Trip Reports

Summary

Cast of Characters:
Sue (me - 40), DVC member
Chris (turning 13 on 9/19), Sheila (39) & Colin (13) - all of them arrive 9/18
Dates: September 16 - 19, 1999
Travel Method: Personal car
Resorts: Comfort Inn Maingate (1 nt), All Star Sports (2 nts)
Experience: Extremely experienced, spending 35 - 40 nights per year in Disney resorts
INTRODUCTION:

This is a really short trip by my standards, and honestly was planned at the last minute and intended to be low budget. Normally we stay at Old Key West, which is my favorite WDW resort, or Boardwalk Villas. I'd been reading about people getting a $59 rate at the All Star resorts in September, and although I've stayed at both Sports & Music in the past (and hated them) I thought if I could get that rate I could put up with the place for a weekend. Chris will be turning 13 years old 9/19, and it turned out the rate was available at Sports so I booked it for Friday & Saturday nights. We decided to see if our fellow WDW-nut friends (Sheila & Colin) wanted to come along, and they did! Sheila can't get out of work until 6pm Friday night, so rather than spending the money on the resort when she wouldn't get there until after 10pm, she booked Saturday night only. She'll pick up both boys after work, and drive to her parents' house in Sebring to spend the night there Friday. Sebring is half way between here and WDW, and she'd need to stop there anyway to drop her dog off. This will give her a short 1.5 hour drive to WDW Saturday morning. I later decided that since I was planning to take Friday off to go to WDW, I might as well go up Thursday & that way not have to drive on Friday (I know - this makes no sense). More importantly, this will give me an extra night for the Comedy Warehouse at Pleasure Island (I guess this was the ~real~ reason). The Comfort Inn Maingate had a coupon in the Sunday paper for a $27.50 rate for FL residents this Fall, and it was available for 9/16 so I booked it.

I've got my annual pass; Chris does not. He's been living on the "free" park admission that came with my dvc membership, but that won't be good this trip since we're not staying at Old Key West. So, the boys will spend Saturday at Blizzard Beach while the mom's do parks. On Sunday if I go to a park Chris can hang back & sleep in (his 2nd favorite activity after eating).

Despite this being a short trip, there's a lot I hope to accomplish! Here's the plan:

Thursday I'll go to work, and hopefully leave after our executive mgt meeting (should end by lunch time) or after the lunch rush in our cafe. I'll check in at Comfort Inn and head to Downtown Disney. This will be my first time trying Pleasure Island on cast night - when cast members get in for free. Hopefully the crowds won't be unbearable! I'm looking forward to several shows at the Comedy Warehouse and talking to cm Nancy in person. We became friends on my last trip, and we've kept in touch online. She'll be able to let me know which shows my favorite actor (Layden) is performing in, so I can use my time wisely.

Friday one of my favorite people - Kathy (Dznynut) is coming out to spend the day with me - unless a class canceled by the threat of hurricane Floyd is rescheduled for that day. We'll hit some parks, and then go to the Comedy Warehouse that evening. She never gets over there, and is eager to see Layden perform (he taught the Traditions class she attended when she started working at WDW, and says he was hysterical there, too). It's possible another friend, Donna (ILUVWDW) will come to Comedy Warehouse after Illuminations if her younger sisters don't poop out on her!

Saturday Sheila & the boys arrive. The boys will go to Blizzard Beach, with lunch in a cooler so we don't have to figure out how to keep their money dry. Sheila & I will hit some parks - I'll see what she wants to do. Blizzard Beach closes at 6, and we've got priority seating for 7pm at Cape May Buffet at the Beach Club for Chris' birthday dinner. I'll get to meet a couple of other on-line friends there for the first time (Corinne & Dana - ARSES4, and Kath & her daughter - Kathtot). Following dinner the boys will be free to do kid stuff, which means they'll probably go to community hall at BW for the video games, while Sheila & I will hit the last 2 Comedy Warehouse shows. It'll be my last chance to see Nancy there, as she's transferring to the Jazz Club soon. Hopefully Layden will be in the later shows, since I won't be able to make the early ones.

Sunday is kind of open. Both Sheila & Colin have annual passes, so I might go to a park with them while Chris is sleeping. It just depends on which park they decide to visit. I'll have to be out of the room by 11am, unless I can get a 1pm check out. Chris & I will hit the road for home after lunch - possibly making a side trip to Belz if I haven't gotten over there yet.

All in all, a short but busy trip. Hurricane Floyd is long gone, and from what I've heard from people actually at WDW during this week there was no damage to speak of. The weather is expected to be great, as is normal when a hurricane passes by. As usual, I'll try to post the report day by day while I'm on the trip.

DAY 1 - THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1999:

I left work just after noon. The morning was so hectic I didn't have time to eat my mid-morning cookie (baked in our cafe - made with heath candy bar pieces in the dough, and very good), so I ate that while covering some last minute issues with a couple of my department heads. I called ahead to the Comfort Inn to let them know I'd be there in 3 hours and to please have a non smoking room ready for me! The drive wasn't bad - some traffic on I-4 but not as bad as I've seen. However, there was a total idiot on the road! Some young twit driving a Honda Accord was an absolute menace! If I pulled behind her, she'd immediately start slamming on her brakes. If I passed her, she'd pull into the other lane & speed up to pass me! I pretty much ignored her, but several times I came up to her again (unintentionally) and I did pull behind her if I came up to a slower moving vehicle in my lane - which started the game of slamming on those brakes. I wish I had my AK Tourist Hunting License on me (joke from the aol message boards) - I'd consider myself close enough to AK for it to be valid and I would have gladly shot out one of her tires! At one point she tried to block me behind a semi truck, and when I pulled behind her she slowed down to 55 mph (in a 65 zone, in the passing lane) and then slammed on her brakes long enough that my tires squealed on the road! After that she sped up to well over 75 mph! I later saw her & someone in a truck exchanging some sort of hand gestures, and then they went speeding off, with her on his tail. Very strange....

I arrived at the Comfort Inn Maingate a little before 3pm. They're redoing the motel, at least the exterior. It's going to be themed as a Spanish mission, and they're not sure if the name will change. The front desk guy recognized me, and check in went quickly. He didn't bother with all the usual instructions, information & handouts, saying I probably know my way around her better than he does (this was ok with me). I got my key, and put my stuff in the room (ground floor, non smoking, with the coffee maker & fridge. I used a coupon from the Sunday paper so my FL resident rate for the room was $27.50 plus 12% tax.

Once in the room it was time to figure out what to do! I'd gotten hungry on the drive up, but didn't feel like stopping. By now it was too late for lunch, too early for dinner. Should I go to a park? Go to Belz? I don't need anything at Belz, but I won't be back in town until December, so I might as well head over there, knowing I'll just turn around & go to a park if the traffic is bad on I-4. I grabbed my PI refillable squeeze bottle on the way out, and the camcorder, so I won't have to come back to the room until it's time to sleep. I left the room around 3:30, and stopped at an Exxon station on 192 to buy gas - $1.43 for regular unleaded!! Back home it's only $1.25 or so. Later on International Drive another Exxon station was $1.30 for the same gas...such a big difference surprised me. Luckily there was no traffic going to Belz for a change! The only stores I went into were the Character Premiere & Character Warehouse - they had lots of stuff, but I didn't buy anything. My Christmas shopping is basically done, except for Chris (he doesn't wear Disney stuff), so I've got a closet full of Disney stuff at home in the den for everyone already! I've also got more Disney clothes than I can possibly wear if I went on vacation for a month, so it was pretty easy to pass up the bargains today. Both malls were practically empty, and even the 2 Disney stores were deserted! It was the first time I'd been in there when it wasn't crowded - so it was wonderful!

After leaving Belz I drove to Downtown Disney, parking outside Pleasure Island, getting there about 5pm. I was still hungry (hadn't eaten anything since my cookie at noon, remember) so I walked to the Marketplace & stopped at Ghiradelli for a complimentary chocolate mint (they usually have someone handing out a piece of some type of chocolate). Sufficiently fortified, I crossed over to the World of Disney to get down to business locating those Mickey Mouse antenna ball things for the online friends. I searched every room, but came up empty handed, so I asked about them at the information desk. The cm was very nice, and said they were out of stock and she had no idea when they'd be coming in. She said all the resorts were out of them too. She did have a (ugly) rubber antenna topper with the character's face - I didn't like it, but asked where I could find them. I headed in that direction, and stumbled across 9-10 of the antenna toppers I was looking for, just laying in a bin with other stuff! I quickly grabbed up the 6 best looking ones (5 for online friends, 1 for my mentoree's mentoring program graduation gift). I also tried on some clothes, but didn't ~love~ anything, so I put it all back and just bought the antenna balls.

I thought about riding the Trumbo Ferry ~home~ to Old Key West for a quick visit, but when I got to the dock I could see the boat had just pulled away. As it was already 5:45, I knew I didn't have time to wait for the next boat if I was going to be at Comedy Warehouse by 7, so I abandoned that plan. I sat on a bench outside the Rainforest Cafe & updated my notes, then breezed through the Christmas Store & then walked back to the car to drop off the antenna toppers & retrieve my PI bottle. It was now or never if I was ever going to eat anything today, so I walked over to Bongos in the West Side & ordered my usual (chicken empanada & ice water) from the outdoor window - $1.33 including tax. It was pretty warm there, since the building blocked any breeze, so I sat on a bench near the dvc booth to eat. The empanada was delicious as always - it's something I only get when I'm here - and it hit the spot! So far my experience at Downtown Disney was that there were no crowds at all - everyone must be in the parks since they were closed for hurricane Floyd earlier in the week. I figured my luck wouldn't hold up in Pleasure Island, though, as tonight is not only cast night (cm's get in for free), but it's the first night of Latin Rhythm Nights. I later found out the Latin thing was canceled because the bands were unable to get here from where they were on the east coast due to the hurricane.

I entered PI about 6:30, and just wandered around and then sat on a bench until it was time to get in line at the Comedy Warehouse about 7pm for the 7:10 show. Nancy (cm there) came out to look for me, but couldn't see me because I'm too short, lol. Actually, I'm not too short, I was just behind a giant! Anyway, she was right inside when I went in (it felt kind of strange - it's been a long time since I've gone inside without already knowing whether or not Layden was performing in that show - but tonight I didn't ask anyone since I expected to see Nancy. I felt kind of lost!) and filled me in on his schedule. Much to my dismay after tonight he's not working at Com Whse the rest of the weekend because he's doing Doug Live at MGM. I'm glad I added this night on at the last minute, otherwise I would have missed him entirely (he's great in Doug - but I prefer seeing him at Comedy Whse where he can show off his creativity rather than in a scripted show that's always going to be the same).

I decided to drop out of line & sit in Nancy's sections (the back 3 rows) rather than down front where I was headed. The things we do for our friends - <g>. It was more important to visit with her, since she couldn't be outside tonight. I mentioned the trip report, and how so many people have written to say that they'd never considered going to PI - but after reading about it in my reports they want to check out Comedy Warehouse & also look for Layden. Nancy mentioned that people have been coming up to her in line and asking her if she was "the" Nancy. She didn't know what they meant, but she's been saying yes - so thanks to all of you who've stopped by to greet her! After 9/28 she won't be working here, due to a better opportunity at the Jazz Club. If you stop in there & order food, there's a chance she'll be preparing it for you!

The show was pretty good - not their best, but certainly not bad. Philip from the Adventurer's Club is in the cast now, and he was very funny! There's also yet another Jennifer, who was very funny as well. After the show I chatted briefly with Nancy, let her know I'd be returning for Layden's other shows (#3 & 4), and went to the Adventurer's Club for a while. Graves the butler stopped by to chat for a while (I don't know him, this is just what they do with guests). He was pretty amusing, full of double entendre type things. He also bragged about the new carpet just installed a couple of weeks ago. After heading downstairs I went in for the show in the mask room - cute, but short, nothing new. I recognized a cm who works there (used to work at Com Whse) on his night off; he was sitting next to me in the mask room & was wearing a black leather shirt! Leather......in Florida in hot September???? It confused me! When I returned to the main salon the French maid came out & was rolling around on the new carpet. She started crawling on her hands & knees, enjoying it now because it doesn't smell like beer & "puke" yet! Her ruffled panties were on view for everyone, and it was pretty funny.

I headed back out before 9 to get in line for the 9:20 Comedy Whse show. This time I sat down front, and the show was very good! Nancy had said to not leave after the show, and she'd arrange to 'back door' me for the next show, so I hung around waiting for the other guests to leave. Layden had come out from backstage, so when most of the guests were gone I went over to talk to him. In August he'd mentioned he & the cast would love to see video of their work (he'd seen me filming), so I told him most of what I shot was so amateur (1st time using the camcorder) that I brought it along this weekend to get more & I'll bring him a video tape on my December trip. He seemed really glad & I'm happy to do something to show appreciation for the great jobs they all do entertaining people.

Nancy brought me my backdoor pass, but I ended up just staying inside talking to her until the next show was ready to be seated. I'd written a complimentary letter to some manager at Comedy Warehouse or PI after my August trip, specifically mentioning her, Layden, and a college intern named Steven. The letter had made it's way to the food & bev manager's desk (Leigh), but Nancy hadn't made it down to Leigh's office to read it yet. She did tell me that Leigh said it was one of the most impressive letters received, partly because it was so well written. That was really nice to hear, and I hope it will benefit the people mentioned in some way, as they all deserve recognition. Leigh remembered me, too, from calling to check the schedule before my trips, and meeting her in person briefly last time.

I returned down front for my last show of the night, which was also very funny. The audience was a lot rowdier, and more "dirty minded" - but not offensive at all. Definitely not a show for the kids - but great for us adults. After the show I said a quick good bye & drove back to the lovely Comfort Inn, getting back around midnight. There was a message from Kathy (dznynut) - she does not have her class tomorrow after all, so we don't have to cancel our plans (yippee). I'll have to let her know she won't get to see Layden perform at Comedy Warehouse tomorrow night - but perhaps we'll still go over anyways. I guess I could let her watch the tapes from tonight, lol!

Back in the room I finished up the day's report, recharged the camcorder batteries, and I'll attempt to get online to post this now rather than having to get up so early in the morning. It's already almost 1:30 am!

Total miles walked = 4.75

DAY 2 - FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 1999:

Well, it only took until about 2:45 am to post the report, handle most of the email, and download the message board messages! Each trip I'm getting worse & worse...eventually you can probably expect to read where I didn't sleep at all for days at a time <g>. I realized I never made arrangements for my neighbor to bring in my mail, or set the timer for lights to come on. That sort of stuff should be routine for me, but somehow I missed it all this time!

Before turning in I did manage to remember to put in for a wake up call for 7am. The guy at the desk must have thought I had one heck of a night, calling at quarter to 3 in the morning. The wake up call came promptly at 7, and I dragged myself out of bed to start another day. I'm usually up at 5:25 to go to work, but for some reason I didn't feel like I'd "slept in" today <g>. I didn't bother going on line, and didn't even turn on the laptop before leaving the room (first time for that). To Pam from RADP - I got your message, and I'm sorry to disappoint you by not eating any balanced meals yesterday, but I'm sure I'll do better if you can wait for Saturday night at Cape May Buffet - lol! Besides, my Bye Bye Blues must count for something, and there was chicken in my empanada. Thanks for the concern, but I really am extremely healthy despite my somewhat unusual food choices. I had a cup of cappuccino in the room and left a little after 8 to check out & drive to All Star Sports.

At All Star Sports there was no wait to check in, and I had my choice of ready rooms in either basketball or tennis - so I chose basketball because it's closer. I'm in building 2, 3rd floor, non smoking room, overlooking a courtyard. To get to the main building I just cut right over to the Surf's up building, and there I am. I checked on Sheila's reservation & they'll block her into a room in this area (she arrives with the boys tomorrow morning). I picked up the MGM guidemap in the lobby, to check the times for Doug Live. On my last trip the first show was at 9:30 or 9:45, so I'd gotten up early enough to make it over there by then. However, now the first show isn't until 10:45, so I've got more time than I'd anticipated, but that's ok. I moved my stuff into the room, unpacked, and updated the report. A little after 9 I headed over to the food court for breakfast (child's scrambled cheddar cheese eggs w/hash browns, small fruit cup & biscuit $3.29). The food court was pretty busy at 9:10, so I got my food & ate outside at a shaded table. They take the Disney Dining Experience here, so after the 20% discount breakfast was $2.82. It was way more food than I could eat, and the hash browns were too salty (but remember, I pick the salt off of pretzels), but the eggs were very good. I probably ate about 1/2 the meal, and tossed the rest in the trash, which for such a low price I didn't mind throwing away what wasn't eaten.

It felt really funny to be sitting eating breakfast at almost 9:30 - normally I'm in the parks by 8:30 or so (and usually leave between 11 & noon), and always advise people to do the same. Here I am ignoring my own advice, but since I'm up here so often I can slack off some! This trip isn't about the parks anyway - it's mainly to see Comedy Warehouse shows, visit with friends like Kathy & Nancy, and just relax in my favorite place. After breakfast I caught the 9:35 bus to MGM, walking right on as it was about to leave. It stopped at ASMusic next, then went to MGM.

Shortly before 10am TOT had a posted wait of 10 minutes, and Rock N Roller Coaster was <10 minutes. That seemed really low for 2 major attractions. I walked right on to the Great Movie Ride, being seated in the 2nd row behind the driver in the Cowboy scene section (my favorite). CM Kristy did an excellent job, but the girl playing the cowboy was really hard to hear. I think they need to tone down the background noise in some parts, so you can hear the narrative. Next I browsed through some shops before heading to the first Doug Live show. The shop at the end of Star Tours is now open - Tatooine Traders. It's full of Star Wars merchandise, which has no appeal for me. Darla - you'll never get Steven out of here!

Last night I'd asked Layden if he wanted any tape of Doug Live scenes on the video I'm putting together for him & the com whse cast. He said he didn't have any already, so "sure". I figured since he's supposed to be playing Doug today I'll tape some of his major songs a couple of times (rather than doing the whole show) & then pick the best ones for inclusion on the tape. Imagine my surprise when the show started and this guy I'd never seen before comes out as Doug! I shut off the camera, but couldn't leave without disrupting people - good thing I like the show. The actor playing the evil Dr Rubber Suit was really miscast today. He was so ~flaming~ and even spoke with a lisp. Unless they've changed this children's show character to a queen (and this guy would be hysterical playing a role like that), he doesn't seem appropriate here. It was funny to see several kids asking their parents how come was talking like that....and I'm not kidding here. After the show a couple of cm's checked with the stage manager & told me that Layden was not performing at all today - I guess everything's subject to change! Oh well, perhaps another time.

By now it was 11:30, so I had 90 minutes to kill before meeting Kathy. I headed to the Backlot Tour but once there decided to skip it. The nice part about touring solo (I should say ~one~ of the nice parts) is being able to change your mind like this without bothering anyone. I decided to head back to All Star Sports to drop off the camcorder since I wouldn't be needing it. Browsing through the shops on the way out I found another bin of the mickey antenna toppers - so I picked up 3 more for an online friend who'd e-mailed me yesterday (Roz, this would be you - that makes 4 total, right?) and then headed for the bus stop. The All Stars stop is the 2nd one from the far end, (last stop at Epcot & Downtown Disney, not sure of the other parks) which makes sense to me. You'd want to give your highest paying resort guests the closest bus stops as a perk - at least in my opinion. Since I'm low budget this trip I certainly don't mind the extra steps. I'd just missed the bus, but another came in just a few minutes. At this time of day they combine all 3 resorts on each bus.

Once I got to the room I had about 10 minutes to spare, so I frantically typed up as much of the trip report as I could before heading back to the bus stop. I also grabbed 2 towels from the housekeeping cart, so the boys can take them to Blizzard Beach in the morning. We'll have them bring them back here so we can return them to ASSports. I dashed over to the bus stop, passing some jacka** who was actually smoking in the main building! The bus driver was Mark, who I recognized from previous trips as being especially great. He's fairly young, very heavy, and talks the entire trip (trivia questions, information, jokes). He said everyone should please remain seated or he'd have to come back there & sit on us - lol! The ride passed quickly with his entertainment.

Kathy was waiting for me inside MGM, and after greeting each other she suggested we stop by the candy store for a free sample of fudge figuring that would be my entire lunch (what a jokester, lol). We walked over there, but the samples were gone, so we just started wandering around as we chatted. We did the Backlot Tour, getting seated in the last row of our tram car (it seems everytime we ride stuff we're put in the back row). I don't think we rode or saw anything else at MGM - we just wandered around talking for a while, and then left to go behind the scenes near the MK.

This was really cool for me, as I'd never been back in the cast member areas (except on the Keys to the Kingdom tour last December). I saw where the monorail trains are stored at night, we went into Disney University & shopped in Company D. She pointed out a bunch of other stuff, too - it was lots of fun! I ended up getting an umbrella that says Team Disney on it, a new vacation wallet, and a polo shirt that has DisneyFest embroidered on it - all for about $15! Kathy bought some stuff, too. We stopped at Property Control, which kind of reminded me of a flea market for cast members, except the merchandise is all discontinued or damaged stuff from shops/resorts/parks.

It was getting late, so we drove over to Animal Kingdom, arriving about 3:30. First stop was Countdown to Extinction. They've removed the plants outside & have restored the fountain areas with new tall walls surrounding them to keep people's kids out of the water. It's not completed yet, so there's no water yet. It should look ok when it's done. On this ride we got the middle row - not the back, thereby breaking our back row streak. In front of us were 4 teen girls who screamed in terror through the entire ride! They were really funny, and appeared to be genuinely scared. When the ride stopped at the end (before the unloading platform) one of them started to panic because she couldn't undo the seatbelt, saying she was afraid they'd send them through again - lol! The picture was hysterical, with the girls all bent over & hiding their faces. :-)

Our last stop was to see Kathy's gorilla's, so we headed to Harambe to the Pangani Forest Trail. She's spent so much time there she knows them all. As we started the trail my beeper went off, with a message from Chris to call his Dad. Kathy went on in to the gorilla area while I returned to a payphone. Luckily it wasn't a problem, and I was able to give Chris our room number so he, Sheila & Colin can meet me here tomorrow morning if I'm not in the food court when they arrive. I met up with Kathy, and we watched the gorillas for a while before leaving AK when it was about to close at 5pm.

I headed back to the room to change clothes while Kathy stopped at guest services to request the resort send an autographed character picture to Chris for his birthday, and then she met me at the room. She'd brought a bunch of her Magic & Wonder pictures, & I'd brought my pictures of Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort, so we quickly looked at all the pictures before it was time to leave. I was starving by now (6pm) since all I'd had today was 1/2 a kid's breakfast at 9:30. I told her that I was going to say she wouldn't let me eat all day - but truthfully we were just too busy & I didn't want to take the time to go eat (she'd eaten lunch before we met). We drove over to Downtown Disney and parked at Pleasure Island. With my PI annual pass I can get a guest in for free on Friday nights before 9pm - so we stopped at the ticket booth to get Kathy her free pass. We walked over to Bongos to the outdoor window & I got a chicken empanada for dinner (lol - I'm such a creature of habit I think many of you reading can write sections of my trip reports for me without even being here). We sat on a bench overlooking the Disney Institute & chatted while I ate. PI had some private party going on until 7pm & nobody would be admitted until then.

When it was finally 7, the cm's tried to let people in but they didn't have their turnstiles set right & they weren't working. Finally they got it together & we headed to the Comedy Warehouse. Latin Rhythm Nights was starting tonight, and they'd taken over the waiting area outside Com Whse so guests were directed downstairs to the back door to line up for entry into the club. We were among the first 20 or so guests, but when we entered we went up to Nancy's section (she calls it the Alps - it's the upper level off to the side). We were her only 2 customers, and I suggested she sit & watch the show with us - and she was able to since no one else was there. I'd sent her a link to the trip report folder on our dvc message board & she read yesterday's report today. Kathy also made sure to read it before coming to meet me, so she'd be up to date on everything - lol! Kathy ordered a Bye Bye Blues (I did too, of course) and really liked it. We had a great time talking until the show started, and Nancy had a roll of the new Georgia quarters & gave me one. It's cute - there's a peach on one side. It's interesting to see what each state's coin will look like. The show was very good, we said goodbye to Nancy & once outside decided to get in line for the next show.

This time we were pretty far back, and ended up being sent over to Nancy's section without our asking. This time her section was full, which was good - I didn't really want us to tie up 2 of her seats when we weren't going to be ordering more drinks if she only had a few customers. This show was even funnier than the first, and I've got some stuff that I'll definitely include on the tape for the cast. We said goodbye to Nancy again, and left PI for the night. Kathy needed to get home, and I decided to make it an early night since Layden wasn't working. On the way out we passed a sign warning people that if they left they might not be readmitted as they expected PI to be filled to capacity tonight. Kathy dropped me off at All Star Sports, and I looked in the shop before returning to the room.

Once in the room, I decided to take a walk around the 3 All Star resorts (not sure why, but it seemed like a good idea at the time). So, I walked to & around each of them, visiting the shop & food court. Sports was by far the most active - with lots of noisy people in the main pool. Movies seemed to be the quietest. Movies is definitely the nicest looking of the 3 - by far! I've booked 3 nights here next July & August (not sure which date I'll keep), to be followed by the 4 night Wonder cruise (don't tell Chris - this part's a surprise) and then 9 nights at Old Key West. I think Chris wants to eat at Movies on Sunday, so we'll probably head over then too.

They have a great 15 month wall calendar for the millenium (Oct 1999 - Dec 2000) which I'll have to buy, but I'll check at World of Disney first. It's $10 & it features many of the resorts & stuff not usually seen on the Disney calendars. I think October 1999 is Disney Vacation Club! I'm not sure what time I got back to the room - probably around 10:30 or so. I did keep my eyes open for Donna (iluvWDW) & her sisters when in AS Music, but didn't see any sign of them. I finished today's report by 11:45, and then went online to send it off. Hopefully I'll sleep in a little later in the morning if I stay up & do the computer stuff now....we'll see!

Total miles walked: 14.25

DAY 3 - SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1999:

Last night it was lights out about 1:30 am - so much for making it an early night <g>. I'd set the alarm & woke up at 7am. Sheila & the boys won't be here until 9:30 or so, but I needed the time to catch up with some of the message board posts. I showered, dressed, made a cup of cappuccino & then got to work on the laptop. This was the first time I turned the tv on (news/weather & then the WDW info channel). The weatherman was talking about rain all day and when I looked out the window, sure enough the ground was wet & it was raining! Dang - what rotten luck! I guess as long as there's no lightning the boys can still go to Blizzard Beach, and perhaps the crowds will be a little smaller. Since Chris doesn't have park entry this trip, if BB doesn't work out his other option would be Disney Quest (but he usually spends 13 hours at a time there, so it would be hard to get him out of there for his birthday dinner, lol). The rain stopped, so hopefully it will just be showers today, and not steady rain.

The boys arrived at 9am - banging on the door! Sheila was in the lobby checking in. They'd already decided to do Disney Quest instead of Blizzard Beach. They hadn't eaten breakfast, figuring they'd wait for me - so I finished getting ready & we returned to the food court. Chris opened the birthday card from Kathy, and was very happy to see the several bags of M&M's she'd left him (I swear I didn't eat any of them, Kathy). Sheila arrived, and said "Sue, if you get any skinnier you're going to disappear!" I told her I wasn't trying to lose weight, but that Kathy wouldn't let me eat yesterday ;-) Actually, Sheila & Colin joined us for the 2nd week of our summer trip to WDW, and despite our eating cheesecake, drinking Bye Bye Blues & other snacks she lost 6 pounds without ever being hungry. Her shorts were still loose, so she's kept it off since then. See, dvc friends - the Sue diet works!

We walked to the food court for breakfast. Chris' dad & his friend had sent a plate of home made goodies - 2 pecan sticky buns and 2 pieces of chocolate cake with ghiradellin chocolate chunks in the batter plus chocolate frosting! I bought Chris the kid's scrambled egg, sausage & biscuit platter ($2.82 after DDE discount), and he also ate 1 of the sticky buns. Sheila & Colin shared pancakes, and then Sheila & I shared the other sticky bun. I also ate part of a piece of chocolate cake, and then brought the leftover cake to the room. Housekeeping had already made up the room, which was nice.

We drove the boys over to Disney Quest. Chris mentioned he'd had to do his inhaler a few times yesterday (he's got asthma but generally doesn't need the inhaler). The one he'd packed was pretty much empty, and we had no spares with us! Hopefully he'll be ok. After we got them into Disney Quest Sheila & I drove back to *** to pick up my beeper in case Chris needed to reach me. She dropped me off at the end of my building, but for whatever reason I went to a different building and then had to backtrack when I realized I was in Surf's Up rather than Hoops. Duh...I managed to get back to the car the short way, with Sheila wondering where I had gone! We headed to MGM Studios, arriving about 11:30.

I was hoping that Layden would be working as Doug today, so I could tape parts of it for him, so we headed there first. A very nice cm didn't know him, but asked the stage manager & found out he would be working the 2nd half of the day, starting with the 2:45 show. Finally!! We decided to leave MGM & took the boat over to Boardwalk (Rich - your balcony suffered no damage in the almost-hurricane) and then walked in to Epcot. The boat captain (Angel) was very funny & chatty - telling us there would be no smoking, eating, drinking, swing dancing, or roller skating on the boat, lol! It was a small group of passengers, so we talked back & forth to him a while, and had fun.

Our first stop was Maelstrom, which we walked right onto. Has anyone noticed as the boat goes up the hill it sounds like someone playing air hockey? Check it out next time. The ride was pretty jerky, but fun. We went over to Test Track, but it was closed due to "technical problems" & they hoped to have it running later but we knew we wouldn't be there. The year 2000 logo on Spaceship Earth looks great, even though it's not done yet. Sheila took a picture of it anyway. We checked the tip board and decided to ride Spaceship Earth since it was only a 10 minute wait. The ride stopped several times, more than usual. Afterwards we decided to leave Epcot, but on the way stopped to watch Cast in Bronze. Sheila had never seen them, and I always enjoy their music. As soon as we stopped & stood there, I felt like something was biting my back/left shoulder blade. I tried smacking myself to get rid of whatever it was, but it kept feeling like I was being bitten again & again! I was tempted to pull the shirt off right there, but knew that wasn't allowed (I doubt Cast in Bronze would have appreciated me disrupting their show). I tried pulling the shirt out of my pants, and Sheila couldn't see anything on my back. I left her to enjoy the show & went to the nearest rest room. There was 1 tiny mirror, and some teen girl was standing there primping forevvvvvvvvvver! She fixed her hair, adjusted her shirt, checked all the view, adjusted her back pack, and then repeated the cycle over & over! I finally got tired of waiting, and the biting had stopped, so I just left. Out in the hall when nobody was around I pressed my back up against the wall & kind of rolled around, figuring if anything was on my back I'd at least smash it to death! It must have looked pretty funny.

I rejoined Sheila, and when Cast in Bronze was done we left Epcot through the International Gateway. We stopped in the shop there, looking for both the millenium calendar and a cute year 2000 picture frame she's spotted at the *** shop. She had some of those AP coupons for $5 off a $25 purchase in certain shops (no resort shops) that would expire this month. The calendar is $10 & the frame is $18, so the coupon would come in handy. At the gateway store we found the calendar but no frame. We sat at the Yacht Club dock and waited for the next boat to MGM.

After entering MGM we browsed through the shops, finding the frame but no calendar. We decided to stop at the candy store, where I bought a chocolate mickey truffle ($.69) and Sheila got a piece of fudge ($2.50). I ate all of mine, or else it would have melted. Despite it being cloudy, it was very warm & humid today! We got in to the 2:45 Doug Live show, and this time sat on the right hand side of the theater - in the third row. Previously I'd mostly sat on the left side, which is where Doug's first scenes take place. Doug wears a microphone that extends along the right side of his face, so all the taping I'd done before had the microphone wire visible. I thought since I was preparing the tape for Layden I'd shoot from the other side - and it turned out well because the microphone wasn't as visible. This time Layden was working as Doug (thank goodness). Our seats ended up being right in the area where the dog tosses a bucket of confetti into the audience, so it'll be interesting to see how that part of the tape looks. We were showered in confetti; I even had a couple of pieces fall down my shirt & when we got up to leave after the show Sheila was picking it off my back. This show was great - I think it was his best yet (hope I like the tape) and I taped the 3 main songs.

When we exited we decided to wait 10 minutes for the Mulan parade - which was just ok. Neither of us had seen the movie, but I don't think we would have felt differently if we had. The parade was not worth waiting for, in my opinion. I still like the Aladdin parade the best, with each subsequent parade becoming less worthwhile. When the parade was done, we went back in for the 4:15 Doug Live show. I'd told Sheila she didn't have to sit through it with me...she could have gone to TOT or Rock N Roller Coaster, but she likes the show & decided to see it again. I taped the main songs again - but think the 1st show will come out better (partly due to a big head that moved in the way during the first song). I'll see for sure in a couple of weeks when I've got time to start putting the tape together.

When we came outside the ground was all wet, but luckily it wasn't still raining. Must have been a brief but heavy shower. So far we'd been really lucky with the weather, but that was about to change. We left MGM and drove to the Marketplace in Downtown Disney. On the way it began to rain - a pretty steady downpour. We parked and walked into the World of Disney, where we found both the calendar & the frame! We each bought both items, each of us using 1 of Sheila's coupons to save the $5. It was getting late, so we drove back to *** right away. I returned to my room to get changed & start packing while Sheila checked to see if her room was ready. She ended up getting the one 2 doors away from us, so that was nice. When I got undressed a piece of confetti from Doug Live fell out of my shorts! We really got nailed with that stuff! After I finished packing I spent 20 minutes quickly typing up some of the trip report before Sheila came back over at 6:30.

We drove over to the Beach Club and met the boys in the lobby. Our priority seating was for 7pm at Cape May Cafe, and we were just about 10 minutes early. I checked in at the desk and had them put Kath (kathtot) & her daughter Kendra with our party - as Kath & I had agreed before the trip. We were seated around 7, and Kath/Kendra arrived shortly. Both Kath & Kendra are very nice - and I enjoyed our visit with them very much. Corinne (arses4) and her husband Dana stopped by to say hello also, so it was nice meeting her for the first time, too. The food was great, the company was wonderful, but the service was lacking. Our waiter (Irving) just wasn't anything special. I had to remind him of Chris' birthday after we paid the check, despite the fact that it was written on the back of our ticket & I saw him read it. I used my DDE card here, and that saved us about $25 off the check. Sheila complained she ate too much, and said I should have stopped her. I didn't notice her pigging out - I think she just wasn't used to eating since we skipped lunch. The boys did a pretty good job - Colin especially liked the shrimp. I purposely didn't eat much, as I didn't want to feel stuffed & wanted room to try a few desserts!

After dinner Kath & Kendra decided to walk around the Beach Club/Yacht Club a bit before heading to Pleasure Island. Sheila & I dropped the boys off at Disney Quest & then ended up having to park way down past Cirque du Soleil and walk back to Pleasure Island. It was just over 1/2 a mile, but we didn't mind. We went to the Comedy Warehouse in time for the 9:20 show. It started to rain really hard so they opened the doors early & people pretty much stampeded in trying to get out of the rain. We got good seats, right next to the sound booth. I went to the upstairs bar where Nancy said she'd be working, but she wasn't there. Turns out due to the rain they had more staff than they needed & she went home. I was sorry to miss her, but hope she enjoyed the extra night off. The show was really funny - but unfortunately the parts I chose not to tape ended up being the funniest parts Oh well, you never know.

We got back in line for the 10:40 show, which was also funny but not as good as the previous one. Some guy in the audience was fixated on oral sex & kept yelling that out for a suggestion. Of course the cast can't use that one! It was funny the first time, but then it got old really quickly. I talked briefly to Debbie (another cm) on our way out, and then we left for the night. By the time we drove back to *** it was after midnight. In the room on Chris' bed was a bunch of balloons & an autographed character picture in a card wishing him a happy 13th birthday. Kathy had arranged this yesterday, and it was really nice! When he strolled in about 1am he was happy to see it. His asthma is bothering him, and he's having a tough time breathing/wheezing. I hope he can get some sleep & be ok until we go home tomorrow. He'll never go anywhere without a full inhaler again! He had one at his dad's house he could have brought, but he didn't think of it.

I finished up the trip report & posted it, did some of my e-mail and downloaded message board postings before turning in.

Total miles walked: 9.5

DAY 4 - SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 1999:

Happy Birthday to Chris - he's 13 years old today! It's hard to believe he's a teenager now :::shudder::: He's wheezing somewhat, but at least he slept through the night...he's still asleep now & hopefully will continue sleeping for most of the time I'm gone this morning.

I was up until after 2:30 am doing the online stuff, with the alarm set to wake me up at 6am. I skipped breakfast since I'd taken a rice krispy treat that I didn't eat at Cape May Cafe (yes, I know that's tacky, but I really didn't eat anywhere near $20 worth of food last night so I don't feel like I'm hurting Disney). I showered, made a cup of cappuccino, and then finished reading yesterday's e-mail & read some of the message board posts from the last 2 days before it was time to meet Sheila at 7:30. At 7:20 she called - she'd just woken up & needed an extra 10 minutes...no problem for me! I called housekeeping & got a noon check out extension, then finished getting ready. Sheila arrived right at 7:40, and I put a couple of items in my car while she filled her mug at the food court. We met over there & took the bus to AK. The bus stopped at the other 2 All Stars as well, filling to capacity (350 guests triple stacked per the bus driver).

We arrived at AK right about 8am, and walked right in by paying attention to which turnstiles were open and bypassing the oblivious guests standing in long lines next to empty open turnstiles. It's amazing! First stop was Kilamanjaro Safari, where we got a fastpass time between 8:45 & 9:45. It was now 8:15, so we did the Pangani Forest Trail & were the only ones there besides the cast members. We watched the baby hippo rough-housing with his father. They were biting at each other, and having fun. Hippos have terrible looking teeth - in need of a lot of dental work & orthodonture! We saw almost all of the gorillas, including Kathy's friend. In fact, we stood around quite a while watching them & chatting with the cm. The animals were pretty active, eating their breakfast. We finished the trail right at 8:45, so we were able to walk right into the fast pass return line (we were the first ones of the day). The other line only had a posted 15 minute wait, and we only passed a few people - but it was nice to be able to walk right on to the ride.

Next stop was Countdown to Extinction - WE'RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT! WE'RE NOT GONNA MAKE IT!!! The ride stopped in the last tunnel part - I told Sheila I guess we really didn't make it, lol! There wasn't anything else either of us had to do, so we decided to head back to *** & see what the boys were doing. We stopped in the shop so I could buy another millenium calendar for an online friend (Liz, this is you - I've got it). At 10 am Colin had already gone to breakfast; Chris was still sound asleep. We decided to split off at this point. Chris wanted to have lunch at AS Movies, & since Colin had just had breakfast they wouldn't be eating again so soon.

I woke Chris up - he was tired but breathing much better. We brought the suitcase out to the car & drove over to AS Movies for lunch. Unfortunately, it was only 10:35 and lunch didn't start until 11 - so we wandered around the different sections of the resort. Chris filled his mug with hot chocolate and we sat in Andy's Room over in the Toy Story section. We looked around the Love Bug & Dalmations sections too, and then returned to the food court at 11. It turns out only 1 stand starts lunch at 11 - the rest don't start until 11:30 or later. We weren't going to wait any longer, so he chose the chicken strip with french fries meal. I got in the short but very slow moving line to order the food, and over 20 minutes later I joined him at a table by the tv (since it was his birthday. After the DDE discount the meal was $4.45. I ate 1 of the 4 chicken strips, and some of the fries, Chris ate the rest. After lunch we returned to *** to get the rest of the stuff (laptop, camcorder, chocolate cake, birthday cookie, balloons) out of the room & started the drive just before noon, arriving home just under 3 hours later.

SUMMARY:

Chris enjoyed his birthday trip - and so did I. It was much shorter than normal for me, but it was still fun. I never once made it over to the Magic Kingdom, and was disappointed that Layden was only scheduled to be at the Comedy Warehouse 1 of my 3 nights there. The weather could have been better, but I guess it also could have been worse!

Now I start a loooooong stretch (by my standards) of WDW withdrawal. I have no vacations scheduled in October. We're doing a 7 night cruise in November - which we're looking forward to. Our next Disney trip isn't until December - 3 long months away (unless I have a meeting or something in Orlando in the interim). That trip will be our usual holiday trip - a week in WDW followed by a week at Disney's Hilton Head Island Resort.

THE MAGICAL MOMENTS:

Going behind the scenes with Kathy was interesting & lots of fun. After just experiencing the magical side of WDW as a guest, I really enjoyed seeing how "real life" everything is behind the scenes. Of course, just spending the day with her is always great, no matter where we go - she's a wonderful friend.
Special treatment from Nancy at Comedy Warehouse. I wish I'd spoken to her years ago, as she's really terrific! Even though we'll still see each other on my trips I'll miss her being at the Comedy Warehouse, but wish her well in her new Jazz Club job.
Getting right into my room at All Star Sports at 9am was an unexpected bonus! Also the location was close to the main building, and except I enjoyed this resort much better than my last stay here (absolutely HATED it the first time). I doubt I'd stay here again though, unless it was on an exceptional low rate like this time. DVC has spoiled me (see Larry, I admit it - I am what you refer to as the "dvc elite", lol).
The bunch of balloons & autographed photo/card for Chris' birthday was great!
My stay at All Star Sports was a very pleasant surprise. During my only other stay here (probably 4 years ago) it seemed like everything I experienced here was negative - from cast member behavior, obnoxious other guests, etc - and I really hated it. This trip I didn't run into any bad cm's and didn't notice guests as obnoxious as last time! While the rooms are definitely small, for me solo or me & Chris on a short trip they are perfectly acceptable if the price is low enough. I'm looking forward to staying in AS Movies for 3 nights next summer before surprising Chris with the 4 night Wonder cruise & then settling into Old Key West for the real vacation.
Thanks for reading, and as always - if you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me! Now I think I'll try to catch up on my sleep ;-)

Sue Holland

WDW1972@aol.com

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