MajorWoody
The View From My Office
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2002
- Messages
- 294
Who :
Bill, age 44, NYSP Investigator, AP holder and numerous WDW trips
Jenn, daughter, age 19, AP holder, last trip 12/00
Joseph, son, age 17, AP holder, last trip 12/00
Where:
All Star Sports - 5 nights
Coronado Springs - 5 nights
When :
12/7 thru 12/17/02
Hello all,
This trip was planned a while back for early December for several reasons.
First of all, early Dec is my favorite time at WDW, due to the holidays and
light crowds. 2nd, the RADP folks are around this time of year, and lastly,
the room discounts are fantastic. My wife was unable to get time off due to
staff shortages at her job, and my other daughter Janine just was down in
September with me, so they stayed home for this trip. Jenn & Joe hadn't been
to WDW since 12/00, and were ready to go. I bought an AP for Joe, and since
Jenn didn't make up her mind until a few days beforehand, I made plans to
buy her AP when we arrived at WDW,
The plan was to drive down, leaving upstate NY Friday afternoon 12/6,
stopping somewhere along the way depending on when I felt tired, and then
arriving sometime in the afternoon Saturday 12/7. I had booked All Star
Sports for the 10 night stay, at the AP rate of $49 a night, which was tough
to pass up. I'd prefer to stay at a moderate or deluxe, but Jenn & Joe
wanted the All Stars, which they seem to like more than the nicer resorts.
So for the total of $549 for 10 nights ( tax included), it was foolish to
pass up that deal. As it turned out, we ended up moving to Coronado after 5
nights, but you'll have to read the TR to find out about that.
As luck would have it, their school was closed 12/6 due to ice that morning.
That meant we were able to be on the road by 11am, with no problems. Other
than some sluggish traffic through the Baltimore area, and also northern
Virginia, it was pretty smooth sailing. We made it Savannah, Ga at about
1am, and stopped at a Hampton Inn at Exit 109 on I-95. I got a rate of $69
with my AAA, and the room was nice and clean. We got up around 6am, hit the
free breakfast bar, and were on the road around 7:30am. We pulled into WDW
at 12:40pm with no problems. We drove straight to All Star Sports, and
checked in. There was no line, and we were checked-in within five minutes of
arriving, and our room(7254, Touchdown Bldg 7) was ready. We loaded our
luggage into the room, which was clean, but spartan. I noticed that the
closet area was tiny, and rather than a clothes rod, they had a cheap white
coated metal rack for the clothes. It struck me as really chintzy for a
Disney resort. I don't think a proper shelf and metal rod would have cost
them that much more, and would have looked much better. The sink area was
also minuscule, especially compared to our last stay at Port Orleans with
the double sinks. The room was on the end of the 2nd floor, on the end near
the baseball building bleachers. It seemed like a nice quiet location, as
All Star rooms go, but we were to find out this wasn't the case.
After getting our stuff put away, the kids wanted to chow down at ESPN for
lunch. We drove over to the BW and parked at 2pm. We walked over to ESPN,
and were seated after a five minute wait. We recognized a waiter that Jenn
thought was cute back when she was younger, on her 1998 trip. I was
surprised he was still there four years later. We were given one of the
tables by the window, and had a nice view of the water and the Y&BC Resort.
We ordered a bucket o' wings, an order of nacho's, and 3 cokes. The wings
were awful when they arrived, dried out and no zing to them at all. While
there were quite a few wings in the bucket, I doubt we ate one third of
them. We love to eat wings too, and we were all hungry, but these wings were
downright awful. The only thing they had going for them was that they were
large wings, but extremely dry and bland. The nacho's were very good, and
it's a good thing we had ordered them, as it made up for the wings. The
total tab for the victuals came to $34.80, plus a $7 tip. I probably should
have complained about the wings, but I was in too good a mood at being at
WDW.
After we had enough, we walked over to the International Gateway entrance to
Epcot. I bought Jenn's AP, and we all entered Epcot. We walked over through
the UK and Canada, just looking but not really stopping for anything. We
continued on to Future World, and went into Mousegear. I had to make sure
they had 2003 calendars, and saw they had plenty. we then hoofed to Test
track, and got Fast Passes for 6:30pm. We then walked thru Innoventions
East, which seemed exceptionally dull for some reason. The next stop was Pin
central, where I bought 2 Epcot Christmas pins. We then checked out the Art
Of Disney store, and browsed a bit, but didn't purchase anything. Next up
was Spaceship Earth, with no wait. We enjoyed the ride, and it made me feel
great to be back at Epcot again. We then walked over to Innoventions West,
where we saw the IBM display, I believe it was called "The Thingamajig". It
was basically a group video game. Joe wanted to try it, so I decided to get
on line too. The funny thing was, I haven't played any video games in years,
and ended up with the 2nd highest score of the day, and crushed him,
although he ended up with the 3rd highest score of the day. After that we
walked outside and over to Living Seas. We skipped the movie, and went
straight to the hydrolators, which magically deposited us in the gift shop.
Thats probably the reason they eliminated the Sea Cab ride, since the Sea
Cabs didn't drop you off at the gift shop if I recall correctly. We
checked out the manatees, but it must have been nappy-poo time, as they were
pretty sluggish ( more so than usual). The jellyfish display was very good,
and the seahorses were fun to watch. We spent about 30 minutes or so in
there.
We then walked over to the Land Pavilion, but saw that Living With The Land
had a 30 minute wait, which is ridiculous. Since this ride went to a FP, we
have only rode it once , and we spend a lot of time at Epcot. I think it was
a big mistake to make this ride a FP, as it discourages walkups, and is not
really worth wasting a FP on.
We then wandered over to the Imagination Institute, but Figment was closed.
We then went to Fountain View Bakery, and Jenn got a coffee, as it was a bit
chilly. We then walked thru Ice Station Cool, but skipped the Beverly. We
then walked back to World Showcase, via the Mexico side. We walked past
Mexico, Norway, and China, just looking around but not really in depth. We
checked out the temporary Spain booths, which seemed mighty dull. They had
one booth devoted to Olive Oil, and one devoted to Sherry. I hope that if
they do a permanent pavilion they pick something more interesting to focus
on. We then walked to Germany, and browsed the shops. I got a brewski and a
pretzel, at the booth in by restaurant entrance. We then walked on to Italy,
and saw the Living Statue was performing there, not in France. We continued
over to the USA, and watched the end of the early Candlelight show, with
Marlee Matlin narrating. I was enjoying the atmosphere of Epcot, and the
Christmas decorations throughout the park. We continued around the rest of
WS, and headed back to Test track to use our Fast Pass. However, after the
lengthy trek, we found out TT was down. We decided to go back to the room
and get some warmer clothes, as it was getting quite chilly. We walked out
the International gateway, and back to BW. We got the van, and headed back
to the hotel. After a quick change, we caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom,
arriving at 8:30pm. We bought hot dogs at Casey's ( I think it's the 1st
time we ever had them, they were OK), and we caught the end of SpectroMagic
by Pecos Bills. We then wandered over to Liberty Square, and caught Fantasy
In The Sky at 9pm. After that was finished, we walked to Space Mtn, and rode
it with a 10 minute wait, which is pretty good for a Saturday night. We
rode the right side, in the rear car. We then saw the Astro Orbiter had no
wait at all, so we rode that. We then walked back to the Castle forecourt
area, and found good spots for the 10pm Spectro. We caught the entire
parade, then hit the Main St Bakery after the parade, and got Joe a cherry
turnover. We then caught the bus back to All Stars, browsed the gift shop
for a while, where Jenn got some postcards, and were in the room by 11:45pm.
Stay tuned for Day 2.....
Take care,
Bill
Bill, age 44, NYSP Investigator, AP holder and numerous WDW trips
Jenn, daughter, age 19, AP holder, last trip 12/00
Joseph, son, age 17, AP holder, last trip 12/00
Where:
All Star Sports - 5 nights
Coronado Springs - 5 nights
When :
12/7 thru 12/17/02
Hello all,
This trip was planned a while back for early December for several reasons.
First of all, early Dec is my favorite time at WDW, due to the holidays and
light crowds. 2nd, the RADP folks are around this time of year, and lastly,
the room discounts are fantastic. My wife was unable to get time off due to
staff shortages at her job, and my other daughter Janine just was down in
September with me, so they stayed home for this trip. Jenn & Joe hadn't been
to WDW since 12/00, and were ready to go. I bought an AP for Joe, and since
Jenn didn't make up her mind until a few days beforehand, I made plans to
buy her AP when we arrived at WDW,
The plan was to drive down, leaving upstate NY Friday afternoon 12/6,
stopping somewhere along the way depending on when I felt tired, and then
arriving sometime in the afternoon Saturday 12/7. I had booked All Star
Sports for the 10 night stay, at the AP rate of $49 a night, which was tough
to pass up. I'd prefer to stay at a moderate or deluxe, but Jenn & Joe
wanted the All Stars, which they seem to like more than the nicer resorts.
So for the total of $549 for 10 nights ( tax included), it was foolish to
pass up that deal. As it turned out, we ended up moving to Coronado after 5
nights, but you'll have to read the TR to find out about that.
As luck would have it, their school was closed 12/6 due to ice that morning.
That meant we were able to be on the road by 11am, with no problems. Other
than some sluggish traffic through the Baltimore area, and also northern
Virginia, it was pretty smooth sailing. We made it Savannah, Ga at about
1am, and stopped at a Hampton Inn at Exit 109 on I-95. I got a rate of $69
with my AAA, and the room was nice and clean. We got up around 6am, hit the
free breakfast bar, and were on the road around 7:30am. We pulled into WDW
at 12:40pm with no problems. We drove straight to All Star Sports, and
checked in. There was no line, and we were checked-in within five minutes of
arriving, and our room(7254, Touchdown Bldg 7) was ready. We loaded our
luggage into the room, which was clean, but spartan. I noticed that the
closet area was tiny, and rather than a clothes rod, they had a cheap white
coated metal rack for the clothes. It struck me as really chintzy for a
Disney resort. I don't think a proper shelf and metal rod would have cost
them that much more, and would have looked much better. The sink area was
also minuscule, especially compared to our last stay at Port Orleans with
the double sinks. The room was on the end of the 2nd floor, on the end near
the baseball building bleachers. It seemed like a nice quiet location, as
All Star rooms go, but we were to find out this wasn't the case.
After getting our stuff put away, the kids wanted to chow down at ESPN for
lunch. We drove over to the BW and parked at 2pm. We walked over to ESPN,
and were seated after a five minute wait. We recognized a waiter that Jenn
thought was cute back when she was younger, on her 1998 trip. I was
surprised he was still there four years later. We were given one of the
tables by the window, and had a nice view of the water and the Y&BC Resort.
We ordered a bucket o' wings, an order of nacho's, and 3 cokes. The wings
were awful when they arrived, dried out and no zing to them at all. While
there were quite a few wings in the bucket, I doubt we ate one third of
them. We love to eat wings too, and we were all hungry, but these wings were
downright awful. The only thing they had going for them was that they were
large wings, but extremely dry and bland. The nacho's were very good, and
it's a good thing we had ordered them, as it made up for the wings. The
total tab for the victuals came to $34.80, plus a $7 tip. I probably should
have complained about the wings, but I was in too good a mood at being at
WDW.
After we had enough, we walked over to the International Gateway entrance to
Epcot. I bought Jenn's AP, and we all entered Epcot. We walked over through
the UK and Canada, just looking but not really stopping for anything. We
continued on to Future World, and went into Mousegear. I had to make sure
they had 2003 calendars, and saw they had plenty. we then hoofed to Test
track, and got Fast Passes for 6:30pm. We then walked thru Innoventions
East, which seemed exceptionally dull for some reason. The next stop was Pin
central, where I bought 2 Epcot Christmas pins. We then checked out the Art
Of Disney store, and browsed a bit, but didn't purchase anything. Next up
was Spaceship Earth, with no wait. We enjoyed the ride, and it made me feel
great to be back at Epcot again. We then walked over to Innoventions West,
where we saw the IBM display, I believe it was called "The Thingamajig". It
was basically a group video game. Joe wanted to try it, so I decided to get
on line too. The funny thing was, I haven't played any video games in years,
and ended up with the 2nd highest score of the day, and crushed him,
although he ended up with the 3rd highest score of the day. After that we
walked outside and over to Living Seas. We skipped the movie, and went
straight to the hydrolators, which magically deposited us in the gift shop.
Thats probably the reason they eliminated the Sea Cab ride, since the Sea
Cabs didn't drop you off at the gift shop if I recall correctly. We
checked out the manatees, but it must have been nappy-poo time, as they were
pretty sluggish ( more so than usual). The jellyfish display was very good,
and the seahorses were fun to watch. We spent about 30 minutes or so in
there.
We then walked over to the Land Pavilion, but saw that Living With The Land
had a 30 minute wait, which is ridiculous. Since this ride went to a FP, we
have only rode it once , and we spend a lot of time at Epcot. I think it was
a big mistake to make this ride a FP, as it discourages walkups, and is not
really worth wasting a FP on.
We then wandered over to the Imagination Institute, but Figment was closed.
We then went to Fountain View Bakery, and Jenn got a coffee, as it was a bit
chilly. We then walked thru Ice Station Cool, but skipped the Beverly. We
then walked back to World Showcase, via the Mexico side. We walked past
Mexico, Norway, and China, just looking around but not really in depth. We
checked out the temporary Spain booths, which seemed mighty dull. They had
one booth devoted to Olive Oil, and one devoted to Sherry. I hope that if
they do a permanent pavilion they pick something more interesting to focus
on. We then walked to Germany, and browsed the shops. I got a brewski and a
pretzel, at the booth in by restaurant entrance. We then walked on to Italy,
and saw the Living Statue was performing there, not in France. We continued
over to the USA, and watched the end of the early Candlelight show, with
Marlee Matlin narrating. I was enjoying the atmosphere of Epcot, and the
Christmas decorations throughout the park. We continued around the rest of
WS, and headed back to Test track to use our Fast Pass. However, after the
lengthy trek, we found out TT was down. We decided to go back to the room
and get some warmer clothes, as it was getting quite chilly. We walked out
the International gateway, and back to BW. We got the van, and headed back
to the hotel. After a quick change, we caught a bus to the Magic Kingdom,
arriving at 8:30pm. We bought hot dogs at Casey's ( I think it's the 1st
time we ever had them, they were OK), and we caught the end of SpectroMagic
by Pecos Bills. We then wandered over to Liberty Square, and caught Fantasy
In The Sky at 9pm. After that was finished, we walked to Space Mtn, and rode
it with a 10 minute wait, which is pretty good for a Saturday night. We
rode the right side, in the rear car. We then saw the Astro Orbiter had no
wait at all, so we rode that. We then walked back to the Castle forecourt
area, and found good spots for the 10pm Spectro. We caught the entire
parade, then hit the Main St Bakery after the parade, and got Joe a cherry
turnover. We then caught the bus back to All Stars, browsed the gift shop
for a while, where Jenn got some postcards, and were in the room by 11:45pm.
Stay tuned for Day 2.....
Take care,
Bill
