Trip Reports

Summary & Introduction:

1/5/99 through 1/11/99
Plane from Los Angeles to Orlando (Delta Airlines)
Offsite, Quality Suites, Maingate East (Kissimmee)
42 year old parents, daughter 21 and daughter 13.
Second trip to WDW, but we are veterans of Disneyland.
We are California natives, having been raised in the shadow of the Matterhorn all our lives (I was born one year after DL opened.) When I lived closer to the park, we had APs and I followed this ng (rec.arts.disney.parks) and alt.disney.disneyland pretty regularly. But now that I have moved to Ventura County, 100 miles from DL, I don't go as often. Because of that, I don't follow alt.disney.disneyland anymore at all; without regular trips to the park, the occasional negativity in the newsgroups starts to overwhelm you, and affects your opinions. When I was a regular visitor, I could always balance the criticism against my own experiences, but I find a negativity brewing inside of me that is out of proportion to what I find on my now-infrequent trips. And, when I quit reading alt.disney.disneyland, it had become something I didn't want to read anyway. So I'm posting this TR on WDW to radp only.

Day One - 1/4/99 (Tuesday)

After going first class last time (9/97), and staying in the Old Key West resort, we decided to try a cheapie trip and stay off site. Last time, we estimate our family of 4 spent about $5,000 for our week’s vacation in WDW. This time, I had mileage with Delta Airlines, and a few flight credits, so we only had to buy one full ticket and $65 of another from the west coast to Orlando. Cost for 4 plane tickets: $460 as opposed to $1,200 to $1,600 that it normally costs. My 21 year old daughter is in college, and is flying out on a separate flight on day two. The rest of the players are me and my wife (both 42) and our 13 year old daughter, Kristine.

Our first "hurdle" was overcome when we arrived at LAX and were able to change our seating assignments. We reserved these tickets last February, and had three seats in one row. But Delta changed the flight, and for some reason, I retained my frequent flyer preference of an aisle seat near the front of the plane, but my wife and youngest daughter were far back in the cabin, separated from each other. But the Delta agent was helpful and we got three seats together (although, they were at the wing, and I usually prefer to fly in front of the wing so I can get off the plane quickly.) The flight, like so many nowadays, was uneventful, but too long. It was better than most of my business trips though, because I was with my family.

CAR: We are staying off-site, so a car is a must. Because of our preferences, we would rent a car anyway (we did last time.) I have a corporate agreement with National rental car which gives me a full size car ("Emerald Aisle.") The total cost of the rental was only $130. At the airport, we gathered our luggage and walked straight out to the garage, bypassing the rental counter, and picked a white Buick La Sabre. Quick and easy. Signing up for Emerald Aisle service would be a good idea for any frequent travelers because you get a choice of better cars, but there is a charge for membership ($50.) And the corporate rate I received is based on my company’s total business, so it wouldn’t apply to casual travelers.

HOTEL: After much agonizing over the past few months, we had decided on the Quality Suites, Maingate East. Because of chronic insomnia on the part of my wife, we always rent some kind of suite where she can get up and watch TV without disturbing everyone else. My first plan was to stay on-site at the All Star resort, with two rooms: a king and an adjoining double room. This is permissible if you have older children (I think Disney told me one of the parties in the room has to be 18.) The price would have been $79 per night per room, for a total of $158.. But we weren’t sure that our oldest daughter was going to come, so we looked for a suite with at least a bedroom and a sofa bed, but none were under $200 a night. The two bedroom suite at Quality Suites was priced right, at $99 a night (with Orlando Magic Card; first price quoted was $149.) Last time, our suite at Old Key West ran in excess of $350 per night (we think, it was a package deal, and it is hard to estimate all the costs in those things.)

The Quality Suites Maingate East are located fairly close to I-4 on 192 (Bronson Mem Hwy,) a garish boulevard full of neon and hotels. It reminds me a lot of a cross between Harbor Blvd. outside of Disneyland and the Las Vegas Strip. The Quality Suites are behind one of those ubiquitous gift and T-shirt shop, has a dinky lobby, with two of those garish ticket counters proclaiming discounts to all the amusements available in Orlando. And they urge you to use their ticket service. The suite is not too bad, about what you can expect from a Quality Inn. It definitely isn’t up to Disney standards; there is dirt in the corners, the tile in the showers has black mold in spots, the towels are thin and not big enough, etc. And there is only 1 phone in the suite, located in the living room. To have the phone activated, you pay $1 per day. And they try to charge you $1 a day for a safe in the room too; we complained on the first day that the safe was inaccessible due to the closet doors being off the track, but they didn’t fix the doors. So we didn’t pay the charge. We also couldn’t figure out the combo TV-alarm in the master bedroom, so we bought a travel alarm clock ($8.) But it did have two bathrooms, and my wife was able to get up and watch TV without disturbing the rest of us. And there is an acceptable continental breakfast included in the price. Coffee, juice, cereal and donuts are available. The courtyard area has a nice heated pool and spa, snack bar/lounge, tropical foliage, with a full service restaurant for breakfast and dinner along one side. Pretty nice for the price, but if I had to do it all over again, I’d go somewhere else.

Day Two - 1/6/99 (Wednesday)

This has to be a "short day" in the parks, because we have to pick up our oldest at the airport at 4 pm. We decided to visit the Magic Kingdom this day, and return to it on one of our remaining 4 days for the full treatment. Arriving at the TTC early enough to get parked fairly close, we were in the MK before official opening. We had already purchased three 5 day Park Hopper passes with our Magic Kingdom Club discount, but the Disney Store in California couldn’t sell us a 4 day Park Hopper with the MKC discount (it had been "removed" from the ticket options they could sell.) We stopped in at City Hall and purchased the pass without a problem. We were surprised that Christmas decorations are still up (but Main Street looks wonderful.) Also, the only other time we visited, the Castle was outfitted in its pink birthday cake decor; it certainly is beautiful in its "original" state!

We decide to go on Alien Encounter first, and wait about 10 minutes once the park opens. Fun stuff. Then we try out the new Buzz Lightyear ride – very fun! This one’s a winner, and I hope they duplicate it in DL in CA. Then off to Space Mountain for another very short wait, and a fun ride (although it does slam you around more, and I miss the music we have in CA.) Then to the Grand Prix Raceway for a quick ride. Another 10 minute wait. Then, we walk on the Mad Tea Party where my 13 year old and I spin ourselves sick as my wife takes a leisurely ride in a teacup all her own. Two thirds of our group is staggering now, as we head out toward Mickey’s Toon Town Fair. A walk on to the Barnstormer roller coaster (which is as short as Gadget’s Go Coaster in DL,) and then over to Fantasyland. My wife forces me into Its a Small World and I brave this one out, thanking Roy that at least at WDW, IASW is shorter (at DL, just when you think they’ve made the same stupid doll into every nationality of child on the face of the earth they put you into a room of UNDERSEA MER-CHILDREN! OH COME ON!) We take in the Legend of the Lion King (great show.) We walk through Liberty Square and decide to grab a bite to eat at Pecos Bill CafÊ. Then off to Haunted Mansion, which is different from DLs, but has all the same fun elements. Then over to Big Thunder Railroad, which I tape all the way through (and crack up my wife who says I made these involuntary exclamations that I can’t remember – "oh my God!" – "whoa!" – because I’m not familiar with the track and looking through the viewfinder enhances the experience.) Then Pirates of the Carribean, which is one of my favorites at DL, but doesn’t quite measure up at WDW. Still fun, but I certainly wouldn’t wait 40 minutes to board it. The walk on today was perfect.

Its now 1:30, and we think we’ll need to leave at two to make sure we pick up our other daughter at the airport at 4. So we meander back down Main Street and do some shopping. We leave the park around 2:15 and get to the airport at 3:20; plenty of time for her 4:08 arrival. Except her connection in DFW was delayed and she is now due in at 4:50. We shop in the airport, read USA Today, and then she is in, and soon we are back on the road. This is a $10 side trip, with $2.50 in tolls each way and $5 in airport parking. We stop back in at the hotel, and make plans to go to dinner at Olive Garden down 192. We find out the local call to the Olive Garden 2 miles away to see if they accept reservations (they don’t) costs us $3.28 on our hotel bill. Dinner is good thought and only sets us back $37 with tip. We drive over to the Disney Marketplace for some evening shopping. The World of Disney is a spectacular "Disney Store on steroids," and we also love the new Lego displays outside of the Lego store. We meander and shop, enjoying the Art of Disney store and Disney at Home.

Back at our hotel by 9:20, after a very good day, we decide to take on Animal Kingdom on day three.

Day Three - 1/7/99 (Thursday)

Despite our best efforts, we don’t arrive at Animal Kingdom at opening (8 am.) But we are close, and by 8:25, we are walking in this newest of Disney parks. Borrowing tips from Deb’s Disney Digest, Brian Bennett’s page, etc., we decide to enjoy the park and not head straight to the Safari. We head over to Countdown to Extinction, which is a walk on this early, and is great. A Cast Member tells us it is only 60% completed, which is why so much of it is dark. But it is first class, and this will be a truly great ride when it is done. We love the theme of Dinoland; we have visited the Dinosaur National Park in Utah, and the food stands cum travel trailers are perfect. Next we take in Its Tough to Be A Bug, with just the pre-show wait, and enjoy it too. Along the way, we are amazed at the attention to detail in the park; as veterans of the San Diego Zoo (often considered one of the world’s best,) we recognize that only Disney could do a park as well as AK. Even the impressions in the concrete of leaves, twigs and foot/hoof prints match the theme of the land they are in. I may be the only person in the world with video tape of concrete; I hope the impressions are visible on the tape.

We take in a sneak preview of Asia, getting a look at every animal advertised, except for the Komodo Dragon (but we get to see him later in the day.) Again, the theming of Asia is just fantastic. We talk to a security CM in front of the Kali River Rapids construction site who fills us in on the ride to come. Its twin will be in California Adventure, and it sounds wonderful. We walk over toward the Kilimanjaro Safari, stopping to watch the East African Children’s Choir performing in Harambe village. We wait about 30 minutes to board the safari vehicle, and are pleased to see so many animals during our trip, including the lions. Disney has done a good job of making this attraction a combination ride and nature tour, and it works better than the plodding trips we’ve taken at places like the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. Coming out, we take in Pangani Forest Exploration Trail, and again see plenty of animals, including a troop of gorillas with a tiny baby and what I would call a toddler. Wonderful stuff.

The park is getting crowded now, and walking back into Harambe we see the queue for the Safari is now 90 minutes long. We decide to go back and eat at Pizzafari, and have a good lunch (we bought three pizzas for the four of us, which was plenty.) While it won’t win awards, it was pretty good. We do some shopping, and head into Camp Minnie-Mickey to take in the Festival of the Lion King. Excellent show. This is a must see if you like the other Lion King entertainment that Disney has done.

AK is a great park, and we really enjoyed the slow pace of the cool morning, when crowds were light and the lush vegetation enticed us to slow down and enjoy it. By the afternoon, when the park was full and warmer, the pace was hurried by the stream of people. My recommendation to anyone visiting is to get there when it opens, and take it slow. Very relaxing. This is one of my favorites now.

We leave by 4 pm, leaving only the Wildlife Express to Conservation Station as one of our "wanta sees" for this park. Perhaps we’ll return on this trip, or save it for next time. But for today, its back to the hotel for a quick nap (swim for my youngest) and then off to Epcot after dinner to take in Illuminations.

But when we arrive at Epcot (after 7 pm,) we take a chance on Test Track being open. It wasn’t, but the CM standing in front let us know that IF it opens at all, it would have to be before 8:30 since Epcot closes at 9. So we wander over to HISTA (no line,) do that and meander back to Test Track. A small crowd is there, and everyone is hopeful. The people next to us are on their last day, and they’ve tried every day of their vacation to ride it. Lots of hope, and worried parents that they won’t be able to cap off the vacation with this. About 8:15, we see cars starting to run past the entrance, but slowly. Then, faster. 8:30 comes and goes, but within just a few minutes, the CM lets us know that they will allow anyone in the line to ride, even if it goes past 9. The line opens up, and within 10 minutes we are sitting in a car ready to go. We all love it, and I’m afraid afterwards that our car-mates didn’t share our enthusiasm (we were hooping and hollaring by the end.) They were smiling, but probably wondering what the big deal is (we were disappointed that it wasn’t finished when we last visited in 9/97.)

Illuminations was finishing up, so we decided to cap off the day with a walk on Disney’s Boardwalk. Took in a vaudeville act on the Boardwalk, looked at the Vacation Club displays, and grabbed an ice cream before heading back to our hotel. What a great day.

Day Four - 1/8/99 (Friday)

This morning, the coffee at the hotel reminds me somehow of perfume. Don’t know why, because it didn’t SMELL like perfume. My wife declared it swill, and we decided to get a cup later. We heard that Epcot had early entry for the resort guests, so we choose the Magic Kingdom for this day. When we paid for parking, the CM handed us an invitation to the "open house" of the new All Star Movies resort on Saturday, and we think we might just do that. We arrive at opening, and walk on to Alien Encounter (which my oldest had never been on,) Space Mountain, and over to Splash Mountain (where I sit out since its not my favorite – I’m hoping to video my family plunging down, but miss them completely. Did get some substitute families, though!) We take in Big Thunder Railroad again, and have our first wait (about 20 minutes.) I like this version better than our DL version, but the employees there today are certainly surly. Especially for so early in the morning. The employee (I refuse to call him a CM) at the top of the outside portion sneers for people to use both lines, and my 13 year old asks if the queue has all the switchbacks open. His answer was a sarcastic: "I could open them all up for you but you’d wait just as long so what does it matter?" Inside, the CMs – all male – are obviously bored and put out by having to deal with guests. They sigh and roll their eyes. I’m wondering what they will be like towards the end of their shifts. Hey guys, life is too short: if you hate your jobs that much, find something you enjoy. I consider taping them as a very unusual "happening" at a Disney park, but decide I don’t want to keep that memory, let it go and get on and ride.

Then its over to Haunted Mansion, where the CMs are their usual professional, friendly selves. And now we’re on the great lunch search, with the goal of enjoying a good sit down meal. The CMs outside of the Cinderella’s Royal Table are very helpful in helping us select Liberty Tree Tavern (we ate at Tony’s Town Square last time.) We get a 11:35 priority seating reservation (at 11:25 – I"m going in the off season from now on!) and walk over and get seated in the Paul Revere room. This is a fantastic restaurant, and our server (Rory, I think) took us on a quick tour to explain each room and the decor. We are very impressed with the restaurant (I’m a "student" of early American history, so it fascinates me.) The meal is very good; my wife had the turkey dinner, my youngest a hamburger, and my oldest and I both try the beef stew in a bowl. It is very tasty food, much better than the food at DL. And the CMs at Haunted Mansion, outside Cinderella’s Royal Table and in the Liberty Tree Tavern exceeded our expectations and restored our good feelings about Disney.

We browse a bit, take in Carousel of Progress and Buzz Lightyear again, walk on quite a few other attractions, watch the 3pm parade and decide to call it a day. We think we might go see Illuminations in the evening, but decide against it and spend Friday night catching up on laundry and relaxing a bit. After some discussion, we decide that we’ll do Epcot in the morning on Saturday, then switch over to the studios to catch Fantasmic in the evening. But on the way back to the hotel, we see the sign for Celebration, Disney’s planned community, and we drive through it. It looks like dozens of other planned communities in Southern California, although the architecture is very southern/eastern rather than our typical stucco houses. We looked at the models, and liked them very much, although I noticed some things that wouldn’t pass California’s codes (28" doors to water closets, that sort of thing.) But these are very nice homes, and seem at first to be moderately priced ($250,000 - $750,000 and up.) But they might be overpriced for the area; we can see our tacky hotel from the front yard of one of the models.

Day Five - 1/9/99 (Saturday)

Epcot doesn’t open until 9 am, and we sleep in. With the light crowds during the off season, we have been able to see everything we want without long lines. But I suspect Saturday will be different, because its the weekend. So we procrastinate a bit, and decide to skip Epcot in the AM and go to the All Star Movies open house. We get there just before 11 am, and have a great time. The resort really is fun, and the CMs are all helpful. We wish we had done the double room thing, especially after we see one of the king rooms with adjoining double room. It certainly would have been adequate for us on this trip, and we would have been spared the police helicopters at night, the feeling of being in a bad area, etc. The food prices in the food court seem reasonable too. We decide to visit some of the other resorts that I haven’t been able to get booked into, and stop in to Coronado Springs. Then, we visit Dixie Landings. I know why everyone loves these resorts, although IF adjoining rooms are available like they are at the All Star Resorts, the price would be above our self-imposed budget for this trip. But we will return in a few years as a couple and probably stay at Dixie Landings.

We get to Disney-MGM and walk in the gate at 2:30. There isn’t that much in this park that are "must sees" for us, but we do like Muppet Vision 3-D, the Great Movie Ride and Star Tours (which is exactly the same as in CA.) TZ-TOT isn’t our kind of ride (none of us like "falling" rides.) The park isn’t that crowded, and we mull about and giggle at things like the Anaheim Produce stand ("fresh from the wide open spaces of Anaheim.") The place really does look like "Hollywood" – that is, the Hollywood in those old photos. Hollywood today is a sewer, and wouldn’t recommend it to any of you coming out west. Anyway, we enjoy it, and want to cap off our afternoon with the showing of Fantasmic. We get in the theater at 6 for the only showing (7 pm) and are disappointed by a cloudburst. With lightening. While we are sitting on metal benches, a few feet from water, we are in a lightening storm. We leave, even though the CMs are telling us "if this passes over, the show will still go on!" I’m disappointed, but my family certainly doesn’t want to stay in the rain. By the time we get to the parking lot, the rain has stopped and I consider going back in, but we get in the car and drive off. The first disappointment in our entire trip, so I can’t really complain.

We decide to find the Character Warehouse in the Belz outlet center, and I remember that it is on International Drive which intersects 192 right in front of our hotel! So we start out there, and realize that I Drive goes on forever, with traffic. And the rain starts again. But we finally find it, at 8 pm, and have just an hour to shop in this wonderful Disney outlet store. Great prices! So the day’s earlier disappointment is overcome by this store, which we all love. We head back to the hotel after the store closed, and get in about 10:30.

Day Six - 1/10/99 (Sunday)

This is the last day on our passes, and we head to Epcot, getting there at 9 am. The marathon is running, so we get to cheer on some of the contestants, and start riding our favorites. For us Disneylanders, Epcot is a "weird" park. Like MGM, there aren’t that many attractions that really appeal to us in Future World, especially since so many of them seem dated. But we like HISTA, Ellen’s Energy Adventure, Body Wars and (of course) Test Track. TT isn’t open this am, so we take in Ellen’s Energy Adventure and then grab a cup of coffee. We go into World Showcase, working counter clockwise since we did it clockwise during our last trip. We had fun shopping around, and had another relaxing day. We decide to come back in the evening for Illuminations, but leave the park for lunch and to pack. We get back at 6:30, and check in at Test Track. It has broken down, and they are non-committal about it re-opening. We walk over to Mexico to get a name ring for my daughter, and then come back by TT. The CM says they’re trying to get it back up and running, and we get to talking with a family from Mass. Pretty soon we notice that there are cars on the track going very slowly, so we queue up and are second in line. They open it up, and I video tape the ride for posterity, and the video comes out great. We get out at 8:45 and head over to World Showcase and catch Illuminations. This is a great end to our visit.

Epilogue:

We flew home today (1/11) and I go back to work tomorrow. This was the best vacation we’ve had, with very few real disappointments. We consider ourselves pretty blessed to be living in an age when entertainment like this is available. Without getting too soft and fuzzy about it, I am very glad this turned out well, because we probably don’t have that many "family vacations" left (at least, I suspect that my daughters will get jobs and married sooner or later!) So it was important to me that we were able to do this.

A special "thank you" to those who maintain the web sites with all the great information, and to the "trip reporters" who have given us their experiences over the past few years.

Lessons learned: we’ll probably stay on site from now on, but always rent a car to take in the other sights. We like the mobility too much to give it up. And we’ll never go back during the busy season; it will always be January or February for us from now on. The weather and the crowds are just so much more agreeable.

Frank Hagan

fhagan@vcnet.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.