May 27-June 3, 2000 (Wilderness Lodge) About This Page:

[cseca]

OK!
Here's the first installment. I'm new at writing trip reports, so I apologize if they're a little hard to follow...
Hope you enjoy it...

We the lucky ones:
Cynthia (me)
Andre (Dear Boyfriend ~ DBF)
~ 4th trip together

Trip Date: 5/27/00 ~ 6/3/00

OUR JOURNEY

5/27/00, 12:01am: Our plane leaves at 7am. We had not finished packing yet, still doing laundry …uh-oh…we’re not going to get enough sleep for the trip. Oh well, who can sleep before a WDW trip anyways.

12:50am : Finally finished packing and off we go to sleep (well, at least we try to go to sleep). Mind you, some clothes are still in the washer and dryer..

3:00 am: Alarm went off – Hit the snooze button (and this goes on for another 3 times)

3:45am: Alarm went off again, and jumped out of bed, and ran to take a shower!

4:45 am: Ran our the door with 2 suitcases and jumped into the car to drive to the airport… (DBF drove, me fell asleep again… )

6:00am: Got to the airport and park in red lot (cheaper than green lot)…

Depart at 7am from Detroit
Arrive at 9:33am (WOOHOOOO!!!!) by NW

We actually arrived at 9:20, a little earlier than scheduled (surprise eh?). Since I got a reservation with Tiffany Towncar, I got a worried that we would have to wait awhile. So, we got out of the plane and I was pretty much bouncing off the walls excited. FINALLY, the trip which I planned 8 months ago is finally HERE!!!!
Got down to the baggage claim and I didn’t find any sign with my name on it.. OH NO!! And there I was, panicking… DBF of course was trying to convince me that our transportation will come soon, and not to worry. Well, I waited for 5 minutes before I couldn’t wait anymore and ran to a man with a Tiffany Towncar sign (but with someone else’s name on it) and ask about my ride. He immediately called on his cellphone to find my ride. 3 minutes later, he came back to tell me that my ride is coming very soon, and Darcy (the nice man who drove us to WL) is stuck waiting on the elevator to come up. Lo and behold, 30 seconds later, Darcy popped out of the elevator and greeted us with a big warm hello. So I wasn’t panic anymore...

Got our bags and walked out to our beautiful ride (it was a 2000 towncar), and jumped into the back seat. I asked about a grocery stop and he said “No Problem!” . We chit-chatted all the way to the grocery store (I don’t remember the name) and Darcy said not to worry about the half hour time and if we couldn’t find what we needed there, he would drive us to the next one…. What a nice man he is…. During this ride I found out that Darcy is the brother of the owner of Tiffany Towncar, and that the web has done wonders for their business (I can see why, the reason I tried TTc is because of the reviews on the web).

Well, we got everything we need, loaded them up in the car and OFF we go to Wilderness Lodge.

[cseca]

Day 1 (WL, Epcot, Marrakesh rest., Narcoossee's rest.)

Arrived at WL at around 10:45am, left our luggage with the bellboy and ran inside the lodge. The word WOW! comes to mind immediately. The place is beautiful! Lovely fireplace, breathtaking totempoles and just mind blowing architecture altogether.
Checked in was done at 11:05, but our room isn’t ready yet. We had requested a woods view room which faces the water (so we could watch the water pageant at night). They had no problem filling out my request, but I had to wait a couple hours for it.
We had a reservation for the character breakfast at Artist Point to see Pooh (my absolute favorite character), Eeyore, and Tigger at 11:20am. The breakfast was wonderful! Pooh and Eeyore came over once, but Tigger came over twice, even sat down on our table and started drawing pictures on the kids menu. It was a blast! I took pictures with all characters and absolutely thought “What a great way to start my vacation!!!”

Tip 1: It’s a good thing to do late char breakfast, because the place is practically empty so the characters interact with you more.

Tip2: Never, never, never, take pictures facing the windows. My pictures didn’t come up so well because I was facing the light source.

For the food part of this breakfast, I love the blueberry coffecake. It is absolutely wonderful. The whole grain pancake is pretty good too, different but good.

Done with breakfast and we checked to see if our room is ready. Nope. So we decided to go to MK. Hopped on the boat, and off we go to MK. As soon as we arrived, we went to guest relation to exchange our AP vouchers. The process was quick and painless, I was kind of disappointed with actual card. I thought it would be plastic, but it was only paper. Oh well, as long as it works, I don’t really care…

So we passed the turnstile, passed the finger printing machine, and we’re officially in Magic Kingdom. Ooooooooohhhh, I felt like I was 10 all over again. We walked up and down Main Street, and checked out all the stores (plus the bakery of course! Didn’t get anything because we were still so full from breakfast) and taking it easy. After all, it’s only our first day. At around 2pm, we called WL and told that our room was ready. Room 3002, how exciting!

Got back to WL and checked out our room. It was beautiful! Our room faces the dock of the boat to MK. I couldn’t have asked a better room. Our only complain was the balcony too small, there were 2 chairs and a small table on it, but too small for us to enjoy.

After we settled in, our next plan is to go to Epcot. Reached Epcot at 4pm and just in time for our late lunch at Marrakesh. Since we were still full from breakfast, we decided to have an appetizer and an entrée. We had beef brewat (appetizer) and night in casablanca (entre). Food was very good, but size is a bit small for the price (I think). Just when we finished our food, the belly dancer started, she was really pretty, and the dancing is really good too. The whole meal plus a morrocan recipe book cost us $47 (inc. tip).

For the rest of the afternoon we walked around Epcot world showcase aimlessly, which was really fun except for the part where it was HOT!!! And HUMID!!!  We stopped by France’s bakery and I couldn’t resist getting the chocolate éclair. And I also got chocolate mousse for DBF, which he raved about all day (until he tasted the tiramisu at Narcoossee’s, read on….) 

Our next scheduled stop was at Narcoossee’s at GF. We took the monorail there. This was the first time I had ever walked into GF. The place is really beautiful. I thought, maybe one day we could afford to stay there. Walked to the restaurant and since we had PS we were seated less than 10 min (we were early too).
And guess what? We got the window table!! It was wonderful. I also had diet restriction noted in my reservation, so our waiter Harvey called the chef (I think his nickname is) Bubba to talk to me. He ended up making me this wonderful pasta dish with seafood and tomato coulis….(it is definitely the best pasta I have ever tasted in my life). My boyfriend had the Duet of Lamb, which was also really really good, and to top it off, we had Tiramisu for dessert …(oh my oh my oh my). The dessert is too good to be true… This is definitely a repeat restaurant for us. Total meal plus 2 glasses of wine is $110. I thought it was worth every penny.

That’s our first day in WDW. We had a wonderful day … 2nd day is coming up.
Hope you enjoy this report.

[cseca]

Day 2

8:10 am Breakfast PS at Spoodles.
We made the mistake of not checking the boat schedule. The plan was to take the boat to MK, then take the bus to BW. But the boat didn’t start early enough for us to get there on time. So we took the bus to MGM, then boarded on friendship boat to BW. BIG MISTAKE! The boat ride took us at least 20 min because it stopped at Swan, Dolphin, Yacht and Beach hotels first, then to BW.
Anyways, we finally made it to Spoodles at 8:40 and the place was practically empty. The first thing we saw walking into the dining area is a huge buffet line filled with hot breakfast. Then near it is another buffet line for cold breakfasts. Just to recap the menu,
Hot breakfast: Scrambled eggs, veggie frittata, meat frittata, breakfast pizza, sausage, bacon, potatoes, and my two most favorite dishes there….. Mickey Waffles and Bread Pudding….mmm.mmmm.mmmm … (drool!) plus croissants, toasts, bagel, jam, cream cheese.
Cold breakfast: All kinds of cereal, milk, breakfast pastries, and fruits.
For $12.50 per person, this has got to be the BEST breakfast we’ve ever had. And I can tell you we are full for awhile on this meal.

9:10 Appointment for DVC tour
Well, our appt was for 10am, but we were done with breakfast early, so we decided to stop by. We made this appt because the DVC rep told us that we would be given free lunch or 2 sets of Fast Passes to any rides we want. We opted for the FPs.
The tour took us a total of 2 hours and we got our FPs for Rockin RC and Test Track.

10:45 MGM
R&R
We then hopped on the boat again to MGM and walked straight to R&R. We were immediately greeted by an upside down car and a huge guitar. This is why I love WDW, how do they come up with these ideas?
Those FPs were awesome. We passed by a very long line of people straight to the ride. And the ride…oh my…. It’s definitely one of my favorite rides now…. 0-60 in 2.8s, what a thrill. On the way out, we saw our picture on the monitor and had to buy one for a souvenir. We had a blast.

Disney Animation
Our next stop is Disney animation. Since we have a couple hours to kill before we have to go to EPCOT for Test Track, we decided to do Disney animation and Drew Carey Show. Disney animation tour changed a bit from the last year we visited. The gallery where we exited is the entry of the tour last year. But the whole tour is still as fun.

2:00 Lunch at Sunset Market Ranch
We decided to have lunch and I felt like a turkey leg, so we got ourselves a turkey leg, a pretzel, and a hot dog. How healthy! That filled us up pretty good.

Drew Carey Show
Next on the list is Drew Carey Show. We thought the show is a bit boring for Disney. Not much to say about it, everything happens in the dark and you experience a sound show. It’s a neat concept.

4:30 EPCOT
Took the boat to EPCOT again and stopped at the International Gateway boat dock. I think this is the first time we’ve ever done this. We were so tired from the heat that both of us fell asleep on the boat, it was kinda funny. We then walked pass the World Showcase to go to Test Track. We found that the FP line took 30 min, regular line 2.5 hrs and single line 10 ~ 15 mins. We’ve done this ride before and for the second time we didn’t think that it’s worth 2.5 hr wait. Oh well, other people will disagree with me on this… 

We then walked over to the world showcase and took pictures. The day was so hot and humid that we needed to stop somewhere. Tangeriene café. The place is cool and cute too. We only had drinks there and thought about having one of our lunches here in the future.

Stopped in Weinkeller and looked around for an ice wine. Found one, and luckily on the wine tasting of the day. So we forked over $10 for a shotglass of ice wine, we could keep the glass. The wine is really good, and I really want to buy one, but unfortunately they don’t deliver alcohol to hotels… no ice wine for me today.

8:00 pm Bistro De Paris

Before we know it, it’s 7:40pm already and we have to go to Bistro for our dinner. We checked in and was greeted with this beautiful spiraling staircase. The restaurant is very quaint compared to the bustling Chef’s De France downstairs. We were seated within 10 min, and lucky us, we got the window table again.

TIP: I heard that the restaurant is booked for the rest of the night, so PS is a must for this.

The table had a wonderful view of the lake, Tapestry of Nations, and Illumination. We got it all! However, we felt that the food wasn’t as great as we expected it to be. Firstly, they couldn’t accommodate my diet restriction, so I ordered the veal which was OK. And secondly, DBF ordered the Honey Glazed Lamb which came out a little too salty.
But the dessert is HEAVENLY!!!! Had the chocolate cake with melted chocolate inside (forgot the name) and hot orange crepe with grand marnier…. Mm..mmm..mmmm…. sooooo goood. If we come back next time, it will be for the dessert only.
The whole dinner plus 2 glasses of cocktail wine costed us $125. We would rather spend that money at Narcoossee’s, but we’re glad we tried it and the window table did compensate for the food.

10:00 WL

Done with dinner, and tiredly walk to the bus stop heading home. Walking into our room we found that our cleaning lady had left us a little angel on the bedpost made from a towel. It was so cute. She ended up making several more of these cute towels during our stay… thank you Lutz!!
We left her tip in envelopes decorated with Pooh stickers throughout our stay. It was fun to leave it out every day. Thanks to whomever suggested it on the board….. 

[cseca]

Day 3 (May 29, 2000)

8:50am Breakfast at Kona Kafe
Got up this morning looking forward to the Tonga Toast everybody’s raving about. We took the bus from WL to TTC and took the trail to Polynesian Resort.

Tip 1: Walk from TTC to Poly Resort is much much faster than taking a bus.

At Kona Kafe we were seated immediately, it was pretty empty that day. And I didn’t even have to look at the menu …J
I ordered Tonga Toast with coffee and DBF ordered the Big Kahuna breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, standard breakfast fare). Our server asked me whether I’ve had Tonga toast before and when I said no he gave me a big smile and walked away..hmm….When our order came I couldn’t believe my eyes! Tonga toast is HUGE… and what’s more unbelievable was that I finished the whole thing!! It was wonderful. A little too sweet (with sugar and syrup on top) but good.

10am Animal Kingdom (Walking tours, Safari)
After that big breakfast we took the bus to Animal Kingdom. We walked straight to the Safari ride to get our fast passes. We have an hour and a half wait before our FP time, so we decided to take the both walking tours where we saw some bats, naked mole rats, lions, fishes, and other animals. I have to say that the whole set up was beautiful. Since both of us are originally from Asia we could say that they have done a great job in re-creating the "feel" of Asia.

Time to get to our Safari Ride. We love the ride just because it was so neat to see all these animals around. Sadly the dry weather really made them hide behind rocks and bushes or under heavy leafed tree. Still got lots and lots of pictures though.

After the ride we walked around AK and found a little trail that goes to a small seating area looking right in front of the Tree of Life. This is a neat trail that’s quiet and beautiful. It’s also a perfect spot to take a picture of the tree. It could get busy when "It’s tough to be a bug" crowd walks by.

1pm Tusker house
Can you believe we got hungry again? J We decided to stop by Tusker house because we smelled something really good in there. Lunch was Peanut crusted chicken and chicken salad in bread bowl…. YUM! If you go there, definitely try the Peanut crusted chicken, it’s really good. I think this is the best counter service food in the whole Disney world. The price isn’t bad either, lunch with 2 bottled water costs us $23 (we forgot to bring our water bottles… geez).

2:00pm DVC again.
Had another appointment with our DVC agent to decide whether we want in or not. DVC was supposed to pick us up, but we couldn’t find the van. So we took the bus anyways to BW. The whole process took us 1.5 hr and we are the proud owner of DVC J!
DVC van dropped us off to MK.

4pm MK
The first thing we did at MK was run to the Winnie the Pooh ride. I wanted to go to Buzz’s ride, but it was down for refurbishment…Darn it! Oh well! So we got in line and waited to get on the hunny pot. It was fun! I like the ride just because the whole thing was so colorful and Pooh’s everywhere…. I love Pooh. Then we went to the Lion King show, and DBF enjoyed it a lot. I’m not too thrilled about it though. Since the weather was so hot and humid, we decided to walk to main street bakery to cool off. Had a cookie and a cake too! Yumm….
Then we decided to go back to the hotel and rest for awhile before our PS at California Grill (more food.. )

7pm
Took the boat to WL and walked up to our room to find more of our housekeeper’s towel creation. It was a peacock today. After a bit of rest and a shower, we walked to the boat dock again to go to Contemporary Resort.
We were standing on the dock for 15 mins before we got smart and ask the blue flag boat whether it’s going to CR, guess what? It does! So we missed 2 boats already because we were waiting for the red flag boat to go to MK, then switch to bus to CR (see, I forgot to do my research on this topic… J ).

Tip 2: Blue flag boat goes to Contemporary and Ft Wilderness

8:40pm Cal Grill
Got to CR a little late, but we were seated in less than 5 minutes. The view from this restaurant is breathtaking. We didn’t get the window table this time, but I figured we’ve been lucky the past 2 days, can’t be too greedy.
Food wise, I tried to order food to my diet restriction and to my surprise my dish came out not the way it was described. We ordered, BBQ chicken flatbread (pretty good), noodles with mushroom and bok choy (way too oily, I ordered without any oil), and Pork chop for DBF (too salty). Hence, we didn’t think the food was anything to rave about. I was really tempted to get the Chocolate Souffle dessert, but I was good and resisted the temptation (well, of course now I’m regretting it). Dinner costs us $76.

Took the boat back to WL and found out that the boat at night harbours a lot of bugs. Not really sure what kind of bugs, but it doesn’t matter to me. I hate bugs in general.

10:30pm
Reached home and ready to sleep after a long but fun day.

(edited to remove duplicate text -DM)

[This message has been edited by Dave Marx (edited 07-08-2000).]

[cseca]

Day 4 May 30

Backstage Magic Tour

Today is our BM tour day. I am so excited because I heard so much about this tour.
The tour starts at 9am, and we were supposed to meet at EPCOT in front of the Guest Relations window outside the park.

9:00am
We were late. 15 mins late because the bus from WL was a little late. But that’s OK, they waited for us.
Our tour guide’s name is Mark and he said he has been working at Disney for a long long time and has been doing this tour for a couple of years.
Since the tour is travel heavy, they have a little bus for us to hop from park to park. And the tour also supplies us with cold water and pops. (Thank goodness, because today was sooooo hot and humid).
First stop was EPCOT at American Pavilion. He went through a lot of details about animatronics at the theater and neat details about their wigs and clothings.
Then we drove to Body wars backstage to look at the workings of the ride’s simulator. There was a little room under the ride where we could watch the people in the ride and getting in and out of it. That was neat.
Next stop was the Living seas attraction. We got the scoop on the workings of the hydralator, how they put up the aquarium walls and also how the water filtration system works.
Lunch time! Drove to MGM via back roads and had our lunch at Mama Melrose. Lunch consists of salad, pizzas, pastas, and desserts. Food was good but the dessert was really really good. We could finish the dessert plate all by ourselves… but we were nice and didn’t do that….
After lunch we went to the costume department and saw where all the costumes worn by CMs are designed and made. Plus we got to pick a little piece of sample material made for Mickey, Cinderella, and Prince Charming.
Next was the shop tour. This isn’t a shopping tour, but the shop where they design, make, repair and refurbish the parks’ rides. It’s a very interesting place to see, just like a normal woodworking, metal, or other shops we’ve seen before, but it makes Disney rides… How fun!
Then the moment everyone was waiting for….. Utilidor…. Mark took us to the CM entrance and we walked into the computer room where they control the parades at MK. We saw the 3 o’clock parade from the monitors in the computer room. That was really cool! Then we walked over to the hairdressers area where they style and clean all the hair pieces used by CMs, and we also saw the uniform pick up area. All along the way Mark kept us glued on little tidbits about Disney and Walt and rumors around the “World”.
Our last stop was MK Main Street. Here he told us the story behind the design of main street and how they accomplished the illusion they wanted.
So that was the tour. A short 7 hour tour. We thought it was worth every penny spent.

4:30pm. EPCOT, Beaver Tail, Tangeriene Café.
Dropped us off at EPCOT and we spent the rest of our afternoon there.

Walked over to World Pavilion and decided to try out Beaver Tail everyone on the board was raving about. Well, we are joining the Beaver Tail fan club if there’s any…. ! It is sooooo good… we tried the chocolate one and ate them while sitting down on the bench in front of the lake. People kept looking at us wondering what we’re eating. That was really good. Definitely a repeater…

After walking around for awhile we decided to have our dinner at Tangeriene Café. We god ourselves the chicken and beef shawarma and also the chicken sandwich shawarma. They were really good. I think it’s very similar to what you get at Marrakesh but cheaper and no belly dancer…. The whole meal costed us $18.

We passed through Millenium village and didn’t think much of it (well, both of us came from that side of the world, so we kind of expected more than what we saw).

7:30pm
Then we had an idea, “Why don’t we go catch the bus to MGM to see Fantasmic?” (BAD IDEA!!! Read on…). So, off we went to catch the bus to Coronado Springs to switch to MGM bus there. We waited and waited and waited some more until 8:30pm, and no bus came with MGM sign. Every other bus came but MGM. We were tired and cranky by now and just wanted to go back to WL. We hopped on an empty MK bus (thinking we have to catch the bus to WL) but thankfully there our CM bus driver who’d seen us hanging around for the past hour felt sorry for us and drove us straight to WL…. (thank you lady, who ever your name might be). That made us feel better.

Tip: Do not attempt to go to MGM to catch Fantasmic later than 7pm. We figured that it’s Disney’s crowed control method, avoid overcrowding of Fantasmic they just stop transporting people to MGM after a certain time. So, get there early for Fantasmic.

Done with Day 4

[cseca]

Day 5, May 31
Cindy’s Castle, Gifts of Lifetime, Laundry, O’hana, Fantasmic

Today was an exciting day for me. I had planned a surprised Photo Session for BF and I through Giftsofaliftime. My BF had no idea that I planned this several months out already, I really have no idea how he would react, but I wanted to have good pictures of us together at MK and WL.

8:50am Cindy’s castle
We took the boat to MK to get to our reservation. When we got there the park rides hadn’t openned yet, so it was cool to see people lining up behind the ropes to each land. We walked into the castle for the first time and thought that the lobby was nicely done. There was Fairy Godmother sitting on the “throne” while kids are lining up to take pictures with her while waiting for their reservation. Less than 10 mins after we arrived one of the CM came in looking bewildered (because she had to call us by my last name, which is really complicated, and hit the gong). I saw her look and immediately asked her if she has our PS ready, and she gave me a big smile and asked me how to pronounced my last name….
Walking up the stairs to the restaurant we figured why it’s so hard to get a PS here. The place is quite small considering how popular it is. Then we were seated beside the window, which was wonderful, because we could watch the people walking into the park when the rope was dropped.
Breakfast was good. BF really enjoyed the cream cheese french toast, he even wants to return just for it… ! The rest of the breakfast was pretty standard, egg, sausages, potatoes, and pastries. The potatoes were pretty good too, I think. Since there were only the two of us on the table, all the characters always asked us whether we wanted to take pictures with them except for Mary Poppins. For some reason she didn’t ask at all… I was a bit disappointed because I thought she was really pretty and I did want to take pictures with her… oh well. My favorite was Aladin. He was really nice and quick thinking. He asked me where we’re from and he said that he’s visited MI before. And when I asked him where he’s from (forgetting that I AM talking to a Disney character..) he said “Oh, I’m from Agrabah! It doesn’t take long at all to fly with Magic Carpet… “ I almost died rolling on the floor laughing!!! This breakfast costed us $37 total (with tip).

9:45am
We came out early from breakfast. I was supposed to keep an eye for Jane from GoaL and her husband (who will be taking pictures of us) at around 10am in front of the water fountain by Cindy’s castle. Fortunately, she was there early too, and I spotted them right away.
According to plan we went on the carousel, small world, and haunted mansion while being snapped away (all of this without the consent of my BF… ). And then right outside HM Jane tapped my BF shoulder and told him that he must’ve dropped these two pictures (I sent them our pictures ahead of time). The look on BF’s face was priceless!!! He was so confused on how he could’ve dropped those pictures…. So Jane continued on and told him about the set up and thank goodness… he smiled from ear to ear… !
After this meeting, Larry walked with us and took pictures of us all around MK. We went on rides and stopped on good spots to take pictures. Then we decided to go back to WL and take pictures there. So we hopped on the boat to WL. Larry took our pictures in the lobby, on the balcony, and on the lookout place. Then we called it done. (The pictures came out really really nice, I am really glad I did it.).

1:30pm Rest and Laundry time…
Going back to our room we remembered that we ran out of clothes … (oops!). So we decided to do laundry. But not before we get some shuteye first. Two loads of laundry downstairs took us about 2 hours, good thing they have laundry rooms… we’re running out of shopping money..

5:30pm O’hana
Our reservation at O’hana was at 5:30pm. But we left early and arrived 15mins early. No problem, the place was practically empty at this time, so we were seated right away.
While walking to our table, our “cousin” told us the story behind this restaurant and also grabbed some banana bread (yummy…!!!) for our table. When we got to our window table (over looking Poly’s boat dock) Cousin Theresa came and explain our menu for the day (since this was our first time and all).
First she came with a tray of salad, dumplings, and spring rolls. Then came the wok with noodles, and vegetables, and salmon fillets. These were all before the real meal came out….
Then came the skewers with shrimp, steak, chicken, and sausage. And they’ll keep on coming until you pretty much say uncle. We were so full when we’re done, I felt like somebody should just roll me over back to the hotel… . Overall the food was good but not exceptional. I thought they were a bit to oily, but then it might be just me. Total bill came to $53 with tip.

6:30pm Fantasmic
Since we failed to see Fantasmic yesterday (see previous day’s report), we decided to go today. We walked to TTC and caught the bus to MGM.
Walking into MGM we saw a crowed in front of one of the store on Sunset Blvd. Apparently there is a little comedy show going on. The story was that these 6 comedians were competing to get to meet Mr. Dean Martin. There was a DJ sitting on the second floor of the store who picked out people from the audience to give a subject for these comedians. The whole thing was a riot!!! They were really funny. I couldn’t find out for the life of me the name of this group.
By the time this performance was done it was already 7:15pm, we walked as fast as we could to the stadium for Fantasmic. The place was packed already. We finally found some spots on the far side of the stadium. Which I have to say the view wasn’t bad at all.
Fantasmic was great as usual and we had a blast watching it for the second time.
When the show was over, we ducked into the ToT shop and browsed around while other people were rushing outside.

After Fantasmic we walked around MGM for a little bit, and decided to head back because most of the attractions were already closed for the day.


[This message has been edited by cseca (edited 07-13-2000).]

[wdwlovers]

I love your trip report! Sounds like you had a great time. Can't wait to read the about the end of your trip!

------------------
A dream is a wish your heart makes...
June 1991-stayed outside of Disney
Sept 1998-WL (honeymoon)
Dec 1-10, 2000-CBR

[cseca]

Day 6 June 1 (AK, Rainforest Café, EPCOT, MGM, Whispering Canyon)

Today we had our breakfast in our room cereal and fruit we bought from grocery stop. Ran downstairs to Roaring Fork to get some milk.
9am AK
We followed people’s advice on the web, to run straight to Dinosaur in the morning. And found that the ride was practically empty. We still got our FPs just in case we want to ride again, then we got in line for the ride. For some reason I have to close my eyes right before the Dinosaur popped in front of me, so in the picture my eyes were always closed… Oh well….
We still have half an hour to our FP time, so we decided to tour Dinoland USA. Went into Dinosaur Jubilee and saw all the cool Dino skeletons. Also saw Chester the talking Dino, who were very very entertaining. Don’t miss him in the Dino jubilee tent. Then we decided to forgo our FP and walked around the park.

Then we tried to decide whether to do Kali RR or not, but we chickened out and decided not to do it. Walked around the shops for some shopping.

I remembered about Chip & Dale’s cookie cabin, so we strolled over that way and got ourselves some snack (choc chip cookie, oatmeal cookie, & smores brownie for $6.14)…. Mmmm yummy! I think these are the best cookies ever, and they are huge. I was real happy now.

By now it’s already 11:45am. Since we wanted to go to EPCOT and catch some live shows we walked our way out of AK. Then we remembered that we have some discounts from RF café, so we got in line and got our reservation. Luckily BF is a Safari Club member, and there was a separate line for members. We were seated in 20mins, we heard that the next non-member seating was in 2 hrs. Wow!

Our lunch consisted of waffle fries, pizza, and mojo bones (ribs), and with the discount our total came out to $18. We were really happy. We have a RF here in MI and we go there all the time, so there wasn’t much excitement for us anymore.

2:45pm EPCOT

Last night we went over the EPCOT map and listed all the shows we want to see before leaving. And luckily we got to see most of them today.

Mo’Rockin from Morrocco: We really liked them, they are really fun and really good performers. They sang Sting’s Desert Rose song, which was amazing.
Matzuriza from Japan: They were incredible. We were amazed on how much stamina they had performing.
Canada: I think their name is Off Kilter, but I’m not sure. We caught the last 10 mins of their show and they were really good too. Foot stompin’ hand clappin’ fun.
The statues from France: They were hilarious! How do they keep themselves so quiet while pulling all those stunts, I don’t know…
Pan Brody from Britain: We missed this one because he does his tricks while sitting down at tables in R&C bar, and we didn’t find any open tables when we got there.

After all the live shows we walked to the Wonders of Life pavilion to catch Anacomical players. They were improv comedians on the subject of eating healthy. We thought they were pretty fun, but geared more towards kids (but we still enjoyed it a lot). We also saw Cranium Command which we thought was really funny.

7pm MGM

Since we loved R&R so much we decided to go on it for the last time. Still as much as the first time we rode it…. And this time, I bought a postcard with Mickey and the Gang on the ride.

9:40pm Whispering Canyon

Went back to WL at around 9pm to freshen up before our PS at Whispering Canyon. I’ve heard such good reviews about this restaurant that I couldn’t wait to go try. I am not the kind of person who likes to participate on crazy stunts, but I figured it’s not going to hurt to try…
Our server’s name is Hickory, and she was a Hoot!!! She was yelling from the top of her lungs and always tries to get people’s attention. She was so much fun and also an excellent server. She never stopped filling our glass with water (which she had to poke fun on how much water we drink), and before our dinner she required us to yell “YIIIIIHAAAA” from the top of our lungs! We did a pretty good job of it because the whole restaurant was clapping for us afterwards….
Food was excellent. Considering I do not like smoked meat (BF loves smoked meat), I really think this ones the best out of all smoked meats I’ve had in my life. They were smoked just perfectly. The all-u-can-eat was smoked: beef brisket (really really good), ribs (really good), sausage (good), chicken (pretty good), turkey (not so good), and corn on the cob, potatoes, coleslaw, beans, and garlic bread (very very yummy!).
After we stuffed ourselves silly, Hickory came back with the bill and asked us if we want to take the leftovers with us (Isn’t she just awesome?). Of course we said yes. She even brought us extra garlic bread.
Total bill including tip was $53. Very good price considering we even got part of our lunch tomorrow...

Our plan after dinner was to go to Pleasure Island, but we couldn’t even walk to our room afterwards. I think we wobbled our way to our room. So, we just hit the sack and called it a night.

[cseca]

Hi wdwlovers,
Glad you like the report. I can't believe I actually had fun writting them. I'm almost done with the last couple of days. Hopefully you'll like them too.

cynthia

[cseca]

Day 7 June 2 (MGM, Downtown Disney, Westside, WL tour, Spoodles, E-ride nite)

I was planning to get up really early today since it was our last full day . But when we got up and saw the clock flashing 9:50am I was bummed already. So we got ready really quickly and head out to the bus stop for MGM.

Arrived at MGM and saw the line from the gate out to the ticket booths. We were wondering what’s going on. Got in line an waited for 5 mins before I decided to talk to a CM. I walked back to my spot redfaced, because we didn’t look at our watch all morning and it was only 8:15am! Apparently I had ff the watch in our room and didn’t even realize it.
The gates opened at 8:30 and we strolled into the park. We haven’t had breakfast yet, so we sat down in Starring Rolls Bakery and had a muffin and tea breakfast while waiting for the attractions to open at 9am.
The show that we kept missing was Backstage Pass tour with Home Improvement set. But it didn’t open until 10 today. We had about an hour to kill and decided to walk straight back to Mickey Ave and hit Backlot tour. And LUCKY ME!!!! Pooh and The Gang were right there at Mickey Ave hanging out with not more than a couple people around. I ran to Pooh and gave him the biggest hug, then I to Eeyore and Piglet too. I was so happy that I was grinning from ear to ear all day….

When we got into the q for Backlot tour, there were probably not more than 15 people in line (this is the first show of the day). Then we were approached by a CM asking us if we would be interested in being extras for the first show. Since we were both chickens (and we knew what the drill was) we declined. Which was a good decision I think.

After the Backlot tour we walked to Backstage Pass entrance and saw it was opened. We walked in and the place was empty too! (The first show of the day also). I like this tour very much. It’s neat to see real sets and real production people working on real shows.

Downtown Disney and Westside
Since we haven’t really shopped here, I wanted to go to DD and WS. Hopped on the bus and headed there. By now it was noon and we were hungry. To save money for shopping, we decided to go to McD and eat there. Got ourselves some combo meal and ate it with the leftover beef brisket sandwich we made out of our Whispering Canyon dinner last night. That was cool, because we get to save some money and eat good food at the same time.

We were done with shopping at DD at around 2:30pm and took the bus down to Westside. This place is so empty in the afternoon. Only a handful of people is around at this time. We passed by HoB, Bongos, and DQ. But we couldn’t really pass by Wolfgang Puck Restaurant, so we walked in and sat down at the sushi bar. Good thing we didn’t eat much lunch at all… Ordered Stuffed shrimp and California roll sushi. We thought the sushis were pretty good, but nothing exceptional. The bill came to $21 (with tea and tip).
Across the restaurant we saw a Guitar Shop. And since BF is a guitar player we strolled in to browse around. The shop was neat, a lot of really expensive guitars on display (and I could see my BF was drooling over them…).

Then we remembered that this was the last day we could catch the 3:30 WL tour. Ran to the bus stop and hoping that we’d make it in time for the tour. Lucky us! Got there at exactly 3:35pm and saw some people gathering around the totem pole in front of the concierge desk. Just in time…

Stan was our tour guide, and from what I’ve heard he has been doing this tour for awhile. He is a really really nice guide. Stan said that this was a food tour, so we went to Whispering Canyon Restaurant, Smokehouse, Roaring Fork, and Artist Point restaurant. The smokehouse tour was cool, because we got to see how they made their smoked meat in such a small place and also got some sample of the ribs. But our favorite was the Artist Point tour. Stan and the Chef came out of the kitchen with this HUGE fish, and some samples. That huge fish was the Copper River Salmon which could get as big as 70 pounds (that’s what the chef told us), and they could only get it certain time of the year. We got to taste the sample of Copper River Salmon cooked on Cedar plank with baked apple. Mmmmmmm yummmies! That was really really good.

After the tour BF ran down to the front desk and got us E-ride nite Tickets

We were so tired today that we decided to postpone our PS for Spoodles dinner for 8:30pm. Even then we were still 20 mins late to our PS. But no problem, the restaurant was not crowded at that time and we were seated right away. For dinner we ordered Lavash Bread bowl with garlic shrimp (a little salty but good nonetheless), tomato flatbread (really good), and Veal Parmesan (very good according to BF). Our reason to go to Spoodles for dinner was because BF wanted to get Osso Buco which he’s had and loved before. But unfortunately they didn’t make them anymore… … He was pretty dissapointed, I felt so bad for him. Dinner cost $48, pretty good we thought.
We passed on dessert at Spoodles because we already had another dessert in mind, Chocolate Crepe on a stick! Ooooohhhh yum! The stand is only open at night at BW and this is the one and only place that we would not miss for the world. Got ourselves some crepes (I’m not telling how many we got, too embarrassed), and sat on the bench in front of Wyland gallery while people kept looking at us wondering what we’re eating.

When we’re done with our crepes we wobbled our way to the bus stop to go to MK for our e-ride nite. Exchanged our tix at the city hall and off we go to Space Mountain. Spent the whole night on Space Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain. Unfortunately Buzz ride was closed for the week so we couldn’t go on it. I was really bummed because of it.
After getting dizzy from the rides, we decided to take some pictures in front of the castle at night. That was really pretty. I think E-ride night was worth it even if only to take pictures of MK at night, because the place is practically empty so you could take good pictures all over the place.
Before leaving MK we hit the popcorn stand and had some popcorn and soda. Then we took the monorail to TTC, then took the bus home.

Then I got very very sad because this was our last full day….

[Cruella]

Great trip report, cseca! I can't wait to find out what you did your last day!

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Cruella ºoº
"...where the young at heart, of all ages, can laugh and play and learn, together!"

[This message has been edited by Cruella (edited 08-06-2000).]

[debe]

Enjoyed your trip report! Can't believe how far behind I am in reading these!

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"Remember the Magic!"
Take Care, debe-nj

[wdwlovers]

I love your adventure report! How exciting. I was reliving our trip at WL by reading yours. Very cool experience! I htink we are going to have to get some crepes from the way you make them sound. I could always for chocolate! THanks for the report!

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A dream is a wish your heart makes...
June 1991-stayed outside of Disney
Sept 1998-WL (honeymoon)
Dec 1-10, 2000-CBR