Trip Reports

Our cast of characters:

Debbie (that's me) - 30-something stay-at-home mom
Les - 30-something dad
Matthew - 11 years old (6th grader)
Kelley - age 9 (4th grader)
Lauren - age 5 (soon to be kindergartner)
Megan - age 5 (also soon to be kindergartner - yes, twins.)
Introduction:

Les and I have annual passes as Les had a conference at the Swan this past October. We convinced our parents (ok, we begged big time) to watch our 4 kids as this is our 15th wedding anniversary and we hadn't been away together ALONE since before the kids were born. They agreed and we had the best time ever. I, however, was feeling extremely guilty (about going to Disney without my kids) and booked a 2nd Disney vacation for August 1997 for us all. That's what this trip report is all about.

Accommodations:

Back in Oct. of 1996 I booked a Junior Suite at the Wilderness Lodge as it sleeps 6 people. My hope was that I'd be able to convert that rate ($280.00) per night into an AP rate when these rates became available. Unfortunately I was unable to secure an AP rate for the WL but I was able to book 2 rooms at the Yacht Club for $159.00 per night per room. GASP. Two years ago when we traveled to WDW, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Sunspree for $69.00. We had never stayed on-site before and I really wanted to splurge as I didn't think we'd ever have an AP again with those great resort discount opportunities.

Pre-trip jitters:

Les's boss informed him (3 weeks prior to our trip), that our vacation was in jeopardy as something had come up at work. Les had been killing himself all summer just so this wouldn't happen! He averaged close to 65 hours per week for most of the summer and still wouldn't be able to go to WDW? I DON'T THINK SO!!!! As luck would have it things worked out for us and we were able to leave on August 18th, 1997.

Delray Beach, Florida:

Prior to our arrival at WDW we drove from NJ to Delray Beach, Florida to visit my grandma who will be turning 90 on February 29th, 1998 (Leap Year - I suppose this means that she really is only 20-something). We spent 3 days with her and finally convinced her to come and live with us. Actually it was 11 year old Matthew who I think talked her into it. She is all alone down there, and her family is in NJ. Unfortunately all of her friends have either passed away or are in nursing homes now. Even though the weather will be harsh on her, she wants to spend her remaining years with us, and we couldn't be more happy about it.

Although I was sad to say goodbye to my grandma, Saturday Aug. 23rd was upon us, and it was time to take that drive up the Florida Turnpike to Orlando!

August 23, 1997

We took the Florida Turnpike from Delray to Orlando. The toll on this road was a whopping $10.90 ! I must admit I was a little shocked, but we were on the road for about 2 ½ hours (I hate paying tolls - but I should be used to it - after all I am from NJ don't forget)!

Instead of going directly to our hotel I convinced Les to drive directly to the Contemporary where we had PS at Chef Mickey's at 5:00 PM. We had no trouble getting past security when we mentioned this to the guard ( it was about 3:00). I was very anxious, and I thought if we were early we could go to Magic Kingdom Guest Relations and arrange for the kids tickets (we had vouchers from Met Life - a client of Les's- as we had paid for their tickets while at home). Met Life sponsors the Body Wars pavilion at Epcot and offers ticket prices just below Magic Kingdom Club prices. We took advantage of this as every little bit helps with 4 kids. Les and I, as you may remember, had AP's already.

We hopped on the monorail and made our way over to the MK. Keep in mind we were not going into the park at this time, just going to Guest Relations and then back to the Contemporary. But, it happened to me anyway. I got teary. We were just starting our vacation and I was overwhelmed with emotion. We got off the monorail and I had been telling the kids that I would start skipping as soon as my feet touched Magic Kingdom "soil" if you will. I grabbed a hand of each twin and started skipping joyously with them. My two older kids would have no part of this and hung back with my husband pretending they didn't know me.

We skipped over to Guest Relations where we waited on a long line and took care of the kids' tickets. It was hot so I only walked back to the monorail with the rest of the family, and back to the Contemporary and Chef Mickey's!

Chef Mickey's was so great. The character interaction was fantastic, we had a great waiter, and the food was delicious. They had prime rib and leg of lamb , also ribs, pasta with shrimp, and those awesome mashed potatoes. Don't get me started on the desserts. Carrot cake, chocolate cheese cake, and so much more. Of course, the cupcake making station for the kids. Cost approximately $80.00 w/o tip.

As much as we hated to leave Chef Mickey's, we left, and went to the Holiday Inn Sunspree for 1 night only. We had stayed at the Sunspree 2 years ago and thought the rooms were quite large, even for us. I had booked a room months ago with my credit card. We went up to our room and it reeked of smoke. I called down to the front desk, and even though I had requested a non-smoking room, there were none to be had. They promised us that they had a smoke removal system that would take about a ½ hour. Since we were on our way out I agreed to try this.

The Sunspree has a child-care center which is free to hotel guests and is open until midnight. We dropped the 4 kids off there, grabbed a beeper (for $5.00) and headed off to Pleasure Island. Last October we purchased an add-on to our AP to include Pleasure Island (about $31.00 per person). We hit the Comedy Warehouse, and the Adventurer's Club. Kunglaloosh (sp. ?) !!! That's a good drink, by the way. Started feeling guilty about Matthew being in child care center, so we headed back about 10:30 PM. The caregivers had said that they turn off the lights and make the kids lay down at 10:00PM regardless of their age. When we picked the kids up they were the only ones there and were playing Nintendo. The caregiver said since they were the only ones there, she let the kids do what they wanted, and they definitely did not want to nap!! I attempted to give the caregiver a tip but she refused it. I am a pretty firm person, and I can tell that my kids enjoyed their few hours there. I insisted and she accepted.

Back up to the room we went (it was after 11PM) and the room smelled just as bad as we left it. The kids were pooping out, Les was tired, so we just accepted it as is. Everyone slept like a log, except for me. Either the smoke was especially bothersome to me, or I was too excited to sleep - but I did not sleep a wink all night. I ended up getting up at 4:30 AM and got ready for our day in a relaxed way. Woke up the rest of the crew and went downstairs to check out while they got ready. I complained to the Front Desk about the room smell and they deducted 25% from our bill. Total came to about $50.00. I figured that with the child-care included, this was a pretty good deal.

August 24, 1997

I know it was only 7:00 AM but I wasn't counting on getting our rooms this early. I just wanted to check in and store our luggage and bus over to the Magic Kingdom as I read in assorted guidebooks that Sunday was a really good day to go there. I had been anticipating this moment for many months. I even wrote a short letter to the Yacht Club hoping I could upgrade our rooms to a better view. I forgot to mention that the night before I called the front desk of the Yacht Club (from the Sunspree) wondering what kind of room they assigned us. They told me we had two connecting garden view rooms. I was really happy with that. Anyway, back to the next morning.

Check-in: Les stayed with the car, taking care that the bags were stored correctly. I went inside ( I almost skipped - but controlled myself ) and proceeded to the front desk. I was so excited, but maybe it was the time (7:15 AM), but the front desk person was not as happy to see me as I was to see him. He checked me in, said to come back at 3:00 PM, gave me our resort id's and sent me on my way. Oh well. To be fair, all the Disney castmembers we met after that moment were truly warm and wonderful.

Magic Kingdom time!! We had a short wait for a bus and made it over to the Magic Kingdom by 8:00 AM. We waited for rope drop and went over to Splash Mountain. We walked right on. Lauren was not happy when she saw the big drop. She cried for about 10 minutes after the ride was over. Stopped for a light breakfast. Six of us split 3 bagels and cream cheese for $5.25. Next was Pirates, and Jungle Cruise (girls really loved this - CM was especially animated). In quick succession we rode Haunted Mansion, Peter Pan, Snow White, saw Lion King show, and It's a Small World. We broke for lunch at the Pinochio Haus by It's a Small World. We sat by a window overlooking Its's a Small World and the kids had a good time waving and throwing kisses to the people who were passing by in their boats (ok, I had a good time doing it too). We then hit Dream Flight, People-mover and Carousel of Progress. I always enjoyed Carousel of Progress, and today was no exception except the father (you know the main narrator of each scene) was slumped over in the scene from the 1950's. He was still talking but his head was almost touching his chest. It was pretty funny. Next, we got on a ride we have never ridden before. The Grand Prix Racetrack!! Lauren drove while I snapped pictures of the rest of the family driving! It was really cute.

At this point, it was about 2 PM and I thought we should go back to the hotel. I figured we could get into our rooms, and while I unpack in peace, Les could take the kids to Stormalong Bay. Matthew was not a happy camper at this point. We hadn't gone on Space Mountain or Alien Encounter and here we were leaving. The line for both was about an hour, plus I knew we would be coming back. So we left. He pouted for a while, but he eventually got over it.

Bus took us back to the Yacht Club fairly quickly. It was almost 3:00 so I wanted to start settling in. Unfortunately only 1 of our connecting rooms was ready but I had enough to keep me busy setting up that room. By the way we were now told that our rooms were waterview rooms. I was especially happy about that because after the kids were asleep, Les and I could sit outside and enjoy our view. When we got to our room I was mildly disappointed that we were on the first floor, and faced the scaffolding that was currently on most of the backside of the Yacht Club. If you really strained your neck, you could see the water. Seriously this location really was nice as there was a side door we could exit that took us almost directly to the boat dock, and Stormalong Bay (the next time we go back to the Yacht Club, and I hope we do, I would request these rooms again). They were 1069 and 1071 if anyone wants to know.

Les took the kids to the pool and I started unpacking. It was 4 PM and I peeked into the other room. It looked like a tornado had struck in there. I called Housekeeping and requested for someone to take care of that room because I wanted to finish unpacking . I soon heard vacuum and movement next door and I knew it wouldn't be long. While I was waiting I decided to pop a couple of things into the wall safe inside the closet. WELL, just as I was about to reach for the key (which was in the safe's lock), I noticed something dangling from the closed safe. Sticking out was the head and one claw of those little lizard, salamander things I had been seeing all over the place. Some nasty person had closed the safe door and crushed the little thing. It was really disgusting. I called Housekeeping again, said it wasn't a rush, but maybe when the beds are turned down, someone could dispose of what was left of that lizard. Anyway, by this time the maid had knocked on my door and said our connecting room was ready. Also, Les and the kids came in saying it was raining, plus Stormalong Bay was closed until tomorrow because of a "chemical imbalance". They had been swimming in the baby pool by where the waterslide begins. I was mildly disappointed as we were dying to try the pool. Hopefully tomorrow.

I finished unpacking and we got ready for our reservation for dinner at Gulliver's at the Swan. I had my $50 off coupon in hand and we walked over. This is a huge domed restaurant. Very prettily decorated. The place was deserted except for 2 other tables. I gave out server the coupon and ordered our meal. The 3 girls got kids meals, but Matthew was excited because he could order off of the main menu for a real meal that was kid-sized for him. He had stuffed shrimp with crabmeat for $9.95. Les and I had the early bird meal which can be ordered up until 7PM. It was soup, Caesar salad, entree, and your choice from the dessert cart for $22.95. Les had seafood in a pastry and I had beef filet with rosemary. The entire meal was truly delicious. I want to pass the word around that this place is really excellent (even without $50 off). Entertainment for this meal was a magician named "Gulliver" who did magic for us at our table for about 15 minutes. The kids got a real kick out of it and we did too. He was very funny and entertaining. After the magic he made hat balloons for the kids, and they wore them into MGM Studios after dinner. The hats were really elaborate, and many people asked us later on where we got them. Anyway, this meal came out to $21.00 plus a big tip (remember I had the coupon).

After dinner we took the Friendship boat to MGM as tonight was the last scheduled showing of Sorcery in the Sky fireworks. The sky was threatening again but no rain yet. We tried to get on to Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, but the line was extremely long. This is my favorite ride in WDW, so I definitely knew we would eventually hit it. Again Matthew wasn't happy, when we turned around and started walking away from TZTOT. All the pictures I shot the rest of the night, show him frowning and being unhappy. We rode The Great Movie Ride. I thought the twins would be afraid of the Alien part or the wicked witch but they seemed to enjoy it. We then watched the fireworks and really enjoyed them. I love the end when the inflatable Mickey pops up.

We slowly made our way out of the park over to the dock to get a Friendship boat back. The line was pretty long, and a couple boats left full, but we eventually got on one. And it sure was a good one with Captain Zeke. He was a riot. He had us all singing "Zip-a-Dee Doo Dah", and other silly songs (like Gilligan's Island theme). He even turned off the boat's motor when he thought we weren't singing loud enough, saying we'll never get back to our hotel beds if we keep up that weak singing, My kids loved this boat ride.

So, we're back at the Yacht Club, kids are sleeping , and it's our time to have some couple time together. We decide to sit on our patio and enjoy the scenery. It's truly lovely here but I feel like I'm being eaten alive by mosquitoes. We stayed outside maybe 15 minutes and 4-5 bites on my legs later, I admitted defeat and went inside to bed .

The next morning a notice was slipped under our door warning us about disease-carrying mosquitoes.

August 25, 1997

Mickey woke me up with a very chipper wake-up call. I got everyone else up as we were going to Seaworld this morning. It really took no time at all to get there from the Yacht Club, maybe about 15 minutes if that much. We arrived at the entrance to the parking lot at about 8:15 AM. Unfortunately we had to wait as the parking lot booths don't let people into the lot until 8:30. After we parked we needed to buy our admission tickets. The admission ticket booths do not open until 8:45 and a long and disorganized line formed behind several of them. I bought our tickets ( I had 3 Honey-nut Cluster cereal coupons for free kids admission with each adult admission - my 11 year old is an adult at Seaworld as well as Disney)!

A couple minutes after 9:00 we were let into the park. We hung a right and headed over to Wild Arctic which is a simulated helicopter ride over the Arctic. It's very similar to The Right Stuff ride which is at Great Adventure in NJ. It was fun but short. The best part of this exhibit is seeing the polar bears. PBS did a documentary on 2 orphaned polar bear cubs in Denver. These are the 2 bears we saw at Seaworld.

For whatever reason, my kids go nuts over sea life. All four of them. They were in their glory at Seaworld.

We stopped for a quick breakfast of fruit and muffins, then continued on to see most of the big shows. Shamu was incredible. Matthew and Kelley wanted to sit in the splash zone. The little ones, Les and I did not. Seaworld should not call it a "splash zone". They should call it a "drenching, soaked to the bone, zone". The kids were so wet that Kelley took off her socks and I was able to wring plenty of water out of them. When Seaworld warns you of a splash zone, they really mean it!

I have to make special mention of the pre-shows. A mime did the pre-show for the sea lion and otter show. His interaction with the audience made Les and myself laugh so hard we had tears streaming down our face. He would follow people around the stadium who were looking for seats, he would show his approval for the way some women were dressed, and pretend he was an usher and show willing people to seats outside the stadium.

A little note about weather: The last time we took our kids to WDW was the end of August 1995. If anyone recalls this time you may remember that Florida was socked with one tropical storm after another. It rained all day, everyday, from the moment we checked into our hotel, until the day we checked out to drive home to NJ. I never opened the bottles of sunscreen I purchased for our trip. I was hoping this trip would be a little different. I was fully expecting a normal Florida rain storm everyday. I just hoped we wouldn't have a repeat of 1995. Keeping this in mind....

Towards the end of the sea lion/otter show it started to rain. We were sitting under cover so we were not getting wet yet. The show ended and many people remained hoping to wait the rain out. The animal trainers even came out and did a couple more tricks with the animals because we were such a huge crowd. I thought that was real nice. Anyway we had our ponchos and decided to leave as it was approaching 5:00 PM and we had been at Seaworld since 9 AM. Today was Monday, and if I tell you we did not get caught in any more rain showers would you believe me (we stayed til Sat.)? It's true!! This was the most surprising aspect of our trip. We went through three bottles of sunscreen. It was a pleasure not having to put on wet sneakers every morning.

When we arrived back at the hotel, Stormalong Bay was open and the kids had a ball. Matthew and Kelley kept going on the waterslide. They loved it.

We took showers (2 bathrooms really came in handy) and were off to our PS at Cape May Buffet. I'm not much of a seafood person, but Les, Matthew and Kelley are. They ate clams, mussels, and types of seafood I won't touch. I think the kids were just trying to keep up with their dad. Bill came to about $95, and we were stuffed. Everything was delicious, although I think I did like Chef Mickey's better.

We had arranged for the "Fairy Godmother's" sitting service to watch the kids tonight. Our sitter "Patty" came at 9:30 and Les and I were off to Pleasure Island. We hung out at the Rock and Roll Beach Club and danced for a while, then we hit the Adventurer's Club again. We saw a show in the library this time. What a hoot. After we left this club we hit one of the shops that sells Disney artwork. I had my eye on a 101 Dalmatians cel that had 2 parts to it. On the right is a cel with the puppies on it, and on the left is a separate picture of the puppies sketched in pencil (yes, but a copy of a pencil sketch ). When you get in vacation mode it's so easy to fork over that resort id (to pay for things) and not think anything of it. Luckily I had my MKC card and was able to get 10% off. We arranged for Fedex to send the package home as we didn't think we'd have room in the car (and it turned out we didn't).

We left Pleasure Island and went to the Boardwalk. I had always wanted to visit Jellyrolls. At about 11:45 PM we paid our $2 cover charge and entered a not very crowded bar. Last Oct. when we walked by this club it was really, really crowded. Not so tonight. The piano players were so awesome. So talented. They played requests either dueting together or alone. I have to admit that all of the smoking was starting to bother me, so we called it a night at about 1:30 AM. The sitter charges $9 an hour for 4 kids, plus a $5 travel charge. This was a great deal for us especially since the kids all went to bed early and will be well rested for tomorrow.

A couple things I forgot to mention:

I bought an engraved Guest of Honor pin at Pleasure Island with my name and hometown on it. It cost $5.00 and I wore it everywhere the rest of my trip.
Also Kelley ran into a friend from camp at Seaworld. It really is a small world after all. :-)
We noticed one of the rear wheels on our minivan seemed low. We put in some air and vowed to check it again tomorrow.
We showered (smoke smell on us intense) and fell into bed.

August 26, 1997

Les went to check the tire on the van this morning and confirmed that it had gotten low again. Something needed to be done. He talked to the valet who said that the car care center by the Magic Kingdom opened at 7:30 AM. Since we planned on doing Epcot early opening, I gave Les his pass and arranged a meeting place in Epcot. He would take care of the car, and I would walk into Epcot with the kids. Stupid me! With the assortment of passes I was carrying around with me, I gave him the Pleasure Island pass by mistake. As soon as I realized this, I ran out of the room, down the hall, through the lobby like a crazy person, hoping to catch him. I ran to the parking lot and saw him pulling away not hearing my call after him. So much for that shower this morning. The valet gave me the number of the car place and I called Les there saying I would wait for him in our room. Stupid, stupid, stupid. We were actually pretty lucky because the hole in the tire was very small, and it was patched for about $5.00. ( We made it back home to NJ fine driving on a patched tire).

Needless to say we walked through the International Gateway at approximately 8:30 AM. We lost about an hour and what a difference an hour makes. The line for HISTA stretched until the next pavilion. We skipped that for now and went to the Living Seas. Even though we had seen Seaworld the day before my kids had a blast looking at all the sea life. We then went to the Land and had a fairly long wait. We had a light breakfast of muffins and fruits here as well. We scrambled over to Universe of Energy where the kids enjoyed seeing the dinosaurs. We then hit the Wonders of Life pavilion. We had a pass for MetLife's lounge where Lauren, Megan, and I enjoyed a bathroom break and refreshment break, and Les and the big kids were back-doored to Body Wars.

It was lunch time so we walked into World Showcase towards our PS at Teppanyaki in Japan. We were seated almost immediately at the big Hibachi table. Les and I ordered a lunch for 2 ($13.50 each) of shrimp and sirloin. The little ones shared a chicken dish and Matthew and Kelley each ordered shrimp. It was fun watching the chef at work preparing our food. Food was pretty good. Megan dropped her glass and it shattered on our table top. Good thing we were done eating!

We went to the American Adventure where we enjoyed listening to the Voices of Liberty before going into the show. I really was counting on seeing this show because last October I snoozed through most of it (the seats are too comfortable here). Anyway, no sooner does the show start, but Lauren starts doing the "I have to go the bathroom" seat wiggle. I take her outside to the bathroom, but the show is fairly long so I still get to see a nice piece of it when we get back. It's a very stirring show. One of these days I hope to see it in its entirety.

The rest of our day at Epcot is kind of fuzzy. I know we loved Horizons and were depressed walking by Test Track. I must admit that it is very annoying seeing Test Track souvenirs being sold before the attraction is even opened.

I witnessed a disturbing incident today as well. I was waiting outside a restroom in Future World for assorted members of my family when a young man was wheeling himself around in a wheelchair. All of a sudden the wheelchair tipped and he partially fell out. I rushed over to help right the wheelchair when an older woman came over, slapped the teenager, and he got up and ran away. The group he was with all left together and left the wheelchair unattended. Obviously he was fooling around in someone else's wheelchair.

We headed back to our hotel as tonight was Hoop-dee-doo night and we all wanted to shower and get cleaned up. We drove our car to Fort Wilderness, but if you have to use Disney transportation I think getting to HDD is a pain. All that put aside, we had a good time there, especially Matthew and Kelley. They laughed so hard at all the corny jokes that at times I thought that eating and laughing could be a safety hazard. I reserved these seats in February for August and we sat on the first floor on the far left side next to the stage. Poor Lauren was shivering so our waiter brought her a tablecloth to wrap around her shoulders. Everyone ate really well that night. I remember asking our waiter to bring over another bucket of chicken. Les, Lauren , and I were the only ones that ate the strawberry shortcake. It was truly scrumptious. My other 3 kids didn't like the way it looked. IMHO it looked delicious.

After we found our way back to the hotel, we were hoping to swim but unfortunately found out that all the Disney pools were closed at 7 PM because of the encephalitis mosquitoes.

I almost forgot one thing. Kelley was collecting autographs all along in her autograph book. I thought Matthew might enjoy an Epcot Passport. We purchased it for $8.95 at a gift shop in World Showcase, and Matthew proceeded to get it stamped in each country. The CM's were all so sweet to him. They would write his name in their native language, and also a greeting. I think it is a wonderful keepsake.

August 27, 1997

It's a shame, but I'm the only one to wake up to Mickey. Everybody is too sound asleep to understand who is on the other end of the phone. Anyway, I enjoy it tremendously. Mickey calls at 5:55 AM and we make it out to the boat dock by 7:15 AM. No boat is in sight, but I realize I left my Disney nametag on our dresser, and I swear that I can run back to our room at the Yacht Club and retrieve it before a friendship boat comes ( they do move awfully slow). My kids are upset that I can't do it and be back in time for the boat. I make it back, no problem. Again, so much for that morning shower.

We finally get a boat and arrive at MGM studios at about 7:40 AM. Our first stop is Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. I have the bright idea that the whole family should ride (even the 5 year olds) and we could get the souvenir picture. I knew deep in my maternal heart that Lauren would have a problem on this ride. I ignored my second thoughts regarding Lauren, and we all rode the ride with Lauren by my side. She started crying as soon as the elevator door closed. I immediately started feeling deep regret and guilt because deep down I knew this would happen. First we dropped about ½ way down, then we were pulled up again for a full drop, then we were pulled up again for another full drop. When we stopped to look at our picture, Lauren was completely out of view as she was leaning so far into me. This was never going to happen again. I felt really awful. Matthew, the sensitive brother that he is, said let's go on it again (making Lauren cry even harder). Actually by the time we made our way to the end of the line again, the queue was extremely long, so we decided to leave. Lauren didn't stop crying until we were way up Sunset Blvd., quite far away from Twilight Zone. She was fine. Really. Really.

We strolled over to Star Tours, where Les, Matthew, Kelley, and Megan rode while Lauren and I hung out in the Star Tours gift shop. I wasn't taking any chances with her. Next we went to Muppets 4D. Now this, next to Twilight Zone, is probably my favorite attraction in WDW. We all loved it.

Today was early entry, and the park was extremely crowded. In order to gain entrance into all of the shows, it was necessary to be at the show sites at least ½ hour prior to show time. This was the case for Beauty and the Beast, Indiana Jones, and Hunchback. I always loved Beauty and the Beast, but after seeing Hunchback, it paled deeply in comparison. This upsets me because before we left home, I ordered tickets to Broadway's Beauty and the Beast for the family. I sincerely hope it's a better production than MGM's.

It's lunchtime, and time to head to the Sci-fi Drive-In . We've always wanted to eat here. Although I have read a lot of criticism of this place, it was a place I always wanted to try. 60 days before I made a priority seating reservation and couldn't wait. Our PS time was 11:55 AM, but we actually got there about 11:45. There were lots of people waiting, and the CM told me it would be about 25-30 minutes. I expected this, so we went outside to take some pictures of the kids in the aqua-colored car right outside the entrance of the restaurant. Before we could get the kids situated, they called our name. I was shocked. They let us inside, and let me tell you that this place is really neat. The first thing I noticed was how quiet the packed place was! We were shown to a car for 6. Matthew and Kelley sat in the front seat, Lauren and Megan sat in the middle, Les and I sat in the rear. I loved this place, and we hadn't even ordered yet. It was nice and cool in there, quiet - like I mentioned before - a perfect place to recharge ourselves. I was shocked that the kids meals were $7.95 (so they throw in a Frisbee). We had to carry around those 4 Frisbees the rest of the day!! That really is my main complaint about this place. I had a chocolate shake which really hit the spot. Scrumptious. I tried their vegetable sandwich ($8.95) with herb cream cheese. It was something different, and since it was cold it hit the spot as well. Our total bill came out to $74.00. Yikes!! I would go there again, though.

We walked over to Superstar Theater.

A little background first: We do this every year we're at WDW. I always insisted on going early, standing in the front, because I wanted to be picked for this show like nobody's business. I did everything the guide books said would increase my chances at being picked. Well, the first time we went, Les was picked to do the beginning news report. And the 2nd time we went Matthew was chosen to be Gilligan. Well today, we arrived toward the tail end of the audience selection period. We were standing way in the back. I hadn't even heard what type of person they were looking for. I raised my hand, and was picked right then and there!! Finally!!! I was one of the three Ronzells. It was a lot of fun. We sang Da-Doo-Run-Run.

After I made my stage debut, it was getting close to parade time. We found a nice shady spot on the steps of Superstar Theater. I think this is a great place to view the parade, because not only were we in the shade, but we got to sit down too! Kelley cooled off the crowd sitting with us with her Squeeze Breeze (water bottle with fan). She asked first of course! The parade was good, except I really liked the Toy Story parade we had seen in Oct. better.

Speaking of Toy Story, we got autographs from the Green Army Men and Bo Peep. Woody and Buzz had long, long lines waiting out in the sun.

We also ran into "Chewbacca" and an Ewok from Star Wars. I don't know how the CM wears this character suit in the heat. I really don't.

Before we left the Studios we went on the Animation Tour. Being Wednesday, we saw animators hard at work at their respective desks. In the past, it seems we've always taken this tour on a weekend, so this was a special treat. I love the film with Robin Williams and Walter Cronkite.

We headed back to our hotel to try and squeeze in some swimming before our big night out at the California Grill. Unfortunately all we had time for was a ½ hour swim and then shower time in order to make our 7:45 PM ressies. Les and I had loved the CG last Oct. and swore that we would take the whole family in August.

We arrived at the CG at 7:35 but we were told that it would be a 20-30 minute wait. We didn't mind as the day was very clear and we wanted to take pictures on the deck anyway. It was an especially clear day, and the views were outstanding. We went back in the lounge, ordered some drinks ($1.75 for 1 juice box), and before we knew it our table was ready. Matthew and Kelley ordered a pasta dish, and Lauren and Megan shared a kid's pizza. Unfortunately Megan fell asleep and never ate a bite of her pizza. This was the beginning of me noticing how exhausted everyone was getting. For some reason, I didn't enjoy the meal as much as I had the first time. I ordered Gazpacho and the waiter said he would recommend me trying something else, as he has heard some complaints about this soup. Instead I ordered a ravioli appetizer and that was good. Unfortunately the selection of entrees really didn't appeal to me tonight for some reason, so I settled for "Bar-be-que beef fillet". Les tried it and thought it was delicious, I just didn't care for it that much. During our meal we saw Epcot fireworks, and as we were finishing up we truly enjoyed seeing the Magic Kingdom fireworks. We could even see Tinkerbell "flying" by the castle. This meal totaled about $130.00.

When we got back to the hotel, I would say everyone passed out from exhaustion. I would have changed tomorrow's plans and not gotten up so early, but I had arranged to meet a cyber-friend at Dumbo right after the early-entry rope drop. I didn't know where she was staying so I couldn't cancel. I knew that no matter what, we had to make early-entry at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow morning.

August 28, 1997

Mickey woke me up at 6:00 AM. I must admit that I really did not want to get up this morning. Not only was I meeting my cyber-friend at Dumbo after rope drop, but we had priority seating at Cinderella's Royal Table at 9:50 AM. I was not alone in my reluctance to arise out of the comfortable Yacht Club beds. This was the hardest morning for everyone to wake up. I felt bad about it, but we all made it out to the bus stop by 7:00 AM and were at the Magic Kingdom by 7:20 AM. When the gates opened, we split up for the first time. Les took the big kids to Tomorrowland to ride Space Mountain and Alien Encounter, I took the little ones to Fantasyland to ride Dumbo and hopefully run into a Disney friend I had met online. The girls and I rode Dumbo 2 times in a row, but no friend in sight. Oh well, these things happen. We then rode Cinderella's Carousel, Peter Pan, and Snow White with no wait at all. Now this is the benefit of early entry. I was enjoying this. We then met up with the rest of the family, and rode Dumbo all together. To me, this was a highlight of our trip. Matthew rode with Lauren, Kelley with Megan, and me and Les. I snapped pictures while Les took videos. The sky was blue, it wasn't too hot yet, and seeing the kids enjoying Dumbo made my heart sing!

It was growing close to 9:00 AM so instead of killing time waiting for our PS at Cinderella's Royal Table, we decided to head over to Splash Mountain. We arrived there and virtually had no wait. I sat with Lauren and she was ok until the big drop. She recovered pretty quickly as we were nearing the end of the ride. Just as we were winding around the last curve singing "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah", the ride just stopped. The music stopped (the animatronic characters were still singing only nothing was coming out of their mouths). By my watch it was 9:15 AM. Our PS at CRT was exactly 35 minutes away. I wasn't worried. I didn't start getting worried until 20 minutes later as we hadn't moved as inch. At 9:40 things started moving again, and we scooted out of there and practically ran to the castle. This was the meal I had been looking forward to the most, and I didn't want to miss it.

At CRT we were greeted by the Fairy Godmother. I should mention that Lauren had been growing increasingly bashful in front of Disney characters and has sat out of most of our picture opportunities. This was the case today. We have some beautiful pictures of the kids, but no Lauren in many pictures. She was scared of Snow White. How can anyone be scared of Snow White? Snow White posed with the other 3, at least. Next, Cinderella came over. When the other kids gathered round Cindi for a picture, Cindi moved the group behind Lauren's chair so she was in this picture. Might I add that Lauren gave a big smile. Next, Belle came over. The same scenario occurred again. This time, though, Belle lifted Lauren out of her chair and held her for the picture. Lauren loved this. She loved getting a kiss from Belle as well. I swear Peter Pan was Peter Pan. Kelley was wearing a green shirt and PP said he liked her shirt because green is his favorite color. Megan asked him to fly, but he gave a lot of humorous reasons why he couldn't fly today (sorry, I wish I could remember). We then asked him if he could crow. He said sure, but he wanted us to crow for him first. I never saw my kids so quiet before. I had to crow on our behalf. Peter Pan said I was pretty pathetic. He jumped on Kelley's chair and really gave quite a throaty crow. I had to remind Les to videotape. He was caught in the moment himself. Food was delicious and plentiful. I love all of the fresh fruit we saw at many Disney restaurants. This meal cost us $80.00 before tip. My only complaint is that although this breakfast is supposed to be until 11:00 AM, is was practically cleared out at 10:30 with all of the characters gone. We did see everyone, but I would have liked to see how they interacted with the rest of the room.

After breakfast we saw the 11:00 show in front of the castle. I enjoyed this very much. Mary Poppins sang and danced, as well as Cruella de Ville. We then went in search of characters for Kelley to get autographs. We ran into the Mad Hatter, Queen of Hearts, and eventually made our way to Ariel's Grotto. Unfortunately the line was extremely long, so we headed in the direction of Mickey's Toontown. We walked around a bit and then went into the big tent where we could wait in line to see some characters. We got a picture of Sleeping Beauty, but something seemed amiss with her. For one thing, her blond wig was on crooked. The worse thing was she was wearing very bright red lipstick which made her look, well, like a clown. After we left the character tent we hopped on the railroad which took us to the front gate of the park. We left MK and headed back to the Yacht Club to finally enjoy Stormalong Bay.

This pool is like a dream. Les and I sat by the shallow sandy area, and watched the kids have a blast. We even sipped this incredible frozen drink from the poolside bar. It had Kalua, pina colada mix, and other delicious ingredients. Now this is what I call a vacation. My big regret on this vacation is we didn't take the time to spend more of our time together this way. Oh well. We learned something new for next time.

One thing I wanted to mention. Everyone had left for the pool except Megan and me. I was straightening up the room a bit, and she wanted to wait for me. We left our room and were walking down the hall, when 2 women said "Isn't this little girl adorable. Maybe she can be Miss America one day". I smiled and agreed. Later on I found out that all 51 Miss America contestants were staying at the Yacht Club the next few days to get acquainted. This was Thursday, and they would be leaving for Atlantic City on Monday. Megan and I had run into a chaperone and contestant who were just checking in!! It wasn't until breakfast the next morning that we saw many beautiful women wandering around the hotel, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

We walked over to Epcot as we had 7:30 PS at Chef's de France. Once again, Les and I wanted to bring the whole family here as we had a wonderful meal here last Oct. when it was Bistro de Paris. Megan fell asleep in the carriage while we were walking into Epcot. Both girls fell asleep while we were enjoying the British Invasion. It was close to 7:30 so walked to France from the United Kingdom. We woke Megan up and she stayed up through dinner. We lost Lauren to the sandman while we were ordering. She slept with her head on my lap. I had to place my napkin lightly on her head just in case some of my chicken dropped in my lap. We should have done a more casual meal with the kids. Doing California Grill and Chef de France on consecutive nights was too much. This meal was $80.00 before tip.

After dinner we strolled around, hitting the remainder of countries Matthew needed to fill his Passport. Both girls fell back asleep. We stayed for Illuminations ( I love the music), then walked back to our room. I added several new mosquito bites to my collection, however much to my distress, Lauren now sported several bites, as well as Kelley. I was getting seriously nervous about this, but what was done was done.

Kids literally fell into bed. Tomorrow will be a non-park day. We need this before our long trip back to NJ.

August 29, 1997

Our last full day (frown). Today we planned on enjoying the amenities of the Yacht Club. First, was breakfast. We decided to go to the Yacht Club Galley. The buffet looked great so Les, Matthew, and I ordered that. The girls ordered off of the menu. Buffet price was $10.95 for adults, $6.95 for kids. As we sat down we noticed women with t-shirts saying "Miss America". This is when we realized that all the contestants were staying at the Yacht Club. Of course Kelley had left her autograph book in our room. Before starting to eat, she and I ran back to our room to get her book. There were lots of "Miss America" contestants (hereafter MAC) having breakfast, giving out autographs, and posing for pictures all over the hotel. Les got mad at me because instead of eating breakfast with the family, Kelley and I hung out in the lobby getting pictures and autographs of as many MAC as possible. We came back to our table long enough to let Les go up to the buffet station, then Matthew and Kelley went back out to the lobby to collect more autographs. They got autographs from about half of the contestants (through our checkout time the next day). I won't go on about this anymore except just to say that TV does not do these women justice. They are incredibly gorgeous. They were very attentive to my kids, asking them questions about school, their vacation, etc. As I am writing this report, the pageant is tonight, so I am anxious to watch it and see if any of the MAC that we met wins!

After we reluctantly pulled the kids away from the lobby, we headed over to the Marketplace to go souvenir shopping. World of Disney is incredible. Les (who doesn't like to shop) even had to admit it was fun shopping there. We had started the kids off with a $15.00 souvenir line of credit, before we left NJ. That amount went up and down during our long ride down to Florida. Generally it went up because the kids really behaved themselves for the most part. Every 100 miles we added or took away a dollar depending on how well the kids did. We even gave bonus $1.00 if they were especially nice to one another. By Aug. 29th each kid had between $25 and $30 dollars each. Nice enough amount to get a really neat souvenir. Our purchases:

Matthew: The Official Disney Music Album CD (he wanted to save his balance til we got home so he could buy the Star Wars Trilogy Videos)
Kelley: Winnie the Pooh back pack and Mickey Mouse writing journal for school.
Lauren: Donald Duck stuffed animal and Donald Duck keychain (she now says DD is her favorite character and we didn't see him once)
Megan: Dumbo stuffed animal, and Goofy keychain
Debbie: Minnie workout shirt
Les: T-shirt and mug
We drove back to the hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming at Stormalong Bay and drinking frozen beverages by the pool. We should have done this earlier in the vacation. This was my highlight of the trip. We watched the kids from our lounge chairs while we sipped delicious drinks. I was so happy. Unfortunately I can't imagine staying anyplace else in WDW now. The Yacht Club pool area deeply spoiled me. Next time we will have more days like this, I hope. The only problem I experienced was having to see the MAC poolside in bathing suits. It was quite intimidating. Matthew, who is 11, grew up suddenly in front of my eyes. He's flirting with them, and in private saying what "babes" they are. He can't wait to tell his friends at home that he hugged a bunch of Miss America's. Oh brother!!

While Les and Matthew were eyeing the MAC I went with Kelley to the hair wrap station by the pool. We waited about a ½ hour and then it was Kelley's turn. $27.00 later she had a decorative hair braid with beads. Les still can't believe how much it cost. Me either. It made her happy.

We left the pool area at 5:10 PM and was expecting Patty our "Fairy Godmother" at 6PM. We ordered room service pizza for the girls, costing $11.95 plus tax and gratuities, and stopped at Beaches and Cream for a burger for Matthew on his way to the Sandcastle Club. It was early so I felt bad about leaving Matthew with the in-room babysitter. We had checked out the Sandcastle Club and once he saw the free arcade games, he was anxious to try it. We dropped him off, and walked over to Epcot.

We decided to try "Le Cellier" for dinner as a walk-in and lucked out. I had heard that this place had changed its menu, so we wanted to try it. It was great. First, the bread. It had cloves of garlic baked right in. If you like garlic bread you will love this bread. We each had the cheddar cheese soup which was good as well. I had prime rib ($15.95), and Les had pasta with shrimp($16.95)

We saw "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" again, and Journey into Imagination. We then walked back into World Showcase and went on Maelstrom in Norway. It was 8:55 by now so we walked out of Norway and waited for Illuminations. The view by Norway for Illuminations was much better than at International Gateway. Maybe it was the angle, but we saw the lasers much better this time. After the show, we took a slow stroll out of the park and walked back to the Yacht Club. Before we picked up Matthew we walked over to the wedding gazebo. Our wedding anniversary was the following week, so Les whispered some sweet nothings to me being we were in such a romantic spot. Before I could reply a strange noise came from one of the bushes surrounding the gazebo. It scared me (what was it !!) so we laughingly walked inside the hotel.

We stopped by the gift shop in the Yacht Club and I purchased a Yacht Club sweatshirt (on clearance for $24.99) and Les got a Nike baseball cap with Mickey on it for $20. We then picked up Matthew who had a blast at the Sandcastle Club. He said they even gave him milk and cookies.

We bade goodbye to our "Fairy Godmother" promising we would use her again (next year - I hope) and started to pack.

August 30, 1997

Mickey woke me up for the last time this morning. Checked our door and there was our express check out bill. It seemed correct except for a credit from World of Disney which wasn't there. Matthew, Kelley, and I went to the front desk to straighten this out (and to scout around for some last minute autographs from any Miss America contestants). Unfortunately the Yacht Club copy machine was broken and the CM said she needed to keep my receipt. I reluctantly left my receipt so I could get a credit on my credit card.

Our bags were loaded in our van and we went for breakfast at the Wilderness Lodge to see Pocohantas. Artist Point is a beautiful restaurant. We were seated right away and saw John Smith. He was truly handsome. My girls were smitten. He and Ratcliffe recently came back to this breakfast (Brer Bear and Brer Fox had replaced them). I told John Smith that it was good to see him here, and he said that he had been out "exploring" for several months, but now he's back. He gave Kelley a geography lesson, drawing a map in her autograph book. John Smith was the most attentive to us this morning. Meeko refused a biscuit from us, and Pocohantas posed with the kids. We didn't see any Meeko related high-jinks this morning. Breakfast was once again delicious. We had originally planned to eat our last WDW meal at 1900 Park Faire for breakfast, but the thought of a buffet meal didn't sit well with us today.

On our way out Kelley saw some really cute Beanie Babies on a Merchandise Cart in the Wilderness Lodge Lobby. The CM said she would be right back, and went into the back and brought out the cutest Beanie Baby moose. Kelley fell in love with it on the spot and bought it. We said we were going back home now, and the CM gave the kids lots of Winnie-the-Pooh and Mickey Mouse stickers. It was a nice ending to a lovely vacation.

We began our trek home at about 10:30 AM and arrived at a Holiday Inn in Fayetteville, N.C. later that night. On our way back to the hotel from dinner (Cracker Barrel, of course) I started feeling very sick. My back hurt and I was feeling queasy. Keep in mind I had been bitten by several mosquitoes about a week ago. I started getting scared thinking for the first time maybe this is from the mosquitoes. I laid down hoping I would feel better by the next morning. The rest of the family was watching TV and I vaguely remember hearing something about Princess Diana, but I was so out of it I thought I was dreaming. Fortunately I woke the next morning feeling much, much better. Must have been vacation exhaustion. While we were getting ready to leave the motel, we heard that Princess Diana was dead. I couldn't believe it. It all seemed surreal. She and Charles were married right before Les and me, and I remember watching their wedding and looking forward to my own. We listened to news radio all the way home to NJ. Horrible, horrible tragedy for her poor boys.

On a lighter note, I can't believe that this report is just about done except for a few comments:

I booked another WDW vacation after we got home, again at the Yacht Club. I am praying AP discounts will be available next year as we couldn't afford 2 rooms even at the MKC rate which I got.
Matthew got a package from the Sandcastle Club in the mail yesterday. It was addressed to: The Special Matthew ______. It contained a certificate, postcards, magazine, and a couple of Mickey Mouse coasters. It was unexpected and very nice.
I wouldn't plan so many heavy duty meals. I went a bit overboard with the PS. It tied us down a bit.
For a party of 6, we never waited (except for the California Grill) more than a couple minutes to be seated at restaurants during prime eating hours.
I would enjoy the amenities of the hotel more, especially the pool!!!
None of the Miss America contestants that we got autographs and pictures of made it into the top ten. We got about 25 all together. What's up with that?
Lauren and Megan started kindergarten with no problems at all. Wish I could say the same for me!! Sniff, sniff............
We've been home about 2 ½ weeks and so far no mosquito related illness for Kelley, Lauren, or myself. So far so good.
See you all next year!!

Debbie Richmond

Thesov@aol.com

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