Trip Reports

• Time of Year: Early Fall
• Travel Method: Personal Car
• Resort: Old Key West Resort
• Accommodations: Standard Room
• Ages Represented in Group: Adult
• WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
• Comments: Brian Bennett's mother and father went to WDW in the Fall of 1995. The trip was relatively short, only four days onsite, but they packed a lot into their time.

Our son Brian and his wife became Disney Vacation Club owners in the Fall of 1994. They had been Walt Disney World and Disneyland lovers for many years before that. In jest, Brian said he wouldn't be able to afford Christmas gifts this year. I quickly pointed out that he could just give us a free night at WDW. Brian jumped on that idea and expanded it. He did share his thoughts with me to make plans, but we kept it a surprise for Brian's Dad. Brian and Barb came to our house on December 26th to celebrate a late Christmas (they'd spent Christmas day with Barb's side of the family). As we sat around the tree enjoying our gifts, Brian found one last one for his Dad to open. Allan opened the box trying to imagine what this last gift could be (Brian had told him that it was homemade and that he'd probably just want to throw it out anyway.) In the package was a computer-made gift certificate good for four nights accommodations at the Disney Vacation Club in September, 1995. As it turned out, this was a combination Christmas and 35th anniversary gift.

We had months to anticipate this trip. During the next few months, in fact, the new WDW commercials began to play in our area...the ones where Mom and Dad go to WDW alone and the the adult "kids" wonder how bored their parents are. What fun!

Well, on September 6th, I packed the car and handled the little things one does before leaving home. At 9:00pm I picked Allan up at work when his work day ended and we left to drive a short way...just from Clinton Township, Michigan to Toledo, Ohio...only about 100 miles. It got us our of the bad traffic we would have had in the morning.

We took three days to drive to WDW -- sightseeing in the Knoxville area and a visit to Callaway Gardens in Georgia.

September 9

Saturday September 9th, we arrived at our motel in 192 outside WDW's maingate. After resting for about an hour, we headed over to Wilderness Lodge to begin the Disney excitement. We'd made reservations for Whispering Canyon Cafe for dinner. We enjoyed the wonderful beauty of WL as we waited to be called for our table. Very quickly we were seated. The "skillet" meal was great, the cast members were lively and helpful, and we enjoyed ourselves. After dinner we walked around WL. Allan went back to the car for his camera and I waited in the lobby enjoying everything. Two young ladies from Japan asked me to take their picture together in front of the fireplace and it was nice to help someone else. After Allan took his pictures, we went over to the Disney Village Marketplace. We watched some kids and their dads playing in the sidewalk fountains...the happy laughter was fun. We strolled through some of the shops and jostled our way through some of the others. We walked along the waterfront and just soaked up the Disney atmosphere. Finally, we went over to Beaches and Cream at the Beach Club Resort for an ice cream cone before returning to the motel for the night.

Sunday, September 10

We got up early and drove over the the Disney Vacation Club (DVC) Resort at 7:00am. We knew our room wouldn't be ready yet, but we were able to get our park passes. We caught the bus to the Magic Kingdom and enjoyed just being there. The first young family that we visited with as we waited to get in lived only fifteen minutes from us in Michigan. They were experiencing traveling with a ten month old baby for the first time.

As soon as we were allowed in the gates, we headed for the Crystal Palace and a wonderful French toast breakfast. Next, Grandpa Allan took Grandma Carol for a ride on the carousel. Next, we headed for Peter Pan then on to Splash Mountain. We even bought the picture to prove to Brian and Barb that mom can have fun!

After getting wet on Splash, we walked on to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. In the queue there was a mon with three children in front of us. I noticed how pretty the little girl was. She was about ten or eleven years old and had beautiful long black hair. As we got to the front of the line, the children wanted to let folks go ahead of them so they could sine toward the back of the train. Since I preferred to not sint in front either, we waited too...and began to chat with the kids. They knew all about the ride and I asked if they came to WDW often. The girl replied that she worked her alot. It turned out that she was a model for the Pocahontas posters and so on. As I siad, she was a beautiful girl, and all of the kids were very polite. Disney can be proud of their "family."

We had lunch at the Liberty Tree Tavern and really enjoyed our meal. After a few more rides we headed for the DVC. It was already after 3:00pm and check-in went fine. We got our key and drove over to building 17. We unpacked the trunk, carried our luggage to the room...and from that moment on things began to be less than perfect. It was nearly 100 degrees and the car had been very hot. Allan and I both we were very hot and had headaches due to the strong sun. We were ready to swim, rest, and rest some more.

Unfortunately, as Allan put the key into the door and began to open it, a voice called out, "what do you want?" then "this room is occupied!" We walked our luggage back to the car, drove back over to the office, and explained the situation. The young man at the desk assured us that this was impossible and called "our room." After several calls, a check on the computer, and a few other conferrences we were told that two couples with the same last name had requested studio rooms, no smoking, in building 18. They had put us both in building 17. After a little more computer work, we were given keys to another room in building 17 and were assured that there'd be no more problems.

Wrong!

When we got to our room this time, we decided to leave the luggage in the car and just get into the room first. Good thing. This time, the key wouldn't open the door at all...so...we drove back to the office again. I wish I'd had the camera in my hand. The look on the young man's face was a sight to behold. This time, since he was working with someone else he excused himself and caome right over to us. Our original gal quickly took over, though, and he returned to the other guests. Maintenence was called to reprogram the door lock and to let us in. We were also given a certificate for a free meal at Olivia's -- breakfast, lunch, or dinner -- anytime during our stay with apologies for the problems.

By this time we'd missed our dinner reservations at Marrakesh (something we'd really been looking forward to) and we were really hot and weary from the delay. Even though the DVC had misplaced the magic, the CM's were doing their best to find it again.

We returned to building 17 and waited for maintenance to show up. He too apologized for taking so long, explaining that he had come as quickly as the electric cart would take him from the other end of the resort complex. Well, we were in the room, but it took another hour to get the door reprogrammed so Allan carried our bags in and we both took some aspirin for our heat and irritation produced headaches and rested a few minutes. By that time, we were started to get really hungry and we decided to use our certificate. The CM's were so nice! The food was very good (of course, our near starvation might have helped there). I had a stew in a bread bowl and Allan had meatloaf. We had pie for desert. Everything was tasty.

We had planned to stroll EPCOT in the evening, but instead went to the DVC store for a brief time, over to Goodings to buy some snacks and beverages, then went back to the room to relax.

Monday, September 11

When we woke up Monday morning we were rested and ready for another day. I made some coffee and tidied up the room a bit when Allan went out to get some ice in a ziplock bag and a newspaper. We got out our toaster (not included in a studio room) and had English muffins, juice, and coffee before heading over to the Studios.

We began with the Great Movie Ride and did just about everything except the Tower of Terror and the annimation tour. Next year we'll do those things.

We had lunch at the 50s Prime Time Cafe and sis even made a happy face on Allan's clean plate!

We left the park about 2 pm and went back to the DVC. It was another really hot day and Allan had another headache from the sun. We made iced tea, the ice was already in the freezer, and enjoyed our cool drink and then went down to the pool. We really didn't stay in long, but the idea was to cool off. Back in our room we both slept and woke refreshed.

We headed over to EPCOT. We did a fast walk through Future World and headed right to the Rose and Crown. Allan ordered the cottage pie and I had prime rib. We enjoyed visiting with our waitress. She was from Devonshire. Allan's family was originally from Lancaster. In fact, she encouraged us to take our desert with us, since it was included in the early bird special (at the time, available to diners that were seated before 6 pm). After dinner we enjoyed walking around enjoying all the shops until IllumiNations began. Then, we just enjoyed the lights and music.

Tuesday, September 12

We followed the same routine for breakfast and household chores. Allan filled the ziplock bag a bit fuller this morning -- having ice water, iced tea, and chilled fruit juices was really working well for us.

It was an early morning for the MK this day, so we headed for EPCOT to avoid the crowds. We did some shopping and had thngs sent to the DVC and then did most everything except Innoventions. That's another "saved for next year" item. We did World of Motion knowing it would soon close. Horizon's was closed. We skipped Spaceship Earth on the way in because everyone was going there first. This time, before the headaches hit, we left the park to go out for lunch. We got in our car and drove over to Pleasure Island looking for a place that Allan had read served wonderful sausage sandwiches. Well, it was gone, so we ended up going over to Carribean Beach just to see another resort and to eat at the CBR food court. Nothing special, but we did have a simple lunch.

Afterwards, we returned to the DVC to swim and rest. Well, rest anyway. The pool was closed for repairs and we didn't feel strongly enough about swimming to go to another pool. Again, the chilled beverages and a short nap refreshed us.

We decided to take the long route over to EPCOT just for the fun of it. We took a bus to the MK, then caught the monorail to the TTC. From there we monorailed to EPCOT.

At EPCOT, we headed for Germany for dinner, but Allan suddenly decided that he wanted prime rib at the Rose and Crown. Germany could wait for next year's trip.

Since we were seated at 5:55pm, we got the early bird special again. This time, our table was located inside the pub...fairly close to the bar area. Unfortunately, a number of bar patrons kept encroaching on the tables in the dining room. Several others stood near our table blocking our view. The CMs asked them several times to leave the tables, but they were ignored. The bar patrons either didn't understand English or pretended not to. Finally, a manager with a bit more authority brought some diners to the tables and sent the ale drinkers outdoors. The atmosphere of the dining room rapidly improved and we enjoyed another traditional English dinner.

After dinner, we again enjoyed more of World Showcase. We rode the double decked bus and took a "friendship" across the lagoon. As we were leaving the park, we noticed that there was no line for Honey I Shrunk the Audience, so we went in. I was totally unprepared for the mice! To be honest, I was expecting the sneeze, but it took Allan totally by surprise. What a groan I heard from him!

As we proceeded to the park entrance, we found the line for Spaceship Earth very short, so we jumped on there, too. After the ride, we enjoyed the twinkling sidewalks and fountains before leaving for the bus.

Wednesday, September 13

This was our last day at WDW, so we headed for the MK. The crowds were definately smaller than they had been on Sunday morning. We finished doing the rides we'd missed on Sunday. Since it was another really hot day, we paced ourselves. With the short lines, we did managed pretty well.

We shopped in Liberty Square and had a hot dog lunch on Main Street. After lunch, we rode the train around the park. Funny, it was raining on the backside of the park, but not toward the front! By the time we got back to the DVC the sun was shining and the heat wave was back to a full 99 degreees.

We gathered our laundry and went over to the pool to wash clothes (no laundry in the Studio) and to cool off again. After the laundry was finished and folded we rested.

In the evening, we headed over for our reservations at the Land Grill Room at EPCOT. The "table buffet" or "skillet meal" or whatever it was called as very good. Chip & Dale kept our iced tea glasses full and Minnie came by to give Allan a hug. She even took a napkin and wrote "I (heart) you" on it. It was a fun ending to a wonderful visit to Walt Disney World.

After spending a little more time in World Showcase, we again headed for the bus back to the DVC. We packed and got ready to leave before going to bed.

Thursday, September 14

We pulled away from the DVC about 8 am. It's sad, but we left knowing that Brian and Barb had already invited us to join them on their trip in the Fall of 1996.

We took three days time driving home. We stopped in Savannah, Georgia and in West Virginia to do some sightseeing on the way back.

Epilogue

Here it is almost a year since we had that trip. We're anxiously planning a much longer trip with Brian and Barb. We plan to take four days to drive down, including two full days in Charleston, South Carolina. Then we'll spend a full thirteen days at WDW, followed by a two day drive home.

We're blessed with adult children that we enjoy so much. Even more blessed that we have a DVC member in the family.

See you soon Mickey!

Epilogue to the Epilogue

Six days and counting! Plans have really changed since we'll have our new grandson (Allan William II) with us on our upcoming trip. We're looking forward to the memories that will have...and the remembrances of family trips we took when our kids were young that we'll have, too. What a wonderful time we'll have!

Editor's Epilogue to the Epilogue of the Epilogue

Our trip was indeed wonderful! You can read about it under the 1996 trip reports (October) in the report written by Brian Bennett (me).

Allan and Carol Bennett

AWB11112@aol.com

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