Trip Reports

Who we are:

Me, Leslie, your narrator. The resident Disney-phile and ardent RADP lurker for several years.
Tom, a close friend and frequent travelling companion. I've been to WDW with Tom twice before (http://www-personal.umich.edu/~llarkins/dec96a.html). Anne, another close friend who I had never travelled with. She's never been to WDW for more than one day at a time (!) and the last time was at least six years ago, so she was a relative newbie. What fun!
D. Huskie Bear, the all time cutest and most expressive bunch of polyester fur and stuffing you've ever seen. Guar-on-teed! (see for yourself at http://www-personal.umich.edu/~llarkins).
For the record we're all chronologically thirty-ish (except Da Bear, who we think is six), but still in the advanced stages of our first childhood.

What we did:

We crammed all three parks, two resorts and a family visit into 44 hours plus travel time on December 4-6, 1997.

Why we did it:

Because we're psycho.

Here's what happened...

Part I: In which 6 months miraculously becomes three weeks.

Tom and I had spent a week in WDW in early December '96, which we both agree was probably the best vacation of our lives. As we were leaving for home on that trip, we started discussing the possibility of making an annual trek to Orlando just for a weekend to go to the MVMCP (that's Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. If you've never been, go. If you've never heard of it, find out and go! It's wonderful!). Before we could start planning this year's trip, though, Tom was asked to be a Guest of Honor at a science Fiction Convention in May '98 in Orlando. Since they were already paying his way down there, Anne and I decided to tag along and extend our stay by a week to include some days at the parks.

Since we now had a major (3 nights at the Port Orleans and 3 at the Beach Club - *major* buckeroonies!) trip planned for spring, we kind of dismissed another holiday trip until next year. That is until Tom called me up in the middle of November at work to tell me that he'd seen an add for round trip airfare from Detroit to Orlando for $170. We discussed the possibility of going after all. It went something like this:

"But we're already going in May. We have a room and everything."

"Yeah, but it's Christmas!"

"It would be silly to go for just a weekend"

"Yeah, but it's Christmas!"

"Neither one of us can really afford it."

"Yeah, but it's Christmas!"

"We'll never be able to find a place to stay on-site."

"Yeah, but... "

We alternated arguing pro and con several times during the subsequent days. When we started talking about dates and getting time off from work I knew we were going!

I did some net surfing and found the dates for the MVMCP. The airfares I found were a bit more than the ones we saw advertised, but by now we were determined to go, so we accepted the extra $30 apiece without flinching (much). I called CRO for the MVMCP tickets. They said they usually like to allow three weeks for them to arrive, and I had called exactly three weeks before we were to leave, so I was a little nervous about them getting here on time, but they came in about six days - no problem.

About this time Anne heard about our plans and decided to come along. We got her a seat on the same flight and she called and got her MVMCP ticket. It was too close to the time we were to leave, so she had them send it 2nd day air (I think it cost about $10more) and had it in hand in plenty of time.

I started calling CRO and asking about room availability. At first the cheapest they had was a king bed a the Coronado Springs. With three people that would be tricky, but the CM at CRO put the room on hold for us

without a deposit just in case. I called back a few days later and was able to secure a room at the All Star Music with two beds for Dec 4 and 5. Yipee! I reserved a car from National, and we were all set. Our countdown had gone from 6 months to 3 weeks over night!

Since we all had to work on Thursday (12/4), we took a late flight out of Detroit Metro and arrived at MCO at about 11:30. We had packed light and had only one light carry-on each (this will become important later. Stay tuned!) so we didn't have to wait for any checked luggage and were able to go straight to the car rental agency. Naturally, there was a line at the National Rental desk (of course, just today I got an offer for a free membership in Nationals Emerald Club, which would have allowed us to go right up to the counter without waiting. Doh!). After about a 20 minute wait we got our car (a white Grand Am with MA plates - very easy to spot in a lot full of FL rentals!) and were on our way.

By the time we were at the exit for the Crossroads, we were all pretty hungry, so we stopped at the Waffle House for eggs, hash browns and grits (well, Anne ate the grits...Tom and I let her). The food was reasonably good in a greasy spoon kind of way. We missed our WDW exit twice. First because the sign listing the All-Stars Resort was so close to the actual exit that I didn't have time to get over, and second because there were construction barrels lined up along the shoulder right up to the exit, so we couldn't see that it was there until we were already past it. I really wish Disney would do something about their signs. The print is too small to read from any kind of a distance, especially at night, and often they don't let you know far enough ahead to be in the proper lane. Maybe they could color code them - all EPCOT area resorts and attractions in red, MK in blue, etc.. Something! I've taken a wrong turn at least once every time I've driven there.

By the time we pulled up in front of Melody Hall it was nearly 2 am. We checked in and drove around to the lot for building 3, but it was full from end to end. We ended up having to park at the far end of the lot for building 5! Maybe the other side of the resort - the one that doesn't share parking with the AS Sports - was less crowded, but this lot was full every time we saw it. We trudged to our room, settled in and got to sleep by about 3:30.

Part II: In which we fortify ourselves for the long road ahead.

We woke up bright and early (well, actually we were all pretty dull after working and travelling all the previous day and only getting 6 hours sleep) and went to the Wilderness Lodge where we were to meet Tom's dad (who lives in Deltona) for brunch at 10:45 at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. We arrived at about 10:15 and spent some time showing Anne around, getting splashed by the geyser, and trying to figure out where the wondeful burning wood smell was being piped in from, The gingerbread village this year was very different from the one they had up last year, but just as nifty. One side was a little seaside resort town with all the Little Mermaid characters done in icing. Cool!

While we waited we went to Guest Services and bought our passes for this trip and the next one in May. Tom's dad was going to bring us each a 1 day comp pass, but we planned to go to MGM (Anne really wanted to see the Osborn lights, and we let her talk us into it - not that it took much talking...) and to EPCOT to see Horizons one last time, so we bought 7 day All In One passes and only used one day this trip, leaving 6 for our weeklong trip in May. It was a large hunk of change, but it means half of our next trip will already be paid for.

Tom's dad arrived at 10:30 and we checked in at the Whispering Canyon for our 10:45 PS. We were seated in about 10 minutes. I didn't think to ask whether lunch was being served, and it turned out that they don't change the menu until 11:30, so we spent a little time discussing the possibility of hanging around for another 45 minutes until we could get lunch. In the end, we all settled for breakfast (Anne and I both had the hash - yummy!). Tom Sr. had originally intended to just meet us for lunch, but he decided to go on with us, and so we became four.

We got into our rental car and drove over to MGM with little trouble.

After reminding ourselves repeatedly that "We'll be back in May. We don't have to do everything now!" we settled on the 1:15 Hunchback show, which none of us had seen. We got seated early enough to catch Matt the juggler way cool! We all really enjoyed the show, even though I have some problems with the movie. The performances were wonderful, especially Clopin. He has an amazing voice! The direction was also very impressive. Scene changes were so seamless that I would notice something in one scene and then the next time I looked it was gone, and I never noticed that there had even been anyone near it. I had the same experience last year when we saw the Broadway Beauty and the Beast show. The set designs and tech were just amazing - I almost believed it was raining in the theatre! Disney's stage show production values are always top notch, whether for a small attraction show like this or a huge Broadway production. Here's hoping the Lion King will be as good.

As we came out of the Hunchback show, the 2pm Hercules parade was just about to start, so we wandered over to stand just in front of Star Tours and catch the begining. As usual, the parade was pretty short - and not just in length. Since we arrived so late we were looking over about 3-4 rows of people and could only see the top 1/3 of the largest floats. The moral: if parades are important to you, get there early. If they aren't a priority, you should still try to catch Herc, who rides on a float above it all. Those muscles are REAL! Hubba Hubba!

After the parade passed us, we went, along with most of the crowd in the area, to line up for Star Tours. Our shuttle departed less than 10 minutes later, then we were off to see the Muppets. We caught most of the pre-show and showed Anne some of the visual puns since she had never been to this attraction before. When Waldo was introduced as the "Spirit of 3-D" Anne was reminded of Mr. B Natural (all you MST3K fans know all too well what I'm talking about) and declared "He must die!", but she ended up liking the show well enough anyway.

We stopped at the Commisary for a break and some caffeine, then headed over to the Great Movie Ride. There was about a 15 minute wait here and we saw the cowboy scene. I still love Munchkinland and the Witch! By the time we had finished there, it was time to head over to the 50s Primetime Cafe for our 5:00 dinner reservation. Tom and I had eaten there once before and enjoyed it well enough, but neither we nor the server really got "into" it that time. Since then we've all gotten into improvisational theatre to various degrees, and we were looking forward to getting in a little practice! It started out while we were waiting in the living room and "Mom" (that's all she had on her nametag, I'd love to know who she really is!) came in to say how nice it was that we all could make it home for the holidays, and how Tom (who she called Frankie) had always been such a good boy. We begged to differ, and Tom mentioned that maybe she shouldn't open "the green box under the bed" in his room. She knew right away he was going to be a troublemaker and we were going to have fun!

It turned out that we were seated in a small room with three other tables in Mom's section (I don't know if this was coincidence, or what, but it was certainly fortuitous!). All during the meal she asked Frankie ("It's Franklin now, Ma!" "I know, but you'll always be my Frankie") to help her out with setting and clearing the other tables, and serving water to all the guests. We colored pictures on our placemats and generally regressed about 25 years and had a great time. At one point we could hear some explosions coming from the Indy Show next door. Mom complained about "Those Jones boys, always up to something!" She also scolded a couple of cousins for wearing shorts in the middle of winter, and one of the people at another table got sent to stand in the corner and 'shame, shame, shamed' for being a tattletale. I think because we (especially Tom) were really into it, some of the people at the other tables played along more and a great time was had by all. And contrary to popular opinion, the food wasn't bad at all - especially the S'Mores! Yummm! Even Tom's dad, who professes to hate Disney food admitted that the clam chowder was quite good.

After we said goodbye to Mom, we headed over to see the Osborn Lights display on the backlot. It was still pretty impressive to Tom and I on second viewing (they actually added more lights this year!), and both Anne and Tom Sr. were enthralled by it. Afterwards we took a little time heading out. We stopped for a quick browse along the way and bought a new backpack for Da Bear to ride in bacause the zipper had broken on the old one (he likes this new one because it's a drawstring closure with no chance of snagging his fur and it's got a nifty rain flap too!), and made our way to the car. We drove back to the WL where Tom's dad had parked, said our goodbyes, then the three of us headed to the MK via the WL boat launch. I was afraid the boat might be too cold (I was wearing shorts and it was about 8pm), but the seating was enclosed and it turned out to be the best transportation choice we made the whole trip.

Part III: In which we have a very harried Xmas indeed.

We got to the MK about 8:30pm or so, a little later than we'd planned. In keeping with the tradition we started last year (hey, there's no tradition like a new tradition, I always say!) we headed over to Tomorrowland and walked directly on to Alien Encounter, with Tom and I gleefully rubbing our hands together! Now, to understand our attitude, you must know that Anne is a huge fan of the Alien movie series. She saw the first one when she was young and impressionable, and they have been scaring the daylights out of her ever since. She had not seen AE, but we had - hence the glee!

Warning! Spoilers for Alien Encounter Ahoy!

We hadn't told her anything about what to expect, except that it was not a moving ride. We sat in the first row, making sure she was between us, and sat back to listen to the screams (mine included - I love that show!). We were barely out the door when Anne, jokingly, said "That was great! Let's go again!".

I replied "Why not?" so we ducked under the rope and got back in in time for the start of the pre-show (no, we didn't cut in line - there was none). We were talking during the pre-show and I asked Anne how she liked the hot breath on her neck, and she said "What hot breath? I felt a cold blast of air from the front.". We decided that she must have gotten a defective seat (I know some of the seats at HISTA don't work as well as others), so we sat on the other side this time. When we came out this time she again said she didn't feel the hot air, but that she knew when it was because everyone in the place was screaming except her and she wondered why! We figured it was because she has long hair and it was blocking the vents.

As we were talking about it later, she mentioned that it would be cool if something actually reached out and touched you. Tom and I just sort of looked at each other and said "It does!".

"When?"

"At the end, you can feel him licking the top of your head!"

"No way!"

"Way!"

It turned out that she had been leaning forward through most of the dark parts to try to see what was going on above us and hadn't felt any of the seat effects, but had loved the show anyway! I'm looking forward to seeing it with her again next time. We've promised to tie up her hair and hold her back in the seat to make sure she gets the full treatment!

We wandered over to Liberty Square for the fireworks, which were to begin in about 15 minutes. I had completely forgotten that RADPers were supposed to meet by the Liberty Bell before the fireworks, but several people saw my RADPin and came over to introduce themselves (Tim & Kim and Rob & Cindy). It was very cool! After the fireworks we hopped in line for the Haunted Mansion with about a 10 minute wait. Anne had never been on this one before either. We then moved on to Fantasyland to take in some of the dark rides of our misbegotten youth. We walked on to It's A Small World, but there were others in the boat, so we couldn't be too loud in our ridiculing of it (whose idea was it to have Geisha toddlers, anyway?). We next flew with Peter Pan, after about a 10 minute wait, and then headed over to Mr. Toads Wild Ride. None of us had ever ridden it before (not because we didn't want to, just never made it over there) and with all the talk about it closing we wanted to check it out. We rode the left side, saw The Naked Lady (they thought it was just a joke, and we all thought it would be much less conspicuous. Whoah!) and yelled the obligatory "We're all gonna die!", not knowing that we actually were on our way to Hell. It all makes so much more sense now!

After the wild ride, we stopped at Village Haus for a hot dog, along with some complimentary hot chocolate and cookies (we discovered that they're not worth waiting in line for, but if you happen to catch a counter without a crowd grab some!). Fortified, we headed toward Frontierland, unfortunately, the parade had just started coming through there and we weren't able to make much progress, so we stopped at the photo booth in the dock area and had our picture taken with no wait at all. We found out that the photos are "one per household" rather than "one per party" as we'd thought last year, so we each filled out a form with our separate addresses and last week we each got a copy of the picture of all of us! It came out much better than the one we got last year (I'll post it as soon as I get my scanner debugged) and Da Bear looks particularly boss in it. The parade was just wrapping up as we came out, so we hustled along the edge of the river and beat the crowd to Splash Mountain, but it was dry, (later I overheard a man say that he had been on it and his hat had blown off, causing them to shut down the ride for almost an hour to retrieve it!) so we continued over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We walked right on, but by the time we returned to the station the line was winding quite a ways. This ride is where yelling "We're all gonna diiiiieeeee!" really adds some excitement! I reiterate advice given elsewhere: see it at night! It's so different all lit up and with stars above. Tres spiff!

Splash was just coming back on line, but we really didn't want to stand in line, so we watched a few partly filled boats go over the edge, promising Anne that we would get her on it next time, and wandered over to Pirates of the Carribean on the way out. This was another first for Anne (can you believe it?) and she was just amazed by the sea battle scene. I hadn't seen it since I was a teenager, and I found myself liking it more than I had previously, despite the PCisms. We stopped for some hot tea and a bit of a rest on Main Street as we headed out back to the boat. We left the gate just as a WL launch was pulling out, and rather than run for it we decided to give our poor dogs a rest and sit down until the next one came along about 15 minutes later. We reclaimed our car from the WL lot and headed back to collapse into our beds. We had to park in the very last row of the lot, and *boy* was that last few hundred yards from the car to the room long!

Part IV: In which we *will* have fun, Darn it!

We got up at about 9am, so as to check out by 10:30. Our Express Checkout package was by the door when we got up, but I had to switch some charges to another card so we had to go to the front desk on our way out. It only took me a few minutes to take care of, and we went to check out the food court while we were nearby. It was huge and loud, but had some nice fresh snacks. We got a plate of grapes, cheese and crackers to substitute for the breakfast we weren't going to have, and ate them in the car on the way to EPCOT. We got there about 11:30. I had wanted to attend the big Holiday RADP meet at the Fountainview at noon, but we really wanted to eat at Marrakesh, and we were *really* hungry, so I decided to forgo it. Sniff! Next time, when we're being more lesiurely, I'd love to go! We headed in the general direction of Morroco (we didn't make a Priority Seating there because it was still pretty early and I've never seen the restaurant fill up), shopping a bit on the way, looking for this years Pooh Xmas ornament (another new tradition!) and jumped on the boat across the lake. We arrived at Restaurant Marrakesh at about noon, and were seated right away.

The service here was wonderful, and the food absolutely delicious. Anne had had Chicken Bastilla (ground up chicken cooked with herbs and who knows what, wrapped in Phyllo, then baked and sprinkled with powdered sugar and cinnamon - YUM!) once before while traveling, and had been looking to taste it again ever since. We got the combo appetizer for two (chicken bastilla, a similar confection involving beef, and the Jasmina salad), but we all agreed that next time (and there *will* be a next time!) we would each get a chicken bastilla - no one wanted to share! Tom got the cookbook they had for sale specifically because it had a recipe for it in there. We haven't gotten around to trying it yet - I'll let you know!

We wandered around the world to the left, and came upon the UK just as the WS Players were starting a production of Romeo and Edna. We stopped to watch, video tape and laugh our socks off. We had so much fun (remember, I said we were all in to improv comedy) that we checked on the time for the next performance of A Christmas Carol and stuck around for about 40 minutes until 2:35 in order to get a good seat. Afterwards we trundled back around the lake to Future World to ride Horizons one last time (that is, assuming Test Track ever does open!). Sniff again! We got into a short (10 minute) line for Spaceship Earth, did a little more shopping in the Centorium, then wandered over to Norway where we had a 4:45 PS reservation.

Norway was the only place where we had to wait past our assigned time. The staff apologized, and said that a lot of PS people had showed up without regard to the time they had been assigned, and were angry when they weren't seated immediately, so everything was running a bit slow. We read some Norwegian Fairy Tales out loud while we were waiting. I'm sure the other adults around us thought we we a tad strange, but we had fun, so who cares? The food, as usual, was good here (especially the mashed rutabagas and the sweet saurkraut. Mmmm-mmm-good!), but Anne hadn't been feeling well, and was getting worse as the meal went on, so we didn't linger too long. It was just past sunset when we headed out, so we detoured over to Innoventions to show Anne the footlights. I just love those little touches! She was suitably impressed.

We got to the airport by about 7:40pm for our 8:25 flight to Detroit. We checked at the ticket counter and they told us we would have to go to the gate to check in, so we trudged off to the very last gate of the concourse (why is it *always* the last gate?) and got in line. Just as we were about to get to the desk, an attendant at the next gate announced that any passengers for flight 469 to Detroit who had no checked luggage should come see her. We didn't have any checked bags, (I *told* you it would be important, didn't I? Pay attention, there'll be a quiz at the end of the trip report!), so we did, and she said there were seats available on an earlier flight, #441, that had been delayed (that turned out to be the understatement of the day - it had been scheduled to leave at 5pm, and was still on the ground at 8:05.

It was nearly empty because most of the people had already missed their connections and had decided to stay another night in Orlando!). There followed a scene not entirely unlike something out of the Keystone Kops, in which the three of us, schlepping our luggage, were sent from counter to counter, attendant to attendant to first get our tickets issued at the original gate, changed at the new gate, and get new seating assignments at the boarding gate. All the while the nice lady who originally offered us the earlier flight was announcing over the speaker that flight 441 was leaving immediately and everyone better be on board or else! The flight we were scheduled to be on was overb ooked, but we ended up being able to spread out over an entire row and nap all the way home.

Afterthoughts, Critiques and Kudos...

We all had great fun on this trip, and we're glad we went, but I don't think we'll ever try to be so ambitious again. We were all more or less sick for the week after we got back home and were thoroughly exhausted, even though we had Sunday to recouperate. We'll still probably try to go for a long weekend every Xmas, but we'll just do the MVMCP and spend the rest of the time relaxing!

Things we liked:

The "new and improved" Osborn lights.
The new bride at the Haunted Mansion (*Very* creepy!)
We finally saw Tink for the first time before the fireworks! The real tune printed on the curtains at the ASM. Tom, the musician of the group, spent a few minutes holding a curtain in front of his face and humming before he figured it out. It was an interesting sight! That's what I love about Disney: most people would never notice those little touches, but they take the time to put them in for those of us who do.
Dinner at the 50's Prime Time with Mom! She was wonderful! We'd like to send a letter to commend her on her performance. Does anyone know where we should send it?
The boat ride from WL to MK was very pleasant, even on a cool night.
Things we didn't like:

Trying to find parking within a mile of our room at the ASM. Walking back down Main St. toward the exit after the MVMCP and not being able to enjoy it because we were *sooooo* tired and sore. Not being able to find the exit we needed twice! *Please* put up more coherent and readable road signs!

Things we'll do differently next year:

We probably won't stay on site next time unless we can afford at least the PO. The ASM was pleasant enough, but it was *huge* and the parking was abyssmal. Also, the theming of the buildings is so commercial that it didn't really feel like Disney. There were giant Coke™ cups, cans of Spaulding™ tennis balls, etc.. The ASM was a bit less commercial, but just as gaudy. The food court, at least at about 10 in the morning, was a complete zoo! The room was small but perfectly servicable and clean, with plently of extra towels and such, but we didn't get much benefit from staying on site for such a short time. I think we would have been better off somewhere where we could park!

We'll only do the MVMCP, and maybe EPCOT. Doing all that we did was fun and we have a good story to tell, but if I ever suggest doing anything like that again Anne and Tom have orders to sedate me until it passes.

There are probably others, but I'm tired of writing...

Leslie Larkins

llarkins@umich.edu

__________________
You just read a trip report that was originally published in our MousePlanet Trip Reports column.

Reader-submitted trip reports have always been an extremely popular feature here at MousePlanet. In order to improve the search functionality and shorten the time from when you submit a trip report and the report gets published, you can now post your trip reports directly to our Trip Report forums. The forums are moderated, but reports should become available for reading very quickly.