Trip Reports

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: YBCR, CSR
Accommodations
Ages Represented in Group: Toddler, Adult, Senior
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran, Frequent
Comments: Pamela's report is a combination of a play-by-play description of a couple of weekend stays at Coronado Springs and the Yacht Club resorts and some summary information of other resorts onsite, transportation issues, and touring the parks with kids. Having said that, this one is a blockbuster!

I have enjoyed reading the trip reports on Brian Bennett's web site for so long now that I decided to finally write one of my own. This report actually consists of two WDW trips taken within days of one another. The first report covers a Labor Day weekend stay at Coronado Springs and the other includes a brief stay at the Yacht Club from 9/13-9/16/98. I have also included a review of other hotels that we have stayed at onsite as well as a discussion of other issues, such as transportation and touring with children.

Trip Report: 9/4/98-9/7/98, Coronado Springs (CS)

First, is the report of a Labor Day weekend stay at CS. The cast of characters included:

Myself (Pam), 30-something mom who works 2 days a week in an administrative position at a state university and stays home the rest of the time; My husband, Tim, also 30-something, MIS Director Our 3 year old twins, Tara and Timothy Vicky, my best friend, 30-something realtor; Her husband, Henry, 40-something contractor Their daughter, Angelica, 4.

First, some background information. I grew up in a suburb of Tampa, about 1 hour and 20 minutes from WDW. I was 9 when WDW opened and we went to WDW several times a year when I was child, staying onsite at either the Contemporary, Polynesian, or Golf Resort, then the only hotels on property. During my high school and college years I went through the "too cool for Disney" stage and did not really rediscover the Disney magic until I got married. Fortunately, I married into a family that also loves Disney and my husband I went several times a year (usually visiting Pleasure Island for long weekends) until we had children. It was after the birth of our twin children that we became what our friends jokingly refer to as "Disney addicts". Having two young children made commando touring impossible, so we purchased FL Seasonal Passports and first took our children to visit Mickey at age 18 months (staying at the Grand Floridian). Since then, we have visited Disney about once a month for a weekend onsite (usually staying one or two nights taking advantage of FL resident and pass-holder specials). We have stayed at all of the Disney hotels with the exception of the Dixie Landings and Fort Wilderness Cabins, and Wilderness Lodge. Up to this point, our 1998 trips have included the following: Port Orleans: 1/98, 2/98; Disney Institute: 3/98; Yacht Club: 4/98, 5/98, 6/98. (Later in the year, we ended up back at Coronado Springs in 10/98 and are booked for Port Orleans in 12/98).

This trip was to be a meeting place for me and my best girl friend to get together with our children. Vicky and I went to college together, were maid of honor at each other’s wedding and just really good friends for the last 17 years (Gosh, that sounds long!!). We had our children 6 months apart and this would be the first time that we would meet each other's children. We had not seen each other in 5 years, although we speak on the phone weekly. We live in Valrico, a suburb just east of Tampa and Vicky and her family are in Jupiter, FL, so we figured what better place to meet than Disney!! Vicky and her family had visited WDW in August of 1997 for her daughter’s birthday, staying at GF. Before that, her last trip was in 1990, staying at the Buena Vista Palace.

Originally, we had planned to meet the weekend of 7/25/98. Vicky had booked a wilderness cabin to celebrate her daughter's 4th birthday and invited us to come spend a night with them in the cabin. I booked us a room at the WL, but Vicky insisted that we stay with her family at the cabin, as the cabins seemed quite large by the descriptions we had read. Plans were made, but had to be cancelled due to some construction Vicky was having done at her home.

A week later, Vicky called me about an ad she had seen in her local newspaper about a special at CS for $84 a night. She had booked for Labor Day weekend and asked us to join them. Now, we read RADP quite frequently and usually I would have been up on this special, but our modem and phone jack in the den had been struck by lightening a few weeks earlier, so we did not have internet access for about a month while the computer was in the shop. I immediately called CRO and yes, they did still have space available at the special rate. I reserved us a room and asked to be put near Vicky’s family. Originally, we had reservations for this weekend at the Yacht Club, but we had just stayed there for Memorial Day weekend and the $84 rate at CS was just too good to pass up. We had never stayed at CS before and I had read mixed reviews about it, but as soon as we had internet access again, I asked for opinions on the hotel and most responses were quite favorable. Plus, I really wanted to be near my friend and her family and would have stayed anywhere they were staying.

Friday, 9/4/98

Finally, the big day approaches. Vicky and I made one final phone call to each other to coordinate our departure times. My husband worked until noon, so the kids and I picked him up at the office at 12 p.m. sharp and we were on WDW property by 1 p.m. We stopped at the new McDonalds by Blizzard Beach for lunch. I really like the architecture of this building?it is like a big happy meal box!! Very unusual. The McDonalds at WDW also serve pizza, so I had a personal size pepperoni pizza, which was quite good. I wish all McDonalds had this pizza. The rest of the family stuck with burgers.

From McDonalds, we headed to CS to check in. We were greeted several times as we walked in and a woman passed out Mickey stickers to the kids. We did not have to wait to check in, but the CM at the front desk was rather abrupt. Thanks to a map I received from a fellow RADPer (thanks Judi) I had called the Room Controller’s office two days before our arrival date and requested that both our room and Vicky’s be in Cabanas 9B. This is the 2 story building closest to the main building. I chose this due to advice from fellow RADPers with the rationale that a 2-story building would be less congested than the 4 story Casistas buildings. I did not ask for a specific view, which was a mistake on my part, as the $84 rate did not specify a view, just whatever was available.

Anyway, when we checked in, I told the woman at the front desk that I had called two days ago and requested Cabanas 9B. I even had the name of the CM I had spoken to, but the woman told me that a convention had just checked in (we later found out that the Miss American contestants were at the hotel that weekend) and that Cabanas 9B was full. I complained, stating that two days before we had been blocked into these rooms, but the woman was insistent there was nothing she could do. She said she could put us in adjoining rooms in Cabanas 9A, which we reluctantly agreed to.

The room was ready (it was now about 1:30 p.m.) so we drove to our building. The parking lot was practically empty and remained that way during our stay. I really wondered about Cabanas 9B being booked, but decided to just settle for this room. We did have a parking lot view (Rm. 9126; Vicky would be next door in 9125) and again, I asked my husband if I should call and ask to be moved to a water view. He said we would not be spending much time in the room and that I should just settle down. So, while he took a short nap, I unloaded the car and unpacked a bit. The kids were raring to go, so after about 30 minutes we headed on out. I first paged Vicky and she was just leaving her house, so we made arrangements to meet back at the hotel at 6 p.m.

The room was similar to those at other moderate hotels, but had just one sink. It did have a coffee maker with coffee, two mugs, iron, and ironing board. There were regular bars of soap (no liquid dispensers in the tub). The size was comfortable for the four of us and we really did not miss the double sink during the trip. I had requested bed rails for the children when I made the reservation and Housekeeping delivered these soon after we were in the room.

First stop was MGM Studios. We have a Graco Duo-Rider side by side double stroller that is rather cumbersome to get on and off of the buses, so we took our car and parked. My children, especially my son, are huge fans of the Hunchback of Notre Dame (HBND) show. They know all the dialogue and the songs by heart, so that was first on our agenda. But first, we had to renew our FL Seasonal Passports, which would expire on 9/6/98. We stopped at Guest Relations at MGM and renewed our passes and also bought passes for our kids, since they are now 3 and can no longer get in free.

MGM did not seem very crowded at all. On the way to HBND, we saw that part of the NY street was blocked off. The country singer, Laurie White (my husband knew who she was, I wouldn’t have known her, as I do not really listen to country music), was filming a video there. We briefly watched the filming and then lined up for the HBND show 30 minutes before show time and were the first people to walk into the theater. We have learned that 30 minutes prior to show time is a good time to arrive if you want a seat against the aisle where the performers walk out. We sat on two rows with each child against the aisle. The theater only filled up about ? full. Usually, this show is packed!!

Matt the juggler came out and entertained us before the start of the show. I really enjoy Matt and the kids also like his antics. Last time we were there, they had a different juggler who was also good (and who seemed to do more complicated tricks), but Matt is still our favorite. Finally, it was show time and the familiar music began. As always, the show was outstanding. I lived in NYC for a year during graduate school and had the opportunity to see many Broadway plays and to me, this production is as good or better than anything I have seen on Broadway. The staging and the performers are true professionals. I enjoy this show more each time I see it. I actually had goose bumps during some of the songs.

Next stop was BAB. This is also a family favorite (my husband likes it better than HBND). I have read some reports of people being disappointed in this show, but we like it. I think the reason people do not find it as good as HBND is because the story line is more upbeat and perhaps does not touch the emotional cord that HBND does. Just my opinion. Incidentally, a CM at a Disney Store in Tampa told us that they are planning a HBND show for the Broadway stage. That would be a show to see!! Anyway, we always like to hear 4 for a Dollar before BAB, but when we entered the theater, my husband asked if they would be performing and was told that it was "Voice Overs" today. We did not understand what this meant and thought perhaps people would be lip synching to the 4 for a Dollar routine (pretty hard to imagine if you know what 4 for a Dollar do!!). Well, it turned out that the Voice Overs were a group of 5 singers, 2 women and 3 men who also sang acupella, but in a more upbeat style than 4 for a Dollar. They were wonderful and I think I like them even better than 4 for a Dollar. They did ABBA songs, which is my husband’s favorite group, so he was in heaven. They also did a rap version of Supercalafragaliciousexpealidoucous (sp?) from Mary Poppins, which was cute. We truly enjoyed this performance.

BAB was wonderful. There is a tiny, petite girl who we have seen in the role of Belle before and she was back again and was just as beautiful as always. I love this show, but my only complaint is that the actors they get to play the Beast after he turns into a handsome prince do not seem that handsome or virile. I guess it is a minor role, as he does not sing and just dances with Belle at the end, but I always find the appearance of the Prince rather anticlimactic. One time we saw this show and they had one of the dancers from the opening scene as the Prince and that really ruined it for me as we had just seen this man dancing around with a tray in the opening scene. I guess the actor who plays the Prince called in sick that day or something!! But, all in all, we really enjoy this show (and that is why we go back to see it again every visit!!).

By now, I was ready to head back to the hotel, as it was 5:30 p.m. and I was anxious to see my friend and her husband and meet her daughter. But, wait, my husband had to have a quick trip on TOT. He loves this ride. I have never tried it, as I am not really into thrill rides (Goofy's Barnstormer is about my speed). So, while I took the children to use the potty and called the hotel to see if Vicky had checked in, he went for his ride. He had a 30 minute wait (he said just one side was open). The kids and I walked down towards TOT while we waited for him and the sign said "0 minutes" for the waiting time. My husband said they had just opened the second side. No wait at the beginning of a holiday weekend?not bad!!

Meanwhile, I had spoken to Vicky, who had checked into the hotel. As I had suspected, they were disappointed with the parking lot view, so Vicky decided to call the front desk to see if we could change. They said they could put us in a water view in the Rancheros building, but deciding that was too far away from the main building, Vicky decided we should stay where we were. I was really sorry that I had not complained earlier, as we might have had a better chance to move if I had complained at 1:30 p.m., as it was now almost 6 p.m.

We drove back to the hotel and Vicky’s daughter came running out to greet us as soon as we parked. It was great to see everyone!! We had p.s. at Chef Mickey's for dinner at 7:50 p.m., so we freshened up a bit and then all drove over in our van. We were about 30 minutes early for our p.s., but were seated without a wait. Donald Duck was there (we had never seen him before at this dinner). A CM said he was at the restaurant after 7 p.m. Other characters in attendance were Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Chip and Dale. The food was good. The prime rib and mashed potatoes are a favorite. They also had a chicken alfredo pasta that was really good. I think the food at the WDW buffets has improved over the past year. The children all enjoyed making their cup cake with Goofy and my husband and Vicky enjoyed the other desserts. As it was a Friday night, we were thinking that the fireworks might go off at 8:30 p.m. and we planned to go to the 15th floor of the Contemporary to watch them. A CM told us that the Magic Kingdom had closed at 7 p.m. that night and there were no fireworks. We thought this strange for the beginning of a holiday weekend, but we knew that the MK would be open until 10 p.m. on both Sat. and Sun. nights, so we would have other opportunities to see the fireworks.

We went down to the fourth floor to look in the shops. They actually had some stuff on sale. The Contemporary Woman had a denim jumper marked down from $48 to $24 that I could not pass up. The children’s store also had summer dresses on sale and if my husband had not been there to put the brakes on, I could have done some serious shopping. They had adorable little sundresses with Mickey and Minnie on them for $16.99. After our shopping, we all got back in the van and headed back to the hotel. We got the children to bed and then I left my husband with the kids and went next door to Vicky’s room where we sat and chatted for a while. We all turned in around 10:30 as we wanted to be up early for AK the next day.

Saturday, 9/5/98

We had plans to leave the hotel at 8 am for AK. We actually made it out the door at about 8:20 am.?not too bad!! My husband was sleeping in, so I was taking the kids over with Vicky’s family to AK for the morning. We took the van and parked, since I did not want to fight with the double stroller on the bus. We arrived in about 5 minutes (AK is really close to CS, a plus) and as we walked towards the turnstiles we noted the long lines at the ticket counters. I put my pass in and it was denied. What!! Oh oh, I had used last year’s pass, which was technically still good until 9/6/98, but it did not include AK. I had the new passes we had bought yesterday and put the right one in and was allowed through the gate. Then, Vicky’s husband tried his pass and it was denied. What?? Vicky’s family had purchased fall passes for FL residents from their local AAA office. These passes allowed unlimited access to the parks until 11/20/98. For $99 a piece, it was a good deal for them. But, the CM at the gate said they had to stop at the ticket window and activate their passes, which we thought was rather odd. But, Vicky and I sat with the kids while her husband stood in line to activate the passes. He waited about 30 minutes and when he got to the counter he was told he would have to show proof of FL residency for each member of his party. Vicky was not carrying a purse and had left her ID back at the hotel, not knowing that she would need it. The tickets were purchased at a FL AAA office and they checked for ID, so we did not understand why WDW also needed to check. After all, would a FL AAA office sell this ticket to someone with a AAA card from another state??? After some discussion, the CM agreed to go with just Henry’s ID. The passes were finally activated and we made our way into the park.

On the way to the Kilimanjaro Safari, we saw those people on stilts dressed as the bird creatures that are also at EPCOT. We watched them for a few minutes. They were fun to watch. Then onto the Safari. It was now about 9:30 am, but we still walked right onto the ride. We saw lots of animals, hippos, rhinos, giraffes, gazelles, crocodiles, zebras, and pink flamingos. This was also the first time I had seen the lions?a male and a female. The kids were excited to see "Lion King and Nala". My husband and I had taken the kids to AK on 3/29/98 during the previews (staying at a Bungalow at the Disney Institute), but this was our first time at the park since the official opening and also Vicky’s family's first time.

We had 10:20 ps at Restaurantasaurus, so we headed to DinoLand. We were a little early, but were still seated pretty quickly. We saw Ghasson (and heard him doing the chicken dance), but we were not in his section. Ghasson is a waiter at Restaurantasaurus who used to be at Prime Time Café and he really goes all out for his customers, even performing magic!!

The food was ok, but this is my least favorite character dining experience. It is just so noisy in the restaurant and to me, the selection of food is not as good as at other restaurants. I was glad to see the french toast sticks we had in March replaced by real french toast. I think the characters were Donald, Goofy, Pluto, and Mickey. The kids enjoyed the characters. One complaint I have in this restaurant is that they do not have paper cups with lids and straws for the children. They serve the beverages in these heavy mason jar type mugs and it is hard for a young child to handle. The last time we were here, my son dropped his glass, and I thought, it serves them right, for not providing more kid friendly cups, the way the other restaurants do. The excuse about the straws hurting the animals doesn't fly with me. We certainly were not going to throw our straws at any animals and actually did not get close enough to any animals to hurt them with anything!!

After breakfast, we sat for a moment with our schedules and planned the rest of the day. We were meeting my husband at 11:30 am and then wanted to see the 11:40 am Pocahontas show. After a few wrong turns, we made our way out of DinoLand and looked for the Tree of Life, as we were meeting my husband at the entrance to "It's Tough to be a Bug". We found the Tree (spectacular, with its animal carvings), but the "Bug" entrance eluded us. We found a couple of CMs standing around and asked them and one of them said, "I'll take you there." So, we got an escorted tour. The CM was very nice and when I commented that the crowds were not what I had expected for a holiday weekend, he said, "Wait until Tuesday. The only people here will be foreigners, as all US schools will be in session." We reached the "Bug" entrance and I sent Vicky and her family off in the direction I thought Camp Minnie and Mickey was located so they could get seats for Pocahontas while I waited for my husband. A few minutes later, he appeared, having just done the "Bug" show. He said, "No way are the kids doing that," which I had already decided on after reading reports of this show. He liked it though. We went off in search of Camp Mickey /Minnie and ran back into Vicky's family. Turns out I had sent them (and us) the wrong way and we had to back-track. Hey, this was only my second time in this park!! So, by the time we reached Camp Mickey Minnie, it was too late to do Pocahontas, but the 12:05 p.m. Lion King show was about to begin. We walked into the theater (we had waited 30 minutes for this in March) and found some seats near the stage, but quickly moved when we saw these seats were not elevated. The kids could not see at all, so we moved to seats up in the bleachers where we had a better view. We were in the Giraffe section. The show was wonderful, as I had remembered it being. Vicky's husband taped the entire show as their daughter is a real Lion King fan. I highly recommend this show.

When Lion King was over, I decided to take my children back to the hotel for a nap (they are used to napping around 1 p.m. and become cranky if they do not get their sleep). Vicky was going to stay with her family and do Pocahontas and the Gorilla Trail. They walked with us out of Camp Mickey Minnie and we came upon the water station. There were huge containers of ice cold water that was free. People were filling up their water bottles, as it was quite humid out, so I filled ours. Vicky commented to the CM how nice it was of Disney to provide this. The CM said, "well, not many things are free at Disney World, so we are glad you like this." What wonderful guest relations for WDW. This service does not cost them much at all (the water is just iced tap water), but means so much to guests on a hot, humid day.

We said our good-byes and made plans to meet back at the hotel later. My husband and I drove back to the hotel (Vicky would take a bus back later with her family). The proximity of CS to AK is very convenient. Our room was already cleaned, as I had called housekeeping that morning before we left, asking that the room be cleaned by noon, as I had two 3 year olds who needed to nap in the afternoon. I had also asked for two extra pillows, as my husband likes a lot of pillows when he sleeps. My husband commented that housekeeping had not delivered the pillows, but we did not think much of this at the time.

We all lay down to nap and my son went to sleep right away. My daughter was very excited to be at WDW and it took about 40 minutes (and many requests for glasses of water) to get her to sleep. I lay down beside her and apparently went into a deep sleep. I awoke to a sound of pounding. I jumped up, put on a robe and opened the door. No one was there and I was beginning to think I had imagined the entire thing. Well, I lay down again (thankfully, the kids were still sleeping) and a few moments later, I heard the same pounding, only this time our room door was also opening. I quickly went to the door and it was housekeeping, delivering the pillows. It was two men (one looked like a supervisor) and I asked them if they had just been knocking on the door. They said they had and apparently, when no one answered, they had gone to get a pass key. I was still a little groggy, so I didn’t complain, (and since I had not put the "privacy please" sign on the door, I guess I really had no right to complain), but this second disturbance awoke my daughter. Let me clarify that I am not talking about light knocking. This was pounding—at first I did not know if it was some type of construction or if it was indeed someone knocking on the door. I do not think it was necessary for them to be so noisy!! Anyway, my daughter did not seem inclined to go back to sleep, so we put on our swim suits and went to the pool while my husband and son napped.

Our building was a walk to the main pool, but part of the walk was over a bridge, which my daughter enjoyed playing on, so the walk did not seem too bad. The fact that the hotel is so spread out is one thing I do not like. We were right near a quiet pool, but I thought my daughter would have more fun at the main pool. We went on the playground area and she had fun going into the cave and down the slide. They also had water squirting out onto the playground, which was fun. The children's pool is only a few inches deep, but has giant fish that usually squirt out water (they were not squirting this afternoon). My daughter played in this for a while and then we went into the main pool. The entire hotel did not seem crowded. There were plenty of pool chairs and towels available. We swam for about 40 minutes and then it started to cloud up. We were getting ready to go back to the room (it was about 5 p.m.) when Vicky tapped me on the shoulder. She, my husband, and my son had come down to the pool. We had no sooner said hello, than a big burst of thunder went off. We quickly crowded under the pool bar (along with everyone else) as it started to rain. The bartender took out a big box of rock candy on a stick and passed them out to all the children, a nice touch, I thought. Vicky said that they had seen two gorillas on the trail at AK and had done the Pocahontas show, which they very much enjoyed. She had also found a shop in Camp Mickey Minnie with sale items and had bought Minnie socks for her daughter for $.99 and T-shirts for $4.99! Wow, another sale at WDW!! They did not make it to Jungle Book as they were getting tired. We had done Jungle Book in March and had really enjoyed it. The rain did not last long (about 10 minutes) and when it stopped, we started back to the room. It was a long walk and we had two toddlers, plus our pool gear (beach toys, robes, etc.) so we were not moving too quickly. As it was still thundering and lightening, a life guard told us to move quickly or get under cover. We chose to keep walking, as the kids were cold and wanted a hot bath. We speeded up or pace and made it back to the room. The walk to the main pool did not seem so far in good weather, but in bad weather, it was a hike!!

We gave the kids a bath and discussed dinner options. Originally, we had planned to eat at the Rain Forest at AK, but they would not take ps for parties over 6 (we had 7), so we knew we would be in for a wait there. Vicky looked through the American Express book they give you at check-in that has details all of the WDW restaurants and thought Spoodles sounded good. That sounded like a good option, so we could walk around the Boardwalk after dinner. I called for a ps, but Disney Dining said Spoodles was not taking reservations that evening and would only take walk-ins. This did not sound right to me, so I asked if they had a local number where I could call Spoodles myself. They did not. Ok. A quick call to the hotel operator connected me to Spoodles and yes, they would take a reservation at 7 p.m. for a party of 7. Whew. I knew with a big party that we would have a wait if we went as walk-ins on a Sat. night on a holiday weekend. We dressed for dinner and all loaded up in the van. The rain was over by now, thankfully.

We drove to the Boardwalk (also a short drive form CS) and could not find a parking spot anywhere. But not to worry. Valet parking is free to hotel guests ($6 otherwise), so we Valet parked and went to Spoodles. I had read on the internet about the make-your-own-pizza option on the children's menu, so we were looking foreword to that for the kids. We arrived and looked at the menu. There were like 4 choices for an entrée and nothing sounded really good. The pizza was also not on the children's menu. We discussed alternatives and decided on the Cape May Clam Bake. We told the hostess at Spoodles that we would not be staying and I called for a ps at Cape May and got one for 8:10 p.m. It was a little after 7 now so we leisurely walked over to the Beach Club, admiring the sites along the way. When we reached Beach Club, we went in, even though we were early and the line for Cape May was about 30 people deep. The men stood in line while Vicky and I sat with the kids and waited and waited some more. It took the men about 20 minutes to make it to the front of the line to check in. Quite a few people were giving the hostesses a hard time about the wait. We heard one lady who apparently did not understand the ps philosophy and was quite upset that a table was not reserved for her. She said they had been waiting an hour with a ps and now had to be somewhere else, so she stalked out. Another gentleman was also making quite a scene so the hostess took him aside to try to calm him down. We were good natured about the wait, but after about 40 minutes, we did inquire if we could get seated quicker if we split up (the kids were getting hungry and tired of waiting). The hostess replied they were cleaning our table now and when she seated us, we commented on the way people were complaining. She had a wonderful attitude and said, "well, it's a holiday weekend and raining, so no one wants to go anywhere." She then said, "now you enjoy your meal, but I do need this table in 35 minutes". We all shared a laugh and made our way to the buffet.

Well, the angry mob mentality continued with people pushing their way through the buffet lines as if they were afraid that the food would soon be gone!! This so annoyed Vicky's husband (who is such a gentleman and has the most gracious of manners) that he refused to go anywhere near the seafood bar because he did not want to fight for his food. He was content to just eat the non-seafood items (that side of the buffet was a little easier to get to ), but Vicky, being the good wife that she is, went up and brought him back a bucket of steamed clams and oysters. She said, "The Italian in me is coming out! They push me, I push right back!!" Interestingly, there never was any cocktail sauce on the buffet. They were always out.

The food was quite good, even the non-seafood items, which consisted of beef tips, mashed potatoes, and BBQ ribs to name a few. The dessert bar was fabulous and everyone enjoyed this. They had these multi-colored petite-four cake things with chocolate icing and a raspberry marinade, that were to die for. The waitress brought salt water taffy with the check, which my husband loved. It was nearing 9 p.m., so I took the kids out onto the beach to watch the EPCOT fireworks while everyone else stayed to have coffee and pay the check. We have the 20% Disney Dining Experience discount card for FL residents (which we discovered through Deb's wonderful web page), so we get a slight break on the dining expenses.

After viewing the EPCOT fireworks from the beach, we took a leisurely stroll back to the Boardwalk Inn. The kids had a good time skipping ahead of us and we were all just happy to be together and to be at WDW. There was a band playing outdoors near the Atlantic Dance Hall, so we stopped to listen to them for a while. They were doing the macarena and having the audience participate. Then, they did a "Grease" melody with the lead singer holding up Mickey and Minnie puppets and acting out the John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John parts. It was fun to listen and the band was very upbeat and entertaining. We stayed about 15 minutes and then made our way back to the Boardwalk Inn to retrieve the van from Valet parking. Again, we noticed that the crowds were not overwhelming. We decided to change our plans from MK to MGM for Sunday morning.

When we got back to the hotel at around 10:30 p.m., I discovered that I needed more hangers. I wanted to hang our damp bathing suits up. I called housekeeping and was told they would be delivered right away. After an hour, we were ready for bed and still no hangers. Remembering the scenario from this afternoon, I put the "Privacy Please" sign on the door thinking that they would just deliver the hangers in the morning. I had no soon hung the sign on the door and gotten into bed than I heard a knock (not too loud this time) on the door. It was Housekeeping delivering the hangers. Apparently "privacy please" does not apply to housekeeping!! Oh well.

Sunday, 9/6/98

Well, you know what they say about the best laid plans?We woke up this morning and got dressed and I knocked on Vicky's door around 8 am. Her daughter was still sleeping so we talked for a while. I had told Vicky about the great deals we had encountered at the Disney World outlet stores in the Beltz Outlet Mall (Exit 30-A off of I-4) and she asked if I would mind going there this morning instead. Now, one of the things that Vicky and I do best together is shop, so a trip to the outlet mall sounded great to me!! We decided that the husbands would take the kids to the pool and we would shop. Since this was Sunday, I did not know if the Outlet Mall would be open before noon (in Tampa the malls typically open on noon on Sunday). I tried calling the mall, but at 8:30 am, no one answered. I then called the Guest Services desk at the hotel and they said they did not have any information on the mall. Now, I found that kind of strange that Disney Guest Services wouldn't provide a general concierge type of service with information on area attractions (especially since there are two Disney outlet stores at this mall), but I guess they want people to stay on Disney property. They did offer to connect me to the hotel operator, who could dial the mall for me. I said ok, thinking maybe the operator would have another number for the mall other than the one listed in the telephone directory. The operator told me that the mall would not be open at this hour, so there was no use in calling them. I asked her if she knew the opening time for the mall, and she said 10 am. Finally, someone with some knowledge!! Ok, we had our plans set, so we went off to breakfast at the Maya Grill.

This restaurant served a buffet style breakfast that was very good. Beside the usual breakfast fare, they had burritos and salsa for the eggs. The restaurant was not crowded and we were seated right away. We enjoyed breakfast ($10.99 for adults, somewhat less for the children) and Vicky started talking to the waitress a bit. Vicky's family has owned restaurants her entire life and Vicky has waitressed part time off and on in the restaurants, so they compared notes about waitressing. The waitress said that the Brazilians were the worse to wait on because they were very demanding and did not tip. She also said some of the conventioneers were hard to wait on because they would come in 30 minutes before they had to be at a meeting and expect immediate service. We had a nice conversation with the waitress and she even took Vicky's daughter's breakfast off of the check when she saw that she was not eating anything.

We walked back to our room and on the way the kids stopped to swing in a hammock along the beach. The scenery around the hotel is pretty, but the lack of trees around the Cabanas and Rancheros sections gives it somewhat of a bare look. Our parking lot view really faced the parking lot whereas at PO when we have had a parking lot view, there was a little garden with iron fences between the rooms and the parking lot, so you did not feel like you were really facing a parking lot.

We got the kids changed into bathing suits and applied sunscreen to them and left them in the care of their Daddies and then we were off to the Outlet Mall. My husband and I had first discovered this mall through Deb Wills web page. We had never dreamed that WDW would have an outlet store, but there it was. The Beltz Outlet Mall is huge with many different buildings and annexes, but there are Disney Outlet stores located in Mall 1 and Mall 2. One is called Character Warehouse (Mall 1) and the other is Character Premiere (Mall 2). It is abut a 15-20 minute drive from WDW and really worth the trip, in my opinion. Now, I am usually of the frame of mind that when one reaches WDW property, you should never leave WDW property for any reason, however this mall is the exception. The two Disney outlet stores have Disney park merchandise, clothing, stuffed animals, CDs, jewelry, etc. and the prices will make you never want to shop in a WDW gift shop again. Besides the two WDW outlets, there are many other outlets at this mall, including Stride Rite, Baby Guess/Guess Kids, Flitz n Floyd, Mikasa, Oshkosh, and Planet Hollywood.

I kid Vicky that she is a "power shopper" and she did not disappoint on this trip. We did some serious damage in the mall and had to make two trips to the car to load up our packages. But, the prices were unbelievable!! We both made calls back to the hotel to check on what the husbands and children were doing and my dear husband had actually managed to get our kids to nap after their pool time.

We returned to the hotel about 1:30 p.m. as the kids were waking up from their naps and got ready to go to the Magic Kingdom. First stop in the MK was the Mad Tea Party. My husband and I took our kids on this ride. Vicky's daughter seemed like she wanted to nap, so Vicky and her husband sat with her while we went on the ride. We just waited about 5 minutes in line. As we exited the ride, the Queen of Hearts and the Mad Hatter were walking up. My kids love the Mad Hatter, so they posed for a picture with him. They were afraid of the Queen of Hearts, so we did not meet her. Next stop was for a strawberry/lemon swirl at the little stand across from the Mad Tea Party.

We then ventured towards Toon Town. Vicky's daughter decided not to nap, so Vicky and I took the girls into meet Minnie while my husband took my son on the Barnstormer. My daughter does not like this ride and Vicky did not think her daughter would like it either. We waited about 15 minutes in the big tent to meet Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and Pluto and got some cute photos. We met my husband and son outside of the big tent and Vicky went to take her daughter to meet Mickey while we went back into the tent to meet Donald, Goofy's son, and another quite tall duck dressed in flying gear (don't know his name, but the kids were scared of him?he was tall).

After finishing up in Toontown, we made our way over to Liberty Tree Tavern for our ps seating. We were about 20 minutes early for the ps, but they seated us with about a 10 minute wait. When I had called to make ps before our trip, Disney Dining told me that many of the restaurants could not guarantee that a party of seven would be seated together, but when we arrived at each of the restaurants, we were always seated together.

Dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern was good. It is like a Thanksgiving dinner served family style and consists of a home-made rolls with apple butter, a wonderful salad with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing, roast turkey, ham, flank steak, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, carrots, macaroni and cheese and cranberry sauce. Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, and Chip n Dale are dressed in colonial garb and visit the tables. The only drawback to this restaurant is the location of the restrooms. They are upstairs and you have to walk up a very narrow staircase. The upstairs of the restaurant was also quite warm. There are only two stalls in the women's room, so there was always a wait. Our waitress told us they are working on building restrooms downstairs.

Also, water kept dripping from the ceiling during our meal. The waitress explained that this was condensation from the air conditioning. We heard a loud crash during our meal and when I was upstairs in the restroom I encountered a woman and her child who had the misfortune of having a tray of drinks spilled on them by their waitress. They were soaked and were trying to dry off the best they could. She said that they had been told that Disney would buy them some new clothes, as they were really drenched. I felt bad for them because I know they were cold in the air conditioning with their soaked clothes!!

We finished up dinner and made our way back to Main Street. We wanted to have a group portrait taken in front of the caste. We did not see any photographers out, so we asked in the Town Square and were told that the photographers went home at 5 p.m. Oh well, we decided to come back to the MK in the morning for our photo. Vicky picked up the photo she had had taken of her daughter with Mickey in Toontown. The Camera Center was closed and all photos were being distributed from Town Square (adjacent to Tony's Restaurant).

Now, we had originally planned on coming to the MK this morning and I had made a ps from home at Cinderella's Royal Table for breakfast. Usually I am quite diligent about canceling ps when we are not keeping them, but this one slipped up on me and I did not cancel it. Since we were coming back to the MK in the morning, my husband wanted to try to eat breakfast in the Castle then (he loves the food there). While Vicky waited in line for her Mickey photo, I went under the train station to call Disney Dining to try to secure a reservation for the next morning. I was able to get a reservation, but the CM who helped me seemed quite new and it took her a long time. More than once, she had to refer to her notes. I did not have a pen or pencil to write down our ps number, but did not think anything of it at the time, as we have never been asked to give this number at any restaurant at Disney.

Our next stop was FantasyLand. We looked at the line for Peter Pan and seeing that it was 30 minutes, we opted for the Lion King show, which was starting in 10 minutes. Vicky's daughter is a real Lion King fan, so she wanted to see this show and it is a family favorite for us. After exiting the Lion King, we saw that the line for Small World was out onto the street. Usually this ride is a walk-on, so we opted to skip this attraction. Peter Pan was down to 25 minutes, but we did not want to wait for that either. As it was getting close to 8 p.m., we wanted to secure seats for the 8:30 p.m. showing of SpectroMagic. First, my husband wanted to get dessert at Sleepy Hollow. He loves the ice cream sandwiches there, which consist of two big chocolate chip cookies with ice cream in the middle. He stood in line for about 15 minutes while we sat at a table overlooking the Castle. When he came back, he said that they were out of ice cream!!! Seemed strange that WDW would run out of ice cream, but what can you do??? He really wanted Vicky to try this dessert (she and my husband have the sweet tooths in the group) and was quite disappointed. We decided to keep our seats for the parade because we had a good view of the bridge leading into Liberty Square where the Specto-Magic parade would cross.

Sometime before the parade began, Vicky discovered that she had lost the photo of her daughter with Mickey that she had just bought. She retraced her steps for while, but did not find the photo. Finally, the parade began and we had a good view of the show. It was beautiful as always, but for some reason seemed shorter to me this time. My son decided that he had to use the potty right in the middle of the parade, so I took him to Columbia Harbor House to use the restroom. It was wall to wall people along the way, but we made our way to the potty and back to our seats before the ending of the parade.

After the parade, we went over by Dumbo and got seats at a table facing Scuttle's Landing to watch the fireworks. We discovered this viewing spot by accident one time when we were on Dumbo when the fireworks started. This is a good location to watch them as it seems as if they are going off right in front of you with nothing (not even a castle!) to block your view. The downside of this spot is that you do not see Tinkerbell fly, but we had seats and were comfortable, so we stayed. I was dying of thirst and went to try to get a cold drink at Pinocchio's Village Haus. It was 9:25 p.m. (the park was not closing until 10 p.m.),. But Pinocchio's was already closed. I don't think that any restaurants should close before the park closes!!! The line at Scuttle's Landing was too long, so I went back to our table to wait for the fireworks. They went off on schedule and were wonderful, as always. Our kids really enjoy the fireworks and because of their afternoon nap, they were able to stay awake to watch them. Right after the fireworks ended, they went to sleep in the stroller.

We sat for a couple of minutes after the fireworks to let the crowd die down, and then we made our way down Main Street. Still craving ice cream, we stopped at the Plaza Ice Cream Parlor. My husband waited in line about 15 minutes while the rest of the gang secured a table. My kids were sound asleep and Vicky daughter was also sleepy. We had ice cream cones and a cold drink (finally!!) and slowly made our way out of the park. We stopped at City Hall to see if anyone had turned in Vicky's missing photo at Lost and Found, but they did not have it. They gave her a card with the number to Central Lost and Found so she could call later to check on it. (It never was discovered.)

We made our way back to the hotel and I packed up before we went to sleep. It had been a busy day!!

Monday, 9/7/98

Departure Day, boo hoo. Both families had arranged for a 1 p.m. check out time upon check-in, but Vicky and her family decided to leave early, as her husband was not feeling well. So, we got dressed and loaded up our cars. Housekeeping came by as we were doing this, so we told them that we were leaving early so they could clean the room. Our express checkout statement was accurate, so we just loaded up the cars and made our way over to the MK. We were running a little late, so we went straight to Cinderella's Castle for our 9:50 am ps. Now, do you remember yesterday that I did not write down our ps number when I made this reservation??? Well, we got to the podium to check in, and they did not have us on the list. Not under 9:50 am, 9:45 am, 10 am, no where to be found. The man at the desk was rather snotty saying, "No, it's not here." When I insisted that I had made the reservation, he searched under our name. Now, we come to Disney quite often (about once a month) and usually eat breakfast at Cinderella's Castle when we come, as it is my husband's favorite place in the MK. So, a name search pulled up all of our ps reservations going back several months. The man did not comment on the reservation I had for yesterday morning and did not cancel. I was holding my breath waiting for a comment on that one!! Well, he located a reservation for us for Tomorrow morning at 9:50 am instead of today. I told him that was an error and that I had told Disney Dining (and they had repeated to me) that the reservation was for this morning. He did not answer me, but did write our name on a card and told us to hurry up upstairs before the breakfast ended.

We hurried upstairs, bypassing the Fairy Godmother who was greeting guest downstairs and were seated immediately. The food here is quite good and consists of a basket of muffins and croissants, fresh fruit, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast potatoes, and a deep fried cheese danish. We had always assumed that the latter was French toast stuffed with cream cheese, but the waitress explained that they just take a regular cheese danish and deep fry it. My husband loves these and they are wonderful. The food is pre-plated, but it is all you can eat, so we did order more of the cheese danishes (throwing calories to the wind today).

The characters were Cinderella and her Prince, Peter Pan, Snow White, and Belle. The Fairy Godmother also came up from downstairs and visited the table. We really enjoy the "talking characters" and they were wonderful with the children. My son loves Peter Pan so we asked him to do his yell. He said that Belle had told him not to do it, as it scared young children. Our waitress was wonderful and brought a doggie bag to put the children's Mickey straws in.

After our breakfast, we went back to Main Street for our portrait. The photographer took two different poses, since each family wanted one. Then we said our good-byes to Vicky and her family. We were a little teary eyed, but we made plans to come back next month with just the women and kids and split a room. Vicky's passes are good until 11/20, so we will leave the husbands at home next time. (sadly, we have not been able to arrange a second get-together! Maybe next year!!).

After leaving Vicky, we made our way to the Tike Birds Under New Management. This was just our second time seeing the new version of the show and I enjoyed it much more this time around. The first time we brought our kids to the MK they were 18 months old and my son fell asleep during the old version of Tiki Birds. We always laughed that he chose a perfect place for a nap. The new version is definitely more upbeat, but a little short, in my opinion.

We then did Pirates of Caribbean, another family favorite. It was a little overcast, so it was not too hot and the crowds were not bad at all. We walked onto both of these attractions. After leaving POC, we made our way towards Splash Mountain. We have the Disneyland Sing a long Video at home and my son has been counting the days until he is tall enough for Splash Mountain. We had the children measured and my daughter made the height requirement with no problem (she is tall for her age), but my son missed it by about ? inch. The CM said we could do the baby swap with my son and take turns taking my daughter on the ride, but she does not like Goofy Barnstormer, so we did not think she would like this ride. Besides, this would have devastated my son, so we decided to skip this attraction. My son was begging and pleading to ride Splash Mountain so I promised to take him on the Barnstormer later.

We then went to Country Bear Jamboree, another family favorite. We walked onto this attraction also. Upon exiting, we saw that with the remodeling of Pecos Bill Café, the talking heads that you used to see upon exiting the attraction are gone now. I missed them!!

Now, I had read on other trip reports that there were characters aboard the big river boat in Frontierland, so seeing the boat docked, we ran to get on the boat. As it turns out, we did not have to hurry because the boat sat at the dock another 10 minutes. I had not done this ride in about 16 years and let me tell you, I don't care if I don't do it again for another 16 years. No characters were on board (a CM told me they stopped that a month ago?I guess it is only during the really busy season that they do this), and there was limited and I do mean limited seating. It was a hot trip and we did not see much that we don't see on the Train Ride. We did get a good view of the Haunted Mansion and the kids asked to go on that next.

There was no wait for HM, so we made our way in. The kids had done this last summer, but they did not remember much of it. The CM who let us in really played up her part and had this cackle for a laugh that was scary. She did this cackle at the point that the lights go off and my daughter clung to me. I told her that the scary part was over and that now we were going to see friendly ghosts. We boarded our little cars and made our way through the mansion, enjoying the hitch hikers who joined us at the end of the ride.

It was near 1 p.m. now and my son was getting tired. He opted to sit out Peter Pan and have some popcorn instead, so he and I sat down and waited while my husband took my daughter on Peter Pan (about a 20 minute wait). He did not go to sleep, so after Peter Pan we did Small World (my daughter's favorite ride) with no wait, quite a change from yesterday. After Small World, we decided to get a spot along Frontierland for the 3 p.m. parade and hopefully let the kids sleep. We found a spot in front of Pecos Bill Café and I sat with the kids while my husband went inside for a root beer float. The kids did not sleep, but we were in the shade and resting and it was not long before CMs came around and passed out Lion King stickers to the children in our area. The stickers allowed the children to participate in the parade when the Lion King float stopped in front of us. Later, coaches came out and instructed the children on what they would do (bang a drum three times and say "hakuna matata"). The children were excited to be parade participants. This wold be their first time doing it!! The only problem was that the Lion King stickers did not stick very well and kept coming off!!

Finally the parade began and we discovered that we had a prime viewing spot near the very start of the parade route, so the parade crossed in front of us right at 3 p.m. The kids waved to the characters and when the Lion King float stopped, they went off to do their bit. The float actually stopped several feet ahead of our viewing place, so I walked them up to their spots and got some photos of them banging the drums. They had a ball. I know it is somewhat boring for the people watching the parade to have it stop for these audience participation segments, but it does mean a lot to the kids and in my opinion, that is what Disney is all about.

The parade ended about 3:10 p.m. (also shorter than I had remembered), so we followed the parade down the street for a few moments until we realized it was moving quite slow (again, due to the audience participation stops), so we decided to go into the Diamond Horseshoe Revue for the 3:45 p.m. show. We secured a table in front of the stage and my husband went up to the counter to get the kids something to eat. All they had on the children’s menu was peanut butter and jelly, so he got that. Well, it was served on white bread (I use whole wheat) and had the wrong type of jelly (grape, not strawberry!), so the kids would not eat it. I ran out to the hot dog stand across from Pecos Bills and got a hot dog for them to split since they did not seem too hungry. For some reason the hot dogs at this stand are much cheaper than the hotdogs inside of Pecos Bills. We then waited for the show to start. While we waited, we saw three young people in their early 20s in green t-shirts that said "Why is Mickey killing Mr. Toad" on the back. We then realized that this was the last day for Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.

Finally, the show began. This is another attraction that neither my husband nor I had done since we were kids. They have changed the show somewhat and let me tell you, I don't care if I never see this show again. It was long (45 minutes to be exact) and to me it was very corny. My husband and son did enjoy the show, however, which consisted of a Southern Medicine Man (kind of a con artist type) who was the Master of Ceremonies; a cowboy who say songs; a magician; and dancing girls. My daughter promptly went to sleep as soon as the Medicine Man shook her hand (how she slept with all that noise is beyond me!!). We were in the front row of tables near the stage, but the performers walked out into the audience a great deal, so I don't think there was a bad seat in the building.

We walked towards Fantasyland via the "secret path" after the show and just as we neared the castle a woman came up to my husband and said, "do you know this is the last day for Mr. Toad?". My husband thought the woman looked vaguely familiar, but he really did not think he knew her. Maybe she was telling everyone!! My daughter was still sleeping, so my husband took my son on Snow White's Adventures. He likes the ride, whereas it scares my daughter. When they were finished with Snow White, they did Mr. Toad for the last time. It was 5:30 p.m. now and there were lots of people in green t-shirts taking pictures and peacefully showing their disappointment for Disney’s closing of the attraction. A camera man from our local news station was also filming. My husband and son had a 25 minute wait for Mr. Toad and I stayed with my daughter (who was still sleeping) under the cover by the exit because it looked like it would rain. Sure enough, when my husband and son exited the ride, loud blasts of thunder started. We stood under the cover for a while and talked with a CM. He told us that the Winnie the Pooh ride would open in this spot June 1, but that there would be soft openings in the end of May. He said you would ride in honey pots and go through 1000 Acre Woods. He also said there would be some kind of tribute to Toad at the ride, which is only right, I think.

The weather did not look good, but it was only lightly sprinkling, so we made our way under the castle. Lots of people were standing around taking cover. My daughter was still sleeping (2 hours, unusual for her!!), so my husband looked in the gift store a while and then came back and suggested that we try to eat at Cinderella's Royal Table for dinner. I had my doubts as to whether we could get seated (especially if the man from this morning was still working), but my husband went up to the podium and was told we could be seated in 30 minutes (the man from this morning was gone!). Vicky had eaten there for dinner last summer and had said the prime rib was good, but I had read other reports on the internet that said the food was only so so, so we did not know what to expect. But, it was dry and out of the thunderstorm (the rain did not bother us so much as the thunder?we did not want to walk around in that with the kids), so we were happy to take refuge in the castle.

The same Fairy Godmother from breakfast was greeting guests downstairs. Now, we had seen this same woman at breakfast, in the 3 p.m. parade, and now at dinner. She had a long day!!! Later, Cinderella came down (a different one from this morning). The kids enjoyed the characters while we waited for the table. It was about 30 minutes before they called us, but when we got upstairs, the restaurant was half empty. We both ordered the queen’s cut of prime rib and the kids split a children's grilled cheese sandwich. On the menu, potatoes were a la carte and it did not say anything was served with the prime rib, so were expecting just a plate of beef.

Our food arrived quickly and the portions were huge. The prime rib was served with red skinned mashed potatoes with skinny onion rings on top. The kids' meal came with mashed potatoes and corn, a beverage, and character cookies. Rolls and butter (sculptured in the shape of a Mickey standing up---adorable!!) accompanied the meal. We very much enjoyed the food, although it was hard to finish up the large portions. I imagine the king's cut of beef is huge!! We loved this dinner and will return. I really think Disney has improved its restaurants in the past year!! With our 20% discount from the Disney Dining Experience card, this meal was not expensive ($39 before the tip). We drank water as we were really thirsty and did not want sodas (no alcohol is served in the MK). Many people were just ordering desserts and they too looked fabulous (and big!!), but we were too full. I also saw many people ordering the shrimp dish and it too looked great!!

We finished up dinner and made our way down Main Street to pick up our group portrait we had taken earlier. I was buying two copies so I could mail Vicky's to her. There was a short line inside of Town Square and then we had our photo. The park was closing at 7 p.m., so many people were walking out. We said goodbye for now and headed to our car and the trip home.

On the way home, over by the turn-off to Blizzard Beach and AK, we saw a car off to the side of the road on fire. The fire truck was just coming in (from the opposite way) and had not yet started to put out the fire. Several people were standing around. We prayed that no one was in that car. We did not see anything about it on the news at home, so hope everything was ok. We made it home at about 8:20 p.m.

Final Thoughts

After our stay at CS, I wrote "CS was adequate for our needs, but we prefer PO for a moderate hotel, especially since I have read on RADP that you can request a coffee maker from housekeeping. The grounds are prettier at PO, in our opinion, and it is small enough so that you can get around the entire hotel easier than at CS."

Well, we had the opportunity to stay at CS again in October (it was the only hotel available for an impromptu trip to view Fantasmic) and I must say that my opinion of this hotel has greatly improved. We were just at the hotel one night so I did not make any special building requests, other than requesting a ground floor room. Well, we ended up in Casitas Building 2 and boy, what a difference from the Cabanas section. Here, were the wonderful gardens and fountains that separated the rooms from the parking area. We had a view of the courtyard and it was just beautiful with a big fountain with the Three Caballeros in the middle, who of course, consisted of Disney topiaries!! After this experience, I would definitely stay at CS again. The coffee maker in the room lessens the impact of the distance to the food court (I can make the walk if I have my morning caffeine) and since we are still not big fans of Pepper Market and have our own car, there really is no need for us to walk to the main building every day. We also noticed during our last stay that you can get brief glimpses of both the EPCOT and the MK fireworks from the walkway along water. All in all, I must agree with others who say that CS is the moderate hotel that doesn't feel like a moderate hotel.

The October stay was particularly sweet because my son finally got to ride Splash Mountain. No, I don’t think he grew ½ inch between the Sept. visit and now, but we just kept walking and did not stop to measure him and he went on the ride with no problems. Busch Gardens in Tampa has a flume ride that has no height requirement, as long as a parent rides with the child, so we were not concerned with safety issues with him being ½ inch short of the requirement at WDW. Of course he loved it and we have the picture to prove it!! My daughter also went on the ride (at her insistence) and surprisingly to me, loved it (she will not do the Busch Gardens flume ride). The drop is really not as bad as I had remembered it!! My son also did BTMR during that trip, so he has been on all the mountains except for Space Mountain, and he is not even 4 yet!!

Our only experience with the bus transportation from CS was in Sept., when both my husband and Vicky used the buses to get from CS to AK. They did not experience any problems with the buses--no delays and plenty of seats available.

A word about Pepper Market: my mom and I had eaten there during a previous visit to WDW. We were not impressed. The tables are very close together, so it was very difficult to get around with the double stroller, especially when carrying a tray at the same time. We found the prices to be high (especially compared to the PO food court) and the service charge added onto the bill was a joke!! We received no added service, other than a hostess showing us to a table. We had to get our own drinks and no server ever appeared to check on us. I ordered the "wet burrito" and while it was tasty, it was also cold inside and could have benefited from a microwave. We also found that many of the people behind the counters did not speak English too well, and when I tried to order a children’s cheeseburger for the kids, they didn’t understand and did not want to give it to me because they could not see the children (who were sitting at the table with my mom). It was also a pain trying to get those little cards stamped (you get a card stamped at each food station and then pay as you leave). Some of the items were self-serve, and you had to wait around for someone to stamp the card. I’m sure some people don’t bother and just take the item and leave!! Anyway, we are in no hurry to return to Pepper Market after our experience. For breakfast, Maya Grill was fine. The Sept. trip was the first time that we had brought a cooler with us to the hotel and it worked out great. Other times during the warmer months, we stayed at YC, where refrigerators are free, or when at hotels without refrigerators, we simply brought sodas and had them over ice in the room. We kind of thought that the $6 per day for a refrigerator defeated the purpose of having it (to save money on drinks) and since we live so close, it was no problem to fill a cooler with sodas and bottled water and keep it iced. We could not freeze bottles of water, but we were able to get them very cold and I had insulated water pouches which kept them pretty cold inside the parks. If you are flying in, this may not be feasible, but for those of you who drive a car, this is a viable option.

This is our second year of having FL Seasonal Passes and over the course of a year, we have really seen a dramatic improvement in the food at WDW. During the summer of 1997, I ended up in the first aid station of MK in desperate need of an antacid after a burger at Pinocchio's. On another trip, my son threw up after eating the pizza from the buffet at 1900 Park Fare (no one else ate the pizza, so we think this was the culprit). This time, we truly enjoyed the food. One thing I would like to note about WDW food is the hotdogs. Now, I normally do not eat hot dogs outside of the city of Chicago, but during one trip we were desperate for something that the kids would eat (other than popcorn and Mickey ice cream bars), so we got a hotdog from a vendor in EPCOT. Let me tell you, WDW hot dogs are the best I have tasted outside of Chicago. I don’t know what they do to them, but they are wonderful. I won’t eat the burgers in the parks after my experience at Pinocchio’s, but give me a foot long hot dog and I am happy!! The kids like them too, and wouldn’t you know, WDW is the only place they will eat hot dogs!!

Trip Report: 9/13/98-9/15/98, Yacht Club

The next weekend my husband was leaving to go to CA for a convention for a week, so my mom (66 years old and a Disney veteran [who do you think made me a Disney lover??] ) and I decided to go, where else, back to Disney for a few days. One of the joys of traveling with pre-schoolers is that there is no need to worry about school schedules. The kids would miss a day of pre-school, but I don’t think they missed anything vital!! We decided to stay from 9/13 through 9/16). I called CRO on Tues, (9/8) trying to get a room at the Yacht Club, my mom's favorite resort. They told me that both the Beach Club and Yacht Club were full. Well, the next morning I tried right at 7 am and was able to get a room at the Yacht Club at the passholder’s discount rate of $169 plus tax ($187.59).

Sunday, 9/13/98

I basically unpacked from last weekend, did laundry, and just packed up again, not even bothering to put the suitcases away. We left our home at 8 am, picked up my mom by 8:15 am and were on Disney property by 9:30 am. We had a 10:10 am ps at 1900 Park Fare, but they took us early. The food here is really delicious, especially the cheese blintzes with blueberry sauce. This is our favorite buffet breakfast in all of WDW and the characters only add to the enjoyment. Today we were visited by Alice in Wonderland, the Mad Hatter, Pluto, and Minnie. After a wonderful meal, we drove over to the Yacht Club to check in.

There was no line at check-in. Two days before I had called the room controller's office to request an upper level room overlooking the wedding gazebo. When we checked in, they told me they had only a first floor room, overlooking the gazebo because they were sold out!! We felt lucky to have gotten a reservation on such short notice. We did notice that the front of the hotel and the rooms overlooking the main entrance were covered in scaffolding, so I believe they were working on renovating the front of the building, so those rooms were unavailable to be rented out, thus accounting for the "sold out" status.

While in the lobby to check in, we saw a Japanese couple who were getting ready to get married. They were sitting in the lobby signing some documents and talking with the minister. Later, we saw the beginning of their wedding in the wedding gazebo. They did not have any guests in attendance, but the bride still wore a beautiful long white gown with a veil and the groom wore a tux with tails.

We got our IDs, but the room was not ready yet. After a brief discussion, we decided to take the boat over to MGM to see HBND (my son's all time favorite thing at WDW). We would not make the 12 p.m. show, so we planned for the 2 p.m. HBND show. We arrived at MGM around 12 and walked around a bit just enjoying the scenery. The Mulan parade was beginning at 1:30 p.m., so we staked out a spot near Star Tours at the beginning of the parade route so that we could make a quick getaway to the HBND theater once the parade had passed.

At 1 p.m., Chip n Dale, Meg (from Hercules) and Mickey and Minnie (dressed in full movie star regalia and riding in a convertible) paraded down the street. This was totally unexpected, so a real joy to see. I just love these little surprises that Disney always gives you!!

Finally the Mulan parade began. It opened with Mushu riding a bike and getting the crowd to cheer. The parade was just wonderful and seemed longer to me than both the Toy Story and Hercules parade had been. The Chinese pageantry was beautiful and the music was perfect. They even had the soldiers dressed in drag (quite a step for Disney, I thought), but if you have seen the movie, you will remember that the soldiers had to dress as geisha girls to escape the villain.

The parade passed by us and ended at about 1:45 p.m., so we hurried to the HBND theater. We did not get seats along the aisle that the performers walk on, but still ended up in about the fifth row from the stage. Matt was already performing when we walked in. The show was wonderful, as always. Interestingly, we saw a woman in the audience whom we had seen last Sunday when we saw HBND. She must be a HBND junkie, just like us!!

After HBND, the kids were really getting tired, so we took the boat back to the Yacht Club and I called the front desk to check about our room. It was great not to have to stand in line again. I just used the house phone and they told me the room was ready (we did not have to get new ID cards?I guess they can activate the room keys from their computers). We went to the room (1091), directly overlooking the wedding gazebo and called for our luggage to be delivered (we had it stored by Bell Services when we arrived).

Interestingly, when we walked into the room, both beds were made, but the bedspread for one of the beds was folded up and laying on the day bed (this is how the room was made up the second day also, rather strange!). Also, we were missing the coffee cups to go with the coffee maker and there was no "do not disturb" sign or laundry bag in the room. On the plus side, the bed rails and refrigerator (free at YC) I had requested were already in the room.

It was about 3:30 p.m. by the time we got settled in the room and everyone lay down for a nap. I was hoping no one knocked on the door to wake the kids, since I did not have a "do not disturb" sign, but we lucked out and had peace and quiet for a nice long nap. We did not wake until 7 p.m.!! We were still really full from our breakfast and did not want much for dinner. I thought we might be able to get a light meal at the Yachtsman's Gallery, but their menu featured a lot of heavy meat dishes at about $20 each. We really just wanted a big salad and something for the kids. I asked at the podium of Yachtsman's Gallery where we might get something light and was told that the lounge next door served light fare and also that the lounge adjacent to the Yachtsclub Steak House had light meals. I asked if we could take the kids into these lounges (they looked like cocktail lounges to me) and the CM replied, "Of course, this is Disney". Well, a quick peek into each of these areas convinced me that two 3 year olds might not be well received. The clientele looked like adults relaxing over drinks, and although Disney is for children, I still think some areas (like Pleasure Island and most cocktail lounges) should be reserved for adults. Hurricane Hannah's was closed, and although I'm sure Beaches and Cream was opened, we opted to just get some snacks at the gift shop. I had cheerios and Parmalot milk in the room for the kids, as well as muffins and Gerber Graduate turkey sticks (at 3, my kids still like them), so we just ate in the room. This is the only time in this hotel that I was not offered a mini bar key and I did not think to ask for one, since we rarely use the mini bar. This is the one occasion when it might have come in handy, but the gift shop had some snacks, so we just bought some there.

After our snacks, the kids were raring to go into Stormalong Bay. This is the best pool for toddlers. It has a large area filled with sand that is no deeper than 3 feet. The kids can have the freedom to roam around instead of being confined to a small wading pool. There is also a slide just for toddlers that my kids adore. We first stayed with the kids at the Yacht Club in April, 1998 and this is our fourth return visit this year, primarily because of the great pool!!

The kids got their fill of swimming and we returned to the room at about 8:30 p.m. for baths. We finished up just before 9 p.m. and had a wonderful view of the fireworks from EPCOT's Illuminations from our hotel patio.

The one drawback to our room location on the first floor was that you had to pass by the gift shop each time you went to your room. The kids wanted to go back in the "Disney" store and look around, so that's what we did next. I had been looking for a cassette tape of "Mouse House" and found it here!! I was so happy. I had only seen it in a CD previously and I wanted something I could play in the car. The kids decided they wanted a Simba and Nala stuffed animal, so nanny obliged.

I had asked for the turndown service (also requesting coffee cups and a "privacy please" sign) earlier in the evening, so when we returned to the room, the beds were turned down and there was candy on the pillows. The kids always say that "Tinkerbell" comes into the room and tidies up and leaves the candy. Oh, the joy of Disney, especially to the young!! We turned in around 10:30 p.m.

Monday, 9/14/98

We woke up at 7 am (no need for a wake up call with my kids around) and enjoyed our morning coffee in the room. This is the first time that the YC has provided coffee for the coffee maker. Every other time, it was on top of the TV stand with other items from the mini bar and the sign said it was $2. I thought it odd that CS provided free coffee, but YC did not, so I was happy to see that the coffee was free this time. It's a little thing, but that's what makes Disney so unique, is the attention to detail.

We were dressed by 8 am and went down to the Yachtsclub Gallery for breakfast. They had a nice buffet as well as a menu. My mom and I had the buffet and ordered the children blueberry pancakes from the children's menu. Besides breakfast items, there was sushi, sticky rice, and miso soup on the buffet. There were also chop sticks. During our stay we saw many Japanese people at the hotel (and a total of three Japanese couples who were getting married). I wonder if the YC specifically caters to Japanese tourists?

After breakfast, while in the hotel lobby, we were greeted by an English gentleman who was dressed up like a ship's captain. He was very sweet and really made over the kids, asking what they were going to do today, if they were having fun, etc. He really seemed to genuinely like his job and he was a perfect greeter. We also saw another Japanese wedding couple in the lobby having some photographs taken.

We got our car from the Valet parking and headed on out to the MK. The crowds were light, and although we did not reach the MK until 9:45 am, we did Dumbo with just a 15 minute wait. Then, both kids wanted to do Snow White's Adventures, so we did that. Sometimes my daughter is scared of this attraction, but she wanted to do it today, so we vowed that we would laugh at that witch and that is what we did!!

Next, was Skyway to Tomorrowland (15 minute wait). We had to leave our stroller in Fantasy land and had planned to just take the Skyway back to get it, but the side that travels from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland was closed. We then decided to do Astro Orbiters, with about a 10 minute wait. By now, the kids were tiring out, so we got some popcorn and my mom sat down with the kids, while I went back to Fantasyland to retrieve our stroller. I exited Tomorrowland through the hub and walked through the Castle to Fantasyland, just taking in the sites. I made it back with the stroller and we slowly exited the MK, enjoying Main Street.

We drove back to the hotel and were back in the room by 1 p.m. We find it helps the kids to keep them as close to their routine at home as possible, and at home they are ready for a nap at 1 p.m.

We awoke around 3 p.m. and decided that we would spend the afternoon in EPCOT. I made ps for dinner at both Garden Grille in the Land and at the Rose n Crown pub. We had eaten at the Garden Grille before, but had never eaten at the Rose n Crown, so we wanted to check out the menu there and see if it appealed to us.

We walked to EPCOT via the International Gateway (another plus to staying at the YC/BC) and after looking at the menu for the Rose n Crown, decided that the kids would prefer the character dinner at the Garden Grille. I cancelled our ps at Rose n Crown and we walked to Mexico. We did the Rio de Tiempo ride with no wait and really enjoyed it, especially the fireworks at the end. We had dinner at the San Angel Restaurant in May and did not really care for the food. My husband and I had ordered enchiladas with the mole sauce, but the sauce was somewhat sweet. We had the waiter exchange it for the regular enchilada sauce, which was ok, but not much different than you get at any Mexican chain around here.

Next, we did the Coke station, where you can try different flavors of coke from around the world. My daughter and I especially liked the watermelon flavor. It was a great way to cool off. By now, it was time for our dinner reservation, so we mad our way over to the Land. In the seating area outside of the restaurant, by the restrooms, there was a huge tour group from Venezuela. This group consisted of children aged 10-12 with chaperones. They were well-mannered, but there were a lot of them (around 50). For a minute, we were afraid they were all going to eat at the restaurant and that we would have to wait for them to be seated, but it appeared they were just using this area as a meeting place and soon they were on their way.

We were shown to our table and began our meal. The dinner is served family style and is all you can eat. You begin with cornbread and biscuits served with butter and apple butter and a salad served with ranch dressing. The salad greens and all the vegetables are grown right in the Land pavilion. Dinner consisted of rotisserie chicken, flank steak, catfish, mashed potatoes, grilled vegetables, and fried chicken strips and macaroni and cheese for the kids. The food was wonderful, especially the flank steak.

The characters were Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale, all dressed in country farm attire. The restaurant revolves around the Land boat ride scenery.

For dessert, the chidden are given "worms and dirt", consisting of chocolate pudding and cake mixed together with gummy worms on top. They absolutely loved it. The adults were given a delicious apple crisp with cinnamon raison ice cream. We were stuffed when we finished.

After dinner, we did the Lion King attraction in the Land, an environmental movie narrated by Simba, Pumba, and Timon. The kids like this one. Sometimes Timon and Rafiki are there to greet you as you enter the attraction, but we did not see them today.

After leaving the Land, we wanted to catch the Fountain show, but there was no schedule listed in the EPCOT brochure giving times for its performance. Every other entertainment venue was listed, but not the Fountain. We asked the CM inside the Land and he said to ask any CM standing near the Fountain and they would know the performance times, but we did not see any CMs near the Fountain, so we just started to head back to the International Gateway entrance.

Along the way, we heard the Beatles group performing in England. We stopped to watch them a while. My daughter got up out of her stroller and danced to "Got to Get You Into My Life". This group is great!!

We then walked back to the YC because the kids wanted to go swimming. We changed into bathing suits and again hit Stormalong bay. This is particularly beautiful at night and was not crowded at all. We could take a back exit from our hotel room and walk right out onto the Boardwalk and walk to the pool area. We watched the EPCOT fireworks from the area by the toddler slide and had a good view, but the view from our hotel room the night before had been better. On the way back to the room after swimming in Stormalong Bay, we decide to check out the Quiet Pool. This was entirely empty and the water was much warmer than Stormalong Bay. The quiet pool did not go above 5 feet deep. It was pure heaven at night. There was also a Jacuzzi there.

We turned in around 10:30 p.m., again after Tinkerbell turned down our beds.

Tuesday, 9/15/98

We awoke around 7 am again and did some packing. My daughter wanted to swim, but Stormalong bay did not open until 10 am. I took her to the quiet pool while my son and mother stayed in the room (he did not want to swim). Again the pool was completely deserted and we enjoyed both the pool and spa this morning.

After about an hour, we went back into the room and got ready for breakfast. We decided on the Yachtsmen's Gallery again and ordered what we had the day before (buffet for the adults and pancakes for the kids). This time we got a waitress who really did not want to be at work that day. Not that she was a bad waitress, if anything the service was rushed, but it was just apparent that she would rather be doing anything else but waiting on tables. While we waited for the children's food, we got some muffins from the buffet. My daughter ate about half a muffin and the waitress came over and said, "If they eat off the buffet, I'll have to charge them for a children's buffet. This, for half a muffin!! Yesterday I had given the kids a muffin from the buffet with no problem. We did not gorge ourselves on the buffet, but it was all you can eat, and I figured if I took an extra muffin, the $10.99 price more than covered it. There were also crayons on the table and the hostess had given each child a picture to color. After eating, the kids were busy coloring their pictures and the waitress walked by just as my daughter accidentally went off the paper onto the table with her crayon. Now, this child was not coloring on the table on purpose, but she is 3 and accidents do happen and she just happened to go a little off the paper with her crayon. Well, this waitress (witch would be a better word) said, "Please don't color on the table. Someone has to clean that up and that someone is me." We were all speechless at this point and my daughter looked ready to cry. We had already signed the check at this point (having left the waitress a 15 % tip; 20% would have just been too much for her!! My mom wanted to cross off the tip after this incident, but we just left as quickly as we could. There is a treasure chest filled with candy as you enter the restaurant and we had promised the children a piece of candy after breakfast. Each child chose one piece of candy and as we were entering the lobby, that kindly English gentleman dressed as a ship's captain approached us again and gave each child Mickey stickers. My son was unwrapping his candy and accidentally dropped it on the floor. Well, that kindly man said, "wait here" and he went back into the restaurant and returned with handful of candy for the kids. We hoped our waitress didn't see him grab the handful of candy for fear she would have called Security on him!! Anyway, this gentleman more than made up for our bad experience in the restaurant.

There were a lot of conventioneers in the hotel lobby this morning and for the third time, we saw a Japanese couple dressed in full wedding attire signing some documents in the lobby.

We had requested a 1 p.m. check-out time, but decided to leave early to do some more things in the MK. Housekeeping came by the room and we told them we were leaving early. We had a bellman carry out our luggage and while he was loading it up in the car, that sweet English gentleman ran out with coloring books and crayons for the kids. What a nice man he was. I wish I knew his name!! As we thanked him, we told him that his kindness would certainly make us return to this hotel!! We drove over to the Polynesian. We walked around the hotel a bit and then took the monorail to the MK.

As we walked though Main Street we saw Snow White and all seven dwarfs enter from the Car Garage next to City Hall. They paraded around in front of the Train Station and then made their way over to the alley by the Emporium to sign autographs and pose for pictures. We has seen Snow White last week at Cinderella's Royal Table, but this was the kids' first time to meet any of the dwarfs. They posed with Bashful and Dopey and then the Dwarfs went inside for a break. We then walked to Tomorrowland and did the Grand Prix Raceway. We waited in line about 20 minutes and in front of us was a little boy about 7 or 8. He was standing in line alone and when it came time to get into a car, the CM said he was too small to ride alone. We were hoping they would not turn him away after he had stood in line for so long, but what they did was to have another CM ride with him. Disney magic again!! I wondered where his parents were as I thought he was rather young to be left alone!!

After our car ride, we headed to Toon Town. My son loves Goofy's Barnstormer, so he and I got in line for that ride while my mom took my daughter to the playground in Toon Town. Well, about half way through the line for Barnstormer, my son said he had to use the potty, so we got out of line, took care of business, and got back into line. The wait had actually diminished while we were gone and we got on the ride with about a 10 minute wait. Of course, our wait was still about 10 times longer than the ride, but we both love this attraction!! It's just my speed. When my son graduates to Space Mountain, his father will have to take him!!

It turns out that the farm animals had been removed from the Toon Town playground (anyone know what's going on here?), so my daughter had talked nanny into taking her onto Daisy Duck's boat. This boat squirts out water and my daughter was soaking wet!! Now, when the kids were potty training about a year ago, I always kept a spare set of clothes with us, but now that they are past the potty training stage, I have been a little lax about doing this. I wish I had a change of clothes now, but I did not!! My son then wanted to get wet, so I took his shirt off (the advantage of being a boy) and let him play a while.

When the kids were finished playing, I dried them off the best I could with paper towels from the restroom and put their shoes back on them. They were getting tired at this point and both immediately fell asleep in their stroller (wet clothes and all). We made our way out of the park and took the monorail back to the Polynesian. Between the Contemporary and the Polynesian, the monorail stopped for two safety checks of its brakes. The driver announced that they do this twice daily, however in all our years of coming here, we had never been on the monorail while this happened. The monorail essentially just made two stops in the middle of the track. The driver explained that if the brakes had not met the safety check, that all passengers would have been disembarked at the next stop.

The monorail passed the test and we made it back to the Polynesian and loaded up the kids in the van for the trip home, enjoying the Mouse House tape on the way home. This tape is dance versions of popular Disney songs and we love it!! It had been another wonderful trip to Disney!!

Final Thoughts

As always, we greatly enjoyed the YC. Not even the witch who was working in the Yachtman Gallery could diminish our enjoyment of this resort. I read a thread on Rita Aero’s site about poor service at this hotel. Except for the one waitress, we have never experienced bad service here. Yes, housekeeping was a little spotty with the missing coffee mugs and the bedspread on the day bed instead of on the bed (interestingly enough, the room was also made up this way on our second day), but my requests for mugs and a "privacy please" sign were quickly met.

I wish I knew the name of the greeter in the lobby. This man turned the unpleasant experience we had at breakfast into a distant memory. Whatever Disney is paying him, I don’t think it’s enough! It’s these little touches that keep bringing us back!! And to us Disney addicts, a bad day at Disney is better than a good day almost any place else!!

Other Resorts

What follows is a brief review of the other Disney hotels we have stayed at. I think that the choice of a hotel greatly depends upon your individual needs at any one time. Over the years, our needs have changed, depending upon the ages of our children. So, I find it impossible to take a cut and dried approach to a hotel choice. One must consider their needs for any given trip and choose accordingly. So, here are the hotels in no particular order. We have yet to try DXL, WL and the Fort Wilderness campgrounds.

Contemporary

Back in the 70’s, the tower rooms went for $50 a night and we only stayed there when the Poly ($35-$42 per night) was full and my mom would always comment about the price of the rooms!! How we long for those $50 tower rooms now!! Anyway, the view from the tower rooms cannot be beat (especially the MK side) and the standard rooms at the Contemporary seem to me to be the largest of any deluxe hotel (can anyone confirm this?). Our last stay here was in the fall of 1997, when we got a FL Resident rate of $129 for a garden wing room. There are no differences in the room size between the garden and the tower, only the location is different. We have not been able to get that rate since and every time I ask CRO about it, they seem in disbelief that we got the rate in the fall of 1997, but we stayed there twice at that rate--once in Sept. and again in Oct.

Anyway, we like the convenience to MK, especially with a stroller. It is very hard to get a double stroller up the escalator to the monorail, so we usually walk to the MK from this hotel and it is a very pleasant walk. My kids also love Chef Mickeys and the arcade downstairs. The pool is not themed very well, so we have never spent a lot of time there. I also usually find great buys both in the children’s clothing shop and in the Contemporary Woman on the fourth floor.

We have never eaten at California Grill (somehow it does not seem to be the place for 3 year olds), but we have enjoyed cocktails from the lounge adjacent to the restaurant (before the restaurant took up most of the lounge area, what’s up with that!!) with the kids, where they had their first Mickey Mouse cocktail. There is no better place to view the fireworks!!

Polynesian Resort

Growing up, this was my favorite hotel. I loved everything about it-- the Coral Isle Café to Papaytee Bay Verandah (now Ohana’s). Unfortunately, in recent years, the changes made to the Poly have left us underwhelmed. Our last stay here was for New Year’s Eve, 1997, where we paid $320/night for a room that had no coffee maker, no hair dryer, and just one sink (anyone missing CS here??). I hope that we were in one of the rooms that have not yet been renovated (I don’t remember the building we stayed in, but our room overlooked the marina area) and that conditions have improved.e eaten at Ohana’s just once and did not enjoy the meal. There was plenty of food, but to us, all of the meats tasted alike (perhaps because they had all been cooked together) and were dry. They could really have benefited from some good sauces. The ones served to us just did not do the trick!! Also, we are not high on the "performance" dining that is the theme of many Disney restaurants. I know we are in the minority here, but give me a great show, like HBND in a theater and give me good food, but please don’t try to combine the two. Unless the servers are really talented, most are poor actors and the entire experience is just uncomfortable. I know I should put on my flame retardant suit now, but this is our opinion. The "hello cousin" thing just wore thin after a while and the entertainment was nothing compared to the band and Hawaiian dancers that used to be at Papaytee Bay.

Minnie’s Character breakfast at Ohana’s also is one of our least favorite character meals, along with Restaurantasaurus in AK (the food is just not up to par with that served at other character meals, IMO). It’s a shame because the view from the window tables is spectacular and it is cute to see the characters in their island attire.

We are also disappointed with the Luau. It just seems like it has gotten too big and that the whole experience is really rushed. The food is just so so. We used to really enjoy the Luau (in the 80s and early 90s, but our last visit (in May, 1997) was disappointing. It is expensive, no doubt, and I know it’s hard to serve that many people quality food, but we really did not like the food and it just seemed like they were trying to rush us in and out and turn the tables over for the next Luau that night.

On the plus side, are the beautiful grounds of the Poly. At night, with the torches lit, it is very romantic. My mom has visited Hawaii and says the Poly is every bit as beautiful as anything she saw in Hawaii.

Shades of Green (formerly Golf Resort)

We last stayed here shortly after the opening of MGM Studios when it was still called the Golf Resort. We are not military, so it is doubtful that we will ever be able to stay here again. The rooms are quite large and were then beautifully decorated. The pool is not themed, but is still adequate. We have never eaten at any of the restaurants here, but still liked the hotel. We would usually walk to the Poly to catch the monorail (a very pleasant walk, given the right kind of weather).

All Stars

I think the AS hotels are the best example of what I mean when I say that it is your individual needs that matter most when choosing a hotel. I know that some people love AS and some people hate them. Upon our one and only stay at ASM, my husband was definitely in that last category, but I think it was just that the timing was off. We stayed at ASM in Sept., 1997 for just one night. We wanted a weekend at WDW and were going to be mainly in the parks, so thought we would try AS to see what it was like. Well, check-in was a nightmare consisting of a long line with very few CMs available. For a hotel this large, there just did not seem to be enough staff to handle the capacity. We were told to come back at 4 p.m. for our room, rather than the traditional 3 p.m. At 4:45 p.m., the room still was not ready because they said they had shampooed the carpet and were waiting for it to dry. My husband insisted that we be given the key, since the kids were tired and in desperate need for a nap. Well, the carpet was still wet and the room smelled like wet carpet, almost the same smell as a wet dog! I cannot believe that was the only room available. I don’t remember the building we were in, but it was a far distance from the main building. At that time, our kids were still in cribs, so we requested two cribs for the room, as we always do when staying at a hotel. Well, they only had one available (and it was not a crib at all, but rather a portable play pen). It didn’t matter, because with just one "crib" open, there was no walking room at all. We could not have put up two cribs if we had tried. With all the baby paraphernalia, double stroller, etc., the room was just too small for our needs, which did not help anyone’s disposition. Housekeeping was particularly poor during our stay. It took them until 10 p.m. to tell us that they did not have a second crib. By this time, we had gotten the kids to sleep (one in the bed with one of us, the other in the "crib") and the knock on the door by Housekeeping only served to wake up the kids!!

The next morning when the kids went and I went out for coffee, the housekeeping staff was just coming to work and they were particularly loud. This was about 8 am and I’m sure many guests, including my husband, were still trying to sleep! Also, when we got home we discovered that we had left a favorite shirt and pair of shorts of my husband's in the room. I called on the day after we returned home, gave them our room number but they could not locate the items. I can only assume that Housekeeping decided to keep these items.

On the plus side, I must say that the pools looked quite large and my kids loved the statue of King Triton. Unfortunately, they did not open until 9 am during our stay, so even though we were in our bathing suits at the pool at 8 am, we were not let in (why can’t Disney open up the pools earlier??). Young children are by nature early risers and I try to keep them busy so that Daddy can sleep in a bit, but without a pool, this is sometimes hard!!

Also on the plus side were the coffee carts that magically appear outside of most of the buildings in the morning, eliminating the long walk to the food court for a morning caffeine fix.

Although my husband swears he will never again stay at this hotel, I think that for a couple without children or even for a family with older children who did not require the stroller, cribs, etc., that AS might be a viable alternative. My husband’s parents love the resort and always stay there, so it just goes to show that not every hotel is everyone’s cup of tea!!

Another interesting note on the AS is that my husband’s parents went there in early March, 1998, without a reservation. They live in Kissimmee and their neighborhood was hit by the tornado which struck Kissimmee. Although they were ok, their house sustained major damage and it was necessary for them to move out for a few days. Tired of the destruction surrounding their neighborhood, they decided to retreat to WDW for a few days. They went to *** around 7 p.m. one evening to see if they could get a room. My mother-in-law commented that she just wanted a bed and a hot shower (they had been without hot water for two days). That begin a conversation with the CM checking them in about the tornado. Well, upon checkout, they saw that they had only been charged $45 per night for the room (they stayed 3 nights). When they questioned the CM about this, they were told that she had talked to the manager after checking them in and had told him of their experience in the tornado, so they had greatly discounted their room. Just a little more Disney magic!!

Coronado Springs

This hotel has to fall into the category of first impressions don’t always count. After our first stay, I was ready to forget all about this hotel, until it was the only one available for an impromptu trip in October, 1998. Well, after our last trip, I am hooked. I loved it and now cannot decide if I like this or PO better!! I think the hair dryer and coffee maker lean the scales toward CS. Next time, I am definitely requesting the Casitas section!!

Boardwalk Inn

My mom and I stayed here in the summer of 1997 with the kids. We had a water view room with a wonderful view of the Boardwalk, including the nighttime entertainment. The noise never bothered us. At bed time, we simply closed our balcony doors and were not bothered by the noise. The rooms are spacious and are identical in layout to the BC/YC. Besides the drawers in the TV stand, there is also an extra bureau with plenty of drawer space. The pool is great and by the children’s pool, there is a very unique play area with little helicopters, trucks, planes, etc. that the kids can sit in. At times, water is running throughout the children’s area to keep the pavement cool. My kids simply love it.

On the down side, is the lack of a restaurant inside of the hotel. There is a coffee maker in the room, for those of you who need immediate morning caffeine, as I do.

All in all a beautiful hotel, but we still prefer the YC if we are staying on the Boardwalk area.

Yacht Club

Now, this is our favorite hotel at WDW. There is nothing that I like better than to have my morning coffee on the balcony, overlooking the wedding gazebo with the water and the boats in the background. Pure heaven!! Some might be bothered by the horns on the boats, but with young children, we are up early anyway, and the horns just add to the atmosphere!! The pool area is a hit with the kids and the large toddler area makes for a relaxing time for mom as I can sit and watch the kids knowing there is a huge area where they can stand on their own. My kids love the toddler slide also. The convenience to EPCOT and MGM is also a plus, for those of you like my son who have to have a daily HBND fix!!

We primarily stay here in the warmer months when we will be swimming. Although I would love to stay here every time, until we hit the lottery, it is more feasible for us to stay at a moderate hotel during the cooler months when we know we will not be doing much in the pool.

Beach Club

My husband I stayed here right after YC/BC opened. Would you believe they had a $99 rate for FL residents??? Of course, the Boardwalk was non-existent then and I don’t even remember if MGM was open yet. We stayed there primarily to check out the hotel and to visit PI. I don’t remember too much about our stay, other than at that time, we were kind of underwhelmed and thought that the hotel was far from everything. Of course, now the area has built up quite a bit and it is a prime location!! I do remember that there was talk of putting a snorkeling area in Stormalong Bay with live fish. Don’t think that idea ever worked out!!

Caribbean Beach Resort

This was the first moderate hotel built at WDW and when it opened, the rates were something like $69/night. We stayed here shortly after the opening (I think late 1990) again to check out the hotel and visit PI (we did that a lot before having kids!!). At the time, we thought the rooms were small, although I now know that they are the largest rooms of any moderate hotel. The mini bar was a nice touch as is the calypso music by the pool. We have never stayed here again because my husband just didn’t like the resort—thought it was too big!! But, I would give it another chance!

Fort Wilderness

We have never stayed here, but have spent many a peaceful day wandering around. The kids love the pony rides and the petting area and I have fond memories or renting bicycles and golf carts with my mom here and touring the wonderful paths as a child. It’s a great getaway from the parks and I would love to try a cabin here sometime. We did Hoop de Do back when it was called Pioneer Hall Show (and served sangria). We used to like the show and the food, but I haven’t been in years.

Port Orleans

We booked this hotel due to it’s price for the first time about 1 ½ years ago and it quickly became my husband’s favorite moderate hotel. He shares Danielle’s (from RADP) enthusiasm for PO!! Everything from the beignets in the food court to the landscaping is just wonderful,. We always ask for Building 4 to be close to the food court and the parking lot view here does not directly face the lot, but instead looks out to a garden area with wrought iron fences!! We have spent many happy moments on a surrey bicycle touring the area and oohing and ahhing over the mansions at DXL (although I can never talk my husband into giving up PO to try DXL!!). The prices at the food court are really reasonable although the service can be touch and go, but the food is really good—definitely not your standard food court fare. I especially like the red beans and rice!! My kids like the chicken tenders!! Definitely a wonderful hotel.

Disney Institute

We have stayed the Bungalows at the DI several times, the last time being in March, 1998 during the AK previews. Although not very overt in its theming, the DI is still a beautiful resort and kind of reminds me of a country club. The bungalows are spacious and include a bedroom with two queen beds, bureau with TV and the bath area. The bathrooms are somewhat small with the toilet and tub being in one room and the sink (just one) out in the bedroom area. Another TV (and a second phone) are in the living room area, which has a couch that coverts to a bed and a comfortable chair. The kitchen area is well equipped with a small refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave. In March, 1998, the passholder’s rate was $99 plus tax, which was cheaper than PO at the regular rate!! In April, the passholder rate increased to $145 and for December of this year, the MKC (no pass holder rates are available) rate is $177 (with tax). Definitely a lot of bang for the buck, considering the amount of space that you get. The pools are not themed, but are still adequate.

Grand Floridian

This is my husband’s favorite hotel. We first stayed here in December of 1996 because we decided to go to WDW to see the Christmas decorations on very short notice and the only hotels available were the GF and the Poly . At that time, I did not know about calling CRO at 7 am, so I just took what the first CM told me as the gospel. Now I definitely know better!! Anyway, the difference in the rate between the two was not that great, so we decided to try GF. We were in the building directly behind the pool overlooking the water. At the time, we loved it, but after staying at the Boardwalk and YC, the rooms at GF are definitely smaller!! We were on the 3rd floor, so maybe that had something to do with it, as I have heard that the higher up you go, the smaller the rooms are.

What this hotel has going for it is superb service. From the front desk CMs to the Bell Captains, everyone is so polite and you simply have to utter a wish for them to make it happen. We have not had the same experience in the restaurants, however, as we have had some waitresses at 1900 Park Fare who were having an "off" day, but that happens everywhere, I assume.

Our second stay at this hotel was in May, 1997. This time, I went through AAA and obtained a rate of $199/night plus tax. Even the travel agent could not believe the rate (I think it was a FL Resident rate). Again, we chose a water view room because at this point, the kids (who were just a little over 2 years old) were going to bed around 8 p.m. and my husband and I loved relaxing out on the balcony with a bottle of wine, watching the fireworks and electrical water parade while the kids slept. It fit our needs at the time. Now that the kids are older, a balcony with a view is not such a priority, as we are staying up later, but back then, it was wonderful!! Dear hubby even walked to the Poly to buy champagne one night as the sundries shop at GF did not have any!! What a guy!! With younger children, the monorail access was definitely a plus for quick trips to the MK also.

Another spectacular place to watch the fireworks is from the outside porch of the restaurant by the marina (I forget it’s name). You can order drinks from the adjacent bar and take them out onto porch and have a wonderful view of the fireworks of the MK.

Definitely a beautiful hotel and you usually see quite a few weddings here. For a special occasion, I definitely recommend trying it at least once!! I am dying to try Victoria and Albert’s once the kids turn 4 and are able to go the Neverland Club!!

Dixie Landings

This hotel looks beautiful with its southern plantation architecture. Unfortunately, my husband never wants to bypass PO to stay here!! We first chose PO over DXL because CRO recommended PO as being better for families with small children because it is a smaller resort and requires less walking. But, someday I would still like to try DXL!

Wilderness Lodge

WL is another hotel that we have never tried. It is a beautiful hotel, however I have trouble paying deluxe hotel rates for rooms about the size of those at the moderate resorts. The lack of access to the theme parks is also an issue with this hotel. Every other deluxe hotel is either on the monorail route or within walking distance to a theme park (as are the ones on the Boardwalk). Even though we often use our own car, I just have trouble spending the money for a deluxe resort when the amenities seem more like those of a moderate resort, IMO.

Transportation Issues

Before having children, we always used the Disney transportation. Yes, the buses might be slow at times, but my husband liked the idea of not having to drive on vacation, especially after having had to fight the traffic on I-4 just to get to WDW. However, having children, changed our outlook somewhat. I think if we just had one child and a single stroller, we might still opt for the Disney transportation, but to get a double wide stroller on the buses is a real hassle, especially when trying to help two young children aboard. So, now we mainly rely on the car. The monorail cars that are equipped for a wheelchair do hold a double stroller and the boats from the Boardwalk area hotels also allow you to wheel a stroller aboard, which is great.

We like the convenience of having a car with small children because we can leave when we want to leave, and, as any parent knows, there are some times when the kids are tired and you want to exit the park in a hurry. The car also allows the kids to fall asleep in their car seats, so we are not faced with holding a sleeping child on a bus, all the while juggling a stroller, backpack, and another child!!

Again, I think the choice of whether to use a car or rely on WDW transportation depends upon your needs at any given time. I’m sure when the kids are older, we will go back to using the WDW transportation, as it does really make it seem like vacation when you don’t have to get behind the wheel of a car!!

Touring with Children

IMO touring with small children is possible if you make the children the focus of your visit and give their schedules the utmost importance. I know this may not always be possible if you are doing WDW on a once in lifetime trip and also want to accommodate mom and dad’s needs for thrill rides. If that is the case, then it might be best to postpone the trip until the children are a bit older, but if parents are willing to let their desires go by the wayside to accommodate the children’s needs, then I think that touring with children is very feasible. We have always made every effort to accommodate the kids’ schedules and if that meant we were back in the room at 8 p.m. so that the kids could sleep, then that is what we did. We would always try to make t