Trip Reports

Time of Year: Spring
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: YBCR, WL, DL
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult, Senior
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent, Rookie
Comments: Michael took his family and parents for an eleven day trip to WDW in early April. They stayed at Dixie Landings for the first part of the trip, then moved to Wilderness Lodge (his parents) and the Beach Club Resort (Mike and his family) for the last few days. They covered a lot of territory and Mike certainly did his homework. I especially enjoyed reading about his visit with a Disney architectural project manager that he'd arranged through a friend before leaving home.

INTRODUCTION

First of all, let me thank all of the individuals who have taken time to post Trip Reports on their WDW experiences. We found those reports both entertaining and valuable in their tips to getting the most out of your visit to WDW. I also want to thank Brian Bennett for his site as it proved to be the most informative and easy to use out of all the various sites that I accessed.

Our last and only visit to WDW, was in late August of 1994 for 5 days. While we had a great time, I learned several lessons that I vowed to use in the planning of any future trip. First, the date of our trip was at a time too crowded and too hot for our family. Also, being our first trip, we were not prepared for how many different things there are to do, many of which need advance reservations. I found that we spent too much of our time trying to decide what we wanted to do that day instead of having some sort of basic itinerary to start out on.

Our trip was scheduled to coincide with our childrens spring break and was 11 days from April 3rd through 13th.

It also serves as a much needed get-a-way from the winter weather in Colorado. We live in a ski resort community at an altitude of 9500 feet, which can see snow well into June.

Our family consists of myself, an architect; my wife Jennie, a daycare provider; and our two children, Jeremy, age 9 and Natalie, age 5. This trip included the four of us and my mom and dad who live in Oklahoma City. They don't get to see enough of the grandkids, so I offered to take them along as a Christmas Present last holiday. They both had not been to WDW before, so it should be fun to introduce them to all it has to offer.

PART 1 TRIP PLANNING

I began the planning for this trip in roughly July of 1996, and immediately found that I was probably not starting early enough. Once I got into it and saw all of the information now available over the Internet, I knew that I had some work to do. It took approximately 2 months of gathering information from a variety of resources, before I was really ready to start booking our trip. Information was gathered primarily over the Internet, but also from local travel agencies (Disney Brochures), AAA, American Express, various Airlin es, Etc.

I looked into every imaginable way of booking our trip in an effort to get the most for my dollar. I found that you can book various packages which all have a few unique extras but they were'nt enough by themselves to justify the higher cost of the package over booking some items separately. Some of those programs included:

American Express - Other than the fanny pack and music tape we received upon check-in, their other features aren't worth much. The restaurants that offer AMEX priority seating consist of only four of the most expensive restaurants at WDW. All of the other benefits can be gained in other ways like the MKC card. The other exclusive benefits of a private viewing area and a character storytelling, both at EPCOT, are available only with the purchase of complete travel packages.

AAA - The main feature I was interested in using was the preferred parking areas at the main parks. But even though I'm a member, it's only available for those who purchase a complete travel package. Their package deals include a few special perks but were pretty much the same as the others.

MKC Card - This is an item definitely worth getting. Good for 2 years at Disney Stores as well as at WDW, it comes with many benefits. The ones I used most often were the 800 number for calling WDW with questions and to make reservations, the 10% discount on merchandise and the10% discount at selected restaurants.

Delta Packages - Many airlines including Delta offer various packages with a few special perks. But none offer any significan't price breaks over one another.

Orlando Magicard - I used this only to book our rooms for 1 night on arrival. It had nice maps and good listings of hotels, restaurants and activities outside of WDW. It would be very help ful if you intend to spend time out of WDW visiting other attractions in the Orlando area.

I collected information from various sites on the Internet through Compuserve. The most useful site by far was Brian Bennett's but there were many others who offered much useful information and tips. Some of those sites were:

Brian Bennett's Disney Trip Planning Resource Net:

http://users.aol.com/DVClubber/dvchome.html

Werners unofficial Disney Park Links:

http://www.mcs.net/%7Ewerner/links.html

Debs Unofficial Walt Disney World Information Guide WDWIG:

http://www.wdn.com/dwills/

Ultimate Disney Link Page:

http://www.magicnet/~tudlp/info.html

Were going on a holiday to Walt Disney World:

http://inferno.cs.bris.ac.uk/~greg/

Kingdom Magic Travel:

http://www.kingdommagictravel/.com/

I eventually used the folks at Magic Kingdom Travel to book my trip. They were very helpful in pricing various options for me. There were howe'ver many questions that they couldn't answer without checking with Disney first.

I often found that no matter who I spoke with, I would often be given a different answer or price. I learned that this happens regularly with the Disney operators. So you have to stay on your toes and double-check everything.

We priced staying on the all-inclusive deluxe magic plan for all or part of our trip and the resort magic plan which included park passes and some other features, with and without the Food 'n' Fun tacked on to it. These plans both proved to be more expensive by large amounts than just booking rooms at nightly rates and adding the Food 'n' Fun plan on to the stay. Disney makes it difficult to determine this by purposely not offering any information about what is the best deal, not very surprising I guess.

We had also investigated the price and feature differences of all of the various types of park tickets available. We looked at Length of Stay Pass, the Premium Annual Passport and the 5-Day World Hopper Pass primarily. We almost went with the annual pass for the 4 of us, but we ultimately went with the 5-Day World Hopper Passes for all 6 of us. With the 7 consecutive day feature for the minor parks, we were able to stretch the use of our pass out for the entire length of our stay. In the first 7 days, we went to the major parks 3 days and water parks 4 days.

Then we had 2 more days of major parks left for use, resulting in us using it on 9 straight days.

We were unsure of the Food 'n' Fun plan with the new changes to the program made this year, so we decided to only book it for the first portion of our trip while at Dixie Landings. It proved to work out very well. We used all of our food credit with no problem and also took advantage of many of the activities included like boating and biking. Later, we even added it to the second part of our trip for the 4 of us.

We considered staying at several resorts. Those considered were the Polynesian, but it was full except for the expensive suites; the Yacht and Beach Club which was initially full but openings developed with continued checking; the Wilderness Lodge where we considered a junior suite as well as 2 rooms but availability for our entire stay was limited; and Dixie Landings which was available and was where we had stayed on our only previous visit. We really enjoyed DL on our last visit and had no problem in going back there. We liked it over Port Orleans which we saw on our last trip too. We like the grounds, pool, landscaping and theme better at DL.

But, we also wanted to experience the deluxe resorts this trip as well. So, we elected to spend 6 nights at DL and then 3 nights at a deluxe resort. We decided to split our party up for those 3 nights so that we could experience the facilities of two resorts, the Beach Club and the Wilderness Lodge.

We booked our airfare separately with Delta out of Oklahoma City and United out of Denver. Since we booked so early, we were able to get very good fares. I also rented a van through Avis for the entire trip. Avis is located right at the airport terminal and I wouldn't go any other way. The Disney bus system is good, but it is still easier and faster to get around with your own transportation with the exception of visiting the Magic Kingdom. With all the resort hopping that we were doing, I felt we would probably need it. I had considered renting only for a couple of days on each end of our trip, but in retrospect, I am glad that we had it for the entire stay. It saved us lots of time and hassle.

Before leaving on our trip, I also prepared several lists to assist us. These were mainly lists of tips received from all of the resources listed above. I had prepared a list of things to do before leaving, things to do on arrival, a request list for upgrades, things to pack, things to do with the kids, various activities to try to schedule, and finally various tips on park touring in general.

The most used item that I prepared was a day by day itinerary which listed all of our dining priority seatings, and intended parks to visit that day among other things. We followed the itinerary pretty closely at the beginning of the trip. But we started varying from it more and more the later we got into the trip. We also utilized the maps and recommended attraction visitation times that we clipped from the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World by Bob Sehlinger. We didn't follow his touring plans much, we just tried to hit the big line rides at the right time of day and skipped things with overly long lines as much as possible.

I sent a copy of all of this information to my parents along with some information describing the resorts where we were staying . This allowed them to get a little familiar with our travel plans before arrival. With our preparations complete, we were all looking forward to a great family trip together.

PART 2 DAILY SUMMARIES

DAY 1 - THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 1997

This is a travel day. We were departing out of Denver International Airport at 3:55pm MST, which requires us to leave home about 1:00pm as it is about a 2 hour drive. We spent the morning completing our packing and trying to keep the kids occupied. They were getting antsy as you can imagine. My parents were also leaving OKC, such that they arrived in Orlando at 8:15pm EST with us not far behind at 9:09 pm.

We both arrived on time and my parents were waiting for us at the United baggage claim area for our flight as arranged. While everyone rounded up the luggage, I took care of picking up our rental van from Avis. I received a very nice Grand Caravan, just a short walk away from the baggage claim and Avis car rental desk. I drove around and parked curbside where luggage and everyone was waiting. Everything went very smoothly to this point.

We headed straight for our hotel for that night only, the Econolodge Main gate Hawaiian Resort. Directions by the Avis personnel for accessing the Beeline Expressway and which exit to take for our hotel were way off, which accounted for a few wrong turns. We were all surprised at how heavy the traffic was for this time of night. We thought it might not be a good sign for how heavy the crowds might be.

We eventually arrived and got checked into our 2 rooms by around 11pm. The hotel was nothing special, but the price was right, with the discounted rate provided by the Orlando Magicard.

We called Dixie Landings to confirm our reservations for tomorrows check-in and learned that we couldn't pick up our resort ID cards until 7am the next morning. Since we were also going to be on the Food 'n' Fun plan, we needed our resort ID cards early and had planned on checking in early and having breakfast there before heading out to the parks. We all visited for a short while and were able to get to bed around Midnight. In hindsight, I think with or without a late arrival, it would have been worth the extra money to have booked an extra night at Dixie Landings.

DAY 2 - FRIDAY, APRIL 4,1997

Epcot awaits as our first park to visit. We barely got to experience this park on our last visit and wanted to make sure, we spent more time there this visit. Alarms went off at 6am, and we left as quickly as you can expect with the ages of our group. I had tried to get a copy of the transportation guide from Disney as many reports have suggested, but was told that they no longer mail these out. We had a few problems following the road signs to make our way to Dixie Landings, but eventually arrived about 7:30am. While the rest of the group went down to the Cottonmill Food Court for a lite breakfast, I handled the check-in and pick up our documents.

As expected our room was not yet ready, and they did have a few things incorrect from our reservation requests.

We had requested adjoining rooms in the Alligator Bayou portion of DL with close-in building nos. 14, 18 or 27 for the seniors in our party. Jennie visited guest services to get maps, timetables, transportation guide, etc. I was still surprised at the length of lines for check-in, even though it's a well-documented problem of this resort. The check-in area is appropriately designed with 20 or so check-in points, but we have never seen it with more than 6 or 7 utilized by Cast Members. We asked to leave our luggage but were told it was not possible at that time. Not the Disney Magic arrival that we received on our last visit, where they opened our car door, greeted us and took our luggage immediately. The Cast Members all seemed busy and not overly friendly, primarily due to the large crowds. We were through the process in roughly 30 minutes and after a quick coffee and roll, we set off for Epcot by 8:30am.

We drove our van to Epcot and were able to get a fairly close-in parking place. We proceeded to enter the park and headed over to Innovations East to browse the exhibits and wait for the 9:00am opening of the remainder of Future World. Natalie enjoyed the Pocahontas interactive video games. At 9am, we headed to the Universe of Energy pavilion for Ellens Energy Adventure. We walked in for the first show and thoroughly enjoyed the pre-show and ride. The only problem was with Natalie, who was not prepared for the dark and loud noises associated with the ride. My fault for not preparing her better. She hid in her moms lap for most of the ride with some whimpering. Ironically, this ended up being the one ride that she was disappointed that we didn't get to ride again later in the trip. Go figure.

From here, we went to the Wonders of Life pavilion and hit the restrooms, Sensory Funhouse, a playground for the kids, and Cranium Command. Jeremy wanted to hit Body Wars, but the line was way too long to do now. I promised him, we would return for it. I didn't want to spend any more time in lines than absolutely necessary this trip. I had with me, xerox copies of the recommended visitation time and itineraries from the unofficial guide to try and avoid the crowds as much as possible. We used them some but not really that much.

We next visited the Horizons pavilion, for its short but fun ride with no wait encountered. We then went by the General Motors pavilion, but, as we knew in advance, Test Track was unfortunately not yet open. Looks like a great ride, which I am sure will have long lines from the moment it opens.

We had an 11:30am priority seating at Ankershus, so we headed over by way of Odyssey Center and Mexico to Norway. We arrived a little early, so we toured the Norway shops and exhibits until we were beeped for our seating. The pagers are a nice feature and the wait was ten minutes tops. We were all very hungry and the food, drink and atmosphere was very relaxing after a long morning. This proved to be one of the quieter and favorite restaurants of our trip. We all had the Norwegian Buffet with Ringnes Beers for me and dad and several great deserts. Our meal was placed on Food 'n' Fun with a 10% MKC discount as well. The resident troll and Viking came by our table for a visit as well. The service was excellent, attentive and friendly. We were very pleased with this choice.

After we hit the restrooms, we stepped outside and saw that the line for Malestrom had disappeared, so we went for it. Before we had taken a few steps, the hostess of the restaurant brought us an array of hats and other items Natalie had left behind. The ride was fun and just about the limit of dip for my mom and Natalie. We stayed for the short theater film. Jennie and my mom purchased a few things as well as passports to start collecting stamps in each country.

We then headed for China. We missed most of the pre-show of musical entertainment, but quickly entered and viewed the Wonders of China circle-vision 360 presentation. I found it interesting and a little dis-orienting. The kids were mostly on the floor as they were beginning to tire. While everyone explored the shops and restrooms outside the theater, I called Dixie Landings to see if our rooms were ready. One room was and the adjoining room would soon be available. With that news, we headed back out of the park.

Along the way, we passed various street musicians and drink carts that some of us hit. When we got to Spaceship Earth, the line had disappeared, so we decided to ride it. It was the first time for all of us, and was another one of our favorites. We also rode one of the interactive rides in the AT&T Global Neighborhood as we exited the ride.

It was roughly 3pm, but we all commented how wonderful the weather had been. Clear skies, not very humid, just enough of a cool breeze and perfect temperatures somewhere in the mid - 70s. We got back to the car and made an easy exit. I missed a turn somewhere, but we fairly easily made our way back to Dixie Landings.

The lines at the front desk were ridiculous. Disney really needs to do s omething about this situation. The line for check-in had to be an hour minimum. The separate key pick-up line was shorter but it still took 20 minutes. They needed to re-issue me new resort ID cards, since they had moved our party this morning to comply with all of the special requests that they had not dealt with in advance as we had requested.

We drove over to our building and were presently surprised that our rooms were ground floor and very close to parking, so that unloading was very easy. We were located in rooms 1631 & 1632 in Alligator Bayou, Bldg. 16, adjoining rooms, near one of the smaller pools. I had to call for the requested refrigerator and ironing board as they were not present. They arrived within 30 minutes. We unpacked and some took a short nap while others toured the resort until 5pm. Then it was time to depart for our 5:30pm priority seating for dinner.

We hopped into the van, and drove over to the Polynesian Resort for dinner at Ohanas. I dropped everyone off at the entry, then parked the car. I found dad, Jennie and the kids ordering drinks from the bar while waiting to be paged for our seating. My mom was off sightseeing. Before our drinks arrived, we were paged and off for a tour of the restaurant and seated at an OK table. I went to look for mom, who hadn't arrived yet. I found her visiting with the in-resident artist in the lobby. My mom is an artist with a studio in OKC.

By the time I returned to the table with mom, our first course had alread y arrived. I slowed our waiter down, with more drink orders, and a request for a vegetarian meal for Jennie. It was then, I realized that we had not been seated in the main dining room as recommended, but I let it go. In general, the meal was very good, and the waiter and the atmosphere was fun. The activities for the kids weren't as much as I had expected. One quick lap rolling a coconut around the dining room with canes. Jeremy participated but didn't think it was that much fun, much too short. The restaurant itself is very well done, a beautifully decorated facility.

Around 7:45pm, we left the restaurant and hopped on board the monorail to go to the Magic Kingdom. The drivers front cab was empty, so dad, Jeremy, Natalie and I rode up front. They didn't have any certificates for the kids as I've read about in some reports. We arrived at dusk and Main Street USA looked great all lit up. We had no specific plan other than to let the kids ride as many rides as they wished. We decided to take the WDW Railroad all the way around to Mickey's Toontown Fair. It appeared that all parts of the park were crowded. The park was open till Midnight today and tomorrow for the only portion of our trip, so that could have had something to do with it. After we got off the train, we strolled our way over to Fantasyland, just taking in the sights.

In Fantasyland, Natalie wanted to ride the Cinderella's Golden Carrousel, so Jennie took her through the long line there. Mom got in line for Dumbo so that Natalie could switch over to her spot in line after the Carrousel. Dads feet were bothering him some from all the walking, so he elected to just park himself on a bench and just watch.

Jeremy and I headed over to the Haunted Mansion for a quick ride if the line wasn't too bad. It wasn't, and we walked in within a couple of minutes. We'd forgotten alot of the details of this ride, so we had a good time.

Jennie and I had brought along a pair of Radio Shack family walkie talkies, which proved to be very helpful in finding each other when we would split up in the various parks. When we exited the Haunted Mansion and headed back towards Fantasyland, I contacted Jennie and found her waiting for Natalie and Mom to get on Dumbo.

Jeremy somehow made his way over and convinced the cast member operating Dumbo to let him join Natalie and Mom at the front of the line. They all three got to ride on the next loading from that point.

After they exited, we located dad and made our way over to Its A Small World which had a small line both to get on and get off the ride. We all rode with this being one of Jennie and Natalies favorites. Jeremy jokingly complained that it would not be cool to be caught riding this by his best friend Andres.

We made our way from here over to Frontierland to catch Spectromagic. We set up to watch from the porch on the side of Liberty Tree Tavern. A good place in that you're up a little from street level and the planters and benches in front were roped off so that only a few people gathered in front of us. It allowed us an unobstructed view and the kids were able to go up and stand right at the rope edge by the street . While waiting, I went with mom over to the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon. We watched some of the Revue while getting ice cream to share with everyone. The parade eventually made it to this point at about 9:20 pm. It started at the Main Street end, so we ended up waiting longer than I had anticipated. The parade was nice but I didn't like the music as much this time. My mom and dad really enjoyed it being their first time except the standing didn't help my dad's sore feet.

Next, we headed over to the Skyway to Tomorrowland. After a 15 minute w ait, we boarded two cars and got to full height just as the 10:00 pm Fantasy in the Sky fireworks show began. The fireworks lasted the entire trip with the big finale taking place as we watched from the exit ramp in Tomorrowland.

Tomorrowland was rockin as a teen dance was in progress to the side of the Skyway. It was loud. We decided to board the Tomorrowland Transit Authority to get an overview of the area. Somehow we all squeezed in to one car. It was a tight fit. It seemed to move a lot faster as well. My mom was immediately worried that we had gotten her on to some type of coaster without telling her. The kids liked this new version and its much funner at night.

From here, we went to the Astro Orbiter at the kids urging. It had a fairly long 20 minute line, but we stuck it out. This is another ride that is better at night.

Well, it was approaching 11:00 pm and we wanted to leave the park before the real crowds started to exit. We made our way down Main Street quickly as the street was roped off for the 11:00 pm parade. We got on the monorail for the return trip to the Polynesian, where I went and got the van from the parking lot and picked everyone else up at the entry for a return trip to Dixie Landings.

It was late when we arrived at the rooms, so we put the kids right to bed and completed our unpacking before turning in ourselves.

DAY 3 - SATURDAY, APRIL 5, 1997

Jeremy, Dad and I decided the previous evening, to go ahead with our plans for early opening at Magic Kingdom. Jennie, Natalie and Mom decided to sleep in after the fast pace of the last two days. Jeremy and I wanted to hit the major rides since the ladies probably wouldn't ride many of them anyway.

So, we arose at 6:00am. Dad went down and picked up a few things for breakfast, coffee and rolls. From the room, we made our way over to the Mason Platform bus stop. The crowd was surprisingly large. We had just missed the MK bus. It was pulling away as we arrived and there was still a line. Getting on the next bus was very unorganized as the next bus stopped short of the front of the line causing some confusion. The driver needed to load someone in a wheelchair first and then a full load of passengers including us. It was getting close to 7:45am by the time we arrived at MK.

After entry, Jeremy wanted to go straight to Alien Encounter. There was no line, we just waited for few minutes for the doors to open to preshow area. The preshow started right away. It was short and hard to pick up on everything happening. We went in to the main theater and got strapped in to our seats. We all three, along with the majority of the audience laughed our way through the presentation. It was comical. I don't see how anyone could actually be scared by the ride, other than small children who don't do well in the dark. Jeremy really liked the ride, I think partly because it was not nearly as frightening as he thought it might be.

After we exited, we headed for Space Mountain which had no visible line. We walked all the way to the main maze which was unfortunately full on both sides. We went left and had to wait 15 - 20 minutes to wind our way through the maze. We all 3 loaded in the rear car and had a great ride.

On this ride and others of this kind, I have always had to remove my eyeglasses ( I would always forget my eyeglass strap) to not lose them during the ride. But this trip was different. I just had laser surgery on my eyes in February. Amazing procedure which has taken my 400/400 + vision to 20/20 vision with no need to wear eyeglasses anymore. For someone who has worn eyeglasses or contacts for 30 years solid, it is truly a miracle. I was able to enjoy all of the rides with no problems. I'd recommend looking into the LASIK procedure for anyone considering this surgery.

After this Jeremy wanted to do the Tomorrowland Speedway. Dad grabbed a table that had a good view and Jeremy and I got in line. We had a 10 - 15 minute wait which allowed us to talk about things. Jeremy wanted to drive his own car by himself, so I followed him enjoying the view. We passed Dads viewpoint with a wave and quickly made the loop. After the usual wait to unload, we made our way over to Dads table where he had some drinks and pastries waiting for us. Dad said he had enjoyed the view better than if he had gone along for the ride, as he got to watch the expression on kids faces as they passed by him in their cars. Some were laughing and carefree while others were scared stiff while still others were very serious about their driving performance. He got quite the kick out of it.

Next, we headed back across the center of the park, stopping for a few pictures here and there. We headed into Adventureland to make our way to Splash Mountain. We opted to try Pirates of the Caribbean since we saw no line. Their was maybe a 10 minute line inside but we got through fairly quickly. I had forgotten how much better the ride at Disneyland is over this version. The ride also got hung up somehow and the boats got stacked up back to back. This extended clear out to the bridge before the jail scene. They also had the inside lights on for part of the ride which spoiled it some. As we exited through the shop outside, we commented how much faster we were able to go through the shop without the ladies along. Sorry ladies but just a fact.

Jeremy wanted to hustle over to Splash Mountain, so off we went to Frontierland. The line was very long but Jeremy had his heart set on it. We waited a good 45 minutes or so. Dad and I got to visit and observe much of the detail of the area. Jeremy and I sat in the rear seat with Dad just in front of us. Its still one of the top rides and we all had fun. We got the picture as we all had our heads up for a good shot. Dad and I tried to talk Mom into riding this ride later in the trip just to see the inside, but to no avail. We never made it back ourselves anyway.

Dad decided to take a break and find a bench next, while Jeremy and I stood in line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We had maybe a 20 minute wait. This is my favorite ride as I just like coasters. Jeremy had fun too.

Again, we had the rear seat. When we exited, we found Dad resting on a bench taking in the crowd and the sights.

We had a lunch reservation at 12:15pm for Tony's Town Square and we were to meet the ladies there. I reached Jennie on our portable radios. They were in the park and were visiting the shops on Main Street USA. We agreed to head for Tony's and meet them there in a few minutes. We made our way back to the front of the park and I checked in for our lunch priority seating. In 10 minutes or so, we were seated in the greenhouse portion of the restaurant with a good view of the street outside. We had a leisurely lunch which was very good. Service was slow but we weren't in a hurry after the busy morning.

After lunch, we went to the 25th Anniversary Welcome Center in City Hall.

Didn't take long as there was no line. Some nice architectural renderings of concepts for the new Animal Kingdom park were of interest to me. Merchandise for the new park was already available in the shop outside. We saw the crowd was lining up outside for the afternoon parade but we decided to head back to DL for a rest. We took the bus back in short order and settled the kids in for a nap. After a short rest, we all went over to Ol' Man Island to see the pool area , the Fishin' Hole and Playground. After a brief visit, we headed back to the van and loaded up to head to Epcot.

A short drive and we were back to the parking area at Epcot. We bypassed the area where people were being directed for parking and followed another car over to the same area we had parked yesterday. There were plenty of empty spaces and were able to park much closer to the entry gates. We headed over to The Land pavilion to take in the Living with the Land ride but we lost Mom on the way. Somehow she thought we went into the Circle of Life theater when we had all gone down the escalator to the lower level. She waited in the preshow area and then when she did not find us in the theater, she exited and found us seated on the lower level dining area. I was in line for a frozen drink, which we shared while standing in the short line for the Living with the Land boat ride. It was interesting as it was our first time on this ride. Dad and the kids especially enjoyed the various fish ponds with all the different varieties. After we exited the ride, Mom and Jennie stopped for a recipe book and then we were off to the Journey Into imagination pavilion.

The line for Honey, I Shrunk the Kids was much too long, so we decided to bypass for now and headed for France in the World Showcase. We arrived early for our 7:00pm seating at Chefs De France, so there was time to take in the street performers and shops of France before our name was called. We proceeded to have one of our best dining experiences of the trip. The atmosphere and service were great and the food was very good. After dinner, we took in one of the highlights of the trip. The Impressions de France wide-screen movie was beautiful. It reminded me and Jennie of our visit to Europe before having children. Th e drawings of Notre Dame cathedral in the waiting area were also interesting. After the show, we headed out to find a spot to watch Illuminations 25.

We went over to the United Kingdom where I had read there was a somewhat hidden viewing area down behind the Rose & Crown Pub. The area was somewhat full but there were still plenty of places remaining for it to be only 5 minutes to showtime. We all just found our own spots and watched the show. It was our first time to see it so I can't compare it to the old show. It was good but not as good as the fireworks show at MK.

Well from here, we followed the crowd to the front of the park, where we made one quick stop in some shops along the way. Exit from the parking area went very smoothly considering the a mount of people leaving at closing. I missed the exit again for DL, so I had to take the next turn to loop around. We got Jennie and the kids settled in the room, then Mom, Dad and I went down to the Cotton Co-op Lounge for a nightcap. We returned to the room to do a little bookwork and then turned in for the night.

DAY 4 - SUNDAY, APRIL 6, 1997

Alarms were set for 7:15am today but we slept in. I let Jeremy answer the wake-up call from Mickey. I think it surprised him. We decided to skip our reservation for breakfast at the Coral Isle Cafe and just had breakfast at the food court. We then loaded up in the van to head for Typhoon Lagoon. The park was very crowded on arrival and I eventually figured out that we were an hour late in arriving. I forgot to move my watch up an hour for the daylight savings time change which occurred last midnight. It was tough finding a place with any shade, but we eventually set up over in the Ketchakiddee Creek area. The kids disappeared immediately, and I had to track them down to get some sunscreen on them. We are all 4, fair-skinned, blue-eyed blondes that sunburn in a flash without sunscreen. I also went to pick up some towels and a lifevest for Natalie.

Jeremy, Dad and I went for the raft rides. We rode Keelhaul Falls and Mayday Falls but the lines were starting to get too long after 1 ride each. Mom joined us and we hit the Bay Slides and the Surf Pool. The surf was a blast.

We tried body surfing on several large waves. After a bit, we returned to join Natalie and Jennie in a circuit around Castaway Creek. It was tough to keep the group together and it was way too crowded. When we floated back to our stop, we got out to pick up Dad and go for lunch at the Leaning Palms.

Unfortunately, Natalie had an accident on the way. She didn't see the steps for the bridge across Castaway Creek and fell. She scraped her knee pretty bad. A cast member was quickly there, giving us directions to First Aid. She quit crying when I picked her up and carried her to first aid, which was conveniently right next to the Leaning Palms where we were going anyway for lunch. After Natalie got a bandaid and a little pampering, we had a lunch of standard fare. The kids meals are nice in that they get a bucket and shovel which were good for sand and water play later.

We then went over to see the other sights of the park including the shop and Shark Reef. Natalie and Jennie elected to spend a half hour getting their hair braided at a stand in the park. Jeremy and I took a ride on the Storm slides and then headed back to round up our stuff. We spent a while rounding everyone up with the use of our radios, but eventually made our way out of the park to return to DL to rest and cleanup.

After a short rest, showers and cleanup, I took the kids down to the Dixie Levee boat rental. They were closing in 15 minutes but with Food 'n' Fun it didn't matter. We took a small canopy boat and made a quick trip up to Port Orleans and back via the Sassagoula River. Jeremy had fun steering the boat, and Natalie didn't like the waves created by the wake of the other passing boats. However, both did not want to return even thought we had to with them closing.

We went back to the room and rounded up the others. We took our van over to the parking area at Fort Wilderness, where we boarded the bus for a ride through the campgrounds to arrive at Pioneer Hall. We had reservations for the 7:15pm seating of the Hoop De Doo Revue dinner show, that I had booked some 5 months in advance. We left DL for the show at 6:00pm and were still 30 minutes early. It didn't take nearly as long to get there as some have reported. We spent the extra time visiting the petting zoo, horse barn and playground. We also watched the peacock strutting her stuff on the roof of Pioneer Hall. The seating was late, so we all were getting pretty hungry. When we reached the podium of the cast member seating parties, he made a last minute table switch which worked to our f avor. We were seated at a large table for 6, right in the middle, 2nd row from the stage. I don't think we could have gotten a better location. The show was fun and we were so hungry, we would have liked anything, but the food was good. The desert of strawberry shortcake was especially a hit. I couldn't figure out why they made each serving for 2 people though. Natalie usually likes singing and dancing, and she had her eyes fixed on the performers for most of the show.

After the show got out it was raining lightly. Everyone hit the restrooms on the way out, and we made a quick bus trip back to our van for a return to DL. We got the kids to bed and then spent some time visiting with mom and dad down at the Cotton Co-op lounge, before retiring for the night.

DAY 5 - MONDAY, APRIL 7, 1997

We awoke at 7:00am today. This was to be our day to visit Universal Stud ios or play some golf or just relax around the hotel. We had decided the previous evening, that Dad and I would play golf in the morning while the others relaxed. Unfortunately, Dad woke up feeling ill. He had caught some type of sinus infection that had made him very hoarse and feeling poorly. He decided to stay and sleep in and visit a doctor for some antibiotics. I checked the Unofficial Guide for medical service and gave the number to Mom.

I decided to go on and play golf at the Palm Golf Course where I had a tee time at 8:36am. I was by now running a bit late, so I drove the van over and easily found the course. After a simple check-in and brief warm-up on the driving range, it was time to tee it up. I was paired with another twosome, David Morris and his son Ollie. They were on holiday from Wimbleton, England. Ollie was 10 years old and just learning the game while David was a decent player who probably played in the mid-80s. The weather was very nice and we had an enjoyable round until the 18th hole. It clouded over quickly on the last couple of holes and the skies opened up on the 18th hole with the heaviest rainfall that we saw the entire trip. I played the last hole quickly in the rain and managed a par to finish with an 81 on the par 72 layout. This wasn't too bad considering the long winter lay-off. I quickly said my good-byes and loaded up my clubs. I returned to DL to see how Dad was doing and if anyone wanted to have lunch.

Everyone was at the rooms getting cleaned up. Jennie and the kids had spent the morning at Ol' Man Island swimming. Mom had spent the morning sketching around the resort. Dad called the Buena Vista Walk-In Clinic.

They really impressed him with how helpful they were. They had a pick-up service which came to DL and took him to the clinic. After a short wait, he was attended to by a lady doctor. She fully explained everything regarding his infection and his foot ailments and called in a prescription for him. The shuttle took him to pick up the prescription and then returned him to DL. Dad said they were so helpful, he wished they were in OKC to be his regular doctor.

Dad did not feel like taking in any lunch and just wanted to sleep. The rest of the group had not had lunch so we decided to head over to Planet Hollywood or the Rain Forest Cafe. We drove over and parked outside Planet Hollywood. It appeared that the rainstorm, which had stopped a few minutes ago, had chased away the crowds.

For 1pm, it appeared very uncrowded. We walked right in and were seated in just a few minutes. We had a good view of everything and had a very enjoyable lunch. The kids wanted a few pictures with the Alien and the Terminator. The deserts here were some of the best of the entire trip.

After lunch, we decided to do a little shopping and sightseeing. We walked through Pleasure Island and hoped that we would have a chance to return. I especially wanted to experience the Adventure Club which I have heard so much about. We eventually reached the Village Marketplace and decided to tackle the new World of Disney store. This store has virtually everything you could want to purchase at Disney World but at a price. It is so large and crowded that it is very easy to lose kids and adults. Fortunately we had our radios, which made it a little easier for Jennie and I to find each other after shopping for a while. We then decided to return to DL for the rest of the afternoon. I took th e kids and we visited the video game room for a while. We returned to the room to find Dad feeling better. We had a 7:15pm seating for the California Grille at the Contemporary and he decided to go ahead and come. We drove over and found some close-in parking and made our way to the restaurant. We were seated in the bar for a 10 -15 minute wait, which was turned out to be much too short. We had a great spot next to the windows and were taking in the view and watching the sunset in progress, when they said our table was ready. We hadn't even received our drink order. Our table was not in a very good location. It was away from the view of the MK and Seven Seas Lagoon. I started to request another table but the kids were hungry and I knew it would be a longer wait as I hadn't seen any other empty tables for six on the way in.

We all had a very enjoyable dinner, which ended up being our most expensi ve meal of the trip at $200+. It was very good food, nice atmosphere but slow service. The wine that I had with dinner did not set well with my meal as I did get sick from it later in the evening. Other than that, everyone was very pleased with their meals.

After we finished dinner, we went out on the roof top decks to view the f ireworks shows. First we took in the show from Epcot. It was some distance away but could be made out as it was very clear out now. We moved to the deck on the MK end of the roof and then watched the MK fireworks show. It was a great vantage point. We also could see the Floating Parade over at the Wilderness Lodge. After the shows, we went down to take a further look at the Contemporary Resort. We visited some of the shops, picked up few more pressed pennies and quarters, and then visited the video game room which I believe is the largest one of all the resorts.

We then headed back to DL, where Jennie dropped Dad and I off at the Cotton Co-op Lounge. I got a print-out of our room charges and picked up a few things at the General Store. We stayed up a while visiting and had a nightcap and then returned to our rooms. Jennie and I finished getting the kids to bed and retired ourselves soon after.

DAY 6 - TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 1997

Today we awoke at 7:15am to arrive early for our character breakfast over at the Grand Floridian. We drove over and I dropped everyone at the main lobby. Jennie checked in while the others explored the beautiful lobby and other facilities of the resort. After I parked the car, I found Mom inside taking pictures. I mailed a few postcards at the front desk and we were soon paged to be seated. The 1900 Park Fare character breakfast had many characters including Mary Poppins and we got many pictures of the kids with all. The food was only average, not kept very warm or fresh as a buffet. After breakfast, we took a stroll through the gardens and pool areas of the resort and then returned to the van.

From here we headed for Blizzard Beach. We arrived before the park opened and got parking close in. There was still quite a crowd waiting. We went the front gates, got changed into our suits and waited for the rest of the park to be opened. Once opened, we found a table and some seats and the kids headed for the water slides in the Tikes Peak children's area. Soon after, we all headed up the chair lift which had a good 10 minute line to the Teamboat Springs family raft ride. It was pretty wild, lots of side to side motion. Natalie got a little scared, but all in all it was fun. The kids then shared their time at Ski Patrol Training Camp, a pre-teen area with slides, iceberg walk, t-bar drop and raft slides and the Tikes Peak area. A little after noon, Dad and I left for a round of golf that afternoon. J ennie, Mom and Kids stayed at the park.

They tried out other parts like Melt Away Bay, a small wave pool and the Snow Stormers, mat slides and Runoff Rapids, inner tube runs. They took the Disney bus back but somehow got off at Port Orleans instead of DL. Jennie said the bus driver gave them the wrong directions. They spent some time looking at the pool area and then walked back along the river to reach DL. They checked into renting a boat, but they had to return it to PO and didn't see how that would work. Unfortunately they had forgotten, that we planned to have dinner at PO that evening, so it would have worked out fine.

Meanwhile, Dad and I drove from Blizzard Beach over to the clubhouse for the Osprey Ridge Golfcourse for our 1pm tee time. When we started to unload our clubs, Dad realized he had forgot his keys which worked on the lock on his travel bag for the golf clubs. We made a mad dash back to the room and couldn't find the key. He decided to just clip off the lock with some clippers and we headed back. We made it back with just enough spare time for me to get us checked in while Dad picked up some sandwiches and drinks for a quick lunch. We went to the driving range to hit a few balls, then quickly headed for the first tee. I didn't think the service at the clubhouse was very good compared to the other resort golf course or Disney in general. They didn't give us helpful directions and didn't locate our clubs on a golf cart together. The staff seemed more interested in visiting with one another than helping out the guests. The starter was waiting for us on the first tee. He gave us a good introduction to the course and paired us with a doctor from Tulsa, OK and his college-aged son who was working at Disney World in one of the resort restaurants, I can't remember which one. This was a very difficult course designed by Tom Fazio and the type of course I like to play. I played the course from the back talon tees while the other three played from the regular crest tees. We didn't keep score as we all were playing up and down. It was an interesting layout and I enjoyed it very much. On about the fourth tee, we heard a loud boom, that puzzled us as to what it could have been. We finally figured out that it was a sonic boom from the space shuttle. We had read in the paper that it might land here in Florida this week. It got a lot warmer today but it wasn't too bad. Dad and I were probably lucky if we broke a hundred for the round, but it was fun. When we finished, it was getting pretty late to make our dinner seating. So we headed straight back to DL.

We found the family in the rooms on arrival. After freshening up, we drove over to Port Orleans to have dinner at Bonfamilles. We were seated quickly and had a very enjoyable meal. It was good we came early as the restaurant was packed by the time we finished. After picking up a few more pressed quarters, we headed back to DL to relax at the room. I did stop by the front desk on the way to pick up a copy of our room charges and our Food 'n' Fun account. I found that their were several errors on the FNF. They had many meals charged to our room and not to FNF. I pointed these out to the cast member assisting me and he indicated that he would get it corrected by the next morning. I also found out that the meal at the California Grille had not shown up on either account. We had heard there was a power outage of some kind that night and it had affected some computers at Disney. I think the trip was starting to catch up with some of us, so we decided to turn in early tonight.

DAY 7 - WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 1997

We got up at 6:30am today and went down to have breakfast at the food court with the whole family. Then we drove over to MGM Studios. We arrived for the early opening and got a parking place on the first row behind the HC spaces. It helped to point out that we had some seniors in our group. We went in through the gates, picked up some maps and schedules and headed straight for Tower of Terror. Mom stayed with Natalie while the rest of us went on the ride. The line was semi-short. We went right into the preshow area and then had a 10 minute line to board. The ride was fun, watching Jeremy, Jennie and Dad ride for the first time. We got a very good picture with Jeremy in mid white-knuckle scream. The drop seemed bigger this time to me, but the ride portion leading up to the drop seemed shorter.

After we got off, Mom decided she wanted to go but we had second thoughts when we saw how much the line outside had grown. We decided to head on to the Great Movie ride. The line started in the preshow area which was about ¾ full, so we got to see a little more than 1 full showing of the movie clips. The gangster version of the ride awaited us. Jeremy got a big kick out of the Alien portion as he has been wanting me to let him see this movie. I think Natalie enjoyed the Wizard of Oz portion the most. From the Movie ride, we headed down past Ellen's Buy the Book shop to Muppet Vision 4D. We went in to a mostly full preshow area and only waited a few minutes to move into the theater. Too bad because the preshow is worth seeing, but its hard for the kids to see the screens or stand for very long. The show was fun and is one of my favorites at this park. When we exited, the streets were jam-packed. The Hunchback show had just ended as well. We wandered back through some of the shops and the New York street sets for a few pictures. Then, we headed over to Star Tours. This is the ride Jeremy has been patiently waiting for us to hit. It's his favorite. The line wasn't bad and we got to ride in only 10 minutes or so. Natalie didn't want to ride, so Jennie and Mom waited with her while the guys rode. Then they passed Natalie through before their ride. It was a bit rough on Mom and I think she came close to losing her breakfast but she made it through.

Jeremy spent quite a bit of time in the Star Tours shop and spent most of his spending money here. We sent most things on to the room with the package delivery service here as with most purchases at the parks. By now it was getting close to lunch time, so we headed over to our seating at the Hollywood Brown Derby. It was 11:30am so we had beaten the rush and were shown right in. I asked for a different table in the main dining room which was very nice, next to the piano where we had an entertaining show once the cast members arrived to do their bits in their 40s garb. The food was very good and the margaritas were the best had anywhere on the trip. Service was entertaining but a bit slow as lunch took close to 2 hours.

From here we wandered down Hollywood Blvd. looking at the shops and decor. We left the park and took some group pictures outside at the 25th Anniversary billboard. We quickly reached the van and headed back to DL for the afternoon.

Some of us elected to do some swimming at Ol' Man Island while others rested up at the rooms for a couple of hours. We then headed over by bus to the MK for the evening. We decided to skip our dinner seating at the Liberty Tree Tavern, and headed over to Adventureland. Everyone had a lite dinner at El Pirata Y el Perico, a counter-service restaurant and did some shopping in the general area. Then all of us took a quick ride on Pirates of the Caribbean. Natalie wanted to see Country Bear Jamboree next. It was OK, but not very much fun with an audience only about ¼ full and not much into it. Next we went over to the Hall of Presidents, which is the only attraction that I've never experienced at MK. We went straight in to the theater and enjoyed the show very much. I'll make a point to see it again next time.

After we came out, the Spectromagic parade was in full swing and going by this part of Liberty Square. We decided to move on and take advantage of the parade time to hit as many rides as possible for the kids. Our mad dash was able to include Peter Pans Flight, Snow Whites Adventures, two rides on Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and one on the Mad Tea Party.

The park was close to closing time, so I made a dash with the kids for Mickey's Toontown Fair to try and catch a ride on The Barnstormer roller coaster. We made it for the last ride of the night. Jeremy and Natalie jumped into the front before they realized what they were doing. I got in the next seat and right behind us were Mom who got in with me and then Dad and Jennie. Mom did not realize what she was getting on, as she does not like roller coasters of any kind. Natalie screamed in both fright and delight and Mom barely made it through. It was a good thing it was short. The kids hopped off and ran around to try and get a 2nd ride but it was too late, the barn doors were closed.

The park was closing now, 9pm, and the throngs were leaving in mass. We elected to stop for ice cream at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor. Jennie and Dad grabbed a table while Mom and I stood in line for cones. I had my Colorado Rockies ballcap on, which our servers picked up on, as they were college students from Colorado State and big Rockies fans. I hadn't heard much in the last week about their games, but they informed me they were on a hot streak and they were watching many of the games over at the ESPN cl ub at the Boardwalk. We delivered the cones outside and sat and enjoyed the treats while we waited for the crowd to thin.

Eventually, we made our way down Main Street USA, the shops and out to the bus stop which had no lines and quickly returned to DL. We proceeded to get the kids to bed as early as possible and then began to pack. We were switching resorts tomorrow. My parents were going to the Wilderness Lodge while we were going to the Beach Club. I booked it this way, so that we could experience some of the facilities at both resorts and give us some time apart if my parents wanted to do some different things. Since the charge from the California Grille had still not shown up on our Food 'n' Fun plan, we still had some credit left which would expire at Midnight if not used. Dad and I went to the Food Court and picked up some things for breakfast, a bunch of snack foods for the rest of the trip as well as some wine coolers and beer. I think we still left with a remaining credit of $30 or so. We then returned to the room to get some sleep.

DAY 8 - THURSDAY, APRIL 10, 1997

I got up early today to take care of alot of initial business. I had done an accounting of all of our expenditures charged to the resort ID card and on the Food 'n' Fun plan last night. So it was easy to verify the itemized billing which they delivered to our door that morning. Everything appeared to be in order.

I then loaded up all of our main baggage and headed over to the Beach Club to get us checked in. It was easy to find and what a nice place. What a difference in terms of check-in. No lines were ever encountered during the entire stay at the Front desk, Guest services, Bell or Valet services. A great change from that experienced at DL.

The check-in went very smoothly except for my attempt to add Food 'n' Fun to our stay. The Food 'n' Fun had worked out so well for the first part of our trip that I decided it was worth it. I hadn't prebooked it for the 2nd half because I wanted to see how it went and if it was really worthwhile. I waited for 20 minutes and it was still not resolved. I never did understand why there was such difficulty in doing this. I indicated that I had to leave and would return to pick up our ID cards later. We needed them now to utiliz e the Food 'n' Fun today, so I was going to have to make trip back to deal with this.

I headed back to DL and found everyone waiting and ready to go. We loaded up the van and then headed over to the Wilderness Lodge to get Mom and Dad checked in. The lines here were a little longer and it took pretty much right up to 10am to take care of this and as expected we would have to return to get keys to their room. We then headed for our seating at the Artists Point character breakfast here at the WL.

The restaurant was very nice. We were seated quickly and efficiently served a breakfast of above average fare. The various characters made the rounds and we got many pictures with all of them. We had discovered that Natalie was fine with all of the costumed animal characters but was very shy with any of the human characters. She ended up under the table when Pocahontas showed up. But this didn't seem to surprise her as she just went under the table for a visit with Natalie. John Smith got the same reaction. Natalies favorite was Meeko who ended our breakfast by giving her an escort out of the restaurant clear to the lobby as we were leaving.

I went back to the front desk and found that the room was ready for Mom and Dad. So, we helped them take their luggage upstairs to their room which had a woods view on the 5th floor . It was also located conveniently to the elevator accessing the pool area as well. After we got them squared away , we headed back over to the Beach Club to finish our check-in. The front desk still didn't have our Food 'n' Fun straightened out. They needed me to speak with someone at Kingdom Tours, our original packager, to get it resolved.

But eventually they got us new resort ID cards and our standard room was available for check-in. A nice surprise was the gift basket waiting for us from Kingdom Magic Travel our travel agent for most of our travel arrangements. We had bell services take our luggage to our nice room complete with mini-refrigerator that we had requested. After we got our swimming gear together, we headed back to WL.

We all made our way through the lobby, past the waterfalls and pool areas , out to the boat docks. After a short wait, we loaded onto a boat which could take us to either Discovery Island or River Country water park. It stopped first at the Contemporary and then Discovery Island, which we decided to skip since it was already early afternoon.

We went on to River Country and went in to spend a few hours swimming and sunning. I picked up some towels and a life jacket for Natalie. Jeremy and I then went down several of the water slides and tube slides while Natalie and Mom spent some time together. Afterwards we got a quick snack at the park, then Jeremy and I went back to the boat docks nearby to spend some time on the Water Sprites. He was disappointed that age 12 was the cut-off for driving one alone. So we had to ride together. These small motorboats were a lot of fun and we jetted around on them until we saw the rest of our group arrive at the boat docks. We then came back in to catch the next boat back to WL with the others. It was fun and I wish we had spent more time on the lake taking advantage of the boats with our Food 'n' Fun plan.

After we got back to WL, Jennie drove over to the Beach Club to get a change of clothes while Mom went to their room to unpack and rest. Dad headed to the hot tub at the Pool area and the poolside bar while the kids and I went over to the bike rental. We all 3 rode through the Fort Wilderness trails over to the area where the petting zoo and stables were that we saw a few nights ago. The kids had fun as they had been wanting to do some bike riding from day 1. After we returned the bikes, they both took a quick dip in the pool using the small water slide that they have. We then went up to the room to clean up and dress for dinner.

Jennie hadn't returned yet, so after a few unanswered calls, we assumed she was on her way. We all went down to the lobby to wait for her arrival and to check-in for our dinner seating at the Whispering Canyon Cafe which was in full swing and we could tell was going to be a wild place. While waiting, I took the kids over to the Cubs Den to see if they liked it. It seemed nice but Natalie was being her shy self and wouldn't go in. After we returned to the lobby, Jennie had arrived. While we waited for dinner, we went over to the gift shop and got a couple of things for Natalie which they said they would gift wrap and then send over to the restaurant. It was getting close to Natalies' birthday, so we had planned to have an early celebration tonight at this restaurant.

We had quite a long wait of 30 minutes or so but were eventually paged for our seating . I had let them know, we were having a birthday celebrated and that gifts would be arriving from the gift shop. Our waitress was a gal with the moniker of Little Bit and she and the other waiters were very entertaining. We were all very hungry having eaten a lite lunch. We had a enjoyable dinner and then had Natalie open her presents which had arrived. After that Little Bit took Natalie by the hand and introduced her to the restaurant crowd and everyone sang her a happy birthday. It was very cute but I think she was so embarrassed, she didn't enjoy it that much. Her disposition changed though when Little Bit brought had her birthday desert. A big ice cream cookie sundae and she ate every bit. When she and Jeremy finished, they got a little restless and went out to the lobby where they were showing some birds from Discovery Island. Unfortunately they then missed the stick-horse races in the restaurant while they were gone. All in all, it was fun evening even if the service was a bit slow at 2 hours plus.

We got done so late that we decided to skip leaving the kids at the Cubs Den as we had planned. We were going to try a late evening at Pleasure Island but it was already close to 10pm and it had been a long day. So, we said our goodnights to Mom and Dad and drove back over to the Beach Club. We got the kids to bed and then spent some time looking over the facilities at the Beach Club before turning in ourselves.

DAY 9 - FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 1997

I got up early today to spend some time on my own. I had made arrangements yesterday to meet with Paul Katen, who was an architect friend of a business associate of mine. Paul is a Senior Development Manager for Disney and had worked with my friend who had been in charge of many projects such as the new Boardwalk Resort, prior to his leaving Disney for other opportunities.

I took the bus from the BC over to the Boardwalk and then went about exploring much of this new resort. I stopped for coffee and a pastry available off of the lobby and then waited for Paul to arrive. We had agreed to meet under the tower at the main lobby entry.

Paul arrived and after introductions and a brief discussion about his involvement with Disney, we began a tour of the back of house areas of the property. He had with him, some floor plans of the property, so we were able to discuss some of the planning and distribution problems associated with a project of this size. We discussed many areas of interest including methods of construction, use of materials, sound ratings of assemblies, construction schedules and internal workings of the design team. The Beach and Yacht Club and the Boardwalk resorts were some of the first resort hotel projects done by architect A. M. Stern. They are both very well done projects.

Paul is now in charge of the development of new restaurants and food service at Disney World. He was heavily involved with the restaurants at the Boardwalk. We went through many of the services areas and restaurants while they were preparing for the days opening. He discussed how the ESPN Club had evolved. At one point they had to convince the lease owner to include space for a merchandise store. They eventually convinced them by repeatedly saying that if they didn't, they would do it themselves and retire off the profits. The owner eventually decided to go ahead and has enlarged the area twice already because it has been so successful.

He also talked about the design of the large chandelier above the carousel in the main lobby of the hotel. Not happy with the designs being received for the chandelier, he and another designer sat down and sketched it out one night themselves. Having the resources to get just about any thing you can dream up fabricated is one of the real treats of working for someone like Disney. The carousel itself is an antique purchased at auction by Disney representatives and then refurbished and restored. It was a sales model used by one of the premier carousel builders of the period. It will now be available for public view for years to come.

We also took time to tour the time-share portions of the property including many of the unique units and the pool area. I asked Paul if there were any new projects on the drawing boards other than the new Animal Kingdom. I had heard that there was a new Mediterranean themed resort being planned. Paul indicated that nothing was in the works for a new resort at this time. There was talk of enlarging the All Star Resorts complex but that wasn't for certain yet. After we returned to the main lobby, I thanked Paul for his time and headed for Epcot to do a little touring on my own.

I walked around from the Boardwalk to the International Gateway entrance and made my way along to the Journey Into Imagination pavilion. The line was moving into the preshow area of Honey, I Shrunk the Audience as I arrived. I waited through the preshow sequence then moved into the theater. The 3D show was good but not as good as many of the others I have seen. From here I went over to the Journey into Imagination ride and also had a quick look at the Image Works. I tried to reach Jennie on the radio but heard nothing from her yet.

I proceeded over to the Land to check out the Circle of Life show which had a short wait in the preshow area. Nice photography and music that is worth a look. After I exited through the lower level, I stopped at some of the displays and then tried to reach Jennie again. They were now in the park . Mom and Dad had met Jennie inside Epcot. Jennie and the kids came through the International Gateway while Mom and Dad took the bus to the front park entry from Wilderness Lodge. They had met up inside at Innoventions where they played with the displays and shopped. They had all headed for the Living Seas pavilion to meet me for lunch at the Coral Reef. As I headed for the Living Seas, I saw the group passing by just outside the Land pavilion.

We were a little early for lunch and unsure where the entry to the restaurant was exactly. So we went ahead and got in line for the Living Seas. Being our first time, we didn't realize how long the line was inside and how long it would take to go through the film and ride portion to exit into the various exhibits area. By the time we reached that area, it was time for our lunch seating. We asked about the restaurant and were told to exit and that we could re-enter through the exit later. So we exited and headed over to the restaurant. I finally saw the sign for the Coral Reef outside this time.

We waited a few minutes for our seating which wasn't very close to the aquarium but I didn't complain as we were hungry and ready to be seated. Our waiter was very good. He explained the selections well, and made a few recommendations which turned out to be very good as well. The lobster bisque was excellent. This was one of our favorite meals of the trip.

After lunch, we went back to the exhibits of the Living Seas. Jeremy got a lot of information about Manatees which he later used for a report for school when he got home. There is so much to see here that we spent quite a bit of time before leaving and heading over to the Journey Into imaginati on pavilion. The rest of the group took in the areas I saw earlier in the morning. I hung out and did various activities with the kids at image Works.

Jeremy liked playing the musical sounds while Natalie liked adding parts to her facial image on the computer screen.

From here we decided to stay at Epcot rather than head for MGM as originally planned. We spent some time first at Canada watching some street performers, shopping and seeing the O Canada movie. It was a very good show, about equal with most of the shows at World Showcase with the exception of France.

Next, we went to United Kingdom mainly to see the shops and let the kids take in the characters signing autographs at the time. There many new characters here. Several from Alice in Wonderland, Mary Poppins and the Winnie the Pooh gang. We got several pictures, autographs and a few gifts.

Our next stop was back in France. The show had been so good here that we wanted to see it again. The show was much fuller this time but just as enjoyable. We sat in the last row this time to be able to take it all in a little better than from the front rows where we were seated last time. After the show, Mom was trying to find someone to stamp her passport while I got some drinks and pastries at the Boulangerie Patisserie for all of us to split outside on the benches. It was very good. Jennie was not feeling very good at this point and the kids were starting to get tired, so they decided to head back to the room. We were close to the International Gateway so it was a short walk back for them to the Beach Club.

Mom, Dad and I decided to see a few more countries before returning to th e resort. So we headed on to Morocco. There we saw the show by some acrobats that were unnaturally flexible. We also saw the Treasures of Morocco exhibit and made a quick tour of the shops.

Next at Japan, we made a stop at Yakitori House for a restroom stop and to have a Japanese brew. Dad stayed and relaxed on the bench while Mom and I took in the Bijutsu-kan Gallery of various art forms and the Mitsukoshi Department Store. Mom picked up a few books on some of the artwork. Outside we found Dad and decided to head back to the Beach Club. Along the way, Mom decided she wanted a few more pictures over in part of the United Kingdom. While Dad waited, we hustled over and caught the last of a Beatles look-a-like performance and got her pictures taken.

As we strolled back through the International Gateway to the Beach Club, we almost witnessed an accident. A family full of people riding one of the boardwalk bike vehicles built for six people almost missed the turn and just missed careening into some temporary plywood wall barricades. It was fortunate we saw them coming and were able to get out of the way or it could have been a disaster. We made our way up to the room to find Jennie and kids who were bathed and napping. We cleaned up and visited a while before heading out for dinner over at the Boardwalk. Jennie was still not feeling very well so she decided to skip dinner and stay at the room and rest. The rest of us went down to the boat dock located at the lighthouse to take a quick trip across the lake to the Boardwalk. When we arrived, it had started to rain lightly. So we hurried over to Spoodles where our priority seating was setup for 8:10pm.

Spoodles was crowded, partly due to the rain falling outside. We were able to get seats to wait which turned out to be for quite a while. Natalie was not in a very good mood, so I took her for a stroll. She had been complaining that she wanted to go back to the Cubs Den childcare at WL all day. So I said we could go look at the childcare available at the Boardwalk while we were waiting. It turned out to be very close by, under the main stairs leading up to the Boardwalk lobby. It seemed very nice and I was able to get Natalie to go in and look around but she didn't want to stay. She just wasn't in a very good mood. We went back to Spoodles, waited for a bit longer and then were shown to our table. It was crowded, very noisy and ended up not being too good an experience. Our waitress was not very knowledgeable about the menu, got our order wrong and served in pieces. My dinner didn't arrive until everyone else was almost finished. Because of the delays, the kids got fidgety. Natalie lost it when she had some colored pencils of hers slip underneath the booth seating. It just didn't seem to go well tonight. I guess we were all tired from the long day.

When we exited, it had stopped raining so we spent some time along the Boardwalk. Dad and Jeremy hit the arcade at the ESPN Club. Mom and Natalie found a face painter that totally changed Natalies disposition. Wish we had seen her before dinner. Natalie got a carousel horse painted on her face which looked really cute and made her very happy for the rest of the evening. Dad also found a vendor selling some glazed almonds which were delicious.

It was getting late, so we caught the last running of the shuttle running to EPCOT and disembarked at the bridge leading to the International Gateway. From here it was a short walk back to the room where we found Jennie feeling better. She had gone down to Beaches and Cream for a lite dinner earlier, which she said had been packed with people waiting for ice cream. But she had no problem getting a seat at the counter for a sandwich.

Jennie put the kids to bed while I drove Mom and Dad back to WL. After I dropped them off, I returned and dropped the car off with the valet and found everyone upstairs asleep. I went downstairs for a nightcap and visited with another couple from Colorado in the lounge right off the lobby. I returned a bit later to the room to find Jennie up reading and feeling much better. We turned in soon after.

DAY 10 - SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 1997

We had planned on going to MK this morning and had a seating booked at King Stephens character breakfast but we opted to go to MGM since we hadn't made it there yesterday. I had arranged last night to meet Mom and Dad at the park. They went by direct bus from WL while we took the boat from the BC. We met mom and dad on a bench just inside the gates in front of Sid Cahuengas collectibles shop. Some of us went in the shop for just a few minutes as it is one of the coolest shops in the park. Next we started heading over towards the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. Most of us wanted to have breakfast, so we stopped at the Hollywood & Vine buffeteria and got food and drink for everyone. We sat at tables outside to watch the view and it was very comfortable this morning. After everyone finished, we headed for Indiana Jones.

Everyone got in line to wait for people to start being let in the amphitheater. Jeremy and I made a quick trip over to Star Tours which had no line. We were able to ride real quickly and get back just as they were starting to let the lines loose. As soon as we saw the rest of our party, we ducked under the rope and went in with them. I asked a castmember if it was OK first. We were able to get seats in the front row, off to the left some. Jeremy and I got our hands up quick to volunteer for parts in the show but didn't get selected unfortunately. The show was interesting and neat to see it all happen up close. Jennie and Jeremy are our big Indie fans and enjoyed it the most.

Next, we headed over to the Hunchback of the Notre Dame show which would be starting in a few minutes. Everyone got in line for the show, while Jeremy and I made a run to get some ice cream for him and Natalie. We finally found some clear over at the Studio Catering Co., it's around on the side. Remember to get in the empty lines, even if they look like they're not open because many times they are. The servers just never say it to the people waiting in line. Very frustrating when someone just walks up and is waited on after you've been standing in line quite awhile. When we got back our group was already in and seated. We explained this to a castmember and they let us in the exit and we quickly found them. There was a juggler performing for the preshow and he was fairly entertaining.

The show itself was very good and we were all glad we made the extra effort to take it in. Natalie was sitting right on the runway so she got to see many of the characters up close, almost too close for her when she gets shy. The colorful confetti from the show became one of her prized items that she carried around in her multitude of purses and backpacks. Jeremy was asked to come up on stage and introduce the show but his shyness got the best of him and I couldn't talk him into doing it. Oh well, I probably wouldn't have done it at that age either.

After getting a few soft drinks, we headed toward the Little Mermaid show. The lines were beginning to build up for the early run of the Toy Story parade, so we had to short of fight through the crowd to make our way over. When we got there the line was not too bad. We were soon shown in to the preshow area for a few minutes. From there I made the mistake of sitting us on the front row. It was too close. For the kids and short people like my Mom it cuts too much off. It was nice to see some of the actors up close though. The show was well done but it seemed much too short for the wait however.

Next we went over and saw the Making of Evita. None of us had seen the movie so the show was quite interesting and made us consider seeing it. From there we went over to the Backlot Tour. We didn't have much of a wait and had a good time. The entire tour seemed more upbeat and didn't drag as much as the last time we took the tour. Catastrophe Canyon was fun and the show surprised mom and dad, who got it on video.

As we made our way back to the Disney Animation Tour, the kids caught sight of Cruella DeVille and the Beast. Natalie kept her distance from both but was definitely interested in watching them. The beast sneaked up behind Jeremy and caught him by surprise and put him in a bear hug. We got him in some good pictures. Outside the Animation Tour building there were now many, many characters. Jeremy and Natalie got around to meet many of them before they exited.

It was starting to get hot and into early afternoon so we decided to skip the Animation Tour and head out of the park. We picked up some frozen drinks along the way but soon made our way out of the park. We wanted to eat a late lunch at Epcot and were trying to decide how best to get there. That's when we noticed that the EPCOT bus was waiting right up front. We hurried over and boarded. We got a quick trip over to the front gates. This was our last day on our World Hopper Pass and we hadn't incurred any problems at all till now. Everyone's pass worked for re-entry except for Moms. It took a while to straighten it out, but they finally overode the pass and let her in.

Jeremy had been bugging me to get back to Body Wars, so we headed there first. The line wasn't bad and we got on fairly quickly. Natalie and Mom decided to give this ride a try, even though I warned them it was a little rougher than the Star Tours ride. I think it was a little rough on them but they made it through without too much problem.

After going to restrooms and trying out some of the multitude of displays inside the Wonders of Life pavilion, we started heading for Mexico. We passed by Odyssey Center again and when we reached Mexico, we headed for lunch at the San Angel Inn. It was around 3pm for our seating, and I expected it to be empty at this time of day and it was pretty much. We were seated quickly and everyone was ready for a good meal. Unfortunately, the San Angel Inn didn't deliver. Service was good but the Margaritas were watered down and warm and the food was bland at best. I had wondered if we might be disappointed but I had read so many good reports about this restaurant. We have many good Mexican restaurants to pick from at home and throughout the Rocky Mountains and Southwest, so that this just couldn't compare in any way. My Mom and Dad were disappointed as well. They had much better fare in Oklahoma as well. It also took quite a while to settle our bill, as most of it was covered by my Food 'n' Fun plan but not all of it. So I ended up having to pay about $10 additional.

While I was taking care of this, everyone else was shopping and looking at the displays. It took quite a while to locate everyone but eventually we headed out and onward to Germany. Along the way, I stopped in Norway and got a few almond rings at Kringla Bakeri og Kafe. I shared them with all. We then stopped at the Outpost to explore the Village Traders shop and take a few pictures with some of the African street performers. Jennie and the kids decided that they wanted to start back for the room. So they headed back to the International Gateway. By the way, we did have our own lightweight stroller for Natalies use on the entire trip. It proved handy at times like this.

In Germany, Dad and I stopped for a German brew and a schnapps, while Mom explored the shops. Dad and I waited on a bench out front until she returned. We watched the model trains for a while too. Mom wanted to complete her passport so we headed off to Italy where we watched a musical performance by a some New Age musicians in the courtyard. The shops were pretty minimal here. Next we went to the American Adventure show. It was very well done and we enjoyed it very much. Its definitely worth seeing again. Mom got her last passport stamp and then we headed back to the Beach Club ourselves. We made a few stops along the way in Japan and France, but we eventually got back to the room to find Jennie and the kids waiting.

The kids both wanted to stay at the Sandcastle Club childcare tonight and we had no objections. I had shown them the Club sometime earlier and they both liked it. I knew Natalie would go this time since brother would be there to keep her comfortable. I took them down and booked them in for a few hours.

We had a late dinner seating for Ariels but everyone just wasn't in the mood for a big meal. We decided to just walk around and eat whenever we got hungry. We decided to stroll around to the Boardwalk via the Yacht Club.

We checked out some of the different clubs, but didn't elect to stay at any of them. We took in some of the shops and just basically hung out. Mom and I went inside the Boardwalk lobby so that I could show her some of the antiques that I had seen on my earlier visit. There are a lot of really interesting pieces throughout the common areas of the resort.

After a couple of hours, we decided to start back and were able to take in the fireworks at Epcot as we returned to the Beach Club. Mom, Dad and Jennie headed over to get us seats at Beaches and Cream soda shop while I went to pick up the kids. As expected, I had to drag them away from the video games. They were both having a great time, had made some friends and did not want to leave. Ice cream was the lure that worked.

We found the others and our seats waiting at the counter of Beaches and Cream. We all ordered some dinner and various ice cream concoctions and had a good time visiting and watching the servers make up these huge ice cream sundaes for people. It was getting late so we returned to the room to collect some belongings of Mom and Dad.

The kids wanted to still try the miniature golf nearby, so they accompanied me in driving Mom and Dad back to WL. We made a quick stop in the WL gift shop where I got the kids a few things like a drawsack of polished stones and fools gold that they got to fill themselves from an orecart they have located in the middle of the shop.

It was getting very late but the kids pleaded with me to go to Fantasia Gardens mini-golf. It was somewhat crowded and we had a small wait to start on the Fantasia Gardens course. The course was cute and the kids enjoyed it. The theme is of course the movie Fantasia. We especially liked the hole with Mickey as the Sorcerers Apprentice. Jeremy and I each got a few hole-in-ones but had our share of bad holes too. By the way, Paul Katen, who I spoke of earlier was responsible for the design of Fantasia Gardens as well.

It was after Midnight by the time we got back to the room. I put the kids right to bed. Then I did a little accounting work for our check-out tomorrow before turning in myself.

DAY 11 - SUNDAY, APRIL 13, 1997

After the late night, we slept in till 9am this morning. Jeremy and I went downstairs for a breakfast from Beaches and Cream. We got some juice, fruit and rolls that we ate outside around the Stormalong Bay pool area. We intended to go swimming but the pool didn't open up until 10am, so we had a bit of a wait. Once the pool area opened, Jeremy headed straight for the big water slide. It starts at the pirate ship crows nest, crosses the walkway along the beach and ends up at one end of the main pool area. While Jeremy was doing this, I went back to the room and got Natalie who was now up and getting dressed. I took her down and got her outfitted with a lifevest and raft. She found a small slide which she and Jeremy took several turns on. I went over and soaked in the Jacuzzi while they explored the rest of the pool area.

After a bit, I went back up to the room to start packing. Jennie was already started with some of it. I called and got the front desk to extend our check-out time as long as possible. When we had most of the packing done, we went down to round up the kids. It didn't even occur to me, that I had a seating booked for the Cape May Cafe character breakfast at 8:30am. I completely forgot about it. Oh well. The kids went back up to the room, bathed and got dressed. In the interim, the Bell staff had come for our bags and had taken them out to the valet. I had called them to bring up the van so it could be loaded. The guy picking up our bags said that they had twice the number of people checking out this Sunday as normal. A big convention group had been staying at the hotel the last few days.

We called Mom and Dad to let them know we were on our way over to get them. Then we headed downstairs, where I quickly settled our accounts and then we loaded up in the van. It had been a great stay but we were ready to go home. We drove over to the WL and found Mom and Dad waiting out front. The luggage was quickly loaded and we were off. They had spent the morning having a leisurely breakfast and packing up. Their check-out went smoothly as well. We made a couple of quick stops at the golf course and DL to take care of a few minor things.

Then we headed over to the Village Marketplace to spend some time shopping and to have lunch. We decided to check out the Rainforest Cafe and see what kind of wait was involved. A 1 hour and 30 minute wait was required, so while everyone else checked out the shop and inside of the restaurant, I went over and got a reservation at Capn Jacks Oyster Bar with only a 15 minute wait. By the time I rounded everyone up but Mom, they were ready to seat us. It took me another few minutes to find Mom, who hadn't heard me say where we were headed. By the time we got to our seats, everyone had their drinks and were waiting to order. From that point on we had a very relaxing and good lunch. Good food, good service and nice setting right on the water's edge.

After lunch we started visiting many of the shops. I stayed outside and got a couple of silhouette portraits of the kids from a street vendor. We then watched some glassblowing and other demonstrations before hitting the World of Disney store for a few last-minute souvenirs and gifts. It was time to head for the airport so we loaded up, made a stop for gas outside the airport and took Mom and Dad to Delta Airlines and said our good-byes. I then dropped our luggage with the Skycap at United and then we returned the rental car. Things really fell apart after that point. When we checked the car in, it showed the car in another name and rental charges in excess of $400. I went inside and it took probably 30 minutes to get it all straightened out. This included time to track the van down to look inside for a Tinkerbell Purse that Natalie said she left in the van. She really was upset, crying and making quite a scene. They couldn't find the purse. We tried to find a replacement in the Disney Store at the airport to no avail. She wasn't happy with the offer of a replacement of any kind. She was just worn out. We eventually had to go to the gate for boarding.

As soon as we boarded, she broke down in a huge fit because she wasn't sitting next to me. You could tell all the surrounding passengers were annoyed and worried. Jennie handled it with her usual tact and got her in her seat after a short delay to others boarding. Natalie created quite a scene but as a result she was asleep before the plane even left the ground. She slept for most of the flight home. When we reached Denver, we made it quickly through the airport and baggage claim. A porter took our bags out and was able to immediately flag down one of the shuttles to where our car was parked. Good thing too, as we must have passed 10 or more people waiting for the shuttle even after it was full.

As we were paying for our parking and loading our van, Natalie then informed us that she left her jean jacket in the shuttle van, which had already departed back to the airport. We went to dinner nearby, so that they could have time to check it out, but no jacket was reported. This only added to Natalies woes.

We arrived home around 10:30pm and got the bags unloaded, the kids bathed and in bed before sitting down for a short rest. School and work were tomorrow so we went to bed soon after. A tiring end to a very enjoyable trip. By the way, Natalies jacket was found in a few days by the shuttle driver and her Tinkerbell purse was buried in her backpack where she swore it wasn't. Oh well, typical.

PART 3 RESORTS

DIXIE LANDINGS

Of the moderate resorts, this has been our favorite. The grounds and decor in general are just the most appealing of the moderate resorts to us. Both the Alligator Bayou and Magnolia Ben d portions of the resort are very nice and offer some variety. There's a nice selection of restaurants including the best Food Court we've seen at any of the resorts. The pool areas offer a nice area for the kids as well as more isolated pools for a little more privacy and quiet if desired. The boating, fishing and biking activities are readily available. It also has a decent arcade for the kids. The location is very good as well, central to all the parks and other activities. The only downside is the long lines encountered at check-in and check-out due to the size of the resort. I believe its still one of the best choices.

WILDERNESS LODGE

One of the top two or three resorts on the property. The facility is beautiful. It reminds me of so many of the National Park facilities and has aspects of many of the resort ski lodges and facilities that I have been involved with as an architect. The lobby is impressive to everyone whos seen it. The selection of restaurants, shops and childcare is a plus too. The pool area is small but adequate for the smaller size of this resort. The design of the outdoor grounds are also a plus. Access to the Magic Kingdom, Discovery Island and River Country/Fort Wilderness areas is also very good from here. Bus service to the other parks is said to be inconsistent, but I don't have any first hand knowledge of this. We will definitely be staying here again.

BEACH CLUB

This is a beautiful facility that we just didn't get to experience enough of in our short stay. The service was very good and attentive. The rooms were OK but not really much of and upgrade from the other resorts where we've stayed. The selection of restaurants, shops and childcare is a plus.

The pool area and outdoor grounds are a big plus too. The main reason we stayed here was the good access to Epcot wh ere we were concentrating our trip this year. You also have the boat access to MGM which we utilized as well. The good access to the Boardwalk was also nice as we ended up going there a couple of nights instead of the Pl easure Island complex. We would probably try the Boardwalk next time over the Beach Club as that facility is very nice and has most of the same benefits.

PART 4 RESTAURANTS

We were able to sample a wide variety of WDW restaurants on this trip. Most of them were taken care of on the Food 'n' Fun plan. We knew in advance that we were going to dine at a number of the nicer restaurants and felt we wouldn't have any problem spending the daily allocation provided with the plan. The few extra dollars thrown in on the plan by Disney plus the recreational activities to boot was worth it to prepay for most of our dining expenses. We dined at the following restaurants (Ratings are from 1 to 5 stars):

FRIDAY, APRIL 4

Breakfast Colonels Cotton Mill (Dixie Landings) **

Lunch Ankershus (EPCOT) *****

Dinner Ohanas (Polynesian Resort) ***

SATURDAY, APRIL 5

Breakfast Colonels Cotton Mill (DL) **

Lunch Tonys Town Square (MK) ***

Dinner Chefs de France (EPCOT) *****

SUNDAY, APRIL 6

Breakfast Colonels Cotton Mill (DL) **

Lunch Typhoon Lagoon **

Dinner Hoop De Doo Revue Dinnershow ***

MONDAY, APRIL 7

Breakfast In room *

Lunch Planet Hollywood ****

Dinner California Grille ****

TUESDAY, APRIL 8

Breakfast 1900 Park Fare (Grand Floridian) **

Lunch Golf Course and Blizzard Beach **

Dinner Bonfamilles (Port Orleans) ****

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9

Breakfast Colonels Cotton Mill (DL) **

Lunch Brown Derby (MGM) ****

Dinner Counter Service at MK **

THURSDAY, APRIL 10

Breakfast Artists Point (Wilderness Lodge) ***

Lunch River Country **

Dinner Whispering Canyon Cafe (WL) ***

FRIDAY, APRIL 11

Breakfast In room *

Lunch Coral Reef (EPCOT) *****

Dinner Spoodles (Boardwalk) ***

SATURDAY, APRIL 12

Breakfast Counter Service at MGM ***

Lunch San Angel Inn (EPCOT) **

Dinner Beaches and Cream (Beach Club) ****

SUNDAY, APRIL 13

Breakfast Beaches and Cream (BC) ***

Lunch Capn Jacks Oyster Bar ****

PART 5 - CONCLUSIONS

Overall our trip went very well. We all had a great time and look forward to our next trip. The resorts we stayed out were very nice and good choices. On this trip, we were able to do ma ny of the things that we missed previously. We spent more time at the water parks, played some golf, did some boating and biking and got to visit many of the resorts at least once. We also got to spend more time at Epc ot this trip. The Food 'n' Fun plan proved to be a good investment and we utilized it to the maximum. Dining at the wide variety of restaurants was one of the many highlights of the trip. For future trips, I'm looking into the Disney Vacation Club. I may opt for it in the near future. Thanks again for all those who have offered advice on planning a trip. We hope we've added a few bits of information that also prove useful to others.

Michael R. Houx

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