Trip Reports

Nov 26 - Dec 6, 1999

Binnie: My granddaughter, Alisha, confiscated my trip report notebook the first day of our trip, and without notes, It is practically impossible for me to write a chronological report of our 11 day stay. Thus, I humbly offer this "random thoughts" trip report as a meager account of our, Nov. 25 to Dec 6, WDW visit and attendance of the 4th Annual Holiday RADP Meet.

Beth: Binnie asked me to contribute some of my memories to her report, and I agreed. You'll note I tend to be wordy, which is why I no longer write trip reports - too much to tell and not enough time! But with Binnie doing the bulk of the work on this one, I made an exception

Touring WDW with 7-year-old girls

Binnie: On this trip to WDW, I was accompanied my 7-year-old granddaughter, Alisha, and we roomed with my friend Beth Eloheimo and her 7-year-old granddaughter, Renee. Although the girls had never met before, they struck up an immediate friendship. Having traveled to WDW several times in the past with my own children in tow, I'd say these girls got along remarkably well. The only spats that occurred were over who would push the elevator buttons and open the room door back at the resort, and these were easily solved.

Many people throughout our stay commented on how much the girls looked alike and often mistook them for sisters. Beth and I discovered rather quickly that the girls had boundless energy. Sometimes they would just spontaneously bounce up and down for no apparent reason at all. And they were always singing. Some of the lines (notice I did not say songs) that Beth and I heard over and over were, "In the Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki, Tiki room," and "Tis the season to be jolly, fa la la la laa, la, laa, la, la."

The girls were at a perfect age to enjoy the character interactions (I like to call it character pandemonium). Many meals were interrupted with shrieks and squeals of, "hurry Nana, my autograph book, where's my camera," and old Nana just couldn't seem to move fast enough quell her impetuous granddaughter's fears that the characters "would get away." Alisha simply adores Minnie and melted every time Minnie looked her way or blew her a kiss. And I had to drag her Minnie raincoat with the mouse ears on the hood out of her backpack on several occasions so she could display it proudly for her heroine.

Another thing Beth and I discovered on this trip was why they have those rope queues at the rides and attractions.....It's so kids can have something to swing on while they wait in line of course. Much to our dismay, Alisha and Renee thought that Disney was quite accommodating to provide these miniature playgrounds.

Losing things was another theme on this trip. Alisha lost or misplaced 3 autograph pens, one mitten, a pair of sunglasses, one bathing suit (pink,size 6X) and, on several occasions, an entire back pack. We also got to see the inside of every bathroom on WDW property, a tour which for me culminated with my RADP Illuminations Cruise boat having to turn around and go back to the dock so that Alisha and I could have one last look at the Yacht Club facilities. Thanks everyone for being such good sports about it.

Beth: Alisha wasn't the only one to lose things on the trip. Binnie and I lost our share too. I lost my Disneyland Annual Passholder pin that I took out to show Binnie the first night we were there and didn't find it again until I was packing to go home. I was sure it was lost forever! Of the four of us, I think Renee did the best job of keeping track of her things. I, however, will never live down the time when I was in charge of her backpack and left it sitting on a bench, only realizing it about 10 minutes later. We went back, and, luckily, it was being watched over by a couple of CMs in the area, who said if we hadn't shown up soon they were going to turn it in to lost and found.

Binnie: As far as the rides go, Beth and I were in the company of some pretty brave kids, and they rode every ride for which they met the height requirement. They also seemed to enjoy all of the shows, and I never remember either of them complaining that anything was boring. Alisha did get distracted once in the middle of the Hunchback of Notre Dame show, however, by the confetti that was dumped on the audience. By the time the show was over, her backpack was filled colorful little souvenir pieces of paper which were carted all the way back to Pittsburgh along with her other carefully collected treasures of pixie dust from Cinderella's Fairy Godmother, rock candy from Ohana's, copilot's license for riding in the cab of the monorail, beads pillaged on the Grand Floridian Pirate Cruise, a stuffed mouse "almost birthday" present awarded on the Illuminations cruise, a stuffed Zazu from the Iago & Zazu Live meet, and assorted goodies bestowed upon her from an over-indulgent grandmother. Oops! Beth and I did forget to pack those lovely "dead" bouquets of once fresh flowers that the girls made for their mothers at Alice's Tea Party over a week prior to our departure. Good thing we thought to take a picture of the girls holding the flowers earlier in the week ;-)

Beth: Brave on the rides, yes, but Renee was terrified by ITTBAB, so much so that she almost didn't want to see Muppets! Funny how a rough roller coaster ride in the dark can be less scary than some obviously fake spiders descending from the ceiling at you. At one point during the trip, someone asked me if the girls had seen AE; I told him they didn't even know it existed. Thankfully so. After Renee's reaction to ITTBAB, there is no way I would take her to AE. Maybe in about 5 years! I took my grandson Kevin when he was 9, but we held hands throughout the show and reminded each other that it was just 'pretend.'

Weather

Binnie: The extreme fluctuations of temperature during this trip just reconfirmed my belief that it is impossible to know how to pack for WDW this time of year. The conclusion I reached is to pack clothes that can be added or peeled off in layers, pack as little as possible, and wash clothes if you have to. I never cease to be amazed at how little girls will convince themselves that it's not cold out in order to go swimming.

Beth: Yes, it's tough to pack for winter in Florida. Renee and I brought about equal amounts of warm and cold weather clothes, and I ended up washing some of the cold weather stuff, while some of the warm weather clothes went unused.

Christmas Doings

Binnie: This was the first MVMCP for Beth and me. I think we both agree that the crowds were extremely hard to deal with. We only managed to see the parade, ride a few rides, and see one show. The fireworks all around MK's perimeter were fantastic however, and the snow on Main Street was magical. Two very tired little girls managed to wake up enough to chase the flakes around as we were leaving the park.

Beth: If I ever do this again, it will NOT be on a Friday night. Big mistake. I felt cheated that shows were all full to overflowing long before show time. The best time was the first hour of the party when we were able to ride BTMRR three times in a row and Splash Mt. with virtually no line at all. And of course seeing Kenny in a tie playing the bells was a high point of my trip ;-)

Binnie: We also purchased the Candlelight Processional Dinner package. We had dinner at San Angel's in Mexico and then took the boat ride. Somewhere between the restaurant and the boat ride, I discovered that Alisha had lost (there's that "losing things" theme again) her admission badge to the CP that was pinned to her shirt. The card had fallen out of its flimsy plastic tri-fold envelope. I hadn't looked at it closely before pinning it on her, but the design is really poor, and I would suggest that you carry the badge in your pocket or bag rather than pin it on if you purchase one. I was a little worried about getting into the reserved seating area with Alisha's badge missing, but we had no problem at all. The singing and narrative were powerful, beautiful and loud, and Alisha managed to sleep through most of it.

Beth: Renee also slept through it. I won't pay to do this again. I thought we would do some shopping and take advantage of the 15% discount, but we never found time until the very end of the day.

Binnie: We also went to see the Osborne Lights, and I'd advise anyone who wants to do this to do it later in the evening. We must have gotten there right as the display opened, and the procession down the street moved agonizingly slowly as we made our way packed elbow to elbow. The lights are awesome though and well worth seeing.

Beth: I think it seemed slower to us than it actually was, as the girls were cold and we were trying to get through in time to see Fantasmic! By the time we were back at the top of Sunset Blvd. and Binnie had hiked down to the locker to get the girls warm clothes out, and we got them dressed, a CM came by and informed us it was standing room only for the show. So we just walked those tired (but warm at last) girls out to the bus and back to the hotel. Renee has seen Fantasmic at Disneyland, so I didn't feel too bad. Binnie was going to try again on Sunday night after Renee and I left. How did that go, Binnie?

Binnie: We did see Fantasmic Sunday night. We sat up in the back, and left before most of the crowd so that we would get to the Illuminations cruise on time.

Millennium Stuff (the good, the bad, and the ugly)

Binnie: Let's get the ugly out of the way first. Those Leave a Legacy sculptures are really awful. And the commercial for them that continuously blares from the base of SpaceShip Earth is downright offensive. Beth was particularly put off by all the commercialism at WDW, and said so every time we passed the large McDonald's restaurant on the way to and from our All Star Resort (which reminds me of a funny story). While watching the Main Street Electrical Parade one evening, Beth mistook one of the clowns for Ronald McDonald, and almost went ballistic.

Beth: I think what I really said was something along the lines of "I wonder how long it will be before they turn one of those clowns into Ronald McDonald?" One of them does look remarkably like him! But you are right on about that horrible Leave a Legacy commercial! How could Disney turn the base of Spaceship Earth into something so crass? It reminded me of some of the really ugly, blatant examples of commercial exploitation I saw in China when I was there about 5 years ago. Nothing subtle about it at all.

Binnie: Okay, back to the Millennium Celebration....and the bad. In my opinion, there wasn't much that was unfavorable. Beth pointed out that if you go to WDW often, as she does, the ToN parade can make maneuvering World Showcase quite difficult and tedious if you don't feel like watching the parade, but I was completely taken with the new parade. In fact, the way the parade puppets interacted with our two granddaughters and even took them out onto the street to dance was one of the high points of the trip for both of us I'm sure.

And now on to the good....the Millennium Village bathrooms! As a card carrying member of LIB (Lavatory Inspection Board, inducted on this trip, thank you very much), I feel qualified to say that this is by far the largest and most grandiose restroom on property. After our routine tour of the facility, we entered Millennium Village to finish getting the girls WS Passports signed. These passports were an excellent idea, and both the girls enjoyed stopping at all of the Kidcot Stations. It made World Showcase much more enjoyable for both of them. Once inside, we all had a great time playing the soccer game in Brazil. Beth and I decided to eat dinner in the food court at Millennium Village, and I learned an important lesson: little girls do not know what they like or dislike to eat, even when they pick it out themselves. Note to self: stick to chicken fingers, hot dogs and pizza for the little ones, and leave the adventurous foods to the adults. The new millennium version of Illuminations is spectacular.

Beth: Yes, I was actually quite surprised at the amount of time we spent in WS as compared to Future World. And I think if we hadn't had the ice cream social in Future World, we would have spent even more time in WS. But the ice cream social was a lot of fun (not to mention free! - Thanks, Jen, for the coupon and thanks Laurie for arranging the meet!) We had 2 tables of five and they took one coupon per table, no questions asked.

We actually ran out of time to see and do the things we wanted to in WS. We had wanted to take the girls to all the countries' presentations of their holiday traditions, but only made it to the one in Canada! Most of our time seemed to be spent at the Kidcot stations working on masks, which was lots of fun for the girls, and those never-ending trips to the restroom.

And for the record, I do love the ToN parade, just not when I'm trying to get somewhere and it happens to be in my way. I feel the same way about the parades in the other parks.

Magical moments

Binnie: This was a trip full of magical moments that began almost the moment Alisha and I stepped foot on property. Alisha, attempting to help luggage services with our bags, was tipped 2 Disney Dollars by one of the cast members she was assisting. Her eyes got as big as half dollars and she said "they really like kids at WDW." Goofy provided the next bit of magic. Alisha discovered as she was attempting to get his autograph in the Magic Kingdom that her autograph pen was missing. Goofy immediately noticed the look of horror on her face and took her to a nearby souvenir stand where he insisted that they give her a new one.

Beth: This was such a funny sight: As soon as the pictures were taken, Goofy grabbed Alisha's hand and started walking off with her. We just sort of stared after them, not quite believing what we were seeing. Finally, they arrived at a nearby kiosk and we could see Goofy gesticulating and guessed what was going on. He seemed to meet with some resistance though, and we were a little puzzled. Later, Alisha explained that, at first, the CM working in the shop had tried to give her a new autograph book! But Goofy stood his ground and got that pen for Alisha

Binnie: Alisha and Renee both enjoyed pin trading on this trip, and a CM at Epcot provided a whole lot of magic when he gave them both a limited edition cast member pin, along with some pin trading tips. And the "on stage" cast members weren't the only one's handing out magic this trip. Many thanks to the person at the Iago & Zazu Live meet who handed Alisha the free passes to go see Disney on Ice when it comes to Pittsburgh, to our housekeeper, Gail, at the All Star Music Resort who arranged all the stuffed animals and left personal notes for the girls, and to the person who remotely controls the talking trash can, PUSH, in Tomorrowland for noticing Alisha and amazing her.

And how much more magical can a trip get then to be picked to be in the Remember the Magic Parade? But that is exactly what happened to Alisha and Renee one sunny afternoon in the Magic Kingdom as they were picked to set the table for the Beauty and the Beast dinner feast.

Magic was even to be found at Islands of Adventure as Wilbur, the mythical fountain, performed magic tricks for his tiny "new best friends." And Beth and I found a little magic ourselves as we were presented with gorgeous hand made RADP pins created by Charlotte Johnson's husband, John. Beth had a few additional magical moments that I'd love to tell you about, but I guess I really should leave something for her to write about :-)

Beth: OK, you asked for it! The first one happened at that 'other park'...you know where I mean ;-) Renee is a big fan of the Grinch (after his heart grew, of course) and so I made sure that we found time before leaving IOA that day to see a little outdoor stage show they were doing of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." We got there a few minutes early and the girls sat down on the ground to watch. I noticed there were some seats next to them (really just a cement planter ledge) that were marked 'reserved.' I had to go make a phone call and when I got back, the show was starting and the girls were sitting on those seats! I asked Binnie what was going on and she said, "I think Renee is going to be in the show!" And sure enough, Renee was taken backstage and came out later with antennae on her head and played the part of Cindy Lou Who! After the show, they gave her a huge sucker in a special Dr. Seuss wrapper as a souvenir. I'm not sure which she liked more: being in the show or getting the sucker, but she was one happy little girl

The second one happened while we were waiting in the foyer of the castle for our name to be called for the CRT breakfast. This was my last day at WDW, and I was wearing my lanyard, something I didn't often do. (Binnie and I tended to keep the pin lanyards put away, including Renee's and Alisha's, to avoid losing pins on rides, etc. I'm sure we missed out on a lot of pin trading opportunities because of this, but I think it was better to do it this way with the little girls along.)

Anyway, I had brought several TDS pins to WDW with me to trade on this trip and had traded most of them, but had kept my special Cinderella pin, the one shaped like a heart and with the year the picture was released (1950 - also my birth year) on it. I really wanted to wear this pin to the breakfast, so Cinderella would see it.

As we were sitting there, a young English girl approached me with someone (her aunt?) and pointed to my pin. "Oh, look! She has Cinderella!" They appeared to be just leaving from the breakfast. The woman explained that the girl just loved Cinderella, they had looked everywhere for a Cinderella pin with no luck, and this was their last day of vacation. I could see that the little girl (I think she was probably around 9) really wanted the pin, and after all, I had brought the pin to trade. I thought I might be able to trade for a pin I really wanted. But neither she nor the aunt were wearing lanyards or pins of any kind. So I asked the woman if they had any pins to trade, and she said the girl's mother did, but she wasn't there at the moment.

I said I would consider a trade, but wanted to see what they had to offer. The aunt is looking around frantically for the mother at this point. We both knew my party could be called at any moment and the opportunity would be lost. I asked the aunt if she had any pins on her at all. She said, yes, she had a Disney MGM Studios pin and she pulled it out of her purse. It was the Earful Tower, a cute pin, but very common and easy to find in the parks. Not wanting to disappoint the young girl, I said sure and we made the trade. They both thanked me profusely and then left.

A minute later, they were back, in tears, thanking me again, and hugging me and kissing me! The aunt told me that I had made the little girl's entire trip! They were both so happy, it was wondrous to see. I felt good to have made them so happy, but was a bit embarrassed by all the attention. Finally, they went away again, and our group was called. As we are starting up the stairs to breakfast, another woman appears, introducing herself as the mother of the girl, and thanking me all over again, telling me what a special person I am, and how I will be blessed for being kind to her daughter, and on and on, followed by more tearful hugs and kisses!

As I said at the time, I've never been kissed by so many strangers at one time before! Actually, I'm not sure I've ever been kissed by a stranger before It was a magic moment I won't ever forget.

RADPers & meets

Binnie: I managed to make some of the meets I wanted to attend, was late for others, and completely missed a few, but I always managed to meet a lot of wonderful people, and at the very least put faces to some of the names I'm always reading about on RADP. I spent sometime getting to know Wendy (the woman with the Mickey shaped mole on her belly, now you don't see that every day) and Laurie Johnson while we waited for our children to return from the pirate cruise at the Grand Floridian. Later we met them again at the Ice Cream Social. After the "Social," Arlen Miller (Dream Finder) took us to the Kodak VIP lounge in the Imagination Pavilion and gave us some pin trading tips.

We were a little late arriving at the Big Meet, but got there in time to be in the picture and meet up with some of our group going to Epcot. I briefly met Bartender Sam, and at least I think I could pick him out of a line up. I met Zazu, and locals Steve and Bill at the Adventurer's Club. Later at the All Star Mini Meet, I met Sue and Iago, and finally learned who Sean and Meeko were. I believe Sean got my hometown gift of a Steeler's Terrible Towel, and I got a cute little "bobby" on the telephone from England. I met Pam K. and hubby at the MVMCP meet, and bought another one of those lovely RADP pins from Judy Shaw. Kimfudge and I only live a few miles apart, but every year at this time I travel all the way to WDW to give her a hug and say howdy. Beth also pointed out Kenny playing his bells at the MVMCP. I got to spend some time chatting with Jan B. and hubby Mike, and Charlotte and John Johnson which was a real pleasure. I met a lovely couple Sarah and Jay on the way to the Iago and Zazu Live meet. Of course I know I'm omitting people, but the whole thing is a little over whelming, so I think I can be forgiven.

Beth: Only ;-) if I can be forgiven for having so little (if any!) time to spend with my many RADP friends on this trip. I caught glimpses of many of you at the big meet, but had time to say hello to so few As I look at the picture I see many more of you that I recognize, and had wanted to meet, but never actually got to meet. I hope you are all planning to come back next year! ;-)

I'm sorry I was too tired and had to pack for my return flight, so was unable to attend the All Stars Mini Meet. I sent my Seattle's Best Coffee Special Christmas Blend with Binnie and she chose a gift in a cute little bag for me while she was there. There was no card, but my thanks to whoever gave me the Old Bay Seasoning in the cute little handmade RADP-Christmas gift bag. Very clever.

I also regret that I had to leave on Sunday and missed so many wonderful get togethers, like the illumination cruise (with my disneydieter buddies) on Sunday night and Iago and Zazu live on Monday. I told Bruce the previous week I was going to try to get bumped, just so I could see that, but unfortunately there was no bumping done on our flight out of Orlando

The DisneyDieters

Binnie: Many of my DisneyDieter buddies made this trip, and I was so happy to meet them all. Pam and her son Craig joined us for an afternoon of touring World Showcase very early in our trip. What a sweet and helpful young man her son is, and I got a kick out of the way they were always talking to each other on their two-way radios. Next, I ran across Roberta (Virgo) at Animal Kingdom. She had been keenly on the look out for RADP buttons and spotted mine. The rest of the Dieters I met up with at our Crystal Palace meet before the MVMCP. Don, Laurie, and Joe of course I had met last year, but this was my first meeting with Chrisie and Sherry. Sherry is very punctual, with a great southern accent, and was always the first one to arrive at any meet. Thank you Sherry for taking a turn at the kids table so that Beth and I could chat with the adults. Chrisie is lovely, and bubbly, and seemed a little out of place with her quiet family. Chrisie was my companion for a wonderful evening in the Magic Kingdom, and graciously supplied me with a ride back to my resort with my sleeping grandchild after the Illuminations Cruise. Thank you so much Chrisie.

After our Crystal Palace dinner we all went to provide Joe with a "family" for his MVMCP portrait before going our separate ways. Most of us managed to meet up several more times during the weekend for the Ohana's meet and the Cinderella's Royal Table meet. Memorable moments were provided by Joe who was spun silly in the Tea Cups by the little girls in the group who really took a liking to him. According to Joe "they recognized his child spirit." It was also pretty cool to play Roberta's family one night, and get right back on Big Thunder Mountain after getting off, as she loaded from the handicap zone. We also got a kick out of seeing Joe get his picture taken with Cinderella. This probably seems a little blasé to the Adventure Club going, Jungle Cruise hijacking crowd (I really wished I could have made that one), but we "were" traveling with small children.

Beth: Yes, and I hate to say this because I really did have a wonderful trip in so many ways, but I found that having the children along made it a lot tougher to get places and to meet and chat with people in a relaxed way. I guess I'd forgotten just how tough that can be, even with children as good natured, well behaved, and easy going as Renee and Alisha. I think for next year's big meet, I will be traveling sans children I guess I'm just a little selfish in that regard. I'll bring the grandkids at other times, but from now on, no kids for me at the big meet.

Fun of a different type (you know at that other park)

Binnie: Beth, Joe, the girls, and I, along with Beth's friend Brian and Joe's friend Debra, made a day trip over to IOA about mid vacation. I succeeded in talking Joe and Debra into riding in the front of Ice Dragon, treating them to that wonderful near miss with the castle wall. Even though it was pretty chilly, we were brave and rode all of the water rides (some of us with ponchos, and some without, but I'm not naming names). The girls defiled their Disney autograph books with the signatures of some of those other characters like the Cat in the Hat, and a great time was had by all.

Pin Trading (or Beth & I get down & dirty)

Binnie: I had a great time pin trading this trip, and think I may be hooked on the hobby, especially since I've visited Ebay a few times since I've been home. Beth and I may have gotten a little competitive in this regard. She had a Steam Boat Willie pin which she brought for trading, and I wanted. She wasn't giving it to me for just any old pin though, and I didn't seem to have too much that interested her. Later in the week I had an opportunity to trade one of my pins for a pin that Beth wanted, and I did it. My grand plan was to use the newly acquired pin to tempt Beth into a trade for that Steam Boat Willie. Things didn't turn out exactly as planned, but I did come home with the Steam Boat Willie pin, and Beth got a pin that she wanted too. Hey Beth, remind me to have you pick up some pins for me when you're at DLP.

Beth: OK, Binnie, will do And btw, you know that Tinkerbell pin you traded away to get that CM Asia pin to trade for Steamboat Willie? I saw that in the Disney Store Friday night, so let me know if your store is out and I'll pick it up at mine for you. I know how much you liked that little pin. And I love my CM Asia pin.

You're mess'n with me baby (okay, we spent too much time in the Tiki Room)

Binnie: This is the part of the trip report where I get to complain about a few things. The first has to be the waiter at Ohana's who attempted to server Alisha and Renee alcoholic beverages without carding them first. I know it sounds incredible, but it really happened. He brought them each a frozen strawberry daiquiri in place of the frozen strawberry banana drinks they had ordered. When the drinks arrived, he asked who ordered the daiquiris and the girls raised their hands since the drinks looked very much like the ones they had earlier. I objected asking if those were alcoholic drinks, and he replied, "yes," as he served them to the girls. Finally I had to spell it out to him that they absolutely could not have the drinks.

My other major gripe is the difference between the bus transportation for the All Star Music Resort and the All Star Sports Resort. On 3 different occasions there were All Star Sports busses double parked at the Magic Kingdom stop with hardly a soul in line (it happened again on my last day Beth), while the All Star Music people waited for over 25 minutes without a bus, and a huge line. Now what's up with that?

Beth: To both of these gripes, I can only add "amen!" Incredible as it may seem, he was actually going to serve alcoholic drinks to 7 year olds. I know other cultures have different customs, but surely the waiters at Ohana know what the liquor laws are in the state of Florida? About the buses, I asked one of the bus drivers, who told me each of the All Stars runs 3 buses to the MK, theoretically one every 20 minutes. But it sure seemed like the All Star Sports had more buses than Music and Movies combined some times!

Insider tips discovered on this trip

Binnie: While visiting with Arlen at the Kodak VIP Lounge, he tipped us off that any children who are too short to meet the height requirement of a given ride can present themselves to the attraction's gift shop and receive an nicely printed certificate inviting them to go to the front of the line once they become tall enough. Arlen also said that if you ask to steer the Liberty Bell river boat, not only will you be allowed, but you will be presented with a piloting certificate suitable for framing. Another tip that Beth and I learned on our own, was that if you can't get reservations for the children's Pirate Cruise, present yourself at the Grand Floridian Marina dock slightly early, and you have a good chance of your child getting to go anyway. To get special attention from the characters in the parade, instruct your children to smile and wave a lot. It really pays off.

Beth: Well, I can't think of anything to add to what Binnie has written here, so will just say thanks for reading! If you have any questions, feel free to email me at thebeth@lightmail.com

Binnie: I hope you enjoyed reading our joint random thoughts trip report. Questions can be directed to Binnie at betten@home.com

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