Trip Reports

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: PBR
Accommodations
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult, Senior
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Frequent, Infrequent
Comments: Aileen's fall trip was a fantastic visit. In addition to 6 1/2 year old daughter Cassidy, Aileen's mom joined the troupe for the vacation. This is a nicely written play-by-play report.

10/24 – 11/1/98

I thought that I would try a pre-trip report this time and see if it helps to keep me from going right over the edge with anticipation. Anything to help get through these last 3 days of training away from home when I should be packing. I love Boulder, but I really feel like I should be home obsessing the last details and packing and repacking over and over.

The cast of characters:

Aileen: self-avowed Disney fanatic – Cassidy's mom and Pat's daughter. I'm the chief planner and organizer – when something goes wrong, I'm responsible, anything that goes right is because of RADP.
Cassidy: 6 ½ year old junior Disney fanatic. First grade student, owner of rodents and frogs, outstanding soccer player. She's a very bright and outgoing child (must be in the genes) and usually a delight to be around.
Pat: good genes had to start somewhere! The same person that knew the word no (and used it often) when I was a child and now suffers from some strange malady leaving her unable to utter the word in Cassidy's presence.
This is my 4th, Cassidy's 3rd and Pat's 3rd visit to WDW. We'll be staying at the Polynesian and have requested the Oahu building. Keep your fingers crossed for us. I will be sending a fax to the room controller Wednesday morning to remind (well, beg, grovel and plead) them of our requests.

This will be our first chance to see Animal Kingdom and Cassidy is looking forward to her visit to the "Kid's Nightclub" (The Neverland Club) one evening while Mom and I eat our way around the world (Food and Wine Festival at Epcot).

So on with the plans:

Saturday, October 24: Leave Baltimore at 6:45am on MetroJet, arrive Orlando at 8:38am. Pick up the National Rental Car and head for WDW. Check in at the Poly and get Mom a LOS pass – Cassidy and I have Annual Passes from our visit last December. We have decided to play it by ear as to what we do until our dinner at the Hoop-De-Doo Revue at 7:15pm. Hopefully, we will be able to catch the Electric Water Pageant this evening.
Sunday, October 25: Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table - Cassidy loves the princesses and this was her choice for our first breakfast. We'll tour the MK until the afternoon and then take a break before moving down to Epcot. Dinner is at the Biergarten and then out to see Illuminations. I've got my fingers crossed that the Living Seas will have cleared up as this is a favorite of Mom's and Cassidy's – must have something to do with them being Pisces'.
Monday, October 26: Today will be at SeaWorld – it's that fish thing again. Actually, we all love marine life and Cassidy wants to be a marine biologist when she grows up. Hopefully we'll be lucky in getting to touch the dolphins. Dinner tonight is at Ohanas with my Dad and his wife at 7:30 and I did request a table by the windows – maybe we'll get to see the Electric Water Pageant from our table.
Tuesday, October 27: It's Animal Kingdom day! We start with breakfast at Donald's Breakfastosauraus and then plan to catch the Lion King and Jungle Book shows as well as Kilimanjaro Safaris. Cassidy isn't sure she wants to try any of the other attractions, so we'll play it by ear. No dinner plans for tonight – we were thinking about The Rainforest Café at AK, but I woke up late (I have a lot more sympathy for folks west of the Mississippi trying to reach CRO at 7am) and couldn't get a priority seating. So, we may instead try someplace in Downtown Disney. We're also considering going to Disney Quest this night.
Wednesday, October 28: This is planned to be our down day. We figure to sleep late and then do a little laundry before heading to Typhoon Lagoon. If it turns out to be too cold, we may check out Discovery Island or whatever appeals to us. Cassidy will spend the evening at the Neverland Club and Mom and I plan to visit Epcot to sample the fare at the Food and Wine Festival.
Thursday, October 29: Today is planned for the Disney Studios. We have planned breakfast at the Soundstage and an early dinner at The Brown Derby before we catch Fantasmic. We want to see all our favorites (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, MuppetVision 4D) and hopefully catch the Indiana Jones show and the Great Movie Ride.
Friday, October 30: Today is the big day – it's Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We'll have a late breakfast at the Crystal Palace before enjoying the park for the day. We'll head back to the hotel in the afternoon so Cassidy can change into her Halloween costume (she's going as a Pirate of the Caribbean) before dinner at the Liberty Tavern. Cassidy is so excited about trick or treating through the Magic Kingdom
Saturday, October 31:We plan to sleep late this morning and we'll have breakfast at the hotel (Minnie's breakfast at Ohanas). Our plan is to visit Epcot until the early afternoon and then spend the evening at the Magic Kingdom – but we figure that today is to catch anything we may have missed or want to repeat.
Sunday, November 1: No specific plans for today – our flight home is at 4:00pm, so we figure to finish packing in the morning and perhaps go for one last swim or visit to a park. We'll probably have lunch at Downtown Disney before leaving for the airport.
Guess that about sums up our plans – it'll be interesting to see how close reality comes to the plans.

Day 1 – Saturday, October 24, 1998

I liked the trip report that I saw on RADP that included the plans for the day and then the reality of the day, so I'm going to try the same thing here.

Plan: Leave Baltimore at 6:45am on MetroJet, arrive Orlando at 8:38am. Pick up the National Rental Car and head for WDW. Check in at the Poly and get Mom a LOS pass – Cassidy and I have Annual Passes from our visit last December. We have decided to play it by ear as to what we do until our dinner at the Hoop-De-Doo Revue at 7:15pm. Hopefully, we will be able to catch the Electric Water Pageant this evening.

Reality: Our flight was on time – even if we weren't. Call it a genetic flaw, but I really hate arriving at the gate as they are already boarding. This was our first flight on MetroJet and it was uneventful – glad Mom grabbed breakfast at Burger King for all of us – juice and a granola bar just don't provide a lot of staying power. We arrived on time and while Mom and Cassidy collected the luggage, I went and got the car from National – it was painless and quick, but there was a short line when I was done. I went back to find the family and then Cassidy and I went to get the car – it was a blue Cavalier with Michigan license plates. Those plates did make it easy to find the car in a parking lot – and gave us a topic of conversation for the ride to WDW – "why would someone drive a rental car one-way from Michigan". The car also gave me a lesson in how different things are now then when I was a kid – as we were driving to WDW, Cassidy suddenly announces that she has figured our how to open the car windows. Since we hadn't arrived at the first toll yet, I thought she meant that she had found the window control – wrong, at the toll I discovered that this car had roll-down windows and she had never seen them. Mom and I got a good chuckle over that – and I suddenly felt older. We arrived at the Poly at about 10:30 and checked right in – we were assigned a room in Oahu (as requested) and we got Mom her LOS pass – unfortunately, the room wasn't ready yet.

We decided that something to eat was in order, so we headed over to Captain Cook's – we all got refillable mugs and decided that these truly are one of the few bargains at WDW. After eating, Cassidy and I decided to rent a water mouse – what a blast – Cassidy kept yelling "go faster", so I knew she liked it. Already, she is counting the days until she turns 12 so she can drive on her own – and I'm already worrying. After our spin in the mouse, Mom and I relaxed while Cassidy got a hair wrap by the pool – the women doing the wraps was amazing – if I tried that I'm sure that I'd have myself tied up in knots.

We went to check on the room – still not ready, so Cassidy sat down and started watching a movie – as Mom and I sat, we started to fall asleep – bad sign, so Mom went back up and asked if there was another room ready and the CM looked and found one, but it was on the other side of Oahu – she showed us a room on the pool side and asked if that would be OK – Mom questions me and I of course say yes – we had reserved a garden view, so I expected grass and trees. We got into our room and the refrigerator arrived a few minutes later. We unpacked a few things, but we found that we were hit with a burst of energy and all decided to head over to the MK – the resort launch turned out to be our favorite way to get to the MK. We headed right for AdventureLand, as Cassidy wanted to show Grandy the Pirates of the Caribbean, since she had missed it when we visited in May 1997.

We picked the left side line and waited no more then a couple minutes – I was actually sorry that it moved so fast as Mom didn't have much of a chance to take in the details of the queue – not that I'm complaining! Mom enjoyed the ride as much as we did and asked again why we hadn't done it before – Cassidy was afraid that trip. We had to look around the gift shop and Mom bought Cassidy her first gift of the trip – a pirate's playset. Already I was thinking about how will I get all this stuff home. Cassidy also pressed some pennies – here's a souvenir that I could love.

We walked past the Haunted Mansion and Cassidy decided that she was willing to give it a try – tomorrow. I figured that was a good start and we'd see how thing went after breakfast tomorrow. FantasyLand was packed, so we kept walking and decided to head over to Fort Wilderness.

We used the resort launch to FW and checked in for the Hoop-De-Doo Revue – as we checked in, the CM commented that we had made those reservations a long time ago – Mom had to ask how he knew and Darryl claimed to be omniscient – Mom didn't believe that, so I got to look smart and said it must be by the table number (Number 23) – I was right. We had our picture taken and then walked over to the petting farm. Cassidy had to be sure to feed each and every animal – it wouldn't be fair if she missed one. After practically dragging Cassidy out, we stopped in the restroom to wash our hands, as it was getting close to time for the doors to open. Open was the key word there, because the heavens opened up and found us huddling under the porch roof by the restrooms. When the doors opened we walked in and were escorted to Table 23 – we started walking to the front of the room and kept walking – my jaw was on the floor when we were seated – dead center and one table back from the stage. Cassidy picked the seat facing the stage – she said it was because she wanted to sit between me and Grandy – I think it was because she wanted the best seat. Our server was Jim, and he very quickly brought our drinks out. Mom has been spoiled working for a liquor and wine wholesaler, so she pronounced the wine undrinkable and switched to diet coke – after pointing out that we had to find diet pepsi or she would die. Now I know where Cassidy gets the dramatic flair. We all enjoyed the food (fried chicken, ribs, corn, beans, salad, and strawberry shortcake) and the show was wonderful. We all sang and clapped and laughed – it was a blast and we all judged it much better then the Luau at the Poly. (We purchased the photos – we don't have many of "just the girls")

After the show, we took the launch back to the MK, with the intent of going right back to the Poly. However, once Cassidy saw that it was still open, we had to go in – note to myself, learn to say no. Anyhow, we went back to FantasyLand and rode It's a Small World and then convinced Cassidy that we should all go to bed. Back at the Poly, we all fell asleep quickly, but had sweet dreams of our breakfast with the princesses.

Day 2, Sunday October 25, 1998

Plan: Breakfast at Cinderella's Royal Table - Cassidy loves the princesses and this was her choice for our first breakfast. We'll tour the MK until the afternoon and then take a break before moving down to Epcot. Dinner is at the Biergarten and then out to see Illuminations. I've got my fingers crossed that the Living Seas will have cleared up as this is a favorite of Mom's and Cassidy's – must have something to do with them being Pisces'.

Reality: Our wake up call arrived as requested (still too early) and Mom enjoyed hearing Mickey tell us to get up and at 'em. I walked over and got everyone coffee, tea or OJ. After getting cleaned up, we headed over to the MK – we walked up Main Street and ran smack dab into the back of a crowd waiting for the rope to drop into FantasyLand – I failed to take into account the 9am opening when I made the 9am priority seating at Cinderella's Royal Table. No problem, we checked in and were seated a few minutes after 9am. Cassidy saw Belle (her favorite), Snow White, Cinderella, and Peter Pan – the Fairy Godmother was downstairs. Breakfast was very good – Mom and I really enjoy the potatoes and the cheese french toast.

After eating, it was out to FantasyLand and a ride on Peter Pan. Cassidy enjoyed pointing things out to Grandy and liked being the big kid – "don't be scared Grandy". Next, it was onto the Haunted Mansion – Cassidy got a slight case of cold feet walking up to the entrance, but I assured her that she could bail out right up to the point that we walked into the building. As soon as we walked into the queue, she starts going "this is so cool – it's not scary, it's funny". She loved reading the tombstones – her favorite is 'Dear departed Brother Dave – he chased a bear into a cave'. I thought for sure that she would want to bail out after the stretch room went dark, but she hung in. We all enjoyed the Haunted Mansion – this is now a family favorite and Cassidy can't wait to show it to her daddy. Since Cassidy was sitting in the middle of the doom buggy, she wound up with a ghost sitting on her lap – this was so cool – she talked about how the ghost felt for the rest of the day. We learned an important lesson with this one – we explained Disney magic (they wouldn't let anything hurt her, but it might be a fun kind of scary) and having patience to let Cassidy make the decision to ride. Of course, I had to keep reminding myself that there is always next time.

We walked over to TomorrowLand and caught Timekeeper – this is an amazing show – each time I see it I discover another image or line that I had missed before. Then, it was on to Buzz Lightyear – we decide to share one car for the 3 of us and Cassidy did not have any luck hitting the targets – she blamed it on being in the middle. Next, we rode the Skyway back to FantasyLand and walked over to AdventureLand and saw The Enchanted Tiki Room. We all enjoyed it, but I can't decide if it is an improvement over the old one – in my opinion, it is neither better or worse, just different. Cassidy gives it 2 thumbs up though. The Jungle Cruise was next – this time, the jokes just didn't engage me – I've moved this attraction to my take it or leave it list.

After a Dole Whip – by the way, they are great – we headed back to the Poly for a swim. I decided that we should use the quiet pool so we would have a chance of getting my little fish out in time to get over to Epcot for dinner. Well, I gave in to one too many "just another minute" and we really had to hustle to get down to Epcot. Dinner was at the Biergarten and we decided that it would be quicker to take a Friendship over, since it was just arriving as we were walking by the dock. I'm not sure if it was faster, but it gave me a moment to "take a chill pill" (if this is what 6 ½ sounds like, I'm not going to survive those teenage years. We had a table close to one of the buffet areas, so we all ate way too much – it may not be the best German food I've ever had, but it wasn't bad. Cassidy sat right by the railing and had a great view of the show when it started – this was fun for all of us.

After dinner we found a spot to watch Illuminations (near the Italian gondola) and I went to find beverages for everyone. I wound up buying an apple dumpling from the American Food and Wine Festival stand – with the intent of sharing it. Cassidy found a small empty space in her stomach and devoured the dumpling – so much for getting to try it. Illuminations was spectacular as usual – we all really like fireworks and this is a wonderful presentation. I do miss the first version of Illuminations that I saw in 1989 – the 1812 Overture segment was magnificent and I will always miss that. After Illuminations, we took a slow walk around the World Showcase – checking out the menus on the Food and Wine stands and plotting our adventure for Wednesday.

We took the monorail back to the Poly and fell asleep after convincing Cassidy that we couldn't go swimming again.

Day 3, Monday October 26, 1998

Plan: Today will be at SeaWorld – it's that fish thing again. Actually, we all love marine life and Cassidy wants to be a marine biologist when she grows up. Hopefully we'll be lucky in getting to touch the dolphins. Dinner tonight is at Ohanas with my Dad and his wife at 7:30 and I did request a table by the windows – maybe we'll get to see the Electric Water Pageant from our table.

Reality: We slept a little later this morning and Mom walked over and got breakfast from Captain Hook's while Cassidy and I got ready. We arrived at SeaWorld at 10:30 and were immediately disappointed – the Sea Lion show was being rehabbed – guess they learned that lesson from Disney. We headed straight over to the Key West area and Cassidy decided that she didn't want to try and touch a dolphin – I think it may have been the crowd. She did spend quite a bit of time talking to one of the staff members about sea turtles, so she was happy. We did feed the sting rays – it was weird to feel them pull the fish out of your hand. We also tried to feed the fish and sharks outside Terrors of the Deep, but I think they were already full. The sharks were impressive – but I believe that I've been spoiled by the aquarium here in Baltimore and it didn't have the WOW I expected. We all enjoyed the penguin exhibit and feeding the sea lions and watching the dolphin and orca (Shamu) shows. We left to go back and get ready for dinner – Mom and I both decided that SeaWorld was not a must do anymore – and that was kind of sad.

After cleaning up, Cassidy and I went down to the beach to watch Fantasy in the Sky – she was so excited when we found a hammock to swing in that had a view of Cinderella's Castle. I can't describe how wonderful it felt to be cuddling with my 'big girl' while listening to the music and watching the fireworks. When the show ended, we went over to Ohana's and found Dad and Carol – Mom caught up a few minutes later. We only waited a couple minutes before being shown to our table and meeting all our cousins. This meal was one of the best we ate at WDW and we kept our server busy bringing refills. Cassidy took part in several activities and dragged me up to try "head, shoulders, knees and toes" – she did much better then I did – I still say it was because her toes are closer to her fingers.

I picked up beverages at Captain Cook's and went back to the room – Mom and I ended the day sitting on the balcony and unwinding. Cassidy tried to watch TV, but couldn't manage to keep her eyes open.

Day 4, Tuesday October 27

Plan: It's Animal Kingdom day! We start with breakfast at Donald's Breakfastosauraus and then plan to catch the Lion King and Jungle Book shows as well as Kilimanjaro Safaris. Cassidy isn't sure she wants to try any of the other attractions, so we'll play it by ear. No dinner plans for tonight – we were thinking about The Rainforest Café at AK, but I woke up late (I have a lot more sympathy for folks west of the Mississippi trying to reach CRO at 7am) and couldn't get a priority seating. So, we may instead try someplace in Downtown Disney. We're also considering going to Disney Quest this night.

Reality: We were up early and at the gate at 8am. So far so good – Cassidy and I were able to upgrade our AP's – for the grand total of $4.18! We walked through the turnstiles and stopped dead in our tracks – this park is breath taking. Cassidy immediately spied the CM with this big ugly scorpion and had a long conversation about the critter. We took our time walking through the Oasis and stopped at each enclosure to try and spot the animals – we had pretty good luck too. We finally made it to the bridge over to Safari Village and were amazed by the Tree of Life – we all made a game of trying to spot the animals carved into the trunk and I don't believe we saw even 50% of them. We finally made it over to DinoLand and checked in for breakfast – they manage to hide the McDonald's counter during breakfast, so we could enjoy the décor without any distractions. Breakfast was OK and the characters were outstanding. After Donald had visited our table, Cassidy told our server, Billy-osaurus, that Donald had signed her autograph book Donald Duck #1 because he was her Daddy's favorite – Billy told her that Donald was acting like a real uppity duck since getting his own restaurant. We all got a big kick out of that and tried to say uppity duck whenever we could.

After breakfast, Cassidy wanted to play in the dig site – we agreed, as long as she understood that we wanted to catch the next performance of Journey to the Jungle Book. We made it into the show with a little time to spare and wound up sitting about halfway back in the center. This is an odd show – my first impression was that Mowgli was too old and I found this distracting through the whole show. The trampoline segment didn't do it for me either – I did however really like the elephants. After the show, Cassidy wanted to play in the boneyard and Mom wanted to shop, so we agreed on a meeting time and place and Cassidy and I went into the boneyard. Cassidy declared this an even better playground than the Honey I Shrunk the Kids area at MGM.

We meet up with Mom and spent time looking at the animal exhibits around the Tree of Life. We spent some time talking to a CM (Katie) about the birds and Cassidy was able to impress her by knowing that flamingos are pink because of what they eat. After that, it was on to It's Tough to be a Bug - Mom decided to pass on this since she absolutely abhors bugs. Cassidy and I took our time walking in and examined the animal carvings in the trunk – this gets a big WOW! The movie was great, but Cassidy decided that she didn't want to do that again. I really liked the effect as the bugs return home and can't wait to do this one again. We walked out and went up the path to see the capybaras – Katie had told Cassidy that they look like big guinea pigs and she had to check them out. We meet another CM on this path and learned a lot about the cockatoo and Cassidy decided that capybaras do not look like guinea pigs – guess she was afraid that Oreo might be offended if he learned that he had big cousins.

After meeting up with Mom, it was time for an ice cream and off to Kilimanjaro Safari. We started down the queue and Cassidy found a little rabbit munching on the landscaping and had to stop and watch. I forget that the common is just as impressive when you are a kid as the exotic animals we were going to see. When we reached the point where the line split into a left and right side, people were out as far as the end of the rope on the right side, so we went left and kept walking – I should point out that we got a bunch of nasty looks as we cruised past folks, but nobody jumped the rope and followed us. Our total wait was about 5 minutes and most of that was spent walking. We boarded our jeep and took off on safari. We saw so many animals and I'm afraid that I can't remember all of them. I do remember hippos, crocodiles, monkeys, giraffes, several different antelopes, rhinos that stopped our jeep by crossing the rode, elephants, cheetahs, lions, and birds.

After getting off the jeep, we walked the Pangani Exploration Trail and had a blast – Cassidy had a conversation with a CM about the naked mole rats – I was amazed how much she remembered from our visit to the National Zoo – these little guys are ugly, but so cool, literally, they are cold blooded! We continued on the trail and saw the meerkats and ostriches before finding the gorillas. The whole family was out and it was so neat listening to a CM explain how the mother is very protective of the babies when the big male is around.

We hoofed it over to catch the last show of Festival of the Lion King – we were lucky enough to get seats just a few rows back in the lion section – thank goodness – I can roar like a lion, but I'd make a lousy giraffe. This show was amazing – it's nothing like the movie, but I still fell in love with it. For the finale, one of the monkeys came over to our section and picked a couple of the kids to parade around the theatre with the actors – Cassidy was one of them. She got to use a rhythm instrument (a small woven basket with pebbles inside) – she decided that was one of the best things to happen to her this trip.

When the show ended, the park had closed, so we started for the front gate – as we passed the entrance to the Rainforest Café, I found out why I couldn't get a priority seating for that night – the place closed at 4:30pm that day for a private party. We decided that we would go back to the hotel and relax, since we had spent much more time here then I had expected. After a light meal from Captain Cook's, Cassidy and I went swimming in the big pool – she found the water slide and after that all I saw was a flash going down the slide and up the stairs and down the slide – over and over. I leaned against the wall and nearly fell asleep. I did mange to move to the side of the pool by the beach to watch the Electric Water Pageant, since we had missed it the other night. When I was finally able to drag Cassidy out of the water, we crawled back to the room and fell asleep quickly.

Day 5, Wednesday October 28

Plan: This is planned to be our down day. We figure to sleep late and then do a little laundry before heading to Typhoon Lagoon. If it turns out to be too cold, we may check out Discovery Island or whatever appeals to us. Cassidy will spend the evening at the Neverland Club and Mom and I plan to visit Epcot to sample the fare at the Food and Wine Festival.

Reality: Mom woke up early and got breakfast for everyone and then decided to start the laundry. Cassidy wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion again, so we decided that she and I would go to the MK for a couple hours and then we would come back to the hotel and pick Mom up for lunch at Planet Hollywood. It was nice to have some time alone with Cassidy – it was that mommy guilt thing in action – I was feeling bad about leaving her at the Neverland Club that night while Mom and I spent the evening together.

We rode the Haunted Mansion twice and then walked over to ToonTown. We tried Goofy's Barnstormer and had to ride this one 3 times. After I was tired out from walking through the queue 3 times, I sat down and Cassidy played on Donald's Boat for a few minutes. We then caught the train back to Main Street and left for the Poly. We decided that we might try Big Thunder Mountain later in the week, since it was just a long fast Barnstormer.

We got back to the room and rested for awhile before leaving for Downtown Disney. We arrived at Planet Hollywood about 2pm and were seated right away. We were also able to use both our free appetizer and free dessert coupons – so we ate too much again. After stopping to pick up our free special hat (love those coupons) we drove over to the marketplace and Cassidy suffered a meltdown – she wanted no part of shopping – no how, no way – so, we realized that we could shop another day and went back to the hotel to swim again.

Getting Cassidy out of the pool was not a problem today, as she didn't want to be late for the Neverland Club – so much for my feeling guilty. After checking Cassidy into the club, Mom and I walked over to the TTC and caught the Epcot monorail and plotted our course of attack. We decided to walk counter-clockwise around the lagoon, which made our first stop the wines of Australia. We continued on and stopped in Canada to watch a little of Off Kilter – next time, I plan to watch more. We kept on walking and sampling – mostly wines since we both realized that we weren't very hungry. We did make room for paella and rice pudding from Spain – these were delicious! We finished our tour with quesadillas from Mexico – and a Dos Equis for me. We decide to pass on Illuminations and beat the crowd out of the park.

When I walked into the club to pick Cassidy up, she got angry that I was there too early – that got rid of any lingering traces of guilt – so I waited while she finished a project before making her leave. She has already decided that the next time we visit, she wants to go to the club 2 nights – I guess that qualifies as a vote of approval.

I had to explain again that we couldn't go swimming – I was too tired – so, I made us go to bed.

Day 6, Thursday October 29, 1998

Plan: Today is planned for the Disney Studios. We have planned breakfast at the Soundstage and an early dinner at The Brown Derby before we catch Fantasmic. We want to see all our favorites (The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, MuppetVision 4D) and hopefully catch the Indiana Jones show and the Great Movie Ride.

Reality: We woke up this morning to Disney music and Mickey's voice (I agree with everyone on RADP that has said the system must be voice activated – Mickey never said a word until we spoke). We walked out to the GCH and waited just a couple minutes for the bus to the Studios. We have to stop before reaching the turnstiles, so Cassidy and I can have our picture taken in front of the Eeyore and Piglet topiary . Then, it was on to breakfast. The food as always was very good (at least by buffet standards) and we saw Aladdin, Genie, Rafiki, Esmeralda and Meeko. Meeko really played up being the thieving raccoon and Cassidy loved catching him. We had a 9am seating and found the restaurant less then half full – this meant that the characters were able to spend a lot of time with us – they all seemed to be really into it. I had a long conversation with Genie about MuppetVision 4D – I was wearing my Kermit T-Shirt and Genie told me (note scrawled on a placement) to see the show. I told him I wouldn't miss it. When we finished up, Mom and Cassidy went into the lobby to press pennies while I took care of the check. When I got out to the lobby, Cassidy was showing Aladdin how the penny machines worked and he was telling her that there was nothing like them in Agrabah. It was so cute – Rafiki was sitting on the floor meditating and startled a parent that walked in and stood next to him – that poor dad jumped a good 3 feet when Rafiki reached out and touched him.

After breakfast, we walked over to The Voyage of the Little Mermaid and had less then a 5 minute wait. (Today was the launch of the shuttle that John Glenn was on – we figured everyone was at KSFC watching) The show was good as always, but I didn't think this Ariel was as good as the one we had seen on our last visits. Then, it was off to see Beauty and the Beast – this is Cassidy's favorite and she has never questioned why it is out of order, compared to the movie (good thing because I sure can't explain it). She did start a discussion about the differences between the movie, the Broadway show and this version – but, that was a lot of fun. We stopped and grabbed drinks across from the theatre and then went to check out the villain shop. Needless to say, we made several purchases here – thank goodness for resort delivery, although I think it was nicer when the stuff was brought right to your room.

Next, we took The Great Movie Ride – Mom had never seen this one and she enjoyed it very much. I asked to ride on the gangster side and enjoyed that – Cassidy decided that she liked the cowboy side better. After the GMR, it was time for MuppetVision – we walked right in – unfortunately, we missed part of the preshow and I missed hearing all the jokes. Small price to pay for no wait. We all enjoyed the show – we all love the penguins. As we were leaving, we found Kermit and Miss Piggy outside, so of course we had to get photos and autographs. Cassidy told Kermit that I was in love with him, so I had to say "don't tell Miss Piggy". For the rest of the day, Cassidy kept telling me she was going to find Miss Piggy and tell her I was in love with Kermit. These were the only characters we met that used a rubber stamp to sign the autograph book – kind of a surprise because it looked to me like they could have held a pen.

We went over to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground next, so Cassidy could let off some steam and Mom and I could have a soda. I also took the time to call my Dad and Carol and apologize for not calling the day before – Cassidy "remembered" that we were supposed to visit them as we were getting out of the pool yesterday. So, with a change of plans, it was decided that Cassidy and I would drive to Ocala Friday morning and visit before the Halloween Party. That done (and I think my mom breathed a sigh of relief – she would get to relax for the day – and I thought I had left my commando boots at home!) we collected Cassidy and went to find a spot to watch the Mulan parade. We found a spot close to the beginning of the route and I must say the parade is a huge improvement over the Toy Story and Hercules parades. The dragon is awesome! After the parade, we walked over to The Hunchback of Notre Dame show. This was another thing Mom had not seen before and she agreed with me that it is a wonderful show.

We had a little time to walk around and check out the artists painting the buildings – guess everything needs a touch-up now and then. With the people on scaffolding, you could really tell that the buildings were much smaller then they appear – cool lesson in perspective for Cassidy (me too!). After purchasing a few gifts, we walked over to the Brown Derby for dinner. We all enjoyed our meal and Cassidy loved looking at all the caricatures on the walls – unfortunately Mom and I didn't know who most of them were. While we were waiting for our dinners to arrive, Mom's glasses decided to self-destruct (one of the hinge screws popped out) and she had left her repair kit back in the room. She looked very Hollywood eating dinner with her sunglasses on. After dinner, she went over to the first aid station to see if they had a repair kit and Cassidy and I headed over to find seats for Fantasmic. When we arrived at the entrance, they were telling everyone that it was standing room only and when I asked CM about a spot that Mom could meet us at, he said that once the theatre filled up, they couldn't let anyone in. So, I made the decision that we had to go find Mom and Cassidy has not let me forget that I made her miss Fantasmic. (I'm going to try and make it up to her when we go to visit my Dad in February – we will have a couple days at WDW)

We found Mom at the First Aid Station and after she got the screw back in her glasses, we decided to go to Downtown Disney and get dessert and shop. So, we caught a bus to Coronado Springs and transferred to a bus to the Boardwalk and Downtown Disney. After a successful raid on the World of Disney, we got ice cream at Ghiradella's and then headed back to the Poly.

Day 7, Friday October 30, 1998

Plan: Today is the big day – it's Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party. We'll have a late breakfast at the Crystal Palace before enjoying the park for the day. We'll head back to the hotel in the afternoon so Cassidy can change into her Halloween costume (she's going as a Pirate of the Caribbean) before dinner at the Liberty Tavern. Cassidy is so excited about trick or treating through the Magic Kingdom

Reality: Since we had made plans to go visit Dad and Carol today, we slept late and then Cassidy and I drove to Ocala. We had a nice visit and Cassidy didn't want to leave – even when I explained that we had to get back so we could go to the Halloween party. Eventually, I did get her in the car and she took a nap while I drove, so that was a good thing. We got back and relaxed in the room for a bit before changing for the party.

We took the resort launch over to the MK and Cassidy played the pirate part up and captured the boat. Thanks to the CM driving for being a good sport and playing along – wish I could remember his name. We walked into the park as most folks were leaving, so walking up Main Stream made me think of salmon swimming upstream – I have a much greater respect for salmon now. We did eventually make it to the Liberty Tree Tavern and the CM's checking folks in stamped our party tickets and gave Cassidy a goodie bag. All of the CM's were made up for Halloween and looked positively goulish – I asked one how long it took to get made up and she told me that the park make-up artists did the work and it took them about 15 minutes a person. We enjoyed dinner and even got to meet the executive chef – he stopped by the table to ask how our meal was and I noticed that his name tag had Hopewell Junction, NY as his home town. When I told Mom to check out his badge, he thought we were going to comment on the spelling of his name –Denis. We had to explain that it was because we had lived for years in Wappinger Falls – the next town over. It also turned out that Denis is a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and both my mom and I had worked at the CIA, so it was really neat.

After dinner, we immediately got our pictures taken – we bent the rules and got three pictures – as long as each one went to a different name it was OK – so we were able to get one of the pirate alone, one of her and me, and one of all three of us. (We've already received our pictures and they were good enough that we've ordered copies) Then, it was into the Country Bear Jamboree. There couldn't have been more then 30 people in the theatre – it was a blast and Cassidy still loves Big Al. After the show, it was off to the Haunted Mansion – I think the CM's were even spookier tonight and again, we all loved the ride. Cassidy was really into the trick or treating and we strolled into FantasyLand to check things out there. Cassidy found the face painting tables by Dumbo, so we decided that I would get in line for Dumbo while she got her face painted. She had a short wait and I guess I did too – when she was done, I was just starting up the ramp to the boarding pens. After our ride, she wanted to get her other check painted, so we did that before walking over to Toon Town to ride Goofy's Barnstormer. As we were walking out of FantasyLand, I realized that we should find a spot to watch the fireworks – we found a great one on the bridge leading into TomorrowLand and were right under the witch as she flew out of the castle. The fireworks were wonderful and Mom was amazed by the 360 degree display.

After the fireworks, we continued over to ToonTown and rode Barnstormer twice, After that, we all decided that a hot drink was in order, so while Mom got those, Cassidy and I bobbed for apples. Well, really we used a net to fish the apples out of a giant tub – if you got a green apple, you won a prize (a 25th anniversary mug). Cassidy and I both missed on our first tries (we were blindfolded after all!), so we tried again and I got 2 green apples that time. Cassidy was happy when I gave her the mug, so it was a great deal. They also were giving out worms and dirt (chocolate pudding with gummi worms and cookie crumb dirt), sure tasted good with the tea and hot chocolate.

After that it was time to go find a spot for the second parade. We again got lucky and found enough curb for the three of us on the hub, right by the TomorrowLand bridge. We saw the Headless Horseman – way cool! While we were waiting, we enjoyed watching the castle change colors and the ghosts flying around the Main Street buildings. Cassidy also starting taking stock of the candy haul – Mom and I had to help eat some of the things she wasn't fond of (milk duds, malted milk balls, etc. - sometimes left-overs are OK) and the time went quickly. The parade was very nice, but I wouldn't put it in the same class as the Christmas parade. After the parade we rode Pirates of the Caribbean, after all Cassidy had to see her fellow pirates. She ambushed the CM at the door and he died valiantly, sword between his arm and chest. Mom and I were ready to leave after this, but Cassidy was still going strong, so we headed back to TomorrowLand and rode the Grand Prix. Cassidy wanted to ride the Tea Cups, but thankfully it was just past midnight and it was shut down. So it was time for that last stroll down Main Street and back to the hotel.

Day 8, Saturday October 31, 1998

Plan: We plan to sleep late this morning and we'll have breakfast at the hotel (Minnie's breakfast at ohanas). Our plan is to visit Epcot until the early afternoon and then spend the evening at the Magic Kingdom – but we figure that today is to catch anything we may have missed or want to repeat.

Reality: We did sleep late, but decided to cancel breakfast and instead get a light breakfast at the FountainView Café. After eating we went over to the Living Seas. Cassidy claimed to not remember any of this from our trip last May, but it started coming back to her once we got inside. After we arrived in Sea Base Alpha, we were able to watch the Manatees being fed and talk with the CM feeding them. Next we walked out onto the observation deck and Cassidy found another CM to talk to about the fish in the tank. She explained that she wanted to be a marine biologist when she grows up, so they traded fish facts – mom and I watched the fish. We were lucky enough to get a glimpse of the dolphins – but they didn't want to come out into the main tank – maybe next time I'll try Dolphin Quest.

After the Living Seas, we decided to walk over to World Showcase and see if we could try more of the food at the Food and Wine Festival. I stopped and bought Cassidy a Passport, while she and Mom pressed some pennies and then we started our tour in Mexico. More quesadillas and tacos were the first stop, before going inside. Mom and Cassidy rode El Rio del Tiempo, while I shopped. I found some of the candy that Cassidy had fallen in love with when we were in Mexico this summer, so I got a few to surprise her. After they had done their shopping, we went out to the Kid Stop so Cassidy could get her Passport stamp and she also made a stick puppet.

On to Norway, where Cassidy played on the Viking ship for a bit and made a troll at the Kid Stop before we all rode Maelstrom. For some reason, we all thought it was shorter this time, but I'm sure it was just a perception because I didn't see anything that was different or missing. After eating some lefse, we moved on to China. Again, our first stop here was to get a snack of dim sum and sesame noodles. Mom and I decided that the dim sum weren't very good, but we both enjoyed the sesame noodles. While we ate, Cassidy worked on her chop stick skills at the Kid Stop.

As we continued eating our way around the world, we stopped for drinks at the Outpost and watched the group Tam Tams perform. They were very good and I thought it was hysterical when they got three young men out of the audience to dance – fortunately, the guys were good sports about it. Next, it was bratwurst and pretzels from Germany and a lot of drooling in the shops. Cassidy created a paper gingerbread man at the Kid Stop before we walked over to Italy. In Italy, Cassidy made pasta animals and we ate tortellinis and pizza. It was at this point that Cassidy said she wanted to go back to the studios and see Fantasmic. After a lot of discussion, it was the realization that we would need to leave Epcot right then to go over and get in line that Cassidy decided that Fantasmic could wait until our next visit. So, we helped ease the disappointment with an apple dumpling from the USA booth (well, OK, three of them). Then, we topped them off with a kaki-gori from Japan. (How do they keep the ice so fluffy?) While in Japan, we watched the Matsuriza drummers – I thought they were great, but then I can't keep a steady beat, so anyone who can is amazing to me. We did some shopping in the department store – Cassidy got a Lucky Cat and is now convinced that the cat is the reason her dad let he get a dog after we got home.

Next, we traveled to Morocco where we sampled the combo plate while Cassidy practiced writing her name in Arabic. She told me that it was harder then it looked – I knew that, having tried it once before. Cassidy ate a good bit of the cous cous and some of the beef kafta. (See, Mom and I weren't the only ones eating). After having a temper tantrum because my chicken brochette got knocked on the ground (and we were worried about Cassidy having a melt-down) we decided that a break was in order and we filled it by sitting down at a table in France while Cassidy painted at the Kid Stop. Mom got us each plates of paella and rice pudding from the Spain booth and I got wine from the French booth. After sitting for awhile and watching the Living Statue, we walked over to the UK. Here we had a cheese plate and listened to a bit of British Invasion. Cassidy realized that she only needed one more stamp in her Passport, so we were hurried over to Canada.

As you may have guessed, it was getting late, so the Kid Stop was shut down and she had to get her book stamped inside one of the shops. That was OK with her, she had finished her book and couldn't wait to show it to her teacher when she got home. After leaving Canada, we started to look for a spot to watch Illuminations and wound up along the fence outside of the Showcase Plaza shops. Since we had some time before the show started, Cassidy and I ran back to Spaceship Earth, since she had never been on this one. She loved it and wants to go to a school like the one depicted there when she gets older. When we got off the ride, they had already closed the exhibits, so I knew we had to hurry back to find Mom. Illuminations had started when we got outside, so we ran most of the way back to World Showcase (Cassidy is much faster then I am – so mostly I just tried to keep her in sight). There were a lot more people around then when we left Mom, but we managed to find her. We had a perfect view of one of the water curtains and I saw more of the effects in this one show then I had in all the shows before. After Illuminations we hung around and waited for the crowds to thin before we headed back to the hotel.

When we got back to the room, housekeeping had used a couple of the big pillow shams and covered them with a sheet to create a "Pride Rock". All the bean bags Cassidy had been collecting were arranged around it, with the big flocked lioness on top in the middle. It was adorable and Cassidy was already asleep. I took lots of pictures so she could see it when we got home.

Day 9, Sunday November 1, 1998

Plan: No specific plans for today – our flight home is at 4:00pm, so we figure to finish packing in the morning and perhaps go for one last swim or visit to a park. We'll probably have lunch at Downtown Disney before leaving for the airport.

Reality: We did most of the packing today and really struggled to get everything in our bags. We fought the good fight and lost – Mom went over to the GCH and purchased a duffle bag to get the overflow home in. After bell services took our bags away to store them, we went over and checked out – we had to go to the desk and do this because we wanted to split the charges between my card and Mom's card. This wound up being less painful then I thought it would be and we were done in just a few minutes.

After checking out, Cassidy and I decided to rent a water mouse again, to end our vacation the same way we started it. After returning the boat, Cassidy convinced me to let her get another hair wrap – with more beads then the first one – so she was very happy. We then decided to have lunch at Captain Cook's instead of off-site, reasoning that it would be easier to go right to the airport from the Poly – I think it was that nobody wanted to leave.

The whole trip to the airport Cassidy kept asking if we couldn't spend just one more day there. Thankfully, she slept most of the trip home and Scott (husband/Daddy) was waiting at the gate when we got back to Baltimore. We took Mom over to the Amtrak station so she could finish her trip home to New Jersey and we all visited for a bit so she wouldn't have to wait alone. We finally said good-bye and we headed for home – now Cassidy was sad because she would miss Grandy.

Afterthoughts

We had a wonderful trip and still have not seen all the things there are to do at WDW. Guess we'll just have to keep going back. Our next trip will be very short – just two days, but we hope it'll be enough to see Fantasmic and show Scott Animal Kingdom (It is nice having relatives close by).

Again this trip I over-planned – next time, I don't think I'll plan more then one sit-down meal a day. Besides eating way too much, it did seem to use up way too much time. I also need to learn that even though everyone says they want to stay in the park, we really do need to take a break in the middle of the day.

Aileen Toner

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