Jenny (peacepast) - September 2001

Airport Security:

Leaving Nashville 9/24, returning 9/29, Darrin (35) and Jenny the Disneyphile (36)

We departed Nashville Airport at 9:10 a.m. on Southwest, so we got there 2 hours early. There is no longer a curb side check in. We entered the terminal only to find the longest line I have EVER seen in Nashville. there were well over 100 people in line ahead of us, but the desk was fully staffed and it went rather quickly, about 20 minutes.

The airport was like a ghost town. Very quiet with few people past Xray. We settled in with paperbacks until time to board. The flight was maybe 1/2 full. Maybe. The highlight of the flight was the new animal cookies they handed out which I found to be quite tasty.

The Orlando airport was quite an experience. We emptied the plane and walked into an almost vacant concourse. It was so quiet and eerie. The Monorail that takes you to baggage claim had maybe 20 people on it. Maybe.

At baggage claim the southwest agent roped off the exit from the area and you HAD to show your claim tickets and match them to your bags. They were very strict about this and allowed no exceptions.

Our Towncar driver met us at the foot of the escalator, but then he left us after checking to see that we could manage the baggage solo for the long hike to pick up the car.

The return trip home was similar. I was metal wanded and frisked at the X-ray by a cordial attendant. I cannot begin to explain how empty the concourse was. Most of the shops had closed. There were all of 6 people in the food court. Only 2 other people rode the monorail--not in our car, the WHOLE train.

In Nashville they were not checking to see if tickets matched bags. Our flight was only 1/4-1/3 full.

Park Security:

Security was an obvious, although not intrusive presence in the parks.

All bags, back packs, purses, fanny packs, etc., were searched prior to admission to a park. The security is pretty efficient, and most people got the hang of how to speed it along. Yes, they are searching every compartment of what you are carrying, so travel light and have all of the compartments open BEFORE you get to the table. I would say most searches were 15 seconds. It also helps if you volunteer a commentary as to what is in each pouch as they go along. Mine went something like this: "Credit cards and passes; camera, film and pen; pressed pennies and change; film."

It took us no longer than 10 minutes every to get into any of the parks.

Monday and Tuesday were pretty warm, high 80's and sunny. The usual humidity. the remaining days were overcast and highs in the low 80's. It misted a bit in the afternoons, but nothing I would call "rain." Saturday it misted and drizzled all day, but nothing significant enough for either of us to wish for a poncho or even a hat. Nightly lows were in the low 70's.

All Star Music:

We paid $49/night via the CVL code on Mousesavers.com

Overall we were quite pleased with the resort, especially for the price! It is very colorful, well themed, clean and we found the landscaping to be the nicest of the three All Stars. There are several nice courtyard type areas with a playground, fountain, benches or a picnic area. The resort has two large pools, and a small kiddy pool. The pools were very clean, but are only 5' at the deepest part. In the middle of the largest pool are Donald Duck and the Cabarellos on an island. They shoot water at random.

Our room was very bright, clean and well maintained. We stayed in Building #8 of Broadway. It was an almost 10 minute walk to the main building.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly:

Check in was swift and efficient. There were about 6 people ahead of us, yet we were checked in within 10-15 minutes.

Bus waits were usually no more than 10-15 minutes. I think one time we waited 20 on Saturday for the MK. The food court had a nice, although not astonishing variety. One of the sections was closed except for supper. The self serve area in the food court was very well attended and clean.

On the downside was the noise, and it was rather odd. In other stays at the All Stars, I have never experienced noise issues. At Movies, if you listed VERY carefully, you could tell if the people in the adjoining room were talking, but you could not make out what they were saying. The noise we experienced was NOT from the other rooms, but the walkway that encircles the building (we were on the second floor).

On Tuesday and Wednesday mornings the Housekeeping Commandos began dragging their loud carts by 7:30 a.m. I had planned on a Mickey wake up called, but these served the same purpose. The other mornings, we didn't hear them until 8:30 or later.

The major noise offense was foot traffic on the walk way. Four doors down from us, a large family had confused the walkways with a play area. For about 2 hours in the evenings the kids thumped their way along the path, up and back, up and a back. They played tag, chase and even football. BUT by 9:00 p.m., all noise ceased except for the pizza delivery guys in golf carts that made more noise than I thought a golf cart could.

Don't get me wrong, the noise was a nuisance, but not something that ruined our trip or called for intervention! It was just noise that we were not accustomed to.

It was a healthy hike to the food court building. Next time I will definitely request a closer room.

Finally, The Ugly. We are taken aback at the number of folks in nonsmoking rooms who stood outside their doors and smoked. Upon any trip to the food court, you would encounter from 6-12 such smokers. Two were on our walkway. the smoke never drifted into the room, but I would have much preferred to be free of the offensive smell entirely.

IN SUMMARY: Yes, we would stay there again, especially at $49.00/night! Overall were we both satisfied and pleased.

New Parades:

We were eagerly anticipating the new parades, so it was a pleasant surprise that we were going to be at WDW during the soft openings. The first one we saw was the MK parade from atop the railroad station. Excellent seat. Very mediocre parade.

The floats are most impressive and the costuming is lavish, but overall we found the parade very disappointing. When we have seen other parades, the audio is timed such that you hear the presentation for every float. Not so in our case. You on;y got to hear the full spill for ONE float. Ours was Pinocchio. In his globe he was supposed to transform from puppet to Real Boy. Well, dang if he didn't look Just The Same. The movements of said puppet man we repetitive and the whole thing lasted much too long. The floats ended up jamming up bit and everything was sort of crunched in front of our seats. The music was unimpressive as well, and overall we were very disappointed.

The next parade was Epcot's "new" Tapestry of Dreams. It borrows heavily from ToN, but overall, it just doesn't work. Instead of the Sage of Time, the thing opens with the Dream Catcher or something like that. Hubby (honestly) thought it was Rafiki. Some of the color schemes have been changed on the puppets, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The only "real change" to the puppets is most of them now sport bells. Oooh ahhh, ho hum, took a whole lot of Imagineering to come up with that one.

The biggest flop of the parade is children's voices screeching and scratching over top of the music. It is a TOTAL detraction from the parade. BTW, I should mention that I ADORED ToN, but they sure have ruined it now.

After two disappointments we decided to see what the AK parade had to offer. It WAS better than the previous two we saw, but is still nothing remarkable. The music is VERY loud. Very. A serious of small float/cart/car things holds different family groups. Music blasts and you sit and watch them go by. The floats are very colorful and reminded me quite a bit of Mickey's Toontown Fair (which I pondered the "fit" with the AK?). We were near the end o the parade route and with one exception, the guests riding in the floats had uncomfortable smiles, stiff waves and looked like they'd had about as much Parade Fun as they could handle. WITH ONE EXCEPTION! The last car held some great Disney Magic! A family of four with Mom and dad mid-40's and Dad was having the time of his life! By now he had learned all of the words to his floats song and he was clapping, and I do mean clapping!, singing, dancing in his seat as best he could and just having a BLAST! It was worth watching the whole parade just to see how much fun this man was having!

After all but giving up on the parades, we went to MGM and rediscovered Pixie Dust. There is terrific preshow to the parade. A "director" walks about and he was terrific. It was not overly amplified, he just uses a megaphone, and it gave it a more intimate feel.

The cars are terrific, there are TONS of characters, many of whom I had never seen before and the music was great. Darth Vader strolls the street VERY close to the audience and he scared the beejebbers out of a little kid sitting next to me. The villains car was especially good.

Overall, I would highly recommend the MGM parade, with a thumbs up also for AK, but I would not arrange my day around the latter. The other two, well catch them if you can, but don't expect much. I would like to go back and see the parades now that the soft opening is over. Perhaps I missed some magic?