Trip Reports

February 28, 1999 - March 7, 1999

Cast:

I would say we are all rookies; we haven’t been to Walt Disney World (WDW) in YEARS! Julie (32), married to Scott - last visit to WDW in 1986, Scott (32) last visit to WDW in 1984, Ryan (3), son of Julie & Scott – 1st visit, Papa (54), Scott’s dad – last visit to WDW in 1976 and Mimi (49), Scott’s step-mom – last visit to WDW in 1972.

Planning process:

We planned this trip for close to a year and would like to thank Deborah Wills (http://www.wdwig.com), Brian Bennett (http://members.aol.com/DVClubber/dvchome.htm), and the newsgroups for all their help in our planning process. We printed all sorts of terrific information off the various websites and have probably 3 notebooks worth of information at home, including resort information, trip reports, etc.

Originally we were going to stay at All Star Music Resort in adjoining rooms (at least we hoped adjoining rooms would be available). Approximately four weeks prior to our departure date, our plans changed and we made reservations at Dixie Landings (DL) "Alligator Bayou" for a room that would accommodate five people (thank you Mimi and Papa). We decided to purchase Annual Passports (AP) for Scott, Ryan and I while Mimi and Papa would only require a 4-day park hopper pass. We also decided very early on that we wanted to go back in December to enjoy the Christmas festivities in "The World," so the AP was the way to go for us. To save time, we purchased all our park passes before we left Houston including our Universal Studios tickets. We had heard that you can sometimes wait 45 + minutes just trying to get your tickets and that was nonsense to us. I encourage you to buy them before you leave home.

Scott, Ryan & I departed Houston on Saturday, February 27, 1999 by car, (Mimi and Papa decided to fly). We purchased a little 9 inch TV/VCR combination that plugs into the cigarette lighter in the car. This is a GREAT investment if you have kids; I believe we bought ours for around $220 at Sam’s Club (it’s already paid for itself!). We had planned to stop at Comfort Inn in Marianna, Florida for the night, but we got out of Houston earlier than we planned, so we made it to Tallahassee. We stayed in Best Inns in a "smoking room" because that’s all they had available. Even though it was a smoking room it wasn’t bad. The room was clean and the beds were very comfortable. They served a free continental breakfast and it was very good. Cost $43.87 – WHAT A DEAL!

Sunday, February 28, 1999

We got up early Sunday morning and made our way to Walt Disney World. We arrived around 11:00 a.m. and went directly to DL. DL offers two different themes: Magnolia Bend is themed as four, two- and three-story mansion homes, reflecting the large plantation residences in Mississippi many decades ago. Alligator Bayou is a more rustic, backwoods setting, featuring 16 smaller cottage-style buildings with charmingly rustic wooden furniture and settings. In addition, the rooms in Alligator Bayou contain a trundle bed that will sleep a young guest around 60ish lbs. bringing the room occupancy total to 5. This was the reason we chose DL, because it was the only moderate resort that could accommodate 4 adults and 1 child in the same room. FYI – the reports are true about the water pressure in Alligator Bayou, it was low. In my opinion though it was manageable.

Check in was painless and I found the girl that helped me very nice; I think I waited about 15-20 minutes in line. Our room was ready (#1538 in Building 15 – Standard View), so we were able to unload our car (very easy access to the parking lot) and get settled. We had lunch at Colonel’s Cotton Mill (DL’s food court). Two Caesar salads, a small cheese pizza and 2 refillable mugs: Cost $32.81. We then left for Downtown Disney (DD).

NOTE: Building 15 is close to the bus stop, food court, etc. (building 14 is closer); it wasn’t a bad walk at all. It also isn’t too far from the main pool on Ol’ Man Island.

It was a gorgeous day. We used this time to pick up the video camera we planned to rent from Magic Video at the Wyndham Palace (1900 Buena Vista Drive – right across the street from The Marketplace at DD Bus Stops). Cost was reasonable: $29.95 for the first day and $19.95 each day after that. It’s a small price to pay to capture such a great trip on film. They require a credit card or cash deposit of $300.00 (damage deposit) and if you lose it or it is stolen, the cost is $600.00. There was a downfall to renting from this company, in my humble opinion (IMHO); they were only open until 5:00 p.m. each day, meaning that to return the camera, you would most likely have to leave the parks in the middle of the day. Not good, especially if you only have one day in each park.

Honestly the first of March is an excellent time of year to go. Not to hot and crowds aren’t too bad.

We spent most of the afternoon in DD and then made our way to the Contemporary Resort for our Priority Seating (PS) at Chef Mickey’s. Our PS was for 8:00 p.m. but we arrived around 7:30 p.m. Scott notified the hostess that we were there, but we were waiting for the rest of our party. Mimi and Papa arrived at about 8:20 p.m. It took them quite awhile to get to the hotel using the Disney transportation. We almost lost our table, but they arrived just in time and we were seated. This was a really fun character dinner. The characters (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto and Chip & Dale) came around several times and several times throughout the evening they ask the patrons to "celebrate" with them. The characters danced with the kids and everyone waved their napkins in the air; it was fun. Food was very good and hot. The mashed potatoes were fabulous! Cost: $51.79. Ryan made Minnie Mouse blush, because we had Ryan tell her why SHE was his favorite character – his response? "She’s a babe!" (yes he really is only three). By the way (BTW) – Ryan says Mickey Mouse is a "dude." ;-)

NOTE: Throughout this report I will give you the cost of our meals. We paid for our meals separately, so the cost I am giving you is what Scott, Ryan and I spent, unless I note it otherwise.

After dinner we made our way back to DL and went to bed. We had a big day coming up.

Monday, March 1, 1999 – Magic Kingdom (MK) early entry and E-Ticket

We got up early and planned to get to MK when the gates opened. We rode the bus from DL to the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) and from there got on the monorail. Upon our arrival to MK, we spied the seven dwarves, so we went to get some autographs. We went inside the gates and hit Main Street – of course our first glimpse of Cinderella’s castle was a sight to behold. Wow! I almost cried!

Our plan of action was to take Ryan to Fantasyland – Dumbo was first on our list. Our wait was about 30 minutes – and 30 minutes was about the longest we waited for anything our whole trip. Like I said, the 1st week in March is a great time to go.

TIP: Regarding strollers – I encourage you to take your own. The strollers at Magic Kingdom had hard seats a metal frame and although they did recline, they just didn’t look comfortable. We saw 1 or 2 strollers exactly like ours, but before we left Houston, I purchased a couple lime green "Smart Tags" which are large circular ID tags and put one on the handle (Walmart for about $1.50) – I could spot our stroller out of all the others without a problem. Ryan napped in his stroller at all the parks and did just fine. Also, you hear about the cast members moving your stroller – we only had that happen one time.

We spent all morning in Fantasyland riding rides, greeting characters and seeing the shows. We stopped at a pastry cart for breakfast and shared a HUGE cinnamon roll – YUMMY! (Cost: $3.00). We kept wondering when we should buy our E-Tickets. We knew that quantities were limited, but we kept putting it off. It was close to lunchtime before we got them.

If you are staying at a Disney resort hotel you can buy a ticket for $10 extra per person that will allow you to stay in the park after it closes for three additional hours and ride the main attraction rides. After 4:00 p.m. you trade your tickets in for wristbands. I am a BIG believer in the E-ticket. Since we were planning to stay for E-ticket night, we did not wait in line for the rides we knew would be open after hours. That really saved us a lot of time and I’m glad we did it that way.

We did the Tommorrowland Raceway and had about a 30-minute wait. This was a hoot, because I was in a car with Mimi – she drove, while I videotaped Ryan driving in the car behind us with Scott. This is not an easy task – very bumpy, so you can imagine what the video looks like. J Ryan loved this ride!

We ate lunch at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café and it was quite good. Scott, Ryan and I are vegetarians, so we ordered the Veggie Burgers. They have a "topping bar" that has all the fixings included sautéed mushrooms, grilled onions, etc. Very good. The veggie burgers were even served on a wheat bun…YUM! (Cost $16.50 ±)

After lunch we made our way over to Toontown. We toured Minnie’s house and rode Barnstormer and then caught the train. It was getting close to parade time, so we wanted to claim our spot early.

NOTE: The Magical Moments parade starts over near Splash Mountain but the evening parade (Spectromagic) (Saturday night-during slow times of year they only do the evening parade once a week) starts on Main Street. We discovered that it really wasn’t necessary to claim a spot too early for the evening parade if you sit near the end of the parade route.

After the parade was over, we made our way over to the Haunted Mansion. Our wait was only about 5 minutes. I wasn’t sure how Ryan would do on this ride, but he was a trooper. He was wide eyed, but we assured him that everything he saw was "pretend" – I’m glad he believed us, because this is one of my favorites and he seemed to enjoy it too! I think it also helped that we bought him the Disneyland Sing-a-long video that shows the Haunted Mansion. Since he seems to favor the "bad guys" he enjoyed watching that part over and over, so I felt comfortable taking him on this ride.

That afternoon we bought some ice cream at one of the ice cream carts. Watching Ryan eat his Mickey Mouse ice cream was great. His eyes glazed over and he appeared to be in heaven…I’m sure he was. Cost for the ice cream $6.00 ($2.00/bar).

TIP: This Sing-a-long (about $9-10) will prepare your children for the rides and character greetings.

We went over to the Jungle Cruise and waited about 15 minutes to get on. Ryan got to help drive the boat at the end (he was a little small to drive the whole way). After the cruise, we had to trade in our tickets for wristbands. We picked them up at the Splash Mountain photo pick-up location. The park was scheduled to close at 7:00 p.m., so the day went very quickly. Scott and I went to sleep, OH I mean, The Hall of Presidents (Scott liked it, I could’ve taken it or left it) for the last show. I enjoyed being off my feet though. It was over at 7:00 p.m., so we went running (literally) out of the theater to catch "Fantasy in the Sky." Tinkerbell flying out of Cinderella’s castle is a can’t miss for me; THAT’S when I cried. (I’m glad Scott didn’t notice, otherwise it would’ve been captured on film). Then we watched the fireworks, which were just perfect!

TIP: One of the best places to view the fireworks with an unobstructed view is in Liberty Square, at the entrance to the Liberty Belle Riverboat. SPECTACULAR! To see Tinkerbell, stand by the Liberty Bell and then move over to the Riverboat entrance. You really can’t see much of the castle, but you will be able to see Tinkerbell’s flight for a brief moment. Also (FYI), Tinkerbell’s flight and the fireworks turned out very well on our video.

After the fireworks, we proudly displayed our E-ticket wristbands and went directly for Country Bear Jamboree. Fun show but it probably would’ve been better with a larger crowd. Then we were off like lightening for the other major rides. We only had three hours and believe it or not it’s difficult to do them all in 3 hours. Of course, the Country Bear Jamboree took some time and we rode Splash Mountain twice. I believe the only thing we missed riding during E-Ticket was Space Mountain.

By the end of the night, I felt myself getting a little irritable – my feet were SO tired. We were all exhausted and when we got back to DL, I don’t think I’ve ever seen five people get into bed faster. It was unbelievable!

Tuesday, March 2, 1999 – Early Entry at Epcot

Everyone but Scott and I slept in since we had such a big day the previous day. So Scott and I got up about 6:30 a.m. and quietly got dressed and out of the hotel room. Mimi, Papa and Ryan were planning to meet us around 10:00 near the front of the park. We went by the food court to get some coffee in our refillable mugs and then drove to Epcot. We needed to take the car because this was the day that our video camera was due back (it was actually due back at 3:00 Monday, but we decided to keep it a little longer).

We entered and went straight for "Honey I Shrunk the Audience." (HISTA) This was a great show! 3D effects were terrific but would probably frighten small children (and maybe a few adults). We walked right in – no wait! Cool! Once again, I’d like to stress that early entry and E-ticket are must-dos (at least for us).

TIP: Take a drink out of the water fountain near "HISTA" (by the restrooms). J - No, you won’t get sprayed. Just do it!

We made our way to Spaceship Earth and once again walked right onto the ride. This was an interesting ride. It was slow paced and I found it relaxing. Would be good to do at the end of the day too. Lines seem to be really long during the late morning – afternoon, but then slack off.

We made our way over to Wonders of Life to see Body Wars and then Universe of Energy to see Ellen’s Energy Adventure (45-minute show). We waited approximately 5 minutes for each. I really liked Ellen’s Energy; I’ve seen mixed reviews for this, but I enjoyed it quite a bit. We did it twice; the second time was later in the morning with Ryan, Mimi and Papa. We got out of Ellen’s Energy around 10:15. Since it was past the 10:00 a.m. time that we were supposed to meet up with Mimi, Papa and Ryan, we went to Fountainview Bakery for breakfast. I personally was bummed that World Showcase wasn’t open, because I would’ve enjoyed going to "France" for breakfast. Oh well, Fountainview Bakery was very good. I had a raspberry and cheese danish and latte’ and Scott had a chocolate croissant and café mocha. Cost $10.66. After breakfast we went to Innovations to send virtual postcards to everyone, but the waits were incredibly long (there are only 2 booths) and it was quickly approaching 11:00, so we left to go meet the others (we went back later to send out postcards). We found Papa around 10:50. He said they had quite a morning; Ryan was not ready to get up and did not appreciate his morning bath. Papa said that Ryan was already asleep again in his stroller – he was obviously wiped out from the day before, so I guess we picked a good day to go to Epcot. We enjoyed Epcot, but it’s just not quite as exciting as Magic Kingdom for a 3-year-old.

We visited the House of the Future at Innoventions East side. This house was terrific and I want at least one of everything…especially the bathtub/jacuzzi with the TV/VCR inside.

We had lunch at Pasta Piazza (counter service). They make their pasta from scratch (you can watch them do it) and everything was very good (except the Fat Free Ranch dressing – yuck!) Scott and I had the eggplant parmesan with a side salad and bread (and I had a large coke) and Ryan had the child’s pasta plate (Cost $22.26). We really enjoyed this restaurant.

As we were leaving the restaurant, we stopped to watch the "Jammitors" – a trio of percussionist who are dressed like the grounds maintenance people and haul metal trash cans (their drums). It’s a fun show; you should take time to watch.

Scott was really anxious to do Test Track and kept checking the "tip board" to find out if it was running. We stood in line at one point but approximately 20 minutes into the wait an announcement was made that Test Track was experiencing "technical difficulties" which would add an additional hour to your current wait time. We opted not to wait.

It was getting close to time for Scott and Papa to leave so they could return our video camera. I didn’t realize this until we got home, but we didn’t get any footage of Epcot, except for the Jammitors. I was disappointed, because there is a lot to see there. Oh well, next time. When Scott and Papa left, Mimi, Ryan and I went over to World Showcase and began walking around. It occurred to us that we should wait for the guys, because our feet were already tired and we knew they’d want to tour the countries too, so we sat on a park bench, took off our shoes and people watched. It was a gorgeous day and this was really refreshing for the feet, but as it turned out, we should’ve gone ahead and toured, because we ran out of time and never got the opportunity to see the countries afterall.

When Scott and Papa returned, we went back to Future World; Mimi and Papa are avid fishermen so they did The Living Seas while Scott and I waited outside with Ryan (who had fallen asleep again). After that they went to see HISTA and this time Scott joined them – they had no wait. We woke Ryan up so he could ride Spaceship Earth with us and then we made our way back to World Showcase for dinner at Rose and Crown.

We thought we had PS arrangements for 7:00 or 7:30 p.m., but it turned out it wasn’t for that evening. They were able to take us anyway. We requested a table on the patio so we could watch Illuminations and about five minutes after we gave them our name our little pager went off. We had a wonderful meal and fantastic seats for Illuminations. It was nice not having to battle the crowds for a good viewing spot. We all split the fruit and cheese plate ($5.25), Mimi and I ordered cocktails (I can’t remember what mine was called but it was VERY good) and for dinner Scott and I had the London Style Fish and Chips - $13.25 each. Ryan had the child’s portion of Fish & Chips ($4.75). Ryan also had orange juice to drink and our waitress brought it in a cup with a lid & straw that had Mickey Mouse on it in front of Spaceship Earth and all the countries were represented on the cup. It made a nice souvenir. So the approximate cost of our meal was $45.00 – I say approximate cost because Mimi and Papa treated us to dinner and I didn’t see the final bill. Thank you Mimi and Papa.

As we left, Ryan told us that we didn’t get to see Beauty and the Beast. He really wanted them to sign his autograph book. I am hoping that we will find them in "France" the next time we visit in December.

Another end to another great day!

Wednesday, March 3, 1999 – Universal Studios

I am not going to spend a lot of time on this section, but I will say that our favorite things at Universal were: The ET Adventure ride (the queue area is fabulous!), Back to the Future, Terminator 3 D and the Barney show (it was great watching Ryan’s face when Barney appeared in "real life.") We enjoyed the Twister ride, but it was not as intense as we expected. Universal was celebrating Mardi Gras, so at the end of the day they had a Mardi Gras parade and threw the beads and such. It was a fun day and we enjoyed ourselves, but Universal (IMHO) lacks the "Disney Magic" that we know and love.

Thursday, March 4, 1999 – Disney’s MGM Studios

We decided that we would go at a slower pace today, so we opted not to do early entry and sleep in a little late. We had breakfast (pastries) at the food court at DL (Cost $6.07) and then caught the bus to MGM. It took forever for the MGM bus to arrive. Three Animal Kingdom buses came and went before our bus came. We probably waited close to 30 minutes. We arrived at the park around 10:00. The first thing on the list was to buy some fast speed/low light film for Illuminations that evening. Now I had heard that the cost of film was exorbitant, but I didn’t find it to be that much more than what I normally spend. I use the Advantix film and it was about $1 more than what I buy it for at Target or WalMart.

Next stop Tower of Terror (ToT). This was a terrific ride and I wish I would’ve had time to ride it again. It was nothing like I expected; I found it to be more fun than scary. Mimi and Papa stayed with Ryan while Scott and I rode the ride. There were all sorts of surprises for us. Now granted, people may have written detailed reports on this ride, but we skipped over their details so we’d be surprised. If you’d like to know the details of this ride, please read my "Spoiler Alert" if you don’t want to know, skip over it.

SPOILER ALERT

This is certainly a thrilling ride, but it doesn’t "drop" you the full 13 stories as you might anticipate. There are several drops during the ride, but it’ll drop you a few stories and then bring you back to the top – the elevator doors will open (this is when your picture is taken – if you like to raise your arms for an extra thrill then you should sit in the back row, otherwise you’ll block the faces of the others) then it will drop you again and it may be a little further this time. For an added thrill sit in the back in the middle seat. This seat only has a seat belt and nothing else to hang onto except maybe the person next to you.

END SPOILER

The Beauty and the Beast show was about to begin so after ToT, we headed straight for the theater where Mimi, Papa and Ryan were waiting for us. This was a great show and in my opinion should not be missed, especially if you enjoyed the movie. Very colorful! We all enjoyed it very much.

Next stop: "Voyage of the Little Mermaid", wait time was approximately 10 minutes. This was also a wonderful show. The stage is elevated though, so I recommend sitting toward the back. If you sit too close to the front you’ll miss out on some of the effects.

We made our way down Mickey Avenue and ran into the Pooh characters. The lines were short; I don’t believe we ever waited longer than 3 minutes or so for each character…UNTIL we found Woody and Buzz Lightyear. We waited about 30 minutes to see them. NOTE: because of their costumes, they can’t "sign" autograph books, but they DO stamp their names in the books with self-inking stamps. It was worth the wait if you are a Toy Story fan and we are.

On to MuppetVision 3D – this was a really cute show. We walked right into the "preshow area" and waited there for approximately 10 – 15 minutes. The preshow was cute. This show shouldn’t frighten small children unless they don’t do well with 3D effects in general. Although there were some loud noises near the end of the show. We enjoyed watching Ryan reach for things that appeared to be right in front of him.

Now, I’ve heard mixed reviews on The Great Movie Ride, but I really enjoyed this one. It is located inside the Mann Chinese Theater. We waited about 15 minutes, but the wait isn’t bad though because they show clips of old movies. It is a slow paced ride and I think it’s definitely worth seeing.

Unfortunately we missed the Mulan parade – I was a little disappointed because I understand it’s a very good parade. Oh well, maybe next time.

We went to the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and again this is not what we expected. It was a good show but they spent a lot of time "explaining" how stunts were done. It was fun, but a little long in our opinion and we probably wouldn’t spend time seeing it again. The temple scenes and the pretend fight scenes, however were really quite impressive but the rest of the show was a little tired. We assured Ryan that the fight scenes were just pretend.

We made PS arrangements that morning for 4:40 p.m. at Hollywood’s Brown Derby for the "Fantasmic Dinner Package." The deal was that you eat dinner there and in return receive tickets for Advanced Priority Seating at the Fantasmic show. So rather than waiting an hour or more to get a seat, you show up 30 minutes prior to showtime and are seated in a reserved section. We didn’t think that Ryan would appreciate an hour wait of doing nothing, so this was an appealing offer. Scott and I had the grouper and it was FABULOUS! I don’t think I’ve ever had better fish! Ryan had a pasta dish and orange juice and for dessert I had the grapefruit cake; it was good, but I had heard raving reviews and I just thought it was o.k. – now I LOVE grapefruit, but this tasted a little bitter to me. Scott had a chocolate dessert and I don’t remember what it was called, but I think it was some kind of brownie. He said it was pretty good but the chocolate became too much after awhile and that he wished he’d ordered what Papa got (another chocolate dessert), but he took our waiter’s advice. However, overall this was by far our best meal during our trip. YUM! (Cost $49.55) I can’t wait to go back!

Fantasmic! This was really one of the best show we saw (it was Scott’s favorite). It is based on Mickey's Dream as the Sorcerer's Apprentice and had incredible effects and our seats were very good. I really don’t think there is a bad seat, however if you don’t get there early either by standing in line or doing the Brown Derby dinner package, you’ll have to stand – it is a very popular show! YOU WILL GET WET -- if you are in the first few rows! Be prepared!

The Arena faces an island; in front of the island a screen of water is sprayed on which they project clips from the various Disney animated movies. The water screens and floats are quite beautiful. During the show there is also live character action and a "fantasmic" finale!

Since it was still early, we decided to get off the bus at Port Orleans and ride the boat to DD. It was really chilly on the water but we still enjoyed the ride. Riding the boat from either DxL or PO is much more relaxing than riding the bus mainly because you are guaranteed a seat. The boat departs from PO and DxL every 20 minutes and every 10 minutes after 4:00 p.m.

There are three sections of DD: The Marketplace, Pleasure Island and West Side; we only made it to the Marketplace during this trip. The Legos area is quite spectacular and not to be missed. The World of Disney is also incredible; it’s the largest Disney Store in the World. We went shopping there 3-4 times. It was fun. I must say though, that I had trouble paying $.40 for a postcard, but I had to remind myself where I was. It is SO easy to get caught up in the Disney way of spending. In fact, it’s almost impossible to avoid, so go prepared. You may leave your home with the intention of not buying a single souvenir but shortly after your arrival, you decide you just can’t live without those Mickey Mouse ears or Goofy hat. Just remember that part of the "Disney Magic" is the "spell" that is cast upon you to SPEND YOUR MONEY! You become such a part of that magic that money all of a sudden becomes no object. Your 1st day, $35 bucks for a sweatshirt is ridiculous, but by the 3rd day, it’s a bargain – "I’ll take THREE!"

Friday, March 5, 1999 – Animal Kingdom (AK)

We woke up at 6:30 a.m. with the intention of catching a 7:30 bus. We had a wait once again of close to 30 minutes – Remember the day before: 3 AK buses to 1 MGM bus? – that was reversed on this day. Buses are supposed to run every 20 minutes but times aren’t posted so you don’t know if you’ve just missed one or not, so you could be waiting awhile. The bus finally arrived and Scott, Dad and Charlie got on but Ryan and I were two of the last people on the bus. We had to stand. Standing isn’t bad if you have 2 hands available to hold on with, but I was holding jackets and a bag so it was a little more difficult. A man sitting near the front offered to let Ryan sit down and share a seat with his son – that was fine, but Ladies chivalry in WDW is practically non-existent, don’t expect a man to give up his seat for you, for some reason they just don’t. It was the bus ride from "you know where." It was that bus ride that made me decide that taking our car was the way to go from then on.

We arrived at AK at approximately 8:45 a.m. We entered the park, turned left just over the bridge and there it was…The Tree of Life in all its glory. It was as wonderful as turning onto Main Street and seeing Cinderella’s Castle for the 1st time. WOW! What a tree! It’s beautiful. Words cannot describe it nor can pictures – you just have to see it! It doesn’t matter how long you look at the tree because animals that you didn’t see just seconds before seem to suddenly materialize. It’s awesome! It was the opinion of this group that we could spend quite a bit of time at AK just looking at the tree. This was the day to have extra rolls of film, I took over 100 pictures at AK alone! The beauty of this park is unbelievable.

TIP: Bring binoculars or a telephoto camera lens for viewing the carved animals on the tree.

We went straight for Kilimanjaro Safari because we’ve heard that the animals were most active in the morning and they were. We saw all sorts of animals including the lions, giraffes, elephants, baboons, nyalas, hippos, various birds, this goes on. They throw in a "poachers" story line that we felt was pretty lame, but overall the safari was really great. I wish we had time to do the afternoon safari.

NOTE: We weren’t sure what to expect from the terrain in this park so did didn’t know if our stroller with the smaller wheels would work very well. The paths are all uneven, but even with that our stroller did fine.

After the safari we went on the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail (Pangani means "place of enchantment") and saw the gorillas. There was a newborn riding on its mother’s back and that was exciting to see. The Daddy gorilla was huge and just an awesome sight. There was an African bird aviary and the birds there are spectacular. It’s on this trail that you can view the hippos under water.

NOTE: To fully enjoy this park, take time to "see" the beauty of it. If you go expecting to jump from ride to ride, you will most likely be disappointed. Also wear your most comfortable shoes because this park is very spread out. The temperature in the Animal Kingdom averages easily 10 degrees hotter than any other place on Disney property (it certainly was warmer than the previous days). This is due to the dense vegetation, which has created a "rain forest" effect.

We had 10:00 a.m. PS arrangements for a Character Breakfast at Donald’s Breakfastsaurus. The food was good and hot but the eggs and hash browns were dry (eggs overcooked). They served Mickey Mouse pancakes, scrambled eggs, country eggs, hash browns, etc. Your typical breakfast buffet. They didn’t have french toast or waffles and I think they should add those. 10:00 a.m. is a little late for breakfast here because they start clearing away the buffet around 10:30 – 10:45 a.m. to get ready for the lunch crowd . It could have been because of the late hour, but I noticed that the characters (Mickey, Donald, Goofy & Pluto) did not spend as much time at the tables as they did at Chef Mickey’s. One of the cast members sat down with us and struck up a conversation with Ryan; her name was Lee. She was very friendly and Ryan opened up to her right away. She was very animated in her expressions – it was great. I would recommend this character breakfast, but encourage you to go earlier than 10:00 a.m. Cost: $69.83. (We treated Mimi and Papa to breakfast.)

After breakfast we took Ryan to the Boneyard briefly and then went to Countdown to Extinction. We did the baby swap on this ride – it was a rough ride but a lot of fun. It was a 20-minute wait to get on, approximately, including the pre-show.

Journey into Jungle Book show was fun. The monkeys came into the audience and danced with the children before the show started. Costumes are terrific, although Baloo was a weird shade of purple. We did not have a wait to get into the theater, but waited approximately 10 minutes for the show to start after we sat down.

We made our way to the entrance of It’s Tough to Be a Bug, however we took our time looking through the Safari Village Trails where you can view wild life and plants. There are great shots of the tree from almost every angle. As you enter the line for "Bug" it brings you closer and closer to the tree. Take time to look at it.

TIP: As you go under the "roots" of the tree in the queue area, look behind you because you’ll see more animals.

Bug is a great 3D show. I can understand how some children might be frightened though. I encourage parents to hold young children in your lap, if you take them into the movie. See Spoiler if you want to know why.

SPOILER ALERT

Some of the effects in this movie will be too much for young children. There are hairy bugs, spiders, and it’s loud and dark. A really large Hopper appears to the right of the stage – he’s big, ugly and mean, which might frighten some children. When the bees come out in the movie, be prepared to get "stung" in the back (a little stick comes out of your seat and pokes you in the back, but it’s not sharp so it doesn’t hurt). At the end of the movie you are asked to remain seated until all the bugs can leave the theater first, you’ll feel them go underneath your seat – these are the reasons you might want to hold the kids in your lap. Ryan did fine – but Hopper is one of his favorites (when Hopper appeared, he looked back at me and said, "I LIKE it!" and yes, he was in my lap.

END SPOILER

Camp Minnie - Mickey – Mimi and Papa separated from us to go sit in the shade while we took Ryan to meet more of the characters. We saw Chip, Dale, King Louie, and Flik. We waited in line to see Minnie and Mickey, but it was getting close to 3:30 p.m. which was the time we were to meet up with Mimi and Papa so we could see the Festival of the Lion King. This is a great show! I loved the Monkeys (again!) and the costuming is fantastic.

Asia had opened their Kali River Rapids (Maharajah Jungle Trek was not open) so Scott, Mimi & I went on that. Ryan was too short to ride to Papa’s delight, so he stayed with Ryan while the 3 of us went. It was a fun ride and there is no way to avoid getting wet. I imagine that’s going to feel really good come summer time.

By this point we had spent 5 days in the parks and I had never had problems with my feet (for the exception of just "tired feet"), but I could feel a blister or two coming on – People, this park is HUGE, wear your comfortable, broken in walking shoes. As it turned out, I didn’t have blisters, but it sure felt like they were about to make an appearance.

BTW: Thank you Rocksport Walking Shoes! I LOVE THESE SHOES! They are the most comfortable walking shoes I’ve ever owned!

The park closed at 6:00 p.m. Mimi and Papa left us to go ride the monorail around the resorts and then go back to Epcot for Illuminations. Scott, Ryan & I went back to the hotel to rest, eat dinner and just chill out. Since we were checking out of DL the next day, I used this opportunity to pack and clean up the room a bit.

Saturday, March 6, 1999 – Check out day

We had arranged for late check out (1:00 p.m. instead of 11:00 a.m.). We slept in since we did not have plans to go to a park today. Even though we had "express checkout", Papa got up and went to "officially check out" around 8:30 a.m. and when he returned to the room went over the bill. As it turned out, they charged us more than they had quoted us on the phone, so Scott called and spoke with the front desk. Despite reports from people on the bad attitudes of the cast members at DL we found most of them to be very accommodating. They corrected our bill without a problem.

Mimi and Papa took Ryan over to the fishing hole and although they were unsuccessful at catching anything. They had a good time anyway. Those fish are SMART! We threw the bait in without the hook and they devoured it, but just looked at the bait when it was ON the hook.

Afterwards, Scott and Papa loaded the car and went over to Buena Vista Motel, which is where Scott, Ryan and I would be staying our last night (more on this motel in a minute). (Mimi and Papa were leaving around 7:30 this evening.) When they returned, we caught the boat over to DD again so Mimi could get a T-shirt she liked and I could get a Minnie Mouse visor.

It was getting late and we still wanted to go over to the Grand Floridian (GF) to look around, so we left, picked up our car and went over to the Ticket and Transportation Center. We got on the monorail and stopped at the GF. We were there maybe 20 minutes looking around – it’s gorgeous but I’d have trouble staying there because I’d never want to leave! We headed back to the car because it was time to go back to Buena Vista Motel to pick up Mimi & Papa’s luggage and get them to the airport. We hit a traffic jam on 192 because of all the construction going on but we managed to get to the motel, pick up the luggage and get them to the airport without a problem. I hated saying goodbye! We had such a good time!

Since Scott, Ryan & I had the annual passports, we headed back to Magic Kingdom for dinner and to watch Spectromagic. This parade was so great! It’s just beautiful! The floats and characters are all covered in lights. Ryan thoroughly enjoyed it – I wish we would’ve had the video camera for that.

We stayed until the parade was over and then made our way back to the car. I was really ready for bed. We drove back to the Buena Vista Motel and just from looking at it, the room appeared clean enough – it certainly wasn’t DL! To make a long story short, I’ll sum this up with two words…BED BUGS! It was awful! We wound up sleeping on top of the sheets and with the light on, of course I use the term "sleeping" lightly. (neither one of us slept much.)

Sunday, March 7, 1999 – Magic Kingdom ½ day – begin driving home. L

We got up early and headed for Magic Kingdom. We wanted to be there when they opened the gates. We were there, but I was so spoiled with Early Entry that I got a little irritated with the whole rope drop thing for Splash Mountain. Scott asked me where my Mickey Mouse attitude was and I just glared at him…of course I probably would’ve been a little happier if I had a good night’s sleep. They finally dropped the rope and we made our way to Splash Mountain – no wait. This was really my favorite ride. So I was happy after I rode it again.

We ate breakfast at the Main Street Bakery and we must have been starving because we had 3 cinnamon rolls, a muffin, fruit, coffee and juice. Cost $16.54. Remember – Mimi and Papa were home by now, so it was just the three of us. You’d have thought we hadn’t eaten all week!

We went to Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain and then spent the rest of the time in Fantasyland for Ryan’s sake. We thought that would be the best way to end our trip. Before we knew it 2:00 p.m. was upon us and we had to leave.

We had such a good time and it was very depressing having to leave in the middle of the day. The only thing that made us feel any better was knowing that we were planning a trip in December. We asked Ryan when we got to Tallahassee that night, when he would like to go back to Disney World and he said, "In five minutes." Some say children have no concept of time, but I can see how that could’ve been an accurate response…it’s how I felt. So, that concludes the Lorino trip report. Feel free to email me with questions.

Till next time!

Julie Lorino

jtlorino@juno.com

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