Trip Reports

PREVIEW:

This trip was planned about 6-7 months before the departure date. We had debated between a relaxing beach vacation in Mexico, a ski trip to Colorado and another visit to WDW. You can tell which destination won out. I have been to WDW 4 other times in the past with my parents. My wife and I took a trip (her first) in 1995. That trip was a short 5 day adventure that was a little hectic and fast-paced. We wanted to make sure that this trip was a bit more relaxing so we extended the length of stay to eight days and didn't quite plan as the Disney Commandos would subscribe. We also wanted to take one day of our trip to visit Kennedy Space Center and the ocean. I should mention that we have a three year old daughter who was not along on this trip. We decided early on that she was just too young yet to fully experience WDW. After running into a few children who were about our daughter's age, we agreed that we had made the right decision. This was an adult, relaxation vacation. The kind you can only have without your children.

As a preface to this trip report, I would like the readers to know that we are not live show people, nor are we parade people. If you are reading this report for updates and tips on those areas of WDW, you will be a bit disappointed. As you will see, this also reduced the amount of time spent in each park. Also, we absolutely love WDW and are not the type to let little annoyances ruin our trip. Therefore, you will see very little in the way of complaints or criticisms. Almost all of the CM's we encountered were friendly and went out of their way to make us feel special. Were there a few grumpy folks? Yes. Did we let it ruin our trip? No. Are CM's people too? Yes. Are they allowed to have a bad day on occasion? Yes. Mears and Northwest Airlines are the exceptions to this rule as you will see later in this report.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 1998:

We didn't get much sleep the night before as you can well imagine. We are from Green Bay and were going to park the car at the airport. We were advised by the local television stations that, due to the increase in traffic at the airport from Super Bowl travelers, the airport may not have enough parking spaces for other travelers. We took a cab instead and got out of Green Bay at 11:00am, about 15 minutes late. We had to connect in Detroit (By the way, I really hate the Detroit airport) but got out on time and arrived in Orlando at 4:15pm. The weather was wonderfully warm and humid. Exactly what Green Bay was not. We gathered up our luggage and transferred via bus to the Alamo Rent-A-Car facility. Alamo has renting a car down to a science. We were in and out in less than 15 minutes. I was hoping to upgrade our initial reservation from a Chevy Beretta to a convertible since the weather was going to be nice. They were able to get us a Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible with just 12 miles on it. It was a great car but I have to inject a word of warning here. If you have more luggage than a duffle bag or a small suitcase, you will have to be an engineer to figure out how everything will fit in that little car. After leaving Alamo we headed west to check into our hotel. The Holiday Inn Express on McCoy Road was very nice and served it's purpose as a place to sleep very well. Since the evening was so warm, we put the top down on the Spyder and headed for International Drive. Being a racing fan, I wanted to eat at Race Rock. Traffic on I Drive was heavy but it moved along nicely. For those of you who enjoy racing, Race Rock in an incredible restaurant. The display pieces almost make you forget you are there to eat. The food was fantastic and we enjoyed the service. After dinner, we just drove up and down I Drive looking at all of the sites. A person could realistically plan to add a day onto their trip just to soak in all of the I Drive activities and attractions. We drove back to the Holiday Inn to get some rest as tomorrow we head to Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and to Cocoa Beach before heading back and checking in at WDW!!!!

SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 1998:

We woke up early today in order to get to KSC by the opening time of 9:00am. After checking out and having a decent continental breakfast at the Holiday Inn, we greased up our luggage and packed up the Spyder. A heavy fog greeted us this morning and it made for difficult reading of the road signs that led us to KSC. After about a 45 minute trip along the Beeline Expressway, we were there about 15 minutes early. KSC has changed quite a bit since I was a last here as a kid. We decided to start the day with a bus tour of the complex. They had launched a Shuttle two days before we arrived and they had the radio transmissions between flight control and the Shuttle piped over the speakers at the Visitors Center. It was really neat sitting in line for the bus listening to the Shuttle Commander talk to Houston in real time. The bus took us to the Saturn V rocket complex where they have a pre-show kind of movie before you enter the huge building that houses the actual Saturn V rocket. My wife was in awe at how big that rocket really is and we both wondered how in the world NASA was able to complete such an undertaking with the technology they possessed back in the 1960's. After completing this part of the tour we waited for the next bus to take us to the Launch Pad 39 Observation Gantry. The bus ride over there took us past the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and took us right next to the gravel road on which the Shuttles are rolled to the pad. The observation gantry provided an awesome view of the launch pad areas (or they would have if there wasn't any fog). We were able to just make out the huge Shuttle launch pads and some other satellite rocket pads in the distance. We skipped the tour of the International Space Station exhibit and headed back to the Visitors Center. There, we toured the replica of the Shuttle, the Rocket Garden and the Space Mirror Astronaut Memorial. This is truly a special place and I would strongly recommend it if your itinerary allows. We left KSC at about 1:30pm and headed south along the ocean to Cocoa Beach. We toured Ron Jon's Surf Shop and strolled along the beach. It was wonderful. We drove back to Orlando just taking it easy and absorbing all of the beautifully green forests and swamps. As I said before, Alamo has renting a car down to a science. We checked in and were on the bus back to the airport in just over 5 minutes. We waited for a Mears Shuttle to Caribbean Beach Resort (CBR) for quite a while as the crowd around the check-in area was massive. Finally, after a half hour wait, Mears finally brought in a bus and loaded almost everyone up. The swirling confusion and lack of organization that surrounded the Mears area had me a bit upset but we finally made it to CBR at around 5:30pm. Check-in at CBR was hectic as a large contingent of people were there for a Lotussphere convention. The check-in CM's kept the line moving along and we were in our room by 6:00pm. I called WDW-DINE and made priority seating at Sci-Fi Dinner Theater for lunch tomorrow and at Artist's Point for dinner on Wednesday. No problem in getting exactly the times we wanted. I hoped that was a good sign that the parks would be empty this week. The huge group of Lotussphere conventioneers had me a bit concerned but that soon proved to be a non-factor. We grabbed our refillable mugs and headed for Old Port Royale. We noticed on the way across the island to OPR that the themed main pool was undergoing some refurbishment so that was immediately scratched off of the itinerary. The food was surprisingly good and there was hardly anyone in the food court. We went back to our room to get ready for the Disney-MGM Studios in the morning.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 25, 1998:

It was an early entry day at the Studios so we took full advantage of it. We arrived at the park at 7:30am to find that the Tower of Terror (TOT), Muppetvision 3D, Great Movie Ride and Star Tours were already open. We headed directly for the TOT as I had read in the trip reports that this was usually the busiest ride in the park. When we got there, we walked right up and into the library for the pre-show movie. The theming on this ride is awesome. The hotel reception area is very authentic looking. Even better than the theming there was the incredible detail in the boiler room where you enter the service elevators. This ride was absolutely awesome. In fact, after we got off, we hiked right back on. Again, it was a walk-on. After this, we rode The Great Movie Ride which was very neat as well. I won't ruin the surprise but it was interesting. The Muppetvision 3D movie was next and I have to say that I was very impressed with the 3D effects. (We even saw A Net Full of Jello) We took the Backlot Tour which includes Catastrophe Canyon and really enjoyed that. Every ride was a walk-on and we really were glad that we planned this trip when we did. After all of this, it was time for our 11:05am reservations at Sci-Fi. This restaurant will go down as one of my all time favorites. We were seated in the back seat of one of the cars (the CM said it was because we were a young couple who would likely end up in the back seat anyway). The food was very good as were the chocolate shakes. The movie trailers and the old refreshment ads were a riot, especially when the CM's played along. After lunch, we headed out to shop the park and got quite a few good ideas for our three year old. My wife claims that the Studios have the best shops of any of the three theme parks. She may be right. Since, as I stated before, we are not live show people, we made our exit and decided to take the boat to the Boardwalk area. The new Boardwalk resort looks pretty cool, especially from the water. We cruised past the Swan and the Dolphin (although we did agree with the many Trip Report authors that the dolphin looks a lot like a carp). We noticed that the majority of the Lotussphere convention was being held in the Swan, the Carp (err, Dolphin) and the Yacht and Beach Clubs. No wonder we hadn't really seen them in full force in the parks. We toured the Boardwalk and checked out the ESPN Sportsclub for the Super Bowl activities. We are, after all, Packer fans. And they did have my wife's favorite beer, Leinenkugel's Red. After a brief stop there, we decided to take a tour of the monorail resorts. We took advantage of the International Gateway into EPCOT and walked directly to the monorail. We would have plenty of time to tour EPCOT tomorrow. I did notice that the crowds were light and hoped they stayed that way. After changing monorails at the TTC, we toured the Polynesian Resort, the Grand Floridian and the Contemporary. In fact, at the Contemporary, we went up to the 15th floor and sat next to the windows and had a drink. Again, if your itinerary allows, this spot offers incredible vistas of the Magic Kingdom and the whole expanse of Disney World property. I think I even caught a glimpse of the new Tree of Life at the Animal Kingdom. With Super Bowl game time fast approaching, we headed back to CBR. After filling up our mugs we ordered a large pizza and ate in our room during the Super Bowl. Needless to say, we were a bit disappointed with the outcome of the game, but it was a good game, and we did make it back to the Super Bowl, and John Elway is a nice guy, and.... (we all need excuses to keep us from going crazy, right?) Tomorrow is EPCOT Day!!!

MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 1998:

There was no rush to wake up this morning as EPCOT didn't open until 9:00am. We filled up our mugs, I played a bit in the arcade at OPR and we made our way to the bus stop. A brief word about the WDW bus system. I had read a lot of horror stories in the trip reports and on the RADP about the busses. We have never had a problem with the bus system and our longest wait on this trip was about 20 minutes during a driver shift change while at Pleasure Island. To me, the comfort of not having to drive and navigate the WDW roadways combined with the savings of not having to rent a car for a week far outweighs the wait at the bus stops, the sometimes crowded buses and the round-about trips to our destinations. Enough said about that. We arrived at EPCOT exactly at the opening time for Future World. We started with Spaceship Earth which is still one of my favorites. Must be something to do with being able to ride in that big golfball. After that and noticing that the crowds were light, we decided to stop by the Fountain View Cafe and have a coffee. A big thanks to the "Geeks" for raving about this place. I am strictly a straight black coffee drinker but my wife loved her Cafe Mocha and the pastries. This is where we encountered our first Brazilian tour group. They seemed well behaved but since they do everything as a huge group they cause incredible delays wherever they go. We walked to the Honey I Shrunk the Audience (HISTA) 3D show and loved it as usual. Now that I've seen both 3D movies, I'd have to say that the Muppets movie has better 3D but HISTA has better 4D. You'll have to try both to understand. From there we toured The Land, The Living Seas, Innoventions and Horizons. We skipped the Universe of Energy as the line was pretty long. My wife is an incurable motion sickness person so we skipped Body Wars as well. You will note that we didn't do Star Tours at MGM either. (It's amazing that she loved TOT at the Studios) We walked by Test Track and wished upon our lucky star that it would be open by the next time we visit. By this time, World Showcase was just opening and we started our clockwise tour at Mexico. The Rivers of Time ride was as good as I remembered it. Next was Norway and the Maelstrom which is one of my personal favorites. We skipped the Norway movie as we saw that last time. We quickly toured China and stopped in Germany for some bratwurst, beer and a pretzel at Sommerfest. Expensive lunch but very tasty. Italy was once again beautiful and we stopped at the American Experience for some of that great apple pie. We strolled through Japan, Morocco, France (my wife was disappointed with the pastry here), United Kingdom and topped the tour off with the Canada movie. This movie is a must for us and we enjoyed it but wished for a chair instead of a railing to lean on. We really flew through EPCOT but it was because of the light crowds, not a hectic pace. I wondered silently where all of the people were and knocked on wood hoping that they would stay away. After EPCOT, we walked through the International Gateway, along the Boardwalk, through the Swan and to Fantasia Gardens Mini-Golf. The Fantasia Fairways Course is a tough and realistic miniature of real golf with sand traps, water hazards, rolling fairways and undulating greens. Since it was part of our "Flex Package" the normal $20.00 fee for this fun was part of our room fee. Kids of all ages would really enjoy it as a nice and quiet diversion. My wife wanted her Planet Hollywood fix for the trip so we went over for dinner. We must have timed it right as we were seated immediately. Dinner was awesome as usual and we went back to CBR to relax and digest. They were predicting rain for tomorrow so we juggled our schedule and decided to spend tomorrow shopping at Downtown Disney. We could hear the incredible fireworks from Illuminations 25 tonight and decided to check it out in person one of these nights.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 27, 1998:

Ahh, the benefits of vacation. We woke up late today and were in no rush to go anywhere. It wasn't raining when we woke up but it looked like it could at any minute. We went to OPR for breakfast and ate Mickey waffles. We caught the bus to Downtown Disney and shopped to our hearts content. We each grabbed some memorable souvenirs and overspent on clothes, movies and other assorted things for our daughter. Disney's West Side was new to us so we spent a bit more time in this part of Downtown Disney. We managed to just stay ahead of another Brazilian tour group here. The amount of new development is incredible. I can remember my first trip to WDW as a kid and specifically recall entering the WDW grounds only to discover that we had another 10 minute ride through dense forests to get to the Magic Kingdom. Now, there is development all over the place. I am torn between the seclusion of the "old days" vs. the amount of things to see and do in the present day. After an aggressive morning of shopping, we lunched at the Rainforest Cafe. This restaurant soon became a favorite as the theming and the food were excellent. We walked right in and were seated. (I'm glad we came for lunch instead of dinner) We were seated next to a rain wall that was beautiful. I highly recommend eating here even if your itinerary doesn't permit. After lunch we toured the new World of Disney store and found it to be overwhelming. We were a bit disappointed with the lack of clothes for toddlers and the fact that 2 of the movies we came to get for our daughter were nowhere to be found. I wish they would just release them all so we can enjoy them at our leisure. I think Walt would have wanted it that way. We hadn't seen the new James Bond movie so we took a rest and caught the flick at the AMC 24 Theaters. This place makes movie-going awesome. After getting writers cramp from co-signing all of those travelers checks, we returned to CBR for a quiet dinner at OPR. Since we weren't tired, we decided that this would be the night to see Illuminations 25. I sure am glad we did. The lights, lasers, water displays and fireworks combined with the music was very enjoyable. We watched them from the terraced section between the UK and France. A very good view of everything. We walked to the bus area and it was quite crowded although they had busses lined up so when one bus filled up, another was quickly behind. We had no problems. After watching the weather to confirm that our day tomorrow at the Magic Kingdom would be dry, we turned in for the evening.

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28, 1998:

We got to the Magic Kingdom early enough to stand at the ropes into Tommorrowland for the 9:00am opening. We immediately made our way to Space Mountain and walked on. After the ride, we noticed that the line was still quite short and rode it again. A word of warning regarding Space Mountain. The very back seat in the coaster provides a very rough ride. While being tossed around was fun at the time, it was a bit uncomfortable afterwards. With our Space Mountain fix satisfied, we did Alien Encounter (awesome as usual), the TTA and Carousel of Progress. From there we decided to check out Mickey's Toontown Fair for when we bring our daughter on the next trip. I really think she'll enjoy Mickey's and Minnie's house, Donald's Boat and hopefully, Goofy's Barnstormer Roller Coaster. A pretty neat place for kids and it takes some of the congestion out of Fantasyland. We stopped at Pinnoccio's Village Haus for an early lunch and tried to avoid the chaos of Fantasyland. We both realized that this "Land" would be where we would spend the majority of our time in a few years and just skipped it all together. Next, we toured the Haunted Mansion and the Hall of Presidents. Splash Mountain was next and although it was a cool day, I was still surprised to see that there was no line. I should note that by the time we entered Liberty Square and continuing throughout the rest of the day, we noticed an ever increasing crowd. From this point on, through the rest of the trip, the crowds were much bigger than we had seen all week. Oh well, I guess we don't own the place, but it was nice feeling like we did for a while. After Splash Mountain we hit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which held the longest line of our entire trip, 20 minutes. A tour of my favorite, Pirates of the Caribbean and we were done with the park. We did wander around and shop some more, visited Cinderella's Castle and took in the 25th Anniversary Welcome Center to get our posters. We ended today with a leisurely Magic Kingdom Railroad ride around the park before heading back to CBR to get ready for our 6:20pm reservations at Artist's Point. The bus trip to Wilderness Lodge is a lot more complicated than it needs to be. Instead of following Disney's recommendations of going to Downtown Disney and then to the TTC and then to WL, we just took our bus to EPCOT and got on the Wilderness Lodge bus. Simple. We arrived at WL a bit early and toured the pool area and watched the geyser erupt. We also just sat in the lobby and soaked up the incredible atmosphere. We were promptly seated when we checked in at Artist's Point and fell in love with the restaurant. I had Buffalo Strip Steaks, Michelle had Rainbow Trout, we each had a glass of wine, soup and dessert. Total bill with tip, $110.00. It was excellent food coupled with attentive service and married to an incredible atmosphere. Worth every expensive little penny. With our stomach's stuffed, we waddled to the bus and eventually connected back to CBR. Another great day.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1998:

Our itinerary had us scheduled to go to Typhoon Lagoon today but the brisk morning air gave us second thoughts. The weatherman swore it would get warmer so we decided to chance it. I'm really glad we did. We have never been to a Disney waterpark and found it to exactly match our dreams. One word of extreme warning: The pathways, bridges and stairways are coated with a non-slip substance that will make your feet very sore, very fast. We longed for our Aqua-Socks. After bodysurfing in the wave pool, floating the lazy river, swimming with sharks and stingrays, screaming down the flume rides and having terror tattooed on our faces from Humunga Kowabunga, we finished the day by sitting in the sun and enjoying the warmth. We were so tired after TL that we napped in our room at CBR until early evening. We returned to Downtown Disney so my wife could indulge in her true achilles heel, Ghiardelli's Hot Fudge Sundaes. We also finished up the shopping we wanted to do and returned to CBR to pack for our return trip to Green Bay. We snacked on a mini-pizza for dinner and called Mears to set up our return to the airport tomorrow afternoon.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 30, 1998:

I cannot believe that it is our last day already. Actually, we were really starting to miss our little girl and were anxious to get home. We didn't have to be at the airport until 2:00pm and since we chose the express check-out, we had a lot of time on our hands. I called bell services and they promptly picked up our bags and stored them until we had to leave. We caught the bus to the Studios as Michelle wanted to ride the TOT again. We got there just as the place opened and, although the crowds were heavier, we still walked on the TOT. Imagine that, we rode TOT three times and never, ever waited in a line. Awesome. After that we went to EPCOT and just hung around with our Fountain View coffees and people watched. Finally, we went to Downtown Disney and my wife got the Planet Hollywood sweatshirt she talked about all trip.

We traveled back to CBR to get our bags and catch the shuttle to the airport. Now, this is where we truly realized our Disney vacation was over. First of all, when you have to make a reservation to catch a shuttle, I would think that at 1:25pm a shuttle would appear to take us to the airport. Shuttles did appear. They dropped off guests and then left, empty. Then when an empty shuttle to the airport appeared, it was a free for all to get a space on it. Finally, with time running out, I pushed my way past some people and got us on a shuttle at 2:00pm. God forgive me. Then to top it off, we got the airport only to discover that our flight was 2 hours delayed due to a mechanical inspection. We were rerouted on different flights but had to sit at Orlando International for two and a half hours and then sit at Detroit for an additional 2 hours. Did I mention that I absolutely hate Detroit's airport. Well, we did manage to get home at 10:30pm which was only about three and a half hours later than expected. I can honestly say it was good to be home.

SUMMARY:

I had originally planned on listing the food we ordered and the prices but I don't think my mom would appreciate the number of hamburgers I ate and honestly, I just lost track of the amounts we paid. We planned very good financially and even came home with $200.00. Just suffice it to say that meals for two range from $20 to $25 in a food court, $40 to $50 for nicer lunches and a bit more for dinners. We splurged at Artist's Point ($110.00) but it was well worth it. We only snacked in the parks on occasion and bought sodas/coffee when we were thirsty. Budget accordingly and you will not have any financial worries.

My favorite rides were: Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Carousel of Progress (mostly because it was Walt's idea from start to finish), Alien Encounter, HISTA, Muppetvision 3D and Living with the Land. I think next time I will plan some extra time to do the Behind the Seeds Tour.

Michelle's favorite rides were: Tower of Terror, Tower of Terror, Tower of Terror and all of the rides I liked.

Things we really loved: Dinner at Artist's Point, Wilderness Lodge, green grass, warm weather, International Drive, convertible cars, huge rice krispies bars and everything at CBR including our housekeeper who did Disney magic with our toothbrushes every day.

Things we didn't really like: Mears' sloppy and unorganized service, Northwest Airlines, parents who keep their little kids up too late and then yelling at them when they get cranky, people who do not use deodorant, Brazilian tour groups, creative line cutters and grumpy people who cannot enjoy a vacation.

Things we cannot understand: People who wear high heels to theme parks, braille map stands (how do they find the map stands to read the braille?), Brazilian tour groups, having to wind through long queues when there is nobody in line, Mears' reservation system and whoever designed the trunk space in a Spyder convertible.

Things we want to do next trip: Learn to be people who like live shows and parades so we can enjoy them with our daughter, Richard Petty Driving Experience, Disney's Wide World of Sports, check out other resorts, character breakfasts, Blizzard Beach, Test Track and, of course, Animal Kingdom and the other new Disney creations.

We will likely be back in 2-3 years once our daughter grows up a bit and can handle the tiring yet exciting fun of Walt Disney World. If you have any comments regarding this trip report, please e-mail me at attorneys@lcojlaw.com. Please put Paul Williams in the RE: section of the e-mail message to ensure proper routing. Thanks for reading our trip report and always have Disney Dreams.

Paul Williams

attorneys@lcojlaw.com

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