Paul Schnebelen - January 2007 - Port Orleans Riverside

[schnebs]

Fair warning, folks - this is going to be a book-length trip report! to make things a little easier to follow I've broken up the report into several sections. Because of the length of the report, it's going to take me a while to post everything, so if it seems like I've stopped in mid-trip report, please be patient - the rest is coming. Enjoy!

+++

• Your Full Name: Paul Schnebelen
• Your Email Address: schnebs@hotmail.com
• Dates of Trip: 1/5/07 – 1/21/07
• Travel Method: Plane
• Resort: Port Orleans Riverside
• Accommodations: Standard Room
• The Ages Represented in Group: 2 Adults
• WDW Experience Represented in Group Veteran, Frequent
+++
Cast of Characters:

• Paul (your humble narrator), age 38. Disneyland veteran (more times than I can count), 4th trip to WDW since 2000.
• Suzy (my beloved fiancée), age 43. Disneyland and Walt Disney World veteran, many trips to WDW since 1991.

+++

Planning:

Actually, I don’t have much to tell you as far as planning. Suzy and I go to WDW every two years every January and stay either at Port Orleans Riverside or Port Orleans French Quarter, booking the room months in advance at the rack rate and then switching to the Annual Passholder room-only rate when it comes out. We’ve never been disappointed with the discount rates when they become available, and this year was no exception – although the AP rates didn’t start until several days after the both of us arrived, the discount more than made up for a couple of days of having to pay rack rate.

Tickets are another thing we don’t do a lot of advance planning on. Since we stay at WDW for two weeks or more when we visit, we both purchase Annual Passports. We usually buy our APs when we arrive, but this year Suzy decided to buy hers in advance via the Walt Disney World website.

As far as transportation, Suzy would be traveling from California to Orlando in her minivan, since her schedule’s a bit more flexible than mine. Since I had to stay at work over the holidays like a good little worker drone and I had to get back to work before Suzy had to return from Florida, I booked a round trip nonstop ticket on United between LAX and MCO and made arrangements to get to and from the resort via Disney’s Magical Express. These arrangements turned out to be relatively painless, although we had a little trouble making Disney understand that Suzy and I would be arriving and leaving separately.

We DID do some planning when it came to where we were going to eat! Suzy and I had heard how difficult it was to get into WDW restaurants thanks to the Disney Dining Plan, so I came up with a list of places I wanted to try, Suzy did the same, and we used those lists as a basis for booking lunch and dinner reservations. Our lists were longer than our vacation, so we booked what we agreed on and kept our fingers crossed for openings at the rest of the restaurants we might want to try. (Needless to say, we don’t recommend this strategy during peak seasons.) Suzy picked up a Disney Dining Experience card along with her AP, which our experience has shown more than pays for itself in the discounts we receive when we eat on-property.

It had been a couple of years since we’d done any tours, so we booked a bunch of tours for our second week together at WDW. I’d never done UnDISCOVERed Future World before, so Suzy booked a reservation for me. We wanted to see if a couple of tours one or both of us had taken previously had changed, so we booked Keys to the Kingdom at the MK and Backstage Safari at DAK. Last but not least, we decided to try out the new Mickey’s Magical Milestones tour at the MK.

As far as touring plans… yep, you guessed it; we didn’t use those, either. That’s the nice thing about being at WDW for longer than a week; you don’t feel as much pressure to get everything done as quickly as possible at the theme parks. It also helps tremendously when you go in January like we do; January tends to be one of WDW’s slowest months, so crowds have tended to be manageable on our past visits, and we didn’t expect things to be different this time.

The downside to traveling in January is that there’s always a risk that a favorite attraction or part of your resort may be down for rehab, and unfortunately such was the case for us; Rock N Roller Coaster at the Studios, El Rio De Tiempo at Epcot (a guilty pleasure for me) and Splash Mountain at the MK would all be closed while I was there. Typhoon Lagoon would be closed for rehab (but given how cold it can be in Florida in January, no great loss); more importantly, the Riverside Mill food court at Port Orleans would be undergoing rehab, which had the potential of making a quick lunch or dinner at the resort a hassle.

The only other pre-planning we did for this trip was to pack a little of everything. Based on our past experience, the weather in Orlando in January can be unpredictable; in a two week stretch, it may be warm enough for shorts and a T-shirt and cold enough to wear gloves and scarves. Suzy packed a lot of our cold weather gear in the minivan as a precaution.

Hmmm… guess we did more pre-planning than I thought! On with the trip!

+++

Day 1 – Friday, January 5th

I had reservations for an airport shuttle from Oxnard to LAX with one of our local shuttle companies; they were scheduled to pick me up at about 7 and were actually a couple of minutes early. The drive took about 1 ½ hours to cover 60 miles – which is actually pretty good for a weekday morning in southern California.

I wish I could say my experience at LAX went as smoothly as my ride on the shuttle. I think the experience of flying gets worse and worse every time I go someplace; when I got to LAX, the United check-in area was packed with people and there were long lines for everything. I was able to bypass a lot of the lines because of United’s Internet check-in service, but I still had to wait about 10 minutes to check my bags at a self-service kiosk. (The main reason for the wait? I had to wait for someone from the airline to come over to the kiosk to check my bags – that part’s still done by hand. Go figure…)

The slow lines at the United check-in counter were good preparation for the TSA screening. Lines and more lines, the hassle of taking your shoes off, putting all your carry on items into the plastic bins, emptying everything out your pockets so you can pass through the metal detector – it’s kinda hard to argue that the terrorists haven’t already won when we have to go through all this to fly. I’m expecting we’ll all have to fly naked the next time I have to travel somehwere.

I made it through TSA screening with plenty of time to spare. When I got to the gate, I saw a sign informing the passengers that they had to pay for food service on the flight. Since when did food become an option on a transcontinental flight? Whatever. With visions of a 7-Eleven-quality meal from United (let’s face it folks, most of those meals weren’t all that good when they were free), I decided to check the terminal restaurants for something to bring on the plane. I settled on a chicken pesto sandwich, chips, and a bottle of Diet Coke from the Wolfgang Puck Café for 15 bucks and hoped for the best.

The flight to Orlando was full, but otherwise was fairly pleasant. It turned out that I needn’t have bothered with Wolfgang Puck; for 5 bucks, you had your choice of a cold sandwich or one of several snack boxes with a pretty good selection of items. If you didn’t want to part with any money and didn’t bring your own meal, United offered soft drinks and mini-pretzels for free. The in-flight entertainment wasn’t as tempting as the snacks; the movie was “Gridiron Gang” starring The Rock, and United now offered radio channels from XM instead of their own programming. I stuck with my iPod and my book.

The flight got to MCO in the early evening. Other than a lack of cell phone reception in the satellites, I think MCO is a pretty good airport; they make a real effort to keep things clean and in good working order, which is more than you can say for LAX.
My favorite part of arriving at MCO is hearing Jack Wagner welcoming me to central Florida on the shuttle to and from the satellite; it’s a nice Disneyesque touch to start off and finish an Orlando vacation!

Before heading down the escalator to find my way to Disney’s Magical Express, I decided to make a quick stop in the Disney gift shops. (Yeah, I know, I’m not even on-property yet and I’m going souvenir shopping – not a good sign…) I was surprised to discover that you can no longer purchase APs at the MCO gift shops; this is a real shame, since I enjoyed saving myself the hassle of buying the pass at the parks, and it was nice to have an activated AP when checking into the resort if you needed it. Of course, you can still purchase Magic Your Way tickets at the gift shops, at the same price they sell them for at the theme parks. Hmmm…

I took the elevator down to the baggage claim level and started looking for some indication of how to get to the Disney’s Magical Express counter. It wasn’t too difficult – just look for the Disney cast member wearing the big Mickey Mouse gloves at the foot of the elevator! She directed me to go down one more level and keep walking to the end of the terminal. The check-in desk for DME was fairly easy to find with the directions I was given, and was very efficient; there were 3 or 4 cast members serving 6 or 7 passengers. The folks at the check-in counter asked for my information, checked and stamped the booklet I received in the mail, and directed me to one of several queues, each marked with a sign listing a couple of Disney resorts. The check-in took all of about 5 minutes.

It looked like I’d picked a pretty good time to use DME! There couldn’t have been more than a dozen people in all of the queues, and most of the folks there didn’t have to wait for more than a couple of minutes before they were taken to a bus. One tip for you folks planning on using DME: Keep your ticket book out until you’re seated on your bus, because you’ll have it reviewed and scanned several times between the check-in counter and the bus! Unfortunately, the time you get to the bus isn’t much of an indicator of how long it’ll be until the bus will actually leave; it took about 15-20 minutes from the time my group boarded the bus to the time the bus actually left MCO. One party actually had to get off the bus and get a cab when they realized that with the delay they’d never make it over to Wide World of Sports to check in for the following morning’s WDW Half-Marathon, but the rest of us on the bus took it all in stride.

I have to share one minor quibble here. For some reason, Mears (the company that actually runs the DME busses) can’t manage to keep a supply of busses that are clearly being used for DME; at the DME platform, we had busses painted in DME livery, Disney Cruise Line livery, and a couple (like the one we were on) painted in Mears livery. This actually confused a few of the people using DME, since they weren’t 100% sure they were getting on the right bus! Considering how big a contract Mears must have to operate this service, I think they should at least have enough busses in DME colors to serve the guests.

We left MCO with 8 people on our bus; it took about 30 minutes to get from MCO to WDW, and once we got there, the bus made three stops to discharge passengers (POR was the second stop for our bus; we also stopped at POFQ and WL). There was a “Year of a Million Dreams” video that talked about check-in and check-out procedures for DME guests and folks going from WDW to DCL, as well as giving previews of the new attractions at WDW. It was a nice distraction – once I was able to find a monitor that (a) worked and (b) didn’t have a distorted picture. Again, doesn’t Mears have enough money from this contract to maintain these busses? I think a little quality control on the part of Mears and Disney would go a long way.

Since Suzy had already arrived at POR and checked us in several days before, all I had to do once I got off the bus was to grab my carry-on bags and walk over to our room, which was in the Parterre Place section of Magnolia Bend. I got to the room and spent not nearly enough time saying hello to Suzy, then Suzy showed me the room. It looked like Disney had redecorated the room since our last visit, with new wallpaper, a new cabinet for the TV, and a new smaller wood cabinet for the refrigerator (which is now included with the room – nice touch, Disney!) There was a beautiful lithograph of Disneyland’s Mark Twain that I was tempted to unscrew from the wall and take home. Best of all, the beds’ headboard and footboards had been changed! This may not seem like all that big a deal, but I still had memories of all the times I’d banged my knees on the old footboards, and I was more than happy to see them gone. The only real negative I could see to the room was that although Disney now offered high-speed internet in the room, the only place you could plug in to the connection was next to the phone – which was on the other side of the room from the table you’d most likely use your laptop on. Overall, though, the room looked great.

It was about 8:30 or so by the time I met Suzy, so we decided to grab a bite to eat at Riverside Mill. The service was limited because of the rehab of the court, but the selection was too bad; they had a nice selection of cold sandwiches, desserts, and fruits near the registers, the soda and coffee machines were still running, and in one of the dining areas they’d set up a couple of serving lines where you could pick up a 4-course meal. We opted for food from the serving line, and the food was actually pretty good; since the set-up probably scared away a lot of guests, we had no problem finding a quiet table to enjoy our dinner.

We took a walk around the resort, admiring the themeing of the Alligator Bayou and Magnolia Bend buildings; we’ve always loved the look of this resort, and we love walking around the walkways in the resort. It’s a shame more folks don’t spend a little more time taking the appearance of their resorts! We returned to the room to catch up on everything that had happened since we last saw each other, and to wait for DME to deliver my luggage. My luggage arrived at about 10:30 p.m. -- not bad, considering all the horror stories I’d read about how slow luggage got to guests using DME. I decided to pass on unpacking for the time being, and Suzy and I went to bed.

[schnebs]

Day 2 – Saturday, January 6th

This was the day of the Walt Disney World Half- Marathon, and like many of my fellow guests, I started my day out with a nice long walk. Unlike most of them, though, I started my walk at about 9:30 a.m., and I confined myself to an hour’s walk along the paths of Port Orleans. I did see a lot of the racers come limping back as I walked, and since I’ve done several marathons and half-marathons myself, I made sure to congratulate each one that I saw. Maybe next year I’ll get up at 3 in the morning and join them for the actual race – or maybe not…

Once I was done with my walk, I went back to the room, Suzy and I got dressed, and we headed off to Epcot. I expected that the race would make for tough going as far as getting into the Epcot parking lot (since the start and finish of the race is in the Epcot parking lot), but things actually weren’t too bad. We even got a parking spot fairly close to the entrance – one of the real advantages of going to WDW in the slow season, I guess.

Once we got to the entrance, I noticed that Disney had several security guards posted to keep guests from approaching the ticket booths and the entrance gates without going through a bag check, but there was only one bag check line. That didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me – since the guards are in position anyway, why not have several bag check stations so that people could get through to the booths and entry a little faster? To be fair, Disney also had a separate line where folks who didn’t have bags could just pass through – something I’d love to see at Disneyland, frankly.

After having our bags checked, we joined the one of the ticket booth queues. Again, the staffing issues were a little baffling to me. There were two or three ticket booths open, and one booth couldn’t process cash transactions, so the lines were long and they took about 15-20 minutes to get through. If you’re running a business and people are lining up to give you money, wouldn’t you want to have as many people as possible serving them quickly? The folks at Epcot did try their best to speed things up, though; a supervisor walked the queues to let people know which was the non-cash queue and was pulling the people who didn’t need to pay for their tickets out of the queue. Suzy had purchased an AP voucher online and was able to get her pass without waiting thanks to this supervisor; I had to purchase mine, but considering the size of the queue, I purchased my AP fairly quickly.

With APs in hand, Suzy and I headed for the gates. This was our first encounter with the new single-finger scanners at the gates, and like many of the folks in line, Suzy and I had a little trouble getting used to only presenting one finger for the machine. The cast member helped us out, though, and we soon got into the park. We didn’t spend too much time taking in the sights, though – we had a lunch reservation to make!

I’m a big fan of things Japanese, especially Japanese food, so I asked Suzy to make reservations for Mitsukoshi Teppanyaki. This was the first time for both of us in the restaurant, and it was Suzy’s first encounter with teppan-style cooking (the kind where the chef cooks your items to order on a griddle at your table, a la Benihana of Tokyo). The decoration of the restaurant was very beautiful, and appeared to be traditional Japanese; the restaurant was divided into several small rooms (although the rooms weren’t fully partitioned off) to make for a more intimate atmosphere. Suzy thought it was a little too intimate; she felt that the available space at the tables was too narrow and that there wasn’t enough space between the tables and the walls. I understand that the restaurant will be going down for rehab soon, and that Disney will be rearranging the dining rooms, so maybe this problem will be fixed.

Our chef was Hiromi, a nice lady in her mid-20s from a town just outside Tokyo. She told us that she was in her 10th month of a 12-month international program, and that prior to coming to Epcot she was a Tokyo Disneyland cast member; she’d been in North America before, selling ice cream in Vancouver, and she was looking forward to doing some sightseeing in America before returning home. In addition to Hiromi, we had a couple of other parties at our table with us (the seating at Mitsukoshi is communal); one party had a mother and daughter who would be participating in the WDW marathon the following day, and there was also a couple with a young child who were transplants from California. The mother was a website designer for Disney, so we ended up quizzing her on what it was like to work for the Mouse and she quizzed us on what websites we frequented and what we thought of the WDW website (she didn’t look all that happy with our answers).

Considering Hiromi had no training as a chef before coming to Epcot (and that teppan isn’t a very common style of cooking in Japan anyway), she did a great job with the food. The portions were pretty generous considering the price; Suzy and I both had the strip steak and chicken breast combo, which was served with mixed vegetables, some noodles and a bowl of rice. We opted to add a salad to our meals, which rounded out the meal pretty well. The meal wasn’t cheap, by any means - it worked out to about $25 each – but it was as good as any meal I’d had at a Benihana. Glancing at the menu on the way out, I was glad Suzy had booked us in for lunch – the meal is exactly the same but costs about $9 more at dinner!

Suzy and I decided to walk off our meal by wandering around World Showcase. I was surprised to find Christmas decorations still up and some Christmas music playing at some of the pavilions; on our past trips, the decorations were usually gone from the parks right after New Years Day. We walked through the shops in Germany (Suzy was on the lookout for Christopher Radko ornaments, but she didn’t find any), then went to Norway to ride Maelstrom.

Riding Maelstrom turned out to be a good choice – the attraction only had a 10-minute wait. The attraction was a lot of fun, although I’ve done it so many times I suspect the next time I meet a Norwegian I’m going to be tempted to start off the conversation with “You are not the first one to pass this way…” We ended up skipping the movie; I always felt a little bad about that until I heard that the captain of one of the Disney Cruise ships, who is Norwegian, did the same the last time he was at Epcot! If a Norwegian can’t stand to watch the Norway movie, I don’t feel so bad about not watching it myself…

After Maelstrom and the obligatory walk through the gift shop, we entered the stave church to see the new exhibit on the Vikings. It was interesting seeing some of the Viking artifacts and seeing figures of famous Vikings like Erik the Red and St. Olaf, but I kind of miss the exhibit on stave churches that was here previously. Disney apparently made the right choice in replacing it, though, since there were more people in the Viking exhibit than I’d ever seen in the stave church exhibit.

I was in the mood to try some faster attractions – which is usually Suzy’s cue to find someplace to relax, since her motion sickness doesn’t allow her to get on fast or spinning rides. Suzy decided to go to the Electric Umbrella and read a book she’d brought with her, and I headed for Test Track. I got into the single rider line, which took about 20 minutes to get through (compared to about 60 minutes for the regular stand-by line); I always enjoy going on the ride, particularly on the fast stretch at the end.

I went back to the Electric Umbrella and met Suzy; when she saw me, she jokingly asked if now that I’d done Test Track I was ready to get on Mission: Space. Unfortunately for Suzy, I thought she was serious, and I said sure! Fortunately, she was a good sport about it; she agreed to go back to the Electric Umbrella, and I went off to the ride.
I’ve ridden the spinning version of Mission: Space, so I decided to try out the non-spinning version to see how it compared. I joined the stand-by line for the “green team”, and apparently a lot of other people had the same idea, since it took about 20 minutes to go through the queue! The “green team” ride wasn’t all that much different from the regular ride, except for the lack of G-forces on you during the flight; it reminded me of riding Star Tours, except in a much more confined space. Just to be sure I was giving the ride a fair comparison, I grabbed a Fastpass for another ride on Mission: Space and re-joined Suzy at the Electric Umbrella. Since there was lots of time until my Fastpass became valid, Suzy and I decided to let her choose what we should do next.

Suzy and I headed over to Spaceship Earth; as usual for late afternoon, there was no wait. The lack of a queue for Spaceship Earth most of the day always has me wondering why so many people insist on getting on at park opening; the ride’s worth a wait, but it’s not really necessary to do so. Suzy and I really enjoyed the ride; Suzy thought that they’d done some work on the figures and the special effects, but I still thought scenes at the end showing “modern technology” looked dated. Siemens, the new sponsor of the attraction, still hadn’t opened the post-show exhibit are, but they did have a sign up indicating they’d be opening it soon. It’ll be interesting to see what it’s like when it opens.

We discovered a large, cushioned row seat at the exit to the attraction right across from the post-show exhibit entrance, and Suzy decided this looked like a pretty nice place to sit and relax while I used my Fastpass for Mission: Space, so she decided to wait for me in the Spaceship Earth post-show area. I walked over to Mission: Space and entered the orange team queue (along with most of the people with Fastpasses). The ride in the “orange team” simulators confirmed what I suspected – that the ride is better with the G-forces from the spinning. Neither ride’s really for the claustrophobic of for folks that don’t want to be jostled around a bit, but I think Disney made a good choice giving folks some options as far as how they experience the attraction.

I returned to Spaceship Earth and found Suzy taking a nap – apparently that row seat is really comfortable! We headed for the exit, but were stopped in the Leave a Legacy area and were asked if we wouldn’t mind completing a survey. I’ve been told by a lot of Disney fans to always agree to a survey, because sometimes you get to see previews of coming attractions or resorts, so we said OK; Suzy got to complete a detailed survey about her dining experiences at Epcot that day, and I just got the chance to rate my day at Epcot on a scale from 1 to 10. Oh, well, maybe next time…

It was starting to get dark by the time we left Epcot, so we decided to drive over to the Disney-MGM Studios to catch the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights, which was in its final weekend for the season. The drive to the Studios was quick, although the trip from parking to the front took a little while since we ended up being parked pretty far back; the queue through the security checkpoint was pretty quick considering all the folks just coming in to the park. Like Epcot, most of the holiday decorations were still up at the Studios. I’d heard complaints about how the Studios seemed under-decorated this season, but the decoration seemed OK to me. I recognized the “shooting star” lamppost decorations that are recreations of the decorations you see in the real Hollywood around Christmastime, which I thought was a particularly nice touch.

This was my first visit ever to the Osborne Lights, and I was absolutely amazed. If there was anywhere on the Streets of America they didn’t decorate with lights, I didn’t see it; there were even lights covering a barbeque grill and a set of lawn chairs! I especially enjoyed the “dancing” lights, where the displays blinked on and off in time to one of three songs that were played every couple of minutes. The Streets of America were absolutely packed, but there was no real problem getting around, and I didn’t have any problem getting lots of photos of the lights.

I was getting a little hungry at this point, so I convinced Suzy to come with me to Herbie’s Diner, a little quick-service eatery next to the entrance of Lights, Motors, Action! They had several items, but the one that caught my attention were the barbeque pork steamed buns. For you folks who are fans of Chinese or Hawaiian food, this is the Disney version of char siu bao or manapua; they’re a little smaller than what you’d usually get at a Chinese restaurant, but they’re not bad, and the price was reasonable for Disney (about $2 each). It was enough food to keep me going through the rest of the light displays and through a photo opportunity with Herbie the Love Bug.

Once we got through the Osborne Lights, Suzy and I decided we really needed to get something for dinner. The question was, where should we go, since we hadn’t made any dinner reservations? We passed on Backlot Express and Toy Story Pizza Planet, since we weren’t in the mood for fast food; we checked the 50s Prime Time Café, but one look at the full lobby convinced us that it wouldn’t be a good choice. I suggested the ABC Commissary, but the offerings struck Suzy as a little too exotic for her tastes.

We settled on Sunset Market, but we didn’t settle on where to eat; Suzy decided she wanted to try Catalina Eddie’s, and I decided that a burger from Rosie’s All American Cafe sounded good. I got a cheeseburger, fries, and a Diet Coke; Suzy ended up getting a mini-pizza and chocolate cake. The food was OK: the burger was a typical Disney fast food burger, nothing to write home about, and Suzy’s pizza was done pretty well, although it seemed to be more crust than anything else. I think the biggest disappointment was the chocolate cake; it was pre-packaged and was more the size of a cupcake – a real disappointment compared to what we were used to from Disney. (As long as we’re talking about disappointments, why does a restaurant with a name like Catalina Eddie’s, and which is covered with decorations about fish and fishing, not have a single seafood item on the menu? Odd…)

Suzy and I decided we wanted to get one more attraction in before leaving the Studios, so we walked over to The Great Movie Ride. Suzy and I have always been big fans of this attraction and we still are; it was the first time I’d ever seen a female gangster hijack the ride vehicle, and I liked that they’ve added a few more recent clips to the finale (like scenes from Pirates, Finding Nemo, and Chronicles of Narnia), but I wish they’d add a few more scenes to the attraction itself. There wasn’t much of a wait, though – which is actually a shame.

Suzy and I left the Studios and made a quick trip off-property so we could pick up some supplies from the Walgreen’s on SR 535. It’s so much easier and so much cheaper to get anything you need off of the property than it is to get it onsite! We decided that it was too early to head back to the room, so we went over to the Downtown Disney Marketplace. Since it was Saturday night, the Marketplace was packed. Suzy was in the mood for a Ghirardelli sundae, but the line was out the door; she decided to brave the line and I decided to take a peek into the World of Disney.

On the way into the World of Disney, I had my first encounter with the spitting Stitch; I managed not to get spit on, but a couple of kids got wet (but then, they were trying to).
The store had been reorganized since my last visit to WDW, and I wasn’t all that thrilled about the reorganization. You have the Boys Room (or as I like to call it, the Room O’ Pirates); the room has been thoroughly decorated in a pirate motif, with stuff like skeletons in jail cells and a Chuck E. Cheese’s –caliber pirate Audio-Animatronic (does WDI know you guys bought this thing?); they were mainly selling toys themed to Pirates of the Caribbean, like Fill a Skull, where you could buy a plastic skull and fill it with all kinds of plastic loot. Next was the Princess Room, which used to be the toy and plush room; as you might guess, this is where you’d got to get all the princess junk your daughter could possibly ever want and then some. The other rooms were also re-themed to specific types of merchandise, like housewares, pins and watches, plush, clothing for various ages and genders and so on. The menswear section had been moved to a smaller room – which was fitting, since the selection had gotten even smaller. The book and CD section – which had always been my favorite part of the store – had been relegated to two shelves. Overall, it seemed to me that even though there was plenty of floor space, there was even less to choose from; even the World of Disney at Disneyland seemed to have a better selection of merchandise to me. Not that any of that would stop me from shopping, of course!

The line at Ghirardelli went a lot faster than I thought it would, because by the time I left the World of Disney Suzy had ordered ice cream for us, gotten a table, and started on her sundae. Suzy mentioned that Ghirardelli had a full staff and all their registers open, so the wait to order was only about 10 minutes and the ice cream was delivered in about 5 minutes. Disney could take a few lessons from Ghirardelli on staffing in anticipation of crowds.

The sundaes were excellent, as always; we each had our usual – hot fudge for me, caramel for Suzy. By the time we were done, it was getting pretty late, so we decided to head back to Riverside and call it a night.


Day 3 - Sunday, January 7th


I started out my morning with a walk around Port Orleans in tribute to all the people who were giving their bodies a beating running in the WDW marathon. It was a nice day for a walk or a race, but it was a bit humid – I didn’t envy them racing that day! I congratulated some of the early finishers I saw while I was on my walk, and I kept my fingers crossed for the folks who were still trying to finish.

After finishing up my walk and getting dressed, Suzy and I headed over to Old Key West to have lunch at Olivia’s. Suzy loves Olivia’s and I like it (I loved it until they took my favorite item off the menu). The staff there’s absolutely wonderful – very friendly and very helpful; we even ran into a waitress who quizzed us about the book I was reading about “The Amazing Race”, because she happened to be a big fan of the show. The food at Olivia’s was excellent. I had their barbeque chicken and chipotle sandwich and Suzy had their tuna salad sandwich; we both had the cream of chicken soup after hearing our waitress rave about it, and she was right – it was great!

Suzy and I decided the best way to handle the road restrictions due to the marathon was to get off the property for the day, so we drove up I-4 to the north end of International Drive to the Prime 1 Orlando Outlet. For you folks that have been off-property in Orlando, you may have known the place by its old name, Belz Factory World; the place has changed owners and is in the process of being rebuilt. Unfortunately, this means one of the two Disney outlets at the mall is closed; only the Character Premiere shop, the smaller of the two, is currently open. We were told, however, that when the mall renovation is complete Disney will be moving into a larger location in the new building.

It’ll be nice when the bigger Disney outlet opens, because there wasn’t a lot to choose from at Character Premiere; there was a decent selection of items, particularly leftovers from the Happiest Celebration on Earth, but we didn’t find all that much. I picked up some sticky note sets for everyone at work back home and a couple of discounted pins; Suzy tends to be a little more secretive about her purchases, but I do know she got a keychain with a HCoE antenna ball attached – so she could remove the chain and place the antenna ball on her car. Since the keychain with the ball was actually cheaper than the ball alone on WDW property, I ended up doing the same.

We were torn as to whether to go to the Florida Mall or the Holy Land Experience. The Florida Mall’s appeal should be obvious – it’s the largest mall in Orlando – but we also wanted to see Holy Land out of curiosity more than anything else. Fortunately, the folks who run Holy Land made the choice for us; we drove up to the place and discovered that the place is closed on Sundays! (Kinda odd for a religious theme park that was declared to be a church by a Florida judge a couple of years ago to be closed on the day you’d most expect people to go, but hey, I don’t run the place…)

An employee at the guard shack at Holy Land gave us directions to the Florida Mall. After following his directions for a while, I thought for sure the guy had intentionally gotten us lost. By following his directions, we ended up at the guard shack for Lockheed Martin’s Orlando facility; the guard, apparently used to dumb tourists ending up at their security gate, waved us on to an alternate road, which merged on to the correct road to the Florida Mall. Guess the guard at Holy Land Experience knew what he was doing after all!

The Florida Mall was extremely busy; we tried to find a parking space to no avail, so we just gave up and had the valet park Suzy’s minivan. We walked in, grabbed a map, and went exploring. Suzy wanted to see Hoopla, the chain that replaced the Department 56 Store at the mall; Hoopla still carries the Department 56 stuff, but it now carries a bunch of other knickknacks and impulse buy items like art and kitchen equipment as well. Personally, my favorite part of the store was the pair of leather recliners they had in the corner of the store. They’re not there to buy – they’re there for guys who have no interest in shopping there (like me) to sit in while their significant others shop! More stores should have sections like this.

After Hoopla, we walked over to Waldenbooks, and Suzy picked up a few books about Orlando and Florida. I contented myself browsing the shelves; my favorite discovery was finding books on Disneyland in the international travel section! We stopped off at Auntie Annie’s for a pretzel and an Icee-like drink (I think they’re called Dutch Ices, but don’t hold me to that), and then trudged all the way to the other side of the mall. I managed to convince Suzy to peek into the Apple Store to see all the iPods and iPod goodies, but once I saw the prices they were charging, I decided that I could put off buying more goodies for another day. Finally, we arrived at the mall’s main draw – M & M World.

M & M World is the ultimate M & M retail experience – you name the item and chances are that if it’s M &M themed, it’s in this store. At the entrance, you can have your picture taken with a walk-around M& M character; once you’ve done that, all you can really do is shop, shop, shop. They have more colors of M & M’s that I’ve ever seen before (at $9 a pound!) and a color analyzer that determines what color M & M best suits the person who tries it. (Unfortunately, the line for the color analyzer was pretty big, so I’ll never know what color best suits me.) I think the thing that best summed up M&M World was a tag on an M & M collectible that read, “This isn’t a museum – go on and buy something!” Between that blatant approach to retail and the loud music they were playing, I was pretty much ready to leave, but Suzy was having a good time perusing the stuff, so I decided to look around until she had finished her shopping. It would have been nice if they’d at least had an exhibit on the history of the M & M; since it was all about retail, I think I could live without ever going back again.

We walked around a bit more and checked out a couple more shops, but nothing really caught our attention all that much; if you’re from a big city and you’ve got a decent-sized mall or malls nearby, you’re probably not going to find anything at the Florida Mall that’s much different that what’s at you’re local mall (except for M & M World, of course), so unless you’re a real shopaholic or you don’t have a big mall near home to visit, I’d probably advise skipping it.

After leaving the Florida Mall, we drove down Sand Lake Boulevard all the way to the WDW property, then drove over to Saratoga Springs. Suzy wanted to visit the Spa at Saratoga Springs to get a massage and she tried her best to convince me to do the same, but I wasn’t interested; we decided to have dinner together at Artist’s Palette, after which I’d go back to Port Orleans via the boat service.

My feelings are mixed about Artist’s Palette. The food’s actually pretty good, and fairly reasonably priced for a location on-property; Suzy and I had a cheese-stuffed meatloaf with mashed potatoes and broccoli that we both really enjoyed, along with some fresh-baked brownies. My main objection to the place is their combined food court/general store setup, especially the fact that you have to use the same set of registers for either type of purchase and that you have to purchase the food at the registers and then go back and present your receipt before you can claim your food. When the place gets busy or there’s only one register open, this can mean you’re in for a wait before you can eat, and a freshly prepared meal sitting under a heat lamp because you have to wait to pay for your food doesn’t make for a great dining experience.

Before dropping off Suzy at the Spa for her appointment, we took a walk through Saratoga Springs’ other food location, the Turf Club Bar and Grill. I think what they did here was to add food service to a location that was previously a bar and recreation area for DVC members, but it looked like a pretty good choice on Disney’s part to do so; the place is beautiful, and judging by the diners I saw I think the DVC members were pretty happy with their menu and the dining experience. I made a mental note that I had to give this place a try eventually.

I walked Suzy over to the Spa for her appointment, and then walked out to the dock near the Turf Club to catch the boat. Getting to Port Orleans was a little more convoluted than I first thought it’d be, since there’s no direct service between the DVC resorts and Port Orleans; you have to take the boat to Downtown Disney and then transfer to the boat to Port Orleans. Still, the service was pretty efficient; the boats’ arrival and departure schedule allowed me to transfer between boats almost immediately, and the cruise is so relaxing that you’re not in much of a hurry to get where you’re going anyway. I had a good time watching the herons line up on the riverbank under the lights – why they did it, I’m not sure – and peeking into the Treehouse Villas, which the boat’s captain said were now being occupied by International Program cast members. I didn’t really see anything, but I though it was great to see them occupied again. Now, if they’d only offer them to guests again…

Once I was back at our room in Riverside, I caught up on my reading and on writing my trip report notes, and then got on the computer to catch up on the latest Disney news. The big story on my favorite discussion boards was Tigger “hitting” a child at the Disney-MGM Studios; from the preliminary reports and the video available online, I was already suspicious, because calling a 15-year-old almost as tall as Tigger a “child” was a bit of a stretch and because the kid didn’t seem much bothered by the whole thing until he was egged on by his dad in front of the cameras from the local TV stations. Once Suzy got back, she had a look at the tape, and we both agreed something didn’t sound right. We were both more interested in getting some rest than debating Tigger’s guilt or innocence, so we went to bed.

[schnebs]

Day 4 – Monday, January 8th

This was the day I would be making my first visit to the Magic Kingdom, so I decided to get up at about 7:30 to get dressed and hit the parks. Suzy, who didn’t share my enthusiasm for getting over to the MK early, decided to sleep in; to be honest, once I got up, I wasn’t all that enthused about being an early riser, either. While I got dressed, I came up with an idea I thing would appeal to a lot of WDW guests – “Disney’s Magical Bed Rest.” Don’t want to get up bright and early to go to the parks? You don’t have to. At a time you choose the night before, the bed leaves the hotel room and transports you to your favorite theme park; when you get there, you just hop out of bed and play in the parks. (Okay, so you’d either be running around in your pajamas or you’d have to go to bed in your clothes, but we can work on that part. Disney, if you’re interested in this idea, give me a call and we can discuss the particulars…)

The day was overcast and a bit drizzly, so I bundled up accordingly. I grabbed a bowl of cereal and took it down to the pool so I could eat breakfast without disturbing Suzy, then walked over to the Riverside bus depot to hop a bus to the MK. There were already about 2 dozen people there, and as soon as the first MK bus showed up, everyone at the stop hopped on. I talked to another couple from California on the bus that were on their first trip to WDW; aside from the fact that they were both UCLA grads and I was wearing my USC T-shirt, we got along just fine. It’s amazing how you can travel three thousand miles and still find people who live so close to you!

The bus arrived at the MK by 8:30. Since the park wouldn’t open until 9:00 and everyone was bunched up inside the gates but outside of the tunnels under Main Street Station, I didn’t see much point in passing through the gates. Instead, I went over to the MK monorail station and hopped the resort monorail for a ride around the Seven Seas Lagoon (I’m a big fan of monorails and I pretty much take any opportunity for a monorail ride).
It took a lot longer than I expected to do this and I didn’t get back to the MK until after the park had opened, but since I’d gotten a ride on the monorail and I’d seen the opening ceremony before, I really didn’t mind.

Town Square had quite a few people there by the time I got in, but things weren’t really crazy; the PhotoPass photographers were out, but the characters weren’t, so most of them were standing around without much to do. I convinced one photographer to take a picture of me on the bench with the Roy and Minnie statues, and then debated sticking around to be photographed with a character; when I heard one of the WDW railroad engines coming into Main Street Station, I pretty much abandoned the idea of waiting and hopped on the train instead. (Yep, I’m a steam train fanatic, too!)

When I got on the train, I got to see a tour group that had just completed “The Magic Behind Our Steam Trains” tour disembark and say their farewells, and I was a little disappointed that I didn’t book a spot on the tour on this trip; I took the tour back in 2000 – back when you still got a railroad spike for participating instead of a pin – but I’d love to do it again. (Actually, I’d love to do it at Disneyland – I wonder why nobody’s proposed doing that tour over there yet?) I pretty much had the second car on the train to myself, and I had a great time riding all the way around the park. Now that I had fulfilled my membership obligation to the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society, I could enjoy the park!

I returned to Town Square and noticed all of the characters and all of the people waiting to be photographed with them and decided that I could put off pictures for another time; instead, I boarded the Horseless Carriage and rode that from Town Square to the Plaza. When I got there, the Dreams Come True stage show was going on in the castle forecourt; it looked cute, but I decided to skip it for the time being and headed into Tomorrowland.

My first stop in Tomorrowland was Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, which had no line; I had fun going through, but I think the attraction’s more detailed and a bit more fun at Disneyland. (Of course, I could be saying that because I get much higher scores at Disneyland…) After getting off Buzz, I found a cast member to trade pins with, and a guest came up for me to trade with, too; I wasn’t all that thrilled with the pins either had, but I trade more for the fun of trading and less in the hope of getting a good pin, so I was happy with just getting the chance to trade.

I felt like I really needed to hit the attractions that I couldn’t find at Disneyland, so I rode Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. We had about 20 people on the theater, which is pretty good for this attraction at that time of year; I love the show, but I really wish they’d update the last scene. From the Carousel of Progress, I hopped on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. Now this is an attraction I really miss at Disneyland; it’s so relaxing and a great way to get a look around the area. I really hope they bring it back.

The crowds were starting to build up at Space Mountain by this point, so I picked up a Fastpass and walked over to Stitch’s Great Escape, which only had about a 5-minute wait. Stitch isn’t my favorite ride in the park, but I like it more than Alien Encounter – I’m a fraidy-cat, what can I say? Stitch is cute, but it’s definitely for kids.

I still had a little time left until my Fastpass for Space Mountain was valid, so I walked over to the Mad Tea Party and rode the WDW version for the first time. I’d forgotten how dizzy you can get on that thing, since it’d been a while since I’d ridden it at any Disney park (Suzy can’t handle it because of her motion sickness, and I usually won’t ride it alone), but I was reminded pretty quickly after getting a good spin going! I got to witness one of the Year of a Million Dreams “Magical Moments” when Alice and the Mad Hatter showed up, pulled a little girl out of the queue, and took her for a ride in a teacup; that had to have been the highlight of that little girl’s day!

I guess I figured that after being spun around in a teacup, I could handle just about anything, because I headed over to Space Mountain. I had a good time riding Space Mountain, but I have to admit that I’m a lot less impressed with the attraction than I used to be. I’m already so used to the refurbished Space Mountain at Disneyland that the Magic Kingdom version seems really rough and bumpy, and the special effects seem more dated than anything else. Hopefully, the MK’s Space Mountain will get the TLC that its sister in Anaheim received.

After leaving Space Mountain, I got a call from Suzy letting me know that she’d arrived at the Magic Kingdom, so I walked over to the Plaza to meet her. We managed to get there in the middle of another performance of Dreams Come True in the castle forecourt, so we decided to save the show for later; since I’d been there for a while already, I let Suzy pick our first ride together for the day. We walked over to Fantasyland to get Fastpasses for Suzy’s second-most favorite attraction at the MK, Winnie the Pooh, then walked over to it’s a small world.

The queue for it’s a small world was crowded but fortunately it’s a small world’s one of those attractions that can get a lot of people through quickly, so we were able to get through the queue and onto a boat in about 5-10 minutes. I was looking forward to seeing the attraction, because the last couple of times we’d been to WDW the attraction had been closed for rehabs; I liked the re-decoration of the interior to make it look more like its sister in California and I like the “flooded room” look more than I like the flumes in the version at Disneyland, but overall I still prefer the Disneyland version. It doesn’t seem as detailed to me as Disneyland’s it’s a small world, more of a “small world lite”. It’s still a lot of fun, though. Suzy didn’t agree with me as far as my assessment; as far as she was concerned, there were a few minor differences, but both versions were actually pretty similar.

We still had a few minutes to kill until our Fastpasses for Pooh were valid, so I convinced Suzy to take a walk with me through Pooh’s Playful Spot. There were a bunch of kids running around the place, and they looked like they were having a good time, but all you could really do as an adult was walk around and watch the kids. It’s well-themed, but it’s really for toddlers more than anyone else. I think I’d rather be able to ride on the Nautilus instead.

Suzy and I walked over to Pooh and rode the attraction. We both really enjoyed the attraction; I think the ride is really well done and the motion effects of the vehicles fit what’s going on really well. Disney did a much better job with this version of the attraction than they did with the Disneyland version (yes, there’s actually a WDW version of an attraction I like more!). Suzy loves this ride, although she said she preferred the outdoor queue at Disneyland. I had to disagree with her on this one; I thought the oversized pages of the book made for a better introduction to the ride, like you were literally stepping into the pages of the book.

After seeing the silly old bear, Suzy and I walked through Cinderella Castle (I love the castle and the murals in the walkway) and walked through the Plaza and down Main Street to Tony’s Town Square for lunch. Tony’s was quiet enough that the folks responsible for seating us had to wait for us instead of the other way around, and we got a table close to the statue of Lady and the Tramp. Lunch was pretty good, but not spectacular; I had a serving of spaghetti and meatballs that suffered from a marinara sauce that was too bland, while Suzy had a chicken panini that she said she really enjoyed. Both of us had cups of minestrone soup, which we both liked.

When we finished lunch at Tony’s, we walked around the Main Street Exposition Hall an admired the exhibits. We were both disappointed to discover that what was left of the auditorium was now being used for DVC video presentations; we enjoyed having a quiet place where you could watch classic Disney cartoons. We decided to take a walk over to Adventureland; once we were there, Suzy got us Fastpasses for the Jungle Cruise (which already had a tremendous stand-by line) while I went over to Adventure Isle and refreshed myself with a Doctor Scopa’s Magical Elixir (that’s a Dole Whip float for you folks who don’t listen to the WDW Today podcast). Suzy insisted that she didn’t want a float for herself, but after a few minutes of watching me drink mine, she couldn’t resist having a little pineapple Dole Whip.

Having polished off the Dole Whip float, we returned to Fantasyland by way of Liberty Square and entered Tinker Bell’s Treasure so Suzy and I could window shop. Suzy somehow managed to keep from buying a My Little Princess Pony (Suzy loves all animals but especially horses, and these were really cute) and we went over to Peter Pan’s Flight and braved a moderately long standby queue (about 15 minutes or so) to ride a pirate ship. I love the WDW version of this attraction; the load system with the Speedramps makes it quicker and easier to get on and off, and the story makes a lot more sense here because there are more scenes. Wish they could do something about the wait, because I think that the long lines that form the attraction somehow draw even more people in, and I can’t really imagine that anyone waiting for an hour or more in the stand-by queue feels that the ride’s worth that much of a wait, no matter how much they love it.

It was almost parade time, and sharing one Dole Whip float didn’t really satisfy either one of us, so we went over to Sleepy Hollow so we could kill two birds with one stone. Suzy got herself an ice cream sandwich, which she generously shared with me, while I grabbed a prime spot at the entrance to Liberty Square for the Disney Dreams Come True Parade. I had been a big fan of the Share a Dream Come True Parade, so I was a more than a little disappointed to see that the “new” parade was a slightly altered version of the prior parade with a new soundtrack. Neither Suzy nor I cared for the new music; Suzy thought the rest of the parade was all right. Once the parade and the ice cream sandwich were done (and, by the way, if you’ve never had one of the ice cream sandwiches from Sleepy Hollow, you really need to get one!), we headed back to Adventureland.

When we got to the Fastpass queue for the Jungle Cruise, we were very glad we’d gotten the passes – the standby line was still incredibly long. A few minutes later, we boarded a boat with a female skipper named Aja. Aja was hilarious, but unfortunately she got a crew that didn’t feel like laughing on that trip. Suzy and I had a great time – the Jungle Cruise at the Magic Kingdom is almost a totally different experience from the attraction at Disneyland.

Since Pirates of the Caribbean was close by, Suzy and I decided to walk over and give it a shot; since I’d seen the new Jack Sparrow and effects at Disneyland, I was looking forward to seeing it. The time in the standby queue was reasonable – about 20 minutes total – and we got the chance to go through a section of the fortress queue I’d never seen before. Even with the new effects – which I thought were well done – I think the Magic Kingdom version of Pirates still suffers in comparison to the Disneyland version.

Once we left Adventureland, we walked past the Pecos Bill Café into Frontierland. This would have been the point in the day where Suzy and I would have ridden Splash Mountain, which is Suzy’s favorite WDw attraction, but since Splash was down for rehab, all we could do was have a look at the dry flume. We walked along the Rivers of America, picking up a box of popcorn to enjoy, and walked over to Liberty Square to ride the Haunted Mansion. We were both pretty disappointed with the Mansion; Suzy thought the show looked worn and that the effects were lacking compared to the effects on the Disneyland version of the attraction. I noticed that the soundtrack in the Doom Buggies and the visual effects on the attraction needed a lot of TLC; scrims were dirty and wrinkled, and Little Leota seemed to have a facial tic. I really hope they do some major rehab work on the attraction soon.

After riding the Haunted Mansion, we headed back into Frontierland to see an old favorite that I really miss from Disneyland – the Country Bear Jamboree. I really enjoyed seeing the original show; I know Suzy won’t agree with me on this because she loves The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but I’d much rather have this show in Anaheim.

Once we’d sung along with the Country Bears, we walked over to Fantasyland and had dinner at the Village Haus. I’d been dying to come here since I’d heard about and tried a recipe for Figaro Fries; for those of you who haven’t tried them yet, Figaro Fries are French fries topped with lettuce, dressing, cheese and bacon bits – kind of a combination of French fries and salad. I ordered the Figaro Fries and an a la carte order of chicken strips; Suzy got herself a pepperoni pizza, salad, and chocolate cake. I was happy with the chicken strips and I was really happy with the Figaro Fries – the fries tasted better than the ones I made for myself back home. Suzy enjoyed her pizza, although she thought the pizza was a little light on the pepperoni; the cake was another pre-packed one prepared by an outside vendor, and Suzy was really disappointed with this. The restaurant reminds me a lot of a similarly named restaurant at Disneyland, although at the Magic Kingdom the restaurant is larger and has big picture windows where you can look at the load area of it’s a small world, which I think is a really nice touch.

We left the Village Haus and walked through the Castle and staked out a spot on Main Street near the Plaza; although we were smack dab in the middle of the crowds, this seemed like it’d be a great location to watch both SpectroMagic and Wishes – and it was! I hadn’t seen SpectroMagic for several years, and it was absolutely amazing, although it kinda made me miss the Main Street Electrical Parade. Wishes was spectacular, especially since I got to watch it right in front of Cinderella Castle – the fireworks, the music and the lighting effects on the Castle are all amazing.

It was starting to get cold after Wishes was done, but we decided to move to another part of the Plaza and let all the other guests file out of the park. Even though we waited for about 15 or 20 minutes, we still had another 8 to 10 minutes to wait for the resort monorail. We rode the monorail to the Polynesian; once we were there, we peeked into ‘Ohana, then went downstairs to Captain Cook’s and played around with the new touch-screen menus and gazed longingly at the new Dole Whip dispensers (which were out of order, darn it!). We liked that they’d reconfigured Captain Cook’s to allow for more seating and for easier access to the food and refrigerated goods. As we walked around in the Polynesian’s lobby, Suzy said that she hoped that when we finally visited Hawaii, the hotels there would be a lot like the Poly!

We drove back to Port Orleans Riverside and stopped into Fulton’s to pick up USA Today and the Orlando Sentinel, then went over to Riverside Mill, got some hot chocolate, and took a walk through Ol’ Man Island back to the room. Tired but happy, we decided to get some sleep.

Day 5 – Tuesday, January 9th

Winter finally came to central Florida that day. When I went outside the room for my walk, it was really cold. Even with my jacket and gloves on, I was more than happy to finish my walk and get back in the room!

Suzy and I got dressed and got in the minivan to drive off-property to the Dr. Phillips area. We wanted to get a better feel for the central Florida housing market, so Suzy scheduled an appointment for us with a real estate agent. The agent drove us over to the nearby neighborhood of Windermere so we could see a few of the new projects; Suzy and I weren’t all that happy with what we saw, so she took us over to some older housing developments near John Young Parkway. We saw a couple of houses we liked, so now that the agent had a better idea of what we were looking for, we made arrangements with the agent to review the real estate listings for other houses we might like.

By the time we were done with the real estate agent, it was lunchtime, so we drove over to Panera Bread in Dr. Phillips. Suzy’s already a big fan of Panera, but I’d never been there before; the place was crowded, but the food more than made up for the crowds. We both had broccoli and cheese soup (which was excellent) and chicken panini (which was also really good). We had chocolate cake for dessert, which was a little dry but otherwise wasn’t too bad.

After lunch, we drove up I-4 to Winter Park. We drove around downtown, admiring Rollins College and doing a little window shopping in the van. (The shops were so upscale that I had the feeling that window shopping was about all I’d be able to do!)
We drove over to the Scenic Boat Tour dock and bought tickets for the 1-hour tour. The Scenic Boat Tour takes visitors on the lakes of Winter Park on a fleet of small watercraft, showing off Rollins College and the gigantic and beautiful homes on the shores of the lakes. The skipper of our boat was very knowledgeable and had a great sense of humor – how’d they miss this guy for the Jungle Cruise at WDW? The lakes are connected by very small and very narrow canals, with boat houses on either side of the canals. The canals were barely big enough for the watercraft; I couldn’t imagine how the folks who owned the boathouses managed to get the boats in and out without seriously banging them up! The cold day really started getting to me while we were out on the water; Suzy was kind enough to let me borrow her gloves and share a blanket she had brought with her. Between the gloves, the blanket, and holding Suzy, I managed to stay warm for the rest of the trip.

Once the cruise was done, we drove around Winter Park a bit more; we had hoped we could visit the Morse Museum so we could see their collection of Tiffany glass, but the museum closed at 4:00 and we didn’t get back from the cruise until after then. We left Winter Park but we didn’t feel like braving the rush hour traffic on I-4 to get back to WDW, so we went the other direction and drove up via State Route 46 to Mt. Dora. Mt. Dora was a very pretty little town; the neighborhoods have lots of beautiful older houses. I could really see myself living there, even if it meant a longer drive to WDW! We didn’t get to do a lot in Mt. Dora because we’d gotten there so late, but I would definitely like to go back to have a better look at the town.

We left Mt. Dora by driving south on U.S. 441, and then took State Route 423 to the Florida Turnpike and I-4. We stopped in Dr. Phillips again to visit the Barnes and Noble bookstore there and to pick up a few needed supplies at Publix. We drove back down I-4 to Lake Buena Vista, making trips to Walgreens to pick up some prescriptions and to Chik-Fil-A for dinner. The food at Chik-Fil-A was excellent; Suzy had a chicken salad and I got a broiled chicken sandwich with cross-cut fries. I really wish there were more Chik-Fil-A franchises on the West Coast!

We still weren’t in much of a mood to return to Port Orleans, so we drove over to the Orlando Premium Outlet so we could visit the Disney’s Character Warehouse outlet store. The selection at the Character Warehouse was very similar to what we saw at the store at Prime 1 Outlet, so we didn’t pick up anything. We couldn’t come up with anything else we wanted to do and it was still very cold, so we headed back to Port Orleans Riverside. We stopped off at Fulton’s to get some reading material (Suzy got a copy of the National Enquirer and I got a copy of the Sentinel) and returned to the room to get ready for bed.

[schnebs]

Day 6 – Wednesday, January 10th

It was still a little chilly out – I would be wearing gloves and heavy sweater for most of the day. After my walk, my plans were to get over to Disney’s Animal Kingdom as early as possible, but Suzy asked me to go to the laundry room to get our washing started.
I grumpily complied, then walked over to the bus stop to catch the bus to Animal Kingdom. My timing actually worked out pretty well; the bus to Animal Kingdom had just arrived and was loading an ECV when I got to the bus top.

I arrived at Animal Kingdom at about 11:30, and the crowds were already pretty significant; all the new attractions really seem to have made a difference as far as attendance. I knew what I really wanted to do first – get on Expedition: Everest! Unfortunately for me, a lot of other people had the same idea; by the time I got to the entrance of the attraction, the Fastpasses for the day were gone and the standby queue had a wait time of 50 minutes! I decided that I should get some lunch first, and then brave the standby queue.

I checked out Flame Tree Barbecue, but I wasn’t really in a barbecue kind of mood; I walked over to Restaurantosaurus, saw they had McDonald’s French fries on the menu, and decided I was in the mood for comfort food. I ordered their double cheeseburger combo (a Disney cheeseburger and McDonald’s fries) and a Diet Coke. Needless to say, I loved the fries – but then I’ve always been a sucker for a good batch of French fries. As for the burger… well, it was your typical Disney burger - not bad, but not all that good, either. I was much more impressed by the themeing of the restaurant than I was by the food – there are a ton of little details to notice all over the dining areas, and the whole place overall has the feel of what you’d expect a place populated by a bunch of college students to look like. One thing puzzled me about the place (and all the DAK restaurants); I understand why you don’t get lids and straws (it’s to keep the animals from inadvertently choking on them), but why do they put wooden stirrers in the cup with your soft drink? Do a lot of people stir their sodas?

I made my way back to the entrance of Expedition: Everest, where the standby time had dropped to 40 minutes. By then, the standby queue snaked out of the standby entrance, through the Fastpass distribution shelter, and about another 50 feet or so toward Anandapur. The wait gave me a chance to admire the scenery in the area and in the queue, which I was glad for. The themeing of the town of Serkha Zong and the queue is wonderful; I’ve never been to Nepal, but it’s not hard to imagine that it looks a lot like the area around the attraction. Even if you’re not a fan of coasters, don’t send your coaster fanatic friends or relatives into the queue while you find a bench to sit on – go through the queue and admire the work the Imagineeers did and exit the queue as the rest of your party boards.

Now, as to the ride itself: I wish it had been as impressive as the themeing. As far as thrills, Expedition: Everest was somewhere between Big Thunder and Space Mountain; most coaster fanatics would probably consider it to be fairly tame. There are several tight turns, and the backwards segment was fun, but I walked away thinking that the attraction needed to be about a third longer. The Yeti is impressive, but you only see him for a few seconds; most of the other effects were pretty good, too – except for the bird you see at the end of the first forward segment.

My next stop in Animal Kingdom took me from the impressive to the depressing; I walked over to Chester and Hester’s Dino-Rama! Somebody please tell me this place will be torn down soon! Yes, I understand that it’s supposed to be a tacky roadside attraction, but if that’s what I really wanted to see on my Orlando vacation, I’d save my $67 and drive over to U.S. 192. My first stop was I rode was Primeval Whirl – it was cute and mildly amusing, but not worth a wait (fortunately, there wasn’t one). Next, I tried out Triceratops Spin – again, cute, but it’s basically Dumbo with dinosaurs instead of elephants. With the “attractions” done, I walked through Chester and Hester’s to do a little window shopping – I like the tacky décor in the shop, but the merchandise seems to have gotten a lot more generic since my last visit – then walked through Discovery Island over to Africa.

I love the themeing in Harambe as much as the themeing in Anandapur and Serkha Zong – again, I’ve never been to Africa, but Harambe is what I’d expect it to look like. Although there was quite a large standby queue for Kilimanjaro Safaris – about 40 minutes – I decided to ride the attraction. This was the first time I’d really had a chance to take a good look at the queue, and I was really impressed by the level of detail. It’s too bad most people never really notice all of it. I had a great time on the attraction and got to see a lot of animals (but I can’t think of a time I haven’t seen a lot of animals on the attraction! I noticed that the warden’s plane and the preserve guards’ jeeps are now populated by dummies – it’s better than their being empty, but it was a little more authentic when there were actual people out there. I hear the whole subplot with the poachers and Little Red is going to be cut anyway, so I guess it’s not going to matter for much longer in any case.

After Kilimanjaro, I decided that it was close enough to showtime for Finding Nemo: The Musical that I should walk over to Theatre in the Wild and get in the queue. (I hadn’t realized before I started writing this how many times I criss-crossed the park on that day!) I began to question my decision when I got there about 25 prior to showtime and saw a queue that extended all the way from the theatre entrance to the entrance of Dino-Rama! Despite my misgivings, I was able to make it into the theatre; I got a seat in the sixth row just to the left of the runway extending from the stage.

The show was worth standing in the long queue. The show’s characters are puppets, but they don’t really try to hide the puppeteers/singers; they’re as much a part of the show as the puppets themselves. I had some doubts about turning a movie that just had a musical score into a musical, but the songs they came up with worked pretty well, especially “In the Big Blue World”. The kids in the audience were absolutely enthralled; they had them from before the start of the show, when they noticed Nemo “swimming” in the set decorations, and Disney kept their attention with all the scenes where puppets went out on the runway and through the aisles. One tip for the folks who see the show: if you like a certain flock of seagulls from the movie, stick around for a couple of minutes as people leave the theatre.

Once I’d seen the Nemo musical, I decided to call it a day. I boarded the bus to the Polynesian to meet Suzy for dinner at ‘Ohana (Suzy had decided to take a flower decorating class at Saratoga Springs while I was at DAK). The bus was a little more efficient than I expected, getting me there about ½ an hour prior to our reservation time, so I grabbed a chair in the lobby, ordered myself a virgin margarita, and read my book until Suzy arrived.

I love eating at ‘Ohana; the food’s wonderful (and there’s plenty of it) and the views of the Magic Kingdom from the restaurant are spectacular. There had been a few changes on the menu since my last visit, most notably the substitution of bread pudding for the pineapple chunks and warm caramel sauce, but it didn’t detract from the meal at all. I was still stuffed from all the food at the end of the meal, in spite of my best attempts to pace myself. I even got the surprise of celebrating my birthday about 2 months too late (or 10 months too early) thanks to the efforts of a certain party who thought it’d be cute to see my reaction to the wait staff making a fuss over me.

To give all of the food from ‘Ohana a chance to settle, Suzy and I took a monorail tour of the Magic Kingdom resorts, walking through the lobbies and shops to take in the ambiance, especially the floral arrangements. Apparently you learn quite a bit about floral arranging at that class at Saratoga Springs! We made it back to the Poly just in time to watch Wishes from inside the Great Ceremonial House; with a perfect ending to a perfect evening with the perfect lady, I was happy to return to Port Orleans and get some rest.

Day 7 – Thursday, January 11th

I got up for my morning walk (fortunately, the weather was a little better today, so I didn’t have to bundle up to do it), then stopped off at Fulton’s to get Suzy a copy of USA Today and myself a copy of the Orlando Sentinel. After returning to the room and getting dressed, Suzy and I drove over to the Beach Club, parked the van, and walked over to the International Gateway to enter Epcot.

NOTE: You may notice throughout this report that Suzy and I park at the resorts for easier access to the theme parks. Although we generally get away with it because we’re going to WDW in one of the slowest seasons of the year, Disney highly discourages guests from doing this, and in busier times of the year they’re very diligent in their efforts to make sure you can’t use the resort parking lots unless you’re staying there or are having a meal there. Don’t bother trying this at busier times of the year. Actually, don’t try it at all. We’re very bad people. Don’t be like us.

We started our day at Epcot with lunch at Le Cellier. I went with my version of the “Scopa special” (New York strip steak, with mashed potatoes substituted for the Yukon potatoes) and Suzy had a burger (which they served on a large English muffin – how’d they come up with this one?). We both loved our lunches, although the burger patty was big enough that Suzy ended up leaving most of the English muffin behind.

The new annual passholder room-only discounts were released the night before, so Suzy decided to get on her cell phone and sit on a bench and work on making changes to the reservations; I decided to take advantage of this and see “O Canada”, since I love Circle-Vision films and Suzy’s motion sickness make it impossible for her to sit through them.
I still love the film, although I have to admit it seems to be a bit dated; every time I see the movie, I always want to call my travel agent and book a trip to Canada! I understand that the film will be updates soon; I just hope that they keep the theme song from the current version of the movie.

When I left “O Canada!” and met Suzy, she was still busy fighting with WDW reservations, so I took a seat next to her and alternated between reading my book and watching the ducks as they squabbled with each other for any food they could get from the passing guests. It took a while for Suzy to finally get everything straightened out and booked, but once she was done, we walked over to The Land and got Fastpasses for Soarin’ and then walked over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends.

This was our first opportunity to see the new attraction and the revamped pavilion. The Nemo attraction was a lot of fun and really well done; the effects in the queue that simulate your going from the shoreline to under the sea was really impressive, as were the visual effects that allow the “Finding Nemo” characters to be in the tank with the real fish. The attraction did have its problems; several of the figures already weren’t working!

We walked around Seabase and enjoyed the exhibits. While we were there, the trainers were doing a “double-blind” shape recognition test with the dolphins (the dolphins didn’t seem to be doing all that well); the manatees were apparently off exhibit, which really disappointed Suzy. The new shark exhibit with Bruce and his friends from the film was a lot of fun – if there hadn’t been so many kids ahead of me, I would have gotten my picture taken in Bruce’s mouth! I seem to remember that there was an exhibit that had the real-life counterparts of the characters in “Nemo” the last time we were there, but I wasn’t able to find it. We skipped Turtle Talk with Crush just because the queue waiting to get in was gigantic and we’d seen it previously. The changes they’ve made at The Seas seem to have made a difference, as there were a lot more people in the pavilion than on our last visit to WDW in 2005. Hopefully, it’s not just because of the novelty of the changes.

We returned to The Land, but we still had some time until our Fastpasses for Soarin’ could be used; we hopped on Living with the Land, which had no wait. The recorded narration is an improvement to the attraction; in the past, rides on the attraction have been ruined for me by a cast member who was so bored or so unintelligible that you couldn’t tell what they were saying. Overall, it’s a nice attraction, and it’s a shame that it’s overlooked because it’s not thrilling enough.

Exiting Living with the Land, we entered Soarin’. We noticed how long the standby queue was and we were very glad we weren’t in it! Epcot’s version of the attraction appears to be a little better than the version at Disney’s California Adventure – the film is in better shape and the sound seems to be better in the Florida version. But why, oh why, are they offering a film on California? I can’t wait until they offer a new film just for WDW.

After leaving Soarin’, we walked around Sunshine Seasons. The serving area is more compact than in the old food court, and the selection appears to be much improved; both the food made to order and the pre-prepared food looked really good. It looked like there was also much more room to sit in the food court, as well.

We left The Land and I talked Suzy into walking over to the Imagination! Pavilion so I could visit the ImageWorks. I admit it – I’m a Figment fanatic, and I wanted to see what they had available. I fell in love with a Figment hand puppet, but it seemed to me that the puppet was made for smaller hands than mine, so I had to leave him behind. (Sorry, Figment.)

It was at this point we started The Great Wonka Bar Hunt. After being disappointed in my search for Wonka bars at the MK, I was determined to find some Wonka bars to try, so I ended up searching several pavilions to see if I could find any. For some reason, I got the idea that Wonka bars might be Canadian, so we checked the Canada pavilion – no luck. Suzy remembered that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was written by an Englishman, so we checked the shops in the U.K. pavilion; we fond a lot of candies we’d never seen, but no Wonka bars. Suzy was about ready to leave Epcot, but I was undeterred, so I convinced Suzy to check the gift shop near the International Gateway while I checked the gift shop at The American Adventure. No Wonka bars there, either. I couldn’t see Wonka bars being sold in Japan, Morocco, or France, so I admitted defeat and headed back to join Suzy.

As I walked back to the International Gateway, it looked like I’d chosen to walk through at about the time the entertainment got started (this was about 5:00 on Friday). At The American Adventure, the fife and drum corps began a performance; as I walked through Japan, a storyteller was beginning her show. In Morocco, Mo Rockin’ had begun their performance, and Aladdin, Jasmine, and Genie were out meeting guests; in France, Belle and Aurora were out meeting the little princess fans. The UK pavilion seemed oddly quiet as I passed by, but I found out from Suzy when I met her that the Beatles tribute band had played while I was gone; I was almost as bummed out about missing their show as I was about not finding any Wonka bars.

In any case, we left Epcot and took the van back to Port Orleans; it was only a little past 5:00 p.m. when we got back to the room, and our dinner reservations weren’t until 6:30, so we decided the best course of action was to take a nap. We left Port Orleans a little after 6:00 and made a couple of wrong turns in the vicinity of Epcot, but we still made in to Downtown Disney in plenty of time for dinner at Raglan Road.

We decided to visit Raglan Road based on all the rave reviews by Nathan Rose of the (now former) Mouse Tunes podcast; once we tried the food there, we understand why he raves about it so much. The restaurant and pub is located on the former site of Pleasure Island’s jazz club, and the place is gigantic; there are several rooms, all well-themed. We were given a table in the main hall; our server was very helpful in choosing our meals, since all we knew about Irish food was corned beef and cabbage. The food was excellent! Suzy had the fish and chips, which she said tasted very fresh (which makes sense, since they claim that the fish they use goes from catch to being served in 36 hours) and not too oily. I got the Raglan Road version of shepherd’s pie, which is served on a plate covered with mashed potatoes instead of in a bowl with the mashed potatoes as a topping and has other meat besides the traditional ground lamb, but was really, really good. I topped off my meal with another Nathan Rose recommendation, a Shandy. For those of you that have never experienced this wonderful libation, it’s part beer and part Sprite -- and trust me, it’s better than it sounds. Suzy decided to be a little less adventurous than me when it came to drinks and had a glass of wine, which she also enjoyed. Thanks for the dinner recommendation, Nathan!

After dinner, we walked through Pleasure Island and through Downtown Disney West Side to the Virgin Megastore. This was my first visit, and I was itching to go through their CD racks to see if they had anything good, but the noise on the first floor was too much for Suzy, so we retreated to the DVD and book shelves on the second floor. Suzy found a couple of books she liked; I didn’t find anything, but I was surprised how many TV shows that were only middling successes were now available on DVD. We walked through the West Side, where I continued the Great Wonka Bar Hunt by checking the Candy Cauldron. No Wonka bars there, either; I was beginning to wonder if Wonka bars were just a myth.

We decided to walk over to the Marketplace and peruse a few of the smaller Disney stores. At Once Upon A Toy, I spent my time drooling over the new monorails with the compartment ceilings and doors that opened, but in the end decided I could just buy them at Disneyland. I looked their Disney music CD collection, but found myself wishing they had a way for customers to listen to samples of the music like you can at Borders and Barnes and Noble. Mickey Mart has apparently gotten very popular, because it now takes up about half of the shelf space in the Disney Tails store in addition to the alley it originally started in; I still wasn’t too impressed by the selection there. I was a lot more impressed by the items at The Art of Disney – it’s too bad I can’t afford all the stuff I want from this place, particularly the WDW attraction posters and the commemorative items from the Magic Kingdom’s 35th anniversary. The scrapbooking store next door had expanded their book section to include books on non-Disney topics; I would have rather scene and expanded Disney section like the one at Compass Books at California’s Downtown Disney. Last but not least, we visited Disney’s Pin Traders so I could make a list of all the pins I would buy once my paycheck was deposited in the bank.

After such a wild evening at Downtown Disney, we decided to return to Port Orleans and turn in; we were in bed by 10:00. We’re just a couple of night owls, what can I say?

[schnebs]

Day 8 – Friday, January 12th

No walk this morning, since I usually take Mondays and Fridays off from working out. Instead, I decided to head downstairs and take care of my dirty laundry (much to the delight of Suzy and the people from housekeeping, I’m sure). Considering how few people seemed to be staying in our part of Riverside, there seemed to be a lot of people in the laundry room – at least 3 or 4 other families were down there while I was there. I kept myself entertained listening to my iPod while I did the wash; I’m glad I wasn’t drinking anything at the time, because I probably would have done a spit-take half way through listening to an interview where Imagineer Joe Rohde. Joe stated that that Disney didn’t niche-market attractions. Really? How many teenagers have you seen at Pooh’s Playful Spot or seniors at Rock N Roller Coaster, Joe?

Maybe this reaction was my inner Disney geek preparing itself for the day ahead, because this was the day we’d be having Lunch with an Imagineer. After laundry was done and Suzy and I got dressed, we headed over to the Studios. We had a little time to kill before we had to be at the Brown Derby, so we walked into Sid Cahuenga’s One-Of –A-Kind Shop. While I was perusing the celebrity artifacts (do they sew the stars into their costumes?), Suzy had a great time talking with a CM named Jim, who worked at the Studios with his wife to supplement their income as full-time RVers. Living full-time in an RV has always been a dream of Suzy’s, so she was eager to get more details about his experiences; I was intrigued to hear about how flexible Disney can be as far as the hours you can work and the places you can work. Someday, that could be us working behind the counter – you never know…

Bidding a reluctant adieu to Jim, we walked over to the Hollywood Brown Derby, arriving a few minutes before our scheduled lunch appointment. When we checked in, we were given special guest nametags that read “Dining with an Imagineer” and had our names on them. That’s fair, I thought – the Imagineer would be wearing his name tag, so we should each be wearing one, too! Based on the number of nametags I saw, it looked like we were going to have 6 people for lunch that day. After a few minutes, the manager of the Brown Derby called the people participating in the lunch together and walked us into the Derby’s main dining room. The manager told us the story of the original Hollywood Brown Derby and the creation of the Florida counterpart. This was the first time I’d ever visited the Derby, and I was just wowed by both the story of the Derby and by the look of the Derby itself; if I didn’t know any better, I would have sworn that we’d walked through a time portal into Hollywood in the late 1930s.

We were escorted from the main dining room into the Bamboo Room, a private room made up to look like a lounge that Hollywood’s Brown Derby had in the 1940s. We took our seats, and we were each given a personalized menu listing three or four entrée selections from the Brown Derby menu and two or three appetizers and desserts. Suzy wasn’t too thrilled with the limited selection of the personalized menu and was allergic to a couple of the items besides; fortunately, the waitress told her she could order any item from the regular menu, and Suzy was able to find some things that were better for her.

After we reviewed the menu and made our selections, we introduced ourselves to Alex, an art director at the Magic Kingdom. Alex told us about his background in art and computer technology; he explained that he got into Imagineering thanks to a person who he knew from a class he was involved with in college. He explained to us the job duties of an art director at a Disney theme park, which consists of keeping up what’s already been placed in the parks by WDI and adding and changing little things at the park based on the needs of the people that operate the theme parks. For example, he was working on a project where one of the Main Street eating establishments (the Main Street Bakery, if I remember correctly) was being re-done to allow more guests to use the facility. He was responsible for increasing the guest capacity of the café, but he also had to make sure that the look of the eating location still fit with the look of Main Street; he was proud of the work that he and his team had done to make sure that everything worked well and looked right. Another project that Alex had recently worked on was the addition of a Mr. Toad figure to the pet cemetery of the Haunted Mansion; while this might seem like a simple project, Alex explained that he had to convince key people at the Magic Kingdom to let him install the figure, figure out a way to get a concrete base put into the cemetery, and get the figure installed as quickly as possible so that the figure would be as much a surprise to the attraction’s cast members as it was to the guests! While we weren’t able to get Alex to divulge any juicy tidbits about upcoming projects for the Magic Kingdom (and believe me, we tried!), we had a great time hearing about what it was like to be an Imagineer and the daily challenges they face keeping everything in the parks looking and working its best. At the end of our meal, we were each presented with crystal plates engraved with the Sorcerer Mickey logo of WDI; Alex was also nice enough to sign and add an inscription to each plate with a gold marker.

The food at Lunch with an Imagineer was as good as the conversation was interesting. The standard menu for the luncheon consisted of oyster and brie soup, a miniature Cobb salad (how could you go to the Brown Derby and not have the salad that was invented there?), and a choice of one of three items; for our lunch, the choices were grilled New York strip steak, Thai noodle bowl with chicken, or pan-fried grouper.. I chose the Thai noodle bowl, which was spicy but absolutely delicious. As I mentioned, Suzy ended up ordering from the Brown Derby’s regular menu; I’m afraid that between listening to the conversation and eating my own lunch, I didn’t notice what Suzy had, but she assured me later that what she had was delicious! The only item we were a little disappointed with was the dessert; the standard menu for Lunch with an Imagineer offered crème brulee for dessert, but Suzy remembered eating the Brown Derby’s grapefruit cake when she was a little girl, so we asked for slices of the cake instead. The cake was good, but not spectacular; Suzy was disappointed because the recipe was different one from the one she remembered from eating at the original Brown Derby. Overall, though, the food, the ambience, and the service at the Brown Derby were all excellent. It’s worth a visit even if you can’t find time to dine with an Imagineer!

After lunch, we decided to walk around a little to try to work off the sumptuous lunch we’d just had. We walked over to the Journey into Narnia exhibit, which had a few minutes’ wait to enter. The exhibit started out promisingly; we were escorted into the soundstage and found ourselves face-to-face with a large wardrobe that looker similar to the one the children walked into in the movie. We walked through the wardrobe into the Narnian winter scene similar to the one in the movie, and then the White Witch appeared and gave us a brief warning about entering her territory. From then on, the exhibit was disappointing; we spent several minutes in the second room watching a trailer for “The Chronicles of Narnia”, and then we were escorted into a very small third room that featured perhaps 10 or so props, illustrations, and maquettes from the movie. We couldn’t even spend much time looking at the items from the film, because the second room was not really separated from the third room, and we were asked to leave after only a couple of minutes so that they could reset the film and the effects for the next group coming through. I was lucky enough to see “The Chronicles of Narnia” at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, which featured a nice walk-though exhibit of props, illustrations, and maquettes; while the exhibit at the El Capitan lacked the special effects of this show, there was a lot more to see and people were given a lot more time to see it.

Suzy wanted to get some rest and I had to get over to the Magic Kingdom, so we decided to leave the Studios; Suzy dropped me off at the TTC and drove back to Port Orleans. I’d never entered the Magic Kingdom by way of the TTC, so walking around there was fascinating to me; although the TTC was relatively quiet, it wasn’t hard to look at all the queues and gates and imagine what the TTC must be like on a busy day. The anticipation that builds up when you get to the Magic Kingdom by way of the TTC was a lot of fun to experience; going through the TTC feels like you’re leaving the “real world” to enter into a more magical place.

While I could have taken the express monorail to the Magic Kingdom, I wanted keep doing things differently from the way I usually do them when I visit the MK, so I boarded the passenger ferry instead. I loved the slow ride across to the entrance to the Magic Kingdom – it really builds up the anticipation and the excitement seeing Cinderella Castle and Main Street Station getting closer and closer as you travel on the Seven Seas Lagoon.

I had come to the Magic Kingdom to participate in something that few guests have a chance to do. Every afternoon, The Magic Kingdom holds a flag retreat ceremony; if you’re a current or former member of the military, you can volunteer to be a part of the ceremony. On my first visit to the Magic Kingdom, I went to City Hall and asked if I could participate in the ceremony; I was asked to meet the security guards that would be conducting the ceremony in Town Square about 15 minutes prior to the ceremony’s start time. I got to the Magic Kingdom with plenty of time to spare, so I walked over to the front porch of Exposition Hall and sat in one of the rocking chairs and watched the guests enjoying their day. I spent about half and hour in the rocking chair, then walked over to the Town Square flagpole; Joe, the head of the security detail, met me there, introduced me to the rest of the guards on the detail, and explained how the ceremony was done. We did a very quick dry run of the ceremony, and then took our places across from Main Street Station. At the start of the ceremony, the WDW Marching Band marched into Town Square and took their positions at the Cinderella Castle end of the square while the guards and I stood at attention; once they were in place, we marched up to the flagpole. Joe and the guards lowered, retrieved, and folded the flag, and then Joe handed the flag to me. One of the guards introduced me to the guests and cast members watching the ceremony and handed me a folder that I held behind the flag; once I had the flag and the folder, the detail turned and followed the marching band to the corner of Town Square between Tony’s and the DVC information booth. When we got there, I handed the flag to one of the guards, and the guard showed me the folder I had been handed during the ceremony. The folder contained a certificate naming me the Magic Kingdom Veteran of the Day, a Veteran of the Day pin, and a voucher for a free photo of me during the ceremony. Shortly after, a PhotoPass photographer came up to us, took some photos of me with the detail, and handed me a PhotoPass card that listed all of the photographs that he had taken of us during the ceremony. I thanked the guards in the detail for making sure I didn’t make a fool of myself and went on my way; as I walked around Town Square, I had several people come up to me and thank me for my service to the nation. I felt really special participating in the ceremony, but I think the most touching part of the whole thing was being thanked by those people.

After taking part in the ceremony, I walked around and looked around the shops in Town Square. As I was window shopping, I remembered that I still hadn’t found any Wonka Bars, so I walked over to the Main Street Confectionary. At last, success! The Confectionery had a bin full of Wonka Bars, so I picked up several of them (I wasn’t going to take the chance that I wouldn’t be able to get more Wonka Bars if I really liked them). I left the Confectionery and stopped at the pin cart just outside, where I bought a few pins and traded a few more pins with a couple of cast members and one child that were nearby.

I have to admit that by this point I was getting discouraged about pin trading. I’d been wearing my lanyard just about every time I’d visited a WDW theme park, and I’d made sure to bring plenty of Disneyland pins with me so I’d have something good to trade, but there wasn’t much worth trading on other lanyards; several CMs saw my disappointment and commented that “pin sharks” commonly showed up at the parks early in the day and traded the best pins on the lanyards for the undesirable ones they’d picked up. About the only CMs who had any nice pins were ones who only traded with kids. I’d given up on trading at Disneyland after seeing this sort of thing often, and I was beginning to wonder if I should do the same at WDW.

I decided to get my mind off the disappointing pin trading and went over to the Hall of Presidents. The show was a lot of fun, although the one of the projectors was a bit blurry; at the end of the show I made sure to take a minute to look at the seats in the theatre, since Alex had mentioned during lunch that they’d replaced the old red plastic seats with something more appropriate for the theatre. They did look nice, but I’m sure my inspection got a few quizzical stares.

I walked over to Frontierland and checked the standby queue at Big Thunder Mountain Railroad; the queue time was about 60 minutes and Fastpasses were being given out for 45 minutes later, so I picked up a Fastpass and went over to the WDW Railroad Frontierland station and rode over to Main Street. From there, I walked up Main Street tot the Plaza and noticed they were showing the Dreams Come True show in the forecourt – do they put on this show continuously or something? By the time I’d walked back to Big Thunder, the Fastpass was valid, so I entered the Fastpass queue. I love the WDW version of the attraction – there’s so much more detail and there are more vignettes as you travel along. You can even try the infamous “goat trick” from Disneyland when you come off the second lift hill, although you probably look a bit silly doing it because there’s no goat to stare at!

I walked through Adventureland after I left Big Thunder and noticed that the Swiss Family Treehouse was almost completely empty, so I went in and walked around. I miss not having this attraction at Disneyland, but considering how few people went through this version and how I heard a mom have to explain to her child who exactly the Swiss family were, I can see why it was replaced in California. I suspect it may not be at WDW for much longer, either.

It was almost time for Wishes when I left the treehouse, but since I’d already seen it twice that week, I felt like I could afford to skip it. Instead, I left the MK and hopped the bus back to Riverside and met Suzy (who’d had a very relaxing evening in the room). I made myself a quick snack from the food we’d brought with us to the room worked on my notes and did a little reading, then went to bed.

Day 9 - Saturday, January 13th

When I got back from my usual morning walk and got dressed, Suzy gave me 3 choices for things we could do that day: Ride an airboat, visit the Henry Leu Gardens, or visit Holy Land Experience. The vision of me riding around on an airboat like the characters on “Gentle Ben” sounded to me like the most fun option, so I chose the airboat. We got into the van and started driving south from the WDW property, stopping for lunch at Chik-Fil-A. This turned out to be quite a long drive, even for us drive-happy Californians; in order to get to Boggy Creek Airboat Rides, we drove on Poinciana Boulevard from where it intersected with US 192 to where it changed names, proceeded past several miles of swamp and cattle ranches, and then finally dead-ended. You know you’re in the middle of nowhere in central Florida when you get to a place where the nearest housing development is several miles away.

Boggy Creek operated out of the ranger station of a state park; it looked like the most popular activities at the park where picnicking (there was a large area set aside for this purpose right next to the ranger station), bass fishing (there was a small fleet of bass boats at the ranger station’s marina and boat ramp coming back from a fishing contest when we arrived), and the activities offered by Boggy Creek. The folks at Boggy Creek offered us a couple of choices: A 30 minute tour for up to 18 people on a large airboat, a 45-minute ride for up to 6 people on a small airboat, and a monster truck buggy ride through their adjoining nature preserve. (During the summer, they also offer night airboat tours – apparently some critters are more active at night in the warmer months.) As it happened, they also offered combination tickets besides the individual tours, so Suzy and I decided to purchase the buggy ride & large airboat combo ticket (which cost us $35 each after the AAA discount).

We hung out in the ranger station for a little bit, getting our pictures taken with an enormous stuffed gator and perusing the gift shop (I’m not sure there was any room for a ranger anywhere in this ranger station!) before we heard the call to board our buggy tour. The buggy was a radically modified former school bus; the bus had basically been stripped down to its engine, roof, and chassis, had all the original seats ripped out and replaced with two rows of side-facing seats, and had the chassis modified to allow the bus to drive around on a set of monster truck tires (gigantic truck tires are best for going through swamps and mud). We walked up a large gangplank to get up to the passenger area, and then took our seats; the bus pulled away from the gangplank and crossed the road into the company’s nature preserve, which had previously been a cattle ranch. The driver assured us that the road through the preserve had recently been graded, but we still experienced a fairly bumpy ride and had to deal with a lot of dust; I’d hate to think what this trip must have been like before they graded the road! The company had placed several feeders that were rigged to dispense food a couple of times a day throughout the property, and the natural denizens of the preserve were out availing themselves of the feeders as we went through. The variety of animals we saw on the buggy trip was impressive; on our 45 minute trip, we saw wild turkeys, raccoons, whitetail deer, and sandhill cranes. We even spotted a nest with a bald eagle and her chicks. For the benefit of those people who insist that a swamp trip just isn’t a swamp trip without alligators, there was also a fenced enclosure with a couple of gators that had been raised in captivity. (For the record, wintertime just isn’t the time to go looking for gators, wild or captive. In the cold months, the wild gators go into hibernation and are very well hidden, and the captivity-raised gators, while not hidden like their cousins in the wild, aren’t very active.)

Overall, Suzy and I thought the Boggy Creek buggy tour was pretty good. The only thing we’d done that could compare with this tour was a swamp buggy tour we did with the Nature Conservancy at the Disney Wilderness Preserve a few years ago; the Nature Conservancy tour was cheaper ($10 vs. $35 at Boggy Creek), but since the Nature Conservancy didn’t want to resort to sneaky (and unnatural) stuff like timed feeders, we didn’t see anywhere near as many animals on their tour.

After the Buggy tour, we returned to the ranger station marina and when we heard the call proceeded to the main dock for the airboat tour. As we approached the airboat, we were each handed a set of earphones and the children were handed lifejackets to wear (kids have to wear lifejackets on boats per Florida law). The earphones were most definitely not for decoration – the airboat engines were extremely loud and they’re no more than about 20 feet from where the passengers were sitting. This didn’t seem like it would be very conducive to finding wildlife on the lakeshore as promised in the brochure, but what the driver would do would be to take the boat up to speed to get us to a particular part of the lakeshore, then cut the engine speed down to where he could maneuver slowly (and more importantly, to a noise level where we could hear him) to get into narrow coves; when he found some wildlife, he’d cut the motor completely and let the boat drift to where the animal could be seen. Since airboats aren’t encumbered by propellers and rudders that can get fouled in the reeds and cypress branches near the shoreline, the driver could get us close into areas where most boats couldn’t get to, and the procedure the driver used when we got close to the critters allowed us to see them without their being startled. There was almost as much variety on the lake as there was in the nature preserve. We saw lots of herons and cranes, we spotted another nest of bald eagles, and we even found a few small wild gators.

We spent about the first 20 to 25 minutes looking for wildlife, then the driver took us a little farther away from the shoreline (but still close enough to the shoreline that we were amongst the reeds) and opened up the throttle on his engine to show us what an airboat could do. It turns out that what an airboat can do is go very, very fast and make very wild pivots and tight turns! It was fun, but it definitely wasn’t comfortable; besides the noise from the engine and the wind and spray that was kicked up from going so fast, the boat tended to swerve (the airflow from the engine passes a set of rudders which control the steering, and the rudders don’t keep the boat totally under control) and at high speed the ride on an airboat becomes similar to driving on somewhat uneven concrete without the benefit of shock absorbers. The maneuvers and the bumpy ride were too much for Suzy; when we got back to the dock, she had to find a bench and lie down for a little while just to get over her motion sickness. I felt all right after getting off the boat, so I got out my camera and got some pictures of the wild birds hanging out at the marina while Suzy rested. The airboat ride was fun, but I don’t think we’ll be doing it again any time soon.

As we drove back along Southport/Poinciana, Suzy noticed all the new housing developments we were passing, and she got a case of what I like to call “real estate fever”. We wound up stopping at a development that was under construction so that we could have a look at some of the homes they were building, and then we drove through a couple of the established developments in Poinciana looking for “for sale” and “open house” signs. Suzy was having a pretty good time, but I wasn’t too thrilled at wandering around aimlessly looking at houses; after a little while, Suzy noticed and took pity on me, driving us back toward WDW. Still, even I have to admit the housing prices are really reasonable in Poinciana, and the houses look really nice. Who knows? Maybe we’ll be living in Poinciana someday.

It was getting dark by the time we were getting close to the WDW property, so we started discussing our options for the evening. We considered a trip to DisneyQuest, but I was getting a bad headache (maybe that airboat ride DID affect me!), so the last thing I wanted to deal with was playing video games. We decided that dinner at Beaches and Cream sounded like a better option. We stopped to gas up the van at the Downtown Disney Hess, and then drove over to the Beach Club. Since it turned out that Suzy’s Disney Dining Experience card entitled us to free valet parking with dinner at Beaches and Cream, we decided to live a little and leave the keys with the valet.

Dinner at Beaches and Cream was excellent, as always; I think that the place is the best place to get a burger on the WDW property. (Let’s keep that to ourselves, shall we? The place is busy enough as it is!) Suzy and I both had cheeseburgers; Suzy decided to be healthy and get fruit as her side, while I decided to stick with the traditional French fries.
For dessert, Suzy got a great chocolate cake with ice cream. I decided to be different and got a Frozen Sunshine, a shake with vanilla ice cream, orange sherbet, and seltzer. It was absolutely wonderful, and the portion you get when you order it makes it a good value; for $4.99, you get a large glass plus half a metal mixing cup of Frozen Sunshine. My headache was long gone by the time dessert was done.

We were ready to go back to Riverside after dinner; I worked on my trip report notes for a little bit while Suzy read her book, but after a while I decided that a little TV might be a nice change of pace. We watched “Top Seven Things to Do at WDW”; who puts these shows together, anyway? The host was just plain annoying, the camera was one quick cut after another and lot s of jarring camera work and odd camera angles. I swear, the student productions from the old Disney Institute were better than this, and the students had only been working with the cameras for a couple of days! A little less hip, a little more magic for the next one of these things you put together, guys.

[schnebs]

Day 10 - Sunday, January 14th

We got an early start that day – the alarm clock went off at 6:45 and Mickey and Stitch called in to make sure we were up at 7:00. It’s a good thing Mickey didn’t bring up what “big doin’s” we had planned for the day – we were going off property to someone else’s theme park!

We left the WDW property and headed out on I-4 toward Tampa. We were headed for Busch Gardens Tampa, but we weren’t sure how bad the drive was going to be, so we had decided to get an early start. It turned out that we needn’t have worried so much; we made the 50 mile trip to BGT in under an hour, arriving at the park a little before 9:00, and there was little traffic and not an accident in sight. We’d kill for freeway conditions like this back home! When we got to the BGT parking lot entrance (which we almost missed – it was hard to tell if it was the entrance to the parking lot or just the water park!), we were given the choice of paying $9 for regular parking or $14 for preferred parking. I overcame my inner cheapskate and we ponied up the extra 5 bucks. We were directed to a road that took us out of the main parking lot and underneath the main thoroughfare; we ended up in a smaller lot near the main entrance and were told to park a couple of rows from handicapped parking. That’s a pretty significant difference in parking for $5!

We walked over to the main entrance and purchased our tickets. I picked up a one-day ticket, which was $60 with the AAA discount. Since Suzy planned to be in town for a little longer than I would be and she wanted to visit SeaWorld, she purchased a BGT/SeaWorld combo ticket. Her combo ticket didn’t qualify for the AAA discount, but at about $100 it was significantly cheaper than buying separate admission to both parks, and unlike the Disney Magic Your Way base tickets, she had 30 days to use the ticket instead of 14. It seems like other parks are a lot more flexible on admission than Disney.

We’d heard that BGT had a pretty good selection of tours, so we visited the Adventure Tour Center and asked about our options. There were plenty of options – including individual tours, group tours, tours with an animal focus, tours with a roller coaster junkie focus, and a 5-hour general orientation tour – but very few of them were available; even though we’d gotten there almost at park opening, most of the available tours were already sold out. BGT offers the option to purchase tours prior to the day you visit, and based on our experience. I’d highly recommend you consider doing so if you want to take any kind of tour at BGT! The prices on the tours range from about $35 plus admission to the “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it” price range.

We’d heard so much about BGT’s newest attraction, Rhino Rally, that we decided to try that attraction first. Unlike the Disney parks, BGT’s layout isn’t all that logical, so it took us a little more work and a little more reading of the signs and maps than we’re used to, but eventually we found our way to the entrance – or more correctly, to the rope line blocking the entrance until the ride’s official opening time. The attraction can best be described as part Kilimanjaro Safaris, part Jungle Cruise; the story is that you’re participating in a off-road race around Africa in Land Rover-like vehicles, but the drivers all appear to be frustrated stand-up comedians that love bad jokes (even cornier ones that at Disney, folks) and occasionally point animals in what are obviously enclosures. The big difference on this attraction is that partway through, the bridge you’re traversing over in the vehicle “separates” and carries you on a mild raft ride. It’s a fun ride, but it’s a rough and a bumpy one; if you get on this attraction expecting to see a lot of animals like you do on Kilimanjaro Safaris, you’re going to be disappointed.

The Serengeti Express, BGT’s steam train, had a station right next to the entrance to Rhino Rally, and we’d hoped to hop a ride on the train after we’d ridden the Rally. No such luck – we’d just missed the train and the wait time for the next train was more than 20 minutes! We’d noticed that BGT still had a sky ride, so we searched around for the entrance (Like I said, BGT isn’t well laid out) and boarded the vehicle. The chance to get in a sky bucket was enough of a treat for me, but it turned out that’s it’s a very long ride and that it gives you the chance to get a good look at the animals on the Serengeti Plain, so we were glad to have ridden it.

Like all good sky rides, the BGT sky ride is one-way, so we hopped off in the Stanleyville section of the park and walked around to have a look. This was when we got our first look at BGT’s latest and greatest coaster, Sheikra. For those of you that haven’t heard about it, this is a stand-up coaster that consists of fun stuff like two 90-degree drops (complete with momentary pauses just before the drops), several inversions, and a section of the attraction that kicks up a giant streak of water as you pass. Suzy’s not a coaster person at all, and this coaster looked like way more than I could handle, so we both decided to give Sheikra a wide berth. Instead, we picked up a big bag of popcorn from a concession stand and walked around looking at some of the exhibits and animal enclosures in the vicinity.

Our first stop was Lorikeet Landing, a large aviary full of the eponymous lorikeets and several other species of birds. Suzy had fun talking to a blue macaw that had an extensive vocabulary (and especially loved the word “cracker”). We’d bought nectar to feed the lorikeets in other zoos, so we didn’t feel much need to buy some here; of course, the lorikeets felt no particular need to have anything to do with us, since we weren’t feeding them. Fortunately for us, a handler named Dan who had more lorikeets hanging around him than he knew what to do with saw Suzy noticing all the attention he was getting, and Dan perched a couple of “his” birds on Suzy’s head. When a spooned hornbill came up to Dan for a meal, Dan gave Suzy some treats to give to the hornbill – a handful of mealworms! Suzy had a wonderful time in the aviary.

We walked by Dragon’s Lair, a large and very elaborate children’s play area. The play area had lots things to do, such as suspension bridges, mazes, electric cars on a track and a jungle gym. If someone came here with small kids, I have no doubt where the kids would want to spend their day! After we passed Dragon’s Lair, we walked though a second, smaller aviary with large birds, then admiring the beautiful landscaping in the southwestern corner of the park. By the looks of things, this had been the original entrance to the park; you could even see what had to be the former ticket booths, which looked like they hadn’t seen any activity in a long time. Wonder why they decided to close this entrance? I think the most… interesting, for lack of a better word… horticultural exhibit was the floral Anheuser-Busch logo. I got a picture of myself in front of the thing, and as I left I saw a lot of other people doing the same.

We visited the park’s conservation gift shop (which looked old enough to me to be the park’s original gift shop), then I noticed there was a small restaurant next to a lagoon across the way. A closer inspection revealed that this was better than a restaurant – it was where Anheuser-Busch handed out free samples of beer! Suzy must have noticed my eyes light up, since she suggested we go over and see if they had anything to eat while I got a sample. It turned out that the place did have a small quick-service location, so we got a slice of pepperoni pizza that was big enough for the two of us to share, an equally large slice of chocolate cake, and two individual side salads. (Amazingly, we both passed up on their premiere item – the pizza and fries special.) I went over to the sample counter and got an AB special ale – which I hated so much I tossed it after one or two sips. Unfortunately, this meant that I had just squandered my free beer, and I wouldn’t be allowed to get another one for two hours. Suzy to the rescue! Suzy doesn’t drink, but she was kind enough to get a Bud Light and give it to me, saving me the trouble of getting a Coke from the restaurant. We grabbed a table out on the patio facing the lagoon and ate our lunch as a jazz combo started up behind us. As I ate, I also noticed a Bud NASCAR display and a TV showing old Bud commercials. Apparently, they’d like you to stay in this area for a while…

Since Suzy indulged me by letting me drink free beer, I though it’d only be fair to return the favor and let her choose where we’d go next. As it happened, there was an amphitheatre next to the Hospitality House and it had a bird show that was about to start, so Suzy decided we should go there. We both liked the bird show, but I liked it more than Suzy did. I liked the variety of birds they used in the show, including some species I hadn’t seen before; Suzy thought she had seen better bird shows at other zoos.

Maybe it was the beer, maybe it was the fact that we’d already been at a theme park that was knows as a coaster park for half a day and I hadn’t actually ridden a single coaster, but it was at this point I decided I had to tackle one of BGT’s headliner coasters. (That was just fine with Suzy, since this would give her a chance to sit on a bench and read or take a nap.) We were close to Gwazi, and that sounded like a good coaster to start with, so I decided to brave the 45-minute wait in the standby line. Now, for those of you reading this report and saying to yourself, “What’s a Gwazi?”, it’s a wooden racing coaster (in other words, it runs two trains that go along at the same time on parallel tracks); it’s named after a mythical beast that’s part lion, part tiger, so the two tracks are known as the “Lion” and “Tiger” tracks. As it happened, only Lion track was running, which explained the wait; however, the BGT employees were doing a great job of getting people through the attraction, so the actual wait ended up being only about 30 to 35 minutes. Gwazi has to be the wildest wooden coaster I’ve ever been on! I’d ridden Ghostrider at Knott’s Berry Farm and the coaster at Belmont Park in San Diego, so I thought a wild wooden coaster wouldn’t be a problem for me, but this wooden coaster is very fast and has many sharp turns and banks, and even with two restraints (a seat belt and a lap bar) on, I could still feel my rear end coming out of the seat several times during the ride. It’s a great coaster, but it’s definitely not for the timid; if the Disney coasters are too much for you, this one will be, too.

After I survived Gwazi, Suzy and I walked over to the Nairobi train station (the one next to Rhino Rally where we’d missed the train earlier) to see if we could ride the Serengeti Express. There was only a 10 minute wait, but the platform was packed; I wasn’t really sure if we’d get on the train, but I knew that if we didn’t, we’d be in for a long wait for the next one. The crew we had was a good one, however, and they managed to get almost everyone who was waiting on to the train. The engines of the Serengeti Express, like their sisters at WDW, are actual steam trains(although they’re propelled by natural gas instead of oil or coal); unlike their counterparts at WDW, the trains are so slow and the route’s so meandering that the trains are not a good bet for in-park transportation even though there are 3 stations in the park. It does offer great views of the animals on the Serengeti Plain, especially, if you sit on the left side of the train facing the engine, so it’s worth a ride. Let me warn you in advance about one of the stations, though – the Stanleyville station is the only railroad station I’ve seen that has a platform with a “splash zone”! You see, the station is right underneath the track for Sheikra; the section of track it’s under happens to be the one right after the section where part of the coaster trains kick up a ton of water, and the coaster trains still have plenty of water on them when they pass over the railroad station – water which drips all over boarding and departing passengers who don’t pay attention to the coaster trains above!

Suzy and I rode the full loop on the Serengeti Express, and then walked over to the Crown Colony section of the park so we could pay a visit to the Budweiser Clydesdale Hamlet. We had a chance to see the horses in their stalls and getting some exercise, and we could have had our photo taken with a Clydesdale if we wanted (for a fee, of course).
The hamlet had a display of Clydesdale harnesses and a TV showing the same commercials as the NASCAR Bud display at the Hospitality House. The Hamlet also has an “honorary Clydesdale” donkey that folks may remember from the Budweiser commercials. Next to the Hamlet was a small museum, the Show Jumping Hall of Fame, celebrating the equestrian sport of show jumping and the people and horses that have made major contributions to the sport. Not surprisingly, one of the first inductees to the Hall was a member of the Busch family – how else did you think that the Show Jumping Hall of Fame ended up in an Anheuser-Busch theme park?

We continued walking to the Crown Colony into the Egypt section of the park. The themeing here was actually pretty good, even including a recreation of the tomb of King Tut as discovered by Howard Carter in 1922. Sadly, it didn’t seem to be attracting much interest, but Suzy and I went in and were fascinated by the exhibit. If you need something to do at BGT while the coaster fanatic on your family rides Montu, this is a good place to visit.

Speaking of Montu, the Egyptian-themed steel roller coaster that dominates this section of the park, I decided that it looked wild enough to be fun but not wild enough to give me a heart attack, so I went to the entrance while Suzy looked for a suitable place to relax. The coaster had no wait – it’s a pretty quick loader, it’s in a remote corner of the park, and it’s lost some of it’s cachet with the coaster fanatics now that wilder attractions like Sheikra are open. The coaster’s a “floorless” model (your feet dangle as you sit in your seat on the train) and it’s fast, with lots of twists, turns, and clearances that look incredibly tight as you zip through them at whatever speed the coaster travels. I had a blast; Suzy had a look at Montu later from the parking lot and commended me on being brave enough to ride it!

We left Egypt and enter the Edge of Africa, a large African animal exhibit that reminds me a lot of the Pagani Forest Exploration Trail at DAK. Our first stop was the hippo pond, which offers viewing of the hippos from above and below water; I was amazed by how fast and agile hippos are when they’re in the water! The next two exhibits were the chimpanzee and gorilla exhibits. BGT did a great job with these, especially their gorilla exhibit; they were especially proud of their 1-year-old baby gorilla, the first ever born at BGT. The area also had meerkat and lemur exhibits, plus a large and pond filled with African water birds.

Once we’d walked through Edge of Africa, Suzy and I had seen all we’d really come to see at BGT, so we left the park at about 5:00. We’d passed on a lot of coasters, but both of us were more than fine with that. Overall, we were impressed with Busch Gardens Tampa. It’s seems like a nice park – very clean, well-maintained, and the landscaping and horticulture exhibits were very well done. It’s not as well-themed as DAK, but it has more exhibits and more to do in a smaller space. Both parks emphasize conservation and the environment, although Anheuser-Busch isn’t as heavy-handed and preachy about it as Disney is, in Suzy’s opinion. Prices at DAK and BGT are comparable, but in some cases you get more for your money at BGT (like with ticket prices and snack foods like popcorn). To be fair, if you like beer, you’re not going to be happy at BGT, because you’ll be charged more for one there. (Must be how they pay for all that free beer they give away.) If you’re a coaster junkie, love animals (or a child in your party loves animals), or appreciate horticulture, you should consider giving BGT a visit.

Suzy was in the mood for barbeque for dinner, thanks to the smell of the stuff coming from a restaurant at Busch Gardens Tampa, but neither of us wanted to spend premium prices for it, so we asked the BGT employees where we might find a barbeque place nearby. They directed us to a Sonny’s Barbeque just down the road from the BGT entrance, and we had a nice dinner there; Suzy had the chicken and ribs combo with potato salad and corn on the cob, while I had sliced pork, cole slaw, and barbeque baked beans. Suzy feels that a trip to the South just isn’t complete without having some real Southern barbeque, and I agree; Sonny’s is a chain operation, but they do a good job and the prices are pretty reasonable. Give ‘em a try sometime.

It was getting dark by the time we got on the I-4 to drive back to Orlando, but we weren’t necessarily in the mood to go back to WDW just yet. When we got close to Kissimmee, we remembered that we’d talked about visiting the Gaylord Palms Hotel and Convention Center, so we kept our eyes open for a sign directing us there; sure enough, we found a sign, so we left I-4 to have a look.

The first thing we noticed about the Gaylord Palms was that the price for parking was steep. I don’t know about hotel guests, but if you’re a visitor to the hotel, parking costs $10 per day, and the only discounts available are for folks who eat at the hotel’s sit-down restaurants! We decided that we really wanted to see this place, though, so we bit the bullet and parked in the main parking lot. We entered through the convention center, which was large and impressive in its own right; there was a conference of veterinarians letting out when we walked in, and Suzy, as much of an animal lover as she is, couldn’t resist the urge to browse the materials in the conference booths. I kept myself busy taking in the sheer spectacle of the convention center and couldn’t help but wonder what the hotel would be like.

We entered the main hotel, and the first word that came to my mind when I saw it was “spectacular”. The Gaylord Palms consists of a couple of large buildings with a large glass roof in between them, creating a large central atrium and two smaller enclosed atriums; inside the enclosed spaces are a number of areas themed to parts of Florida. For example, a large part of the central atrium is themed to St. Augustine, with a shopping arcade themed to a Spanish plaza and a reproduction of a Spanish fort. One of the smaller atriums is themed to Key West, complete with gift shop “shacks”, a sailboat next to a lagoon, a replica of the “southernmost point in the USA” marker found in the real Key West, and even a place where you can be photographed having caught a prize swordfish! The other smaller atrium is themed to the Everglades, with two levels of walkways that allow you to walk through a “swamp”, a pair of shacks that house a restaurant and an exhibit of reptiles and snakes from Gatorland. There are bodies of water in both areas that are stocked with fish native to the parts of Florida they’re themed to. I understand that the lagoons in the wings also host shows put on by Gatorland where they bring out several Florida animals, including alligators. Outside of the buildings are two large pools, one intended more for adults and themed to South Beach in Miami and another with giant sculptures of an octopus and seahorses, waterslides, and fountains. Between the two pools and under the bridge connecting the hotel and convention center is a large sports bar and pool bar, and on the other side of the Miami pool is a miniature golf course complete with sand traps. All the rooms facing the atrium have balconies, and there’s a Canyon Ranch Spa as well as lots of shopping and dining options. Suzy and I theorized that the Gaylord folks built this hotel with the idea of creating a resort that tops the theming and luxury of the top-end Disney resorts, and although we didn’t get to see the rooms, we both thought that they’d succeeded. We’d love to see if the rooms are as good as the public areas!

Suzy and I spent a while wandering around the Gaylord Palms just taking everything in. We stopped at a Ben and Jerry’s in the St. Augustine shopping court for a couple of cones, then perused some of the other shops (including a WDW shop run by Disney) in the court. We had a look at all of the areas in the atrium, read over the menus in the hotel restaurants, and picked up some souvenirs and the day’s USA Today and Orlando Sentinel in the hotel’s main gift shop. After spending about an hour or two wandering the hotel, we returned to the parking lot and steeled ourselves for the prospect of paying the parking fee; fortunately for us, we headed to the exit and discovered that the gates to the exit were open and the booths were unmanned – we wouldn’t even have to worry about the parking fee!

After leaving the Gaylord Palms, we realized that we needed to pick up a few things for the room, so we drove over to US 192 to do some shopping. We went over to Target, but when we arrived, we discovered that they would be closing in a few minutes, so we didn’t even walk in to the store. As we walked away from the entrance to Target and walked back toward the car, we discovered a large crane wandering the parking lot. Suzy thought that the crane might be injured or confused and that we should check to see if it was all right, but every time we tried to approach it, the crane would quickly walk away from us. We watched the crane for a little while longer, but no matter what happened anywhere around it, the crane remained perfectly calm and absolutely refused to leave the parking lot. After a while, we decided that, although the crane had chosen an odd place to hang out, it knew what it was doing, so we bid farewell to the crane and got back on US 192 to continue our shopping trip.

We drove a little farther down 192 and stopped in at the Kissimmee Wal-Mart. Suzy picked up some groceries we needed, I picked up a new memory card for my digital camera (I’d already filled up the two cards I’d brought to Orlando with me), and then we both looked over the selection of Disney-themed items on display. Folks, if you need to get some cheap Disney-themed souvenirs for the folks back home (or for members of your party if the prices at the WDW gift shops are a little too shocking for your wallet), this is a good place to go. It was a little spooky going to Wal-Mart so late at night, but we were able to get our business done quickly and with no problems.

We got back on US 192 and drove back to WDW, which gave me the chance to admire the changes they’d made to the area since our last visit. There have been a lot of improvements to 192 since our last visit in 2005; the road appears to be wider and has better signage, and there is now nice landscaping and large sidewalks on the sides of the road. There’s still too much neon and too many garish signs on 192, though; it would be great if Kissimmee would undertake a major beautification project like the city of Anaheim did a couple of years ago. We got back to WDW, tired but happy, and we called it a night.

Day 11 – Monday, January 15th

I started my day with another early wake-up call (at 7:00 this time) from Stitch. I wasn’t thrilled about getting up early again, but I had to get to Epcot for a tour that morning! I got dressed, had a bowl of cereal for breakfast, walked down to Fulton’s to get a copy of the Orlando Sentinel, and boarded the Disney bus to Epcot.

I arrived at the main entrance to Epcot at about 8:40 – twenty minutes before the official park opening and twenty minutes before the start of the tour. After asking a couple of cast members, I found out that I could use the early entry gate (which was marked as being available only for folks with early reservations for the princess breakfast at Restaurant Akershus) to enter the park, after which I could proceed to Epcot Guest Relations to check in for the tour. I passed through the gate (although I was slightly delayed because there was no list of people taking tours available) and headed over to Guest Relations, which was located just past the entrance of Spaceship Earth on the left. I checked in at the main desk and found a lot of people there for tours (my guess would be at least two dozen people there), but was a little disappointed to find almost all of them were there for the World Showcase Segway tour, not the UnDISCOVERed Future World tour I was signed up for. Once the Segway folks were gone, in fact, it turned out there were exactly three people in our tour group; my companions for the tour were an older couple who were originally from Florida and had been at the Magic Kingdom on its opening day but were now living in Alabama. We met Robert, our tour guide, who welcomed us on the tour, introduced himself and had all three of us introduce each other, and took us to our first stop.

We walked out of Guest Relations and over near Spaceship Earth. Robert explained to us that Epcot the theme park grew out of Walt’s ideas for a city of the same name that was to be built on the WDW property; although Epcot the city never came to be, some of Walt’s ideas about Epcot (the city) influenced what Epcot (the theme park) became, and Robert explained that he’d be showing us examples of that influence as we walked around Future World.

Robert told us about Spaceship Earth, the icon of the park. He explained SSE’s role as the park’s “weenie” (Point of visual reference if you prefer to be more academic-sounding), the thing that draws the guests in from the entrance and starts them off on their journey through the park. Robert explained the origin of the term “weenie” to us; Walt used to have a dog named Lady, and one of the ways Walt would get Lady’s attention was to take out and wave little pieces of hot dog at her. Much as those pieces of hot dog got Lady’s attention, icons like Cinderella Castle, the Tree of Life, and Spaceship earth capture our attention and get us to go where the Imagineers would like us to go.

Robert explained the design of Spaceship Earth, which is a geosphere (not a geodesic dome, but the design was inspired by geodesic domes); he also explained that under the silver exterior was another shell that contained the attraction. Robert then pulled a small square of a light metal from his pocket, and explained that this was a sample of the material that Spaceship Earth is made of, an aluminum alloy called Alucobond. Robert explained that Alucobond was used to create Spaceship Earth’s outer sphere because it’s light, durable, and best of all it cleans itself whenever it rains! Speaking of rain, Robert explained how someone can stand under Spaceship Earth when it rains and not get drenched by all the water draining off of it (stand under a large balloon or beach ball in the rain and you’ll see what I mean); the spaces between the triangle-shaped segments of “skin” serve as gutters, and the water collected in them drains into those gutters, down through the legs the sphere stands on, and down into the water table. I asked about the wand hand added to Spaceship Earth and asked if there were any plans for removal of the wand that he’d heard of; Robert responded that any rumors that the wand would be removed (in an emergency or otherwise) were false. In fact, a common rumor has circulated that in the event of a hurricane, the wand hand could be lowered; the hand is in fact designed to withstand hurricane-force winds without any ill effects – as was demonstrated in the storm that passed through central Florida a few years ago.

We walked back into Guest Relations and proceeded backstage for a brief look at a window from a past look at technology and a bit of current technology. In the room behind Guest Relations, Robert pointed out a window where guests could once look into Epcot Computer Central and see the rows of large computers that controlled all the Audio-Animatronics music, and other functions of the attractions in the park. The reason nobody gets to see Computer Central anymore is that there’s not much to see anymore; over the years, computer technology has progressed to the point where it was no longer necessary to have a large room full of computers to control the attractions. The attractions’ computers are now small enough that they are located in the backstage areas of the individual show buildings. Although there was nothing to see in Computer Central, we did get to see a little of how computers are a part of a Disney cast member’s day. In a corner of the room we were in was a PC that was connected to WDW’s Cast Deployment System, which allows cast members to clock in and out from work, check their work schedules and locations, and even receive internal e-mail.

We went back on-stage by entering Innoventions East, where Robert showed us a wall display of the history of the Walt Disney Company. From Innoventions East, we walked past the large fountain in the Innoventions central courtyard. Robert explained that this fountain was a technological marvel in its own right, able to shoot off thousands of gallons of water in highly intricate patterns during its daily shows; the fountain’s hundreds of jets are computer-controlled, and a new fountain show can take an Imagineer up to six months to program! We walked into a corridor at the far side of Innoventions West, where Robert pointed out a series of wall displays talking about the technological innovations Disney had pioneered. Robert pointed out that the innovations built on each other, and each innovation - - from the multiplane camera to the creation of Audio-Animatronics - represented a step toward making the audience a part of the experience. Walt Disney World, and specifically Epcot, was the culmination of that string of advances – a place where people could come and become part of an immersive entertainment experience.

On our way out of Innoventions West, Robert paused for a moment to point out a bit of Epcot history. When Epcot opened, each of the major pavilions were represented with a futuristic logo (The Living Seas had a logo that looked like a wave, Horizons had a logo that looked like a road leading off to the horizon, and so on). As the years went by and the pavilions changed, the logos fell by the wayside, but there are still little reminders of those days if you know where to look. There’s a section of carpet in a corridor at Innoventions West, near the exit from the Epcot Character Connection meet and greet. Look closely at the pattern of the carpet, and you’ll see that the carpet’s pattern is the old Communicore logo.

From Innoventions West, we walked over to The Seas with Nemo and Friends. We got a chance to enter the Coral Reef Restaurant before it opened to the public and got to admire the beautiful theming of the restaurant while Robert told us some interesting facts about The Seas’ massive aquarium:

• The main tank of the aquarium is large enough to fit Spaceship Earth inside.
• The windows of the tank are made of Plexiglas instead of glass, because Plexiglas doesn’t distort the view inside like glass would.
• The windows are thicker on the bottom than on the top and are held in place by the pressure of the water in the tank.
• The coral reefs in the tanks are man-made; the salt water in the tank was created by mixing salt into large amounts of local fresh water.
• The fish in the tank are all tagged; the tags are occasionally scanned and the health records of the fish are checked for illness.

We left The Seas and walked toward The Land. Robert talked about the landscaping of this part of Future World. The west side of Future World is the “natural side” of the area, and the landscaping reflects that, with bodies of water throughout, planters that are more rounded in shape, buildings that have fewer sharper edges, and so on. Near the Land, the landscaping is designed to reflect the view of the world from a hot air balloon (a theme that you see inside the pavilion, as well).

As we approached The Land’s main building, Robert pointed out the building’s design themes. The design of The Land is intended to evoke a volcano; the most obvious reference to this is the conical shape of the roof above the entrance, but is you look at the concrete walkways as you walk up to the main entrance, the floor has red and yellow streaks representing lava flow. The mural at either side of the entrance is a representation of a cross-section of the Earth; it also contains a “signature” of sorts – one piece of the birth stone of the artist’s son is embedded in the mural to the right of the doors as you walk in.

As we walked into the pavilion, Robert pointed out some of the design cues found in the pavilion’s atrium. The “balloons flying over the landscape” theme we saw outside was continued with a set of balloon sculptures suspended from the roof; below them, the seating sections for the Sunshine Seasons food court have 4 color schemes that represent the seasons of the year. Robert pointed out to us the circular design of the paths that led from the entrance to the stairs and escalators that take you to the lower level, which were intended to aid on the flow of guests to and from the lower level; unfortunately, with the addition of Soarin’s entrance near the base of one of the stairways, the flow has been completely altered!

Once Robert got us to the top of the staircases he’d just told us about, we were given a short break. I went downstairs to Sunshine Seasons for a snack and to get another look at the food court and the seating area; sure enough, the four seating sections are colored in ways to make you think of the four seasons! I got a fresh-baked cookie and some milk from the food court, the headed over to the place Robert had told us to meet after the break.

Shortly after I arrived and finished my cookie, Robert returned, and we headed to a set of doors right just to the left on the entrance of Soarin’. This door let us outside the pavilion, and we got a chance to see how big the Soarin’ show building really is – it’s hard to get a feel for the size of it from the guest areas of Future World, and trust me, it’s enormous! (Suzy and I were told later that Soarin’s show building is the largest building on the WDW property.) Robert told us a little bit about the attraction and how it worked; it’s essentially an IMAX screen turned upside down with a mechanical rig that lists the guests into the air, where they’re effectively surrounded by the screen. The rig was the brainstorm of an Imagineer, who used an Erector set he’d had as a kid and a weekend’s worth of tinkering to show how the effect could be achieved. (Note to parents: Don’t throw away those construction toys – if your kid becomes an Imagineer, he or she might need them someday!).

As Robert was telling us about the similarities and differences between the California and Florida versions of the attraction (the attractions are pretty similar, but in California the queue and cast costumes are themed to a high-desert airfield where in Florida everything has more of an airport terminal theme), a manager from The Land happened to walk by and asked us if we’d been on the attraction. I’d already been on both version, but the couple who’d come with me hadn’t wanted to brave the long queue, so the manager invited us all to skip the queue and board the attraction! Sometimes it pays to be at the right place at the right time.

After we rode Soarin’, Robert told us a little more about the history of the attraction. He pointed out the Downtown Los Angeles scene you see near the end of the film was actually test footage shot by Disney; when it came time to shoot the actual ride film, Disney was denied permission to fly over the area again, so the test footage was sped up and used instead.

We walked back on-stage and walked over to the Imagination pavilion. Robert explained to us that the building design had actually been considered for The Land, but that the design didn’t quite fit what was being planned; when Kodak approached Disney and indicated they were interested in sponsoring a pavilion, Disney pulled out the design and used it for Imagination. Robert walked us over to the pavilion’s famous reverse and “jumping” fountains, explaining that these fountains were the designs of an Imagineer who came up with the ideas for his own water fountains and liked them so much he brought them to work one day! The fountains are apparently so popular that Disney received protests when they were recently shut down for rehab, because rumors had spread that they were going to be shut down permanently.

We watched a monorail travel the track near the Imagination pavilion While Robert old us the story of how monorails came to Disney. Walt had ideas from the beginning about having a monorail system for Disneyland’s Tomorrowland, but the only models of monorail that people know of at the time were fairly slow and – since they were suspended from above – had a tendency to sway. When Walt was traveling in Germany a couple of years later, he happened upon a test track for a monorail that rode on top of a concrete beam instead of underneath, and he was so enthused about it he made a deal to bring the concept to America and have his Imagineers work with the German technicians to build a system for Disneyland. The WDW monorails are the latest generation of that same design concept, although the technology and even the way the monorail beams were built have changed significantly; Robert let us know that the Epcot monorail beams were made of concrete around a Styrofoam core, which makes them easier to build and replace!

We crossed over from the west side of Future World to the east side and visited the Universe of Energy building. Robert told us that Universe of Energy was the first Epcot pavilion built and was the largest building at WDW until Soarin’ opened at The Land. Robert explained that the building and the attraction were created because at the time Epcot was being designed, the company that is now ExxonMobil was getting a lot of grief from the public (this was in the middle of the 70’s energy crisis) and wanted a way to explain to people about energy and what goes into providing it. The centerpiece of the show – the trip through the realm of the dinosaurs – is a re-creation and expansion of a portion of the Ford Magic Skyway pavilion from the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair (the original dinosaurs from New York can be seen in the Primeval World diorama on the Disneyland Railroad).

We walked over to Mission: Space, and as we were walking, Robert had us take a look at the landscaping on this side of Future World. Since this was the “technology side” of Future World, the buildings and the planters were more angular; unlike the west side of the area, there were no bodies of water going through here. I don’t think I’d ever noticed the difference between the two sides before, but after Robert had pointed them out they seemed so obvious it’s hard to believe I’d missed it.

We arrived at Mission: Space and were taken to a fairly non-descript door a short distance away from the main entrance. Robert led us in to what turned out to be the foyer for Hewlett-Packard’s VIP lounge; we took an elevator up from the foyer to the lounge itself. The main lounge is in a large wedge above and between the pre-show and post- show queues, with large picture windows to allow lounge guests to observe the goings-on in both areas. We learned from Robert and the staff that HP’s guests in the lounge have some nice perks, including free snacks and drinks, a large-screen plasma TV, a photo printer (HP, of course) so they could print up their vacation photos, and even consoles so they can play the games in the post-show area along with the guests below! Robert had us look through the window to the pre-show area and explained that most of the items we could see – the centrifuge, the spaceship model, and the mission control consoles facing the guests – were all props from the movie “Mission to Mars”; however, the moon buggy that can be seen suspended from the ceiling in the pre-show area is the genuine article – it’s on loan from NASA. Also very real are the consoles in Mission Control facing away from the guests – those consoles actually control the attraction. We learned from Robert that the centrifuge is never actually stopped, even when the attraction is closed; it takes too long to get it moving again. Needless to say, the folks who clean it every night have to pay close attention when they’re working!

We left Mission: Space and walked next door to Test Track. Robert took us to a platform just beyond the main loading area and gave us a brief history of Disney vehicles; he explained that the first Disney cars for guests – the Autopia cars at Disneyland – originally ran free like real cars, until Disney discovered guests would do things like crash into each other and turns the cars sideways and walk off, leaving the road blocked! Like the Autopia cars, Test Track vehicles also run on a track, which is embedded in the roadway; unlike the Autopia cars and in spite of appearances, Test Track vehicles have a lot more wheels – 20, to be exact! Test Track’s vehicles each have 3 onboard computers, giving each vehicle more computer power than the Space Shuttle; the vehicles can “talk” to each other and can shut down the attraction if they determine they’re getting too close.
Robert explained that this safety feature can actually be a problem. The attraction can usually have up to 26 vehicles in operation and can handle about 30 when it gets really busy in the park. There are more vehicles, but if the cast members try to add more, the vehicles’ onboard computers will tend to shut the ride down! While we were on the platform, we also got to see a loading device and a vehicle shell where folks with accessibility problems can practice getting on and off the attraction before boarding – the fast pace of the attraction doesn’t allow much time to get in and out of your seat.

We went through a door at Test Track that took us backstage at the attraction – right below the track section used for the final speed run. We noticed how much the track vibrated when a vehicle passed, but we were assured by Robert that it’s supposed to! We also saw pieces of rubber scattered all over the ground in this area. Robert explained that these are the remnants of the vehicles’ tires! The material the track is made of eats up the tires; when the attraction first opened, the tires on a vehicle lasted an average of 3 days, but Goodyear was able to come up with a new tire design that allows the tires to last about a month. And by the way, don’t worry about a blowout – the tires are basically solid rubber! We got to walk through the rest of the Test Track backstage area, getting a peek into the vehicle maintenance garage; Robert also pointed out the new GM vehicles parked on the pavement in the middle of the high-speed loop – a subtle bit of product promotion by GM that most people are having too much fun to notice when they ride.

From Test Track, we took a short walk over to the Epcot cast building. We were taken past the shuttle bus entrance and into the main hall, where Robert told us about the various services and amenities offered to the cast members here, such as training classes, break areas, computer training, and paycheck issue. The main function of the Cast building, though, is to serve as the locker room and costume issue room for Epcot’s cast, and that’s what we were taken to see next. The locker room itself is one large room and the rows of lockers are all out in plain view. Robert explained that this is because the locker area is meant for storage of items only; if a cast member wants to change in or out of a costume, there are changing areas near the back where they can do so. (Some European cast members don’t quite get the hang of this at first, causing a bit of embarrassment to other cast members until it’s explained to them!) We entered the costume issue area, where we saw rows upon rows of costumes for the various jobs at Epcot, with a few stands with machines that reminded me of supermarket checkout aisles.

Robert explained how costume procedures worked for Disney cast members. On a cast member’s ID card is a barcode; the costumes have a barcode as well. A cast member comes to costumes issue and has the option of getting up to 5 costumes at a time; they go to the racks, get the costumes in the sizes they need, then go to the checkout counters and scan the barcodes on their IDs and on the costumes. They can leave the costumes in a locker and change at the park, or they can take them all home, change into the costume there, and come into work; the only real restriction is that they can’t wear their nametags off-property. Once the costumes they checked out are dirty, they can wash and iron them themselves at home, or they can return them to Costume Issue, drop them off for Disney to wash them, and get new ones. Robert explained the “Disney Look”, the makeup, hair, and jewelry restrictions that all cast members must follow. There have been some changes to the rules over the years – for example, you can now have a mustache as long as it’s within certain limits, but you have to come in with it fully grown in – but the rules on personal appearance are still pretty strict.

We’d gotten a pretty good idea what goes into getting regular cast members dressed for work, but what about characters and show performers? Fortunately, we would get an explanation of that at our next stops on the tour. We walked into Creative Costuming, where the costumes for the characters and performers are created; each park has a department like this, but the main costume design functions are handled at the creative costuming department at the Disney-MGM Studios. We got to see some costumes being prepared, including a black and red tuxedo and a red polka-dot dress that looked very familiar. Robert explained to us the process of preparing and repairing the costumes, as well as how the cast member is fitted for the character’s costume – or perhaps more correctly, how the costume is fitted to the cast member; the height of the person tends to determine what character they’ll play, with shorter persons (usually women) playing most of the well-known characters. To be a face character, you have to have not only the right height, but the correct general appearance for the part – but at least you don’t have to worry about the hair. The Cosmetology department, which we got to peek into next, prepares the wigs so that the face characters’ hair looks exactly as it should, and once the wig’s ready it’s moved into the wig storage room. Robert explained that face characters have to apply their own makeup; there’s a book that explains how the makeup should be properly applied, and the first few times the cast member will get a hand getting the look just right, but after that, they’re on their own. Everything involved with preparing to go onstage as a character takes time; depending on the character, it can take up to 3 hours to get ready to go onstage! Even for a mouse or a princess, looking just right when you go out in public can be quite a chore.

We left Creative Costuming and walked through the “pride corridor”, a hallway where cast members from Epcot’s various departments decorate a section of the corridor with murals about the place where they work. Some murals were really well done, others less so, but the best one in my opinion (and the most annoying one, in Robert’s opinion) was the mural done by the Engineering department, which featured fiber optics and motion-activated sound clips of Dreamfinder and Figment from the original Journey Into Imagination. (Robert said that Epcot cast members looked forward to the days when the batteries ran out on the display!)

Leaving the cast building, Robert walked us over to a conference room at the International Learning Center, a library and classroom area for international cast members. In the conference room we were introduced to Andrea, a guest relations cast member from Germany who was on her second International Program. Andrea described the application and interview process for an international cast member, which is actually pretty involved; Andrea and a friend of hers submitted applications together and were required to travel to Paris for interviews, and then had to wait several months to find out that they were accepted and what they had to do to get to Florida. She explained that there’s several things Disney doesn’t pay for if you’re on an international program; Disney arranges for and pays the costs of the special visa that allows International Program cast members to work in the U.S. (which specifically states that they can only work for Disney, and must work in an onstage role where they can serve representatives of their home countries), but the cast member is responsible for getting themselves to Orlando for the start of their program, and although Disney arranges for housing in Orlando (2 to 8 people per apartment in a housing complex separate from the College Program students), the cost of the apartment comes out of the cast member’s pay. Andrea admitted that she didn’t sign up for the program twice for the money; she did it for the experience and for the opportunity to learn things about how to work with people that would help her when she returned home. Robert mentioned that although the International Program cast members are only at Epcot for a short time, they become almost like family to the American cast members; it’s sometimes as tough emotionally on the regular cast members when the International Program cast members leave as it is for the cast members themselves!

From the conference room, Robert walked us over to the Epcot marina, home to the park’s various watercraft, including the Friendship Boats and the Illuminations barges. Robert explained about the function of each of the three barges (the inferno barge, which creates the show’s fire effects, the pyro barge, which shoots off the fireworks on the lagoon, and the globe barge, the barge with the large illuminated globe). The globe on the globe barge is one of the largest and most sophisticated LCD monitors in existence (and is scheduled to be replaced by an even larger and more sophisticated globe sometime soon); besides the technical challenges, it also provides a challenge prior to the show, because it’s so big that it must be rotated into a particular position to be able to clear the buildings on either side of the canal connecting the marina to the main lagoon!

Robert walked us from the marina, past a few of the shops and garages for the equipment used at the park (like the electric carts and motor vehicles like the Character Caravan bus) and walked us over to a door at the back of the China pavilion, where he gave us our tour pins and we said our goodbyes. Overall, I was impressed by the tour; although the tour was a little slow at the beginning, depending on the Innoventions displays about Walt and the history of the Company a bit too much in order to pad out the tour, and I would have liked to see a bit more of the backstage areas of the Future World pavilions, I learned quite a bit about Epcot that I hadn’t known about before. If you’re looking for an interesting tour of Epcot, skip the ride on the Segway (or at least put it off for another day) and take this tour instead.

After the tour, I was about ready for lunch, but I wasn’t in the mood for Chinese food, so I walked over to the Germany pavilion and went to their carry-out stand. I got the bratwurst plate, which consisted of a bratwurst, a French roll, and a pile of sauerkraut – all the fixings for a decent bratwurst sandwich, which of course I immediately made. I also got myself a small German beer. Let me tell, you folks, I don’t know how people manage to “drink around the world” at World Showcase, because after one German beer I could already feel my head spinning! Maybe the price helped – the beer cost $7, which was more expensive than the food I had ordered. As soon as I hit the cash register, I was beginning to miss the Hospitality House at Busch Gardens Tampa.

I’d never ridden the Friendship Boats across World Showcase Lagoon before, so after lunch, I rode the boat from Germany to Mexico and back; it was very relaxing, and it gave me a chance to catch up on my trip notes. Once I was back in Germany, I walked through the pavilion and the Italy pavilion to get to The American Adventure, in the hope of catching a performance of the show. It turned out that my timing was off – I had a 45-minute wait for the next show – but I noticed there was a lot of activity on the pathway to the restaurant and restrooms. It turned out that I’d hit the jackpot, character-wise; a whole gaggle of them were out for meet and greets, including 4 of the Country Bears (the first time in a long time I’d remembered seeing them all in one place), Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and even the penguins from Mary Poppins. I got my photo taken with Mickey and took a few photos of the other characters; it wasn’t as good as being able to see the American Adventure show, but it’s always fun to see the characters.

I checked the entertainment schedule and noticed that Off Kilter was about to perform at the Canada pavilion; Suzy and I usually skip the band because the music’s too loud for Suzy, but I decided to go over to Canada and give them a listen. If you aren’t familiar with Off Kilter, imagine a kilt-wearing rock band that also features bagpipers and fiddlers! It sounds like a recipe for musical disaster, but the band makes it work spectacularly, doing a set that consists of traditional Scottish and Irish tunes and more contemporary fare. I can understand now why they have such a following!

Suzy and I had dinner reservations at the Rose and Crown, so after Off Kilter was done, I decided to wander around the Canada and UK pavilions to kill a little time and to give Suzy a chance to get to the park. There wasn’t much to see in Canada – why doesn’t Disney open a shop or an exhibit in the Hotel du Canada? – but I had a great time looking at the selection of items in the shops at the UK pavilion; if you’re a soccer fan or have a thing for British candies and cookies, this is the place for you! As I was wandering around the shops, Mary Poppins and Alice both made appearances in the shops, so I stopped for a while to watch them interact with the guests; I especially enjoyed watching Alice meet and talk with a little girl who was dressed like Alice.

I walked over to the Rose and Crown and found Suzy waiting for me, so we checked in; after only a few minutes’ wait, we were brought in to the dining room. This was my first time eating at the Rose and Crown, and I loved the decoration of the restaurant; it reminded me a lot of the real English pubs I’d visited on my one and only trip to the UK (although the light was a lot better in the Rose and Crown). Suzy had warned me in advance about the portions here, so we split a serving of fish and chips, got another serving of chips just for me (I admit it, I’m a French fry junkie) and we each got a bowl of soup – lamb and barley for me, potato leek for Suzy. Suzy was absolutely right about the portions – the piece of fish we got was so big we had no problem sharing it, and it was excellent. The soups we had were also really good. Although you can get the fish and chips from a take-out stand nearby, I highly recommend splurging and having a meal inside the main restaurant.

Once we were done with dinner, Suzy and I wanted to do a little shopping, so we headed over to MouseGear; Suzy went on a search for a new watch and some jewelry, while I went and looked around and tried not to think about the cost of whatever Suzy might be buying. As I looked around, I found something I’d been looking for both at Disneyland and at WDW, but hadn’t had much success in locating – a T-shirt with the generic “Disney Parks” logo instead of a specific logo for DL or WDW. I could only find a shirt in large (I usually prefer an extra-large), but I wasn’t going to take the chance of passing up on buying the shirt and not finding another one later. I guess they’re not very popular, because I’ve only seen them for sale about twice before in the last six months, and they were pulled from the shelves pretty quickly; here, they were about two dollars cheaper than the same shirt with the WDW logo – and anytime Disney sells anything at a discount at the parks, that’s usually not a good sign. (It turned out I made a good choice buying the shirt then. I never saw that shirt available again anywhere at WDW, or at DL when I got back home.)

After our shopping spree, Suzy and I went over to Universe of Energy and rode Ellen’s Energy Adventure. We both enjoyed the show, but the attraction’s starting to show its age, with the ride films being noticeably grainy, dirty, and out of focus at time; although Ellen’s fallen out of favor and back in favor again since the film was made, the film doesn’t seem as timely as it used to be. I can’t help but wonder how long it’ll be until this show is revised or closed. From Ellen, we walked over to Club Cool, but since it was past 7:00, most of Future World was already closed. No Beverly for us on this trip. We did find the Art of Disney store open, so we went in and drooled over the Disney goodies that were way beyond our price range. My favorites were the $500 Lumicel (discounted to only $240!) put together for WDW’s 35th anniversary, which played sound clips of Walt’s voice and favorite WDW attractions, and the $75 replica of the Nautilus as seen in the 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea attraction. Too bad I don’t have the kind of money it’d take to buy everything I’d like to get from a place like this!

We thought about staying for Illuminations, especially since my tour included the perk of a special seating area to watch the show, but in the end, we decided that it had been a long day for both of us, and that since we needed to get up early the next day, we should go back to Riverside. We walked back to the Beach Club, got in the van and returned to our room, and got some sleep.

[schnebs]

Day 12 - Tuesday, January 16th

We were called at 7:00 a.m. by Stitch. Doesn’t that little blue bugger ever sleep in? I got dressed, and while Suzy got ready, I went over to the front desk and continued our room reservations and got our new parking pass and room keys (for reasons I’ll never understand, you can’t make a WDW reservation for more than 10 days). The day was cold and a bit foggy, which I thought would make for some great pictures; I went back to the room, got my camera, and took a bunch of photos of Riverside enveloped in fog.

Once Suzy was ready, we drove over to the Grand Floridian and parked in self-park, then walked over to the GF monorail station and hopped the resort monorail to the MK. The foyer between the entrance gates and the tunnels under Main Street Station were already packed with people, even though the park wouldn’t officially open for another half an hour; since we had tour reservations, we were able to walk through the tunnel to check in at the Guided Tour Gardens.

We were signed up for one of the Keys to the Kingdom tours (there were three of those tours running that morning); we signed in, chose what we’d be having for lunch later in the day, were handed tour buttons, lanyards identifying us as guests (for our visits to the backstage areas), and personal radio receivers, and met the rest of our tour group (about 20 people total) and Matthew, our guide for the tour. (The radio receivers are a nice change from past tours I’ve taken at the MK, where the tour guide would have to yell to be heard by the group or would have to ask everyone in the group to get uncomfortably close in order to be heard). Matthew told us a little about his background, shared a few rules about the tour, and then discussed the four “keys to the kingdom” he’d be pointing out examples of during the tour - safety, courtesy, show, and efficiency – and how they work together (and sometimes trump each other) to provide the best guest experience. As Matthew wrapped up his opening speech, the park officially opened, and we got to watch the stampede of guests pass through the tunnels on their way to their favorite attractions; once the initial wave had made it through the tunnels, we proceeded through Town Square and down Main Street to being our tour.

The group’s first stop was on Center Street (the alleyway off the middle of one side of Main Street). Matthew explained how Main Street USA evolved from Walt’s memories of his boyhood home of Marceline, Missouri, then pointed out a few examples of the “keys to the kingdom” to be found right in the middle of Main Street:

• Main Street’s sidewalks are a different color than the street itself to ensure people can see the difference and walk more safely.
• A technique called “forced perspective” makes the buildings on Main Street appear larger than they are. The ground floors are full scale, but the scale becomes smaller as you go up (for example, the second floor is 5/8th scale). There are offices in the upper floors of the buildings, but there is a 3-foot breezeway between the windows and the offices to prevent full-scale people from being seen walking past 5/8th scale windows.
• Like at the start of a movie, Main Street’s windows act as “credits” for the people who made the show possible; Roy, as the show’s producer, has a window at Town Square, and Walt, the director, has his window facing the Plaza. Some windows are inside jokes about the person’s role in WDW’s creation or their role in the Walt Disney Company; for example, the window for Donn Tatum (the person responsible for secretly buying most of the land that became WDW lists the shell companies used to allow Disney to buy the land without their identity being revealed.

Our group walked over to the Plaza and the Partners statue. Matthew told us about the statue and its sculptor, Disney legend Blaine Gibson (who also created the faces of the presidents in the Hall of Presidents and some of the pirates in Pirates of the Caribbean). Matthew pointed out that Walt is pointing down Main Street with one hand, and that Blaine Gibson had once told him the symbolism behind that… but that we’d have to wait until later in the tour to hear what Blaine had told him!

From the plaza, we walked into Adventureland and got a chance to rest in the Adventureland Veranda while Matthew told us the Cliff’s Notes version of the history of the Walt Disney Company, from the Disney brothers’ founding of their animation studio in California to the creation of Disneyland and Walt Disney World to the state of the World today (one of central Florida’s largest employers, with over 57,000 cast members working for the Mouse). The only part of the Company’s history Matthew left out was much of a mention of Michael Eisner, the Company’s former CEO; according to Matthew, this was because no matter what he said about Michael, people who loved Michael and hated Michael would always get into heated discussions any time he was discussed!

From the Veranda, we walked over to the Jungle Cruise, and after a brief wait, our group was given its own boat, so that Matthew could share some interesting facts that the average guest on the Jungle Cruise didn’t (and perhaps shouldn’t!) know:

• The jungle plants that you see on the cruise have some hidden help in growing so lushly; the mist in the early scenes helps the plants stay moist in the warm Florida summers, and hidden heat lamps keep then healthy in the cold winter months.
• Walt originally wanted live animals on the Jungle Cruise, but animal experts told them they’d hide and sleep all day; instead, mechanical animals (much more primitive versions of today’s Audio-Animatronics) were used.
• The water is at most about 6 feet deep and is colored with food coloring to hide both the shallowness of the water and the fact that the boats run on a track.
• The animal figures you see on the Jungle Cruise are only as complete as far as you can see them (the hippos, for example, have no bottom halves).
• The temple scene is highly detailed – much more so than can ordinarily be seen when you travel through the scene (Matthew had the skipper turn on his flood lights to demonstrate this). The reason for the great detail is so that the illusion isn’t spoiled if the regular lights must be turned on if there’s a problem.

Of course, since Matthew had taken over as the skipper for our cruise, he couldn’t resist telling a corny joke or two. (Example, as we passed a turned-over jeep: “I guess we’re going to have to call Triple-Ape!”)

Exiting the Jungle Cruise, the group walked over to El Pirata y El Perico (which was closed) to give everyone a chance to rest and get in a “biological break”. (Helpful hint for guests visiting the MK in the slower seasons: El Pirata y El Perico’s bathrooms are open even if the restaurant isn’t, so go there if the other restrooms nearby are busy.) From El Pirata y El Perico, we walked into Frontierland and walked across a path over the WDW railroad’s tracks, until we crossed over a yellow line in the pavement. Matthew pointed out this line and told us this was the on-stage sight line; it’s the point where parade performers can’t be seen by the guests anymore and can stop performing. We were now officially backstage.

We proceeded past a gate and Matthew showed us how attractions that appear to be some distance away from each other in guest areas are in fact right next to each other; on our left was the Pirates of the Caribbean show building, and on the right not more than a couple of hundred yards away was the Splash Mountain show building (onstage, they don’t seem to be anywhere near each other). We walked down to the Parade building, where we got to peek in and see the parade floats for SpectroMagic and the Disney Dreams Come True Parade. Matthew told us about the lighting and electronics that made the parades look so wonderful and kept them going where they were supposed to. For example, there are small devices known as RFID devices planted in the ground all along the parade route, and there are similar devices on the floats; these devices allow the drivers of the floats and the folks in charge of the parade to “see’ where the floats are and automatically trigger off the speakers in that area of the park to play the music appropriate to that particular float. We also got to see the “hidden Mickeys” and the “hidden Walts” on the Disney Dreams Come True parade floats.

From the Parade building, we walked along an alleyway toward a small canal. As we walked, we got to see one of the Jungle Cruise “half-hippos” out of the water being repaired, and Matthew pointed out how the buildings are painted to match the nearby natural surroundings, so they don’t stand out if viewed from onstage (Disney even has names for the colors the buildings are painted, like “Go Away Green”.) We got to the canal and saw what looked like chain link fences covered with Christmas tree lights floating on pontoons; as it turned out, these were the floats from the Electrical Water Pageant, a “temporary” bit of additional entertainment added for WDW guests that have been around for 35 years and counting!

We reluctantly left the Frontierland backstage area (we were sure that Matthew had a lot more secrets he could have shared had he been given the chance!) and walked around the Rivers of America to Liberty Square and the Haunted Mansion. Matthew walked our group over to the exit of the attraction, and after making sure there were no “little ears” nearby that could have their magic spoiled, he told us a few secrets of the Mansion:

• Some famous voices contributed their talents to the attraction, such as Paul Frees (the “Ghost Host”, better known as Boris Badenov on “Rocky and Bullwinkle”), Eleanor Audley (the voice of Madame Leota, also the voice of Malificent and Cinderella’s wicked stepmother) and Thurl Ravenscroft (one of the singing busts, better known as the voice of Tony the Tiger).
• The “brick” façade at the end of the exit speed ramp is in fact foam rubber, to prevent injury by folks paying a little too much attention to the background themeing.
• Some “hidden elements” are actually accidental. One favorite item that’s become the stuff of legend is a supposed golden ring that’s embedded in the ground near the exit of the attraction. The ring wasn’t added by the Mansion’s Bride – it’s what’s left of a post that was removed.

Once Matthew shared these and a few other secrets and things to look out for on the attraction, we were escorted through a corridor from the exit to a point just inside the boarding area, so we could check them out for ourselves.

Leaving the Mansion, we were taken over to the second floor of the Columbia Harbour House, where we found the food we had ordered before the tour waiting for us, along with our “Keys to the Kingdom” commemorative lapel pins. Suzy and I got to talk with a couple of Disney fans from northern California while we had our lunch; Suzy had a tuna sandwich and I had chicken strips – nothing spectacular and maybe a little cold, but after all the walking we’d done, greatly appreciated! After lunch, Matthew walked us around Liberty Square, pointing out a few details guests might miss as they walk through the area:

• If you look at the window gables on some of the windows in the area, you’ll notice they appear to be sagging. That’s intentional and historically correct; many real gables were hung on with leather straps, which tended to sag with age.
• There are streaks of brown-colored pavement running through the streets of the area. Again, this is a historical reference - in colonial times, this would have been waste and waste water dumped into the streets. (Fortunately, Disney didn’t want to be too authentic about this!)
• If you look at the buildings from Liberty Square to Frontierland, you’ll see that they symbolize architectural styles from various periods of western expansion, arranged in chronological order – from the designs typically found in the cities like Boston in colonial times to the buildings found in gold-mining towns in the West.
• The Liberty Bell is a cast replica of the original in Philadelphia; the Liberty Tree right next to it was a real tree found on the WDW property and transplanted to this location, and there are 13 lanterns in the tree, all of different designs to symbolize the 13 colonies that had come together as one nation.

We walked out of Liberty Square and into the Plaza, stopping in front of Cinderella Castle. Matthew shared some facts about the Castle:

• The castle is 189 feet high – just high enough that an aircraft beacon didn’t have to be placed on top as required by law.
• Forced perspective makes the Castle seem higher than it is; the railing at the window of the topmost turret is only about 2-3 feet high! There are no stones in the Castle; it’s concrete and steel, and the outside has been given a simulated stone appearance.
• An apartment for the Disney family was planned for the Castle. After Walt passed away and the family lost interest in such a suite, it became a phone switchboard and a dressing room, before finally being made into a castle suite for the Year of a Million Dreams.

Matthew took us on a long walk us around the Plaza, taking us past the Crystal Palace, and through the shops on the west side of Main Street, and then took us through a door in the Emporium to another backstage area. Unbeknownst to us, Matthew had just demonstrated again how places that seemed far apart from each other onstage were right next to each other – the Crystal Palace and Emporium buildings were in fact only a couple of hundred feet apart! A few hundred feet away from them were the docks for the Jungle Cruise launches; we could actually hear the sounds effects from one of the scenes on the Jungle Cruise right behind the dock. Matthew told us a little bit more about the Jungle Cruise, pointing out a boat that had been taken out of the water (where we could see the wheels and pylon that attached the boat to the track) and told us the location of the boats’ real exhaust stack (the exhaust from the natural-gas powered engines actually goes up the stanchions that hold up the canopy, not the stack).

We walked back from the boat dock and peeked into a small room with a very large tube. This was one of the Main Street connections to AVAC, a vacuum-powered tube system that collects all the trash from the various parts of the park into a central collection point near Splash Mountain. That’s not to say collecting all the trash at the MK is easy; Matthew told us that custodial cast members have to go through by hand and separate the recyclables from every bag of trash before the trash is dumped into the AVAC tubes. Thanks to their hard work, about 70% of WDW’s trash is recycled!

Next to the AVAC room was a staircase, and Matthew led us down the stairs into a medium-sized corridor. We were now in the Utilidors, a system of service tunnels underneath the Magic Kingdom that allows for the easier movement of cast members and supplies around the park. Matthew had us look up at the ceiling of the Utilidor we were in, and above us were all sorts of wires, tubes, and pipes – everything from the freshwater and wastewater lines and the AVAC tubes to high-speed computer network cables for the offices.

As Matthew walked us through the Utilidor, Matthew explained how a lot of what keeps the Magic Kingdom running happens down there. Everything – cast members as well as supplies – comes in from a central point behind Fantasyland; from there, everything that has to be transported has to be placed in electric carts and transported to the locations where they’re needed or stored. Payroll and scheduling for the cast members is handled in numerous areas known as “bases”, located in the Utilidors; break areas, training areas, and some of the services the cast members need are also handled down here. DACS, the master computer control system for the park’s attractions, including the controls for the music you hear and the Audio-Animatronics figures in the attractions, is also down here in the Utilidors.

Although a lot of the things that keep the Magic Kingdom operating are in the Utilidors, many functions aren’t located there anymore, and Matthew ran a short film to tell us about those things. For example, costuming and laundry services are handled at separate locations on the property. When a MK cast member needs a costume, they go to a costuming building in the Magic Kingdom cast member parking lot and check out up to 5 costumes; as they’re used, they can bring them back to be cleaned, or they can wash them themselves. Barcodes on the cast member’s ID card and on the articles of clothing allow the cast member to check out the costume and allow them to be inventoried and returned to the appropriate theme park’s costuming building when they’re ready. Cast members can wear their costumes to and from work - although they’re supposed to remove their nametags off-property. Matthew explained that although this process appears to run the risk of ruining the magic for guests that see cast members in costume off-property, it’s actually more convenient for the cast, since it makes getting costumes easier and faster and allows them not to spend as much time getting to where they work.

From the area where we saw video presentation, Matthew took us to another section of the Utilidors where we got to see a wall with pictures of highlights in the history of the Walt Disney Company, from the beginnings of the company through the passing of Walt. We also got to see photos of the building of the Magic Kingdom and photos of Roy Disney dedicating the park, along with a large aerial photograph of the park. From there, Matthew took us to some display highlighting the work of other departments that did important jobs in the park, like cosmetology (the folks who prepare wigs for the characters and show the character performers how to apply their makeup), creative costuming (the folks that prepare and maintain the costumes that the characters and parade performers wear), and the mechanical department (the people responsible for maintaining the mechanical animals and Audio-Animatronics). If there was one part of the tour that was disappointing, I’d say it was this one; Matthew did a very good job of explaining the things we couldn’t see, but I much rather have been taken by shuttle to see them for myself.

Matthew brought us up out of the Utilidors behind the east side of Main Street and pointed out a platform visible on top of one of the buildings nearby. This is where Tinker Bell comes in for a landing every night! Matthew told us how Tinker Bell flies during the fireworks – which makes getting sprinkled with pixie dust and thinking of wonderful thoughts seem easy by comparison. Tink is about 5 feet tall and weighs about 95 pounds, and needless to say, she can’t have a fear of heights; she also has to wear about 40 pounds of lighting and safety equipment. She has to walk up to the top tower of Cinderella Castle , where there’s only room for one other person besides her; that other person checks out her equipment, hooks her up to a wire, and then pushes her out of the tower balcony. At the other end of the wire are more two cast members waiting with comforters to slow her down; once she’s stopped, they help her back down. And she does this every night there are fireworks! I don’t think I want to fly badly enough to go through that every night.

Matthew took us back to Town Square to finish the tour – but he still had one more story to share. When we were at the Partners status, Matthew mentioned that Blaine Gibson explained why Walt was pointing. Here’s the story:

The Partners statue represents Walt saying goodbye to Mickey at the end of his life. Walt’s pointing to the statue of Roy and Minnie in Town Square, and is saying to Mickey: “We’ve had a good trip together, but it’s time for me to go. Go with them - there’s a place for you with them over there, because there’s always room for family.”

It was a really sweet ending to a great tour! Matthew did a great job on Keys to the Kingdom – he was very energetic, willing to share what he knew and to answer questions, and I never got the feeling he was reading from a script. I’ve done the tour previously – including once prior to 9/11 – and it seems like you don’t see as much backstage on the tour as you used to particularly in the Utilidors. I’m not sure how much of this is for security reasons and how much is because there are some things it’s not practical to take you to see anymore, but I think the tour loses a little because of it. Even so, I’m glad I took the tour again. No matter how much you think you know about Disney and the Magic Kingdom, you’ll always learn something new when you take this tour. If you’re really worried that knowing the secrets behind the theme parks may spoil your appreciation of the Disney magic, this probably isn’t the tour for you, but I think most people will walk away from the tour with a greater appreciation for the people who make the magic happen!

After the tour, Suzy and I walked over to Sleepy Hollow to get some ice cream cookie sandwiches and milk, then we walked over to Columbia Harbour House for a break; Suzy read the magazines she’d brought with her while I worked on my trip notes. Once we were rested and ready, we went to Fantasyland so we could see Mickey’s Philharmagic. I was surprised how crowded the theatre was unlike some other films I’ve seen at other Disney parks, the crowds don’t seem to have gone down for this show at all – and frankly, the show’s good enough that there’s a good reason for that. Mickey’s Philharmagic should definitely be on everyone’s “must see” list.

Suzy and I walked over to Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress. I was excited as we walked up, because I saw a large crowd of people standing near the attraction entrance. Have people finally discovered what a great attraction this is, I thought? Sadly, no – everybody was standing around waiting to meet Buzz Lightyear. Oh, well, it’s their loss. About a dozen or so people made their way past Buzz to enjoy the show; Suzy and I both loved it. (If the folks at WDW don’t appreciate it, can we take it back to Disneyland? We’ll trade you Innoventions.) After that, Suzy and I rode the Tomorrowland Transit Authority together, once again wishing we could bring this attraction back to Disneyland, too. We walked over to the Tomorrowland Terrace Noodle Station in the hope that we could find out if it’d be worth going to for a meal some other time, but the restaurant was closed and there was no trace of a menu anywhere in sight. Since there was nothing in any of the MK restaurants that sounded appealing to us, we left the MK about 5:00 and hopped the resort monorail back the Grand Floridian.

When we got to the Grand, we went through M. Mouse Mercantile and the Grand Floridian Gift Shop so I could pick up some pins and a copy of the Sentinel and Suzy could pick up a couple of Tinker Bell holiday watches for herself and a couple of Tink fanatics we know. From the gift shop, we walked over to the Grand Floridian Café. We both stated off with their house salad, which had an odd “wrap-around” presentation but was actually pretty good otherwise. Suzy had a cheeseburger, with fruit instead of the French fries, and I had a chicken breast with green beans, shredded squash and mashed potatoes; we both liked our food, although Suzy still thought the burgers at Beaches and Cream were better. The Grand Floridian Café has gotten a reputation recently of having some problems with its service, but they did pretty well for the most part – until our waitress forgot the box we asked for at the end of the meal.

Suzy suggested that we end the evening at DisneyQuest, but I was planning on getting up early the next morning, so I begged off, suggesting we got the next day instead. We returned to Riverside and did some laundry; I went to the front desk and picked up Suzy’s mail, then got my dressy clothes ready for the next day. I wanted to look my best when I went to see a mouse about a job.

Day 13 – Wednesday, January 17th

I slept in a little late, relatively speaking, getting up at 8:15; I went for my daily walk, had a quiet breakfast in the room, and then got dressed up in business attire – jacket and tie, long-sleeve white shirt and dress slacks. I walked down to the bus stop, but after watching several busses heading for the theme parks and not a single one going to Downtown Disney, I decided I might be better off taking the boat shuttle instead. I enjoyed a nice serene cruise down the river while listening to my iPod – the perfect way to get over a bit of nervousness. I grabbed my bag, got off the boat, and walked across the street to the Casting Center.

I entered the front door of the Casting Center and stepped into a large rotunda with golden Disney characters on pedestals. On one side of the rotunda was a long upward ramp, with the walls painted in murals of the various Disney parks and the characters working and playing in the parks. At the top of the ramp was a large round reception counter, and behind that on a large stand was a large model of Cinderella Castle. The whole experience of entering the reception area was more than a little surreal, sort of saying, “You’ve struggled to reach the pinnacle of the work experience, and now you’ve arrived – you have you chance to work for Disney.”

Anyway, it was time to stop dealing with symbolism and get down to the reality of trying to get a job. The reception counter divided entrance to the main room of the Casting Center into two lines – one for folks who’d been invited by Disney for further interviews, and one line for folks who were walking in off the street without an appointment looking for a job. I was in the latter category, so I joined the half-dozen or so people in the second line. When I got up to the reception counter, I asked about the possibility of getting an informational interview with and presenting my resume to one of the professional recruiters (I’m a little too old to seriously consider quitting my job to work at the theme parks for $7 an hour). Without missing a beat, the person at the reception counter told me that the professional recruiters didn’t do informational interviews, and all professional recruitment and candidate screening was done through Disney’s professional careers website. I could walk over to the computer terminals and apply for a professional job there (assuming there was one that fit my profile), or I could apply for an hourly job, but that was it. Since I didn’t want to feel like I’d completely wasted my time but I still didn’t want to apply for an hourly job, I went over to the computer terminals; I quickly discovered that there wasn’t much available to apply for that matched my background. I watched the in-house TV program for a minute or two, hearing about WDW’s wonderful opportunities for hourly employment and watched the folks filling out the applications for hourly employment, unsure of what to do next; a cast member invited folks in for a brief orientation, but I was told that I couldn’t enter unless I had completed an application for hourly employment. At this point, I was almost tempted to get back in line and get an application for an hourly job, if for no other reason that to get any kind of information about job opportunities at WDW, but in the end I decided that I’d be wasting my time and theirs, since I wasn’t going to move from California to Florida just so I could work for $7-9 per hour with no benefits. I reluctantly grabbed my bag and headed down the ramp (stopping to wish a nervous young woman who was in the appointment line the best of luck) before walking back across the street to Downtown Disney. I’ll say this for Disney: they’ve got quite an impressive setup for folks looking for hourly roles at the theme parks. But what about those folks looking for something more – shouldn’t there at least be some process for getting information to these people? I couldn’t have possibly been the only person looking for a professional job who’d walked into the building, as witnessed by the stock answer I’d been given at the reception desk and the one-page information sheet I was handed when she was done.

I decided to have lunch at the Earl of Sandwich, which looked crowded but was getting people through quickly. I ordered a Hawaiian BBQ sandwich (chicken breast and sliced ham, topped with barbeque sauce and pineapple), chicken and rice soup, and a brownie ice cream sandwich. I was able to find a table on the patio, and I read my book while eating my lunch; the sandwich was excellent (as are most of the sandwiches at Earl of Sandwich), but I guess my heart wasn’t really into the lunch or the book. I walked around Downtown Disney for a bit, peeking into the shops, then returned to the dock and boarded the boat back to Riverside.

Back at Riverside, I changed out of my business attire and put on more vacation-appropriate clothing, and did a little surfing on the Internet until Suzy returned from her lunch. We decided that what I needed was a trip to DisneyQuest to get my mind off of the morning’s events; we hopped in the minivan and drove back over to Downtown Disney.

Suzy presented her Premium AP and was admitted into DisneyQuest; my AP only included a $5 discount on admission, so I went to the ticket booth, bought my admission, and joined Suzy in the lobby. We were ushered into an elevator, and as the elevator went up the Genie from Aladdin appeared and gave a little welcome & introduction that I thought was really cute and Suzy thought was kind of dumb. We were let off on the third floor of the attraction, whose lobby is known as the Ventureport and is the gateway to all the themed areas, or “zones”, in the building. We decided to take the stairs up to the 5th floor and work our way down.

The fifth floor had two snack bars – one serving burgers and wraps, the other serving pizza and pasta, with both featuring desserts from The Cheesecake Factory. We decided to skip the snack bars for the time being and walked into the arcades, which were full of video games I remembered from when I was young enough to spend way too much time playing them – games like Frogger, Donkey Kong, Kangaroo, and Asteroids. I tried out a couple of my old favorites and quickly remembered that I hadn’t been much of a video game player when these games were new, and apparently the years hadn’t improved my skills; Suzy tried a few of games she remembered and a couple that she didn’t but looked like fun. We both had a lot of fun, and the fact that the games were free (except for games where you could win prizes, like Skee-Ball) was a big plus.

We walked down to the 4th floor and found ourselves in the “kiddie arcade”; this was an arcade filled with games primarily for younger children. The games were kinda fun, even though it took us adults a little work to figure out how to play them; for example, we tried a game where we heard an animal’s vocalizations, and our job was to figure out which animal it was we’d just heard. We spotted a game that was a little easier for us to understand – air hockey – and played a few games, each of us winning about the same number of matches. In an adjoining room, there was a large 4-person trivia game, where players scored points by answering correctly and by giving the fastest response. We ended up spending a little while at this game, with many other people joining and leaving the game as we played.

From the trivia game, we walked into the Wonderland Café, another dining spot (just desserts in this place) that also had Internet terminals that were a little on the slow side but had some pre-programmed website selections that were a lot of fun. As we wandered around, I noticed there was a station for Disney-themed virtual reality games, but the station on the 4th floor wasn’t operating; I asked Suzy if she’d mind if I went upstairs to try out a few games, and she decided to go find a (relatively) quiet corner to read her book.

The first game I was able to find was Invasion! In this game, your team’s job is to operate a vehicle on a planet that has been overrun by aliens and attempt to rescue the colonists there while fighting off the alien invaders. If you have a team of 4 players, it’s probably a lot of fun; if you are the only one there like I was, the game is pretty much impossible, since there’s no way you can accurately control the vehicle and fight the aliens at the same time. When I left the game, I went back to the entrance in the hope that more people would show up and we’d be put together, but the attendant still insisted on having parties go into the machines individually.

Next to Invasion was another VR game called Ride the Comix, where you board a sort of hovercraft, don a VR helmet, and then battle comic book super villains (new ones created by Disney, not ones you might know from DC or Marvel) with a light sword. To don the helmets, you have to put on a plastic connecting headpiece, then plug in to the VR helmet; donning the connector was easy, but connecting to the helmet proved to be a little more tricky, and I had a to spend a little time getting the helmet to fit properly. Once that was taken care of, the game was a lot of fun, although it was never entirely clear who on our team was scoring points against the villains and who was being destroyed. I quickly learned that you had to swing very broadly for the game to register the movement and record a hit, so I ended up handing my light sword more like I was bashing a piñata with a stick, but I managed to get a pretty good score.

I met Suzy on the 3rd floor, or Score Zone, which seemed to consist primarily of sports games, particularly racing games. Suzy and I found a stock car racing simulator that looked promising, so we hopped in and raced against each other and a couple of other people. Initially, I was having a hard time driving the car, but after smashing it against the raceway’s retaining walls a few times, I finally got the hang of it and finished fifth out of eight in the stock car race. Suzy did a little better than I did, but the experience was a little too real for her, aggravating her motion sickness; she went to find somewhere to rest for a bit while I continued to look around.

I found another Disney VR game called Mighty Ducks Pinball Slam, where you stand a on a large disk that controls the motions of a pinball on a large video screen. The game looked interesting, but it turned out to be really hard to get a feel for controlling the ball, and my score was abysmal. Nearby was another game called Buzz Lightyear Astro Blast; although it sounds like the ride at the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, it’s actually a cross between bumper cars and target shooting, with your weapon being an air-powered cannon that shoots miniature basketballs. In theory, you board these cars in two-man teams, with one person worrying about driving while the other loads and shoots the cannon at other players; if you hit someone or someone hits you with a basketball, the car spins out of control for a few seconds. When I got on the ride, the operators put me in a vehicle all by myself, and like at Invasion, it was impossible to control the car and shoot the cannon at the same time. That meant I could either become a target as I tried to fire the cannon or concentrate on bumping people instead. I chose the latter. I actually got stuck for a couple of minutes in a corner of the ride, until I finally realized that I could move the car backward as well as forward! The game was kinda cute and fun, but I definitely needed a second person in the car with me.

Suzy found me again at about this time and wanted to go up to the cafes on the 5th floor for dinner, but I convinced her to wait for a little longer – there was one more attraction I definitely wanted to try on an empty stomach. I went to the 2nd floor (the Create Zone) and went over to Cyberspace Mountain; as you might have guessed from the name, this is a virtual reality coaster with an outer space theme; you go to a kiosk and design a roller coaster with the help of Bill Nye the Science Guy, then you go to a motion simulator to try your creation out. Designing a coaster was pretty easy, and you’re given a lot of options as far as loops, hills, and other thrills; I was able to put together a coaster that rated 3 out of 5 on the Thrill-O Meter (the ride’s rating scale). After finishing at the kiosk, I walked over to the simulators and was directed to a door with a locker just outside; I put everything I had in my pockets in the locker, closed it up with the key, and then handed the card with my coaster to the cast member, who strapped me into the vehicle. The motion simulator was a lot of fun; the simulator does the banks and inversions in your coaster pretty well, although I didn’t feel as much of a sensation of G forces that I feel on a real coaster. I was definitely glad I decided not to eat until after I rode, though!

I joined Suzy on the 5th floor for dinner. Suzy went to the pizza and pasta bar and got a large slice of pizza and garlic rolls, with milk on the side; I went to the burgers and wraps snack bar and got a Caribbean wrap (beef, spicy rice, veggies and salsa), fries, and a Diet Coke. Both of us got Cheesecake Factory brownies. Both of us thought our food was OK, but nothing special; Suzy liked her pizza and tried a little of my wrap, but didn’t care much for it, and I thought the wrap and pizza were all right. I was less pleased with the service at the snack bars, which struck me as really slow. The dining area near the snack bars was nice and was actually relatively quiet considering all the noise from the games. We both loved our brownies!

After dinner, Suzy and I returned to the Create Zone and signed up for the Animation Academy, where we both took our best shot at drawing Mickey. My Mickey looked lopsided and Suzy’s Mickey looked more like Tony the Tiger- I don’t think Disney will be hiring us as animators any time soon, but the lesson was fun, and the equipment was surprisingly easy to use, even though we drew on a virtual sheet of paper using a stylus.
Suzy decided to wait for the next Animation Academy, so she could learn how to draw Donald, while I went to try out the remaining Disney virtual reality games.

My first stop was nearby at Sid’s Create-A-Toy, where you can create toys as freaky looking as Sid did in Toy Story, animate the toys on your computer screen, and even have a real toy made in its image for a fee. It was a cute attraction, but the program was glitchy, and I wasn’t all that impressed. I went downstairs and boarded the Virtual Jungle Cruise, where a group is supposed to board a rubber raft that they “paddle” through a dinosaur-infested system of rapids, and whatever happens on the river on the screen is translated into motion (sometimes jarring motion) on the raft. For the third time, I was put on an attraction by myself; since I had to do all the paddling on my own, I was exhausted by the time I was done, but the virtual trip through the prehistoric rapids was a lot of fun!

I went back up to the 2nd floor and went on Magic Carpets of Aladdin. This attraction had the same large VR helmets as Ride the Comix, but on this ride you were given control of Aladdin’s magic carpet as you had to fly it to escape the Cave of Wonders, find and beat Jafar, and rescue the Sultan and Jasmine. The carpet was actually a little tricky to control – carpets don’t come with steering wheels, after all – but the game was a lot of fun, and there was virtually no wait.

The only VR ride I hadn’t done yet was the one with the longest queue: Pirates of the Caribbean. In this attraction, you’re teamed up in a group of 5 people; four of the crew are gunners and shoot at the ghost pirates attacking you from all around, while one is made Captain and is responsible for steering the ship. I was made captain, and I was able to lead my crew to defeat the ghost pirate fleet, beat Davey Jones, and grab his treasure. The rides 3D effects were impressive, and were easier to enjoy because they required only polarized faceplates to be saeen instead of the bulky VR helmets. The ship also “rolls” and moves on the virtual sea, but nowhere near as much as the Virtual Jungle Cruise does on the rapids. If DisneyQuest is closed as the rumors have suggested, I hope they’ll save this game for somewhere else on the property!

When I returned to the Create Zone, Suzy had finished her Animation Academy class, so we decided to try out the last couple of games we hadn’t seen. Our first stop was the Radio Disney Singulator, where you choose a song style and choose from numerous lyrics to put together a song that you can have sung to you (and burned to CD, if you so desire). I put together a cute little jazz tune with a female vocalist, while Suzy put together a more contemporary song with really silly lyrics. We both enjoyed the songs we created, but not enough to pay to burn a CD of them. Next, we went to the Living Easels, where you can choose scenes like Toontown or Under the Sea and place Disney characters, props, and effects on the screen and “bring them to life” on the easel. We came up with some really weird scenes, which was a lot of fun. We exited DisneyQuest and were a little surprised to find it was dark outside – we’d spent the whole afternoon in there and didn’t realize it! We took a look at the Disney Quest Emporium to see what they had to offer (oddly enough, there wasn’t a single thing in there that said “DisneyQuest” except for pressed pennies), then went to the parking lot and headed back home to Riverside for a good night’s rest.

Overall, we had a fun time at DisneyQuest, but I’m not sure how often I’d do it again, even if it’s still open the next time I return to WDW. There’s enough to do to keep a family entertained for part of a day when they don’t feel like visiting the theme parks, but it seems like the attractions haven’t been updated in a while, and the upkeep seems to be slipping. A few other observations:

• The layout of the attraction is confusing, and there’s just one elevator to take you between floors; the layout of each floor makes getting from floor to floor using the stairs tricky and virtually guarantees you’ll miss rooms if you don’t consult your guide map.
• Disney should really consider putting people together in groups on all of their VR attractions (they do this already on Pirates, but I suspect that’s because the ride’s so popular). Most of these rides are really intended for groups, not single riders; if you ride in a party of one or two, you lose a lot of the experience and the games aren’t as much fun.
• The cast members also need to work on the instructions they provide to guests, particularly the instructions on setting up and operating the VR equipment. The pre-show videos help, but few people pay attention to them, particularly when the queues are short.
• Food service is OK, but could also be better. Why not have one full-service restaurant on the 5th floor (possibly making it available to those who aren’t going to DisneyQuest) and broaden the menu choices to encourage more people to visit? The Cheesecake Factory desserts are great, but that alone won’t get people to come to the attraction or to stay once they’re there.

I get the feeling that Disney’s no longer commit to the concept of “virtual theme parks” like DisneyQuest, not even here at WDW where the concept should be popular. That’s a shame, because I think the concept has potential, and if the rumors of its imminent demise are true, it’ll be a little sad to see it go.

[schnebs]

Day 14 – Thursday, January 18th

Yet another early wakeup today – isn’t the whole point of going on vacation being able to sleep late every once in a while? Today, we were visiting Disney’s Animal Kingdom and taking the Behind the Scenes tour, and the animals are early risers, so we had to be, too. The weather wasn’t going to motivate us to get out of bed that day – the morning was overcast and drizzly. Even so, we made it out of the room and on the road in pretty good time.

On our way to DAK, we spotted a signal for a crossroad past Coronado Springs – Western Way – we hadn’t seen before. We’d heard about this road being a new entrance to the property and possibly the home to some future development (which Disney officially confirmed several weeks after we returned from WDW), and since we had time to spare, we decided to take a detour and check it out. There wasn’t much to see, at least not yet; we had a look at a backstage area of DAK and we passed one of the WDW tree farms (where Disney grows all the trees to replace the ones that need to be taken out or to add to places that need a bit more greenery), but otherwise everything was pretty much empty until we got to the intersection of Western Way and State Road 429, where Western Way quickly turned into a dirt road and dead-ended. It’ll be interesting to go back there in a few years and see how much this lonely stretch of the WDW property has changed.

We were able to park fairly close to the entrance of DAK (there are advantages to getting to a theme park early!), so got out and walked right past the bus stops and toward the main entrance. At the entrance, we ran into Mandy, a tour guide from Washington state and Oregon State University (Suzy was happy to hear this, as Mandy was one of the few people in central Florida able to identify the small town in Oregon where she’s from!).
Mandy took us through the turnstiles and over to our tour group; we may have taken a little too much time looking around on Western Way, as Libby, our tour guide, was already introducing herself to the group.

Once Libby introduced herself, she had everyone in the group do the same, asking everyone what their favorite animals were and what they were hoping to see on the tour, and then walked us into The Oasis, showing us some of the exhibits there. At the exhibit for the hyacinth and military macaws, Libby pointed out the hidden feeders in the exhibit and the toys that were placed in the exhibit to keep the animals entertained – things that the guests might not notice but that were essential to keeping the animals healthy and happy. It turned out that the animals on exhibit weren’t the only ones taking advantage of Disney’s generosity; as Libby spoke, we saw a squirrel grab some fruit from one of the hidden feeders! Libby told us that this was common. The local animals and migratory animals are smart enough to know that there are plenty of good things to eat in the DAK exhibits, so Disney provides extra food and modifies the contents of the feeders to be sure that the nutritional needs of the animals on exhibit and the needs of these “guests” to the park are met.

Libby led us backstage from the Oasis to two vans that would be taking us deeper into the backstage areas of DAK; Libby took most of the group in one van and Mandy took Suzy, me, and the remainder of the group in the other van. We got a great example of how locations that seem far apart to guest are in fact close together backstage; we entered the backstage area through a gate near the main entrance to the park and walked perhaps a few hundred feet to the vans, yet almost directly across the street from the vans was the show building for “Pocahontas and her Forest Friends” in Camp Minnie-Mickey!

As Mandy drove us backstage, she pointed out a few more backstage locations and told us some interesting things about the inner workings of Animal Kingdom. We passed the main cast member entrance and saw the “DAK cycle rack”; this was a rack of Disney-supplied bicycles that could be used by cast members to get around the backstage areas, since no bus transportation is provided to the cast members at the park.

This isn’t to say there weren’t a bunch of busses running around, though; as we passed “Pride Rock”, the CM cafeteria, we saw the Kilimanjaro Safaris ride vehicles leave their parking lot and caravan over to the attraction. As we got stuck behind a particularly slow safari vehicle, Mandy told us about these vehicles. Underneath all the decoration, the KS vehicles are basically plain old regular trucks, modified to run on propane (which is much cleaner burning than gasoline and thus much healthier for the animals and the guests) and with speed regulators added to prevent them from being driven too fast. Mandy said she could always tell how busy the park is by how many of the KS vehicles are parked in the parking lot!

As we drove on, we noticed two lines of fences on either side of the road. Mandy explained that each fence served a specific purpose. The fences on one side were the perimeter of the exhibits, and were designed to keep DAK’s animals inside their enclosures (and considering how massive these fences are, they must do a pretty good job). The fence on the other side of the road was the park’s perimeter fence; this fence was designed to keep all the local animals out!

We arrived at a crossroads with a series of smaller buildings on one side of the road and a couple of large enclosures on the other side. Mandy and Libby parked their vans near the large enclosures and everyone disembarked, and we were led over to a large fence. Beyond the fence were enclosures made of large metal bars – think of the fences you saw for the dinosaur enclosures you saw in “Jurassic Park” – and a building as big as a warehouse just beyond. Inside two of the enclosures we could see were a male elephant and two female elephants, respectively. We watched the handlers got the male to move into a third enclosure, made sure the doors to the enclosure were shut, and then opened the door to the other enclosure to allow the females to enter the larger enclosure the male had just left.

Libby explained to us a little about the system of enclosures and how they’re used to care for the animals. In accordance with guidelines from the AZA, the accrediting body for zoos, the handlers and animals must be kept separated as much as possible; the enclosures ensure the safety of both the animals and the handlers. It was at about this point that the elephant handlers were done moving around their charges, so they came over to the fence and introduced themselves to the group.

Mike and Ike (no, I’m not making that up) told us a little more about DAK’s elephants and how they were cared for. DAK has 12 elephants, 3 males and 9 females; the males are generally kept separate from the females to avoid conflicts, since in the wild, male elephants tend to be solitary. As with about 90 percent of the animals found at DAK, the elephants came here from other zoos. The remaining 10 percent are culled from the wild, sent to places like DAK instead of being killed to keep them from overpopulating their shrinking wild habitats.

Elephants are very intelligent and social animals, but if they’ve never been in the wild, they may not be familiar with how to socially interact with each other. In those cases, it’s up to the handlers, whom the elephants consider to be part of the herd, to teach them how to get along. The elephants’ interactions with the handlers are as much social as practical; for example, the handlers had just finished washing the male elephant, which is as much or more about giving the handlers a chance to interact with the elephants as it is about making sure they’re clean. The elephants are trained to return to their evening enclosures (the warehouse-like buildings) by sound signals; they’re also trained to respond to some voice commands. Training is done by positive reinforcement, not by punishment.

Mike and Ike then told us about a matter that I’m sure everyone’s wondered about – namely, how do you clean up after an elephant? Some cleaning is done as part of the constant regular maintenance and plant replacement done in the exhibits (elephants can be very destructive to the plants in the enclosures); when the elephants return to the enclosures at the end of the day or before the elephants return to the exhibit areas every morning, the maintenance and horticultural teams do their work. Even so, many of the elephant droppings are actually left behind in the exhibit areas as a source of natural fertilizer for the plants.

Mike and Ike pointed out the large enclosure buildings, telling us that like all the animal enclosure buildings at DAK, they were state of the art and designed to be strong enough to allow the animals to ride out hurricanes in them. In fact, the only animals at DAK that don’t go into enclosures during a storm are the ones in the Animal Kingdom Lodge’s savannah, because it’s considered to be large enough for the animals to run around in safely during a storm.

Mike and Ike took a few questions from the group and returned to their duties, and Libby walked the group across the road to the smaller buildings we’d seen. It was interesting to see the backstage enclosures and to hear from the handlers what it was like to care for the animals, but it was disappointing to me and a lot of the people on the tour to be separated from the animals by several fences and to not be able to see well into the enclosures; Libby explained later that the tour sometimes included visits inside the enclosures, but the enclosure tours were usually taken to was declared off-limits because an rhino there had just recently given birth to a calf, and in any case since most of the animals were out on exhibit in the public areas, there wouldn’t be much for us to see. I don’t think too many people on the tour were satisfied with this explanation.

In any case, it turned out that the largest of the buildings that Libby walked our group over to was the show building for Rafiki’s Planet Watch; we got to walk on-stage briefly past the petting zoo, then we went behind the show building and into the veterinary medicine lab. In the lab, we met the on-duty veterinary technician, who told us a little about the facility. Like the enclosures, the veterinary medical center is state of the art; it consists of a laboratory and a surgical room. The center can handle most procedures that have to be performed on the animals, but there is also a mobile veterinary lab available if it’s not practical to bring the animal to the center.

The handlers are on site, watching over and caring for the animals, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. A couple of veterinarians and techs are either on site or on-call at all times in case of possible medical emergencies; if they need to stay overnight to care for an animal, the medical center has small sleeping quarters for the vets and techs to rest in. If the medical center needs a hand or advice, they can contact veterinary medical specialists at the University of Florida; sometimes, they consult with human medical specialists (primates’ medical problems tend to be very similar to ours). Sometimes, the vets and techs rely on the same technology you’d use at home; for example, the DAK vets check to see if a female gorilla is pregnant by using a home pregnancy test kit!

From the veterinary facility, we walked over to the park’s animal feeding facility. Our first stop was a large storage room; originally, this was the dry food storage facility for the park, but over time the park became responsible for storing dry foods for all the animals at WDW, so today, the facility is primarily used to store the more exotic hays, grasses, and animal feed, and the more common hays and grasses are stored in another large warehouse. Libby and the food storage cast member showed us the wide variety of foods stored here; in many cases, species of animals get dry foods that appear to be similar to the food you might give your dog or cat, but are in fact especially formulated by an outside company for the nutritional needs of zoo animals. In fact, DAK is often a test location for new formulas of exotic animal food that is used at other zoos if the test is successful. Whatever the animals eat, it isn’t always cheap; the storage facility cast member told us that something as basic as hay can cost as much as $15 a bale in Florida, compared to $5-8 a bale in places where it’s more readily available like in the western United States.

We walked next door into the food preparation facility, where we watched two folks surrounded by all kinds of fruits, vegetables, meats and dry foods put together the animals’ food for the next day (the animals’ meals are always prepared a day in advance).
As we watched the food technicians put together meals (and a few of us thought that we wouldn’t mind having some of those meals ourselves!), Libby explained how animals’ meals were prepared. Meals containing fruit and meals containing meat are prepared at separate tables to prevent contamination. Vegetables and fruits are commonly used in many animals’ meals for enrichment; unlike many zoos, where the facility must depend on donations or whatever’s available to feed the animals, DAK uses nothing but top-quality vegetables and fruits in the animals’ meals. In fact, the fruits and vegetables served to the animals are the same quality as those served to the guests in WDW restaurants! The meals are put together using specific recipes found in binders kept at the food preparation stations; DAK is currently in the process of installing a system that will replace the binders with touch screen displays, which will make putting together meals faster and easier for the food technicians.

What about the animals that eat meat? Libby explained that for the big cats, the meat is usually horsemeat purchased in Canada in large quantities and stored in large refrigerators until needed. For smaller carnivores, there’s stuff like fish, mealworms, and rodents (at DAK, people don’t use the “M” word to refer to meal rodents for fairly obvious reasons). The meat items are “pre-killed” prior to serving them to the animals in most cases, to prevent both diner and dined from engaging in behaviors that might end up injuring the exhibited animal.

On our way out of the food preparation facility, we passed a couple of large refrigerators; as we looked in the windows, it looked like someone had set up a garden inside of them! Libby explained that these were the browse refrigerators, where all the leafy plants animals like giraffes eat are stored. Browse is not only an important meal item, but also a way to keep animals happy; although Disney goes out of their way to provide browse items for their animals, some animals have no problem sampling the plants added to the exhibits by the horticultural department (hence why the horticultural CMs refer to some animals as “job security”, since they so often find themselves replacing plants the animals have gotten to).

We walked over to DAK’s administration building and were taken to a classroom; here, we got a chance to go for a restroom break, get some water, and ask Libby questions about some of what we’d already seen. A few folks (including Suzy) expressed their disappointment in not getting to see more animals; Libby explained that DAK’s goal was primarily to have the animals on exhibit where they could be seen by guests (the target is to have them in places where they can be seen by guests at least 80% of the time the park is open), and as such there’s little opportunity on backstage tours like ours to see and touch animals backstage. Libby did try to rectify things a little after the break, though; she brought in a handler and a small animal similar to a hedgehog or porcupine found in Madagascar (sorry, but I forgot the animal’s name). According to the handler, although she was very small, she was actually 8 years old, had very sharp spines, and her favorite foods were small animals. To demonstrate the latter, the handler walked the hedgehog around for everyone to have a look at her and then put her back in her cage with a mealworm, which she very quickly spotted and ate! For a spiny animal who ate worms, I thought our little hedgehog friend was really cute.

Once the handler had left, Libby provided our group with some snacks (not mealworms, fortunately), then took us onstage at Rafiki’s Planet Watch. From the Planet Watch, we walked over to the Wildlife Express station and rode the train back to Harambe. From the Harambe station, we walked over to the exit of Kilimanjaro Safaris. The group boarded a safari vehicle waiting for us there; Suzy and I joined Libby in the front row, and Libby asked the driver to pass her his microphone headset and “turn off Warden Wilson”. This wasn’t going to be a typical ride on Kilimanjaro Safaris!

The first thing we got to see on this behind-the-scenes tour was the tires of the safari vehicles getting sprayed with water! The driver explained to us that the vehicles’ tires were kept wet so that they could get as close as possible to the boarding platform without causing undue wear. Passing the boarding platform (and a bunch of puzzled guests who were waiting there), the driver pointed out a lantern at the entrance; the lantern would occasionally flash for a few seconds, indicating to the driver that he could proceed into the attraction.

Between Libby and our driver, we learned a few interesting things about the Safari that’s not shared with the guests:

• To keep animals from entering other animals’ enclosures (and letting the guests experience a bit too much of the wonders of nature!), there are cattle guards on the road at the border of each enclosure.
• Although the road the safari vehicles take appears to be a rough dirt road, it’s actually made of concrete and “imagineered” to look and feel rutted and rough.
• The vehicles have several modifications to prevent animals from getting caught underneath, including mirrors that allow the driver to see around and under the vehicle and “bird guards” that discourage birds from going underneath by using their natural fear of dark places
• Many of the plants guests see on the safari aren’t African but Floridian, like a stand of old-growth live oaks pruned to resemble African trees.
• Some “natural” items – like the termite mounds and the baobab trees – are actually concrete. They’re not just there for decoration, though; the animals use them to scratch themselves, like they would with the genuine items in the wild.
• If you look carefully at some of the trees, you’ll notice some of them have bits of fence around them, to keep the animals from destroying the tree (as quickly) by using them to scratch themselves.
• Feeders and barriers are all over the attraction but are well-hidden; they’re there to protect both the guests and the animals and to encourage the animals to stay in view of the guests, but are hidden help to maintain the illusion that there are no barriers between the animals and the guests.
• How do you get a lion to stay in view of the guests? Provide “rock” perches that are heated in winter and cooled in summer to encourage them to stay.

Of course, the most important thing about Kilimanjaro Safaris isn’t the Imagineering, but the animals. As we took our tour, Libby pointed out the animals on the attraction and shared some information about them:

• While hippos are herbivores (plant-eaters), they’re still very dangerous. They’re very territorial and have been known to capsize boats that intrude in their territory. They also don’t swim – they walk on the bottom of the body of water they’re in!
• Elephants love water – so much so that DAK provides them with a “pool” onstage that’s deep enough for them to immerse themselves completely.
• The most you’ll generally see of a male lion is their mane. They tend to sleep about 20 hours per day.

While we were traveling in the vehicle, we got the chance to see some of DAK’s newest additions, like a baby giraffe that had just been introduced to the onstage enclosure a few days earlier. She was beautiful, although it’s hard to consider anything that’s taller than I am (she was already over 6 feet tall) a baby!

Once we disembarked from Kilimanjaro Safaris, Libby walked us through Harambe and took us to a seating area near the entrance to the village; Libby handed everyone their pins for participating in the tour (the image of the backside of a group of elephants, with the words “Backstage Safari”), asked everyone to complete a written evaluation of the tour, and then gave our group a chance to say their goodbyes. The reactions of the group to the tour were pretty negative as far as I could tell. It was my first time taking the tour, and I thought the tour was all right; I was fascinated to learn about all the work that went into caring for the park’s animals and about how much money Disney spent on making sure they received the best of everything (which many zoos don’t have the resources to do). I think I was in the minority, though. Suzy and other folks on the tour were disappointed by the lack of opportunities to get up close to the animals and the limited interaction with the animals backstage. While Disney tells guests in their tour brochures that “opportunities to view animals in this program are not possible”, many of the folks in our group felt that the chance to view animals was the whole reason they wanted to take the tour! I suspect that this tour will either have to be changed significantly or will have to be dropped eventually; I can’t see Disney continuing the tour in its present form and having to deal with as many disappointed guests as we had on our tour.

After the tour was done, Suzy and I talked about what we wanted to do next. We narrowed our choices down to two – lunch or Expedition: Everest; Suzy wanted to see the attraction for herself after hearing me talk about my experience, but she was more than a little nervous about riding it because of her motion sickness. I tried to be as up-front with her about the ride experience as possible so that she could make an informed decision about whether she’d come with me, and after thinking about it for a little while, she decided to skip lunch for the time being and ride the attraction. Suzy and I ended up going through the standby queue (the Fastpasses for the attraction were long gone for the day by the time we decided to ride), and Suzy was as impressed by the details in the queue as I had been; she agreed that it was worth it to walk through Expedition: Everest’s queue with your party even if you decide not to ride. As for the ride itself, well… it may have seemed relatively tame to me, but it definitely had an effect on Suzy. The section of the ride where you go backward aggravated her motion sickness the most; she was both surprised and relieved that the attraction was over so relatively quickly. She was able to see enough of the special effects to be impressed by them, though. Suzy found a place where she could lie down for a few minutes to recover her equilibrium, and I went to a restroom nearby to get her some cold wet paper towels to put on her forehead.

Once Suzy had recovered from Expedition: Everest, we walked over to Flame Tree Barbecue for lunch. Suzy got the shredded beef sandwich, while I got the shredded pork; for dessert, Suzy stuck with her favorite, chocolate cake, while I decided to be slightly more adventurous and tried the key lime pie. We found a nice spot in a quiet seating area and both cut our sandwiches in half and traded portions so we could sample the other person’s sandwich. And the verdict? Suzy, the expert on barbecue, preferred Flame Tree’s pork sandwich; I thought both were about the same. Suzy loved her chocolate cake (which is almost always a good choice for dessert at Disney); the key lime pie was OK, but nothing special (although to Disney’s credit, it was the correct color!). While we were eating, we discovered that our quiet little dining spot wasn’t quite as quiet as we thought it was. During the meal, ducks and terns ran around all over the place looking for handouts; one particularly aggressive duck kept tapping me in the leg with her bill to try and convince me to give her something. Eventually, though, they finally figured out that they weren’t going to be getting much free food from us and they moved on to other tables.

After lunch, I decided I wanted to have a look at the one part of DAK that I’d never spent much time in – Camp Minnie-Mickey; I convinced Suzy to walk with me over to the area so we could have a look at the theming as opposed to taking in one of the shows over there (which is what we’ve usually done in the past when we visited this area). The area is actually very pretty, and nicely themed; it’s supposed to look like a summer camp in the middle of the Adirondacks or the Poconos, and the Imagineers did a pretty good job, right down to the stream running through the area. (Of course, Festival of the Lion King doesn’t remotely fit in with the theme of Camp Minnie-Mickey, but we’ll let that little anomaly pass…) I’d always figured that the meet-and–greet areas at Camp Minnie-Mickey were remote enough from the rest of DAK that they probably didn’t get much business, but it turned out I was wrong; the queues were shorter than I’d seen at other locations in other parks, but not much shorter. Suzy convinced me to get in one of the queues and get a picture with Donald, and I was able to convince her to do the same.

By the time we’d gotten our photos with the Duck, it was about 2:00 and we both decided that (a) we’d seen everything we’d wanted to see at DAK and (b) we both needed a nap. We drove back to Port Orleans and got a couple of hours’ sleep, then got dressed and made our plans for dinner. We decided on the Beach Club, so we hopped in the minivan, drove over, and had the valet park the car (free valet parking for Disney Dining Experience members is a really nice perk). We hadn’t made up our minds just yet as to where we’d be eating in the Beach Cub, so we walked over to the gift shop so we could pick up a copy of the Sentinel to read over dinner. The Beach Club gift shop appears to have changed a bit since my last visit; it looks like they’ve added a snack bar and a beverage fountain for the benefit of the DVC members staying there. Since as best as I could remember that meant you no longer had to hike over to the Boardwalk or limit yourself to prepackaged food if you wanted a quick snack, I think the changes are a good idea. But we were in the mood for more than a snack, so we left the gift shop and explored our dining options.

It didn’t take us long to settle on something; we headed over to Beaches and Cream for our favorite burgers on the property – bacon cheeseburgers this time – and Frozen Sunshines for dessert. Okay, so maybe we were getting into a rut, but you just can’t beat those burgers! We walked back to the valet desk and waited about 10 minutes to get our car – for some reason, the valet decided that we and a lady who had arrived just a minute or two earlier were driving the same car – but once we got all that straightened out and had gotten the car back, we decided to spend the evening at Pleasure Island.

We arrived at Pleasure Island at about 8:15; it took us a little work to find a parking spot, but we lucked out and find a pretty good one and walked over to the Island’s main entrance. Suzy was all set as far as getting into the clubs thanks to her PAP, but I needed to buy a ticket, so I purchased a one-day multi club pass, which cost about $30 with the AP discount. When Suzy and I got to Pleasure Island, there are pretty much only two places we go to – the Comedy Warehouse and the Adventurers Club – but we were gong to have a problem with that. We checked the schedule for the Comedy Warehouse and discovered that we had a 45 minute wait until the next show; we walked over to the Adventurers Club and discovered that it was closed for a couple of hours due to a private function. What to do, what to do? We decided that we’d peek into some of the other clubs and see what we’d been missing. I chose to go in the Rock and Roll Beach Club first because I like oldies music. We entered the club and quickly discovered that going into any of the dance clubs between 8 and 9 p.m. wasn’t a whole lot of fun, because nobody was there yet; there couldn’t have been more than 3 people inside the Rock and Roll Beach Club, not counting the cast members. We gave up on the idea of going exploring and found some tables near the entrance to the Rock and Roll Beach Club; I worked on writing up my trip report notes and Suzy read a book she’d brought. We must have looked like a couple of total fuddy-duddies sitting there!

Anyway, at about 8:40 we walked over to the Comedy Warehouse and joined the queue. We were one of the first people admitted for the show, and we were seated at one of the tables near the stage – which was a first for me. The show was really funny as always, and included a bit where the cast made up a musical about a lady from a small town in Oregon (was all of Oregon visiting WDW at the same time Suzy was or something?); we weren’t as thrilled having seats right next to the stage, because we both felt we were too close to really see what was going on. After the show, we got back into the queue and this time got seats in one of the elevated booths, which provided a much better view of the show. For the second show, the place seemed to be filled with WDW cast members (On Thursday nights, WDW provides them with big discounts at PI), and the Comedy Warehouse cast had a lot of fun with them.

By the time we got out of our second show at the Comedy Warehouse, the private party at the Adventurers Club had ended, so we decided to go in. We stayed at the Adventurers Club until they closed the place, seeing Samantha Sterling’s revue, Fletcher’s cockeyed tour of the Trophy Room, the drum beating ceremony, and of course the Hoopla (Hoopla!) . The Adventurers Club cast was in rare form, and they too were having a lot of fun with the WDW cast members who packed the place. The show’s definitely a bit more bawdy later in the evening that it is earlier, but it’s still PG-rated and it’s a lot of fun. Most importantly, I got my chance to numb my tongue drinking a Kungaloosh!

Once we were ushered out of the Adventurers Club, we decide to peek into 8Trax just to see what the dance clubs looked like once they got going. The visit instantly reminded me that my days of club-hopping are long over; the music was way too loud for me (although if I’d had some earplugs with me perhaps I could have stayed for a bit to enjoy it), and the club was packed with people who were a lot younger than I was. A few minutes at 8Trax and I was ready to head back to Port Orleans (although the fact that it was past 1 a.m. also helped). Tired but happy, Suzy and I hopped into the minivan and drove back to Riverside to get some sleep.

Day 16 – Friday, January 19th

I was about ready to put out mousetraps when Mickey called me at 6:45 to wake me up. Why can’t WDW do tours in the late afternoon so people on vacation can sleep in? Still, I was looking forward to taking the new Mickey’s Magical Milestones tour, so I dutifully got up and got dressed to go to the Magic Kingdom. The thing was that the tour was already going to be one person short; Suzy, who was also tired and obviously much smarter than me, had decided that she would rather sleep in than get up early to see Mickey in the Magic Kingdom. She still wanted one of us (read me) to go see the tour and get our tour pins, so I got on the bus to the MK. I got to the main gate of the MK by about 7:30, but once again, I had no problem getting past all the people waiting in the foyer to see the welcome show to enter the guided tour garden to check in for the tour.

When I went to check in for the tour, I discovered there was going to be one small problem – I was the only person on it! It turned out that Suzy and I were the only ones who had signed up for the tour, so I was given the option of either canceling our tour and getting a refund or rescheduling the tour for another day; I called Suzy on my cell phone and we decided that canceling made more sense. I didn’t go away empty-handed, though; I received our name badges and a two pairs of Mickey Mouse ears autographed by our tour guide. Oh, well, maybe next time…

The question was, what was I going to do now? I walked over to the Emporium and convinced the folks there to give me a bag for the freebies from the tour, then walked out into the deserted Town Square, broke out my camera, and started taking pictures.
I returned to a spot just outside the Guided Tour Garden as soon as I heard the welcome show starting up, and when the show ended, I got some great pictures of the stampede of guests heading through the tunnels and out to their favorite attractions. Once the initial surge passed, I walked over to the meet-and-greet location in Town Square, so that when Daisy made her appearance shortly after the welcome show, I was able to get a picture with her without having to stand in a gigantic queue.

Once I had my picture with Daisy, I hopped on the horse-drawn streetcar and was serenaded by the Dapper Dans as I rode up Main Street to the Plaza. Once I was at the Plaza, I broke out my PhotoPass card and had the Disney photographers take several pictures of me in from of the Partners statue and Cinderella Castle with both their camera and my camera. I decided that, although the pictures with Daisy and the pictures in from of Town Square were nice, what I really wanted was a picture with the Mouse. I was pretty sure I could find him in Mickey’s Toontown Fair, so I headed over that way. I only made it as far as Tomorrowland; once I saw that Space Mountain had only a 5-minute wait in the standby queue, I temporarily shelved my plans for a meeting with Mickey and went inside Space Mountain. I was lucky enough to be the first person to enter the left side (or A side) queue that day; I really enjoyed my ride on Space Mountain’s A-side, which I’d never had the chance to do before.

Once I came back from outer space, it was back to the great mouse hunt. I walked over to Toontown Fair and entered the entrance to the meet-and –greet area in the judges’ tent. When I got there, none of the queues were marked with the characters inside, but a cast member was busy putting up the characters’ pictures; I waited a couple of minutes, but when he was done I discovered that Mickey wasn’t one of the available characters. I was obviously going to need a little help in tracking down the Mouse, so I hopped the WDW railroad to Main Street Station, went to City Hall, and asked where Mickey would be appearing. It turned out that I was in the right part of the park to meet Mickey but I’d gone to the wrong place! Mickey is available pretty much all the time Toontown Fair is open, but he’s over in the small tent behind his house, not in the judge’s tent. Now that I knew where to find Mickey, I hopped on the WDW railroad and returned to Toontown Fair; I took some pictures inside Mickey’s Country House, and then joined the queue to meet the Mouse himself. Despite the long queue (which surprised me, because it couldn’t have been later than 10:00 a.m.), the wait was quick; I took out the souvenir ears I’d gotten from the aborted tour and got my picture with Mickey. It just goes to show that if you’re looking for specific characters, it never hurts to ask where you might find them.

I decided to leave the Magic Kingdom, but the sight of several characters in Town Square made me pause; I just had to get some more pictures. But who should I have my picture taken with? I saw Gideon and Foulfellow over by Tony’s Town Square Restaurant with few people in line for them, and I decided that they were seldom enough seen that I had to get a picture with them. After getting my picture taken, I decided to check my wallet and discovered that I only had $2 left. I checked my guide map and found an ATM near the stroller rental at the entrance, but when I got there, the ATM didn’t work. (Mickey was making it difficult for me to spend money – imagine that…)

I decided to leave the MK for the Studios, since I hadn’t had a chance to see Lights, Motors, Action! Now, how was I going to get there? I checked the list of bus stops at the MK bus station, but I didn’t see a shelter for a bus to the Studios. I checked at the transportation information booth and discovered that in order to get to the Studios, I needed to go to the TTC first; I considered taking the ferry over to the TTC, but realized that I’d never taken the express monorail over there before, so instead I walked over to the MK monorail station and hopped on the express train. This, however, turned out to be a bad idea. Not because there were any problems with riding the monorail to the TTC – there weren’t – but because once I got on the train I really didn’t want to get off! I took the monorail for the entire express loop, then hopped on the Epcot loop and rode that all the way around, and then finally left the monorail platform at the TTC and walked down to go catch the bus to the Studios. Never ride on a monorail with a monorail fanatic if you’re in a hurry, folks…

Once I left the monorail platform, I was able to find another ATM, and I stopped to replenish my wallet. Not far from the ATM was the TTC gift shop (which I’m sure is not a coincidence), and I stopped in to see what they had; I picked up a set of toy WDW busses, since I hadn’t seen them anywhere else on property on this trip. While I was there, curiosity got the best of me, so I asked the cast member in the shop how much a memory card for my digital camera would cost, since they happened to have one in the shop. The exact same card (OK, different manufacturer, but same type and same memory) would have cost me $75 if I’d bought it at the TTC – more than double what I had paid for it at the Kissimmee Wal-Mart. I’m glad I had the option to leave the property to go shopping for one!

I hopped the bus and entered the Studios; I headed toward the back, stopping for a moment to have a PhotoPass photographer get a picture of me in front of the Sorcerer’s Hat. I noticed my stomach growling after I’d stopped for the photo, so I checked the times guide and discovered I had enough time to get some lunch before the show started. I walked around looking for some place to eat. Backlot Express looked interesting, but I’d had my fill of Disney fast food, so I kept my eyes open for other options – and then spotted the ABC Commissary, which had a more interesting variety of items and still seemed to be getting guests through quickly. I ordered a Cuban sandwich, which is ham, turkey, and cheese served hot on a pressed Cuban roll; the sandwich also came with an order of plantain chips. The meal was a nice change of pace, and it was surprisingly good – especially the plantain chips. Actually, there’s not much difference between Disney’s plantain chips and Lay’s potato chips, except that the plantain chips are smaller. Give ‘em a try sometime.

After lunch, I passed the Monsters Inc meet-and-greet area, and I couldn’t pass up a chance to get my picture taken with Mike and Sulley. I walked through the Streets of America and took a quick look around; the streets didn’t seem all that much different from the previous New York Street sets. Interestingly, the Osborne Lights were still up, even though the how itself had been dark for almost two weeks. No hurry to take down the lights, I guess…

I entered the queue for Lights, Motors, Action! As it happened I got there right in time to be allowed in to the bleachers without a wait, so I walked over with everyone else entering the theatre and took a seat on one of the benches. The bleachers face a large set that resembles a French village, with a large TV screen above the set at center stage. The first thing I noticed when I took my seat was the very loud music playing; loud noises would turn out to be a pretty common thing at this show! The show itself was loud (lots of screaming engines, several explosions, more loud music) and a bit smoky from all the rubber being burned on the stunt vehicles, but it was amazing! The story is that a movie company’s shooting some action scenes for a spy thriller in production, and the director, first assistant director, and stunt coordinator are explaining to the audience how the stunts they see in movies like the one being shot are done and how they’re filmed. The stunts were incredible, and it was fascinating to see and hear what was involved in filming those amazing stunt driving sequences we see in the movies, but it struck me that this show doesn’t have much of a repeatability factor; once you’ve seen the show, there’s not much incentive for you to go back and see it again (especially when you factor in the noise and the burnt rubber smell). I might see this attraction once every couple of years or so, but I don’t think I’d see it every time I visit the Studios.

Once I left the stunt show, I walked down Mickey Avenue. I passed the “Meet Mickey” stage and couldn’t resist getting another picture with the Mouse; although Mickey ducked out for a moment or two for a “cheese break”, the queue for Mickey moved pretty quickly. One thing that surprised me was that there was no PhotoPass photographer there and that the cast members weren’t helping guests get pictures; I ended up handing my camera to some folks standing in line behind me. It struck me as really odd – of all places you’d want to have a photographer available for the guests, would a meet-and-greet with Mickey be the most logical spot?

I walked over to Sunset Boulevard and toward the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror; the attraction had a “13 minute” wait in the standby queue, so I decided to take a trip into the Twilight Zone. The theming of this attraction is much better here than in the California version; the longer walkways as you approach the Hollywood Tower Hotel add to the air of mystery and suspense, and oddly enough the lobby of the hotel in California never seems to be dusty enough to me! I did notice that there are fewer propos and references to the television series in the Florida version of the attraction. As for the ride itself, they’re pretty similar; the 5th dimension corridor in Florida is interesting, but it really doesn’t add all that much to the attraction.

From the Tower of Terror, I walked down Hollywood Boulevard to leave the park. The guests were taking their places for the Disney Stars and Motor Cars Parade and the streetmosphere characters were out in force; I stopped to watch several of them interact with the crowds. I’ve seen the parade before, though, so I decided not to hang around. Instead I hopped the bus back to Riverside, dropped off all the stuff I’d gotten from the parks and the TTC, and took a nap.

I woke up at about 5:00, got dressed, and met up with Suzy so we could go to Epcot for dinner. We parked at the Beach Club and walked through the resort to get to the Boardwalk and the International Gateway. We were surprised to find a crowd there – we really hadn’t seen many large crowds at the entrances to any of the parks on this trip! There was a reason for the crowds, though; it turned out that it was an Extra Magic Hours evening at Epcot, and folks were just arriving and getting their wristbands. We joined the wristband queue, and we managed to get our wristbands quickly with a minimum of hassle, which was pretty good considering there were only two cast members handling the whole procedure!

There were a lot people running around World Showcase, and not surprisingly, there were a lot of people trying to get into the World Showcase restaurants; the line to get into Les Chefs de France, the sit-down restaurant closest to the International Gateway, was enormous. One exception was Restaurant Marrakesh in Morocco, which is a bit recessed from the main pathway, and I think also had the disadvantage of featuring food that many guests might not be familiar with. To their credit, the folks running Restaurant Marrakesh did their best to get people to eat there, setting up a reservations podium with menus and photos of the food right on the main path in the hope of enticing people to give the restaurant a try. I think we’ll have to give that restaurant a shot someday.

We’d made ADRs for the Biergarten in the Germany pavilion, so we walked over there and checked in. We arrived about an hour late for our reservations, which I figured would mean we’d be eating hot dogs from the counter service window, but the folks at the podium were very accommodating, getting us into the restaurant after a 15 minute wait.
We were escorted into a large dining area decorated to resemble the square of a small German village; the place was filled with long tables, and we were taken to a long table near the stage and seated with a couple of other parties. (There’s no option to sit by yourselves here, folks – if you don’t want to share a table, don’t make reservations for Biergarten.) The server got our drink orders – orange juice and milk for Suzy, and a Radler (the German version of the Shandy) for me – and we headed toward the buffet tables, which were under a series of arches in the rear of the restaurant.

The selection at the buffet was breathtaking; there was a wide variety of hot and cold traditional German dishes, including about a half-dozen types of sausage and several pork and beef dishes, several types of salad, side dishes like spaetzel and sauerkraut, and numerous desserts like Black Forest cake and Bavarian cheesecake. For the kids or anyone else who didn’t much care for German cuisine, there were the usual hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, and chicken strips. Although my father’s side of the family hails from Germany by way of Minnesota, I’m not all that familiar with German cuisine, so I can’t really speak to the authenticity of what was offered at the Biergarten; all I can say is that I sampled just about everything and that I liked everything that I tried. There were several things I like more than others, so after sampling I went back for seconds of those items (and in the case of one or two items, thirds); I was absolutely stuffed in no time at all. If the food’s not enough to keep you interested, there’s also a band that plays several traditional types of German music (like polkas and waltzes) as well as a couple of numbers on an alpenhorn (think of the horn you see in the Ricloa commercials) and a set of bells; we were lucky enough to catch their final performance of the evening. The kids really loved the band; they came up to the dance floor in front of the stage when they started and never left for a second until they’d finished their set. For the kids the highlight of the evening was dancing along to the “chicken dance.” I didn’t even know the “chicken dance” was German!

Once we finished dinner, Suzy and I walked (actually, Suzy walked; I waddled because I was so full) out to the edge of the World Showcase Lagoon just in time to see Illuminations. It had been a couple of years since I’d seen the show, and it was still absolutely amazing. After Illuminations, we walked around to see what was open for Extra Magic Hours. We walked passed China and didn’t see much open, so we continued on to Norway to ride Maelstrom. I’m amazed how short Maelstrom seems, but at least the queue for the attraction was really short, too. We walked past Mexico, and since our favorite attraction in the pavilion, El Rio De Tiempo, was closed for rehab we contented ourselves with singing the ride’s theme song (singing in “la la las” since neither of us knew the actual lyrics).

We entered Future World and I managed to talk Suzy into getting our picture taken in from of Spaceship Earth by the PhotoPass photographer. To make up for forcing her to take a picture when she really wasn’t expecting one, I agreed to go to The Seas with Nemo and Friends and board the clam-mobiles (it wasn’t much of a sacrifice, to be honest). We enjoyed the attraction, even though the special effects still weren’t quite working as well as they should have been. When we walked into the main lobby of Seabase, we noticed a really short queue for Turtle Talk with Crush, so we jumped in quickly. Of course it never occurred to either of us to wonder WHY the queue was so short; it turned out it was short because we’d just missed the previous show and would have to wait another 20 minutes or so for the next one. The queue was full by the time we were let in to see the show, but that was OK – we both really enjoyed the show. It was a lot of fun watching Crush interact with the kids in the audience, and it was the first time we got to see the sequence with Dory and the whale, which we both thought was really cute.

By the time we left The Seas, we noticed it was almost midnight, which meant Extra Magic Hours were about to end. We walked slowly back to the International Gateway, watching the World showcase cast members close up their shops, then returned to the Beach Club to get our minivan so we could drive back to Riverside and get some rest. This had been our first-ever evening Extra Magic Hours, we had a great experience; although the park was crowded in the early part of the evening, after Illuminations we pretty much had the run of the place. I’m not sure if someone’s experience would be the same in the busier seasons, though.

[schnebs]

Day 17 – Saturday, January 20th

We actually slept in late this morning – after a week of early wake-up calls, it was a nice change of pace! After I went for my walk and Suzy and I got dressed, we made ADRs for lunch at the Concourse Steakhouse and drove the minivan over to the Contemporary. We got to the restaurant at 12:20 – right on time! – and were seated immediately.

The Concourse Steakhouse is located on the third level of the Contemporary, right next to Chef Mickey’s, yet it couldn’t be more different. Chef Mickey’s is loud and busy and the food there is OK, but nothing special; the Concourse Steakhouse is quiet and relaxed, and the food is outstanding! Unfortunately, the Concourse Steakhouse was also almost completely empty when we went there, which probably explains why Disney’s in the process of moving the restaurant down to the current location of the arcade (changing the name and the menu) and expanding Chef Mickey’s into the space. I think the Contemporary will be poorer for the change.

Suzy and I both had Angus burgers; I had the bleu cheese burger with fries and Suzy asked for a burger with cheddar and fruit on the side. Both of us also had Bay Lake Smoothies, which have orange and pineapple juice and strawberries. Everything was excellent – the burgers at Concourse are at least as good as the ones at Beaches and Cream, if not better. Great food and a monorail passing nearby every few minutes? You don’t get much better than that. This restaurant is definitely one of my favorites.

After lunch, we drove over to the Poly so we could do some motor boating! (And you folks thought we only parked at the hotels to get to the theme parks…) On one of our previous trips, Suzy and I rented a pontoon boat from the Fort Wilderness marina, and the normally easily prone to seasickness Suzy and I had a great time, so we decided that another boat trip on the lakes would be fun. I was tempted to suggest to Suzy that we get a Boston Whaler this time, but since the pontoon boat is larger and a bit more stable, we decided not to tempt the fates too much and stick with what had worked in the past. We spent about an hour and a half on Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon, circumnavigating the former Discovery Island (which looked totally abandoned and overgrown with plant life), passing by the resorts, and having a look at a couple of undeveloped areas on the far side of the lake. The only downside to renting a boat to take around Bay Lake and the Seven Seas Lagoon is all the boat traffic; we had about 20 Sea Raycers, a couple of other pontoon boats and all of the WDW launches, boats and ferries to deal with, so things got a little chaotic out there from time to time. Being an old Navy man, my sympathies go out to the captains of the WDW watercraft – I can’t imagine what it’d be like having to drive around a boat full of passengers around every day while trying to avoid a whole bunch of small boats being driven by folks with little or no knowledge of how to drive a boat and even less knowledge of the nautical rules of the road. I wish WDW would at least provide folks a little training on how to use the boats properly.

Once our cruise was over, Suzy thought I should probably get one last shopping trip in before I had to go home, so we left the Poly and headed for Downtown Disney. It turns out she had an ulterior motive in convincing me to go to Downtown Disney; as soon as we got there, we headed straight to Ghirardelli for a sundae! I got a hot fudge sundae and she got her usual gold strike sundae, and once we both scraped every last bit of ice cream and toppings out of our glasses, we headed for World of Disney. We got each other our Valentine’s Day presents; I got Suzy an Eeyore dressed in a tux with little heats all over it and Suzy got me a copy of the new WDW Official Album (I’m a theme park music fanatic). I also picked up a few goodies for my Mom, some souvenirs for some of my co-workers, and a few trinkets for myself that I probably didn’t need. (But it’s always nice to get that AP discount!)

We decided to spend our last evening together having a little fun off property. (Shocking, I know…) Suzy had been telling me for while about the Titanic exhibition at the Mercado on International Drive, but up to then I’d begged off because I’d seen a couple of traveling exhibitions and I figured I’d just see stuff I’d already seen. But Suzy had been to one of those exhibitions with me and assured me that the Orlando exhibition was better, so I agreed to give it a shot. We went to a large building on I-Drive in from of the Mercado that reminded me of a riveted bow of a ship. This turned out to be the ticket office for the exhibition; as we walked in there was a young lady in Edwardian attire sitting at the ticket counter, several models and photographs of Titanic, and a big screen TV playing what I assumed was a promotional video. We went to the Edwardian woman to get our tickets, but discovered that we’d have to wait until the top of the hour to enter the exhibition because the initial entry was by guided tour only. Seeing as it was only 5:20, we decided to hold off for a bit on buying our tickets and see if we could find someplace where we could get a quick dinner and come back for the tour. Every restaurant we saw nearby looked crowded or promised mediocre food – until Suzy spotted a Gooding’s supermarket across the street from the Mercado. Suzy remembered that the delis at Gooding’s always had a great selection of fresh sandwiches and wraps. I was more than a little skeptical about what kind of dinner we were going to get from a supermarket, but eventually Suzy convinced me this would be our best option; we drove over and got sandwiches, soft drinks, and chips and drove back to the ticket office and had our sandwiches while we waited for a good time to go inside and get the tickets. As usual, Suzy was absolutely right; the sandwiches were very tasty, very fresh, and reasonably priced. We finished our dinner with plenty of time to spare and returned to the ticket office, where a young man dressed like a third-class passenger sold us our tickets, and then went inside the Mercado to the exhibition entrance.

At the entrance, the young lady in the Victorian outfit collected our tickets and escorted us into a recreation of J. Bruce Ismay’s office at the White Star Line headquarters; our ticket taker introduced herself as one of the lucky people who’d be traveling on Titanic’s maiden voyage as a first class passenger, and asked us to look at our tickets to find out the passengers and crew members we’d be representing as we experienced the story of Titanic. In a video, Mr. Ismay told us of his grand plans for the Titanic and invited us to come and see the ship for ourselves; we walked out of his office and into a building at Harland and Wolff Shipyards in Belfast, where out the window we could see the ship under construction. Our guide told us about the purpose of Titanic and her two planned sister ships, and the men of high finance who made Titanic possible, then told us about the people who built the ship – from her designer, Thomas Andrews, to the legions of Irish workers who did the building. From there, our guide took us to the dock at Southampton on Titanic’s sailing day; we saw a recreation of a small portion of the ship towering above us, looked at the boarding ramps for the first and second class passengers far up above, and the small gangplank on the dock that was the entry to the ship for the third class passengers (and us). Our guide explained how the third class passengers were inspected before boarding, and once it had appeared that we all passed muster, we were escorted aboard.

Once aboard, we passed through a foyer with a mannequin dressed like Captain Smith, then entered a large room with actual artifacts from Titanic and her sister ship Olympic, as well as props from the motion picture. Our guide gave us a quick introduction to the artifacts, and then brought us to a corner of the room, where we could see a recreation of the sitting room for one of the most expensive suites on the ship, demonstrating the opulence of the great ship. We also saw photographs of the more Spartan accommodations for the ship’s second and third class passengers, but our guide reminded us that accommodations on the ship would have been considered luxurious compared to accommodations on other ships of that period. Our guide left us to take a look around the exhibit hall; a short time later, a young man, who introduced himself as the scion of a wealthy American family also traveling on Titanic’s maiden voyage, appeared and escorted us to the next section of the tour.

The guide walked us through a recreation of the Verandah Café, a prestigious French-café-style restaurant for the ship’s first class passengers; in the café was a recreation of a typical dining service for the first class passengers. From the café, we got to see a recreation of Titanic’s grand staircase, the center of social life for the fist-class passengers aboard the ship. There was no doubt in our minds about how luxurious a trip on Titanic was for the first class passengers after what we’d seen so far. We then proceeded down a corridor, and our guide showed us a little of how the other half traveled on Titanic; the corridor we were in was dimly lit and sterile and had a locked gate leading to the stairs going up on deck. Our guide told us of how confusing the layout of the ship was for the third class passengers, especially for those who didn’t speak English - and many of the immigrants traveling in third class didn’t. Our final stop on our tour of the ship before the night of the sinking was to the cargo hold, where we saw examples of the items some of the passengers had brought with them on the trip (including a car) and some sacks of mail – the reason the ship carried the designation RMS (for Royal Mail Steamer).

The next room recounted the events of the night of the sinking. On one video screen, we saw a computer-generated recreation of the ship’s movements immediately before and just after the collision with the iceberg, we also got to touch a large piece of ice on one wall of the room, which have us an idea of what the iceberg that Titanic struck must have been like – and also gave us an idea of how cold it was on the night of the sinking, because the block of ice was the same temperature of the air on that night (the water was even colder). Touching the ice and being unable to hold on for more than a minute or two, and being told by our guide that most of the passengers who made it on deck wore little more than their nightclothes, it was easy to understand why the so many passengers didn’t have a chance even if they managed to escape the sinking ship and jumped into the water.

Our next stop was a recreation of the Titanic’s boat deck on the night of the sinking. The room was bitterly cold – but still not as cold as it was on the real Titanic’s boat deck that night. It was here that our guide told us about how a few men were saved on one side of the ship when there weren’t enough women and children to put onboard the lifeboats, and how men on the other side of the ship were refused entry into the boats regardless of how empty they were. We also heard stories of the women who were put in lifeboats, but then chose to stay aboard rather than leave their husbands and families behind onboard. The next room of the exhibition told us of the aftermath of the disaster – from the rescue of the passengers on the lifeboats to the world’s reaction to the news of the sinking and the investigations into the tragedy conducted on both sides of the Atlantic. Our guide bade us farewell in this room, leaving us to explore the rooms with exhibits about the rediscovery of the Titanic and various portrayals of the disaster in the movies and on television. We also saw a glass wall with the names of all of Titanic’s passengers and crew, with the names of those who survived indicated in bold letters; we looked at our tickets and discovered the fate of the people we’d represented. (Suzy’s passenger survived the voyage; the member of the crew on my ticket perished in the sinking.) We were also free to return to the other rooms in the exhibition and take a closer look at all the displays and artifacts we’d already seen; Suzy and I went all the way back to the beginning and spent a lot of time looking at everything, and I even joined another group as they walked through and took the tour. Once we were done, we exited into the gift shop, which was full of Titanic souvenirs, books, DVDs, and even magazines issued by Titanic historical societies.

I was really impressed by the Titanic exhibition. The organizers obviously spent a lot of time and money recreating scenes from the life and death of Titanic so visitors could get a feel for what it must have been like to have been a passenger on the ship. By having the tour guides assume the roles of Titanic passengers, the guides helped everyone realize that these were real people who lived and died on that April night, not just numbers in a ledger or names on a wall. Even if you’ve been to one of the traveling artifact exhibitions, the exhibition in Orlando is worth a look.

Suzy and I decided to call it a night after visiting the Titanic exhibition. We drove down I-Drive back to WDW and returned to Riverside; I got some last-minute laundry done and worked on getting packed for the trip home while Suzy read her book. We both got to sleep about 12:30.

Final Day – Sunday, January 21st

I got up fairly early on my own this day, getting up at about 8:00 so I could take my bags down to the resort airline check-in desk and get my boarding passes. Based on my observations walking through the resort on earlier days, I decided that I should get down to the check-in desk as early as possible, and this turned out to be a good choice; there were only two people ahead of me when I got down to the lobby of the resort. The folks manning the check-in desk worried me a little, as they took my bags and placed them on the dolly without even putting the luggage tags on; with a little gentle prodding, I got them to realize their mistake and they put the tags on the bags. Fortunately, there was no problem at all getting the boarding passes. Now all I had to do was grab my messenger bag and my travel bag and board the bus. After getting my bags checked and my boarding passes, I went over to the front desk and settled a couple of issues on the room bill, then went for one last walk around the resort. I was really going to miss walking around there.

When I returned to the room, Suzy was awake and dressed, so we called up Disney Dining and made breakfast reservations at the Poly, then hopped in the minivan to drive over there. (You’ve gotta love how easy it is to make ADRs in the slow season!) We got to the Kona Café at about 10:30 and found the place packed. We checked in for our ADR and were given a beeper so that we could be notified when our table was ready; we only had to wait about 5 minutes for the beeper to go off. Suzy got the eggs, bacon, and potato combo, asking the host to have the chef prepare fresh eggs for her instead of getting eggs from the warmer (she learned from a dining manager that they’ll do this for you at no extra charge if you ask), and I got the Tonga Toast with sausage on the side. My toast was great (and so filling that I didn’t eat anything else for the remainder of the day); Suzy, however, had trouble getting the host to understand that she wanted fresh eggs. After a couple of serving of eggs from the warmer, she finally got the eggs as she requested, and she said her breakfast was wonderful.

We decided to spend our last day together at WDW touring the resorts. It’s a tour I highly recommend to anyone staying at WDW (provided you’ve got a car available); the resorts are very well-themed, and walking around the resorts is a nice change of pace from running yourself ragged at the theme parks! We started our tour with a quiet walk around the grounds of the Poly, admiring the volcano pool and getting one last glance at Cinderella Castle from across the Seven Seas Lagoon. After that, we walked back to the minivan and drove over to Scopa Towers… er, I mean, Pop Century. We started our tour at the check-in desk, admiring all of the toys, fad items, and gadgets in the display cases. Suzy and I both recognized a lot of stuff we used to own when we were younger! We walked over to Everything Pop, the resort’s combined dining and shopping area. I was a little disappointed in the selection in the store, especially in how little resort-specific merchandise there was available; all I found was a few coffee mugs, a drink insulator, keychains, and postcards. With as many people as can stay at Pop, there really should be more to choose from! Everything Pop’s food court, on the other hand, was really impressive. The sheer size of the place was amazing, and so was the food selection. I commend Disney for going out of their way to label items so that folks know what counts as a snack on the Disney Dining Plan; the large labels they used at Pop made a lot more sense to me than the little stickers they use at the theme parks.

Leaving Everything Pop, we walked around the Hippy Dippy Pool and then walked as far across the Generation Gap Bridge as we could before we were stopped by a series of gigantic planters. We peeked through the bushes at the check-in hall and buildings on the other side of the resort; the place kinda reminded me of a post-apocalyptic scene out of a movie. It’ll be interesting to see what the other side of the resort looks like when it’s done, but for now the place reminds me of an abandoned Motel 6.

We walked around the rest of Pop Century, admiring all of the decoration on the buildings (I hesitate to call it theming); Suzy and I both liked the oversized toys and the “hip sayings” from the various decades, but Suzy decided that she could have done without the oldies music blaring from the Computer Pool. We found some windows with un-drawn curtains and had a look at rooms – man, those rooms are small! Disney insists that you can fit a family of four in one of the rooms at Pop Century, but I’d love to see of a family of four could spend more than a few days in one room and not be ready to kill each other by the time they were ready to go home.

Since we were just down the road from Caribbean Beach, we decided to hop back in the minivan and go there next. Suzy liked the theming at Caribbean Beach; she loves Old Key West and she considers the look to be very similar. Suzy decided to have a peek into one of the rooms while I stayed in the car and worked on my trip report notes; she noticed that the rooms had connecting doors – a feature we’ve never seen at either Port Orleans resort – but she didn’t see that the rooms were much different from the ones we’d stayed in. Suzy was impressed enough by the place that she decided she wants to stay at Caribbean Beach on our next trip.

We decided to make our next stop Wilderness Lodge, but we had a little trouble getting there. We missed our turn after passing Downtown Disney, and before long we found ourselves in a backstage service area! We’d never seen this part of the resort before, and since we didn’t notice anyone from WDW Security shooing us away, we drove around and had a look. We were really impressed by the sheer size of the Textile Services building, WDW’s main laundry facility, and we saw a lot of other facilities as well. It’s a shame they don’t offer more in-depth tours of these areas for hard-core Disney geeks like us!

Eventually, we found our way back to the correct road and ended up at Wilderness Lodge. I’ve always been impressed by the resort’s lobby; I’ve never been to a National Park lodge, but I’ve always imagined that when I go, it’ll look a lot like this. We walked outside, taking a walk around the pool and waiting for a few minutes in vain for an eruption of Fire Rock Geyser. We then walked over to the Villas at Wilderness Lodge and admired all of the Walt and railroad memorabilia in the Iron Spike Room. We notices a sign saying that someone from the Magic Kingdom would be giving a lecture on Walt and his connection to railroads; I wouldn’t be in town for the lecture, but I asked Suzy if she’d go for me if she got the chance. After walking into the lodge and checking out the selection in the gift shop, Suzy and I drove back to Riverside for a brief rest and a little time alone together.

At about a quarter to 4, Suzy walked me over to the lobby of Riverside so I could catch the Disney’s Magical Express bus back to the airport. Several busses showed us at the entrance in the space of a few minutes, and since they were all painted differently, I wasn’t sure which bus was my bus; fortunately, the cast member at the bell desk went over for us to each bus and determined that the bus painted similarly to the Disney in-park transport busses was my bus to the airport. Suzy and I spent a long time saying our goodbyes, but soon enough the bus had to go, so I hopped onboard. We stopped at French Quarter, Old Key West, and Saratoga Springs to pick up passengers, eventually heading to the airport with about a dozen people onboard. Although I’d been told there was a video on the DME busses to the airport (and I’d actually seen a bit of it on the drive into WDW), the driver didn’t play it; instead, we got to listen to a local radio station, and when we got close to MCO, we received farewell wishes from our driver. Between the confusion about which bus was mine, the lack of consistency and the problems with equipment in the DME busses, I was really disappointed with Disney’s Magical Express. I think Disney needs to exercise a bit more quality control to make the ride experience a bit more, well, magical.

The drive to the airport took about an hour, and included stops at both the A side and B side of the terminals. A tip for anyone riding DME to the airport: If you’re running a little lat, you checked in via Internet or at the Resort Airline Check-in Desk at your resort, and your airline’s on the B side of the airport, consider hopping off on the A side anyway, since both sides of the terminal empty into a large hall on the third level and the gates are equally accessible. (This won’t work if you need to check in with your airline or check your bags, since any time savings you gain by hopping off on the A side will be wasted lugging yourself and everything you’re carrying to the check-in counters on the B side. Stay on the bus and get off at the B side stop.)

After waiting for a while for my flight at MCO (DME gets you there way too early, in my opinion), I finally got hungry, and so I headed for the airport’s food court. The food court has most of the usual suspects (McDonald’s, Sbarro) and a few chains I wasn’t that familiar with (Nathan’s Hot Dogs, Carvel, Roasters, and Arthur Treacher’s), as well as a couple of mom-and-pop places. I settled on a chili dog combo from Nathan’s (chili cheese dog, fries and a Coke), which I promptly dropped on the floor as I tried to handle my luggage and my tray! Fortunately, most of my meal was salvageable and the counter person got me a new Coke, so I was still able to enjoy my dinner. I still had a little time to kill, so I went through all the theme park gift shops one last time; I didn’t find anything I liked. By the time I was done, it was getting close to time to board my flight, so I went through security screening and walked over to the gate; as with the trip from LA, the flight was completely full. The flight itself was uneventful, as was the trip from the LA airport; I finally made it home about 11:00 that evening. Oh, joy. I’m home from Walt Disney World.

+++

A Few Final Observations, Suggestions, and Thoughts

• When you shop at the World, don’t assume that all the same items are available everywhere. While the amount of unique stuff (especially park-specific stuff) has declined, many shops will still have items that are not found at other shops. For example, one shop on Main Street at the MK still had pins from Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party; in another instance, Suzy was able to stock up on Tinker Bell Holiday watches for next Christmas (friends ad family reading this, try to act surprised when you get them) by checking the shops at the Grand Floridian. And of course, there was the “Disney Parks” T-shirt I was only able to find at MouseGear at Epcot. If there’s not many of an item left, you may want to bite the bullet and pay the full price for it rather than never find that item again.
• If you plan to travel in January to WDW, plan for just about any weather condition imaginable except for hurricanes and snowstorms. In the space of two weeks at the World, Suzy and I experienced everything from shorts weather to sweater weather to days that we were glad we had the gloves and jackets!
• If your choice is between purchasing an Annual Passport and a Premium Annual Passport, go with the former. Both passports allow unlimited park-hopping with no blackout days; the only real difference between the two is that the PAP includes admission to Disney Quest, Pleasure Island, and the water parks, and unless you’re really crazy about these places or you plan on returning later in the year you’ll never get your money’s worth out of the PAP.
• Absolutely, positively carry a small carry-on bag with a change of clothes if you decide to go to and from the parks on DME. Even during the “slow season”, it took a while for DME to deliver my bags to the room, and it’s better to have a change of clothes available if you need it.
• If at all possible, get off property! I know folks love being in the “Disney bubble”, but there’s so much more to experience in central Florida besides Disney. There’s something for everyone to see out there, not even counting the other theme parks – check the AAA TourBook and find a couple of things you’d like to do. Rental car prices are relatively cheap, and you can rent from Alamo/National on-property of you don’t want the car for the whole trip. Yeah, some of the places are tacky tourist traps, but even the tacky tourist traps allow you to experience some of the “real Florida”. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone, and if we don’t make more of an effort to support other central Florida attractions, some really fun and interesting places (like Gatorland and Cypress Gardens) may disappear.
• Let me emphasize this again – although Suzy and I got away with using the resort parking areas on this trip, remember that we did it during one of WDW’s slowest times of the year. Trying to sneak in to a resort parking lot won’t work at some resorts at any time of year (the Contemporary most readily comes to mind), and during busier seasons, Disney is much more stringent about enforcing the parking rules. Most of the year, you’re better off parking in the theme park parking lots.
• Disneyland versus Walt Disney World – which one is better? I don’t think there’s a right answer to this question – they’ve both got their particular charms and things unique to each other. Some attractions are better at WDW, some are better at Disneyland. I love ‘em both.
• Curse you, Nathan Rose, for getting me hooked on Shandies! (Just kidding, Nathan.) Good luck trying to convince a bartender anywhere outside of Raglan Road that you’re not totally nuts when you order one, especially when you tell him/her how to make it. It’s good stuff, though – if you drink at all, get thyself to Raglan Road and try one!
• If you’re still reading this, congratulations! I hoped you enjoyed reading this magnum opus of a trip report as much as I enjoyed writing it.

[petesimac]

Very thorough report, Paul. I enjoyed it very much. I am so very jealous of you though: I would love to have 18 days to enjoy the parks, even though you, gulp, left the comfy confines of the magical wonderland a couple of times. Sounds like you had a great time.

[EJ4Disney]

Wonderful Report. I have it printed out so I can read it later.

Thanks so much for taking the time to write it.

Ellen

[MEFM]

Loved the detailed trip report Paul! I was especially interested to read about all the behind-the-scenes tours. Did I read correctly that Suzy drove all the way from California to Florida and back by herself? Does that help with her motion sickness? That is quite a trek.

[schnebs]

Yep, she drove all the way cross-country and back. She loves to drive and it gives her a chance to see other places she's wanted to see along the way. Driving does seem to be easier on her than if she flies, too.

[raindodgerdorf]

Loved the report!! My husband & I spend two to three months in the winter (yep snow birds, actually rain birds from Washington State). We're one of the "Winter Settlers" at Fort Wilderness. It took me two whole afternoons to read your report and it made me feel I was there. Thanks bunches. I was especially interested in the things around Disney to do. A few days we don't go to the parks.. Thanks for the tidbits. I also loved the tour descriptions as we've done most of the ones you did. We, however, really liked the Animal Kingdom tour. Guess it depends on the guide. I want to do the fancy one that goes to all the parks - $$$$. Some day. Thanks again.

[relaaxedwheniamthere]

that is without a doubt the best trip report i have ever read ! the detail that you went into about the behind the scenes tours was fantastic. i am lucky , i live in fl. so am able to go 5 to 6 times a year.next trip 5/24-5/27. flower & garden show, the guess who in concert. oh ! i will only stay at port orleans
for all the reasons you listed & one you didnt BOB JACKSON in river roost lounge he has to be seen what a showman!

[relaaxedwheniamthere]

that is without a doubt the best trip report i have ever read ! the detail that you went into about the behind the scenes tours was fantastic. i am lucky , i live in fl. so am able to go 5 to 6 times a year.next trip 5/24-5/27. flower & garden show, the guess who in concert. oh ! i will only stay at port orleans
for all the reasons you listed & one you didnt BOB JACKSON in river roost lounge he has to be seen what a showman!

[lagourley3]

What a wonderful trip report. Since we are going in June, this has just made me more excited about going. I LOVED the detail. It was like reading a book you couldn't put down. I was just glued to the details on the tours you took. And I'm with Suzy, even though I don't have motion sickness and will fly, I would choose to drive cross country just to be able to see different parts of the country.

[gordon24]

Great trip report. Thank you for sharing. My DBF & I will down at WDW in 7 days, I'm soaking up all the trip reports that I can until then. Thank you again for sharing.

[Jim Pertierra]

Paul, I copied the trip report into a Word document, changed the fonts and margins and got it down to 54 pages.

There are 5 people whose trip reports I ALWAYS read, Steve Russo, Heidi Commerford, Kim Howe, Sheri Niekliewski and Brian Bennett. Yours caught my eye because of the time and the location.

My family is going back in January of 2009 for the first time in over 3 years so I hope to add to my trip report history. Until then I always look for reports relative to Port Orleans Riverside and in January to get a frame of reference.

This will be the first time we will have traveled in January but it will mark the 5th time we have stayed in POR.

I have not read the report yet, but I am certainly looking forward to reading it over this weekend.

Thanks for taking the time and the effort. I know how much work and dedication goes into not only writing a report, sharing your views and trying to make it entertaining. Afterall, you are literally preaching to the choir here!

Thanks again!

Best/Jim

[spectromen]

Originally Posted by Jim Pertierra

There are 5 people whose trip reports I ALWAYS read, Steve Russo, Heidi Commerford, Kim Howe, Sheri Niekliewski and Brian Bennett.

I agree, and add Sue Holland and Noreen Chin

Congrats Jim on going back finally! Sorry it's so far away, though!
-Kelly

[Jim Pertierra]

Kelly,
Thanks for the note. If I had the sole vote we would go every year, but Janet has a cooler head. With 2 in college and 1 on the way there in 2008, both time and money determine when we go, unfortunately.

We were supposed to go at Thanksgiving time this year (and meet up with my friend Heidi Commerford and her family) but my oldest son's girlfriend Heather has mandatory exams on Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week.

We compromised on January of 2009 as Heather and my sons will all be on Christmas break from various colleges and it is the right time to go.

After going 12 times in 20 years (and 5 years in a row) we will have only visited twice in 7 years when we eventually get there. Much MUCH too long a wait in between visits but, with the boys in college and eventually getting out, I look forward to the multi visit a year mode!!!

Best/Jim

[Kellie19891992]

Thanks for sharing your trip, felt like i was there

[kassandrasmom]

I really liked your report Paul! Very detailed, informative and down right enjoyable! Took me three evenings to read, and I looked forward to picking it up every night! I liked your off-site info as we will be there for 15 nights and will be doing some off-site touring of our own. The detailed tour info was wonderful and insightful - I want to take them myself. Maybe...we'll see. When are you guys going back? Are you keeping tabs on professional openings there? WDW would benefit from having you on staff, good luck!!

[wdwjan]

Just finished reading your trip report--WOW!! It was outstanding! Thanks for all the detail. I just love reading every little bit about the rides, the tours, the resorts, etc. Can't wait for your next report!

Jan

[i.love.disneyland]

My favorite trip report ever!