Trip Reports

BACKGROUND

Two adults,
Carol Kelley - age 33
Richard Kelley - age 45
Two children
Matthew Kelley - age 11 - 6th grade
Kevin Kelley - age 10 - 4th grade
All First Time Visitors
Transportation, Car from Huntsville, AL to Nashville, TN
Delta Air Lines from Nashville, TN to Orlando, FL
Mears shuttle from Airport to WDW
Resort ASSR
9 nights, 10 days, LOS passes with Flex Feature through Wal-Mart Travel. Reservations were made ten months in advance and Wal-Mart Travel gave us a price approximately $200.00 less than the WDW travel company book.
Airlines were booked 10 months in advance through Expedia Travel Service on the Internet.
Booked Polynesian Luau and DI Day Camp directly through WDW-Dine and WDW-Tour approximately 30 days in advance.
October 10, 1997, Friday

We drove from Huntsville, AL to Nashville, TN. We flew from Nashville International Airport on Delta Express and arrived in Orlando at 8:15 pm. We used a Mears shuttle to get to WDW. I was very impressed with Orlando airport. We were off of our plane, had our luggage, were onto the shuttle, and on our way in twenty minutes. We arrived at the ASSR at 9:00 pm. Check-in was very smooth as well. The luggage personnel took care of our luggage very quickly. Our room and tickets were prepaid. They scanned our credit card, issued our IDs and gave us directions to our room. This took all of about 10 minutes. Our room was in the Home Run Hotel. It is probably the farthest from Stadium Hall, but not prohibitively so. It was a very pleasant walk past the main pool through the football field and past the Baseball pool to our room. Our room was on the third floor on the back side toward the parking lot. The only drawback to this was that it was facing east and the sun came up on our window. Because I smoke and went outside to smoke, it was very bright in the morning. The room was adequate but small. The double bed was sufficient for my boys (ages 10 and 11), but it was a little cramped for my husband and myself. A queen bed would have been welcome. Our luggage arrived in our room about fifteen minutes after we got there. We went downstairs to get a bite to eat at the food court. We each had hamburgers and fries. We bought three refillable mugs. The service was slow that night, but the price was better than I expected, about $7.00 per person, plus the mugs were $7.95 each. We went back to the room, unpacked and watched some television and checked on the Braves game which was played while we were flying.

October 11, 1997, Saturday

Today the plans were to go to EPCOT. We got up about 8:00 in the morning. That is when I realized the sun was coming up right outside our door. As my husband and myself were getting ready, the boys worked on some homework and typed the first day of their journals. At this point we realized my boys had not brought any notebook paper. (More on why this was important later.) We ate breakfast at the food court. My husband loaded up on the one trip breakfast buffet ($5.99). The rest of us got bagels or cereal. Total breakfast about $12.00. We checked at Sport Goofy's for notebook paper or a spiral notebook, they did not carry any. We took the bus to EPCOT. Our first stop was the camera shop because both of the camera's we brought were not working. One of the camera's had lost a part off of it and they were not able to repair it. The other camera we brought had a dead battery. The camera used a 9-volt battery which they did not have. Each of the boys bought a 110 automatic camera and then we proceeded to explore. Our first stop was the Imagination Pavilion. We rode Journey to Imagination. The wait was about 5 minutes. We really enjoyed it. Our next stop was Honey I Shrunk the Audience. Again, the wait was only 5-10 minutes. This was outstanding. The effects are really spectacular. This is the best 3-D experience I have ever seen. After we left there, we went to World Showcase. Our first stop was Canada. Then we continued around World Showcase to each of the countries. We saw France, Japan, Germany, United Kingdom, Morroco, and the American Adventure, and we rode Maelstrom in Norway. By that time it was getting close to time for our 6:30 Polynesian Luau reservations, so we headed back towards the entrance. There was no line for Spaceship Earth so we rode that and headed to the monorail. Our first full day at EPCOT was very delightful. The longest wait for anything was Maelstrom and that was only 30 minutes.

We rode the monorail to the TTC and walked to the Polynesian. After the lively atmosphere at the ASSR, this quiet was very delightful. The sun was setting over the water and the castle of the Magic Kingdom was lit up. The Luau was excellent. The food and service were good and the entertainment was spectacular. It was obvious that the performers were authentic and enjoyed their jobs. As we were leaving the luau, we caught a glimpse of the fireworks over the castle at the Magic Kingdom. Also, as we rode the monorail back to EPCOT, we caught a glimpse of Illuminations. We took the bus back to our resort and crashed for the evening. P.S. We checked at several shops at EPCOT for a 9-volt battery and notebook paper. There was none to be had. When we got back to the hotel, we checked at Sport Goofy's for a 9-volt battery. They did not carry any to sell, but they had some for cast member use for their hats and gave us one.

October 12, 1997, Sunday

Today our plans were for the Magic Kingdom. We had a 9:25 am priority seating scheduled for the Crystal Palace Character breakfast. Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Eyeore were there. We got up at 7:30. The boys worked on their journals on the computer and then we headed for the bus. We arrived at MK at 9:00 and were seated for Breakfast at 9:35 am. The buffet was good, comparatively slightly better than the quality at Shoney's breakfast buffet. We used our Flex Feature for the adult buffets and paid for the children's buffets. Total cost $22.00 with tip. After breakfast we went back to Main Street and rode the train all the way around the MK and then watched the Main Street Cinema. We stayed there for about 20 minutes. Then we went to Tomorrowland. We rode Take Flight first. We enjoyed that. After that myself and my older son rode Exterrorestrial Alien Encounter. We then waited twenty minutes for my husband and younger son. They didn't show, so we rode Carousel of Progress. We then waited ten minutes for my husband. They showed up. They had ridden Tomorrowland Transit Authority and Space Mountain, so the two of us rode TTA while my husband and other son rode Carousel of Progress, then we all went to Space Mountain. The Timekeeper was having difficulties so we skipped it. We also skipped the miniature race cars and the Astro Orbiter. After that we went to Fantasyland. The boys rode the Mad Hatters Tea Party and Dumbo while we had sodas and ice cream. Then we all rode Snow White, Mr. Toads Wild Ride, It's A Small World, Legend of the Lion King, and Peter Pan's Flight. We then went to Pecos Bill in Frontierland and ate dinner. After we ate, we rode Splash Mountain. We tried to take the train back to the front, but it was closed for the day. As we worked our way to the front we saw part of the Spectro Magic Parade and Fantasy in the Sky Fireworks. We then left the park. The buses back to the ASSR were excellent. They lined up about 6 buses for each resort and got everyone out of there very quickly. We filled up our mugs at the food court and went back to the room to crash.

October 13, 1997, Monday

Today our plans were for the Studios. We arrived at the Studios about 9:30 am after breakfast at the food court at ASSR. We rode the Great Movie Ride, saw Superstar Television, the Hunchback of Notre Dame show, Muppet Vision 4-D, Star Tours, and went through 101 Dalmations Backstage Pass. We had a snack at the Backlot Express near Honey I Shrunk the Kids Set and then rode Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We left the park about 5:30 and headed for Downtown Disney. There was not a direct bus there so we went back to our resort and transferred to the bus to DD. The bus driver was hilarious. He would say things like "Stop Sign", "Left Turn", "Right Turn", etc. He told us the story of the WDW Bad Children Area. Every night at midnight, you can send your children to the bus stop area and they will have them clean the 164 buses with a toothbrush. They would be promptly dropped off at 8:00 the next morning too tired to give you any problems. The age limit was anyone from age 2 to 92. Of course, he was just kidding. We wandered around DD for a while and finally decided to eat at Planet Hollywood. There was an hour and ½ wait for seating, but the time passed quickly watching the movie clips on the monitors. We were seated on the third level and took a lot of pictures. The meal was excellent. We ordered three different adult entrees and split them amongst the four of us. Total cost for dinner was $60.00 including tip, plus $21.00 for drinks while we were waiting for a table. We went back to the room and watched the last of the Braves game.

October 14, 1997 Tuesday

Today we went to Blizzard Beach. This was really nice. We floated around the creek and then rode the Teamboat Springs Raft Ride. After that the boys went to the Kids Ski Training Camp and I went to go down water slides. One neat thing about BB is that from the top you can see for miles and can get a good perspective of where everything is in relationship to each other. We could see Cinderella's Castle, Space Mountain, Spaceship Earth, and the Studios. We could also see where Animal Kingdom was going to be. It is nice that everything is designed so that one area seems to be isolated from everything else, but it is also nice to be able to see where everything is. On the water slides, I did not attempt Summit Plummet, but I did ride the next tallest slide. It was very fast. However, on the slide I discovered that the seat of my swimsuit had torn (fortunately, it did have a lining). My husband and myself went to guest relations and complained. They gave me a voucher to pick out a new bathing suit without any hesitation. I found a very nice one that was comparable to the one I had and they made the swap with a smile and an apology for the inconvenience. For the rest of the day we watched the boys play at the Ski Training Camp and then left about 5:30. We decided to try dinner at a different resort this evening. We went to Coronado Springs and ate at the Pepper Market Food Court. This was outstanding. My youngest son and myself each had a stir fry dish. My older son had some taco dishes and my husband had a rotisserie chicken and a baked potato. The food court was not your typical food court. You were seated first with real cloth napkins and real silverware and were given a card for your purchases to be recorded, then you wandered around the various stations, and ordered your meal. The stir fry was cooked right in front of us and my son's tacos were prepared when he ordered it. Your server brings your drinks and as you leave you take your tickets to the register and they ring up what you had. As we were about to leave, our server checked on us and my husband mentioned that his potato tasted a little old. As we checked out, they removed his entire meal from our ticket!!!! Our total cost for a very good meal for four was $32.00 including tip. We then wandered around on this huge deck by a lake and took the bus to Downtown Disney. At DD we checked the Reading and Riting Shop, but still no standard notebook paper or standard spiral notebooks. We took the bus back to ASSR and watched the remainder of the Braves game. Unfortunately they lost and were eliminated.

October 15, 1997, Wednesday

Today, our plans were for the Magic Kingdom. After a late breakfast at ASSR Food Court, we arrived at MK about 11:00 am. We proceeded around the park counterclockwise this time. We rode the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, and then took the raft over to Tom Sawyer's Island. We had lunch at Aunt Polly's, but were not really pleased with the selection. My husband went back to the main park to get some "real" food and I sat under the pavilion at Aunt Polly's while the boys wandered around the island. The boys were due back to Polly's at 12:30, but somehow my son didn't have his watch set to Eastern time, so they didn't return until 1:20. My husband returned to Polly's about 12:20. After the boys returned we headed back to the main park and continued around the park. We rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, then saw the Country Bear Jamboree. This dumped us out at Pecos Bill about 1:30 so we staked out a spot for the parade and watched the Remember the Magic Parade. I think that was the most pleasant part of the day. We then rode the Liberty Belle Riverboat, saw the Haunted Mansion and the Hall of Presidents, and then went to the last show of the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon Revue and had Ice Cream Sundaes and sodas. We then wandered briefly around Mickey's Toontown Fair. We saw Mickey's House and briefly looked at Minnie's House. We then went to Tomorrowland and saw the Timekeeper and headed for the exit. We purchased some Mouse Ears at the Chapeau and took the bus back to ASSR. We had dinner at the Food Court and just rested that evening. We let the boys play football out by the Touchdown Hotel. The football field shown in most of the promotional photos is made of that "safe foam" material and there was usually some type of game going on. Touch Football was all that was allowed. If a cast member saw anyone playing tackle, they would be asked to stop. I was hoping to watch Star Trek, Voyager this evening because our home town does not have a UPN affiliate, and our local station that had purchased the rights to show it, canceled it back in September, but wouldn't you know, it was a rerun that I had already seen.

October 16, 1997, Thursday

Today, our boys were scheduled to attend Camp Disney. They had to be at Youth Central at the Disney Institute at 8:15 am. Since the buses were not running yet, I asked the front desk to call me a cab. They did so and also gave me a voucher to pay for it!!! I thought that was pretty nice. I slowly found out as the week progressed that for the most part "Ask and You Shall Receive" is pretty standard around there, but you must ask. I had an 11:30 am appointment at The Spa at the DI for a deluxe treatment. My husband stayed at the room that day to sleep and wash clothes. After signing the boys in at Youth Central at the Disney Institute, I wandered around DI for awhile and decided to go to Downtown Disney to try and find some notebook paper. I ended up walking down the Hotel Plaza Boulevard from there (about a mile) to the "Crossroads" shopping center. At Gooding's Grocery Store, I finally found notebook paper and also got Mountain Dew!!! As you know there are no Pepsi Products on WDW property. At the intersection of the Crossroads, there was a big sign saying Welcome to Walt Disney World. I took some pictures of that and headed back to the bus stop at DD. I took the bus back to DI and proceeded to the Spa. This was absolutely wonderful. It was expensive, however, $155.00 including pre-paid tip, but well worth every penny. I received an all over massage, a seaweed wrap, an aromatherapy whirlpool soak and a facial. After it was over, I sat in the steam room for a little while, and put on my bathing suit and sat in the jacuzzi for a while. I felt wonderfully refreshed and ready to go again. I then went back to ASSR to meet up with my husband. We relaxed around the pool for awhile and went back to DI to pick up the boys. We were hoping to go to EPCOT that evening, but the boys were tired from their Day Camp, so we went to DD for dinner at the Rainforest Café instead. The wait for dinner was about 75 minutes, so we wandered around DD. We went to the Lego store. Inside and outside, they have some amazing Lego sculptures. We also wandered in the World of Disney. We then wandered back towards Rainforest Café and watched the live birds and waited for our table. When we were seated, we were in the Gorilla Room. Overall, the atmosphere was amazing. However, the air conditioning was blasting and it was cold in there. The food would have been excellent except that the pasta/shrimp dish that I ordered was very spicy. We had ribs as an appetizer and they were outstanding. My husband had steak and it was very good. My boys ordered the same pasta dish that I had to split and my younger son could not eat it, so we ended up ordering him a single serving pizza. The dinner that night ended up being around $90.00 with tip. We took the bus back to ASSR and crashed for the evening.

October 17, 1997, Friday

Since everyone was too tired to go to EPCOT last night, we went today. We arrived around 10:00 and rode Horizons, Living with the Land, The Circle of Life, The Living Seas, Ellen's Energy Adventure, The Making of Me, Body Wars, Cranium Command, and had the boys' Baseball Swings analyzed. We then took a boat over to Germany and had Bratwurst sausages, and the boys had a grilled chicken with German Potato Salad. After that we walked past China and watched a few minutes of the acrobats and saw some musicians in Norway. We then went to Mexico and rode the boat ride there. It was about 7:00 pm then. We looked for a spot to watch Illuminations and settled upon the main courtyard in front of the lagoon as you leave Future World. This area was roped off to be opened at 8:45 pm. While we were waiting, a large Caribbean music bus came up with live performers and sang and danced and had us dancing to a variety of Caribbean music. It was very good and made the time pass quickly. At 8:45 they opened the viewing area and we got seats right on the rail. Everyone in this area had to sit down so we draped our legs through the rail and were very comfortable. I got up and got popcorn and sodas for everyone. Illuminations was spectacular and lived up to our expectations. After that we headed for the buses. Once again, they lined up about 6 buses for each resort and everyone was on their way very quickly. We went by the food court and filled up our mugs and crashed for the evening.

October 18, 1997, Saturday

Today, there was a slight drizzle all day, so we went to Typhoon Lagoon. This was great. There was practically nobody there. We got there around 10:00 am and rode the waves in the wave pool. The water was quite comfortable. We also went over to the shark reef and swam through there. The water in there was very cold. We floated around the creek and just generally wandered around. We had lunch at the Leaning Palms. The only drawback with the rain was that most of the smaller snack stands were closed. We wandered around the gift shop and bought some shirts. Everything with the Typhoon Lagoon logo was half-price. I guess that was because they are due to close for the season on November 2nd. About 3:00 we decided we were getting tired, so we headed back to ASSR. We dried off and got changed and decided to go to the Boardwalk for the evening. We didn't want to ride a bus all the way to DD, so we got on the EPCOT bus instead. Well that was the wrong choice. From there we had to take a bus to the Studios and then a boat over to the Boardwalk. The boys wanted lobster, so we asked around and was told to go to the Yacht Club Steakhouse. We went there, but was told there was an 1 ½ hour wait. We didn't want to do that so we went over to the Yacht Club Galley. They were able to seat us within 10 minutes. Lobster was not on the menu, so my husband asked our server. As it turns out the Galley and the Steakhouse are served by the same kitchen, so you can get lobster there. Also, the prime rib is the same cut as at the Steakhouse. The food was excellent and the service was even better. It was a delightful evening. After dinner, we decided that we didn't want to play musical buses, so we asked about calling a taxi to go back to the ASSR. Our server did one better and tried to find one of their valet drivers to take us back in a van, but was unable to get one immediately, but if we didn't mind waiting 20 minutes, they would take us directly to our resort. We decided to not wait, so they called us a taxi, which was there in two minutes and had us to the resort in ten minutes. The cost was only $7.00. After we got back to the resort, we started packing up all of our stuff as we were leaving the next day. We watched a little TV while the boys worked on their journals and homework and then crashed.

October 19, 1997, Sunday

Today was our last day, and we decided to finish the attractions we had not seen at the Studios. We finished packing everything up and checked the room a couple of times to make sure we had not forgotten anything. We had two flex feature items left, so we decided to have another character breakfast at Sound Stage Restaurant. We had called Saturday night for priority seating and was given a 9:30 time. We arrived in time for our seating and were seated in about 10 minutes. Once again we had a very good buffet. The food was good and the CMs were a lot of fun. The characters in attendance that day were Alladin and Genie from Alladin, Quasimodo, and the Gypsy lady from Hunchback. The boys loved getting pictures with "Robin Williams". Of course, the CM in the Genie costume was not Robin Williams. After breakfast, we proceeded around the park. At the Studios, we tended to get upset with each other more often. I think the reason for this was because my husband hated to criss-cross back and forth around the parks, but because of show times for some of the shows, you had to do that to see the shows. We saw the Indiana Jones show, the Animation Tour, the Backstage Tram Tour, the Making of "George of the Jungle", and the Little Mermaid Show. We had lunch at Hollywood & Vine. We watched some of the Zero to Hero Parade. About 5:00 we decided to go back to ASSR to finish some souvenir shopping and get ready to meet our Mears bus at 6:45 pm. On the bus ride back, I decided I wanted to check out the All-Star Music Resort Gift shop to see if they had anything different that caught my eye. The bus also went there, so I just stayed on the bus when my family got off. (I was tempted to just stay on the bus and go back to the Studios, so I wouldn't have to go home, but I didn't) I wandered around Maestro Mickey's and found a few things I liked and walked back to ASSR. We sat around the pool and our boys played in the Arcade and then about 6:45 our Mears Shuttle showed up, so we loaded up and went to the airport. We got everything checked in and since our flight did not leave until 9:00 pm, we put our carry on luggage into a locker (except for those annoying invisible dog leashes that my boys had to have) and went to the lounge to have a drink, smoke and watched some of the World Series. Our flight left on time and we landed in Nashville, TN about 5 minutes behind schedule. We got our bags off the carousel and took them outside. Myself and the boys waited outside while my husband took the shuttle to get the car. Since we parked in the cheap parking lot, it took forever for him to go get the car and it was cold in Nashville. We were all in shorts and short sleeves. As we left the airport property, there was an electric sign that said it was 42 degrees. We had an uneventful drive back to Huntsville, AL and home, except that when we got home, the house was cold too. It was 60 degrees in there. After having beautiful weather all week, coming home was very depressing. I think we took the good weather to Orlando with us and left it there. It has been nasty and cold since we got home.

SUMMARY

This was the first trip for all of us. We had a wonderful trip and I would go again tomorrow, but my husband isn't quite ready just yet. This was very tiring for him. We are planning on going back in 2001. That is the 30th anniversary, plus it is probably the earliest I could take the boys out of school again. We will probably go a week earlier to avoid the Oldsmobile Golf Tournament. Even though the crowds were nothing, I bet it would be even more pleasant if the folks for the tournament were not there. I refuse to go when school is out, it would just be too hot or too crowded. As far as rating our trip on a scale of 1 - 10, I would rate everything a 9. Most of the reason it was a 9 was the mistakes we made as first timers, not anything WDW did.

LESSONS LEARNED

We took way too much stuff. On a longer trip, 5 days or more, only take clothes for half of your trip and use the readily available washers and dryers to do laundry. You are on vacation, so nobody will know that you wore the same thing twice in one week. Besides you need the day to rest around your pool and take a break from all of the fun you are having.
Ladies, don't worry too much about your hair or makeup. You will need a hat anyway, so just brush out your hair and put on a hat. Put on foundation with sunscreen and a little lipstick, blush and mascara and you are ready to go. As I said, you are on vacation and nobody knows who you are and your family has seen you at your worst.
Bring standard notebook paper if you need it. It is not available anywhere in WDW.
Bring 9-volt batteries if you need them. It is not available anywhere in WDW.
Even though Mears shuttle service is very efficient and very good, if you have a party of three or more, I would use the Florida Town Car Service, 1-800-525-7246 as described in Deb's WDWIG. It sounds like a great deal, especially if you want to stop and get goodies for the room.
As far as WDW transportation is concerned, it was excellent. It seems that all of the buses have gone to a resort based system. All of our buses went directly from our resort to whatever park we were going to and directly back to our resort. (Note, the buses were serving both the ASSR and the ASMR). At closing times in the parks, they seem to be bringing in at least 6 buses for each resort to get people back "home" as quickly as possible. The only bus that was not a direct bus was Downtown Disney. This bus also served Typhoon Lagoon during the day and also served Pleasure Island. However, if you are going to Typhoon Lagoon, it stops there first. It also stops at Typhoon Lagoon again before it goes back to ASSR/ASMR. The route seemed to be ASSR/ASMR to Typhoon Lagoon to Downtown Disney to Pleasure Island to Typhoon Lagoon and then back to ASSR/ASMR. So it seems like a direct route if you are going to TL.
The rooms at ASSR were very nice and a great price, but the double beds were a bit small. I have suggested to WDW that when they furnish the All-Star Movies Resort, they do some of the rooms with a Queen Size Bed and a set of single bunk beds. If they don't do something like that, we will have to get two rooms when we go back in four years or go to a more expensive resort with queen size beds, or (heaven forbid) stay off-site. I hope we won't have to do that, because I think the room you have is the smallest part of the vacation (but usually the biggest expense) and I hate to spend more than absolutely necessary for that.
The policy around that place seems to be "Ask and You Shall Receive". Don't be afraid to ask!!!! This place wants you to come back and the CMs have obviously been very well trained to put their guests first and will do anything in their power to get you what you need. It may not always be free, but most of the time it will be. If you don't ask, it won't happen. The CMs cannot read your mind.
Get Sehlinger's Unofficial Guide to WDW. I am not the type that would follow his touring plans, but we did use some of the tidbits of information in the guide on which days to visit certain parks. Things like school field trips at EPCOT on Mondays and Tuesdays. The locals at Magic Kingdom and the Water Parks on Saturdays. I did think his reviews of the food were a bit harsh and I will tell them so. We avoided those parks on the mentioned days and had minimal lines for everything.
If you separate as a group and have a time planned to meet somewhere, make sure everyone's watch is on Eastern Time Zone.
My pre-teen boys did not seem to enjoy the DI Day Camp things very well. My older son went to Backstage Magic. We had just finished doing MK the day before, so as he put it "we just did things that we had done already the day before". They did go in the tunnels, and behind the scenes in various shows, but he apparently didn't find it very interesting. My younger son went to Swamp Stamp and Art Surround. He enjoyed Swamp Stomp, because he got to see some live alligators. As he put it, "we went to the edge of Disney World, all the way to the fence". Art Surround did not really interest him that much. When we go back, I may let them go on the rock climbing thing, but I won't have them do a full day class again. Also, by then they will be 14 & 15, so having them supervised while my husband and I want some peace time won't be as important. We can just put them on a bus to a park and tell them when to be back.
If you don't live in Eastern Time Zone, force yourself to go to bed early. Because of the time change, before we knew it, it was past midnight every night before we settled into bed. Even one hour can make a difference. As much as we tried, we never could force ourselves to get up in time for the opening of the parks and we couldn't even think about early mornings for resort guests.
Above all, if you've never been before, GO!!!! Be prepared to have fun and be pampered no matter what resort you stay in. The folks at the Institute, the Boardwalk, and the Polynesian treated us like queens and kings even though we were staying in the "cheap seats". It is a vacation experience like you've never imagined.
Carol Kelley

Huntsville, AL

ckelley@camber.com

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