Trip Reports

August 30 - September 4, 1999

Cast of Characters:

Becky - Trip report author, 39, Disney fanatic
Daniel - 13, turning 14 during trip and can’t think of a better place to celebrate his birthday!
Catherine - 11, the family pessimist who somehow manages to enjoy herself at Disney World
Duane - mid 40’s, staying home this trip and not very happy about it!
Intro and Pre Planning

“All in all, a wonderful trip. Can’t wait for the next one! (Some time in 2000)” A quote from our December 1998 trip report!

After our trip in December of 1998, I had not planned on returning to WDW until the spring of 2000 to celebrate my (gulp!) fortieth birthday and to attend the millennium events. I had planned on going either the week of my birthday (2/27 - 3/4/00) or the week following Easter. Unfortunately Easter is very late next year (April 23) and we will be deep into Little League season which we are all very involved in. And, of course, I wasn’t looking forward to the Easter crowds, but I figured that since we are now veterans, we would be able to make our way around the crowds. That left my birthday week. Well, Duane, my husband, put in for vacation that week, but did not get it, so he would have had to take a week off without pay! Also, Daniel will be in high school next year, and I don’t know how hard it would be for him to miss a week of school. Given all of the above, I decided to (temporarily) shelve the whole idea of going next spring, which left me with a severe longing to go some other time.

The school year for 1999-2000 will not start until September 7 here in Delaware, and most of the summer camps end the week of August 23rd. This meant that my kids would be fending for themselves the week of August 30th. I was looking through my Magic Kingdom Club brochure and noticed that the value rates go into effect on August 29th. That was all my brain needed to start moving in the right direction. I get 5 weeks vacation and my husband only gets 2, so I knew he would not be able to come with us. I had taken the kids by myself in November of 1997 and we had a great time! Duane enjoys WDW, but not quite with the same level of fervor that I do so I didn’t think it would be a problem if the kids and I went by myself again (wrong!) Anyway, I called MCO on April 14th to try to get a room with MKC discount at All Star Movies. When the kids and I went by ourselves in November, 1997. We stayed at All Star Music and it was fine for the three of us. They did not have any MKC rooms available at Movies, but they did at All Star Sports, so I booked us a room there for 5 nights at $66.00/night ($74.59 w/tax - total $373). (8/30/99- 9/4/99). We still had one day left on our all-in-one passes from December 1998, so we were either going to use the value towards a 5 day all-in-one hopper pass or buy 4 day park hopper passes and use the one remaining day for whatever.

I made car rental reservations through National (Emerald Club). I have a corporate account that covers a full size car. Price with tax for 6 days was $184.67. I started checking airfares hoping to fly Metrojet out of Baltimore. I kept checking daily and there were no available flights at the cheapest rates. I finally got discouraged and booked flights with Southwest air from Baltimore to Orlando for $182.00 round trip. Of course on April 29th all of the Metrojet flights magically appeared at the same $182.00 rate. (The flights showed up as not available at any price the day before this!) This was exactly 4 moths before the flights. Even though Metrojet advertises as booking 333 days in advance, I think that maybe they hold seats until 4 months prior to the flight and then offer them at the low rates. On June 10th USAir lowered their Metrojet flights to $168.00. Boo hoo - sometimes having access to the internet is more frustrating than it’s worth. Otherwise I could just be another uninformed consumer paying top dollar for everything! Buying plane tickets is like playing the lottery - it drives me crazy. Anyway, we’ve never flown on Southwest Airlines before so I’m willing to give them a try. I booked the tickets on the internet and received a mail confirmation about a week later. There are no seating assignments - it’s first come, first served. I’ve been told to be at the gate at least one hour before boarding to get a decent seat.

In mid-May the All Star Summer Magic rates became available for all of the resorts for 8/22/99 to 9/30/99. Here was my chance to upgrade and I took it. I changed our reservation from All Star Sport to Dixie Landings. The price was $84.00/night ($93.24 w/taxes, Total of $466.20) So to upgrade from ASSp to Dixie Landings cost a grand total of $96.20. Well worth it I thought!

After the 4th of July, the flight that I booked dropped from $182 to $144. I called Southwest Air to see if they would give me this new price. I had read that they might give me a voucher for a future ticket. When I called, the lady checked my confirmation number and said, “Oh, wow!” I said “What?” and she told me that the price of my flight had gone down and I said that that was why I was calling and she said “o.k.” and I said “o.k., what?” and she said “I’ve credited $102.00 back to your credit card.” Very cool! I didn’t even have to ask. I’m starting to like Southwest Air very much!

August 24, 1999

Update - 6 days to go and it’s starting to seem real. I’m hoping we all survive the hot Florida weather. After all of July and the beginning of August being in the mid 90’s the last couple of weeks have been in the mid 80’s so Florida is going to feel very hot! The ponchos are ready to be packed and if we can just hold off the hurricanes we will be o.k.

Now for the bad news. The division of the company I work for is downsizing and we are losing 25% of our overall global workforce. Unfortunately my group is being hardest hit with reductions in the 30 - 40% range. The pink slips are being handed out next week when I’ll be in Disney World. Bottom line is that I have to call in on my “assigned” day to find out if I still have a job! What a bummer. If I do lose my job I will receive 9 ½ months of pay, $5000.00 in tuition money and other assorted benefits. And my husband is (thankfully) gainfully employed and has full benefits so the worst is that I will have to find a new job within a year. I will never be able to match the salary and benefits that I receive in my current job after 15 years, but I will have to look at it as a new opportunity. My husband is afraid that if I find out I don’t have a job, I will stay in Orlando and go to work for the Mouse! One never knows!

Monday, August 30

We left the house at 7:30, returned a movie to Blockbuster, filled the gas tank and were off to Baltimore Washington International Airport (BWI). We arrived at the cold, windy satellite parking by 8:50 a.m. and waited 15 minutes for a shuttle (Of course, 3 of them went by in about the 2 minutes it took us to park and drag our luggage over to the bus stop!). We had temperatures in the mid 90s for all of July and the beginning of August so I thought I’d be in great shape for the heat in Florida. But then the last two weeks had really cooled off and today it was only 60 degrees! We checked our bags at curbside and proceeded to the Southwest terminal where we were issued boarding passes 18, 19 and 20. Passes 1 to 30 board first unless one has young children - they get to board first but have to be willing to be behind row 14. Spent $4.73 for 3 sodas and $4.07 for gum and candy before boarding the plane for our bumpy ride to Orlando We had some turbulence from Hurricane Dennis - we passed 300 miles from the eye of the storm in North Carolina. We got 3 seats together about 3 rows backs from the front. We arrived at MCO 15 minutes early and were greeting by a warm and sticky 94 degrees day! All in all I was very happy with my first ride with Southwest.

After retrieving our luggage we found our way to the National Emerald Isle which had moved from the first floor to the second floor of the parking garage. They are always doing something to confuse us at the Orlando Airport! Also you don’t even go to the kiosk anymore. You just pick out your car and drive out and they have a drive-up booth where they do the paperwork. When we got there we had a choice of several Cadillacs and mini-vans. Didn’t want a Caddy and I drive a mini-van at home - but then a new green Chevy Blazer appeared so we took that. A nice car, but we never did figure out how to set the radio stations! Following an uneventful drive on the Osceola Parkway we pulled up to Dixie Landings. There were about 5 people ahead of me in the check-in line and after a 5 minute wait, Akuya from Japan assisted me with check-in. Much to my dismay, my room requests which had been noted on my reservations and had been faxed three days prior were not met. I had requested building 14 or 15, second floor. Not only did they not have any rooms in 14 and 15, they supposedly had no second floor rooms anywhere in Alligator Bayou! Unbelievable. According to Akuya the Disney Cruise Line reserves buildings 14 and 15 for its guests and today was their check-in day. Well I’m all for the cruise, but I can’t believe they all need to be in the same two buildings! I tried my best schmoozing, but apparently Akuya was extremely schmooze resistant and I didn’t feel like moving on to the manager. So, we finally settle on Building 26, second floor, garden view. We purchased three 4 day parkhopper passes. Our 1 day left on our 7 day all in one hopper passes from last year was worth $32.00. Since this pass included major parks and water parks it made much more sense to use it as a one day pass for our day at parks and Blizzard Beach ($42.00 + $28.00). I also purchased our passes for E-ticket night and paid for remaining room nights. I also requested express check-out and late check-out (1:00 p.m.). Daniel and Catherine (a.k.a. “the kids” from here on) spent $2.00 at the arcade while I was doing all of this complex checking-in stuff.

After completing the arduous check-in process, we went to the Cotton Mill Food Court for lunch (2:15 p.m.). Daniel had a personal pizza, Catherine had the kids macaroni, I had a muffin and a Corona (it is vacation after all) and the kids purchased 2 refillable Dixie Landings (DL) mugs. Total with tax: $33.09. After eating, the kids filled their mugs with the first of many slushies and I filled my old Caribbean Beach Mug with much needed coffee. We then went back to the front desk and got our room assignment (2677). The room was in the rear of Building 26 facing building 34. It seemed very nice at first and also included a trundle bed - no having to sleep with the wild, thrashing Catherine! We called and had our room refrigerator delivered. The room looked very “fresh”. Clean carpet, nice furniture. A very cool “Song of the South” shower curtain and fun “America curtains” with a sort of Frontierland type theme.

Around 3:30 p.m. I sent the kids off in the direction of the pool, and took off to do some grocery shopping at Goodings. Feeling adventurous I took a back route to Goodings that got me there very quickly and without having to go on the dreaded Buena Vista Parkway! I spent about $40.00 on cereal, milk, lunch meat, munchies and beer (and had to buy a bottle opener - later found out that there is a bottle opener located at the ice machine!). When I returned to DL, I quickly realized that our room was as far as logistically possible from the parking lot. Carrying two heavy, unwieldy bags made for a very tortuous and hot trip! After stashing the groceries, I went in search of the kids and got very lost trying to find the pool. When I finally found the kids, they told me that they had also gotten lost trying to find the pool despite following the signs. Not a good sign! (pun intended)

Called home around 5:00 p.m. from my favorite personal pay phone. The phone is located by the locker rooms next to the Muddy Waters Bar on Old Man Island. There are three rocking chairs by the railing and I would just move one of those heavy suckers back to the phone and sit and talk and rock. Very comfortable. There is even a ceiling fan above the pay phone! Duane had left a message on our answering machine this morning telling us to have a great trip, but unfortunately, none of us thought to check the machine before we left! Duane hired one of Daniel’s friends, Kyle, to come over during the day and walk Casey, our dog! Well, that will get the dog awfully spoiled, but if it made Duane feel better it’s fine with me.

Dragged the kids out of the pool around 6:00 p.m. and went back to the room getting lost on the way. Hmmm…this getting lost thing was starting to be a major pain in the behind. After refreshing and much needed showers, we headed out around 6:40 p.m. getting lost on the way to the parking lot. We drove over to the Boardwalk and valet parked. I’m still not entirely sure how the tipping thing works with this, but have been told repeatedly that one tips only when picking up their car from valet, so that is what I will do until I am taught otherwise. CM Randy blew up two balloons and gave them to the kids. I’m not sure what he thought they were going to do with them all night - they were just balloons - no helium, no string. Daniel eventually popped his, but Catherine managed to keep hers all night. If I remember correctly, it managed to hang around in our car until the end of the trip! We checked out the Boardwalk lobby, the Luna Park Pool and the surrounding areas before heading over to Beaches and Cream for dinner. It was so nice coming back to the Beach Club - I wish I could have spent the extra money to stay there! The moderates just can’t compare to the deluxe resorts (guess that’s why they cost $150 less!). I think we’ll be back there next trip - I just love being able to walk into Epcot and even taking the slow boat to MGM would have been nice this trip! Beaches and Cream was good as always. Dan had a hot dog, Catherine had the cheeseburger kids meal and I had a single with cheese. The kids got very delicious vanilla milkshakes. The french fries we had there were the best of the whole trip! (Total w/tax: $24.12) CM Gary was our waiter and he was kind enough to give me his “Walt Disney Resorts” ballpoint pen. I tend to collect these when I stay at WDW and added quite a few to my collection this year. So far I have lots of the tan ones red trim and gold lettering, tan ones with green trim, gray ones with red trim and silver lettering and an all white one with gold lettering. Most CMs are willing to give up their pens if I show an interest in them. The kids spent $2.00 at the arcade while I finished my meal and paid the bill.

After dinner, we moseyed around the Beach Club and decided that we were too tired to hang around for Illuminations. There were a few minutes of very light rain and lots of lightening. This turned out to be our only rain of the entire trip. I can’t believe how lucky we were to be there for 6 days in August and have no rain at all! We collected our car, tipped the valet guy and returned to DL. We stopped to get soda refills and I decided it was time to look into getting a different room. Our room itself seemed fine, but it was so inconvenient to the parking lot, the food court, the pool, etc. It was getting to be a mental drag every time we thought about coming or going to it. So, I talked to CM Missy and she found us a 2nd floor garden view room in building 15 that we could move into the next day. Woohoo!! We did have to move all of our stuff including the stuff in the fridge, but at the time I thought it would definitely be worth it. While I was dealing with the front desk, Catherine watched “Bug’s life” on the lobby TV. After getting our new room for tomorrow, we returned to our room, watched “Beetlejuice” and went to sleep around 11:00 p.m. Daniel had quite a stomachache - too much soda, and my shins were already getting sore and I forgot to pack aspirin -DOH!

Tuesday, August 31

Mid 90’s, some clouds, humid

The wake up call came at 6:30 a.m. “Trashing the camp” followed by Mickey exhorting us to get the heck up. I took a shower and then walked over to the Cotton Mill to get coffee. I finally got there without getting lost - better late than never! Returned to the room, woke the kids - had cereal, showers, packed up our stuff and called bell services to pick up our bags. They had called early this morning and left a message asking me to call and confirm that we still wanted to change rooms. When I called bell serviced, the lady who answered the phone asked me if we were going to be in the room. When I told her we were on our way out she reminded me to “leave something for the bell man.” I thought this was terribly tacky and unprofessional. As it was I was out of one dollar bills so had to leave quarters! I guess that qualifies as a “little” something. We left the room around 7:45 a.m. and stopped at the front desk to drop off our refrigerated stuff. The kids got their a.m. slushies and we were off to MGM. Parked right up front and entered our first park of the trip. We sat at the front lines of rope drop and talked with an older gentleman CM. Nice guy, but I think I knew more about the parks then he did. I watched a worker painting one of the buildings - not something I’m used to seeing when the parks are opened. He did finish and clean up before “official” opening time. Two teenage boys kept sitting and leaning on the rope causing it to swing into people and trashcans and such. I kept giving them the evil eye, but they and their parents were oblivious. I’m sure my kids do irritating things that I don’t notice either, but it still bugs me!

At 9:00 a.m. rope drop we headed on to the Tower of Terror (TzoT) after much debate about whether to go on it first or the Rock N Roller Coaster (RnRC). Daniel requested the seat belt seat and we all had a very enjoyable ride. The new drop sequences are way cool! The CM at rope drop did tell us about the little stuffed Mickey doll that the little girl has in her hand. You can see it during the “TV” section and just barely when they are in the hallway. Always nice to find something new! Next we went on our inaugural ride on the Rock N Roller Coaster. We walked right into the pre-show with the Aerosmith movie featuring Ileana Douglas (who happens to be one of my favorite little known actresses). Catherine was very hesitant about going on the ride. I had to ask the CM “Are there loops” (which I knew there were) “Yes,” he said. “Mom, ask him if there are corkscrews.” “Are there corkscrews?” I ask (knowing there are). “Yes,” he said. After all of that she decided to brave it out and thoroughly enjoyed it just like Daniel and I did. I really enjoyed the very smooth, very fast take off. Really the whole ride is very smooth and very loud and very fast. Our soundtrack was “Dude looks like a Lady”. One of the CMs told me that there are currently 5 different sound tracks. It certainly will be easy to switch rock bands if they ever need to. On our way out we picked up our first Fastpass to ride again between 10:05 and 11:05 a.m. Once we learned to put our cards in the right way, Fastpass was very easy. Overall, we didn’t need it this trip due to the light crowds, but we used it several times, and can see where it would be great during busy times. I hope they add it to the Tower of Terror!

After our ride, we headed over to Starring Rolls Bakery for a snack (breakfast for me). I had a cinnamon raisin bagel w/ cream cheese, Dan had a cheese danish and Catherine had a sugar cookie. We also had one skim milk, two chocolate milks and a coffee (Total: $10.52) There goes the savings for getting a refrigerator in the room! After our snack, Catherine requested a ride on Star Tours. I’m not sure why she likes this one so much - I’m kind of bored with it and hope that they get a new film to go along with the remodeled Endor shop. There was no line, so I was forced to guzzle my still very warm coffee before boarding. Quite the caffeine rush several minutes later. On our way to Star Tours, we had to stop to pull the rope in front of Indiana Jones. We usually manage to get some people over to hear it for the first time, but no takers this time. Their loss! After Star Tours we made our way back to Sunset Boulevard and went on RnRC again - didn’t need our fast pass as their was no wait. This time our soundtrack was “Sweet Emotion”. I should’ve asked what the other 3 were, but I was hoping to hear others during the week. After the ride, I bought our picture - we were all smiling and looking as if we were enjoying ourselves. The picture was $16.95 ($17.97 w/tax) which I thought seemed really expensive. (I later found out the Splash Mountain picture was only $9.95 so I was right - it was expensive.) Not sure why it cost so much - The picture and frame is a little fancier than Splash or Countdown or Test Track, but it still doesn’t seem worth that much. Well I probably would not buy it again, but since it was a new ride I won’t obsess about it too much. Tony, a very friendly helpful CM arranged to have the picture sent back to our room at DL even though we did not know what our new room number was going to be! By now the wait listed for Tower of Terror was 60 minutes, um..no thanks. The park seemed fairly empty so I guess everyone that was there was in line for TOT!

We re-crossed the park and did the Drew Carey Sounds Dangerous attraction. The kids really enjoyed this one. We spend a lot of time playing with all of the sound effect booths. After one of our pit stops (we had tons of pit stops - we carried bottled water around the parks and drank it non-stop), we went to see “Doug Live.” Doug has long been one of Catherine’s favorite cartoons so she really liked it. She was very attentive throughout the show and just had one of those “highly engaged” looks on her face. It gave me one of those warm, fuzzy “Disney moment” feelings watching her, watching the show. I’m sure most of you understand what I mean by that, although non-Disney people would probably be highly perplexed. The Quail boy that they picked out of the audience must have gotten stage fright because I saw him return to his parents mid-way through the show and when that part of the show came on there was a different kid. I wonder if they had a kid in reserve or if someone quietly went out into the audience and found a replacement while the show was going on. When they were introducing the audience members who had been picked we began to notice a trend that lasted throughout the week. The vast majority of people were from New York/New Jersey or other Northeastern areas. I guess since we all started school after Labor Day we had descended en masse at Disney World. Other than North East U.S., there were tons of United Kingdom visitors. There were times when I was outnumbered 3 to 1 by British, Scot, Irish, and Welsh folks. Made for a very diverse trip!

After Doug, it was 12:30 p.m. and neither Cath or Dan was willing to wait for the 1:00 p.m. Hunchback of Notre Dame show with me. Ungrateful little brats! Working our way towards the exit of the park we stopped at Dinosaur Gertie’s Ice Cream of Extinction so Catherine could get a vanilla soft serve cone. Daniel got his daily popcorn and a $2.25 Sprite (Just couldn’t wait to get back to DxL and fill his free mug!). We drove back to DxL stopping at the front desk to see if our new room was ready. Had another unfriendly CM - this one from Puerto Rico. Now, please don’t take this the wrong way - I work in a global group and deal with people from all over the world - however it has been my experience at WDW that the non-US CMs are less Disney-like than their US counterparts. Maybe it’s just a cultural thing - most cultures are not as open, in your face friendly as Americans tend to be so I’ll just leave it at that! Since our room was not ready, we couldn’t get to our lunch meat and stuff so had to have lunch in the food court. Catherine still full from her recent ice cream cone, chose to skip lunch and watch “Lady and the tramp” on the lobby TV Dan had his usual hot dog and I had the kid’s chicken strips meal. Very tasty and inexpensive (Total: $6.89). After lunch I gave the kid’s each a dollar to spend in the arcade while I sat in the lobby and worked on my trip report. While perusing the lobby I realized that it is supposed to be a train station with the various destinations listed around the ceiling with the front desk and guest services supposed to be ticket counters. Just for fun, here are the cities listed in the lobby:

Greenville, Vicksburg, Vidalia, Natchez, Baton Rouge, Dixie Landings, Port Orleans, Gretna, Charlotte, Port Eads, St. Louis, Sante Genevieve, Cape Girardeau, Cairo, New Madrid, Carruthersville, Memphis, Helena.

Ahhhhh-Useless Disney Trivia!

There are also two very large paddle fans hanging from the ceiling that seem to be capable of operating, but are not. I seem to remember reading somewhere that they used to be functional. I wonder what happened with that. Check with CM Ric from Topeka, Kansas and our room was still not ready, but he did code in our new cards. I was hoping that the right number of days had transferred from our original cards - and they did! We went out to bell services storage and dug our bathing suits out of our luggage and headed for the pool. After a quick dip and one turn on the slide I ordered a Miss Melanie Colada (midori, malibu rum, and pineapple - frozen) and relaxed while the kids wore themselves out.

Magic moment from MGM - Walking through the studios I turn and ask Catherine “Having fun yet”. The open and unguarded smile she gave me was a true gift. Cath is not a naturally cheerful, outgoing girl, and to see her excited about anything is somewhat amazing!

Following our swim we finally moved into our new room in Bldg.15.The room was exactly the same as our room in Bldg. 26, but much more conveniently located. It even had a trundle bed which makes me wonder if all of the rooms in Alligator Bayou have trundles? We called home to say hi and then the kids slept from 5 to 6 p.m. and were very slow to wake-up. We took the dreaded bus to the Magic Kingdom and stopped to trade in our E-ticket cards for our wristbands. Made our way down Main Street, fighting the early crowds for the Main Street Electrical Parade, and arrived at the Plaza Restaurant a half an hour late for our Priority Seating. The hostess had a very strong New York accent. It was really fun listening to her call out family names for seating. I’m sure some people had trouble recognizing their own names. After 15 minutes we were seated and proceeded to have a very tasty dinner. I had the steak sandwich, Daniel had the kid’s meal grilled cheese (hot dog break!) and Catherine had the kid’s meal cheeseburgers. The sandwiches were very good, the french fries were not. How is it that the french fries at Beaches and Cream were excellent while those elsewhere were not. Do they really have different french fry distributors for different restaurants? Daniel also had a vanilla milkshake - very, very good. I definitely want to come back here again some time for ice cream treats. Total with MKC discount was $30.02 (this includes tip - Couldn’t find my original receipt so had to take price off of express check-out form).

By the time we finished eating the Main Street Electrical Parade was well underway and the crowds were way to heavy to try to get close enough to see it. Catherine requested a ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority so we did that, catching occasional glimpses of the MSEP floats. This was followed by a half-empty Alien Encounter. I’m not even sure why we do this every year - it’s not anyone’s favorite. Although I do get a kick out of watching first timers and those poor unfortunate children whose idiot parents bring them along even when it’s obvious that they are scared to death. Watched the fireworks from the walkway into Tomorrowland. No Tinkerbell due to the weather. There were no storms, rain or lightening - maybe Tink doesn’t do well in high humidity! I tried to take some fireworks pictures, but as usual they did not turn out to be very impressive.

After the fireworks it was E-ticket time. We started with Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin followed by a ride on the right side of Space Mountain. I had a lot of trouble with Buzz this year due to a sore thumb, but it was still fun. Space was fun as always except for Cath and Dan arguing about who got to sit up front. And Daniel had to mercilessly tease his sister about her unfortunate experience last year when she got something on her hands that smelled disgusting while on Space Mountain. Ah - sibling rivalry at it’s ugliest.

Leaving Tomorrowland we headed over to Frontierland to do the Splash’n’Dash (Splash Mountain followed by Big Thunder Mountain Railroad). It took a few minutes to figure out how to get in the queue for Splash Mountain as it had recently been changed to accommodate the Fastpass. We had two empty cars in front of us and two empty cars behind us. Thus, I was able to sing to my heart’s content without embarrassing my darling daughter. Dan sat in the very front and got very, very wet. Looked at our picture - not this time, and then went for a quick, painful ride on Big Thunder. I usually love this ride, but for some reason this time it was very jerky and I didn’t enjoy it at all. We usually sit towards the back, but this time we sat in the very front. I guess I’ll have to remember not to sit there anymore. One more ride on Splash Mountain, buying the picture this time. (A bargain at $9.95 + tax). We asked to stay on this time and go around again but an older, grumpy CM made us get off even though there was no one in line and loads of empty cars. Boo, hiss. The kids were getting very tired and extremely nasty to each other by this point, but we still needed a trip to the Haunted Mansion. As we were entering the gates, the CM turned to me and said “Goodbye, Madam.” Spooky stuff! Catherine still does not enjoy the guys who pop up every here and there in the Haunted Mansion, but she is now able to anticipate when they are coming so that she can look the other way. After HM, we headed out of the park stopping at the Main Street Bakery for sugar cookies and Sprite. Waited about 15 minutes at the bus stop, got back to Dixie Landings and went right to bed. Catherine slept in the trundle bed for the first time.

Wednesday, September 1

Same old, same old (hot, humid, sunny)

I woke up around 6:30 a.m., walked over to the Cotton Mill, filled my coffee mug and parked myself at my favorite pay phone by the pool. It was time to make the dreaded phone call to my boss to find out if I was still gainfully employed. Talk about being nervous. Anyway, I was one of the lucky ones and will hopefully remain gainfully employed for the near future. We lost about 7 out of 28 people. Not fun to come home to! I called my parents to allay their fears and then called one of my co-workers to find out how things were going at work. I wandered back to the room and tried to wake up the slug children. After cereal and breakfast food in the room we drove over to Epcot around 10:00 a.m., and headed straight for Test Track. It took a few minutes to figure out how to make our way around all of the various Millennium construction, but once we reached Test Track there was only a 20 minute posted wait time, so we decided to go through the whole queue. Since it was our first time, I thought it would be nice for us to see the whole attraction. The kids were actually kind of interested in some of the displays in the line. We all enjoyed the ride a lot - the kids thought it was really fun. Our picture wasn’t any good. Catherine was sitting in the front and the bar went right across her face. We were going to go on again right away using the singles line, but the ride broke down (surprise, surprise) so we moved on. Going back through the breezeway we finally saw the Jammitors. I had been trying to see these guys for years, but we always seemed to be in the wrong place when they were playing. Very entertaining little show. After stopping for a few cold sips of assorted foreign “sodas” at Ice Station Cool, we made our way back to the World Showcase. Listened to a few tunes from the Canadian Bagpiper (John don’t remember his last name), and carried on some light hearted banter. I find it amusing that so many people just walk on by during this type of “impromptu” performance. I just want to say, “Hey, you, slow down and see all that Epcot has to offer!” Oh man, they should offer me a job!

After the end of the bagpipe performance we stopped in at Le Cellier a half hour early for our priority seating. This was by far the best meal of our trip. Best food, best server, best ambiance, best beer - this will definitely be a repeat for us. Our server was Lori B. and she was great - had just the sense of humor that Daniel and I really enjoy. Daniel enjoyed the sourdough breadstick while Catherine liked the pretzel one. I thought they were all delicious. I ordered the cheddar cheese soup and had to fight to keep Daniel from eating all of it. This is one of those things that I never would have convinced them to order themselves, but once they tried it they were hooked. Catherine had the children’s meal cheeseburger, Daniel had the kid’s meal hotdog and I had Caesar salad with flank steak and 2 Molson ice’s. My lunch was very good - the marinated flank steak was very tasty. I had reminded the hostess about Daniel’s birthday when we checked in, and they brought him a Chocolate “Mousse” for his birthday. This was a big round scoop of chocolate mousse with antler sugar cookies, strawberries for eyes, sitting on a large chocolate chip cookie. Daniel was very surprised and a little embarrassed by all of the attention. Lori was really funny and entertaining telling us how they had to chase the moose around the kitchen before they could make the chocolate mousse. Every time there was noise in the kitchen she’d say it was the moose. On top of everything else, the kids got chocolate chip cookies as part of their meal which I made them take with them. Heaving ourselves out of our seats, we made our way around World Showcase to Japan where I let the kids browse the Pokemon stuff at the Mitsukoshi Department Store. We watched the International Storybook show at the American Gardens, a cute, brief and fun show (according to my notes). After the show we returned to the Mitsukoshi Store where I bought some Shesheido face moisturizer (I had forgotten to pack any kind of lotion). The kids finally settled on some origami kits. Of course the directions were in Japanese so we had a lot of fun working on them.

We worked our way back towards Future World, stopping in the UK to get pictures with Tweedledee, Tweedledum and Alice. Well, Daniel did - Catherine would have nothing to do with them! Once back in Future World, we used the singles line to do Test Track with a 5 minute wait. All three of us were in separate cars. The kids enjoyed ice cream treats while we watched the end of a Future Corps performance. Leaving Epcot, we drove over the Animal Kingdom. We maneuvered around a bunch of orange cones and parked right up near the front. We headed straight toward the Kali River Rapids and rode 3 times in a row without having to get back in line. The queue looked very interesting, but I certainly didn’t get a chance to look at it closely. Maybe next trip. As for the ride, we all really enjoyed it. It is fairly short, but without any line we didn’t mind. We really appreciated the storage area to keep our things dry, but between backpacks, shoes, etc. they get very full and don’t always close all of the way. Some people had difficulty with the rotating loading area and stepping into the rafts. I also don’t really like the double seat belt deal. It would be better to have individual belts. We all got fairly wet - Daniel got soaked. Walking around with wet boxer shorts under shorts did not prove to be a really good idea - he’ll know better next time!

After Kali River Rapids, we went to watch Tarzan Rocks! This gets very mixed reviews. The kids really liked the roller bladers, and the music was okay. I didn’t like the two back-up girl singers in their too tight clothes - didn’t seem very Disney like to me - it felt more like a Universal Studios show. Jane was very strong and muscular, and Tarzan obviously spends a lot of time at the gym. It was o.k. to see once, but I won’t be in any hurry to see it again. After the show, we went over to Dinoland and the kids went on Countdown to Extinction while I called Duane. Catherine got on the Phillies for fall baseball, and will miss the first practice. We always miss something for Disneyworld - such sacrifices! The kids took forever to come back from the ride. Upon their return we stopped for some treats. Chocolate covered marshmallows on Mickey straws for the kids and a chocolate covered pretzel with peanuts for me. Very yummy! Walked around through Harambe to the Pangani Trail. The young gorillas were very numerous and very active. No poop flinging, thank goodness! The Silverback was sound asleep. I took some good pictures of the meerkats doing their “lookout” thing. Around 6:00 p.m., we went on the Kilimanjaro Safari with no wait and got to sit in the very front seat. We saw all of the usual animals (elephants, Morgan gazelles, lion, warthogs, giraffes), and I got some fairly good pictures - last year our driver went too fast and the sun was always in the wrong place!

We left the Animal Kingdom around 6:30 p.m. and returned to Dixie Landings. I ordered room service pizza - half plain, half pepperoni. $18.00 including 15% gratuity and tax. It was a pretty good sized pizza. We ended up throwing out 3 slices. The kids called their dad, while I starting wondering how much money I was going to end up paying AT&T! Thankfully, I have a corporate discounted AT&T card, so it really didn’t end up costing that much. After dinner, we put on our suits and headed to the pool for a very relaxing evening. We spent lots and lots of time in the hot tub. Everyone there was really friendly. There were 3 young German girls that were really interesting to talk to. The kids had a really great time swimming and playing. I saw a little bit of the piano player/singer inside at the bar. He seemed very entertaining. I would have liked to spend an evening in there, but it just wasn’t on the schedule this trip. We went back to the room around 10:00 and were asleep by 10:30 p.m.

Thursday, September 2

Daniel’s 14th birthday

I woke up at 6:30 to do Early Entry at the Magic Kingdom, but my body and mind said “No way!” We finally got up around 8:30 a.m. and drove over to the Polynesian. The kids requested the front of the monorail and the driver announced Daniel’s birthday to the whole monorail. Arriving at the Magic Kingdom, we stopped at City Hall and picked up Daniel’s birthday button. He wore it bravely, and got quite a few Happy Birthday greetings from CMs. We got to the Crystal Palace around 9:50 a.m. for our 10:20 a.m. priority seating. The CM took our name and told us to return 5 to 10 minutes before our ps and check back in. Catherine suggested a quick trip to Pirates of the Caribbean. There was no line so we walked right onto our boat, we’re on our way, and then the ride breaks down! We sat in the auction scene for 15 minutes - “we wants the redhead” “show ‘em your larboard side” over and over and over - UGH! It was 10:20 by the time we finally made our escape. We ran back over to the Crystal Palace and had to wait about 15 minutes to get inside. It was very hot and humid today, and I was really feeling it especially after the jog from Adventureland! Once inside we ate lots of cinnamon puffed french toast, eggs, and bacon. Daniel filled up on pancakes and Catherine consumed mass quantities of rice krispie treats. We got to see Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore. We never did manage to see Piglet. Pooh was the only character who noticed Daniel’s birthday button. The waitress brought Daniel a large cupcake and a birthday card signed by various characters. A bunch of CMs came out together and sang Happy Birthday to several birthday celebrants. Very cool! When we first came into the restaurant, our table was decorated with Mickey Confetti. Breakfast was a lot of fun and a great start to Daniel’s birthday. (Total $40.13 + tip)

After breakfast we picked up Fastpasses for Splash Mountain and decided to take a train ride around the park to pass the time. After circling the park we got onto Splash with about a 5 minute wait versus 30 minutes in the “regular” line. Daniel and Catherine road in the front of the car. This was our first day time trip on Splash Mountain in quite awhile, so we got to see a lot of the little details that you can’t see at night. After Splash, we got back on the train and sat in the very last seat. CM Jan from Houston asked the kids if they wanted to stand at the back railing and of course they said yes. When she noticed it was Daniel’s birthday, she announced it to the train. She let Daniel wear her conductor’s hat and say “All Aboard”. He also got to push the buttons that play the recorded scripts as the train goes around the park. It was very cool and I know it made Daniel feel very special. Jan definitely gets one of my most excellent CM awards! We disembarked at Toontown and took the walkway to Tomorrowland. After picking up fastpasses for Space Mountain we took a spin on Buzz Lightyear. Dan and I both got around 100000 points, but Catherine only got 500. She was becoming very frustrated with her inability to score at Buzz, but in true Disney pixie dust style, they had time for another ride. I sat it out this time and she emerged from the ride beaming. She had scored over 100,000 points! Daniel got 280,000 - almost made it to that 300,000 mark! They did Buzz one more time and then we headed onto the right side of Space Mountain with no wait. We never did do the left side of Space Mountain this trip. On our way out of the park we stopped for 20 ounce sodas and then stopped at the Main Street Confectionery. We each picked out a piece of fudge (3 pieces total), and then the CM told me that if you buy 4 pieces, you get 2 for free. So of course I had to take advantage of that bargain and ended up spending $10.00 on fudge which became semi-liquefied in the car.

We left the Magic Kingdom around 2:30 p.m., took the monorail to the Poly and drove to MGM. Unlike the Animal Kingdom yesterday afternoon where we had been able to park up front, they still had parking attendants at MGM. We ended up parking way out in Romance 31-36 and had to take the dreaded tram. Those tram car drivers are wild men - if we hadn’t held on we would have been flung onto the pavement! We entered the park and proceed to do the stop, drop and roll (our nickname for Tower of Terror followed by Rock n Roller Coaster). Their was no wait for either ride. We rode the right side of Tower of Terror for a change of pace. Daniel got the seat belt seat again! During the drops, Catherine’s water bottle floated up about 3 feet in the air before I managed to grab it. We had 6 drops. This ride is just the best. On RnRC we sat in the very back and it seemed a little rougher than previous rides. Catherine and I both felt it was hard on our necks. We had the “Dude look likes a lady” soundtrack again. I wish I had asked what the other three songs were. Breakfast was finally wearing off, so the kids re-energized. Rock candy for Catherine and popcorn for Daniel. We sat on a bench by the Great Movie Ride and just chilled for a little while. After finishing the snacks we walked down Mickey Avenue and New York Street. The kids got temporary tattoos on their ankles. A Philadelphia Eagles logo for Daniel and a panther for Catherine. ($15.90). The CM told us that they would last 7 to 10 days. We stopped and watched a few minutes of Hunchback and then made our way to the 50’s Prime Time Café for our 5:00 p.m. priority seating. Our server was Robert and he was very good. Two other servers entertained us as well. Christopher did a very passable Jerry Lewis shtick and Vinnie was a fun tough guy. Catherine was in an extremely foul mood when we first arrived. Robert kept calling her “Princess” and had Vinnie come over and yell at Daniel for picking on his sister and putting her in such a bad mood. Magically her bad mood started to vaporize. I was really impressed with the way Robert handled the situation. I had clam chowder and the buffalo chicken tenders appetizer as my main course. Catherine had Mickey pasta (they used to serve real spaghettios which Catherine really enjoyed). Daniel had the kids meal hot dog and a vanilla milk shake. The food was very good, and the entertainment was even better. Daniel got another birthday cupcake and the whole room sang “Happy Birthday” to him. The kids meals included ice cream and we ordered S’mores. Pig out city!!!! (Total with MKC discount - $31.03 + tip). We rolled out of the restaurant stopping to watch a Streetmosphere skit. It was the one with the city workers trying to free people from the hubcap - guess you had to be there to understand, but it was very funny.

Hopped on the tram, drove back to Dixie Landings and tried to save our liquefied fudge (it was still quite good after chilling in the fridge for a little while!) Called home. Duane just joined an adult baseball league and he has practice the same night as Catherine. I’m the only one in the family who’s not playing baseball now - weird! The kids went to the pool while I did some laundry. I thought I had packed plenty of clothes, but didn’t realize that with the heat we generally went through 2 sets of clothes per day. So I spent a couple of hours running back and forth from the laundry, to the pool, to the room, etc. Not very restful, but I did manage to order a Miss Melanie’s Colada with an extra shot of rum (didn’t get charged for it either!). I called my co-worker Peter to find out what had happened at work. Six of my co-workers (out of 25) lost their jobs. What a bummer! I dragged the kids out of the pool around 10:00 p.m. I was completely exhausted - too tired to even get into the hot tub. We were all asleep by 10:30 p.m.

Friday, September 3

The last full day!

Got the kids up at 7:00 a.m. so the could try the fishing at Old Man Island. This turned out to be a total waste of time and money. We ended up catching about 4 itty bitty tiny fish in one hour. I caught the biggest one of all. The worms were these tiny little scrawny things that I had trouble getting on the hooks. We’re used to big fat night crawlers so that was our first difficulty. We weren’t even getting any bites and I finally went over to the CM in the booth and let him know that things weren’t going well. Then he decided to come down and help out, but he was kind of condescending about the whole thing. My kids have been fishing since they could walk, but he kept going on and on about how different cane fishing is and blah, blah, blah. I don’t think he was getting paid to make us feel stupid. Also, children have to be accompanied by adults at all times. At first, he wouldn’t even let me run over to the Cotton Mill to fill my coffee cup. After he came down to help the kids he did let me sneak away long enough to get it. I think he was afraid that I was ready to do him bodily harm if I didn’t get my caffeine. $3.71 per kid for one hour.

Back at the room we had poptarts and cereal for breakfast and then headed to Blizzard Beach around 9:30 a.m. We got a parking space right up front by the entrance. We used our leftover days from last years 7 day all-in-one hopper passes since they included the water parks. For some reason I used the three adult passes (Cath’s was a child’s pass). I’m sure I could’ve used Catherine’s child pass without anyone saying anything. Blizzard Beach was fairly empty. I sent the kids off and pulled a chair to the edge of the wave pool and relaxed. This was the nicest day we had the whole trip. Still very warm, but less humidity and not a cloud in the sky. Daniel went on Summit Plummet and I didn’t get to see it. The kids came and made me get up! We went on the family raft ride and then rode around the creek. The kids went in the wave pool for awhile, and then Daniel went off to the Jr. Ski Patrol area. Catherine and I did the enclosed tube ride and then went to try to find Daniel while he was looking around for us. We finally met up and headed to Lottawatta Lodge for some lunch. Cath got a funnel cake (how nutritious). Dan had the foot long hot dog meal and I had a kids meal chicken tenders with fries. Around 12:30 p.m. I sent the kids off for a “brief” swim before returning to the hotel. I had a “Jamaican Me Crazy” drink from the Sand Bar - very alcoholic and very delicious. The kids finally re-appeared around 2:30 p.m. Daniel as usual was very sunburned. On the way out we stopped at the tattoo stand to get the kid’s tattoo re-done. Catherine’s had almost completely worn off and Daniel’s was looking pretty shabby. They had told us not to get any lotion on them and we hadn’t, but they still wore off anyway. We found out that it was the hot tub that had done the damage. The girl at MGM hadn’t said anything about hot tubs. Oh well, they were very nice about replacing them at no charge.



After taking the kids’ pictures with Ice Gator, we returned to Dixie Landing, refilled our mugs and took a rest. Daniel fell sound asleep - no surprise there - he always exhausts himself at the water parks. I took what seemed like my hundredth shower of the trip. Glad I don’t have to pay their water bills (But I guess in a way I do pay for them, don’t I?) When we returned from Blizzard Beach our room hadn’t been cleaned yet, so I just took our dirty towels out to the cart and picked up clean ones telling the maid we didn’t need our room cleaned. We certainly don’t have to have clean sheets every single day and it saved me my daily $2.00 tip. While the kids rested, I started getting things organized for the trip home. Boohoo! Actually I was quite ready to go home. Catherine’s behavior had really degenerated and she was being a pain in the butt and I was getting mentally exhausted. I know that if her father had been there he would have laid down the law early on and she probably would have been better behaved. But he wasn’t there so I have no one to blame for my suffering but myself!

Following our prolonged rest we got in the car and headed to Epcot. We parked right up front and parked in Journey 5. We walked through all of the construction - I guess I’ll have to satisfy my curiosity and come back during 2000 to see all of this Millennium stuff. Maybe we’ll make this end of summer thing an annual ritual. As we were walking in they were testing the star for the end of Mickey’s wand over in the parking lot. It was all lit up and looked really pretty. I’m sure it will look very impressive once it is up by Spaceship Earth. Catherine requested a ride on Spaceship Earth. We’ve only done it a couple of times, so they still find it very interesting. I think it has some very good audioanimatronics. Catherine likes the burning smell in Rome - yuk! I did notice that the ride tracks are very bumpy - what is the story with that? After the ride we stopped and called home from the AT&T family phone. My kids are definitely not skilled at conference calling! They kept talking over top of each other and their father. After finishing our less than satisfactory call we headed over to Test Track and got in the singles line to avoid the 40 minute wait. We were in the very front of the singles line so got to spend some time talking with the CM that was loading the pre-show area. I forgot to write time his name, but he was very friendly and talkative. He had a cool monitor that shows the loading queue for the ride. That way he can keep track of when to load the briefing rooms (no. 2 and 3 are for the regular line, no. 1 is for the singles line). He used to work at the Tomorrowland Speedway and told me that it the only attraction where CMs are allowed to “yell” at the guests (for bumping cars) and are actually allowed to remove guests if they ignore warnings. He said that grad nights were particularly horrible and couldn’t understand why Disney would even have this attraction open that night. He was much happier in his current position at Test Track. He told us some interesting stories about things that happened during the testing of Test Track and things that happened when some bigwigs came for special rides. I won’t divulge what he told us ‘cause I wouldn’t want to get him in trouble! We got to talk about all of these things because the ride had broken down momentarily, but was soon operational. I wish they would let the singles line riders skip the briefing room - it’s like having to watch the movie in Norway. Daniel and I were in the same car, and Catherine was in the car in front of us. I am somewhat amazed that Catherine is comfortable getting in a ride car with strangers. She has always had a real “stranger phobia”. I guess Disney rides have a way of helping one overcome such things! By now it was 6:30 p.m. and I was starving. We headed back toward World Showcase by way of the old Odyssey Restaurant path. I guess they’ve decided to keep the facility empty and use it for special occasions (like the flower and garden show brunches). I’m surprised they didn’t use it for something for the Millennium. Oh, we noticed tonight that they had started doing the Leave a Legacy etchings out front of Epcot, but you can only have two subjects in a picture. I guess I could have gotten one with just the two kids. Maybe next year. We went to La Cantina for dinner. This was a first for us and I will definitely go back. The kids had beef burrito kids meals (beef and cheese burrito, sm. churro and tortilla chips) and I had tacos el carbon (2 soft tortillas with chicken, onion and peppers, black beans, chips and salsa). I also had a large Dos Equis which I finished in about 2 sips. Everything was very tasty. I would have loved to have a second beer, but I did have to drive back to the hotel, so I didn’t. (Total $18.50)

After dinner we went to Norway and rode Maelstrom (first time in over 4 years) and then skipped the movie. There was a very entertaining, singing CM in the area where you get off the boat and wait for the movie. We watched a few minutes of a Norwegian folk group before heading to China. The kids were extremely reluctant to see the movie at China, but the were surprisingly attentive and found it interesting. I had to argue with them to keep them from sitting on the rails. There were other parents that were allowing their kids to do it even after the announcement asking them not to. Yeah, that always helps my arguments! We worked our way around World Showcase and settled in at the American Gardens at 7:45 p.m. for the Lord of the Dance show. My feet were extremely sore tonight. I always seem to do find until we spend time at the water parks - must be from walking around in bare feet! I went and got Kaki-goris for the family (strawberry for the kids and a rainbow for me). We watched the 8 p.m. Lord of the Dance show. I thought it was very entertaining and the kids enjoyed it too. I tried to take pictures, but we were pretty far back, and to the side, and it was dark, and some little baby kept bouncing up on daddy’s lap every time I tried to take a picture. I probably got half a roll of some baby’s bottle (note: I got about 2 good pictures out of 12). After the show we continued our forced march (that’s what it felt like at this point) around World Showcase. We stopped and watched the last song of Off Kilter’s set, and then got a cinnamon and sugar beaver tail for Daniel. There were plenty of seats available for Illuminations, but we were just too worn out to stay. We stopped briefly at Ice Station Cool, and with sticky feet made our way to the car with the fireworks exploding at our backs.

Saturday, September 4

The last day

Our original plan was to go the Animal Kingdom, but we were just too tired and won out. I got up around 6:30 a.m. and reviewed our express check-out. No mistakes and we really didn’t spend all that much this trip. I walked over to the Cotton Mill to get my a.m. coffee. I brought my camera along and walked around taking pictures of various buildings, mansions, the cotton mill, etc. While walking through the mansions, I stopped and had a nice, long conversation with a member of the landscape crew. Unfortunately I can’t remember his name. He was a very friendly fellow, originally from Huntingdon, W. Virginia who had been working at WDW for 15 years. His area of responsibility was Old Man Island and all of the roses at Dixie Landings and Port Orleans. Cool job. On Old Man Island, he takes care of all of the plant needs including grass cutting. (The rest of the resort grass is cut by a general grass cutting crew). He also does not do pesticide application for the roses. There is a separate pest control department. He really seemed to enjoy his work and praised the Disney salary and benefits. Currently, WDW does not hire full time landscape people. They hire “contract” type workers who have to work for 2 years at a low salary without benefits before they may get the opportunity to take a test and possibly become Disney employees. The problem with this is that the contract workers are usually not skilled landscape people and there is a lot of time wasted on training and such. I asked him about interns and he said that it is a real bonus to get an intern. Last year he had one all to himself, and it allowed him to get a lot of things done in the garden that he wouldn’t have been able to do by himself. He said that the American Rose Society was having it’s annual meeting at WDW in the fall so he was trying to make sure all of the roses looked really good. Anyway it was interesting to me as I have done landscaping work in the past and have a plant science degree.

Following our talk, I continued back to the room, and found the kids still sound asleep at 9:00 a.m. Sluggitis! I roused the kids, we had the cereal and poptart breakfast and finished packing. We stopped at the food court for donuts (Cath) and cheese danish (Daniel) and orange juice and then headed over to get the boat to Downtown Disney. It was very humid again today and there was a fairly long line for the first boast so we decided to take the car again. We took the back route turning right out of Dixie Landings and got to Downtown Disney in just a couple of minutes and even got a good parking space by the Lego Store. I sent the kids off to the Lego store while I browsed in the World of Disney. I picked out a green mesh shirt with a plastic Mickey applique for Duane. I also picked out a Tigger shirt for Daniel and an Eeyore shirt for Catherine, as well as a 2000 Millennium T-shirt for me. (When we got home to Delaware I noticed that the collar stitching was all out of whack so I returned it to my local Disney Store - I always end up coming home without souvenirs. I guess these trip reports and my pictures are all of the mementos that I really need!) I met the kids around 10:45 and let them browse in the World of Disney store. They both liked the T-shirts I picked out for them. They must be growing up - neither one of them wanted any plush characters this year. Well, Daniel did want the super huge Tigger, but I wasn’t spending that kind of money! Actually I think they would’ve bought “themed” plushes if we had found some in the parks. All they have at World of Disney are the standard generic plush characters. I should’ve gotten Catherine an Animal Kingdom Eeyore. She got an AK Pluto last year. We also picked out a box of Mickey chocolates with almonds and caramel for their dad. After paying for all of our purchases (15% off with American Express and Disney Resort ID), we left World of Disney and stopped at Team Disney and the little open air toy store. If I had realized that the 15% discount was good at Team Disney, I probably would’ve bought some items there. My ignorance saved me money!! Catherine decided that she had to have a McDonald’s cheeseburger so we stopped at McD’s just for her. After her craving was satisfied, we stopped at the Lego store and they each bought a set of the new “Robo” legos. Souvenir shopping completed we returned to Dixie Landings to check out. On the way back we stopped at Old Key West. The kids stayed in the car while I checked out the resort. I very nice CM in the lobby gave me a copy of their resort newsletter and a map and a rate sheet with the rack rates (Yikes!). The CM told me about the 2 bedroom units with the “lock-out” where you can literally lock out the second section from the larger part of the unit. Both sections have their own outside entrance and the smaller section has it's own full bathroom (no jaccuzzi). However, I think $435/night is a little out of my price range. The pool area looked very nice. I liked the basketball court, shuffleboard, and the community hall set up. The place has definite possibilities. However, after staying at Dixie Landings, I really think I prefer to stay at a resort closer to the parks. We left OKW (the kids were whining about how hot it was in the car - they could’ve come inside with me, right?). So to torture them, I decided to stop and check out Port Orleans. During my early morning walk, I had seen some of the Port Orleans buildings and was pleasantly surprised by how appealing they were to me. When I saw them in brochures and the like they never appealed to me at all. So again I left the kids in the car (under the verandah this time!), and went in. As at Dixie Landings they had no resort newsletter, but they did give me a resort map. The pool area was very pretty, but it was kind of separated from the hot tub. I guess this is a plus as it does make the hot tub a little more secluded and serene, but I do like to be able to go right from the pool to the hot tub. Who knows, maybe the walk reduced the number of kids who use the hot tub. (Just kidding, my kids use the hot tub all of the time!) They were having a special Labor Day cookout by the pool. Basically hamburger and hotdogs cooked on a grill - you did have to pay for it.

I rescued the kids from certain heat related death and returned to Dixie Landings for the last time. Got back to our room and found it in the process of being cleaned. I guess someone had forgotten to tell housekeeping that we had requested late check out. The housekeeper was momentarily out of our room, so when I saw her outside I assured her that we would be gone in 15 minutes, and then I lectured the kids not to mess up anything that she had already cleaned! W packed up our last minute stuff and lugged all of it out to the car. We then walked over to the Cotton Mill. I gave Catherine $1.00 for the arcade while Daniel and I had lunch. (Hot dog kids meal for Dan, chicken tender kids meal for me). After we ate, I gave the kids $5.00 for the arcade and settled myself into a comfortable sofa by the bar. I asked the barmaid to make me a drink similar to the “Jamaican me Crazy” that I had had at Blizzard Beach. She wasn’t familiar with it, but I told her the ingredients and she put together something that was close to what I had had. While I sipped my drink, I relaxed, worked on my trip report, and eavesdropped on various conversations. One large, extended family had just checked in and one young boy had a birthday balloon, a small cake and a Pluto beanie. I heard his mom say that he had gotten the stuff from his hotel for his birthday. I guess I should’ve included Daniel’s birthday on our room reservations as well as the restaurant reservations. Oh well, no big deal.

I stopped by guest relations to ask about directions to the airport using Osceola Parkway and they had little pre-printed 3 x 5 cards with the directions on them. Very helpful. I also picked up fresh copies of all of the major park pamphlets. They’re always useful when writing trip reports! Around 3:00 p.m. it was time to leave for the airport. We stopped for gas and gum at the 7-11 and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare for our 5:30 p.m. flight. We returned the car and took the elevator to the subterranean tunnels, and went up to the ticket level. Of course the Southwest Airlines counter was all the way at the other end of the building! At least there were no lines at the check-in counter. We sat around for about a half hour and then got our boarding passes - just barely making it into the first boarding group (tickets 28, 29 and 30). After we got our boarding passes we went for an early dinner. (Burger King for Dan and me, frozen yogurt for Catherine. We left MCO on time, and had a semi-bumpy ride home. We had to fly through Hurricane (or maybe it was tropical storm) Dennis AGAIN! Who would’ve thought that it would hang around for 6 days! We landed 10 minutes early in Baltimore in the rain, grabbed the shuttle, ransomed our car, and made our way home. It took quite a few days for me to recover this trip. I think the heat and the lack of another parent really took their toll!

Overall, it was a really great trip. Our frequency of visits has really made for more relaxed vacations. It is nice to let the kids spend lots of time at the pool or sleep in when they’re tired. As usual, there were many things we missed, but also many things that we got to do for the first time. It’s so hard to explain to people that going to Disney every year is not a redundant vacation. There are so many things to do and so many new things that I don’t every think we could have the same vacation there twice.

Reservations have been made for the last week in August, 2000 for the Yacht Club! Can’t wait!

Highlights

6 days in August/September - NO RAIN!!!
Test Track
Rock n Roller Coaster
Lunch at Le Cellier
Jan at the Walt Disney World Railroad
TZTOT drops!
Kali River Rapids
Lowlights

Sibling squabbling
Job losses at work
First CM at Dixie Landings
Becky Ashley

ashleyrm@aol.com

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