Trip Reports
01-07-2007, 05:48 PM
BACKGROUND:
Dates: Friday, February 19 - Saturday, February 20
The players:
Me (Laurie) - 40, actor
Husband (Brad) - 43, writer
Son (Alex) - 12, student
Niece (Zoe) - 7, student
We love WDW, and this was our third trip. Both previous visits were relatively lengthy -- 6 days in 1996 and 11 days in 1998. We are a family who loves to plan -- we’ve been known to spend two years planning for a WDW vacation. We make priority seatings. We set up detailed itineraries. We very easily slip into commando mode.
We’ve always gone during what the guide books say are the least crowded times of the year because my husband hates lines (well, who likes them, really?). This means that all of our school vacation dates are off limits. We took Alex out of school for our last two WDW trips, but as Alex gets older and school becomes more demanding, getting the make-up homework done prior to our WDW trip has come to resemble torture more than anything else. Getting ready for our last trip was such a monumental struggle that we vowed we would never take him out of school for a trip again. I was afraid that this meant that we wouldn’t see WDW again until he was in college.
Well, the week of February 15th, we ended up doing two things that I never thought we’d do -- visit WDW on the spur-of-the moment and at an ostensibly crowded time of year.
We were visiting my sister and her family in Sarasota, a mere two-hour drive from WDW. It was Presidents’ week -- the third week in February -- school vacation week for us. We had not planned to visit WDW because of the crowds, but we just couldn’t stand being that close and not looking in on it, so we offered to take my seven-year-old niece with us on an overnight to WDW so sister and brother-in-law could have a romantic weekend at home. How thoughtful of us, huh?
We decided that we’d either stay at one of the All-Star resorts or off-world. Having stayed at budget, moderate and expensive resorts on WDW property, we feel strongly that the All-Star resorts represent the biggest bang for the buck, especially for families with kids. I called on Tuesday night for a Friday night reservation and was told there were no openings at any of the All-Star resorts. However, having learned on previous occasions that WDW resort room-availability shifts like sand, I called first thing Wednesday morning and presto! A room at All-Star Music had opened up. It ended up being in Country Fair, which was fine with us.
Actually, we did ANOTHER thing during this visit that I thought we’d never do -- we used our own car to drive around WDW instead of using their transportation system. More on that later...
Because this trip was only two days long, my son has suggested a categorical rather than chronological format, so we’ll give it a try. Keep in mind that this happened over Friday and Saturday (February 19 and 20) of Presidents’ Week. We toured the MK on Friday and EPCOT on Saturday.
CROWDS
All of the guide books say Presidents’ Week is a seriously crowded time of year. We disagree. We’ve been in November, October and during Presidents’ Week. The November lines were very short (0-5 minutes), the February lines slightly longer (15 mins) and the October lines were terrible (30 - 60 minutes and up). I don’t know if there are actually fewer people in February than October, or if the parks are operating at higher capacity in February. For example, I noticed at quite a few rides that they had more cars running in February than they had in October. Also, the MK is open later in February than it is in October, despite the fact that the crowds are at least equal in number.
I suspect, however, that there really are fewer people in February than October, and that the guide books are using old data. I suspect this because we rode the teacups several times this trip, and we weren’t able to even get near them in October.
Whatever the reasons, we will not be going in October again. We found February crowds to be quite reasonable, and the weather to be absolutely lovely. Mid 70’s and sunny most of the time.
(BRAD NOTE: As Laurie noted, I used to think we should avoid going during school vacations, but this trip drove home the point that schools throughout the country have all sorts of varying vacation periods during the last half of the school year -- President’s week, Easter week, "spring break," and so on. These don’t often overlap -- for example, during our visit, Florida public schools were NOT in a vacation period. It was truly a wonderful time to go.)
ACCOMMODATIONS
We stayed at ASMR, Country Fair building. If you want a more detailed assessment of the various resorts and how they compare, see our more detailed trip report in October 1998. Despite a chilly evening breeze, both kids went for a swim in the piano pool and dragged us in with them. To Disney’s credit, the pool was heated. It was the getting out that froze you!
A tip -- because the guitar pool is bigger, it apparently cools off faster. Several people mentioned that we should stay away from it because it was "freezing".
I love the shampoo/body wash dispensers in the shower! And the climate control systems in the room are far superior to those at Dixie Landings and the Polynesian.
TRANSPORTATION
We have always loved the WDW transportation system and have never used our own car, even when we had it with us. But, in the interest of scientific discovery, we decided to drive ourselves everywhere during this trip.
We stayed at ASMR, a somewhat remote location. In general, the WDW signage is good. However, a cautionary note is in order for those using WDW resorts. Signs tend to refer ONCE to the hotel by name (example: Dixie Landings Resort third right) and then by "world location" on all subsequent signs (Downtown Disney resorts next right). If you don’t know that Dixie Landings is a Downtown Disney resort, or that ASMR is an Animal Kingdom resort, you may become confused. As did we.
However, the signage was flawless in directing us to all other parts of the World.
One thing we had never noticed before was that, despite following signs for MK parking, you end up parking at the Transportation and Ticket Center. You have to take the ferry or monorail from there to the MK.
The car was undeniably faster than taking the bus. I will admit that it came in handy on Friday night. Tired after a long day of touring the MK, both kids begged to go to the Rainforest Cafe at the Animal Kingdom. It was late (7 p.m.), and if we had not had a car, we would not have made the trip. A bus trip with four cranky (on the way over) and tired (on the way back) people would have been more than we could bear. As it was, we had a perfectly wonderful dinner at RC. A tip -- the large Mojo Bones looks like the thing they delivered to Fred Flintstone at the drive-in. Probably most responsibly ordered as dinner for two.
(BRAD NOTE: Or, at least, go for the 6-rib option vs. the full-tilt, gut-busting 12-rib extravaganza. It took me 24 hours to feel hungry again.)
FOOD
The highlight of our trip was our dinner in Cinderella’s castle (at Cinderella’s Royal Table). Remembering that this was a seat-of-the-pants, spur-of-the-moment trip, we had no priority seatings. I made the reservation request first thing on the day we arrived at the MK. I asked for a table at around 3 p.m. and they put us in at 2:45 with no trouble at all. This was CERTAINLY easier than it had been in October!
It turns out that the parade started at 3 p.m., which might explain why, when we arrived at the castle, the dining room was half empty.
This turned out to be a completely lovely experience. We were greeted downstairs in the lobby by a wonderful Fairy Godmother from Brooklyn, who was as warm and friendly as she could be. We were called upstairs, which involved walking up a carpeted stone circular stairway. Very castley.
I had no idea what to expect, but in my mind I had pictured this vast room, crammed with tables, with barely edible food served on plastic plates. Instead, imagine my pleasant amazement to see a relatively small, even cozy room, with a vaulted ceiling featuring beautiful stone- and woodwork. The most striking first impression was of cobalt-blue glassware on all of the tables, offset by deep purple cloth napkins folded in the shape of a herald crest.
I was completely flummoxed. I am sure that HUNDREDS of people are circulated through this dining room every day. Why on earth did they make it so small?
The answer is that it was built to be Walt’s private dining room. That would explain what it’s so darn nice looking!
(BRAD NOTE: The waiter explained to us that this was to have been the place where Walt entertained his guests, but he died before it was finished. He also said that there is, indeed, an apartment in the castle built for Walt -- he said now it is used for storage and as a preparation area for the castle performers.)
Anyway, the food was very, very good. Actually, it was among the best we’ve had in the World, including Flying Fish Cafe and Artist Point. I had a perfectly prepared salmon fillet sandwich, Zoe ordered an absolutely sinful triple chocolate mousse decadence thingie, Alex had an apple tart with ice cream, and Brad ordered the turkey club sandwich .
Everything was wonderful, the atmosphere was restful, the surroundings lovely and we will definitely visit Cinderella’s table again.
We also ate at the Rainforest Cafe. This was our second time, and the food was filling, as usual. It’s a fun atmosphere, what with all the plants, butterflies, large mammals, etc. We always seem to forget that the adult don’t need to order anything at all. Just let the kids order off the adult menu and then eat the leftovers. It’s that simple.
All our other culinary experiences were counter service (although in World Showcase at EPCOT, counter service can be heaven). I would particularly recommend the Kaki-gori in Japan Pavilion (shaved ice with lots of flavor) and ANYTHING from the bakery in France. Anything at all. It’s that good.
MAGIC KINGDOM
Knowing that we only had one day, we decided to skip the parades and concentrate on the rides.
We arrived at 9:45 (the park officially opened at 9 am) and went immediately to Splash Mountain, which amazingly had only a very small wait. By late afternoon, it was over an hour wait, so morning is clearly your best bet.
Space Mountain had long lines all day, and neither of the kids wanted to do it, so we skipped it. Dumbo was at least 45 minutes, so we gave that a miss, as well. The line for Grand Prix Raceway was so long it was scary. We may never be able to ride that one again. I can’t understand why so many people would wait so long for such a lame ride.
The following rides had waits of about 10-15 minutes:
Teacups
Haunted Mansion
Snow White
Peter Pan
Buzz Lightyear
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
The rest all had shorter lines. It’s possible that, had we tried during the parade, we could have gotten onto one of the more crowded rides. But we were in Cinderella’s Castle eating lunch, which I think was preferable.
All in all, it was a great day. We spent some time on Tom Sawyer’s Island, and it was wonderful. I think the best possible MK day would be to go early on an E-ticket day, spend an hour or two on Tom Sawyer Island, spend at least a couple of hours poking around Main Street, wander around to the non-e-ticket rides during the rest of the day, then do the biggies at E-ticket. A perfect, non-stressful MK day.
EPCOT
Journey into Imagination and Horizons were both down for refurbishment, and Test Track was running sporadically during the day. As far as I could see the wait was never less than 90 minutes, so we decided to wait for another trip.
But still, we had a great time! EPCOT is such a great park. We hit all the rides except Spaceship Earth first thing after the park opened (Spaceship Earth is always crowded in the morning, but if you wait until later it’s always a walk-on). Then we spent the rest of the day in World Showcase.
As always, my favorite ride was Body Wars. I could do it a thousand times. I also love Star Tours over at MGM. I had a great idea for a new kind of simulator in the Star Wars vein. You know those swiveling seats with the guns attached they had in Star Wars I? Have four or five of those in a simulator with a wrap around screen, and you can shoot lasers from your gun. Kind of a cross between Buzz Lightyear and a simulator. You’d never get me out of the thing.
The high point of the trip for my kinder, gentler husband, on the other hand, was the ride at The Land. He loves gardening and growing things in general, and says it’s very restful. It’s also nice that it’s real activity, that it has an actual purpose (in terms of supplying food for WDW restaurants). I think it’s also a bit of zone envy -- we here in zone 5 look at those living in zone 9 with a certain amount of abject longing.
(BRAD NOTE: Another worthwhile EPCOT offering is the House of Innoventions in the Innoventions building. A guide takes you through a model home full of cutting-edge tech stuff including computerized ovens, high definition TV and a Japanese toilet with so many features it’s a little scary. The coolest aspect is that all of this stuff is actually in production, available for purchase. A must for any gadget-head.)
The World Showcase (or "the countries" as it is called in our household) are always popular. We were showing Zoe around, so we were traveling more quickly than we otherwise would have. Now that we’ve been through them all, we like to concentrate on one or two. Next time, it’s going to be Canada! We still haven’t had beaver tails or seen Off-Kilter. And my conscience will not let me continue to walk past the Norway movie much longer, either!
MOST AMAZING MOMENT OF THE TRIP
When we spotted the Mickey-shaped power-line tower beside I-4 west of WDW. They think of everything, don't they?
Laurie Lemley
Dates: Friday, February 19 - Saturday, February 20
The players:
Me (Laurie) - 40, actor
Husband (Brad) - 43, writer
Son (Alex) - 12, student
Niece (Zoe) - 7, student
We love WDW, and this was our third trip. Both previous visits were relatively lengthy -- 6 days in 1996 and 11 days in 1998. We are a family who loves to plan -- we’ve been known to spend two years planning for a WDW vacation. We make priority seatings. We set up detailed itineraries. We very easily slip into commando mode.
We’ve always gone during what the guide books say are the least crowded times of the year because my husband hates lines (well, who likes them, really?). This means that all of our school vacation dates are off limits. We took Alex out of school for our last two WDW trips, but as Alex gets older and school becomes more demanding, getting the make-up homework done prior to our WDW trip has come to resemble torture more than anything else. Getting ready for our last trip was such a monumental struggle that we vowed we would never take him out of school for a trip again. I was afraid that this meant that we wouldn’t see WDW again until he was in college.
Well, the week of February 15th, we ended up doing two things that I never thought we’d do -- visit WDW on the spur-of-the moment and at an ostensibly crowded time of year.
We were visiting my sister and her family in Sarasota, a mere two-hour drive from WDW. It was Presidents’ week -- the third week in February -- school vacation week for us. We had not planned to visit WDW because of the crowds, but we just couldn’t stand being that close and not looking in on it, so we offered to take my seven-year-old niece with us on an overnight to WDW so sister and brother-in-law could have a romantic weekend at home. How thoughtful of us, huh?
We decided that we’d either stay at one of the All-Star resorts or off-world. Having stayed at budget, moderate and expensive resorts on WDW property, we feel strongly that the All-Star resorts represent the biggest bang for the buck, especially for families with kids. I called on Tuesday night for a Friday night reservation and was told there were no openings at any of the All-Star resorts. However, having learned on previous occasions that WDW resort room-availability shifts like sand, I called first thing Wednesday morning and presto! A room at All-Star Music had opened up. It ended up being in Country Fair, which was fine with us.
Actually, we did ANOTHER thing during this visit that I thought we’d never do -- we used our own car to drive around WDW instead of using their transportation system. More on that later...
Because this trip was only two days long, my son has suggested a categorical rather than chronological format, so we’ll give it a try. Keep in mind that this happened over Friday and Saturday (February 19 and 20) of Presidents’ Week. We toured the MK on Friday and EPCOT on Saturday.
CROWDS
All of the guide books say Presidents’ Week is a seriously crowded time of year. We disagree. We’ve been in November, October and during Presidents’ Week. The November lines were very short (0-5 minutes), the February lines slightly longer (15 mins) and the October lines were terrible (30 - 60 minutes and up). I don’t know if there are actually fewer people in February than October, or if the parks are operating at higher capacity in February. For example, I noticed at quite a few rides that they had more cars running in February than they had in October. Also, the MK is open later in February than it is in October, despite the fact that the crowds are at least equal in number.
I suspect, however, that there really are fewer people in February than October, and that the guide books are using old data. I suspect this because we rode the teacups several times this trip, and we weren’t able to even get near them in October.
Whatever the reasons, we will not be going in October again. We found February crowds to be quite reasonable, and the weather to be absolutely lovely. Mid 70’s and sunny most of the time.
(BRAD NOTE: As Laurie noted, I used to think we should avoid going during school vacations, but this trip drove home the point that schools throughout the country have all sorts of varying vacation periods during the last half of the school year -- President’s week, Easter week, "spring break," and so on. These don’t often overlap -- for example, during our visit, Florida public schools were NOT in a vacation period. It was truly a wonderful time to go.)
ACCOMMODATIONS
We stayed at ASMR, Country Fair building. If you want a more detailed assessment of the various resorts and how they compare, see our more detailed trip report in October 1998. Despite a chilly evening breeze, both kids went for a swim in the piano pool and dragged us in with them. To Disney’s credit, the pool was heated. It was the getting out that froze you!
A tip -- because the guitar pool is bigger, it apparently cools off faster. Several people mentioned that we should stay away from it because it was "freezing".
I love the shampoo/body wash dispensers in the shower! And the climate control systems in the room are far superior to those at Dixie Landings and the Polynesian.
TRANSPORTATION
We have always loved the WDW transportation system and have never used our own car, even when we had it with us. But, in the interest of scientific discovery, we decided to drive ourselves everywhere during this trip.
We stayed at ASMR, a somewhat remote location. In general, the WDW signage is good. However, a cautionary note is in order for those using WDW resorts. Signs tend to refer ONCE to the hotel by name (example: Dixie Landings Resort third right) and then by "world location" on all subsequent signs (Downtown Disney resorts next right). If you don’t know that Dixie Landings is a Downtown Disney resort, or that ASMR is an Animal Kingdom resort, you may become confused. As did we.
However, the signage was flawless in directing us to all other parts of the World.
One thing we had never noticed before was that, despite following signs for MK parking, you end up parking at the Transportation and Ticket Center. You have to take the ferry or monorail from there to the MK.
The car was undeniably faster than taking the bus. I will admit that it came in handy on Friday night. Tired after a long day of touring the MK, both kids begged to go to the Rainforest Cafe at the Animal Kingdom. It was late (7 p.m.), and if we had not had a car, we would not have made the trip. A bus trip with four cranky (on the way over) and tired (on the way back) people would have been more than we could bear. As it was, we had a perfectly wonderful dinner at RC. A tip -- the large Mojo Bones looks like the thing they delivered to Fred Flintstone at the drive-in. Probably most responsibly ordered as dinner for two.
(BRAD NOTE: Or, at least, go for the 6-rib option vs. the full-tilt, gut-busting 12-rib extravaganza. It took me 24 hours to feel hungry again.)
FOOD
The highlight of our trip was our dinner in Cinderella’s castle (at Cinderella’s Royal Table). Remembering that this was a seat-of-the-pants, spur-of-the-moment trip, we had no priority seatings. I made the reservation request first thing on the day we arrived at the MK. I asked for a table at around 3 p.m. and they put us in at 2:45 with no trouble at all. This was CERTAINLY easier than it had been in October!
It turns out that the parade started at 3 p.m., which might explain why, when we arrived at the castle, the dining room was half empty.
This turned out to be a completely lovely experience. We were greeted downstairs in the lobby by a wonderful Fairy Godmother from Brooklyn, who was as warm and friendly as she could be. We were called upstairs, which involved walking up a carpeted stone circular stairway. Very castley.
I had no idea what to expect, but in my mind I had pictured this vast room, crammed with tables, with barely edible food served on plastic plates. Instead, imagine my pleasant amazement to see a relatively small, even cozy room, with a vaulted ceiling featuring beautiful stone- and woodwork. The most striking first impression was of cobalt-blue glassware on all of the tables, offset by deep purple cloth napkins folded in the shape of a herald crest.
I was completely flummoxed. I am sure that HUNDREDS of people are circulated through this dining room every day. Why on earth did they make it so small?
The answer is that it was built to be Walt’s private dining room. That would explain what it’s so darn nice looking!
(BRAD NOTE: The waiter explained to us that this was to have been the place where Walt entertained his guests, but he died before it was finished. He also said that there is, indeed, an apartment in the castle built for Walt -- he said now it is used for storage and as a preparation area for the castle performers.)
Anyway, the food was very, very good. Actually, it was among the best we’ve had in the World, including Flying Fish Cafe and Artist Point. I had a perfectly prepared salmon fillet sandwich, Zoe ordered an absolutely sinful triple chocolate mousse decadence thingie, Alex had an apple tart with ice cream, and Brad ordered the turkey club sandwich .
Everything was wonderful, the atmosphere was restful, the surroundings lovely and we will definitely visit Cinderella’s table again.
We also ate at the Rainforest Cafe. This was our second time, and the food was filling, as usual. It’s a fun atmosphere, what with all the plants, butterflies, large mammals, etc. We always seem to forget that the adult don’t need to order anything at all. Just let the kids order off the adult menu and then eat the leftovers. It’s that simple.
All our other culinary experiences were counter service (although in World Showcase at EPCOT, counter service can be heaven). I would particularly recommend the Kaki-gori in Japan Pavilion (shaved ice with lots of flavor) and ANYTHING from the bakery in France. Anything at all. It’s that good.
MAGIC KINGDOM
Knowing that we only had one day, we decided to skip the parades and concentrate on the rides.
We arrived at 9:45 (the park officially opened at 9 am) and went immediately to Splash Mountain, which amazingly had only a very small wait. By late afternoon, it was over an hour wait, so morning is clearly your best bet.
Space Mountain had long lines all day, and neither of the kids wanted to do it, so we skipped it. Dumbo was at least 45 minutes, so we gave that a miss, as well. The line for Grand Prix Raceway was so long it was scary. We may never be able to ride that one again. I can’t understand why so many people would wait so long for such a lame ride.
The following rides had waits of about 10-15 minutes:
Teacups
Haunted Mansion
Snow White
Peter Pan
Buzz Lightyear
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
The rest all had shorter lines. It’s possible that, had we tried during the parade, we could have gotten onto one of the more crowded rides. But we were in Cinderella’s Castle eating lunch, which I think was preferable.
All in all, it was a great day. We spent some time on Tom Sawyer’s Island, and it was wonderful. I think the best possible MK day would be to go early on an E-ticket day, spend an hour or two on Tom Sawyer Island, spend at least a couple of hours poking around Main Street, wander around to the non-e-ticket rides during the rest of the day, then do the biggies at E-ticket. A perfect, non-stressful MK day.
EPCOT
Journey into Imagination and Horizons were both down for refurbishment, and Test Track was running sporadically during the day. As far as I could see the wait was never less than 90 minutes, so we decided to wait for another trip.
But still, we had a great time! EPCOT is such a great park. We hit all the rides except Spaceship Earth first thing after the park opened (Spaceship Earth is always crowded in the morning, but if you wait until later it’s always a walk-on). Then we spent the rest of the day in World Showcase.
As always, my favorite ride was Body Wars. I could do it a thousand times. I also love Star Tours over at MGM. I had a great idea for a new kind of simulator in the Star Wars vein. You know those swiveling seats with the guns attached they had in Star Wars I? Have four or five of those in a simulator with a wrap around screen, and you can shoot lasers from your gun. Kind of a cross between Buzz Lightyear and a simulator. You’d never get me out of the thing.
The high point of the trip for my kinder, gentler husband, on the other hand, was the ride at The Land. He loves gardening and growing things in general, and says it’s very restful. It’s also nice that it’s real activity, that it has an actual purpose (in terms of supplying food for WDW restaurants). I think it’s also a bit of zone envy -- we here in zone 5 look at those living in zone 9 with a certain amount of abject longing.
(BRAD NOTE: Another worthwhile EPCOT offering is the House of Innoventions in the Innoventions building. A guide takes you through a model home full of cutting-edge tech stuff including computerized ovens, high definition TV and a Japanese toilet with so many features it’s a little scary. The coolest aspect is that all of this stuff is actually in production, available for purchase. A must for any gadget-head.)
The World Showcase (or "the countries" as it is called in our household) are always popular. We were showing Zoe around, so we were traveling more quickly than we otherwise would have. Now that we’ve been through them all, we like to concentrate on one or two. Next time, it’s going to be Canada! We still haven’t had beaver tails or seen Off-Kilter. And my conscience will not let me continue to walk past the Norway movie much longer, either!
MOST AMAZING MOMENT OF THE TRIP
When we spotted the Mickey-shaped power-line tower beside I-4 west of WDW. They think of everything, don't they?
Laurie Lemley