Trip Reports

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: CSR, OKWR, ASSR
Accommodations
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience: Frequent, DVC Members
Comments: Carol's report is a combination of a summary style and play-by-play. It covers a lot of details, and is well worth reading for anyone planning a lengthy trip!

Introduction

This report is about our annual trip to Walt Disney World. On this trip was my husband Mark, and myself, Carol. We stayed at Old Key West Resort as we are Disney Vacation Club members. This was our first chance to stay there, as we only joined a year ago when we were on our honeymoon. Last year we played commando for the first several days, but really burned out after the first 5 days or so (see trip report from late Sept. 1997). This year the plan was to either sleep late or play late every day.

The original intent of this report was to be a play by play style report, but I am only getting around to writing this 5 months after the trip, and I have lost my notes, so it will be a combination play by play and summary style report. I will hit the highlights hopefully in chronographic order, and will include our impression of events.

Day 0 - Sunday

We met in Orlando, because I had flown in earlier in the week to drive to a wedding. I picked Mark up at the airport in the early evening, and already had the car (Dollar) so there were no problems there. Headed to WDW to check in at Coronado Springs where we were staying for one night. Checked in quickly, dropped off our stuff in the room, and headed over to the Contemporary where we had priority seating at Chef Mickey's. This restaurant has become our first night tradition, as we enjoy the food and the character interaction. The plan was to head up to the roof after dinner to see the fireworks, as this was the only night they would be shown while we were there. I guess we had the same idea as about 200 other people, as the observation decks were crammed full. We did see the fireworks, but I would suggest showing up early if you want a good viewing spot. The traffic to get on the elevators was overwhelming after the fireworks, so we decided to hang out for a bit. We went back out to the observation deck to look at the Magic Kingdom. We also saw the Electrical Water Parade, but could not hear the music from there. Definately a do again on the first night at Disney.

Day 1 - Monday (Labour Day)

Woke up early to check out and head over to the Animal Kingdom at opening. We managed to do the Safari, Tough to be a Bug, and Countdown to Extinction before lunchtime. We also wandered around a bit to get the feel of the place. We were going to have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe at Animal Kingdom, but decided to alter plans and head for check in at OKW and then do the Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. Check in was no problem. The room wasn't ready, but they gave us a card with a number to phone to check when it would be ready. We headed over to Downtown Disney and the Rainforest Cafe. The wait wasn't too long as it was still fairly early (not yet noon). We enjoyed our meal here, although we found the prices to be fairly high for what they were serving. We will probably not return here for a few more visits. After lunch we headed off to Super WalMart for some shopping and groceries. We called OKW from the payphone at WalMart and found out our room was ready. It was a studio unit in Building 32 on Old Turtle Pond Road. We had some laundry to do, so we packed up the rolling suitcase and headed for the pool. The machines were unoccupied, so we layed by the pool while our laundry was washing. They have drink specials all afternoon at the Turtle Pool so we also enjoyed a couple of cold ones.

At this point, the report will switch to a summary style report for the rest of the visit.

Pleasure Island:

We went to Pleasure Island two or three nights of our trip. We really enjoyed the Adventurer's Club and the Comedy Warehouse. One night at the AC was partially ruined by a drunk lady that insisted on playing along with all the skits. These two clubs are definately on our do not miss list for upcoming trips.

Animal Kingdom:

After our one morning here, we were planning to go back and see some more attractions. Unfortunately, it never made it to the top of our "to do" list. A lot of you will probably say that we missed the best parts, and maybe we did, but we are not in a hurry to go back. We found it very confusing to get around, with things too far apart. At the same time, it was claustrophobic in that the paths are very narrow and winding. We will of course see more of this park eventually, but so far it ranks below the other three for us.

Magic Kingdom:

We visited MK a couple of times and also had E-Ride tickets for one night. Hit all the old favorites here, and met up with Roberta Blair(Virgo10 from the newsgroup) for a trip on Splash Mountain.

Disney Studios:

Not much new to report here. Construction was started on Rock and Roller Coaster and Fantasmic! We hit some of the attractions we hadn't seen before.

Epcot:

Caught Illuminations twice and enjoyed that. Still didn't get enough time touring through the countries. We also hit some things that we hadn't seen before. Enjoyed Off Kilter and Chinese Acrobats. Test Track still wasn't open. Got to ride Horizons for the last time again!

Disney West Side:

We wandered around here a couple of afternoons. There are some interesting stores, but not a lot of unique Disney things.

Disney Quest:

We spent one afternoon at Disney Quest. We enjoyed the things to do here, but actually it was almost too empty to have fun. We were the only people participating in quite a few of the games. We didn't get to do the bumper cars, because there was not enough people to make it fun. We enjoyed the roller coaster best. We designed our own 5 star coaster and then rode it. It didn't take us very long to run through 100 units each. I understand they have unlimited admission now, which would have been better for us. We had fun here, but may not go back next time. This would probably be on the bubble for things to do.

All Star Sports Resort:

We stayed here for 2 nights on the weekend, to save DVC points. We were in a king room on the first floor. We found the room to be quite run down, with plaster chipped off the walls, and bed linens well worn. I would say these rooms are probably due for refurbishment. On a positive note, we enjoyed the food court here and found it to be good selection and good value for Disney.

Blizzard Beach:

We spent a morning at BB, and enjoyed it quite a bit. We went on most of the tube rides and slides. We also spent some time in the lazy creek. I enjoy the water parks and like to do at least one each visit. This was our first time at Blizzard Beach, and we would go back again.

Old Key West - one bedroom unit:

When we checked back into Old Key West we were assigned the one bedroom unit attached to the studio we were in the week before. That made it easy to find everything, as we already had our bearings from that building. The one bedroom units are absolutely gorgeous. There was tons of room for the two of us.

Fantasia Gardens Mini-Golf:

We played this course one night, and had a good time. Except for the kid in the group ahead of us that was being a real suck. He cried and whined every time he missed a shot. We would like to go back again, or try the new course opening at Blizzard Beach. This was a nice relaxing way to spend an evening.

Timeshare Sales - The Palms:

We signed up for an outside timeshare tour. Mostly for the free tickets, but also to get a feel for the outside market as we are considering either adding more Disney or buying an outside timeshare sometime in the future. This was definately an experience. It was amazing how, as we kept saying no, the price kept going lower and lower. This was worth it for the free tickets, but only do it if you have time to spare. We did get our free Sea World tickets finally.

Disney Dining Experience:

We signed up for this plan while we were staying in the Studio room at Old Key West. We had no problem using our allotment of money, as this was the portion of our vacation when we wanted to visit sit-down restaurants and go to a dinner show. If you are changing resorts, and therefore can sign up for this plan during part of your stay, I would recommend it. We planned around it, so got our money's worth. If you don't think you can use the full allotment of money though, it won't save you any money.

Hoop de Doo Revue:

This was our second time at this dinner show. We really enjoyed it last year, but not as much this year. They had the upper level all closed off, as well as the back of the room. With a smaller crowd, it isn't nearly as much fun. I expect that reservations are down for this show. Maybe it's time to put a new show into Pioneer Hall. We will not be going again next trip.

Sea World:

We wanted to spend a day here as we had never been. We enjoyed our day here. We managed to see pretty much everything, and got a few rides in on Journey to Atlantis. This is a fun ride that is a combination flume ride and roller coaster. The effects are well done, and the ride is entertaining - Two thumbs up. The shows at Sea World are certainly worth seeing. We found the perfect spot for the Shamu shows. Just above the platform where the whales come out of the water to show themselves to the crowd, you have a great view, but do not get splashed.

Belz Factory Outlet:

We took a trip over there one afternoon to look at Disney souveniers. Found some good bargains on shirts and hats. Will definately go back next time before buying anything at the park. You can save a lot of money here.

Old Town (Kissimmee):

We spent a morning touring through Old Town, as a friend of ours had recommended it as an interesting way to spend a few hours. There are many interesting stores here that we spent some time browsing through. A relaxing way to spend a couple of hours away from the theme park crush.

House of Blues - Van Halen Concert:

Before we left home, we ordered tickets for Van Halen at the House of Blues. This was our last night in Orlando. We went early to stand in line, but should have gone even earlier. We had a good view, but were standing the entire time. Be aware that when there are concerts here there is not very much seating, and what there is, is mostly reserved for VIP's, so expect to stand. One other note, be aware that concerts here are not Disney crowds. Most of the people there seemed to be locals. We didn't have any problems, but I could imagine there being problems if you are expecting the crowd to act like a Disney crowd.

Sit-Down Restaurants (and a quick review of each that we ate at):

Chef Mickey's: a favorite of ours - an everytime event
Rainforest Cafe: ok food, high prices - will skip next time
Tony's Town Square: good food - would do again
Le Cellier: good food - will try to do again
Fulton's Crab House: good food - good choice for expensive meal out
Harry's Safari Bar & Grill: (used $50 coupon) good food - maybe not worth it without the coupon. Also be aware that they automatically added a 15% gratuity because we were using the coupon.
Mama Melrose: menu has changed - not as good as it was previously, will skip next time
Overall Impressions:

We did not spend as much time in the theme parks this year as last. We tried to only hit the highlights, and things we hadn't seen before. We did spend a lot more time at our resort, either by the pool or just relaxing in our room. I think most of our vacations will be like this from now on.

Carol Gould

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