Trip Reports

I have been back from the "World" for a several days and I thought that I would share some of my experiences with y’all. I traveled with my mom and my grandmother for three nights at Dixie Landings and one night at Wilderness Lodge. My grandmother is getting ready to have knee replacement surgery and therefore she was in a wheelchair (No problems). We were at WDW from June 8 until June 10. THe following are a few comments that I would like to share:

Dixie Landings: Great resort, best food court that I have been to at WDW(including PO, AS, and CBR.) (It took a little longer that expected to get picked up to got to AK for entry.The buses are supposed to start an hour before opening but the first bus didn’t arrive until about 6:35. This was not really a problem since I got right in line and was ready when the park opened.) Most of the time we drove to the park so that was not a problem. The bus system can be a little crowded so make sure to wait at the main bus stop in front of the resort (South Depot). Most of the time the bus system is pretty convenient. I would recommend that anyone staying at the Dixie Landing of Port Orleans take advantage of the boat cruise to Downtown Disney. It is a very pleasant and scenic journey.

Hoop-Dee-Do Review: Great Show. Good food but too much of it. We rode the bus to Pioneer Hall from the parking lot. A lot of the buses are now handicap accessable and are quite easy to maneuver a wheel chair on to. The bus drivers are also quite helpful.

Animal Kingdom: Beautiful Park, plenty to do but tough on the feet. The park is spread out similar to EPCOT but attractions are not nearly as close. The are no real short cuts like at MK and you must go through "the Hub" to get to each land. (Unlike at Mk where you can get to Adventureland directly under a bridge from Frontierland, at the AK in order to get from Camp Minnie-Mickey to Africa you must travel a long distance back to Safari Village. Also unlike the other parks there is very little air-conditioning. Make sure you go to Conservation station in the middle of the day when it is the hottest. Overall it is a good park and very detailed but still needs some more attractions to diminish distances. Here are some thoughts on individual attractions.

It's Tough to be a Bug: Good show, good effects. Too short for the lines. There is a lot "thrown" at you in a short time and it can be confusing. THe lines are deceptively long. Another thing that can be confusing is that the actual entrance to the show moves. In the morning and evening it is near Dinoland, in the afternoon the line is longer and starts and the opposite side of the Tree near the entrance to Camp M-M.

Festival of the Lion King: One of the best shows at WDW. (In my opinion second only to HBoND.)

Grandma Willows Grove: Good show about small animals and conservation of the forest, Seems like it would be best if moved to Discovery Island (the shows there are needing updating). Don’t plan on seeing it following FOLK because it is a smaller show. Not really worth the walk back to Camp M-M later to just see it.

Countdown to Extinction: Ok ride, but way too much dark. It is very confusing to figure out what is happening. As a ride it is pretty good but the theming is lacking. Way to short. See it first thing in the morning when the crowds are non-existant and everyone else rushes to the Safari. The AA are good but you really only gets small glimpses of them.

Killimanjaro Safaris: Probally the best attraction in the park. Very realistically done. I rode twice once in the morning and once in the afternoon. There were MUCH more animals out in the afternoon. THis is why I would say try to see CTX first.

Discovery River Boats: This needs work. THis is really neither transportation or an attraction but it takes alot of time and people. It does give you an overview of the park but is not very information. the critters to see on my journey includes a spider, a scorpion, and a lizard- let me tell you very exciting. you do get to see some sights that most vistors don’t see but the wait was the longest in the park up to 45 minutes. It is also very dificult yo find but is to the right of the bridge to Dinoland. It is supposed to stop at the other dock but after 4:00 it makes a round trip. It would be much easier to walk than to stand in line for so long.

Flights of Fantasy: Although this is a little corny, it is a great bird show. It does have a plot which is a refreshing change. This theater is out in the open and is very HOT in the summer (there is no tent or roof over it.) A cast member told me that they originally wanted to get some high flying birds so they didn’t cover the theater, butr since the birds they have do not fly that high and the weather has been unbearable that they are proceding with plans to cover the theater.

DAK Food: there is a lack of full service meals at AK but what they do have is excellent. We ate breakfast at Rainforest Cafe and were quite inpressed. THe scenery is a little overdone but the food is tasty (I recommend the Eggs Benedict- it is a little spicy though). The fruit smoothies are to die for! I had the Key Wester.

We didn’t eat any fast food at AK but the treats are quite good. I recommend the Frozen Bananas, the strawberry bars, and the Frozen Coffee. The first two can be found at various stands but I found the coffee at a coffee stand in Safari Village near Dinoland. One thing when did notice is that the snack stand in Harambe -Tamu Tamu has seating but is not covered. Across from this stand is a much better seating that is covered but it is a lounge that allows smoking -Yuk!.

Overall AK gets a thumbs up but there is a lot of work still to do to get up to the standards that the other parks have. In some areas benches are abundant (ie Safari Village but in others like Conservation Station they were non existant. THey also need more on the Gorilla Falls trail. Water fountains are also scarce but can only be found near restrooms. There are no mist locations or fountains like the other parks and the heat can get unbearable. THe morning and evening times are ideal but there are no shows during this part of the day. The fist shows are not until around 8:30/9:00 and the last ones end before 6:30/7:00 once the shows are over there is not that much to due for an hour. Even when Asia opens there will be more room but only a couple more attractions.

We went on a Sunday and there were virtually no crowds. We waited no more than 15 minutes for anything except the river boats.

E-ride Night: The E-ride night on June 9 was crowded but no more that 10 minute waits. We walked on HM and PoC. Splash Mountain broke down which caused longer waits at BTM but still no more than 10 minutes. I only managed tro ride any ride once.but that was partially because I had already had a long day in the park and took a few opportunities to rest and eat dinner early on. Overall it was still worth the extra ticket but I would recommend taking a rest early in the day to accomodate staying in the park later if you want to do alot more at night.

50’s Prime Time Cafe: This is a good relaxing meal of comfort foods. The pot roast (aka Liver and Onions) is real good. The atmospher is festive and fun. I find it neat to play along like it was a family. One of the gags our "sister" used was telling us not to fight over the "grocery bill" or she would take it away from us. Unfortunately she didn’t even when I attempted to fight over it she just said we had to try harder. The milk shakes are great. One of the neatest details was the fact that the desert menu was on a viewfinder.(It brought back a lot of childhood memories)

Wilderness Lodge: This is a great resort but the transportation can be troublesome at night to MK. Because there is a boat to go directly to MK there is not a bus. The only bus option is to go to the TTC and take a monorail or riverboat. After E-Ticket- I went to take the boat back and it was CLOSED. I proceeded to the nearest transportation, the riverboat which was also CLOSED. Therefore I drug myself all the way back to the monorail and went to the TTC. I thought the bus would never come. The problem is that the but to the WL shares the route with Fort Wilderness. This is a major problem. I find this had to fathom condidering there is even a bus from the Contemporary that goes to the TTC when there is a monorail that does the same thing. For a Deluxe resort they need to work on the transportation. Otherwise the resort is quite good. The CM are very efficient. Bell Services especially was efficient and prompt. They do not have 24 hour room service like the other deluxe resorts but do have a limited selection until midnight (no desserts however- and I had my heart set on cobbler.) The Whispering Canyon cafe is still quite good. We ate there for breakfast. The gravy is the best in the "World" but the potatoes used to be much better)the are now just hashbrowns. They also used to have a fruit and bread bar for breakfast but no longer do. Otherwise the restaurant is still quite good.

Comedy Warehouse: I caught a show here that was quite good. I would highly recommend it. This is located at Pleasure Island. The later shows are more adult oriented.

Overall my trip was great but too short if anyone has any questions feel free to ask. It looks like they have done a good bit of minor refurbishment at WS at Epcot (Example, the stage for "Off Kilter" in Canada, Opening Blue Room in American Adventure, and playground in Norway.) The "Rock 'N' Roller Coaster" is coming quite along. So is the All Star Movies Resort. Most of the main structure at ASMov is done and they are beginning to theme it. The only thing I could really see was one of the buildings closest to ASMu has railings designed to look like film.

I can’t wait until I can go again!

Andy McCullough

jamccul@ibm.net

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