srusso100
02-01-2008, 02:09 PM
Planning & Day 1 of 7
January 19 – 25, 2006
Port Orleans – French Quarter & Beach Club Villas Resort
The Cast
Steve – That would be me. Handsome; dashing; heroic in every way. I do 100% of the planning, make all the reservations, handle the packing and schlepping of luggage, take all the pictures and write the trip report. My sole purpose in life is to support my better half in the manner to which she plans to become accustomed.
Barb – The woman that walks on the ground I worship.
Planning
Since we became DVC members in 2000, we’ve been pretty successful in taking 2 to 3 Disney World trips each year. Unfortunately, this trip will take place more than a year after the last one ended. How did we let that happen? I don’t know that answer but I’ll vow to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Originally, we were set to stay from December 8-14 at the Boardwalk Villas, which would have put us on site for Mousefest. For several reasons, we canceled that reservation and rebooked for January. While I would’ve liked to have been there for Mousefest and the Holiday RADP meet, not to mention the Christmas decorations and festivities, it turned out to be a blessing that we had re-scheduled. Those that read and can remember back to my 2001 trip report will recall that we brought my father – the (then) 85-year old ‘Pop’. Pop’s now 92 and, unfortunately, he hasn’t been feeling real well for the past couple of months. As a matter of fact, in November he had a couple of fairly major surgical procedures done. After a 3-week hospital stay, he was placed into a Specialized Nursing Facility for therapy. His first week there butted right up against December 8, so we would have had to postpone that trip.
Rooms
This trip began with us having reserved Sunday-Friday in a Preferred View room at the Boardwalk Villas. While the Boardwalk is our DVC home resort and we absolutely love it there, my feeling is that if I were going to pay the few extra points for a preferred view, I’d just as soon stay at the Beach Club Villas if available. I’m not sure why that is except we’ve stayed many nights at the Boardwalk and the Beach Club is just a bit ‘newer’ to us. I recently read another trip report from someone that did the same thing in reverse – their home resort was the Beach Club but they commented on how nice it was to stay at the Boardwalk for something different. I guess deep down I feel as if I’m cheating on my home resort. I’ll even resort to exiting a bus at the Swan so the Boardwalk won’t see me continuing on to the Beach Club – the price I pay for my infidelity. Anyway, I wait-listed the Beach Club Villas and that came through for us in October.
Rather than use points for the more-expensive Saturday night stay, and trying to save some point for the 2-bedroom villa next year, I was able to get a AAA rate at Port Orleans – French Quarter. It’s one of the resorts we haven’t yet stayed in so it will give us the opportunity to sample something new while knocking another resort off our list.
Dining
We’re convinced that the Dining Plan is not for us. I’d be the first to agree that it can save you money if you plan on paying cash for a snack, counter service and table service meal each day… and your meals include desserts. We don’t typically eat like that during a Disney World stay so… I’m going to try very hard during this trip to keep records of all our meal expenses so I can contrast what we’ve spent versus what the Disney Dining Plan would have cost. We will have the Disney Dining Experience so I’ll be able to contrast the two plans – sort of a DDP v. DDE (I was going to try to make a joke here with a reference to the Alien versus Predator, or AVP, films but everything I came up with was too lame. I just wanted you to know that I tried.) Stay tuned.
At the 180-day window, I roughed out a general plan of attack for what parks we’d visit on which days. From that, I called and made several Advance Dining Reservations. The restaurants booked included some new ones (for us, anyway): the Trail’s End Buffet, the Yachtsman Steakhouse, the Plaza Restaurant and the Flying Fish. It also included the Rose and Crown, where we’ve had lunch before but never dinner. I also made our third reservation at the Hollywood Brown Derby at the Studios – a place where I’ve had reservations twice before but, for different reasons, canceled both.
I’m already on record griping about the need to plan meals 180 days in advance, mainly due to the popularity of the Disney Dining Plan, so I’ll spare you from another rant. But I still don’t like it.
Passes
For the past several years, we’ve been taking advantage of a significant DVC discount and purchasing Annual Passes. We attempt to take further advantage of these passes by scheduling to get 3 trips within the 12-month period. It requires a little planning and a little flexibility but does work. This time would be no exception as we’re planning the next 2 visits in October (for Barb and me to visit during the Food and Wine Festival) and January (another ‘whole family’ trip).
As Annual Pass holders, we’ve always found that we get tremendous value from the Disney Dining Experience card so I had planned to purchase a new one in December. Shortly before that, Disney announced a new plan that allows you to purchase and receive your card at the World so we’ll buy it there.
Transportation
Flying from Albany, NY, we don’t have tons of options beyond Southwest and USAirways. Southwest has been our choice, mainly due to more non-stop flights at better times and (usually) better pricing. I’m always torn between buying our tickets as soon as the window opens on our time frame or waiting for a Ding! or other reduced fare. In the past, I’ve purchased early and re-booked using Ding! fares and sometimes had to eat the savings when I didn’t have another trip scheduled in time.
Earlier this year, however, we traveled to Las Vegas and I watched as fares did nothing but go up (and up) after the window opened. So, I bought our fares immediately and, for the first time ever, have not seen them come down a bit in the ensuing months.
We’ll use Magical Express to get us to and from the airport. I thought about a rental car but, when staying at an Epcot resort and not intending to travel off-site, I’ve found a car rental to be a waste. We walk to Epcot and the Studios. We bus to the Magic Kingdom but, I think everyone would agree that the Magic Kingdom is the one park that driving is actually more cumbersome. That leaves just Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney and we usually visit each of those only once per trip so… I think you’d agree that a rental is just not a good value for us.
Friday, January 18, 2008 – Departure Day minus one
I write this just to give you an idea of what Southwest Airlines has forced us to become. I normally leave for work at around 6:30 AM. Not so today. At 7:15, I’m at my computer surfing to find the most accurate time available – which I find is from the US Naval Observatory Master Clock. I ensure that my computer’s clock is set to it and then visit Southwest’s web site to print my boarding passes exactly 24 hours before flight time, which is tomorrow at 7:20 AM.
I key in our confirmation number and my name, then click on Retrieve Reservation. It takes me to a screen that tells me I’m too early (I know this) and I hit the back button. Now, not knowing if Southwest Airlines is set to the most accurate time of the US Naval Observatory Master Clock, I begin my process a minute early at 7:19. I click ‘Retrieve Reservation’, they tell me I’m too early, I click the back button and try again. They entire process only takes 3-4 seconds so I’m feeling pretty good about my chances of scoring the first 2 boarding passes. Suddenly, one of the clicks take me to my reservation. It shows a line for me and one for Barb and asks which ones I would like boarding passes for. It’s a silly step, in my opinion, but I quickly check both boxes and click on the button to retrieve boarding passes and learn that we’re in the ‘A group’ but… I have numbers 26 and 27. What? 25 people beat me in?
Dejectedly, I head to work and endure another day of drudgery. Friday night we visit Pop at the nursing facility making sure he’s got what he needs for the week. Our children will be visiting and handling the day-to-day stuff while we’re gone. Our son, Stephen, will also be moving back home for a week to tend to our dog. We head home; I packed (Barb has already completed the task of emptying her entire closet into a suitcase), loaded the car, set the alarm for 4:00 AM and turned in.
Saturday, January 19, 2008 – Headwinds, lightening, tornados… and Foxy Brown
This is the first day of our vacation and I am psyched.
I’ve said this countless times in past trip reports but, I always awake before the alarm sounds. Today, that was at 1:51 AM. I fully realize how insane it is to be awake at that hour but, trust me, it wasn’t my choice. I tried very hard to get back to sleep. So hard, in fact, that I think I have a permanent furrow on my brow from the effort. Unfortunately, sleep never came so I gave in, got up at 3:45 and made the coffee.
We showered, dressed, caffeine-ated, fed the dog and left at 5:15. The trip to the airport, at that hour on a Saturday, is fairly uneventful. We parked in the garage, finding a spot on the same level as the covered bridge into the terminal but… about as far away from the bridge as possible. There’s something eerie about rolling your luggage through an empty, cold and dark garage that early in the morning. The only sounds are the wheels on the luggage and the clack they make every 5 seconds when they hit the concrete joints.
We check our luggage, after a short wait, at 6:00 and make it through Security by 6:15. As I was re-dressing on the other side of Security, there was an angry older gentleman muttering about reporting them and suing the whole lot. Apparently, his daughter and granddaughter (about 3) were enduring the extra scanning. I’m guessing one of them must have set off the scanner when coming through. The TSA employee was lightly frisking and scanning the child and the child, quite naturally, was crying. Grandpa was very angry but his wife was trying to explain why this was necessary – how it’s not outside the realm of possibility that people would plant something on a child to get it through Security. The whole thing was a sad comment on where we are today.
At 6:20, we hit the Coffee Beanery where we shared a coffee and a muffin. We then headed to our gate at about 6:50.
Now, the premise of the new Southwest Boarding system is that you will board in the order dictated by how early you got your boarding pass (we’re number 26 and 27). Given that, there’s absolutely no reason at all for people to camp out in the boarding lanes as they’ve done for so many years, right? Then what the heck are these idiots doing, lined up in front of the C 1-30 sign, 30 minutes before the flight?
In a few minutes, they call up the A group, numbers 1-30 on the left and 31-60 on the right. You’re supposed to line up numerically and are expected to police this yourselves. I can’t wait for the fistfights this causes. On this flight, we seem to be an orderly bunch and the guy with number 28 actually tells us to get in front of him. I also learn that no one has numbers 1-15 as they’re reserved for those that purchased Business Select fares – basically a way you can spend 50-250% more for your ticket but guarantee being one of the first 15 on the plane.
We board and snag the Emergency Exit row, the one row with only 2 seats in it. I then sit and watch as folks store ever larger and larger suitcases in the overhead bins. This is only my opinion but this has gotten entirely out of hand. Southwest, like many airlines, has an open bin by the gate. It states that if your bag fits inside the bin, you can carry it on. If not, they’ll be happy to check it for you. There are folks that carry on bags that have no chance of fitting in those bins after Wayne Szalinski hit ‘em with his shrinking machine. Dennis Miller’s rant about airline travel is so appropriate – he talks about the "wizard who tries to beat the system by gaffer-taping a twine handle to a Frigidaire freezer box and calling it carry-on." And it’s appalling how some of these folks treat whatever was placed in the overhead before them. Don’t ever leave anything breakable in a coat pocket. Trust me.
We push back at 7:20 and then sit through the de-icing procedure. I always have mixed emotions on this – I’m glad they noticed the frost before we took off but not entirely comfortable with the haphazard way they spray on the solvent.
We finally get the wheels up and we are treated to the flight from hell. The pilot quickly informs us that preceding flights have reported unstable air and heavy turbulence at the upper altitudes so we would be cruising at a fairly low 26,000 feet. This doesn’t get us out of the cloud cover and results in a very bumpy flight – so turbulent that the flight attendants are asked to take their seats for several lengthy periods. I’ve started a new book (Into the Wild) that came borrowed from and highly recommended by daughter Stephanie but… I have a hard time reading when it’s this bumpy.
There are 3 people seated directly behind us and they are talking, loudly, pretty much non-stop. That’s normally not a big deal but the woman has a very loud and high-pitched voice (think Minnie only louder) and, when she laughs, which is frequently, it’s more of a cackle. I drag out my MP3 player and crank up the volume but, sadly, even that doesn’t drown it out completely.
From past experience, we know that the flight from Albany to Orlando takes right around 2 hours and 30 minutes, assuming no problems. For whatever reason, Southwest lists the flying time as 3 hours – so we almost always land earlier than the scheduled time. Not today. After takeoff, the pilot announced our flying time as 3 hours and 10 minutes. What? And… that was the last we heard from him. Periodically, one of the flight attendants would make an announcement about the “ugly head winds” we were enduring but we never had a progress report.
I can usually brave the 2 ½ hour flight without visiting the ‘facilities’ but, this flight is running longer and I’ve now had 3 coffees and a water. This leads me to my first (of probably many) complaints – the airline rest room. I remember a time when using these facilities wasn’t a problem. Now? First, you’re not allowed to queue up at the forward area so timing is everything. If you’re seated in row 13, there’s a good chance that, by the time you exit your row and make your way forward, someone in row 6 will get up and beat you there. So you return to your seat… and wait… and try again.
Eventually, you’ll make your way there, enter, close and latch the door. You turn around and find you’re in some weird misshapen phone booth. Now I have to be a bit delicate here. The room is all the way forward and to the left side, directly behind the pilot, so the curvature of the roof line is very pronounced. For those that plan on sitting for this activity, they’re presented with an opportunity to kind of back in, leaning slightly forward so their back actually conforms to the airliner’s roof curvature. However, if you plan on standing for this event, and are over 6’ tall, you are presented with two alternatives: 1) you can stand at the door and determine if your aim and distance are everything they used to be; or 2) you can limbo into the proper position. I’m not kidding here. If you attempt to get closer to the toilet, you’re forced to assume a limbo like position with your head cocked to one side to conform to that roofline.
Finally, after 3 and one-half hours of flying, we began our descent. We had flown most of the way through clouds so we were looking forward to seeing land of any kind. We bounced around the sky quite a bit and I commented to Barb that “it looks like when we finally break out of these clouds, we’ll only be a few hundred feet above land.” Boy, was I wrong. After a longer than usual descent, we broke free of the clouds and looked down to see the runway – about 8-10 feet below us. To say it was foggy was an understatement.
We touched down at 11:10 and deplaned at 11:20 – four hours after pushing back in Albany. The longest flight yet. We made a restroom stop and caught the shuttle to the main terminal, then rode the escalators down to Level 1 and walked to the end to find Disney’s Magical Express. There was a short line so we checked in in less than 5 minutes. The woman that checked us in was from Bogota, Columbia and had a very thick accent. At one point she asked “You are sheeshing da bells?” It was pretty comical when Barb and I, in unison, looked at each other then back at her. She must have sensed our confusion and asked again, “You are sweetching hotels?” Ah, yes, we are.
We walked to the corral and took a spot as the only ones in line for Port Orleans and Saratoga Springs. Before long there were 6-8 others in line and, within 10 minutes, we were ushered out to a waiting bus. The bus left in about 10-minutes. To date, all of our experiences with Magical Express have been very good. This one? Not so much. Our driver, Bill, informed us that the video on the bus was not working. That would’ve been OK. Unfortunately, he must have felt obligated to provide entertainment for us for the duration of the trip. For 50-minutes, we were treated to the comedy stylings of Bill the Driver. For the first 5-10 minutes, it was OK. After that? Again, not so much.
He did inform us we were on the slowest bus in the fleet – and, after the 50-minute trip, it felt like it. Because Saratoga Springs was our first stop, we entered the property by International Drive and through the Downtown Disney area. The traffic there was heavy and made a long trip even longer but, as Bill pointed out, it did give us an opportunity to compare the gasoline prices at multiple stations. Surprisingly, this may be the one thing Bill told us that I found interesting. In the last 2-3 miles of our trip, the price of regular unleaded varied from $3.02 to $3.59. There was one spot that offered a $.17 difference between stations that faced each other across a street. Weird.
We dropped folks at Saratoga Springs and then, thankfully, we were dropped at the French Quarter. We hustled inside and found a check-in area with 3 CMs and only 1 customer. We were helped by Sharon who was earning her ears. She did just fine and had us checked into room 6323 in under 2 minutes – and the room was ready.
This was our first time at PO-FQ and I was impressed. I liked the theming of the French Quarter ‘streets’ (Café Au Lait Way and the Rue D’Baga). We found building 6 and took the elevator to the 3rd floor. Room 6323 turned out to be a corner room, windows on 2 sides, with a very nice view of the Sassagoula River. It was typical of a moderate with twin sinks and a separate, but very tiny, bathroom (toilet and tub). We did have a king bed and Mousekeeping had left us a towel animal – only the 2nd one I’ve ever gotten. Although… I’m not quite sure I know what it is. It appears to be an octopus-like thing but with only 4 tentacles. A quadrapus? A squid that was involved in a horrible motorcraft accident? Here’s the picture… http://picasaweb.google.com/srusso100/WDWJan200802/photo#5161021893245554962
We freshened up a bit and decided to head to the food court for some lunch. I should mention here that it’s a very comfortable 78-80 degrees and mostly cloudy – still foggy, really. The forecast is calling for a cold front to come through, bringing some storms tonight and colder weather tomorrow. Then, it should warm up again for Monday-Thursday.
I took some photos of the streets and pool area before we headed into the Sassagoula Float Works. It’s a small but serviceable food court. We split a turkey sub (made fresh) and a bottle of water ($9.24) – both good. From there, we hit the bus stops. There was a waiting bus for the Magic Kingdom (MK) and we walked quickly to it. I stopped briefly to take a photo of a bus stop sign identifying that stop for travel to ‘Magic Kingdom’ and ‘Disney’s Hollywood Studios’. Mark Goldhaber of Mouseplanet had asked if I could send some photos of the new signage for Hollywood Studios, and any construction pics of the (not yet announced as a DVC resort) construction at the Contemporary. This would be the first of many I found – some showing Hollywood Studios while others were still listing it as Disney-MGM.
During the bus ride to the MK, the sun finally broke through and began burning off some of the fog. By the time we reached the MK, it had become sunny.
At the MK, we first needed to stop at a ticket window to exchange our Annual Pass (AP) vouchers for actual passes and to purchase our Disney Dining Experience (DDE) card. I had a moment of mild panic (and possibly a ‘senior moment’) on the bus when I couldn’t remember if there was a ticket window at the MK. I knew they were at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) but… not to worry. It was all the way to the right and just outside the turnstiles. In 5 minutes we had 2 brand spanking new APs and a new DDE card ($60) that’s good through February 2009.
We entered the MK… or tried to. Barb’s AP worked fine but mine wouldn’t let me in. I explained to the CM that it was brand new. He put it through the machine again, this time upside down, and when that didn’t work, asked me to put my middle finger on the scanner. I had been using my index finger for some time without a problem so I’m not sure what might have changed. It seemed to work and I was allowed entry but the CM also seemed to be doing some ‘other stuff’ with that little keypad they have there so I was a bit worried - justifiably so as it turned out.
Once inside, I immediately noticed construction at City Hall. I’m not sure what they were doing but the front of the building was hidden behind a tarp. And on the tarp, was a life-size image of City Hall. I saw them do this once before with the China pavilion at Epcot. Have they always done this with theme park buildings under construction? It’s pretty cool and just another example of how Disney usually goes a step or two beyond their competition.
We made a bee line for the (newly renovated – at least since I saw it last) Haunted Mansion. There was a posted wait time of 30-minutes but we got into line anyway. I didn’t time it but I’d say we were inside in 20. I busied myself taking some photos of the building’s exterior (it looked great – somehow cleaner than I remembered), the hearse, etc. The sound in the stretching room was much improved. The whole ride just looked fresher and newer with a soundtrack that was much cleaner than any time in the past. The new components – the stairs, bride with the ax, etc. – all work well. All in all, a great job by the Imagineers in improving what was already an excellent attraction.
We walked up the hill and into Fantasyland to try for Mickey’s Philharmagic. We were let into the lobby outside the theater and queued up with a moderate crowd. OK, here’s one sign the Apocalypse is almost upon us. Cell phones are everywhere at WDW. People are talking on cell phones while walking in the parks, in queues, in restaurants, on benches. We’re standing just outside Door #2 to Philharmagic, listening to Minnie tell us they’re almost ready for us. Next to us are 3 moms, a tweenage boy, and 3 teenage girls – each about 14-16. Each of the girls has a cell phone in hand and they’re frantically keying text messages with one or both thumbs. Their thumbs are flying across these Lilliputian keypads so fast all I can see is a blur. I’m wondering if they are texting each other. One finishes sending and returns the phone to a jacket pocket. I swear, it wasn’t out of her hand for 5 seconds before she reached in and, in one fluid motion, whipped it out and flicked it open - kind of like Obi Wan with a light saber. I can only guess she was checking to see if whoever she was texting to had responded. You could almost sense how uncomfortable she was in the 5-seconds the phone was out of her hand. All 3 continued keying until the doors opened and we were well inside the theater.
Philharmagic was as enjoyable as always. When we left, we wandered a bit through the adjacent store and found a Mickey polo we’d like to buy for our grandson. We’ll hold off on that for now. We wandered outside and, for the first time, I found Cinderella’s Fountain. I know, I know. I’ve probably walked by it dozens of times and never realized it was there.
We walked near the castle and toward Adventureland and decided it was time to head back to PO-FQ to see if our luggage had arrived. Just as we made the turn, 2 women walked by us with Dole Whips. OK, slight detour to Aloha Isle and into a 3-deep line. I had the pineapple Dole Whip while Barb had vanilla ($6.16). Call me biased but I just don’t understand her infatuation with vanilla. To me, it’s like Switzerland: a neutral flavor. Kind of like tofu… or cardboard. We grabbed a table out of the sun and finished our whips, then headed for the exit.
We waited about 5-minutes for a bus to PO-FQ and re-entered Sassagoula Float Works. I had heard so much about Beignets that I had to try them. The idea was to buy 3, sample 1 and save 2 for breakfast. It took me quite a while to get my 3 Beignets and a coffee for Barb ($3.31 after $.78 off for DDE). The reason was there were a bunch of teenagers in the food court having a late lunch or early dinner. I’m surmising they were on the Disney Dining Plan (DDP) because each one was getting a dessert with their entrée, and the desserts are ordered and prepared by the one CM manning the station that sold the Beignets. As I walked up, 4 or 5 of these kids formed a line at the station and I fell in behind. One would order a Strawberry Sundae, the CM would go off and make it, bring it back and the next one would order something similar. I hate the Dining Plan.
The Beignets were made fresh and we took a table to sample one. I was a bit disappointed in that they’re nothing more than the fried dough I used to get as a kid. Not that they were bad, it’s just I was expecting something different.
There were lots of teens in the food court and I would see many groups of teens around the parks over the next week. I’m not sure why but I did see one group with ‘Senior Trip’ t-shirts. There were also quite a few college kids around for the UCA Cheerleader competition that would run through tomorrow. Unfortunately, there was also a ton of Brazilian tour groups here as well… more on them later.
We went back to the room and discovered our luggage had been delivered. We unpacked a few things, freshened up and Barb called Stephanie to check on things at home. Steph lives in NYC now but was spending the weekend back home. I turned on the tube and caught some of Stacy’s Top 7 Attractions. She certainly is an enthusiastic young lady. She’s attractive but shouts a bit too much for my taste. We flicked on the Weather Station and caught the forecast which still called for storms tonight with the cold front. There were also tornado warnings. The front was expected to come through late tonight. They lied.
An interesting thing about the Weather Channel here – when it’s not delivering the forecast or local Doppler, it’s in commercial; more specifically, an infomercial for a way to make money via the Internet. They ran through 4 or 5 testimonials from women. Each woman was filmed from the waist up and was… er… how shall I say this? They were all Dolly Parton-esque. And each was displaying a more than ample amount of cleavage. Barb quickly named this the “Boob Channel”.
I had a 5:30 reservation at the Trail’s End Buffet but, we really weren’t very hungry so we decided to cancel that and eat later. Another reason why planning your meals 6 months in advance is a bad idea. At 5:30, we caught a waiting bus to Epcot. I now remember why riding the bus from a moderate resort was a bit of a hassle – we made 3 or 4 stops at Riverside before heading out. There was a Dad on the bus, busily folding a stroller. He was wearing a pair of beige Crocs so I asked him what he thought of them for park touring. He answered quickly with “They’re great. Like walking all day on a rubber mat.” I’ve got to try a pair because they sure don’t look that comfortable to me. When we exited the bus at Epcot, I felt a few sprinkles and immediately thought of the ponchos and visor I had left back in the room. Ah, well.
We were through security quickly and entered the park. Spaceship Earth listed a 15-minute wait so we got into line. I really like the changes during the first half of the ride. The new animatronics are great and the narration is very good. Everything looks like it’s been refreshed – cleaned up, repainted, whatever. Just a couple of observations:
- Didn’t the newsboy (Calling “Extra. Extra.”) used to be at the front of the building facing you? Now he’s kind of in the alley facing the other way. It almost looks like they had an accident with the animatronics’ face and are hiding him;
- Please don’t think me a dirty old man but didn’t the female sculpture have an exposed breast? That’s been taken to a G-Rating now;
- I’ve seen a number of comments about the guy in the garage developing the PC (actually, I think it’s an Apple). Some say it’s Steve Jobs. I’ve even heard an opinion that it’s Bill Gates. In my opinion, there’s no question it’s Steve Wozniak;
- I’ve worked in mainframe computer rooms in the late-1960s and early 1970s. The depiction here has a bit of Hollywood to it. Hollywood almost always depicted a computer by showing a spinning tape drive. This scene has plenty of blinking lights and lots of reel-to-reel tape drives – but no DASD. Not really an accurate representation;
- And what’s up with Foxy Brown in the computer room? The mini-skirt, go-go boots and Afro are just a bit much.
While I really enjoyed the first half of the ride, I have to say I thought the second half was a bit lame. There’s a pretty cool blue-light star field and then you begin answering some questions using the touch-screen monitor in your ride vehicle. The questions are a bit inane. At the end, it shows an animated rendering of *your* future, based upon your answers. They take your photo at the beginning of the ride and then paste your face on the animated characters in this look into your future. Unfortunately, there are still a few bugs in the system because the faces shown in our car weren’t us – unless we suddenly became a couple of female teenagers. As a matter of fact, I looked around and those faces didn’t belong to anyone in the cars around us either.
We exited the ride into the new post-ride room complete with a number of electronic entertainment opportunities. Each one was occupied so we just looked around for a few minutes and then made our way to the exit. It was raining. Hard. There was thunder and a flash of lightening every few seconds. I reminded myself that Florida is the lightening capital of the USA based upon the number of strikes per year. We exited and jogged between rain drops to the little shop below Spaceship Earth on the right. During the trip, we narrowly avoided a monster puddle on the Spaceship Earth side that looked to be about 3” deep.
There were lots of folks taking shelter in the shop and outside under the ample overhang. We hung out for a few minutes and I thought “Why wait it out here when we can ride Spaceship Earth again?” There was no line so we sprinted across and began walking up the entrance when a CM stopped us. I thought she had said we’d have to leave but she was just backing everyone down the aisle so she could back a wheelchair out. Someone tried to enter with a chair which is a no-no there.
The ride was the same as the first including 2 new faces in our animation at the end. As you exit the vehicle, the ride stopped. We were literally inches away from the point where the access door would slide open and we could exit. Unfortunately, as the CM explained, the ride needed to be reset and he couldn’t open the doors. “Just sit tight.” After a few minutes, a young couple about 3 cars behind us jumped out and left. Two maintenance guys (overalls and serious looks) came in, surveyed the situation and decided they could fix it. I’m not sure what they did but, a few minutes later, the ride started, our doors slid open and we exited.
It was still raining but not as hard. It seemed as though the lightening had picked up. It was also getting pretty windy. We spent a few minutes in the store. Barb went around the corner to the rest room and I actually got into a long line to buy ponchos. When Barb got back, I looked outside and asked her if she wanted to risk a run to the buses. She seemed game so off we went. We actually stayed fairly dry by staying under cover most of the way out. The toughest part was the last 100 yards which is mostly open. I made the mistake of trying to use a line of trees for some cover and caught a few good-sized drips for my trouble.
A bus was pulling up as we got to the stop. It filled up quickly and we were lucky to be the last 2 boarded. That meant we were standing at the front but we were out of the rain and reasonably protected from lightening. I’m not exactly sure of the route we took but, at one point we were stopped at a light waiting to make a left-hand turn. I *think* it was a turn on to Buena Vista Drive but I’m not 100% sure. Anyway, the light was red and stayed red… for a long, long time. I’m certain it was at least 5-minutes when I asked the driver if this light was always this long. He said “Never” but was, justifiably, reluctant to pull a crowded bus through an intersection, against the light, in the rain, with the cross traffic coming through at 50 mph. I could understand that. A few more minutes went by and I asked him if there was someone we could call. He wasn’t sure. It was maybe 3 more minutes when the light did finally change and we were through. I’m betting we sat at that light for a full 10 minutes, in a bus that was standing room only, and not one passenger complained.
Back at PO-FQ we decided we were now hungry so it’s back to the food court. It was packed. It seemed the storms had driven a lot of folks back to the resort. I thought the food court was small and I was proven right tonight. With so many people, we were tripping over each other to find the proper line for each station or the check-out. There are 4 stations there, each offering a different menu. We actually based our selection on queue length. I had Chicken Gumbo soup and a Chicken Quesadilla while Barb had Chicken Caesar Salad. And we split a large Diet Coke. Total cost was $18.46 with $3.69 DDE savings.
Empty tables were almost non-existent as a lot of folks had pulled 2, 3 and 4 tables together for large groups. We finally found a vacant table by the back door but had to borrow a couple of unused chairs from our neighbors to sit. Barb had trouble finding a plastic fork for her salad and wound up traipsing to the counter at the other end of the court. It was hectic in there.
The food was pretty good – maybe very good by food court standards. We finished up and made our way back to the room by 9:00 – again using covered walkways for as much of the trip as possible. We turned on the tube and found that a tornado had touched down in Hernando County. I have no idea where that is but, I assume it’s close by. We watched a little TV and turned in early. It had been a long day.
Miles Walked Today: 6.50
Things I Think I Think - I think 4 hours is much too long for a flight from Albany to Orlando. I think some engineers need to go to work on the rest rooms on airplanes. I think I like PO-FQ and wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again. I think I’ll give the Imagineers 10 out of 10 stars for the Haunted Mansion rehab and 8 of 10 for Spaceship Earth. I think I need to remember the ponchos when rain is forecasted. I think there’s an awful lot of Brazilian tour groups here.
January 19 – 25, 2006
Port Orleans – French Quarter & Beach Club Villas Resort
The Cast
Steve – That would be me. Handsome; dashing; heroic in every way. I do 100% of the planning, make all the reservations, handle the packing and schlepping of luggage, take all the pictures and write the trip report. My sole purpose in life is to support my better half in the manner to which she plans to become accustomed.
Barb – The woman that walks on the ground I worship.
Planning
Since we became DVC members in 2000, we’ve been pretty successful in taking 2 to 3 Disney World trips each year. Unfortunately, this trip will take place more than a year after the last one ended. How did we let that happen? I don’t know that answer but I’ll vow to make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Originally, we were set to stay from December 8-14 at the Boardwalk Villas, which would have put us on site for Mousefest. For several reasons, we canceled that reservation and rebooked for January. While I would’ve liked to have been there for Mousefest and the Holiday RADP meet, not to mention the Christmas decorations and festivities, it turned out to be a blessing that we had re-scheduled. Those that read and can remember back to my 2001 trip report will recall that we brought my father – the (then) 85-year old ‘Pop’. Pop’s now 92 and, unfortunately, he hasn’t been feeling real well for the past couple of months. As a matter of fact, in November he had a couple of fairly major surgical procedures done. After a 3-week hospital stay, he was placed into a Specialized Nursing Facility for therapy. His first week there butted right up against December 8, so we would have had to postpone that trip.
Rooms
This trip began with us having reserved Sunday-Friday in a Preferred View room at the Boardwalk Villas. While the Boardwalk is our DVC home resort and we absolutely love it there, my feeling is that if I were going to pay the few extra points for a preferred view, I’d just as soon stay at the Beach Club Villas if available. I’m not sure why that is except we’ve stayed many nights at the Boardwalk and the Beach Club is just a bit ‘newer’ to us. I recently read another trip report from someone that did the same thing in reverse – their home resort was the Beach Club but they commented on how nice it was to stay at the Boardwalk for something different. I guess deep down I feel as if I’m cheating on my home resort. I’ll even resort to exiting a bus at the Swan so the Boardwalk won’t see me continuing on to the Beach Club – the price I pay for my infidelity. Anyway, I wait-listed the Beach Club Villas and that came through for us in October.
Rather than use points for the more-expensive Saturday night stay, and trying to save some point for the 2-bedroom villa next year, I was able to get a AAA rate at Port Orleans – French Quarter. It’s one of the resorts we haven’t yet stayed in so it will give us the opportunity to sample something new while knocking another resort off our list.
Dining
We’re convinced that the Dining Plan is not for us. I’d be the first to agree that it can save you money if you plan on paying cash for a snack, counter service and table service meal each day… and your meals include desserts. We don’t typically eat like that during a Disney World stay so… I’m going to try very hard during this trip to keep records of all our meal expenses so I can contrast what we’ve spent versus what the Disney Dining Plan would have cost. We will have the Disney Dining Experience so I’ll be able to contrast the two plans – sort of a DDP v. DDE (I was going to try to make a joke here with a reference to the Alien versus Predator, or AVP, films but everything I came up with was too lame. I just wanted you to know that I tried.) Stay tuned.
At the 180-day window, I roughed out a general plan of attack for what parks we’d visit on which days. From that, I called and made several Advance Dining Reservations. The restaurants booked included some new ones (for us, anyway): the Trail’s End Buffet, the Yachtsman Steakhouse, the Plaza Restaurant and the Flying Fish. It also included the Rose and Crown, where we’ve had lunch before but never dinner. I also made our third reservation at the Hollywood Brown Derby at the Studios – a place where I’ve had reservations twice before but, for different reasons, canceled both.
I’m already on record griping about the need to plan meals 180 days in advance, mainly due to the popularity of the Disney Dining Plan, so I’ll spare you from another rant. But I still don’t like it.
Passes
For the past several years, we’ve been taking advantage of a significant DVC discount and purchasing Annual Passes. We attempt to take further advantage of these passes by scheduling to get 3 trips within the 12-month period. It requires a little planning and a little flexibility but does work. This time would be no exception as we’re planning the next 2 visits in October (for Barb and me to visit during the Food and Wine Festival) and January (another ‘whole family’ trip).
As Annual Pass holders, we’ve always found that we get tremendous value from the Disney Dining Experience card so I had planned to purchase a new one in December. Shortly before that, Disney announced a new plan that allows you to purchase and receive your card at the World so we’ll buy it there.
Transportation
Flying from Albany, NY, we don’t have tons of options beyond Southwest and USAirways. Southwest has been our choice, mainly due to more non-stop flights at better times and (usually) better pricing. I’m always torn between buying our tickets as soon as the window opens on our time frame or waiting for a Ding! or other reduced fare. In the past, I’ve purchased early and re-booked using Ding! fares and sometimes had to eat the savings when I didn’t have another trip scheduled in time.
Earlier this year, however, we traveled to Las Vegas and I watched as fares did nothing but go up (and up) after the window opened. So, I bought our fares immediately and, for the first time ever, have not seen them come down a bit in the ensuing months.
We’ll use Magical Express to get us to and from the airport. I thought about a rental car but, when staying at an Epcot resort and not intending to travel off-site, I’ve found a car rental to be a waste. We walk to Epcot and the Studios. We bus to the Magic Kingdom but, I think everyone would agree that the Magic Kingdom is the one park that driving is actually more cumbersome. That leaves just Disney’s Animal Kingdom and Downtown Disney and we usually visit each of those only once per trip so… I think you’d agree that a rental is just not a good value for us.
Friday, January 18, 2008 – Departure Day minus one
I write this just to give you an idea of what Southwest Airlines has forced us to become. I normally leave for work at around 6:30 AM. Not so today. At 7:15, I’m at my computer surfing to find the most accurate time available – which I find is from the US Naval Observatory Master Clock. I ensure that my computer’s clock is set to it and then visit Southwest’s web site to print my boarding passes exactly 24 hours before flight time, which is tomorrow at 7:20 AM.
I key in our confirmation number and my name, then click on Retrieve Reservation. It takes me to a screen that tells me I’m too early (I know this) and I hit the back button. Now, not knowing if Southwest Airlines is set to the most accurate time of the US Naval Observatory Master Clock, I begin my process a minute early at 7:19. I click ‘Retrieve Reservation’, they tell me I’m too early, I click the back button and try again. They entire process only takes 3-4 seconds so I’m feeling pretty good about my chances of scoring the first 2 boarding passes. Suddenly, one of the clicks take me to my reservation. It shows a line for me and one for Barb and asks which ones I would like boarding passes for. It’s a silly step, in my opinion, but I quickly check both boxes and click on the button to retrieve boarding passes and learn that we’re in the ‘A group’ but… I have numbers 26 and 27. What? 25 people beat me in?
Dejectedly, I head to work and endure another day of drudgery. Friday night we visit Pop at the nursing facility making sure he’s got what he needs for the week. Our children will be visiting and handling the day-to-day stuff while we’re gone. Our son, Stephen, will also be moving back home for a week to tend to our dog. We head home; I packed (Barb has already completed the task of emptying her entire closet into a suitcase), loaded the car, set the alarm for 4:00 AM and turned in.
Saturday, January 19, 2008 – Headwinds, lightening, tornados… and Foxy Brown
This is the first day of our vacation and I am psyched.
I’ve said this countless times in past trip reports but, I always awake before the alarm sounds. Today, that was at 1:51 AM. I fully realize how insane it is to be awake at that hour but, trust me, it wasn’t my choice. I tried very hard to get back to sleep. So hard, in fact, that I think I have a permanent furrow on my brow from the effort. Unfortunately, sleep never came so I gave in, got up at 3:45 and made the coffee.
We showered, dressed, caffeine-ated, fed the dog and left at 5:15. The trip to the airport, at that hour on a Saturday, is fairly uneventful. We parked in the garage, finding a spot on the same level as the covered bridge into the terminal but… about as far away from the bridge as possible. There’s something eerie about rolling your luggage through an empty, cold and dark garage that early in the morning. The only sounds are the wheels on the luggage and the clack they make every 5 seconds when they hit the concrete joints.
We check our luggage, after a short wait, at 6:00 and make it through Security by 6:15. As I was re-dressing on the other side of Security, there was an angry older gentleman muttering about reporting them and suing the whole lot. Apparently, his daughter and granddaughter (about 3) were enduring the extra scanning. I’m guessing one of them must have set off the scanner when coming through. The TSA employee was lightly frisking and scanning the child and the child, quite naturally, was crying. Grandpa was very angry but his wife was trying to explain why this was necessary – how it’s not outside the realm of possibility that people would plant something on a child to get it through Security. The whole thing was a sad comment on where we are today.
At 6:20, we hit the Coffee Beanery where we shared a coffee and a muffin. We then headed to our gate at about 6:50.
Now, the premise of the new Southwest Boarding system is that you will board in the order dictated by how early you got your boarding pass (we’re number 26 and 27). Given that, there’s absolutely no reason at all for people to camp out in the boarding lanes as they’ve done for so many years, right? Then what the heck are these idiots doing, lined up in front of the C 1-30 sign, 30 minutes before the flight?
In a few minutes, they call up the A group, numbers 1-30 on the left and 31-60 on the right. You’re supposed to line up numerically and are expected to police this yourselves. I can’t wait for the fistfights this causes. On this flight, we seem to be an orderly bunch and the guy with number 28 actually tells us to get in front of him. I also learn that no one has numbers 1-15 as they’re reserved for those that purchased Business Select fares – basically a way you can spend 50-250% more for your ticket but guarantee being one of the first 15 on the plane.
We board and snag the Emergency Exit row, the one row with only 2 seats in it. I then sit and watch as folks store ever larger and larger suitcases in the overhead bins. This is only my opinion but this has gotten entirely out of hand. Southwest, like many airlines, has an open bin by the gate. It states that if your bag fits inside the bin, you can carry it on. If not, they’ll be happy to check it for you. There are folks that carry on bags that have no chance of fitting in those bins after Wayne Szalinski hit ‘em with his shrinking machine. Dennis Miller’s rant about airline travel is so appropriate – he talks about the "wizard who tries to beat the system by gaffer-taping a twine handle to a Frigidaire freezer box and calling it carry-on." And it’s appalling how some of these folks treat whatever was placed in the overhead before them. Don’t ever leave anything breakable in a coat pocket. Trust me.
We push back at 7:20 and then sit through the de-icing procedure. I always have mixed emotions on this – I’m glad they noticed the frost before we took off but not entirely comfortable with the haphazard way they spray on the solvent.
We finally get the wheels up and we are treated to the flight from hell. The pilot quickly informs us that preceding flights have reported unstable air and heavy turbulence at the upper altitudes so we would be cruising at a fairly low 26,000 feet. This doesn’t get us out of the cloud cover and results in a very bumpy flight – so turbulent that the flight attendants are asked to take their seats for several lengthy periods. I’ve started a new book (Into the Wild) that came borrowed from and highly recommended by daughter Stephanie but… I have a hard time reading when it’s this bumpy.
There are 3 people seated directly behind us and they are talking, loudly, pretty much non-stop. That’s normally not a big deal but the woman has a very loud and high-pitched voice (think Minnie only louder) and, when she laughs, which is frequently, it’s more of a cackle. I drag out my MP3 player and crank up the volume but, sadly, even that doesn’t drown it out completely.
From past experience, we know that the flight from Albany to Orlando takes right around 2 hours and 30 minutes, assuming no problems. For whatever reason, Southwest lists the flying time as 3 hours – so we almost always land earlier than the scheduled time. Not today. After takeoff, the pilot announced our flying time as 3 hours and 10 minutes. What? And… that was the last we heard from him. Periodically, one of the flight attendants would make an announcement about the “ugly head winds” we were enduring but we never had a progress report.
I can usually brave the 2 ½ hour flight without visiting the ‘facilities’ but, this flight is running longer and I’ve now had 3 coffees and a water. This leads me to my first (of probably many) complaints – the airline rest room. I remember a time when using these facilities wasn’t a problem. Now? First, you’re not allowed to queue up at the forward area so timing is everything. If you’re seated in row 13, there’s a good chance that, by the time you exit your row and make your way forward, someone in row 6 will get up and beat you there. So you return to your seat… and wait… and try again.
Eventually, you’ll make your way there, enter, close and latch the door. You turn around and find you’re in some weird misshapen phone booth. Now I have to be a bit delicate here. The room is all the way forward and to the left side, directly behind the pilot, so the curvature of the roof line is very pronounced. For those that plan on sitting for this activity, they’re presented with an opportunity to kind of back in, leaning slightly forward so their back actually conforms to the airliner’s roof curvature. However, if you plan on standing for this event, and are over 6’ tall, you are presented with two alternatives: 1) you can stand at the door and determine if your aim and distance are everything they used to be; or 2) you can limbo into the proper position. I’m not kidding here. If you attempt to get closer to the toilet, you’re forced to assume a limbo like position with your head cocked to one side to conform to that roofline.
Finally, after 3 and one-half hours of flying, we began our descent. We had flown most of the way through clouds so we were looking forward to seeing land of any kind. We bounced around the sky quite a bit and I commented to Barb that “it looks like when we finally break out of these clouds, we’ll only be a few hundred feet above land.” Boy, was I wrong. After a longer than usual descent, we broke free of the clouds and looked down to see the runway – about 8-10 feet below us. To say it was foggy was an understatement.
We touched down at 11:10 and deplaned at 11:20 – four hours after pushing back in Albany. The longest flight yet. We made a restroom stop and caught the shuttle to the main terminal, then rode the escalators down to Level 1 and walked to the end to find Disney’s Magical Express. There was a short line so we checked in in less than 5 minutes. The woman that checked us in was from Bogota, Columbia and had a very thick accent. At one point she asked “You are sheeshing da bells?” It was pretty comical when Barb and I, in unison, looked at each other then back at her. She must have sensed our confusion and asked again, “You are sweetching hotels?” Ah, yes, we are.
We walked to the corral and took a spot as the only ones in line for Port Orleans and Saratoga Springs. Before long there were 6-8 others in line and, within 10 minutes, we were ushered out to a waiting bus. The bus left in about 10-minutes. To date, all of our experiences with Magical Express have been very good. This one? Not so much. Our driver, Bill, informed us that the video on the bus was not working. That would’ve been OK. Unfortunately, he must have felt obligated to provide entertainment for us for the duration of the trip. For 50-minutes, we were treated to the comedy stylings of Bill the Driver. For the first 5-10 minutes, it was OK. After that? Again, not so much.
He did inform us we were on the slowest bus in the fleet – and, after the 50-minute trip, it felt like it. Because Saratoga Springs was our first stop, we entered the property by International Drive and through the Downtown Disney area. The traffic there was heavy and made a long trip even longer but, as Bill pointed out, it did give us an opportunity to compare the gasoline prices at multiple stations. Surprisingly, this may be the one thing Bill told us that I found interesting. In the last 2-3 miles of our trip, the price of regular unleaded varied from $3.02 to $3.59. There was one spot that offered a $.17 difference between stations that faced each other across a street. Weird.
We dropped folks at Saratoga Springs and then, thankfully, we were dropped at the French Quarter. We hustled inside and found a check-in area with 3 CMs and only 1 customer. We were helped by Sharon who was earning her ears. She did just fine and had us checked into room 6323 in under 2 minutes – and the room was ready.
This was our first time at PO-FQ and I was impressed. I liked the theming of the French Quarter ‘streets’ (Café Au Lait Way and the Rue D’Baga). We found building 6 and took the elevator to the 3rd floor. Room 6323 turned out to be a corner room, windows on 2 sides, with a very nice view of the Sassagoula River. It was typical of a moderate with twin sinks and a separate, but very tiny, bathroom (toilet and tub). We did have a king bed and Mousekeeping had left us a towel animal – only the 2nd one I’ve ever gotten. Although… I’m not quite sure I know what it is. It appears to be an octopus-like thing but with only 4 tentacles. A quadrapus? A squid that was involved in a horrible motorcraft accident? Here’s the picture… http://picasaweb.google.com/srusso100/WDWJan200802/photo#5161021893245554962
We freshened up a bit and decided to head to the food court for some lunch. I should mention here that it’s a very comfortable 78-80 degrees and mostly cloudy – still foggy, really. The forecast is calling for a cold front to come through, bringing some storms tonight and colder weather tomorrow. Then, it should warm up again for Monday-Thursday.
I took some photos of the streets and pool area before we headed into the Sassagoula Float Works. It’s a small but serviceable food court. We split a turkey sub (made fresh) and a bottle of water ($9.24) – both good. From there, we hit the bus stops. There was a waiting bus for the Magic Kingdom (MK) and we walked quickly to it. I stopped briefly to take a photo of a bus stop sign identifying that stop for travel to ‘Magic Kingdom’ and ‘Disney’s Hollywood Studios’. Mark Goldhaber of Mouseplanet had asked if I could send some photos of the new signage for Hollywood Studios, and any construction pics of the (not yet announced as a DVC resort) construction at the Contemporary. This would be the first of many I found – some showing Hollywood Studios while others were still listing it as Disney-MGM.
During the bus ride to the MK, the sun finally broke through and began burning off some of the fog. By the time we reached the MK, it had become sunny.
At the MK, we first needed to stop at a ticket window to exchange our Annual Pass (AP) vouchers for actual passes and to purchase our Disney Dining Experience (DDE) card. I had a moment of mild panic (and possibly a ‘senior moment’) on the bus when I couldn’t remember if there was a ticket window at the MK. I knew they were at the Transportation and Ticket Center (TTC) but… not to worry. It was all the way to the right and just outside the turnstiles. In 5 minutes we had 2 brand spanking new APs and a new DDE card ($60) that’s good through February 2009.
We entered the MK… or tried to. Barb’s AP worked fine but mine wouldn’t let me in. I explained to the CM that it was brand new. He put it through the machine again, this time upside down, and when that didn’t work, asked me to put my middle finger on the scanner. I had been using my index finger for some time without a problem so I’m not sure what might have changed. It seemed to work and I was allowed entry but the CM also seemed to be doing some ‘other stuff’ with that little keypad they have there so I was a bit worried - justifiably so as it turned out.
Once inside, I immediately noticed construction at City Hall. I’m not sure what they were doing but the front of the building was hidden behind a tarp. And on the tarp, was a life-size image of City Hall. I saw them do this once before with the China pavilion at Epcot. Have they always done this with theme park buildings under construction? It’s pretty cool and just another example of how Disney usually goes a step or two beyond their competition.
We made a bee line for the (newly renovated – at least since I saw it last) Haunted Mansion. There was a posted wait time of 30-minutes but we got into line anyway. I didn’t time it but I’d say we were inside in 20. I busied myself taking some photos of the building’s exterior (it looked great – somehow cleaner than I remembered), the hearse, etc. The sound in the stretching room was much improved. The whole ride just looked fresher and newer with a soundtrack that was much cleaner than any time in the past. The new components – the stairs, bride with the ax, etc. – all work well. All in all, a great job by the Imagineers in improving what was already an excellent attraction.
We walked up the hill and into Fantasyland to try for Mickey’s Philharmagic. We were let into the lobby outside the theater and queued up with a moderate crowd. OK, here’s one sign the Apocalypse is almost upon us. Cell phones are everywhere at WDW. People are talking on cell phones while walking in the parks, in queues, in restaurants, on benches. We’re standing just outside Door #2 to Philharmagic, listening to Minnie tell us they’re almost ready for us. Next to us are 3 moms, a tweenage boy, and 3 teenage girls – each about 14-16. Each of the girls has a cell phone in hand and they’re frantically keying text messages with one or both thumbs. Their thumbs are flying across these Lilliputian keypads so fast all I can see is a blur. I’m wondering if they are texting each other. One finishes sending and returns the phone to a jacket pocket. I swear, it wasn’t out of her hand for 5 seconds before she reached in and, in one fluid motion, whipped it out and flicked it open - kind of like Obi Wan with a light saber. I can only guess she was checking to see if whoever she was texting to had responded. You could almost sense how uncomfortable she was in the 5-seconds the phone was out of her hand. All 3 continued keying until the doors opened and we were well inside the theater.
Philharmagic was as enjoyable as always. When we left, we wandered a bit through the adjacent store and found a Mickey polo we’d like to buy for our grandson. We’ll hold off on that for now. We wandered outside and, for the first time, I found Cinderella’s Fountain. I know, I know. I’ve probably walked by it dozens of times and never realized it was there.
We walked near the castle and toward Adventureland and decided it was time to head back to PO-FQ to see if our luggage had arrived. Just as we made the turn, 2 women walked by us with Dole Whips. OK, slight detour to Aloha Isle and into a 3-deep line. I had the pineapple Dole Whip while Barb had vanilla ($6.16). Call me biased but I just don’t understand her infatuation with vanilla. To me, it’s like Switzerland: a neutral flavor. Kind of like tofu… or cardboard. We grabbed a table out of the sun and finished our whips, then headed for the exit.
We waited about 5-minutes for a bus to PO-FQ and re-entered Sassagoula Float Works. I had heard so much about Beignets that I had to try them. The idea was to buy 3, sample 1 and save 2 for breakfast. It took me quite a while to get my 3 Beignets and a coffee for Barb ($3.31 after $.78 off for DDE). The reason was there were a bunch of teenagers in the food court having a late lunch or early dinner. I’m surmising they were on the Disney Dining Plan (DDP) because each one was getting a dessert with their entrée, and the desserts are ordered and prepared by the one CM manning the station that sold the Beignets. As I walked up, 4 or 5 of these kids formed a line at the station and I fell in behind. One would order a Strawberry Sundae, the CM would go off and make it, bring it back and the next one would order something similar. I hate the Dining Plan.
The Beignets were made fresh and we took a table to sample one. I was a bit disappointed in that they’re nothing more than the fried dough I used to get as a kid. Not that they were bad, it’s just I was expecting something different.
There were lots of teens in the food court and I would see many groups of teens around the parks over the next week. I’m not sure why but I did see one group with ‘Senior Trip’ t-shirts. There were also quite a few college kids around for the UCA Cheerleader competition that would run through tomorrow. Unfortunately, there was also a ton of Brazilian tour groups here as well… more on them later.
We went back to the room and discovered our luggage had been delivered. We unpacked a few things, freshened up and Barb called Stephanie to check on things at home. Steph lives in NYC now but was spending the weekend back home. I turned on the tube and caught some of Stacy’s Top 7 Attractions. She certainly is an enthusiastic young lady. She’s attractive but shouts a bit too much for my taste. We flicked on the Weather Station and caught the forecast which still called for storms tonight with the cold front. There were also tornado warnings. The front was expected to come through late tonight. They lied.
An interesting thing about the Weather Channel here – when it’s not delivering the forecast or local Doppler, it’s in commercial; more specifically, an infomercial for a way to make money via the Internet. They ran through 4 or 5 testimonials from women. Each woman was filmed from the waist up and was… er… how shall I say this? They were all Dolly Parton-esque. And each was displaying a more than ample amount of cleavage. Barb quickly named this the “Boob Channel”.
I had a 5:30 reservation at the Trail’s End Buffet but, we really weren’t very hungry so we decided to cancel that and eat later. Another reason why planning your meals 6 months in advance is a bad idea. At 5:30, we caught a waiting bus to Epcot. I now remember why riding the bus from a moderate resort was a bit of a hassle – we made 3 or 4 stops at Riverside before heading out. There was a Dad on the bus, busily folding a stroller. He was wearing a pair of beige Crocs so I asked him what he thought of them for park touring. He answered quickly with “They’re great. Like walking all day on a rubber mat.” I’ve got to try a pair because they sure don’t look that comfortable to me. When we exited the bus at Epcot, I felt a few sprinkles and immediately thought of the ponchos and visor I had left back in the room. Ah, well.
We were through security quickly and entered the park. Spaceship Earth listed a 15-minute wait so we got into line. I really like the changes during the first half of the ride. The new animatronics are great and the narration is very good. Everything looks like it’s been refreshed – cleaned up, repainted, whatever. Just a couple of observations:
- Didn’t the newsboy (Calling “Extra. Extra.”) used to be at the front of the building facing you? Now he’s kind of in the alley facing the other way. It almost looks like they had an accident with the animatronics’ face and are hiding him;
- Please don’t think me a dirty old man but didn’t the female sculpture have an exposed breast? That’s been taken to a G-Rating now;
- I’ve seen a number of comments about the guy in the garage developing the PC (actually, I think it’s an Apple). Some say it’s Steve Jobs. I’ve even heard an opinion that it’s Bill Gates. In my opinion, there’s no question it’s Steve Wozniak;
- I’ve worked in mainframe computer rooms in the late-1960s and early 1970s. The depiction here has a bit of Hollywood to it. Hollywood almost always depicted a computer by showing a spinning tape drive. This scene has plenty of blinking lights and lots of reel-to-reel tape drives – but no DASD. Not really an accurate representation;
- And what’s up with Foxy Brown in the computer room? The mini-skirt, go-go boots and Afro are just a bit much.
While I really enjoyed the first half of the ride, I have to say I thought the second half was a bit lame. There’s a pretty cool blue-light star field and then you begin answering some questions using the touch-screen monitor in your ride vehicle. The questions are a bit inane. At the end, it shows an animated rendering of *your* future, based upon your answers. They take your photo at the beginning of the ride and then paste your face on the animated characters in this look into your future. Unfortunately, there are still a few bugs in the system because the faces shown in our car weren’t us – unless we suddenly became a couple of female teenagers. As a matter of fact, I looked around and those faces didn’t belong to anyone in the cars around us either.
We exited the ride into the new post-ride room complete with a number of electronic entertainment opportunities. Each one was occupied so we just looked around for a few minutes and then made our way to the exit. It was raining. Hard. There was thunder and a flash of lightening every few seconds. I reminded myself that Florida is the lightening capital of the USA based upon the number of strikes per year. We exited and jogged between rain drops to the little shop below Spaceship Earth on the right. During the trip, we narrowly avoided a monster puddle on the Spaceship Earth side that looked to be about 3” deep.
There were lots of folks taking shelter in the shop and outside under the ample overhang. We hung out for a few minutes and I thought “Why wait it out here when we can ride Spaceship Earth again?” There was no line so we sprinted across and began walking up the entrance when a CM stopped us. I thought she had said we’d have to leave but she was just backing everyone down the aisle so she could back a wheelchair out. Someone tried to enter with a chair which is a no-no there.
The ride was the same as the first including 2 new faces in our animation at the end. As you exit the vehicle, the ride stopped. We were literally inches away from the point where the access door would slide open and we could exit. Unfortunately, as the CM explained, the ride needed to be reset and he couldn’t open the doors. “Just sit tight.” After a few minutes, a young couple about 3 cars behind us jumped out and left. Two maintenance guys (overalls and serious looks) came in, surveyed the situation and decided they could fix it. I’m not sure what they did but, a few minutes later, the ride started, our doors slid open and we exited.
It was still raining but not as hard. It seemed as though the lightening had picked up. It was also getting pretty windy. We spent a few minutes in the store. Barb went around the corner to the rest room and I actually got into a long line to buy ponchos. When Barb got back, I looked outside and asked her if she wanted to risk a run to the buses. She seemed game so off we went. We actually stayed fairly dry by staying under cover most of the way out. The toughest part was the last 100 yards which is mostly open. I made the mistake of trying to use a line of trees for some cover and caught a few good-sized drips for my trouble.
A bus was pulling up as we got to the stop. It filled up quickly and we were lucky to be the last 2 boarded. That meant we were standing at the front but we were out of the rain and reasonably protected from lightening. I’m not exactly sure of the route we took but, at one point we were stopped at a light waiting to make a left-hand turn. I *think* it was a turn on to Buena Vista Drive but I’m not 100% sure. Anyway, the light was red and stayed red… for a long, long time. I’m certain it was at least 5-minutes when I asked the driver if this light was always this long. He said “Never” but was, justifiably, reluctant to pull a crowded bus through an intersection, against the light, in the rain, with the cross traffic coming through at 50 mph. I could understand that. A few more minutes went by and I asked him if there was someone we could call. He wasn’t sure. It was maybe 3 more minutes when the light did finally change and we were through. I’m betting we sat at that light for a full 10 minutes, in a bus that was standing room only, and not one passenger complained.
Back at PO-FQ we decided we were now hungry so it’s back to the food court. It was packed. It seemed the storms had driven a lot of folks back to the resort. I thought the food court was small and I was proven right tonight. With so many people, we were tripping over each other to find the proper line for each station or the check-out. There are 4 stations there, each offering a different menu. We actually based our selection on queue length. I had Chicken Gumbo soup and a Chicken Quesadilla while Barb had Chicken Caesar Salad. And we split a large Diet Coke. Total cost was $18.46 with $3.69 DDE savings.
Empty tables were almost non-existent as a lot of folks had pulled 2, 3 and 4 tables together for large groups. We finally found a vacant table by the back door but had to borrow a couple of unused chairs from our neighbors to sit. Barb had trouble finding a plastic fork for her salad and wound up traipsing to the counter at the other end of the court. It was hectic in there.
The food was pretty good – maybe very good by food court standards. We finished up and made our way back to the room by 9:00 – again using covered walkways for as much of the trip as possible. We turned on the tube and found that a tornado had touched down in Hernando County. I have no idea where that is but, I assume it’s close by. We watched a little TV and turned in early. It had been a long day.
Miles Walked Today: 6.50
Things I Think I Think - I think 4 hours is much too long for a flight from Albany to Orlando. I think some engineers need to go to work on the rest rooms on airplanes. I think I like PO-FQ and wouldn’t hesitate to stay here again. I think I’ll give the Imagineers 10 out of 10 stars for the Haunted Mansion rehab and 8 of 10 for Spaceship Earth. I think I need to remember the ponchos when rain is forecasted. I think there’s an awful lot of Brazilian tour groups here.