Trip Reports
02-10-2006, 02:49 PM
Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane
Resort: All Star Music Resort
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
Comments: Ken and his friend spent a few days at WDW while in Florida on Business. Ken considered this trip a "dry run" for a possible family trip later on...in the meantime, he captured his own opinion of do's and don'ts that are very helpful.
Trip Report 10/11/96 - 10/15/96
The following is a report from my recent trip to WDW. I had a convention there and thought that I would do a reconnaissance mission at the same time for a future visit with my whole family. There will be many opinions and I want to let everyone know that they are just that, opinions. They are not meant to be the reason for a flamefest. Because the purpose of my trip was to gather information, I tried to do as much as possible in a single day.
I would not recommend this type of itinerary for anyone with kids. This trip is being done by myself (Ken) and his friend Frank, both 34 years old..
Friday, October 11, 1996
My flight was scheduled to leave Denver at 3:40 p.m. We pushed back from the gate and then just sat on the tarmack for what seemed like an hour on a very hot day. They said that they were waiting to get a runway assignment and that the weather was changing and was causing the delay. It wasn't fun but we made it to Orlando at about 9:30 p.m. instead of the scheduled 9:01 p.m. My best friend/roommate from college and also my best man, Frank, picked me up at the airport. He lives in Orlando. The first excitement was on the way to Frank's house. We were stopping for a red light but the Volvo next to us was not. They were in the intersection and got smashed in the side. We stopped to see if everyone was alright and wait for the police. Everyone was okay but shaken up. What was really strange is that three other cars also witnessed it and stopped and they were all under-cover police officers. We stayed up too late talking and finally went to bed about 2:30 a.m.
Saturday, October 12, 1996
We woke up at 6:30 a.m. and got ready to head toward WDW. We had a two night reservation at the All Star Music so we went and checked in and got our park passes. I had ordered special convention passes which were 3-day park hopper passes with one admission to Pleasure Island for $110.61 a piece including tax. They had a problem finding the passes but eventually they were found in the next days bin. It was Saturday and everyone was heading to the Magic Kingdom for early entry but we were heading to Epcot.
The Epcot gates opened at 8:30 a.m. and we headed for Spaceship Earth. Frank thought that Walter Cronkite used to be the voice for this ride. After this we headed over to wait for the rope drop to go to ride Body Wars. We got on one of the first vehicles but then had to get off and head to a different one. We then headed to Ellen's Energy Adventure (good show but Ellen looks better then the audio-animatronic one (not even close in our opinion)).
Next was Living with the Land (very interesting plants but I thought hydroponics was growing plants in water and not in sand. I could have sworn that this is what the CM said). We next went to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience which I would have to give the award for most surprising ride/attraction. There were things that startled me that I did not expect which made it very enjoyable. Next was the Journey into Imagination which had to be one of the more boring rides for me. It felt like an Epcot Small World ride.
Next we headed for the World Showcase. It was my 11th wedding anniversary and since there were 11 countries I was going to call my wife from every country but it was not very easy to find a phone. I did call her 4 times though. We started in Mexico and rode the ride. We moved on to Norway and rode the Maelstrom. I was hoping that the ride was going to go down a big hill backwards but it didn't. Oh well. We saw the China film next and blew through Germany and Italy. We heard the singers at the American Adventure and watched the show. We blew through Japan and Morocco and headed to France. We just missed the movie in France so we did what most people would do.... We stopped at the Boulangerie Patisserie and had some wonderful desserts.
After the France film we headed out the International Gateway to check out the Beach Club and to have lunch at Beaches and Cream. We were so full from lunch and everything else we had eaten that we didn't even have room for dessert :( I was amazed how many people were ordering desserts and not eating even half of them. I told our server that the URL for the Beaches and Cream web page on the bottom of the check was no longer any good since Disney had changed all the web pages as of October 1st. His first reaction was to ask me if I worked for Disney (I wish). He then went and told his manager who is quite computer literate I guess. After lunch we headed to the front desk where I asked if I could see a room and a wonderful CM showed us one. We then walked off our lunch by walking all the way around the lake looking at the Yacht Club, the Dolphin, the Swan and finally the Boardwalk.
We came back into Epcot via the International gateway and finished up the World Showcase by passing through the United Kingdom (after checking out the little park for Illuminations viewing) and went and saw the Canada film. All the films were wonderful but I couldn't believe how the camera movements and the large screens affected me much more then any of the rides. Oh well one of those optical illusions I guess.
Back in Future World we went on Horizons which we also thought was pretty boring but I know a lot of people really like this ride. To me it seemed like another Carousel of Progress. We then did The Making of Me and Cranium Command at the Wonders of Life. Both of these were wonderful shows. We then moved over to The Land and watched The Circle of Life and Food Rocks. We then headed for the Living Seas. I'm sure we were very tired by now and that could have affected my opinions of some things. We did not stay for Illuminations 25 because it was part of the conference package later in the week. Instead we left Epcot at about 7:00 p.m. and took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom to see if we could see Spectromagic or get on Splash Mountain before it closed.
We got on the monorail at Epcot and just missed being in the front. The surprising thing was when we got to the Tranportation and Ticket Center the express monorail was dropping people off but not picking anyone up. We had just missed a ferry so we had to wait and take the resort monorail through the Poly and the Grand Floridian before getting to the Magic Kingdom and losing precious time. Does anyone know why the express back to the MK would not be picking up people?
We finally got to the MK and first tried to take the train over to Splash Mountain but the doors were locked. Does anyone know when you can pick up the last train on Main Street when the park closes at 8:30 p.m.? We then had to fight the crowds trying to leave down Main Street. This is a very harrowing experience for adults and I certainly don't recommend it with kids.
We cut through Adventure Land and caught up to the parade in Frontier Land and had to wait to get around it. We finally made it to Splash Mountain and when we were coming down the big drop the fireworks were going off. We then headed over to the castle and took some pictures. Frank hates it and I like it. We then stopped at a few stores and also at the Welcome center to get our lithographs and to watch the video of whats coming in the future for WDW. We headed out of the MK and got on a bus to the All Star Music. I couldn't believe how many people were waiting in line for a bus back to the TTC. Back at the ASM we got our room assignment 608 which is in Calypso 10 which is non-smoking and very close to the Bus Stop. The lines were pretty long and slow moving at the ASM front desk for 10:00 p.m.
We grabbed a bite to eat at the cafeteria before it closed at 11:00 and were in bed by midnight. I was very impressed by the rooms of the ASM. They are not huge but they are similar to most motel rooms that my family is used to staying at and are very clean and comfortable. I know a lot of people complain about how small they are but I think they are just fine.
That ends my first day at WDW and to recap:
Best ride/attraction: Honey I Shrunk the Audience
Worst ride/attraction: Journey into Imagination and Horizons (tie)
Worst problem: No express monorail to MK at 7:30 p.m. and no train to bypass Spectromagic
Best Cast Member: Person behind the desk at the Beach Club who showed us a room
I forgot to mention that the crowds at Epcot on Saturday, October 12, 1996 were not bad at all. The longest wait we had was probably for Honey I Shrunk The Audience. Either everyone was at the Magic Kingdom because it was Early Entry there or Epcot is so big that it really spreads out the crowds.
Sunday, October 13, 1996
We got up at 6:30 a.m. to get ready for Early Entry at Disney/MGM Studios. We grabbed a quick bite at the All-Star Music intermission cafeteria and headed for the bus. The refillable mugs were marked $7.99 and I asked the CM if you could bring them back on subsequent visits to WDW and he said you could. I didn't buy one but just thought that I would let everyone know since it is quite the hot topic of discussion here.
When we got to MGM it was just a little past 7:30 so most of the people were already in the park. Frank and I headed directly to the Tower of Terror. When we got there we were surprised that the line seemed a little long and was not moving that quickly. We later realized that because we could hear no one screaming above us that it wasn't even taking people yet.
When the line started moving it moved fast. We enjoyed our first time so much that when we got out and the line was not very long we decided to do it again. The second time was even better then the first. I think it may have been that the system/elevators were not up to full speed the first time. The second time we really left our seats more then we remembered the first time. I asked one of the CM's loading the elevators if Brian/BP was working that day and he (a Paul Wylie look-alike) said no.
After the second time we enjoyed it so much and the lines were still not long so we went on it again. This time we already had the strategy of heading for the far corner of the library to get a head of the 20 people in the room with us. The first time we were in row two, the second in row three and the third in row one. I was seating next to an elderly couple and when the ride was over she mentioned to me that this ride could be bad for your heart. Needless to say we LOVED the TOT, especially the last/Yo-Yo drop. It was very fun to actually leave your seat. What else makes the ride so good is that it is actually two rides in one. All the pre-show and the illusions before you even get to the drop are spectacular. If nothing else I would recommend people try it just once to see what a wonderful job Disney has done. If you don't like it you don't have to go on two more times.
After the third time the line was pretty long so we headed for Star Tours. The line was not too long (10-15 minutes). We then checked out what time the first Indiana Jones Show was (10:00) and headed to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid at 9:15. We got in line at about 8:50 so our wait was pretty long but self induced. The show was wonderful and I'm sure my girls will love it. I took a few pictures (without the flash) and I hope they come out.
We next headed over to the Indiana Jones Show and the arena was already ¾ full when we got there. The pre-show happened to be a friend of Frank's and he was EXCELLENT. He plays a janitor by the name of "Carl". Frank couldn't tell if it was Paul or his twin brother Peter, he thought it was Paul. Very good ad-libbing with the audience. The show was good except that we could tell the audience "ringer".
After this we headed over to the Hunchback Show. We came in during the pre-show which was a juggler. The show was very good with a combination of puppets and live actors. As far as plot goes it is much better than the show at Disneyland. There are more songs and the gargoyles are in the show. The actors are definitely doing their own singing and they are all very good. It is also nice to see Quasi doing his own singing unlike Disneyland where he is represented by four angels and Quasi is in full head-gear. Don't get me wrong both shows of Hunchback are very good they are just very different. At Disneyland the show is all around you instead of mostly in front of you at MGM.
After this we headed to MuppetVision 3-D and had a pretty long wait. I'm not sure if this is because another Indiana Jones Show had let out or what but it was our longest wait so far (25-30 minutes). This is also where I show my first "Brazilians". The reason it is in quotes is because I can't say for sure but they pushed their way through the pre-show area and when the doors opened they headed down the row and plopped down right in the middle of the row and would not move. Isn't there a fitting punishment for these people? Frank and I sat on the end and I don't know if it was because of this or not but the 3-D effects seemed to be lost. It was a good show but next time I'll try to let some people go down the row before I do and see if it makes a difference.
We then headed for the Commissary for lunch. It was really packed but since we didn't have much for breakfast we were starving. Frank commented that the quality of his food was nothing like the food we had had at Beaches and Cream the day before for about the same price. He really liked the food at Beaches and Cream but I'm sure a lot of you are not surprised. We then went out and waited for the 1:00 Toy Story Parade. We did not have great spots but we just stood in back of the crowds near the entrance to the Great Movie Ride. I was able to get some pictures for the kids of different parts of the parade. I wish Woody would have been up on his float.
Next we headed right into the Great Movie Ride. Unfortunately this was a great disappointment for both of us. First I was amazed that we were seeing the same trailers recycling within the pre-show and then found out that the trailers are the exact movies you see on the ride. Next the CM who held up our car was not very good. Frank mentioned that the audio-animatronic characters were better actors. I guess this is like the Jungle Cruise of MGM and the ride is only as good as your guide. The montage at the end was good and I hopefully got a great picture of the Wicked Witch who was right in front of me.
We then headed for the 2:00 Beauty and the Beast Show. This was a good show except that Gaston was not singing but only mouthing today. I found out later that he had a throat problem. It was a good show and I know my kids would love it.
When we came out we noticed a lot of characters roaming around and started heading for the Information board. Frank spotted Paul as a performer or "streetmosphere" as they are called. I went up to him and told him what a wonderful job he had done at the Indiana Jones Show and he was very annoyed and said that it was Peter and not him. I guess it was happening quite a bit to him and he was having some fun with the kids who also thought it was him. He told us that he was performing that night at the Comedy Warehouse at Pleasure Island so Frank and I told him that we would try to make it.
We next headed to the Magic of Disney Animation. There seemed to be a good wait for this as well but we could watch and listen to the people scream on the Tower which made the wait more enjoyable. There were a lot of characters out which was nice to see. We realized that we hadn't seen any on our lightning tour of Epcot the day before. We had only seen a mime in a real bubble near France (Frank mentioned that he must not be a very good mime if he needed a "real" bubble) and some performers finishing a show between Future World and World Showcase.
Anyway, back to the animation tour. This was interesting to see the stuff for the new movie Hercules and to watch the film with Robin Williams and Walter Cronkite. Unfortunately it was Sunday so no one was working in the studios. After this tour we headed for the Making of the Hunchback of Notre Dame tour. This wasn't all that great and they seemed to be in the process of training new CM's for this.
We next walked through the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground to see what this is like. I'm sure kids love it. We then headed to the Backstage Pass to 101 Dalmations. Frank was picked to be the volunteer for the second part of the tour. The audio-animatronic part was very interesting especially the baby puppies. Next was the blue screen area where Frank got to be Jeff Daniels. He did great but I ran out of film. We then walked by the mostly empty soundstages and finished the tour with the props and costumes from the movie. We then headed for the Backlot tour and had a 30 minute wait. This was good but short.
One word of advice for everyone. You may want to do all of these things in reverse order. Back Lot Tour then Backstage Pass to 101 Dalmations then the Making of HunchBack and finally the Animation Tour. It seemed like we would walk down the street and go into one and be let out back at the end of the street and would have to pass the entrance of what we were just in to get to the next one so it seemed like a lot of walking and my feet were starting to complain after two straight days of touring constantly.
After the tram tour we realized that we would not be able to see The Monster Sound Show or SuperStar Television so we were not able to do everything. We headed for the Information board to see what the wait was for the TOT. The sign just said "Last drop at 7:00" so since it was about 6:30 we decided to head that way and see for ourselves. The line was not that bad and we realized one possible short-cut for people trying to maximize their number of rides on TOT.
When you have to choose whether to go to the left side or the right side at the old fountain go to the right. We realized that as you get closer to the entrance the right line is more narrow allowing maybe two people across while the left line is wider allowing three to four people across so there should be fewer people in front of you if you go to the right. Once you get to the "basement" it doesn't seem to matter whether you go right or straight when you have the choice. Like I said this was just our observation, your mileage may vary.
Well we rode the TOT for a fourth time and it was everything we had remembered from the beginning of the day and when we got off we were able to make it on for a fifth and final ride! Once again I can't stress to everyone what a wonderful ride this is and I know that just because we liked it does not mean that you will but give it a chance if you get the chance.
Since it was about 7:00 we decided to again head for the Magic Kingdom and try to do Splash Mountain again like we had done the night before and/or maybe Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This is where the Disney Transportation gods got in our way again. We went to the number 5 bus stop for the TTC and the Contemporary and proceeded to wait as several buses showed up at every bus stop but ours. Finally one did show up and it was followed immediately by another right behind it. We probably waited here for 25-30 minutes. Fortunately when we got to the TTC the Express Monorail was running this night so we got on and headed over to the MK. It was about 8:00 or even earlier and we again headed up to the train station to bypass Spectromagic but it was already locked. Does anyone know when the Main Street station closes? We then got on the right side of Main Street and started fighting the masses heading in the opposite direction.
Another tip (some people may not like this one), go into the stores since they are all connected except for when you cross the street. This cuts way down on the number of people heading out of the park. We got to the end of Main Street and were keeping pace with the end of the parade but got stopped by all the people watching the parade and no room to get by them at the center circle. So we had to back track through Adventure Land and wait for the parade to pass by before making it to Splash Mountain. I'm sure Spectromagic is a wonderful parade as are most Disney parades but when you follow the last float the whole way it can get really old. Everybody sing "On this magic night...".
Well we rode Splash only once and as we were coming down the big plunge the fireworks were going off again just like the night before. We then headed out of the park and toward the All-Star Music bus. The wait wasn't too bad at all. Back at the ASM we got into Frank's car and headed to the Dixie Landings so that I could check it out and talk to a CM about it. We then hopped a boat and headed to Pleasure Island and the MarketPlace. We were kind of hungry and Frank had a certificate for $30 at the Fireworks Factory so we had appetizers and drinks and then headed to the New Years Eve celebration and to get in line at the Comedy Warehouse for the 12:05 show. New Years Eve was okay but we were watching it from the side so we couldn't see it all.
The show at the Comedy Warehouse was very good. Paul was on stage as he said he would be. For those of you who have not seen the show it is basically five people doing different improv skits with audience suggestions.
It is a very good show and you wonder how the actors can come up with all that stuff under pressure. We talked to Paul after the show and his friend Dimitri gave us a ride back to our car at Dixie Landings. We headed back to the All-Star Music and didn't get to bed until about 2:45 a.m. It was a fun day but doing Disney for 20 hours straight was definitely going to come at a price.
That ends my second day at WDW and to recap:
Best ride/attraction: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (5 * 2.5 drops = 12.5 drops)
Worst ride/attraction: The Great Movie Ride
Worst problem: Waiting for the TTC bus at MGM and once again no train to bypass Spectromagic
Best Cast Member: Paul and his twin brother Peter who perform at MGM as well as Pleasure Island and several other venues as substitutes.
Monday October 14, 1996
After going to bed at 2:45 a.m., 6:30 a.m. definitely came too soon. Frank and I got ready and caught the first bus from the ASM to the Magic Kingdon without grabbing a bite to eat. When we got to the Magic Kingdon most of the lines were all pretty long. When the gates opened at 7:30 a.m. I grabbed one of the blue sheets that have the list of attractions that are open for early entry. Quite a few people were heading for Space Mountain and we joined them. Frank noticed that everyone was turning around before getting to Space Mountain and sure enough SM was down and they didn't know when it would be back up. We then headed toward Alien Encounter along with everyone else.
This is a very interesting ride/attraction but after going on it I don't think I would want my kids of 10, 7 & 5 to go on it because they would all be too scared. I'm a firm believer in trying something before you make your opinion but I don't know if I would want my kids to see this attraction unless they really wanted to. We then headed up to the Astro Orbiter. It can barely handle two 34 year olds in one rocket. To me this is Dumbo up high. It was nice to see the park and we could also tell that SM still was not open.
Grand Prix Raceway already had a huge line so we didn't even consider it. We headed over to Fantasyland and did Peter Pan's Flight with a little wait.
After this we checked out several places to be for the rope drop at 9:00. When the rope dropped we headed for Thunder Mountain Railroad because we had done Splash Mountain the two previous nights. TMR was just as good as it is in Disneyland with three hill climbs. I always enjoy coasters that start out in the dark.
After this we headed over and walked on to Pirates. Only one drop instead of two at Disneyland was a bit disappointing and by this time we were already starting to feel the affects of having only 4 hours of sleep. Next we headed to the Jungle Cruise and had a pretty good wait here (20-25 minutes). We fortunately got a good guide which always helps make the ride that much more enjoyable.
We headed over to the Haunted Mansion which is just as good as the one in Disneyland. We next headed over to see the Legend of the Lion King. We had about a 25 minute wait for this and it was starting to get hot and did I mention that we were a little tired and still hadn't eaten anything. The show was very good and it's nice to see this kind of show making it to the Magic Kingdom.
We headed back over to SM to see if it was still down (it was) and by this time it was close to 11:00 so we decided to eat lunch. We ate at the Plaza Pavillion and I looked at the castle while Frank didn't. After lunch we saw Genie greeting people just off Main Street but in an area where not many people could see him so Frank and I went down and got in line for a picture with the castle in the background.
We headed back over to SM (still down) so we decided to do Carousel of Progress. Frank was glad that they had changed the song but the new one (Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow) is not much better in our opinion. This was at least nice because I could rest/fall asleep on this attraction. We then moved on to Take Flight which was also nothing special. We then did The Timekeeper which is very well done. Frank and I were both hoping that someday they would put chairs that spin 360 degrees in these attractions (probably because we were beat).
We then headed up to do the Tomorrowland Transit Authority which we both enjoyed because once again we could sit and rest. This ride had a good point and a bad point. The good point is that we got to see Space Mountain inside with the lights on (not very pretty but not something everyone gets a chance to see) and I remembered to take a picture. The bad point is that there was not a person in sight working on the thing nor any test runs going on. It sure made it seem like they just needed to give SM a break for the day and they had no intention of fixing this thing. With SM down and the Rivers of America drained with no boats and no way to get over to Tom Sawyer's Island this definitely made the crowds feel worse then they really were.
After the TTA we headed over to take the skyway to Fantasyland but this went down for a little while so we decided to walk over to Mickey's ToonTown Fair. We went on Goofy's Barnstormer which is a neat little coaster and similar to Gadget's Go-Coaster in Disneyland.
I was really hoping to make it until the Remember The Magic Parade at 3:00 but Frank and I were fading fast. So we decided to take the train back to Main Street and head back to the ASM to get Frank's car and go check-in at the Buena Vista Palace for the convention and to then go to the World of Disney at the Disney Village Marketplace. This is a wonderful store and quite huge with all the different themed rooms.
I had to pick up gifts for my three kids and my wife. Guys out there who are not great shoppers like me will be pleased to know (as I was) that there are pay phones by the bathrooms so that I could call my wife and get advice on what to buy and sizes and all that stuff. After about an hour and a half we headed back to the Buena Vista Palace where I needed to get ready for the 6:00 convention dinner party which was going to be held in Epcot.
We took two buses from the Buena Vista Palace over to Epcot. We entered in the back behind the new GM test track. If I wouldn't have been so tired I would have thought to take a picture of the track. We then rode all the way around the back of World Showcase and all the way around to the back of Living with the Seas. This was very different to see the back of everything.
Needless to say it's different then what people see from the front. We then walked to Journey into Imagination where we had the upstairs closed off for our dinner. They had some interesting displays to play with up there and I'm sure my kids would like it. Dinner was not that great. At about 8:30 we headed over to the United Kingdom where the 'Secret Park' was being held for our dessert and the showing of Illuminations 25. This is a very good vantage point to watch it from especially if Disney is not letting anyone in but you.
I have to say, however, that I was not that impressed with Illuminations 25. First we were down wind and got a lot of smoke and even could feel things in our eyes. Second, you couldn't really see much of anything as far as the lasers were concerned. The bottom line is that I'm sure I am being biased after seeing Fantasmic twice in August at Disneyland. We then headed for the buses and back to the Buena Vista Palace. Frank and I tried out the pool which we didn't do at All-Star Music and went to bed by 11:30.
That ends my third day at WDW and to recap:
Best ride/attraction: Legend of the Lion King
Worst ride/attraction: Carousel of Progress and Take Flight
Worst problem: Space Mountain being down and no one giving a straight answer of why or how long
Best Cast Member: All the people that work at the World of Disney
Tuesday October 15, 1996
I had the convention in the morning but after lunch Frank and I headed over to the Disney Village Marketplace and Pleasure Island to just walk around and check everything out in a much more calm manner. My flight left at 5:50 and I was back in Denver by 7:30.
Some final thoughts:
This was my first trip to Orlando. The weather was beautiful the whole time.
Frank mentioned that if I had been a week sooner that it would have been raining a lot with the tropical storm moving through.
Not getting enough sleep and Space Mountain being down really made our day at the Magic Kingdom a real bummer. Fortunately I had just spent five days at Disneyland in August with my family.
It was sure nice to be able to check a lot of things out before I take the whole family. I was hoping to do a ten night stay in the off-season some time with 5 day hopper passes but because of our kids schedules it looks like we'll have to settle for 6 nights at the end of April 1997 with 4 day value passes to keep the costs down.
I want to thank everyone on this newsgroup for all the information I was able to glean before my trip. Both from here and all the various web sites. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to e-mail or submit them to the newsgroup. I hope I didn't bore too many of you but that is what the delete/next button is for.
Respectfully submitted,
Ken Paul a.k.a. KenRPaul@Aol.Com
Travel Method: Plane
Resort: All Star Music Resort
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
Comments: Ken and his friend spent a few days at WDW while in Florida on Business. Ken considered this trip a "dry run" for a possible family trip later on...in the meantime, he captured his own opinion of do's and don'ts that are very helpful.
Trip Report 10/11/96 - 10/15/96
The following is a report from my recent trip to WDW. I had a convention there and thought that I would do a reconnaissance mission at the same time for a future visit with my whole family. There will be many opinions and I want to let everyone know that they are just that, opinions. They are not meant to be the reason for a flamefest. Because the purpose of my trip was to gather information, I tried to do as much as possible in a single day.
I would not recommend this type of itinerary for anyone with kids. This trip is being done by myself (Ken) and his friend Frank, both 34 years old..
Friday, October 11, 1996
My flight was scheduled to leave Denver at 3:40 p.m. We pushed back from the gate and then just sat on the tarmack for what seemed like an hour on a very hot day. They said that they were waiting to get a runway assignment and that the weather was changing and was causing the delay. It wasn't fun but we made it to Orlando at about 9:30 p.m. instead of the scheduled 9:01 p.m. My best friend/roommate from college and also my best man, Frank, picked me up at the airport. He lives in Orlando. The first excitement was on the way to Frank's house. We were stopping for a red light but the Volvo next to us was not. They were in the intersection and got smashed in the side. We stopped to see if everyone was alright and wait for the police. Everyone was okay but shaken up. What was really strange is that three other cars also witnessed it and stopped and they were all under-cover police officers. We stayed up too late talking and finally went to bed about 2:30 a.m.
Saturday, October 12, 1996
We woke up at 6:30 a.m. and got ready to head toward WDW. We had a two night reservation at the All Star Music so we went and checked in and got our park passes. I had ordered special convention passes which were 3-day park hopper passes with one admission to Pleasure Island for $110.61 a piece including tax. They had a problem finding the passes but eventually they were found in the next days bin. It was Saturday and everyone was heading to the Magic Kingdom for early entry but we were heading to Epcot.
The Epcot gates opened at 8:30 a.m. and we headed for Spaceship Earth. Frank thought that Walter Cronkite used to be the voice for this ride. After this we headed over to wait for the rope drop to go to ride Body Wars. We got on one of the first vehicles but then had to get off and head to a different one. We then headed to Ellen's Energy Adventure (good show but Ellen looks better then the audio-animatronic one (not even close in our opinion)).
Next was Living with the Land (very interesting plants but I thought hydroponics was growing plants in water and not in sand. I could have sworn that this is what the CM said). We next went to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience which I would have to give the award for most surprising ride/attraction. There were things that startled me that I did not expect which made it very enjoyable. Next was the Journey into Imagination which had to be one of the more boring rides for me. It felt like an Epcot Small World ride.
Next we headed for the World Showcase. It was my 11th wedding anniversary and since there were 11 countries I was going to call my wife from every country but it was not very easy to find a phone. I did call her 4 times though. We started in Mexico and rode the ride. We moved on to Norway and rode the Maelstrom. I was hoping that the ride was going to go down a big hill backwards but it didn't. Oh well. We saw the China film next and blew through Germany and Italy. We heard the singers at the American Adventure and watched the show. We blew through Japan and Morocco and headed to France. We just missed the movie in France so we did what most people would do.... We stopped at the Boulangerie Patisserie and had some wonderful desserts.
After the France film we headed out the International Gateway to check out the Beach Club and to have lunch at Beaches and Cream. We were so full from lunch and everything else we had eaten that we didn't even have room for dessert :( I was amazed how many people were ordering desserts and not eating even half of them. I told our server that the URL for the Beaches and Cream web page on the bottom of the check was no longer any good since Disney had changed all the web pages as of October 1st. His first reaction was to ask me if I worked for Disney (I wish). He then went and told his manager who is quite computer literate I guess. After lunch we headed to the front desk where I asked if I could see a room and a wonderful CM showed us one. We then walked off our lunch by walking all the way around the lake looking at the Yacht Club, the Dolphin, the Swan and finally the Boardwalk.
We came back into Epcot via the International gateway and finished up the World Showcase by passing through the United Kingdom (after checking out the little park for Illuminations viewing) and went and saw the Canada film. All the films were wonderful but I couldn't believe how the camera movements and the large screens affected me much more then any of the rides. Oh well one of those optical illusions I guess.
Back in Future World we went on Horizons which we also thought was pretty boring but I know a lot of people really like this ride. To me it seemed like another Carousel of Progress. We then did The Making of Me and Cranium Command at the Wonders of Life. Both of these were wonderful shows. We then moved over to The Land and watched The Circle of Life and Food Rocks. We then headed for the Living Seas. I'm sure we were very tired by now and that could have affected my opinions of some things. We did not stay for Illuminations 25 because it was part of the conference package later in the week. Instead we left Epcot at about 7:00 p.m. and took the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom to see if we could see Spectromagic or get on Splash Mountain before it closed.
We got on the monorail at Epcot and just missed being in the front. The surprising thing was when we got to the Tranportation and Ticket Center the express monorail was dropping people off but not picking anyone up. We had just missed a ferry so we had to wait and take the resort monorail through the Poly and the Grand Floridian before getting to the Magic Kingdom and losing precious time. Does anyone know why the express back to the MK would not be picking up people?
We finally got to the MK and first tried to take the train over to Splash Mountain but the doors were locked. Does anyone know when you can pick up the last train on Main Street when the park closes at 8:30 p.m.? We then had to fight the crowds trying to leave down Main Street. This is a very harrowing experience for adults and I certainly don't recommend it with kids.
We cut through Adventure Land and caught up to the parade in Frontier Land and had to wait to get around it. We finally made it to Splash Mountain and when we were coming down the big drop the fireworks were going off. We then headed over to the castle and took some pictures. Frank hates it and I like it. We then stopped at a few stores and also at the Welcome center to get our lithographs and to watch the video of whats coming in the future for WDW. We headed out of the MK and got on a bus to the All Star Music. I couldn't believe how many people were waiting in line for a bus back to the TTC. Back at the ASM we got our room assignment 608 which is in Calypso 10 which is non-smoking and very close to the Bus Stop. The lines were pretty long and slow moving at the ASM front desk for 10:00 p.m.
We grabbed a bite to eat at the cafeteria before it closed at 11:00 and were in bed by midnight. I was very impressed by the rooms of the ASM. They are not huge but they are similar to most motel rooms that my family is used to staying at and are very clean and comfortable. I know a lot of people complain about how small they are but I think they are just fine.
That ends my first day at WDW and to recap:
Best ride/attraction: Honey I Shrunk the Audience
Worst ride/attraction: Journey into Imagination and Horizons (tie)
Worst problem: No express monorail to MK at 7:30 p.m. and no train to bypass Spectromagic
Best Cast Member: Person behind the desk at the Beach Club who showed us a room
I forgot to mention that the crowds at Epcot on Saturday, October 12, 1996 were not bad at all. The longest wait we had was probably for Honey I Shrunk The Audience. Either everyone was at the Magic Kingdom because it was Early Entry there or Epcot is so big that it really spreads out the crowds.
Sunday, October 13, 1996
We got up at 6:30 a.m. to get ready for Early Entry at Disney/MGM Studios. We grabbed a quick bite at the All-Star Music intermission cafeteria and headed for the bus. The refillable mugs were marked $7.99 and I asked the CM if you could bring them back on subsequent visits to WDW and he said you could. I didn't buy one but just thought that I would let everyone know since it is quite the hot topic of discussion here.
When we got to MGM it was just a little past 7:30 so most of the people were already in the park. Frank and I headed directly to the Tower of Terror. When we got there we were surprised that the line seemed a little long and was not moving that quickly. We later realized that because we could hear no one screaming above us that it wasn't even taking people yet.
When the line started moving it moved fast. We enjoyed our first time so much that when we got out and the line was not very long we decided to do it again. The second time was even better then the first. I think it may have been that the system/elevators were not up to full speed the first time. The second time we really left our seats more then we remembered the first time. I asked one of the CM's loading the elevators if Brian/BP was working that day and he (a Paul Wylie look-alike) said no.
After the second time we enjoyed it so much and the lines were still not long so we went on it again. This time we already had the strategy of heading for the far corner of the library to get a head of the 20 people in the room with us. The first time we were in row two, the second in row three and the third in row one. I was seating next to an elderly couple and when the ride was over she mentioned to me that this ride could be bad for your heart. Needless to say we LOVED the TOT, especially the last/Yo-Yo drop. It was very fun to actually leave your seat. What else makes the ride so good is that it is actually two rides in one. All the pre-show and the illusions before you even get to the drop are spectacular. If nothing else I would recommend people try it just once to see what a wonderful job Disney has done. If you don't like it you don't have to go on two more times.
After the third time the line was pretty long so we headed for Star Tours. The line was not too long (10-15 minutes). We then checked out what time the first Indiana Jones Show was (10:00) and headed to see Voyage of the Little Mermaid at 9:15. We got in line at about 8:50 so our wait was pretty long but self induced. The show was wonderful and I'm sure my girls will love it. I took a few pictures (without the flash) and I hope they come out.
We next headed over to the Indiana Jones Show and the arena was already ¾ full when we got there. The pre-show happened to be a friend of Frank's and he was EXCELLENT. He plays a janitor by the name of "Carl". Frank couldn't tell if it was Paul or his twin brother Peter, he thought it was Paul. Very good ad-libbing with the audience. The show was good except that we could tell the audience "ringer".
After this we headed over to the Hunchback Show. We came in during the pre-show which was a juggler. The show was very good with a combination of puppets and live actors. As far as plot goes it is much better than the show at Disneyland. There are more songs and the gargoyles are in the show. The actors are definitely doing their own singing and they are all very good. It is also nice to see Quasi doing his own singing unlike Disneyland where he is represented by four angels and Quasi is in full head-gear. Don't get me wrong both shows of Hunchback are very good they are just very different. At Disneyland the show is all around you instead of mostly in front of you at MGM.
After this we headed to MuppetVision 3-D and had a pretty long wait. I'm not sure if this is because another Indiana Jones Show had let out or what but it was our longest wait so far (25-30 minutes). This is also where I show my first "Brazilians". The reason it is in quotes is because I can't say for sure but they pushed their way through the pre-show area and when the doors opened they headed down the row and plopped down right in the middle of the row and would not move. Isn't there a fitting punishment for these people? Frank and I sat on the end and I don't know if it was because of this or not but the 3-D effects seemed to be lost. It was a good show but next time I'll try to let some people go down the row before I do and see if it makes a difference.
We then headed for the Commissary for lunch. It was really packed but since we didn't have much for breakfast we were starving. Frank commented that the quality of his food was nothing like the food we had had at Beaches and Cream the day before for about the same price. He really liked the food at Beaches and Cream but I'm sure a lot of you are not surprised. We then went out and waited for the 1:00 Toy Story Parade. We did not have great spots but we just stood in back of the crowds near the entrance to the Great Movie Ride. I was able to get some pictures for the kids of different parts of the parade. I wish Woody would have been up on his float.
Next we headed right into the Great Movie Ride. Unfortunately this was a great disappointment for both of us. First I was amazed that we were seeing the same trailers recycling within the pre-show and then found out that the trailers are the exact movies you see on the ride. Next the CM who held up our car was not very good. Frank mentioned that the audio-animatronic characters were better actors. I guess this is like the Jungle Cruise of MGM and the ride is only as good as your guide. The montage at the end was good and I hopefully got a great picture of the Wicked Witch who was right in front of me.
We then headed for the 2:00 Beauty and the Beast Show. This was a good show except that Gaston was not singing but only mouthing today. I found out later that he had a throat problem. It was a good show and I know my kids would love it.
When we came out we noticed a lot of characters roaming around and started heading for the Information board. Frank spotted Paul as a performer or "streetmosphere" as they are called. I went up to him and told him what a wonderful job he had done at the Indiana Jones Show and he was very annoyed and said that it was Peter and not him. I guess it was happening quite a bit to him and he was having some fun with the kids who also thought it was him. He told us that he was performing that night at the Comedy Warehouse at Pleasure Island so Frank and I told him that we would try to make it.
We next headed to the Magic of Disney Animation. There seemed to be a good wait for this as well but we could watch and listen to the people scream on the Tower which made the wait more enjoyable. There were a lot of characters out which was nice to see. We realized that we hadn't seen any on our lightning tour of Epcot the day before. We had only seen a mime in a real bubble near France (Frank mentioned that he must not be a very good mime if he needed a "real" bubble) and some performers finishing a show between Future World and World Showcase.
Anyway, back to the animation tour. This was interesting to see the stuff for the new movie Hercules and to watch the film with Robin Williams and Walter Cronkite. Unfortunately it was Sunday so no one was working in the studios. After this tour we headed for the Making of the Hunchback of Notre Dame tour. This wasn't all that great and they seemed to be in the process of training new CM's for this.
We next walked through the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground to see what this is like. I'm sure kids love it. We then headed to the Backstage Pass to 101 Dalmations. Frank was picked to be the volunteer for the second part of the tour. The audio-animatronic part was very interesting especially the baby puppies. Next was the blue screen area where Frank got to be Jeff Daniels. He did great but I ran out of film. We then walked by the mostly empty soundstages and finished the tour with the props and costumes from the movie. We then headed for the Backlot tour and had a 30 minute wait. This was good but short.
One word of advice for everyone. You may want to do all of these things in reverse order. Back Lot Tour then Backstage Pass to 101 Dalmations then the Making of HunchBack and finally the Animation Tour. It seemed like we would walk down the street and go into one and be let out back at the end of the street and would have to pass the entrance of what we were just in to get to the next one so it seemed like a lot of walking and my feet were starting to complain after two straight days of touring constantly.
After the tram tour we realized that we would not be able to see The Monster Sound Show or SuperStar Television so we were not able to do everything. We headed for the Information board to see what the wait was for the TOT. The sign just said "Last drop at 7:00" so since it was about 6:30 we decided to head that way and see for ourselves. The line was not that bad and we realized one possible short-cut for people trying to maximize their number of rides on TOT.
When you have to choose whether to go to the left side or the right side at the old fountain go to the right. We realized that as you get closer to the entrance the right line is more narrow allowing maybe two people across while the left line is wider allowing three to four people across so there should be fewer people in front of you if you go to the right. Once you get to the "basement" it doesn't seem to matter whether you go right or straight when you have the choice. Like I said this was just our observation, your mileage may vary.
Well we rode the TOT for a fourth time and it was everything we had remembered from the beginning of the day and when we got off we were able to make it on for a fifth and final ride! Once again I can't stress to everyone what a wonderful ride this is and I know that just because we liked it does not mean that you will but give it a chance if you get the chance.
Since it was about 7:00 we decided to again head for the Magic Kingdom and try to do Splash Mountain again like we had done the night before and/or maybe Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. This is where the Disney Transportation gods got in our way again. We went to the number 5 bus stop for the TTC and the Contemporary and proceeded to wait as several buses showed up at every bus stop but ours. Finally one did show up and it was followed immediately by another right behind it. We probably waited here for 25-30 minutes. Fortunately when we got to the TTC the Express Monorail was running this night so we got on and headed over to the MK. It was about 8:00 or even earlier and we again headed up to the train station to bypass Spectromagic but it was already locked. Does anyone know when the Main Street station closes? We then got on the right side of Main Street and started fighting the masses heading in the opposite direction.
Another tip (some people may not like this one), go into the stores since they are all connected except for when you cross the street. This cuts way down on the number of people heading out of the park. We got to the end of Main Street and were keeping pace with the end of the parade but got stopped by all the people watching the parade and no room to get by them at the center circle. So we had to back track through Adventure Land and wait for the parade to pass by before making it to Splash Mountain. I'm sure Spectromagic is a wonderful parade as are most Disney parades but when you follow the last float the whole way it can get really old. Everybody sing "On this magic night...".
Well we rode Splash only once and as we were coming down the big plunge the fireworks were going off again just like the night before. We then headed out of the park and toward the All-Star Music bus. The wait wasn't too bad at all. Back at the ASM we got into Frank's car and headed to the Dixie Landings so that I could check it out and talk to a CM about it. We then hopped a boat and headed to Pleasure Island and the MarketPlace. We were kind of hungry and Frank had a certificate for $30 at the Fireworks Factory so we had appetizers and drinks and then headed to the New Years Eve celebration and to get in line at the Comedy Warehouse for the 12:05 show. New Years Eve was okay but we were watching it from the side so we couldn't see it all.
The show at the Comedy Warehouse was very good. Paul was on stage as he said he would be. For those of you who have not seen the show it is basically five people doing different improv skits with audience suggestions.
It is a very good show and you wonder how the actors can come up with all that stuff under pressure. We talked to Paul after the show and his friend Dimitri gave us a ride back to our car at Dixie Landings. We headed back to the All-Star Music and didn't get to bed until about 2:45 a.m. It was a fun day but doing Disney for 20 hours straight was definitely going to come at a price.
That ends my second day at WDW and to recap:
Best ride/attraction: Twilight Zone Tower of Terror (5 * 2.5 drops = 12.5 drops)
Worst ride/attraction: The Great Movie Ride
Worst problem: Waiting for the TTC bus at MGM and once again no train to bypass Spectromagic
Best Cast Member: Paul and his twin brother Peter who perform at MGM as well as Pleasure Island and several other venues as substitutes.
Monday October 14, 1996
After going to bed at 2:45 a.m., 6:30 a.m. definitely came too soon. Frank and I got ready and caught the first bus from the ASM to the Magic Kingdon without grabbing a bite to eat. When we got to the Magic Kingdon most of the lines were all pretty long. When the gates opened at 7:30 a.m. I grabbed one of the blue sheets that have the list of attractions that are open for early entry. Quite a few people were heading for Space Mountain and we joined them. Frank noticed that everyone was turning around before getting to Space Mountain and sure enough SM was down and they didn't know when it would be back up. We then headed toward Alien Encounter along with everyone else.
This is a very interesting ride/attraction but after going on it I don't think I would want my kids of 10, 7 & 5 to go on it because they would all be too scared. I'm a firm believer in trying something before you make your opinion but I don't know if I would want my kids to see this attraction unless they really wanted to. We then headed up to the Astro Orbiter. It can barely handle two 34 year olds in one rocket. To me this is Dumbo up high. It was nice to see the park and we could also tell that SM still was not open.
Grand Prix Raceway already had a huge line so we didn't even consider it. We headed over to Fantasyland and did Peter Pan's Flight with a little wait.
After this we checked out several places to be for the rope drop at 9:00. When the rope dropped we headed for Thunder Mountain Railroad because we had done Splash Mountain the two previous nights. TMR was just as good as it is in Disneyland with three hill climbs. I always enjoy coasters that start out in the dark.
After this we headed over and walked on to Pirates. Only one drop instead of two at Disneyland was a bit disappointing and by this time we were already starting to feel the affects of having only 4 hours of sleep. Next we headed to the Jungle Cruise and had a pretty good wait here (20-25 minutes). We fortunately got a good guide which always helps make the ride that much more enjoyable.
We headed over to the Haunted Mansion which is just as good as the one in Disneyland. We next headed over to see the Legend of the Lion King. We had about a 25 minute wait for this and it was starting to get hot and did I mention that we were a little tired and still hadn't eaten anything. The show was very good and it's nice to see this kind of show making it to the Magic Kingdom.
We headed back over to SM to see if it was still down (it was) and by this time it was close to 11:00 so we decided to eat lunch. We ate at the Plaza Pavillion and I looked at the castle while Frank didn't. After lunch we saw Genie greeting people just off Main Street but in an area where not many people could see him so Frank and I went down and got in line for a picture with the castle in the background.
We headed back over to SM (still down) so we decided to do Carousel of Progress. Frank was glad that they had changed the song but the new one (Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow) is not much better in our opinion. This was at least nice because I could rest/fall asleep on this attraction. We then moved on to Take Flight which was also nothing special. We then did The Timekeeper which is very well done. Frank and I were both hoping that someday they would put chairs that spin 360 degrees in these attractions (probably because we were beat).
We then headed up to do the Tomorrowland Transit Authority which we both enjoyed because once again we could sit and rest. This ride had a good point and a bad point. The good point is that we got to see Space Mountain inside with the lights on (not very pretty but not something everyone gets a chance to see) and I remembered to take a picture. The bad point is that there was not a person in sight working on the thing nor any test runs going on. It sure made it seem like they just needed to give SM a break for the day and they had no intention of fixing this thing. With SM down and the Rivers of America drained with no boats and no way to get over to Tom Sawyer's Island this definitely made the crowds feel worse then they really were.
After the TTA we headed over to take the skyway to Fantasyland but this went down for a little while so we decided to walk over to Mickey's ToonTown Fair. We went on Goofy's Barnstormer which is a neat little coaster and similar to Gadget's Go-Coaster in Disneyland.
I was really hoping to make it until the Remember The Magic Parade at 3:00 but Frank and I were fading fast. So we decided to take the train back to Main Street and head back to the ASM to get Frank's car and go check-in at the Buena Vista Palace for the convention and to then go to the World of Disney at the Disney Village Marketplace. This is a wonderful store and quite huge with all the different themed rooms.
I had to pick up gifts for my three kids and my wife. Guys out there who are not great shoppers like me will be pleased to know (as I was) that there are pay phones by the bathrooms so that I could call my wife and get advice on what to buy and sizes and all that stuff. After about an hour and a half we headed back to the Buena Vista Palace where I needed to get ready for the 6:00 convention dinner party which was going to be held in Epcot.
We took two buses from the Buena Vista Palace over to Epcot. We entered in the back behind the new GM test track. If I wouldn't have been so tired I would have thought to take a picture of the track. We then rode all the way around the back of World Showcase and all the way around to the back of Living with the Seas. This was very different to see the back of everything.
Needless to say it's different then what people see from the front. We then walked to Journey into Imagination where we had the upstairs closed off for our dinner. They had some interesting displays to play with up there and I'm sure my kids would like it. Dinner was not that great. At about 8:30 we headed over to the United Kingdom where the 'Secret Park' was being held for our dessert and the showing of Illuminations 25. This is a very good vantage point to watch it from especially if Disney is not letting anyone in but you.
I have to say, however, that I was not that impressed with Illuminations 25. First we were down wind and got a lot of smoke and even could feel things in our eyes. Second, you couldn't really see much of anything as far as the lasers were concerned. The bottom line is that I'm sure I am being biased after seeing Fantasmic twice in August at Disneyland. We then headed for the buses and back to the Buena Vista Palace. Frank and I tried out the pool which we didn't do at All-Star Music and went to bed by 11:30.
That ends my third day at WDW and to recap:
Best ride/attraction: Legend of the Lion King
Worst ride/attraction: Carousel of Progress and Take Flight
Worst problem: Space Mountain being down and no one giving a straight answer of why or how long
Best Cast Member: All the people that work at the World of Disney
Tuesday October 15, 1996
I had the convention in the morning but after lunch Frank and I headed over to the Disney Village Marketplace and Pleasure Island to just walk around and check everything out in a much more calm manner. My flight left at 5:50 and I was back in Denver by 7:30.
Some final thoughts:
This was my first trip to Orlando. The weather was beautiful the whole time.
Frank mentioned that if I had been a week sooner that it would have been raining a lot with the tropical storm moving through.
Not getting enough sleep and Space Mountain being down really made our day at the Magic Kingdom a real bummer. Fortunately I had just spent five days at Disneyland in August with my family.
It was sure nice to be able to check a lot of things out before I take the whole family. I was hoping to do a ten night stay in the off-season some time with 5 day hopper passes but because of our kids schedules it looks like we'll have to settle for 6 nights at the end of April 1997 with 4 day value passes to keep the costs down.
I want to thank everyone on this newsgroup for all the information I was able to glean before my trip. Both from here and all the various web sites. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to e-mail or submit them to the newsgroup. I hope I didn't bore too many of you but that is what the delete/next button is for.
Respectfully submitted,
Ken Paul a.k.a. KenRPaul@Aol.Com