Trip Reports

Introduction

This trip was much different then our last two visits to WDW - it was much shorter, only two full days on property and I didn't try to plan every minute of the visit. So, here is my report on what we did and how things turned out.

The characters are:

Aileen: the Senior Disney Fanatic in the house - chief planner and organizer - Cassidy's mom and Scott's wife. Your trip report narrator.
Scott: the reluctant participant - following our May 1997 trip, Scott said "I saw it once when it was just the Welcome Center and I've seen it for the 25th Anniversary - I'm good now until the 50th". Cassidy's dad and Aileen's husband.
Cassidy: the Junior Disney Fanatic - I wonder where that comes from? She is almost 7 and is usually a delight to be around (the T-Shirts she and I received for Christmas sum it all up - WARNING - Irish Temper and Italian Attitude)
Where we stayed: Disney's Port Orleans Resort - this was our first stay here and I know it won't be our last.

Dates of our WDW visit: Thursday, February 11 through Saturday, February 13, 1999

Taking advantage of the holiday weekend, our plans were to fly out of Baltimore on Southwest Airlines Thurday, February 11 after work and school, with our return planned for Monday, February 15. We would also spend two days visiting my dad and his wife in Ocala - they will join us for dinner Saturday and take us back to their house.

So on with the report:

Thursday, 2/11/99:

Our trip really started with Cassidy and I taking Biscuit to the Country Club for Pets. We adopted Biscuit right after our last trip, so this was a new experience for us - Cassidy was torn between leaving Biscuit and visiting WDW, but in the end WDW won. We picked up sandwiches for the flight and waited for Scott to get home and The Airport Shuttle to pick us up. Our flight was delayed for about 1 hour due to mechanical problems, but we made up some time in the air and landed at 10:40pm - 40 minutes late. We had arranged for Tiffany Towncar to take us to Port Orleans and Ashe was waiting for us as we came off the escalator to baggage claim. After retrieving our luggage, it was off to Port Orleans. Scott, Cassidy and Ashe had a good time discussing the TV show Crocodile Hunter thats runs on Animal Planet and we were at the hotel in no time.

We were checked in in less then 5 minutes - most of that was the time it took to set up Scott's LOS pass for 2D/1N -it was 11pm and he didn't need that first night. We were in room 4317 - which we found out was in the building right next to the main building and proved to be very convenient. The Annual Pass discount on the room didn't hurt either - thanks to RADP I found out about the $89 rate and managed to snag it for our two nights.

I guess the nap Cassidy took on the plane gave her a burst of energy, so she and I quickly changed and went for a swim. Even at 11pm, it was still very warm out (at least having just come from Maryland) and the water was even warmer. I've got to say that the pool at Port Orleans is wonderful - Cassidy thought the sea serpent was awesome and so did I. After our swim, we made a stop at the spa and then it was off to bed.

Friday, 2/12/99:

I woke up around 7:30am and got dressed and strolled over to the food court for coffee and juice. I left the rest of the family sleeping, for once realizing that I would be happier in the afternoon if I didn't wake them. As I was walking back into the room, Scott was just waking up and he and I went out on the walkway to enjoy our coffee and allow him to get that morning infusion of nicotine. By the way, even though our room was smoking optional, I never noticed any smoke odor and Scott always smoked outside - he won't smoke in front of Cassidy because she nags him. At least I don't have to anymore...

Cassidy woke up a little after 8am and watched some cartoons - she sure is a slow starter in the morning - it's a genetic thing from my side of the family according to Scott. She had her juice and tried the beignets (I thought they were great - she wanted a chocolate doughnut) and then we were out the door to catch the bus to the Magic Kingdom.

We arrived at the MK just after 9am and after stopping at Guest Relations to activate our APs, we were in the park. Our first stop was inside the train station to squish a quarter - in October, the Minnie quarter was not working and Cassidy had to have that one for her collection. Then it was off to show Scott all the attractions that Cassidy had discovered since his last visit. Our first stop was The Haunted Mansion - we had just enough time to read the tombstones outside before being lead into the stretch room. We all had a blast and Cassidy felt so important and grown-up pointing things out to Scott. Next, we walked over to Big Thunder Mountain - this would be a first for all of us. In October, Cassidy fell in love with Goofy's Barnstormer and she decided that she wanted to try BTM the next time. Well, she got a little nervous going through the line (20 minutes) but as soon as we were in our mine car, she fell in love with it and we've now added it to our must do list.

Next, it was over to AdventureLand to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. The board outside said a 10 minute wait, but I think thay had just opened the left side as we walked up, because the CM outside was directing us left and we just kept walking and walking, until we had to stop and climb into the boat. Again, Cassidy was pointing things out and telling Scott not to be afraid when the boat went down the waterfall. Another fun ride - and I think I saw Scott softening on his "I don't like Disney" position. After Pirates, we stopped at the Enchanted Tiki Room - Cassidy really likes the new version because she knows who Iago and Zazu are and Scott and I enjoyed the show also. We took our time leaving the theatre and I finally caught some of Iago's cracks as people walk out - my favorite was "Hey Kid - that's really a foolish thing to do - walking directly under the big birdie". Cassidy collected one of Iago's tail feathers to add to her souvenir collection before we left.

After a brief stop for an eggroll, we decided that we really were all hungry enough for lunch and headed over to the Columbia Harbour House. After filling our tummies (fish basket for Scott, chicken basket for Cassidy, veggie sandwich for me) we headed over to TommorowLand. Cassidy had to try and improve her score on Buzz Lightyear. We looked at the teacups as we walked by, but Cassidy decided to pass on the line save it for another time. After a short wait (15 minutes) we were getting in our Space Ranger vehicles - I had to ride alone, because Cassidy was sure that her zero score in October was because she was sitting between my mom and me. I had a blast spinning around so I could look at the details in the attraction - and I still manged to score over 100,000 points so I was happy. At the end, I found out that Cassidy had scored zero again and she announced that she hated that ride because she knew she had hit the targets and the ride just didn't like her. Oh well...

After that, we walked over to ToonTown to ride Goofy's Barnstormer - we used the "secret" path from TomorrowLand, so Cassidy had to play in Donald's Boat for a few minutes. She was running about a foot above the ground when we told her that since we would be going back to the hotel to swim after we rode Barnstromer she could get as wet as she wanted. Fifteen minutes later a damp, but very happy Cassidy emerged and we walked to Barnstormer. Unfortunately, there was a 40 minute wait for a 30 second ride, so we decided to pass. Instead, we took the train back to Main Street. I had promised Cassidy that we would play checkers before we left the park, so we walked over to the checker board outside the candy shop (I lost). Then, it was time to say goodbye to the Magic Kingdom and head back to the hotel for a swim.

After getting back to our room and relaxing for about 30 seconds (I think I heard the water calling us) we were all out at the pool. Cassidy and I found lounge chairs, while Scott picked up drinks for each of us. Cassidy was in the pool, even before I could sit down and for the next hour, all we saw was a blur as she ran from the pool, up the stairs and down the water slide - over and over and over. Scott and I took our break to relax and enjoy the warm weather and beautiful surroundings. Cassidy of course had other ideas and had to get each of us in the water - I did even try the water slide - much better then the one at the Poly - actually, I found the whole pool area to be nicer then the Poly pool. When we finally dragged Cassidy out of the pool, we discovered that the kids were making masks nearby and there were bead dives going on at the pool. It turns out the masks and the beads were for the Mardi Gras celebration and parade that occured each night at Port Orleans during Mardi Gras. Cassidy asked if she could make a mask, so, she and I hung out at the pool for a little longer while she did that.

Cassidy was disappointed when she couldn't be in the parade, but recovered quickly when I reminde her it was because we were going to the Studios to see Fantasmic. We all got changed and walked over to catch the Studio bus - and got a tour of the Dixie Landings grounds. Our bus to the MK this morning didn't stop at DxL, but this one did - I wonder why?

In any case, we arrived at the Studios about 5:45pm and headed right back to the Hollywood Hills Amphitheater. We were able to walk right in - and this at first made me nervous, but, I told myself we're all here and we're in the theater, so adjust. As we walked down the sidewalk, one of the streetmosphere characters - Constance Payne - stopped cassidy and complimented her on her purple beads (a $2 strand from a cart at PO) and they had a wonderful chat. When I went to take a picture, Constance leaned down to be closer to Cassidy's face and got one of her earrings caught in Cass's hair. I had to go and free the two of them - after I stopped laughing of course. Then, I started laughing all over again when I looked at the business card Constance had given Cass - it reads "Constance Payne Siren of the Silents "The greatest Payne that ever was" ...Cecil B. DeMille". When we walked into the amphitheater, I shouldn't have worried - we were able to find seats in the Mickey section in row D, right on the aisle so Cass would have a great view - I hoped. We had a pleasant wait - the streetmoshpere characters helped and being able to get snacks and visit the restrooms kept Cass from going bonkers.

Finally, it was time for the show to start and I was amazed by the quality of the special effects. I followed the storyline OK until the Pocahontas scene - I picked up that this was the scene where Mickey's "bad" imagination gets out - but I think I missed the link from the "good" imagination to the "bad" imagination. Oh well.... I did think the dragon was amazing and since we were sitting so close to the front, we could actually feel the heat from the flames. Wow! At the end, we stayed put to let some of the crowd thin out - Cassidy had to try the new lighted Mickey Yo-Yo she had purchased and that kept her busy.

On our way out, we found the caramel apples that we had seen inside the amphitheater, so that added to Cassidy's happiness. I do hope that she will now forget that I made her miss Fantasmic last October - probably, because her new complaint is that the show was too short and she had to wait too long. I insist that the grumbling is a genetic thing she got from Scott's family.

After a short bus ride back to PO, we had a quick dinner at the food court (nobody wanted a big meal after popcorn, ice cream sandwiches, and caramel apples) and went to bed at a reasonable hour.

Saturday, 2/13/99:

Scott woke up first this time and went for coffee and a chocolate doughnut. While he was gone, I finished packing our stuff - I couldn't believe that we had to check out already! Cassidy was awake when Scott got back, so we let her watch cartoons while we had our coffee. Dad's warning had turned out to be correct and it was chilly out this morning and not expected to get above 60 degrees today - YUK! But, it beat the 30 degree weather back in Maryland. So, after dressing in our 'warm' outfits and checking our bags with bell services, it was off to Animal Kingdom.

This was Cassidy and my second visit to AK and the first for Scott and we couldn't wait to show him this new park. We arrived just after 10am and rented a stroller for Cass - she has outgrown the strollers in general but, being a smart young lady, she figured out that she could fit in the AK strollers and being pushed all day sure beat walking. Thankfully, the big wheels on the rental strollers did make it easy to push, so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

After checking out the show times, I realized that we could catch the 11am Festival of the Lion King show, so we headed that way. The AK walkways were packed, so getting over to Camp Minnie-Mickey was a challenge but, we were able to walk right into the theatre and found seats about half way up in the giraffe section. I thought the show was wonderful again, as did Cassidy, but Scott deemed it "just another version of a story I already know" - oh no - where did that glimmer go that I saw yesterday? Time to regroup - so, we stop for lunch at Pizzafari and figure out what to do next - warming up was a good start. Scott and I both had the Italian coldcut sandwich - these were wonderful and I would have it again - paired with a Safari Amber. Cassidy had a cheese pizza and bug dessert. Thankfully, her taste buds have not fully developed, because I thought the pizza was bad and the bug thing worse - I do hope she outgrows wanting to share everything with me soon.

We decided to wonder over to check out the sneak peak of Asia and had good luck spotting animals (ring tail lemurs, kangaroos) while leaving Safari Village. Walking into Asia gave us the impression of leaving Florida - the theming is marvelous again. We passed on the Kali River Rapids - as we stood there in jeans and sweatshirts, getting wet just lost all its appeal - maybe next time. We opted for the Maharajah Jungle Trek instead and were able to see most of the animals - komodo dragon (OK - who remembers Bert Parks singing 'Here he is, your komodo dragon?), tapir, bats - the bats were so cool, tigers - they were all sleeping though, birds and deer.

After Asia, we moved over to DinoLand and Cassidy spent some time in the Boneyard. From there we walked the Createous Trail over to Countdown to Extinction. Cassidy decided that she would try this one, if we were going to help save a baby dino. She was fine until we got ready to load into the vehicle and then she decided that she was nervous - she decided to go anyway, if she could sit between Scott and me - I think she spent the whole ride with her head buried in my side. When we got off, she said that it was OK, but she didn't need to do it again. I have to agree with her - although it didn't scare me and the effects were well executed, I just found the motion to be to 'jerky' to be enjoyable. Even with the seatbelt, I found myself hanging on for dear life to not be tossed against the sides of the seat. Next, we walked through the Dinosaur Jubilee - nice, but it just doesn't compare to the exhibits at the Museum of Natural History in NYC - but, Cassidy was her old self by the time we walked out.

So we began the trek over to Africa and a ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris. Even though it was getting late (about 4pm) we still had a 15 minute wait, but the line seemed to move quickly. We boarded our jeep and took off with a great driver - I think his name was Seth, but I'm not sure. He slowed or stopped for all the animals and we saw rhinos, alligators, ostriches - I learned the difference between male and female ostrich, giraffe, thompson gazelle, okapi, sable antelope, a pair of lions, warthogs, a group of elephants, and a bunch more that I can't remember the names of. After the safari, we had time for the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail - again we were fortunate to see many animals - naked mole rats (the queen had just had a litter, so the colony had grown by 14), meerkats, dik-diks, gorillas, birds.

After that, it was time to leave and get over to the Contemporary for dinner at Chef Mickey's. When we got out to the bus stop, I found out that the bus to the Contemporary also stops at the Ticket and Transportation Center, so the line appeared to be about 6 buses long. As we stood at the back of the line, the bus for the Wilderness Lodge/Polynesian/Grand Floridian pulls up and still has room on-board so, we run over and grab that bus. After a transfer at the Poly to the resort monorail, we arrive at Chef Mickey's to check in and find Dad and Carol. Scott gets in line to check in and Cass and I look for Grandma and Grandpa - we finally all conect and we let the host at the desk know that the whole party is there and he tells us that we should be seated in about 5 minutes. Well, when it got to be 20 minutes, Scott went back to check on the status and I see him starting the get upset, so I walk over. Appearently, there was another party with a similar last name that was seated at our table - not really a problem as they seated us right away, but I was very concerned that the birthday cake (Scott, Dad, and Cassidy all have birthdays within the next 3 weeks) I had ordered would get lost in the mix-up. As it turned out the cake was found and we all enjoyed our meals - we decided to save the cake and take it back to Dad and Carol's for the next night (besides - the dessert table had so many great selections on it) so our server Shani took the cake back intothe kitchen to keep safe for us. When we finished our meal, we asked for the check and the cake. Shani went to get those and seemed to be gone forever - when she finally walked out, she had a young man with her who was carrying the cake - as he put it down, he says "Shani has to talk to you abou the cake". With that, Carol and I decide to be brave and open the box - the cake has slipped and there is frosting on 2 sides of the box - we start giggling about the problems that cake has caused, when Cassidy notices that the Goofy figurine is missing - we figure that he got broken in the fall. At that moment, Shani comes over carrying Goofy - he had been impaled in the side of the cake and they had to spend quite some time cleaning the frosting off him. She apologized profusely and did deduct the cost of the cake from the check - I couldn't have asked for more - I can't count the number of things I've dropped.

After a brief stop in the gift shop - Cassidy still had some Disney dollars and squishing a bunch of pennies near the monorail station, we were on our way back to PO to pick up our luggage and head up the road to Ocala. Cassidy was asleep before we hit 192 and I wasn't far behind.

Some random thoughts about this trip:

I'm glad that we left our schedule very flexible and that I didn't plan any meals other then Chef Mickey's.
This was the first time we've gone without a rental car and I didn't miss it at all. Yes, there were a few times that a car would have been quicker then Disney Transportation, but it was never a big inconvenience.
I loved Port Orleans - it was a wonderful property and the theming was very well done. After being spoiled by 2 stays at the Poly, I was concerned that I would feel somehow cheated staying at a moderate resort. Instead I found myself thinking that I had been foolish to spend the money for a deluxe resort. Now, I'm really looking forward to our October visit to Coronado Springs.
I will remember not to plan too many big meals for our future trips - I enjoyed not having to worry about being at a specific location at a specific time - and Cassidy can only handle so many long meals in a week.
I will remember that those afternoon breaks are as important for me as for Cassidy - I really missed that break on Saturday.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have enjoyed my rambling. Oh yes - to anyone that was concerned - Biscuit was very happy to see us when we picked her up Tuesday - and she didn't mind the kennnel at all - guess growing up at a racetrack helped her out there.

Aileen Toner

ace213@erols.com

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