Trip Report - Disney World, Nov. 8 - 18 (Warning - VERY LONG!)
Dan
Saturday, November 8 2003: Arrived in Orlando OK. The plane ride
down was really nothing to write about. It was United Airlines. You
get a cold meat and a slice of processed cheese sandwich on a dry
white bun (and when I say "dry", I mean like sawdust!), and two
chocolate and vanilla cookies and a can of pop. I expected more from
United but since all those airlines joined the Star Alliance group,
the service and food has just gone downhill like you wouldn't believe.
It was an Air Canada flight, but United out of Vancouver to Denver,
then Denver to Orlando. We landed a bit sooner than expected by about
10 minutes, but then when it came time to disembark the plane, the
walkway broke down as we were all standing in the aisles waiting to
get out, so they had everyone sit down, reattach their seatbelts and
the plane taxied to the next available gate. So, we were pretty much
on time.
When I arrived at Port Orleans Riverside, the front check-in lady
forgot to give me my room card, but I didn't notice this until I got
half way out the check-in area, and had to go back to the counter.
She apologized and gave me my room card. I wasn't too upset with
this, since I kept saying to myself, "it's all part of the
experience", and went on with a smile. When I schlepped my luggage
all the way to the room, WAY around the other side of the main hotel
area, facing the parking lot, I stuck my room card in the key, and it
didn't unlock the door! I thought oh great, now I have to go back to
the check-in counter and see what's happening. So, I schlepped my
luggage all the way back to the reception area, meanwhile I was
sweating buckets because I was still in long jeans and wanted to get
out of them and into a pair of shorts really badly! So when I arrived
at the counter, I had to interrupt a lady who was checking in to - not
really complain - but rather apologize for being intrusive and wanting
service immediately, so I turned to her and I said, "I hope you don't
mind, but I was just here and found out my room key doesn't work" and
she was very accepting of my situation and allowed me to interact with
the checkin service person. They originally gave me room 9095 in Oak
Manor (if anyone knows where that is, it's way out of the way and you
need to walk forever to get to the front entrance of the hotel). So
the lady issued me a new room key, apologized profusely for sending
me on a hike, and said in order to make up for it she'd get me another
room, and this time it would be one that I liked. So I got put into a
closer room, facing the water, at no extra charge! I was put into
room 8774 in Magnolia Terrace
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=283 and
(http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=284).
It was a fantastic room! I was directly facing the Sassagoula River
and in image 284 above, if you're looking at the view of the hotel
exterior, it was the room on the top right hand corner. More views:
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=42
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=43
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=44
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=45
Man, this was probably one of the best suites in the entire complex!
Two double beds, 2 sinks, but small bathroom. Great views of the
river and VERY peaceful and quiet. Not near the pool and not near any
noisy kids. The room was very comfortable and I enjoyed every minute
of it. Problem was, because I'm from a part of the world where it
gets cold in the winter and hot in the summer so of course when it
gets hot I like to put the air conditioning so that the room hovers
around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. I noticed that each time I came back to
my room after the day in the park, I found that the cleaning staff had
upped it to about 75 F. I guess that's because they don't like
working in cold rooms because when it's 70 F in central Florida,
native Floridians tend to think that's cold. Anyway it was really no
skin off my back - all part of the experience.
So here I was, in my comfy room, just about to unpack, but wanted to
relax for awhile. The plane ride down, plus the time zone change got
the better of me and I ended up resting for about half an hour before
unpacking. So, when I started unpacking, I discovered that I had
forgotten to pack my UAD and my hair brush! D'OH... welll, if you're
as vain as I am, you need these things. So, I hopped on over to
Fulton's Gerneral Store to get some and they had everything I needed
in travel size but for what might cost you 70 cents at Wal-Mart ended
up costing $2.95 at Fulton's General Store. I figured that was okay,
since I NEEDED it every day but it was a bit high price to pay for a
travel-sized necessity.
Around 10:30 PM, I caught the riverboat that goes down the Sassagoula
River to Downtown Disney. The riverboat cruise is nice. It takes
about 20-25 minutes to get where you're going, in either direction.
Since Port Orleans French Quarter is being renovated, the only stop is
P.O. Riverside. As the boat was going to DTD, the captain, Allan, I
believe his name was, was telling us all about the Disney complex, and
the Treehouse Villas that are being renovated, and all about the Port
Orleans Resorts, and stuff about Downtown Disney, some hotel history,
and even about what happens if they spot an alligator on the shore
while they're sailing. In that case what they do is call the animal
control people and they come out and capture it and let it go
somewhere else. It's all very humane. This trip is especially nice
at night when it's dark. :)
When I arrived at DTD, I stopped off at the Rainforest Cafe for
dinner. Though it was quite late by the time I sat down (11:00 PM) I
still ordered and ate with virtually no problems. By that time, I was
starving and wanted SOMETHING to eat after that yucky disgusting plane
food. Before I left for DTD, I made a reservation at Alfredo's for
dinner the next night. On any house phone, you can pick it up and
dial "55" and get the dining reservations line (same line as if you
had dialled 407-WDW-DINE). I was figuring that I'd eat and be out of
there by the time Illuminations started at 9:00, but it was a no-go.
The only reservation they had was for 8:45 and I figured if they sat
me beside a window, I could watch from the window. But you know what?
Alfredo's doesn't have any windows on that side of the building! So I
sat in a corner of the restaurant all by myself, which although was
very nice, was kind of out of the way. Oh, and I happened to mention
that it was my birthday (on the 9th), so when I got there, I ordered
the 3 pasta dinner (EXCELLENT!) and got this as a surprise dessert:
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=144 -
YUMMY! 4 waiters and 1 waitress all sang happy birthday to me in
Itialian. They all "sang" it horribly, and loudly, but it was all
great and we all had a big laugh!
Anyway, I'm getting a little ahead of myself here. I wanted to
mention that I had breakfast the morning of the 9th at Kona Cafe in
the Polynesian Resort Hotel with some internet friends of mine
(Barbara B and her husband Rob - you may know Barbara B from the
a.b.m.d. newsgroup -
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=41).
There, we had the stuffed banana toast with cinnamon and syrup, and
boy, was that ever delicious! Barb and Rob are two of the greats. I
really enjoyed meeting them, and this is what they got me for my
birthday!
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=40
It was my original intent to get a reservation at California Grill
atop the Contemporary for the fireworks, but there were no seats
available. I understand the view from there is terrific! Maybe next
time.
I had lots of fun today (the 9th) however, the day started out quite
badly. Here it was my intent to go to the MK, get my Park Hopper
pass, get back on the Monorail and meet Barb and Rob at Kona Cafe by
10:30. So I got to the Magic Kingdom early and forgot my voucher for
my 7-day Park Hopper Pass! More about that below... So I figured
instead of heading right back immediately to get it, I'd meet up with
Barb and Rob at Kona anyway and have breakfast, then go back to the
hotel room to get my voucher. Anyway, we were having fun, comparing
our MD recorders and cameras and such, then when we were done with
breakfast, we took a picture of each other and headed off in our own
ways. I got back to the Magic Kingdom and said to myself, "boy, this
sun is hot on my head!) Then I realized that I'd forgotten my hat
back at the Kona Cafe! So I headed back there on the Resort Monorail
and walked up to the lady at the front of the restaurant and explained
my situation. So then as they were getting ready for lunch, luckily
there had been almost no one there and I was able to go back to where
I was sitting and lo and behold, there was my hat, sitting on the
seat! Whew! So off I went, back to the TTC to get a bus back to my
hotel to pick up my voucher.
Again, although it was an inconvenience, and the bus service was
great, it was to be another hour before I was back there, and then
when I got back to the hotel, they didn't have my luggage moved from
the luggage service counter to my new room, so I figured I'd just wait
for it so I could get the right voucher. Another 30 minutes passed,
and I kept getting calls from the luggage counter telling me it would
only be another few minutes before my luggage arrived and that they
were sorry it wasn't there when I arrived. I kept telling them it was
not a problem. When it arrived it was nearly 2:00 PM, so I grabbed my
voucher and headed back to the Magic Kingdom. By the time I got back
there it was about 3:00 PM and I headed right over to Pirates of the
Caribbean but I got sidetracked because of a parade, so I had to wait
about 10 minutes. After the parade, I went to the Haunted Mansion
then roamed around the park taking lots of pictures. After a few
hours at the MK, I headed over to Epcot and toward Alfredo's at Italy,
to be there for 8:45. By the way, have the 3-pasta dinner, you won't
regret it! Better yet, have just the Fettucine Alfredo. You'll think
you died and went to Heaven (it was SOOOO good!). Dinner for 1 ended
up being $32.00. After dinner, I headed back to the hotel. By this
time it was after Illuminations, around 9:30, and it was raining and
cool (down to abotu 65 F) but that didn't bother me in the least. The
only thing I was concerned about was getting back and crashing for the
night.
Monday November 10: Slept in a bit today. Around 8:30 I went for
breakfast at Boatwright's. Maria was my server, and she was SO nice!
I had bacon, eggs, and pancakes. Very nice breakfast. Spent the day
at Epcot, and went on Mission: Space - TWICE! How cool a ride was
that??? :) I loved every minute of it. Although it takes awhile to
get used to it the first time, I spoke to a lady who said it's always
better the second time around, because then you know what to expect.
I tended to agree with her, and went on a second time, and had a
blast. This thing where you read about people getting sick because
they went on Mission: Space is probably true. You really don't know
you're spinning at a high speed, and you really don't know where you
are. As the kid in the commercial says, "Dad, are we still on the
ground?" - you just don't know! :) Spent the day doing World
Showcase and dodging rain showers. Good thing I had my fold-up
umbrella, because I needed it, a number of times! Saw "Honey..." and
"Imagination..." and had a big ice cream cone in World Showcase. Boy,
they make good ice cream!
Went back to the MK to see if I could get some pictures of the new
fireworks show "Wishes" at 7:00 PM. When I got there, I could NOT
find my Park Hopper Pass! I knew it was in my bag somewhere, but by
this time it was like, 5 minutes before the fireworks started, and the
security guard at the front of the park saw the trouble I was having
in trying to find it and said, "Okay, the fireworks are starting in a
couple minutes, just go on ahead and have fun!" Wow! What service!
He believed me enough to feel just that lilttle bit of sympathy for me
and let me in without having to use my ticket! Now that is CLASS! I
got in the park, went straight up to the train station platform and
parked myself in front of some of the seats. I tried to get some
pictures but that ngiht there was absolutely no wind, so basically,
all the smoke from the fireworks just hung in the air and you couldn't
see anything except little coloured dots here and there, and a few
booms once in awhile. So anyway, I ended up getting some crappy out
of focus shots of the fireworks but I kept them around anyway just so
I could say I remembered how horrible the show was, but the ambience
was GREAT!
During my stay, I got to ride in the front car of the monorail -
twice! In one day! :) Here's me in the driver's seat:
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=253.
What an experience that was! I'd only ever been in the front cab once
on a trip many many years ago, so this was an extra special occasion -
and I have my official monorail co-pilot's license to prove it! :)
Tuesday November 11: Took the bus to DTD, then another to Wilderness
Lodge. Had breakfast at Whispering Canyon Cafe ("WHERE'S THE
KETCHUP????"). I wasn't impressed with the hash browns and I asked
for whole wheat toast and got white but the omelette was good. It was
made with Tillamook cheese, and I've been to the Tillamook Cheese
Factory in Tillamook, Washington! My waitress took great pride in
telling her co-workers that I had actually been to the Tillamook
Cheese Factory. It was really nothing spectacular, but interesting,
to say the least. The hot tea was not hot (Americans just don't know
how to make HOT tea!). I had seen the Wilderness Lodge on the TV
travel show "Great Hotels" and wanted to see if I could get myself
into the presidential suite, and the guest relations counter person
was absolutely willing to let me go in and take some pictures but the
room was being cleaned, and she didn't want me to get any pictures of
the suite while it was in disarray. Note, I tried this too at the
Grand Floridian and they absolutely refused to let me into the Walt
Disney Suite, the Roy Disney Suite or the honeymoon suites. They said
it was their policy not to allow anyone in the rooms who isn't staying
in them. Well, it was worth a shot. I had fun trying. Got some fine
pictures of both hotels that you can see in the gallery. Spent the
rest of the day at the MK, then had dinner at Tony's Town Square
Restaurant while the fireworks were going. Here's what I had for
dinner:
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=354 -
also very YUMMY! Pork rib with mushroom something on a bed of spinach
and for dessert, had the almond torte with caramel and raspberry
topping. Delicious!
Wednesday November 12: Started off with breakfast at 10:40 a.m.
(okay, I've been going almost non-stop for 4 days now - give me a
break!) at Boatwrights Dining Hall. I had the Blue Print Omelette
with no peppers, brown toast, orange juice and tea. The tea here is
not half bad. They serve it to you in an actual tea pot and the water
is hot, for a change. My server was Gail. Spent the day at
Disney-MGM (I'm coming to that but wanted to point something out
before I do). I went to Portobello Yacht Club at DTD for dinner
around 10:30 PM. I had the Prosciutto Salmon and Seasoned Vegetables
in balsamic vinaigrette, ordered medium rare. I asked the waiter to
ensure that the salmon was thoroughly cooked and I wanted no pink
inside it. He assured me that was the way it was done. Well, when my
dinner arrived, the prosciutto meat was cooked okay and wrapped around
RAW salmon! Where I come from in the south lower mainland of BC, when
you cook salmon, it's not pink in the middle! The vegetables were
good, and I ended up scraping the meat off the salmon and eating only
that and left about 1/3 of the entire two pieces of salmon on the
plate! If you go to Portobello's, do NOT order the salmon unless you
like raw fish! Be sure you order it WELL DONE. The waiter or
waitress may complain, but you tell them exactly what you want. The
dessert menu was not much more than overpriced cake and ice cream, so
I didn't have any. This meal was really not worth it and I was
surprised at the condition of the meal, so the waiter didn't get a
very big tip at all. I didn't want to leave any tip, but then I
figured that wouldn't be fair. He did wait on me, but he didn't
really listen to me.
As I said, I spent the day at Disney-MGM today. I saw the set for the
new Haunted Mansion movie that they used in the end Ball sequence.
They took it down piece by piece and put it back up at the Studio.
Very interesting indeed! Also saw Who Wants to be a Millionaire Play
It! It was hilarious! You know how they close-up on some audience
members during the show for levity? Well, they focused in on this one
couple who didn't seem to notice they were on camera and they were
both kind of staring into space, so the camera stayed on them for a
few seconds, then back to the host, and he had a look of disbelief,
with gaping jaws and widened eyes. The audience just cracked up like
you wouldn't believe! I have a recording of this that I'll post on
a.b.m.d. You have to hear it to understand how funny it was. I
don't think I laughed so hard in a long, long time.
At 4:30 I made my way back over to the Grand Floridian Spa for my
massage! Boy, was this massage great. I ordered the $150 spa
treatment that included a mineral bath and the relaxing body massage.
I was expecting maybe I could get a full body massage and not have to
have any blankets covering me, but my masseur insisted on having me
wear the blanket. I guess they don't give you a "total" body massage
even though that's what it's called. This was my birthday treat to
myself. :) I'd do it again in a flash. You get these things, plus
you get to use the workout room, the wet sauna and the dry sauna, and
the whirlpool all day until you're saturated. I was there until 9:00
PM, then took the bus to Downtown Disney. I had dinner there (forgot
where, I didn't write it down darnit) and then made my way back to the
hotel on the Sassagoula Riverboat.
Thursday November 13: Checked out of Port Orleans today at 9:30 AM
and into Coronado Springs. Upon check-in at Coronado Springs, I made
my reservation with Mears to pick me up at 3:55 AM on the morning of
the 18th, the day of my flight home. You need to do this at least 24
hours in advance, so it's best to get it over and done with when you
check in. Mears has this thing that if you're taking an international
flight out of Orlando they must pick you up 4 hours before your
flight. But then little did I realize I was only going to Denver,
which is not international but domestic! D'OH! In which case, on the
morning of the 18th I would have been able to sleep in for another
hour. But that's a whole other story in itself.
Before I left P.O.R. though, first I had breakfast at Boatwright's. I
had eggs benedict, with milk, orange juice and tea, and the bill came
to $15.47. Then I made a call to Dollar Rent A Car to see if I could
pick up my rental a little bit late and they told me it was absolutely
no problem, so I get over to the Courtyard by Marriott on Hotel Plaza
Blvd. near DTD about an hour after my scheduled pick-up time, and they
had run out of the regular sized cars, so they upgraded me to a
mid-size car - an Intrepid! This is SUCH a comfortable car! Drove it
all around to see what there was to see, as I would be driving it to
Tallahassee on Saturday the 15th. I was thinking about getting
another kind of car for myself, but now that I've driven the Intrepid,
I'm thinking I might just have to think about getting an Intrepid now.
Anyway... back to the story... I spent most of the day at DTD and
then went back to Coronado Springs hotel to have some dinner. I ate
at the Pepper Market. I had penne pasta with grilled chicken. Yummy!
(Everything at WDW is yummy!) I called Barb on her cell to see if
she'd like to get together again before I leave on Tuesday but had to
leave a voice mail and she ended up calling me back shortly before
then so we weren't able to get together again unfortunately. Oh well,
I figured it will give us something to do on our next trip! :)
Pepper Market has an unusual dinner ordering style. You walk up to
your choice of "carts" to order your dinner. Picture it like this:
You're in Mexico, and you're in a public market. You walk up to the
seller and give them your order and you get it. This is exactly the
same, only it's not with merchandise, it's with food. Very unusual in
my mind, but if it works for them, it should work for us too. After
dinner, I walked around the promenade with my tripod taking some night
shots of the hotel lights and relfections off the water.
Coronado Springs is a beautiful hotel! Rather, it's a series of hotel
areas. Mine for instance was called "Casitas", and I got assigned to
room 3354 on the 3rd floor.
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=437
Spent lots of time taking pictures of the grounds, the water and so
on, then got to bed finally around midnight.
Friday November 14: Slept in a bit today and then had breakfast at
Maya Grill. It's a buffet, all you can eat style restaurant. I had
eggs, which were cold and runny, underdone hash browns, and french
toast which was very good! I also like the free-flowing orange juice
here. You pay for 1, and you can have as much juice as you can
possibly drink. Along with all the good breakfast stuff, there is
bacon, sausage, and all kinds of fruit. I usually picked a banana or
an orange or apple to take with me during the day, and put that in my
knapsack in case I wanted something nutritious to knaw on later. That
really works out, so take advantage of that - throw a few fruits in
your knapsack for later. You won't be sorry you did! The total bill
here came to $13.80 plus tip, each time I did it.
For dinner today I went to the 50's Prime Time Cafe. Oh, man, what an
experience that was! It was EXCELLENT! You know, I had, without a
doubt, THE BEST CHICKEN EVER at this restaurant. When you go there,
order the chicken with mashed potatoes and green beans. I highly
recommend that even if you don't like green beans or mashies. There
is some sort of glaze on the chicken that I just wanted the flavour to
last forever. It was SO good! Be sure to eat all of your beans or
mother will be very upset! Oh, and don't forget to take your elbows
off the table! Didn't your mother ever teach you not to put your
elbows on the table? :)
I got to Fantasmic! an hour before the show and got a PERFECT seat
right in the very centre, 4 rows up from the bottom. There might have
been a couple hundred people when I got there but soon afterward, the
WAVES were starting and people were having lots of fun. You know,
it's funny to see 5,000 people do a wave that "washes" over the crowd,
going back and forth and back and forth... it's almost hypnotic. :)
I had a great day at Disney-MGM today. Also got out of the Fantasmic!
area after the show with no problem, and picked up my 8x10 picture
with Mickey at the front of the park ($16). Found my car with no
problem, just be sure to write down where you parked your car so you
can either walk to it from the main gate or take the tram. I saw a
number of people wandering around listlessly trying to figure out
where they parked. Thank goodness I wasn't in that position! Got
back to the hotel by 8:30.
For the first time ever in all the time it's been there, I went on
Twilight Zone Tower of Terror, and absolutely loved it! When you're
actually riding it, the elevator doesn't seem to go as high as it
looks as if you were looking at it from the street below. At that
distance, it looks enormous. Interesting ride to say the least! But
fun! I had a ball!
Saturday, November 15: Spent the day driving to Tallahassee to see my
brother and his wife. Got back to the hotel around 2:00 AM.
Sunday November 16: Dinner at San Angel Inn at Mexico! I had the
Mahi-mahi, and it was delicious! For dessert, I had the chimichanga,
a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a chocolate crepe topped with peanut
butter sauce and dark chocolate.
Mahi-mahi:
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=754
Chimichanga:
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=26&pos=755
Started the day a bit later. At 9:30 I was ready for breakfast and
went to the Maya Grill again. It's good, but a little overpriced for
what I'm able to eat for breakfast in one sitting.
Spent all day at Animal Kingdom, then at 5:00 when it closed, went
over to the Magic Kingdom to ride Spaceship Earth and Mission: Space
(this was the second time). Went on it with some people who had never
been on it before, and you know that as you're going through they keep
warning you that if you don't like the feeling of spinning or you have
a bad back or neck to skip the ride. Well, I kept encouraging them to
go on and eventually two of them stayed with me but the other one
left. I guess she got too scared. Boy, did they enjoy it! We were
all screaming during the best parts. :)
Monday November 17: At the Magic Kingdom, if you're hot and thirsty,
go on over to the Sunshine Tree Terrace in Adventureland, adjacent to
Enchanted Tiki Room Under New Management. Have the Raspberry Lemonade
Slushee. It's VERY good, and very tart, if you like that sort of
thing. Makes you want to pucker! It was VERY good!
Took the car back today around 8:00 PM and dropped the keys in the
night-drop box. The whole rent-a-car thing went without a hitch, and
I only got "lost" twice. I'm not sure how one can possibly get lost
at Disney World when driving but it doesn't really make a big
difference. You go there to have fun... if you get lost, it's all
part of the experience. Grin and go back to where you started and do
it again until you find the right way. That's what I did, and
eventually I got to where I was going. :) I got caught up in
Spectromagic at 6:00 PM so I couldn't have the car back at the
scheduled 5:00 PM time frame.
On my last night in Disney World, I went to Downtown Disney and did
nothing but spend, spend, spend! Bought two dress shirts at $38 each,
a mug, 10 of the collectable die-cast metal ride vehicles they were
clearing out for $2.99 each (some were $6.99, the regular price), and
some other souvenirs for myself and friends.
Overall Review:
I had a GREAT time traveling by myself! 10 days is enough though.
It's very thorough, yet you still cannot see everything in that amount
of time. I missed a whole whack of attractions and events, but I
figured that if I'm going there by myself, I'm going to do it at my
own pace, and save what I didn't see for my next trip! I didn't do
Splash Mountain, couldn't do Big Thunder because it wasn't running (of
course), The Land, The Living Seas, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger
Spin, D-MGM's backlot tram tour, most everything at Toontown, Indiana
Jones Stunt Spectacular, Magic Carpets of Aladdin and most of Animal
Kingodm - didn't even get to Conservation Station or ride the train...
and I thought I did pretty much everything. NOT! Most of the
"kiddie" rides like Dumbo and Mad Tea Party I didn't touch, but it was
nice to stand and watch them.
Disney relies too much on merchandising. There are shops virtually
EVERYWHERE. It's not really about quality, it's more about quantity.
The employees for the most part are very friendly, but there are a few
cast members who could use a bit of re-training on how to be
courteous. It's nice to reward cast members with money if the service
they give you is exceptional. For instance, waiters and waitresses
deserve a tip if they give you good personal service. Most
restaurants require only a 10% tip but I usually included a little
more (around 15%) if the service was good.
Every time I had breakfast at Maya Grill, it was $13.80 and each time
I usually left at $2.00 tip. Avoid Portobello Yacht Club Restaurant
at DTD at all costs, especially if you like Salmon. If you like raw
salmon, knock yourself out.
Staying on property was something else. Though you can use your room
card to make purchases anywhere, you get a whopping bill at the end of
your trip if you're not careful with it. I tried to use cash as much
as possible but found it easier to whip out the room key and have the
purchases charged to my room.
Port Orleans was *VERY* ncie. A nice perk is that you can take the
boat down the Sassagoula River to Downtown Disney and back instead of
taking the buses or driving. It's all really impressive but you have
to do an awful lot of walking. It's a HUGE complex! I didn't even
have any energy at the end of each day to hit the quiet pools, even
though it would have been great to relax in the pool.
Speaking of buses, people tend to complain about the bus service at
Disney World. I liked it! The longest wait I had was probably about
10 minutes, tops. I thought it was very convenient! A bus going to
where I wanted to go was usually right there waiting. I guess I got
lucky.
Coronado Springs was also *EXCELLENT*. Again, this is a huge area to
cover, so there's lots of walking. Also I didn't touch the pools
here, enticing as they were. There was too much else to do and I
didn't have time and found myself exhausted to the point of not
wanting to get off the bed and walk down to the pool.
Only one minor complaint. Well, okay, two. 1. Disney has GOT to
change its hotel toilet paper. For goodness sakes, it's like sand
paper. You get the point. 2. People, when you visit Disney, do NOT
under any circumstances, mark the bathroom stalls with disgusting
sayings and phone numbers where "one can get a good time". This is
abhorrent behaviour, and you just don't do that here.
Other than that, I'm ready to go again! Realistically, it's not going
to be for at least another year or two. :(
Thanks for reading. Comments welcome.
Dan
PS: To see the rest of my trip photos (811 in all), go to
http://www.bbdisney.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=26
Barbara B
meeting you and look forward to our next get together!
Barb
Mike Testa
Dan <dan....@shaw.ca> wrote in message
Dan
Washington. :)
Dan