Trip Reports

• Time of Year: Spring
• Travel Method: Personal Car, Plane, Autotrain, Rental Car, Shuttle Service
• Resort: PBR, WL, BWR, Offsite
• Accommodations: Unknown
• Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
• WDW Experience Represented in Group: Unknown
• Comments: Liz and her husband Art moved from resort to resort more often than a WDW bus on this trip. They stayed at three on-site resorts and had one night off-site for good measure. I really like Liz's conclusion about on-site versus off-site, but you'll have to decide for yourself if you agree, too.

Dates: March 13-20, 1997

Best/Worst List

Here¹s a listing of highs and lows from our trip - with thanks to Laura Gilbreath who gave me the idea from her own trip report. Keep in mind these are relative only to the things we did this trip, not to EVERY ride, resort, restaurant etc in WDW.

Best pool for kids: at the Yacht & Beach Clubs. It stretches across the front of both resorts, and even has a water slide that starts in a pool hidden in a shipwreck across the walkway from the resorts. It looks like it runs through the palm trees down to the main pool. Awesome! (to quote our 8-year-old)

Best food: this trip, it was at the California Grill. Hang the expense ($130 including tip) it was worth every penny. Our waiter was very professional, knew how everything was cooked, and made a couple of great suggestions. The difference with this restaurant is that, for the staff this isn¹t just a job, it¹s a CALLING. And it shows. Yes, it was noisy (we were right up near the open kitchen, not at the windows) but it was still a great time.

Best ride: well, we don¹t all agree on this one. Haunted Mansion is the sentimental favorite, but HISTA was, literally, a screamer. Kind of disappointed in the Backstage Tour at MGM, although it was great to see the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues in the water tank. But we still wish it was in the Magic Kingdom in the lagoon.

Best resort gift shop: at the Wilderness Lodge. If you have boys, you can¹t miss this place! They have axes, coonskin caps, and a big cart with colored stones and leather pouches that you can fill with as many stones as will fit in, all for $4.95. I know, it¹s probably worth about .98 cents, but my guys have spent hours going over and comparing their stone collections. For adults, they have a pretty nice choice of sweaters and shirts - overpriced as always, but if you want a more subdued souvenier that still has a Disney logo on it, these are the nicest I¹ve seen. The Wilderness Lodge logo is well-done and not ³in-your-face² the way some of the others are.

Biggest disappointment: Fantasia Fairways. We picked the fairways course just to try something a little different (we¹d played Pirate¹s Cove mini-golf on Int¹l Dr. already, and they¹re pretty hard to beat - we play their course every year in Bar Harbor, Maine). But it was too difficult. Not a test of skill, just an exercize in frustration. Cost $26 for 2 adults and 2 kids. We stopped keeping score after the second or third hole.

Most unusual sight: there¹s two, actually. The first was the number of brides we saw - not unusual at WDW, but we saw four brides in five days! One at the GF having her picture taken on the Grand Staircase; one at the California Grill having her wedding reception; one in front of the Yacht Club having her picture taken with the groom; and one at the Boardwalk getting into the limo with her bridesmaids going to the ceremony. The other unusual sight (I already posted this in the Famous People at WDW thread) wasn¹t really at WDW - it was in Bangor, Maine the night before we flew down to Orlando. We stayed at the HoJo's and ate supper in the restaurant there. Two men were sitting next to us, one who looked awfully familiar. After they left the waitress told us it was Stephen King (he lives in Bangor, but we¹ve never seen him before).

Worst idea: moving off-site after 5 nights at WDW. This sounded like a good (and cheap!) idea, so we reserved a car from National and a room at the Orlando Marriott on International Drive. Well, Jack did warn me this was a busy spot and after this, I swear I¹ll always listen to you, Jack ( : - ))). The hotel was not up to WDW standards (at least what we¹ve seen) and I Drive seemed like one long orgy of king-sized restaurants and shops nestled in between hotels. Too busy, not cheap enough to be worth it - FOR US - and depressing after WDW. But the rental car was the silver lining because when we moved back to WDW and stayed at the Boardwalk for 2 nights we got to drive around and see resorts, restaurants, Celebration, etc. on our own schedule. Driving around WDW is really easy, and we¹ll do another car rental on our next trip.

Funniest moment on the trip: on Tom Sawyer Island, sitting on the (only) two rocking chairs near the exit from the mine. It was our first day in WDW, and it was muggy from the rain of the day and night before, so Art and I were tired. While the kids ran on all the paths, we decided to sit in these rockers. Lots of ofther tired and hot parents were walking past us chasing their kids, and more than one kid of chuckled when they saw us. Finally, one man stopped and turned to his wife and said, looking at us, "Honey, isn¹t it amazing what they can do with these animatronic figures?"

Resort-Hopping

We managed to stay at three different resorts on this trip (March 13-21) and found it easy to move between resorts. And we liked all the places we stayed, in varying degrees.

Our first stop was at the Wilderness Lodge - now our favorite. It takes your breath away just walking into the lobby. Actually, that lobby is a destination all by itself! Despite all the people always hanging around there, it seemed like a very relaxing and friendly place. It has so much atmosphere that we really hated to leave. I guess a lot of people felt that way, since at 10 AM on check-out morning, there had to be 100 people just milling around or sitting in chairs! Hey, everybody! What about the theme parks?!

As for noise, we were right above Whispering Canyon (ate there the first night, but found it too rowdy and the food not that great). We never heard any noise, unless we stood outside our room on the balcony. We bought two small WL mugs to add to the two Poly mugs we bought last year, and ate at Roaring Forks. Never had to wait for a table either, though I noticed a lot of people taking food up to the lobby and sitting there. But the most romantic thing I saw there was a couple who had brought their supper up to one of the lounges above the lobby - this one was on the 4th floor, right next to a giant fireplace, sort of over the front door. They were completely alone, and it looked very cosy ( ; - )

Okay, on to the Poly (morning of the 15th).Moving was easy - we had express check-out, so we told the front desk we were moving over to the Poly, and they came up and collected our bags. We went off to catch the boat over to the Poly (via the MK) and do early check-in. The room wasn¹t ready until 4 PM, but we went to MGM for the day anyway. The Poly is a sentimental favorite, but after the WL, we felt they could do more inside the lobby at the Poly. The interior atrium/ rain forest thing takes up a lot of space in the middle of the building and acts like a barrier for getting from Point A to Point B. How about a walkway going through the middle of it, or something?

You can¹t beat the convenience of the locations of the Poly, and while there we went by monorail every time (except to MGM). Couldn¹t swim at the beach this year, but the fireworks were still great from there. And we liked the big red ³25² lit up on the side of the Contemporary Resort, too. But the food was disappointing. Captain Cook¹s was great for breakfast and snacks, but we ate at OHana¹s and really didn¹t like it. What IS this obsession with smoked meat at some of these places? They serve it at Whispering Canyons, too, and it¹s really not very good. OHana served a couple of small appetizer plates (marinated mushrooms, etc.) and these smoked meat kebobs, and dessert . Cost $100 for four (2 adults, 2 kids, one drink from the bar). By the way, the same meat, with a little more substantial side dish, cost only $64 at Whispering Canyons (no bar tab).

Checked out of the Poly on the 17th, picked up a National rental car, and went to the Orlando Marriott on International Drive. HATED IT. For $100 per night we got a room half the size of the Poly rooms with the air conditioning unit in the wall right next to one of the beds. We either had cold air blowing on us all night, or turned it off and sweltered. Called CRO after dinner (even before the A/C fiasco) and found they had 5 rooms to choose from for the next 2 nights. We got a studio at the Boardwalk Villas ($244/night + tax) though there was also a FW home available, a room at the Yacht Club, one of the two nights available at the WL, and a room at the Swan.

The studio at BV (room #3099) was very nice, spacious, overlooked the front of the resort, and had a little kitchen with it. Also the only resort we stayed at with a blow dryer at the sink area. But there was a drawback (to us) about staying there despite the great pool and the Keister Coaster water slide: there was no restaurant at the resort, unless you ordered room service. I know, I know, Spoodles and the Boardwalk Bakery is right down on the boardwalk below the hotel, but I wasn¹t impressed with either. (I¹m running for cover as I post this, knowing the flame torches are heating up out there.) Coming from two resorts that have serve-yourself cafes and refillable mugs, going to Spoodles for their ³breakfast buffet² at $10.95 each ($6.95 for kids) and a total bill of $34 plus tip was ridiculous. We spent around $15 for the same thing for all four of us at the Poly and the WL. And I didn¹t like Mediterranean flat bread with oily grilled vegetables sitting right next to the scrambled eggs and bacon. Especially when the bacon tasted like it!

But the good things about the BV are its¹ proximity to Epcot, and the Yacht and Beach Clubs. There are some interesting things to do on the boardwalk itself, including renting one of those one-two-or-three seater bikes ($12 for 30 mins., I think.) However, even the one-seater (seats three people on a bench seat with two sets of peddles and has a canopy) weighs A LOT (150 lbs.) One mom (me) and 2 kids (8 and 10 year old boys) doing the peddling makes for a near-heart attack trying to peddle this thing over the bridges that cross the lake on both sides of the boardwalk. Also looked like an accident waiting to happen - some people were going w a a a y too fast and couldn¹t stop on the way back down the hill. One group we saw almost tipped over, with little kids on board (nobody wears helmets, none are offered). You have to keep your head up when walking around here because some of these bikes were going too fast to be able to avoid you - we had to jump out of the way more than once.

I¹d definitely resort-hop again, thought for the moment we have reservations at the WL- only- for one week this fall. But we have answered the on-site/off-site question for us, anyway: there is nothing like a Disney resort! (Where¹s my check, Mr. Eisner?!)

Resort Impressions

We liked the advantages of renting a car at WDW It's so easy to go around and visit other resorts. Here's a thumbnail sketch of a few we visited:

Yacht Club/Beach Club: Loved it. If you had a chance to do this, I would stay here during the days I was going to Epcot (just a few mins. walk away) and MGM (a boat ride away, no waiting for those infernal buses!). The Yacht Club Galley had really good, though expensive food ($54 for four including 2 kids), and Cape May in the evening had a pretty sumptuous buffet. The pool - Stormalong Bay - was pretty awesome, and my husband took 3 pictures of the Yacht Club lobby because he thought it was so well done.

The Swan - just went into the lobby here, but thought it was a little weird. But a woman on the bus back from MGM one day said it's actually a top-class hotel, and since it's right next to the Yacht Club and Boardwalk Villas, I might be inclined to give it a try sometime.

Dixie Landings - liked this resort, it seemed pretty nice for a moderate resort. Buidings were attractive, grounds were very lovely. Easy parking.

Port Orleans - for some reason, we found this one kind of depressing. Didn't like the main building at all, and walking out the back and onto the walkways, we saw all these high black iron fences in front of the "houses" and it all seemed kind of blah. But, we've never been to New Orleans before, so maybe that makes a difference? Still, I think I'd opt to go next door to DxL.

Contemporary - We'd been through here on the monorail lots of times before, but the night we ate at the California Grill, and several days later when we ate lunch downstairs, we took the time to walk around a bit. Pooh was near the registration desk greeting people and getting pics taken. Personally, I loved the "Jetsons" atmosphere here. It really felt like stepping back into the 60's and being in that cartoon. Walt himself could have walked in and I wouldn't have been too surprised. They have a pretty decent gift shop here, too. Also great Penny Smasher machines - 3 althogether in one spot!

Grand Floridian - oooh, get those flame torches going everybody! We went there for dinner one night at the GF Cafe (okay food, price too high, but they gave out the best kids' packs of any of the restaurants). A friend's assessment was that the "Liberace crowd" stays here! Well, it did seem a little too "precious" for us. And the lobby - grand staircase or not- doesn't hold a candle to the WL. Somebody should tell Diana and her entourage to go to the Lodge next time.

Boardwalk Inn - I'm curious about the "cottage suite" on the other side of the Villas, where the Inn is. We took a few pictures of these because they were beautifully presented. There's actually a front yard, all fenced in with white picket fencing and an archway with a gate and walkway that leads up to the front door. Even has a little mialbox out front with the number. I'd love to hear from anyone who's actually stayed here or seen one. Seemed pretty nice, If we get our website up and running and scan the pictures, we'll put one of those pictures up to see.

It's taken us two trips to get a clearer idea of what these resorts are all about, and what would be a sensible plan for touring WDW (money and time being no object, of course) First of all, I wouldn't hesitate to move between resorts if I was there for more than 3 or 4 days. You wake up in the WL, and go to sleep in the Poly; everything else except check-in and gathering your things is done for you. So, next time I'd like to have a room at one of the MK resorts - WL, I think - for 2 or 3 nights. We'd do the MK and try out whatever restaurants we wanted to try, rent a boat, etc. Then I'd move us over to the Yacht/Beach Club and do Epcot and MGM, probably staying for at least 3 nights, preferably 4. If it was your first time at WDW and you did it this way, I think you'd really know your way around the World by then, with a minimum of hassle.

Then again, YMMV.

Liz

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