Trip Reports

The Players

Judy - age 40? - 7th time at WDW - first time on property for more than one night
son- age 16 - same as myself for WDW experience
husband- age 40? - never been to WDW
Day 1 - leaving Boston - arriving WDW

We flew out of Logan airport in Boston on Delta Express at 4:25 pm with an estimated arrival time at MCO of 7:40 pm. I have flown many times but this was the first time that I felt so cramped in the seat. I am 5’6”. My husband and son are over 6” tall. All of us felt as if our knees were somewhere around our neck during the flight. It was almost impossible to try to retrieve anything stowed under the seat. I spent the entire flight reading the magazine in the seat back. We had an uneventful flight except when we were arriving closer to Orlando. Out of the left side of the plane we could see fireworks. It was about 7 pm so everyone assumed they were the fireworks at the MK. I don’t know if they were or just some fireworks from a carnival but they were nice anyway. We ended up arriving about 20 minutes early because I guess the plane had found some favorable wind currents to speed up the flight. We took the monorail to the baggage claim area and literally bumped into my parents who had come to pick us up. The drive to the Contemporary took a little longer than necessary because my dad made a wrong turn and we ended up in bumper to bumper traffic on some highway. Luckily were able to turn around pretty quickly and get in the right direction. I love approaching the Contemporary at night when all of the lights are on. It just looks so beautiful. I couldn’t believe we were actually going to be staying here for 3 nights.

I went to check in while the others parked the car and got the luggage. I had faxed a room request 2 days earlier. In it I had mentioned that last time we stayed here we had room 6119, a ground floor room facing the lake. I wanted a similar location. We were given room 6113. Exactly what I wanted. I was thrilled! I love facing the lake, and even though it is a walk to the main building, you feel miles away from civilization. Then you walk a little way, and the Tower is facing you. I don’t know how many pictures I have taken of it from this angle.

We walked back to the Tower after we had dropped off our luggage and went to the Food and Fun Center to get something to eat. Afterwards, my parents left and we returned to our room to watch the Electrical Water Pageant. I love watching this. We all then decided to try to get to sleep as we wanted an early start in the morning. I left a wakeup call for 8am (early enough for a Saturday!) and said goodnight. Around 1am the people in the room above us came back from wherever they had been and woke me up. They walked very loudly, as though they had big boots on and slammed doors and turned the TV on loud. I thought they were a little inconsiderate. Considering the latest park closing was 9pm that evening, they could have assumed that most people might not still be awake. But finally I fell back asleep, to be awakened by Mickey at 8am.

Day 2 - MGM, Epcot,

We woke up at 8am and my husband and I went to the Food & Fun Center to get some coffee and breakfast. We brought this back to the room and sat outside on the patio to eat and watch the boats sail by. This is one of the things I enjoy most about staying here.

After we were all fed and dressed we decided to head to MGM and ride Tower of Terror and Rock n’Roller Coaster and the Great Movie Ride. Of these three my son and I had only ridden the Great Movie Ride. We went to the bus stop and the bus came almost immediately. There only about 15 people on it. It went directly to MGM. As we walked down the main street, a photographer took our picture and told us where we could pick it up later. We never did. Actually we totally forgot about it until much later that day. Oh well, it probably came out bad . LOL. We went straight to ToT and there was hardly any wait. I was wearing my RADP pin and a CM, Melissa, who worked there recognized it. That was only the second time anyone has known what it was. The other person was also a CM, last December. I have to admit that after the door opened the first time, at the top, I closed my eyes for the rest of the ride. But when it was finished, we all decided that we had to do it again. Again there was no wait. ‘This time I kept my eyes open. I loved it!!! We were seated in the front row both times. The second time we bought the picture because we were all looking forward and looking normal (LOL). Usually on ride pictures one of us has their eyes closed or the person in front of us blocks us out of the picture.

After ToT we decided to head for RnRC. There was a good size line so we got a fast pass and went over to the Great Movie Ride. I had ridden this on my only visit to MGM in 1989. So it seemed like a new ride to me. I really liked the Wizard of Oz part. We then went back to RnRC and went through the Fast Pass gate. As soon as were about to turn the corner where I assume you can see the coaster, people were coming back and telling us that it had broken down. We decided to leave the park then as we wanted to go to Epcot for lunch.

We took the bus from MGM to Epcot. We only waited about 10 minutes for the bus. Again there were very few people on it. I love the 2000 logo on Spaceship Earth. I took a few photos of it. We went over to Test Track to see how the lines were. They were longer than I hoped and there was a 60 minute wait. We decided to try the single rider line and were able to ride in a very short time. My husband and I even got seated together. My son rode in another car. This ride is great!!! I love the straightaway outside the building where the car goes so fast. This is definitely one of my favorite rides now. Then we walked over to World Showcase as we planned to eat at Akershus in Norway. I know some people don’t like it here, but I am Scandinavian and have grown up on foods like pickled herring. I knew my husband would enjoy being able to sit down and have a cold beer with lunch. There is quite a selection of food to pick from. Too much! It was very good. I was wearing a t-shirt from New Sweden, Maine. Our server noticed it and asked me if I was Swedish. I told here my dad was born there and she was very interested to hear that. We didn’t have dessert here as we were all so full. But the table next to us did and wow, the desserts looked absolutely wonderful. Next time I will have to save room. I used my MKC card, and three lunch buffets, two soft drinks and a beer came to $44.00. That ended up being our biggest meal expense.

After lunch we went to Mexico and rode El Rio del Tiempo. I always enjoy this. Then we went to China and watched the acrobats for a little while. I bought a calendar in the big store there. We then made our way over to the Land as I had made PS seating for the Ice Cream Social at 3:00. This was part of our Magic Delivery package. It was the only coupon we used. We had to wait about 10 minutes for a table. I’m not sure why as not many tables were filled. The ice cream comes in a cone, glued to a chocolate chip cookie with melted chocolate, and the cookie is also “chocolate-glued” to the plate. As we were eating, Farmer Mickey came up behind me a tapped me on the shoulder. He was so cute. Then a few minutes later Dale also came up behind me. Dale noticed my RADP pin and pointed to it. I asked if he knew what it was. He shook his head. So I thought “do I explain the significance of RADP?” I just ended up saying “that means I am Judy”. He seemed satisfied with that. This was a lot of fun. There as an older couple seated near us and they really got such a kick out of meeting the characters. I enjoyed watching them.

By now it was about 2pm so we decided to head back to the resort as I wanted to try the pool, my son wanted to write postcards and my husband just wanted to relax for awhile. We took the monorail to the TTC and from there the resort monorail around to the Contemporary. It was getting a little cloudy by now but I wasn’t going to let it stop me from swimming. The pool water was cooler than I had expected. But after awhile I got used to it. I also tried the water slide. It is a lot of fun, except at the end. For a few seconds you feel as if you are not going to surface fast enough to get your breath! From here I decided to go into the hot tub. There was another woman there and a young boy. The woman and I started talking. She was from Texas (I forget what city) and was with a group called Kidd’s Kids. It is sponsored by radio station KIDS. It works like the Make-A-Wish foundation. She is a social worker and was there with 182 people, all families with terminally ill children. The radio station had paid for them all to stay for the weekend, supplied vouchers for lunch and dinner each day and also bought park hoppers for all of them for the 4 days they were there, Friday - Monday. I was very impressed with their generosity. I also thanked God that my son is healthy. We talked for quite awhile, until we felt that we were getting cooked! I left her and went back to the room to see if everyone was ready to head off to the MK. On the way I saw a little bunny rabbit sitting on the grass happily eating. He was so calm! I have 3 pet rabbits and only one is this calm around people.

We got to the MK about 7pm and decided to head over to Splash Mountain. There was a short wait. We were able to get the first two rows. Getting wet isn’t as much fun when it is not hot & sunny out, but we survived. I love the big drop. After this we walked around Frontierland for awhile. When the MSEP parade started, we were about 4 people back in line. Not too bad because the people in front of us were all shorted than us.(LOL) The MSEP was everything I had known it would be. Wonderful! They had one slight malfunction when Pete’s Dragon went dark for a minute or so. Then it came back on. We were able to videotape the entire parade.

After the parade we started to head out, stopping at Casey’s Corner for hot dogs and then over to the Confectionary Shop to buy a chocolate-covered marshmallow thingie that I heard Sue mention so often! It is very sweet and now I know why it takes a few days to eat one.

One thing that puzzles me is, I know people camp out to get parade spots. And when we were on our way out of the park, they were getting their spots for the 10pm parade. We had to walk from one side of the street to the other to get to the candy store. I was surprised at how many people sitting on the side of the road seemed to be glued to their spot. It was very hard to walk around them as most didn’t move an inch. Now I was not trying to steal their spot, just get from point A to point B. God knows what would have happened if I had stepped on a hand or some other body part.

We then left to return to our room and another show of the EWP. Then off to sleep with some vague thoughts of getting up at 6am to go to the AK for 7.

Day 3 - MK, Epcot

I woke up first at 8am and showered and dressed then went down to the Food & Fun Center. Getting up this late we decided to skip the AK until another trip. I think next time I stay here I will try the Concourse Steakhouse for breakfast at least every other day. This morning I felt like Hawkeye Pierce in the “Adam’s Ribs” episode of MASH .That is the one where he says, the choice for dinner better not be liver or fish, as it had been for days. Sure enough it was liver or fish and then he and his buddies went to great lengths to get a shipment of Adam’s Ribs sent over from Chicago. Anyway, the breakfast choices are limited, bacon & eggs, Danish, bagels, toast, cold cereal. I took some cereal, a Danish and a bagel with me back to the room so everyone could have a choice. And refilled the mugs with coffee. Back in the room we sat outside to eat. Three ducks came up to me to see if I had anything for them. One even went past the sliding glass door into the room to see what was in there. I took a couple of pictures of them.

After everyone had eaten, showered and dressed we went over to the MK. It was very uncrowded. It was great. We first went to Alien Encounter. There was a small boy, about 3 or 4 on the ride who started screaming as soon as the lights went off. Then he cried for the rest of the ride. And all the way out back into Tomorrowland. I don’t know why his mother brought him on it. I think it is too intense for small children. After this we went to Space Mountain. There was hardly any wait. For the first time this ride really bothered my stomach. I don’t think I will ride this again. Maybe getting older, certain rides bother me more. Or maybe it is because I had the flu earlier in the week! My husband didn’t like it much either. Of course my son loved it. Then we went to Carousel of Progress. This has always been a favorite of ours. Then on to Fantasyland and Snow White’s ride. Our car was Grumpy and this became an omen for the next few hours. Following Snow White, my husband and I decided to ride IASW. Our son didn’t want to ride it so he said he would wait and then we all would go to to BTMR. Well, sounds like an easy conversation right?

Wrong. When we exited IASW, he was no where to be seen. We decided he must have gone up to BTMR. We waited there for a long time, hoping he would walk by. No luck. Then back to Fantasyland. Not here either. He had mentioned going back to the room after BTMR but I thought he would have told us exactly when he was going. During all of this walking my husband was getting cranky and the Disney Magic didn’t seem to be there for him. Finally I got the brilliant idea of calling the room to see if indeed our son had returned there. Sure enough he answered the phone. He was just leaving to play basketball. I guess what he said and what I thought he had said about his plans were not the same. At least I knew where he was . By this time my husband was definitely showing signs of not wanting to walk any more so I “suggested” he return to the room also. He did. Then I had the rest of the afternoon to myself. But by then I felt bad that I was alone and the weekend had not turned out to be as magical for us all as I had hoped. I wandered over to the Pirates of the Caribbean and there was no line so I walked right on. Then over to Splash Mountain. Here there was a short wait. I had the second row to myself. After this I decided I should try to get something to eat and maybe I would feel better. I went to the Columbia Harbor House and had the chicken-fish strip combination. It was very good, but too much for one person to eat. Then I decided to go back to the room and see what kind of moods everyone was in.

It was a very short trip on the monorail back to the resort and back to the room. Surprisingly, they were both in good moods and were waiting for me as they wanted to go to Epcot and see Illuminations 2000. It was about 4pm now and as my husband had not eaten since breakfast, we again went to the Food & Fun Center where he picked out a chef’s salad. I sat while he ate then we went back to get our son. We took the monorail to the TTC and then switched to the Epcot monorail. I had never ridden to Epcot this way and really enjoyed it. It is a nice long ride and I like the way the monorail goes over Future World before it stops. We took some more pictures of the 2000 logo on Spaceship Earth. I love looking at it!

We decided to see how the lines were on TT. It said 60 minutes. I wanted to do the single rider line but was outvoted. We waited in line. I like the waiting area and the time passed fairly quickly. Finally it was our turn. I love this ride, but it is over too quickly! Afterward we checked out the cars in the showroom. Most people were looking at the Cadillac SUV. $45,000 is a little too high for my budget, but it was very nice. Then we headed over to WS and decided to get a seat outside in Mexico and wait for Illuminations. It was now about 8pm.My son had stopped at the Electric Umbrella for a cheeseburger and fries. We were able to get a table pretty quickly at the Cantina. I went and bought myself a frozen margarita and a churro and a beer for my husband.

The Tapestry of Nations parade started and we could hear the music but really couldn’t see it as it turns off right before the Mexico pavilion. I could have gotten up and walked out to the sidewalk, but I was happy just sitting and listening to the music. Illuminations 2000 started. We all enjoyed the fireworks display in this. I couldn’t see the pictures projected on the globe very well so don’t really know what they depicted. Oh well, I guess my eyesight is not what it used to be. Another sign of age, LOL. Then finally, back through the crowds to the monorail. We were lucky in that we caught the first monorail back to the TTC and then the resort monorail. We were back at the resort at about 10:10. Just in time to see the last part of the EWP.

My son and I looked around the shops a little. I bought a short-sleeve white polo shirt with the Contemporary logo on it. I also bought a little plastic candy filled bank for a friend of mine who is going to WDW for the first time in March. She can use this to save money for the trip. LOL. Then back to room and packing.

Day 4 - going home & final

We had to get up at 7am in order to be ready when my parents came to get us at 9am. I hated to leave but hope to return in two years. Next year I think my vacation money will have to be used for something practical like a new car. I can’t drive a 1989 one for very much longer! We had a very uneventful trip home. My cats were very happy to see me.

I know most of you, and probably myself if I had been alone or with just my son could have done twice what my family did this weekend. But I purposefully planned it to be a low-key visit, with planned sit-down meals and breaks so no one would go home feeling exhausted. Unfortunately I don’t think the magic rubbed off on my husband. But as long as he lets me go without him, I’ll be happy!

I think that overall we had a very nice time this weekend. A few rough patches, but not enough to ruin the trip in any way. I think the high point for me was the MSEP, my son would probably pick riding TT twice. My husband would probably pick feeding the ducks!

When I first returned I felt bad because all I could think of was what went wrong on Sunday. But in writing this, I realized how little time that took out of a wonderful weekend. I remember the expressions on my son's and husband's faces after we rode TT and ToT. How we all yelled" let's do it again!!!." I loved watching my husband's face when he first saw Spaceship Earth and realized that we could go up inside it. ( I forgot to put that in the TR but we did ride SE.) Overall I know that we did have a good time, and we each enjoyed WDW in our own way.

And again, I want to thank the RADPer's for all their information and suggestions. I have learned so much from reading this newsgroup.

Thanks for reading,

Judy Fallon

JFallon864@aol.com

__________________
You just read a trip report that was originally published in our MousePlanet Trip Reports column.

Reader-submitted trip reports have always been an extremely popular feature here at MousePlanet. In order to improve the search functionality and shorten the time from when you submit a trip report and the report gets published, you can now post your trip reports directly to our Trip Report forums. The forums are moderated, but reports should become available for reading very quickly.