Cast of characters: Sandy (41), Judy (41), Seth
(13), Sara (11), Elana (7). Disney Veterans.
Our trip to WDW was a last minute
decision. We were driving down to visit my folks in Boca Raton and figured that
we couldn't drive 1200 miles without visiting our favorite vacation place. So
around Thanksgiving time, we called CRO and I was lucky enough to get a room for
two nights. Then, a few days before we left, we updated our travel plans (we
were originally going to do the drive down in three days, stopping off the first
night at friends in Columbia, Maryland), to push us to get to Orlando Friday
night, the 22nd, instead of Saturday night. In retrospect, it was a very smart
move as the report will show. I called CRO again and they were able to get us
the extra night we needed. I have to say that the folks at CRO are always a
pleasure to talk to. They are very helpful and always accommodating.
We left after the kids got out of school,
3:30pm on Thursday 12/21, and stopped just south of Richmond for the night at
12:30. We left the next morning promptly at 8 and made it to Orlando by 10:00
that night.
Saturday, December 23, 1995 - Day 1
EPCOT and Magic Kingdom
Since we had spent eight days in WDW two years ago, we arranged our plan to
catch up on the attractions that were added, or changed and visit our favorites.
It was unseasonably cold for Orlando, it only got as high as the sixties by
mid-afternoon and the mornings were very brisk. The stores were making a killing
on sweat shirts and wool caps for those travelers who came down packing only
shorts and t-shirts. We arrived at the MGM gates at 8:30, as the gates were
opening. We headed right for The Land, doing in order The Land Ride, Food Rocks
and the Circle of Life. I miss the Land Ride theme music. I honestly don't
remember how much of it changed, since the last time we saw it was in 1990 (it
was closed for renovation when we were there in 1993.) I liked Food Rocks,
but I liked Kitchen Kabaret better. I think being familiar with the artists and
songs they were imitating helped. I also didn't feel that some of the Food Rocks
animatronics were as "real" as their Kitchen Kabaret counterparts
were.
We walked next door to Journey Into
Imagination. We saw "Honey, I Shrunk The Audience". I loved it!
You really feel like you're experiencing everything that's happening. If
MuppetVision is 4-D, is this 5-D? :-) Next was the Journey Into Imagination
Ride. Somehow, I never get bored with it and always try to notice things I
didn't notice before. Since we were doing so well on time (it was only around
10:00) we let the kids spend some time in Image Works. We walked through
Innerventions intending to head on over to World of Motion, but noticed that
line on Spaceship Earth was so short, we decided to do it then, instead of
waiting until later. Btw, I didn't know about the status board that sits in the
middle now. They put it up three months ago to give up to date status on the
waits for each attraction. It was pretty accurate - all waits except Body Wars
and Spaceship Earth were 0 minutes. If anything, the status
was over, not under, exaggerated. I also made my first ever mistake, I'd
call it a Disney faus pax, getting on the line at Spaceship Earth. My wife
and son ran over to see how the line was and when he came back to tell us it was
a 10 minute wait (mind you, I hadn't noticed the status board yet, even though
we were standing right by it, we had our backs to it!) we went over to join
them. My wife had stayed on line and by the time we caught up she had
moved into the section that has the railings approaching the escalator.
So, we ducked through to join her and some British visitors were clearly
annoyed. They thought we were cutting in. I don't think what we did
was wrong, but the line was so short, we could have gotten on the end and caught
up to my wife in five minutes anyway.
After Spaceship Earth we went to Wonders of Life. My wife hates motion
rides, so she waited for the rest of us. This was the first time I really
was able to compare in my mind the difference between Body Wars and Space Tours.
Space Tours is much milder. I think the biological theme helps Body Wars hit you in two senses - feel and sight. I still love
Cranium Command, but it's funny, when it first opened, some of the actors
featured were currently portraying the roles they played here. It still
works, but I wonder how many people don't know who Hans and Franz are? We
had a few minutes before lunch, so we worked up an appetite on the lifecycles.
We had a late lunch at Coral Reef. We like to eat this way, with a good
breakfast, we can make it until 3:00 - 4:00 and that gets us through the rest of
the day. Since it was toward the end of the lunch hour, Coral Reef was emptying
out. The kids really got a kick out of the aquarium. As usual, the food was excellent. I had the
Mahi Mahi. It was a little heavy on
the lemon, but good none-the-less. My wife had the grilled tuna, which she
thoroughly enjoyed. I don't know if my memory is going, but it seems to me that
the children's menus have become more reasonable
- they were priced around $3.99 and I think I remember paying around $5
to $6 in the past.
We finished off with World of Motion and Universe of Energy. Considering the
news about them both closing, I'm glad we got one last chance to see them.
I will especially miss World of Motion, some of the scenes are hysterical.
I had gotten a little headache, so the kids spent an hour in Innerventions while
I went back to the hotel to rest. At 7:30, we headed over to MK and worked
our way through the crowd waiting for SpectroMagic to Liberty Square.
There was no wait at the
Haunted Mansion. The one couple in front of us who weren't sure if they
were supposed to knock or wait. I told them the truth :-) Elana keeps
driving us crazy, walking around saying "there's no way out".
Haunted Mansion is definitely her favorite. We just missed the 9:00 show
for
the Lion King, so we hopped onto It's a Small World and then got back on line
for the Legend of the Lion King. If I'm making it all sound like there
were no lines, that's because there wasn't. I definitely got the feeling
that once the 8:00 showing of SpectroMogaic ended, the majority
of the people headed back to the warmth of their hotels. Once the sun went
down, it got downright cold. Btw, why doesn't IASW have Israel
represented? I never noticed it before, but my wife said she had heard
something to that affect, and we looked closely this time through. By
now, the line for the Lion King was only up to the Carousel. we sat in the third
row, a little left of center, which was an almost perfect spot.
After the Legend of the Lion King, we walked to Tomorrowland and went to Space
Mountain. The line was so short, that we walked right up to the loading
area. The line only wound around once. Total wait - 10 minutes.
I like the addition of the TV monitors showing WDW's version of CNN. I
almost wish the line was a little longer, so that I could have watched some
more. Very ingenious. From there, we went to The Timekeeper.
There were only a few people waiting, and it wasn't clear when the next show
was. It turned out only to be a ten minute wait. Robin Williams and
Rhea Perlman were perfect choices for the TimeKeeper and Nine-Eyes. My
youngest was tired at that point, so we decided to skip Alien Encounter and head
back to the hotel.
We got back to the Contemporary at around 11:00, thoroughly pooped and loved
every minute of it.
Next: Day Two.
