Kim Howe - October 2003

Time of Year: Fall
Travel Method: Plane, Car rental
Resort: Offsite
Accommodations: Timeshare suite
Ages Represented in Group: Adult
WDW Experience Represented in Group: Veteran
Comments: Kim and Paula had such a great time on their trip last year, that they just had to do it again. Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and the Food & Wine Festival top the events of this trip.

Kim Howe -- October 2003 -- Walt Disney World (Offsite)

Kim has offered several previous trip report for MousePlanet. Click here for those reports.

Players

Kim – WDW veteran (14th trip), just celebrated the first anniversary of 39th birthday, report author
Paula – WDW veteran, one year older than Kim
We are friends and co-workers that share a love for visiting WDW and all things Disney in general. Like me, Paula has visited WDW numerous times with her husband and son and with other family and friends. After one of us returns from a trip the other is looking forward to hearing all about it. Other coworkers just don’t understand what draws us back so often.

Transportation
Southwest airline and National car rental

Accommodations
Three bedroom timeshare at Embassy Grand Beach Vacation Resort
8715 Lake Bryan Beach Blvd.
Orlando, FL 32821
www.embassyresorts.com

Planning
This trip got its origins from the trip Paula and I took in October 2002 (report on this site). With the Southwest ticket I bought for that trip I earned a free award ticket. Although I thought long and hard, I could not use it for any of the plans my husband, Bill, and I had already made for trips in 2003. So about May I got to seriously thinking when I could and would like to go back to WDW. Ideally, November would be best but the ticket expired October 24. There was no way I was letting that ticket go unused so I decided to go the very last week it was good. Paula and I had such a good time together last year that I asked her if she wanted to go with me again and she didn’t hesitate at all. Last year she really had a case of the guilts leaving her family behind. The flights on SW were not open yet so we had to wait until they did to make our reservations.

Meanwhile, I got an exchange for one of our timeshares. There were many to choose from during the week we wanted but I had stayed at the Embassy Grand Beach before and felt it was the best of our choices so I confirmed it. It was a Friday to Friday, but we had decided to go on Saturday morning instead so we didn’t have to take an additional day off from work. Coming home on Friday worked out well because I had to fly home that day anyway since the award ticket would expire after that. The timeshare had three bedrooms so I asked my brother and his girlfriend if they wanted to join us. They are planning a trip in January and wanted to save their time and money for that so they declined. I also asked another co-worker if he wanted to go but he can only plan two weeks ahead of time and so he looked at me like I was crazy asking him if he wanted to commit to something five months away. In July he got engaged and married in August. They didn’t go away for a honeymoon, so I reminded him that my offer was still good. I finally e-mailed his wife and she was sorry but she had to travel for work that week so they couldn’t go. Oh well, I guess one room will just go empty.

After plugging in various codes and coupons on websites for car rental agencies that have counters in the terminal and cars in the garage (Avis, National, Alamo and Dollar), to avoid the off site shuttle hassle, I found a real good deal on a rental car from National, $137 for an intermediate car for seven days. I used the combination of the Disney Club code and an Entertainment book coupon. I have an Emerald Isle membership, so renting with National works out well. It allows you to bypass the counters, pick a car out on your own and check out as you exit the garage. It’s very convenient and I got the membership for free. It’s something worth looking into if you are renting from National.

When we got the e-mail from SW that tickets opened up for our week, we got our tickets. I went home at lunchtime to get the numbers off my award ticket and called from there. I had to pay $5 for some fee. I called Paula back at work and she bought hers on line. I don’t recall what she paid.

There was a Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party scheduled during our stay and we decided to go to that again this year. Although tickets were already on sale we didn’t buy ours until August.

I wanted to go on the Backstage Magic Tour and asked Paula what she thought about taking it. It was a lot of money ($199) but it was something she wanted to do, too. She felt her family would not want to do a seven hour tour so she would take this opportunity to take it. I noticed there were some discounts. One of them was a Cast Member discount of 35% so I called to find out about using that since my cousin is a CM and two friends are too. I wasn’t surprised to find out that the CM has to go on the tour also in order to get the discount. That wouldn’t work for my cousin since he wouldn’t be going since he would be in college. The other two had already been on the tour and I didn’t think they would want to go again. Plus, Paula felt, and I agreed, that if we were to take advantage of the CM discount, we should pay for the CM, too, and that defeated the purpose of getting the discount because the price would still be too much.

So, after all that planning and reasoning, I called the toll free number for the Disney Club Travel Company in August and used my Disney Club card to get a 15% discount for the Backstage Tour which brought the price down to $169 each. I also bought our MNSSHP tickets (no discounts available) for $33.40 each with tax and shipping and handling. It was about this time that WDW changed their Priority Seating policy making most all restaurants available at 90 days out, and it was about 90 days out. While I was on the phone, I casually asked if there were any openings for breakfast at Cinderella’s Royal Table and there WERE so I had to get one. Even better yet, it was for 8:50 a.m. and the park will open at 9 a.m. so we will be let into the park before it opens. Yeah! To hold the PS I had to give a credit card number and was charged $10 each. I was told to bring my ID, credit card and confirmation number when I checked in at the restaurant. I wasn’t asked for any of that and our bill was credited the $20 at the restaurant. The CM told me the purpose of this is because people where getting these hard to get reservations and then selling them on the internet. Bad people. When I told Paula about the PS for Cindy’s she was happy to go. She had done it before when her son was young. However, now anything related to princesses is yucky so she won’t be able to go there with her family anytime soon. At some point later we decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at the Whispering Canyon Café at the Wilderness Lodge before going to MNSSHP so I called and got their latest lunch PS at 2:40 p.m. With all our tickets purchased and reservations made all we had to do was wait.

One more thing, we both had the seven day hopper plus passes we bought last year to use this trip. Last year we only used three days and no pluses.

Saturday, October 18
My alarm is set to go off at 4:50 a.m. but I don’t hear it until 4:58 a.m. I’m up and ready quickly and leave to pick up Paula by 5:40 a.m. We have a smooth drive into Albany to the airport, park in the long term lot and walk to the terminal in the brisk morning air—brrr. Inside, we find a BIG line at the Southwest ticket counter—ouch. Yesterday, the SW employee who confirmed our flight suggested we arrive an hour early. I was thinking it was a good thing we arrived at 6:45 a.m., an hour and a half early with this big line. After a while we realize why the line is so long. An earlier flight is being checked in besides our 8:15 a.m. flight, plus they are opening and searching all luggage that will be checked in clear view of everyone in line before you see the ticket agent. We are basically the end of the line because not too many people are behind us by the time it is our turn. I guess if we had arrived an hour before our flight, we would have wound up in nearly the same place in line but without the wait. Hindsight is 20-20.

When it is our turn Paula goes first and she asked the TSA guy what he is doing when he runs a paper thing over the latches. He tells her he is checking for explosives. My turn comes and I had packed my clothes in my smaller bag and then packed that in my larger one so I would be able to bring home a lot of stuff. When the TSA guy opens my bigger bag, I ask him if he’s seen anything like that before and he had. I bet he’s seen a lot of stuff. After our bags are searched, he asks us not to touch them. When a ticket agent is ready, he carries the bags to the counter. We get our boarding passes and are in the last section, C. The security line upstairs was non existent and, at least, we got through that quickly. At the gate we got in the queue for the C section right away hoping that being second in line we’ll be a head of some folks and might get two seats together. That strategy worked as we got the last two seats together in the third to the last row in the plane.

Our flight is a smooth one and we talk most of the way then toward the end read some of the magazines Paula brought. She brought about two months worth that she had been too busy to read at home. The families sitting around us are traveling together to WDW. It is the first flight for some of the kids and they are very excited about flying and visiting WDW. It is amusing to watch their reactions to this new experience. It really seemed like no time and we were on the ground at nearly 11 a.m.

We skip the usual bathroom break when we get off the plane because it’s just too crowded. On our way down to baggage claim, we stop in the new Disney store, Ears Port, in the B terminal. It was our first shopping experience of the trip but no purchases. We use the restroom in the baggage claim area and had it to ourselves. When we were finished there, our bags were on the belt—good timing. With National’s Emerald Isle, we went directly to the garage. When we stepped outside, I heard the birds. I don’t know what they are but when I hear them, I know I’m in FL. For some people it’s the warm humid air or the sight of palm trees, for me it’s those darn birds. Across the road and into the garage, we picked out a maroon Pontiac Grand Prix with 690 miles on it. Paula was leaning towards taking the Camry but it was white and I didn’t want a while car since so many rental cars are white and there will be a lot of rental cars at WDW. Check out takes a couple of seconds and we are off taking the South exit and paying $2 in tolls on Route 417, the Central FL Greenway.

We exit at International Drive South and turn left onto Route 535 to go to Publix to get groceries before checking into the Embassy Grand Beach also on Route 535 across from the Vistana Resort. We get breakfast foods, snacks and beverages for the week and wraps from the deli for lunch today ($55). Check in at the resort goes quickly after I tell them that we were supposed to check in yesterday. I figured they’d know that since I called earlier in the week to let them know we’d be checking in on Saturday instead of Friday. We grab a luggage cart to bring everything to unit No. 714 on the ground floor. Being on the ground floor was very nice especially at the end of our long days. We put the groceries away and ate our wraps, chips and lemonade on the screened patio overlooking a small pond with Lake Bryan at the end of our building.

Our unit is three bedrooms, two are master suites with king beds, bathroom and whirlpool tub and one bedroom has two twin beds with a bathroom across the hall. The common space is open with the kitchen, dining area and living room all open with a screen porch off French doors in the living room. The unit included the following:

full kitchen with a refrigerator/freezer, microwave, stove/oven, toaster, blender, coffee maker with supplies, dishes, glasses, silverware, pots and pans, towels, soaps and other miscellaneous kitchen items
closet with a vacuum cleaner, broom and dust pan, ironing board and iron, washer, dryer and laundry soaps
dining area with a table and chairs for six
living room with a sofa sleeper, chair, end and coffee tables and a TV,VCR and CD player in a cabinet
screened porch with a round table and four chairs and two Adirondack style chairs
bedroom with two double beds, dresser, stand and closet
bathroom with shower/tub, toilet, single sink
bedroom with a king size bed, night stands with drawers for clothes, a chair, TV in cabinet with drawers for clothes, whirlpool tub, shower stall, two sinks, closet for clothes and closet for toilet
bedroom with a king size bed, night stands with drawers for clothes, TV in cabinet with drawers for clothes, large tub, shower stall, one sink, closet for clothes and closet for toilet
The unit was in excellent condition with the furniture and appliances showing little signs of wear. The rooms were very bright and decorated in a typical Florida style with tropical prints in yellows and greens. We enjoyed a view of a pond and could also see the lake to the left. I considered it a relatively small resort. It was very quiet both in the unit and around the resort. It was decorated with white clapboard siding, red shingled roofs and lots of gables. Sound like the Grand Floridian? The common areas were well kept and landscaping nice also. The lake was gorgeous and almost in a natural state with hardly any development along its banks. There was a gazebo on the end of a pier in the lake, a sand beach with lounge chairs and hammocks among the trees. There was no swimming allowed in the lake but there were canoes, paddle boats, fishing poles and other water sports equipment to rent. The pool area consisted of the main pool, Jacuzzi and kiddie pool. There was also a volley ball court, gift shop, game room and barbecue grills.

It was way too much for what we needed but since no one took us up on the offer to join us, it was just the two of us. We unpacked our luggage and took a walk around the resort first along the shore of the lake and then around by the pool area. We planned to take it easy this afternoon and sit by the pool or take a nap since it was an early morning and we were planning on going to Pleasure Island later. We didn’t feel tired, though, and agreed to go shopping.

At the Premium Outlets, just up Route 535, we go directly to the Character Premier where I buy a Tinkerbell tank top and two Christmas jar candles ($30). The top turned out to be too big and I bought a smaller one at one of the other stores and returned this one later in the week. Paula picked up a pair of shorts that are made of the same comfy material as a pair of Disney overalls she has. We walked around the mall next which is something I’ve never done here since my only mission is the Disney store. I was looking for some new sandals so we looked around but didn’t find anything to meet my requirements of color, style and price. Paula bought a small purse and I picked up a pair of socks for a co-worker with flying pigs on them. You gotta get crazy stuff like that when you see it and she loved them. Before leaving, though, we stopped in the food court and got root beer floats at A&W. We even got diet root beer to reduce some calorie intake—not that we’re counting! We sat outside and enjoyed them—yummy.

Fueled from our floats we hit the Lake Buena Vista Factory Stores just down Route 535 to go to the Character Corner there. As usual, it didn’t have much that appealed to us. I did pick up a glass candy jar with Mickeys etched on it for $4. By this time we’d hit the wall and were ready for that nap we passed on earlier so we returned to the Embassy.

There was a phone message there from friends, Mary and Peter, who retired in their mid fifties last year and moved to FL. Before they retired, they would spend every Christmas vacation at WDW ever since I met them 18 years ago. Then they started coming down in August too. When they retired they moved to be closer to WDW and they both wound up working as CMs. Is that a surprise? Well, anyway, Mary was going to be Minnie in the Spectromagic parade tonight and Peter had called to pass that message on to us. We called him back but didn’t get an answer so I left a message for him to call us. We hoped he call us back so we could see if he could get us in the park so we wouldn’t have to use a day on our hopper passes just to see the parade. We laid down for a nap and hoped he’d call. I woke up at 7 p.m. and heard Paula out in the living room about 7:45 p.m. Since we hadn’t heard from Peter, we decided to stick with our original plan and go to PI. We guessed he’d already left for the MK when we returned his call. Oh, well.

We arrived at PI around 8:45 p.m. and found a parking space right away, wow. I expected to have to drive around and around before finding one. It was very crowded and we just went with the flow of people over to the West Side and got Wetzel’s Pretzels for dinner. The line was short but took a very long time. We shopped in a store near there that had a lot of Mickey stuff. Then, we used one of the pluses on our hoppers to get into PI. The next Comedy Warehouse show wasn’t until 9:15 p.m. so we walked the length of PI and back to the CW. There was a line started when we returned so we got in it. We watched Stormbinger on the West End Stage who played Aerosmith, Kiss and Bon Jovi music. There was a group of young women having a bachelorette party at PI and they were near us in line. The bride-to-be was carrying balloons that said things like: “Say good bye to this bachelorette.”, “Ask me to dance.” and “Buy me a drink.” We’d never seen or heard of doing something like this, especially the balloons, for type of party before but I guess it’s no different than bar hopping.

The CW show was just okay. I was picked to give my occupation (secretary) for Schmeopardy. We got back in line for the 10:30 p.m. show as soon as we exited the first one and it was just okay too. I was disappointed for Paula’s sake since she’d never been to one before. Usually they are quite funny. We went to the Adventurer’s Club next and watch the goings on in the salon from above until it’s time for the New Year’s Eve celebration outside, which I felt was weak. There were just a few small fireworks and none of the dancers that I recall from past visits.

After this we walk down the West side but most of the shops were closed by now. We returned along side the waterfront which is a very nice walk. We found the car okay even though we hadn’t paid attention to where we parked when we came in. Back at the Embassy there was a message from Peter saying he’d just gotten in from the MK and he’d have Mary call us to get together. Then it was off to bed about 11:30 p.m.

Sunday, October 19
I woke up at 8 a.m. and the sun was shining in my window, as it would the entire trip. We had absolutely perfect weather with no humidity, temps in the 80s and sun everyday with big white puffy clouds in a bright blue sky. We would dress is shorts and short sleeve or sleeveless tops everyday and would be comfortable in them from morning until late at night. Anyway back to this morning…I got up showered, dressed and went out to get something to eat. Paula was up, too, and had already eaten. The screened porch was very pleasant to sit in and have my fruit, muffin and juice. Paula called home and said it was snowing! I called Bill, and he confirmed it.

We head out at 9:50 a.m. for the Belz Outlet at the end of International Drive but stop at the Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World first to pick up some things Paula’s husband wanted. I’d never been in the place but had heard good things from the guys I know who have been in it. I thought it would be boring but I loved it and we wound up spending an hour it the darn place. Paula got the things on her list and a couple of Christmas gifts and I got $200 worth of Christmas gifts (clothing) for my husband, dad and brother. I was so excited at the fact that they had tall sizes I just went crazy. I was so pleased with myself. I had also looked at a Columbia jacket for myself but they only had a medium and an extra large. I really felt I needed a large and asked if they had any more in stock. Of course, I get the usual answer that everything they have is out on the floor but to check back because they get new shipments all the time. I didn’t find any sandals here either. On the way out we used the rest room and I even loved the rest room sinks. They look like old fashioned deep white enamel kitchen sinks. Paula described them as troughs.

Finally, we get to Belz and find the parking lot full of tents—must be having a tent sale. We had to drive all the way around to the back of the mall to find a place to park. I was having trouble maneuvering the Grand Prix into little parking spaces. It’s a lot bigger than my Legacy. We stop in the Country Clutter store, that’s what my house looks like—country clutter, and I think Paula picked some things up. Then it was down the mall to the Character Premier where we find some nice stuff. I get PJs, a smaller Tink tank top, a luggage tag, a name necklace for my aunt, and a shirt for Bill ($82). By now it’s close to 1 p.m. and we’re hungry but have a PS at the Whispering Canyon Café at 2:40 p.m. We were also planning to go to the Character Warehouse at the mall next door, but the hour we spent at Outdoor World didn’t allow us enough time now. We had to rethink our plans and decided to skip the CW, return to the Embassy and have a snack to hold us over and also change our clothes since we are going to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party tonight. We decided not to wear costumes but we did pick up shirts at our local Wal*Mart ($7) that are orange and have Pooh on them dressed like a vampire and have “spoohky” written under him.

We leave for the Wilderness Lodge at 2:15 p.m. and are seated right away. It is the end of lunch and the restaurant is quiet except for a table near us that is having a good time with their loud waitress. We both get the skillet and eat way too much ($32 + tip). Casino is our server and he treated us well and sent us home with lots for corn bread. Paula asks a CM at guest relations to scan a bunch of old passes she has and tell her what is still unused on them. She writes right on each pass so she can’t forget. Of course we stop in the gift shop and have a look around. At Roaring Forks Paula gets a refillable mug to replace the one her father lost. He uses it at home and wanted another one. There was a new style with a smaller bottom to fit in car cup holders and she wanted the old style. She asked a couple who had the older style and they suggested she ask the CM at the register if there were any more left. She did that and was lucky to get one of the old style mugs. She filled it with coke and we went out to the car to get rid of the cornbread and the mug.

We walk out to the dock and there is a long line of people waiting. When a boat comes, I go to the front and find out it’s going to Fort Wilderness, so I get Paula and we get on it. We have a lot of time to kill and our plan was to shop at the monorail resorts, so this is just a side trip. The trading post was our first stop and then the petting zoo and stable. I miss Minnie Moo. The draft horses for tonight’s parade are being harnessed. We see the black horse that the headless horseman rides too. Paula takes my picture with Blueberry, one of the pony ride ponies. Then we go back to the dock to catch a boat to the Contemporary. As we are waiting, many children and adults on their way the MK are dressed in Halloween costumes and it is fun seeing all the different ones.

At the gift shop in the Contemporary, Paula sees a pair of real pearl earrings that she likes for $75. The CM at the jewelry counter who shows them to her is an older lady who has worked at WDW many years. She said that she used to buy a lot of merchandise when she first started working but now she just gets pleasure from working with it all day. She said that she wished she had the discount she gets today, when she first started because she had no money back then. Paula decided to wait and maybe buy them at World of Disney with 10% off. We wander through the other gift shop, too, which was just about all princess stuff. On the escalator up to the monorail there was a guy dressed in a toga costume. I overheard him say that it was compliments of the hotel. Yup, he was wearing his bed sheet and the crown of greens on his head was clippings from the shrubbery. There were many more costumes to see while we waited for the train.

We bypassed the Polynesian and got off at the Grand Floridian and went into the gift shop to the right as you enter the lobby from the monorail. I noticed a young girl about 4ish sitting in a stroller with a cup cake in an open Styrofoam box. She was holding that box and gazing down at that cupcake like it was something really special. Along comes her older sister and their mother warns her not to touch and to stay away from that cupcake. Instead she tells the younger girl to put the candle back in it and do this and do that with it. Well, the younger girl starts getting all upset at just the thought of such things just as mom knew she would. Bad big sister. I saw the whole thing coming.

One the CMs compliments us on our shirts and asks us if we are going to MNSSHP tonight. No, we like wearing orange matching shirts for the heck of it. Don’t worry, I didn’t really say that. I did ask if he thought that guests would be allowed in the park earlier than the 7 p.m. start time. He told me no since all the Halloween decorations had to be put up between park close at 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. I don’t think ALL of the decorations have to be put up, maybe some. Anyway, we went downstairs to use the rest room and stopped in the small gift shop down there. I always admire the floral arrangements at this resort. They are so big and beautiful and real. Even though it was only 6:45 p.m., we got back on the monorail for the MK. We figured that we would have to stand in line but it wouldn’t be for long. As we come down the monorail ramp, we notice there is no mob of people waiting and that guests are, indeed, being let in early. Yeah! There is no line and we walk right in. A huge glass ball with Madam Leona in it is set up at the entrance and she is really cool looking. Paula took a picture of it and it came out great. We pick up trick or treat bags and head in to the party.

Last year we arrived an hour later and it was dark. I though that the decorations and effects were much more effective in the dark rather than during dusk. Paula thinks it made a bigger impression on me last year because it was the first time I was experiencing them. Maybe it was a little of both. I described the decorations and effects in last year’s trip report so I won’t repeat it again this year. You are welcome to read my report from last year on this site though.

We walk down Main Street and head to Tomorrowland and ride Buzz. I score a measly 18,300 while Paula, the Planetary Pilot, gets a whopping 123,000. She didn’t know what she hit but she said she hit something really big. I guess so. Our picture was way too serious. We go to the trick or treat location near the Carousel of Progress and get yucky candy, we go to the one by Space Mountain next and then across from the Indy Speedway. We trick or treat in Fantasyland by the Tea Cups going through both lines at each place. I don’t even know what most of this candy is but Paula knows because she had a 12 year old. I want some good old fashioned candy I can recognize, like the butterfingers they advertise on our trick or treat bags.

Mickey’s Philharmagic is calling to us, so we head that way. On our way past Dumbo, Paula notices there is no line. I ask her if she wants to go on it and she says yes. So, we get Fast Passes for MP and go back to Dumbo. While we are waiting the CM asks us if we have boarding passes. At first I thought he was making a joke but he was serious. For some reason they were handing out color coded boarding passes. He gives everyone around us a purple pass and asks us to stand on the other side of the operator’s booth. We are instructed to place the passes on the wing of our elephant once we are on the ride. Very odd. We had to wait until the next ride and while we were waiting, a little girl says to her dad that she wanted a pink elephant. I said to her that I wanted a pink elephant, too, and she got a funny look on her face. So, I quickly said that I would take a purple one instead and dad was glad to hear that. Tears avoided. Paula and I shared our purple elephant and had a good time going up and down and around and around.

There was no one outside Mickey’s Philharmagic so we walked right in and didn’t even need our FPs. Mine made a nice souvenir for the photo album. In the waiting area everyone was being asked to fill in the entire area in front of the theater doors. Paula and I stayed in the middle and when we went inside got seats in the center of the theater. The theater was full and loud. It was hard to hear Goofy and Minnie’s preshow dialog. Once the show started, though, everyone quieted down. We LOVED it! During the part where Lumiere starts singing and pauses after, “Be our…,” a little voice behind me helped him finish and says out loud, “guest!” It was so cute. We thought that all the songs and scenes in the show were great ones. From where we were sitting all of the effects were very good too. Although, we have to agree with those who have reported that some of the graphics are a little fuzzy.

We checked our watches after the show and realized that Mickey’s Boo-To-You Halloween Parade had already begun (8 p.m.) so we headed for Liberty Square. We stopped at another trick or treat location at the old skyway on our way. Guests were at least three deep but we found a spot on a brick wall behind a bench by the place that does portraits next to Hall of Presidents. We missed the Headless Horseman but at least we found a spot where we could see the parade. I had 800 speed film in my camera and could zoom in pretty good on the floats but most of my pictures were dark because we were too far away for night time photos. This is a fun parade and when it was over we turned around and walked to the Haunted Mansion. The CM loading us in the library wasn’t too scary and screwed up the “dead center of the room” part of his spiel.

We read in the brochure that the best trick or treating was in Toontown, so we headed that direction. On our way, we saw there was no line for the free photo at the It’s A Small World location so we stopped and did that. You are allowed one photo per wristband but can only send them to one address and, I think, they all have to be the same photo. We had them sent to my house. It came out great and I framed both of them before giving Paula hers. It will be a great reminder of a night of fun and lots of trick or treating.

When we reached Toontown it was mobbed. We quickly found the four trick or treat locations and got out of there. Whew! No butterfingers yet, either! Back tracking we made our way to the Main Street/Hub area to watch the fireworks (9:15 p.m.). I thought they would be Wishes but they were Fantasy in the Sky with the addition of perimeter fireworks. I was disappointed but we did get to see the witch fly instead of Tinkerbell.

Adventureland trick or treating was next with four locations there. We are getting some better candy now and more of it too. At first we were only getting one at a time, even with small pieces like Starburst chews. At each place we go through both lines and are sure to say, “Trick or treat!” and “Thank you.” like mom taught us to. The only place we hadn’t trick or treated was Frontierland so we hit those two spots. Finally, butterfingers! Yeah, CM John! We tell them that we have been searching all night for them and CM Bobby motions for us to follow him. He takes us to the cart where he refills the containers the other CMs are using to hand the candy out and gives us a handful. Whoohoo! On our way back past this spot, CM Johns says, “Watch your bags, here come the ladies!” We thought that was funny and laughed.

It was almost time for the second parade to start (10 p.m.) so we sat down on the stone wall near the Pecos Bill Café to wait for the Headless Horseman. I snapped my picture too soon and he was about one stride outside the range of my flash but if you know what you are looking for, you can tell it’s him. The small framed woman from the stable with the really long braid (we remember her from last year) was there to kind of stop the horse at the end before they go through the gate out of Frontierland. We weren’t planning on waiting to watch the next parade, so we got up and headed toward Main Street.

Paula wanted to buy one of the MNSSHP pins but we couldn’t find where they were selling them. When we asked earlier in the night, we were told the Emporium on MS still had some so that’s where we were headed. On the way down MS we watched the parade as we walked stopping to watch it before going into the Emporium. I took more pictures this time and they came out really good. I think MS is a better place to take pictures anyway. It’s a lot brighter.

The Emporium was very quiet and we asked for the pins. We thought there were a few but there was a different one for each night. We were glad we liked the one for tonight and each bought one ($11). It has the Hundred Acre Wood characters dressed in their Halloween Costumes on it. After our purchase we headed out of the park and Paula took two shopping bags from a huge box near the exit. They featured the Brother Bear movie on one side and the Haunted Mansion movie on the other. I think they were intended to be trick or treat bags for home. They were quite nice and I put my nearly full trick or treat bag in it along with our pin bag. We caught a boat to the WL, walked out to our car and drove back to the Embassy. I updated my notes before turning the light out close to midnight.

MNSSHP Summary: I don’t think the park was as crowded this year as it was last year. Last year we went on a Friday night, this year Saturday. Seems they would be the same. Last year we did a lot of rides and waited a lot longer for the parade. This year we concentrated on trick or treating and only did a few rides. We got lots of candy and had a great time checking to see what we got each time. We also enjoyed seeing so many great costumes on children and adults. I think our favorite was a seeing a toddler toddling around in the Eyeore costume that was in the Disney Catalog. At some point we saw Cinderella’s coach behind the castle. I don’t recall when we did but I know we did because I have a picture of it. We had a MUCH better time tonight than we did last night at PI. I guess we are the Halloween party types and not night clubbing types. Maybe we are just too old for clubbing and enjoy reliving our childhood instead. What do you think?

Monday, October 20
Up with the alarm at 7:15 a.m., ugh! Today is our seven hour Backstage Tour and we were told to be at Epcot Guest Relations by 8:45 a.m. so we are out the door at 8:15 p.m. We pay to park ($7) in the Epcot lot and walk toward the WDW bus stop to get to Guest Relations instead of following everyone else toward the main entrance to the park. We are told at Guest Relations where to wait for the rest of our group to arrive and for our guide. While we were waiting, we watched a group of Latino teenagers who were stalking a grey squirrel and taking pictures of it as if it was some exotic animal. Perhaps to them it was. We found it quite humorous watching them.

At 9 a.m. our guide, James, arrives with another CM who had a clipboard and took attendance. They work at the Disney Institute. We were missing three so we waited some more watching for people who looked like they were rushing to get somewhere because they were late. Finally, the last couple arrived and said they were stuck in traffic on I-4. They live in FL and commuted from home. James began by introducing himself and then asking us to introduce ourselves, tell where we are from, how many times we’ve visited WDW and our favorite Disney song. On other tours I’ve taken, the group has quite often been asked who their favorite character is, so this made me think a bit. I chose “Under the Sea” from the Little Mermaid. Our group consisted of people like Paula and I who have visited the parks many times to first timers. The first timers signed up for this tour because they felt it would provide a good orientation. Wow, what a way to start your first visit. They were a retired couple. The group as a whole was friendly and shared WDW experiences with each other and with James throughout the day.

We began by entering the park and walking to Spaceship Earth, bearing right past the locker area and then back stage to get on our bus. Before we went backstage, though, James gave us the speech about no photography. He stopped for a minute before we got on the bus to talk about the differences between on and off stage. It is pretty obvious with nothing pretty about backstage—white or grey paint, no landscaping, no music, etc. We meet our bus driver, Ed, and got on a 55 passenger Disney Cruise Line bus (for 17 people) operated by Mears.

As we drove around the backside of the park James explained that all the parks, except for the MK, are build with a perimeter road around them in order to easily access each attraction or pavilion. MK, of course, has the utiladoors. Behind the Living Seas and the Land we can see the construction site for Soaring Over California. Not much to see at this point, though, except for a bunch of dirt. We make our way around behind Canada, the UK, France, Morocco, and Japan to the American Adventure where we get off the bus. As we are approaching the doorway to the building, we notice a picnic table just outside it with a CM asleep on the bench. We are all standing there looking at him as James continues to talk and the guy wakes up, is embarrassed, and gets up and leaves. Bad show. James doesn’t comment.

Inside a set of double doors that serve as both a sound and light barrier we are behind the stage of the AA. The sets are all forward where we can see them (Mark Twain, Benjamin Franklin, Susan B. Anthony, etc.) and James tells us that this is the end position. At the beginning of the show they are actually positioned under the seats in the theater and move forward in synchronization with the film each scene rising and lowering with hydraulics as it moves forward. The engineers in the group were really impressed with how this worked. The whole system was designed and built by WDW. I asked how many people it took to run and amazingly just one--one person sitting at a computer. When the show is running all the lights are out and it is very dark and dangerous to have people walking around so a computer runs the whole show. If something doesn’t work during the show, it continues until the end. Then the lights come on and the next show is held up until it can be fixed. Each day the cosmetology department comes in and takes care of the hair and clothing of all the animatronics. We see them coming in as we are leaving.

Back on the bus and around behind Italy, Germany, the IllumiNations barges, etc. all the way past Test Track with our next stop at Body Wars. Here we were supposed to watch a ride capsule buck and twist while a ride is in progress but it was off line and even though James made some phone calls to see if/when it would come on line again, it never moved so we didn’t get to see this. We did get to look at the screen that CMs use to monitor guests inside and we did see a CM in the capsule doing something after James called to see if they could get it going. Anyway, the CMs can stop the ride for one of four Ps. I guessed puke and was right but it’s referred to as protein spill instead. The others are panic, pull out of seat, and I can’t remember the fourth one, maybe, pass out. James tells us that once you are in Mission Space there is no stopping it for the 4 minute duration of the experience. That is why I chickened out of experiencing it, at least for this trip. He also explained that the reason why people get sick on these rides is due to a visual and ear fluid thing. All I know is it definitely happens to me.

Our next stop was at the building where Epcot CMs get ready for work. They enter through a large locker room with dressing areas, pick out their own costumes then have them scanned out by another CM. Part time CMs can have three sets and full time CMs get five sets. CMs can take them home and maintain them if they want to or Disney does it. MouseEars, the CM newspaper, is here, too, three large piles of them in three different languages. James points out lots of sheets on the wall listing open shifts that CMs can pick up to add to their regular hours. The Human Resources Office is in this building, as well as, various training for self improvement. The CM store, Company D, offers merchandise only available at the store and not in the parks. At the opposite end of the building they enter, CMs exit all dressed in their costume and ready to go to work. They board a bus that travels around the perimeter road and drops them off at their work location.

The WDW Florist is next. It provides the entire resort with floral arrangements and gift baskets including weddings and special events. We walked into the cooler were we saw the flowers in storage. In another area of the building there were many gift baskets prepared and ready for delivery. You can get just about anything put in them. Some had pretty hefty prices on them but the paperwork attached listed the delivery address at the Grand Floridian. I guess if you can afford to stay there, you can afford to pay for the basket. There were also lots of baskets prepared for the FUNAI Classic golf tournament that was taking place.

Our next stop was the Disney/MGM Studios Costuming Department. We enter a nice reception area where ½ scale wedding dresses for Ariel, Cinderella and Belle are on display. These are the dresses featured in the Share a Dream Come True Parade at the MK. We are announced over speakers throughout the entire building so that anyone in undress can get covered up or hide. After a few minutes James takes us into the work area and explains that costumes are created by designers who create a sketch or drawing of it first then a CM creates a ½ scale model from the drawing. We met CM Jen who was doing just that with a drawing for an outfit for Figment. She was working behind a screen so that guests on the Backlot Tour could not see what she was working on as the tram drove through the building, but we could. She creates the model garment in muslin but doesn’t sew it together. The individual pieces of the costume are traced to create the pattern. CMs using CADD software, copy the pattern pieces and enlarge them to various sizes, then print them on a huge printer. The cloth for the costume is laid out in numerous layers on a cutting table and a computerized cutter cuts all the layers at once. All the fabric pattern pieces are then put in a bag with the directions to complete the costume and the notions (buttons, zippers, trim, etc.) and given to a seamstress to complete. I could not identify any particular costume as we walked by the seamstresses at work but they were obviously working on the holiday costumes. Many of them were hanging above like at a dry cleaners.

James explained that performers such as Belle in the Beauty and the Best show have two custom made costumes and two wigs. Belle’s gold dress costs $10,000! CMs portraying characters wear off the rack costumes. The princesses are made in sizes 8, 10 and 12. Performers and face characters apply their own make up while cosmetology takes care of all the wigs. As we walk by the cosmetology department, we can see them working on them. The mending and millinery departments are across the hall/roadway that the Backlot Tour tram drives through. I particularly enjoyed this part of the tour since I do some sewing myself. Paula also found it more interesting than some of the other aspects of the tour.

We leave costuming and walk across the backlot area to the NYC Street and across to Mama Melrose’s for lunch. The lobby is crowded with people but we are lead right into the restaurant to two tables in the back. We are served family style with lots of food to go around. We start off with a salad of greens with feta cheese and balsamic dressing. The Italian bread is served with pesto and a sun dried tomato sauce for dipping. The appetizer course was three different pizzas: four cheese, tomato and cheese, and chicken and bacon. The main course consisted for various entrees: a spicy tomato sauce with spaghetti, clams, calamari and shrimp; shells with a creamy sauce and grilled zucchini and chicken. For dessert there was cheese cake, chocolate mousse, tiramisu and gelato. Soft drinks were included while alcoholic beverages were extra. We had one hour for lunch which goes by fast. Everything was very good and the leftovers were boxed up for Ed, our bus driver. I hope he doesn’t drive for this tour everyday unless he has a huge family.

We drive to the MK by driving past the Grand Floridian and beyond on an access road that leads behind the MK. Once we are past the GF, there are no signs that say “keep out” or “this is not a guest area” but it is pretty obvious. The landscaping ends as well as the signage. If a guest wanders back here, they will know they aren’t supposed to be there and turn around. Turn arounds are even built along side the road for guest convenience.

We pull into the backstage area behind Frontierland where the Share a Dream Come True and Spectromagic Parade floats are along with some Mickey’s Boo-To-You Halloween Party Parade floats are parked. The Spectromagic floats are covered with little Christmas tree type lights and are not very nice looking in daylight. We get to see inside where the driver sits and James explains that there are three different levels of drivers based on the difficulty in driving the floats. The small spinning floats are easier with basic bulldozer type controls. The more difficult floats to maneuver through the park are the longer ones with up to three sections. The floats are covered with a material that allows the driver to see out but, even in daylight, it is difficult to see inside the float without the door open. They are powered by batteries and if the batteries die during the parade, the floats have to be pushed or pulled out of the park. The floats also have sensors on them that work with the sensors in the ground along the parade route. These sensors trigger the music to play from speakers in the park as the float passes by. They also are a way to monitor where the float is and know if it is going too slow or too fast. The characters on the floats also wear batteries to light up their costumes.

We also visit the rehearsal room where the parade performers practice their dance steps. It has a wood floor with some bounce and mirrored walls like a dance studio. To me it had a cluttered look with costumes hanging on racks all around. James told us earlier in the day that he really wanted to be in a parade and tried out but didn’t make it and repeated this several times. After being such a pain and begging to be in a parade, he was given a few steps he could actually perform in the Aladdin parade. He wore an inflatable costume that looked like three guys stacked on top of one another. I asked him if he still remembered his steps and he proudly performed them for us.

Outside James gives us our bearings. We are behind both Frontierland and Main Street. He points to a gate which is in Frontierland and toward the direction of a similar gate near the Firehouse in Town Square. These are the gates the floats enter or exit the parade route depending on which way the parade moves through the park. All parades make a loop beginning and ending where we are standing. There are markings on the ground that signal to the characters and performers that guests can no longer see them from on stage. They keep performing until they are past these marks. As floats leave the park the characters and performers on the last floats actually turn around to face guests as the floats makes its way out of the park. He also points to a small green smelly building where garbage is processed. It was really stinking today. I said, “PU, James, let’s get out of here!”

He led us over to the canal where the Electric Light Pageant barges are stored. They have been a part of WDW from the early days and are still as popular as ever. They are quite simple and aren’t much to look at just metal frames with wire mesh that lights are wired to. Each barge has the lights for, I think, three different scenes.

We meet Ed at the bus and continue driving around behind the MK on the backside of the Rivers of America then past where the fireworks are set off and the original Reedy Creek Rescue Station. There is a power plant back there, too, and the roundhouse for the monorail and WDW RR trains. Across from that is the Christmas Services Building which was our next stop.

Here, twenty-five full time employees are responsible to create, maintain, set up and take down all the holiday decorations for WDW (4 parks, 17 resorts, and 1 water park), Disney Cruise Lines and their DVC resorts at Hilton Head and Vero Beach. As we walk through the huge warehouse, we notice some of the shelves are empty. James says that 7 tractor trailers have already been loaded and 35 more loads will be needed before all the decorations are up. They begin decorating before Thanksgiving and are done by December 15. The reverse begins on January 3 or so and all decorations are down by January 15. The rest of the year is spent repairing and creating new decorations as necessary. We walk through the shelving area holding their supply of ornaments, ribbon, etc. and their workroom. It looks like a crafters dream job. The ornaments are just not hung on the trees, they are wired on and not taken off. The entire trees are shrink wrapped for storage until next year. We walk past the icon trees which are so big they are in sections on the floor. I walk past the Epcot tree and the ball ornaments are bigger than my head. The angel toppers are as tall as me too. The trees are also hollow inside, except for outlets to plug in the lights. Picture a cone cut and sections with only artificial pine and ornaments on the outside.

Just a short drive is the Productions Building where we are given dorky looking safety glasses to wear. Paula was not thrilled. It is a huge building where just about everything from trash cans to ride vehicles are created. There are various shops within the one building: metal, fiberglass, woodwork, paint, etc. It’s hard to recognize projects until they are almost complete. We see three carousel horses, which are certainly easy to recognize, in various stages of repainting. They are made of maple and hand sanded to remove the paint. Then they are repainted all white before the colored paints are applied over the white. All the horses are numbered on the inside of the bridle and only fancy carving and painting is on the outside or the side that shows to the public. Although the carousel horses were interesting to learn about and it was amazing what was created in this building, Paula and I were not too interested in this kind of stuff. The men in our group seemed to have a much better time relating to and appreciating this stop on our tour however.

At this point our tour is almost over. We only had one more stop, the MK’s utiladoors. Ed drops us off behind the east side of Main Street. We enter a plain white building into a vestibule with a number of doors to various shops, the bakery and ice cream parlor. We wait here a few minutes before moving on and we have an opportunity to observe. It is a very busy place with CMs coming and going. We watch the hubbub in one of the kitchens, too, but the CMs seem self conscience with us being there. I don’t blame them. Some of us took the elevator and some took the stairs down into the utiladoors below. I thought it was typical when the stairwell leading up to administrative offices was nicely painted and, I think, there was a painting on the wall BUT when I looked down where we were going it didn’t look so nice. The utiladoors are drab and noisy. Their purpose is like the perimeter roads at the other parks, to enable CMs to get to their work locations, for delivery of merchandise to shops, food to restaurants, access to plumbing and electric and a garbage disposal. We can hear the ice running through the garbage disposal pipes which are huge pneumatic tubes carrying it out to the small green smelly building we saw earlier. The hallways also store merchandise for the shops above and we see CMs moving about and even Tigger with the top half of his costume off. The different areas of the utiladoors are colored to help navigate from one land to another and there are also maps painted on the walls. James has one of the members of our group keeping a sharp eye on the time and he tells us it’s now time to go back up to he second floor to watch the Share a Dream Come True parade on MS.

What perfect timing, James! As we walk on stage between Tony’s and the hat shop, the beginning of the parade is right at the end of MS. Even better, it is not crowded and we are able to stand right behind the rope. I shot a whole role of film if not more. Afterwards James starts a countdown to when the windows above the shops that have speakers in them will automatically close after the parade. Yep, they do. I never noticed that before. He also points out the clean up crew and how quickly the poles and ropes are down, the streets swept and the balloon vendors come out. We walk up MS and James talks about the various windows telling us about the people whose names are painted on them and their relationship to the park or WDW.

Now our tour is over and Ed takes us back to the Epcot bus stop as he promised to do at the beginning of our tour. Before we leave, though, James gives each of us a Backstage Tour pin and tells us he doesn’t want to see them on e-bay. They are similar to our nametag pin except these have Mickey walking through the looking glass instead of simply looking through it since we had now been to the other side—backstage.

It was a long day but it went by quickly and we weren’t nearly as exhausted as we expected we would be. So, after we freshened up back at the Embassy we head out for the Belz Outlet at the end of International Drive to go to the Character Warehouse. I get a Minnie soup mug, Minnie necklace, Tinkerbell pen, Hundred Acre Woods post-it notes and the PJs I bought yesterday in a larger size ($55). I will return the smaller ones since I didn’t have them with me at this time. We take a different way back to the Embassy via Sand Lake Road to Apopka-Vineland Road to see if we can find Homewood Suites where Paula will stay in November. We didn’t have any luck, though. When Paula returned from her Thanksgiving trip she told me it wasn’t even close to where we were looking. Instead, it was near Arabian Nights off I-192. What were we thinking?

Back at the Embassy we watched some tv and Paula’s husband and son called her. We ate Doritos and drank a couple of wine coolers. Then I went to my room, called my husband while in the whirlpool tub, and watched CMT while updating my notes until 10 p.m.

Tuesday, October 21
My alarm goes off at 7 a.m. and we’re ready and out the door by 8 a.m. for our Cinderella’s Royal Table PS at 8:50 a.m. We park at the Polynesian resort and are given a three hour pass. We monorail to the MK where guests are being let through the turnstiles but kept behind ropes in front of the train station, we guess, until park opening at 9 a.m.. We tell the CM that we have PS for Cindy’s and she asks the time then lifts the rope to let us in—wheeee! We are in the MK before anybody else…well others with PS are around. We have our picture taken on Main Street and in front of the castle and also take photos with our cameras. There is a CM replacing the plants in the garden around the Partners statue. He is working frantically and doesn’t move out of our way when he sees us trying to take a picture of the statue. I guess he just didn’t have the time and since the park wasn’t open yet, his work took priority. We managed some great shots anyway. The music on MS seemed loud without the usual crowd around us. We check in at the restaurant and I am not asked for ID as I had been instructed to bring it when I made the PS. We are asked to wait inside where the Fairy Godmother was signing autographs and posing for pictures. I enjoyed watching the kids interact with her until we were called, in about five minutes, to go upstairs.

We are seated at a table for two next to the windows overlooking Fantasyland. It is a great location except the sun is shining right on Paula’s face. We tried to adjust the table but it doesn’t help so she said she’ll just tough it out. Steve is our server and he brings us yogurt with granola, fruit and a basket of muffins, croissants and turnovers. We order the breakfast plate with eggs, potatoes, sausage, bacon and French toast, obviously, forgoing the “healthy” choice which I don’t even recall what it was. Soon the princesses and a nanny are all around and we get pictures with Snow White, Mary Poppins, Belle, Auora and Cinderella. I took pictures of Paula with her camera and she used my camera to take pictures of me. It was so fun! An hour later we’re done eating and have been visited by everyone. The bill came to $22 since the $20 to hold the PS was charged to my VISA when I made the PS. A table near us had been celebrating a teen girl’s birthday and besides bringing her a cup cake the table had been sprinkled with Mickey confetti. They had left already so I took a handful of the confetti to throw in the bottom of purse. I love finding pieces of it stuck to this or that long after the trip is over. It brings a smile to my face remembering a visit to WDW. Silly?

Out in Fantasyland we ride Peter Pan, the Carousel, Snow White, Pooh, and Mickey’s Philharmagic again. Today was the first time I had ever ridden the Carousel and I asked the CM there to take our picture which he was pleased to do. It shows two little girls in grown up bodies. We also took note of the things we learned about the horses from yesterday’s tour. Most everything was a walk on at about 10 a.m. after the park was open for an hour. We wandered out of Fantasyland to catch the new show in the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon, Goofy’s Country Dancin’ Jamboree.

Since we didn’t intend on participating in the show, we headed upstairs and found a table by the railing to watch the goings on downstairs. We were not impressed with what we saw and mourned the old Diamond Horseshoe Revue, which was a classic and a crime that it’s been replaced with this crap. The new show offers an opportunity for guests, especially the kids, to country line dance with the characters. I remember Goofy and Jessie but there were more, perhaps Bullseye and Chip and Dale too. They are led through the dance steps by a CM dressed like a cow girl. First of all, the dance steps were too complicated and too fast for the kids. Heck, we felt they were too complicated and fast for us too. So the kids, and all but a couple of adults, were just standing around getting in the characters’ ways as they were trying to perform the dance steps. It made me very nervous to watch because I was sure some little tot was going to get knocked down and/or stepped on by accident as the characters were dancing since the characters cannot see well. I won’t return to witness that chaos anytime soon.

Moving out of Frontierland into Adventureland, we take a ride on the Pirates of the Caribbean and then shop along Main Street for a while. In Town Square we see the Evil Queen signing autographs and posing for pictures. A guest brought an apple to give her and they pose with the woman presenting the apple to the EQ. Then her kids join in for a picture taken by dad. After that photo the EQ motions to the dad to join them but he shakes his head no. The EQ shakes her finger “no” at him and motions for him to give the camera to the man in line behind him and to come join his family for a picture. No arguing from dad this time. He did as he was told. Cool. She was so good..

Inside Town Square Exposition Hall we checked out our photos from the morning. We are very disappointed in them and did not buy any. Our main complaint was that the background was FULL of people when there was practically no one else in the park at the time our photos were taken. THAT is the reason why we had the photos taken. We figured they just must have superimposed the two of us on another background. I’ll bet if people were to compare their Main Street photos, the crowd in the background would all be the same. Jeesh! Another thing they did, which wasn’t too bad, was superimpose Tinkerbell on the photo. The photographer asked each of us to hold out one hand, one on top of the other as if we were holding something and that’s where they placed Tink. The pictures we took and the CM took of us with our cameras that morning came out very good and we were much more pleased with them and glad that we didn’t buy the other ones.

At this point we are an hour overdue on our three hour parking pass at the Poly so we leave the park. On our way out I stop to take a picture of the MS RR Station with the Mickey face garden in front of it. There is a train in the station, no people in the foreground and the light is right, how could I pass this shot up? As I’m about ready to push down on the shutter, up pops the Mad Hatter in my photo right in front to the Mickey garden. He’s talking incessantly and I’m not really paying any attention to him just nodding all the while thinking to myself, get out of the way you are ruining my shot. I do recall him inviting us in to see the park and I told him we had just come out. I didn’t pay attention to what he replied because I was thinking that the train is going to leave any second and I was going to lose my opportunity. Finally, I told him he was in my way and motioned for him to move over which he did and then posed for my picture. The shot turned out great with him off to the side in the foreground with the train station and the garden in the background instead of him in front of it all. After we walked away, Paula asked me if I’d heard what he said to us. I told her that I hadn’t because I was concerned about him being in my way more than I cared what he was yakking about. She told me when I said that we had “just come out” he replied that it was nice that we can be comfortable with doing that in this day and age. Get it? He was making a joke about us being lesbians “coming out” of the closet as they say. She then told me that he asked if we got it and I was still just nodding and not paying attention to him. Well, she got it and acknowledged his joke on us. I thought that was so funny after she told me what I’d missed. The photo I took will always be a reminder of our interaction with the Mad Hatter. In hind site, he was really good at portraying his character while interacting with guests.

We monorail to the Poly and check out the gift shops there before going to the car and heading over to the Boardwalk. Our intention being to go to the Studios so we sat and waited for a bus. A long time when by and no Studios bus; so we got to thinking that maybe they don’t run buses from the Boardwalk to the Studios since they offer the boats. Sure enough, I asked the driver of the next bus and he confirmed our thoughts. So, we walked to the back of the resort and got right on a Friendship boat headed to the Studios. Unfortunately, the dang thing stops at the Beach and Yacht Clubs and then the Swan and Dolphin before taking off for the Studios.

Here’s what I learned between our experience last year and this one regarding the Friendship boats: 1) If you are headed to Epcot, park at the Boardwalk and either walk to the International Gateway or take a Friendship boat. The boat will go directly to the IG from the Boardwalk dock. 2) If you are headed to the Studios, park at the Swan and either walk or the Friendship boat. The boat will go directly to the Studios from the Swan/Dolphin dock. DO NOT park at the Swan to go to Epcot because the Friendship boat will make stops at the Yacht and Beach Clubs and the Boardwalk BEFORE going to Epcot. DO NOT take a Friendship boat from the Boardwalk to the Studios because it will make stops at the Yacht and Beach Club and Swan/Dolphin docks before going to the Studios. One more observation: park at the Boardwalk not the Swan when you are planning on taking a bus to the MK. The bus goes directly from the Boardwalk to the MK. However, from the Swan it stops at the Yacht and Beach Clubs and the Boardwalk before going to the MK. If you aren’t trying to get out of paying $7 to park, just park in each park’s lot. That really simplifies things and saves lots of time. Sometimes time is worth the money. Do what’s best for you.

When we finally get there, we find the park very busy. We decided to see the 2:45 p.m. Beauty and the Beast show and do the Haunted Mansion set tour while we were waiting. Deb Wills had reported that the HM set wasn’t worth a long wait and we found a line when we got there. Since it was in the shade and we had to wait for BatB anyway, we got in it. I thought it would be a good time to get some popcorn while we waited so I stepped out of line to get some along with a soda. It was only a few minutes after I returned that the line started moving and we were all going in. Quickly, I folded the popcorn box so I wouldn’t have to throw it away and Paula poured the Coke in her bottle. It was amazing how little my large cup filled the bottle. I guess you’d get more for your money by asking for NO ice.

We were disappointed with the tour and understood why Deb said it wasn’t worth a long wait. It was not really a tour since there was only ONE room. It was the ballroom with the grand staircase. After the CM talked a bit we watched a short video showing clips of from the movie. Afterwards we were invited to check out some of the story boards on one wall before exiting. That was it. Done. I had expected something more like the 101 Dalmatians set tour.

It was time to head down to the BatB theater and we arrived just as Four for a Dollar started their preshow. The four or so guys sing acappella and are very good. Try and arrive early to this show to catch their act. We enjoyed BatB too. I don’t think Paula had ever seen it before. I took a picture of Belle in her $10,000 dress since we learned all about that yesterday.

It was coming up on the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade time and we walked the parade route looking for a place to sit and wait. We found an empty bench and soon learned why it was empty. It was right in the blazing sunshine but at least it was a seat. We each took turns holding our claim while making trips to the bathroom and getting something cold to enjoy during the half hour wait. We really enjoyed the parade and, once again, I took a lot of pictures that I already have at home. The converted cars are really cool and there are lots of characters too. We saw the Evil Queen and I got a great shot of her in all her evilness. I think it would be fun to portray this character.

With only a ten minute wait, the Backstage Tour was next since I hadn’t seen it since the water section of the tour was redone and I wanted to take a look at the construction area for the new stunt show being built where the Residential Street once stood. Well, the water section of the tour was different but the effect was the same—volunteers get gallons of water dumped on them. The tram part of the tour is quite different, though, going in almost the opposite direction. It definitely went the opposite direction through the costuming department and I think it was shortened a bit too. We made it safely out of Catastrophe Canyon and out past the construction site. Wow, there is nothing left of the Residential Street and just a lot of dirt piled up where it once was.

Voyage of the Little Mermaid was our next stop but we didn’t have FPs so we chanced waiting in the standby line. We had asked the CM if she thought we’d make it in the next show and she didn’t give us a very reassuring answer. We decided if we didn’t make it in this show, we wouldn’t wait for the next. It seemed like forever that they were letting people with FPs in and that there would be no room left of us. Finally, the stand by line started moving in and as we approached the turnstile, it was stopped, started again and stopped again. I was really afraid we weren’t getting in and then it started again and we were in. Once inside we saw there were plenty of seats left and we didn’t need to worry. I enjoyed the show as usual. The music and effects are just wonderful. Who cares if a lot of the story is left out.

We were shopping, shopping, shopping until it was time to head into the stadium for Fantasmic. The CM on the Friendship boat on the way over to the park told us to be sure to get there an hour to an hour and a half before the show to get a seat. I felt this was excessive as I’ve always been able to walk in with a shorter wait and get good seats so we were planning on going 45 minutes before. We were done shopping sooner than we expected and decided to get a fast food dinner and take it into the stadium and eat while we waited. Paula got a pizza at Cantina Eddie’s and I got a burger and fries at Rosie’s All-American. Her line took much longer and I had my fries eaten by the time she got her pizza. We walked up to the stadium an hour before the show. In front of us were a group in their early 20s and one of them was running his mouth and just being obnoxious. We commented that we hoped not to sit near them. Once in the stadium we saw it was nearly full and we were directed to the far end to the Jafar section. Of course, big mouth and his friends sat right next to Paula with an hour to listen to his mouth. I glared at them and his friends got the message but he was oblivious. We ate our dinner and talked until the show started. At 45 minutes before the show the stadium seating was full and there was standing room only. I was glad we got there when we did. A good preshow is desperately needed here. Doing the wave for an hour just doesn’t cut it. Most of the people in our section didn’t even stand up, we just lifted our arms. The show finally started, Mickey’s dream turned sour, he recovers and everybody lives happily ever after. I know some people really think this show is the best but it’s not one of my favorites. We devoted time to it tonight because Paula hadn’t seen it in a long time but afterwards we both agreed we didn’t need to devote that much time to it for a long time. Paula also said that it didn’t help that big mouth didn’t even stop once the show started.

We were able to get out of the stadium much quicker than we expected being so far away from the exit. As luck would have it, there was a Friendship boat leaving when we arrived at the dock but another was right behind it. As the sheep were headed toward the front of the boat, we scooted in the back door and found seats back there. We got off at the Swan and Dolphin and walked to the Boardwalk, which is faster anyway, and so we made good time getting back to the car. Then we were held up at a very long traffic light exiting the Boardwalk. Finally, we got the green and we were back at the Embassy at 8:45 p.m.

There was a message from Mary so I called her and told her all about our trip so far. We arranged to visit their house tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. and she gives me directions. Paula calls home and we put in a load of white laundry. I update my notes before shutting the light off.

Wednesday, October 22
No alarm this morning but I am up at 7:50 a.m. or so. After the usual routine, we are out at 9:10 a.m. headed for Mary and Peter’s with a stop at Publix, first, for fresh flowers to take with us. We find their home with no problem and they are waiting outside chatting with a neighbor. We get a tour of their brand new retirement home which is spacious yet homey. I hope to be able to retire in my mid 50s and enjoy a home like theirs at least for the winter months. Mary takes us on a tour of the various model homes pointing out the differences in features and prices to go along with them. The club house including the pool was next before heading back.

We had something to drink while hearing all about their experiences working at WDW. Peter works as a greeter at Epcot and Mary portrays various characters in her height range. She’s portrayed the Big Cheese himself along with Minnie, Pinocchio, Donald Duck and Mushu. They love being part-time CMs. Mary says that a tremendous amount of love is expressed to the characters and it makes her feel like a celebrity even though it’s the character on the outside not her who is getting all the attention. She admits that she just can’t get enough and that when she isn’t working, she feels like she is missing something. Besides her main shift, she picks up enough shifts to give herself as much as 40 hours a week. She shared her scrapbook of her training and her experiences so far. In her training notebook she points out the various characters a person can portray depending on their height. I am tall enough to be the Evil Queen. Peter simply likes the fact that his position has much less responsibility than his previous job and he enjoys that very much. He says he’s been offered positions with more responsibility because of his background and experience but opts not to take them.

It’s soon time to head back to WDW to enjoy the Food and Wine Festival and Peter offers to get us in with his family passes. We take him up on it and ask them to join us for the afternoon which they do. Peter drives his car and Mary rides with us so we can use her ID to get us in without paying for parking. We meet at the turnstiles and with Peter’s ID get one day hopper passes and our forearms stamped at the CM entrance. Since Peter and Mary did the F&W Festival from Canada around to Japan already, we decide to start at Mexico and go the opposite direction. We only get half way around the world before everyone is stuffed. I spent $25 total and my favorite dish was the potato and leek soup at the Ireland booth with the chicken quesadilla at the Mexican booth second best. We all felt the shrimp on the barbie at the Australian booth was overpriced but felt everything else was reasonable for the portions. The crowd was manageable and we didn’t have to wait for more than two or three people at each booth. Paula and Peter got full quicker than Mary and I. We were able to do a few more booths before giving up. We continued to walk around the other side just looking at the offerings. It was very hot and although we had shorts on Mary had on long sleeves and pants. I guess that’s why she lives in FL; she’s not bothered by the heat. The sun was also very strong and I got sun burned on my face. Of all days, this was the day I didn’t wear sunscreen.

We enter Future World via the rose garden and walk through the Kitchen Karnival for kids. We open some of the boxes that, we thought, were supposed to say something but they were inaudible to us. We also did not get offered any fruit like some people reported. Next was a ride on Journey Into Your Imagination. This was my choice since I hadn’t seen it since the third incarnation. I didn’t think it was much different except for the return of Figment. The big blast of air at the end blew my sunglasses right off my head. I was glad they fell in the ride vehicle so I didn’t lose them. The land was next with no line and we got the worst CM guide ever. He didn’t say much at all compared to some rides through this attraction when the CMs are giving so much information so fast I couldn’t comprehend it all. This guy was a total dud. As we floated by a banana tree, he would say, “That’s a banana tree.” Yeah, tell us something we don’t know.

Once outside again we saw the character bus pull up at the Showcase Plaza so we walked over to that. Sometimes Mary works from this bus and she said it was good for her to watch from a guest’s perspective for a change. She pointed out that Mickey stands close to the bus so when it’s time to go, he doesn’t have to walk through the crowd. Since he is very popular, guests don’t want him to leave and they’ll hang on to him or crowd around so he can’t leave. By stationing him close to the bus he has a quick and clear walk to get back on. We witness this between a guest and another character, I think it was Hook. He was very polite but did not sign the autograph as he made is way to the bus. The woman was really being obnoxious trying to get him to stop.

After the bus left, we took some pictures in front of the Mickey and Minnie topiaries before we split up. Mary was going to a Candlelight Processional rehearsal. She volunteered to sing in the CM choir. Peter was going to hang out in Epcot and wait for her. Mary gave us Test Track re-entry tickets that allow us to enter through the attraction exit bypassing the regular queue. She got them from a relative of hers who works at TT. She’d also given me a pin commemorating the MK’s 32nd birthday that she said was only available to CMs. Paula and I planned on hopping over to the MK to see Spectromagic but it was too early so we walked back around the WS the opposite direction this time and shopped a bit. I picked up the Mo’Rockin CD ($20) for my cousin. He’d wanted to get it during a Christmas trip we took together a couple of years ago but they were out of them at the time.

Before we headed over to the MK, I took the CD out to the car while Paula waited on a bench at the monorail station. Her feet were pooped. While at the car, I took my hot socks and sneakers off and put my sandals on. Ahh, my feet said! I also moved the car closer to the entrance so we’d have a shorter walk to it later. I met Paula and we got on the next train. We could have had a seat but the family in the car with us was very rude and did not move closer together to make room for us to be able to sit down and we didn’t say anything to them. Jeesh! At least we were able to get seats on the next train.

We enter the MK at 6:30 p.m. and people are already 2-3 deep on MS for Spectromagic at 7:30 p.m. We go to the bakery, which is chaos, to get cookies and milk. I got two cookies with ice cream, frozen milk, in between them ($4). We waited on line so long to pay, my ice cream melted quite a bit. We walked back to Frontierland right down the parade route since the sidewalks were impassable. On the way, I am licking my ice cream sandwich because it’s dripping all over. We find an empty section of concrete right in the front at the rope so we sit down and wait for one hour. I proceed to get my ice cream sandwich all over my face and hands but it was good and fun. I intended to go to the bathroom and wash when I finished but there were too many people behind us at that point and I didn’t want to chance losing my piece of sidewalk. I just cleaned up as best I could with some napkins. Finally, Spectromagic rolls by and it is as good as ever and, as usual, I take a ton of pictures that I’ve already taken many times before.

After the parade, we stop in the rest room between FL and AL and I wash up. We make our way out to the hub and down Main Street where we wait for Wishes to begin. After it’s all over, we agree that we like Fantasy in the Sky better because we like the “weeping willow” type fireworks which Wishes doesn’t have too many of. I bet we are the only ones who feel that way. Perhaps after a second look at Wishes from the hub, perhaps, I might change my mind. After Wishes we leave with the masses to get to Epcot and get out of the parking lot before IllumiNations is over. We are able to zip pretty quickly down MS and get right on a ferry which leaves soon after we board. We make our way to the other side of it so we can be among the first off. Once it docks we zip off but get confused as to where we get on the Epcot monorail since people were exiting it on the ON ramp. This pause causes us to miss the train in the station but we get to sit up front on the next one. Woohoo!

The driver is Barry from Watervielt, which is near Albany. We chat all the way over to Epcot and when we approach Spaceship Earth the fireworks from Illuminations are going off behind it and it is just spectacular! I wished I’d had my camera ready. We zip off the train and onto a waiting tram which takes off right away and we have a short walk to the car. We were successful in making it back and out of the parking lot before the IllumiNations crowd.

Back at the Embassy, we sort through the laundry. Paula machine dries and I drip dry my clothes. Since it was a hot day, I shower, as a courtesy to Paula, and then join her in the living room watching tv and chatting while munching on chips and drinking wine coolers. I work on my notes until 11:10 p.m. Yikes, it’s late, go to bed!

Thursday, October 23
No alarm today but I wake up at 7 a.m. anyway and update my Backstage Tour notes a bit and then get up and get ready. Our goals today are to do our shopping at the Marketplace and visit Minnie in Toontown. We are out at 9:15 a.m. for the Marketplace. Today is the day to buy all the things we’ve seen during the trip at World of Disney and take advantage of the Disney Club 10 % discount. My total comes to $152. I pay for Paula’s, too, ($40) since her card had expired. While I was shopping and looking at the jewelry carousels, a CM stocking them asked if she could help me. I told her I was looking for a particular pair of pearl earrings to replace a pair that I had bought 2 years ago because one of the pearls had fallen out. She told me that if they had come in a box that they were better quality and were guaranteed so I could return them for a replacement pair. Holy cow! She told me to send the old pair back once I got home but I decided to just take care of the exchange when I return in March. I hope that the CM who helps me at that time knows about this policy too.

Also while we were in WOD, Mary called to tell us her schedule for the day so we’d know when she was on and off stage and would be sure to meet her. She’d told us the other day that she would sign “I know you” to us by pointing to her eyes, her nose and to us just to be sure.

After bringing our WOD bags out to the car, we browsed in Basin, the new bath store, which has very expensive bars of soap and lotions. We don’t buy anything in Team Mickey either. In Once Upon a Toy, I get a Minnie beanie dressed like a nurse for a cousin who, yes, is a nurse. I also pick up a snowman Pooh plush that matches the label on the jar candle I picked up at the Character Premier at the Premier Outlets. With a few bags of Mickey gummies added too, which I couldn’t find in WOD, my total came to $27 without discount because you can only use the DC in WOD now. Every year there are less and less discount opportunities at WDW which I find quite frustrating. We visit the candy store which is in the area that was the housewares side of the Gourmet Pantry. The other side where Earl of Sandwich will be is not opened yet. We also browse the Days of Christmas store and I buy a soap dish in the home store ($18). The Art of Disney and Memories scrapbooking store is fun to look through but we don’t buy anything.

Back to the car and across, or shall I say under, I-4 to the Premium Outlets and the Character Premier so I can return the Tink tank top and PJ’s that I bought but didn’t fit and bought replacements for but never returned the original purchases. Duh, I didn’t bring the correct receipt and couldn’t return them for credit. Instead, I had to exchange them for something else which wasn’t too hard. I got a WDW tee, post cards and a Mushu beanie. The post cards had Mickey, Minnie and the gang posed in front of Cindy’s castle pictured on them and were priced at only nine cents a piece. We both got quite a few intending on having Minnie sign them. The Mushu was for Mary since she has started a collection of each character she has portrayed but couldn’t find him. When we were at her house the other day, Paula told her that she’d seen him somewhere at one of the outlets and thought it was at Belz. I was glad she found him here so we didn’t have to drive up there again today because I wanted to bring him to Toontown later.

After we left CP we stopped at the Walgreens on Route 535 to get a sharpie for signing the post cards. We also hit the drive through at Wendy’s next door and got a couple of really nice salads for lunch before returning to the Embassy to eat them. Lunch on the screened porch was very pleasant but we didn’t linger long before heading out to the Magic Kingdom and Minnie.

We parked at the Wilderness Lodge took the boat to the MK and the WSW RR to Toontown. We are very early and browse County Bounty and Minnie’s house killing time before her set starts. We sit on a bench in Minnie’s backyard and people watch, too, amusing ourselves with the conversations we hear as people walk past.

When it’s finally time, we let the CM at the beginning of the line know we are relatives and would like to see Minnie. Just as Mary thought, he takes us right in the back bypassing the line—a long one. We are alone at first and she gives us her signal, “I know you.” There was only about a minute before the doors opened and guests flooded the room. We asked her to sign a few of the post cards personalizing them to family members and then had our pictures taken by the CM photographer and with my camera too. Before we left, we also gave her the Mushu and got kisses for that. We didn’t leave the room, though, instead we stood near the exit and watcher her interact with guests—big and small. She really worked her charm with her adult male fans. What a flirt. Shhh, don’t tell Mickey. She also knew how to handle the tiny shy guest with great care giving mommy lots of loving attention to gain some trust. Pretty soon the little one was comfortable enough to have her picture taken as along as mommy did too. Magic, pure magic!

Chip and Dale shared the room, too, and they were just full of it. Most everyone seemed to be in line to see Minnie because they would leave the room afterwards so Chip and Dale were alone a lot. One family took advantage of this by stopping by and having some fun. The kids were not intimidated at all and loved it when Chip and Dale took the kids’ hats off and put them on their heads for pictures. What a couple of hams they are.

After quite a while, we left and decided to get our first Mickey premium bars of the trip. We were going to walk down the hidden walkway from Toontown to Tomorrowland but by the time we found an ice cream cart we were into Fantasyland so we just continued to TL that way. We got fast passes for Buzz and rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority and saw the Carousel of Progress to kill time until our FP return time. Paula had never seen the CoP before and after the second scene looked at me and asked how many more of them were there. LOL! I don’t think she disliked it, I think she was afraid time would continue advancing twenty years at a time. I assured her they cover quite a few years in the last scene and pointed out that this was a Walt Disney classic. It was time for Buzz by the time we exited CoP. Our scores must not have been too great since I didn’t make note of them. Paula experienced another first, Timekeeper, which is pretty cute and I think she enjoyed. I really appreciated having the opportunity to see CoP and Timekeeper once again. It’s nice that they are open while Alien is being converted to Stitch.

Out at the hub we catch most of Cindy’s Surprise Celebration show which I just love. There are so many characters and Donald’s antics really get the kids going. Afterwards we walk down Main Street to check out our Toontown pictures at Town Square Exposition Hall. There were a lot of people inside and we didn’t know quite where to go for Toontown pictures. We wound up cutting in line and were being waited on before we realized what we had done. Oops, sorry, if you were in that line. We really hate it when people do that to us. I bought the picture of me with Minnie ($13). Paula didn’t like the one with both of us. I opted out of having them superimpose her signature on it since I have connections and can get the real thing.

We exit MK and take the monorail to the Ticket and Transportation Center. We were able to ride in the cab, again, on the next train. Two other women joined us and we got co-pilots licenses—a first for me and I was pleased. Once in Epcot we ride Spaceship Earth. I enjoy the first part but think it becomes very boring once you start the descent. We decide to use the re-entry passes Mary gave us the other day for Test Track. It felt funny walking in the exit of the attraction all the way through to the unloading area. Once there, a CM told us to follow the footsteps on the floor over the track to the loading area where we were put right in a car. We didn’t even have to experience the preshow like you do with FP or singles lines. Our car was all girls and we had a screaming time. This is one ride that is much better at night.

We intend to get dinner by eating at the F&W Festival booths, so we started in Canada and walked counter clockwise. I’d hoped to get fish and chips in the UK but that line was too long to wait in. I was disappointed especially since all of the lines were long so we bypassed most of them. I did get a quesadilla in Mexico again. They were very good and big. I was very glad we’d experienced the F&W Festival the other day when the lines were not long at all and we ate as much as we wanted until we were stuffed.

We were tired and didn’t want to stay for the Eat to the Beat concert (The Spinners) or IllumiNations and deal with the crowd both waiting for it to begin and then afterwards so we left to catch a bus to the WL. We were yakking away and missed the sign for the WL bus stop and had to backtrack. Of course, there is a bus waiting so we run so we don’t to miss it and have to wait for the next. We make it on but have to stand. Earlier in the week, we’d had a conversation about WDW transportation and Paula shared with me that she felt the buses were the worst option. Well, tonight was real proof of that. There was a baby crying, no wailing, in the back of the bus the entire trip from Epcot to the WL. Now I can understand the kid being tired but why does it have to wail the entire trip?! Once at the WL we make our way out to the car and are successful in making it past the MK parking lot before the parked closed beating the traffic.

Back at the Embassy we make calls home and eat some chips and hard lemonade before going to bed.

Friday, October 24
Up at 7:50 a.m. to finish up yesterday’s notes, pack and shower before eating some breakfast. We check out right at 10 a.m. and were expecting to pay for a fee for each call we made based on the card near the phone. However, the front desk clerk simply told us we were all set and wished us a safe trip home. Cool.

We headed out to return to Bass Pro Shop Outdoor World to see if there is a size large in the Columbia coat I looked at on Sunday. No luck, there was just the medium that had been there earlier because the extra large was now gone. Not to worry, I bought one at home for $15 less. We continued up I-drive and returned to the Belz Character Warehouse and Character Premier. I get the top of a PJ set ($12) I liked at the CP in the Premium Outlets yesterday but this one was in my size and I didn’t have to buy it as a set with the bottoms. In the Woolrich store next door I bought a cotton zip sweater with snowmen on it.

Back to Disney property where we park at the Marketplace with plans to take the ferries to Old Key West and Port Orleans Riverside. It was early and the ferries weren’t running yet. To kill time, we browsed in the Rainforest Café Shop and walked over to Pleasure Island and back. We caught the first Trumbo Ferry to OKW and loved the ride. We felt like VIPs since there were only two other people traveling with us, the seats were soft and comfy, the ferry was quiet and the view was pleasant as we floated past the golf course and down the canal past the OKW units. It was a very relaxing journey. We had never done this before either so it was something new. Once at OKW we went to Olivia’s for lunch and sat outside and enjoyed a nice relaxing lunch ($40). We had to wait a few minutes for the table outside but it was worth it. The menu had many choices that looked appealing. Our food was excellent and out outside table was a perfect spot to people watch which is always fun. There were families headed to the pool, to the parks and just arriving to begin their vacation. “Welcome home!” Thanks, Sue Holland, for your article and great advice on eating at Olivia’a. We both agreed we’d like to do this again. After lunch we browsed the gift shop and the lobby where we picked up park maps for a co-worker who is spending Thanksgiving at WDW with her family. We thought they would help create some excitement and they did. We also took a walk around to the pool area before returning to the dock to catch the ferry back to the Marketplace. The ferries run on a set schedule so you know when to be at the dock to catch one.

Once back at the Marketplace, we got right on the ferry to PO. This ferry is not at all like the Trumbo. It is big and loud and does not provide as nice of an experience. We did get to see the Saratoga Springs resort under construction and the old tree house villas. They were being used to house college program students while Vista Way is being renovated. The ride takes a lot longer than we expected, 25 minutes, which doesn’t leave us much time to tour Port Orleans. In fact, in order to get back to the Marketplace by 3:30 p.m. in time to leave for the airport, we would have to get back on the ferry we got off of to take us back because the next ferry was at 4 p.m. We decide to stay, however, and take a quick tour of the resort and then take a bus back instead. Paula had never been here before while I had a few years ago just for a quick visit like we were doing today. We walked out to the pool area and then to the food court where we used the rest room and got drinks to refill. We check out the menu at the restaurant and browse through the gift shop. There is some Brother Bear merchandise which we were surprised we hadn’t seen more of during this trip. We both feel the resort is to our liking and may return sometime to eat at the restaurant. If I were ever to stay here, I think I would choose the rustic Bayou section where it appears to be very quiet and secluded. It’s time to head back to the Marketplace so we walk out to the bus stop a wait a short time. The bus makes its way around the resort with a few stops before actually leaving which gives us the opportunity to see more of it and just how big it is. We are at the Marketplace bus stop pretty quickly arriving at 3:45 p.m.

Straight to the car we go with a stop at a 7-11 for gas (11 gallons in 7 days not really going anywhere) before getting on the Greenway (Route 417), paying $2 in tolls and returning to the airport. I ask Paula if she wants to check our backs curbside and then return the car or carry our bags to the ticket counter. She says return the car first and carry our bags so we do that. I was a little relived to see that the rental receipt was just what it should be at $138 since I felt the car we’d taken was bigger than the intermediate I’d reserved. We don’t find a long line at the Southwest ticket counter and after we get our boarding passes, we watch as they scan our luggage. There is a question with one of my bags and it has to be searched. Paula watches hers drop out of the scanning machine onto the belt with the strap she puts around it unbuckled. We hope someone snaps it back up once it gets in the back. She puts the strap on because it’s the older hard sided luggage and she’s afraid it will pop open easily since it’s unlocked. Even though the strap was missing when we got our bags in Albany, at least it didn’t pop open on the way.

We arrive at the gate at 4:55 p.m., an hour after we left WDW and an hour before our flight, so we felt we made good time. Paula watches our stuff while I go and change into pants and freshen up a bit. When I return she tells me that it was announced that our flight is delayed 8 minutes. We find two seats together and read most of the way home. I had free drink coupons which came with my award ticket so I got two bottles of wine. I had more tickets but Paula chose not to indulge. I closed my eyes and before I knew it, we were in Albany. Wow, two wines and a little nap and we’re landing. Brrr! The air on the jetway is cool and crisp. Our bags come and it was a quick walk to my car—to chilly to take our time. We get behind someone taking a really long time at the check out booths, so I change lanes, charge the $40 parking to my EZ Pass and we are on our way home. I drop Paula off at her house at 10 p.m. and I get to mine 15 minutes later where the woodstove is heating the house nicely and Bill is asleep in bed. I sleep in the next morning until 11 a.m.!

Summary
It was a wonderful trip. The weather and crowds could not have been better than what we experienced. It was also nice to be able to experience both MNSSHP and the F&W Festival at this time of year. My next trip is with Bill in March 2004. Paula went for a few days at Thanksgiving with her son and the whole family will go on a seven day Disney Cruise in January 2004. Maybe we’ll take a third annual “girls only” trip in 2004 too.

I have been reading trip reports for years and have used the successes and failures I’ve read about to improve my trips. Trip reports also carry me through when my next trip is too far off. Some authors write such good reports that I look forward to their next trip. I hope that sharing my trip planning and experiences in return brings pleasure and gives new ideas to all who read them.

Kim Howe