Trip Reports

Introduction

Participants: Me - Sheri (37), the planner and an accountant at an insurance firm, Disney fanatic; Rich (39), my wonderful husband and a configuration manager with a software developer, avid collector; Chris (17), our son and typical teenager, huge fan of "Star Wars" and "Star Trek" (has his own web site devoted to it).
When: June 15 - 27, 1999
How: Airline from Omaha, NE
Last time: October, 1998 for me and husband (see our last report on this site for details on that trip); June, 1996 for all three of us. Rich and I have been at the World eight times and Chris has been there six times.
Where: Offsite, The Boardwalk Villas (finally - see the hotel section for our saga)
Why and How I Wrote this Report

Why - I wrote a report last October. It probably was the best thing I have done to preserve a vacation. I go back and re-read it all the time. It's a great way to re-live the vacation. I will include a ton of detail, especially prices. I love reading trip reports that have that kind of detail so that's how I write mine. I also use the report to do a listing of what we spent. I'm doing this firstly for myself so if I tend to give you more details than you want, remember I'll be the one sharing this with my grandkids in twenty (or thirty, or however long it takes Chris to find his perfect person) years. And you can always skip the stuff that bores you.

How - I'm using a Macintosh PowerBook to do this one. The last time I hand wrote the report and then retyped it into Word. But this trip is thirteen days so I think I would have writer's cramp if I tried it the pencil way.

Background and Miscellaneous Planning Information

Timing - because of work and school concerns (taking a 17 year old out of high school in his junior year does not work well), we can only go to the World in late June and late August. I'd love to go the first week in June since Chris gets out of school in late May but work just prevents that. So we go when we can and put up with the crowds and compensate since there is so much going on and all the parks are open late. I have a lot more vacation time than Rich does and, since I'm the Disney "geek" (Rich's and Chris' words), I will be going down three days earlier than the guys and staying offsite. I'll use this time to explore Disney. I have a tentative itinerary and it includes walking around Animal Kingdom, Discovery Island, getting pressed pennies, going to Belz Outlets, and finding out if Blizzard Beach is a better water park than Typhoon Lagoon. By the time the first three days are done, I'll be missing the guys and will probably appreciate their presence a lot more.

The Great Hotel Saga - we've stayed both onsite and offsite on our trips. After the first time we stayed onsite, I decided we'd never stay offsite if we could help it. Our family is small enough that we can enjoy the value and moderate hotels with no problem. I always figured the deluxe places were way out of our league. But I was to be proved wrong. The following is the intense planning I went through in getting my hotels lined up. Yes, my sanity was being questioned by the time it was all over.

Scenario #1 - the original plan

I made the reservation for the entire 9 nights at Dixie way back in May, 1998 at $149/night. At this time, I wasn't going for the first three days by myself. I was a die hard Dixie Landings fan and Dixie is great for the secluded feeling in Alligator Bayou. At Dixie, I requested the same room we had back in 1996. I would settle for the same building - number 27. Excellent location to everything. A bit of a walk to the buses but we don't mind.

Scenario #2 - el cheapo trip

After we went in October and had such a good reaction to All Star, I called and made another 9 night reservation for All Star Music at $99/night (I still wasn't going early). All Star is great for the value for the money. Rich is very conservative with money (OK, he's cheap) so he wanted the whole trip at All Star. I wanted to split the time between the two hotels, staying the first half at All Star and the last half at Dixie. With the two long reservations, I could have time to decide what to do. At All Star, I requested Country Fair. This is the building the furtherest away from the food court and bus stop. This is where we stayed in October. We wanted the quietest place we could get. It's not that we don't like children (OK, Chris calls them short, pointy headed humans but he's 17 and what does he know?) but we want a relaxing vacation. The walk from Country Fair isn't that bad and it's a very nice walk by the pools.

Scenario #3 - romance takes a bow

I read a trip report of how the hot tub at Port Orleans is separate from the pool area so I made a reservation for the last three nights there at $149/night. I thought we could do three nights at All Star, three nights at Dixie, and three nights at Port Orleans. I figured the first three days we'd be going through the theme parks, the second three days we'd be a little more relaxed and visit the water parks and we'd have more down time at the room. The last three days would be the most relaxed and I've heard Port Orleans is a romantic place and Rich and I will probably need that by this time. We've never stayed at Port Orleans so I thought it would be a nice change for us. I didn't request anything specific at Port Orleans because I haven't ever stayed there before. However, I will probably request something the week before we leave. It just depends on my mood at the time.

Scenario #4 - I get to go early!

I will be staying offsite the first three nights since I can get a hotel room for less than $40 just for me (thank you Brian Bennett for your offsite hotel room reviews - check out this excellent resource if you want to stay offsite). The offsite hotel I booked through www.previewtravel.com in late January. I went through every single hotel option in Kissimmee. I wanted the Irlo Bronson Highway (aka Highway 192) rather than International Drive. We've done the I-Drive thing and I just think it's more congested. I could be wrong and the first three days will prove it one way or another. I just wanted a cheap motel room with no amenities whatsoever. I knew I'd be by myself so I didn't need a lot of extra stuff. Just a bed would do. I surfed a lot over three days and finally found a Rodeway Inn at 4736 West Irlo Bronson Highway for $31.50 a night. My limit for the whole three nights was $100 or less. Just made it at $94.50 before taxes. I will continue to monitor other alternatives although I think this might be the best I can do. I will check last minute deals before I leave but I'm pretty happy with what I have. The Rodeway Inn has an outdoor pool and everything else a basic place should have. If I want to go swimming, however, I'll head to one of the water parks on Disney property.

Scenario #5 - Chris actually makes sense

The weekend I made my offsite reservations, I was talking with Chris on how we'll be changing rooms a lot. He whined and moaned about it. He said that was one thing he didn't like about our trip to New England last year because we were constantly packing and unpacking. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense. So I decided to cancel Port Orleans, figuring we could always enjoy the hot tub while we were at Dixie Landings since they are sister hotels. We could do the first three nights at All Star and the last six at Dixie. Then I looked at my tentative itinerary. One of the things on there (and the guys are insistent) is Universal Studios the only Monday we'll be there. I did that on purpose. I wanted to get it out of the way (I hate going offsite once I'm on the Disney property) but I didn't want to go on the weekend. If we spent just the first three nights at All Star, we'd have to check out and in to Dixie the same day we'd be going to Universal. The new plan became four nights at All Star and 5 nights at Dixie. Keeping up with me yet?

Scenario #6 - maybe he's not so cheap after all

I decided to call CRO every Monday morning at 6:00 AM (CST) to see if I could score some Annual Passport rates (thanks to Deb Wills site to let me know those rates were available). I called and they didn't have anything for Dixie but the cast member said that they did have rates for Wilderness Lodge, Boardwalk, Contemporary, and Disney Institute. I figured Wilderness Lodge was the least expensive alternative so I just innocently asked what the rate was. $164 for a woods view. It's not cheaper than the $149 regular rate at Dixie so I said that we'll just keep what we have. I mentioned the rate in passing to Rich. I went to work as normal and then got an email from Rich asking me if I booked Wilderness Lodge yet! I immediately called him to see if an alien had taken up residence in his body but he very calmly pointed out that if we did All Star the first four nights and Wilderness Lodge the last five, we would only spend $75 more. So me, the accountant, does a spreadsheet that lists all the options and what the prices are (including 11% in taxes) and what all the options save us. I made another 9 night reservation at the Wilderness Lodge at the AP rate. I flooded Rich with all the benefits of staying in one place and really hyped Wilderness Lodge. I finally convinced Rich to Wilderness Lodge for all 9 nights.

Scenario #7 - Hopes and wishes really do come true at Disney

The day I finally got Rich to commit to Wilderness for the entire time, I found out just why I married this wonderful man. After he said Wilderness was fine (remember, I thought he was cheap), he said "why don't you find out if there's any other Annual Passport rates for, like, the Beach Club". I have been wanting to stay at the Beach Club forever but knew it was way out of our league. I just laughed and said that once he saw the prices, he'd understand why I thought the Wilderness was our best bet. Once again, I got up at 6:00 AM and called CRO. My world changed.

CRO quoted these prices: Contemporary for $149/night (standard room in a wing), Boardwalk Villas (studio suite) and Boardwalk Inn (standard room) for $169/night, Polynesian for $189/night. I just about fell off my chair! I really wanted to stay in the Epcot resort area because we intend to spend a lot of time at Epcot and MGM. We rode by the Contemporary last October and really liked the quietness of the rooms in the wings. But a suite at the Boardwalk Villas for only $5/night more than Wilderness Lodge? It has a queen bed, a foldout double bed, and a child's bed. It has a refrigerator and a microwave. I booked it. After I hung up, I went into the kitchen and just about cried. This is my dream come true - to see and enjoy Disney World and get pampered at a luxury hotel. I went upstairs to tell Rich and my voice was shaking. He told me to calm down and I said that he just didn't understand how great this was. I didn't walk at all at work - I floated. I'm going through a pretty rough time at work right now and this makes it all worth while. Now I can get through anything - I'm staying at The Boardwalk Villas for 9 nights in June. Rich earns extra points for being a terrific husband and I already have a couple of Beanie Babies lined up to get for him as a thank you. Ladies, your husbands can surprise the daylights out of you.

Price Check - the hotel situation that I stayed with the longest (for about a month) was the four nights at All Star and the five nights at Dixie. Total cost, including taxes, was $1,266.51 (remember, I'm an accountant). The Boardwalk is $1,688.31 with taxes. So we're spending $421.80 more for the entire nine days or $46.88/day extra. Well worth it in my opinion.

That's it for the hotels. I am so happy to be staying at The Boardwalk. I was going to call this section of the report "As the Hotel Turns" but it turned into a happy ending. Now it proves that A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes.

Tickets - Rich and I bought Premium Annual Passports before we left last October. We received our vouchers in the mail a week after I called and had absolutely no problems turning them in for the tickets or using the biometers. We didn't use the water park or pleasure park (Discovery Island, Pleasure Island) feature last year but I did the Premium pass because I knew the prices would go up before June. As it turns out when we presented our vouchers, we had to sign that we pre-bought them because the price had already gone up $21/each. I don't know what we're going to do with Chris. I can get him a 7 day hopper and then one extra day for cheaper than it would cost for a 9 night/10 day LOS. And Chris has one day left on a 5 day hopper from back in 1994. I called CRO to find out what I needed to do to "cash" in that extra day. The girl was totally clueless. So I emailed Disney with all my options and asked them what I could do. I did get an answer within three days and all I had to do was just present the extra day to get a trade in. But we'd be stuck with just one park for each of the two days so we'd lose the option of park hopping for a couple of days. That isn't a problem as we can easily schedule one day to do nothing but Epcot or MGM. And there's tons of non-park stuff to do after we hit the one park of the day. Now that we're at The Boardwalk, I'm very tempted to just suck it up and get the Length of Stay pass so Chris can enjoy free roam of Epcot (Innoventions) and MGM (Tower of Terror and Star Tours) whenever he wants.

Rental car - We are renting a car. The Disney transportation is great and we have stayed there without a rental car. However, I'll be staying offsite and we'll be doing offsite stuff (Chris is so determined to go to Universal). We also will need to stop by a grocery store on occasion. Rich needs Diet Coke first thing in the morning and Chris drinks nothing but regular Coke and I'm not paying a ton of money in the parks or at the hotel for it. I'll reserve a compact car with Dollar and then try and upgrade while we're there. We'll either use the Rita Aero's coupon or hope they are sold out of compacts. We rented a compact car last October and it was fine with lots of luggage space but just no bells or whistles like automatic locks or windows.

I rented a compact car in late January over the internet at www.dollar.com. I checked my travel site for a rate and was quoted $139.99/week or $279.98 for the two weeks I'll be there. The Dollar web site quoted me $125.00/week and $25.99/day for the extra five days for a total of $254.95. I used the rate code of "tag" and that was the cheapest of all the rate codes. It was funny because I decided to check out the rates on the intermediate cars and "tag" was more expensive than the other rate codes! Do your homework and check all options.

Money - I have saved for this trip for two years. I have a special savings account and I have a designated amount going out of my paycheck every period. We also put all spare change in a jar and deposit it occasionally. Additionally, any "unexpected" money goes in there as well (Christmas bonus, insurance refund, etc.) I keep track of deposits (and, unfortunately, withdrawals). I used that fund to pay for the Premium Annual Passports. I initially put the passes on a credit card and then when the bill came the next month, I transferred the appropriate amount. I also have a Magic Kingdom Club card that we use extensively. My company provides free membership (check with your Human Resource Department - all it took was one employee asking and we got the free membership) so it's a great deal for us. With adding the Boardwalk, there's no way I'll have everything saved for but at least I'll have a large chunk of it.

Touring - I learned a lot on our trip last October. I'm not going to do the commando mode I usually do. Too many people do that and it just brings all the rest of the party down. I do have the luxury to being there for a long time and know where everything is (except Animal Kingdom) so I won't be taking a lot of time trying to find things. I will know the early entry days and we'll probably do the "day after early entry" touring plan. But we will sleep in as late as we want (ever try and get a 17 year old up while on vacation?). I'm going to try and do non-park things until about 2:00 PM (like Fantasia mini golf, Village Marketplace, hotel hopping, swimming at the hotel, offsite stuff). Then, we'll go to the park(s) of our choice. We can enjoy a nice late lunch (we have weird eating habits) and then do the touring while everyone else is heading home after their day. I do anticipate a lot of time at MGM and Epcot and not as much at Magic Kingdom. Animal Kingdom is a big question mark since it'll be just a year old when we go back. Asia will be open and I loved It's Tough to be a Bug and Countdown to Extinction when we saw them in October. Chris has never been to AK and he loves animals so it's a must but we'll just take it in small doses. This is our last family vacation - Chris will be off at college soon and we will be entering another phase of our lives. I don't want anything to interfere with all that. I want pleasant memories like last October when Rich and I never argued or even disagreed for one instant (after over 17 years together, how better can life get?). That will take a lot of understanding and communication. We can do this.

Luggage, Souvenirs, etc. - We will be bringing a lot of stuff from home for this trip. A box of wine (for me), beer (for Rich), Diet Cokes (Rich), Cokes (Chris and me), champagne (Rich and me), candy (all of us), breakfast items (all of us). We usually bring plastic plates and utensils but we won't need them with the Villa. Thanks again to Deb Wills site for a comprehensive list of what to expect in the room. Last October, Rich and I enjoyed a mimosa in the room before we went out touring and it quickly became a habit on trips. We'll buy the orange juice down there. I'll also pack a couple of extra carry on bags. Based on our last trip, we will need it for the souvenirs we will buy.

Food - I will make priority seatings before we leave home. I check Deb Wills site for menus since Chris is a very picky eater. We usually just do one meal a day and we try and make it count. Brian Bennett just added restaurant reviews to his trip report site and I will be checking that often. I did "repay" Brian for this - I sent him a ton of my own restaurant reviews! We already have our Hoop De Doo Musical Review reservations. We will be going for the 7:30 show the last Friday night we are there. We had such a blast the time we went in June of 1996. It has become a must for our family Disney vacations. Unfortunately, this probably will be our last family vacation (unless Chris' future family sees this - they are not even in the picture yet but someday they might read this).

Airline - Getting out of Omaha can be ridiculous. Prices are terrible unless you are persistent and keep checking the internet for deals. Midwest Express has begun non-stop flights and I will definitely check them repeatedly. So far, we would have to leave at 6:00 AM. We love Midwest Express and are willing to get up at 4:00 AM just to fly them. If anyone at Midwest Express ever reads this, get in touch with us and we'll swear testimonials to your fabulous service. We flew Delta last October and had no problems but we'll try for Midwest Express this time. At this time Midwest Express is $317/person. In October, we flew for $212/person. I can wait for the fare to come down. The rest of the airlines are just as bad - $282/person is the best I can do. Based on experience, I think the fares will come down fairly soon. I won't pay more than $250/person. I check the travel site twice a day (morning and evening) for deals.

Planning - I started planning this vacation a year in advance. I really got into it after we came back from Disney in October. Usually, my passion is satisfied for a while after I get back, but that wasn't the case this time. I think the opposite was in effect - I got more into it after we came back! I can't thank enough the wonderful folks who maintain web sites dedicated to Walt Disney World. I checked Brian Bennett's site daily and read every single trip report on there. My guys thought I was nuts but I learned so much from people who experienced the best places for parades, the best seats for attractions, the best restaurants, etc. My thanks to Brian and Barbara and Allan (of course) for the site. My thanks to everyone who writes a report. I will soon need a second binder for all the reports I've printed out! I did go back and print out every report from anyone who stayed at Boardwalk so I know what to expect. (Side note to Barbara Bennett - I based my selections on your report on May, 1998 - sounded liked you loved your room). I also used Deb Wills site extensively for menus and the update section (I practically memorized all the rest of it!). I lurked in RADP as much as I could and tried to steer clear of some of the debates going on in there. I think Kevin Stringer was right when he said you all could be family with all the arguing you do! And the hours and ticket information posted on TUDLP were wonderful. It is true that there is better information available on the unofficial sites than there is on the official one.

Ch-ch-ch-changes since the pre planning report was posted

I called CRO again at 6:00 AM on a Monday and switched my deposits at Dixie and Port Orleans ($150/each) over to the Boardwalk. I also cancelled our All Star reservation. I made the reservation using the Disney credit card so nothing was actually on deposit. I didn't do anything with the Wilderness Lodge since I hadn't put anything on that and I knew it would expire within the 21 days of the reservation.

I asked Rich what kind of view he wanted from our room. He said "out onto the Boardwalk with the Ball in the background". I said I could do that. I called CRO again at 6:00 AM on a Monday and asked for a boardwalk view. The CM said it would be an additional $100 for the stay but I gladly upgraded. We went to New England last summer and spent two fabulous nights people watching from our shared balcony at our hotel in Plymouth, MA. It was 3-4 hours per night that Rich and I were together with no other thing to do than talk and relax. With our busy lives, this is needed to keep the magic alive. Chris will probably take his Nintendo 64 along on the trip so he can play to his heart's content while Rich and I are out people watching.

I decided to re-check to car rental rates and managed to get a $115/week rate using the "kiss" rate code. Rich was not impressed about the $25 savings but that knocks off just a little bit more off the vacation. I have learned to never accept the deal you currently have - there could be a better deal available with just one phone call or one trip out on the internet. And I continued to check on the rates. I snagged a $118/week rate for an intermediate car with just a bit more trunk space so I did yet another cancellation and another reservation. I tried for a full size but it was $48 more per week. And I continued to check on the rates. The intermediate rate fell to $112/week so I made yet another reservation and cancelled the other one. The full size rate was still higher than what we wanted to pay so we'll stick with the intermediate.

I slowly began the process of seeing as many Disney videos as I could before we left. Chris, of course, thought it was stupid and resisted my attempts. Rich and I have an outdoor hot tub and we drag out a TV/VCR combination for diversion. So I could work in a Disney video now and again. Seeing the movies again was important for all the different attractions since I was concerned Rich and Chris could follow the story lines. I knew it was a lost cause with Chris "Give Me a Thrill Ride or Give Me Death" but I could persuade Rich. I think he'll appreciate it. And it actually gave me a chance to watch "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" for the first time. Now I wish the attraction was back.

I caved in on the airfare. A friend's travel agent advised that airfares were due to go up and then a newspaper article supported that advice. So I used Preview Travel again and made the airline reservations at $292 each with Midwest Express. Ouch! We leave Omaha at 6:00 AM, have a 1/2 hour layover in Milwaukee and get into Orlando at 11:30. I'll be on the 15th, the guys will be on the 18th. We will all leave together on the 27th at 1:00 with a direct flight back to Omaha. The times work out perfectly for us and we're happy to be flying Midwest Express again. I think the airline is a lot like Disney in that you know you'll get good service and a good value. Of course, three days after I made the reservations, the rates went down! But we're happy with what we have so we'll take it. I think I've cut costs in other areas to justify the rate we have.

I have to adjust my tentative itinerary for my first three days. Discovery Island closed! I'm very disappointed. I really wanted to capture it on videotape. It was always a favorite of mine. It was a great place to go to escape the park crowds. And it was one of the few places open during my first trip back in 1977. And I remember our last day of our honeymoon in 1982 was spent on Discovery Island. I remember because the weather had been great until that day. Then it turned very cold and everyone was unprepared. We froze in our shorts and summer tops. But we still had a great time. It's a shame since Discovery Island was the island that convinced Walt Disney to buy the property. I hope Disney opens up something that everyone can enjoy.

I came up with an idea to get the guys involved in the planning of the trip. I devised a booklet with an introduction, an itinerary, room layout, hotel FAQs, priority seating restaurant menus, operating hours of the theme parks, a "must do" list, and a copy of my pre planning report. The guys have to fill out the "must do" list so everyone is aware of everyone's expectations. This is pretty important. The last time we went as a family, I was very surprised that Chris wanted to do The Great Movie ride several times. It was my first clue that he was that into movies.

The booklet turned out to be very successful. The "must do" list was a very big help. I found out neither one of the guys wanted to go to Tom Sawyer's Island and that was one thing I wanted to videotape. So I added it to my solo three days. And I won't have to worry about renting water sprites - it was a "no way, Jose" on both lists. I did find out Rich maybe wants to rent a canoe so that goes on the list for September if we stay at Fort Wilderness Cabins. I compiled everyone's results (including my own) and then everyone knew where everyone else ranked the attractions. So now everyone is on the same page with expectations.

A couple of months before the trip I made the most important arrangements of the trip. Cat sitting. We have an adorable cat, Todd, that is part of our family. We haven't had very good experiences with pets and vacations since pets are an important part of the family and they miss us so much while we're gone (and vice versa). I was insistent that Todd stay in the house and not have to visit any friends or cat hotels (he can't be around other cats because he's a carrier of a deadly disease). I think it will make the whole process less stressful for Todd. I ended up hiring a friend of Chris', John, to come in twice a day for at least one hour per visit. John will feed Todd, change the litter, and generally just make Todd know that a human is there. John will also check to make sure that the house is safe and secure. And a car in the driveway is a good idea. For this, I get away with the unbelievably low rate of $75 for the entire 10 days the guys will be gone. Actually, I will probably bump that up once we are back but it was enough to get John committed to the cat sitting. Any amount of money we pay is worth it so Todd doesn't get upset that we are gone.

I called sixty days in advance for each of our priority seatings. I was well versed in the "this is not a reservation but a priority seating which means you will be seated at the next available table for a party of your size" line. I decided to treat myself to a couple of restaurants that the guys would never get into. So I'm in at the California Grill my first night there. What better way to start the vacation with a terrific view of Disney? And I also lined up a lunch at the Brown Derby. After all this planning, I darn well deserve this!

And I changed my offsite hotel. I was very happy with the Rodeway Inn but it was about 10 miles from the Maingate. Since I didn't want to have to drive by myself at night, I knew I needed to leave the parks around 8 or 9 to get back to the hotel before full dark. I kept trying different discounted web sites but couldn't get any great rates. I followed link after link after link. Thanks to go2orlando.com, I got a rate of $39/night at the Econolodge Hawaiian Maingate which is just 1 mile from Magic Kingdom. So I cancelled the Rodeway Inn and was happy I was a little closer. And then someone on RADP posted that they got a $29 rate at the same hotel and provided a link to the site (thanks to whoever did that - I was so excited, I never wrote down the name). I actually had to pick up the phone and call the Econolodge but I managed to get the $29/night rate.

Dedications

This might seem a bit odd for a trip report but I feel that I have to write a dedication or two for all this.

This is for Rich for putting up with all my late nights on the internet. I was lurking in RADP, reading the trip reports, and emailing left and right. He put up with me getting up in the middle of the night and very early mornings because I couldn't sleep. Thank you, dear, for your patience.

And this is also for Adrienne. These trip reports have made me a new friend and I'm very grateful. Since I first posted this, Adrienne and I have emailed each other just about every day. When the countdown for me became less than a month, I think we did more than once a day. So for Adrienne, who writes dedications for her books, here's one for you. Thank you for your friendship, your advice, and your companionship. Without you, I would have never gotten through the last couple of months. And I'm here for you since your trip is in August. Thank you for everything.

The Trip Report

I hope you have prepared yourself for a long report. At this writing (six days before I leave) we still have a lot to be decided. We're still talking Islands of Adventure versus the Universal Studios. I plan to meet with a former co-worker for lunch on my solo three days although that will be decided later. And we're scheduled to meet with a former co-worker of Rich's on our last night for drinks and possibly dinner. Both these families live in the Omaha area so it's really strange we're all going to be there around the same time. Hang on to your hats, here we go.....

Day One - Tuesday, June 15, 1999

How can anyone sleep the night before vacation? I went to bed at 8:00, fully intending to get eight hours of sleep. An hour later, I'm awake, trying to remember if I packed everything. An hour after that, I gave up and went downstairs and watched "Cheers" reruns with Rich. Following that, I slept restlessly but woke up when the alarm went off at 4:00 AM. Did my morning routine and then Rich got up since he's taking me to the airport. Says a lot for a husband to get up that early and not even be going on the trip! To the airport by 5:05. Yes, two grown adults can get up and drive to the airport in just one hour.

Check in with Midwest Express took about 15 minutes but the lines kept growing behind me. Glad I insist on being there an hour before departure. We left the gate exactly on time at 6:00 and the flight was not full at all. I didn't have a seatmate. The flight into Milwaukee was only 55 minutes so I just sat back and relaxed. Breakfast consisted of a blueberry bagel and a cup of fruit. And a glass of champagne. The only way to fly!

Milwaukee was uneventful and we left there on time at 7:45 AM. This flight was full and I ended up being in the middle of a very extended family that did not have very much fly time. There were five kids and four adults and none of them knew what the flight attendant call button was or how to put the seats back. It was kind of funny but kind of annoying as they were pretty loud. One of the dads sat with me so I got a front row seat to all the silliness. I started reading Adrienne's first book and really was getting into it when breakfast was served. This time it was fresh fruit and a container of cereal. Plus three mini muffins. And more champagne. I thought for sure that the dad would scoff at the champagne but he joined right in. Then he introduced himself as Greg and his fiancée as Linda. We started talking and ended up chatting for the next two hours. It turns out that this was only his second flight and half the kids were on their first flight. I shared some of my Disney knowledge with Linda. She wanted to know if they had the Main Street Parade every night. Last time they went (1992), it was in off season and they only had it one night. She was very happy to hear that not only was it every night, but twice a night. So thank you Greg and Linda for making the last two hours go by faster.

We landed on time and spent some time waiting for our gate to clear. Greg and I both remarked that all the kids on the plane (and, of course, there were a lot) were so very well behaved. No temper tantrums, no screaming, no crying at all. Very nice flight. Went to baggage claim and just like last time, my bag was the last one off. Never fails. Went down to Dollar and had the strangest experience.

The line wasn't that bad and I was pleased that they added more reps as the line got longer. I was finally helped. I had made and cancelled three reservations before I finally settled on the fourth one. They had the first three and not the last one! But that wasn't the strange experience. While I was being helped, a guy came just about running in from returning his car and he approached the counter (went around everyone waiting in line). In a very loud tone he accused my rep of lying to him. The guy insisted on speaking to a supervisor and set up at the station next to mine. All the while my rep is trying to figure out what happened to my reservation, this guy is loudly calling him a liar as he's talking to the supervisor. The supervisor was getting irritated as well since this guy just went on and on and on. It seemed that my rep had rented this guy a car fairly recently. One of the charges is for a full tank of gas. You have the option of returning it full or partially full or empty. If you return it full, you are supposed to get a refund of the gas charge. Well, this guy returned it half full and they didn't deduct the charge. That all happened at the return place and my rep had nothing to do with it! The supervisor said she would take the entire tank of gas off this guy's bill but he just kept it up. The supervisor then said that maybe there was a miscommunication. The guy said, "you're saying I'm wrong here?". Boy, it was a mess. My rep went over and tried to explain what he told the guy but the guy wasn't interested. And then the guy did the one thing I really don't like in these situations. He said he was a lawyer and he was certainly going to make sure he sued everyone. Now, realize that I received the same information as this guy and was pointed out what the gas cost. $13.44! All this for $14! After the guy finally left, my rep and the supervisor apologized to me for all the fuss. Yes, the guy had every right to challenge his charges but not the way he did. I had a bad experience with a rental car company (who shall remain nameless) and I wrote a letter of explanation. I got a credit on my bill afterwards. No fuss, no bother.

After the fireworks, I went and got my car. It's a very strange color so I'm sure I won't have any problem finding it. It's kind of like a burgundy purple. Once Rich gets here, I'll ask him what car color it is. (Turns out it's called Pearl and it's nothing like a typical pearl). It's a Dodge Stratus and should be fine for our needs. I spent about five minutes getting the car cooled down and taking stock of what was where. I headed out the Greeneway and made it to my hotel with no problems. Paid $2.25 in tolls.

I'm at the Econolodge Hawaiian Resort and I was able to check in around 1:00. The guy before me in line was told to come back at 4:00 for his room. This place is very nice and I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone staying offsite. It's very convenient to the parks and the rooms as well as the grounds are very nice. It's an older place but it seems to work here. There's a nice sized pool and a small hot tub (limit 4 people). They also have a laundry, gift shop, restaurant, and deli. There's also a rental car place on the property. There's about 400 rooms so it's pretty spread out with just two floors. I'm on the first floor, about 2 rooms from the lobby. I don't have a door that opens onto the parking lot. So, for a single female traveler, it can't get any better than that. I don't know if that was done on purpose but I didn't request anything special. My room looks out on to a courtyard with tables and chairs. I'm well away from the pool so I won't have to deal with that noise.

The room is slightly smaller than ones I'm used to but that's OK. I have two double beds, two dressers (the TV is on one of them), and a table and chairs. There's also an in room safe which I am using for the first time. And the deli also will prepare to go lunches for you to take to the parks. And all this for $29/night! I'm very happy with this place.

Unloaded the car and got things organized in the room. Called Rich to let him know I arrived safely. I am using a cell phone where we are supposed to have free long distance so I used that to call him at work. I had to go outside to get the connection and the first thing Rich asked was "what's wrong?" since he wasn't expecting the call. Around 2:30, I headed out for Disney.

I had a priority seating at the California Grill for later that night (did I make it?) so I parked at the Contemporary. This was a first time experience. We usually take the bus everywhere except to Downtown Disney. I parked (no problem with the gate guard) and took the walkway over to Magic Kingdom. I ended up seeing so many new things that I kept stopping and taking pictures. You can't get a better picture of Space Mountain than by taking the walkway from Contemporary. Went through the Magic Kingdom turnstiles and had no problems with the biometers. I was a little afraid of them since I hadn't used them since last October. The only glitch was this guy who was talking on a cell phone and not paying any attention to the ticket people. He even went up to a closed aisle and tried to put his ticket through. The attendant took the ticket and put it through an open aisle and he had no clue - he just kept talking on the phone. Isn't this guy on vacation? Couldn't he finish his conversation before he went through the turnstile? Oh well, I'm on vacation too so I'll let it pass.

My mission today was to get pressed pennies if I could but not to go out of my way. And to videotape Tom Sawyer's Island since Rich and Chris don't want to do that. Well, I arrived on Main Street around 3:00. What happens everyday on Main Street around that time? Yep, the parade. So I went through the shops and headed over to Adventureland. Hum, it's kind of hot. I haven't had anything to eat since breakfast. There's the Aloha Isle. My first Dole Whip. Cost $2.25. Sat at the tables next door and just relaxed for a while.

Continued just walking through Magic Kingdom and looking at everything. The lines were pretty long. Splash Mountain was 60 minutes. So I just took pictures. Tom Sawyer's Island's line was long and the line coming back looked even longer so I decided I'd do the videotaping another time. I did get some really nice shots of the Liberty Square Riverboat with Splash Mountain in the background. I went into some of the shops to cool off. They are now selling these neat Snack Kits for around $5.00. It has water, juice, snacks, etc. in a little plastic lunch box. I can just see kids clamoring for them now! I also found the Frontierland beanies for Rich. I didn't buy them - I want him to have that pleasure.

I just continued walking and looking and found myself in Mickey's Toontown Fair. Another first. Nothing much going on there (Mickey and Minnie were not there - probably because of the parade). But I started getting heat sick. I sat down in the shade for a while and thought about what to do. Silly me didn't bring my water bottle because I figured it would be a quick trip. Lesson learned. That bottle will never leave my side! The water fountains were surprisingly cool and I could have filled the thing up whenever I wanted. Don't think you can go without water - you can't. Unless you're a camel.

After I felt semi-OK, I decided to see how the Tomorrowland Transit Authority looked. Walked right on. I even had a car to myself. This was probably the best thing I did all day! I even thought about getting off and getting right back on it! This is a really nice 10 minute break from the crowds and the heat. I thought about doing Buzz Lightyear but decided to enjoy it for the first time with Chris and/or Rich, the video kings. Alien Encounter looked manageable but I decided to pass. Then I went to the garden area between Tomorrowland and Main Street and sat for a while. At this point, I decided to cancel the California Grill. I know I'll regret it but I really didn't want a big meal since I was so hot. So I walked through the shops on the other side of Main Street on the way out.

When I got close to the train station, Mickey and friends were performing on the platform. The railroad itself was down so maybe that's why - I never saw any of the characters perform up there. I stopped to watch for a bit but it ended right after I got there. The characters set up autograph lines and I decided to leave. And then I looked at my watch. I am so glad I did.

It was 4:55. I heard so many wonderful things about the Flag Retreat so I staked out a place. It wasn't very hard to do as not too many people know this is going to happen. All I can say is WOW! The band is great. Such precision and talent. I knew what was going on and saw the veteran before the ceremony. This older tourist became a solider before my eyes. He went into the train station bent over a little but when he came out, he was at full attention. When the Star Spangled Banner was played, I stood up but many stayed seated. You know, there are other places than sporting events when you're supposed to honor your country. And I had forgotten about the doves! What a wonderful, wonderful event and one that every family should see together. Just don't forget to stand during your National Anthem. And I am definitely going to see it at least one more time this trip and I will never do a trip without seeing it. Definite Disney magic.

I decided to end my visit on this high note so I left Magic Kingdom to head over to the Contemporary. I decided to use the monorail for some air conditioning. And I wanted to walk around the Contemporary since I'm toying with the idea of staying there next June. I checked out the restaurant level and found out that Chef Mickey's is not going to be a place we're going to visit soon. I'm sure it's great for the kids but we don't have any anymore. The noise level and participation would be too much for us. I did check out the Concourse Steakhouse since we have a priority seating there (I will keep that one). That's more our kind of place. I looked at the Outer Rim lounge and almost went for a glass of wine but decided I'd rather get back to the room. I did walk outside and checked out the pool area and the garden views. I decided that the Contemporary would be a place I wouldn't mind staying at.

I drove off property (boo hoo) and decided to go to Goodings on 192 for a pre made sandwich to take back to the room. But I found a Subway instead. The slowest Subway in the history of "fast" food. There was only one guy in front of me but it took forever. There were two woman making the sandwiches but I just don't think they were communicating very well. The one woman was more interested in telling me where to get the best liquor since she was insisting that I needed a shot since I looked tired. I finally got out of there with a sandwich and headed back to the room (cost of $4.48).

So I just relaxed in the room, did the trip report, and watched a nice thunderstorm come rolling through. The total time I was actually on Disney property? About three hours. I managed to walk all the way through Magic Kingdom and check out Contemporary. All in all, a great first day. I'm sure I will sleep good tonight.

Day Two - Wednesday, June 16, 1999

And I did sleep good. I stayed in bed until after 9:00. I managed to ignore the outside noises and the kids running up and down outside. I got up and then decided to read a little more (Adrienne's book really hooked me in) and wait until traffic died down and the crowds were dispersed through the parks. I ate the remainder of my sandwich from last night for breakfast. I went to the gift shop and there was a nice selection of souvenirs, food items, and drinks. I did get two postcards and then I just had to buy a Piglet pencil, Piglet change purse, and a Piglet magnet. Total cost was $13.08. I looked into the deli and saw they were during a brisk business for breakfast. One thing that bothered me. A guy was in there in bare feet. There's food in there! Yeck. I know this is casual Florida but no shoes at all?

Around 11:00 I headed out for the tourist info center on International Drive. I wanted to pre-buy our tickets to Universal Studios so we wouldn't have to wait in another line on Monday. I found the center with no problem and, maybe this is my fault, expected to get good service. I walked into the place (quite smaller than I expected it) and went up to the man who was looking at me. I said I would like to get some Universal tickets. He gave me the same info I got with the Orlando MagiCard and then said that "Maria" would help me and pointed towards the back of the room. So I went back to Maria. I said that I wanted one day passes to Universal and I wanted to know if I could use those passes to either the Studios or Islands of Adventure. She said that she had passes to Universal. I said that's fine but there are two parks there. She said she had tickets to Universal. I said does that mean I have my choice of the Studios or Islands of Adventure? She finally said that she could only sell me the Studios tickets and she didn't have Islands of Adventure tickets. Finally! No customer service skills whatsoever. No smiles, no nothing. She just quoted me the price ($132) and took my credit card. Handed over the tickets and that was it. She didn't even ask me if I needed directions or anything else. I will never go to the info center again to pre-buy my tickets. I would take my chances on any of the places on 192 before I'll go back to I-drive again. I got off I-4 at Crossroads in search of a post office. Surprisingly, there were signs right away. If there's one thing that's missing in all that tourist info that's laying around the area, it's practical things like Post Offices and grocery stores. Got my postcard stamps and mailed the two postcards I had bought earlier.

Deciding that I was definitely in the mood for some magic, I decided to drive to Animal Kingdom and spend the day just getting acquainted with the park. I had been there last October but just spent a little bit of time so I was very unfamiliar with the layout. I drove in with no problem and sort of kind of went around the parking cones since there wasn't too much direction in the parking lot. I ended up way to the front of the lot, about two rows from the handicapped parking. I think I was closer there than the resort busses. I'm not sure I was supposed to be there but nothing said I shouldn't be.

Went through the gates and spent quite a bit of time just walking around and looking at the animals. I did see the giant anteater. There was a handler behind me and she was explaining to another family that this was the female anteater. They were trying to get her trained so that after she ate, they would ring a bell and then she would return to her lodgings so the male could come out and eat. The handler said that the female and the male cannot live together and only share quarters during mating season. I held back some of the things I was thinking! Anyway, the female would walk back to her lodgings when the bell rang and then, right when she was ready to enter, she would walk away! She didn't want to leave! So they would ring the bell again and the whole cycle would be repeated. And I walked over to where some birds were (sorry, didn't get the name). I saw where there was some trash in the pond and reflected that maybe Disney standards were getting downgraded. As soon as the thought went into my head, here comes a Cast Member to fish out the intruding piece of trash!

I just continued moving through Animal Kingdom, scoping out everything. I did stop and get my first Mickey Bar ($2) and loved it! This was turning into my kind of day! No hurries or worries. I took a ton of pictures and video taped the tree from various angles. I went back to Kali River Rapids and taped some people coming through. I did enter from the exit but I figured I wasn't riding so it didn't hurt anyone. This ride we definitely have to do! I then walked from Asia to Africa and had the most pleasant experiences. I found the nice, secluded Tree of Life viewing area. I took some videos and pictures and then offered to take a picture of a family with the tree in the background. I decided that I wanted to just take a break and find a beer. I walked over to Africa and walked around there for a while and then went into Tusker House for the brew. I got it and then decided that there was no place better to enjoy a beer than where I was before so I headed back for "my place". I sat there for a while, enjoying the tree and the riverboats floating by. I also took another picture of another family and they were so grateful. And I have to mention something about the riverboats. The waits today were 60 minutes and I knew that was way too long. But the lines were terrible. I could hear the spiel from "my place" and I determined that your ride is like the Jungle Cruise - it's made or broken by your skipper. I heard some skippers encouraging their passengers to yell and then telling them stories about the tree. And then some boats were dead silent.

A few of the things I heard. There is a hidden Mickey on this side of the tree. I saw him. Look right above the hippo's eye. It's upside down but it's there. My first hidden Mickey! One boat was called Otter Nonsense and this skipper told his passengers that the tree was real. I don't know if people were tired or what but no one got it.

So I just sat there and reflected on how peaceful and content everything was. And then the Florida weather came in. It really looked like it was going to get bad so I decided to head back to Tusker House and wait the storm out. I got another beer and then went outside. And then the storm passed! Oh well, take the beer and go back to "my place". And I took yet another picture for a family. I must have spent a couple of hours just relaxing there and thinking how lucky I am with my life. Granted, not everything has been perfect throughout the years but I am so blessed right now.

After I was done with "my place", I headed out and decided to try Epcot. I drove over there and parked very close to the entrance. Once again, I think I was closer than the resort busses. It is a pain to have to drive but I was so late getting to the parks that I was able to get great spaces. Into Epcot. I checked out Spaceship Earth but the line was still queued so I passed. I went through Innoventions to see about sending an internet postcard but the booths were full and I didn't want to wait. So I just kept walking and went to World Showcase. My plan was just to walk all the way around and then head back to the room. Best laid plans.

I went through Canada and just as I was walking through, Off Kilter came out! I'm talking perfect timing! I watched the whole set and video taped quite a bit. I even got some film of a father dancing with both of his daughters. Totally uninhibited reaction to some Disney. This is another repeat performance for me. Rich definitely needs to see this. While I was there, the rain clouds came in again and I decided that most people were going to be heading out. I was right.

I ended up just making it to England. The rains were falling so I grabbed a Bass and a bench and people watched for a long time. The only bad experience I had was when a very large group of people descended on me. That's the only word for it. I was sitting alone on this bench and about 15-20 people decided that they wanted the bench. They totally surrounded me! I know the American way is to have some "personal" space and these people were not American but it just was totally weird. But I waited it out and they eventually left.

I walked back towards the entrance. Yeah, I know, I hardly did anything at Epcot but I'm on vacation! Spaceship Earth was now a walk on so I decided to get "Ironfied" and got my dose of Jeremy. Then I went back to the car. Well, I thought I did. I had really taken notice of where I parked. I really did. But I couldn't find the thing! Panic set in. I thought I'd have to call car care central and have someone search for my car! But then I realized that I was one row behind where I parked! What a terrifying couple of minutes! Be sure you write down exactly where you park. Don't trust your memory at all.

After Epcot, I decided to check out the Disney Institute since there's a strong possibility that we are going to be staying there in September. So I drove over there and told that to the gate guard. He just waved me through with a big smile on his face. I drove and walked around for a while and decided that this could definitely be the place to celebrate my father's 70th birthday.

I left there and drove to Goodings on 192. Yikes at the prices! A 2 liter bottle of Diet Coke was $1.79 compared to $.99 at home. I went back to my plan of yesterday and picked up a pre packaged egg salad with tomato for dinner. $4.49! A regular sandwich was $3.99! I decided then that eating in the parks was going to be my new plan. A little more expensive but at least you get a meal. I remembered the nice looking platters at Tusker House and cursed myself for trying to be frugal.

Came back to the room and called Rich on the cell phone and told him to call me directly at the room. The cell phone is a good idea in an emergency but once it's raining outside and that's the only way you can call, it's not such a good idea. Everything is fine at home and I told Rich that maybe he wanted to re-think not bringing things from home. We've been back and forth on the issue for a couple of weeks and I thought the prices would affect him. No deal. We're going to be contributing a lot to the Florida economy in the next week and a half!

And then the evening was spent watching "The Parent Trap" on the Disney Channel. If I can't get the internal Disney Channel, this is the next best thing. I plan to sleep in tomorrow and then go to Epcot and MGM. One more day on my solo trip. And I do miss the guys. But everyone should do the solo thing just once. To be alone at Animal Kingdom. To tear up at the Flag Retreat. To just sit on a bench with your thoughts.

Stupidest thing I saw today: A very dorky looking guy at Epcot with a T shirt on with huge letters saying "I'm Married, Shoot Me!". This guy was nowhere near Tom Selleck and he had the nerve to wear something like that! And his wife even let him buy it?

Day Three - Thursday, June 17, 1999

I did sleep in and didn't get started until around 11:30. It's very different being by yourself with no one else in the room to disturb you. I drove over to the Boardwalk to check that out before check in tomorrow. I drove up to the gate and said that I was having lunch at the ESPN Club. No problem and the guard wished me a good visit. I think any prior cutbacks on letting people park at the resorts is long gone. I parked after having what I thought was going to be an experience. There was plenty of parking but not very close. I saw a couple of spaces after almost being blindsided by a van. I went around there and so did the van. There were two spaces next to each other so that was OK. I guess the lady in the van thought I was mad so when I got out, she said that should would have never have been that aggressive but she knew there were two spaces. No harm, no foul. I did mark down the space number since I didn't want a repeat of yesterday at Epcot!

I am so glad I went to the Boardwalk before checking in. Saves me the embarrassment of choking up tomorrow morning! We had toured this place before in 1996 but that was way before I even dreamed I could stay here. What a beautiful place! I walked around the grounds and checked out Luna Park. I was worried about the view but I really don't care what I get. This place is just great! I was also concerned about getting food that wasn't sit down in a restaurant but I was pleased to see there's pizza and hot dogs and fries readily available. If you haven't noticed by now, my family likes to eat small portions throughout the day. Sit down meals are great but we usually only do one per day. I also liked the gift shops outside. I know we're going to have a great stay here.

I used the phones outside Luna Park to call Lisa Hobbs, a co-worker. She's a fellow Disney geek and has a trip scheduled for November if she can get good airline rates. She told me to "throw her a bone" if I could by calling while I was there. I had been trying for a couple of days but she wasn't at her desk (she works the IS help desk so she's always out trying to fix other people's problems). I finally connected with her. She asked if I had met up with our friend, Gregg. Gregg and I had planned to meet for lunch today but I thought he was going to call to confirm and he didn't. Lisa said she thought he was going to be at The Land at 1:30. OK, I'll go there for lunch.

I just strolled over to The Land and got there early at 1:00. I was hungry so I decided to get some food and grab a table and wait for Gregg. I had been thinking about a baked potato for a while so that's what I got. Cost with a Coke was $6.05. Much better food than the egg salad last night and only a couple bucks more. I had a long wait for Gregg. I really enjoyed watching the "people dance". I don't think a group stayed longer than fifteen minutes to eat and the tables and stools were going here, going there. I was alone at a table that could easily sit four but I had my stuff kind of scattered around for when Gregg came. A couple of people sat on the table next to me and it was obvious they were waiting for people in the food lines. I thought it was a family of four. Turns out to be a couple of families. That wasn't bad. What I did mind was that Type A Mom came rushing over with a huge tray of food and, noticing that there wasn't enough room on the tables her people were sitting at, set the tray down on my table without a word. I didn't really care but where are your manners? Her pre-teen said to me, "you don't mind, do you?" I told him I didn't and thought the mom should have said a thank you to her son but she didn't even acknowledge his thoughtful gesture. I moved my table over next to the fountain so Gregg's kids could sit along there. I waited until 2:00 and figured we missed each other. In hindsight, just saying "let's meet at The Land food court" isn't a good thing to do. You can easily miss someone. But it was pouring rain so maybe Gregg got hung up. Our deal was that if it happened, it happened, if not, no big deal. (It turned out Gregg's wife didn't have anything scheduled for her conference that day so their family decided to tour MGM. Gregg's piece of paper with my phone number got wet so that's why he didn't call to cancel.)

I did watch the line at the Listen to the Land attraction. It ebbed and flowed all the time. Every time The Circle of Life emptied, the Listen to the Land would get full. If you get there and the line is long, go back.

I left The Land and encountered a steady rain. I went to my original destination - The Living Seas. While looking at my video from 1996, I noticed I had nothing from here so I wanted to shoot some film. Rich and Chris get a little impatient with my camera habits so I thought I'd do this without them and then enjoy the attraction again when they were here. I spent about an hour here. I internally laughed at the kids that were convinced we were "going up" afterwards so we could exit. I couldn't say anything to spoil the illusion. I was a little annoyed about having to go through the hydraulators to get out but those kids' innocence made it all worth while.

I walked through the Innoventions walkway and saw some rings I might be interested in later. Then I saw the smaller Centorium and decided to stop in there and see what they had. I exited to the other side and saw no line for Test Track! Oh, that's because it's, surprise!, down. The rains had let up but the skies didn't look good. But I decided to continue walking around World Showcase to see the countries I didn't get to last night. I stopped at the Outpost and picked up a Bud Light. My taste in beer isn't as exotic as Rich's so the Bass last night was as adventurous as I get. The sky didn't look good so I grabbed a table with an umbrella and decided to wait to see what happened. I watched all the kids playing with the drums and just people watched for a while. The rains came but it didn't look like that was stopping anyone from continuing touring. I was just amazed at the kids and the drums, though. It's been a while since my son was that young but it was funny that these are just drums but the kids are just so thrilled with going up and banging the daylights out of them. Kids were just pleading with their parents! This is just one little spot but I'm sure it made some kid's day.

While sitting there, they brought out the Illuminations floats. I grabbed the camera and taped the floats going out to the lagoon in the rain. Then I heard the stupidest comment of the day. A little kid says to his parents (who had taken refuge under my umbrella) "what are those things mommy?". And his mother says "I don't know, just look". If you don't know what they are, why are you looking? They left before I finished filming and could tell them what they were.

I decided that the rains were not going to stop and I have been wet before and I knew that I would be wet again so I got up and moving. I was about as far away from my car as I could be so the only way I was going to get back to the Boardwalk was to walk. I went through some shops along the way and made some notes about souvenirs to buy. One thing I've learned in my trips to Disney is that you either see it and buy it or you better write down where you saw it because you'll never remember it. I am planning a trip to the World of Disney with the Magic Kingdom Discount so I'm just making notes for now.

I did stop in and see a bit of The Lord of the Dance. Rich shares Chandler Bing's ("Friends") view of this entertainment. "Arms and legs, flairing about, it's just unnatural!" There were seats for this show (4:00) but I just stood in the back for a couple of minutes. While I can't get into the dancing part of it, I really think Rich is going to like the music. So we might want to think about sitting outside and just listening some night.

I made it around to the International Gateway and headed back over to the Boardwalk. I do have to put one personal thing in here - the restrooms back here are so quiet. They are outside the gates but no one is ever there. On the way back to the Boardwalk, I decided I was a little hungry. I didn't want much but I thought about going to Downtown Disney since I was in the shopping mood. I don't get into that mood very much but when I do, I like to act on it. But then I thought about ESPN Club. I was wet, waterlogged, and just wanted a break. So in I went.

The host at the door told me about the open seating at the bar since I was just one person. I asked about seating in the dining room. No problem. I was seated with a great view of the big screen. I waited some time for a waitress to come over and I still hadn't decided on what to eat. I gave her my order of a glass of wine and she said that she was going to put in a meal order and a drink order and come back in two or three minutes. About ten minutes later and several passes by, I finally said that I was ready to order. I wasn't trying to be witchy or anything since I could see the waitress clearly was overloaded. But a party of ten was just seated next to me and I was concerned I'd be overlooked. The waitress said she was just trying to make sure everyone was covered and I said no problem. I gave my order (tuna salad pita bread) and she took care of it. I watched the screens for a while and was very surprised how quickly my food came. Things calmed down after that (I think everyone arrived at the same time) and the waitress apologized for how messy things were before. Again, I told her no problem. I can never be a waitress since I forget everything if I don't write it down so I really admire anyone in the field. The waitress really did a nice recovery job. The bill came to $17.98 (I had two glasses of wine). I left $22. Yes, I know that's more than 20% tip but just slightly. This woman said it had been busy all day and she was probably frustrated and tired. So I left a buck more than I should. If it made her feel good, then fine.

One note here. There was a woman at another table who didn't order a single thing the entire time I was there. She had had a salad and was drinking a soft drink. She was watching the College World Series which, when I arrived, was in the fourth inning. She clearly intended to stay until the end of the game. This was at 5:00 on a rainy evening. The place was rapidly filling up. And she didn't order anything except her initial meal. The game got turned off a couple of times and she intently hunted down someone to get it back on. I'm a big sports fan and will go out of my way to watch a favorite team but if I'm at a sports restaurant, I think I'll order something since the waitress is losing a table while I'm sitting there. The least this woman could have done was go over to the open seating at the bar. If it was a quiet afternoon, it would have been one thing but it wasn't.

I left there and went back to the car and I found it! By this time, it was ready to go back to the room and get packed up for tomorrow. I had to make a stop at Goodings (again) for an item I had forgot to pack. I decided that Goodings and I would become very well acquainted before this trip was over! I made it back to the room and dried out my hat and video case. My first day, I didn't wear my hat (after not taking the water bottle) - call me double stupid. Since then, I haven't forgotten it. My video case is water proof as long as I keep it shut tight. I realized while I was at ESPN Club that I haven't even seen a newspaper or seen a newscast since Monday. So I bought a newspaper to get caught up. Wow, the Orioles won seven in a row! I also checked out the weather and was really relieved to see that the forecast called for rain for the next five days. Why should any June visit to Florida be different? Why should I see nothing but yellow ponchos for the next week and a half? Oh well, Rich and Chris don't have a problem with getting wet either so we'll be sloshing through Disney for the next couple of days.

A word about traveling alone. You have to do everything alone. I'm so used to Rich and I working as a team so it's strange to have to do every little thing myself. For example - ordering food. One of us orders and pays while the other one moves up in the line. While the first person is putting away the money and getting things squared away, the other one is picking up the food and getting back to the table. Now, I have to order, put the money away, move out of the way of the people behind me, get the food, find a table, clean up, etc.

And a couple more things about this hotel. I have hotel charging privileges. I don't really know what that means but I think I can charge things at the gift shop and restaurants. I think it's Disney spilling over to the area. And the first morning when I went to the gift shop, I had a little exposure to the free shuttle service. A gaggle of people were waiting for the bus and an employee came up and asked if they were waiting for the 9:45 bus. When the reply was affirmative (this was around 9:30), she told them to form a line and that if the bus was filled up, they MIGHT send a second bus. So I don't think I'd ever stay offsite and not have a rental car.

Tonight is packing and getting ready for the guys tomorrow. I have missed them but I wouldn't give up these last three days for the world. It's a perfect way to start out the vacation. I've gone on just three attractions - Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Spaceship Earth, and The Living Seas. I toured the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Epcot. I didn't make it to MGM but that's where we're going tomorrow if our room isn't ready. I checked out the Boardwalk and the Disney Institute. I scoped out gifts for our relatives and for ourselves.

Day Four, Friday, June 18, 1999

Woke up alarmless around 8:30. The one thing this hotel doesn't have is an alarm clock. In fact, it has no clock at all. Finished packing (Piglets go into the carry on bag). I had packed an extra carry on bag in my suitcase and I'm glad I did. I haven't bought much but it was nice to be able to shift things around so my suitcase didn't weigh the ton it did on the way down. Checked out of the hotel after filling out their survey form and giving the hotel overall high marks. If you need an offsite hotel, give Econolodge Maingate Hawaiian Resort a try. That's my advertisement of the report. Total cost for the three night was $103. I paid in cash so I could save the credit card for Disney. I kind of cringed when I realized that the entire three nights here doesn't even come close to what I'm going to be paying for one night at the Boardwalk.

Drove to the airport and gave another $2.25 to the Orlando road system. I have to admit that the roads are very nice and everything well marked. I haven't had to use a map the entire time. Parked the car after driving around for a while. I decided that this was going to get the guys used to walking! Went up to check out which gate they'd be coming into. Midwest Express wasn't even up on the board! What to do? Went out to the ticket counter to see if I could ask someone. The line there was out the door so I thought I'd just go out to the gates and check there. I remembered that I came into gate 40-something so I headed there. I had plenty of time as it was only 11:00 and they weren't coming in until 11:30. Got out to the gates and saw that they were coming into a United gate which is why their flight wasn't listed. Gate 48 at 11:41. OK, back to the main terminal and a visit to the Disney Store (crowded) and, gasp! the Warner Brothers Store (not as crowded). The flight was now on the big board and the time was moved back to 11:30. So back to the gates ("please stand clear of the doors"). I had about a five minute wait until the flight arrived. They're here!

And then I got the news. Chris had an "episode" on the plane. We don't have the most healthy of eating habits and our diets are kind of poor. Chris is very bad now because of his job that has him working over the dinner hour (he works at a movie theatre). He likes his job but he's been living on Doritoes, hot dogs, and pizza for the last month. He only gets a home cooked meal once a week. Rich said the breakfasts (they also had two) were good and Chris ate like a horse. But then, all of a sudden, Chris said he didn't feel good. Rich asked if he was going to throw up. Chris said yes. Rich was searching for the barf bag when Chris had a seizure. Not a grand mal thing but a slight one where he just holds out his arms and goes a little stiff and then blacks out for a couple of seconds. It has happened once before on the way to school. We had it checked out and it was due to our lousy diet. We tried different eating habits and decided we needed small portions more often during the day. Of course, Chris hasn't been doing that. We think the large breakfasts plus the excitement (Chris doesn't admit he's excited about being here) caused this latest one. So we'll have to be careful today with heat and exhaustion.

Picked up the luggage with no problem and hiked out to the car. Of course, I got the "gee, you think you could have parked any further away" line. Paid $4 parking and then another $2.25 in tolls. Got caught up in world news on the way to the hotel. Rich and Chris just yakked the entire time about the news of the day. I remarked that it certainly was quieter the last three days. Drove up to the Boardwalk and very proudly said "we're checking in". Rich saw the signs for self parking and wondered out loud where I was going. I told him we are going in style. Up to the front door and valet parking.

As soon as we stopped, a bellhop came up and got our bags onto a cart. He explained how the luggage worked and gave me our tickets for our seven bags. He then asked if I wanted him to valet the car. Of course. I gave him a $5 tip and we were set. We went into the lobby and stood in line for about 10 minutes and then we were helped. I think it would have gone faster but there was a group of 24 people there on the cruise line. They were all in the same family but each subset had to check in separately. We were in the middle of two families and this woman behind me kept yelling, yes, yelling to a relative that was already up checking in. Very brassy lady.

We had Omar from Puerto Rico checking us in and he was relatively new. He kept counting on his fingers while he was processing us. I'm sure he was trying to remember if he was doing everything he should. Chris later said that's what he does at the movie theatre so he remembers he gave the customer everything they asked for. Our room wasn't ready and here's my complaint. We were given this nice folder of information all about the parks. It was a regular size folder. Where are we going to put that if our room isn't ready and our bags are gone? At least I had my video bag so we stuffed it in there. We also bought Chris his 10 day/9 night Unlimited Magic Pass for $380. Ouch. I knew I should have bought him the Premium Annual Passport last year when we got our for just $400. Oh well, we're here to have fun, not worry about money. Chris' pass is keyed into his room card so we have to be careful that he has key #3. Omar made sure we knew that.

It was a little after 1:00 so I asked the guys what they wanted to do. They were the ones that were up since 4:00 AM. Rich said since we were close to Epcot, let's do that and walk around the countries. Er, I just did that yesterday but it doesn't matter. I'm at Disney with my family. I'm going to enjoy it. Walked over and didn't even have to put our passes through the aisles. The guy just looked at them and in we went. Rich wanted to know how the guy knew Chris' room key was a pass. I didn't know and didn't care. We were here! Walked through England intending to get a Bass but the outside bar wasn't open so we passed on that and settled for a Molson in Canada. Walked through the entrance way to World Showcase and I stopped for a wonderful pressed quarter at one of the shops there. Rich and Chris went on and on about how it was going to cost $1 to ruin a quarter but it turned out so nicely that they shut up. This is a great souvenir. It has the four theme park symbols on it. I think I'm going to make one for Lisa to keep up her Disney spirit until she can make it back down here.

We just walked all around the Showcase. Chris was a little hungry (he said "I'm always hungry". I think we'll just call him Heimlich) so he got a funnel cake in America. While he was doing that, Rich and I decided a Bud was in order so we went into the Liberty Inn to take care of that. I did pull Rich into the animation place so he could see the cels I've been looking at. In the Liberty Inn, I scanned the lines and picked the shortest one. Rich is going to have to pick the lines from now on. Things were fine until the orders got out of order. They had a tray of nothing but drinks and no one to give it to. They took several long minutes to figure out what to do. It took us about 15 minutes to get back to Chris. He was pretty mad. But we calmed him down quickly with our explanation and he was back to normal. I think he thought we were out doing something without him.

We walked around back to the International Gateway and I stopped to call to see if the room was ready. No. It was just after 3:00 so we didn't want to do anything further. The guys were tired and wanted to relax. I used the restrooms and when I got out, there was a major deluge coming down. Luckily, we were well under shelter and could just sit there and watch it rain. Rich started to get worried about how we were going to make it back to the Boardwalk. He even said something about buying an umbrella! I told him to wait a while and see what happens. And what happened? It stopped raining after about 1/2 hour. Florida weather is like Nebraska weather. If you don't like it, wait an hour and it'll change. Decided to walk over past the Beach and Yacht Clubs. Checked those out and then headed back to the Boardwalk. We were helped immediately at the front desk but had to wait about 10 minutes for our room to be ready. We're in 4136. The room cards were activated on the computer (which Chris marveled at) and we were on our way.

Got off the elevator on the fourth floor and looked at the signs for the rooms. Of course, we are all the way at the end! I heard the stories about how far away some rooms are from the elevators and we can't get any further anyway! And, yes, it is a long walk. The walk to the gas chamber is much shorter. But that's OK, as you'll see in a minute. Our bags followed us with no problem except that the bellhop just opened the door and plopped the bags right inside the door. He didn't come in at all and just asked if we had any questions. I kind of expected more and left my tip money inside the room. The bellhop was gone before I could react and Rich and I felt bad that we didn't tip him.

Our room is gorgeous. What can I say? Luxury at it's finest. Plenty of space. A queen bed and a pull out double bed for Chris. A day bed that would only hold a small child. Or my Piglets which is what it's doing. The kitchen area is very nice with a good size refrigerator, small microwave and nice sink. Plenty of cabinet space. The bathroom area is spacious which is nice since the guys tend to spread their stuff all over the counters. Closet area has an ironing board, iron, and vacuum cleaner. There's a wall safe there as well. There's only two drawers for clothes which I had expected. I thought we'd use the day bed for clothes storage but Chris said he could live out of his suitcase so he just put that on the holder in the closet. I used one drawer and Rich the other. Our view isn't what I expected but it's fine for us. We overlook the Dolphin and the Swan and the quiet pool at Community Hall. It might not be good for people watching but the decorations on the balcony really prevent that anyway. We want this vacation to also be relaxing and since we have practically no neighbors, it will be.

We unpacked and then headed out to get dinner and groceries. I hadn't had anything to eat today yet so I really needed something. Here's where not being near the elevators didn't bother us. We were right next to the stairs. Just four short flights down and we're at the pool. We'd rather use our natural energy than man made anyway. A very quick walk up to and through Luna Park and we're at the front of the Boardwalk. It's definitely quicker than walking back to the elevators. And we later found a short cut through the first floor that got us to the busses and parking lot very quickly.

We retrieved our car from valet and decided that once was enough. Self park was our kind of style. I drove us out to 192, my former neighborhood. We decided on Key W. Kool's since it had steaks and seafood. This is a very nice place - much better than I expected for being in the middle of 7 Eleven's and ripoff gift shops. And the prices reflected it. The steaks were huge. They even had a 32 oz one. I knew there was no way I'd be able to eat any of the things listed except the kabobs. Rich got the 16 oz filet mignon and Chris got this huge plate of shrimp. We all had salads with excellent house Italian dressing. Everything was very good and the bill was as enormous as the steaks. Including tip it was $88 which included wine for me and beer for Rich. Welcome to vacation.

Back to Goodings (I think they are starting to know me by name) for essentials. Pretzels, Doritoes, Coke, Diet Coke, six pack of beer, breakfast items. Cost was $38. Back to the room for rest and relaxation. Rich and I sat on the balcony and sipped some drinks. Chris played Nintendo. The Illuminations cruise boat takes off from right below us so we watched the skipper getting it ready and then the family that rented it for the night. We were able to watch "Breathless" run around for a while and I think I have Rich convinced to do the cruise next year. At 9:00 we could see the Illuminations fireworks off to the side of our balcony and we could hear Fantasmic after that. Rich and I decided to see what the Boardwalk was like at night so we went out there just to look around. Different place than from the day. Then back to the room and into bed. Chris claimed he wasn't tired yet but he was sound asleep in about a minute.

Day Five - Saturday, June 19, 1999

Slept until around 8:30 when I got up to work on the trip report. That totally threw Rich off because he's usually the one to get up first. Managed to get Chris out of bed with little problems. Rich enjoyed his complimentary newspaper out on the balcony while Chris and I got ready. We all had small breakfasts of the doughnuts and muffins we bought yesterday. Then back over to Epcot.

We decided to do something in Future World before our 1:30 priority seating at the Rose and Crown. We headed for Honey I Shrunk the Audience and went immediately into the preshow. Rich hates this but I like it. Went and got shrunk. There was a kid behind Chris who lost it with the lion. He didn't really calm down after that so when the snake came on, he lost it again. We only had about an hour before our seating so we went through the abbreviated Innoventions. The millenium celebration really has Future World totally under construction. It's very disappointing to see all these blue walls. Went through the abbreviated Centorium as well. Then I spotted Ice Station Cool and we went in there. I told the guys with a very straight face that the Beverly was the best one. They grabbed the cups and started drinking. The Beverly was the second one they tried. Chris went first and Rich lost the surprise element because I was on the floor laughing with Chris' reaction! It was priceless. If I knew that it was going to be that good, I would have had the camera ready. They finished up the rest of the drinks and Chris didn't like the Brazilian one either. He just about spit that one out. While I was standing there, I heard one guy's reaction to the Beverly - "it's going to take me three days to get that taste out of my mouth".

We ended up back in England a little early but we checked in anyway. We were given our pager but it didn't look that crowded so we just hung around and waited. We were in within five minutes. We were seated outside and the day was just perfect. A little breezy but it wasn't very hot. Rich ordered a Snake Bite which was half cider and half Harp. I settled for a pint of Harp. Chris had the Ploughman's Lunch (turkey, ham, cheeses, and a couple of rolls), I had the Cottage Pie, and Rich had the traditional fish and chips. The food was very good and the best thing Chris liked was these tiny pickles that he loved. Our server was very good and were were in and out within an hour. Total for the lunch, including tip, was $56. We charged it back to the room after Rich spent a while saying, "are you sure we can do that?"

Then we decided to go to Animal Kingdom since Chris had never been and we had only been once. We walked back to the hotel and got the car keys. The room had already been made up and I was in heaven. I had left a note for our maid, Elva, requesting extra Mickey soaps so I could send them on to Dotti for the kids. Well, if Elva keeps this up, Dotti will have to start paying me for postage! Not only did I get soaps, I got shampoos, mouthwash, lotions, and shower caps.

I tried my parking trick at Animal Kingdom and ended up in the row next to the handicapped parking again. We thought we'd get some of the highlights done so we headed for It's Tough to be a Bug. We went right in since it was raining and people were leaving the park. That's one long queue line when there isn't a line. We waited about five minutes before the doors opened. The music in the holding area is classic Disney but "sung" by bugs! We heard "Flight of the Bumblebee" with real bees! We enjoyed the show and the reactions by everyone. Chris even smiled at the ending.

We headed over to Countdown to Extinction and again went right in. I had to rub it in to Rich that my suggestion to come to Animal Kingdom in the afternoon was working out perfectly. We were seated in the first row of our vehicle which was great for the picture. It turned out nicely since Chris didn't know when the picture got taken so he couldn't ham it up. We bought it and the 3D frame. We had it sent back to the room. We stopped in at the shop outside and Rich was in heaven that they had the dinosaur beanies. He didn't realize there were seven of them so he felt guilty about getting them all. We had a delay at the register when a lady's traveler's check got caught in the machine. It was wet so it got eaten by the machine. So we were moved over to another register where this cast member needed a little dose of pixie dust. She didn't want to be at work today. Rich was freaking at her handling of the beanies and wanted to carry the bag around but I had it sent back to the room.

Then we skipped Asia for today since we were already wet from the rain and I didn't want us to get wet with Kali River Rapids. I showed the guys "my place" but we didn't stay very long. We headed to Africa and the Safari. Rich and I had never been on this before so it was new for all of us. Another walk on. We saw all the animals and Chris really was impressed with the hippos. He said that he never saw hippos move around before. And he also was amazed at how many hippos Disney had. We walked through the Pangini Exploration Trail and we were at the hippo tank and safely undercover when the skies opened up. We stayed there until it let up and then continued on. Because of the rain, the gorillas weren't out so it was a short trip. It was about 6:00 by now so we decided to leave the rest for another day since the park was closing in an hour.

We briefly stopped in at the Rainforest Cafe for a beanie check and then drove over to Downtown Disney. After shopping myself and then with Rich, I decided that a visit to the World of Disney was in order so we could actually buy some stuff. Chris spied the Virgin Mega Store and we had to visit that first. I parked right at the entrance to Pleasure Island. As we walked by the AMC theatres, Chris compared it to his theatre back home (also AMC 24). Tried to find "Dr. No" at Virgin - no luck. That's the only James Bond movie Chris doesn't have. Chris did find a Star Wars book that he's been wanting for a while. Then we walked all the way back to Village Marketplace and World of Disney. I knew from experience that it's easy to get lost in here so we set a meeting place. I won't say how much we spent but I'm sure glad I had the Magic Kingdom Club discount! I picked up several more Piglet items. A word about the Piglet thing. He's my favorite character. He's small and shy like me and he's so loyal to Pooh. So I collect anything with just Piglet. It's hard to find stuff that doesn't have Pooh on it so anything new is a find for me. I found about six new things and Rich didn't even see them. Usually, he scopes this stuff out before I do. I also picked up some fudge and some hard candies. Of course, the hard candies were in Pooh tins. Rich picked up some more beanies. We met up with two baskets. Rich just took one look at everything and moaned. We encountered another cast member who didn't want to be at work today.

We were feeling a little hungry so we stopped for soft pretzels and finally sat down. My feet were killing me. Chris is on the hunt for a Star Wars figure so we headed for a toy store. Star Wars! But no figure. We were feeling the weariness of the day so we walked back to the car. Chris wanted nachos so he picked them up and I ducked into Team Mickey. I had seen these award medals with names on them at Magic Kingdom and I wanted to pick them up for my friend's Karen's kids. The check out took a little longer than I thought thanks for this very large group that showed up as the mom and daughter were getting ready to pay. But this cashier was totally nicer than the last two we had. Disney faith restored. I got out to Rich and Chris and they wanted to know what I bought. I pulled out one of the medals and told them. Chris looked at it and said "Jonathan"? (He doesn't know Karen's kids at all - I haven't seen her in ten years and we correspond over the internet). Well, Karen doesn't have son named Jonathan. She does have one named Josh. So I went back in and exchanged the medal.

The parking lot by now was really full. It was about 8:30 on a Saturday night. We drove back to the Boardwalk for a much needed rest. Watched TV and were in bed by midnight (Rich) and 1:00 for Chris and me.

Day Six - Sunday, June 20, 1999

We all slept in until 10:00 so I knew we were getting tired very early. Got ready and headed out after eating breakfast in the room. We had priority seating at Whispering Canyon for 1:00 so we took the bus over to Magic Kingdom. First time for Disney transportation and it was fine. Second bus was ours and it took less than five minutes of waiting.

Went into Magic Kingdom just for a "look-see" since we were close to when we had to leave for Wilderness Lodge. We walked back into Adventureland and decided to go on Pirates of Caribbean since I knew we could easily get on and off within fifteen minutes. After that, we just walked through Frontierland and Liberty Square. We did check out the Frontierland beanies but Rich thought he'd wait until later to pick them up (I think he's still worried about the beanie treatment from Disney Cast Members). We headed out of Magic Kingdom and to the boat for Wilderness Lodge. One pulled up within five minutes and we were off.

We checked in with Whispering Canyon and were seated right away. Rich had no idea this was an "interactive" restaurant but, fortunately, things weren't that bad for him. We were seated quite close to the action but we were spared any misfortunes. Rich and I had the all you care to eat and Chris stuck with the Brewmyster burger. Rich wanted everything in the skillet except the chicken and the cole slaw and that's all I wanted so it worked out nicely. We had a couple of beers (Rich and me, not Chris). Total bill was $55 and the food was very good. I hit two for two on the restaurants. Quite a record for me. Took the boat back to Magic Kingdom. We checked out our brick close to the entrance and saw we were still there.

Since it was 2:45 and the parade was going to start, I suggested we try Tomorrowland. We checked out Space Mountain but the line was out the door and even Rich and Chris are savvy enough to know that's too long. So we jumped on Tomorrowland Transit Authority for a quick look at Buzz Lightyear. Then we got off there and headed for Buzz. We are Buzz-transformed. The vehicles only can hold two adults comfortably so I went with Chris and Rich rode alone. I did the spinning while Chris tried to hit the targets. I loved spinning during the parts where there's nothing to shoot at. Chris, the video guru, only got 90,000; I got 100,000; and Rich scored over 200,000. Chris was not a happy camper. After Buzz we noticed almost no line for Alien Encounter so we watched Skippy get fried and the Alien get transported back to his home planet. The Timekeeper was only a seven minute wait so we went to get a dose of Robin Williams and Jeremy Irons. No offense to the other actors but those are our favorites. We checked out Carousel of Progress but it was down so we did Buzz Lightyear again. This time, I rode with Rich and Chris went solo. Rich's score was down, Chris' score was up. Humm, wonder what the deal was? Next time, it'll be Rich and Chris together and me alone.

Walked through Fantasyland and dismissed the Pooh ride because it was 30 minutes and Chris absolutely didn't want to be caught dead in a Pooh ride. Ain't it great having a 17 year old male in Fantasyland? The line for the Haunted Mansion was out to the Yankee Trader and even Rich said "I've never stood in the line that long before". We checked out Splash Mountain and it was 75 minutes. Forget it. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad said 30 minutes so we went. Along the queue, we noticed that people were just chucking their trash out onto the roof of the building. Chris commented on the lack of Disney quality. But while we were in line, three Cast Members came through and cleaned things up. It just saddens me that human beings just throw trash left and right and don't think of the consequences. These things just don't disappear. We had a nice ride and then decided that we had had enough for the day. Rich mentioned something about the Dole Whip I had pointed out earlier in the day and I had to laugh. I was thinking the same thing! Yes, it's true that married people start thinking alike. We started towards Aloha Isle and the skies opened up. Three days out of three. We ducked under the restroom overhang and waited it out. After fifteen minutes we moved on and got our Dole Whips. Chris had vanilla, Rich and chocolate/vanilla, and I did the big move and got the vanilla/pineapple. Rich couldn't believe I was going to try something this radical (I am not a pineapple fan). All I can say is that this will now be a frequent stop on my visits to the Magic Kingdom.

We took the bus back to the Boardwalk. We didn't have a long wait for the bus to get there but had to wait about five minutes for it to pull out. No problem as long as I was off my feet. We had to stop at the Yacht Club and then the Beach Club to let off and take on visitors. At the Beach Club, we had to wait for an EVC to get on. Chris mentioned that we should have gotten off at the Yacht Club and walked. Excellent advice, young master.

We made it to the Boardwalk and then went to the car for an offsite excursion. We needed more supplies (Coke, etc.) and there was a Publix next to a Big K Mart that Rich spotted on the way in from the airport. I called game, set, match at that point and knew we had to visit. Chris still needed that Star Wars figure and Rich wanted Starting Lineups. Never, ever marry a collector and then raise one as well. Chris was unsuccessful while Rich picked up some things. We also got the food and beverages we needed to survive. This Publix was definitely cheaper than Goodings. We had to pay tolls to get there but saved a bunch on groceries.

The rains continued all through the night. Rich got caught up on baseball, Chris read a new Star Wars book (his second of the trip), and I relaxed on the balcony. Some teenage kids were having a great time in the rain playing pool basketball so I enjoyed that for a while. I also thought about the "game plan" for the next week. We're not going to see everything. We never will. The weather forecast is for rain, rain, rain. We'll try and get in a water park but it's not a priority. Rich is perfectly content to just walk around and do whatever attracts his interest. Chris is here because we say so but he'll have a good time anyway. My family looks to me for "what are we going to do next". I'm going to turn that around and make them decide. And we did get more soaps, lotions, and mouthwash. Dotti, here it comes!

Day Seven - Monday, June 21, 1999

The day I've been dreading. A non-Disney day. The Universal day. I told the guys they were in charge today so they could do whatever they wanted while at Universal. We were going to the Studios since our only experience with Universal was back in 1994. We went with Rich's parents as part of a medical conference's special night. We were able to experience Back to the Future, ET, Jaws, Kong, and Alfred Hitchcock that night. We also saw the Wild, Wild, Wild West Show. But we had limited time so we kind of rushed through things.

Rich decided that we didn't have to be there at opening so we slept in again. We didn't get going until around 11:00 which seems to be our habit. I made Rich drive (don't tell the car rental company) and he made it to Universal with no problem. We followed the hordes into the garage after paying our $6 (I really miss having to pay at Disney, NOT!). One thing about people just following the masses. There were several lines to get into the garage. We went to the left-most lane and probably shaved off 30 minutes of waiting. I guess that theory about the left hand line holds true here. We were up on the top of the garage but we had a rental car so who cares? Besides, the sun wasn't out today anyway. We were in Spiderman 654. As we were waiting to park, Rich said the words that made the $132 all worth it. He said, "This gives me a whole new appreciation for Disney."

Then we walked all the way back to the hotel. Oh, it just seemed that way. That's a heck of a long walk to the entrance! The masses went straight onto Islands of Adventure and we went right to the Studios. The City Walk area is nice but we just bypassed it. We also bypassed all those people standing in the ticket line. I had to put up with Maria and her rudeness but at least it saved us some time today.

We picked up a map just in case and headed out. We saw T2 had a 40 minute wait and even Chris realized that was because it's one of the first things you get to in the park. So we continued on. I had wanted to go on ET again but neither of the guys did so we skipped that and went to Back to the Future. 15 minute wait. Great! Last time we did this, I was thrown forward a little too much and saw the other cars so I lost the illusion. This time, I sat in the back righthand seat and enjoyed it much more. My personal opinion is that Star Tours still gives me a better "I'm there" feel.

Next up was a beer. The seller there made both Rich and I take off our sunglasses so she could see if we were old enough! Rich was dumbfounded. For a guy that's going to turn 40 next year, it was a new experience. Next was Jaws after a walk through Amity. Wait time was listed as 10 minutes and they have to do something with the lame pre-show "entertainment". I told Chris that if they were going to give us something to keep us occupied, at least do something that won't insult our intelligence. Our guide was very good and the shark was fried in the end. After that we went to San Francisco and Earthquake. This was about a 10 minute wait as well. I have to say that this attraction was one of the most disappointing ones of the day (the second is coming up). The preshow stuff was good but just to get into a car, ride forward, do a brief Catastrophe Canyon, and then ride backwards was lame. Charlton Heston or not, this ride does not warrant the hype.

On to Kongfrontation which was one of Rich's favorites from before. I thought it was stupid before. But I enjoyed it much more this time. We had to wind through the queue for about 25 minutes. What an interesting layout for the queue. One poor boy got his knee stuck in the railing. He was screaming his lungs out while several people tried to free him. I don't know what they finally did but he did get out. I don't think he'll go near a railing again!

Next up was Twister with a 10 minute wait. I couldn't believe our luck with the lines. Either IOA is eating away at the Studios' business or we just had a good day. Rich was amazed with how big this queue could be. Twister turned out to be my second disappointment of the day. Even Rich groaned at the three "holding cells" that told you absolutely nothing. Except that Bill and Helen had such a great experience making the film. I kept expecting some education on how they made the film. Nothing except that they did things that had never been done. And the soundstage was just like we experience back in Nebraska on any given day. Heck, I learned more out in the queue than I did inside. But it was raining while we were inside so that turned out good.

After Twister, the only thing left on our "must-do" was T2. 30 minute wait. And that's what you do. Wait. We waited in the queue. At least there you have monitors that keep you occupied while you do nothing. Then we were herded into the holding cell with 1,000 other humans to do nothing for 10 minutes. How do you keep pre-teens occupied for 10 minutes? Evidentially, by ignoring them like the mom in front of us. Rich was about ready to throttle the kid that kept bumping him, sitting down, standing up, twirling around. And mom just kept hugging her little girl and ignoring the three boys. Yes, one adult and four kids - three of whom needed a strong dose of parental control. Finally, the preshow started (not that the kids noticed). We really liked this presentation and Chris was thrilled to actually have seen the third Terminator movie. He says that this is actually listed as a film in all his literature. He's a big movie buff so I'm not going to contradict him. I thought Arnold just made a cameo but he was in there a lot longer than I thought. I think we saved the best for last.

We had seen everything we came to see so I left it up to the guys what to do next. They resembled two clams since neither one said a word. I made Rich get us a beer and sat down on a bench and made them decide. Chris said he was done and ready to go. Rich agreed. They decided to go to the Big K Mart they saw on the way in. Sigh. Still searching for that Star Wars figure. So we said farewell to Universal. Total time spent there - 4 hours. But we did what we wanted. Rich called it an expensive lesson. Don't get me wrong - Universal is a great park. But when we compare it to Disney, it doesn't measure up in our minds.

Here are the reasons. We saw more trash at Universal. Rich didn't think Universal had the "charm" (his words) that Disney does. There are more trash receptacles and benches at Disney. Rich didn't like the multiple "holding cells" Universal had. I know there are those at Disney but he just seemed to notice them more at Universal. I think Chris was disappointed in that he thought there would be more thrills. On the positive, I thought the theming of Universal was great. The Jaws ride in particular paid nice attention to detail. The queue of Kong was fantastic. The New York area was also nicely done. And I liked the Coney Island feel to Amity (OK, I know it's supposed to be Amity). I'm confused by the Exposition area that Back to the Future is in. Was that supposed to be expanded at one point? All in all, I'm glad we went but I don't think we'll be back anytime soon.

Trekked back to the car. Missed the exit for the Big K and had to drive all the way past Sea World to turn around. I jokingly told Rich to drop me off at the hotel since we were so close. The guys did the Big K while I napped in the car. No figure. The guys decided that they were hungry for pizza (it's a weekly event in our house) so where to go. How about Dixie Landings where in nine days we had three pizza deliveries made? Rich made the stupidest comment of the day "can we go there"? We pull up and Rich is freaking because he thinks the gate guard will eat him or something. "Ah, we're here for dinner"? "Enjoy" was the reply. Huge sigh of relief from Rich. When is he going to learn? We ordered two 16" pepperoni pizzas, a couple of beers, and a soft drink. Cost of $38 which Rich amazingly decides to put on the room card. He's learning!

After our very greasy pizza (the guys love this pizza and easily consume all but four slices), I asked Rich if he wanted me to drive us to the Disney Institute so I could get his opinion on it. Chris whined but we went anyway. Rich said it was a place he could stay at so I think I'm 90% sure that's where we're going to be in September. I knew by now Chris was ready for a Nintendo fix so we went back to the room. It was about 7:30 so I suggested to Rich that we go over to Epcot for Illuminations. We relaxed for a little and then headed out around 8:15. We went the "wrong" way since Rich wanted a Norwegian beer. We ended up with our beers standing in Germany with perfect timing for the start of the show. This was one of reasons I wanted to stay at an Epcot resort. We could just stroll over there at anytime.

After the show, we walked around towards the International Gateway and went back to the hotel. There were a lot of people in the quiet pool so we people watched from our balcony before turning in.

Day Eight, June 22, 1999

We slept in again (sense a pattern?). Rich was up at 9:30 and I followed. I worked on the trip report and finally got Chris moving around 11:00. We had priority seating at Concourse Steakhouse for 12:30 for lunch. I had planned a day at Magic Kingdom but I figured that Chris needed a dose of MGM so I decided to keep the seating but then go to MGM afterwards.

We headed out of the room at noon and drove to the Contemporary for lunch. I was questioned about why we were there so that theory about parking at the resorts went out the window. No problem with getting in after our seating was confirmed. We went to a nearly deserted restaurant and had a very pleasant dining experience. Chris and Rich had the burgers and I had the excellent roast beef open faced sandwich. Our server was very friendly and attentive and seemed to know every bar in WDW. I don't understand why this place doesn't get more business. It's fantastic!! It's quiet but has the unique visit of the monorail as you dine. This is probably the "hidden dining experience" of the World. I'm three for three for the restaurants. Cost is around $58 including tip. Excellent place for a meal.

We left the Contemporary and drove over to MGM. There were plenty of spaces up front but we had to park in the back of the lot. No fair! But we walked up to the front instead of taking the shuttle. I thought Chris would make me do Twilight Zone first but he was determined to do Star Tours first. OK, the Zone can wait. Star Tours is now shortened in that they don't do the extended "welcome and here's C3PO and it's our first voyage". Also, the store at the end is gone and is under refurbishment. I think it all give credence that this whole attraction will be redone with the Episode I thing going on.

After Star Tours we had to give Kermit a try so off to MuppetVision 3D. Excellent as always. We stopped at The Great Movie Ride and basically walked on. This morning, the line was out the door so this is another attraction that grabs guests when they first walk in. We had the gangster side which we hadn't seen in a while. Then we walked around and found the AFI Studio Store which is where they had Star Tours merchandise. No figure. I just don't think he's ever going to find it. But Chris did find a nice Star Tours villains poster for $25. This kid has been so good during the trip that I just had to buy it for him. He wanted it but didn't want to spend the money for it. What are parents for? So I paid for it and had it shipped back to the room.

I then spied a beer stand and we decided what to do. We just wanted to do Twilight Zone and the Animation Tour so I suggested we do Twilight Zone and save Animation for Thursday when we were coming back for lunch. Off we went to get terrified. A word about Twilight Zone. I actually shake before I get on there and I definitely shake afterwards. But this time was different. No fears before and I loved the whole new sequence in the elevator. Even Chris didn't know when we were going up or down. The picture turned out great and Chris wants to replace the ones we already have so we bought it.

We then went to the Celebrity Store where I picked up a Piglet necklace, a Piglet Tshirt, and a baby Piglet beanie. I wanted to get the Piglet clock like I had wanted to get the Piglet poster at the Animation Store earlier but that was way too much. I then picked up a couple of postcards and we headed out.

What to do now? Miniature golf! We decided to go to the new WinterSummerland Golf at Blizzard Beach since no one had done that before. I think Fantasia is better themed but this is a nice course. I had three holes in one but ended up losing. Rich was the winner two strokes over Chris who was two strokes over me. And I ended up 14 strokes under par! We saved a bundle with our Annual Passport discounts so I'm glad I told Rich to ask for it. He was money man for the day.

We then just went back to the hotel for the night. I took a bunch of pictures and videos. It looked like a storm was going to roll in and it did rain for a while but nothing major happened. Rich watched a double episode of "Jag" while I sat on the balcony. A quick call back home to check on the cat. John's Mom said he was taking care of Todd and even took his sister over to pet him. I just hope the cat forgives us when we get home.

Day Nine - June 23, 1999

We were woken up at 9:00 by our maid since silly me didn't put out the "do not disturb" sign. If she hadn't knocked, we might still be asleep! Rich got up and took the laundry down since Chris and I needed fresh clothing. I just couldn't pack enough for 13 days and Chris doesn't have enough shorts for the trip. Did the laundry (it's free at the Boardwalk) and I went to get out Hoop Dee Doo tickets for Friday night. The guest services lady was really being tested by this guest who was insisting on getting some laundry done that day. And then she wanted to know where to get the bus to Epcot. Jeez. No wonder she was a little short with me. She said that if I picked up my tickets now, there would be no refunds. I know that but I don't want to wait until the last minute. I paid in cash and put the receipt in the wall safe. We headed out around 11:15.

Rich determined our plan of action for the day. We took the bus to Magic Kingdom to finish up what we had missed the other day. After a stop at Casey's for a hot dog, fries, and Cokes, we s