Helt family trip - January 2001 About This Page:

[sneezy]

Walt Disney World Trip Report
January 13-21, 2001

Cast:
Karen (43) - Planner and organizer
Chris (43) - Husband and father
Michael (11) - Son
Kayla (9) - Daughter
Second trip for all. First trip was November 1995

Stayed at the Wilderness Lodge two nights, Polynesian six nights - got Annual Pass discount

First a couple of thoughts - our trip was wonderful, went very smoothly and we had a great time. We had great weather and low crowds. Thank you to everyone for the great information found here.

I'll admit now that I was a little worried before our trip as our first trip was not the greatest - not really Disney's fault though. When we went the first time, the kids were 4 and 6. We pushed too hard, the kids got a bit sick, and the kids rebelled on us and we didn't handle it the best. This time the kids were older and were interested in going to WDW. I also accepted the fact that my family does not get up in the morning and get moving and I worked with that instead of trying to push them. This meant avoiding early entry parks instead of using it. I also went in with the attitude that we are going to have fun - not to see how many rides we make. Thus if we wanted to go slower or skip something, that's OK.

Finally, we were on vacation. I did not keep track of times nor did I write them down. So all times are approximate, based on my impressions and memory.

Day 1, Jan. 13, 2001 (Saturday) - Travel and Main Street Electrical Parade

I had everything packed the night before. We got up, had breakfast, loaded things into the car and were off to the airport in time. We live about an hour and half from the airport. We did curbside check-in of our luggage and Chris went to park the car. He found a fairly close spot and was back quickly. We headed to the gate with plenty of time and checked in when they opened the counter. The flight left on-time (although it takes forever to taxi in Denver - we were probably on the ground for 20 minutes after we pushed off from the gate.) The flight was fine and we got in about on time - 3:40 p.m. Orlando time. We had a short delay deplaning as they took a girl (maybe 12) off the plane due to a medical condition. It did not appear to be serious. It took forever for all of our baggage to arrive. We were renting a car from Hertz, so went out and caught the bus. It quickly took us to the lot and since we had the Gold club, dropped us off by our car, a Toyota Camry. We loaded the luggage and left. I4 was backed up, but didn't delay us too much. Since we had the annual pass discount for our hotel, but I didn't order the voucher early enough, we needed to stop at a park and buy our passes. I had decided to stop at Disney MGM Studios. I think we ended up taking the third exit off I4 when I meant to take the second and so came into the Studios from the south, but by following the signs, we found it without problems. Thank goodness for light traffic when you don't know where you are going. We parked, took the tram in and went right up to the Guest Relation window to purchase our passes. It was quick and easy. It was tempting to go on in, but we had a priority seating at the Crystal Palace for 6:55 pm and we wanted to see the Main Street Electrical Parade. So back to the car and onto the Wilderness Lodge. Here where we saw the first flaw in Disney planning. After you go through the toll booth for the Magic Kingdom, you have to immediately take the right exit if you want to go to the resorts. You have to cut across lanes of traffic to make it. Needless to say, we didn't make the exit the first time. We looped around and tried again, now that we know where we were going.

We had stayed at the Wilderness Lodge our last trip so we knew what to expect. The kids however did not remember it and were impressed with the lobby. We had to wait to check it, but it wasn't too long of a wait. They never asked to see the annual passes. We didn't get the bunk beds we had requested, but got a room on the first floor, on the courtyard side of the building, near the end closest to the boat docks. We liked the location. We checked out the room, grabbed our sweatshirts and headed out to the Magic Kingdom (after having to chase down the kids who disappeared, checking out the pool which was just a short walk out the patio door). It was going to be close as to whether we will make it to our PS in time. After a bit of a wait, which of course seems longer when you are concerned about making an appointment on time, the boat arrived and we were off to the Magic Kingdom. When we arrived, people were lined up to see the first showing of the Main Street Electrical Parade. The high school band that performs before the parade was just starting. We went up the right side of the street, behind the spectators. After we got to the end of the Main Street, we waited for the end of the band and then were able to cross the street and make our way to the Crystal Palace. I checked us in and we had a short wait to be seated. We found the food here to be very good and enjoyed the dinner. We got two autograph books from the server as we had had no time to purchase them. In my hurry, I forgot my camera, so the kids got Pooh, Tigger and Eeyore's autographs, but no photos. Too bad, because Tigger is my daughter's favorite character. We were still in the restaurant when the 8pm fireworks went off. I think it was about 8:30 when we were done and out, so we just went to find a spot to watch the parade. We found a spot by the curb by the tip board there, so just stopped and waited for the 9 pm parade. Everyone enjoyed the parade. I think the snails and turtles that spin around were the kids favorite. After the parade we decided to head back to the resort so that we wouldn't be up too late. Unfortunately, we didn't make the first boat and ended up waiting around 20 minutes. We could have went on a ride or two first and probably got back to the resort about the same time. Oh well, you never know. When we got back, the kids wanted to swim. It was a little cool, but we let them. We were in bed by 11:45pm (but that is like 9:45pm Denver time). First day - a little rushed at times, but overall successful.

Karen

[sneezy]

Day 2 - Jan. 14, 2001 (Sunday) EPCOT
Since this was Martin Luther King Weekend, I figured we should avoid the Magic Kingdom on the weekend. It was early entry day for Disney Studios. So we headed for EPCOT. I didn't sleep well (a problem I usually have the first night in a hotel), so I got up before the rest of the family, showered and went to the lobby to purchase our E ride tickets and make our Fantasmic dinner package reservations. Michael was up by then, so he came with me to the lobby. We just had cereal in the room for breakfast. We caught the bus to EPCOT. It was about 10:30am before we got there. We went and got Fast Passes for Test Track which were for 1:20-2:20pm. We then went to the Wonder of Life pavilion. I don't think we saw this on our last trip. We rode Body Wars (no wait). While fun, it is not one of my favorites - too jerky. We then saw Cranium Command and checked out a few displays. I missed where Making of Me was, so we didn't see this. It was then about 11:30 am and I had noon PS at the Garden Grill, so we headed across to The Land. We got a booth on the lower level (they were not busy). I found the food good, but not great here. Liked the flank steak. We saw Pluto, Mickey, Chip and Dale. Chip and Dale were playing which was fun, but played so much that Dale skipped our table. Since he was not close to coming back when we were done, our waiter took the kids and I over to where Dale was, waited until he was done with the table he was on and explained the situation to Dale. The kids got his autograph and I took their picture together. The line at the Land ride was 25 minutes and it was almost time for our Fast Passes, so we headed back to Test Track. We did have a bit of a wait and it sounded like they stopped the ride a couple of times for a couple of minutes while we were waiting. Everyone enjoyed Test Track. I have fairly short hair with bangs and all of the coasters would blow my bangs back. The kids would always break out laughing at my hair after I got off the fast rides. My hair did not do well in the Florida humidity (and it wasn't even that humid). After Test Track we saw Ellen's Universe of Energy. Everyone really enjoyed this one too. I know I had never seen this version and I don't think I had seen the old version either.

We then headed over to Ice Station Cool and tried the various flavors of soda. The German one was out of order, but we tried all of the rest - yes Beverly too. I didn't even think it was that bad, although not my favorite. We then did Spaceship Earth. Then back to the Land pavilion. There was still a line at the Land ride, but we decided to wait. I'm not sure what the sign said, but we waited about 30 minutes. This was our first real line. Then I dragged the kids into Food Rocks, but I knew I couldn't get them into the Circle of Life so we skipped it. We then headed for Honey I Shrank the Audience and the next show was soon so we watched it. The kids liked this one. I still didn't feel the mice though. We stopped and watched the fountains there and the kids played with the leap frog fountains. We tried to warn them not to get wet as it was approaching dinner time and we were hoping to eat outside at the Rose and Crown. Of course, they got wet, but just their shirts. We had their sweatshirts, so we figured they could take off their shirts and just use the sweatshirts if they got cool.

We then headed toward the World showcase. The Tapestry of Nations was just about to start. We got down by the Rose and Crown and stood back from the crowd and watched. With this parade, you do not have to be right on the street to enjoy it. After the parade passed and the crowd lessened enough for us to get across the street we did so. We had 7:20 pm reservations at the Rose and Crown for dinner. Since the weather was nice, we wanted to try and get an outside table. I got in line to check in, I think it was about 7:10 or 7:15pm. I asked for an outside table, on the lower terrace if possible, to watch Illuminations and that we would be willing to wait. The seater of course said it wasn't guaranteed, but she would probably be able to get us something outside, but it may not be the lower terrace. She gave us a pager, my husband went to the adjacent drink stand and got a beer and we found a table in the outdoor seating adjacent to the restaurant. This would be a good spot as well to watch. I think it was about 7:30 pm when we were paged. My son saw an empty table at the end of the lower terrace and said "That's our table." I told them to not get their hopes too high as we may not get the lower terrace. However, my son was correct. We had the table on the left end of the lower terrace, looking at the lagoon. It was a great location. We took our time with dinner. We had the mushrooms and the lamb soup for appetizers - both great. I had the pie sampler and my husband had the prime rib and the kids had the fish and chips. My husband loved his prime rib (as did the kids) and my son loved his fish. I thought the pies were good and I'm glad I had them for the experience, but if we eat here again (and I think we will), I'll try something different. We had two of the millennium desserts to share and were just finishing the desserts when Illuminations started. Watching Illuminations on the patio after eating a delicious meal was one of the high points of the week. A perfect ending to a great first full day.

[sneezy]

Day 3 - Jan. 15, 2001 (Monday) Animal Kingdom "You will get wet. You may get soaked."
When I was planning, I decided on going to Animal Kingdom early in the vacation, because I figured I had at best one day of getting everyone up early and I had better use it early in the vacation. Once at WDW I realized I was never going to arrive at any park at opening time and I didn't even try to get them there. I did get up at 7am as we needed to check out of the Wilderness Lodge and into the Polynesian today and we had 10am PS at Donald's Breakfastsaurus in the Animal Kingdom. We had some cereal in the room to hold us until breakfast. The bell hop came to get our bags quickly after I called so I just gave them the three larger bags and kept the two shoulder bags as we had a car. We drove over to the Polynesian and checked in after a short wait in line. I asked for a room at the TTC end of the resort for the convenience of the TTC plus it would also be away from the construction. We had a garden view room and we were offered rooms in Rapa Nui or Tahiti. Since we had a car and there was a lot right by the Rapa Nui and since people didn't seem too impressed with Tahiti recently, I chose Rapa Nui, second floor room with a balcony, on the side away from the parking lot. The room wasn't ready, so we got our cards and headed out to the Animal Kingdom. I chose to drive to make sure we would get there in time for our breakfast.

We arrived about 9:30-9:45 am and headed over to Dinoland, checking out the sights as we went. We checked in before our 10:00am PS and got our picture taken. It turned out pretty well so we did purchase a copy. The tables seemed crowded in this restaurant and the food was good, but not great. There was pepper in the eggs which the kids did not like. We saw Mickey (Troop leader of the Dino Scouts - my son is a Boy Scout, so he got a kick out of this), Pluto, Donald and Goofy. Our server did not act up as much as I've seen described. So while we had fun, this was not one of our favorite character meals. After breakfast, we headed over to Dinosaur. The wait said 30 min, but a CM said it is really much less, which it was. We began to figure out that the times were inflated today - if the Fast Pass return time isn't too far out, the standby wait will probably be less than posted. We enjoyed Dinosaur - none of us found it too scary. Never did make it back to ride a second time although we wanted to. After Dinosaur, it was close to the time for the next show of Tarzan Rocks! so we headed over there for seats. We sat in back of the end of the runway so that we could see everything. We also started to figure out that the crowds were small enough that you could get seats for the shows even if you arrive just before the show started - there were usually at least some empty seats. But we were early so we had good seats. I think everyone enjoyed the show - I got a lot of "Cools" from my son during the skating and acrobatics. After the show we headed back to the center of the park and saw the wait for It's Tough to be a Bug did not seem too long - we were most of the way in before we started waiting - I think we just had to wait for one show. This is a fun show, although I did lean forward when I suspected we would get "stung" and I avoid the sting. My family was not happy about the sting - my daughter was complaining about how it hurt every time we walked past it in the future. From here we headed over to Kilimanjaro Safaris. The wait was only ten minutes so we just did standby. So far we have not had to do Fast Pass at all today. We got to saying that the ten minute waits were just because it took you that long to just walk the queue in. We had a very little wait for a truck. We saw a lot of animals including the cheetahs (although they weren't too visible) and the lions. I thought our driver did a good job, although I have nothing to compare it to as we did not make it back for a second trip. The whole family enjoyed this ride as well. We then took an ice cream break.

While two meals was fine for myself and my husband, the kids needed food more often. One way I dealt with this is that I brought granola bars and beef jerky (and gorp, but the kids didn't seem to want it) and packed fanny packs for the kids each morning. They could eat their snacks whenever they wanted. However, we still needed to keep an eye on the food as my daughter reacts to low blood sugar by getting depressed. If she is starting to look glum, we needed to look for food. We then headed over to see the Flights of Wonder, one of my husband's requests. The kids really wanted to ride Kali Rapids, but I said we would have to do it at the end of the day. The day was warm enough - probably in the high 70's, but I didn't want to walk around in wet clothes. My husband headed over to Kali Rapids to get Fast Passes to make sure we would get on while I waited for the show. They were still doing the preshow when he returned, so we hooked up and got seats. The kids headed for the front rows, so we were on one side in the second and third rows (we set behind the kids). This is a fun show and interesting. After the show we went over to Kali Rapids. The wait was only ten minutes so we just went standby. We took off our shoes at the last minute and put them in the center to stay dry. We didn't have a full raft. The ride is fun, but too short. My husband got soaked going over the fall. Since there was no line and we were already wet, we decided to ride again. There is a place where you can cut in without going all the way out and back in. (Don't worry, there was no line back to this point - we were not taking cuts.) The second time my husband was not backwards down the falls and thought he might be spared - nope went right over the top and got him. It got to be the joke that if you wanted to get wet, sit next to Daddy. Third time around we had a raft where others got most of the center space so squeezed in three pairs of shoes, but I had to hold mine and the backpack and fanny packs had to stay out. I held my shoes upside down and avoided getting them wet. The packs didn't get too wet. However, after three times all of us were pretty soaked - Dad got it pretty good again. By now it was about 4:30 pm so we headed toward the entrance. Here is where I didn't think far enough ahead - as wet as we were, it would have been better to take the bus and not get the car wet. But we had the car so had no choice.

We drove to the Polynesian and just headed to the Rapa Nui and parked, figuring on calling to find out our room number and just going to our room as we already had keys. Here is the time when Disney fell down on the job. We called and found they had moved our room and needed to print us new keys. We also needed our luggage, so they said they would print the new keys, get the luggage and meet us at our room. Fine. We waited and waited and waited (remember we are soaking wet). Finally the bellman shows up with the keys and no luggage. They couldn't find our luggage. It appears that the Wilderness Lodge never sent it over like they said they would. They said they would get it sent over right away. We get Kayla in the shower to warm up. Still no luggage. We have her put on a sweatshirt we have with us. We get Michael in the shower. Still no luggage. Our PS for Ohanas at 6 pm passes. We have Michael put on his sweatshirt and get into bed to cover up. Finally the luggage arrives. Chris also takes a shower as he is now totally chilled. I had not gotten quite as wet so I just change. I call and get a new PS for 6:50 pm.. Fortunately, Ohana's was not busy so missing our original PS was not a problem. Normally, the missing luggage would not have been a big deal - we would have just gone to dinner and it would have arrived by the time we were done. However, we were soaking wet and were counting on changing. Here again my planning broke down - I never considered that getting wet on the day we switch resorts might be a bad idea. After this mishap we had a good dinner. We were seated right away and had a table where we can see the Magic Kingdom fireworks. We were not right at the windows, but could still see them just fine. They dimmed the lights and piped in the music. After dinner the kids went swimming while we sat and watched them. We were in bed by 10 pm.

[sneezy]

Day 4 - Jan. 16, 2001 (Tuesday) Magic Kingdom "Please depart as this train is going absolutely nowhere."

Today was the day for Magic Kingdom. I again got up before the rest and as we had wet clothes from yesterday as well as dirty clothes, I decided to do laundry. The Polynesian laundry is quite nice - lots of washers and dryers and an area with comfortable chairs and a TV. I started two loads and went back to shower and get ready. I then ran back and put the loads in three dryers (I wanted the jeans to get dry in one shot.) I then went back and got the others moving. By the time they were ready, the clothes were dry. Actually, I went back and folded them and was just heading back when they arrived to help. So they helped carry the clothes back to the room and we headed to Captain Cook's for breakfast. We had the croissant sandwiches with egg and cheese and bacon. They cook them fresh so we had a bit of a wait. After breakfast we were off to the Magic Kingdom. The weather was nice so we all wore shorts today.

It was 11:00 am by the time we arrived at the Magic Kingdom. One of the horse drawn trolleys just pulled up, so we decided to ride it to the castle. Just as we got on board, a red bus full of characters pulled up. The characters did a little show on the balcony there at the entrance. The trolley waited till after the show, so we had front row seats in the trolley to watch. After we arrived at the castle, we decided to do Fantasyland first as we would be doing E-ride that night and it would not be open then. We rode the carrousel, getting on the next ride. We then got Fast pass for Peter Pan as there was a wait and went on It's a Small World. We then rode Snow White (little or no wait). By then our Fast Passes for Peter Pan were good, so we rode with no wait. We then got Fast Passes for Winnie the Pooh and then rode the Tea Cups. While we did get all four of us in the tea cup, it was a tight squeeze. Next time, two cups. I didn't get sick at all, but after getting off it took a couple of moments before the world stopped spinning. Next we rode the TTA to get a look around Tomorrowland. Space Mountain and Buzz both looked like they did not have lines to speak of. However, at this point the kids were getting hungry, so we started to look for somewhere to eat close by. We ended up at the Plaza Pavilion as they had pizza. We got two pizzas for the kids and two large drinks to share. The pizza did not look that great to me, but the kids devoured it. We then headed for Space Mountain. The wait was only 10 minutes (a theme for the day) so we headed in. Most of the 10 minutes is spent walking in. We were almost to the area where they take the Fast pass tickets and board before we found any line. We rode the left side since we were on stand by and did not try to switch sides. All of us loved this ride. Despite my reservations, I was deciding that maybe I do like roller coasters - at least Disney style. From Space Mountain, we headed over to Buzz Lightyear. I did not do well on shooting - I think I had the lowest score at about 11,000. Chris, of course, did much better, but the kids only showed me up by a little. Now our Fast Passes for Winnie the Pooh were valid, so we headed over to see this ride. It's cute, but I think our family is into the coasters more. We then headed over and did Haunted Mansion. This was fun - and again, no wait. It was now after 2:30 and the kids wanted to head to Frontierland. I was worried we might run into the parade so we started over. As we approached Frontierland, I saw that there were still lots of spots available on the curb. I convinced the family to stop and watch the parade, since it would be starting in less than 15 minutes, there were great spots to watch and we were close to the front of the parade. So we watched the parade. I started out sitting on the curb so the people sitting on the benches behind us could see, but two women from the same group were standing just up parade of us and I got tried of seeing their bottoms. Since they didn't seem to see any need to sit for their group, I also stood for the last part of the parade. (My legs were also falling asleep from my daughter sitting on me.) After the parade we headed right to Splash Mountain. The wait was listed as 20 minutes and I figured this one was not inflated and depending on how many other people beat us over from the parade, may be too low. However the Fast Pass was for the time we would have to leave to go to dinner, so we decided to take a chance and do standby. We ended up waiting 30 minutes and the line grew rapidly behind us. I love this ride and the hill still makes me scream. I'm glad we had a chance to ride in the daylight to see the outdoor portion. And none of us got very wet. It was now time to head out as we wanted to go back, change into jeans and get sweatshirts in case it got cool before heading to the Grand Floridian for the Villain character dinner. We hopped on the train and rode it back to the entrance and then caught the monorail back to the TTC from which we walked to our room.

We had 5:15pm PS at 1900 Park Fare which is when they open. We got there about 5:15pm and were seated right away. This was our favorite character meal. It is a excellent buffet, including sliced prime rib. There are two sides to the buffet, but they are not duplicates like at the Crystal Palace - check out both sides. The chef, Vinnie, was out visiting customers and keeping an eye on things. He tried to get our daughter to eat more. One time all she had on her plate were mussels and jello - it just made him shake his head. Another time (I wasn't there as I was getting more food) I guess my husband had been feeding her something (I don't know if he was just giving her a taste of something from his plate or if he was trying to get her to eat more), but Vinnie saw and he sat down, grabbed a spoon and proceeded to try to feed her too. As you can image, she was one embarrassed nine year old. The characters there that night were Captain Hook, Governor Ratcliff, Prince John and the Queen of Hearts. They started out slow, but as there were not many people there yet, they came around a number of times. And they were fun. When we asked my son who Prince John was, he couldn't remember his name. And Prince John played it up, sticking his nose in my son's face with the glower he has. (I didn't feel sorry for Michael - we had just said Prince John's name a couple of minutes before). So Michael was on Prince John's bad side. Governor Ratcliff was playing pranks on the Queen of Hearts, so she was chasing him. While normally she stays in the lobby due to her skirt, they were playing and she was chasing him into the dining room and by our table. Of course anytime the Governor came near after that, the kids had to go tell the Queen. Kayla got on the good side of the Queen. Kayla said that she got on the bad side of Vinnie though and won't go back up to the buffet without her brother running interference. Prince John would hide behind the waiter or Vinnie when the Governor was near. We laughed so much that night. I would definitely recommend this meal, particularly if you can go during a slower time.

We headed back to the Magic Kingdom for E ride night, got our wristbands and headed up Main Street. We saw Tinkerbell fly and stopped to watched the fireworks. We then headed for Tomorrowland. We saw that The Timekeeper was starting in a minute so we went in. We had not seen this before and we liked it. I love Robin Williams. We then headed for Space Mountain. They were running only the right side. After we got off, we headed right back in to ride again (no wait). We then went over and rode Buzz. The Astro Orbitors had a 20 minute wait, so we skipped them. The kids did not want to do Alien Encounter. I was willing to try as I had not found anything else to be too scary, but was willing to pass. We headed over to Frontierland through the hub. There were characters in front of the castle. The only one that the kids did not already have was Minnie, so we stopped and got her autograph and picture (again, no wait). Here we went on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. We ended up riding it three times, although we did have to debark and go through the queue again. We then went over to Splash Mountain. We rode it and then asked if we could ride again without going through the queue. Since there was no line, they let us. After this time we wanted to see the picture, so we got off. We decided to buy the picture. I stayed to pay for it and the kids went with Chris to ride a third time. We met up and headed for BTMR to ride again. There was again no line at all. We rode and if no one was waiting you could ride again. They let us move a car forward and ride. When we came in it was almost 10pm, but they let us all ride one last time. As we pulled in after the third time, they announced that we had to debark as "this train is going absolutely nowhere." It had been a great evening - again one of the highlights of the trip. E ride is definitely worth it if you like to ride the coasters and if it is not too late. 7-10pm is perfect. By the way, it never did cool off much that evening and was even humid. We didn't need the sweatshirts.

[sneezy]

Day 5 - Jan. 17, 2001 (Wednesday) Mini Golf and Swimming

The kids really wanted to go swimming and since we had pool hopper rights due to the fact we were staying at the Polynesian during the pool construction, I thought we would check out Stormalong Bay today. They also wanted to play miniature golf.

We decide to try the Kona Café for breakfast today. I had the Tonga Toast. Very good - sweet without being sickening. We never got to Adventureland yesterday, so we decided to go to Magic Kingdom first and do that. We tried to ride up front in the monorail, but it was full. This is when we first learned an interesting fact about the monorails. On the resort loop, each resort has a train - the colors vary day to day. If you ask to ride up front and if the monorail is the one assigned to that resort, if anyone else is up front, they have to get out and you get to ride for a complete loop. For any of the other monorails, you only get to ride if it is empty and you may have to get out if someone else asks at the assigned resort. We get to Magic Kingdom about 11:30 am (not moving too fast this morning). We ride the Jungle Cruise (no wait). We are seated up front and the guide asks my daughter if she wants to be the assistant skipper. She says no (she's shy), but my son says he would! So Michael gets to steer the boat. Michael knows it is on a track and that he isn't really steering, but he works that wheel just as intently as if he was steering. Our guide was fun and it was special having Michael as the assistant skipper. We then went to the Pirates of the Caribbean. Our boat got stopped a couple of times, but never for very long. We then saw the Tiki birds. It was fun, but Chris said he will not tell his mom what they did to the show as it was one of his grandmother's favorites.

We then headed back to the Polynesian and got our car. We drove over to the Summerland-Winterland Mini Golf course. We decided to do the Winter side. It seemed pretty easy. I think we all got at least one hole in one (which is fun with kids - they don't get frustrated as they might if it is harder). This was the one thing that really got to my husband's back - the bending over to hit the ball. (The club was really too short for him.) After the game, we drove over to the Beach Club. It was about 3:30pm. The guards ask you why you are there. We explained we had a dinner PS and we were from the Polynesian and we were going swimming. They asked when our PS was (6pm) and gave us a parking pass until 9pm. They are really cracking down on people parking in the resort lots and going to the parks. The kids had fun at Stormalong Bay. This time I went in too, but tried to not get my hair too wet so that I wouldn't look too bad for dinner. The water felt good and I also spent a few minutes in the hot spas. It was not crowded and it was nice and warm out. We swam for a couple of hours and then got changed for dinner. We ate at the Cape May Café. This is a seafood buffet with mussels, clams, clam chowder, peel and eat shrimp and other food. The ribs were good too. They also had a number of good desserts as well. After dinner we just headed back to the resort, had showers and relaxed before bed.

[sneezy]

Day 6 - Jan. 18, 2001 (Thursday) Disney MGM Studios "Sweet Emotion"

Today is the day for Disney MGM Studios. When we visited five years ago, we didn't see a lot of the rides or shows as the kids were getting tired and we gave up after just a part of the day. So we were hoping to see more this time. We ate at the Kona Café again. Again no problem getting a table. We got to MGM about 10 am. First we rode the Great Movie Ride. We got the gangster side. I had a bit of problem understanding him, but I liked the ride. Next we headed to Star Tours, but it had a 20 minute wait. So we passed and went to the Muppet Show. It would be close to see it and get to the Indiana Jones show, but we thought we could make it. We ended up on the left side and I had problems seeing some of the 3D affects. After the Muppet show we headed over to Indy and got in just as it was starting. This was a fun show. We were seated on the right side, so after the show we hurried out and over to Star Tours. While we had a wait, it was only about 10 minutes and the line was growing behind us. The Great Movie Ride and the Indy Show were new to us, but we had seen the Muppet show and Star Tours last time. After Star Tours we took an ice cream and funnel cake break. Now we headed over to do Rock 'n' Roller coaster. This is our favorite ride. Since there was no real line, we rode it again. We ended up with "Sweet Emotion" both times. We then did the Tower of Terror. This is fun, particularly the first time - you don't know when the drop is going to come. The drops were not all that far (although Kayla and I rode it a second time later and got a longer drop). I wanted to see the Hunchback show, so we headed back to the other side of the park. There was a juggler who did the pre-show. He was pretty funny. I liked the show, although I think this was the one where it got too loud for me. Next we took the Backlot Tour. I think my son was disappointed when he didn't get wet in Catastrophe Canyon. We were a ways back in the train - I think it might be a bit better if you are at the front of the train as you will be passing what they are talking about closer to when they mention it. We had done this before although I didn't remember the first part with the water tank. The kids then wanted to go back to Rock 'n' Roller coaster. Kayla also wanted to do Tower of Terror, but Michael did not. He said it hurt when he was pressed up against the bar. Chris wasn't wild about doing TT either, so I took Kayla and went to TT and Chris took Michael and went to RnR. The plan was for them to do RnR twice and we would do TT and RnR once and then meet. The second time we rode TT I think we had more drops and a longer drop. When we got over to RnR, Michael and Chris were in the line just in front of us. They were one of the last to get in the preshow before ours and we were at the front of ours. So we didn't have any problems meeting up. We got "Dude look like a lady" this time. It was now time to head over to Mama Melrose for our Fantasmic dinner package. We got there just before 4:30 and were seated right away. I had the salmon and Chris had the rib steak. The kids ordered pizzas. We also had the calamari. Everything was very good. After dinner we just wandered over to the Fantasmic amphitheater, going in the dinner package entrance. It was about 5:45pm, but we figured we didn't have much time to do something else first. We got seats about 14 rows up, clear at the left end of the reserved seating area. While the center sections were pretty full at that time, there were still lots of empty seats. It did fill up, but not until right before 6:30pm. Starting at 6 pm, two comedians did a preshow. Nothing fancy, but it was entertaining. Fantasmic was fun, although I do agree with those who said there was too much of the showing of Disney movies on the water screens. After Fantasmic we decided to take the long way back to the resort - ride the boats to Epcot and take the monorail back to the TTC. We got to the boat docks - didn't make it in the first boat, but were right in the front of the line for the second boat. It didn't arrive for about 15 minutes. We sat outside in the back of the boat. This was our chance to see the Boardwalk at night. It was pretty from the water. We got off at EPCOT. I had forgotten that it let you off at the International Gate so we had to walk to the front to get to the monorail. I think we ran into the Tapestry of Nations in the process (we saw bits of the parade on several nights). When we got to the monorail, it is just pulling in. Michael asked if we can ride up front and it is available. It's dark, so we don't see a lot. We also got a driver who was more interested in talking about the cold weather and how they froze the orange trees. But Chris got a couple of questions in at the end. We tried to watch the Electrical Water Parade, but we were too late. By the time we found the beach, it had just finished. With the construction, it is hard to get from the Great Ceremonial House to the beach and we took a wrong turn. So we never did get to see it. Oh well, we saw it last time and it is something for next time.

[sneezy]

Day 7 - Jan. 19, 2001 (Friday) AK and EPCOT - Around the world.

This day I had left open for us to go back to any park we wanted to finish or repeat. I had scheduled dinner at EPCOT, figuring we would end the day there. We decided to go back to Animal Kingdom - Kayla wanted her face painted and I wanted to see Festival of the Lion King. We would then hop over to EPCOT and see the World showcase. Michael wanted to ride up front in the monorail, so we were going to try to do this as well.

I was up about 8am. After everyone got up and had cereal in the room, we were off. We headed for the monorail. The next monorail was the one assigned to the Grand Floridian, but it was empty. We decided to go for it, hoping no one wanted on at GF. We were in luck and were able to ride in front all the way around, back to the Polynesian. The driver was actually a supervisor who was covering a shift. It was interesting talking with her. She had been working with the monorails for a number of years. Chris asked how long the training is for the drivers (6 days), but she said if anything goes wrong they are supposed to stop and wait for assistance. The trains can do 70 mph, but they have governors on the motors that limit the trains to 40 mph. She pointed out where the rails switch to move the monorail trains on and off the tracks. After we returned to the Poly, we went to wait for a bus to AK. We must have just missed a bus as we had to wait over 15 minutes. It was about 11:15 am before we arrived at AK.

First thing we did was find the face painting booth in Africa and get Kayla's face painted. She got the "bird mask" in blue, pink and purple - very pretty. We then got some frozen lemonades and headed for the Lion King show. It was hotter today than it was on Monday. I could see how AK would get pretty hot as we were feeling it and it was probably only in the low 80's. I don't know why - it seems like there is a lot of vegetation. I think FLK was behind schedule since as we were crossing into Camp Minnie Mickey, a big crowd was heading out - I assume from the previous show. We were there not that much before the scheduled show time, but we had a wait. I think it was 10 or 15 minutes after the scheduled time before they started sitting people. I liked this show - very upbeat and fun. We were in the Elephant section. As someone else said, the stilt dancers sure looked like they were having fun. By this time everyone was ready for lunch, so we grabbed pizzas for the kids from Pizzafari and headed over to the Flame Tree Barbecue to get sandwiches for Chris and I. We settled the kids at a table by the river and then got in line (a slow line). The kids had eaten most of their pizza before we got back. Neither I nor my husband really cared for their barbecue sauce, but the meat was kind of dry without it. OK, but I'll probably try something else next time. After lunch I wanted to do one of the jungle treks and since Asia was closer, we went on that one. We saw the bats and the tigers. The tigers were all relaxing, but some were right up close to the glass. We also enjoyed looking at the birds in the aviary there. On the way out of the Oasis, we stopped and watched two parrots that were fighting over their food. They were funny. Animal Kingdom has so many nooks and crannies, particularly in the Oasis. Each time through we went a little different way.

We then caught the bus to Epcot. It was about 3:30 pm when we got to Epcot. We decided to start at Mexico and go around. We rode the ride at Mexico. Kayla was interested in shopping. I don't know where she gets it from. Neither Chris nor I care to shop. She buys a little marionette. We gave the kids each $40 to spend on souvenirs as they liked, plus they brought money that they had saved. We then went to Norway and rode Maelstrom and saw the movie. The kids did not find anything they wanted to buy here. China was next. Kayla bought a parasol and Michael bought some juggling sticks. We stopped and watched the Chinese acrobats. We then saw Germany and stopped and looked at the train. Again the kids checked out the stores, but I don't think they bought anything. It was starting to get close to time to head to our 6:30 PS at Japan's Teppanyaki Dining room. So we head past Italy, pausing for only a couple of minutes to watch the mime. The food at the Teppanyaki was excellent. Unfortunately, we got a chef without flair - he cooked the food very well, just did not do any of the show that we expected - no spatula twirling or fancy knife work for him. The kids really liked the food too. The kids went shopping again. Michael got some Dragon Ball Z cards. Kayla started a mask here at Japan. Next we went and saw the American Adventure show. When we came out, Tapestry of Nations was just finishing. We headed to Future world. Kayla and Chris wanted to ride Test Track, but Michael did not. So Michael and I headed back to the resort, deciding to try and get out before Illuminations was over. We did keep looking back over our shoulders at some of the fireworks as we walked. Kayla and Chris had about a 30 minute wait, rode TT and then came back to the resort. They got to right up front in the monorail again. Sounds like they had a friendly driver. Chris asked him if Disney was facing a labor shortage. It sounds like they do not have problems getting people. They are paid close to minimum wage - it sounded like people who had been around a long time get up to about $10/hr, but as he said, they aren't driving the monorails. He said that Disney is real strict - all it takes one complaint from an unhappy guest to get fired - and once let go, it is next to impossible to get hired again. (I'm passing this along third hand - I may have misunderstood what Chris told me.)

We still have not made it all the way around the World showcase. Next time we go back, we will have to start on the Canada side and go the other direction.

I was feeling the effect of all the walking, but not bad. Just the tiredness you get went you exercise muscles that you haven't used too much. No one had foot problems, little complaining from the kids, no one was exhausted. We were holding up pretty well. I guess getting enough sleep and not pushing in the mornings was paying off.

[sneezy]

Day 8 - Jan. 20, 2001 (Saturday) Seaworld - It's cold!

I gave everyone the choice of Seaworld or going back to any park. The family chose to go to Seaworld as we had never been. We had breakfast at the Kona Café again and then headed over to Seaworld. We arrived about 11 am. I got a AAA discount on admission. Today was cold and windy. I don't know if it got above 60. Here Kayla gave us a bit of trouble. Chris had told her she couldn't bring her parasol - there was no sun, it would be a pain to carry around, if it did rain, it would probably ruin it. She did not like this. At the entrance she said that she wasn't going in and to go without her. Very moody. After some persuasion and giving her some space, we got her in the gates, but she was still giving us attitude and following behind very slowly. As there was no crowd, we went a bit ahead, but kept her in sight. We visit the Dolphin nursery and then went to see the Shamu show. We enjoyed the show and fortunately by the end of the show, Kayla was in a better mood and the rest of the day went fine. But we were wondering if maybe the vacation was one day too long and the stress was showing. Prior to this incident, we had gotten brief moments of moodiness or attitude from Kayla or attitude from Michael, but they were short lived. They actually held up quite well.

After Shamu, we headed over and did Wild Arctic. This is a simulator ride that exits into the polar bear exhibit. We had a wait here. We then watched the water ski show and I think the temperature was dropping. This was a fun show where they had two teams competing with, of course, half the audience cheering for each team. We had the Green team who pulled it out in the end to win. It was now about 2 pm so we got some lunch. We asked the kids what they wanted, so it was not surprising that we had pizza. They served french fries with the pizza - kind of strange. We then visited the dolphins and waited until feeding time. The kids fed and petted the dolphins. The stingray tank is nearby and you could pet the stingrays. They are soft. Kayla was afraid, but Michael liked it. Next was the Clyde and Seamore show. Clyde and Seamore are sea lions. This is a funny show set on a pirate ship. There is also a sea otter and a walrus in the show. They are too funny.

After the show, the kids wanted to do this bungee jumping. This was one thing I did not like about Seaworld - it seemed like they kept hitting you up for more money. Admission is just as expensive as Disney, but two small cups of fish (maybe three small sardines each) for feeding the dolphins was $5. The bungee jumping was $6 each. Kayla did quite well - her gymnastics showing, but Michael had problems. I don't think they rigged him up right - had him too high so that he couldn't jump too well. (It is a harness between two bungees and you jump on a tramp. You can do flips if you are good enough - Kayla yes, Michael no). After this we visited the penguin exhibit, saw the sea lions and went through the Terrors of the Deep (sharks, moray eels, etc.). It was now almost 6pm and the park was closing. Kayla purchase a mother and baby white seal and we left. The Dolphin stadium was closed for refurbishment. We didn't ride Journey to Atlantis as it is a water ride (like Splash, but you get much wetter) and it was cold. None of us were brave enough to try Kraken, the large roller coaster. We didn't see everything, but we saw everything we really wanted to see. I think my husband summed it up the best - He was glad we did Seaworld, but he likes Disney better. And I agree.

We decided to head to Epcot and get dinner. Since we did not do Marrakesh last Sunday (I had PS for both Marrakesh and Rose & Crown, depending on the weather and what the family wanted to do - we did R&C), we decided to do it this night. We didn't have a PS, but I figured this would not be a problem. It was 7 pm when we got to the restaurant and they sat us right away. Very pretty inside. Chris and I ordered combination dinners and the kids ordered off the kids menu. The kids did not care for their dinners, but I found it quite tasty. We will probably not do it again soon, but I am glad we tried it. The belly dancer show is quite short. We had a table next to the dance floor which was great until a man brought his little son out and tried to get him to dance with the belly dancer. The boy was not interested in the dancer, but was fascinated with the drummer. The boy was cute, but I got annoyed with the dad who stood the entire time right in front of our table, blocking our view. Tapestry of Nations was finishing as we came out so we stopped and watched the end of the parade. We love the puppets with the little puppets. We tried to catch the O Canada movie on our way out. It had already started, but the CM let us go in and see the end. (Actually another family asked and we just tagged along behind.) It was cold so we did not stay for Illuminations, but headed back to our car and the resort. There were plenty of empty spots around the lagoon though.

[sneezy]

Day 9 - Jan. 21, 2001 (Sunday) Time to go home

Our flight didn't leave until after 3pm, so we had time to do one last thing for everyone. Michael chose to try and ride up front in the monorail. Kayla chose to ride Space Mountain. Chris chose eating at the Kona Café and getting Tonga toast. I wanted to try a Dole whip. We also wanted to stop and buy a couple of tee shirts.

We got up, packed and loaded up the car. Today for the first time the Kona Café was busy. I guess a lot of people eat breakfast there on Sunday. I didn't think of it until just now, but the Poly does have the church services. People probably stop and eat before or after church. While Chris put our name in, I went to clear up a minor problem with our bill. (Earlier in the week we had tried to charge our lunch at the Plaza Pavilion, but she was having problems with the computer, so we paid cash. The charge was also on our bill. Since I had the receipt, it was no problem getting it removed.) Chris was told that there would be a 45 minute wait. It turned out to be more like 25 minutes. In the meantime, he went to speak with the monorail attendant (nice guy) to find out the color of the Poly train today and see if we could get our bid in for the front. Both Chris and I had Tonga Toast for breakfast. When we were done, we saw the train before the Poly train come into the station. After it left we headed out and got the front of the next train. We rode in front for the complete loop. This driver was not talkative at all. We then got in back and rode to MK. MK seems busier than last Tuesday or Wednesday. We head over to Space Mountain. Posted as 10 minutes. We practically walk on. Seems slower after riding Rock 'n' Roller coaster. I was also in the front of the second car - I think the back feels faster. I know the back of Big Thunder RR is better than the front. After we ride SM, we head over to Pirates to buy a couple of tee shirts Chris wanted. As we pass the Swiss Family Treehouse, we decide to go through it. We get the shirts. Here I made a mistake. Chris takes extra large shirts, so I get an extra large shirt. It isn't until we are home that we realize I got an extra large youth shirt, not adult. In my defense, there was nothing on any of the tags that said youth or kids or anything. At least he got another shirt that was the right size. We then stop and I get my Dole whip. Today is cold, but a bit warmer than yesterday. I liked the Dole whip, but did not think it was that great. I think I need to try the orange instead of the pineapple. It would also probably help if it was hot out. We now start heading out the park. Chris is starting to get worried about time, but I think we are still doing OK. I duck into Emporium on the way out as I still don't have a shirt. (We bought shirts for the kids earlier in the week.) I get a dark green shirt with Tigger on it. We then head out and ride the monorail to the TTC and walk to our car.

It is now 1 pm, the time I wanted to leave for the airport. We stop and get gas - I don't think the car was really full when we got it or that car gets the worst gas mileage. We then head to Hertz, turn in the car (done before we've unloaded the luggage) and get in the shuttle that is waiting right there and off to the airport. Again we check our baggage at curbside and we are at the gate an hour before departure. No problem. The flight home was uneventful, but seemed long. We had a little mix up at the Denver airport - the level that baggage claim is on does not allow private cars - just rental and hotel vans, taxis, etc. We didn't realize this and Chris had gone to get the car and was going to meet us there. I waited a while since I thought Chris had checked it out, but then realized I needed to go down a level. I got the kids, who were tired and fighting - vacation was over and the good behavior was going out the window, to help me carry the luggage down. When we saw Chris, he parted in a spot and was going to come find us. It was his third or fourth time around - and at Denver the loop is long - it took a couple of times for him to realize the problem - there was no way he was going to get to where he left us. We get the luggage in the trunk and head for home. We decide to stop for dinner on the way at Lone Star. We had to wait over 50 minutes - the longest wait of the vacation. By this time we were all very tired and our waiter noticed. We explained and it turned out he was from Orlando. After dinner, home to three very friendly cats who missed us and bed. I wasn't feeling too good - got a bit of a cold which was then passed around the family the following week. Fortunately, we were home before any of us were really sick. (I actually think I started coming down with the cold earlier in the week as I had bit of sore throat and a cough, but I was able to fight it off. That cough is finally almost gone now, but it has taken a couple of weeks.)

This was a great trip. We liked Fast pass, although we only needed to use it three times. We loved E ride night. I liked having annual passes. Although only one person had to have it for the resort discount, I decided to get them for everyone. This way we could come and go as we pleased, even if it was only for a couple of hours. We were in a park everyday, but only did five full days. We could have gotten by with 5 or 6 day park hoppers and it would have been less expensive, but the AP gave us freedom - no worrying about using a day on the ticket and if it was worth it. Now I would not have gotten the AP if we had not gotten the discount on the resort - even after paying the difference between the AP and 5 day park hoppers for the four of us, we still saved $600.

Since we have annual passes, maybe we can make it back before they expire. Chris hasn't suggested it, but he also hasn't come out and said no to the hints I've given. I'm thinking of the week before Christmas. If the kids school calendar is like this year, they will get out for Christmas break on the 14th. We could fly done that night after school and come back on the 21st - staying while the resorts are still in the value season and leaving before the big crowds arrive. It would give us a chance to see the Christmas decorations. I do realize that the crowds will be larger than we had this trip, but if we manage it right we should still do OK. Fast pass would help. As for weather, it just depends on how lucky we get. So next I need to figure out where we want to stay.

[HiddenMickey]

Thanks for the great report! You guys had a wonderful trip. Thank you for sharing with us. -HiddenMickey