Mize Family Trip Report Wednesday April 24th, 2002 #6 of 9
Cast: Bonnie and David, both 44, and granddaughter Erika, 9
Tickets: Disney CRO and WDW Travel Co.
Stage: All-Star Music (ASM), for the third time
Entrance: America West Airlines, assisted by National Car Rental
ShowTime: 4/19 - 4/27. This is our sixth trip since 1986.
Out-takes: http://www.imagestation.com/member/index.html?name=dmize&c=201
==============================================
Wake-up call for 7:30am, our second on this trip. Breakfast at the food
court, then off to MGM by 9:00am. We walked right on to the Animation
Tour. I still enjoy the into film with Robin Williams and Walter
Cronkite, but it's probably time to think about redoing it. Lilo & Stitch
is the current highlight, the entire movie having been done at the
Florida animation studios. Our animator host was pleasant, well-spoken &
a very fast artist. My only complaint was that he didn't do a question &
answer session, which we've always had in the past. We learned from the
animator's discussion that Lilo & Stitch was the first Disney film to be
inked entirely in watercolors since Dumbo in 1940.
From there we went back to the Cargo Shop to pickup 100yr anniversary
photo pins. We finally got OK pictures of Erika for the pins, after
several tries. As beautiful as she is, she can't pose for photos worth a
darn. I got some cute pictures of my own, with Erika laying under the
huge steam roller in the Cargo Shop. After this, we headed for the Beauty
and the Beast stage show. This production had some nice routines, but we
all found it a little too simplified. Something more along the lines of
Animal Kingdom's Tarzan show would have been very nice. Nobody was in the
mood for Star Wars or Muppets in the back of the park, so we hit the few
stores that we hadn't been to yet, then left the park. We were probably
finished with MGM at this point.
We returned to our resort by 1:30pm & grabbed lunch at the food court-
wife & I split a chef salad and pasta dish- yummy. Erika tackled the
chicken quesadilla, also good. Swimming afterwards, of course, for only a
short time today. The over to the Grand Floridian by 3:00pm and my first
valet parking this visit. In the past, I used the valet almost
exclusively, with attendants at Polynesian and the Beach Club getting to
know me by sight. With the introduction of a $6.00 daily charge for valet
since our last visit, I just started using regular parking, instead. At
the G.F., though, public lots are over by Cocoa Beach somewhere, so valet
it is.
Hopped the monorail for Magic Kingdom, and walked in just in time for the
parade- new to us, and pretty nice. Then we headed back to Fantasy Land
for Erika to hit a few favorite rides- very busy again! The parks closed
at 6:00pm that night, and FastPass was already closed for Peter Pan's
Flight- her favorite. I gamely jumped into a 45min line with Erika, but
after 25mins of stifling heat, she decided that we could try another day.
We hopped out of line & headed for Frontier Land. Erika didn't want to do
the Haunted House- she rode it last time, and wasn't crazy about it. We
walked on around to Adventure Land, marveling at how busy the park was
again. Perhaps the early closing? Erika and I rode Aladdin's Magic
Carpets, a ride new to us- yawn. Definitely for little kids. Then we went
onto Pirates, a ride we all love- even Erika. She and Bonnie were both
startled by the water drop, though. There was no wait for this classic,
which surprised me. In earlier years, the lines here could be huge. I
hope that's not a bad sign for the future of the ride.
We then walked into the Tiki Birds show, which we really enjoyed.
Afterwards, I took Erika up into the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, a
journey I hadn't made since my own kids were little. We talked about how
things worked on there, especially the water system, and Erika asked
really good questions. We took our time & enjoyed it a lot. My wife has a
serious fear of heights, which keeps her off of things like this. We then
shopped a little on our way to the monorail. Then over to Contemporary
for 6:00pm PS at Chef Mickey's. There was a 20min wait, so we grabbed
seats in the lounge, ordered drinks, and relaxed- for 2mins, when we were
called to our table. As always, the food here is very good, with good
variety and presentation. Erika had lot's of character visits and photos,
and we were all happy. We were also dead tired after dinner, not having
our usual long mid-day rest, so we returned to our resort, rather than
hitting the Disney Village as originally planned. We were back to the
resort by 8:00pm, relaxed around the pool & then watched Amazing Race on
TV- to bed by 11:00pm.
Cast: Bonnie and David, both 44, and granddaughter Erika, 9
Tickets: Disney CRO and WDW Travel Co.
Stage: All-Star Music (ASM), for the third time
Entrance: America West Airlines, assisted by National Car Rental
ShowTime: 4/19 - 4/27. This is our sixth trip since 1986.
Out-takes: http://www.imagestation.com/member/index.html?name=dmize&c=201
==============================================
Wake-up call for 7:30am, our second on this trip. Breakfast at the food
court, then off to MGM by 9:00am. We walked right on to the Animation
Tour. I still enjoy the into film with Robin Williams and Walter
Cronkite, but it's probably time to think about redoing it. Lilo & Stitch
is the current highlight, the entire movie having been done at the
Florida animation studios. Our animator host was pleasant, well-spoken &
a very fast artist. My only complaint was that he didn't do a question &
answer session, which we've always had in the past. We learned from the
animator's discussion that Lilo & Stitch was the first Disney film to be
inked entirely in watercolors since Dumbo in 1940.
From there we went back to the Cargo Shop to pickup 100yr anniversary
photo pins. We finally got OK pictures of Erika for the pins, after
several tries. As beautiful as she is, she can't pose for photos worth a
darn. I got some cute pictures of my own, with Erika laying under the
huge steam roller in the Cargo Shop. After this, we headed for the Beauty
and the Beast stage show. This production had some nice routines, but we
all found it a little too simplified. Something more along the lines of
Animal Kingdom's Tarzan show would have been very nice. Nobody was in the
mood for Star Wars or Muppets in the back of the park, so we hit the few
stores that we hadn't been to yet, then left the park. We were probably
finished with MGM at this point.
We returned to our resort by 1:30pm & grabbed lunch at the food court-
wife & I split a chef salad and pasta dish- yummy. Erika tackled the
chicken quesadilla, also good. Swimming afterwards, of course, for only a
short time today. The over to the Grand Floridian by 3:00pm and my first
valet parking this visit. In the past, I used the valet almost
exclusively, with attendants at Polynesian and the Beach Club getting to
know me by sight. With the introduction of a $6.00 daily charge for valet
since our last visit, I just started using regular parking, instead. At
the G.F., though, public lots are over by Cocoa Beach somewhere, so valet
it is.
Hopped the monorail for Magic Kingdom, and walked in just in time for the
parade- new to us, and pretty nice. Then we headed back to Fantasy Land
for Erika to hit a few favorite rides- very busy again! The parks closed
at 6:00pm that night, and FastPass was already closed for Peter Pan's
Flight- her favorite. I gamely jumped into a 45min line with Erika, but
after 25mins of stifling heat, she decided that we could try another day.
We hopped out of line & headed for Frontier Land. Erika didn't want to do
the Haunted House- she rode it last time, and wasn't crazy about it. We
walked on around to Adventure Land, marveling at how busy the park was
again. Perhaps the early closing? Erika and I rode Aladdin's Magic
Carpets, a ride new to us- yawn. Definitely for little kids. Then we went
onto Pirates, a ride we all love- even Erika. She and Bonnie were both
startled by the water drop, though. There was no wait for this classic,
which surprised me. In earlier years, the lines here could be huge. I
hope that's not a bad sign for the future of the ride.
We then walked into the Tiki Birds show, which we really enjoyed.
Afterwards, I took Erika up into the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse, a
journey I hadn't made since my own kids were little. We talked about how
things worked on there, especially the water system, and Erika asked
really good questions. We took our time & enjoyed it a lot. My wife has a
serious fear of heights, which keeps her off of things like this. We then
shopped a little on our way to the monorail. Then over to Contemporary
for 6:00pm PS at Chef Mickey's. There was a 20min wait, so we grabbed
seats in the lounge, ordered drinks, and relaxed- for 2mins, when we were
called to our table. As always, the food here is very good, with good
variety and presentation. Erika had lot's of character visits and photos,
and we were all happy. We were also dead tired after dinner, not having
our usual long mid-day rest, so we returned to our resort, rather than
hitting the Disney Village as originally planned. We were back to the
resort by 8:00pm, relaxed around the pool & then watched Amazing Race on
TV- to bed by 11:00pm.
