Conference koolit::disney

    	Since I got some great tips and help here for my trip, here's
    a trip report!  (Hmmm...maybe I should go sign in now in the 1993
    visitors note so as not to throw off the statistics! :^) )


    When:  January 6-8, 1993
    Who:   me (Amy Goldman) and my SO, Rolf
    Where: Caribbean Beach Resort
    How:   United Airlines
    Last time there:  For me, it had been about 8 or 9 years since the
    		      last time, just after Epcot had opened (and while some 
    		      things were still under construction).  I had also done 
    		      Magic Kingdom once before that, about 12 years ago.

    Day 1:

    	We arrived at Epcot, CBR around noon.  It took a while to get 
    checked in, and then we had a slight problem with our room keys 
    (they lost the master or something, but when we found the keys
    they gave us didn't work, they were at our room in minutes to let
    us in, fix our keys).  So we got that resolved and got our stuff
    in, changed into shorts and headed out by 1:30.  We went over to
    the food court to grab a quick lunch, then off to catch the bus to 
    Epcot!

    	We arrived at the park around 2.  Did Spaceship Earth, Living
    Seas, Journey into Imagination and Universe of Energy - found no
    lines for anything! Since we had 7:15 reservations for Hoop Dee
    Doo, we caught a bus around 5:15 or so to go back to CBR, changed, 
    and drove over to Fort Wilderness.  Oh yes, we also called and 
    made dinner reservations for the following night at the Coral 
    Reef (Living Seas pavillion).

    	We enjoyed the Hoop Dee Doo revue thouroughly!  Rolf had been a
    bit skeptical about this, but once we got in and it got going, we
    both enjoyed ourselves tremendously!  I wouldn't have know about
    it but for this notesfile!

    Day 2:  Epcot

    	We got up at 7:15, grabbed breakfast in the food court, drove 
    to Epcot.  Started with The Land, then went to World Showcase,
    starting with Mexico and working our way around.  Still no lines
    for anything!  Grabbed a quick lunch in Japan.  Found that the
    American Adventure show was closed, which was kinda disappointing.

    	Around 3:00 we headed back for Future World to get in the rest
    of the pavilions:  World of Motion, Horizons and Wonders of Life.
    Until we got to Body Wars, we had not stood in a line for longer
    than 5 minutes!  And even at Body Wars, we only waited about 15-20
    minutes.  We spent a good two hours at Wonders of Life - lots of
    stuff to play with - it was great!!  We went quickly through 
    Communicore East, before heading over to The Living Seas for dinner 
    at 6:30. 

    	Dinner at the Coral Reef Restaurant was incredible!!  The food
    and service were simply fabulous!  You get to eat while viewing
    the giant aquarium tank - and of course we got to see some divers
    in there as well.  We both laughed when they brought the "Mickey
    butter" to our table - how cute!!  Of course my SO had to chop off
    the ears, first thing! :^)  

    	When we emerged, it had downpoured!  We wanted to catch the 
    9:00 Illuminations show (and figured we'd watch from in front of 
    Italy).  As we started over, it started to pour again!  Lots of 
    yellow Mickey ponchos around us everywhere!  Eventually (around 
    8:40, 8:45) it tapered off, and we ventured out from under shelter 
    to our watching spot.  There was still lightning, but the rain 
    stopped and the clouds started moving out!  We were amazed that 
    Disney could even provide a pre-show and control the weather! :^)  
    Illuminations was great!  I'm not sure we had the best viewing
    spot, however (though I'm not sure where the best spot *would* 
    be!), Japan, France and UK were very hard to see.  We had planned 
    to hit Pleasure Island afterwards, but we were exhausted and knew 
    that we had to be up early to do MGM the next day, so we bagged it, 
    and just crashed early.

    Day 3:  MGM

    	Everyone here (I think) had suggested starting with the Animation 
    Building (and maybe in Birnbaum also - can't remember now).  However, 
    we were there at 8:45 and the first show wasn't until 10:00!  So the 
    guy there recommended we do the Little Mermaid show, since lines for 
    that get *really* long during the day.  So we started there.  When we 
    got out, it was still too early for Animation, so we did the Backstage 
    Studio Tour.  After that, we got in line for the Animation Show (our 
    favorite, we decided later!).  After that, it was the Great Movie Ride 
    (virtually no wait - maybe 5 minutes!).  Then on to Star Tours and 
    again, no wait.  From there it was Muppet Vision 3D, The Monster 
    Sound Show and off to catch Aladdin's Royal Caravan before lunch at 
    the Sci-Fi Drive-in.  

    	After lunch, we got in line to wait for the next Indiana Jones
    show.  And then it was on to Superstar Television, where my SO got
    picked to be the news reporter!  (I wanted very much to be on
    Cheers, but to no avail.)  As we were waiting to go into this 
    theater, the monsoons came again, and it downpoured!  When we came 
    out, it was still raining a bit, but not too bad.  Rolf was
    disappointed that he didn't get to see himself on TV.  After that,
    we went to do our last major attraction, Inside the Magic - Special 
    Effects tour.  I'm not sure if it was because it was late in the 
    day (4:30-5:00) or because you have to be really lucky, but nothing 
    was going on in the soundstages. :^(  We walked around some of the 
    shops for a while, and then decided not to catch the last showing 
    of Beauty and the Beast, mainly cuz the seats were all wet, it was 
    still drizzling, and we had a 4 hour drive ahead of us.  So we 
    headed off, saying goodbye to WDW, exhausted yet happy! :^)

    Overall impressions:

    	I found it harder to plan MGM, because of the specific
    scheduled show times on a number of things.  And as such, we spent
    more time waiting around here, than we did at Epcot.  Still, we
    managed to get it all it, so I guess that's all that really
    matters!  It was a great time, and I was VERY impressed with how
    everything went.  The lines were minimal if at all (though I did
    see lines at Epcot at Future World while we were en-route to the 
    World Showcase!), and I really enjoyed everything.  Some of the
    things I did remember from my past trip to Epcot, mainly in the 
    World Showcase, but everything else felt like (or *was*!) the first 
    time.  I wasn't *terribly* impressed with the Star Tours/Body Wars
    rides, though Body Wars was kinda neat.  Rolf said he was more
    impressed with the 360� or 180� films in World Showcase.

    	We were glad we had the rental car while on property - thanks
    to those who recommended it.  And the CBR worked out great!  The
    little beach with hammocks was a nice touch, and we ended up in 
    Trinidad (?) North, walking distance from Port Royal and the food
    courts.

    	I wish the weather had been more cooperative, but at least it
    didn't pour *continually* like it did the two days after we left
    (we were in Coconut Creek, visiting my grandparents, and hoping to
    sit out by the pool or go to the beach - sigh!).  And it was warm -
    we were in shorts/t-shirts the whole time.  While at Disney, the sun
    came out sporadically early in the day (both full days), but I'd say
    it was mostly cloudy weather.

    	amy

    Come on, guys, let's get some more reports!  I'm going to WDW in 19
    days and I want some PSYCHE! reports to carry me til then!
    
    I know who you are ... you signed up for the "sign-in" so I know you've
    gone and come back!
    
    Leslie :-)
    
    

    Leslie's right. The Trip Report Police may have to put in some
    overtime.
    
    Mike

    Well, this is my first day back to work, so I'll be a good girl and do
    my trip report so the trip police don't come after me!
    
    We left March 8 and flew from Boston down to Orlando.  We picked up our
    rental car and drove to Port Canaveral to go on our 4 day cruise on The
    Big Red Boat.  We really had a lot of fun.  The characters were walking
    around to greet everyone, so my 3-1/2 year old son was in tenth heaven. 
    I was surprised at the age range of people on the ship - from babies on
    up to senior citizens.  We even had some spring breakers on board, so
    they kept us entertained by the pool.  This was my first cruise, and I
    was pretty impressed - everyone was so nice and accomodating and were
    so patient with the kids.  There were a lot of activities for the kids,
    but a lot for the adults too.  We went to Nassau and Salt Cay the first
    day.  It was nice, but a little overcast, so we didn't get a lot of
    sun.  Around 2:30 that morning the ship left for Port Lucaya.  It's on
    the same island as Freeport - just on the other side.  This is a new
    stop for the ship.  It was nice - the water was crystal clear!  It was
    on Salt Cay and Nassau too - but for some reason seemed nicer at Port
    Lucaya.  The next day was just spent at sea, so it was pretty relaxing. 
    Friday morning we got back to Port Canaveral and drove over to
    Disneyworld.  We got to the Carribean Beach Resort around 11:30, but
    the let us check in and go to our room since it was ready.  We stayed
    in Martinique, building 22, on the second floor in a corner room.  It
    had a garden view, but was nice.  We went and walked around Disneyworld
    for awhile, but were all pooped so went back to the hotel relatively
    early.  That night we had big thunder boomers and rain and wind - 
    tornadoes all around us!  On Saturday it was pretty windy and rained off 
    and on, but it didn't stop us from going to the park.  We took a break
    in the afternoon - our ears needed a break from the wind!  That night
    we went to Epcot and ate in Mexico.  The food was good, but pretty
    expensive.  Sunday we walked around Epcot and ate dinner in Japan -
    they cook your food right at your table.  Monday we went to the
    character breakfast over at the Yacht and Beach club - it was really
    nice.  The characters there were Chip and Dale, Pluto and Admiral
    Goofy.  After that we went and walked around Disney Village, then we
    had to head off to the airport to head home.
    
    There was a lot we didn't get to see and do (MGM for example) so we'll
    just have to go again!
    
    Even though it was cold down there I wish I was still there - I didn't
    like coming home to all of this snow!! 

    Thanks for the trip report...It gives me courage to work on.  
    
    I just have one more week and then it's my turn and I promise to write
    a trip report this time.  Got that Trip Report Police???
    
    Rose 
    

    More!  More!  I want more!  Sixteen days and counting ... and I'll
    provide every detail in my trip report after!
    
    Leslie

    I leave for DISNEY WORLD 3/26/93!!!!!
    First time going, just me and my girlfriend.
    Leave out of Boston 7AM..........
                     Tell ya 'bout it later

Disney World Trip Report
Feb 20 - Feb 27, 1993

Saturday, 20-Feb
Nancy, Pamela and I climbed out of bed around 4:30 a.m. to get to Logan Airport
in time for the 7:00 shuttle to LaGuardia. After a brief stop-over, we caught
our connecting flight to Orlando and arrived around noon. I am always surprised
at how modern, clean and efficient the Orlando airport is! The weather in 
Orlando was sunny and in the 70s. Gorgeous! Quite a contrast to the temps in
the single digits when we left New Hampshire.

After getting our bags (already at the baggage claim when we got there), we
headed for the car rental. Whoa! There was a line a mile long to get cars
(this was at Dollar Rent-a-Car). Bummer! Guess we won't have to worry about
killing time at the hotel before check-in ;-). After about 45 minutes in the
line to process our rental forms, I had to spend another 20 minutes waiting in
a crowd for a car to become available. Thank goodness everyone in the crowd
was in a "vacation mood"! 

But we finally got our car and headed to the Caribbean Beach Resort. This
was our first time staying at a hotel on the property, so we were really looking
forward to it. Despite a brief wait at the desk to check in, we were very
impressed with the CBR. Everything about the place is so friendly and warm and
efficient. Just so Disney! Our room was in the Trinidad section, just about
farthest possible from the entrance and Old Port Royale but it was still lovely.
We didn't mind the walk along the lake to OPR and the shuttle bus service to
all the parks was (we later found) very convenient. The only plans we had for
Saturday was to catch the SpectroMagic Parade at the MK at 9:00 so we checked
out our local pool (the bigger pool at OPR was closed for repairs that day)
and then grabbed some dinner at OPR.

Now as much as I love WDW, I have to say that the cost of food on the property
is quite ridiculous. We would later eat off-property where possible. We also
took a quick drive to the nearest grocery store off-property to stock up on
snacks and soda so as to avoid the inflated cost of goodies in our room's
well-stocked snack bar.

As evening came on, we caught the bus for the MK. The crowd was the largest
I have ever seen at WDW. The combination of the SpectroMagic Parade and it being
the end of school vacation week for most other states contributed to this. We
staked out a spot across from the Hall of Presidents around 7:30 and waited out
the crush. And it was a crush! But on the whole the crowd was well behaved
and well managed by the cast members present and the Parade was well worth the
effort. For those who haven't seen SpectroMagic, all the floats and participants
are dressed in sparkling, multi-colored lights. Eye-popping to say the least! 

At the conclusion of the Parade, we headed toward a spot near the Castle to 
catch Tinkerbelle "flying" from one of the Castle's spires to Tomorrowland
to kick off the fireworks. A grand start for our week at WDW.

An aside on tickets...As part of our package (and as guests at a WDW resort)
we were given what they call "Be Our Guest" passes. They are cards about the
size of a credit card that you can use for unlimited admissions to any of the
parks (including Typhoon Lagoon and Pleasure Island), free transportation on
the inter-park buses, and even as a credit card in the parks (they gave us a
line of credit which would go against an actual piece of plastic). They have
a bar code sticker attached that gets scanned at the park gates or at a cashier.
When your stay ends, their scanner rejects the card. Neat! By the way, you can
opt to have your children's cards be "no-charge". 

Sunday, 21-Feb
We figured that the MK would be crowded again on Sunday, so we opted for MGM
Studios. A good choice. The crowd was very tolerable and there was minimal
(if any) wait to get on any of the rides. Since we've been to MGM before, we
concentrated on the new attractions, heading straight for the Muppet Vision
3-D first. We love the Muppets so this was a great time for us! The 3-D effects
are the best I've ever seen (augmented by some in-theater effects that are a
riot!). Be sure to catch the pre-show in the waiting area out front. Check out
all the labels on the crates and baggage around the room. Lots of really funny
stuff. And the use of the three TVs across the waiting area are a real hoot
(characters move "across" the TVs and interact between them). Muppets 3-D
is worth the price of admission alone!

We then took in a few repeat attractions like the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids"
set and Star Tours (what a wild ride!!). 

We had made reservations for lunch at the "50's Prime Time Cafe" and ate there
around 2:00. The food was great (though expensive) and the atmosphere was pure
nostalgia. Our waitress was very funny too.

After lunch we caught the Aladdin's Caravan Parade. Not very long but entertain-
ing (especially the "spitting" camels). After the parade, we checked out the
new Voyage of the Little Mermaid show and took a return ride on the Great
Movie Ride and a few other oldies-but-goodies.

Since we had reservations at the 9:00 Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue, we headed
back to the CBR for a short rest and then drove over to Fort Wilderness (and got
lost...there's a lot of road construction going on right now). The H-D-DMR is a
lot of fun, much better than I expected (Nancy made the reservations; she's
always wanted to see this show). The dinner was very good (lots of food!) and
the troupe of entertainers (in the style of an Old West Traveling Show) was
very funny. The singing and dancing was great also. Definitely worth the
price (which was [as expected] high).

One warning about the H-D-DMR: You cannot drive directly to Pioneer Hall in
Fort Wilderness for the show. You have to park in the FW lot and catch a bus
to the Hall (about a 10 minute ride). Give yourself plenty of time to make this
connection.

Monday, 22-Feb
We headed back to the MK on Monday and the crowd had thinned dramatically. We
headed immediately for the new Splash Mountain ride and proceeded to take three
turns on that one. What a great ride! I also learned a very important lesson:
Stay to the left! It seems that most rides have two lines you can get into.
And most people naturally jump in the right-hand line (because we drive on the
right? I wonder...). Well, we quickly found that the left-hand line at SM was
much shorter (in one case, nonexistant) while the one on the right was always
packed. I found this to be true on most other rides as well.

Bummer of this trip: The Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was closed for 
maintenance. That's my number one favorite MK ride, so I was disappointed in 
this.

The weather changed dramatically this day as around noon it started to cloud up
and around 1:00 it started to pour down rain. We waited a while to see if the
rain would let up but it showed no signs of stopping so we finally gave up and
headed back to the bus stop (getting soaked in the process) and went back to
the CBR.

Another observation: Disney must make a fortune every time it rains. As soon as
the skies opened up, every shop started selling plastic ponchos (with Mickey on
'em of course) at $4.50 for kids and $5.50 for adults. What a cash cow! They
must have sold 10,000 at least that one day. Pure profit!

Construction aside...A new hotel is going up in the Fort Wilderness area not far
from the Contemporary Resort. It's called "Wilderness Lodge" and is a huge hotel
modeled on the log-style hotels out west. Looks like it might be a fun place
to stay. I think it is scheduled to open in the fall.

The rain finally let up in the evening so we headed for Epcot to catch the
IllumiNations show. We found a great place to stand between the two gift shops
next to the lake directly opposite the U.S. pavilion. There is a raised section
there where everyone is forced to sit. We stood just behind that section and
had a perfect view over all the sitters' heads. The show was a great combination
of fireworks, lasers and lights.

As we were heading for one of the gift shops (to kill time until the crowd had
cleared out of the parking area) I heard someone calling my name! It was Bruce
Ribolini (another DECie) and his family. Neither of us knew the other was
going to be there. What a small world it is!

Tuesday, 23-Feb
A chilly, windy day but fortunately no rain. Back to the MK again for a full day
of Space Mountain, Mickey's StarLand, more rides on Splash Mountain (this thing
is addictive!) and the Surprise Parade, a Mardi Gras-type parade featuring
bands, all the Disney characters, and large balloon floats of Mickey, Donald,
Minnie, Roger Rabbitt and others.

That evening we headed for Pleasure Island. We had planned on leaving Pamela
with some friends of Nancy's who were supposed to be down there but we couldn't
make contact with them so we took Pamela along. It worked out OK as she enjoyed
the Mardi Gras parade (twice!) and the shops while we limited our "clubbing"
to the Comedy Warehouse. We got an unexpected treat there as instead of the
usual improvisational troupe, we got a 40-minute show from Charles Fleischer,
better known as the voice of Roger Rabbitt. His stand-up routine is very funny.
He did mostly improv, working off the folks in the front row (glad it wasn't
me!).

We managed to all stay awake until midnight for the grand countdown to "New
Years" and the fireworks, confetti, and dancing in the streets. And I won
a stuffed dog at the ball-toss game!

Wednesday, 24-Feb
Wednesday dawned sunny and warm so we decided that this would be our "Typhoon
Lagoon Day". We all love TP! The wave pool was lots of fun and we took numerous
turns on the "Whitewater Rides" (Mayday Falls, Keelhaul Falls and Gangplank
Falls). There were almost no lines at any of these slides so we just
kept going back for more! Unfortunately, we also grossly underestimated the
power of the sun (it really didn't seem THAT sunny!) and ended up with bad
sunburns. Not enough that it ruined the rest of our stay but it did put a crimp
in our style. We all felt really "drained". So be sure to use that sunblocker!

Part of our package included a free dinner and show at "King Henry's Feast"
on International Drive, so we went there Thursday evening. KHF is one of many
"theme" dinner shows in the area. This one is set in the time of King Henry
VIII. Not much in the way of food, but the show is entertaining (particularly
the court jester). The show included magicians and singers and the obligatory
audience participation. 

Thursday, 25-Feb
The sunburn really hit us on Thursday and we dragged ourselves to Epcot and
checked out some of the Future World shows (like Body Wars; our ride stopped
in the middle and had to be restarted; a rare glitch at WDW). By mid-afternoon
we were all bushed (and a bit bored; Epcot hasn't changed since our last visit)
so we headed back to the CBR for Pamela to take a dip in the pool at Old Port
Royale (she loved the slide) and all to take a nap before we went over to the
Disney Village Marketplace in the evening to browse the shops (and spend some
money of course). We also got our picture taken in Civil War-era outfits
(something else Nancy's always been bugging me to have done) and the pictures
came out great. I opted for the "Union officer look"...Just call me Ulysses S.!

Friday, 26-Feb
Heading down the home stretch. It was raining when we eased our aching bones
out of bed so I gathered all the dirty cloths together and headed for the
laundry (conveniently located next to our pool). It took most of the morning
to run a couple loads through and get the clean cloths put away. By that time,
the rain had passed so we caught the bus to the MK for more rides on Splash
Mountain and some more fun. I also caught the wild west stunt show in Frontier-
land (gunfights and fistfights...great stuff!).

Late in the afternoon we caught the monorail to Epcot and spent the remainder of
the evening checking out some of the countries in World Showcase. Again, a bit
boring since there was nothing new.

Saturday, 27-Feb
Time to pack up for home...Boo hoo! Since our flight out wasn't until around
3:00, we checked out and headed for International Drive to kill time looking
around the shops. We also played a round of miniature golf at Pirate's Cove
before driving to the airport, returning our car (no lines this time) and
checking our bags (boy, they sure were heavier going back!).

One interesting event at the airport: Pamela had bought a plastic bubble-blowing
"gun" (it looks like a "ray gun") and we got stopped at the security check
because the "gun" had to be checked with our bags! Nancy had to go back to the
check-in desk and have the folks there (who thought the security folks were
being a tad too cautious) pack the "gun" in a box and send it down to be loaded
with the rest of the bags. (And, yes, it actually made it to Boston safely).
I kidded Pamela that she was going to try to hijack the plane ("Take me to
Havana or I'll blow bubbles in your face!!" ;-).

The return flight was smooth (Orlando-LaGuardia-Logan) but it was COLD when
we arrived...And our driveway was full of snow!...I wanted to go right back
...And still do!

HIGHLIGHTS:
	Caribbean Beach Resort
	Nice weather (70's each day, only one rainy day, cool in the evenings)
	Moderate crowds
	Splash Mountain
	Hoop-Dee-Doo Musical Revue
	Typhoon Lagoon
	Pleasure Island
	Muppet Vision 3D
	Star Tours
	SpectroMagic Parade
	Be-Our-Guest passes
	Inter-park bus transport

LOWLIGHTS:
	Cost of food 
	Cost of film development in the park (get it done off-property)
	Lack of new things at Epcot
	Big Thunder Mountain was closed
	Sunburn
	No time to play golf (and, besides, it is very expensive)
	No time to visit River Country

HINTS:
	Keep to the left queuing up for rides
	Take plenty of money or plastic
	Eat off-property when possible
	Take the buses
	Use sunblocker and wear a hat
	Make reservations well in advance for any shows or dinners
    

Disney World Trip Report
March 19-22, 1993
    
We just got back from Disney last week.  We were able to hit the
Magic Kingdom, MGM, Sea World, and Busch Gardens.  We flew Manchester to
Philly to Tampa.  We stayed at the Stouffer Hotel in Orlando (across the
street from Sea World).  What a hotel!  I've never seen a nicer place.
The brunch we had was $25.00 a head adults, $18.00 for kids.  I had
shrimp, prime rib, eggs/sausage/french toast/etc.  I could have had a
pizza made right there, or even sushi, or cajun fish plates.  There had
to be 100 different foods to pick from.

Anyhow, we did the following:

Arrived in Tampa (stayed with my Mom who lives there), no problem on the
flights.  The 4 year old loved it, sat by the window.  The 8 month old
fell asleep for the trip.  We sat next to Mike Flanagan's parents (pitcher
for the Orioles) and saw him at the gate.  I guess this is his last year...

MK:

We drove from Tampa to Orlando and had breakfast with the characters 
at the Contemporary Cafe (the triangular shaped building that the monorail
runs through).  Great buffet, good prices, and had a whole lot of fun
with the characters (Pluto, Tiger, Chip, Goofy).  The 8 month old was 
grabbing at them and laughing like crazy.  This made the 4 year old very 
brave and she was giving them hugs too.  We parked at this hotel and took
the monorail over to the Magic Kingdom.  We got rained on most of the
day.  We saw nothing new at the MK, kind of boring for me.  But the kids
loved it.  After seeing most of the park, we went back to our car
and checked into our Hotel (which was about 15 minutes from the park).
We had dinner and headed back to MK for the nightime parade and fireworks.
We were lucky, it was Saturday and the park was open until midnight.
IT WAS PACKED!  I think people just go for the SpectroMagic parade.
You could barely move.  The parade was fantastic.  Great floats, great
music and all the characters dressed up in lights.  You must see this
parade if you go.  Right after the parade, they lit up the night
sky with fireworks (next to the Castle of course.)  We were also treated
to Tinkerbell flying from the castle over the crowd.

We had no trouble reentering the park after leaving.  Just get your
hand stamped, keep your ticket stub, and keep your parking pass if you
drive.


SEA WORLD:

The next day we awoke to more rain.  We decided to hit Sea World instead
of MGM in the rain.  Sea World was empty!  We had no waiting or lines for
anything.  We walked through the Shark tank (kind of eerie seeing sharks
over your head), we petted dolphins and manta rays, and saw the Shamu
show, saw the indoor penguins.  The 8 month old was put up on the huge 
diamond vision screen when they were panning the audience.  I guess 
that's her 15 seconds of fame.  The show was ok.  After that show we went 
to a water skiing show which was great.  Speed boats and people flying all 
over the place.  If you ever tried waterskiing (I do) you'll really 
appreciate the stunts they do.  Remember to get your Digital discount for 
the parks.  Sea World was 15% off per person for admission.

DISNEY/MGM STUDIOS:

Monday morning the sun was finally out.  We headed off to MGM.  It was
crowded, but not like the MK.  I thought this was the best park of the
four we went to.  Since my last visit they have added the Muppet 3D movie,
Little Mermaid show, Beauty and the Beast show, extended the Raiders of
the Lost Arc stunt show, and finished the Star Tours ride.  All were
fantastic.  The Muppet 3D show was a blast.  Very entertaining for adults
too.  They had a scene where there were bubbles floating in the air and they
dropped real bubbles from the ceiling.  What a feeling to reach out and
touch what you thought was a 3D bubble only to have it pop.
The Little Mermaid show was super as well.  You were sprayed with water
from the ceiling, had a bubble effect too, and the curtain on the stage
was a water fall.  Very good show and performance by the actors and the
puppets.  The Beauty and the Beast show was done outdoors on a big stage.
Another top quality show with all the songs from the film, complete with
real actors and larger than life characters.  We had a front row seat for
this one and the 4 year old was glued to the show.  We did the backstage
tour, with catastrophe canyon and the tour of the lot.  Nothing new here.
They had a new kid park from Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, complete with
grass thirty fee high, a 15 foot tall Lego piece, etc.  The kids could 
walk through it.  We got some great photos at this one.  We ate at the
50's Cafe.  We got a reservation as soon as we entered the park and could
not be seated until 3:30.  I suggest you make a reservation early if you
want to eat in any of the decent restaurants.  The waitress was very rude to
me (part of the act) and wouldn't let me have dessert because I had
a frappe with dinner.  Geeshhh!  

Marla Mapples made an appearance and put
here name and hand prints in cement.  Not many people interested in her
at all.  Many asking who she is?  The park closed at 7:00pm, but we went on
a special effects tour that started at 6:45 and got out at 8:00pm.  It was
great walking back through an empty dimly lit park with just the
maintenance crew working.  Those parks sure look big without the crowds
filling up the street.

BACK TO TAMPA:

We checked out of the hotel and headed back to Tampa.  After one
days rest, we went to Busch Gardens.  Not much new here either
from our last trip 4 years ago.  The kids loved the petting zoo.
We rode the monorail and the train.  We ate at the German Festhaus
during a downpour.  Luckily it only lasted about 1/2 hour.  Bring
rain ponchos with you everywhere you go.  We bought some at MK and
had them with us for every park.  We saw an indoor ice skating show
with a superb juggler.  Definitely worth seeing.  They are working
on a new metal roller coaster called the Kumba, which is supposed
to be the largest in the Southeastern US.  Something like 7 upside
sections and speeds up to 65 mph.  It actually looped the monorail
at one point.  You won't see me on that one.
The only bad thing at Busch Gardens was how easy it was to win
a stuffed animal.  We came away with a 4 1/2 foot tall Shamu and
a 3 foot tall pink Pig.  Good thing it didn't rain on the way home!

BACK HOME:

The trip back home was quite a hassle.  Two kids, three suitcases, 
a huge pink pig and my 4 year old trying her best to carry Shamu.
We had to check the pig and the fish.  Shamu wouldn't even fit inside
the U.S. Air plastic bag.  (They had to use two end to end.)
Luckily, we made it back to Manchester (only 1 hour late, delays in
Philly) and the stuffed animals made it back in one piece and not
deformed like I feared they would be.  All in all a fun trip.  Next
time we will hit EPCOT and Universal when the kids will be a bit older.

Tips:
Don't miss MGM, I thought it was the best park there.  See the
SpectroMagic parade at MK. Also hit the breakfast with the characters.  
It gives the kids some time with the characters without having 
hundreds of kids all gathered around them.  Expect a cloud 
burst and be prepared.  Otherwise you'll be in line waiting to pay 
$25 bucks for 4 rain ponchos.  Lastly, if you have young kids, don't
rush to get to the park when they open.  We had a leisurely big breakfast
usually around 9:30ish.  We were not hungry until 3:00ish other than
giving the kids some snacks.  If you eat lunch and dinner in the
parks your going to pay big bucks.  We got away with just two meals
each day and did not rush to the parks.  We arrived around 10:30 each
day and the lines had diminished.  Use you Digital discount, its worth
it.


				Have fun,
				Eric

    Thanks for the report, Eric!  I'm going on Saturday ... can't wait! 
    How warm was Orlando when you were there?
    
    Yahoo!!!
    
    Leslie

The highs each day were about 72-77 degrees.  The rain dried
up pretty quickly when it stopped.  I don't think it went below
65, at least not during the day and early evening.  Hope you get
better weather.

    77 degrees would be fine with me as long as it was sunny!!!
    
    Leslie

    Just back on Wednesday, 31st, after 7 days in Orlando. First trip ever
    for myself and family, wife, 11 & 8 yr old son & daughter. EXCELLENT!!
    
    Weather was upper 70's to mid 80's everyday, some rain off & on, no big
    deal. Completely wore out, but very satisfied. MGM was big hit with
    kids. Epcot was only disapointment as it was not interesting to the
    kids, we left early that day. Port Orleans pool was another big hit for
    kids. Went to Cocoa Beach, surprisingly uncrowded, sunburn, excellent
    spectator area, (yes even my wife liked it, and she is an introvert).
    Went to Universal, another great time. My daughter was selected at
    Nickolodean to be slimed, and she was. Everyone enjoyed it. MK was
    another special place, that all of us enjoyed, especially the parades.
    
    Trip was great, some prices were high, but expected as the cost of
    doing business. Again, an excellent time was had by the entire family.
    We will go back again and again and again. Cant wait until next
    year!!!!

    I leave tomorrow!!!  Trip report to follow upon return!  Yaaaaayyyy!!!
    
    Leslie :-)

    Well, I think I have caught up on my work for now, so I'll write my
    trip report.  First off, I went with my husband and 5 year old
    stepdaughter Alyssa.  The trip was geared with her in mind, so we
    didn't do everything we wanted because it was her vacation and she got
    the choices.  
    
    On March 24th, we flew from Newark NJ airport to Naples, Fla to visit
    with my Dad.  The weather was good.  It rained in the morning but by 12
    noon the sun was shinning and hot. (80 to 85 degrees).  On Saturday,
    March 27th, we rented a car and drove 3 hours to WDW.  (Boy, I love
    that 65 mph speed limit).  We stayed in the Raddisson Hotel near the
    Disney Village Resorts.  It was nice, not luxury, but it served our
    purpose.  The hotel was clean, short distance from the parks and
    inexpensive.  We did say that when we go again, we will save for the
    Polynesian.  We missed it too much.  
    
    We got to the Hotel on Saturday around 2:00 pm.  We checked in and got
    settled and headed straight for Magic Kingdom!!!  Alyssa was so
    excited.  The weather was great,  85 degrees and sunny.  MK was open
    late today and when we got there, the 3:00 pm Parade was over.  This
    made walking along Main Street tough.  Alyssa was having a hard time
    taking it all in.  She was very excited.  We then headed to Fantasyland
    just to look around.  Alyssa was awed by the Castle, but she kept
    looking for Cinderella.  We walked around checking the rides out,
    trying to find one that the line wasn't too long so Alyssa could start
    to enjoy the Disney Experience...We decided on It's a Small
    World...What a good choice.  Alyssa loved it!!  Her comment was "It's
    so BEAUUUUTIFUL!!"  
    
    The park seemed to be very crowed at this point I think because it was
    open late, so we decided to come back later to Fantasyland and head
    towards Frontierland.  The crowds were still there but we were happy
    taking everything in.  We saw the show put on by the FrontierLand Stunt
    men which Alyssa Loved.  This put us right in front of the BEAR
    JAMBOREE just 10 mins before a show.  We waited and loved it.  It was
    the first time Ron and Alyssa had seen the show.  When they told
    everyone to feel free to clap your hands or stamp your feet, Alyssa was
    on her feet stomping and clapping.   Ron loved Big Al sing "Blood on
    the Saddle" off key.  A good time was had by all.   
    
    Next we went over to Adventureland because the crowds were still to
    much for Alyssa.  We did Swiss Family Robinson, The Jungle Cruise and
    Pirates of the Carribean.  And then had something to eat.  Well, we
    could hold Alyssa off any more so Ron took her to BIG THUNDER MOUNTAIN. 
    I couldn't go on because I am pregnant.  I noticed that the wait was
    25 minutes long so that gave me enough time to find a sweatshirt for
    Alyssa.  It was getting cold and we were still dressed for 85 degree
    weather.  Well,  needless to say Alyssa LOVED  BTM.  She told me she
    was the only girl on the ride that didn't scream...She is just like her
    father...  
    
    We then ventured over to Splash Mountain.  Alyssa said she didn't mind
    waiting on a 40 min line.  This is a miracle for a 5 year old who has
    the patience of a mouse.  Once again we loved the ride and the wait
    wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Of course, in the middle of
    waiting on line, Alyssa, yells out on the top of her lungs..."MY MOMMY
    IS GOING TO HAVE A BABY!!!"  It's amazing how friendly people get after
    that kind of an anouncement.  
    
    Next, we ventured back to Fanastyland, because we thought we would miss
    some of the long lines while the First showing of Spectromagic was on. 
    During this time, Alyssa was able to go on the Teacups twice, 20,000
    leagues, Mr Toad's Wild Ride and the Carousel.  We then walked to the
    Castle to watch the Tinkerbell and the Fireworks.  At this point we
    noticed our Mouseketeer was fading fast.  We originally wanted to stay
    for the next showing of Spectromagic but it was getting colder and
    Alyssa was not doing well.  So, we bought her a Daisy duck hat and a
    Mickey Mouse Balloon and then headed for the LONG trip back to the car.
    Maybe I'll see Spectromagic next time.  
    
    Alyssa couldn't take all the excitment and coughed and sneezed all night. 
    So we cancelled our reservations for Breakfast with Minnie for the
    Sunday and let her sleep late.  She finally woke up around 10:00 am on
    Sunday and she was dressed and ready to go by 10:30am.  Ron and I
    decided that we would go to EPCOT for a short while and play the day by
    ear.  Everything depending on Alyssa's health.  We were also hoping to
    catch the Characters at one of the places mentioned the flyers, because
    Alyssa had postcards she wanted to give to Minnie.  Now, we had
    explained to Alyssa that Minnie was working and that she didn't have
    time to spend the day with her.  Alyssa is definitely a victim of too
    much commercial watching.  She still believes that the characters go on
    the rides with you. But she still HAD to see Minnie.  We saw the show
    at the Odessy Restaurant but we were unable to see Minnie.  We caught
    the Characters at the Showcase Pavillion...What a great idea... Alyssa
    saw Minnie, who took the Postcards.  THANK-YOU MINNIE!!!  She also saw
    Tigger, Roger Rabbit, Mickey, Pinocchio, etc.   We got tons of pictures
    and a very happy daughter.  
    
    Next we went to the Wonder's of life Pavillion.  Alyssa loved this.  We
    spent 2 hours in there with her.  We had a Blast and saw and touched
    everything.  Alyssa liked going inside the Body put she did admit to
    getting scared.  We even watched the Goofy Cartoon's as you first walk
    in.  Ron and I noticed Alyssa fading so we went back to the
    hotel, rested, had dinner at Pizzeria Uno's and then shopped at the
    Disney Village.  This was enough for our little one, so we called it an
    early night. 
    
    Monday Morning, March 29th. Headed out early to have Breakfast with
    Minnie at the Polynesian.  Great Breakfast.  Both Parents and Daughter
    were happy.  We went straight to the MK and low and behold there was a
    whole bunch of characters there.  Alyssa was in her Glory.  Once we got
    everyone's autograph we hoped the Train to Frontierland.  The wait for
    Splash Mountain was only 20 minutes!! Hooray!!! So we did that and then
    hoped back on the train and went to MICKEY'S STARLAND.  And once again
    lots of Characters.  We found out that in MICKEY STARLAND, the
    Characters come out every 20 minutes in 3 different locations so there
    is always someone around.  We did most everything there,  Ron told
    Alyssa that the picture of Walt above Mickey's desk was his Father. 
    She then asked why Walt didn't have Black Ears...Way to go
    Ron...Explain that one.   Things started to get crowed around 1 pm so
    We went back to the Hotel for swimming, lunch and rest.  
    
    Around 5:30 pm, We headed out again for EPCOT.  This was our last night
    so we did want to see Luminations.  We had dinner at the LAND.  This
    was a great place to eat.  Alyssa had a Peanut butter and jelly
    sandwich children's meal.   Ron had a barbeque sandwich and I had soup
    and salad.  The price was reasonable too.    Next we saw Living Seas
    and Journey to the Imagination.  By this time it we had to head toward
    the World Showcase for Luminations.  The crowd wasn't too bad so we did
    find a spot near Canada.  Alyssa was very impressed.  She danced
    through the whole thing, never keeping her eyes off the show.   It was
    a good end to a short trip.  
    
    The next morn we packed and went to the Airport.  I know that in 3 days
    we didn't see much but we didn't want to exhaust our 5 year old.  The
    object of this vacation was to give Alyssa the "Disney Experience" but
    not to shove it down her throat.  She did what she could handle in that
    span of time and with the crowds.  Our thoughts for next time was to
    take her again during off season so that we didn't have to wait on line
    and we could see more.  Ron and I are expecting our first child in July
    and we decided that we would wait until the baby was 5 and Alyssa was
    10 until we go back again.  I know that people take younger children to
    WDW but Ron and I decided that 5 was a good age.  This way both child
    AND Parent could enjoy the best of WDW.  
    
    The only problem now is...HOW AM I GOING TO LAST 5 YEARS WITH NO DISNEY
    WORLD!!....It's a good thing for this note's file...long may it last...
    
    See you in 5 years. 
     
    Rose East    
    
    Oh just one more thing.  I've been to Magic Kingdom 5 times and the
    past 2 times I saw the same characters.  Pluto, Tigger, Captain Hook, Goofy,
    Chip N Dale, Jungle Book Characters, and Pinocchio.  I didn't find the
    3 pigs, big bad wolf, Cinderella, Pooh, Daisy or Donald duck. 
    Do the Character's rotate to the time of year? Or do they come out
    according to who is popular to the time?  
    
     
    

    This was our third trip to Disney in 5 years, and although we said we
    were going to take it easy, we were still on the go constantly. We left
    on March 29 at 8 in the morning with a non-stop flight with Northwest.
    Logan was foggy, cold and rainy but we took off on time and landed in
    Orlando 20 mins early. With the weather reports from prior weeks, we
    were concerned that we were going to have the rain and cool air, but
    I'm happy to report it was 6 days of sun and 1 day of clouds which
    resulted in some late night showers. The tempatures started off in the
    mid 80's, but by the end of the week were in the high 70s, no
    complaints here!
    	We arrived at Dixie Landings and greeted by very friendly service.
    Checked in, room was ready! I thought since we got one of the last
    rooms and paid 119/night that we would be on the top floor and wouldn't
    have to deal with the toilets from above, but we had a corner room on
    the ground floor, which was near the stairs. The room was nice, but
    kids running up and down the stairs and over us at 2 in the morning
    didn't exactly make us happy. Overall I loved the hotel, but it was
    noisy where we were. 
    	I will just highlight what we loved, and what we were disappointed
    in.
    
    Magic Kingdom - VERY CROWDED.  We never did TMR because the line was
    over an hour wait. Splash mountain was great (10 min wait when the park
    first opened). Spectro magic parade, Carousel of Progress,
    Haunted mansion, Pirates, Small world were all highlights. Fast food
    very expensive so we did not eat in the Kingdom at all. Still my
    favorite of all parks, because its how Disneyworld was started.
    
    Epcot - Not too crowded. Norway, Mexico, and all the rides in Future
    world are good (except we didn't enjoy Universe of Energy). The show in
    Germany was fantastic, and Italy was delicious. The beer in Germany and
    United Kingdom were both enjoyable.
    
    MGM - This is my second favorite park, because I'm fascinated with
    televsion and movie productions. The last time we were here, we could
    not walk on New York street, and there was a lot we hadn't done. Loved
    everything, a little disappointed with Animations as they were doing
    construction so there were no animators working! We ate at Sci-Fi which
    was fantastic, no problems making reservations in the morning. I was
    hoping to see production of a show during the backstage walking
    tour, but they finished taping the day before, oh well.
    
    Pleasure Island - We went here a couple of nights and enjoyed the band
    on the street. We loved the 8-track club (70's) seeing as we were teeny
    boppers during that time. Fireworks factory had an excellent filet
    mignon, we were pleasantly suprised. 
    
    Misc - We went to Universal, and were disappointed. The lines were
    extremely long and I felt the rides were too short. ET and Back to the
    future were over an hour wait so we didn't bother. Hard Rock Cafe was
    excellent and made up for the disappointment. I'm glad we went, but I
    wouldn't go back. We golfed at the nine hole at Disney-Inn. I thought
    golfing in Florida would automatically improve my game, ha! We had fun,
    although we stop keeping score. 
    
    We laid around the pool a lot, which was very nice. We never ate at the
    sit down resturant, but the fast food was very good, and compared to
    the parks inexpensive.
    
    Disney Inn, Poly have excellent breakfast buffets. Drinks at the top of
    the Contempary can't be beat.
    
    Overall we had a fantastic trip, We won't be going back for a while and
    will probably go in the fall, which we have found to be the best time.
    The prices seemed to be really high this year, but the service and
    hospitality seemed to be the best we ever had. 
                                                           

Well, I'm back from 7 fun-filled days in Florida.  I went on April 3rd 
with my 19-year-old daughter, Kalin, via United Airlines from Boston, 
non-stop, at 7:45 a.m. arriving in Orlando at 11:00 a.m.  We were met by 
my ex-husband who took us to St. Augustine since we weren't due to Dixie 
Landings until Sunday.  He lives near Daytona at Flagler Beach, and we 
stayed there that night after our St. Augustine tour, which was great.

Sunday morning he drove us to Dixie Landings and we arrived at 12:30.
Our room was ready so we didn't have to store our luggage.  Dixie 
Landings is huge!  It's very well structured and laid out in a very
interesting way. I brought back postcards in case anyone wants a real
look.  Anyway, we were given a third-floor room in the Magnolia Bend
section, called Paterre Place, and it was a non-smoking room.  We were
very impressed!  The famous "splinter beds" noted in this file before
weren't there; the beds were slightly higher than normal, but they were
pineapple beds and smooth as you could want.  I loved the decor and the
armoire; it was perfect for the two of us (it would also be perfect for
a couple with a child or two small children).  We dumped our suitcases
after oohing and aahing over the room and the pretty garden view, and
hit the food court for a quick bite.  The food court was very impressive
and you moved through quickly.  There were lots of things to choose from
and my daugher and ex-husband ordered bacon double cheeseburgers and 
cajun fries (about $5 apiece) and I had the two-piece fried chicken which
was VERY good.

After we gobbled our lunch, we drove to the Magic Kingdom.  This was my
ex's first trip to Disney (name: George ... I hate saying "ex"!) and he
was overwhelmed.  On the negative side, it was MOBBED.  I have never seen
such a crowd.  We'd go to one place, see a huge line, move on to another
place, and it was the same story.  The weather was overcast and in the
70's; very nice change from Nashua!  Finally we got onto some rides: we
did Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and then hopped over to
Tomorrowland to do the Carousel of Progress and Delta Dream Flight.  Kalin
and George hit Space Mountain and THAT was an hour from the time they got
in line until they came out (I don't do roller coasters!).  We grabbed a
monorail over to the Contemporary and had their famous buffet at the
Contemporary Cafe, which is about $14/person and serves prime rib and
whatever else their specials are.  This particular night was great: there
was roast pork and cabbage, baked fish, chicken and dumplings, the prime
rib, ham, and hot veggies and mashed potatoes along with peel-n-eat shrimp
and my personal fave, ambrosia.  Of course there was a massive soup and
salad bar and even bigger dessert bar, which I passed on.

We headed back to the Magic Kingdom and George and Kalin went on Splash
Mountain; it was getting dark by now and it made it even more thrilling
for them.  We went to Haunted Mansion and the Hall of Presidents after
that, and by this time it was SpectroMagic time!  I can't emphasize enough
how beautiful this was.  We were in front of Tony's Restaurant on Main
St. USA and got a great view.  We just couldn't believe what we were
seeing!  The lights and the characters were awesome in the truest sense
of the word.  My mouth was hanging open half the time.  This is a parade
that CANNOT be missed.

We left the park around 11:00 and here's another good thing: the Magic
Kingdom was open until midnight all week; MGM and Epcot were open until
11:00 all week!  So we didn't feel compelled to get up at the crack of
dawn and hustle over to the park since we're really night owls.

George drove back to Flagler Beach at midnight and was supposed to be
back at 9:30 the next morning, but he called at 9:15 and said he just
woke up.  Kalin and I decided to have a leisurely breakfast so we went
to the DL restaurant which you enter just before the food court.  We
had a great waiter and the menu was VERY southern/cajun inspired.  We
had eggs and home fries made of sweet potato, regular potato, red
peppers and onions ... it was VERY good.  They also served a smoked
bacon that was delicious.

George showed up at 11:00 and that was fine; we had a chance to look 
at the Old Man Swimming Hole on the property and check out where the
boats were for the Pleasure Island/Disney Shopping Village transport.

We got to MGM around 11:30 and it wasn't as badly crowded as I've seen
it in previous years.  It was overcast again and in the high 60's; we
were considering buying George a sweatshirt because all he had was a
sleeveless shirt, but within an hour or so it was very warm.  We did
the TV Star Search and the Monster Sounds, and then took the backstage
tour, which George really enjoyed.  We had a late lunch at the Holly-
wood & Vine Buffeteria, and I was amazed at how good the food was.  
Kalin had the beef burgundy and salad, and George and I had the half
rotisseried chicken which was crispy on the outside and very moist on
the inside.  We had tried to get into the Prime Time Cafe but they had
a big waiting list, so we made reservations for dinner at 8:30.  George
and I went on the Star Tours ride (Kalin does roller coasters, but not
simulated thrill rides!) and I noticed she was getting burned on her
shoulders, nose, and legs.  We went to the Muppets 3-D movie which was
great; I love the muppets anyway.  Then we headed off to The Little
Mermaid which was very different; I was impressed with this attraction.
You felt you were underwater and there would be part movie, part reality
and then there would be a fine mist permeate the theater that felt very
good to Kalin who was now admitting she was burned.  The little mermaid
was also a real person sitting in a shell when the movie parts weren't
on, and I could have sworn she wasn't lip-synching when she sang in her
Ariel voice.

When we got out of there the sun was relentless so we headed over for
Indiana Jones' attraction and it was great; George was very impressed.
We went from there to the Great Movie Ride and by then it was Prime
Time Cafe ... I had been there before, but George and Kalin hadn't and
they got a kick out of our waitress ("Mom") and the ambience of the
50's kitchen.  I had pot roast, Kalin had steak, and George had some
chicken/pasta thing.  Well, we were already forewarned that if you 
didn't eat your dinner, "Mom" wouldn't let you have dessert.  I had
finished my dinner and "Mom" pointed out my clean plate to everyone
and they all cheered (a fun place for sure!), and Kalin was pretty
well done, too.  George was taking no chances: he had this giant taco
chip that he didn't want so he put it on my plate and I stuck it under
the napkin in the rolls basket.  "Mom" cleared our table and I got up
to go to the ladies room.  Well, as I turned the corner, she stopped
me in front of everyone and said "what's THIS?" and she was holding a
corner of the taco chip.  Everyone laughed, and I said "you know I
didn't have that!  It's his!" and pointed to George.  She said, 
announcing to the rest of the restaurant "do you know where I found this?  
HIDDEN under the rolls!"  Everyone laughed and I had her convinced it was 
George who had done this.  She let him split a sundae with Kalin; I passed 
on dessert since they didn't have Key Lime Pie. :-(

We left before the fireworks, and got back to Dixie Landings shortly 
before they started, but we saw them anyway from our balcony.  George
said he needed a break and was going to stay home the next day, which
was fine with us.  We slept late (9:30) and had breakfast at the sit-
down restaurant again.  Then we took the boat over to the Village.  It
was VERY cool but no clouds, so we knew it wouldn't be long before it
got warm.  It was also windy.  The boat ride was great; we saw the famed
Treehouse lodges which Kalin liked.  We picked up passengers at the
Disney Tennis Club which was very nice, and the whole ride was about 20
minutes.  Oh, we also picked people up at Port Orleans, too.  We shopped
around the village and had a late lunch at the Empress Lily's Fisherman's
Quarters.  I had been there before when it was GOOD, but this lunch was
nothing to write home about and it was expensive.  They mixed up my
daughter's order and the seafood primavera that I ordered had a bunch
of fish in it when it was advertised as having scallops and shrimp.
I couldn't find a single shrimp and only one tiny scallop; it was like
"catch of the day" on noodles.  Also, their key lime pie wasn't fresh
and I didn't finish it.

We walked over to the movie complex but their matinees were not plentiful
so we walked back to the village, did some more shopping, then went back
to Dixie Landings for a rest.  We were going to lay out by the pool but
it was still a little breezy and Kalin, in my opinion, shouldn't have 
been in the sun because she was burning.  So we went to Fulton's General
Store which was great; sort of a mini Mickey's Character Shop with the
uniqueness being that you could get tees and sweatshirts and tote bags
with Dixie Landings logos on them.  It also serves as a mini 7-11 where
you can get picnic stuff and snacks and cold drinks.  One point of 
interest: nowhere in the Magic Kingdom can you find a pack of gum!  They
won't sell it.

About 7:00 p.m. we took the bus over to Pleasure Island; the bus driver
seemed to think he was retired from the Indy-500 because he was driving
like there was a race on.  I was thrilled when we finally got to PI in
one piece.  We went to Chef Mickey for dinner at the Village; although
not cheap, we really liked this restaurant.  For one thing, there was a
mob of people and we could hear them muttering about an hour's wait.  I
went up to the desk and said "how long for two people?" and she said "I
can take you right now!"  Yippee!!!  I had shrimp scampi on rice and 
Kalin had prime rib; it was VERY good and it was just enough.  I didn't
leave there feeling uncomfortable and yet I wasn't looking around for
dessert, either.

Pleasure Island was great: the best part was when Kalin was being carded
at the turnstyle and when she couldn't produce her license they said "you
can be admitted under 18 if you're with a parent" and they looked behind
her.  I said "I'm her parent" and the boy/man (22 or so) said "oh, I'm
sorry, I thought you were sisters."  YES!!!  I lived on that all night!!
ha ha ha  Kalin was ticked because she's almost 20 and he couldn't believe
she was 18.  Okay, enough of that self-stroking ... we went to the Rock'n'
Roll Club upstairs and watched the young girls trying to dance ... I say
trying because I think if their feet hit the floor once on the beat, it
had to have been an accident.  We stayed there for a bit but it was kind
of boring.  We went over to the Comedy Warehouse and got in line for the
next show; there's one every hour.  While we waited in line there was an
outdoor stage where the closest to Jim Morrison I've ever heard was playing
all the old Doors tunes.  Everyone in line started singing along; the wind
had picked up by now and we were kind of cold, but it didn't take long
before we were in. 

The comedy club featured improvisational comediens and they were VERY 
good.  We couldn't believe how quick they were, and the crowd loved
them.

When we got out we looked for the country western club to watch the
dancing, but we were cold and decided to head back.  After the bus
dropped us off at Dixie Landings we were REALLY cold and laughed about
it all the way to our room; I had my arm around Kalin's shoulders and
we were almost at a dead run.  I've never seen it so cold in Florida
at this time of year.

Wednesday morning was bright and sunny; George called and said he had
been sick since Monday night and wouldn't be joining us for Epcot; I
said that's okay, we'll just do Typhoon Lagoon instead.  We got there
around 9:45 a.m. after grabbing a quick coffee and breakfast roll at
the food court.  Even at this early time, and as enormous as this place
is, we walked for a while before we saw two lounge chairs that weren't
being used.  Luckily it was right near Typhoon Tilly's and a food shack
that we could use later for lunch.  I put my purse in one of the $.50
lockers and kept everything else with us.  No one bothered anything.
The water was 84 degrees and it was just a magical place.  Kalin is
fair-skinned and was wearing a skimpy bikini so I covered her with #8
lotion (which she thought was #4!) and went into the lagoon to wait 
for the big waves.  It was great!  I did lay down for awhile, but the
sun was SO hot that it was really uncomfortable to just lay prone like
that.  Kalin had fallen asleep so I woke her up to turn over; she had
her eyes closed while she slathered the lotion on so she didn't notice
it was still #8.  She got sick of being fried, too, so we started 
using the water slides.  We went on every one except the 35 m.p.h one
(Kawabunga?) ... Kalin wanted to use it, but since this was the first
time Mom had EVER been on a water slide, I said no way.  It was a lot
of fun.  The breeze was cool when we were out of the water, but the
sun was scorching.  There was virtually no humidity; it was very dry
heat.  We ate at the food shack; don't order the cheese steak ... it
was very fatty and the cheese wasn't melted.  Kalin threw half of it
away.  I had the barbecued pork sandwich which was good.  We left at
2:00 because Kalin said she was burning and by this time she was onto
me about #8 and was glad I snuck it on her.  We kept slathering it on
each other, but she must have missed my back because later I discovered
some very weird "white" patterns under some very red skin.  I warn you
all to wear at LEAST #10 and to keep applying it if you don't want to
suffer later.

The only complaint: when we went out to get our bus, we watched the
Dixie Landings bus pull away just as we got to the stop.  The next bus
didn't come for 20 minutes and then it wouldn't pick anyone up because
the people who worked at Typhoon Lagoon told them that it was full.  So
we had to wait 40 minutes ... the top of my head felt like it was 
frying; I put my hand on top and, guess what, my hand was burnt.  We
got back to DL, took a shower and changed, and grabbed a bus back to
the Magic Kingdom so we could do some of the things we didn't get to
do on Sunday.  When we got there we were suddenly famished so we 
decided to go to the Crystal Palace.  I had prime rib and Kalin had
baked ham.  I told Kalin that so far, the best food we'd had were from
cafeterias!  The prime rib was $14.95 and absolutely delicious.  I
loved the Crystal Palace; it was very pretty inside and we could watch
people going by to Adventureland and still see the castle.

We went on Peter Pan's ride and the Haunted Mansion again; I wanted to
go on the Grand Prix Raceway, but by this time Kalin was getting a
rash and having chills.  The rash looked like bright red goose-bumps
and she was very itchy.  I was worried because I was already feeling
pretty heated on my shoulders and back, but I already had a tan base
and I'm darker than she is so I could just picture sun poisoning.  We
decided to leave even though we had hoped to see SpectroMagic again.
The day wiped us out and we were asleep by 11:00.

The next day George pooped out on us again, so we went to Epcot by
ourselves via the bus.  It was a beautiful day, clear and warm.  I made
lunch and dinner reservations in Communicore East (or West?) ... you
go up to these little TVs that have people on the screen waiting to
take your reservation requests.  It was really neat!  I made reservations
for Morocco for lunch because in the past, there was always someone in
our party who didn't want to try it.  We made dinner reservations for
the Land Grille.

There was no crowd that day; we started at the World Showcase and worked
our way around; for attractions we did China and Mexico and Norway and,
of course, our favorite, the American Adventure.  We had lunch in Morocco
which was beautiful inside.  I wasn't impressed with my lunch, which was
three thin slices of "roast" lamb (it tasted like they BOILED it), but
Kalin liked their shish-ke-bob.  One interesting feature was a "salad"
which was definitely near east.  One of the scoops on the plate tasted
like salsa; the other was made of eggplant and green peppers and was
very good.  I think if I had just had the salad it would have been fine.

We headed for the Future World exhibits and did Journey into the Imagin-
ation and the Harvest Theater and the Land ride in the Land building.
I noted that they kept saying it was sponsored by Nestle's; it used to
be sponsored by Kraft.  We did some shopping around and had dinner at
7:30 at the Land Grille, which is a moving restaurant.  Only problem 
there is that you're going over one of the attractions in which farm
animals are making all kinds of noises (World of Motion, which we also
saw) and after about 10 minutes of roosters crowing I was ready to 
order chicken.  Anyway, Kalin ordered spare ribs which we both recommend.
There was a double rack and they were very "saucy" ... I ordered beef
tenderloin and when they served it to me I was shocked ... they took a
perfectly good filet and sliced it across twice so there was three
slices of beef on my plate which was impossible to keep "medium rare."
And it was expensive, too.  But I'm not really complaining; I wanted to
do in this trip what we had never done before, and it was an experience.
I just recommend that if you love spare ribs and you're by yourself (no
kids) and you don't mind roosters crowing, this place is fine.  Just
don't order tenderloin and expect filet.

We were tired by then and felt that since George was going to be coming
back with us the next day, we shouldn't see everything now ... so we
went back to DL.  George called and we told him that if it was nice,
be there at 9:30. If it wasn't, be there at 10:00!  Kalin was really
hurting; her rash had come and gone all day, depending on whether or
not she was standing in the sun.  She had hoped to lie out for a while
on Friday, but I told her she was loony if she did.  For once in her
life since she hit 12, she listened to me.

I want to add that we never saw a housekeeper once at DL other than in
passing; we never heard any noise and that includes from our next-door
neighbors.  If you're going to go to DL, get the Magnolia Bend section.
We were in Paterre Place.  Also, get the third floor.  VERY quiet and
peaceful.

George arrived at 9:30, the day was hot and sunny and getting humid.
He helped us load our luggage into his car and it only took me about
a minute to check out.  We got to Epcot about 11:00 after hitting the
food court for coffee and a quick roll.  By now the clouds were rolling
in and the girl at the tram said to expect rain and coolness.  We were
not worried in the least; I just KNEW it was going to be a great day.
We took the boat over from the World Showcase over to the American
Pavilion to show George how great the show was.  He fell asleep just
before the grand finale so we woke him up and he didn't miss it!  We
went to Mexico and France and then back to the American Pavilion for
lunch.  We were all dying for a good old fashioned hamburger!

We headed back to the Future World attractions and went on my favorite,
the World of Energy, because I just love the dinosaurs!  George enjoyed
this, too, but he fell asleep at the end, as did alot of people around
us (we could actually hear snoring!).  We did Body Wars and one other
attraction that escapes me right now, and then left around 4:30.  We
got to the airport at 5:00 and had two hours to wait for our flight!
Luckily Kalin taught me cribbage so we had a game going in the airport.
We got home at 9:30 p.m. and when that cold air hit, I was all set to
go back!

I think our pace was alot slower than it would have been if we had
never been before; I didn't see everything that I wanted to, but I
didn't feel bad about it because this was one trip I wanted to take
leisurely.  I had a great time with my daughter and it gave us some
opportunities to spend one-on-one time together.

I want to go back!!!

Leslie

    Hasn't anyone gone to WDW in the past month??  I'm dying to know how
    the Easter season went this year.  PLEASE Someone do a Trip Report!!! 
    I am having withdrawls... 
    
    Thanks in advance. 
    
    Rose East

    Well, I went during the Easter season; got home the day before, as a
    matter of fact.  Read 334.17.  But I want more reports, too!!!
    
    Leslie

                            Disneyland trip report

When:   Jan. 15 thru 17
Where:  Marco Polo Motel


The flight was late arriving but I was determined to go to Disneyland
that day.  Traffic from LAX to Anaheim wasn't bad only a couple of slow
areas.  But it was raining.  And it rained all weekend.  

Checked into my room and walked to Disneyland.  This was an experience
that I didn't repeat.  It wasn't a bad walk to the entrance but then
I had to walk across the long parking lot.  (Maybe during busy times
there's a tram that goes to the entrance - anyone know?)  The walk
back at the end of the day seemed a little long on the tired feet.

I went on Splash Mountain - awesome.  I loved it.  Also went on Pirates
of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and It's a Small World.  I was
checking out the rides because the next day I wanted to videotape them with
my new camera.

Looked in the gates of Toontown - very colorful.  Looked around in the
shops to see what I might like to buy.  Started the long trek back.
The walk isn't that bad but I recommend saving the feet for the park.
At the end of a full day, it wouldn't be fun.  

At the hotel I had a message from a friend.  He couldn't make it on
Saturday.  Oh well, I can go to Disneyland by myself.

Day 2 - Drove to Disneyland.  Videotaped Priates, Haunted Mansion,
Splash Mtn., Jungle Cruise, It's a Small World.  Lots of rides were
closed because of the rain.  There wasn't a 3 p.m. parade (it wasn't
scheduled).  The worse part was due to the rain the park closed at
7 p.m. and that meant no Fantasmic.  I talked with a cast member at
Toontown and weather permitting, there would be a soft opening in the
afternoon.  Well it started raining about 15 minutes before the soft
opening was suppose to happen.  Went over to the Disneyland Hotel
hoping to get the MKC discount for my purchases but they no longer
are giving discounts.

Day 3 - My cousin's family drove up from San Diego to spend the day
with me.  They were waiting at the parking gate when it opened and I
was a couple of cars behind them.  My cousin has two sons - 5 and 7
(I think).  We were hoping the five year old was tall enough for the rides
66and he was.  It rained again so the park closed early.  The best
thing about the rain is it kept the crowds down.  We rode everything that
was open.  The best part of the day was when we ran into the characters in
Tomorrowland.  There weren't alot of people around.  The Mad Hatter spent
quite a bit of time with Jared.  I wish I had my video camera (it was
packed - didn't see much sense in carrying it around in the rain).

It was a fun trip.  A day at Disneyland in the rain is better than a day
at work.  I'm hoping to go back this summer with my husband and son (who'll 
be 13 months old).

BTW:  The walls at the Marco Polo were thin.  I heard alot of noise in the
evening.  Next time I'll try another hotel (or stay with relatives).

My wife, three daughters and I went to WDW from April 23 - May 2.  Hope everyone
enjoys the report and feel free to send mail if you need answers to specific
questions about WDW or Orlando.

We succeeded in keeping the trip a complete secret to the three girls (ages 10,
8 and 7) through Friday afternoon, the day we were leaving.  All their teachers,
friends and relatives had known we were going as we began planning 6 months ago.
We picked up the girls early from school (on the premise that we were going to
their grandparents for the weekend).  When they got home they saw all the 
luggage we had packed and my oldest said, "Gee, that's a lot of bags for a 
weekend at Nana's."  I asked her to check the tags to make sure we had marked
it right and she read "Destination: Orlando".  Even the 7-year old knows what's
in Orlando!  Everyone began jumping up and down, my 8-year old began crying
happily and the limo arrived.  We drove from Merrimack, NH, to Boston and flew
out at 4:30 that afternoon.  Nice flight down, got our rental car and drove
to Westgate Vacation Villas to arrive at 9:00PM.

Westgate is a beautiful place to stay, about 2 blocks off I192 almost behind
the Hilton, maybe 2+ miles from the WDW access road.  It never took us longer 
than 10 minutes to get to the parking lot.  Westgate is a timeshare that doesn't
sell all its units so some are rented.  We had two huge bedrooms (one with a 
king size bed, the other with 2 queen size beds), 2 full bathrooms, 3 TVs, a 
kitchen, dining room, living room, washer, dryer, dishwasher, stove, refrig, etc.
I highly recommend staying here particularly if you have more than 2 children.
There are also 3 swimming pools on the property and they offer a free lunch (hot
dogs, soda, beer, etc.) every day from 12-2.

Saturday, the 24th, we went to MK (sure, we were going to spend the first day
at EPCOT like the book suggests :-).  We had traveled here three years ago but
the girls remembered very little.  We went directly to Fantasyland and rode
all the rides except Dumbo.  The girls are "..too cool.." to ride the "baby" 
rides anymore (and imagine our relief at not having to face the one hour line 
for the 45 second ride).  Since my favorite is Peter Pan Adventure, we rode that
twice.  Then the older girls were ready for the adventures we hadn't enjoyed 
last time.  They wanted to ride Space Mt.  I suggested Thunder Mt. and said if
they liked that we could go to Space Mt.  I convinced my wife that Thunder Mt. 
was "relatively" tame compared to other roller coasters so the five of us went.
My 7-year old is about 1 1/2" above the height cutoff so she was walking on air
as she had become a "big girls".  We waited about 25 minutes in line and finally
got on.  4 out of 5 us had the rides of our lives...guess who didn't?  Right, 
my wife threatened me within an inch of my life about EVER getting her on a ride
like that again.  Needless to say, the girls were ecstatic.  We caught the 3:00
Surprise Parade, went through Adventureland (Swiss Family Treehouse, Jungle 
Cruise, Tiki Birds) and began to queue up for Spectromagic.  We waited just over 
the bridge from Main St. area to Liberty Square from about 8:00 on.  Let me say
that Spectromagic is amazing.  20 minutes of floats and characters, everyone 
wearing lit costumes.  The music is wonderful (I still can hear the song in 
my head) and the special effects are great.  My only regret is that I couldn't
be across from the girls taking a picture of their expressions....fabulous!  I
should mention that we viewed Spectromagic on Sunday night at the Town Square
entrance to MK so you could see 5-6 floats at once and I hadn't even noticed the
effect of having the floats change from white to colored lights and back in 
succession.  I know that Sunday was the last day for Spectormagic for the week
and don't know when it is coming back, but if it is on when you are there don't
miss it!

Stayed past 11PM closing (another Spectromagic parade) and rode the FL rides one
final time before leaving the park near midnight.  One neat thing is that we
were in line at 20K Leagues (with about four other people) when this crowd of
people hurried by.  We turned to the commotion to see Michael Jackson and his
entourage hurrying from Fantasyland on down towards Tommorowland.  Seems he 
visits once in a while after the park closes to avoid crowds.  There were still
about 50 people running after him.

We slept late Sunday and back to MK.  We went through Tomorrowland and Mickey's
Starland (which the girls were too old to enjoy - I would say it loses interest
for 7 or older).  We decided to go back to the hotel to swim and relax and after
dinner we returned to MK.  We did Frontierland (Keelboats, Tom Sawyer Island
and the Haunted House) and then shopped on Main St. finally ending up in the 
cinema (forget the name) that has 6 of the older Mickey cartoons.  We came out
onto Main St. when Spectromagic started up again.

Monday we went to Universal Studios.  We rode the Hannah Barbers ride (like a
cartoon version of Body Wars, much tamer and more entertaining) which was 
excellent, spent about 2 hours touring Nickelodeon and sitting in the audience
for Game Lab, where they test new game ideas for upcoming shows.  This one is
kind of neat because they treat the children like stars and basically, stick
the adults off to the side.  The kids, obviously, loved the attention and my
youngest got to participate on the winning team in a relay.  Then we went to
Ghostbusters (hilarious to me but a little too adult in the humor for grade
school kids) and then across the park to ET's Great Adventure.  This one is 
great!  As you enter they give you an ID with your name in barcode printing.
Then you have to show your ID to get on the ride which is a platform with 9 
bicycles that imitates ET and Eliot's escape from the FBI in the movie. You
"fly" through the air and past scenes of the movie, then into outer space to 
ET's planet.  The great thing is that when you finish, ET says "Goodbye, 
Marissa, goodbye, Meaghan, thank you, Caitlin, etc."  because your ID cards
were entered into the program when you got on.  My daughters still haven't
figured out where they got their names!  Very special, don't miss it, especially
if your children remember the movie.   We split up so my oldest and I could
ride Kongfrontation while the two younger girls and my wife went to Fievel's
Playground.  Kongfrontation is pretty neat as well, but by far the LONGEST 
wait all week - almost 45 minutes.  You walk through a subway/downtown replica
of NYC while realistic TV news broadcasts report the escape of KK.  Realistic
down to the commercials and call numbers and letters (Channel 9 WOR-TV in NY).
Problem is that they repeat every 15 minutes, so with a 45 min. wait you see the
same tape three times.  By the end it's very campy as most of the adults around
you are trying to exactly remember the lines (sort of like meeting someone else
who used to watch the Stooges and knows all Curly's lines).  The ride itself
is pretty neat, you come in contact with a 75 foot tall Kong twice and he "hurls"
the tram car you are riding in to the ground.  However you never get the 
realistic feeling of impending danger and loss of control you do with some other
attractions.  Good take, but not with a 45 min. wait.  We rejoined the others
and all went through Earthquake, which was terrific.  After a short demo, with
people from the audience, they get you on a SF subway car that encounters an
earthquake during a stop.  The ground aboves caves in and an oil truck slides 
into the subway and explodes.  A flood comes down the stairway on the other side
with what looks like a ten foot wall of water that falls miraculously short of
the subway car.  Some guy jumps out and yells "Cut!" and everyone laughs and
applauds.


I'll continue my report in the next note.

bl

    I just got back from 10 days at WDW, the trip report will take a while,
    but it will be in here eventually!
    
    Some real quick notes:
    
    	- Best weather EVER for a visit, sunny all 10 days, less than two
    hours of rain during the entire stay.
    
    	- The CBR's (IBM) reservation and billing system screwed up BIG
    TIME, our check-in AND check-out were disasters that the cast members
    did their best to overcome (detail in the trip report, almost enough to
    make me want to never go back to the CBR!).
    
    	- Everything was more crowded than when we went during this same
    time two years ago.
    
    	- The word from the official and unofficial guide books on when to
    visit each park must be out there, because we found the OPPOSITE of
    their recommendations to now be more appropriate!  (for example:  The
    Magic Kingdom was more crowded on Friday than on Tuesday, Typhoon
    Lagoon was mobbed on a Monday, etc...)
    
    	- The opening of the Jazz Club at Pleasure Island has been delayed
    until July.
    
    	- The format at 8-TRAX at Pleasure Island has already changed from
    what I saw in March (from multi-faceted 70's music, to nothing but late
    70's disco), and not for the better, IMHO.  If your favorite
    clothing material is polyester, and you think that Saturday Night Fever
    should have taken home all of the Oscars, then you'll like it now... 
    Thanks, but no thanks....details in the trip report.
    
    	- Splash mountain is wonderful, and also makes for a shorter wait
    at Big Thunder Mountain by drawing the crowd.
    
    	- While the mini-bars and coffee makers are still in the rooms at 
    the CBR, refrigerators are only for medical usage, we could not get one
    and opted for a styrofoam cooler instead.
    
    	- If you plan to spend any time at the resort itself, the family
    plan for recreational vehicles (boats, toobies, water sprites, bikes,
    etc.) at the CBR is a great deal.
    
    Full trip report to follow, soon....
    
    Cheers,
    Ken 
    

Maybe one or two people (moderator types...) may have noticed that despite my 
having posted a note regarding the intent to take a trip this past March 
(where we were not going to tell our kids about the trip until we picked them 
up at school on the day of departure), that I never posted a trip report for 
that trip.  It was because, well, that trip regrettably sort of never 
happened.  I was coming in on a red-eye flight from a business trip on the 
West coast the morning of March 4th, 1993, with plans to head home, pack with 
my wife, pick up the kids at school, head back to Logan Airport, and fly to 
Orlando for a four day mini-vacation before I had to present that following 
week at multiple customer events in Florida.  

Everything was fine at home when I had boarded my flight to Boston on the 3rd, 
but when I arrived home I found my five year old sitting by himself in the 
family room watching TV.  When I asked him where mommy was, he said, "Oh, 
mommy and Tara (his eight year old sister) are upstairs".  Upstairs I found my 
wife in one room with the flu running a fever of 102, and my daughter in 
another room with the flu running a fever of 104.  Evidently, my daughter had 
been throwing up and had passed out cold onto the floor the night before.  
Needless to say, despite a rare combination of jet lag, lack of sleep, 
adrenalin, the 'itis, and confusion, I had to discreetly start making phone 
calls to cancel flights, hotel, rental car, dinner reservations, etc.  I 
assure you that this was a painful process, when I had thought that within 
eight hours we were to have been Orlando-bound.  We have never told the kids 
about our surprise plans for the trip, because we felt that they would have 
felt terrible to know that they were almost on their way to Disneyworld only 
to have had to cancel at the last minute.  The toughest part was having to 
explain to friends and neighbors who did not expect to still see us that 
weekend why we were still at home.  The kids still don't know about any of it.  

I had already taken that Thursday and Friday as vacation days, so instead of 
being at Disneyworld, I stayed home and helped nurse the sick patients back to 
health.  Since I had to get myself to Florida for the following week's 
customer events, I flew down to Orlando by myself on Saturday morning (the 
only flight that I could get at the last minute), and arrived at my hotel just 
in time to start feeling a little funny myself.  By 5:00 on Saturday, now by 
myself, and less than 5 minutes from the main gate, I was running a fever of 
    101 and climbing.  Thus, no trip report, but I did get to present to
    several hundred customers that next week while running a fever over 100
    the entire time.  Fun fun fun.

However...........

Last night we returned from a perfect 10 days at WDW.  This trip the kids had 
known about for over a year, and things all came together without a hitch 
(except for the Caribbean Beach Resort check-in AND check-out, but more on 
that later).

That trip report will be posted as soon as I can get the time to write it.

Cheers,
Ken
    

    OK, the following note contains my trip report.  I wanted to try and get
    it in this weekend, since I'll be on the road all of this next week
    trying to help close some Q4 business.
    
    It may be overly long and tedious,...
    but it is self-indulgent...
    
    Cheers,
    Ken
    

Trip Report for the Steinhardt family: Ken, Eva, twins Tara and Alana (age 8), 
Eric (age 5), and my wife's parents, Louis and Irma Sayte, for Friday May 7th 
through Sunday May 16th.

Again, I'd like to first thank all who contribute information to this 
notesconference, as your observations, input, opinions, and commentary have 
been enormously helpful!

Friday, May 7th
---------------
Starting Thursday morning, Eva and I started methodically crossing off items 
on our checklist of "things to do" before leaving as they were completed, and 
yet again packing far more clothes than any of us would actually need.  I was 
a little bit concerned that the kids had gone to bed a bit late given that we 
would be waking them at 4:30 A.M., but Eva assured me that we would have no 
trouble getting them up in the morning as they were VERY excited about the 
trip.  She was right, as they practically exploded out of bed when we went to 
wake them at 4:30, and we were out of the door by 5:45 to drive to Logan 
Airport.  

We parked the car at Park and Fly, which in many ways is much more convenient 
than the airport garage (as well as less expensive) as they drive the shuttle 
van directly to your car, and then drop you at the courtesy vehicle curb at 
the terminal, eliminating the need to have to carry any luggage very far.  In 
our case, this was particularly useful, as we had five bags (three of which 
were those trusty gray canvas Digital bags, first distributed at DECtown in 
'83, and which hold up against anything).

Being a United Premier member, I was able to walk right up to the Premier 
check-in counter and avoid the normal baggage check line.  The United person 
at the counter was quick to notice our three kids, and was presenting them 
with stick-on United pilot's wings before the bags were even checked.  United 
reserves the front of the plane for Premier members, so we had row #4 of our 
Boeing 737 to ourselves.  The flight left exactly on time at 7:20, and arrived 
into Orlando 25 minutes early, at 10:00.  Since my in-laws would not be 
arriving from Newark on their USAir flight until 10:56, we had plenty of time 
to go ahead and get the minivan rented and luggage loaded before they arrived.  
The best rate for a minivan that I was able to get was from National using the 
Magic Kingdom Club discount, which was $240/week, and $44/day for each day 
beyond the weekly rate.  Thus, the ten day cost including all taxes and 
surcharges turned out to be $396.  OK, everyone all together now, if you are 
renting a vehicle in Florida, what color will it be?  Yes, a brand new white 
Chevy Lumina APV with only 2000 miles on it.  

The early arrival of our flight did give us enough time to dump everything 
into the minivan and make it back out to the USAir concourse in time to greet 
my in-laws at the gate as their flight arrived at 11:00.  While they collected 
their luggage, I drove around to the baggage level, we loaded everyone and 
everything on, and we were finally off for the BeeLine, I4, and The World.  
While it was more than just a bit cramped fitting four adults, three children, 
and all of the luggage into one minivan, it did prove possible.

We arrived at the Custom House at the Caribbean Beach Resort just before 12:00 
noon, and then the check-in fun began.  I waited in line, while everyone else 
explored the surroundings and conversed with the very verbal parrot in the 
large cage inside the Custom House.  There were only two parties in line in 
front of me (both also there to check in), so I shouldn't have to wait too 
long, right?  WRONG.  It was twenty minutes before the people that were in the 
process of checking in at this line when I arrived finally left, and while I 
could not hear the conversation between them and the two cast members that 
were doing the check in, I was most definitely able to detect that these 
guests left the counter as less than happy campers, evidently something to do 
with their accommodations being far different from whatever requests that they 
had made.  But I wasn't worried, as after all, I had made my reservations and 
requests 16 months ago, and had re-confirmed those requests with central 
reservations on three occasions during those 16 months, most recently just two 
days prior.  Those requests were (in priority order):  1) Connecting rooms, 2) 
Nonsmoking rooms, 3) Martinique, 4) Second Floor.  We had been confirmed for 
parking lot view rooms at $89/night, with each requested noted on all of our 
confirmation slips.  I had made it clear that the connecting rooms were 
critical, since the twins would be sharing a room with my wife and I, but our 
5 year old son would be sharing a room with my wife's parents.

I was very able to hear the conversation between the front desk cast members 
and the lone party that now separated me from the counter.  Suffice it to say 
that they were not happy campers either.  Evidently, the reason that there 
were two cast members at this particular line was that one of them was a 
trainee, rookie cast member, and the other was trying his best to not jump in, 
but rather let her go ahead and do her best, as he offered suggestions only 
when asked or absolutely necessary.  According to the guests in line in front 
of me, the rookie cast member "simply doesn't know how to type on a keyboard!  
They put someone here to check people in at a terminal who doesn't know how to 
type!!!".  This was the least of their concerns.  Evidently, six months ago 
they had made their reservations and requested a non-smoking, first floor room 
as close to Old Port Royal as possible, in either Martinique or Trinidad I 
(they had a young infant and a stroller, and wanted to avoid stairs).  What 
they were offered was a smoking room, second floor in the most remote building 
of Trinidad II, building 3900 (for those of you that are not familiar with the 
CBR, this building is practically in a different zip code from Old Port Royal, 
and is as far from OPR as one can get and still stay at the CBR).  But hey, I 
still wasn't worried, I had reserved a full 16 months ago, etc...  What was 
worrying me however was that I had now been in line almost an hour, and still 
had not received any service.  Eva decided to go and wait in another line, to 
see if possibly we could be checked in before the end of the millennium.  

Sure enough, she reached the front of her line before I did, after I had been 
waiting for an hour and the party that had been in front of me was still 
arguing with the two cast members.  Crystal, the cast member who would now 
check us in (where Eva had been waiting), was very apologetic and sympathetic.  
She soon had more reason to be apologetic, as after what had now become 65 
minutes from when we entered the Custom House she informed us that what she 
could offer us were two NON-CONNECTING, SMOKING rooms in (you guessed it) 
BUILDING 3900 in Trinidad II.  I tried to stay calm and be the "Good Cop", as 
Eva quickly jumped into "Bad Cop" mode.  I asked if there were any connecting 
rooms, answer: "no".  I asked if there were any non-smoking rooms, answer: 
"no".  I asked if there were ANY rooms that were connecting ANYWHERE that we 
could get at the CBR, and that I would be willing to pay the room upgrade 
difference, answer: "no".  After much "discussion", what she was able to come 
up with were two non-connecting, smoking rooms, on the second floor of 
building 2600 (Martinique) for that night, and then we would have to move the 
following day to two connecting, smoking rooms on the first floor in building 
2300 (Martinique). The only alternative was to take the rooms in Trinidad II.

We accepted the option to go to Martinique today, and to move the following 
day, so at least we could get connecting rooms for 8 of the 9 nights (since 
our kids would be sleeping in separate rooms!), but let it be known in a calm, 
professional manner that we were disappointed and dissatisfied.  I can only 
imagine what anyone that tried to check in at the normal check-in time of 3:00 
P.M. must have faced that day.  I told them that I understood that my requests 
were requests and not commitments on their part, but with 16 months lead time 
how could they have missed on ALL of our requests?  Then I noticed the 
familiar IBM logo on their terminal...  Needless to say, when we inquired 
about the possibility of getting a small refrigerator in addition to the 
mini-bar in the room, we were told that it wasn't possible, as they were meant 
to be used for medical supplies as the priority, and all of them were already 
spoken for.

So, at around 1:30, we arrived at our temporary living quarters for the night 
in building 2600, but of course could not unpack, since everything had to be 
ready for baggage pick-up the next morning at 8:00 A.M. to be moved to our new 
room (room number unknown).  We then headed off for the food court at Old Port 
Royal for lunch.

While most of us ordered from the Bridgetown Broiler (mostly Mexican fare 
now), Eva and Alana ordered sandwiches from the deli.  Despite the orders all 
being placed at the same time, the food from the Bridgetown Broiler was done 
10 minutes before the Deli, and this time lag was made worse when the woman 
who was working the counter at the deli dropped my daughter's sandwich plate 
on the floor after taking it from the chef before she could place it on the 
counter for us to take, so that by the time she got her food, everyone else 
was finished.  Sooooo, are we happy with the CBR yet?  A quick stroll around 
Parrot Cay Island let us digest a bit, and let the kids work off some energy 
on the playground.  Speaking of playgrounds, there are two playgrounds, one at 
the Trinidad II beach, and one at the Barbados beach, that I believe are new, 
as I don't recall them being there during our last visit.  I suppose this is 
to help offset the fact that Barbados and Trinidad II are a healthy walk away 
from Parrot Cay.

Things started to get better as soon as we returned to the rooms.  There was a 
voicemail message waiting for me from the front desk.  It was from Crystal, 
who after apologizing again, let us know that for the rest of the stay (after 
that evening) we were being upgraded to connecting, non-smoking, first floor, 
garden view rooms in Martinique, building 2400, at no additional charge.  
Things got even better when I went to guest services to pick up our 
Hoop-De-Doo Revue tickets for the 5:00 show that evening, as I found out that 
my request for a table close to the stage had not only been honored, but 
instead of having to break up into two tables (as I had been originally told) 
we would have one large table, right at the front of the stage.  The woman at 
guest services also cheerfully confirmed our dining reservations for the next 
few days, and gave me a new detailed road map of all roads on the property and 
all parks on one fold-out document.

At 3:45 we left for Fort Wilderness, by way of the Bonnet Creek Parkway, 
passing Port Orleans and Dixie Landings.  The Fort Wilderness bus had us at 
Pioneer Hall with plenty of time to spare, so Eva and the kids had some iced 
tea.  Tara was wearing a white dress with red polka dots that just happened to 
match perfectly with a Minnie headband, ears, and bow combination that was on 
display at the cart just outside of Pioneer Hall, so her grandfather bought it 
for her, and everyone was calling her "Minnie" for the rest of the evening.  

There were some technical difficulties with the sound system for the pre-show 
performer who usually warms up the crowd with guitar and song, so it was 
scrapped, and we waited for the doors to open at 5:00.  

As promised, our table was right up front, directly in front of the stairs 
that the Pioneer Hall Players use to walk up on to and down from the stage.  
This meant that they would all interact with us at the table every time that 
they either had to go up on stage or come down into the audience.  The food 
was as good and plentiful as I remembered from our last visit two years ago, 
and all but one of the Pioneer Players themselves were the same as the cast 
that we had seen two years ago. 

Dolly slammed the bucket of chicken down on our table next to Eva, who had not 
seen Dolly coming, and almost jumped out of her seat.  As Eva went to start 
serving out of the bucket, her father (a rookie) said "Don't eat that, it 
looks like it's part of the show", and the best part was that he was serious!

Other than some quick comments from the Pioneer Players as they either went on 
or off of the stage, we had managed to avoid attention until... what's this, 
Dolly is looking for someone on Six-bit's half of the audience to be a convert 
to her side of the audience, and she has chosen...me!  Suddenly I'm cast into 
the part of being the object of Dolly's affections, complete with a red 
spotlight on me from the back of the room, and I've been recruited to "toot" 
for her half of the audience.  For the rest of the evening, I'll be asked at 
random times for all sorts of responses from her, when I least expect it.  
During the Spectacle, when the Can-Can girl is told that she has to kiss the 
bear (Sixbits) and objects, then Davy Crockett Steps in and say that no, she 
has to kiss him, suddenly Dolly jumps in and says "No, I have to kiss Ken!" as 
she rushes down off the stage and plants a lipstick tattoo on my forehead.  
And it has all been captured on video.  It's a family show, folks.  Everyone 
enjoyed the show, and the food.

The Spectacle was spectacular, and there was much doing of what legends do.  
The Indian Brave was just a tad slow, and had to be prompted for his emotional 
grief-stricken outcries as Davy kicked the bucket, but he recovered nicely.  
One slight difference from the Hoop-De-Doo Revue of the past is that the show 
has been shortened up slightly, and where the evening schedule used to be 
shows at 5:00, 7:30, and 10:00, shows are now at 5:00, 7:15, and 9:30.  

After the show we strolled along the docks at Fort Wilderness as the kids fed 
the fish that hang out there, and then they played at the playground for a 
while before we headed back for the bus, and the drive back to the CBR.  We 
put the kids to bed and I headed out for Goodings to get our Styrofoam 
disposable refrigerator for the stay, as well as some breakfast groceries.

Saturday, May 8th
-----------------

After a quick breakfast in the room, we repacked what little had been unpacked 
the night before, and called to have our luggage picked up and moved to our 
new room, as we prepared to head to EPCOT Center.  The bellman said that the 
bags would be moved to our new room, and we simply had to check in at the 
Custom House upon our return that evening to get the new room keys.  

We arrived at EPCOT at 8:30 to find the park already open (despite a posted 
9:00 opening), and were able to go on Spaceship Earth, Listen to the Land, 
Journey Into Imagination, Captain EO, the ImageWorks, Horizons, and World of 
Motion in succession with absolutely no lines at all, all prior to lunch.  

There have been some changes to the image works since our last visit two year 
ago.  At two separate cores, each with multiple stations, there is a new 
attraction that takes a video still image of your face, and then lets you 
"customize" the picture using a touch screen.  By "customize", I mean that you 
can add in graphics of different cartoon eyes, nose, ears, mouth, hair, and 
accessories over your face, while it is all displayed, in life-size scale, on 
a monitor both in front of the person doing the work and overhead for anyone 
who wants to watch.  For example, you could give yourself a Mohawk, a pig 
nose, wolfman ears, judge Doom oversized eyes, an arrow through your head, a 
giant bowtie, jewelry, etc.  All graphics and be easily moved, enlarged, 
shrunk, and modified using the touch screen and a finger, and audio help and 
guidance is provided.  After you have completed your "portrait", the station 
asks if you are ready for the "grand finale", which is a process where all of 
the static graphic pieces that you had added to the original still image of 
your face now become animated, along with music!  This is a VERY popular 
attraction, a very welcome new addition for the image works.  Eva and all 
three of my kids tried it and loved it.  

While Tara played with the giant paint brush, Alana and Eric performed in the 
blue screen theater, where they were superimposed along with giants, wizards, 
and dragons in an effort to rescue Figment.

We had walked into Captain EO just as the preshow (Catch a Smile) was about to 
start, so I was able to videotape Catch a Smile in its entirety.  Without my 
having asked for it, the attendant at the entrance had handed me an extra pair 
of 3D glasses when he saw my video gear, but I opted for enjoying Captain EO 
rather than videotaping it.

We had lunch at the San Angel Inn inside the Mexico pavilion, and the food was 
outstanding, even better than I had remembered it.  Everyone very much enjoyed 
their meal except for Eric, who promptly fell asleep on the bench seat, 
obviously starting to feel the effect of little sleep and a lot of activity 
finally catching up with him.  I was pleased to have an all-too-rare 
opportunity to speak in Spanish, and it was the only language that I spoke 
with the Maitre'D and our waiter (although it seemed to confuse the rest of 
the family).

After lunch we rode El Rio Del Tiempo, and then headed back into Future World 
for the Wonders of Life pavilion.  It having been such a big lunch, we decided 
that it would be best to see Cranium Command first, Body Wars afterwards...  

Body Wars offered our first opportunity to use the child-swap technique so 
heavily played up in the Unofficial Guide, as Eric was not quite willing to 
ride, and Alana wanted to get a full report from her much-braver twin sister 
Tara before she decided to ride or not.  We found that indeed the Disney cast 
members are very used to this, and very accommodating.  So while Eric, Alana, 
and I waited for the next opportunity to be shrunk, everyone else rode.
As soon as they were finished, Tara persuaded Alana to "go for it", as well as 
persuading the attendant to let her stay on and ride again with Alana and me.  
As we took our seats for the ride in the front row, suddenly we heard a rather 
strange commotion coming from three rows behind us as the other guests started 
to take their seats.  The ride operator quickly went to the microphone, and 
asked us all to please move back out through the doors that we had just 
entered through, and wait outside.  Yes, you guessed it, on the previous ride 
someone in the fourth row had tossed their cookies, and evidently they too 
must have just finished a VERY large meal...

The cast members were apologetic and in good humor about it all (except for 
the three with the mops, bucket, and cleaning cloths that had now entered the 
miniaturization chamber, who tried their best to smile while holding their 
noses), and we were all quickly taken to the next available simulator so that 
we could all jump right in and ride.  The operator told me that this happens 
more often on Body Wars than on any other attraction in the three main parks, 
which was why the mop and bucket brigade were at the scene of the crime 
literally within 30 seconds of the "evidence" having been discovered.  Well, 
it didn't happen on our ride, and Alana did enjoy Body Wars greatly, as her 
sister had told her she would.

We then went next door to Universe of Energy, and had managed to time it 
perfectly so that we missed the pre-show completely and were the last ones 
ushered in through the doors directly to seats on moving theater vehicles.  
I've never cared much for this attraction, but my in-laws rated it as one of 
their favorites.

We strolled leisurely back to World Showcase, admiring the fountains, flowers, 
and perfect weather enroute to Norway and the Maelstrom.  Here we encountered 
our first real line of the day, about 10 minutes.  During the short movie on 
Norway that follows the ride, our three kids had the theater grinning, as 
during the scene when the ski jumper just takes off (and they didn't know that 
the soundtrack would drop off as well, to silence), all three of them in 
unison exclaimed "Whoa!!!!".

Next was dinner in the Biergarten in Germany.  I had requested a table toward 
the center, having learned from previous experience not to get one along the 
far sides as it diminishes both the view of the show and the sound quality.  
They were very accommodating, putting us at our own table on the second tier, 
dead center.  The food (and the Beck's drafts in liter steins) was very good, 
and VERY plentiful.  Again, I befuddled the rest of the family by ordering our 
meals in German when speaking with our waitress.  Eva and her father had 
decided to split a large Wurstplatte for two, and it was so huge that after 
they were completely stuffed and my father in law commented that "they had 
eaten most of it" I had to laugh with them as there was still enough food to 
feed about twenty on the platter.  I had the Kalbschnitzel, which was 
excellent.  We had arrived just as a show was starting, so between our arrival 
and completing dinner we were able to see almost two entire shows.

After dinner we went over to the America pavilion to try and catch The 
American Adventure, but we had just missed a show by two minutes.  We then 
decided to stroll back toward Mexico to secure some seats for Illuminations, 
but could easily see that space had already filled up quickly at the far end 
of the lagoon.  Thus, we took positions against the railing by Germany, and 
had a surprisingly excellent view of illuminations from there.  No, still no 
"Norway" in the program.  There is an advantage to viewing from a spot 
two-thirds of the way around the lagoon (like in Germany), which is that after 
Illuminations is over you don't get trampled by the mad rush back out toward 
that EPCOT main gate.

After the long walk back through the main gate and to the car, we drove to the 
Custom House to pick up the keys for our new rooms.  These rooms (2405 & 2406, 
Martinique) turned out to be EXACTLY underneath the two garden view rooms that 
we had stayed in our last trip (2437 & 2438).  Out of over 2000 rooms at the 
CBR, what are the chances of that?  Thus, we would have a very nice view of 
tropical vegetation, be right next to the Martinique pool, and be just one 
building over from Old Port Royal.  Excellent location.  OK, the Disney CBR 
staff is starting to make up for a bad start.  But what is this?  We arrive at 
our rooms, and there is no luggage to be seen!  I called the front desk, and 
they inform me that our bags had been stored, and not moved to the room.  Of 
course, they didn't mention this to me five minutes prior when I picked up the 
room keys, and they didn't initiate getting them moved over at all even after 
we had now checked back in.  So now, at 10:15 P.M., after a very long day in 
the parks, we must wait for our bags to be delivered.  No pajamas for the 
kids, no toothbrushes, nothing but what we have on our backs until the bags 
arrive.  The official statement: "We should have your bags to you in just a 
couple of minutes".  When we still had not received our bags by 10:45, I 
called the front desk again, this time questioning whether or not they really 
DID have our bags, as I offered to go to wherever the bags were being held 
hostage and ransom them back myself, maybe even offering to trade my life in 
exchange for the rest of my family and my in-laws being able to reclaim their 
possessions.  Oh no, they said, the bags are fine, and "they'll be over 
shortly".  At 11:08 one obviously tired and harried bellman delivered our 
luggage, along with what was rapidly becoming the most common form of 
communication from a Disney CBR staff member; an apology for yet another 
screw-up.  Am I a happy camper?  Finally, at about 11:30 we were able to get 
the kids to bed.

Sunday, May 9th
---------------

Everyone was up at 7:00, ate a quick breakfast in the room, and after a very 
brief ride in the minivan we were at the main gate to the Disney/MGM Studios 
park at 8:30, where again we found the park already open, despite a posted 
opening time of 9:00.  Since it was Mother's day they were handing out 
complimentary carnations to all mothers, and were even able to color 
coordinate them with whatever a outfits a mother might be wearing that day.

First stop - The Little Mermaid, which was new since our last visit.  What a 
great show!  The special effects are excellent, and I don't believe I've ever 
seen so many forms of Disney entertainment technology in one single show.  
There are fluorescent multi-size puppets under ultra-violet light (moved in 
the manner of the Mummenshantz performers), real people (Ariel and Eric), 
lasers, water curtains, film, animation, lights, fog, water spray, 
animatronics, and probably things that I've forgotten.  Very entertaining, and 
Ariel had a great, uh, ummm, tail, uhhhh, voice, yes, that's it, voice!  Even 
at this early hour, we had to wait for a previous show to complete, and the 
show that we saw was completely filled with a large line forming behind us for 
the next shows.

From there we went to The Great Movie Ride (Western side), and Muppets 3D, 
without any significant wait.  Everyone was amazed by Muppet Vision 3D, 
especially when compared to how far the technology has come since Magic 
Journeys and Captain EO.

Only one thing left to do while the morning crowds are still low - Star Tours!
Against Eric's concerns, we were ALL going to ride, rather than pass him 
through on the 'ol kid-swap.  He psyched himself out before the ride even 
started, and screamed the whole time while forcing Eva to keep her hand over 
his eyes so he didn't have to look at the screen (simply closing his eyes or 
looking away from the screen would have been far too difficult...).  Yes 
another satisfied customer!  Whereas on our last trip there had been a similar 
episode when he rode Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, this new experience 
offered us the opportunity to now state when necessary that "Eric, if you 
don't XXXXX (where XXXXX is whatever he is opposed to do but doesn't want to 
do), we will make you ride Star Tours again!".

We then crossed the park to visit the animation building.  Oooops, since it 
was Sunday, there were no animators at work!  But this attraction is worth it 
just for the Robin Williams/Walter Cronkite introductory film, and the final 
animation film.

We were out of the animation building just in time to make it over to the 
Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater for our lunch reservations.  I was grateful for the 
advance reservation benefit from staying on the Disney property, as while we 
were seated immediately (in our own car, with the three kids in front, then my 
in-laws, then Eva and I in the back), as we came in I overheard the 
conversation between a "rookie" couple and the woman doing the seating 
assignments, where this couple was not pleased that the earliest that a party 
of two could be seated would be in at least 2 1/2 hours.  The food is pricey, 
but good (especially good when accompanied by Leinenkugel beer).  The special 
that day was "California Chicken", chicken breast covered with spices, 
avocado, jack cheese, guacamole, and other goodies that I forget.  But I don't 
forget how good it tasted.  The service was outstanding, as a team of cast 
members combine to provide everything from taking the order on a hand-held 
remote terminal, to keeping the glasses and popcorn baskets filled, to 
bringing food and drink, to providing comedic interaction during the meal.  It 
turned out that one of these cast members had grown up in the town that we now 
live (Milford, MA), and knew not just our neighborhood, but our house.

After lunch we staked out some spots by Superstar Television to watch 
Aladdin's Grand Caravan ("Make waaaaayyyyyyy for Prince Aliiiiiiiii").  We 
even managed to avoid being spit upon by the camels.  It's a nice parade, with 
some clever design, great costumes, a GIGANTIC genie (of course), and the kids 
all got a chuckle out of out the very last part of the parade; Jafar sweeping 
up behind everyone with a broom and garbage can.

The next casting for Superstar Television is naturally set to coincide with 
the conclusion of the parade, so we head down toward the front for a chance to 
maybe get one of the kids cast in a role.  As the casting progresses, we don't 
seem to be having any luck getting the attention of the casting director.  But 
when the director states that for the next part he will need someone with a 
good sense of humor who does not wear contact lenses, we all start pointing at 
Eva's father.  Hmmm, no choice yet, so the director than asks all the men in 
the audience who are standing next to a beautiful woman to raise their hand.  
He then quickly asks the audience to point to any man in the audience that 
didn't just have their hand up.  We all start jumping up and down and pointing 
at my father-in-law, and sure enough, he is immediately chosen and cast to be 
the butler to the Three Stooges.  As they usher him backstage, he has 
absolutely no idea what he is in for.  But Eva and I do... 

When it comes time for his clip, he performs it perfectly, and his heavy 
Hungarian accent adds just the right touch of authenticity as he states 
"Dinner is Served" and then as the pie fight begins, "Gentlemen, Please!", 
only to then be rewarded with a pie to the face.  What was fun about having 
him be in this part, is that he was the only one who was interviewed by 
director after his scene (while the next seen was being set up), complete with 
whipped cream all over his head and face.  Now tell me, how often do you get 
the chance to see somebody slam a pie into the face of one of your in-laws?  

The Monster Sound show next door had already filled when we got out from 
Superstar TV, so we crossed the park again to take the backstage tram tour 
(after some ice cream!).  There was only about a 10 minute wait, and 
miraculously no one got wet at Catastrophe Canyon.  From the tram tour you can 
see the new theater nearing completion for the Beauty and The Beast stage 
show.  As the tram leaves Residential Street and turns right toward 
Catastrophe Canyon, just before it takes the next sharp right to the road the 
leads directly to Catastrophe Canyon, the new theater is directly on your 
left, just beyond the end of New York street and where the Teen-age Mutant 
Ninja Turtles perform.  It is already shown there on the new park maps, but 
for that matter even Sunset Blvd., (including a drawing of the Twilight Zone 
Tower of Terror) is already shown on the map.  Specifically, the opening of 
Sunset Blvd AND the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror are listed on the park map 
as "Opening FALL 1994"!!!!!!  

The description on the new park map for the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror is:
 "An irresistibly strange odyssey through the twisted remains of a decaying 
Hollywood hotel - that dead-ends in a runaway elevator with a harrowing 
13-story drop!".  Sure sounds like fun to me!

After the tram ride back around Catastrophe Canyon the kids and I spent some 
time in the "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids Movie Set Adventure" (yes, that's the 
official name on the new map!) while Eva and her parents sat and rested in the 
adjacent Studio Catering Company (wimps!).  Speaking of official names, after 
having seen the Muppet 3D movie listed in the past sometimes as "Muppetvision 
3D", and sometimes as "Muppetvision 4D", it is now officially listed on all 
literature as (now how do I do this on an ASCII keyboard?  I don't know how!!) 
"Muppetvision 3D 4D" where you will have to imagine a slashed line through the 
"3D", implying that it was 3D, now 4D, but they leave the "3D" there, except 
it is intentionally shown with a slash through it.  Everybody got it?  

We started to feel a few drops of rain, so the kids and I collected up the 
rest and ducked into the Inside the Magic: Special Effects Production Tour 
just as it started to pour.  The good news was that the following hour would 
now provide 1 hour of the only 2 total hours of rain that occurred during the 
entire 10 days!  And it was while we were inside, starting a one hour tour!

I don't know if it was because of the rain or not, but instead of two 
volunteers (victims) in the water tank demonstrations, as was always the case 
on past visits, they used the same person for both demonstrations.  While we 
were on the tour, we were able to see the live filming of an episode of 
"That's My Dog" that was occurring on the center soundstage.

For all of you Pee Wee Herman fans, the Mel Gibson/Pee Wee Herman video clip 
on sound editing has been reinstated.  This had been pulled after Pee Wee's 
little incident in 1991, but I guess that the Disney folks no longer believe 
that showing the video will cause the world to collapse, and are finally 
showing it again.  For quite some time the tour groups would merely pass blank 
screens where the video had once run.

Just as we emerged from the theater that shows the movie preview trailers at 
the end of the tour, the rain slowed, and then stopped.  This enabled us to 
walk to the 50's Prime Time Cafe for our dinner reservations without having to 
dig out the rain ponchos.

Dinner at the 50's Prime Time cafe, was good, but expensive.  I would 
recommend lunch here rather than dinner, when similar items carry lower price 
tags.  Ah, but then again, they do serve Leinenkugel beer...  "Mom" was 
particularly entertaining, and referred to our entire table of seven as "the 
kids", especially when speaking to other tables, making sure that we could 
hear her.  She even served our Leinenkugel's with twisted plastic Mickey 
straws, the same straws as those in the kid's drinks.  "Mom" kept giving a 
particularly hard time all during dinner to my mother in law, for everything 
to putting her elbows on the table, to keeping her straw hat on during dinner, 
to not paying attention to the menu specials.  I'm not going to say a word....
When Alana had not finished her food quickly enough, "Mom" came over and cut 
up her chicken into smaller pieces so that she could eat them more easily.

After dinner we were able to get front row seats for the Monster Sound show, 
which had a particularly funny effort by the chosen "foley artists".  Eva and 
I both recognized the casting director (Eric) as the same person who two years 
ago had cast me at Superstar Studios and had cast her at the Monster Sound 
show.  No such luck tonight.

OK, everyone (except for me) was tired, and wanted to do some shopping before 
the park closed, so we headed back toward the Little Mermaid store to buy the 
requisite souvenirs.

Upon arriving back at our hotel rooms at the CBR, we discovered what was the 
first of what would become a daily adventure at each return - finding out what 
new and creative things our chambermaid (Aimee) had done with the kids stuffed 
animals!  Each had brought one favorite stuffed animal along with them for the 
trip.  For Eric, it was the favorite dinosaur of pre-schoolers, Barney.  For 
Tara, it was a Dalmatian, and for Alana, it was her bunny, named "Baby 
Popcorn".  As we approached our rooms, there sat Barney in the window in front 
of the curtains, waving at us for the world to see.  Inside, Baby Popcorn and 
the Dalmatian were playing on the girl's bed.  Later in the week, we would 
return to such sights as:

 - The Dalmatian in the window wearing Tara's Minnie Mouse headband, big mouse    
ears, and ribbon.

 - Barney, wearing sunglasses

 - Baby Popcorn and the Dalmatian, holding Pleasure Island giant sparkler-top    
toothpicks like flags

Every day she did something different, and creative.  No, you don't normally 
see this kind of thing at your typical Hilton or Marriot.

Monday, May 10th
----------------

After the last three days of late nights and early mornings, this time we all 
slept in until about 8:30, which was fine since our planned destination for 
the day, Typhoon Lagoon, was not scheduled to open until 10:00.  Actually, Eva 
and her parents were practicing mutiny against my touring plans (which those 
wimps hadn't been able to keep up with anyway, while the kids were having no 
problem at all).  In any case, in the interest of family harmony, I threw up 
my arms, rolled my eyes, and said "Fine, I won't care if we go to the wrong 
attractions at the wrong times and wait in huge lines for the rest of the 
week, if it will make you all happy, I'll try to slow down the pace (which was 
already at less than half-speed for my liking).  For me, slowing down means 
running a 10K instead of a marathon.  

We arrived at the entrance at 10:15, so while I waited in line to purchase a 
MKC one day pass (everyone else was on 5 day super duper passes, but I have an 
AP with only a Pleasure Island rider) the rest went on ahead to try and secure 
a home base for the day.  Since I seem to walk about 12 times faster than 
everyone else, I caught up to them before they had found any open tables and 
chairs.  I was able to spot an open table under the last thatched hut at 
Ketchakiddee Creek, in an ideal location, right near to the entrance to 
Keelhaul Falls and Mayday Falls.

We dropped off all of our towels, shirts, cover-ups, sunscreen, and 
sunglasses at the table, and crossed the bridge to the nearest entry point for 
castaway creek.  I find this to be the most relaxing attraction in all of Walt 
Disney World, there is much to be said for sitting back and relaxing in an 
oversized tube while you slowly float amid lush tropical flowers, waterfalls, 
rainforests, and simulated tropical wreckage for over half an hour.  

Suitably lulled into relaxation, it was time for something a little more 
dramatic - the tube rides.  There has been a change at Keelhaul Falls 
(sometimes known as "the yellow tubes"), in that they now have the small, 
enclosed bottom tubes like those at the Ketchakiddee Creek kids tube ride 
available in addition to the regular yellow tubes for young riders.  This 
being the smoothest of the tube/raft rides, it now means that kids that could 
have handled the ride in the past, but were too small to fit on the yellow 
tubes, can now ride.  Eric, being 5 years old, was borderline for the big 
tubes, so he tried Keelhaul Falls on the kids tube first, but rode everything 
on full sized tubes for the rest of the day.  Everyone loved the first trip 
down so much we promptly picked up new tubes and went back up for another 
ride.

We encountered another new change at Mayday Falls (also known as "the blue 
tubes") - a height restriction.  No little kid tubes here, this ride is just a 
little too rough and fast for very little ones.  Even though Eric is very tall 
for a five year old, he did not make the height cut-off (which appeared to be 
48", he is 47" tall).  Despite this, when we told the cast member/life guard 
that he had just been on Keelhaul Falls and loved it, they let him ride, 
seeing that he had no fear, and knew how to swim.  Well, he loved Mayday Falls 
also, while his sisters both preferred the much tamer Keelhaul Falls.

All three kids had been looking forward to the body slides, so we went there 
next and took a few rides.  My father in law went down wearing his sunglasses, 
but when we splashed into the pool at the bottom of the body slides, they were 
gone.  One would think that they would have to slide straight down to the 
bottom and then collect in the pool, but we never did find them.  Everyone 
loved the bodyslides, and the kids would get all excited discussing which one 
of the three slides they would take on each success run.  The consensus 
favorite of the kids:  Rudder Buster. 

During our last visit Shark Reef had been closed.  I don't think that any of 
the kids would have been ready then to snorkel it, but with much trepidation 
they were willing to give it a shot now.  Prior to the trip, despite our 
encouragement, Alana had repeatedly said that she "can't snorkel", and did not 
want to snorkel at Shark Reef ("I won't!, I can't!, No way!!").  We'll see...

To my surprise, there was no line for snorkel gear, and only a few people in 
front of us at the reef's edge waiting to commune with the sharks, fish, and 
other coral reef inhabitants.  Each kid paired up with an adult "buddy", and 
Alana had drawn the short straw and had been paired with me.  After a little 
practice, she was ready to try, but was terrified of the required leap of 
faith to get past the first ten feet of sandy bottom where you can stand, and 
go face-in-the-water first over the reef edge where the bottom was a minimum 
of ten feet down, and of course, was looking right back at you...  I let her 
grab on to my left arm, told her to just trust me, and together we would push 
off into the deep.  Well, she did, and boy was she glad.  She not only loved 
snorkeling the reef, but at the end of the trip when asked what her absolute, 
most favorite thing at Disneyworld was she didn't have to think at all before 
replying: "Shark Reef!".  We were able to see plenty of sharks, rays, parrot 
fish, angel fish, and far too many types, shapes, and colors of fish to 
remember them all.  There are two full reefs, one on each side of the upside 
boat from which the non-snorkelers can view the reef from underwater.  When 
asked why only side was being snorkeled, the cast member/snorkel instructor 
said that they alternate sides each day to give the fish a break, and that the 
two reefs are not connected, so the fish cannot get from one to the other, but 
stay just in one reef.  While Shark Reef was Alana's favorite, and Eric liked 
it, Tara was a bit cold (due to the lower water temperature relative to other 
attractions - hey, fish have to live in this one!) and wanted to get out 
rather quickly.

They now run the waves on a regular hourly schedule in the main lagoon, and 
the schedule was:

Big Surf Waves at 10:00, 12:00, 2:00, 4:00
Small, Steady Waves at 11:00, 1:00, 3:00

During the big wave period, waves come about every 90 seconds, and that's 
where we went next.  The size and power of the waves that they make are 
amazing, and only Eva, Tara, Eric, and I were up for some body surfing.  Eric, 
the wild five year old, really loves those big waves.  As I looked around, I 
noticed that there wasn't anyone even remotely close to his age or size that 
was out there with us catching the big ones.  But just don't try and take him 
on Star Tours...

All of this in one morning had made us work up an appetite, so we made our 
choices at the Leaning Palms and carried the trays back to our table in the 
shade of our thatched hut to eat.  They have become more practical with the 
kids meals at Typhoon Lagoon.  Instead of having decorated cardboard boxes 
that include your meal and a toy, (as is typical, and had been the case on our 
last visit) kids meals are now served in a large plastic colored pail, 
complete with plastic shovel, so that after lunch the kids have instant sand 
toys, and are right where they can use them.  While Eva's parents and Alana 
stayed to relax and digest, the rest of us went off for another trip down 
Keelhaul Falls, and then over to Gangplank Falls.  

In my last trip report, I recommended against riding Gangplank Falls unless 
the line is really short.  I STILL recommend against riding it unless the line 
is really short, as it is a very short ride, with a wait that is longer than 
the number of people in line would imply, due to how slowly the large rafts 
travel.  They have improved it however, and are using a large raft that seemed 
very different from our last trip.  Previously, the bottom was completely 
sealed, but these new, heavier duty rafts have holes in the bottom for excess 
water to escape.  Also, where they used to adhere to a strict "four people 
maximum" per raft, they now were routinely allowing groups of five, as long as 
the five were not all very large adults.  This ride is improved, but if the 
line is anything but very short, I still say come back later.

We went to pick up the rest of our party to head to the body slides, but Eva's 
parents decided to stay and veg in the sun for awhile.  So while Eva, Tara, 
and Eric rode the body slides, Alana stated that she would prefer to snorkel 
at Shark Reef again, so she and I went back to the reef and found no line and 
no wait.  After a leisurely snorkel, we rejoined the body slide crew for a few 
runs.
 
Tara wanted one last shot at the big waves, so prior to closing she and I left 
the rest and did some bodysurfing in the main lagoon.

At the 5:00 Typhoon Lagoon closing, the kids were still ready for more water, 
so we went back to the CBR and hung out at the main pool at Old Port Royale 
while they made multiple runs on the water slide and swam for a bit.

After some quick showers, we went to the Olive Garden near The Crossroads for 
dinner, but encountered a large crowd and a 40 minute wait.  We put in our 
name at the desk anyway, and did some shopping prior to being seated.  It did 
take all of 40 minutes to get a table, but somewhere we were lost in the 
shuffle, and no one came to wait on our table for 15 minutes.  When we finally 
cornered a staff member who said that he'd help us, a waitress from another 
section came over and said that indeed they had messed up on their table 
coverage, and that although she was mainly dealing with another section, she 
would be glad to help us.  This proved to be good fortune, as she was one of 
the most personable, efficient, and generally outstanding waitresses that all 
of us concurred we had ever encountered.  She made up for the delay by 
bringing the bottomless salad bowls and garlic breadsticks to us instantly, 
followed by our meals (very good), kid's drinks, and Chianti almost as 
quickly, and offering us all free unrestricted choices from the dessert menu 
"on the house" (yes, including great Tiramisu).  Even balloons for the kids 
with the check.  We made up for her extra work and effort by leaving a much 
larger tip than she is probably used to seeing, but well deserved...  Eva and 
her parents had given me grief about not having ordered our dinner in Italian, 
after my exploits in Mexico and Germany at EPCOT.  I admitted that yes, it had 
slipped my mind, and that I must be slipping in general, and would try to make 
up for it by ordering our next meal in Italian, but I recovered by stating 
that unlike EPCOT, this particular waitress was from South Carolina, and did 
not understand Italian, so it would have been futile...

Unfortunately, all of the delays had lead to a much later night for the kids 
than we had hoped for, since Tuesday was a "Disney hotel guests get in to the 
Magic Kingdom one hour before everyone else" day, and I had hoped that we 
would take advantage of it.  Currently, the days of the week during which this 
applies are Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Tuesday, May 11th
-----------------

We actually were able to get up at 6:45, and planned to skip breakfast, opting 
instead for a late brunch at Tony's in the Magic Kingdom.  We made it to the 
Martinique bus stop by 7:45, and didn't have to wait long for the Orange Flag 
MK bus to arrive.  

Future CBR guests take note:  If you can catch an early bus to the Magic 
Kingdom, it is possibly the quickest way to get there, as you can be dropped 
right at the main gate, bypassing the Ticket and Transportation Center, the 
monorail, and the ferry.  This applies even if you have your own car.  So, why 
stay in Martinique?  Martinique is the first stop on the bus routes between 
the theme parks and the CBR.  First to pick up, first to be let off on the 
return.  When we went that morning, there were so many of us waiting at the 
Martinique bus stop, that by the time the bus reached the next stop (Old Port 
Royale) the bus was completely filled, and guests at OPR were told that they 
would have to wait for another bus.  The bus then promptly turned around in 
the OPR circle, and departed directly for the Magic Kingdom.  Although the 
schedule may modify a bit for peak runs, during our entire stay it seemed to 
stay awfully close to the posted "every 20 minutes" for another bus to arrive.  
And we had already left the CBR without there being any sign of another MK bus 
to pick up those that didn't fit on our bus.  Thus, if you were a guest 
staying at Trinidad, Jamaica, Aruba, or Barbados, you were still standing 
there at your designated bus stop waiting for another bus while those of us 
from Martinique were off on our merry way to the Magic Kingdom.  An 
alternative strategy for those of you who are staying in countries other than 
Martinique at the CBR but want to minimize your waiting time:  WALK from your 
room to the Martinique bus stop in the morning.  At best case, you'll depart 
sooner.  At worst case, you'll have a better seat, or avoid having to stand.

We were through the gates and walking right down the middle of Main Street USA 
by 8:07.  The ropes were up at the end of Main Street to keep out non-Disney 
Hotel guests, with a small opening on the right where you could show your 
Disney resort ID and gleefully pass on through to either Fantasyland or 
Tomorrowland.  Since we had a five year old in tow, we chose Fantasyland.

Oh no, the line for Dumbo is already about 30 minutes, so we jumped into the 
corral for Snow White's Adventures, and then were able to ride quickly on the 
Carousel, It's a Small World, and Peter Pan's Flight.  Not too bad, four 
attractions before the ropes have been dropped at the main hub.

We then did the only logical thing, which was to queue up with the rest of the 
massive throng at the rope which had been blocking the way from Fantasyland 
into Liberty Square to be among the first on.....Splash Mountain!  They 
dropped the rope here exactly at 9:00, to coincide with the rope being opened 
at the main hub (I could overhear a bit of the conversation on the 
walkie-talkie with which they confirm this).  Of course, we Disney on-site 
guests had a much shorter and faster path to Splash Mountain, and we were able 
to bypass the main corral and were loaded into our log bound for The Laughin' 
Place and Chickapen Falls before we knew it.

What a great ride!  I'll try to see if I can remember all of the differences 
between Splash Mountain at WDW and Splash Mountain at Disneyland, I may be 
mistaken on some of these:

- Everyone sits in-line, front to back at DL, with typically a six person 
maximum per log.

- There are four sets of side-by-side bench seats at WDW, with typically an 
eight person maximum per log.  They allow up to two small children to sit on 
the same bench as an adult, or one small child with two adults, so the maximum 
number of riders can indeed exceed eight per log (as it did in our case, where 
we rode 2-2-3-2, with two other guests riding in the last seat on our log).

- No Brer Rabbit hopping along side your log at DL

- More wide-open, larger interior sets at DL 

- More drops at WDW.  I counted six, versus three at DL

	DL:  1) The first outdoor, medium drop
	     2) The double roller-coaster track drop in the dark into the
		Laughin' Place
	     3) The BIG ONE

	WDW: 1) The little drop after the initial climb, onto the flume
	     2) The medium drop, outdoors
	     3) The double roller-coaster track drop in the dark into the
	        Laughin' Place
	     4) The drop in the dark out of the Laughin' Place into the pools
		and fountains
	     5) The BIG ONE
	     6) The little drop back into the final indoor sets

- Longer final indoor set ride at DL

- Much more entertaining entrance corral/waiting area at WDW

- No default photographs of your log's plunge down the big drop at WDW! (which 
can be purchased, should you choose to at DL)

- At the bottom of the drop in DL, you are indoors.  At WDW, you are out in 
the open for passers-by to see!

Everyone loved Splash Mountain, except maybe for Tara who got quite wet.  
Prior to riding, as we walked in front of the drop, Tara had commented, "Gee, 
that drop looks too short, what's the big deal".  After she rode, I asked her 
if she still felt that the drop was too short and mild, to which she replied, 
"Uhhh, hmmmmm, it's just right".  Yes, a diplomatic eight year old.

Since we were in the neighborhood, we hopped right over to Big Thunder 
Mountain Railroad.  By now the regular park guests were in line for Splash 
Mountain, and we had only a five minute wait for Big Thunder Mountain.  
Repeating his performance from two years ago, Eric screamed and complained for 
almost the entire ride, convinced that he was going to be tossed from the 
train onto some craggy pinnacle, until when it was finished, he quietly asked 
me, "Is it over, is that it"?  When I said that yes, the ride was over, he 
astounded me to reply "that wasn't ALL bad, SOME of it was even OK".  Wow, a 
breakthrough!  His older sisters both loved it.

We were able to get in to the Haunted Mansion with a wait of only a couple of 
minutes, and then felt the effect of having skipped breakfast coming on, so we 
walked back toward Main Street and Tony's, anticipating those great Lady & The 
Tramp waffles and the spectacular frittatas.  What's this?  Tony's is closed 
for renovations!  Oh no, where else will we find a good sit down brunch?  A 
quick scramble and I suggest that we try the Crystal Palace.  They had already 
posted the lunch menu at the front of the line, so we regrettably ordered an 
early lunch.  Had I been paying attention, I would have noticed that on the 
OTHER line, they still had the breakfast menu up, and were indeed serving 
breakfast.  Oh well, my fault for not asking.  The food was OK, priced high 
for the value.

Next came the Jungle Cruise (30 minute wait!), and Pirates of the Caribbean 
(5 minute wait!).  Upon exiting Pirates, my in-laws wanted to take one of 
those Pirate costume/setting photographs with the kids.  After a brief wait, 
they were all costumed as the scourges of the high seas that they be, and 
photographed amid their ship and booty, complete with muskets, knives, swords, 
and plenty of skulls and crossbones.  While we waited for the photographs to 
be developed and mounted, we went across Caribbean Plaza to the Tropical 
Serenade, better known as the Tiki Birds.

Now I've never been a big fan of this attraction, and Eva remembers very 
distinctly not enjoying it during the only time that she and I had seen it 
(1982), but I thought hey, the kids will probably like it.  Well, everybody 
gave me grief for the rest of the trip for making them endure the Tiki Birds.  
During the show, quite a few people got up and left before the show was over.  
Everyone has been telling me since that those people had the right idea.

Well, the Pirate photos came out great, and we did some shopping in Caribbean 
Plaza.  The girls were particularly excited to be able to get some excellent 
Guatemalan trouble dolls (which at 95 cents for a bag of 6, is an excellent 
value according to Eva), and even a trouble doll hairband and barrette.  

We arrived at the Country Bear Jamboree just in time for a show, with no wait, 
and....Yes, indeed it is the original show, complete with Big Al's immortal 
"Blood On The Saddle", as well as that famous duet, "Momma, Don't Whup Little 
Buford".

As the show empties out into the Mile Long Bar, we stopped for some cold 
drinks.  Just as they were being finished, we could hear the sounds of the 
Surprise Celebration Parade coming around the bend, and viewed it from right 
outside the door in Frontierland.

Tara had requested that we ride Space Mountain, and Eric requested that we 
ride Dreamflight (yes, he likes Dreamflight!), so we made our way toward 
Tomorrowland by way of Fantasyland and the castle, stopping first to see Magic 
Journeys (during which all four adults took brief naps!).

As always, there was no line for Dreamflight, nor for the WEDway people mover 
immediately afterwards.

OK, while all the adults are in, who among the kids will be the brave souls to 
ride Space Mountain?  Tara is an enthusiastic YES!!!!, but again her twin 
sister Alana wants to hear the scouting report before she is willing to try. 
After Big Thunder Mountain, we won't let Eric ride even if he begged us, but 
he is hardly begging us.  Only a five minute wait to get to the loading area.  
So again, we will pull the kid-swap on the loading platform, where I'll wait 
with Alana and Eric while the rest ride, and then I'll ride with whomever 
wants to go again.  To swap-off here, they have you exit a side gate and 
follow a corridor down to where the ride unloads, telling you to simply come 
back up the way that you left to return to the loading platform with whoever 
is going to ride on the second time around.  

Tara's scouting report to Alana is "Alana, this ride is really great, but you 
would hate it!", so the round-two riders will just be Eva, myself, and Tara 
(who is dying to go on it again, despite having warned off her twin sister).

No problem, we walk back up to the loading platform, and they put the three of 
us right in the very next capsule, while the rest wait at the unloading 
platform down below.

And now for something completely different (from Space Mountain, at least), we 
cruise over to Mickey's Starland, and after some ice cream, visit Grandma 
Duck's Farm and Minnie Moo.  Having a miniature farm with animals, vegetables, 
and such is in quite a contrast to the rest of the park.  Whoops, we stayed 
there too long and juuuuust missed the last show at Mickey's Hollywood 
Theater, but we still visited his house.

The kids had some fun on the playground and running through the hedge maze 
while the adults (wimps!) sat and watched, and took in the floral and 
honeysuckle scented air.  Since the train was just pulling up, we thought hey, 
why not, so we road the train one full revolution around.

It was now getting late, and this might be a good chance to try and get Dumbo 
out of the way, so we headed back to Fantasyland.  The wait was posted as 35 
minutes, and indeed, took exactly 35 minutes as Eva rode with the kids.  What 
do you get for a 35 minute wait?  I had ample opportunity to observe multiple 
cycles of Dumbo prior to my family reaching their designated ride, so I now 
feel that I'm quite the authority on Dumbo.  I can tell you that Dumbo makes 
exactly seven full rotations per ride, and that the ride lasts for exactly one 
minute and thirty seconds.  Every time.  Again.  And again.  For thirty five 
minutes I watched this....  And then I videotaped for exactly one minute and 
thirty seconds.  Maybe there is help....  Eva says that the kids owe her, in a 
big way.

Since there was no Spectromagic for the entire stay (boo!), we walked toward 
the exit, through the castle, but had one of the horse-drawn trolleys pull up 
in front of the castle just as we got there, so we made our way from the 
castle to the exit by one horse power.

There was not much of a wait for the bus back to the CBR, where we had dinner 
outdoors at Old Port Royale (mostly Mexican from the Bridgetown Broiler, 
Spicey Chicken Lomein from the Village Wok, Pizza slices for the kids), and 
watched Illuminations from the waterfront next to the Banana Cabana.  Our kids 
managed to make quite a few new friends among the other kids that were there, 
and since there were three of them, (and two of them were twins), they were 
the ring-leaders, as I kept hearing little voices from other kids nearby 
saying "Mom/Dad, can I go play with those kids over there?".

Wednesday, May 12th
-------------------

This was our morning to sleep late, and we did, and did it ever feel nice.  
When I woke up I found that Eva, the kids, and my in-laws were already in the 
Martinique pool, which was right around the corner from our room.  After 
everyone had taken a good swim, and had some breakfast at OPR, we all went 
down to the Barefoot Bay Bikeworks/Boat Yard to rent bicycles.  This was 
something Eric had been looking forward to for the entire trip.  While they do 
rent bikes and boats by the hour (or in the case of the larger boats, by the 
half-hour), they have a fantastic deal called the "Family Plan", where you can 
get unlimited use of ANYTHING that is available for your entire stay for a 
flat fee of $39.  To put this value into perspective, a normal bike rented for 
$3/hour or $8/day (per person),  a tandem bike rented for $4/hour or $10/day, 
a canopy boat rented for $17.50/half-hour, or you could get unlimited use of 
absolutely everything for everyone in the party for the duration of the whole 
stay for $39.  With our party of seven people, this was a no-brainer.

It also unleashes the kid-in-the-candy-store mentality, which is nice when you 
can actually fulfill it.  First, we took out one tandem bike for my in-laws, 
adult bikes for Eva and me, and kids bikes for each kid.  Then, the adults 
switched the tandem for regular bikes, and the regular bikes for a tandem.  
Then, we all took out toobies.  By the time the trip had ended, we had used 
every form of recreation that they have except for the really big pontoon 
boat, but if we had wanted it, we could have had it!

We spent most of the day just taking it easy around the CBR, which meant 
biking, boating, swimming, and vegging.  Such a lazy day however makes for a 
good opportunity to take some time in the afternoon to head to Pleasure 
Island, and make a video at Superstar Studios!  Alana, being the extroverted 
singer/actress/performer that she is, made the choice to have us all do Black 
Velvet by her name-sake, Alannah Myles.  She would sing lead, with Eric on 
rhythm guitar, Tara on keys, Eva on drums, my father in law on lead guitar 
(complete with a multicolored big-hair wig that made him look like Dee Snyder 
from Twisted Sister), my mother in law on maracas, and me on bass (with a 
big-hair wig that made me look like David Bowie in "Labyrinth"). 

Afterwards the kids had fun posing on the motorcycle and lifeguard's chair 
that are located just outside of The Rock & Roll Beach Club (formerly XFER's 
Rock & Roll Beach Club).

We had just enough time to pick up some Happy Meals for the kid's dinners at 
the McDonalds at The Crossroads to have them back at the room by 7:00 for a 
babysitter, as this was to be the one Adults Night Out for the trip.  Eva had 
contacted Fairy Godmothers the day before, and having now used their services, 
I will give them a hearty positive recommendation.  Our "Fairy Godmother", 
Vivian, arrived early, was very cheerful, and obviously a "pro" at this resort 
child care business.  She looked like someone's energetic grandmother.  She 
encouraged us to not feel any pressure to have to be back at any particular 
time, that we should enjoy ourselves, and she made us comfortable that she was 
well in control and able to handle anything.  The next day, the kids also gave 
her a very good report, as although she made them brush their teeth, wash 
their faces, and be in bed by 9:00 (as we had requested), she had all sorts of 
entertaining stories for them about Walt Disney World trivia, as well as 
suggestions for the next day's journey to Universal Studios.  The rates for 
Fairy Godmothers are $6/hour for up to three children in the same family 
(which obviously fit us perfectly), with a four hour minimum, and a $5 travel 
fee.  

So, while the kids are in the capable supervision of a Fairy Godmother, we 
four adults went by Disney bus to the Portabello Yacht Club for dinner, after 
a brief shopping spree at the Disney Shopping Village. 

The wait for a table was quoted as "25 to 35" minutes, and it took the full 
35, but was worth it.  While this was the most expensive meal of the trip 
($200 for dinner for four), the food was outstanding, and matched only by the 
service.  While I can't recall all of the meals, some of the highlights were a 
special appetizer pizza that included plum tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic, 
prosciutto, and asparagus, their famous bread with roasted whole elephant 
garlic, the salads, a grilled Ahi special on a bed of greens, the pasta with 
seafood, and of course, the desserts.  The wine list was fairly extensive, but 
pricey, as I noticed that the same bottle (and vintage) of Nozzole Chianti 
Classico Reserva that we had enjoyed at the Olive Garden for under $20/bottle 
was $38/bottle here.  Ahhh, but anything for a Cappaccino Portabello, with 
Frangelico, Grand Marnier, whipped cream, and an Italian cookie.

While we were enjoying our dessert, we noticed that it had started to rain 
outside (for the second of the only two hours of rain that occurred during our 
entire stay).  So we did not rush our exit to Pleasure Island, but waited for 
a lull in the storm to make our way into The Adventurer's Club (of course!).  
Because of the rain, a decision had been made that New Year's Eve would not be 
celebrated on the West End Stage, but instead within three clubs; they being 
The Adventurer's Club, The Rock & Roll Beach Club, and Neon Armadillo.  Thus, 
after the shower of confetti in the main parlor of the Adventurer's Club, we 
were right in line to get a table up front for Mandora's Cabaret in the 
library.  The cast member who was being Mandora on this particular evening was 
good, but not as good as the Maid, who Eva and I recognized as having been the 
cast member who had been a most outstanding Mandora on our previous trip.  Of 
course, she was also a most outstanding maid on this particular evening.

Having received my Adventurer's Club fix, we crossed Hill Street to the Comedy 
Warehouse, and discovered that the rain had stopped.  The cast here too was 
mostly the same as from two years ago, and during those two years they've 
become even better.  This turned out to be one of (if not THE most) most 
hilarious shows that I'd seen here.  It was one of the best examples of true 
improvisation that I've seen here, and when the cast realized that they were 
really on a roll, they just kept rolling with it.  It was visibly difficult 
for the cast themselves to keep a straight face, a they were even making each 
other crack up.  They were SO good that my father in law (a rookie) didn't 
believe that it was really improvisation, but rather that some of the audience 
were "plants".  No, no audience plants, just lots of talent here. 

Since we had yet another early morning planned, we sauntered back to the 
trusty Orange Flag V bus for the return to the CBR.

Thursday, May 13th
------------------

This was to be our one day at Universal Studios, a site that none of us had 
ever visited before.  I'll have to agree with some comments that previous 
Universal visitors have made in this notesconference in the past - if you are 
accustomed to how Disney moves people through a line and an attraction, you'd 
better get used to a lot more waiting in line at Universal.  

This became evident even in trying to get through the main parking gate, as 
while they had two lines per toll island open, they only had one person 
running the booth, who had to alternate sides with each car.  It took 10 
minutes in traffic just to get into the parking lot.

OK, the media discount options that are available for Universal require a DEC 
10000 AXP to determine the most advantageous.  How does one choose between the 
Universal standard specials, the Orlando Magic card, the USAir boarding pass 
discount, the United/Delta/American boarding pass discount, the broker 
discounts, the Universal Club discount card, and the USAir Frequent Flyer Club 
discount?  Easy, I asked the staff member that takes the money, and she 
confirmed (correctly!) that the absolute greatest discount is to show a USAir 
Frequent Flyer card (which I have) which will get $5.00 off of the admission 
price for every member of the party.  So, a quick $35 was deducted from our 
admission media cost, and we made our way in.  Please note however - DO bring 
a Universal Club discount card (available with the Digital MKC literature) as 
it will get you 10% off of most non-food purchases within Universal Studios.

As none of us had ever been to Universal, I decided to give the touring plan 
that is listed in the new Unofficial Guide to WDW a try, at least for our 
first few stops.  

So, our first stop was the Hanna-Barbera ride, with a 10 minute wait.  This is 
basically a simulator ride, where unlike Star Tours/Body Wars that have 
individual large platforms, each with their own dedicated room and screen, 
this ride has one screen for multiple independent simulator platforms, each 
with eight seats on it.  The image on the screen is, of course, all animation.  
Not bad, but being able to see all of the other platforms and people sort of 
takes away from the effect.  For those of you in Massachusetts, I would 
compare the effect to being sort of like the Motion Odyssey Movie (MOM) ride 
at Jordan's Furniture in Avon, MA.

Next stop was E.T., and I must say, this is one wonderful attraction, which 
everyone enjoyed.  I've been told that it has been dramatically changed and 
improved from the original version, but having never seen the previous 
version, I can't say.  When E.T. thanked everyone at the end by name, the kids 
and the in-laws were amazed.

And now, to see if all of the hoopla about Back To The Future is justified...

The line for BTTF didn't look long from the outside, but it took a solid 30 
minutes until we were ushered into a line for boarding our eight passenger 
Delorean.  There seem to be three distinct separate levels that the ride 
boards from, and we were directed to the top level.  Everyone will ride 
except for Eric and my mother in law, so we again exercise the kid-swap, so 
that anyone that wants to ride again will be able to.  In groups of eight, 
guests are moved into a pre-show room where the story line is played out.  It 
seems that Biff (from 1955) has stowed away on the Delorean and come back to 
the present time, where we locks Doc Brown in his lab and steals the Delorean 
for a joy ride in time.  Fortunately for the fate of the known world, Doc 
Brown has just completed a prototype eight passenger Delorean that he can 
operate by remote control from within the lab, but since he is locked in, he 
needs eight volunteers to ride in the vehicle while he operates it from the 
lab.  Our objective is to ride in this new prototype, and bump into Biff's 
Delorean, which will cause a change in the time/space continuum and bring both 
vehicles back to the lab in the present time.  Got it?  With instructions 
delivered, doors in front open so that you can board the Delorean, which is 
configured with two rows of four seats, and a single lap restraint for each 
row.

It appeared to me that Back To The Future is merely a slightly modified 
implementation of the Hanna-Barbera ride, where the differences are:

- In HB it is one big open room, in BTTF, there are side walls (like horse 
blinders) that inhibit being able to see the other vehicles that are all 
operating on three different levels at the same time as your vehicle.  If you 
look carefully, you can see the other vehicles.

- HB is 100% animation, BTTF offers a more realistic view.

- BTTF is a much bumpier, wilder ride than HB.

- BTTF seems to get much longer lines.

- The pre-show for BTTF is "way cool".

Everyone liked it, so for round two (by virtue of the kid-swap technique) 
Tara, Alana, my father in law, and I all were allowed immediately back into 
the pre-ride briefing chamber, along with four other volunteers, to ride it 
again.

I'm not going to attempt to analyze comparisons between Back To The Future, 
Star Tours, and Body Wars.  To me, Star Tours and Body Wars have much in 
common, Hanna-Barbera and Back to The Future have much in common, but each 
company's pair of simulator rides are sufficiently different from the approach 
taken in the other company's parks.  Bottom line, we all liked them all!

From there, we decided to head toward King Kong, but on the way noticed that a 
running of the Beetlejuice Graveyard Revue was about to take place, so we 
jumped in with the crowd and managed to get second row seats.  Contrary to the 
park maps, this is being held on the same set as the Animal Actors show, as 
there seemed to be renovation occurring at the marked set for the Beetlejuice 
show.  Good choreography, great costumes, light humor, generic rock and roll, 
good talent, fun special effects, overall a good show.

OK, time to continue the quest to see Kong, but on the way we stumbled upon 
none other than Joliet Jake and Elwood Blues, cruising in the Blues Mobile, so 
we followed them to catch the BLues Brother's show on Park. Ave.  Well done.

Finally we made it to Kongfrontation, and again the outside appearance belied 
the long wait inside the subways of Roosevelt Island that we would now 
encounter.  It was 40 minutes before our tram was loaded.  

This is a really neat ride, with impressive special effects, and FAR FAR 
superior to the encounter with King Kong at Universal Studios in Hollywood.  
The audio animatronic Kong is truly gigantic, quite imposing.  For such a long 
wait though, it seemed like a very short ride.  

We had hoped to be able to get lunch at Mel's Diner, but the crowd was 
gigantic, and it looked like at least a 30 minute wait to be served, with no 
guarantee of then being able to sit anywhere.  Instead, we went to Cafe La 
Bamba for another Mexican feast, with no significant wait, and actual 
availability of a table large enough for all of us.  Eric was overjoyed to be 
able to get his drink in a Barney souvenir cup, as a surprise from Mom.

When we had first entered Universal that morning, I had inquired regarding any 
active production that might be occurring at Nickelodeon, as my kids are all 
Nickelodeomaniacs.  As fate would have it, not only was there a show in active 
production that day, but it was none other than Alana's absolute, 
unquestioned, must-see favorite, Clarissa Explains It All, which would be 
shooting from 10 until 6.  So after lunch, we made our way out toward the land 
of slime, gak, and things that you can't do on television.  

Sure enough, right in front of Nickelodeon Studios was the famous slime 
geyser, flanked by a giant inflated Ren and Stimpy.  Before taking the tour, 
we had to hit the Nickelodeon merchandise cart, where Tara and Alana got 
Nickelodeon Studios shirts, Eric got a Ren & Stimpy shirt, and I was able to 
finally buy something for myself, Yes!, a genuine Ren & Stimpy "Ask Dr. 
Stupid!" shirt!!  Just my speed.

There was not much wait for the Nickelodeon Studio tour, and in many ways the 
main components of the tour are similar to the backstage walking tour at MGM 
Studios, but there are some marked differences.  One is that instead of merely 
looking at the soundstages (like at MGM), they actually let you go down right 
on to a soundstage.  In our case, they let us walk around on the actual set 
for "Welcome Freshmen", which was on hiatus.  The highlight for my daughters 
was when yes, we were able to watch some actual live production of Clarissa 
Explains It All, and Alana was able to see her hero and idol, Melissa Joan 
Hart (who plays the role of Clarissa) in person, along with the actors who 
play Clarissa's mom and dad, and even the actor who plays her brother Ferguson 
(Ferg-Face).  The episode that they were filming was called "The Babysitter", 
and we were told that it involves what happens when Clarissa has to baby-sit a 
bratty kid from the neighborhood, and is scheduled to air later this year.

The other big difference between the Nickelodeon Tour and the MGM tour is....
Gamelab!  At the end of the Nickelodeon tour, all of the adults must sit in 
two sets of grandstands on a soundstage, while all of the kids are directed to 
their own grandstand.  From the kid's grandstand, volunteers are selected to 
try out new activities that they are testing for future potential use on 
Nickelodeon shows.  For example, on this particular day they had chosen some 
kids to shoot rubber chickens with giant slingshots to adults that had to try 
and catch the chickens in giant over-sized pants that they were wearing over 
their clothes.  As the finale to Gamelab, some lucky (depending upon your 
view) volunteer was slimed.

As we headed back in to the main park from Nickelodeon Studios, the Hitchcock 
3D show was getting ready to start, so we jumped into line, but then I noticed 
the description on the park map - "Parental Discretion - Due to the intense 
nature of this attraction, parental discretion is recommended for children 
under the age of 13".  Having not seen the show previously myself, I wasn't 
about to take the kids through, although from memory I couldn't figure out 
what there was in Hitchcock movies that would prompt that heavy of a warning 
(the Psycho shower scene in 3D?).  Anyway, while Eva and her parents stayed in 
line to see Hitchcock, the kids and I climbed out of line and by their request 
we went back to ride E.T. again, with a plan to rendezvous with the others 
after our respective attractions at Ghostbusters.

Eva says that the Hitchcock show was OK, but could have been better.  "The 
birds in the 3D part were fun, although not as scary as in the movie; just 
birds flapping in your face".  Eva's mother's comments on Hitchcock: "Is that 
it?  Not much, was it?"

This time on E.T., despite again enjoying the ride, at the very end E.T. 
seemed to forget what planet he was on, as his words were indecipherable, and 
not recognizable as being the names of anyone on our bicycles.  Too many 
Reese's Pieces maybe...

On the way to Ghostbusters, we passed the Jurassic Park Visitor's Center which 
had been set up to hype the upcoming Universal release, and boy, were they 
hyping.  While trailers for the movie were shown on a video monitor, one had 
the opportunity to buy just about every product known to mankind, except with 
a Jurassic Park logo stamped on it somewhere.  Personally, does the world 
really need Jurassic Park buggy whips?  Yes, I enjoyed reading the Michael 
Crichton novel, and yes, I'll probably enjoy the movie, but the hype on this 
is approaching the absurd.

As the kids and I entered the staging area for Ghostbusters, the rest of the 
group was nowhere to be seen, so after one full audience cycle and a 15 minute 
wait, we decided to drop in, see the show, and look for them afterwards.  As 
we exited the show and made our way back toward the entrance, we found them in 
line about to enter for the next show, so we were allowed to jump right in and 
see it again.

The special effects used in the Ghostbusters show are "wicked awesome" 
according to our two eight year old resident experts.  The also play some neat 
"live" tricks on the audience, along the lines of those in Muppetvision 3D 
(4D).

The only major ride left to see (other than some of the shows, for which there 
won't be enough time) was Earthquake-The Big One.  This was Eric's turn to 
protest prior to the ride ("I'm not riding! No way! I won't do it!"). After 
he "survived" the two theaters that precede the ride (where "how they do it" 
is explained), he had calmed down, and once on the actual ride, he loved it!  
For the rest of the trip, even while on Disney turf, we would hear "can we 
go on Earthquake?" from Eric.

We had just enough time left after Earthquake to make the last show of the day 
in the "Murder She Wrote Mystery Theater".  This proved to be another 
consensus highlight for Universal Studios.  Whoever put this show together 
obviously spent some time studying how Disney MGM had done Superstar 
Television, the Monster Sound Show, and the Backstage Tour, and was challenged 
to combine the best elements of all of them, and improve upon them as an 
"entertainment experience".  The Universal staff set you up quite nicely, as 
there are four phases to this attraction, and each one became more outrageous 
than the previous one.  Our first host was wonderfully monotone, and reminded 
me of the hypothalamus at Cranium Command.  Our first editor was harried, and 
pulled off a great impersonation of a Brooklynite.  Our second host was 
immediately recognized by us Nickelodeomaniacs as Moira Quirk, the British 
referee on the Nickelodeon show "Guts", and she was terrific and very funny.  
But the last editor took the cake.  As we entered the final studio, you have 
to look fast, as this very large, heavy set editor with incredibly mismatched 
clothes, toilet paper stuck to his shoe, his tie coming out through his 
zipper, and one of those disposable toilet seat covers stuck to where it ought 
to be, is frantically trying to pull together the final edit while 
experiencing extreme anxiety attacks.  The audience members that were called 
up to assist throughout had been good, and this time it was even more bizarre 
as one of the people that the editor had selected to do a voice-fill could not 
read or speak any English at all.  Maybe it was the chemistry and right mix of 
cast and guests, maybe it was because it was the last show of the day, but 
whatever it was, this running of the Murder She Wrote Mystery Theater had the 
entire theater in stitches.

We had stopped in to a shop where they take a video still image of your face, 
and then superimpose it over your choice of bodies.  Eric and I had one done 
that came out great, with the two of us in a photograph from Back to The 
Future III, with Eric as Marty and me as Doc.  The twins had one done together 
as Glamour Babes from the 20's.

It was now 7:00, the official park closing time, but the Dynamite Nights Stunt 
Spectacular was still to be run on the lagoon.  Basically, it involved a few 
boats driving at very high speed, automatic weapons, and lots of boats and 
buildings exploding in enormous fireballs, with a theme that had something to 
do with drug smuggling.  Sort of like Rambo meets Miami Vice.

After an ice cream stop, at my mother in law's request we checked out the 
Tribute to Lucille Ball on the way out.

The in-laws were fading fast, so we dropped them back at the CBR to sleep, and 
the Steinhardts left for Pleasure Island.

The kids immediately headed for the landmark motorcycle and life guard's chair 
that they had remembered from the previous visit, since now they could get a 
BIG audience.  We were eventually able to pry them off with crow bars so that 
we could catch the initiation ceremony at the Adventurer's Club.  The cast 
member that had been the maid the night before (and who had been such a great 
Mandora two years ago) tonight was playing the role of Mandora!  They even 
entrusted her with performing the initiation ceremony.  When she noticed our 
"little Adventurer's" as she called them, she asked them where they were from, 
to which Tara replied: "Milford!".  For the edification of the rest of the 
club, her twin sister Alana informed the audience that Milford was a place in 
Massachusetts.  

The ceremony complete, we were seated right up front for the Balderdash Cup 
Competition show in the library, yet again won by the drop-in Adventurer from 
Sandusky, Ohio, whose trained pigeons performed their usual miracles.  When we 
asked the kids why they voted for the guy with the pigeons (as Adventurer of 
the Year, that being the Adventurer with the most outrageous tale) rather than 
either Hathaway Brown or Otis T. Wrenn, Tara stated "Because he was the only 
one with proof".  And just what was this proof?  "The pigeons!".  Evidently, 
she did not believe that the matchbook from The Atlantis Bar & Grill that 
Hathaway Brown had produced was verifiable proof that he had been to Atlantis.

We hadn't had anything to eat since lunch (other than ice cream) so we got 
some food for the kids, and Eva and I figured that we'd check out the new 
8-TRAX club (formerly CAGE), and try the burgers that they were advertising as 
a quick meal before heading back to the CBR.  Well, 8-TRAX bills itself as a 
'70's club, and when I took a quick glance in this past March, it indeed did 
have a fair variety of music that was somewhat representative of the 70's.  
Boy did they change since then, and in my humble personal very-subjective 
opinion, not for the better.  By "70's", they now seem to mean very 
specifically that dark age of commercial music that existed only in the very 
late 70's (and I use the term music loosely here, after all, I have been a 
professional rock musician in my day) known as the dreaded DISCO.  In the span 
of the brief time that we spent in the club, we were treated to all of the 
Disco lowlights; Disco Inferno, Night Fever, YMCA, etc.  The only reason that 
we stayed to endure this constant metronome-like barrage of the same kick-drum 
cacophony was that Eva and I had made the mistake of ordering burgers as soon 
as we came in, and had paid for them with our drinks (which were delivered 
promptly) and it took 40 minutes until the burgers were served.  At one point, 
without having seen our waitress (who by the way she was dressed seems to have 
confused the 60's with the 70's) for 20 minutes, we noticed her on the video 
monitor down on the dance floor, disco-ing it up with her tray.  We cornered 
another cast member to see if he could determine the whereabouts of our 
burgers, and magically they appeared with one minute.  The burgers were really 
quite good, and came in special non-modifiable configurations, with quaint 
names like "The Steve Martin Burger", "The Sonny & Cher Burger", but were not 
worth waiting 40 minutes for.  Far worse was having to endure 40 minutes of 
disco, which in the immortal words of Wayne and Garth, "made me want to hurl".  
If in fact you are a fan of Disco, you will absolutely love this place, please 
ignore my opinions, and I suggest that you go to 8-TRAX, and quickly!

Eva and I apologized to the kids for staying at 8-TRAX much longer than we had 
wanted to, and carried them back to the car to drive to the CBR and get them 
to bed.

Friday, May 14th
----------------

This was planned to be a day to see any key attractions that had been missed 
on the previous days in the parks, and to revisit any favorites.  Given the 
sloth-like pace of everyone except for the kids and myself (of course, the 
sloths would say that my normal pace was like that of a rabbit that had drank 
too much caffeine), I figured that at best, we'd be able to see SOME of what 
was desired in at most two parks.  Since everyone slept late and wasn't very 
motivated to get out to the parks early, by the time we drove to the TTC, took 
the ferry over to the Magic Kingdom, and were on Main Street, it was 11:00.  
We indeed would then face (as I had predicted, smirk, smirk) the longest lines 
of the week in any park on all attractions, even though Friday was supposed to 
be a lower-crowd day according to both the Official and Unofficial Guides.  
Timing aside, there were clearly more people in the Magic Kingdom than we had 
experienced on that previous Tuesday, word must be getting out.  While the 
park was normally to have been open until 9:00, there was a sign at the 
entrance stating that the park would be closing at 8:00 to prepare for "Grad 
Night".  We weren't quite sure what "Grad Night" meant, but we would sure find 
out later....

Tara had the first choice for an attraction to visit and she chose... Space 
Mountain.  So, my in-laws decided to shop on Main Street while the rest of us 
headed off for Space Mountain, planning to use the kid-swap so that Tara could 
ride twice.  

We chose to ride on the right side this time, and the line for was at least 4 
or 5 times longer than it had been on Tuesday, but the length would prove to 
not matter at all, as after 10 minutes in line, when we had finally reached 
the corrals that precede the loading platform, suddenly all of the lights came 
on!  Wow, a clear view of Space Mountain with all of the lights on, but what's 
up?  We can see that at the very, very top of the track, there is a space 
capsule loaded with people, and it is standing still!  The other capsules that 
were on the track behind it all are somehow routed off the track, as the 
announcement comes that "the ride has temporarily stopped".  No kidding!  
Without the dark and the special effects, the Space Mountain track looks like 
something someone might build with an erector set.  Running along the entire 
length of the track is a catwalk, and we are able to see multiple cast members 
now walking along the tracks, well up in the air.  One comes over to talk to 
the people that are stranded at the top, right along side their capsule.  We 
can't quite figure out what is going on, but they are not taking these people 
down, and they are definitely not starting the ride back up again.  Having now 
been in line an additional 15 minutes, and there being no sign of it resuming, 
we take a very disappointed Tara back out toward the entrance along with her 
sister and brother.  Since we're in the neighborhood, at Eric's request we 
ride Dreamflight (no line, of course).

We run into Eva's parents just as we reached the main hub on the way to Main 
Street, and at their request, and that of Alana and Eric, we cross to the 
other end of the park for Splash Mountain.  

Unlike Tuesday, it is now a solid 35 minute wait to ride Splash Mountain, but 
what a great ride it is.  We are able to ride 2-2-3-2 again, and this time the 
two other guests in the back (a mother and daughter) are rookies, who do not 
know what to expect.  At each small drop or bend prior to Chickapen Hill, Eva 
and her father (who are riding in the front seat) keep psyching them out by 
screaming as if it is the big drop, which they are unable to see from the back 
seat.  These people had so much fun on Splash Mountain that they followed us 
over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad next.

OK, if anybody can attempt to keep Eric calm on Big Thunder Mountain, it's me, 
so I'll ride with him.  But what is this!  Now that he is a "veteran" of 
having been on this ride twice before in his life, he now likes it!  Can it 
be!  Yes, at the end he states "Daddy, I like that!".  I'm in shock.

The shopasauruses want to do some more shopping over by Pirates of the 
Caribbean, so while they shop, the kids and I ride Pirates.  Uh oh, more 
shopping to be done, so the kids and I climb the Swiss Family Robinson 
Treehouse while the rest seem to be on a shopping quest.

I could be mistaken, but it seemed to me that the lower height, highly 
polished wood hand railings that are inside the stair frame hand railings are 
new, obviously to make it easier for kids to hold on while they climb.  They 
also seem to have made some minor modifications and done some general 
housekeeping on the treehouse.  

Since we were in Adventureland, and it was a reasonably warm day, and a snack 
seemed in order, I decided to see if in fact the batch of Dole whip that I had 
suffered through the last time that Eva and I had been in park was a fluke, or 
if I could get a batch as good as the Dole Whip I had enjoyed at Disneyland 
last July.  In either case, I'm still left wondering, as yes, the Dole Whip 
stand was closed for renovation, and was scheduled to reopen the following 
day.

Tara was still bumming over the fact that she hadn't been able to ride Space 
Mountain again, so as a cast member with a walkie-talkie strolled by, I asked 
him if it would be possible for him to find out for us if Space Mountain had 
reopened.  He cheerfully offered to check, and after a few calls on the 
walkie-talkie, he confirmed that yes, it had recently been reopened.  

The challenge before us however was to try and find a way across the parade 
route that would let us reach Tomorrowland, as the Surprise Celebration Parade 
had just started.  The only option turned out to be to head toward Main 
Street, and cross behind the end of the parade.  

Wow, the line was even longer than before, but we were determined to get Tara 
on Space Mountain.  This time, Eva's father joined Tara and me on the ride, 
while the rest waited at the exit platform.

Ok, Ok, enough Magic Kingdom for today, and everyone is hungry, so we decide 
to take the monorail route to EPCOT.  As we leave the Magic Kingdom and get 
our hands stamped, Eric asks why they are stamping our hands, so Eva explained 
the purpose to him.  He's still confused and tells us that they won't know 
that we've been stamped because nothing shows up on his hand.  Eva tells him 
not to worry, that when we get to EPCOT Center, they'll be able to see the 
stamp on his hand.  

Hey, Mr. monorail line manager type person, is there any room for some kids to 
ride up in the front of the monorail?  No, already spoken for.

OK, let's transfer at the TTC to the EPCOT monorail.  Hey, Mr. EPCOT monorail 
line manager type person, is there any room for some kids to ride up in the 
front of the monorail?  No, already spoken for.

As soon as we step off of the monorail at EPCOT Center, Eric becomes all 
agitated - "Mommy, you said that the stamp would show up at EPCOT Center, and 
now we're at EPCOT Center....and it doesn't show up!!!!!".  We all try to stop 
laughing enough to explain about ultra-violet light and fluorescent paint, but 
Eric won't let us by continually yelling "No, no, it isn't showing up!".  
Eventually we think that he understood when we passed through the readmission 
gate and the ultra-violet light was directed at his stamp.  Maybe.

We were all starving at this point, having basically skipped lunch after a 
late breakfast, so we settled in for yet another Mexican feast at the San 
Angel Cantina along the Seven Seas Lagoon, along with some timely and tasty 
Margaritas.

Finally we would get to see The American Adventure.  I don't know, maybe it's 
just me, but I get all choked up every time I see this.  Eva said the same 
thing.  They have added some new, up to date footage on the very end of the 
closing film, that includes notable Americans and events from just this past 
year, such as Magic Johnson on the Dream Team and Ryan White.

After some quick shopping in Morocco, we saw Impression De France, and then 
sampled some French wine and pastry afterward.

My father in law had wanted to revisit the Transcenter and the GM cars at the 
World of Motion, so while he and my mother in law left for the Transcenter, 
the rest of us caught Kitchen Kabaret at The Land and the last show of the 
evening at The Living Seas.  I had hoped to see Chester, the baby manatee, but 
the area was blocked off with a sign stating that the manatees were resting 
for the remainder of the day.

We rejoined Eva's parents by Spaceship Earth, and since our minivan was still 
in the main parking lot by the TTC, we took the monorail back to the TTC.  Any 
seats in the front?  Sorry.

As we approached the TTC, there seemed to be an unusually very large number of 
busses that were either already parked in the main parking lot, or still 
entering.  We then learned about Grad Night.  Evidently, once each spring, 
Disney opens up a park (the Magic Kingdom, in this case) for graduating high 
school seniors, and tonight it would be open from 9:30 P.M. until 5:00 A.M.

The store at the TTC was stocked with all sorts of "Disney Grad Night" shirts 
and paraphanalia, and as we started to make our way toward the parking lot 
tram, our path was blocked by a steady stream of 10,000,000,000,000,000 high 
school seniors, who were seriously ready to party, and on their way to the 
monorail and the ferry.  Well, I suppose that they did let us pass on through 
to the tram.  I even remembered that we were in Goofy 52.

Saturday, May 15th
------------------

This was to be our morning for Breakfast with Minnie at Minnie's Menehune 
Character Breakfast in the Papeete Bay Verandah at the Polynesian Resort.  We 
had made reservations for 8:30, and evidently they target to have large 
numbers of seating on the half hour, at 7:30, 8:30, and 9:30, lasting until 
10:30.  On our previous visit, this had been held in the Tangaroa Terrace, but 
the view from our table at the Papeete Bay Verandah was far superior, with 
clear views of the Castle, the lake, and the Grand Floridian.

The buffet was good, and my only disappointment was that they no longer had 
the mickey waffle bar.  We did of course ask for a special order of the banana 
stuffed French toast to share, which was delicious, but very sweet.

The food is incidental of course, as I was able to shoot plenty of video of 
everyone with Minnie, Goofy, Chip, and Dale.  Goofy even signed Eric's Goofy 
hat, using the large eyes on the front of the hat as the two letter "O's" in 
Goofy, as he added the G__FY.

We all got our "I had Breakfast with Minnie Buttons" of course.

After some shopping (does it ever end?) at the Polynesian, we boarded the 
monorail (aw, still no room in front?) for a brief examination of the Grand 
Floridian (yes, it's very nice), where we ran into Mary Poppins, Winnie the 
Pooh, Goofy, and Minnie. 

We reboarded the monorail (still no room in front) for the Contemporary Hotel, 
to catch a water shuttle to Discovery Island.

Discovery Island was very busy, not with guests, but with wildlife as it is, 
uh, ahem, springtime, uhh, and we all know what animals do a lot of in the 
springtime.  There were nests EVERYWHERE.  We arrived just in time to see the 
tropical bird show, which included Scarlet McCaws, Blue & Gold McCaws, 
Cockatoos, and a male cardinal who was obviously very used to the bird trainer 
and the birds in the show, as he constantly swiped seeds.  According to the 
woman who was presenting the show, he was bringing the seeds back for his mate 
who had a broken beak. 

The birds, flowers, plants, and general atmosphere on Discovery Island is 
quite beautiful, but the highlight had to be seeing literally dozens and 
dozens of huge snowy egret nests, all bunched together (by the bird's free 
choice!) in many locations.  The amount of nest building that was going on by 
all sorts of bird species, everywhere, could only possibly be equaled as a 
construction project by the new Hudson semiconductor manufacturing facility 
construction.

We spent a solid two hours at Discovery Island.

After the water shuttle back to the Contemporary, we had our last shot at a 
ride in the front of the monorail, and ...Yes!, room for four, so the kids 
rode with their Grandfather back to the Polynesian.

For the rest of the afternoon, we hung around at the CBR, and put the 
recreational vehicle family plan to good use, taking out the large canopy 
boat, and then some (really slow) water sprites.  Much of the time was spent 
just taking it easy at the Martinique pool swimming and frolicking with the 
kids.

After having read the now famous "Mother of All Trip Reports", I must admit to 
having been absolutely persuaded by Mike Scopa's descriptions to make sure 
that we visited Beaches and Cream at the Yacht and Beach Club during this 
trip.  We loaded everyone into the minivan, and drove the short distance to 
the Beach club parking lot.  

Having never been to the Yacht or Beach Club before, we took our time 
wandering toward Beaches and Cream by way of the waterfront and the pools.  
I've not seen any hotel pool facilities that even come close to what is 
available for guests of the Yacht and Beach Club, and I can understand why 
signs were posted that these particular facilities were for the exclusive use 
of guests of the Yacht and Beach club, and not for non-guests, even if they 
are staying at other Disney resorts.  This exclusive use policy is also in 
effect for the Grand Floridian, but the pool facilities at the Grand Floridian 
are nothing compared to those at the Yacht an Beach Club.  The kids were all 
instantly begging "Daddy, can we stay here on our next trip?"....

The lone drawback to Beaches and Cream is that the facility is MUCH too small 
for the popularity that it deservedly enjoys.  There are only three large 
booths, and since we were a party of seven, it would be a 40 minute wait, 
despite the fact that we would be getting the first open large booth.  There 
seemed to be a brisk take-out business going on.  

With that much time to kill, it didn't take much for the kids to figure out 
that they could coerce Dad into coughing up a few quarters for the adjacent 
arcade.  We were indeed seated 40 minutes after our name had been added to the 
list, and it was well worth the wait.  

The philosophy at Beaches and Cream seems to be very simple, and borrowed 
directly from the Kentucky Fried Chicken School of Marketing; Do one thing, 
and one thing only, and do it RIGHT.  Well, in the case of Beaches and Cream, 
they do two things, and they certainly do them as well as anyplace that I've 
ever seen, those two things being Hamburgers and Ice Cream.  Burgers can be 
ordered as a single (one patty), double (two), triple (three), or home run 
(four).  To eat a home run, one probably would have had to have fasted for at 
least a week prior, as the portions were healthy.  I'm not sure how they could 
fit four burgers of this size on only one bun.  Most of us ordered doubles, 
which come with a pile of excellent home made french fries.  The lime rickeys 
were excellent, and we all couldn't stop laughing when my father in law's 
LARGE COKE was delivered.  It seems that when you use the word LARGE in 
Beaches and Cream, they really mean LARGE.  You've all probably seen the 
classic Coca Cola fountain glasses with the Coca Cola logo, which have been in 
use for decades.  Imagine that familiar shape in a fountain glass, but roughly 
the size of a 55 gallon drum, with the familiar Coca Cola logo.  In all 
seriousness, it had to have been at least a quart.  That's a large Coke.  

The service was outstanding, and none of us could remember ever having had a 
better burger.

The background music at Beaches and Cream is provided by a refurbished classic 
Wurlitzer juke box, where guests are welcome (and encouraged, in our case) to 
go on up to the juke box and make selections directly on the front console. No 
coins or tokens necessary, just select your tunes and enjoy.  At our booth 
itself was an old juke box remote station, that while not being functional, 
did include the identical songlist to that on the main unit, so that you could 
make musical selections before leaving your seat and enter them on the main 
console.  The tunes were mostly from the 50's and early 60's.

One can't come here without having dessert, of course, so we were debating 
ordering a couple of the Classic Banana Splits, while Tara wanted the Mud 
Slide.  Having learned the meaning of "LARGE" at Beaches and Cream, we asked 
our waiter just how large a Colossal Banana Split would be.  He replied that 
"Oh, it would probably feed the whole table".  We decided to order one of 
those, as well as the Mud Slide for Tara, expecting that everything would be 
shared.

Well, our waiter's description was not an exaggeration, as this glass swimming 
pool was delivered (maybe by fork-lift) to our table, filled with five flavors 
of ice cream, bananas, nuts, whipped cream, chocolate sauce, caramel, 
cherries, and marshmallow.  Tara's Mudslide was roughly the size of her head.  
People walking by would see our table, stop, drop their jaws, and point at 
this dessert monstrosity gracing the center of our table, speechless.  Our 
kids now refer to Beaches and Cream as "The Land O' Large".

The bill came to about $69, my mother in law placed down a $100 bill on the 
tray with the check, and handed it to our waiter.  We were surprised when the 
he returned with the change moments later, and we now found $111 on the tray, 
including what looked like the same $100 bill.  We called him over, explaining 
that while we were very impressed with the food and the service, we did feel a 
little funny that they should feel compelled to pay US for having dined there.  
Yes, our VERY grateful waiter realized that he had mistakenly placed the $100 
bill back on the tray as change rather than a $20 bill, and couldn't thank us 
enough for saving his neck.

Fully stuffed, we drove back to the CBR where we put the kids to bed, and left 
them with Eva's parents so that she and I could have one last night out at 
Pleasure Island. 

Upon our arrival via the Orange V bus, we encountered a huge mob of people, 
and this will probably be the last time that I ever go to Pleasure Island on a 
Saturday night.  Evidently, it is quite the hot location for the locals on the 
weekend nights, and it was PACKED.  We waited in line for ten minutes just to 
get through the main gate and on to the Island.  The entire Disney Shopping 
Village/Pleasure Island parking lot was filled, and I could see traffic being 
directed across the road to spaces at the Disney Casting building!  

It seemed that there was a live radio broadcast being run from the main stage 
by a local rock station, so no band on the West End stage tonight.  Well, at 
least we might catch some music at the Rock & Roll Beach Club.  What's this?  
A local television video shoot in the R&RBC for an upcoming special on Latin 
music.  Hey, that would probably be fine, but the shoot is 98% production and 
downtime, and less than 2% music.  No band in here tonight, either!  But there 
is NO WAY that I'm going near 8-TRAX...

Well, at least we'll be able to catch the outdoor New Year's Eve show for the 
first time this trip.  The crowd (Mob) by the West End Stage is really packed 
in tight, and I'm just thrilled as some drunk woman accidentally spills a beer 
down my left leg as she and her friends try to squeeze down closer to the 
front, where there absolutely was no additional room, but she didn't care.  
This feat would be matched five minutes later, as a different drunk woman 
would attempt the same maneuver on my right side, this time spilling her beer 
right on my right sock and into my Nikes.  I'm beginning to think that maybe 
there is a conspiracy afoot, and I should seek out Oliver Stone's phone 
number, or that maybe I had merely not realized that the reason the crowd was 
so large was that it was the annual "Spill a Beer on Ken" night at Pleasure 
Island.  And it's not even that easy for me to move swiftly to defend myself, 
as the line for beers is running six people deep.  Enough of this, at least 
there is the ol' standby, the Adventurer's Club, where maybe everybody doesn't 
know your name, but you know theirs.

After a short wait in the main salon, we were able to catch the Maid's 
sing-a-long, where tonight the part of the maid was being played by a cast 
member that we had never seen here before, and who spoke with a very distinct 
"New Yawk" accent.  She was good, but not as good as the other maid.

The one highlight to this big of a crowd, especially one that is filled with 
locals, is that it makes for some great people watching.  A brief bit of that, 
a quick cruise through the shops, and we've seen enough for tonight.  We had 
just missed the Orange Flag V bus, and sure enough exactly twenty minutes 
later the next one arrived to take us back to the CBR.


Saturday, May 16th
------------------

I had promised Eric that we would ride bikes one more time before leaving, so 
he and I snuck out a little after 8:00 while everyone else was sleeping, but 
alas, the Barefoot Bay Bike Shop and Boatworks doesn't open until 10:00.  
Instead, the two of us walked the trail around the perimeter of the lake, and 
then joined the other in the last-morning packing frenzy.

At 10:00 of course, Eric and I took a break to go ride the bikes around the 
CBR one more time, joined by Tara and Alana, while the others went to 
breakfast at OPR.

Disney allows express check-out with a credit card, leaving a copy of your 
bill on your door handle during the last night of your stay.  This bypasses 
having to return to the Custom House on the last day, and I had very much 
looked forward to not having to visit the Custom House again, ever since 
check-in.  Such would not be my fate however, as contrary to what we had been 
told after the initial check-in fiasco, we were charged at the garden view 
room rate.  I called the front desk, and sure enough, they had screwed up 
again, which enabled them to give me yet another of those famous CBR staff 
apologies for not doing things right the first time.  It also meant that 
(arrghhhh!!!!) I'd have to go back to the Custom House in person to check out.
Having endured a wait of over one hour in the Custom House during check-in, I 
was simply overjoyed by the prospect of waiting in line again, at a similar 
time of day to our check-in.

We loaded the bags in the minivan, left the tips for Aimee our chambermaid (as 
well as some nice thank you notes, written, illustrated, colored, and 
decorated with stickers by Tara and Alana), and made the fateful trip toward 
the dread Custom House to check out.  I told everyone else that I would go in 
alone, just in case things became violent....

Hey, talk about your dramatic improvements, despite there being only one party 
in front of me in line (checking in), it took ONLY 30 minutes for me to be 
back out the door with a corrected bill.  Sure, you're saying to yourself that 
this process usually takes about 90 seconds in any average hotel, but the 
Caribbean Beach Resort uses IBM!  One has to spend an awful lot of money on 
technology for it to run so slowly and foul up this consistently.

Since there might have still been some remnants of cash or credit line still 
unused, we went to Belz, and mostly the Disney Character Warehouse, to make 
sure that we would be in debt for at least the next 10 years.  While at Belz, 
we actually had to buy some more luggage to deal with all of the extra stuff 
that had been purchased.

Having done our part to rebolster the economy (Bill Clinton would be proud), 
we left for Mercado on International Drive, and our final Mexican Feast to 
end all Mexican Feasts at Jose O'Days.  Just prior, while at Belz, I had 
clipped a coupon from one of the tourist information booklets that entitled 
everyone in our party (except for the kids, of course) to a free Margarita at 
Jose's.

Well, maybe there was still some loose change that remained, so we did some 
more shopping in Mercado.  I took the opportunity for only the second time 
during the trip to get something for myself:  A genuine Parrots of the 
Caribbean shirt at Conch Republic (you Jimmy Buffet parrotheads will 
understand).  We also bought the two books (Jolly Mon and Trouble Dolls) that 
Jimmy Buffet co-wrote with his daughter (Savannah Jane Buffet) for Tara and 
Alana.  While passing the Cricketeer's Arms, we also couldn't resist stopping 
in for a pint of Fuller's Extra Special Bitters, on tap.

OK, that's it, fini, time to drop off the minivan and head back up North.

Our United flight departed only 15 minutes prior to the USAir flight that my 
in-laws would take, so no one had any long waits.  Our flight left on time, 
and again arrived early back at Logan.  Eric slept through most of the flight, 
including his United/McDonalds Kid's Happy Meal.

General Observations/Comments
-----------------------------

- The weather was spectacular.  Every day was sunny, with temperatures in the 
mid-80's.  During the ten days there were only two periods of rain, each of 
only a 1 hour duration.

- I shot 9 hours of video, but did not feel like I saw my vacation through a 
viewfinder.  The tips provided in the "Video/Photography" note in this 
conference were very helpful.  Since I have a 1-LUX light level VHS video 
camcorder, pretty much everything came out fine, including those attractions 
with minimal light.

- Disney cast members most definitely play up to people that are shooting 
video!  I had never noticed this before, but everywhere we went, if there was 
an opportunity to interact with the crowd, the cast seemed to always focus in 
on us as long as my red "record" light was on.  If you want attention during 
shows, character meetings, etc., bring a video recorder and use it.

- No Spectromagic during this stay!  We still haven't been able to see it.

- The crowds seemed larger than our visit during this exact same period two 
years ago, and daily crowd patterns seemed to occasionally contradict what is 
stated in both the Official and Unofficial guide books.

- In all of the Disney parks, and at Universal, the staff are extremely 
cooperative in letting you do the "kid-swap" on attractions where at least one 
member of your party will not be riding.  This is almost incentive enough to 
find some unsuspecting 4-year old to bring along with you for the "kid-swap", 
so that the rest of your party can ride popular attractions more than once in 
immediate succession.  I felt kind of funny about this at first, but we were 
strongly encouraged by cast members to have anyone in the first party that 
wanted a second ride along with anyone that waited out the first ride to 
absolutely just jump right in to the next ride, bypassing the line. 

Favorite Rides/Attractions
--------------------------

Eric (age 5): Splash Mountain, Dreamflight, Riding bicycles at CBR, E.T., 
Earthquake, Muppets 3D (4D), Kongfrontation, Body Slides at Typhoon Lagoon,
Wave Pool at Typhoon Lagoon, Mayday Falls at Typhoon Lagoon, Spaceship Earth, 
Horizons and of course, the hotel pool.

Tara (age 8):  Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, 
Back To The Future, E.T., Hanna-Barbera, Star Tours, Body Wars, Earthquake, 
Body Slides at Typhoon Lagoon

Alana (age 8):  Snorkeling at Shark Reef at Typhoon Lagoon, Big Thunder 
Mountain Railroad, Horizons, E.T., Back To The Future, Hanna-Barbera, Star 
Tours, Body Wars, Castaway Creek at Typhoon Lagoon, Spaceship Earth 

Louis Sayte (50 something):  EVERYTHING at EPCOT Center (highlights: The 
American Adventure, the dancing fountains, Universe of Energy), Splash 
Mountain, "how clean all the parks and the bathrooms were" 

Irma Sayte (50 something):  EVERYTHING at EPCOT Center (highlights: Impression 
De France, The American Adventure), Splash Mountain, "the beautiful flowers 
and fountains everywhere"

Eva (30 something): Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Space 
Mountain (left side, front seat!), Star Tours, Back To The Future, 
Hoop-De-Doo Revue, Typhoon Lagoon, Goombay Smashes at the Banana Cabana (Dark 
Rum, Coconut Rum, Tropical Fruit Juices), Muppetvision 3D (4D), Voyage of the 
Little Mermaid, etc., etc., etc.

Me (30 something): Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain 
Railroad, Star Tours, Body Wars, Back To The Future, E.T., Hoop-De-Doo Revue 
(maybe is was Dolly...), Discovery Island, Journey Into Imagination, 
Muppetvision 3D (4D)

And now, I can look forward to the bills....

Cheers,
Ken

 WDW trip 5/8-5/18

 We have been planing the Disney trip for 10 months.  The trip was going to 
be a present for the kids and a 10 year anniversary for us.  My wife and I 
went to Disney 10 years ago for our honey moon and have not been back 
since. My kids are 4 and 6 and were waiting for the special day for a long 
time.  We planned for the both sets of grandparents and my sister and her
husband to all meet and have a vacation together.  The anxiety was to 
much.  We had months of calendars on the frige and the kids were counting 
the days down with their crayons. The trip turned out to be nightmare as 
you will read.

One week prier to the Disney trip---  My son came down with chicken pox.
   We have non refundable tickets and the whole family had their tickets and 
reservations as well.  We talked to our doctor and he informed us my son 
will be OK for the trip.  He will be scabbed over and will not be contagious or 
sick. BUT. There is a good chance our daughter will come down with the 
chicken pox 15 to 21 days after being exposed.  That put us at the end of 
our vacation or soon after getting back before my daughter would come down 
with the pox.  My son did not have a serious case of pox and never even got 
ill.  We discussed the whole thing with all the family members flying down 
to Florida and we decided to chance it.

Day 1- We are on the way from Nashua to Boston with a friend from work 
driving us. We get an early start, but before we get to Lowell,  his mini 
van starts overheating. After clearing the construction and picking up 
speed, the temperature starts to go down but not even near where it should 
be.  Half way there, the van starts to overheat again.  We pulled 
into a Shell station and looked to see what the problem was. His radiator was 
missing a bunch of cooling coils and the efficiency was severely decreased.
We decided to chance it and go for it. We turned the heater on (the weather 
was in the 80's that day) and went for it. We got all the way down to 
within sight of the tunnels and the airport with no problems when we ran 
into the largest traffic tie up I have ever seen.  It took us over 1 hr to 
get from the Tolbin bridge to the tunnels. ( with a van that is over 
heating) The stress level was at an all time high. Finally we made it to 
the airport in the nick of time. The flight was the only thing that day 
that went right.  We flew Delta straight to Orlando with no stopovers.
In Orlando we took the shuttle to the Alimo rent a car company. 
At Alimo, they tried pressured us into upgrading our rental car. We insisted the
two door Cavilier would be fine.  He wanted us to upgrade to a four door for 
a few dollars more a day. I declined and he told me what slot my car is 
parked. The car was a 4 door Sentra. I picked up the family at the drop off
and started loading in our luggage. After the luggage was loaded, My wife 
noticed red stuff all over our clothes.  I got out and looked the car over 
and noticed some red liquid all over the bumper.  When checking out with 
the guard I asked him if the car was just painted. He said no and I told 
him the story of the red on our clothes.  He took a cloth and wiped some of
it off. This revealed a deep scratch in the paint.  He wiped in different 
spot and more scratches appeared.  He said someone got the car all scratched
up and covered it up with red dyed wax.  He took note of it on our slip and we
were off.( the red wax never washed out of the clothes.) We were on our way to
the hotel with my wife giving me directions.  She got all mixed up and we were
two hours driving to our hotel which should of been an 1/2 hr.  We had 
reservations at the Sleep Inn off of 192.  We planned to stay at the Sleep Inn
for one night and look around at better hotels once we got there. The hotel was 
very, very nice. It was only 9 months old and very clean. We were so 
impressed, we decided to stay there for the rest of our vacation for just 29
dollars a night.  The hotel was only 9 months old and I don't thing to many
people knew about it. The front desk person (Charlie) was very friendly and 
worked his best in getting 4 families in the same vicinity of each other.

  Day 2 - The grandparents arrive and my father inlaw is in a wheel chair.
He has been having hip problems and has been told he needs a total hip 
replacement.  We were thinking the wheel chair just put an end to the 
vacation.  We were never so wrong. We found WDW extremely set up for wheel 
chairs.  All we had to do in Disney was wheel up the exits and the staff 
would put him and his party directly on the rides and attractions. MGM and 
Epcot was built with the handicap in mind.  They all had special entrances 
and we did not have to hassle with the chair one bit. In fact we had head 
of line privileges on every ride and attraction. This upset some of the 
people that had to wait in the long lines.   The average wait was 20 to
45 min for everything in Disney.

To make a long story short.  We Enjoyed everything in Disney.  My kids were 
overwhelmed.  The only bad thing we encountered was the spectromagic 
parade was not running the whole time we were there.  We were really 
looking forward to it and was disappointed. We never saw Tinkerbell fly 
over Disney either.  The crowds were a lot worse than we expected. When we 
went in May 10 years ago, there was little to no wait for rides.  

  Epcot was just as fun. The crowds were just as heavy as Disney.  We ate 
in  the "Lands Griddle" restaurant and the food was excellent.  the 
restaurant revolves around puts you in parts of the "lands" ride.  We stayed
for the fireworks and the laser show at 9:00 pm. People were coming from 
everywhere. I Think the tremendous crowds came from MGM and Disney at the end 
of the day just to see the fireworks in Epcot. I have never seen so many 
people in one place at one time.  We thought we had a good spot to see 
the the show, we were very wrong.  When the show started everyone stood up, 
blocking the view of my children.  I put my son on my shoulders so he could 
see better, but the people in front of me had the same idea and blocked our 
view even more.  We decided to leave and beat the crowd since we couldn't
see anything anyway.  On the way back My son and I got separated form the rest 
of the family and I spent a while looking for them at the gate. The fireworks
got over and the mass of people started filing through the exits. I found the
rest of the family, but by this time, the mass of people leaving was 
overwhelming. We decided to sit on the fountain and wait until most of the 
crowd settles out.  It never happened. It was a never ending river if people 
that seemed to have no end.  We decided to join them and leave the park.  
Once out of the park, we saw there was no way we were getting on a tram in
order to take us to our car. It seemed like millions of people everywhere  We
were forced to walk to our car which was parked in the back 40.
 
 We went to Sea World one of the days and had a great time.  The crowds were
moderate and the weather in the 90's. In fact, the weather was in the 90's 
every day with a mid day shower on just a couple of the days. The Seal and 
otter show was not performing due to a stadium renovation.  This was to bad 
since the seal and otter show is one of their best.

 We went up to Silver Springs one day and had a great time.  The place and 
tripled in size since we were there last 10 years ago. The water is still 
spectacular and is well worth the drive up.

  One of the days we did a day at MGM.  This was our first and We were very 
impressed. My daughter could not wait to see the Beauty and the Beast play. 
She was bugging us non stop about seeing Bell. To our dismay, the Beauty 
and the Beast show was not performing that day. What a let down for a 4 
year old girl.  The best shows were the Muppets,Raiders of the Last Ark,
and Little Mermaid. We ate lunch in the Si Fi drive in. Very, very expensive. 
We were disappointed at the extreme cost, and the lack of entertainment. The 
setting is neat but all you do is sit in a car/table and look at a screen 
playing short clips from old movies.  My wife and her parents went to the 
Prime time cafe later that night and said it was 10 times better.

 We did two theme type dinners while in Orlando.  We did King Henerys feast, 
and the Pollineasean review.  Both are a lot of fun, but be prepared to pay 
for it. Both were 85 dollars each for a family of four.  (not including a tip)

  One neat thing we did was to rent a couple of air boats.  My 6 year old 
son got a chance to drive us and ended up crashing into a bridge and a 
tree.  It was a lot of fun but we ended up getting a good dose of Florida 
sunburn.

 We had three days left and had planned to go to Bush Gardens and Universal 
when it happened.  My 4 year old daughter came down with chicken pox. She 
had it a lot worse than our son.  It must of been because of the heat. There 
wasn't a spot on her that did not have a pox. She even had 3 on one eye lid 
and 4 in her mouth.  She was miserable and very sick.  I ended up staying 
in the hotel with her while my wife and family went shopping at Disney 
village.  We spent the remainder of the vacation in the hotel, and didn't do 
much of anything but relax, swim, and enjoy the Florida sun.

 That about sums up our trip,  It sounds a lot worse than it actually was.  We 
still had a great time and plan to go back in a couple of years.

We did happen to learn a couple of things while on vacation:
 
1. Pay for the extra airline insurance in case you change your flight 
   plans in the last minute.

2. Don't pay for an upgrade on your car when asked too.  Alimo wont let you
   know the car you originally planed for is sold out and will try to get you
   to pay for an upgrade. If you say no, they will give you one an upgrade 
   for free.

3. Alimo makes you pay them for the first tank of gas.  You are suppose to 
   bring the car back empty. I was driving on fumes when I returned the car.

 

          John          
 

Hi,

   Just got back from WDW. I was there 30th May thru to 3rd June. I thought 
it is only fair that I do a trip report for all to share, since I have also 
got quite a bit of information from this conference. Please feel free to 
contact me via VAXmail if you need for information.

   In summary, to cover most things at least once in the three major theme 
parks takes at least one and a half to two days for each one. Especially in 
MGM studio, most of the shows have scheduled times and you need to plan it 
well to catch all of them. Everyday is a ten to fourteen hours day (with no 
kids). I have to caution parents with children, the impression I have of 
WDW is it is full of "crying children". They just cannot possibly follow the 
adult schedule. So for your children's sake, try not to over-tire them, it 
makes your trip real miserable too.

   There are few things one needs to be aware, which we have missed.

-  We stayed in Dixie Landings (DL). The room was nice, thought the toilet 
   does flush very loudly. If your room is one on the ground floor, the 
   privacy just isn't there. They have a good cafe for breakfast/lunch/
   dinner. The shutter service to/from park is very efficient.
-  Disneymania, Spectromagic parade and Tinkel bell fire works is 
   only available on certain nights (weekend and peak season), so make sure
   you visit MK on the right day/night. 
-  The "Be our guest" pass allows early entry to park. For MK, this is 
   really only good for kids, as all the rides that are available early are
   those kiddy rides (e.g Dumbo). Rides like Splash Mountain, Big 
   Thunder Mountain Railroad will not be opened until the official opening
   time of the park.
-  Snacks are expensive in WDW. However, Disney Village has reasonably 
   prices itallian food.

   Now the things we enjoyed most/least in the various parks.

Magic Kindom
============

Most Enjoyable
--------------

-   Splash Mountain is a excellent ride. However, the queue is also 
    extremely long (45 minutes wait)
-   Big Thunder Mountain ride is good, but short
-   Space Mountain is good, as you are in total darkness and do not know
    where is car is heading
-   Peter Pan is a interesting ride, if you know the story
-   Haunted Mansion has very good effects.
-   Carribean Pirate is good
-   The "cable car" is quite a good ride if you are tired of walking to/from
    Tomorrowland and Fantasy Land

Least Enjoyable
---------------

-   Mission to Mars is a real waste of time
-   American Journey will be just another circular screen dislay, 
    which you will see lots in EPCOT

MGM Studio
==========

Most enjoyable
--------------

-   The most interest display is the Disney Annimation tour.
-   Puppet 3D (in fact I think it is 4D) is the most interesting 3D movie   
    in WDW
-   Little Mermaid is a show worth waiting for.
-   Star-Tour is excellent
-   Beauty & the Beast is good if you like the show
-   Alladin parade is interesting

Least enjoyable
---------------

-   Studio showcase
-   special effect studio tour

EPCOT Center
============

Most enjoyable
--------------

-   Lunch at Les'Chef restaurant in France pavillion. Please note that
    there is also a Les'Bistro which apparaently is not as good as 
    Les'Chef
-   Wonders of Life pavillion is interesting. The body war ride is just
    like the star tour ride in MGM, but the effect is not as good. In 
    fact we came out with a little motion sickness.
-   Universe of energy has a good display and is worth the ride.
-   The Living Sea is impressive.
-   Fire works is excellent is worth waiting for. However, try to get a
    position on the future world side of the lagoon, where you will get
    the best view.

Least enjoyable
---------------

-   Not very excited about the World of Motion

Well, I only spent one day at Epcot - June 9 -  but here is my trip report.  
                                            
Mom and I got to Epcot right at 9:00.  We got a great parking spot, so the 
day was off to a great start!  It was going to be a scorcher - 98 that day -
but we were ready for it - along with a LOT of other people as it was pretty
crowded there that day.

The first thing we did was go to Earth Station to make dinner reservations
for The Biergarten in Germany.  There was nobody in there, so we breezed
right in and had no problem getting reservations for 6:15.  Next we were off
to the Universe of Energy to see that show.  We got there about 10 minutes 
before the next show, so we got to see the movie they show before you go in
to the theatre.  Mom was impressed that everything seemed so realistic - 
especially the musty smell of the forest.

We then strolled over to the Wonders of Life pavilion.  We were going to go on
Body Wars, but the line was really long, so we went to see Cranium Command.
My Mom thought it was more for little kids, but I enjoyed it - probably because
I have a 4 year old son, so I can see what he'll be like when he's 12!  When
that was done the line or Body Wars was even longer, so we decided to skip it
for now.

It was shortly after 10:00 now, and Mom needed a cup of coffee, so we went 
into Communicore East and had something to drink and a muffin - the freshest
blueberry muffin I've had in a long time!

Since Mom really wanted to spend time looking at all of the different countries,
we decided to head up to the World Showcase.  There was a boat at the Port
of Entry boat dock, so we took that over to Morocco.  Since Mom loves France,
we decided to go there first.  We looked around, then went in to see the
movie that they show called "Impressions de France".  By this time it was 
getting pretty hot, so it felt great to be in an air conditioned theatre!  We 
walked around some more, then decided to start at the beginning of the World
Showcase, so we went over to Canada.  Since it was about lunchtime, we decided 
to eat at Le Cellier in Canada.  Mom's family is all from Canada, so we 
decided to eat there to see how authentic the food was. Well. we ended up 
getting a nice turkey club on 8 grain bread - was just a little too hot that 
day to get the pork pie.  It wasn't a typical club sandwich like we're used to 
- they put nice thick slices of real turkey, smoked turkey, lettuce and 
tomatoe and you put your own mayonaisse on.  It also came with a tossed salad. 
I thought it was a little expensive - $7.50, but it was so good that it was 
worth it.  The restaurant is nice - as the name implies, it's in the basement 
of the building.  They have nice heavy wood tables and chairs, and beautiful 
tapestries hanging on the wall.  We walked around a bit and listened to some
bagpipers that were playing.  They were good, and very nice - didn't mind
getting their picture taken with people.

We next went to the United Kingdom.  It was a good thing that my 4 year old
wasn't with us - they had a lot of Thomas the Tank Engine merchandise at the 
store there!  It was so tempting to get a nice wool hat and scarf, but it
was just a little too hot that day to think about carrying them around and
all.  The prices were reasonable on their stuff - I ended up buying a beautiful
rose pin - it looks like porcelain - and it was only $8.95.

Since we had already "toured" France, Morocco was our next stop.  They had some
really nice leather purses which I was VERY tempted to buy, and some nice cool
blouses.  We sat in a nice open air room that is their tourist information
area.  It's really worth sitting there to rest for a few minutes - the artwork
in there is just beautiful - all of the mosaic and carved stones were beautiful.
If you go, be sure to look up at towards the ceiling - there is a lot of carved
work up there.  (My husband and I ate there in back in 1986 at Restaurant
Marrakesh, and we really enjoyed it.  There was a belly dancer for entertainment
and she came right up to Bob and was dancing in front of him - he blushed
90 shades of red, but I think he enjoyed it!)

Next on the agenda was Japan - I think we're getting culture shock by now!  
The buildings there are so beautiful, and the whole setting is very peaceful.
We took about 1/2 hour to just walk around the store there, there were so
many beautiful things to look at.  They have the oysters that you pick one
and get to keep the pearl inside - they have a lot of pretty settings to 
choose from.  (In March of this year my husband and I ate at the Teppanyaki
Dining Room.  It's like a Bennihana - they prepare the food right at your
table.  It was really good, and a lot of fun.)

We decided that we needed a break, so we stopped at The American Adventure
to get something cold to eat.  I ended up getting a snow cone from Japan -
boy, did that hit the spot!  They were selling a lot of them that day!  Mom
got a low fat yogurt Micky ice cream sandwich from one of the carts, and she
said that that was really good too.

Onward to Italy!  We lived in Naples for 3 years, so Mom was anxious to be 
"back".  They had some singers performing just as we got there who were really
good.  After a couple of songs they pulled people from the audience to help
them out.  It was a lot of fun.  At the water they have some gondolas, so you
really do feel like you're at St. Mark's square in Venice.  They have 
beautiful things in the stores, and it brought back a lot of memories to see 
everything.  

Germany was the next country, but we decided to skip it and tour it before
we ate dinner since we had reservations at The Biergarten.

China!  Just as we got there they were ready to start their movie called
"Wonders of China" which is shown on a 360 screen.  Since my husband had just
come back from a week in Hong Kong, we were particularly interested to see
this movie.  What a beautiful country!  The buildings here at Epcot in this 
country are so beautiful, and you really do feel like you're in China.  They
also have a beautiful exhibit called "Dragon: Ruler of the Wind and Waves".

Finally we reached Norway!  I had never been on the Maelstrom, so I was pretty
excited to finally be able to go.  This was the first time we encountered a
line.  It moved really quick, so we were only in line for about 10 minutes.
We didn't mind the few minute wait outside - the smells coming from the
bakery were just heavenly!  I think if it weren't so close to dinner time
we would have definately gone in there and got something to munch!  We both
really enjoyed the Maelstrom.  We didn't wait to see the movie afterwards 
though - it was getting too close to supper time and we still had to visit
Mexico.

Viva Mexico!  When we got there there was a mariachi band playing.  Instantly
my Mom was impressed because she said that they were the best mariachi band
she had ever heard.  We lived out in New Mexico and Texas for a lot of years,
so to hear her say that was a big compliment.  We decided to sail on "El Rio
del Tiempo" - a boat ride they have that gives the history of Mexico.  Again,
Mom was impressed, and since there was no line we walked right on.  I think at 
this point she were almost wishing that our dinner reservations were in Mexico 
instead of Germany!  The only complaint that she had was that it was kinda 
dark in the restaurant, but I told her that it really wasn't bad because they 
have candles on the tables.  (When we were there in March we ate dinner here 
one night.  The food and margaritas were really good - although a bit on the 
pricey side.)

Finally, it was time to head on over to Germany.  We looked around the stores,
and I had to get a sample of the semi-sweet wine.  Wow - was it good!  I ended
up buying a bottle of it to take home because I knew that I would never 
remember the name of it.  They really had a lot of beautiful things in the
stores - I love Hummels, so it was nice seeing all of them.  Then we were off
to the Biergarten.  We had to wait a few minutes to be seated, and we sat
at a table with 6 other people (they seat you at tables for 8 people).  I had
requested a table in the center so we could see the show good (I remembered
someone had written that in this notesfile), but when we made the reservations
they said we had to request that when we got to the restaurant.  I totally
forgot when we got there - heat and hunger were taking over me!  Anyway, we
walked down with the hostess, and she brought us to a table that was in the
center and right at the stage!  The other family started to sit at the seats
right next to the stage, but the hostess said that those seats were for the
MacArthur party!  Wow - were we excited now!  It was almost 6:30, so we
ordered dinner.  Mom and I got the dinner for 2 - I'm not good at remembering
the names of the sausages, but it had 2 red ones, 2 whites ones, potatoes,
sauerkraut, pork, and bacon.  They also had a nice hearty bread and Mickey
Mouse shaped butter on the table.  Keeping in the spirit of the restaurant,
I ordered a 1/2 liter of Becks - talk about hitting the spot on a hot day!
About 10 minutes after we got our food, the show started!  It was 7:00, so
I think the shows start on the hour.  For 1/2 hour the band played, there
were dancers, and a wonderful singer.  They did grab people out of the 
audience too to dance and conduct the band.  There was a table next to us
with some semi-rowdy people, so they made it a lot of fun.  Mom was impressed
that the show lasted as long as it did.  After the show we took our time 
finishing up our dinner.  It was around 8:00 by the time we left.  

There were still a couple of things that I wanted to see in Future World, so 
we left to head back over there.  Carol Lawrence was performing at the America 
Gardens Theatre, but we were already at Future World when we realized it, and 
our feet just couldn't make the walk all the way back there then back to
Future World!  Anyway, we went to Journey Into Imagination to see Captain Eo 
and Figment and Dreamfinder.  There was about a 15 minute wait for the next 
Captain Eo show, so we went over to see Figment (I love that little guy!).  
There was no line at all, so we got right on.  When that was done we headed 
back to Captain Eo - where it was now about 10 seconds until the next show!  
Talk about perfect timing!  I had never seen a 3-D movie, so I thought it was 
good.

Now it's just about 9:00, so we started heading towards the World Showcase to
catch Illuminations.  It was pretty crowded, so we sat near Communicore West
to see some of the show.  After about 10 minutes we left - we really couldn't
see it very well, and we were exhausted!  We walked back to the car and got
back to the hotel and collapsed!  I couldn't believe we spent 12 hours at
Epcot in 98 degree heat!  There are still some things that I want to go back
to see - The Land, The Living Seas, World of Motion and Horizons to name a few.
Hopefully next time I go though it won't be so hot!

A few tips I learned from our day at Epcot:

	* Everyone tends to start in Mexico and work their was around the
	  countries to the left.  If you start at Canada and work your way
	  around that way, you tend not to hit the crowds as much.  

	* See a couple of "must sees" in Future World, but mostly save them
	  for later in the day when most people have already been there and
	  are now in the World Showcase.

	* Take advantage of every bubbler you see!  You don't realize how
	  much you sweat, so stock up on that water!

	* Take a foot bath back at your hotel room - our feet thanked us for
	  it that night and the next day!

Well, hope this helps folks see what Epcot is like.  I really enjoyed it,
and can't wait to go again!

    Well, here  is the trip report.  Noters may recall from an entry in
    note 312,43, this trip was to  make up for the 25th wedding anniversary
    trip last September that was so ungraciously interrupted  by Hurricane
    Iniki.  The local bets were that some natural disaster, something short 
    of  the  end-of-the-world,  would  hit sometime during the trip.  The
    brief summary is that we spent June 4-10 in WDW and June 11-13
    exploring the south-west coast  of  Florida.    Florida schools were
    "out" and accounted for somewhat of a  crowd, but not what we are used
    to seeing during August, for instance.  

It was incredibly hot (at least for us New  Englanders).    The daily high was
over 95F each day.  It may not be known  to  all  readers, but the WED Weather
Control office CAN work wonders, but only if you ask.   It  NEVER  ONCE RAINED
while we were there at WDW;  at our request, of course.

Space will keep me from entering comments on each and every attraction;   read
your Birnbaum's.  However, I will enter comments when I feel so compelled  for
one reason or other.

Back  when  I  made  the initial reservations, mentioning that this was a 25th
anniversary "present",  we  wanted  to  stay  at the Grand Floridian June 4-9,
arriving late on  the  9th and leaving the 10th.  As it turned out, we arrived
at WDW around 2:00pm  on  the  4th  and  left  around 6:00 pm on the 10th.  We
wanted "good" rooms, but did  not  feel  we  needed  the $450 +/nite honeymoon
suite;  the $240/nite+tax would do just fine, thank you.

Some observations on the GF:

-  They have a pianist in the lobby/lounge area each afternoon

-  They have a light jazz band on the 2nd floor  overlooking  the lobby/lounge
   area playing each evening

-  One  maid's only job is to  casually  walk  around  the  lobby/lounge  area
   fluffing pillows on the couches.

-  One maid's only job is clean out the ash trays in  the  lobby,  smooth  the
   fine white sand and press a GF monogram in the sand.

-  Decorative  flowers  are  used    extensively   for  landscaping...and  are
   completely replaced before they wither.

-  The room was nice;   nicer  than  any  other  room  I  had  ever stayed in.
   Actually, the GF is much, much nicer  than  any  other  hotel I/we had ever
   stayed in;  it makes the Marriott resorts look a bit like Motel 6.  

-  The room was overlooking the pool;  the  POOL is bigger than most motels we
   normally stay in, and is open 24 hours.

-  Each  person  has a "loaner", terrycloth (like a VERY absorbent bath towel)
   bathrobe to use when wandering down to and around the pool.  

-  If  you  don't  see something you want, just ask  for  it.    The  list  of
   available  amenities  is  long  ranging  from a Iron and board to  a  small
   refrigerator.

-  Each room has a wet bar, but at $4.50 for a nipper of Jack Daniels Black, I
   would not recommend using it.

-  They  even  emobssed  the  GF  monogram each day on the leadsheet of toilet
   paper.  Gawwwwd, what decadence!!!!

-  When checking  out,  Florida  presents you with TWO taxes;  the normal room
   tax and a RESORT  tax.    No  wonder  WDW  gets  about whatever it wants in
   concessions from the state.

Since we were not planning  on  leaving "the world" until the 10th, it did not
make sense to rent a car  at all until then.  So we planned on using the MEARS
shuttle to the world and renting a  National  (at the Car care Center) to drop
off at Tampa on the 14th.


<<<DAY 1>>>
   Flight from Manchester to Pittsburg  to  Orlando.    Bad  scene, here.  Mr.
   Noter has a passionate distaste of airliner travel bordering on a certified
   phobia, but that is another reply in  another place.  Every now and then, I
   get airsick.  This was a now.  Sigh........

   Orlando is an easy-to-get-around airport.  We picked up our luggage, walked
   out the front door to the MEARS booth, bought  a ticket and boarded the van
   less than 1/2 hour later.  MEARS charges $13 per person one-way.  We landed
   at 12:00ish and were checking in at the GF at 2:00.    I  would never use a
   rental just to go from the airport to WDW if I could  use  a  service  like
   MEARS - check your BIRNBAUM'S guide.

   At the Grand Floridian...

   The  MEARS shuttle driver warned us that we would be treated like King  and
   Queen, he was right.  When we arrived, a GF Bell Hop took our luggage away,
   someplace, to store while we checked in.

   Check  in  was  smooooth, with no hassles.  We were going to get the 5  Day
   Super  Duper  pass, but they have a Be Our Guest pass that is good from the
   TIME you  check in until and through midnight of the the day you check out.
   Both passes cover transportation and admission to all park attractions (MK,
   EC, MGM, TL, RC,  DI).    The biggest difference is that unused days on the
   Super DUpercan be used at  any  time in the future.  We got a 7 day BOG for
   $20/person more than the 5 day Super Duper.  Seemed like a good deal at the
   time;  seems like a great deal, now.

   After check in a Bell Hop showed  up  outside  with our luggage to drive us
   (yup,  drive us) to our room.  The  drive,  a  short  guided  tour  of  the
   grounds, actually ended at the front door of our  wing.   After we unloaded
   we wandered out to check out new additions in Epcot  Center.   After we got
   back, we discovered a bottle of Champagne, 2 stem glasses and a fresh, long
   stem, Rose and a nice "Happy Anniversary" card.  Nice touch.

   EC was nice (nice to be back after a half dozen years),  but we were tired.
   We are learning the hard way that we do not travel well;   we  need a crash
   day of sorts.

<<<DAY 2>>>
   We found out that the Magic Kingdom opens the gates at 7:30 on Tues, Thurs,
   Sat  and  Sun;  Main St.  awakens and some rides open up at 8:00  -  mostly
   FantasyLand.  So....we got  there  at  about  8:00.  First thing we did was
   made reservations for the Diamond  Horseshoe Revue (4th time there and this
   was the FIRST time we got  in)  next  to  Tony's.   We had 1/2 hour to kill
   before Tony's opened for breakfast, so we  made  reservations  and wandered
   off.

   There  was a zero minutes wait at all  FantasyLand  rides  (Personally,  Mr
   Noter goes for MR.  Toad's Wild Ride while  Mrs.    goes  for  Peter  Pan).
   Those two plus Small World later and it was time for breakfast at Tony's.

   Just a side comment on the Cox family ratings of  restaurants.  Mrs' father
   owned  and  ran  an  Italian  restaurant  for  a  bunch  of  years;     Mr.
   night-managed a HoJo's while suffering through college.  We do not normally
   dwell on  what  the specific menu offerings are, just our general feelings.
   We tend towards  the  critical,  but  that may well be because we know what
   level of quality and  service  is achievable if they really want to make it
   happen.

   Tony's is where we would  have  breakfast  every  day if we did not have to
   worry about buying new clothes to  fit our expanding waist sizes.  The food
   is first rate and more of it on your plate than most would like to eat each
   morning.  Service is as good as the  food.    Price are as good as the food
   (good  for  Disney,  not good for the patrons).   But  then,  we  were  not
   "cheaping it".

   After breakfast, off to the park.  Splash Mountain was our first stop.  Get
   there early.  Even in the off season, it gets crowded  quickly.    (or  get
   there  when  crowds are jockying for the ultimate viewpoint for one of  the
   parades).  Splash Mt.  is a fun ride;  I do not  agree  with  WDW when they
   claim it is a "thrill ride".  On a scale of 1-to-Space Mt, Splash  Mt  is a
   3.  BUT.....it is a blast.

   Diamond  Horseshoe  Revue was a fun time.  I (who work hard to stay in  the
   background whenever possible) got chosen  to  participate  on stage;  I was
   Farmer McDonald.  I had a good time and Mrs got to bust my buns about being
   a "ham".

   Dinner at Victoria & Alberts, a gourmet  restaurant.  Read your Birnbaum's.
   This joint adds a new dimension to the  phrase  "elegant  dining".    Seven
   courses, "wine pairing" selections to agree with and enhance  your personal
   selections    for   each  course,  and  you  get  to  keep  a    "Personal,
   inscribed_in_gold" menu.  They even had a Happy Anniversary cake for us. 

   Gentlemen  must  wear jacket and tie, ladies dressed appropriately.  Forget
   paying cash  (you  would need a wheelbarrow to carry it all), forget credit
   cards (it may  exceed  your limit), just charge it to your room so you wont
   have to see what you paid until you leave.  

   I will break from  normal  and  type in the total menu and wine pairings by
   course.

               THE MENU
------------------------------------------------------------
I (choice of)
* Chilled Venison Loin sauteed in Jamaican Seasoning with Fried  Goat  Cheese,
  Champagne and Mango Coulis
   >WINE: 1992 Bonny Doone "Pacific Rim" Johannisburg Riesling

* Croustade of Petite California Escargot with a Fresh Morel,  Pancetta    and
  Wild Mushroom Creme Soup 
   >WINE:  1991 Philip Togni Sauvignon Blanc

* Cited Louisiana Crawfish and Lobster with Sage Pasta and a Lightly   Smoked
  Tomato Coulis
   >WINE: 1988 Benzigner "Blanc de Blancs"

II (choice of)
* Chilled New Potato and Leek Soup
* Chicken Consumme' with Shiitake and Chives

III (choice of)
* Noisettes of Lamb Loin Marinated with Ancho Chili and Tamarind, served  with
  a Puffed Ball Mushroom Star
   >WINE: 1990 Supery, Merlot

* Broiled Buffalo Medallions on a St. Emilion and Golden Raisin Reduction
   >WINE: 1988 Lyth, Proprietary Red

* Grilled Filet of John Dory on a Bed of Sea Beans, Spicy Pecan Creme 
   >WINE: 1991 White Oak, Chardonnay

* A Trio of Game Birds Featuring: Poussin, Baby Pheasant and Squab, Peach  and
  Calvados Sauce 
   >WINE:  1989 Montinore "Oregan" Pinot Noir
 
IV
* Seasonal Salad Leaves with Chunky Golden and Red Tomato Vinaigrette

V
* Royal Stilton with Poached Pear
     >WINE: 1981 Smith Woodhouse L.B.V. Port

     >WINE: 1990 Quady "Elysium" Black Muscat

VI (choice of)
* White Chocolate and Macadamia Terrine with Caramel Sauce
* Blueberry Souffle
* Chocolate Covered Almond Souffle
* Fantasy of Fruits and Berries

VII
* Coffee, Friandises
   (Only disappointment was they only  served Columbian Coffee, I would expect
   a gourmet eatery to offer a  selection  of  fresh-ground beans;  Kona would
   have been (pun intended) nice.

* Our anniversary cake
----------------------------------------------------------------

   Then, again, perhaps we should  have  paid cash.  Then they could have used
   the wheelbarrow to roll us back  to our room.  Too much rich food and great
   wine.


<<<DAY 3>>>
   Up early and swimming before breakfast.

   Breakfast  at  Gaspiralla's  Grill,  located at the  Marina  at  the  Grand
   Floridian.    We finally found a place that  serves  breakfast  the  way  I
   normally eat breakfast;  a bowl of Raisin Bran  and  a  lot of coffee.  Not
   only that, it cost less than $5.00.

   Another nice thing about Gaspiralla's is that you can sit  at  one  of  the
   patio  chairs and watch the fireworks over the MK Castle.   And  with  very
   little crowd around.

   Over to MK.  Although the GF is on the Monorail line,  we  prefer  taking a
   motor  launch;  it is cooler and less crowded.  Since the park  is  opening
   early, we  wanted  to  hit  the  "MTs"  (Splash, Thunder, Space) before the
   crowds.  I STILL think Space Mt is a 10 (on a par with the old Revere Beach
   Cyclone of the 50's).  
 
   Snack at the AdventureLand Veranda.  We were planning on a Sunday Brunch at
   the Polynesian Village, but were still gorpo from the night before's meal.

   Over to Epcot.  Yes,  Monorail  to the TTC, change, and Monorail to EC is a
   tiring ride.

   Body Wars is a pretty good  ride;    one  of  these in my den would be just
   fine.

   Dinner at Norway.  Cold Cuts buffet.  OK, but much too expensive.

<<<DAY 4>>>
   Monorail to the TTC, bus to Typhoon  Lagoon.    This is not at ll up to its
   billings.  One water slide (many channels, but  one  slide)  that just goes
   down.  The Inner Tube ride is bumper-to-bumper;  kind of like the Blue Line
   at commuter time.  We were there for Mrs.   to  have a snorkeling swim with
   the sharks.  This, too, was far below its billings.   A  fairly  quick pass
   through  the  short pool and back to the end of the line.    The  Big  Wave
   section was funny;  packed with people and not much of a wave.    If we had
   children  with  us, we would have packed up and gone over to River Country.
   As it was, we packed up and went over to Discovery island.

   We  had  reservations at 9:15 for the Broadway Revue Dinner Show at the top
   of the  Contemporary  Resort.    Gentlemen must wear a collared shirt and a
   jacket (they have  loaner  jackets).    Limited  menu,  fair  service, good
   quality food, excellent show, decent prices ($45/person).  Incredible view.

<<<DAY 5>>>
   Off to MGM

   Not too crowded, but  definitely  go to the back first.  Lines may be long,
   but the move quickly.

   Star Tours is boring, Indianna Jones is OK, Muppets 3D is GREAT!!!

   Lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine  In  Theater.   Good food and large portions, good
   prices, great fun atmosphere (motif is  booths  made  up  like  1955  Chevy
   convertibles all lined up like at a drive-in theater).  The milkshakes (not
   really "true" milkshakes, but soft-serve shakes) are $2.50  per,  but  have
   free refills.

   Evening at MK.  If you watch the light  parade,  do  it  along the strip in
   front of and between Pecos Bill's and the Diamond HR  Bar.  The sidewalk is
   raised to resemble a western plank sidewalk.  It is also  a  nice  place to
   watch the fireworks if you cannot make it back to Gaspiralla's

<<<DAY 6>>>
   Late sleep in.

   Spent the day at EC.

   Snack and a glass of wine at France.

   Your favorite, stay_in_the_background noter got pulled in to participate in
   a street show at Italy (I was the Banana Man).  At this rate, I am thinking
   about getting an Actors' Equity card.

   Dinner and  Belly  Dancer  Show  at Morocco.  Top quality food, service and
   entertainment;  all  a  reasonable  price.    They  have a drink called the
   Marrakesh Express - VERY good.

<<DAY 7>>
   Early morning swim, leisurely breakfast at the Grand Floridian dining room,
   check out and store luggage and  motor  launch  over  to MK just to saunter
   along Main St, get yet another Space MT fix and hit any attractions we have
   missed.

   Back to the GF, call for the national  Rental  Car  Van pickup (call 1 hour
   before you want it) and relax in the lounge.  Adios.

   And, yes, I DID inquire about Professional career opportunities  (what  the
   heck, I had to bring along my jacket and tie  anyway).  They do not do spot
   interviews  for  these  positions,  however  send  your  resume with salary
   requirements to:

      Walt Disney World
      Professional Staffing
      Box 10090
      Lake Buena Vista, Florida 32830

   If you take the time to talk to some of the employees, and we did, you will
   find that they  are  expected  to treat the customers in the same manner in
   which THEY themselves would  like  to  be  treated when on vacation.  Sound
   familiar?   Used to be  that  way  around  here.    NO  apologies  for  the
   editorial.

   Days 8,9, and 10 were spent  touring  southwestern  coastal  Florida.  Some
   observations:

-  CROWDED, 3 of the 4 fastest  growing  areas in the country are here;  Punta
   Gorda, Ft.  Myers, Naples.

-  Florida is HOT in early June.

-  La Quinta and Hampton Inns (3 diamond ratings) are a crashing downer  after
   the GF.

-  Ringling Art and Circus museum  is OK for a small town show - it just ain't
   the Boston MFA.

-  Ford and Edison winter home tours were overpriced and/or under interesting.
   The park guides and workers who work/volunteer at this attraction were very
   pushy and  acted  like  it  was  their  personal duty to make sure you move
   quickly and heaven  forbid you should touch anything;  OUR guide (Fred) was
   the one exception that we saw, he was very interesting and was not so pushy
   about moving along.

-  Dali  museum  in  St. Petersburg  is  small  but powerful (if and only if
   you appreciate Dali). 

-  The small Tornado that went through  N.    Ft.    Myers  near  our hotel on
   Saturday added spice to an otherwise fun week;  not up to Hurricane Iniki's
   ungracious interruption of our last vacation, but interesting.

-  Peter Lynch once invested heavily  in  Bob  Evans Family Restaurants;  see,
   even the pro's strike out.  These are worth avoiding.

-  The Olive  Garden  chain  of  Italian  eateries has a limited, but expected
   selection.  Service is  great,  quality  is  good,  portions  are ample and
   prices are fair.

-  The Perkins Family eateries are about a step above Denny's.

-  If you get down to Naples,  go a little further to the western park entrance
   to the Everglades at Everglades City.  Then take the $10/person  90 minutes
   boat ride out among the 10,000 Keys.  About the time you get near the gulf,
   the  Park  Service boat captain opens it up and soon bottle nosed porpoises
   start cavorting along the baw wave and in the wake.  Nice trip.

   All in all, it was a fun vacation. 

Dave
    

WDW trip 5/29 thru 6/6

Who:  Myself (Bert) and wife, Debbie

Why:  We honeymooned at WDW in '90, got hooked, can't stop going back

Details
-------

	We had built up a lot of frequent flier miles on American
over the last 1.5 years and when it hit just right, so that we
each got a free coach ticket.......Disney World was the only logical
choice we could make.  We were off and running on American Saturday morning.  
Flight left Colorado Springs @ 11:00am and arrived in Orlando (after a Dallas 
stop over) @ 7:00pm.  

	Once at the airport we collected our bags and headed off to
the Alamo shuttle to get the car....expecting the worst after all
the rental car discussion we had in this note.  My wife just started
taking Tae-Kwon-Do so I considered letting her do the talking.  8^)  There 
was a torrential downpour going on which we hoped wouldn't be a sign
of the week to come....the Alamo shuttle was fast and efficient
dropping us off at Alamo plaza.  The experience was pleasant and I
was only asked each question once and not pressured when I didn't
want an upgrade, insurance, or to buy their gas.  Arriving at my spot
in the parking lot, we got a red Nissan Sentra with 8000 miles on it...
a nice little car, and I believe an upgrade from the $90 economy
I had reserved.  After getting thru the gate, we were off to US192.

We got to hotel (Econolodge Maingate West), checked in and they
held a non-smoking room for us as requested.  I noticed it was much
busier than expected with the desk turning away people because the
hotel was full.  They were telling people they had called all around and the
only place was farther west and south of where we were.  I guess since it was 
Memorial Day weekend and Florida Resident Days it was expected. We decided to 
settle in at the hotel, eat out at the ONLY non-Disney restaurant we would go 
to over the whole trip and generally plan the week's events.  We went just
down the road to the Magic Mining Steak and Seafood place.  Decent food,
regular tourist prices.

	Other general things about this trip, although we saved up cash
to pay for the trip, we decided to take a different approach this year
and only take enough cash for snacks/lunches, parking, and other extras
Everything else will be charged to one card to be paid off
when we get home.  I was really sick of carrying all those travellers
checks around, escpecially when they aren't that much more convenient
than using the card.  The only danger here is overspending, so we set
a strict budget to follow and tracked expenses at the end of the 
day when we made notes about that day's events (to be able to write
this trip report!).  



	As for accomodation, we stayed at the Econolodge Maingate West, 
which is extremely convenient (and priced right at $30 a night).  We've 
stayed here twice before on driving trips and found it to be a clean, well 
kept motel, standard fare, for a good price.  The other nice thing about
it is you approach the maingate entrance from the LEAST travelled side
(west) when heading to Disney in the morning which equates to no traffic
problem.  I estimate anywhere from 10-15 minutes to parking lot from
the hotel (meaning another 15 to MK, but Epcot and MGM are more
accessbile from the parking lot so only take a few more minutes)


OK, enough prelims, time to hit the parks:

SUNDAY - 5/30

We got up early and left for the Magic Kingdom, hoping to beat the large
crowds we saw at the hotels.....we did ok until we got to the TTC. For
whatever reason they were holding people at the gate behind the ticket
counters and maintained this hold until 8:25!!!!  We couldn't get to
Main St...once the deluge of people spilled thru the gates the monorail
backed up down the ramp...head for the ferry. We were on the first one
and at the gate within 15 minutes.  It's now 8:40 and we head over and
get reservations for Diamond Horseshoe Jamboree, 12:30 is already full,
so we opt for 1:15 and will eat lunch somewhere else before that.  We
had planned our attack the night before and decided on Splash mountain first
since we expected it to have the longest line later in the day.  We
grabbed a roll and juice at the Main St Bakery and headed down to take
the shortcut....whoops, stroller heaven and already backed up to the
street.  Not daunted we weaved our way to about halfway up and managed to
get to Splash mountain with about a 15 minute wait.  GREAT ride...will
definitely do it more times before the week is over.  After Splash
mountain, Big Thunder Mountain (15 minutes),Space Mountain (25 minutes),
Jungle Cruise (35 minutes)....you get the picture, the crowd is
building. We decided to do the Hall of Presidents and get a chili dog
before the show, and lined up outside the DHJ about 15 minutes before
showtime.....GREAT show, and our seats were pretty decent in the middle
of the theater.  After the show we were beat, and the park was total
human gridlock, so we left for the hotel to swim and nap.  About 5:30
we headed over to Pleasure Island and had dinner at the Fireworks
Factory, still good food, but the menu has changed a little, with the
barbcue being more 'prepared' versus on the bone (chicken and ribs).
After dinner we went back to MK and did Space Mountain again during
the parade, and all the rest of tomorrowland, and 20'000 leagues.
The park was open till Midnight so we went ahead and did Peter Pan
and went back for another Space Mountain and Splash Mountain run
waiting about 20 minutes per ride.  After closing we got some late
night desert at the Main St Bakery...excellent carrot cake, and headed
back tired but satisfied.

MONDAY 5/31 

Being Memorial Day we decided to do Epcot Center since it is the biggest
of the parks in acreage, and TL and MK were sure to be packed beyond
capacity.  We left at 8:00, stopping at McD's for suasage biscuits
on the way.  Got to Epcot at 8:30 and it was already open.  I ran off
to do Body Wars while Deb made reservations for dinner at Morroco. I met
here in Communicore West and we did Computer Central, interesting show
and I had never seen it on any trip before.  We dallyed around with the
interactive stuff and went over to the LAND for a boat ride.  WRONG.., way
to crowded, 45 minute wait, decided to delay this till later in the
week. Next in order:

Living Seas
Journey into Imagination
Pizza and Pasta for lunch
Captain EO

It's now 1:30 and hot and crowded again, so we bugged out for the hotel
again and did some swimming and sunning...this was the first full clear
day as a tropical depression brushed us on Sunday and made it sort of
cloudy and showery...Went back to Epcot at 4:00pm and decided we weren't
that hungry so we did more interactive stuff and Spaceship Earth and
went over to MK to eat at Tony's...I had there four cheese pizza which
is excellent and a salad, and got some cookies for desert at the Main
St.  bakery.  After cookies we did Space mountain again (we love this
ride) and Carasoul of Progress and Mission to Mars which we had missed
the night before. Park closed at 9:00 so we did some shopping and
headed back to the hotel.

TUESDAY 6/1

Typhoon Lagoon day, slept late and got to TL at 9:30.  Got to the rope
and got good chairs, and headed off to do in order:

Shark reef
Storm Slides - did each of the three
Humonga Cowabunga (this is what your behind says after you get done!)
						8^)

Now, we headed over to other side of the wave pool and did all the raft
rides.  Be careful here not to take the tubes from one ride up the
steps on a different tube ride....they will not let you go down. Some folks
in front of us apparantly tried this trick and their tubes were sent
down the chute empty, with the people made walk back down and get the right 
ones.

After all the raft rides we went and jumped into castaway creek and
floated around twice before jumping out at Typhoon Tilly's for lunch.
We had roast beef sandwiches and chips for lunch.  AFter eating
we sunned and read awhile before heading back to the hotel at 1:00pm.
After a shower and change of clothes we headed back to Epcot and had
a late lunch around 3:00 in Mexico.  We ate here last time and really
like the service and food, plus the menu is cheaper for lunch.  Upon
finishing a humongous dinner we did the rest of Future World that we
didn't get to on Monday.  Epcot closed early at 9:00 anyway so we
headed back to the room to get a good night's sleep for Universal
Studios the next day.



WEDNESDAY  6/2


Left the room at 7:30, stopping by McDonalds for a suasage biscuit to
go and arrived at US at 8:15.  We had already bought tickets for a
dollar off at the hotel so we proceeded to the line at the gate...scheduled
opening time was 9:00am.  About 8:20 Barney Rubble and Fred Flintstone
came out to greet the crowd, and the gates opened at 8:35. We did
in this order:

Hanna Barbera
ET
Back to The Future
Earthquake - (short 15 minute delay with techincal ride problems)
King Kong
Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
Blues Brother's Street Show
Murder She Wrote Mystery Theater
Wild West Stunt show
Hitchcock
Beetlejuice Show

The park closed at 7:00pm so we didn't waste any time at sitdown
restaurants and ate hot dogs, popcorn and other snacks for the day.
It was extremely hot (for us anyway - 95 deg.) and we took advantage
of a drink offer the had to buy a large souvineer cup and refill
it for 1.55 each time - great deal.  We finished all the shows and ride
around 5:30 and headed back to the hotel tired, hot, but satisfied.
We showered changed and drove down to Chili's for dinner.

THURSDAY 6/3

Slept late today to catch up on sleep and exhaustion from all the park
runs.  Went down and ate the hotel breakfast buffet and tanked up 
for the day.  Drove to all the resorts and looked around.  The swan and
dolphin are neat but overpriced.  We expect if we ever stay in the
world it will be at the Beach club or Port Orleans.  Hopped over
to the marketplace to load up on goodies.

After shopping we headed to Epcot Center and hung out in the Land
and did the rides and shows, and had excellent frozen drinks. Next
we headed into the countries to look around and also did Canada 360,
Maelstrom, some wandering around.  Ate dinner at the Land Grille Room, 
and got a table on the outside with a good view of the ride.  Again, 
good food, good service, decent price for WDW.  After dinner we headed 
back to the room and changed to go to PI.  At PI we headed for the first 
show at the Comedy Club.  This show is excellent, not vulgar but with some 
adult insinuating humor, and the comedians are EXCELLENT at impromptu.  
Next we headed over to the Adventure's Club and hung out wating for the 
second annual Adventurer's Club radiothon in the library.  In the meantime 
we kept the maid going with stories aobut how mosquitos are attracted to 
carbon monoxide so if you hold your breath they won't bother you.  Once 
ushered into the library we ordered a drink and were presented with a MOST 
excellent song, dance, and comedy show in the guise of a live radio program
attempting to raise money to save the Adventurers Club....I won't
spoil the show with the details, but you must pickup the schedule when
you go and get into to this one!  After the radiothon we were let out
onto the street directly in front of the stage for the New Years Eve show
and fireworks.  We think these are the next best fireworks show
after MGM in WDW.    Stopped by to have ice cream and cookies after
the fireworks.....my rum and beer pooched belly didn't really appreciate
this too much but it's vacation so I indulged.

FRIDAY 6/5

Got up and decided to go to Typhoon Lagoon again and take our
clothes and stuff with us for later.  Re-did all the previous TL
stuff including catching some good waves first thing in the morning.
One tip, if you like the big waves and body surfing, cop a spot
and hit the wave pool for the very first session of big waves, cause
later on it get's so crowded it's just an adventure trying not to get
creamed by all the people already in the wave coming at you.

After showering and changing at TL, we got to MK at 2:30 and rode
the train to Adventurland to see the Suprise Celebration Parade.
We positioned ourselves on the Pirates of Carib. side of the rope.
This parade is really neat, like a Mardi Gras parade. After
it finished we hoofed over to POC and rode with no line, then went on
to do:

Tiki Birds
Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse
Train to Mickey Starland
Mickey Mouse Show
Mike Fink Keel Boats
Tom Sawyer Island

We got hungry so we jumped to Mono-rail back to the Contemporary
to eat the buffet.  What a spread!  It's well worth the money
if you go really hungry.  After eating we went back to MK and
rode Space Mountain twice (they were stacking the line), upon
exiting the last ride the park had closed so we shopped Main St.,
played some arcade games and headed back to the room.


SATURDAY 6/6

Got to MGM at 8:30, but they didn't open until 9:00, stopped by
the Prime Time Cafe and made reservations for 2:00pm on the way
to Star Tours.  No wait on Tours.  Went on to do:

Little Mermaid
cinnamon rolls at the Star'ring rolls bakery
Great Movie Ride
Muppetvison 4D
Props Museum
Aladdin's Royal Caravan Parade
Prime Time Cafe - lunch was burgers fries, huge sundaes for desert
Beauty and the Beast show - get there early or you sit in the sun and
			    roast
Animation Tour - screwed up and went on the weekend when knowone was
		 working again 8^(
Backstage Tram Tour

We finished off the park at closing time (7pm) with some shopping
and headed back to MK.  Just an interesting side note upon arriving 
at the gate there were signs that read: " Walt Disney World would like
to inform our guests that there is a Gay/Lesbian event being held
today.  This event is in no way sponsored by the Walt Disney Company"
We encountered nothing offensive during the the day but thought it was 
interesting how Disney made sure they were distanced from the event.  
OK on to the rides:

Peter Pan
Carrasoul (SP?)
Spectormagic Parade
Splash Mountain (high tailed it over there at end of parade - 30 min
	         wait was shortest of the day except for right after opening

after getting out of splash mountian it was close to closing time 
so we shopped Main St. again and left for the room a bit bummed that
our trip to the world was offially ended... 8^(

SUNDAY 6/6

departure day.  Slept late and checked out of the room at the last
minute (11 am).  Shopped at all the geedunk places on 192 and picked
up a couple of really good deals on some tee-shirts.  Ate lunch at
Pizza Hut and headed for the airport.  Arrived at Alamo Plaza,
dropped the car off with no suprises on the charges, caught the bus
to the terminal and checked baggage.  The flight home was uneventful and
on time.


This trip was a little different than past trips in that there wasn't
any pressing need to 'do' things because we'd never done them. We were
more free to spend time doing what harcore tourers would call 'wasting'
time, like hanging by the pool, shopping, etc.  We also managed
to get a total number of 6 space mountain and 3 splash mountain rides
into one week!

The one unplanned thing that happened was that it was so hot there
were days when we didn't eat a large meal until after the parks
closed and we had cooled down.  This generated two side effects,
1) we didn't spend as mcuh money, and 2) we didn't eat at any of
the more adventurous places because we didn't want to have to go to
McD's at midnight to get a big mac.

Crowds were slightly large than expected and much larger than a similar
time when went a couple of years ago.  IT was manageble but the heat
and the crowds does get to you after awhile.  We vowed the next trip
would be BEFORE the summer crowds like the first or second week in May,
or a couple of weeks after Labor Day.

It will probably be awhile before we go back, and then we plan on
staying at the Beach club (already they scheme).  The next 'fix'
will come next summer when we go to California for a large driving
trip and hit Disneyland out there.



 

                             Trip Report
                        Peter and Linda Gibson
                          June 15-19, 1993

We flew out of Boston on Saturday, June 12, about 9:20AM, landing on schedule 
at Tampa just before 1:00PM. We had a car reserved at Value Car Rental, a
compact for $107.99 per week unlimited mileage. (Without going into the gory 
details, we will never rent from this organization again. The price was right
but the aggravation wasn't worth it. None of the other customers left the 
counter with smiles on their faces, either.) We got the car, a Mitshubishi
mini-mini-van that looked like a chopped-off Aerostar, and set off to visit 
relatives in Naples, 2.5 hours away. 

Our original plans called for leaving Naples on Wednesday, June 16, but we
decided to leave a day earlier. It had been a stressful four days, so we really
needed some R&R. Our king-sized bed room was not available on June 15 but 
we were able to get another room in Dixie Landings for just one night and 
could move Wednesday to our reserved room. 


Tuesday, June 15
----------------

We left Naples about 2:00PM after assisting with some family business and 
arrived at Dixie Landings about 6:00PM. Our room for one night was in the 
Magnolia Bend section, in the Oak Manor building. We were in the center 
section on the third floor, room 9422. This was offered to us at the lowest 
rate, and I found out why: the view was of a concrete wall and the air
conditioning system for the entire building was on the first floor in front 
of the door (don't take rooms 9062 or 9262, below ours, either). It was OK 
for one night but no longer. The next morning the desk called and asked if 
we wanted to stay in that room instead of moving. We refused the offer. 

Other than the decorations, the inside of the room was identical in size and
layout to CBR and PO. We settled in, then set off to MGM to have our pictures
taken for the annual passports and to find something to eat in the studio. 

We absorbed some Streetmosphere and arrived at the 50's Prime Time TV Cafe 
about 7:40PM and only waited for about 25 minutes for a table. The waitresses 
didn't put on much of a show for us since our room contained four parties with 
no children. The man seated at the next table was a contestant on Wheel of 
Fortune and had already won $20,000 and a car. He was going back for more 
taping. (I had personally tried out for that show a number of years ago and 
failed the test due to nerves, so I was quite impressed.) I had the pot roast to
eat and Peter had the meat loaf. Both were good but overpriced. This was 
something we had wanted to do before and it was fun, but we won't hurry to 
eat here again. 

After dinner we walked around a little bit but were both tired from the long
drive so we went back to the room to turn in early. 


Wednesday, June 16
------------------

We got up early, repacked everything that had come out of our bags, and had the
bellperson pick them up for storage until the other room was ready. We had a 
quick breakfast of pastry from the food court, and those sticky buns are 
delicious! We pre-registered for our new room, then we grabbed a bus and headed 
for the Magic Kingdom and Splash Mountain.

My husband is not a thrill ride person. I convinced him to try Splash Mountain
just once and promised he wouldn't have to go again if he didn't like it. Our
common description of the big drop is "5 seconds of total terror". We bought 
the picture at the bottom just so people would believe that he had really been
on the ride. He wouldn't go again. I did ride again another day. 

After Splash Mountain I convinced him to try Thunder Mountain Rail Road, too. 
He basically enjoyed that one, but the G-forces bothered his bad back so he 
wouldn't go on that again, either. He did say that thrill rides were good for
stress relief.

After TMRR we did the Haunted Mansion, Country Bear Jamboree, walked through
Fantasyland and Mickey's Starland, and rode the train all the way around the
park, then got off at Main Street. We both did some shopping in the square, 
then sat and listened to a Dixieland Quartet play for a while. By then it
was time to go back and move to our new room.

The room was ready, so the bellperson escorted us to the proper place in the
Alligator Bayou parking lot and led us to our room. We had a corner room with
a garden view (and a tiny glimpse of a quiet pool if you looked hard) in block 
27 (room 2753). Again, other than the decorations, a typical room in the DL/PO/
CBR style. It was a very long walk from the parking lot, but everything else
was convenient: the vending machines were only around the corner, and the
walks to Ol' Man Island and the main services building were short. We didn't 
use our car very often so it didn't matter much to us. 

After unpacking we decided to try the main pool at Ol' Man Island. The swim was 
refreshing, and I tried the water slide. It looks a little higher and curvier 
than the one at PO. One of the things we wanted to do and didn't was spend some
time at Typhoon Lagoon. That's something to look forward to next trip in 
March 1994.

We needed some supplies so decided to go do some grocery shopping. We ate 
a late lunch/early dinner at TGIFriday's at the Crossroads Plaza. We went 
in not expecting much and were pleasantly surprised. Both of us had delicious 
burgers and beer. Then we went shopping for cold drinks, snacks, and breakfast 
foods at Gooding's. Following the suggestion of others in this file, we bought 
one of the foam coolers and it kept everything icy cold without constantly
running to the ice machine. 

After packing away our goodies we kept talking about going to MK for 
Spectromagic, but somehow we just couldn't get up the ambition to go.


Thursday, June 17
-----------------

We got up early, had breakfast in our room, and arrived at MGM 10 minutes after
opening. First thing was to see Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular. Last time we
had seen the show was three years ago and all of the stunts (the rolling ball,
etc) weren't working. It was better than I had remembered. 

After Indiana Jones we saw Muppets 3D, I went on Star Tours, and we did the
the Great Movie Ride (cowboy side). We were in the last row of the car, and
noticed a cast member (not our guide) following closely behind the car on foot. 
Could this have been the "kidnapped" guide for the car following us?

When we got out of the Great Movie Ride we realized that we had missed the 
morning Alladin Parade, so would have to return another time.

We were both craving a hot dog for lunch. Does my memory fail me, or were there
hot dog carts around Echo Lake a few years ago? We couldn't find any there, so
decided to go to EPCOT. The only place we cold see hot dogs on the menu was
the Odyssey Restaurant, but that was too far to walk, so we at at the food
court in The Land. We both had the barbecued chicken sandwich and considered 
them OK but not great. 

We were planning Pleasure Island for that night, so went back to the hotel for
a rest. I discovered the caution at the front desks of the Disney Resorts when 
I tried to call Robyn Tinan, also staying at DL at the same time. They would 
not give me her room number but rang her room, and I was able to leave her a 
message on the voicemail system there. We did chat briefly later in the 
afternoon. 

We took the boat down the Sassagoula River to Pleasure Island, stopping at 
PO, Disney Village Marketplace, and Empress Lily. We had dinner at the
Fireworks Factory (one of our favorite restaurants), then went into Pleasure
Island. We watched the live band on the outdoor stage until they took a break, 
then we went into the Adventurers' Club. We missed 2 different new mwmber 
initiations, so left and went to the Rock and Roll Beach Club. We ended up 
staying there for the rest of the evening and had a great time. They had both
a live band (about the same age as we are) and a DJ. It was a lot of fun. 


Friday, June 18
---------------

We got up fairly early and decided to go to EPCOT to do some of the things 
that we had not done before. First we visited the Living Seas exhibit and
saw the manatees and the other displays. Then we went to The Land and did
Listen to the Land and Kitchen Kabaret. We went through Imagination and
and Image Works and watched the fountains shoot water for a while. Then we
crossed to Wonders of Life and we both rode Body Wars. We passed on Horizons 
and rode Spaceship Earth on our way out. It had been 2.5 years since we had
ridden that attraction and there was quite a bit that I had forgotten. 

We went to MGM to finally see the Alladin afternoon parade. It has changed
a little from the versions shown at Christmas and Easter: the two-parted
Genie has been eliminated. It had seemed on TV that the Genie was the
star of the parade instead of Alladin. 

It was hot and getting crowded, so we went back to the hotel for swimming. 
I was impressed by the attention the lifeguards gave to the pool at DL. 
The bottom of the water slide was visible from the top, so it was easy to see 
that the previous rider had cleared the area before the next one started 
down the slide. There was one woman who kept walking back and forth across
the bottom of the slide without regard to anyone who might be on the way 
down and unable to stop. The lifeguard spoke to her sharply and at length
about the danger and she finally stopped doing it. 

That night we decided to eat at Boatwright's Dining Hall, the sit-down 
restaurant in Dixie Landings. I had a roast pork loin with a citrus pecan
sauce and Peter had a Bayou Bouilliabaisse. Both were very good, and we would
order them again. We skipped dessert and walked over to PO to see if we still 
liked it there and to satisfy my craving for some beignets. They were just as 
good as I had remembered them. Then we went back to the room to begin organizing
for departure the next day.


Saturday, June 19
-----------------

We slept late, then got up and packed. We checked out about 10:30, put the
bags into the car, moved it to the main parking lot, and took the bus to 
the MK. Again we headed to Splash Mountain first. Of course, by this time
the line was very long. Peter found a shady bench and sat to read his book
while I stood in line. It took 50 minutes to get onto the ride, and I was 
alone in the back seat of the log. As the picture snapped on the big drop
my hat flew off and is somewhere in the big Briar Patch of Chickapin Hill. 
I bought a commemorative picture at the bottom. Total time for the ride was
1 hour 10 minutes. I wanted to ride again but that was too long to wait, so 
we went to the Jungle Cruise. This ride was cornier than I had remembered. 
Then we walked down Main Street one more time, rode the bus back to DL, and
headed off to Tampa and the plane home. 


Summary
-------

We didn't do a lot, but we needed rest and stress relief and these few days
did the trick. Our reservation for March 1994 still stands. 

EPCOT is my absolutely least favorite park. Each exhibit in Future World
starts off with a lot of promise, but it just doesn't deliver. That had been 
my impression before, but we decided to give it another try. It remains
superficial, and we will have a hard time convincing ourselves to go back
another time. 

Now that we have stayed in all three moderately-priced hotels, my preference
would be (in order):

           1. Port Orleans 
                tied with 
              Dixie Landings Alligator Bayou section
 
           2. Dixie Landings Magnolia Bend section

           3. Caribbean Beach Resort

I like the atmosphere and compactness of Port Orleans, but the relative 
quiet and solitude of Alligator Bayou. Magnolia Bend seems ostentatious 
on the outside for the modest interior and is noisy with the foot traffic 
outside the door (and the air conditioning unit if you are in the wrong 
room). Caribbean Beach is too spread out for my taste, and it doesn't have
a sit down restaurant. 

Looking forward to the next trip.......

  

	I'm really late adding this, but this note reviews our family trip
to Orlando April 18th to 29th.  The commentary includes comments about
staying on and off-property, travelling with younger children (ages 7, 5
and 3), and also having just one parent there for part of the vacation.
I may have screwed up the dates some, and I'm sure my poor memory has cost
me a few details, but I hope my recollections are still useful.  This was
our third trip to Disney, so I can draw a few comparisons from prior
experiences.

Sunday, April 18th:
Our alarm clock went off at 4am.  Ouch.  My wife and I got out of bed,
showered, combed our teeth, shaved our hair, and brushed our faces.  The
limo (Flight Line, $35 for five seats!) arrived at 4:15 (early).  We got
the kids up, carried them out to the van, and headed south to Boston.
We are Nashua residents, but I booked a Boston flight rather than Manchester
because we were able to find non-stops from Boston.  I figured one time
up and one time down would be easier on the kids' ears.  The limo stopped
once to pick up another passenger on the trip down, but it didn't add much
to the trip.  Our 7am flight (United, no cost because all 5 seats were on
frequent flyer miles ;^)) departed on schedule.  The kids had no chance to
sleep on the flight, because of an energized high school group that was
on our plane.  Heck, we were all a bit excited ourselves.

The arrival in Orlando went smoothly, including the car rental (Dollar).
We drove to our first hotel, The Beach Club of Disney's Yacht and Beach
Club.  Our room was a pool view room.  We did indeed have a good view of
the "quiet" pool, but we were disappointed that the porch was only 2 feet
by 4 feet.  We tried to switch rooms, but nothing with a larger porch
was available.  If you stay at the Beach Club, be sure to ask for a "real"
porch.  I know the same is true for the Polynesian Resort.  Also ask for
a refrigerator; they are free and help cut down on your food expenses.
The rest of the day was spent at "Stormalong Bay", which is the Yacht
and Beach Club's pool area.  It is terrific, especially for kids.  There
are about 15 or 20 pool areas, ranging in depth from 15" to 7'.  It includes
a swirling whirlpool area about 20' in diameter, an area with constant water
bubbles, small water slides, a beach area, and a long water slide (about 80
yards long).  The bottom of the pool is sand, which I guess is unique.

That night we had a decadent dinner at one of the Yacht Club restaurants.
We were all tired from our 4AM wakeup, and in a mood to spoil ourselves.
So we skipped all the entrees at dinner, and went straight into the desserts.
We ordered 5 desserts, which turned out to be more than enough, even for my
large appetite.

Monday, April 19th:
We took the short walk from The Beach Club to Epcot Center (note: The Beach
Club is closer to Epcot than The Yacht Club).  We spent most of the day in 
the pavillions, with just a brief start on the World Showcase.  The kids
enjoyed "Journey into the Imagination" and "Horizons" the most.  The lines
were all quite reasonable, especially considering it was Massachusetts school
vacation week.

Tuesday, April 20th:
On this day we determined that The Magic Kingdom was where all the people were.
The lines were long all day, even starting at our early 8am admission.  Disney
has changed its policy regarding park access for their hotel guests.  The
only park which opens early is The Magic Kingdom,  and then only the
FantasyLand area.  Space Mountain opens a half hour later.  The effect is to
concentrate all the early admission folks into one area, thereby creating
lines, which is exactly what we were trying to avoid.  Early park admission
will no longer have much influence on our decision to stay on or off Disney
property.  The kids' favorite ride of the day was "The Wedway People Mover",
which most people wouldn't even remember.  But for our kids, who had almost
no experience with fast rides, it was just the right speed.  Mom and Dad
enjoyed the fact that there were no lines.

Wednesday, April 21st:
This was the worst day of our vacation.  We spent most of the day at MGM,
and we made a couple poor decisions there.  One poor decision was to stand
in line for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle autographs.  It cost about 45 minutes
for Donatello's autograph and a photo opportunity.  We also spent about 45
minutes fighting to hold our position "in the front row" to see Aladdin's
parade.  The kids were hot, tired, and irate about people trying to step
in front of them.  Remembering that we had just taped the Aladdin parade
a week earlier on the Disney Easter Special made the experience even worse.

That afternoon we checked into our second hotel, The Homewood Suites.  When
we planned the vacation, we knew we couldn't justify the $200+ per night of
The Beach Club for the entire stay.  So we arranged three nights there, then
6 at Homewood Suites (only $65 per night), and finally two at the Polynesian,
our old favorite Disney hotel.  After our lousy day at MGM, walking into our
Homewood suite was wonderful.  I wasn't expecting too much in the way of
quality, but the room was well kept, had a nice kitchen area, and was right
next to the pool.  The hotel is very close to Disney (only one traffic light,
and that's a right on red as you go to the parks).  There is a free buffet
breakfast daily, and free popcorn, beer and soda four nights a week.  I 
recommend this hotel very strongly.  We had a great stay.  During past trips
we've stayed at The Polynesian (great location, but pricey); the Sheraton
Lakeside (not bad, not special either); the Caribbean Beach Resort (not much
privacy unless you close your curtains, and The Food Court grows old real fast);
and The Beach Club (great pool, but it's too expensive).  On our next trip
to Disney, we'll call The Homewood Suites first.  I'd still consider The
Polynesian, but more likely stick to The Homewood Suites.  In fact, the last
two nights of our vacation were supposed to be spent in The Polynesian, but
I decided to stay at Homewood because it was so comfortable.  One condition
on staying there: ask for a room away from the highway.  Two of the buildings
are close enough to I-4 that I am sure they are noisy.

One side note on Homewood Suites:  the chain is very big on "no-smoking" rooms.
We're non-smokers, so that was great by us.  But the only room available at
our check-in time was a "smoking" room.  Within a half hour of our arrival, my
wife made this literally true.  She absolutely torched a bag of microwave
popcorn.  The room reeked of burnt popcorn for several hours.  Certainly that
odor overwhelmed any stale cigarette odors.

Thursday, April 22nd:
We returned to Epcot Center, primarily targetting the World Showcase area.
We bought a "World Passport" to help keep the kids interest up in visiting
more countries.  I've always loved the movie in China; the kids liked the
boatride in Mexico.  We also spent some time seeking Disney autographs (we
lucked into Pinnochio, waited in line for Mickey, and struck out entirely
on Donald Duck).  At the end of the day we made our one major visit to the
Disney stores, and then headed back to the car.  Another bit of advice:
make a WRITTEN note of where your car is.  When we got back out to the
parking lot, my wife's recollection of the parking lot name and my own
were different.  I had to trust my wife's memory, because 3 years ago mine
failed miserably.  I spent an hour wandering around in a rainstorm
looking for the car.  This year though, it was my wife's memory that was
wrong.  We spent 20 minutes looking for the car in the wrong lot, carrying
the kids, plus all our purchases the whole time.  After dinner we spent a
couple hours at MGM.  I took the "Star Tours" ride, which I found a lot
easier on the stomach than the "Body Wars" ride in Epcot.


Friday, April 23rd:
Disney's 5 day Super Duper passport includes free entrance to River Country,
Discovery Island, Pleasure Island and Typhoon Lagoon if used within 7 days
of your initial major park entrance.  We exercised this by going to River
Country and Discovery Island.  We chose River Country over Typhoon Lagoon
because we'd heard that Typhoon Lagoon was over-crowded.  River Country
is (as advertised) more of a "watering hole" than a water park.  By that I
mean that the *rides* are not that plentiful or interesting.  Discovery
Island was a nice escape for a couple hours.  There were lots of birds and
vegetation.  We wished we'd allowed ourselves more time on the island.

Saturday, April 24th:
We weren't real inspired to go to Sea World, but decided to try it anyway,
figuring our youngest child would enjoy it.  We were pleasantly surprised;
the whole family enjoyed it.  I wish I had bought a two day passport (even
though the "Shamu Club" discount doesn't apply).  Highlights were the dolphin
feeding tank, the shark tank, and the killer whale show.  Sea World is a
worthwhile alternative to a day in Disney, especially with the new areas
added over the last few years.

Sunday, April 25th:
Meg had to fly home to go back to work.  We hung out at the hotel during
the morning, drove to the airport in the afternoon, and the kids and I had
dinner out at a restaurant.  The challenge of managing three young kids all
by myself was now upon me...

Monday, April 26th:
I figured I'd spoil the kids real fast, and so I took them to a character
breakfast at the Polynesian.  The prices were steep relative to what the meal
included.  The kids enjoyed the characters though, and that adds a lot of
value.  Jeanette (my 7 year old) had a hard time with a piece of coconut
bread.  She actually threw up on her plate (yuck), but she handled it
extremely well.  We simply took care of the problem, and enjoyed the remainder
of the meal.  I was fortunate that this cooperative behavior held out for
the remainder of the vacation.  After breakfast we returned to the Magic
Kingdom, and enjoyed smaller crowds than in the prior week.  We went on
many rides, though with just one parent we always had to limit ourselves to
the tame rides.
                                                           
Tuesday, April 27th
I drove the kids out to Cape Canaveral, for a look at SpacePort USA.  There
had been a launch a day earlier, but you couldn't tell by the tour.  The size
of all the rockets is impressive to an adult, but the kids were antsy.  They
wanted more hands-on activities than are available at SpacePort USA.  There
is a new private space park of some sort nearby, but we didn't have time to
try it out.

Wednesday, April 28th
Back to MGM.  This MGM visit was far better than the first.  For one thing,
we lucked into meeting all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in a street, and
had almost exclusive company for a while.  A few days earlier we'd stood in
line for more than a half hour for just a brief meeting with one turtle.  The
kids loved the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" play area.  The backstage tour was
disappointing.  StarSearch was a pleasant surprise - a couple audience members
did very well in their roles.  Jeanette pushed a rental stroller around for
me all day, which meant Elizabeth (the 5 year old) got to ride a stroller.
This helped keep everybody in a healthy mood.  I had considered Universal
Studios for this day, but feared that too many of the rides would be scary
for my 3 year old. Maybe in a few years...

Thursday, April 29th
We packed up all our luggage in the morning, then drove a mile or so to
"Water Mania".  Water Mania has a nice children's area, and also has rides
that kids can go on.  We took a jumbo raft ride two or three times; it was
great except that Dad was getting tired from carrying the big raft up the
stairs again and again.  The slow raft ride was relaxing, once we finally
got a pair of inner tubes we could use.  My 7 year old rode the slides several
times.  The "Screamer" was an experience for me, with a near vertical drop
of about 30 or 40 feet.  Funny, there were no lines whatsoever for that slide.
There were several other slides, raft rides, and a wave pool.  If you don't
mind the feeling of concrete under your feet, this is a nice park.  After
Water Mania we did some shopping and headed for the airport.  The flights
were smooth, but unfortunately the kids were tired.  The two youngest fell
asleep late in the flight, and both started howling when they woke up.  The
howling diminished to just constant whining during our limo ride home.  We
finally arrived home a little before midnight.  Jeanette managed to stay
awake a little longer, so she could claim having stayed up past midnight at
least once.  If I could do it again though, I would have booked an earlier
flight.


In summary, a few recommendations:
- We were very happy with Homewood Suites, and it will be our first choice
  on our next vacation.
- The Beach Club has a tremendous pool area, but if that isn't where you
  intend to spend your time, chose another resort.
- The early admission to parks for Disney hotel guests isn't very valuable,
  and shouldn't influence your hotel decision.  They need to allow more park
  access.
- Don't nickel and dime yourselves out of enjoying your vacation.  We brought
  one stroller, and always regretted it when we didn't rent a second.
- Sea World is worth at least one day; if you have a long Orlando vacation
  planned, consider a two day pass.
- Don't bother waiting in line for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle autograph or
  photo-op.  Hold out and see if you get lucky meeting them somewhere in the
  park.  If you're not lucky, you still will have invested your time better
  elsewhere.
- Skip the Aladdin Parade.  It's not that great, and you'll probably be able
  to tape it on Disney specials for the next few months.
- Disney food is expensive, but I've seen much worse prices.  Allow yourself
  the luxury of a Disney meal at least once.  We had very good buffet meals
  at The Beach Club, at prices that were not exorbitant.
- If you are travelling with young children, try not to jam too many events
  into one day.  Take your time, and the final result will be that everyone
  will enjoy it more.
- Autograph books and Epcot's World Passports help add another level of
  interest for kids.
- Use all the discounts available to you;  The Orlando MagicCard has lots of
  discounts, especially on hotels.  Also, Digital Personnel offers Magic
  Kingdom cars, Shamu Club cards, and Universal Studios discounts.

Well, here's our trip report.  

Tuesday 6/15:

Our flight (direct from Boston) landed in Orlando at 2:50 PM.
Picked up our rental car from National and headed for the
hotel.  Checked in to Dixie Landings just after 4:00 and
picked up our Hoop De Doo review tickets.  Found our room,
unpacked, and put on our bathing suits.  Spent some time
relaxing/swimming in the pool.  Back to the room for a 
quick shower and change and then off to the Magic Kingdom.
This is where I realize that having a rental car was not
all that convenient.  Park at the transportation center,
take the tram to the monorail and the monorail to the park.
We later found that taking the bus from the hotel we got
dropped off right at the park and it was only one mode of
transportation rather than three.  It wasn't as bad for
the other parks but I think next time if we stay at a
Disney Hotel we'll skip the rental (even if it was cheap).
Had a nice, not too expensive dinner at the Plaza Restaurant
on Main Street and then off to Fantasy Land where we rode
on Cinderella's Carousel and Small World and then took the
Sky ride over to Tomorrow Land.  Then walked back to Main
Street just in time to get a decent spot for Spectromagic.
After the parade we went off to get an ice cream and cold
drink and then found a spot and watched the fireworks.
Back to the hotel for a quick swim and off to bed.

Wednesday 6/16:

Since she's not used to being up until 11:00 Megann slept
until 10:00.  Since it was too late to hit the early hours
at the park we decided to get breakfast at the Cotton Mill
(food court at Dixie Landings) and then find the main pool
at the hotel which had a water slide.  Megann loved the 
slide and thought this pool was much better than the small
one near our room.  (We actually enjoyed the leisurely 
start and ended up spending most of our mornings the same
way.  We never did take advantage the early opening at the park
but since we never got to bed before 11:00 and Megann's not
a napper, I thought it just as well.  After all vacation is
for relaxing too and I figured better to deal with some
long lines than a cranky 6 year old - turned out the only
really long line we hit was on our last day and so this 
approach worked well for us and got Megann lots of time 
at the pool which she really enjoyed.)  After a shower and
change we headed over to Magic Kingdom arriving at about 3:30.  We
went to tomorrow land and rode the sky jets and then Space
Mountain.  Since neither one of us had ever been before we
did not know what to expect but Megann loves roller coasters
and had heard about this one from a friend of mine and so
wanted to try it.  She was just tall enough.  After waiting
about 20 minutes its our turn.  Megann now realizes that she
cannot sit beside me but must sit her own seat in front of
mine.  Since it was dark, she really wanted to sit with me and
was looking somewhat scared.  I gave her the opportunity to
back our but her response was that since we had waited in line
all that time, we might as well give it a try.  We did.  I am
a big roller coaster fan as well but this one I could pass on.
Megann didn't like it at all and asked could we please never
do that again.  I said that was fine by me.  We then headed
across the park to Frontier Land to ride Splash Mountain.
Another 20 minute wait which I later learned was not bad at
all for this ride and the ride was well worth it.  We got
a front row seat, had a blast and even bought the picture for
Megann to show her friends - again she barely cleared the
height limit and was very proud of it.  Now we've hit all 
rides on Megann's agenda and could stop criss-crossing the park
and enjoy it in a more leisurely manner.  So we remained in
Frontierland and headed over to Tom Sawyers Island.  Megann 
really liked exploring the island especially the caves and the
fort and she must have crossed the barrel bridge at least 4 or 5
times.  We had a picnic lunch (actually it was dinner) at Aunt
Polly's and then back across and over to Country Bear Jamboree.
On the way back we happened to catch good seats for DisneyMania
which was just about to start.  Megann really liked the show.
Then back to Main Street to do some shopping.  Bought Megann 
an autograph book and then headed over to where the character's
hang out and saw Pluto, Megann's favorite.  She got his
autograph and I took her picture with him.  She was thrilled.
It was still early but Megann wanted a really good seat for
the parade and so we found one and sat for 45 minutes to wait
for the SpectroMagic Parade again.  After a day of 20 minute lines
I was amazed that Megann was willing to wait 45 minutes but she
did and her patience with the lines and waits lasted all week.
Then back to the hotel for another quick swim (the big pool was
nice but it was also nice having the small one near our room
for a quick swim late at night) and then off to bed.

Thursday 6/17:

This is the one day I set the alarm.  I had a "surprise" for Megann.
We had 8:30 reservations for the character breakfast at the Polynesian.
Megann loved it.  She got autographs and pictures with Minnie, Goofy
(he came by twice) and Chip and Dale.  After breakfast we took the
Monorail over to Epcot.  We first went over to the Living Seas 
which Megann absolutely loved.  We spent lots of time looking at the
fish.  Now that we are in the park and I'm realizing how big it is
I decided to rent a stroller for Megann who for the first time is
complaining about the walking.  I thought she might be too big and
be a little embarrassed but she liked the idea and I'm glad I did it
or we wouldn't have made it halfway thru the worlds.  Even I, an avid
hiker, thought it was a lot of walking.  After picking up the stroller
which had a nice little extension to hold Megann's long legs, we 
headed for the Wonders of Life where we watched a Goofy cartoon and
got in line for Body Wars (another one Megann had heard about and
wanted to try).  It was not a hit.  Megann thought it was gross and a
little scary and I was definitely queasy (made a mental note to skip
Star Tours at MGM which I had heard was a similar type ride).  We walked
through all the worlds and checked out the shops.  Megann thought the
buildings were really neat and liked the entertainment going on outside
some of them.  I really wanted to eat at lunch in one of the more exotic
countries but Megann's appetite is not as exotic as mine.  She wanted
a burger so we ate in America - it wasn't even a good burger :^(.
After the worlds we were both hot and tired so I decided we'd save
the rest of Epcot for when she was older and would enjoy it more.
Back to the hotel for a swim and then dinner at the Cotton Mill (I found
that the food court was less expensive than the restaurants, required no tips,
and had more of the kinds of foods Megann's likes and so we ate there a lot).
Then off to Magic Kingdom again where we rode the tea cups in Fantasy Land
and then off to Mickey's Star Land where we walked thru Mickey's house
(cute) and then when over and stood in a surpriseling short line to see
Mickey.  Megann got his autograph and I took her picture with him.  Since
it wasn't a long line I asked the cast member there if he would take a
picture of both of us with Mickey using my camera.  He did and was very
nice about it.  Saw Spectromagic again and then rode the cars (Megann drove)
in Tomorrowland and then Mr. Toad's (not so) Wild Ride and Small World
in FantasyLand.

Friday 6/18:

Late morning again.  Breakfast at the Cotton Mill and then off to the big
pool with the slide.  Then off to MGM where we checked out the Shrunk
Kids playground.  Shrunk Kids is one of Megann's favorite movies and the
playground was a big hit.  After 45 minutes I finally got her away with a
promise to go back sometime.  We got over to the Ninja turtles area just
in time to catch a show and get the autograph's of Raphael and Donetello.
Megann is not a big TMNT fan but a good friend of hers is and she cant
wait to show him the pictures.  I thought that the lines were well organized
and went quickly.  The turtles used stamps rather than signing and they
had a rule that only one picture per family.  I thought the stamps were
a little impersonal but Megann didn't seem to mind.  Megann also waited
in line for April O'Neil but about two kids before her, someone came over
with a young man in a wheel chair.  He was not in line but April went over to
him any way and spent an lot of time (much more than any other kid) with him
and then ended up not being able to see the other kids (including Megann)
before she had to leave.  Disney really impressed me with how accessible they 
make things for the handicapped so they may enjoy it too and in some cases 
being in a wheel chair got you a shorter line or a better seat.  This didn't
bother me but what this woman did I thought was crossing the line.  I
too felt bad for the young man but how do you explain what happened to
a 3-6 year old who's really upset (Megann was miffed but took it in stride-
many of the other parents had it a lot worse).  Leaving the other parents
to deal with some very disappointed kids we went off to watch the Muppet 3-d
movie.  Neither of us had ever seen a 3-d movie before.  It was great.  I
loved watching Megann try to grab the things that were popping out at her.
I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.  After the movie we got in line for the
Beauty and the Beast show.  This was our longest line and also the first
time we had to wait in the sun.  It was sunny and hot (about 1:20 with the
show starting at 2:15) but we got in line early enough to get the one shady
spot in line (under a tree).  At 1:45 they let us in only in turned out to
be outdoors.  This was the one time all week the heat and waiting was a pain.
Fortunately we were both wearing baseball caps and lots of sunscreen and
so we didn't burn waiting in the sun.  The show was worth the wait though
and we enjoyed it.  After the show we caught the Aladdin Parade which had
Megann singing the Aladdin song for the rest of the day and then back to
the hotel for a light snack (since we were eating dinner later than usual)
and swim.  After a quick shower and change we drove over to Fort Wilderness
and went to the Hoop De Doo review.  This was by far the most expensive
meal of the week but the food was good and simple enough that even Megann
enjoyed it and the show was hysterical.  Since I made my reservations kind
of late we got balcony seats and so I was surprised when we were visited
several times by the people in the show.  Megann thought it was especially
cool when Dolly Drew dropped by and not only signed her autograph book but
called attention to her to the audience (Megann was wearing a hat that she
had bought at the Mad Hatters - an old fashioned pointed silk hat with the
long veils hanging off it - so she did stick out a little).  We both 
enjoyed the show and laughed a lot.

Saturday 6-19:

Yet another late morning started by breakfast at the Cotton Mill and a
swim in the pool.  Then off to the Magic Kingdom where we hit Adventureland
for the first time.  We went thru the Swiss Family Robinson's tree house
which Megann really liked and then saw the Tiki bird show, rode Pirates
of the Caribbean and then the Jungle Cruise - our favorite in Adventureland.
We then headed over to FantasyLand to see the Magic Journey's 3d movie
and ride the carousel again.  Then over to Mickey's Star Land (wanted to
catch the show this time).  Checked out the animals in the barn and the
playground and then watched the show.  The show was well done and Megann
really liked it.  My only criticism was that it seemed more of a commercial
for Disney's afternoon TV shows (since Megann doesn't watch commercial or
cable television - our TV is a VCR monitor only - she didn't realize that
it was a commercial and so probably enjoyed it more).  Caught Spectromagic
on the way out (can you tell we like this one) and then back to the hotel
for a quick swim before bed.

Sunday 6/20:

Breakfast at the Cotton Mill and off to the pool again (Can you tell Megann
likes routine).  Off to MGM to see what we didn't the first time starting
with the Mermaid show which we really liked although it was a little short.
Now I'm noticing a pattern - it seems that Disney is taking advantage of 
the captive audience.  I'm noticing that many of the attractions let out 
right into a store selling merchandise related to the attraction.  The
mermaid show lets out into a mermaid store, Indianna Jones lets out into
an Indianna Jones store, etc.  Now I can handle a little commercialism and
the fact that there are as many stores as there are attractions at any
of the parks but this seems a little too much.  I did buy a gorgeous mermaid
bathing suit for my niece (its her birthday next week) so I guess it works
though :^).  After the show we went over to the great movie ride which
was good although scary for Megann in parts.  Especially since we were
sitting right behind the driver and Megann wasn't too thrilled when we got
a "substitute" for part of the ride.  She did like the Wizard of Oz part
though.  Over to Muppet 3d again and then back to the turtle to catch the
ones we missed - Michelangelo, Leonardo, and April (I wanted to boycott her
but Megann didn't).  After a quick stop for dinner we went over to Indianna
Jones but it was still a little early.  We walked in front of Star Tours
(after Body Wars neither of us is willing to go in) so I get some pictures.
Out comes Chouey (sp?) and we got Megann's picture with him.  Then over to
get seats for Indianna Jones.  While we are waiting a very pleasant nice-
looking man comes over, sits next to us and starts chatting.  Then the 
show starts and they start picking extras.  Imagine my surprise when they
pick the nice man next to me (seems they like his very bright orange 
Hawaiian shirt "but we'll give you something else to wear").  During the
show several people commented to him "nice shirt" (it was sticking out of
his Arabian costume, but I never caught on til the end.  The woman doing
Karen Allen's stunts comes out to explain how hard it is to do the hitting
with out actually hitting and chooses an extra from the audience to show us.
Our friend is chosen.  I finally caught on when she punched him and a did
a complete 360 board flat roll (it was quite amazing).  Megann was thrilled
she sat next to one of the actors but upset that she didn't know enough to
ask for his autograph.  We both enjoyed the show (and Megann has never seen
and Indianna Jones movie).  We also did Monster sounds and spent more time
at the Shrunk Kids playground.  Did some shopping and caught the fireworks
before heading back to the hotel for (you guessed it) a quick swim.

Monday 6/21:

Since Megann's favorite attraction seems to be the hotel pool, I decided we
would try one of the water parks.  Opted for Typhoon Lagoon since I'd 
heard it had more slides and since height limitations hadn't been a problem
yet.  We hit the wave pool and took a ride along Castaway Creek.  Then 
over to Gangplank Falls.  We had lunch at Typhoon Tilly's and then went
to check out Shark reef.  Megann really enjoyed looking at the fish from 
above and down below and decided she wanted to "swim with the fishies" so
we got some gear and headed in.  Unfortunately Megann's mouth is too small
for the mask and everytime she put her face in the water she ended up with
a mouthful of saltwater.  So we decided to pass on swimming with the fish.
We then took several rides on the storm slides.  Megann was a little to
short for Humbunga Cowabunga (or whatever its called) - I think I was
relieved.  Spent some time swimming in the wave pool and then after the next
set of big waves headed out.  Got a shower, changed and had dinner at the
hotel and then off to catch Spectromagic at Magic Kingdom for the last time :^(.
But first we managed to get a ride on Big Thunder RR and Splash Mountain
(at this point the weather is looking quite ominous and so the lines were
pretty short).  Got a good spot for the parade.  Met a nice family from
Rhode Island and Megann made friends with Ryan their son.  After the parade
our new friends joined us to watch the fireworks and DisneyMania.  Here is
where Mom went above and beyond.  My shoulders/back were seriously sunburned
from the day at Typhoon Lagoon - it was the only place I couldn't reach with
the sunscreen so I asked Megann to do it.  Well, you know 6 year olds.  This
was the only time all week when I regretted not having another adult with us.
So Mom, with her burnt shoulders had 39 pound Megann sitting on them the 
entire show since she couldn't see over all the grownups in front of us.
Boy did the pool feel good that night.

Tuesday 6/22:

Our last day.  Megann wanted one last swim at the big pool so we got up
early (for us anyway - it was 8) and got a quick breakfast before heading
over.  About 10:30 we headed back to the room, showered and loaded the
bags into the car.  Drove the car over to the main parking lot and grabbed
the bus to Magic Kingdom where we hit our longest line of the week (50
minutes) to get one last ride on Splash mountain and then one last ride
on Small World.  This was the first day we got to Magic Kingdom before 3:00
and so we saw for the first time the afternoon parade.  Then back to the
hotel, got the car and drove to the airport.  Dinner at the airport and
our flight left at 7:20pm.  Back to Boston and home.


The trip was a lot of fun.  We did it in a very relaxed manner and were
pretty spontaneous about things but still got to see most everything at
Magic Kingdom, MGM and Typhoon and a lot of Epcot.  And though it was not
our first choice, I'd stay at Dixie Landings again although I would opt
for a room not on the first floor.
    
Megann wants to know when we are going again.  


Robyn
    
    

Who:
        Pat McGarrah (me)
        Lisa McGarrah (my wife)
        Mame Bisaccio (my sister)
        Meghan Bisaccio (my niece, 9 years)
        Kerry Ann Bisaccio (my niece, 5 years)

When:
        May 12th, 1993 through May 17th, 1993

Where:
        Walt Disney World Resort
        Dixie Landings (Parterre Place, 9705, 9712 & 9714) $94 / night

Why:
        The Bisaccio's first trip (like I really need an excuse!)

How:
        Delta - Boston to Orlando round-trip: $228.00 / person
        Alamo - Toyota Tercel, 1/2 tank of gas, and tolls: $131.33 / week

Cost:
        Bisaccios - $1520
        McGarrahs - $1500

            (includes parking at Logan, airfare, car, hotel, admissions,
             all food, but no souvenirs)

Previous trips:
        WDW 1987 March, Lisa
        WDW 1988 March, Lisa and Pat, (Pat's first trip)
        DL  1988 May, Pat
        DL  1989 Nov, Pat
        WDW 1990 Oct, Pat and Lisa (our honeymoon)
        WDW 1992 Apr, Pat and Lisa (and Pat's parents)
        EDl 1992 May, Pat and Lisa (and Lisa's sister)

Warning & Thanks:
        This trip report is rather long at about 1108 lines.  I have
        found this notes file so useful in planning trips to Disney that
        I thought I should give as much detail as I could.  I hope this
        is not too detailed.  Its a little late but I hope you still
        find it interesting.  I can't ever thank everyone here enough
        for all the help they gave without even knowing it.

Before the trip:

    My sister Mame decided last Fall that this would be the year her family
    went to Walt Disney World.  Her husband Dan stayed home for several
    reasons.  He is a teacher in Amherst NH and couldn't get the time off
    easily.  They have an infant girl (Nora) that wouldn't get as much out
    of Walt Disney World as the older girls.  Of all the possible things to
    do in Florida (e.g., Everglades, Kennedy Space Center, Sea World,
    Cypress Gardens, etc.), Walt Disney World would be low on his list (this
    trip would be 100% Disney).  They will go again when Nora is older, and
    perhaps in the summer months when Dan doesn't have to teach.

    Although Lisa and I weren't planning to go to Walt Disney World for a
    few years, the thought of seeing it with the girls sounded too good to
    miss.  I took on the task of planning the trip for all of us.  Mame
    decided not to tell the girls until the day before the trip.  For
    various reasons, one of which I am sure is it was too big a secret to
    keep, she told them about one week before the trip.  Although the last
    minute surprise idea sounded good, Mame believes that this was even
    better.  The surprise was still there, the girls could join in a little
    of the anticipation, the girls could share the surprise with their
    father and grandparents, and the girls were extra good both at home and
    school for an entire week.  I was hoping Mame could hold out, but now I
    have changed my mind and I'm glad she did it this way.

    Last year Lisa and I went with my retired parents for a week at Dixie
    Landings.  We stayed in the Alligator Bayou section shortly after it
    opened up.  We had a good time and were very impressed with Dixie
    Landings. We would like to stay at Caribbean Beach Resort sometime, but
    from our visit last year it seemed that more families stayed there.  The
    crowd seemed older and more importantly, quieter at Dixie Landings.  We
    will wait and see if it remains that way over the next few years.  (Last
    year we had a first floor room in Alligator Bayou, and we never once
    heard kids run by our rooms or heard people talking as they passed the
    rooms.  It may have been the time of year, but it seemed quieter than
    the reports I have heard about Caribbean Beach Resort.  I don't think
    it's as important to get a top floor room in Dixie Landings.)  We wanted
    to stay at Port Orleans this time. Last year we ate once at Bon
    Famille's Cafe and had excellent food (far better than Boatwright's
    Dining Hall).  The food court looked about the same as the Colonel's
    Cotton Mill.  The pool, though smaller, looked nicer.  But most of all,
    we wanted something different from last year.  When I made the
    reservations with the Central Reservation Office last November, the only
    `parking lot view' rooms I could get were in Caribbean Beach Resort or
    Dixie Landings in Magnolia Bend.  Given the budget constraints, it
    wasn't worth paying for the better room just to stay at Port Orleans. 
    As it turned out, Parterre Place was enough different from Alligator
    Bayou that it felt like a different place.  It would have been nice to
    experience a different common area but no big deal.  From our rooms, the
    pool at Port Orleans is about the same distance away as Old Man's
    island.

Itinerary:

  Wednesday May 12th

    Our flight was scheduled for exactly 12:00 noon.  We didn't have to wake
    up early, so we were well rested for the big trip.  We left Worcester at
    about 9:00 A.M., drove by the Centrum to see the circus setting up, and
    then headed for Logan.  We had no traffic, we found a place to park on
    top of the garage, and we checked in.  Although we stood in line behind
    only four people, it took 45 minutes to get checked in.  Even with that
    delay, we arrived at the gate with about an hour to spare.  We waited at
    the gate, and looked around -- mostly families with little kids.  This
    always gets me wondering if I am weird wanting to do this only for me
    and not because I am `bringing the kids'.  Mame and the girls would not
    be flying until the next morning, so Lisa and I had to imagine what the
    girl's reactions would be when they were boarding the plane.  The plane
    pushed back a few minutes late, and then something went wrong with one
    of the engines.  We sat on the tarmac for about an hour while they
    serviced the plane.  No drinks, no movie, just waiting.  We took off at
    1:00 P.M., exactly one hour late.  The pilot said they would make up
    some of the time in flight, but he arrived exactly one hour late.  They
    gave us free headphones for the movie `A Few Good Men', but I would
    gladly have paid $4.00 for the extra hour in Florida (or rather one less
    on a cramped plane.)  They fed us a soggy sandwich and a bad salad.  The
    only good part of the flight was the chocolate chip cookie.  As bad as I
    thought Continental was, Delta may actually be worse.  Not the kind of
    quality service one would expect from the `official airline of Walt
    Disney World'.  I could have booked Northwest for the same fare.  Next
    time I will.

    We then picked up our luggage at baggage claim, only two small bags and
    two small knapsacks.  We anticipated buying some Disney outfits down
    there, so we packed light.  We found the Alamo bus, and took the short 6
    mile drive, and picked up the car.  I reserved an economy (Geo Metro or
    equivalent) with the Delta boarding pass discount, $90/week.  I also had
    asked about the Orlando Magic Card rate on the phone for the next size
    up (Chevy Cavalier or equivalent), $116.95.  I was having doubts about
    my choice and maybe the econo-box would be too small for three adults
    and two children.  At the counter they gave me an Orlando Magic Card
    rate of $135 but with a free upgrade to full-size.  I took the chance
    and ended up with a Toyota Tercel in red (second most popular Florida
    rental car color).  Everything was fine except they use some nasty
    smelling deodorizer in the car.  The car ran well, and we could open the
    windows so even the smell didn't bring us down.  Lisa mentioned on the
    drive on the Bee-Line that everyone advertises on the billboards except
    Disney.  Universal clearly is the biggest billboard user.  I wonder if
    it works?

    We got to Dixie Landings and went in to check-in.  We had only a five
    minute wait.  Our room for the first night was added on after the
    original reservation so it would not be the same as the other four
    nights.  A little inconvenient but not terrible.  At least it was the
    same floor of the same building.  We would not unpack everything and the
    next morning we would take our stuff with us in the car.  We did not
    want to trust our luggage to bell service (advice from Mike Scopa, I
    think.  Thanks.).  Room was the same as Alligator Bayou only different
    furnishings.  The outside however was very different.  It looked like a
    giant plantation house.  I didn't notice last year (wasn't really open
    yet), but each section of Magnolia Bend is slightly different.  They all
    have the same layout, but the details are different.  I saw Gothic
    revival, federal, second empire, and others.  Wrought iron railings,
    cast iron railings, wood railings, etc.  Parterre Place had wonderful
    verdigris colored cast iron railings with a small `Hidden Mickey' in the
    cast details.  The roof color matched the railing.  The furniture was a
    nice color, and had the look of cherry but more brown.  I am no expert
    in woods, so I don't know what it really was.  The armoire/entertainment
    center had mirrors on the doors.  Where Alligator Bayou had a trunk (not
    usable), Parterre Place had a nice upholstered stool a little bigger
    than a piano bench.  There were two pedestal sinks in the wash area,
    which was separated nicely from the bedroom.  The woodwork was painted
    white, and had bull's eyes and fluted trim (Two nights before, I had
    just finished painting the bull's eyes in our guest room white.)  The
    short set of Mickey bath supplies: shampoo, facial soap, & bath soap.  I
    guess I will admit that we always bring our own shampoo and soap, and
    take home the Mickey stuff.  I don't know what I will do with it, but
    for some reason I just have to have it.  Perhaps I may be going a little
    insane, but I always want to take the Mickey TP as well.  Luckily it
    never fits in the luggage.  When you stay at the more expensive resorts,
    do you get the other Mickey bath supplies: conditioner, powder, shoe
    cloth, etc.?  As a Disney collector, I feel as though I need to get a
    whole set!

    Our plan for months was to go shopping on I-Drive.  We love to look
    through the T-shirt, souvenir, and shell shops.  I can't think of
    anyplace else but Orlando where I would go into a Shell World store by
    choice.  Our plan was to go to Character Warehouse and look for some
    deals.  Lisa wanted to find some Disney pants and I was looking for
    pants, shorts, a summer bathrobe, and some dress shirts.  We also were
    looking for a Disney outfit for yet another infant niece (Johanna) left
    at home.  We had some success.  I picked up three polo shirts with
    Mickey on them for $13 each.  Lisa found a Giant Goofy nightshirt for
    only $15.00 (actually free as when we got back home we found out that
    they didn't charge us for it).  But I couldn't believe the shorts and
    pants situation.  There must have been 20 designs of the Disney boxer
    shorts, but unless you are in  high school, I can't imagine anyone
    wearing them.  Regular Bermudas, jams, trousers, stirrup pants, seemed
    to all be nonexistent.  We did find a pair of remnant shorts for me
    ($10) in four different pink fabrics with Mickey or hidden Mickey
    designs.  We also found hidden Mickey jams and matching pants (stretch
    waistbands and ankles).  I am not sure if they were for guys or gals but
    both Lisa and I bought a pair of the pants ($20).  Since this was only
    the outlet store, we hoped to find a bigger selection in the regular
    stores and inside Walt Disney World.

    We left the mall and stopped at a few of the other souvenir stores and
    got asked several times if we were `all set with tickets?'.  To me, this
    is all part of the Disney experience.  I have a miniature version of the
    Disney Store, so I am always looking for miniatures that can somehow be
    incorporated into the store (e.g., Barbie size Disney clothes, Disney
    key chain knapsacks, etc.).  With close to 1000 Disney miniature items,
    I have to stop accumulating and finish the diorama.  I didn't see
    anything that thrilled me yet.  I saw a nice Mickey/Minnie charm
    bracelet $5.00, but with 3 other non-Disney generic items that I don't
    want to pay for I will keep looking.  They had a similar Donald/Daisy
    charm bracelet but also with 3 generic items.  If only they had a charm
    bracelet with the four principals at the right price!

    It was getting dark and we were getting hungry.  The soggy sandwich for
    lunch was all we had eaten for 8 hours.  We headed to one of our
    favorites outside the park: Gumba Joe's Pizza and all you can eat pasta
    bar at the Holiday Inn.  They also serve great garlic breadsticks.
    `Gumba Joe' walks around the tables and strikes up conversations with
    the tourists.  He was very helpful on our earlier visits, gave us some
    of the local slant, and he was always funny.  Well the pasta bar was
    gone, and the host looked at me as if I were from outer space when I
    asked about it.  Too bad.  No more Gumba Joe either.  They did have
    someone walking around dressed as Bugs Bunny but he was more interested
    in teasing the cooks and waiters than visiting the little ones.  We had
    lots of bread sticks, Lisa ordered spaghetti with meatballs, and I
    ordered spaghetti carbonara.  Neither of us could finish what we had,
    but mostly because it wasn't very good.  Under $25 with tax and tip but
    we scratched that place off our list for future visits.

    When we got out it was pouring.  Someone else from Digital wrote that he
    had only two hours of rain in ten days.  It poured rain 4 hours that
    night and off an on several times the next day.  The rain didn't spoil
    anything for us, and after this spring in Massachusetts, we are quite
    used to it.   We finalized our itinerary for Thursday, then went to
    sleep early.
    
  Thursday May 13th

    On vacation I always like to eat pancakes.  I never eat them any other
    time of the year.  I drive by an IHOP every day on my way to work but I
    have no desire to eat there.  But if I am on vacation, I start looking
    for pancakes.  We chose the IHOP on I-Drive North up by the high-rise
    HoJo's.  This place is exceptionally clean and fast as compared to other
    IHOPs we have been to.  Lisa got the chocolate chip pancakes, I got the
    buttermilk.  When choosing meals in restaurants, we have this running
    discussion that I should order what she orders.  I always order
    something different but end up liking her choice better.  This time
    her's looked better, but mine tasted better.  This turned out to be the
    cheapest breakfast of the week -- $13.  We went next door and picked up
    some film and a couple bottles of Coke for the room.

    We went souvenir shopping for about an hour before we had to pick up
    Mame and the girls.  The Bisaccio's flight was due in 16 minutes late so
    we took some time to shop before a leisurely drive to the airport.  I
    found some excellent charm bracelets with Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Daisy,
    Goofy, and Pluto for $4.99.  I added another 36 miniatures to my
    collection.  We didn't see any pants or shorts.

    We found a place to park (again on the roof of the parking garage), and
    walked over to baggage claim.  Mame wasn't there and one of the skycaps
    told Lisa that the flight was already in and everyone had picked up
    their luggage.  Lisa went to have Mame paged, and I took off towards the
    gate to see if I could find them.  I found Mame and the girls getting
    off the shuttle with the rest of the people from their flight.  We
    picked up the luggage and headed to the parking garage.  I could not
    find the elevator so we walked up 6 flights with luggage in the sun. 
    Next time I will find the elevator.

    Our plan was to get our new rooms, and take every mode of transportation
    we could think of without paying or going into a park.  The rooms
    weren't ready yet, but we got resort ids so that we could wander around.
    Mame and the girls changed into shorts, and we took off.  First a bus
    over to EPCOT.  We looked from the outside in, and then went to the
    monorail.  We got to ride up in front.  Meghan had said that she wanted
    to try Space Mountain.  We said we will start out slowly and build up to
    it.  If she still wanted to go, I would go with her.  Well the ride in
    the front of the monorail dashed any thoughts about riding Space
    Mountain.  Not being around children often, I forget how scary
    unfamiliar things can be.  The monorail gives a great view of the
    resort, but it's not like anything else in everyday life and therefore
    can be scary.  Kerry just soaked it all in.  We then walked over to the
    ferry boat to Magic Kingdom.  Mame saw a man with a T-shirt she liked
    with alligators on it and it said `Club Shred'.  She kept saying she
    wished she could find it for Dan.  Being more outgoing than her brother,
    she asked the woman walking with him where she bought it and the woman
    said Spag's.  My sister couldn't believe it.  Then the conversation went
    something like:

	Lisa: ``We live in Worcester.''
        Other woman: ``I live in Shrewsbury.''
	Lisa: ``I work in Shrewsbury for DEC.''
        Other woman: ``I work for DEC in Marlboro.''

    It's a small world after all.  So if you are reading this, hi.

    Just inside the gate of the Magic Kingdom, we saw at least ten
    characters.  Brer Bear & Brer Fox, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Friar Tuck,
    Prince John, Robin Hood, and others.  Many kids were lined up getting
    autographs, and the girls watched in awe from outside the gates.  They
    were both just taking it all in.

    From the Magic Kingdom, we took the resort monorail to the Contemporary
    Resort.  Mame bought autograph books for the girls at the Fantasia
    store.  I found some nice sew on patches of Goofy, Donald, and Mickey. 
    We decided to buy a nondisney summer bathrobe and sew on the patch. 
    This way, I could also afford to buy the Goofy patch and sew it on to my
    existing winter bathrobe.  This will match my goofy slippers well.

    I had ordered kid's meals for the girl's flight so they weren't that
    hungry, but Lisa, Mame, and I were.  We stopped at the fast food place
    by the arcade on the ground floor of the Contemporary Resort (sorry, I
    forgot the name).  We took our snacks out back by the boat dock.  The
    tables were absolutely empty.  Not a person in sight for our entire
    meal.  We talked about our plans for the next few days.  Off and on it
    sprinkled but the umbrella protected us fairly well.

    After eating, we took the resort monorail back to Ticket and
    Transportation Center and hopped onto the next EPCOT Center monorail.  I
    wanted to do this to get that inside the park view from the monorail. 
    It was great.  I thought it rather funny but they weren't letting many
    people onto the monorail at Ticket and Transportation Center.  No
    standing was allowed as they said they would be doing daily safety
    testing.  Once we looped around IC and were directly in front of the
    Land, the monorail came to a quick rough stop, and then started sort of
    jerking forward, then stopping.  I had never heard of this before in
    here so I thought I would mention it.  It lasted a 2-3 minutes, so it
    let us have a good long view of IC from 18 feet up.  We disembarked and
    stopped on the platform to look at Spaceship Earth.  I can't remember if
    there is a Kodak Photo Spot sign there or not, but if there isn't one
    there should be.  I took a picture of Mame, Lisa, Meghan, and Kerry with
    `the big golf ball' behind them.  It's my favorite picture from the
    entire trip.

    When we got back to Dixie Landings, it was getting sunnier.  Everyone
    wanted to go swimming.  I got in line for our room.  Lisa noticed that
    the roof trusses in the lobby were hidden Mickeys.  The people in line
    in front of us were very disappointed that they could not get adjoining
    rooms.  They had made the reservations...  After about 30 minutes it was
    my turn.  The bad news was they had moved us to Acadian House, first
    floor, smoking.  I told them Comfort Inn on I-4 could do that for
    $29/night.  But I wouldn't put up with it at Disney.  Although it's the
    cheapest resort in Walt Disney World, it's still 2-3 times more than a
    comparable room just off property.  For that, I need more than lush
    landscaping and bus service.  She said the only other place available
    was Alligator Bayou, first floor, non-smoking.  I explained why I didn't
    want to go there.  I said the rooms don't have to be adjoining, just in
    the same building, on an upper floor.  No luck, everything is taken.  I
    pull out my reservation slip that's six months old and explain that they
    had plenty of time to arrange things.  The previous day, the gentleman
    had showed us where our rooms were going to be both for that night and
    the following four nights.  I asked what had happened.  It seems the
    people in our rooms decided to stay an extra day.

	me:  ``Fine, let them move.''
	her: ``I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do.''
	me:  ``Are you sure?''
	her: ``I'm sorry.''
	me:  ``Are you really sure?''
	her: ``I could ask my manager?''
	me:  ``Please.''
	     .
	     .
	     .
	her: ``We found two upper rooms not adjoining, but only one room in
	       between.''
	me:  ``That will be fine.''
    
    Now I am not sure but this may have been an upgrade to a garden view. 
    It wasn't a parking lot view for sure.  Not that I really care given the
    amount of time we spend in the rooms.  I would have taken Acadian House
    on the phone when I first made the reservations.  Maybe even when I
    first arrived.  But, shoddy service at these prices is unacceptable. 
    Given the number of recent complaints here, Internet, and those I heard
    while down there, I think it's time for a new reservation system.  Maybe
    a job opportunity for me?  I don't know if it will do any good but I
    filled out a survey card with details.  I hope this wasn't a free
    upgrade as I don't want them to think they did me a favor.  They had a
    dissatisfied customer, and no free upgrade was going to change that.

    The rooms were nice.  Mame was very happy to get settled in.  We took a
    short break to unpack and get ready for swimming at Old Man Island. 
    Meghan can swim well and is almost comfortable swimming over her head. 
    Of course she is able to, but sometimes has slight panics.  I am a
    certified life guard so the danger was low.  She went down the slide,
    but didn't think it was that great.  Kerry swam in the shallow pool for
    a while and then came and played with us on the steps of the big pool. 
    It rained a little while we were in the pool, but as it remained sunny
    and there was no lightning, it didn't make sense to get out and just to
    get wet by the rain.

    Our plan for the evening was to go to the Disney Shopping Village.  We
    took the boat from Dixie Landings.  We were the last people onto the
    boat with more than a boatload waiting in line after us.  No one wanted
    to get off at Port Orleans so we headed direct to the Disney Shopping
    Village.  We disembarked at the Empress Lily and led a little tour of
    the boat looking for the exit.  I am still not sure how to get off.  Is
    there any way to get off without going through the lobby of the
    restaurants?

    The wait at Chef Mickey's was 45 minutes and no one other than me wanted
    to wait.  We instead headed over to Minnie Mia's for cheese pizza and
    stromboli.  It was pretty good, and sitting outside under the awning at
    those red tables is very pleasant.

    Each girl was given a budget of $25 to spend on souvenirs.  Kerry Ann
    knew what she wanted right away, a plush Abu.  She wore it around her
    neck the rest of the night and most of the times when we weren't touring
    the parks.  Meghan looked, but was going to wait until she found just
    the right souvenir to take home.  Lisa and I had no luck finding Disney
    pants or shorts.  At this point we were glad we bought what we saw at
    the Character Warehouse.

    We took the bus back early because we wanted to get up early the next
    morning for the Magic Kingdom.  I was scolded by the bus driver for
    entering the bus using the back door (oops).  Lisa and I spent about an
    hour figuring out the next days itinerary, given that we now had a
    listing of show times.  
    
  Friday May 14th

    Friday was Magic Kingdom day.  Lots of people don't believe that the
    right place to start with kids is Magic Kingdom.  They usually prefer
    EPCOT Center, then Disney/MGM Studios, then Magic Kingdom.  I don't
    agree.  Kids want the Magic Kingdom, they have waited this long, let
    them have it.  There is nothing better than your first experience coming
    out from under the Main Street Railroad Station.  I speak from
    experience.  It's a feeling I will never forget.  Before that exact
    moment, I had no really strong desire to go to Walt Disney World, no
    real interest in Disney, and no understanding of the magic.  That one
    moment changed my life.  I hope the girls will always remember that
    first day at the Magic Kingdom also.

    We got up and went to breakfast at 7:10 at the Colonel's Cotton Mill
    food court. We were waiting at the bus stop by 8:00, just in time I
    thought.  But because the park didn't open until 9:00, the buses were
    only going to Ticket and Transportation Center. The first bus to the
    gate would be at 8:15.  It was too late to get off, and not enough time
    left to go for a full loop.  So we got off at Ticket and Transportation
    Center, got on the resort monorail, got off at the Contemporary Resort,
    and walked over to the Magic Kingdom gate.  Perhaps not the most direct
    route, but we beat the first monorail and the first Dixie Landings bus
    which was really my goal.  Gate opened at 8:30 and we hustled down to
    the bridge into Adventureland, for our 30 minute wait.  The wait here is
    very long and mostly in the sun.  I wish they would have some
    entertainment like at the Disney/MGM Studios.

    When the rope dropped we walked very fast and onto Jungle Cruise.  We
    decided not to start the kids with either Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
    or Splash Mountain.  Jungle cruise is also one of our favorites.

    We then walked over to Splash Mountain but Kerry didn't meet the height
    restriction (48" not 44"" as mentioned in the Unofficial guide).  Mame
    waited at the exit for the `swap' (I won't call it baby swap as Kerry is
    no baby).  I had been on Splash Mountain at Disneyland but this was my
    first time at Walt Disney World.  Last April we were there the day they
    were painting the gully at the bottom of the Chickapen Hill.  An
    excellent ride, about the same to me as Disneyland.  Brer Rabbit ran
    along the boat ahead of us, but not ours.  I think this might have been
    because some people got scared in the boat behind us, and the ride
    stopped while they got out at the top of the hill after the first climb. 
    Things seemed a little out of sync.  Meghan kept worrying at each hill
    if this was going to be the big drop.  I don't think she got the chance
    to enjoy the ride very much.  I went on with Mame after the swap so she
    wouldn't have to go alone.  I don't like to ride things twice in the
    same day as I think it spoils the magic. At Disney, I ride for the
    magic.  If I want thrill rides I will go coaster riding someplace
    cheaper, with better coasters.  If I want great animation, I will watch
    my Lionel trains, or the robots on our manufacturing lines.  Disney can
    make magic, but a magician's magic is spoiled if you see their tricks
    too often.

    Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was down, so we headed over to Fantasy-
    land and Peter Pan's flight. Mame had told the girls many times that
    they would not be riding Dumbo or any of the other `carnival' rides. 
    They understood and would always explain to Lisa and I why they didn't
    need to ride those rides.  We would save our queuing time for the
    special rides, like Peter Pan's Flight, It's A Small World, Snow White's
    Scary Adventure, or Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.  Next we walked onto It's A
    Small World.  I love this ride, I love the song, I love the 60ish look,
    I love everything about it.  

    We then walked over to the Haunted House.  Mame really enjoyed this one.
    The girls really liked the hitchhiking ghost.  And I get chills when I
    get off and hear ``come agaaaiiinnn''.  I am shuddering now.  After
    seeing the Euro-Disneyland Phantom Manor, I must say my opinion has
    dropped.  I hope they update this one soon.  Last summer at Phantom
    Manor in Euro-Disneyland we had the good/bad fortune to be stopped for
    about three minutes in front of that skeleton at the end of the ride. 
    That thing is amazing.  I think it uses the same technology as the
    Wicked Witch in The Great Movie Ride.  The outside is nicer at Walt
    Disney World, almost too nice as it doesn't look very scary to me.  The
    climbing roses were all lit up.  I wish my house looked so good!

    We took a stroll over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to see if it was
    back online.  It was but with a very long queue.  I don't know why they
    did this, but they didn't have people waiting in the maze under cover. 
    Instead most of the time you had to wait out in the sun.  Maybe it keeps
    people away, but with such a fast loader, I don't know why they would
    want to keep them away in the middle of the day.  We skipped it for the
    day and decided to try again that evening, or some other day.

    Walked right on to Pirates of the Caribbean.  I kept looking for the
    hidden Mickey shadow but I never found it.  Could someone please
    describe exactly where it is?  A fun ride but only 3/4 as good as
    Pirates at Disneyland and 1/2 as good as Euro-Disneyland (In my opinion,
    Euro-Disneyland's best ride).

    We went to see the Country Bears next.  Maybe it's just me but I prefer
    the Vacation Hoedown version better.  And I can't stand ``Blood on the
    saddle''.  I think this is also better at Disneyland (nicer waiting
    area, nicer surroundings, two theatres, etc.).

    It was just about lunch time so we headed over to the Sleepy Hollow
    snack stand.  Our preference for eating is different than many of the
    people in here.  We usually go for the fast food.  Not because it's
    fast, but because it's cheap (well cheaper, nothing is cheap in Walt
    Disney World).  Lisa and I can each get a quarter pound hotdog, split a
    french fry, get two large drinks, and two chocolate chip cookies, for
    about $8.00.  I am sure the value for dollar isn't as good as the full
    service restaurants, but the full service restaurants are over-priced as
    well, just not as much.  Our only exception is the full service
    restaurants at EPCOT Center.  They are good value for the money, and the
    food and service are usually excellent.  The other reason we like it at
    Sleepy Hollow is that we can eat outside, out of the sun.  And we love
    to watch the birds come begging for food.

    After lunch we climbed around the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse and
    then took a ride on the Riverboat.  I got some more great pictures of
    Big Thunder Mountain Railroad from the boat.  I don't know if it was
    luck or subconscious planning, but I really got some good spontaneous
    action shots.  I usually have good luck with posed pictures (like with
    characters), but this time most of them came out pretty bad.  But the
    candids and action shots came out great.  I'm not much of a photographer
    so luck is my only chance at good pictures.

    It was around 1:00 after the Riverboat ride and we walked over to the
    Frontierland Railway Station.  We took the train over to Mickey's
    Starland and some characters were there for meet and greet.  We saw
    Goofy, Tigger, LaunchPad, and Minnie.  Kerry tried to get a signature
    from LaunchPad.  A little girl (really her Mom) pushed Kerry out of the
    way, and gave LaunchPad a piece of paper to sign but no pen.  I quickly
    gave him a pen, he signed the girls paper, and then he signed Kerry's
    book.  We also found that only having one pen for the two girls was a
    good way to insure that both girls got autographs (and that nobody
    pushed them away).  We went to get Minnie Mouse, but she was done for
    the day.  This was the second time we saw her, and the second time we
    missed getting an autograph.

    It was almost show time so we went through Mickey's house and lined up
    near the left most door.  Lisa and I had never done this attraction
    before, so we followed the advice of the Unofficial Guide.  The
    mousketeer who gives instructions just before opening the gates was very
    new.  She messed up her lines very badly, skipped whole sentences,
    combined parts of two different instructions into one jumbled sentence. 
    It was quite funny to me.  Everyone in the show had probably heard the
    same speech probably 20 times before.  But she was really mad at
    herself.  She kept scolding herself under her breath.  She really seemed
    to care that her quality was not up to par.  In many non-Disney places,
    the person would just laugh it off and forget about it.  The show was
    great.  A question for people who have seen this more than once: is the
    live person always named CJ?  Was she lip-sinking?  If so, she was
    super.  We were the first ones out the theatre doors and headed over to
    meet the mouse.  The line had about 40 people in it.  We thought we
    would be first, but didn't realize you could go in at anytime, not only
    after the show.  The wait in line wasn't bad, perhaps 30 minutes, and we
    got some good pictures with Mickey.  I don't have a flash but even with
    100 ASA film the pictures came out pretty good.  After meeting Mickey,
    we walked around Mickey's Starland to see if any more characters would
    be coming out.  Lisa checked the program and we had just missed the last
    outside meet and greet.
    
    We had now been under way for about 8 hours, so we decided to go back to
    the hotel to rest.  On the way out, we bumped into the Surprise Parade
    and found some open space on the curb for the girls to sit.  We were
    going to wait until Sunday to watch the parade, but it seemed like
    everything just came together.  Again I got lucky and my action shots of
    the parade came out great.  After the parade we walked through the shops
    on the east side of Main Street rather quickly.  We got our hands
    stamped with the invisible ink, and took the bus home.  The girls were
    very worried about not being able to see the hand stamp.

    We didn't want to take a long break because the park would close early
    that night 8:00 P.M. (I think it was `grad night').  We took the bus
    back to the room and got about 1-1/2 hours rest.  Mame told me that the
    girls didn't nap (only Lisa and I did), but they quietly watched TV.

    At 4:10 we walked over to the Colonel's Cotton Mill for a leisurely
    supper.  The place was empty.  Lisa had the fried chicken, and I had the
    chicken sandwich.  They tasted good to us and the price was right.  I
    forget what the Bisaccio's had for supper because the girls wanted Lisa
    and I to have some private time to ourselves, so they ate at the next
    table with Mame.  They also did this one other time when they couldn't
    decide which one of them would sit next to Lisa.  So they decided that
    neither of them would and they ate at the table next to us.  They really
    are angels.

    It was 5:00 P.M. after supper when we got back to the bus station.  This
    time at the end of Main Street we turned right and went into
    Tomorrowland. 

    We did Dreamflight (one of Kerry's favorites).  An excellent ride if
    they would get rid of the 180 degree Omni movie screens.

    Then we did the WEDway People mover.  Since this ride is never full, I
    would prefer that they cut the speed in half, so that I could enjoy the
    view better.  I don't know what causes it to be so rough (maybe the
    linear motors?), but I would prefer something much smoother.  I think
    the best part of the ride is previewing the other attractions.  The peek
    into Space Mountain is fabulous.  Space Mountain was not running, but
    the lights weren't on either.  The peek at Dreamflight is pretty lame,
    but better than blank walls.  I wish they would preview more of the
    attractions.  Maybe in the future.
    
    We skipped Mission to Mars, Grand Prix Raceway, and American Journey's
    for the day.  Since we knew Space Mountain was not operating, we skipped
    it for the day.  I think I was the only one who wanted to ride and that
    seemed like a waste.

    The line for the Skyway to Fantasyland was long so we walked over to
    Fantasyland and walked right onto Mr. Toad's Wild Ride (everyone's first
    time).  This was much better than I thought it would be.  I think the
    enjoyment of the `dark rides' is inversely proportional to the speed. 
    In Euro-Disneyland we did Peter Pan and Pinocchio so fast I felt sick. 
    In the Euro-Disneyland Pinocchio, the ride went full speed for 1/2
    second, then stopped immediately for 1/2 second, then full speed for 1/2
    second, ...  which was enough to make my head spin.  And I forget what
    the ride looked like inside.  I had to close my eyes to keep from losing
    that famous French fast food.  But the Walt Disney World dark rides that
    day were really very leisurely and we enjoyed them quite a bit.

    We enjoyed Mr. Toad's Wild Ride so much, that we walked over to Snow
    White's Scary Adventure and waited the 10 minutes to ride.  It has never
    happened before to me, but the first time the witch pops out, I nearly
    lost it.  I was so startled I jumped out of my seat.  It's too bad these
    rides are over so quick.  I wish all the Disney dark rides were as long
    as `Journey Into Imagination'.  Then I wouldn't mind so much waiting in
    the long lines.

    The Carousel was a walk-on, so Lisa and the girls got three jumpers
    abreast, and Mame and I took the pictures.  It's really a beautiful
    carousel.  I read in another notes file that Disney cut the legs off the
    outside standers, rearranged things a little, removed the chariots, and
    turned every horse into a jumper.  Although it's beautiful, it's a shame
    they felt they needed to do this.  Imagine if they had kept it with
    standers, and had a brass Mickey shaped ring to reach for.

    All the rides were starting to empty so we walked right onto several.
    Only 20,000 Leagues and Dumbo had waits of more than a few minutes.  We
    took a repeat ride on It's A Small World.  The ride was very empty, and
    several boats were empty. I don't know if this is true or not, but I
    heard that the boat rides go slower if there are less people and boats
    in the ride system.  It seemed very slow and leisurely to me.  

    We decided to start our departure by walking through the castle and into
    the shops on Main Street, but the castle was closed off and there was a
    stage in the foreground.  We saw lots of lights and cameras and we
    thought maybe they would be filming something that evening.  It wasn't
    until I got home and read one of the trip reports that I found out it
    was `grad night'.  They were putting up lots of purple balloons across
    Main Street.  It seemed funny having to leave, knowing that something
    was going to happen as soon as we left.

    We walked through the shops on the west side of Main Street, but didn't
    find anything we wanted.  It was the wrong time to shop there, and they
    were really trying to get people out of the shops early.  I think it was
    before 8:30 and they weren't letting new people into the stores. Luckily
    we would be back.

    We took the bus back to Dixie Landings and called it an early night.  I
    got yelled at for standing in the stairwell (oops 2).  Actually I got
    pushed down there by the crowd, and figured I should probably just stay
    put, wrong Pat.  Lisa and I spent about an hour preparing the detailed
    plan for the next day at Disney/MGM Studios and EPCOT.
    
  Saturday May 15th

    Breakfast again at 7:10 at the Colonel's Cotton Mill and out at the bus
    stop before 8:00 A.M..  The Magic Kingdom was open early that day for
    resort guests, so there were lots of buses to Magic Kingdom.  We waited
    about 15 minutes for the first ST bus to come along.  We got to the bus
    stop just after what looked like the first parking lot tram.  There were
    less than 20 people at the turnstiles and we picked the right most for
    our dash down Hollywood boulevard to see The Little Mermaid.  The street
    performers were great.  It really makes the time pass quickly.  I wonder
    if there is something that could be done in Magic Kingdom to make those
    30 minutes at the rope pass quicker.

    When the turnstiles opened, out came the characters.  It's tough to walk
    past them, but we wanted that first show of The Little Mermaid.  Mame
    got a picture of us at the The Little Mermaid theatre with no one else
    around.  We went into the preshow area and either something has changed
    or they run a shorter preshow for the first show.  They showed King
    Tritons trident light up, but none of the other decorations, like the
    ghost ship painting, were animated.  Do they still do this?  This is
    Disney/MGM Studios's best attraction.  The perfect combination of live
    action, puppets, cel animation, Audio-Animatronics, special effects, and
    magic.  I didn't see any flash photography, and was very pleased.  Maybe
    someone can tell me more about Ariel's voice.  I don't think it's Jodi
    Benson's voice.  And if not, is it being sung live or lip-synced?  I
    think lip-synced but I can never tell.  Did Miss America ever say in any
    of her interviews if she really sang during the shows?  And speaking of
    the live action actors, do they ever have meet and greets with Ariel and
    Eric?  We saw Jasmine and Al from Aladdin, and Gaston from Beauty and
    the Beast, but I have never seen Ariel or Eric.

    After the show we walked on over to The Great Movie Ride.  I got in line
    for the western, but the lines came back together before we entered the
    theatre.  No problem, I just had to figure out which maze seemed to be
    the natural continuation of where we were going.  I had a lucky pick and
    we got the western.  Another great long pseudo-dark ride.  The Alien
    didn't scare the girls, and we hadn't really prepared them.  I have only
    been on this ride three times, with at least one year between each time. 
    I am not familiar enough to know if the spiel is mostly the same, or if
    it varies widely like the spiel at Jungle cruise.  Is anyone out there
    that familiar?  The witch in Munchkinland is fabulous.  She is my second
    favorite Audio-Animatronic next to the Skeleton at Phantom Manor in
    Euro-Disneyland.

    We got out just in time to catch the Indy Jones show and still get good
    seats.  The noise and fire were a little much for the girls, but
    everyone enjoyed it.  I know about the guy with the shirt, but I
    wondered about the guy who gets shot and fakes falling down dead.  Both
    times that I actually saw them choose him, I noticed he was sitting
    alone, with a knapsack.  He was very funny and really hammed it up.  He
    took a long time to fall.  They didn't introduce him, but I still
    wondered if he was a shill.

    We got out and walked to the Muppet 4-D but the Indiana Jones Stunt Show
    crowd ahead of us made the line very long.  We walked past and over to
    the Honey I Shrunk The Kids Playland.  I love the giant Lego.  I have
    never read this anyplace, but I believe this can be a scary place for
    kids.  Kerry went down one of the slides and Meghan went down the stairs
    to find her.  Because both the tunnels and the stairs twist, Meghan
    couldn't find Kerry and started yelling at the top of her lungs.  I was
    very embarrassed and unsympathetic at the time, but looking back I now
    realize that she was truly scared to have lost Kerry in such a huge
    crowd.  No problem though, Kerry was just a few yards away.  

    We went back to Muppet 4-D and walked quickly through the pre-preshow
    line.  We missed the first preshow so we were waiting in an area that
    didn't really have any of the fun stuff to look at so it was kind of a
    boring 15 minutes.  But being in this location meant we could see the
    entire preshow for the next cycle.  It really is very good.  It gets my
    vote for best Disney preshow.  It's as funny as the 4-D movie itself.

    It was lunch time so we stopped for a fast-food lunch at the studio
    commissary.  The food is fine there and they have the neatest
    computerized drink machine.  However, it was broken at the time of our
    order so things were a little slow.  After my order I was waiting quite
    a long time (10-15 minutes) for the actual food.  The two people in
    front of me weren't getting served.  I thought it was the broken drink
    machine, but other lines were moving along.  Finally they brought the
    food out for the two people in front of me.  The server asked them:
    ``Are you the order for 20 people?''.  My luck.  There's always a closer
    parking space, and I always pick the wrong line!  

    We went into my favorite store at Disney/MGM Studios.  I don't know the
    name but it's the Disney Villains shop.  Last year I bought a great pair
    of shorts there but this year I had no luck.  They only had those boxer
    shorts.

    Iago was counting down the minutes to Aladdin's Royal Caravan.  Iago was
    announcing his surprise appearance at the finale of the parade.  We
    lined up in front of the Arch so that we could quickly hop over to the
    backlot tour at the end of the parade.  A great parade.  Prince Ali was
    my favorite song from the movie, and the floats and characters were
    wonderful.  And Iago deserved his position of honor at the end of the
    parade.

    After the parade we beat the crowd to the backlot tour.  A women in the
    row behind us was asking the cast members for a paper towel because
    there was a little water on her seat.  Everyone started laughing at her,
    and she didn't understand.  Usually I get the left most seat and I get
    soaked.  This time I let everyone get in ahead of me, and I took the
    right most seat.  My new favorite photo opportunity is the tail of
    Walt's Plane with Earful tower in the background.  Only at Disney could
    a airplane tail and a water tower become so magical.  They had costumes
    from `Rocketeer', `A Distinguished Gentleman', and another movie I can't
    remember.  I'm glad they change those fairly often.  Despite my best
    efforts to avoid getting wet at Catastrophe Canyon, I got soaked.  The
    water was pouring down on me and my camera from somewhere.  Boy, do I
    have the luck.  We had to stop on the way back to let the Aladdin floats
    pass on their way to storage.  I got a few good behind the scenes
    photos.  Does anyone know how these multi-car trams steer?  Are there
    driving wheels that are somehow delayed on each car, or does the turning
    of the car in front, force the turning of the trailing car?  It always
    seems so perfect and smooth.  Anyone know if there is a scale model of
    this type or any type of multi-car tram?  We saw the new studio for the
    Beauty and the Beast stage show, and it looks like there was still a lot
    of work to do.  Perhaps a month or so.  I didn't see any theming of the
    outside yet, but it's tough to see as we drove by quickly.

    We played around with the props in the toon store, and then took a
    stroll down Mickey Avenue.  The Beast was there for photos and there was
    a polite line of people queued up.  This was the best meet and greet. 
    He couldn't sign autographs, but he spent a lot of time with each person
    he met.  Lots of hugs and kisses.  Gaston was also there, but not many
    people wanted to meet him.  Mame spent a lot of time with him.  Her
    friend's daughter is crazy about Gaston.  She thinks he's the greatest
    (almost as much as he does).  He told us he expectorates 10-15 times per
    day, and that it must be a great pleasure for us to meet someone as
    beautiful as him.  He was in perfect character.  He just looks so much
    bigger in the movies.

    We walked further down Mickey Ave and met Hollywood Mickey, Donald,
    Goofy, Chip, Dale, and Tigger.  I took Lisa's picture with Chip while
    the girls went to get pushed and shoved.  Everyone sort of pushes their
    way up to the character and this was difficult for our girls.  They are
    very polite and wouldn't think of pushing their way to the front, as so
    many other kids (and their parents) do.  Eventually, Meghan got
    everyone's autograph except Donald, and Kerry missed only Tigger.  Lisa
    was standing watching the kids and Dale came up from behind and put his
    arms around her.  She thought it was me and was hugging and squeezing
    him back.  When he didn't say anything, she turned, saw who it was, and
    screamed with delight.  A few minutes later I took a picture of her with
    Goofy, and he pinched her!  It must be miserable for the characters to
    be out in the hot sun, but they really are fun and wonderful.  They make
    such a difference.

    It was about 2:00 P.M., so we were going to hit the shops and go to the
    hotel to rest, before spending the evening at EPCOT.  Last year for $90
    I bought two excellent dress shirts and a great but simple embroidered
    sweatshirt at the Haberdashery on Hollywood Boulevard.  There was
    nothing this year that I really liked except for a Crew jacket with a 1"
    embroidered Mickey for $115, no thanks.  I forgot my sun hat and my head
    was starting to burn.  I bought a great hat for $12 that has the
    autographs of some of the characters embroidered on it.  I hope next
    time to bring it and fill it up with more autographs.  We started down
    the other side of the street when my up-to-this-point-perfect-plan went
    awry.  My sister did not want to go back to Dixie Landings for such a
    short stay (3 hours). She thought that by the time we got back to the
    hotel and got the kids settled in for a nap, that it would be too short. 
    She would have about 1-1/2 hours and then have to start over again in
    reverse.  So she was going to take the kids for an short break somewhere
    in the park, have an ice cream, while Lisa and I shopped, and then meet
    at 3:15 in front of Gertie.  After just one store Lisa decided she
    really wanted to take the nap.  I wanted to go with her also, but
    because Mame had left by this time we had no way of changing plans with
    her.  Lisa suggested that she would go back alone to Dixie Landings (the
    buss system is the best reason to stay on property), and meet us under
    Spaceship Earth at 5:30.  I have read that it's bad advice to make plans
    to meet someone under Spaceship Earth because it's not really a very
    centrally located place.  But in this case, since she would just be
    entering, it seemed to be the best place.  I continued shopping but
    didn't find anything that really stood out (of course I really want
    everything!)  I walked around the park and went into every shop before I
    had to meet Mame and the girls.  We strolled out of the park, got our
    hands stamped, and took the bus over to EPCOT Center.

    We had enough time to do a few attractions before we had to meet Lisa. 
    I wanted to save Journey into Imagination (my favorite EPCOT Center
    ride) until Lisa was there, and we planned to eat supper at the new
    Nestle Land Pavilion.  There was no line at Spaceship Earth so we walked
    right on.  Then we walked over to Horizons (picked the underwater
    future).  Then we walked right onto World of Motion.  After the ride,
    Meghan and I watched `Bird (and the Robot)'.  Meghan tried out all the
    cars, and I think she liked the red sports car the best.

    We still had 25 minutes before we had to meet Lisa, so I had a Mickey
    Dove bar on a bench in the shade with the girls while Mame shopped.
    While people-watching outside Communicore East, I noticed that the
    automatic doors don't really thrill people at all.  We are so
    conditioned to expect it, that we walk full speed at a glass wall with
    confidence that an opening will appear before we crash into the glass. I
    wonder if that was so 10 years ago when EPCOT Center opened?  Mame
    picked up a few things, and we strolled over to Spaceship Earth, where
    Lisa had been sitting on a bench for the last 20 minutes eating a Mickey
    Dove bar.  She didn't expect to get there so early.  She walked from
    Parterre Place to the bus stop and right onto a bus.  The bus didn't
    have to stop at any of the other Dixie Landings bus stops, and drove
    right over to EPCOT Center with no traffic.  She walked right through
    the turnstiles, bought a Mickey Dove bar, and sat down.  Total time for
    the trip from hotel to bench was 15 minutes.  I don't think it's
    possible make that trip any faster, even in a car.

    We walked over to the Land Pavilion and caught the next showing of the
    Kitchen Cabaret (altogether now, Veggie, Veggie, Fruit! Fruit!).  Bonnie
    Apetit is the best.  It was funny to see all the Kraft products turned
    into generics.  Kraft still gets all the advertising benefit.  Does
    anyone know about any plans to make the place less Kraft-y?  We ate at
    the farmers market.  Lisa and I had our four food groups with macaroni &
    cheese & ham & fruit cup.  The girls got Happy Meals and I think their
    veggie was potato chips.  After supper we lined up for `Listen to the
    Land'.  This is one of the mazes I hate the most.  Just when you feel
    that you are finally at the front of the line, all of the sudden you
    have to go over to this other maze.  The whole wait was only 15 minutes
    though.  I found a hidden Mickey that I hadn't seen mentioned before. 
    In the pharmaceutical lab, there is a machine with lots of empty jars
    rotating in some kind of dispenser.  I noticed that the jars with the
    green caps form Mickey's head.  On the way out of the Land, Lisa noticed
    Bananas growing on a tree outside.  Does Orlando weather support Bananas
    or is this atypical?

    We walked over to the Imagination Pavilion.  The wait for Figment was
    only a few minutes.  This is really a great ride.  To me, this is the
    70's version of It's a Small World.  Cute premise, endlessly repetitive
    song, and enough stuff to look at for 50 trips.  It's message of `use
    your imagination to solve your problems' goes well with the more general
    EPCOT Center message of `through technology we can solve all of our
    problems'.  I am not saying I completely agree or disagree, but the
    message fits in well.  After the ride we played in the Image Works.  We
    tried the new video drawing game of turning our own image into Mr.
    Potato Head.  We danced around the musical spotlight room for quite a
    while.  Lisa really enjoyed playing with the bed of nails.  I think she
    liked the sound as much as the images.  We then went out to the jumping
    water falls.  Some kids were sticking their hands up to stop it and in
    the process were getting everyone soaked.  I guess I'm unusual but I
    don't see the fun in it.  Watching the fluid motion and trying to guess
    where it's going to go, seems like more fun to me.  But these people
    take something that can be enjoyed by many, and turn it into their own
    personal fun.

    We skipped through most of the countries as the kids had now been on the
    go for 13 straight hours without rest.  Meghan's legs were hurting so we
    had to go slow, but she never complained.  Kerry was just plain tired. 
    Mame went in to see the images of France but the wait for the next show
    was quite long.  The wait at the Pantisserie was even longer so we
    skipped the french pastry and continued walking.  We decided to watch
    Illuminations from the deck in front of Italy.  Perhaps not the best
    place to see the buildings light up, but a great view of the fireworks
    and the laser drawing on Spaceship Earth.  We arrived about an hour
    prior to the show so we got a bench right at the edge of the water.
    Kerry and Meghan sang for Lisa and I while Mame went in to watch the
    American Adventure.  I wish I had known they changed the show a little,
    as I think I would have joined her.  The women standing next to us were
    enjoying Meghan and Kerry as well.  It amazing how some kids are running
    around, yelling and screaming, and here were two kids who hadn't had
    much rest all day, singing quietly, having fun, waiting in the same spot
    for hour, etc.  I wish all Walt Disney World kids were so well behaved.

    The girls really enjoyed Illuminations, as did the adults.  It was a
    fine place to watch from, but boy was the walk back to the bus a long
    one.  Meghan was hurting, and Kerry was dead tired but they just kept
    going.  They kept talking about how much fun they were having.  The bus
    driver said that the show cost $35,000 per night.  I figure this means
    about $1.00 of each admission goes just for the fireworks.  Amazing! 
    The bus driver was very funny, and he made the trip go really fast. 
    However, I got yelled at again for blocking his view of the stairwell
    (oops 3).  Now come on, there are about a bazillion people crammed onto
    this bus, I stand up to give a women and her little child a seat, and I
    get yelled at!
    
  Sunday May 16th

    Sunday was going to be a day for favorites at Magic Kingdom, and the
    park was open early for resort guests.  We wanted to go to the
    Contemporary Resort's Character Breakfast, so we skipped the Colonel's
    Cotton Mill and went straight to the bus stop.  The turnstiles had
    opened just before we got there.  We showed our IDs and walked over to
    Fantasyland.  We did Peter Pan's Flight, Snow White's Scary Adventure,
    Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, and It's A Small World without waiting much more
    than a few minutes at each ride.  Just as we were getting out of Peter
    Pan's Flight, Donald Duck came out of nowhere.  Meghan got his autograph
    as she missed him at Disney/MGM Studios.  The rope to Frontierland was
    down so we headed over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which we had
    missed Friday.  Everyone went as Kerry passed the height restriction. 
    She wasn't real excited about it, but she did it.  Meghan really enjoyed
    it.

    We were all getting hungry so we left the Magic Kingdom on the Resort
    Monorail and headed to the Character Breakfast at the Contemporary
    Resort.  After a short 10 minute wait (while everyone who arrived before
    us and after us were seated), we were seated at a big table.  The food
    was excellent and the characters were wonderful.  Goofy, Tigger (Kerry
    finally got his autograph), Prince John, Chip & Dale, and Pluto.  What a
    fabulous breakfast.

    We took the resort monorail back to the Magic Kingdom to pick up the
    Dixie Landings/Port Orleans bus.  Mame and the kids were going back to
    the hotel to swim, and Lisa and I were going to I-Drive to shop.  This
    was the first time we had used the car since Mame and the girls arrived. 
    It seems like such a waste to rent a car and not use it, but it was
    cheaper to keep the car for a week, than to use the Mears shuttle.  We
    finally found a pair of pants for Lisa.  They had red, white, and black
    block letters that spelt out MICKEY randomly all over the pants.  They
    were marked down and there were only a few pairs left.  We bought a
    cheap Mickey Florida shirt to go with them, and a cute outfit for one of
    the nieces back home.  Nothing for me, darnzies!

    We met Mame and the girls at 4:30 in front of the Crystal Palace.  They
    were waiting inside in the air conditioned lobby as it was pretty hot
    outside.  The food didn't interest them, so we had hotdogs at Casey's,
    and listened to the piano.  (Is this really the name for it?  That's
    what it's called at Euro-Disneyland.  It's the place on the west side of
    Main street, closest to the castle.)  After supper we went back to
    Tomorrowland.  We rode Dreamflight and the WEDway People Mover again. 
    Mame and the girls went in to watch American Journeys while Lisa and I
    went into the Tomorrowland shops (Startraders and Mickey's ?).  I bought
    some hologram stickers that worked great inside in the fluorescent
    light, but don't work at all outside.  Lisa found a sweatshirt that
    matched her new pants perfectly.  It had a big Mickey, with Mickey spelt
    out in red, white, and black big block letters down the front and the
    rear view image on the back (it's not really a mirror image since you
    see the back of Mickey).  

    We went on a final pass through Fantasyland.  Mame and the girls would
    each pick one more favorite ride to end the trip.  Mame and the girls
    did the Mat Hatter's Teacups (I get sick just thinking about them) as
    Kerry Ann's choice.  We went once more on It's A Small World.  Mame's
    choice was the Haunted Mansion.  Meghan chose Big Thunder Mountain
    Railroad.  After Big Thunder Mountain Railroad we looked around in the
    Briar Patch Gift Shop where they had some different and very nice stuff. 
    Mame and the girls left to go back to Dixie Landings and Lisa and I did
    one more pass through the Main Street Shops. The Disneyanna Collectibles
    store had some of the original advertising props from the 20th
    anniversary celebration.  I liked the 3 foot round mirrors with the 20th
    logo on it but $400 was just too much for me.  But imagine owning a
    piece of Walt Disney World!  I walked over to City Hall for a couple
    pictures while Lisa sat on the rockers of the Disneyanna Collectibles
    front porch.  She had such a big smile!

  Monday May 17th

    Our flight was at 12:00 so we had a little time to catch one last
    glimpse of Dixie Landings.  We had breakfast at the Colonel's Cotton
    Mill one last time.  The mill wasn't running this year as it had when we
    were there last year.  I wondered if it was temporarily broken, or if
    they have permanently shut it down, or if I was imagining it last year. 
    We went back to the room, loaded up the car, and headed to the airport. 
    I got one last souvenir, a CD of Disneyland and Walt Disney World theme
    park music.  I had never seen the CD version before, only a cassette. 
    The flight was on time, the food was bad, and it was cold and windy when
    we arrived back in New England.  Sometime I want to stay so long, that I
    look forward to getting back home.
    
  Thinking back:

    Would I use Alamo again?  With the special airport shuttle tax, I ended
    up saving only $6 dollars over the best price (Dollar) from the airport
    rental agencies.  The shuttle was convenient, but I think next time I
    will have to save more than $6.00 to use an off airport rental agency.
    
    We won't go to Gumba Joe's again.  Food was fair, and atmosphere was
    bad.
    
    Next time we won't stay in the park.  The extra price is not worth it
    for us.  We don't use the extra amenities all that much.  And we would
    rather use the extra dollars to stay longer...
    
    ... and do more of the other other attractions.  I think Sea World is
    Lisa's favorite attraction in Florida and we skipped it both this time
    and last time.  Universal Studios has at least two new rides (Jaws and
    Back to the Future) and several new shows since we were there on our
    honeymoon.  We also haven't seen many of the other attractions like the
    Kennedy Space Center, Cypress Gardens, and all the small little museums. 
    This is the third time (fourth time for Lisa) that we have done only the
    main attractions (Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Center, & Disney/MGM Studios). 
    That's because it's the third time (fourth time for Lisa) we have been
    there with people on their first visit.  It's nice to see the excitement
    in their face, but we are missing out on all the other things the area
    has to offer.  I wouldn't have missed being with Meghan and Kerry on
    their first visit for all the cash taken in at the Ticket and
    Transportation Center in one day.  But I could also imagine a wonderful
    trip to Orlando where we never went to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT Center, or
    Disney/MGM Studios.  Next time I would like to try to see more of the
    area.

    My biggest hot button this time was the people who have wheel chairs for
    big kids just so they get in line quicker.  I am sure most of the people
    who use these facilities need them, but I am just as sure that many 
    people are abusing the system.  

    Meghan was at the age where she understood that many things were unreal
    (like fire in Pirates of the Caribbean), but these things were done so
    well that they seemed real to her and thus frightened her.  I don't know
    if we could have better prepared her or not.  It certainly is a tribute
    to the imagineers.

    I much prefer buses to driving.  It's the only reason I would ever
    consider staying on property again.  To differ with some of the others
    in here, I even found the bus ride to Pioneer Hall convenient and
    enjoyable.

    I carried a knapsack and Lisa wore a hip wallet.  The knapsack was
    really great for the long days.  It wasn't too big a pain on rides, and
    it kept getting filled up every day with souvenirs and literature.  We
    would not have bought anything in the park were it not for the knapsack,
    and that would have been a mistake.
    
    The kid's were wonderful - In fact, they never complained about anything
    the entire trip.  They never raised their voice, never screamed for
    attention, would go places willingly, always took turns, and kept up a
    good pace.  They were the best behaved children I have ever seem at Walt
    Disney World.
    
    Something struck me on the plane ride down.  I wasn't that excited.  It
    had all become too familiar.  There's a lot of debate in here about how
    often to visit.  I would say that 4 visits to Walt Disney World in 5
    years (5 visits in 6 years for Lisa) is too often.  Last year we went to
    Walt Disney World in April and then to Euro-Disneyland in May.  The trip
    to Euro-Disneyland, although much shorter, was much more exciting.  It
    was new to us, things that we expected to find weren't there, and old
    things had a new look to them.  It was familiar, yet completely
    different.  We had lots of problems in Euro-Disneyland (rude people,
    long lines, line jumpers, expensive, etc.) but it was the best Disney
    trip for me since my first visit to Walt Disney World.  Lisa and I have
    decided to wait at least 2-1/2 years (our 5th anniversary) in 1995, and
    maybe we will even wait until 1996.

    I guess I don't really ever get the 'itis.  That seems to imply that the
    `thing' one yearns for is the trip to the theme parks.  I instead am a
    Disney addict.  I yearn for all things Disney.  I collect Disney
    miniatures, Disney trains, Disney ceramics, Disney videos, Disney
    soundtracks, Disney clothes, Disney books, Disney watches, Disney etc. 
    I shop at the Disney Stores.  I go to Disney Movies.  I don't go to the
    theme parks because it's the Mecca for Disneyphiles, I go because it's a
    great place for vacation.  And what a vacation we had!

    Talk about a Disneyitis hit.
    
    The phone just rang and when I answered I heard, "Hi Mike! Greetings
    from "The World" How are things?"
    
    It was Ruth Lowell calling from her FW trailer. She called to tell me
    about some things going on down there. I guess this is a pre-trip
    report from Ruth. Here are the particulars:
    
       - It looks like Dumbo is down and is being replaced with a new
         Dumbo ride similar to the one in Euro-Disney. The ride is
         due to be up in running sometime in November.
    
       - The Carrousel of Progress is history. Ruth says that the ride
         is down but she's not sure if it's just down for repairs or
         down for replacement. I do recall seeing something somewhere 
         about that attraction being replaced by a "saucer" attraction.
    
       - Journey to Mars is still running. I guess Alien Encounter is
         still being tweaked a bit.
    
       - Princess Di is down there but Ruth hasn't spotted her yet. She
         (Di not Ruth) is staying in, yup, you guessed it, The Grand
         Floridian to the tune of $1500 per night. Hmmm that's about
         two weeks at PO, DL, or CBR.
    
       - Ruth says that there are all kinds of sponsorship changes 
         going on down there. The two she mentioned were the replacing
         of RCA's sponsorship of Space Mountain with Federal Express, 
         and Mattel taking over It's a Small World.
    
       - Here's a tip from Ruth regarding Splash Mountain. Take note
         of your log number because it will speed up your efforts in
         getting a picture of your drop. Pictures are 5x7 and cost
         $8.
    
       - Ruth likes the atmosphere of the Sci-Fi Restaurant in MGM but 
         didn't exactly rave about the food. 
         
       - For those of you planning to go down soon you'll be interested
         to know that Universal Studios is having a special. This special
         is a "Buy one admission and get the second admission free" kind 
         of deal. Ruth wasn't sure how long this special was on but it 
         is definitely on through the end of September.
    
    So if you want to call Ruth at her Fort Wilderness Trailer (trailer
    number 2306 at Shawnee Bend) you can ring her at 407-824-0306.
    
    Mike 

    We just got back from Disney last saturday and both rides were up and 
    running then. I guess I was ruth's neighbor as we stayed at 2304 for
    the week.

    re: .36 
    
    �I guess I was ruth's neighbor as we stayed at 2304 for the week.
     
    It must have been Digital week at Shawnee Bend.  We stayed at 2330 (the 
    last one on the street).
    
    --Jay
    

    Maybe I saw ya then?? My 4 year old was the joke teller on the buses so
    if you heard any young jokes that week it was probably Patrick

    re: Princess Di at WDW
    
    According to the new issue of PEOPLE, Princess Di was on Splash
    Mountain a mere two hours after touching down at Orlando airport. 
    (Some of our noters probably can rival that timeframe.) For security 
    reasons, the ride was closed to the public while her party was there. 
    (The photo shows her to be as frightened of it as the rest of us. The 
    princes and their friend seemed to like it from the front seat of log
    33.) Next stop was TMRR. Of course, they go to the head of the line 
    with no waiting.
    
    She and her party are travelling about the park by means of motorcade in 
    the underground tunnels. The Grand Floridian is besieged by the public and 
    British press. Her room, the Presidential Suite,is accessible only by 
    private elevator. 
    
    

We bumped into Diana, Prince William, Prince Harry and their entourage
last Wednesday.  We were coming out of River Country after it closed just
as they were pulling up in a flower-laden boat to the docks.  They were
coming to FW to go to the early show of the Hoop Dee Doo Review.  We stopped
to watch, and they passed about 10 feet away from us.  The security guys
were asking guests not to take pictures/videos.  

It was funny to run into them because we were having one of those days when
timing was right for us.  We hit lines at the right time, buses and boats
were right there when we wanted them, we were the last people to make it
into shows, etc.  I love it when that happens!

                                          Tracy

    >>>The security guys were asking guests not to take pictures/videos.
    
       I'm sure everyone put their camera down and said, "Okay!"
    
    Mike

    	Tuesday:
    	Landed in Orlando at about 3PM on 8/24.  Got minivan and arrived
    	at DVR and was in our Fairway Villa by 4:30.  Got dinner, then
    	went grocery shopping.  Family went to bed early.  I went to 
    	MK to get my annual pass.  Got back and watched news reports
    	of approaching hurricane.

    	Wednesday 8/25:
    	Did MK first thing in the morning.  Stayed till 1.  Went back
    	to condo for lunch and nap.  Swam at a DVR pool.  Back to condo
    	for dinner.  Back to MK from 7 until closing (11PM).  Hurricane
    	still approaching.  Due to hit central Fla next Tuesday (our
    	final day.)  Did not see Princess Di.  Did not care.

    	Thurs 8/26:
    	Did Epcot first thing in the morning.  Did the countries first.
    	Kids whined through most of it.  I enjoyed the entertainment
    	at Japan the most.  (Especially the street entertainer doing
    	origami and wax molding.)  Ate lunch at Japan.  Stayed until
    	2PM or so.  Back to the condo, then to the Dolphin hotel for
    	swimming.  Thunderstorms sent us back home.  Dinner at the
    	condo, then back to Epcot for pavilions.  You can keep "Body
    	Wars".  My 5-year-old (who throws up for everything else) was
    	the only one who didn't get motion sick.  He wanted to go again!
    	Cranium Commandos is a must!  Stayed till closing.  Spaceship
    	Earth was disappointing.  Laser show here was better than spectro
    	magic at MK.  Hurricane still approaching.

    	Fri 8/27:
    	Epcot first thing in the morning.  We went to Captain EO
    	first.  Nobody there -- we thought it was closed.  Then a
    	disney host appeared and ushered us in.  Nearly a private
    	showing!  Stayed till lunch.  Back to condo for lunch.  Tried
    	to take the kids to Dolphin pool again.  Thunderstorms again.
    	Dinner at the condo.  Magic Kingdom after dinner till closing.
    	Rides are EMPTY during spectro magic!

    	Sat 8/28:
    	Typhoon lagoon all day (till supper.)  Super day!  Got rain
    	but no thunderstorms.  During rain, most people got out of the
    	water and headed for dry shelter.  Cowabunga and other water
    	slides had NO LINES at these times.  What the heck.  You're
    	getting wet anyway!  Dinner at the condo.  Church after
    	dinner.  MK till closing.  Hurricane still approaching.  Media
    	loves it!

    	Sunday 8/29
    	Rented a camcorder for the day.  ($40.  $600 refundable deposit.)
    	Picked that up at MK.  Stayed at MK till lunch.  Went to the
    	Dolphin once again to give the kids a chance to swin there.
    	Thunderstorms again!  Kids are getting pissed at the weather.
    	But we got the pool (sans kids) on tape.  Home for dinner.  Off to 
    	MGM.  Bad news.  Starting today it closes at 7PM and it's now
    	6:55.  Taped some of it quickly.  Off to Epcot.  Taped some
    	of that too -- especially the globe as the sun sets on it.
    	Taped some of the laser show, and the laser image of the
    	spinning globe on the back of the ball afterwards.  Done
    	with Epcot for the trip.  Returned camcorder here.  Hurricane
    	tunring northward.  Media disappointed.
    
    	Monday 8/30:
    	Went to the Dolphin first thing in the morning.  Great weather.
    	Great fun!  Kids finally get to swim there.  Life is good!
    	Lunch at condo.  MGM after lunch till closing.  Saw almost
    	everything we wanted to except Indiana Jones.  Off to MK.
    	OOPS!  It closes at 8PM starting today.  :^(  Home to bed.
    	Done with MGM and MK for trip.  5-day passes used up.  
    	Hurricane no longer a threat.
    
    	Tues 8/31:
    	River country at opening (10AM) till 3:30.  Kids liked it as much
    	as Typhoon -- maybe more because lines were short.  Showers and
    	dressed by 4.  To airport.  Plane leaves at 6.
    
    	Disney till you drop!

    re: .35
    >    - Here's a tip from Ruth regarding Splash Mountain. Take note
    >      of your log number because it will speed up your efforts in
    >      getting a picture of your drop. Pictures are 5x7 and cost
    >      $8.
    
    It's the photo number from the video screen you need, not the log
    number.  The pictures come out much better than the video looks.
    
    re: .36
    >I guess I was ruth's neighbor as we stayed at 2304 for the week.
    
    I can't believe it!  Do you recall seeing a red Geo Prizm?  That
    was us.
    
    re: .37
    >It must have been Digital week at Shawnee Bend.  We stayed at 2330
    >(the last one on the street).
    
    Wow!  What a coincidence!
    
    re: .40
    >We bumped into Diana, Prince William, Prince Harry and their entourage
    >last Wednesday.  We were coming out of River Country after it closed
    >just as they were pulling up in a flower-laden boat to the docks.  They
    >were coming to FW to go to the early show of the Hoop Dee Doo Review.
    
    Thanks, that confirms our suspicions.  We returned to FW that night at
    5:00 and had to show our vehicle id card to a cast member at the gate
    even after entering the correct combination.  That's the only time we
    have ever had to do that so we assumed they were at the Hoop.
    
    Ruth
    
    PS - I'll enter a trip report as soon as I can.

Arrived in Orlando Aug 22, left on August 28.

2 Adults, 3 Kids...15, 10, 6 yrs old

The Drive:

We decided to drive down this time ( over the past 15 years we have visited
WDW a few times and we either flew or took the train).

It was probably some sort of omen when I missed the Sturbridge exit
on the Mass Pike. We took the next exit and headed back to I 84 at
Sturbridge.

Here are the routes we took:

Going down...From Berlin Mass.
I 290 to Mass Pike in Worcester Mass.
Mass Pike to I 84
I 84 to I 91
I 91 to I 691
I 691 to I 84
I 84 to I 81
I 81 to Rte 17 in Va
Rte 17 to I 95 in Va
I 95 to Rte 295 around Jacksonville Fl
I 295 to I 95
I 95 to I 4 to Orlando


Coming back...
I 4 to I 95
I 95 to I 295 around Jacksonville Fl
I 295 to I 95
I 95 to I 26
I 26 to I 77
I 77 to I 81 
I 81 to I 84
I 84 to I 691 around Hartford Conn.
I 691 to I 91
I 91 to I 84
I 84 to I 90
I 90 to I 290 Worc. Mass.

It was about 1400 miles one-way in both cases.
We stayed two nights en-route each way.
Total driving time was about 29 hours incuding the normal stops for
meals, etc.

Both of these routes by-passed NYC and Wash, DC. We did run into some
minor congestion in southern PA and in VA for a little while. On the
way back we ran into a lot of truck traffic on I 81 in VA in the
Blue Ridge Mtns. It was Sunday afternoon, apparently a lot of
trucks travel then. The next day traffic was fine.

I definitely preferred the times we were not on I 95. I 95
had more traffic and the "scenery" was boring compared to
I 81 and I 77 (From the Carolinas thru Ga, I 95 was like 
driving thru a "tree trench", the trees on either side
of the road blocked your view, there were exceptions of course).
It may have cost us an extra hour or two going our inland route but 
I think that it was worth it.

My Wife and I enjoyed the drive but I am glad that we traveled
11 hours the first day because my stamina decreased
each day. The second day we drove 10 hours, the 3rd 8 hours.
The kids were very good but they did get a little bored
after the first day. They brought tapes, books, and playing
cards.

It would have been nice to be able to take a few more
days and see some of the sights along the way but we
all wanted to get to Disney ASAP. Even by doing a 3 day driving
schedule there was little time left for any side-trips. We were going 
to see Pedro at SOTB on our way back but we took the I 77
route back instead of I 95.

We did run into some intense thunderstorms in GA in the
afternoon. When driving down you really need to pay attention
and be alert.

Orlando:

We arrived in Orlando on Sunday Aug 22 at about 5:00pm.
We then proceded to the Days Inn Lakeside on Sand Lake Rd.

I picked this place because it got a good review in
Fodor's travel guide, it looked great in the
brochure, it was rated 2 diamonds by AAA, and it was
only $29.00 per night.

I was disappointed as soon as we pulled into the parking lot.
The place consisted of a number of 2 story "vintage" brick bldgs.
It has hundreds of rooms. It was at 100% capacity, I think. The buildings 
are surrounded, right to the room doors by parking lot asphalt. The lobby 
was in need of work. In other words it was a well worn place, nothing at all
like you would want on a vaction. It did have a nice litte area on a lake. 
This consisted of a very small sunning beach (no swimming allowed) and a 
board walk, a tiki bar, and  mini-wildlife "refuge". 

This would have all been "OK" but the room we got was dirty and musty.
The TV barely worked. I decided that we would stay the night. The
next morning I scouted out the Ramada Inn at Plaza International
on Jamaican Way. This was a very nice place, tropically landscaped
and newer and much cleaner than the Days Inn. The service was
much better and it was only $39.00 per night. 

This was Monday and the family wanted to venture to the MK. I figured
that since this was the "off season" it would be OK to go
there on a Monday. Well, it's off season for the hotels but not
for WDW. I think that the locals visit more this time of year. There
were also many Brit's and Germans. The MK was fairly crowded, although it 
was not overwhelming.There were 45 minute waits for Peter Pan and Splash Mtn, 
etc.

We had a nice, relaxing breakfast at the Crystal Palace and then went to
the Tree House and Tiki Birds. We then went to the Pirates of the
Carib. my 6 year old son found this a little scary. We also got
our dose of Dole Whip nearby.

We then went to Tom Sawyer's Isle and then the Country Bear Jamboree.
The weather was very hot but it was not nearly as unbearable as it
is up here during "dog days". The wife and girls went to the Haunted
House while my son and I took a break, he did not want to attempt the
Haunted House that day. 

We then worked our way back thru the castle and caught the musical/dance 
show at the castle entrance. They did a great job with Beauty and the Beast. 
We then headed to Main St. because the kids wanted to buy some magic tricks. 
My 6 yr old got hooked on the arecade there. Next we took the RR to Mickey's 
Starland. We saw the new show at Mickeys Starland.This involved a story about 
Darkwing Duck. The kids all loved it and my wife and I found it quite 
enjoyable also.

We weaved our way to to It's A Small World  and then ate at Pinochio's 
Snack Bar. We planned to come back for one or two more days but we were 
stymied as you will see later. We headed back to the motel.

In keeping with the practice of hitting every park on it's most crowded 
days; on Tuesday we went to Epcot. We first took the "sphere" ride. We
always enjoy the rides in Epcot eventhough we've been on them several times
in the past. Since it was my wife's Birthday, we made reservations at
the Akershus restaurant in the Norway pavillion. She wanted to try this
out. 

We next went to one of the Communicore Bldgs and saw a show
that we had not seen before. It was called "Behind the Scenes-Computers"
or something like that. It involved a neat special effect of a foot
tall woman travel to various computer sections. It was fun to watch.

We continued to meander around Epcot stopping and seeing things on
a whim that interested us. I kind of liked "bumping around" with no
real plans, it seemed to be more fun than overly-planning as we have in
the past.

At about 6:00 pm we headed foe Norway and rode the boat. The North
Sea must be some sight during bad weather according to the movie
they show there. Next we fulfilled our dinner reservations at the
Aksershus. It was modeled after a castle hall with tall beamed ceilings.
The dinner consisted of a cold/hot table buffet which is a copy
of what takes place at dinners in Norway. There was seafood...shrimp,
herring, etc and also there was venison. Everything was very good.
It cost us about $100.00 for all 5 of us, they counted us as
3 adults and 2 children. There was no menu offered, they 
only offered the table. We enjoyed it. By the time we finished
it was time for Illuminations. We sat right in front of the
Akershus, not a great view but it was OK. The show was great.

We took our time leaving we meandered around going the opposite
way of the crowd. It took us about 45 minutes (purposely, to
avoid the parking lot jam) to get to the front gate. By that time the
parking lot was practically empty.

Wednesday we had our character breakfast on the Empress Lilly.
We have been there three times before on previous trips. It is
always great with the characters coming to every table and signing
and posing. I did notice that this time there was much less food
offered and fewrer servers. It looks like things have been
re-engineered here to cut costs. Don't get me wrong, there was
plenty of food for us and we really enjoyed it but I did notice
the change (just as well since there used to be a lot of food
wasted).

In the afternoon my wife and 2 girls went horseback riding at
Fort Wilderness. This is a gentle guided tour which is great for
first time riders (over 9 yrs old). My wife an oldest daughter
had done this in years past. She said that this time the
guides were not as friendly as they used to be. In the past the guides
would explain different things along the way and make jokes, etc.
But it was still well worth going on.
My son and I rode the bus to the petting zoo and he rode a pony which 
I led around the track.

After the "horseys" we went to the shopping village and rented a
large pontoon boat, just for the fun of it. We traveled up the canals
by the treehouses. Our boat had a lot of seaweed on the prop and
a Disney "coastguard" guy stopped us and hopped on our boat and
fixed it for us. It traveled alot better after that. The waters
are very well patroled in unmarked boats. After that we had pizza
and calzones at Minnie's Italian restaurant. We thought the food
was pretty good there and fairly inexpensive.

We walked over to Pleasure Island and looked in the shops and at
7:30 we were allowed to enter the Adventurer's Club. We wondered
how they keep track of people who walk on to the island before
they charge admission since no one seemed to check us but we
did have the 5 day super-passes. 

We found the "show" at the Adventurer's Club to be very funny.
Actor mixed with us patrons and bantered back and forth about
various subjects in a very humorous way. We also stayed for the
library show which they staged as an old time radio show.

Before the show started we found out that they do indeed
check people for tickets. While we were sitting at the bar
a rather nervous manager came up to us and asked where
our wrist band were. We showed her our passes and she ran out 
and got us wrist bands and stamped the kids hands. It must be
that a waitress noticed that our wrists were not banded. You
cannot be served without a band. Apparently you are supposed to
head for a ticket booth and get checked in before you
enter the clubs.

I forgot what we did Thursday morning but in the afternoon we
returned to the hotel. While I was at the pool with the kids and
my wife was traveling to and from the coin-op laundry area, our
room was robbed. The manger moved us to another room but we
checked out the next morning anyway. Also during this time
Hurricane Emily was causing a certain amount of mild-panic.
It was headed straight for Orlando. 

Friday we checked into the Quality Inn Maingate, the room was large
and was one of the nicest. We proceeded to MGM studios and we also
kept track of the weather report to see what day we should leave on
in case Emily kept on track. We drove down so we did not want to
get caught in massive traffic if everyone in Orland decided to
leave at once. 

I was amazed at how the studio is made to feel larger than it is
by the way the streets and bldgs are laid out.  We did not know 
how get from on place to another even with a map. This of course
made it tha much more fun for us.

The little mermaid show was really neat with special laser effects
to make you feel like you are underwater. Also the Muppet 3-D
theater was really good with all kinds of unexpected special 
effects. We also noticed that the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror
is under construction. There was also a note that stated that
they are going to build a new street called sunset blvd.

When we walked into the park a cast member came up to my 15 yr old 
daughter and asked if she wanted to be in the Mickey Mouse Club
TV show. I don't know if they wanted her to be in the audience or
actually to do something on stage. My daughter did not want to
participate so I guess we will never know.

While in the park we kept a tab on Emily it was still heading
toward Orlando and even some of the locals were a little 
worried. 

The next day, Saturday we decided to head back north, mainly
because Emily was still headed our way, due to hit on Tuesday.
They had set up a civil defense hurricane emergency center in
Orlando. So we cut our stay short by 3 days, so we did not
have a chance to revisit the parks. This of course gives us an
excuse to return to finish up the vacation! We still have
2 days left on our passes. I noticed that this time they
have a place for you to sign your passes and it says that
they are not re-salable.

BTW, Hurricane Emily followed us all the way home.

Doug

OK, OK, OK, I did it.  Here is my trip report.  Now
go bother Ruth.  Hey Ruth, I held off as long as I could.
Where's yours?




           FIVE DAYS IS NOT ENOUGH

--Orlando, FL.

Bill Abrams, 32, and his wife, Diane, 33, were
reported to spend their 10th Anniversary on a
short vacation trip to Walt Disney World near
Orlando.  They left their home near Rochester,
New York on Thursday, September 9, and returned
Tuesday, September 14.  For the most part,
Disney lived up to the usual expectations, with
a few delights but more than the usual number
of disappointments.

--Compiled from daily trip report notes.  Excerpts
follow below. (Enough of this foolishness...)

HIGHLIGHTS

* We took a low-planning, slow-paced approach and
  saw a lot of things we wouldn't otherwise notice,
  talked to a lot of fun people, and felt relaxed
  when we returned.

* The Beach Club.  Our favorite hotel in the world.

* Narcoosee's.  Our favorite restaurant in the world.

* Met up with Ruth and Randy Lowell, and their two 
  charming (no, Ruth, they weren't brats at all!) kids.  
  See POOL PARTY below.

* Used the Vacation Kingdom Holiday Plan for $1300
  for a five day/four night package at the Beach Club,
  including two dinners and a lunch each, and the
  Be Our Guest admission plan.  A good value.

* I got a change to experiment with my new camera
  (an EOS 1000, like the Rebel) and took some really
  fun and artistic photos.  WDW is such a photographer's
  delight.  See KODAK MOMENTS.

* We saw the Shuttle Discovery Launch!  See SHUTTLE
  for the inside on how to really enjoy a launch.

LOWLIGHTS

* Hotels were not as good as expected, or, not
  up to prior experience.  Port Orleans was
  particularly disappointing. See HOTELS below.
  Mousekeeping knocked on our door every morning
  at 7:30am.  Not to clean the room, just to see if
  we'd left yet.  Annoying, especially since the parks 
  didn't open till 9!

* Fall travel has been a "best value" for us in
  the past.  Nonexistent crowds, temperate weather.
  This time, crowds were still quite high (Either
  I can't figure out when school starts in the rest
  of the country, or people are keeping their kids
  out of the first/second week of school for
  vacation a LOT more these days...)  

* Couldn't remember the meal vouchers to save my
  life.  See MEALS, MEALS, MEALS.

* It's a good thing they didn't cut the hours back 
  while we were there.  It's always been a tradeoff to
  go in the fall when crowds are low but the good shows
  are not done.  What on earth are you supposed to do
  until 10am????????

* Couldn't get the "Be our Guest" tune out of my head!
  If only I knew the "other" words...


UNEVENTFUL TRAVEL

* We traveled on one Frequent flier and one paid
  for but real cheap ticket ($170 round trip.)
  Flights were all pretty close to on time, but
  our connection in Chicago was a Looooooooooong
  walk.  Glad we didn't try that foolish idea
  about carrying two carry-ons each.

* AVIS car was a Pontiac Sunbird with 5,000 miles
  on it. Or is it 5,000Km?  The Speedometer is
  marked in big letters with Km, and small letters
  in mph.  Do you suppose the odometer was reading
  miles or Km, and if it's Km, do you suppose people
  who have rentals which pay for mileage are being
  ripped off?  The car was great, though. $180 for
  five days.  No bargain, but no hassles or long
  lines, either. 

TYPICAL CENTRAL FLORIDA WEATHER

* Weather was hot (low 90s) and muggy, with 
  significant thunderstorms and rain for 1-2 hours 
  most days.  Warning: When it starts to rain,
  don't necessarily run for the tram to stay dry.
  We though we'd beat the rain by taking the tram
  around to the Yacht Club instead of walking to
  to Beach Club.  We sat in the last row of the
  first car, and had to huddle to the center to
  avoid the rain being blown in both sides.  Water
  began to pool up in the seat.  First stop:
  Swan and Dolphin.  We pull alongside the shelter
  and the WHAM! the brakes engage and we stop 
  quite suddenly.  THREE THOUSAND GALLONS OF WATER
  FROM THE CAR BEHIND US CASCADES OFF THE ROOF AND
  INTO THE LAST THREE ROWS.  Remember which row
  we are in?  Next stop:  Yacht Club.  The shelter
  is a perfect distance away from the nearest door 
  for getting just about thoroughly soaked.  Then,
  we have to slog a mile through the halls of both
  the Yacht and Beach Clubs, in bone-chilling 
  air conditioning.  We got caught out in the rain
  on our way into EPCOT one evening, too, and didn't
  want to buy the ponchos so we tried to ride it out 
  in Impressions de France.


HOTELS NOT UP TO EXPECTATIONS

Port Orleans.  We spent our first night at Port Orleans.  We
opted for the higher priced room, for only $4 more to get a king
bed.  To our surprise, this highest price category room faced the 
parking lot.  If we were staying any longer, I'd have had a chat
about expectations with the hotel manager.  

We were also slightly disappointed by the way rooms are handed out
for early check-in at the Beach Club.  On our last stay, we were
lucky and our room was available at 8:00am.  This time, it was not
ready, and we were prepared for that, and figured we'd check back about
noon.  When we returned, there was still no room ready. BUT -- I watched
as several others around me got their rooms, in the same category.  It
seems that they call housekeeping each time you check back, and if 
a room is ready at that moment, you're in, otherwise, try again later.
I would have hoped their system would make rooms available on a first
checked in, first served basis.  It was hot, we were tired, we wanted
to rest.  Diane was outraged, and made more of a fuss than I did, so they
did find us a room.  They "punished" us with the longest walk in the hotel
from the lobby to a room...


THE PARKS

We spent two mornings in the Magic Kingdom, one day in MGM, one
morning in Typhoon Lagoon, and the rest at EPCOT.  There was
not much new or different, but we did enjoy nearly walk-on line
conditions, even *gasp* for Splash Mountain.  

I'm glad to read that Carousel of Progress will be brought back to
life, now that I've stared at its "closed" sign the last two trips.

At EPCOT, we saw our favorites:  Impressions de France, Wonders of China,
Horizons, World of Motion, Spaceship Earth, and the picked up most
everything else as time progressed.  I'm surprised to learn that The Land
will be so extensively redone.  I like "Listen to the Land."  On our way
into Kitchen Kabaret, a newcomer asked the gate attendant "What is this?"
She replied, "We have dancing vegetables!"  As we rode through
Journey into Imagination, Diane remarks "I wonder who thought this up."
I thought the answer was obvious: It's a figment of someone's imagination?

At MGM, I loitered in Animations (my very favorite) and we did the Great
Movie Ride, Backlot Tour, Star Tours, and, of course, MuppetVision 3,no,4D.

At Typhoon Lagoon, we went on the family ride for the first time, after
discovering that they will pair up couples in the line (the sign out front 
requiring 4 people has deterred us in the past.)

I wanted to get to Discovery Island this trip, but didn't find the time.

We spent one evening in Pleasure Island, mostly at the Adventurer's Club.
One of the adventurers was preparing for a trip to New York City, and 
made quite a fuss about it for several hours.  He asked many questions that
another guest and I were able to answer.  I admit we injected a bit of 
fiction into our tales of the Big Apple, though.  He was quite concerned
about the subway and getting around. I saw another person enter the club
with a T-shirt depicting the New York Subway System!  Well, that kept
him occupied for a while.   He even asked for the shirt, but *she* 
politely declined. Diane forgot to bring her license to get in to Pleasure
Island, but we pleaded our case, and since my ID showed 32 years, they
believed her and let her in.


TRAVEL AROUND THE WORLD

From the Beach Club Hotel, we take the bus to Magic Kingdom,
boat to MGM, and walk to EPCOT.  We kept seeing people waiting
for buses to places that there aren't buses to!  They need to
help people out by being clearer on how to use the transportation
system.  

While waiting to board the boat to MGM, the crew was talking to
an egret (that long legged thin white bird you usually see standing
in the shallow water's edges).  His name is Oscar, and he's been 
hanging around the end of the Beach/Yacht Club docks for about 2 years.
He's quite tame, and will let you approach very close for a picture.

One of our favorite plans is to start the day at the Magic Kingdom,
then ride the monorails back to EPCOT.  We asked for the front, and
were first in line. 

			    SUGGESTION

	Talk to cast members whenever you have the chance.
	They all have stories to tell, and sometimes let
	you in on little-known facts or secrets.  Our
	monorail driver told us about the naming of Pleasure
	Island. (I believe this was the second choice, as 
	they couldn't use "Treasure Island.") You know that
	Pleasure Island in Pinnochio was the place that little
	boys were turned into jack*sses.  WDW's Pleasure Island
	is designed as the place that ADULTS can turn into
	jack*sses.  Also, do ALL monorail drivers use the lame
	"where's the brakes?" as they pull into the station?

			      WARNING

	If you talk to cast members, you may learn something
	you DIDN'T want to know.  Our monorail driver let us
	know that he suffers from chronic depression. 
	Let me off.  Now.


POOL PARTY

We made arrangements to call Ruth Lowell and family (husband
Randy, and kids Nicole and Andrew) when we arrived.  
We decided a good way to meet up would be to have
lunch together and spend our mid-day break swimming at
Stormalong Bay, the pool complex at the Beach and Yacht Club
Hotels.  Ruth didn't get to use Stormalong bay when she stayed
there before, so they could use it as our guests (Use of 
stormalong bay is restricted to hotels guests, but only one
hotel ID must be shown to get towels.)  

It was raining when we met, so we had lunch at Beaches & Cream.
Diane and I split a regular ice cream sundae while Ruth and 
Nicole tried, oh how they tried, to split the colossal sundae.
It made me full just to look at it.

Off to the pool!  I went to get towels. Then he wanted to know
the child ages for flotation jackets and I almost choked but
pretended Ruth was my sister and brought her back to handle
those details. We had fun exploring the sinking sands, whirlpool,
bubbles, and even the kiddie pool.  Nicole decided she wanted to
do the waterslide (it's a big one.)  But, she's not a strong 
swimmer yet,  and cannot wear the flotation jacket on the slide.
Later, she decides she can do it without the jacket.  One problem:
Ruth must stay behind to watch ??? and hold the jacket.  Nicole
must go down the slide AFTER daddy does, so he can "catch" her.
So I asked Nicole if I could wait at the top with her.  To my 
surprise, she thought that was an acceptable arrangement, and
off we went.  I was expecting her to change her mind once dad
disappeared down the long tubed start to the slide.  But when
the lifeguard said OK, she jumped right in!  Other people's
kids are great.

FOOD, FOOD, FOOD


We have come to enjoy the food at WDW as one of the main attractions.
We had a few, shall we say, execution errors in meals this trip.

We planned to have cheap breakfasts, in the form of coffee and danish
at the tastiest spots.

    Attempt 1:  Starring Rolls, in MGM, is closed during the construction
    of Sunset Blvd.  Had to eat in Hollywood & Vine.  Good, but expensive.

    Attempt 2:  France.  Good, but not cheap at $15 for 4 pastries and
    two coffees.

    Attempt 3:  Norway.  The splendid selection of pastries, puddings,
    and custards was nowhere to be found.  Had to settle for a *yogurt*
    and coffee.  Ten minutes later, other customers emerge from the 
    counter areas with those very custards and pastries we had wanted.
    We had been 10 minutes too early, or were they late?

Our lunches were quite good.  Our best meal of the entire trip was our
last day's lunch at Narcoosee's.   There were only 5 paying customers.
One set of tables was occupied by a Disney "DREAM" lunch, in which 
several employees were being honored with "Gold" status in customer
service.  "DREAM" stands for "Disney Resort Experiences Are Magic" and
it is their employee performance excellence program.

We had one quick lunch at the Soundstage Restaurant in MGM.

Our package included vouchers for two dinners and a lunch.  
So we decided to go to Chefs de France for the lunch.  Problem: You 
can't make reservations before 10am at guest services in the hotel.
The worldkey terminals don't operate in the morning, either.  So we
have to walk all the way to the front of EPCOT first thing to get our
reservations, since Chefs de France is one of the most popular and
fills up quickly.  We get our 1:30 reservation.  At 12:30, I go back
to the room to change film.  At 1:10, I'm strolling back to the back
gate when I realize I've forgotten the lunch vouchers.  I walk quickly
back to the hotel, and can't find my key. Ack!  To the front desk.
Get a new key.  Back up to the room (remember that looong walk to my room)
and get the vouchers.  Now it's 1:30 and I run all the way back to 
the park and to France.  I sit down, out of breath, and plan my lunch.
Then, we find that the vouchers for lunch do NOT include EPCOT restaurants.
Aaargh.  Oh yes, it's a good thing we went to the effort to make those
reservations -- we were the ONLY RESERVED TABLE for 1:30, and one of only
about 10 tables occupied.

While having lunch at Chefs de France, we saw the previous day's MGM
stars of the day eating at the table on the other side of the room!
It was Candace Cameron and the guy who plays her boyfriend on FULL HOUSE.
She was quite embarrassed at having spilled something red on her all-white
outfit.

We also had a lunch at Mama Melroses's, and the restaurant was again
almost empty.  The service was excellent as a result, with several people
doting on our every need.  Diane's Diet Coke was promptly replaced when
empty -- with iced tea.  The food, however, was exactly as expected,
and very good.

We had our anniversary dinner at Narcoosee's, which was excellent as
usual.  We used the other dinner voucher for Porto Bello Yacht Club.
While waiting for the bus, I realized I had -- can you guess?  Yes,
forgotten the vouchers.  Run back to the room.  Run back down to the
bus stop.  The bus chose to be late that evening, so I made it.  That's
also when Diane realized she had forgotten her license to get into
Pleasure Island.  Vacation's not supposed to be that hectic!  

We had a quick dinner one evening at San Angel Cafe (where I 
downed four watermelon drinks, yummmmmmmm).


KODAK MOMENTS

I got a chance to really learn how to operate my new
SLR camera and do some artistic photography.  It's a
Canon EOS 1000, like a Rebel.  It has the "green" mode,
just point and shoot, for Diane, but it can also 
operate in a number of specialized and priority modes,
full manual, and do special effects like multiple exposures.

I've done a lot of photography in WDW with automatic cameras,
too.  Here's some hints that will help you get consistently
good pictures:

* Bring a mix of 100 and 400 speed film.  Use the 100 only
  for full daylight, and finish the roll. Don't be caught
  in the evening with 100 loaded.

* Plan your photography days as either outdoors with 100,
  or inside attractions with 400.  Don't waste your 100
  speed film inside the attractions.

* Get a camera that permits you to use flash selectively.
  (Many new automatic 35mm cameras automatically flash in
  low light.)  Most indoor attractions don't permit flash
  photography.  100 speed film won't work inside without
  flash.  Don't be one of the morons who thinks it will OK
  if they just get ONE flash picture during Voyage of the
  Little Mermaid.

* If your camera has an automatic shutter feature, which
  holds the shutter open longer in low light, steady the
  camera on a solid object.  Your picture WILL NOT come
  out if you hold it by hand.

* You can't take flash pictures of fireworks or light effects
  such as lasers.

* Take an extra few seconds to compose your shots.  Look
  through the viewfinder to see IF it's a good picture,
  then adjust your range or position a bit to see if you
  can improve the shot.  THEN take the picture.

* Be creative and a bit silly.  Pose with a statue.
  Peer over a fountain. Try odd angles, like from the
  ground up.  Take pictures of people you don't know.


SHUTTLE

I saved the best (for me) for last.  You can stop reading 
if the space shuttle doesn't interest you.

We tried to get into the VIP viewing area (I'm a member
of the National Space Society) but it couldn't be done
as the launch was rescheduled with short notice.

I thought we'd try to reach Jetty Park, near Cocoa Beach
and the Port of Canaveral which has an oceanside view of
the Air Force launch complexes, but probably not a direct
view of the Shuttle launch complex.  I was warned by my
NSS contact that we probably would have to settle for
a roadside view of the launch as it rose over the treeline.

The launch window was 7:45am to 9:40am.  I figured that
arriving at 6:30 would be a big advantage over 7:00, so
we set the alarms for 4:30 (Sacrilege!  Mickey would have
yelled at me if he'd known.)  We rolled out at 5:30.

As we neared the Bee Line "split" (left to KSC, right to
Cocoa Beach) we could see a bright light in the sky ahead.
When we crossed the causeway bridges it became evident
that it was the launch complex, all lit up with really
bright searchlights pointed into the sky.  As we crossed
the last bridge, from Merrit Island to Cape Canaveral, we
noticed cars parked on the opposite side in the sand just
below the start of the bridge.  We also noticed the clear
view across the Indian River to the launch complex. Clearly,
this was the place to be.  Over the bridge, at the sign
that points to Jetty Park and Port Canaveral (turn left)
we did a U-turn and went back.  This was the place. There
were some fishermen camped here, and we were the fourth or
fifth shuttle watchers.  We were about 5 miles away, with
a clear view of the launch complex.  Through my camera's
300mm lense, I could make out the details of the external
tank and orbiter.

By 7am, as I predicted, the place was packed.  I heard radios
turned on, and asked someone what they were listening to.
It seems that the local station at 91.5FM carries an 
uninterrupted link to launch control from an hour before to 
15 minutes after the launch.  So we cranked up the car radio
and waited.  Everything progressed smoothly.  A thundercloud
cell off the coast was checked by aircraft and the report
came back OK.  The scheduled hold was released at T-6 minutes.
At 7:45, the count was at one minute.  There was an audible 
murmer of relief at T-30 seconds when the onboard computers
assume control and do a full set of sensor checks.  

Incredibly, on this sixth attempt to launch this mission, 
the main engines fired at T-2 seconds, and the Solid Rocket Boosters 
ignited at T-0, just as they're supposed to.  A boiling cloud
of white smoke surrounded the launch complex, and a fiery tail
rose slowly over it.  Clapping and cheering accompanied Discovery's
gradual rise, at a surprisingly shallow angle, or so it seemed.
A minute later, the dull roar of the launch reach us, and surrounded
us.  The high humidity took the bite out the sound of the launch,
was it was still impressive.  Two minutes later, we could still see
the fire tails as the Solid Rocket Boosters separated.  I can even
pick out the three separate trails of the SRBs and the orbiter
continuing on in my photos.  Two minutes after that, the signal
was given for MECO (Main Engine Cut Off) as Discovery entered orbit.

And everybody piled back into their cars, and cleared out.

Time for me to clear out of here.  I hear my sister is planning to take
her eight year old to Disney over her winter break.  I think she
needs a tour guide...

Bill

    
    We made the trip last July, and I feel guilty not having done a trip
    report! I'll keep it short.
    
    Flew into Miami (from UK). Survived getting the car at Dollar - worst
    experience of the trip! I'm still claiming a refund from Virgin
    Holidays for my 'upgrade' to a full size car - the lebaron is NOT my
    definition ofa full sized car! (views?)
    
    ten days in Marco Island. We LIKE Marco! Some people say it's too
    developed....hey! It's got a beach, hotels, McDonalds, Little Caeser,
    etc. - what more could you want with two teenage kids!
    
    Up to Orlando - stayed at Polynesian. This is our fifth year in a
    row...nothing new...did the circuit - parks, wet n wild, etc. GREAT.
    
    went to Busch gardens for a 'break' - rode the Kumba roller coaster.
    Almost died of fright - but established serious 'street cred' with my
    son! This ride made Space Mountain seem tame when we did it the next
    day.
    
    What did I think was different/good/bad?
    
    - Dollar - AWFUL
    - service in the Hotels (disney) - seemed to be a lot less impressive
    than in former years. Are they laying off staff??
    - Poly restaurant ( papatea bay) - by no means as good as previous.
    'plain' meals (steak) were fine - anything ' oriental' was too greasy.
    
    - EPCOT was great! I KNOW - it's an acquired taste...hate it if you
    must!
    
     - i loved Busch gardens - that was a great day out.
    
     - Little Caesars Pizza was LOVELY!
    
     - we hated coming back - and can't wait till next year!
    
    John.
      
     
    

          Trip report for the Parmlind family

	Who:  Elizabeth - me
              Ove - husband
              Erik - son (4 years old)
              Emilie - daughter (almost 3)
              Bo - father-in-law

        When: Oct 29 - Nov 7

	How:  Delta non stop flight Boston to Orlando

	Hotel: 2 nights Best Western Space Shuttle Inn - Titusville
               7 nights Fort Wilderness trailer home

        Admission: Annual passport for me, 5 day super duper passes for
          Ove and Erik, 1 day admission to EPCOT for Bo

	Previous trips:  Nov 1991, Dec 1992

	    Since I have 4 siblings living in the Orlando area we find
   lots of excuses to visit Florida.  This year's event was my brother's
   wedding.  The Disney portion of our trip began late on Halloween when
   we checked into Fort Wilderness.  This was our second time staying there.
   We have also stayed at a Disney Village Treehouse.  I prefer Fort Wilderness.
      I should mention that our original reservation was for just 4 nights
   at FW.  We added 1 night at the beginning and 2 nights at the end without
   problem.  Checkin went very smoothly.  Since it was Halloween the cast
   member was dressed as Dopey.  He was very friendly and helpful.  He gave
   me an info sheet called the Fort resort short report.  This was a summary
   of all attractions and their times.  I know we never received this before.
   For example it listed all of the movies to be shown at the campfire program.
      We stayed in a non smoking trailer - # 2206.  I was very pleased with
   the trailer.  It was obvious that it had recently been refurbished.  When
   we stayed at FW in 1991 everything was quite worn.  Using the AP special
   the room cost $104.50/night all taxes included.
      Over the next 6 days we visited all of the parks at least once.  New
   things for us were River Country, Discovery Island, Typhoon Lagoon and
   Pleasure Island.  The kids really liked DI.  The adults really loved PI.
   Bo babysat the kids every night which made this a great vacation for my
   husband and I.

   Trip Highlights:
___________________

    If you eat lunch in TMK, EPCOT or MGM you receive a coupon good for 20%
    off a meal after 4 PM that same day.  The coupon is good in all the parks
    and the resorts.  For example I received a coupon when I bought a hot dog
    in the Magic Kingdom.  We got 20% off our total bill in The Rose and Crown
    Pub that evening.

    The Comedy Warehouse - this was our first time there and we loved it.

    The Adventurer's Club - we loved this too.
   
    The kids loved Mickey's Starland.  We went there several times and just
    let them play in the playground and get autographs.

    We NEVER waited for anything at EPCOT.  The only wait at MGM was for
    The Little Mermaid - about 10 minutes.  There were waits for the
    Fantasyland attractions in TMK.  However on Saturday (when the park
    is open late) TMK is very crowded.

    River Country - this was our first water park experience as a family.
     We had a great time.      

    FW bus ride - there is a bus driver who works nights at FW.  We remembered
    him from 2 years ago.  He is a  lot of fun - tell jokes, pulls gags on 
    the passengers.

    FW campfire program - we love this, we went 3 times

 Downside
----------

    We had a rental car.  I would NEVER stay at Disney without one.  We
 found the FW transportation system very frustrating.  They used to use
 different color flags on the buses.  Now the buses are not marked, all
 buses go to all stops.  But of course they follow different routes.  It
 seems to be impossible to choose the right bus without asking the driver.
 I was given misinformation by the drivers on 2 occasions.  Since parking
 is not allowed at Pioneer Hall or the Meadow you have to use the buses
 sometimes.  Or rent a golf cart which I believe were renting for $21/day.
 We always drove to our destination with the exception of TMK/RC/DI.  At
 certain times of day the launch to TMK is convenient.

    We got a great table at the Hoop de Doo revue.  However the food was
 poor.  We remembered the food as being good during our visit 2 years ago.

    As expected this time of year many attractions were "being refurbished
 for our future enjoyment".  My son really missed Small World (I was glad
 I didn't have to ride it though).

  Best tips read in DISNEY notes
________________________________

  Annual passport resort discounts - I used my AP for a 50% discount last
  year for a 6 night stay at a treehouse.  This year was a 7 night FW stay
  also discounted 50%.  I really loved having an AP.  On days that my husband
  did not want to use one of his SD pass days I used my AP to make quick 
  shopping trips at TMK.  By the way I was never asked to show my AP to get
  the discount.  As a matter of fact the cast member tried to sell me a be
  our guest pass.  I said why would I want that when I'm checking in with an
  AP.

  Parking at the Contemporary - We never would have thought of this ourselves.
  We parked here several times and walked to TMK.  Much better than FW 
  transportation.

  Parking at the Beach Club - we used the International gateway one night.
  This was quite convenient.


  Summary
  _______

  All in all we had a great time.  However I don't think we'll go back for
  about 5 years.  This was our last trip that Emilie could get in for free.
  (And the first time that we paid for Erik).  I think the kids need to be
  quite a bit older to get our money's worth next time.

during the planning of our trip to Florida i got a lot of useful information
from this notesfile, so heres the payback ... time constraints prevent me 
from entering a day-by-day diary account of what we did, so i'll concentrate
on overall impressions

who	: myself, my wife, kids aged 4 and 6

when	: October 9th to 22nd

where	: rented house at Davenport Lakes, near Kissimee (thanks Tena)

how	: home (Neuchatel, Switzerland) to London Heathrow, United to 
	  Washington, then US Air to Orlando. Return trip via Newark

what we did : we did just about everything we'd planned on doing before we 
went. We spent time at all 3 Disney theme parks; at Universal Studios; at
Sea World; at Kennedy Space Centre; at Cocoa Beach; at De Soto Island and 
Clearwater on the Gulf Coast; and as an unexpected bonus, we saw the Space
Shuttle launch

what we liked : just about everything. Of the 3 Disney parks, we liked Epcot
most, and the Magic Kingdom least. Epcot seemed to catch the kids attention,
and we spent 3 days there, and could have spent more time if we'd had it.
Our favourite attractions were Spaceship Earth, Living Seas, Cranium Command
and Kitchen Kabaret. The kids enjoyed Journey Into Imagination, and we went 
back several times. Another big plus was that we didn't ever have to queue
for more than 5 minutes for any attraction, and often walked straight on.

MGM was fun too, and again we didn't have to queue up at all. Our favourites
were MuppetVision, the animation tour, and Star Tours. The kids especially 
enjoyed the stage shows - my 4 year old daughter sat silent and open-mouthed
through 2 performances each of Beauty and the Beast and Voyage of the Little
Mermaid. Only bad point was Catastrophe Canyon, which was a little too 
realistic for my son.

We found the Magic Kingdom a little disappointing - it seemed much more 
cramped and crowded than the other parks, especially on Saturday night when
we went to see the parade. Also we'd already "seen" several of the attractions
there when we went to EuroDisney last year, and 2 of the things the kids most
wanted to see (Small World and Mickeys Starland show) were closed when we were
there. Still, there were some great rides - our favourites were Splash 
Mountain, Space Mountain (? - the roller coaster in the dark), Jungle Cruise
(not for the ride, but for the "guide" in our boat, who is a comic genius and
deserves a wider audience), and the Country Bear Jamboree.

Before we went to Universal Studios we weren't expecting too much (figuring it
would be very similar to MGM), but we were very pleasantly surprised. Again the
kids enjoyed the live shows (especially Ghost Busters, Animal Actors, and the
Wild West Stunt Show), and the thrill rides were excellent, especially Jaws and
the Hanna-Barbera Cartoon Ride. We all rated Back to the Future as THE best
ride of the whole holiday, and well worth the longest queue we encountered
on the whole trip (about 25 minutes)

We were also impressed by Sea World - our favourites were Terrors of the Deep,
the whale and dolphin shows, and the manatees. It took a long time to convince
the kids that the manatees were real, as they look so improbable. Also the
childrens adventure playground was excellent, and best of all they let 
grown-ups on too (as long as you've got a child with you)

We thought that Kennedy Space Centre was well worth the drive from Orlando
(the I-MAX film is almost worth the trip on its own), and
combined it with a trip to Cocoa Beach (where i proved that, unlike riding a
bike, it IS possible to forget how to stand on a surfboard - much to the
amusement of the rest of the family). As a bonus we found out about the launch
of the Space Shuttle, but despite my eulogising it as a triumph of scientific
achievement the kids rated the actual launch as "ok, but not as good as the
fireworks at Epcot..."

Our other trip away from Orlando was to the Gulf Coast. We went to De Soto
Island (impressive wildlife), Pass a Grille (great beach), and Clearwater. We
thought that this coast was much more pleasant than the Atlantic coast.

Another highlight of the trip for us was the food - well not the food exactly,
which was good without being great (with a couple of exceptions), but more the
fact that there was such a great choice of good value, family oriented
restaurants who welcomed the kids rather than just tolerating them. In our
experience it makes a big change from restaurants here in Europe (well, 
perhaps not ALL of europe...). The best meals we ate were at Leverocks Seafood
Restaurant in St Petersburg, and at a chinese buffet in Kissimee which was
amazing value for money.

We were glad we opted to stay in a rented house, rather than in a hotel. It
gave us plenty of room to relax without getting in each others way, put the
kids to bed then sit and watch tv, eat breakfast at home ... We figured the
cost was comparable to staying at the cheapest Disney hotel on-property, and
we reckoned we got much better value for money - it was a great house, with
all the facilities you could want, even its own pool (thanks again Tena!)

We were also glad that we opted to buy Annual Passports rather than 5 day passes.
The extra cost was well worth it for the convenience (we could spend just a
couple of hours at Disney, without feeling we had to spend a whole day there -
we ended up spending all or part of 8 seperate days at the Disney parks)

would we go again : definitely yes, but not for 3 or 4 years. There are lots
of other parts of the USA that we want to see first...

Once again, thanks to everybody who provided information through this 
conference when we were planning this trip. It made a lot of difference.

	Ray Wright.

         Whipple-Ungarean Disneyworld Trip Report: 11/21/93 - 11/26/93
    
    
    SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21
    
    We arrived at the Grosvenor Resort / Disney Village Plaza about 4PM.  
    The weather in Miami had been sunny, clear, and hot (mid-80s), but 
    Orlando was a bit gray and cool (mid-70s).  After a week in the 
    Caribbean, it felt chilly to us!  
    
    Our package (through Norwegian Cruise Lines) included 5 nights at the 
    hotel, an AVIS rental car, two 4-day passes to Disney, and two 1-day 
    passes to Universal Studios.  However, when I opened the envelope 
    containing the tickets, I discovered the Disney passes were marked 
    "valid through November 24, 1993" - which was only through Wednesday!  
    We had planned to do the parks Monday through Thursday (for the 4 days 
    we were supposed to have passes for).  If we had to go on Sunday, we'd 
    only have a few hours that day, and have to purchase one-day passes for 
    our last full day in Florida!  Betsy at Guest Services called Disney 
    for us, explained the situation, and they agreed to send over two 
    complimentary one-day passes for us.  Now that's my idea of service!
    
    We thought about going over to EPCOT (since there wasn't enough time 
    left for MGM or MK that day), but decided to rest, have a relaxing 
    dinner, and do the laundry.  After one week on a cruise, there weren't 
    many clean clothes left.  Oh well, at least we were well rested for the 
    next few days to come.
    
    
    MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22
    
    It's morning and we're at Disneyworld!  This was my second visit (last 
    one was 9 years ago), but Gary's first time.  I can't get him excited 
    and moving.  Arrrg!  FINALLY about 10:15 we get out front to wait - and 
    wait - for the WDW bus to take us to the Magic Kingdom.  One for MK 
    passes by and doesn't stop - all full.  Others come for EPCOT and MGM.  
    Finally the MK bus, after 35 minutes, and it's standing room only.  Oh 
    well, we're almost there.  We can stand for a few minutes.  (Yeah, 
    right.  Either the driver is really obeying the speed limits or there's 
    a lot of traffic.  It takes almost 20 minutes to arrive at the TTC.)
    
    OK, made it at last, even though it's now after 11:00.  Rush over to 
    Space Mountain, because everyone had told me it was a "must do".  
    Everyone else had the same idea, because the wait was almost an hour.  
    I ended up in the front of the rocket.  I enjoyed the first 30 seconds 
    or so of the ride, but that was enough for me.  My neck and back killed 
    me the rest of the week.  Sorry, but I'll skip the rest of these 
    roller-coaster types rides!
    
    Lunchtime and the snack bar under the little rockets (don't 
    remember what they were called) didn't seem crowded.  We got in line 
    with only 6 people in front of us and thought we'd have our Handwiches 
    in no time.  Wrong!  Do they bake the bread to order or what?!!  I 
    think I could have walked back to Massachusetts faster than they served 
    the customers.  It took 20 minutes - we timed it! - to get our meal.  
    And the whole time those little rockets and the WEDway people mover 
    were right over our heads creating MUCH LOUD NEVER ENDING NOISE.  
    Definitely not a good choice for lunch, in our opinion.
    
    By now the park was jammed.  Every ride we wanted to go on had 30 
    minute or longer rides.  We did manage to see the Country Bear 
    Jamboree, and one or two other things (my mind is a blank, and without 
    my Birnbaum in front of me, I can't remember what we saw!), but because 
    my husband had to make a business call, we had to leave around 3PM.  
    The good news was, when we got to the Monorail, we were able to sit up 
    front with the driver.  (Thanks to the tips in this NOTES file!)
    
    Business conducted, it was back to the MK to try to squeeze in just a 
    little more.  We re-entered the gates around 5:30 and just walked right 
    onto Tropical Serenade, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, and 
    Haunted Mansion.  The park closed at 7PM, so we took the monorail and 
    bus back to the Grosvenor.
    
    We jumped off the bus in front of the hotel and waited about 30 seconds 
    for the bus to Pleasure Island.  We were starving, so we dashed to the 
    Portobello Yacht Club.  Wonderful dinner!  My husband especially 
    enjoyed the whole roasted garlic bulb they provide with the warm bread.  
    
    Now we were ready to take in the action.  We went to the Adventurers' 
    Club, which to us seemed , well, ummm, strange.  Maybe it was the crowd 
    that night, but none of the "jokes" or activities struck any of us as 
    funny.  I had really been looking forward to this particular club, 
    based on the reports in this file, but it just didn't click for us.
    
    One side note, the cast member who played the "nerd" that night looked 
    enough like Len Goldberg to be his brother!  I kept staring at him to 
    be sure it wasn't, but who knows?  Maybe that's where former Disney 
    moderators go when they leave Digital ;-)  
    
    We stayed about an hour, then went to the Jazz Club.  Hardly anyone 
    there, and the music was great.  The highlight of the day for my 
    husband was buying a T-shirt with trombones silk-screened on it.  (Gary 
    has played the trombone since he was in grade school.)
    
    Then it was New Year's Eve.  We got some espresso at D-Zerta (terrible 
    name - reminds me of that no-calorie jello, which I always hated), 
    counted down to midnight, then danced in the streets for awhile.  I 
    haven't been up that late in years - must be showing my age!
    
    
    TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23
    
    Today is MGM day.  Only 30 minutes for the bus.  Beginning tomorrow 
    we're just going to drive ourselves!
    
    Crowds are much lighter than yesterday, or they're spread out more.  
    Hardly any waits.  Really enjoyed the Animation tour.  As a matter of 
    fact, I thought I'd never get Gary out of there, he was so interested.  
    We did the Great Movie Ride, Backstage Tour, Indiana Jones, Muppets 3-D 
    theater (this was our favorite!), etc.
    
    We had lunch reservations at the 50s Prime Time Cafe.  The food was 
    pretty good, but that decor!  Gads, the 50s really had some ugly stuff.  
    Looks just like I remembered it, too.  The clips on the TV were fun, 
    and our "brother" took good care of us since "Mom" was busy with the 
    other kids - but of course he did remind us it had been a long time 
    since we'd been home and we didn't call Mom often enough.   
    
    After we'd seen everything on our must do list, we headed over to 
    EPCOT.
    
    Again the crowds were light compared to the Magic Kingdom.  We had 
    dinner reservations at the Bistro de Paris (upstairs from the Chefs de 
    France in EPCOT).  Now this was one excellent meal!  Fresh hot bread.  
    Butter molded into little French chefs (at least I think that's what 
    they were!).  Complimentary mini-quiche bites while we were deciding on 
    our meals.  I highly recommend this restaurant, although it is by no 
    means inexpensive.  Dinner for two, with appetizers, salad, entrees, 
    wine, tip, and taxes was about $100.  (We didn't have room for 
    dessert.)
    
    I just wanted to give Gary a brief look at EPCOT, since we planned to 
    spend the next 2 days there, so we just walked around the World 
    Showcase, then went back to the Grosvenor.
    
    
    WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24
    
    From our hotel room to the geosphere in 15 minutes.  Ah, it pays to 
    drive yourself sometimes.  
    
    We started with Communicore - a mistake on my part.  Again I had a hard 
    time dragging my husband away, he wanted to see everything!  We were 
    disappointed that the backstage tour wasn't being conducted that day 
    (or the next, either, by the way).  The last time I was there this was 
    the insight on how computers ran things at Disneyworld, and even though 
    they were Unisys computers, I wanted to see it again.  Phooey!
    
    On to the Land.  Another disappointment - the Listen to the Land ride 
    is closed for refurbishing.  We ate lunch at the Garden Grille.  
    Service was lousy, food mediocre, prices pretty high for the quality 
    and quantity.  Well, it still revolved anyway.  Kitchen Kabaret wasn't 
    as cute as I'd remembered, but maybe I was still cranky over our lunch.
    
    We also saw the Living Seas, Journey into the Imagination, the ride in 
    Spaceship Earth, then headed over to the World Showcase.
    
    We did a few of the countries, then decided we needed a snack, so into 
    the sidewalk cafe at France for cheese and wine.  Ah, this is the way 
    to live!
    
    A few more countries, then to Germany for our dinner reservations.  Our 
    table was right at the front, so I hope our pictures came out.  We sat 
    at a table with 3 couples who were traveling together.  When they asked 
    where we were from we answered "the Boston area" since most people know 
    where that is, and surprise! so were they!  "Actually we're from 
    Framingham".  Surprise!  So were they!  (Can anyone hear It's a Small 
    World playing in the background right about now :-) )
    
    Tonight we stayed for Illuminations.  What a great show!  I wish it 
    could see it every night of my life!  
    
    
    THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25 - Thanksgiving Day
    
    Again to EPCOT.  Yesterday was the last day with our 4 day passes, so 
    today we use the complimentary ones.  The only problem is they're only 
    good for one park, so EPCOT is where we'll stay for the day.  
    
    Visited the rest of the countries and technology exhibits, again hardly 
    any waits at all.  Lunch at the lunch counter in the Wonders of Life.  
    We both had the low-fat subs (low fat cheese and turkey salami, turkey 
    ham, turkey - well, you get the idea).
    
    Afternoon snack at Alfredo's in Italy.  Favorite "sight" of the day was 
    "Cranium Command", but "The Making of Me" was pretty special, too.  Saw 
    Impresions de France - twice - since my husband enjoyed it so much.  
    Listed to the Voices of Liberty.  Saw both the 360 CircleVision movies 
    (at China and Canada).  By this time I preferred the 
    less-than-all-around-you instead because you could sit down - my feet 
    were killing me!  "Maelstrom" at Norway, was fun, but much too short.  
    Good thing the lines were short.
    
    We'd originally made reservations to eat at the Liberty Tree Tavern in 
    the MK (billed as having "a Pilgrim's Feast"), but after we picked up 
    those complimentary tickets from Betsy at Guest Services at the 
    Grosvenor and realized we'd be limited to one park, we decided it would 
    be less hassle to cancel those dinner reservations and pick some place 
    in EPCOT.  Betsy called Disney and they told her all the restaurants in 
    EPCOT would be having traditional Thanksgiving Dinners, so we opted for 
    the Living Seas since we thought it would be interesting to eat at an 
    aquarium.
    
    Well, my idea of a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner wasn't exactly the 
    Living Seas idea of a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner.  Yes, there was 
    turkey with oyster stuffing, and cranberry sauce, and pumpkin or pecan 
    pie.  Maryland corn chowder or lobster bisque.  Salad.  BUT - no gravy, 
    no mashed potatoes, no "Thanksgiving" vegetables.  You got mashed sweet 
    potatoes, and spaghetti squash and cooked celery.  After a little 
    discussion, we decided to have our traditional Thanksgiving dinner when 
    we got back to Framingham, so I had a steak and Gary had salmon.  Heck, 
    we should have gone back to the Bistro de Paris!
    
    
    FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26
    
    Time to pack up, check out, and return the rental car.  The flight back 
    to Boston was crowded, with the kids behind us kicking our seats all 
    the way up the Atlantic Seaboard.  Thank goodness they serve wine on 
    airplanes! 
    
    
    FINAL COMMENTS
    
    We didn't see everything we wanted to see - which gives a good reason 
    to return soon.  The Magic Kingdom was very crowded, and for these two 
    visitors not worth spending much time in.  If we had children I'm sure 
    our opinion would be different.
    
    MGM and EPCOT were delightful, and when we go back we will probably 
    spend all our time there instead.
    
    Although the Grosvenor is on Disney property, it is inconvenient if you 
    depend on the buses.  It's the last hotel on the loop, so buses were 
    crowded by the time they got to us.  Much better to drive yourself.
    
    However, the Grosvenor was a nice hotel, clean and in the process of 
    being redecorated.  Guest Services is great for making all those lunch 
    and dinner reservations.  Mini-refrigerators in the room, no key 
    required, and none of their stuff in them so you can stop at Goodings 
    and stock them with your own goodies.
    
    Didn't make it to Typhoon Lagoon, but a bit too chilly to make us miss 
    it.  Temperatures generally in the mid-70s, dropping to the 50s at 
    night.  Overcast and sprinkles now and then, but no major showers that 
    we were aware of.
    
    Didn't make it to Universal Studios either, but since we still have 
    those 1-day passes, it's another excuse to go back soon.
    
    All in all, 4 days is not enough time.  We saw about 75% of what we 
    wanted to see, and we were pooped by the time we got home.  Next time I 
    would like to have a more leisurely pace so I wouldn't feel I have to 
    rush all over.  We both also insist that next time, staying "on 
    property" isn't enough.  It has to be on the monorail line.  The buses 
    just don't cut it.

     Trip report for the Belforti Family, November 12 to November 21, 1993:

	Steven, 34, first time to the real World
	Sarah, turned 18 the day we came back, second trip (1989)
	M-L, 40, third trip (the *month* it opened and 1989)


     We started planning this trip over a year ago, getting the best deal 
     we could for off property!  Investigated everything from Motel 8 type 
     places, to renting a house.  We ended up renting a house from a fellow 
     Deccie.  If I can't stay on property, this is the only way to go (but 
     more of that later).  We set the house reservation in October of '92, 
     and paid for it when our tax return came in, in March '93.  Thomas 
     Cook travel got us RT plane tickets for $190.20, not bad compared to 
     most RT fares!  We got the tickets in August '93.  Went to the Disney 
     store at Rockingham and bought our 5 day super passes, which gave us 
     5 days multi parks per day (Epcot, MGM and Magic Kingdom) PLUS the 
     special areas (Typhoon Lagoon, Pleasure Island, etc....).  I used my 
     Magic Kingdom card and got the discount for our admittance tickets.  
     Not much of a savings, but $9 is $9!  Got these in Oct. '93.


     November 12, '93

     Started the day by taking the "kids" (our 3, 5 month old kittens) to 
     the vet.  They are FINALLY ringworm free, so they can be let loose 
     while we are gone.  They had been quarantined to one room for over 5 
     weeks.  Wrote up a 2 page note to our house sitter about how to care 
     for the kids and the 2 older cats, plus what to do with the house.  
     Finished packing and got ready for Flightline to pick us up at 3:30 
     for our 6:00 flight.  We got to the airport, knowing there would be 
     no meals on the flight, we went in search of food, NOTHING was open.  
     It's all being renovated.  I guess we'll eat something in Newark, 
     between flights.  GUESS AGAIN!  Our flight got stuck in a holding 
     pattern.  We *just* made it to the change over in time to board and 
     take off.  Peanuts and diet Coke/Pepsi only go so far!!!!  Got to 
     Orlando 20 minutes early.  Picked up the car from Payless, no hassles 
     or pressure, and I think we got upgraded to the next size up without 
     even being asked or having to ask for it.  We had a Plymouth Acclaim... 
     nice car, real nice car!  Stopped on the way to the hotel, at Burger 
     King, and got dinner to take to the room.  We got to our one night 
     hotel (we didn't get possession of the house until Saturday) Days Inn 
     Airport.  WHAT A DIVE!!!!  My allergies started acting up right away, 
     and never quit until we were out of there the next morning.  The only 
     nice thing about the room was the $.25 bed vibrator.  It helped us to 
     unwind after a very long day!  Steven was asleep before the 15 
     minutes ran out.  What a day!


     November 13, '93

     Got up about 9:30, not in any rush seeing as we can't get in the 
     house until 4:00.  The tub worked real well, we could have gone 
     swimming in it for the next hour, the drain was so slow.  Checked out 
     and went to IHOP for breakfast.  Food/Service was OK, typical IHOP 
     food, nothing to write home about.  Drove over to find the rented 
     house, fairly easy to find.  About 1/2 mile from Medieval Times (we 
     never did get there).  We decided to drive around to get acclimated.  
     Went to Sea World first, and Sarah was tired of sitting in the car, 
     so we decided to just go ahead and do Sea World.  Paid our admission, 
     YOWCH!  Almost $100 for 3 people, wish we had picked up discount 
     tickets first!  Looked at the schedule for the day, Hey only 1/2 an 
     hour till they feed the penguines, Sarah's most favorite animal. Off 
     we head to see the tuxedo people.  Cute little buggers!  The guy 
     giving the talk said he would ask a question at the end of his 
     presentation, and the first person to get it right would get to meet 
     one of these little guys up close and personal... I GOT IT RIGHT 
     FIRST!!!  Sarah was beside herself.  She got to hold a Rockhopper 
     they have nicknamed "Supervisor", because that is exactly what he 
     does when the people are in the enclosure.. he makes sure they are 
     doing what they should be doing.  The people there don't like to name 
     these guys, because they really are not pets, but this one is just 
     soooo, well, inquisitive!  We got pictures of Sarah holding this 
     little guy, I hope they turn out!  I was amazed at how soft they are.  
     Their feathers are just like dog or cat fur, not like feathers at all!  
     We also got drenched in the Smanu show, and the Dolphin and Orca show.  
     We saw the first appearance of a new Seamore Seal, in the Clyde and 
     Seamore Show.  He was hysterical!  He got all mixed up and ended up 
     stealing the show!  The trainer had to stop the show at one point and 
     explain that this was this Seamores first time in front of an 
     audience, so please excuse him if they have to keep repeating the 
     commands, or if they had to show him the next routine!  They are all 
     little hams!!!  Sarah says we could have go back to the airport and 
     come home after that day, it made the whole trip for her!  We did all 
     the other shows, except for the human water skiing show.  I had no 
     interest in that!  We helped close the park!  

     After leaving the park, we headed over to Ponderosa for dinner, only 
     to hear a very loud hissing coming from the rear right tire.  There 
     was a HUGE screw in it.  Great way to end a great day!  Oh well!! 
     We stopped to pick up a few groceries, until we know what all we will 
     need.  Got to the house and immediately changed into swimsuits!  We 
     were really looking forward to a nice swim!  Guess again!  I swear 
     the pool was cold enough to keep ice cream fresh; I think there were 
     mini icebergs floating around.  I put my feet in, that's as far as I 
     could go.  We checked to see if there was a heater switch somewhere... 
     no such luck!

     Off to watch some idiot box and then off to bed!


     November 14, '93

     Up at 8:30.  Today was decided to be Magic Kingdom day!  Steven 
     wanted to do the Horseshoe Jamboree, if we could get tickets.  We got 
     to the park at 10:30, and walked right up to the reservation desk.  
     No waiting!  We chose the 3:30 show, as it was after most everyone 
     else would want to go, and we could probably get a table up front!  
     Then we went out to "do the park"!  First ride, Space Mountain (we 
     figured the crowds were probably all in the back working their way 
     forward, because there was no waiting in long lines up front).  Walked 
     right on Space Mountain.  Then we went to Carousel of Progress, cute 
     show; Dream Flight, People Mover, 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea 
     (what IS the fascination with this ride???  It is almost boring, but 
     there is always a big line.  This was the longest line of the whole 
     day, about 20 minutes), Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain (what a cute 
     little story of Brar' Rabbit.. only to be shocked back into reality 
     by that dropoff.. wow!), Big Thunder Mountain (never again... I STILL 
     have bruises from that darn ride!), Pirates of the Caribbean; Steven 
     did Swiss Family Robinson while we hit the shops in the area (missed 
     the Dole Whip, and after Mike told me today where it was, I am sooo 
     disappointed that we couldn't find it).  We got to Horseshoe Jamboree 
     at 2:50, 40 minutes before seating time, just like the book says to do; 
     but had to wait.  They were just finishing the last show, and cleaning 
     up, plus the parade was due in 10 minutes.  We had a great view of the 
     parade, standing on the wooden elevated sidewalk, right outside the 
     H.J. front door.  The parade had no real theme, it was just some of 
     the floats and groups, I did get pictures of all the floats...  Got 
     into H.J at exactly 3:30, and table 14 is right down front, right next 
     to the piano player.  The show was wonderful, we all loved it!  (We 
     were sitting with a family, father/mother and 2 little kids, boy were 
     those kids good.  No temper tantrums, no yelling.. really good kids!  
     They need to give lessons to all the other kids we ran into during the 
     week+.)  Sarah even liked the show, even though she was welcomed to 
     Disney World, by "Sam the bartender"... she was squirted with a 
     squirtgun!  The food was OK, nothing great, but the show more than 
     made up for it.  Lots of laughs, and just good clean fun.  Left there 
     for Hall of Presidents (closed, I forgot the notesfile said it was), 
     saw the Tiki Birds, WHAT A WASTE OF TIME!  Boring!!!  Missed the last 
     showing of "Magic Journeys'" by 2 minutes.  We then walked the Main 
     Street shops.  I bought Mike Scopa his SpectroMagic postcard, this 
     book to keep track of our trip and a Mickey pen.  Magic Kingdom closed 
     at 7:00, and we helped close this park too!  We went to Burger King 
     for dinner, came home and changed into swimsuits again... Let's give 
     this pool (mini Arctic Ocean) another try.  I got in up to my neck 
     and just couldn't take it any more, that was more than enough for me!  
     Again, watched some idiot box and headed for bed.  A long, fun, full 
     day!


     November 15, '93

     All the books say Mondays are not good days for the parks, so we split 
     up and did our own things.  Sarah stayed at the house, soaking up the 
     rays, swimming and watching the TV.  Steven and I went to some of the 
     discount places and a couple outlet malls, BELZ is pretty spectacular, 
     if you are into outlet places!  The discount/seconds character shop is 
     great, and fairly inexpensive!  We also went to the International Toy 
     Train Museum - all LGB.  Interesting!  Got home, after lunch at 
     Ponderosa, went for a dip in the pool (sort of), shopping for a backpack 
     to carry lunches with us, and then dinner for Steven and Sarah.  I was 
     still full from lunch!  We went to Wendy's; they had full blown meals, 
     I had a side salad!  Then to the grocery store to get lunch fixings.  
     We figure it will be cheaper to take our own, then to be buying on the 
     property!  Watch some TV, and then off to bed.  Early night, MGM 
     tomorrow!


     November 16, '93

     MGM day!  Got up, had breakfast and packed peanut butter and jelly 
     sandwiches, chips and pretzels.  We figured we would get drinks there.  
     Got to the park (BTW, for the whole trip were were never further back 
     than row 5 in the parking lots), and as we circled the lot a new 
     building came into view.  I wasn't sure what it was - IF I had paid 
     more attention to this file, I would have known.  The Tower of Terror!  
     WOW is it big!!!  (that is an understatement)  I wish I had gotten a 
     picture of it from the far side of the parking lot, but did get one 
     closer up.  I'm not sure it will show exactly how big this thing is!  
     Got into line, first at the turnstile.  "Sarge" was out front, what a 
     character she is.  I can picture my mother doing that job.  They opened 
     at exactly 9:30, went to the 50's Cafe to make lunch reservations - 
     QUESTION???  Why did we pack a lunch????  Went to Star Tours, but got 
     turned away, they don't open until 10:00.  Headed back across the lot 
     to "Little Mermaid", line already forming, but not too bad.  We did get 
     into the first show, it's cute!  Especially "Down By the Sea".  I love 
     Sebastian and Calypso music.  Did not expect to get wet, but they make 
     sure you really feel like you are under water, wet and all!  Then back 
     to Star Tours, sorry.. I wasn't that impressed!  I get motion sickness, 
     so anything like that I tend to close my eyes.  Not from fright, except 
     maybe fear of throwing up.  Off to Muppets 3D, oopps, excuse me Muppets 
     4D (well, that's what it says).  I could sit in this show all day!  
     There is so much going on, especially in the pre-show.  But then again, 
     I am a big Muppets fan from WAY back!  My heart goes out to Sweetums 
     every time I see him!  Back outside they were just starting the Muppets 
     on Location.. again, sorry, I was not impressed!  I really don't like 
     Miss Piggy, and it seemed the show was her show!  We left after about 
     10 minutes!  Our next stop was Indiana Jones Stunt Show.  I got great 
     pictures (I hope) of Sarah and the "German" stuntman - what a hunk!!!  
     The show was OK, but kind of lame after comparing it to some of the 
     other things we did/saw on the whole vacation.  We figured we had time 
     for the Great Movie Ride before our lunch reservation at "Mom's".  I 
     like this one!  We had a good driver and a great gangster!  Stood 
     outside for the 1:00 Aladdin parade, the only one of the day.  Again, 
     I hope my pictures turn out, it was pretty good!  Fairly short, but 
     good.  The guy next to us was video taping and Jafar walked right up 
     to the lens of his camera, it was pretty funny watching this guys face 
     as Jafar gets bigger and bigger and bigger.  Oh yes, beware of spitting 
     camels.  Steven and Sarah thought it was hysterical as I walked away 
     soaked to the bone.  Off to lunch!  Our waiter, oopps, I mean "brother", 
     told us to get our elbows off the table or there would be no dessert.  
     He then noticed that Sarah had gum in her mouth! Uh Oh! "I want that 
     gum out of your mouth this instant, and don;t put it under the table 
     either - I want to see it on that bread plate".  I thought she was 
     going to die, as people turned to see who was getting what for.  I made 
     the mistake of asking for a refill on my water, he proceeded to plop 
     down the pitcher and told me it was my duty to make sure everyone else 
     in the room had refills, until he got back.  Luckily, Steven and I were 
     the only ones who needed more water.  The food was all right, very high 
     priced, but the atmosphere made up for it.  We finished lunch and 
     headed for the Backstage Tour, tram and walking.  Catastrophe Canyon 
     is pretty spectacular (and hot, it's amazing how much heat you can 
     feel, with the curtain of cold air between you and the scene).  Walked 
     down New York Street and over to the Magic of Disney.  They were working 
     on "The Lion King", it looks good so far!  I can't wait for it!  There 
     was no rush through here, as there really weren't very big lines... we 
     stood for a long time watching the animators working!  I found a CEL I 
     wanted, but Steven just raised his eyebrows at me.  Heck, it was only 
     a measly $2700, no big deal!!!  Such a spoiled sport! ;^)  From there 
     we did the Special Effects and Production Tour - we laughed so hard at
     the second "volunteer" at the water tank.  He really thought he would 
     get away with just a few drops of water... WRONG!!!  We got out of 
     there in time for one more site, so headed over to Chevy Chase and 
     Martin Short Monster Sound.  Steven and Sarah were picked to do some of 
     the sound effects.  Steven supplied the grunts and groans for Martin 
     Short, plus other effects too.  He was doing the voice for Martin, to 
     see if he had the right sound (for the woman who got him out of line), 
     and as he was doing it, she looked over at Sarah and said, "Oh, does 
     this embarrass you?", Sarah said that it did, and the woman said,"Well, 
     don't worry Honey, you can make a complete fool of yourself and then 
     just walk way, never having to face any of these people ever again".  
     Sarah didn't have the heart/nerve to tell her that she had to go home 
     with "HIM".  We closed that park too!!!


     November 17, '93

     Sarah slept in today.  We are going to Epcot and she really doesn't want 
     to see the World Showcase, so we will do it the first day!  We went 
     shopping for groceries, so that she would have dinner fixings, we plan 
     on staying for Illuminations.  Parked and rode the monorail to Magic 
     Kingdom, to do the few things we had missed on Sunday.  Got there too 
     early for Magic Journeys, so we did Small World (Steven hates this ride, 
     said it was better than the one in Disneyland, but still hates it), the 
     Haunted Mansion (yes we had done this one, but like it so much that it 
     just had to be done again), Magic Journeys, and then the train from 
     Mickey's Starland once around the park and back to the front gate (what 
     does that make it??  1 1/3 around??).  We stopped to see Minnie Moo, but 
     she was laying on her "good" side, Oh well!  The monorail was down, so 
     we had to take a bus back to Epcot.  Not as exciting, or fun, but 
     that's OK, at least we could get from park to park.  Headed off for the 
     right side of the World Showcase, Canada first.  We watched the 360 
     movie, interesting, but that motion sickness kept creeping up, geez I 
     hate queasy stomachs.  Then we went in search of food.  Ended up walking 
     almost all the way around, as nothing really caught our fancy.  Finally 
     stopped at Germany, at the beergarden.  It says in all the books that 
     this fills up real fast, no problem, walked right in.  We sat with some 
     very, VERY, *V*E*R*Y* rude people who let their kids run free.  
     Unfortunately they didn't speak much English, or I would have said 
     something.  I'm not too good with ill-mannered kids, or irresponsible 
     parents.  These kids were down on the lower level, RUNNING across the 
     stage, stopping at other tables to see what people were having, and just 
     being brats. After lunch we went back to most of the countries we had 
     walked by to get to Germany.  The America's was closed for the upcoming 
     Teacher of the Year awards, bummer!  I'm glad the teachers are being 
     recognized, but not on my time at Epcot, please!!!  There is a new 
     country between Germany and China.  Africa, I think.  So far it is 
     just a couple shops, nothing yet to tour.  They have spectacular frozen 
     yogurt.. YUM!  It was not there the last time I was at Epcot, 4+ years 
     ago, and it is not on the map you get as you walk in the park!  We still 
     had lots of time before Illuminations, so hit some of the sites up front.  
     We did Horizons, Universe of Energy and some of Wonders of Life.  I had 
     done Body Wars and Cranium Command before, but missed The Making of Me, 
     that was cute!  We did all of those for Steven's benefit (yeah, like 
     they believe that M-L).  We went out to stake out a spot for 
     Illuminations.  Walked right up to the fence 1/2 way between Norway and 
     Mexico, GREAT VIEW!  I have never seen the show before, what a neat 
     performance.  There was virtually no breeze so the smoke from the 
     fireworks hung just above the pond, making the water level lights a 
     little hard to see, starting about 1/2 way through the show, but it 
     accentuated the lasers.  We then leisurely walked to the car.  Home to 
     a cold pool and sleep.  (in case anyone is wondering, I was NOT giving 
     up hope on that pool, IT WOULD GET WARMER... I just knew it would)


     November 18, '93

     Sarah again decided she wanted to stay at the house, so off to do the 
     front 1/2 of Epcot.  Played in Communicore W for a long time, a very 
     long time; I even called my mother in Colorado, just to say HI.  Then 
     off to see Figment and Dreammaker, they were outside, waiting just for 
     me.  I know they were!  The jumping water looked like it wasn't 
     filtering properly, as the arcs broke up before hitting the opposite 
     side.  It really was sloppy looking compared to when I was last there.  
     World of Imagination and Captain EO were next, then lunch at The Land.  
     I missed this the last time, it was getting last and we needed to get 
     to dinner, so walked right past it!  The ride wasn't running, down for 
     refurb.  So we did Symbiosis and Kitchen Kabaret.  We also had lunch 
     downstairs, from one of the multitudes of shops.  Not too bad, 
     price/taste/or quantity.  Off to the Living Seas.  We spent lots of 
     time here, doing the info terminals.  There has been a addition since 
     my last visit, a Manatee and her baby.  The baby was born at the center, 
     they had videos of it!  Decided not to stay for Illuminations, so did 
     Communicore E and Spaceship Earth before we left. Oh yes, we also went 
     back to the Wonders of Life and did some of the exhibits we had missed 
     yesterday.  I found out that I am overweight (Oh really??  who'd a thunk 
     it??), but otherwise I'm healthy.  Home for a night of shopping at BELZ, 
     spent   w  a  y  too much money!  


     November 19, '93

     Laid back easy day at Typhoon Lagoon.  I did the Shark Reef, Sarah 
     didn't want to and Steven has a full beard, so it would have been 
     impossible to get the mask to seal to his face.  It was interesting to 
     swim with the fishes, I'd never done that before.  The wave pool was a 
     glorious 81 degrees, and Castaways Creek was 83 degrees.  Gee, I could 
     live in that water forever!!!  I figured out that it is a prerequisite 
     to giant waves that you *have* to scream at the top of your lungs, as 
     you hear the "whoomp" of the water being titalwaved to you.  Everyone 
     else was screaming, I think we were the oddballs.  I was the smart one 
     of our troop.  I put on sun screen every time I was out of the water. 
     Steven and Sarah only put it on towards the end of the day.  Dumb, 
     dumb, dumb!  I may not have as much color as they do, but I can 
     honestly yell,"Hey everybody there's a lobster on the loose", as they 
     walk by.  We stopped and bought some Aloe, on they way home.  Stopped 
     for dinner, home and NOT into a cold pool!  We opened and closed this 
     park!


     November 20, 1993

     Universal Studio Day!  I guess we missed Arnie (Schwartzenager sp??) 
     yesterday, he we here to open a new ride/attraction; not sure what one.  
     Jaws was first - what the heck, it was a rainy overcast day anyway, 
     what's a little more water?  Then Back to the Future (my eyes were 
     closed, damn stomach), we sat in the rear of the car, as we have heard 
     it is best (you don't see the other cars this way).  Sarah let out 2 
     screams, and I laughed myself silly.  After the ride she was so 
     embarrassed.. she said they snuck up on her!  Funny kid!  On to ET, 
     this is a cute ride.  And the end is priceless!!!  Off to the live 
     animal show, featuring Beethoven (the St. Bernard), they were using some 
     new animals, so there were some mix-ups, but it was cute they way they 
     recovered.  Lassie, Mr. Ed, the Shepherd from K9, Benji and a whole 
     bunch of other "actors" were there.  Hard Rock Cafe was on Sarah's 
     "Must See" list, so we went there for lunch.  We happened to be 
     seated right next to the wall with the Doors and Jim Morrison 
     memorabilia, Sarah was beside herself.  She loves them!  Brad, out 
     server, brought Sarah a balloon and a candle in her apple pie ala mode 
     (gee, I wonder who let it slip that the next day was her 18th birthday
     .. heeheehee).  Steven and I had Pig Sandwiches for lunch, WONDERFUL!!!!  
     Steven then asked for a piece of chocolate cake - little did we realize 
     he would get 1/4 of the whole darn cake - WOW what a big piece.  He 
     took 1/2 of it back to the house for his dinner that night.  We also 
     stopped at the HRC shop, big mistake... I am now much, MUCH poorer.  
     Much poorer indeed!  We then went to Earthquake, you really need to sit 
     in the middle car for this one.. we were in the last car, and most of 
     the action takes place mid-way... but it was still exciting.  King Kong 
     was great, you really feel at times like you are going to fall!  And 
     pay attention to the end, the "driver" made a comment about how close 
     we came to the beast, so close in fact you could smell the bananas on 
     his breath... and you can too!  Beetlejuice Rock Revue was another one 
     Sarah had said she wanted to do, so off we were to that.  Beware of 
     Beetlejuice, he has a nasty habit of picking his nose and wiping it on 
     the other actors, then he offers to "trade" with the people in the 
     audience. YUCK!  Again, she fell in lust with one of the actors, the 
     guy portraying Dracula.  I must admit, he was a looker!!  And what a 
     voice!  The Monster Make-up Tour was fun.  Probably more fun for us 
     then for the "volunteer" from the audience.  The Wild Wild West show 
     was pretty good, lots of hammy acting, but that's what makes the show.  
     I had little pieces of white powder in my hair afterwards, from the 
     buildings exploding.  And we weren't all that close!  We finished the 
     day with Alfred Hitchcock.  Good way to end the day!  Sweet dreams, my 
     dear!!!  heeheehee  We stopped at one point to listen to the 50's group, 
     can't remember their name, at Mel's Diner.  They were pretty good.  I 
     embarrassed Sarah by singing along with them, I guess she doesn't want 
     people to know I know those OLD songs!!  Lucky for me, they never had 
     the microphone near me... I would have chased everyone away!  We got 
     back to Tena's only to find we had lost the key to her house, and the 
     keys to my house in NH.  We drove over to the property management 
     company and called the emergency number.  The guy only lives around the 
     corner, so he gave us the extra key.  I just hope someone is home when 
     we get back to our house tomorrow, and that Tena isn't too upset with me 
     for losing her key.  We got in, did whatever laundry we had, so that we 
     can go home with all clean clothes... nothing to do when we get back!  
     Off to bed on out final night.


     November 21, 1993

     Up late, cleaned up after ourselves (dishes, garbage/newspapers, etc...) 
     hopped over to Ponderosa for their Sunday Brunch and then off to the 
     airport for our flight home.  The ticket agent asked us if we had fun, 
     and if we had seen Arnie, Sylvester Stallone and Susan Lucci at 
     Universal??  Heck, if we had known they were all there, we would have 
     looked for them.  The flights were uneventful, except Sarah and I both 
     would have LOVED to have thrown the kid behind us out the window. I 
     think she was practicing for her audition for the Rockettes...kick one 
     two three, kick one two three!!!  BRAT!!!!  We asked her not to, and 
     her parents acted like we had broken a cardinal rule!!!  Big Brats!!!  
     Nobody home!  Great!  Now what??  Sarah luckily had her keys, otherwise 
     we would still be standing outside wondering how to get in!


     All in all, it was a whirl-wind trip... much too short for what all we 
     did!  We will definitely have to go back to see what all we missed, and 
     re-see some we didn't miss!

     I would recommend renting a house for extended stays, as it really 
     gives you much more room and freedom than a hotel room.  We had 3 
     bedrooms, 2 baths and the pool (cold as it was, I'm sure in the middle 
     of summer it is WONDERFUL). And we really didn't need to clean up after 
     ourselves if we didn't want to.. as there is maid service after you 
     leave!  Next trip will be either back at Tena's (or somewhere like hers) 
     or on property, this trip ruined it for me to stay in normal 
     hotel/motels even again!

    BTW, the weather was in the 70's 80's during the day, except the last
    day we were there, and it was in the 60's then... and at night it was
    in the 60's.  Only one day of yucky weather, and about 1/2 hour one
    other afternoon/mid morning.
    
    PLUS!!!  My personal bonus!!!  I am a Weight Watcher... I weighed in
    the day before I left for vacation, went on vacation, came home to have
    Thanksgiving at my house (I did all the cooking, and had all the
    leftovers)... and when I weighed in after all that I had lost 5 pounds!  
    
    Not too bad, even if I say so myself!
    
    M-L

			Kristen and Alfred von Campe	
		   Honeymoon Trip Report  Sep 13-19 1993

I'll put my overall comments first since this is going to be a long trip 
report.  Apologies for the amount of time between actual trip and posting
of report.  

THE BEACH CLUB

We'd stay there again in a second.  It was a beautiful hotel.  We had a 
great room which wasn't a far walk from anywhere.  The grounds are 
beautiful.  There are plenty of rocking chairs on the porches, comfortable 
sitting areas inside everywhere, the best ice cream shop in WDW, and a 
spectacular pool area.  We could have stayed right at the hotel for a week 
and wouldn't have been bored at all.  Even the restaurants were 
fantastic!

THE TRANSPORTATION

We did not rent a car and never left WDW during our honeymoon.  The buses 
got to be a drag a couple of times.  Well three to be exact.  Twice was at 
PI, where we were able to hop a cab back to our hotel.  We just didn't FEEL 
like waiting in the rain or were just too tired to wait at all.  Once we 
were at Epcot just after Illuminations ended.  Overall we spent about $20 on 
cabs,,,which was worth it to us.  We never really felt the need to have a 
car though.  

With the shortened hours however, there were times it was a bummer to get 
back to our hotel.  Like after HDD, we had to wait 20 minutes for a bus to 
PI and then had to switch to go back to the Beach Club.  And that bus 
stopped at the Swan, Dolphin and YC, before dropping us off.  It took us 
well over an hour to get back to our room.

THE PARKS

They were great as usual.  We saw and did some things we hadn't before...
We felt we should have spent more time watching street performances.  We 
just always hit them at the wrong times.  We should have paid more attention 
to the schedules.

THE FOOD

We were on the Admiral Plan and we ate whenever, wherever and whatever we 
wanted.  Our best meals were at The Empress Room, Narcoossee's, Mama 
Melrose's, and Alfredo's.  We always had appetizers and dessert and tried to 
live guilt free for the time we were there.  We each gained only 2 pounds 
which is almost amazing considering what we ate,,,even with the amount of 
pavement pounding we did.  

THE ADMIRAL PLAN

For our honeymoon it was the right choice for us.  We never would have 
eaten where we did or what we did if we had to pay for it each time we sat 
down.  We water skied, ate quite a few meals that added up to over $100, 
ordered room service twice, rented boats, and used the video camera.  We 
were treated like royalty everywhere we went and really looked forward to 
going back to our room to see what our daily surprise was.  We only whipped 
out cash to supplement the already included tips and to buy 
souvenirs.    

THE WEATHER

It was sunny and in the high 80's low 90's every day we were there.  We had
one thunder shower which forced us to leave River Country early, but that 
was the only rain we got.  Mostly it was bearable, except for the first day 
we were in Epcot, which seemed exceptionally hot.  

THE CROWDS

Overall we had very few waits.  This is because we hit the attractions at 
the right times, not because there were no crowds.  For the most part we hit
the parks in the morning and escaped in the afternoons, when the lines were 
starting to form and the sun was getting strong.  Entering Epcot in the a.m 
through the International Gateway is the greatest.  We avoided any sign of a 
crowd until around noontime when we ventured past Mexico and towards the 
pavilions.

			THE DETAILS

We decided not to scrimp at all on our honeymoon, and I'm glad we didn't.  
We took a limo to Logan on Monday morning for our direct flight to Orlando 
on Delta.  We arrived in Orlando at around 2:30, and were greeted by our 
driver.  We went on the Admiral Plan and RT airport transportation was part 
of the package.  We were picked up in a white Towncar and whisked directly 
to the Yacht and Beach Club.  We chose the Beach Club and I'm glad we did.  
The decor was much more to our liking than that of the Yacht Club.
It was sunny and high 80s in Orlando.

We checked in and got our transportation pass.  We'd have to stop in the 
next morning for the "package material", as we stayed one night more at the 
beginning and end of our package.  We did this so we could enjoy all five 
full days of the Admiral Plan.  We were given a third floor nonsmoking room 
with a king size bed.  It was a lagoon view corner room that also looked out 
onto the sand volleyball court.  It was lovely and we were very pleased with 
it.  We headed straight out to Stormalong Bay for a little swim.  This place 
was huge and we spent some time exploring the various pools.  Alfred took an 
immediate liking to the waterslide.  After an hour or so exploring 
Stormalong Bay, we headed back to the room to shower and change for dinner.  

Since we had to pay for this meal, we decided to go someplace 
semi-reasonable.  We ate at Chef Mickey's.  There was a half hour or so 
wait.  They gave us a beeper and told us we could go as far as several shops 
away.  So we poked around the shops a little bit and then went back to the 
lounge and had a drink.  We weren't impressed with the service in the 
lounge.  We went in for dinner.  I had steak Oscar.  Alfred had a chicken 
and shrimp dish.  Dinner was good, but nothing spectacular.  Mickey stopped 
by to say "hi" during dinner.  I like to go here just to watch the kids go 
wild when Mickey comes over to their table.  

Back at the Beach Club, we took a stroll to check out the place.  We 
stopped at the video arcade to play a game or two and then ended up at 
Beaches and Cream for a Milky Way Cake which is a huge sundae.  We split it 
but still could not finish it.   Back to the room, we discover white terry 
robes on the bed.  How nice!!

			TUESDAY

We pick up all of our package information including a nice little passport
size book that tells us what is included in the Admiral Plan (just about 
everything), and our gold cards,,,and we head off to the dock to take the 
water shuttle over to MGM.  It's 9:00.  From the boat, we can see the 
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror being built.  It's going to be quite a large 
structure.  

Alfred has never been to MGM.  We start with the Great Movie Ride and then 
breakfast at Hollywood and Vine on cheese blintzes. I really had my taste 
buds set on Starring Rolls, but it is closed.   Next, it's off to Star 
Tours, which we both loved!!  Then we did the Indiana Jones Stunt 
Spectacular.  It was very hot in the theatre!!  Muppet Vision 4D is the 
first attraction we visited that was new to me.  It was a great show.  Last 
time in MGM I missed the Animation Tour, so this time I made sure to go.  
They seemed to be concentrating on The Lion King while we were there.  Next 
we headed over to the trams for the backstage riding tour.  By this time it 
was time for lunch.  We had made reservations at Mama Melrose's.  We were 
very pleasantly surprised.  The food was great and the service was 
fantastic. We had salads, individual pizzas and dessert.

Now we're refreshed and we head out to the Monster Sound Show where Alfred 
is chosen for station 4.  He's in charge of wind, creaking doors...  It was 
fun.  Next we hit Superstar Television next door and then we did a little 
window shopping.  Back at the Beach Club there was a lovely floral 
arrangement waiting for us along with a fruit basket.  These were "room 
amenities" that come with the Admiral Plan,,as were the bathrobes the night 
before.  We changed into swimwear, grabbed our gold cards and went out to the 
pier to get ourselves some watersprites.  We zipped around the lagoon and 
into the canal to MGM.  We both pretty much agreed that the Dolphin and Swan 
were the most hideous looking hotels we'd ever seen.  Unfortunately you get 
a great view of them from the Y & BC.  We returned our boats a few minutes 
early and headed back over to Stormalong Bay for some pool fun.  Back in the 
room, a bottle of champagne was waiting for us on ice, along with a small 
bud vase with a single red rose in it.  It was from the to congratulate
us on our recent marriage.  Now we're really starting to love 
this present stuff!!!!

We had the Beach Club make reservations for us for dinner at Narcoossee's.  We 
tell them where we want to eat in the morning, and when we get back from the 
park, we have voicemail waiting for us confirming our reservation.  This was 
a great service and we used it throughout our trip.  We never made our own 
reservations for anything.  We have a few minutes to kill before dinner, so
stop at the MK on our way to the Grand Floridian.  We rush into the park 
before it closes and head over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.
  
No line!!  We almost do it again, but decide to head over to the GF instead. 
We take the monorail over and get to the restaurant just in time for our 
reservation.  Alfred orders shrimp cocktail, double filet mignon and 
cheesecake with raspberries for dessert.  I have baked Brie, filet and 
scampi, and key lime pie.  It was a wonderful meal, with a $118 price tag.  
I must thank those of you in this file who recommended this restaurant.  
Back in our room, we enjoyed our champagne before retiring.

			WEDNESDAY

Today we decide to take advantage of room service, so we each order the eggs 
Benedict.   Alfred got a side of bacon.  This was quite an elaborate setup 
and we got juice and a whole pot of tea with it for me.  They send a 
complimentary apple coffeecake up with breakfast.  This thing was 
irresistible and huge and we kept pulling pieces off of it until it was almost 
gone!!  We roll out of our room and hit the pavement.  It's not even a five 
minute walk from our room to the International Gateway at Epcot.  We've both 
done Epcot before, and decide to hit the things we really love, or have 
missed.  We start with Impressions de France, which I had never seen.  
Of course I want to go to France now!!  There was only one other couple in 
the theatre with us!!  This is the way to do Epcot!!  Next we browse through 
Morocco, Germany, Italy, Japan and China.  We skip America,,,shame on us.  
We ride the Maelstrom, and Rio de Tempo (excuse my spellings). Then we 
headed over to World in Motion and Horizons.  We do Cranium Command, but 
have no patience for the Body Wars line, so we play in Communicore East for 
awhile.  It's a hot day, 90ish, so we grab a soda and head over to Germany 
for lunch.  

Lucky us, we're seated at a table with an older German couple, and a younger 
German couple with their small son.  Everyone is speaking German, including 
my husband.  Boy, do I feel like an outsider!  We order schnitzel, which is 
okay.  We have to try the Schwartzw�ldekirschtorte for dessert to see how 
authentic it is.  It's okay but doesn't rival what we had in Germany.  It's 
now after 2, so we skip back to the Beach Club to change.  Our Fantasia 
clock is waiting in the room for us.  These retail in the shops at Disney 
for $150!  I love this clock as it plays Disney tunes, and has wonderful 
sound.  I'm really starting to feel spoiled now.  I know we paid for all of 
this, but it's great to be pampered and to never have to pull out the wallet!!

We hop a bus to Typhoon Lagoon.  It's 3:10 and they close at 4, but who 
cares?  I've been before, but Alfred hasn't.  He heads straight for Humunga 
Cowabunga. Not me though!!  Next we do the storm slides, and Castaway Creek. 
I stay in the Creek until closing, but Alfred goes off to snorkel with 
sharks and check out the wave pool.  We closed the place and then headed back 
to the Beach Club to shower and change for the Hoop De Doo Review.  As 
honeymooners, we must get up and dance along with several other couples.  We 
had a good time and had a great table right near the stage!  Unfortunately 
we had a 20 minute wait for a bus to Pleasure Island.  By the time we got 
there, it had started to rain.  We had waited about 10 minutes, when we 
decided to grab a cab back to the Beach Club.  We were exhausted!!

			THURSDAY

Today is MK Day.  We head in and make Diamond Horseshoe Review reservations 
for noontime.  We pick up a video camera on Main Street (part of package) 
and head out to Space Mountain.  We had a fairly short wait.  Next we went 
to Splash Mountain, which was new to both of us.  The wait for this was only 
5-10 minutes, and we bought a picture afterwards.  I loved this ride.  It is 
a classic, and I truly enjoyed everything about it.  We had a tough time 
finding breakfast.  The Crystal Palace had a 30 minute wait and we were 
hungry, and it was already 10:30, so we bought hotdogs.  Yuck!!  Now that we 
were energized, we headed to Pirates of the Caribbean, and then to the 
Haunted Mansion.  Next we took in Magic Journeys which had no wait.  
Alfred wanted to go on Space Mountain again before Diamond Horseshoe, so 
he headed off in that direction, and I did a little shopping.  We met up at 
the Diamond Horseshoe, which proved to be a lot of fun.  Miss Lilly chose to 
sit on Alfred's lap and flirted with him throughout the show, much to his 
embarrassment.  

We decided not to eat at the MK, after our breakfast experience.  
It was getting close to 2, so we headed over to the Polynesian for lunch at 
the Coral Isle Cafe.  We had a nice refreshing lunch and then hopped a boat 
to River Country for some old fashioned fun.  The lines for the slides and 
tube ride were short and we had a great time until they closed the park due 
to an approaching thunder storm.  It was around 4:30.  It took us an hour to 
get back to the hotel.  Waiting for us was a Mickey Mouse tote bag!

This night was dinner in Italy.  I believe this rated as our second best 
dinner of the week.  Alfredo's was a great place to eat with 3 roving 
musicians singing and playing the accordion.  It was very festive and very 
classy.  Alfred had fettuccini carbonara and I had ravioli stuffed with 
meat, spinach and Parmesan with a roast veal and mushroom sauce.  It was 
all superb.  We topped it off with flan for Alfred and chocolate mousse for 
moi.   We exited the restaurant just in time for Illuminations, which we 
were both very impressed with.  We'd never seen it before!  Then we strolled 
back to the hotel and did a little shopping in the shop at the Yacht Club.  
Alfred insisted that we buy matching t-shirts.  I think it's corny, but he 
doesn't ask for much.  We compromise and buy matching shirts in different 
colors.  We go back to our room and open our private pantry and each have a 
nightcap.

			FRIDAY

Today we slept in until 8:00...:-) and then wandered down to the Cape May 
Cafe for the breakfast buffet.  What a spread!!  We indulged in almost 
everything as Chip and Dale, and Pluto stopped by the table to see how we 
were doing.  We went back to Typhoon Lagoon for the opening rush.  We got a 
great spot near the wave pool.  We rode the storm slides twice, each tube 
ride twice and the raft ride.  There was no line for Humunga, so Alfred went 
over to do that.  I declined.  There were no lines anywhere early on, but 
the place was filling up fast.  We casted away for a half hour or so and 
then Alfred left to hit up some more rides.  I was quite content where I 
was.  I went over to my lounge chair to read for awhile.  I was entertained 
by a mouse who kept running by the front of my chair.  We put our stuff 
near a small stone wall and fence with plants growing around it.  The mouse 
didn't bother me, but a lizard did.  He was okay at a distance but 
when he decided to jump from the fence to my chair, I decided to go for a 
swim and hope he didn't end up in my tote bag later on.  Alfred and I met up 
around noon and did one more tube ride and one more storm slide.  Alfred hit up 
Humunga one last time and then we headed back to the hotel.  

It was 1:45 and we were still in a pool sort of mood, so we had lunch at 
Hurrican Hannah's out at Stormalong Bay.  By this day I was really craving a 
simple meal at lunchtime, so I had a grilled chicken sandwich and some 
fries and Alfred got a burger and fries.  The sandwiches were huge with 
loads of fries.  It was a great meal and we wondered why we hadn't tried it
earlier in the week.  We lounged at Stormalong Bay and read for awhile taking 
the occasional swim.  We plopped ourselves over near the deeper pool, where it 
was quiet.  Alfred ordered a daiquiri from his lounge chair and we really 
enjoyed our few hours of peace and quiet.  Finally we headed back to our 
room for a nap and called home for the first time.  Oops, our housesitter 
informs us that the fridge has died and that it is cold in New England and the 
heat isn't working.  We decide not to call home again.

We head off to Epcot at 6 in our matching t-shirts.  We do The Land and 
Living Seas before heading back to the Yacht Club for dinner at the 
Yachtsman Steakhouse.  They have great leather menus and the napkins are 
folded like steer heads.  The butter patties are even steers. Two loaves of 
bread (sourdough and onion poppy) served on a cactus shaped cutting board with 
roasted garlic.  Yummmmm  Alfred has an 18 oz Kansas strip steak marinated in 
Jack Daniels called the Whiskey Rebellion.  I order the Maine lobster stuffed 
with crabmeat.  It was a delicious dinner and we decide to top it off with 
dessert and a nightcap at Ariel's on the way home.  Alfred had seen creme 
Brulee on their menu and had to have some.  I tried the chambord cake and 
couldn't finish it.  We roll back to our room once again stuffed and 
exhausted.  Today's present is a Mickey Cookbook.

			SATURDAY

Today is our last day on the Admiral Plan.  We sleep extra late until 8:15 
and then order Room Service.  I order the eggs Benedict again, and Alfred 
gets blueberry pancakes.  Of course they send the coffee cake again and we 
stuff ourselves.    We hop the boat to MGM.  We wanted to do the walk 
through special effects tour.  The line was too long the first day we were 
there.  This tour takes an hour or so.  When we got out of there, we headed 
over to The Little Mermaid.  The lines for this are ALWAYS long.  Once 
again, they were huge, so we decided to skip it.  We hop a bus to the TTC, 
and then take the ferry to MK.  We rode Delta Dream Flight and then took the 
Skyway for some video footage.  The view was not worth the 20 minute wait in 
the heat.  It was sunny and 90ish again.  We grabbed a soda afterwards and 
took a boat over to the Grand Floridian.  We had reserved a boat for 
waterskiing.  Alfred hadn't been in a few years, so I suggested we save it 
for our last day at WDW.  I'm glad we did it this way, because he ended up 
bruising a rib which was tender for two weeks afterwards.

The ski boat with driver is $75 an hour.  Our driver Julie was great and a 
competition skier herself.  She had regular waterskies, a monoski, kneeboard 
and a snowboard type thing that you waterski on.  She also had a big tube, 
if you're more into being towed around at high speeds while seated.  Alfred 
started out on one ski and then tried the surfboard and then went on to do 
the kneeboard.  They take you out past Fort Wilderness to waterski.  This is 
the designated waterski area.  Alfred was exhausted after trying everything 
once, and we went back to the GF after 45 minutes.  We changed and headed 
over to the Grand Floridian Cafe for lunch.  It's 2:30, but we've got late 
dinner reservations.  We drink 2 pitchers of iced tea between the two of us. 
Alfred has a sandwich and I order the chicken fajita salad.  It was a great 
lunch!!

We head back to the MK at this point to drop off our video camera and do a 
little shopping.  We take the bus back to the Beach Club where we enjoy one 
last ice cream treat at Beaches-n-Cream.  Alfred is a little sore and we're 
both exhausted from bopping all over the world and being in the sun, so we 
decide to take a nap.  We can't sleep though, so we go down to the quiet 
pool and sit in the Jacuzzi for awhile.  This makes us both really tired, so 
we go back for that nap after all.  We have 8:30 reservations at the Empress 
Room, and we want to be wide awake for our meal!!

We arrive at the marketplace a little early and do a little cleanup shopping 
at the character shop.  We arrive at the Empress Room promptly and are told 
to wait in the lounge.  We are the only ones in the lounge and we relax with 
a drink while watching the giant paddlewheel right outside the window.  Our 
table is ready, but we are to leave our drinks on the table in the lounge 
and the bartender will bring them in.  Our shopping bag is to be left in the 
armoire outside of the main dining room.  

We were seated in a romantic and very private alcove, and were very 
impressed with every aspect of the meal.  Alfred ordered a mushroom and 
truffle soup served under a puff pastry.  He had the emperor's filet which 
is 2 filet mignon steaks with shrimp on top.  I ordered all the specials of 
the evening.  I had a salad with lettuce and edible flowers, served with 
crab and lobster meat and a raspberry vinaigrette.  The special entree was a 
trio of veal with truffles, John Dory fish filet and an emperor's filet 
mignon.  Each  course was so beautiful to look at, that it made one feel 
guilty to eat it!!  I can't describe what a nice meal we had.  Of course we 
topped it off with dessert.  I ordered the souffle du jour which was a 
capuccino souffle served with a Bailey's Irish Cream sauce.  Alfred ordered 
the Crepes Suzette which was prepared tableside and was out of this world!!  
We didn't know our server was so talented!!  The only drawback to this meal 
was an obnoxious woman sitting a few tables down from us who was on a 
business trip.  She was seated with a man she had met at this conference and 
she was quite tipsy and loudly laughing at everything he said.  There was 
talk about going back to one of their rooms and finally they departed, but 
not until half the restaurant knew where they were headed and what they were 
up to.  

We had planned to hit up Pleasure Island after dinner, but you would never 
believe what a mob scene it was.  A local radio station was broadcasting 
from there and there was a huge line of people to get in.  It wasn't our 
kind of scene or our kind of crowd.  We should have gone earlier in the week 
when there wouldn't have been such a crowd!  Oh well!!  We hand our tickets 
off to a young couple waiting in line to buy tickets and head for the 
bus stop.  We're not really into waiting for a bus, so we grab a cab back to 
the Beach Club.  Today's gift is a Chef Mickey apron with big white gloved 
oven mitt.  How cute!!  We're exhausted and hit the sack immediately.

			SUNDAY

We get up at 8, pack up and shower.  Then we head down to Cape May for the 
breakfast buffet.  There's a line!!  We haven't seen a wait for the buffet 
before, but there is one today.  We finally get seated and rush through 
breakfast.  Admiral Goofy stops by the table to give us a salute.  Our 
Towncar is waiting outside when we finish our meal.  We have our luggage 
stowed in the trunk and take off for the Orlando Airport and the trip back 
to reality.

			MORE COMMENTS

We told ourselves we would relax, and we had a few light days, but most of the 
time we were on the go.  The next time we go, we WILL do only those things 
we love best, and do them at a slower pace.  All the running around really 
exhausted us by the end of each day.  Luckily it also probably helped us not 
to put on too many pounds!!

We loved the package, but it was very expensive and we really did feel we 
should get our money's worth, so we did much more than we ever would have 
done had we went a la carte.  It was the way to go for us on our honeymoon 
and is great for a special occasion, but next trip will probably be a more
economical one.

There is so much to do at WDW, that we really didn't feel the urge to leave 
once during our trip.  Next time we will though.  It's been ages since I've 
been to Sea World, and we would like to see Universal Studios as well.  The 
week we were there was really bad crime-wise, with the top story being the
shooting death of the British tourist.  We felt good that we hadn't ventured 
outside the park.

The Beach Club was perfect for us.  We toured around some of the other 
hotels, but really felt we made the right choice.  The rooms were expensive, 
but they were worth it.  The atmosphere at this resort was great.  The 
restaurants, shops, *pool area* and activities were all exceptional and we 
were very very pleased.  We would certainly stay here again over any of the 
other WDW properties if we could afford it!  The only downfall is the view 
of the Dolphin and Swan!!

For our honeymoon, we went all out and it was well worth it.  We had a great
time and know we made the right decision in choosing WDW as our destination. 
It was a very special trip for us and was everything we dreamed it would 
be!!

Kristen and Alfred von Campe

	    Trip Report for December '93 trip to Walt Disney World

Who:	My wife and I (Al Delorey)
When:	Dec 14-19

Previous Trips to WDW:
	Nov '83 stayed off-property
	Dec '85 stayed off-property
	Dec '88 stayed at Polynesian Village
	Dec '90 stayed at Polynesian Village

Saturday Dec 11

    We flew from Boston Logan direct non-stop to Miami on American,
    rented a car and spent 3 days bird-watching.  We spent Saturday
    night at Key Largo, then drove to Key West on Sunday, birding as we
    went. We spent Sunday night at Key West.  On Monday we drove and
    birded our way back up the keys, and drove on to Sanibel Island, on
    the Gulf Coast near Fort Meyers.  We spent Tuesday birding on
    Sanibel Island, notably at the Ding Darling National Wildlife
    Refuge.  Then Tuesday evening we drove to Orlando and WDW.

General Notes

    This was our 5th trip to WDW in 10 years.  We have enjoyed staying
    at the Polynesian Village so much, that we keep returning there again.

    December is our favorite time to visit. It is a low-crowd off-season
    time, yet everything is decorated for Christmas.

    We have consulted the latest Birnbaum book on every trip.  A lot of
    planning went into this trip (as with the previous ones).  In
    preparation I actually write out an itinerary that includes where
    we plan to eat each meal, and what attractions we plan to visit and
    in what order.  This planning helps to assure that we don't bounce
    around too much and find ourselves visiting attractions that are a
    long ways from where we want to eat our next meal.

    After our first couple of trips to WDW, I found that carefully
    selecting some key dining choices really adds to the experience.
    So even though only a few of the attractions were new to us since
    our last visit, we tried a few new restaurants that we'd never done
    before (and we did a few favorites too).

    I made the Polynesian Village Hotel reservation and the Hoop-Dee-Doo
    diner-show reservation last March.  I made the airline and rental
    car reservation in late October.

    Neither my wife nor I care for roller-coasters, so we skipped the
    3 of them in TMK.

Tuesday Dec 14

    Arrived at Polynesian Village at about 3:30pm.
    Checkin was slow.  It took about 10 minutes per checkin and only
    1 or 2 employees were checking people in.

    After our arrival and check-in we went to guest services at the Polynesian
    Village to buy our 4 day Super Passes, and our tickets to the Hoop-Dee-Doo
    show at Fort Wilderness.  Also picked up the flyers with the schedule
    of shows and special events at each of the 3 major parks.

    Note that the 4 day Super Passes and 5 day Super-Duper Passes are still
    available to on-property guests.

    We walked into the Polynesian Village Papeete Bay Verandah and were
    able to get a window table without any reservation.  That was very
    nice.  Great view across the lagoon to TMK.  Live Polynesian music too.
    We both had the fruit plates.

    From our room I called the EPCOT and MGM restaurant reservations
    number to reserve our lunch and diner choices for the next few
    days (a privilege of staying in a WDW hotel).


Wednesday Dec 15  -  Magic Kingdom day

    Walked to the TTC (right near the Polynesian Village) and took the
    monorail to TMK.

    Had breakfast at the Crystal Palace Cafe on Main Street.

    In the morning we did the following attractions:
	Adventure Land: Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean
	Frontier Land: nothing there we wanted to do again
	Liberty Square: Hall of Presidents, Haunted Mansion
    
    Then we went to Tomorrow Land and did Dream Flight and WedWay People Mover.
    
    Then we went to the Tomorrow Land Terrace (about 1pm) and got
    lunch, which we took to the Tomorrow Land Theatre (arrived about
    1:10) and ate there to hold seats for the 1:30 pm show.  This
    little trick economizes our lunch time and allows us to hold seats
    without wasting time.  The show was a Christmas theme by the "Kids
    of the Kingdom" and several Disney Characters.  Good show.

    In the afternoon (after the show) we did the Carousel of Progress
    This has been updated, but we liked the old version better.
    They have changed the theme song too.

    The Circle-Vision 360 movie was closed.

    In Fantasy Land the Magic Journey Film and MR Toads wild ride were closed.
    
    We did some browsing through stores and left TMK about 3:30pm.
    We went back to our room at the Poly V for a rest before the Hoop-dee-doo.

    At about 6:30 we left our room, walked to the TTC and caught a bus
    to Pioneer Hall.  We had reservations for the 7:15 show.

    The seating was a little more crowded than it had been last time and
    we were a little sandwiched in between groups with obnoxious kids.
    (I was surprised at how many school-aged children were at Disney World
    at this time of year.)  The show was verbatim the same as last
    time (Dec '90).

Thursday Dec 16  -  Disney-MGM day

    We had breakfast at the Polynesian Village.  Walked to the TTC
    (right near the Polynesian Village) and took the bus to MGM.

    In the morning we did the following attractions:
 	Muppet Vision 3D show - we went there first as this was new to us.
		We were the first 2 in the door for the first show of the day.
		It was like a private screening, as they ran the show for 10
		people!  It was great!  Besides the 3D film, there are Muppet
		audio-animatronics along the sides of the theatre.  When a
		muppet squirts water at the camera, you feel a few drops of
		water hit you (from the ceiling)!
	Great Movie Ride - we did this to kill time until the 11am showing of
		Voyage of the Little Mermaid
	Voyage of the Little Mermaid - This was new to us.  Going to do
		the Great Movie Ride first almost backfired.  We were the
		last 2 people to make it into the 11am show!  It was cute,
		but not outstanding (we liked the Muppets 3D better).
	We then took the tram tour and skipped the long walking part after
		the tram tour.  We walked up the NY street set to the
		Sci-Fi Dine-in Theatre for our 12 noon reservation.
		That was fun, food ok.
    In the afternoon we did the following attractions:
	Beauty & Beast Stage Show - we caught the 2pm show.  This was
		also new to us.  It was nice.  We rated it better than
		the Little Mermaid, not as good as Muppets 3D.
	Monster Sound Show - last time, my wife and I each got to run one of
		the sound stations.
	Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular - same
	Animation Tour - They were working on the Lion King
	Some shop browsing.
    
    At about 5:30 we headed out to take the bus to EPCOT for our dinner
    reservation at the Coral Reef Restaurant in the Living Seas (this
    is one of my favorite EPCOT restaurants).  Dinner was good.
    Unfortunately it took a long time to get our check and we got caught
    in the mob heading out after the illuminations show (I hate crowds).

Friday Dec 17  -  EPCOT day

    Unfortunately the unthinkable finally happened to us on a
    vacation.  Someone got sick. me.  I came down with a stomach Flu
    (Forida is having an influenza epidemic).  I spent all day Friday
    and Saturday in bed!  Those were our 2 EPCOT days.  I missed the
    belly dancer at the Morocco restaurant (after I'd worked so hard to
    talk my wife into it!).

    I felt so poor on Saturday morning that we called a physician service
    that will send a doctor to your room.  The doctor arrived right on
    schedule (about 1 hour after we called).  He checked me out, told me
    it was the Flu, and gave me some anti-nausea/anti-dizziness medication.

Sunday Dec 19  -  Travel home day

    I was too weak and dizzy to walk, so we made arrangements for Avis
    to come and pick up the car.  My wife arranged taxi service to the
    Airport and got me a wheel chair to get me from the room to the
    taxi.  She got me another wheel chair at the airport and we
    arranged for family to meet us in Boston.

    Not exactly the trip report that I had hopped to enter.
    But alas, these things happen.  I was just glad to get home!

Parting thoughts

    Both my wife and I feel "Disney'd out".  I think that it will be
    about 10 years before I get the urge to go back again.  They are
    not adding enough new attractions fast enough to make it worth
    returning any sooner.

    Also the crowds get bigger all the time.  I really dislike crowds
    and I'm very sensitive to being bothered by people's kids.  Even in
    mid-December there were lots of school aged children there.  And it's
    just not "fashionable" for parents to control their kids these days.

    Hello, this is the Koch family trip report.
    Dates-Dec.5-12
    Stayed-We have a time share Condo about 5 mintues from WDW
    
    We arrived at the condo around 12 on Sunday the fifth. That day we
    mostly hung out in the resort and went in the pool. Oh, and unpacked.
    THE 6TH-We went to Epcot. We got there, about to buy our tickets, when
    I relized I had forgotten the Disney card which would give is a 10%
    discount. I ran back, got the card, then moseed my way back to the big
    golf ball. It was then That we found out about the new Ticket policy.
    STUPID! In my opinion. You can bet Mr. Eisner will be hearing about
    this. (For instence-what about people who come to WDW, but don't have
    enough money to stay on property, or have a condo, like us?) Anywho, we
    went into Epcot, rode the rides in Future world, then around five o
    'clock, we left my daughter, 12, in Future world and we went to the
    countries. We ate at the Bistro D'Paris(a++!), and my daughter ate at
    the Land. We met at 7:30, then made our way home. We were going to
    stay, but my wife and I were sick and taking Benadryl, so we were
    conked out. Great day. Weather about 70's. Oh, I think most of the
    Land,and I think that Exxon's contract did too, but they are renewing,
    plus updating the outdated ride.
    THE 7TH- My daugher went to the final Wonders of the world program for
    her-the art. (Although she says they are adding a new one). Meanwhile
    we stayed at home and relaxed in the whirlpool. Weather, in the upper
    sixties.
    THE 8TH- Went to the Kingdom. A LOT of the rides are being refrebished
    or are closed. These are the ones I can remember-
    Mr. Toads Wild Ride
    Skyway
    Magic Jouneys
    Grad Prix Raceway
    And a few others.When we were riding on The WEDway (Which they have to
    do SOMETHING with, it is getting boring and outdated) When we went into
    Space Mountain, they were having some kind of electrical problem-
    lights were on, ride stopped. Great view of the ride, but I would be
    terrified to be on the track.
    Anywho, we saw the newly referbished Carosel of Progress, Great. Except
    that theyskipped to many years between the last one and the present
    one. Oh, and in the present one, they didn't show a lot of new tech,
    like cellular phones, etc. 
    My daughter dinally got the courage to go on the thrill rides. So we
    went on the mine train, which she loved, and Splash mountain. She loved
    splash mountain, and so did I, great story, and animanatrnics. Except
    they kept stopping the ride and saying "It seems that Brier Fox and
    Brier Bear are causing some trouble downstream, please let us see what
    it is. It couldn't be letting handicapped on and off the ride, they
    can't go on it. Maybe people kept chickening out. The picture would
    have been great, but the stupid people lifted their hands. oh, one
    thing to say- sound quality was bad- couldn't here what they were
    saying.   Sort of a
    dissipointing  day, because of the closed rides, but we overall enjoyed
    oursleves.
    THE 9TH-We just stayed home, taking advantage of the craft things and
    activities at the resort.
    THE 10TH-Went to MGM- had a great time. Went on all the rides and
    shows, My daugher and I got chosen for Superstar Television. (Her-the
    Vpeople-Dadooronron? I forget their names. Me-Husband on soap opera.
    Dave? Dan?) Went on Star Tours where my Daugter-who previosly was
    afraid of the drop of Pirates-thought was boring. we ate burgers and
    fries at the caffiteria. Your normal tourist day. Weather great.
    THE 11TH-My daughter and I went to see a movie at PI while my wife stayed
    home. She saw Sister act II, I saw Geronimo. Then we went to The
    Marketplace and she shopped fow her Christmas Presents. Came back, went
    into the pool. My wife and I then went back to the Village. Packed
    THE12TH- came home. Plane ride was bumpy and we were delayed over DC.
    We were all sick.
    
    We overall had a good V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N, except for the dissapointment of
    the passes and the rides closed. Weather was good, Crowds, almost
    nonexcistant. Good Trip.
     
    
    
    

    A few extra things
    Lines at Splash seem to be decreasing
    Robots in communicore are closed 
    If you nod at the parrot outside of pirtes, it will play the Yo-ho song
    
    And a few things my daughter discovered out in her art and magic
    program (Behind FF for all you spoiler sticklers)
    
    If you have a old map of MGM, turn in upside down, you will see mickeys
    head (Old map- one that is smaller, not like the new expanded version)
    Up in the top of the Castle, you will see little Mickey heads.
    In the haunted masion, Walt is the broken singing head(Or the one with
    the mushstache.
    Also in the haunted mansion-the round shaped room that you enter, with
    the picture of the aging man, the two so called elevators are round
    also, what does that make? Mickey!
    To see is the elevator is going up or down- look at the flor when you
    step out.
    If you see Walts name on some of the tops of the building, that means
    what is under it he liked, or used a lot (Like his name above the Ice
    cream store?)
    
    And a few more, just leave yoy chewing on these for awhile.
    
    
    Ted.

DISNEYLAND, Wednesday, December 29, 1993.

WHO:  3 adults, 2 children.  Parents Carol and Michele duBois.  
	Godmother Diane Miller.  Children 5 year old Evan, 14 month old Justin.

We stayed at the Candycane Inn, which is right on the block on the other
side of the parking lot.  It was adequate.  Some things were very good,
very nice.  However, the staff seemed to have trouble with *anything* out
of the ordinary (especially as opposed to a cheap motel we were at a few
days later where the staff was much friendlier and much more helpful).

Since we wanted to avoid the fiasco we had had a few years earlier, where
Michele couldn't find the car when she left the rest of the group to drive
baby Evan around for his nap, and ended up hot, angry, tired, and separated
from us for 4 hours, we therefore drove to Disneyland but paid $12 for
preferred parking, which got us a spot *right* up front.  :-}  Definately
worth it for us.

We rented a stroller, and tied sweatshirts on it.  Last time our stroller had
been stolen/taken, but this time we had no problem.  To our delight, as soon
as we entered Main Street, we encountered a New Year's show being taped!
We got to see several Disney characters, and I got to hear that lovely song
from Sleeping Beauty which I have grown to love.  :-)

The place was *full* of people; more crowded than Thanksgiving Day, 1989.
Michele heard a cast member remark that it was the most crowded he had ever
seen it.  Consequently, we didn't get to go on as many rides as I would have
liked, but the crowd control was still done very well.

We started with Storybook Land, the boat ride that goes through the mouth
of the whale (Monstro).  All of us enjoyed it (well, the kids enjoyed it more
than the adults, I think).  :-)

We spent about half our time in Toon Town.  It was *so* nice to be somewhere
I had never been!  I grew up in Southern California, so I have probably been
to DL about 50 times now.  Every so often (on the hour?  half hour?) the clock
would chime and several characters would emerge from City Hall: Goofy, Pluto,
Roger Rabbit, Gadget, and Chip 'N Dale, I believe.  I'm sure Evan could
tell you.  :-)  

The lines were long for the food there, and places to sit were all full, but
we managed to find a table eventually.  We played on the Chip 'N Dale treehouse
with the slide and acorn balls.  Kids have to be 3 for the acorns, but Justin
could climb up the house and slide with me (yes! I got to do it, too!).  Evan
loved the acorns.  We revisited the place later.  Evan and I also did the 
Gadget roller coaster.  It was tame for a coaster, but fast enough to keep
it exciting.  Evan doesn't usually like roller coasters, so it surprised me
he wanted to go on this one.  He enjoyed it, though.  The line took forever,
though - probably an hour (though I wasn't wearing a watch).  Evan and
Diane also went on the trolley (with the wind-up key on top) and seemed to
enjoy it.  

We then left Toon Town and promptly lost each other.  :-}  I had stood in line
again to get drinks for everyone.  Michele and Justin were waiting at a
rendezvous point and we were going to head to Small World after everyone
meeting together. I told Michele that they could start without me so long as
they tapped me on the shoulder and told me they were going.  Well, to make a
long story short we must have *just* missed each other because they didn't find
me and I didn't find them (though we both looked) and they went on to Small
World, thinking I had already gone there, too.  I am *very* greatful to the
cast member who let me jump to the middle of the *very* long line (with
drinks and everything) when they finally spotted me (I had already given up,
and had sat down to wait for them at the exit of Small World).  We were more
careful after that to stay together.

Next we went to Tomorrowland.  Diane and Evan and I went on Star Tours, which
Evan did *not* enjoy.  He had been excited about it since he had just seen Star
Wars. However, he wasn't expecting the scary ride, and I hadn't prepared him
enough for it.  If I had it to do again, I would warn him in detail that it was
*pretend* and that they were going to be acting scared, etc, but it was so real
to Evan that it really shook him up.  It didn't help that he also was becoming
sick, but we didn't know it.  We left then to go back to the hotel and rest, to
return later. 

Now to tell you about the surrounding area.  We found a WONDERFUL fish and
chips place just down a few blocks from Disneyland, on Katella.  I am not
normally a fish eater, but this was *succulent*.  I stayed in the car with
the sleeping children while Diane and Michele went into the place.  The 
owner showed them the *huge* pieces of fish that she cooked up fresh for us.
We took it back to the hotel and had a feast.  This place is located near
a drug store and some fast food places, all on Katella.  I get my N/S/E/W
mixed up, but coming from the CandyCane Inn, you can only go *away* from
Disneyland.  Then turn right on Katella.  I guess from any Disney exit it
is the same: go to Katella and turn right.  You only have to go a few (3-4)
blocks.  Sav-On drugstore is on the left, and the fish place is on the 
right, slightly around the corner just past Sav-On.

Though Evan wasn't feeling well, he still *really* wanted to go back to
Disneyland so we did.  We still got to use the preferred parking, btw.
We went on the Jungle Cruise, and everyone enjoyed it (they actually had a few
new jokes, too!)  Then we went on Pirates of the Caribbean.  The baby was
really frightened by it.  One thing that delighted us about Pirates was that at
the very end we were telling Diane that there were at least a couple of *women*
pirates, too, and just then I looked back and saw them painted on the wall!!! 
They had their arms around each other and their names were below them 
(Anne Bonnie and Mary Reed, I believe). It was great! 

We headed to Splash Mountain, but it sounded like Fantasmic was about to
start.  After hearing about it here, I really wanted to see it (and it was
something *new* to me!), however no one else knew anything about it so they
weren't thrilled with the idea.  It turned out it was a 1/2 hour before it
would start, but we found *good* places to view right on the Tom Sawyer rafts! 
The rest of the area was packed, and for much worse places to view!  I *loved*
the images on the water!  It was incredible.  Unfortunately, Evan was shaking,
and when I asked him if he was cold, he said no, but "I HAFTA GO TO THE
BATHROOM!!!"  So we frantically rushed through the crowd, and when we returned
it had *just* ended.  At least the rest of the family got to watch.  Justin had
been a little scared, but not as much as I thought he would be.  Michele could
easily hold him so he didn't look at the scary things. 

Since Evan seemed to be doing worse, we opted not to go to Splash Mountain 
(to his *great* disappointment).  Instead, we went to the Tiki Room.
Just as baby Evan had been, Justin was enthralled.  I think this made the
trip for him.  :-)  I also noticed that the Tahitian Terrace was gone,
replaced by Aladdin's Oasis, which also has some kind of floor show.  I'll
miss the Tahitian Terrace.  It was my favorite place to eat there.

So, it all turned out okay.  I wish Evan hadn't gotten sick (103 degree fever,
by the time we returned to the motel!), and I wish it hadn't been as crowded,
but everyone still had something that they enjoyed that day, and perhaps this
will make the Magic Kingdom at DisneyWorld more fun for me when I finally
get the family there.  :-)

      Carol

    Just got back and had to put this in.  I was 1993 but still wish I was
    there.
    WHEN: 23 DEC - 28 DEC 1993
    ACCOM: QUALITY SUITES  (3 1/2 MILES FROM FRONT GATE)
    WHO: The BLAISDELLS (RICH AND DEB) CHARLENE-16, JARROD-13, ALISHA-11,
         and CHRISTOPHER-9.
    AIRLINE: USAIR LOGAN TO ORLANDO 18:20 - 21:15
    	     USAIR ORLANDO TO LOGAN 14:45 - 17:40
    CAR:HURTZ MINIVAN (CARAVAN)
    TIME SPENT: 24TH 8:00-18:00 25TH 8:00-24:00 26TH 8:00-24:00 
    		27TH 8:00-2400
    TEMP: HAD A COUPLE OF NIGHTS TO SCRAP ICE BUT ALL WAS WELL.
    
    	The packed it all in.  saw the parade on Friday and stared to watch
    Sat but the 30 min. parade stopped for every commerical on TV so it
    took 2 hrs.  My kids went to the rides that are most popular during
    parade times and had no waiting at all.  Would you believe 35 times on
    splash mountain and 30 times on space mountain.  We (Deb and I) took
    the skyway at 1 min to 9 at night and watched Tinkerbell slide down and
    the fireworks while riding it was nice.  Kids were the right age to let
    go as a group and we just gave them times and places to meet us.
    	We are looking at the possiblity of a VACATION CLUB timeshare.  The
    cost is 14,600 for 242 points (can be used at other places around the
    world also) plus around $630 a year for maint.  if used at off times
    this can streach to 10 to 12 days there in a place set for 8.  This
    includes tickets for 4 during visit till 1999.  Does anyone have
    information on this.
    	Will close but am looking to go back the second week of October.
    
    			Rich Blaisdell
    

    Ok, this is a little late... but.. Here it is ... the honeymoon
    trip report for the new Mr & Mrs Tom Giarrosso!
    
    I'm sure this report will disappoint quite a few Disney-holics, because
    we weren't up at the crack of dawn, and go until midnight..
    
    WHEN: Nov 28th- Dec 5th
    Where: Polynesian Resort, Samoa Building, 3rd floor, lagoon view
    
    We flew Delta airlines (tickets were a wedding gift!) from Logan 
    Airport in 35 degree rain  Sunday morning, and arrived at Orlando
    around 3pm.     We rented a car from Budget and got a free upgrade
    because they were out of sub-compact cars .. and made our way, with
    Budget map in hand, to Disney
    
    We found the Polynesian with no problems what so ever.. We checked 
    in throught the King Kemehameha (sp) becuase we had the concierge \
    service. Found out that we got the room that we had requested when
    I made the reservations...  The view was really incredible!  We had
    a 3rd floor room  with a balcony.. looking directly at the Castle
    the Grand Floridian was on your left, and the Contemporary was on your
    right.  We spent a lot of time during the week looking at that view.
    
    We had dinner at Flagler's that night.. it was the best meal I think we
    ever had.. We used one of our 2 dinner coupons here.  Tom had the 
    Shrimp/Filet mignon, and I had the Veal Scallopini.. Everything
    was just perfect.   We spent a lot of time that night wandering around
    the Grand Floridian.. I just fell in love with the Victorian christmas
    Decorations.  (sigh)
    
    Monday: our first full day at Disney
           We got up in time to have breakfast  at the Coral Isle Cafe,
    the infamous banana-stuffed french toast.  Tom loved it, It was so 
    sweet I couldn't finish it (I'm not a breakfast person anyway)
    And off to the Magic Kingdom.  
           There was NO LINES... anywhere.. it only took us 10 monutes to 
    get through Space Mountain. Wow.  We saw most of the Magic Kingdom 
    before 3pm.. but we also had tickets to Mickey's Very MErry Christmas
    Party.. so we knew we'd be back anyway.   Then we went back to the 
    room for a nap  (I was still getting over the week-of-no-sleep-before
    the-wedding)  and slept much too long..    
          We didn't have anything planned for dinner, so we went to 
    find Beaches and Cream.. We found the b&Y club, right off, but 
    could not find Beaches & Cream to save our souls!  We walked around
    for about an hour in 40 degree weather in summer clothes! (needless to 
    say, we came down with colds).  Around 10 pm we finally found it.
    and the burgers were great.. However.. their lime rickey's are
    imposters!  They are like lemon-lime soda .. not the real thing.. 
    
    Tuesday we went to Universal Studios for most of the day.. My husband
    has a friend who designed the Back to the Future Ride.. and he had
    ridden on the proto-type when it was in the Berkshires'.. so that
    was a must.. we waited almost an hour for that ride the longest the
    whole week.  I loved the Jaws ride, myself.    We went back to the 
    hotel, and napped again (boy, we slept a lot this week!)  Again, 
    couldn't decide where to go for dinner so we did room service!
    His friends gave us about $400 in Disney Dollars for a wedding gift,
    most of which was used on room service.   Great Stuff.  Very Decadent.
    
    WEdnesday and Thursday were spend mostly in Epcot Center.. I liked
    Epcot the most of all the Parks, specifically, the International 
    Showcase.. The only great thing I have to report is.. Tom bought
    me one of the find a pearl in the oyster.. and I got a HUGE 
    pearl.. 8.5mm. the woman started ringing a bell and jumping 
    up and down.    That was really neat.   Most of these days 
    we had room service, too.  I got addicted to their fresh fruit
    plate..a Turkey Platter size plate of fresh berries, pineapple, melon
    and a strawberry yogurt dip..we got one almost everynight. 
    
    We also saw the Electric Water Parade go by our balcony almost
    everynight.. Way cool.   On that Wednesday and Thurdsay,  we got up
    to see the Shuttle take off. We could see that from our balcony
    as well, we ALSO had the full lunar eclipse..  It was great week
    for odd things happening. 
    
    Friday we decided to use our other dinner coupon to go to Flagler's 
    again. (Tom REALLY liked it)  .. So we went again.. It was better
    than the first time.  They made up special dinners for Tom and I 
    (because we had the coupons I suppose)  He had the Filet and Lobster
    Tail, and I had the Filet and Fettucini Alfredo. 
        After dinner we were off to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
    It was just magical (no pun intended)  .  Completely by accident, 
    we had the best seats to see Tinker Bell fly before the fireworks 
    went off, and we also had curbside seats for the Christmas Parade.
    The park was decorated for christmas, all the cast members wore
    Santa hats.. it was, by far, the hightlight of our trip.
         Saturday I wasnt' feeling good, so I slept in most of the day,
    and Tom wandered around the Polynesian Village.  Saturday night
    we went to the Disney Village to go shopping, and after the whole
    week of having no crowds, and seeing everything in short order, 
    This was a new experience.  It was CROWDED!.. People Everywhere..
    I don't usually suffer from claustrophobia, but I had to leave
    at least 2 shops because of the crowds.  We had dinner at Chef Mickey's
    that was OK but nothing spectacular..  
         After we got back from Disney Village, we hung out on our balcony
    again, and watched the fireworks light up the entire sky over the 
    Magic Kingdom.  It was a fitting end to our vacation.
    
    OOps.. almost forgot the Hoop-de-do review, we saw that on 
    Wednesday night.  We had primo seats, right near the stage. (and had
    the special recognition for being honeymooners)  The food was good, 
    the show was great.  
    
        I'm sure this is not what most people would consider the ideal
    Disney Vacation, but we were really burnt out from the Wedding 
    festivities.   We saw everything we really wanted to see, and 
    don't feel like we wasted any time/money.  Though we are planning
    on going back and staying at the Grand Floridian for the weekend
    for our 1st anniversary, and will probably be on the go all the time.
    
    Thanks for everyone's great info, and help in planning this trip
    
    Chrsitine
     
    
    
    
    

        Annie & Stan Lund's 12/21/93 - 1/2/94 Trip Report
        
        
  1993 was a difficult year, we had been looking forward to this
  trip, but having lost our luggage (never found) on one trip and
  myself having major problems with my Asthma and then Pneumonia
  this year, we had several things to be concerned about.
  
  Pre-trip planning:
  
    Double, Triple, Quadruple checked with the airlines(Continental)
    that I had a Non-Dairy meal, as I cannot eat Dairy products.
    
    Double, Triple, Quadruple checked with WDW that we would be able to
    get a non-smoking room in Port Orleans. I was very concerned that,
    since we were arriving late (11pm), we would get there, and there
    wouldn't be any available. Since they can only mark what you prefer,
    I had written a letter several months earlier and received a call
    back from CRO. There would be no problems holding a non-smoking
    room for us. In our reservation record it was recorded as a medical
    reason, and we only needed to call the morning of our arrival before
    noon to talk directly to the manager at Port Orleans.
    
    So we are all set, annual passports, tickets, reservations, barely
    replaced luggage, etc, and it's finally time!
    
   
 December 21st! The day has arrived!
 
    I worked till 2:40, headed home and was ready for the limo to
    take us up to the Manchester Airport. We are flying Continental
    (Manchester/Newark/Orlando). The limo picks us up promptly at 3:15
    and we are on our way! It's rainy and windy... but looks like it's
    clearing. We had no problems getting to the airport, and we are there
    by 3:50. Walk right up to the counter, and problems.... Newark is
    wicked backed up... So the 3:15 flight had already been cancelled;
    our flight is now scheduled to leave at 5:30.... Not much to do in
    the old Manchester Airport... So we get a bite to eat..... Flight
    is now on hold, and is slowly being delayed more and more.... We
    don;t worry about it, as our connecting flight is leaving Boston,
    and we get on it in Newark, and it is equally as late. As long as
    we leave Manchester before or same time as the Boston flight, we
    won;t miss our connection. Each time they delay us, they check and
    the Boston flight is also delayed. Finally our flight has taken
    off from Newark, expected arrival in 1/2 hr and we will be boarding
    shortly after that. By now, we will not be getting into Orlando
    till 1-2am... We call CRO - no problems; we call the car-rental -
    first response is; sorry we are all sold out for cars (we have gone
    past midnight). How can the car we are supposed to pick up at 11:15pm
    not be there at 1-2am? I speak to a supervisor:
    
        We are using Avis... avis has a policy that they will hold a car
        up to 15 hrs from your original time, or until the car rental
        closes. Since Orlando is a 24 hour car rental, our car will be
        held till approx 4pm the next day. Ok, no more need to panic.
        I did not get this info till going up the chain. If you are
        ever delayed in travel, and it's a busy time of year, where
        car rentals are sold out, this may be of help to know.
        
    Ok, looks like we are still all set... Quess we won;t be up early
    to get into the parks in the morning... Our plane has landed,
    US Air just diverted a plane from Vermont to Manchester, the airport
    is now dealing with putting people up for the night... Some excitment.
    We now have a ground delay. The plane is here, it's 35min flying time
    to Newark... They cancel the flight... ARRRRRRRRRRGH! The pilots will
    go over their maximum flying time; so they are goign to fly directly
    to their final destination for the evening, and not go back to Newark.
    Guess who is first in the line for reticketing :^)... We are reticketed
    for 6:30am the next morning, and somehow manage to get 1st class seats
    for the Newark/Orlando flight....
    
    Now it's 8:30pm. We need to be back in 10 hrs, we can call First class
    and get round trip back/forth to the house for $60, we can try and find
    someone to come pick us up at the airport and then take us home and
    then pick up by 5am and have us back here by 5:45ish. Asking someone
    to get about about 4-4:30 to be at our house by 5-5:15 is alittle much.
    We call Avis, we won;t be arriving till 11-12am tomorrow... No problem
    (especially since I know they need to hold the car till 4pm). We then
    call CRO, expecting to be charged for the night at ths point. No problem
    they will change our arrival date and not charge us. We call the Hylander
    Inn at the Manchester Airport, free shuttle, $69/rate for distressed
    passengers... OK, since we didn;t have to pay for P.O, and the Hylander
    was less, we headed over there for the night. WDW will just have to wait
    for tomorrow.
    
    
 Dec 22nd,
 
    We are up and ready for the shuttle back to the airport at 5:30 am;
    this time we have a 727 (last night would have been a turbo). Things
    are looking good, we are boarding and taking off on time. The plane is
    not full and we land in Newark a little early. Flight in Newark is
    delayed, they are overbooked, looking for people to take $200 certificates,
    we just want to get there. The attendant at the check in counter is
    upset that we have first class seats, hey thats what we were given last
    night. The flight is delayed 2 hrs, we will arrive about Noonpm... Getting
    closer to the 4pm, lose your car. sigh.. We wait. Finally they board,
    it is full! Because we are in first class, we get right on and settle
    in and have some oj while waiting. I really like this, especially when
    we don't have to pay for it. We finally get clearance and we are off,
    flight to Orlando was quick (especially when they play a 2 hr movie,
    The Secret Garden, and you have free headsets, and the flight is only
    2 1/4 hrs). We land in Orlando and it's sunny and warm. Finally here...
    We get luggage and head head for Avis.... The first contract came out
    with a weekly rate of $471/week (we has $129/week). Turns out because
    the arrival date was different, it violated the rules for the discount
    rate. We finally have our car, and are in Orlando and are heading
    for WDW!
    
    We check into P.O. and are in our room by 1:30pm..... We are in Blding 1,
    a non-smoking room on the third floor. room 1323.  At checkin they really
    wanted you to buy the BOG passports. We said sorry we have annual passports.
    This is at the far corner of Port Orleans, but since it is compact, it
    is not that far of a walk. It is very quiet. We head over to the food
    court, get a bite to eat. We are tired, and I am not feeling that great,
    but we head for Epcot to get our annual passports about 4pm. We did Norway
    (the Maelstrom) and Journey into Imag (Figment's my favorite). We had
    no problems getting reservations for Dinner before leaving the resort and
    ate at the Japanese Restaurant (What's the name), where they make the
    food right at the table. It was really fun to watch, and I enjoyed it.
    We just walked around epcot for awhile and then headed back to Port Orleans.
    We picked up some Beignets, they are good. Today we learned that all
    restaurants and food courts in WDW are non-smoking! One less thing for
    me to be concerned with. The Sunshine Grill (the new name of the restaurant
    in the Land) no longer serves breakfast, and the menu has changed. Nothing
    appealed. We had checked this out before leaving the park.
    
 Dec 23rd,
 
    The parks are open 9-whatever today, so the early park for WDW hotel guests
    is 7:30. We get up late, and have a hard time getting going. It took almost
    an extra day to get here, and it's caught up with us. We ate a leisurely
    breakfast and then head for MGM. We get there by 11am. It's crowded, and
    we do Muppet Vision, then eat in The Brown Derby. Had a great time, Roman
    and Shelby were doing their act. Shelby is quite the character, came by
    and asked how us kids were enjoying our lunch, hmm, mulch. (we were having
    cobb salads, no cheese for me). Walked around alittle, very drained, so
    we head back to P.O.; we fall asleep and wake up about 5:30pm. We head
    to the MK, so far the busses have been very reasonable. Either one has been
    sitting there, or one pulls up before we are seated. It's about 6pm, but
    COLD! Most people are leaving. You would think the park closed at 6pm.
    We do a couple of rounds on BTMRR and then head for The Liberty Tavern for
    dinner. The park closes at 10pm. We hit Haunted Mansion, Pirates, BTMRR
    a couple of times. It's 9:10pm and most of the roped areas in Frontierland
    are empty, so we wait the 10 minutes for the Spectromagic to start. We did
    some shopping and then headed out. As we were heading for the busses, one
    pulled away from the P.O/D.L stop; bummer, But Wait! Another pulls right
    into the spot. We get right on.... Due to recent notes in the notes file
    we were expecting problems with the Busses, so far there hasn't been a
    minute or two wait without a bus being there. I think with the flags
    off the buses and the signs computerized, they can tak any bus and use
    it for the busiest requested stop....
    
 Dec 24th,
 
    Today is early day at Epcot, (it opens at 9, for guests 7:30). We are
    up and out and catch the bus at 7:15am. Epcot opens at 7:30. Early morning
    busses at P.O/D.L are running differently. One bus is doing P.O and 1st
    D.L stop(checkin stop- is that south?); another bus is doing the other
    three D.L. stops. There were extra busses sitting in P.O and D.L. parking
    lots. We arrived at Epcot as the gates were opening. Cars not resort quests
    were not being allowed past the parking entrance (where you pay).
    Side notes:
      It is hit or miss with the buses as to whether they check your id's. They
    never checked getting on at a resort. Several times they did check at
    the parks and a couple drivers would not let people on till they showed the
    cards... Also, they were very careful about checking the stamp and tickets
    of the new type passes to make sure you were returning to the same park.
    
    Universe of Energy and Wonder's of Life are open. We were the first people
    into Body Wars. the did Cranium command and wandered around exhibits then
    off to do Space Ship Earth. Then headed over for the land for opening and
    did the ride there. Decided to walk over to the Yacht club for the breakfast
    buffet there. It was good. (Yacht Galley). Browsed in the shops then
    headed back and went through several countries, then took boat across the
    lagoon. No waiting. It is cold and overcast out, it's supposed to rain,
    there had been a frost warning last night. Did Horizons, World of Motion
    (I've got a couple of the brochures to get videos with if anyone is
    interested, send mail to Nova::lund). We then went into the new food
    place called "The Fountainview, serves espresso, bakery, hot ch made with
    steamed milk, etc. It's about 1pm and they tested the fountain for
    Splashtacular. It was quite the site to see just the fountains without
    all the rest of splashtacular. Show is just Sat/Sun. Took the boat
    back across to catch the voices of liberty doing their holidays show.
    It's getting colder out. It's starting to rain out. We take the bus
    around to Canada and browse thru the shops heading back to France for
    lunch. It is raining lightly, we hope to make it back to France without
    needing ponchos. Lunch in Chef's du France is ok. 
    
    Side note: Orlando area is wicked busy, traffic is backed up on 192 and
      other roads into the park, we orginally were goign to check out on
      12/26 and check into our exchanged timeshare. We decided to check to see
      if we could extend our reservation. We had no problems extending it till
      checkout date of 1/2.... In otherwords, on Dec 24th you could still
      get on property reservations for the week between xmas and new years.
      not like previous years. We called and told II (Interval International)
      we would not be using our week. We had expected to have lost out all
      together, but they gave us a certificate good for a week anytime before
      the end of May, with just the exchange fee. Plus we were staying in the
      same room the entire time, and we returned the car and saved on alot
      on that, so the extra number of nights on property was offset somewhat
      by not having the car.
      
   I enjoyed my vegetable platter, Stan wasn't overly thrilled about his meal.
   It's now 3:30, we had to get pnochos, It's rainy and cold so we browse
   thru the Communicores. Twilight Zone (Tower of Terror) is well underway
   and is visible from Epcot between Morocco and France, Higher than anythin
   else in MGM. Parks close at 6pm tonight, we head back. Port Orleans is
   setting up for xmas eve festivities. They are roasting chestnuts, having
   hot cider and cookies; Tomorrow is MK early (opens at 8, so for guests
   this means 6:30am).... We head back to the room for awhile then it's
   pouring and we head for the activities. They have everything under the
   overhangs, and the place is mobbed. The carolers come (look like voices
   of liberty members). And Santa is there. Quite a line up. The staff did
   an excellent job, pulling this off in the pouring rain. Didn't try the
   chestnuts, they had fruit stollem, pecan cookies and sugar cookies, the
   cider sure hit the spot. A 4-piece band was playing xmas music, we
   had dinner at Bonfamilles. It was good, but much more than we could
   eat after the cookies and cider. 
   
   Side note:
   
      Annual passports, we would use which ever line was smaller to re-enter;
      If it was the normal entrance it would flash up "reentry accepted"; most
      of the time they did nto check for a handstamp with the annual passports.
      
 Dec 25th
 
    Christmas morning, we are up and out by 5:45, caught the first buss at
    5:53 to MK. We have the bus all to ourselves. Only adults without kids
    are there that early. It is starting to rain again. The park opens at
    6:30 and there is only about 50 people heading in..... Yes, We were up
    and in MK at 6:30 am christmas morning. We must be crazy. It starts
    raining more, and we head into th bakery and sit and eat hot beverages
    and cinnamon rolls. We go over to Space mountain, and get right on, then
    head over to Fantasy land. Absolutely no lines; so we do these rides,
    that there is no way we would wait more than 5 minutes for, but normally
    have waits of 45 minutes plus. Mr Toad, Peter Pan, Snow White etc.
    Can anyone tell me the purpose of Snow White's Scary Adventures? You
    never see snow white once, you see the dwarfs only once, and you see the
    witch alot with the apple and the ride ends with the witch in the forest.
    Snow White has never met the witch and the ride is over. Oh well...
    
    BTW; people started lining up for the parade at 6:45am; it's pouring out;
    and the parade was taped ahead just in case, and if this continues it
    won't run anyhow. Plus the parade is going to happen three other times
    today. Be real. We also did it's a small world and the carosel. It's 8 we
    head for Hall of Pres. but the first show is 8:30 so bear Jamboree doing
    their Holiday numbers. Oh, people were riding dumbo in the rain, but there
    weren't any lines. Ate breakfast at the Crystal Palace - line here, believe
    it or not it was busy enough, they had someone keeping people queued up
    outside and letting a certain number in at a time. Then did pirates and 
    the rain had stopped, but the park wasn;'t too crowded. Caught the parade
    from 4th row out. Took forever as they stopped it for commercials, so
    we ended up in front for the second half. The sun is out but it is very
    cold. We didn;t pay attention to it, and yes we got alittle sunburn, it
    might have gotten up to 40-45. Park is getting really busy. We get a
    dole whip. Lines are getting wicked long. The Swiss Family Tree House
    had a line greater than 30 minutes, and everything else was much worse.
    We took the monarail over to Epcot and headed for the Fountainview. This
    turns out to be our favorite place for hot beverages this trip. Besides
    cappucino, espresso, the hot ch (streamed milk) they had cinnamon and
    nutmeg to sprinkle on top. You could get beers and wines here, you could
    get liquors in your coffees, they also had eggnog w/rum. They had mousse,
    brioche's muffins, all sorts of croissants, etc. They also had some seating
    outside. Would be a good place to watch the fountain for Splashtacular,
    but wouldn't see all of the rest of the show. They made the whipped topping
    for the mousse from scratch, and baked things here. 
    
    Side Note:
        Hall of Presidents now included Bill Clinton, doing a speach. It seems
        more of the presidents are animated, or I had forgotten what this was
        like.
        
    We waited for the first Splashtacular show. We were there behind the ropes
    about 40 minutes before the show started and were in the front line. The
    area is not that big and unless you are in the first few rows you can't see
    and if the person in front of you puts a child up on their shoulders then
    you can see absolutely nothing. Also the communicore closest to Mexico has
    entrances closed off so you have to go thru to Wonder's of life and cut
    around to the restaurant heading to Mexico to get out to world showcase.
    From the other communicore, you can get out the far back side. Very poor
    planning on this for viewing space. 
    
    We got sunny pictures of the world showcase. It's 4:30pm, we have been
    in the parks since 6:30, so we head back to P.O. then walk down to DL 
    and eat dinner there. I call it a day, but Stan heads back to MGM for
    evening pictures. The street players are all piled into/onto one of the cars
    the sing a carol, then pile back in/on and go about ten feet. Hop out do
    another carol and repeat this down the blvd. Stan enjoyed this.
    
    There is a freeze watch tonight.
    
 Dec 26th. It is COLD out! we decide to make this a do laundry/and then hop
     hotels day. It is too cold to walk around the parks and stand in lines.
     It's sunny out, but cold. Can't be more than 40 out, you can see your
     breath, but there are people swimming. Go figure that one out. So for
     whomever asked about swimming in January down in Orlando.... to each
     his/her own.... I did laundry and Stan took pictures around the resort.
     It was really sunny out.
     
     We were going to walk to DL, but the boat to the marketplace was 
     sitting there, so we decide to go there. Boy was that a cold ride;
     I'd hate to do it in the evening when it's this cold there. We continue
     to have the good fortune of always havign the transportation ready
     when we want it. We have lunch in Chef Mickey's, I had the chef salad
     Stan had a burger, we weren't all that impressed with the food or the
     service. We did have a table near the windows. Food didn't come as
     ordered, took for ever to get beverages, they should be able to deal
     with crowds. Browsed thru shops, Then caught buss to TTC then over to
     Disney Inn and then took monarail to check out decorations in Contemporary
     and Grand Floridian. Then into MK, and rode BTMRR at least 4 more times,
     space mountain, etc. too cold to do Splash Mountain. Not that this is
     means anything but... we began noticing that the count of people thru
     BTMRR was around 23,000 every night at 9pm... Now what were we doing
     at BTMRR so many evenings at 9pm :^)..... After this we left, and headed
     back. The bus was waiting as we got there.
     
 Dec 27th,
 
    Up late, had freeze watch again, and we just did not feel like being
    out and in lines in 30 degree weather, but very sunny out. Ate breakfast
    at Bonfamilles... I like oatmeal. Although it wasn't on the menu, you could
    get it, only $1.25 a bowl. Food court was .89/bowl. Sitting down at
    Bonfamilles, meant you get Beignets also, with a tea and it was enough
    for breakfast for just a couple dollars.
    We walked down to DL and walked around then caught bus to MGM, it was
    there; It's crowded! Got right onto Backstage tour, as they were using
    2's to fill in, and you got to skip alot of the line, otherwise about
    a 30-40 minute wait. Only problem is that if you end up in the first
    car, it doesn't shake in Catestrophe Canyon. Exit this ride and you cna
    see alot of the sets for Nightmare Before Christmas. This was very
    interesting. It made us wish we had seen it. Eventually we'll have to
    rent it as a video. Lines were too long for everything else; we decide to 
    check out the swan/dolphin/yacht/beach decorations. It has gotten much
    warmer, high 60's low 70's; all these pools are really busy. Had lunch atr
    the Yacht Galley (this is one of our favorites, I like the Narragansett,
    and Stan likes the Chick Tracy. Took boat back to MGM, did star tours,
    twice, and then Indiana Jones, Ate light dinn at Hollywood and Vine and
    got a bunch of pictures. then headed for MK, why, well we had to check
    that number on BMTRR right around 9pm... :^). Once again the bus was there.
    5 min and it's off to TTC; It stops at the COntemporary first, so we got
    off there and walked over to mK. Took 10 min to walk, would have taken
    longer to take the buss back to TTC and then catch monorail or boat.
    We had resort id's but were never asked to show them at the guard gate.
    Road BTMRR over and over and over... At least 4 times, yup, count still
    right around 23000 at 9pm. Also did pirates; and took pictures. Caught
    fireworks from bridge in front of Splash. Nice fireworks, just no castle
    in front of them. DId some shopping in the stores on Main street. Caught
    the first part of Spectromagic as main street was not busy, this started
    at 11 and we got seats right on the curb on main street circle. Headed for
    the bus, got back to P.O.; got hot drinks and were in our room by 11:30.
    We never tried to leave right after fireworks or parade. We would head
    for the bus just as something was finishing up or wait a little while.
    
  Dec 28th
  
    Up late, brought breakfast bck to the room, there are two hot air balloons
    passing by, sigh, took it easy, went swimming, at least today it was
    in the high 70's. I'm not big on clorinated pools, it bothers me, but
    hey it's the end of December, it's cold up North, so got to do it. This
    also shows how wide a range the temperature can be in december.
    Headed for Epcot; it was about 6pm, bus was behind,
    and filled up before it got to all the DL stops, this was the first
    problem we encountered. When we got to Epcot, they took it out of service
    and placed another bus in it's place; so I think they were having bus
    problems. Epcot was very busy! Took night time pix and then over to
    Yacht Galley for dinner. They had an excellent veggie soup. At dinner
    time you can order from the lunch menu also. Service was excellent,
    things appeared on the table before we had a chance to ask for them.
    Spent time in the countries, then headed back for an early evening,
    Bus was waiting again.
    
  Dec 29th
  
    Up and at MGM by 6:55am, it's chilly, the bus was waiting again. Stan did
    pictures (getting light, no crowds), I did rides, then we met at Hollywood
    and Vine for Breakfast. Start Tours, Muppets, TGMR were open for the early
    opening. After breakfast did Little Mermaid (we ended up in the front row,
    topo close and you can see the people, it's best to be back from the stage),
    Monster Show and Superstar Tele. Then took some more pix. It's 10:30 and
    the ropes are going up for the Aladdin parade, we hadn't seen this, so
    we got a good spot for the 11:00 showing. After the parad, browsed thru
    the shops, then relaxed in the shade till our 12:45 lunch reserv. at the
    Brown Derby. After lunch, Stan heads to MK (his bus is waiting), and I
    head back for a nap (5 min wait for the bus).
    
    After a light dinner, head for MK, the bus came in 5 min, (8:15) we werew
    at MK at 8:37pm. The park is crowded with people lining up for the parade,
    so we hit BTMRR (again!) at about 9pm (again!) with the counter about
    23,000(again!). I also managed to do Splash Mtn during the 10pm fireworks,
    and caught alot of it from the ride. 
    
    The park emptied out, we got seats on the circle near the train station for
    the 11pm parade, and then went thru shops and then did BTMRR at midnight,
    the last train of the evening (27685 on the counter).Took pix as park
    emptied. 12:37 walking to bus, one pulls up, back in our room by 1:05.
    
  Dec 30th,
  
    I'm up and out to do some laundry at 6:30, it's 61 degrees out, heard
    it was wicked cold up in NH, :^), Took it easy in the morning, then headed
    for MK. The park was busy, rode the train, shopped, took pix... We don't
    buy much, just like to browse thru the shops. IT's quite breezy out.
    
    OK, we've been here for more than a week now, and I decide to check
    something out, am I getting bored? No, I wanted to know how much second
    hand smoke we were inhaling, well, I counted the # of times/hour, a
    couple of times in the different parks, well it averaged 15 times
    per hour. So the parks were opened from 6:30-midnight or later each
    day (close to 18/hrs a day). We figured we were in the parks for
    10 hrs a day average (some days alot more, some days not so much),
    that means 150 times per day, and then we were there 12 days, so
    thats roughly 1800 times we were exposed to second hand smoke during our
    stay at WDW. This does not include the smoke we were able to avoid.
    Some hours were worse, like when you are in the lines inside BTMRR and
    the voice says no smoking in line and two teens lite up, smirk at the
    voice and all the people and continue to puff into our faces without
    putting them out. This actually happened quite frequently. Or when you
    are standing in the middle of the crowd watching splashtacular and a person
    near you in the middle of the crowd lites up, etc... Even if you managed
    to avoid most smoke and brought that down to 5 times per hour, that
    would have been 600 times during our stay. 

   We head for the Disney Inn for dinner, we decided to do this because
   The Disney Inn was not going to exist or be available to WDW guests
   after Jan 4th, 1994, or at least not available in the remainder of our
   lifetime. I have already posted that info in another note, so I won't
   include it here. Dinner was ok, we headed back to MK, but it had gotten
   very cold, I think mostly because it was also very breezy. There was a
   PO/DL bus pulling up so we decided to just head back to the room for the
   evening. Got some carrot cake and hot drinks on the way.
   
 Dec 31st
 
   It's very chilly this morning, ate a quick breakfast in the food court
   and then head for Ecpot this morning,  We have reservations for the
   Living Seas for Dinner, it's just toooooo COld for me, so I head back
   to the room, Stan stays and does pix. YOu'd think he was the only one int
   the park, it's clear and no people in the pix.  He caught the future corps
   band playing. Stan went over to MK for more pix, according to the boat
   pilot, the Swans on the Swan hotel weigh 19 tons, and the Dolphins weigh
   25 tons each, and the DOlphin is the largest structure at 27 stories.
   
   Since I was in the room and decided to do a bubble bath and then sleep,
   I hung out the privacy sign. They never knocked, they hung a second sign
   saying "Dear Guest,
            We have acknowledged your request for privacy.
            Should you wish our evening turn-down service or
            would like to request a specific time of day to have
            your room made up, please touch "Housekeeping" on your
            phone.
            We hope you are enjoying your visit at Disney's Port
            Orleans Resort".
            
   They never knocked! That was nice! Anyhow, I didn't realize you could
   get turn-down service in the evening at the economy resorts (CBR, PO/DL).
   Guess you just need to ask...
   
   Stan showed up and we headed back to Epcot for dinner, had dinner at the
   Living Seas, and had my swordfish. This time the food was ok, I had to
   send mine back once, it didn't taste right.... We did catch Kitchen
   Kaberet, good thing as that will be different the next time we are back.
   
   We had planned to spend New Year's Eve in Epcot, but it was early and we
   headed for MGM. 
   
    New Year's Eve Activities:
    
        Pleasure Island had alot of things happening and had Three Dog Night,
           Weird Al... etc. But it cost $90/person, so we hadn't planned on
           this, we talked to people the next morning and said it was so
           crowded you couldn't walk.
           
        MK - nothing special going on, just the usual fireworks/parades. We
            talked to people the next day that had spent New Years Eve at MK
            and they said there was nothing different. Just mobbed.
            
        MGM had an oldies count down in front of the Chinese Theater, Flash
            Cadillac; Blood, Sweat, & Tears, and British Invasion.

        Epcot - had a country band, a rock band, a rapper band,

    Anyhow, we headed to MGM, took 20 min park-to-park, They were rotating
        the times for the groups, and they were all repeated 3 times in the
        evening. We caught the end of Flash Cadillac, ok, then Blood Sweat
        & Tears, that brought back memories... I used to babysit for some
        people that had their record and I used to listen to it all the
        time. They sung many of the songs I knew from that one record (early
        70's).... There was about 10 min. between the different groups, so
        we went and listened to the British Invasion, they were also
        very good.....
        
      We decided to head back to Epcot, the groups there were not to our
      liking, and the park was MOBBED! You could barely walk in places,
      they also had a disco type dj near the fountain (Splashtacular) so
      it was difficult to go anywhere. So we can head back to the hotel
      or back to MGM. It's 10:30, 20 min back to MGM, they were broadcasting
      the Oldies Count down from here, the DJ kept saying the park was
      packed, there were people dancing in the center, but by the time you
      got to Starring Rolls (from TGMR) there were few people, we decided
      to sit and listen to the music and wait for the fireworks at Midnight,
      yes we were able to get a table and seats right there. So MGM was the
      least crowded place to be. We got some hot ch and some rolls from
      starring rolls and listened to the count down, and enjoyed ourselves.
      They did the normal fireworks before midnight, then it was midnight,
      and they send confetti from the tops of the buildings and had another
      massive fireworks display. Happy New Year!, when we left, we got a
      bus in 3 minutes and were back to P. Orleans 10 minutes later. The
      food court was covered with confetti, so looks like they had quite
      a celebration there also. We are back to the room about 1.
      
  Jan 1st,
  
      The early opening park today is MK, and today it is 7:30am instead
      of 6:30. We are up and eating a quick breakfast at the Food Court,
      and over to MK before 8am. It's empty. Did Space Mountain, Dumbo (
      no lines), teacups, 20,000 leagues( I did this once back in 84, now
      I know why I never bothered to do it again, there was no line), could
      have easily done all the rides in Fantasy Land again, absolutely no
      lines (didn't want to), so you were walking right on them.  Did
      Splash, BTMRR, Pirates, Jungle.... Where was everybody. Must have
      been sleeping late after the New Years Eve Parties. It's now starting
      to rain out; so we eat lunch at Tony's, excellent Fr. Onion soup,
      pizza, etc! It's still raining and we've done everything we wanted
      to so we head back to the room, and relax and have dinner at Bonfamilles.
      Started packing...
      
   Jan 2nd,
   
      It's still raining this am, So we go have our last breakfast at
      Bonfamilles. And then we finish packing. We need to catch Mear's
      at 2:00 for our 4:00 flight. Earlier in the week we checked to
      see if we could get a late checkout. No problems (I think we had
      asked last Monday). We have a 1pm check out without/charge. We
      are done packing at 10. So we head into Epcot for the last time,
      we are strolling thru the countries, catching some of the acts,
      Caught the drums in Japan, a group of dancers (Tamburitzans from
      Phila.) the The Liberty Singers as the last thing before leaving.
      We take the Double Decker back to Canada adn then walk over to the
      Fountain View for one last Hotch and espresso and mousse and brioche.
      And then it's back to PO to check out. The bus is once again waiting
      when we get there.
      We checked out right at 1 and left luggage in storage, and got a
      quick bite to eat (soup) before MEars came. All the props in the
      food court were originally part of floats/etc used in the real
      Mardi Gras. We were talking to some of the cast members. Mears
      came, we left, no problmes getting back to the airport. The flight
      is on time, we take off, but the air conditioning is not working,
      the circle while trying to fix it and finally get it fixed, and we are
      heading back to Newark. It was 75 when we left.... Landed in Newark
      alittle late. Find out our flight to Manchester is now one hour
      delayed. It gets delayed and delayed. We were supposed to be back
      in Manchester about 8:30, now it will be about 11. Oh well. We hang
      around the Newark airport. We finally leave and we are looking forward
      to landing at the new Manchester terminal building and using
      a jetway, it's supposed to be about 25 in Manchester. A 50 degree
      difference in 7 hours. Sigh.... Well the new manchester airport is
      really nice. But not all the jetways are in, continental still is
      walk to the gate. Oh well. There are escalators and two luggage
      carousels, very open, separate smoking room, and even has a Mcdonalds
      on the second floor where the gates are... This airport will get more
      use with the modern facilities. The old terminal building was dark.
      
      
  Summary....
  
    We've been every year for the past 5 years, so it looks like it's about
    time to take a vacation from WDW. Maybe! But there's alot of things
    changing, new hotels.... Sigh...
    
    We did everything we wanted to, as many times as we wanted during our
    stay.
    
    We would not go back during a really busy time:
    
        - Just too crowded
        - Smoking, in off seasons (sept/oct/late apr/may) the crowds are
            thinner, so you don't wait in line that long, so people don't
            tend to lite up in the lines, overall you can normally see
            ahead of you and can avoid most smoke. When it's really crowded
            you can't get away from it
        - People in general are worse when it is crowded... get grumpy
            from standing in lines; push more for parades, harder to get
            by parade crowds.

    Next trip??? Don't know we have passports that expire on 12/22/94, and
        we still have two free RT tix on Delta that expire in October. So
        if we can't decide on a place somewhere else that delta flies, then
        we can always fly to Orlando...
        
        If we do, we would stay at a hotel close to Universal, so we can
        try that out for the first two nights, then switch over to WDW.
        Since it will be off-season, we will stay at Wilderness Lodge, if
        there are discount rates, and might consider staying 1 night at
        All-star to see what it is like. If now discounts at Wilderness,
        then we would stay at CBR or PO. I don't think we would plan on
        staying at the All Star resort for an entire stay without knowing
        what the rooms inside were like.
        
    - Annie
     

        I apologize for the delay in entering this trip report.  After
        our vacation we came home to the holidays and before I knew it 
        we were in the month of March 1994.  
        ****************************************************************
        *Florida Vacation - November 20, 1993 - December 4, 1993       *
        *Michael, Ellen, Adam (8) and Dana (5) Blake                   *
        *Our week in Walt Disney World - November 28 - December 4, 1993*
        ****************************************************************
        Our trip was a combination of visiting family for the Thanksgiving
        holiday and spending a week in Walt Disney World (WDW).  This was
        the first family trip to WDW.  I did A LOT of research before our 
        trip to Florida.  I spent up to a year collecting articles, talking 
        to people, reading this notes file, using 2 books which I highly 
        recommend - WALT DISNEY WORLD WITH KIDS and BIRNBAUMs book.
        It was well worth the time I spent to make our trip very enjoyable.  
              
        Starting November 28th was the Christmas season at WDW.  The hotels
        and parks were decorated surpassing my imagination.  They were all
        magnificent.  If you want to plan a time with hardly any crowds,
        beautiful weather and a special time of year at WDW, I would tell
        you to go from the week-end after Thanksgiving to the week before
        Christmas.  It was a beautiful time of year to be at WDW and to
        see it in a different way than everyone else does the rest of the 
        year.  There was a special booklet we were given that described all 
        the entertainment and activities at all the hotels during this season. 
        
        We stayed at the Yacht & Beach Club (Y&BC)- it was a beautiful place. 
        The only thing negative I can say about it is I wish it had an
        outdoor playground for the boys - it would have made it a perfect
        family vacation spot.  

        We arrived at the hotel at 10 AM and to our surprise they let us 
        into our room then.  We were placed on the 3rd floor with a 
        small balcony overlooking the woods and EPCOT.   We had the 
        sleeping arrangements we requested (2 queen size beds, daybed and
        no smoking), plus a table with 2 chairs, a mini bar stocked with 
        all sorts of items (all at a cost), 2 sinks, small bathroom, and a 
        large closet area with an in-room vault.  It was a short walk to 
        the main lobby elevator BUT we were very close to an elevator for 
        the Quiet Pool, Laundry facilities and the International Gateway 
        walkway to EPCOT which we preferred.

        COMMENTS:
        *We booked the Jolly Holidays package through Thomas Cook Travel
        (Acton).  Included in our package was the Jolly Holidays dinner 
        show (a $160. value), character breakfast, room/taxes, unlimited 
        admission to the 7 parks during our stay (Be Our Guest pass), and 
        rent-a-car.  We did use a travel agent and I thought we got a 
        great package value.  BUT, I feel that if you have the time to 
        plan your trip you can do it better on your own and have the peace 
        of mind.  I've recently helped a friend plan her trip for this 
        April and she has done very well managing all the details and costs 
        on her own.  We used the rent-a-car for the week we were with
        relatives and turned it in at the Hertz in Kissimmee and they
        shuttled us to the front door of the Y&BC.

        *We did a day trip to Seaworld before we checked into WDW.  It was 
        a day trip that we thoroughly enjoyed.  They offer a 2 day pass 
        which would be worth considering if you want to go through the park 
        at your leisure and to see all the shows.  Otherwise, you can do a 
        lot in one day if you get there when it first opens.  Since we went 
        to Seaworld we did not go to the Living Seas Pavilion at EPCOT.

        *Bus to Magic Kingdom (MK) was great in the morning because we were 
        the last to be picked up, but all return trips included stops at 
        the Swan, Dolphin & Yacht Club making the Beach Club the last stop.

        *There are some height restrictions on certain rides, be sure
        that you know that before you set expectations for children.
        
        *I called WDW a month before our arrival to find out the
        park hours and early admission schedule.  This helped to plan 
        our itinerary for the parks and evening shows.
        
        *Early admission usually meant you could get in the park 1 -       
        1 1/2 hrs early, but only certain rides or areas in the park
        were open.  I found this very misleading.  Especially on the
        day EPCOT opened early - we couldn't get in at the International
        Gateway to EPCOT because the World Showcase didn't open until the 
        official park opening.  The only part that was open was the
        front of the park at Spaceship Earth.

        *There was no easy way to the front of EPCOT from the Yacht &
        Beach Club.  You can only get in through the Gateway via the
        World Showcase.  Or you take a bus from MGM or bus/monorail 
        from MK.  This was a little disappointing - the second time
        we did EPCOT we got a stroller and pushed the boys - it was
        faster, they thought it was fun, and we didn't have to hear
        any complaints of being tired of walking.

        *When you enter one park and leave, be sure to get stamped for
        reentry - this is valid for any of the other parks and you
        avoid long lines.
        
        *MGM was fascinating.  Walking around and looking at how 
        movies were made and how they designed the park was interesting.
        The boys unfortunately wanted to know where the rides were like
        they were on in MK.  If I had really thought about it, I would
        have taken them to MGM first and then the MK.

        *River Country was closed during our stay.  We never made it
        to Typhoon Lagoon.  
        
        *I wish we had stayed longer at WDW to enjoy Typhoon Lagoon,
        Pleasure Isand and just have time to sit at Y&BC Stormalong Bay.

        *We made sure we ate breakfast and lunches similar to what
        we would have had at home.  This kept our meal costs down.  Our 
        dinners were usually the big meals and the most expensive.  We
        averaged $60/night for dinner for the 4 of us.  I did bring some
        small cereal boxes, juice packs, soda and snack foods for us 
        before we checked into WDW which helped throughout the week.  We
        did have breakfast at Beaches & Cream in our hotel and it was a
        nice serve yourself simple breakfast of cereal, bagels, danish,
        coffee, milk, juices & fruit at reasonable prices.
            
        *We are already anxious to plan another trip back and are especially
        interested in looking at the Wilderness Lodge which is opening this
        May, 1994.

        OUR ITINERARY:
        Sunday 11/28/93
        We took the International Gateway walk into EPCOT which enters the 
        World Showcase from our hotel.  It is a short and beautiful walk 
        along a waterway.  In the distance you can see the different 
        structures of the countries represented in World Showcase.  We 
        walked to the front of EPCOT to take the monorail to the MAGIC 
        KINGDOM (MK).  The walk from the World Showcase to the front of 
        EPCOT was longer that we expected about 20 minutes with children.  
        We got stamped for re-entry as we left EPCOT.  When we arrived at 
        the MK we passed the crowds, went through the re-entry turnstyle 
        and hopped on the Walt Disney Railroad and took it over to Mickey's 
        Starland.  It was very busy at Mickey's Starland so we chose to 
        bypass it for today.  We got some lunch in Fantasyland at Lumiere's 
        Kitchen.  It was an okay place to eat - quick line, sandwiches and 
        drinks - very limited menu.  The rides we went on were:  FANTASYLAND 
        - Cinderlla's Golden Carrousel, It's a Small World; LIBERTY SQUARE - 
        Haunted Mansion; FRONTIERLAND - Big Thunder Mountain Railroad; 
        ADVENTURELAND - Pirates of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, Swiss Family 
        Treehouse and a walk down Main Street USA.
   
        Dinner at Y&BC Ariel's - beautiful restaurant, we requested
        seats by the acquarium in the dining area for the boys to watch.
        The meal was excellent, but pricy - I didn't feel it was a place
        for young children.

        Monday 11/29/93         MAGIC KINGDOM  - Early opening
        We left our hotel at 8 AM to arrive at the MAGIC KINGDOM early.
        The first thing we did was obtain complimentary tickets to the
        10:45 Diamond Horseshoe Jamboree Show.  The only place that was
        open for early opening was FANTASYLAND.  We went there and rode
        on:  Snow White's Adventures (a big disappointment not worth your
        time), Peter Pan's Flight, It's a Small World, Dumbo The Flying 
        Elephant, we saw the show with Merlin the Magician at the stage 
        near the Castle.  Unfortunately, "Magic Journeys" and "Mr Toad's 
        Wild Ride" were closed; the lines were too long on 20,000 Leagues 
        Under the Sea, and we didn't have an interest in doing the Mad 
        Tea Party.  The favorites in FANTASYLAND were Peter Pan's Flight 
        and It's a Small World.

        When the park officially opened we headed to FRONTIERLAND to go
        on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which was definitely a favorite.
        Afterwards we headed to the Diamond Horseshoe Jamoboree for our
        10:45 show where you could also purchase lunch.  It was a very
        limited menu.  There were some families I noticed who brought their
        own lunch which I thought was a good idea.  It was a great
        show and we all enjoyed it - well worth the time, especially if
        you can't make the evening Hoop Dee Doo show.  The rest of the 
        day was spent:  FRONTIERLAND - Splash Mountain ..what a scream,
        beautiful ride (We bought the photograph of our family that is
        taken when you do the last drop in Splash Mountain.  This is setup
        as you exit the ride.  It was a nice momento for around $10.00.), 
        explored Tom Sawyer Island, missed the Country Bear Jamboree 
        because it was closed.  LIBERTY SQUARE - The Hall of Presidents and 
        The Haunted Mansion (again).  ADVENTURELAND  - Pirates of the 
        Caribbean (again) and the "Tropical Serenade".  Took the Skyway
        in Fantasyland over to TOMORROWLAND.  (The Skyway ride had the   
        longest wait of any ride we went on during our entire stay.  I
        think everyone had the same idea not to walk when they could
        ride.)  First stop for Adam and Michael was Space Mountain - which 
        Adam loved!!  We drove cars in the Grand Prix Raceway, went on the 
        Delta Dreamflight and the WEDway People Mover.  We were not able 
        to see all of this land and there were some rides closed.  I  
        understand from the recent Disney Magazine that they are revamping
        some of the rides in TOMORROWLAND and also renaming them.  We walked 
        down MAIN STREET USA and decided to have dinner at Tony's Town 
        Square Restaurant.  While we waited for our name to be called we 
        enjoyed watching Lady and The Tramp in the front room.  We arrived 
        back by 9PM to our hotel.  It was a long, but fulfilling day.  What 
        helped to keep us going during the day is we balanced walking 
        with sit down shows (Diamond Horseshoe Jamboree, Hall of Presidents,
        Tropical Serenade) and we took snack breaks and just enjoyed
        watching rides and people.  The "LANDS" most enjoyed by the family
        were FRONTIERLAND, ADVENTURELAND, and LIBERTY SQUARE. 
      
        Tuesday 11/30/93        MGM  Early opening
        We had breakfast in our room and caught the early water taxi to
        MGM for the day.  The water taxi is a great way to go from the
        hotel to MGM.  You do make one stop at the Swan/Dolphin hotels.
        When the gates opened we walked right down Hollywood Boulevard 
        to The Great Movie Ride.  It was the only ride open until the
        park's official opening.   We also continued to check the 
        blackboard at the end of the main street that listed all the 
        attractions and the time schedules.  This was very helpful.
        Afterwards we went to Starring Rolls for a morning snack.  They 
        had a great selection of rolls, muffins, danish, etc.  We were
        able to see Mickey and the Genie outside of The Magic of Disney
        Animation.  It was the only time we saw Mickey without any kids
        around him.  Jafar showed up too, but not many kids wanted to be
        with him.

        We went through The Magic of Disney Animation, Backstage Studio
        Tour featuring Catastrophe Canyon, we unloaded from that ride by
        Inside the Magic: Special Effects and Production Tour which we
        did not take, we played at Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set
        Adventure, enjoyed Jim Henson's Muppet Vision 3D, Star Tours, 
        Voyage of the Little Mermaid and saw the Aladdin's Royal Caravan 
        parade.  We didn't see everything at MGM and could have spent
        another day there.  We had lunch at Mama Melrose's Ristorante 
        Italiano which was okay.  I wish I had planned our luncheon plans
        better so that we could have eaten at the 50's Prime Time Cafe/
        Tune-In Lounge or the Sci-Fi Dine-In theater.  The parade was 
        nice to see, but I would have bypassed it to spend more time to 
        see things at MGM we missed.
         
        We walked into EPCOT in the evening to dine at Biergarten in 
        Germany.  It was a courtyard scene restaurant, great entertainment 
        which was enjoyed by all and the food was delicious.  We then saw 
        the Illuminations show at 8 PM.  The show had lasers, lights on 
        each country and fireworks - just spectacular.  We saw this show
        the second night we dined in EPCOT because we enjoyed it so much.
        
        Wednesday 12/1/93       EPCOT
        We had our character breakfast this morning at our hotel with
        Admiral Goofy, Pluto, Chip & Dale.  It was a wonderful buffet and 
        the characters were great with the family.  They spent a lot
        of time at each table, let us take lots of pictures and teased the
        boys a little.  The boys still talk about how they enjoyed their
        breakfast.  We walked to EPCOT and went to the rides in the World 
        Showcase first.  We went to the Maelstrom in Norway and El Rio del 
        Tiempo in Mexico.  We were the only ones on the boats for each of 
        these rides - there were no crowds.  We then walked to the front of 
        EPCOT to Future World.
        
        We passed and enjoyed the taping of a new show highlighting
        EPCOT and the future world with Disney characters in front of
        the fountains.  It was spectacular.  We went on Spaceship Earth, 
        Universe of Energy, Wonders of Life, World of Motion, and The Land 
        (which was closed).  We did eat lunch at the food court in The
        Land which was one of the best and inexpensive lunches we had.
        The Universe of Energy had a great pre-historic portion with the
        dinosaurs, but the rest was too technical and a bit boring for them.
        The boys didn't enjoy EPCOT as much as the MK and MGM.  Adam found
        the hands on displays fun and interesting.  Dana can not read yet
        and therefore needed assistance and found it frustrating.  I think
        in 2 or 3 years they will appreciate what EPCOT has to offer.  We
        had little time to go through the countries which was a big
        disappointment to me.

        In the evening we got on a special bus for the Convention Center 
        at the Contemporary Hotel for our Jolly Holidays Christmas Show.  
        This show was packed, there were 3 stages, costumes were beautiful 
        and the music festive.  We also dined with friends who arrived at 
        WDW Tuesday and another family from MA. It was a great family 
        style turkey dinner.  The production of this show was very  
        impressive and really set the holiday mood.

        Thursday 12/2/93        
        We had breakfast in our room.  This was our last day to enjoy the 
        parks and see what we missed.  We took the water taxi to MGM to 
        see the Indiana Jones Stunt Show which was fantastic.  We then took 
        the bus to EPCOT with a side trip by the Carribean Beach hotel 
        which was nice to see.  It was a sprawling place and beautiful.  
        At EPCOT we saw Captain EO and Body Wars, and had lunch in the 
        Stargate Restaurant.  We hopped on the the monorail to the MAGIC 
        KINGDOM and caught the Walt Disney Train to see Mickey's Starland 
        and the 3pm Christmas Parade.  The boys didn't enjoy the show at   
        Mickey's Starland - it was focused on the Disney afternoon cartoon
        characters.  I did enjoy walking through the house and area at
        Mickey's Starland.  There were lots of characters there to sign
        autographs.

        We dined in Italy at Alfredos for dinner. It was a beautiful 
        restaurant with roving musicians, but it was crowded and loud 
        which was to its disadvantage.  The musicians had a song that the
        children enjoyed where they got to wave their napkins over their
        head in circles.  It was an acceptable way of being noisy and
        rowdy in an elegant restaurant!!  I enjoyed Biergarten for the
        children more than Alfredos.
        
        Friday 12/3/93
        We had breakfast at the Beaches and Cream shop in our hotel.  It
        was fun and a serve yourself set-up.  We packed up and checked out 
        of the Beach Club.  We left our luggage in storage and took the 
        bus to the Disney Marketplace.  This was disappointing.  There were
        some shops that were nice to go through, but overall something that
        could be missed.  We had lunch there and by accident met our
        friends and took the water shuttle to their hotel -Port Orleans.
        It was a nice ride through the waterways.  We saw golf courses and
        other disney accommodations.  Port Orleans was a beautiful place. 
        The rooms were definitely smaller than what we had in the Yacht &
        Beach Club.  There was a nice restaurant, food court, great pool,
        video game room and gift shop.  We took the bus from Port Orleans 
        to the MK so that we could ride the monorail and look at the monorail 
        hotels.  We were able to finally get a ride with the engineer on 
        the monorail.  PLEASE make a point to keep asking if you can sit
        up front with the engineer.  This was a real highlight for the boys.
        The Christmas decorations were undescribable at the monorail hotels.
        The Grand Floridian had a 5 story high poinsetta tree in the main
        lobby.  It was beautiful.  They were also building a huge gingerbread 
        house in the lobby outside their restaurant that if permitted Dana 
        could play in.  We then went back to our hotel by bus and requested 
        a taxi to take us from the Beach Club to the Courtyard by Marriott 
        Airport hotel in Orlando ($35 taxi ride) for our last night in 
        Orlando before our morning flight.  It was very tough to leave the 
        grounds of WDW and hit the reality of the outside world.  
        

        ...Ellen Blake


        

This trip report, a rather old one, I picked from a friend from a friend, from
a friend...., who picked it up from the INTERNET. No names are mentioned, so I
can't give anybody any credit. But I guess the person wouldn't mind this report
to be included in this notes conference....

Is there anybody with a more recent trip report?

Is there a Dutch version available of the "The Unofficial Guide to
Eurodisneyland" from Bob Sehlinger, mentioned in this report as very valueable?

See also note 10.146 & 10.151

Next is approxm ~1000 lines!!!!

  _Wim_
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
author: unknown.
We entered the Park about 1400, ignoring Sehlinger's guide
(to our peril) and just followed our noses around the park. Of
course we ended up exhausting ourselves !

Rather than give the details of all the rides we visited
here, you can read about them below. 

There was some excellent live entertainment in
Adventureland, quite close to the main entrance which itself was
beautiful. The entertainment consisted of a band of four African
musicians playing drums and bells with incredible rythmns and
volume. There was some incredibly embarrassing audience
participation which I really couldn't do justice to here ... you
just had to be there ! Of course it was only embarrassing for the
participants !

The parade at 1600 was very enjoyable. Follow Sehlinger's
instructions on where to watch this from (close to Small World).

We chose to have our evening meal at the Blue Lagoon
restaurant. This is the restaurant you pass when riding the
Pirates of the Carribean. The food was excellent. The fruit
cocktail we drank (obviously non-alcoholic) really hit the spot.
We couldn't face dessert - just couldn't fit it in anywhere ! The
meal was pricey, but with our fabulous Magic Kingdom Club Gold
Card we qualified for a 10% discount.

The Main Street Electric Parade took place at 2015. It
was ... well ... the Main Street Electrical Parade.

The fireworks at 2255 just about concluded our evening
and we wandered back to our hotel for a beer and a well deserved
rest (by this time we'd been awake about 20 hrs).


Day 2
-----

Sehlinger's Guide Saved Us Agony !

We got out early this morning in order to take advantage
of Sehlinger's guide. We decided to follow the Two-Day Touring
Plan A and it did us proud !

We took with us an expensive take-away continental
breakfast from the hotel (two bread rolls, a croissant, some jam,
some butter, and a small carton of orange juiice).

Without going in to too many details, Sehlinger's guide
got us through half the park and attractions with MINIMAL (i.e.
less than 10-15 minutes) standing in line. We finished the first
half of the touring plan by 1115 !

This was great. We decided just to wander slowly about
the park watching everybody else get irate and take in some of
the details that really make Disney more than just a fun-ride
park. We've never had much of an opportunity to do this at a
Disney park before and we really appreciated it this time !

We decided to eat lunch at the Explorer's Club. In all of
the guides it says this is a table-service restaurant. In
Sehlinger's guide it mentioned that due to lack of interest there
was a chance that it may be turned in to a fast food place. When
we got there, it was a fast-food place and it was virtually
empty. We ordered our adequate food and sat in a very nice place
by a waterfall. It was nice and relaxing, but the atmosphere was
totally non-existant. I would advise avoiding this place. It's
only really good point was the fact that it was almost deserted.
Of course, that may have been due to the fact that we ate there
at about 1430 - well past the rush.

Buffalo Bill

We continued wandering about the park, enjoying it
immensely until it closed at 1900. We then made our way towards
Buffalo Bill's Show. You don't get allocated seats until you
enter the building just before the show. I'd advise anyone going
to see this to start queing fairly early as the earlier you get
your seats, the closer to the action you are. 

The tables aren't really tables as in a normal
restaurant, but just a bench that can hold about ten people with
a long table in front of you over which you see into the arena.
The tables all overlook the arena and so everyone has a good
view.

We were just about second in the queue, behind a large
family. We got in and were issued with our 'table number' and our
cowboy hats.

The 'table numbers' are coded by colour letter and
number. The lower the number, the closer you are to the action.
The letter defines the sector in your team area in which you will
sit, and the colour defines the team you will support during the
show. The team colours are representative of American ranches.

After being issued with that hats, we passed through to
the extremely large bar having our photo taken officially on the
way. The bar is truly enormous, but fills up quickly. Order a
beer as soon as you get there. You could order a beer in their
souvenier beer glass which is in the shape of a cowboy boot. I
did this (sucker for unique souveniers). You can also order
cocktails here.

If you want to order wine with your meal, you have to go
to a smaller bar that you pass on the way in before you get to
the main bar.

Pre-show entertainment and cowboy training takes place
before the arena is loaded. The entertainment we had was the band
currently appearing at Billy Bob's Country and Western Nightclub
(which is in Festival Disney).  They played a number of country
and western songs and took us through "How a cowboy cheers"
(lifting your "chapeau" off your head, waving it in the air and
shouting YAAAAHOOOOOOOOOO at the top of your voice) and a host of
other fun-type things. This is good fun and really set us up for
the show.

The loading of the stadium takes place a colour at a
time. The colours are green, red, yellow, and blue. Our colour
(green) was the last to load. This is where our problem started.
The family in front of us had ordered tickets for all of the
adult members but not for the three children under three years
old. This is fine according to the rules, but when they came to
take their place at the table, the children all took up an adult
place each including cutlery etc.. This meant that we had to be
re-seated out of our prime seats ! The head waitress in our area
asked to see that families tickets, but the family claimed to
have "lost" the children's ones. Yeah sure. Oh well, we took it
calmly, hoped they'd choke on their food and/or get dirt kicked
up in their faces from the horses hooves and took our re-seated
seats right up at the highest point in the arena. As it turned
out, we did have an excellent view and weren't too far from the
action. We did however sit at a very boring table with people who
either didn't understand the languages (French, and English) or
just were too boring to join in the fun and games. It was just
the two of us wearing and waving our hats and whooping it up on a
table of about 12. We didn't care. We had a great time.

I don't really want to spoil the fun of Buffalo Bill's
Wild West Show, but just let me say the food was very good, the
beer was as much as you could drink (whenever the staff came
'round to your table with their pitchers) and the entertainment
was funny, exciting, and in short it was one of the best
evening's out I've had in a very long time. Do not miss this. DO
NOT MISS THIS ON ANY ACCOUNT !

I have never seen the Hoop De Doo Review, so I'm not sure
if it bears any resemblance to this show.


Day 4 - Our last day .. <sob>
-----------------------------

We spent the morning following Sehlinger's Two-Day Plan A
and again finished early and happy. This was the time to start
checking out all of the places we hadn't eaten at in a bit more
detail. We also wanted to take a longer look at Main Street and
check out some of those names in the upstairs windows. More
detail on those below. 

Walt's

One restaurant we had been meaning to check out since the
first day (actually since first reading about it) was Walt's on
Main Street. This is described as having Disney Memorabilia
around the walls, etc.. OK, being serious Disneyphiles, we just
had to take a look around.

We talked to the woman at the front desk and asked her
about reservations. She said that they were not required and you
should turn up when you wanted to eat. We then asked if we could
just have a look around. She said we could and we entered.

The restaurant is L shaped with the entrance being on the
corner. One side of the restaurant runs along main street and the
other along a side-street. There are two floors in the restaurant
(ground and upstairs). The ground-floor rooms are just elegant
rooms surrounded by Disney memorabilia. The upstairs rooms have
separate themes linked to the different lands. Some rooms have
separate tables catering for couples or families. Other rooms
have just a single banqueting table clearly catering for large
parties (conference guests, VIP's, etc..).

When you enter the restaurant the whole feel of the place
seems to be that of a luxury appartment or hotel (or maybe even
restaurant !) in Paris at the turn of the century.

The entrance lobby is quite interesting, containing hand
carved wooden furniture and nice stained glass. To the left is
what I'd imagine is the Maitre d's desk which is interesting in
itself. It has one of those spring-loaded message-passing
systems. For the technical persons among you, this is the system
where you plonk the message in a box, yank a handle, and the box
containing the message whangs up through the ceiling to the
upstairs desk and vice-versa. The message-whanging system is very
ornate in heavy scrolled brass.

Incidentally, for Disneyphiles only, the address of the
restaurant his the same address of the workshops in Glendale,
California (1401 Flower Street). Flower Street is a side turning
off Main Street. According to the official guide book, the logo
with the initials W.D. appearing on the gas lamps, some
furniture, and windows was designed for the balcony of Walt's
appartment in Disneyland.

Ahead of you are the lift and the stairs. The lift is
what really gives the impression of a turn-of-the-century Paris
interior. It is constructed (or appears to be constructed) in
ornate black cast iron scroll work with multi-coloured
stained-glass windows. The lift is fully functional but we didn't
use it. 

The upstairs rooms are themed, as mentioned before, to
coincide with the various lands in the park. The rooms have to be
seen to be believed. I will not describe them fully here as I
wouldn't be able to do them justice. However, they are as
follows : 

- A gothic style room represents Fantasyland.

- An Edwardian style library represents Frontierland and
  is supposed to be a library in a western mansion. A
  number of indian/cowboy-on-a-horse sculptures can be
  seen to enforce this.

- One corner of a large room is draped as though in a
  fine Arabian tent and is clearly supposed to represent
  Adventureland. 

- Our favourite room (and probably the most detailed) was
  Captain Nemo's room. See this. I cannot describe it.
  This represents Discoveryland.

You get quite a good view of Main Street from upstairs at
Walt's. 

We tried to check out all of the other restaurants but
didn't have time. Descriptions of the ones we saw are in Part
Two. 

We also had a good long look at Main Street to try to
take in the detail in the upstairs windows, etc. An impossible
task to do completely. There were so many familiar names in the
windows that it would've taken precious time and expensive filem
to phtograph them all. Let's just say that ALL the names were
there with appropriate descriptions of their 'jobs'. We took some
time to listen to the strange noises that came out of some of
these windows too - particularly the dentists in the Town
Square.

Disneyland Hotel

Finally we left the park. Sad. Before making our way
home, we wandered through the Disneyland Hotel. Now this is how I
expected our hotel to be. Loads of staff to cater for your every
need ! The entrance lobby is elegant, spacious, and well kept.
Walk up the stairs to the Main Street Lounge for a great relaxing
view of Main Street (unfortunately, the area closest to the
windows was closed off). The Inventions Restaurant looks superb,
and the shops seem better stocked. This is where we want to stay
next time. Damned pricey though.


Conclusion
----------

EuroDisney has had it's bad press. It is certainly over
priced by a LONG way ! If you are staying on site and have no
transport then you are basically forced to eat and drink at the
resort. They've got you cornered. Having said that, I'd go back
at the drop of a hat. The park is excellent, and we found the
cast helpful and friendly. 

We are not fluent French speakers, but language was
certainly not a problem. We found that if you tried to speak in
French to a cast member, they would assume you were French and
rattle off at ten to the dozen in French ! We got wise, and gave
up our attempts at advanced linguistics. Paris, of course, is
exactly the opposite in that respect.

There is a lot of construction still going on and we
counted three new rides scheduled to be opened this summer (more
on that in Part Three). The EuroDisney project is planned until
2017 and probably later. The park will be changing and growing
from year to year. 

In my opinion, EuroDisney is a success, and will continue
to be quality entertainment for the forseeable future.

-----------------------------------------------------------------


Main Street, USA
     Attractions
          Main Street Station
               Nothing special, but nice detail in the
          EuroDisney Railroad logos.
          EuroDisneyland Railroad
               Very leisurely journey around the park.
               Unfortunately crossing a number of
               service roads and places where
               construction is going on thus diminishing
               some Disney magic for the sensitive
               people in your party. Some interesting
               views of behind-the-scenes Disney and
               construction for the Disneyphiles in your
               party.
          Horse-Drawn Streetcar, and Main Street Vehicles
               Leisurely journies up and down Man St..
          Discovery Arcade and Liberty Arcade
               Back entrance to shops and restaurants in
               Main St.. Very pleasant turn of the
               century style interiors with gas lamps
               and lots of interesting displays of
               inventions and curios of both American
               and French (but mainly American) origin.
          Main Street Motors
               Nice old cars which you can apparently
               actually buy (if you have your AmEx Gold
               Card with you presumably). A number of
               auto-oriented Disney/Mickey memorabilia
               for sale.
     Restaurants
          The Ice Cream Co.
               Didn't get a chance to try this place.
          The Coffee Grinder
               Didn't get a chance to try this place.
          Market House Deli
               Didn't get a chance to try this place.
          Walt's - an American Restaurant
               W O W  ! ! !
          Cable Car Bake Shop
               Didn't get a chance to try this place.
          Cookie Kitchen
               Basic Cookie shop selling incredibly
     over-priced cookies (FF9 each - that
               makes it over a pound sterling for a
               single biscuit !)
          Casey's Corner
               Didn't get a chance to try this place.
          The Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlour
               Didn't get a chance to try this place.
          Victoria's Home-Style Cooking
               Didn't get a chance to try this place.
               While standing outside this place, you
               should check out the noises apparently
               emanating from an upstairs window !
          Plaza Gardens Restaurant
               Very nicely detailed and clean.
               Apparently good food, but we didn't get a
               chance to try it out.
     Shops
          Plaza West and East Boutiques
               Basic Disney Merchandise.
          The Storybook Store
               Mainly childrens books. Also videos and
               stationery items. Don't forget to look up
               when you go into this shop - you're in
               for a treat !
          Ribbons and Bows Hat Shop
               Hat shop. Also sells Mickey-ears and they
               can sew your name into them too.
          Town Square Photography/Silhouette Artist
               Where to get all your photographic needs.
               The silhouette artists were never busy.
          Boardwalk Candy Palace
               Interesting displays. Loads of stuff to
               make the kids (and the adults) sick.
          Emporium
               Didn't get a chance to try this place.
          Harmony Barber Shop
               Didn't get a chance to try this place,
               but no sign of any singing when we passed
               by.
          Disney Clothiers, Ltd.
               Didn't get a chance to try this place.
          Harrington's Fine China and Porcelains
               Mainly figurines and usual Disney
               merchandise.
  Disnyana Collectibles
               Some collectibles, but never much more
               than you could get in a good Disney
               Store. The only original collectibles I
               saw were some ED badges each with one of
               the lands on and some 1992 commemorative
               items (I guess they made too many ?).
          Disney & Co./Glass Fantasies
               Usual small glass-blown items and
               engravings.
          Newsstand
               Didn't get a chance to try this place.

Frontierland
     Attractions
          Rustler Roundup Shootin' Gallery
               Fun shootin' ! Don't know if it's exactly
               the same as in other Disney parks. It was
               a fun relaxing thing to do when we'd
               finished Sehlinger's tour and were in
               "Explore Mode". All human exclamations
               are in English.
          Thunder Mesa Riverboat Landing
               The place to pick up the River Boat
               (paddle boat). The commentary is mainly
               in French with occasional English
               translations. The commentary doesn't mix
               too well with the taped English sections
               which I think are probably generic to the
               riverboat cruises in all parks.
          Phantom Manor
               A favourite of mine and it didn't let me
               down. The cast really get into the
               pre-show part early on in the day when
               not busy (thankyou Sehlinger) and they do
               a really good job of spooking the kids.
               Later on in the day they are just
               concerned with getting people through as
               quickly as possible.
               Hang back when you exit the 'lift' to
               check the detail in the changing
               pictures, etc..
  All comentary is in French. All songs are
               in English. Leslie Neilson still lives as
               one of the Grim Grinning Ghosts.
               At the end of the ride when you pass by
               the mirrors, a ghoul peers over the top
               of your buggy with its arms around the
               buggy. I think that may be different to
               the others. My memory of the American
               parks is vague, but I seem to recall you
               seeing yourself sitting next to another
               ghoul, or see yourselves 'replaced' by
               two ghouls.
               Apart from that - it's very very similar
               to the rides in the American parks. The
               surrounding area has grave stones with
               epitaphs in both French and English.
               Interestingly enough, when the ride
               stops, the message "... spooks have got
               into the machinery..." is played in both
               languages. Safety I suppose.
          Grand Canyon Diorama
               Yawn.
               You pass through this on the Euro-
               Disneyland Railroad.
          Big Thunder Mountain
               Yeeeehar ! This is probably the best ride
               in the land (next to Star Tours) in my
               opinion. It's mainly similar to the other
               BTM's, but has a lot more black-out areas
               than I remember in the others.
          River Rogue Keelboats
               Slow ride around the 'river'. The guides on
               this ride are multilingual and will speak
               in French, English, German and probably
               others depending on the majority in the
               boat.
 Indian Canoes
               A fairly interesting ride. You get to see
               ducks and swans and all sorts. Not to
               mention the Indian camps. Best of all,
               you get to actually do the work (with your
               team). The cast seemed to love this ride
               and spent a lot of time just horsing
               around and entertaining us. Commentary is
               as in the River Rogue Keelboats.
               Cottonwood Creek Ranch/Critter Corral
               Here's a good place to relax out of the
               way of the crowds. They have a number of
               basic farm animals here which you can
               peruse at your leisure. Right next to the
               Frontierland Depot where we (and
               Sehlinger) reccomend you catch the train
               from rather than Main St. Station.
          Frontierland Depot
               THE place in the park to catch the train
               from. Put it this way. We caught the
               train here and were second in a queue of
               about ten people. Compare this to when we
               passed the Main St. Station. Well the
               queue there was trailing down into the
               town square. We just couldn't believe how
               many people were willing to waste the best
               part of an hour waiting for the train.
               Heck ! I don't even do that on my way
               home from work !
     Restaurants
          The Lucky Nugget Saloon
               Great entertainment in the style of an
               old western saloon. There is some
               audience participation and the food is
               substantial. The show is bi-lingual. Some
               parts are in other languages too.
          The Last Chance Cafe
               Didn't get a chance to try this one.
          Silver Spur Steakhouse
               Didn't get a chance to try this one.
          Fuente del Oro Restaurante
               Didn't get a chance to try this one.
          Cowboy Cookout Barbeque

               There is live entertainment here in the
               form of a Country and Western band who
               play a number of times a day. It's a
               fast-food restaurant and you can sit
               inside the cavernous barn or outside. The
               band played outside while we were there.
     Shops
          Thunder Mesa Mercantile Building
          Tobias Norton & Sons Frontier Trading
          Bonanza Outfitters
          Eureka Mining Supplieas and Assay Office
               Most of the above sell cowboy style
               items. None were really unique.
          Pueblo Trading Post
               Sells mainly Whinnie the Pooh items.
               Quite a few things I hadn't seen in our
               local Disney Stores.
          Woodcarvers Workshop
               They sell your name in wood and other
               small carvings.

Adventureland
     Attractions
          Adventure Isle
               You really can get lost in the maze of
               twisty little passages - all alike !
               There's also a rope bridge, a barrel
               bridge, and not a lot else. Fun though.
               Set the kids loose here and go and relax.
          La Cabane des Robinson
               This is basically the same as in the
               other parks. Be aware, however, of the
               excellent views of the park and the
               castle you can get from various places in
               the tree. Signs are either in French, or
               French and English.
          Pirates of the Caribbean
               Cool. We rode this countless times (about
               8 actually). Rarely having to queue more
               than 30 mins.. Usually queuing less than
               15 mins.. An excellent ride - better than
               at any of the other parks. The
               animatronics are smooth and very life-
               like. There is a significant difference
               between this ride and the ride in other
 parks too. It seems longer and more
               detailed.
               The walk down to the boats (normally the
               queue !) is interesting and switches and
               turns enough to confuse the heck out of
               you.
               All the songs are in English (American)
               and all the dialogue between the pirates
               is in French. All of the signs are also
               in French.
               Just before you disembark, the skull and
               cross-bones above your head speaks in
               several different languages telling you
               to "stay in your boats me hearties" etc.
     Restaurants
          Explorers Club
               One of the guides we read (not Sehlinger)
               said that this was a really romantic and
               quiet table service restaurant. Sehlinger
               said that this was the case at the time
               of publishing, but that it may shortly be
               turned into a fast-food place. When we
               got there it was a fast food place.
               Fairly empty. Small portions. Pricey. A
               bit of a disappointment really if it
               weren't for the pleasant water-fall
               setting.
          Blue Lagoon Restaurant
               A really nice place to eat in a quiet
               romantic setting. Reminded me of the
               Moroccan restaurant in Epcot. The Pirates
               of the Caribbean boats float by as you
               enjoy your meal under a deep blue 'sky'
               and in tropical surroundings. Service was
               excellent, food was good.
          Aux Epices Enchantees Restaurant
               We didn't try this one, but it looked
               good - mud style huts and plenty of
               out-door dining areas. Check out the
               interior of the restaurant.
          Cafe de la Brousse
               Didn't have time to see this one.
          Captain Hooks Galley
               Didn't have time to see this one.
     Shops
 Adventureland Bazar
               A nice place to wander around. Pricey
               gifts. Fascinating interiors. Lots to
               see.
          La Giraffe Curieuse
               A pretty dull shop with a giraffe's head
               poking through the interior.
          La Reine des Serpents
          Les Tresors de Scheherazade
               North African style gifts.
          L'Echoppe d'Aladdin
               Aladdin merchandise. Strange since
               Aladdin hasn't been released in Europe at
               the time of writing.
          Le Chant des Tam-Tams
               Average shop.
          Trader Sam's Jungle Boutique
               Average shop.
          Le Coffre du Capitaine
               Sells loads of pirate gear.

Fantasyland
     Attractions
          Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant
               Excellent castle. We weren't sure whether
               some of those tiles on the roof
               constituted Hidden Mickeys. There is a
               story inside which is well worth seeing
               if only for the tapestries and stained
               glass windows.
          La Taniere du Dragon
               No other Disney park has this. It's worth
               seeing if only for the reactions of the
               kids  watching it. This is basically the
               Dragin's lair. The dragon sleeps
               peacefully next to his pool with the
               occasional snort of smoke. Then his tail
               twitches, more smoke and he begins to
               awake... then you realise his chain is
               broken ! Loved it.
 Le Theatre du Chateau
               Small shows are performed here. We saw
               Mikey's Magic Book. Basically the Snow
               White story. The Magic book is enormous
               and as each stage of the story unfolds,
               so do the pages of the book with
               pop-up scenery.
          Blanche-Neighe et leas sept Nains
               Snow white's ride. Very fast. Too fast.
               Over in a jiffy. Shame.
          Les Voyages de Pinocchio
               Pinnocchio's ride. Very fast. Too fast.
               Over in a jiffy. Shame.
          Le Carrousel de Lancelot
               An enormous carousel. We didn't try this
               one.
          Excalibur
               Sword in the stone.
          It's a Small World
               Small World. Seen it too many times.
               After exiting the ride, try to avoid the
               extra show afterwards which is something
               to do with French television or
               telecomm's. Tedious.
          Fantasyland Station
               A fairly normal station. Nothing
               outstanding. It's above the Fantasy
               Festival Stage.
          Fantasy Festival Stage
               Song and dance shows performed here.
               Songs seem to be mainly in French, the
               rest are in English. We saw an excellent
               show here and it's a good place to meet
               Mickey and the whoever else is in the
               show (Donald, Cowboy-Goofy, Donald, Pluto
               were some we saw) before the show because
               the crowds seemed to be generally light.
          Alice's Curious Labyrinth
               A hedge maze. The hedge is filled with
               tiny blue lights. The maze has become
               fairly badly damaged over time. Some of
               the surprises did not work (The Queen of
               Hearts did not spring out and shout "Off
               with her head" too well) and much of the
               mechanics behind these surprises is
 totally visible due to the hedge wearing
               thin. An attraction for the younger ones
               really. This is also the place where the
               "jumping water fountains" are - where the
               water appears to jump from place to
               place. Good to watch and relax.
          Mad Hatter's Tea Cups
               This was a first for me. I enjoyed it but
               wouldn't fight to go on it again. This
               ride is covered by a large circus-tent
               style roof unlike in the other parks.
          Dumbo the Flying Elephant
               Didn't get time to try this one. Looks
               pretty much the same as the Dumbo rides
               in other parks.
          Peter Pan's Flight
               Same as usual. I suspect the galleons in
               which you ride may have been different,
               but memory fails me as to exactly where.
     Restaurants
          Au Chalet de la Marionnette Restaurant
               Pinocchio's restaurant. Pleasant
               interior. Note the Figaro character
               leaning agains the "Exit" sign inside at
               one of the entrance's/exit's. This is
               fairly significant to serious
               Disneyphile's !
          Auberge de Cendrillon
               A table service restaurant. We didn't try
               this one, but had a good look around.
               Spacious and apparently very high
               quality. In the courtyard you can see the
               wishing well and Cinderella's coach. The
               courtyard here is an excellent quiet
               place to sit and relax a while (so long
               as nobody is eating there and the
               restaurant is not busy). You can look
               over the wishing well and onto the rear
               of Le Theatre du Chateau and watch Mickey
               in his Fantasia outfit and other
               characters come out of the dressing room
               just before appearing on stage there.
               Give him a shout and he'll wave at you
               (well, he did for us !).
 Pizzeria Bella Notte
               Marvellously detailed interior containing
               one Hidden Mickey. Order a Mickey Mouse
               Pizza just for the hell of it. Don't
               forget to look at the tray liner - it's
               quite funny. Have a look at the outside
               of the restaurant - specifically the mina
               entrance. Is it level ?
          Fantasia Gelati
               Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. While the ice creams
               are very nice, they are over priced at
               FF20 (approx 2.50 pouinds sterling).
          March Hare Refreshments
               Sells drinks and Un-birthday cakes which
               are slightly larger than cup-cakes and
               look as sweet and sickly as heck !
          The Old Mill
               This was undergoing some sort of refit
               when we were there. Basically a windmill
               with 'buckets' at the rear in which you
               can ride. Also sells french bread
               sandwiches ("Sub's" to the Americans I
               believe).
          Toad Hall Restaurant
               Another excellent interior matched with a
               superb exterior. Check out the wall paper
               among other things inside. Outside,
               notice the detail in the chimneys and the
               weather vanes. Sells fish and chips.
     Shops
          Merlin l'Enchanteur
               A fascinating shop to browse through. You
               can get through to the Dragon's lair from
               here.
          La Boutique du Chateau
               The Christmas shop.
          La Confiserie des Trois Fees
               The sweet shop. Notice the three good
               fairies behind the counter. How do they
               do that ?!
          La Chaumiere des Sept Nains
               Sells mainly Seven Dwarf merchandise, and
               some jewelery.
          La Bottega di Gepetto
    Lot's of nice cuckoo clocks, puppets and
               hand carved toys around the shelves of
               the shop but you can't buy these, and
               there's not much else to buy there
               really.
          Le Brave Petit Tailleur
               Didn't get time to see this one.
          Sir Mickey's
               Nice giant vegetable patch outside this
               shop.
          La Menagerie du Royaume
               Furry animals and medieval style
               characters.
          La Petit maison des Jouets
               Information and currency exchange.

Discoveryland
     Attractions
          Le Visionarium
               Circle-Vision 360. A new film made
               especially for EuroDisneyland. The
               preshow is conducted in French, but there
               are running subtitles in other languages.
               The film is hosted by an android and in
               the 360 theatre you can listen to the
               show through headphones in four different
               languages (English, Italian, German, and
               something else). The film is quite
               entertaining.
          Videopolis
               Large indoor stage showing Beuty and the
               Beast in French. The show is filmed live
               and replayed on large multi-screen video
               monitors either side of the stage with
               some video effects to enhance the
               production.
               The production is totally in French, but
               we recognised the songs. There is a fast-
               food restaurant in here (Cafe Hyperion)
               as well. You can order your food and take
               it with you to your table to watch the
               show.
               At the main entrance to the Videopolis
               you can see the giant Hyperion air-ship.
               Nice detail.
          Orbitron
               A carousel-type ride where you can "pilot
               your own rocket ship" (i.e. make it go up
               and down). We didn;t try this one.
          Autopia
               Yawn. We didn't try this one.
          Star Tours
               Yeehar ! If you've seen Star Tours before
               then you're not in for much of a
               surprise ... except for C3P0 speaking in
               French ! R2D2 was mulitlingual. The
               entrance to the ride was a little shabby.
               It felt like you were just walking in to
               a warehouse. Reality did not get
               suspended for quite a while into the
               pre-show. The other androids alternate
               between French and English. The trevelog
               narration also alternates between French
               and English.
               The video you are shown just before you
               enter your Starspeeder 3000 is all in
               French. You can see where they've spliced
               in the French announcer - quite awkward
               really.
               The whole of the StarTours ride is
               conducted in French.
               I still didn't get to see the giant
               microscope.
          CineMagique
               Captaine EO. Avoid (in my opinion).
     Restaurants
          Cafe des Visionnaires
               Didn't get to see this one, though
               apparently you can get excellent views of
               the parades an Fantasyland.
          Cafe Hyperion
               A fast food restarant inside the
          Videopolis.
     Shops
          Constellations
               Interesting interior. Sells Star Wars
               figures etc..
          Star Traders
               Has a big 'radar' dish on the top. The
               roof of this was still being worked on
               while we were there. We got a good view
  of the construction as we passed by in
               the EuroDisneyland Train.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

   Part Three
   ==========

Rides Under Contruction
-----------------------

We saw at least three rides being constructed, two of
which were going to be opened in the summer of 1993 :

Temple du Terror
- Looks like a really hot roller-coaster ride.
  Never seen anything like this at the other
  Disney parks before. Looks like it's based
  around a ruined Aztec Temple. Perhaps based
  around Jungle Book ?

Bonanza
- Just saw the sign saying Bonanza opening 1993.
  No ideas at all what this one's about, but saw
  plenty of evidence of heavy earth-moving, and
  construction from the EuroDisneyland Train.

Unnamed
- Something in discovery land. Couldn't really
  see much of this one. No notices anywhere.

Miscellaneous
-------------

I'll try to scan in the following items and deposit them
in alt.binaries.pictures.misc if I have time. Please don't email
me for these scans unless you really really REALLY can't get them
from there or anywhere else - I found it difficult enough to find
time to type in this report ! Hopefully, some kind soul may
transfer them to an archive site eventually.

- Passport Card
- Resort Map
- Figaro Picture with Exit Sign.
- Picture of the Castle

Guide Books
-----------

In England there are (at the time of this report) at
least six books claiming to give you the low-down on the resort.
I found that only two were really required, and if I had to make
the choice between those it would be Sehlinger's Unofficial
Guide. Sehlinger's guide proved worth it's weight in gold if only
for the touring plans and other travel advice. 

EuroDisney Resort - Paris - The Guide
Harmsworth Magazines
ISBN 0-85144-671-X

The Official Guide. Useful but may be slightly
out of date. Plenty of useful phone numbers and travel
details. I'd reccomend this book for information
purposes. 

The Unofficial Guide to Eurodisneyland
Bob Sehlinger
Prentice Hall Travel
ISBN 0-671-84759-7
The best guide by far. Save your legs and buy
this. I don't have shares in the company and I'm not
profiting from this in any way but I wish I did !

Questions Answered ... Probably !
---------------------------------

Brooks Haderlie ([email protected]) asked :

- What language(s) is used on the signs, in the reading
  material, etc.? 
Mainly French. "Sortie" instead of "Exit" for
example. There are surprisingly few signs that
need translation. Menu's outside restaurants are
in French and English. All other reading material
(guide booklets, etc..) is available in many
many languages.
- Do they have videos in the gift shops in German,
  French, Spanish, Italian, etc.? 
Yes.

Lori McDowell ([email protected]) asked :

- I'd really like to hear a detailled account of what
  Phantom Manor (Haunted Mansion) is like at EuroDisney.
I've described the main differences above. 

Someone asked :

- How does one get there from Paris?
The EuroDisney guide books (see above) describe
this far better than I could. It is very very
easy. 

Jesse asked :

- What castle is there ?
Le Chateau de la Belle au Bois Dormant. Sleeping
Beuty's Castle. It's wonderful.

Robert R. Kessler ([email protected]) asked :

- We'll be staying at the Sequoia Lodge ... general
  information required.
Bob, I hope the above report has been useful to
you. We actually stayed at the Sequoia Lodge (not
the Hotel New York as I mentioned in a post to
internet asking if anyone had questions about
ED). You WILL enjoy your stay ! That's an order !