Trip Reports
02-07-2006, 10:02 AM
Time of Year: Early Fall
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: PBR, OKWR
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran, DVC Member (at the end of the trip anyway)
Comments: This is a relatively short report of our trip in 1994 when we went to WDW to celebrate our 5th anniversary and ended up buying into the Disney Vacation Club. The trip also included a Premier Cruise.
We planned to break up this trip much like we did our 1991 visit, with an intermediate stop at St. Augustine and a cruise on the Big Red Boat. We hadn't seen Spectramagic, though, so we had to spend some time around labor day to do so. We planned to stay at the Polynesian resort for a couple of nights, do the parade and stuff, then leave for our side trip. We had reservations for the Wilderness Lodge for the ten additional days we planned to spend at WDW after the cruise.
One anecdote about this trip actually goes back about nine months when I made our reservations for the non-Disney portion of the trip. I made reservations at the Comfort Inn near Pine Mountain, Georgia for a room at a specific rate (around $30 as I recall). About six months before the trip, I was called by the motel and told that the room rate would be higher because the person that originally took my reservation was in training and quoted the wrong price. I told the woman that called that I expect the lower rate anyway, because the person that gave me my reservation was still an agent of the motel. About four months before the trip I was called again, by another person of the office staff at the Comfort Inn. Essentially we had the same conversation. The end result being that I was expecting the room for the quoted rate. A month before we left, I was called again. Same story. This time, the woman told me that she agreed with me, but that the manager was insisting that the desk staff get me to agree to the higher rate. When we actually arrived at the hotel, Barb and I wern't sure what to expect. I walked into the office and mentioned my name. The girl behind the desk became white-in-the-face. She stammered that there was a problem with the reservation, but proposed that we take a room with a single king-sized bed instead of two queen-sized beds. If I would agree to the change, she would honor the low price that had been quoted nine months before. Of course, I readily agreed. Barb and I were not going to be sleeping in separate beds on our fifth anniversary trip anyway. The girl was tremendously relieved. She said that she had been expecting an old, gruff, argumentative man that wouldn't agree to anything. Apparently I turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Before we finished checking in, Barb and I were introduced to several of the motel staff that had heard this story. I never did meet the manager, I wish I had (I might have been more gruff and argumentative with him), but the end result worked out ok.
The next morning, after checking out of our hotel, we drove over to Calaway Gardens. Calaway Gardens is a multi-thousand acre facility that is filled with various types of gardens. In fact, for those of you that are PBS fans, Calaway Gardens is the location of "Victory Garden South" where they film some of the segments for the show. For Barb, the place was a Mecca. She's really into dirt and growing things and stuff. For me, it was just a beautiful place to stop. One highlight was the butterfly observatory. The place is filled with plants that butterflies like to hang-out in, near, and on. And the place is buzzing with butterflies....they are everywhere. It was really cool. We also ate lunch at the Calaway Gardens restaurant. The atmosphere was very similar to the "Cracker Barrel" restaurant chain. However, the food selections were special because all of the vegetables were grown there at Calaway in the vegetable gardens. Otherwise, the entrees were typical southern country style.
We left Pine Mountain and headed for the Florida border when we were finished at the Gardens. Originally we had reservations at a hotel near Lake City, but it was still relatively early when we got there, so we canceled and decided to drive on to WDW. Pretty risky for Labor Day Saturday, but we tried anyway. We arrived at the Polynesian at about 9:00pm, as I recall. It took a long time to get our reservations taken care of since we were a night early and the hotel was supposedly all booked up. They ended up giving us a triple (that's right -3) upgrade to a beautiful room that overlooked the Seven Seas Lagoon.
After we checked in, Barb rode over to our room with a bellhop on an electric cart, giving Barb an overview of the hotel as they rode over. I followed them with the van. When we got to our building, the bellhop took our bags right to our room. Usually we do that ourselves, but it was nice and worth the $1.00/bag for the help...I hope $1 is still a typical tip. If not, I guess I'm a cheapskate. Then we got unpacked quickly, and walked over to the TTC to catch the boat to the MK. It was late, but we figured we could at least get our annual passes. The line was very long, but we persevered, then headed back to the Polynesian. Later that night we watched Fantasy in the Sky from our own porch...it was a very romantic moment (Barb made me put in that part).
After the fireworks, Barb noticed a dinner coupon on the table in the room. It was for $50.00 off of dinner at any of several places if we would go over to the Disney Vacation Club for a tour and sales pitch. We decided to go to the Vacation Club on Sunday afternoon. A Vacation Club guy picked us up at the Polynesian main door, and took us right to the Vacation Club. The tour was OK, but mainly we were impressed with the flexibility of the club. We ended up buying into it, canceling the rest of our stay at the Polynesian, canceling our reservations at Wilderness Lodge, and moving into the Vacation Club for the rest of our trip (except the side trip and cruise, or course). I could spend pages explaining the Club and why we decided to buy into it, but suffice to say we feel that it makes sense for us since we go to WDW so often anyway.
The side trip to St. Augustine and the Big Red Boat was disappointing. St. Augustine didn't have as much to see as I had expected. The old fort is there, of course, but the rest of the town is pretty much a typical Florida beach town. As far as the boat trip is concerned, alot of our disappointment was due to the weather. All the rain we got during this trip happened while we were on the boat, trying to snorkel, or shopping at Port Lucaya... Besides, the cruise atmosphere was really not to our liking (so we learned). Still, there were bright spots. Some of the live entertainment was excellent, and the food was very good (even though we didn't really like eating with six total strangers).
The time at WDW, though, was great as always. We checked back into the Vacation Club upon our return and picked up where we left off. Actually, we waited about two hours for our room to be ready. What a pain. When we finally were able to check in, I explained the irritation to the desk help. For my trouble, I was presented with a certificate for two free appetizers at Olivia's. We went over there for dinner one night and used our coupons. The food has a Key flair, of course, but is otherwise unexceptional. Olivia's was nice, just not as atmospheric as many of the other WDW restaurants we've visited. We'll probably go there again, sometime, but only because of convenience.
One goal we had was to compare the deep-fried French toast at the Crystal Palace with the banana-stuffed French toast at the Coral Isle Cafe at the Polynesian. When we put our name on the wait list at the Cafe, we were given a pager so we could be contacted when our table was ready. It was a neat feature. Frankly, though, the banana-stuffed stuff was disappointing after reading about it in the Birnbaum book. We both like the Crystal Palace banana-less version much better. Either way, though, you get enough sugar to keep you going at least until late lunch time....if not all the way to dinner.
We also went over to the new Wilderness lodge one night for dinner. When we parked the APV and opened the door, the pine scent of the north woods made us think of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Lodge itself is a gorgeous structure. Paul Bunyan and Babe would be proud. Plus, the Disney employes all wore rangers outfits like on the Yogi Bear cartoons. There are several restaurants there, but we chose Artist's Point, a lovely restaurant with a nice view of the outdoor theme "lake" at the hotel. Artist's Point was a little on the expensive side, but Barb and I had the best steaks we've ever had at a Disney restaurant there. They also serve game selections that we passed over for the domestic beef.
On another evening, we went over to the Contemporary Resort for dinner. We walked around, I bought a book that I had wanted, but we didn't find a place that grabbed us for dinner. So we jumped on the monorail and headed for the Grand Floridian. We walked around there for awhile too, and eventually sat down for dinner at 1900 Park Faire. Mickey and Minnie paid us a visit (Mickey even kissed my wife, the house-breaker). The food was very good, and it was all-you-can-eat. A bit pricey, but a nice change of pace. One young guest went over to the desert table when his parents were distracted and stuck his finger in a piece of cake. I flagged down a waiter and told him about the incident. It was easy to see which piece it was...the kid's prints were all over it. We enjoyed the organ that was mounted up in the ceiling, too. It didn't play very much while we were there (probably just as well, it might have driven us nuts) but it was fun while it did.
Bonfamilles, at Port Orleans, was the last of our special dinner stops. The meal was good, but not spectacular. Also, Disney was experimenting with a new "gratuity-included" policy at the restaurant. I told the pollsters that I didn't like their program...I hope it doesn't stick. I'd rather decide myself if the service was above average or even below...not have a fixed tip regardless. After dinner, Barb and I strolled through the resort. The old French quarter style was beautiful. I can't say authentic, because I've never been to New Orleans...but it's the way I expect that it should be...
Other meal stops included the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater and Mama Melrose's, both at the Studios, for lunch. We loved Mama Melrose's...Barb particularly enjoyed the personal pizza. I had an all-you-can-eat pasta special. There are several different sauces and pastas and each time you get more, you can ask for any combination of the pasta and sauce that you'd like. I enjoyed trying them all. The Sci-Fi was okay, the sandwiches were tasty and all, but we learned that the atmosphere wasn't our style. That's one of the great things about WDW...there's places to see and things to do for every taste.
As far as the parks go, we didn't cover them as thoroughly as we have sometimes in the past. Partly, I think, it was because we knew we were coming back...partly it was because this was an anniversary trip, duh. We did go to Typhoon one day. We even rented tubes to take into the wave pool, but since we could only take them in during the oscillatory waves, they weren't as much fun as we thought they would be. In fact, we kept them less than an hour. The storm slides were still great, and I almost drowned on the Humonga Kawabunga, but we had fun.
The changes to Tommorowland were amazing. None of the new rides were open yet, but the place looks great. We're really looking forward to our next trip...just to check out Alien Encounter and the Transportarium.
The new look at Future World was sharp too. The fiber-optics in the walkways at night and the programmed fountain were fun to see. The old communicores (Innoventions) were cool, too, but we didn't spend very much time there. Plus, it was irritating to see that you have to pay for some of the Sega stuff...oh well, capitalism at work...
Food Rocks, at the Land, was disappointing. I used to like the old "veggie, fruit, fruit, veggie, veggie, fruit, fruit" Kitchen Kabaret. Oh well, time marches on...We're also looking forward to seeing the new Circle of Life film at the Land, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, and the refurbished Spaceship Earth on our next trip.
All in all, we had a great time, as always.
Major discoveries:
Coral Isle Cafe at the Polynesian, for the banana-stuffed French toast is simply not worth the wait. Besides, we didn't like the banana-stuffed French toast as well as the French toast at Crystal Palace. Personal opinion, but stick with the Palace.
Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano was excellent. Top notch. We highly recommend it. The only problem was that the service was a tad slow, but otherwise very good. The pizza and all-you-can-eat pasta were excellent choices.
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater just wasn't our style. The food was good, typical sandwiches and stuff, but the atmosphere, while interesting, doesn't merit a return visit...at least for us. Go, if you've never gone before, though...you might love it.
Artist's Point at Wilderness Lodge. Very good restaurant, we had our best WDW steaks ever at the Point. The atmosphere and service were both very good, too. We highly recommend it.
1900 Park Faire at the Grand Floridian. Great spread of food, and alot of characters. A little pricey, but not outrageous.
Bonfamilles Cafe' at Port Orleans. Good atmosphere, quiet dining, reasonable prices.
Olivia's, at the Vacation Club, is OK, but not spectacular.
Calaway Garden's near Pine Mountain Georgia is a wonderful place to visit. The butterfly observatory is really special.
Brian Bennett
brian@mouseplanet.com
Travel Method: Personal Car
Resort: PBR, OKWR
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran, DVC Member (at the end of the trip anyway)
Comments: This is a relatively short report of our trip in 1994 when we went to WDW to celebrate our 5th anniversary and ended up buying into the Disney Vacation Club. The trip also included a Premier Cruise.
We planned to break up this trip much like we did our 1991 visit, with an intermediate stop at St. Augustine and a cruise on the Big Red Boat. We hadn't seen Spectramagic, though, so we had to spend some time around labor day to do so. We planned to stay at the Polynesian resort for a couple of nights, do the parade and stuff, then leave for our side trip. We had reservations for the Wilderness Lodge for the ten additional days we planned to spend at WDW after the cruise.
One anecdote about this trip actually goes back about nine months when I made our reservations for the non-Disney portion of the trip. I made reservations at the Comfort Inn near Pine Mountain, Georgia for a room at a specific rate (around $30 as I recall). About six months before the trip, I was called by the motel and told that the room rate would be higher because the person that originally took my reservation was in training and quoted the wrong price. I told the woman that called that I expect the lower rate anyway, because the person that gave me my reservation was still an agent of the motel. About four months before the trip I was called again, by another person of the office staff at the Comfort Inn. Essentially we had the same conversation. The end result being that I was expecting the room for the quoted rate. A month before we left, I was called again. Same story. This time, the woman told me that she agreed with me, but that the manager was insisting that the desk staff get me to agree to the higher rate. When we actually arrived at the hotel, Barb and I wern't sure what to expect. I walked into the office and mentioned my name. The girl behind the desk became white-in-the-face. She stammered that there was a problem with the reservation, but proposed that we take a room with a single king-sized bed instead of two queen-sized beds. If I would agree to the change, she would honor the low price that had been quoted nine months before. Of course, I readily agreed. Barb and I were not going to be sleeping in separate beds on our fifth anniversary trip anyway. The girl was tremendously relieved. She said that she had been expecting an old, gruff, argumentative man that wouldn't agree to anything. Apparently I turned out to be a pleasant surprise. Before we finished checking in, Barb and I were introduced to several of the motel staff that had heard this story. I never did meet the manager, I wish I had (I might have been more gruff and argumentative with him), but the end result worked out ok.
The next morning, after checking out of our hotel, we drove over to Calaway Gardens. Calaway Gardens is a multi-thousand acre facility that is filled with various types of gardens. In fact, for those of you that are PBS fans, Calaway Gardens is the location of "Victory Garden South" where they film some of the segments for the show. For Barb, the place was a Mecca. She's really into dirt and growing things and stuff. For me, it was just a beautiful place to stop. One highlight was the butterfly observatory. The place is filled with plants that butterflies like to hang-out in, near, and on. And the place is buzzing with butterflies....they are everywhere. It was really cool. We also ate lunch at the Calaway Gardens restaurant. The atmosphere was very similar to the "Cracker Barrel" restaurant chain. However, the food selections were special because all of the vegetables were grown there at Calaway in the vegetable gardens. Otherwise, the entrees were typical southern country style.
We left Pine Mountain and headed for the Florida border when we were finished at the Gardens. Originally we had reservations at a hotel near Lake City, but it was still relatively early when we got there, so we canceled and decided to drive on to WDW. Pretty risky for Labor Day Saturday, but we tried anyway. We arrived at the Polynesian at about 9:00pm, as I recall. It took a long time to get our reservations taken care of since we were a night early and the hotel was supposedly all booked up. They ended up giving us a triple (that's right -3) upgrade to a beautiful room that overlooked the Seven Seas Lagoon.
After we checked in, Barb rode over to our room with a bellhop on an electric cart, giving Barb an overview of the hotel as they rode over. I followed them with the van. When we got to our building, the bellhop took our bags right to our room. Usually we do that ourselves, but it was nice and worth the $1.00/bag for the help...I hope $1 is still a typical tip. If not, I guess I'm a cheapskate. Then we got unpacked quickly, and walked over to the TTC to catch the boat to the MK. It was late, but we figured we could at least get our annual passes. The line was very long, but we persevered, then headed back to the Polynesian. Later that night we watched Fantasy in the Sky from our own porch...it was a very romantic moment (Barb made me put in that part).
After the fireworks, Barb noticed a dinner coupon on the table in the room. It was for $50.00 off of dinner at any of several places if we would go over to the Disney Vacation Club for a tour and sales pitch. We decided to go to the Vacation Club on Sunday afternoon. A Vacation Club guy picked us up at the Polynesian main door, and took us right to the Vacation Club. The tour was OK, but mainly we were impressed with the flexibility of the club. We ended up buying into it, canceling the rest of our stay at the Polynesian, canceling our reservations at Wilderness Lodge, and moving into the Vacation Club for the rest of our trip (except the side trip and cruise, or course). I could spend pages explaining the Club and why we decided to buy into it, but suffice to say we feel that it makes sense for us since we go to WDW so often anyway.
The side trip to St. Augustine and the Big Red Boat was disappointing. St. Augustine didn't have as much to see as I had expected. The old fort is there, of course, but the rest of the town is pretty much a typical Florida beach town. As far as the boat trip is concerned, alot of our disappointment was due to the weather. All the rain we got during this trip happened while we were on the boat, trying to snorkel, or shopping at Port Lucaya... Besides, the cruise atmosphere was really not to our liking (so we learned). Still, there were bright spots. Some of the live entertainment was excellent, and the food was very good (even though we didn't really like eating with six total strangers).
The time at WDW, though, was great as always. We checked back into the Vacation Club upon our return and picked up where we left off. Actually, we waited about two hours for our room to be ready. What a pain. When we finally were able to check in, I explained the irritation to the desk help. For my trouble, I was presented with a certificate for two free appetizers at Olivia's. We went over there for dinner one night and used our coupons. The food has a Key flair, of course, but is otherwise unexceptional. Olivia's was nice, just not as atmospheric as many of the other WDW restaurants we've visited. We'll probably go there again, sometime, but only because of convenience.
One goal we had was to compare the deep-fried French toast at the Crystal Palace with the banana-stuffed French toast at the Coral Isle Cafe at the Polynesian. When we put our name on the wait list at the Cafe, we were given a pager so we could be contacted when our table was ready. It was a neat feature. Frankly, though, the banana-stuffed stuff was disappointing after reading about it in the Birnbaum book. We both like the Crystal Palace banana-less version much better. Either way, though, you get enough sugar to keep you going at least until late lunch time....if not all the way to dinner.
We also went over to the new Wilderness lodge one night for dinner. When we parked the APV and opened the door, the pine scent of the north woods made us think of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Lodge itself is a gorgeous structure. Paul Bunyan and Babe would be proud. Plus, the Disney employes all wore rangers outfits like on the Yogi Bear cartoons. There are several restaurants there, but we chose Artist's Point, a lovely restaurant with a nice view of the outdoor theme "lake" at the hotel. Artist's Point was a little on the expensive side, but Barb and I had the best steaks we've ever had at a Disney restaurant there. They also serve game selections that we passed over for the domestic beef.
On another evening, we went over to the Contemporary Resort for dinner. We walked around, I bought a book that I had wanted, but we didn't find a place that grabbed us for dinner. So we jumped on the monorail and headed for the Grand Floridian. We walked around there for awhile too, and eventually sat down for dinner at 1900 Park Faire. Mickey and Minnie paid us a visit (Mickey even kissed my wife, the house-breaker). The food was very good, and it was all-you-can-eat. A bit pricey, but a nice change of pace. One young guest went over to the desert table when his parents were distracted and stuck his finger in a piece of cake. I flagged down a waiter and told him about the incident. It was easy to see which piece it was...the kid's prints were all over it. We enjoyed the organ that was mounted up in the ceiling, too. It didn't play very much while we were there (probably just as well, it might have driven us nuts) but it was fun while it did.
Bonfamilles, at Port Orleans, was the last of our special dinner stops. The meal was good, but not spectacular. Also, Disney was experimenting with a new "gratuity-included" policy at the restaurant. I told the pollsters that I didn't like their program...I hope it doesn't stick. I'd rather decide myself if the service was above average or even below...not have a fixed tip regardless. After dinner, Barb and I strolled through the resort. The old French quarter style was beautiful. I can't say authentic, because I've never been to New Orleans...but it's the way I expect that it should be...
Other meal stops included the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater and Mama Melrose's, both at the Studios, for lunch. We loved Mama Melrose's...Barb particularly enjoyed the personal pizza. I had an all-you-can-eat pasta special. There are several different sauces and pastas and each time you get more, you can ask for any combination of the pasta and sauce that you'd like. I enjoyed trying them all. The Sci-Fi was okay, the sandwiches were tasty and all, but we learned that the atmosphere wasn't our style. That's one of the great things about WDW...there's places to see and things to do for every taste.
As far as the parks go, we didn't cover them as thoroughly as we have sometimes in the past. Partly, I think, it was because we knew we were coming back...partly it was because this was an anniversary trip, duh. We did go to Typhoon one day. We even rented tubes to take into the wave pool, but since we could only take them in during the oscillatory waves, they weren't as much fun as we thought they would be. In fact, we kept them less than an hour. The storm slides were still great, and I almost drowned on the Humonga Kawabunga, but we had fun.
The changes to Tommorowland were amazing. None of the new rides were open yet, but the place looks great. We're really looking forward to our next trip...just to check out Alien Encounter and the Transportarium.
The new look at Future World was sharp too. The fiber-optics in the walkways at night and the programmed fountain were fun to see. The old communicores (Innoventions) were cool, too, but we didn't spend very much time there. Plus, it was irritating to see that you have to pay for some of the Sega stuff...oh well, capitalism at work...
Food Rocks, at the Land, was disappointing. I used to like the old "veggie, fruit, fruit, veggie, veggie, fruit, fruit" Kitchen Kabaret. Oh well, time marches on...We're also looking forward to seeing the new Circle of Life film at the Land, Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, and the refurbished Spaceship Earth on our next trip.
All in all, we had a great time, as always.
Major discoveries:
Coral Isle Cafe at the Polynesian, for the banana-stuffed French toast is simply not worth the wait. Besides, we didn't like the banana-stuffed French toast as well as the French toast at Crystal Palace. Personal opinion, but stick with the Palace.
Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano was excellent. Top notch. We highly recommend it. The only problem was that the service was a tad slow, but otherwise very good. The pizza and all-you-can-eat pasta were excellent choices.
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater just wasn't our style. The food was good, typical sandwiches and stuff, but the atmosphere, while interesting, doesn't merit a return visit...at least for us. Go, if you've never gone before, though...you might love it.
Artist's Point at Wilderness Lodge. Very good restaurant, we had our best WDW steaks ever at the Point. The atmosphere and service were both very good, too. We highly recommend it.
1900 Park Faire at the Grand Floridian. Great spread of food, and alot of characters. A little pricey, but not outrageous.
Bonfamilles Cafe' at Port Orleans. Good atmosphere, quiet dining, reasonable prices.
Olivia's, at the Vacation Club, is OK, but not spectacular.
Calaway Garden's near Pine Mountain Georgia is a wonderful place to visit. The butterfly observatory is really special.
Brian Bennett
brian@mouseplanet.com