Trip Reports

Time of Year: Spring
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: Offsite
Accommodations: Suite
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Teen, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran, DVC Member
Comments: This is another of Dotti's excellent reports. It's particularly unusual because the Saroufim family, who are DVC members, actually stayed offsite since Dotti's husband was in Orlando on business. Of course, this fact brought up a very interesting onsite vs. offsite discussion in the text describing the first day of the trip. The family is going back to WDW in August for their annual DVC trek, so the Saroufim's will get a double dose of pixie dust in 1997 (and hopefully we'll get another trip report out of the deal, too.)

This was really an unexpected trip for us. We were already booked at the OKWR for this coming August so when my husband informed me that the Microsoft conference that he was attending in May was in Orlando, I actually hesitated for 3 or 4 minutes before deciding that we were all going to join him. Tony was arriving on Sunday, May 4, and staying until the following Sunday. Having a high school student who is very serious about keeping his grades high made me decide on a Wednesday evening arrival so that he would only miss two days of school. Wow…suddenly my countdown had decreased by over 100 days!

On this trip, our entourage included:

Tony (43 year old Systems VP, already settled in his hotel),
Dotti (me, 42 year old who loves every Disney moment and can even find joy in turbo toilets ,
Joe (14 year old with plans to someday marry in WDW - I raised him right!),
Elie (11 year old who would love to dismember S.I.R. to see what makes him tick),
Peter (9 year old future trip report writer and my loyal traveling buddy) and
Keith (15 year old friend of Joe's and first-timer to WDW. Radp'ers may remember Keith as the brother of Emily - the little girl with leukemia who inspired me to begin collecting Disney soaps for the kids at Children's Hospital in Boston.)
Day 1 - Wednesday, May 7

"If possible, try to find a way to come downstairs that doesn't involve going bump, bump, bump, on the back of your head" - Pooh's Little Instruction Book

We left for the airport immediately after school and were settled (for lack of a better word) in our compact Delta Express 737 for a 4:30 p.m. flight. I had anticipated being much more uncomfortable than I was, so the flight was almost enjoyable. The Bloody Mary didn't hurt. We arrived on time and since Tony had already rented the minivan and we had no checked luggage, we were on our way in minutes. The plan was to drive to the Yacht and Beach Club, walk over to Epcot for the "free admission" at 9 p.m. and see IllumiNations, freeing up our next night at Epcot to visit the attractions. We had made a 9:15 priority seating at the Cape May Café for dinner. Ahhh..the best laid plans…

While walking down the walkway directly behind the Beach Club, Tony decided that he really wasn't a 43 year old Vice President, but that he was actually Peter Pan. While hopping around on the cement that borders the walkway, reality kicked in. Peter Pan can no longer fly. I turned around to find my 200 pound husband somehow catapulting through the air and landing, face first, on the ground. After much confusion and wiping of blood (the frame of his glasses had broken and gouged his cheek, only a fraction of an inch from his eye), I convinced him to go back into the lobby and get medical attention. We soon had two paramedics in the lobby who fashioned a homemade butterfly bandage, a CM who taped his glasses back together, and the front desk manager with an offer of a new shirt from the gift shop using his CM discount. Tony, now looking like a refugee from his war-torn country of Lebanon, repeatedly assured us that he was fine (though a bit shook up) and herded us all over to dinner.

We were seated immediately (per a call from the front desk) and were greeted by a lovely server named Linda. This is our seventh trip to WDW and I can honestly say that Linda was the warmest CM that I've ever encountered. She adopted us on the spot! Little did we know then that she had already decided that there was something very wrong with this picture. She worked behind the scenes, speaking to the restaurant manager (Chris) and the chef (Barry) about the very "un-Disney" way that we were treated. She felt that because we hadn't complained (Tony blamed himself for the entire incident), we were not being adequately taken care of. Before the end of our visit, and without our even mentioning it, we were assured that there would be no charge for the shirt and the replacement of Tony's glasses. Linda really worked some Disney magic for us on this night!

Having had enough excitement, we headed over to the resort. Due to the Microsoft convention, we had a choice of a number of off-site resorts offering a reduced convention rate and free shuttle service to the convention for the attendees. I chose the Caribe Royale Suites on International Drive mostly because it was new, it slept 6, and it included an all-you-can-eat breakfast…all for $129/night. Considering that there was not one of us who didn't have an amazing capacity in the food consumption area, we figured that, after breakfast, the cost of our room was negligible. Also, I now had fodder for the off-site/on-site discussions!

For those interested, just a quick description of the resort….The Caribe Royale is billed as the largest all-suite resort in the world. It's a very attractive place from the outside, mauve in color, and pleasantly lighted. The resort is split up into the main building and three tower buildings. Each tower building has a small lobby which is converted into a small eating area for those looking for a quick continental breakfast in the morning. The main building houses the registration area, the restaurants, and the cafeteria style all-you-can-eat breakfast. It is two stories tall, with an impressive winding staircase and lots of skylights and potted greenery. The pool area features waterfalls, a 70 foot slide, a kiddie area with playground, and an abundance of lounge chairs.

The rooms themselves were similar to those in the Embassy Suite chain of hotels. The master bedroom included two queen size beds (which I felt to be uncomfortable), a television, a chest of drawers and a closet. The living area had a pull-out queen size sleep sofa, a mini refrigerator, sink, a television, coffee table, chair, and enough room left on the floor for our blow up mattress. (Two teenage boys and one pull out sofa bed didn't quite cut it.) Separating the two areas was the bathroom with an outside vanity and sink. These rooms are considerably smaller than the one bedroom suites at the Old Key West Resort.

The resort had limited free shuttle service to the parks that we never used. Guest services (or whatever it was called here) sold park passes. We were most impressed by the breakfast. They offered a nice variety of foods including fresh fruit, eggs, bacon, sausage, pancakes, french toast, home fries and even grits. In all honesty, and without any intention of starting the off-site/on-site thread again, as lovely as this resort was, it really felt like any other hotel that we've visited. It was clean, economical, and impersonal. For anyone looking for more space and intending to stay off-site, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this resort. However….I missed the little perks that you find even at the moderate Disney resorts - package delivery, room charge privileges, character wake-up calls and frequent transportation back to your room. While having our last breakfast there, Barb (aka gardenia) went looking for something other than butter to spread on her bread. They had nothing. They did not offer to get anything. A Disney CM would have found something even if it meant traveling to the local grocery store to purchase it and that, for me, sums up the difference between on and off site.

Day 2 - Thursday, May 8.

"When having a smackerel of something with a friend, don't eat so much that you get stuck in the doorway trying to get out." - Pooh's Little Instruction Book

We awoke at around 7:30 a.m. to a bright sunny day and a great view of the swimming pool. Elie got us all up and moving and the complicated logistics of 6 people to one bathroom began. We all headed to the main building to fill up on breakfast, the strategy being that we could eat a later lunch and avoid the lunch crowds. Tony had decided to skip his first class and drive over to LensCrafters in the Florida Mall to purchase new glasses and he graciously offered (after much pleading and groveling on my part) to drop us off at the Disney/MGM Studios first.

Our first assignment was to exchange Joe's voucher for his annual pass and to buy a new annual pass for Elie, who is unfortunately now an "adult". This was done, easily (though slowly) at the ticket window. We also tried to change the remaining days on our old 5-day passes to the new, magnetic strip format. (Anything over 1 day on the old passes supposedly should be converted to the new format. If only one day is left, the pass can simply be stamped at the turnstile.) Although I read on radp that this had to be done at Guest Services, the CM said that he would have been more than willing to do it if we hadn't just spent so long with the annuals. Quite a line had formed behind us. He sent me over to the turnstile and told me to have the CM stamp the pass (we were only using one of the oldies) with the date even though there were two days left on it. No problem. We now had two AP's, one four-day hopper, one three-day hopper (a special deal through the Microsoft convention), and one old two day pass. I was beginning to get very confused.

We stopped at the board posting the wait time for the attractions. The TZTOT had an advertised 45 minute wait but the Great Movie Ride only posted a 10 minute wait so we headed there first. We had the gangster side and the CM was very good - enthusiastic and loud enough to be heard at the back of the tram. I have to admit that a lot of my reaction to things on this trip was gauged greatly by how much Keith liked them. I love bringing WDW "newbies" to the parks but find myself worrying more about if they're having a good time than I'd like to admit. (This is probably why I enjoy watching movies alone.) Fortunately, Keith is an easy kid…he pretty much would do anything that we decided to do without complaint. He also was prepared for the fact that WDW did not resemble Six Flags in the "thrill ride" department. He thought that the Great Movie Ride was ok. I loved it, as usual. My two younger boys, who had just seen the movie "Alien" for the first time, absorbed all the details with a new interest and probably now realize why we "old folks" can ride through "the Wizard of Oz" and "Casablanca" so many times without getting bored.

The next stop was Star Tours where we braved a 20 minute wait prediction to actually be seated in 10. The queue was even enjoyable in that we had a close encounter with Chewbacca on the way in. I don't know the size of the CM in that costume, but that character is HUGE! Our seats were in the back row (the boys got their wish) and Keith, to my surprise, only gave this ride a "good, not great" due to it being "so short and not as thrilling as it could have been". I guess I'm really getting old because this is just about as much excitement as I can take!

We ran (literally) over to SuperStar Television to catch the next show where Elie was picked as the Skipper in Gilligan's Island. A group of girls (looked like hundreds) on a field trip got their very reluctant chaperone to be picked as the gorgeous woman on "Cheers". There was a lot of energy in this group! Right in the middle of Elie's TV debut, there were technical problems so the audience was kept amused by a very entertaining emcee until things were put right. Another case of wishing I got the CM's name….this one changed a potentially boring situation into one that was even more enjoyable than the norm.

MuppetVision 3D was next on the itinerary and we had a short wait outside of the fake brick building (strange looking structure) before entering for the preshow. Keith voted this attraction as his favorite so far. We decided when we exited that this would be a good time of the day to split up. I really wanted a repeat visit to the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Peter was nice enough to join me. The older boys, with my neurotic reminders to not lose my eleven year old, took off for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We planned to meet at 2 p.m. in front of SuperStar Television to see the Toy Story Parade.

Pete and I grabbed milkshakes at the restaurant next to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground and headed over to catch the pre-show. We were able to get so-so seats, on the far right, near the front. I'm rating these as so-so only because some of the props brought out during the show blocked the view of the performers. Otherwise, they were great seats. Matt, the juggler, was everything that I've read about him! At one point, his act included a crazy combination of two balls, a plate, a yo-yo and a hulahoop - very impressive to someone who couldn't figure out how to take off her backpack and hold her milkshake at the same time!

We met the boys on time, stood in the hot, hot sun for the parade, and enjoyed it regardless. (The older boys did inform me, however, that parades were not on their top ten list so we did a bit of itinerary revising in the future.) Our priority seating for lunch was for the Prime Time Café at 2:35 p.m. We arrived at approximately 2:20 and were told that our actual seating time could possibly be 20 minutes after our scheduled time giving us a 35 minute wait! Since we were hot and tired, we decided to wait it out and get some water at the bar. Within 10 minutes, our names were being called (glad we stayed) and our sister Paula was soon serving us. I got the Magnificent Meatloaf ($12.75), Keith ordered the All-American Burger ($9.95), Joe got Uncle Giovanni's Pasta ($14.95), Elie had the kid's meal burger ($4.75) and Pete ordered the Spaghetti-o's ($4.75). Everyone was satisfied except Peter who can't survive on a bowl of Spaghetti-o's and Paula was nice enough to bring a refill without charging us for a second meal. Three grown men at the next table were having a grand time here and one soon was wearing a dunce cap for his misdeeds. We weren't terribly embarrassed until it came time to exit. We were sitting at one of those long wraparound vinyl benches, with me on the far inside. On my way out, after the four boys had exited the booth, I was having a bit of a problem coming "unstuck" from the vinyl. One server, not our sister, noticed my plight and yelled (really YELLED), "Come on back here boys! Your mom is STUCK TO THE SEAT!!!"

We just missed a showing of the Indiana Jones Stunt Show, something that became a habit for the remainder of the day. I talked the boys into a 20 minute wait for the Voyage of the Little Mermaid, one of my favorites and one that they don't mind but wouldn't normally stand in line for. Both Pete and Elie thought it was better than what they remembered, Keith liked it much more than he expected to and Joe "didn't mind it". I think that he just wanted me to feel that he had made a major sacrifice for me so that I'd be in his debt.

The Backstage Tour was next and we intentionally didn't tell Keith about Catastrophe Canyon. It was fun - our tram stopped directly in view of the water coming over the rocks (to the left of the tanker). Our only complaint (and I wish that we remembered to mention it after the ride) was that our tram was incredibly noisy, so much so that we almost couldn't hear the guide. Real headache material.

We had time for one more ride on Star Tours as we had to meet Tony at the Beach Club to ride over to Sea World for the Microsoft convention party. This time, in the queue, Joe saw Chewbacca coming from up ahead. He positioned himself with both hands grasping the rails, preventing (he thought) Chewbacca from being able to pass. Yeah, right. Chewbacca grabbed him from under the arms and lifted him up and over the railings into the next queue and on top of a very surprised older woman! Imagine a very tall and hairy Fred Astaire and a screaming, masculine Ginger Rogers. What a missed photo opportunity! (Joe wants me to mention that the screaming was obviously fake as he is a tough kid and could have taken Chewy any day.)

We finally made it to the boat for the Yacht and Beach Club and met Tony at 6:40 p.m. in front of Beaches and Cream. The boys hit the arcade for a few minutes while I took off my shoes and aired out my toes. When I thought that I could walk again, we drove over to Sea World for the party and arrived at approximately 8 p.m. This was a great party! The convention attendees were admitted free and tickets were $40 for anyone else in their party. Upon arrival, all of the kids (teenagers included) were handed a strip of Sea World money, worth $15.00. Food was in abundance everywhere, from the usual fare served in Sea World's many restaurants to a wide assortment of appetizers available on the tables lining the walkways. Walking in almost any direction, you would encounter areas serving drinks, from water and soft drinks to most kinds of liquor imaginable.

All of the shows and attractions were open as well as the playground and the arcades. We were able to catch the Bay Watch Stunt Show, which the boys loved (guess why), Shamu's Night Magic, and Hotel Clyde and Seymour. We promised the boys time to play in the playground, an area that has an enormous climbing net, and also time to hit the arcades. They had $15 burning holes in their pockets. I still question the wisdom of this decision. Tony helped our son Elie win a stuffed Shamu. This is not any stuffed Shamu; it is so large as to be ludicrous. It is only slightly smaller than my son. If one more person asks me, "Did you BUY that?"…..Joe, playing those basketball games that no one is supposed to win, came away with two seals, one Pepe le Pew for himself and one for a stranger who kept giving him money to win something. He also won a huge red bull by knocking down a few creatures with a baseball. Keith won a Pepe le Pew for his sister. After picking up our free tee shirts, and making quite a sight leaving the park, we headed back to the resort. In the resort elevator, we rode up with a family that included a mentally disabled girl in a wheelchair. I didn't know it until I got into the room, but, on the way out of the elevator, Joe gave one of his seals to the little girl. I sure do love my boys….

Day 3 - Friday, May 9

"When you are pretty sure sure that an Adventure is going to happen, brush the honey off your nose and spruce yourself up as best you can, so as to look Ready for Anything" - Pooh's Little Instruction Book

We were up and organized early enough for the kids to be in the pool by 9 a.m. Considering that we didn't even leave Sea World the night before until almost midnight, I really did consider this to be early. By 9:45, the kids were refreshed and taking turns in the shower so that we could have our big breakfast before they shut down the kitchen. By 11 a.m. we were through the gates of Magic Kingdom and strolling down Main Street towards the Cakesle. I suppose that all of the pictures had prepared me enough so that I didn't have a violent reaction to my first sight of the pink castle. I don't hate it....I'll be very happy, however, to see it back to its original state.

The boards stated a 10 minute wait for Alien Encounter so we hoofed it over to Tomorrowland to get in a line with a 20 minute wait posted. After waiting for 30 minutes (one of those "Well, we're here now, may as well wait..."), we were let in to our second row seats. I really like this show, being big into any kind of special effects. What I didn't know until after we exited was that Keith has a deep fear of aliens. Great. Who would think to ask a 15 year old boy, beforehand, it he was afraid of aliens? Poor kid had a real hard time with this one.

Next was Timekeeper, where I hear something different every time I see it. I'm one of those obnoxious people who say the lines along with Robin Williams. (I'm quiet though.) "Goodbye, goodbye...all feet are the same...bony knock knees...goodbye". From there, Joe, Keith, Elie and Tony went over to Space Mountain while Peter and I went to see one of his favorites, The Carousel of Progress. We waited for them at one of the shaded tables along the railing overlooking the Grand Prix Raceway and, after dieting for the past 2 month, I totally and thoroughly enjoyed a Mickey Ice Cream Bar. Heaven!

It was already 2 p.m. by the time we all met up again so we let the older boys take off for a while. They headed over to Big Thunder Mountain (rode twice), Tony and Elie rode both Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain, and Peter and I hatched our own plan. We first hit the Hall of Presidents because we hadn't seen it since 1992 when Peter was only five. He thought that it was most definitely cool! From there, we headed toward the Liberty Belle Riverboat as I had remembered reading (from Jeff, perhaps?) about the characters being on board without the accompanying publicity and crowds. What a great tip! Since most people were lining up already for the 3 p.m. parade, there were no more than approximately 100 people on all three floors of the riverboat. Right before we departed, we were joined by two of the country bears and none other than Davy Crockett. Pete had his picture taken with the characters and then he took a picture of me getting a "bear hug". It was a very relaxing way to spend twenty minutes and I'll surely do it again.

We exited the boat and walked in the direction of the Remember the Magic Parade which was about to begin. Within moments we were turning around and walking in the opposite direction - it was very crowded, and we were so far back (with no energy to hunt for a better viewing spot), so we decided to catch it on another day and try riding the Haunted Mansion once before our planned meeting time. This was a great choice...we walked right in and were ushered immediately into the shrinking/stretching room where I again couldn't resist reciting the lines ("Kindly step all the way in and make room for everyone - there's no turning back now.") as this is the sound that I hear from my computer every time Windows 95 is loaded. I don't think I annoyed anyone. We loved it of course, and I tend to hang out of my "doom buggy" so that I don't miss all the little details. I probably look a bit deranged, myself.

We met the guys on the "wet bridge" near Splash Mountain and decided to eat at Pecos Bill since it was convenient. Joe, Keith and I had the Chili/Cheese Fries (pretty good!), Peter and Elie and the Cheesburger Basket and Tony had me order him a bowl of chili while he went off in search of a turkey leg. The bill for lunch (with 5 soft drinks) came to $28.17. After lunch, we headed over to the Pirates of the Caribbean (short wait) and the Swiss Family Treehouse which none of my kids are interested in but was on the itinerary for Keith nonetheless. The all came down wondering why they ever went up. The Jungle Cruise had a 35 minute wait so we bypassed it and backtracked to the Haunted Mansion while I reassured Keith that this was *very* different than AE! I don't think ghosts bother him as much as aliens, because he really did enjoy this one.

We were going to spend only a few hours at MK on this day, eat an early dinner, and head over to Epcot for the evening. SpectroMagic wasn't being run due to Grad Night. As usual, we get so wrapped up in the park and the "one more ride" mentality, that we never leave. Somewhere along the way here, I realized what we were again doing so I called WDW-DINE and scheduled the 1900 Park Faire character dinner for 8:45 p.m. With that out of the way, we were ready for our Fantasyland adventure.

The first stop was, you guessed it, It's a Small World. Keith's mom told him that no WDW vacation would be complete without a visit here. I laughed as he observed the 70's color scheme (psychedelic, flower children type decor). I never really gave it much thought before! Next was a visit to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride where, of course, we *all* searched for the naked lady. These little things are really what makes each trip more fun - that and imagining J.T.Toad screaming, "We're all gonna die!!" The Tea Cups were next and I have some great blackmail material in the form of pictures of two teenage boys, sh**-eating grins on their faces, twirling around madly in those cups! Peter Pan's Flight had a 35 minute wait (has anyone ever walked on to this one?) so we opted to wait the 35 minutes at Splash Mountain instead. This time, Elie, Keith and Joe rode while Tony and I sat near the wet bridge and spoke in Arabic to a lovely Egyptian girl who was in WDW for her honeymoon. Peter was happy getting soaked by the spray and we had fun watching unsuspecting guests get wet. "Honey, I wonder why it's wet here....oh...*that's* why..."

The Jungle Cruise was next, with the wait down to 20 minutes. Our skipper was very animated but either her voice was hard to understand or the microphones needed some work. Half of what she said was muffled. Too bad. Time for one more ride on Splash Mountain for Joe and Keith (which may have had *something* to do with the group of girls that kept following them around...)

We took an unusually leisurely walk out of the park and hopped on the monorail to the Grand Floridian for our dinner seating. We arrived 10 minutes early and were seated immediately! This was our third trip to 1900 Park Faire and we have never been seated in less than a half hour *after* our priority seating time! I'm not sure, but I think that they now have two seatings only, the second one being at 8:45 p.m. I'm guessing this because a) when making my priority seating, I was told that the only available seating left was at 8:45 and b) when we arrived, one of the servers said that it wasn't busy because they were "between seatings". Whatever the reason, it was great!

The food was wonderful, the desserts were even better, and we had lots of character attention. I had purchased a Mickey Mouse postcard earlier in the day and have a great photo of Mickey signing it for Keith's sister ("To Emily, from your pal Mickey"). A highlight of our dinner was our server Domingo. When he brought out the 6 Mickey/Minnie pins for us, I explained about how I collect the Disney resort soap from people on the internet and bag them up for the kids at Children's Hospital in Boston. I told him how we use character pins to tie to the outside of the bags. Within minutes, he was back at my table with 33 more pins! What a sweetie! (Should I mention that he also gave me a huge amount of chocolate mints but, since I can't include food in the bags for the kids, I sacrificed and ate them all myself?)

We got back to the resort at 11:15 p.m. and I let Peter and Elie have a nighttime swim while Tony, Joe and Keith went to Pleasure Island with some free passes that Tony had received from the convention. Peter and Elie and a great time. Joe and Keith, on the other hand, were miserable. They felt very out of place and thought the whole scene was a bit strange. Thank goodness that they're not growing up too fast. They were back and in bed before 12:30 a.m.

Day 4 - Saturday, May 10

"Before beginning a Hunt, it is wise to ask someone what you are looking for before you begin looking for it." - Pooh's Little Instruction Book

We slept a bit late but didn't mind as we had planned to close the Magic Kingdom at midnight on this night. By the time we did all of our bathroom rotations and ate breakfast, it was 11 a.m. We decided to drive to the Y&B Club as we were planning to hit Epcot for a few hours, snack and swim at Stormalong Bay (we're not cheating, really we're not! We're DVC members!), meet up with friends who were staying at the Yacht Club and head over to dinner and the MK with them for the evening. We drove up to the gates at the Y&B Club, flashed our DVC card, and were waived on through. The kids love that DVC card...they say that I have "the power"!

We walked over to the International Gateway entrance and converted our remaining old passes to the new format. These cards make me nervous as I can't really tell if they've coded them correctly and I'm afraid that, sometime down the road, I won't be able to prove what it was that I actually had to begin with. I asked a CM at one of the turnstiles to check one of them and he said that I had five days left (instead of two) but he looked rather confused to begin with.

We went straight to Future World, stopping along the way to admire the topiaries set up for the International Flower and Garden Festival. We got in line for Honey I Shrunk the Audience and only had a 15 minute wait which was surprising for this time of day. The audience was quite enthusiastic and this really makes the show that much more fun. I can't get tired of this...it's such a hoot! From there, we hit Spaceship Earth (no wait), Horizons (no wait), the Wonders of Life Pavilion with a 10 minute wait for Body Wars (not my favorite so Peter and I sat outside and people-watched and used the cycles) and Cranium Command (15 minute wait only because the show had just started).

Another Disney magic moment: I noticed that a few CM's were standing in front of the board which posts the attraction waiting times and that they were handing out something. Not one to ever refuse something for nothing, I walked over to check it out. Along with the maps of Epcot, they had nice little books, Figment on the cover, geared towards children visiting Epcot. There were puzzles and word games inside along with lots of interesting tidbits about Epcot and about the actual countries from which World Showcase is modeled. I told the CM about my "soap mission" and said how nicely these books would go with the bags of soap and shampoo. Within minutes I must have had over 50 books in my hands along with a plastic bag to carry them around in!

Time was running out as I had made tentative plans to meet Barb/gardenia near Beaches and Cream at the Y&B Club at around 3:30 p.m. It's never hard to get us out of the parks with the promise of a swim at Stormalong Bay! We arrived shortly after 3:30, the boys immediately changed and immersed themselves in water, and I went off in search of Barb who I had only seen in pictures on the web. Funny story - there was a very pretty blonde woman sitting at a table right to the left of the Beaches and Cream entrance. From a distance, I couldn't tell if she matched Barb's description so I waved in hopes that I had found her so easily. She stared at me blankly. I waved again. She stared a little more. I called out, "Hi! Are you Barb?" She answered, "Yes....." I said, "Great...I'm Dotti!" She stared some more. "Dotti who? Do I know you?" Well, at this point, things were beginning to resemble the Twilight Zone. As it turned out, she was indeed Barb, just not the right one! She is a very lovely woman from Michigan who is also a DVC member and was sitting there, enjoying her pool privileges. What a way to meet people.

Barb and I unfortunately didn't meet that day but I eventually found my friend, Paula, her husband, Ken, and their two boys, Brendan (12) and Chris (8). (And, yes, it was the right Paula.) After swimming and snacking, we got the kids together, piled the 10 of us into our minivan (looking like the clowns climbing into the Volkswagen), safely buckled the kids, and headed over to the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the Wilderness Lodge for our 6:50 p.m. priority seating. I have to say that I *love* bringing people into this lobby just to watch their expressions and Paula and her family didn't disappoint!

While Tony went to park the car, Ken went into the restaurant to check on our priority seating and even though we were told on the phone that we would have two separate tables, they were able to seat us all together at one. One note on large tables at the WCC: they all seem to be situated on one side of the restaurant, along the railing looking out at the lobby. Because they are set up booth-like on one side, there is a partition between your table and the next. Unfortunately, this partition prevented us from seeing what was happening in the main area of the restaurant (and for those that have never been there, much can happen!) unless we stood up. This really wasn't a big deal....we needed to stand occasionally and let the food settle!

Our server was Scarlett and she started out by pinpointing the obvious trouble makers at our table. Oh-oh....trouble. Poor Brendan, within minutes of being seated, had another CM talking to the back of his head through a megaphone, making him jump a good six inches out of his chair! It was a preview of things to come. Fun was happening all around us...a child was tied to his chair and gagged (for getting up and going to the bathroom too many times), a woman was taken out on a stretcher by her family members (because she ate too much), there were horse races, gun fights, and any number of servers chasing little children to steal their hats. If you want a nice quiet dinner, this is not the place to find it!

Since we had eaten here on a previous trip, we knew the kind of humiliation that one endures if asking for ketchup. Our friends, however, did not. I innocently asked Ken if he would stop our server and ask for a bottle for me. Within minutes, a different server arrived and placed a bottle of ketchup on the table. I was so disappointed - they weren't going to embarrass Ken! After a few more minutes, another server arrived with more ketchup. Shortly after, yet another server with yet another bottle of ketchup. We were beginning to suspect something Our grand total was *twelve* bottles of ketchup! Suddenly, as our server Scarlett is walking by my son Joe, he reaches down, grabs her gun, and stands and holds it to her head, demanding ransom! She's screaming, "Security!!", servers are running to her rescue and asking for Joe's demands, and Joe is yelling out (in his now deep, booming, not-so-little-anymore voice), "I WANT MORE KETCHUP!!!" Two servers soon ran over with a *case* of ketchup while the entire restaurant applauded Joe! What fun! (BTW, the food was great also!) Total cost for dinner for 10, including some but not many alcoholic beverages, tax and a 15% gratuity which was included in the bill ( and which we also added to), was $203.57.

We took our time with dinner and strolled afterward through the lobby and over to Roaring Forks to pick up the free ice cream that the kids had earned by racing their wooden horses throughout the restaurant. I had originally intended to get to the MK long before the 9 p.m. parade began to beat the crowds over to Frontierland for some serious "mountain riding" for the kids. No such luck...we didn't even get to the dock until 8:45 p.m. Oh well. We entered the MK to witness some of the worst crowds that I have ever encountered in this park (always avoiding Saturday *and* parade time when possible). What an experience! We had decided beforehand that the older two boys could go off on their own, Tony and Ken (the other dad, if you're getting confused) would take the two "middle boys" (my Elie, their Brendan) to whatever attractions that they decided on, and that Paula and I would take the two younger boys (my Peter, their Chris) to some of the milder attractions as Chris wasn't big on too much excitement. We planned to meet, again on the wet bridge, at 10:30 p.m. so that we could all watch the 11 p.m. showing of SpectroMagic together. This was probably a good thing as we couldn't have possibly kept track of ten people in this mass confusion! Paula and I, with assigned boys, literally squeezed through the bodies at the entrance and headed left, finally finding a space with a bit of air to breathe. We waited for SpectroMagic to finish (no way to cut across otherwise) and went, against most of the traffic, in the direction of Adventureland to the Jungle Cruise, an attraction that they had yet to visit. JC was a walk on! The CM said that they had had lines of over an hour all day long but we actually had to wait for a few more people before he would even let the skipper begin our journey! Chris loved this one. We had a "so-so" skipper and again, the microphones seemed to eat up her words, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

We had a five minute wait for Pirates of the Caribbean which Chris wanted to re-experience without the fear that ruined it for him the first time. On his first trip, he didn't know about the initial small drop and was terrified throughout the ride that there would be more of the same. He smiled and laughed this time around! We were already running out of time (a little time to kill but not enough time to head elsewhere before our meeting time) so we hung out to wait for the guys. Keith and Joe came back saying that they *really* didn't want to watch the parade (oh well, their loss) and would *much* rather ride the mountains. The other guys decided on SM one more time and to try to get back to us before 11 p.m. With a half an hour to kill, we wandered over to the Country Bear Jamboree but the next showing would let us out after the parade started. I guess I should mention that SpectroMagic is in my top three attractions at WDW so I'm a bit obsessed about seeing it. We shopped in the little candy store next door and bought lots of goodies to eat while parade watching and headed back to find a good viewing spot. I think that I found my favorite parade spot of all time. We found our spot right where the parade exits, with SM in front of us and Pecos Bill to our backs. With only ten minutes left until parade time, we were able to sit down under the ropes and stay seated throughout the whole parade. This may not seem unusual to anyone else, but it was a definite first for me! Needless to say, I loved every minute of the show and Chris and Peter and many characters walk up to them (they were the last kids on the route!), shaking their hands or patting their heads. Our other guys never made it until the end but have a great group picture from Splash Mountain, my family with their arms in the air and the rest of the group looking like they were riding to their deaths. Great fun!

It was now 11:45 p.m. and Paula and Ken said their goodbyes. Joe and Keith wanted one more ride on SM (it was a different group of girls this time) so Tony waited for them and I walked Peter and Elie to the water shuttle. I wanted to get back to the Wilderness Lodge and look for Elie's belt bag which he had left under the table at the WCC and which contained his 35mm camera. We were back in the lobby by 12:30 a.m., luckily found the belt bag in the back of the podium in the restaurant, and settled in to wait for everyone else. By 1:00 a.m. we were finally all together (but quickly falling apart!) and got back to our room at 1:35 a.m. - to find a message from Barb/gardenia on our voice mail! She said to call back anytime, no matter how late...hmm...a dilemma. This *really* was late! I called anyway and we made arrangements to meet in the morning for breakfast. This was the first good night's sleep that I had at this resort and boy, did I enjoy it!

Day 5 - Sunday, May 11 (Mother's Day!)

"Drinking your milk and talking at the same time may result in your having to be patted on the back and dried for quite a long time afterward." - Pooh' s Little Instruction Book

I was motivated to get up early today (breakfast with Barb!), so I got up in enough time to shower, dress and pack before our 9:30 a.m. meeting time. Finally meeting Barb was one of the highlights of this entire trip. The boys (and Tony) were kind enough to give us space so that we could talk without the normal 7-people-at-breakfast interruptions. Barb shared some great pics of the Wide World of Sports and of a recent radp meet and , at least for me, our time together was way too short. Barb is not only brilliant, but also gorgeous (as Tony will attest to!) and I feel so blessed to have met such wonderful people on radp!

We finished our packing (did I say "we"?), checked out by 11:30 a.m. and headed for Epcot to finish up the attractions that we hadn't had time for the day before. We had also promised the kids some time in Innoventions. The line today for HISTA was depressingly long so we bypassed this and headed over to the Living Seas. I, personally, am not a huge fan of the Living Seas. Boston has quite an impressive aquarium and I can easily get my fill here of sea life. We had all decided that we shouldn't let our preferences prevent Keith from seeing things that were of interest to him, and this was a pavilion that he seemed to want to visit. I do love the ride through the aquarium and only wish it was much longer. We had fun watching the manatees devouring huge heads of lettuce.

Ellen's Energy Adventure was next and something that I had been eagerly awaiting. We all thought that it was such an improvement over the old version that it is now on our "must see" list. What a great way to get educated! From there came the half hour of promised time in Innoventions for Tony and the boys. I wandered around, visiting the Discovery Center (much more accessible than the previous location and still not at all busy) and watching the fountains. We wanted our final meal to be at the Restaurant Akershus so I found the World Key consoles and attempted to make our priority seating arrangements. No luck. I found the consoles easily enough but couldn't get through to an attendant. I found a phone nearby and phoned in my request. We were able to get a 3:15 p.m. priority seating even though it was already 2:15 p.m.

On the way out of Future World, Keith visited another store in search of a Pluto shirt, the only thing that his sister Emily had requested as a souvenir. We had found a black shirt with a frowning Pluto which he really felt wasn't the type of gift to bring back to a ten year old girl. We finally found one....a great picture of Pluto on a white shirt, with Canada written on the back. He hesitated, wishing it didn't have a country associated with it, but figured it was his last chance to find what he wanted and bit the bullet. Whew...mission accomplished.

We were seated shortly after our arrival to Akershus. My family, children included, really love this restaurant. Keith decided that no other family that he knew of had kids who would "eat this stuff". Showing, as he had done the entire trip, how easy he was to travel with, he made do with the few recognizable things on the buffet and ate lots of meatballs, roast beef and ham. He also thought that the "fish of the day" was excellent. I ordered the "Prince of Norway" which is a drink concoction made with Apricot brandy. It was ok, not a repeat. What is most definitely a repeat is the rice cream!! Thank you so much to everyone who recommended this dessert - I dream of it daily! Cost for lunch for the 6 of us, with the MKC discount, was $57.30.

We decided to simply walk through World Showcase and exit, stopping if we saw something that interested us. Our flight home was at 7:40 p.m. so we wanted to be in our car and on the road by 6 p.m. Walking through China, we were lucky enough to catch the performance by the Pu Yang Acrobats. Even though the boys didn't want to stop (too hot), they ended up fascinated with this group of children, 6 boys and 2 girls, all looking to be between the ages of 6 and 12, who performed seemingly impossible feats. I don't know how long they'll be in Epcot, buy try to catch them if they are still around!

As we approached the American Adventure, Keith and Joe went off in search of strawberry ice (didn't they sell this a *lot* last year?) and I walked in to the gardens to see the All-American Mickey and Minnie topiaries. While I was admiring and taking pictures, Mickey, Minnie, Chip, Dale and Pluto all came running (and skipping) out! We had been looking for Pluto for four days! Tony ran off to get Keith and I spoke to one of the CM's, explaining about Keith's sister being ill and adoring Pluto. He promised to keep him available until Keith returned. Keith and Joe arrived in a few minutes and we have wonderful photos, not only of Keith and Pluto together, but of Pluto signing the back of Emily's new teeshirt (I just *happened* to have a permanent marker in my bag - something that I never carry around - more Disney magic!) with his name and pawprint!

Though it's always hard to leave, at least we were leaving on a happy note. Elie and I caught a showing of Impressions de France while Keith shopped for a cap for his mom and our time had finally run out. We walked to retrieve our car, and headed to the airport for an uneventful trip home.

Thoughts that didn't seem to fit anywhere else (or ones that I was too lazy to find where to insert them):

I looked everywhere for those red radp pins and wore mine constantly....alas, no luck.
Pulling the kids out of school is still very easy for those in elementary school. Beware of the stress of taking them out in high school. It was still worth it, but if you're postponing a trip for any reason, keep the grades of your children in mind. Between exams, projects, sports tryouts, games and extracurricular activities, the high school years are quite different. Never did I think that my favorite time for WDW would become August!
Mother's Day "festivities" were advertised both online and in brochures as existing for the entire weekend. CM's in Epcot, on Saturday (supposedly the second day of these festivities) were not being told that anything special was happening! On Mother's Day, areas were set up for a free family picture (we never looked hard enough to find them but they also weren't set up in places where you couldn't miss them) and carnations were given out to the moms. I'm not saying that this wasn't enough, only that it seemed much less organized than what you would expect.
Crowds seemed bigger than usual, especially in the Magic Kingdom. Smoke wasn't as big an issue as it's been on previous trips and the CM's seemed to be more aware of smokers in queues and also more willing to do something about it. The only tour groups that we encountered were American girls on field trips, which didn't draw any complaints from my four boys.
Out of seven trips to WDW, this was the first one where we didn't depart early in the day. I really enjoyed having that extra time and it made it less difficult to board the plane. After walking around in the hot sun, the promise of 3 hours of air-conditioned relaxation was even appealing.
If you've gotten all the way to this point, thanks for reading! 76 Days, 13 Hrs, 4 Mins, 52 Secs until we next see WDW!!

Dotti

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