Trip Reports

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
Resort: CBR
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran, Infrequent, Rookie
Comments: Eric provides a very thorough and entertaining dialog of his trip, along with three friends, back on Labor Day weekend in 1998. His parting shot? "Next time I come, I promise, I will spend more time. A week or so maybe."

Labor Day Weekend trip, Fri-Mon. 1998.

Da Crew:

Robin "Robeena" - The brainchild behind the trip and an old college friend. 24 year old office manager for Bristol-Myers Squibb, soon to be Grad Student of Renaissance Lit. at University of Toronto, England. Experience - 1 day trip, 1997
John "Dillweed" - Robin's boyfriend. 30 year old contractor. No Disney experience. Believes, no joke, only gay men go to Disney and is very upset about having to go because he's a little bigoted. My twin brother is gay, and I love to give him a hard time.
Stephanie "Steph" - Robin's close friend, acquaintance of mine. 23ish secretary with no Disney experience.
Me, Eric "Enrico" or "Mercury" - 25 year old. 12 trips under my belt, mostly late 70's to 1987, and again with Robeena in 1997. I planned the thing for them.

DAY ONE - HALF THE BATTLE AND EPCOT

Getting there:

We flew over the remnants of a tropical depression. The pilot kept saying things like, "We have a report of some rough turbulence ahead. We are going to see if we can make it through it so hold on people" and "I bet we can try to tough this one out." Um, excuse me? To paraphrase Yoda - "there is no try at 16,000 feet, just DO!" Bumpy ride, I was glad to touch down.

Upon landing at MCA around 2ish I collected my baggage from the overhead compartment and took the cheap imitation monorail to the main terminal to meet my friends. We then made our way to the CBR. Mears was great, no problems and a great driver. I don't see why people complain about it; then again it's the only way I have gone, so I don't know the options.

Checking in:

The check-in line at CBR was amazingly loooong. Every window in the customs house was open, but we were still there for a good 45 minutes. Every now and then a CM came in to entertain all the people. He announced birthdays, anniversaries and the like. Robeena got the cute idea to tell him that Steph and I were just engaged that day without telling us. He stopped us, announced the future Mr. & Mrs. L, and tried to get us to kiss. Steph turned bright red almost crawled under one of the couches, but I was a good sport. "Don't mind her, she's just shy."

After settling into our room, Steph hit Robeena numerous times in the back of the head while we tried to decide what to do until dinner at 8:30 at the San Angel in.

On CBR's Food:

First order of business - lunch, then EPCOT. We made the mistake of having lunch at the CBR food court. The cheesesteaks were inedible to this Philly crew. I was wise and had a salad. Not many ways you can screw that up, right? Limp lettuce, green tomatoes, that's it. We decided only to go here for coffee and drinks after that.

EPCOT:

I think it is a sacrilege to go to EPCOT on anything other than the monorail. It's a wonderful introduction to the property and the way Spaceship Earth reveals itself from behind the trees is very dramatic. I was begging to go to the TTC for it and not take the bus. However I was outvoted. We waited about 3 minutes for the bus to show up, and I'm glad we rode it. From the road to EPCOT we got a glimpse at the backside of the ToT, the Swan and Dolphin, Reedy Creek Fire Department. It was a cool ride for the first timers, but they'd have been really wowed by the monorail.

Spaceship Earth:

At Epcot John, who had been silent, finally started talking. He said, "Wow, that thing is far more impressive in real life." He was talking, of course, about Spaceship Earth, which was a walk-on. The entire way up there he was telling us about how hard it is even today to make a structure like that, let alone one with a massive ride system inside, et cetera et cetera. For the rest of the trip he would be marveling about the architecture, forced perspective, landscaping, and planning. We would taunt him by saying, "John, you like it here? You must be turning" and, "Oh, John. Good architecture is so GAY" Anyway, he was much more enthusiastic about being there after he got off the ride.

Global Neighborhood:

At the Global Neighborhood I seriously had to go to the bathroom, so I went looking for one while the others explored. Once I found it, I could not find the way back inside the attraction. A nice CM had to show me the door.

Wonders of Life: Our next stop. Body Wars was also a walk on, and got mixed reviews. I loved it, Robin got sick, John liked it, and Steph thought is was ok. Guess that makes it a guy ride. Cranium Command is still funny after 3 viewings. I also got my picture taken with my idol, Sports Goofy. My life was complete.

Innovations:

Snack time and a break for shopping! Centorium Gift shop took our money, and the electric Umbrella snacked us up nicely. Then, "the horror." Robin, John and Steph would not leave the Sega games at Innovations. I stood and watched them play for an hour, and then I announced that I did not come to EPCOT to play Sonic the hedgehog and I was going to Horizons. I'll meet them back here in an hour.

Horizons:

A walk on. In fact, it was just the CM's and I. The lady manning (gee that sounds funny) the line told me that hardly anybody came through that day and it was a lonely job sometimes. I hopped on and the ride broke down in front of the Omnivision screens. Being a daredevil nerd, I leaned out of the car to look at the ride mechanism. Nobody was in the cars that I could see. Cool... I can do anything I want! Naturally, I sat down and watched the movie. I'm such a nerd. When I got back, the Crew was done playing and wanted to ride Horizons. No problem. The young lady thanked me for bringing business, and we rode again. If I had only known that would be my last ride before it was closed down I'd have appreciated it more. Everybody had fun, but nobody was blown away.

Imagination:

I think everybody was impressed by HISTA, especially Steph who FREAKED when the rats came out. JITA was a nice trip also. If only I had known that would be my last ride. Hmmm, might be the theme for the day.

The Land:

Great milkshake at the Land, and another walk on for the ride. This one has not changed much it seems. I think it's due for a refit. I was impressed, however, when I got home and I saw a documentary about how some of the methods I had seen were helping farmers in the Brazilian rain forest. Robin, a budding gardener, liked this one a lot.

The Living Seas:

My favorite, and I kept talking it up through the 2 movies. I got everybody excited to go in, but the tank was, get this, out or order. A CM told us that the original design of the filtration system was flawed. Sediment had built up in the pipes and the system had become clogged with something resembling cement, so they were blasting it out! Oh well. My friends the manatees were still swimming around and we got to watch them eat. On the other hand my friends the humans were bored silly, literally. They got into a fish pun contest. Holy mackerel, everybody should skate right by this building. Exactly. Onward and outward! 8:30 was fast approaching, so we made a b-line for the...

Maelstrom: 5 Minute wait. A fun thing to do with new people: pretend that the ride usually goes forewords and something was wrong when you go backwards. Steph freaked, but I think deep in her heart she enjoyed it. Hitting me on the back of the head numerous times was just out of love.

Not so fun was being the first new group in the holding tank at the end of the ride. Please put something else to look at in that area. A display, some artwork, anything. I'm begging ya here.

Mexico/San Angel Inn:

Dinnertime! I love the atmosphere at the Mexican pavilion. This is where John fell in love with Disney. He wouldn't stop talking about all the tricks they did while building it, the details, blah blah blah... It was a little insufferable. The food at San Angel Inn was excellent, especially the soup. That course was free because they dropped our order on the way out and it was the best part of the meal. If I could only remember it's name!

After dinner, we watched the glassblower for a while. If you get a chance to see them, the pieces that are made there are incredible. El Rio was just ok. I'm not a big fan of the ride; I only like the part outside when you go past the restaurant and pyramid.

Exeunt Epcot / Downtown Disney

Epcot was closing and Robin's feet were hurting. No wonder. She was 4" heals, and she had not packed any other shoes. Remember everybody: SENSIBLE shoes. Off to downtown Disney for shoe shopping, which took, no kidding, 3 hours. I'm not going to mention much about this; I'm not into shopping. They had nice stores, don't miss the Lego's. And I bought some Might Ducks PVC figures for 50 cents each. Yay!

That night we all fell asleep very quickly. Let me end with a descriptive song:

"The room was alive,
"with the sound of music
"those beans that we had
"were not gone for long.
"The room was alive,
"with the sound of music.
"Thank God we were tired
"'cuz the smell was wrong."
Day Two - the rip snortingest day in the MK

Lost at the CBR:

So, I am the first one to wake up. I got the phone call, I took a shower, and everybody else was still in bed. It was getting late! 7:30 already! Saturday! MK day and nobody could get out of bed. Ah, well. I decided to kill time on a coffee run. Everybody else was still in bed. Our room at the CBR was facing the parking lot, and as I exited the room and turned right to get to the path by the lake. Then I made another right. A left. Everything looked alike. I was lost in my hotel. From what I hear, this can be a common occurrence at CBR. It's this big mass of buildings that you can wander around forever... after what seemed like 20 minutes I found the beach and lake. I took my time walking and absorbed the scenery. A crane was in the lake, birds chirping, moist, cool air in my lungs, hot-air balloons floating majestically over the Swan and Dolphin, the occasional excited child running past me and more often than not a father trying to catch up and crying, "Bobby I just got up! Please slow down! Don't touch that lizard!" The CM's driving by on golf carts and always said hi. How lovely! Coffee in hand, I made my way back to the room. Yeah, I got lost again. I admit it.

Amazingly everybody was up and ready to go when I hit the room. We slurped our coffee down, ate some breakfast bars (the hidden saviors of our budget) and were at the bus stop by 8:30.

Travel to MK:

I don't know when they put the bus station by MK. The last time I was there we stayed off property and drove in. Before that, at the end of the 80's, people were bussed to the TTC. I don't like it. I know they have to cut down traffic through the TTC, but getting to the MK through the monorail or Ferry is something that just HAS to be done. Oh well, too late to take another bus.

Entrance, MK:

We walked through the gates and under the railroad station. I love the attraction posters that are hanging there. People always breeze by but to me they are a hidden treasure. Oh, and the view out the tunnels to main street is not bad either! In just a few steps, Main Street greeted me. Yes, the castle was no longer that big pink monstrosity! Yes, the Emporium was still a confusing mess! Yes, THEY STILL HAVE THE BAKERY! We ate a little more breakfast and b-lined over to...

Splash Mountain:

This is my favorite ride ever. Period. From the line to the final drop, it's pure genius and not a wrong note. It's funny to see how people react to the two small drops. Steph went nuts each time, thinking this was the big one. Maybe I egged her on a little. John tried to seem nonpulsed, but the one with two drops freaked him out a lot. I screamed like a baby, but you kinda gotta on some rides. One thing disappointed me. On the part of the ride just before you enter the final building some people had carved their names in the paint. It was ugly. I wish those people would just vanish from the earth! When we got off SM the line was 1 hour long. We had gotten on in 15 minutes!

Big Thunder Mt.:

After the flume, we followed the crowd over to Big Thunder, where a 20 minute line awaited. The area outside the que overlooking the tracks was a mess of pennies and bubble gum. Before anybody gets upset SM and BTM were the only places where appearances was substandard, so that is the last you will hear of this ugliness. Anyhow, this was only my second time on this ride because I am a reformed coaster chicken. I like it more than SM because there is a lot to see and the track is much smoother. Plus it has that great "Rip snortingest ride ..." recording as you are getting on the train. We quoted that, and "The platform is moving at the same speed as your vehicle" all day.

Haunted Mansion:

We walked over to the "rip-snortingest Haunted Mansion in the south," and it was a walk on. There was a great Butler there who kept creeping out these three young women in the elevator room. I wonder if those screams are piped in?

Shopping:

We decided to do some shopping now, just outside Cinderella's Castle. While "those three" were shopping, I was attempting to make reservations for Dinner at the Royal Table in the Castle. Hey folks, never wait till the last minute to make reservation. I went back 4 times in 1/2 hour, and finally got a seat. I have always wanted to eat there, characters or not. I joined the notorious trio in a shopping trip down Main Street and we boarded the monorail to the Grand Floridian for lunch.

Grand Floridian Lunch:

Wouldn't you know it... the monorail got stuck right between the Contemporary and the TTC. We were up there for 1/2 an hour before we started to move again. From what we were told, they had a "disturbance" on a car at the TTC. These things happen, I know, but grumpy John did not want to take the monorail again. Ever.

Robeena told him it was just because he was uncomfortable being in a long train that glides into a tunnel.

I cannot remember the name of the restaurant we at on the bottom floor of the Grand Floridian, but they make a great Midori Sour. We took one of those fantastic little boats back to the MK. I finally got to make a proper approach to the park - by boat. Once we arrived we shopped for about an hour or so (yawn) and walked into Tomorrowland.

Space Mountain

No line in. Amazing. We rode it twice in a row. On the second time around John observed how close some of the metal was very close to the car, so please keep your hands inside the car at all times.

AE (or TTA):

Now everybody wanted to ride Alien Encounter. Not me, I refuse to go into that place. There is Evil afoot there, I'm afraid. I'm a wimp. Instead, I took two straight trips around TL on the TTA without getting off. Nice, relaxing, a pleasant view of the park. My favorite part is watching the cars zoom around SM. The terrified three met me at the exit. I guess I should tell you about AE, but they didn't give me much to report about it. Robin was excited, John could care less, and Steph said it was strange. I'm sure that helps everybody who is trying do decide if they are going or not.

Timekeeper and lots of junk food:

We took in Timekeeper (good) and grabbed some fries to munch on the way to Adventureland. Then we had a Dole Whip. Followed by another Dole Whip. Then I got some ice cream. Then I got a little tummy ache. Mommy wasn't there to tell me not to eat so much junk food. Then we boarded the Jungle Cruise.

Old Fogey's and the Jungle Cruise / Pirates of the Caribbean:

The Cruise was an absolute blast, I'm glad the jokes have not changed since my first ride about 20 years ago. Despite a great CM the boat, mostly seniors, was not into it so she joked with the four of us privately between the script. She tried to bring the rest of the boat into it, but alas. "That's not funny." "They told that joke when I was 9!" "Is this over yet?" Septuagenarian hecklers! These seniors were also ahead of us on our next boat ride on POTC. They seemed to dislike that ride also. The four of us loved it; in fact it's the "rip snortingest ride in the Caribbean." Robin was especially fond of the bird outside, making us watch it over, and over, and over...

That drop always gets me, and I have no idea why. It's not like I have not taken it 30 times or so.

Fantasyland:

We were still debating what Fantasyland ride to enjoy. Rumor had it that this was to be Mr. Toad's last weekend (the Save Toad Crew was out in force), but Robin and I don't like that one. Besides, the line was rather long. I thought Robin and John would enjoy the mini London in Peter Pan's flight, so we hopped on that one. Great ride, it has held up well. I wish the same can be said for IASW, that one has gotten more annoying each year. It's a staple, but it could use one less room, and they have to get rid of that log jam at the end where you think you will hear the song forever and ever and ever and ever and it won't stop till it lodges itself in your brain for the rest of your life calling you back to the ride like a siren only to trap you in that

log jam at the end where you think you will hear that song... ahem, pardon. You see the vicious circle.

Dinner in the Castle! (yay):

I was so excited at dinner - I was going to be inside the Castle! Wow, I mean even if the food sucked I would be happy. Even with the reservation we had to wait an hour to be seated. Dear God. I think we were added when the didn't have the room because I bugged the hostess, nicely, so much that morning. Everybody went to shop and I hung around. Cinderella made an appearance. After all the little kids got pictures taken, including this absolute darling girl who was soooo star struck and shaking, I got my picture taken with her. My (now ex) girlfriend was jealous of her, he he. Robin, a medieval and renaissance scholar found a lot of fault with the decorations. According to her everything else in the parks was very accurate and she was hoping this would be accurate to the renaissance. It was no use explaining that it was based on the movie "Cinderella" and wiping your hands on dogs under the table isn't hygienic. Now, about the food...

It was the best salmon I have ever had. I would like to thank my waiter, Rob, for suggesting it. Steph and I savored every bite. I base my ratings of restaurants based on salmon. Nobody else was all that pleased with his or her food, deeming it "decent." We ended up so full it's not even funny. Ok, yes it was. We slowly walked around the park after dinner, and John even had to unbutton his pants (he kept the belt locked around them so you couldn't tell.)

Exeunt the MK:

Hopped on BTM as a walk on. This ride is best at night! It does not even compare to the daytime version of the ride. We shopped again, enjoyed the Fireworks while looking through a tree, and hung around Liberty Square until we were kicked out.

The night was uneventful. Steph and I swum in the pool till about 1am, John and Robin did couple stuff somewhere else. We didn't ask because I think it happened in our room. There are some things you don't want to know...

Day 3 - big confusing parts.

Today we take our first excursion into the heart of the unknown Animal Kingdom and Disney MGM Studios. That's right, for all my trips to WDW I had never once been to MGM. Go figure.

I had read on R.A.D.P that the best time to see the animals at the AK was early in the morning, so I asked for a wake up call at 6:00 AM. Once again I was the only one to wake up, and once again I showered and went for coffee. I do so love walking around the CBR early in the morning. This time, after only getting a little lost in the villages, I spent a time in a hammock watching the early morning balloonists float over the lake. The mist was just clearing and the hammock was just a little damp, so I did not stay long.

By the time I was back at around 6:55 everybody was up and ready to roll. I wonder what happens when I leave the room that allows three people with two sinks and one shower to wake up, wash, and get dressed in about 40 minutes. When I stay over Robin's house it takes her that long to get dressed, let alone shower, wash, and eat. Somehow all three of us were up and on the bus at 7:00 sharp.

Ride to AK:

Ever talk to the bus driver? They are full of information. He told us that this weekend it was unusually empty, but that we should stay away from the MK today because the Disneyanna convention was kicking off and everybody would be there for the last ride of Toad. He expected the rest of the parks to be pretty empty. He had been running the AK bus for about half an hour and we were the first people on it. The MK busses were full.

AK Entrance:

We arrived at AK. I had listened to a lot of people complain on the newsgroup about being able to see the International Drive hotels from the parking lot. True, you can. But if you are looking in that direction there is something seriously wrong with you. I mean pack-up-and-go-home Wrong! Even the gates to AK were fantastic. This is the best looking park I have ever seen. It took us 45 minutes to walk to the Tree of Life because we just had to explore every nook and cranny on our way in. Instead of following the flock look around a little bit! If you explore the front of the park you can see animals almost everywhere, not to mention fantastic landscaping. We did end up walking past the same places a few times in a row, but we didn't mind looking at them again.

The park seemed pretty empty, but it was so big that it is hard to tell just how crowded it is because of all the open space. I don't see this as ever being an elbow-to-elbow park like MK can be.

The Tree of Life greeted us in the distance and we all hustled over the bridge, then stopped dead in our tracks to take in the view. 4 people standing in row on the bridge can cause quite a backup we learned so we reluctantly kept walking. Robin is a big animal person, so she wanted to get to the safari. We have plenty of time to take pictures later.

Safari:

I don't know how to describe the safari except to say that the animals are so close, there are so many, and you can take some great pictures. We saw a white rhino charge out of the bushes and then come to a dead stop and just stare at us ("well, that's never happened before," our surprised guide exclaimed in the middle of her script), a heard of elephants walking away from us like a scene from the Jungle Book, a tik-tik jumping across the savanna, giraffes eating just about right over our heads it seemed... oh I could go on. Bring your best, fastest camera and take two trips, we did.

Trail:

The Gorilla trail was fun, and much better than a regular zoo. I liked the meerkats the best, but everybody else could not keep their eyes of the silverback sitting on a rock staring at the people on the bridge below. Only one troop of gorillas was out that day, the CM's said that when one group was out the ones on the other side of the bridge tended to stay in a backstage area. They didn't get along well and sometimes shouted at or tried to throw excrement at each other. After hearing this I was no longer disappointed at only seeing one group of gorillas.

Hambralee:

Bumming around Hambralee was a ton of fun and the only time I enjoyed shopping this trip. I found AK park T-shirts for only six dollars. A nice green and blue tie-dyed number with hippos on it was my bargain of the trip at $4. They are to be found if you look shoppers.

On our way to Dinoland Steph began to get thirsty. This lead to what we can safely say was the only flaw we found in the park. No water fountains. She had to buy a drink of soda at a stand. Not a major problem, but one they have to fix.

Countdown to Extinction:

We walked right past the boneyard and onto CTX. This is the first place we saw a ton of people. The line seemed to take forever, but according to our watches that was not reality. It was our perception based on the fact that we heard the same 2 Bill Nye speeches about 15 times or so before the ride. A lot of people trash CTX around here, but I loved it, or what I see when I don't have my eyes closed. The picture from this ride is me in the front right seat with my head, quite literally, in Stephs lap. I don't know if that was the cause of her expression of terror and disgust or the big dinosaur that was trying to eat us. I hope it was the dinosaur. We are pretend engaged, after all.

It's Tough to be A Bug: Only Steph and I took this in, because Robin has a major phobia. One night in the real Caribbean, not the fake one we were staying at this trip, there was a cockroach in our room so she slept outside by the pool. I'm glad she didn't attend, this would have traumatized her for the rest of the trip. If you hate bugs, for crying out loud stay away from this, they sting, stink, crawl under and over, and buzz all around you. Sure it's not real, but it is real creepy. It is a shame that she missed being able to walk all around the Tree of Life however. Robin reports that she was happy to shop around the parks.

Mistake #1:

I'll meet you at the Tree of Life is not clear enough. Steph and I circled the tree for a long time until we ran into them, walking in the same direction around the tree only slower.

We wanted to stay longer, but we had made a 1:30 reservation at the Brown Derby and did not want to miss it.

MGM's ATM:

MGM was indeed pretty empty, just like the bus driver said it would be. Listen to them, people. No cars in the parking lot (I have never seen that before) and nobody anywhere near the entrance, and no line at the Sunbank ATM. Ah, that friggin ATM. It didn't take my card, even though it says Cirrus on both the ATM and my card. At guest relations they gave me a $50 dollar advance on my card and told me that sometimes when somebody lives a great distance away the machine times out and gives you the card back. Tell that to the man behind me who used a card from the Bank of Nairobi. I had no idea Nairobi had an economy, let alone a bank. I'm BankBoston here in the USA and I time out? Um, pardon the rant, where was I?...

You were going to Dinner at the Brown Derby:

Oh yes. We love the piano player in the Brown Derby. I the "shang-a-lang-a-langa, a dippidy-dip-do-do" part to a number from Grease and requested "Don't Get Around Much Any More." He said he would play it only if I helped him sing, so there I was off key warbling on a mic next to this piano player in the middle of the Brown Derby. I wish I had a picture, but Robin and the others were too busy pretending they didn't know me. I don't know why. After that a little girl went up and they played chopsticks together. That was very very cute.

Tower of Terror:

I don't know how to say this... John hated the ToT. We think he's insane. Maybe the heat got to him. He claimed that it didn't make him fell like he was falling, that it was too dark, and the FX stunk. He

wanted to see the ground flying up at his feet, the park speeding past him outside the elevator. When I told him that the ride was not meant to be a traditional freefall ride but one where you are trapped in an elevator. He said that it made no difference. Never mind that it would be an entirely different ride. In my book, this is the second best ride at WDW behind Splash Mt. In fact if the line was shorter, I would have been on it again.

MGM Layout, Backstage Tour:

I have a big gripe about MGM. The layout is awful. Some areas are only accessible by small passages that are wedged between two buildings. Do you know what it's like walking down what basically are alleyways? I am so glad the park was so empty. It took us 20 minutes to find the backstage tour. I could have taken or left this ride, but everybody else said it was ok. After that we got lost on the way to Star Tours. At least that search was worth it.

Star Tours:

Star Tours was almost everything I hoped it would be. I got to walk through an Ewok village, attack the Death Star, and get shot with water by an AT-AT. The big danger is the gift shop after the ride. Steph is a fanatic, and she blew $100 on that stuff. I got off easy, with $18 worth of PCV figures.

Great Movie Ride:

The Great Movie ride would have been more fun if we were not so tired. I did enjoy it a lot however, sadly we just were not up to it. We went back to the hotel room before dinner. Steph and I hit the pool, Robin and John did stuff also. I just don't want to think about it happening in our hotel room, if you get the picture.

After Dinner at Alfredo's:

Dinner was very passable. It was after dinner that was special. We were the last people out of the restaurant and the park was empty.

I don't mean that there were a few people walking out. I mean empty. It was so empty that security came running up to us and asked why we were still there. They had cleared the area 20 minutes ago. It was so late that we were able to watch a stage show rehearse at the American Pavilion. Steph flirted with security just enough to allow us to watch the show for about 3 minutes and take pictures of the empty pavilions on out way out. They were still under stage lighting! Once in a lifetime chance that I will never forget. The World Showcase is so beautiful.

We went to bed at 11:00 with smiles on our faces, forgetting that Monday we had to be on a plane home at 5:00.

Day 4 - Wherein we leave, shop, and I hurt Robin's feelings

I woke up not next to John, like I had the past two nights, but next to Steph. A quick mental search confirmed that I did NOT have anything to drink last night, did NOT crawl in bed with her, and nothing happened last night. Rolling over I noticed John on the floor, and robin in a bed by herself. Confidant that all would be explained later I ran into the shower.

As I came out dressed and ready for my daily coffee hike, I saw Robin getting ready for her shower. She explained: In the middle of the night last night, Robin awoke to see a fairly large spider on the pillow next to her. She screamed to wake the world (which I slept through) and John crawled in to comfort her, Steph took his place next to me. Ok, whew. Why was he on the floor? Well he was kicking her in his sleep and she pushed him out. My mind at ease, I went for coffee.

My trip was much quicker than my other ones. We had to pack, get the luggage to the bellhop, and get to EPCOT for an 8:30 character breakfast at the Garden Grill. When I arrived back almost everybody was showered and packed except for me. Amazing, in only 20 minutes. I just know they were having gang showers, otherwise the math makes no sense.

Anyway, as I go to brush my teeth I notice my toothbrush was much greener than usual. No mold, but a small green lizard on the bristles. Oh, great, now I can't brush my teeth... somebody help me get him out please. Ha ha... had I only known before I said that. Robin has seen the animal outside and decided he would make a good pet for a little bit before we left. Fine! Keep him off my toothbrush... now I need a new one. I was kinda upset, I'm fanatical about brushing my teeth in the morning. Confrontation.. bellhop brings new toothbrush, everybody happy. We catch the first EPCOT buss of the day.

Garden Grill Breakfast:

EPCOT early in the morning provided great pictures. The place was practically empty because the park was not even OPEN yet. While I enjoyed EPCOT at night, in the daylight it just looked desolate. The lighting added a great deal to the park, now it just seemed like a bunch of buildings. These parks lose a lot in the daylight without the "Third element," guests. But still, great photos.

Breakfast was family style and all you can eat. Mickey, Minnie, Chip and Dale all walked around. There were only about 5 other groups there, and no young children so we got a lot of interaction with the characters. I have a photo where I am kissing Minnie but she is pushing me away. The food was hash browns, bacon, biscuits, sausages, and grits. We all had a little bit of this, a little bit of that (a pot, a pan... EEEPCOT Center, EEEPCOT Center / massive-sized, bunch a rides / EEEPCOT Center... where we like every thing we eat) ahem, sorry. We were stuffed.

The park was still fairly empty when we left breakfast at about 9:00 so we went right on LTTL with our own private boat, rode SE one more time, and saw HISTA as well as watched the fountain before Off-Kilter ushered us into the showcase.

Canada:

Our first stop was O, Canada. A picture tip - the window in the waiting area provides a great photo - op. Believe it or not, in the previous days we had not seen one Circlevision film. This was John and Stephs first (Timekeeper is not quite 100% Circlevision), and they were suitably impressed. I always get a little headache, but nothing that makes it not worth it to watch one of them. Combined with all the orange juice and water I had a lunch... let's just say I was glad to get out. They heard me exclaim as I ran off - I'll meet you in the tea shop in UK in about 10 minutes.

UK:

15 minutes later I was there. 45 minutes after that, we left the tea shop. That's right. We spent an hour looking at tea pots. Then another hour looking at Souvenirs From France (really original name by the way). Steph and I were bored. It was one o'clock when we ate, and then Steph said she wanted to go on some rides before we left. I concurred. Robin had been looking forword to shopping today, however. So Steph and I went to MGM and Robin and John went shopping.

I Screwed Up:

I should have seen on her face she was upset. As Robin told me when we got back home "Eric, I hardly see you any more. I was so looking forword to spending time with you. Then on the last day you run off like that." I'm sorry, you are right. We should have compromised, after all there was plenty of time left for both. Instead we were dopes and Steph and I took the boat over to MGM.

Boat to MGM:

A nice little boat ride, at that. If you want a view of the whole boardwalk area without all the walking this is the way to go (although it is sort of akin to riding on the monorail over EPCOT without going inside - major tease) that dropped us off by what was then a big board that said "FANTASMIC - October 98." We miss all the good stuff, I said. Star Tours, Muppet*Vision (Sweetums! YAY!), and ToT ridden in rapid succession made me change my mind.

We rushed over to EPCOT, the bus seemed to be faster than the boat, and met Robin and John. I had about a half hour, so we tried some Ice Station Beverages and said our goodbyes. It was then off to the shuttle and back home.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Next time I come, I promise, I will spend more time. A week or so maybe.

THE GOOD -

Every single CM
I was surprised at the value. A great deal of the stores had mark downs because, the CM's said, they were getting in new merchandise.
Except for the fast food, which will never change, the dinners were uniformly great - San Angel Inn and Cinderella's Royal Table earn top marks while Alfredo's comes up short in comparison to them.
The atmosphere at CBR was fantastic.
No lines, just about. The drivers said that MK was packed on Sunday, and AK did great business Sat. I think we just got lucky in our park choices.
THE BAD -

A lizard on my toothbrush.
No Mulan merchandise anywhere. The CM's kept saying it was selling out as soon as they got it in, and then they might not get more in because they were gearing up for Bug's Life.
Getting trapped on the monorail. It's the best way to go, but it sucked being trapped in it.
I really do not like the layout of the Studios. Crowd control was very bad. I can just imagine how it was with Fantasmic.
I'll be going back in 2 years of so...

Eric Turner

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