Trip Reports

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane
Resort: GFRS
Accommodations
Ages Represented in Group: Teen, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
Comments: Joelle's entire family spent a fantastic week at the Grand Floridian and soaked up a ton of Disney magic. This was the family's second trip, but they did it like veterans.

Cast:

Joelle Zeleski- that’s me…. Trip writer, and seventeen-year-old high school senior. (And known by all of my friends as a Disney World know-it-all!)
Mom- 43 year old Disney lover
Dad- also 43, and thoroughly enjoyed the vacation
Joe- my 14-year-old brother, now loves Disney World, and even confessed to me that this was the best vacation of his life!
Dates:

October 30th- November 7th, 1998
We are infrequent visitors, with our first visit being in 1997, and this being our second trip. We’re now addicted though, and may begin to visit often. This was also our first time staying on property.

Resort:

Grand Floridian Beach Resort, Lagoon (Magic Kingdom) view, "Big Pine Key" building.
The Beginning:

It all began in the winter of 1997. My family had just returned from Disney World in May of 1997, but we had gone with my entire mom’s- side- of the family, a total of nineteen people. Now, don’t get me wrong, that vacation was very nice, but it was our only trip to WDW, and we were ‘achin for another… just for us. On a cold December day, as my brother walked into the house after school, my mom was standing in our kitchen, turned to us and said…."Guess what guys?… we’re going to Disney World!!!" It took me all of a millisecond to scream, and so the planning began. We immediately looked at the calendar, and decided on our dates from October to November, all that was left now was to make our reservations. We decided to hold off on these until after the Holiday season, since this was about mid-December. After a very, what seemed like long, holiday season, we began our resort decisions. We had already done a ton of research, especially since the last time we went to WDW the previous year, we had stay off-site in a large house. Our final decisions were as follows: We were dead-set on the Wilderness Lodge, but also wanted a tower room, Magic Kingdom side at the Contemporary. We decided at that time, that the Polynesian and the Grand Floridian were too expensive. When we called to make our reservations, the lady on the phone told us that the Wilderness lodge didn’t have any rooms left for the Magic Kingdom Club, and that the Contemporary only had Garden Wing rooms left. My mom then questioned about the Polynesian, we were also told they had no rooms left for the MKC. Finally, we were down to the Grand Floridian, something my mom didn’t want to ask about… knowing that the price she would be quoted could have knocked her to the floor. But, when she did ask, the price was reasonable… with the MKC 20% discount, we managed to reserve a lagoon view room for only approximately $270 a night. At the time we requested non-smoking, and a Magic Kingdom view. We later called back about four days before our departure, and requested a corner room, and an upper floor. So started the next nine months of commando-like trip planning, meal reservation making, ticket-buying, etc…etc… AND OUR DREAM VACATION BEGAN…..

-Day 1- Friday, October 30th, 1998 (Flight, check-in, lunch at Contemporary, and Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party!)

I had a very hard time trying to sleep through the night, but managed to quickly pop out of bed at the early hour of 3:30. Knowing that our flight was at 7:00, and it took about one hour to get to the airport, we all had to get up then. We got ready, and managed to leave by 5:00am. We arrived at the Allentown airport, and it was a freezing cold, 35º outside. Our flight was uneventful; we landed in Atlanta for our layover, and left on time for Orlando. We were really on our way now!! We landed in Orlando, and the weather was 89º, warm, and a little humid… just perfect! We quickly made our way to the National car Rental area, and received our very nice Chevy Lumina (although not as nice as the Lincoln Town Car we rented last vacation to WDW!) We quickly hopped in, and we were on our way. Now remember, this was the first time we stayed on Disney Property. We did not know our way around, other than to park in the giant Magic Kingdom parking lot, and go from there. But, we made our way in easily. BIG PURPLE SIGNS!!! YEAH!!! That is always a really nice welcome. But, the best was when we drove under the large "WELCOME TO WDW" sign, and then were waved happily through the parking toll booth when we proudly told the man we would be staying at the Grand Floridian. We made our way around Grand Floridian Drive, and there it was more beautiful than ever. We were all nearly knocked over by how beautiful it actually was. We had never seen the GF up close before. On our last trip, the closest we got was on the Magic Kingdom Ferry. We pulled up to the Guard area and were very kindly allowed to pass as he said… "reservation for Zeleski?" We were thrilled as we pulled up under the valet parking area, and a kind man came around, and opened up our car doors for us. He also took all of our luggage for us, and told us that he would have it delivered to our room when it was ready. Now was our time for big amazement. We walked under the entry area of the GF (Grand Floridian), and slowly made our way into the lobby. It was the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen, with it’s huge flower arrangements.. two-times the size of me, it’s beautiful high-backed chairs, grand staircase, aviary, and that wonderful smell! I can sit here now and think of that wonderful smell, a smell that reminds me of my Disney World home. I could just live there!! We walked up to the front desk, and were told by a very nice CM that we had made the right decisions in our requests for our room view, and that in her opinion, we were given one of the best rooms in the Resort! But, that we would have to wait approximately an hour until it was ready, or we could take another room. Well, you know what we did? Waited the hour, and decided to go get some lunch. Since all of us were waiting for our first ride on the monorail, we hitched a ride on it over to the Contemporary for some lunch. We had to eat quick, so we ate at the Fiesta Fun Center….which took us a few minutes to find, as this was our first time visiting this resort. The food at the Fiesta Fun center was all right, we had the norm, chicken tenders and burgers. My mom had ordered the clam chowder, which came out tasting terrible, so she took it back and got a chili, free of charge. Total for the four of us was $31.18. We still had a few minutes to waste before our room was ready, so we took a walk up to the observation deck. WOW! What a view! You could see everything up there… including a great view of our new home, the GF. Yeah! And this was just the beginning! We rode the monorail back to the GF, and my mom called the number that she was told to call to check if our room was ready. It was, so we officially checked in, and were given the room #9247 in Big Pine Key. We walked up to our room, and in all our excitement, nearly burst through the door. All I have to say is…WOW! Our room was more beautiful than the pictures online, or even the rooms on the Disney Info video. We had a corner room with two balconies. The smaller balcony faced the beach, Wedding Pavilion, and the Polynesian. The larger of the two balconies had a perfect view of the Contemporary, Magic Kingdom, and what else… Cinderella’s Castle! I was in heaven, living my dreams. The room had two queen sized beds, and a daybed as well. It also had a wonderful pantry with major supplies (ponchos, cameras, candy etc…) and sodas, cereals, etc., and a high wardrobe-like object that had the TV inside. After spending some time amazed over our room, we each got showered and ready for the Halloween party that night in the Magic Kingdom. While waiting, we sat out on our balcony and watched giant pumpkin balloons being blown up over the MK. What a sight! After getting washed up, we headed over to the MK, and stood outside the ticket lines until all of the usual guests cleared out of the park. We were then let into the park…ahhhh! The MK looked wonderful, all decked out for Halloween. There was "scary" music being played, and beautiful colored lights shining all up and down Main Street. We immediately headed into Fantasyland, to do our first ride (we’re making this a tradition), Cinderella’s Golden Carousel. We managed to also ride Dumbo, Peter Pan’s Flight, and the Haunted Mansion (this is CREEPY at the Halloween Party) all in time before the parade began. We also stopped and ate a Peco’s Mile Long restaurant in Frontierland. This was a nice meal, with almost the entire place to ourselves.Cost: $25.82. We then scoped out some nice spots for the parade, but on the way there, encountered the "Headless Horseman". He was really cool, he galloped down Main Street with a flaming pumpkin in his hand. The parade here was mediocre, with a few nice floats… one especially nice, which included Pooh and the gang. After the parade, we were hoping that the fireworks would be much better. We had a while before they started, but we stuck to our spots directly in front of the castle, at the "Partner’s" statue. Since not many people were around, others began to stand up on the benches around. We followed, and had a PERFECT view. (I think it was so perfect in fact, that I would bet that it was the spot where all of those professional photos are taken of the castle when the fireworks are going off. You all know what I mean.) The fireworks were wonderful, and nearly made me cry…. They were so beautiful "When You Wish Upon a Star!"…. and my dad loved the perimeter fireworks that they set off. There was a small surprise, instead of Tink flying out of the castle, it was a witch. Nice twist on the original! After the fireworks, we were all tired, and decided to head back to the resort. We took the boat launch back, which was SO convenient, it took us 10 minutes tops to get back to the hotel. When we got back to the GF, we were surprised at how our beds were turned down, EVERYTHING was cleaned up, and there were chocolate mints on our pillows. There was also a Disney- themed good night note. It read: "If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme", "Disney’s Pinocchio, the Grand Floridian Resort." What a perfect end to a perfect first day. We all crashed, knowing that we had eight more days ahead of us! NOTE: has anyone ever noticed that you get the most wonderful sleep at a Disney Hotel? Why is this? I know I didn’t sleep this well the last time we were there, when we stayed off property. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that, while laying in my bed, I had a perfect view of the Contemporary, AND Cinderella’s Castle??…..

-Day 2: Saturday, October 31st, 1998 (Fort Wilderness (Trail’s End), Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom for Spectro Magic.)

We woke up bright and early this morning, knowing that it would be our first full day in the parks. We decided to head off to Fort Wilderness to get some breakfast at the Trail’s End Buffet. This place was wonderful! The food was great, but what made it the best was Kim, our server. My dad ordered a coffee, and later in the meal asked for some water. Well, Kim told him that he needed something more nutritious than water, he needed some orange juice. So, she came back out to our table, and dropped a GIANT Mason jar of OJ on our table. She told my dad that he had to drink the entire thing. He managed to, and she came back to our table and asked him if he wanted a refill. He said no, but she insisted that, "he needed his juice"! Yet another jar was brought out. Later in our meal, my dad went up to the food line to get more to eat. Kim came to our table, and asked if I wanted anything. I said, "no, but my dad could use some more juice!" She brought him yet another HUGE jar, and nearly had us in hysterics. It was probably funnier if you were there, but this is what made us return to this restaurant many times during the week.

After finishing up, we hopped a bus from Fort Wilderness to AK. On our way into AK, we stopped into the Outpost, and picked up a nice AK hat with about six pins on it for my dad, and a safari- Mickey- ears hat for my brother, Joe. Cost: $59.36. We stopped on our way in to look at the Rainforest Café, that place is an attraction in itself! We walked into the park, and approached the Tree of Life. That tree is so beautiful, we spent about 1 hour looking at all of the animals on it, and took about a half-hour of video of just the tree itself. We first decided to do "It’s Tough to Be a Bug" show. This was a riot. My dad especially loved the "bugs" that crawl under your tush at the end of the show! We then took our time, and slowly walked over to Kilimanjaro Safari. On the way, we bought six AK bottle straps, and four PowerAde’s at the Coffee Kiosk. Cost: $21.50. It was HOT today, about 95ºF, and humid. We got onto the Safari with a minimal wait. This was my mom’s favorite ride in all of the parks, even though we all agreed that it could have done without the "poacher" skit. After this, it was about 2:00pm, so we decided to go back to the hotel, take a swim, eat a small lunch, and get ready for the MK, and Spectro Magic.

We rode a bus back to the GF, and hopped in for a quick swim. My brother and I took advantage of our GF keycards, which we also used to charge everything to our room. We went to Gasparilla Grill and Games where I got the Chicken tenders, and Joe got a piece of pizza. I think I was becoming addicted to those little chicken-like things! It was wonderful sitting out on the terrace at the GF, and looking at Cinderella’s castle through the marina. Cost: $13.41.

We all met up again in the room, and got ready to go back to the MK. When we got to the MK, we went immediately to Splash Mountain. This is my mom’s other favorite ride, and I love it as well. My mom then decided that she wanted to do Space Mountain. All four of us went on, something that is unheard of when my mom is there (she normally doesn’t like rough rides), but she ended up really enjoying it. We went to Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café for dinner, and we really enjoyed pigging out on all of the "junk food" there. We sat out on the terrace overlooking the castle, and we watched it slowly change colors. Cost: $26.49. We then went on to Buzz Lightyear’s Space Range Spin, which became one of Joe’s and my favorite rides. Eventhough I lost miserably, I loved it, and knew that I would get better at shooting that laser as the week went on. It was then time to get in our places for Spectro Magic. We had seen this parade the last time we were at WDW, and we loved it. My mom loved it so much, in fact, that she cries everytime she hears the music. (I almost do to!) After SpectroMagic, we briskly walked out of the park, and caught the first boat launch back to the GF. We were trying to see if we could get back in time to see the fireworks from our balcony, but we were only able to make it to the beach, outside our room. The fireworks were stunning from there, and my dad got them all on tape. Back up to our room, we opened our door, and once again, the room was spotless, our beds were turned down, and there were chocolate mints on our pillow. And once again, a different good night note. We walked out onto our balcony (see a common theme here?), and watched the electric water pageant go right past on the lagoon. I think my dad was more enthralled in the GF’s personal yacht that had people eating on it. I know he wanted to do that, and I wish more than anything that I could have paid for the yacht for us for one of the nights we were there. It never did happen.. maybe next time? We could also see Illuminations off in the far distance, but we could make out the fireworks rather clearly. We also got most of this on video. We all once again crashed.

-Day 3: Sunday, November 1st, 1998- (Trail’s End, EPCOT, Magic Kingdom, EPCOT for Garden Grille character dinner)

We once again woke up rather early, and took the boat to Fort Wilderness. We had yet another great breakfast at Trail’s End Buffet…. I especially enjoy the puffed french toast. From Fort Wilderness, we took the boat back to the MK, and hitched a ride on the monorail over to EPCOT. We got to sit up front with the monorail driver, and she told us about how they had just had a meeting about extending the monorail line to include Animal Kingdom, and MGM…. Is this true? Oh well, on to EPCOT. When down off the LONG ramp from the monorail, we walked straight into Innoventions. We did the "virtual online" stuff, and Joe and my Dad rode the racecars while my mom and I occupied ourselves with the other stuff around. We then went and sent online messages to my aunt and uncle back here in PA, but they say they never got them. After Innoventions, we did Ellen’s Energy Adventure. I never really realized how cool of a ride was in that pavilion! We did not do any of future world other than Body Wars and Honey, I Shrunk the Audience last time we were at WDW. But, this was a really cool ride. Since I’m a Jeopardy nut, this was also especially cool for me. Next, we went onto Horizons. This was also, what I thought to be a nice ride. I loved the smell of oranges when you ride through the orange groves, and at the end I chose to visit the ocean, but the "other three" with me chose space, so that is where we visited at the end of the ride. "To infinity and beyond!" We then walked to the Fountain View Expresso Lounge, and had a quick lunch (well, actually, dessert….) We each had a frozen cappuccino, and I HAD to get the Crème Brulee, my favorite dessert. I forget what the rest of my family had… my brother had some sort of torte. Cost: $26.46.

My dad then decided that he wanted a swim back at the hotel before our reservations at the Garden Grille. My mom and I decided we would stop in the MK and do some shopping while my dad and Joe swam. So, back to the TTC, my brother and dad took the resort monorail, my mom and I took the MK monorail. Mom and I bought a few things, but knew we wanted to hold off until later in the week when we went to the World of Disney Store. I bought a pair of Mickey birthstone earrings, a few 1998 buttons, and a magnet. Cost: $36.57. We walked out of the store, and it was about 2:45, almost time for the parade. But, guess who was there waiting for us? Dad and Joe, they decided to hold off on the swim, so they rested for a little, and decided to come meet us. We stayed for the beginning of the parade, I still have the "remember the magic" song stuck in my head. We left early, knowing that our PS at the Garden Grille in EPCOT awaited. We took another monorail over to EPCOT. This is when we discovered something. You know how the monorails have different colored stripes? Well, after much experience in riding these vehicles all week, we discovered one thing. The gold monorail stinks! I literally mean, it smells. We rode it first during this ride to EPCOT, but throughout the week, our suspicions were confirmed! Everytime the Gold monorail came, we waited it out until the next came just so we wouldn’t have to ride the "Stinky Gold Monorail"!! Ok, now that that is done, we arrived at the Garden Grille, and got our "flashing beeper box" to let us know when our reservations would be ready. It began flashing after about two minutes of waiting. This restaurant was GREAT. It was all you can eat, with chicken, fish, smashed potatoes, and a vegetable mixture. The characters here were Chip and Dale. The other character was farmer Mickey, but he never stopped at our table. He walked past two times, but never stopped for a picture… I wonder why? Chip and Dale were great. Dale pulled my chair out and made me sit on it, and then he sat on me for a great picture. Chip force fed me with my fork, and made me eat the zucchini from my vegetable platter. YUCK! Cost: $71.68.

After dinner, we took the land boat ride. This was a very calming and relaxing ride, I really enjoyed looking at how they grew the food that I just ate at the Garden Grille. We then decided to take a quick round trip tour of the World Showcase, before it was time for Illuminations. We Started in Canada, and moved around from there. We saw Off-Kilter, and they had some really interesting music. This was during the Food and Wine Festival, so WS was more crowded than normal. We quickly hurried through the countries until we reached France, where we stopped to watch the living statue. He was amazing… I have no clue how they do that without moving, or even look like they’re breathing!

We went on through the rest of the countries until we reached the edge of Mexico, where we stood right at the fence infront of the boat dock. Illuminations was very impressive, but little did we know that we were in for a BIG treat the next night when we would see Fantasmic. Illuminations was very loud, as most of the fireworks explode directly infront of you, practically on the water, but it was also very beautiful. On our way out of the park, we leisurely strolled out, stopping to look at the fiber optics in the sidewalks, and at the talking water fountain with the "colored water". They were really neat, something we had missed last time, as we had never been at EPCOT at night before. We got back to the hotel with a short wait at the TTC for the resort monorail. We got that one, and managed to get back to the lobby to watch the pianist and band in the lobby, both played beautifully. The pianist played "The Entertainer", my dad’s favorite song, so of course my dad had to tape it. We went up to our room just in time to see the tail end of the water pageant, and we all fell right to sleep.

-Day 4: Monday, October 2nd, 1998- (MGM, Sci-Fi Dine-in, Fantasmic)

This morning, we woke up and had a small room-service breakfast in the room. Cost: $48.63. We then walked down to the bus stop, and waited for the MGM bus. We noticed the busses at the GF are very efficient compared to many other resorts, as our MGM bus pulled up just as we were walking to the little sitting area to wait. We arrived at MGM, and immediately did the Great Movie Ride. I love this ride only because it has the Mary Poppins carousel horse, and scene during the ride. I also enjoy the Casablanca part, where my dad and brother enjoy the Aliens part…. See the difference? We then did the Beauty and the Beast Show. (BaTB) This turned out to be my favorite show in the entire park. I also fell in love with BaTB, and ended up starting to collect Belle souvenirs. We then rode the Tower of Terror, which was great as usual. A little girl that sat next to my dad held a penny in her hand, and when the elevator dropped, the penny flew up. When the drop ended, they penny landed back in her hand. Cool! This is my dad’s and brother’s favorite ride in all the parks. We then did the Backlot tour, which we had also done the last time we were in WDW, and it had not changed much. We also did the Hunchback of Notre Dame show, which I thought was really well done, although not my absolute favorite. It was then time for our PS at the Sci-Fi. We walked in and got into our car, and watched some of the movies. My mom, dad, and I had a burger meal, and my brother had the spare ribs. All of us enjoy this restaurant, we had eaten here the last time we were at WDW. Cost: $70.01. This is where something bad happened. My brother and dad accidentally left their AK hats (that they bought earlier in the week) in our "car" at Sci-Fi. Well, we didn’t realize this until we were already in the amphitheater for Fantasmic. When my mom and I went to leave to get them, we were told that if we left, we were not guaranteed to be let back in to the theater, even if my dad and Joe were saving our seats. Well! We decided to stay for Fantasmic, and we were told to check at lost and found for the hats when we were leaving the park. My dad couldn’t sit still, knowing that $60.00 worth of hats were missing, so he went up and asked a VERY kind CM for help. The CM phoned lost and found, and was able to tell my dad that they had the hats, and they would hold them for us. We could finally rest. The Fantasmic pre-show was the BEST! My brother and I still joke about "Big Carl". When the "Boss" announced that Carl didn’t like to be called "Big Carl", my brother Joe yelled it out as Carl passed. He turned around, and came over to yell! It was so funny! We also had the entire amphitheater doing the wave, it was totally awesome. They also did the camera flash wave, which was nice as well. Finally, after practically counting down to when Fantasmic would start ("lady’s and gentleman, boy’s and girls… "Fantastic", I mean Fantasmic will begin in one hour…. You may now go back to carrying on and making noise… thank you!) it began. This was my most favorite thing that I did on my entire vacation, I loved everything about it. I always hum the song from the show… (…In your Imagination….!) I loved every part about it, I wouldn’t change a thing. Even now that we’re home from the trip, I watch our tape (my dad videotaped the whole show) and I get chills… of course, my mom cries (so do I, occasionally, wishing I was still there). But, when the show was over, we slowly made our way out of the park, and picked up the hats at the lost and found. We thanked the CM a million times, and got our bus back to the GF, we were practically the only one’s on. Back at the GF, we were feeling a little hungry, so we walked down to Gasparilla Grill, and got a large pizza. Joe and I also purchased our refillable mugs (which are actually water bottles at the GF) which we only had to pay one dollar for refills on for the rest of the week. We took the pizza out on the terrace, and ate as we watched the reflections of the Magic Kingdom in the water through the marina. Cost: $23.43. We walked into the lobby, and watched the pianist, and band play. We then went back up to our room, and fell asleep early.

-Day 5: Tuesday, October 3rd, 1998. (Animal Kingdom, Rainforest Café, Fantasia Gardens mini golf, World of Disney store, dinner off property)

This was the morning that we had 8:00 PS at the Rainforest Café in AK. We wanted to get there early, and we were really excited because we had never been to the Rainforest Café before. We did the normal "getting ready", and then headed down, through the lobby, and out to the bus stop. When we got there, we had about a five-minute wait before the AK bus came to pick us up. Once at the AK, we went directly into the Rainforest Café, and were seated in the Gorilla section with only about a five-minute wait. This place was awesome! We loved every bit of it, from the stools around the "mushroom-shaped bar" to the "thunder storms" that occurred every few minutes. Our server, whose name I can not remember, was very nice. I had originally wanted to order the french toast sort of meal, but it had nuts in it. I was disappointed, because I had previously read online that the meals at Rainforest were pre-made, and I knew that I would be told to "pick out the nuts". Well, I couldn’t do that, I am allergic!! So, I had the breakfast pizza. This was where we made a BIG mistake. My brother and I each had a breakfast pizza, my mom had the mexican egg meal, and my dad had the steak and eggs. All of our portions were way too big! My brother and I could only eat about a quarter of each of our pizzas, as they came about the size of a medium pizza! (like a foot in diameter!) We thought our server should have warned us about this, and maybe suggested splitting one, but, no such luck. My mom and dad each had OJ with their meals, my brother and I had Oreo cookie smoothies. (really good…. Maybe even better if it wasn’t for breakfast!) We spent a lot of time eating, and just sitting there, watching the animals. VERY COOL! We definitely will go there again! Cost: $70.23.

After breakfast, we shopped in the shop at the Rainforest Café. We bought a few things, my mom got salt and pepper shakers (a frog and elephant), and two HUGE R.C. mugs in bright, primary colors. My brother and I each got a pack of stretchy frogs, which were particularly cool. Cost: $26.11. We then left, and took a few pictures of us outside the restaurant. We entered AK, and decided to try and catch the Lion King show, which was starting in a few minutes. We managed to get in, and get excellent seats in the "warthog" section. This show was absolutely WONDERFUL. My dad videotaped the entire show, and I still sit down and watch the show just for fun. This was all our favorite show, and believed that it was the best Disney has done. You could tell that the performers really got into what they were doing, as opposed to "looking pretty" like in some other Disney shows. While walking out of the show, heading in the direction of Dinoland, we crossed a bridge where water sprays in non-suspecting jets over it. My dad got squirted, and we all had a good laugh. (Later, we found out that the water leaked into our camcorder lens, and got inside. My dad fixes electronics, so we were all right… but for anyone who didn’t, it may have been very upsetting not having a camcorder for the rest of their vacation.) The final area we needed to visit in AK was Dinoland. We walked over there, and directly onto Countdown to Extinction. We had not read very good reviews of this ride, so we were not expecting much. But, we LOVED it! I thought it was very good, and I could not stop laughing the entire way through it. My laughing caused my entire family to laugh, and if you don’t mind me saying, we nearly peed ourselves! For the rest of the week, my dad was asking to go back on that ride. After this, we decided it was time to leave AK, thinking we would be back later in the week. We never had a chance though, so little did we know that this was it. Bye Bye AK! (Side note: this is my family’s new favorite theme park at WDW. My mom and I especially enjoyed it, and we were very sad to leave without saying good-bye!)

We hopped a bus back to the GF, and got the valet to bring our car to us. We all got in, and went off to Fantasia Mini golf. We decided to go there, only because we had free tickets for two of us, so we would all get in for half price. We had a lot of fun here, (we played the fairways course), especially since, on one of the holes, my mom wound up, and THWACK… the ball hit a rock, and then bounced off and hit Joe. Nearly missing, well, you can guess where. Perfect shot mom! This was especially funny because, as it happened, a Disney Transportation bus drove past, and you could see a number of people laughing at us, including the bus driver. We finished up the eighteen holes, and then left to go to the World of Disney Store, and Downtown Disney. We managed to find a parking place up-close to the World of Disney, and went in. We bought many items, mostly souvenirs for my friends at school, and I got a lot for myself as well. I got a really nice sweatshirt which I had been looking for all week, and a few other items. Cost: $132.56. We were all starting to get hungry, so we decided to head out early. We walked around the water, all the way to Wolfgang Puck Express, thinking that we would eat there. No such luck. We didn’t feel like having any of the food that was on the menu, and we wanted a quick dinner. We then decided to go off property (big mistake) and eat at the Golden Corral, a restaurant that we had eaten at when we had stayed off property last May. We exited WDW property, by way of hotel blvd., and that’s where the "fun" began. We got ourselves entirely lost, and since my dad DOESN’T stop for directions, we ended up driving for a very long time in the direction that HE thought was right. Finally, we decided to stop for directions, and when we asked what way WDW was, they told us about 45 miles in the other direction! ARGH! How had we driven that far? Well, we managed to find the Golden Corral on the way back, and stopped for a mediocre dinner. We would never go off property again! We decided to go back to the GF, we were feeling really tired by then. Back at the GF, we had our car valet parked. We went back up to our room, and watched the fireworks go off at the MK, and the electric water pageant pass by from our balcony. We could definitely get used to living this way every day. Eventhough we had three full days left in WDW, I got teary-eyed sitting there with my wonderful family, and thinking of how good a time we were having that week, and how it was nearly at an end. After watching the end of Fantasy in the Sky, we decided to go take a nice walk on the beach. We were the only people in sight, and we slowly strolled along the seven seas lagoon towards the Poly. We all took our shoes off, the feeling of sand in our feet felt good! I drew a large Mickey Mouse head in the sand with our name and date in it, and off we went, past the wedding pavilion, towards the Polynesian. As we neared the Poly, we could hear, and somewhat see the luau taking place in Luau Cove. This was our first time at the Poly, and we liked it somewhat, but my mom and dad thought it looked a little dated. (I on the other hand rated it #2, only to the GF!) We looked at the pools, and took a stroll through the lobby. It is pretty cool how they have the "Rainforest" growing inside. We strolled through some of the stores, one I particularly liked, where I found a Liz Claiborne sundress which I fell in love with! (I thought I’d go back later and buy it, but I never had the time. "Joelle’s Lesson #1": if you see something in WDW that you would like to buy, buy it then. You more than likely will not have the time to back and buy it later! I learned this many times, as I didn’t buy many souvenirs at the World of Disney Store, thinking I would be able to pick them up somewhere else. Nine out of ten times, other stores didn’t have what I was looking for! OK, after we took a look around the marina at the Poly, we got back on the beach, and headed for home… the GF. Back on the beach at the GF, we sat on the swings, and just rocked. No one else was in sight. It was so peaceful just sitting there, staring up at the stars, and looking at our beautiful surroundings. We ended up sitting there for about an hour, just looking out over the peaceful lagoon, and waving to the occasional monorail as it passed. Back up to the room, Joe and I decided that we were feeling up to a late snack, so down to Gasparilla Grill and Games. We each got some ice cream, and a refill on our mugs. We also got two Cokes for mom and dad. Cost: $12.30. We slowly walked back to our room, just taking in our surroundings. We finished our ice cream, and fell asleep late.

-Day 6: Wednesday, October 4th, 1998- (breakfast in room, MK, Disney Quest, Dinner at GF)

Today, we woke up fairly late to the first rain of our entire trip. It was only drizzle, but just enough to make us change our plans from a full day at the MK, to a half at Disney Quest (DQ), and half at the MK. My mom and I got ready, and headed down to Gasparilla Grille to get some breakfast to take back up to the room. We got two packs of hashbrowns to share, and we each got an egg croissant. (My mom, dad and Joe had egg with sausage, and I had bacon. Since I don’t eat eggs, I ended up giving my egg to my dad and had a bacon croissant, which was still REALLY good.) We took the food back up to the room, and ate at our table, while we watched the Disney World information channel. This is when my brother and I started to get the Zippity-doo-dah song stuck in our heads. ("Have a zippity-doo-dah…..zippity-day!") We walked around singing that song for the rest of the week! (We had actually heard it the first day we arrived, but this was the first time we had actually sat there, and listened to the song about twenty times in a row!) After breakfast, we headed over to the MK. We stood outside of the park for a little, just looking over the lagoon at the GF thinking, "wow, that’s our resort", "and our fun time is almost done. Only one more full day." Into the MK, my mom wanted to get something special to remember this once-in-a-lifetime trip by, so we stopped in the Crystal-Art shop on Main Street. We all picked out a beautiful curved piece of crystal, which had the symbol of each park in the middle of it. My mom filled out an order slip for one with our names, and the date of our trip on it. They told us that it would be ready in an hour or so. So, off to Adventureland. In Adventureland, we stopped at the Jungle Cruise first. We had an ok skipper, he did pull one joke at the very end of the ride where he told us we could get off, but he would go "around again… and again…and again…and again" well, you get the picture. My mom was wondering why the water was colored red. I told her probably to hide the track that the boat ran on. Is this correct? After Jungle Cruise, we went to see the Tiki Birds. We had never seen the original version, but my mom and I knew the Tiki song very well…(…all the birds sing words, and the flowers croon in the Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki room!…) We loved this show, but thought it would have been better if they sang the rest of the song. We still had some time left before our crystal plaque was ready, so we stopped by the refreshment corner in Adventureland to get some Dole Whips. (At MY request!) I had read about these online, and we really enjoyed them, I especially enjoyed the chocolate one’s! Back onto Main Street, the barbershop quartet was there, playing the "chimes"…. Is that what you call those big things? Does anyone know what I’m talking about? Anyway, they were playing the song "singing in the rain" which was especially cute since it was still drizzling out. We got to the crystal shop, and opened our plaque to check it. It read: "Larry, Carole, Joelle and Joe October 30th 1998, Walt Disney World." We paid, Cost: $39.75, and headed for the monorail to take us back to the GF. We rode upfront on the way back, and then walked down through the lobby of the GF to get the valet to bring us our car. We got in, and drove over to Disney Quest. This place was awesome! We loved every bit of it, my mom and I especially loved the create zone where we got our picture put on little stickers. They were really cool! We did most of the major rides, and my brother and I especially enjoyed Buzz Lightyear’s Astro Blaster ride. We all got lost MANY times here, trying to navigate our way through the many floors. (This is especially easy, since many of the floors look alike!) I think it was more fun just being there, and trying to find your way around than anything! Also, most of the people that we encountered were looking at maps… not knowing where they were going. It was actually very humorous at times, standing at the bottom of stairways saying, "should we go up there… what’s up there?" along with about ten other people. Total cost for four Disney Quest passes: $69.48. We were all really tired, but we managed to walk around Downtown Disney for a while. Cirque De Soleil looks really cool, I hope we get to see it when it opens. We walked around the Lego Store, and then decided to go back to our hotel. We were all really tired, and we needed the rest of the evening just to rest up. After all, we still had two fun-filled days left! We got in our car, and drove back to the GF. (By now we had really learned our way around Disney property, and could easily navigate to anywhere on-property.) Back at the GF, my dad and Joe went back up to the room, while my mom and I went to Gasparilla Grille to pick up some dinner. We got a few burgers, and onion rings, and of course some rice krispie treats, and carried them back up to the room. Cost: $26.53. We ate, and fell asleep early, knowing that the rain would be gone when we woke up in the morning.

-Day 7: Thursday, October 5th, 1998- (EPCOT, Hoop-dee-doo Review)

We woke up this morning, once again ready and rarin’ after a good night’s sleep. Once again, my mom and I went down to Gasparilla, and got breakfast to take back up to the room. Cost: $30.23. We ate, and got dressed to go to EPCOT. It was no longer raining, so we were all happy ºoº. We got on the monorail to the TTC, and from there, rode to EPCOT. It was SO convenient being able to just walk out of your hotel room, hop a monorail, and be at the park of your choice! We will never stay off sight again! (We’re spolied now!) In EPCOT, we headed for the Living Seas. We actually spent a lot of time in this pavilion this time. The last time we were at WDW, we had to run in, and run out. We ended up spending about an hour here, just looking at all of the huge tanks, the manatees, etc… My dad and I did the activity where you get into the diving suit and have to throw the different switches and toggles. That was fun too, and now very amusing that we have it on video! After the Living Seas, we went to HISTA, which is a favorite show of ours. I held my "mice" so that they wouldn’t get me (I don’t like them!) and we all left laughing as usual. It was then on to the Wonder’s of Life pavilion. Inside we did body wars, which I enjoy more than star tours. Everyone else in my family likes Star Tours better though. Back in the main pavilion, we did the exercise bikes for a while, we each picked a different route to run through. Of course, I picked Disneyland. We also did all of the optical illusions, we really liked the room that makes you look really tiny! We decided not to do Cranium Command then, because we were all feeling really hungry. We went over to Ice station cool, and went through. This place was "Cool"…no pun intended! The drinks were all pretty good…all except the Beverly. I read a line of someone’s trip report once, and it explained the Beverly perfectly…earwax. I’m not kidding, I took one sip, and nearly died. It was awful! My favorite ended up being the watermelon. After exiting the Ice Station, we headed off to World Showcase. We decided to eat in Mexico at La Cantina, and we each got the HUGE combo meal. We sat outside, overlooking the lagoon, and ate. I also got a churro here, which I fell in love with. I LOVE CHURROS! Total cost: $39.38. After finishing up eating, we decided to take an around the world trip through each country. We went through each country, starting with Mexico, and went through all of the shops, and took a look at the restaurants. In Mexico, we rode El Rio Del Tiempo, which we all think is much like It’s a Small World. See the comparison? In Norway we rode Maelstrom, which I love, although I have never seen the movie at the end. We always leave before it. My mom and I especially like the shops in Germany, the doll shop, and the clock shop. In Japan, we saw a lady making candy-taffy animals. She was amazing. She took the taffy, and within about a minute could create any animal under the sun. My dad even got her on video, her work was so mesmerizing. We spent a lot of time in France, since my mom lived there when she was little. She also tried some escargot there, which she said is not the way she remembered it as a little girl. She thinks it was the wine sauce that it was cooked in. By the time we reached Canada, it was a little more than three hours since we ate, so we stopped by the stand and bought two beaver tails. We had an apples and cinnamon, and strawberries and cream. Both were excellent, and more than likely classify as our most favorite snack food in all of WDW. After finishing up eating, we moseyed back out of EPCOT, and went back to the GF to get washed up for our PS at the Hoop-dee-doo Review at 7:00pm. Back at the GF, we washed up, and decided to take the boat launch to the MK to get the boat over to Fort Wilderness. We had a lot of time to spare, so we took our time catching our boats, and finally arriving at a perfect time. We had our picture taken by a professional photographer, and then we were seated up on the balcony level, stage left. We had a perfect view, and we were really glad that we sat up top. The Hoop-dee-doo Review was a great show, and we all enjoyed it ever so much! We especially enjoyed how the food was brought to us in time with the music, and "slammed" on our table in large buckets! What a riot! We had fun waving our napkins in the air to the song "this land is your land" and scraping our washboards with our silverware to the Hoop-dee-doo song. What a fun night! After our dinner, we headed over to the buses to catch the bus back to the GF. We were the only one’s on our bus! We got back to the GF, and, once again, watched the water pageant. This time it was much better, because, on the balcony next to us was a little boy who was oohing and aahing and clapping along with the music. It was so cute, and definitely a magical moment. Tomorrow would be our last full day at WDW, and we were all definitely beginning to get that small ache in our hearts, knowing that this would soon come to an end. Lights out after we watched the end of Illuminations in the distance, and sweet dreams.

-Day 8: Friday, October 6th, 1998- (Rented boat, MK, Trail’s End Buffet, E-ride night)

This morning, once again, my mom and I woke up and got breakfast from Gasparilla grille, the same as the other mornings. After breakfast, we headed down to the GF marina, and decided to rent a large pontoon boat. We each picked out a life vest, and headed out on our way. This was one of my favorite parts of the vacation. We were able to drive out, by ourselves all over the lagoons. First, we headed towards the Poly, and then towards the Contemporary. On the way we passed the MK ferry, where a ton of people waved to us as if saying, "hey, how’d they get to do that?" We then headed around the side of the Contemporary, and into Bay Lake. This is a very beautiful lake, but VERY full of that seaweed like stuff. We got it stuck in our boat’s propellers, and had to throw the boat into reverse to get it unstuck. We ended up just driving around, getting really great video of the front of the Magic Kingdom, and AWESOME video of the GF. We took the boat back to the dock a little under an hour after we first took it out. They ended up only charging us for a half-hour, cost: $23.32.

We decided to go catch the monorail to the MK to finish up there. We hopped on, and off we went, on my parent’s last trip on a monorail for this vacation. When we got onto Main Street, we took a look in the Camera Center. This place is huge inside! We walked through, and discovered the "hidden" theatre in the back. I had no idea this place even existed. My dad especially liked it, since we were the ONLY people in the entire theatre. We sat there for a while, watching the movie (whose title I forget now...) and then headed out. We then took the horse-drawn trolley up to the castle. We decided to go into Tomorrowland and do some of our missed attractions. First, we did Alien Encounter. This was great, as usual, and my mom and I fell in love with "Skippy" from the preshow. Next, we went onto Astro Orbiter. None of us had ever been on this ride, and it was a surprise to all of us at how high you actually get on them. We could actually see the GF from up there, which made it extra nice! We then decided it was time to get something in our growling tummies. We ate at the Plaza Restaurant, I had the chicken cordon bleu sandwich, my brother had the steak sandwich, and my mom and dad had burgers, but I forget of what type. Everyone said his or her meal was good, except Joe, who said his steak sandwich was only mediocre. (We are from the area around Philly, I guess we’re just used to the "real" Philly cheesesteaks!) Total Cost: $46.22. Back out on Main Street, we decided to go back into Tomorrowland, and ride the Skyride to Fantasyland. Joe and I got in one "bucket", and mom and dad got in another, behind us. I had never been on this ride before, and I was surprised by it’s length. I thought it would only be a quick trip between the two lands, but it was much longer. When we got to Fantasyland, we decided to just take our time, and walk back to Frontierland to ride the last mountain….Big Thunder Mountain Rail Road.(BTMRR) My mom was actually beginning to enjoy these types of rides (Space Mtn, BTMRR, etc.), and we were all really surprised! BTMRR continues to be one of my favorite mountains in the MK. Joe makes fun of me because I ride the entire way through with my arms up in the air, he thinks it’s a "sissy" ride. After riding BTMRR, with our longest wait so far on our vacation (a half-hour), we decided to walk back out on Main Street. We caught the end of the "Remember the Magic" parade, and then decided to head out. My parents knew that they we not going to be returning to a Disney park after they left here, and it could have been Joe’s and my last time as well…(thank god for E-tickets!) As I sat and waited under the train station for my parents and brother to come out of the Emporium, I thought of the wonderful people who had created such a wonderful place. Back to the GF on a boat launch, and my mom and I went to the lobby to ask about E-tickets for tonight. We got two, for Joe and I, and my mom and I went back up to our room.

We decided that we would eat at Trail’s End Buffet (our new favorite restaurant) for dinner. We walked down to the boat dock one last time, and went off to the MK to catch the boat to Fort Wilderness. While standing at the edge of the water, waiting for our Fort Wilderness boat, I closed my eyes and let the warm Florida sun hit me one last time. When I opened my eyes, I could see the GF in the background, and I could hear the sounds of the MK behind me. It was very peaceful, standing there with my family, on this vacation that seemed like a dream. We caught our boat, and arrived at Trail’s End. The meal here is almost the same as the one at the Hoop-dee-doo Review, only here it’s buffet style. We ate up quick, Joe and I had to get to the MK before E-night started, and we said our good-byes to good old Fort Wilderness. We actually ended up sitting on the porch for a little on the rocking chairs, just staring up at the sky. We decided to go back to the GF by bus, so Joe and I could pick up some things we needed for our E-night in the MK. When we arrived back at the GF, Joe and I ran ahead… the fireworks were already going off in the MK, and that was a signal that E-night was about to start. We ran up to the room, and grabbed our things. We then hopped the monorail to the MK, all before the end of the fireworks.

We made our way inside, just as everyone else was leaving. We got our wristbands at City Hall, and then we went on to Tomorrowland. First we rode Buzz Lightyear, no wait. We then rode Space Mtn, two times in a row…both with no wait. Then on to Astro Orbiter, also no wait time. I think that this ride is much better at night than during the day. I caught a glimpse of the GF, and thought of my parents, back there taking an evening swim. We stopped to say "hi" to Pluto near Alien Encounter, and then headed over to Frontierland. We rode BTMRR first, and then went onto Splash Mtn. I have never gotten so soaked on this ride in my entire life! Our log stalled right infront of the big drop, and two big splashes of water landed on us before we managed to pull away. After we walked out of the Splash Mtn. Area, we met up with, once again, Pluto…(weren’t you just in Tomorrowland Pluto?) Mickey Mouse, and Tigger. We said "hi", but had to leave to go to Adventureland. This is where it started to get creepy! No one else was in Adventureland. We were the only park guests there. The CM begged us to ride Pirates of the Caribbean, so we hopped on. We were the only people on the entire ride! It was really creepy, with all of those pirates around us! Back out to Main Street, we still had about an hour left. We decided to finish up our night in Tomorrowland. We ended up riding Space Mountain seven times in a row (do you HAVE to keep walking around, back through that LONG queue?) By the time Joe and I were done, we were "pro’s" at the right side, we could call all of the drops… "small drop, turn to the right, BIIIIG drop!" We had a lot of fun doing this, and then decided to ride Buzz Lightyear a few times in a row. I managed to get the highest score of the vacation, 600,000 something… By the time we finished riding Buzz about five times, we decided to ride Space Mountain one last time. After that, it was time to leave L . Joe and I walked out on to Main Street, and bid one final farewell to the most beautiful, magical place in the world. We were the only one’s on Main Street, and I wish I would have had a camera…the pictures would have been awesome. Joe and I slowly and silently left, but as we were walking under the train station, Joe (Mr. WDW skeptic) whispered to me, "Joelle, this was the best vacation of my entire life." "I’m really gonna miss the place." Me too Joe, me too. We walked out, and caught a monorail for the last time of our vacation. "Please stand clear of the doors" "por favor montengase….." We arrived back at the GF, and walked slowly into the lobby. The band was playing the song, "A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes", and it brought a silent tear to my eye, knowing that this was the last time I would be walking through the GF lobby at night, and listening to the band play. What a perfect end to a perfect vacation. Joe and I slowly sauntered up to our room, and fell asleep. During the night, I woke up, only to see the beautiful Contemporary, and Cinderella’s castle glowing in the distance. It was so peaceful, just being there with my family, and knowing that we had had the best time of our entire lives. I slowly closed my eyes, and fell back to sleep… "the second star to the right, and straight on ‘till morning". I will surely miss this beautiful place. -Day 9- Saturday, October 7th, 1998- (Breakfast off-property, airport)

This morning we woke up, and got packed. We got the bellman to get our bags, and put them into our can. We left a little before eleven o’clock, and bid our final farewell’s. As we were leaving, my face was plastered to the back window of our car, saying goodbye to the beautiful Grand Floridian. "We will be back someday!" We drove off, around the corner, and off we went, back to the real world. We stopped at the Golden Corral for breakfast (much better than dinner), and then left for the airport. When we started reading green road signs, was when I knew that the fun was over. Good-bye Disney World! We will miss you!

Our flights on the way home were very rough, but we finally arrived home at about 8:00pm to 35º, frigid weather. We drove home, very silently, and we all fell asleep very early. During the night, I once again opened my eyes, but this time it was to my normal bedroom. I no longer had the reassuring feeling, of seeing the beautiful castle from where I slept, with my head on my pillow.

So ended a wonderful vacation….the most wonderful vacation of all my life. I think that Joe summed it up the best though, as we were walking out of the Magic Kingdom for the last time. We will always miss WDW, and until we go back, the memories that were created there will always hold a special place in all of our hearts. (Well, and on videotape for that matter!hehe) Thank-you mom and dad for this wonderful trip, we love you!

Summary:

As you might imagine, this trip was excellent, as is everyone’s trip when they go to WDW. These are some of the things we enjoyed: The Trail’s End Buffet. This place was great! Our server Kim, from our first morning, made it even better! FANTASMIC!!! What can I say? This is the most Disney you can get in a half-hour time! I still walk around singing and humming that song. We really enjoyed the pre-show too. I think the amount of fun you have depends on the type of people that you sit around. If you’re all the joking type, you’re in for a really great time! The Grand Floridian- We all LOVE this place, and I now think we will be spoiled, we may not want to stay anywhere else! (j/k!) Everything was perfect here, from the resort itself, all the way down to the rice krispie treats! (I love those things!) E-ride night- This was great, the entire park was empty. It was good for just Joe and I to go, because we were able to go from attraction to attraction, without our parents to slow us down. They probably would have come, but would not have like to ride Space Mountain ten times in a row! Animal Kingdom- Our new favorite park. We loved everything about it, and are now eagerly awaiting the opening of the Animal Kingdom Resort, and possible monorail extension to it! Our favorite show here definitely was Festival of the Lion King.

There are so many good things that I could say about our trip, that I could go on forever! However, these are just a few of my favorites. Others include: Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Hoop-dee-doo Review, Garden Grille, Beaver tails in Canada, Ice Station Cool (without the beverly), Our first ride of the trip on Splash Mountain, The MAGICAL fireworks at the Halloween Party, the smell at the Grand Floridian, and OF COURSE! Our wonderful balcony! I don’t know how I ever lived without one on our last trip! And there is so much more. But for now, I am going to wrap things up. We had a wonderful time, and our memories made were worth all of the money in the world. Just sitting here has brought back many memories that I had already almost forgotten. Thank You for reading, and listening to me up to this point! I know that reading all of your reports helped us plan our vacation to be as great as it was!

Joelle Zeleski

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