Trip Reports

RADP Trip Report, December 2 - 7, 1999

Howdy All, it’s me ScoutMom, a.k.a Carol Kelley. I’ve been home over a week now from the RADP meet, so I guess it’s high time I write this trip report. But to be honest, this is the first day I’ve really had time to even think about the trip much less write a report. But, now that I’ve found my desk, put up the Christmas decorations at home and made sure the boys had what they needed for school concerts and plays, (No, I haven’t gone Christmas shopping yet, that will wait till next week……P.S. It is after Christmas now and I am finishing the report!! Yes, I did go Christmas shopping!!) I can settle down here and write all you folks an awe inspiring, captivating account of what I did at WDW during the RADP festivities!! So sit back, grap a cup/glass/mug of whatever you want and enjoy!

Planning

I did very little planning for this trip except to call CRO and snag an All-Star Music room at the MKC rate of $224.00 for three nights. I booked a spot on Saturday nights Illumination cruise. I reserved a spot for Iago & Zazu, Live! I also made reservations at the Quality Inn South in Valdosta, GA for $36.00 a night plus tax for Thursday evening.

I made mental plans to eat at resorts I had not yet visited which was Old Key West, Port Orleans, Dixie Landings & Caribbean Beach. I also intended to attend as many meets as possible and to spend lots of time in World Showcase at Epcot, mainly to see the live entertainment. I also thought that I might want to visit Islands of Adventure, but I wasn’t going to go by myself, so I was keeping an ear out for a group of folks planning to meet over there.

Day 0, Thursday, December 2, 1999.

There’s not much to report here except that I went to work that morning and suffered through a terribly long, boring day. I met my hubby for lunch at Ruby Tuesday’s in the mall and then we strolled through the Disney Store. We swapped cars (He was off that day, so he loaded my luggage, washed & filled up the car & filled my cooler with ice). I went back to work for a couple of hours, then left on my journey about 3:10 pm CST. I headed out I-565 West (Yes, it is West, long story), then South on I-65 to Birmingham, then onto I-20 East to Atlanta. I passed through Atlanta about 7:00 EST and waved at my beloved Six Flags coasters as I passed. They looked so lonely sitting there in the dark. (No flames please, these are great coasters, its not their fault their in a second class park). I also did a mental wave in Ronnie’s direction, hoping she would have a safe trip down. After battling Atlanta’s traffic, I finally managed to reach I-75 South. (Note this was at 7:00 at night, I would hate to see it at true rush hour). I stopped at a rest stop just North of Macon and pried my nervous hands from the steering wheel to stop for a pit stop and to call home for a moment. (Actually, it wasn’t too bad, but it always seems that when I drive through major cities, I have to get over 12 lanes of bumper to bumper traffic in less than a mile to make my exit, which is never one of my favorite things to do). I then hit the road again and took the I-475 bypass around Macon. Big Mistake!!!! The bypass is under major construction and is a 35 mile an hour mess, even at 8:00 at night. I don’t remember this from our last trip, but then I think I was asleep through Macon both directions. :-) After getting off the “shortcut” around Macon, I continued South and stopped at a Burger King for a salad ($3.50) and filled up with gas and then about 11:30 pm reached my destination of the Quality Inn South at Exit 4 in Valdosta, Georgia. It was a decent place as far as hotels go. I checked in and the clerk lowered my rate to the walk-in rate of $34.00 a night, WooHoo!! The place was older, but clean. The room was huge, I would say twice the size of an All-Stars room. However, for its size it had very little drawer space. I found my room easily and brought my suitcase in, called the house, showered and requested a 5:30 am wakeup call and crashed.

Day 1, Friday, December 3, 1999

I got up with the wakeup call and quickly dressed and shoved all my stuff back into my suitcase and loaded the car back up.

I went to the lobby and had their continental breakfast which consisted of a bowl of Raisin Bran, a donut, and some orange juice. I was a little disappointed in their continental breakfast. I’ve stayed at Comfort and Sleep Inns which are supposed to be more “budget” than Quality Inn and they have provided a better breakfast than this Quality Inn did. Oh well, no bother, I was going to Disney World!!! I quickly checked out and pointed my car South on I-75 once again.

I drove through the Florida Welcome Center, but it was not open yet, so I just continued on hoping to maybe catch the Disney Welcome Center in Ocala. I tuned into the radio channel advertised on the billboards and listened to that for awhile. It’s kind of neat, but too thick on the sappy. I could only listen to it for one loop. Once I reached Ocala, it was too early for them to be open, so I hopped on the Florida Turnpike towards Orlando. I got off the turnpike at Highway 27 South and then turned East on 192. I still can’t stomach how tacky 192 is and hope I never need to stay at a hotel out there. I’m SOOOO glad Walt Disney bought all that property. I got off at the World Drive exit and made my way to All-Star Music. I got to the gate and announced I was checking in and received a warm welcome from the guard. The All-Star gate is no longer detoured with construction barrels as it was for our trip in November, however, I understand they are preparing to build a walking bridge over West Buena Vista Drive. Apparently there have been too many people almost getting smacked trying to walk over to McDonalds.

I pulled into the check-in parking lot and proceeded inside. However, before checking in, I had to call American Express to check on some billing cycle issues. Unfortunately, I did not get the answer I wanted, so I went to the ATM machine and pulled out enough cash to pay the balance of my hotel and proceeded to check in. I didn’t want any embarrassing situations with the front desk clerk. (With the AMEX Optima Card, your credit limit is also a billing cycle limit and as we had used our entire limit on November’s trip to WDW, we had to wait for the next billing cycle to use the card again. I had called earlier and was told the next billing cycle would be on the 3rd, and since I had already paid down the majority of November’s charges, I should have no problem checking in with my AMEX card on the 3rd. However, I found out that even though the billing cycle was indeed the 3rd, the computer wouldn’t update until the 4th, ughh). Check-in went just fine and the computer did accept scanning my AMEX card for room charges that would be billed at check-out on the 6th, so that helped my mood considerably. However, my room assignment did not help my mood. I was assigned to Country Faire, Room 6424 which had to be the furthest possible room from Melody Hall. There was a Pop Warner convention staying at Music and ALL of Calypso, Jazz and some of Rock Inn were taken up by this group. Lovely, NOT!! :-( My room was ready, so I pulled my car ALLL the way around to the back and found my room. The room itself was fine and I did have a nice view of some rather dense wilderness and a pond with a fountain in it. I brought my stuff in and unpacked a bit and then headed out.

I decided to do a little experiment. I walked across the parking lot and through Movies to their bus stop just to see if it might be closer. It took me 6 minutes to get from my room to Movies transportation area. I’ll go the other way next time to see how long it takes to get to Music transportation area. As I was walking through Movies, I found my favorite All-Star decorations. This is the Fantasia building in Movies. The brooms and the Sorceror Mickey hat on the building were just totally neat and Sorceror Mickey directing the stage by the pool was just so cool! They did really well with the whole Movies resort!!

I was major hungry by this time and decided lunch at Port Orleans would be in order. I waited for the first close bus that came along, either Studios, Animal Kingdom or Blizzard Beach. Studios showed up about a minute later. I rode over to Studios and transferred to the Port Orleans bus which was sitting there at the stop!!

I absolutely LOVE Port Orleans. If I can ever get a good enough rate, that’s where I’ll stay!! This place is really beautiful. I love the way the streets are themed and the stroll through the check-in area is really neat. I passed by Bonfamille’s hoping to eat lunch there and realized they only serve breakfast and dinner. That was a major bummer. I did stop in Sassagoula Food court, however, and had the Sassagoula Stuffed potato with Cheddar Cheese and Bacon which came with a salad, a bowl of the soup of the day which was a gumbo of some type, and a small drink ($11.10). Everything was very tasty, but I was not able to even touch the salad. I then wandered around the grounds and admired the pool area and went to the waterfront hoping to rent a watermouse, but they don’t rent them on this stretch of water and I wasn’t sure about driving one of the larger boats. I wandered back through the resort and through the shop and then back to the bus stop to head to the Studios!

Upon arriving at the Studios I headed over to Star Tours and enjoyed the wild and wacky ride past Endor and battling the Death Star. I just wish for once we would actually go to Endor!! I have still not seen that place!!! ;-) I love the line for Star Tours. The detail is beautiful! They were still working on the Fast Pass option for this attraction.

After leaving Star Tours, I went over to watch Muppet*Vision 3D. This is always a favorite of mine. It is really funny and just plain silly!! A comment here, I sat front row, far right almost directly under the two old men. Except for making it harder to see them, I was able to really see the ENTIRE theatre without turning my back on the main screen and was able to enjoy all of the effects. It was a neat experience!!

I then went over to the Backlot Theatre to enjoy the Hunchback of Notre Dame which, as always, is one of the best live shows in all of WDW!! The story, the actors, and the passion that they put into their work amazes me every time.

I went over to the Backstage area, hoping to wander through *Backstage Pass* and *The Making Of….* cause I hadn’t done it in awhile, but discovered they were totally closed down. There was some wording on the marquis indicating “Coming Soon - Home Improvement”, but don’t know if that was just theming or if they are really planning a new exhibit in there.

It was almost 3:00 by then and I still had another hour till the mini-gathering at Rock-n-Roller Coaster, so I wandered towards Min & Bills Dockside Diner and got me a Cookies/Cream Shake ($3.13) and continued to wander towards Sunset Boulevard. I looked at the meeting spot for the meet and nobody was there yet, so I continued on to Tower of Terror. FastPass was set up for Tower, so I grabbed a FastPass and then got into the non-existent standby line and wandered through the hotel’s gardens. I went rather slowly cause I still had quite a bit of my shake left. I stopped at the door and let several folks pass and quickly finished most of my shake. Can you say Brain Freeze!!! :-) I then entered the hotel to check in and was quickly sent to a reception area to await my elevator to my room. Then things got weird…… This Rod Serling guy announced that the regular elevator was broken and we would have to use the maintenance elevator…… Bwaaaahhhaaaahhhhaaaaa :-) Anyway, the elevator ride was really incredible. I love all the new drop sequences, except I can’t figure out where they’re taking the picture now, so I always have this dorky look on my face. Oh well, someday I’ll figure it out. I guess that means I need to ride it some more for research :-)

I checked out of the Tower Hotel and headed over to Rock n Roller Coaster. I found Randy Berbaum sitting on the wall, so I waited with him till the rest of the radpers showed up. We talked about camping and all sorts of other stuff and decided to walk through the Osborne Lights together later that evening. For a meet that was never really announced and was planned at the last minute, we had quite a turnout. Somebody had us all fill out our names, so I know there’s a list of all who was there, but as far as I can remember, there was Randy, Kenny, Faith, Sean & Pam, & at least one of the Robs’ and, and….. gosh I’m awful at names. We all chatted for about 15 minutes, and several folks checked out each other’s pin lanyards, and then we gathered for a group picture. We then got in line for the ride, but it went down and we all bailed. I went over to the Fast Pass machine and got a Fast Pass for RnRC just in case I would have time to ride it later, then I hunted for Randy, (who decided not to ride because of all the “stuff” he was carrying, or at least that’s his story) but couldn’t find him so decided to go back to ToT to use my FastPass there. I walked straight onto the ride and did get to go ahead of a few folks.

Once again I rode in the elevator at the Tower Hotel. I have yet to be shown to my room at that place :-)

After I left the ToT, I ran into Randy again, so we wandered over to the Osborne Lights and waited for them to open. The opening description of the lights and then when they all come on at once is just amazing. It really is something you need to experience. We waited around the entrance till a lot of the initial crowd had passed by, then slowly wandered through Residential Street. Everything was absolutely beautiful and it was amazing all the things they did cover in lights. We found several hidden Mickey’s and we also found the hidden Minnie.

Once we finished walking through the display, the park was closed so I never did get to ride RnRC. :-( We headed toward the entrance and said our goodbyes. I started to head towards All-Stars and then at the last minute got in the line for Old Key West. I decided to try dinner at Olivia’s and wander around the resort. It took awhile to get to OKW because there were two wheelchair parties that had to be loaded on the bus and it turns out the restaurant is the last stop. I finally arrived at the Hospitality House and got off and found my way to Olivia’s. I checked in at the podium and was asked if I could wait a few minutes for a table, so I wandered around the lobby and the General Store and was seated in about 5 minutes.

I loved the décor of Olivia’s, but there was not as much on the menu as I thought there would be. I did see something I liked which was the Sauteed Tiger Shrimp with Broccoli and Penne Pasta in a Garlic Sauce….. I wish I had ordered that…… I let the waiter talk me into the special which was Scallops over Rice with Cabbage. The “special” turned out to be three small scallops over a large bed of rice with some strange tasting cabbage and cost $2.00 more than what I had planned on ordering. Some special…. The scallops and rice were actually quite good, but it was not really my favorite meal of the trip. So with a soda and tip I spent $27.67.

I left the restaurant and wandered around the waterfront some, but was getting chilly so I ran into Conch Flats General Store and picked up a sweatshirt ($31.80). This little visit to Old Key West was getting to be expensive. :-) I wandered back down to the waterfront and waited on the boat to Downtown Disney and had a nice ride all by myself down the waterway.

I wandered through the marketplace looking at the Christmas decorations and then wandered through Pleasure Island. I went into Adventurer’s Club, but it was filled with folks from some convention and there were no RADP folks that I could see in the Mask Room so I left. I then wandered through the shops at West Side and almost went into Disney Quest because they had a special of $13.50 after 10pm. I changed my mind and decided to get back to the room and get on to bed cause I knew I had a few busy days ahead of me.

I caught an All-Stars bus back to Music and called my family from the pay phones in the lobby (I hate that .75 cent charge from your room) and then walked back to my room. By the way, it took me about 6 minutes to get to my room from the Music transportation area, so it’s a wash as to which direction to go to get a bus from Country Faire.

Day 2, Saturday, November 4, 1999

Today was going to be a long, busy day! I got up about 6:00 and got ready and headed to the food court. I picked up some chocolate milk and a plain bagel ($3.84) and got hot chocolate for my refillable mug. I headed for the buses to do early entry at the Magic Kingdom. Once I arrived I went to Fantasyland and rode Pooh which I think is kind of cute and then rode It’s a Small World which is classic Walt at its best, then rode Peter Pan’s Flight which we had missed in November due to the lines. Off to Neverland!!! Then I went over to Tommorowland and rode Space Mountain, then went to Buzz Lightyear. By this time it was almost time for the Splash Dash, so I went over to Frontierland rope drop to wait. I heard the opening announcement for Magic Kingdom finally! It almost brought tears to my eyes :-) I love the way WDW does their rope drops, it takes only a few minutes of the Cast Member’s time, but really makes it fair for everyone and avoids any possibility of folks getting hurt in the mad rush to be first in line. I ran into someone from radp on the way to Splash and we rode together, but I’m sorry I don’t remember her name. Splash was really fun!! We then went over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and rode in the back car together. Big Thunder was fun, but there was a problem, no one came to lower lap bars in the back of the train, and the train was dispatched anyway. We lowered our bar, but the couple in front of us did not and were thrown around for a bit. When we got to the second lift hill, I leaned forward and told them about lowering their bar. I’m glad nobody got hurt.

I parted company with my fellow radper and went over to the Haunted Mansion. Try as I might, I couldn’t get anybody to allow me to be the 1000th ghost. I love this attraction and love reciting the script in the library along with the ghost host :-)

After finishing Haunted Mansion, I went over to Pirates of the Caribbean and enjoyed watching the pirates sing and fight and pillage, and all that dastardly stuff that pirates do. I wandered through the Pirate shop looking for something to wear on my Captain Hook boat that evening for the Illuminations Cruise, but really didn’t see anything I was willing to pay for, so continued on. I was a bit hungry and saw the egg rolls at a stand, so had an egg roll and a bottle coke for around $5.00

It was about 10:00 now and the park was getting crowded, but I was waiting for Carousel of Progress to open so I could enjoy that show, so I wandered through Main Street a bit, and poked in some of the shops there, went into the Main Street Cinema, turned tacky shop and shook my head in dismay. I went to Tommorowland and rode the Tommorowland Transportation Authority a couple of times and just soaked in all the sights and sounds around me. I then remembered I had never seen Sonny Eclipse so I wandered on over to Cosmic Ray’s and ordered a Chicken Soup and some Fries ($3.76) and found myself a seat on the lower level and just relaxed and enjoyed his show. One thing I liked about Cosmic Ray’s was the fixins bar which had cheese for my fries :-)

By this time it was past 11:00 so I went over to Carousel of Progress and thoroughly enjoyed this show. I believe it is my favorite attraction in all of WDW. I will be truly sad if this masterpiece is removed.

After leaving Carousel of Progress, I wandered out of the Magic Kingdom enjoying all the sights and sounds of Main Street and I went into the Main Street Confectionery and bought one of those huge Rice Krispie treats with chocolate on them ($3.50). I left the Magic Kingdom and went to the Express Monorail to go to the TTC for the big meet. I asked to ride up front and waited a couple of monorails to do so and rode with the nicest CM from Scotland who gave us Co-Pilots licenses. It really was a treat. I also found out the CM must have lived in my home town for awhile because his daughter went to Mt. Gap which is a middle school in my town.

I got to the big meet about 12:30 and WOW, I couldn’t believe all the people that had shown up, it was really amazing. I remember chatting with Brian (tigger731) and Amy (Improvgal) and Rachel (Mermaid) and Bruce (Zazu), DebWills, Kenny, Randy Berbaum, Paragon, Dave Marx, and many many others who I couldn’t even begin to remember everyone’s names. I bought one of the beautiful radp metal pins to help Dottie’s kids and just wandered around. Finally, it was time for the picture. The Disney folks seemed to be a lot more organized this year and had risers and a ladder set up for the picture. (Although, once I saw the picture, I was not as pleased as I was last year, there was lots of empty space top and bottom, and very small people, they could have filled up the frame more and made us larger). After the picture, it was time to hand out goody bags. I turned in my card and picked up my goody bag which was a PassPorter! I had Dave and Jennifer sign it for me. I then said hello to a couple of other folks and wandered on to the monorail to go to Epcot for the rest of the day. Once I arrived at Epcot, I went to the singles line in Test Track and rode within 10 minutes!! That singles line and FastPass are the two best ideas to ever come out of WDW in a very long time!! Then I went over and saw Ellen’s Energy Adventure which we missed in November. I’m not a real fan of Ellen, but I do enjoy the attraction…. that is if I could ever stay awake for the whole thing. I had most of a row to myself so I leaned against a corner and put my feet up and realllllllly relaxed :-) After finishing Ellen, I went over to Wonder’s of Life and saw Cranium Command. This is a must see for me because it is just sooo funny and it was one of the things we missed in November. I wandered past Horizons and noticed even the *We’re creating a new adventure, blah, blah, blah*, signs were messed up. The state of that attraction really makes me sad. I wandered through Mouseworks some to give me some ideas on purchases I would make at Downtown Disney later.

Off to World Showcase!! First stop, Mexico. I wandered through the marketplace and listened to a group playing guitars and singing, then rode El Rio del Tiempo. It was a nice relaxing ride, but I still think it’s kind of high on the cheese factor. I then just wandered through the showcase, soaking in the atmosphere and watching the lights come on as it got dark and the whole atmosphere of the Showcase change. One site that caught me totally off guard, as I was wandering along, I see this huge wall right in the middle of the promenade and I’m wondering what they have set up when I finally realize it’s a drawbridge!! They have it raised to bring the barges in for Illuminations. Once the bridge is lowered, I continue on my meandering through the countries. I was debating whether to go back to the room to dump mugs, my new PassPorter, and to grab warmer clothes or to just pick up a sweatshirt. I spotted a black Epcot sweatshirt in the Germany pavilion and my decision is made for me. This was really a beautiful sweatshirt. ($27.56) I had the tags cut off and put it on immediately. I then wandered over to Morocco to try the Tangierine Café for dinner. This was really good! I had the Chicken & Beef Combo with Hummus, Tabouleh and Garden Salad, some soup and a large coke. ($14.53). Everything was quite tasty and hit the spot! After I left Tangierine Café I spotted Fudgie, Iago, Ariel, Ping & Paragon sitting on the other side of the café and went over to say hello and I ended up joining them for the rest of the evening. As it turns out, we had outstanding seats for the Tapestry of Nations parade, so we just stayed where we were and enjoyed. I really like this parade. It’s majestic and peaceful and really made me feel good. It was a neat evening. After the parade was over we made our way back towards Mexico and let Paragon give us a personal tour of the Mexico boat ride. At that point we parted company. Fudgie & myself headed towards International Gateway to meet up for the Illuminations Cruises and the rest of the party headed for Paragon’s car, I think. We took our time getting to the Yacht Club, but still arrived way early for our cruise. I took the opportunity to go into the Yacht Club and freshen up some and also bought some Tums ($1.00). Dinner was wonderful, but it was talking to me.

The boats were finally organized and we all proceeded to receive our pins and nametags and boarded our boats. I was on the Captain Hook boat along with Kim, Brian, John, Leslie, Joe, Pamela TDC Meeko, TDC Meeko, Sean , Thea, Mark and, Fudgie. (No I didn’t remember all those names….. cut and paste from my confirmation e-mail worked really well!) Our driver arrived and politely asked some folks to swap places so it wouldn’t lean to one side :-). The way the boats are made, there is lots of seating on one side and just a few seats on the other side, so when it’s full you have to …. er…. balance things out a bit :-)

Once we were all loaded, we headed on out and proceed to cruise along the waterway towards the Studios and the driver asked us trivia questions and handed out buttons and pens to the winners. I got the question about the Dolphins. She wanted to know what organization uses them as a symbol. The answer is Navy Submarines. The dolphin statues on the hotel are truly dolphins which are a fish, the smooth things most people are used to seeing in shows and the Living Seas are porpoises, and are mammals!!! I digress, after our cruise along the waterway we pulled up underneath the bridge and tied off and shortly thereafter all the other boats pulled up and tied off with us. They passed out cupcakes and sodas and we drew for our prizes and Sean won. As we were chatting and joking around, Fudgie and some of the other folks up front had a flashlight and were looking around the boat and over the edge. I jokingly asked if they were looking for something special and found out Fudgie had dropped his glasses overboard!!! OOOOOOPS!! Poor guy!!! I’m glad he’s not as blind as I am cause I wouldn’t have been able to cope. I would have had to have somebody walk me to my room and find my contact case so I could put them in. The divers searched the lagoon the next morning, but no luck. I have heard since that Fudgie has new glasses now!! WooHoo!!!

Watching Illuminations from underneath the bridge is really wonderful! ROE, I believe is better suited for this spot because the countries are not so much involved in the show, so you don’t miss any action behind you. The fireworks are right there in front of you and it really is awe inspiring!! I love this new show and I really hope I get to see it a few more times!!

After Illuminations was over, we cruised the waterway some more and were dropped off back at the Yacht Club. Some of the folks headed over to the Boardwalk for the Watergame Shootoff and I headed into the Yacht Club to run a comb through my hair and use the facilities.

I then headed towards the Downtown Disney bus stop and proceeded to Pleasure Island. I arrived in the Mask Room to find it FULL of radp folks. I remember seeing Sam, Rachel, Rob, Ronnie, Kenny, Dave, Jennifer, Bill, Kim, Amy, and so many more folks. I had a couple Kungaleesh ($15.50) and went to several of the shows and had a wonderful evening of radp and Adventurer’s Club merriment, heckling, and just all around good fun! Kungaloosh!! I found out that Rob, Sam, & Kim were going to IOA the next day so I arranged to meet up with them around noon in IOA. A few of us closed down the AC and proceeded out of Pleasure Island. Rachel and her friend (sorry, can’t remember his name) gave me a ride back to All-Star Music. (I believe they were in the same building I was… as a matter of fact, most of the rapders staying at Music had been assigned rooms out in BFE (Bum Fudge Egypt) <VBG>). I arrived in my room safely, set a wakeup call for the All-Star Mini Breakfast meet and crashed.

Day 3, Sunday, December 5, 1999

Amazingly, I got up in time to go to the All-Star Breakfast Mini Meet in the Music Food Court. I even remembered my gift to exchange! I ordered an orange juice and a sausage gravy biscuit ($5.12) and met with and chatted with all the folks in the group. I remember Sean & Pam and Ronnie. There were lots of other folks there, but those were the only names I can remember. Sorry!!! After eating breakfast and exchanging our little gifts, we all headed our separate directions. I received a bag a of taffy and a magnet from Disneyland! courtesy of Sean.

I dropped my goodies off in my room and went back to the bus stop to go to Animal Kingdom. I had not seen any of Asia yet and I had not seen Conservation Station, so that was my goal. I arrived in Animal Kingdom a few minutes after the opening ceremony and interacted with some of the characters still in the Oasis. I wandered through the Oasis on my way to Asia. I slowly walked through the Maharajah Jungle Trek and marveled at all of the beautiful architecture and animals there. They did a wonderful job with this area!! I then wandered through the line for Kali River Rapids, but did not ride the ride. It was just not hot enough for me to get wet that morning!! Where else but Disney World, could a line for an attraction be interesting enough to walk through it without riding the ride!!!???

I then took the train to Conservation Station and wandered through that area. If I had more time, I probably would have enjoyed it more, but I was rushed and found the whole area to be a bit commercial and pushy.

After leaving Conservation Station, I left Animal Kingdom and returned to the resort. I then did something that I have never done during a Disney vacation…. I left the property. I hopped in the car and headed over to the Universal Escape complex to meet Sam & Kim, Rob & Rob’s brother at Islands of Adventure. They told me to meet them at the Alchemy Bar in the Enchanted Oak Tavern. After parking in their gargantuan garage ($7.00) and walking the 50 miles (or so it seemed) to the entrance I purchased a one day ticket to IOA ($46.64) and found my way over to the Oak Tavern. I found Sam, Rob & his brother having a liquid lunch :-) (or was that breakfast?) <VVBG> and Kim joined us a short while after that. We hung around in the bar for awhile and then Sam, Rob & myself went over to Dueling Dragons. We rode Ice first. This was an awesome ride! I love B&M coasters and these guys did not dissapoint!! We then did the quick jumpover to Fire and rode it. This one was also very cool! With just my one ride each, I think Fire is the winner so far!! After that we went back to the Oak Tree and picked up Kim and Rob’s brother and continued around IOA. We went through Seuss’s landing and rode Cat in the Hat. This is really a cute ride and lots of fun, however, the spinning is just below my threshold of tolerance!! A couple more spins and I would have NOT been happy!! We also played through some fishing pond where you tossed coins into fishes mouths and got squirted with water!! We then went over and rode Hulk! This ride was awesome! I did get a bit of a headache after riding. They talked me into the back seat and it was a mean ride back there!! Although I must say the launch on Hulk was not near as impressive as RnRC’s launch…. it seems like your moving half-way up the hill already, before the launch kicks in.

We skipped Dr. Doom’s Fearfall and headed for Spiderman. I had heard that Spidey was an amazing ride, but absolutely could not imagine what it would be like. We got in line and wandered through the newsroom of the Daily Planet then boarded our Scoop vehicles to get the latest story. The boarding instructions tape is really funny! Well, I now know what the fuss is all about and I agree!! Spidey is the most outstanding, amazing ride I have ever been on. The special effects are awesome, but they don’t feel like special effects, they feel real!!!!

We then went through Toon Lagoon and since it was warming up, decided to brave Dudley Do-Rights Ripsaw Falls. This was a neat ride and fit the character of the Dudley Do Right cartoons perfectly. However, I have one warning! The seats are designed like standard logs where you are straddling a center seat. They have dividers in the log so that folks are paired up two together. If you are sitting in one of the sections by yourself, hang on tight!!! I was sitting in the back section by myself, and as usual when I go down a log flume I raise my hands in the air, well at the bottom of this thing, there is some kind of a bump or something and I slid forward and bopped my nose HARD on the little seat in front of me, and my glasses ended up wedged between Kim’s back and that little seat!! For a minute there I was afraid my glasses had met the same fate as Fudgie’s!! Also my nose was SORE!! We got off the ride and we weren’t too wet. I went in a restroom and inspected my nose and my glasses. My glasses were fine and my nose wasn’t turning blue or swelling, so I assumed it was OK. Three weeks later, however, there is still one small tender spot on my nose!!

After leaving Dudley’s we all decided that Bluto’s Bilge Rat Barges was more water than we wanted, so we headed over to Jurassic Park and got in line for the Jurassic Park River Adventure. This was a great ride. The theme was typical of all rides, your going through a peaceful tour, and oooops, something goes wrong and you end up in a bad part of town :-) We cruised past the nasty dinosaurs and were chased down the hill by the big bad T-Rex and at the bottom of the flume, water splashed right in my face and I was sputtering pretty good there. My hair was soaked and I shook my head and gave everybody else a good bath!! :-)

After leaving Jurassic Park, we ended up back at the Oak Tavern and mutually decided to have lunch. I had a Turkey Leg Platter and a Coke ($11.28). It was quite good. It came with corn on the cob and cole slaw and a great big turkey leg. After lunch, we went over to the Lost Continent area and watched the Mystic Fountain tell sarcastic jokes and squirt water at folks. It was quite entertaining. We caught the 4:00 show of Sinbad which was had some good stunts and fire & water effects. It was similar in scope to the Indiana Jones show, but didn’t pretend to be a “behind the scenes” show. We then went through Poseidon’s Fury. This is an amazing attraction. The story is quite good and the water and laser effects are astounding!!

Sam left at that point to go back to his hotel to get ready for Pleasure Island. After checking the attraction list, I realized we had covered all of the park!! I was amazed!! We went over and rode Hulk again. I enjoyed it a lot more this time. I wasn’t in the back seat!! That back seat is just way too wicked for somebody who hasn’t had enough sleep and too much to drink the night before :-) Since the line wasn’t too bad, we also rode Spidey again. I saw lots’ of things I had missed before and really was still amazed how real everything looked and felt!!

We then wandered to the Port of Entry and caught part of the Season of Adventure Christmas show and then left the park. We wandered through City Walk and Rob & his brother went on to where they were staying at Portofino and Kim & myself headed toward the parking garage. Kim started to head off to take a Mears bus, but I told her there was no sense in that cause I had my car. I finally convinced her that it was no trouble after she insisted on giving me some gas money.

Speaking of gas money, my car was on Empty with a huge capital E, so we spent the first few minutes of the trip back frantically hunting for a gas station, we finally found a Shell station and I filled up. The car has a 14 gallon tank, and it took 15 gallons of gas. Whew!! Anyway, we headed on back to Disney property and went back to All-Star Music. It turns out Kim was staying in Broadway so I just parked in the spot I had before and we walked to our respective rooms.

I laid on the bed and flipped through the channels and found Star Trek Voyager on TV!! WooHoo!! Our cable systems don’t get UPN and we have not been getting Voyager at all for the past two years. As a matter of fact, except for the original series, there is no Star Trek showing at all!! This episode was probably a rerun, but it was new to me, so I was happy!!! After Voyager was over, I took a shower and dozed through a Deep Space Nine episode and then got ready to go over to Pleasure Island.

I got to the Adventurer’s Club about 9:30 and found Sam, Rob, Rachel, Kim, Dave (I think) and a few others already in the Mask Room. We went to the Balderdash Cup and helped Otis give Emil a run for his money in the competition, but Emil still won! Otis also made a big pass at Kim! We went back to the Mask Room and I asked about this drink they had that looked like a milkshake. Sam told me it was probably a Mudslide and that I would love it! He was right! My receipts tell me I had four of them that evening :-) ($31.00) I went over to the Treasure Room and watched Fletcher Hodges show and we also had a new member induction that evening and we talked Hathaway into doing a late night Mask Room show!! It seems they sometimes drop that show on slow nights. We all decided to go see Samantha’s Sing along which was a riot!! The sound man had them sing Little Drummer Boy which none of the cast knew the words to, and everybody was doubled over laughing!! My problem was, my nose hurt when I laughed!! We closed the Adventurer’s Club down again that evening and stood outside in Pleasure Island talking until they politely kicked us out of there. Kim and myself rode back to All-Stars on the same bus and talked for quite a while on the walkways of Music. I just want to make a comment about the security at the All-Stars resorts. I felt very safe there. There were lots of maintenance workers around cleaning the pool areas and walkways and I saw a couple of security folks ride by in the their little golf carts. Mind you this was about 2:30 - 3:00 in the morning, so you are never left to walk on a dark sidewalk by yourself unless you go out of your way to do so. I got back to the room, set a 6:30 am wakeup call and crashed! I also arranged for 1 pm late checkout, so I wouldn’t have to pack before going to Iago & Zazu Live!

Day 4, Monday, December 6, 1999

I managed to get up relatively on time and went to the Magic Kingdom and then took the resort monorail over to the TTC to meet for Iago & Zazu Live! Now, before we left, we were told that we would have private bus transportation from the TTC over to the restaurant, well what did we do, but get back on the monorail!!! Apparently they figured out it was early entry, and we had to pay our way to get into the Magic Kingdom, so they just let us go in the main gates. We walked en masse over to the Adventureland Verandah restaurant where there was a beautiful breakfast buffet set up. We found our tables and were treated to a morning Rap introduction by the *Beaky Boys*, also known as Iago & Zazu or Bruce & Ronnie! After the introduction, we all helped ourselves to the wonderful items on the breakfast buffet. I had some eggs, sausage, grits, some of the French Toast and some juice. Everything was quite tasty! As we were finishing our meal, we were given a delightfully funny (or should I say punny!) account and history of the Attraction of the Year, The Enchanted Tiki Room! Bruce and Ronnie did a wonderful job with this and I hope it’s a yearly event for everyone! Everyone attending received pins, and leis, and a nice photo of Iago & Zazu working on their next Attraction of the Week (which had some “great” inside jokes on it, I might add!!) After breakfast, we went over and enjoyed the Enchanted Tiki Room, Under New Management and then gathered outside the attraction for a bit and chatted.

I then left the wonderful RADPers and all of the events for the last time, as I planned to spend the rest of the day by myself to finish up some things I had planned and to do some shopping.

My first stop was the new Camera Center. I slowly strolled through the exhibits there and sent a couple of E-Mail postcards to myself and to my hubby. (They NEVER arrived on our computers :-( ) I went to purchase my copy of the big meet photo and had to wait while the clerk verified that I should indeed get the 2nd photo price. ($8.48) During all that confusion the printer somehow got confused and spit out two copies, so she just gave the second one to me!! I’ve promised it to Jeff Spencer, but can never seem to get picture, envelope, & stamps all in the same place!!! I’ll definitely try and get it out within the next day or so!! :-) I then left the Magic Kingdom and was READY to get out of there. All of a sudden I just felt in an ill mood. It was my last day, I was exhausted, and they were playing Christmas music on Main Street! Although the Christmas decorations are beautiful and they do a wonderful job with them, I go to Disney for “Disney”, not Christmas! Although I must say, the displays do seem to have been scaled back a bit this year and that last little trip down Main Street was the only time the Christmas music seemed overpowering and out of place.

I got on the bus and went back to All-Stars and packed all my stuff up and then loaded the car. I went back to the room, requested a 1pm wake-up call and then took a nap! Even though I slept for only an hour, I felt much better!!!

Well, I then hopped in my car and headed for the Studios. I went straight to Rock n Roller Coaster and rode it two times in a row! It was absolutely awesome!!! My second ride, I waited for the front row and it was well worth the wait. After getting off RnRC I went over and rode Tower of Terror twice in a row and waited for the seatbelt seat for the second ride! It was lots of fun! Well, with that accomplished, I left the Studios and drove towards Downtown Disney. I got to Caribbean Beach Resort and decided to pull in. I parked at the restaurant area and wandered through the food court, but the pasta place was closed for lunch and nothing else really interested me, so I just wandered around the pool area a bit and then left. I continued driving toward Downtown Disney and parked in the West Side lot. I figured I could shop through to the other end and then take a bus back to my car :-) I went to Virgin Megastore first and bought the Millennium CD ($14.83) and then just wandered through poking around in the various shops.

I got to the World of Disney to get several purchases. I thought at first I would do a lot of Christmas shopping there, but was really getting tired again and couldn’t concentrate on what I had picked out for who!! I did get some Toy Story 2 toys for my nephew because we drew his name and it was on his list. I got my older son a watch that he had been wanting for Christmas. I picked up the Rafiki Wrist Wrap for my younger son as his “Mom went to WDW without me” present and then picked up Tarzan Chronicles for a friend of mine who had given me the money for it. ($102.68 with AMEX 15% discount) After leaving World of Disney I realized I had not gotten my older son a “Mom went to WDW without me” present so I picked him up a YoYo at the toy store in the Marketplace ($9.54 with 10% MKC discount).

I then knew I needed to get on the road, but decided I needed to eat first, so I stopped by Rainforest Café. They were able to seat me immediately. However, it took 25 minutes for a server to notice I was there once I was seated. At first I was really steamed, but then I just thought, naw lets’ turn this into a game and see what they do with it :-) Once my server did notice me, she provided outstanding service and let me pick something from the desert menu on the house. (To be fair, according to the manager, I shouldn’t have been seated at that table at that time, because the servers were on a shift change) I had the Mogambo Shrimp, and a Mello Yello ($20.12) and for my free desert I had the Tortoise Pie.

After leaving the restaurant, I called hubby and told him I was heading out. It was about 5:30 by this time. I grabbed the first bus that came along and rode it over to West Side and my car. I had one more shopping errand to run which was to pick up an elephant figurine at Magic Castle Gift Shop on 192. So I headed off property, stopped at that shop and picked up the item ($18.18), bought a Mountain Dew in the machine outside the shop and headed for home.

I was hoping to make it as far as Valdosta or Macon, but tiredness took over way too soon. About Gainesville (7:00 pm) I realized I shouldn’t be driving any farther so stopped at the first Choice hotel I saw which was a Comfort Inn at Exit 78 in Alachua, FL. The room rate was $54.50 with tax. I brought my suitcase to the room, took a shower, called the house and slept!!

Day 5, Tuesday, December 7, 1999 and Final Thoughts!

I woke up about 8:30 that morning and lazed around in the room till about 10:00 and then checked out and pointed myself towards home.

I stopped at a Red Lobster in Tifton, GA for lunch ($10.58) and then made my way on home and got there about 6:00 pm.

FINAL THOUGHTS

This was I would say the most fun I’ve had in a very, very long time!! I’ve done several different kinds of Disney trips. Just the family, a big family, pure solo, and showing a newbie around and I’ve got to say this trip was the best of all worlds!! I was solo, so could go where and when I wanted with nobody dragging me down, or pulling me along. However, there were all of the scheduled meets so I could meet up with folks and have company as well!

Going to Islands of Adventure was fun for me, but then I LOVE Roller Coasters and the good thrill rides. However, unless we had lots of time, I don’t think I would take my family there. For one thing, the cost of taking four folks there just for one day is extremely high, compared to continuing to spend that day on WDW property.

I made lots of wonderful and I hope life long friends this weekend and I hope to continue to be able to return to the Annual RADP meets!!

My next trip is planned for February 22-26 for me and hubby’s 10th Anniversary which is on the 24th. The focus of this next trip will be World Showcase, the Boardwalk, Pleasure Island, and good restaurants!!

Have a Great Disney Day, and may your next trip not be too far off!!

Carol Kelley

ckelley@camber.com

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