Trip Reports

December 1999 (four nights including Christmas)

This is my official trip report for my Christmas Walt Disney World four night stay (12/22 to 12/26/99). "We" are two adults, no kids. I have been visiting WDW since 1975.

Our stay was at the Wilderness Lodge. I choose to arrive at night because I like getting the travel part out of the way. Personally, I think it is too exhausting to travel in the morning, check-in, and start doing the parks. I like waking up well rested with the feeling of "already being there". Another advantage to arriving at night is a quick check-in. I don't like having to wait until 3pm to get in a room. The obvious disadvantage is you are paying for the "extra" night. Oh, well...

This is my favorite resort at WDW for several reasons. When I am there, I feel like I am somewhere completely different. The fact that you can't see any other resorts (from some rooms you can see the bits of the Contemporary, Grand Floridian, Poly through the trees) and the fact that the resort is situated on a HUGE natural lake really makes you feel isolated and completely enveloped within the theme of the Wilderness Lodge. Once you experience your morning coffee in the hot tub at the edge of the lake with the geyser going off in the background with the beautiful view of the hotel in your field of view, YOU will be hooked as well I promise! On the way to the hot tub every morning, I passed a family of ducks floating the main pool. (I remembered to bring my refill mug I purchased from my last WL stay I love this system, free refills!) I also love this place because it is all under ONE ROOF! It is a small resort and I love the intimacy. After walking all day in a theme park "death march", the last thing I want to do is walk miles more at the resort. My morning "coffee trip" did not feel like a chore here as it did at Coronado Springs. When I was hotel hopping to see the Christmas decorations at the other Disney resorts, I noticed that even at the Grand Floridian you have separate buildings. In other words, if it was raining, I have to leave my building to go to the main building for breakfast. My second resort choice would be Yacht and Beach. Each are also small and under one roof.

Christmas at the Wilderness Lodge was magnificent! The tree and decorations were well themed to include such things as Indian Tee-Pees, antlers, covered wagons, cowboy boots, and natural elements such as twigs. The (very large) Indian Tee-Pees were lit from the inside and looked great on the main tree. I also enjoyed the gingerbread village in the lobby complete with a monorail and a movie theatre with a midnight show of Rocky Horror (ahhh... High School). The lobby offered cider on a couple of the nights and on Christmas morning we awoke with a Mickey candy stocking hung on each doorknob of the hotel! (By the way, I am now addicted to this hard candy! It is like Jolly Ranchers only different.) I really enjoyed seeing how families setup their Christmas gifts all over the hotel. There were groups opening presents in the lobby around the tree, upstairs in the fireplace lounges, and I even saw presents setup on balconies from my room. What a great way to spend Christmas! Afterwards I was dodging kids playing with their new toys in the lobby - remote control cars, etc.

The following is some interesting "Lodge" news. The arcade previously adjacent to Roaring Forks has been moved thank you Disney! It is now off the walkway leading to the busses in a much larger space. I suppose they did this for two reasons to expand Roaring Forks and to make the arcade accessible to the new DVC villas which are opening in 4 months. Roaring Forks is also going down in January to rework their new found space with another food pickup window, condiments, tables and so forth. One WL CM mentioned the hotel has plans on file to create another counter food service IN the rocks that make up the waterfalls in the courtyard. If needed, the hotel will add this I was told. The DVC villas were starting to show their final "look" red asphalt tile rood, muted green clapboards, beautiful multi-pane windows. I look forward to seeing this completed but also wonder if the hotel's current facilities could support another five hundred people!? I was told those "DVC people" will be sharing the current pool, restaurants, etc. I hope the WL doesn't feel crowded once the villas open.

About my room: I loved my room location. I was on the fifth floor with my room opening into the main lobby. It was over Whispering Canyon and I could see the Smoke House. We smelled bacon EVERYWHERE! I was also able to get a glimpse of the monorail, GF and Poly. One night I saw the MK fireworks at the tree line. A couple floors up I imagine you would have a great view of the fireworks. The room carpet looked worn. It looked like it needed to be replaced.

A general observation before I get too deep in my report, there were so many Japanese, Chinese, and Hispanic people during this visit. I usually go in October where everyone seems to be British. What time of year do the Brazilian teens show up? Anyway, it was nice to see a different type of crowd during this visit. Another general observation was the smell of bacon everywhere! Was it the Turkey legs? WL Smoke House? Restaurants? - I was salivating everyday! Another predominate smell was ginger. The MK parade had a gingerbread sequence that smelled of ginger and the full size gingerbread house booths were great. Here they sold, you guessed it! GINGERBREAD COOKIES!! There was one at Epcot and the Grand Floridian lobby.

Day One Thursday morning we took the boat to MK. I was concerned MK would be a madhouse because of the holidays and it was a MK surprise morning... BUT I WAS WRONG!!! One thing I have to emphasize for my three days of park hopping was the LIGHT CROWDS! "Why?", I want to know!? Perhaps it was that Christmas fell on a Saturday and most people planned to visit the following week. Or the school holiday schedules or the cold. I must also emphasize the cold. It was in the 40's and one night it hit 27F! That's right frost! The fake snow at the parks could have been real with these temps instead of soap foam. The soap-foam fake snow looked great by the way, it "melted" when it hit the ground. This was the best MK visit I have had in a long time. The place was decorated and alive with entertainment. The band in Tomorrowland rocked. The Christmas parade was really well done and a lot of fun. I was hoping for some elaborate Main Street Christmas window displays but didn't see them.

Magic Kingdom certainly has its own magic compared to other Disney parks. I love their Tomorrowland. It is the best! The motes surrounding the hub are beautiful. The entrance is to the park terrific and unique. It really makes you feel you are entering another world and embarking on an adventure! I think the Splash Mountain/Frontierland Station area looks great and Tom Sawyers Island is the best! I noticed some improvements in the Jungle Cruise area. They added a remote control boat area and those totem pole guys that stand guard at the entrance to Jungle Cruise now randomly squirt water. They create a nice kids' "cool-off" place. It was fun to see the Main Street Electrical parade again. I forgot how good that was! The fireworks were also fun. I really noticed how Frontierland has filled in with all the trees. I don't know why this stuck me during this visit, but it did. Oh yeah... The smell of bacon again (or is that the Turkey legs?).

In my past posts, I have said how Disneyland Paris is a better designed park. The traffic flows are well thought-out and the spaces/attractions are better designed. There is a level of interaction with the buildings/spaces at DLP that you don't get at most of the MK lands. For example, the castle at MK is a one-path walk through, while the castle at DLP is a multi-path, multi-level experience. You explore the DLP castle by going upstairs, outside on a balcony, below in a dragon's den, and explore paths around the base of the castle. The same holds true for their Phantom Manor versus MK's Haunted Mansion. At MK, The HM is propped up on a hill as scenery. The HM entrance is a room below where as Phantom Manor has a yard to explore that leads you to the very front door. Entering in the front door feels very natural and real. You really interact with the structure. It is an approach that holds true to most of DLP. To be fair, DLP is 30 acres bigger and their "lands" really envelop you versus MK where the lands are smaller and don't give you a real sense of exploring the "land" (with the exception of MK's Tomorrowland) With that said, I must now state that MK's Tomorrowland wins over DLP hands down! If MK's Tommorrowland was at DLP with DLP's Space Mountain... now THAT would be perfection!

During most of my MK visit I was comparing to DLP. I have noticed MK implementing some DLP touches. For example, the beanstalk in Fantasyland, the geysers next to the Big Thunder Railroad exit on the Rivers of America, the colorful tall metal "flowers" at the mad tea party are all DLP influences. It is nice to see the improvement to MK. I realized that MK has had 30 years of development and there is a LOT more to do than DLP, but 30 years from now, who knows. It is fair to say that MK has its own magic.

My first Fastpass experience was with Space Mountain and let me say, this is a great system! I was surprised how many people didn't understand how the system worked. Many of the lines were held up by people repeatedly shoving their cards in to get tickets even after the CM explained you must first use your current fastpass ticket before you can get a second fastpass. I also got on Pooh with Fastpass.

Space Mountain seemed to be faster this visit. Then I remembered reading the cars were changed a while back. My last MK visit was too crowed to do Space Mountain. Pooh was a cute ride. It was very dimensional and had great effects and movement. Hey... it's a kid's ride so I'm not expecting an E-ticket here. I read a lot of criticism about Pooh I feel was not deserved. I mean, take it for what it is everything can't be Splash Mountain.

Another big difference for my visit during Christmas were the extended hours. They really make a difference. I usually visit during a time that has MK open until 7pm. It was nice having it close later.

Some final notes on Magic Kingdom I can't wait until they remove the Skyway Towers and supports. I was never a fan of them. I felt they "junked-up" the place. They seemed tacky and contributed to a "carnival feel." I also cringe every time I get to the Small World loading area. (I suppose it is not bad if you have never seen Small World at Disneyland or Disneyland Paris.) I look forward to the remodeling of MK's Fantasyland (if it ever happens). DLP's Fantasyland makes Mk's version look like a tacky roadside carnival. I "discovered" Liberty Square's Sleepy Hollow food service. They had GREAT coffee and deserts. I enjoyed watching them bake their goodies. (The same goes for coffee place in the Electric Umbrella at Epcot.) I enjoyed Liberty Square for the first time this visit. I spent time sitting at some of the table in that area and noticed some costumed characters.

Day two (Christmas Eve) We went to Epcot. Instead of taking the bus, I thought it would be fun to take the boat from the Wilderness Lodge to the Contemporary and catch the monorail to Epcot. We had bought the Candlelight Processional Dinner Package for 5pm and I was glad I did! Our dinner was at the Chef de France which was incredible! This was the best dinner of the trip. I was looking forward to seeing the Millennium events at Epcot and the new Illuminations.

To start with, I want to say that I love Epcot at night. The daytime is OK but doesn't give me the same WOW factor as it does at night. (I kept looking around for the crowds and still so none! This day was VERY light as well.) We passed by the Leave A Legacy monuments which looked alright. I thought the courtyard with the purple tarps overhead looked fantastic. It was nice to see everything all "up and running" with no construction barriers. My last couple visits had a lot of construction going on. We went right to Journey Into Your Imagination. This was cute and had some neat effects. I thought the connect the dots section was clever and the climax scene was well done. It felt like a much shorter ride than the old one. This incarnation of the ride did not have the same WOW Factor as the old rides' opening scene. (I miss that part of the ride.)

Dennis Greenblatt

dgreenb@optonline.net

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