Trip Reports

TRIP REPORT:

Why write a trip report?? I wrote this in the hopes it will provide information to those who might be looking for it, just like I was when I was reading trip reports, information, updates, and any scraps, tidbits, or tips I could get my hands on. My thanks to everyone on the radp, and especially the web sites of Brian Bennett, Rita Aero, and Deb Wills. Keep up the great work.

CAST: Newlyweds on their honeymoon. Rob(29) - cost accountant, Tara(28) - between jobs right now, due to the wedding and the move down to NC from MA.

PRELUDE:

Getting married. Where to honeymoon? Walt Disney World!.

PLANNING:

(BIG NOTE HERE: We decided to delay the honeymoon until a week or two after the wedding, which would allow us plenty of time to get Tara's things moved down to our new place in NC. Neither of us really wanted to zoom down to WDW Thanksgiving week, fight the crowds there and at the airports, and then have to move everything when we returned. This delay gave us a much less crowded time to visit, and left us plenty of flexibility as to when we would go and how long we would stay.)

Based on this, I made reservations in late July for 4 nights at Coronado Springs (Dec. 5,6,7,8), waterview and king-sized bed requested. NOTE: We could not get ANYTHING in Port Orleans (PO) for the days we wanted, or Caribbean Beach(CB) for that matter. All they had was Dixie Landings (DL), until I shifted the days back one, and went for Coronado Springs (CS). So much for this 'slowest' time of the year information I have read about, at least at the moderate priced resorts. I called central reservations (CRO) on 9/18/97 on the 'Last Chance Option' (LCO) news from radp'ers, to check on switching over all nights to the Contemporary (CR). Spoke with a politely evasive and unhelpful young man named Tom. He told me there were "no rooms" available at the CR on Dec. 5, our first night of the four. I then asked about leaving the one night at CS, and switching the other 3 over on the LCO. He proceeded to hand me what I will politely describe as a load of bull, and won't say much more about my STRONG feelings on the whole matter. Basically, he said I couldn't have the room unless it was a 4 night stay. His exact words were, I believe "That room is only available for 4 nights." No 3 night options, as issued by Disney in their LCO offer. (Very politely pointed out by me, just in case he was unaware). I asked if there was any way to get those last 3 nights. No. And is there any other option or special that you have available or know of for staying at the CR that first night. No. Okay, fine, thank you. Click. I know when I am being jerked around, and this is a clear case of either intentional misinformation or an evasive lack of information, take your pick. I won't go as far as to call it bait and switch, but it sure wasn't good customer relations, that's for sure. WDW says 3 nights, I want 3 nights, Tom won't let me have only 3 nights, and won't give me an option of moving my entire 4 night reservation to the garden rooms at the LCO price. (The word for today is 'runaround'.) While I know that a lot of the radp'ers out there probably know ways around problems like these, I am not informed enough to pull out some truly great deal out of this whole mess. Disney says something, they need to stick with it until they are out of rooms. I hope this is not going to be a sign of things to come in December! NOTE: We also have tickets for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party (MVMCP) on Friday December 5th, and in November we picked up House of Blues (HOB) concert tickets for Wednesday December 3rd. We will have to figure these events into our schedule once we get to Orlando.

Also, t would be good to note somewhere along here that (#1) we are planning to detour through Ocala on our way down, to try to find a discounted room on WDW property and extend our stay at the beginning or end. I am not sure how this will work, as it seems to be hit and miss based on how booked the resorts are for that time period. We would very much like to stay a few extra days, and we have the budget for it. I wanted to upgrade to the CR as a honeymoon surprise, but now, I am in a feisty mood about the whole LCO thing. I was willing to pay the $159 Disney OFFERED, but now I will detour through Ocala to check out the other property hotels and their discounts. Seeing as how this first week in December is supposed to be the slow time of the year, something should be available. I am more concerned about if they will let us book it that many days ahead, for the end of our reserved stay. That option failing, we have number (#2), which is to see if they offer us a discounted room to extend our stay at CS while we are there. (We are driving down, so this could work for us.) If that doesn't pan out, then options (#2A) and (#2B) are available, which is to deal with the hotel staff and CRO to find us ANY other Disney property with a discount to extend our stay(#2A), or (#2B) call over to the Swan and/or Dolphin to see what they can offer. (AAA members discount, and we still have our coupons in our books to consider.) Failing that, the last option is (#3), which is to use the 50% off coupon in WDW for Adults at the Grosvenor (Thank you Rita Aero), and hit other Orlando area attractions for a few days, maybe going to Pleasure Island at night. (NOTE: The Grosvenor looks very nice, and I have been to the Murderwatch Mystery Dinner Theater show, which was also very good entertainment. It is a short walk from Pleasure Island and the Disney Village Market Place. If we get driven off Disney property with all the other options I have failing, I probably won't feel like buying tickets to visit the major parks, or getting Disney gifts for family, or spending much money on Disney goods or services. Universal may not have ever heard of me, but I will give them a chance this trip, if I fall all the way down to my third option. Barring any of those options working, we are heading home as scheduled, with still 4 or 5 days off work to relax. The key to our planning, and this entire trip, has been flexibility!

UPDATE to Planning & Prep:

After much discussion and a wee bit of schedule juggling at work, we have decided to take off really late on December 1st (Monday) to drive down, still hitting Ocala, and trying to grab a discounted room on the front end of our CS reservations. In anticipation of this, and the number of days we will be in the parks, I have called CRO and canceled our Length Of Stay (LOS) option, and kept just the CS room itself. This allows us to a) pay when we check in, and not have to worry about it before hand, and b) pick up AP's when we get there, whatever day that may be. I like the flexibility of this. If we can't get a Disney deal on rooms, we can look around at other places and attractions, and still fall back on our ressies for the nights already booked, then decide on the AP vs. 5-day pass. If we do get something great by going through Ocala, we may be there early enough to cancel our existing ressies with 72 hours notice and get back our deposit. We will be paying a lot of attention to what they say in Ocala, and I will be quite put out if we are offered something at Port Orleans for the entire time period of our CS ressies, or the Contemporary for night of Dec 5. Remember, they said they had NOTHING when I called in July for that time for 4 nights, and the Contemporary was "4 nights only" with the LCO for Friday Dec. 5, blocking my 'Last Chance Option'. I think the Ocala stop may just be our attempt to add a few nights before our existing CS ressies, as we would like to see this new resort, as everyone on the radp speaks very highly of it.

DAY ONE:

So, my work being caught up enough for us to get an early start on the honeymoon, we left Chapel Hill, NC just before midnight Monday Dec. 1. I-40 down to I-95 all the way to Florida. A very nice uncomplicated drive, with surprisingly light traffic late at night. (I prefer to drive long trips all at once, and don't mind driving late at night.) Despite a detour from our planned route (a wreck on I-75 closed Southbound traffic for several exits above Ocala) we were sitting in the Ocala AAA parking lot when it opened at 9:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. (FYI - we came down I-95, and crossed over towards I-75 at Jacksonville, FA). The AAA office is to the right off the exit ramp from I-75, and very easy to find. It is a different AAA office than any we had ever seen, as it is Disney themed. We waited in a short line, and had about 3 choices for our immediate need of a 3 night stay. There were, I think, 4 choices for 2 nights, but I really wanted to go ahead and lock in T, W, and H nights,(3 nights), until our Coronado Springs reservations on Friday. We decided on a garden room at the CR for $129/night, which we chose over rooms at CS, DL, PO, and CB for $84/night. There was a 2 night option for the Polynesian for $149/night, and the GF for $199/night, but we played it safe and opted for all 3 nights together. Flexibility was the key to this working for us! (NOTE:

Nothing available, not even 1 night, at the Boardwalk, Disney Institute, Beach Club or Yacht Club. I asked specifically. Also, nothing at the All-Star resorts. I asked about those just to cover a few more of the resorts.) Anyway, we were happy with the choice, so we grabbed breakfast (drive thru) in Ocala, and headed down to Orlando. We also picked up some brochures to read before we got there, to have an idea of what was happening that week.

At 11:15 a.m., we were on Disney property. Waited through the check-in line at the CR for our room in the North Wing of the Garden area, and were completely unloaded from the car by 12:15 p.m. (These rooms were huge! No coffemaker, but a good hairdryer.) The parking lot was full, and I ended up parking the car across from Space Mountain (SM). Actually, I was closer to SM than I was to the room. Deciding that we were both pretty tired, and being midday already, we elected to take a nap for a few hours. We slept until about 4:00, then got ready and monorailed over to the TT&C for our Annual Passes (AP). We picked them up, then spur of the moment decided to head back over to Magic Kingdom (MK) for a quick peak. Fairly crowded, but not packed, so we just walked around, checked the wait times, found nothing that appeared to be a walk-on on the board, so we headed out of MK to catch a bus to Downtown Disney (DD) for dinner. We somehow ended up on the wrong side of the horseshoe shaped bus stop at MK, with no sidewalk connecting from that side directly to the CR. We decided to catch a waiting bus to CS, have an early dinner at the Pepper Market, then bounce from there over to DD. This worked out fine, and let us see a quick glimpse of CS, so we would better know what to expect when we got there. Pepper Market was a new experience. We ate there a total of twice during our entire stay. The first time was this Tuesday night for dinner. No problems, everything went great. An interesting concept, something new, almost like a very fancy cafeteria. Food was excellent. They could use some lines or arrows to tell you where to place your order, but other than that, it was fine.

The market was @ 25% full. (The next time we tried it was a whole different story. That is included later in the trip report.) Suffice to say, the market idea works much better when there is a low number of people there, versus a time when the place is @ 80% full or more!!! As a side note, I am undecided about the whole 10% 'forced' gratuity added to the bill. We ate there twice, and the only service we received other than being shown to a table, was when people came by and picked up the trays after we were seated. No one offered to get us a drink refill, nothing. (I did see that happen for just one other table, so maybe we just were cursed with bad timing or bad service, but had it not been our honeymoon, I would definitely have asked to speak with the manager about this 10% charge and getting it removed.) Aside from that, all the food we sampled was excellent. Chicken stir fry, wet burrito, and 2 margaritas came to <$20.00 (NOTE: The margaritas from the 'dispenser' were not the best I have ever had. Way too much sour mix. I opted later in the trip for the specialty drinks at Francisco's (the bar right across the hallway from the Pepper Market), after I saw that the margarita machine looked like it was of the same type.) The Pepper Market is attractively decorated, colorful, and very interesting to look at. Headed out of CS main building, caught the DD bus, and made it to DD in less than 18 minutes, which included the drive around the lake to the other 2 stops at CS). DD is huge!!! We found this out when we disembarked at Disney Village Market Place (DVMP) to look around, then walked over to Pleasure Island (PI) to get our AP PI add-on there, (couldn't get them at the TTC earlier), then walked over to check out the West Side and find where the House of Blues(HOB) was located, for our tickets there on Wednesday night (Guitars and Saxes tour). This, in total, required a great deal of walking, but everything was well lighted and very clean, so it wasn't bad. PI gates were staffed by now (@ 6:35 p.m.), but nothing was happening and no clubs were open, so we got our wrist bands anyway and went to the small bakery near the Jazz company for dessert (pretty good pastry and ice cream). We killed enough time there to get in line for the Comedy Warehouse first show. It was good, as usual. Then over to the Adventurer's club for about an hour. Finally we stopped in at the Jazz Company for the last few songs of a set. Then we headed over to Planet Hollywood for a late snack/dinner. (5 minute wait for a table at 10:00 p.m.) Then back to the CR to crash for the night. (NOTE: the 3 hour nap today was perfect! It allowed us to catch up on a little sleep, but didn't throw us off schedule so much that we weren't sleepy later that night.)

DAY TWO:

Wednesday was early entry day for Disney-MGM Studios, so off we went. We apparently had just missed the first bus, so we waited about 20 minutes for the next one. Got to the Studios at 7:50 a.m. and people were already being admitted. Straight to the Tower of Terror, no line, walked right into the lobby. Great ride, great thrill, lots of screaming from the whole elevator group. Out of there, then to Muppetvision 3D, Great Movie Ride, then Backlot Tour. During the backlot tour, you can see the Osborne Christmas Lights, just not lit up during the day. Still impressive, but you don't get the full effect until you see them all at night. We finished all of that, and had just missed the start of the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. (Tara isn't very big with motion rides, i.e. 360 viewing or simulators, so Star Tours was out.) That left, believe it or not, nothing of interest to us! So, we went to the front of MGM to guest services, and they got us a reservation at Coral Reef for lunch, at 11:30 a.m., right when they open! That was great. Only problem, it was now @ 10:35 a.m. Can we make it? Rephrased, can we make it using Disney transportation? We decided to try. We took the water launch to the Boardwalk. We disembarked there, and walked to the International Gateway entrance, taking a few pictures along the way. We must have reached the 'rear' entrance to Epcot at 10:56 a.m., b/c about the time we got to Canada, we were almost washed away by this tide of visitors, heading right by us. We hugged the right side of the walkway until this wave passed, then proceeded on to the Coral Reef, taking more pictures as we went. We got there @ 11:15, checked in, and had maybe a 10 minute wait, after we read the menu on the monitors out front and made a phone call to check messages at home. We had the grilled salmon, coastal combo (pasta), split the tuna cake appetizer (small, but good), and 2 colas totaling $44.63 before tip. Food was great, service was also. We got to sit floor level right beside the aquarium. After lunch, we decided to go ahead and tour the Living Seas. No lines. Then we jumped over to Mexico and Norway in the World Showcase. We felt this would allow us to skip right by those 2 countries when we got to our EPCOT day. (It worked, more later.) Maelstrom ride had a line out the door, which I have never understood, so we skipped that ride. Then off to the front exit for the monorail. Along the way, we checked the board on wait times, and seeing only a 5 minute wait at Spaceship Earth, we stopped by there to see that attraction. Out of Epcot, up to the monorail, back to TTC, then around to CR on the other monorail. (Yes, you have to switch monorails coming from EPCOT.)

Another nap this afternoon, then we got ready for dinner and the show at the House of Blues. Caught the bus from the CR to DD, to the PI bus-stop this time, not DVMP. Saved a bit of a walk.

HOUSE OF BLUES SECTION:

Seated for dinner with no wait. Food was great. Waiter was okay. Drinks were good. Great atmosphere. (Interesting restroom!) We had the grilled chicken ceasar salad, jambalaya, gumbo, corn bread, colas, and 2 drinks. Total before tip was $52.00. Got out of there @ 6:15 p.m. The box office was supposed to be open at 6:30. Checked anyway, as there were people there working, and got our tickets a little early. General admission seating (more on that later) began at 7:30 p.m., when the doors open. People were already waiting in line., maybe 15-20 people. We decided to check out more of the West Side, then come back and get in line about 7:15. WRONG! After we had visited a few shops, and bought some candy at the candy shop, we swung back down just to be sure that the line wasn't too long. In the 20 minutes we were gone, the line had grown to @ 60 people. We jumped in line, just before 7:00 p.m. Good thing, too! By 7:15, the line had wrapped around from behind the box office, and was going back towards the Virgin Records store. Probably @ 300 - 400 people by this time. Doors opened right on time at 7:30, and the mass confusion began! Where to sit, where not to sit, where is the best view??? We ended up in the floor section, a little left of the stage. Excellent seats!!

Now, here's where the HOB problems began. First, when I called to get these seats, I believe they told me at the HOB box office that the show started at 8:00 p.m. Well, at some point the local radio station became a sponsor of this event, and did a live simulcast, and it was now supposed to start at 8:30. Fine. The show actually started closer to 8:45 than 8:30, and we were later subjected to this ridiculous intermission where some lame local radio personality dressed up as Santa, and had people (mostly women) sit on his lap, for free cd's, posters, etc... This took over 30 minutes! No stage juggling going on, no moving of this equipment over here to bring in that, nothing but this guy handing out free cd's and things. Boring for I would guess 90% of the audience, who were grumbling noticeably by the time the concert resumed! Also, at some point, the last minute arriving people decided they could sit anywhere, and were moving any free tables, any free chairs, to wherever they wanted to sit. Some of these people I am sure were blocking the views of people who had gotten there early to get a good seat and were sitting where they were supposed to. I know some of these latecomers were blocking the steps, i.e. the direct exits from the floor area (not good in the event of a fire)! I had to walk over a few people just to get to the bathroom. Nobody said a word (management or security wise), and these little problems had to be resolved by people having to ask other people to move! Poorly handled by the HOB people. General Admission seating is a thing of the past. It's potential problems far outweigh any benefits of not having to print seat numbers or sections. On a positive note, what I had heard while waiting in the line outside was true: There are no bad seats at the HOB performance hall. A lot of disorganization and rude people who don't have the common sense to leave home early for a concert and feel it is fine to jump in front of, right beside, and on top of any view obstructing areas, but still there were no bad seats. The concert, part of the Guitars & Saxes Tour, was probably the best show I have ever attended. Craig Chaquico opened, followed by Rick Braun, then after the long/dull/useless intermission mentioned earlier, Peter White performed, then finally Richard Elliott, before they all ended up on stage for a few songs at the end. A top notch show, a definite must-see if it comes to your area. A total show time, minus the useless intermission, of @ 2 hours. Would I go see this show again? Most definitely! Would I go see another show at the HOB performance hall? Probably not! Would I eat at HOB restaurant again? Yes! In a nutshell: great food, outstanding concert, poor theater organization/planning (management/security), and adequate food and drink service. We left afterward, somewhere near 11:00 p.m., and headed straight back to the CR, our ears ringing until the wee hours of the morning! (Very loud sound system there!)

DAY THREE:

Thursday 12/4/97. MK early entry day. Rained steadily all morning long. Not a downpour, but a good steady rain. Walked over from CR, got there at 7:45 a.m. They had just opened the gates. Went straight to the first little shop on the right for a pair of ponchos, then over to Main Street. The rain kept the initial crowd down to about 600-900 hundred people. Went straight to Space Mountain. Rode it twice. Then to Alien Encounter. Drifted over to Peter Pan's Flight, to kill the 5 minutes before they dropped the ropes for the rest of the park. It was Peter Pan or Small World, so we took the one that possibly wouldn't leave us with a song echoing in our heads for the rest of the day. Straight from there to Splash Mountain (no wait), then over to Big Thunder (maybe 5 minute wait). Country Bears (Christmas Show is great), Haunted Mansion, Mickey's Toontown Fair for pictures with characters. By now it was 11:15 a.m., so we decided to try an early lunch. We made our way back around to the Plaza Pavilion. Large drink, personal pizza, fries, chicken strips = $13.15 (No lines, no wait).

ATTACK OF THE BIRDS:

We noticed as we walked up the ramp in Plaza Pavilion that there were all of these birds, just like the Hitchcock movie, lingering around everywhere. Well, we sat down and started eating, when I got 2 quick fly-by's from 2 different types of birds. I had the food right near me, too, so it wasn't like I was teasing them or something. Well, when the 3rd fly-by came, that one scraped my back and shoulders. That was it. I quickly picked up my empty plastic tray, just in time to wheel around and see yet another one coming at me. Wielding the tray like a large paddle, I awaited my next enemy! Upon raising the tray to an optimum striking height, the flying bird quickly diverted it's course, completely out of my reach. Situation averted. I sat back down, finished almost all of my lunch, until I noticed a few more birds slowly chair hopping closer. The loud noise from that plastic tray smacking a chair was enough to scare most of the birds away, and attract a few looks from the other human patrons. After lunch, we rode the TTA (mainly to get a look at the lines in Space Mountain), then Space Mountain again, Take Flight, and across the central hub to Pirates Of The Caribbean (POTC) and the Jungle Cruise (JC) just for good measure. The rain had eased up and the crowds were easing in, so we left out of the MK by 1:30 p.m. and back to the CR for a nap. Got up later, went to see the Osborne Lights at MGM-Studios. Spectacular lights. Weak snow machines though! We were hoping that the MK snow machines would be better for the MVMCP on Friday night. We rode TZTOT again, and I got to ride Star Tours while we waited for the Osborne Lights to come on. We did the walk through Residential Street, then straight out to the water launch to Boardwalk, where we walked the other way this time (clockwise) to look around, and over to Juan & Only's at the Dolphin (coupon time). Excellent food, decent service, good drinks, total bill (using the $50 coupon from Rita Aero's book) was <$16 before tip. We had so much food we didn't finish it all. I don't see how anyone can pass up buying that book, if for no other reason that to get the $50 off coupon. I wish I had another coupon, to use again this trip. Alas, I did not! Walked through the EPCOT back entrance, to the monorail, back to the TTC, monorail to CR. Stopped by HISTA and JII on the way through, as everyone was staking out Illumination viewing spots by this time (@ 8:30 p.m.), and these 2 attractions were deserted. Packed up our things, to head over to CS first thing Friday morning.

DAY FOUR:

Friday 12/5/97. Got up early, to find our express checkout slip under the door. Since I had used my calling card (to avoid the hefty WDW phone surcharges) while there, we had no charges to be reconciled at the front desk, so all we had to do was be out of the room by checkout time. Packed up, and drove over to CS and we were in the parking lot by 7:20 a.m. Spent maybe 5 minutes at the counter, got our room keys (no room assignment though), locked up the car, and were waiting for the bus to roll through to take us to EPCOT. Got there at @ 8:00 a.m., and for the first and only time this entire trip, we were carded! The CM wanted to make sure we were guests, for our EE privilege. We were. In we went.

We got a danish and a turnover at the Land for breakfast, then rode the Land ride, then took a few pictures and were off to Innoventions East (West was closed for remodeling) until 9:00 a.m. At opening time, we went to Horizons, and watched Cranium Command at the Met Life pavillion. I thought it was better than a lot of other things now in EPCOT. Back over to the Honeywell house of the future, and pretty much killed time after that on the computers. By 11:00 a.m., we were waiting for World Showcase to open. As it opened, we went straight by Mexico to Norway, browsed the shop there (Tara wouldn't let me miss the shop), and over to China. Our strategy had payed off, as we were 2 of maybe 7 people that far along. We continued around to Germany, went to the Winekeiller, sampled some wine. Around to Italy, where we decided, spur of the moment, to have lunch at L'Original Roma. Probably the best meal we had our whole trip (a tie between this and Le Chefs de France). The service was top notch, and food was excellent! This restaurant does not miss a trick! Feeling rather tired (and heavy) after lunch, we headed back to CS for our room assignment, and a nap. Casitas 3000, between the main building and Bus Stop #2. We had a king-sized bed, and what appeared to be a handicapped accessible shower. This room wasn't nearly as nice as the Contemporary garden room, but it was still okay! Long nap this time, @ 2.5 hours, so we would be up in time for dinner at the Pepper Market, then over to MVMCP at the MK.

Woke up, got ready, and headed to the Pepper Market(PM). Now, when we checked in, we noticed this foul smell when we were outside along the lake. We noticed it again on our walk to the PM. Smelled a lot like someone had been rinsing out trash cans nearby. (More on the smell later). Got to the PM at a normal supper time. It was at @ 80% capacity, and a whole different story than last time. Food was still good, if you liked waiting 15-20 minutes in line to get it. Lines started somewhere, but nobody knew where, so people were just crowding around the food areas, trying to get served. The cooks did an excellent job, as I am sure this was frustrating for them, also. When this place is crowded like that, it is a headache. This, unfortunately, would be our last meal there. It really was just too much to wait and jostle with people for service, have to go get your own refills, then see a 10% gratuity charged to your bill! Food was still great, though.

Out to Bus Stop #1, to head over to MVMCP. Waited 25 minutes for the bus to get there. Packed almost slam full at our stop. You can't put but so many people on a bus at one time, no matter how much the driver says to move to the back, move to the back. I think we squeezed on maybe 4 people at Bus Stop #2, and the driver yelled at some idiots who tried to jump on through the back exit and avoid the line of people. Good for him! Anyway, 4 Christmas carols later, and a pass through Bus Stop #3 while too full to stop and pick anyone else up, we got to the MK. I estimate that the ride itself took almost 30 minutes. That trip around CS was bad, but the Christmas carols where not everyone knew the words, and even fewer people could sing at all, that was a lot worse. Got to the MK at 7:48 p.m., walked right through the gates. Rode Space Mountain (twice), Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, got more pictures with characters in Toontown, rode Snow White's Adventure, Big Thunder Mountain RR (much better at night), saw the MVMC Parade (most excellent!!!), and ended up on the TTA. NOTE: We got our picture made in Tomorrowland. The further in the MK you went, the smaller the lines at the picture stations. The first picture place was in Tomorrowland right near Timekeeper, and it was probably 12 people deep. We stopped at the next one, before Take Flight, which was 5 people deep (1 family). The other one we saw later was near the base of the TTA loader, and had 2 people in line. TIP: Look around! It saves some waiting time! After the parade and the fireworks, we were about beat. Space Mountain one last time (15 minute wait this time), then out of the park. We were gone well before midnight, as were a lot of parents lugging out exhausted children. I estimate that @ 50% of the crowd had left before 11:30 p.m. Got back to CS just after midnight on an almost empty bus. FYI, the smell was still there!

DAY FIVE:

Saturday 12/6. Slept in late. Were waiting for the rope drop to the World Showcase at 11:00 a.m. Straight by the waving Norway crowd, on to Germany. Bought 6 or 7 bottles of wine. They said they couldn't ship the wine to our room, so we had it sent to the main entrance package pickup. Continued our tour. Saw the American Adventure. Please revamp this! Soon! Terribly boring. The gingerbread village in the lobby was much more entertaining. Anyway, worked our way around World Showcase, stopping for a walk-in lunch at Le Chefs de France. Excellent meal, service, atmosphere, everything! Our server was Pierre-Audin, and he was great! Had desserts this meal. Outstanding!

Oh, I should mention here, that we also stopped in Italy and France to buy wine. Both of these places offered to ship it back to our room. (Italy actually did). Only 3 bottles from France, so we just carried them, but they offered to ship anyway. Something was screwy with all of this! The rumor, yes rumor, I heard was that there was an incident involving German wine and people getting drunk and unruly, so Germany isn't allowed to ship back to the resort rooms anymore. That was a rumor, from an EPCOT cast member, but not from anyone associated with the German pavilion in EPCOT. Anyway, it seems like that would just be punishment for Germany, who can't tell who is a troublemaker and who isn't. Anyway, it was a major inconvenience for me to lug those bottles on the bus, and I had to stand that trip b/c the bus was crowded, which meant I had to keep those bottles from swinging into people. Point is, I found this to be a big hassle, and had I been an older person, I might not have been able to lug them around. Those are just the facts.

Now, we arrived back at CS @ 2:45 p.m. The smell was worse than ever. At this point, we decided we had done almost everything we wanted to do, so why not see about cutting the last day off of our reservations. We were way ahead of any loose schedule we may have had, and that smell every single time we walked out of the room at CS was just rotten. We unloaded the wine, but no nap today because we slept in late, then we went to the front desk to check on dropping the last day off the ressies. Management said fine, very Disney-like and polite, so this meant we now were leaving on Monday instead of Tuesday. A slight change of plans, but well worth it, we felt. Now, off to DVMP for shopping, figuring that the shipping to room would get things there in time to be packed on Sunday. Had dinner at Planet Hollywood. Great food. Good service, too good even, to the point of almost being rushed. A very loud place to eat! Went over to the Virgin Records Megastore to look for some albums. WOW! That place is huge and had a great selection. Bought a few things, then headed over to DVMP to look around in the stores. We thought briefly about trying the outdoor skating rink. What a sight!! It really looked a lot like the fish farming tank on the Land tour, except the fish didn't look so crowded. It was a huge mess of bodies, all going in the same direction. I found it pretty funny to watch. Having not skated before, and fearing I would be trampled if I fell, I opted not to try it. We caught the bus at DVMP, to the TTC, and took the monorail to EPCOT. We asked to sit up front, only had to wait through one train. The view up there is spectacular at night, and we could see the stars overhead and lights from all over WDW property. Only one problem, the windows were too scratched up to take any good pictures. Not dirty, just scratched to pieces. Anyway, I would recommend riding up front at least once when you go. It is something different. At EPCOT, we headed back to Germany, to try the gluhwine (heated red wine with berries and citrus flavoring), as they didn't have any ready when we were there that morning. Excellent. We picked up a few bottles. (Carried them, as we didn't want to mess with package pick-up on the way out with all the crowd.) Stopped over by the amphitheater in front of the American pavilion for the Christmas reading by Mary Hart. Listened to that for about 30 minutes. We had happened to pick the first of several cold nights that were moving through Florida. Nothing too extreme, but even high 30's is cold for down there, once you are used to the warm weather. Anyway, we went to the bakery in Norway for dessert, then found a great viewing spot, considering the wind direction, between Norway and Mexico. With a lot of people still at the Christmas reading, there were plenty of good spots open 30 minutes before Holiday Illuminations started, except for up front towards the exit. We sat there for the half hour, as people walked by and the place filled up. This was the only time we had any problems with a tour group. There was a group of young (12-16 year old) girls, speaking Spanish (I won't say they were Brazilian but I wouldn't bet against it) who were getting pushy and leaning into us once the fireworks started. Yes I know, if this was the worst we had to put up with, we were doing okay. Anyway, that was about our only experience with any tour groups. Great show, better than Illuminations 25 or whatever it was that they had last Fall.

I hadn't really imagined just how many people would be moving towards the front exits when it was over, but it looked like a cattle drive. This mass of humanity, all going towards the same area. It was here that I discovered the 'cluelessness' of some people. We had stayed sort of in the middle of the arches going towards the fountain. We were moving slower and slower and slower, until we finally had to go way to the side and around people. Got to the congestion problem: a family looking group of about 8 English speaking tourists, all walking across in a row. These people had to be holding up at least 400-500 people, or at least altering their path to the exit. Walking slow, pointing, talking, oblivious to the problems and congestion they were causing everyone else behind them. (I suspect these are the same people who drive the speed limit in the passing lanes.) Very inconsiderate, very annoying. I guess they forgot to pack their common sense for this trip. Bus back to CS. Very tired.

DAY SIX:

Sunday 12/7, our last full day. Slept in. Caught the bus to the Boardwalk for lunch at the ESPN Club. Drinks were good, food was okay except for the nachos, they were weak. Service sub-par. (As was the tip I left. Sorry, but when my plates, drinks, and the check all hit the table on a toss and bounce towards me, well, I don't consider that great service. For more info, see the recap at the end of this report). Walked from their over to Fantasia Gardens miniature golf. Fairly crowded. We ended up playing the much more challenging, less 'Disney' one of the two courses. A lot of fun, but costly when compared to normal rounds of miniature golf. I guess this was par (no pun intended) for Disney attractions. We wanted to play the other side, as they have a 50% off replay special, but it was way too crowded! (Children do much better on the real miniature golf side, with bumpers and rails and the like.) We then walked all the way back to EPCOT, took some pictures, did some quick final shopping that afternoon. Caught the monorail to TTC then to MK for ice cream at that parlor on Main Street. Really good ice cream! We then bussed back to CS while it was still daylight. Walked all around the lagoon there, took pictures, saw new things. Picked up our bags from EPCOT package delivery to the store in the main building. Went by Francisco's bar, had a few drinks, then back to the room to pack. Somewhere along the way, we talked about and decided to just leave out early Monday morning versus trying to squeeze in more time in the parks. It hadn't been all that crowded, and we had gotten all of our shopping out of the way, and 98% of the attractions we wanted to visit.

Monday 12/8 (trip home) Woke up very early, loaded the car, and went by the front desk to credit off that last day of our reservations. We left the parking lot at CS at 5:15 a.m. Skirted around Orlando on I-4 with almost no traffic, over to I-95, then North to NC. We stopped for food/gas/rest area breaks a total of 4 times. We were home in much less than 10 hours. (A little more than 620 miles.)

IMPRESSIONS: (our opinions)

Magic Kingdom - Good, but needs something to liven it up. The old 20,000 Leagues ride area sits almost deserted right now, and between that and all the talk of replacing Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, I think they have at least one great opportunity to add a new attraction to the park.

MGM - Struggled with this opinion. I have been to MGM on 2 separate trips, and on neither trip did I spend more than « day here. It could really suffer once Universal Studios expands it facilities. MGM has the TZTOT as the one big time ride right now, and that's about it.

EPCOT - EPCOT right now is like a big huge menacing dog, with no teeth. It has no bite! It is badly in need of the Test Track opening, to give it a major crowd pleasing ride. Horizons is still pleasant, but it has to be revamped, and soon. They have the room to expand or remodel many of the existing attractions, but it seems they put all their eggs in one basket betting on Test Track, and the delay has screwed up the plans. The individual countries in World Showcase seem fine as always, as they are more geared for information and education than being thrill rides. Overall, I felt ripped off in EPCOT, b/c the tickets were still 'full price', and they are currently without what will probably be their most popular attraction. If you advertise it, you need to be able to pull it off! I mean come on, give us some free bottled water or colas or snacks, anything to make up for the full price tickets!

Downtown Disney - OUTSTANDING! Lots of stores to shop, plenty of different places to eat. Pleasure Island tucked in the middle of everything for nighttime entertainment. For us, DD offered more entertainment than MGM or EPCOT. Granted, if we hadn't been shopping, it wouldn't have held such value, but none the less, there is plenty to see and do there, and they aren't finished with it yet.

Contemporary Resort - Great location, with easy access to the MK. The garden room we were in was huge, and it had a good and powerful hair dryer right in the bathroom. No coffeemaker though. Also, the garden rooms don't exactly walk right on to the monorail. This resort is a lot larger than it looks. Parking can be in short supply when the resort is really booked.

Coronado Springs - Huge resort. Nice theme. Funky smell for 2 of our 3 nights there, but we only noticed it when we were outside. This resort is definitely designed to pull in the convention crowds. We found bus service here to be good, but realize that we only boarded at the first stop. In more crowded times of the year, I don't know how well the service would work for those people boarding at stop #3 especially. If you bring children, it can be quite a long walk to get to the theme pool and waterslide from some parts of this resort. Coffeemaker in the room, but no hairdryer. The plumbing was rather loud also, especially when people in other rooms started their showers. CS is definitely a big step down from the Contemporary, but so is the price you pay for the room. Also, and this happened to us once: You run the risk of whatever convention is going on letting everyone out all at once for a free night. We saw this happen, and maybe 150 people all converged on Bus Stop #1 within 2 minutes, most with their name tags still on. Luckily for us, they were going to MGM while we were going to DD, but I am sure it still packed those MGM busses full for a few trips. AAA Center in Ocala - Great idea for Disney to fill vacant rooms! A very nice and clean AAA center, with Disney brochures and information. This is a great place to pick up a discounted room if you are going to WDW, but only if you are driving down and have a great deal of flexibility in your schedule. If you absolutely have to stay at a certain resort, for a certain number of days, make the reservations ahead of time and go with that. You can save 'some' money (it varies) on the WDW rooms offered at Ocala, but you also run the risks of not getting the room you want, and not at the discount you are looking for. The bottom line is: you take all the risks listed on Rita Aero's web site. If you are willing to take those risks, then go for it. If not, make your reservations ahead of time and play it safe.

OUR TOP ## LISTS:

best restaurant:

La Original Alfredo di Roma (EPCOT)
Le Chefs de France (EPCOT)
House of Blues (DD)
Coral Reef (EPCOT)
Planet Hollywood (DD)
Juan & Only's (Dolphin)
Pepper Market (CS)
best restaurant service:

1. La Original Alfredo di Roma and Le Chefs de France (tie)

3. Planet Hollywood

4. Coral Reef

5. Juan & Only's

worst restaurant service:

ESPN Club - I don't like my food/plates bouncing off the table when served, or the waiter doing a run-by for service. I had his name written down, but lost it. Please note that we did see a lot better service going on in the areas around us.
Pepper Market - 10% gratuity, for what??
best attraction:

Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (at night)
Honey I Shrunk the Audience
Muppetvision 3D
Space Mountain
worst attraction: (not limited to this trip experience)

Maelstrom
Ellen's Energy Adventure
Horizons
Journey Into Imaginaion
Alien Encounter (one time through is plenty)
best holiday or other special attraction:

Guitars & Saxes concert at the House of Blues (not Disney, but still the best we saw)
MVMCP in the Magic Kingdom
Osborne Christmas Lights (MGM)
Holiday Illuminations at EPCOT
Candlelight Processional and Holiday readings at EPCOT
should have's or will do next time:

Super nice dinner (splurging) at either the California Grill or Victoria & Albert's
Visit more of the resorts and how they are decorated for the Holidays
Go to one of the water parks
Spend more night time at Pleasure Island
Stay at a couple of new resorts, or at least visit them
PERSONAL GRIPES AND SUGGESTIONS:

Cut the lights off in Space Mountain. We rode it both during the day and at night, and I think they actually cut some lights on for the night ride. It used to be a tremendous ride when it was pitch black and you couldn't see the tracks ahead of you. Now, it is just another roller coaster, even though it's a good one. I have heard this before on the radp, and I agree. Do whatever you need to, but make it dark again!!!

The Skyway ride (MK) was closed the whole time we were there, with no mention of it in the closings and no sign up as to why. We kept hoping it would open. It didn't.

Stop advertising Maelstrom (EPCOT) as some thrilling viking/troll experience. It is not. Promote it for what it is, a ride very similar to Rio de Tiempo in Mexico, except with a little more movement. Same with Ellen's Energy Adventure. It's Ellen, 4 decent jokes, and some animatronic dinosaurs. Without kids along, these rides hold little value.

Straighten out the package delivery problems in EPCOT. One country cannot ship wine back to your room, two others can with no problem. All or nothing, one way or the other. (I hope they resume the shipping of wines for all shops in EPCOT. Those bottles were heavy.)

Get Test Track going, or start refunding money. I want safety as much as anyone, but they have been using Test Track in the advertising pitches since 10/96 that I know of.

The opening is already over 6 months behind schedule, and Horizons revamping seems

delayed until they get Test Track running. Put more people on it, pay the overtime,

whatever. Otherwise, start handing out free drinks or surplus trinkets to atone for the

inconvenience

Get the CRO straightened out, and all on the same wavelength!! That runaround I got when I called to get the 'Last Chance' reservation option, telling me I had to book the room for 4 nights when the offer clearly said 3, that was almost enough in itself to send me to another place for my next vacation. When you have a room, it is available for however many nights. 3 nights easily fits into the 4 night slot, so its not rocket science to just follow the terms of an offer that your own company puts out! I shouldn't have to call back several times to get the answer I know is available or correct. And while I am on the CRO subject, how about more than 1 or 2 discounted rooms for AP holders. The discounts aren't much anyway. Come on, give us at least 4 or 5 rooms to scrap over! As a possible idea, why not allow AP holders to browse/access the CRO system. Most of the AP holders know more about the system than the CRO cast members, anyhow.

SUMMARY:

We had a great time, and enjoyed our honeymoon at WDW very much. Not too many people there, and not too much went wrong. The vast majority of the cast members we ran into were very nice and extremely helpful, as always, but especially in the EPCOT World Showcase area. We admit that we didn't do a lot of 'overly romantic' things, but we had a great time just being there together. We have our AP's, and are planning to go back in the Fall of 98.

The current trend we see is WDW expanding to take up more of your vacation time, and logically, your vacation dollar. I hope the Animal Kingdom has attractions a step above the current WDW fare, or WDW is going to suffer declining attendance/revenue once Universal Studios becomes larger and provides on-site accommodations. Think of it like this: You have your favorite grocery store that you shop at most of the time. You will go to other groceries usually only to get things your store doesn't carry. Well, when your grocery store says they are expanding, and adding on to their space, you really expect them to offer items they don't already have or at the least don't have a lot of. If your store goes and increases it's size, but it only adds rows and rows of tomato soup, then it hasn't done much for you! I hope the Animal Kingdom isn't just more rows of tomato soup!

EDITORIAL (sort of):

We got a great deal of information from Rita Aero's book, as well as Brian Bennett's and Deb Wills' Disney websites! Very useful information, and very well done. We also got a lot of information from the radp group, though I admit I only browsed and looked, and didn't respond to questions. (Maybe in the future???) I want to point out, though, that a lot of topics and language have been seeping into those radp postings, that doesn't really belong there. I don't know what the "Make $$$ Donating Sperm" topic has to do with WDW, but I do know it doesn't belong in a radp posting. Neither did the profanity titled post, and subsequent replies, appearing in November. When I only had a few minutes to log on and check out the latest postings, I had to quickly hit the topics that might be of use to me. That useless garbage that a few inconsiderate people are posting was just more junk to wade through, to get to the pertinent information. I don't know who or what group, if any, audits/oversees the radp, but someone needs to step up to the plate and knock some of these ridiculous postings out into the cheap seats, and the rude posting people along with them. The radp is a Disney oriented group trying to focus on Disney topics. If you have something to advertise/sell, put it in the newspaper or post it where it belongs. If you want to spout profanity, do it in the privacy of your own home where it doesn't offend others. I believe I speak for a lot of people out there when I say that we don't care what you are selling or what particular profanity you are capable of using, and we don't want to be bothered by it on the radp.

Robert Patterson

rpatterson@retecinc.com

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