Trip Reports

SUMMARY:

May 2-14, 1999
Plane to Orlando, rental car to Vero Beach
OKWR for 10 days, Vero Beach for 2 days
1 bedroom at OKWR, Ocean View Inn Room, 4th floor, at Vero Beach
Two five year old twin boys (Andrew and Josh), Tim and Anne (parents)
2nd trip for the boys, 3rd trip for Anne, 9th trip for Tim, our first trip as dvc members.
OVERVIEW:

In October 1998 we took our then four year old boys to Disneyworld and had a great time. The only negatives on that trip were an unsatisfactory experience with an off site motel, and some flight delays. In December, 1998 we decided to buy 200 points in the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) - we bought a resale at Disneyworld's Old Key West resort (OKW). The resale came with free park passes and 224 points we had to use by June 1st, 1999. So we planned a return to trip Disneyworld for May, 1999.

DAY ONE:

Our Northwest Airlines flight left Denver at 10 am Sunday morning for Memphis, where we would catch a connecting flight to Orlando and arrive at 5 pm. We had been looking forward to this trip for months, and the boys were very excited as we took the shuttle bus to the airport. "Can't this bus go any faster?" asked Andrew, as he was filled with anticipation after our fun trip last year.

Josh was excited, too, and realized that this trip took some planning. The night before, in his nightly prayers, Josh said, "Thank God for Daddy. He shows us around Disneyworld. If he wasn't here, we'd get lost!"

The Northwest Airlines flights were right on time - Dad was very impressed with their service and schedule. They particularly helped us out on our return flight home (more on that later), and Northwest, unlike the airline we flew in 1998, allowed us to check the boys' strollers right at the gate. The boys were very well behaved on the long plane flights - coloring quietly by Mom or playing checkers most of the way. Even Dad wondered if these were the same fighting kids he had to separate often at home.

After arriving in Orlando, we picked up our Budget rent-a-car (a small SUV) and headed towards Old Key West resort. We took the new tollway to Disneyworld from the airport (417), and found it to be a quicker route than going 528/I4 as we had done on previous trips.

As we approached Disneyworld, we didn't see any signs for Old Key West, so we followed the signs pointing to Downtown Disney. We made one turn, and saw the Old Key West water tower. We had finally arrived! We drove up to the gate, and the guard said "Welcome Home!". We were immediately impressed with the lush surroundings of the resort.

Dad got the room, in building 29 on the first floor. It was not the building he had asked for (buildings 23-26) but certainly adequate and only a short walk from Conch Flats and the main checkin area.

Our mouths all dropped open as we explored our home for the week - a spacious one bedroom apartment. The boys liked having their own tv and a big queen sized bed in the living room (the bed folded out of the sofa). Mom was impressed with the unit's laundry room with full sized washer and dryer ("I thought it would have a small stacked washer/dryer" she said), and the kitchen. The master bedroom was huge - with a large king sized bed. We also liked the large deck outside. It didn't take long for Josh to warm up to his new surroundings. "I love this place," he said as we headed out for dinner and a grocery stop.

We had dinner at a nearby Macaroni Grille. Another benefit we would discover about the Old Key West resort was that it was so close to the Crossroads shopping center. There were many good places to eat at or near Crossroads (like Macaroni Grille) that were less expensive than the Disney dining alternatives. While we had our share of Disney meals on the trip, the nearby restaurants at Crossroads saved us some $$$.

Mom and Dad had the excellent Chicken Marsala at the Macaroni Grille. Andrew consumed his entire plate of child ravioli. Josh ate all of his grilled cheese sandwich and remarked, "this grilled cheese is really good! You should have ordered it, Mom!"

As we finished dinner Andrew got a worried look on his face. "What's the matter, Andrew?" Dad asked. "Is somebody going to take our house while we eat?" Andrew asked. Our room at Old Key West had now become our "house" which Andrew was very possessive of. Andrew would call it our "house" for the rest of the trip.

We did a quick food shopping at the Publix market nearby (good prices). Then we headed back to OKW and went to bed early in preparation for our first full day at the parks on Monday.

DAY TWO:

After a long day of travel yesterday, we slept in today but still got to the MGM Studios theme park at the opening time (9 a.m.). We found making breakfast in our one bedroom at OKW each day helped us get an earlier start (on previous trips we always ate breakfast out each day).

As we were walking to the bus stop at OKW, Andrew said, "I want to live here when I grow up!" Dad thought he'd wait until Andrew was a little older to tell Andrew how many DVC points that would require!

Josh immediately noticed it is hotter in Florida than in Colorado. "It's a good idea to wear shorts - this feels good!" he said during our walk.

Andrew picked our first ride of the day at the MGM Studios - the Great Movie Ride. Andrew is our little movie lover. He always asks to watch videos at home every chance he gets. Andrew particularly loves the Star Wars series; he knows more Star Wars characters than Dad does even though Andrew was born almost 20 years after the first Star Wars movie and Dad has been a Star Wars fan from the start.

The Great Movie Ride was a hit with everyone - Andrew said the "Indiana Jones" part was his favorite.

After that comment, we just had to take Andrew and Josh to see the Indiana Jones stunt spectacular next. The boys loved it. When asked what his favorite ride was at the end of the trip, Andrew replied, "Indiana Jones!". Andrew is really into action movies.

Just before lunch we caught the new "Doug Live" attraction. We all liked this show. Dad was particularly impressed with how the show mixed live actors with revolving sets and animation. It was also clever how the show worked the five audience volunteers into the action.

We had lunch at the ABC Commissary. This place had excellent fast food. The Caesar Wrap sandwich Dad had was the best fast food he ate during the whole trip. The boys had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches Mom had made for them back at our OKW kitchen - having our own kitchen really saved on lunch costs during the trip.

We went back to our room at OKW after lunch - avoiding the mid day heat and the afternoon crowds. This strategy would work well for us the whole trip. The parks were not too crowded, and not too hot, at the 9 am opening times.

After relaxing at the resort all afternoon, we ventured to the Magic Kingdom for our first character meal and some night time fun. We arrived at 4:30 pm and did a quick ride on the Jungle Cruise before dinner. The boys liked it, and wondered if the animals were real like we had seen on the Animal Kingdom safari the previous trip.

Next was a Character Dinner at the Liberty Tree Tavern. This was probably our most disappointing meal of our whole trip. The character interaction was good (the boys enjoyed it), but the food was mediocre. The steak dish was extra salty and the ham had a honey mustard flavor (Dad hates mustard!). The rolls were the best part of the meal. Dad thought that Chef Mickey's was a better character dinner. We ate at Chef Mickeys on our last trip and found the food to be better and the character interaction better. Also at Chef Mickeys dessert was included (not so at Liberty Tree). Next time it's back to Chef Mickeys for our Magic Kingdom area character meal!

After dinner we went on a couple of more rides. This was the first time we had taken a trip in May, and we really liked the extended Magic Kingdom hours (it was open until 9 pm vs 7 pm on our previous trips in the fall).

On our previous trip, Andrew was a little more reluctant to try new rides, while Josh was our dare devil. This pattern held true again this trip. Andrew was reluctant at first to go on the Haunted Mansion. When Mom commented that the line was moving fast, Andrew said, "Does this ride go fast???!!!" As we got closer to boarding our "doom buggies" (Andrew with Dad, Josh with Mom) Andrew said, "I'm not sure about this ...".

Andrew ended up LOVING the Haunted Mansion ride. "Can I get an autograph of the 'ghosteds'?" he asked after the end of the ride (with Andrew "ghosteds" is the plural of ghosts). Andrew was also thrilled that the ride attendant gave him a toy spider as he exited.

We left the Magic Kingdom around 8:30 pm after a fun filled first day at the parks. And we still had nine more days of park hopping to enjoy! Tomorrow we would visit Epcot for the first time.

DAY THREE:

We planned to go to Epcot this morning but Josh protested. "Can we go to Animal Kingdom?" Josh asked. "We'll have lots of time and we'll go to Animal Kingdom next week," Mom replied. "We'll be coming here alot as you grow up," Mom added. "When you are a Daddy you can bring your kids here."

"When I'm a Daddy can I pick the park I want to go to?" replied Josh.

We arrived at Epcot at 9 a.m. and we learned a valuable lesson - NEVER GO TO THE EARLY ENTRY PARK AT 9 A.M.! Maybe Josh was right after all, and we should have gone to Animal Kingdom. For the rest of our trip we'd always pick a park that didn't have early entry for our 9 a.m. arrivals. Early entry is fine if you can get there right when the park opens - but not an hour and a half later.

Epcot was the most crowded Dad had ever seen it this morning. Dad knew we were in trouble when he saw the line to Spaceship Earth extending outside of the ride and halfway up the sidewalk next to the ride. Spaceship Earth is one ride that handles crowds very well (people get in and out of that ride very quickly), so the long line was a bad sign.

We didn't get to see many attractions due to the crowds. We did Spaceship Earth (a favorite of the boys), Honey I Shrunk The Audience, and the Norway ride in the morning. The boys handled the water drops in the Norway ride just fine, so Dad made a mental note that they would be ready for "Splash Mountain" the next week.

For lunch we went to our favorite restaurant in all of Epcot - Teppenyaki at the Japan Pavillion. Again we were not disappointed. Mom reports she again had excellent steak here, Dad loved his shrimp, and the boys ate well. Dad tasted some of the boys chicken and it was a little tougher than on previous trips, but everything else was excellent. Josh shared Mom's steak. Teppenyaki is a good place to visit for lunch as the prices are almost half of what they are at dinner for nearly the same amount of food. The boys also enjoyed watching the food be prepared at our table.

We sat with a family from New York. Their daughter wasn't as impressed with the restaurant. "I watch you make food all the time at home, Mom. What's the big deal?" she asked.

After a filling lunch, we walked around the International part of Epcot, admiring the Flower and Garden Festival displays. This was the first time we had seen Epcot during the Flower and Garden Festival, and it is well worth visiting Epcot at this time.

We headed back to OKW to avoid the afternoon heat. Today was the only day the boys had an afternoon nap - they slept for two hours. We wanted them well rested for our visit to the Fantasmic Show at the MGM Studios later in the evening.

For dinner, we ate at our OKW kitchen - ordering a $10 "Big New Yorker" pizza from Pizza Hut. Eating dinner for $12 (with tip) sure was different than the prices we paid during the rest of the trip. ($12 was the tip we paid at Seasons the next night!).

We headed for the MGM Studios and didn't have much time to do any rides before having to get in line for Fantasmic. We did do "Muppets 3D" - a favorite that we were to see several times this trip.

After Muppets we arrived at the Fantasmic theatre at 7:15 pm - one hour 15 minutes before show time. Surprisingly, most of the outdoor theatre was already full. We got a seat near the top in the section next to the "reserved" section. Though we had to wait awhile for the show, the wait was a pleasant one. We were seated for the entire wait and there was some preshow entertainment. There were also nearby refreshment stands that we visited during the wait.

Dad had heard mixed reviews of Fantasmic before our trip. We all GREATLY enjoyed the Fantasmic show. Dad thought it was the best night time show he had ever seen from Disney (including fireworks, Illuminations, SpectroMagic parade, etc). The show is a mix of special effects, water images, and live characters. If you have a chance to see Fantasmic - don't miss it!

Our seats were fine for the show - don't worry about not being in the middle and try to get a seat towards the top for the best viewing angles. The show is very popular and it does pay to show up early to get a decent seat.

After the show, the crowds took quite some time to file out of the theatre and of the MGM Studios. We were lucky in that our OKW bus was waiting for us as we finally reached the bus area. We took the bus back to OKW and had the boys in bed before 10:30 p.m.

DAY FOUR:

This morning we returned to the Magic Kingdom. We arrived at the park at the 9 a.m. opening. We headed straight for the Buzz Lightyear ride in Tomorrowland. There was no wait and we walked right on the ride! In fact we rode it twice with no wait. This is one of Mom's favorite rides, and she beat us all with her score.

The race cars in Tomorrowland were next. Mom rode with Andrew; Dad with Josh. Dad tried to videotape the ride while Josh was driving the car. Josh did OK steering at the start but then hit the rail and really got knocked around in the seat (he wasn't hurt). For the rest of the ride Dad put away the video camera and helped Josh drive. This ride was one of the boys favorites last trip but this trip they only wanted to ride it once.

We then went to Mickey's Toon Town. What a difference from when we visited the same area last October! In October we went around 11:00 a.m., Toon Town was packed with people and we barely got to see any characters or ride Donald's Barnstormer. This time Mickey's Toon Town was almost deserted. We were able to walk right into Mickey's house where the boys got a photo with Mickey (the line was only 3 or 4 deep). Josh rode Donald's Barnstormer, a minirollercoaster, with Mom and loved it. It was his first roller coaster ride. Andrew sat the roller coaster ride out with Dad.

We spent the morning going on some other Fantasy Land favorites (Small World, Peter Pan, Snow White) and had lunch at the Pinocchio Haus. This is one of our favorite fast food spots in the Magic Kingdom. Mom likes the hamburgers there and Dad had a good "wrap" sandwich.

We returned to OKW after lunch. Mom took the boys for a swim. We also met with "Doc", the host of a DVC chat Saturday nights on a disney related web site. Doc was very nice and had some good suggestions for us - like taking the boatride to Downtown Disney from OKW sometime. It was interesting to meet someone you had only conversed with over the internet. Doc told us he had 550 DVC points - we were already jealous!

We decided to skip the Parks this evening and see some of the other sights at wdw. We drove over to Seasons at the Disney Institute for dinner. It was interesting to see the Disney Institute grounds; Dad felt like he was back in college.

We did have a long wait for the restaurant to open and for the food to come once it was ordered. We arrived at the restaurant at around 5:15 pm and were finally served dinner around 5:45 p.m. Josh's first words when the food was placed before him? "I have to go potty!!". So Dad took Josh to the potty while his pork tenderloin cooled on the plate behind.

Seasons was good but expensive. The 20% DVC discount we had helped. Seasons was worth eating at once, but Dad wonders if we'll return since we had just as good of meals off site (at Macaroni Grill and Pebbles near Crossroads) during the trip at cheaper prices. The wait staff at Seasons was also very good with our boys - offering them each a balloon and coloring sheets even though at first glance Seasons seemed more like an "adult" restaurant.

After dinner we decided to followup on Doc's suggestion and take the boat from OKW to Downtown Disney. We waited about 15 minutes for the boat. When it finally arrived we were told, "This is the last boat going to Downtown Disney tonight. There's an oil spill on the waterway and we are shutting down all boat operations." Dad was curious how they could have an oil spill in that waterway - it sure wasn't big enough for an oil tanker!

We decided to take a bus to downtown disney, but after waiting 15 minutes we thought it might be faster to drive. The bus service at OKW was excellent all week except for the buses to Downtown Disney - they didn't seem to run as frequently.

Finally, we arrived at Downtown Disney by car. Finding a parking space was an adventure! Once we were parked, we found Downtown Disney very crowded. We didn't stay long. We took the boys into the Lego store where they each picked a Lego box to buy. The Lego structures outside were crowded with people so we skipped those. We headed over to Giradelli Chocolates for a milkshake (Mom and Dad) and ice cream for the boys. Dad ended up finishing his milkshake and half of the boys ice cream. There goes the diet! The milkshakes and ice cream were very good.

We headed back to OKW and got to bed early, in anticipation of another day at the Parks tomorrow.

DAY FIVE:

Back to Epcot this morning. It was not an "early entry" day so the park was not crowded at 9 a.m. Dad wanted to go on the new Test Track but thought it might be too much for the boys. Andrew, Josh, and Mom gladly went on Universe of Energy while Dad waited on line for Test Track.

The Test Track wait was about a half hour. Dad thought the ride was pretty good, but not worth waiting more than a half hour for. Next trip the boys may be ready for the ride (especially Josh).

Andrew, Josh, and Mom really enjoyed the Universe Of Energy. The boys later would vote it their favorite ride in Epcot.

We visited some other attractions that morning. Living Seas was interesting, especially the sharks and manatees in the large aquarium. Honey I Shrunk the Audience was again a popular 3 D show as it was on our last trip - Dad rates this as the best 3 D show in the parks.

We ate lunch at the Land Food Fair. This is a good place to get a variety of fast food at reasonable prices. The quality of the food is pretty good.

Back to OKW for an afternoon swim and rest. It was so nice to relax at our "on site" resort this trip in the afternoons versus staying off site on our last trip.

For dinner we went to Chili's - a little north of the Crossroads Shopping Center. Chili's is one of Mom's favorite places at home. We were all pretty hungry when the food finally arrived. Dad was about to take a big bite into his hamburger when he heard a little voice say, "I have to go potty!!!" It was Josh. That kid's bladder must have a sensor in it that goes off when food is placed on the table.

After dinner we returned to the Magic Kingdom. This was the only night of the whole trip where we were caught in the rain. Luckily, we had packed our Disney rain ponchos in Dad's backpack. The boys and Mom had the standard Disney yellow variety - Dad had the stylish, off white, Animal Kingdom rain poncho. If you are buying a rain poncho, buy the Animal Kingdom one to stand apart from the crowd!

We stood in a half hour line for Peter Pan as the rain came down. Andrew just loved the Peter Pan ride - it is one of his favorites in the Magic Kingdom. After the wait and ride, the rain had stopped. We did the Snow White Ride and Timekeeper before watching the night time MK fireworks from the edge of Main Street.

We returned to OKW, looking forward to our drive to Disney's Vero Beach resort the next day.

DAY SIX:

We were sad to check out of our OKW 1 bedroom this morning as it had been a wonderful home for us for 5 nights, but we were happy we would be returning in only two days! Overall we liked the building 29 location at OKW. The bus stops were very close to our room - both the first one the bus let people off at when returning from the parks, and the last one the bus stopped at before leaving for the parks. This saved us some time in getting to and from the parks. We would definitely stay in this area of OKW again (buildings 27-29, 23-26).

We drove to the MGM Studios for a morning at the park instead of taking the bus. After lunch the plan was to drive to Vero Beach for a two day stay.

The first attraction we visited was Star Tours. Andrew was at first hesitent to go on this ride because it scared him as a four year old, but he changed his mind after he saw the big "walker" in front of the attracting. He loved it! Josh, Mom, and Dad also had a good time. It was great to go on Star Tours first thing in the morning as there was no line at all. They DO check the height of your kids, though. One kid in front of us got past the first attendant at the entrance, only to be denied entry to the ride right before the ride was to load. Our boys were over the 40" height requirement.

We visited some other attractions at MGM Studios and had lunch at the Backlot Express. The Backlot Express has excellent hamburgers, and you have a choice of a fruit or french fries with your burger (good to have a more healthy alternative than fries).

We said goodbye to Disneyworld after lunch as we got on the highway to Vero Beach. It was nice to tour the World at a relaxed pace the first five days of our trip, knowing we'd be back the next week to catch any attractions we might have missed.

The drive to Vero Beach was a pleasant one - it took about 2 hours. We were immediately impressed with Disney's Vero Beach Resort - inside it kind of reminded me of a smaller version of the Wilderness Lodge (where you can look down at the main lobby from the upper floors behind wood railings). We had a great room at Vero - an Ocean View Inn room on the top floor (4th floor). The view of the ocean from our room was breathtaking.

We had less space at Vero than at OKW - an Inn room is more like a standard hotel room than our spacious one bedroom at OKW. But that was ok - we saved on some dvc points by staying in a smaller unit, and we found we weren't in the room as much at Vero. The room also had a small microwave and refrigerator - even the smaller dvc accomodations are a better than your average hotel room.

We got familiar with our surroundings at Vero Beach. We walked on the beach, checked out the pool area, and the minature golf course.

Dad had heard mixed reviews of the restaurants at the Disney resort, so we decided to head into town and eat at a local favorite - the Ocean Grill. The restaurant had very good seafood and a great view of the ocean. It was a bit on the expensive side - Dad was surprised to find the kids meals were over $9 with a drink. For that price Dad expected Mickey to come out of the kitchen to greet the kids! But this was no character meal. The next night we were to eat at a restaurant with even better seafood at more reasonable prices (more on that in the next report).

We returned to the resort and played a family round of minature golf. The course was a short one (9 holes). That was just right for our boys, as they often get bored with the 18 hole variety at home. The boys really liked minature golf and asked to play with Dad the next day.

After another walk on the beach, we retired to our room early, in preparation for a full day at Vero Beach tomorrow.

DAY SEVEN:

We awoke to a magnificent site at Vero Beach - out of our window we saw the sunrise over the ocean! That's something we don't see at home back in Colorado, and reminded us that we were lucky to be on vacation in such a beautiful place.

Andrew was not as impressed. When asked what he thought of the beach and the ocean, he said, "it's a bunch of water and dirt!"

We quickly dressed and went to a 7:30 a.m. character breakfast at Shutters - one of the on site Vero Beach restaurants. This was a "preplated" breakfast similar to what we would have at Artist Point in Disneyworld later in the trip. The food was acceptable, but not as good as the Artist Point character breakfast.

We had been eating a little while and hadn't seen any characters yet. "Maybe Goofy is sleeping in," Dad said.

"He's not sleeping in, Dad," replied Andrew. "He's getting his costume on."

We talked at breakfast of walking on the beach later in the morning. "Are there girls at the beach?" asked Andrew. First not believing in characters, and then asking for girls at the beach. Andrew is growing up faster than we think!

We spent the morning walking and playing on the beach. Mom helped the boys build sandcastles - the Vero Beach store had some inexpensive sand castle tools you could buy.

For lunch we walked to a sub shop next to the resort and ate sandwiches on the picnic tables at the public beach adjacent to Disney's resort.

In the afternoon Anne and the boys spent most of the time at the beautiful Vero Beach pool, while Dad explored the beach, the resort, and rested back at the room (Dad is not a swimmer). The boys particularly got a kick out of a pirate ship set up for toddlers next to the Vero Beach pool. It has water cannons that squirt water - the boys enjoyed shooting each other. Mom reports the time at the pirate ship was about the most fun the boys had on our entire trip.

For dinner we decided to again try one of the local restaurants rather than eat at the resort. A person on the Disney bulletin boards, "Minnie", had highly recommended Captain Hiram's for seafood. Minnie was right! Dad is not a big seafood eater, but he really likes shrimp. It is hard to find good shrimp in Colorado where we live, and in the past Dad has been disappointed with the shrimp he has had at Disneyworld (he was again this trip). The Captain Hiram's shrimp was among the best Dad had ever tasted - delicious! Mom agreed. The restaurant was not as "upscale" as the Ocean Grill restaurant we had eaten at the night before - the prices were cheaper and it seemed like a lot of locals ate there. The open air dining room overlooked a small harbor with fishing boats coming in and out. One guy outside the window was displaying the fish he had just caught (they were huge!). Captain Hirams overall seemed like a place where families from the area got together to eat on a Saturday night. It was a different atmosphere than the secluded Disney resorts we had experienced on the rest of our trip.

After dinner Dad gave Mom a break, taking the boys minature golfing. Andrew is getting better at golf - he kept up with Dad in score for a few holes. Dad ended up with a "par" score for the 9 holes, while Andrew's score was a little better than Josh's. We all enjoyed it.

We took an evening walk on the beach with Mom after minature golf. The weather was perfect. We then relaxed at the room, and went to bed early in preparation for our return to Disneyworld the next day.

DAY EIGHT:

"This was my most special Mothers Day ever," said Mom as we treated her to breakfast at Shutters in Disney's Vero Beach resort. The breakfast was very good. "This breakfast is better than Max's breakfast," said Josh, comparing it to the character breakfast of the day before. We all agreed with Josh - the food was better the second day.

We took one last walk on the beach, before packing up, checking out, and heading back to OKW at Disneyworld.

We arrived back at OKW at 2 pm. We hoped to check in to our room when we arrived but we were told it wasn't ready. We did a quick food shopping at Publix, came back, and the room still wasn't ready! The bell staff at OKW put our groceries in "cold" storage, and we went to park at the building where our room would be (building 43).

It was 3 pm and we saw no sign of the cleaning staff at building 43. We decided to hang out at the pool until the room was ready. We played shuffle board. Dad called the main desk several times and was told the room wasn't ready. Finally, at 4 pm, we were allowed to check into the room. We saw no cleaning people between 3-4 pm so the room must have been ready for quite some time, but for some reason they wouldn't let us in until 4 pm.

Our room in building 43 was again a spacious one bedroom - this time on the second floor. We had a nice view of a pond with the golf course in the distance. There were many kinds of ducks and birds. Our unit this time definitely had a better view than our first unit the previous week.

After getting settled, we headed over to Epcot, for Mothers Day Dinner at Le Cellier in the Canadian Pavillion. Dad had heard Le Cellier had excellent steak (Mom loves steak), and these reports turned out to be accurate. Just as the waiter was bringing Mom's big steak to the table we again heard a voice say, "I have to go potty!". It was Josh. Dad brought Josh to the potty, and came back to his shrimp and pasta dish. The shrimp as disappointing - not nearly as good as the shrimp we had just had at Vero Beach - but the pasta was good. Dad also had the famous "chedder cheese soup" that Le Cellier is known for - it was excellent! Overall, Le Cellier was a good restaurant, but expensive. If we are going to splurge on future trips, I think we'll go back to Teppenyaki (our favorite Epcot restaurant).

As we left Le Cellier, the rain began to pour. We still had 5 full days at wdw so we decided to call it a night. We drove back to our new OKW home, finished unpacking, and went to bed early in anticipation of another full day at wdw on Monday.

DAY NINE:

We headed back to our favorite park this morning - the MGM Studios. We rode Star Tours first. "I really liked that ride," said Andrew, now completely over his Star Tours fear. Next we again went on Muppetvision (one of our favorites) and then to a new attraction - Drew Carey's Sound Stage show.

We all really enjoyed the Drew Carey show. As the lights went dark in the theatre we heard a little girl yell, "Can't someone get us out of here??!!!" An usher came over with a flashlight to help escort the scared little girl to daylight. We heard the same little voice say, "Thank you, someone!"

The Drew Carey show involved sound effects in your headphones in a totally dark theatre. The sound effects were quite impressive. There were some other surprise effects thrown in. If this is an attraction you have skipped over in the past, we would definitely recommend you give it a try!

We had lunch at the ABC Commissary. Like the previous week, we again liked the chicken wrap sandwiches (Mom and Dad) while the boys had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that Mom made back at OKW. The restaurant was again not crowded - for some reason people overlook this place as a lunch time spot at MGM Studios.

After lunch the boys waited for about 20 minutes to get Woody and Buzz's autographs. It was the longest line we had seen for a character signing all week!

We returned to OKW to relax in the afternoon. Mom and the boys took an afternoon swim.

For dinner we ate at Jungle Jims in the Crossroad shopping center. They had excellent hamburgers. Someone had recommended the cheese sticks to us and these were also excellent. The kids meals were a good bargain ($3).

After dinner we headed back to Epcot for our final visit to that park on this trip. We visited one of our old favorites, Cranium Command, which we all enjoyed. We also did the Land boat ride - an attraction we missed on our last trip. While the Land boat ride is mostly educational, the boys enjoyed seeing the buffalo scenes and the fish farm.

We rode Spaceship Earth one more time before saying goodbye to Epcot for another year. We returned to OKW and got to bed early, for tomorrow would be our only visit to the Animal Kingdom during our 12 day stay.

DAY TEN:

Today is our only visit to the Animal Kingdom on our 12 day trip. We planned it that way because of the free dvc passes we had with this trip - those passes covered the other 3 parks but not AK (Mom and Josh had been using the free DVC passes for the other parks). So for our "AK day" we used the Annual Passes that Dad and Andrew had bought previously, a leftover day on a park hopper pass that Mom had bought last October, and for Josh we bought a one day AK pass.

We got up at 6:30 a.m. and got to the parks earlier than we had on any other day of the trip - we were at the AK at its 8 a.m. opening. Our early arrival didn't help. The park was very crowded at 8 a.m. - apparently others had the same strategy as us (arrive early to beat the crowds!).

We immediately walked with a large crowd to the back of the park to ride the Safari. This ride handles crowds pretty well so even though there were alot of us waiting, we were able to get on the ride within 20 minutes. The Safari continues to be one of our favorite rides in all of the parks. We saw lots of different animals, and on this morning ride we had a good view of the lions (better than in the evening). But overall I'd recommend taking this ride around 5 p.m. to closing - you see more animals at the afternoon time as we were to find out later. We still saw plenty of animals on the morning ride, though, and we enjoyed it very much.

Next we went on the Radio Disney Cruise around the Tree Of Life. This is a nice, slow relaxing ride. It may be best to save this ride until the park is very crowded and when you are tired out - we rode it early because the lines were short and we were passing by right when the next boat was leaving.

We were all anxious to see the new "Asia" section. We went on the walking tour of the new Asia exhibit and we were somewhat disappointed. It was a very hot day (for some reason whenever we have visited AK it has always been hot), it was very crowded, and it was difficult to see many of the animals. The bats were in clear view and were probably the most interesting attraction on this tour. On future trips we'll save the Asia walking tour for the early evening.

We didn't go on the river rapids ride in Asia, figuring that would be too much for the boys at age 5. We'll save it for a future trip.

After the safari ride, radio disney boat ride, and walking through Asia, it was time for our late morning "breakfast" at Restaurantasaurus. We had received a tip that it was good to make the latest reservation possible for this character breakfast (ours was at 10:30) - then you could eat there for an early lunch and tour the park before then. The tip was a good one - while the AK was crowded from 8-10 am it was even more crowded at 10:30, so it was good to get our early touring in while the crowds were less, and eat lunch during the peak crowd times.

The Restaurantasaurus character breakfast was a good one - the second best one on our trip next to Artist Point. This breakfast was a buffet where you had to get your food, rather than the preplated character meals we ate on the rest of our trip. And there was plenty of food! For a buffet the food was pretty good, and it was frequently restocked. There was also an assortment of fresh fruit to choose from.

The character interaction was good - the characters were in safari gear. The boys enjoyed the characters very much.

After breakfast the family voted to return to OKW. Josh said, "I don't want to go back to Animal Kingdom - it's too hot!". We would have a different, and much better experience at AK later in the day.

As we rode the bus back to OKW, Josh said, "Let's go to Lizzard Beach!". Andrew corrected him, "It's not Lizzard Beach, it's Blizzard Beach!". The idea of a cool swim at Blizzard Beach didn't sound bad on this hot day, but the water parks were not part of our plan this week, so we returned to OKW for our usual afternoon rest and swim.

We ate our most inexpensive dinner of the whole trip at Taco Bell at the Crossroads Center. Despite some road construction on Hotel Plaza Blvd From Crossroads we drove to AK.

We had a wonderful time at AK from 5 to 7 pm - much better than the crowded, hot conditions we encountered earlier in the day. The crowds were almost non existent. We immediately went on the Safari ride again with almost no wait. The cool of the late afternoon brought many of the animals out of hiding. In the morning we could only see the giraffes, for example, at a distance on a far away hill. This time the giraffes were right next to our safari vehicle. Many other animals were more visible in the evening than what we had seen in the morning. If you have to choose a time to go on the safari - pick the early evening hours!

From the Safari we walked to see the Festival of the Lion King Show. This is a fantastic show - one of the best in all of the parks. We enjoyed it so much more this trip versus our trip last October because we had no wait, and because it was so much cooler (on our last trip we had an hour wait in intense heat to get into the show). Dad was particularly impressed with the flying "bird" acrobat - the boys liked the monkey gymnasts and Mom thought the music was great. The show is very upbeat and the performers really do a good job.

We went to the Pocahantas show after this. Mom, Dad, and Josh enjoyed it, while Andrew was disappointed. The show featured Pochahantas and her animal friends (animal acts). I think Andrew was hoping for some fighting between the settlers and the Indians (Andrew, as you remember, is into action movies). "All they had were little animals," said Andrew.

After the Pocahantas show, it was time for the park to close. We really enjoyed our two hours at the AK in the evening. On future trips when we have park hopping priviledges to the AK we are going to skip the morning and see the park over several days in the early evening.

We returned to OKW at 7:30 pm and relaxed for the rest of the evening. Good thing, for on this night there was a terrific thunderstorm around 8 p.m. that lasted for two hours. Had we been in one of the parks at that time, like we had been on other nights, we would have been drenched. We went to bed early in anticipation for our last day at the Magic Kingdom tomorrow.

DAY ELEVEN:

Our trip is winding down - only two more days at the parks. Today would be our last visit to the Magic Kingdom.

On the way to the MK, we played a Disney riddle game. Andrew said, "What's the hottest theme park in the world?". His answer: "Animal Kingdom!" The heat of the Animal Kingdom must have made a lasting impression on the boys - yesterday was the hottest day we had on the whole trip.

Upon arriving at 9 a.m. at Magic Kingdom, we again headed towards one of our favorite rides - Buzz Lightyear in Tomorrowland. We rode it twice with absolutely no wait. We then went on the peoplemover in Tomorrowland - Josh said we had to go on the "up-alator" to get to it (instead of escalator). This was a pleasant ride at a speed to Andrew's liking (i.e. slow).

Andrew lobbied for another visit to the Timekeeper - we all enjoyed it. Dad asked Andrew why he liked this attraction so much. "I like the sword fight!" replied Andrew.

Just before lunch we split up. Josh and Mom got in their "Dumbo" ride for this trip. Dumbo is too much for Andrew, so he went with Dad on Small World and Peter Pan. The Dumbo ride usually has quite a line by mid morning; Dad and Andrew were able to ride their two rides in the same time Mom and Josh finished Dumbo.

We again had lunch at the Pinnochio Haus. Dad had read of several fast food places to try in Magic Kingdom, but we like Pinnochio Haus so much that if we are in the FantasyLand area we always eat there. Pinnochio's again didn't disappoint us - good burgers and "wrap" sandwiches.

After lunch we went on the Carousel Of Progress. In Dad's nine trips to Disneyworld he had always missed this attraction. Mom and the boys had never gone on it, either. We all really enjoyed it. We were seated in a revolving theatre watching a typical family go through different technological advances in the home.

We returned to OKW for an afternoon of rest and swimming. We again went over to the Crossroads area for Dinner - this time we had a return visit to the Macaroni Grill. The food there was again very good. The kids meals are especially good deals. For $4 kids get a full meal and a big bowl of ice cream. Andrew ate all of his ravioli in both of our visits to Macaroni Grill, while Josh ate all of his grilled cheese. Dad and Mom liked the Chicken Marsala dish.

After dinner we returned to OKW and took the bus to the MK. We went on Jungle Cruise and the Haunted Mansion - two favorites the boys had gone on for the first time the previous week.

Next we got in line for Splash Mountain. Andrew was worried but Mom and Dad thought he could handle it. Josh sat with Mom in the first row, while Dad sat with Andrew in the second. Andrew saw the big drop the ride had at the end, and he was worried about it.

As the ride started, we went down a small drop. "Was that the big drop?" asked Andrew. "No," said Dad, "it's coming up, though."

We went down another small drop. "Was that the big drop?" asked Andrew. He was disappointed when told it was not.

"Look at Brier Rabbit," said Dad, trying to get Andrew's mind off of the Big Drop by getting him to focus on the characters in the ride. It didn't work. "When's the big drop coming?" Andrew replied. "Does it go fast? Does it go underwater?" he asked.

Finally, we got to the Big Drop. We all screamed at the top - a moment caught in our "Splash Mountain" picture (see the picture at http://www.pcisys.net/~tml/dvc.htm).

The boys handled the drop really well. "That was fun!" Andrew said. "It was fun," Josh replied, "but next time let's don't sit in the first row!" Josh and Mom got a little wet with their first row seat.

After our Splash Mountain excitement, we said goodbye to the Magic Kingdom for this trip. On the way out we did a quick tour of the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, and then took the bus back to OKW. Tomorrow we would visit the MGM Studios one last time before packing to go home.

DAY TWELVE:

Our last full day at Disneyworld. This morning we visited the MGM Studios one last time. We again went on Star Tours at the opening. There were no lines and we got right on the ride. Andrew has become an old pro at Star Tours. When the trip started he was afraid to go on it; by the end of the trip Andrew was campaigning to ride Star Tours again and again everytime we were near it!

We had read that 9:30 a.m. was a good time to catch the Little Mermaid show. We walked over from Star Tours and got seated in the Little Mermaid theatre just before the show was to begin - no wait! This was an excellent show that we had all enjoyed on our last trip. The show was again very good this time. The show combines fish puppets, movies, water, and live actors to tell the Little Mermaid story. Mom said she particularly enjoyed the "Under The Sea" song performed by the little fish puppets.

At Andrew's request, we went on the Great Movie Ride one more time. As much as he liked Star Tours, this was Andrew's favorite ride in the MGM Studios.

After the movie ride, we walked over to the Hunchback of Notre Dame show. The show was 1/2 hour away but we decided to get good seats right next to the stage. What a difference good seats make in seeing this show! We had seen the same show last October from the back of the theatre. This time with a front row seat we were amazed at the coordinated movements of the actors, the props, and the puppets used to tell the story. It is well worth arriving early to get a good seat for this show! We were so close the the Hunchback petted Andrew and Josh on the head while he was leaving, and Esmerelda's pet goat "puppet" rubbed noses with Josh. The wait isn't too bad as there is a juggler who gives pre-show entertainment. Overall, this show and the Festival of the Lion King show at AK were our two favorites for the trip.

We had lunch at Pizza Planet - three personal sized pizzas were enough to feed us (a family of four). The pizza was surprisingly good at around $5 per pizza. The boys enjoyed the arcade games here, also.

Mom and Dad promised the boys they could buy one toy on our trip. The boys both wanted Star Wars toys, so after lunch each picked one in the Star Wars shop next to the Star Tours ride.

We said goodbye to the MGM Studios and the Disney Theme Parks at around 1 p.m. - we would not return again this trip. We relaxed and had an afternoon swim at OKW.

For dinner, Dad had read several positive reviews of the Pebbles restaurant in the Crossroads Shopping Center. The author of the book, "Orlando's Other Theme Parks", had said this was one of her favorite restaurants in Orlando. She was right. We had an excellent meal there. Dad liked the ribs and Mom liked her chicken dish. The boys were happy with their kids meals. This was another restaurant in the Crossroads area that had quality food at prices below the "sit down" Disney restaurants.

We spent the evening packing in anticipation for our flight back to Colorado tomorrow.

DAY THIRTEEN AND SUMMARY:

Today was going home day. We checked out of OKW early, and headed over to the Wilderness Lodge for one final character meal - the breakfast at Artist Point. We all voted it the best character meal we had on our trip. The boys enjoyed seeing the Pooh characters, and the food was very good. The breakfast was an "all you can eat" preplated breakfast. The muffins brought to our table were excellent, as were the scrambled eggs and breakfast potatoes. The potatoes were unlike any we had tasted before - a cheese and potato mix. Yummy!

We walked around the Wilderness Lodge after breakfast - excited that someday we may be staying at the new DVC property currently under construction next to the Lodge.

We then headed to the airport for the trip home. What we thought would be an uneventful trip turned out to be anything but - a thunderstorm hit the Orlando Airport area about an hour before our plane was to leave. This caused the airport to be shut down for 50 minutes! Our plane was to leave at 1 p.m., but the schedule was changed so that the departure was 2:30 p.m. This would cause us to miss our connecting flight in Minneapolis - the next flight out of Minneapolis to Denver would be four hours later!

We were all resigned to the fact we would have a long day of travel (with a four hour layover in Minneapolis) when Dad went to the Northwest counter and asked if we could get to Denver sooner another way. Thank goodness for Northwest Airlines! The representitive was very nice, and booked us on a "direct" flight with United at no extra cost! The United flight arrived in Denver sooner than our original "connecting flight" from Minneapolis would have.

Only problem was that our luggage did not accompany us to Denver with our flight! Our luggage was to arrive 3 a.m. in the morning at our home just north of Denver.

Overall, we had a wonderful trip to Disneyworld and Vero Beach. We had really enjoyed our October, 1998 trip, but this trip was even better. The difference was our DVC accomodations and the fact that we had 10 days at the parks vs. 5 on our October trip. We never felt rushed to see too much in any one day, for we knew we'd have another day to catch the attractions we might have missed. The bus service from Disney's Old Key West Resort was timely all week - it was so nice to take the bus to the parks and return to relax at the resort in the afternoons. The spacious one bedroom accomodation at OKW was really a "home away from home" - the boys slept better in a separate room from Mom and Dad, the full kitchen was great for saving some $$$ on meals (we ate breakfast at the room most days), and the setting of the resort was beautiful. Our two day weekend trip to Vero Beach was another nice diversion and one we are sure to do again in the future.

Do we have any regrets buying into DVC? Not one bit! If our future vacations are as fun as this one, it will be worth every penny!

Tim Larison

tml@pcisys.net

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