Trip Reports

Summary

Who: Kathy (your narrator) and Rick—late-40s

What: Our 4th WDW vacation, the 1st without our son James, 17

Previous visits in 1992, ’94 and ’96 (all at the Polynesian)

When: April 17-21, 1999

Where: Disney’s Boardwalk Inn

Day 1 - Saturday 4/17

James was travelling to Italy with his Latin class during our April school vacation. Since he is much too mature for WDW, his parents (who are much less mature) seized this opportunity for a rare vacation without the kid. We left the Manchester, NH airport on a cool (50’s) and cloudy Saturday morning and arrived in Orlando to more of the same, with the addition of rain. Did we bring New England spring weather with us? Fortunately, this was the only day we didn’t have Florida sunshine. Although Sunday was still cool, it was sunny, and grew increasingly warmer each day (it was 88 when we left on Wednesday). This was the first time we hadn’t flown out of Logan Airport in Boston and we will use Manchester again whenever possible. It’s closer to home, smaller, and much, much saner than Logan is.

Our amiable Tiffany Town Car driver, Don, was waiting for us at the baggage claim area when we arrived in Orlando. His car was parked right outside the door. He regaled us with funny stories throughout the ride and in what seemed like no time at all we were checking in at the Boardwalk Inn. Much to our delight, we arrived at our room to find we had been upgraded from a standard garden-view room to concierge level! We still don’t know why—the registration clerk didn’t even mention it. What a nice surprise! After calling the front desk to make sure our room rate hadn’t increased (it hadn’t!), we got settled in. The room was beautiful, with a lovely view of the quiet pool, the gardens surrounding it, and France’s Eiffel Tower off in the background.

After checking out the concierge lounge, we set out along the boardwalk toward Epcot. By now it was around 3 p.m. It was raining when we left the hotel, but it stopped before we had a chance to buy ponchos—a good thing, since we wouldn’t be needing them again for the rest of our stay. We bought a grilled chicken wrap at the Boardwalk Bakery and shared it as we walked. We had priority seating for an early dinner at Restaurant Marrakesh and just needed a little something to tide us over since we hadn’t had any lunch.

We entered Epcot at the International Gateway and strolled to the United Kingdom where a sign announced that the “British Invasion” was due to perform in 10 minutes. We hung around in the garden until then; viewing the topiaries of Winnie-the-Pooh characters and watching kids navigate the mazes. We enjoyed the Invasion’s ‘60s songs so much that we stayed for their whole set. They performed tunes by the Dave Clark Five, Herman’s Hermits, and of course, the Beatles, and managed to sound incredibly like all of them. From there we walked past Canada and headed out of the World Showcase and into Future World to see “Honey I Shrunk the Audience” at Journey into Imagination. While waiting in line we watched the jumping fountains soak some teenage boys and were soon inside. On our last trip (1996) we had seen this movie, but my chair was missing the mouse effect. I got it this time, though, and jumped out of my seat along with everyone else! Rick and I both thought the 3-D effects were much better than those in “It’s Tough to Be a Bug”, which we saw a few days later.

After the movie we cut across to the fountain, passed by Test Track (which wasn’t running), noted that Horizons is definitely (and sadly) closed, and then headed back towards Mexico via the Odyssey Center, where the water was filled with containers of red impatiens for the Flower and Garden Festival. On re-entering the World Showcase we strolled past all the countries, but didn’t stop anywhere since it was nearly time for our priority seating at Morocco. This was our first visit to Restaurant Marrakesh and we loved it! The food and decor were excellent. Rick had Shish Kabob and I had Brochette of Chicken. The most enjoyable part, though, was the belly dancer, accompanied by Ute and drum. She went out into the audience and got people to dance with her. One young woman came down to the dance floor and, tucking up her T-shirt to reveal her midriff proceeded to dance as well as the professional. She made a repeat performance later with another woman in her party who danced almost as well. What fun!

After dinner we decided to go to the Magic Kingdom with the intent of catching the only performance of SpectroMagic scheduled for our stay. We got sidetracked and never did see the parade. First we stopped in at the Main St. Gallery and sent out some digital postcards. It was only a little after 7 p.m., but people were already claiming their spots for the 8:30 parade. We didn’t want to sit that long, so we headed for Tomorrowland and rode the TTA, then got in line for Space Mountain. About halfway in the line came to a halt and after about 20 minutes we were finally told that the ride had broken down. We waited a bit longer, but it didn’t look like anything was going to happen for awhile and I was beginning to feel claustrophobic, so we jumped the railing and left for fresh air. By now SpectroMagic had begun, so we thought we’d skirt around behind the castle, through Liberty Square, and try for Splash and/or Big Thunder Mountain. On our way, we detoured over to the Haunted Mansion, catching glimpses of Spectro along the way, and got right in. We noted the new additions since our last trip. This ride is always one of our favorites. We then decided to skip the mountains this night in favor of seeing Tinkerbell’s flight and Fantasy in the Sky fireworks, so we fought our way back through the crowd to the bridge to Tomorrowland, where Tinkerbell flew right over our heads. Rick was amazed because until that moment he expected Tinkerbell to be blinking lights, not a real person. After the fireworks, hungry again, we got pizzas and sat at the Plaza Restaurant until the exiting crowds had thinned out.

Tired, but happy to be back in the World, we rode the bus back to the Boardwalk and fell into bed after a very full first day.

Day Two - Sunday 4/18

Addendum to Day One: You know how things come to you in the middle of the night? As I was dropping off to sleep last night I suddenly remembered one more thing we did at the Magic Kingdom on the first night of our trip—Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin! While on the TTA we had noticed how long its line was and decided to hold off until another time, but after we left Space Mountain, SpectroMagic had started and the line had disappeared, so in we went. I wasn’t crazy about this ride (it had nothing to do with my miniscule score) or the overly bright fluorescent color scheme, but I guess it was kind of cute. I was a total klutz with the laser gun, but Rick caught on after awhile and beat me by a mile. I have conveniently forgotten the exact score, however. The ride does fit in with the theme of Tomorrowland where there really wasn’t an attraction for younger kids.

Construction on the Animal Kingdom had just begun when we last visited the World in 1996. When I first heard about it I wasn’t too enthusiastic. It sounded like just another zoo—and I’ve always found zoos to be dirty and depressing. As work progressed, I learned through my regular lurking on RADP what the Animal Kingdom was really meant to be. With each update and trip report I read I became more excited about seeing this park. Rick was still skeptical, but he’s willing to humor me when it comes to WDW (aren’t I lucky?). He was pleasantly surprised.

We were up and into the concierge lounge for an early breakfast in order to be at the park for its 8 a.m. opening. Let me digress momentarily on two points. One: what a relief not to have to roust a comatose teenager out of bed this early! (James’ idea of vacation is sleeping until at least 11 a.m. and returning to the hotel to rest around 2 p.m.) Two: the concierge lounge!! We ended up eating breakfast here every day. Tons of fresh fruit, bagels, muffins, croissants, pastries, cereal, juice, coffee, tea—you name it! And what pleasant surroundings! The Boardwalk is decorated like a 1930s beach resort. Blues and yellows, florals, stripes, prints. Comfy upholstered chairs and sofas. Concierges’ hovering about to make sure your every wish is granted. Sunshine streaming in through the several large windows. Later in the morning cookies, soda, iced tea and lemonade are put out, then tea and sweets in the mid-afternoon, followed by wine and cheese at 5:00 and cordials and desserts after dinner. I could get used to this real fast!

Anyway...off to the bus which magically appeared just as we approached the bus stop (I’m not kidding!). On arrival we power-walked to Africa and the Kilimanjaro Safari, oohing and ahhing as we approached, then passed by the Tree of Life. We breezed through Harambe, into the queue area and finally came to a stop with only about 12 people in front of us. Just then the cast member loading the safari vehicles called out for a party of two and we skipped to the front of the line while one of the guests we passed yelled out, “Left the kids at home, huh”? There are advantages to not having a child with you at Disney!

The safari ride was breathtaking. Many animals were out, although we didn’t see any lions on this ride or on the other we took later in the week. I love the outdoors and gardening so I was blown away by the job Disney has done recreating the African jungle. You would swear you were right there. I had seen a story about the landscaping of the Animal Kingdom on Victory Garden on PBS. All the rocks and hills here were created by the Imagineers. It started out as on orange grove and open, flat pasture. What a feat! I must agree with others who have said that the poacher plot is lame. It’s almost embarrassingly awkward. I wouldn’t be surprised if they drop it in the near future. Seeing all the animals in this natural setting is show enough for me.

We walked the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail next. I loved this, too, especially the birds--another passion of mine--and the gorillas--another passion of Rick’s ;-) We strolled back through Harambe, taking time to enjoy the theming this time and noting how the Safari line now extended out into and through the village. We grabbed a cappuccino at the Kusafiri Coffee Shop & Bakery and ambled toward the Tree of Life. We found a little cul-de-sac off the main path next to the water with a bench and an unobstructed view where we took photos of each other with the tree in the background. Then we just sat for awhile, staring and finding animals, with no one else around. Heaven!

By now the park was filling up. We got in line for the Radio Disney River Cruise. After a wait of about 40 minutes (the line was deceivingly long), we boarded our boat. Whoever thought up the Radio Disney idea should be made to listen to it over and over and over until they go mad. Why ruin a nice tranquil boat ride with this cacophony? I recommend the ride, but bring earplugs.

To Dinoland U.S.A next and Countdown to Extinction. This is truly a thrill ride! Fast, scary, bumpy--really fun, but I don’t think I’d wait in line for 45 minutes again to ride it. We browsed through some shops next, not buying anything and started looking for a place to eat lunch. We suddenly realized what an effort it was to walk through the crowd, so we decided to leave the park and grab lunch somewhere else.

We ended up back at the Boardwalk in the Big River Grille & Brewing Works where it took forever to get someone to wait on us. Fortunately, it was worth the wait. Rick had the Honey Chicken sandwich “in a sweet honey mustard sauce, grilled and topped with Swiss Cheese and smoked bacon” and I had the Grilled Chicken and Cashew Salad--“chicken breast sliced and placed over greens with tomatoes, cashew , feta cheese and balsamic vinaigrette”. Mmmm. I wish I could go back and get another right now.

After a restorative nap we bundled up (it was still quite cool) and hopped a boat for Disney-MGM Studios with Fantasmic as our main objective. We had originally planned to have dinner at the Brown Derby, but after our late lunch we ditched that idea. We didn’t want to believe you have to line up for Fantasmic 1 to 1 ½ hours before the show, so we headed for the Great Movie Ride (which we walked right on) and had the best narrator ever—a young woman who really hammed it up. Also the funniest cowgirl (a middle-aged woman who was having a blast with the part). We then got in line (a fairly short one) for The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. We had ridden this before the added drops and thought it was great then, but there are no words to express how much more terrifying it is now. All I can say is that my knees are still weak! Whew!

By now, with 30 minutes ‘til show time, we thought we should get in that Fantasmic line, but first stopped to get some food to bring in with us. We got cheeseburgers and fries at Rosie’s All-American Cafe and walked to the amphitheater only to learn it was SRO. Our feet weren’t up to that feat (sorry), so we went back to Rosie’s, sat down and ate our burgers, then strolled out through a nearly deserted park to the boat dock for our ride back to the Boardwalk and bed.

Day Three - Monday 4/19: The Keys to the Kingdom Tour

Another early breakfast in the concierge lounge and then onto the Magic Kingdom bus—quite full because this is an Early Entry day. We arrived early enough to have time for some rides before we had to check in at City Hall for our tour at 9:15.

We weren’t in a rush and had no particular plan. We headed toward Tomorrowland to see if we could get on Space Mountain. The line was out almost to the Astro Orbiters so we kept walking into Fantasyland. Peter Pan has been a favorite of mine since childhood (although I loved the Mary Martin version best), so we got in line with all the other kids and rode. The aerial view of London is so neat! We had never ridden Snow White’s Scary Adventures (James was never interested), so without anyone to turn up his nose at the idea, we went on. I think it actually would be kind of scary for very young children—I was afraid of that wicked witch myself when I was little. It was fun seeing the Seven Dwarfs and remembering that wonderful movie. After our rides we shopped some in Sir Mickey’s. Then it was time to check in for the tour.

Others have reported on the Keys to the Kingdom tour in detail, so I won’t rehash the entire tour. We had a fantastic guide named Jennae. Her energy and enthusiasm never flagged throughout the 5 hours we spent together. There were 17 people in our group, mostly couples our age or older, a very pleasant bunch of people. Jennae gave us a WDW history lesson, told us the stories behind the names on the second story windows on Main Street, and taught us about the trick of “false perspective” that makes the buildings look taller than they really are. We learned how many bricks were used to build Cinderella’s Castle, got in the servant’s entrance to the Haunted Mansion, went down in the Utilidors and saw cast members “backstage”, and saw the barn where the parade floats, including the Spectro Magic floats, (which look really ugly in the daylight without their lights on) are stored. We were on our feet the entire time, except for the 30 minutes we had for lunch at Columbia Harbour House. This tour was something I’d always wanted to do, but never could on previous trips with our son (he was too young). Rick and I both thoroughly enjoyed this “behind the magic” experience.

Our big mistake this day was in not knowing when to quit. After the tour, which ended in Adventureland, we got in line for Pirates of the Caribbean, where we realized how tired our feet were. We decided it was time to go, but when we reached Main Street, an announcement was made that two high school bands from Massachusetts (our home) would be leading the afternoon parade. We waited to applaud the kids from home and decided we might as well stay for the parade. A bench in the shade on the porch at City Hall was miraculously vacant, so we sat (for a really long time) and waited for the parade to make its way down Main Street. It was fun to see the same floats we had seen in the barn earlier. They looked so much better with the characters on them and the music playing. In fact, they looked so dull and shabby in the barn I had thought they were old floats from previous parades. Disney magic strikes again!

By now we were really tired and hungry. We got on the monorail and rode to the Polynesian where we were able to walk right into ‘Ohana (it was just 5 p.m.) for a relaxed and quiet dinner. The smoked meats and seafood were delicious and we were stuffed. We rode back on the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and caught our bus back to the Boardwalk where, too tired to move, we stayed put for the rest of the night.

Day Four - Tuesday 4/20: Park-hopping & Downtown Disney

We had no specific plan for today. Since the Magic Kingdom had had early entry the previous day, we decided to start there. We arrived early enough to have our picture taken by a Main Street photographer before we went toward Adventureland to wait for the rope drop. From there, cast members escorted us to Frontierland where we quickly went through the queue at Splash Mountain. I love the music and theming of this ride! We kept breaking down just as we were about to climb up Chickapin Hill. This just served to heighten our anticipation. Funny thing about this ride—the first time I went on it (in 1994) I was scared to death about the drop, but ended up loving it. On our 1996 trip I was excited to ride, but the drop freaked me out. This time I was determined not to be scared and I wasn’t. We were in the second row. Rick was on the right and got soaked, but not nearly as much as the two guys in the front seat! After the drop, we broke down again just short of the waterfall. A man two logs ahead of us was right under the waterfall and he was getting drenched! He tried standing up to avoid the water, but a voice on the P.A. system reminded him to stay seated. He looked disgruntled, to say the least. LOL!!

From Splash we proceeded to my favorite ride, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. On our very first trip with James we rode it in the dark. Rick videotaped the whole thing. It came out almost completely black, but you can hear us screaming and laughing throughout the whole ride. I still laugh whenever I watch that video.

There was nothing else either of us felt we had to do at the Magic Kingdom. We thought about going on the Jungle Cruise, but didn’t feel like waiting in line for half an hour. We did stop at the Enchanted Tiki Room under New Management. The show was surprisingly short and not much more memorable than the original, I’m sorry to say. As we headed back down Main Street, the Walt Disney World Band came along. Rick and I were music majors in college (he still plays trumpet; I’m a lapsed saxophonist), so we always enjoy the bands. We took pictures and stopped to listen to them play in front of the railroad station. They really are excellent.

At this point we decided to take a ferry to the TTC and then get a bus to Downtown Disney to have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. We had a pleasant wait for the ferry in the shade by the lagoon. At the TTC a Downtown Disney bus was waiting for us, stopping first at Typhoon Lagoon. It seemed to take a long time to get to Downtown Disney, but we were in no hurry. At the Rainforest we were surprised to be seated almost immediately without priority seating. Our table was next to an aquarium in the Elephant Room. Every ten minutes or so the elephants trumpeted or the gorillas screeched. It’s not the place to go if you want a quiet, intimate meal. The service was almost too efficient—our entree arrived within minutes of our appetizer, but our server graciously took it back and held it until we were ready. The food was excellent. We both had delicious fruit/yogurt Smoothies to drink and Rainforest Pita Quesadillas as an appetizer. Rick had the Island Hopper Chicken--a charbroiled chicken breast with Cajun seasoning and shrimp and corn salsa; I had Rasta Pasta--bow tie pasta, grilled chicken, walnut pesto, broccoli, red peppers, spinach and fresh herbs tossed in a garlic cream sauce. We were too stuffed for dessert. We enjoyed eating here, but thought it was a little too noisy and busy for us to return very often.

After lunch we bought some postcards and pens at the World of Disney and looked at the giant figures outside the Lego Imagination Center. Rick took my picture sitting on the bench with the dozing Grampa. At this point we decided to go back to the Boardwalk for a snack and a short rest, then headed out to the bus stop again for a ride to the Animal Kingdom.

As we entered Animal Kingdom slightly after 4 p.m., throngs of people were exiting. Our first stop was It’s Tough to Be a Bug. We walked right into the pre-show area where we waited about ten minutes. Our seats were at the far end of a row near the front. Maybe that’s why the 3-D effects didn’t come across well. Everything was very blurred. That’s probably why I was so disappointed with this movie. It did nothing for me. Rick thought it was cute. I can see why little kids and people who are afraid of bugs wouldn’t handle this one too well, but I found it completely underwhelming.

We wanted to try the Safari again to see if different animals would be out in the late afternoon. We walked right on, but saw pretty much the same animals as we had on our early morning ride. No lions again, and this time our guide wasn’t nearly as good, but we still enjoyed seeing the animals. We shopped at Mombasa Marketplace/Ziwani Traders, buying an Animal Kingdom mug with James’ name on it and a really pretty tee shirt with an appliqued lion for me. After picking up some cappuccino at the Kusafiri Coffee Shop, we had a leisurely walk out of the park. On the way we were stopped by a couple who asked if we knew where the exit was. I had to laugh, as we’d had the exact same problem on our first visit. While waiting for a bus to the Magic Kingdom, we passed the time talking to a British family, one of whom had just tasted root beer for the first time and thought it tasted like horse liniment! They were quite pleasant considering I had begun the conversation by asking if they were from Australia or New Zealand.

We had decided to return to the Magic Kingdom to pick up the photo we had taken on Main Street that morning. After doing that we walked over to Liberty Square and rode the riverboat, then finally rode Space Mountain (after enduring a seemingly endless line). We decided to end our last visit to the Magic Kingdom by making a circuit of the park on the Frontierland Railroad. Despite the incredibly obnoxious young teens sitting behind us (so boisterous that we got off and changed seats at the Toontown station) it was a nice way to say goodbye for this trip.

We got back on the monorail to the TTC and then to Epcot. The view of Future World from the monorail at night is breathtaking. We walked right onto Spaceship Earth (this is the first time for us that the ride didn’t stop once), then bought some food at the Electric Umbrella and ate it while watching the fountain and listening to the Illuminations music. We tried to cut through Innovations West to get back to the Boardwalk via the Journey into Imagination pathway, but were sent back by a cast member to make our way against the flow of the exiting crowd. Not fun, though once we were through the mob it was a pleasant walk in the dark back through the International Gateway to our hotel. No problem falling asleep tonight!

Day Five - Thursday 4/21: Epcot and Final Thoughts

I had thought when planning this trip that we would spend a great deal of time at Epcot. It didn’t work out that way, though, so we decided to spend a low-key last day there. After breakfast in the concierge lounge, we packed and checked our luggage with bell services. Don, our Tiffany Town Car driver would be picking us up a 4 p.m. to take us to the airport.

It was a beautiful sunny day and already quite warm. We took the boat from the Boardwalk dock to the International Gateway. On the boat I struck up a conversation with a woman wearing a tee shirt identical to one I had purchased on our first trip to WDW in 1992. It turned out that she and her husband were from our area of North-Central Massachusetts. We even knew some of the same people. Small world!

Today we took our time to admire all the flowers and plants on display for the Flower and Garden Festival and to browse through the gift shops in Canada and at the Showcase Plaza. We took the long route to Future World via the pathway to the Odyssey Center. The line for Test Track was very long and neither of us was so anxious to ride it that we wanted to wait. We’ll save this ride for another trip when the novelty has worn off and (perhaps) it’s running consistently.

We had not been to the Universe of Energy since the show was changed to “Ellen’s Energy Adventure”. This turned out to be a major disappointment. I thought the pre-show was too long and too “cute”; then half of the dinosaurs and the Ellen Audio-Animatonics weren’t moving. There was also a long section following the dinosaur part where we sat in darkness listening to a radio broadcast. Should something visual have been going on here? If not, there should have been!

There was no line for Spaceship Earth, so that was next. Always a favorite! Then, on a quest for Smoothies like we’d had at the Rainforest Cafe the day before, we went into the Sunshine Season Food Fair at the Land. We didn’t find anything there, so we went over to the Fountain View Espresso and Bakery where I got a frozen cappuccino and Rick had a cup of coffee. We sat out on the terrace, relaxing and people-watching for awhile. By now it was quite hot and our frantic pace of the preceding days had caught up with us. We were content to just sit and reflect on the great time that we’d had together these past few days. When we finally roused ourselves we walked through Ice Station Cool where I got Rick to try the Beverly. Yuck! We sampled a couple more flavors, but didn’t linger here. Heading back into the World Showcase we made our way slowly around the lagoon, going clockwise, not stopping anywhere for long. We thought we might have lunch in Japan, but by the time we got there either the heat, now in the high 80s, or (in my case) the cappuccino had gotten to us and neither one of us felt like eating. Instead we walked back to Germany and admired the miniature village and train display, then sat on the cool floor in the lobby of the American Adventure and waited for the next show. Surprisingly, we both managed not to nod off in the comfortable seats and saw the whole production. You can’t help but feel patriotic after watching this show.

It was now nearing time to head back to the Boardwalk for our ride to the airport. We took the boat back and found some rocking chairs on the shady porch where we rested and waited until it was time to go. Don was waiting when we came out of the hotel and again entertained us with his good humor, making our departure as pleasurable as it could possibly have been.

Final thoughts: I’m the Disney fanatic in our family. My generous husband suggested this trip for the two of us even though he would have been just as happy to go elsewhere. We were surprised that we did more than we would have if James had been with us. As Rick pointed out, James would never have put up with the long days we put in. We did very little planning in advance other than making reservations for the Keys to the Kingdom tour and a couple of priority seatings, and determining which parks we’d probably visit the first three days. Having been to WDW three times previously, we knew which rides and attractions to skip and which we definitely didn’t want to miss. Even though we packed more into each day, our pace was generally much more leisurely than it would have been with a teenager along and we probably did things he wouldn’t have found very interesting. I hope I don’t sound like a terrible parent when I say that, given his current indifference to WDW, we had a better time without him than we would have had with him there. Besides, he was in Italy having a blast with his classmates and friends!

We were thrilled to have our room unexpectedly upgraded to concierge level, but we really didn’t take advantage of the extra amenities enough to warrant paying for this service on future visits. Other than breakfast, we used the lounge very little (although it was nice to be able to pop in for a quick snack or cup of tea) and, since we had already made reservations and priority seating arrangements in advance, didn’t need to ask the concierge to assist us. The Boardwalk Inn was a wonderful place to stay. I really loved the decor. I’d return if there weren’t so many other resorts I’d like to try. On our previous trips we stayed at the Polynesian and found that we used the concierge lounge much more when James was with us. We took more breaks and had more snacks there and James enjoyed going there on his own. They had such extensive appetizers at dinnertime that they served as our supper once or twice. I missed the convenience and the appeal of the monorail, but the Boardwalk’s bus and boat service was excellent, although slower, especially on the trips back from the parks.

Walt Disney World without the Kid is a different experience, but still a great one. I’m sure Rick and I will go again and maybe someday, when he’s less mature, James will decide he’s not too cool to go back, too.

Kathy Lowe

lowe@massed.net

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