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September, 2004 Note: All of the links in this journal connect to pictures from our trip. Clicking on any of them will display the picture in a new window. Enjoy! Notify us if a picture link isn't working right. Thanks! Thursday, September 9 We didn't have any problems getting to Orlando. As we stepped on the escalator down to the baggage claim, we noticed a gentleman holding a sign with my name on it. We were expecting that this gentleman would be Chuck Baker, known by the Comande family as the best airport-to-Disney shuttle driver. However, it was one of Chuck's associates, Bill. We felt like VIPs as Bill stowed our luggage and opened the car door for us. I took the first picture of the trip, and we were on our way. As we made the journey to Walt Disney World, we noticed several homes with windows still boarded up because of the threat of Hurricane Ivan. It wasn't long before we reached Disney's Contemporary Resort. Check-in was quick and easy. We received the all-powerful resort ID cards, which serve as room keys, park tickets, and credit cards. Our room was on the third floor of the south garden wing. As we rode the elevator from the first to the third floor, we noticed that the elevator smelled a lot like a bar of soap. In any case, our room was very nice, and it had more than enough space. ( #1 #2 #3) After 5-10 minutes of unpacking, we headed to the hotel monorail station and rode it until we reached our first theme park of the trip -- the Magic Kingdom. ( #1 #2 #3) I was concerned that it might be quite busy, as it was now afternoon. I was pleasantly surprised when we got in line for Dumbo and the wait was less than ten minutes. The ride was a great way to start things off, even though it started pouring rain while we were on it. After Dumbo, we grabbed a fastpass for Peter Pan's Flight and headed inside to watch Mickey's PhilharMagic, a new 3-D show. We had lunch at Pinocchio's, which was almost as good as the Pinocchio's in Racine. Over the next few hours, we managed to do just about everything we wanted to do at the Magic Kingdom with little or no waiting. Our stops included the Swiss Family Treehouse ( #1 #2 #3), the Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mounation, Thunder Mountain, the Haunted Mansion ( #1 #2), Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, and Space Mountain. We also saw the snow globe parade, which included Mary Poppins. There was rain on and off throughout the day, but it didn't slow us down at all. We left the Magic Kingdom around 4:30 p.m. Our next stop was EPCOT Center. We decided to be Dopeys and visit Spaceship Earth first -- that's the ride inside of the legendary EPCOT dome. Contrary to popular opinion, people were not flocking to the ride. There's a really cool part of the ride where you can tell you're in the top of the dome. After that, we visited Imagination, Test Track, and Mission: Space. Again, the lines were very short. We thought about riding Mission: Space twice in a row, but we were just dizzy enough to decide that once was enough. Deciding to visit the rest of Future World on a later visit, we headed for World Showcase. We had our own boat for the Mexico ride. We enjoyed Maelstrom in Norway, and we even stayed to watch the movie that 90% of the people walk right past. We managed to walk through all of World Showcase before Illuminations started. We didn't watch all of the different movies shown in the various countries, but we did see the American Adventure. We took Uncle Nick's advice and camped near Italy to watch Illuminations. Great advice. What surpised me quite a bit is that we barely had to wait at all before boarding a monorail back to the Contemporary. We saw a really cool bug on our way back to the hotel room. That's Jenelle's disgusted look in the reflection on the glass. Plenty tired from visiting most of two theme parks in less than nine hours, we slept very well. One more picture from Thursday: The two of us Friday, September 10 Friday was another beautiful day at Disney. After a quick breakfast at the hotel's food 'n fun center, we headed to Animal Kingdom, the newest park at Disney World. Each day, a different park opens early for resort guests, so we took advantage of the early opening to meet with some of the characters.(#1 #2 #3 #4.) The Animal Kingdom is centered around the Tree of Life, which all Disney buffs know comes from the movie The Lion King. Inside the tree is a really cool 3-D show called It's Tough To Be A Bug. In the Africa area of the park, you can take a safari trek through the wildlife preserve and see giraffes, elephants, flamingos and even help thwart poachers. In Asia, we saw something we hadn't seen yet on our Disney trip -- a line. Fortunately, it was only about 10 minutes, and one of the only lines we saw during our entire trip. In Camp Minnie Mickey, there is an awesome Lion King show with acrobats, gymnasts, singing and dancing. It was one of Jenelle's favorites. We took a train out to Rafiki's Conservation Station, which has exhibits about how to better preserve animal habitats. Ben really took a liking to the tigers, and we both went ape over the gorillas. In the afternoon, we took a bus to Downtown Disney, where we ate, shopped and visited Disney Quest. We had lunch and dessert at Planet Hollywood. After our first day and a half at Disney, Jenelle learned her tried and true Birkenstocks weren't as comfortable as they were four years ago. We picked up some Mickey flip flops to give her flat feet some relief. While at Downtown Disney, we visited DisneyQuest -- a virtual theme park. It was probably the busiest area we were at. One cool ride lets you design a roller coaster -- and then ride it in a simulator. We designed a coaster with quite a few loops and turns -- then bought a video of our trip. It's pretty funny -- you can see Jenelle's hair flying during the flips. One reason we took this trip is so that we could do some fun, romantic things before we have to bring our own kids. Settle down, family, this doesn't mean a thing. Ben planned a romantic horse-drawn carriage ride at the Port Orleans Riverside resort. (#1 #2 #3) Another big reason we took this trip is for the Night of Joy. Every year, Disney invited some popular Christian rock bands to perform at the Magic Kingdom. One of Jenelle's favorite bands, Third Day, was performing. It was a great concert -- and really neat to see them perform right in front of Cinderella's castle. (#1 #2 #3) The concert ended around 12:30 a.m., so we walked back to the Contemporary to get some sleep. More pictures from Friday: Saturday, September 11 We didn't have much for breakfast today. I think we just snacked on Nutri-Grain bars or fruit snacks or animal crackers or something else we brought from home. Anyway, the "extra magic hour" was available at Disney-MGM Studios, so we arrived there shortly after it opened. We took care of the Tower of Terror right away. Shortly after that, we headed over to the Rock n' Roller Coaster (#1 #2 #3 #4) starring Aerosmith. . However, we were greeted near the entrance with some unfortunate news -- the ride was closed for maintenance, and it wouldn't open until "later". That didn't slow us down much. We visited the Great Movie Ride, Star Tours, Muppet Vision 3D, and the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectactular all before 11 a.m. We weren't going too fast -- Jenelle had time to check out the park guide. By the way, there's a giant Fantasia-style hat in front of the Chinese Theater replica. After purchasing a personalized Christmas ornament at a nearby shop, we had lunch at the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater, where the atmosphere is very unique. Everyone sits in a car and watches old sci-fi movie trailers from the black-and-white era. We got to sit in the back of our car. After feasting on some tasty BBQ chicken sandwiches and paying the check, we felt like it was time to relax for a bit. Knowing that the Rock n' Roller Coaster was still closed, and also knowing that we'd return to the park that night for Fantasmic!, we went to the bus station and grabbed a ride back to the Contemporary. Jenelle was especially tired, so she took a nap. However, I (Ben) didn't feel like sleeping too much, so I decided to let Jenelle rest while checking out a few more nearby attractions. I went to the Contemporary arcade in search of games that made it especially easy to win redemption tickets in large numbers. (Flashback: During a Disney trip in 2000, I won more tickets at the All-Star Sports Resort arcade than the whole family could spend. I ended up giving over 1,000 of them to another family in the arcade.) I didn't find any particularly easy games on which to win tickets after spending two or three dollars in quarters. Oh well. Before long, I walked over to the Magic Kingdom, going straight to Tomorrowland. I planned to do Space Mountain many times over, but I discovered that it was also closed for maintenance. However, it would be opening "momentarily", so I went for a relaxing ride on the Tomorrowland Transit Authority. After disembarking and grabbing a drink, Space Mountain was open again. Yay! I think I rode it three times. Even though both sides are nearly identical, I decided that I liked the left version a little more than the right, mainly because the mini-drop seemed more exciting. After doing a bit of shopping (mostly browsing), I walked back to the Contemporary. Jenelle, well-rested, was ready for more fun, and so was I. A quick call to WDW Information gave us the status of the Rock n' Roller Coaster (OPEN!), and we boarded a bus back to Disney-MGM Studios. We decided to do the Backlot Tour first. Near the entrance, a cast member approached us and asked us if we'd like to be in the show! We agreed. Basically, our job was to stand on the deck of a ship while enemy aircraft "fired" at us. All that really happened was that water exploded all around us, getting us fairly wet. Don't worry, they gave us rain gear for the duration of the show. I'm sorry that don't have any pictures or video of our performance. My advice, especially if you're heading to Disney as a couple, is to wait near the front of the entrance to the Backlot Tour, just before the metal line-separators begin, if you're interested in being part of the show. The "tram" part of the tour proceeded with the usual visit to Catastrophe Canyon. After snapping a picture of "New York", we grabbed a bite to eat at the counter service stands near the Hollywood Hills Theater, and then (finally) went on Rock n' Roller Coaster, which still rocks big time. Fantasmic! is an incredible show. I didn't get any pictures of it (they wouldn't turn out well anyways), but rest assured we enjoyed it very much. Even though we stayed until the very end of the show, it didn't take us long to get on the bus and get back to the hotel for more quality sleep. More pictures from Saturday: Mary Poppins Horse and the two of us by the Fantasia hat. Sunday, September 12 Long before arriving in Florida, we knew that Sunday would be the day that we visit a water park. Since they don't open until 10 a.m., we had plenty of time to head over to Ohana, a restaurant at the Polynesian Resort, for a character breakfast. Given that Chef Mickey's at the Contemporary is always booked solid every day, it's amazing that Ohana was practically empty. The characters had lots of time to visit with us -- most of them twice. Here come the pictures: Dale and Jenelle. Dale and Ben. Mickey with both of us. Chip kissing Jenelle. Chip eating Ben. Goofy and Jenelle. Goofy AND Mickey and Ben. Mickey and Jenelle. Waffle irons. The food was great, and so was the service. Before we left, we told Mickey that we were heading for Blizzard Beach. He reminded us to put on sunscreen and bid us farewell. We headed back to the Contemporary to get into our swimsuits before boarding a bus to Blizzard Beach. There are tons of water slides, a wave pool, and a lazy river (Cross Country Creek). Though I wasn't able to take any pictures, I do have one semi-interesting story to share. The two largest body slides at Blizzard Beach are called the Slush Gusher and the Summit Plummet. The Slush Gusher isn't as tall, and it has three smaller drops. The Summit Plummet is one huge vertical drop. Naturally, Jenelle and I decided to "warm up" on the Slush Gusher. I went down first, and she went right after me. It was a little bit scary, but not too bad. We headed back up the hill to take on the big one. Jenelle didn't seem too afraid. I was slightly nervous. While waiting in line, I noticed that our locker key, that I thought was securely velcro-d into my front swimsuit pocket, was gone. Since the water rushes pretty fast on the Slush Gusher, we guessed that it had fallen out when I went down. Though slightly worried that someone else had found the key and was going through our personal belongings, we figured that our best option was to take the Summit Plummet down and check with the lifeguard once we got there. Jenelle went first. To my surprise, she let out a fairly loud scream on her way down. I said, "Oh, that makes me feel so much better" as I got in position. Jenelle later told me that she was shocked by the angle of the drop. I actually found the Summit Plummet to be less scary than the Slush Gusher because one the drop begins, that's it. Both safely at the bottom, we decided to try and find the lost key. When we asked the lifeguard, I could tell that he had been asked the question many times before. He quickly told us the numbers of FOUR keys in his possession. Unfortunately, none of them had our number. I decided to walk over to the very end of the Slush Gusher, and I noticed a key. The lifeguard retrieved it, and it was ours! Yay! The rest of our day at Blizzard Beach was just fine. We floated down Cross Country Creek, enjoyed funnel cake and strawberry slush, and bought a souvenir photo that had been taken of us by a cast member. You'll have to drop by our place to see it. :) We made it back to the hotel by mid-afternoon. I snapped a photo or two at the Contemporary while waiting for the monorail. We had plenty of time to make a return visit to EPCOT Center. The places we visited this time included Ellen's Energy Adventure, The Land, and the Living Seas. I also made a second voyage to Mars on Mission: Space. We had Chicken Parmesan for dinner at The Land and bought some ice cream for dessert. I also noticed that they had really big cupcakes. On our way out, we found the picture of Uncle Nick and Aunt Lisa in the Leave A Legacy area. Another excellent trip to EPCOT. We had a ball. :) Our final stop for the day was the Magic Kingdom for the Wishes fireworks show. We got to sit in the front of the monorail car while traveling from EPCOT to the transportation center. Roger, the monorail driver, told us lots of great monorail trivia. Did you know that monorails can go as fast as 70 miles per hour, but the Disney monorails are "locked" to go no faster than 40 miles per hour? We stood on the train platform on Main Street U.S.A. for the fireworks. These two photos really don't do it justice, but enjoy them anyway. Monday, September 13 We woke up on Monday morning not sure exactly what to do today. We had been very lucky throughout the trip to have time to do everything we wanted. We ended up heading back to the Magic Kindgom to visit some of our favorite attractions a second time. We went on Dumbo again, and that allowed me to take this picture of the castle. We also saw the Philharmagic 3-D show and Cinderella's celebration in front of her castle ( #1 #2 #3 ). I photographed this tree near the Adventureland entrance before we went to the Enchanted Tiki Room. After a visit to Splash Mountain and the Country Bear Jamboree, we took the WDW railroad over to Mickey's Towntoon Fair, snapping a picture of Thunder Mountain along the way. After leaving the train station, we rode Goofy's barnstorming roller coaster and stopped at Minnie's house. From there, we went through Tomorrowland one more time, I and grabbed not one, not two, but three photos of the Space Mountain post-ride exhibit. After a snapshot of the Main Street railroad station, we took a monorail back to the Contemporary. We got to ride in the front car even though the driver was in training. After a bit of deliberation, we decided to grab a bus to Disney MGM studios. There was no waiting at the Rock n' Roller Coaster, so we went on that THREE times -- once in the front row, once near the back, and once in the middle. The ride is slighty smoother up front, but it is slightly more exciting in the back. We also watched, er, listened to, a sound effects show starring Drew Carey. We didn't stay too long because we want to take care of some shopping before our ride back to the airport arrived. The shops at the Contemporary are great -- they had just about all of the merchandise that we had seen throughout the parks. I bought a deck of transparent Fantasia playing cards and a tube of flavored powder candy (14 flavors in all!). Jenelle bought a lollipop and several scrapbooking-related items. We also bought a Buzz Lightyear Play-Doh playset for Hunter, who turns three years old on the 29th. Our nephew Lucas turns three on October 1st, so we got him a Buzz Lightyear Walkie-talkie set. Finally, we picked up a 2004 WDW mug for Aunt Liz and a cookie cutter for Uncle Nick. What a great trip! Once again, my name was visible by our shuttle ride. Our flight back home was on time, and we didn't have any problems. We did get a chuckle from this flight status monitor. Gotta love Microsoft Windows. |