Trip Reports

Introduction:

Cast Members:

Me (Mike): 27, Narrator, (Normal font) Compulsive trip planner, Disney fanatic
Becca: 26, Wife, (Italic font) In charge of keeping me in check.
John, 27 Trip planner, newly recruited Disney junkie
Jen: 29, John's wife, In charge of keeping John in check
Erin, 3, John & Jen's adorable daughter
Ted, ??, Jen's father
The conception of this trip started not long after we got back from our 4-day trip to WDW in September. Some how John got to talking about how he would love to back to WDW, since the last time J&J were there was there honeymoon in 1994, when they stayed at the Yacht and Beach Club overnight and visited Epcot and Typhoon Lagoon. J&J normally go down to visit Ted in Florida every February. John got to thinking that they should take a few days out of the week in Naples and stay at WDW. I got to thinking that it would be fun to go along with them.

Becca and I discussed it and decided that we would fly into Orlando, rent a car, and drive to Bradenton (south of Tampa) and stay with my Uncle Dan for a few days. Finally we would finish off our vacation in WDW with J&J. The reason for staying at my uncle's house was to visit my grandfather who is in a nursing home down there.

The flight from Buffalo to Orlando was uneventful and rather quick. Once in Orlando we walked pass the Tiffany Town Car (TTC) drivers and to baggage claim. I checked in at the National Car Rental desk where I picked up the paperwork for our 1999 Monte Carlo. We dragged our luggage (at this point I was missing the TTC that would normally take our luggage for us) to the car garage to pick out our car. It took us a few tries to actually get a car with keys in it but we finally picked a white car and were on our way.

Our stay with my uncle was wonderful, filled with a couple trips to see my grandfather, morning on the beach, shopping in Sarasota and seafood luncheon on the Gulf of Mexico. Saturday morning, however, we got a call from John at my uncle's house. Jen was not doing very well. She had spent the last couple of days in the emergency room and was checked in to the hospital so the doctors could watch her. Unfortunately this meant J&J were not going to be joining us at WDW. The good news is, Jen was fine by Monday morning. Sunday night we packed our bags and loaded up the car for an early departure tomorrow morning.

February 1st: Shades of Green shakedown, Joy of the Diamond Lot and Fantasmic

We woke up at 6:30 this morning, without the help of an alarm clock I might add. After a quick shower and a goodbye call from my uncle we were on the road at 7:45 on our way to our happy place. Traffic was pretty good, considering it was rush hour, until we got past Tampa and we hit the construction along I-4. We stopped for breakfast in Lakeland at our favorite, Waffle House. Breakfast was delicious, I wish they had these in Buffalo. After breakfast we went right down the road to the mall in hopes that Old Navy was open. Becca wanted to buy her niece a new sweater to replace the one she spilled bleach on. At this time it was 9:30 and Old Navy didn't open until 10:00 so we decided we'd hit the road again and call a store closer to WDW.

After leaving the deserted mall we were on our way. WDW was only about 15 miles from the Waffle House, Imagine, my two favorite places that close together. Right before we entered on to the property we switched seats so I could tape the ride as Becca drove, she doesn't like tape and drive. We took the first available exit; I wanted to get on the property as soon as possible. Also, I figured we would get to drive by most of everything on our way to Port Orleans (PO). We first drove by the Swan and Dolphin (SD) next was the Boardwalk (BW) across from MGM. Slightly further down the road was Caribbean Beach Resort (CBR). Across the street from CBR was the Reedy Creek Emergency, I was hoping to visit here for a tour, as it turned out we never made it here, no big deal, I'll be sure to visit on our next trip this September. Finally we came upon Bonnett Creek where we drove past Old Key West, and finally our home for the next four days, Port Orleans.

We were greeted by a friendly security guard that directed us where to park for check in. Check in was very easy. We were given room number 7319 in building number 7 (of course), which is the building was hoping to get, being the furthest from the pool I figured it would be fairly quiet. I was also hoping to walk down to Dixie Landings, this however never happened.

We jumped back in the car and parked in the building 7 parking lot. We unloaded the car and I dragged the luggage what turned out to be completely around building 7 until we found the staircase we needed to get to the third floor. Thank goodness PO has elevators, I don't think I could have dragged those bags up three sets of stairs.

Our room was pretty nice, your standard moderate WDW resort room. The only thing different from CBR rooms was that instead of a vanity countertop with two sinks there were two pedestal sinks with a shelf above for your goodies. It was only 10:30 and we were already in our room. We quickly unpacked while watching Disney Resort TV, I love channel 13, I only wish I could get it through my DSS. I tried to make some priority seatings but was informed I'd have to wait until tomorrow because the computers were down, oh well I guess I'll call tomorrow. We packed everything we would need into the camcorder bag and we were on our way.

We drove past RCED, I guess I won't be visiting it today, and headed toward Magic Kingdom (MK). Since we were right there we decided to walk around Shades of Green (SOG), since we would be staying there this September for 10 days. The signs were pretty easy to follow and took us the SOG main gate. We explained to the security guard that we were staying here in Sept. and we just wanted to see the resort. He asked to see our military ID, however, neither of us have ever been in the military, Becca's father, who were going with, is the one that made the reservations. Apparently that was a problem because we had to explain over again what we wanted to, after him lecturing us on how we can't come in without an ID, and how we can't walk around the resort, obviously not a Disney employee. He finally let us through. The resort is very nice. We asked to see a room but the lady at the desk said there wouldn't be one ready for a couple more hours since people where just beginning to check out. She was much friendlier and told us we could feel free to check out the resort. We walked a little but it was now 11:15 and we were itching to get into MK.

We thought we would just park at the Grand Floridian and take the monorail but there was only valet parking, not normally using valet we felt funny about using it, not cheap just weird, so we drove out to general parking for MK. AAA gave us a diamond card that could be used to park in the diamond lot at each park. The parking attendant told us that the diamond lot was next to the handicap parking lot, which meant we had to make another lap around the WDW speedway. Finally we found the parking lot which is across the street from the kennel. A quick tram ride and we were at the transportation and ticket center (TTC). Before we headed over tot the MK we stopped to check in our brick which is located near the TTC on your way to the Polynesian Village.

The ferryboat was at the dock so we opted to take that over instead of the monorail. The boat ride was very peaceful. There was practically no one on the boat so we were able to stand at the front. There was a cute little girl next to us with her parents. She was about three years old and you could tell by her excited behavior that this was her first time to WDW. It made us miss Erin.

The boat docked and we walked through the gates at MK. As we walked under the railroad we entered into a fairly empty Main ST. We made our way down the street and grabbed a couple hot dogs at Casey's Corner. We took a seat outside with a fairly good view of the castle; we were also able to hear Every Day's a Holiday. While we were eating we had our first bad experience with other guests. The people next to us insisted on feeding the birds. A CM quickly came over and explained why they ask you not to feed the birds.

After our lunch we headed over to tomorrowland. After reading so much about it, I wanted to try Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger. The wait was only a couple minutes and we were on our battleships. I thought this ride was pretty good. I had a very hard time hitting the targets though; I had trouble distinguishing my "bullets" from the rest. I think I only hit two targets, Becca got lucky , she hit the robot for 100,000 points. Next was on to Carousel of Progress. We both love this ride. I especially like the queuing area with the footage of Walt Disney during the design process for the attraction at the '64 world's fair. We skipped over Timekeeper, even though I really like it, because it makes Becca feel ill and went on the WEDway people mover (TTA as its known now). This ride is always a favorite of ours. It's nice to relax while getting a tour of Tomorrowland. It as especially interesting this times because the lights were on for Space Mountain.

After TTA we took a walk to Mickey's Toon Town Fair (MTTF) along the path that follows the railroad tracks. This was our first time seeing MTTF in all the times we were at WDW. It seemed to be more crowded than the rest of MK, mostly with the 10 and under crowd. I wanted to go on Goofy's Barnstormer but the line was pretty long so we made our way to Minnie's house. We both thought it was very cute. After Minnie's we visited the tent next door. The last time was at MTTF, about 6 years ago, this was a pretty fun place. They had life size characters in scenes you could get your picture with and blue screens where you could act something out and it would appear on a huge screen. Maybe I missed these things but the only thing I saw was souvenirs. It frustrated me slightly. On to Mickey's house, the attention to detail the imagineers gave to these houses is incredible. They really make this a fun place to be. We skipped over seeing Mickey and decided we better head over to MGM Studios since we wanted to see the Mulan parade at 3:00 and it was about 2:00 now.

We hopped on the train at the MTTF station and took it over to the Main St. station. We took the monorail over to the TTC and hopped on a tram, which took us straight to the diamond lot, first stop. We made our way out of the MK parking lot and over to MGM. We asked the friendliest parking attendant in the world where the diamond lot for MGM was and she pointed us in the direction with her oversized Mickey glove on her hand. There really isn't a diamond lot at MGM so they let us drive up to the front of the lot and find a spot for ourselves. We ended up parking right next to the resort bus drop-offs.

At the gate we were immediately greeted by Genie, who we had our picture taken with him and continued down Sunset Boulevard to watch the parade. As we walked down the sunset we bought a frame (which we eventually returned) and two Mickey antenna balls and had them shipped backed to our room. I was so excited about the antennae balls; I've been searching all over Florida for 76 antenna balls but none of the gas stations had any. I was very happy to find the Mickey antenna balls. We stopped at the tip board to watch the parade; this left us with the shortest route possible for Tower of Terror. The parade was very good, just like the movie. I think the Chinese theming of the movie lends itself very well to parades. After the parade I headed down Hollywood Boulevard (HB) the board said it was a 15-minute wait but I walked right into the library. After the library I took the line on the right and a half-filled elevator was waiting for me. I asked for, and was given the seat belt seat. You don't realize how much you brace yourself with your legs until the bar isn't there. I'll try to get that seat from now on. I can't go on a lot of the rides so I used this time very wisely and shopped without my husband. The shops along Sunset Blvd are great; they are some of my favorites. The watches and all of the housewares, I could be there forever, unfortunately my husband was waiting. I walked down HB looking for becca, I couldn't find her so I doubled back and she was waiting in front of Beauty and the Beast show. We took a look at the map and decided we wanted to see the Hunchback of Notre Dame (HND), which started in 75 minutes, since we've missed it the other times we were here. On our way to HND we were able to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Muppetvision 3D. We slid all the way down the row, like we're instructed, which meant we were first out of the theatre. This was key because on our way out of the theatre Kermit and Miss Piggy were waiting, with no line. We were the first to get our picture with them and when we were walking away the line was already 50 people deep.

By now it was 15 minutes until the 5:40 show time and we took a seat in the back near an exit. Becca went to grab a pop while I kept our seats. While she was gone Matt the Juggler came on stage. I've read a lot about him and was ready for a great show. I thought he would be a great juggler, but I never thought he would be so funny. Becca came back just in time to catch the end of Matt's performance. The HND show was also very good. The show ended with just enough time for us to stroll over to be seated for Fantasmic. After we were seated Becca made her way to a phone to call Old Navy about the sweater, which they no longer had in stock. Becca joined me at our seats and we decided to we would grab a bite to eat at Beaches and Cream (B&C) for dinner.Fantasmic was a great show, we both really enjoyed it, exiting the theatre was another story. The exit itself was wide enough, the walkway above the seats was a little narrow for all the people that were trying to get out. We finally made it out and were back to our car by 8:00. I really enjoyed the show, the problem is that you have to be there so early and I can't sit without having a back to my chair very long. Then the nightmare of trying to leave, next time we will just wait until the theater is cleared to avoid the crowds. We decided that we would go back to PO and relax in the hot tub before dinner.

Becca and I changed into our swim gear and walked over to the hot tub. The tub was very hot so we only stayed in for about 5 minutes. I wanted to grab a drink at the pool bar so I told Becca I would meet her back at the room. When I got back to the room we grabbed our stuff and drove over to the Yacht and Beach (Y&B) club. Having your own car makes resort hopping so easy.

B&C was incredible. We both had a cheeseburger and we split a vanilla milkshake. After dinner we walked around the resort and saw the construction on stormalong bay. After Y&B we drove over to the Boardwalk (BW) and strolled along the water. We bought some chocolates and ate the on the porch overlooking the water. By now it was 11:30 so we decided to go back to PO and call it a night.

Expenses:

Souvenirs: $23.28

Food:$34.54

February 2nd: Rain at Mexico, Finally Test Track and Boat ride down the Sassagoula

We were woken up at 8:00 by Mickey and flipped on the TV to check the weather. I wish I could get that wake up call at home. Today we were going to Epcot so we decided that we would take the bus today. When we arrived at the bus stop the hordes of people there clued me in to the fact that Epcot had its early entry (EE) today. I normally go with the theory of skipping EE but unfortunately we couldn't avoid it this trip.

We walked by spaceship earth, which had a 5-minute wait, on our way to the tip board to inquire about Test Track (TT). We were told that it wasn't open yet but it usually opens around 2:00 every day. We decided to head over to Universe of Energy (UE) since we missed it in September. Just before we arrived at the door the closed it off, so we visited the health pavilion so Becca could get a bagel. After the bagel we walked back over to UE and walked in just in time for the pre-show. Although I don't normally care for Ellen, I think this show is very entertaining and Ellen and Bill Nye add a lot to the show. As we were walking out we decided to walk by TT were we were fed the old "I don't know if or when TT will open, here's a GM button and check back later" line.

Now it was my time for a snack, so we stopped at Fountain View Café were I was hoping for a cheese danish but had to settle for a cheesecake and milk. We sat down and relaxed by the fountain. After my snack we walked through Innoventions where I e-mailed a few friends back home. We tried to take a ride on Living with the Land, but the line was pretty long so we decided to skip it this trip. At this point we had seen everything in Future World (FW) we had wanted to see and headed over to World Showcase (WS). We haven't had much luck in WS the past two times because the weather turned bad and we weren't able to see everything we had wanted to. Today's weather looked like it could rain too, but I was confident we would be fine. On our way to WS Cast in Bronze began to play. This was pretty incredible. The band consists of your typical instrument, guitar, drums, etc, but the centerpiece of the band was an organ type instrument, which had over 20 different sized bells and weighed over 2 tons.

We decided too start with Canada since last time we went the other way. As we were walking by there was a CM handing out menus for LeCellier (Becca and I didn't even know this restaurant was here). We took a walk through the beautiful gardens and made 5:45 priority seating and made our way through the shops. We walked by the Off Kilter stage, after reading so much about them I was hoping to catch a show but saw they weren't performing for awhile yet so we kept going. On our way to England we passed by a construction wall and I wondered if that was a new pavilion going up or something for the millenium celebration.

Next was England. There were already quite a few families sitting around so we had a feeling that characters would be coming out soon. We walked through some of the shops, love all that plaid, and I tried to peak over the construction fall from the garden but still couldn't see anything. After my investigating I met up with Becca and Mary Poppins, Tigger and Alice visited us, we were told Pooh was on his way. I stood in line and had my picture taken with MP again, the CM wasn't as in character today, as she was the time we saw her in December. After watching the characters interact with the children (that should be Erin with the characters) we made our way to France. I noticed there were some characters signing autographs so I went over to see them while Becca shopped. Esmerelda, the Captain and the Hunch Back were out as well as Beast, but no Beauty, bummer. Becca found me with the characters after she was done shopping and we started toward Morraco, where Genie and Jasmine were out. After walking by them, and becca getting yelled at for standing on a planter, we decided (actually I did) that we would eat at Le Cellier and cancel our Marrakesh priority seating. I know, everyone says Marrakesh is one of the best restaurants at WDW but I was really in the mood for prime rib.

While in Morocco we talked about places to grab a quick lunch, but after consulting our mini guide book we saw that other than Mexico there really wasn't any other place to grab something small that we were interested in. We jumped on the Friendship boat and headed over to Mexico. We went to Cantina de Angel and ordered the plato combinacion, which was excellent. This is a great stop for something light and great. What would a meal for us at Cantina be without a downpour? We managed to stay dry through the meal and by the time we were done the rain had stopped and it was sunny again. It was just about 2:00 so we walked over to TT to see if the CM at the tip board was right when he said they were going to open it at 2:00.

When we arrived at TT they were still feeding us the same line, but cars were starting to run. Now they were telling us that they were drying off the track because it was too wet to run. We decided we could use a break so we sat along the half wall where TT was roped off. What happened next was sudden and hectic all I know is that people instinctually started to form a single line, so I stood up and was in the front of the line. Before long on of the doors opened up and we were led, very slowly, through the queuing area which was very interesting to look at. It was awfully long too. I guess it has to be because when I walked in I looked back and the line was already atleast an hour long.

I made it into the pre show with the first group but was quickly bumped in to the second car out because there was a spare seat. SPOILER ALERT: the ride started with an incline to test acceleration and then moved on to a large room where it zing zagged back and forth through several obstacles. The first test in the room was a series of bumps, which led too a braking demonstration with and without antilock brakes. From the brake test you were taken through a corrosion spray test, a cold weather test and a warm weather test to show you an example of the tests the cars body is put through. Coming out of the warm weather test you are given a maneuverability test, which was pretty exciting, and you are shout out onto the test track. This is the part of the ride that is visible from outside. The track takes you through the backlot where I saw a large building that gives CM's a countdown until WDW millenium celebration. You are then shot around the front of the pavilion and brought back to unload. Upon exiting you find yourself in a GM showroom, while interesting to see all the cars I thought it was pretty shameless on GM's part. But on the otherhand after going through as much grief as they did with that attraction they are probably trying to recoup their losses as best they can. Overall the ride didn't live up too everything I had hoped, but after two plus years of hype its probably hard to live up to anyone's expectations.

After meeting up with Becca we started back toward the WS where we visited Mexico first. The only thing we did in this pavilion was El Rio del Tiempo, which is always a relaxing ride. We also decided that we would eat at restaurant overlooking the volcano and El Rio next time we come back. As we walked out of the pavilion there was a band playing to quite a large crowd. We didn't listen to them to long before we started to walk to Norway. In Norway we waited in a short 10-minute line for Maelstrom. This ride is another great one, telling you a story while giving you a little thrill. We skipped the movie afterward, even though the seats look like they'd be fun to sit in (I know I'm weird), and walked through the shops, where I was hit on by countless, blonde Norwegian woman. Really, I was... O.K. I wasn't. On our way out of Norway a band was playing so we stopped for a few minutes to catch some of the show before we walked down to China.

Outside of China the acrobats were performing. These little kids are amazing. I know if I even tried to do anything close to what they were doing, I would kill myself. Becca and I split fried rice and I snapped off a bunch of pictures. The attention to detail at this pavilion, especially in the roofs, is amazing. We passed on the circlevision movie and walked to Germany, where we browsed through the shops. We happen to be there exactly at 4:00 and were able to see the cuckoo clock and the hummel figurines sound the bell. From Germany we walked over to Italy where we took a well-deserved rest in the plaza. It was nice to relax and just people watch for a while. On our way out of Italy we walked through one of the shops and ended up buying ceramic tiles that we hope to work into the backslash when we redo our kitchen.

We walked through the American Adventure but decided to keep walking to Japan. All the times we've been to Epcot we still haven't visited this pavilion; there's always next Sept. Japan had a drum demonstration when we arrived. Becca's feet were starting to bother her (which only got worse as the trip went on) so we sat down to watch the performers and take a few more pictures. On our way out we browsed through the department store but didn't find anything that interested us too much. Next we walked through Morocco, which is probably our favorite pavilion. The architecture, especially the tile work is absolutely beautiful. I also took time to look at some of the artwork which I had never noticed before. Just goes to show that there is always more to discover.

After another Jasmine siting we continued our trek to Canada with a quick pitstop in France. In France there was a mime doing a performance in a large plastic bubble, the way he played the crowd was very entertaining. I also saw Esmeralda signing autographs, once again, no Belle. Leaving France we walked through the gardens at UK and saw there was a street performance going on. I can't remember the play but they were very funny, they even recruited some of the audience members as characters. I was especially impressed with the fact that they had someone signing for the hearing impaired.

At this point it was 5:30 and we were just coming up to Canada. We were seated at LeCellier right away. Our waitress, whose name I can't remember, was fantastic. She is originally from Hamilton, Ontario, which is about an hour away from Buffalo. We talked about the snow up north and she told us how she really loves it in Florida. The meal was delicious. They start you out with 3 different breads from different regions of Canada, shortly after we finished the bread our main course arrived. I had the prime rib, which was excellent and Becca had the herb crusted pork tenderloin, which was outstanding.

It was 7:00 by the time we finished dinner so we decided to grab the bus back to PO for a quick dip in the hot tub. Now my feet are starting to bother me, at the time I didn't know but I had heel spurs, I just thought it was all of the walking. When we got back to the room we looked around and realized the maid never tidied up. I don't mean to sound snobby but when you pay $100 a night you expect to come back to a clean room. I called housekeeping and after I told them 4 times the do not disturb sign wasn't on the door they said they would send someone right over. The lady from housekeeping came by and we left for the hot tub, which was a weird awkward thing. We debated on putting in a complaint but we calmed down and decided not to. This made us so crazy after a long day out and to find that our room was missed and then they tried to blame on us, we didn't even get an I'm sorry. The hot tub was very relaxing, but very hot also.

After a few minutes in the hot tub I ran to the pool to cool off. The night was perfect for a swim, very warm and not a cloud in the sky. After a trip down the serpent slide we went back to the room changed and grabbed the boat down the Sassagoula to Downtown Disney. Our main objective was to pick up he Mulan movie that was released today. The CM at World of Disney told us that we would not be able to use the coupon that I got at the Disney Store from the presale because technically they are not "The Disney Store" but rather a store at Disney. After picking up a few things and having them shipped back to the room (I love that) we made our way to Disney at Home and then to Team Mickey's where we picked up something at both.

We stopped off at the Gourmet Pantry (GP) where we picked up some chocolates and cookies to nibble on. These are our favorite little snacks we try to save some to take home but we never can. We decided to eat our snacks in front of the hidden mickey water fountain next to the GP. Sitting there eating and watching people run through the fountain was one of the most magical times of this trip. After our treats we walked to the Christmas store and saw a few ornaments we wanted to buy when we come back in Sept Our last stop of the night was to the Art of Disney store. There is some beautiful artwork at that store. I especially like the pictures with Walt and the characters around him. Unfortunately it goes for $1200. Not in this lifetime. We grabbed the boat back to PO and fell asleep watching channel 13.

Expenses:

Souvenirs:$79.49

Food:$69.77

AAA discounts:$ 6.70

MKC discounts:$ 8.27

February 3rd: The Quick Change, The Shark Wall & Bad Times at the Town Square

Today started early, a little too early for Becca. We received our call from Mickey at 7:15 today. Today was our Animal Kingdom (AK) day so I wanted to get there early, even though I know everyone gets there early and then clears out 3 hours later. That however was our plan too because we also wanted to go to Typhoon Lagoon (TL) today. We decided to drive to AK today, that way we could shoot right over to TL without having to wait for the busses and carry our swimsuits or get a locker.

We arrived at AK at about 8:30 and it was very crowded, even in the parking lot. My feet were really bad but I just kept on walking, we had to go really slow. This seemed to be the busiest park we visited our whole vacation. We strolled through the Oasis trying to stop once in a while, but with all those people rushing into the park it's hard to step aside. As we reached the summit of the Oasis we were able to see the Tree of Life (ToL). We quickly made our way past the ToL and headed toward Harambe for the Kilomanjari Safari (KS). While in Harambe I was finally able to find a cheese danish, it was delicious. We waited 5 minutes at the most before we were loaded on the truck. Becca and I both felt that there were a lot more animals this time compared to our first time here last Sept. Along with the normal animals we saw we were also treated to a giraffe standing in the middle of the road and a rhino following the truck. Even the poacher scene didn't seem so lame this time. After KS we walked through Pagnini Forest Exploration Trail which was very interesting. I especially liked the hippo's pool where you could watch them above and below the water Becca was a little freaked out about the birds but she seemed to like it too.

We left Harambe and walked over to Asia where they were having a preview of the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I think Asia is going to be a fantastic land. The walking tour was beautiful, eventhough Becca wouldn't see the bats, we both enjoyed it a lot. Once again the Imagineers attention to detail here in Asia is incredible, it really doesn't feel like you're in WDW. We left Asia and walked over to see It's Tough to be a Bug. Our seats were on the end of the row, which made the movie blurry, but besides that the show was very good. A little tip, don't sit on the end of the row at the back of the theatre, it takes forever to get past stroller row. Once we made it to the main stream we though it was about time for us to head over to TL so we said our good-byes to AK and grabbed the tram to our car. When we got to our car we noticed that there wasn't a soul in sight, so we changed into our suits in the car and were on our way in a matter of minutes.

When we pulled up to TL my greatest fears were realized, Shark Reef (SR) was closed for refurbishment! I was very depressed; SR is probably my favorite attraction at WDW. Becca consoled me as we looked for a lounge chair on the beach. I couldn't imagine this park in the summer, just seeing the empty chairs set so close to each other made me feel like a sardine. It was a beautiful day today, about 70 deg and sunny, which made for perfect sunning conditions. After a while I got restless so I went to conquer some waves in the wavepool. As I left the pool I saw becca was still resting so I walked over to Humunga Cowabunga and Storm Slides, of course to get there I had to walk by SR. The slides were very fun, even better was the fact that I didn't have to wait at all, love the off-season. I walked back to the lounge chair where Becca was and we decided to grab a bite to eat at Leaning Palms. The food was good, but once again there was a family that insisted on feeding the birds, it made us both very mad. After lunch we found a couple more chairs on the "island" overlooking the wavepool. Coming to the waterparks (at least in the off season) is so relaxing, but after a half hour of resting Becca wanted a real nap so we went back to PO where she slept for an hour as I took pictures of the resort. After taking a roll of PO I was pretty hot so I went back to the room and changed to go to the pool.

When I came back to the pool Becca was just waking up and we talked about where we wanted to eat dinner. We originally had priority seating at Olivia's but it was only 4:00 so we decided to change our reservations to Tony's Town Square Restaurant (TTSR) because we had a coupon for that restaurant and we would also be able to visit MK.

We arrived at MK at 5:00 to a light rain. This rain was enough to send a lot of people out of the park. We shopped on Main St. hoping the rain would let up, and by the time we made it to Casey's Corner it had. Pirates of the Caribbean (PoC) was our first priority. The last few times we tried to go on it, it had been closed so we made our way to Adventureland. On our way we stopped to have a Pineapple Dole Whip float and we absolutely loved it. It's even better than everyone claims. We finished the Dole whip while we walked through PoC queue right up to the boats. The ride was great as usual. From PoC we walked through the rest of Adventureland and went through Frontierland to Liberty Square. We tried to see Hall of Presidents but we had just missed the show so we walked across the street and took a ride on the Liberty Belle Riverboat. The sun was setting, which gave a warm glow over the mountain range. We've never ridden the boat before and we both really enjoyed it. As we exited the boat we walked into Haunted Mansion and then onto Fantasyland where we took a flight to neverneverland on Peter Pan. I think this is the best ride in fantasyland. After Peter Pan we walked through Cinderella's Castle on our way to dinner at TTSR. We were able to see some of the fireworks as we walked down Main St. It made me wish I had made later priority seating so we could see the fireworks, next time.

We arrived at TTSR at 7:05 and we were seated right away. The minute we were introduced to our waiter we knew we weren't going to receive and Disney "magic" from him. Our waiter whose name I didn't write down was the worst waiter we ever had, not just at WDW but anywhere. He seemed very upset we were sitting down to eat, even though they kept seating until 7:15. Thankfully the food made up for the extremely poor service. I had the spaghetti and meatballs and Becca had the chicken and spinach dish, which was incredible. When we received our bill there was a comment card along with it, which we of course filled out. Hopefully, the manager received the card, I doubt it though. This was a great place to eat, it was fun to watch everyone running for the busses and monorail as we just sat back and relaxed. I was also able to get a picture with Mickey while we were waiting for our meal; he was tucked away in the corner near the hat store. For the longest time there wasn't even a line for Mickey, because everyone was so gung ho about getting out of the park and they weren't looking around. By the time we were done with dinner Main St. was practically empty. It was nice to have the park to ourselves. This restaurant was way too expensive even for Disney, I'm sure the service didn't help the fact that I did not like this place at all. Before we left we managed to get our picture taken with Pluto. We ended up being one of the last ones out of MK at 8:00.

We boarded the monorail and decided to stay on when it reached the TTC take an extra lap around the lagoon and get off the monorail the next time it came around. We called home to see how our basset hound, Barty, was doing at gramma and grampa's without us. While Becca talked to her parents I just stared across the lagoon and watched the castle change colors, which looked beautiful as it reflected off of the lagoon. Once Becca was off the phone we took the tram out to our car and drove over to Wilderness Lodge (WL). This is probably our favorite resort. The theming and the architecture are just amazing. We were able to see the water pageant from the shore. After the show we headed back to PO where we picked up a few souvenirs and returned the picture frame we had bought at MGM earlier in the week. After our brief shopping trip we took a dip in the hot tub, this makes it every night for us and the hot tub. This sure is living.

Expenses:

Souvenirs:$10.60

Food:$66.88

MKC discount:$ 3.81

February 4th: High school reunion, Disney in a wheelchair & the Victory lap

Today was our last day at WDW. We finished our packing that we started last night and I loaded up the car. After quick once over to make sure we didn't leave anything behind we were on our way to MK. I've read a lot of trip reports on Brian's web page where people like to do shopping on there last day, not us. I think its only fitting to finish off your vacation where it all started the Magic Kingdom. We arrived at MK about 8:00 where we were directed to the diamond parking lot. We trammed it to the TTC and where we were give early entry when we showed our resort ID. It was pretty fun to walk by all the waiting people. Becca said I was rude but maybe I enlightened some people and they'll stay on property next time. After a short wait the monorail dropped us off at the MK.

By now it was about 8:30 and we were finally walking don Main St for our 8:45 priority seating at the Crystal Palace (CP). On our way down Main Street they had all kinds of characters out but this was the first time I had seen the seven dwarfs out. I was very excited, we got some great pictures. This has become a big tradition for us, breakfast at CP then the rest of the day in MK. We were seated on the adventureland side of the restaurant, which I like better. I love being able to the castle while I eat. When we were escorted to our seats Becca said she thought she recognized the manager. We asked our waitress and she told us she would see. A couple of minutes later our waitress brought over the manager, Jim White, who graduated from the same school as me and Becca a year before me (two before Becca). We talked about friends we had in common before he had to get back to work; it sure is a small world after all.

After a very filling and delicious breakfast we began to walk toward the castle when Becca's feet started to bother her a great deal. The CM at the tip board told us that wheelchairs were available at the front entrance. Rather than make Becca try to walk on her bad feet we decided to rent a wheelchair. I told Becca she to wait by the tip board and I'll go get the wheelchair for her. Today must have been tour day because all day we saw WDW tour groups all day. One of the groups was stopped on Main St. talking about the buildings so I stopped to hear what the tour guide asks who Ron and Sharon (Editors Note: should be Diane) Miller were. No one there knew, and it was very hard for me not to yell out who they were but I didn't pay for the tour so I bit my tongue and continued down Main St Tour guide beware, I'll be taking the WDW architecture tour in Sept., and I'll try my best not to get stumped.

I finally made it back to Becca where she told me about all the WDW tour groups and proceeded to tell her about the group I saw on Main St. We went through the castle to see if there were any princess but they weren't there so we wheeled over to frontierland. Becca passed on Splash Mountain but told me to feel free to go on it without her, even though I felt guilty about leaving her. She likes the ride but doesn't want to wear wet clothes on the flight home. The ride was a complete walk on and I even got the front seat. I met up with Becca and we went by Big Thunder Mountain. The wait was 20 minutes and I didn't want to leave Becca again so we headed back to Liberty Square where we visited the Hall of Presidents (HP). The show was very good, but it was hard to take Bill Clinton seriously with everything that is going on with him now.

After HP we made our way to Fantasyland where we rode Snow White (SW). I felt very guilty about using the wheelchair entrance even though the line was only 10 minutes long. After SW we saw the legend of the Lion King. We tried to leave the wheel chair outside, but after seeing Becca try to walk the CM told us there would be a short wait where we would have to stand so we used the wheelchair entrance. The show was very good, even being so close. Next was Cinderella's Carousel, which is always fun and it was a walk on. After an unsuccessful princess check at the castle we walked aimlessly by Toad's where Becca made a pit stop near the Tea Party. While waiting for Becca to get out the Quean of Hearts and the Mad Hatter came out.

We were both craving a Dole whip so we crossed the hub and picked one up. It was delicious again. We walked back to fantasy land because Becca wanted to ride It's a Small World. We hadn't been on it the last few times we were there so I guess we were due. Next we tried to ride the skyway but we would have had to leave the wheelchair here and go back and get it after the ride so we skipped on it this time. Our day was starting to run out so we decided to ride Buzz's one more time before we left. Buzz's was very chaotic so I thought we should save ourselves the aggravation and save it for next time. This left us with a little bit of time so we stopped at the bakery to grab some cookies. There was a table open outside the bakery so Becca and I sat back and enjoyed what was left of our time at WDW.

After we finished our cookies we stopped in at the art gallery at the foot of Main St. I love this store, if only I could afford some of the stuff in there. Seriously, I did find some books I didn't already have, so I pointed out to Becca for my birthday. After inspecting every piece of artwork in the store we went up the ramp for our traditional lap around the MK. The train ride was nice and relaxing and a perfect ending to our vacation. After the train we returned the wheelchair and made our way to the monorail.

We were running a little late so I ran over to the car at the diamond lot and came back to pick up Becca. The ride back to the airport was easy, until we arrived at the actual airport. It took me a couple times around the airport before I found the right ramp to drop of Becca and then to return the car, but we managed. I met up with Becca to find the plane was going to be late departing, all that stressin' for nothing. The flight home was uneventful and calm. We arrived back at Buffalo to 20 deg and wind. Which would have been fine but there were no cabs so I had to walk a half mile in it to get our car. Welcome home.

Expenses:

Souvenirs:$ 7.42

Food:$10.45

Tips and Observations:

We both love visiting Disney in the off season. We came here for a day visit in 1995 in July. It was too hot and too crowded for us to enjoy it completely. Visiting in the off season makes us feel like the park is all ours without everyone being there. Not having to wait in lines also makes it worth coming in the off season.
We enjoyed something's that we would have normally missed in the past, such as Cast in Bronze and the bubble mime in France. It makes the trip much more enjoyable. These things are also what I remember most about my trip, not the fact that was able to hit almost every ride in MK.
Having stayed at Caribbean Beach Resort on our previous two trips we decided a different resort was in order this time. We decided on Port Orleans. Not having our room cleaned when we returned at 8:30 our first night really gave us a poor impression of the resort. The lack of response to our complaints also made the resort seem less than magical. We weren't expecting a free night stay or even a gift, but a letter from the manager would have been a nice touch. On our Honeymoon we stayed at CBR and there was a mix up with some flowers that Mike had sent to the room for me as a surprise. It was not to big of a deal and they gave us the ROYAL treatment, free dinner and breakfast, lots of special treats sent to our rooms, that make you feel like you are getting what you pay for.
Having a car at our disposal was very convenient, especially for resort hopping. The car let us spend more time at the parks and less time waiting around. Of course I would still rather wait a few minutes for the busses than spend the money for the rental car.
Michael Banks

banks37@localnet.com

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