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Trip Planning > Walt Disney World > Trip Reports > 2001 > Brian M. - October 2001
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Brian M. - October 2001 First off, this trip was my wife and my's first time traveling together without kids we have been married 5 1/2 years and as such treated it like a honeymoon we never took. 10/13 4am - get up and go to the airport. Arrive around 5:10 for a 6:40 flight. It takes 1:10 to get through security / ticket counter. They are doing full hand checks on EVERY bag. Which is compounded by the way KCI is setup. Unlike most airports, KCI has one security checkpoint right in front of the gate, so there is no large centralized checkpoint, only a bunch of small (1 or 2 person) stations scattered around the terminals. Flight down was uneventful, we connected through Dallas and got into Orlando around 1pm. About 2:30PM we pulled into ASMu and get our room. The requested room missed on all counts (we requested Calypso, King size and anything other than Country Faire. We got duel full size beds and Country Faire.. oh well Snacks at the food court, $2.00 grapes and cheese for two. Went to Downtown Disney and bought our gifts for our two children early (a 13" Mickey for my 17 year old and a doll set with outfits for the 4 parks for the 4 year old) (small story, we got the Mickey for the teen because when we took her to WDW on vacation in 91 (before we got married) we gate her $30 to spend on something during the trip, she marched right into the first store we saw (the little gift shop in TTC) and picked out a Minnie doll .. this doll is just the matching one, 9 years later). Had dinner at the Cuban restaurant place (Bongos?). Food was OK, though the chicken breast tasted like a plain roasted chicken .. nothing particularly exciting about it for being a quasi ethnic place> Dinner on the balcony overlooking the water at sunset was nice though. We got our picture taken by the roving photo women. After shopping at the various stores some more we went over to the Cirque de Soleit building for the 9pm performance. All I can say about the show is .. it's absolutely amazing. Certainly an exceptional show of skills and abilities. The show itself seemed more like a large collection of individual performances, with some reoccurring archiatype characters loosely tying it all together. Usually there was so much going on at any given time I might not have noticed a story there despite myself. Show ended about 11:45. We caught a bus back to the hotel. At this point we had both been up 20 hours and fell asleep quite easily. 10/14 We get up around 7:30 to go to Epcot at 9. We get there and wander around Future World till 11:30 or so, doing all attractions except Test Track and Imagination (Test Track fastpass is now down for at least 9 months) Spaceship earth's new narration is good, they really only changes a small part of the presentation, primarily it seems to make it a little more related to internet speed communications rather than telephone based stuff. The new Mission Space attraction looks interesting, I'll be heading back there is 2003 for that one. Wonders of Life has not changes a single bit in 9 years, the last time I saw it was when it was under soft opening in 92 (I think). Some of the displays are getting terribly dated and old (TV monitors with burned phosphors, Body Wars film getting lots of film blemishes (why in the heck are they still using a 70 mm film for a ride that moves around so much?) I though some of the displays were funny, at least the references to "cutting edge & experimental" medical techniques like PRK vision correction and such. Amusing thing was the little peddle bikes where it tells you how many calories you burn while riding around DL and some other places are LaserDisc based .. because when I used one it crashed and it's startup screens were as such) Living Seas was the same in every way, which is good, though they seem to be doing it more as a standard aquarium with one hell of a food service and an actual research facility. My only recommendation would be to have an option to bypass the whole entry experience. It shouldn't be needed to do the zig zag past presentations, than queue up to see 5 minutes of water projections, than 6 minute presentation (optional) than queue up for a hydrolator / peoplemover style ride that serves no purpose. Head to World Showcase and hit each country in turn, stopping at American Adventure for lunch (lump in stomach bacon double cheeseburger) .. we won't be eating at this pavilion again .. only did this time because we were both very very hungry and didn't want to walk any further. Did all the presentations except the China 360 one, saw street shows in Morocco, Italy, America & Mexico. I think we circled the place 3 times total. We ate dinner with PS at Morocco Makarakesh at 7pm. Very good food, although I was surprised by the portions, they were fairly small (certainly for a $70 for 2 meal). I asked and they brought me an extra serving of the rice / vegetable. To "make up" for the small serving size they brought us some free baklava for desert. After dinner we caught the Land boat tour and made it back for Illuminations. We had also seen Tapestry of Dreams earlier in the day. Very nice, although if it's supposed to be somewhat representative of all countries (given it's based on the tap o' nations parade) .. I was left wondering why most of the music / visuals were African in origin. After park closing we went out the back door and wandered around the Boardwalk area for a couple of Overall for the day we didn't see any appricable line anywhere. Only things missed were the Innoventions 10/15 My wife had to head back to Kansas City for her schoolwork Monday AM. I did MK early entry, managed to do all the show and attractions in the place, went to epcot that evening, went to DD and pleasure island that night until 2. PI was fun, I spent most of the time in Motion and the Adventurers club, AC has got to be the most unique place in WDW, at least the cast interact directly with the guest .. off color remarks and innuendo are encouraged and it's generally a blast. They don't swear, but you get the impression that the entire night is one long ad lib joke. (kongaloosh & Free Drinks captain (I think) There was only a 10 minutes wait for everything in the park except the Pooh ride, which was 45 minutes Had to head back later in the day for Hall of Presidents, the film had broke for 1 of the 3 projection screens. Lunch was a ham on wry at Aunt Polly's on Tom Sawyer Island. I like the new Tiki bird show, although the new one is much more mean spirited than it's predecessor, the old one was fun just for it's kitsch qualities, rather than any specific thing being excellent. I should have gone on Jungle Cruise again, the person I got either didn't have any good material or was having a bad day .. not very funny at all (very very PC) 10/16 was Animal Kingdom, only took about 5 hours to do the entire park. The Lion King show was good, although unfortunately after seeing Circe de Soleit .. most of the other gymnastic based presentations seemed to be done by rank armatures in comparison. Overall impression is that it's a Disney zoo with some rides thrown in for good measure .. I think this will be one of the better parks if Disney decides to build a DisneySea like attraction as well as the under construction dinoland ride and show area. Right now the animals are neat but not presented any better than back home in KC. No lines to speak of except at "It's tough to be a bug" Went to MK for a few hours and than Epcot till close. Headed over to DisneyQuest from 10 - 12 and than PI till 2. DisneyQuest was where I wish I had spent more time for this trip, I really go for really really old video games and some here I though I would never see. (where in the hell did they find a space war game .. those things were hand wired and bad to maintain. The cyberspace mountain was cool, the virtual jungle cruise was pretty lame though, mighty ducks pinball was fun, everything else sort of blurred by. It was nice to finally play Star Wars with the real arcade grips rather than a mouse. PI PI was pretty dead, adventures club was the most fun of the evening. This is the only week I can remember where I have gone out for drinks more than once in a month. (4 times this trip) 10/17 Disney / MGM Studios. Loved the new tower of terror and Aerosmith attractions, saw the little mermaid show and did the backstage tour / animation tour / etc. The animation gallery area has changed a lot, at least before there were a lot more pieces and the cast members seemed to be knowledgeable about animation and had some resources to find out about programs that they might not have in stock. (of course now the animation cells are distributed to many locations instead of just there, and I am talking about original cells only, I don't go very much for the mass produced litho / sericell lines they do now. I have a _small_ collection of original cells for primarily Japanese Animation shows) The other thing that struck me was that almost all of the themed areas that previously had just background stuff (like the Roger Rabbit / toontown props) has been replaced by merchandising locations. Outside of the shows directly and the few rides / attractions there really isn't much left other than gift shops. (unlike EPCOT where there are still acres of stuff that is not tied to any specific reason for being there, like the fountains and heavy workload landscaping they do (I have more pictures of flowers and such than I do exhibits) Went over to Epcot from 7:30 till 9, I was in the line for Test Track when the fireworks were running, so they let me ride it 4 times in a row without getting off, took 15 minutes to get my hair untangled. After Epcot I crashed, got back to the hotel at 10:15 or so, was going to try and go to PI but couldn't get the energy, slept until 9:30 the next day. 10/18 Catch up day. I went to Typhoon Lagoon till 1pm or so, They do a program just before open called The Big Kahuna Family where the first family in line gets a special medallion and is allowed access to the park for 20 minutes before park opening. The wave pool is OK, big but nothing I haven't seen before. The reef snorkeling area is neat, although the length of the area is fairly short and was done with it within 20 minutes (I've been snorkeling in real coral reefs in the keys before, this was OK .. though swimming with real barracuda somehow adds an edge to it) There is a pretty bad routing thing with the busses for TL, from the all star resorts during the earlier parts of the day, if the bus driver doesn't have anyone going to TL they will skip that park and go right to MGM. I had to get another bus driver to radio for a bus after waiting for 90 minutes. Not good. Went to the resort and slept for an hour or so, than I went over to MK for part of the afternoon. Primarily talking to some of my old coworkers on the train among other things. All I can say is that the moral among the cast seems somewhat low .. considering part time people are getting no hours at all and everyone else is on 32 hours per week shifts. Headed over to Epcot to make the rounds of World Showcase another few times, had dinner at Akerhaus. Nothing really to recommend here, the food was good, just nothing really to make it Norwegian (unless you count the oyster flavoring on some stuff) Headed over to PI after going back to the resort for an hour or so to rest. PI was employee night so the cast members were out in force (quite an increase in the number of flaming males too) This was by far the best night at PI of the week, some of the dancers from La Nouba were there and were on the dance floor at Motion. 8 Traks was doing they're 80s night stuff, it wasn't really that busy but was fun anyway. The DJ did some very interesting mixes of various early 80s songs. I was introduced to a particular drink that someone there came up with and I wouldn't recommend to anyone unless they want to pass out quickly (unless that is the desired effect). Called a Blue Long Island. Blue Sky vodka, some sort of gin and something else with sour mix. about 3 shots in one glass .. available at the 8traks club. They have scaled back the weeknight new years celebration stuff dramatically, at least the effect is the dancers on stage have an argument with a prerecorded voice talking about a curfew at midnight. Any effect is lost when the dancers try and get the crowd to make enough noise to shut the computer down. This might work out if they're is a large group, but with off season weeknight turnout of maybe 150 people in a large outdoor setting it just doesn't work. Head back to the hotel on the last bus at 2:15. Amusing time had on the bus as I got to see what young, drunk, British tourist responding to young, drunk redneck Americans asking what's wrong with the British and they're accents. 10/19 - Last full day Get up around 9 and head to Blizzard Beach. Unlike TL the line here is stretching back to well past the bus loading area. I got there before open and was not admitted till around 10:30. I did get a chance to do the large water slides and tandem slides without to much wait. Spent the late morning and early afternoon till 1 on the lazy river and wave pool. TL defiantly has the better wave pool, I could stand up with no real problem at the deepest point of BB's. Went back to the resort at 1 and slept till 3 or so, headed over to Epcot for a few hours and to buy a small supply of candies from the UK pavilion and Japan pavilion. (Jelly Babies & Pocky). Spent most of the afternoon playing with stuff in Innoventions (especially the demo of the Aibo, the demonstrator didn't have much of an audience so I got to play with the two dogs for quite a while. These things are neat, but not worth $2300US each. The demonstrator was very pleased that the staff had taught the newer one to say "WASSSSUP" after hours. Tried to get over to MK for the fireworks, unfortunately there were a set of wrong guide maps printed listing the closing time of MK as 9pm. I got over there at 9pm and the park had already closed. I went over to DisneyQuest from 10 - 11:30 and PI from 12 - 2. PI was OK, larger crowd than the other nights. I was a little disappointed that Mannequins (sp) was still For some inexplicable reason the beach club bar closed just after midnight instead of 2am like normal. The street show was much more elaborate than previous nights, live band doing cover songs from several genres (they had performed on other nights, just not for the midnight stuff. (the only time the new year countdown was exceptional was in 92 when I saw Right Said Fred on the main stage instead of they're cover band du joir.) Bus ride to the hotel was uneventful, got back at 2:30. 10/20 Slept in until 8:30 when the housekeeping staff for some reason decided to clean my room at an early hour .. went back to sleep till 10 when I decided I would rather take my chances getting a earlier flight than hang around the hotel for 2 hours. My original flight was to leave MCO at 6pm to Dallas and than connect to KC, arriving at around 11. I went standby on the 1:15 and 4:15 flights, the 1:15 was oversold by 17 seats. No good there, the 4:15 I got the very last seat .. plane was taxiing within 5 minutes of sitting down. DFW was uneventful. Only thing that was weird traveling back was that in KC they were hand checking everything at the checkpoint, at Orlando they barely checked anyone. Only real change from normal was the presence of national guardsmen with M-16's walking around on the way down and back. Got back to KC at 8:15. Had an hour to kill before my wife picked me up. Talked to several of the Missouri National Guard unit that was activated to patrol the airport. Here instead of M-16 it they just had they're standard sidearm. In talking to them I found that all were E-2's and very very green. When I asked one why some of the airports had been outfitted with M-16's and other had not, his reply was he wouldn't feel comfortable with something as large as an M-16 around people and that it would be unneeded. I am no weapons expert, but I think I agree with this very person in that observation. (But I guess the point of things are an intimidation factor rather than actual threats .. hijackings or no, when was the last time you heard of a firefight at an airport in the US (not to say it can't happen) For reference, an E-2 rank / pay grade is generally what an enlistee will get shortly after boot camp unless they severely screw up) Back to Disney related matters, this is the first trip I've done where I either wasn't working for Disney or on someone else's purse (parents). The parks & resorts are all I'd expect them to be except for MGM, which seems to be a large open air gift shop with some attractions mixed in for luck. Epcot is dated but still the heart of what I go to Disney for, they'd have to mess up pretty bad to spoil it. (though the imagination pavilion seemed more like a large Kodak shop than anything else .. 3 medium scale entertainment kiosks does not an attraction make). Of all the pavilions I think The Land pavilion is still up to sheen that all of the attractions had when they opened. 1. It's still a research facility. 2. The attractions are still fun and educational. (I can't speak for the lion king show, didn't see it) Only recommendations for EPCOT would be to maybe do a mini rehab of wonders of life to bring it's medical presentations a little more put to date (what is with those ones with just a telephone receiver on an endless loop? - I didn't see anyone use those for the entire time I was in there) and add another world showcase pavilion, the last one I remember opened in 87, I know there should be space allocated for 2 more. (one is where the Morocco annex is (basically a themed gift shop) and the other is elsewhere .. I can't remember which. As far as country to put in .. perhaps Russia, Thailand or India. My next trip down will likely be in late 2003, after Space has opened. It will likely be a simple 3 days down or so, but this time with all 4 of us (given the teenager is willing) and will do the standard MK / EPCOT / AK route rather than the free form style I did. As far as cost for this trip. The breakdown is as follows airfare from KC to MCO = $139.00 / $278 on American through Expedia. (we had to rebook once) ASMu and ASMO 7 nights @ $49 = $347 + tax 1 day 1 park tickets * 2 @ $50 = $100 for Sunday All in all approx $1676 for all concerned. Not exactly cheap, I certainly won't be able to afford this anytime soon, but I don't go to Disney very often. To reduce cost if I had wanted .. we could have skipped Circe de solet (but would not as that was the primary reason my wife went) we could have stayed off site and saved $ (for me the fact that we did not need a rental car and onsite transport via bus are a fair trade for the expense of staying onsite) the nebulas $500 could have been allocated to doing the PB&J method, however given this was 2 adults and we were there for a special reason, this would not have worked out, and for the meals I ate by myself, a given meal at Disney cost at least $10 per person to include drink. For $8 more generally you get something better .. I was willing to take this hit. We could have skipped more on gifts / small snacks, but going back to a 4 year old empty handed would not be my style on this one. Park Hopper Tickets for me .. I could have just gotten the standard park hopper plus and saved a couple of bucks, but considering I hit both water parks, PI 4 times and Disney Quest twice that would not have worked out very well. For the entire trip I intentionally shut out all television, newspapers, news, email and web services.
At work I am involved intimately with information infrastructure and as such keep up to the second on
almost all forms of communications .. for me getting away from the barrage of information was a crucial
part of the vacation. (this was a good thing .. my company announced layoffs while I was away and this
whole anthrax scare / infections in progress would not be good vacation material in any form. I will try and repost this is a more concise format /
separated by date later - right now this should be OK. this is an unedited notes from my palm .. make of it what you like 
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