Trip Reports
02-20-2007, 08:22 AM
Robert Yetman -- April 2002 -- Walt Disney World (AKL, VWL)
18-27 April (19 - 26 April at WDW), 2002
Trip report:
Details, husband and wife, and 12-year-old son. Spending 8 nights/7 days at the park. Frequent visitors to WDW (4 trips in 4 years). Last year we bought into the DVC, so this is our first trip using our points. While we're down here, we'll have our 21st wedding anniversary, and my son's 13th birthday. Since we've been down here a lot, we're not trying to ride everything, just do what we want to do and relax.
18 Apr/Thursday - drive halfway from home near Baltimore, MD. Sunny & hot all day. Uneventful drive. Stop at Day's Inn in Dillon SC, hotel the pits.
19 Apr/Friday -Unable to sleep, we get up at 2:30 and leave. Get to WDW at around 1200. Check in at AKL and get our room. Hotel is fantastic. When we get to the room, son goes nuts over the animals we see. We're in a room that overlooks the central savannah. Room is almost as far away from the front of the hotel as you can get. Wife and I leave son at hotel to go swimming & walk around and see what he can see while we drive over to the Contemporary Resort to get our tickets from the Shades of Green ticket office, located in the north garden wing while they do the construction at Shades of Green. We then go out to Disney Marketplace to do some anniversary present shopping for each other. Get back to the hotel, eat some supper and just relax from the road trip. Son does some more wandering around the hotel stopping at every window to see the different animals. Wife and son go to an 8:00 talk about the various animals, and talk to some of the keepers.
Day 1-20 Apr/Saturday. Get up about 7:00 so we can transfer over to the Wilderness Lodge Villas, which is our stay for the rest of the week. Check in early, drop off the luggage, and head for MGM/Disney Studios. Bus gets us there about 8:30; we go thru the bag check, which is still ongoing. No crowds for this, through in about 1 minute. About 8:45 they start letting people into the park, but only down to before Sunset Strip. We go into the 5 & 10 and order our custom lanyards I've wanted to get. They'll embroider on just about anything you can buy in the parks. They'll also make up custom "Guest of Honor" nametags for you, in red or blue. One gotcha on that- one person was trying to get a nickname put on his nametag, and they wouldn't do it because it was not a proper name. Management rules say that only proper names can go on any of the nametags. Apparently, this rule spreads from the rules for the CM's nametags. Also, they can only embroider onto stuff that hasn't been worn, due to health regulations. I know because I have an old Goofy hat that I wanted my name on, and when I asked, they explained why they couldn't. At 9:00 they dropped the ropes. We wandered on down to R&R Coaster, where we got a Fastpass for about an hour later, even though the standby line was only a few minutes long. We then went to the HAT, bought one of the Hundred Years light up pins, only so I could get the Internet pin. I had accidentally left my certificate for the Internet pin at home, but luckily another guest had one, and only bought 2 pins, so I was able to tie onto hers. You need the certificate. We played with the kiosks for a few minutes that have various questions about Walt and the early years of Disney, then wandered on down to Star Tours where we walked right on, no wait whatsoever. Got off that, went back and rode R&R coaster. Son and I sat up front, and had a blast.
We then wandered on down to Walt's Dream, walked thru the exhibits there, and saw the 10-minute movie. They had some neat stuff in there, including a model of the multi-plane camera, various models for DL and WDW, etc. Then went to lunch at Pizza Planet, getting some Fastpasses for WWTBAM on the way. Went back to WWTBAM, played that. Didn't even get close to the top 10. The guy that got into the hot seat was a frequent player who comes to the park about once a month. The trick to getting in is to get your answer in FAST; the scores are based on accuracy and speed. He got all the way to the 250,000 level, where he missed a question about who the Colossus of Rhodes was supposed to depict. The answer is "Helios". By that time, our time was up. Next, went & wandered the various shops and pick up the lanyards while son went down to Honey I Shrunk the Kids and played around. We then went and got our pics taken with Woody & Buzz at Al's Toy Barn. Next went on to see the Hunchback show. It was 4:00 by then, so I wandered up to find a spot for the 5:00 parade. The parade starts near Star Tours and ends up by the front of the park. I wanted to get one of the shady benches near Radio Disney/Sounds Dangerous, but by 4:10 they were already taken, so found a partially shaded bench and sat while the wife son went back to Star Tours again, and brought back an early supper. Again they walked right on. Got supper from Back Lot express, and saw the parade. It lasted about 15 minutes, lots of neat cars with characters from various movies, including, interestingly enough, Star Wars, with R2D2 & Darth Vader walking and Luke and Leia in a car modeled after a land-cruiser from Tatooine. Came back to the hotel, got our room, settled in. Son went to pool while wife and I wandered down 192 to pick up some odds and ends. Noted that gas prices on 192 were anywhere a dime a gallon to 4 cents cheaper than on WDW.
The room we have is one of the 1-bedroom suites in the Villas. It's got a small but fully equipped kitchen, a sleeper couch and TV in the one room, and a full master bedroom suite with a big walk in shower, Jacuzzi tub big enough for two, washer & dryer. Very nice. Amenities include packs of soap for the dishwasher, soap for the clothes washer, as well as the usual soaps/shampoo.
Day 2/Sunday 21 April; My wife's and my 21st wedding anniversary. Started morning at Epcot, caught bus at 8:15 got there at 8:30, walked right thru ticket/security. Walked over to Test Track, was told that it would be closed until afternoon, and took a look at the construction site for Mission Space. Peeked over the wall with my camera, and saw a couple of guys working, as well as some concrete that was getting ready to be poured. On the way to Test Track, we saw a cast member demonstrating the Segway. Went over to Living Seas, walked right in, skipped movie, went thru hydrolators, and into the main area, no cars. Walked around the tank, saw manatees, looked at various exhibits. Son went to Wonders of Life & Innoventions, while we went to Spaceship Earth and wandered thru stores, met for lunch at the Land. He then went to try and ride Test Track while we went down to see American Journeys. Got there too late, missed show, walked back up to meet with son. Too hot to do anything, so we came back to the hotel, went swimming. Wife and I headed off to an anniversary dinner at California Grill. Good food, but not cheap. Came back, picked up son, and head off for the Yacht & Beach Club marina, to get to our Illuminations Boat Cruise. Met our skipper, Dave, and got a nice leisurely cruise past Swan & Dolphin, down to MGM, back by Boardwalk to Epcot. Parked under bridge between France & England for the show. 4 pontoon boats & the smaller speedboat. Best seats in the house, cause there's no crowding, we brought our own snacks, but other boats had paid for the various types snacks, from chips & sodas to a nice mini-desert tray. Plus, you can get up and walk around. Great show. Crowds today didn't seem too bad. The Flower and Garden Show was ongoing. There were many exhibits, people to talk to etc, but didn't see all the topiaries my wife and I remembered from last year. For example, we remembered France having all the characters from Beauty & the Beast, but didn't see a bit of it. A lot of the venders that last year were out by the various countries were inside one of the Innoventions wings.
Day 3/Monday 22 April, my son's 13th birthday & Earth day. Went to Animal Kingdom. When we got there, went to Guest Services & got a "It's My Birthday button" for my son. Had breakfast at Donald's Breakfastosaurus. Didn't have PS, but got there as soon as the gates opened at 9:00, and was immediately seated. It's a buffet-style. Saw Donald/Goofy/Pluto/Mickey. From there, went down to the Safari & got Fastpasses. Wandered thru a couple of stores and did the Pangani trail, then went on the safari (via fast pass). The tour guides saw the button and everyone on our tour bus sang Happy Birthday to my son. From there went to see the Flights of Wonder show, then son & I went on Kali River Rapids. I got damp on one side. Went down to Rafiki's Planet Watch for a special Earth day butterfly release my son wanted to see. Went from there to Chester's & Hester's, where we rode Primeval Whirl, a mouse-type roller coaster, with lots of colorful theming. All 3 of us liked it. Then son rode Triceratops Spin. Wandered back down to get a seat for the 4 o'clock parade. I stayed there while son went to play in the Boneyard. Saw the parade. Combination of various vehicles themed to AK & the characters on them and various animal puppets constructed similarly to the ones in the Epcot parade My favorite was Goofy, although I wouldn't mind owning Mickey's big jeep. Came back to the hotel, ate supper, and relaxed. Because it was Earth day at AK, it was really busy. Couple of cast members that we talked to said they were filling in places they don't normally work, because of the crowds for Earth Day. Although there were lots of people, didn't seem to be many lines all day. The worst line was early in the morning , 35 minutes at the Safari.
Day 4/Tuesday 23 April. Magic Kingdom day. Again got to the park half hour early, went right thru security, at a quarter till they opened the ticket lines. Wandered thru stores for a few minutes, then down to Tomorrow Land. Grabbed some fast passes for Space Rangers, and also rode it, no line first thing in the morning. After that went over to Space Mountain, standby line said 30 minutes, but it took more like 30 seconds to walk into the building, then wait 1 minute to get on the coaster and ride it. Next, son went down to Autopia, then went back and rode Space Rangers again. From there headed over to Adventure Land, went on Pirates, son also did Magic Carpets. Got some lunch, got some fast passes for Splash, and went to Big Thunder standby. Again sign said 30 minutes, but only took 10 or so to get thru it and ride. Back to Splash via fast pass, which by then had a 45-minute standby line (and it looked it). After Splash, rode the train over to Toontown, where son got off and rode Barnstormer and a second time on the Tomorrowland Speedway, while wife and I continued onto Main Street where I got a haircut, then found a shady spot for the parade. After parade came back to hotel where son and I took a spin on the lake in the motor mouse boats, while wife went back to MGM to find a special hat she liked. Went out to Downtown Disney. Was going to drop son off at DisneyQuest while we did some shopping, but it was closed for the night for a special event. So, all 3 of us went up to Rainforest for dinner, then some souvenir shopping for the family.
While at the MK, the lack of maintenance on various rides was most noticeable. The queue area for Space Rangers had many areas where the paint had been chipped, etc, as well as some of the decorations outside needed touching up. On the second time thru, both the son and I had trouble getting our lasers to fire more than one or two shots in a row by holding down the trigger, which has worked in the past. By the time we left Tomorrow Land around 10ish the crowds were apparent there for all the rides, and especially by the time we hit Space/Thunder mountain about 1:00ish. However, the 3:00 parade route didn't seem that crowded, only a bit on the shady side of the street, the sunny side was barely 1 person deep. Downtown Disney was busy, with Rainforest Café telling some folks they'd have to wait an hour, but we were seated almost immediately (party of 3). Must have been the larger parties that were taking time to seat.
Day 5, Wednesday 25 April. Started the morning at AK. Drove this time, got there 1/2 hour early, right thru security, they opened up turnstiles at 15 'til. Walked down to the ropes just across the bridge. After the rope dropped, we went down to Asia, to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Real quiet, only a couple of other folks on the walk. All the animals were visible. Found out that there are some new species of birds in the bird aviary, not listed on the charts they provide. Afterwards walked back up to "It's tough to be a Bug', and then on to Dinosaur. By this time it's 11:00. Drop son off at Disney Quest for the afternoon, while wife and I went back to Epcot. Went by Epcot but by 1200 the standby line for Test Track was +60 minutes, and the fast passes were for 3:40-4:40. So we walked/boated down to American Journey, caught the Voices of Liberty & the show, Headed back to pick up son at Disney Quest at 3:00 pm. Went back to hotel to relax, had leftovers from Rainforest Café for supper. Headed for MGM to see Fantasmic. We got there about 6:30, just after the gates had opened, and got good seats 10 rows back in Mickey section (center). By 7:30 pm, they were 1/2 to 3/4 full, and by 8:00 they were totally full, with the exception of a few seats for the dinner & a show folks on the far right. I'd recommend bringing some type of seat cushion; those metal benches get hard after 2 hours.
Day 6, Thursday 26 April. Started the day at Typhoon Lagoon, spent a couple of hours there. From there headed to MGM to see B.B Good at Radio Disney. Grabbed some lunch, son went on Backstage Tour while wife and I went on a Tool Time hunt. I'm a big "Home Improvement" fan, and like the "Binford" stuff. The usual location for this stuff, the AFI store, had some tee shirts, hats, mugs, and VHS tapes of the final episode. They also had some nice Binford polo shirts, but only in XL & 2XL, which are way too big. So we wandered back up thru various stores, just to pass the time, and in the 5 & 10 Store found the same Tool time merchandise, but they had exactly 1 large polo shirt, so I got it. I was also able to, for $8, get my name embroidered on it, which will be a very nice memory. Wandered thru the animation store, to see what was new. Then wandered back down to Radio Disney, to meet B.B. after her show. My son and wife are big fans of her. We were waiting there about 3:45 when her producer came out, took my son's name, as well as another kid's name who was also waiting, and a few minutes later, B.B said hi to them on the air. Her producer brought out a big journal type book, which B.B has all the kids she says hi to on the air autograph, and my son got to write/draw in it. About 5 minutes after her show was over, B.B. came out, talked to the kids, signed autographs, posed for pictures, and gave them some postcards and other little trinkets. Real nice time. Came back to the room and rested for a bit. Then went over to MK for supper at Cosmic Ray's, where I had the only food so far that I didn't like. I had the Steak and Cheese sub, and the cheese was way too runny, and just killed the sandwich. Then rode Buzz again, via fast pass, where my wife beat both of us in score. I came back to the room, while the son and wife went to go for a big monorail ride to Epcot and back. We've ridden up front in the monorail before, but this time when my son and wife rode up front, they were given "official co-pilot" licenses, the size of a business card. A nice touch. At 9:30 went down to the WL beach, first to watch the MK fireworks, then to tape the electrical water parade, about the only parade I don't have on tape.
Again, as the wife and I walked thru the MK, and especially thru Tomorrowland, we were struck by the lack of painting/maintenance. The whole MK is starting to show its age. There are cracked tiles/walkways throughout. Even the seats on the boats from MK to WLV need a fresh coat of paint. The docks at MK also had areas that needed paint. Another thing we noticed at the various parks is that the shows are not as often as they used to be. For example, they only had 3 performances of Playhouse Disney at 3:45, 4:45, and 6:00. Figure out those times, for a show for the young-uns.
On the plus side, most of the street entertainment at the various parks was in full swing. Over at MGM, the street actors were out, as well as various characters, etc. Mickey has his own picture area, next to WWTBAM, also, out in front of the hat is a popular place to meet characters. My son was able to get Mulan and Phil's autographs, some of the few he doesn't already have. When we were at the MK for the parade the other day, the Dapper Dans were out, driving up/down the street and singing. They even stopped at one point and sang happy birthday to one elderly lady. The mayor of Main Street wandered down before the parade. Over at Epcot, they had the fountain going every half hour. All of the cast members we came in contact with were cheerful and helpful.
Day 7, Friday 26 April. Started the day at Epcot, to ride Test Track. Gates opened up 15 minutes early, by the time we got to TT at 9:10ish, the standby line was 45 minutes, but Fastpasses were only 30 minutes away. So, we wandered around for a bit, and then rode it. After that, wife and son wandered over to Honey I Shrunk the Audience, while I wandered thru Innoventions. They didn't get to see the show; it closed down due to technical difficulties. Wandered down to Mexico for lunch, then headed over to AK, for some souvenir hunting for my son and the petting zoo for my wife. Back to the hotel to shed stuff, and drop son off at DisneyQuest while we went out to Publix to get drinks for the ride back. Went to supper at MK, son rode Space Mountain one last time. Wanted to eat at Columbia Harbour House, but got there at 5:10, and they're only open from 11:00 to 5:00, so went up to the Plaza Restaurant, where there was no waiting. Came back to hotel to pack up and end the vacation.
Saturday, 27 April. Uneventful, long (14.5 hour) drive back to Baltimore. Leave WL at 7:45 am; get back around 10:30 pm.
Overall, we had a great time. With the exception of the security checks and the wear and tear evident in many places, especially in the MK, it felt just like the WDW of old. All week long, the morning times were the best time to ride the various rides, typically by noon the lines were getting long. As is to be expected, the lines/crowds seemed worse at the MK, with all the young kids around. Thursday and Friday, there were a lot more teen-age kids around, due to the Robotics competition being held at Epcot.
Robert A. Yetman
bobyetman@comcast.net
18-27 April (19 - 26 April at WDW), 2002
Trip report:
Details, husband and wife, and 12-year-old son. Spending 8 nights/7 days at the park. Frequent visitors to WDW (4 trips in 4 years). Last year we bought into the DVC, so this is our first trip using our points. While we're down here, we'll have our 21st wedding anniversary, and my son's 13th birthday. Since we've been down here a lot, we're not trying to ride everything, just do what we want to do and relax.
18 Apr/Thursday - drive halfway from home near Baltimore, MD. Sunny & hot all day. Uneventful drive. Stop at Day's Inn in Dillon SC, hotel the pits.
19 Apr/Friday -Unable to sleep, we get up at 2:30 and leave. Get to WDW at around 1200. Check in at AKL and get our room. Hotel is fantastic. When we get to the room, son goes nuts over the animals we see. We're in a room that overlooks the central savannah. Room is almost as far away from the front of the hotel as you can get. Wife and I leave son at hotel to go swimming & walk around and see what he can see while we drive over to the Contemporary Resort to get our tickets from the Shades of Green ticket office, located in the north garden wing while they do the construction at Shades of Green. We then go out to Disney Marketplace to do some anniversary present shopping for each other. Get back to the hotel, eat some supper and just relax from the road trip. Son does some more wandering around the hotel stopping at every window to see the different animals. Wife and son go to an 8:00 talk about the various animals, and talk to some of the keepers.
Day 1-20 Apr/Saturday. Get up about 7:00 so we can transfer over to the Wilderness Lodge Villas, which is our stay for the rest of the week. Check in early, drop off the luggage, and head for MGM/Disney Studios. Bus gets us there about 8:30; we go thru the bag check, which is still ongoing. No crowds for this, through in about 1 minute. About 8:45 they start letting people into the park, but only down to before Sunset Strip. We go into the 5 & 10 and order our custom lanyards I've wanted to get. They'll embroider on just about anything you can buy in the parks. They'll also make up custom "Guest of Honor" nametags for you, in red or blue. One gotcha on that- one person was trying to get a nickname put on his nametag, and they wouldn't do it because it was not a proper name. Management rules say that only proper names can go on any of the nametags. Apparently, this rule spreads from the rules for the CM's nametags. Also, they can only embroider onto stuff that hasn't been worn, due to health regulations. I know because I have an old Goofy hat that I wanted my name on, and when I asked, they explained why they couldn't. At 9:00 they dropped the ropes. We wandered on down to R&R Coaster, where we got a Fastpass for about an hour later, even though the standby line was only a few minutes long. We then went to the HAT, bought one of the Hundred Years light up pins, only so I could get the Internet pin. I had accidentally left my certificate for the Internet pin at home, but luckily another guest had one, and only bought 2 pins, so I was able to tie onto hers. You need the certificate. We played with the kiosks for a few minutes that have various questions about Walt and the early years of Disney, then wandered on down to Star Tours where we walked right on, no wait whatsoever. Got off that, went back and rode R&R coaster. Son and I sat up front, and had a blast.
We then wandered on down to Walt's Dream, walked thru the exhibits there, and saw the 10-minute movie. They had some neat stuff in there, including a model of the multi-plane camera, various models for DL and WDW, etc. Then went to lunch at Pizza Planet, getting some Fastpasses for WWTBAM on the way. Went back to WWTBAM, played that. Didn't even get close to the top 10. The guy that got into the hot seat was a frequent player who comes to the park about once a month. The trick to getting in is to get your answer in FAST; the scores are based on accuracy and speed. He got all the way to the 250,000 level, where he missed a question about who the Colossus of Rhodes was supposed to depict. The answer is "Helios". By that time, our time was up. Next, went & wandered the various shops and pick up the lanyards while son went down to Honey I Shrunk the Kids and played around. We then went and got our pics taken with Woody & Buzz at Al's Toy Barn. Next went on to see the Hunchback show. It was 4:00 by then, so I wandered up to find a spot for the 5:00 parade. The parade starts near Star Tours and ends up by the front of the park. I wanted to get one of the shady benches near Radio Disney/Sounds Dangerous, but by 4:10 they were already taken, so found a partially shaded bench and sat while the wife son went back to Star Tours again, and brought back an early supper. Again they walked right on. Got supper from Back Lot express, and saw the parade. It lasted about 15 minutes, lots of neat cars with characters from various movies, including, interestingly enough, Star Wars, with R2D2 & Darth Vader walking and Luke and Leia in a car modeled after a land-cruiser from Tatooine. Came back to the hotel, got our room, settled in. Son went to pool while wife and I wandered down 192 to pick up some odds and ends. Noted that gas prices on 192 were anywhere a dime a gallon to 4 cents cheaper than on WDW.
The room we have is one of the 1-bedroom suites in the Villas. It's got a small but fully equipped kitchen, a sleeper couch and TV in the one room, and a full master bedroom suite with a big walk in shower, Jacuzzi tub big enough for two, washer & dryer. Very nice. Amenities include packs of soap for the dishwasher, soap for the clothes washer, as well as the usual soaps/shampoo.
Day 2/Sunday 21 April; My wife's and my 21st wedding anniversary. Started morning at Epcot, caught bus at 8:15 got there at 8:30, walked right thru ticket/security. Walked over to Test Track, was told that it would be closed until afternoon, and took a look at the construction site for Mission Space. Peeked over the wall with my camera, and saw a couple of guys working, as well as some concrete that was getting ready to be poured. On the way to Test Track, we saw a cast member demonstrating the Segway. Went over to Living Seas, walked right in, skipped movie, went thru hydrolators, and into the main area, no cars. Walked around the tank, saw manatees, looked at various exhibits. Son went to Wonders of Life & Innoventions, while we went to Spaceship Earth and wandered thru stores, met for lunch at the Land. He then went to try and ride Test Track while we went down to see American Journeys. Got there too late, missed show, walked back up to meet with son. Too hot to do anything, so we came back to the hotel, went swimming. Wife and I headed off to an anniversary dinner at California Grill. Good food, but not cheap. Came back, picked up son, and head off for the Yacht & Beach Club marina, to get to our Illuminations Boat Cruise. Met our skipper, Dave, and got a nice leisurely cruise past Swan & Dolphin, down to MGM, back by Boardwalk to Epcot. Parked under bridge between France & England for the show. 4 pontoon boats & the smaller speedboat. Best seats in the house, cause there's no crowding, we brought our own snacks, but other boats had paid for the various types snacks, from chips & sodas to a nice mini-desert tray. Plus, you can get up and walk around. Great show. Crowds today didn't seem too bad. The Flower and Garden Show was ongoing. There were many exhibits, people to talk to etc, but didn't see all the topiaries my wife and I remembered from last year. For example, we remembered France having all the characters from Beauty & the Beast, but didn't see a bit of it. A lot of the venders that last year were out by the various countries were inside one of the Innoventions wings.
Day 3/Monday 22 April, my son's 13th birthday & Earth day. Went to Animal Kingdom. When we got there, went to Guest Services & got a "It's My Birthday button" for my son. Had breakfast at Donald's Breakfastosaurus. Didn't have PS, but got there as soon as the gates opened at 9:00, and was immediately seated. It's a buffet-style. Saw Donald/Goofy/Pluto/Mickey. From there, went down to the Safari & got Fastpasses. Wandered thru a couple of stores and did the Pangani trail, then went on the safari (via fast pass). The tour guides saw the button and everyone on our tour bus sang Happy Birthday to my son. From there went to see the Flights of Wonder show, then son & I went on Kali River Rapids. I got damp on one side. Went down to Rafiki's Planet Watch for a special Earth day butterfly release my son wanted to see. Went from there to Chester's & Hester's, where we rode Primeval Whirl, a mouse-type roller coaster, with lots of colorful theming. All 3 of us liked it. Then son rode Triceratops Spin. Wandered back down to get a seat for the 4 o'clock parade. I stayed there while son went to play in the Boneyard. Saw the parade. Combination of various vehicles themed to AK & the characters on them and various animal puppets constructed similarly to the ones in the Epcot parade My favorite was Goofy, although I wouldn't mind owning Mickey's big jeep. Came back to the hotel, ate supper, and relaxed. Because it was Earth day at AK, it was really busy. Couple of cast members that we talked to said they were filling in places they don't normally work, because of the crowds for Earth Day. Although there were lots of people, didn't seem to be many lines all day. The worst line was early in the morning , 35 minutes at the Safari.
Day 4/Tuesday 23 April. Magic Kingdom day. Again got to the park half hour early, went right thru security, at a quarter till they opened the ticket lines. Wandered thru stores for a few minutes, then down to Tomorrow Land. Grabbed some fast passes for Space Rangers, and also rode it, no line first thing in the morning. After that went over to Space Mountain, standby line said 30 minutes, but it took more like 30 seconds to walk into the building, then wait 1 minute to get on the coaster and ride it. Next, son went down to Autopia, then went back and rode Space Rangers again. From there headed over to Adventure Land, went on Pirates, son also did Magic Carpets. Got some lunch, got some fast passes for Splash, and went to Big Thunder standby. Again sign said 30 minutes, but only took 10 or so to get thru it and ride. Back to Splash via fast pass, which by then had a 45-minute standby line (and it looked it). After Splash, rode the train over to Toontown, where son got off and rode Barnstormer and a second time on the Tomorrowland Speedway, while wife and I continued onto Main Street where I got a haircut, then found a shady spot for the parade. After parade came back to hotel where son and I took a spin on the lake in the motor mouse boats, while wife went back to MGM to find a special hat she liked. Went out to Downtown Disney. Was going to drop son off at DisneyQuest while we did some shopping, but it was closed for the night for a special event. So, all 3 of us went up to Rainforest for dinner, then some souvenir shopping for the family.
While at the MK, the lack of maintenance on various rides was most noticeable. The queue area for Space Rangers had many areas where the paint had been chipped, etc, as well as some of the decorations outside needed touching up. On the second time thru, both the son and I had trouble getting our lasers to fire more than one or two shots in a row by holding down the trigger, which has worked in the past. By the time we left Tomorrow Land around 10ish the crowds were apparent there for all the rides, and especially by the time we hit Space/Thunder mountain about 1:00ish. However, the 3:00 parade route didn't seem that crowded, only a bit on the shady side of the street, the sunny side was barely 1 person deep. Downtown Disney was busy, with Rainforest Café telling some folks they'd have to wait an hour, but we were seated almost immediately (party of 3). Must have been the larger parties that were taking time to seat.
Day 5, Wednesday 25 April. Started the morning at AK. Drove this time, got there 1/2 hour early, right thru security, they opened up turnstiles at 15 'til. Walked down to the ropes just across the bridge. After the rope dropped, we went down to Asia, to do the Maharajah Jungle Trek. Real quiet, only a couple of other folks on the walk. All the animals were visible. Found out that there are some new species of birds in the bird aviary, not listed on the charts they provide. Afterwards walked back up to "It's tough to be a Bug', and then on to Dinosaur. By this time it's 11:00. Drop son off at Disney Quest for the afternoon, while wife and I went back to Epcot. Went by Epcot but by 1200 the standby line for Test Track was +60 minutes, and the fast passes were for 3:40-4:40. So we walked/boated down to American Journey, caught the Voices of Liberty & the show, Headed back to pick up son at Disney Quest at 3:00 pm. Went back to hotel to relax, had leftovers from Rainforest Café for supper. Headed for MGM to see Fantasmic. We got there about 6:30, just after the gates had opened, and got good seats 10 rows back in Mickey section (center). By 7:30 pm, they were 1/2 to 3/4 full, and by 8:00 they were totally full, with the exception of a few seats for the dinner & a show folks on the far right. I'd recommend bringing some type of seat cushion; those metal benches get hard after 2 hours.
Day 6, Thursday 26 April. Started the day at Typhoon Lagoon, spent a couple of hours there. From there headed to MGM to see B.B Good at Radio Disney. Grabbed some lunch, son went on Backstage Tour while wife and I went on a Tool Time hunt. I'm a big "Home Improvement" fan, and like the "Binford" stuff. The usual location for this stuff, the AFI store, had some tee shirts, hats, mugs, and VHS tapes of the final episode. They also had some nice Binford polo shirts, but only in XL & 2XL, which are way too big. So we wandered back up thru various stores, just to pass the time, and in the 5 & 10 Store found the same Tool time merchandise, but they had exactly 1 large polo shirt, so I got it. I was also able to, for $8, get my name embroidered on it, which will be a very nice memory. Wandered thru the animation store, to see what was new. Then wandered back down to Radio Disney, to meet B.B. after her show. My son and wife are big fans of her. We were waiting there about 3:45 when her producer came out, took my son's name, as well as another kid's name who was also waiting, and a few minutes later, B.B said hi to them on the air. Her producer brought out a big journal type book, which B.B has all the kids she says hi to on the air autograph, and my son got to write/draw in it. About 5 minutes after her show was over, B.B. came out, talked to the kids, signed autographs, posed for pictures, and gave them some postcards and other little trinkets. Real nice time. Came back to the room and rested for a bit. Then went over to MK for supper at Cosmic Ray's, where I had the only food so far that I didn't like. I had the Steak and Cheese sub, and the cheese was way too runny, and just killed the sandwich. Then rode Buzz again, via fast pass, where my wife beat both of us in score. I came back to the room, while the son and wife went to go for a big monorail ride to Epcot and back. We've ridden up front in the monorail before, but this time when my son and wife rode up front, they were given "official co-pilot" licenses, the size of a business card. A nice touch. At 9:30 went down to the WL beach, first to watch the MK fireworks, then to tape the electrical water parade, about the only parade I don't have on tape.
Again, as the wife and I walked thru the MK, and especially thru Tomorrowland, we were struck by the lack of painting/maintenance. The whole MK is starting to show its age. There are cracked tiles/walkways throughout. Even the seats on the boats from MK to WLV need a fresh coat of paint. The docks at MK also had areas that needed paint. Another thing we noticed at the various parks is that the shows are not as often as they used to be. For example, they only had 3 performances of Playhouse Disney at 3:45, 4:45, and 6:00. Figure out those times, for a show for the young-uns.
On the plus side, most of the street entertainment at the various parks was in full swing. Over at MGM, the street actors were out, as well as various characters, etc. Mickey has his own picture area, next to WWTBAM, also, out in front of the hat is a popular place to meet characters. My son was able to get Mulan and Phil's autographs, some of the few he doesn't already have. When we were at the MK for the parade the other day, the Dapper Dans were out, driving up/down the street and singing. They even stopped at one point and sang happy birthday to one elderly lady. The mayor of Main Street wandered down before the parade. Over at Epcot, they had the fountain going every half hour. All of the cast members we came in contact with were cheerful and helpful.
Day 7, Friday 26 April. Started the day at Epcot, to ride Test Track. Gates opened up 15 minutes early, by the time we got to TT at 9:10ish, the standby line was 45 minutes, but Fastpasses were only 30 minutes away. So, we wandered around for a bit, and then rode it. After that, wife and son wandered over to Honey I Shrunk the Audience, while I wandered thru Innoventions. They didn't get to see the show; it closed down due to technical difficulties. Wandered down to Mexico for lunch, then headed over to AK, for some souvenir hunting for my son and the petting zoo for my wife. Back to the hotel to shed stuff, and drop son off at DisneyQuest while we went out to Publix to get drinks for the ride back. Went to supper at MK, son rode Space Mountain one last time. Wanted to eat at Columbia Harbour House, but got there at 5:10, and they're only open from 11:00 to 5:00, so went up to the Plaza Restaurant, where there was no waiting. Came back to hotel to pack up and end the vacation.
Saturday, 27 April. Uneventful, long (14.5 hour) drive back to Baltimore. Leave WL at 7:45 am; get back around 10:30 pm.
Overall, we had a great time. With the exception of the security checks and the wear and tear evident in many places, especially in the MK, it felt just like the WDW of old. All week long, the morning times were the best time to ride the various rides, typically by noon the lines were getting long. As is to be expected, the lines/crowds seemed worse at the MK, with all the young kids around. Thursday and Friday, there were a lot more teen-age kids around, due to the Robotics competition being held at Epcot.
Robert A. Yetman
bobyetman@comcast.net