Trip Reports

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: Offsite
Accommodations
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
Comments: The Hodges, Florida residents that frequently visit WDW, came for a short trip in September. This is a summary style report that gives alot of great opinions and reviews. The trip was unique because the family never set foot in a theme park! Instead, they enjoyed Typhoon Lagoon, the resorts, and other WDW attractions.


Hodges Family Peripheral Trip Report -- 9/20/98 - 9/23/98

The Cast:

Beth (Me, Mom, 30 something, full-time homeschooling mom, part time piano teacher)
Gary (Dad, 30 something, Music and Drama Pastor)
Molly (10, Daisy Duck fanatic and Beanie Baby enthusiast)
Background

To understand this trip, you need to know a few tidbits of background info.

We have established over the past several years a pattern for taking a 7-10 day trip to Disney World every January, since homeschooling allows us to go when the crowds are light, and since we find that we really need a break after the Fall/Christmas production season at church. Since we live in the panhandle of Florida, we buy Florida Resident Seasonal Passes every other year. The year that we buy them, we take our vacation late in January, then the next year they're still good when we go early in the month. Sometimes Molly and I squeeze an extra trip in between Januarys, but Gary usually can't get away from work to go with us.
This is our year to buy passes in January, so we have been without them since last January (98).
We unexpectedly got some extra vacation time this fall. Originally we planned to use the whole week to work on our ongoing home renovation, but we decided we needed to have some fun for part of the time, at least.
Although we've been to WDW many times, we've never been to a water park there, since it's usually winter when we go, and therefore too cold for us.
Since we didn't want to mess up our bi-annual pass buying schedule, we couldn't go to any of the parks, so we decided to drive down just for the purpose of going to Typhoon Lagoon and doing a little resort hopping.
Lodging

Usually when we go to WDW, we drive our '89 Suburban and pull our Rockwood pop-up camper so we can camp at Fort Wilderness, but for this short jaunt we decided to take the car to save gas and just get a cheap hotel room on Hwy. 192. We had picked up a couple of those motel coupon books at an interstate rest area on the way, and we found that the Quality Inn Maingate West on 192 was advertising that they would honor any coupon from any hotel, so we pulled out a $29 one from a Day's Inn and they accepted it, no problem. (Later I remembered there were actually some coupons in the book for about $26 - oh, well.) The room was fine, just what you'd expect, and clean enough. It did have one of those little coffee makers, which was a plus.

Typhoon Lagoon

We all really enjoyed our long-anticipated day at a Disney water park. We considered going to Blizzard Beach, but we decided that Typhoon Lagoon sounded like a better choice for our family, partly because Gary and Molly were really interested in Shark Reef and the wave pool, but mostly because we thought the theming would be better there, and make for a more "Disney" experience, and we weren't disappointed. The weather was a little bit of a concern, because we knew it was likely to rain at least, and we would probably see a thunderstorm as well, but we didn't let that deter us. Since we only had this one day, we made sure to arrive about 20 minutes before the scheduled opening at 10 am. We bought our tickets with the MKC discount and waited at the rope for about 5 minutes before it was dropped - perfect! We set up camp under an umbrella close to the wave pool and headed straight for shark reef.

I remember reading in someone's trip report that they had experienced some unexpected fear about swimming with sharks, and this happened to me, too. I was apprehensive about the whole thing just because I knew the water would be cold and I *really* hate cold water, but I hadn't really expected to be bothered by anything else. My first surprise was how much I didn't like the feeling of the snorkel mask. I had never worn one, and it made me feel very claustrophobic. Then, once we had "sat on the wall" and received our short instructions about swimming straight across the reef, etc., I happened to look down and see a shark very close by. Now, I'm a pretty rational person, and I really do understand that the sharks in there are harmless, but the combination of the cold water, the snorkel mask, and the marine life just suddenly seemed like too much, so I bailed out at the last moment. The CM was very nice about it, saying stuff like, "That's ok, nice try, Mom", which made me feel a little better. Gary and Molly went ahead, and I waited for them at the exit. They both loved it, and went back a couple of more times later in the day, enjoying their "shark encounter" a lot.

After the sharks we headed for the slides. We did them all, and we all agreed that we like the storm slides the best. These are the three body slides - the jib jammer, the rudder buster, and the stern burner. The one in the middle (the stern burner) has a section in the middle of it that's completely enclosed in a tube, so that you go suddenly from being able to see where you're going to total darkness. Gary and Molly enjoyed this sensation, I did not. Otherwise, we all enjoyed all three of these, and had several races to the bottom. The raft slides got more mixed reviews from us - the family raft ride, Gangplank Falls, was a lot of fun, but too short to justify much of a wait, plus hauling the raft to the top is a bit of a pain. The other raft slides are for one person at a time, and one of them (Mayday Falls) is a lot bumpier than the other. The ladies reading this will probably understand why this could be a problem.

Gary was the only one of us brave enough to try Humunga Kowabunga, while Molly and I watched from the bleachers at the bottom. He said it wasn't really all that scary, and that it was slightly less of a thrill than the drop on Splash Mountain, but just the sight of the huge red marks on his back after he got off convinced Molly and I not to try it.

We all enjoyed the wave pool a lot. We live at the beach, so we're used to waves and know how to body-surf, but these were bigger than what we typically find at home. We all got a kick out of the huge "whoosh" when the wave starts, invariably followed by one corporate shreik from the crowd as people saw the wave heading at them. We managed to get several really good rides, although I have to say that if you get turned around in the water, that concrete floor is a lot rougher than having the same experience with sand underneath you.

For me personally, the best thing at the park has got to be Castaway Creek. It was *so* relaxing to drift lazily along, hanging onto one another by the ankles and chatting as we went. We also had the advantage of having a very energetic kid with us who spent a lot of her time swimming in the creek pulling us along just a little faster than the current. We also spent a lot of time bumping ourselves from one side of the creek to the other. You can probably see that we're pretty easily amused.

We took in a cooler and a bag of snacks, making sandwiches there on the beach, and coming back for a drink and a snack any time we felt like it. I would highly recommend this, not only because it saves you from having to pay exorbitant prices for fast food and from having to wait in line to get it, but also for the convenience of knowing that the stuff was waiting there for us whenever we got the urge. We expended a lot of energy, both in swimming and in climbing the stairs to the slides over and over, and the easy access to food kept our energy reserves from dipping into the red. I also recommend wearing water shoes to the park to save your feet - you'll do a lot of walking on rough concrete. Also, I wore goggles on the slides and in the wave pool, which enabled me to wear my contacts without fear of losing them, which was a big advantage for me.

About 3 pm, the weather did begin to turn nasty, with rain beginning while we were out in the wave pool, followed closely by thunder and lightning. We headed first for our "camp" on the beach, only to find that a family group of about five people had crowded under there to get out of the rain. We squished in with them just long enough to gather our stuff, not being sure if we were leaving for good or not, then headed for shelter. We went to the souvenir shop, found it not as crowded in there as we were afraid it might be, and decided to wait it out. We found an empty foot or two of floor space to set down our cooler and bags, and stayed there with the rest of the huddled, dripping masses for about 45 minutes until they sounded the all clear. The wait wasn't very pleasant, but it was definately worth it, since it felt like more than half the people there had left during the storm. The lines were fairly short earlier, but now they were non-existent. We got in several more slides, more wave rides, and another relaxing turn in Castaway Creek before we decided to call it a day at about 5 pm.

Our final impression of Typhoon Lagoon: Very favorable, with just the right mix of fun, relaxation, and tropical theming. We hope to do it again someday.

Gulliver's Grill

We had a copy of Rita Aero's book including the infamous $50 coupon during our trip last January, but somehow we hadn't gotten around to using it, so this was our chance. After reading Kevin Stringer's "A Very British Pre-Trip Report" on radp I had corresponded with him by e-mail and discovered that he and his family would be at Gulliver's the same night we would. As it turned out, we were seated at the table right next to them, which gave us a very pleasant opportunity to chat and get to know them a little bit. Kevin was there with his wife, Tammy, and his daughters Georgia and India. This was my first time every to meet someone face to face after meeting them on the internet, and I enjoyed it very much.

The characters in attendance that night were Timon and Rafiki, who were fun to see, although the atmosphere was much more quiet than at other character meals we've had. The food was very good - Gary had the steak and lobster combination, I had the sirloin, and Molly had a four cheese pizza from the kid's menu which she raved about. Our total, including a 20 percent tip, was $22 after the $50 coupon was taken off. (We didn't get any appetizers, desserts, or drinks.) By the way, the coupon was graciously accepted, and the service was very good.

Our final impression: We would definitely go to Gulliver's again if we had another $50 coupon, and we definitely would not without one, just because of the prices.

1900 Park Faire

Every trip we go to one character meal, and every trip we try to make ourselves try someplace besides Chef Mickey's, but we had never done it until now, when we decided to try 1900 Park Faire, the Mary Poppins-hosted buffet at the Grand Floridian. This was a spontaneous decision, but we were able to get a priority seating by calling that morning with no problem. This was a real mixed bag of an experience. The characters were great - there were a lot of them, and they all did a great job. We saw Mary Poppins, Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter, Minnie, and Pluto. Alice in particular was really good with a little girl from a table near us. The girl's table was kind of off in a corner, and we saw her mom go to ask why Alice hadn't been to see them. Just a couple of minutes later, Alice went to their table, got right down on the floor with the little girl (probably about 5 or 6 years old) and put her arms around her, staying that way and talking with her for several minutes. I think Alice must have been her favorite, because after that she got out her autograph book and they spent a lot of time together looking at all the different pages where Alice had signed it. Alice did a great job of "remembering" each meeting ("Oh, yes, that was the day I met you in front of the castle...") with a little surreptitous help from the mom. It was very sweet.

The food was not as good as the character interaction, however. We've gotten used to the huge buffet at Chef Mickey's with it's incredible variety, and this one just didn't measure up, either in variety or food quality and taste. Also, we had the worst service we've ever had at a WDW restaurant. Our server didn't approach our table until almost 15 minutes after we were seated, and then she never brought us anything - mostly the hostess seemed to be doing her work for her. Actually, the server came by at least twice when she didn't seem to remember that she had ever seen us before. She had a sort of a glassy look in her eye that made us wonder if she wasn't under the influence. The whole thing was just really strange.

One side story about the Grand Floridian - when we first got there Gary dropped Molly and I off at the front door and went to park the car, but he forgot to bring in the camera when he came. Since his foot was hurting him quite a bit from all the climbing the day before at Typhoon Lagoon, I said I would make the hike back out to get it. He described where he had parked to me and went in to sit down. As soon as he was gone, I realized I didn't understand the directions he had given me, so I went up to three of the GF CM's who were out front, including an older, distinguished looking gentleman who seemed to be serving in some sort of a greeter capacity. After hearing my story, this gentleman said to me, "Dear lady," (you've gotta love that!), "please come with me and I'll take you to your car." He and I got into a golf cart and drove through the lot until we found the car, then he brought me back to the front and wished me a happy day. He introduced himself as Tommy, and he turned my predicament into an adventure - thanks, Tommy!

Our final impression - Next time we'll be back at Chef Mickey's.

All-Stars

There are several WDW resorts that we've never laid eyes on, so we took time our last morning before the drive home to tour a few of them. We started out with a quick breakfast at the huge new McDonald's near Blizzard Beach, then headed down to the All-Stars. At the guard gate, we asked if we could just go in to look around and were told "Sure you can!" We just had to give our last name and license plate number, then we were waved right through. We found this to be the case at each resort we visited that morning.

I have to say that I really liked the feeling of the All-Stars. It just seemed like a lot of fun. I loved the guitar pool with the Three Caballeros squirting water. The huge instruments at All Star Music and the sports theming at All Star Sports were so colorful and engaging it really made me feel that it would be fun to stay there someday. We drove down to see if we could get a glimpse of anything at All Star Movies, which is still under construction, but we couldn't see a thing.

Our final impression: Looks like fun.

Coronado Springs

This resort had a whole different feeling to it. It was picturesque, but somehow it didn't pull us in the way other resorts do. We looked around the Pepper Market and the convention center, and we were going to walk over to the Dig Site pool, but the sun was feeling pretty hot and it looked like a long walk over there, so we gave it a pass. Maybe we just didn't see enough of the resort to appreciate it.

Our final impression: Attractive, but not for us.

Dixie Landings

Now, this place was another story. I don't know what it is about it, but I fell in love with the feeling of the resort right away. We wandered around the grounds, saw the canal, some boats, Old Man Island, walked around outside of some of the buildings with the rooms in them, and ended up eating lunch at the Colonel's Cotton Mill food court before we left. It just seemed like such a peaceful, relaxing and beautiful place to stay. Come to think of it, those are some of the adjectives that describe why we enjoy Fort Wilderness so much. Maybe someday we'll give it a try, although for now, it's really out of our price range.

Our final impression: Gorgeous, gentle atmosphere - we'd love to stay there someday.

Assorted Other Stuff:

After our breakfast at 1900 Park Faire we wandered the Grand Floridian for a while, too, getting a soda at the pool bar and coming inside to sit on sofas and spy on a wedding party that was having photos taken. We followed this charming activity up with a ride on the monorail. We went around the resort loop to the TTC, then switched to the Epcot line and rode over there, getting the cool view of Future World from above before we rode back over to the TTC, and back on the resort loop to the Grand Floridian again. This is great free entertainment, especially since we didn't have to pay for parking since we had eaten breakfast at the GF. We did try to get up front with the driver each of the 3 times we boarded, but it was never available.

We shopped at Downtown Disney twice on this trip, including one jaunt to the West Side (our first time there). While at DD, we went to Ghirardelli's and Molly and I split a chocolate soda, which was fabulous. Gary is a diabetic who was the worst chocaholic I've ever known before he had diabetes, so it was a noble gesture for him to watch us flaunt this in front of his face - I really appreciate it, honey. After the chocolate fix, we enjoyed the Lego displays for a while before we decided to call it a night.

The West Side was just ok in our opinion. We really wanted to see Magnetron, and it was fun, but I think once was probably enough.

We also drove over to Lakeland one evening (about an hour's drive from Kissimmee) and had dinner with our old friends, the Jahn family - a real treat.

Our final impression of the whole trip: We had a great time and squeezed quite a bit into the two and half days and three nights we were there. It was odd to be only on the fringes of WDW, but still a lot of fun. Certainly more fun than working on the house! An unusual kind of trip, but a success.

As a postscript, we were only home for two days before we had to evacuate from Hurricane Georges - believe me, the first trip was much more fun than the second, but we're all fine and our house came through the storm with no damage. Now it's back to real life and to planning for January. Thanks for sticking with me, and I hope you've enjoyed it.

Beth R. Hodges

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