIREWORKS: At 8:30 they turned down the lights in the restaurant. I had no idea that they would also have the music from the park piped into the restaurant. It was great. At one point the CMs at the restaurant were all singing in unison to the music. It was really funny. The show ended and we went back to our drinks. Later, around 9:00pm we were still at the table and I could see Illuminations off in the distance. We even saw part of the Floating Electrical Parade. We left around 9:15 and decided to walk around the hotel a little. Andy & Carolyn had driven over to the Contemporary so they gave us a ride back to our hotel. It was a very nice evening and we really enjoyed spending time with the Benjamins. Shana and I both looked forward to when we were to meet up with them again. We both went to bed and fell asleep instantly.
DAY 3 (MONDAY) - EPCOT / MARKETPLACE / PLEASURE ISLAND
I woke up at 6:30 am. I don't need as much sleep as Shan so I flicked on a light and started to take more notes. I thought it would be a good idea to let her sleep in so maybe I could eventually lose my title as Sergeant sometime soon. Shan woke up around 7:30 am. We left around 9:00 for EPCOT. Early Entry was at MK today so we thought it would be a good day to hit a different park. We caught a bus immediately and were at EPCOT around 9:20 am. We headed over to the other side of Future World that we didn't do the first night with Energy, Life, & Horizons. ELLEN'S ENERGY ADVENTURE: We walked right into the pre-show area without any lines. The pre-show was good. Ellen was funny and was a great comedian to host this attraction. We walked into the theatre and watched the movie. It was enjoyable but once the cars started to move it really became fun. I enjoyed the whole production but it wasn't quite what I expected. I had heard that the animatronic Ellen was one of the most advanced, but it was only in a very short scene that we drove by quickly. Did I miss something? Anyway, it was a good show. Afterwards Shana was feeling a little uneasy again due to the large screen movies.
We walked over to the Wonders of Life pavilion. Looked around. We saw Body Wars but neither of us were up for that at this time. We also saw the Making of Me entrance but felt that we pretty much knew how that worked by now. Thus we turned and decided to check out Cranium Command. CRANIUM COMMAND: I was pleasantly surprised by this attraction. I didn't expect much going in but I must admit it is one of my favorites. Great combination of movies and animatronics. The comedians used as parts of the body were hilarious and definitely made this a great show. We both really enjoyed it.
HORIZONS: We left Wonders of Life and walked right onto Horizons. There was absolutely no wait. They were running the ride with many empty cars. This was a long ride and I was again pleasantly surprised. I liked the visions of the future. On this ride we selected the desert sequence. Great educational show.
We left Future World and headed for World Showcase. We walked towards the Canada side and came right up to the rope. It was 10:50 and we forgot that it didn't open until 11:00 am. We grabbed a hot dog and drink at a local stand, which made me feel a lot better. The hot dog was actually very good. In 10 minutes the rope dropped and we walked right into World Showcase. We decided to walk straight through to America to catch the American Adventure. We did take our time though and took a couple of photos along the way.
THE AMERICAN ADVENTURE: We arrived at this show at about 11:15 and wandered around the lobby until they let us in for the 11:30 show. I couldn't believe the huge crowd. There were only 22 people in the theatre for this show. I kept kidding Shana that I was getting tired of these long lines. It was an ongoing joke between us for the rest of the trip. The show was good. All the animatronics were very well presented. I must admit that I wasn't as moved by the ending as I had expected to be. It was a good show, but not such an inspirational production as I had been told.
We left America and walked down along the Mexico side. ITALY: The displays and shops were nice. We were really tempted to by some chocolate but it was too early and we were afraid it would melt before we got around to eating it.
GERMANY: Lovely area. I was tempted this time by a brat & a beer, but we decided to move on. They were celebrating Oktoberfest here but we were too early to catch any of the festivities.
CHINA: Beautiful architecture all around China. We decided to skip the movie for now and maybe catch it another day. We did decide to stop here and grab lunch.
LOTUS BLOSSOM CAFÉ: I had some fried rice and Shana had a Chicken dish. All in all it was pretty good food for the money. It was an open-air restaurant and birds were flying around inside. A very nice place to take a break.
NORWAY: Great Display. We looked around and decided to ride the Maelstorm.
MAELSTROM: We walked right onto the ride. It was a fun ride but much shorter than expected. We exited and went in to see the movie. I must admit it was much better than expected. I would have been happy to see it again. I really enjoyed seeing the beauty that Norway had to offer. MEXICO: Beautiful architecture. The Myan temple was pretty impressive. The interior was even better. It reminded both of us of "Casa Bonita", if you've ever been to one. We looked around for a while and really enjoyed ourselves.
EL RIO DEL TIEMPO: We again walked right on to this ride. It was nice but they used far too many videos. I much prefer the artistry they put into animatronics.
After we finished that side of World Showcase we decided to head over to the other side. We took the boat back up to Morocco and walked up to Japan.
JAPAN: Great display and architecture. They were getting ready to start some music but we decided to head on.
MOROCCO: I really enjoyed walking around here. The alleyways made you feel like you were in a different land. In addition, the musicians and belly dancers were performing. We stayed to watch for a while. I was really interested in the different instruments used in each country, and, well, the belly dancers were pretty fun to watch too. FRANCE: We decided to skip "Impressions de France". The restaurant and other parts were closed for refurbishing. The area was very nice. CHARACTER SIGHTING: I ran into the Esmerelda from Hunchback. Shan took a picture of me with her. This was fun but her wig looked very fake. UNITED KINGDOM: United Kingdom was very nice and friendly. A place where you'd just want to stop by and have a brew at the pub. CHARACTER SIGHTINGS: Right as we walked into the UK I saw Alice. Shana took a picture of me with her. As we walked around to the back we saw Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eyore, Piglet, and the Mad Hatter. I took a picture of Shana with Eyore and Tigger.
CANADA: Probably one of my favorites. I loved the waterfall and the way the whole place was set up. I took a couple of photos here and we wandered around a bit.
O' CANADA: We decided to catch the film and walked down to the entrance. We waited about 10 minutes and went into the theatre. This was a very beautiful film. It definitely makes you want to visit there. Well done. It was the perfect use of the Circle Vision 360 technology.
After we hit all of the countries we decided to head back to the hotel for a much-deserved break and headed back to Future World. NASA SPACE EXHIBIT: We had read in some brochures that NASA would have exhibits around EPCOT this week and as we walked back into Future World we noticed a display outside. It was a replica of the Sojourner module from the Mars Pathfinder Lander. A scientist was there operating it by remote control through a terrain they had built to resemble the Martian surface. It was fascinating to watch him work the module and to see it up close as it recognizes rocks and maneuvers around them. FOUNTAIN OF NATIONS WATER BALLET (2nd Time): As we moved on we noticed that the Water Ballet had kicked off again. This time, though, it was daytime and there was a CM dressed as a wild conductor leading the ballet. He was hilarious. We stayed and watched the rest of the show. SPACESHIP EARTH (2nd Time): As we walked by Spaceship Earth we noticed again no line. So, we decided to ride it again, our second time. Still a very good production and this time we noticed a lot more details.
We left EPCOT after that, caught a bus right away and headed back to WL. We were pretty hungry when we got back to the lodge so we decided to get a bite.
WHISPERING CANYON CAFÉ: We grabbed lunch here around 2:00pm. I ordered the all you can eat BBQ plate and Shana had a sandwich. Both were very good. The restaurant was pretty vacant but our server was a lot of fun. He was having a great time with the two little girls at the table behind us and it was just fun to watch them. The girls were so cute. We bantered back and forth and had a great time. This is a fun place to eat and as I understand it gets even rowdier during normal meal times.
At 6:00pm we decided to leave for Downtown Disney. We drove the back way since we passed it before on our way to the grocery store. We decided to drive due to suggestions from RADP. We arrived and parked pretty close to Marketplace. We walked around and did a little shopping. WORLD OF DISNEY: This store is very large and we came back to it twice later to buy some stuff, but didn't this time.
DISNEY CHRISTMAS STORE: There was a little Christmas shop open next door to World of Disney that had a lot of nice ornaments and other great things. Shana and I both love the Christmas season. RAINFOREST CAFÉ: The Rainforest Café was hard to miss. We walked by it and saw the big volcano on top. We walked in the shop and looked around a little. There were a lot of people outside already waiting for tables, or should I say safaris. It looked very interesting but we knew it would be a long time before we could get a table.
It was about 7:00 pm and we walked into Pleasure Island. Unfortunately most of the nightclubs had private functions and didn't open until 9:00pm. We decided to head on to the new West End and check out what was there.
PLANET HOLLYWOOD: This is a very impressive building on the outside. I have no idea what it looks like inside considering this was the longest line I believe we saw the whole trip. We decided it wasn't worth it, so we moved on.
VIRGIN RECORDS MEGA STORE: We walked into this store and listened to a few different albums. It was still very quiet around here and after a little browsing we decided to look further.
BONGOS CUBAN CAFÉ: We saw this from the outside. The architecture was very open and looked like an island mansion.
HOUSE OF BLUES: We saw this also from the outside. The water tower sign was really cool.
We also walked into the Magnet store and a few others. It was a little after 8:00pm and we walked back to Pleasure Island. MISSING LINK: We stopped by a little food stand in Pleasure Island called the Missing Link and I had a Sausage. I was kind of hungry. The food was average.
NEON ARMADILLO: We looked inside the Neon and saw a small dance floor and not a lot of room. I'm used to big country bars and lots of room. Take a look at Graham's in Oklahoma City for an example. 8 TRAX: This was open so we walked in. No one was there yet but I wasn't impressed with the facilities. A lot smaller than I expected. MANNEQUINS: This was also open and we walked inside. Also, not impressed. I have a feeling it's not fair to check these clubs out until they get rocking after 11pm sometime. Unfortunately, neither of us wanted to stay that late.
WEST END STAGE: While waiting for the Adventurer's club to open, we listened to a band on the stage. They were very good but there were only a handful of people around watching them.
ADVENTURER'S CLUB: Our favorite part of Pleasure Island. We walked in just as it opened and went down to the main area and caught the first show. The maid and the old English general taught us the salute and about Kungaloosh. Soon, they took us into the library. We really enjoyed the show and had a good time. We came back into the club and noticed that the show in the main area was different. We walked into the mask room and Shana noticed the eyes moving on the masks. We watched for a little while but nothing else happened, so we decided to move on. ROCK & ROLL BEACH CLUB: We walked into the Rock & Roll Beach Club. It was by far the most crowded. A lot of people dancing but to me just another crowded club.
It was about 10:00 pm and we decided to leave. Let me first mention that neither my wife nor I are big nightclub people. Unless I'm playing on stage, I just don't understand the fun of standing in a crowded, smoke filled, loud room all night long. In light of that, let me say that I wasn't at all impressed with Pleasure Island. I was expecting something special in each club. Instead, with the exception of the Adventurer's Club, all of the clubs could have been found in my hometown, at a much lower price. For some this may be a great place, but for us it was a big disappointment. There, I've said my peace.
We headed back to WL and I turned on the Monday Night Football game. You see even though we both now live in Kansas City, we are both die hard Broncos Fans and this was the Monday night game against New England. They were the only two remaining undefeated teams in the NFL and if you don't mind me saying, Denver kicked but. Sorry for that tangent. Good Night.
DAY 4 (TUESDAY) - MAGIC KINGDOM / E-TICKET EXPRESS
We awoke at 7:30am. I'm not usually good at getting up early, but I've been so excited lately that it's been hard to sleep in. We caught the boat to the Magic Kingdom around 8:35am. This was a great way to get to the park. It was beautiful on the lake in the morning and we would see a lot of wildlife in the area. We arrived at the gate around 8:50 am and walked down Mainstreet to the rope at the entrance to Tomorrowland. Again, there was a little crowd but not too bad. At 9:00am they dropped the rope and the race was on. Unlike MGM, they didn't slow down the crowds so it was a very fast walk. Only a few people ran and I wasn't too concerned about the lines.
SPACE MOUNTAIN: We headed straight for Space Mountain. I was on this one when I was a kid, but it still seemed new to me. It is not a very fast roller coaster, but it was a blast. It was funny walking down the queues. It took us 2-3 minutes to walk quickly down all the queues, all the while we were the only people in sight. Disney demonstrates a great expertise in their queue lines. No where else that I've found do they entertain you as much while you are waiting.
ALIEN ENCOUNTER: Shana wasn't too excited about Alien Encounter, but she was still game to go. Again, we walked right up to the front and were the next group into the pre-show. From reading all the Internet information on this attraction I already had an idea what happens. I admit that the pre-show is a little sad regarding what happens to Skippy. I would think that could be kind of disturbing to kids. The show was good. It was about what I expected. The special effects were well done but I still think they could have done even more. TOMMOROWLAND TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY (TTA): After Alien Encounter we decided to take it easy. We still had E-Ticket tonight to ride most of the busy rides. We meandered over to the TTA. 9 out of every 10 cars were empty when we got there so it wasn't too difficult to get a seat. This is still one of our favorite rides. No, it may not be terribly exciting, but it is fun. Going inside of Space Mountain and seeing the glow-in-the-dark roller coaster cars, seeing the future city concept design, and many other items make it a worth while attraction. In addition, I love that fact that it uses magnetic induction to move. I know there are some problems with this technology, but I still believe it is the wave of the future.
CAROUSEL OF PROGRESS: We left the TTA and headed to the Carousel of Progress. We had about a 10-minute wait behind a tour group…
BRAZILIANS: At the Carousel of Progress we ran into our first, and only, group of Brazilian students our entire trip. This group wasn't that bad. The only thing that was annoying was when they entered the theatre they moved into the middle and sat down instead of moving all of the way across. This forced us to walk past them to get seats. All in all, though, it wasn't nearly as bad as expected. I was concerned about their behavior before this trip, but it was never a problem. 99% of the people we met in line or elsewhere were great. In fact, this tour group showed us another positive about WDW customer service. When they approached the ride, Shana noticed that the CM at the entrance started to speak to them in Spanish. Very impressive.
The Carousel of Progress hasn't changed much. Only the last scene had been updated. It's nice to see one of the very first attractions Walt ever put together. Very well done and still worth seeing. Watching the dog alone is a lot of fun.
TAKE FLIGHT: Shana and I decided to try Take Flight while we were in Tomorrowland. We again walked right onto the ride. Neither of us were impressed with this ride. Too short and too weak on effects. Not recommended.
We both felt we had enough of Tomorrowland for a while so we headed off to Fantasyland. We noticed that the crowds were picking up. This was especially prevalent in Fantasyland. We walked by Mickey's Toontown Fair. This was not at all interesting to us. Yes, we did enjoy getting our pictures taken with the characters, but we had plenty of those taken throughout the parks. We did want a picture with Mickey, but we weren't willing to venture into children central and wait an hour for it. Thus, we moved on into Fantasyland.
MR. TOAD's WILD RIDE: We saw that there was a very short line on Mr. Toad so we decided to try it. We didn't expect much at all going in, so I must say I was pleasantly surprised. Yes, it was short but the cars were fun and the colors and lighting made it an enjoyable experience. SNOW WHITE'S ADVENTURE: We left the Toad directly for Snow White. Still, line shorter than a few minutes. Very similar to Mr. Toad and we both liked the Toad man better. For a kid, though, I can see how Snow White would hold some appeal.
We were hungry so we both grabbed a pretzel at a stand. Pretzels became a quick and affordable way of keeping us moving without our stomachs complaining too much.
IT'S A SMALL WORLD: While we were munching our pretzels we decided to hop in the line for It's a Small World. Yes, we were willing to suffer through. This was one of the longest lines we found the whole trip. It was just after noon and we waited just under 15 minutes. Since we were snacking we didn't mind the line. Shana enjoyed the boat ride but could understand how the song can get on your nerves. I thought the colors and animatronics were fun, but it definitely wasn't as good as I remembered as a kid. We both decided that we did our duty and rode Small World, but won't do it again anytime soon.
We walked by Peter Pan and the line looked to be about 20 minutes, so we skipped it for now. It was around 1:00pm now and we decided to move onto Liberty Square.
HAUNTED MANSION: We saw it off to the right and wanted to give it a try. In about five minutes we were inside. The pre-show was fun and we walked right onto a car. This show is still one of Walt's best. Even by today's standards the special effects were very good. Shana really enjoyed it and we knew we would try and go on it again. HALL OF PRESIDENTS: We waited about 10 minutes for the next show to start and we saw the Hall of Presidents. Shana was really looking forward to this show and neither of us was disappointed. Some of the best animatronics in the parks. We were amazed at watching the presidents in the spotlight, and especially not in the spotlight. Even when they were not talking, they were moving around and fidgeting. The only things I would change are that it could be a little longer with the presidents and shorter on the pre-show, and I would drop Maya Angelou from the narration. I understand she is an extremely accomplished poet, but she is difficult to understand. All in all, a good show. As we left the theatre we caught the Fife & Drum Corps outside and watched for a while. I really enjoyed watching the musicians. The park was now starting to get more crowded so we left Liberty Square.
We wandered into Adventureland and there was no line outside Pirates of the Caribbean so we decided to go inside and see how long the queue is. PIRATES OF THE CARRIBEAN: Much to our continued surprise, we walked briskly through almost the entire queue inside and were on a boat in five minutes. It is still a very fun ride. Shana really enjoyed it. Even with the dreaded PC changes, it was still a very good show. We left Pirates and grabbed something to drink. Shana was interested in the Jungle Cruise but the line said it was over a 15-minute wait. It was about 3:00 pm and we knew we would be coming back tonight for E-Ticekt so we decided to head back to the room for a much needed break. We waited about 10 minutes for a boat and went back to the lodge. We both fell asleep in the room.
At about 6:00pm we headed back for the Magic Kingdom. E-Ticket started at 8:30pm when the park closed. We had talked to Andy & Carolyn and planned on meeting them in front of "It's a Small World" at 8:30pm. We took the boat again back to the MK and there was just a short wait for the boat. When we arrived we exchanged our tickets for our E-Ticket wristbands at a table they set up in front of City Hall. As we walked over to Adventureland we noticed only a few people with the wristbands on. It was funny to notice people looking at us wondering what our wrist bands were for. Also, lots of people were already lined up for Spectro Magic Parade. It was about 6:15 and there were no more seats left on the shaded side of Main Street. The Parade wasn't until 7:45pm. JUNGLE CRUISE: It said there was still a 15-minute wait. We weren't in a hurry so we went ahead and waited. The sign was right, in about 15 minutes we were on a boat. Our skipper was not very good. We could barely even hear what he was saying half of the time do to a beat up P.A. system. He seemed to be tired after a long day and was just going through the motions. Despite the lack of stupid jokes, though, the ride was not too bad. The jungle creatures and animals are a lot of fun to watch and it was a very relaxing cruise.
HINT: SPECTRO MAGIC LOCATION: As we left the Jungle Cruise we headed up to Frontierland and wound up in front of Splash Mountain at the very end of the parade route. It was now 7:15pm, just 30 minutes before parade time and we saw people over here just starting to line up on the street. By now we were sure that Main Street was packed. We walked over to the Splash Mountain side of the street and took a seat right at the rope, front row. Only 30 minutes early and we had front row seats for the parade. Not bad.
The only problem was that in about 15 minutes it started to sprinkle. Shana and I realized that considering how electrical this parade was, they would never run it in the rain. Soon it was pouring. We left our spots and headed for cover at a restaurant across the street. Finally, the ponchos I had been carrying in my fanny pack the last few days came in handy. We pulled them out and threw them on. In a few minutes it lessened up a little, and with our ponchos on we decided to wonder out. Now we had to make a decision. Do we go back to our spots and wait for an iffy parade to start and then leave at 8:15, probably before the parade really gets to us to meet our friends in Fantasyland, or do we forget about the parade and hit some rides. Well, we decided to hit the rides since it was still raining.
SPLASH MOUNTAIN: Splash Mountain was right around the corner, so we decided to give it a try. This must be the longest empty queue area anywhere in the parks. There were no people in front of us at all and it took us a couple of minutes to walk quickly through the lines. We walked right into a boat and sat in the back row. Luckily, due to the rain, we had our ponchos on so we had no fear of getting wet. I must admit, this is probably my favorite ride in the park. I had no idea it was so long and had so many drops. I guessed it was just a short ride through a cave and a long drop at the end. Instead, this ride lasts a long time and drops you many times. Also, the animals and scenes in the ride were great. We loved it and I couldn't wait to do it again. We did get a little wet, but with our ponchos on, it was very minimal. The view from the final drop was fantastic.
When we got off the ride I was ready to go again but it was almost 8:00pm and we didn't know how long it would take us to get to Fantasyland to meet our friends on time. By now it had stopped raining and the crowds for the parade had picked up again. We walked down along the walkway by Tom Sawyer's Island to avoid the parade crowds. When we got to Liberty Square it was about 8:05 and we saw that the parade had just started.
SPECTRO MAGIC PARADE: We still had time so we decided to stop and watch the parade. Our view was not nearly as good as before. We had people about three thick in front of us but we could still see halfway decent down main street. The parade was great and I'm sure that if we had the time we would have came back and took our old seats in Frontierland to watch it again. So colorful and vivid. A spectacle to be sure.
At about 8:20 we decided we better leave. We arrived at Small World in just a couple of minutes, so we were still early.
PETER PAN'S FLIGHT: We looked across the walkway and noticed that Peter Pan was still open and absolutely no line. What the heck, we had time to kill. This was a little different ride considering we were hanging on a rail instead of having the rail beneath us. It was a nice ride in the same category as Mr. Toad and as enjoyable. When we exited the ride we waited a few minutes by Small World and then heard loud booms. We figured they were the fireworks but couldn't see them. We walked back over by Peter Pan, turned around, and they were directly over us. Nice show. Towards the end of the fireworks Andy & Carolyn showed up. They were just 20 or 30 yards down also watching the fireworks. When they ended it was time to start E-Ticket Night.
E-TICKET EXPRESS: This was probably one of most enjoyable parts of our trip. In 3 hours I rode 8 out of the 9 possible rides with almost no lines anywhere. I don't know how many tickets they sold for this E-Ticket night but it definitely wasn't crowded. The only line we ever hit was at Space Mountain and it was only about 10 minutes because they only had one side open.
Following is our rides, in order, that we hit on E-Ticket night. HAUNTED MAINSION (2nd Time): The four of us headed into Liberty Square. Andy & Carolyn hadn't had a chance to see the Haunted Mansion so we thought we'd start with that. There wasn't a line so we caught the next group in. This time Shana and I had more time to look for details and try and see how they did things. It wasn't as good as the first time, but still enjoyable.
COURTY BEAR JAMBOREE: Shana and I hadn't seen this one yet so we headed for it next. Great show but the crowd was the best. The theatre was only about 1/3 full, but we soon learned that most of the people on E-Ticket night are Disney nuts, like us. The majority of the audience had seen the show at least once before, if not 50 times. They were really into it and it made the show a great experience. Much better than it ever would have been during the day, even with a full house. The CM who introduced the show was great and was really getting the crowd going. At one point he mentioned that this is why he loved E-Ticket night, referring to the attitude of the audience. Truly a fun show. SPLASH MOUNTAIN (2nd Time): We headed back to Adventureland. Carolyn and I both wanted to ride Splash Mountain again. Shana put on her poncho and was a good sport. I braved it out and didn't put mine on. Andy was a little reluctant to go on it again, but he did. Again, no line and once we walked through the queue, we hopped on. I lucked out a got the front seat. That was easy because nobody else in our group wanted it. It was again a great ride and I would have gone on it 20 more times. It was darker this time and even better. The lights of the park and the ride make it twice as good. The drop from the front seat is awesome. I tried to watch on my way down, but the spray in my eyes forced me to close my eyes before I lost my contacts. Andy wasn't too happy, he got soaked. All of us were somewhat wet. Even Shana with her Poncho got a little wet. We hit the restrooms after the ride to try to dry off again. The night was warm enough, thank god, and it wasn't too bad. BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN RAILROAD: I wanted to ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. Andy & Carolyn skipped out and Shana and I headed up the hill. We again walked right on the ride and headed out. This ride also surprised me. We were seated near the back and the roller coaster was great. Yes, it doesn't have the huge drops that you'd find in a six flags coaster, but it was fast and the turns were great. When you add Disney theming and layout, you've got a great ride. This was another winner. I probably liked this a little better than Space Mountain. Maybe it's because we rode it at night or that it has more to see along the way. We would have ridden again, but our friends were waiting on us. We decided to head back to Tomorrowland. We headed back through Liberty Square and a somewhat unfriendly CM blocked our way through Fantasyland so we had to back track. I had forgotten that Fantasyland would be closed, but the CM could have been a little nicer about it. Anyway, we went back through the hub and headed over to Tomorrowland. ALIEN ENCOUNTER (2nd Time): Andy & Carolyn hadn't been on this one yet and wanted to. Well, Carolyn was a little leery, but after we explained that the seats didn't move and that it was just a show, she was interested. Shana decided to stay out so three of us headed in. We got in line and caught the next show, only about a 5-minute wait. The show was still good. Again, I started to look around more at how they did the show this time instead of being affected by it. Andy & Carolyn liked it. TIMEKEEPER: None of us had been to see the timekeeper and I really wanted to catch it. We headed into the theatre and walked down the hall. After about 10 minutes the next show was let in. The theatre was only half full for the show. This is another of the 360 movies with added animatronics. Robin Williams was great as the voice of Timekeeper. Very good show. Better than expected. We all liked it.
SPACE MOUNTAIN (2nd Time): It was now 11:05pm so we had 25 minutes left. I wanted to ride Space Mountain one more time but Andy & Carolyn were thirsty so they got a drink and stayed behind. Shana & I walked all through the queues and finally walked into the launching area. There was about a 10-15 minute wait here because they only had one line open. Anyway, it was still worth it. Great ride, no matter how many times you go on it.
We came out of the ride and found Andy & Carolyn. It was now 11:25pm. We thought that was it until Carolyn mentioned they hadn't ridden Pirates. PIRATES OF THE CARIBEAN (2nd Time): We headed all of the way back over to Adventureland and walked onto Pirates of the Caribbean just a minute before they closed down. This ride is very good, but doesn't do well when you ride it more than once. Still, it was fun just to cram one more ride in.
Well, all the rides were closed now so we headed out. My feet were literally killing me and Shana was also hurting. This was by far our longest day.
WARNING: TRANSPORTATION DIFFICULTIES: Considering how easy our transportation was the entire trip, this surprised us. Thus, I am a little picky here because we became so used to Disney standards. We left out the front gate. Andy & Carolyn had parked over at the Contemporary Hotel and offered a ride but my feet hurt and we didn't walk all the way over to the Contemporary. I had planned this whole trip out in such detail it was a surprise to Shana and to me that I hadn't really figured out how to get back late at night. I had read that transportation ran late, but I didn't know it was limited. We walked to the boat dock and realized that the boat to WL no longer was running. Thus we walked over to the bus stop and asked a bus driver where the WL bus would be. He said we had to take the Monorail to the TTC and then grab a bus from there. So, we walked back from the bus stop over to the monorail platform and just missed a monorail. The CM said that there were three of the monorails running but for some reason it was a long wait until one came along. It took us to the TTC. We then went looking for bus stops and after we asked 3 different people we finally found them. We were going to catch the Davy Crocket bus for which the WL was the last stop (30 minutes from pick up) when somebody mentioned we could take the Boone bus. So we ran down to that stop and just caught the Boone bus which reverses the order of stops for the Davy Crocket bus. Thus, our stop at the WL was first and we were back in our hotel about an hour from when we started. Oh well, good night.
DAY 5 (WEDNESDAY) - KEYS TO KINGDOM TOUR / ARTIST POINT
Today was the day for our backstage tour. I was pretty excited about this. We got up at 7:15am and hopped on a boat for MK around 8:15am. The boats were running a little slow this morning. We arrived at the MK at 9:00am and we were supposed to check in at 9:15am at City Hall. We met Andy & Carolyn in front of city hall and checked in. We all put on our Minnie name tags and waited for the tour to start.
KEYS TO KINGDOM TOUR - PART I
WARNING / BACK STAGE DETAILS: In my description of the tour I will be explaining some details of backstage at WDW. If you don't want to know about this, don't read this section. You have been warned. Our guide was Jim. He is probably in his early 20s, has worked for WDW for over four years. He was very enthusiastic about Disney and turned out to be a very good guide. We were the first tour group to leave and since Jim covered so much detail we were passed by the 9:45 tour later in the day, so I know we were getting our money's worth. He started off with the four "Keys to the Kingdom", hence the name of the tour. They are Safety, Courtesy, Show & Efficiency. He described how everything done in WDW is done with those four keys in mind and the rest of the tour he showed us how Disney went about doing that. MAIN STREET: We walked down Main Street and he talked about the Imagineer names on the buildings. He talked about the only man who created the sculptures of Walt Disney at the parks. He's retired now but comes out of retirement every four years to sculpt the model for a new president in the Hall of Presidents. He sculpted the statue of Mickey and Walt in front of Cinderella's Castle. I'm sorry, but I can't recall his name.
TOMORROWLAND: We headed into Tomorrowland. Jim asked us to notice the change in theming and especially the very slight change in pavement height. This is to cause you to look up and notice the new world you are entering. He discussed the new theming of Tomorrowland and how themes play in with all of the lands. Tomorrowland is actually a community of Tomorrow with spaceports, transportation systems, and even waste management.
TOMMOROWLAND TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY (2nd Time): Jim took us on the TTA and had us look for two things: 1) What building can you see outside of the MK from the TTA? 2) What does the lady in the futuristic salon have on her belt buckle? The one building was the Contemporary Hotel. It can be seen because it was built with the same theme as Tomorrowland in mind. The lady has a Hidden Mickey on her belt buckle. I must admit I didn't see many of these since I didn't carry a list around with me. I was too busy having fun.
HIDDEN MICKEYS: Jim told us the history behind Hidden Mickeys. Some of it I knew, some I didn't. I didn't know that management had told the Imagineers and craftsman not to put any Mickeys in EPCOT because it was to be themed differently. Due to these instructions, EPCOT has more hidden Mickeys than any of the other parks, including the Magic Kingdom. Jim said that Disney is now putting together an official Hidden Mickey list, but it can never be completely finished since no one knows all the Hidden Mickeys.
FANTASYLAND: We headed towards the Castle and took a look at it up close. He gave some background history on the castle and some interesting facts before we headed down. We walked over to a fountain and he gave us more information regarding how children view the park compared to adults. Looking at a fountain of Cinderella from our angle, she had no hat. When you kneeled down to a child's level, she wore a crown. These Imagineers are great. People in the group had occasionally asked Jim some questions and he said he would answer later. When on stage (in the park) he cannot answer any questions that give away the magic behind the MK. Once we headed backstage, we could ask what we wanted.
UTILIDORS: We walked into a little shop in Fantasyland and through a backdoor. Soon we were in a staircase heading down to the tunnel. This part was great. We spent 45 minutes down in the tunnels. We entered the utilidor in Fantasyland and the walls had a big pink stripe on them so you could tell where you were. We looked at a map of the tunnel system. He told us many facts about the backstage and some facts he couldn't tell us on stage. We walked out the end of a tunnel and we were at the main cast entrance. We then wandered into the costume shop where even most cast members are never allowed.
WIG ROOM: We all walked into the small wig room and Jim told us about the wig making process both for characters and for animatronics. Unfortunately, the ladies in the wig room were definitely not friendly and it sort of ruined the experience.
WARNING: NO MAGIC UNDERGROUND: If there is any negative about going backstage, it is that the CMs don't have on their Disney happy face anymore. Most of the people we encountered treated us as a nuisance. Much different than they would treat us on stage. I can't blame them though, this is their one refuge to be themselves and not be perky all the time.
Still, the utilidors were the best part of the tour for me. I loved seeing backstage where all the work gets done. We walked back down the tunnels to another staircase.
COMPUTER ROOM: I can't remember what he called this room, but it is where all the computers are that control most of the central operations in the MK, including many of the rides. Of course, we couldn't go in due to security. In fact, only a small handful of CMs can enter this room without an escort, including Michael Isner. For security they even had a reader that scans your hand before you can enter. TRASH SYSTEM: We saw the tubes for the vacuum waste system at the MK. While we were there we heard some of the trash go whisking by. Pretty interesting.
We left the utilidors through a different access door back into Fantasyland. We're back on stage now, no more backstage questions. We walked into Liberty Square and took a break for lunch. We were on our own for lunch but Jim recommended a couple of places. Andy, Carolyn, Shana & I headed to a restaurant nearby and had lunch.
KEYS TO KINGDOM TOUR - PART 2
When we were done with lunch we met Jim and the group by the Liberty Tree. He told us the story behind the tree and the difficulty they had in moving it. It was quite interesting. We walked over to the Haunted Mansion for the next part of our tour.
HAUNTED MANSION (3rd Time): Jim told us things to look for before we went in. For Shan and I, this attraction is very well done, but the third time is a little much. Still, this time we were looking for new things. When we came back out we stood in the yard as Jim told us the whole story about the Haunted Mansion. He mentioned the hidden Donald, and told us that it was definitely NOT a hidden Donald but copied after an antique design. We saw the ring buried in the concrete and he told us the sad story of this old house. Once you understand the story it is twice as fascinating as originally.
FRONTIERLAND: We moved over next to the Liberty Bell in Frontierland and Jim told us about the layout. You can see all the attractions in Liberty Square and Frontierland from this one spot. In addition, moving clockwise from the Haunted Mansion, the origin of the attractions move across the United States with one exception. The whole time we were on the tour it was fun to see people looking at us as if we were VIPs or something. Occasionally, people would start listening to Jim's speeches, but he would move along soon and lose them.
BACKSTAGE / FLOATS: We walked by Splash Mountain and went backstage where the parade starts / ends at (depending on which parade). We walked by the trash compactor, where all the trash from the vacuum tubes winds up. We could see the back of Splash Mountain and how it is only one sided. The back of it shows wire mesh, plaster, and a square building where much of the ride takes place in. We walked down to the warehouse with all the floats. We saw floats from "Remember the Magic Parade" and "Spectro Magic" and learned how each works. It is pretty amazing. While we were in here, the 9:45 tour passed us. I started to understand that we were getting a great tour. Unfortunately, my feet were starting to hurt again.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBEAN (3rd Time): We walked back to the entrance of Pirates and Jim told us about the history of the ride and the story behind it. We then went on the ride. It was more enjoyable this time since we now knew the story.
When we came out of the ride we all gathered around and Jim said that this was the end of the tour. We thanked him. This was definitely worth our time and money. It was now 2:30pm, we had been going for almost 5 hours. Our feet were dead so Shana and I headed back to the lodge while Andy & Carolyn decided to stay and grab a drink. When we got back to our room, we crashed.
ARTIST POINT: We woke up in time to get ready and head down to the Artist Point in our lodge for dinner. We were meeting Andy & Carolyn there at 7:00pm. We checked in with the hostess and had a seat in the lounge until the Benjamins arrived. Dinner was very good and the ambiance was great. Again our CM server was very good. I had their specialty of the house, Cedar Plank Salmon. It was very good, although I have had better. Everyone seemed to like his or her meals better than at California Grill except me. It was hard to beat my Tuna at the California Grill.
After dinner we walked around the lodge a bit and showed Andy & Carolyn what WL had to offer. Around 10:00pm we called it a night and Shana & I went to bed.
DAY 6 (THURSDAY) - WILDERNESS LODGE ACTIVITIES / EPCOT
Shana and I both woke up around 7:30am. No hurry, today was our lazy day. We got ready and headed down to the lobby. WILDERNESS LODGE TOUR: We met in the lobby at 9:30 for the lodge tour. We were the youngest people on the tour by far. The rest of the tour group, including the guide, was over 60. We stayed with the tour for about 30 minutes. It was informative, but slightly boring. Please, don't get me wrong. I think we were just toured out. Many people love this tour and I'm sure in a different state of mind we would have liked it too. For us, it was a little slow and most of the information was about plants and stories about the tour guide. I think we were just in a group that was geared more towards retired people.
We snuck out of the tour and headed off to the dock to see what else we wanted to do.
BIKE RENTAL: To our surprise, bike rental was free to lodge guests. We hopped on our bikes and headed off. We followed the path to Fort Wilderness.
FORT WILDERNESS: This campground was far nicer than either of us expected. Very clean and with plenty of amenities. We were both very impressed with the grounds. What amazed us was that it seemed that everyone had his or her own golf cart to get around. I don't know how this works, but it was a great idea.
Shana and I rode around the fort a while and then back to the lodge. It was a nice hour ride and we both really enjoyed it. Well worth the time. WATER SPRITE: I decided I wanted to rent a sprite. I remember doing it at Lake Buena Vista when I was a kid and loved it. Shana wasn't up for it so she waited on the beach. I used my Flex Feature for this so I didn't have to pay for the half-hour. I hopped in the boat, idled out for a while and then floored it. Man it was great. Suddenly, I was traveling almost 3 or 4 miles an hour. Oh well. Unfortunately, a man of 200 pounds doesn't move as quickly in the same boat as a boy of 80 pounds. I barely made it around the bay by MK and back in a half-hour. Kids in other sprites were doing circles around me. All of the boats I saw have a 9.9 hp engine in them. It was fun to be on my own and tour the lake, but I felt like I was in a raft with a paddle. I thought I should have moved faster. I was pretty disappointed that they couldn't adjust the boats for weight. I complained to the CM at the desk and she said they are getting in faster ones but haven't started using them yet. Oh well, it was still an experience.
ROARING FORKS: Shana and I walked back into the lodge. We were both hungry so we decided to get lunch at Roaring Forks even though we weren't too pleased with it the first time. I had a Meatball sandwich, which wasn't too bad, and Shana had another mini-pizza. It was a little better than our first time, but we wouldn't recommend it. We headed out back to Goodings to get some food and film. Don't buy film at Goodings. There has to be a cheaper place somewhere. It was twice as much here as it is at home. We then drove over to the Boardwalk. BOARDWALK: Shana and I parked and walked around the Boardwalk, over to the Dolphin and Swan and then finished the circle back to the Boardwalk inn. It was a beautiful area but way too hot for us. It was about 90 degrees but the heat index was at 105. Still, we really enjoyed how they put this together. Very nice. We'd be back when it's cooler. We came back to the room and rested for a while. We then decided to head to the pool.
WILDERNESS LODGE POOL: This was our first, and only time to the pool or hot tubs. Unfortunately, due to the encephalitis alert, the pool hours are 10-6. I know that people mentioned that they could still swim in pools after 6 without a lifeguard. I called the front desk and asked, but they said no, it is closed. We looked at the pool after hours and they were vacant so we decided not to try. This was sort of a bummer, considering I really enjoy a hot tub and cool swim before going to bed. Anyway, we headed down to the pool this time around 4:00pm. It was hot but not too uncomfortable. We tried both hot tubs and the were both warm. We swam a bit and I tried the slide, pretty lame. The landscaping of the pool area is beautiful though and I just wish we could have enjoyed it more. What a waste.
We came back to the room again and changed to head out to EPCOT. This is our last night here so we wanted to hit a park one more time. I had wanted to make it to one of the water parks, but it just didn't seem to fit in. Maybe next time.
We left the lodge at 6:00pm and caught a bus right away. We arrived at EPCOT and it still was pretty quiet.
HORIZONS (2nd Time): I decided I wanted to ride Horizons again. I really enjoyed it the first time so we went again and it was still very enjoyable. A nice quiet ride but full of what the future might be. I love stuff like that. Absolutely no line.
BODY WARS: I decided that I was feeling up to giving Body Wars a try. Shana wasn't so sure so she sat out. I survived but it was pretty rough if you get motion sick. Still, nice special effects. It is basically Star Tours with a different movie, but still lots of fun. Again, no lines.
TEST TRACK: We walked up to the GM display in front of Test Track. We knew it was closed but we wanted to see up close what the building looked like. While standing there we heard what sounded like a fast monorail go by. A little later it happened again. I soon realized that they were testing cars on Test Track and we were right under the track as it goes around the building. Well, at least they are working on it. Maybe it will be open before we come back in a few years. We can always hope.
We wandered around Future World a bit. We had taken a lot of pictures, including many with characters. Unfortunately, except for in Spectro Magic, we still hadn't seen Mickey and we both really wanted to get a picture with him. Oh well, maybe next time. We walked up to the showcase to get a bite. Unfortunately it was around 7:00pm and everyone was getting food and lining up for Illuminations at 9:00pm. Shana was craving Mexican so we walked up to "Cantina del something". After a ½ hour in line she finally got some food. Instead of eating there, since there was not a table to be had, we headed back towards Future World and I grabbed a sausage from a street vendor. We sat on a park bench and had a makeshift dinner. Not bad, but way too many people trying to get food for our tastes. We decided to walk back to Future World. FOUNTAIN OF NATIONS WATER BALLET (3rd Time): We arrived in time to catch the Water Ballet again with the colorful Spaceship Earth as a backdrop. This was one of our favorite pastimes at EPCOT. It is a beautiful show.
MICKEY, FINALLY: We walked in the shop at the end of Innoventions by Test Track and just as we walked through the door guess who we saw. You're right, Mickey. Mickey and Donald were both in there getting photos with kids. I took a quick snapshot of Mickey knowing that the lines would be huge and we wouldn't get a photo. As we walked by we saw that the line for Mickey was only about 5 people, so we went for it. We were third in line when they mentioned that Mickey would be leaving really soon. Well, we just made it. The CM took a picture of both of us with Mickey and we were as happy as a clam. What a great ending to our time at WDW.
INNOVENTIONS: We really hadn't seen Innoventions yet and decided this was a good time. We looked around with almost nobody there. No lines for any displays. It was a lot of fun. Shana had a lot of fun with some paint programs and I really liked "Alec - Tronic", the audio animatronic robot that dances to Joe Cocker and does great impersonations. He was a blast to watch.
At 8:50pm we started to leave to beat the Innoventions crowd. As we walked by Spaceship Earth we just couldn't help it. SPACESHIP EARTH (3rd Time): It was only fitting that our very first ride at WDW would also be our very last. We walked right on again and rode it one last time. Great production.
Well, Illuminations is now over so we better leave. We caught the bus and traveled back to our lodge. It's so sad to see it all end, but boy what a great time. I called home and talked to my folks. We were both missing our pups Jake & Jess and we had to check up on them. Jake was destroying the house, and Jess was digging up the whole yard, so everything was normal. We watched ER in our room and went to sleep.
DAY 7 (FRIDAY) - SHOPPING / BOARDWALK / LEAVING WDW
Today is the dreaded day. We have to leave the Disney magic, but not until we do a little shopping and looking around. We packed everything and had the bell cap take our bags. Shana and I walked around the lodge one last time and took some more pictures. We got the car, picked up our bags and left our wonderful lodge. I hope to be back someday soon.
We left WL around 9:30am.
MARKETPLACE: We headed back to Marketplace and did some more shopping at World of Disney and the Christmas shop. We bought the 25th Anniversary WDW book with our remaining Flex feature. BOARDWALK: We drove to the Boardwalk and had lunch with Andy & Carolyn at the Brewhouse. The Benjamins were staying for another few days; they booked two full weeks for their honeymoon at the Dolphin. Shana and I were getting jealous. I had a turkey bacon melt and a red larger beer at the Brewhouse. Both were very good and price wasn't too bad. We recommend sitting on the patio for lunch. It was in the shade, much quieter than inside and you could enjoy the activity of the Boardwalk in the afternoon.
Before we left we decided to take a look at a few places we missed at WDW.
BLIZZARD BEACH: I had wanted to go to the water park but unfortunately we just plain ran out of time. We drove into the parking lot and looked at the park. It seemed like it would be a lot of fun. Maybe next time. CORONADO RESORT: We drove around this resort. It was very large. We didn't get out and go in but we did see it from all sides. They were still building some villas. It was nicely put together but definitely not our taste.
It was now time to leave. We had a two-hour drive ahead of us and we thought we'd get started. We can't wait to get back to the Disney World of Dreams.
INTERNATIONAL DRIVE: We headed up International drive heading north just to take a look at it. At first it was very nicely laid out. We might have still been on or very close to WDW property. Soon, though, it turned pretty touristy and before you know it we were in a lot of traffic. I sure didn't miss this the last six days. This would definitely be one of the biggest drawbacks to staying off site. I would hate to have to come back to reality each night.
WE CAN'T GET TO THE TURNPIKE: We had seen enough of International Drive and tried to get back to the Florida Turnpike heading Southeast.
Unfortunately, the Orlando map given to us by National Car Rental was
terrible. There were even two different maps on there that totally
disagreed. After and hour and a half we finally found an entrance many
miles south after stopping at a gas station, asking directions and
getting a Florida map. Finally we were on our way…
Our drive down south wasn't exactly pleasant. We hit some heavy downpours that slowed us down a little bit. After about two hours we made it to Ft. Pierce. We followed directions faxed to us by Nina Rappaport to her inn on North Hutchinson Island. This island is located just north of Ft. Pierce and just south of Vero Beach on the Atlantic Ocean.
VILLA NINA ISLAND INN: We arrived at the B&B. It was a beautiful home set back away from the road and surrounded by beautiful foliage. Nina was very friendly and tried to describe many details of the island to us. We had one of three rooms at this B&B and had access to a pool, canoe, rowboat, and private beach. The house is on very spacious ground backing up to the Indian River. The ocean was across the street. Nina gave us a tour of the ocean and grounds on her golf cart when we arrived. Everything was nice a clean and friendly. For us, though, I probably wouldn't go back. Shana and I think it was a combination of things. We just came from WDW and it's very hard to compare with that. The weather was pretty nasty and most of the weekend it was very windy and rainy. In addition, the town nearby was not great and the island seemed pretty deserted. For many people this might be the perfect place, so don't get me wrong. For us, though, at that time, it just wasn't right.
Shana & I ran to a nearby place called Primo's Pizza. They gave us tons of food and it was pretty good. We ate, watched some movies on HBO and went to bed.
DAY 8 (SATURDAY) - NORTH HUTCHINSON ISLAND / FT. PIERCE
We woke up around 8:45am, dressed and were ready by 9:30am. We decided to start with a little canoeing. We grabbed the canoe from the back yard and headed up the Indian River. It was very quiet and peaceful. We saw some wildlife and relaxed. The weather was pretty nice this morning. After about an hour we headed back to the inn. I decided I was here and I better swim in the ocean, so we hopped a ride with Nina on the golf cart and headed down to the beach.
ATLANTIC BEACH: It was still pretty windy and the waves were about 3-4 feet. Shana isn't much for ocean swimming so she declined. I headed out to the waves and had a good time for a while. After half an hour, though, I was totally exhausted. I laid on the beach for a while before we headed back. On the entire beach we saw one man and his daughter. That was it.
I laid down in the room for a while and rested. We then headed to a craft fair in Ft. Pierce that specialized in Christmas crafts. It was kind of small but still a nice diversion. We had lunch and McDonalds and were going to head for a tour at a local Nuclear Reactor when Shana started feeling bad. We headed back to our room again and she took a long nap. I watched a couple of movies on HBO and Cinemax. We left about 6:00pm for a drive. We drove north on the island to Vero Beach and then back down to Ft. Pierce. We grabbed dinner at a local restaurant, which wasn't too bad, came back to the room and watched movies again. Are we bums our what? I think we were pretty worn out and it was nice just to be a bum for a while.
DAY 9 (SUNDAY) - KENNEDY SPACE CENTER / ORLANDO / LIMO RIDE AT WDW
We woke up around 7:30am and left Villa Nina Inn at 8:30am to head north. We drove up I-95 towards the spacecoast and the drive went fast and easy.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER: We arrived at the Space Center around 10:30am. We walked directly to the ticket counter and bought tickets for the Red Tour (Kennedy Space Center Tour). This is the one that includes the shuttle.
RED TOUR (PART I): We walked over to the lines and caught the next bus in about 20 minutes. We rode on the top level of the bus this time and had a good view. They use two level buses for their tours. We headed first to the Saturn V display and in 10 minutes we were there. On the way we saw an Eagles nest and a few alligators. The bus dropped us off at the Saturn V display. The rocket is huge and the two pre-shows before you get in are very well done. We grabbed a bite at a snack bar and looked around at the different displays. When we were content we headed back out and waited in line for the next bus to finish our tour. RED TOUR (PART II): We sat on the first floor of the bus this time and still had a good view. They took us by the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). This is the 2nd largest building by volume in the world. It is second only to a Boeing hanger in Washington state. On my last trip 20 years ago we were allowed in the VAB. I remember it to a limited degree. They no longer allow guests to visit inside due to the volatility of some of the shuttle components. We saw the crawler that moves the shuttles to the launch pads and we followed its track. We drove by both shuttle launch pads and stopped for pictures twice. It was a very nice tour and well worth the time.
After the tour Shana and I looked around in the Shuttle they have on display and checked out the astronaut memorial. We had other things to do so we decided to skip the rest of the displays and IMAX movies and head out.
We drove back to Orlando and checked in at our motel around 2:30pm. QUALITY INN - AIRPORT: The motel was really cheap. We paid only $42 / night with our AAA discount. Unfortunately, they treated us that way. Some of the staff was nice, but the night manager was really rude. The room had a lot of room and was clean, but the furniture was cheap and falling apart in spots and there was always commotion outside of our room. It was a definite step down from what we had become accustomed to on this vacation, but it was affordable.
We rested a little while and then headed back to (you guessed it) WDW.
Oh, how nice it was to be back.
WDW MARKETPLACE: We headed back to marketplace to get even more gifts. I was bummed that the new Lego store would open the day after we left. I loved Legos as a kid and I'm sure my nephews would love some gifts from there. The McDonalds also looked pretty close to opening. BOARDWALK: We then drove on to the boardwalk again because we were going to meet with Andy & Carolyn one last time at 6:30pm. We walked over to the Dolphin hotel and met them in the lobby. LIMO RIDE: Andy surprised us and said that he rented a limo as a surprise for Carolyn and invited us to join them. How could we turn it down? We climbed in a nice white limo. The driver was extremely courteous and called both Carolyn and Shana, "My Lady". They ate it up. For an hour we drove around WDW. Andy told the driver to drive by the WL. It was great to see our old home again. We stopped at the Polynesian and looked around a bit. We drove back all along Downtown Disney. It was a lot of fun. Thanks Andy & Carolyn.
We went up to Andy & Carolyn's room at the Dolphin and we were going to order room service for dinner. Unfortunately, Carolyn wasn't feeling well. I think Andy is the only one of us four that has stayed healthy this trip. We're just not as young as we used to be. Shana & I took off and said so long to our friends from England. We look forward to staying in touch with them and hopefully seeing them again sometime soon. Maybe in the U.K.
Shana & I grabbed dinner at Hardees on the way back to our motel. We went to bed by 10:00pm.
DAY 10 (MONDAY) - WE HEAD FOR HOME
We woke up around 8:30am and packed our bags for the flight. I had packed an extra, expandable, gym bag and it came in really handy. We checked out of the motel and jumped onto the turnpike. We were on the turnpike for 1 ½ miles and it cost $.75. Florida really nails it to you on tolls.
NATIONAL CAR RENTAL: We followed the signs into the airport, drove up and parked the car. Our car check-in took possibly one minute. It would have been shorter if we didn't have so many bags. We had no problems with National and the car worked fine for us. We checked in for our flight. I grabbed the last of breakfast at Burger King. They switch to serving lunch at 10:00am. Some people were not happy by this and still wanted their breakfast. I took the last Croissandwich. Our flight departed on time. We changed planes quickly in Cincinnati and headed for home.
We arrived at Kansas City International Airport on time and Shana's uncle Roy picked us up. When we made it to our house our dogs acted like we had been gone for a year. It was so good to see them and so good to be home. We checked our mail, called our folks to let them know we made it and sat back on our big, green sofa. It's so good to be home. Still, I'm ready to plan my next trip to Disney.
SUMMARY
For a quick one-paragraph summary, our trip was awesome. Both of us would have skipped the two days on the beach and spent more time at Disneyworld. Still, we saw almost all the attractions we wanted to. The only two things I regretted not seeing were Blizzard Beach and the "Little Mermaid" show at MGM. Still, we did and saw many more attractions than I figured we would get a chance to. In addition, we had a chance to meet and get to know Andy & Carolyn better. They were tons of fun and we look forward to growing our friendship in the years to come. If anyone gets the chance to meet someone new from the internet at WDW. Do it. It is a blast. Our trip was well above my expectations, and let me just say, my expectations were out of this world.
RANKINGS
Here is a quick list of what we liked and didn't like.
WDW RESORTS FAVORITES

1. WILDERNESS LODGE - In our opinion, no other lodge came close. POLYNESIAN - The grounds there are very beautiful and the bonus of monorail transportation is hard to beat.
2. YACHT & BEACH CLUB - The setting of the Boardwalk and the access to EPCOT are great pluses.
3. CONTEMPORARY HOTEL - The view and access to the monorail would be great.

CAVEAT: We only saw the Wilderness Lodge, Polynesian, Yacht & Beach Club, Contemporary Hotel, Dolphin & Swan hotels.
WDW PARKS

1. EPCOT - Our favorite overall.
2. MAGIC KINGDOM - A close second for me.
3. MGM STUDIOS - Not bad, but not enough to see. Tower of Terror & Muppets were great though.
4. PLEASURE ISLAND - Disappointed. Could have done so much more.
5. MARKETPLACE / WEST END - Still building. Have to wait and see.

RIDE FAVORITES

1. SPLASH MOUNTAIN (MK) - Best ride in all the parks. Especially fun at night.
2. TOWER OF TERROR (MGM) - Shorter than I imagined, but the drops were fantastic.
3. BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN RAILROAD (MK) - Lots of fun. Also, great at night.
4. SPACE MOUNTAIN (MK) - Great roller coaster and great queue area.
5. SPACESHIP EARTH (EPCOT) - A very enjoyable presentation. Great animatronics.
6. TOMORROWLAND TRANSIT AUTHORITY (MK) - One of the best-kept secrets.
7. HORIZONS (EPCOT) - Nice and long. A very good production.

RIDE DISAPPOINTMENTS

1. EL RIO DEL TIEMPO (EPCOT)- Too many video screens.
2. JOURNEY INTO IMAGINATION - This show is definitely due for a replacement.
3. STUDIO BACKLOT TOUR (EPCOT) - I guess I just expected more.
4. TAKE FLIGHT (MK) - Too short and not very entertaining.

SHOWS/EXHIBITS FAVORITES

1. MUPPET VISION 3D (MGM)- Excellent. Probably my favorite show. Very funny.
2. TIMEKEEPER (MK) - Robin Williams was hilarious and the animatronics were great.
3. HONEY, I SHRUNK THE AUDIENCE (EPCOT) - The best 3D I've ever seen.
4. CRANIUM COMMAND (EPCOT) - A definite surprise. Very funny.
5. FOUNTAIN OF NATIONS WATER BALLET (EPCOT) - A wonderful show.
6. CAROUSEL OF PROGRESS (MK) - Still one of the best shows around.
7. INNOVENTIONS (EPCOT) - Great place for discovery when it's not crowded.
8. CANADA & O' CANADA FILM - (EPCOT) - It was all put together beautifully.
9. MEXICO (EPCOT) - Inside the temple was very unique.
10. MORROCO - You could almost get lost in the alleys.

SHOWS/EXHIBITS DISAPPOINTMENTS

1. AMERICA (EPCOT) - With the exception of American Adventure, not much to it.
2. ITALY (EPCOT)- Very small display. Not much to it.
3. LIVING SEAS (EPCOT) - I expected much more from what I had read.

GLOSSARY

• BBDTPRN - Brian Bennett's Disney Trip Planning Resource Net. Great Trip Reports and other WDW information can be found at members.aol.com/DVClubber/dvchome.htm.
• CM - Cast Member. An employee of Disney.
• EE - Early Entry to the parks at WDW.
• E-Ticket - A special limited time event. Allows certain guests at WDW resorts access to the MK after hours. See WDWIG for more information.
• MGM - Disney MGM Studios
• MK - Magic Kingdom
• PI - Pleasure Island
• RADP - Rec.Arts.Disney.Parks Newsgroup on the Internet. Subject: Disney World.
• TTC - Ticket & Transportation Center at WDW.
• VNII - Villa Nina Island Inn. A B&B south of Vero Beach, Florida.
• WDW - Walt Disney World
• WDWIG - Walt Disney World Information Guide. An internet page with tons of information on WDW provided by Deb Wills. Address: www.wdn.com/dwills
• WL - Wilderness Lodge

CONTACT US
Our trip was great and a lot of that was due to planning based on information from our friends on the internet. In that spirit, we are more than happy to help out anyone else that would like some more info. If you have any questions for us, please let us know.
Darren Foster
dfoster@redhawk.cnchost.com

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