Trip Reports
02-20-2007, 09:50 PM
Anthony Mathenia - February 2003 - All Star Movies
Time of Year: Winter
Travel Method: Personal car
Resort: ASMR
Accommodations: Standard
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
Comments: This will be a rare opportunity for trip report readers, the opportunity to relive the first visit of a bunch of rookies! Anthony visited several times as a kid, but this his first adult visit, and the first visit of any kind for his wife, Rebekah, and young daughter Mina. Enjoy.
Anthony Mathenia -- February 2003 -- Walt Disney World (ASMR)
Growing up with grandparents in Florida I could rely on visit to Walt Disney World every couple of years. To this day those vacations prove to be some of my fondest memories. And with a kid of my own now it was only a manner of time before I carried on the tradition. The now GREAT-grandparents are still in Florida and so is Disney World, both have aged gracefully.
Our family vacations in the past have been to major US Cities like San Francisco, Boston, and New York. These were little weekend affairs where, with the exception of hotel room, not much planning or forethought went into them. Disney would be different, in length (a week), in planning (lots), and money (lots and lots).
On the planning front I made use of Frommer’s Guide to Walt Disney World (2003) with its negative “why in the world are you wasting your time going to that tourist trap?” approach to WDW. The most helpful resource was the Internet and websites like MousePlanet.com and MouseSavers.com. I dissected each trip review picking out the good and the bad. (The only downside of reading the trip reports was that I was burnt out on Off Kilter and the Comedy Warehouse before I left.)
We usually fly but for some reason it felt right to drive from St. Louis, MO to Florida. That whole reminiscence of a big family road trip came flooding back. So we loaded up as follows:
Anthony (26)
Role: The Dad
WDW Experience: 6 or so visits as child. Hasn’t been in a decade.
Rebekah (24)
Role: The Mom, Child wrangler,
WDW Experience: None
Mina (5)
Role: Spoiled Daughter
WDW Experience: Watched the WDW travel video several times.
The first leg of our drive was challenging as we were hit with precipitation of every kind. Rain switched to snow and changed to ice and then swapped out to sleet. This problem was compounded by the fact that our intermittent wipers decided to be randomly intermittent. That is to say they would just freeze up now and then for a minute before they would start working again. Before the trip we checked the oil and the tires but we didn’t once think about checking the wiper motor—live and learn. I immediately began worrying that this would plague us through the hills of Tennessee. However once we hit Kentucky everything was pretty clear and it stayed that way for the rest of the drive.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY (February 7 and 8, 2003)
We arrived in Florida in record time. (At least record for me.) We stopped off at Bob Evans for some much needed “real” food after a night of draining a Pringles can, bags of candy and untold gallons of soda. (At this point I put my diet of three-weeks on temporary hiatus. I’m not planning on overeating but sticking religiously to my 1,000 calorie starvation diet just isn’t happening.)
Our first stop was Naples, FL were we stayed with my grandparents for a couple days. I always laugh when I see the “retiree” section of Florida. Everything is so pastel and otherworldly. (Todd Solondz really captured this look in his movie Happiness). I found my Grandparents street and was told to look for the sherbet colored house. OK which one? We finally found their strawberry sherbet colored house with screened in porch and their car out front.
So the next two days was spent catching up and letting Mina enjoy the company of her great-grandparents (and vice-versa). We hit the beach, picked oranges, did a little shopping, but mainly just relaxed. I always get a kick out of Naples. It is obvious the local economy is keeping the rich happy. We took a drive through their main shopping district on 5th avenue which is trying desperately to be Beverly Hills. It’s kind of obnoxious really, lacking any real culture, basically just so much shallow materialism. Wait that is Beverly Hills! Mission accomplished!
SUNDAY (February 9, 2003)
After this all too short visit we climbed back North heading toward Walt Disney World. Our goal for today was to get checked into our hotel, All Star Movies (ASMo) and make our dinner PS’s at the California Grill.
Historically, when I take vacation I’ll try to splurge on the hotel room. But, those vacations where just for a few days. Staying at Disney for the week and having to spring for tickets, over-priced food, and souvenirs we had to scale back somewhere. So we decided to go with the value accommodations.
Ticket-wise we went with the Ultimate Park Hoppers. Since I hadn’t been to Walt Disney World in a while I wasn’t 100% committed to what I wanted to do. So I we decided to spend a little bit and get flexibility. So if we decided to skip the parks and go to water parks every day or hit DisneyQuest every night we were covered.
Since Disney discontinued discounts on length of stay (ultimate park hoppers) unless they were purchased ahead of time we had a little bit of a dilemma. Originally we were told that when you checked in you could get the tickets and have the clerk shave off the arrival and departure day. But since we now had to buy in advance the best we could do was to make three separate reservations. One for the day we arrive, one for the day we leave, and one for the rest of week which had the length-of-stay tickets attached to it. I faxed a room request politely asking that we get the same room for all of our reservations. The thought of having to transfer rooms two times was none too appealing.
Around 2:00pm we made it to the ASMo and checked into our room in the Buzz Lightyear building of the Toy Story section. My daughter Mina was just slack jawed looking at the pool and immediately wanted to swim. We placated her with promises of swimming later and jumped on to the transport and headed out to the Contemporary resort for our 5:30 reservations at the California Grill.
When we got to the grill it was mine turn to go slack-jawed. We were seated at a table by the glass window directly in view of Cinderella’s castle so I took it upon myself to bide our time and wait out for the fireworks. (We really strectchhhhhhhed out our dinner. “Yes of course we want dessert. Take your time.”)
Dinner started off with the Triple-Cheese, triple-garlic flat bread with sun dried tomatoes which was almost pizza like and really good. I also grabbed a Sushi sampler which was pretty good but not the best I’ve ever had. For our main course I had Wild Sturgeon with a Rock Shrimp Risotto and infused blood oranges. My wife had roasted chicken confit. My daughter had macaroni and cheese. I always get a chuckle at how these “posh” restaurants always try to wow you with the entrée names containing a laundry list of adjectives. Such and such infused with something other with encrusted this and that and topped with thus and such. Against a backdrop of picture perfect fireworks and dim lights we enjoyed desert. The wife and I shared a decent Apple tart with caramel ice cream and my daughter had plain ice cream. All and all the food was above average but not excellent. The service was super-efficient but not overly-friendly. With drinks and tip we were set back $140.00.
After finally making it back to the hotel I had to make good on an earlier promise to take my daughter swimming. So despite a temperature of 60 or something we put on our swimming suits and hung out at the heated wading pool under a canopy of rising mist.
MONDAY (February 10, 2003)
Mickey’s high-pitched voice woke us up early and we hauled over to the Animal Kingdom via Disney’s Transportation a little bit prior to the Extra Magic Morning opening. When the gate opened we got a stroller for Mina and trucked over to the Kilimanjaro Safari which was a long walk on. I think it took five minutes or so just to walk through that mile long queue area. We all liked it; especially Mina who is loves animals.
We then checked out DinoLand USA and the Dinosaur ride. In the lobby Mina got scared and protested; but Rebekah coaxed her onto it with the usual, “it’s just pretend, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” line. Another walk on and we had a car to ourselves. While Mina didn’t love it she didn’t hate it either. Rebekah who beforehand spent ten minutes telling Mina that it was just pretend ended up terrified. Since there wasn’t a line we did the Triceratops Spin. Which isn’t nothing to write about but it was a high point for Mina…go figure the Dumbo clone keeps em’ smiling. We let Mina hang around the Boneyard for a bit and work out some energy.
Winding round the awesome Tree of Life we descended to see It’s Tough To Be A Bug. Once again Mina objected to it claiming that she didn’t want to smell the “stink” bug. We got her into the tree but she absolutely, positively refused to wear the 3-D glasses.
It was cool that day so we bypassed the rapids that promised that you would get soaked and ended up at Camp Minnie-Mickey where we saw Festival of Lion King. It was a little too gay for me but it was good to sit down after the morning marathon. This brought us to about noon and it started to pour a little. We shelled out the cash and snatched up those god-awful ponchos and made our way back to the All Star Movies for a little lunch and some downtime.
After recouping a bit we headed out for some shopping at Downtown Disney. We hit World of Disney and grabbed a few odds and ends, Guest of Honor nametags, and a Cinderella dress for Mina. (My Guest of Honor nametag got me in a couple of awkward situations during the trip. People assumed that I worked at WDW I would come up to me asking for directions or help. When I told them I didn’t work for Disney they would give me an irritated look like I was pulling their leg.) We played a bit in the Lego area and then tried out some of attractions at DisneyQuest. Rebekah and I went on the virtual Jungle Cruise and sucked then I built a Virtual Space Mountain coaster that sucked. (Tip for next time: Get the most bang for your buck: loop, corkscrew repeat.) We took dinner at Planet Hollywood which was filled with eye candy. Mina, who watches The Wizard of Oz daily, easily spotted Dorothy’s dress on display.
As dusk approached the stayovers from the cheerleader competition held the previous week arrived in mass to go to the clubs. I turned to follow them but a sharp elbow to the ribcage delivered by Rebekah made me do an immediate 180. We ended our day with a bit more swimming and “Joe Millionaire” on TV back at the hotel.
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Kilimanjaro Safari
Anthony ****
Rebekah ****
Mina ****
Dinosaur
Anthony ****
Rebekah *
Mina **
Triceratops Spin
Anthony *
Rebekah **
Mina ****
Festival of the Lion King
Anthony *
Rebekah ****
Mina **
It’s Tough To Be A Bug
Anthony ***
Rebekah ***
Mina *
TUESDAY (February 11, 2003)
Disney MGM Studios
RIDES
Another early start and we arrived at the gate before resort guest opening. When the gates parted Rebekah veered left for the park map and I veered right for stroller rental. With the necessary business at hand we headed for the two big headliners.
I ran on to Rock and Roll Roller Coaster which had me screaming with pure gut joy and then I charged over to the Tower of Terror. Not a huge thrill but well done with top-of-line scenery and effects. Rebekah and Mina set out these two rides. After that the whole family went on the Great Movie Ride. I was worried that the Alien might frighten Mina but when the Gangster took over our car and the bullets started flying Mina hit the ground crying. She thought for sure we were gonna die! After comforting her she enjoyed the rest of the ride, primarily The Wizard of Oz portions.
We got Mina onto Star Tours with very little coaxing. She enjoyed the preshow but was apathetic toward the ride. Rebekah observed that our tour shuttle smelled like vomit. I told her these simulator rides are usually the stomach churners for some reason.
A large chunk of the day was spent in the Honey I Shrunk The Kids play area. Mina was able to navigate through those tunnels with relative ease. Even though I’m short I kept smacking my head when it was my turn to chase after her. We had to pry Mina away from this area we could have easily spent the whole day in this attraction.
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Tower of Terror
Anthony ***
Rock and Roll Roller Coaster
Anthony ****
Star Tours
Anthony **
Rebekah **
Mina **
SHOWS
We arrived at Muppet Vision 3-D in time to watch the entire pre-show which was really funny. We coerced Mina into giving the 3-D glasses a shot after she had flat out refused to do the same at It’s Tough to Be A Bug. We are beginning to find out she is pretty apprehensive about everything and it’s taking a lot of patience and persistence to get her on to rides. It’s mainly just fear of the unknown. I got onto the board briefly at Who Want’s To Be A Millionaire but alas it wasn’t enough to get in the hot seat. We ended the day with Fantasmic. The scope and execution of the thing was so much more that the tour books described. They said don’t miss but I didn’t understand until I saw it. Awesome!
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Muppet Vision 3-D
Anthony ***
Rebekah ***
Mina **
Who Want’s To Be A Millionaire
Anthony ****
Rebekah ****
Mina *
Fantasmic
Anthony ****
Rebekah ****
Mina ***
FOODAround one o’clock we headed out to the 50’s Prime Time Diner. The theming of the place was neat. Everywhere I looked I saw some kitsch piece that I recognized from various old people’s home I knew. Every two seconds it was like “OHMYGOD! It’s the bull and matador statue from Aunt Ethel’s” Our waitress was a little low-key, a good thing considering we are low-key people. My wife, Rebekah nearly melted when our section was coerced into scolding her for covering her half uneaten plate with a napkin attempting to hide that she didn’t clean her plate. I could only imagine the impact if we gotten one of the servers who are really into their job! Mina had a hot dog (Number 5 so far this trip) which she loved, Rebekah got the pot roast which she liked, and I got Chicken Pot Pie which was not so good. The total damage was $50.00 with a tip. The rest of the day was filled with cotton candy, pretzels, many, many hot dogs grabbed here and there.
CHARACTERS
(The good, the bad, the ugly)
The characters were out in force on this beautiful sunny day. It’s a far cry from my youth where you had to hunt for characters. Mina, although to shy too talk to the characters, wanted an autograph book so Rebekah and I took turns getting signatures for her. (The nametags came in handy here because many times the characters would personalize their autograph to Mina.) Baloo wasn’t content to let Mina sit idly by and watch her mother and I have all the fun. He went out of his way to approach her and tickle her until she begrudgingly let out a tiny smile. It was like when Anne Frank gets Helen Keller to say “wa-wa”, granted it’s not a Shakespearean sonnet but it’s awesome in perspective. I got to meet one of my loves, Alice, but was crest fallen when she joked that I had hedge-hog hair. We also got to meet the villains Cruella and The Queen. I was impressed by the degree these gals stayed in character. They’d put children in tears (literally) and not even let out a smile to comfort then and let them in on the joke. It wasn’t just the kids though. One old dude got handsy with Cruella and she refused to get her picture taken with her. He left and mumbled “old bag” under his breath.
OTHER
Today Rebekah discovered Pin Trading. Before the trip we picked up a few at our Disney Store because they were on clearance at less than 10%. We got complimentary lanyards with our trip packaged that included a couple lackluster pins. So what started out as trying to trade off our free and cheap pins for better ones ended up with Rebekah eagle-eyeing any cast members in a ten-yard radius with a lanyard trading and swapping.
WEDNESDAY (February 12, 2003)
Today we set out to explore Epcot. I had vague memories of this park since going there shortly after it had been open. I must admit that I was a “little” let down. Future World seemed somewhat dated contrasting to my childhood memory of it being really cutting-edge and cool. As a kid apart from getting origami paper at the Japan pavilion, I didn’t care for the World Showcase however now as an adult it seems a nice change of pace.
When the gates dropped we were working toward Test Track when we were ambushed by a double-decker bus blaring party music which leads us to…
CHARACTERS
As a kid all I remember Epcot having was Mickey Mouse and Pluto in space age (tin-foil/gay pride) costumes roaming around. I surprised when the bus pulled out with characters crammed in like one of those clown cars at the circus. Mina, while still not totally warming up to the characters was getting comfortable enough to approach them with me or her mother and get an autograph. I began to discover that the best part of these character encounters was the Japanese girls running after the characters like they are rock stars yelling “Doonarudu, Doonarudu” (Donald! Donald!) Other highlights were me being accosted by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum which got me in a game of keep away with Mina’s autograph book. I cringe when I review the video footage of this event.
FUTURE WORLD
As the characters loaded up we began to explore Future World. Once again we decided to get the popular ride out the way, Test Track. Mina was hesitant but we told her it was a fast car ride and not all that scary. After being measured and barely scraping by the 40” requirement we walked on and experienced Test Track. It was well done and themed nicely. Rebekah, Mina, and I enjoyed it.
Next we navigated over to the entrance to Spaceship Earth and walked on to it. It’s kind of corny but it’s an Epcot classic. The Body pavilion was open now and we went and road Body Wars which made me a little queasy for some reason. Mina is obsessed with having babies so we let her watch The Making of Me which was gentle and told just enough of the mechanics of the process without making me blush. (If they plan on keeping this around Disney should consider a digital presentation. The film stock was grainy and showing its age.)
The Imagination pavilion was next up to bat we did the Journey Into Imagination ride which was pretty lame and then onto the Honey I Shrunk the Audience show which had its moments. Mina got scared at the snake. Rebekah got grossed out by the dog. All was well.
The Cooling Station was open so we rushed in for a quick taste test. We all liked the lemon soda from Israel. Rebekah and Mina liked the Japanese fruit drink. And yes Beverly from Italy is as bad as you’ve heard.
Refreshed it was onto…
THE WORLD SHOWCASE
We were kind of getting hungry so we rushed over to the Japanese counter-service at the Yakitori House. I got Tempura Udon and Rebekah got Tempura Soba which she shared a little with Mina. The food was good, especially for a “fast-food” place and the total bill was under $20.00. Having filled our bellies we were going to start filling our shopping bags. We hit the Japanese store and I grabbed some Pocky snacks (chocolate covered spaghetti-thin biscuits) and Meiji Fruit Drops. Mina is getting quite skilled with chopsticks so we got her some Tonami No Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) chopsticks. At this time we did the first Kidcot stop of the day. They had these masks that the kids could color and take with them to each land. There they would get a little trinket attached to their mask and a stamp. For instance at the Japanese stop Mina got an origami star on her mask at Morocco they put on a couple of beads. This was a great touch that made touring the sprawling world showcase palatable for little kids. These Kidcot stops were located in the stores so while the parents shopped the kids could keep occupied, plus they got to look forward to the next stop.
So we worked our way back and forth across the World Showcase browsing. We walked on to the boat rides, Mexico and Norway. We watched street shows in France, Italy, U.K. and China. We snacked here and there. Rebekah graciously let me grab a pint of beer at the Rose and Crown. We stayed to watch the tail end of the parade and then rewarded Mina by taking her back to the hotel to swim as she had behaved better than expected.
CONCLUSION
We had mixed feeling on Epcot. Rebekah and I agreed that future world was a more epic version of the local science center. We liked the World Showcase because it presented a change of pace. At first Rebekah refused to believe it that it would be that authentic. She figured American-Asians working in China and Japan, etc. It was cool to actually have people from the different countries working and sharing. Everything was pretty much a walk on with a notable exception. I think they need to install a Fast Pass on Pastry shop in France because it had a line out the door!
Spaceship Earth
Anthony **
Rebekah ***
Mina ***
Body Wars
Anthony *
Rebekah *
Mina *
The Making of Me
Anthony **
Rebekah **
Mina ***
Journey Into Imagination
Anthony **
Rebekah *
Mina ***
Honey I Shrunk The Audience
Anthony **
Rebekah **
Mina *
THURSDAY (February 13, 2003)
Thursday brought “Extra Magic Hour” at the Magic Kingdom so we, along with practically everyone staying on property it seemed, got to the gates and waited for the opening. The Magic Kingdom was the park I was most familiar with and I was looking forward to revisiting those old comfortable attractions.
When the gate opened we got the stroller and the plan was to make a beeline for Space Mountain, because that’s what you’re supposed to do, right? Our plans quickly ground to a screeching halt when we spotted the normally reclusive Daisy Duck outside. We went and got her name in Mina’s book and I snapped a picture and we were on our way to Tommorrowland. At Space Mountain the posted wait was 0 minutes so I rushed right in and told Rebekah and regrettably short Mina I would be “right back”. When I got to the end of one hall I saw the line which gave me a ten-minute wait. I remember this being the coolest ride from my childhood but now it feels rickety and old, it harkens back to a day when the coasters would really give your back and neck a workout without really doing anything exciting. Upon exiting the ride the stand-by had already jumped to 30 minutes. I think practically everyone makes Space Mountain their first stop so even when the crowds are low it’s not a walk-on. Buzz Lightyear was closed for refurbishment so we headed out to Fantasyland
FANTASYLANDWe entered Fantasyland to a swarm of kids and strollers. I figured that we should get the real slow-loaders out of the way so Rebekah stood in line for Dumbo while I took Mina to the Carousel. After her little horse ride Mina went back and rode Dumbo with Rebekah while I stood by with the camcorder and got a few of those typical Disney Commercial shots with the smiling family riding the smiling elephants. Pooh was up to a twenty-minute wait so I grabbed Fast-Passes and we went and stood in line for Peter Pan’s Flight. After this ten minute wait we loaded into our “pirate ship” and took to skies over London faithfully recreated to look dingy and dirty, then we made way for Neverland which was faithfully recreated to look….err….dingy and dirty? Mina wide-eyed liked the ride. It’s A Small World was a quick walk-on so we went on it for Mina and Rebekah (a first timer) sake. I spent pretty much the whole ride looking up and counting the holes in the ceiling. For the first time our trip we actually used Fast Passes and with them walked by all the waiting people to experience the Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. It was pretty good and the moving, bouncing hunny pot ride vehicle added a definite improvement to the tired dark ride genre. After surviving the blustery day we were ready to bid Fantasyland farewell but lack of queue for Snow White forced us to go ahead and get it out of the way. Next up was Frontierland and Liberty Square
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Dumbo
Rebekah ***
Mina ***
Snow White’s Scary Adventure
Anthony *
Rebekah *
Mina *
Peter Pan’s Flight
Anthony **
Rebekah **
Mina ***
It’s A Small World
Anthony **
Rebekah ***
Mina ****
FRONTEIRLAND AND LIBERTY SQUARE
We passed through Liberty Square on route to Frontierland and were disappointed to learn that the paddle-boat was down for the day. <sarcasm>It was really the best ride in the whole park</sarcasm>. I really wanted to go on Splash Mountain but I knew that Mina would freak out if she saw the drop, which looks intimidating. I tried to walk in front of the stroller to shield her eyes but she managed to see it and started screaming, “No water rides.” Rebekah calmed her nerves and talked her into giving it a shot. It was a walk on probably due to the morning chill and the wet aspect. We were loaded into the front and as soon as her butts hit the soggy seat we knew we were in for trouble. And in our excitement neither of us thought to pull out our Mickey ponchos. I was impressed with how long the ride was as I assumed it was pretty much going to pull you up, give you a little eye candy, and then drop you down. I grabbed Fast Passes for Thunder Mountain and we backtracked to the Haunted Mansion which we were simply referring to as “the Mansion” for the sake of easily intimidated ears. After a brief wait we were ushered in and Mina started freaking out thinking that we had somehow managed to dupe her into getting on the Tower of Terror. She calmed down after we convinced her we were at “the Mansion”. Rebekah was really impressed with the ghosts in the ball-room, Mina was scared but stoic, I was apathetic. Afterward we trekked back to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with Mina thinking a ghost was following her home as announced by the Mansion narrator. The Railroad was fun and officially Mina’s first roller-coaster and surprisingly enough she loved it (except for the bats)! A little hungry we grabbed Mina a quick hot-dog (again) and caught the raft over to Tom Sawyer’s island with promises of ham-sandwiches over at Polly’s upon arrival. Cut to arrival where we find out that Polly’s has become a dessert only affair. The stomachs that weren’t filled with hot-dog were rumbling so we grabbed an Apple Pie topped with ice cream, caramel and whipped cream to share. Once I set it down Mina grabbed it and started devouring it while those of us who didn’t get the hot dog sat idly by. We explored for a bit and the departed for Adventureland!
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Splash Mountain
Anthony ****
Rebekah ***
Mina ***
Big Thunder Mountain
Anthony ***
Rebekah ***
Mina ****
Haunted Mansion
Anthony **
Rebekah ****
Mina **
ADVENTURELAND
I rushed ahead and grabbed Fast Passes for Jungle Cruise which had a 30-minute wait posted while Rebekah stayed behind and waited for Peter Pan and Wendy’s signatures. We braved the waters of the Caribbean and the Pirates and then braved the Polynesian Tiki Birds which put on a good show. (My only complaint is that Iago cut short the classic theme song.) We took a brief tour of the sprawling Swiss Family Robison’s house with its blatant disregard with any rules for architecture. Can you imagine having to hike down several flights of stairs to get a snack from the kitchen? The exotic Jungle Cruise then beckoned so we made our way over and rode it. Out tour guide was obviously bored but he incorporated into his schtick which had its moments.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Anthony ***
Rebekah **
Mina **
Tiki Birds
Anthony ***
Rebekah ***
Mina ***
Swiss Family Robison’s Tree house
Anthony *
Rebekah ***
Mina **
Jungle Cruise
Anthony ***
Rebekah ***
Mina **
PARADE
We walked back to Fronteirland and positioned ourselves in front of the rope. Rebekah held the space while I procured a Cheeseburger across the way at Pecos Bill’s. We split the cheeseburger and watched the parade. Out intent was then to go to Mickey’s Toontown Fair but Mina had quickly fallen to sleep so we decided to cut our day off and try something else.
THE REST OF THE DAY
First we hopped a bus and took it to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to see if we might like to stay there next time. Mina started talking about ice cream and I remembered reading good things about “Beaches and Cream” but couldn’t remember where it was. Guest Services told us to get on a bus to MGM and then transfer to the Beach Club. At MGM I was looking for the bus to the Beach Club, I didn’t see it so I asked one of the bus drivers who pointed at a boat that was just pulling out of the dock. I imagined running down the dock and leaping onto the boat like in the movies but decided to wait for the next one and pass time feeding the ducks. The next boat took us over to the Beach Club and we found the ice cream place. Mina had a scoop of chocolate and sprinkles and Rebekah and I shared a massive Chocolate Brownie Sunday with three scoops of ice cream.
With ice cream headaches we took a look at the very cool Stormalong Bay pool at the beach club. We then walked across international drive and found ourselves back at Epcot via the back entrance.
BACK AT EPCOT
Rebekah wanted to watch the parade up-close since we only caught the end of it at a distance the previous day. We were trying to think of good place to eat but ended up just hitting American Food, another hotdog, burger, and chicken strips. We enjoyed the parade and then caught the American Adventure show. We agreed that the animatronics were the best ever, but the show itself was a little over-the-top and ham-fisted in the patriotic pride department. At this time I was feeling a little tired but I was determined to see Illuminations. We picked a prime viewing spot along the rail between America and Japan and were wowed by this firework extravaganza. Nothing is as cool as when the night lights up as bright as day when those fireworks go off or when the flames in the lagoon briefly take the chill out of the night.
FRIDAY (February 14, 2003)
As Friday, out last day at the parks dawned, we really had one objective, make our character breakfast at the castle the rest of the day we would play by ear. We got ready and Mina put on her Cinderella dress and we traveled to the magic kingdom by horse drawn carriage—well it was actually a bus but bare with me I’m trying to get a mood going
Upon arriving at the Kingdom it was apparent that the low-crowds that welcomed us at the beginning of the week were replaced by heavy-crowds to see us off. The swarms just going in for the two character breakfast were impressive. We made our way to castle in time for our PS, but first we paused to take a couple of quick video clips and snap shots in the relatively empty park.
The royal breakfast was delicious. We were started out with a mixed fruit bowl and a pastry/bread basket. The princess got French toast sticks, scrambled eggs, and bacon the Lord and Lady got a blueberry pastry, sausage, bacon and eggs. It was all great except for the eggs that were slightly undercooked. Our total bill was something like $80 with tip. Of course we were paying for the ambience and the princesses (and nanny) who graced our table with their presence, Cinderella, Snow White, Princess Aurora, Belle, and Mary Poppins. True-to-form Mina remained shy and paid more attention to her bacon then the characters I felt a little bad for the cast members since they didn’t have much to work with. However, some really came through especially Sleeping Beauty who coaxed Mina into a hug and a smile and allowed us to get a picture. The high-point of our breakfast though was probably the little girl a couple tables over who kept pointing to one of the servers and saying, “Mommy it’s one of the wicked stepsisters. Look! Look!”
Breakfast downed and enjoyed, we headed over to Mickey’s Toontown Fair which was closed until 10:00am. We asked Mina what she wanted to do. Much to our chagrin she proclaimed “Small World”. Small World song now firmly implanted in our head for the second day in a row we dashed over and took on the teacups just to say we did. Now that the Toontown Fair was open for business we let Mina explore Minnie’s House, met Ariel and Tigger, and then went to Mickey’s House to get the final and most important autograph of the trip. The Cast Member with Mickey was kind of rushing us to leave after it was obvious that Mina was intent on hiding behind her Mom instead of showering the mouse in usual hugs and kisses. But Mickey skillfully and gently grabbed her hand and then did a little bit of a ball room dance with her. It was both funny and charming. This trip Mina discovered roller coasters in a big way, we rode Barnstormer and after riding she begged to ride again so we did.
12:00 o’clock was approaching and time for our little Cinderella to lose our pretty dress. (So what it was the afternoon and not midnight?) We took the Walt Disney Railroad back to the entrance and took our bus back to the hotel to change into more comfortable clothes.
We went back to MGM and played Millionaire once, twice, three times and four times. The game is somewhat addicting and I really wanted to get in the hot seat but the closest I came was number two on the board. A little disappointed we decided to trot back over to the magic kingdom and finish off with Spectromagic and the Fireworks. It was six o’clock which gave us about an hour to make it. We ran to the queue for the magic kingdom bus that too long so I quickly came up with alternate but not necessarily better approach. We took an empty Wilderness Lodge bus to that resort jumped on a bus there and took it to the TTC and then hopped a monorail just pulling into the station to finally get to the Magic Kingdom. We were just able to find a decent viewing sport for by the railroad station for Spectromagic as the lights dimmed and the parade started. The parade was interesting but at times it was a little too gaudy.
Afterward like a salmon swimming upstream we worked our way up main street trailing the parade as everyone else seems to be bolting for the exit. We took refuge in the ice cream shop and then went to look for a good viewing spot for Fantasy in Sky. We chose a bridge that circles the castle and had a good view of the Tinker Bell who began her flight and zipped right over our heads. We watched the final fireworks and then did the running of the bulls ride—I mean the get out of the crowded park down main street.
Tired, so very tired, we found ourselves at the longest bus line ever. Everyone it seemed was staying at All Star Movies. To Disney’s credit they did a good job of keeping the buses rolling in and loading. However it was still slow moving. One of the reasons for the wait is that practically every kid had one of these huge Tinker Bell Balloons. Honestly they could have filled a bus with all the Tinker Bell balloons and sent it back to the hotel. I evilly wished that the All-Stars would enact a no balloon policy like the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Back at the hotel we crashed and awoke the next day ready to head home. Upon returning home we were ready to head back. I think I started a new tradition.
Anthony Mathenia
Time of Year: Winter
Travel Method: Personal car
Resort: ASMR
Accommodations: Standard
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
Comments: This will be a rare opportunity for trip report readers, the opportunity to relive the first visit of a bunch of rookies! Anthony visited several times as a kid, but this his first adult visit, and the first visit of any kind for his wife, Rebekah, and young daughter Mina. Enjoy.
Anthony Mathenia -- February 2003 -- Walt Disney World (ASMR)
Growing up with grandparents in Florida I could rely on visit to Walt Disney World every couple of years. To this day those vacations prove to be some of my fondest memories. And with a kid of my own now it was only a manner of time before I carried on the tradition. The now GREAT-grandparents are still in Florida and so is Disney World, both have aged gracefully.
Our family vacations in the past have been to major US Cities like San Francisco, Boston, and New York. These were little weekend affairs where, with the exception of hotel room, not much planning or forethought went into them. Disney would be different, in length (a week), in planning (lots), and money (lots and lots).
On the planning front I made use of Frommer’s Guide to Walt Disney World (2003) with its negative “why in the world are you wasting your time going to that tourist trap?” approach to WDW. The most helpful resource was the Internet and websites like MousePlanet.com and MouseSavers.com. I dissected each trip review picking out the good and the bad. (The only downside of reading the trip reports was that I was burnt out on Off Kilter and the Comedy Warehouse before I left.)
We usually fly but for some reason it felt right to drive from St. Louis, MO to Florida. That whole reminiscence of a big family road trip came flooding back. So we loaded up as follows:
Anthony (26)
Role: The Dad
WDW Experience: 6 or so visits as child. Hasn’t been in a decade.
Rebekah (24)
Role: The Mom, Child wrangler,
WDW Experience: None
Mina (5)
Role: Spoiled Daughter
WDW Experience: Watched the WDW travel video several times.
The first leg of our drive was challenging as we were hit with precipitation of every kind. Rain switched to snow and changed to ice and then swapped out to sleet. This problem was compounded by the fact that our intermittent wipers decided to be randomly intermittent. That is to say they would just freeze up now and then for a minute before they would start working again. Before the trip we checked the oil and the tires but we didn’t once think about checking the wiper motor—live and learn. I immediately began worrying that this would plague us through the hills of Tennessee. However once we hit Kentucky everything was pretty clear and it stayed that way for the rest of the drive.
FRIDAY & SATURDAY (February 7 and 8, 2003)
We arrived in Florida in record time. (At least record for me.) We stopped off at Bob Evans for some much needed “real” food after a night of draining a Pringles can, bags of candy and untold gallons of soda. (At this point I put my diet of three-weeks on temporary hiatus. I’m not planning on overeating but sticking religiously to my 1,000 calorie starvation diet just isn’t happening.)
Our first stop was Naples, FL were we stayed with my grandparents for a couple days. I always laugh when I see the “retiree” section of Florida. Everything is so pastel and otherworldly. (Todd Solondz really captured this look in his movie Happiness). I found my Grandparents street and was told to look for the sherbet colored house. OK which one? We finally found their strawberry sherbet colored house with screened in porch and their car out front.
So the next two days was spent catching up and letting Mina enjoy the company of her great-grandparents (and vice-versa). We hit the beach, picked oranges, did a little shopping, but mainly just relaxed. I always get a kick out of Naples. It is obvious the local economy is keeping the rich happy. We took a drive through their main shopping district on 5th avenue which is trying desperately to be Beverly Hills. It’s kind of obnoxious really, lacking any real culture, basically just so much shallow materialism. Wait that is Beverly Hills! Mission accomplished!
SUNDAY (February 9, 2003)
After this all too short visit we climbed back North heading toward Walt Disney World. Our goal for today was to get checked into our hotel, All Star Movies (ASMo) and make our dinner PS’s at the California Grill.
Historically, when I take vacation I’ll try to splurge on the hotel room. But, those vacations where just for a few days. Staying at Disney for the week and having to spring for tickets, over-priced food, and souvenirs we had to scale back somewhere. So we decided to go with the value accommodations.
Ticket-wise we went with the Ultimate Park Hoppers. Since I hadn’t been to Walt Disney World in a while I wasn’t 100% committed to what I wanted to do. So I we decided to spend a little bit and get flexibility. So if we decided to skip the parks and go to water parks every day or hit DisneyQuest every night we were covered.
Since Disney discontinued discounts on length of stay (ultimate park hoppers) unless they were purchased ahead of time we had a little bit of a dilemma. Originally we were told that when you checked in you could get the tickets and have the clerk shave off the arrival and departure day. But since we now had to buy in advance the best we could do was to make three separate reservations. One for the day we arrive, one for the day we leave, and one for the rest of week which had the length-of-stay tickets attached to it. I faxed a room request politely asking that we get the same room for all of our reservations. The thought of having to transfer rooms two times was none too appealing.
Around 2:00pm we made it to the ASMo and checked into our room in the Buzz Lightyear building of the Toy Story section. My daughter Mina was just slack jawed looking at the pool and immediately wanted to swim. We placated her with promises of swimming later and jumped on to the transport and headed out to the Contemporary resort for our 5:30 reservations at the California Grill.
When we got to the grill it was mine turn to go slack-jawed. We were seated at a table by the glass window directly in view of Cinderella’s castle so I took it upon myself to bide our time and wait out for the fireworks. (We really strectchhhhhhhed out our dinner. “Yes of course we want dessert. Take your time.”)
Dinner started off with the Triple-Cheese, triple-garlic flat bread with sun dried tomatoes which was almost pizza like and really good. I also grabbed a Sushi sampler which was pretty good but not the best I’ve ever had. For our main course I had Wild Sturgeon with a Rock Shrimp Risotto and infused blood oranges. My wife had roasted chicken confit. My daughter had macaroni and cheese. I always get a chuckle at how these “posh” restaurants always try to wow you with the entrée names containing a laundry list of adjectives. Such and such infused with something other with encrusted this and that and topped with thus and such. Against a backdrop of picture perfect fireworks and dim lights we enjoyed desert. The wife and I shared a decent Apple tart with caramel ice cream and my daughter had plain ice cream. All and all the food was above average but not excellent. The service was super-efficient but not overly-friendly. With drinks and tip we were set back $140.00.
After finally making it back to the hotel I had to make good on an earlier promise to take my daughter swimming. So despite a temperature of 60 or something we put on our swimming suits and hung out at the heated wading pool under a canopy of rising mist.
MONDAY (February 10, 2003)
Mickey’s high-pitched voice woke us up early and we hauled over to the Animal Kingdom via Disney’s Transportation a little bit prior to the Extra Magic Morning opening. When the gate opened we got a stroller for Mina and trucked over to the Kilimanjaro Safari which was a long walk on. I think it took five minutes or so just to walk through that mile long queue area. We all liked it; especially Mina who is loves animals.
We then checked out DinoLand USA and the Dinosaur ride. In the lobby Mina got scared and protested; but Rebekah coaxed her onto it with the usual, “it’s just pretend, there’s nothing to be afraid of,” line. Another walk on and we had a car to ourselves. While Mina didn’t love it she didn’t hate it either. Rebekah who beforehand spent ten minutes telling Mina that it was just pretend ended up terrified. Since there wasn’t a line we did the Triceratops Spin. Which isn’t nothing to write about but it was a high point for Mina…go figure the Dumbo clone keeps em’ smiling. We let Mina hang around the Boneyard for a bit and work out some energy.
Winding round the awesome Tree of Life we descended to see It’s Tough To Be A Bug. Once again Mina objected to it claiming that she didn’t want to smell the “stink” bug. We got her into the tree but she absolutely, positively refused to wear the 3-D glasses.
It was cool that day so we bypassed the rapids that promised that you would get soaked and ended up at Camp Minnie-Mickey where we saw Festival of Lion King. It was a little too gay for me but it was good to sit down after the morning marathon. This brought us to about noon and it started to pour a little. We shelled out the cash and snatched up those god-awful ponchos and made our way back to the All Star Movies for a little lunch and some downtime.
After recouping a bit we headed out for some shopping at Downtown Disney. We hit World of Disney and grabbed a few odds and ends, Guest of Honor nametags, and a Cinderella dress for Mina. (My Guest of Honor nametag got me in a couple of awkward situations during the trip. People assumed that I worked at WDW I would come up to me asking for directions or help. When I told them I didn’t work for Disney they would give me an irritated look like I was pulling their leg.) We played a bit in the Lego area and then tried out some of attractions at DisneyQuest. Rebekah and I went on the virtual Jungle Cruise and sucked then I built a Virtual Space Mountain coaster that sucked. (Tip for next time: Get the most bang for your buck: loop, corkscrew repeat.) We took dinner at Planet Hollywood which was filled with eye candy. Mina, who watches The Wizard of Oz daily, easily spotted Dorothy’s dress on display.
As dusk approached the stayovers from the cheerleader competition held the previous week arrived in mass to go to the clubs. I turned to follow them but a sharp elbow to the ribcage delivered by Rebekah made me do an immediate 180. We ended our day with a bit more swimming and “Joe Millionaire” on TV back at the hotel.
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Kilimanjaro Safari
Anthony ****
Rebekah ****
Mina ****
Dinosaur
Anthony ****
Rebekah *
Mina **
Triceratops Spin
Anthony *
Rebekah **
Mina ****
Festival of the Lion King
Anthony *
Rebekah ****
Mina **
It’s Tough To Be A Bug
Anthony ***
Rebekah ***
Mina *
TUESDAY (February 11, 2003)
Disney MGM Studios
RIDES
Another early start and we arrived at the gate before resort guest opening. When the gates parted Rebekah veered left for the park map and I veered right for stroller rental. With the necessary business at hand we headed for the two big headliners.
I ran on to Rock and Roll Roller Coaster which had me screaming with pure gut joy and then I charged over to the Tower of Terror. Not a huge thrill but well done with top-of-line scenery and effects. Rebekah and Mina set out these two rides. After that the whole family went on the Great Movie Ride. I was worried that the Alien might frighten Mina but when the Gangster took over our car and the bullets started flying Mina hit the ground crying. She thought for sure we were gonna die! After comforting her she enjoyed the rest of the ride, primarily The Wizard of Oz portions.
We got Mina onto Star Tours with very little coaxing. She enjoyed the preshow but was apathetic toward the ride. Rebekah observed that our tour shuttle smelled like vomit. I told her these simulator rides are usually the stomach churners for some reason.
A large chunk of the day was spent in the Honey I Shrunk The Kids play area. Mina was able to navigate through those tunnels with relative ease. Even though I’m short I kept smacking my head when it was my turn to chase after her. We had to pry Mina away from this area we could have easily spent the whole day in this attraction.
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Tower of Terror
Anthony ***
Rock and Roll Roller Coaster
Anthony ****
Star Tours
Anthony **
Rebekah **
Mina **
SHOWS
We arrived at Muppet Vision 3-D in time to watch the entire pre-show which was really funny. We coerced Mina into giving the 3-D glasses a shot after she had flat out refused to do the same at It’s Tough to Be A Bug. We are beginning to find out she is pretty apprehensive about everything and it’s taking a lot of patience and persistence to get her on to rides. It’s mainly just fear of the unknown. I got onto the board briefly at Who Want’s To Be A Millionaire but alas it wasn’t enough to get in the hot seat. We ended the day with Fantasmic. The scope and execution of the thing was so much more that the tour books described. They said don’t miss but I didn’t understand until I saw it. Awesome!
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Muppet Vision 3-D
Anthony ***
Rebekah ***
Mina **
Who Want’s To Be A Millionaire
Anthony ****
Rebekah ****
Mina *
Fantasmic
Anthony ****
Rebekah ****
Mina ***
FOODAround one o’clock we headed out to the 50’s Prime Time Diner. The theming of the place was neat. Everywhere I looked I saw some kitsch piece that I recognized from various old people’s home I knew. Every two seconds it was like “OHMYGOD! It’s the bull and matador statue from Aunt Ethel’s” Our waitress was a little low-key, a good thing considering we are low-key people. My wife, Rebekah nearly melted when our section was coerced into scolding her for covering her half uneaten plate with a napkin attempting to hide that she didn’t clean her plate. I could only imagine the impact if we gotten one of the servers who are really into their job! Mina had a hot dog (Number 5 so far this trip) which she loved, Rebekah got the pot roast which she liked, and I got Chicken Pot Pie which was not so good. The total damage was $50.00 with a tip. The rest of the day was filled with cotton candy, pretzels, many, many hot dogs grabbed here and there.
CHARACTERS
(The good, the bad, the ugly)
The characters were out in force on this beautiful sunny day. It’s a far cry from my youth where you had to hunt for characters. Mina, although to shy too talk to the characters, wanted an autograph book so Rebekah and I took turns getting signatures for her. (The nametags came in handy here because many times the characters would personalize their autograph to Mina.) Baloo wasn’t content to let Mina sit idly by and watch her mother and I have all the fun. He went out of his way to approach her and tickle her until she begrudgingly let out a tiny smile. It was like when Anne Frank gets Helen Keller to say “wa-wa”, granted it’s not a Shakespearean sonnet but it’s awesome in perspective. I got to meet one of my loves, Alice, but was crest fallen when she joked that I had hedge-hog hair. We also got to meet the villains Cruella and The Queen. I was impressed by the degree these gals stayed in character. They’d put children in tears (literally) and not even let out a smile to comfort then and let them in on the joke. It wasn’t just the kids though. One old dude got handsy with Cruella and she refused to get her picture taken with her. He left and mumbled “old bag” under his breath.
OTHER
Today Rebekah discovered Pin Trading. Before the trip we picked up a few at our Disney Store because they were on clearance at less than 10%. We got complimentary lanyards with our trip packaged that included a couple lackluster pins. So what started out as trying to trade off our free and cheap pins for better ones ended up with Rebekah eagle-eyeing any cast members in a ten-yard radius with a lanyard trading and swapping.
WEDNESDAY (February 12, 2003)
Today we set out to explore Epcot. I had vague memories of this park since going there shortly after it had been open. I must admit that I was a “little” let down. Future World seemed somewhat dated contrasting to my childhood memory of it being really cutting-edge and cool. As a kid apart from getting origami paper at the Japan pavilion, I didn’t care for the World Showcase however now as an adult it seems a nice change of pace.
When the gates dropped we were working toward Test Track when we were ambushed by a double-decker bus blaring party music which leads us to…
CHARACTERS
As a kid all I remember Epcot having was Mickey Mouse and Pluto in space age (tin-foil/gay pride) costumes roaming around. I surprised when the bus pulled out with characters crammed in like one of those clown cars at the circus. Mina, while still not totally warming up to the characters was getting comfortable enough to approach them with me or her mother and get an autograph. I began to discover that the best part of these character encounters was the Japanese girls running after the characters like they are rock stars yelling “Doonarudu, Doonarudu” (Donald! Donald!) Other highlights were me being accosted by Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum which got me in a game of keep away with Mina’s autograph book. I cringe when I review the video footage of this event.
FUTURE WORLD
As the characters loaded up we began to explore Future World. Once again we decided to get the popular ride out the way, Test Track. Mina was hesitant but we told her it was a fast car ride and not all that scary. After being measured and barely scraping by the 40” requirement we walked on and experienced Test Track. It was well done and themed nicely. Rebekah, Mina, and I enjoyed it.
Next we navigated over to the entrance to Spaceship Earth and walked on to it. It’s kind of corny but it’s an Epcot classic. The Body pavilion was open now and we went and road Body Wars which made me a little queasy for some reason. Mina is obsessed with having babies so we let her watch The Making of Me which was gentle and told just enough of the mechanics of the process without making me blush. (If they plan on keeping this around Disney should consider a digital presentation. The film stock was grainy and showing its age.)
The Imagination pavilion was next up to bat we did the Journey Into Imagination ride which was pretty lame and then onto the Honey I Shrunk the Audience show which had its moments. Mina got scared at the snake. Rebekah got grossed out by the dog. All was well.
The Cooling Station was open so we rushed in for a quick taste test. We all liked the lemon soda from Israel. Rebekah and Mina liked the Japanese fruit drink. And yes Beverly from Italy is as bad as you’ve heard.
Refreshed it was onto…
THE WORLD SHOWCASE
We were kind of getting hungry so we rushed over to the Japanese counter-service at the Yakitori House. I got Tempura Udon and Rebekah got Tempura Soba which she shared a little with Mina. The food was good, especially for a “fast-food” place and the total bill was under $20.00. Having filled our bellies we were going to start filling our shopping bags. We hit the Japanese store and I grabbed some Pocky snacks (chocolate covered spaghetti-thin biscuits) and Meiji Fruit Drops. Mina is getting quite skilled with chopsticks so we got her some Tonami No Totoro (My Neighbor Totoro) chopsticks. At this time we did the first Kidcot stop of the day. They had these masks that the kids could color and take with them to each land. There they would get a little trinket attached to their mask and a stamp. For instance at the Japanese stop Mina got an origami star on her mask at Morocco they put on a couple of beads. This was a great touch that made touring the sprawling world showcase palatable for little kids. These Kidcot stops were located in the stores so while the parents shopped the kids could keep occupied, plus they got to look forward to the next stop.
So we worked our way back and forth across the World Showcase browsing. We walked on to the boat rides, Mexico and Norway. We watched street shows in France, Italy, U.K. and China. We snacked here and there. Rebekah graciously let me grab a pint of beer at the Rose and Crown. We stayed to watch the tail end of the parade and then rewarded Mina by taking her back to the hotel to swim as she had behaved better than expected.
CONCLUSION
We had mixed feeling on Epcot. Rebekah and I agreed that future world was a more epic version of the local science center. We liked the World Showcase because it presented a change of pace. At first Rebekah refused to believe it that it would be that authentic. She figured American-Asians working in China and Japan, etc. It was cool to actually have people from the different countries working and sharing. Everything was pretty much a walk on with a notable exception. I think they need to install a Fast Pass on Pastry shop in France because it had a line out the door!
Spaceship Earth
Anthony **
Rebekah ***
Mina ***
Body Wars
Anthony *
Rebekah *
Mina *
The Making of Me
Anthony **
Rebekah **
Mina ***
Journey Into Imagination
Anthony **
Rebekah *
Mina ***
Honey I Shrunk The Audience
Anthony **
Rebekah **
Mina *
THURSDAY (February 13, 2003)
Thursday brought “Extra Magic Hour” at the Magic Kingdom so we, along with practically everyone staying on property it seemed, got to the gates and waited for the opening. The Magic Kingdom was the park I was most familiar with and I was looking forward to revisiting those old comfortable attractions.
When the gate opened we got the stroller and the plan was to make a beeline for Space Mountain, because that’s what you’re supposed to do, right? Our plans quickly ground to a screeching halt when we spotted the normally reclusive Daisy Duck outside. We went and got her name in Mina’s book and I snapped a picture and we were on our way to Tommorrowland. At Space Mountain the posted wait was 0 minutes so I rushed right in and told Rebekah and regrettably short Mina I would be “right back”. When I got to the end of one hall I saw the line which gave me a ten-minute wait. I remember this being the coolest ride from my childhood but now it feels rickety and old, it harkens back to a day when the coasters would really give your back and neck a workout without really doing anything exciting. Upon exiting the ride the stand-by had already jumped to 30 minutes. I think practically everyone makes Space Mountain their first stop so even when the crowds are low it’s not a walk-on. Buzz Lightyear was closed for refurbishment so we headed out to Fantasyland
FANTASYLANDWe entered Fantasyland to a swarm of kids and strollers. I figured that we should get the real slow-loaders out of the way so Rebekah stood in line for Dumbo while I took Mina to the Carousel. After her little horse ride Mina went back and rode Dumbo with Rebekah while I stood by with the camcorder and got a few of those typical Disney Commercial shots with the smiling family riding the smiling elephants. Pooh was up to a twenty-minute wait so I grabbed Fast-Passes and we went and stood in line for Peter Pan’s Flight. After this ten minute wait we loaded into our “pirate ship” and took to skies over London faithfully recreated to look dingy and dirty, then we made way for Neverland which was faithfully recreated to look….err….dingy and dirty? Mina wide-eyed liked the ride. It’s A Small World was a quick walk-on so we went on it for Mina and Rebekah (a first timer) sake. I spent pretty much the whole ride looking up and counting the holes in the ceiling. For the first time our trip we actually used Fast Passes and with them walked by all the waiting people to experience the Many Adventures of Winnie The Pooh. It was pretty good and the moving, bouncing hunny pot ride vehicle added a definite improvement to the tired dark ride genre. After surviving the blustery day we were ready to bid Fantasyland farewell but lack of queue for Snow White forced us to go ahead and get it out of the way. Next up was Frontierland and Liberty Square
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Dumbo
Rebekah ***
Mina ***
Snow White’s Scary Adventure
Anthony *
Rebekah *
Mina *
Peter Pan’s Flight
Anthony **
Rebekah **
Mina ***
It’s A Small World
Anthony **
Rebekah ***
Mina ****
FRONTEIRLAND AND LIBERTY SQUARE
We passed through Liberty Square on route to Frontierland and were disappointed to learn that the paddle-boat was down for the day. <sarcasm>It was really the best ride in the whole park</sarcasm>. I really wanted to go on Splash Mountain but I knew that Mina would freak out if she saw the drop, which looks intimidating. I tried to walk in front of the stroller to shield her eyes but she managed to see it and started screaming, “No water rides.” Rebekah calmed her nerves and talked her into giving it a shot. It was a walk on probably due to the morning chill and the wet aspect. We were loaded into the front and as soon as her butts hit the soggy seat we knew we were in for trouble. And in our excitement neither of us thought to pull out our Mickey ponchos. I was impressed with how long the ride was as I assumed it was pretty much going to pull you up, give you a little eye candy, and then drop you down. I grabbed Fast Passes for Thunder Mountain and we backtracked to the Haunted Mansion which we were simply referring to as “the Mansion” for the sake of easily intimidated ears. After a brief wait we were ushered in and Mina started freaking out thinking that we had somehow managed to dupe her into getting on the Tower of Terror. She calmed down after we convinced her we were at “the Mansion”. Rebekah was really impressed with the ghosts in the ball-room, Mina was scared but stoic, I was apathetic. Afterward we trekked back to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad with Mina thinking a ghost was following her home as announced by the Mansion narrator. The Railroad was fun and officially Mina’s first roller-coaster and surprisingly enough she loved it (except for the bats)! A little hungry we grabbed Mina a quick hot-dog (again) and caught the raft over to Tom Sawyer’s island with promises of ham-sandwiches over at Polly’s upon arrival. Cut to arrival where we find out that Polly’s has become a dessert only affair. The stomachs that weren’t filled with hot-dog were rumbling so we grabbed an Apple Pie topped with ice cream, caramel and whipped cream to share. Once I set it down Mina grabbed it and started devouring it while those of us who didn’t get the hot dog sat idly by. We explored for a bit and the departed for Adventureland!
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Splash Mountain
Anthony ****
Rebekah ***
Mina ***
Big Thunder Mountain
Anthony ***
Rebekah ***
Mina ****
Haunted Mansion
Anthony **
Rebekah ****
Mina **
ADVENTURELAND
I rushed ahead and grabbed Fast Passes for Jungle Cruise which had a 30-minute wait posted while Rebekah stayed behind and waited for Peter Pan and Wendy’s signatures. We braved the waters of the Caribbean and the Pirates and then braved the Polynesian Tiki Birds which put on a good show. (My only complaint is that Iago cut short the classic theme song.) We took a brief tour of the sprawling Swiss Family Robison’s house with its blatant disregard with any rules for architecture. Can you imagine having to hike down several flights of stairs to get a snack from the kitchen? The exotic Jungle Cruise then beckoned so we made our way over and rode it. Out tour guide was obviously bored but he incorporated into his schtick which had its moments.
Pirates of the Caribbean
Anthony ***
Rebekah **
Mina **
Tiki Birds
Anthony ***
Rebekah ***
Mina ***
Swiss Family Robison’s Tree house
Anthony *
Rebekah ***
Mina **
Jungle Cruise
Anthony ***
Rebekah ***
Mina **
PARADE
We walked back to Fronteirland and positioned ourselves in front of the rope. Rebekah held the space while I procured a Cheeseburger across the way at Pecos Bill’s. We split the cheeseburger and watched the parade. Out intent was then to go to Mickey’s Toontown Fair but Mina had quickly fallen to sleep so we decided to cut our day off and try something else.
THE REST OF THE DAY
First we hopped a bus and took it to the Animal Kingdom Lodge to see if we might like to stay there next time. Mina started talking about ice cream and I remembered reading good things about “Beaches and Cream” but couldn’t remember where it was. Guest Services told us to get on a bus to MGM and then transfer to the Beach Club. At MGM I was looking for the bus to the Beach Club, I didn’t see it so I asked one of the bus drivers who pointed at a boat that was just pulling out of the dock. I imagined running down the dock and leaping onto the boat like in the movies but decided to wait for the next one and pass time feeding the ducks. The next boat took us over to the Beach Club and we found the ice cream place. Mina had a scoop of chocolate and sprinkles and Rebekah and I shared a massive Chocolate Brownie Sunday with three scoops of ice cream.
With ice cream headaches we took a look at the very cool Stormalong Bay pool at the beach club. We then walked across international drive and found ourselves back at Epcot via the back entrance.
BACK AT EPCOT
Rebekah wanted to watch the parade up-close since we only caught the end of it at a distance the previous day. We were trying to think of good place to eat but ended up just hitting American Food, another hotdog, burger, and chicken strips. We enjoyed the parade and then caught the American Adventure show. We agreed that the animatronics were the best ever, but the show itself was a little over-the-top and ham-fisted in the patriotic pride department. At this time I was feeling a little tired but I was determined to see Illuminations. We picked a prime viewing spot along the rail between America and Japan and were wowed by this firework extravaganza. Nothing is as cool as when the night lights up as bright as day when those fireworks go off or when the flames in the lagoon briefly take the chill out of the night.
FRIDAY (February 14, 2003)
As Friday, out last day at the parks dawned, we really had one objective, make our character breakfast at the castle the rest of the day we would play by ear. We got ready and Mina put on her Cinderella dress and we traveled to the magic kingdom by horse drawn carriage—well it was actually a bus but bare with me I’m trying to get a mood going
Upon arriving at the Kingdom it was apparent that the low-crowds that welcomed us at the beginning of the week were replaced by heavy-crowds to see us off. The swarms just going in for the two character breakfast were impressive. We made our way to castle in time for our PS, but first we paused to take a couple of quick video clips and snap shots in the relatively empty park.
The royal breakfast was delicious. We were started out with a mixed fruit bowl and a pastry/bread basket. The princess got French toast sticks, scrambled eggs, and bacon the Lord and Lady got a blueberry pastry, sausage, bacon and eggs. It was all great except for the eggs that were slightly undercooked. Our total bill was something like $80 with tip. Of course we were paying for the ambience and the princesses (and nanny) who graced our table with their presence, Cinderella, Snow White, Princess Aurora, Belle, and Mary Poppins. True-to-form Mina remained shy and paid more attention to her bacon then the characters I felt a little bad for the cast members since they didn’t have much to work with. However, some really came through especially Sleeping Beauty who coaxed Mina into a hug and a smile and allowed us to get a picture. The high-point of our breakfast though was probably the little girl a couple tables over who kept pointing to one of the servers and saying, “Mommy it’s one of the wicked stepsisters. Look! Look!”
Breakfast downed and enjoyed, we headed over to Mickey’s Toontown Fair which was closed until 10:00am. We asked Mina what she wanted to do. Much to our chagrin she proclaimed “Small World”. Small World song now firmly implanted in our head for the second day in a row we dashed over and took on the teacups just to say we did. Now that the Toontown Fair was open for business we let Mina explore Minnie’s House, met Ariel and Tigger, and then went to Mickey’s House to get the final and most important autograph of the trip. The Cast Member with Mickey was kind of rushing us to leave after it was obvious that Mina was intent on hiding behind her Mom instead of showering the mouse in usual hugs and kisses. But Mickey skillfully and gently grabbed her hand and then did a little bit of a ball room dance with her. It was both funny and charming. This trip Mina discovered roller coasters in a big way, we rode Barnstormer and after riding she begged to ride again so we did.
12:00 o’clock was approaching and time for our little Cinderella to lose our pretty dress. (So what it was the afternoon and not midnight?) We took the Walt Disney Railroad back to the entrance and took our bus back to the hotel to change into more comfortable clothes.
We went back to MGM and played Millionaire once, twice, three times and four times. The game is somewhat addicting and I really wanted to get in the hot seat but the closest I came was number two on the board. A little disappointed we decided to trot back over to the magic kingdom and finish off with Spectromagic and the Fireworks. It was six o’clock which gave us about an hour to make it. We ran to the queue for the magic kingdom bus that too long so I quickly came up with alternate but not necessarily better approach. We took an empty Wilderness Lodge bus to that resort jumped on a bus there and took it to the TTC and then hopped a monorail just pulling into the station to finally get to the Magic Kingdom. We were just able to find a decent viewing sport for by the railroad station for Spectromagic as the lights dimmed and the parade started. The parade was interesting but at times it was a little too gaudy.
Afterward like a salmon swimming upstream we worked our way up main street trailing the parade as everyone else seems to be bolting for the exit. We took refuge in the ice cream shop and then went to look for a good viewing spot for Fantasy in Sky. We chose a bridge that circles the castle and had a good view of the Tinker Bell who began her flight and zipped right over our heads. We watched the final fireworks and then did the running of the bulls ride—I mean the get out of the crowded park down main street.
Tired, so very tired, we found ourselves at the longest bus line ever. Everyone it seemed was staying at All Star Movies. To Disney’s credit they did a good job of keeping the buses rolling in and loading. However it was still slow moving. One of the reasons for the wait is that practically every kid had one of these huge Tinker Bell Balloons. Honestly they could have filled a bus with all the Tinker Bell balloons and sent it back to the hotel. I evilly wished that the All-Stars would enact a no balloon policy like the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
Back at the hotel we crashed and awoke the next day ready to head home. Upon returning home we were ready to head back. I think I started a new tradition.
Anthony Mathenia