Lance Caros - April 2003 - Offsite

Time of Year: Spring
Travel Method: Plane, rental car
Resort: Offsite
Accommodations: 2-br condo
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
Comments: A familiar name returns with his sixth trip report. For this trip they had a great friend for company, and their youngest was old enough to do everything with the rest of the family (with six reports over four years, we're practically watching those kids grow up!).

Lance Caros -- April 2003 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)

The Cast

Lance - I'm 37 and work as a commercial underwriter for an insurance company. I'm the trip report writer, husband of Jenny, and Dad to Megan and Bryce. I've been a lifelong Disney fanatic thanks to my parents who took us frequently to Disneyland while visiting my grandparents in California. I truly believe Disneyland is the happiest place on earth and Walt Disney was the greatest person of the 20th century. My Mom (the greatest mom in the world) tells me that we sat next to Walt at a breakfast on Main Street when I was 9 months old and they chatted briefly with him. I've logged about 50 trips to Disneyland over the years. This was my ninth trip to WDW.
Jenny - She's my beautiful wife of 13 years and mom to Megan and Bryce. She works part time as a quality assurance specialist for the same insurance company and is the most organized person I have ever met. I don't think she will take offense if I also mention she's quite a babe. She married me knowing about my Disney addiction. Thankfully she acquired one too. She's been to Disneyland many times and this was also her ninth WDW trip.
Megan - Our beloved first born. She turned 10 shortly after the trip and was in the 4th grade at the time of the trip. Thankfully she got her mom's looks and smarts. She loves to draw and wants to be an artist when she grows up. She's very tall for her age and meets all attraction height requirements. She's very adventurous and will go on any ride. She was born into loving all things Disney. She's pretty easygoing but likes to occasionally torment her parents with whining. She first went to Disneyland at 6 months old and has logged 10 trips there so far. This was her seventh WDW trip.
Bryce – Our beloved second born. He turned 6 shortly after the trip and was in kindergarten at the time of the trip. He's usually pretty sweet although he enjoys occasionally tormenting his sister. He's the entertainer in the family and can always be counted on for a laugh. He's also very tall for his age and meets the height requirement of most rides. He loves anything to do with pirates and dinosaurs. He's been to Disneyland 3 times starting at age 6 months. This was his sixth WDW trip.
Tony – A special guest star in this report. Tony is one of my best friends and I’ve worked with him for over 10 years. He’s originally from Tampa but never went to the Disney parks and just doesn’t see what all the fuss is about.
Hometown - Carnation, WA a beautiful rural area in the Cascade foothills about 30 miles east of Seattle. It's the former home of the Carnation Company (now owned by Nestle) which used to provide the ice cream at Disneyland.

The Prior Reports

This is my sixth trip report.

If you would like to see our previous trip reports they are posted at www.mouseplanet.com. In my opinion it's the best site for Disney information anywhere on the Internet. The direct links to the reports are below.

November 2002
April 2002
June/July 2001
April 2000
March 1999

Saturday, 4-5-03
Jenny and I both woke up at 2:30AM which was about an hour before the alarm was set for. Neither of us could sleep so we got up and got ready. You would think after so many trips that we wouldn’t get the “nervous the night before” feeling but it still always happens. Even Meg got early but fell back asleep.

I tried to get online to print out our boarding passes but my cursed 5 year old computer is rapidly nearing the end of its useful life. I eventually gave up in frustration and decided it was finally time to for a new computer & high speed cable internet when we return from vacation.

I got the kids up and ready. We left the house at 4:50AM so there was no traffic. We parked at a great new airport lot that my sister tried when they opened but had been full so they gave her a coupon for $.99 a day parking on another visit. She very kindly gave the coupon to us which ended up saving us over $100. The shuttle bus came right over and picked us up. The driver was very professional and friendly. He offered us bottled water and made small talk about where we were traveling to. He was even wearing a Mickey tie. Shuttle Park 2 is the name of the place and I recommend it highly for parking at Sea-Tac.

The e-ticket check in line at American was pretty long but it moved quickly. Just before checking the bags I noticed the warning sign about increased security and the new x-rays would damage film. Jenny made a frantic dig through the suitcases to retrieve all of the film we had packed.

We went to the gate and got a couple of breakfast pretzels for the kids while we waited for the plane to board. We finally got on and as we were walking to our seats we caught a really potent whiff of body odor from someone. We had three seats in a row and then the aisle seat across from them. Jenny usually sits in that one but the guy next to it in the window seat was kind of a scary looking biker guy that we were guessing was the source of the unpleasant smell. So being the gallant knight in shining armor I took the seat next to him instead. Turns out he wasn’t the stinky one and seemed like a decent fellow after all.

We had American’s gourmet “bistro bag” meal which consisted of a cup of yogurt, a granola bar and a box of raisins. I don’t know how the airlines are going to shore up their financial losses with such lavish meals. Seriously though I would much rather have no meal and a lower ticket price so it didn’t bother me.

It was an easy flight but the kids begged to sit next to each other and of course that sibling harmony only lasted a few minutes before they started fighting a bit. Meg’s full can of Coke was really making me nervous. She’s not at the most graceful age but the soda survived.

We got off the plane in Dallas and had lunch at McDonald’s. A two cheeseburger meal for Jen and I to share, a McNugget Mighty Kids meal for Meg and the toy for Bryce which was really the only reason we were eating there in the first place. It’s all about the toys with him. He completely ignores the food so as long as Meg gets a kids meal and gives him the toy he’s happy with a just a couple of fries. Meg saw they had a special for 2 caramel cream pies for a dollar so she got those and practically inhaled them. I actually got a bit and they were very tasty.

As we were walking to our gate Jenny panicked and realized her belt bag was missing which had a fair amount of cash and credit cards in it. She ran back to the table we had at McDonald’s just as a guy was about to sit down. He must have seen the crazed looked in her eyes coming towards him and he backed away and said “you can have the table”. It was pretty funny later. Unfortunately, the bag wasn’t there so she ran back and started tearing through all of the bags in the stroller. Just as panic was really setting in Bryce piped up and said “Oh, I’m sitting on that thing”. What a little monkey. I guess we had set it in the seat of his stroller and he plopped down on top of it. It was a relief to find it.

In case you’re wondering why an almost 6 year old is still in the stroller we had a couple of reasons for it. For one, Bryce is a bit of the “I’m tired, carry me” type and we’ve let him get away with it far too long although we no longer use the stroller except at Disneyworld just because there is so much walking involved. The main reason for the stroller though is to help cart around all of our stuff. We took the video camera along on this trip and with all of the regular stuff we carry into the parks we generally have a backpack or two and/or a belt bag or two. It’s very nice to stash it all in the stroller and just push it around plus Bryce gets the added benefit of a free ride.

We got on the plane for the second and shorter leg of our journey to Orlando. There was a very loud mom with 4 teen girls in front of us. They were a bit obnoxious because their conversations were so loud so I was a bit amused when one of the girls quite suddenly “lost her lunch”. They were lucky that they had a change of clothes.

We finally arrived in Orlando and split up with the girls getting the luggage and the boys getting the rental minivan. There was a huge line at Alamo but I had my trusty Quicksilver card with me which worked like a Fastpass and allowed me to go into a separate line with no one in it. That was pretty sweet. As soon as I finished up the paperwork ($199 a week which came to $500 for the two weeks after all of the assorted taxes, fees, concessions and gouges) I called on the radio and the girls said our luggage was the first off the plane and they were on their way to meet us. We walked across to where the cars are and I misread the sign that pointed to Alamo being on the second level so we had a nice tour of the ground floor rental agency vehicles before I led everyone to the proper place upstairs. I’m not sure but I think I head one of the girls mutter “nice sense of direction Magellan” under their breath.

We got the minivan aisle where you pick any vehicle you like (just like the Emerald Aisle at National which is Alamo’s sister company). We noticed that several groups of people were walking very quickly for the few remaining vans left. Hey, I can run faster than you geezers! I got to the door of a van just before another guy but realized he had already been to it and taken the keys from it and another van so he could choose which one he preferred. Boy was he pushing my buttons! We didn’t have any time to waste though so we continued our flat out sprint for the next van when Megan with her eagle eyes spotted a bunch of vans way in the back. She ran ahead and found a perfect white Dodge Grand Caravan with integrated child seats and remote keyless entry. It turns out there were a ton of vans in the back but we all had a good laugh at our ugly competitive and every man for himself spirit in choosing the vehicle!

We found our way out to 417 and then the John Young Parkway and even with a brief stop at a mini mart for drinks and a wrong turn leaving there we were at the condo within half an hour. I went in alone to check in and ask if there was any way we could get a two bedroom unit for all 14 nights of our stay. At the time we made our reservation in January they just had a two bedroom unit for the first nine days of our stay and then we would have to move to a one bedroom unit for the last 5 days. Unfortunately, they were still full and said there were no two bedroom units for our full stay. The good news though was that we got one of the rooms that we requested, 1315. Although it was a smoking unit with a faint smoke smell it was in a great location with a view of the fountain and far enough away from the pool where we couldn’t hear it (since it closes at 1AM).

We unpacked a bit and then I left Jenny to get everything organized while I took the kids to the nearby Wal-Mart. As usual it was packed. We got stocked up on breakfast food, snacks and drinks. Bryce didn’t want to ride in the cart but I made him since it was so busy in the store. As we were waiting in the very long line to check out Megan was making faces like she smelled something really rotten. I couldn’t smell it and she was making quite a production out of it so I told her to go stand over by the gumball machines if it was bugging her that much. Bryce of course had to run after her. I was watching them while waiting to checkout but at some point I lost sight of Bryce. I didn’t think much of it but got to the front of the line and yelled over to Meg to tell them to both come back over. She said she couldn’t find Bryce. She looked all over. The next five minutes were the longest of my life.

I had just got to the front of the line so I pulled the cart out of line and the cashier immediately got on the phone and called for some sort of (lost child) code. Half a dozen guys came over right away and went to each of the exits and fanned out to different quadrants of the store. I started running around like a chicken without its head trying to find him and was really getting panicked. Thankfully Megan had a better memory of what he was wearing than I did. That was a lesson that I really thought about later. Remember what your kids are dressed in. After what seemed like an hour but was just over 5 minutes an employee walked up to the front of the store with him. I scooped him up and we had a group hug with Megan and we all cried a little. A very nice large family had stayed with Megan and helped calm her down while I was helping to look for Bryce. The mother saw him being returned to us and said “praise Jesus! They found him”. Indeed. He had apparently wandered around and found the toy section which is a long way away. He realized that he couldn’t find us and must have looked lost because another shopper asked if he was and he said yes so they found an employee who then radioed to one of they guys searching for him.

I’ve had a few scary times through illness with the kids but nothing compared to this. I’ve never felt like a worse parent. I know better than to let the kids out of my immediate vicinity and out of my sight but somehow between the chaos of Wal-Mart and the long day of travel I let my guard down and I still feel guilty about it.

After we all calmed down we got in line again and waited another 15 minutes to check out. Bryce wanted a quarter for a gumball and the machine was only about 20 feet away from where we were standing in line so I let him go. He got the gumball then went around a corner where I couldn’t see him! I gave an immediate yell to him that must have made the other people in line think I was nuts but I wasn’t about to let him out of my eagle eye sight. It turns out he saw a water fountain right around the corner and was just getting a drink but I made him come right back over. I guess he’s a slow learner like his dad.

We drove to Taco Bell for a couple of bean burrito kids meals and chicken taco salads. I stopped at the 7-11 across the street from the condo to pick up a bag of ice and buy a 52 ounce X-Treme Gulp mug just like the one I have back home so I could continue to quench my diet Pepsi addiction. We got back to the condo at 9:40 and had to tell the saga of the Bryce abandonment to Jenny while we had our dinner.

The kids watched some Gundam Wing cartoons before turning in at 10PM. Tonight was the switch to daylight savings time so in addition to the three hours we lost traveling from the West coast we now lost another hour. It actually worked pretty well as we were all tired from the long day and we got acclimated pretty quickly to Florida time.

Sunday, 4-6-03
We were all up by 7AM which was nice to put us on a good schedule for park opening. The weather report was for a high of 85 with a fair amount of humidity. It would be partly cloudy but with no rain all day. I got the kids up and around. I should remember that it is much easier when I don’t let them watch TV in the morning. We discovered that the water line for the ice maker in the freezer was leaking inside the refrigerator. We called engineering and they said they would send someone over right away. OK by us since we were just leaving anyhow at 8:15 for a visit to Disney Studios.

We got a parking spot close to the front and walked to the end of Mickey Avenue about two minutes before rope drop at 9. The girls went on Rock N’ Roller Coaster first and Bryce and I got a family switch pass even though he is now tall enough for it. We then got Tower of Terror Fastpasses while we were waiting. We met up with the girls in the gift shop and all tried on the hats with the long hair sewn into them which made for some fun pictures. Speaking of long hair Jenny said to look for the Cast Member in the loading area with hair down to her knees. There was still no standby wait for the coaster so Meg and I rode with no wait and she pointed out the cast member to me. Wow, pretty hair but what a lot of work.

Meg and I sat in the fifth row and had a fun ride although with the length of the limo I think it’s a much better ride in the back. It was quite a rush starting off the morning, and the trip for that matter, with that quick launch. We usually start our first day off at a water park or Epcot but this was a pretty fun way to jump right into a thrill ride.

We all walked over to the Tower together and the girls rode first in the standby line with no wait. Bryce and I sat on a bench and I called my friend Tony who I work with. He timed a visit to his parents in Tampa to coincide with our trip so we could meet in Orlando. His flight was arriving at 7 this morning and he was going to try to meet us at opening but we didn’t find him when we got to the front gates. It turns out that with the late night flight he was very tired and not really up to a day at the parks. It was too early for him to check into his hotel at Orlando so he drove down to Tampa and slept at his parent’s house. He said he was still game for dinner later though and we would meet up at ‘Ohana tonight.

We met up with the girls who said their ride with the new Tower random programming seemed a little tamer than in the past and felt like a series of small drops instead of any one long fall. The standby line was up to 20 minutes and our Fastpass time was not up yet so we walked over and saw the Voyage of the Little Mermaid which we hadn’t been to in a few years. I forgot what a fun show it is. The puppets are great and the theater effects really add to the show. The Ursula character is very well done.

We walked back to the Tower where Megan and I went through the Fastpass line (with a few comments from the peasants in the standby line about “cutting” and “why do they get to go in that line?”) Jeez people, read the guide map and you too can experience the wonders of Fastpass. I practiced my smug look as we walked by them. Meg pointed out a few new props in the ride including a ventriloquist dummy at the end which she said kind of freaked her out. Our ride was great with 3 big drops so I guess it really is more random than it used to be. We were in an elevator with the lap bar still but noticed many of them had converted to all seat belts.

We browsed through the gift shop and I saw the action figure of the alien Kanamit from the “To Serve Man” episode of the Twilight Zone which is one of my favorites.

The girls rode the Tower with the second set of Fastpasses while Bryce and I went to Star Tours to get Fastpasses and see if we could get into the Sci-Fi Drive In for lunch. It was 11 at the time so I made priority seating for 11:30. Even though there was hardly anyone at the restaurant so early I thought better safe than sorry with having a priority seating in case it got busy in a hurry which often seems to be the case there.

We went into the Writer’s Stop shop which I always enjoy. There are some comfortable chairs there and it’s a nice quiet place to relax. Bryce played on the computer that previews the Disney CD’s. He came over and looked at the bakery items on display and a very nice grandfatherly Cast Member beckoned him over with a wave of one finger and gave him a treat out of the display case. That was so sweet of the Cast Member. I later saw him feeding little bits of cookie to the small birds that would venture into the store. Bryce said what he got was a chocolate chip cookie dough cake with caramel. I don’t know about that but it sure looked good and he wasn’t sharing any. He quickly plowed through it. The girls met us in the shop and we had a two minute wait for our table. We saw a very obese gentleman sitting asleep in the waiting area. Jenny noticed a supervising Cast Member come over and very discreetly tell the man he had to leave. I felt bad for the fellow who was obviously very hot and tired. Still, there are better air conditioned places to relax and cool off.

We were seated close to the screen in a car that seated 6 in three rows. We took the first two. Bryce got a kid’s corndog meal, Megan had a kid’s hot dog meal, Jenny had the steak and potato soup and I had the house salad. Bryce and I shared a cookies and cream shake and the girls shared a chocolate one. We pretty much know what we like at the Sci-Fi and stick to that, like the house salad which is excellent. Jenny tried the soup though for the first time and it was just OK. It wasn’t quite what she was expecting. It was like a crisp potato skin in a fairly thin and not very flavorful broth that had a few strips of inexpensive cut steak in it. I tried it and enjoyed it more than she did so we traded and finished each other’s lunch. It was a fun lunch with the waiters yelling out at the screen during the “scary” moments of the hokey 50’s sci-fi movie trailers they play.

After lunch we went back to the Writer’s Stop for a while. Megan bought a Disneyworld coloring book and Jenny got a 2003 WDW photo album. I took the kids on Star Tours while Jenny continued browsing. I’ve long since passed the point of diminishing marginal returns on Star Tours but it’s a blast riding with Bryce who is really into Star Wars.

We met up with Jenny at Rock N’ Roller Coaster where the girls rode with the family switch pass we received earlier. After their ride we decided we had enough for a first day and left the park at 1:30. Back at the condo we had some quiet/nap time for an hour before going to the pool for a two hour swim. Jenny went to the store to round out the provisions for our stay. We all got cleaned up again and left after calling both parents to let them know we had arrived safely and were having a great time. Tony also called to get directions to dinner.

When we arrived at the Polynesian the guard asked for both my ID and last name to check against the priority seating list. We checked into ‘Ohana about 10 minutes early and got a pager. It went off right as Tony walked up and met us. We got seated at a great table with a view of the castle. Unfortunately, though there were no fireworks tonight despite the official website indicating them.

The food more than made up for it though. The appetizers came out right away and Tony & Megan soon had a huge pile of completely cleaned chicken bones in front of them. It looked like they were about to perform some sort of voodoo ritual! Needless to say they thoroughly enjoyed the honey coriander chicken wings. Tony always gets a kick out of how excited Megan gets about food. She’s definitely her father’s child in that regard. Bryce stuck to the bread and along with a little salad and pineapple for dessert that was about all he ate. Jenny had the salad mostly to herself as the rest of us greedily went for the less healthy options. I love those little shrimp and vegetable wontons along with the peanut sauce.

Since Bryce wasn’t very hungry the coconut race was a perfect diversion for him. All of the kids gathered up and received a small broom and a coconut. They swept them around the square hardwood area and received gummy worms for their efforts.

Our “cousin” soon brought out the first of the skewers which were shrimp and pork. Jenny and Tony really went to work o the shrimp which were excellent but a bit messy to get out of the shell. We ordered another round of wontons, chicken wings and salad. The skewers of steak and turkey came out after that. The steak was excellent, very tender and juicy although a little fatty which didn’t bother me a bit. It was also perfectly medium rare which was nice. The turkey was pretty good also.

We stuffed ourselves although they cleared our plates as Jenny and Tony were still hoping for another round of the shrimp. The pineapple and caramel sauce came out for dessert and the kids quickly worked it over. Tony and Megan decided the passion fruit cheesecake also sounded good so they ordered a slice of it to share. They loved it so much they ordered another slice! I jokingly mentioned that the caramel sauce was so good that I was going to finish it off with my straw. Next thing I knew our charming daughter acted on my suggestion. So much for those years of finishing school we sent her to!

Bryce went out and participated in the hula hoop contest for more gummy worms. We finished up and went out and watched him swivel his hips. It was a fantastic dinner and the kids had a great time with “uncle” Tony along. The total bill was around $125 with tax and tip.

After dinner we all walked out to the beach and plopped into hammocks. It was a warm and beautiful night with lots of stars out and Tony (who didn’t think he was a Disney kind of guy at all) said he could see why we come back year after year. I think we might be taking the first steps towards making a Disney convert out of our thrill ride friend.

We found the bench swings on the beach and took turns pushing each other before walking out to the point just as the electrical water parade started. We laid down on the grass and soaked up the atmosphere as Bryce entertained us with an interpretive dance to the water parade music. He’s always our comedian.

We said goodnight to Tony and went back to the condo at 9:45. There was a ton of noise from the room above ours. That’s one thing about these units. You hear every step (and in this case stomp) above you and they were making absolutely no attempt to keep quiet. At least that’s the only noise that comes through; I’ve never heard voices or music from the other units.

Monday, 4-7-03
We were up at 7AM and went through the breakfast and sunscreen routine. The weather forecast called for hot at 88 degrees and more humid but with a breeze and some cloud cover helping out later.

We left at 8AM for Islands of Adventure and parked in the Jaws section of the garage which is approximately 10 miles from the entrance. At least we only had to pay $8 for the privilege! The moving sidewalks are nice but you are not supposed to take strollers on them so I pushed Bryce the entire distance. Tony was waiting for us at the entrance. I bought our four 1 day tickets from the ATM like machines out front. In fact there were no ticket windows open so that was our only option. We went right in at 8:50 as they apparently opened a little early.

Jenny, Megan and Tony rode on Hulk first thing. It was Meg’s first ride and she loved it so much that it is now her favorite. Bryce and I got Express passes for everyone. We had a choice of times and I went for the 1-2PM return time. We went up the child swap area of Hulk and met the smiling trio when the exited. Meg, Tony and I rode this time while Jenny and Bryce waited. I forgot what a great coaster this was. I would have to call it my favorite now (with Viper at Magic Mountain in Valencia, CA a close second). The launch is so intense and every time you think it’s about to let up a little they throw another surprise at you. It’s just nonstop thrills.

After that we all went on Spiderman together which was awesome. The variety of effects and execution of them are done as well or better than any Disney ride. Bryce loves this one so it was fun all going together after making him wait while we all rode Hulk.

We wanted to do all of the most popular attractions before the crowds hit so we continued all the way over to Dueling Dragons where Tony, Megan and Jenny rode Fire first. Bryce and I waited in the child swap area and when they came out Jenny stayed with him while I got back on with Meg and Tony to ride Ice which was a blast. Dueling Dragons was Megan’s first suspended coaster and now she’s hooked. Space Mountain is quickly becoming too tame for her.

The Flying Unicorn was nearby so we figured Bryce deserved another ride. We all rode together and despite Bryce being a bit nervous about it he liked it so much he asked for a second ride. I took the kids on it again while Jenny and Tony moved on. The seats are definitely built for kids as I had to squeeze in and feel every bump on my knees but it was fun watching them riding together with their hands in the air the whole way.

We met up with Tony who had missed breakfast and was making up for lost time with an absolutely huge hot dog. He couldn’t even finish it. While Tony ate his breakfast of champions Jenny and I took turns taking the kids over to the talking fountain which is really funny. It joked with the kids and squirted water at them causing several squeals and lots of laughs.

We went to Seuss Landing for a ride on Cat in the Hat which was great. I think Tony even liked it. I love that book and the ride is very well done. We continued on to the Caro-Seuss-el and after snapping a few innocent pictures of the kids on the ride we made sure to take one of Tony on his pink elephant like Seuss creature. That one will be a big hit back at the office!

Tony continued to be a good sport and rode One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish with Bryce while I rode with Megan. Jenny videotaped us. Bryce did his best to get Tony wet but they only got a few sprinkles while Megan made sure we found every squirting fish. The kids were ready from some time at the If I Ran the Zoo playground so I chased them around there while Jenny and Tony went for another ride on Hulk. The kids got absolutely soaked at the playground and since it was getting so warm I let them get me a bit also. Jenny and Tony called to say Hulk had broken down but it was going to be up and running soon. They said we should go on Magneto next to Hulk because there was no line. It was a fun teacup like ride but for some reason we couldn’t get it spinning really fast.

We all met up and decided that it was time for Tony and Megan’s first smoked turkey leg of the trip since they had been talking about them for the past month. We also got a couple of hot dogs and I got a meatball sub which was really good. Of course a big lunch on a hot day probably wasn’t the best idea so after heading into the sun again we were all pretty warm and tired.

Jenny took Bryce to Me Ship, the Olive and Tony, Megan and I rode Dr. Doom’s Fearfall which isn’t one of Jenny’s favorites. This was another first for Megan and she liked it but thought it was over too quickly. We all went through the single rider line and got through pretty quickly so we rode again. I was entertained on this ride as I was in between three young guys who were riding for the first time. These were big, tough looking guys and the biggest of them next to me was acting cool in front of his teen friends. I could tell he was nervous though as we were strapped in. When we launched he screamed like a little girl before regaining his composure and letting loose with “man, that was some messed up sh**!” His buddies and I had a good laugh.

Meg and I met up after the ride but could not find Tony. We waited for about ten minutes before finding that he had just kept riding another two times. We found Jenny and Bryce in the sweltering heat of Popeye’s ship. They were ready for a water ride after that so we went on the nearby Dudley Do Right’s Ripsaw Falls which had a 20 minute wait. It’s similar in concept to Splash Mountain and a slightly better ride but with nowhere near the theme and attention to detail as the Disney ride. Bryce was a bit nervous about “the big drop” but did fine. The fact that he got soaked seemed to make him appreciate the ride more. When you’re 5 wetter is better.

Since we were all wet we figured we might as well ride the Jurassic Park River Adventure. I really like the entrance to the area as it’s just like the movie. There was less than a 10 minute wait. I warned everyone to brace themselves for the drop at the end and not lean forward as you really hit the water hard. Still, Tony and I banged up our knees pretty good and limped off the ride after getting soaked again.

At 1:45PM Jen took the kids to the Pteranadon Flyer’s and sent Tony and I to Hulk to use the 4 Express passes that expired at 2. Tony and I had two awesome rides together and noticed that the standby line was almost nonexistent so we rode again as almost a walk on. I was amazed at 2PM that there was no line for the ride. It was a blast to ride three times in a row almost as quickly as we could walk through the line.

We met up with Jenny and the kids who had skipped Pteranadon because it was a 40 minute wait. Instead they went to the Triceratops Encounter. Bryce fell asleep in his stroller on the way back to meet us. Jenny had picked up Express passes for Spiderman earlier so we used them for another ride and had a great time. After our ride Tony decided to go on Spiderman one more time while the girls rode on Hulk and Bryce and I hung out in the arcade. We all met back up and Tony, Megan and I had one final ride on Hulk together with no standby wait.

It had been a fantastic day but we saw pretty much everything we wanted to and figured we could use a break before dinner. Tony stayed at the park and rode Dueling Dragons a few more times and we took the long walk back to the garage.

Once we got back to the condo the kids made a quick change and then spent about an hour at the pool. Bryce was really starting to swim well and was gaining a lot of confidence which was fun to watch. After showers we were headed back out to meet up with Tony for dinner again. We met at Chevy’s in Crossroads at 6:30. Both kids had lemonade, Jenny and I split a pitcher or beer and Tony had his usual combination of lemonade and Sprite mixed together. For dinner Bryce had the bean burrito kid’s meal, Meg had the quesadilla kid’s meal, Jen and I as usual shared nachos and Tony had a combo platter with grilled chicken, ribs and shrimp which looked fantastic. Bryce was marveling at Tony’s heaping platter and asked him “Is there any food you don’t like?” That gave us a good chuckle because Tony has an appetite like mine. While we waited for our food we demolished several baskets of the warm chips and fresh salsa. I could make a meal out of just that!

After dinner we wanted to show Tony Downtown Disney. We had to drive around quite a while to find a parking spot. When we got to the stores we saw why. It was absolutely packed. We spent a little while at the Lego store and Once Upon a Toy store but it was just too crowded and too hot and humid out to be very enjoyable. We tried to get ice cream from Ghiradelli but there was a long line out the door so instead we settled for McFlurries from McDonald’s. While walking back to our car we realized we couldn’t remember exactly where we parked. We walked around for about 5 minutes and all the while I was pushing the lock button on the remote to try to get the van to honk. We had a good laugh when we finally found the car quite a ways away from where I had led us all.

We said goodnight to Tony and were back to the room about 10PM. I was tired but didn’t get to sleep until after 1AM due to all of the noise from the rowdy teens in the unit above us. The stomping and door slamming just didn’t stop. I swore there must have been a mosh pit directly above my bedroom. I discovered that the noise really just came through in the bedroom that Bryce and I were in. He was fast asleep and oblivious to the noise. I finally went and pulled out the bed on fold out couch in the living room and slept there. It was much quieter and I nodded quickly off.

Tuesday, 4-8-03
We were up at 7AM today and watched the weather forecast which called for partly cloudy and not quite so hot which was nice. We left the condo at 8:15 and I just missed running into one of the punks from upstairs which was too bad because I was all ready to (politely) tell him to have some common courtesy for his downstairs neighbors.

We parked pretty close to the Epcot entrance and found Tony waiting for us. We entered the park a few minutes early and took a few pictures of all of us in front of Spaceship Earth. Jenny went ahead to get Test Track Fastpasses and went through the single ride line. When she came out our Fastpass time had arrived so she was able to get a second set of them. The kids and I took Tony on Spaceship Earth because he had no idea there was a ride in it. He wasn’t overly impressed and thought the descent portion seemed kind of tacked on to the first part of the ride which is more detailed.

Tony had a late night and was dragging a bit so he stopped by the Fountainview Bakery for an espresso and a breakfast croissant. He said neither was very good. We met up with Jenny at Test Track and all rode it together. Tony seemed to enjoy it quite a bit so we went right back on with our second set of Fastpasses. We spent a few minutes looking at the car showroom at the exit and dreaming of the Corvette and Hummer. Ok, truth be told, I was really eyeballing the Pontiac Montana minivan and thinking it looked like a sweet ride. I can’t believe I’ve turned into such a dork.

After that we dragged Tony over to Innoventions so we could send some email photo postcards of all of us. For a guy that doesn’t like to have his picture taken he was remarkably tolerant.

We walked over to the Wonders of Life pavilion and went on Body Wars which completely under whelmed Tony. We redeemed ourselves though with Cranium Command which he seemed to enjoy. It’s always one of my favorites. We played around at the exhibits and Tony had another cup of coffee to try and wake up.

The kids couldn’t stand it any longer so they made us go to Ice Station Cool where they had a plan. They had been explaining to Tony how delicious the Beverly soda was and that he should try it first. Tony smelled a rat especially when he saw my video camera come out but he gamely played along and made the appropriately disgusted face at the vile brew. The kids were quite pleased with themselves for “tricking” him. We all then drank gallons of Vegi-Beta. I cracked up as I later caught Tony trying the Beverly trick on somebody else!

Honey I Shrunk the Audience was next on the agenda. The pre-show and then the theater itself were packed. There were a lot of first timers in the audience which made it really fun. Tony about jumped out of his skin at the part with the mice which gave all of us a really good laugh.

We moved on to World Showcase and blew past Canada in search of food in the UK. We all got fish and chips which were fantastic. They were just out of the fryer and perfectly delicious. We ate in the empty back garden area which Tony loved. He was amazed that it seemed like our own private area since no one was around. He really enjoys landscaping so the gardens suitably impressed him. He started talking about coming back in the off season and spending more time in the World Showcase. I think we now have a Disney convert.

Tony was still dragging a little and ready to take a nap on the bench but we rousted him and moved on to France for pastries. Megan got a slice of strawberry cheesecake, Tony had a fruit tart, Bryce had chocolate mousse cake and I had the coconut macaroon pyramid. I love those things so much that I’ve never tried anything else at the patisserie. We sat at a table with our desserts and watched the World Showcase players nearby do their Cyrano play which we only found mildly amusing. It was really getting quite warm especially in the sun so we finished and moved on.

We did a quick whirlwind tour of Morocco and then stopped just long enough in Japan to get rice candy for the kids. In America we caught the last couple of songs of American Vybe’s set. I noticed that they had some new members but they still sound great.

We spent some time enjoying the air conditioning and looking at the flag retrieved from the World Trade Center. That really packs an emotional wallop especially when you read the caption above it, “O say does that star spangled banner yet wave”

We continued on to Italy and came across a living statue that had just arrived. Tony couldn’t believe it was a real person and not a statue. Of course we made him go up and pose for a picture and the kids did so as well.

We tried to bypass Germany but Bryce can’t ever pass up the model railroad so we spent some time there. In China the acrobats were out but there was no shade so we sat across the pathway near the lagoon under a tree and I got the kids Nestle toll house ice cream cookie sandwiches.

In Norway we stopped for pictures in the gift shop and got an embarrassing one of Tony and I wearing Viking helmets with blonde braids as well as our traditional picture with the gigantic troll.

We hurried on to Mexico as we were all dragging a little and wanted some more air conditioning. Tony really enjoyed the atmosphere of the pavilion, after we made him stop for the requisite photo in the huge sombrero. He was really impressed with the restaurant so we will have to eat there with him on a future trip. We warned him that the boat ride was pretty cheesy but the kids begged to go on it. I couldn’t believe it but El Rio del Tiempo turned out to be one of his favorite things of the day. That’s what it so cool about Epcot and all of Disneyworld for that matter. There really is something for everyone. You should try everything because you never know what might be an undiscovered treasure that you like and others don’t or vice versa.

Tony and I took the kids back to Ice Station Cool for massive quantities of Vegi-Beta while Jenny went to the camera center to get our Spaceship Earth picture from the morning. We met up with her and found that they were having computer problems. The cast members here were terrible. When Jenny asked when the computers might come back up the “helpful” response was “I don’t know”. We hung around for 10 minutes waiting before I realized that Tony didn’t need to stay with us so he took off with plans to meet back up in a couple of hours. The picture finally came out so we got it and started to leave before noticing that they didn’t superimpose Mickey into our hands which we had cupped in front of us for that purpose. We looked pretty silly without him there. So, Jenny went back in and after another failed attempt and five minutes they finally got it right and we were able to go on our way. It wouldn’t have been such a frustrating experience if any of the cast members would have either smiled, offered an apology or even let us have the 2 pictures that they screwed up (which they said was against their policy). I’ve had better customer service at K-Mart. Our 30 minute experience definitely drained a little of the magic out of the day but we forgot about it and left the park.

I realized I had Tony’s ticket from when we all got Fastpasses earlier. I tried calling but he didn’t have his cell phone on. So, we went to guest services outside the park and explained the situation. The cast member there said that they couldn’t hold the pass for us but instead they copied it and took Tony’s name and when he returned that evening they would issue him a new pass.

When we got back to the condo I called Tony at his room and gave him the scoop on how to get his ticket reissued at guest relations and we set up a meeting time at 6:30 on the bridge from the UK to France in Epcot.

The kids swam for a couple of hours while I took trip report notes. We left again at 6:15 and drove to the Beach Club and walked through the International Gateway to our meeting spot with Tony. He was a few minutes late but the kids took the opportunity to watch the mime in France (who I think is hilarious). We all walked back to the Beach Club and found a packed Beaches and Cream. They said it would be a 30 minute wait and gave us a pager. We played in the arcade and I thoroughly whipped Tony in a driving game. Our pager went off within 15 minutes and we were able to get a booth which was great.

Megan and I had hamburgers, Jenny had the chicken sandwich, Tony had the prime rib sandwich and Bryce just ate everyone’s French fries and fruit. Meg had a raspberry smoothie, Jen a beer and Tony a vanilla milkshake. Tony said something about the waitress really working hard on the up sell as she was trying to get him to add cheese and onions to his sandwich. I kicked him under the table because she was standing right behind him. He said he was worried she was going to spit in his shake and I told him it would serve him right.

The food was great. I’ve had just average burgers here before but on this night they were really good with nicely toasted buns. We ate quickly so we could get back in time for Illuminations. I think the combination of quickly eating, eating too much and having a bunch of greasy and acidic foods caused Megan some indigestion. She was fine though by the time we got back to Epcot.

We found our usual spot along the wall in Morocco and waited the 10 minutes for the show to start. It was fantastic and we had a great time sharing one of our favorite things with Tony. He really enjoyed it and I hope it further cemented his desire to return to Disneyworld.

We got back home at 10PM after fighting some traffic getting to 192. I was so thankful to find that there was no noise from the upstairs neighbors. I found out the next morning that the college spring break crowd above us had left and a nice quiet family had checked in. A peaceful night’s sleep was just what I needed.

Wednesday, 4-9-03
We were all up at 7AM and left at 8. I set a bad example for the kids by parking at the Polynesian and telling the guard we were going to the Kona Café. We actually did go there but continued right past the restaurant and onto the waiting monorail to the Magic Kingdom. We got to see the opening ceremony with Mayor Christopher Weaver and a family from the UK. The kids enjoyed seeing all of the characters arrive on the train and the streamers that were shot off. We entered Main Street a few minutes early and lined up at the Adventureland entrance for the official park opening. While we were standing there Megan noticed the host and film crew of the “Trading Spaces” television show were about 50 yards from us getting ready to film. So, we walked over there just to get a closer look but quickly forgot about them as the park opened. The cast members led everyone in a very orderly fashion to Splash Mountain where we got Fastpasses quickly and then went and rode Big Thunder Mountain twice in a row with no wait. It was a fun way to start the day and we were all glad Bryce chose to ride it as he sometimes decides he “just doesn’t feel like it today”.

We all rode Splash Mountain with no standby line and had a blast although we noticed that the logs were more stinky than ever. That moldy smell was really putrid today and we all decided one ride was enough. Do they ever give those logs a good scrubbing? The smell seemed to be coming mostly from the padded areas of the log. We had a good hand washing after our ride.

It was only 9:30 and our Fastpass time wasn’t quite up yet. Since none of us wanted to ride again we gave away our Fastpasses to a British family of four just walked up to the area.

There were no crowds at all and we thought it would be a great idea to go over and knock out all of the rides in Tomorrowland. That turned out to be a mistake. The crowds were all there. Alien Encounter had a horribly long line but Buzz Lightyear was less than 10 minutes so we rode that. I nailed the volcano a couple times as well as the robots left arm and quickly had the gun maxed out a 999,999. I was pretty proud of my accomplishment.

I walked over to the Speedway and saw that it had a 30 minute wait so I radioed back to Jenny that we should go on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority instead. Bryce had bought a Buzz Lightyear laser blaster that also fired foam missiles. He took the opportunity to fire that thing continuously over the 10 minute ride which made us question the wisdom of letting him buy it.

Our time had opened up where we could get new Fastpasses so we got them for Space Mountain with the time about 45 minutes later. We were all starving so we tried Casey’s but it wasn’t open as it was only 10:45AM. We went to the Tomorrowland arcade and played a few games and bought a Toy Story 2 Monopoly Junior board game and another game as a gift in the store there. We had them shipped to the front of the park so we could pick them up later and not have to carry them around with us. When our Fastpass time came up Jenny and I took turns riding with Megan while the other played with Bryce in the arcade. I sat in the back seat and the ride seemed quite a bit rougher than I remembered.

The rough ride didn’t damper my hot dog hunger though. We went back to Casey’s which was now open and got a couple of hot dogs and fries which we shared. They were so good! The fries were just out of the oil and excellent. We sat outside and watched the piano player who was fantastic. He seemed like quite a character and kept up a conversation between songs with several folks. Bryce and I played the very old style baseball “pinball” type game inside which I completely loved as a kid (and considered quite state of the art). Wow, did that bring back a lot of memories. Megan was miffed when after we finished she discovered that there was hot cheese sauce at the condiment bar. So, being a health conscious dad I got her a little cup of it and a spoon! Jenny just shook her head. Meg’s definitely my child when it comes to food.

We went back to Adventureland and tried to get Jungle Cruise Fastpasses but the machines were not operating and we didn’t feel like waiting the 30 minutes for the standby line so we skipped it and rode Aladdin instead. We couldn’t pass up Pirates despite a 15 minute wait. There was a group in front of from Winnipeg in matching shirts that appeared to be from a “Make a Wish” type organization. There was small film crew taping them as they loaded onto the boats which was neat. It was a good ride except for someone right behind me who kept taking flash pictures. That was annoying.

We walked over to Liberty Square and had a 10 minute wait outside before getting into the one and only stretch room that was operating at that time. When we got to the portrait hallway there was no one waiting at all. It’s too bad they couldn’t have had both stretch rooms going. When we exited the kids found the wedding ring while Jenny and I tried on some of the weird hats at the cart nearby and got some goofy pictures.

We decided not to push it too hard since this was our fourth theme park day in a row and we are usually on an every other day schedule. The kids and I got Dole Whips in Adventureland while Jenny went ahead to the front of the park to package pick up. Our packages had not arrived yet though and Bryce really wanted to play his Monopoly Jr. game when we got back to the condo. The person at package pickup suggested we go buy another one and then get a refund on the one from package pickup the next time we visited. So, I took the long walk to the Tomorrowland Arcade, bought the game and walked back to Main Street and finally left the park.

The kids got in a couple of hours of swimming back at the condo. It was a very nice afternoon and the pool was a little crowded but we found a table and chairs. One of the poolside activities for the day was an arts and crafts project where kids could make collages out of theme park guide maps. It worked out perfectly since that was basically what Bryce’s kindergarten teacher had suggested as homework while we were gone. I drank my X-treme Gulp of diet lemon Coke and took trip report notes while watching the kids.

Jenny had a great idea to go to the Crab Pot restaurant that we last visited on our honeymoon in 1990. I was sure that it was located in the Crossroads shopping center and drove around there without finding it. I told Jenny it must have closed (since I’m a typical man and can’t ask for directions or admit my own infallibility) but she told me we were in the wrong area. Of course she pointed me in the right direction and we went over one block and went right to it.

The girls had a hankering for crab so they both got the pound of snow crab legs meal. It was kids eat free day so I actually ordered Meg’s crab dinner and let her order the shrimp kid’s meal. We then traded and I also helped Bryce with his pizza. I also ordered a house salad which was good and with the excellent warm sourdough bread we had quite a feast. We all shelled the crab and the girls loved it and got their fill. It was a nice meal in a kid friendly but nice setting. Service was just OK. Our server seemed distracted but it was a very busy evening and she probably just had a lot going on.

We came back to the condo and just relaxed and went to bed early. It was another wonderfully quiet night from our new neighbors upstairs and I was fast asleep by 10PM.

Thursday, 4-10-03
I got up at 6:30, got ready, took trip report notes and had a sausage & egg biscuit. Boy, are those good. I got a box of them from the freezer at Wal-Mart. The girls don’t care for them as they don’t have cheese and I wish I didn’t like them so much but I guess it’s up to me to finish them.

After my less than healthy breakfast I went to the front desk to ask if there had been any cancellations and see if there was any way we could stay in our current unit instead of moving to a one bedroom unit for our final 5 days. They said they were full with no two bedroom availability but they would try to put us in a one bedroom unit in the same building so we wouldn’t have to move far.

I also had them check on the rate for our one bedroom reservation because when we had called before leaving home they indicated it would be $129 per night. We were only paying $77.50 for the two bedroom unit we were currently in. Our reservation showed the one bedroom rate as $55 per night but when they checked the system they said Vistana central reservations had changed it to the $129 figure. They couldn’t change it back but gave me the toll free number to call central reservations. I went back to the unit and called preparing myself for a battle if necessary. There was no way I was going to pay the $129 per night. The first reservations person I reached couldn’t help but transferred me to the customer service department where I lucked out by getting a wonderful Irish fellow named Mark. I really wish Jenny could have heard him since she monitors customer service calls for a living and this guy was a real pro and there was something so reassuring about that accent. He couldn’t find out why the rate was changed but said he would be at work for the next 8 hours and he would get it resolved before the end of the day and left me with a reference number.

We finished getting ready and just as we were about to leave the front desk called and said they had done a lot of switching things around and had arranged for us to stay in our same unit for the entire stay! We were thrilled. The front desk doesn’t have access to the Entertainment card rates but offered their best deal of $99 per night which was fine with us. I thanked her profusely and later wrote a nice comment card saying what a nice job she had done.

We finally left the condo at 8:35 and parked pretty close but arrived at the Animal Kingdom entrance a few minutes after the 9AM opening. The morning was quite cool in the low 60’s and very windy. We were all in shorts but had sweatshirts on over our t-shirts. We went along with the hordes to Kiliminjaro Safari where there was a 10 minute standby line which wasn’t too bad. Megan brought along a disposable camera and had a great time taking shots of her favorite animals. I videotaped quite a bit of the ride.

We took the usual stroll through the Pangani trail after that where Bryce entertained us with his almost eerily realistic gorilla impersonation. He got quite a few chuckles from folks walking by. He cut it out by the time we got to the real gorillas so we didn’t disturb them. There were a lot of them out and they were very active. I love watching how they move. They are very graceful in their own way.

After the trail we went to Dinoland and picked up Primeval Whirl Fastpasses and then rode Triceratops Spin and Dinosaur with only a couple of minute wait for each. In the Dinosaur gift shop they had some half price dinosaur Halloween costumes that were really cute. We were going to buy one for Bryce but they looked a bit small. We had him try one on and unfortunately it was too small but we got some really cute pictures of him wearing it. We went to the other gift shop near Primeval Whirl and Meg bought the Lizzie McGuire television show soundtrack.

We looked over the carnival games and I decided to show the kids just what a strapping, virile guy their father was by ringing the bell with a sledgehammer. I watched another guy do it and figured no problem. I swung a mighty blow and watched as it went all the way to the….halfway point?!?! I only rated a “Buffasaur”, how embarrassing. I was relieved our Fastpass time had opened up for Primeval Whirl so I could quickly slink away. The right hand track was operating for Fastpasses so we got right on and had a fun ride although it was fairly tame. We didn’t get spun around as violently as usual.

After that it was time for the kids to run around in the Boneyard. I really enjoyed the dinosaur footprints that you step on and hear a dino roar. I had never found those before. When the kids finally had enough we moved on to It’s Tough to be a Bug. The waiting area was packed and as we did the shuffle into the theater we got separated from Jenny. She was excusing herself and catching up to us but the lady next to us was pretty rude and gave her a “whatever!” comment. Bryce ended up sitting on my lap for most of the show as he’s not a big fan of the 3D films.

We went to the Flame Tree BBQ for an early lunch which consisted of a PB&J kids meal, a chicken salad, orders of onion rings & fries and a BBQ chicken breast sandwich that came with sides of beans and corn. Bryce loved his Uncrustable sandwich but the rest of us were disappointed. The chicken in the sandwich and salad was dry. The corn on the cob was mushy and the salad was just bland and not the flavorful treat we had enjoyed there in the past. Despite the Flame Tree being our traditional lunch spot we decided we would move on to Tusker House or Pizzafari next time. There was a group of somewhat professional looking cast members having lunch near us which we had also noticed on our last visit.

We just missed the start of the Tarzan show so we went to Camp Minnie-Mickey instead. The kids wanted cookies from Chip and Dales Cookie Cabin but it was closed. The Festival of the Lion King was just about to start but for some reason none of us really care to see it again despite the almost universal rave reviews. It was fine once but it’s just not our favorite.

We went on to the Tree of Life Gardens and walked through both the front and back areas and found many new animal carvings that we had never seen before. The Tree really is a wonder and something that pictures just can’t do justice. You really have to see it close up to appreciate it.

After wandering around for a long while we finally decided to call it a day at 2PM and go back to the condo.

There was a voice mail message from the Starwood customer service rep, Mark. I almost wasn’t going to listen to it since we had arranged with the front desk to stay in the two bedroom unit so the one bedroom rate mix-up he was checking on was kind of a moot point. I’m glad I listened though. He had researched the problem on the one bedroom rate, got it resolved and then called the front desk where he found that we were going to stay in the two bedroom unit. He then authorized them to extend our $77.50 rate for the entire stay instead of the $99 rate the front desk could provide. Awesome! What fantastic service above and beyond what I expected. That really made my day.

Despite the cold the kids still went for their daily swim for 2 hours. They met a new friend named Alexis and I kept all three of them busy by throwing coins into the pool. They dove to the bottom and retrieved them.

For dinner it was back to Chevy’s where we powered through a couple of baskets of those outstanding warm chips and excellent salsa. Meg had a cheese flauta, Bryce had the chicken strips kid’s meal and Jenny and I shared our usual order of nachos. We had a very good server who was friendly and kept the drinks refilled. She brought out free ice cream cones for the kids for dessert.

As we were getting into the car I heard people in the car next to us say “hurry, Survivor is about to start!” I would have laughed except I’m also hooked on it so we hurried home and watched Deena get voted off the island while the creepy Matthew somehow managed to survive another week. After that I watched a fascinating Frontline show about Bush’s policy (or lack thereof) towards North Korea.

Tony called at 10PM saying the weather forecast was calling for more cold tomorrow. We had originally planned to go to Blizzard Beach but we agreed to skip it until it got warmer.

Friday, 4-11-03
We were up at 7AM and got ready for the day. It was cold and windy with a high of 70 so it was a good decision to skip the water park. We left for the studios at 8:15 and arrived 20 minutes later so we had a little wait for the park to open after we walked to the end of Mickey Ave. We noticed lots of people not prepared for the cooler weather and it looked like the stores were doing a pretty good trade in sweatshirts.

The girls went to Rock N’ Roller Coaster first while Bryce and I got Tower of Terror Fastpasses. We met back up and then it was my turn on the coaster with Meg. We sat in the back row which is the best spot in my opinion but the ride seemed kind of slow today. Jenny and Meg both thought the same thing. Maybe it just seemed slow in comparison to riding the Hulk coaster at Islands of Adventure.

We all went over to Star Tours for a ride after that and then got sucked into the gift shop at the end. Bryce bought a laser gun and Meg bought some candy.

Our Tower Fastpass time had arrived so we went back down Sunset Boulevard and took turns riding with Megan. While the girls were riding Bryce and I looked in the candy store and got him some toasted marshmallow Jelly Belly’s. We also got some peanut butter and chocolate fudge for the girls which everyone loved.

Before getting the kids too hopped up on sugar we figured we better get some food in them so we got a healthy lunch of French fries and turkey leg from Toluca Turkey Co. Bryce now loves the turkey legs as much as Meg does. While I was getting the food Jenny was with the kids sitting near the McDonald’s fry stand which was closed. She said a family came up to the window and seeing that it was closed the mom shouted “this stupid G.. D… forsaken place!” Nice parenting skills there. Someone apparently wasn’t having a Disney day.

After our snack the kids voted for the Backlot Tour. During the walking phase of the tour they didn’t do many of the special effects “because of the cold”. I thought that was funny. It was cool and I was glad I was wearing a sweatshirt but these Floridians sure are wimps when it comes to cool weather (just as I am when it comes to hot weather).

After the tour we did some shopping in the area but the only thing we bought was a Nestle Toll House ice cream cookie sandwich for Bryce and later a pretzel for the rest of us from Min & Bill’s Dockside Diner. It was a jalapeno pretzel with shredded parmesan baked on the outside and cream cheese in the center. It was hot, spicy and delicious. It was a lot like a jalapeno popper in pretzel form. I’m going to have to make these a regular snack on our visits here.

We left the park at 1:30 and had a voice mail message from Tony back at the condo. I called him back and we agreed to meet up at Blizzard Beach on Monday before his flight left that evening. Tony he said he wasn’t sure of the personal space boundaries of our friendship but asked if he could he stay with us Sunday night. Sure, no problem. The kids would love it and we had room for him.

The kids did their usual 2 hour swim in the pool and had a great time although it was still cool and windy. I sat at a table nearby in my sweatshirt and took trip report notes. Despite the cold the activity coordinator was doing a booming business in selling ice cream floats. Meg badgered me for 15 minutes about getting one before I finally caved. The kid’s teeth were chattering between the cool weather, water, wind and ice cream so I made them go back to the room to get into dry clothes.

Jenny stayed at the condo to do some laundry while I took the kids to Winter/Summerland for golfing. I used the rain check we had from our November trip when we got rained out. The CM let us in free with it and said to keep it and use it again another time. Sweet! The kids will get to play the other course another day.

They chose Summer this time. There were several groups in front of us that we had to wait for at every hole but they were pretty quick and we didn’t mind. It took about 50 minutes to play the 18 holes. Both kids golfed pretty well. Bryce, despite not getting any hole in one’s ended up in a tie with Megan.

On the way back to the condo we stopped at Krispy Kreme for a dozen original glazed. We picked up Jenny who had had a short nap. We went right back out to Coronado Springs. Dinner was at the Pepper Market with Taco salad for Jenny, penne with wild mushroom sauce for me, pepperoni & sausage pizza for Megan and a banana and green apple for Bryce. Everything was very good. Megan didn’t have much of an appetite so Jen and I helped polish off her pizza which was very good.

After dinner we took a stroll over to the Dig Site and the kids had fun at the playground. They were the only ones there. We played a rousing game of air hockey in the arcade before heading back to the condo.

We watched a little Food Network and I felt a cold coming on, bummer. Everyone was asleep by 10PM.

Saturday, 4-12-03
I slept lousy and definitely knew I had a cold when I woke up. It wasn’t a big deal though, just lots of sneezing, runny nose, headache and slight sore throat. It still beats being home and sick. We were all up at 7 and out the door at 8:15 for Epcot. We parked pretty close to the entrance and stopped by the cash machine to the far left of the entrance. We were let into the park early but stopped right at the Leave a Legacy mausoleum until 9. I’m not even sure Spaceship Earth was open early but we were more interested in Test Track Fastpasses anyhow. I got the first set of them for the day with a return time of 9:21 which I thought was odd since most other non theater attraction Fastpasses operate on 5 minute increments.

Jenny took the kids to Journey Into Your Imagination and they also spent a long while in Imageworks where they sent emails to my sister of Meg’s face morphed into a monkey and Bryce into a lion. They are pretty funny.

In the meantime I had gone to Innoventions West and played Monsters, Inc. on Playstation. While there I realized that the 9:21 Fastpass window was up so I could go back and get 4 more. So I did that then came back and watched the fountain until the rest of the family arrived. We went inside Innoventions and sent email photo postcards to friends back home.

Then it was over to Test Track for our first ride. Hmm, 64.8 MPH on the speed section, what a shock! We looked in the gift shop and found a little Test Track license plate with Bryce’s name engraved on it. Megan is easy to find but Bryce rarely finds his name. Megan also got one of the license plates but with “Princess” instead of her name.

We went right back on to Test Track. While in line to load into the cars there were two young girls from the single rider line sent to go along in our car. We rearranged with Jenny, Bryce and I in the back so the two girls (who were friends) could ride together and we put Meg with them since they were about her age. The ride broke down for about 5 minutes at the inside cornering section.

We walked over to World Showcase which wasn’t officially open as it wasn’t 11 yet but they were allowing folks to walk throughout it. By the time the kids finished playing on the Viking ship in Norway it was only a few minutes until opening so we lined up for the Maelstrom. The kids always enjoy the troll encounter and it was another fun ride although as usual we skipped the movie. The kids started new masks at the KidCot station. I went to the Kringla Bakery and got a rice cream which everyone else turned their noses up at. That was fine by me though as I got the whole thing to myself and thought it was delicious. It was a very good rice pudding with a layer of strawberry preserves on top.

The kids decided a more edible snack would be egg rolls from China so we went there next and they promptly devoured a couple of them. Jenny and I got a bite or two and they were fantastic. Continuing on our feast around the world we stopped for a frankfurter in Germany which the other three shared while I got all of the sauerkraut served alongside it. The kraut was better than the frank.

In Italy we did the Kidcot station and had a pistachio gelato which was very good. Meg thought it was OK while Bryce and Jenny turned up their noses at it so once again I was glad I didn’t have to share.

Jenny went ahead to America to catch the fife and drum corps there. We joined up with her after the kids finished their masks and we all watched American Vybe together. They were great. We didn’t want to skip our streak of eating in each country so Bryce had a Nestle Crunch ice cream bar.

In Japan we saw the character bus and there were a bunch of characters with no one around them. So, we got hugs from Pluto and Chip and then played with Meeko for a few minutes. He was being mischievous, playing with Bryce’s “Alfalfa” style cowlick and when Bryce wasn’t looking he “stole” his water bottle! It was very cute and fun to have him all to ourselves for a few minutes. It was funny to see half a dozen characters just waiting for people to come up to them while Mickey and Minnie each had long lines.

After our character encounter we went to the Yakitori House and got an order of yakitori just for Megan that the rest of us were not allowed to touch. She even threatened us when she made a restroom stop in the middle of the meal. You don’t mess with Megan and her favorite food! Bryce wanted some rice with the yakitori sauce so Jenny got him an order which was only $1 and one of the rare bargains at Disneyworld. We sat at the outside tables which was very peaceful and relaxing. I really like that area of Japan with the little Zen garden and stream.

We decided to call it a day at 2 and made the long walk back to the car. We caught a few minutes of the Krystos performance on the way. We got into the van and I dutifully did my two chores as commanded by the children every time. Turn on the air conditioning and Radio Disney!

I was very tired on the way back so Jenny took the kids to the pool while I had about an hour nap where I kept drifting in and out of sleep. The darn cold was wearing me down a little but the nap helped. I filled up my X-treme Gulp full of diet Dr. Pepper (the greatest soft drink ever invented) and joined the family at the pool. Meg made a new friend at the pool and they were having a very good time and even including Bryce which they probably didn’t have a choice in anyhow but it was nice to see them being cheerful about it. Despite multiple applications of sunscreen today both kids got a little sunburned. It was only about 80 but sunny the entire day. Megan even had a little heat rash with bumps. She must have got the recessive gene from my dad who always seemed to get that. I guess it doesn’t help that she has such a light complexion with freckles.

We came back to the room and just decided to hang out at the condo tonight. Bryce got some quality Sponge Bob Square Pants viewing in one room while Megan watched her favorite chef, Jacques Torres, on the Food Network in the other bedroom. I was able to spend a couple of hours getting completely caught up on my trip report notes while watching the big TV in the living room. It was fun watching MTV’s “I love the 80’s” which was on 1984. It made me remember what a dork I was then (and still am now for that matter).

Jenny went out and got Taco Bell for dinner. The kids were perfectly content to stay in for the evening because the Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice awards were on and to a 5 and 9 year old there is nothing funnier than seeing their favorite stars in a belching contest. I later went out to Dairy Queen and brought back Blizzards for everyone with Butterfinger for Meg and Jen, Oreo for Bryce and Mississippi Mud for me. It was so good that I ate the whole thing. The others showed more restraint and saved half of theirs for later.

I got to read for a couple of hours which was a rare treat so I indulged in Stephen King who is my literary guilty pleasure. I used to devour every new novel he put out ever since “Salem’s Lot” but thought he kind of lost his touch and stopped reading his books in the mid 90’s. Anyhow, the book “Dreamcatcher” is great. It’s a real page turner and one of his best.

Lights out for everyone at 9:30.

Sunday, 4-13-03
We were all up at 7:15 and it took the kids a while to get motivated but the box of Krispy Kreme donuts helped. We left at 8:20 and arrived at Typhoon Lagoon in 20 minutes. We got right into the park which was very nice. We were able to get a locker and refillable mug and still had 10 minutes to wait for the official 9AM opening time. We chatted with a very friendly cast member who said it should be very quiet this morning since it was the first day for 9AM opening (It had been 10 previously). Jenny asked her how many people showed up last Thursday when it had been so cold and windy. She said only about 70 people were there throughout the day!

I took a Claritin which seemed to help my cold quite a bit. I still had a runny nose all day but it really helped me to not feel “sick”.

We really had a dilemma this year of where to sit. Bryce had outgrown the 48” height limit for the kid’s area, Ketchakiddie Creek. It was sad leaving that area as both kids completely loved it when they were younger and we have many happy memories there. But you can’t stop kids from growing up so we camped out by some chairs under an umbrella to the left side of the wave pool. We later learned we were in a really high traffic area but it was a convenient spot as it was close to a shallow area where Bryce could play with other younger kids.

We put our stuff down on the chairs and immediately took off for the slides. Again, it was a little sad to see both kids outgrow the kiddy area but it was so cool to have all of us go on the slides together. Bryce had been hesitant to go on the “big” slides in the past but he was very brave today and in short order we had done every slide in the park except Humunga Kowabunga. The tube slides come out in 3 ½ feet of water which is great because he can stand in that. The body slides come out in 4 feet of water but the swift water and his beginning swimming skills are just enough to get him out at the end. He did great and loved everything. The body (Storm) slides were his favorite and we went on every one of them twice. We even rode the family raft ride for the first time. It was pretty lame compared to the one at Blizzard Beach but we still had a great time on it. It really gets you soaked as you pass under several waterfalls.

We came back to our spot after a couple of hours and had our lunch of bagels, Pringles & Funyuns (the greatest snack ever invented). The kids were ready for the wave pool so I took them out there while Jenny soaked up some sun. As usual both kids got scraped up on the rough bottom of the wave pool but it was nothing too bad.

We rode the lazy river, Castaway Creek, around the entire park. It was nice this year to have both kids tall enough to stand in the creek if they fell out of their tubes. Of course knowing that they could stand led them to virtually ignore their tubes and instead swim, run and splash through the creek.

On the way back to our spot we waited in line about 10 minutes for the outboard motors that squirt water onto people in Castaway Creek. A couple of teen boys wouldn’t give them up though and completely monopolized them so we finally left frustrated and stopped for Arctic Dots as consolation for Megan who was the one who had her nose bent out of shape. She got the strawberry cheesecake variety and Bryce got rainbow ice.

I read my book for a while as Meg went back into the waves and Bryce and Jenny went on more slides. Jenny and I traded and then it was my turn to climb the many stairs with Bryce to the top of Mount Mayday. I was amazed at how cheerfully Bryce climbed those stairs all day long. For a guy that frequently like to cry wolf about “my feet hurt”, “I’m tired” and “I want to ride in the stroller” he sure didn’t complain during his two dozen or so trips to the top. We all did the lazy river again and decided to leave at 2:30.

Bryce fell asleep in the van almost immediately which was no surprise considering how much of a work out he had today. He woke up though as soon as we got to the condo. There was a message from Tony saying that he wouldn’t be spending the night with us but would instead meet us at the Blizzard Beach ticket window at 8:50 tomorrow morning.

We kicked back and watched TV for a while and Jenny went to the grocery store primarily for fruit which Bryce practically lives on. I guess there’s nothing wrong with that. I wish I could eat that healthy. When Jenny got back she did laundry and I took the kids out to Winter/Summerland again for a round on the Winter course. They both really did well with scores in the 50’s for the 18 holes. They had a blast and were pleased with getting a couple of hole in one’s. As we were leaving a friendly cast member handed out candy canes. She checked our scorecard to see if anyone had a hole in one on the secret hole of the day which was #2. We didn’t but she said that anyone who did would get a free drink. Pretty cool, I had never heard of that before.

We got back to the condo at 6PM, picked up Jenny and went to Pizzeria Uno at the Crossroads Mall for dinner. We got a large dinner salad and a medium Chicago classic deep dish pizza with extra tomatoes and sausage. The pizza was very good with an excellent crust. I love Chicago style pizza. The medium size was actually fairly small and at first I thought it wouldn’t be enough but it was so heavy that it filled us up and ended up being the right size so we didn’t stuff ourselves. The total for dinner with tax and tip was $29.

We were in the mood for ice cream on the Boardwalk so we drove over to the Swan and parked there to avoid the security and parking hassle at the Boardwalk Inn. It’s just as easy to park at the Swan and walk. We walked over to Seashore Sweets and got waffle cones of chocolate chip cookie dough for Jenny & Bryce, mint chocolate chip for Megan and butter pecan for me. It was a beautiful evening out and just about room temperature. It was very comfortable just sitting on a bench, eating our ice cream. It was too early for the Boardwalk entertainment but people watching was entertainment enough.

We left at 8:30 and as we drove by Disney Studios we heard the opening “Imagination” music from Fantasmic. It was quite loud and almost like we were in the theater. We went right back to the condo and to bed.

Monday, 4-14-03
I woke up at 7 and my right ear was plugged up. I took another Claritin hoping that it would clear up the pressure. I didn’t want to fly with an ear problem. I went to the office to check out on our old reservation and in our new one. It was quick and easy with no problems.

We had a quick breakfast and left the condo at 8:15. Arrived 20 minutes later and waited with the crowd for the gates to open. We watched the whole time for Tony but saw no sign of him. The park opened so I sent the girls inside while Bryce and I waited for Tony. We walked out closer to the parking lot and spotted him. He had been parked two cars away from us but there was a big van between our vehicles and we had missed each other. He had arrived early and was just watching for us to enter from the parking lot. We had a laugh about that and went to the ticket booth. Tony was able to get a 15% discount on his one day ticket as a guest of an annual passholder.

We got a locker and a sticker for my refillable mug. We found the girls who had secured a great spot by the wave pool, Melt Away Bay. There was an umbrella and it was not a major thoroughfare so we kind of had a corner all to ourselves. We climbed up the steps of Mount Gushmore first thing and chuckled at a group of teen boys who were sprinting ahead of us up the mountain. Then came along their two chubby friends who Tony and I could both relate to! For the first of several times during the day Tony commented on the blatant disregard of body type when it came to Speedo’s, Spandex, Lycra and bikinis. He said it made him feel much less self conscious!

We went down the family raft ride, Teamboat Springs, first and just had a blast. Having a fifth person along in the raft really speeded us along. We laughed the whole way down. We then went to the slides on the backside of the mountain, Runoff Rapids and noticed that the single ride tubes are no longer circular but have a slightly elongated “tail” on the back that keeps you from spinning around on the way down. I always thought that was part of the fun on these tubes but I guess the new ones are safer. They were still good fun though and we climbed the 127 steps again and went right back on. We sent Tony down the middle enclosed tube and he got a big kick out of it.

We went to Downhill Double Dipper before the line got long. We thought Bryce wouldn’t be tall (or brave) enough to ride but he was so we all went. Bryce loved it although his one sentence review was “It hurt my butt!” Yes, he is just as eloquent as his father.

We did the Snow Stormer and Toboggan Racer mat slides. The kids were all primed to beat us on the racers but they didn’t stand a chance against Tony and I with our weight advantage. After that Tony and I waited for 35 minutes for Summit Plummet. Jenny got a couple of good pictures of us coming down and doing the pained wedgie looks at the end. I forgot how much that slide beats you up. Your whole back side feels like you’ve been pummeled. We had a good time though.

We went back for lunch. We had brought along tuna sandwiches and Pringles. Tony bought a burger, fries and chocolate chip cookie that Bryce eyed like a hungry dog until Tony gave it to him.

The kids then chose to go to the wave pool for about half an hour followed by the ski patrol training camp area for about an hour. They both love the ski patrol area and particularly enjoy the icebergs that you walk across with the overhead cargo rope.

Jenny stayed with them in the area while Tony and I went back to Runoff Rapids. Since there was no line for a double tube we grabbed one and went together. That was a blast with our almost 500 pounds of combined weight. We flew down that slide! It was so much fun we went right back on and did the other side and laughed the whole way down.

We went back to the wave pool and played with the kids before we decided to call it a day at 3PM. Tony followed us back to the condo and we all got cleaned up and he called his boss at work to see if he could take another week of vacation. Three weeks in a row, must be nice! He then went to the front desk and checked his email at the internet kiosk there.

The kids and I took Tony to the Animal Kingdom Lodge while Jenny stayed back at the condo and did laundry. Tony loved the Lodge and especially the landscaping. He was totally blown away that there were animals out on the savanna. He was even surprised that anyone could visit the lodge even if they weren’t staying at a Disney resort. He was thinking that the Disney resorts were exclusive and you couldn’t just visit and walk around. We stopped at Mara for some cold drinks and Tony got a piece of apple pie which he said wasn’t very good. We looked at all the animals, lobby, and pool area and just relaxed on some lounge chairs for a few minutes.

We went back to the condo and picked up Jenny. Bryce fell asleep on the way. We drove to TGI Friday’s on 192 and Bryce was quite grumpy by the time he woke up when we arrived. I tried to bribe him into a better mood by letting him choose whatever he wanted from the menu but all he was interested in was French fries. Tony ordered the Jack Daniel’s BBQ sampler tower as his dinner. It looked fantastic consisting of shrimp, sesame chicken and ribs. Jenny had a Cobb salad. Megan had a kid’s meal with ribs. I had a Philly cheese steak which was very good but surprisingly small. Bryce got most of my fries and I was still a bit hungry by the time I finished the sandwich. As usual though Jenny shared a good portion of her salad with me and it was very good. Megan and Tony raved about the ribs. For dessert Megan had a vanilla bean cheesecake which she devoured and Bryce had the worms and dirt which was chocolate pudding with crushed Oreo’s and gummy worms. It was a good dinner with good service.

We went back to the condo where Tony called his car rental company and tried very persuasively to switch to a car with cruise control. His car had power everything and keyless entry but no cruise control which seemed kind of weird. He was traveling back and forth between Tampa and Orlando as well as planning a drive to Miami so he really wanted to have that cruise control. They told him they didn’t have any cars with it which seemed unlikely. He was not pleased but didn’t have any luck getting a new car. We said goodnight and he drove back to his parent’s house near Tampa. We all watched Fear Factor and fell asleep. I took a Sudafed before nodding off to and clear up my plugged ear.

Tuesday, 4-15-03
We all woke up at 7:30 which is sleeping in for us! I got all caught up again on my trip report notes this morning. Both of my ears were now blocked though which was a real drag so I took another Sudafed. The darn cold wasn’t going to slow me down but it was a real nuisance. It was nice to take it easy this morning and relax a bit.

Megan and I went to the front desk to see if we could get a key to look at one of the one bedroom units with a loft. They said there was a model unit that was open and we didn’t need a key as it was unlocked during the day. We went over and took a quick tour of it but a salesman came in showing it to a couple so we took off. We brought Jenny and Bryce over for a longer look a few minutes later when it was empty again. It had a very large bedroom and bathroom upstairs and everything else was downstairs including the kitchen, washer & dryer, living room with queen sized sleeper sofa, dining area and bathroom. It was a very nice layout and definitely the way to go if you were going to get a one bedroom unit. The second bathroom (just a toilet and sink) downstairs would be very nice.

We left for the Grand Floridian at 9:20 for our priority seating at 10. It was a good thing we left early because I forgot what a big pain it was to self park at that resort. Every time I go to the Grand and do that self parking I think it’s the last time I’ll do that and instead use valet parking the next time. Invariably though I forget the next time I go there. Anyhow, we finally got to 1900 Park Faire and checked in. We had a message from Tony that he was not going to meet us for breakfast. It’s too bad because we wouldn’t get a chance to see him again on our trip and he would have really enjoyed the breakfast spread. We had a 10 minute wait so after we got our pager we strolled around the hotel and looked at how the rich live and took some pictures.

Our pager went off and we were seated at a table in the corner of the restaurant which turned out great. It was out of the way so didn’t have a lot of foot traffic around it and the kids are more into the food these days than the characters. We wasted no time in hitting the buffet line. Bryce got a Mickey waffle with syrup and about a dozen slices of bacon. The girls both got made to order omelets, cheese blintzes, scrambled eggs, cheesy potatoes, bacon & ham. I loaded up on eggs, potatoes, biscuits and about a quart of gravy over the whole plate. For me there is no better breakfast than biscuits and gravy (along with a Dr. Pepper which unfortunately I had to live without). Everything was delicious. I went back for a second course bowl of pineapple, a slice of ham, an omelet with onions and mushrooms and a sticky bun. Megan made quite a concoction of the strawberry soup, vanilla sauce, strawberry topping and maple syrup. She liked it anyhow. The characters were Mary Poppins, Tigger, Pooh, the Mad Hatter and Alice. They all stayed briefly for the token appearance and some photo ops which is all that we wanted.

We were all completely stuffed after breakfast and waddled down to the marina and rented two water mice (little two person “speedboats”). We had a complete blast zooming around with Bryce and me in one boat and the girls in the other. It was sad seeing River Country and Discovery Island closed. We were surprised to see one of the Magic Kingdom ferries going through the canal to Bay Lake. I wondered where it was going to. Maybe there is a service facility on that side. It was quite a sight though going through that small area surrounded by Boston Whaler’s keeping the other watercraft away. It must have really looked impressive from the road to the Contemporary which is on the same level as the canal but dips underneath it.

On the way back to the condo we stopped by Fort Wilderness and asked the guard what time the campfire show was and he told us 7PM. We got back to the condo and had short nap before the kids went for their daily afternoon swim. Megan didn’t last too long though as she was a bit sunburned. She went back to the room and worked on her journal.

At 3 I took the kids out to Disneyquest while Jenny stayed back at the pool to soak up some more sun. As we entered Disneyquest they handed each of us coupons for a $2 card for the ticket redemption games. We went to the Create Zone first where we played with all of the interactive kiosks. I talked the kids into playing a few video games since they have all of the coolest new ones and you don’t have to pay separately for them. They then talked me into the Mighty Ducks Pinball slam which was pretty fun but a bit difficult to figure out how much control you really had over your ball.

We went up a couple of floors to the ticket games. They were all fun but not a great deal different than those found at the resort arcades. I wouldn’t pay for them when everything else at Disneyquest is already included in your admission. As we were looking around for games to play in the area a cast member was fixing one of the machines and handed the kids a long string of tickets which thrilled them. They redeemed all of them for a few trinkets and were quite pleased with what they got.

We went back and picked up Jenny at the condo and left again at 6PM. We got to Fort Wilderness 6:40 and got on a bus pretty quickly. We found the campfire area with no problem but discovered that the program started at 8PM instead of 7. So, we had a dilemma of what to do. There was a lot of time to kill before the campfire and we debated over waiting or coming back another night. We hadn’t had dinner but I was still full from our huge breakfast and no one else seemed to mind skipping dinner. We decided to stay and we were all so glad that we did. It turned out to be our favorite evening of the trip. We really enjoyed walking around and falling even more in love with Fort Wilderness. I keep saying that someday we will stay here. As we were walking in an area near the pool, Bryce was walking on the curb, fell off and skinned his knee. A Band-Aid and stop at the trading post for candy for both kids seemed to help him forget about it.

We found some seats at the campfire area around 7:30. It was just the perfect evening out with clear skies and a full moon. It was basically room temperature with no humidity. I figured I would play the good husband and dad so I went and got a beer for Jenny and a s’mores kit for the kids which I thought was very reasonably priced at less than $5. Granted, none of the ingredients is very expensive but there was a half sized box of graham crackers, a couple of Hershey bars, a good sized Ziplock bag full of marshmallows and two wooden dowel sticks for roasting the marshmallows.

A couple of fires were lit in the rings to either side of the stage a few minutes before 8. We had a great time joining in with everyone and trying to toast the perfect marshmallow. We sat on the benches and enjoyed our s’more dinner. The sing a long started and was so much fun. Chip and Dale came out then went through the crowd for the next hour. The hostess interacted with them and led the songs which consisted of easily recognizable old time songs. The kids really enjoyed “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean” where the audience was instructed to either sit down or stand up every time a “B” was sung. The “bring back, bring back, bring back my Bonnie to me” part was a really good workout! Having everyone sing “It’s a Small World” seems kind of cheesy but for me there was something very magical about it. It was the perfect evening and I dreamed of staying at one of the Wilderness Cabins at the Fort someday and riding our golf cart to the campfire every evening. What an idyllic setting!

We didn’t stay for the movie “A Bug’s Life” which was showing after the sing a long. We joined the crowds waiting at the bus stop. Most of them were Fort Wilderness guests going back to their campsites or cabins. It’s a big sprawling area and with the crowded buses I would definitely try to splurge for a golf cart rental so you could easily get around on your own.

We got to the condo at 9:30 and were all asleep by 10. My last thought before I nodded off was that I was still full from breakfast! Every time I stuff myself at a buffet like that I vow never again. Until the next time that is.

Wednesday, 4-16-03
I was up with the neighbors from above at 5:30. I’m not sure where they were going so early but they were a little noisy in doing it. I dozed a little on and off for the next hour but my cold was making it difficult to sleep well. It was about a full box of Kleenex day for a couple of days in a row. I finally got up and had a big bowl of Life cereal for breakfast. I hurried the kids along through their normal morning routine and we were out the door at 7:30 and parking at the Polynesian about 30 minutes later. We rode the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom and saw the opening ceremony with Mayor Weaver again.

We entered Main Street and walked through the Plaza Pavilion restaurant to Tomorrowland just as the entire park opened. Jenny and Megan went to Space Mountain first while Bryce and I went to Buzz Lightyear for two rides in a row. I did pretty lame with scores in the 300,000 range both times. I couldn’t get the volcano or robot arm as Bryce was steering the vehicle and giving us a good spin.

We all met back up and traded kids so Jen took Bryce for his third ride on Buzz and I took Meg for her second ride on Space Mountain. There was a five minute standby wait which was not too bad. It was a fun ride.

When we came out we spotted Jenny and Bryce in line for the Astro Orbiter. Megan joined them while I went over and got Winnie the Pooh Fastpasses for 45 minutes later. We all joined up again and went on Peter Pan which had a 5 minute posted standby wait that turned out to be 10, then Small World, Snow White and finally Pooh with our Fastpasses. We moved on to Toontown for Mickey & Minnie’s houses, the Barnstormer (which Bryce now declares lame) and Donald’s boat.

Adventureland was next on the agenda so we first picked up Jungle Cruise Fastpasses and then stopped for an early lunch of a kid’s hot dog meal for Bryce, a regular hot dog meal for Megan and a Kit Carson salad which Jenny and I shared. The total was $16.37. Jenny finished Bryce’s hot dog and I finished Meg’s which she had loaded up with the sautéed mushrooms and onions. Sounds weird but it was good! We had our usual area completely to ourselves. It was a nice relaxing break.

We took a ride on Pirates after that and then went to the Jungle Cruise where the standby time was listed at 30 minutes but it sure looked a lot longer than that. The line was huge and I was really glad to have those Fastpasses and be on the boat in 5 minutes. This was our best Jungle Cruise ever. The skipper was fantastic with some very funny facial expressions but what really made the cruise was a guy across from us who just completely cracked up at every joke. He had a really infectious laugh and it was hilarious to see him enjoying it so much. The skipper said he was going to have to keep him aboard for the rest of the day.

We saw the Tiki Room show after that then Jenny went ahead to Main Street to shop and pick up pictures while I stopped for a Dole pineapple whip with the kids and then found the candy store on Main Street. Bryce got a very overpriced Wonka bar and package of Butterfinger BB’s, Meg got Pop Rocks and Nestle Treasures and I got a toffee covered Mickey pretzel. I was a bit disappointed in the pretzel. It was just OK and not nearly as good as it looked. We sampled a few of the types of fudge they had and I practically had to restrain Megan from diving into the big slab of cookies and cream fudge. It was tasty.

I’m interrupting the regularly scheduled trip report to point out that I’m doing the rest of it by memory 3 months later. I had finished the report but had a computer crash and the report was only saved up until this point. I had already thrown out my notes so you’ll notice that I’m getting a little less descriptive from this point on. Hey, keep the applause down!

OK, back to the report. We eventually wound our way out of the park and onto the monorail back to the Polynesian around 2.

We went back to the condo and the kids went for their usual afternoon swim for a few hours.

Dinner was at Jungle Jim’s in Crossroads. Bryce had the Mutant Macaroni kid’s meal and Meg shared my Tarzan Chicken sandwich and Jenny’s chicken nacho deluxe. Even with a beer ($1.50 for a pint of ice cold Bud Light, what a deal) the total with tax and tip was a very reasonable $28.10 and we all left stuffed.

We went back to the condo for an early evening and just relaxed.

Thursday, 4-17-03
We were up at 7 and got ready for our day at Blizzard Beach. We arrived and were let into the park early so I was able to get the locker rental and mug refill sticker before the official 9AM opening and still make the dash to secure our new favorite spot in the corner of Melt-a-Way Bay.

We immediately took off for the top of Mount Gushmore and went on the family raft ride, Teamboat Springs and got a good soaking. We then went around the back of the mountain to Runoff Rapids where we all did single tubes. This was Bryce’s first time going solo and he chose to do the middle enclosed (dark) tube. He talked about that ride with the enthusiasm that only a 5 year old can and how it was like being in outer space because it was “pitch black” and the holes letting in light were like stars.

The girls went ahead to Downhill Double dipper but Bryce convinced me to stay and take another slide on the enclosed tube. As we were waiting at the front of the line for tubes a guy came out of the pool and didn’t hand off his tube. I politely asked him if I could have his tube and he said “no, I’m going on the ride again”. Less politely this time I said “so are all of us waiting in line that handed off our tubes and then got back into the line”. I could see the wheels in his head turning and searching for a smart remark back but I gave him my “I’m a big scary looking guy” scowl and he handed it over. The guy in line behind me gave me a pat on the back and said “good job”.

We met up with the girls and all did both mat slides before going into Melt A Way Bay for a long while. We then took a float around the lazy river before having our lunch of bagels and Pringles.

After lunch I took the kids to the Ski Patrol area where they played for a long time. Meg had a lot of fun with a group of kids playing king of the hill on one of the icebergs. She eventually scraped up her toe though and it was bleeding so we went to first aid to get a bandage. The older cast member there was sweet and gave both kids stickers and fixed Meg up quickly. I felt really bad for a young girl (around 3) in the back who was just howling in pain. The cast member said she got waterproof sunscreen in her eyes and water alone would not flush it out so they had to use soap. Ouch! It made me think of the Simpson’s episode where Ned Flanders sprays his boys with a little canister of “eye soap” after they saw something inappropriate. Their comment “the burning is love!” still cracks me up. Anyhow, poor kid, I felt bad for her and her parents.

We relaxed with another trip around the lazy river. OK, I relaxed and the kids made a big ruckus with splashing and swimming through the river but we all had fun. We headed out of the park at 2PM and went back to the condo.

I took the kids out to the Character Premiere at the Lake Buena Vista factory outlet mall. As usual Jenny stayed back and did laundry, thanks dear! There wasn’t too much exciting at the store this time but I did find some very tasty cinnamon coated chocolate almonds left over from Christmas. They were $.99 marked down $7.99 originally. Meg got a box of character chocolates for $3.99 which was $7.99 originally. Bryce got a big lollipop and a Mickey chocolate crisp bar. We also found a Christmas ornament for Jenny.

We looked through the Universal store nearby and found some heavily discounted items but nothing that really struck our fancy so we left without buying anything there. We went back to the condo, picked up Jenny and then went to Crossroads for another dinner at Chevy’s. Megan had a kid’s meal with a chicken soft taco and a root beer. Bryce had a kid’s meal with a bean burrito. Jenny and I shared the nachos and she also had a Bud light. We plowed through a couple of baskets of those fresh hot chips and excellent salsa before our meal so we all left stuffed. The total bill with tax and tip was a reasonable $25.82

We got back to the condo at 8:10 and realized Survivor was on but it was just an episode which recapped everything that had previously happened. Boy is that Matt creepy.

We turned off the lights around 9:30

Friday, 4-18-03
We woke up at 7 for our final day. We all felt like there was still more we would like to do at the Magic Kingdom so that was the plan. As usual we parked at the Polynesian and rode the monorail over and saw the opening ceremony with Mayor Weaver and all of the characters.

We lined up at the entrance to Adventureland and there were four cast members who as usual asked the crowd to follow behind them as they walked us towards Splash Mountain. A bunch of jerks sprinted past them though. One of the cast members said “I thought we were supposed to be leading” and the other said “it’s Easter weekend” with a shrug of his shoulders.

I went ahead for Splash Mountain Fastpasses while Jenny took the kids on Big Thunder Mountain. I ran into a really snotty cast member who was standing at the Fastpass machines saying that they were not necessary because there was no line and you could walk right on the ride. He went on an on about how there wouldn’t be a line until the afternoon and there was just no reason to get a Fastpass. I thought, sure, it’s Easter weekend and a bunch of people just sprinted past to beat everyone to the ride and this guy thinks there is going to be no line. I just got my Fastpass anyway and ignored his ranting.

I met up with Jenny and the kids and we rode Big Thunder two more times in a row since there was no line. We then went over and did Splash Mountain which of course did not have a standby line so I guess the cast member was right and I’m the idiot although I still think there would have been a line soon. As we left we gave away our Fastpasses to a nice family that was just walking up.

We took a ride on Pirates and the Haunted Mansion before taking the raft over to Tom Sawyer’s Island. The kids had blast exploring all of the caves and even talked their somewhat claustrophobic mom in to going in one. It felt great going through the caves that were air conditioned. We stopped at Aunt Polly’s for ice cream. Bryce and I had chocolate & vanilla swirl cones (or cup in his case) and Megan had a strawberry short cake sundae that she loved.

While we were sitting eating our ice cream we noticed that we still hadn’t explored Injun’ Joe’s cave. I made up some long winded story about how many years ago a six year old boy had gone in but had never came out and all they found later was a pile of bones. Despite the kids eye rolling at my tale I guess I laid it on a bit too thick because when we got into the cave Bryce had a death grip on my hand. At one point the girls went around a different corner and scared us. Bryce was practically glued to me after that. The poor child will be scarred for life.

We were all starving after we were done exploring the island so we went to Casey’s on Main Street and had hot dogs and French fries. They were outstanding as usual. We sat inside so we could enjoy the air conditioning. Bryce and I had a great time playing the baseball “pinball” type machine again.

We made it an early afternoon and did some shopping on Main Street before leaving the park around 2. The kids had their usual afternoon swim for a couple of hours and met two very nice British girls. When we were leaving Meg decided to give them her foam “noodle” pool thing. I encouraged Bryce to give his to them also since we were leaving in the morning. Just as in our November trip (where it was an old stroller) he developed some strange emotional attachment and didn’t want to give it up. So, it was decided we would leave the noodle with the front desk and they would store it for us until we returned the next time. That’s what I told him anyhow. I figured the year time frame until we go back and a quick trip to Wal-Mart should take care of my little fib.

We got cleaned up and went to the Rainforest Café at Downtown Disney for dinner. The place was absolutely swarming with people. It always is busy but I’ve never seen it like that. I had to wait about 15 minutes just to get up to the check in area. The wait time was 210 minutes! Thankfully I had my Safari card which cut the time down to 50 minutes. That’s still the longest I’ve had to wait with using the card though. I guess I should have thought ahead and made one of the guaranteed reservations. We went and shopped in the stores though which we wanted to do anyhow so it wasn’t wasted time. When our time came up I had another 15 minute wait just to check back in and get directed to the inside line. We had a 10 minute wait in that line. Rainforest Café is definitely not for those without a lot of patience.

The server was friendly but the service was as lackadaisical as always. I don’t mind if they are busy at other tables but they always just seem to disappear here. Where do they go for such long stretches? Do they just hang out in the kitchen waiting for the food?

I didn’t hold back and had the full order of Mojo Bones (ribs) on top of a huge plate of fries. Jenny had a Cobb salad and a Bud light. Megan had the Jurassic (chicken) nuggets and Bryce just had a plate of fries (probably the only good value at Rainforest for only $.95). The ribs were great and the girls helped me with a few of them. We had plenty of food to go around and with the $5 Safari Club anniversary gift certificate I had and 10% discount the total was a surprisingly reasonable $44.66 with tax and tip.

After dinner we strolled around and did some more shopping but didn’t buy anything except for a couple of chocolate squares at Ghirardelli. We were going to stop for a sundae but the line there was huge so we settled for the chocolates.

We went back to the condo and finished packing for our early flight the next day.

Well, I won’t drone on further about the next day but the trip back home went well with no glitches.

Highlights of the trip

Lots of quality family time and memories together that will last a lifetime.
Having Tony join us. He’s a good friend and we miss him since he later moved to Chicago. We had a great time with him. It always sounds good in theory to invite a lot of people along on our trips but the logistics, crowds, hot weather, etc. make it very challenging to keep everyone happy so we don’t do it. It’s hard enough with just the four of us. It was easy with Tony though since it was just one person and he was very flexible. Thanks for joining us buddy.
Megan being the most fearless rider in our family. She’s up for any ride, anytime.
Bryce outgrowing the water park kiddy areas. It was bittersweet leaving behind so many fond memories of those areas but we made new memories by riding everything together now. It was also fun having him along on Splash & Big Thunder Mountains. In the past I think he tolerated them for us but now he truly enjoys them.
Having premium annual passes. Every year we get more relaxed and appreciate the little things more. With the annual passes we feel like we can go to a park for a few hours and then just leave when we aren’t enjoying it anymore without feeling like we need to “get our money’s worth”. I’ve almost completely wiped out my former commando style of touring.
The campfire and sing-a-long at Fort Wilderness. It was a magical night.
Dinner at ‘Ohana and a nice evening at the Polynesian.
Illuminations.
Customer service at the Oak Plantation.
Smoked turkey legs.
Lowlights of the trip

Losing Bryce at Wal-Mart!
The noisy upstairs neighbors for a couple of nights of our stay. It was like they were filming MTV’s Spring Break in the unit above us.
The cast members at the Epcot camera center who didn’t act at all like cast members. The magic (and even just basic customer service) was missing.
The cast member with the attitude at the Splash Mountain Fastpass machines.
Having a cold for the second week of the trip.
Those times (which I’d like to think are few) that I lost my patience or said things that weren’t kind.
The very long wait and mediocre service at the Rainforest Café.
The really stinky logs on Splash Mountain.
Well, that wraps things up. Our next trip will probably be for two weeks during the kids spring break in April, 2004.

Feel free to write.

Lance Caros