Trip Reports

Summary:

Cast of Characters: Sue (me - 40), DVC member
Dates: May 30 - June 9, 1999 (some of these days will be business)
Travel Method: Personal car
Resorts: Contemporary (6 nights), Off Site (1 night), Boardwalk Villas (2 nights), Adams Mark Hotel at FL Mall (1 night)
Experience: Extremely experienced, with close to 75 WDW vacations so far.
INTRODUCTION:

I was not supposed to be going to WDW until 7/25/99 (just returned from last trip 3/25/99), but here I am looking forward to an impromptu visit! I did have a trip to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort scheduled for June 14-16, but canceled that because one of my guests is having a difficult time with chemotherapy right now, and then something important came up at work for those exact dates. Hopefully we can reschedule our friends there some time in the future.

In April my boss received a postcard from the Florida Sterling Council (a “total quality management” thing) advertising the annual conference coming up in early June at the Contemporary Resort. We’re both supporters of the Sterling principles, and agreed that this should be the year (our first time) to send a group of staff. After getting input from some key staff, we came up with a list of 8 people who would be attending - including ME!! The unfortunate irony is that as a DVC member I get “free” park passes when I use my membership to stay at OKWR thru 12/31/99. For that reason, I have not activated the AP I renewed last December, and did not plan to do so until August 2000 - figuring I would save some money by doing that. That left me with the prospect of going to WDW, staying on site, but not having access to the parks. I do have a PI annual pass, so I knew my evenings would be all set! The conference would be 3 very long days (Wed-Fri), so I’d be driving up on Tuesday. The idea of driving up there & not being able to visit a park really bugged me! However, it was not worth buying a single day ticket since I generally only spend a couple hours. The new FL Power Pass (or whatever it’s called) was another option, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to spend $95 for 4 days when it could only be an hour or 2 per day. Then, I realized that the Monday that week was Memorial Day - and a holiday for us. I checked availability at both BW and OKWR - but there was nothing. I was able to go on the waitlist for BW, but the waitlist at OKWR was filled up & they weren’t adding any more names. The waitlist is something that member services does for DVC members - it is not available for non members through CRO. Not expecting anything, I called CRO & was able to get a $99 AP rate at Coronado Springs for Sunday/Monday night (5/30 & 5/31). Coronado is a good choice - I think this will be my 5th stay there, and in my opinion they’ve got the best pool area of the moderate resorts. I’ll probably spend some afternoon time at the pool unless it’s too hot. I’m a season ticket holder at our local baseball team, and we’ve got fireworks after the game on 5/29 - which is why I didn’t book the room for the entire weekend. So, now I’ll drive up early Sunday morning, activate the AP, and I’ll have 3 full days before the conference starts. Once it does begin I’ll be tied up in meetings from 7am until 5-6 pm on Wednesday & Thursday. Friday the conference ends at 12:45, and then I’m free until the big banquet that evening (black tie optional - should be fun). Since the banquet doesn’t end until 10pm or so, I’ve got my Contemporary room for 4 nights (Tues thru Friday, checking out Saturday). The plan was to drive home sometime Saturday afternoon.

A few weeks later I found out that an important statewide meeting I thought I’d miss (it was scheduled for Tampa during the week of the conference) had been moved. The person setting it up, as an unsolicited favor to me, convinced the person in charge to move it back a week & move it to Orlando! It is scheduled for Tuesday & Wednesday 6/8 & 6/9. When I mentioned it to one of my assistants, she astutely pointed out that it made no sense for me to return home for 2 nights, and I should just stay up there. It pays to hire smart people - she thought of this even before I had! This left me needing a place to stay for Saturday & Sunday nights - since I could move into the meeting hotel for Monday/Tuesday nights. It also gives me all day Saturday/Sunday/Monday to enjoy WDW! I thought about DVC, but did not want to spend the high # of points for a weekend night at a DVC resort, so I called the Comfort Inn Maingate. I’ve stayed here before for a single night on the day of arrival. It’s nothing special, and I would NEVER stay here for more than a single night (it’s your basic cheapo motel), but they’ve got a special running where the room is only $27.50 plus tax for FL residents. I called, and they had Saturday available so I took it. I called member services, and once again OKWR was sold out, but they had 1 studio (preferred view) at BW left - available Sunday, Monday & Tuesday. Staying there all 3 nights had a certain appeal, as this trip already has a lot of moving planned, but I knew the last 2 days I’d be tied up in a meeting at the Adam’s Mark Hotel at the FL Mall (about ½ hour away). Also, there would be no way to get “reimbursed” for my room since I’m using DVC points. In that case, I’d get $29/night per diem, which does not even cover the annual dues on the points I’d be using! I ended up taking the BW studio for Sunday & Monday, so that I’d have my room all day on Monday & that evening. On Tuesday morning I’ll get up early enough to drive to the meeting & check in to the Adam’s Mark. Tuesday night I’ll probably return to WDW for the evening (Comedy Warehouse most likely) and will drive back to the Adams Mark to sleep. I won’t be able to get reimbursed for Monday night, but the convenience makes it worth it for me. So, that’s the story of how this trip came to be, and why I’m staying in 5 different resorts!

I won’t be boring you with details of the conference or meetings! However, since the conference is at the Contemporary I’ll post details of the food served and any other Disney touches. The banquet Friday night is supposed to include some entertainment, so I’ll describe that as well (assuming it’s Disney related). This trip is much more challenging to pack for - since I’ll need WDW park clothes, business clothes, and formal wear! I figured a minimum of 5 pair of shoes - which is 3 more than I ever bring! I will do laundry mid way through the trip, to minimize the amount of clothing I have to pack. There will only be 1 person who will be at both meetings with me, and I’m undecided as to whether or not to wear the same business clothes the 2 weeks in a row. If it was a whole new group, I wouldn’t hesitate, but I feel funny wearing the same outfit both weeks.

Gay Day stuff is going on starting Wednesday (I checked their web site), but it looks like most of my days will be before/after the large crowds associated with this event. I was disappointed that my Saturday happens to be the big gayday at MK, since I don’t normally stay at the Contemporary & it would be so convenient to walk over from there. I might try it anyway, for early entry, and then escape shortly after 9. I’ll have my laptop, and this time of year I can’t leave it in the trunk of my car during the day, so that’s an added concern. I’m hoping the bell services people at the WDW resorts will hold it for me in a safe luggage room. Hopefully on Saturday I can get a late checkout (around noon or so), and leave it in the Contemporary room while I visit a park in the early morning. I also hope when I get to the Comfort Inn there is a room ready so I can drop it off! The laptop can be a pain, but returning home to write a trip report & catch up on the message boards after 11 days is an even bigger pain!

NEW DEVELOPMENT MID MAY - A friend was able to get me a cast member rate at the Contemporary, bringing the nightly rate with tax from just over $186 to just under $130 per night. For 4 nights, that’s over $200 savings - but I don’t get a penny of it. Oh well, the taxpayers of Florida will benefit from the savings. I called to see if the nights of 5/30 & 31 would be available at that rate, and they were. Despite the fact that it would cost me an extra $20/night, I decided to take the Contemporary reservation and cancel my Coronado Springs reservation so that I could eliminate one of the moves. I also checked on availability for Saturday night 6/5, but the room would not be available at the 50% off rate - the best they had was 25% off, which would be significantly higher than the $27.50 I’ve got at the Comfort Inn. So, I decided to just keep the Comfort Inn. It certainly won’t kill me to stay there for 1 night.

On May 27th (my last day at work prior to the trip) I faxed a letter to the Contemporary room assigner, asking nicely for a complimentary upgrade to a tower room if one would be available. I won’t hold my breath, but after reading about so many people on the boards receiving upgrades it just made sense to try for my very first upgrade! I also found out the dress at the conference was going to be more formal than I originally was told, so I’ve got to rethink what I’ll be packing. I normally travel pretty light, but this trip may be the exception!

Packing took a large suitcase plus a full garment bag! I’ve never taken so much stuff to WDW, but with 5 days of “business”, 6 days of WDW touring, 9 nights of parks or Pleasure Island, and 1 black tie function - it’s little wonder! There’s also the bag of groceries (bottled water, cereal, boxed milk, cappucino, bowl, mug, spoon), the laptop, briefcase, fun noodle (for the pool), DVC tote bag (for use at pool), and a purse. With all this stuff I think the camcorder is going to stay home this trip.

Something new this trip - Someone on the message boards posted about burning candles in the hotel rooms, and mentioned Yankee Candles as being a great brand. I came across a store selling Yankee Candles when I was in Tallahassee on business last week, and decided to buy some to take on trips. There were dozens of scents - some were just ok, but most were really nice. I bought mulberry, hazelnut coffee (yum), and butter cream (also yum). I’ll take the hazelnut coffee and butter cream with me. I tested the hazelnut coffee at home, and it really makes a room smell nice!

Besides packing the last minute stuff and loading the car, all that’s left to do is call the Comedy Warehouse to check the schedule of who’s working. With 9 possible nights to attend shows, I probably won’t go EVERY night. I’d like to choose the nights I don’t go to coincide with nights that my favorite actor(s) is not working. I’ll call tonight from the baseball game - hopefully the announcer won’t make it too hard to hear the cm at Comedy Warehouse ;-) I’ll load the car in the morning, and hope to hit the road around 5am, so I can register at the Contemporary, drop off the laptop with bell services, and walk over to the MK in time for opening.

DAY 1 - SUNDAY, MAY 30, 1999:

Last night I called the Comedy Warehouse from a pay phone at the ball game. They had a speaker mounted right over the phone, which made things pretty interesting! Lee the food & beverage manager tried to get the schedule, but the entertainment manager wasn’t in her office. She offered to get the information & call me back, so I gave her my home phone number & asked her to leave a message. She did tell me that Kelly (red hair, extremely talented) was no longer there, and had moved to Los Angeles. When I got home, sure enough there was a message from Lee - my favorite actor (Layden) is going on vacation, and will only be working 3 of the nights I’ll be at WDW. Geez - I’m not doing too well so far! The baseball game ended up being a double header, followed by excellent fireworks (just as good as at WDW, except no castle to shoot them off behind), so I didn’t get home until 11. I set the alarm for 3:25 am, watched the news, and then tried to get a little sleep.

3:25 came, and it actually felt like I had slept a little bit. I got ready, answered a couple of last minute e-mails, packed the car, and was on the road at 5:07. With 1 stop for gas I arrived at the Contemporary by 8am. I let the bellman take the suitcase, garment bag, laptop & DVC tote bag, and I went to check in. It was not busy, yet cm’s were standing around or scurrying about seemingly to avoid having a guest come to their window. Finally the people at the only window where a cm was helping a guest left, and that cm called me over. Bad news = NO upgrade. I could live with that (despite being disappointed because it seems like everybody else I know got one here), but the cm has the audacity to tell me they never upgrade. Excuse me, but I know real people who have been upgraded to the tower! She did tell me I had non smoking, 2nd floor, South Wing, standard view. Gee, not even an upgrade in the view - what the heck did I waste my time writing a letter & faxing it ahead of time? Then, next she says my Visa deposits are not on the account, and called CRO who says they didn’t receive them (I mailed them Wednesday morning). But, she took my word for what I said I sent in, deducted it from the total cost for the 6 nights, and then charged the balance on my credit card. She said she’d check back with CRO later. I did ask her what the cost would be to upgrade to the tower - and she showed me a chart with the regular rates listed & told me it would be the difference between regular standard view garden wing and regular tower - that amount would be added to my rate. It turned out to be an extra $96/night plus tax, or over $600 for the 6 nights. No thank you, I ‘ll stay where I am. Finally, she advised that if I ordred a refrigerator it would be $6/night. I’d always heard that they didn’t charge you in the deluxe resorts, but figured that could have changed. Then she said that if when I got to my room there was already one there for some reason, to be sure to call housekeeping & have them remove it otherwise they’ll assume I want it & will charge me! I couldn’t believe this crap - at a DELUXE Disney resort no less! I think the Contemporary needs to lighten up and concentrate more on making their guests happy rather than threatening to charge them for an amenity that wasn’t even ordered! Oh well, I really wasn’t ranting & raving in the lobby or anything ;-) I was happy to be at WDW, even though the Contemporary so far was NOTHING like I remembered from 20 years ago.

I parked over at the South Wing, and then walked to the MK. It’s exactly 1 mile from the Contemporary to Main Street, in case anyone was wondering. I hadn’t had breakfast yet, and had checked out the Food & Fun place in the Contemporary - but it was awful (cold danish, etc) so I waited until I got to MK. At the Main Street Bake Shop I bought a piece of banana bread that was so huge it was more like a small loaf. With tax it was $2.11, a very good value. I ate about a ¼ of it, and it was delicious - very moist, large pieces of walnuts, great flavor. Unfortunately, now I had to carry my bag of banana bread around with me, since I didn’t want it to get crushed. At rope drop I headed to Big Thunder as usual, where I rode it twice with minimal waits. Next stop was Peter Pan, with a 5 minute wait. A couple of little girls were inching forward, cutting in line, but I just let it go. I certainly don’t need to get arrested for tossing a couple of little kids back in line - lol! There was a line at Snow White, not very long, but I decided to skip it and head to Toontown Fair to ride the Barnstormer. This was a walk on, and I got to stay on for 2 rides before others got in line. I took the back walkway to Tomorrowland and did Buzz Lightyear with a 5 minute wait, scoring 68,500 points (not too impressive). It was getting pretty cloudy, and a stiff breeze had picked up. My Teva sandals were in the suitcase in the Contemporary, and I hoped it wouldn’t rain because I didn’t feel like ruining another pair of sneakers. I hopped on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority just to sit & relax a while, and rode it twice without getting off. By now it was almost 10:30 so I waited in line for the Skyway to Fantasyland to open up. Usually I ride from Fantasyland to Tomorrowland, so this was a slightly different view of the park. The cm working at the station where you turn was pretending to be a robot or something - I guess anything to pass the time. After the skyway I did the Haunted Mansion (very little wait) and then headed back to Main Street. I was amazed at the absolute hordes of people coming into the park at 11am. This is the time I’m about ready to leave; I can’t imagine not starting out until then!

I sat outside Casey’s and updated the trip report, and then browsed a couple shops on Main Street, and found the shirt that I liked on my last trip. I’ll wait & buy it at World of Disney so I can get my 10% discount (plus I have a $5 coupon from the Mickey Monitor and a $25 WDW gift certificate from that focus group I did last trip - so the shirt won’t cost much at all). It had been a while since I rode the train just for the sake of riding, so that’s what I did. I even saw a live deer along the way. The resort monorail was waiting for me, so I walked right on, getting off at the Contemporary. My room was not ready yet, but at noon I really didn’t expect it to be.

I figured since today is Sunday the traffic going to Belz likely would be less than during the week, so I headed over there. I took the back road, past Ft Wilderness & Dixie Landings, past Old Key West (I wished I was staying there), past Disney Institute & Downtown Disney, and out via the Village Hotels. That road (Hotel Blvd, maybe?) is undergoing construction/repaving, and the people traveling towards Downtown Disney were just about sitting still for the entire length of the road. Avoid it at all costs, if you can. There was also a bunch of traffic on I-4 (I really HATE that road), but fortunately it didn’t last too long. I only went to Character Premiere & Character Warehouse. They had a bunch of Animal Kingdom shirts, including some dated 1998. I wasn’t sure Chris would wear them, so I didn’t get him one. It’s sooooo important to look right when you’re in middle school! I did get a nice silk tie for Chris to give to his dad for Father’s Day, and I bought myself a red Mickey sun visor. The tie was $35 marked down to $16.99, and the visor was $12 marked down to $2.99. For Memorial Day weekend everything was an extra 10% off, so the total purchase was only about $20. I’ll probably need the visor tomorrow, since I went to the beach Fri/Sat at home & foolishly didn’t think about sunscreen - so now my face is too red, and any more sun on the cheeks could hurt! I did bring some spf30 for the face, but the visor will provide needed shade when I’m at the pool. As I left Belz it started to sprinkle lightly, but not even enough to wet the umbrella. There was a brief period when I used my windshield wipers, but it was very short lived. By the time I got back to the Contemporary the sun was shining.

Finally, the room is ready at 1:45! It’s #5263, South, standard view, non smoking, 2nd floor. The room is very large, but I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s attractive. I guess it’s not bad, but it’s definitely not as nice as the rooms at OKWR or BW! The bathroom is smaller than I remembered, too, and not really anything special. I’ve got a view of trees (that block the parking lot) and can see the monorail go by. It will be very convenient to the convention center (good thing I didn’t tell them about the conference or they probably would have put me in the end of the North wing - lol). It’s also 2 doors down from the ice machine (I brought a cooler), close to the elevator/stairs, and the guest laundry is a few doors down the hall in the other direction. The closet is huge - 3 doors wide, which is kind of nice. Actually, it’s not a ~bad~ room or anything, it just seems to lack Disney magic. This could be a room in any nice hotel, although perhaps larger than most. I called bell services, and they had my luggage brought up within 5-10 minutes (great service, and well worth the tip). I brought my bag of groceries (cereal, milk, water, cappuccino) in from the car, and decided to unpack everything later since I was getting hungry.

I headed to the Contemporary bus stop around 2pm, and took the MGM bus. The Contemporary has the last, furthest away stop at MGM, and by the time I hustled over towards the boat to BW it was pulling away. I sat on a bench in the sun and waited for the next one, and got off at BW. From there I walked over to Beach Club, headed for Beaches & Cream to follow Carole’s (WDWgoddess) suggestion. Stormalong Bay was very crowded at the end near the slide - full of kids. The rest of it didn’t look so bad, though. When I went into Beaches & Cream they were bringing out a Kitchen Sink to some poor man. If you’ve never seen one, it’s hard to picture. I don’t know how many scoops/topping are in there, but it’s absolutely huge! I ordered what Carole suggested - a Frozen Sunshine. It’s got orange sherbert, seltzer water, and I’m not sure what else. It came topped with whipped cream & an orange slice - with tax $3.71. It was yummy, and even though I don’t like anything with carbonation (like soda), I liked this. I sat in the shade up against the railing next to Stormalong Bay and drank it while I enjoyed the atmosphere of this great resort. I ended up almost finishing it - only throwing away the last inch or 2! Thanks for the suggestion, Carole - I’ll be sure to remember it for future trips.

By now it was 3:40 and time to head for AK, so it was off to the BC bus stop. It was sunny again - still no rain. Two buses pulled up as I arrived - 1 for Blizzard Beach & 1 for AK. I’ve only seen those destinations combined on a single bus before, so it surprised me. The AK bus stopped at Boardwalk, and then went straight to AK. Lots of people were leaving, which made me happy. The tip board still had 30 minute waits at all the big attractions, though. I walked thru Asia, hoping to see some of the Kali River Rapids ride. There were a lot of wet people getting off, and some that were drenched. I decided not to ride, and walked thru the Maharajah Jungle Trek. The komodo dragon was out sunning himself, the bats were appropriately ugly eating their fruit, and the tigers were resting in the grass. There were a couple of people smoking on the trail - thought that probably wasn’t allowed, but there were no cm’s in that area. Next stop was Harambe, where I did the Pangani Forest Trail. The meercats were not out (they’re so cute), and only the 1 big gorilla was out. One stupid human waved to him (the cm was telling us not to do that), and the gorilla stuck his tongue out at the guy. I took a picture of the gorilla sitting there, so hopefully it will turn out well. I went to Kilamanjaro Safari, where the posted wait was 30 minutes. I didn’t want to wait that long, but really had nothing else I wanted to do so I got in line. The actual wait was more like 15 minutes. As a single rider, they pulled me ahead & seated me with this scumbag family of 7 people. Egads, were they awful! The oldest woman was behind me, constantly yelling at her 3 boys to “sit down” and then smacking them (they were probably 10-12 yrs old). One of the kids behind me would get excited & point at animals while snapping his finger, sometimes hitting me in the head. A really scary, scruffy looking thing was seated next to me - his vocabulary consisted mostly of “ain’t”, which is word I heard often from the woman behind me. I was so glad when that safari ended! We saw lots of animals, but it wasn’t exactly fun, so I got back into line to ride it again. This time the posted wait was 20 minutes, and the actual was less than 10. I was seated with 2 brothers & a sister (probably 10-13 yrs old), and they were great. I was surprised by how many animals had completely changed locations in the past 30 minutes. We saw both cheetahs & both lions this time. Our driver, Bev, did an excellent job pointing out the animals. On the first safari the driver had to keep reminding the idiot guests (not just the family of 7, pretty much the whole vehicle) to keep their kids SEATED. When we got to the rickety bridge, it did not shake at all, and I wondered if maybe the driver was able to control it & did not turn it on out of fear for the kids who’s parents weren’t controlling them. Sure enough, on the 2nd safari the bridge worked just like it’s supposed to. I kind of felt bad for that first driver. It’s hard to be nice & “Disney-ish” when you’re constantly having to nag people to remain seated. My last stop was Dinoland, to ride Countdown to Extinction. This is such a cool ride, and I’m always glad to be seated on the right side - away from all those nasty dinosaurs on the left side! The wait wasn’t too bad - just the inside room - and by the time I got out it was 6:45 and time to head out of the park (it was closing at 7).

Here’s where I made a bad choice. The Contemporary bus was not there, but the WL/Poly/GF bus was, so I got on that bus figuring I’d catch the monorail back to Contemporary from either Poly or GF. First, the bus stopped at Blizzard Beach, then Wilderness Lodge. I got off at the Poly, an had quite a wait for the monorail. Then the monorail stopped at GF, MK, and then finally Contemporary. I think I would have been better off if I’d just waited for the bus! I checked out the Food & Fun place again, but nothing appealed to me (food wise). They had burgers, pizza, chili dog, chicken tenders, fries, nachos, etc. Everything just seemed too big & fattening. They had soup, but it was minestrone - and since that has vegetables in it I wouldn’t eat it. People who know me understand that I’m not a very healthy eater - vegetables are just not one of my basic food groups.

I went back to the room, and unpacked. There was a message from the cm who checked me in, saying that the deposits still had not arrived, and when they do CRO won’t process them since I’m already here. Therefore, they’ll charge that amount she deducted this morning on my credit card. It makes sense to me, provided CRO really doesn’t process the deposits. I probably see a credit card dispute in my not too distant future...

I made a cup of instant white chocolate raspberry cappuccino (decaf) and ate ½ of the left over banana bread for dinner. I had put it in a zip lock bag, so it’s still really good & moist. I also lit one of the hazelnut coffee candles, which smells great. While I ate, I updated the trip report, and a little before 10 headed up to the observation deck to watch the MK fireworks and Electric Water Pageant. Most people head for the observation deck on the front (closest to MK), but I always choose the one in the back (closer to Bay Lake). This way, you have much smaller crowds, a perfect view of the fireworks at 10, and then you simply turn around & have a perfect view of the EWP. People on the front deck can’t possibly see the EWP from there. When it was all over (it was great), I was able to walk right onto an elevator & was back in my room by 10:20. I guess if I did get the upgrade to the tower, I would not have been able to see both from my room - so there is an advantage to being in the garden wings!

Total miles walked = 12.1

DAY 2 - MONDAY, MAY 31, 1999:

Today the weather forecast is sunnier & 88 degrees - only 20% chance of rain. The alarm went off at 6:10, since I needed to get online to post yesterday’s report & download bunches of message board postings. It occurs to me that I probably should describe my room, since not everyone has stayed here. First of all, it’s over 400 square feet, which is quite large. As you enter, on the left is the closet which is the length of 3 doors. Inside the closet is an iron/ironing board, 2 luggage racks, extra blanket/pillow, and a large safe (holds my purse, camera & jewelry). Across from the closet is the bathroom, which is actually 2 rooms in one. As you enter, the mirror & a double sink are on the left. Straight ahead is the tub/shower. To the right (across from the sinks) is a separate little room with a door, which contains the toilet, mirror & a counter. There’s an outlet on that wall, so I guess someone could do their hair in there while someone else was in the main bathroom. Walking back into the room, there are 2 queen beds separated by a night stand. There’s a chair between the 2nd bed and the end of the room. Across from all that there’s the armoire with 6 decent size drawers and the 19” tv, along with the glasses & ice bucket. Next is the day bed, which appears to be the size of a twin bed. Last, is a round table with another chair. It’s situated so that you can sit on the daybed & be at the table, which is kind of weird. There’s tons of space between each piece of furniture - unlike at the moderates or All Stars. There’s a ceiling fan, quiet air conditioning, and plenty of lighting. The furnishings are all very modern looking, even somewhat art deco. The nightstand and sinks are some sort of black marble look, and the armoire is white with a little black.

AOL was working fine this morning, allowing me to post yesterday’s report, download over 400 message board messages, and read/respond to around 20 e-mails. Whew - I’m not sure how I’m going to handle trying to do all this when I’ve got a 7am conference to get to! There was a newspaper at the door. Even if I don’t get a chance to read it, I consider it a nice touch. Breakfast consisted of cappuccino & honey nut chex. I brought the little boxes (individual serving size with the little straw - like a kid’s juice box) of Parmalat skim milk. I don’t like milk, but do use a little on cereal, so I put 1 of these boxes in a zip lock bag & then put it in the cooler with a couple bottles of water & covered it all up with ice. The little box will last 2-3 breakfasts, so I’ll change the ice before I leave this morning so everything stays cold. The monorail is whizzing by every few minutes - it’s great to see it. I didn’t hear any noise from people on the 3rd floor last night, or from the rooms on either side of me (I have a connecting door to one room). I think once I hit the pillow I never even moved from that exact spot - the bed doesn’t even look slept in! Guess I was tired.

I left the room at 8:30, and got on the MGM Studios bus that was waiting at the bus stop. We stopped at TTC, which filled the bus to standing room only. I’m not sure why people would be doing this, unless maybe they’re planning to end their day over at MK & thus want to leave their car here. We got to MGM just before 9, and people were lined up at the ropes. I took the time to find the shirt I liked & try it on at that clothing store on the corner. By the time I was done, the rope had dropped and the masses were heading to their first attraction. I headed to Star Tours, but changed my mind when I saw how many people were headed back that way. Instead, I walked right into the new Sounds Dangerous (in the old Monster Sound Show location). The cm there was warning people that there would be 7 minutes of pitch darkness, but no one was scared off. When we entered the theater I noticed little water drops - which gave me a hint of what was to come. This attraction has not gotten very favorable reviews on the boards, but I liked it. It’s very similar to those sound booths where you put on the headphones - only longer. It is not scary at all - the darkness is merely to help you focus only on the sounds you’re hearing through your head phones. On the way out this man riding one of those ecv’s decided to stop his cart, completely blocking the exit from the building, so he could fiddle with his camera bag. He was oblivious to the theater full of people trying to exit! Argggh!

Star Tours was next, with about a 10 minute wait still. As I was exiting a cm in the area was saying hi to guests, and when she saw me she said Welcome back. I guess because I was wearing my DVC Vero Beach shirt she figured I’m a repeat guest. I went to a payphone to call Linda (elfriar), and we agreed to meet at noon over at Epcot. I rode the Great Movie Ride (gangster side, 5-10 minute wait) and cm Jennifer did a super job. She was loud enough, spoke clearly, and did the script well. Undecided on what to do next, I just wandered around MGM a little while. On NY Street there’s a cute sign over a retail shop that says “Youse Guys Moychindice” - which cracked me up! I left the park & hiked out to the Contemporary bus stop. The bus that came said MK, so I asked the driver if it was going to the Contemp. At first he said no, then said yes. I got on, figuring even if he was wrong I could just walk back from MK. He stopped at MK first, then forgot to go to the Contemporary. He remembered just as he was passing it, so he went to TTC & turned around. He apologized many times, but it was no big deal, and I told him not to worry about it. I was the only passenger on the bus. At the room I switched from sneakers to Tevas and grabbed the small umbrella - just in case the 20% chance of showers happened to occur in Epcot! I headed up to the monorail station, rode to TTC, and then walked over to the Epcot monorail.

I was able to ride in the front cab, and they put a woman with her 2 young boys with me. To my surprise the driver was Russell - who had driven 4 of us in the cab during ladies’ weekend in March. He said he vaguely remembered us, but was probably just being polite. Last time we were teasing him saying that he needed to talk to us or we’d write bad things about him on the internet. This time he was a regular chatterbox, and gave me tons of info on stuff coming up at WDW. I’ll try to recap all that I remembered.

Disney has approved the budget for 24 new monorails, another 30 miles of track, and a new building. No announcement has been made, and it could end up getting cut, but there will be a big announcement in a couple of months about WDW expansion plans. Russell felt that if the new monorails are going to happen, that would be the time for the announcement. There are 2 new coasters going into AK. One will be a wooden coaster, with dual tracks where the cars compete with each other. The next land in AK will be Australia. No news on Beastly Kingdom. MK is also getting 2 new roller coasters. One will go between Jungle Cruise and Pirates of Caribbean, and will actually go over part of the Jungle Cruise. For the other one, they’ll be ripping up the Tomorrowland Speedway & redoing it in part of it’s current space - but making the track longer than it is now thru the use of bridges. In the freed up space they’ll put the new coaster. Both coasters will be multiple inversion/loop things - way out of my league! At EPCOT there’s no news on Horizons. Journey Into Imagination is almost ready to reopen as Imagination Institute - they’re almost done with it. The millenium pavilion is pretty much done, but won’t open until Oct - Russell was inside the other day & said it looks great. No new countries lined up. In June the Epcot monorail will be shut down for 4 days while they attach a Mickey arm to the side of Spaceship Earth. I think he said it would be holding a wand or something & there will be a 2000 involved. The Centorium is closed now, and will reopen for the millenium celebration as a store that looks like the World of Disney over at Downtown Disney. He gave a bunch of other details, but I didn’t take notes in the monorail & this is all that I could remember!

I got to Epcot around 11:45, so I used the 15 minutes to jot down notes of Russell’s news. About noon Linda & I found each other, and we made a priority seating for lunch at 1:30 in Morocco. First stop was Test Track, which Linda had never ridden. The posted wait was 90 minutes, but a cm was calling for single riders (which we had planned to do) so we got out even sooner than expected. We ended up being seated in the same car, and were done with the ride about 15-20 minutes after we got into line! Linda thought it was a great ride, and I enjoy it too. I stopped in the shop to buy Chris a little Test Track car (like a matchbox car) for $5. We decided to walk around World Showcase, and stopped to ride the Maelstrom in Norway (10 minute wait). By then we had to just continue walking and arrived Morocco at 1:20. We were seated immediately, and I knew from the musician playing that the belly dancer would be out soon. The restaurant was not crowded, which is a shame, but then I like being able to get in here easily! We shared a ½ carafe of wine, and each ordered the Oasis Chicken Salad. The salad is a bed of lettuce, topped with diced cucumbers & tomato, and then there are marinated grilled chicken breasts on top of that. It’s wonderful, and very light & refreshing. Linda had never tried that, but loved it, too. Those of you who know me will be shocked to read that I ate the entire meal!! Well, ok, so I left a few pieces of tomato - but you know what I mean! We also drank all the wine, and I’m not sure if it’s stronger than what we’re used to, but we were both somewhat tipsy - me perhaps more than Linda! I used my Disney Dining Experience card to get us 20% off, so the check dropped from $30 to $23 plus change. We left $30 to cover Nadia’s tip. It was an OUTSTANDING meal, and this is probably my favorite place to eat. I’ll be back in July/August. We sort of staggered out of there, and continued our walk around the world.

We saw the movie in France, which is one of Linda’s favorites since she’s been to most of the places filmed. Maybe it was the wine, but I really enjoyed this movie! Linda mentioned that a cm manager recently had told her that the walking path between BW & MGM was due to open next month. Evidently they’re waiting for outdoor lighting & benches to be installed. We headed back to Future World, to ride Test Track again. The posted wait was now down to only 70 minutes. The cm’s were busy flirting with each other, and were not actively seeking single riders, so we ended up in line longer than before. We did do the single rider thing eventually, and the total time spent waiting & riding was about 25 minutes. We met a couple of nice high school girls who were here from Nebraska with their band/chorus. They were having a great trip, and had marched in the MK parade yesterday. Once again, we got seated in the same car. There was some jerk in the single rider line asking the cm if his whole family of 5 could be seated together! Thank goodness the cm told him NO. Some people are pretty amazing! We stopped to listen to Cast In Bronze play, and then rode Spaceship Earth on our way out of the park.

We drove over to Downtown Disney, and headed to the World of Disney store to buy my shirt. They’ve taken out the section that had women’s clothing & in it’s place there is more kids’ clothing. We did find my shirt though, and after the $5 AP coupon and $25 gift certificate it only cost me $6.04. They did not allow the 10% mkc, but that’s no big deal. The cm wasn’t the swiftest, or the friendliest, and I forgot to ask to have it shipped to the resort. Linda needed some dinner, and I wasn’t hungry, so we went to Wolfgang Puck’s Express. She got the garlic mashed potato, chicken caesar sandwich & a soda - $11.02 and I drank my water. That done, we looked in the Christmas store. I bought a Mickey ornament on sale for $3.99 and had both the ornament and my shirt shipped back to the resort. We looked at all the nice stuff in the Art of Disney store, and browsed Gourmet Pantry, and then Linda headed back home to her husband.

I decided to see the first Comedy Warehouse show, so I entered Pleasure Island and sat on the steps of the Adventurer’s Club for about 10 minutes until it was time to get in line. There was a very friendly young couple from Kansas in front of me, and we chattered away right up until the show started. They asked if I wanted to be seated with them, not knowing that I would be anyway because they just seat everyone in a line, but it was nice of him to ask. The show was very good, with Steve, Mark, Megan, Paul (or is it Peter - I can’t tell those twins apart) and a new girl named Jennifer. The waitress recognized me, which was kind of fun. I didn’t order a drink though, because I didn’t have my refillable bottle and only planned to stay for the 1 show. A drink here generally lasts 2-3 shows! The Kansas couple enjoyed the show, and got into line for the next one. I told the waitress I’d see her tomorrow, and headed out of PI.

At the bus stop I just missed the Contemporary bus. Despite supposedly learning my lesson yesterday, when the WL/Poly/GF bus came I decided to get on! This time I got off at WL and went to their marina. From there I took the blue flagged boat, which stopped first at Ft Wilderness and then went to the Contemporary. It was a beautiful night for a boat ride, with the sun having just set and the sky changing colors. As we docked at the Contemporary we could see the fireworks from Illuminations. I was back in the room at 9:30, and finished the banana bread (still tasted great) while working on the trip report. Today it was sunny & breezy all day long. We had some puffy white clouds for a while, but no trace of any rain, and it was only in the mid 80’s today - close to perfect! Right now the MK fireworks just ended (can hear but not see them) and the EWP is going on (can hear it, can’t see it). It’s so great being at WDW!

I’m not sure what I’ll do tomorrow. I’d like to spend some pool time, perhaps in the afternoon. Tomorrow night will definitely be Comedy Warehouse, for 2-3 shows. Maybe MK in the morning, since it’s just a walk away...we’ll see what the morning brings :-)

Total miles walked: 11.25

DAY 3 - TUESDAY, JUNE 1, 1999:

Woke up at 6:10 again (didn’t change the alarm setting from the day before). I had noise from people/kids running around in the room above me last evening while working on the trip reports, but once they went to bed it was very quiet - slept like a log again. Had the usual cappuccino/honey nut chex for breakfast, and did my aol stuff. Not sure what to do this morning - Epcot sounds good, but it’s EE day. AK was considered - but I can’t be there by 8am & still get the aol stuff done. MK would be convenient, just a short stroll away, but perhaps I’ll wait until Saturday morning (and get a first hand view of the gayday crowds - but I won’t wear any red!). So, that leaves MGM.

I left the room by 8:30, just missing the MGM bus. Another came in a little while, stopped to fill up at TTC again, and arrived MGM just prior to 9. I waited for rope drop over by the Brown Derby, and decided to take the Animation Tour since I hardly ever do that. My left knee had started to hurt really badly late yesterday, as if I’d somehow twisted it or something. I don’t recall doing anything at all to injure any body parts, and have no joint or medical problems, so I was a little puzzled. Even with all the wine at lunch, I’m pretty sure nothing happened to cause an injury! In any event, I decided that today I’d go easy on the walking around. When I got to Animation the cm was saying the first tour would begin in about 20 minutes. Now, both the guidemap & the tip board say this attraction opens at 9am, and I did not get over here early to cool my heels until 9:20!! So, I went to the Backstage Tour instead. There was about a 5 minute wait here, which wasn’t too bad. They’ve discontinued the Bette Midler lottery ticket movie on this tour. I breezed through the area too quickly to see what exactly the replacement was, though. Catastrophe is re-opened, and I couldn’t tell any differences from before the rehab.

Next I returned to Animation, and had about a 5 minute wait. The tour was good, and I always love to look at Robin Williams - he’s so cute & cuddly! I noticed they no longer hand paint the cels for the movies anymore - it’s all done by computer. That has got to save a huge amount of time! I skipped out on the last section - the part where they show highlights of Disney animated movies. The exit doors were still open, so I just scooted out the back. As much as I love Disney, I really don’t like cartoons and don’t really care about any of their animated movies.

The weather so far today has been perfect - sunny, 80’s, breezy, with little chance of rain (just wait). They expect it to be hotter/more humid/higher chance of rain on Wednesday, Thursday & Friday before getting nicer again fro Sat/Sun. I left MGM, and waited for the boat to Boardwalk, then walked into Epcot. World Showcase had just opened, but I was headed to Innoventions. The only thing I did in Epcot was to send an e-mail postcard to my neices in New Hampshire. When I get the link I’ll post it on the Independent Traveler boards (like so many others have done recently) so readers can put a face to my trip reports. From Innoventions I headed up the monorail ramp (so much for not walking much, lol), where we all just stood around for over 20 minutes! The monorail finally came (a bunch of suits had come up, so there must have been some problem), so it was a crowded ride to TTC. I switched over to the Resorts Monorail, and began the long commute home.

At the Contemporary I stopped to register for my conference - the Florida Sterling Council. They give everyone a nice large tote bag (about the size of our DVC tote) along with a binder full of information, name tag & holder, banquet ticket, and a few other brochures. I went up to the room & changed into a swim suit, figuring I’d look over the material at the pool. My packages from last night had already been delivered, and were sitting on my table. Once I got out to the pool & got my towels, it got really cloudy. I tried the pool, but the water felt cool to me - I went just far enough in to get my butt wet, which I would soon regret. I retreated to my chair & pulled out the binder of information. Within 5-10 minutes it started to sprinkle, and it looked like it could continue for a while, so I gathered up all my stuff & returned to the room. Of course, now I’ve got a wet bathing suit bottom, so I had to use a towel to sit on the edge of the chair! While I was looking over the conference stuff it began to POUR - yet the sky was not entirely dark. It only rained like that for about 5 minutes, and hopefully will clear up so I can head back to a sunny pool. I used the time to update the trip report - I’m a little nervous about being able to stay caught up once the conference starts - and had a bowl of honey nut chex for an easy lunch. Hopefully when the sun comes out I’ll return to the pool and perhaps get one of their frozen specialty drinks!

About 1:30 or so I headed back to the pool. I tried the jacuzzi, but thought the water was too hot to be comfortable, so I drifted around in the pool for a while. Once I’d gotten out and had dried off some, I went to the shower in the rest room to get rid of the chlorine that was all over my legs! It was mostly cloudy, but thankfully no more rain. I read my Reader’s Digest, and then went to get my drink. I ordered the Cancun Meltdown (Captain Morgan spiced coconut rum, creamy coconut & Myers original dark Jamaican rum) - $6.50 including tip. Bartender Bob was pretty funny, and I goofed around with him for a while. He said he saw me walking by earlier & was waving trying to get me to come on in, but I didn’t see him. I told him I knew I’d be in there, but on my own schedule - and that just wasn’t the right time. He asked where I was from, and when I said Ft Myers he said - oh, you came all that way. I said - yep, this whole trip was made just to come up here & see you! He was speechless for a minute, and the other cm said “hey Bob, she’s giving it right back to you” - LOL! Bob said I’d better be back for another one in 10 minutes, or he’d be coming out to throw ice at me! I took my drink and returned to my chair. I was a little confused by the drink, because the dark rum just kind of floated on top of the frozen drink. I wasn’t sure what to make of that, lol! I don’t like the taste of alcohol, so slurping it off the top was NOT an option! Eventually when it all melted enough I just mixed it together and it was fine. I’m not sure if that’s how you’re supposed to drink it, but it worked for me. I saw a co-worker from another town, and chatted with him for a little while. Around 4:30 I headed inside the hotel to buy a chocolate medallion from the gift shop (in case I wanted a snack after PI tonight, since the banana bread was gone) & returned to the room for another shower.

Oh, the award for the most unusual guest spotted today has to go to a guy on the monorail from Epcot to TTC this morning. He seemed nice enough, he just looked very unusual. Picture a young guy, tall & thin, with mustache & goatee, black rimmed glasses (not quite like Drew Carey,but similar).....and the thing that first captured my attention was the bright GREEN hair! It was so bright, it was almost a lime color. He was with a pretty strange looking girl, too, but at least her hair wasn’t green. They seemed nice enough, they were just different looking!

The gayday stuff is on the news right now. They say it will be the biggest event ever - almost 150,000 people attending this weekend, pumping $10 million into the local economy. It’s a 5 day event with 40 events scheduled all around the Orlando area. They say no demonstrations against gayday are planned - except 1 very small group. The news is calling it gayday in Central Florida - not saying it’s at Disney (although they do mention the “big” day is Saturday at MK.

Well, tonight is Comedy Warehouse night. Layden is scheduled to work, so the shows should be good - I just hope it’s not too crowded so I can get in to at least 2 shows without being out too late. I left the room around 6pm to drive over to Pleasure Island. Since I’ve got to be up at 5 tomorrow morning, it will be faster to drive home rather than take the buses. I parked between the West Side & Planet Hollywood, and decided to hunt for something to eat. After looking around, I ended up at Bongo’s outdoor cafe and ordered an empanada de pollo (a small turnover stuffed with chicken) for $1.33 including tax. I’d never had one before, but it looked good, and tasted great. I’ll have to remember this for times when I want a little something, but not a full meal. Also on the menu were papas rellena (breaded potato stuffed with ground beef) and many people were ordering them ($.75 each). I entered Pleasure Island from the West Side, which is my favorite entrance because I can stop right in the restroom nearby & wash the stamp off my hand (so I don’t get ink on my clothes).

I sat on the steps of the Adventurer’s Club until it was time to get in line at the Comedy Warehouse. I asked the cm if she knew which shows Layden would be performing in, and she said she’d check when she got the schedule & let me know. I was towards the front of the line, so I was seated in the front row. There was a nice young couple from San Diego seated next to me, and we chatted a bit. When the cm came to tell me that Layden was working all shows except the 3rd one, the guy from CA asked if I was here to see someone special. I told him that there was just 1 actor that I thought was the most talented, and I was checking to see which shows he’d be in. The first show was pretty good - and afterwards the CA guy asked me who was that guy who placed a specific character. Turns out it was Layden - so it was nice to see that others agree that he’s the best! Also, during the first show I got the recipe for the drink I always order (Bye Bye Blues). It was one of their specially named drinks, and hasn’t been on the menu for at least a few years now, but as long as they’ve got someone who knows how to make it, they make it for me. I wanted the recipe so if I come when all they’ve got is new bartenders, I can still get my drink. The bartender tonight wrote it out on a cocktail napkin for me. After the first show I got back in line for the 2nd show, and ended up getting seated in the last empty seat in the front row again. This show was very good, but there were lots & lots of kids in the audience, including a toddler in the row behind me (climbing on the table, banging the drink menu on the table, etc).

After the 2nd show I wandered around PI - it was much less crowded than I expected, which was great! I’d decided to skip the 3rd show, so I sat in the Adventurer’s Club for about an hour. In there I got to interact with some of their characters, do the new member induction ceremony, and saw a show in the Treasure Room. None of it was new, but it’s fun once in a while & it certainly beat standing in line for the 4th comedy show! About ½ hour before the 4 show I noticed the line had formed, and was getting long, so I left the Adventurer’s Club & joined the line. This time I was not seated down on the floor, but was still very close. This show they did my favorite bit - which lasts the entire show. It’s the one where 4 of the actors has to tell a story while the 5th one works as the conductor, pointing the baton at the one who’s supposed to speak. When an actor messes up in any way, we have to kill that actor. The last actor left standing then wraps up the story, which tonight was titled White Person Goes to Kabuki Dance Club. It was very funny, and everyone really enjoyed it. The show ended about 11:30, so I headed to the car & returned to the Contemporary. After updating this report, it was lights out around 12:30 or so. Eeek - the alarm will be going off in 4.5 hours!!

Total miles walked: 6

DAY 4 - WEDNESDAY, JUNE 2, 1999:

The alarm went off at 5, which seemed too soon! I started on aol, and had 23 e-mails to take care of before posting the trip report. That ended up taking 30 minutes, and then I showered while the flash session downloaded yesterday’s message board posts. AOL hung up while I was in the shower - after 20 minutes of it hanging there I just did the old alt-ctrl-del trick! The first attempt I made didn’t go thru either, so I’m up to $1.50 today and barely made a dent in the downloading! I logged on a 3rd time, and found that the message board/newsgroup feature was down for maintenance, which was the reason for the hang up. I’ll just have to start extra early tomorrow

Breakfast was cappuccino & the last of the chex (I’d started the box on a business trip to Tallahassee last week), and I left in time to arrive at the convention center in the main building by 7am. They had a really nice continental breakfast set up outside the convention center under a covered area. The pastries looked great, but I’d already eaten. There were juices, coffee/tea, bagels, & fresh fruit. One of my staff spotted me, so I joined a table and had a cup of water, then moved on to talk with other people. Eventually they sounded the chimes (like on a cruise ship) to signal everyone to come inside. The conference room was impressive, and had seating for around 1200-1500 people. They were playing music that sounded themed to Star Wars, and the lighting & everything added to the effect. Soon a band came marching in - it was Future Corps from Epcot. They played & marched up onto the stage. Next they announced it was time to “present the colors” which consisted of uniformed men carring large flags and a couple carrying rifles while Future Corps played the national anthem. When it got to the part about “rockets red glare, bombs bursting in air” they had rigged a fire/explosion on either side of the stage, with flames billowing up. Towards the end of the song, they set off indoor fireworks from the ceiling - it was so cool! What a way to kick off a conference. I’d never seen indoor fireworks before! Then, Future Corps played a little longer, and then we got down to business. We had a great keynote speaker, and then each went to our morning session.

For lunch we had a choice of either “work” or “non work”. Bob (my boss) & I chose to take a “work” table, and decided to join the group who’d be discussing strategic planning (wow, I bet you’re really excited now). It ended up being me and 9 men having a wonderful time discussing things relative to strategic planning, deployment, etc. Of course anytime it’s me and 9 intelligent, articulate, friendly men sharing lunch - who the heck cares what the topic is!!! Even Bob said, hey this table is perfect for you, lol. It was about a 90 minute lunch, and it passed very quickly. The actual food part was not that long, but we lingered to continue our conversation. The meal started with rolls & Mickey butter. Next salads were served - as the only female at the table I was always served first. Our server, Gracie, forgot about Bob, though. Everyone else was served, and then she left to do another table. I figured I wouldn’t eat my whole lunch anyway, so I gave Bob my salad. It was made with all different types of lettuce, and would be wonderful for someone who’s not as picky and unimaginative as I am when ordering salad. The main course was a chicken breast over mashed potatoes, served with zucchini & other squash. I ate almost ½ the chicken and some of the potatoes, and judging from everyone’s plates at the end I’d say everyone liked it. If “clean plate stickers” were given out here, most people would have received one. Another Gracie goof - she went to pour more iced tea for the man on my right, and misjudged & poured it onto his bread plate! She never cleaned it up, or acknowledged it in any way, which I though was strange. Also, many of the men were in need of more tea, but she didn’t keep their glasses full. For dessert we had a beautiful fruit tart. They took a plate, drizzled it with orange/red/yellow syrupy stuff (partly for decor but also to “glue” the tart to the plate so it wouldn’t slide around), took the tart shell, lined it with chocolate, filled it with some creamy stuff, and then had fresh fruit placed on top. The fruit included strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, mandarin orange pieces, and kiwi. It was pretty, and very tasty. It also disappeared pretty quickly (I ate about 1/2), but many people left at least 1 or 2 types of fruit on their plate. Overall I’d say the food was good, but not outstanding, and the service was mediocre.

The afternoon consisted of the expo (products & services related to quality) being open for an hour, then another session, and then a final keynote speaker. The expo would then be open for another hour, but I’d rather use the time getting the trip report updated so I can be at Comedy Warehouse in time for the first show! At the expo a couple of interesting things happened. There were lots of companies exhibiting their wares, most of them giving away candy or some sort of trinket. At the Honeywell booth they had a tropical theme going, and the guy yelled “hey Susan, come over here” - reading my name from my name tag. He picked up a couple of the plastic leis and said “here, you need to get laid”. I’m not a prude, by any means, but I thought that was a bit much and was sort of out of place for the setting. Coronado Springs had a booth, and I found out that’s where the conference is going to be in 2000. I talked to the cm there for a while, then a man came up to ask a question & I ended up talking to him about Disney. Turns out he & his wife are thinking about DVC, so I gave him a lot to think about. The rest of the conference was good, and we finished up with the final keynote speaker about 5pm. One of my staff had overheard a Disney cm telling a guest that if they thought the opening session was spectacular, just wait until Friday night!

Bob & his wife (Donna) were interested in coming to PI with me tonight, so I told him I could get them both in for ½ price (Disney Dining Experience card allows 2 ½ price admissions and I get in using my PI AP) but they’d have to be ready to go by 6:15 so we’ve got time to get our tickets & get in line for the first show. I’ll drive over, so I can make a quick return at the end of my evening. They will probably want to eat dinner, so they can go off & I’ll stay at Comedy Warehouse most likely.

We arrived PI about 6:30 or so, bought their tickets and entered my usual way. I went to wash the hand stamp off, and when I came out of the restroom the couple from Kansas (Michael & Joan) were coming by. I stopped to chat with them, introduced them to Bob & Donna, and we headed up to the Comedy Warehouse. When we got in line I asked the cm to tell me which shows Layden would be performing in, and she checked & then told me it would be the first 4 shows. The 5 of us had a great time chatting in line, which made the time pass quickly. We were seated in the front row, and Bob/Donna bought my drink. I had told Donna about the Bye Bye Blues, and she decided to try one too (and loved it). Tonight they only had new bartenders, so luckily I had the recipe from last night to give the waitress to show the bartender! She forgot to take my squeeze bottle when she turned in the order, so I got a new bottle for free. The show was excellent - I don’t remember when a first show of the evening has been so funny! We all got in line for the 2nd show, which was absolutely hysterical! Our faces hurt from laughing so much, and the actors were also laughing a lot. After this show Bob/Donna decided to eat dinner, and invited me to join them, but to me the Comedy Warehouse shows are more important than any food! So, Michael, Joan & I got back in line and saw the 3rd & 4th shows before calling it a night at 11:45. I think they stayed for the New Year’s eve thing, but I headed back to the Contemporary since I had to be up so early in the morning. In fact, by the time I drove back it was already tomorrow!

One surprise - during the second show who comes out on stage, but Kelly. She’s my favorite of the female actors, and on Saturday night the food & bev manager had told me Kelly left & moved to Los Angeles. Anyway, it was great to see her here, and she was back in the 4th show as well.

In the room I updated the trip report, got it ready for posting in the morning, ate a small chocolate cookie I’d picked up at the expo, and it was lights out around 12:45 or so.

DAY 5 - THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1999:

Egads - it’s another 5am day! Hopefully if aol cooperates this morning, I’ll sleep in a little tomorrow - maybe until 5:15 or something. I picked up the newspaper from my door & piled it on top of the Wednesday & Tuesday papers I haven’t had time to look at yet. Things should calm down after Friday. Breakfast consisted of cappuccino and a small bowl of Blueberry Morning cereal. AOL worked great, and I got all my flash sessions done (it took about 4 to get all the messages downloaded, since the max per session is set at 300) before the boards went down for maintenance. Got all the e-mails answered, too.

About 7:30 I headed to the continental breakfast to see the others. I’d purposedly eaten only a small bowl of cereal because yesterday I saw some good looking chocolate croissants and also banana bread loaves on the breakfast, and decided I’d like to eat a portion of one. Of course today, they had neither! There were different pastries, and lots of cinnamon buns. I got my usual glass of water & sat to chat with my co-workers. Bob & Donna ate at Wildhorse Saloon last night, just getting buffalo wings. Bob said it was okay, but he was paying the price later. None of the others did much of anything - although 1 couple rode the monorail (didn’t get off, though). Several mentioned hearing the fireworks, so I suggested they get their butts up to the observation deck by 10pm and told them exactly where to stand. It’s amazing to find people at WDW who know absolutely nothing about WDW, lol! Two of my staff are thinking about going to Chef Mickey’s for dinner, and if so I’ll probably give them my Disney Dining Experience card to get the 20% discount (assuming they’re paying cash).

The big morning session was a series of presentations, so no special Disney stuff there. Then we had the morning separate sessions & reconvened for a working lunch. Today we started with rolls & breadsticks (w/mickey butter), and a salad that looked like a chunk of some sort of head of lettuce. It also had pieces of mango, small oddly shaped tomatoes, and something else - maybe guava (it was green & mushy looking) or avocado. The entree was cheese tortellini in a light brown sauce, covered with strips of vegetables, mushrooms, & fried onions. The tortellini were good, but I don’t eat veggies, so they remained on my plate (I did eat over ½ the tortellini). Next the keynote speaker talked about how statistics are really cool (wearing sunglasses to emphasize that point), and how they help us manage better. When he was done we were directed into the expo for dessert. They had a couple of cm’s handing out Mickey ice cream bars on a stick, and Mickey ice cream sandwhiches (just like in the park). I passed, since I would not eat a whole one & it would have been awkward to be throwing away something so messy. It was no loss to me - I really don’t care that much about those 2 items anyway. I’ve still got my chocolate medallion from Downtown Disney a couple nights ago if I want something sweet! Since I’d been through the expo already, I used the 40 minutes of “free” time to return to the room & update the trip report. At 2:30 there was another session, followed by another keynote speaker at 4:00. We were out of there a little after 5.

I immediately went to my room & changed into “parks” clothing, and was at the bus stop by 5:25. It was very cloudy, very humid, and would be raining soon. I got on the AK bus, which then stopped at Ft Wilderness. It started to rain as we entered FW, and continued until after I got to AK and walked to the Safari. There was no line at all - I walked right onto the vehicle, and most of the animals were out. We saw 4 cheetahs (I never knew there were 4 of them), and both lions were on the rocks looking at us. Too bad I left the camera in the room, because it would have made a nice picture. Next I walked over to Countdown to Extinction, and walked right into the preshow movie. There was a wait in the loading area, since they only had 1 side open. I was seated next to an Asian couple, and you should have heard them scream! I’m not sure they got the kind of ride they were expecting! By the time I got off it was close to 7pm (park closing), so I headed out to the bus stop & waited for the Coronado Springs bus.

It came in about 5 minutes, stopped at Blizzard Beach, and then I got off at the Cabanas stop so I could enjoy walking around the lake to get to the Pepper Market for dinner. I used to get a child’s pasta alfredo, which was a tiny little side dish of pasta and cost either $2 or $2.50. Now they’ve changed the menu (adult & kids), and the child’s pasta comes with fruit & a cookie for $3.99. I ordered it - with penne pasta and alfredo sauce. It was HUGE! It was easily more than double the size of what I used to get, plus it came with bread, 2 slices of cantaloupe, and 2 large chocolate cookies. It’s an excellent value, and easily enough for 2 kids to share. I was under dressed for the degree of air conditioning in there, so I got the food to go and ate outside at a table by the lake. The cm at the pasta station was not too swift. First she spilled a bunch of sauce, not even noticing it. Then she asked whether I wanted white or wheat bread - I said “neither” and she put a piece of white in my container. It was very pleasant sitting outside, and not crowded at all. I fed the bread to the ducks, saved the cookies for some other day, ate the cantaloupe (it was perfectly ripe & delicious) and ate as much pasta as I could, throwing enough for another meal into the trash. The clouds were getting dark again, and thunder was starting, so I cleaned up my trash and browsed in the gift shop on the way to the bus stop.

I took the bus to MK, arriving about 8:15. MSEP was running at 9, so Main Street was very busy with people waiting for the parade. I stopped in the candy store & bought one of those marshmallow things (3 or 4 marshmallows on a stick, dipped in chocolate, then rolled in m&m pieces). They’re really kind of sickeningly sweet, but the idea of having one popped into my mind earlier today - and at $1.25 I’d consider them a really cheap treat. Perhaps I’ll eat part of it before going to bed tonight. After putting my cookies & candy in the backpack, I headed down Main Street to check out the tip board. It ended up being too dark to read it, and the sidewalk was about 4 lines of parade watchers deep, so I was unable to see what the wait was at Big Thunder. I headed over there, and the line extended outside, so I turned around and rode Pirates of the Caribbean instead. Next I returned to Frontierland to ride the train around to the front of the park. The train pulled in just as MSEP was starting, and I found the end of a bench to stand on which gave me a good view. As many times as I’ve been to WDW (at least 75 separate vacations), this was the FIRST time I’d ever seen this parade. It reminded me a lot of Spectromagic, and was really beautiful. I left the train station as soon as the parade ended, and it had started to rain again. It wasn’t too bad, though, & I had my umbrella. I returned to the Conemporary, and finished today’s report while listening to the MK fireworks.

One last thing - today there was a letter & phone call from the Contemporary. Seems they’ve got some maintenance to do, and there will be no hot water from 11pm tonight until 5am tomorrow. I think I’ll “sleep in” tomorrow and not set the alarm until 5:30. That way if they run a little late I can hopefully avoid a cold shower!

DAY 6 - FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1999:

Last day of the conference - then it’s time for a few more days of vacation! I got up at 5:30, and did the aol thing. When I turned the shower on, the water never got hot......it brought back memories of being at Coronado Springs in August 1998 when the gas pipeline in north FL had a fire and there was no hot water for a day or so. It was cold showers for everyone at the Contemporary - I’m not sure what time the water came back on, but the president of the conference said he’d gotten about a 100 phone calls about it. Now why on earth would anyone (with half a brain, that is) be calling a GUEST to ask why the water wasn’t on yet????? It sure doesn’t make the conference attendees sound too intelligent! I had cappuccino/cereal in the room again, then joined the others while they ate at 7:30. The chimes called us in just before 8, and the final session ended at 12:30. There wasn’t a lunch today, or any Disney details to share.

I returned to my room, and ate the rest of the marshmallow thing (I ate ½ of it in bed last night). It’s total junk, but it tastes good, and I had to eat it before I’d be checking out tomorrow or it would melt in the car. I changed into a swim suit, grabbed my laundry, and drove over to Old Key West. I expected the guard to question me, and I had my DVC member card, but he just waved me in. I parked at the Turtle Pond pool, which was almost empty. After finding a chair close to the pool & also close to the laundry I put my clothes in the washer & relaxed in the pool. More people came, but the pool never got really crowded. It was very relaxing listening to the Disney songs played with a tropical beat! Eventually Tina (sfarmer509) and her family arrived. Their grand villa wasn’t ready yet so they let the kids swim and I sat and talked to Tina & Sam. They had a nervous moment when their pilot aborted the landing when they were almost down on the ground, and flew back up into the air (another plane was too close) - but otherwise they had a good flight. Tina says hi to all the aol DVC friends! Off in the distance it got really cloudy, and the thunder grew louder & louder. About 3-3:30 I figured I’d better get going so I didn’t get caught in the rain, and Tina & Sam made the kids get out of the pool out of concern about lightning. We said goodbye, and I drove back to the Contemporary.

I packed up most of my stuff, and called the front desk to inquire about a late checkout (noon). They told me they don’t do late checkouts, but she said in the morning I can check with housekeeping to see if it will be possible. I hope so, but so far the Contemporary is batting a big zero on granting anything I’ve requested so far! With the weather so uncertain, I just stayed in the room and caught up on a lot of the message board posts. I also took another shower - with hot water this time!

Tonight is the awards ceremony/banquet to wrap up the conference. It’s black tie optional, and should be nice. I can’t wait to see what Disney’s “entertainment” will consist of, and our governor will be in attendance. Living here in FL, life is pretty casual, so you don’t get the chance to dress up much! We’ve got the reception at 6:30, then the banquet/ceremony from 7-10. I’ll be wearing a black dress - low cut, figure hugging, & short. It’s lace on the top, with long sleeves & scooped neck & back. The bottom is a spandex material, and stops maybe 4 inches or so above the knee. With the right jewelry, black hose, black lace heels, & a little black beaded bag - I’m all set for a fancy evening! I may have created the illusion of having long legs - but at 5’2” I’m probably just kidding myself! I’ll also be carrying my WDW camera bag, since we’ll want pictures of our group for our annual report and employee newsletter.

Bob, Donna & I arrived to the reception together. After presenting our tickets ($125 per person) we were admitted to the outside of the ballroom. It was so much fun seeing 1200 people all dressed up - especially when some of them are your co-workers or your staff. At 7 the Fife & Drum came marching through, and then led everyone into the ballroom. After some confusion with our seats (they’d changed table assignments) we sat & listened to the music. Service was white glove, which means in addition to tuxedo clothing the servers always wore white gloves on their hands (not Mickey gloves ;-) - which is more formal than regular service). Service was very attentive, too. If you drank your water down an inch or 2 someone was there to fill it back up. Next they had a bunch of lasers (like at Epcot) flashing across the room - very impressive while a certain large group of people marched into the room & their names were called. A group of 5 singers sang some patriotic songs, and then the salad was served. Next the Dapper Dans from the MK performed about 3-4 songs. While any entertainment was going on, it was shown on the 2 huge screens on either side of the stage so wherever you were seated you’d have good view. The ballroom was the same one the Jolly Holidays dinner show was held in.

When the Dapper Dans were done, some awards were presented and then dinner was served. Each plate had a filet mignon, 3 of the HUGEST shrimp I’d ever seen, some fat rice (not sure of the name, but it was good), mango chutney, green beans, & carrots. The other 9 at my table pretty much cleaned their plates, but I’m so picky I only ate some of the steak & some rice. I’ve never liked veggies or seafood. After dinner they came by with fresh Columbian coffee, just delivered by Juan Valez according to the cm. The group of 5 singers came back out (the 2 ladies in new gowns) and since the Tony awards are coming up they did a series of Broadway songs - each of which they tied to the Sterling (total quality improvement) principles. It was pretty clever, and their voices were beautiful. Next were more awards, and then the Voices of Liberty performed. They sang “This Land is Your Land” while the big screens flashed pictures from around Florida, which everyone liked. Then the marching band from the MK came back in, playing Zip a Dee Doo Dah while the servers followed behind with dessert on their trays & a sparkler lit. It reminded me of being on a cruise ship! They paraded all through the ballroom, and then it was announced “Dessert is served”. The dessert was absolutely beautiful. They took a plate, and decorated it with dessert. The main item was a round thing that was sort of like flan, but a slightly different texture. In chocolate stems & 3 leaves were outlined. Each of the 3 leaf shapes was filled with a sauce - apricot, raspberry, & kiwi. On the side were a few raspberries & blackberries. It looked gorgeous, and tasted good, too. Next the Lt. Governor spoke (the governor wasn’t there after all), and then the singers came out (new dresses again) & started singing “America - Spread Your Golden Wings” (from American Adventure in Epcot). That song always gives me the chills. They paused for an award to be presented, then sang another chorus of it, paused for the final award, and then finished the song.

The president thanked everyone for coming, and then the finale began! First metallic confetti was blown down from the ceiling. Then, the lasers started - there were lasers crossing all over above our heads, on the walls, & everywhere! It was so impressive. A large screen descended from the ceiling, and laser images were projected while Neil Diamond’s “Coming to America” was played, followed by Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to be an American”. I really can’t describe how cool the whole thing was! At the end, there was a bunch of indoor fireworks set off, and then the evening was done.

Also - the centerpiece on each table was a floral arrangement (low, so you could see the person across the table) surrounded by 10 silver colored glass brandy snifters each with a votive candle lit in them. After dinner one of the white gloved servers extinguished each flame with his gloved finger. Turns out the logo of the Florida Sterling Council was etched/printed on the glass, and each of the 10 people at the table received one as a gift. I was absolutely mortified to see many people also taking the flower arrangements as well! Talk about tacky! I’m glad nobody at my table did that!

The banquet ended at 10:30, so it was 3.5 hours. However, it was the fastest 3.5 hours I’ve ever spent. It never dragged at all, and if any of you have the opportunity to attend a conference at WDW my advice is to GO! Don’t miss it!

At 10:30 it was too late to consider heading to PI, and dressed the way I was there really wasn’t any place to go, so I headed up to the room to finish the trip report. Lights out around midnight.

DAY 7 - SATURDAY, JUNE 5, 1999:

The trip is more than half over - that’s always a lousy feeling Got up at 5:30 again, had the usual breakfast, and stopped at the front desk. Express checkout had come, and I had gotten a late check out (1pm), but since I had a cm rate they didn’t post the nightly room rate & tax on my bill. To get reimbursed I really should have something that shows the specific room & taxes per night. The cm at the front desk told me it cannot be done, and I told him that someone at that very front desk had done it for me on the 3rd day - so I knew it was possible. He went into the back room to check into it. Next I hear “good morning, Ms Holland” and turn to see my warehouse manager standing there. I just can’t get used to seeing work people here (he attended the conference). We chatted about work a bit, and I asked him to give some support to the person I left in charge due to a few significant problems that had surfaced at the end of the week. What a bummer to be thinking about work in a place like WDW! The cm came back, to tell me it was impossible to get what I wanted, so I said fine & left. I was tired of arguing with these people, and tired of being told something that I knew was not true!

I walked to MK, arriving about 7:50. Today is gay day, and I wanted to see first hand what it was like. I was careful not to wear a single stitch of red clothing, though! Today is also the opening day of the Pooh ride, so I headed there first. The sign said 15 minutes, so I got in line & they immediately changed the sign to 25 minutes. Oh well, this is certainly the shortest it’s going to be today, so might as well wait. The cars are basically the same as Mr. Toad, just decorated a little differently. They have a single loading area rather than the 2 sides like in Mr. Toad. Because of this, they’ve expanded the waiting area under cover and the ride itself is longer. The inside is very bright & colorful, and it’s a nice ride. It’s basically a kiddie ride, but I enjoyed it. They exit is thru a gift shop, which is something I consider to be tacky on Disney’s part. People will go into the shops on their own, they don’t need to force it! Some Pooh enthusiast (an adult) was absolutely gushing to a cm about how she LOVED the ride, and it’s the most wonderful thing Disney’s done. I wouldn’t go that far, but I would ride it again if the wait was short enough. There’s 1 section where the cars bounce up & down slowly, and another section where they kind of rock back & forth to simulate floating on water. Otherwise, it’s just a smooth flat ride.

Next I rode Peter Pan with a 5 minute wait, and then did Buzz Lightyear with about a 10 minute wait (scored 140,500 - much better than the other day, but nothing any 8 year old couldn’t put to shame). I rode the TTA once, then headed to Toon Town Fair. It was just minutes before 9, but the land was already open (it had been closed 15 minutes ago). I rode Barnstormer twice, and then couldn’t stand the crowds of kiddies any longer so I headed to Fantasyland & rode Small World. Once again, the other people in the boat were flashers - taking flash photographs. Boy, is that annoying! I stopped at the payphone and called Chris to see how his week had gone, and then did Haunted Mansion. By now it was getting close to 10, and it was getting pretty crowded, with huge mobs entering the park. There were an awful lot of red shirts everywhere you looked - people of all ages. One guy was wearing a shirt that said something about actually being a lesbian - didn’t understand that. One bald guy in a red shirt was wearing a tiara. A couple people were wearing shirts stating stuff to the effect of “some of my best friends are gay” to show support for the gay day. Nobody seemed bothered by anything, and I didn’t see any kids noticing the male or female couples that were walking hand in hand or arm in arm. Honestly, the very idea of someone being attracted sexually to someone of the same gender is something I just can’t understand - but just as I don’t need anyone’s approval on the way I live my life, gay people certainly don’t need my approval on the way they live theirs. Bottom line - the park was very crowded, but everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.

On the way out I wanted to pick up another banana bread from the Main Street bakery, but the line was way out the door & into the street! Needless to say, I was not going to spend an hour in line to get a piece of banana bread, so I left the park. I decided to get on the BW bus to check on tomorrow’s BW reservation (hoping to get a bw view). When the bus pulled away, the driver changed the route to WL/Epcot. So, we stopped first at WL to pick up a bus load, then stopped at Epcot to let them off, and then went to BW. I was fairly ticked off, but the whole thing only took about ½ hour. I checked with guest services - and I GOT THE BW VIEW!!! Hooray, finally my luck is changing! God, I’m so glad to be getting back to DVC and away from the Contemporary, lol! What a difference between these 2 resorts. Normally I would not care about the bw view, since I’d generally be at PI seeing Comedy Warehouse shows all night. However, since I know Layden is not working until Tuesday night, I can skip PI on Sun/Mon and enjoy the BW view. Usually I book standard view to stretch points (since I don’t plan to be around at night) but this trip was so short notice all that they had was preferred). I returned to the bus stop, and waited for the MK bus, then walked back to the Contemporary.

I had noticed a room charge from Test Track appeared on my bill twice (noticed it while riding TTA), so I stopped at the front desk to get it corrected. Here things got really aggravating, so bear with me! First, there was a long line. Second, they had 4 cm’s working, and then 2 of them left (on break maybe). Frequently you see 1 or 2 working/talking together & ignoring guests in line - I really can’t stand that! After a long wait I get to the counter & the cm removes the duplicate charge in about 5-10 minutes time. While I’m standing there a lady is checking in at the next station. She’s reserved a garden wing standard view (like I had), and asked if her room would overlook the park. The cm said she’d been upgraded to a garden view at no additional cost, but the only rooms that viewed the park were in the tower. The cm then says “Let me check & see if we have one available” - and then tells the woman she found 1 & her room would be in the tower facing MK!!!!! Boy, was I pissed at this point. Remember just a week ago when the cm checking me in insisted they never upgrade to the tower?? I went to the room, and the message light was blinking. Evidently when one of my co-workers was checking out he thought only 1 night room & tax would be charged on his credit card & the other 3 nights would somehow magically be paid by the agency. Not sure where he came up with that, but the front desk manager left me a message asking me to call her. I did, and was on hold forever, then got the same wonderful cm who this morning insisted he could not give me a breakdown of room & tax, and he told me the mgr wasn’t in. I had him send me to her voice mail & I left a message. I assume she put all 4 nights on the guy’s credit card, but told her if she had not, to go ahead & do so now. I filled out the “We’re All Ears” form in the room, listing the service problems I’d encountered here, including the outright lie about no upgrades. I really would not have had any problem with being told there were no tower rooms available - but saying they don’t “do” them when I know otherwise just really bothers me. I think just finishing 3 days of Total Quality Improvement principles might have made me more sensitive to poor service, too.

Unfortunately, the day was to continue it’s downward trend. I drove over to the Comfort Inn Maingate, were I was staying tonight only. I had a coupon for a FL resident rate of $27.50 plus tax, and figured I could put up with this place for a single night. I’ve done it before (last time was Oct 1998) for the night before I arrived WDW. My room was ready, so I brought in the suitcase & laptop. Boy, what a let down going from a WDW resort to an off site dump! The Contemporary immediately started looking really good! Actually as far as Comfort Inns go, this one would be in the “good” range, but compared to any WDW resort it is the pits! In retrospect I think it was a mistake to book a room here between WDW resorts. Doing it at the beginning, before arriving at a WDW resort is not so painful/depressing. I hid the laptop between the mattress & box spring, then put the big suitcase on the bed to disguise the bulge. Then I left - as quickly as I could, lol! I went back to the Contemporary room, changed into a swimsuit, and went to the pool.

I got towels, and then bought a banana nut muffin at the Food & Fun center. I ate part of it for lunch, and saved the rest for breakfast tomorrow. It was ok - not as good as at the Main Street Bakery! I was unsure how to spend the rest of the day - but I knew for sure I did not want to spend any waking hours at the Comfort Inn! I stayed at the pool for a couple of hours, reading & relaxing in the cool water. I ate my 2nd cookie from the Pepper Market meal, which was especially good because sitting in my trunk caused the chocolate chips to melt. There were 2 planes flying around, circling the MK. The first one was dragging a banner that said Freedom From Homosexuality: Jesus Christ. The 2nd had a banner advertising some gay website. It was fairly annoying, and seemed so silly - dueling airplanes. The gays I can put up with, but the Jesus people make me crazy! Perhaps it’s because being gay is generally not a choice people make, but being a religious zealot definitely is. The gays don’t try to convert people to their way of life - can’t say the same about some of the religious people. About 3pm I got dressed in the rest room, poked through the shops on the 4th floor, and then drove back to the Comfort Inn. I was there for possibly 5 minutes - long enough to put my water in the refrigerator, hang the swimsuit up to dry, and grab the laptop.

I drove back to OKWR - ah, home! The pool was closed “due to inclement weather”. It wasn’t raining, so they must have spotted some lightning. I bought the drink of the day from Russ the bartender at the Gurgling Suitcase, and sat at the table in Papa’s Den and updated the trip report on the laptop. There were a bunch of kids watching Hercules on the tv, and it was pretty loud, but it was better than being at the Comfort Inn. The drink of the day was Grape Crush. It had vodka, chambourd, & I don’t remember what else. It tasted pretty much like grape juice. At this point I’ve drunk less than half, and can already feel it - so this will be my only one! There were many people waiting for their rooms, even at 4:45. Finally about 5:15 enough people left that I was able to turn down the blaring Hercules movie! I stayed in Papa’s Den until around 5:30, and then put the laptop in the trunk. It had never rained, but it was fairly overcast. Hopefully it’s enough to keep the laptop from getting too hot.

I took the boat from OKWR to Downtown Disney - I always love this ride. The boat docked at the West Side, because the dock on the Marketplace side is being rehabbed. I walked all the way over to the Marketplace to start my shopping at that end. Although I browsed through all my favorites, I didn’t buy any thing. When you go as often as I do buying stuff really isn’t a priority - plus I bought my shirt and Christmas ornament last week. I finished the Marketplace around 6:45, so I decided to see the first show at the Comedy Warehouse. The cm at the entrance said they were expecting a very busy night - 10,000 people, plus they were having an outdoor banquet for 250. When I got in I could see the tables set up for the banquet (outside behind the clubs). I sat on the Adventurer’s Club steps again, until it was time to get in line. Since I didn’t have my squeeze bottle, and since I was only going to stay for the 1 show, I didn’t order one of my drinks. The show was very good, and they did one of my favorites - Torture an Actor. What happens is they send 1 actor outside with a member of the audience (to witness he can’t hear anything). Then they take audience suggestions for a strange saying, and then thru improv the actor is tortured by having to figure out what the saying is. Tonight it was “I’d rather be a private with a chicken on my knee than a colonel with an eagle on my shoulder”. Paul (the heavy guy) did a great job with it.

By now I was pretty hungry, so I left PI right after the show and walked to Bongo’s in the West Side. I ordered an empanada en pollo and decided to also try one of the papas rellena (mashed potato ball with ground beef in the middle). The potato was ok - won’t order that again - but the empanada was great. With tax the total was $2.13. I sat at one of the outdoor tables and ate my dinner while listening to the music and watching all the people wandering around. At 8:20, it was pretty busy over there. I made a trip to the Candy Cauldron, thinking I’d get something sweet, but nothing really appealed to me. I walked back to the dock, arriving just as the OKWR boat arrived. It was just me, the driver, and 1 older couple for the ride back. I love this boat ride, and the sky was so pretty (it was shortly after sunset). Once back at OKWR I looked at some of the pictures outside of Olivia’s, and then left my “home” to return to the Comfort Inn (ick).

I pretty much just finished this portion of the trip report, read the newspaper, and watched a little tv. You won’t believe the bedding here - the mattress is bare, and the sheet is so thin I can read the mattress label right through it! I’m definitely not in Disney! At least I’ll only have an hour or so to be awake here. Tomorrow is back to WDW, and checking in to Boardwalk Villas.

Total miles walked: 8.25

DAY 8 - SUNDAY, JUNE 6, 1999:

The wake up call came at 6:30 - it felt good to “sleep in” finally. I think I had 7 hours in bed last night instead of the usual 4.5 - 5. I didn’t have any outside noise, thanks to the a/c unit. There are some amenities here that you might not expect at a Comfort Inn, especially for a $27.50 room rate. There’s a small coffee maker, ½ size refrigerator, hair dryer, and the tv looks to be 25” rather than 19”. There’s also a basket of shampoo, lotion, mouthwash, etc on the bathroom sink.

One off topic thing I’ve been meaning to mention - kids drowning in swimming pools. Since I’ve been here at least 2-3 kids have died drowning in motel pools, and I think another one died the week before I arrived. In all but 1 case (a school field trip) I think the parents were present and were supposedly responsible for their children! In no cases was there a lifeguard - these incidents all happened at your cheapo motels in the WDW area. My only point is that we sometimes let our guard down on vacation, especially at WDW. WDW has plenty of “quiet” pools that do not have lifeguards - so please don’t forget your never ending duty as a parent when your kids are in the pools!

Back to the trip report - I finished the banana nut muffin, had my cappuccino, loaded up the car & checked out of the lovely Comfort Inn. Next stop was Boardwalk Villas, where I checked in at 8:15. It was quite a contrast from the Contemporary. First, I was greeted with a smile and called over to the front desk so a cm could immediately check me in! I had dropped off my suitcase & laptop with bell services outside. The check in process took only minutes, and the cm verified that I did indeed have a boardwalk view. I put my parking pass & paperwork in the car, and then headed to the bus stop to catch the MK bus. I was so glad to be on a bus passing by the Contemporary, and not stopping there - lol! I think that resort has traumatized me!

I headed up to the train station, but they’d just finished boarding the 9am train so I had to wait for the next one. I heard someone calling my name, and it was Tina & Sam - they were on the train! The next train came in just a few minutes, but didn’t leave until almost 9:15. I got off in Frontierland and headed to Big Thunder. The line was all around the perimeter inside, and almost extended to the outside. I decided to wait, since that was all I really wanted to ride today. After Big Thunder I rode Peter Pan with maybe a 2 minute wait, then Snow White (5 min). I decided to leave then, and caught the boat to Wilderness Lodge. First I checked out the bake shop, but there was a fairly long line. They had some brownies in there that looked great, too! I was the only passenger going to WL, and once there I rented a bike. Due to the DVC construction (no building going on, they’re in the dirt-moving stage) the bike path was closed off - so I got my key from the bike rental place and walked thru the lobby to get a bike from behind the bus stop. I rode for an hour, riding through most of the camping loops. I also tried the Wilderness Swamp Trail, but the ground was too soft so I turned around and walked the bike out. The bike rental with tax was $5.30. As I was paying for the bike, I saw the MK boat pull into the marina, so I RAN over there so I wouldn’t miss it. Between the bike riding and the running, I certainly got some exercise today!

I entered MK again, and headed to the bake shop. This time there was no line (also no brownies), so I bought a piece of banana nut bread for another time. The cm was really nice - he asked if I wanted something to drink with that and I said “no thanks” and he said “c’mon, you look like you could use a cold glass of ice water at least” and gave me one. Perhaps it was that windblown, just off a bicycle and running like a fool to the marina look that I’d recently perfected - lol! I cut a skinny little piece of the banana bread - had to check the quality, after all, and wrapped the rest of it up in a bag. The bread was wonderful - it puts the (very good) muffin to shame. That done, I exited the MK.

There was a short wait for the BW bus, and of course we stopped at YC first, then BC, then finally BW. I got my swim stuff from the trunk, put my banana bread in there, checked on the room (not ready), and walked over to Stormalong Bay. Once I got there I realized I left the fun noodle in the car - and it was way to far to walk back there! I changed in the restroom near Beaches & Cream, got my towels, and found a lounge chair. I got there at 12:45, swam around, laid on my chair, and by 1:15 it was sprinkling out! I went to Beaches & Cream and ordered another Frozen Sunshine (2 scoops orange sherbert, 1 scoop vanilla ice cream & soda water), which turned out to be a mistake because I couldn’t finish it & threw about 1/3 of it away. Next time I’ll make sure I’m with someone who will share it with me. It sure is good, though! The rain only lasted 15-20 minutes, and then I returned to a new chair to do some reading. Here’s where I saw the person deserving of the most unusual award for today. She was a fairly attractive blonde, 35-45 yrs old, maybe 10-15 pounds overweight, perfect full makeup on her face (and checking it in her compact often), wearing a brimmed straw hat. Her swimsuit is what got my attention, though! It was white, and totally SHEER except for a solid white panty shape and then 2 solid white circles - one at the end of each breast! On a young, firm super model it would have looked like something from Sports Illustrated or a calendar. On a regular person, though, it simply looked like an error in judgement! Her breasts were much larger than the circles, too, which is why it looked so bizarre! I stayed at the pool until around 3, and then returned to BW to check on the room (still not ready). I browsed in the shops, then sat in a rocking chair up on the porch off the lobby & read my book until about 4. By then the room was ready. I got 1 more bag out of the trunk, notified bell services to bring up my other stuff, and went to the room.

I have studio #3031, which is a studio plus (it’s got a daybed so it could accommodate 5 people). It’s 3rd floor, on the boardwalk above the outdoor eating area for Big River Grille. Right now I’m sitting on my porch out there as I type this report! Unlike at OKWR, the BW porches have no electric outlet, but my cord is just barely long enough to reach the plug behind the sofa. The view is wonderful! I look right at Spaceship Earth, and the YC/BC is gorgeous. The studio is exactly what it’s supposed to be - 1 queen bed, 1 sleep sofa, tv w/2 drawers for clothes, table w/2 chairs, mini kitchen (fridge, microwave, coffee maker, sink, cabinets) & bathroom. Personally I consider the studios at OKWR to be MUCH prettier than the studios at BW, but I think BW has the better kitchen (studio only) and I like the sofa rather than the 2nd bed. The suitcase arrived, but no laptop! The cm went back down and it was almost 5 before he got back with it.

I went to the BW Bakery, and bought a brownie - guess I still had brownie on the mind from this morning. It is a good size square, covered with chocolate icing, sprinkles, & m&m’s. I ate a little bit, and saved the rest for other snacks, and then headed for AK. I decided to drive this time, partly because my BW to AK bus experiences last December were so awful, and partly because I plan to stop at CS to pick up dinner afterwards. On the way to AK, my parking pass must have blown away, because although I know it was there when I started I couldn’t find it anymore! I told the cm I lost my parking pass, and he waved me in. I later found the pass blown under the front passenger seat. Then, as I’m walking to the park I drop my trip report notes and the paper goes blowing off (it was breezy today), so I had to go chase that! I entered AK at 5:55, and had time to do the usual - first Kilamanjaro Safari (got some pics of the lions) and then Countdown to Extinction. By then it was just before 7, so I left and drove over to Coronado Springs.

I went to the Pepper Market, planning to get the child’s pasta dinner to bring back to eat while overlooking the boardwalk. The cm today was less pleasant/swift than the one the other night. First she put the pasta & alfredo sauce in a big carryout container (not the 3 compartment type like last time), and then was going to put the cantelope & cookie in there as well. I don’t know about you, but the idea of cantelope or a cookie in alfredo sauce does NOT appeal to me, so I stopped her & asked her to package them separately. She actually had to find another cm to ask how to do that! This time it was only 1 piece of cantelope & 1 cookie - which she put in a 2nd carry out container for me. I drove back to BW, returned to the room, got set up on the porch & ate some dinner. Unfortunately, it didn’t taste as good as I thought it would - not sure if I’ll finish it tomorrow or just pitch it! It was a good idea though, it just didn’t work out.

Perhaps later I’ll take a walk on the boardwalk. Right now there’s a screaming baby in the restaurant downstairs, so it’s time to go inside (& close the door) for a bit. That family just arrived - they’re still looking at their menus and the kid is standing in his high chair screaming at the top of his lungs while his 2 sisters color quietly. Even with the door closed, that kid’s crying is all I can hear in here!

If anything exciting happens, I’ll post it at the start of tomorrow’s report.

Total miles walked: 9.5

DAY 9 - MONDAY, JUNE 7, 1999:

Last night I watched Illuminations fireworks from my balcony - talk about a cool thing to do! I just loved every minute of it! The screaming kid finally shut up long enough to eat - but sounded like he really needed to sleep (over tired). I chatted with Darla (ILUVDVC) briefly when she came on line, and ended the night with a walk along the boardwalk before returning to the studio to watch the activity from my porch (or should I be calling it a balcony here?). In any event, it was fun watching all the activity out on the boardwalk. It also felt pretty cool to just put my resort id in my pocket & head out for a walk - no fanny pack, back pack, etc!

This morning it’s completely cloudy, and expected to be cloudy & rainy all day Since I did drag my fun noodle up from the car I’m hoping for some sunshine so I can enjoy the lazy river part of Stormalong Bay, but it might not happen this trip. In the studio plus there’s not an electrical outlet near the table, so to use the laptop during breakfast I had to move the table down between the end of the bed and the daybed, using the daybed as my seat. Breakfast was cereal & cappuccino - what a surprise! I left the studio about 8:25 for the walk to Epcot. I decided to get rid of the rest of the pasta from last night, so I threw it in a trash can out on the boardwalk. In Epcot I decided to check out the Test Track line, and found it surprisingly short (it still extended outside, but people were already riding although it wasn’t quite 9am). I got in line, exited at the single rider point, and despite the ride stopping several times I was still finished by 9:40. The longest wait was sitting at the exit when the ride broke down again. Thankfully it didn’t break down at all during my ride, but when we started the outside part it was raining again (like in March). I was talking to some people in line who were leaving in less than 2 hours for the DCL cruise, after having spent the last 3 nights at the Grand Floridian. After the ride they said it was good if you had a 15 minute wait, but if you had to wait longer it would not have been worth it. I walked past the entrance again and now the posted wait was 2 hours.

I went to the Land, and rode the Living with the Land boat ride. They were sending all these empty boats through, and then 1 with just a couple cm’s on board (1 was training), and then finally we were able to board. I was seated with 2 elderly women, and for whatever reason they crowded way over into my space, practically sitting in my lap! There was all this space on the other side of them, and they were all scrunched up into me. They also chatted throughout the entire ride, so I think they were just oblivious to everything around them (including me). I checked at the Circle of Life, but didn’t want to wait 13 minutes for the next show. I found some WDW Forever cd kiosks near the Electric Umbrella, and previewed a bunch of the available tracks. I couldn’t find 10 that I wanted, though, so I didn’t order a cd. I shopped a little in the part of Centorium that was still open, and then headed for World Showcase.

At 11 I headed to Mexico, and was the first rider in the first boat at El Rio del Tiempo. I think this is the first time I’d ever been the very first person of the day on anything. Next I rode the Maelstrom, walking right onto a boat. I wandered around the rest of world showcase, browsing in all the shops in most of the countries. Usually I don’t bother doing this, but since I wouldn’t be needing any pool time today I had plenty of time to kill. At the American Adventure the next show wasn’t starting for almost 30 minutes, so I continued walking. I watched the O Canada movie, and then decided to have lunch at Le Cellier. It was shortly after noon, but they had no problem giving me a table. My waiter was Chris, and he provided excellent service and was very personable. We talked a bit about Canada, and I told him I’d been to Montreal when I was 9 (for Expo 67). I ordered a glass of white merlot ($5) and the cheddar cheese soup ($3.75), and Chris said he’d also bring me some breadsticks. He did not appear to be bothered at all that my check was going to be so small (actually I would have been fine with just the soup - I ordered the wine to bring the check up a little without adding a bunch of food I couldn’t finish). He came back with everything, including a glass of ice water. There were 3 large breadsticks - sourdough, pretzel, and 8 grain. I liked the 8 grain best, and ate over ½ of it - and sampled the other 2. The pretzel would make a good snack later, I thought. The soup was good to the last drop! With my 20% Disney Dining Experience discount the check was $7.42, so I left a $2 tip. I asked Chris if I could take the rest of the breadsticks with me, and he brought me a bag with 3 brand new breadsticks plus my original ones! I’ve got enough bread to last quite a while now - not sure what I’m going to do with it all! I still have most of a brownie, a cookie, cantelope, & most of the banana bread in the room - so it looks like dinner will be a mixture of bread & junk food. I walked back to BW and dropped the bread off in the room. This has got to be the biggest single advantage to the BW location - when hopping between Epcot & MGM it’s so easy to stop off at the room to drop off or pick something up!

I walked over to the Swan to catch the boat to MGM. I’d brought the piece of bread from the Pepper Market dinner, and found some ducks at the Swan to feed while waiting for the boat. We had the driver with the really nice voice - and is tall, well built & handsome as well! At MGM I searched for a pair of earrings I’d gotten last November; in March I lost one in a Stormalong Bay or Contemporary restroom when changing for the pool. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to sell those earrings anymore. My new friend Larry from United Kingdom wanted to know what was going on with Rock n Roller Coaster, so I headed there next but there was no cm around to talk to. Sorry, Larry! I browsed the shops along Sunset Boulevard, and noticed they sell those marshmallow/m&m things in the candy store next to the villians shop - but with all the food I still had it really didn’t make sense to add something else to the pile, so I passed it by (sadly). I didn’t do any shows or attractions, but wandered around the entire park just enjoying the atmosphere. The crowds weren’t bad, but most attractions had waits of 15-25 minutes. They were looking for people to join the studio audience for a taping of Petsburgh USA (or something like that), but I didn’t bother. I listed to some Disney cd’s at a listening station in the book store next to Sci-Fi, but I already have all the ones I liked. On the way out I stopped back at the candy store and bought a marshmallow/m&m thing! I guess one can never have too much candy & junk food, after all.

I left MGM, and the boat was at the dock. I started running, but stopped when the guy closed the door & the boat shoved off The handsome cm was the driver, too (oh darn). The next boat came relatively soon, and this driver (a retired guy) kept us entertained by talking for part of the trip. I got back to the room in time to watch my soap (General Hospital) for the first time in over a week (I’d been following the update on the abc web site) & threw in the last little bit of laundry so I didn’t have to pack dirty clothes.

As an aside - today for the first time at the parks I was wearing a dress rather than the usual shorts. It’s a basic denim tank dress, about mid thigh - and I had absolutely NO problems getting on or off any rides. There was a discussion on RADP not too long ago about whether wearing a dress was stupid when touring a park, and based on my experience I’d say it’s fine unless it’s some tight thing, or is so billowy the wind might blow it up over your head! The only downside with today’s dress is there’s no place to hook the pedometer, so I won’t have a “miles walked” reading for you.

About 4:30 I had finished the laundry and decided to walk back over to Epcot - just can’t “waste” this location, I guess! I put the fun noodle back in the car, and would have moved the car closer but there weren’t any better parking spaces. I returned to Epcot, and headed for America. I was able to walk right in (at 5:15) to the 5:30 Lord of the Dance show, selecting a seat in the front row of the 2nd section. This way no tall people can sit in front of me. It looked like the section for people buying the dinner package is just a small part of the front & center rows. If you buy a package, you enter from the Japan side of USA, and if you don’t have a package you’d enter from the Italy side (assuming there was a crowd). The dancing portion of the show was excellent! I can’t figure out how they can dance like that without tripping over their own legs and falling down! Between dance numbers there was either a singer or violinists filling time while the dancers changed costume. The whole show lasted 30 minutes, and although I wasn’t sure I’d like it, I ended up liking it a lot.

After the show I continued walking around World Showcase, and headed to Test Track again. The posted wait was 90 minutes, and it was about 25 minutes to get to the single rider exit. From that point it was another 10 minutes before I got off the ride. My last planned stop was Spaceship Earth, so I rode that next with about a 5 minute wait. It was now a little after 7, and I decided to return to the BW to enjoy my last night there. As I passed through Canada, I could hear Off Kilter start to play. As I got closer, I liked what I saw. In case you don’t know, Off Kilter is handsome young men in kilts! And, as if that alone wasn’t enough cause for celebration, they are also excellent musicians and seem to have quite a sense of humor. Their music is kind of rock, with bagpipes added to it, and is really good. They drew quite a crowd (and not all goo-goo eyed girls, either). When the show ended, I exited