Trip Reports

10/23/99 through 10/28/99

Participants – Eight women from my office listed below. In the interest of modesty I left out most of the ages, but we are all old enough to know better:

Carol Amick – The Disney Ringleader. I have been to Walt Disney World more times than I can count and I LOVE this place. Also, keeper of the trip report.
Becky – Assistant Ringleader. Disney Rookie, but ready to go as a park commando
Margie - A Florida Resident who probably wonders why she volunteered for this.
Moni – Our resident wild woman. Until we started planning this she thought you could only visit Disney with kids
Joyce – Our personal nurse. Has been to Disney one other time and stayed at the Comfort Inn Lake Buena Vista. Also, will bring one pair of shoes per day!
Terri – Experienced Disney Traveler
Barbara – Up for any and all adventures!
Jennifer – The baby of our group. (She isn’t old enough to rent the car, but she is old enough to drink). Some Disney experiences.
Furby – We have a pet Furby who should probably get to go. However, she will have to stay in the room! I figure it is better than my office where she normally lives.
Resorts

1 night CSR resort (4 rooms!) 4 nights OKW (a one bedroom and a two bedroom unit!).

Travel Method

There are two direct AM flights to Orlando from Nashville. Everyone will be required to take either Southwest or Delta Express. They both arrive about 9 A.M. We will either rent cars from National using the Emerald Aisle or use one of the towncar services (this is still under debate). We will use National since we can access our corporate contract and any of us can drive the car. Also, our rate is extremely competitive. GREAT BENEFIT!

Background

This trip started because Becky was supposed to go with her sisters to Walt Disney World this spring. Well, that fell through and Becky still had her heart set on Disney. So I volunteered to lead a girls weekend trip. I figured 4 or 5 people. We are now at 8! However, all of us travel together a lot so I think it will work out

I recently joined the Disney Vacation Club, so I am giving the group Sunday through Wednesday nights at Old Key West. We will be in two units, a one bedroom and a two bedroom. We will arrive on Saturday and have four rooms reserved at Coronado Springs. Our move will be made easier by the fact that Margie will have her Chevy Blazer with her. We can just dump the luggage in there and off we go!

My game plan is to set the overall master plan and allow the participants to decide if they want to go with the plan or branch out. I figure with 8 people, I will NEVER make everyone happy. I did send out surveys to figure out what they wanted to do. I plan to MAKE them read at least Birnbaums before they go, so they know which rides etc. they really want to do.

Touring Plan

Sat - Arrival Day. Now which park…. I am leaning towards just going straight to the Magic Kingdom and hitting the ground at full speed. (Trust me Becky won’t rest till she sees the castle!) I figured we could spend the hours up until 4 PM there and then head to OKW. That gives us several hours. Depending on the park hours we could go back after check-in, go to Epcot or just head to Downtown Disney to shop and eat. (Shopping is VERY important to this group.) The other option might be Hoop Dee Doo Review if some of them want to do this. I am actually leaning towards Dinner at Chef Mickey’s. (Lets get started on bonding with the characters!)
Sunday – Get up and repack! Trust me this will take a while. We may all travel extensively, but the art of packing light is lost on us (Remember Joyce and her shoes!). I am leaning towards Epcot today since it is the type of park that seems easy to break up into small pieces. I figure we can leave around 4 and check into OKW. Then we can either swim or go back to Epcot.
Monday - Up VERY EARLY and off to Animal Kingdom. My theory on this park is go early or go late! If we go early, then some of the members of the party can leave for their requested trip to the Water Parks. (This will NOT be all of them.) I plan to make Dinner reservations at Epcot for tonight.
Tuesday - I would like to do a character breakfast! Then off to MGM. If Fantasmic dining is still going on, I may see about doing that. Fantasmic will be on my must do list.
Wednesday – This day is up for grabs. As you can see by the master plan above we have already hit all 4 major parks. Some people want to go to Universal so this might be a good day. Also, at least two people have indicated they will leave Sunday. If this number increases we may consolidate into the two-bedroom unit. I am requiring them to let me know more than 30 days in advance. There is also Downtown Disney and SHOPPING!
Thursday – Final Departure Day. Everyone will be leaving today. (I will probably stay and go down to Sebring, FL to spend the night with my dad. I am going to let them pick what they want to do and I figure they can break up to parks or shop etc…..
Still to Be Determined!

I am hoping for an E ticket night. If we get one that would be great! I checked Deb Willis’s site and found out that the Monday night we will be there has had E-Ticket nights the last two years so I have my fingers crossed!
Meals. This group likes to eat so I figure we need a couple of nice group meals. I am going to show them the menus on Deb’s web site and tell them to start picking!
Tickets. I have an annual pass so this is new! At least one person has a day left on an old park hopper. In addition, I have read that I can get a 10% discount on LOS passes at the DVC. I am thinking about having everyone buy a one-day ticket for Saturday and then using LOS for the rest of the stay. I realize that this would restrict us to one park on day 1. My math has actually determined this might be a little cheaper.
Nightlife! This is not a big nightlife crew. I figure that some people will want to go to Pleasure Island, but I don’t think it will be the majority!
Special Moments! I want somehow to get a picture with all of us! Someone suggested the Official Disney Photographer, but at $250 this does not seem like a good idea! I am thinking about an Illuminations boat ride! I also think it would be fun to get "Mickey ears" for everyone with their name on them! I was hoping I could get Member Services to help me with this so the ears would be in the rooms when we check into OKW.

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The Trip Report

Resorts:

Coronado Springs (2 standard rooms)
Old Key West 2 Bedroom Unit
Actual Participants:

Carol Amick - Disney Vet. DVC member
Joyce - Our resident Mom and Nurse has visited Disney just a few times
Deby - Joyce’s sister. Limited Disney experience
Margie -Has visited Magic Kingdom several times, but none of the other parks
As you may recall from our pre-trip report there were originally 9 of us. Due to job changes, Y2K, and some other issues we lost 5 people. I originally had a one bedroom and a two-bedroom unit at OKW, but I cancelled the one bedroom.

This trip report is a high level summary. I did not keep detailed notes on food costs so I just did not include that information.

October 23. - Arrival Day.

We had people arriving all over creation. I arrived on Delta Express at 9 am. Joyce arrived on American at noon and Deby arrived on Delta at 1. Margie was driving up from Okechobee, Florida and would meet us at the hotel at 2 PM or so.

I arrived at 9 and picked up the rental car. We decided to rent from National since that meant that Joyce, Margie and I could all drive the car since it was covered under our company contract which allows this. The total car cost was $200 and we had a full size Buick Regal with leather seats! Since I arrived so early I drove over to the Belz outlet and checked out the Disney outlets. I bought Animal Kingdom polo for $16.99, but did not see much else I wanted. I went back to the airport and met everyone in the Delta baggage claim area around 1. Luggage was fairly fast and we headed out on the 417 toll road arriving at Disney around 2 or so. We went to Coronado Springs, picked up Margie and checked in. Our rooms were ready (or so they thought) and we headed over. We were in Casistas #3. When we arrived in our ajoining rooms the maid was still “cleaning” (I use that term loosely!) We noticed that she had placed our drinking glasses to soak in hot water in the sink! Not exactly what we thought qualified as cleaning. Also, the carpet really needed to be vacuumed. We called and had them bring us new glasses!!!!

Since none of us had eaten lunch, food was next on the list. We headed over to Pepper Market. I warned them about the 10% service charge in advance. We did get some service so it was not too bad. Food was good and we had a good time. We bought everyone 4 day park hoppers (except me, I have an annual pass) and jumped on the bus to the Magic Kingdom. I knew it would be crowded, but this was the only night that the park would have fireworks and parades so we just decided to risk it.

Upon arrival it was crowded! We headed for Space Mt, but the wait was an hour. We did Fast Pass and got tickets for a 5:50 arrival. We went over to Mickey’s Toontown and walked through both Mickey’s and Minnie’s houses, but did not stand in line for the mouse himself. We headed over to Fantasyland and did It’s a Small World. Then off to Haunted Mansion. By now it was our Fast Pass line and we basically walked on to Space Mt. This was great! The line was at least an hour. Also, by this time the crowds were really starting to thin out. We then went on Alien Encounter. I leaned forward during the dark parts and it was NOT as horrid as I remembered. We then went across the park and did Pirates and Jungle Cruise. We watched the fireworks from the bridge from Adventureland to the castle and it was a fairly good view. We then got a spot in Frontierland to watch the parade. During the wait, the cast members had us yell Yee Haw. One side of the road yelled Yee and the other Haw while the cast members ran back and forth. It was fun and the cast members got quite a workout! The parade was really nice and everyone enjoyed it. By now it was after 10 and we headed home and collapsed! (Did you notice we did not have dinner, believe me I heard about this later!) We did get lost several times trying to find our room. I really think this is the MOST confusing hotel on Disney property.

Sunday- October 24.

EPCOT.

We were checking out of Coronado Springs and moving to OKW today so when we got up we re-packed. We had breakfast at the Pepper Market and this time we had NO service, but the food was good. I really think they just need to get rid of that 10% and just raise the prices 10%. This service charge just makes people mad! We put our luggage in the cars and headed over to OKW. We checked in even though I knew the room was not ready. They gave us our keys and told us to call later to get the room number.

We took a bus to Epcot. At Epcot we looked at the “tombstones” where the Leave a Legacy was. We were NOT tempted to spend money here. It was fairly cool so we headed to Ellen’s Energy Adventure since it takes a while and was indoors. Everyone enjoyed this and we headed off to the Wonders of Life Pavilion. Margie, Joyce and I did Body Wars. Deby does NOT do simulator rides. Joyce as a nurse thought this was fun! Deby explored the pavilion while we were in line (about 15 minutes). We then did Cranium Command which was fun. We walked over to Test Track but the line was 75 min and they were not interested in the singles line.

It was now 11 so we went to the World Showcase. First stop was Canada. We did the movie and everyone wanted to go visit Canada. We headed for the Millennium Village. This is a really neat pavilion. We did the Brazilian Rain Forrest walk which was loads of fun. This would be a great stress release at the office! Just get off the path and hit those punching bags. Otherwise this must seem really weird. We played Golf in Scotland. This would be more fun if the kids did not hog the holes. We never got some of the holes because a group of 8 to 10 year olds had just taken over the place! They appeared not to have parents!! We walked through Sweden. The snowman is COLD! By now we were hungry so we went to the food court. Here we discovered that Deby is a picky eater! There was NOTHING she would eat. We headed back to the Land Pavilion and ate at that food court. I don’t think she really liked this either, but sometimes you just have to compromise. After lunch I called OKW and discovered our room was ready. We did the Circle of Life which I had never done before. It was fairly nice. We then grabbed a bus and headed for OKW.

We found the room (4225). It was WONDERFUL. This was my first stay at OKW since I bought my DVC membership and I was not disappointed. We had one of the dedicated 2 bedrooms with a door from the laundry room to the bath. Deby and Joyce stayed in the master bedroom and Margie and I shared the second bedroom. There was tons of storage space. We were VERY happy with our unit. Our only concern the entire stay was the children in the unit upstairs who appeared to be jumping from the bed to the floor. This continued throughout our stay!!! Where were the parents? We went to Goodings and bought cereal, bagels, fruit and cokes. Then we drove to the Boardwalk and valet parked the car. We walked over to Epcot.

Our first stop was France. We had just missed the movie so I stopped at the bakery and got a chocolate mousse. It was great, but we wandered on without seeing the movie. OPPS! Went to Morocco and Japan and just looked around. At 7 we watched a group “Cookin” at the theater. They play kitchen appliances (kind of liked Stomp!). They were very entertaining. We then did the American Adventure. There was some type of event going on the lobby so they took us in through the exit. We enjoyed this even though it is a little slow. When we came out it was really COLD!! We decided not to wait on Illuminations and headed back to the Boardwalk. We did catch part of the parade. I enjoyed it, but everyone else was not impressed! We had dinner at the Big River Brewing Company. We could see the fireworks from our table and the dinner was fine. We got the car and headed back to the hotel.

October 25 - Monday.

MGM.

I planned for us to be there at opening, but no way…. We did drive to MGM and arrived shortly after opening. We headed for the Tower of Terror and had a 15-minute wait! Only Joyce and I did this and we enjoyed it. We bought the picture and had it sent to our room. We were going to Fast Pass Rock N Roll, but the wait was only 15 minutes so we headed on. Somehow we got everyone on this! It is great fun!!! We bought the picture just to prove that we did it! The picture is really funny, I have my mouth wide open screaming and Margie and Deby look like they are praying for their lives. After this we decided we needed a break. We did the Indiana Jones show. I have seen this a lot, but this was the first time I had set so close to the front of the theater. I enjoyed it because you could see what was going on behind the scenes. We then had lunch at the Backlot Express. The food was good. Margie, Joyce and I did Star Tours. Deby walked on with us, but skipped the ride. There was no line. We watched Beauty and the Beast next. Deby and Joyce did the Little Mermaid while Margie and I walked around and looked at stuff. We did the Great Movie Ride next. We then did the Animation Tour. This was the first time I had done this since they changed it and it was a lot of fun. We then did the Backlot tour and the Backstage Pass. Backlot tour was fun, but I really did not like the Backstage pass. We decided that we had seen enough MGM and headed out to the cars. It was around 5 and we went to Planet Hollywood for dinner. No wait. I am not a big Planet Hollywood fan, but this one is my fav. It has fun stuff to look at and is built so you can see a lot while you wait.

We then drove back to Epcot. I headed down the rows and got a space near the park. Margie and Joyce were not paying any attention so we headed for Ice Station Cool. Deby and I got in front of them and hit them with a “snowball”. Since Margie HATES cold weather this was not a high point with her! The Cast Member helped Margie out by convincing Deby to try the dreaded Beverly! That pretty much scared Deby off of the rest of the drinks.

We headed towards the World Showcase and did the rides in Mexico and Norway. We saw the parade again and it did not grow on anyone! We staked out a good viewing spot for Illuminations. WOW! This is a great improvement over the old show. The whole show was good and we all enjoyed it. Out to the parking lot. At this point I realized I should have taken the bus. Traffic was horrible. It took us about an hour to get back to OKW! We got home and discussed our next day. I gave them the option of being at Animal Kingdom when it opened, but I was voted down!

Tuesday - October 26.

Three (or 4) parks in one day.

Today was the last day that Margie, Deby and Joyce had on their park hoppers. They really wanted to see the Hall of Presidents in the Magic Kingdom (don’t ask me why!). So we hopped on a bus and headed to the Magic Kingdom arriving about 9:30 am. The first Presidents show is not till 10 so we did Haunted Mansion. We had a great cast member who had a real spooky look on his face and chased Deby around the stretching room. We laughed until we cried except for Deby who was really spooked! After Haunted Mansion we did the Presidents and left for Epcot.

Margie and I decided we were hungry and wanted real food! Deby and Joyce didn’t want to go with us so. So after getting our picture made on the way into Epcot we split up. Margie and I went to the Land Grille and were seated after about a 20 min wait. (10 of that was waiting on the switch from Breakfast to Lunch at 11:30). This meal was really good. The meats were good and I don’t usually like either Flank Steak or Catfish. The desert was yummy! We saw Chip, Dale and Mickey several times. I have always found this to be a great place to see the characters and today was no exception. Margie and I headed over to the World Showcase and this time we did the France movie. I love this movie! We wandered through the countries and then headed over to meet Deby and Joyce. On the way we stopped and bought the photo we had taken. We got 4 pictures on one 8 by 10 sheet for about $17. This way all 4 of us have one picture. At 2 we met at the entrance and headed towards Animal Kingdom.

This park was only open till 6 so I knew we would have to book! We headed for the Tree of Life and did It’s Tough to Be a Bug. I had never done this. The special effects are VERY believable. Due to warnings I had received on the newsgroups I leaned forward and missed the sting, but I was not aware of the last special effect and it freaked us all out! Also, walking to this attraction you get an even better look at the Tree of Life. It really is magnificent. We then headed for the Safari and all of us but Margie rode. (Margie was not feeling well and sat this out.) We saw some great animals including the male and female lions. We walked through the Gorilla Trail (I can’t remember the name) and saw two gorillas and several other animals. Then we went to Asia and did the Tiger trail and saw several tigers. We then rode Countdown to Extinction. I had ducked completely down during the picture so it is really funny, but we did not buy this one. We went back on the Safari and saw two cheetahs! We had animals walking in front of the vehicle so by the time we finished this the park was closing. We went to Rain Forest for dinner. Since we did not have reservations we waited about 30 minutes. The portions were huge! The last bus for OKW had left by the time we left Rain Forest so we rode over to MGM and caught a bus home. I tried to convince everyone to go to MGM, but since it was closing they wouldn’t. We were home around 8:30 and just hung out for a while.

Wednesday - October 27.

Epcot/MGM.

Margie got up and left us today. Joyce and Deby took the car and headed for Sea World so I was on my own.

I took the bus to Epcot and did the singles line to Test Track. There were only 3 people in line ahead of me, but the ride broke down so we had to wait about 30 minutes. I then went over to JIYI, but it was broken down also so I headed for Mouse Gear. Shopped, but did not buy anything and then at 11 I went to the World Showcase. I went back to the Millennium Pavilion and did the Brazil Rain Forest again. Then they were having an interactive game at Brazil and it was lots of fun even if our team lost. You control things by moving a paddle and everyone on your team has to work together. I did the Jerusalem ride and it was lots of fun. I just wandered around the exhibits and talked with the people from the countries. I left and went to England and had lunch at the Rose and Crown with no wait. I sat outside and it was really nice. Had a pint of beer which I followed with a glass of wine in France from the Food and Wine Festival. I also bought a bottle of body lotion at France. It was expensive, but I figured it was cheaper than a trip to France to buy it! By this time I was really mellow, so I took the bus back home and took a two hour nap.

When I woke up I decided to go to MGM and see Fantasmic. I took the bus over and was able to ride Tower or Terror and Rock N’ Roll prior to Fantasmic. It was packed! However, the show was very good. I just wish they would use padding on those seats. Sitting there for an hour prior to the show is tough. I had a hotdog from the stands in the back, but it was horrible so I bought Ice Cream and Beer from the walking vendors for dinner. (One of my well balanced Disney meals, but I love those Mickey Ice Cream sandwiches.) I had no trouble getting out or getting a bus afterwards and headed back to OKW.

Thursday- Departure Day.

BOO HOO! We have to go home. We slept in and left right about 11. We went to the Belz outlets and I bought two Disney outfits for my niece. Deby bought lots of stuff at other stores and Joyce agonized over a pair of socks until Deby and I threatened her. Then we headed for the airport. I got home about 7. Not much exciting.

Overall observations.

OKW - I really liked it here. It was so peaceful and our unit was in excellent condition. Also, I did not have any problems with the bus service as others have reported. We did not miss the maid service at all. Deby even washed and ironed all her clothes before we left.
Corando Springs - This hotel just does not grow on me. It is clean and I like it but the food court service charge is a JOKE! What service are they referring to? Also, I find it very difficult to get oriented and to find the elevators. I will stay here, but really prefer the other moderates or the All Stars over this hotel.
Shows - I wish we had seen more shows, but my traveling companions were not into this. I think they would have enjoyed them if I could have made them go.
Preparation - No one except me did any preparation. I cannot imagine going on vacation without spending some time figuring what there is at my destination and what I want to do. They probably missed something they really would have liked simply because they depended on me.
Rental Car - I liked having a rental car, but it really would not have been required if Deby and Joyce had not planned on going to Sea World. The bus system worked great and we did not go to the other resorts much. I think that if you plan to visit other resorts the bus system is a little frustrating. However, I usually rent a car, I find that it normally is not that much over the limo service (this car was a little more expensive than usual) and it gives you flexibility. I just don’t like Mears. I am not into the scenic tour of Orlando.
Well, I think that is all. My next trip is December 3-5 in a studio at OKW. See you there!

Carol Amick

Carolla@home.com

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