Trip Reports

November 2-6, 1999

Cast: Rich, 26: graduate student in chemistry and WDW veteran (5 or 6 times). Anna (me), 26: reference librarian and relative WDW newbie. I went to MK when I was 8 and 9, and spent part of a day at MGM when in college. We're from Pittsburgh, flew in and out of Orlando on USAir, and rented a car from National.

Day 1: November 2

We'd already been in Florida for three days, visiting Rich's cousin and his wife up in Jacksonville. This was Tuesday morning, and we left the house at the same time as our hosts did, about 9:00. Rich wanted to take a different way down to Orlando, so we took a few back roads to Ocala to see the horse farms. Got to Orlando around lunchtime and checked into the Polynesian. The place is unreal; I’ve never seen a jungle with waterfalls and parrots inside a hotel lobby before. It’s beautiful, though, and all the CMs were very helpful and friendly, something I got used to very fast. Our room wasn’t ready yet, so we dumped our bags with the bellhops and jumped on the monorail (joy!) for the Magic Kingdom. I was so pleased that this would be my first major view of Disney World since it’s where most of my memories are. We hadn’t had lunch yet, so we ate at the first place that caught our eyes: Casey’s Corner. Rich always says he doesn’t like hotdogs, but we both enjoyed these, and we had a great view of the castle from the patio.

Our hunger temporarily appeased, we headed straight for Tomorrowland, Rich’s favorite part of the park. He’s been telling me for years how badly his youngest brother was terrified by Alien Encounter several years ago, so, naturally, this was the first one he wanted to do. I’ll ride anything, but I was really nervous about it.

It wasn’t nearly as scary as he’d led me to believe, but I still didn’t like it: too loud. I’ve heard other people complain about the dark tone of this attraction, and I agree with them; there’s nothing happy about it whatsoever, and it just doesn’t seem to fit in at Disney World. Rich enjoys it, though. After that, I wanted something fun, so we headed for Space Mountain, and walked right on, something which we did lots of this week. It was just as much fun as I remembered it, and I got to point out the chocolate-chip-cookie meteors to Rich in the loading zone.

By the time we were done with Space Mountain, it was past 2:00, so we called back to the Poly to check on the room: not ready yet, so off we went again. The next short line we saw was for the PeopleMover (what’s this TTA nonsense?), so we rode that around and I noticed a whole bunch of things that I remembered from childhood that I wanted to do again.

Now, Rich has never seen Toy Story; he says that he finds the animation style disturbing. I, on the other hand, have seen it several times and love it. So I’d been plugging the Buzz Lightyear ride for several days, and convinced him that it might be fun. He didn’t need much convincing - we rode it twice, and he totally slaughtered me (probably because he was steering): Rich=222,200, Anna=137,000. Incidentally, we walked on the first time, and waited just a couple of minutes the second.

After that, we figured that we’d seen just about everything in Tomorrowland that we wanted to see for the time being, so I did a little begging and pleading and we waited 10 minutes or so in line for the Skyway to Fantasyland. And am I glad we did! It closed one week later. I’m sorry we’ll never ride it again; the view is just lovely. A bit more nagging once we were in Fantasyland, and we found ourselves on It’s a Small World. Rich made sarcastic comments throughout, but I stoically ignored him. I still love that ride. There were lots more people in Fantasyland than anywhere else, but the lines for Snow White and Peter Pan still weren’t all that long, so we went on those, too.

Snow White’s always a nice ride, but we both love Peter Pan, it’s so beautiful. We oohed and ahhed about flying in our ship over London (at the beginning, while I was leaning over the side looking at Big Ben, I heard an excited, “Oh, look! It’s Nana!” from the other side of the car), booed at the pirates, and cheered for the crocodile. By the time we finished those two, our room was ready, so we hopped back on the monorail, our favorite ride in all of Disney World, and zoomed back to the Poly.

I’d heard some negative comments about the condition of the rooms at the Poly, but ours had obviously been redone recently, and it was quite large and very nice. We even found 2 Hidden Mickeys: one on the cover of the daybed, and one on the shower curtain. Rich thinks we may have been upgraded to a lagoon view when we checked in; we were on the first floor of Tokelau (formerly Oahu) on the same side as the pool (room 1910), and we had a great view of the lagoon and the Grand Floridian if we stepped out on our patio. Have I mentioned that the Polynesian is beautiful? When we got off the little luggage cart that the CM/bellhops use to take you to your room, we were directly across from Inspiration Point, which is a little spur of land with palm trees on it, sticking out into the lagoon. It’s lovely, isolated spot, and when we drove up, there was a couple out there getting married! Our CM said that he thinks even more couples get married there every year than at the Wedding Pavilion, right around the corner.

When we checked in, the CM looked my engagement and wedding rings and asked if we were on our honeymoon, so we told her that we were actually celebrating our third anniversary. Later, as we were unpacking and trying to decide what to wear to dinner, there was a knock on the door and a CM from the front desk handed me a little package with a card attached. It was an anniversary card from the hotel, and the package was a little Disney 2000 photo album! We were so touched. It’s little details like this that made the whole vacation so incredibly special for us.

Another lovely little detail at the hotel was the housekeeping staff. I’d read on other trip reports that people left their children’s stuffed animals (usually Disney ones) in the room, and the housekeepers did cute things with them. So we dutifully brought Pooh and Piglet with us, and let one of them hold our housekeeper’s tip everyday. For the first 3 days, Delia (our housekeeper) didn’t touch them, but a different word or picture was spelled out with our leis every day. The first day it was “LOVE” and then a Mickey head. The second two days we had someone else, and she wrote “ALOHA” (she brought in an extra lei for that one), and the final day, Piglet was riding a rabbit made out of a towel. It was so much fun to come back for our nap every afternoon and see what they’d done.

For our first night, we’d made reservations for the Luau at the Polynesian, so we set off at 7:30 with the rest of the crowd for the Luau Cove, where we were leied again and had our picture taken before being herded off to the bar to wait for seating. We were at a table towards the back, but we could still see pretty well. Our waitress/CM somehow found out that it was our anniversary, too (I think Rich may have told her), so she made us get up on stage when they called up the honeymooners and anniversary couples. The couple next to us was celebrating their third anniversary, too, but we were the only two couples up there who weren’t on their honeymoon! They played a slow-dance song for all of us (our waitress took a picture of us with my camera), and then we all dashed back to our tables, blushing madly. The food was pretty good: a nice cold noodle salad, excellent coconut/banana-type bread (I asked at the main desk later on for the recipe, and it arrived in the mail two days ago!), fruit, chicken (a little dry), pork (good), and rice. And some kind of pineapple cake for dessert, which was okay. I didn’t eat all of mine. The show was amazing; we went from island to island and saw examples of the native dances from each one. There was a fire-dancer, too, and they showcased one or two of the better women. One did the hula so slowly and mechanically that it was truly amazing; her upper body didn’t move at all, but her hips were all over the place. It was really fun, and we’d definitely recommend the whole experience. After that, it was time to waddle back to our room and tumble into bed.

Day 2: November 3

Between our alarm clock, the hotel’s alarm clock, and our wake-up call (Rich said that Mickey wasn’t on the other end), we managed to crawl out of bed for MGM’s early opening. Neither of us were very hungry yet, so we just grabbed some coffee (Rich) and orange juice (me) at the Kona Café counter and went downstairs to the bus stop. I was a little leery about using bus transportation at Disney after hearing some horror stories, but we found it very convenient. We only had to wait a few minutes, and we were the only hotel using the bus, as far as I could tell. It didn’t take very long to get there, so we arrived about 15 minutes after opening. We headed straight for the Tower of Terror, a ride that I’d been looking forward to for a very long time. It didn’t disappoint, either. We walked straight on, although I wouldn’t have minded some time to look at the décor of the hotel; the theming is amazing! What a fabulous ride! I was expecting the floor to fall out from under us every time the car moved, and when it did, the action was so smooth that the only sensation was that of leaving my stomach somewhere far, far away. After getting off, we ran around to the beginning of the line to do it again. This time we had to wait about 5 minutes, but I was happy for the chance to look at the hotel more closely. It was just as good the second time, and we laughed our heads off the whole time. It’s the best thrill ride in Walt Disney World, hands down.

After poking about in the ToT gift shop for a few minutes (we love the hotel towels and “Do Not Disturb” signs there), we ran to our second priority: the Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster. We walked straight into the pre-show area with Aerosmith, laughed at their lack of acting abilities (it looked like they were having fun, though), and then right onto the coaster. Another major thumbs-up from two big-time roller coaster fanatics. Just as we walked into the loading area, a coaster was launched onto the “freeway”, and we, with everyone around us, looked at each other and shouted, “Cool!!!” It was terrific; the music wasn’t too loud and the motion was so smooth that sometimes I couldn’t tell whether I was upside-down or not. We dashed around to do this one immediately again, and the wait was about the same. Also just as good the second time.

By this time, we’d been at MGM for an hour, done four tummy-shattering rides, and hadn’t eaten anything yet. It was time for breakfast. We went over to Starring Rolls, only to be completely dumbfounded by the very long and very slow-moving line, so we gave up and went to the ABC Commissary instead for eggs and French toast sticks. Adequate, and I enjoyed watching the advertisements for “Whose Line is it Anyway”, which is one of my favorite shows.

Since we were right near the Great Movie Ride, we did that next, passing by a growing line to talk to Doug and Patti Mayonnaise. An enthusiastic cowgirl duly hijacked us, but the sound wasn’t very good and we couldn’t understand either her or the animatronic guys very well. Our “regular” tour guide was fine. We were also stopped in the Alien section for a few minutes, which ruined the suspense a wee bit.

As we got out of that, it was just 15 minutes until the next Indiana Jones show, so we ran over to that and were entertained by Rosie the janitress. She was funny, but we were very glad we weren’t sitting near her. We were also rather glad when she went away. The show was great; the extras were very enthusiastic (and funny) and I guessed that there was something odd about one of them right away (those of you who have seen the show will know what I mean). Rich, who was a theatre geek in college, thought that their timing during the final scene with the explosives was off, but I didn’t notice much of a problem.

From there we headed over to the Backlot Tour, where we had to wait for 15 minutes before we got to the water tank demonstration. It was chilly that day (I wore jeans and kept my windbreaker on for much of the day), so they used mannequins in the boat cabin and submarine tower instead of real victims from the audience. Still an interesting display, and it uses an impressive amount of water. The tour itself was nice. I especially liked the street with all the houses on it, which has lots and lots of Christmas lights up already. I’d love to see it lit up. And the whole Catastrophe Canyon thing took me completely by surprise, although Rich knew it was coming since he’d been on it before.

We wandered through the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids playground on our way to find food, and I could have sworn there used to be an enormous Cheerio in there, but I couldn’t find it this time. I wish I were small enough to play on more of it. We grabbed cheeseburgers, fries, and an apple at the Backlot Express, and then went to Star Tours, which was fun, but not nearly as neat as I remember it. Last time, it had these cute travel posters all over the place instead of that wretched pink bunny. I also think the show needs to be updated; it was terrific and exciting when it first came out because it was one of the first sim-rides, but it’s not quite as thrilling anymore. Or maybe I’m just not as easily thrilled anymore. Sigh. After that, we went over to the Sound Dangerous! show with Drew Carey, which was funny, but I’m not too keen on things completely in the dark. Besides, I seem to fondly remember a previous show with audience participation. I do like Drew Carey, though.

By this time, we were starting to get tired, so we started out of the park, shopping on the way. We didn’t have to wait more than five minutes for a bus, and then we were heading back to the Poly, stopping at Wilderness Lodge on the way. We’d really wanted to see this resort but never could find the time for it on this trip; I think that’s one of our few regrets. Back at the Poly, we napped, showered, and generally rested for an hour or so.

Once recovered, we jumped on the monorail for Epcot. I’d never been to this park before, and it was love at first sight for me. So much to see! I still feel as though I didn’t see half of what was there, and we spent 2 ½ days there! Unfortunately, we didn’t realize when we made our PS that the Tapestry of Nations parade would be going through France at the exact same time. What a zoo! We didn’t want to be late, so we were practically running through the World Showcase, trying to fight our way through the crowds at the same time. Rich felt as though he was running block for me at a football game because he was parting the crowds for us. We felt a little guilty about that, but there were so many people who had parked themselves in the “walking only” area, and there was no other way to get through! We were 10 minutes late for our PS, but didn’t have any trouble getting in, and we could see some of the rest of the parade from our window table.

Chefs de France is lovely inside, and our waitress was charming. I felt daring, so I ordered the escargot and a side salad, and Rich had a cup of a wonderfully rich lobster bisque and marmite (a seafood stew).

The escargot was delicious; it was served with a sort of garlic pesto sauce. A hint for eating snails: don’t look too closely at them.

They’re snails. You know what they look like already, so don’t think about it too hard and devote your thoughts to the garlic butter. That’s what it’s there for. Rich enjoyed his, too, and we indulged on dessert. We’re on vacation! I had crème brulee (very good, but not as good as Rich’s), and Rich had a B&B coffee and their new Millennium dessert, which was a chocolate replica of Spaceship Earth with orange chocolate and white chocolate mousse inside it. Beautiful.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel and then drove to Pleasure Island. As we were heading back to the room, though, we heard music coming from the lake and ran over to the beach to see what it was. There was an electrical lights parade on the lake, just in front of the Polynesian! First, there was a sea serpent, followed by a bunch of jumping fish, a happy-looking octopus, a crab, and finally, King Titan himself, in a chariot. What a surprise! It was lovely, and hardly anyone knew it was out there; there weren’t too many people on the beach.

Once we got to PI, Rich bought me a red rose from one of the vendors inside (blush) and we went to the Adventurers’ Club and loved it. We arrived just a little while before an activity, so we got Kungalooshes and sat down in the lobby to watch Nell the French Maid discuss her clothing with Hathaway Brown, the aviator, and to learn the Adventurers’ Club song from the Colonel. Just then, the Balderdash Cup competition began in the library, so in we all trooped. While we were waiting for it to begin, Otis T. Wren, who told us all to vote for him, entertained us. He also chatted with the audience, finding out where they were from, and so forth (“Ah, yes, England! Home of that famous musical instrument, the U. K. Laylie!”). Then the competition began and I promptly tipped half of my Kungaloosh into my lap. It is a very cold drink. We mopped it up as best we could with lots of napkins and then figured we might as well stay for the rest because I didn’t want to make any sort of scene as I left. Otis T. Wren told a rather bad fishing story about a shark that towed him to the South Seas, Hathaway Brown told one about a plane wreck on his way to delivering medicine to sick children on Krakatoa, and the odd little man from Sandusky won the competition with his 500 1-pound trained pigeons and 1 500-pound trained pigeon.

When the competition was over, we slunk out of the AC and went reluctantly home. We would love to have stayed longer, but I was feeling cold and sticky and didn’t look very nice anymore. We got back to the Poly just after 11:00, and I took a shower while my sainted husband went and washed my sticky clothing.

Day 3: November 4

This morning we were going to avoid the early opening at the MK and go to Epcot instead. For convenience’s sake, we ate at the Kona Café at the Poly, and were promptly hooked. I wasn’t terribly hungry, so I just ordered the fruit plate. Yikes! It was huge, and had about 7 or 8 different kinds of excellent fruit on it. I could only eat about half.

And Rich had… the Tonga Toast, of course. That is dangerous stuff. I was worried that it might be too sweet, but it was delicious and certainly didn’t need any syrup.

Then we waddled over to the TTC (less time than taking the MK monorail all the way around), and headed for Epcot. As you may have already noticed, we spent an awful lot of time on the monorail during this trip (as I said, it’s our favorite ride!), and Rich became very fond of the one sentence of Spanish that he now knows: “Por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas.” He became very, very good at saying this.

We knew that Test Track would get crowded early on, so we ran over there first, although I wanted to walk slowly and look at everything. It was only 20 minutes or so after opening, but the posted wait was already 40 minutes. In reality, I think it was less than 30 minutes, but it’s a really interesting queue area, so we didn’t really notice.

What a great ride! I think some people may be bored by the first part with all the tests, but we were fascinated by them, and by the fact that they tell you how fast you’re going. And the fast part around the outside of the building took me completely by surprise and thoroughly tangled my hair. After that, we felt the need for something a bit more sedate, so we got in line for Spaceship Earth, which I also liked. One of those feel-good-about-the-human-race rides. Then we did Universe of Energy with Ellen and Bill Nye, which we both found very funny, although we would’ve enjoyed it more if there hadn’t been so many people around us who ignored the “don’t take flash pictures” warning. I admit, the animatronic Ellen wasn’t very good, but you didn’t see her for very long, and she and Bill (we’re both enormous Bill Nye fans, too) were both great.

We were feeling slightly rumbly in the tumblies by then, so we each got a pretzel from the pretzel vendors by the solar-powered benches. Mistake. They’re very good pretzels (particularly if you scrape most of the salt off), but they’re huge and we could’ve easily shared one. We wound up feeding the sparrows quite a bit, so if anyone sees some birdies too fat to fly in Epcot, it’s our fault. Tummies satisfied, we went into Wonders of Life, where we played with a few of the toys and activities they’ve got scattered around, watched Cranium Command (very cute), and went on Body Wars. Fun, but my feelings are similar to those I have about Star Tours. It is interesting to see who shows up on these things, though, like Elizabeth Shue and Paul Ruebens.

After we’d played around there for a while, we began to forget about the pretzels, so we set off to the World Showcase and the Food and Wine Festival in search of interesting things to eat. And were there lots of choices! We started on the Mexico side, where we picked up a Pastele de Carne (a little meat pie with peppers in it) from the Brazil kiosk. As we passed Norway, we picked up a lefse roll with salmon in it. I’m allergic to salmon, so I only had a little bite, but Rich said it was really good. Then we skipped to China and a Beijing Lao Bing, which a sort of meat pancake thing. Very different from any Chinese food we’ve had before, and very tasty. Then on to Morocco, where we picked up a “Marrakesh Combo”, which was a small beef (or maybe lamb) patty, a piece of chicken, and some veggies, all over couscous. I’m not a big fan of couscous, but this stuff was really good. We sat and ate while watching a Moroccan band with a dancing girl play and dance. It’s a fun pavilion. Continuing around the Showcase, we saw Off Kilter very briefly. I was hoping to see more of them, but it never worked out.

Another minor disappointment, because they seemed really good and lots of fun to watch. On our way back to Future World, Rich picked up a glass of cognac, which he pronounced excellent, and I tried a honey wine from Poland. Very sweet, very sticky, and very interesting, but I don’t think I’d get it again. Then it was into the much-maligned Journey Into Your Imagination.

Rich had loved the original incarnation of this ride, so I was interested to see what he’d think of this one. I thought parts of it were cute, the optical illusions were really neat, and I do like Eric Idle, but overall, I wasn’t too impressed. It was very short and I would have liked to see more of Figment. And the noise! Many thanks to the person who had warned me about the volume during the “Sound” section of the ride when the train came through; I had my fingers in my ears and still found it painful! On next door to the Land, one of Rich’s favorite exhibits here.

First, we waited a few minutes for the Circle of Life. I love Timon and Pumbaa, and the message was nicely put across without too much of a “humanity sucks” tone to it. We both really liked the Living With the Land tour, too, especially floating through the greenhouses. Then to the Living Seas. I wish I could’ve seen this when it first opened; I’ve heard it was much nicer then. The main reason that I was especially anxious to see this one was that my father worked for United Technologies for years, until they sold his division to Westinghouse five years ago. The idea for the exhibit was nice, but it is looking slightly shabby down there, and I could have sworn that I had seen pictures of an underwater tube that you walked through. It wasn’t there. The manatees were wonderful, though, and there were divers in the main tank who waved at us. That looks like fun! We also liked the “hydrolators”, which really make you feel as though you’re going down under the water.

By this time we were getting tired and slightly crabby, and we had Priority Seatings (Disney’s version of reservations) at California Grill, so we started wandering back to the Poly by way of every store between the gates and us. I knew we’d probably damage ourselves at The Art of Disney (and I was right), but they have so many beautiful things there! We wound up with a figurine of Pooh and Piglet reading a book (I am a librarian, after all), and a print of “Pooh’s Garden”, a painting which they have for sale there.

Naptime.

At 7:30, nicely cleaned and pressed, we jumped on the monorail, getting off at the Contemporary. I had originally wanted to stay here, but we couldn’t get MKC-discounted rooms there or at the GF, so we wound up at the Polynesian. And I’m so glad we did! The Contemporary looks rather cold and impersonal next to the warmth and friendliness of the Poly, and we wouldn’t have been able to afford the Tower rooms, anyway.

The elevator whisked us up to the restaurant, where the hostess and a magnificent view greeted us. I’d love to see it during the day. We waited for almost five minutes, then were seated next to the south window (facing Epcot), in a relatively quiet corner. The meal was fabulous. Kevin from New Orleans was our server, and he was excellent; his recommendations on both food and wine were faultless, and he was around just enough, but not too often to interrupt. When I couldn’t decide between two different white wines for my entrée, he brought the bottles over and let me try both of them! We started with the duck salad with apple chutney, then I had something that involved chicken and thyme-ricotta dumplings in a sour cream sauce, and Rich had something involving beef. We finished with a lemon soufflé that was just perfect.

By the time dinner was over, it was past 10:00, so we rode back to the Poly and turned in.

Day 4: November 5

Mickey did wake us up this morning, but Rich didn’t sound too happy about it (“There’s a giant rat on the phone telling us how much fun we’re going to have today. Who does he think he is?”). We had breakfast at the Kona Café again, and arrived at the Magic Kingdom around 9:45. This was probably the most crowded day for us in any of the parks. Since we felt that we’d already covered Tomorrowland and Fantasyland pretty well, we headed left for Adventureland, stopping in at the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse on the way in. I’m always fascinated by this one, and not just because they have running water and a library. And a very LOUD dinner bell in the kitchen, which was the joy and delight of several little boys in front of us. Then we went into the pre-show area for the Tiki Birds, which was the only thing we timed badly throughout the entire trip, since we just missed the previous show. Rich liked the new show, but I missed the old one, and especially missed the original song. I did think that the rapping Tiki Gods were very funny, but it ended very abruptly. From there, we wandered across the square to the Jungle Cruise, which was just as delightful as I remember it. Our guide was very silly, and ably protected our boat from bathing elephants and hippos and crocodiles and so forth.

Continuing with our whirlwind tour of Adventureland, we descended into Pirates of the Caribbean. Very funny, and I had heard there had been a number of changes in the ride to make it more politically correct, but nothing stood out in particular. After fighting our way free of the Pirates gift shop, we wandered up past the crowds getting damp in front of Splash Mountain (a little chilly for that today), and got in line for Thunder Mountain. A lovely little roller coaster, but I wanted more time to look at the mining town and the animals! By the time we’d gotten off that and I’d taken a whole bunch of pictures of the area, we decided that we were in the mood for something that didn’t move up and down quite as much, and someplace where we could rest our feet. The Disney Railroad it was. We took a complete round trip, past the Indian camps, trading posts, Toontown, Main Street, and back again to Adventureland/Frontierland. For lunch, we wanted something a little different, so we got taco salads at El Pirata Y el Perico Restaurante. A wee bit greasy, but mostly very good, and not a cheeseburger or french fries. As we wandered through Frontierland, stopping at the shooting gallery, we felt that there was still a small empty space in our tummies, so we got ice cream; I had a chocolate-covered Mickey head, and Rich had a Mickey head ice cream sandwich. Very good.

After washing our sticky hands, we noticed that the Hall of Presidents was about to have a show, so we dashed in there with seconds to spare, and listened to Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Clinton and the others tell us what a wonderful country we live in. There were two more presidents than when I was last there, and the animatronics never cease to amaze me; they’re so incredibly lifelike, particularly Clinton.

Radiant with national pride, we went off to my favorite ride in the entire Magic Kingdom: The Haunted House. We survived the amazing stretching room with its morbid portraits, got in our Doom Buggies, and off we went to watch the dancing spooks. It was so much fun that we wanted to do it again, but the line had gotten longer, and we hadn’t even been over to Toontown yet.

On the way over to the other side of the park, we stopped off at the only ride in Fantasyland that we hadn’t gotten to yet: Pooh. I know that some are still bitter, mourning Mr. Toad’s demise, and I remember that ride fondly too, but Pooh was very sweet. It was the longest wait we had during the entire vacation; it was posted at 40 minutes, and I don’t think it was too much shorter than that, even though Disney usually overestimates its wait times by quite a bit. Rich hasn’t read many of the Pooh stories, but he enjoyed the ride, and I explained all of the stories to him as we sailed grandly by in our Hunny Pot. We both especially liked the Heffalumps and Woozles. Running from the Pooh merchandise, we both were beginning to tire, but I wanted to see Mickey’s Toontown Fair before we left, so we went over there and wandered through Mickey and Minnie’s houses. Mickey’s house was a cute bachelor pad, but I loved Minnie’s house with its refrigerator full of cheese products and its microwave with popping corn and a baking cake in the oven. Mickey was apparently holding an audience in the tent, but we were really getting tired, so we visited Donald’s leaky boat, and started back for Main Street, visiting a few shops on the way.

Back at the Poly, we took our usual afternoon naps (an absolute must) and showers and wrote some postcards before setting off for Epcot, this time giving ourselves plenty of time to get there. We stopped by the champagne booth on the way to sample a couple of varieties, then set off at a leisurely pace (no parade to contend with this time) for Norway, where we’d made PSs at Restaurant Akershus. Neither of us had ever had that kind of food before, and it was very interesting and delicious. Rich ordered a Norwegian beer, and I tried mead, but our waitress got confused and brought us two of each, so we had lots of beverages. The beer was good, but the mead was really sweet, and I probably wouldn’t get it again. Akershus is a buffet, so there’s no menu; you just go up, get a plate, and pick up whatever looks interesting. And all of it did. On the cold buffet, they had scrambled eggs (yes, cold), which they suggested you eat with marinated salmon.

It was very good, and the salmon didn't produce any sort of reaction with me. I'm allergic to it, but sometimes I cheat. There was also a rather odd light brown cheese, which had the consistency of soft chocolate and was both slightly sweet and sharp at the same time. Our waitress, Eva, said it was goat cheese, and very popular in Norway. Rich thought it was a little odd, but I loved it. Anybody know if it's available here? There were also a number of cold salads and a selection of breads; I particularly liked the lefse, a potato-based flatbread. The hot bar had a venison stew (I’d never had venison before. It tasted like strong beef), mashed rutabagas (interesting taste), and something labeled macaroni and cheese, but it was really penne pasta with a different sort of cheese sauce over it. I wish we could have stuffed some dessert down, but we were really full.

We didn’t want to go back to the room quite yet, so we took the monorail over to the Grand Floridian to look around and get a drink. Oh my! It’s absolutely incredible inside: huge and elegant and so luxurious. There was even a pianist performing when we arrived. We walked around to the back of the second floor, looked at the menu for Citrico’s (looked interesting, but not as good as the California Grill), and then wandered into the bar/lounge at the back. It’s very quiet and peaceful, and the view of the lagoon is nice, too. We sat there for a little while with our drinks (and dessert. Rich succumbed to a crepe from Citrico’s) until we got tired and it got a bit more crowded, and decided to call it a night.

When we got out to the monorail station, the CM told us that we might have to wait a little while, since the next monorail was only going to drop people off, and then stop service. Since we were the only people out there, we asked if we might be able to ride up front with the driver, and he said that he’d check for us. A few more people came out, and the monorail finally arrived. When it did, however, another couple asked if they could ride up front, and he told them to go ahead! I didn’t want to make a scene, but when the driver (Robert, from Ohio) came out, I asked if we could ride with him, since we’d asked first. Lo and behold, he let us in and asked the other people to go back to the cars. I did feel a little guilty, but we _had_ asked first! So another of my must-do items got crossed off the list. It was really wonderful, even in the dark, to watch the track loom up ahead. It almost feels as though you’re out in the open. The other couple up there with us asked all sorts of questions, and so did Rich, but I was so tired that I couldn’t think of any. It didn’t look as though it was all that hard to drive, but they do have additional training, and he was paying very close attention to where the monorail was on the track. I think that the actual driving and speed control isn’t the complicated part, it’s the coordination of all the monorails on the track that’s tricky.

Robert says that he loves doing it.

Then to bed.

Day 5: November 6 This was the day we were using our Flex Feature, the Hidden Treasures of the World Showcase, so we had to get to Epcot bright and early. This was also our last day (sniff), so we had our very last breakfast at the Kona Café (Tonga Toast again for Rich, and normal Kona French Toast for me) before boarding the monorail. There weren’t many people at Epcot yet, but there were some listening to a marching band and looking at the “Leave a Legacy” display. Both Rich and I decided that we really don’t like it; it reminds us of the Vietnam War Memorial, and we just don’t think that’s appropriate. Besides, the tiles are so small! If they wanted to include guests as a permanent part of the park, perhaps they could have invited us to create artwork that would remain on permanent display, or something a bit more cheerful-looking.

Off my soapbox now.

We convened at Guest Services for our tour, and made PSs for Spoodles for lunch and Le Cellier for dinner while we were waiting. One of the nicest things about this tour is that it gets you into the World Showcase at 9:00, two hours before it opens to anyone else. So you’ve got it to yourself and your camera for the first two hours! Our guides were Catherine and Laura, and they really seemed to know their stuff.

We started in Canada, where they explained how the main building there was based on the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec and another famous building in Ottawa. They also showed us how the building is made to look much taller than it really is by playing with the placement and size of the windows. Then they showed us the gardens, based on the famous Butchart Gardens in Victoria, and we got to go “backstage” to see the backs of the Canadian Rockies, which look very different from the back. Since it doesn’t snow in Florida, but it does rather a lot in Canada, they change the color of the flowers in the gardens with the seasons. During the winter, they put in white flowers, and then they replace them row by row with pastel-colored ones as Spring slowly arrives.

Next, we went to Great Britain, where the Imagineers tried to show a variety of English buildings. The teashop is based on Ann Hathaway’s Cottage, and a toyshop is housed in a smaller version of Hampton Court Palace. The Rose and Crown is actually two different pubs, one representing a London, or “city” pub, and another that looks more like what you’d find in the country. There’s also a city square from London with a large Georgian house and a row of townhouses, complete right down to the soot on the chimney pots, which was painted on later when someone noticed that it looked a little too clean! Then over to France, where we got to go behind the scenes again to see what the Eiffel Tower really looks like. Parts of France are based on “Belle Epoque” Paris, and one square is supposed to be in a French village. Of course, when you’re not in Paris, you can’t see the Eiffel Tower! Makes sense, doesn’t it? Also, the French buildings are painted up even backstage, because they can be seen from the Epcot hotels and International Gateway.

On to Morocco, one of the most beautiful pavilions, in my opinion. Catherine and Laura explained to us that Morocco and the United States have always had a very special relationship because Morocco was the first country to recognize us as a new nation in 1776. Restaurant Marrakesh apparently has copies of some letters from the King of Morocco to George Washington. We also learned that Morocco was the only pavilion in the World Showcase that is sponsored by a nation’s government. When it was being designed and built, the King sent his own personal artisans over to Epcot to help build the pavilion. As Muslims, they believe that Allah is the only one who can create life, so there are no images of plants or animals in their art, only geometric patterns. They also believe that only Allah can create perfection, so there are very small, deliberate mistakes made throughout the pavilion, and we had fun looking for them. As we entered the pavilion through the large gate, we were also told that if we’d been in ancient Morocco, we’d have all had our hands chopped off by now. The large, central portion of the gate is reserved solely for the Sultan, and the little people and their belongings (even the camels!) must use the two smaller doorways to either side. We also wandered the museum briefly and the open room with the fountain in it, which would be typical of the central part of a wealthy Moroccan family’s home.

We’d spent an awful lot of time on the first few pavilions, so we scurried over to Japan. The large gate in the harbor there is based on one in the harbor of Kyoto; these gates are usually found outside Shinto temples, and people walk beneath them (or ships sail close to them) to bring good luck. The layered tower is also based on a specific building in Japan (forgotten which), and each of the five layers represents the five elements of Buddhism: fire, wind, water, earth, and heaven, although I don’t think that’s the correct order. The department store in Japan is actually a branch of the oldest department store in the world, and it’s housed in a building based on one of the Emperor’s old palaces. The original is made entirely from interlocking pieces of wood! We continued over to The American Adventure, which is probably the only building in the World Showcase that uses forced perspective to appear *shorter* than it really is. The building needs to be five stories high in order to accommodate all the machinery needed for the animatronic show, but since it’s a replica of Independence Hall, that would look funny. So they enlarged all the doors and windows and used color to draw the eye down. We had a great demonstration of the scale when a gentleman from our group, who was over 6 feet tall, walked slowly up to one of the doors, and it turned out to be immensely taller than he was! With nobody standing next to it, you’d never have guessed how big it was. On to Italy, which has buildings from Venice (the Doge’s Palace and the canal out in front), Tuscany, and ancient Rome. There, we were told how Alfredo sauce was invented: the Alfredo in question, a famous restaurateur, had a pregnant wife who couldn’t stomach any tomato-based sauces for a while. So he invented the cream sauce, and it became a permanent part of the menu.

Germany is another of my favorites. Instead of trying to represent a variety of national architectures, the Imagineers in Germany decided to make the whole thing a Bavarian village. The interiors of each are different, however. The wine store looks (and smells) like a wine cellar, the toy shop and the candy shop look different inside, and the Hummel shop was purposely designed with floorboards that creak! After taking a brief bathroom break and looking at the model train setup, we were whisked off to China. By this time, the World Showcase had opened to the rest of the public, so it began to get a little more crowded.

China is lovely in the morning when the colors almost glow. Our guides pointed out some architectural similarities between China and Japan, such as the curved roofs and interlocking buildings. Japan became expert at borrowing from other cultures and adapting what they’d learned to fit their own culture. Catherine also showed us a small figure on the corners of the buildings who looks as though he’s riding a chicken.

He is, and it’s not meant to be flattering. These figures represent a particularly bad emperor, who is immortalized on many Chinese buildings in this way to serve as a warning to future leaders. We walked through the garden, where we were told that water is used in every pavilion, since water is so important to humanity. I hadn’t even noticed! Then we walked into the round building where our guides showed us how numbers are used in Chinese architecture and the symbolism of the dragon (representing the Emperor) and the phoenix (representing the Empress).

The end was in sight as we walked over to Norway, where we all gazed longingly into the Kringla Bakeri og Kafe and listened to the history of the Stave Churches in Norway. Apparently, there aren’t many left, but the government protects the few that remain. Catherine also showed us the turf roof and said that it’s still used today since it’s such an excellent insulator. Finally, we hiked into Mexico, where Catherine pointed out the different styles of architecture representing both the Spanish missionaries and settlers and the Indians. Laura stopped us before we got all the way in and brought us up to the pyramid by a side route. That way, it looked as though we were coming upon it suddenly as we explored the jungle. Before we went in, we talked about the figures on the outside of the temple, and what our expectations of the inside would be if it were a real temple. We said that we would expect it to be cool and dark inside, and slightly damp, and maybe a little musty. And it was! Well, maybe not so damp, but it was dark and cool and just a wee bit musty-smelling (they do that on purpose). Going further into the temple, she showed us the marketplace inside, with its temples and volcanoes in the background to draw people further in. She also said that the reason the Imagineers made the market in evening was that it would be empty during the afternoon, since that’s when everyone takes their siestas. The time that it’s really bustling is at night, so that’s what they built. That’s where the tour ended, and everyone thanked Catherine and Laura and filled out evaluation forms while Rich and I made a mad dash for the International Gateway and the Boardwalk for lunch.

I’ve heard that all of the Epcot hotels are really nice, and they look it, but I didn’t expect them to be so HUGE! We gaped at the lighthouse and the shipwreck as we wandered around the lake. I wouldn’t mind staying here next time… We found Spoodles easily and were seated immediately since it wasn’t very busy. It’s a nice place, but I think it would be better for breakfast or dinner. Or maybe we were just a little too tired to appreciate it. We split an appetizer of calamari in cornmeal, which wasn’t bad, and then got sandwiches. Rich had a chicken sandwich on foccacia with some very strong cheese on it, and I had a lamb sandwich in a pita. They were both quite tasty, and the milkshakes were good, too. Rich had chocolate, as usual, and I had a pina colada smoothie (with yogurt instead of ice cream). We were still tired after we finished eating, so we got a bus from the Boardwalk to the Magic Kingdom (it was the first thing that appeared), then hopped on the ferry to the Ticket and Transportation Center, and then walked back to the room. I napped and wrote postcards while Rich drove out to the auto care center and filled up the gas tank so we wouldn’t have to worry about it the next morning. Then we both slept a little while longer before going back to Epcot around 3:30.

On our way into the park, we stopped off in MouseGear to buy Mickey socks for me and a Tigger golf hat for Rich and a few other bits and pieces. Then we grabbed another couple of champagne samples and struck out around the World again, trying to catch all the things we’d missed before and picking up souvenirs as we went. Unfortunately, the lines for most of the rides were simply too long, so we had to skip most of those. I’d heard wonderful things about the rice cream in Norway, so we got one of those and sat for a bit, enjoying a band. It’s actually rice pudding mixed with whipped cream. Rich liked it more than I did, but it was rather nice. We passed up China and headed for the American Adventure just as it was starting. Our luck held as the CM at the door mistook us for a couple she’d talked to earlier, and she let us in anyway. It’s a great show with spectacular animatronics, and another one of those presentations that makes you feel pretty darn good about living in the United States. On to Germany, where I purchased a glass pickle for the Christmas tree (the Christmas shop there is spectacular, and the CMs very friendly), and to England, where I made a crucial decision and picked only one teacup from the teashop there. It wasn’t easy.

We hadn’t had time for the Millennium Village yet, so this was it. I must say that I was a bit disappointed. It has a very convention-like atmosphere, and there aren’t many activities you can do without waiting in line for quite a while. I did enjoy the season eggs in Sweden, particularly the winter one with its real ice, and Rich liked the mint tea in Saudi Arabia. I would have, too, if I hadn't burned myself on it. We also had a very nice conversation about travelling in Great Britain with a Scottish CM working in the gift shop. Other than that, we really thought it was a glorified (albeit interesting) gift shop. I can’t imagine what it must be like when the park is crowded! When we left the Millennium Village, we had about 40 minutes left until our PSs at Le Cellier, so we walked over to Canada to see if we could get into O Canada! Once again, it was just about to start, and we walked right in. I love those 360º theatres, and the movie was breathtaking, even to those of us who have seen the real thing. There weren’t too many other people in the theatre, so Rich told me what I was seeing when we were in Victoria and Vancouver, and I told him what we were seeing in the Maritimes. It was fun. We got out of there with only a few minutes until dinner, but there was a wait. We were very glad we’d made PSs, because they were completely booked for the rest of the evening and were turning people away. The hostess told us it would be 20 minutes (really more like 10), so I waited with the pager while Rich went in search of the vendors that sold the Pooh flashlight-things with the fiber optics sticking out of his head. He’d seen people carrying them just before IllumiNations the other night and really wanted one. He came back successful just before we were called to our table. The Unofficial Guide didn’t have much to say about Le Cellier’s atmosphere, but we both liked it very much. Our server, Elaine, an anglophone from Montreal, was very nice and helpful, and the food was great. I just wish there hadn’t been quite so much! The steaks were huge, and they piled on the vegetables, too. We started with a bowl of their famous cheddar cheese soup, which Elaine was nice enough to divide into two bowls for us. Rich then got the Wild Mushroom Stuffed Filet with smashed potatoes, which he liked very much, and I got the Pepper Crusted Top Sirloin, which was also very good (though I wasn’t too keen on the cheddar grits). They had wonderful-looking desserts, too, but it just wasn’t possible to fit anything else in.

We finished dinner only 20 minutes before IllumiNations 2000 began, and emerged into the crowd. When they tell you to get in your viewing spot an hour before the show starts, they aren’t kidding. The streets were packed. We squeezed in behind some other folks in Canada and stood on our toes, and the view wasn’t bad. Not great, but we could see everything pretty well, although I was a little short to see the globe clearly. I’m never one for shows at amusement parks, but at Disney World I make an exception, particularly for fireworks. The fireworks were lovely, the fireballs truly impressive, and the music very touching. We thought it was a fitting end to our vacation. After the display was over, we followed the crowds out of the park, got on the monorail for the very last time (“Por favor mantengase alejado de las puertas.”) and traveled sadly home. No partying tonight; we had to get up at 4:30 the next morning to drop off the car and get to airport for our very early flight. As we left, I sniffed a little and waved goodbye to every Disney building we saw on the way out. We did almost everything on my “must-do” list, so we’re both well satisfied with our week. Now we can start planning for the next vacation!

Anna Pilston

pilston@yahoo.com

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