Trip Reports

Trip Summary:

Trip dates: 7/12/98 - 7/19/98, 8 days/7 nites
Roundtrip Delta Express from EWR, NJ to MCO, FL
Rental Type upon Arrival: Chrysler Minivan from Dollar at airport
Accomodations: Contemporary Resort, Garden Wing North, standard view, 2 connecting rooms, 3rd floor
People traveling: Myself (30 yr old female), Hubby (31 yr old male),son (9 yr old), niece (7 yr old), my brother (23 yrs) and his girlfriend(23 yrs).
Frequency of visits: Hubby, myself and 2 kids travel at least 1-2x/year (PAP’s). Had just visited in April 98. Brother had not been in 10 years, girlfriend in 5 years.
Introduction

Hello Everybody. I have never written a trip report before so please bear with me.

My husband and I, my son who’s 9, my niece (7), my brother and his girlfriend had two adjoining rooms on the 3rd floor of the Garden Wing North at the Contemporary.

Sunday, July 12

We arrived on Sunday morning at MCO at about 9:30. We rented a minivan from Dollar and we were very pleased with them. They were the cheapest rental company at the airport. We had previously rented off site and would never do that again. The last thing we wanted to do when we arrived is take a bus just to pick up the rental car.

We had decided we would eat breakfast at the Shoney’s on Apopka Vineland Rd in LBV. You just cannot beat the breakfast bar for value and quantity. Just stay clear of the people trying to sell you discount tix for WDW. They can be quite annoying. We didn’t need their tix anyway. My family and niece have PAP’s and my bro had bought 6 day World Hoppers. We finally arrived at the Contemporary at 11 am. Of course the room’s were not ready but they did have a record of the requests we had called in to the room controller the week before (connecting rooms, North Garden wing). They pre-registered us, gave us our resort ID’s and told us to call or check back at around 3pm. The kids were clamoring for the pool and it was so hot so we all just changed in the bathrooms in the lobby and then went swimming. I was surprised to see a DJ set up at the pool area. He was very loud and playing the Spice Girls and Get Jiggy With It. Not really my type of music. When I was not looking, my hubby requested Margaritaville. We made a spectacle of ourselves(and embarassed the kids) by dancing together in the spouting fountains near the slide.

We decided to make dinner reservations for the Concourse Steakhouse since we had never eaten there and we already had ressies for Chef Mickey’s later in the week. I had the Carpetbagger (Filet Mignon) and hubby had the Prime Rib. The steak was unbelievable. The kids ordered pizza and never tried anything else for the rest of the trip. After dinner we took the monorail to the MK. It was totally empty. I couldn’t believe how few people were there. A CM told me alot of people canceled their vacations due to the fire. Bad for them, great for us. Off to the Jungle Cruise for us. We were the only people on the boat, and no one was even near the attraction. It was the first time we ever had a private Cruise. Captain Cheri asked the kids if either of them wanted to steer the boat but both declined. She didn’t ask my husband though, I am sure he would not only have taken the helm but also given his own spiel. After the ride, the kids wanted to do the remote control Jungle Cruise boats at the exit.

We then walked over to Alien Encounter and walked right on the ride. There were about 12 people on the entire ride with us. I have been on it a couple of times now and it doesn’t scare me anymore, but my niece still loves it. While she and I were on AE, my hubby took my son on the TTA. He will not go on AE. By then the MK was closing (it stayed open till midnight on the 12th), so we took the monorail back to the hotel and stayed at the pool and spa until about 2am.

Monday, July 13

The next day, Monday, we had ressies for Donald’s Breakfastosaurus at the AK for 8:30am. We never made it. Even with the wake up call at 7am the kids would just not get up. And I admit I was happy to climb back into bed. When I finally opened the curtains (to a beautiful view of the monorails entering and leaving the A-frame), I saw it was pretty overcast. The kids had cereal in the room and then we left for the AK. It was about 1pm when we arrived.

The first thing we did was head over to Guest Services for a Pressed Penny list. The CM took a map and marked all the locations where I could find the machines. Apparently, they cannot print out a selective list of machines, they would have to print the entire resort list. Since I already had the list from Epcot, the map was fine with me. We headed over to Dinoland so the kids could check out the Dig site. Well, they went into that area but we could never find the actual place where they can dig in the gravel to uncover the fossils. It was very confusing.

After they were done, we bought some frozen lemonades to help cool off. There were no water fountains to be found. When we finished we went to Countdown to Extinction. There were alot of Brazillian tour groups in line. Alot. Alot. They were singing and clapping loudly, which was fine when were outside. But when we moved into the preshow area, I could not hear what Bill Nye was saying about the fossils on the walls. It was really inconsiderate.

The ride itself was much more rough and dark than I expected. While the daredevil of the family (my niece) loved it, it was just too much for my son. He started screaming and crying and I couldn’t hold on to him because I was being tossed around so much. I don’t think we’ll be going on again, but we bought the picture as a souvenir (we usually do). After getting the pennies in the Dino store, we walked up to the Tree of Life and "It’s Tough to be a Bug." We could not find the entrance. We just kept walking and walking. There was one sign directing us toward the entrance but finally we just asked a CM. It was really fascinating to find all the carved animals on the tree trunk as we walked to the show area. But it was so hot we were grateful that they had a big Igloo water cooler set up in the queue area. We all enjoyed the show alot, especially the Stink Bugs and the Dung Beetles. It did seem pretty short though.

Afterwards, we went up to Africa and the Kilimanjaro Safaris. By then it was about 4pm and we weren’t sure we would see any animals. We saw Tommy’s, Wildebeast, Ostrich, Crocodile, Black Rhino, Hippos, Giraffe, Zebras and one Lioness sunning herself on a high rock. It was reminiscent of The Lion King. The Giraffe and Zebras came right up to the truck. We did not see any Elephants though and I was disappointed about that.

We had dinner reservations at the Rainforest Cafe for 6:15. It just began to rain as we were leaving Africa and by the time we reached the RC it was pouring. We waited about 20 minutes for a table-not too bad. Everyone thought the food was excellent. I had the Calypso Dip with Pita, hubby had the Bruschetta w/garlic bread, my brother had the flatbread and my son ordered waffle fries. Unfortunately, we did not realize how big the portions were when we all ordered appetizers. By the time the dinners came, we were all full. No dessert for us. After dinner-due to the time and the rain-we headed back to the hotel and stayed at the pool until bed.

Tuesday, July 14

On Tuesday, we ordered room service for breakfast. It was pretty expensive, the pancakes(they give you 4) were $9.75 and the Stuffed French Toast was $9.95. Add to that 18% gratuity, 6% sales tax and $2.00 delivery charge and it cost us $60 just for breakfast. The portions are huge and it is very convenient but I feel those are still outrageous prices.

When we went down to the lobby, we bought our tix for E-ticket nite at the MK. Ten dollars for adults and eight for kids. The Guest Services front desk CM told us they sell a maximum of 5000 tix but they never sell out. I was beginning to think it was a mistake to give them the credit card number for the room charge. It was very easy to just say, "Let’s just put it on the room charge."

Today was our Universal Studios day. Although we go to Disney at least twice a year, we only do USF about once every two years. I was shocked to see how much construction is going on over there. They built these huge parking garages with flat people movers. I was grateful for the covered walkways when we left that afternoon due to the heavy rains. We saw Terminator 2 3-D, which we all love. It is a really great show that incorporates actors as well as 3-D effects. I would recommend it to everyone. Then we saw the Lucy Tribute and the ET Adventure. We then had lunch at Mel’s Diner (great chocolate shakes) and headed towards Back to the Future. We had planned to see Jaws but a bad thunderstorm blew in and we figured they would close the attraction. So we just went over to the Nickelodeon Studios Tour to end the day.

It was still storming pretty badly when we got back to the Contemporary. We are not afraid of some rain but the lightning was really bad. We decided to forgo the E-ticket nite. We were thinking we jinxed ourselves earlier by discussing how we could keep our E-tickets for souvenirs and still be able to get new ones to trade for our wristbands. It turned out we ended up keeping anyway. We still had to eat dinner so we decided to try the food court at Port Orleans. We had never seen the resort and I wanted to add to the penny collection so it worked out perfectly. It was really nice and the food was good. Hubby had the cold fried chicken meal, I had the meatball sub and the kids ate pizza. While we were there, a British woman was screaming at the check out CM because the chicken meal came with coleslaw instead of french fries and she just hated coleslaw, it made her sick, etc. etc. It says right on the sign that the chicken comes with coleslaw so if there was a problem, it was with her. Maybe she had a bad night or something but I don’t think that was any excuse to be yelling so much.

Wednesday, July 15

The next day we headed over to Epcot. We were supposed to go to Seaworld but the kids nixed it. As soon as we walked through the gates I knew we were in for a long day of lines. There was a huge line for Spaceship Earth that winded all the way up to Innoventions and it was only noon. The tour groups were out in full force. We decided we would see the things we missed on our April trip so we started with The Living Seas. I love the movie you see there. The narrator has a fantastic voice. Does anyone know who it is? We then walked right over to The Land and made the mistake of waiting on this huge line for the Living with the Land boat ride. The wait was at least 45 min. but since we hadn’t seen it in a year and a half, we stayed.

The group was hungry so we decided to stop for lunch. The kids wanted Pasta Piazza Pizza but the adults wanted the fish and chips from England. We walked up to England to get the fish and decided to check out the rose garden and see if there were any characters around. Sure enough we saw, Tigger, Pooh, Eeyore and Mary Poppins. The kids were thrilled to get Mary Poppins’ autograph for their books. She was powdered and perfectly made up in the 90 degree heat and humidity. I was quite jealous. Anyway, we got our pictures and our fish and walked back to Pasta Piazza to eat. The fish was way too greasy for my taste, I only ate one piece and I was happy I had also gotten the baked potato. After lunch we went back to the rooms and showered and hung around until dinner at Chef Mickey’s.

It was funny to see my 20-something brother and his girlfriend start grudgingly swing their napkins around when the music started. By the end of the meal, they were happily dancing with the characters and Joe and Chip were snapping each other with their napkins (Chip started it!) After dinner and quick bathrooms stops we took the monorail over to the MK to finish up the night. We had our second ride this trip in the front with the driver. My family is having a contest with my other brother’s family about who can collect the most honorary monorail pilot cards. So far we are winning with 6 a person. We are all monorail buffs and we constantly barrage the monorail CM’s with questions. At the MK we only had time to see the fireworks, Peter Pan’s Flight, the Haunted Mansion (my son’s fav), and Splash Mtn. I really noticed the missing hour before closing. We usually see alot of things during the last SpectroMagic parade and before closing. Now once the parade starts, the attractions close. And most of the food places close at 10 or 10:30. Not too good if you are looking for a cold drink or late nite snack in Fantasyland. After some Cokes at Casey’s while we waited for the crowds to leave, we took the monorail back to the Contemporary and rounded off the nite in the pool. Never am I so glad to be staying at the CR as when we leave the MK late and we are the first stop!

Thursday, July 16

On Thursday, we had lunch reservations for the Soundstage Restaurant in DMGM. We had never eaten there before and we were looking for a place for the kids to get character autographs different than the ones more readily available. We made it there at 1:30 a half hour early. They sat us immediately and when we walked in we saw why. Only about 6 tables were filled in the entire place, and the place is pretty big. Before we even sat down, the characters were already greeting us. We saw, Jasmine (my husband’s favorite), Pocohantas, Meeko, the Genie and Rafiki. The food was pretty mediocre. I was expecting something along the lines of Chef Mickey’s but the selection was prety limited. The adult choices were Penne Pasta, Meatballs, Beef Stroganoff and Roasted Chicken and two types of soup, Chicken and New England Clam Chowder. Plus there was assorted salads. The kids selection was also pretty small. I would not go back there again. Maybe for breakfast the food is better. After lunch, we saw the Hunchback Stage Show. It was wonderful. Very colorful and entertaining, not at all sad or dreary. When the show was over, ny niece and I headed to Tower of Terror while my husband and son went over to Muppets 3D. The lines for ToT were actually pretty reasonable. On the walk over, we saw Miss Piggy and Kermit and Buzz and Woody from Toy Story. I was kind of disappointed that Buzz and Woody don’t actually sign their names, that they just stamp them. There was an official photographer taking peoples pictures with the characters and they gave us a card telling us where we could purchase them if we wanted.

The group met up again at Rosie’s Red Hots and there were many Streetmosphere characters walking around. We spoke to a "world famous opera singer" dressed in a snazzy suit and hat. He could actually sing quite well. We decided to see Little Mermaid and then head back to the hotel and swim for a while.

After the pool we went to MK and ate dinner at Cosmic Ray’s. We barely made it on line before they closed at 10:30. I still cannot find that garbage can that is supposed to talk to you when you deposit your trash. Does anyone know exactly where it is?

By the time we finished eating it was after 11pm so we just watched SpectroMagic and decided to resume our Penny quest. We took the launch boat, which was a fantastic ride, over to the Poly. What a beautiful resort that it is at night when all the Tiki torches are lit. Next time we go to WDW I think we will have to stay there. We then took the monorail to the Grand Floridian and got all our pennies. By then it was about 12:45. The sign said the monorails were running until 2 but the CM at the GF told us it was only until about 1am. Not only were we the only ones on the platform but we ended being the only ones on the monorail train too. The CM told us it would be about 20 minutes before we would make it back to our hotel. Apparently, the monorail train in front of us was switching from the resort line to the TTC line to be taken off for service. When we arrived at the MK we sat there for about ten minutes until we got clearance to proceed. It was pretty interesting to see all the monorail people go through their closing procedures and hear that the MK was "all clear."

The best was still to come. When we left the MK station we actually saw the other monorail half on the TTC track and half on the switching track. We were thrilled. I wish I could’ve taken a picture but the front window was fogged up due to the air conditioning. Back at the Contemporary, I went back to the room to bed but hubby took the kids to the game room. I don’t know where they get their energy!

Friday, July 17

On Friday the 17th we decided to go to rent the Water Sprites at the hotel and then go to Typhoon Lagoon, which is our family’s favorite water park. This trip was a big change from our last few trips when we went to the water parks every day and did the other parks at night. So we were really looking forward to TL. But first the Water Sprites. My husband took my son with him (my son doesn’t trust my driving) and I took my niece. Hubby actually rented the next size up boat from the Water Mouse, the rec CM’s called it Scar. It was bigger, could hold three people instead of two and it was much faster. It was also a bit more money, but not much. We tooled around on the boats for about 15 minutes before the kids started complaining it was too hot. I had to agree, my skin was frying. The reflection of the sun on the water made it feel really hot. So we turned in the boats early and went off to TL. At TL, we rode Castaway Creek and went up to the Ketchakiddee Creek so the kids could play with the water cannons. Then we spent some time at the wave pool which was very crowded. I always think about the people who have never been to the ocean and think that the wave pool is like the ocean. It’s not. It doesn’t compare. Anyway, I had given my husband $10 to put in his bathing suit pocket so we could get funnel cakes when we were done. Sure enough after two waves, he tells me he lost the money. Then he decides he is going to try and look for it. I kept telling him he would never find it. The waves would have taken it all the way to the beach and someone probably picked it up. He would not give up. He just kept looking and looking. Finally, when we were about to leave, he went to use the bathroom and found the ten dollars in the liner of his bathing suit.

When we got back from Tl we decided we would brave whatever weather happened and utilize the E ticket nite. We again bought tix at the front desk and showered before heading over to the MK. My brother and his girlfriend went to eat at Portobello Yacht Club instead and just could stop raving about the food.

At the MK we proceeded to trade in our E tickets (just a room ID with E ticket printed across the bottom) for wrist bands next to City Hall. They had 2 tables set up in the character greeting area next to the Main St. Gallery store. Since it was almost 10:45 we agreed to ride Small World first because we hadn’t seen it yet and it wasn’t part of the E ticket nite. After SW we walked over to Haunted Mansion and rode that twice. The 11pm SpectroMagic parade was still going on so the park was still pretty crowded. We watched the end of the parade and then walked down to Country Bear Jamboree. If any attraction is in need of renovation, it’s CBJ. It is really showing it’s age. At the very least they should clean up the bears or replace them with new ones. Since we were headed towards Carribean Plaza, we figured it would be best just to follow the circle. My niece and hubby rode Splash Mtn. and Big Thunder Mtn. RR and while we waited for them we saw characters just keep coming out from a door next to the bathrooms at the Frontierland train station. Chip, Dale, Pluto, Goofy, Tigger, Pooh and finally Mickey. There was practically no line to see any of them. Maybe three people at a time. It was amazing considering how long a wait there is to see Mickey in Toontown Fair. If for no other reason but to see the characters with no line, I would do an E-ticket nite again in an instant.

As we headed towards Pirates, there was a CM in front of the Jungle Cruise and we joked that we considered the JC an E ticket and would protest for next time. He laughed and said that Disney considered including JC but it takes 16 people to run the attraction as opposed to Pirates which is all computerized and can be run by 2. It was not financially or logistically sensible to open it. If they used less than 16 CM’s then the lines would back up and it would basically cancel out the reasoning of an E ticket nite. He said he was there just to keep people from going in the water. I said that that was probably not as much of a problem as on a Grad nite. He said that was an understatement. He was a teacher from NJ (yeah!) that had come down to WDW to work for the summer. I asked him if he had gotten an apt in a good area and he replied that he thought so until a few days before when someone slit his convertible top to steal his cds. He also mentioned that it seemed that there was alot more senseless violence in FL than he expected. I reminded him that we live in the carjacking capital of the country. Time began to dwindle down so we said our farewells and went off the Pirates of the Carribean. The CM outside joked that there was a 45 min wait for the ride. We laughed and said, "Yeah, right, maybe 20 years ago." Afterwards we walked over to Tomorrowland via the hub and took a picture of the Partners Statue with the Castle behind it and no one in the picture. No one even in sight. Hubby and the daredevil rode Space Mtn and Astro Orbiter while we did the Timekeeper. That was the first time we have seen it and we really enjoyed it. Robin Williams’ bit reminded me of Aladdin. So that ended our E ticket nite. If anyone ever has the opportunity to take advantage of one, do it.

Saturday, July 18

The next day, Sat. was our last full day so we just wanted to relax. We spent the day at the pool. We spoke alot to a lifeguard named Brian who was also from NJ and asked him about his experiences living in FL and working for WDW. He had just transferred from merchandising at CS and was trying to move up in recreation. He had recently graduated from college in NJ with a major in Sociology and minor in Criminal Justice. He was not making much money as a lifeguard but he was happy.

We spent most of the day answering trivia questions the DJ was asking. The kids were asked Disney trivia: The first full length animated movie from Disney, Dumbo’s real full name, Name of the fish from Pinocchio. Our kids won four times. The DJ gave them a small paper that said it was redeemable at the Sand Bar for a free ice cream bar. They ate two and saved two. The adults were asked questions about the music he was playing, what year the song was released and who was the singer. We adults got every single one wrong. We could have won a free frozen drink in a Yard long souvenir cup. No such luck. While we were at the pool Goofy and Max pulled up on the Bay Lake beach on a banana boat. They came running over and jumped into the pool and swam with the kids and splashed all the lifeguards. That was the only time I have seen characters in the pool. The kids and adults all had a ball. When we were leaving the pool the DJ came up to us and joked that we were leaving already? We had just spent 6 hours at the pool. He told us he was not usually the DJ out here but the usual CM called out and being the boss, he had to fill in. Turns out he was the Food and Beverage Mgr. for the first floor of the hotel. I told him that actually I had been looking to talk to someone just like him. I had been craving this huge fudge brownie I had eaten on previous trips and had not been able to find this week. He told me that about a month earlier they were not happy with the quality of that particular product so they just hired 2 new pastry chefs. He told me he would make sure there were some at the Food and Fun Center before we left the next day. Well, sure enough that evening, there they were. And they were delicious. I made sure to leave him a thank you note at the front desk when we checked out. That evening we ate dinner at the Plaza Restaurant and rode the TTA before we left to go back to the room and pack for checkout in the morning. We had room service breakfast and then tried to get a courtesy later check out but they said they needed the room so we did our American Express checkout and went to the Marketplace (I still call it the Village) to shop. Back to pick up our luggage at about 6pm and then off to the airport.

All in all, we really could not complain. It was a great trip and besides the weather a good time was had by all. Time to start planning our next vacation, I heard somewhere that December is a nice time to visit...

Ginger Gruver

gingerg@bellatlantic.net

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