Trip Reports

WHY WE ARE GOING

After much debate on how to spend our two-week honeymoon, Joe finally said, "You plan a week and I’ll plan a week." Immediately, I picked Disney World. I’d been many times, but my last trip was in 1986 when I was 15 years old.

FLASHBACK WARNING!! I already loved Disney by that time, but the 1986 trip converted me to a die-hard Disney resort fan. My mom, dad, younger brother (age 13) and younger sister (7) went along with my dad’s brother, his wife and their son (7) and my dad’s sister, her husband, and their three children (ages 17, 13, 8). All of us plied into three cars and took two days to drive down from northern Alabama. We stayed in three 1-bedroom Club Lake Villas (now the Villas at the Disney Institute). My brother, cousins and I spent a lot of time exploring the parks (just MK and Epcot then) on our own. Because of the transportation system, we could come and go as we pleased, which was certainly a blessing to our parents as well as to us. We didn’t have to spend our time waiting around in lines for Dumbo and the Speedway, and they didn’t have to keep up with us plus the little ones! Each night we would assemble to recap the day’s events. We would compare attractions, meals, and money spent. One cousin and I always seemed to have the best food experiences as well as money left over.

Okay, now that I have that out of my system…

Joe was not too thrilled with my choice (his was Nova Scotia). His one and only Disney experience was as a high school sophomore. His school band went to march in a Main Street parade. He spent most of his time in MK, only venturing over to Epcot once in half-hearted attempt to find soft pretzels at the Germany pavilion. (He was in that park about 20 minutes total.) Since then, we’ve talked to several couples who honeymooned at WDW and their reports have gone a long way towards convincing Joe that adults can have fun there, too. (It took a little more convincing for him to believe that Animal Kingdom has real animals, not audio-animatronic ones!)

PLANNING THE TRIP

I immediately hit the net and the bookstore. Armed with the updated Birnbaum’s and Unofficial guides, I began researching the WDW resorts. The amount of information on the Internet is incredible (more on this later). Since Joe’s mom and dad are giving us the honeymoon as a wedding gift, we had a nice-sized budget to work with, but we didn’t want to go completely overboard, so we finally decided to focus on the moderates, ultimately deciding on a water-view room at Dixie Landings.

As luck would have it, the first Disney fan site I browsed was Brian Bennett’s. After reading all the enormously helpful tips he’s compiled on trip planning, I hit the trip reports. At first, I was just reading reports on trips taken at the same time of year that I’m going, just to get an idea about crowds, transportation, etc. Then I started reading reports from everyone that had stayed at Dixie Landings. That wasn’t enough, though, and within a few days I was a hard-core trip report junkie! I’m sure all Disney fans like me are grateful to Brian for the wonderful service he does in keeping this "archive" of Disney memories. (Editor's Note: It's amazing what a little trip report author arm-twisting will do.)

My next step was to call my travel agent, Ellen (the world’s greatest, as you will soon see). Mind you, this was around March 2, so we were cutting it close with reservations. I gave her the info and she got on the phone with Disney. She calls back and says, "I have good news and bad news." Bad news first- DxL was booked for the first two days of our trip. Good news- we could get a standard room at Wilderness lodge for only $10 more a night! Then Ellen started arranging the million other details and I started planning our touring itinerary. (Plus I reread all the trip reports on Brian’s site from people who’d stayed at WL!)

WHY IT PAYS TO DEVELOP A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRAVEL AGENT

Remember when I said Ellen was the greatest? Well, Joe and I decided that the free honeymoon was wonderful, but we felt guilty about taking such a big gift, so we insisted on paying for our airfare, and I called Ellen and told her to charge the tickets to me. Well, this move paid off because Ellen decided to give us a great wedding/thanks for the business gift: free tickets!!!! (We’re now planning a weekend trip in December for the r.a.d.p (rec.arts.disney.parks) annual meet and the money we will save because of Ellen’s gift will almost completely cover it!)

MORE TRIP PLANNING

Going in late June, I know we will be encountering huge crowds, so I’ve mapped out a touring plan for part of each day. We both made lists of "must sees", and our plan is to see as many as possible in the morning. This will leave the afternoons free for swimming at the hotel, water parks (though we’re planning on hitting one first thing one day), leisurely lunches. We plan on spending late afternoons/evenings shopping, catching missed attractions, and just people watching. We’ll hit Pleasure Island at least one night, because we’re meeting Joe’s best friend (and best man) and his wife (one of my bridesmaids) there for dinner. Maybe we’ll even have some "insider" information on the weather, since Joe’s friend is the morning on-air meteorologist for the NBC affiliate!

Not only am I counting down until the wedding and the trip, I am counting days until I can call for priority seating. Because sit-down meals are important to us as a way to relax, we don’t want to face long waits or, even worse, no availability at all, so priority seating is a must. We’ve picked out several restaurants for both character and regular meals. We decided against the dining plan because, even though we plan on eating well, I reviewed menus and realized that there is no way I could eat $300 worth of food over 6 days. Having the option of spending that much per person, plus the bonus money included in the plan, would just encourage us to over-eat, which would definitely slow us down. I’m eager to see if our final bill tells us we should have gone with the plan or not.

A LITTLE SCIENCE ALONG THE WAY

I do intend to conduct one "experiment" during our visit. I’ve read so many conflicting reports about the transportation from WL. I expect it will be just fine, but I’m going to pay close attention and report my findings (wait times, transit times, etc.) as well as any transportation tips I come up with. Hopefully, I can do my part to clear up the confusion!

THE WIDE WORLD OF THE WORLD-WIDE WEB

The Internet has been invaluable in my trip planning. There are so many good web sites (and a few great ones, like Brian Bennett’s and Deb Wills’ sites) that contain a wealth of information. I immediately grabbed a 3-ring binder and started printing everything from menus to Blizzard Beach slide photos. I read and reread trip reports, cutting and pasting tips, recommendations and other information into a Word file alphabetized by subject (to give my poor printer some rest, I’m only printing it at the end of each week).

Because of the trip planning, I’ve finally joined the newsgroup world. The group I read most frequently is rec.arts.disney.parks. This group is bigger and more responsive to planning questions than the newer alt.disney.disneyworld. Mind you, a.d.d. is great, but it is more park-focused. I’m even attending a radp meet in Connecticut to enjoy the company of fellow fanatics and maybe pick up a helpful hint or two. Watch the newsgroup or Deb Wills’ site for updates on meets in your area, as well as meets at the parks. (I even found out the wife of a co-worker is a radp’er - it IS a small world after all!)

Another tip: many web sites contain links to other great Disney sites. Be sure to follow the ones that sound interesting. This is often the best way to find new Disney pages since even the best search engine can’t find everything.

Okay, one last tip: talk about your plans. You’ll be surprised at the number of people you talk to everyday who are Disney junkies.

Well, rather than a blow-by-blow trip report, I thought I would give my impressions of the parks, the hotel, transportation, food, parades and miscellaneous items.However, this trip report still turned out to be longer than I’d hoped, but I just can’t say enough great things about Disney!!

Background

Let me start by saying that Joe and I were married on June 20, 1998. Joe’s parents gave us a substantial amount of money for a honeymoon, to do with as we pleased. After much debate, we settled on one week at WDW and one week in Nova Scotia (talk about your schizophrenic trips!!) This was in early March. After deciding on the destination, we headed to the bookstore, bought some travel guides and started deciding on a resort. We definitely wanted to stay on-site but didn’t want to spend too much.

After comparing resorts, we settled on Dixie Landings. I immediately called my travel agent and told her we wanted a water view room and she started checking rates while I began perusing r.a.d.p. (rec.arts.disney.parks newsgroup) and other great Disney sites. Then I get a call from the travel agent (she’s the greatest, BTW). Dixie Landings was sold out for our first two nights there!But, they offered me Wilderness Lodge for $154 including tax!! So we went for it, thrilled that we were getting a deluxe hotel after all.

Then she told me about the airfare - Philly to Orlando to Portland, Maine (there we took the ferry to Nova Scotia) and then back to Philly - $638 for two. Another great deal!! Feeling guilty about accepting such a huge gift from my future in-laws, I told the agent to charge the tickets to me. Little did I know that she would eventually give us the tickets for free as a wedding gift!! (Like I said, she’s the greatest!!)

I planned like a maniac - made lots of priority seating "reservations", poured over the guides, read and posted on radp, even attended a radp meet (and only two other people showed up ).

So, all that in mind, here are my impressions of the different topics I listed above:

Wilderness Lodge

What a beautiful, awe-inspiring hotel! We loved the lobby lounged frequently late in the evening before retiring, wrote postcards there, hunted for hidden Mickeys. Our room was very nice, though a bit dark. Of course, waiting when we arrived was a split of champagne from the staff - nice welcome! We had a woods view and could see the fireworks from our balcony. (Incidentally, our room was 4010 and after a couple of days we noticed that carved into the huge log "column" on the left side of the balcony was a Mickey. I asked the front desk about it and they said it was the only room with a Mickey on the balcony. I’m not sure I believe them, but it was a nice touch!!) The pool area was nice, but it was almost always crowded. We could never find empty lounge chairs. Being able to jump in the spa was nice, and especially soothing for our aching feet, but cool and warm spas would have been nicer than warm and hot spas!

We did a good bit of eating at Roaring Forks. The food was decent (not fabulous, but fast). In the early mornings, it was extremely crowded, however, and the noise from the arcade was a bit much in the evening. I was irritated by the fact that it was closed when we returned from Magic Kingdom - the food courts in all hotels really should stay open at least an hour past the latest park closing - even if you can only get drinks and snack items. Whispering Canyon was nice, but we went for a late lunch, so there weren’t any high-jinks going on, and when we asked for ketchup, we just got a bottle of ketchup! But the food was great - I had a wonderful bean soup and a grilled chicken sandwich and Joe had a huge salad (and later ate the rest of my sandwich - it was huge, too).

All in all, Wilderness Lodge was really great - high marks for fantastic themeing, attentive staff and a beautiful setting - you really can’t see palm trees from the place!!

Restaurants:

We had originally planned on eating lots of sit-down meals. However, we were just having so much fun touring that we didn’t feel like taking so much time to eat. We did have a character breakfast at Epcot’s Garden Grill and lunch at Whispering Canyon. These were some of our dining high-points:

Rose & Crown Pub - had PS for 6:45 and got an outdoor table. They brought us champagne and strawberries to congratulate us on the honeymoon!! Joe had Shepard’s Pie (I think) and I had the fish & chips, but it was so hot that I literally lost my appetite - I probably didn’t eat three bites. As night began to fall, our waitress told us we could take our time and stay for Illuminations. We began talking to people at the next table who were from Tennessee and celebrating their 20th anniversary - everyone we encountered was so friendly!! Just before the show started, a woman at the table to our right passed out from the heat and they brought a wheelchair to take her away - it was that hot!
Hollywood & Vine - we stopped here for late breakfast before leaving MGM after early entry. We were both surprised at how good the food was and will definitely go there again!!
50’s Prime Time Cafe - What a fun place!! First off, our waitress was "Mom". When she asked why we hadn’t been home in so long, Joe told her we had gotten married and she made the biggest fuss - started yelling for "Dad" to come in and hear the news. Well, "Dad" shows up and starts quizzing Joe about what he does. Joe tells him he’s working on his Ph.D. and he looks at "Mom" and says, "A doctor!! Mother, did you hear that?? Our girl picked a doctor!!" The food here was great - I had the fried chicken and it was delicious. Joe had another salad - I thought he was going to turn into a lettuce leaf!! If you go, remember to keep your elbows off the table, take your hat off and order a milkshake!!
Our favorite counter service spots - Pirata y el Perico in MK, Pizzafari in AK (best pizza in the parks, IMO) and Cantina del San Angel in Epcot.
Transportation:

We rented a car ($105.45 plus tax for a midsize for a week through National with an MKC discount) because we’d heard so many horror stories about the transportation from Wilderness Lodge. It was completely unnecessary. We drove it to the hotel and back to the airport - didn’t use it for anything else.

First off, the boat to the Magic Kingdom was wonderful. We were incredibly lucky at times, but it seemed like it was always arriving as we walked up to the dock. The bus service was just fine, too. Only once did we wait longer than 20 minutes for a bus (to MGM on early entry morning - more on that later).

Also, we were creative at times. After Illuminations, we decided to leave via the International Gateway and take a stroll along the Boardwalk (Gorgeous - can’t wait to stay there next year!!). After that, we took a bus back to Magic Kingdom, did some Main Street shopping before boating back to the Lodge.

Magic Kingdom:

This was even more wonderful than I’d remembered!! In the 12 years since my last trip, it has just gotten more beautiful. Joe insisted on waiting until dark to do the Haunted Mansion - his favorite. We rode Pirates of the Caribbean several times; I was actually giddy with laughter over seeing the dirty old pirate leg hanging over the bridge and the smiling pig in the mud after so many years!! Our longest wait by far was for Space Mountain. At 40 minutes, it was twice as long as any other wait the entire week. As great as Space Mountain is, I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever ride it again. As a kid, I loved it, but as an adult (tall enough that the seat back provides no head & neck support), it just about killed me - I had a neck ache after riding it. It is great fun, and the long wait allowed us to see all the cute videos on the screens in the queue. I guess Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (BTMRR) will be my coaster of choice - at least until I can give Rock N Rollercoaster a try! We waited until after the late parade on a non-early entry night to try Splash Mountain (in fact, we did it 2 times, BTMRR 2 times and Haunted Mansion once in 2 hours virtually no waiting). What an awesome ride! The animatronics are superb and the final drop is great, even if we did look like complete idiots in the photo!!

Epcot:

We wore ourselves out in this park. Our first visit was on an early entry morning. Of course, we headed right for Honey, I Shrunk the Audience (HISTA). We waited maybe 5 minutes. I really wasn’t expecting much out of the pre-show, but it was fabulous! Then, it was into the theater, where we screamed like kids over all the great effects. Joe wanted to see it again immediately, but the long line dissuaded him. So we headed to Spaceship Earth. The audio track seemed to be off in a few spots, but it was still as wonderful as I remembered - the smell of Rome burning, Michelangelo painting the Sistine Chapel. After exiting, Joe said, "This is my favorite ride!" (A phrase that would be repeated after many attractions....) We both loved Ellen’s Energy Adventure - even the preshow. The Living Seas, which wasn’t complete on my last visit, was disappointing for both of us. Horizons was neat, of course (love the smell of those oranges), and Joe thought the "choose your own ending" was cool. (SIDENOTE just recently, I walked down the hall in my office building and smelled oranges. I didn’t think to myself, "Ah, oranges!", I thought, "Ah, Horizons!") We had fun sending electronic postcards from Innoventions, but didn’t really explore the area much. Oh, Body Wars almost made me toss lunch - once we "entered the lungs" I had to close my eyes to keep from being sick. Of course, I was in the back corner, so that could have made it worse, but this simulator ride is very intense, much more so than Star Tours. World Showcase was full of activity. Joe insisted on getting a passport and having it signed - we spent an entire afternoon doing just that. I loved Norway’s shops (it wasn’t there on my last visit) and Joe bought me the most wonderful perfume in one - Laila Norway’s first perfume. Joe was just beside himself over Impressions de France and the American Adventure - we were both teary-eyed!! We had great fun exploring the UK area - something I seemed to have missed most of in my previous visits.

MGM:

Much neater than I was expecting! Our first time was on an early entry morning. While we were in line waiting to get in, the 6 millionth visitor went through the gate! I kept thinking that if we’d just gotten up 15 minutes earlier, that could have been us winning lifetime passes!! Of course, we headed straight for Tower of Terror. Even after reading how intricately themed it was, we were both blown away! The overgrown gardens, dusty lobby and the authentic decor was astounding. I had heard to look in the bottom of the letterboard by the "out of order" elevator doors. The letters that had "fallen off" the board spelled out "TOWER EVIL" in the bottom of the case!!! What a neat little detail - it is stuff like that that makes Disney so special! Everything about he attraction was superb - the preshow in the library, the boiler room, the cast members. I have to admit, I was a little scared about the actual ride. After it was all over, we were laughing like crazy and just dying to ride it again!! What a rush!! By the time we made it back to the line, the wait board read 90 MINUTES! Thank goodness for early entry!! So we headed back towards Star Tours. This simulator ride left me queasy, but not as much as Body Wars. I loved the AT-AT and snowspeeder outside the attraction, though!!

Great Movie Ride was just that, and the Muppetvision 3D show was just too cute. The Backlot Tour seemed lacking, and we never even got to see any of the shows or the Mulan parade. Oh well, I guess we’ll just have to make another trip to WDW to see them! We visited again one evening on Epcot early-entry day. The crowds were very light and it was actually cooler (MGM seemed like the hottest park - so much concrete, so little shade). We rode Tower of Terror several times in a row with no wait and never tired of it! And we did manage to find the perfect souvenir for our three nephews - a picture of us on a Goosebumps cover - they were amazed!

Animal Kingdom:

Let me first say that I was prepared to be disappointed based on everything I’d read. I couldn’t have been more pleasantly surprised - this is a wonderful park! I was completely blown away by how lush the landscaping is and how wonderfully themed all the areas are - especially Harambe Village. We visited for the first time at around 6:30 pm and walked slowly toward Kilimanjaro Safaris, expecting a long line. What we found was an extremely long queue area with no line!! We went right on and had a very lively "guide". All I had heard was that the animals aren’t out in abundance during the afternoon, but that turned out to be hogwash. We saw most of the species there, including both black and white rhinos (the white rhino walked right in front of us), giraffes, lots of zebra (running along beside us and then in front of us, Thomspon Gazelles, several elephants, three cheetahs, lots of hippos, crocs, baboons, Western antelope, and even bongos and okapi. Even after all that, we weren’t expecting to see a lion, but when the "rock" formation came into view, there stood the lion on top of it, roaring majestically!! We were so overwhelmed with the safari (once again, Joe uttered the "THIS is my favorite ride". The Tree of Life is equally spectacular. One could spend an entire day just identifying the different animals!

The next morning we had planned on getting up early to be at AK at opening to do a more thorough tour. However, Joe could not be blasted out of bed and I was wide awake when the alarm went off, so I decided to go it alone and let him rest. My first independent action as Mrs. Pyle!! I couldn’t believe the difference in the crowd - there were so many people in the morning compared to the previous afternoon. The line for K. Safaris was out of the attraction, through Harambe village and over the bridge that leads into the village!!! I took one look and said, "I don’t think so!" Happy that I’d had a great safari the evening before, I headed back to the Tree of Life and started wending my way to the theater for "It’s Tough to Be a Bug". I thought this was fabulous much better than HISTA. The effects were better and creepier than HISTA, the plotline cuter, and it was a more complete sensory experience (including smell!!). After taking a slew of pics of the Tree, I headed to Dinoland USA. Countdown to Extinction had about a 15 minute wait (another shockingly short line). This ride scared the bejeesus out of both of me - I got the front right seat not knowing what to expect and got the fright of my life!! Unfortunately, the imaging system was down, so they could show pictures of riders on the screens, but couldn’t print them - and mine was classic!! I was shrinking in my seat, mouth wide open with a scream, hands clutching the sides of my Mickey boat hat.

Shucks!! Once again, I didn’t see the live show, mainly because it was incredibly hot that morning and I needed to get back to the Lodge and get hubby out of bed! Next time.

Fireworks/Parades:

We saw Spectromagic once - I loved the music (especially that "on this magic night" song) and some of the floats were cool (especially the "Night on Bald Mountain" one), but I missed Main Street Electrical Parade!! I will definitely go back when it is up and running again, which I’ve heard will be in 1999! Fantasy in the Sky was awesome - we got a prime table on the patio at Plaza Pavilion and watched. Joe had never seen the Disney fireworks before, so he finally understood why I loved them!! Sorcery in the Sky was great - we loved the movie music - this is probably the best show in terms of fireworks alone. We saw the construction on the amphitheater for Fantasmic! - can’t wait to see the show next year! Illuminations was our favorite of the shows. Joe was completely into it, "conducting" along with the classical music - it really was thrilling!Of course, our prime viewing spot from the patio of the Rose & Crown helped, but it was a terrific show regardless!!

Miscellaneous - A few compliments and complaints and general tips:

Having one card as a key, park entrance and room charge card was great no lugging around a purse!!
Delivery of packages to your room - fabulous! Only once did we have a problem when my perfume was delivered to Ft. Wilderness instead of the Lodge, but the Lodge Merchantile manager drove over and got it for me! We had a Guest of Honor badge made with our names and "Just Married" instead of the hometown. Everyone noticed and congratulated us. Most of our snack cart treats were given to us "on the mouse" when the cast member saw the badge. In all, we were treated fantastically!! If you are honeymooning at Disney, don’t be shy about letting people know - heck, being newly married, doesn’t everyone want to let the world (or "World" in this case) know?
Water Mouse rental - we tried this one afternoon. For a half-hour, one is $18, but be warned - with two passengers (approx. 155 and 125 pounds), they don’t go very fast. If you are after a zippy ride, go one per boat if possible. Also, be sure to reapply sunscreen - the sun reflecting off the water is very strong - and hot!! A dip in the pool afterwards is a must! Be flexible in your plans - especially if you’ve never been or haven’t been in a long time. It is easy to forget just how far apart the attractions are and how much time it takes to wait in line, ride and then walk to the next one. Try to stick to some kind of schedule, but don’t be a slave to it. When you are tired, take a break, go back to your hotel for a nap (especially if you stay on site). The park will be waiting when you come back, and will probably be cooler and less crowded. When you get really tired, try to have a relaxed, sit-down meal so you’ll have time to recuperate some. If the lines are especially long, try to eat at odd times and ride during traditional eating times.
Speaking of planning , use your Internet resources! Read trip reports on Brian Bennett’s site (http://members.aol.com/DVClubber/dvchome/htm) and explore all of his excellent trip planning tips and reviews. Visit Deb Wills’ Unofficial Walt Disney World Information Guide (http://www.wdn.com). Both are treasure troves of information including menus, special events information, resort descriptions, and hundreds of other tips and "secrets".
The afternoon break is a life saver. We would start out in one park, go back for a swim (but almost never a nap) and then see a different park at night. One day, we did all four parks (well, I did 4, Joe did 3)! I got up early and toured AK at opening, woke up Joe and went to MGM for lunch (squeezing in another Tower of Terror ride), toured Epcot in the afternoon, went back to the hotel to change into fresh clothes and shoes and then ate dinner and toured MK that evening until it closed at midnight - what a full day!!
Clothes and shoes - dress for comfort!! Even wearing light cotton tank tops, I was very hot and sweaty by midday. The afternoon break allowed us to change into fresh clothes, which made a big difference in how we felt. We also changed socks and shoes in the middle of the day, saving our feet from undue aching, I’m sure (they were tired enough as it was).
Also, if you are at a resort with a spa, use it - those jets can do wonders for sore feet!
If you arrive at MK during a parade time or fireworks time, hop on the Main Street Railroad and bypass the Main Street crowds - get off at Frontierland and ride Splash Mountain and BTMRR, tour Fantasyland while all the kids are seeing the early parade, or get off at Mickey’s Toontown Fair and explore this area or walk to Tomorrowland and tour its attractions.
Remember that you can’t possibly do it all, so set your priorities and make sure you cover the "must-sees". We were there a week and didn’t see any of the live shows, didn’t make it to any of the water parks, didn’t visit Pleasure Island, and just barely explored Downtown Disney Marketplace and West Side. We only visited a few resorts (Poly, Grand Floridian, and Contemporary), but would like to have seen more.
Resist the urge to buy the first attraction photo you have done IF you are planning on riding that attraction more than once. We bought our first photo from Tower of Terror, not realizing that it was only so-so because we were sort of frozen by not knowing what to expect. Later shots were much better.
The one thing we were afraid of was that we’d have lots of pictures of each other, but none of us together. We were thrilled at how nice people were. Many times, one of us would be taking a picture of the other, and a passerby would offer to take one of us together. Lots of cast members did this for us, too. We returned the favor whenever possible, too. After a day or so, we started noticing other couples taking pictures of each other and just began offering all the time - most people don’t want to bother others and never ask, but are thrilled when someone takes 15 seconds to do a "good deed."
If you tend to get motion sickness but want to ride Body Wars or Star Tours, try to sit near the center. This will reduce the apparent motion you feel somewhat.
If you really want a thrill on Tower of Terror, try to ensure that the lap bar doesn’t go all the way down - you’ll get much more "air time". Don’t be stupid though - that lap bar is holding you in, after all!! Being next to someone larger than you works as well - I sat next to a guy who could have played right tackle in the NFL - I barely touched the seat during the drop sequence! This goes for Splash Mountain as well - don’t hold on to the bar - throw your arms up and scream - it is a thrill ride, after all, so go for it!!
Most important - sit back and enjoy the magic - Watch people giggle as they exit Tower of Terror Look around to see the wonder on little kids’ faces as they watch Spectromagic or Fantasy in the Sky Ride the Fantasyland attractions and remember how Walt delighted in thrilling not just the young, but the young at heart.
Have your picture made with Mickey - he is the star of the show, after all.
Use all your senses - revel in the smell of cookies outside the bakeshop, touch the Tree of Life, stop and listen to the Main Street Barbershop Quartet.
Smile back at cast members - they deserve it!!
Tara Whittle

taraw@4taconic.com

__________________
You just read a trip report that was originally published in our MousePlanet Trip Reports column.

Reader-submitted trip reports have always been an extremely popular feature here at MousePlanet. In order to improve the search functionality and shorten the time from when you submit a trip report and the report gets published, you can now post your trip reports directly to our Trip Report forums. The forums are moderated, but reports should become available for reading very quickly.