Trip Reports
03-01-2006, 07:42 AM
Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
Resort: Fort Wilderness, All Star Music Resort
Accommodations: Standard Room, Fort Wilderness Home
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
Comments: This trip report is interesting, at least for me, since it's one of the few I've read in which the guests stayed at Fort Wilderness. On the last day of the trip, the Benson's moved over to the All Star resorts for a change of pace.
The participants:
Kelly (usually referred to as I or me): 23 year old student seeking a master's degree in history and graduate assistant
Eric (my husband will be referred to as He or him): 23 year old radio personality and graduate student in mass communications
The trip:
Dates Nov 7 to Nov 11, 1996
Staying at Fort Wilderness Homes on Deluxe Plan from 7 to 10 plus one night stay at All Star Music.
Method of Transport:
Northwest Airlines from Chicago to Memphis to Orlando Mears Shuttle and WDW Transportation
Day One-Nov 7, 1996:
We left O'Hare at 6:35 am. We were supposed to make a connecting flight in Memphis shortly after 8 am. This was not to be. A horrible thunderstorm(worst in Memphis since 1993) forced us to land in Nashville because the plane lacked enough fuel to continue to circle Memphis. We finally landed in Memphis at 11:30 am but couldn't get a flight to Orlando until 2pm. We finally got to Orlando around 5:30pm. It was pouring down rain in the way that only Florida can. We only had to wait a few minutes for our shuttle. And somehow our luggage got to the airport before us. Go figure. It was hot and muggy that day.
We finally got all checked in at our hotel after 6 pm. Good thing I had decided to make 8pm dinner reservations. We checked into our Fort Wilderness Home. It's comfortable if a little old and woodsy. But it was quite a deal with our MKC I saved 600 dollars on the package cost alone. If I get around to it, I'm working on a comparison of costs, I do know we saved money using the package. But at any rate, we checked out the place and changed for dinner. One thing you should bring if you stay at the Fort Wilderness Homes and plan on using the buses is a flashlight. Finding the bus stops at night is an experience as it isn't well lit.
We ate dinner at the Artist Point. It was wonderful. We both had the creamed onion soup. Eric had the sausage appetizer, it had elk and rabbit sausage. He liked the elk but wasn't big on the rabbit. I had the salad. It had fruit and walnuts. Eric had the buffalo and I went for the Muscovie Duck for our entree. Both were excellent. Dessert was a hot apple cheesecake with caramel sauce. The cafe mochas also were good.
After dinner we went to the Fantasia Gardens Mini-golf. It was really fun and a bit hard but we live in the country and don't get a chance to play good mini-golf that often.
Our longest wait for a bus was twenty minutes at the Swan (at least that day). We did have an encounter with a very rude man on the bus back. He apparently was staying at the Yacht Club and couldn't read the sign on the bus saying that it wasn't going to the Yacht Club. Needless to say, he was yelling at his poor wife and the world in general because of his own stupidity. The language he was using was not fit for children to hear. What a jerk! It did put a damper on things somewhat. I dislike people like that. But we made it home in one piece and hopefully that man figured out how to use the bus system.
Day Two-Nov 8, 1996:
We went to the Magic Kingdom in the morning. We decided to take the internal bus to the boat to the MK. Big mistake. It took almost an hour to get to the boat and then more time to get there. Our breakfast reservation was at 10:30 and we barely made it. We had breakfast at Tony's. It was good. The crowds were unreal at least for early November. We tried to get into the visitor's center but there was some sort of bottleneck at the entrance and we never got a chance to go back. The castle is extremely bright...very, very bright...very very unbelievably pink. Words cannot describe how ugly it is. I tried not to look. I didn't see much that was different for the anniversary. There were more character sites and Ariel's Grotto was very cute with the Neptune fountain. We rode a couple of rides then headed for MGM.
We got there just as people began to line up for the Toy Story Parade. Having lunch reservations at five after one, we ducked the crowds and got over to the Hollywood Brown Derby. I had the Cobb Salad with Chicken and an Orange Smoothie (Orange juice with ice milk) and Eric had the smoked pork sandwich and a Smoothie. I had the lemon Charlotte and Eric had the white chocolate cheesecake for dessert.
It was in the 80's by this time but it looked like rain, really looked like rain. I looked up and noticed that the skies were about to burst open so I suggested we go on a ride any ride. So we got in line for the Great Movie Ride. By the time we got out it had stopped but it looked like it came down pretty hard. It wasn't until I was back home on the newsgroup that I learned that the MK suffered a power outage during the storm. It was fine at MGM. But Eric remembers hearing someone mention it later in the trip. It became quite cool after the storm and rained off and on all afternoon. We spent the rest of the afternoon at MGM(we had originally planned to go boating but the weather was uncertain so we stayed.) We saw the Muppets (our favorite) and Eric happily rode the Tower of Terror twice in a row while I pressed pennies. I helped out some folks from Germany who were a little confused by the penny press. My limited German and having coins for demonstration purposes helped. They apparently thought you could just put a penny in (oh wishful thinking). That was my good deed for this trip, last trip I took a Japanese couple to the GF from EPCOT after they became confused by the monorail system.
But anyway, we had dinner reservations for 8:30 pm at the Yachtsman. It took an hour and a half to get there from the FW. We waited forty minutes for the bus to the TTC and almost twenty for the bus to the Marketplace. We missed our reservation and had to wait for a table needless to say. But dinner was wonderful. I had the 8oz filet mignion, smashed potatoes, mushrooms with cognac and the New England Clam Chowder. Eric had the 10oz filer mignion, baked potato, mushrooms and the steak and bean soup. Dessert was the raspberry cheesecake for me and the white macadamia nut for him. It was wonderful and the trip back wasn't as long.
Day Three-Nov 9, 1996:
We started out with breakfast at the Whispering Canyon then we took the bus to EPCOT. Has anyone ever noticed that it's almost as if they forgot to put bus stops in and built those as afterthoughts?
Anyway, we went on the Hidden Treasures of World Showcase Tour. Our tour guide was named Margaret I really don't remember who all else was in the group. We started in front of the World Showcase where she explained that orginally the American Adventure was to be at the front of World Showcase but they moved it to the back to draw you in. She also said they had worked out a deal with Russia at one time but due to the present situation over there the thing fell through. She said that the reason more countries are slow in being added is because they're going through corporate sponsers due to the fact that they're looking for a one billion dollar initial investment and most countries aren't willing to foot that much. Morocco is currently the only country that sponsors it's own pavillion and it's also the only one who has their name on the pavillion. Anyway, she also said that many countries that were approached had unrealistic expectations so that's why there hasn't been any new countries added for some time. I think she said that there was room for 8 more countries but I wasn't taking notes. She also said that if ever need be they can do a double loop and add more countries.
We then went to Canada. The Hotel du Canada is only three stories high, it's that forced prospective that makes it look bigger. The windows at the very top are only the size of a human face. One of the totem poles is real the other is fiberglass. She said that the gardens are rotated in and out as the seasons change and in the winter they put in all white flowers to give the illusion of snow. Forced prospective is also used on the mountains and little trees are rotated in and out as needed and they each have their own pots and watering systems. We were supposed to go behind the scenes there but due to some construction we went behind the scenes in England.
We went to England. We learned that they tried to put real straw on Anne Hathaway's cottage but it couldn't go through customs so they had to make some. Some of the buildings were being restored (as I made the comment just like the real things. Anyone who's been to Europe knows that most historical buildings always have scaffolding on them :) ) We went through the gate and behind the scenes right into the dumpster. There is a dumpster right behind the gate in England and boy does it smell horrid. We then went past a greenhouse to the back of the Canadian "Rockies". There wasn't much behind the scenes here just the dumpsters, the greenhouse, and a power substation. The Rockies are hollow and you could see the various water systems they have for the trees.
We then went on to France. Behind the scenes there are various trailors for costume changes. We saw the Eiffel Tower which is one tenth the size of the real thing and rests on top of a building to give it height. They have shutters on the back of this building because guests in some of the rooms at the Swan and Dolphin can see the backs of these buildings. We went into the gift shop which is modeled after the Galeries des Halles which had a glass ceiling but they can't do that there because a glass ceiling in the Florida sun would not be a good thing. We stayed in the courtyard for a while the guide talked about food service in Disney World. I wasn't really paying attention, sorry. I have to say though that the French bakery has certainly captured the smells of the real thing. When I smell it I think of the wonderful month I spent in France especially in the smaller towns but I digress.
In Morocco we learned that much of the tile work was done by hand by Moroccan artisans and that discolorations and dents are meant to be there because for Muslims perfection is reserved for Allah. I think it gives it a very realistic flare. I love that pavillion anyway it's very romantic and I love the food. It was very nice to have the place to ourselves for pictures.
However the crowds caught up to us in Japan. We went into the museum to look at the collection, right now there is a display of ornaments that are hung from kimono sashes. She mentioned that most modern Japanese women had never worn a kimono and had to be taught how to wear one. She also pointed out that the two statues at the beginning of the bridge into the palace point in different directions because they only had one mold.
We ended our tour at the American Adventure. We went around EPCOT for a while. We had lunch at the Coral Reef. We both had the Beef and Barley Soup and the grilled pork tenderloin with applesauce and pierogies. Dessert was a wonderful triple chocolate parfait with milk chocolate, white and semisweet chocolate creams flavored with liquors and topped with a Mexican chocolate cookie(not for those who are lactose intolerant my poor husband is mildy intolerant and it made him sick even though he loved it initally.)
We had dinner that night at Morocco. We never had dinner there before and it was the only place we had a long wait due to how busy it was (you can usually walk right in at lunch so we were unprepared). We came at 7:10 for our 7:30 seating and had to wait for twenty five minutes. But I really didn't care. Some who just can't grasp the concept of priority seating despite explanation were upset. Service was a tad slow but the food was great. We started out with a sampler. We had beef brewet rolls(they taste like eggrolls without vegetables and are covered with cinnamon and sugar.), chicken bastilla (layers of pastry and chicken with cinnamon and sugar), the salad which was actually a variety of vegetable mixtures one tasted like salsa. We both had the Sultan's sampler for an entree. It consisted of brochette of chicken(my favorite -- I bought the cookbook and made it at home), one beef kabob, and four meatballs plus yellow rice. We also had the wonderful mint tea. I skipped dessert because I was full as did Eric. We meant to watch Illuminations but we got out at 9:15 pm so we went to the mini-golf place and played a few rounds. The trip back was uneventful.
Day Four-Nov 10, 1996:
We checked out and transferred our bags to the All Star Music. WE decided to go to EPCOT. Apparently the MK was full due to early opening. Well no one notified us that we could go on to the EPCOT monorail but we couldn't get a cast member's attention to go through and we tried but everytime we got near the front they would walk away and the crowd was a bit hostile about it any way. When we finally got through, we missed the monorail, we complained to the person in charge on the platform but he told us that we should have gotten the attention of a cast member. I never have gotten around to writing a letter on it but I was very angry at the time and it was probably just as well that I calmed down a bit.
Finally we got to EPCOT and ate breakfast at the Garden Grill (we only waited about ten minutes despite the fact we didn't have a reservation...the little pager things are way cool.) We spent the afternoon going on rides and finding talking water fountains. We found at least three. One on the Journey to the Imagination side of Innoventions, one by the performing fountain and one by the play fountain by the walkway to World Showcase. The first time we went on a water fountain search people thought we were nuts for playing with the fountains, this time I saw several people trying out every water fountain they saw. I found one because some other people were playing with it.
We had a late lunch at the San Angel Inn. For an appetizer I had chicken tostados and a chicken breast entree. Eric had the pork taco appetizer, tortilla soup and a combo plate with steak, tamale, and enchilada. For dessert he had the flan and I had the caramel sundae. We left to check into the All Star. A little bright and noisy but not too bad. We were in the Calypso which would be really convenient for a longer stay. The room was a decent size but then again we had one of the King rooms. We had intended to go to the MK but we decided to return to EPCOT. We watched Illuminations 25 from the Secret Park. We managed to snag a first class seat on a bench with an couple from Manchester England. They were of probably retirement age and they were really sweet and we had a great time with them. The show was much nicer than the previous one although I didn't much care for that version of the Circle of Life. It's a Disney song why didn't they use the Elton John version (or maybe the one from the movie? I haven't seen it yet so it could have been but I was under the impression that it wasn't the movie song.) We went to the Yacht Club Galley for dinner but didn't eat much because we were really beat.
Day Five-Nov 11, 1996:
It was our last day. We went shopping at the Village Marketplace. The World of Disney store is large and very crowded. The Gourmet Pantry is wonderful. I love to cook and all of the kitchen gadgets and gourmet food was tempting. Ended up just getting some dolphin shaped pasta that was on sale. We got some deli sandwiches (reasonably priced for Disney) and goldfish crackers(retail price). We had a picnic then for lunch. We fed the ducks and shopped some more. Went back and had a Mickey shaped ice cream bar before leaving for the airport. We faced a two hour delay on the way back in Detroit due to a snowstorm. Funny story that I'll share. My parents live six miles from the airport in Detroit so I called them when we landed. I tell my mother it's snowing and she goes no it's not. I'm like right Mom, look out the window. Well it did start to snow but not as hard and they didn't get as much and they live six miles away! It's like Florida rains on one side of the street and not the other.
Conclusions: Best / Worst List
Best coffee: Fountain View at EPCOT loved the Tiramsu Latte.
Best dessert: Triple Chocolate Cream at Coral Reef(not for the lactose intolerant made my poor hubby sick).
Best restaurant over all:Yachtsman Steakhouse hands down
Best Breakfast:Whispering Canyon/Garden Grill tied
Best atmosphere:San Angel Inn dark and romantic but it's hard to read the menus (waiter had a penlight tehe)
Neatest thing:Those little rock candy sizzle sticks for coffee.
Best dinner: Marakesh especially brochette of chicken (I bought the cookbook and made it at home.)
Worst transportation:Internal buses at Fort Wilderness
Best transportation: Any of the buses driven by Crazy Jim
Nicest people:The couple from England we shared a bench with at Illuminations.
Worst people:Tie between a rude man on the wrong bus and the obnoxious people at the next bench and behind us at Illuminations
Weather:started out warm got very cool
Funniest conversation with a cast member: Bus driver on Fort Wilderness Bus (we're the only ones on board):
Bus Driver: So what do you think of the castle? You can be honest.
Me: It's um very bright.
Eric: It's very pink.
Bus driver: I've never heard anyone say that before they either love or they hate it but I've never heard anyone say it's very bright before.
(He declined to give his opinion I think he was apathic. Another amusing comment was when I noticed that the lights on the Contemporary made a 25 and I missed it before, he said he drove by it every night and it took him three weeks to notice.)
Second funniest comment: Cast member at the reception desk at Fort Wilderness: The camp fire movies tonight are (I forgot the first one) and Ernest Saves Christmas. I don't know why they consider that a Disney movie but we made it so I guess we have to take responsbility for it.
But that's all I really have, it was short and it was marred by our late arrival the first day and a few transportation follies and the weather. But it was Disney. Thanks.
Travel Method: Plane, Shuttle Service
Resort: Fort Wilderness, All Star Music Resort
Accommodations: Standard Room, Fort Wilderness Home
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
Comments: This trip report is interesting, at least for me, since it's one of the few I've read in which the guests stayed at Fort Wilderness. On the last day of the trip, the Benson's moved over to the All Star resorts for a change of pace.
The participants:
Kelly (usually referred to as I or me): 23 year old student seeking a master's degree in history and graduate assistant
Eric (my husband will be referred to as He or him): 23 year old radio personality and graduate student in mass communications
The trip:
Dates Nov 7 to Nov 11, 1996
Staying at Fort Wilderness Homes on Deluxe Plan from 7 to 10 plus one night stay at All Star Music.
Method of Transport:
Northwest Airlines from Chicago to Memphis to Orlando Mears Shuttle and WDW Transportation
Day One-Nov 7, 1996:
We left O'Hare at 6:35 am. We were supposed to make a connecting flight in Memphis shortly after 8 am. This was not to be. A horrible thunderstorm(worst in Memphis since 1993) forced us to land in Nashville because the plane lacked enough fuel to continue to circle Memphis. We finally landed in Memphis at 11:30 am but couldn't get a flight to Orlando until 2pm. We finally got to Orlando around 5:30pm. It was pouring down rain in the way that only Florida can. We only had to wait a few minutes for our shuttle. And somehow our luggage got to the airport before us. Go figure. It was hot and muggy that day.
We finally got all checked in at our hotel after 6 pm. Good thing I had decided to make 8pm dinner reservations. We checked into our Fort Wilderness Home. It's comfortable if a little old and woodsy. But it was quite a deal with our MKC I saved 600 dollars on the package cost alone. If I get around to it, I'm working on a comparison of costs, I do know we saved money using the package. But at any rate, we checked out the place and changed for dinner. One thing you should bring if you stay at the Fort Wilderness Homes and plan on using the buses is a flashlight. Finding the bus stops at night is an experience as it isn't well lit.
We ate dinner at the Artist Point. It was wonderful. We both had the creamed onion soup. Eric had the sausage appetizer, it had elk and rabbit sausage. He liked the elk but wasn't big on the rabbit. I had the salad. It had fruit and walnuts. Eric had the buffalo and I went for the Muscovie Duck for our entree. Both were excellent. Dessert was a hot apple cheesecake with caramel sauce. The cafe mochas also were good.
After dinner we went to the Fantasia Gardens Mini-golf. It was really fun and a bit hard but we live in the country and don't get a chance to play good mini-golf that often.
Our longest wait for a bus was twenty minutes at the Swan (at least that day). We did have an encounter with a very rude man on the bus back. He apparently was staying at the Yacht Club and couldn't read the sign on the bus saying that it wasn't going to the Yacht Club. Needless to say, he was yelling at his poor wife and the world in general because of his own stupidity. The language he was using was not fit for children to hear. What a jerk! It did put a damper on things somewhat. I dislike people like that. But we made it home in one piece and hopefully that man figured out how to use the bus system.
Day Two-Nov 8, 1996:
We went to the Magic Kingdom in the morning. We decided to take the internal bus to the boat to the MK. Big mistake. It took almost an hour to get to the boat and then more time to get there. Our breakfast reservation was at 10:30 and we barely made it. We had breakfast at Tony's. It was good. The crowds were unreal at least for early November. We tried to get into the visitor's center but there was some sort of bottleneck at the entrance and we never got a chance to go back. The castle is extremely bright...very, very bright...very very unbelievably pink. Words cannot describe how ugly it is. I tried not to look. I didn't see much that was different for the anniversary. There were more character sites and Ariel's Grotto was very cute with the Neptune fountain. We rode a couple of rides then headed for MGM.
We got there just as people began to line up for the Toy Story Parade. Having lunch reservations at five after one, we ducked the crowds and got over to the Hollywood Brown Derby. I had the Cobb Salad with Chicken and an Orange Smoothie (Orange juice with ice milk) and Eric had the smoked pork sandwich and a Smoothie. I had the lemon Charlotte and Eric had the white chocolate cheesecake for dessert.
It was in the 80's by this time but it looked like rain, really looked like rain. I looked up and noticed that the skies were about to burst open so I suggested we go on a ride any ride. So we got in line for the Great Movie Ride. By the time we got out it had stopped but it looked like it came down pretty hard. It wasn't until I was back home on the newsgroup that I learned that the MK suffered a power outage during the storm. It was fine at MGM. But Eric remembers hearing someone mention it later in the trip. It became quite cool after the storm and rained off and on all afternoon. We spent the rest of the afternoon at MGM(we had originally planned to go boating but the weather was uncertain so we stayed.) We saw the Muppets (our favorite) and Eric happily rode the Tower of Terror twice in a row while I pressed pennies. I helped out some folks from Germany who were a little confused by the penny press. My limited German and having coins for demonstration purposes helped. They apparently thought you could just put a penny in (oh wishful thinking). That was my good deed for this trip, last trip I took a Japanese couple to the GF from EPCOT after they became confused by the monorail system.
But anyway, we had dinner reservations for 8:30 pm at the Yachtsman. It took an hour and a half to get there from the FW. We waited forty minutes for the bus to the TTC and almost twenty for the bus to the Marketplace. We missed our reservation and had to wait for a table needless to say. But dinner was wonderful. I had the 8oz filet mignion, smashed potatoes, mushrooms with cognac and the New England Clam Chowder. Eric had the 10oz filer mignion, baked potato, mushrooms and the steak and bean soup. Dessert was the raspberry cheesecake for me and the white macadamia nut for him. It was wonderful and the trip back wasn't as long.
Day Three-Nov 9, 1996:
We started out with breakfast at the Whispering Canyon then we took the bus to EPCOT. Has anyone ever noticed that it's almost as if they forgot to put bus stops in and built those as afterthoughts?
Anyway, we went on the Hidden Treasures of World Showcase Tour. Our tour guide was named Margaret I really don't remember who all else was in the group. We started in front of the World Showcase where she explained that orginally the American Adventure was to be at the front of World Showcase but they moved it to the back to draw you in. She also said they had worked out a deal with Russia at one time but due to the present situation over there the thing fell through. She said that the reason more countries are slow in being added is because they're going through corporate sponsers due to the fact that they're looking for a one billion dollar initial investment and most countries aren't willing to foot that much. Morocco is currently the only country that sponsors it's own pavillion and it's also the only one who has their name on the pavillion. Anyway, she also said that many countries that were approached had unrealistic expectations so that's why there hasn't been any new countries added for some time. I think she said that there was room for 8 more countries but I wasn't taking notes. She also said that if ever need be they can do a double loop and add more countries.
We then went to Canada. The Hotel du Canada is only three stories high, it's that forced prospective that makes it look bigger. The windows at the very top are only the size of a human face. One of the totem poles is real the other is fiberglass. She said that the gardens are rotated in and out as the seasons change and in the winter they put in all white flowers to give the illusion of snow. Forced prospective is also used on the mountains and little trees are rotated in and out as needed and they each have their own pots and watering systems. We were supposed to go behind the scenes there but due to some construction we went behind the scenes in England.
We went to England. We learned that they tried to put real straw on Anne Hathaway's cottage but it couldn't go through customs so they had to make some. Some of the buildings were being restored (as I made the comment just like the real things. Anyone who's been to Europe knows that most historical buildings always have scaffolding on them :) ) We went through the gate and behind the scenes right into the dumpster. There is a dumpster right behind the gate in England and boy does it smell horrid. We then went past a greenhouse to the back of the Canadian "Rockies". There wasn't much behind the scenes here just the dumpsters, the greenhouse, and a power substation. The Rockies are hollow and you could see the various water systems they have for the trees.
We then went on to France. Behind the scenes there are various trailors for costume changes. We saw the Eiffel Tower which is one tenth the size of the real thing and rests on top of a building to give it height. They have shutters on the back of this building because guests in some of the rooms at the Swan and Dolphin can see the backs of these buildings. We went into the gift shop which is modeled after the Galeries des Halles which had a glass ceiling but they can't do that there because a glass ceiling in the Florida sun would not be a good thing. We stayed in the courtyard for a while the guide talked about food service in Disney World. I wasn't really paying attention, sorry. I have to say though that the French bakery has certainly captured the smells of the real thing. When I smell it I think of the wonderful month I spent in France especially in the smaller towns but I digress.
In Morocco we learned that much of the tile work was done by hand by Moroccan artisans and that discolorations and dents are meant to be there because for Muslims perfection is reserved for Allah. I think it gives it a very realistic flare. I love that pavillion anyway it's very romantic and I love the food. It was very nice to have the place to ourselves for pictures.
However the crowds caught up to us in Japan. We went into the museum to look at the collection, right now there is a display of ornaments that are hung from kimono sashes. She mentioned that most modern Japanese women had never worn a kimono and had to be taught how to wear one. She also pointed out that the two statues at the beginning of the bridge into the palace point in different directions because they only had one mold.
We ended our tour at the American Adventure. We went around EPCOT for a while. We had lunch at the Coral Reef. We both had the Beef and Barley Soup and the grilled pork tenderloin with applesauce and pierogies. Dessert was a wonderful triple chocolate parfait with milk chocolate, white and semisweet chocolate creams flavored with liquors and topped with a Mexican chocolate cookie(not for those who are lactose intolerant my poor husband is mildy intolerant and it made him sick even though he loved it initally.)
We had dinner that night at Morocco. We never had dinner there before and it was the only place we had a long wait due to how busy it was (you can usually walk right in at lunch so we were unprepared). We came at 7:10 for our 7:30 seating and had to wait for twenty five minutes. But I really didn't care. Some who just can't grasp the concept of priority seating despite explanation were upset. Service was a tad slow but the food was great. We started out with a sampler. We had beef brewet rolls(they taste like eggrolls without vegetables and are covered with cinnamon and sugar.), chicken bastilla (layers of pastry and chicken with cinnamon and sugar), the salad which was actually a variety of vegetable mixtures one tasted like salsa. We both had the Sultan's sampler for an entree. It consisted of brochette of chicken(my favorite -- I bought the cookbook and made it at home), one beef kabob, and four meatballs plus yellow rice. We also had the wonderful mint tea. I skipped dessert because I was full as did Eric. We meant to watch Illuminations but we got out at 9:15 pm so we went to the mini-golf place and played a few rounds. The trip back was uneventful.
Day Four-Nov 10, 1996:
We checked out and transferred our bags to the All Star Music. WE decided to go to EPCOT. Apparently the MK was full due to early opening. Well no one notified us that we could go on to the EPCOT monorail but we couldn't get a cast member's attention to go through and we tried but everytime we got near the front they would walk away and the crowd was a bit hostile about it any way. When we finally got through, we missed the monorail, we complained to the person in charge on the platform but he told us that we should have gotten the attention of a cast member. I never have gotten around to writing a letter on it but I was very angry at the time and it was probably just as well that I calmed down a bit.
Finally we got to EPCOT and ate breakfast at the Garden Grill (we only waited about ten minutes despite the fact we didn't have a reservation...the little pager things are way cool.) We spent the afternoon going on rides and finding talking water fountains. We found at least three. One on the Journey to the Imagination side of Innoventions, one by the performing fountain and one by the play fountain by the walkway to World Showcase. The first time we went on a water fountain search people thought we were nuts for playing with the fountains, this time I saw several people trying out every water fountain they saw. I found one because some other people were playing with it.
We had a late lunch at the San Angel Inn. For an appetizer I had chicken tostados and a chicken breast entree. Eric had the pork taco appetizer, tortilla soup and a combo plate with steak, tamale, and enchilada. For dessert he had the flan and I had the caramel sundae. We left to check into the All Star. A little bright and noisy but not too bad. We were in the Calypso which would be really convenient for a longer stay. The room was a decent size but then again we had one of the King rooms. We had intended to go to the MK but we decided to return to EPCOT. We watched Illuminations 25 from the Secret Park. We managed to snag a first class seat on a bench with an couple from Manchester England. They were of probably retirement age and they were really sweet and we had a great time with them. The show was much nicer than the previous one although I didn't much care for that version of the Circle of Life. It's a Disney song why didn't they use the Elton John version (or maybe the one from the movie? I haven't seen it yet so it could have been but I was under the impression that it wasn't the movie song.) We went to the Yacht Club Galley for dinner but didn't eat much because we were really beat.
Day Five-Nov 11, 1996:
It was our last day. We went shopping at the Village Marketplace. The World of Disney store is large and very crowded. The Gourmet Pantry is wonderful. I love to cook and all of the kitchen gadgets and gourmet food was tempting. Ended up just getting some dolphin shaped pasta that was on sale. We got some deli sandwiches (reasonably priced for Disney) and goldfish crackers(retail price). We had a picnic then for lunch. We fed the ducks and shopped some more. Went back and had a Mickey shaped ice cream bar before leaving for the airport. We faced a two hour delay on the way back in Detroit due to a snowstorm. Funny story that I'll share. My parents live six miles from the airport in Detroit so I called them when we landed. I tell my mother it's snowing and she goes no it's not. I'm like right Mom, look out the window. Well it did start to snow but not as hard and they didn't get as much and they live six miles away! It's like Florida rains on one side of the street and not the other.
Conclusions: Best / Worst List
Best coffee: Fountain View at EPCOT loved the Tiramsu Latte.
Best dessert: Triple Chocolate Cream at Coral Reef(not for the lactose intolerant made my poor hubby sick).
Best restaurant over all:Yachtsman Steakhouse hands down
Best Breakfast:Whispering Canyon/Garden Grill tied
Best atmosphere:San Angel Inn dark and romantic but it's hard to read the menus (waiter had a penlight tehe)
Neatest thing:Those little rock candy sizzle sticks for coffee.
Best dinner: Marakesh especially brochette of chicken (I bought the cookbook and made it at home.)
Worst transportation:Internal buses at Fort Wilderness
Best transportation: Any of the buses driven by Crazy Jim
Nicest people:The couple from England we shared a bench with at Illuminations.
Worst people:Tie between a rude man on the wrong bus and the obnoxious people at the next bench and behind us at Illuminations
Weather:started out warm got very cool
Funniest conversation with a cast member: Bus driver on Fort Wilderness Bus (we're the only ones on board):
Bus Driver: So what do you think of the castle? You can be honest.
Me: It's um very bright.
Eric: It's very pink.
Bus driver: I've never heard anyone say that before they either love or they hate it but I've never heard anyone say it's very bright before.
(He declined to give his opinion I think he was apathic. Another amusing comment was when I noticed that the lights on the Contemporary made a 25 and I missed it before, he said he drove by it every night and it took him three weeks to notice.)
Second funniest comment: Cast member at the reception desk at Fort Wilderness: The camp fire movies tonight are (I forgot the first one) and Ernest Saves Christmas. I don't know why they consider that a Disney movie but we made it so I guess we have to take responsbility for it.
But that's all I really have, it was short and it was marred by our late arrival the first day and a few transportation follies and the weather. But it was Disney. Thanks.