Trip Reports

There were two of us on this trip: me, age 58, and my husband, age 66. We had one previous WDW experience, in 1988. We had only three days at WDW in '88 and spent them at the MK and Epcot, so the 1997 trip was our first experience with Disney-MGM.

One reason I'm writing this report is to encourage people in their fifties and older to get up and go to WDW - even if you DON'T have a grandchild in tow!!! It's a wonderful place for older people. I think Disney trip was one of the most enjoyable vacations we've ever had. Although Disney doesn't offer anything in the way of senior discounts, most of the other theme parks in the area do. I always ask!

I tend to be obsessive about things, and I spent nearly a year planning this trip. I bought a half-dozen travel books, including Birnbaum's Official Guide, Sehlinger's Unofficial Guide, Birnbaum's Disney for Adults, Fodor's Guide to Disney and Orlando, and Rita Aero's Walt Disney World for Adults and Families Too. I pored over all of them until pages were falling out. It wasn't until about a month before our trip that I discovered all the information on the Internet, but I spent a LOT of time during this final month surfing and reading about others' experiences.

We flew out of Roanoke, Virginia at 6:45 a.m. on November 6. Since we live about 50 miles from Roanoke, we elected to spend the night of November 5 in a Roanoke motel less than a mile from the airport.

We had a travel package that I'd arranged through a travel agent. The package included an Alamo rental car. After landing in Orlando, we had to go several miles by bus to the Alamo lot, where we found that since the only credit card we had with us was in my name, we'd have to pay a second driver fee of $50 so my husband could drive the car. (I briefly considered just saying that I'd do all the driving and not paying the $50, but I was afraid that if we did that, my husband would have some sort of fender-bender while he was driving and we'd really be in the soup - we knew he'd be doing most of the driving) Except for this, the Alamo procedure was efficient, and we got our car and got on our way in a reasonable time. Neither of us has a very good sense of direction, so we were pleasantly surprised when we had no trouble finding our way to WDW and to the Dixie Landings hotel.

DL has a stated check-in time of 3:00 p.m., but our room was ready when we arrived around noon. I had requested a first-floor room reasonably close to the bus stop and that's what we got. I had also requested a refrigerator; there wasn't one in the room when we arrived, but a young man delivered one within ten minutes. The room was large and comfortable, with two sinks, two double beds, a table and chairs, and adequate drawer space. We were close to the swimming pool and the coin laundry. It was a standard view but we looked out onto a pleasant lawn with pretty flowers. How much time do you spend in your hotel room looking out the window, anyway?

We went to the DL food court and had a sandwich. I thought the food was very good but overpriced - you're paying for convenience. I certainly recommend that if you stay in a resort where they offer beverage mugs, you take advantage of the offer. You get a nice insulated plastic mug with Disney characters on it - in our case they were Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear from "Song of the South." I think we paid $7.95 for the mugs. Once you purchase the mug, you can refill it with any beverage you want, hot or cold, as often as you want for the duration of your stay. You don't have to buy a meal, either - you can just stop by and fill your mug. Coke, coffee, hot chocolate, lemonade - pretty much anything. And you have the mug, which would probably cost a couple of dollars at a store, as a nice souvenir. We didn't realize the mugs were available until the second day we were there, but given that beverages cost about $1.00, we definitely got more than our money's worth from them in the nine days we used them.

We found the food court handy for breakfast. As stated above, it was a bit overpriced, but we thought the food was pretty good, although I would have liked for them to stay open a little later - they closed around 10:30. I wasn't as impressed with Boatwright's Dining Hall, the full-service restaurant at DL. The menu was limited and more expensive than the food court, although they let us use the mugs there, too.

After we settled in we decided to go to Epcot. Our trip package included length-of-stay passes which were good from check-in to the end of the day we checked out. We walked to the bus stop from our room, but we found the paths confusing. After the first day we drove our car from the parking lot in front of our room to the lot in front of the building where the food court and check-in facilities were located, from where it was just a short walk to the bus stop - this was quicker and less confusing. We figured we should get SOME use from the rental car.

The food court and the busses were crowded, making us fearful that perhaps our plan of coming to WDW in November to avoid the biggest crowds wasn't going to work, but after we got to the theme parks we found the crowds to be very manageable. We walked into Epcot and right onto "Spaceship Earth." When we were at WDW in 1988 we didn't ride that because my husband had somehow gotten it confused with "Space Mountain," and he thought it would be a roller coaster, which he hates. In fact, he dislikes sudden and jerky movements, and won't ride a LOT of rides. I used to think I couldn't ride a ride if he didn't, but I changed my mind about that a long time ago. Now I just set him down on a bench somewhere, preferably in the shade, and go ride. It's handy to have someone to leave hats, bags, etc., with. However, this time we were aware of what "Spaceship Earth" is, so we both rode - we loved it and since there was no crowd we got back on and rode again. Then we went to the "Universe of Energy," which we remembered from the previous trip but which has been updated. This is an impressive ride by anyone's standards. I liked the introductory section with Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye, but I don't think having them wandering about amongst the dinosaurs added anything to the main part of the ride.

We went to "Honey, I Shrunk the Audience" - this is a real hoot and I can't recommend it highly enough. It was in my top five favorites. The only reservation I have about recommending HISTA is that I don't think the warnings about children are strong enough. The posted warning signs say that loud noises may scare children - I didn't think the noises were too loud, but the lion and the snake were enough to terrify small children.

I had made reservations for Victoria and Albert's restaurant in the Grand Floridian for the first night we were there. We went back to the room and got dressed, then we drove over to the main building and had them call us a taxi. We don't like driving in strange places after dark and we were planning to have the wine pairing, so didn't want to drive back in any event. The taxi was there almost before they called it - I think it was about $15 with tip.

What can I say about V&A? I wish I could afford to dine like that - not every night, that would be TOO much - but every month. The wines were wonderful, the food was exquisite, the service was impeccable, the bill was enormous. They presented me with a long-stemmed red rose and gave each of us a personalized copy of the menu. It was an experience I won't soon forget or repeat. (The stem of the rose was enclosed in one of those little glass vials that florists use to keep flowers fresh, but even though I kept it filled with water, the rose started drooping the second day. I cut most of the stem off and replaced the vial on my now short-stemmed red rose, and it almost immediately perked up. I include this information for anyone else who may go to V&A and have a similar experience with her rose.)

Next day, back to earth and to Disney-MGM Studios. We went first to the "Tower of Terror." I had heard scary things about it, and essentially I wanted to do it first and get it over with. (There was no question of my husband's riding!) There was a very short line and I got right on, but I really didn't appreciate the truly wonderful special effects at the beginning because I was so apprehensive about the fall that was to come. But I really didn't find it as terrifying as I had been led to believe - on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give it a 5 for scary. I came back a couple of days later and rode it again; this time I got more out of the first part of the ride. I did think the ride was short; if I'd had to stand in line for an hour or more on a busy day, I might have felt a bit cheated.

I LOVED the "Superstar Television" show. I stood in the front at the pre-show and tried to get picked for the cast, but without success. I really would have loved to do the Lucy segment, since I can remember when "I Love Lucy" was one of the hottest shows going. "The Voyage of The Little Mermaid" was a pleasant and enjoyable show; not one of the really exciting attractions, but lots of nice music and dancing and colorful costumes. "Indiana Jones" was interesting and gave a lot of insight into how some movie stunts are done. "Jim Henson's MuppetVision" was absolutely delightful, and "The Great Movie Ride" lived up to its hype. "The Studios Backlot Tour" was really fascinating, even if it hadn't included the Catastrophe Canyon segment, but I thought "The Magic of Disney Animation" was a bit tiresome. We gave "Goosebumps" a miss.

On two days at Disney-MGM, we ate lunch once at The Hollywood Brown Derby and once at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. My husband had the Cobb salad at The Brown Derby and he found it a bit puzzling with its pulverized lettuce, but he said it was pretty good. I had some sort of seafood; I can't remember but I do remember I liked it. The 50's Prime Time Cafe is just fun; the vintage TV clips that show constantly (and silently) featured some we remembered from our younger days. We had meatloaf; it really was tasty. I think their food was fine for what it is; it doesn't claim to be anything but plain "home-style" fare.

We (or at least I) rode every ride in the MK except for a couple of kiddie rides. My husband wouldn't get on about half of them. We got E-tickets one night and I rode "Big Thunder Mountain" three times in a row. Then I rode "Splash Mountain"; I thought the vignettes showing scenes from "Song of the South" were charming. I didn't find the big plunge at the end anything to get too fretted about. For anyone who has ridden the "Escape from Pompeii" ride at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia, the plunge is just about identical to the one in that ride. I also rode "Space Mountain," which I had avoided on the first trip because my husband didn't want to ride it. I thought it was about the same intensity as "Big Thunder Mountain," but being largely in the dark made it seem a bit wilder. The attendant at "Space Mountain" directed me to a seat in the first car, but I whined, "I don't want to ride in the first car," so he assigned me one further back and a little girl about 6 years old took the seat I rejected.

I didn't see "Alien Encounter" because of all I've heard about the cuddly little critter who gets fried in the pre-show. We rode "The Haunted Mansion," which was REALLY spooky at night with only about half the cars filled. That may be the best way to experience "The Haunted Mansion." I think the E-ticket sales had amounted to only a couple of thousand that night; there certainly weren't very large crowds. We also rode "Pirates of the Caribbean," which I think is somewhat brutal. There are comic scenes, like the drunken pirate sleeping in the mud with a pig, but it depicts pirates sacking a town - there really isn't any way to make that a funny concept overall. And we went to see the "Country Bears Jamboree." I understand it's been updated, but it still seems a lot like the show we saw it in 1988. At any event, it's a great show. I was wearing a Universal Studios sweatshirt, and a couple of the characters in the bear costumes danced around me and pointed at it reprovingly. Earlier in the day an attendant at one of the rides had stuck a Mickey sticker over the Universal Studios logo.

Since the E-ticket is supposedly an "experimental" plan, I don't know if it will continue, but if it does and if you are eligible to buy it (you must be staying in an on-site hotel and you must have a multi-day pass), it is one of the best deals going.

We even went to "Mickey's Toontown Fair," although not during the E-ticket time, and I rode the "Barnstormer." My husband wouldn't get on it, although I don't think it would have been too much for him. The ride lasted only about 90 seconds; I wouldn't have ridden it if there had been any wait at all, but I went right on. We also stood in line for about 15 minutes at the "Toontown Hall of Fame," not having any idea what we were waiting for, and finally were ushered into a room where several costumed characters were available for photo ops. We left without taking advantage of the opportunity, although we did get a couple of shots with the characters who were walking about the parks. I took a picture of my husband shaking hands with Goofy, and he got one of me hugging Chip.

"The Carousel of Progress" is a little dated, but the dog is fun. "The Timekeeper" was a great show although I don't particularly like ANY show at WDW that you have to stand up for, since there is enough standing as you walk from place to place. If it had seats I'd give it a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10; since it doesn't I'll just give it a 6. We didn't go to "O Canada" in Epcot because we knew we'd have to stand - we saw it on our first trip. I'm not impressed by 360 degree movies, anyway - it may be a great technological achievement, but nobody can watch all the screens at once, so why have them all going at once? Maybe 250 or so degrees, with seats that could swivel - even then you'd be sure to miss some things.

MK restaurants: we ate at the Crystal Palace buffet one evening. We really did like it; the food was good and we got to have our pictures taken with Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore. The waitresses were very nice about snapping the pictures so we could both be in them. There was a good selection at the buffet and the price was reasonable for Disney. We had lunch one day at The Liberty Tree Tavern - my husband pronounced the clam chowder delicious (he ALWAYS gets clam chowder if it's available). I had a roast beef sandwich that was very good and again the price wasn't too bad for Disney. We ate at Cinderella's Royal Table one night - the straws were shaped like Mickey Mouse, as was the butter, and although it was reasonably good, we really thought this place was overpriced - dinner for two came to nearly $100. The waitress brought me three unused Mickey straws when I remarked that I'd like some to take to our grandchildren.

We returned to Epcot for a full day. We thought the "Maelstrom" ride at Norway was good, but we sort of resented being herded into a holding pen after the ride was over and made to remain for a film - not that the film wasn't interesting, it was just that I thought we should have been able to leave when the ride was over if we wanted to. We didn't go to the "American Adventure"; we'd seen it on our earlier trip and, at the risk of sounding unpatriotic, we found it boring. I guess a couple of presidents have been added since then, but we still passed. The "El Rio de Tempo" ride in Mexico was unchanged, others have compared it to "It's a Small World," and I find the comparison valid. The fiber optic fireworks at the end are impressive.

"Body Wars"is another I rode alone, and was very impressed by. We had seen "Living With the Land" on our first trip but we did it again and found it newly interesting. "The Circle of Life" was new since our last trip and we both liked it. My husband went to "Cranium Command" with me, and we both found it absolutely delightful. We rode "Universe of Energy" a second time on our second day at Epcot. We stayed that night to see the IllumiNations show. We found a spot next to the railing about an hour before the show was scheduled to start and sat down on the sidewalk. It wasn't the most comfortable hour I ever spent, but it's the only way I know of to stake out a space. If we'd started two hours early, we could have staked out a bench, but the place we had provided a really good view.

Getting back to the hotel after IllumiNations was probably the worst experience of our entire trip. The WDW transportation system was working as efficiently as anything could, but there were thousands of people all leaving at once. One bus after another pulled up, but we still stood in line over a half-hour waiting to get on one. There were a LOT of exhausted, cranky children in the lines, and their parents weren't in much better shape. We DID luck out in that there were only about three people ahead of us when the bus we finally did get on pulled up, so we got a seat.

Restaurants at Epcot - We had meals at several Epcot restaurants. The San Angel Inn Restaurante in the Mexican pavilion is probably one of the prettiest restaurants at WDW, but I'm not overly fond of Mexican food. I ordered a margarita and it came in a glass about the size of a punch bowl. I think it was mostly fruit juice, because I was still able to walk after I finished it. The Living Seas Restaurant features a gigantic aquarium, with terraced seating so you are always seated where you can see it, and fresh tasty seafood. The best meal we had at Epcot - perhaps at WDW, with the exception of V&A, was at Chefs de France. This cost about the same as Cinderella's Royal Table, but was far superior. The creme brule is to die for!

We spent one day at Universal Studios, one at Sea World, and one at Busch Gardens in Tampa. We drove ourselves to Universal and Sea World, but took a Mears bus to Busch Gardens. A young man at the check-in desk at DL was very helpful in showing my husband how to get to Universal Studios and Sea World.

It is impossible not to compare Universal Studios and Disney-MGM, but I'd be hard-pressed to pick between them. There were some really fantastic rides at Universal - most notable was "Back to the Future," which is one of the best rides I've ever been on. I overheard a young man who was standing behind me as I waited in line (sans husband, naturally!) tell his companions that he thought the "Back to the Future" ride alone was worth the price of admission. As the admission price was around $40, I don't know if I would go that far, but it WAS a wonderful ride. The wait for this ride was the longest of my whole trip, around 30 minutes. My husband rode most of the rides at Universal Studios, including "Kongfrontation," which was quite impressive, with the mock-up of the NYC subway. The fake banana smell was a little overwhelming. "Earthquake - the Big One" was very real, with buckling pavement and a fuel truck that bursts into flame. But when the car pulled away from the subway station the riders could see the fuel truck move back into place and the pavement smooth out. The same thing happened in "Jaws" - as the boat rounded a corner, passengers could see gas pumps that the shark had knocked into the water being righted so they could be collapsed again for the next ride.

The San Francisco and NYC streets in Universal and Disney-MGM are both right on the money. I'd swear I was in the Big Apple or the City by the Bay. I've been to both cities; the only thing missing in either set was traffic. In one of the parks - I think it was Disney-MGM, but I'm not sure - there were recorded traffic noises in the New York sets.

"Animal Actors Stage" was a delightful show, and we really enjoyed "Lucy: a Tribute." Most people our age could probably spend a LONG time here; younger people might not like it so well. Many have said Terminator 2: 3-D is their favorite show at Universal - we liked it, but it wasn't our favorite. That would probably be "Animal Actors," which wasn't as impressive technically.

Sea World is a great place to spend a day - there aren't any rides as such, but there are several good shows, including "Hotel Clyde and Seamore" which features seals and otters. There is a huge pool with dolphins. While we were watching them, one came to the edge and deliberately flipped his tail to splash water on the visitors. We got only a bit of the splash, but a man and his young son were drenched. The dolphin retreated to the center of the pool and stuck his head up and sort of grinned - I KNOW he knew what he was doing when he splashed those people.

It poured rain all day while we were at Busch Gardens, so most of the rides were closed, but we really didn't go for the rides, but to see the animals in the animal park. We rode around on an open-air train and were able to see a great many of the animals close up. We walked through the other animal areas and felt that we had our money's worth, even though we didn't get to ride any of the rides. We bought Disney ponchos before we left for Busch Gardens, so we were the only ones there with yellow ponchos with Mickey on them. The Busch Gardens ponchos are blue and have a picture of a tiger.

We didn't go to any of the water parks, although our ticket included them. We went to Disney Village Marketplace one night, but it was so crowded that we never even made it into the Pleasure Island section, although our tickets would have covered the admission price.

One night we went to Cape May Cafe in the Beach Club Hotel. This was the only time WDW transportation really seemed not to be working (the night after IllumiNations from Epcot it was working, there were just so many people wanting to ride all at the same time that it was overwhelmed.) We rode a bus to Disney-MGM and rode the launch over to get to the restaurant - this worked fairly well. And the clambake buffet was very good, after only V&A and Chefs de Paris in quality. After dinner, it seemed the best way to get back to DL was to take the bus to Disney Village Marketplace and change there. We waited in front of the Beach Club for over 45 minutes until a Disney Village Marketplace bus came along - that was the only time we ever had such a long wait. At the Marketplace, we had another 15 minute wait for a bus back to Dixie Landings. The WDW transportation system is efficient for getting people to the theme parks, but it really doesn't work well getting them from one hotel to another in the evening. This is a shame, because there are some very nice restaurants in the different hotels, but getting to them is a major undertaking.

Although we had no problems getting from the Alamo car rental lot to WDW when we arrived, we got terribly turned around going back. We got to the airport OK, then the signs directing us to the Alamo lot seemed to disappear. The lot is located on a road that meanders for a while, then stops and picks up again several blocks further on. And the only Alamo sign that we saw was the one on the gate where you turn in to the lot. We had to stop at a Days Inn and ask for directions. Fortunately we'd given ourselves ample time to return the car and get to the airport; it would have been a real heart-stopper if we'd been pushed for time!

Conclusions - We had good luck with Priority Seating, although I have heard others say their experiences were very bad. I made our priority seating arrangements before we left home for Victoria and Albert and Coral Reef at Epcot; for all the other meals I made the arrangements only a few hours ahead of time. In every case we were seated at or before the time of our seating.

I know it seems curmudgeonly to carp about children at a place like WDW, but we did wish that one of the pools at DL could have been designated "adults only." It would have been nice to have a quiet swim at the end of a tiring day, but the pool in our section of Alligator Bayou was constantly full of screaming, jumping, splashing children. This is normal behavior for children in a pool, to be sure, but it isn't conducive to relaxation by those of us who are old and nervous. We waited until after 11:00 p.m. one night and found the pool still occupied by noisy children. After we got home, I wrote WDW and made the suggestion that one of the pools be designated "adults only." It would be worth walking a little farther to get to it. In due time, I received a form letter that said "thank you for your interest" together with an autographed 5x7 glossy of Mickey.

An over-childed pool is a relatively minor thing and certainly no surprise; we left home expecting to encounter lots of children. Our vacation experience was still 95% positive, and we are planning to return to WDW in December 1998 - we already have our reservations. We were very impressed by the Beach Club and Yatch Club Hotel complex - there are five hotels (the Beach Club, the Yatch Club, the Swan, the Dolphin, and the Boardwalk Inn) within walking distance of one another. It is also possible to walk to Epcot from this area. This means that a lot of restaurants and night clubs are within walking distance. We have made our reservations at the Yatch Club. This will be more expensive that Dixie Landings, but I believe it will be worth it when we consider the excellent choice of restaurants and entertainment within easy walking distance of the Yatch Club. The choices at Dixie Landings were very limited and everything closed early - Yatch Club has 24-hour room service. We believe that on-site lodging is the way to go, but there is no question that some Disney properties are more convenient than others. Convenience seems to increase as price goes up, although all Disney hotels are comfortable and impeccably clean.

I agree with those who say the aquatic creature atop the Dolphin bears little resemblance to a dolphin. As others have pointed out, it looks more like a carp - I don't suppose it would have sounded quite so classy to call the hotel "The Carp."

We aren't getting a package through a travel agent for our December 1998 trip. The package we bought in November of 1997 included length of stay passes, and on four days we didn't use them (the days we went to Universal Studios, Sea World, and Busch Gardens, and the day we checked out). That was money down the drain. In December we're going to get six-day all-in-one passes. We are going to be at WDW seven days; one of them we're going to Universal Studios.

Also, in December we aren't going to rent a car. We didn't use it at all to get around WDW - the place is just too confusing, and we don't like driving in a strange place after dark, so we didn't use it to get to restaurants in the evenings. We DID drive to Universal Studios and Sea World, but Mears goes to both places every day. I think we will save money and I KNOW we will save aggravation by passing on the rental car and using Mears to get to and from the airport and Universal Studios. WDW isn't a bargain vacation no matter how you slice it, but I can't see buying things we won't use.

I'm already counting days - I wish the days you're at WDW passed as slowly as those while you're waiting to go!

Peggy Morgan

Pringle@usit.net

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