Trip Reports

Time of Year: Holiday Season
Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
Resort: YCR
Accommodations
Ages Represented in Group: Senior
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
Comments: You know that commercial where the 30-somethings guy is saying that his parents went on vacation at WDW, and he just couldn't see them having fun? He figures they probably hated the parks, didn't do much but hang out in their hotel room, and went to bed early, but when it showed the couple on vacation, they were doing the exact opposite -- and having a ball! When I read this report, I thought of that commercial. Peggy and her husband Dick, thoroughly enjoyed their early Holiday Season trip to WDW...and took plenty of time smelling the roses, errrr, poinsettias.


Pre-report report

A few comments before I post my trip report.

I know experiences can be different at different times; when the park is more or less busy, etc. I have seen postings here from people who thought standards at WDW have declined somewhat, but our experience this trip was that the standards were as high as always and the parks and resorts as beautifully maintained as ever.

I was absolutely blown away by the beautiful poinsettas EVERYWHERE! Virginia isn't exactly the frozen north, but it does get below freezing and you can't put poinsettas outside if you want them to survive. The banks of poinsettas around shrubs; the flowerbeds full of red, pink, and white poinsettas, were overwhelming to someone who has always regarded poinsettas as a house plant!

The Christmas music playing in all the parks was nice, but I did sort of miss the Disney music that I've come to associate with the parks. And much as I loved every minute of the trip, I couldn't think "Christmas." I'm sure this is because in 60 years this is the first time I've been away from home in December. To me Christmas means cold nights and chilly days (although rarely snow) and trees without leaves. But I DID think "Disney," which was why I was there. Plenty of time to think "Christmas" now that I'm home and the wake-up temperature this morning was a brisk 19 degrees F.

When I got home I called to make reservations for our NEXT WDW trip, in a little less than two years. I couldn't believe it, but the Yacht Club was ALREADY booked, except for the concierge floor!! I was able to get a room at the Beach Club and I'll keep trying for the Yacht Club.

I have set my countdown clock for our next Disney trip. It's now reading 712 days.

Sunday, December 6

We left Roanoke, VA at 5:50 a.m. Sunday, December 6. I had an infected hand as a result of a cat bite (my fault, not the cat's). We got to Orlando on time but our suitcase didn't. One large bag that was checked and two small carry-ons; we had the carry-ons, but ALL our clothes were in the large bag. The airline clerk assured us that lost luggage almost never stayed that way and that we would almost certainly have it by 3:30 that day. (It was then 11:00 a.m.) We went on our way with Brian of Tiffany Towncars; a beautiful car and a luxurious ride. I forgot to give him the $5.00 discount coupon. I was feeling very out of sorts when we got to the check-in desk; my hand was hurting, I was halfway zonked from the powerful antibiotics I was taking; I was worried about my luggage, and I was figuring that they'd say something like "We're sorry, we lost your reservation, but we could put a couple of cots in the boiler room."

However, our luck had turned. What they actually said was, "The hotel is full, so we're putting you on the concierge floor." Now THAT is something I could get used to in a hurry! We weren't on the lagoon side, but our room looked out over a canal with a fountain and the beautiful beds of poinsettias that I never got over being amazed at. There was a lounge where there were terrific goodies available all day - all sorts of cereals, fresh fruits and juices, wonderful pastries, smoked salmon every morning for breakfast; cookies and other goodies from 11:30 to 4:00; wine and cheese, including a lot of really nice hors douevrs from 5 to 7, and cordials and pastries from 7:30 to 10:00. I don't drink coffee, but my husband said it was real Brazilian coffee and was really great. They had coffee available all day.

I popped a handful of extra-strength Tylenol for my hand and we took off on a walk around the lagoon. I bought a pair of Mickey earrings and we had Napoleons at the Boardwalk Bakery. Terrific! I wanted to rent one of the pedal surreys but Dick wasn't enthusiastic about that idea. When we got back to the room I called the airport and they said the suitcase had been located and was on its way to the hotel.

We went to Downtown Disney and had dinner at Fulton's. We had reservations and got right in. Dick had New England Clam chowder for an appetizer and Dungennes crab cakes with shrimp for an entree. The crab cakes were a bit bland but they were served with a tasty mustard sauce. I had crab claws with garlic butter for an appetizer - they were wonderful - and prime rib and grilled shrimp for an entrée. He had sour cherry cobbler and I had chocolate crème brule for dessert. I LOVE crème brule, but this was the first time I'd had chocolate and I didn't like it as well as standard.

We walked around a bit and watched the kids play in the squirting fountains, but we were pretty tired so we went back to the hotel fairly early. I would have liked to play in the fountains, too, but I thought I might be conspicuous among all the 2-to-10-year-olds. Our bag was at the hotel when we got there

Monday, December 7

Our first full day, Monday, we had the free breakfast in the concierge floor lounge. We went to the Magic Kingdom. Just outside the entrance gates there was a huge Mickey done entirely in red and white poinsettias. The whole week we were there I never got over the novelty of seeing poinsettias outside.

We rode the Jungle Cruise first, with the shortest wait I've ever had there. Then we went to the Enchanted Tiki Room - we'd never seen that show, either the old or the new version, before, and we enjoyed it - maybe not as high tech as some of the other stuff there, but it was a lot of fun.

Then we went to Splash Mountain, and Dick screwed his courage to the sticking point and actually RODE it! On the big plunge he wouldn't put his arms up like I did, but he did tentatively raise one arm about half way. He bought the picture so he can prove he rode.

We had lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern; Dick had clam chowder (he ALWAYS has clam chowder if it's available) and I had fried cheese. I wasn't particularly impressed with the fried cheese, but he said the chowder was good. We both had pot roast - the mashed potatoes WEREN'T instant - and they brought a loaf of Sally Lum bread. We skipped dessert.

In the afternoon I road Space Mountain - I wasn't able to get Dick on that one! - and we both rode Buzz Lightyear. I enjoyed Buzz but had a dismal score shooting Z's. Dick did somewhat better.

We went back to the room for a rest because we were planning to go to MVMCP that night. We had PS for Crystal Palace at 6:15; the idea was to have dinner as late as possible and then go on to MVMCP. A good idea; so good, in fact, that about half the people who were going to MVMCP seemed to have had the same idea. For the most part crowds weren't bad during our trip, but that dinner was an exception. But we got seated fairly fast and I got my picture taken with Piglet - he was the only character I hadn't been photographed with at CP. The dinner was good as it always is. There was someone from the restaurant going around with a box of arm bands for MVMCP giving them to those who had tickets. (I don't understand why they don't just send you an arm band when you pay for the party, instead of giving you a ticket that you have to exchange for an arm band, but that's the way they do it.) We were into the park by 7:30.

I remarked to Dick that Walt Disney World certainly does put off a LOT of fireworks. We arrived at the MK just in time to see the nightly 6:00 p.m. display, and there was another, more elaborate, display at around 10:00 for MVMCP. I rode Splash Mountain again, but Dick wouldn't ride a second time. We saw the Country Bears Christmas show - we'd seen the Bears before, but not the Christmas show - and we walked right in to Pirates of the Carribean, where we got our picture taken. I bought a Santa hat with Mickey ears, and we saw most of the parade, although we didn't have a particularly good vantage point.

We didn't do Small World, although we probably would have if we'd known that it was specially embellished for Christmas. And we had cocoa and cookies. The cocoa was good, with little marshmallows in it. The cookies were ordinary; they had colored sugar on them, but I can make much better ones! Back to the hotel around 11:00.

Tuesday, December 8

We went to Animal Kingdom today. There were only two mornings that we didn't eat the free breakfast on the concierge floor, and this was one of them. I had PS for Rainforest Café. We had never been to a Rainforest Café before. I was particularly impressed by the aquariums. Dick had Tonga toast, which he loved. I had a fairly pedestrian scrambled eggs and bacon plate; it was good, but unremarkable. The restaurant was very noisy.

We walked right in to "It's Tough to be a Bug." We LOVED it - even getting squirted and "crawled" on. It seemed that we walked for miles through the winding access route. We got our picture taken with one of the bugs, although I don't know which one. The blue one who looks sort of like an ant - maybe he IS an ant. Then we hit Countdown to Extinction - this was probably the longest wait we had during our entire stay, about a half-hour, and this was partly because they'd had some problems with the ride and for about 10 minutes they didn't let anyone in. I was very impressed. And we saw the Jungle Book show and liked it very much.

We had lunch at Tuskers - Dick had a ham and cheese sandwich and I had a chicken sandwich. OK for what it was; nothing spectacular.

We went on Kilimanjaro Safari in the afternoon and saw lots of animals - I understand that depending on when you go, sometimes you don't see many. Then we went to Conservation Station. We were both impressed by the Gorilla Trail - there was a mother gorilla with a baby, but she sat behind a tree and we couldn't see her very well. The big male stood up on a hill and showed off. The "affection section" was sheep and goats. It would have been a nice experience for someone who had never seen a live sheep or goat before, but we got enough of it quickly.

We had PS for Chef's de France that night. We were seated immediately and enjoyed, as always at that restaurant, a marvelous meal. Dick had lobster bisque and Mediteranean seafood casserole; I had coquille St. Jacques and grilled beef tenderloin. I had (what else?) creme brule for dessert - this wasn't chocolate and it was marvelous, and Dick had Peach Melba. This was probably the best meal we had during the week.

There were some of the Living Statues outside the restaurant after dinner; I managed to get one pretty good picture. We rode the boat back to Yacht Club, although we could probably have walked faster, and watched the fireworks from IllumiNations from the beach there.

Wednesday, December 9

Today we went to Universal Studios. Dick had been having trouble with his knee. He had surgery on it several years ago, and he usually gets along fine, but when he's in a situation where he has to do an unusual amount of walking, it gives him a fair amount of pain, and slows him down enormously. Tuesday we were walking back to the train from the Gorilla Trail. There was a couple that looked to be in their eighties behind us; the man was pushing the lady in a wheelchair - and THEY passed us like we were standing still, which we practically were.

So I pushed hard Wednesday to get him to rent an ECV. He made some token protests, but finally agreed, and that was the best decision we made the whole trip. I'm a reasonably fast walker and have a fair amount of stamina given my age, and it was frustrating for both of us to try to keep our paces together. With the ECV we were able to keep together with no trouble and the little basket on the front of the cart was very handy, too. He parked it and stood in line for the rides (except for ET, where the attendent INSISTED that he use the handicapped entrance), but the walking he didn't have to do from one ride to the next really helped.

There were practically NO lines at Universal. We did Hanna-Barbera first. We'd been to Universal before, but we'd missed that one. Dick sat in the non-moving seat, but I did it all the way, and really enjoyed it. Then we did Twister. I was REALLY impressed, although I got a little tired of that cow. We did just about everything; Jaws, The Wild Wild Wild West, Earthquake, Kongfrontation, and as noted above, ET. Dick was a bit miffed that he missed walking through the forest because the attendant wouldn't take no for an answer when he insisted we use the handicapped entrance. Oh, and Terminator 2, and of course Back to the Future. Dick did Terminator, but wouldn't do BTTF. We kept missing Animal Actors.

I got picked to be one of the "actresses" in Earthquake! I was a shopper and I got to stand on the stairs and scream - I was supposed to hold on and sway back and forth like the stairs were shaking. Several people congratulated me after it was over; they said the other two "shoppers" just stood there, but I really screamed and acted scared. I offered to give them my autograph, but no one took me up on it.

We had lunch at Lombard's Landing, but I didn't write it down and I forgot what we had. It was good and there was a very short wait.

We had a latish dinner at the Flying Fish. Here was one time PS really paid off. Our PS was for 7:15; as we were going through the door, a disgruntled would-be patron who was leaving said, "I hope you aren't very hungry because you've got a long wait." There was a wait of 1 1/2 to 2 hours for a table, but we got seated immediately. Dick had what they call "our lovely soup" for an appetizer - it was a bean soup with mussels, and he said it was good, but not as good as clam chowder. I had TWO margaritas and, taken with the antibiotics and the extra-strength Tylenol I was still taking, they had me about two feet off the ground. (I'm not used to drinking!) I had a lobster appetizer of some kind - it was good, but there wasn't a lot of it. I had potato wrapped red snapper - it was really delicious - and Dick had grilled scallops. I'd definitely go there again!

There were lots of ducks in the water at the hotel. There were little machines where you could buy food for them, but you got only a small handful for a quarter. We fed them a couple of dollar's worth, but by the second day we were bringing a couple of bagels from the breakfast buffet. We fed them every day and I hated to say good-bye to them when it was time to leave. I told Dick that next time I'm going to bring 50 pounds of Purina Duck Chow with me.

Thursday, December 10

We went to Epcot, and the first thing Dick said when we got off the boat was, "where do you go to get a cart?" He got used to that REAL quick! We got one right inside the gate, and off we went. (I rode it around a little bit, too, just to see what it was like, and they ARE fun to drive!)

The only thing we did at Epcot that we hadn't done before was Ice Station Cool, the Coca-Cola place where you can try soft drinks from other countries. We tried all the various sodas; the Italian one was really awful, but I don't think it was supposed to be soda pop in the true sense of the word, but rather a before-dinner cordial of some sort. There was a pineapple one that was pretty bad, too.

We did Honey I Shrunk the Audience (I don't think I could ever get tired of that), The Universe of Energy, Spaceship Earth, and the Living Seas. We went to Wonders of Life and I did Body Wars, although Dick didn't. We both did Cranium Command, which is a really cute show.

We had lunch at Coral Reef. We both had lobster bisque, which was great. I had a penne pasta shore medley, with lots of different kinds of fish. It was good, but there was a LOT of pasta - I mostly just picked out the fish. Dick had some sort of mussels. We shared a banana split, which was made with a baked banana and served wrapped in a banana leaf.

We went back to the hotel to rest a bit because we were going to MGM to have an early dinner at Brown Derby and to see Fantasmic. We got there with our receipt from Epcot for the ECV but they didn't have one available. Fortunately, we didn't have a lot of walking to do.

We went to Brown Derby and were seated immediately. Dick had potato soup and I had spinach fondue; he had filet mignon and he had rib eye. We both had grapefruit cake, which was good and I'm glad I tried it, but I think next time I go there I'll get something else. It really didn't impress me that much.

The food was good, but the service was snail-like. By the time we finished, got our check, and got on our way it was almost 7. We started toward the Fantasmic stadium, but about halfway there we saw a sign in the street saying the performance was closed. So we went on back to the hotel; we'll have something to look forward to next time, and we won't try to have dinner at the Brown Derby and see Fantasmic on the same evening.

Friday, December 11 - Disney MGM

We got there very early, around 8:30. They let us in the park but nothing was open. Dick got an ECV. We had a card that had been left in our room the night before entitling us to a freee gift at Celebrity 5 & 10. It turned out to be a very nice Christmas ornament which even as I type is hanging on our tree. We were in line for the Tower of Terror as the bell rang, the music started, and the park opened officially.

Dick decided to do the ToT as far as the elevator - he could say he'd seen some of it, anyway. He kept saying, "This looks just like a boiler room." I said, "I think that's exactly the effect they were striving for." He got a bit nervous as we approached the elevators; there wasn't a sign that said "This way to the chicken elevator." But when we got to the CM who was asking "How many?" I said "One, and one for the chicken elevator," and they took him right to the escape hatch. He was waiting for me, cruising up and down on his ECV, when I came out a few minutes later.

We saw the Sound Show, which I didn't remember doing until we got in, and then I did remember, but it was fun anyway. We saw "Hunchback of Notre Dame," which we hadn't seen before, and I got my picture taken under the "Singin' in the Rain" umbrella. We had seen Indiana Jones, Star Tours, the Muppet Show, and Body Wars before, but we did them all again.

At the Backlot Tour, Dick noticed that his ECV was getting into the "low charge" range. He told one of the CM's; he (the CM) told Dick to go on the ride and that a new ECVwould be waiting for him when he got back. And it was! I was very impressed.

We had done the cowboy side of the Great Movie Ride the last time; this time we wanted the Gangster side and we got it. We had lunch at the Backlot Express - hamburgers, and very good ones.

We had dinner at the Yachtsman. Dick had a filet mignon and I had a Kansas City strip. They came with shoestring onions, which were quite good. There was a little dish of roasted garlic with the bread; I tried it, but it didn't really do a lot for me. We didn't have dessert; we thought we'd have ice cream at Beaches and Cream later, which we did. We had a little trouble finding it, but now we know that it's right behind the windmill in Stormalong Bay.

Saturday, December 12

Our last day! Sob! We woke up early as we always do. I went for a walk around the lagoon - Dick passed; he stayed in the room and read the paper.

We'd never been to the TTC but we didn't have any trouble finding it. (That's where the RADP meet was.) We took a bus to MK then took the launch over to the TTC. The RADP group was easy to find once we got there. I met Deb Wills and Gardenia, two of our busiest and best-known web-page folks.

The Disney CM who took the picture said it would be ready by the time we got back to the MK. Dick and I took a launch over; I got a shopping pass with no problem and went in to the Photo Center, and, by George, there it was! Less than an hour! Aren't digital cameras wonderful? I was back at guest services within 15 minutes, but the young man who sold me the shopping pass wasn't there and I had to deal with a woman who apparently had never heard of one. It took me about 20 minutes to get my money back - but I did. While I was in the Photo Center, I talked to a man who said he'd just gotten a computer and was getting set up for e-mail. He copied the RADP address from the back of my RADP t-shirt.

We didn't have lunch; we had PS for dinner at Cape May Café. Here was the second time the PS really paid off. When we got there at about 6:30, when our PS was, a CM was telling people that they were booked solid and if you didn't have a PS they wouldn't be able to accommodate you. But we were seated within five minutes.

I don't think I'd go to Cape May on a Saturday again. It was VERY noisy; much more so than I remember from the last time we were there. They were getting ready to sing "Happy Birthday" to someone while I was in the buffet line; a CM came over and clanged a bell that was about five feet from my head and I screamed and practically jumped into the steamed mussels.

I guess they're cutting corners everywhere - I remember the last time we were at Walt Disney World, we got mints with our check at every restaurant except Cape May, where we got salt water taffy. But this trip we got them only at Fulton's and I believe Chefs de France. I didn't particularly care; we brought home a whole pile of mints that they left in our room in the evenings, but it was a nice touch.

Then we went to the RADP IllumiNations cruise. We'd watched the fireworks several times from the beach, but seeing them from the boat was really spectacular. We couldn't see all the lights around the lake, but we had an unimpeded view of the fireworks and lasers. Zeke, who sometimes posts here, was our captain, and he rode us up and down the lake from Epcot to MGM several times. Andy from England was our tour leader, and we got lots of buttons and name tags. I had my name on my shirt in three different places! Somehow they'd gotten the idea that Dick's name was "Joe," and he had a name tag that said "Joe."

Saturday, December 13

We're leaving! Sob! We had breakfast at the Yacht Club Galley this morning. The breakfast buffet was FANTASTIC! They had bacon, sausage, biscuits and sausage gravy, scrambled eggs, broccoli-cheese frittata, potatoes with onions, a wonderful selection of pastries, french toast, all kinds of fruit, apple crepes with vanilla sauce - they left a caraffe of orange juice at our table and I drank it all because Dick doesn't like orange juice. $10.95 - a real bargain, particularly by Disney standards.

There were several things we wanted to do this trip that we didn't. We didn't see the Osborne family lights or Fantasmic - but we've learned not to try to go to Fantasmic AFTER dinner. We'll see them both next time.

And we didn't go swimming. The injury to my hand didn't completely close during the time we were there, although it improved steadily, and for the dual reason of not wanting to polute the water and not wanting to risk further infection I didn't want to go into a pool. We walked around Stormalong Bay and it was nice, but I wasn't as overwhelmed by it as many are. It was very crowded all the time, and I thought that for the prices they charge at the Beach and Yacht Clubs, they could keep it open more than 8 hours a day.

We checked out the Yacht Club quiet pool and it was very pretty - we thought maybe we'd have a swim in it, but were prevented doing so by my hand's not healing more quickly. Dick could have gone, but he didn't want to go alone.

I really LOVED the Yacht Club. I don't think I'll ever stay anywhere else except Beach, Yacht, or Boardwalk. The hotel was nice, but it was the location, being so close to so much, that really made it almost worth what they charged. I know a free upgrade to the concierge floor isn't something I can expect every time, but even on the "standard" floors I'm sure we'd be satisfied.

Our reservations are already made for December of 2000, and we'll plan to do Test Track (I hope!), Fantasmic, and Osborne Family Lights. We'll give those things a higher priority than anything else. Only 710 days to go!

And next time I'll try to arrange not to have a cat bite me the day before I leave.

Thus endeth the trip reports.

Peggy Morgan

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