Trip Reports

Our trip consisted of 3 nights at Beach Club with just our family (myself, my wife, and 4 kids age 1,5,10,13) and 4 nights at Ft. Wilderness Homes with the 6 of us plus my mother-in-law.

Arrival

We flew from Phoenix on Continental Airlines (we live in Alaska, but we broke up the trip by spending a few days in Phoenix on the way). I had made reservations with Florida Town Car for a stretch limo, however, we were met in the luggage area by our driver who said we would be taking a town car. This was disappointing because the kids had never been in a stretch limo and I thought it would be fun for them, and a town car was a bit small for a family of six. I chose not to complain or even mention it because 1) it was much cheaper, and I don't mind saving the money 2) I hadn't told the kids we were taking a stretch limo, so they were not disappointed, and 3) I wanted to remain in a good mood and get to WDW quickly.

We arrived at Beach Club and had quick courteous check in and baggage delivery. We decided our first official Disney act would be to have ice cream sundaes at Beaches and Cream. Good idea! We liked that the arcade was right next door because this allowed the kids who were done eating to go there and play while the slow eaters finished up and I settled the bill.

[As an aside, I wish more sit down restaurants at WDW had play areas in the restaurant or nearby. I know most finer restaurants don't cater to kids like that, but at WDW I think it would be a good idea since it is generally a family resort. Meals were often frustrating for us because one of us would usually have to escort some of the children outside to play somewhere while the others finished up. I don't know about your family, but we find it nearly impossible to expect all the kids to sit still throughout a full meal. We tried to compensate for this by choosing buffets as much as possible so the kids could start eating right away. As another aside, most WDW restaurants we tried had slow service and were very slow about bringing the bill around. I notice these things more when I have children along with me. Food court services were better for kids in some ways (and cheaper), but they often had lines to stand in, and mediocre food]

We decided to walk next door to Epcot and dive right in. We did Spaceship Earth, Horizons, and El Rio de Tiempo in rapid succession (all walk-ons) and this served as a wonderful introduction to the younger kids to what Disney attractions are all about. It got them over their jitters about going into a dark strange place, etc, and helped prepare them for the more intense rides yet to come. Then came Illumination 25. The kids loved it. My 13 yo said it was the best firework show she had ever seen.

Day 1

We did not set an alarm despite the advice of nearly everyone to get up early. We decided that fighting jet lag that much with small kids was just asking too much. We ended up being up and at breakfast by 9am anyway, which I didn't think was too bad. We were seated after about 5 minutes at Cape May character breakfast buffet. We really enjoyed all the buffets we ate at this trip because everyone could get their fill of whatever they wanted without wait, and the food was generally very good, especially at 1900 Park Fare-but I'm getting ahead of myself. We took the boat to the Studios. I much prefer boats to buses, but I thought the boat service from BC to the Studios was inadequate. It was a long wait and not everyone was able to fit on the boat-I felt sorry for those who had to wait. Those of us who made it on were cramped a bit.

We went directly to HOND. Six thumbs up. Then the Honey I shrunk... playground. Of course the kids loved it. The baby needed her nap. We opted not to try going back to the hotel for it because of our disappointment with the transportation. She did fine in her stroller. My wife stayed with her while I took the remaining 3 kids on Muppet 3D and Star Tours. They loved them both. We then all rejoined to watch the Hercules parade. It was worthwhile, but the heat was getting to us! I poured water on the kids heads to help cool them off-they got a kick out of that Next came a late lunch at 50's Prime Time Cafe. We had a 20 minute wait despite priority seating-I think this is one of the disadvantages of a larger family. We really had fun here! The kids had no idea what to expect and it took them a while to catch on to the waiter was up to. By the time they caught on that it was all part of the show, they really had fun with it. In the end they considered it one of the top 5 highlights of the trip. [I would have enjoyed it more if the service had been faster and the air conditioner higher!] Next we did the animation tour, Little Mermaid, TOT, and great movie ride (I watched the younger kids while my wife and older kids went on the latter two). Then came the boat ride back to BC. We got in line at 7:40 (the park closed at 7) and it was long!!! We decided to pass up the next boat which was crammed to standing room only, and even though we had to wait another 20 minutes, we were glad we did, because it made it much less crowded and more relaxing. Jet lag was worked in our favor to allow me to take the older two kids to Pleasure Island (via bus) while my wife let the younger ones take baths and play in the room. We went to the Adventurer's Club. The first show in the library was for 21 years and older only so we waited it out and went to a later one (and of course visited other rooms while we waited). The show was really funny. The kids loved it. Probably on their top 5 list.

Day 2

Breakfast at the Yacht Club Galley. Great Buffet. Unfortunately they ran out of high chairs so we had to wait about 10 minutes for one. Very friendly waitress. This was to be another Studios day in my master plan, but alas some built in flexibility allowed us to make an executive decision to make it a swimming day at Stormalong Bay (we were still a bit tired from the previous day, and the pool was closed at night due to the mosquito thing). What a good decision that was! We loved that pool! This had to be one of our top 5 things. There was something there for all ages, and it was not too crowded. We had some Milk shakes at Beaches and Cream then went to the room to clean up for Hoop-de-doo review. We walked through Epcot, allowing my son to spend some time in innoventions-one of his priorities. Then boarded the monorail to TTC and transferred to the train to MK where we picked up the launch to Hoop-de-doo. It turns out my reservations there were for 1998! Some kind of reservations snafu I guess, but they were able to get us into the show anyway, so no biggy. We met up with some friends of ours from Indiana here (by prior arrangement of course) and had a great time together with our two families. I thought the humor was quite juvenile, but it was perfect for my juveniles-they'd probably put it on their top 10 list. Afterwards I separated from my family to spend a few hours with my Indiana friend. My wife and kids took the buses back to Epcot where they played some more in innoventions. My friend and I took his car to Boardwalk where we walked around the lagoon two times (or was it three?) and talked over old times etc.... It turns out that the bridge between Boardwalk and Yacht club is an excellent place to watch Illuminations 25 and still carry on a conversation. The fireworks reflect on the water beautifully.

Day 3

Checked out of Beach Club. Overall we really liked it, especially the convenience to Epcot and Stormalong Bay, the overrall atmosphere was quite nice. My only complaints were (feel free to skip this part if you don't want to hear complaints!) the halls were narrow and hot with scuff marks on walls, the room size seemed smaller than what I was expecting, and the two times I needed to go to the guest relations desk I had to wait a while in line (there, that wasn't too bad was it?).

Walked to the Boardwalk for the breakfast buffet at Spoodles. We used our flex plan for this. This had some rather unique selections-all good. Took the boat to the Studios where we started with Indiana Jones. The kids liked it. I thought it was slow in spots and was obviously nothing like the way they really make a movie even though that's their premise. Next came B&B. Great pre-show! I was peaved here (skip ahead if you don't want to read my peave) that although we sat in the front row at my 5yo daughter's request, we ended up having a group of teenagers sit in front of us (partially obstructing her view) because one of them was in a wheelchair. It seemed quite obvious to me that she didn't need a wheelchair. It left me again with the thought that Disney is not adequately attending to the needs of smaller children-more on this later. Next we did the sound show (I don't remember what its called now). Not a big hit. We did the sound booths afterwards and the older ones enjoyed it but the younger ones obviously didn't get the point and were restless in the dark booth. I recommend skipping this with small kids. Next we did the backstage pass tour. This was a bore, but I was very glad they allowed for strollers to be pushed through it (why don't they do that at more attractions?!), so the baby snoozed through it and we were able to stay together as a family. Lastly we did the backlot tour then headed out to go check in at Wilderness Homes. The line at the bus we were supposed to take was quite long and would have required us to wait in the sun (I wish Disney would do more to provide shade and seating in all its waiting areas!) so we impulsively took the bus to the Wilderness Lodge with little wait or crowd. I was hoping we would do a 4pm lunch/dinner there but it turned out the restaurants were closed until 5pm. We ended up waiting in a long line at their snack bar. Its redeeming value was its proximity to the arcade. We then took the launch to the campground and the bus to the check in desk. Check in was smooth, and our luggage had made it OK. Unfortunately our escort to the Home was apparently in a bad mood and was rather short with me (I swear I didn't deserve it!). He refused to accept my tip. I've never had that happen and I'm not sure what to make of it. Grammy (my mother in-law) arrived safely and on time and stayed with us for the rest of the trip. Trouble: my son couldn't find his backpack. I called lost and found but they were closed for the day. We mentally retraced our steps and decided he either left it on the launch from Ft W. Lodge or on the Dale bus to the Homes check in desk. So I set off to retrace those steps. By the time I caught up with the back pack, word was already out from the CM's I questioned that I was looking for it and they found it and arranged for it to be delivered to our room-what service! I was not so lucky in getting back because I got caught up in Hoop-de-Doo traffic. By the time I got back it was about 8:30pm. The back pack beat me by about 30 minutes! In retrospect I guess I should have just alerted a bus driver of our lost back pack and stayed put. I wasted a lot of time looking for it myself. This was supposed to be our first night at MK! (to see the parade and fireworks). Everyone in my family was too exhausted to travel all the way there at 8:30pm when the park closed at 9pm, except my oldest daughter and me. I was determined. So the two of us set off and arrived at MK at about 8:55pm. We watched the fireworks then milled around the park for a while absorbing the atmosphere. The MK definitely has the lion's share of the magic at WDW. We ate Toll House cookies then took the launch home. (warning here comes another complaint; I wish they wouldn't run those loud street sweepers on main street, it really spoils the mood and drowns out the music. I appreciate the emphasis on cleanness [and I resent people who leave trash on the street], but still I think imagineering could come up with a better solution..) We now had a decision to make. Grammy had rented a mini-van to join us. It cost $46 per day. She was going to just rent a compact car for herself then turn it in at WDW (National), but decided on her own to rent a mini-van. Not a bad price, but did we need it? We could use it to drive to Epcot, Fantasia Gardens and possibly Downtown Disney. Unfortunately it is on no value within Ft. Wilderness since there is no parking at the Settlement depot which is where we would usually be going. So we decided against it and turned the van back in. We may have made a mistake-see ahead.

Day 4

I got up before everyone else and took Chip to the check-in desk where I had to check in again. I had to do this because our first night there did not include Length of Stay Passes since our passes from the Beach club were still valid. This apparently required them to book it as two separate reservation, and I had to check in again, even though we stayed in the same room (surely they could come up with a better system). On the bright side, we were given a new set of Flex plans-I wasn't expecting that, but apparently they consider that we bought two separate vacation packages and therefore get two flex plans. I said thank you. I sat at the bus stop to wait for the Dale bus, and let Chip go by since ours was the last stop on the Chip route but the first on Dale. 20 minutes later Chip came around again and the driver explained that there was no Dale running that morning. That made me mad. Mad enough that I took Chip directly to the bike barn and rented two, not one but two-remember we have 7 people in our group now, golf carts at $35 each per day. And I swore I would never ride another bus. It turns out those golf carts were a big hit! The kids loved it! Probably in their top five. We adults loved it too because now we could go anywhere on the campground easily without wait. This included the pool, laundry, Meadows trading post (where you have to go to pick up packages you ask to have sent to your room, I learned. Come on guys this is an expensive resort, you can do better than that!), and the Settlement Depot area.

We took our carts to Trail's End buffet for breakfast. They told us it would be a 20 minute wait! I refused (I was in a bad mood from the morning's events) and we took the launch to the Contemporary where were told the wait for Chef Mickey's was an hour and a half! We opted to eat at the Concourse Steakhouse where we were seated immediately. After we ordered I went to the guest services desk to make priority seating arrangements for future breakfasts so we wouldn't go through this again. I had tried calling WDW-Dine but was told their computers were down. The guest services guy was training a new CM, so I got top rate service from them! Unfortunately Trail's End does not accept priority seating. But I arranged our other meals. I got back to the table about 20 minutes later but the food was still not served! Slow service!! Eventually the food came but we had to wait another long while for the bill. The food was good. Off to the Magic Kingdom! We rode the resort monorail to the MK and the excitement mounted with each stop along the way. My 5 yo daughter kept asking "Is this it Daddy?!". When the announcement said "Welcome to the Magic Kingdom, the Most Magical Place on Earth," I thought she would nearly wet her pants with excitement. She nearly floated down main street with eyes wide open absorbing it all. Seeing her excitement allowed me to set aside my frustrations from the morning and get into the magic. We walked down main street and through the castle, taking time to enjoy all the sights and sounds and just enjoy the excitement of being there. I decided we should go next to Small World so we could keep up the excitement without a long wait in line somewhere else. Its great for all ages! Then we went to HM. We all went on it-even the baby. Our 5 yo regretted it thought because the pop up heads were too much for her. She closed her eyes through the whole graveyard scene. Next came Splash Mt. The baby was napping in her stroller by then, with Grammy agreeing to watch her. Then came a Godsend. A cloudburst. Nearly half the people in line for Splash Mt got out of line and headed for cover! I couldn't understand that since it is a get-wet ride. But I was grateful. The kids made funny poses for the camera so my wife bought the picture. Unfortunately, a water drop in front of the camera obscured her face, but it was such a great shot of the kids, she still wanted it. The CM at the photo desk offered to put us to the front of the line so we could re-take the photo because of the water drop, but by then my wife had already gone off to nurse the baby, so we declined. Next, I took the big kids on BTMR while the little kids played at the Laughing Place play area (now there's a great idea! Why don't they do more of that kind of thing for children waiting at other attractions?). Then POC, Jungle Cruise, then the Mark Twain Steamboat ride. My older kids had fun making fun of how completely dull the latter was. I thought characters rode the boat with us, but apparently not always. We began to make our way out of the park to eat dinner, but we bought a balloon on main street for the baby and saw "Mickey's Big Break" on the way out. We took the launch to the GF where we had an early dinner at 1900 Park Fare. This was a real treat. It was the best food and best service of any meal we had. It was a character meal with Mickey and Minnie, and since the restaurant was only about half full, they were able to spend a lot of time with each family. Another great point about this restaurant for us was how spacious it was. The restless children were able to get down and play on the floor and walk around a bit without getting in anyone's way. I think if we ever go back to WDW, I would stay at the GF for the superior service and facilities, and handy access to the MK-my favorite park by far. Unfortunately, they don't have rooms for a family our size, so we'd have to get a suite or two rooms! Expense certainly would be an issue. This meal cost us $138. Back to reality-we went back to the MK (via monorail) and went to tomorrowland. I took the two little kids on Take Flight, TTA, and Astro Orbiter while the older bunch went on Space Mountain and Alien Encounter. We all took advantage of the parade to ride the tomorrowland speedway as a virtual walk-on. Then the tea cups. This was surprisingly a big hit with the littler kids. After the fireworks, we moseyed our way down main street, with a little shopping and took the launch back to Ft. W.. My wife and I took a golf cart to run a load of laundry while grammy and the kids played in the room. I took a quick dip in the pool. Not a mosquito in sight.

Day 5

Again I woke up long before the kids so I went on a morning hike on the swamp trail. I really loved it. The natural vegetation in Florida is really astounding. No one else was on the trail so it made a relaxing prayerful time for me. Back to the room, everyone was ready to go, so off we went. We had breakfast at Trail's End-this time with no wait. This breakfast buffet is fantastic, for the price-the best value at WDW. We were on our way to Epcot (via launch and monorail) but the launch stopped at Discovery Island so we impulsively decided to get off and try it out. We are really glad we did! We loved Discovery Island! It is a nice change of pace with no crowds and lots of natural beauty. They really have a great collection of exotic birds. Very beautiful. I think its the first time my kids have seen alligators. We took the launch to the contemporary where we caught the monorail (monorail service to the resorts is quite good) to the TTC where we got the monorail to Epcot. We boarded the monorail with ease but it waited about 10 minutes before it left. By then a great many people had trickled onto it so that it became crowded and standing room only. I resented that. Why don't they run an adequate number of trains? The baby fell asleep in her stroller so on arrival at Epcot My wife took her to a cool quiet area to sleep while the rest of us went on Body Wars and Universe of Energy (mediocre reviews for each) then I took the baby while my wife joined the group for HISTA. I told them I would wait for them in the Land, but when I pushed the stroller in there a zealous CM told me I would have to leave the stroller outside. I explained I was just looking for a cool place for the baby to nap. He told me I had to go out, but another CM came over and said it would be OK if I took the stroller to the benches just inside the entrance. So I did. The first CM seemed dejected and made a point of coming around to remind me that as soon as the baby awakened I would have to go. I noticed they have no problem with wheelchairs and scooter going in, so I wondered what they have against sleeping babies? Well after a while she woke up so I took her to the fountains outside HISTA to play. After the others came out of the theater we all played there for quite a while, then did Journey into Imagination. We were going to go to the Land, but still had a bitter feeling abut the way they treated my baby so I boycotted it and we went toward the world showcase. My 5yo bought a passport so we approached a CM in Canada to figure out how it works. He stamped it and wrote a short note in it and said a few kind words to her. In the UK, the CM at the "KidCot" table did the same thing and they took the time to color a union jack together while the older kids watched the street play (they said it was really funny). About then a full cadre of characters came out in the garden. The UK seems to have a good share of Disney characters. This waylayed us beyond the point that we could make it Marrakesh for our seating time so walked on ahead to it to tell them we would be a half hour late. Apparently this was an unnecessary gesture on my part since they thanked me and assured me a half hour late would be fine, but didn't write anything down. I went back to get the group and we made our way to Marrakesh which was more than half empty. We splurged here because it is the only time any of us have ever tried any Moroccan food. We ordered an appetizer and the big multi-sample meal (I don't remember the names for all these things) and some Moroccan wine and beer. The younger kids played it safe with familiar foods from the kids menu. The dancer appeared twice during our meal and some musicians did brief sets. We enjoyed the dancer, especially my 5 yo daughter-she would consider the Moroccan dancer one of her top 5 highlights. She reminded her of Esmerelda. We backtracked to France where we watched the living statue for about 20 minutes (while the little one played in with the fountain). Then we all watched Impressions de France- I can't get enough of that music. We visited Japan and Italy just long enough for my daughter to get her passport stamped then went to the last showing of an American Adventure. The baby was tired and fussy so my wife waited out with her while the rest of us saw it. My 5yo fell asleep during it. I realized we had driven them too hard for one day so we headed to the monorail. At the monorail station, the CM had told us to wait behind a certain line. After a few moments I stepped beyond the line to get a drink from the water fountain. He snapped at me at first, but after he saw I was just getting a drink, he gave me a little speech about how it was OK to cross the line to get a drink, but otherwise I would have to stay behind the line. I was silently amazed. What kind of traumas must happen to people like him to make him want to treat us like children? Are crowds there really so unmanageable that they have to be on their guards so much to prevent some kind of anarchy or chaos? Maybe they are recovering from a long hot busy summer. At the TTC they had the express monorail chained off because it was after closing time for the MK. However the resort monorail was crammed full of people. It gave me flashbacks of movies I have seen about the holocaust where the transportation trains are crammed full of people. I couldn't stand the thought of being told one more time "move all the way in to make room for other people" as if it were my fault that their transportation services were inadequate, so I overcame my natural quietness to approach the two CM's standing there chatting. Me, "Would you please let us ride the express monorail, that one (the resort one) is obviously full" Him, appearing to resent my interruption of their chat, "Sir, the Magic kingdom closed half an hour ago" Me, "Yes I know, but we need to catch the launch back to the campground" Him, "Sir, you'll need to go down the ramp to the buses which will take you there" Me, "No, we're not riding a bus with a sleeping baby [in the stroller]" (you have to fold up your stroller on buses)

He went back to the guard tower and had a high level conversation with someone then agreed to allow us on the express monorail. I am very grateful they agreed to do it, but resentful that I had to go through all that to get something that is very reasonable and should be available to anyone who wants it. When we got to the MK station, I noticed lots of people getting off the resort monorail there, so I'm sure we weren't the only ones who could have used the express monorail. Anyway we went to the launch and it was just about to leave. Unfortunately, it too was crammed to the hilt with people so we opted to wait for the next one. The CM kept trying to usher us onto it, but I repeatedly but politely reminded him I was not going to stand and ride. We sat on the benches and waited, and we were glad we did, because the next boat had only a few passengers and the whole mood was more relaxed.

Day 6

I dreaded the ordeal of traveling back to Epcot-perhaps we should have kept the rental mini-van-but after our usual Trail's End Breakfast away we went. The lines were way long in future world so we headed off to WS. Characters were out in force in the plaza area and the kids really wanted Alladin and Jasmine's autograph. Unfortunately after a long wait the characters left just before it was my kids' turn. Got the passport stamp in Mexico from a CM who was downright rude I thought. She snapped at my daughter for handing it to her opened to the wrong page and handed it back. My daughter is just learning to read! So I found Mexico for her and gave it back to the CM who stamped it silently. Norway was better. Very pleasant interaction with passport stamper there. We rode Maelstrom and we really liked the movie afterward. In China we were sent from one person to another to get someone to stamp the passport. Finally found the correct place but no one was there. I sought out a woman who looked like a supervisor and she came over an brusquely stamped it. By now I was discouraged with the whole passport thing, and my daughter had lost interest. We got Germany just for completeness then headed out of WS back to Cranium Command. The kids loved it, but I was not allowed in the building with the baby sleeping in the stroller (there must be some law against this!) so I waited next door at Innoventions East. Unfortunately there are no benches in there so I sat on the floor next to her. Eventually the family rejoined me and my son was going to do one of the Virtual Reality games, but that area was closed for remodeling. Boy was he disappointed! He had seen advertisements of people in Innoventions with things on their heads playing games and he really wanted to try. I never saw any notice that this area was closed. What can I say? Sorry son. That did it for us. We were done with Epcot. We were hoping to do Fantasia Gardens in the afternoon as our flex feature, but we were so tired of the transportation mess and exhausted from the heat We had a family conference and decided what we all wanted was a break. Lets go to the room and do nothing! Perhaps swim, but the kids weren't excited about the Ft. Wilderness Campground pool (no special features) and they swim regularly anyway, so they just wanted to play in the room! My wife and I swam briefly just because it was such a welcome relief from the heat and tired feet. I really needed the break for an attitude readjustment. We decided we would stay strictly with the MK from now on. We went to the Meadows trading post and everyone picked out whatever they wanted for dinner. I got a salad and ice cream, the kids got mostly ice cream and snack cakes. We took it all back to our room and had quite a feast! Off to the MK again. Unfortunately my daughter forgot her backpack on the playground next to boat launch. We didn't discover this until we had pulled away from the dock. My wife graciously volunteered to make a round trip boat ride and go back and get it while the rest of us went ahead-it was still there. We decided to go to fantasyland since we hadn't spent much time there yet. We did all the rides there with very short lines, I think because people were lining up for the evening parade. We really enjoyed this evening of ride after ride (I should say attraction after attraction) in fantasyland. My 5yo especially liked Mr Toad's Wild Ride! The older two and I broke away long enough to do Splash Mt and BTMR again. This evening was just what we needed to pick us back up.

Day 7 -- our last day

Breakfast at Trail's End. We used our flex feature for this, which was not all that smart economically but we had no other good option by then. We gave up on trying to make it to Fantasia Garden. We all wanted our last day to be all MK. Took the launch to MK where we boarded the train to Mickey's Toon Town Fair. We walked through Mickey's house (but did not visit Mickey since we had already seen quite a lot of him). Then Donald's boat. The little kids played there a long while and had a blast! They were drenched to the bone. Meanwhile I and the big kids rode the Barnstormer. After that we walked the back path to Tomorrowland and did COP, TTA, and Take Flight. The baby fell asleep so I walked her in the stroller while the rest did Timekeeper. I strolled to the Welcome Center to see what was going on in there. I was told I could not go in with the stroller! This really got my goat! Some Welcome Center! Again wheelchairs are allowed in so I know its possible. But sleeping babies threaten them. I decided to walk over to town hall to complain, oddly enough strollers are allowed in there. I asked for a complaint form, but apparently there are none. I was told to make my complaint directly to her. I chose not to do so because my complaint was not with her. I'm sure she didn't write the rule. And I can imagine how that conversation would have gone. I would have had to listen to a patronizing highly logical explanation of how threatening sleeping babies are to good order and decency. My family took the skyway to fantasyland I rejoined them there as arranged. We went to the Remember the Magic Parade and my kids participated and had a blast. After that we went to Tom Sawyer's Island and the kids loved being allowed to roam freely. We had an early dinner at Aunt Polly's. Aside from the long line, this was a great place to eat. Its right on the water with lots of activity to watch. The kids were free to roam about without us fearing them getting lost. We were planning to go out to a resort for diner, but this turned out to be a better idea. Next came Country Bear Jamboree. Kids liked it. I thought the sound system needs updated. By now people were beginning to line up for Spectromagic, so we had another family conference to decide whether to go to it or not. We hadn't seen it yet. But we decided to skip it because we didn't want to be in such crowds anymore, and the kids had seen parts of it in passing on previous nights so they felt they had the idea. Instead we decided to do "Ride Fest!" I took the big kids and we did POC, Splash Mt, BTMR, HM, and Space Mt. We then did Splash mountain two more times as walk-ons. The little kids did ride fest in fantasyland and reportedly had just as much fun as we did. All rides were walk-ons. My wife put the 5yo and 1yo together in the front seat of Mr Toad because they both loved to work the steering wheel. The CM playfully asked the 5yo "Do you have a driver's license?" She answered, "No, but she does! [pointing to her 1 yo sister]" We'll treasure that one for a long time. As we were walking from frontierland to fantasyland to our designated meeting place (King Arthur's Sword) we were interrupted by a CM at the entrance of Fantasyland who said "this area of the park is closed." I explained that I was to meet the rest of my family there. He told me to go back out and walk under the castle to get there. I did, but I found it an exercise in silliness. We found them there. My wife had a discussion with a CM there who looked like a supervisor about some defective merchandise my daughter bought earlier that day, but the place she bought it from was now closed. The CM was extremely nice and helpful. He took our name and number and gave us a form to take to Guest Relations and they would fed-ex us a new item the next day. He also said he would call us personally to make sure we got it. [As of now -- two weeks after the trip-we have not received the item or a phone call. We'll see what comes of that] In the meantime my 5yo needed to pee so I asked another CM standing by where the nearest restroom was. She said we would have have to go all the way up main street! We were standing by the carousel, so I'm sure there were rest rooms nearer by, but I guess it would be violating some important rule to go anywhere else after the park closed. Fortunately my daughter said she was not desperate and could probably wait that long. Another CM offered us to use an abandoned stroller to take her out of the park with. I appreciated that. But I can see why people on this newsgroup complain of being hit by those strollers so much. They are really sharp in front! So down mainstreet we went. We stopped to pee and turn in the defective merchandise form and to take in the atmosphere since we may never be back. Most of the family took the launch back to the campground. My 10 yo son and I instead took the monorail to the Contemporary because I promised him I would take him there. He had heard they have a great arcade so he had saved up money to spend there. He was in 10yo old boy heaven! I went upstairs and bought my wife some jewelry then I was going to get a snack but the snack bar line was too long. After my son had shot his wad, we took the bus back to where our golf cart was. I let him steer the cart (I'm sure in violation of some very important rules). He was thrilled.

Checking out, and postlogue

The next morning my wife and I drove our two golf carts back to the bike barn. She took off right away to rejoin the children. When I go to the rental return window, the CM told me we parked them in the wrong place and asked me to move them. As far as I could see there was no indication what the right or wrong places to return the carts were, and I resented that he asked me to move them when he was just chatting with another CM himself and no one else was around. But I moved them. Then I walked to the front desk (not being inclined to wait on any more buses) where I checked out and got on the rental car shuttle to go get the minivan we had rented to drive down to Ft. Myers for the rest of our vacation. The Rental car line was long- so long that if I had been in an airport I would have gone to another rental counter, but National has a monopoly here. I got an overpriced van ($86/day I think) and drove it back to Ft Wilderness. Unfortunately, I didn't know that a resort card was required to drive through the gate at Ft. W. and I didn't have mine anymore. There was a button to push on the gate for assistance, but no one answered it. Eventually the cars behind me backed up enough that I could back up. I went to the front desk and explained the dilemma. They were very kind, but after much deliberation determined that they were unable to make a new card for me. Instead they told me to drive to lane 4 of the camper check-in and and she would call someone and instruct them to let me in there. I drove to lane 4. Nothing. Nobody. I got in line at lane 3, which was open to campers checking in. After waiting a while in line, I explained to the CM what happened, and after comfirming in the computer that I was a guest, she let me in. By the time I got to the Home, my family had already gone on to breakfast. The luggage guy was there getting my mother-in law's luggage, but he was loading up some of our luggage too, which was not necessary since I was there with the rental car. It took me a while to convince him that I was who I said I was and not just someone trying to rip off luggage, but after a while he believed me and he even gave me a ride to Trail's End to join my family! What a nice guy! We had a nice leisurely breakfast, then grammy took a Mears shuttle off to the airport and we drove off to the rest of our vacation (which by the way was wonderful).

Summary. This was a mixed experience for us. We had some wonderful experiences of exceptional services, but also seemed to have a lot of mediocre and even poor service. The kids had a blast, but I didn't. But I kept a positive outlook so as not to spoil any of the fun for them. I felt like for the prices we payed, we should get consistently excellent service.

I do not think WDW is a very good place for small children. Especially Epcot. The highlights from our trip were 50's Prime Time Cafe, Marrakesh, 1900 Park Fare, Stormalong Bay, The Adventurer's Club, Splash Mountain, Mr Toad's Wild Ride, golf carts at Ft Wilderness, and most of all The Magic Kingdom at night

Doug Smith

dougs@alaska.net

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