Trip Reports
02-20-2007, 10:23 PM
Jeremy Phelps - August 2003 - Contemporary Resort
Time of Year: Summer
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: CR
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Teen, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
Comments: A conveniently times change of station and some good military discounts from Disney meant it was finally time for Jeremy and his family to experience Walt Disney World. It rained too much, and they spent a little too much on their way to Disney World, but it was still a great time.
Jeremy Phelps -- August 2003 -- Walt Disney World (CR)
The Cast
Jeremy, age 32 (that’s me) – been to Tokyo Disneyland twice (in 1990 & 1992), and been to Disneyland in Anaheim close to 10 times, all prior to 1997.
Shelley, age 33 – visited Disneyland once in 1996
Madison, age 12 – visited Disneyland 3 times, last visited after Disney California Adventure opened up in 2001
Austin, age 6 – visited the Disney store many timesPlanning
Back around May, we found out that Disney was having awesome discounts for Military members & their families. The time frame was also coinciding with our Permanent Change of Station move, so we decided to do the three day deal at Disneyland Resort. We made reservations for a hotel right outside the park, and we were set. After doing a little net surfing, we decided to up the stakes, and go to Florida instead. So we initially made reservations at All Star Music (where we were going to get a 40% discount), and we also tried to get into Shades of Green. But they were booked. In mid July, Shelley called Shades of Green, to see if there were any cancellations, and as luck would have it, there were. So we reserved a room at the Contemporary.Getting ready to go
In the beginning of August we moved from Hawaii. We spent two weeks in San Antonio, where we went to my sister-in-law's wedding, and over the course of everything, we spent way too much money.Also, while we were in Texas, we spent a day at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, where we had a great time. We also spent a day at Sea World, where the whole family got in free via another Military special. Unfortunately, we also got soaked, it rained a lot. . . which turned out to foreshadow more of our vacation.
Heading out
We drove from SA to New Orleans, spent the night with a friend, saw the city, had a good time. Saturday afternoon, we headed east. We had trouble finding a hotel, eventually made it to Madison (which my daughter got a kick out of) Florida, and we got the last room at a Holiday Inn Express.The next day we pressed on. That afternoon, as we got near WDW, I noticed that the city and streets changed. All the buildings were more colorful and exaggerated, and everything was purple. As we drove down the road, everybody were getting excited.
Sunday, August 17th 2003: Arrival
We then pulled into the resort area, and I was not ready for it. I had spent months looking at Official Maps & unofficial maps, but nothing prepared me for the sheer size of the resort. I figured that everything was close. The World was just huge!We checked in at the Contemporary, with little trouble. At first, we weren't in the system, but only because SOG had spelled my name wrong. We parked, at the North Garden, went to our room, and unpacked. After that, the kids and I took the Monorail to MK to purchase our Military tickets. It was nice to ride, especially in mid-afternoon, when the trains were calm, and it was easy to go through security.After we got back, Shelley had been going over the budget, and it turns out that we had less money than we were counting on . . . our trip to Texas had cost more than anticipated, so we had to make some changes to our plans/cut back on some high priced stuff.Then we decided to go out for dinner, and to go to Publix to pick up some breakfast and snack food, and to get film. We ran out before we got there. Film was outrageously priced in the area! Snacks were pretty typical.We stopped at a place call Pizzabella's for dinner. Great food. A new small Italian place run by a husband and wife.
Monday, Aug 18: The Magic Kingdom
We woke up early and walked over to Chef Mickey's, where we had a Priority Seating. Once we go in, the kids got their picture taken with Goofy. Shelley sees that everybody else has an autograph book, so she sends me out to buy one (she's a scrapbooker, and she wants to scrapbook the autographs with the pictures). So I go out to the concourse, and both stores won't open until 9, but the pin-trading kiosk in the middle is open, and they do sell autograph books, so I buy one.By the time I got back, we had already been seated. So we ate an okay breakfast, and the kids got to meet a lot of characters, and get a lot of pictures. Character Meals are definitely worth it . . . even if the food isn't great, you're guaranteed to meet characters without standing in line.After breakfast, we took the monorail to Magic Kingdom. We spent the rest of the morning, and part of the early afternoon there. We pretty much went straight on Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain. We then headed for Fantasyland, where we picked up a Fast Pass for Pooh. While we waited for our FP, we did Small World, and then went to Peter Pan. Sign said 20 minutes . . . it took almost an hour! After that we rode Pooh (which was fun), and then I got us a FP for the Haunted Mansion. We ate at Pinnochio Haus, which had your standard food, not bad. I wanted to do the Hall of Presidents, but once we got inside the lobby, it took forever, it was 10-15 minutes late, and we said, forget it, and went to Haunted Mansion.After that, Shelley wanted to relax a bit, so we went back to the hotel. Not 20 minutes later, I heard thunder. Then the rain started. Now, I spent 4 years in Hawaii, where it rains almost daily, but it was always pleasant, and thunderstorms . . . well they were very rare.It rained the rest of the day. We didn't go back out like we wanted to. It was so nasty out, we decided to eat at the Contemporary Food Court . . . and I thought that eating in the Park was overpriced! So we ate, and went back to our room for the night.
Tuesday: MGM
There was a lot that we wanted to do and see.We decided to take the bus, it was a Magic Hour day, and we got there about 30 minutes before the "real" opening. We went straight to Tower of Terror. Austin didn't want to go on, so we did the swap. It was kind of a pain, and it stunk that I had to ride alone, but the ride was great!We then got FP's for Rock N Roller Coaster, then we had some time to kill.
So we rode the Great Movie Ride. That was so cool. We were in the middle of some great movies and it was a lot of fun.Next we did Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It was neat to see it all. I tried the Fast Finger, but I answered out of place, and some kid got on. As he was playing, I was answering on the keypad, and at the $1000 point, no one in our group was on the board. When the kid stepped down (why would you step down...what do you have to lose...it's for a cruise!) they showed the top 10, and when they got to number 1...it was me! So I went up there, got to the $32,000 question, got it right, and we ran out of time. They asked me if I'd come back . . . I said yes . . . was going to interfere with my FP, but that was okay. Went to the waiting area, met up with my family, and I was still so nervous. That hot seat . . . it's not fun. They tried to take the pressure off, but they all wanted the cruise . . . so I went back for the next show. Over the course of the two shows, I managed to use two lifelines that I sort of knew the answer. At one point, I used the 50/50 on an answer that I was pretty sure of "What is the largest office building in the world?" I said the Pentagon, the audience sighed, the music was defeatful, but I was right. Later I was asked where delft pottery came from . . . I phoned a stranger, but as soon as they called out, I knew the answer, and the stranger confirmed it. So, I am on the $250,000 question, and they ask me some question about an author that I'd never heard of, and book that he wrote about his grandfather. I asked the audience. None of the answers had a strong percentage, but I went with the majority, and it was wrong. So I walked away with a bunch of pins, a hat and a polo shirt.
We were late for our Fast Pass, but we got on with no problem, the Millionaire Prize coordinator said that if they questioned my return time, I should be okay because of the game. I didn't like how the roller coaster started, it was too fast. The rest was awesome though.After that, we ate, then we headed towards back lot area. We couldn't get into the next Indiana Jones show, so we did Star Tours (which has always been a favorite of mine).
After that, it started raining. So we went into the Muppets to get out of it. After the Muppets, it was raining a lot harder...thunder...lightning, etc. We left. We had to wait for the bus, and we were soaked.We didn't get to do the Back Lot tour, or Indy or Fantasmic, so we planned on going back another day.After we got back to the hotel, we dried off, and decided to drive to Down Town Disney, since the rain had finally settled.We checked out the stores (I loved the Christmas store) and ate. Then we went back to the hotel.
Wednesday: Magic Kingdom, the Sequel
The next morning rolled around, and we needed to do laundry. After driving from Texas, and getting rained out, our clothes were dirty. So we spent the morning, and a whole lot of quarters, washing our clothes.We ate snack/lunch in the room, and around noon, we headed back to Magic Kingdom.As soon as we got there, we headed towards Adventureland, and I immediately got our Fast Passes for the Jungle Cruise. While we waited, the kids & I went on Alladin's Carpets, and then we walked the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. After that, it was time for our cruise.The cruise was corny as ever, but I noticed something, when the boat went by the hippos, our guide didn't fire a shot off at them. I asked him about it, and he said that they had to stop after Animal Kingdom opened up. It seems that after opening a park that preaches against poaching, it's not good to promote across the resort.After the ride ended, it started to rain a little. Not bad this time.Se we headed to the Pirates of the Carribean. While the ride seemed just like I remember in California, I missed the queue area, and the beginning of the ride in the Blue Bayou area. The dungeons were cool, but I always liked the Bayou.After that we headed towards Frontierland. We picked up FPs for Splash Mountain, but they weren't good for many hours, and the line to Big Thunder was tad too long as well. So we hopped on the train to Toon Town.In Toon Town, we went into the Judges Tent, got decent time with the Hundred Acre Wood gang, and took lots of photos.Then the kids got in line for Goofy's Barnstormer. While they were in line, Shelley & I got in line to meet the Goof himself. I happened to be holding Austin's Goofy hat (the one that looks like his face) so when our picture was taken Goofy had a fun time with the picture.After that, we walked to Tomorrowland, and ate at Cosmic Rays. I really enjoyed the "lounge singer".After we ate, Shelley decided that she wanted to go back to the room, so the kids & I headed out. They rode the Tea Cups...right after dinner. Madison didn't enjoy it all too well. After that, we walked around the castle. Took a bunch of photos, and then headed back to Frontierland.We stopped next at Country Bears. Another favorite from my childhood, one that wasn't in Disneyland the last time I was there.And then we rode Splash Mountain. Austin loved it, until we got the very top, and then he closed his eyes all the way down.Then we rode Big Thunder. He really liked that.After that, we headed back to Tomorrowland. We enquired about switching at Alien Encounter, but the CM, well he was kind of confusing, and we couldn't find where to go, so we decided not to do it...Austin did not like the idea of the attraction.Then we did the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. A nice relaxing ride. And we rode Buzz again.At this point it was about 10:00 PM, so we decided to head out.The monorail station was more crowded than any other ride that we saw that day, so we decided to walk back to the hotel. The walk was much longer than I expected, and by the time we got back to the hotel, we were dead.That night, Madison & I decided that we would try to do Alien Encounter again, first thing in the morning, during the Magic Hour.
Thursday: Animal Kingdom
I Woke up early on Day 4. Austin and Shelley were both out, & I tried to Madison, (we were going to do Alien Encounter) but she refused to get up (you know how 12 year olds are)So I hopped on the Monorail alone.I arrived about 15 minutes before the "Magic Hour" began. It was a treat to be at the gate when they opened. Then I went straight to Alien Encounter. I really enjoyed it. The physical effects were great, and I will miss it the next time I'm there. Went back to the hotel, and we got ready to go.Instead of relying on Disney Transportation, we drove to Animal Kingdom.
The safari was a great attraction. The story line with the poachers was kinda cheezy though.It's Tough To Be A Bug was cute. The stink bug stunk, so I guess that was good.
Pizzafari was decent enough.We then headed towards DinoLand. I immediately got our Fast Passes, and we then explored. The kids went on the Primeval Whirl, and if I were younger, I would have too.
Then we had a few photo ops. First we ran into Daisy Duck, but then we met Donald...who happened to be the one that Austin really wanted to meet, so that was good. Although he was disappointed that Donald wasn't wearing his traditional outfit, he was dressed as a dinosaur.Then, we rode Dinosaur. That was so cool. I think that I was scared more than my Austin was. That last carnotaur really got to me. After that, we decided that we were done at AK. The only thing that was still of interest was the Kali River...and we'd been wet enough that week!So we hopped in the car, and headed back to MGM, to do what we couldn't do two days earlier.As we got in the car, the sky started to get very dark. When we pulled into MGM's parking lot, the rain kicked in hard again! So we stayed in the car, and decided to check out DisneyQuest.Before going, DisneyQuest sounded really cool. But when we got inside, there wasn't a whole lot that really appealed to me. The virtual reality Aladdin was neat and the Jungle Cruise wasn't fun. But I did enjoy all the video games from my youth! We also had dinner while we were there. In short, I would never pay separate admission, and I would never use up a full day's pass at DisneyQuest.We headed back to the hotel, but after a little bit, we decided to go and get some dessert. So we hunted down Beaches & Cream. So we called our hotel info desk for directions, and they told us to take the monorail and some other confusing information. So we walked to the monorail, and when were waiting to get on, we looked over at Chef Mickey's, and who did we see in the waiting area taking pictures, none other than Donald Duck, in his blue outfit. So we got on the elevator, went down, and casually walked past the hostess station. We waited until everybody around got a photo with Donald, and then we got our pictures.Then we got back to the monorail, and eventually found out that the monorail was a mistake.So we went back, and got in the car and drove over.The Beach Resort was beautiful, much prettier than the Contemporary. The ice cream was great. I don't remember the name of what I got, but it had 3 of the biggest scoops of ice cream, a brownie, hot fudge, it was so good. My son got a Mickey Sundae, and we all were satisfied.
Friday: EPCOT
The sky was clear, and we boarded the monorail for EPCOT.As soon as we got there, we had to take a picture of at least some of the family in front of the "Landmark" (which was something we had done at every other park) and this family offered to take our picture. They just had theirs done by a cast member, so they posed us like the pros (unfortunately, when we got the picture developed, you could barely see us)
After that, Shelley realized that we only had one roll of film left. So we had to buy more. This time not at Publix, but in EPCOT. We paid about $8.00 for one roll! They tried to convince me to buy a tree pack (it's cheaper per roll) but I wasn't sure if we would even need the one I was buying, we had just started with a new roll.The first thing that we hit was Spaceship Earth. Not very exciting, but it was okay. When we were ready to move on, the clear sky...well it was gone. Once again it was raining hard. So I ran to Mission Space to get Fast Passes, and we all met at Wonders of Life. We first went on Body Wars. I didn't feel good after we got off that. And I was disappointed with the look. It seemed identical to Star Tours.We watched The Making of Me, and we were worried about what questions me might get after it was over (after all, Austin is six) but he had nothing to say...for the next month anyways. Then at Walmart (or wherever we were that day) he asks us how the egg meets with...And we did Cranium Command. I really had no interest in this, but it was soooo funny. I loved all the people they used. It was very fun. After Wonders of Life, it was time for our Fast Pass. So we headed towards Mission Space. At first, Austin was wary, but he decided to brave it anyways. Once it started, both my Shelley & Madison completely hated it. Absolutely! They wanted off. On the other hand Austin (who was nervous) and I absolutely loved it! The take off felt so real (I guess). It was the ultimate ride.After Mission Space, Shelley was not feeling well, so we decided to leave. If she felt better, we would later go back to MGM to finish. If not, the kids & I were going to go do Alien Encounter (Austin decided that he would do it, and after comparing it to Dinosaur, I figured that he'd be fine) and some other fun stuff at Magic Kingdom. So we got on the monorail, and it started raining again...but not too badly. After transferring at the TTC, it started raining really bad. You couldn't see out the windows! At the Grand Floridian station we stopped...and sat there for 15-20 minutes. There was so much debris, the trains could not operate.When we finally got back to our room, it was still raining, and we decided to call it a day.
Oh, that roll of film I bought earlier, we didn't even put it in the camera.
We left Florida the next day.Some random thoughts
We used 10 rolls of film. That is well over 200 pictures of WDW.
We took pictures of all kinds of things, but one thing we ended up doing was meeting characters. We stood in quite a few lines. We also got their autographs. We met:
Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, Dale, Aladdin, Jasmine, the Genie, Jafar, Captain Hook, Mr Smee, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Donald, Daisy, Lilo, Stitch, Flik, Princess Atta, Timon, Rafiki, Baloo, King Louie (who doesn't sign autographs, he just dances), Dopey...and I can't think of any one else right now.
We got pictures in front of Spaceship Earth, Cinderella's Castle, the Tree of Life, the Sorceror's Hat, the Main Street Train Station and so much more.
Next Disney vacation, we will not vacation anywhere else along the way. We did this also in 96, and then we also spent too much before our real vacation started.
I will never go to WDW again in August. It was too hot, and too rainy.
Because we stayed at a Deluxe Resort on our first WDW trip, I will never be able to stay at an All Star, so I will have to make my Shades of Green reservations a year in advance.
I will miss Alien Encounter, and the kids will never get to experience it.
Next time, I will see Indiana Jones and Fantasmic (if it's running)
I want to get in the Hot Seat again, this time, I want to go all the way.
Jeremy Phelps
Time of Year: Summer
Travel Method: Plane, Rental Car
Resort: CR
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Elementary, Teen, Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Rookie
Comments: A conveniently times change of station and some good military discounts from Disney meant it was finally time for Jeremy and his family to experience Walt Disney World. It rained too much, and they spent a little too much on their way to Disney World, but it was still a great time.
Jeremy Phelps -- August 2003 -- Walt Disney World (CR)
The Cast
Jeremy, age 32 (that’s me) – been to Tokyo Disneyland twice (in 1990 & 1992), and been to Disneyland in Anaheim close to 10 times, all prior to 1997.
Shelley, age 33 – visited Disneyland once in 1996
Madison, age 12 – visited Disneyland 3 times, last visited after Disney California Adventure opened up in 2001
Austin, age 6 – visited the Disney store many timesPlanning
Back around May, we found out that Disney was having awesome discounts for Military members & their families. The time frame was also coinciding with our Permanent Change of Station move, so we decided to do the three day deal at Disneyland Resort. We made reservations for a hotel right outside the park, and we were set. After doing a little net surfing, we decided to up the stakes, and go to Florida instead. So we initially made reservations at All Star Music (where we were going to get a 40% discount), and we also tried to get into Shades of Green. But they were booked. In mid July, Shelley called Shades of Green, to see if there were any cancellations, and as luck would have it, there were. So we reserved a room at the Contemporary.Getting ready to go
In the beginning of August we moved from Hawaii. We spent two weeks in San Antonio, where we went to my sister-in-law's wedding, and over the course of everything, we spent way too much money.Also, while we were in Texas, we spent a day at Six Flags Fiesta Texas, where we had a great time. We also spent a day at Sea World, where the whole family got in free via another Military special. Unfortunately, we also got soaked, it rained a lot. . . which turned out to foreshadow more of our vacation.
Heading out
We drove from SA to New Orleans, spent the night with a friend, saw the city, had a good time. Saturday afternoon, we headed east. We had trouble finding a hotel, eventually made it to Madison (which my daughter got a kick out of) Florida, and we got the last room at a Holiday Inn Express.The next day we pressed on. That afternoon, as we got near WDW, I noticed that the city and streets changed. All the buildings were more colorful and exaggerated, and everything was purple. As we drove down the road, everybody were getting excited.
Sunday, August 17th 2003: Arrival
We then pulled into the resort area, and I was not ready for it. I had spent months looking at Official Maps & unofficial maps, but nothing prepared me for the sheer size of the resort. I figured that everything was close. The World was just huge!We checked in at the Contemporary, with little trouble. At first, we weren't in the system, but only because SOG had spelled my name wrong. We parked, at the North Garden, went to our room, and unpacked. After that, the kids and I took the Monorail to MK to purchase our Military tickets. It was nice to ride, especially in mid-afternoon, when the trains were calm, and it was easy to go through security.After we got back, Shelley had been going over the budget, and it turns out that we had less money than we were counting on . . . our trip to Texas had cost more than anticipated, so we had to make some changes to our plans/cut back on some high priced stuff.Then we decided to go out for dinner, and to go to Publix to pick up some breakfast and snack food, and to get film. We ran out before we got there. Film was outrageously priced in the area! Snacks were pretty typical.We stopped at a place call Pizzabella's for dinner. Great food. A new small Italian place run by a husband and wife.
Monday, Aug 18: The Magic Kingdom
We woke up early and walked over to Chef Mickey's, where we had a Priority Seating. Once we go in, the kids got their picture taken with Goofy. Shelley sees that everybody else has an autograph book, so she sends me out to buy one (she's a scrapbooker, and she wants to scrapbook the autographs with the pictures). So I go out to the concourse, and both stores won't open until 9, but the pin-trading kiosk in the middle is open, and they do sell autograph books, so I buy one.By the time I got back, we had already been seated. So we ate an okay breakfast, and the kids got to meet a lot of characters, and get a lot of pictures. Character Meals are definitely worth it . . . even if the food isn't great, you're guaranteed to meet characters without standing in line.After breakfast, we took the monorail to Magic Kingdom. We spent the rest of the morning, and part of the early afternoon there. We pretty much went straight on Buzz Lightyear and Space Mountain. We then headed for Fantasyland, where we picked up a Fast Pass for Pooh. While we waited for our FP, we did Small World, and then went to Peter Pan. Sign said 20 minutes . . . it took almost an hour! After that we rode Pooh (which was fun), and then I got us a FP for the Haunted Mansion. We ate at Pinnochio Haus, which had your standard food, not bad. I wanted to do the Hall of Presidents, but once we got inside the lobby, it took forever, it was 10-15 minutes late, and we said, forget it, and went to Haunted Mansion.After that, Shelley wanted to relax a bit, so we went back to the hotel. Not 20 minutes later, I heard thunder. Then the rain started. Now, I spent 4 years in Hawaii, where it rains almost daily, but it was always pleasant, and thunderstorms . . . well they were very rare.It rained the rest of the day. We didn't go back out like we wanted to. It was so nasty out, we decided to eat at the Contemporary Food Court . . . and I thought that eating in the Park was overpriced! So we ate, and went back to our room for the night.
Tuesday: MGM
There was a lot that we wanted to do and see.We decided to take the bus, it was a Magic Hour day, and we got there about 30 minutes before the "real" opening. We went straight to Tower of Terror. Austin didn't want to go on, so we did the swap. It was kind of a pain, and it stunk that I had to ride alone, but the ride was great!We then got FP's for Rock N Roller Coaster, then we had some time to kill.
So we rode the Great Movie Ride. That was so cool. We were in the middle of some great movies and it was a lot of fun.Next we did Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It was neat to see it all. I tried the Fast Finger, but I answered out of place, and some kid got on. As he was playing, I was answering on the keypad, and at the $1000 point, no one in our group was on the board. When the kid stepped down (why would you step down...what do you have to lose...it's for a cruise!) they showed the top 10, and when they got to number 1...it was me! So I went up there, got to the $32,000 question, got it right, and we ran out of time. They asked me if I'd come back . . . I said yes . . . was going to interfere with my FP, but that was okay. Went to the waiting area, met up with my family, and I was still so nervous. That hot seat . . . it's not fun. They tried to take the pressure off, but they all wanted the cruise . . . so I went back for the next show. Over the course of the two shows, I managed to use two lifelines that I sort of knew the answer. At one point, I used the 50/50 on an answer that I was pretty sure of "What is the largest office building in the world?" I said the Pentagon, the audience sighed, the music was defeatful, but I was right. Later I was asked where delft pottery came from . . . I phoned a stranger, but as soon as they called out, I knew the answer, and the stranger confirmed it. So, I am on the $250,000 question, and they ask me some question about an author that I'd never heard of, and book that he wrote about his grandfather. I asked the audience. None of the answers had a strong percentage, but I went with the majority, and it was wrong. So I walked away with a bunch of pins, a hat and a polo shirt.
We were late for our Fast Pass, but we got on with no problem, the Millionaire Prize coordinator said that if they questioned my return time, I should be okay because of the game. I didn't like how the roller coaster started, it was too fast. The rest was awesome though.After that, we ate, then we headed towards back lot area. We couldn't get into the next Indiana Jones show, so we did Star Tours (which has always been a favorite of mine).
After that, it started raining. So we went into the Muppets to get out of it. After the Muppets, it was raining a lot harder...thunder...lightning, etc. We left. We had to wait for the bus, and we were soaked.We didn't get to do the Back Lot tour, or Indy or Fantasmic, so we planned on going back another day.After we got back to the hotel, we dried off, and decided to drive to Down Town Disney, since the rain had finally settled.We checked out the stores (I loved the Christmas store) and ate. Then we went back to the hotel.
Wednesday: Magic Kingdom, the Sequel
The next morning rolled around, and we needed to do laundry. After driving from Texas, and getting rained out, our clothes were dirty. So we spent the morning, and a whole lot of quarters, washing our clothes.We ate snack/lunch in the room, and around noon, we headed back to Magic Kingdom.As soon as we got there, we headed towards Adventureland, and I immediately got our Fast Passes for the Jungle Cruise. While we waited, the kids & I went on Alladin's Carpets, and then we walked the Swiss Family Robinson Tree House. After that, it was time for our cruise.The cruise was corny as ever, but I noticed something, when the boat went by the hippos, our guide didn't fire a shot off at them. I asked him about it, and he said that they had to stop after Animal Kingdom opened up. It seems that after opening a park that preaches against poaching, it's not good to promote across the resort.After the ride ended, it started to rain a little. Not bad this time.Se we headed to the Pirates of the Carribean. While the ride seemed just like I remember in California, I missed the queue area, and the beginning of the ride in the Blue Bayou area. The dungeons were cool, but I always liked the Bayou.After that we headed towards Frontierland. We picked up FPs for Splash Mountain, but they weren't good for many hours, and the line to Big Thunder was tad too long as well. So we hopped on the train to Toon Town.In Toon Town, we went into the Judges Tent, got decent time with the Hundred Acre Wood gang, and took lots of photos.Then the kids got in line for Goofy's Barnstormer. While they were in line, Shelley & I got in line to meet the Goof himself. I happened to be holding Austin's Goofy hat (the one that looks like his face) so when our picture was taken Goofy had a fun time with the picture.After that, we walked to Tomorrowland, and ate at Cosmic Rays. I really enjoyed the "lounge singer".After we ate, Shelley decided that she wanted to go back to the room, so the kids & I headed out. They rode the Tea Cups...right after dinner. Madison didn't enjoy it all too well. After that, we walked around the castle. Took a bunch of photos, and then headed back to Frontierland.We stopped next at Country Bears. Another favorite from my childhood, one that wasn't in Disneyland the last time I was there.And then we rode Splash Mountain. Austin loved it, until we got the very top, and then he closed his eyes all the way down.Then we rode Big Thunder. He really liked that.After that, we headed back to Tomorrowland. We enquired about switching at Alien Encounter, but the CM, well he was kind of confusing, and we couldn't find where to go, so we decided not to do it...Austin did not like the idea of the attraction.Then we did the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. A nice relaxing ride. And we rode Buzz again.At this point it was about 10:00 PM, so we decided to head out.The monorail station was more crowded than any other ride that we saw that day, so we decided to walk back to the hotel. The walk was much longer than I expected, and by the time we got back to the hotel, we were dead.That night, Madison & I decided that we would try to do Alien Encounter again, first thing in the morning, during the Magic Hour.
Thursday: Animal Kingdom
I Woke up early on Day 4. Austin and Shelley were both out, & I tried to Madison, (we were going to do Alien Encounter) but she refused to get up (you know how 12 year olds are)So I hopped on the Monorail alone.I arrived about 15 minutes before the "Magic Hour" began. It was a treat to be at the gate when they opened. Then I went straight to Alien Encounter. I really enjoyed it. The physical effects were great, and I will miss it the next time I'm there. Went back to the hotel, and we got ready to go.Instead of relying on Disney Transportation, we drove to Animal Kingdom.
The safari was a great attraction. The story line with the poachers was kinda cheezy though.It's Tough To Be A Bug was cute. The stink bug stunk, so I guess that was good.
Pizzafari was decent enough.We then headed towards DinoLand. I immediately got our Fast Passes, and we then explored. The kids went on the Primeval Whirl, and if I were younger, I would have too.
Then we had a few photo ops. First we ran into Daisy Duck, but then we met Donald...who happened to be the one that Austin really wanted to meet, so that was good. Although he was disappointed that Donald wasn't wearing his traditional outfit, he was dressed as a dinosaur.Then, we rode Dinosaur. That was so cool. I think that I was scared more than my Austin was. That last carnotaur really got to me. After that, we decided that we were done at AK. The only thing that was still of interest was the Kali River...and we'd been wet enough that week!So we hopped in the car, and headed back to MGM, to do what we couldn't do two days earlier.As we got in the car, the sky started to get very dark. When we pulled into MGM's parking lot, the rain kicked in hard again! So we stayed in the car, and decided to check out DisneyQuest.Before going, DisneyQuest sounded really cool. But when we got inside, there wasn't a whole lot that really appealed to me. The virtual reality Aladdin was neat and the Jungle Cruise wasn't fun. But I did enjoy all the video games from my youth! We also had dinner while we were there. In short, I would never pay separate admission, and I would never use up a full day's pass at DisneyQuest.We headed back to the hotel, but after a little bit, we decided to go and get some dessert. So we hunted down Beaches & Cream. So we called our hotel info desk for directions, and they told us to take the monorail and some other confusing information. So we walked to the monorail, and when were waiting to get on, we looked over at Chef Mickey's, and who did we see in the waiting area taking pictures, none other than Donald Duck, in his blue outfit. So we got on the elevator, went down, and casually walked past the hostess station. We waited until everybody around got a photo with Donald, and then we got our pictures.Then we got back to the monorail, and eventually found out that the monorail was a mistake.So we went back, and got in the car and drove over.The Beach Resort was beautiful, much prettier than the Contemporary. The ice cream was great. I don't remember the name of what I got, but it had 3 of the biggest scoops of ice cream, a brownie, hot fudge, it was so good. My son got a Mickey Sundae, and we all were satisfied.
Friday: EPCOT
The sky was clear, and we boarded the monorail for EPCOT.As soon as we got there, we had to take a picture of at least some of the family in front of the "Landmark" (which was something we had done at every other park) and this family offered to take our picture. They just had theirs done by a cast member, so they posed us like the pros (unfortunately, when we got the picture developed, you could barely see us)
After that, Shelley realized that we only had one roll of film left. So we had to buy more. This time not at Publix, but in EPCOT. We paid about $8.00 for one roll! They tried to convince me to buy a tree pack (it's cheaper per roll) but I wasn't sure if we would even need the one I was buying, we had just started with a new roll.The first thing that we hit was Spaceship Earth. Not very exciting, but it was okay. When we were ready to move on, the clear sky...well it was gone. Once again it was raining hard. So I ran to Mission Space to get Fast Passes, and we all met at Wonders of Life. We first went on Body Wars. I didn't feel good after we got off that. And I was disappointed with the look. It seemed identical to Star Tours.We watched The Making of Me, and we were worried about what questions me might get after it was over (after all, Austin is six) but he had nothing to say...for the next month anyways. Then at Walmart (or wherever we were that day) he asks us how the egg meets with...And we did Cranium Command. I really had no interest in this, but it was soooo funny. I loved all the people they used. It was very fun. After Wonders of Life, it was time for our Fast Pass. So we headed towards Mission Space. At first, Austin was wary, but he decided to brave it anyways. Once it started, both my Shelley & Madison completely hated it. Absolutely! They wanted off. On the other hand Austin (who was nervous) and I absolutely loved it! The take off felt so real (I guess). It was the ultimate ride.After Mission Space, Shelley was not feeling well, so we decided to leave. If she felt better, we would later go back to MGM to finish. If not, the kids & I were going to go do Alien Encounter (Austin decided that he would do it, and after comparing it to Dinosaur, I figured that he'd be fine) and some other fun stuff at Magic Kingdom. So we got on the monorail, and it started raining again...but not too badly. After transferring at the TTC, it started raining really bad. You couldn't see out the windows! At the Grand Floridian station we stopped...and sat there for 15-20 minutes. There was so much debris, the trains could not operate.When we finally got back to our room, it was still raining, and we decided to call it a day.
Oh, that roll of film I bought earlier, we didn't even put it in the camera.
We left Florida the next day.Some random thoughts
We used 10 rolls of film. That is well over 200 pictures of WDW.
We took pictures of all kinds of things, but one thing we ended up doing was meeting characters. We stood in quite a few lines. We also got their autographs. We met:
Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, Chip, Dale, Aladdin, Jasmine, the Genie, Jafar, Captain Hook, Mr Smee, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Donald, Daisy, Lilo, Stitch, Flik, Princess Atta, Timon, Rafiki, Baloo, King Louie (who doesn't sign autographs, he just dances), Dopey...and I can't think of any one else right now.
We got pictures in front of Spaceship Earth, Cinderella's Castle, the Tree of Life, the Sorceror's Hat, the Main Street Train Station and so much more.
Next Disney vacation, we will not vacation anywhere else along the way. We did this also in 96, and then we also spent too much before our real vacation started.
I will never go to WDW again in August. It was too hot, and too rainy.
Because we stayed at a Deluxe Resort on our first WDW trip, I will never be able to stay at an All Star, so I will have to make my Shades of Green reservations a year in advance.
I will miss Alien Encounter, and the kids will never get to experience it.
Next time, I will see Indiana Jones and Fantasmic (if it's running)
I want to get in the Hot Seat again, this time, I want to go all the way.
Jeremy Phelps