Blast From The Distant Past: WDW May/June 1996 About This Page:

[aka pastor guy]

I wrote the original version of this trip report a long time ago... but now that there's a great place for me to share it, I've updated it & put it together for your enjoyment.

Trip Report At A Glimpse:
Who: Mark (age 32) & Shari (age 27) Jackson
When: 29 May - 8 June 1996
What: our first trip to Walt Disney World
Where: we stayed in inexpensive motels in Ocala & Orlando on the way in, and in Atlanta on the way home... but our primary residence was at Dixie Landings
Why: we were celebrating Shari's graduation from Belmont University

May 29
Shari & I drove from Nashville, TN to Ocala, FL, in one day... sheesh. (I've since done that drive again for a boardgaming convention - it doesn't get any shorter.) We left at 10:40 am, after Shari had finished her final day of student teaching.

Of course, when you drive 12 hours, there's plenty of opportunity for great conversation, esp. about how Shari was planning to manage classroom discipline when she started teaching in the fall. (I feel weird typing that particular note up... Shari taught junior high math for 4 years - '96-'00 - and then retired from the teaching biz.)

We ate lunch in Manchester, TN and dinner in Valdosta, GA, which Shari called "Valhostawosta" in a vain attempt to pronounce it correctly.)

When we finally arrived in Ocala (around 10 pm EST), I accidentally got back on the freeway going north (diddly dang service road!) when we tried to get to our hotel. 6 miles later, we managed to get turned around & work our back.

[aka pastor guy]

May 30
We got up really early & drove the hour or so into Orlando, arriving about 40 minutes before Universal Studios opened.

The first thing we did was Terminator 2 3-D - and honestly, I didn't expect much. I'm not taking a stab at James Cameron and/or Universal - it's just that I am almost legally blind in my left eye and so "old school" (red & green lensed) 3-D technology doesn't work for me. Imagine my shock when the first 3-D effect happened & I could actually see it! (Shari said I nearly jumped out of my seat.)

And that was just the first highlight in a day full of delightful moments:

• the Back to the Future ride was a lot of fun, as was the E.T. ride
• I got called up on stage to ADR voice work in the Murder, She Wrote show
• I was picked out of the line at the Hitchcock show to be "Mother" in the shower scene from Psycho... what was truly scary was seeing me in the dress & the wig.

As you can probably guess, I really enjoy making an idiot of myself in front of a lot of people, so this whole "pick me, pick me!" thing was lots of fun.

No food highlights here - though I wondered if I was going to have to take out a loan so Shari & I could afford a hot dog.

The actual food highlight was that evening as we ate at Cafe Tu Tu Tango (somewhere along I-Drive) -- this is the Orlando site in a chain of art-filled/foodie eateries. You buy plates of appetizer-ish food & share - we had cajun chicken egg rolls and garlic pasta and what appears in my notes as "some weird chips." (Evidently, I wasn't smitten by this particular dish.)

We ended the night at a local mall where we purchased me a discounted Disney Wildlife shirt (go, Disney Outlet!) and then headed back to our local (non-Disney) hotel to get ready for the adventure!

[aka pastor guy]

May 31
Bright & early again... of course, I'm the guy who couldn't sleep the night before we went to Disneyland when I was a kid, so it's not a surprise that I had us out of bed & parking at Dixie Landings around 7 am. The desk clerk, Micahel, was very cool... incredibly helpful and kind. (Of course, we couldn't check into our room yet - but Disney is more than ready to help you set up so you can enjoy the parks.)

We hopped an early resort bus and headed off to Disney-MGM. This is still Shari's favorite Disney park:

• we loved The Great Movie Ride
• we enjoyed being freaked out by Tower of Terror (the preshow is mind-blowingly cool and the elevator part of the ride is amazing)
• Star Tours made Shari ill but made me want to go out & buy a lightsaber
• Muppet 3-D is a hoot... and the pre-show is possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life)

When we went into the Animation building, they were working on Hercules. Of course, I cried during the Animation film (man, has Disney got my number or what?!)

We ate lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater... and we had possibly the slowest waitress ever. Relentlessly cheerful & friendly, yes - but incredibly slow. Snails could have tap-danced circles around her. It's a cute place to get a dessert, but we've done it once & I wouldn't bother to go back again.

After a quick window-shopping trip through Sid Cahunga's, we caught the bus back to Dixie Landings & checked into our room - 9783 Parterre Place... one room away from being out of Dixie Landings. The view was great, though, and not too noisy. The building looked like the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

We went paddleboating - past Port Orleans & all the way down to the golf course! Yes, Shari Jo was a little exercise happy - it's not like we weren't covering 10 miles a day in queues. We found the arcade, too, and indulged in our favorite sport from our dating years, pinball.

We had dinner at Bonfamille's Cafe in Port Orleans (which was a nice stroll from Dixie Landings.) The food was great!

From there, we hopped back on a bus & headed to the Magic Kingdom (which took a lot longer than I realized.) We wandered the streets, riding stuff we could get on without much of a wait. We rode Tomorowland Transit (aka the People Mover), Space Mountain, and then we cruised Fantayland, riding Mr. Toad's Wild Ride & It's A Small World. We headed on from there to the Haunted Mansion before staking out a parade spot just across from Country Bear Jamboree next to a couple & their 3 1/2 year old daughter.

Before I talk about the parade, I need to react a bit to visiting the Magic Kingdom after growing up 15 minutes from Disneyland. I know you've heard from other people, but the Magic Kingdom is big. I mean, huge. The rides feel like they're miles apart. In some cases, this is a good thing... the Haunted Mansion looks awesome. But in general, it just feels like you walk a long, long way. In addition, Space Mountain was weird - seating like the Matterhorn? (And it didn't feel as fast as Disneyland, but that may just be me.) Small World's entrance looks just like the rest of the Fantasyland rides (I guess I'm used to the big white facade at Disneyland).

OK, back to the parade. The little girl we sat next to was adorable - she told Shari & I all about the queen on Snow White and it was a kick to watch her react to the parade. (For those visiting Disney without kids, I can't recommend anything more enjoyable than befriending a family with kids & watch they enjoy the park.) SpectroMagic (the parade) was cool... though not as retro-cool as the Main Street Electrical Parade.

As soon as the parade passed, we boogied right behind it to Big Thunder Mountain (no wait) and Splash Mountain (very short wait). Thanks to a great suggestion from the Unofficial Guide, we timed it just right so that we saw the fireworks going off while we were riding Splash Mountain. Sweet.

Of course, we didn't think about just how crowded the resort bus could get. (We had to wait over 40 minutes to leave.)

Oh, well - still a wonderful first day inside the Disney bubble!

[DyanKJ130]

Sounds like a great first day in the "Disney bubble!" I can understand Shari & junior high school classroom management.....I am the behavior adjustment resource teacher at one of our city's junior high schools and it is no easy task. Glad have decided to write a TR! Hurry back with more!

[aka pastor guy]

June 1
In a stunning change of habit (well, not really), Shari & I got up early & headed to EPCOT. (BTW, if you have family members who can do it, the first hour or so in any Disney park is MUCH less crowded. As well, the rope drop is often 10-20 minutes early, depending on how big they think the crowd will be for the day, so getting there early is a good idea.)

I was a complete 5 year old... everything in the park is so big (not to mention the park itself, which is ginormous). I can remember seeing the miniature model of Walt's EPCOT at the Carousel of Progress... and then reading the articles about EPCOT as it opened & grew... so to finally be right there was incredible.

First stop: Spaceship Earth. I'll be the first to admit that this is the Haunted Mansion technology turned to educational purposes, but I find it strangely compelling. In fact, you're going to find that's a common theme for much of EPCOT trip report - EPCOT (circa 1996) was an incredibly sophisticated World's Fair. I don't think that's a bad thing, mind you.

Then we went into the Wonders of Life Pavillion & Shari played on the Wondercycles while I rode Body Wars. This was an excellent decision, as Body Wars makes Star Tours look like a walk in the park. The storyline was almost as jerky as the ride. We then caught most of The Making of Me! (which was cute).

Next stop: The Land, where we rode Living With the Land (that silly little theme song is still stuck in my head.)

Right next door was Honey, I Shrunk The Audience and Journey Into Imagination... both of which we enjoyed immensely. Four years later (in 2000), I rode the re-tooled Journey into Imagination - and I'm sorry the original has gone the way of the dodo. It was cheerfully whimsical in a way that the new attraction just doesn't do.

We then crossed over into the World Showcase - starting with Mexico. We rode The River of Time (which was possibly the least successful attraction at EPCOT) - it's just a Small World boat ride through pretty inadequate effects. Of course, my attitude about the ride probably wasn't helped by the encounter we had with two line-cutting women of a certain age who surely knew better. Sigh.)

It was, thankfully, time for lunch... and we had priority seating reservations for Akershus in Norway. Our server, Trin-Elise, was wonderful - and it was her first day! We both liked the Koldbordt - the food was excellent. That was esp. true of our desserts: Shari Jo had an applesauce cream thingee, and I had the strawberries & rice cream (which Trin-Elise had recommended). She also told us that the food was typical of Norway - but not the buffet!

After lunch, we rode Maelstrom (the backwards section is particularly cool - and, btw, you can skip the Norway movie at the end if you want to).

The rest of the afternoon was filled with the "small" moments that make a Disney experience so wonderful:

• watching acrobats in China
• sitting on a bench in Italy & watching people
• peering through shops in Germany

About mid-afternoon, we finally reached the 1/2 way point of the World Showcase, the American Adventure. I enjoyed A.A. very much - Shari, OTOH, was so worn out that she fell asleep on my shoulder and left a drool spot on my T-shirt.)

We bypassed the rest of the Showcase (saving it for another day)... only stopping to watch a really cute street theater show in Canada. As we worked our way back to the front of the park, we stopped by the Test Track preview (my notes say: "It looked incredible!").

Our final ride of the day was Horizons - I realize now that we lucked into getting to enjoy this ride. While it didn't officially close until January of '99, it was only open sporadically for most of the mid-to-late 90's. This is the Carousel of Progress turned into an amazing Omnimover ride-through. A perfect over-the-top "gee whiz, kids, it's the future" way to end our day at EPCOT.

We had big plans to go over to Wilderness Lodge that evening, but we fell asleep. Oh, well.

[DyanKJ130]

What a wonderful day in Epcot! I'm enjoying your journey back in time! More please

[aka pastor guy]

June 2
After our good night's sleep, we got to Typhoon Lagoon really early (even after we drove around the WDW property). We rode all of the slides - even Humonga Cowabunga. (Note: just one ride on that monster - I'm reminded here of Pinky & the Brain: "That is a pain that will linger.") We played for a long time in the surf pool as well. Bodysurfing wasn't any better for me in a fake ocean than it was in a real ocean, but it was still fun to try. We closed out our morning with a long lanquid circuit of the park on Castaway Creek... then we piled pack into the Honda and headed back to Dixie Landings.

Lunch on the 2nd was at Planet Hollywood - which has great atmosphere & great fries, but otherwise was a pretty standard sample of the franchise. My favorite bit of atmosphere - the Love Bug was hanging nose down 3 stories above our table!
After lunch, we cruised around Pleasure Island & the Disney Village Marketplace - and were esp. interested in The Art of Disney. (Anyone want a $3,000 Mickey Mouse chair?!)

We parked our car back at the hotel & hopped the bus back to the Magic Kingdom. This time, we went left when we hit the hub & started in Adventureland. I have fond childhood memories of climbing into the Swiss Family Treehouse - and the one at WDW is very nice.

In the Enchanted Tiki Room (this is in the pre-modernized/ruined show that now is there) we ended up talking to a little boy & his mom. He was "too cool" for it at first, esp. when his mom started to sing along with "let's all sing like the birdies sing."

From there, we voyaged through Pirates (which is a real let-down after the version at Disneyland). Then we wandered, missing show time after show time, finally riding Snow White's Adventures (seriously kid scary!) then returning to Country Bear Jamboree (a Shari favorite). The entire time of wandering we were also searching for funnel cakes!

We saw the Carousel of Progress (ah, nostalgia!) and the Hall of Presidents (Mr. Lincoln is cooler by himself than with a crowd of fidgety ex-presidents)... and still no funnel cakes.

Finally, we rode Alien Encounter - Shari was doing OK through most of it until the monster messed with her hair & breathed hot air on her neck. At that point, I just about had my arm ripped off by my loving wife, who presumably was going to beat the non-existent monster to death with it. Ouch.

After that, we left on the scariest ride of all - the resort bus. (I kid! I kid! I kid because I love... the resort bus system is amazing as long as you don't try & leave the park at the same time as everyone else.)

We hopped off at Port Orleans & had beignets in their food court - yummy goodness. And then we closed our night out with a moonlit stroll back to Dixie Landings.

[DyanKJ130]

Another great update! I know what you mean about WDW transportation being one of the scariest rides! On more than one occasion, I know we've been flying down the road going what feels like at least 100MPH!! Hurry back with more.

[aka pastor guy]

June 3
This morning, we got up & returned to Disney-MGM Studios. The objective: see what we missed on our first day. So, what did we start with? A second ride on the Tower of Terror. We stood in line with a family of adults & teens - the two teenage girls were a little panicky about riding & were being seriously wound up by the adults. By the time reached the basement & were being strapped into our seats, one of them was right on that line between a giggle fit & the screamin' mee-mee's. Of course, she let loose with hysterical laughter/screams as we started down for the first time - and Shari poked me & pointed back at her. This was, we came to realize when we exited the ride, the exact same time that the flash goes off for the ride photo... so you can see the young lady in the back with her mouth wide open & Shari in the front row, pointing at her. We did the really mature thing & ran to get lost in the crowd, giggling the whole time.

Then we hoofed over to the Monster Sound Show (which was almost as forgettable as the Drew Carey Sounds Dangerous Show 4 years later). Next up was the Indiana Jones Stunt Show (I loved the stunts but I hated the silly "audience plant" gag). We even took time to watch the Beauty & the Beast musical. (I may have even teared up a bit during the show. Just a little bit... right?!)

After a turkey leg & a hot dog from Rosie the Riveters, we staked out a parade viewing spot for the Toy Story Parade! (Yes, I am a little kid. My favorite float, of course, was the one with all the giant board games!)

After the parade, we went on the Backstage Tour (Catastrophe Canyon was pretty cool)... but the highlight for me was getting to see props from the Muppets & Rocketeer in the AFI displays at the end of the ride.

Next, we went to the Inside the Magic show - where Shari & I got picked out of the line as "volunteers" for the water tank demonstration. They put us in these cute yellow slickers (I felt like I was ready to model for the Gorton's Fish Sticks box) and then dumped 400 gallons of water on Shari. I was "shot" with torpeodos - essentially, that means I stood on a fake conning tower of a fake submarine and had huge jets of water shot out of the floor below me. Yikes!

It was/is interesting to compare my experiences as a show volunteer at Universal & at Disney-MGM... both sets of cast members were kind, funny & very helpful. I'm not sure it was the structure of the show or what, but while the Hitchcock folks made sure that Shari & I got pictures of me in the "Mother" outfit, the Disney folks hustled us right back out of our clothes - so the only pictures I've got of the water dump are actually of the NEXT couple having it happen to them. Hmmm...

Dinner that night was at the Cotton Mill, Dixie Landings food court... which was, for food court-ish food, tasty but expensive. After dinner, we rode bikes around Dixie Landings & Port Orleans.

Then we loaded up the car & went across WDW to wander through the Wilderness Lodge. (If it wasn't on the outer edge of the resort bus transit system, I might have spent the $$ it takes to stay there.) Wow... what a beautiful hotel. It's like a mash-up of the classic park lodges at Yosemite, Rainier, and Yellowstone. We hiked down past the waterfalls and found a spot on the dock so we could watch the Water Electrical Parade - a very cool surprise I'd read about in a guidebook. A magical, magical evening...

[aka pastor guy]

June 4
Today, we went to our second water park, Blizzard Beach. I know other people have said this (and I hope it's a bit different 11 years later) but there was way too little shade at Blizzard Beach. And the sparkling white snow kicks off some serious glare - yowsa.

With that said, I liked this better than Typhoon Lagoon. Shari & I both really liked the Toboggan Racers (complete with sled-shaped mats) and the double tube slides. We even "adopted" a family from South Carolina to ride with us on Teamboat Springs.
We avoided Summit Plummet & Slush Crusher, as I was still sore from the Humonga Cowabunga at Typhoon Lagoon. (And they call that "fun"?! Huh?!) We rode tubes around the creek a couple of times... then tried Meltaway Bay (the wave pool). That, my friends, is a serious wave pool. I was waterlogged after 5 minutes and ready to drag myself back onto the beach.

We came back to Dixie Landings & cleaned up... and then left the Disney Bubble for a few hours to head to a local mall (in Winter Park, I think), grabbing some Chick-Fil-A & mall pizza. (Yes, we are serious foodies.)

After a stop at AAA to pick up a Georgia book so we could make reservations for the trip home, we cruised by Church Street Station, but decided we didn't want to pay $5 to park & walk around.

Back to the Cotton Mill for dinner: soo-prise, soo-prise - pizza (greasy but good). And then a short walk back to our hotel room - an early night, as we had plans for a big day in a just a few hours.

[aka pastor guy]

June 5
Up & at 'em... we were on our way back to EPCOT. We early birds got to enjoy the JAMMitors while waiting for the rope drop - it reminded me a lot of Stomp, which is a very good thing.

Our first stop was The Land, where we caught the Circle of Life film (which I liked much better than actual The Lion King movie) and Food Rocks. Shari kept nudging me during the show, telling me that the fruits & vegetables knew I was in the audience and were singing these nutrition songs just for me - imagine!

Then we went to the Living Seas - which, while they were full of living creatures, weren't terribly exciting. (I'd love to see the new Finding Nemo makeover for this pavillion.) The only thing I have in my notes is that I had fun playing with a diving suit... and when that's the best you can come up with at a Disney park, you know it needs some work.

From there, we scooted over to catch Cranium Command... well, right after we finished watching The Making of Me (which, according to my notes, I'd interrupted for some reason earlier in the week). This very well could have been our favorite show of our visit - we laughed ourselves silly. (Is this stil there?!)

By then, the World Showcase had opened and it was time to head for Morocco. We decided to bag the wait for the boat & instead hoofed it around, arriving early for lunch priority seating, so we wandered the market streets for a bit.

Lunch was at, of course, Marrakesh - and it was delicious! The brochette of chicken was great, and so was the roast lamb (which Shari even ate!) The salad was a little bit like picante sauce, but the fruits were yummy. And, as is typical when confronted with belly dancers (you'd be surprised how often that happens in my life), I was embarassed.

We then went to the American Adventure again (so Miss Sleepyhead could actually see it!) and got to hear the Voices of Liberty sing. Shari fell in love with the theme song/movie at the end ("Golden Dreams").

After that, we slid over to Japan & looked at the carvings - yes, Mark Pittman, we found the "ghost in the tub."

From there, we circled back to the United Kingdom for a short stroll through the gardens (and a bit of bagpipe music). It's just a hop, skip & a jump from there to Canada. I went to see "O Canada" by myself while Miss "I Get Sick When I Watch Circlevision Movies" watched the Canadian Comedy Corps and had, she said, "heat exhaustion."

We had some lemon ices (to combat the "heat exhaustion") and worked our back into Future World. There we met Dave The Zip Code Man (who can figure out where you live from your zip code - nifty.) We played in Image Works for a while - I made myself a new face (hee!) and directed an orchestra. After a quick trip through Innoventions, we split for the hotel... and yet another pizza dinner!

No night activities - we needed all our rest for our final day in WDW!

[aka pastor guy]

June 6
Our last full day in WDW - so we made the most of it! We started at the crack of dawn with Early Entry into the Magic Kingdom... it's wild to see so many families carrying sleepy children down Main Street. We were able to ride Space Mountain twice before wizzing over to Peter Pan's Flight. We even got to ride the Carousel and It's A Small World before we joined the footrace to Splash Mountain. (Shari got wetter than I did! Tee hee!)

Then it was off on the Jungle Cruise (the indoor stuff is very, very cool - could they add this at Disneyland?!) and then into the Legend of the Lion King show. (Come on, people - think about it! It's a dark show where the dad dies & the villain is pretty seriously evil - no wonder the place was filled with screaming children.) We hopped onto the Skyway and rode over to Tomorrowland. Shari tried to hunt down a lemon ice (no success - settled for a juice & candy bar) while I watched Timekeeper - once again, Shari's "Circlevision Makes Me Puke" thing rears it's ugly head.

Next stop: Discovery Island. Shari quickly renamed it "Dooky Island" because of all the bird droppings. (Yes, I realize that it was a bird sanctuary - but somehow it didn't occur to me that they'd poop all over the dadgum place.) This was definitely not her thing... so we took the first launch off the island we could find. We went to the Contemporary Resort, caught the monorail around to the Grand Floridian, got off & "ooh-aahed" our way through the lobby. We then got back on the monorail to connect to a bus to find our way over the river & through the woods to Dixie Landings.

Lunch was pizza once again (the Cotton Mill folks knew us on sight) and was followed by a nap.

Post-nap, we drove over to the Beach Club so we could enter EPCOT through the International Gateway. Dinner was in France at the Au Petit Cafe - dining on the sidewalk overlooking the water. The food was wonderful, esp. Shari Jo's beef burgundy.

We staked out a viewing place for Illuminations on the Gateway Island. (From our 2000 trip, I know that "our spot" is now reserved seating.) We met a very nice family from Colleyville, TX, that had a number of connections with the two of us. They'd both grown up in north Ft Worth (where Shari is from), had gone to Baylor University (where I graduated from) and even knew Cole Harmel (one of my classmates at Baylor). We spent over an hour talking.

Once Illuminations began, the cast members made us sit down on the planters, so our view was somewhat impaired. Oh, well - it was still gorgeous & awe-inspiring anyway.
We walked back down the Gateway & toured along Stormalong Bay before driving to Port Orleans for beignets! (Although it took forever to get them.)

After that, back to Dixie Landings for one last night.

[aka pastor guy]

June 7-8
Sadly, here's where my notes peter out... and so I'll have to try & dredge some details out of the long-term memory storage in my brain.

All we had left to do that morning (after actually sleeping in!) was pack our suitcases and load up our Honda. Of course, while we were doing that, two odd things happened.

First, our housekeeper for the week was working on the room next to us. (In true Disney fashion, she'd done a spectacular job of taking care of the room.) We discovered that she was deaf - and Shari, having formerly been a deaf education student, took the opportunity to "talk" with her via ASL.

Second, when I propped the door open to load out our luggage, a crow flew into our room and perched on the frame of one of the pictures. Besides freaking out Shari (it's like Dooky Island was trying to follow us home!), it was pretty unperturbed (the bird, that is) and required multiple attempts to shoo it out of the room.

We made one final stop at the World of Disney store at the Village Marketplace to buy trinkets for friends & family - and honestly, that was the most crowded place filled with angry tourists I've ever seen. We began calling it "Disney Hell" - you're surrounded by diabetic-coma amounts of sentimental Disney stuff crossed with people who have not simply forgotten their manners but have actively decided to torture & torment all people they come in contact with... all in the name of buying souvenirs for people they love.

From there on out, I don't really remember anything notable - oh, the hotel we got in Atlanta was cheap but in a scary part of town... and there's some very cute pictures of Shari & I in our Disney shirts (hers is Winnie the Pooh, mine is Stadler & Waldorf) crashing in our duplex on the afternoon we arrived home. Otherwise, uneventful. (As opposed to my last trip to Orlando, where my car tried to blow up the engine as we approached the city.)

Thanks for reading. I'll be back later tonight or tomorrow with some final thoughts & highlights!

[Colexis Mom]

Great report Mark Thanks for sharing

[lindawdw]

Enjoyed reading your travel back in time TR Mark! It's so much fun reading about attractions that have been replaced but you still have such fond memories of them!!!