Trip Reports

Cast of Characters:

Donna (me) - age 40-married - getting 35 days use on my AP this year (hey, I'm in the "Sue" category now) LOL!, TDS CM
My Sister - Beth, age 38 - Single but looking for her Prince Charming (been to Disney 6 times)
My Sister - Laurie - age 28 - newlywed leaving hubby at home (first time WDW trip and first time flying)
This trip was planned at almost the last minute. I had heard about a great CM package but the price included passes and I did not need a pass. When I called about the price without a pass, I was told it was a package deal but she could give me the CM room rate for that time. All Star Movies was sold out so I just picked All Star Music. She asked me a date and I just picked 9-17/20 out of nowhere just to get the price. Well, when she said it was $41 a night including tax, before I knew it, I was saying BOOK IT! So I booked 3 nights in ASM for that weekend without having ANY idea of who would be going with me. I immediately thought of my sister, Beth, who also had an AP. All we would need would be airfare. We thought of asking Laurie but we knew with her just getting married and buying a house, it might be tight for her. Plus, she is a teacher and only gets 2 personal days a year and would have to use those days if she went. We asked her anyways but she said, no, she doubted she could. We were bound and determined to get her there somehow. She was a little reluctant to ask her new superintendent to have off so early in the year and if she called and asked him, this would be the first time she ever talked to him and she didn’t want to give him the wrong impression by immediately asking for time off. We told her the worst he could say was no. So she called him and he said it would be fine! We were all excited! Beth then volunteered to pay Laurie’s way so she wouldn’t have to charge anything. I took care of the room and Beth paid both hers and Laurie’s way for both food and souvenirs! I saved all of my Disney checks for MY spending money and will definitely do this in the future. I made a reservation for Tiffany Towncar over the internet and started printing out menus for Laurie and Beth to go over. This was more or less Laurie’s call since she probably won’t go for awhile. Beth is coming with me in March and she was with us in October 1998 so we let Laurie decide where to eat, with MY recommendation, of course! All we had to do now was wait for the day!

Well sure enough, the day rolled around, but so did Hurricane Floyd! It was a little touch and go there for awhile but Floyd was well out of our way by Friday, September 17th. I had made reservations at a Motel 6 that offered free airport shuttles to the airport. It was only $47 a night and was very nice and rather large for that price. We will stay here for our night before the December trip. We like doing it this way since we live an hour from the airport and by staying closer, it allowed us longer sleeping time and "primping" time, lol. Joe was nice enough to take us down to the Motel 6 the night before. Jake came along for the ride and I felt bad for Joe chasing Jake down the hall when they left! What is it about motel/hotel hallways that makes kids run? LOL! FREE AT LAST!!!!

Friday - September 17, 1999 - Day 1

I had set the wake up call for 6 but we were all awake (and excited) by 5 so we thought we'd get an early start. I had planned on us getting the 8:15 shuttle. When I got up I called Joe to make sure he heard his alarm since I am the one who usually turns it off and he never even hears it. It didn't take long for us to shower and put our junk back in our freedom bags (beth and I both have them). We dragged (and I mean DRAGGED) our junk down to the lobby. My suitcase has wheels that worked ok but Beth's wheels were not spinning on hers. She had packed both her's AND Laurie's stuff so it was really heavy. On the walkway down to the lobby, there was a steep sidewalk. I set my luggage at the top and just let it go and it went right with me down the sidewalk. Beth set hers at the top and let go and it just sat there. We laughed pretty hard about that one. Upon entering the lobby, we noticed they only had coffee and tea, no continental breakfast. No problem, we'll just pick something up at the airport. We got some OJ out of the vending machine and split a bottle among us. It was still ½ hr. till our scheduled shuttle so I asked the guy at the front desk if we could get the 7:45 shuttle and he said no problem. This only gave us about a 5 minute wait. Next thing we knew, we were on our way to Pittsburgh International Airport and were curb-side checking our bags. We only had two. We ate at Au Bon Pain , just having some danish and tea.

When we got to our gate, they made an announcement that due to Hurricane Floyd, our flight crew could not get here from Baltimore and that our flight was now scheduled to depart at 10:55. Ok, 1 hour isn't too bad. I wasn't happy but I wasn't letting it ruin my vacation. I went to call Tiffany Town Car, their number wasn't answering so I called a co-worker who contacted them for me. When we got back to our gate, the departure time was now 11:15 but the announcer said it would probably be more like 11:30. I could feel myself getting madder by the minute but no one else seemed to be making a big deal and what can you do when it comes to weather. It was out of our control. We decided to shop around our airport for awhile. It is literally like a shopping mall and is considered one of the nicest airports in the country. We got some jelly bellys jellybeans for the plane and some bubble gum. We went back to our gate and the same time was still posted. I asked about our boarding time and was told 11:45. Hmmm...we're supposed to take off at 11:30 and boarding isn't til 11:45? Well, he tells me, the plane hasn't left Baltimore yet! I asked him how long of a flight it was and he said 50 minutes. Well, time went pretty fast and before we knew it, an announcement was made that the plane landed and they were being whisked over to our gate. When they finally got there, everyone clapped and they took their bows. This really helped keep the mood happy when I wasn't very happy! We boarded shortly afterwards and were off the ground by 12:30. I had hoped to be on my way to ASM by that time but hey, go with the flow! This was my sister, Laurie's, first flight and it went pretty well once we were up in the air. We even called my mom from 39,000 feet on the airfone. She couldn't get over we were way high in the sky and talking to her. Hate to think what it will do to Laurie's charge card!

We arrived in Orlando around 2:10. We passed by our Tiffany guy cause he was writing another name down on the other side of his card with my name on it. He put up our name just in time for Laurie to notice it and she called me back. Our driver's name was Louis. He was a little hard to understand but he directed us to our luggage carousel. One of the carousels was down for repairs so there were only two to be used by all these incoming flights. Louis started telling me he had another family from our flight to pick up too. I never heard of Tiffany taking two parties at once. I informed him I had planned a stop at the Team Disney building to purchase passes for my sister. I swear I saw him break out in an instant sweat! He said he had a 4:00 pick up too. He disappeared for awhile and I went to retrieve our bags. Next thing I know, he brings over another Tiffany driver, Keith, and said Keith would be able to take us and we could make our stop. I was impressed with the efficiency of how they handled this. We liked Keith better anyways, he was a non stop chatterbox (like us) and was easier to understand. He carried every single one of our bags for us too. Everytime we asked him something, his reply was "not a problem"! That phrase was one we repeated throughout the trip and we laughed every time we said it. Keith told us how all Tiffany drivers either have to purchase their own vehicle or lease it; but THEY make the payments on it. He had just bought this 1999 Town Car that we were riding in. It was all leather seats. I did detect a hint of cigarette smoke but wasn't sure if it was from Keith or a previous client. It was really cool being whisked away like celebrities! I told him where we wanted to stop and he seemed to be heading the wrong direction. I told him the Team Disney bldg. is where I wanted to go and he thought I meant the NEW Team Disney Building and pointed it out to us. I told him I thought it was still in the old building so he made a quick lane switch and I recognized the big Team Disney building that's shaped like a big cruise ship, directly across the Marketplace. He parked right in front, came around and opened our doors and we went in to the Company D store. You should have seen the people looking to see who we were. It was fun. I purchased a 4-day hopper with my CM discount for Laurie. Beth and I have annual passes. Laurie found a pretty music box shaped like a grand piano and when you opened the top, it played the theme from Cats.That is our mom's favorite song so we wanted to get it for her. The CM said she'd get me a boxed one. I bought some Team Disney magnets and a Team Disney Pin. They still had a lot of Animal Kingdom CM shirts and some CM cruise shirts. We ran back out to our "limo" and got those same stares from people again. We got about 2 blocks from the store and Laurie said, why is this music box playing Love Me Tender? The CM apparently gave her the wrong one. Keith immediately said, NOT A PROBLEM! LOL! He turned around and Laurie ran back in and exchanged it. FINALLY, around 4, we reached the All Star Music and checked in. All we wanted to do was throw our junk in the room and go to MK. It was a bright, clear and sunny day.

Luckily, there was no line at check in and I was immediately waited on. She asked me if we just had the two adults and I said, no, we have a 3rd adult and she said if we just wanted the two card keys, she would not charge for the extra person but if we needed a 3rd key, she'd have to charge. It was only $10 per night add'l but we decided two keys would be plenty. We got our American Express fanny pack and I gave it to Beth to wear. When I asked if we were in Calypso Bldg., which I requested, she said all of the non-smoking rooms were filled in Calypso but I could have a smoking optional in that building. I told her I would try it and the room was ready! Our room was 1525 and it smelled fine. If there'd have been even a hint of smoke, I would have smelled it.

Our luggage was being brought to our room, so we just dumped a few things we didn't need to carry and headed out for the bus stop. Got to the MK at 4:30. Yeh, my AP was working but Beth's wasn't. She showed ID and we were in! Our first stop was Alien Encounter. Laurie is deathly afraid of aliens so of course we had to torture her here! We walked right in to the preshow. In the room where they show Skippy, Laurie thought that's all there was and said, well this isn't that bad! Then the other doors opened and she said uh oh, this must be it! We got down in the front row and she was worried when she saw the shoulder harnesses. After it started, it was pretty much one big long scream. At this point, I find this attraction funny but newcomers are always scared. There was one girl, about 8, behind us. She cried and cried the entire time. I felt really bad for her. I looked back when the lights came on and she was wiping her eyes and said she wanted out of there. Laurie said she couldn't believe how real it looked. We headed over to Buzz and walked right on to the moving vehicle. This ride is always a lot of fun. I finally got a gun that worked , my score was 25,000. Laurie got 45,000 and Beth got 5,000 (she got the broken gun, lol). We were spinning like crazy in there. It took Laurie awhile to realize that *I* was the one spinning us! We decided to do WedWay next and walking on here was no surprise. Laurie kept saying, when is the big hill? I said, well Laur, this is about as wild as it gets! LOL! From the WedWay, we could see there was no line for the skybuckets so that is where we went next. We got a great view from up there and I videoed and you could see the park was not crowded at all. We wanted to get over to Haunted Mansion and this was a great way to do it. When we got over there, everyone was coming OUT of the entrance way to HM. Apparently, they just had a breakdown and had no idea when it would be up again. Since we saw no line at Peter Pan from the skybuckets, we thought that would be a fun ride to do next. This was a first, walking on Peter Pan. But when we got off, a line had formed. When we flew over London, Laurie said, how do they do that; we're flying! We then walked through the Castle - touched the slipper - and I showed Laurie where we'd be eating on Saturday night. We walked over to Pirates - the left side of the line was closed but the right was a walk on anyways. I kept thinking of Jake on this ride and was wishing he was there beside me. In fact, I made my sisters swing their arms like a pirate and we sang the song! We bypassed the gift shop by taking the handicap exit door as we had Chef Mickeys PS and we were already late. I thought we got a lot done for the amount of time we had at MK but those two and ½ hrs we were late getting here hurt our MK time. We took the monorail over to Contemporary and walked right up to the podium. We were about 15 minutes late. We got the picture just to see how it turned out even though we all thought we looked like Hurricane Floyd had passed through our hair! LOL!

We were seated in the main room which I was glad since this was Laurie's first time and I wanted her to experience the REAL Chef Mickey fun. Our waitress was a little on the slow side but I know she was very busy. I told the girls to go and get their food and I would stay back and order the drinks. I ordered us some iced teas and got all my food and STILL made it back before Laurie did. She could not believe all the food. We were SO hungry since all we had to that point was a danish at the airport. I loved those parmesan potatoes and even went back for seconds! Everything tastes good though when you're THAT hungry! We had great character interaction too which adds to the atmosphere and mood. We've made Chef Mickeys our first night in the world tradition for that very reason. All the characters came around to our table. The lady next to us offered to take our picture together with each one! In fact, she insisted on taking two of each in case one didn't come out. They were bringing the pictures around but why pay $26 for THEIR package when we could just use our own pictures and frame them. Besides, it was NOT a good picture of us with our "hurricane" hair, lol!

After dinner, I thought it'd be a good time to show Laurie the monorail resort hotels and maybe hop over to WL since I KNEW she'd love that place. So we took the monorail over to the Poly and as soon as we got off there, Laurie said this was the place for her! It was a beautifully clear night, it was just getting dark and you could see the castle lights from the Poly beach. It was a beautiful setting to say the least.(too bad I was with my sisters, lol -just kidding,honest) We walked on the beach for awhile. Laurie wanted to go in the water but I explained that we could not do that. The main pool was full of giggling kids and their parents, the bar was busy. I love the sound of the waterfall at that pool; reminds me of a rainforest. We walked along the tiki-lit paths and we all said we could just stay here all night! Kind of made me wish we splurged and stayed here with my 50% off CM discount instead of ASM. We found a leaning palm tree by the dock and decided to take some pictures. We were doing our best "model" poses leaning on the tree and just having "girl" fun, lol. I started feeling something wet on my arm and I saw the clear sky and thought, oh no, a bird did it. I turned around and the bartender is smiling and waving at me with his SuperSoaker gun. We all laughed as he continued shooting water over our way. We kidded him about he thinks he's Tom Cruise in Cocktail. Beth asked him to spin a few bottles, lol. In all the fun and laughter, Laurie didn't realize she left her purse back at the palm tree! So she ran back and got it. We got back on the monorail and rode over to GF. Laurie liked it here but said it's not her style but it was beautiful. We walked back to the pool and over to Narcoosee's and then got back on the monorail to get the boat launch at Contemporary to WL. It ran til 10 which worked out great. We had a nice leisurely ride over to WL. As I said before, the night was beautiful and there was a nice warm breeze out on Bay Lake. We had fun pretending to be lifeguards at the empty circular pool at Contemporary while we were waiting for the boat. We shared it with one other family on the way over to WL. The gueyser was just going off as we got off the boat. We showed Laurie the pool area and then walked in to that breathtaking lobby! OH MY was all she could say! We made some calls home and just sat around the lobby and enjoyed ourselves. It felt good to sit for awhile anyways, but not for long! We had some shopping to do! We started out in the WL gift shop. I bought a WL bellhop beanie and a WL pooh. Both really cute. We walked out the side door and the construction for the new DVC WL villas is all boarded up. We walked down to the bus stop for the marketplace. I told Laurie to watch out for gators since I had read a trip report that said someone saw a 10 ft. gator at the WL bus stop. After that, she said, she kept hearing stuff like something going through the grass! LOL! It's a good thing we didn't have to wait TOO long for a bus cause we were getting eaten alive by the skeeters!

Being that this was a Friday night, I KNEW the marketplace would be packed and it was pretty busy but I've seen it worse. We were all really thirsty and thought we'd like some smoothies. The one stand that sold them said their blenders were broke. We went in to WoD store and tried to stick together but it wasn't easy. I ended up buying a white ceramic cinderella vase for my TDS Asst. manager who is getting married next month.Cinderella is the theme for her wedding so it will be perfect. I bought jake the plush Capt. Hook doll. Bought a few millenium pins. One interesting thing happened as we were leaving. We had been walking from room to room and I hadn't seen anything in jake's size. I was hoping to find a bigger size of a shirt I had bought him in March last year. I entered a room and noticed it was childrens clothing and started looking around. Well, I guess I was standing too close to the checkout line. This lady starts mumbling something about me trying to cut in front of her. I said, "don't worry lady, I'm just looking around to see what'ss here, I'm not jumping in front of you". Not sure if she even understood me since she was Japanese. I walked around to the other side, didn't see anything I wanted so we decided to pay and leave. Well, wouldn’t you know, a CM just opened a register where I was standing and offered to take my stuff. Here I was getting waited on directly across from the lady who had said that and SHE was still waiting in the long line! She mumbled something to her friend and I made sure to wave as I left! LOL! We then walked through the Lego store without buying anything! Try doing THAT with kids, forget it!

After this, we walked over towards Pleasure Island. I had wanted to stop in and find Sue (WDW1972) at The Comedy Warehouse. The price for us to get in was $10 with my CM discount. It was already 10:30 and beth and laurie did not want to go in that late. The place was totally packed too. I was hoping Sue wasn't standing there looking for me; as it turns out, after reading HER report, she had left earlier in the night since Layden wasn't in the later shows. So we headed over to the West Side (yes, we did A LOT of walking). We found a stand that had frozen lemonade which sounded great! We got 3 of those and found some seats across from Starabilia's. You could hear the Latin Rhythm Nights music coming from PI. We just people watched for awhile and rested our feet. After we finished those, we shopped in Starabilias and Magnetron. Laurie bought a few magnets and she loved both stores. We walked back to the ASM bus stop and didn't have to wait too long. I set the wake-up call and we were lights out by 12:30 a.m. Both of my sisters were complaining about aching legs and feet! Hate to tell you guys, but we've only just BEGUN! I hate sleeping at Disney, what a waste of time. Something about the place just gives me an extra boost of energy! Tomorrow - Epcot

(one observation, what's with the platform sandals and platform tennis shoes?????)

Saturday -9-18-99 - Day 2

I woke up before the 7:00 wake-up call and the phone ringing still startled me. I could hear Mickey's voice telling Laurie "There's a doin's goin on! So let's get started!" By the time we all got showered and dressed, it was 8:15. I thought my sisters were kidding me when they said it was supposed to be overcast and rainy all day. Unfortunately, they were right as we left our room in a light drizzle. What a lovely hair day THIS would be! LOL! We went down past those huge yellow morrocas and made our way to the food court. WOW! Now THIS is a food court! Every single station was open and they all served different items. I went to each of them and wanted a sample of each thing! I "settled" for the Mickey waffles and so did my sisters. The dining area is huge and I can't imagine it EVER being filled to capacity. I thought about getting a refillable mug and probably should have but I usually just drink one cup of tea in the morning and bottled water the rest of the day. We got some lids for our coffee/tea and made our way out to the bus stop. Not before, however, noticing some really cool gifts in the gift shop. I saw a 2000 snowglobe that I just HAD to have, I bought the shirt I'm Never Growing UP for myself, Laurie bought her husband, Chris, a Grumpy (and they've only been married a year, lol) hat. We ran these items back up to the room and by the time we came back down, the rain had stopped. We hopped on a waiting bus.

At the EPCOT gates, Beth's pass is not working again. Mine did for a change! We decided to take Laurie up in Spaceship Earth since there no line at all. She loved this ride! I could hear her behind me saying, wow, look at that! over and over. She wanted to ride again but I told them we better head over to Test Track. The tip board said no wait at all! That is unheard of but sure enough when we get over there, it said 10 minute wait! For Test Track, that is practically NO wait at all! We went inside and even the inside line was walk through right up to the exhibit where the knee gets banged! I told Laurie that is what they do to us on this ride! she said, NO! LOL! Before we knew it, we were in the front seat of our car - three across. I really wanted to tape this but didn't want the CM's to see me with the camera out. So, I waited till they checked our belts right before we squealed up the hill! I popped out the camera and taped the entire ride! It wasn't easy trying to hold on with my left hand and tape with the right but it was WELL worth it! You can hear us screaming and it's just like being on the ride again when you watch it. We all declared that a WAY cool ride! It seemed even better since we didn't have to wait for it. We then headed over to Body Wars. Is there EVER a line for this? It was funny watching Laurie's expression. It is definitely rougher than Star Tours. We glanced at the exhibits and looked around in the ESPN section of the gift shop. I bought Justin a "Property of ESPN" t-shirt and Laurie bought one for Chris. I wasn't really in the mood for the loooooong Universe of Energy ride but Beth thought it was one for Laurie to see and she's right. I can skip it NEXT trip! Luckily, we walked right in and the pre-show with Ellen had just started. I think we got a bigger kick out of this than the actual ride. For some reason, when Ellen calls Jamie Lee Curtis "stupid Judy" it just struck us all funny. For the rest of the trip, if we thought someone was acting jerky like mothers screaming at their kids (like I never do, lol) or inconsiderate smokers, we just referred to them as "stupid judy". No one knew what we were talking about and we got a chuckle out of it. When this ride was finally over, we headed over to Ice Station Cool. The cool felt so good since the humidity HAD to be about 110%! We told Laurie how delicious Beverly/Italy was and she said she wanted to try it first. I said, well, take a really big gulp cause you're going to love it - and it's free! LOL! She had just got done saying how she was "dying of thirst". So she took this huge gulp and almost spit it back out! She said "Don, that is hideous!" LOL! Beth and we leaning on each other, that's how hard we were laughing. We walked over to Honey I Shrunk with Laurie trying to figure out how they do those skipping waters. I just said, "it's disney magic, that's how". We walked right in to the preshow which was about half over. It was fun watching Laurie's reaction to all the little surprises in the show. When we first sat down, she had her leg's crossed and away from the seat. I told her, this is a much better show if your feet are flat on the floor and sit up straight. She said, oh, ok! LOL! I wanted to make sure the "mice" got her - and they did! Beth and I laughed so hard. It was now about 11:50 and we had 12 noon PS at Coral Reef so we walked over there. I figured we could do the Living Seas after lunch. Normally, I skip the LS but this and the AK safari was all that Laurie talked about that she wanted to see so we had to go in here. I haven't been in the Coral Reef since they remodeled and I liked it much better. Laurie could not believe we were going to eat by the aquarium. I made sure to request a seat up front. We didn't get the row next to the glass but were on the first level directly across and it was even better cause our seats faced the glass. Laurie had scallops that she said were the best she ever ate. I think Beth had a salad. I had a steak that was to die for! it was served on top of red-roasted potatoes and covered with crunchy breaded onion rings! The steak was done perfect! We noticed the table behind or beside (depending on where you were seated) us were getting special treatment for some reason. They had a large party and were being personally served by the Manager and Asst. Manager. They got one of each item on the menu! I was trying to listen to what was being said, lol, but didn't catch too much! It seemed like some type of party planning for an upcoming event and they were testing each item. Lucky them!

We thought a good way to settle our stomachs would be to ride the boat ride in the Land. Laurie thought this was wonderful. She is really in to gardening and plants and thought it was cool how they did this. After the boat ride, we sat down to listen to the food sing in Food Rocks. I still miss the Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit, but this is cute.

At this point, we wanted to catch some things missed at MK. We monorailed over to TTC and switched to express monorail to MK. Beth and Laurie wanted Dole Whips. Laurie said she didn't even know what it was but it sounded good, lol. We sat down there for awhile and there was not one breeze in the air! We were lucking out cause the "all day" rain had yet to materialize. We headed over to Haunted Mansion, the line was really long. Typical Saturday line. I could not see us waiting in the heat that long. We went over to Small World and it even had a wait - not much but any wait at all is a lot for Small World. We could never NOT do Small World - what's a trip to the world without it? This is our grandmother's favorite ride and we kept point out all the dolls that she would like. She said before we left to ride Small World for her and we did! We headed back to Haunted Mansion and it said a 1 hour wait!! It killed me to get in that line but I knew it was now or never and we just could not pass up Haunted Mansion. The line moved really fast and it was no more than 30 minutes before we were in the stretch room. There were some kids in line that were especially nervewracking to us. The mother refused to tell her son to NOT sit on the chains or climb the walls. I finally just told him myself. I told him he risked getting kicked out of the line and maybe the park, lol. Well, he did not sit on those chains again. What's with parents who let their kids run the show? Anyways, we all enjoyed this ride. The three of us actually fit into one doom buggy. If figured the worse that could happen was we'd get stuck in there for life and have to ride it over and over again, lol! Laurie kept asking what was "over there on that island with the rope bridge". Beth and I just looked at each other and tried to change the subject. It was just too hot to climb around over there. Once I told her it was Tom Sawyer's island she said, nuh uh ! LOL! Next thing I know, we're on the raft on the way over. Everything was a little damp over there and I have to admit it WAS fun walking through the caves. Laurie kept kidding us that we were not letting her see the whole island cause we kept saying, ok, come over this way now. Aunt Polly's was closed. It seemed like everyone was trying to leave the island at once. We didn't make the one raft so we waited for the next. When it came over, everyone just shoved forward like it was the last raft of the century! The CM roped off the cut off in the line but in doing so, he scraped this big rope against my leg and I almost fell backwards! Even when I said, I have nowhere to go - he kept on doing it. The people in front of me would not budge so I kind of just "made" them move. We made the next raft but just barely. I just waited in one of those rockers and stayed away from the hot and sweaty people, lol.

We walked through Frontierland and walked right in to Country Bears. First time I have ever done that. I like the bears and all, but this attraction is in need of a rehab. At least for Christmas, the show will be a little different. Even Laurie said, when is this going to be over. We were in the next to last row and the family behind us just talked non stop and it's hard enough to hear back there as it is. I shushed them in a nice way and we all watched the show. When we came out of the bears, it was raining a little bit. What better time to go in Hall of Presidents. Another show that we walked right into; in fact, the CM closed the doors behind us. I thought sure Laurie would fall asleep on this but anything historical, she loves. Beth slept the whole time, lol. I am happy to say, President Lincoln was able to stand on his own two feet this time! LOL! (see my June trip report). When we came out, the rain had stopped. We headed over to Main Street to do some shopping before our PS at the Castle. Laurie went to call her husband and Beth went with her. I shopped around in the golf store next to Casey's. All of a sudden, I was not feeling well at all. I looked for a place to sit down but there were no chairs. I didn't want to leave that store since that is where I said I'd be. I sat in the corner on the floor for awhile. It seemed like they were taking forever. I had found a Nike Golf hat on sale for Joe and realized Beth had my purse so I had to wait for them. I could not imagine eating anything since I felt so bad. I realized I had not eaten since breakfast and that was probably the problem. I'll try to remember to eat more junk food! We checked in for our dinner and I just sat on that cold marble floor. I was hoping they would not call our name right away. As luck would have it, they did. We were seated smack in the middle of the room. I could barely even look at the menu. So much for that prime rib I had been looking forward to. I felt bad just ordered a $3.50 cup of Beef Barley soup but it was about all I could handle. When the waiter came over he said, "aaahhhh, a table of Princesses". Laurie laughed at that remark but I knew that is what they called you at this dinner. I told him I wasn't feeling well and just wanted a bowl of the soup and the warm bread/butter. Our waiter was really nice and pretty cute too! Our bill didn't amount to much so I thought we better add in an extra tip for him just because. Beth then said "yeh, we don't want him to think we're a couple of cheap princesses"! Something about that remark just hit me funny and I could not stop laughing. I realized at that point, I was feeling much better. I had the giggles and it wouldn't stop! The rest of the night I cracked up just thinking of her saying that. We kept calling each other Princess Beth, Princess Laurie and Princess Donna.One thing peculiar that happened, I kept getting dripped on all throughout dinner. At first I thought it was my imagination, but sure enough, I noticed these big drops on my hand and Beth even said, what just fell on you. I mentioned to my waiter that I was getting dripped on and he said, oh yes, we know - it's the air conditioner leaking (condensation) above you. There are five tables that the people get dripped on! oh well! Anyways, I sure was glad I was feeling better. So what do you do when you feel better? Well, you go to the Main Street Bakery, of course! Well, getting there was another story! When we came out of the castle, it was your basic wall to wall people! I have never seen MK this crowded! There was no getting by on the sidewalks so we somehow made our way out on to the street. It pays to use the old "i'm going to throw up if you don't move" method! LOL! (just kidding).

We finally got to the bakery and had some cookies and milk and watched the parade from in there where it was cool. The music gives me chills, especially that announcement. Since the night was still relatively young, we caught a BW bus (waited about ½ hr) from MK. We got off at Yacht Club and showed Laurie Stormalong Bay. This was the pool of her dreams she said. She wanted to wade through it! I said, no, we cannot do that! We made our way over to the BW area and shopped a little bit. I bought the BW Bellhop Beanie (i want all the DVC resort beanies), a gold Castle charm/pendant and also got the monorail shipped home for Jake for Christmas. That was an ordeal in itself. I actually had to help the CM figure out how to ring it up with the shipping so she would not give the CM discount on shipping. It took forever but she was so nice and apparently new. We checked out the Keister Coaster before we left. There was a cab waiting in the front of BW, so we hopped in and asked to go to ASMusic. It was only $6.75 before tip. This was a hot tip and beat going to the marketplace and catching a Music bus. After getting dropped off, we went in the food court and got some hot tea and more cookies, lol. We all headed back up to the room. I wasn't sure if Laurie and Beth were going to make it! Laurie put her card key in the door and it would not work. It just kept showing red over and over. I finally said, just let me do it! I did it and it was red too - and just then this guy opens the door! She picked the wrong room! LOL! It was hilarious; even the guy was laughing. I apologized over and over and said we were one door down! LOL! I set the wake up call and was missing my big living room at OKW with my cup of tea before going to bed. Another great Disney Day!

Sunday - September 19, 1999 - Day Two

Wake up was set for 6 and sure enough, Mickey remembered to call us! We took turns using the bathroom and mirror. It went pretty well considering 3 women and one bathroom! We headed down to the foodcourt and this time had danish and coffee/tea. We put lids on our cups and headed to the bus stop. Hooray, there's a bus waiting for us. We ran as fast as we could considering we had hot tea, and got on only to find it was standing room only. I lucked out and found a half seat in the back and squeezed into it. We were only going to AK so it wouldn't be a long ride anyways. I wondered what was taking so long since we were obviously a full bus but we hadn't left yet. Finally, the bus driver says, this bus isn't going anywhere, please get off and get on the one behind us. I guess it broke down or something. He would not open the back doors to depart, which is only fair since everyone back there would have been the first to get on the other one. By the time we made it off the back, this other bus was again pretty full, but we DID at least make it on. I felt bad for one girl, she was the cutoff for not making this bus. The driver told her she would have to take the next one. It's a shame cause she had a seat on the broken down one and did not make it on to this one. She stormed off and I can't blame her! This time, we were standing up towards the front and the bus driver wanted to play Disney trivia. He asked does anyone know how many buses Disney has? No one knew. Answer: 215. How many in service at all times? Answer: 185. How many gallons of fuel do they hold? Answer: 147 gallons of diesel fuel. Then he asked us if anyone knew why Walt was the only Disney castmember to be allowed to have a mustache. We all said cause he's the boss! Nope, that is not it. When Walt approached investors and banks for money to purchase the land for his idea for WDW, everyone said he looked too young and no one took him seriously. So Walt thought if he grew a mustache it would make him look older, and it did. The rest is history! So now you know all the answers if you ever get this bus driver! He was the best we had in many Disney trips.

We arrived at AK about 7:30 and it didn't open til 8. Beth decided to get her AP fixed, we took some pictures, etc. We got in line and were second in line on the far left. I wanted to tape the opening and just when I thought it was about to start, they made us wait longer. Finally, some cool looking creatures came out of the greenery and they were getting ready for the opening announcement. AK is definitely a different type of park but that is what's so great about it. It is all Laurie talked about and she could not wait for the safari ride. So that is what we did first! We "power walked" to the safari and walked right on to a waiting jeep. I never saw so many animals out before! Mornings are definitely better here. The big hippo was rolling around in the clay mud, all the animals were grazing; it was great! Our guide was ok, nothing spectacular. When we got off, Laurie asked to do it again. I normally don't repeat rides since there is so much to see, but I knew it would be the shortest line if we did it now. So back on we went! This time, our guide was a girl from South Africa and you could tell she loved what she was doing. Love that cool accent. We were in the row right behind her. She was really in to this and it seemed more exciting to us. After exiting we headed for the Pangani Forest Trail. The big guy was laying on his back and up against the glass. We meant to leave the area at that point but ended up at the train to convervation station. This park is still confusing to me, lol. But this was a good thing cause in my other two AK trips, I never did get to do this. The train was waiting right there too. It was a short ride over and it was very quiet over here. Nothing much was going on in the hospital. We petted the goats and sheep and a CM took our picture in front of the little elephant statue. We headed back to the main part of the park and decided to do Tough to be a Bug. I didn't tell Laurie anything about what happens, especially the stinging part, lol. I'm such a MEAN sister! She liked it even though she got stung!

Even though it was supposed to rain today, the weather was holding out. In fact, the sun had come out and it was downright hot! We headed over to have lunch at the Rainforest Cafe around 11. I wasn't sure how long it would take til we were seated but they took us, well ME, immediately. Laurie and Beth thought they had time to shop in the gift shop so I went to the table and had to go and find them. We had a great waiter here; he advised me that they just started accepting the CM discount ALL of the time, every day. He laughed because I said, ok, what discount can I use, AP, DVC, MKC, or CM? He said, boy, you have them all! I had the caribbe coconut chicken with garlic mashed potatoes, Laurie had an eggplant sandwich and beth had the gorilla grilled cheese. We left a little more tip than the 15% included amount since we didn't really get full lunches. The person, not our waiter, that brought the food forgot my mashed potatoes and our waiter noticed right away. He brought me a plate of potatoes big enough for a family of 4! I could not possibly finish them all. Laurie just fell in love with this place; I knew she would. She even walked all over the restaurant taking pictures. We thought we'd spend an hour or so shopping. We looked around in the Rainforest gift shop and Laurie got a cute hooded sweatshirt. We looked around Outfitters for awhile. Beth got the AK Mickey canvas tennis shoes. Of course, NOW, I am wishing that I got them too! I had my eye on one of those safari hats that everyone was wearing. I just love the way they look with the way the sides snapped up but I thought where else would I wear this but at AK? I'd look kind of funny wearing it walking through downtown Pittsburgh! LOL! We decided to do the 1:30 Lion King show. Beth remembered this from last October and couldn't wait to see it again. We got some frozen strawberry bars and frozen bananas and people watched near the entrance. When they dropped the rope, we got in line. We ended up in the first row behind the handicap section in the giraffe section. This show was excellent as usual. There was a moment towards the end when they bring the little kids up to sing Lion Sleeps Tonight, where I saw this little boy, about 3, with a head full of curls that just really made me miss my little jake. He was the cutest kid; I called him a little Charlie Brown.He was dressed in the cutest safari outfit and was so thrilled to be part of the show. He was smiling and not shy at all! I taped him for a few minutes so I could show Joe what he looked like. My emotions got the best of me and I had to look away because my eyes were just filled with tears from watching him and thinking of Jake. Even thinking about it now gets to me. You could just see the joy in his little face! Ok, that's enough of that!

We headed over to Asia to see what the Kali line looked like. It said only 20 minutes. Why we did not do Fast Pass, i'll never know! It was unbearably hot in this line. We were praying to get soaked. People were coming off looking pretty drenched but for some reason, we barely got even damp! It was a lot of fun and both my sisters really liked it. We went in the bathroom as soon as we got off and literally poured water on us to cool off, lol! We then did the Maharajah Jungle trek - the one big tiger was laying in the pool of water and it came right up to his neck. He sure knows how to stay cool! It was too hot for any animals to be that active so we kind of just walked the rest of the way through here. We headed over to Countdown to Extinction next. We were SO thankful for air conditioning! This is another time we should have fast passed it! They used to use both sides of the dino room but now, the left is JUST for fast pass and the right is for stand by. This ride is fun and is always scary for a first timer! Laurie said it's a good thing we went to the bathroom BEFORE riding this! LOL! It was now around 4 and we pretty much finished AK. We headed out to the bus area to catch a bus to OKW. I had planned a dinner at Olivia's so that Laurie could see OKW. She LOVES Hilton Head and I wanted her to see another DVC resort. Anyways, we waited about 20 minutes for a bus. He finally came and they switched drivers. Luckily, he didn't sit there too long. I had made PS for Olivia's but when we got there, it was practically deserted. We had a great waiter who was very attentive. I got the prime rib - ordered medium well, and both of my sisters got some kind of chicken salad and Laurie also got shrimp cocktail. When my prime rib came, it definitely was NOT done medium well. It pretty much resembled road kill on a plate! I ate the baked potato and the green beans. When our waiter came back, I informed him I could not eat it since it wasn't done right and was very tough. NOT A PROBLEM!!! He apologized and said he'd be back with something much better. It wasn't long before he was back with an entire dinner! This was a much larger piece, no red at all in it and it melted in your mouth. I gave Beth the beans and I ate the second potato! The three of us split a piece of key lime pie and it was great! While we were eating, it had downpoured; the first real rain of our trip. Our plans were to go to Epcot but they didn't know if we should. What's a few drops of rain when you're in disney? We went in to the general store and shopped a bit. I got the millenium calendar, an OKW bellhop beanie, a DVC-2000 pin and an OKW-2000 pin. We went outside to relax on the bunches in between the check-in area and general store. It wasn't long before a family of ducks decided to check in! They were SO cute; they waddled their way up the walkway, turned around and came back. Well, of course, I had to tape this! It was so cute cause they were waddling in time to the steel drum music that was playing. What lucky ducks to live at OKW! I showed Laurie the pool area and Turtle Krawl. She said she liked OKW but still liked HH better. It IS a hard choice- I love them both! We went out to the bus stop and the rain was letting up. Another 20 minute wait. When we got to Epcot, the rain had stopped completely. We entered, pass is still working! Spaceship Earth was a walk on so we did that again. I really wanted to cover the World Showcase and we only had about 1 ½ hrs. to do it before closing. We headed towards Canada first. Laurie said it was so realistic looking! We bought Justin a jug of maple syrup and one for my dad too. In our journey around the world, we saw/heard Off Kilter, had a pastry in France, tried on those cute little red hats in Morocco and had the CM taking pics of us pretending to play the flute, rode Maelstrom (walk on), saw Tigger in United Kingdom. We reached Mexico at exactly 8:55 and they were shutting things down. As we were exiting Mexico, we heard the big loud bangs of IllumiNations. We watched it as we made our way over towards the Beach Club to Beaches & Cream. We picked up a few towels and dried off some outdoor tables since Beaches & Cream was bustling with people. I went in the take out line and ordered 3 Frozen Sunshines. WOW! Carole was right on with this one! I never tasted them before but solely went on her recommendation and they were great! I was really impressed with the speed that those CM's work in there! After we finished those we strolled through the Beach Club and I showed my sisters where my surprise party was in June. Definite deja vu here! I walked out to Bell Services and was going to inquire about getting a cab. The man behind me heard me say All Star Music and said, excuse me, are you girls going to All Star Music? I said, yes, we were. He said he and his family were on their way there now and their van was parked about 5 steps away! Would we like him to take us there? He was with his wife and 2 daughters and 1 son. I know it's crazy, but we went! Anywhere else, I would NEVER do that! I said, are you sure, you don't even know us! He said we looked like nice girls and he trusted us and I said, well, you look like a nice family! I offered to give him the cab money but he would not take it. We gabbed all the way over to ASM. They are originally from Philly and now live in NJ. They were dropping the kids off at ASM where the in-laws were staying so that they could go out on the town! He dropped us off and we thanked him over and over! Only at Disney! Well, we couldn't go back to our room without a little shopping in the gift shop. I picked up that 2000 Snowglobe that I had my eye on. It's just a little smaller than the regular size globe and is $35 before my discount. I called Joe to tell him of the days happenings before I went to bed. Justin said he stayed up so he could talk to me :-). Lights out at 11:40. Our last day tomorrow :-(. I could feel that last-day depression starting to set in.

Sunday - September 20, 1999 - Day 4 (last day)

Today I thought we'd treat ourselves to something more than a food court breakfast. We had PS for Chef Mickeys for 8 o'clock. Not having a car meant busing to MK and then monorail to Contemporary, all by 8! If I had my choice of dinner or breakfast at Chef Mickey's, it would be dinner for sure. It was good but was nothing more than a giant food court and was all you could eat. Being this close to MK was a like a magnet for me; we just HAD to go there one more time if not for anything but to say goodbye til next time :-(. Only you die-hard disney fans know what I mean ;-).Bummer, both of our passes are not working now. We got in showing ID. Upon entering the park, who do I see but Captain Hook and Mr. Smee in front of City Hall.. Jake would have been thrilled. Had he been with me, we would have waited in that line no matter what! Instead I walked off to the side to take a picture and video them a little bit. Captain Hook noticed this right away and came right up to my camera put his face in the lens. He had his hands on his hips and was shooing me away. I was laughing the whole time. Mr. Smee, meek and mild man that he is, just waved! When I got home, I told Jake they did all that just for him. He was just thrilled to pieces! We DID manage to ride Buzz one more time, Laurie got 300,000+ points this time! We walked over to Space Mountain but it was 45 minutes and I the range of time for Fast Pass was another 20 minutes til that started. We simply did not have time to stay any longer at MK if we were to go to MGM today. Our flight wasn't til 7 with Tiffany picking us up at 5 so we DID have most of the day at least.

We left MK, took the monorail to TTC and caught the MGM bus. Boy, do I miss having a car! You really have to be creative when getting around! Passes not working at MGM either, but unlike last time we were at MGM, we were allowed in with ID. We headed straight for ToT and walked right on and into the library. While in there, I told Laurie the floor would be dropping out from under us any second and she started looking around for something to hold on to and, of course, could not see a thing cause it was pitch black! She goes, you're kidding - right Don! I said, we'll seeeeeeeeee. LOL! The door slid open and I said, follow me!!!!! I led them to the left line since it was smaller, as usual, than the right side. What a fun ride we had! We got the first row so I knew the picture would be ok since no one was in front of us to put their hands up. It was indeed pretty good and we bought it and gave it to Laurie. I definitely wanted to check out RnR, so we went there next. Beth said she wouldn't ride anything that she couldn't see first! LOL! I knew I was riding it no matter what and I told them, see ya around guys! I headed in to the line and realized, it made more sense to do FastPass here. I got the fast pass and we decided to do something else for 45 minutes and then come back. My time range was 11:45 to 12:45. We went over to the Great Movie Ride which had a 15 minute wait. It looked longer but it moves well. By the time we got off GMR, we went back (before we got any deeper in the park) so that I could ride RnR. Well, of course, there was NO line to speak of and I walked right in with the regular line eventually because the Fast Pass line takes you about half way in and then both lines merge together. I thought the theming of this ride was great! I loved when you see Aerosmith in the recording studio. It looked SO real! I love the anticipation of a "first ride". I sat there waiting for the light to turn green and WOW, did that thing take off! You can tell that you're never really going very high, just really really fast. I don't even remember too much of the music but I DID notice that when the music speeds up, so do you! You have to watch, though, it jostles you around and you have to hold your neck back against the headrest. I admit, I had a headache coming off of it. Laurie and Beth would not have liked it that much. When I exited the ride, there were puddles of water everywhere and it was drizzling. I met up with Beth and Laurie at the picnic tables near the fruit stand and they said it rained really hard while I was in there. We headed over to our PS at Sci-Fi for 12:30. Same thing happened this time that happened in June. While I was waiting to check in at the podium, the couple in front of me just walked in from the outside and asked to be seated. They were told 15 minutes, I had PS and was told 20 minutes. I asked the CM, why do I bother to call 60 days ahead of time, only to be seated AFTER walk ins? She said, and this is a lame answer if I ever heard one, it will take 5 add'l minutes to seat a party of 3! the other people were only a party of 2! If we had walked in from outside withOUT PS, since we were a party of 3, she would have to turn us away. Yeh right! I kind of laughed and went and sat down. It wasn't too long before we were "parked" in one of the cars and looking at the menus. Beth and Laurie decided to share something, so I was stuck eating a whole big giant cheeseburger by myself! Usually Justin (my son) and I share a cheeseburger here. Neither of my sisters eat meat so it was all up to me ;-). It was VERY good and I almost ate the whole thing. I've heard mixed reviews about Sci-Fi's food but we have yet to have a bad meal there. There was a honeymooning couple sitting behind us and they got razzed the whole time by the CM waiters. We had an "active" seating area to say the least; they were always singing or reciting the movie script. I love it and that's why we go here! Laurie thought it was so cool how it looked like we were actually outside. We waddled over to the backlot area and headed for MuppetVision. We walked right in to the preshow. When Laurie was little and I babysat her, we always watched the muppets and she'd laugh like crazy, so I KNEW she'd like this for sure. I especially love the senators in the balcony. I still laugh at the line where they say they're bolted to the seats! LOL! We felt our stomachs were settled enough to handle Star Tours - again, another walk on. I felt bad for another little kid in here. Screaming his head off the entire time. His dad kept saying, it's not realy buddy, it's not real! But he continued to scream. We looked around in the newly remodeled Star Tours store and I asked where the Company D store was for Cms at MGM. I was told beside Starring Rolls. I had to go call for the rest of our August Hilton Head reservations so after doing that, Laurie and Beth wanted to go on the backlot tour. I really didn't feel up to doing that since i've seen it so many times not to mention it was a 25 minute wait.. I told them i'd meet them in the front at 4 at the gas station. Now I know how Sue feels walking around the parks alone! It was great to just go where you want WHEN you felt like it! I headed over to Starring Rolls and sure enough, there's a sign that says CM's Only. So I went back! It felt really strange being backstage, like I just didn't belong there. I carried my ID with me, just in case anyone asked. I went back to the cafeteria area and could not see a Company D; apparently, they just closed down for the day. :-(. I really wanted to see what they had there. I will definitely do this again in December. I came back out to the street and I was so thirsty and there was a stand right there selling cold drinks. I got a Sprite and just decided to hit every single store in Hollywood!Before I started, though, I went over to Guest Relations and decided to get my pass fixed. The CM is almost postive that the magnetic snap on my purse is demagnetizing (slow but sure) my pass as I put it back in my purse each time. It makes sense since it DID work in the beginning of the trip but now did not work. I will have to get a new purse I guess! I had about an hour to just browse to my hearts content. I really didn't see anything that I wanted but it was just fun to look ALONE! Everyone was lining up for the Mulan Parade, which I have yet to see. I found a good spot right by where the guy sells puppets. I put my stuff down on the wall there and just looked around awhile. It wasn't too long before someone lit up a cigarette in front of me. I DON'T THINK SO! I motioned (two fingers to my mouth) to the CM working the stand right there and he nodded his head to me and immediately told the lady smoking in parade viewing areas is not allowed. She simply did not know and went elsewhere. The viewing started to get very limited with people coming up and blocking the wall, so I moved on anyways. I was in the 5 & 10 store when it started so I just kind of watched it in the doorway, where I could feel the cool A/C and still enjoy the parade. About 3:50 I made my way over to the gas station and walked right in to Beth. She used the ATM machine and we watched Mulan Parade for a few minutes and then said goodbye to MGM. We went to the bus stop and waited a few minutes and were on our way. This driver stopped at All Star Movies first and then music. The Movies looks pretty cool! I called Joe in the lobby to tell him what time to be at the airport. Laurie picked up some last minute souvenirs. The three of us stopped in the food court and just HAD to have some dessert cause we just HAD to, lol. I had a piece of strawberry cake and beth and laurie had a mickey shaped rice krispie treat with his ears dipped in chocolate. I could smell the sugar ! We retrieved our luggage from Bell Services and right at 4:50, Brian pulled up from Tiffany and loaded our luggage into the trunk. It was a VERY quiet ride to the airport.

We slowly walked in to the airport but really perked up when what do we see? A DISNEY STORE! You'd have thought we never saw a Disney Store before. We kept saying WOW, look at this and look at that!!! I bought a DCL t-shirt. My sisters bought stuff too but I forget what. We headed to our gate and eventually struck up a conversation with a family just coming back after being there two weeks. They only go every other year. They asked me about DVC and of course I told them how great it is! We talked about how depressed we get after coming back from Disney. All good things must come to an end. So ends another great Disney trip for me.

AFTERTHOUGHTS:

I had worried that I had built this trip with my sisters up so much that it would not live up to my expectations, but if anything, it exceeded them. We have always gotten along great, so I wasn't really worried about that. We are not just sisters; we are also good friends. Even though we all live within 3 blocks of each other, I hadn't spent this much time with them both at the same time since we were all kids living at home. I really wanted Laurie to see why I love this "disney" place I go to so much. I think she really got a feel for what I love about it. She had NO idea how large it was for one thing. I have a feeling she will be back in the future some time. I would love to make this an annual thing but not sure if that's possible for her right now. I am just glad for the time we DID have together, the 3 of us. Now if we can only get the parents to join us some time!

As for All Star Music; I was very pleasantly surprised with it. It is definitely a good "point saver" resort. I would like to try All Star Movies next, probably next August. I also liked the new Fast Pass system. I don't know why they didn't try this sooner. You feel like you're jumping the line but everyone has this choice to use it. Also, I love the way the 2000 looks on Spaceship Earth. It is going to look great when it is done.

Well that is it for my trip report for this trip. 70 days to go till my next one which is 7 nights at OKW in a 2 br. This time, we will be taking Joe's sister, Barb, who has only been to MK. Spaceship Earth was just a shell last time she was there. So, in a way, this will be like taking another "newbie". Hope you all enjoyed my report!!!!

Donna Sharick

ILUVWDW@aol.com

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You just read a trip report that was originally published in our MousePlanet Trip Reports column.

Reader-submitted trip reports have always been an extremely popular feature here at MousePlanet. In order to improve the search functionality and shorten the time from when you submit a trip report and the report gets published, you can now post your trip reports directly to our Trip Report forums. The forums are moderated, but reports should become available for reading very quickly.