Trip Reports

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: CBR, VDI, PO
Accommodations
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Teen, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
Comments: Rob's report has an interesting twist. Being a consummate trip planner, he had a daily plan in mind for the entire vacation. Rob documents the "plan" and the "reality" for each day. This report has a lot of details on the likes and dislikes of the entire group. Great reading for the planner!



Nov. 21-27, 1998

Hey folks...for my trip report, I will "replay" the notes from my trip plan I posted sometime back, and then follow up with what REALLY happened! Hope it makes sense!

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Rob, Me (planner)
Mom (packer)
Boy-14 (art & drama nut)
Girl-10 (not a kid much longer)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21

PLAN: We fly out from Houston to Jacksonville Saturday morning, Nov. 21 (flying to Jacksonville 'cause we were able to get 3 of the 4 tix free with flyer mileage - we were gonna rent a vehicle anyway). Have a minivan reserved with Dollar for $199/wk. Arrive Jacksonville around noon. Quick lunch and boogie toward Orlando. Stop by the outlets in the Belz mall to check for pre-souvenirs!! Check in at Caribbean Beach Resort for the first of 3 nights there. (Two nights with MKC discount at $95.20 and one night at $119.) Check on upgrading the two remaining days from our old 5-day hoppers to new 4-day park hoppers that include AK. Go to Saturday evening church services, then dinner at Gulliver's at the Swan using the $50 off coupon from Rita's book. Possibly walk over to view Illuminations, then hit the sack.

REALITY: No great problems with the plan, except that by nightfall everyone is at each other's throats. Siblings are taking great delight in casting barbs at each other right and left. This wasn't nearly as bad 2 years ago. I'm hoping the Disney Magic will work its spell tomorrow. Flight went without a hitch.

We paid right around $200 for one Houston-Jacksonville ticket, and for the other three we cashed in frequent flyer mileage. We were due into Jacksonville at 11:59 am, and actually got in a bit early (thanks, Continental!). We were in our Dollar van and ready to drive out by 12:15 pm. (Dollar was out of minivans so we got a full size van. I feel like I am driving a tank!! It is brighter red than any fire engine I've ever seen, so I don't think we'll have trouble finding it in the parking lots.

We pick up Arby's sandwiches in Jacksonville and eat in the van. We are in Orlando area by 3 p.m. Head immediately to Belz. Hit both Character stores, plus they have a special Christmas Disney outlet that is only open seasonally.

We find the church we are visiting at 5 p.m. Mom is stressed though as Girl-10 is not in the 5th grade classroom after the service. Boy-14 meanwhile is having contact lens problems, and Mom can't find Girl-10 and wow!! Boy-14 saves the day when he sees "bookstore" and says I bet she's in there. Sure enough she is.

Between a long service and finding missing girl, we don't get to Gulliver's until about 7:40 pm. (We had 7:00 pm PS.) But there is no problem and we get in right away. This is the best moment of Saturday. It is a thoroughly delightful meal, and everyone remarkably is suddenly in a good mood, thanks to the antics of our waiter Michale and the balloon artist (who is there in lieu of characters two nights a week). Michale delights in harrassing Boy-14 and he plays along splendidly! The balloon artist takes requests, and makes a "Tigger" for Girl-10 and a wonderful "Pluto" (his specialty) for Boy-14. Mom gets clam chowder, and the filet & lobster special. I get the pecan crusted grouper over potatoes with shiitake mushrooms, and a side of asparagus. Boy-14 (who is now a vegetarian) gets vegetable pasta primavera, and Girl-10 orders off the kids menu and gets a burger & shake. The food goes down good, and we enjoy all the other balloons being created at other tables as we eat. Total bill is about $88. I actually have my $50 coupon with me, so that makes it $38, and I add a $15 gratuity.

Because of the time spent shopping and looking for Girl-10 we do not check in to Caribbean Beach until after Gulliver's...this is about 10 p.m. after the nice long dinner at Gulliver's. Again, no problems, except now each kid has had a piece of their balloon sculpture pop, so we are all getting testy again. We unload suitcases. I leave to go to Publix to get some fruit (it's about 10:45 pm by the time I get there), and tell everyone not to kill each other! When I get back to the room, everyone is asleep.

SPECIAL NOTE ON THE STRESS: Just a week and half ago, we have learned we are moving. (I am a pastor....where is our RADP high priest from Brooklyn, by the way?) The church we're moving to is only a hop, skip and a jump (Texas saying) from the Houston airport, so we went to tour our new church and new house, and meet the committee at a potluck on the night before we flew out. Actually it all went great, but I'm sure that was a big part of the stress we were all experiencing. We had a room on Friday night at the airport Hyatt. Weekend rate of $79. Plus we can leave our vehicle there all week at no charge. Normally seven nights parking will be about $50, so that's a pretty good deal! (That is, if our van is there when we get back....hmmm...maybe I should have brought our old van that we haven't been able to sell

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22

PLAN: Up and at 'em for early entry at MGM. We'll spend the whole day, top to bottom there. Only spent a half day there on our last trip (Nov. '96). Also have PS at Sci-Fi at 11 a.m. (eat light and enjoy the surroundings) and 50's Prime Time for 4:30 p.m. (main meal - try to remember to use my MKC card). Stay until the 8 p.m. Fantasmic, then back to CBR

REALITY: I get up early and drink my coffee outside in the dark. (There is a coffeemaker in the room, and I brought filters and coffee from home.) Following the Unofficial Guide's recommendations for early entry means we should be at the gates at MGM at 7:30 a.m. Well that just doesn't happen. Too much commotion trying to get off, and once again Boy-14 is having contact lens problems. Finally we manage to get off.

Another hitch....I have to stop by the lobby (OK, OK, customs house) and check back in for the next night. (Since MKC rates were only available on certain nights, I have 3 one-night reservations instead of 1 three-night reservation. You'd think in this up-to-date world they could just combine them. That doesn't take long. However, I also have to turn in our old passes to upgrade. There is no line at the CBR guest services so I go ahead and do it there. But that takes quite a while to compute, and so it is 8:05 by the time we arrive at MGM. I'm a disappointed commando, but we get right with it and head to the Tower of Terror. Mom and Girl-10 didn't do this a year ago, so this is fun. Girl-10 is terrified by the pre-ride stuff, and has a ball on the ride. Ready to go again.

There are quite a few people around, but we don't encounter too many long lines. We do most of what we had planned to do, except we are never able to fit in Hunchback or Beauty & the Beast. Everyone enjoys both the Sci Fi and the Prime Time. Boy-14 and I are laughing out loud at the movie previews in the Sci Fi. Big thumbs up for Indiana Jones, which we had missed last time. Lunch at Sci Fi is $39.33 plus tip. (Mom and I split a sandwich and split dessert.) Dinner at Prime Time is $55.59 plus tip (with MKC discount).

We also are surprised to see that the Osborne Lights have already been turned on. There is a surprise addition to them that involves 3-d glasses. That's all I'll say, though by the time this gets posted, it will probably have been discussed. Boy-14 is incredibly impressed.

We head toward Fantasmic. Tonight there is a 6:30 and 8:00 show. We get to the line a little after 7, and wind up standing still for a long long time. They loop the line through the Beauty & the Beast stage, because the people in the 6:30 show have to exit before we can enter. Girl-10 is getting tired, but we aren't about to miss it. It is about 7:40 before we finally get in. But the show starts promptly. There are lots of folks, but plenty of extra seats. It is very well done. A great way to end the day. The show is over about 8:30. Line moves better getting out than I had expected. We are back in our room at CBR by 9. Boy-14 and Girl-10 need to be separated, so he and I go down and watch the Illuminations fireworks across the waters of CBR. Then we all wind down.

Already a change in plans...for E-Ride has apparently been changed to tomorrow (Monday 11/23). Everything I had read indicated 11/24, and this is even in print in one of the handouts we had received. But when I bought the E-ride passes, they say 11/23. I call to confirm and that is correct. There are going to be some upset folks if they show up for E-ride on Tuesday and find out they missed it, I fear. We had planned to do Animal Kingdom on Tuesday a.m., but if E-ride is tomorrow night, I don't think we could get up that early on Tuesday. So we shall switch, I think. Do Animal Kingdom first thing tomorrow. Take a midday break. Then do Magic Kingdom in the afternoon & evening (open till midnight with the eride). I KNEW Plan Z wouldn't hold up!!

Weather was warm but pleasant just about all day. Lots of folks are swimming, and we hope to do some of that tomorrow.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23

PLAN: Early entry at Magic Kingdom and stay until late morning, depending on how crowds are. Lunch offsite (perhaps Chinese food at Ming Court on International Dr.) using Entertainment card and back to resort for R&R and/or swim, depending on weather. To Epcot and see selected attractions until closing, grazing as needed, in lieu of a sit-down dinner.

REALITY: As I mentioned on our day two post, we have already switched things around. Found out E-night would be Monday, instead of Tuesday. We did not want to do Animal Kingdom (7 a.m. opening on Tuesday) after a Monday night e-night, so we switch our plans and do AK on Monday.

With a 7 a.m. opening, we want to be in line by 6:30 or 6:45. This morning, everything works, and we are up and at them. (Once again, I have to check in again, since we have three one-night reservations. Night 1 and 3 had MKC discount -- $95.20 a night. Night 2 is $119.) We eat granola bars and fruit while waiting in line for the gates to open at AK. No early drop here, though. They open up exactly at 7 a.m. We are only about 15th in line, so this will be GRREAT!! Since the opening is so early, we decide to try to hit It's Tough to Be a Bug (ITTBAB) and Countdown real quickly and then do the safari, figuring the lines won't be too long yet. Great idea. But....PROBLEM!! We are standing in line at ITTBAB by about 7:05 and they tell us they are having technical difficulties, but they will be solved soon. We wait about 15 minutes, and they still haven't opened up. I grit my teeth, and we decide to bail out. By this time it is pushing 7:30 and we haven't done anything. (The best laid plans..) So we just go ahead and head for the safaris. Very short wait...about 5 min. This goes great. We see animals right and left. Looks like they have been posed just for us. King and queen lion are sitting right there for us...and unbelievably Mr. Lion lets out a huge roar right as we drive by. I was beginning to wonder if these were animatronics or something!! Girl-10 is just squealing with delight!!

Well we head back to ITTBAB and the line is still short, so we get in after about an 8-minutes wait for the previous show to finish. Everyone enjoys this, especially Boy-10. He is impressed. Then we head to Countdown. By now the lines are lengthening, so we have to wait about 20-25 minutes. We enjoy this, then head toward the Festival of the Lion King, but we have just missed the first show. (I try not to think..."if only we had gotten into ITTBAB quicker, we'd have made it!")

So we do some character greetings, and go see the animal training show, which is done periodically in the same place at the Colors of the Wind show. It explains how the wild animals (rats, rabbits, birds, etc.) are trained for the show. The character greeting area in Camp Minnie-Mickey is very nice. Makes it very easy to keep everyone in line. Then we get in line for the second show of Festival of the Lion King. It is starting to get rather warm, but not too unpleasant. But I can't help thinking about what this must be like in July or August. This is a very good show and we enjoy it. Boy-14, however, critiques the show: "The plot is very very weak. The evil people come in and then they just disappear." We have seen The Lion King on Broadway, so I don't know if anything else will ever match up for him! (The rest of us just enjoy sitting and watching!!)

We walk out and also make the Colors of the Wind show (Pocahontas). After getting one more character autograph, we leave Animal Kingdom at around noon. It is getting pretty warm now, so it's a good time to bail out.

For lunch we go offsite to Jungle Jim's (in Crossroads shopping center). It is almost deserted in here! The food is good! We order off the regular menu instead of the lunch menu since we have a coupon. With the coupon, lunch is $20.50 plus tip. We pick up a few more snacks at Gooding's, then head back to the CBR. We spend a little time at the pool and beach, but it starts to rain, so we head back to the room.

We get reorganized, and then hop a bus to Magic Kingdom. We have already purchased our E-ride passes. We get there about 5 p.m. or so. Boy-14 wants to ride the entire railroad around, and we also want to hit Toontown, so we first get our wristbands, and then get on the train. We get off at Toontown, and let the kids see some characters. Then get back on the train to finish the circuit.

At this point, we try to pick some things that don't have long lines. First we do Tomorrowland Transit Authority. We pick up some snacks (no sit-down dinner tonight). Then Buzz Lightyear...this is fun except Girl-10 isn't having much luck. By now the parade has begun, and we are trying to get to the Tiki Room. We cut around through Fantasyland, but still are blocked by the parade. So we go ahead and do Splash Mountain which is a walkon. Everyone enjoys, and Girl-10 does it with her hands up!! Now we get to the Tiki Room. Fun, but we kinda miss the old one. Boy-14, however, gives the new show a "thumbs up." Then we do Jungle Cruise, and we make the last boat of the night, the 9 p.m. boat.

Now the park is closed except for e-rides, so we start making the rounds. Pirates. We all sing along to Boy-14's consternation. Splash Mountain again. Big Thunder. Girl-10 has no problem, then hears a really loud noise as we are exiting the ride which spooks her. Then comes, of all things, Haunted Mansion, and I think this scares her more this time than last time. The rest of us love it!! Now back to Tomorrowland.

Girl-10 has vowed she will not do Alien Encounter as she hated it two years ago. But now she is changing her mind. Not 'cause she wants to do it, but just so that we can all do it together. So that is the next stop. Well...she hates it again, while Boy-14 just thinks it is funny. Girl-10 doesn't mind thrill rides at all, but she just detests Alien Encounter. Next we do Space Mountain. Then Astro Orbiter. We have done 7 of the 9 E-rides and it is 11:40 p.m. (One -- Country Bear Jamboree -- we have decided to be expendable...but then find out it isn't open the early part of this week -- getting it ready for the Christmas show, I presume.) We go by Timekeeper, and there will be one more show starting at 12 midnight, but we decide we can do that likely without a wait tomorrow morning, and it is late, so we leave. Ride the bus back to CBR. We have told Girl-10 to leave her stuffed animals out and about and she is delighted to see them arranged with the remote control when we return to the room. It is late so we hit the sack!

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 24

PLAN: One more early morning to get to AK before 7 a.m. opening. See key attractions and then stay as long as crowds permit. Lunch offsite at Jungle Jim’s using Entertainment card coupon and go check in at Disney Institute. (Two nights in bungalow at MKC discount, $159/night.) R&R and/or swim. Then to MK in late afternoon for e-ride night. (Regular closing at 9, so e-ride lasts till midnight.) Graze again as needed, in lieu of a sit-down dinner.

REALITY: As I mentioned before, we swapped day three and day four, since e-ride night turned out to be Monday. We did the above plan yesterday, and are doing yesterday’s plan today. (Sorry, I’m getting myself confused now.) After doing e-ride night, we are glad there is no early entry today! MK opens at 9 a.m. Last night was our last night at CBR so we have to pack our bags. Penny-pincher dad decides since we have saved so much money on food, we will eat breakfast at the food court this morning. We spend about $25 for breakfast. We leave the resort about 8:05 a.m., so commando Dad is happy! (Oops...after all that discussion on RADP, I completely forget to leave a tip for housekeeping.)

We get to the Ticket & Transportation Center before 8:30. They are apparently not opening the monorail gate until 8:30 on the dot. So we stand around wait. They open it up. We decide on the monorail instead of the ferry, as we presume it will be faster. We just miss out on boarding the first monorail, but will clearly make the second one.

Then comes the slowdown. Every morning in the parks has had a slowdown. First...on Sunday we have a hard time getting off to MGM and it takes a long time to upgrade our old passes. Then...yesterday It’s Tough To Be a Bug is having technical difficulties. Now today...the monorail is just sitting there. It literally sits still for almost 20 minutes. There is apparently another one stuck ahead. Finally it goes, and the second one shows up. After all those plans, it is just after 9 a.m. when we finally get into the park. Fortunately, it will not hamper us too much.

First stop is Peter Pan and it is a walkon. Next stop is Snow White...also a walkon. But we just miss the 9:20 showing of Legend of the Lion King. So we head back to Buzz Lightyear. Hoping Girl-10 will have better luck this time, but it is not to be. Next...Timekeeper which we all enjoy. Now back to the Legend of the Lion King. Then Hall of Presidents (which I insist we need to do, since we have always missed it before).

Then it dawns on me that I had told Girl-10 she could do Tomorrowland Speedway. It is now about 11 a.m. so I am afraid the lines will be getting long. We also want to do Carousel of Progress (which was closed after 6 p.m. yesterday, and doesn’t open until 11 a.m. today), and Boy-14 wants to ride the Skyway to get to the Carousel. So we split up so we can do both. Mom and Boy-14 go to ride the Skyway, and I go with Girl-10 to the Speedway. The Speedway line turns out to be not so bad, and we actually get done before Mom and Boy-14 show up. After we reconnect we go do Carousel of Progress, which everyone loves. (Mom saw it as an 8 year old at the 1964 World’s Fair!) We finish Carousel around 12:15 p.m. and head for the exits. One more potty stop! BY THE WAY: The weather has been great. From time to time there are threatening clouds, and so we always have our ponchos with us, but we never have to use them. At times while traveling we will see puddles from a rain. But the only time it really rains on us is yesterday at the CBR pool. The high temperatures are in the 80’s every day. Only near the end of the week will it get just a tad cooler. Two years ago on Thanksgiving week it was really fairly chilly, though comfortable. But this time, every day is "suitable for swimming."

Today we are using our Entertainment discount card to eat lunch offsite at Ming Court Chinese restaurant. I call and make reservations as we are leaving the park. Things go like clockwork this time. On the monorail. To the tram. To our van. Off we go. Ming Court is on International Drive, not too far from Sea World. Amazingly, we were walking off Carousel at 12:15, and we are at Ming Court at 1:10. It’s not crowded, so we really didn’t need reservations. The Entertainment Card gives us one free entree. Boy-14, the vegetarian, has cheese wontons and spring rolls. Mom and I split the cashew chicken, and the shrimp in lobster sauce. Girl-10 isn’t very hungry and she orders spring rolls. With the discount, the four of us eat for $19 plus tip. However Girl-10 winds up using this as a nap break. It is really quite a sight as she is sprawled out in her chair at this attractive Chinese restaurant. We leave and head for the Villas at Disney Institute. I was a little concerned about going that far for a lunch break and getting stuck in traffic and wasting a bunch of time. But we leave Ming Court before 2 p.m. and are at Disney Institute shortly thereafter. Checkin goes very well there. A delightful young lady, Marianela, brings the family on her cart to our Bungalow (784, not far from the North Studios), and I follow in the big red van, which by now, we have named Clifford. (On our last trip, we had one of the ubiquitous little white cars that had a PFY Florida license plate, so we had named it "Puffy." Clifford is a lot easier to find in the parking lots than Puffy!) Wow, this place is quite a contrast. I don’t hear too many people bragging on the DI Villas but after the hustle and bustle of 3 days in the parks, this is like heaven on earth. Mom and I are immediately tranquilized by the lovely setting. Girl-10 is happy anywhere. And Boy-14 is very impressed by the ambience—here’s one quote—"I was outside, and I saw this rabbit. It was starting to rain, and I knew I needed to get back to the room, but I just had to watch that rabbit."

Marianela helps get our stuff inside, and then we are shortly off for Epcot. We will only have about 5 hours at Epcot, so we’ll try to do some of the top picks.

We first head for World Showcase. We watch about 5-10 minutes of Off Kilter, getting the end of a show. Boy-14 wants to see the Living Statues so we head for France. We can’t quite figure out where the show will be so we wander around a bit. Boy-14 gets in one of his attitudes that only teens can have. We see a group of folks with cameras and a tent, and figure that is where it will be. But then, lo and behold, Beauty and the Beast emerge. It’s a character signing. Mom and Girl-10 immediately get in line. While they wait, I walk a little further and I find the statue. Boy-14 and I go watch the statue. Mom says Belle was one of the kindest characters we have encountered -- of course, she can talk, and most of them can’t. They join us and watch the statue a few minutes, and then we continue.

We get two of the Kaki-Gori’s to share...yep they are great!! But I should have waited, because it is only 3 minutes until the American Adventure show. I insist we need to see this since we missed it last time. So we eat as much as we can, and then slip inside. We miss the Voices of Liberty that have just finished singing. The show is good, but being the afternoon, my eyelids sag a bit.

Now suddenly Girl-10 is totally consumed with the fact that we have had lunch and she hasn’t. "I want pizza!!" It is hard to find anything easily consumable that will satisfy her hunger. So everyone is getting gripy again. We get to Maelstrom which everyone wanted to do, and tempers are almost flaring again. There is a pretty good line for Maelstrom, but it finally dawns on Girl-10 that nibbling upon the popcorn and cheese puffs in her waist pack (though it may not technically be "lunch"), will indeed calm her hunger pangs!! We all enjoy Maelstrom, and then it is time for Future World. Now Boy-14 is getting tense because he wants to spend lots of time in Innoventions but also not miss a thing in Future World. Can’t be done. Girl-10 is still complaining about not having food, ("Pizza, pizza") but we don’t want to go wandering around and waste what little time we have yet—it’s now after 6 p.m. So we just start with Horizons and start hitting attractions. Everyone enjoys Horizons. Then we make it to the Wonders of Life building, and there is a food court. By now the popcorn and cheese puffs have sauntered down her esophagus, so of course now it’s "I’m not really hungry!" Besides there are all those neat interactive things in the building.

Still we stop and order one small vegetable pizza to share. That with a drink is about $7, and that will actually turn out to be supper for all of us. Next we do Cranium Command and Body Wars. Both walkons. We realize that everyone must be in World Showcase by now, as there are no lines for anything. Though we won’t have time to do it all, we certainly aren’t waiting in lines. Next we do Universe of Energy which we all wanted to do. This scared Girl-10 last time, but she does fine with it this time.

Now it is about 8:15 and we have to decide whether to do Living Seas or spend all the time in Innoventions. We have seen Living Seas, and decide to postpone a repeat visit until our next trip. So we go into Innoventions. We take the tour of the "House of the Future" presented by Honeywell. Both kids love this. Then they have about 15 minutes to just wander. Right before 9:00 we come out and go get a spot to watch Illuminations. This is not the best viewing area, but it certainly will do. We are also among the first out of the park, and we have no trouble getting to our van and out of the park. We are back to our room before 9:45.

Actually I should say "they" are back to the room, as it is time for me to go grocery shopping again. We have a fridge and microwave in the Bungalow, so we will be doing 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch, and one of the kids suppers in the room. I decide to go to Publix. (I noticed one of the small convenience food stores on 192 that dares to call itself a "SUPERMARKET" with the name "Public’s." Can you imagine?)

I also stop by Eckerd and get some more film. Everyone is snoozing by the time I get back to the room. Tomorrow is the first morning that we DON’Tt have to be out of bed at the crack of dawn. Yippee!!

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25

PLAN: We DON’T have to be up at the crack of dawn for a change. Play it "by ear," perhaps going to Disney Quest before lunch. I will also pick up some groceries we can use to do lunch and kids supper in the room. Kids have DI classes in the afternoon. Girl-10 will take Face Magic ("Kids discover how illusions are created with theatrical makeup, then transform their own faces to look like animals, characters, or action heroes, behind the scenes at the Disney-MGM Studios.") 1:30 - 5 p.m. Boy-14 will take Television Studio Live ("Experience the excitement and chaos of live production as you go ‘on the air’ with the news for Disney Institute Television. Play the role of anchor person, audio technician, camera operator or director in this fast-paced program. For variety, you might be involved in a talk show, quiz show, or the craziness of a TV drama.") 2-4 p.m. Mom and I will recuperate! While kids eat in the room, we will go to Seasons Restaurant at DI (using 2 for 1 from Entertainment Card). Then all 4 of us to Comedy Warehouse and Adventurers Club at Pleasure Island.

(Buy 2 admissions, get 2 free from Entertainment Book.) Hit the sack! REALITY: This day goes pretty much according to plan. Moving into the DI Villas is like a breath of fresh air. Everything is so calm and peaceful. Mom and I get up at our leisure and have breakfast on our porch. We are right by the water. Ducks come and waddle up to us and visit. We also see rabbits, egrets and squirrels. Kids finally get up and get their breakfast too. We had thought about doing Disney Quest, but it doesn’t open ‘til 10:30, so we will postpone that. Instead we go do Fantasia Golf. This is fun, but the water effects are temporarily out of commission, so it is not quite as charming as it was 2 years ago. Girl-10 is also not having much luck, so we finish up our 18 holes and go. At least I remembered to use my MKC card. Mom, Girl-10 and I make sandwiches and eat by the DI pool while Boy-14 eats in the room. He has found the DI television channel that features the productions of the TV Studio classes, which he finds quite hilarious. Since both kids are in classes this afternoon, Mom has signed up for a spa massage. She goes there while I am in charge of getting kids registered for their classes. Girl-10 has Face Magic from 1:30 to 5, and Boy-14 has TV Studio Live from 2 to 4. Both kids really enjoy their classes, while Mom and I just take it easy.

After Girl-10 is back from classes, we show them where there food is for the evening (frozen stuff they can heat up in the microwave). Mom and I then go to Seasons for 5:30 dinner. This is when they open, so it is almost empty. The menu is seasonal, and fall specialties are featured. We have the appetizer of yucca chips and plantain chips, with pico de gallo. Mom has roast pork, and I have the beef tenderloin. The food is quite good, and rather well seasoned. (It’s Seasons!) We get a dessert (key lime pie) to go. There is a unique presentation, with the meringue on the bottom and the crust (like a lattice flower) on the top. Our Entertainment coupon allows for $14 off. I can’t remember the exact total of the bill.

Back to the room, and we gather up the kids to go to Pleasure Island. Boy-14 is not ready (despite our careful instrux) so we try to get him organized. We manage to get to Pleasure Island about 7:00 which is good, since there is a 7:10 Comedy Warehouse show. We have a "buy 2 get 2 free" coupon from the Entertainment Book so it runs about $40 instead of $80! Again...Comedy Warehouse is very kid friendly at this hour. In fact they pick two youngsters out of the audience for one of the sketches. Girl-10 is also delighted that they choose her to share an "embarrassing moment" to develop a song about. This really excites her -- ("This is the best night of my life!!"). Next we go to the Adventurer’s Club. Last time we missed the induction ceremony, so it is fun to get to go through that. Ironically, we see the very same show we saw last time, the "radio show" with the two "volunteers" from the audience, the guy who makes sound effects, and the gal who shouts "eek" a lot. I was the one picked to do the sound effects last time, and hilariously, this time, Mom is picked to do the "eek." The kids get a great kick out of that. We don’t linger after this, as we aren’t much into loud music. So we go SHOPPING!! We check out the Lego store, and then the World of Disney. It’s even bigger than I remember. I think to myself...this would be a great store if it weren’t for all the customers. Maybe they should sell e-night wristbands where you can shop after hours. We get quite a bit of souvenir and Christmas shopping done. Then it is back to Disney Institute for another peaceful night’s sleep. (I had a very restless night at the Hyatt at the Houston airport before the trip, but have slept well ever since.)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26

PLAN: THURSDAY - THANKSGIVING. Again, we don’t have to be up at the crack of dawn. Boy-14 has a second DI class, Computer Animation ("Experiment with computer animation. Create 3-D shapes with the same techniques used in "Toy Story" ... and make them move. Then take one of our Disney Institute characters and bring it to life!") 10 am - 12 noon. We have meal reservations at a special dinner/show at the pavilion near River Country. Ours is at 1 p.m., but there are 4 different seating/show times, I believe. I presume this is the same place they have the All-American Backyard Barbecue during the summer. There is some sort of presentation (storytelling, Native American lore, etc.) as well as a traditional meal. $29.95 for adults and $14.95 for kids. Afterward, check in to Port Orleans (one night at MKC rate, $95.20). Do whatever in the afternoon. Depending on our "wants," we may go to the campfire at Fort Wilderness that evening for the singalong and movie and also catch the Electrical Water Pageant (which we did not see last time). We’d also like to hit Fantasia Golf sometime during our trip. (Did it last time and really enjoyed it.)

REALITY: Weather again is gorgeous, and again we enjoy a leisurely morning without an early wakeup. Nothing like having time to sip my coffee on the back porch, and eat bagels and cream cheese. Boy-14 has another Disney Institute class at 10 a.m. - Computer Animation. After getting him settled, Mom, Girl-10 and I go paddleboating. Oh yes, we have also packed up one more time for our last move. This is not quite so bad...since we have only one more night, we put all our stuff for the last night in one bag, so we won’t have to unload everything again tonight. While Boy-14 is still in his class, we go over to check in to Port Orleans. Though our room won’t be ready for awhile, Mom and Girl-10 want to go check out the neat pool there.

PO is nice. (Where’s Danielle??!!) Mom and Girl-10 really enjoy the pool. It’s not nearly as crowded as the CBR pool was on Monday. Of course it is 11 a.m. instead of 2:30 p.m.

I do not see any risque behavior or wild scenes at Port Orleans, so I assume Ronnie is not here. (HAHA).

I leave Mom and Girl-10 and go back to DI to pick up Boy-14. He has really enjoyed his computer animation course. The two courses he took were not the Camp Disney things, but regular "adult" courses.

We go back to Port Orleans to pick up Mom and Girl-10, and then we head toward River Country for Thanksgiving dinner (see above). This is held at the big pavilion where they do the All American Barbecues during the summer. There is a long, long line when we get there, but we figure out that since there are 4 seatings, they finish the group ahead of us, and then let everyone in. While waiting in line, I encounter the "Thanksgiving family from hell!" It is a group who has shown up and seen this long, long line and assumed that they will be standing in line until Christmas to eat Thanksgiving dinner. They are griping...."we’ll just ask for a refund," "they didn’t tell us it would be like this," "I wonder if we can get in somewhere else," and on and on and on. I am on the verge of laughter.

Once they start letting everyone in, we see that there are bunches of lines for food service. It is a complete meal, and everything is really tasty. We eat under the big open-air pavilion. There are also pioneer demonstrations, games and Indian dancing. We enjoy that for awhile, and then split, as we want to hit Disney Quest. (Now there’s a traditional Thanksgiving for you....turkey and dressing, followed by Disney Quest!)

As mentioned, they have changed to a flat rate policy. (You can also have your hand stamped and come back on the same day.) The price is $25 for adults, and $20 for kids 9 and under. I happen to ask if there is a MKC discount, and sure enough we get 15% off!! We spend a little over 3 hours here, and could have spent more. The attractions are really spectacular. This is a must-do, and everyone enjoys it!

Kids would be willing to stay all night, but mean old dad insists it is time for a change of pace, and so we head to Fort Wilderness for the campfire program. This turns out to be a nice switch. Very relaxed and peaceful. The weather has turned just a bit today...less humid and this will be a bit cooler night. Just a little cool for short sleeves so we get out our windbreakers, but still very very pleasant. This is the open air campfire with sing along, Chip & Dale, and an outdoor movie (Toy Story). We eat food from the snack bar...hot dogs. Of course, Boy-14 is a vegetarian, and I didn’t know nachos would be available, so we picked him up a Caesar salad at Disney Quest to go. It turns out to be huge, so we all share it. Makes for an interesting site...eating Caesar salad by the campfire! (I must confess...I also picked up a cheesecake to go...German chocolate, but it is not quite as good as I had hoped.)

The kids thoroughly enjoy the campfire and movie, though Boy-14 thinks the sing along is dumb. They also enjoy roasting marshmallows and making S’mores. The snack stand sells S’more kits for about $5 that contain marshmallows, Hershey bars, graham crackers and two sticks. Really convenient. There will be a second movie—The Adventures of Huck Finn—but we want to see the Electrical Water Pageant, something we have never seen before, so we walk down to the marina and get there in plenty of time to see it. This is fun, and there is a sandy beach, so Girl-10 is happy to play in the sand. Afterward we catch the bus to get back to our car. Mom has one more thing she wants to try to pick up at Downtown Disney, and Boy-14 wants to take a few more pictures there, so I drop them off, and Girl-10 and I head back to Port Orleans. I had called to get our room number, but when we get to the room, the key card does not work. I call the front office, and they send someone out right away with the correct card. Mom and Boy-14 get home by the boat launch, though the store she wanted to go to closed at 10:30, and she just missed getting in in time.

We hit the sack, happy, but realizing this is our last night’s sleep at WDW.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27

PLAN: Last day - boo hoo. Check out and head to Artist Point for 9 a.m. character breakfast with the Pooh people. (Girl-10 got the vote on which character meal to attend!) Afterward, go see some of the resort lobbies, perhaps decorated by Christmas by this point. Go by The World of Disney. One last stop by the Belz outlets, if desired. Then off to Jacksonville. Our flight home leaves Jacksonville at 5:57 p.m.

REALITY: Pretty close to "the plan." Since we only spend one night at Port Orleans, we only have an overnight bag to pack. Most of our big packing was done yesterday morning as we left Disney Institute Villas. I get up earlier than the rest of the family, and go drink my coffee in the food court (no coffee pot in the room here). Then get the rest of the family roused, and in the van in order to make our breakfast at 9 a.m. at Artist Point. Everyone enjoys the breakfast. Although I was looking forward to getting seconds on all the goodies, the plates were really huge, and I didn’t have room for seconds except for a couple more of the buttery croissants! Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore were the characters of the day. Girl-10 was delighted, and to be honest, the rest of us were too. We also enjoyed getting to see Wilderness Lodge, which we had heard about, but never seen. Tigger did his best to answer our question which was to try to figure out why his nose was pink on Girl-10’s little Tigger doll, but black on the character. Tigger was very patient using sign language, apparently trying to explain to us it had something to do with washing with a red cloth.

We left WL and headed for the TTC to park, and ride the resort monorail and see a few resorts. We stopped for a restroom stop at the gas station on property, and I went ahead and filled up the van with gasoline. It would take about $50 in gas for our monster van for the week (remember, we flew through Jacksonville).

The weather today is perhaps the best of all. Just gorgeous. It is now after 10:30, and the stream of cars into the Magic Kingdom parking is incredible. All I can think of is how glad I am that we did our park visiting earlier in the week. As we get out of the big red van ("Clifford"), Boy-14 realizes he doesn’t have his camera. Another crisis. He had it at WL, so he finally remembers he took it with him to the restroom back at our gas stop. I am not about to turn around at this point, so we will just have to resort hop without it, then check by on our way out.

There is an incredible mass of humanity waiting for the monorail to MK. We head instead for the resort monorail. First stop is the Polynesian. Then the Grand Floridian. We all enjoy seeing these places, but Boy-14 and Mom are convinced we could never do better than the Villas at Disney Institute. Boy-14 had mentioned that staying there and taking courses was about as good as it gets.

Then we get to see the Contemporary. This is fun, and we take the elevator to the top and go check out the view.

Finally, we return to our van, and stop by and thankfully find the camera. Next, one more stop back at Downtown Disney so Mom can hit the shop that she missed last night. I let her off, then keep driving around until I can pick her back up. Though it is after 1:00, we aren’t really hungry for lunch, and really don’t have a lot of extra time by now.

We had seen a local ad for an item we want to pick up for a Christmas gift. It is at a store on East Colonial Drive, so we exit there. Lots of traffic today, so it is slow going. We manage to find the gift, and now it is off to the effort. At this point, I just continue east to hit the toll road to take us back to I-4.

I realize at this point that we don’t have a lot of extra time to spare. Fortunately there are no traffic slowdowns, though there are lots of cars out on I-4 and I-95. We arrive at the Jacksonville airport area a little before 5:00. Fill up the van, then turn it in. By the time we get checked in, make potty stops, pick up some food, get to the gate, the plane is already boarding. The airport feels deserted. The day AFTER Thanksgiving is obviously NOT a big travel day.

The plane leaves right on time, and we actually arrive in Houston about 25 minutes ahead of schedule. Then comes the hour and a half drive home, and we are back home about 9:30 p.m. Whew.... Then comes the next fun part—doing wash, going through stacks of mail, and telling everyone about the fun time we had.

We’ll actually be back in Orlando in only a few months. Grandma will be treating us to a cruise on the Disney Magic during our spring break, beginning March 15. We won’t be doing the full week package, but will indeed manage to spend one more day at the parks. (That is why we upgraded to 4-day hoppers, even though we only spend 3 days in the parks on this trip....one day left on the pass for the March trip.)

Robert Stutes

__________________
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.