Trip Reports

Summary:

When: 8th October, 1999, to 23rd October, 1999.
Where: Offsite. Howard Johnson Maingate East.
Who:
Sandie: 29 years old, Recreation Co-ordinator, Disney planner and family motivator (especially at 6 am in the morning), infrequent
Peter: 30 years old, Fire Fighter, chocoholic, sleepaholic, foodaholic, infrequent
Eloise: 3 years old, very brave and very susceptible to bribes involving chocolate! rookie
Johnathon: 11 months old, all round good kid. (And I mean very round), rookie
Cassie: 15 years old, Peter's cousin who we're taking along for the ride, rookie
Travel: Plane and rental car
Pre-Trip:

So that it is convenient for you and confusing for me, I will quote US$. If for some bizarre reason you wish to know prices in Australian dollars multiply by 1.5 (when the Aus$ is worth .67US cents).

Peter and I visited WDW for the first time in April 1994, spending 3 weeks at the Port Orleans Resort. To say that we had a great time would be an understatement. One of the most memorable events of our trip was a quick excursion into the Orange County Civil Court to get married - must have been an overreaction to all the junk food!

Once we returned home we bored everyone to death with our stories. We berated friends who said they would rather visit Bali or Europe. We even learnt to cook ribs so we could pretend we were still in the Dixie Landings food court. Don't laugh, we all have our own way to cope with stress and emotional disharmony!

In 1996 our daughter Eloise was born. In my post labour moment of power I made Peter promise that once she turned 7 we would go back to WDW.

In October 1998, our son Johnathon came along and all seemed well with our plans to visit Orlando in 2003. (What a long time to wait....)

In December 1998, Peter and I were having a rare night out alone. Being normal, well balanced new parents we had nothing to talk about except our children. We were commenting on how Eloise's memory is constantly surprising us. She often remembers people and events that we have forgotten. (No, we are not senile). I was a little sad that we couldn't take her to WDW whilst she is still young enough to believe that all the characters are real. By the end of dinner we had decided that we couldn't afford WDW so we would go to Disneyland instead. (How naive we were).

A month later and I had almost resigned myself to a trip to California instead of Florida. Because I wasn't feeling quite as depressed as I could be, I decided to do a cost comparison in case we won Lotto. 10 days in Anaheim including airfares, car hire, food, spending money and medium quality accommodations came to almost $8,000.

Wait a minute! If we stay offsite we could go to WDW for 14 days instead of 10 and it would only cost $8012. I would never have thought that this was possible but who am I to complain?

I booked 14 nights at the Howard Johnson Maingate East in a deluxe room that includes a fridge, microwave, kettle and toaster. Yes, I know that it won't be the same as staying with Disney but given the choice of a holiday offsite or no holiday - I choose offsite. The total for 14 nights including tax is $704. ($44.95 a night ex-tax).

The Reality Hits Home ....

In March 1999 we took a family holiday to Queensland (about 1500 miles road trip). Spending long days in a car with a three year old and a 5 month old left me doubting my sanity. Did I really want to spend 17 hours on a plane to LA and a further 5 hours to Orlando with these monsters?

Brainwave: Peter has a 15 year old cousin, Cassie, who is exceptionally good with our kids. For another $1700 she could come with us and help out with the kids. (Boy is she going to earn her holiday!!)

I spent a couple of weeks putting together a folder of information and approached her parents. We didn't ask her in case they said no. We told them we would cover everything except her getting to Sydney and her personal spending money. To my surprise they agreed straight away. I guess they know a good deal when it smacks them in the face.

So we now have 5 people going to Orlando for 14 nights.

Some of Our Plans ...

I am definitely going to do the Backstage Magic Tour.
Have a meal at one of the Rainforest Cafes.
Have a few character meals - Breakfast at 1900 Park Faire on our first day and Breakfast at Cinderella's Round Table on our last day, And dinner at both the Garden Grill and Chef Mickeys.
Dinner at a World Showcase restaurant.
Cassie really wants to go to the Kennedy Space Centre. As I have already been, Peter and Johnathon will go with her whilst Eloise and I have a Mummy and daughter day at the Magic Kingdom. I think we might do the Family Magic Tour thanks to Daniel Swift's trip report.
A day at Seaworld.
Saturday the 16th October will be Peter's 31st birthday. Unlike myself he isn't completely crazy about Disney so he wants to have dinner at the Dixie Landings food court and go to Old Town to see the cars. (No accounting for taste I guess)
Shopping is a big must do for us. Not just Disney stuff but shoes, clothes and CD's. Even with the poor exchange rate goods are must cheaper in the USA compered to Australia.
Finally, we would like to meet people. Last trip we talked to people we met in the pool and the food court, but we would love to go to a RADP meet. (Well I would anyway!)
Hopes and Dreams ......

Eloise is a very brave 3 year old. She is always surprising us with her nerve and her desire to try new things. She has been on some mild roller coasters already and we always have to bribe her to get her off. She is 41 inches tall and we all hope she grows 3 more inches otherwise we may have exciting family conversations about her inability to ride the three mountains.

Peter is looking forward to chocolate frozen yogurt, churros, ribs, brownies, and Glacier Bars. (Do you see a pattern.)

Cassie is looking forward to her first plane flight, her first trip out of Australia and being a normal 15 year old she is looking forward to 2 weeks away from her parents. I don't think she has any comprehension of what WDW is like.

I am trying to lose some post baby weight but all the people who have trip reports here and make posts to RADP do not help. How can I diet when you all talk about food so much? I am looking forward to backstage magic, Animal Kingdom and the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror.

Johnathon is probably looking forward to seeing some different scenery from the comfort of his stroller.

That's about all. Please feel free to send me any comments or to let me know if you will be visiting at the same time maybe we can meet.

Friday 8th October, 1999. The flight

After finally finishing packing at 1 am the previous night, I had to drag my body out of bed at 6 am to get ready for the trip to the airport. Both of our lifts to the airport arrived before 8.30 a.m. so we left on time after a quick stop at the chemist to get Peter some antibiotics.

We got to the United Airlines check in desk at about 10 am and checked in for our 1.15 p.m. flight to LA. After much confusion over our tickets (some were real tickets and some were e-tickets) we finally got our seat allocations and went to find somewhere to let the kids get their wiggles out (translation: expend some energy). After a while Eloise started to get restless so Cassie and I took her off to buy a bag of candy to take on the plane. She very proudly paid for this herself with the $5.00 that Nanna had given her to spend on her holiday. At 11.30 am we shared a quick lunch of 3 mini pizzas and made our way through immigration.

Our flight left on time and we were very surprised by our seat allocations. About a week prior to our trip I had rung the airline's medical desk to explain that both our kids had been sick and that we may need to use a nebuliser on the flights. Larry, the medical desk attendant, was very helpful in arranging this and ensuring that our kids' meals were ordered. But the big surprise was that even though the whole plane was booked out he had saved a whole row on the plane for us so that the kids could spread out!

What can I say about the flight? It was long, it was boring and Johnathon was too big for the bassinette that they supplied so he had to be held for 13 hours! We arrived in LA on time and after a cold drink went to board our flight to Orlando. First problem of the trip: Eloise and I were seated in row 8 and Peter and Cassie were seated in row 32 so it was very difficult for us to pass Johnathon around.

Our flight arrived in Orlando 30 minutes late and after collecting our 3 bags (remember this number) we went to catch the bus to the Hertz terminal. Problem number 2: even though we had requested a baby seat when we made our booking 2 months ago, and even though I called from LA to confirm our request, we still did not have a babyseat reserved for us. We waited whilst they fixed the car up with a seat and drove out of the car park in our Plymouth Breeze. It was a fairly slow trip to our hotel as Peter acclimatised himself to driving on the wrong side of the road.

We checked into our hotel, the Howard Johnson Maingate East at 10 p.m. and although I was sad that we were not staying on site at Disney I was happy with the large size of the room and although we were right next to the pool our room was very quiet. I was starving by this time, as I had not eaten since breakfast on the international flight. I had skipped dinner on the domestic flight assuming that the others would too. I was planning on getting dinner together. Unfortunately since they were about 20 rows away from me on the plane they must have missed the ESP signals I was sending them. They both pigged out on airline lasagne. There was a brochure for pizza delivery in our room so I tried to ring them at least 5 times but had trouble getting a line. By this time I was getting upset. Peter rang the front desk and was told that the entire hotel only had 14 outside lines and we should keep trying until we got a line. This was not a good sign - I would assume that a hotel as large as this one would run more efficiently.

I was now in an extremely bad mood. Remember I have been awake holding a baby for over 24 hours! The others ignored me so I stomped out to the vending machine and got a diet coke and a small pack of chocolate chip cookies.

Eloise and Cassie went straight to sleep and Peter followed after a short time. I unpacked everyone's clothes and was about to crash at midnight when Johnathon woke up - it was morning time for his body clock. I struggled with him for 2 and half hours and then woke Peter up so he could help. Poor Peter ended up walking up and down Irlo Bronson Highway pushing a stroller until 6.30 a.m. when the horrible child finally fell asleep. Peter also had his first bad experience with sales tax. He and Johnathon went into a Waffle House to get a waffle that was $1.99. When the waffle was ready he was told it cost over $2. Opps - forgot the tax. Unfortunately he only had $2 on him but they let him eat it anyway. We made sure to go in later in the trip and leave a tip. By the way Peter said it was an absolutely delicious waffle!

Saturday 9th October, 1999. - EPCOT

None of us woke up early and we finally made it to EPCOT at 10 am. We headed straight for the land to grab some breakfast. Peter had a combo with fruit, a muffin and hot chocolate, I had an apple and fruit slice, Eloise ate bits of everything and Cassie just had chocolate milk. After digesting this food we decided to go on Living with the Land which turned out to be one of Eloise's favourite attractions. We walked straight off this into a showing of Food Rocks, which had Johnathon bouncing around.

By this time we were sick of Eloise nagging us to take her to see the dinosaurs so we headed over to Ellen's Energy Adventure. Both Peter and I enjoyed this attraction much better than the old one. Eloise was okay until the big dinosaur blew its nose on her and then she just hugged her dad. This attraction was good in that we could let Johnathon sit on the floor and play when the ride vehicles were not moving. Johnathon seemed a little in awe of the actual dinosaurs and spent the whole time waving goodbye to them.

By this time the sleepless night and the heat were starting to get to us so we decided to head out of the park for lunch and a rest. We drove down International Drive looking for somewhere nice to eat and noticed that there were a few places called "Dennys". We don't have this chain in Australia and since there were so many of them we thought it would be ok.

The food tasted ok but the service was really bad. Peter's burger didn't come out until after we had all well and truly finished our lunch. Peter and Cassie had the biggest hamburgers we had ever seen, I had a tuna sandwich and Eloise had melted cheese. Some people I spoke to later in the week told me to avoid Denny's and go to Cracker Barrel, unfortunately this advice came a little too late.

By the time we returned to the hotel Johnathon was asleep, Cassie and Peter soon joined him. Eloise and I spent a couple of hours swimming and sunbaking. I woke the others up at five so we could head back to EPCOT.

We walked straight on to Spaceship Earth and we all enjoyed this attraction although it didn't seem as awe inspiring as I remember it. We headed over to World Showcase as Peter had been dying for a frozen yogurt for the last 5 years. By the time we got this and walked to Norway Johnathon was asleep. Peter and Johnathon sat under a tree while Cassie, Eloise and I went on Maelstrom. This ride was to be the benchmark for Eloise. Every ride after this one was preceded by a small timid voice asking if it would go backwards. If the answer were yes - she would not go on it. Needless to say Eloise did not want to ride Maelstrom again.

We then headed to Mexico and Peter and the girls rode the boat ride whilst I pushed a still sleeping Johnathon around the marketplace. Eloise liked this ride and the fake fireworks impressed Cassie (who hadn't seen Illuminations yet).

By the time we had walked around and had a look at all the countries the new Festival of Nations parade was starting. This looked really good but was too loud for our kids. We figured that as it was 8.30 p.m. everybody would be getting ready for illuminations. It seemed like the perfect time to try Test Track. We left the kids with Cassie and headed for the singles line. Only to find out it was down. We waited 15 minutes and then gave up. We never did get to try this attraction.

Since we had another two weeks we decided to head out of EPCOT saving Illuminations for another night. We got back to the room, settled the kids and decided (foolishly) to watch Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Cassie crashed early on in the movie and Peter and I kept slipping off to sleep but tried to hide it from each other. We were trying to avoid the: "I told you it was too late to watch a movie" argument.

Sunday 10th October, 1999 - Magic Kingdom

I had been looking forward to this day for ages. We arrived at opening and headed straight for Dumbo. We had the longest wait of our whole trip. It was twenty minutes until we actually took off but it was worth it for Eloise.

From here we headed back through the Castle and to Adventureland. We bypassed the Tiki Birds as Peter hated this last trip and went for a ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean. Everyone loved this ride, especially Johnathon who loved anything with audio animatronics. He would just sit quietly and stare at them. Eloise wanted to go on the "log ride" so Peter and Johnathon hung out whilst we lined up in the huge, never ending 5 minute queue. This attraction is great and Eloise loved it. We bought the photo and made fun of the look of terror on Cassie's face.

We were all hungry so we went to the Columbia Harbour House. Peter had a fish and chicken combo, Eloise and Cassie shared a chicken combo and I had a tuna sandwich. Johnathon had some baby food (lucky kid!). By the time we were finished the baby was asleep. The others went on the Haunted Mansion whilst I walked around pushing the stroller and enjoying the park. I discovered a chocolate shop in Frontierland and had a twenty minute conversation with the lady who worked there. It is really great going to the parks when it's quiet as the cast members have time to talk. I bought some Winnie the Pooh lollipops and some chocolate. By the time I returned to the Haunted Mansion the others were waiting. Eloise really wanted to take me to see the house where the family used to live who died (her description of the attraction) so Peter waited with the still sleeping Johnathon whilst we went back on. I really like this ride although Eloise's ongoing commentary was a little distracting.

After an ice cream we headed over to Tomorrowland. The kids and I went on the Transit Authority 4 times in a row whilst Peter and Cassie rode Space Mountain. This attraction was great for the kids. Eloise enjoyed it and Johnathon could crawl around a bit. We met up with the others and I decided that I really wanted to try Alien Encounter so the rest of them went on Buzz Lightyear. What a mistake on my part. How can you even think you may be scared in this attraction. People were screaming so much before anything even happened I couldn't hear anything and couldn't concentrate. I would like to try this when I am the only person in the room. I never got to try Buzz Lightyear on this trip and I wish I had of tried it at this time.

Eloise and I had a quick turn on Astro Orbitor and then we made our way to the nearby souvenir shop. I got her an Ariel Princess Doll and Johnathon one of those big canvas balls with balloons in them. I also got 4 bags of spare balloons.

We headed back to the hotel for a quick swim/rest and then out to dinner.

At about 7 p.m. we headed over to the Crossroads to see if we could get in at Jungle Jim's. I had read good things about this on the Internet. We had a great server whose name was Tim. He sat in the booth next to Cassie making her all shy and giggly and was great in taking our order. Cassie had a pasta dish, Peter had ribs and I had a burger. Eloise said that since this was a jungle she wanted Giraffe. He got her some nuggets and convinced her that they were giraffe. He also heated up a bottle for Johnathon - a lot of places wouldn't do this for us during the trip, which was a shame, as we all enjoyed dinner more when he was asleep!

It was a quiet night so we spent some time talking with Tim about the different employment sectors in our countries. He was astounded to learn that he could make at least $17.00 an hour being a waiter in Australia. He made us feel really bad about the wages that people get paid for waiting on us so all of our servers for the rest of the trip have him to thank for our tips.

This was one of the nicest meals we had on the entire trip and I wish we had found time to go back again.

Monday 11th October, 1999

The weather had been very hot, especially for Johnathon. So today we decided to split up. Eloise and I would go to the Disney Studios and Peter, Cassie and Johnathon would go shopping and meet up with us later in the day.

Another problem with the hotel -they would not cash travellers cheques. All our cheques were in my name and although Peter had our Visa card he really wanted some cash. I was really angry at the hotel by this point and was questioning the reason behind a hotel that seemed to be full of international visitors being unable to cash a travellers cheque.

When we got to the Studios Peter drove the car right up to the front of the car park and waited whilst I tried to cash a cheque. Guest Relations had no problem with cashing 2 $100 cheques. Thank goodness for Disney!

Eloise and I headed in and went straight on the Great Movie Ride. She loved this, as the Wizard of Oz is one of her favourite movies. As soon as we got off she wanted to go on the Tower of Terror. I talked her out of it temporarily as I wanted to try it before she went on. We headed over to Star Tours. Eloise likes Star Wars but was a bit upset by this ride. It was a lot bumpier than I remembered.

To calm her down we walked to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playground, stopping to say hello to Jafar and a green army man who signed (stamped) our book. I do a lot of work with playgrounds and I thought this one was a dump. It had very limited interest for the kids, had poor traffic design and was hot! Eloise was sick of it very quickly.

We were hungry so we headed for Pizza Planet and had 2 cheese pizzas with soda. Eloise kept looking behind the machines to see if Buzz and Woody were sneaking around.

Muppet Vision was next, and Eloise was very impressed with her first look at 3D. We had about 90 minutes until the parade so we stopped at Dinosaur Gerties Ice Cream of Extinction and shared a soft serve cone. We went on the Great Movie Ride again and found a nice shady spot to watch the parade. The only other Parade I have seen here was the Aladdin one and it was much better. Doesn't matter though - Eloise loved it.

We had a look around the Villain shop and grabbed some Fairy Floss and headed back to Gertie's to meet the others. They had spent all day shopping and looked exhausted - in fact Johnathon was asleep. Eloise was still going on about the ToT so we headed that way. Cassie stayed with the baby, as she was a bit worried about motion sickness. We all stayed together until we got to the service elevator. Peter told Eloise that she was going on a special elevator with him whilst Mummy tried out the ride to make sure it wasn't too scary. She kicked and screamed that she was a big girl and she could handle it. Of course we didn't believe her.

I sat in the front row and was very tense, I kept expecting it to drop at any minute. When it did I screamed, more out of surprise than fright. I loved this ride and didn't find the falls at all scary. I exited and told Eloise that she could have a turn if she wanted and told Cassie that it wouldn't make her sick. So we left Peter with Johnathon and headed back on. We were in the second row. Eloise was scared, but she didn't cry and although she did not want to go again she is still proudly boasting about how brave she was, (maybe now our cyber friend Cassidy will try it!).

Cassie and I decided to be mean and tell Peter that the ride was really nothing and much more staid than Space Mountain. A complete stranger joined in and told him that it actually feels like the falls are simulated not real. So trying not to giggle I took him by the hand and led him back to the queue. We were in the back row next to a man and his little boy. Peter was all happy and smiley and is actually looking joyful in the photo we bought. However by the end of the ride his head was in the lap of the man next to him. His legs were curled up on me and he was trying to contain his sobbing. He will never forgive me. It was about 5.30pm so we decided to head back to the room to regroup whilst I decided what we would eat.

Peter had been complaining that our car kept pulling to the right. At first we thought it was just him over compensating for being on a different side of the car. However after 4 days of driving it was getting pretty annoying. He rang Hertz and arranged to swap the car the next morning.

After dinner we all hit the sack to catch up on the backlog of sleep we had missed.

Tuesday 12th October, 1999

First stop - the Hertz depot at Kissimee to swap our car. That accomplished we all felt that we could use a non-Disney day so we headed for Sea World. Sea World was one of the best places we visited last trip and I was looking forward to seeing the whales again. Once we entered we stopped at a small bakery and got some fresh strawberries. We headed straight for Shamu Stadium to catch the next show. We sat about 4 rows from the front and waited. Once Johnathon saw the first whale he lost it. He was crying so much that Peter took him and stood up the very back of the stadium. The rest of us enjoyed the show although Eloise was hugging me like a koala to avoid getting wet.

Since the kids had been good for the last few days we took them to Shamu's Happy Harbour to play for a while. Next stop was the Artic. We took the pedestrian entrance and had a good look at the walrus' and polar bears. It was lunchtime now so we decided to try the Italian place. Peter and Cassie had pizza - good choice. Eloise and I had spaghetti made with mincemeat - bad choice. We also shared a plate of watermelon.

Johnathon was nodding off to sleep so I sat with him whilst the others looked in the shark exhibit. Next stop was the seal and otter show, which was very funny. Unfortunately we were so high up we almost got altitude nosebleeds.

Eloise wanted another play on the playground so we headed back to Shamu's Happy Harbour for about 45 minutes. At last it was time for Journey to Atlantis. Only Cassie and I were going to do this as Peter does not like flume rides. This ride was awesome. We both liked it so much we went again. The second drop, which spirals down, caught us completely by surprise. We could have done without the mouldy seats though.

It was time to leave and the kids were tired so Peter and Cassie took them to the car whilst I got our tickets for a second day free. Unfortunately all members of our party had to sign for the tickets so we didn't end up getting them.

After a rest and a swim we went to a KFC on International Drive that was the most disgusting place I have ever seen. I am not even going to describe this place but it was so bad that later that week Peter rang the KFC head office and complained. Peter and Cassie finished the evening off with a bit of shopping and then we hit the sack.

Wednesday 13th October, 1999

We had a 7 a.m. wake up call for this morning and got to Animal Kingdom at 8.30 a.m. We headed straight for the Safari and although we saw some animals the ride was really bumpy and we had to make sure we had hold of our kids. Next stop was Dinoland USA. Cassie took the kids into the playground whilst Peter and I rode Countdown to Extinction. We liked this ride although sitting in the dark at the end was a bit disconcerting. It was Peter's turn to play so Cassie and I went for another ride. It was better this time as we were sitting in the front row and Cassie's heart almost stopped when the dinosaur started to chase us. We got Peter and the kids and had a walk through the dinosaur exhibit.

It was getting hot so we walked to Asia to go on the Kali River Rapids. Eloise was upset that she was too short so I sat with her and told her Rat Stories. Her favourite past time on this trip was listening to me make up stories about a family of rats. She is a strange child. Peter said the ride wasn't that great but I wanted to know for myself. I thought it was okay but I wouldn't want to wait a long time for it. As we were leaving the ride we saw a walking human grape vine. Now this thing was really creepy. It would just lean against a wall like a vine and then start moving if someone got close. Very strange and really great!

We decided to leave as there wasn't much we could do with the kids. We have an excellent zoo in Sydney that we go to at least once a year so looking at the animals wasn't a huge priority for us. You may have noticed that we did almost no shows. It was just too hard to get the kids to sit still. Shows will have to wait for next trip.

For something different we decided to head to Dixie Landings for lunch. We headed back to what was one of our favourite places to eat last trip. We had a great lunch and the table of Lego was really good. It meant that the rest of us could have a relaxing lunch. I got really depressed about not staying on site and Peter told me to go ring CRO and see if we could get a room onsite for the rest of our trip. Unfortunately they had nothing at all. I was even more depressed.

We headed back to the hotel for a rest and a swim and it looked so dingy compared to Dixie Landings. Peter rang CRO again in case I was wrong but they still had nothing.

After a rest we headed to Downtown Disney and went straight to the Rainforest Café. It was 5 pm and we were told to come back at 7.20 pm. That gave us plenty of time to look around. We took a boat to the Westside and Peter and Cassie went to the Virgin Megastore whilst I took the kids to the grassed area nearby. Eloise ran around whilst I gave Johnathon his dinner. Here is a good thing about the heat in Florida. We always carried a jar of baby food around for when the baby got hungry and as the jar was warm in our backpack there was no need to find a microwave. As the jars were still sealed there was no worries about the heat ruining the food.

We headed back to the boat launch and I went into Girradelhi's to buy some milk. I asked the cashier if it could be heated - she said no. I asked if I could have a cup half with milk and half hot water - she said no. I asked if I could buy a cup of milk and a cup of hot water - she said yes but I would have to pay for the water - I said fine. I moved along to the service area and got my cup of milk. I asked for my water and was told - we can't give you a cup of hot water. WHAT! I told her that the other lady had said I could have one. She went to check and then told me the other lady had lied. I said can I have a cup of coffee? She said yes. I said fine - just leave out the coffee - Sorry, she said, we can't do that. I said - I have paid for my cup of hot water, she said - well you will have to go over and line up for a refund. I almost cried but instead stormed out. Peter saw I was upset and went and asked a cast member in the garden shop how we could get a bottle heated up. She took it and came back in two minutes with a warm bottle. Now what was so hard about that?

John had his milk and fell asleep in the stroller so we headed over to the Rainforest Café. We still had some time so we had a look around the shop and Peter bought a shirt. We had a really nice meal here. We shared a sampler appetiser and I don't know what the others had but I enjoyed Rasta Pasta. Eloise enjoyed all the "events" and wasn't really fazed by much except the thunder. As we were finishing up Peter handed our waitress a ten-dollar tip, unfortunately as she reached for it she dropped all our plates on the floor. I don't know who felt worse Peter or her. On a completely different topic I think it's really great how a lot of the onsite restaurants give souvenir cups out with the kids meals. These are some of Eloise's favourite items that she got on the trip.

We went to the Mattel shop and I saw a doll I had wanted to buy for a long time. It was the limited edition Sleeping Beauty. Peter bought it for me. We also had a look in The World of Disney and Eloise saw a Peter Pan play set she really wanted. Actually this was the best thing we bought all trip. Four months later and she still plays with it all the time. We also saw how cheap the Lego was in the Lego shop and promised we would come back before we flew home.

Time to head back to the room as Eloise and I had a big day planned for tomorrow.

Thursday 14th October, 1999

Peter, Cassie and Johnathon dropped Eloise and I off at the Ticket and Transportation Centre at 8.30 a.m. They were going shopping again! Eloise and I headed straight for Town Hall to sort out the mess with my insider package. Despite many phone calls I had not received my package and I really wanted it. They gave me one that they had there and I ripped it open and joyously found that I had access to a private area for Illuminations.

We went right outside and signed in for our Family Magic tour. All the people on this tour must have thought Eloise was really shy. I think she just found the accents hard to understand. There were 4 other families and we had a great time as we ran down Main Street, sang in the Barbershop, hopped, skipped and jumped, crept up on Sonny Eclipse and played following the leader.

The highlight for my little girl was when we met up with Peter Pan. She is really in love with him and even blushed when he called her princess. Of all the characters we saw during our trip this Peter Pan was the most in character.

After our ride with Peter Pan we headed over to the Haunted Mansion. Eloise really liked making up stories about the attractions and was convinced that she knew the truth about the family that had lived here once. We stopped for a hot dog in Frontierland and bought some chocolate from one of the shops.

We jumped on the Jungle Cruise and Pirates and walked through the Castle to Fantasyland. As we were lining up for Snow White we saw the others. Peter and Johnathon jumped in to join us and we all enjoyed this ride together. The line for Pooh was 20 minutes (one of the longest of our whole trip). I tried to approach this with an open mind but I really don't like Pooh Bear. Everywhere I looked in WDW Pooh was there. Either in person or in merchandise. It was just a bit too much. The ride was ok but we didn't go again.

The kids were looking wiped out so we headed out to the car and drove back to the hotel. After a swim we decided to drive up the road a bit to have dinner at Cracker Barrel. We had a really nice meal. The waitress we had made a big deal of Eloise, which was great. People we met on this trip seemed to make a fuss of Johnathon and she was feeling a little left out. I think this meal was one of the few times on this trip that we ate vegetables! The shop adjoining the restaurant was amazing. I spent at least an hour looking around. I wish I had more money - I would have bought a lot of stuff.

We stopped at the Publix supermarket near our hotel and had a great time searching for food which we don't have at home. Let me tell you Fudge Covered Oreos are the greatest food ever invented. We also bought crispy mm's that were so great we came back later in the week and bought 3 bags of them to take home. Cassie had an ear ache so we also got some baby oil and cotton wool balls. This really works, after one dose her ears were better.

After settling the kids down for the night I went for a swim and spent some time talking to a young girl from New York City. She was very excited to be on vacation and tried to convince me that I should go home with her so she could show me around her city. We watched Michael on TV - twice, why do they show the same movie over and over again? - and went to sleep.

Friday 15th October, 1999

Johnathon and I were awake much earlier than the others so we went for a walk out to the bagel shop (Something Brothers). I had never had a bagel before and had wanted to try one for a while. After some help from the staff we shared a banana nut bagel and it was delicious.

We headed back to the room and woke the others up. Today we were heading to Belz. All the shops were still closed when we arrived so the others had a donut and Eloise went for a ride on the carousel. We had a look around and I bought some checked WDW pyjama pants and I bought Cassie a Mickey Mouse nightie and a few things for Eloise and Johnathon. Other than the Disney shops we really didn't see anything we wanted. We decided to drive to the Alte Monte Mall where we had shopped last trip and did much better here. The Disney Store was selling beanie babies for $3 so I bought 20 to take home for presents. Eloise got a Peter Pan sword and Cassie got a stuffed Mickey. We hit the toy store next and bought some Barbie dolls and Barbie sets at about 1/6 of the price that we pay at home. Peter bought some model cars and I bought a Mulan doll. We had an early lunch in the food court and headed out to the Toy's R Us across the road. Peter bought some more cars.

We had a leisurely drive back to the hotel looking at houses in the area. By the time we got back we just had time to change and head to our dinner at Chef Mickey's.

We parked in the Magic Kingdom parking lot and caught the monorail to the Contemporary. We waited about half an hour for our table. The waiting passed fairly quickly thanks to Donald and Goofy coming out to play.

This meal was great and I would recommend it to anyone. The characters came past quite a few times and the food was wonderful. We have a picture of Peter's desserts to prove this. (He had 9!) After dinner we caught the monorail to the Magic Kingdom and waited in front of the Castle for the fireworks. They were awesome. I had read about Tinker belle but I had no idea that she was real. We were awestruck.

After the show we followed the crowds back to the ferry and the crowds got to watch Johnathon dancing his way down Main Street. We made our way home.

Saturday 16th October, 1999

Today was Peter's 31st Birthday. As a birthday present for Peter I went to the Stamp Cabana (a rubber stamp shop) and bought myself $300 worth of stamps. Eloise gave her Daddy the Mickey Mouse fire brigade shirt she had gotten him and he said he loved it (even though all the other fire men make fun of him!).

We spent the day doing a little shopping and watching Peter get more and more depressed. He had really been looking forward to seeing the car show at Old Town tonight but with the rain it was not looking promising.

After spending most of the day checking our Malls and having a quick food court lunch we headed back to the room for an hours rest before heading out for dinner. As it was Peter's birthday he got to pick where we ate and he decided Chilli's was it. We absolutely love Chilli's at home and it was pretty good here. We had a really fun server and other than people a few tables away from us the place was empty. The other family had a little girl the same age as Johnathon and the two of them spent dinner making eyes at each other. After dinner we left the money for the bill and a tip on the table. As we were leaving we heard the server yelling out to the whole restaurant hey they left me a $10 tip, and he came running after me to yell out "Thanks Ma'am". We don't tip in Australia so the whole process is very unnerving for us. We always felt uncomfortable that we were not leaving enough. We didn't want any waiter going home and saying to their family "these cheap Aussies didn't give me a big enough tip". Anyway this guy made us feel really comfortable and Peter and I were both happy to have made him happy.

We headed to Old Town and Cassie and I took the kids to look at the shops and try some rides. We took them on the ferris wheel and Eloise went on the tea cups and Cassie took her on the little roller coaster - 4 times. Cassie begged me to go on the big roller coaster with her so off we went. I was fairly confident until the operator started pushing the carriage up the hill - what a nightmare.

We met up with Peter and grabbed a snack. I think it is fair to say that due to the rain he was pretty disappointed with the amount of cars there. Oh well that's an added incentive for him to start saving for our next trip.

We made a stop at the Publix on the way back to the hotel to get some baby food and some ice cream to eat for dessert. We all fell asleep pretty quickly tonight after the usual arguments over who got to sleep where.

Sunday 17th October, 1999

Peter, Cassie and Johnathon went for a drive somewhere this morning - probably to shop! Eloise and I had breakfast at the IHOP attached to the hotel. The meal was really wasted on Eloise as she didn't eat anything. However, she got to eat for free and she really loves the experience of eating in restaurants.

After breakfast we had a look in the two souvenir shops located adjacent to the hotel. We bought some lollies and some small toys to take back to the room. When the others came back we headed for EPCOT. First stop Guest Relations to find out about our priority seating for tonight's Illuminations. We were told to be at Italy at 4 pm to register. This would work out great as we had 5 pm priority seating at the Garden Grill.

First stop was the Wonders of Life where we saw cranium command and let all the kids (Peter included) play for a while. Eloise wanted to see the dinosaurs again so we headed over to Ellen's Energy Adventure. We were getting hungry so we had a quick meal in the food court at the Land.

After lunch we headed to the Living Seas but found other than seeing Mickey scuba diving the kids weren't too interested in this attraction. We headed over to the World Showcase and walked around so that Peter could get some more frozen yoghurt. It was now getting close to 4pm so we headed for Italy with a few stops along the way to take photos of our sleeping kids in front of each country. How many people can say they slept their way around Europe?

Once we received all the information for tonight's viewing of Illuminations we headed for our dinner at the Garden Grill. This meal was great. Although in memory it didn't seem like we ate heaps of food, we were all pretty full and I think we had thirds on the catfish. Once again we saw Chip and Dale. I think we saw these characters more than any other this trip. That's ok though as they were Johnathon's favourite.

After dinner we had dessert. I had the grown ups dessert and my 4 children all had worms in dirt. We still had time before Illuminations so we had another turn on the Living with the Land boat ride and Food Rocks. We decided to have a look at the new Journey into Your Imagination ride and got off the attraction feeling like we had ridden through something that was half finished. Peter, Cassie and Eloise went into Honey I shrunk the Audience. Eloise came out a little bit scared - I think a snake got her!

Whilst they were in the movie I rocked Johnathon until he fell asleep and I bought both kids one of those little torches that look like fire works. They had fiber optics coming out around Minnie Mouse's head.

Once Eloise calmed down we headed over to Italy to get ready for Illuminations. This special viewing area was excellent. There was only one other family so we had plenty of room to move and the view was the most awesome we have ever had of Illuminations. We videoed the whole show. Johnathon woke up screaming right at the end, but he calmed down after a cuddle.

Once this was finished we headed out to the car and back to the hotel. Peter and Cassie watched Forces of Nature. I did some washing and went to sleep.



Monday 18th October, 1999

Peter had noticed that I really needed some time by myself so the others went off today and left me at the Magic Kingdom. We were to meet up at 4pm. All this time to myself! What should I do first? One of the things I had missed was looking in the shops, however Main Street looked busy this morning. I caught the train to the station near Splash Mountain and rode Big Thunder Railway, Splash Mountain and had a look around these shops. I walked back through Adventureland, got straight on Pirates and kept on until I got to Main Street. I got a drink from Casey's Corner (?) and continued walking down the shops on one side of Main Street. I bought a Scrapbook set in the Emporium, which has a raised Millennium Cover. I also spent some time talking to a cast member who was originally from Sri Lanka and was working here after living in Australia for a few years. I crossed the road and walked back up the shops on the other side of the street.

I was getting pretty hungry so I made my way over to the Columbia Harbour House and bought a tuna sandwich. I sat in a room by myself that was soon filled by a large family. One little girl was upset because she didn't have a packet of chips. Her mum told her that they cost too much. I had a packet with my lunch that I hadn't opened and wasn't going to eat so I gave them to the family as I was leaving. They didn't even say thank you. I guess that people are sometimes in there own little worlds when they are on holidays but it seemed that a lot of people were in bad moods today.

I had seen a ring that I liked in the small shop next to the Hall of Presidents and I went to buy one for myself. It is made of three stones in the shape of a Mickey. I liked it so much I got one for my sister as well. I continued through Fantasyland to Tomorrowland. It was 12 noon now so I guess everyone was having lunch. I rode Space Mountain three times in a row with a five-minute wait each time. I decided to give Alien Encounter one more try and found it was still annoying. I rode the skyway back to Fantasyland and walked to the Haunted Mansion. I had time for one more go on Big Thunder Railroad and Splash Mountain before heading back to Cosmic Rays. My family were nowhere to be seen and I was hungry again so I grabbed a hotdog and saw them just as I was about to sit down.

After I had stuffed my face we made our way over to the raceway and had a race. Eloise steered our car badly, and Peter and Johnathon shared the driving pleasure in the other car. We hadn't done Toon Town yet so that was our next stop. Peter, Cassie and Eloise went on Goofy's Barnstormers and Eloise loved it so much I went on it with her again. Just as we got to the front of the line the little girl behind us wet her pants. She was from England and I think it highlights a problem we had for the whole trip. When you travel to a different country you obviously find different things. Our big problem was toilets. At home our toilets have only a little water in the bottom of them. So your huge toilets filled with water caused some anxiety for Eloise (who has been toilet trained for over 18 months). Add to this the fact that WDW toilets flush themselves and you have the start of some major problems. We had to be very aware that Eloise would not volunteer to go to the toilet. I had to find the older style toilets that would not flush whilst she was using them otherwise I would have to forcibly hold her on the toilet. If one accidentally flushed whilst she was on it she would jump up halfway through what she was doing. I tried covering the sensor pad on the wall behind the toilets but this didn't seem to help. She would hold on for hours and hours and I am sure that it affected her enjoyment. Even now if we go to a strange restroom she asks if the toilet will flush itself.

We left to go back to our hotel about 6 pm and stopped to buy some disposable plates and cutlery. Peter left us in the room and went to get some Kentucky Fried Chicken that was absolutely delicious.

Once the kids were asleep we made another mistake. We watched the Blair Witch Project. At the time it was an enjoyable movie - the resultant terror did not become apparent until the next morning.

Tuesday 19th October, 1999

When we woke up we found out that Peter had to sleep on the floor as Eloise had pushed him out of bed. He had been really hot during the night but he had been too scared to get up and turn the air conditioner on. And there was no way he was going to look in the corners of the room!

I had been looking forward to today for six months. I was going to do Backstage Magic. The others dropped me off at EPCOT on their way to Gatorland. I was a little early so I spent some time talking to a lady from Atlanta who was doing the Dolphin Swim. She comes to WDW with her mum about three times a year - lucky person. There were 14 people on my tour, all couples except myself and another man whose wife had bought him the tour as a present. This was to become an embarrassing problem later in the day.

Everyone introduced himself or herself and climbed on the bus. We had a stop behind the American Adventure (this is amazing backstage) and the Living Seas. At one stage the guide (I forget his name) was driving along pointing out the forest on the side. He asked if we wanted to stop and have a look at what WDW looked like prior to development. I said "no way." He said "Why?" I said I just watched the Blair witch Project last night. Everyone else on the bus said "No way." So that's how democracy works!

We had a really enjoyable stop at the Animation Studios and drew a picture of Goofy and painted a cell. We saw some posters for a movie called John Henry. I had never heard of John Henry and had a very interesting lesson in railroad history courtesy of one of my co-tourers.

We stopped at the costume department and I got a small sample of Aladdin's outfit.

Back on the bus and next stop lunch! We walked in to Mama Melrose's and as we arrived at our tables we noticed a very strange woman sitting there. She was apparently waiting for the Desperate and Single Sporty Lunch. (Believe me she looked the part!) After much hinting on her part we finally gave in and asked her to join us. She spent the whole lunch making fun of us and felt compelled to talk to me up side down -I guess that was a "down under " joke. She also felt it was her God given right to tell the whole restaurant that I was having an affair with the man who was with out his wife.

As we were finishing up I went and made Fantasmic p.s. for Thursday night at 4.45 pm. Once we were on the bus our mystery guest uncloaked and explained all about her job as a Disney entertainer. We all expressed our sympathy when she told us that the Disney character she usually got to play was an ugly stepsister.

Next stop-the tunnels. This was interesting but I felt like I was intruding on these poor people trying to enjoy their down time. We caught the end of the parade and then got our bus back to EPCOT. I would really recommend this tour and would like to do it again next trip.

I had some time before I had to meet up with the others at 5.00 p.m. so I took a stroll around World Showcase. I really wanted to buy some thing but other than a pear I couldn't find anything I wanted.

The others turned up a little late and sat down to eat some fruit. At 5.45 p.m. we headed over to the Boardwalk. As soon as she saw the bikes Eloise wanted to go on one. Peter and Cassie took her whilst Johnathon and I had a look at the shops. I bought some fudge, some chocolate and a small collection of truffles. I also bought some really cool shoelaces for Eloise. By the time we had a look around it was 8 so we decided to head back to EPCOT and get back to our car before Illuminations. The kids fell asleep as soon as we got in the car and we decided that we would really like a burger from Wendy's for dinner. Peter and Cassie were sure that there was one just down the road from our hotel. O.K so we go down the road past the hotel and twenty minutes later we still have not found Wendy's but they are sure it is here somewhere. We find it in about 5 minutes and have a nice drive thru meal before heading back to a nightmare at the hotel.

My sister who is 9 has an allergy to wheat products. Most candy is made with glucose. In Australia glucose is made with wheat but in the USA it is made with corn. I wanted to check a few other ingredients with my mum so I could buy my sister some candy as a present. I tried the public phone at the hotel but it would not ring overseas. I rang the front counter and they said the one in the foyer did. I tried that phone but was once again told by the operator that I could not make an overseas call from that phone. I knew it would be too expensive to ring from the room but I thought I would reverse charges -my mum wouldn't mind. The front counter said I would be charged for making a reverse charges call from my room but they refused to tell me the charge. I asked to speak to the manager and he said they had a policy of not declaring this charge until after the call was made. This sounded kind of illegal to me and I let them know this. I also let them know that we would never stay here again nor would we stay in any Howard Johnson ever again. I also wrote down all their names for my letter of complaint I would write from home. Please remember that this hotel had heaps of British guests who probably wanted to ring home. I went back to the room and I was so cranky I was crying. Peter ended up driving to another phone and calling my mum for me. I will never, ever stay in this place again. For that matter I will never, ever stay in a Howard Johnson Hotel.

Wednesday 20th October, 1999

We were a little slower getting going this morning. Peter took the kids to get some take away waffles from the Waffle house for breakfast. This morning we headed back to the Belz Factory Outlet and spent some more money. We bought more toys and Peter got two pairs of running shoes.

We had lunch at a Sizzler on International Drive. It was very quiet and relaxing in the restaurant. We all had a meal except Peter who said he would just have a salad bar. I tried to talk him out of this but he was certain that all he wanted was salad. As soon as he sat down he changed his mind and decided that he wanted ribs! He chased our waitress and changed his order. The food was really nice and the balloons they were given amused the kids. In the foyer of the restaurant there was one of those claw machines that have stuffed toys in them. Our two waitresses were spending all their tips in this machine and winning lots of toys. We gave Eloise a dollar and they helped her win a Halloween Possum. When we left we made sure all our tips were $1 notes so that they could win more!

We headed back to the hotel for a rest and a nap. Eloise made friends with some other little girls in the pool and they kept each other amused for about an hour. Once everyone had showered etc we headed to Downtown Disney to spend some $$$$$$$.

We started in the Christmas shop where Peter and Eloise got me some ornaments as a surprise. We had a look through the homeware shop but nothing grabbed my attention. Cassie parted with money in the Pooh shop buying gifts for her friends. We were getting hungry so we grabbed some MacDonald's. Two problems here:

1. The choice of food is heaps bigger than MacDonald's here and we couldn't make up our minds.

2. No playground. How am I meant to bribe my children into eating without a playground?

We hung around in the Lego shop and played for a while then we caught the boat to the Westside and browsed there for a while. Ok, the moment I have been waiting for.... Me, the World of Disney and a credit card for a whole hour! I got a pj top to go with the pants I bought at Belz, some toys for the kids, a Belle nightie and dressing gown for Eloise and some candy.

Peter and Cassie took the kids to the car whilst I went into the Lego shop and got a huge box of Lego for $30.00. This would have easily cost $120 at home. We stopped at the Publix on the way home and grabbed some more fudge covered Oreos, crispy M and M's and heaps of lollies for my sister. We headed back to the room and I started to pack.

Thursday 21st October, 1999

We started the day we a quick trip to some Mall so that Peter could get some model cars and I grabbed some scrapbook supplies.

We spent the rest of the day at the Studios going on everything again and again and again. I just love the Tower of Terror - I want to take it home with me! Eloise still loved the Great Movie Ride and Johnathon enjoyed anything that allowed him to escape from his pram! We had early priority seatings at Mama Melrose's at 4pm as part of a Fantasmic package. The meal was excellent just as it had been on Tuesday when I was here with the tour I took. After dinner Cassie and I again went on the Tower of Terror and after some window shopping it was time to head into Fantasmic. I don't think we had any advantage by doing the package. There were only 4 other families in the reserved seating area and as soon as the show started the CM's opened the ropes and let all these people come rushing in. We missed the first three minutes because all we could see were people's bottoms.

After the show we joined the masses and fought our way back to the car and then the hotel so I could do some more washing and some more of the dreaded packing.

Friday 22nd October, 1999

We started the day at Animal Kingdom where I had arranged to meet Aileen Toner and her family for lunch and then a safari. We waited for thirty minutes outside the safari but we couldn't see them. In hindsight we should have been more specific and all worn red shirts or something as this must have been the busiest area of the park. When we didn't find them we headed into the Tusker House for lunch in the hope that we would see them then. As we were leaving after lunch I saw a man and woman with 2 young girls lining up to get food. I walked up to them and said:

"Aileen?" and the woman said:

"Sandie?"

We had found them at last. We chatted for a while but couldn't stay around for long as we had a lot to do on our last day here. The kids exchanged presents. Thank you Cassidy, all our fellow passengers on the plane home just loved that noisy train you gave Johnathon!

We left AK and headed for Celebration to have a look around. We really liked the houses but would have preferred to have a back fence for some privacy. Oh well since we can't immigrate it hardly matters does it? Time now for our last trip to the Magic Kingdom for 5 years. We did all the Tomorrowland rides except Buzz and Alien Encounter, and once again found the baby swap to be great. I bought two dolls from the toyshop in Fantasyland that I had been lusting after all week. We had another go around Fantasyland and then decided to grab some hot dogs from Casey's for dinner. These were yummy! We headed to Pirates and made our way to Big Thunder Railroad. Peter and Cassie went first and sat Eloise between them. Eloise was a bit scared so she sat with Cassie and Johnathon whilst Peter and I went for a ride. This was the first time we had been alone for 2 weeks and we enjoyed it so much.

Cassie and I went on Splash Mountain and saw the parade form up the top. As there was no one waiting we went again and had another look. We ran to the Haunted mansion to have one last go and said good-bye to the Grim Grinning guys.

As we were walking through to Fantasyland the fireworks started to go off so we stopped to watch. I ducked into the little shop on the Fantasyland side of the archway and bought some more Mickey character cookies, which Johnathon loved, and a pewter spoon for Peter's Aunty.

We slowly made our way to the Castle and took some photos in front of the castle as it was changing colours. Eloise was asleep in our stroller so we played with Johnathon for a while. When Main Street was almost completely empty we started our way down quickly stopping at the candy shop for more food!

We thought we had done the right thing waiting for the crowds to thin out before leaving. Oops we hit the crowds as they were waiting for the ferry. It took 90 minutes from this point until we reached the trams. To add insult to injury I had to go through a pram entrance but they wouldn't let Cassie, Peter and Johnathon through that way. They promised we would all meet up on the other side but they were on two boats ahead of Eloise and I. We got back to the hotel very tired and I finished packing whilst everyone else went to bed.

Saturday 23rd October, 1999

Our last day - so much to do, so little time! We checked out and asked if we could store our suitcases as our little car was overflowing. For the first time this trip our hotel decided to be nice and comply with our wishes.

We had a breakfast p.s. at 1900 Park Faire for 9 am and arrived just in time to be seated. This was a great breakfast. We ate heaps and all the characters were great although Peter thought Alice seemed a little stuck up. There is something so nice about someone else cooking breakfast for you.

I really wanted to see the Wilderness Lodge so that was our next stop. This place is so pretty. Eloise played on the beach for a while and then we dusted her off and got back in the car.

We headed straight for Disney/MGM as Cassie and I were dying to try Rock n Roller Coaster. We went straight to it and only had a ten minute wait. As we got settled into our limo the fear set in. The start on this thing is awesome. I think we were in shock from the start of the ride so the rest of it didn't faze us at all.

We wanted to ride again but Peter didn't want to wait in the sun with the kids. We did convince him though that we had to try ToT one more time. Cassie and I love this ride.

Next stop The Great Movie Ride so Eloise can see Dorothy one more time. We were right up the front this time and it was a great memory for Eloise to have as her last "Disney" memory. (For this trip anyway).

Since Peter had missed out on the cars at Old Town last week we thought we see if there was anything there this week. Although it was early afternoon there were a few cars for him to look at but I think he was still disappointed. I bought a car t-shirt for Johnathon and a friends son and we headed back to the hotel to get our luggage. We drove to the airport, returned the car, got charged heaps of money for insurance we are positive we did not request and made our way to check in. Check in took us ages as it seemed that we would not be sitting together on the flight from LA to home. This is a thirteen hour flight and I think its pretty stupid to separate a family with small children on a plane flight like this. The nice guy checking us in could do nothing to rectify the situation so we thought we'd try again in LA. We got take away for dinner and boarded our flight. Eloise fell asleep straight away and Peter and Johnathon curled up together and followed suite. When we changed planes in LA Peter and Cassie were sitting near the window a woman was on the aisle and Eloise and I were on the other side of the aisle. Although we asked her the woman did not want to swap with one of us. So she had to put up with Johnathon being passed back and forth.

Monday 25th October, 1999

Great things about the trip:

Meeting Cassidy Toner and her family. Her mum and I have talked quite a bit via email and even though we only saw them for a short time it was worth the effort. (I hope they think so too!) If you read this Aileen - Where are you? I have lost email contact!
The sit down meals we had especially Jungle Jims, Chef Mickey's and the Garden Grill. The Rainforest Café and Mama Melrose's ran a very close second.
Watching Johnathon attack characters, especially Chip and Dale.
The time my husband let me spend by myself in the parks. To wander around without pushing a pram was bliss.
Disappointments:

The Howard Johnson Maingate East.
We didn't eat as many fudge covered Oreos as we wanted to.
I would have liked to meet more people - maybe next time.
What will we change next time?

Since we have been back for 7 months we have started planning our next trip. (Remember we have to save for 5 years) This time we will stop in San Francisco for 3 days to break up the trip, spend 4 days in Washington DC, hire a car and spend 5 days driving through the south ending at Vero Beach. Stay 2 nights to rest and then hit WDW for 17 nights. Peter really wants to see New York so he will probably take one of the kids and fly from Orlando to NY City for two nights during our time at WDW. I wonder if I can convince him to take both?

Next trip: October 2003 - Just 3.5 years away!

Sandie Morthen

smorthen@fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au

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