Trip Reports
04-06-2006, 09:06 AM
Time of Year: Winter
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: Dixie Landings
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group:Teen, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
Comments: Janet, her husband Jim, and daughter Elizabeth (near 16 year old) and son Eric (just turned 12) were joined by Janet's Mom for a week long trip to WDW. Since Elizabeth edited the final version of the report, it includes some unique teen viewpoints. The family stayed at Dixie Landings during the trip...and a nice list of lessons learned is included at the end of the report.
2/16/97 - 2/22/97
Basics:
Who are we? Janet (me, adult, sort of), Elizabeth (near 16 year old), Eric (just turned 12), Mom (my mother), Jim (my husband). Oh, Elizabeth has edited my report and added a few items. I will note what she has added.
Why go then?
The kids are out of school during President's week (it is called "ski week" around here, welcome to the Bay area) and I had Monday off. Jim had a trip to Washington, DC that would keep him busy until Wednesday. Plus he could talk to some people in Orlando that he had business with.
About 6 weeks ago, we found that a trip we had planned was cancelled. I suggested that we go to WDW instead. Since Jim had a trip to Washington, I asked my mom to go with us, partially for moral support and mostly because I thought she would really enjoy the trip. I was right...
This was the first time we had tried staying on site or staying so long. The 2 times we were there before, we went one day to MGM and one day to Epcot. My mom had only been to Epcot before and I was in the MK with my then two-year-old daughter for about 6 hours in 1983. Needless to say, we did a lot more this time.
The weather was perfect all week. A little cold in the beginning but it warmed up a lot towards the end of the week (85+). We didn't see any rain, although we had rain gear with us most of the time.
We stayed at Dixie Landings, Alligator Bayou, building 39. This took some doing since the first time I called I was unable to get into any of the "themed" resorts and could only get a Villa at the Disney Institute. I called a couple of days later at about 5 in the morning our time (8am Eastern time) and was able to get rooms at Dixie Landings. What I wanted was a room for the four of us (kids, me, and Mom) and then add an adjoining room for Jim (and me) when he arrived on Wednesday. This worked out very well, even though we had to change rooms on Monday to a room that would be next to an adjoining room that would be free on Wednesday. Building 39 was not too far from the parking lot and the a bus stop. Walking across the bridges and the Ol' Man Island to the food court could have been a nuisance if I hadn't enjoyed the walk, particularly in the morning when I volunteered to go for donuts and coffee while people were getting ready for the parks. We rented a refrigerator for juice boxes for the kids and I brought a bunch of granola bars to keep the blood sugar up between meals. I also brought some extra cups so that we could split coffee from the 2 refill cups Mom and I brought into 3 servings for Jim, Mom, and me later on in the week. 12 oz of coffee is way more than I need first thing in the morning anyway.
I was concerned about the crowds so mostly we avoided them by going to a non-early entry park at least 30 minutes before the scheduled opening.
On Saturday our last day, we went for early entry to the MK, packing everything the night before so that we could just throw the bags into the car and leave from the MK.
SUNDAY, 2/16/97
We flew into Orlando at about 9:30pm on Sunday night on a United flight from Los Angeles. My mom had started in Sacramento, while the kids and I started in San Francisco, meeting each other in LA for the trip to Orlando. The flights was fine, even though they didn't show Space Jam for the movie (my son was disappointed).
I had arranged to rent a car since we had 4 and 5 people to transport and I wanted the option of driving. They say to allow 90 minutes to get between resorts and that seems a bit much. Besides I got a pretty good rate from National using a discount on a weekly rate. One nice thing was that they were out of the mid-size car I was supposed to be getting when we got there on Sunday and so we had to get a minivan instead. I like minivans and having the extra room was really nice.
Checking in to Dixie Landings was easy and I addressed the adjoining room issue with them while getting into our room. I had arranged 3 reservations, one for the first night, then one starting the next day for 5 nights getting the classic plan so that we would have LOS and flex options, plus one more reservation for my husband with a classic plan starting on Wednesday. I couldn't get a MKC discount on the rooms but could on the plans. We went to our room, and by the time we got there, there was a message from the desk saying that if we could move to another room the next day, they had a nice adjoining room for my husband beginning on Wednesday. The room change was somewhat inconvienent but worked out well in the long run.
One interesting thing was that I had worked out on a spread sheet some time ago what it was costing me to get the room with the classic plan vs getting a room and 5 day park-hopper passes separately. The plan cost maybe $100 more than a 5 day park-hopper, but we were able to go into the parks all 6 days we were there. We ultimately used our flex features for a character breakfast that would have cost $80 if we had had to pay for it. So, for us the classic plan worked out well, even though we never used the recreation part of the plan (bicycles at Dixie Landings). Plus it was very nice to only have a single card to carry around for entry to the parks, room key, and room charges.
Sunday night we went to bed after a brief walk around to find the pools. We didn't really unpack since we would need to move the next day. The next morning we went to the food court at about 8:00am to get our refill mugs and a good breakfast. When we went back to the room, we just grabbed our bags and put them in back of the van until we returned.
MONDAY, 2/17/97
Monday morning was MGM since I figured that MK would be very crowded and Mom hadn't been to MGM. Besides, it is probably my favorite park. We were a little late but still managed to get into the Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Muppets, and the Hunchback show before lunch. This was our first for the Hunchback show and we just loved it.
We tried some of the more interesting places for lunch but they were all really busy. This was our first introduction to the "Thou shalt make priority seating" rule. It is not very convienent to schedule meals, but it is even less convienent to be hunting a food place that is not busy. We ate at the Backstage food court since that was the only place not busy. By now it is about 2:30pm and everyone is flagging after the long trip yesterday so we went back to the room, only stopping so that Eric can get a light sabre while Mom and I watch some street players (very funny).
When we got back to the resort, we got our bags from the van and tried to get into the new room. This is when I found out that I needed to go to the front desk to get new cards since the ones they gave us this morning didn't have a room entry on them. Sigh, I left Mom and the kids with the bags and got the new cards. Then we unpacked and went swimming until it was time to get ready to go to Epcot.
I had made priority seating for dinner at 8:00 at the Rose and Crown since I had heard that it is a great place to see Illuminations without having to stand. Mom and I split the prime rib, while Eric ate off the kid's menu, and Elizabeth had the fish and chips. We ordered a wonderful mushroom dish as an appetizer. The waiter brought the salad in a big bowl for all of us to share. Outside of it taking a long time to get the food, this was probably our best meal for the money over all. And you could not beat the view of Illuminations. My mom was giving me all sorts of credit for knowing about this. Afterwards we hung around so that we could get coffee, dessert, and avoid the crowds going home. A very nice evening. Oh, and the waiters at the Rose and Crown are the cutest British guys. My daughter was enchanted....
TUESDAY, 2/18/97
The next morning, I went for danish and coffee while everyone else got ready to go. We wanted to get to the MK at 8:30 am to do the rope drop for Space Mountain, my daughter's favorite ride. The cast member holding the rope was making everyone sing the "Mickey Mouse Club" song before he dropped the rope.
Elizabeth was way in front of us so I told her to just go for it, so when they dropped the rope, she sprinted to the front. She wound up beating everyone to the line and rode in the 2nd car on the ride. Really made her day. After we caught up with her we basically followed the one day touring plan in the Unofficial guide. We found lines reasonable, walked onto most of the rides we wanted to ride. We went to Aunt Polly's at lunch since most places were again real crowded and we again did not have priority seating. Aunt Polly's was not crowded, the food was ok if a little greasy. We could have ordered one less meal since we had enough left over to have fed Eric. The sea gulls were present but not really making a nuisance of themselves.
After lunch, it was nice to walk around the island a little, very woodsy and quiet after the crowds of the rest of the park. We just told the kids to meet us at the dock at a particular time to leave (both had watches).
A note about Alien Encounter. We decided did not go on that attraction after reading the description in the Unofficial guide. It just didn't seem like a lot of fun. Then, when we were waiting for the Timekeeper, a family walked in with two boys, the younger of which, about 9 years old, was in tears and no one was smiling. Yes, they had just been to Alien Encounter. I don't really think they had a good time. Maybe we should have tried it, but again, it just doesn't sound like our cup of tea... Oh, one more thing. DO NOT EXPECT THE CUTE LITTLE PINK ALIEN TO LIVE. IF YOU GO ON "ALIEN ENCOUNTER", DO NOT GO IN WITH ANY ATTACHMENT TO THE CUTE LITTLE PINK ALIEN. ONLY HORRORS WILL RESULT.
(Elizabeth wrote that last part...)
Before we left the MK, we went to the welcome center to make sure we got our lithographs. This was nice (if only because we could sit down during the movie). I'm actually getting interested in doing one of the cruises in the next couple of years (would be a real nice Christmas thing to do!). The litho was lovely and we made a special point of protecting it to get it home. Now if I can only figure out a good way to frame it without damaging the embossed part...
We planned on eating a nice dinner and going back to the park for Spectromagic and fireworks but did not have priority seating anywhere so we wound up with pizza back at the hotel and rested that evening with swimming and soaking in the spa. My mom and I were starting to get sore from all the walking and standing. Funny, no one complained when I suggested we take the evening off.
I called that night and got priority seating for lunch at San Angel Inn in the Mexican pavilion for the next day. No more pizza for me (even though it was quite good).
WEDNESDAY, 2/19/97
Wednesday, we got up early again, and fed the kids juice and left-over danish.
We went to Epcot at about 8:30 and Mom and I went to the Fountainview cafe for fruit crossants and latte's while the kids went for the rope drop to Body Wars. This was great. Mom and I watched the fountain for at least 30 minutes, ate, drank and really relaxed. The kids showed up, happy that they were able to "pick their seats" on the ride.
We went to HISTA, then Journey Into Imagination (loved both), then went on the Land ride. A 40 minute line for the latter, we should have done it before HISTA and Dreamfinder. We saw Food Rocks. My kids still haven't forgiven me for this one. Basically, they thought it was lame (and that the concept of food groups advertising the idea of eating their own families was at best sick in the sense of selling out their fellow dishes, and at worst laced with the subtext of illustrating the suicidal tendencies of various fruits and vegetables. And the songs weren't cool). Sorry all you fans, just didn't like it much.
Interestingly enough, I had seen Journey Into Imagination the last time we were at Epcot several years ago. It did nothing for me then. This time, maybe I was in a better mood, but I really liked it.
Went to Mexico and rode the boat ride before we went for lunch. Ok ride, I liked a lot of the visuals.
San Angel Inn was very good. We had the salads with pickled cactus which were quite good and their chips were very good. Being from California, and having lived in Texas for a while, we know what kind of Mexican food we like and this was very reasonable. Mom complemented the waiter on both the chips and the chocolate squares that came with the bill, so he brought us a whole handfull to take with us.
We then rode the Maelstrom (just exciting enough for Mom), and then went to Germany to see the trains. Finally we went to Italy, then decided we were getting tired and so caught the boat back to the front of the World showcase.
There was no line for Spaceship Earth so we went on that before we left.
We were going back to the resort on the bus when Elizabeth and I had the idea of catching the Marketplace bus behind us at Port Orleans. We got off quickly, leaving Mom and Eric to go back to the resort. The marketplace was fun, I got a Tigger with Mickey Mouse ears T-shirt and a sweatshirt (on sale no less!) for Elizabeth (Pooh!!!), then we tried to get back by bus to the resort. And we waited and waited and waited. Jim was supposed to be there at 6:15 and I didn't get back until 6:30. He had waited for me to check in which is good since they first tried to put him in a room other than the one next to us. However we got it straightened out and I got an extra key for his room so I could move into there too.
We got spruced up and took the van to the Grand Floridian for our "big dinner" at Narcoosee's. We were late but they took care of us anyway. We watched the fireworks from the patio.
Dinner was good, very well done, but probably not our favorite meal. My mom wasn't happy that her dinner was nothing but meat and some rice. She is a big vegetable fan and had thought her dinner would include some. I liked mine, but again missed the vegetable portion. For the money I would rather eat some place else next time. Should have just gotten drinks and watched the fireworks rather than eating there.
After dinner we started to leave, but saw the electrical water parade. Kind of fun but much less interesting than I was expecting.
We took the monorail to the MK and saw probably the last half of the Spectromagic parade. Since we were so late, the side walk by the entrance was very clear and we were able to see perfectly.
We went back to the Grand Floridian by the monorail and got the car to return to Dixie Landings. Went into the spa again to rest those muscles for the next day.
THURSDAY, 2/20/97
We went to MGM in the morning with Jim and saw the Little Mermaid and Indiana Jones shows and the Animation tour. Then we ate lunch at the taco stand while waiting for the Toy Story parade. Good tacos, by the way. The crowd was really light so we were able to get real close for the parade. I really enjoyed watching the cast members hand out chalk before the parade. They use sidewalk chalk to mark out the parade route and cross walks, then just handed it to kids to play with while waiting.
Jim had a meeting, so he took off, and the rest of us went to Epcot for the afternoon. I kept my portable phone with me, as did Jim so when he was done, he called and found us. We went to the American Adventure, then just wandered and watched the street entertainers, sitting drinking coffee in France and talking while the kids ran around and looked at things. The nicest thing about having older kids is that they can pretty much look after themselves in an environment as safe as a Disney park. I gave the kids some Disney dollars to use as spending money at the beginning of the trip for drinks, snacks and other goodies, so they could, within reason explore without us on their tails every minute. They enjoyed the freedom and we never had a problem with them meeting up with us when necessary.
When Jim caught up with us, we went to see HISTA again since he hadn't seen it and there was virtually no line. I had to make sure the kids gave nothing away ("Don't put your legs up when Daddy can see them").
That evening we went back to the Marketplace with the intention of trying the Rainforest cafe. Unfortunately, the wait was almost 3 hours, so we tried Fulton's instead. Here the wait was only an hour so we put our name in and then went to Pleasure Island to visit the Adventurer's Club. That was fun so we stayed until it was almost time for our reservation, then went back to Fulton's. Had I thought about it, I would have gotten a priority seating at Fulton's in advance and used it as a hedge against the Rainforest being so busy. Dinner was good, better even than the night before, but the wait was unfortunate. After that we were tired so we went back to the resort.
That evening I made priority seatings for Mama Melrose in MGM for Friday's dinner and the Crystal Palace for the Character Breakfast on Saturday.
FRIDAY, 2/21/97
Friday we tried the early breakfast at the Fountainview in Epcot. Unfortunately, it was windy so they were not running the fountain shows. I guess drenching the guests first thing in the morning is NOT a good idea. We explored Innoventions for a while, then went to Ellen's Energy Adventure (Elizabeth - ok premise, didn't even touch on the controversies involved, groovy dinosaurs), and Cranial Command (fun as always).
Finally, we went to the Land for lunch in the food court. After lunch, Eric wanted to go back to Innoventions for the Sega stuff so Jim went with him and Mom, Elizabeth, and I went to see the Circle of Life movie.
We went back to the resort and spent much of the afternoon in the pool, then went to MGM for our dinner. Mama Melrose was quite good, but our timing wasn't great since I had planned to get Mom on the Backstage tour and we missed the last one. Still a good dinner was what we wanted and a good dinner we got. While we ordered coffee, the kids ran off to do Star Tours (no wait so they did it twice), then we went to Muppets to find out we had missed the last show there too. Finally, Mom and Elizabeth watched a DJ and a bunch of cast members and other people doing the Macarena while Jim, Eric, and I went for one last Star Tours ride (Back right, much better ride). Then we went to the front for the fireworks. This was a Star Wars Friday, so they ran some special fireworks to the Star Wars music. Great fireworks show.
After the show, the kids went back to the resort on the bus and Jim, Mom, and I caught the bus to Epcot. They were tired and wanted to pack. We found a good place to stand near the Rose and Crown and watched Illuminations again.
Two shows in one evening, who could ask for more?
Finally, we went back to Dixie Landings on the bus (along with a LOT of other people). We had to wait quite a while, although they were loading 3 busses at a time. It took quite a while.
When we got back, we packed so that we could go for EARLY entry to the MK on Saturday.
SATURDAY, 2/22/97
Saturday morning, I reviewed our bills and found no errors so we just packed everything into the van and drove over to the Polynesian. From here we took the monorail to the MK and avoided the crush at the TTC. We got into the park about 7:40. We did NOT make the first Space Mountain ride this time (sorry Elizabeth) but only waited about 5 minutes for it. Then we went to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan and while Mom and I went on Small World, Jim took the kids to Snow White. By now the rope had dropped, so Jim and I went on Splash Mountain with about a 10 minute wait.
Splash Mountain at the MK is the only ride that I felt was absolutely better than the equivalent ride at Disneyland. I would definitely do that one again given the chance. At Disneyland I like Space Mountain, Pirates, Small World, and Peter Pan better. The Haunted Mansion is a toss up, both were different enough but in their own way equally good. I'm looking forward to the addition of Timekeeper to the new DL Tomorrowland and just the general changes to the exterior. The MK has a much better Tomorrowland than DL at the moment.
We went for our Character Breakfast with Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore. Eeyore never got to our part of the room, but Tigger was great and we got some nice pictures with both him and Pooh. Breakfast itself was REALLY good (or maybe we had gotten very hungry for a regular breakfast after all the light weight fare we had been eating). We loaded up enough calories to keep us going until we left the park and got to the plane. This breakfast was where we chose to use our Flex option so we got I think a much better value than if we had gotten a t-shirt or smaller meal. After breakfast, we hit a few more rides, then left to get to the car and then the airport.
Lessions learned:
Priority seating is not a reservation, but works better than NO reservation at all.
Eating lightly in the morning frees up more time for rides with little or no wait.
Spas are great places to rest and recover from running around parks.
Having everything charged to the room and only carrying one card makes figuring out the bill so much easier. My mom insisted on paying for her expenses and those showed up with her card number so it was trivial to figure out what she owed. Plus I have a very good idea what this trip cost us and can use that as leverage for another trip ("But it only cost this much!!!").
European History course information can come in handy during a visit ("Hey, what's the Crystal Palace a replica of?" "The showcase of the Grand Exposition, held in London during 1851 made entirely of steel and glass - cheap materials at the times - representing England's triumph over the challenges of industrialization and its superiority over Continental nations in that struggle.) (Elizabeth wrote this last one)
If you lose something at a park, they keep it at their lost and found until that evening then it goes to the central lost and found at the TTC that night.
We lost a hat that we were able to claim on our last day. Putting your name and resort on an object likely to be lost, might help get something back sooner as well.
Day's we didn't take a break, were days we didn't get back to the park in the evening. We needed to pace ourselves.
Janet Miller
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: Dixie Landings
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group:Teen, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Infrequent
Comments: Janet, her husband Jim, and daughter Elizabeth (near 16 year old) and son Eric (just turned 12) were joined by Janet's Mom for a week long trip to WDW. Since Elizabeth edited the final version of the report, it includes some unique teen viewpoints. The family stayed at Dixie Landings during the trip...and a nice list of lessons learned is included at the end of the report.
2/16/97 - 2/22/97
Basics:
Who are we? Janet (me, adult, sort of), Elizabeth (near 16 year old), Eric (just turned 12), Mom (my mother), Jim (my husband). Oh, Elizabeth has edited my report and added a few items. I will note what she has added.
Why go then?
The kids are out of school during President's week (it is called "ski week" around here, welcome to the Bay area) and I had Monday off. Jim had a trip to Washington, DC that would keep him busy until Wednesday. Plus he could talk to some people in Orlando that he had business with.
About 6 weeks ago, we found that a trip we had planned was cancelled. I suggested that we go to WDW instead. Since Jim had a trip to Washington, I asked my mom to go with us, partially for moral support and mostly because I thought she would really enjoy the trip. I was right...
This was the first time we had tried staying on site or staying so long. The 2 times we were there before, we went one day to MGM and one day to Epcot. My mom had only been to Epcot before and I was in the MK with my then two-year-old daughter for about 6 hours in 1983. Needless to say, we did a lot more this time.
The weather was perfect all week. A little cold in the beginning but it warmed up a lot towards the end of the week (85+). We didn't see any rain, although we had rain gear with us most of the time.
We stayed at Dixie Landings, Alligator Bayou, building 39. This took some doing since the first time I called I was unable to get into any of the "themed" resorts and could only get a Villa at the Disney Institute. I called a couple of days later at about 5 in the morning our time (8am Eastern time) and was able to get rooms at Dixie Landings. What I wanted was a room for the four of us (kids, me, and Mom) and then add an adjoining room for Jim (and me) when he arrived on Wednesday. This worked out very well, even though we had to change rooms on Monday to a room that would be next to an adjoining room that would be free on Wednesday. Building 39 was not too far from the parking lot and the a bus stop. Walking across the bridges and the Ol' Man Island to the food court could have been a nuisance if I hadn't enjoyed the walk, particularly in the morning when I volunteered to go for donuts and coffee while people were getting ready for the parks. We rented a refrigerator for juice boxes for the kids and I brought a bunch of granola bars to keep the blood sugar up between meals. I also brought some extra cups so that we could split coffee from the 2 refill cups Mom and I brought into 3 servings for Jim, Mom, and me later on in the week. 12 oz of coffee is way more than I need first thing in the morning anyway.
I was concerned about the crowds so mostly we avoided them by going to a non-early entry park at least 30 minutes before the scheduled opening.
On Saturday our last day, we went for early entry to the MK, packing everything the night before so that we could just throw the bags into the car and leave from the MK.
SUNDAY, 2/16/97
We flew into Orlando at about 9:30pm on Sunday night on a United flight from Los Angeles. My mom had started in Sacramento, while the kids and I started in San Francisco, meeting each other in LA for the trip to Orlando. The flights was fine, even though they didn't show Space Jam for the movie (my son was disappointed).
I had arranged to rent a car since we had 4 and 5 people to transport and I wanted the option of driving. They say to allow 90 minutes to get between resorts and that seems a bit much. Besides I got a pretty good rate from National using a discount on a weekly rate. One nice thing was that they were out of the mid-size car I was supposed to be getting when we got there on Sunday and so we had to get a minivan instead. I like minivans and having the extra room was really nice.
Checking in to Dixie Landings was easy and I addressed the adjoining room issue with them while getting into our room. I had arranged 3 reservations, one for the first night, then one starting the next day for 5 nights getting the classic plan so that we would have LOS and flex options, plus one more reservation for my husband with a classic plan starting on Wednesday. I couldn't get a MKC discount on the rooms but could on the plans. We went to our room, and by the time we got there, there was a message from the desk saying that if we could move to another room the next day, they had a nice adjoining room for my husband beginning on Wednesday. The room change was somewhat inconvienent but worked out well in the long run.
One interesting thing was that I had worked out on a spread sheet some time ago what it was costing me to get the room with the classic plan vs getting a room and 5 day park-hopper passes separately. The plan cost maybe $100 more than a 5 day park-hopper, but we were able to go into the parks all 6 days we were there. We ultimately used our flex features for a character breakfast that would have cost $80 if we had had to pay for it. So, for us the classic plan worked out well, even though we never used the recreation part of the plan (bicycles at Dixie Landings). Plus it was very nice to only have a single card to carry around for entry to the parks, room key, and room charges.
Sunday night we went to bed after a brief walk around to find the pools. We didn't really unpack since we would need to move the next day. The next morning we went to the food court at about 8:00am to get our refill mugs and a good breakfast. When we went back to the room, we just grabbed our bags and put them in back of the van until we returned.
MONDAY, 2/17/97
Monday morning was MGM since I figured that MK would be very crowded and Mom hadn't been to MGM. Besides, it is probably my favorite park. We were a little late but still managed to get into the Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Muppets, and the Hunchback show before lunch. This was our first for the Hunchback show and we just loved it.
We tried some of the more interesting places for lunch but they were all really busy. This was our first introduction to the "Thou shalt make priority seating" rule. It is not very convienent to schedule meals, but it is even less convienent to be hunting a food place that is not busy. We ate at the Backstage food court since that was the only place not busy. By now it is about 2:30pm and everyone is flagging after the long trip yesterday so we went back to the room, only stopping so that Eric can get a light sabre while Mom and I watch some street players (very funny).
When we got back to the resort, we got our bags from the van and tried to get into the new room. This is when I found out that I needed to go to the front desk to get new cards since the ones they gave us this morning didn't have a room entry on them. Sigh, I left Mom and the kids with the bags and got the new cards. Then we unpacked and went swimming until it was time to get ready to go to Epcot.
I had made priority seating for dinner at 8:00 at the Rose and Crown since I had heard that it is a great place to see Illuminations without having to stand. Mom and I split the prime rib, while Eric ate off the kid's menu, and Elizabeth had the fish and chips. We ordered a wonderful mushroom dish as an appetizer. The waiter brought the salad in a big bowl for all of us to share. Outside of it taking a long time to get the food, this was probably our best meal for the money over all. And you could not beat the view of Illuminations. My mom was giving me all sorts of credit for knowing about this. Afterwards we hung around so that we could get coffee, dessert, and avoid the crowds going home. A very nice evening. Oh, and the waiters at the Rose and Crown are the cutest British guys. My daughter was enchanted....
TUESDAY, 2/18/97
The next morning, I went for danish and coffee while everyone else got ready to go. We wanted to get to the MK at 8:30 am to do the rope drop for Space Mountain, my daughter's favorite ride. The cast member holding the rope was making everyone sing the "Mickey Mouse Club" song before he dropped the rope.
Elizabeth was way in front of us so I told her to just go for it, so when they dropped the rope, she sprinted to the front. She wound up beating everyone to the line and rode in the 2nd car on the ride. Really made her day. After we caught up with her we basically followed the one day touring plan in the Unofficial guide. We found lines reasonable, walked onto most of the rides we wanted to ride. We went to Aunt Polly's at lunch since most places were again real crowded and we again did not have priority seating. Aunt Polly's was not crowded, the food was ok if a little greasy. We could have ordered one less meal since we had enough left over to have fed Eric. The sea gulls were present but not really making a nuisance of themselves.
After lunch, it was nice to walk around the island a little, very woodsy and quiet after the crowds of the rest of the park. We just told the kids to meet us at the dock at a particular time to leave (both had watches).
A note about Alien Encounter. We decided did not go on that attraction after reading the description in the Unofficial guide. It just didn't seem like a lot of fun. Then, when we were waiting for the Timekeeper, a family walked in with two boys, the younger of which, about 9 years old, was in tears and no one was smiling. Yes, they had just been to Alien Encounter. I don't really think they had a good time. Maybe we should have tried it, but again, it just doesn't sound like our cup of tea... Oh, one more thing. DO NOT EXPECT THE CUTE LITTLE PINK ALIEN TO LIVE. IF YOU GO ON "ALIEN ENCOUNTER", DO NOT GO IN WITH ANY ATTACHMENT TO THE CUTE LITTLE PINK ALIEN. ONLY HORRORS WILL RESULT.
(Elizabeth wrote that last part...)
Before we left the MK, we went to the welcome center to make sure we got our lithographs. This was nice (if only because we could sit down during the movie). I'm actually getting interested in doing one of the cruises in the next couple of years (would be a real nice Christmas thing to do!). The litho was lovely and we made a special point of protecting it to get it home. Now if I can only figure out a good way to frame it without damaging the embossed part...
We planned on eating a nice dinner and going back to the park for Spectromagic and fireworks but did not have priority seating anywhere so we wound up with pizza back at the hotel and rested that evening with swimming and soaking in the spa. My mom and I were starting to get sore from all the walking and standing. Funny, no one complained when I suggested we take the evening off.
I called that night and got priority seating for lunch at San Angel Inn in the Mexican pavilion for the next day. No more pizza for me (even though it was quite good).
WEDNESDAY, 2/19/97
Wednesday, we got up early again, and fed the kids juice and left-over danish.
We went to Epcot at about 8:30 and Mom and I went to the Fountainview cafe for fruit crossants and latte's while the kids went for the rope drop to Body Wars. This was great. Mom and I watched the fountain for at least 30 minutes, ate, drank and really relaxed. The kids showed up, happy that they were able to "pick their seats" on the ride.
We went to HISTA, then Journey Into Imagination (loved both), then went on the Land ride. A 40 minute line for the latter, we should have done it before HISTA and Dreamfinder. We saw Food Rocks. My kids still haven't forgiven me for this one. Basically, they thought it was lame (and that the concept of food groups advertising the idea of eating their own families was at best sick in the sense of selling out their fellow dishes, and at worst laced with the subtext of illustrating the suicidal tendencies of various fruits and vegetables. And the songs weren't cool). Sorry all you fans, just didn't like it much.
Interestingly enough, I had seen Journey Into Imagination the last time we were at Epcot several years ago. It did nothing for me then. This time, maybe I was in a better mood, but I really liked it.
Went to Mexico and rode the boat ride before we went for lunch. Ok ride, I liked a lot of the visuals.
San Angel Inn was very good. We had the salads with pickled cactus which were quite good and their chips were very good. Being from California, and having lived in Texas for a while, we know what kind of Mexican food we like and this was very reasonable. Mom complemented the waiter on both the chips and the chocolate squares that came with the bill, so he brought us a whole handfull to take with us.
We then rode the Maelstrom (just exciting enough for Mom), and then went to Germany to see the trains. Finally we went to Italy, then decided we were getting tired and so caught the boat back to the front of the World showcase.
There was no line for Spaceship Earth so we went on that before we left.
We were going back to the resort on the bus when Elizabeth and I had the idea of catching the Marketplace bus behind us at Port Orleans. We got off quickly, leaving Mom and Eric to go back to the resort. The marketplace was fun, I got a Tigger with Mickey Mouse ears T-shirt and a sweatshirt (on sale no less!) for Elizabeth (Pooh!!!), then we tried to get back by bus to the resort. And we waited and waited and waited. Jim was supposed to be there at 6:15 and I didn't get back until 6:30. He had waited for me to check in which is good since they first tried to put him in a room other than the one next to us. However we got it straightened out and I got an extra key for his room so I could move into there too.
We got spruced up and took the van to the Grand Floridian for our "big dinner" at Narcoosee's. We were late but they took care of us anyway. We watched the fireworks from the patio.
Dinner was good, very well done, but probably not our favorite meal. My mom wasn't happy that her dinner was nothing but meat and some rice. She is a big vegetable fan and had thought her dinner would include some. I liked mine, but again missed the vegetable portion. For the money I would rather eat some place else next time. Should have just gotten drinks and watched the fireworks rather than eating there.
After dinner we started to leave, but saw the electrical water parade. Kind of fun but much less interesting than I was expecting.
We took the monorail to the MK and saw probably the last half of the Spectromagic parade. Since we were so late, the side walk by the entrance was very clear and we were able to see perfectly.
We went back to the Grand Floridian by the monorail and got the car to return to Dixie Landings. Went into the spa again to rest those muscles for the next day.
THURSDAY, 2/20/97
We went to MGM in the morning with Jim and saw the Little Mermaid and Indiana Jones shows and the Animation tour. Then we ate lunch at the taco stand while waiting for the Toy Story parade. Good tacos, by the way. The crowd was really light so we were able to get real close for the parade. I really enjoyed watching the cast members hand out chalk before the parade. They use sidewalk chalk to mark out the parade route and cross walks, then just handed it to kids to play with while waiting.
Jim had a meeting, so he took off, and the rest of us went to Epcot for the afternoon. I kept my portable phone with me, as did Jim so when he was done, he called and found us. We went to the American Adventure, then just wandered and watched the street entertainers, sitting drinking coffee in France and talking while the kids ran around and looked at things. The nicest thing about having older kids is that they can pretty much look after themselves in an environment as safe as a Disney park. I gave the kids some Disney dollars to use as spending money at the beginning of the trip for drinks, snacks and other goodies, so they could, within reason explore without us on their tails every minute. They enjoyed the freedom and we never had a problem with them meeting up with us when necessary.
When Jim caught up with us, we went to see HISTA again since he hadn't seen it and there was virtually no line. I had to make sure the kids gave nothing away ("Don't put your legs up when Daddy can see them").
That evening we went back to the Marketplace with the intention of trying the Rainforest cafe. Unfortunately, the wait was almost 3 hours, so we tried Fulton's instead. Here the wait was only an hour so we put our name in and then went to Pleasure Island to visit the Adventurer's Club. That was fun so we stayed until it was almost time for our reservation, then went back to Fulton's. Had I thought about it, I would have gotten a priority seating at Fulton's in advance and used it as a hedge against the Rainforest being so busy. Dinner was good, better even than the night before, but the wait was unfortunate. After that we were tired so we went back to the resort.
That evening I made priority seatings for Mama Melrose in MGM for Friday's dinner and the Crystal Palace for the Character Breakfast on Saturday.
FRIDAY, 2/21/97
Friday we tried the early breakfast at the Fountainview in Epcot. Unfortunately, it was windy so they were not running the fountain shows. I guess drenching the guests first thing in the morning is NOT a good idea. We explored Innoventions for a while, then went to Ellen's Energy Adventure (Elizabeth - ok premise, didn't even touch on the controversies involved, groovy dinosaurs), and Cranial Command (fun as always).
Finally, we went to the Land for lunch in the food court. After lunch, Eric wanted to go back to Innoventions for the Sega stuff so Jim went with him and Mom, Elizabeth, and I went to see the Circle of Life movie.
We went back to the resort and spent much of the afternoon in the pool, then went to MGM for our dinner. Mama Melrose was quite good, but our timing wasn't great since I had planned to get Mom on the Backstage tour and we missed the last one. Still a good dinner was what we wanted and a good dinner we got. While we ordered coffee, the kids ran off to do Star Tours (no wait so they did it twice), then we went to Muppets to find out we had missed the last show there too. Finally, Mom and Elizabeth watched a DJ and a bunch of cast members and other people doing the Macarena while Jim, Eric, and I went for one last Star Tours ride (Back right, much better ride). Then we went to the front for the fireworks. This was a Star Wars Friday, so they ran some special fireworks to the Star Wars music. Great fireworks show.
After the show, the kids went back to the resort on the bus and Jim, Mom, and I caught the bus to Epcot. They were tired and wanted to pack. We found a good place to stand near the Rose and Crown and watched Illuminations again.
Two shows in one evening, who could ask for more?
Finally, we went back to Dixie Landings on the bus (along with a LOT of other people). We had to wait quite a while, although they were loading 3 busses at a time. It took quite a while.
When we got back, we packed so that we could go for EARLY entry to the MK on Saturday.
SATURDAY, 2/22/97
Saturday morning, I reviewed our bills and found no errors so we just packed everything into the van and drove over to the Polynesian. From here we took the monorail to the MK and avoided the crush at the TTC. We got into the park about 7:40. We did NOT make the first Space Mountain ride this time (sorry Elizabeth) but only waited about 5 minutes for it. Then we went to Fantasyland and rode Peter Pan and while Mom and I went on Small World, Jim took the kids to Snow White. By now the rope had dropped, so Jim and I went on Splash Mountain with about a 10 minute wait.
Splash Mountain at the MK is the only ride that I felt was absolutely better than the equivalent ride at Disneyland. I would definitely do that one again given the chance. At Disneyland I like Space Mountain, Pirates, Small World, and Peter Pan better. The Haunted Mansion is a toss up, both were different enough but in their own way equally good. I'm looking forward to the addition of Timekeeper to the new DL Tomorrowland and just the general changes to the exterior. The MK has a much better Tomorrowland than DL at the moment.
We went for our Character Breakfast with Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore. Eeyore never got to our part of the room, but Tigger was great and we got some nice pictures with both him and Pooh. Breakfast itself was REALLY good (or maybe we had gotten very hungry for a regular breakfast after all the light weight fare we had been eating). We loaded up enough calories to keep us going until we left the park and got to the plane. This breakfast was where we chose to use our Flex option so we got I think a much better value than if we had gotten a t-shirt or smaller meal. After breakfast, we hit a few more rides, then left to get to the car and then the airport.
Lessions learned:
Priority seating is not a reservation, but works better than NO reservation at all.
Eating lightly in the morning frees up more time for rides with little or no wait.
Spas are great places to rest and recover from running around parks.
Having everything charged to the room and only carrying one card makes figuring out the bill so much easier. My mom insisted on paying for her expenses and those showed up with her card number so it was trivial to figure out what she owed. Plus I have a very good idea what this trip cost us and can use that as leverage for another trip ("But it only cost this much!!!").
European History course information can come in handy during a visit ("Hey, what's the Crystal Palace a replica of?" "The showcase of the Grand Exposition, held in London during 1851 made entirely of steel and glass - cheap materials at the times - representing England's triumph over the challenges of industrialization and its superiority over Continental nations in that struggle.) (Elizabeth wrote this last one)
If you lose something at a park, they keep it at their lost and found until that evening then it goes to the central lost and found at the TTC that night.
We lost a hat that we were able to claim on our last day. Putting your name and resort on an object likely to be lost, might help get something back sooner as well.
Day's we didn't take a break, were days we didn't get back to the park in the evening. We needed to pace ourselves.
Janet Miller