Observations on our trip to WDW

[brandtb]

Hello All,

I'm not so sure I'll be as eloquent as some of the other folks that have been posting their trip reports here, but as we enjoyed our week I made a number of mental notes that I wanted to commit to something more permanent.

This series of notes was initially intended as blog entries elsewhere to the "less informed" when it comes to All Things Disney...I realize that some of my descriptions are unnecessary for this group, so please bear with me. There are many here whose experiences are far greater than mine, and I only wish to share my thoughts and observations on what happened to be probably our best family vacation ever.

Pictures will be sparse at the beginning, but I'll post some of those as I go along (once I pass my ten post limit).

My name is Brandt Barretto, and my wife Terese and six year-old son Paul were the characters in this series of reports.

...Entries to follow...

 

[brandtb]

Observations on a week at Disney World, Part 1: Logistics and the Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa

Well, we have just returned (read: late Sunday night) from our Big Family Vacation at Disney World. This time we did things somewhat differently. Here are some of the things:

1) We drove. It took a little more than ten hours including a stop for one sit-down meal, a gas break, and a rest stop break on the return trip. Not bad. Going south, we stopped overnight in Savannah and took a trolley tour to break it up. Also a good experience.

2) Instead of booking reservations online, I rented points from a Disney Vacation Club member. This resulted in a 66% savings in our lodging expense. This was MASSIVE and cut the total cost of our vacation by about 50%.

3) We purchased a AAA Diamond Parking Pass for Disney World from somebody on eBay for $5.99. This allowed us to skip the bus system and get preferred parking at all of the parks -- meaning we got to park next to the handicapped section and had a relatively short walk to the park entrances, save Magic Kingdom which still requires a monorail or ferry ride across the lake (even for the handicapped folks).

Every trip to WDW is different, but these things made this trip even more different than our previous sojourns to The Land of the Mouse.

We stayed at Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa, which is a Disney Vacation Club (DVC) resort. Their greeting upon returning is always "Welcome Home" as most of the folks are DVC members, which is really just a time share with some added benefits.

Saratoga Springs is a Very Large resort across the lake from Downtown Disney. We stayed in the Congress Park section in a corner of the resort. It wasn't exactly convenient to the main pool and eating facilities, but since we had our car we could take a quick trip over and park relatively close.

The main pool is very good. They have a water slide, multiple shallow sections, and a zero-entry section for the littlest ones and the handicapped. In typical Disney style, it is thematically blended in with the resort to make swimming more of an "experience".

Also, co-located with the pools are laundry facilities, which are free. You have to either buy or supply your own detergent, but it's a nice added feature even if the machines do a mediocre job at best cleaning your clothes. At least you can swim while waiting for the machines to do their work. And, packing lighter is always a good thing -- and besides, you always get some new Mickey-Wear while you're there.

Positives about Saratoga Springs:

- Great pools, including a small pool a short walk from our room
- Studio room was spacious, kitchenette worked well for us
- Room was tastefully decorated and comfortable
- Free use of laundry machines
- The staff - they are friendly everywhere, but they still deserve a mention
- Easy to navigate to and from when driving around the area

Negatives about Saratoga Springs:

- The counter service restaurant (the Artist's Palette) is co-located with the store. It is small and the layout is confusing. Also, I thought that the food choices were a bit limited and I would have liked to have seen more seating.
- This is a Big resort. If you don't have your own car, you'll either walk a long way to things or wait for the resort buses to take you places.

Geek Facts That Only I Seem to Care About:

- We did the trip home in one day. It took us ten hours, fifteen minutes to go the 627 miles that Google Maps reports door-to-door. This resulted in an average speed of 61mph, including stops.

- High speeds really wreck your gas mileage. We got about 28-29 mpg on the trip. At more modest speeds, we've done up to 32 mpg in the same car.

 

[brandtb]

Observations on a week at Disney World, Part 2: People Watching and Timing

Another thing that made this vacation to Disney World different was the composition of the crowd. It was very different from previous visits and worth mentioning.

There were a lot of foreign folks visiting Disney World. Many more than I have seen in previous visits. Before you get all huffy about me being a xenophobe, I'll tell you that you have got it all wrong...this is a GOOD thing.

I think that this has to do a lot with the economic troubles that our nation is facing. Fewer Americans are vacationing this year -- our last visit was in October of 2006 and there were plenty of kids there and a higher percentage of Americans relative to foreign visitors.

Not only are fewer Americans visiting The House of Mouse, but this higher percentage of foreign visitors is bringing their foreign money into our economy. That is a Very Good Thing.

It struck me as we walked around that I heard a lot more foreign languages than I was accustomed to as I wandered the parks this visit. There were also a lot of visitors from the UK -- I think we all know that the British Pound will get you lots of good 'ol American Dollars...the exchange rate seems very much in favor of our friends from abroad.

SPOTTING THE AMERICANS

Now, on a less fun note -- it was easy to tell who the Americans were for the most part:

They were the fat ones. Not just fat, but OBESE. Sure there had to be some heavy foreign folk, but it was pretty obvious that the larger folks were overwhelmingly American.

I know that I am no shining example of fitness and health, but I felt downright petite at times. There were more of those electric scooters at the the parks than I have ever seen before, and it wasn't just old people riding them. Plenty of folks close to my age (plus or minus ten years) were rolling along on these rented conveniences.

Now, I could stand to lose more than a few pounds...a lot more than a few -- but when I was in the parks, I WALKED in those parks -- sweating profusely with a knapsack on my back containing our daily necessities (I'll write a chapter on WDW travel hints later).

Sure, my feet hurt and I got my share of blisters -- but I'll be d@mned if I will succumb to one of those scooters.

For a moment, I though I was watching Wall-E again...that movie might have been for kids, but I found it to be a troubling statement of the human condition -- further borne out in this trip to WDW.

For those of you who haven't see Wall-E, the setting was the not-to-distant future and the world's citizens were living in space-borne resorts having their every need catered to while robots on Earth cleaned up the huge mess left behind by humankind. All of the people on the ships were hugely obese and carried around in these automatic reclining carts while they Super-sized everything and didn't think or do anything for themselves. The scary part is that it could become true and we are well on our way...we need to do better.

FLORIDA IN SEPTEMBER

When one thinks of September, one thinks that the summer heat is behind you and the days are starting to cool.

Not so this past week in Florida.

Each day was around 90, with your typical Florida high humidity. It felt like North Carolina in early August, but more humid.

So, there is a reason why Disney considers September to be part of the Value Season. Not only do kids go back to school, but it's still very hot and humid. When we went in 2006, we went in early October and it wasn't so uncomfortably warm -- and we also now know why October isn't part of the Value Season at WDW.

Part of the load in my knapsack was a few water bottles. We also got some of the Crystal Light single serving flavoring and hydration packets. The flavoring made it easier to get fluids into Paul as we went from attraction to attraction, and we felt better knowing that he was keeping hydrated (and us, too!).

THE GOOD PART OF FLORIDA IN SEPTEMBER

This year, the crowds were pretty light in the parks. Don't be fooled -- there were still a LOT of people vacationing at WDW, but comparatively speaking it was light.

As a result of this, we didn't have to wait in a lot of long lines to go on rides or see attractions. In many cases, wait times were 5 to 10 minutes. We only needed the Fast-Pass to get on Test Track at Epcot.

On Saturday at Animal Kingdom, I walked on to the Expedition Everest roller coaster three times in a row. Three times! No wait time, just walk through the line and stand by a few moments for the next clear train.

Next chapter: Highlights and Disney Magic

 

[brandtb]

Observations on a week at Disney World, Part 3: Highlights and Magic Moments

I have come to the conclusion that the most overused word when referring to any of the Disney properties is the word "Magic".

You see "Magic" on the advertisements on TV and in print...Phone calls with Disney Cast Members end with "Have a Magical Day"...and it doesn't stop there.

You hear the word "Magic" left and right and before long you want to heave your guts because of the sickly-sweetness of it all.

But, do you wanna know something?

They are right.

I hate to say it, but it really is a Magical Place. There are so many things you just don't see or experience anywhere else and I've said before that the staff members really work hard to earn your precious vacation dollars. I'm generally not given to such schmaltzy hype...haven't we seen the commercials for too many "special episodes" of our favorite TV shows a little too frequently?

It makes you think of the "It's a Small World" ride in Magic Kingdom...the place is so disgustingly, revoltingly, sickeningly sweet that you almost need an insulin shot when you get off the ride.

But why do we get on that ride again and again? I guess it's because Uncle Walt (Disney) did a really good job of finding ways for us to leave the day-to-day behind so we could lose ourselves in flights of fancy and whimsical moments that we wouldn't otherwise consider.

Okay, enough of the "philosophizing"...there really was a point to this. You don't go down there and expect "the magic" to happen, but you have to leave yourself open to it. It won't come unbidden, either. But you'd be surprised to find out how easy it is when you spare a few moments of kindness or just "ask real nice" for something.

Case in point:

In 2002, Terese and I visited The House of Mouse and stayed in Port Orleans - Riverside (formerly known as Dixie Landings to you old-school folk). They had a full-service restaurant for all meals and we fell in love with their specialty breakfast dish:

Strawberry-Banana French Toast

As Terese and I discussed where we wanted to stay for our 2006 visit, I'd suggest Riverside and tempt her with the French Toast. In fact, I'd pick up Paul and hold him suspended in the air like Superman and dangle him in her face while saying "Strawberry Banana French Toooaaaast!".

We ended up staying elsewhere and didn't get over to Riverside because getting there by bus would have been too challenging with a three year-old.

This time, we had our car and it was a short drive over to Riverside. So, on Wednesday morning I dangled the now sixty-pound Paul (he ain't fat, he's built like a brick sh*thouse and I hope that he stays that way) over Terese with the classic "french toast" chant that has become a running joke in our household.

So, we get to Riverside only to find out that the restaurant is not open for breakfast anymore. Even worse, they only stopped breakfast service last February -- The Powers That Be decided that in comparing the resort value with other Moderate Resorts, it made sense to not serve breakfast because comparable resorts didn't have a table service breakfast offering.

Rather dejected, we walked over to the counter-service eatery and Terese found a Cast Member there and asked her about the restaurant closure. We told this young woman how we had stayed there seven years ago and had really enjoyed that particular dish.

She suggested that one of the chefs who prepared it was still around and that she would ask if he could find the ingredients to make it. A few minutes later, she said that the chef had what he needed and would be happy to prepare it for us the following morning as there were some extended preparations that needed to be made.

We thanked this Cast Member (whose name was Lori) profusely and went about our day.

The next morning at the appointed time, we showed up back at Riverside and the young lady was expecting us. She told us to find a table and that she'd let Chef Ernesto know that we were there. Before long, we were presented with two plates of the tender delicacy known as Strawberry Banana French Toast. Lori took us to the register where they were instructed to charge us for a simple plate of (ordinary) French Toast and we triumphantly walked it to our table.

We bit into our little bit of culinary heaven...Lori stopped by and I got up and gave her a big hug and thank you for making this happen for us. She talked with us for a few moments longer and then went about her day. Minutes later, Chef Ernesto comes out to ask us how we are enjoying our breakfast and he was also greeted with enthusiastic thanks which he graciously accepted. He also presented us with the recipe for this dish!

Realizing that these Cast Members have gone an extra few miles for us, I go in search of some Management after we finish eating so that I can tell them about the great kindness and exceptional efforts of these people.

A merchandising manager comes out with a worried look on her face until I tell her that I am here to tell her "Good Things" only -- knowing that she probably hears a lot more complaints than compliments. I tell her our story and she gives me some comment cards that we can fill out so that these people will be recognized in front of their peers for their good deeds. In doing so, we are presented with some free pins for taking the time to do this for the Cast Members.

We learn that Lori is the manager of the food operation and we make sure that she and Ernesto get glowing reviews for their kindness and willingness to create a little Disney Magic for their guests.

...and it doesn't end there.

The next day, we were back in Epcot for a more extended look at the sights and sounds of Future World. After Test Track and lunch, we headed back to The Seas because Paul wanted to go back to the aquarium and ride the Nemo ride.

As we exit the Nemo ride, there is a scuba demonstration in progress. A group of folks is gathered around while a young lady is talking to the rapt audience. She asks the group "Does anyone know what SCUBA stands for?"

Being a card-carrying geek, I blurt out "Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus" (many of you know I am killer at trivia games) and the young lady jokingly gives me "fifty points" for knowing the answer. The demonstration continues and her partner in crime jumps in and gives us a show in scuba gear.

Shortly after, we are in the main observation area of the aquarium when they start to close off a section for the feeding time for the fish. Young kids (including Paul) are invited to sit in front as long as they sit "criss-cross applesauce". We had parked ourselves in a corner on the floor, mesmerized by our finned friends when we realize that we are in the area to be roped off. We notice that the same young lady who was doing the scuba demonstration is also going to describe the feeding practices and we ask her if we need to move.

She says that she was going to stand where we happened to be sitting, but then notices that I was the one who gave the answer during her previous demonstration...so she says to me "give me 'the eyes' and maybe I'll let you sit there".

I pull out one of my best "pathetic looks" complete with quivering lip and she immediately melts and tells us that we can remain there. At the end of the feeding, we stand up and thank her for allowing us to remain sitting in our corner. We go through the usual "where are you from?" stuff and then she offers us a special treat.

She offers to take us up to the top so we can see the aquarium tanks from above. How cool is that?

We saw the platform where the divers carried the food down into the tank and got to speak with them briefly. One of the divers was the young man who did the diving part of the scuba demonstration and also recognized me as the "answer guy" -- greeting us with kind words and a welcome to this inner sanctum of The Seas.

She also showed us the special area where fish needing extra care are kept. These are the recent hatchlings, the ones who need medical procedures. Needless to say, it was a Very Cool Experience.

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS

We were at Magic Kingdom on Thursday night for the fireworks and the Spectromagic Parade. This is the current version of the famous Electric Parade of years past. The parade has all of the main characters, and the fireworks display is expertly choreographed to the music and narration for maximum impact -- and let us not forget Tinkerbell flying off the castle and lighting up brightly and waving to the crowd as she sails through the air.

In general, we stumbled on to parades during the days that we were in the parks. The energy of the performers and characters can't help but sweep you in. We saw parades in Disney Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom (a day parade), and Animal Kingdom. In each case, we happened upon them and stayed to watch.

It was a real trip to watch Paul get into it. We've even got some video of him on the verge of dancing at Animal Kingdom.

This is the stuff that we wanted to experience firsthand when we were kids watching the Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday nights on NBC or Mickey Mouse Club reruns. We were begging our parents to go do this, and even as adults we still can't resist a visit to Uncle Walt's House for a week of his brand of family entertainment.

And even some of that "M-word".

 

[angela3676]

I loved reading every bit of your observations! Thank you for sharing.

 

[brandtb]

I loved reading every bit of your observations! Thank you for sharing.

Thanks for the kind words...I will post more as I can.

 

[brandtb]

Observations on a week at Disney World, Part 4: Monday and Tuesday


Just because a moment isn't Magic doesn't make it any less special. There were the exceptional experiences, which I have recounted before -- and there are the daily experiences as you navigate the parks and resort areas

It's no mystery to those who know us that our son Paul is a total Star Wars freak. Anything and everything to do with it seems to be foremost in his mind at all times -- his award in his kindergarten class last year was "The Person Most Likely to Work With George Lucas on the Next Star Wars Film".

On our first full day in the House of Mouse, we went to Disney Hollywood Studios (DHS). The highlight there: Star Tours.

Now, Paul has dealt with some minor Sensory Integration issues that make anything that affect his equilibrium a real challenge. Because of this, even mild thrill rides don't appeal to him.

But then there's Star Tours. He was so engrossed in the experience that he didn't mind the jerking around. As soon as we got off the first time, we turned around and went right back in. Then, when Terese showed up (long story, ain't gettin' into it) we got in for another go-round.

Since the crowds were relatively sparse, we waited no more than a few minutes the first time, and pretty much walked on every time thereafter. Every time, he was enraptured at being immersed in the Star Wars Universe even if for a brief moment.

As we waited for Terese to show, we also hopped onto the Great Movie Ride with virtually no wait (getting the picture here?). The first time through, he took it in pretty calmly, but later with Terese (in the front of the car), we were a lot closer to some of the experiences, namely the Alien coming down from the ceiling and the Wicked Witch threatening to get us (and our little dog, too).

Funny thing about kids...they don't always know what they want. We had a hard time getting Paul to go into the Muppets 3D show...he was adamant about not wanting to go in. As we left he grudgingly admitted that maybe it was kinda sorta maybe fun. Same thing a little later with the Backlot Tour.

We had to get back to the resort at a certain time so that we could leave Paul with a babysitter so Terese and I could have an "adults only" dinner. Waiting for the bus was painful -- it took about half an hour and we barely made it back to the resort before the "appointed time".

When setting up dining reservations a few weeks before, I was constantly asked if we were "celebrating something". Now, I had originally wanted to schedule this vacation for early October to coincide with our wedding anniversary on October 6, so I said for the dinner in DHS that we would be celebrating our anniversary that night at the Brown Derby.

I didn't tell my wife about it. When we left again for DHS, we decided to try the AAA Diamond Pass and get there a little faster. Again, as a card-carrying geek, I had watched the bus driver and I knew that I could navigate back without worrying too hard about the signage.

Sure enough, the Diamond Pass was a blessing. We parked right next to the handicapped section and walked a relatively short distance back into the park. I then presented her with the "Happy Anniversary" buttons that I had surreptitiously acquired from the Concierge the previous day and told her that we would have an early anniversary celebration this night as well as an opportunity to ride the Tower of Terror and the Aerosmith roller coaster.

Dinner at the Brown Derby was its usual high-class affair and the rib-eyes were delectable. We wandered about "digesting" for a short time before hitting the Tower of Terror and then the Aerosmith roller coaster twice successively. I think our longest wait of the week was the second wait for the roller coaster, and it was a pretty tolerable fifteen minutes.

Tuesday saw our first visit to the Magic Kingdom, and much like the previous day, we pretty much walked right on to rides.

Pirates of the Carribbean? Walked on. Twice in a row.

Aladdin's Magic Carpet? Waited one cycle. Again, twice in a row.

Teacups? Winnie the Pooh? Dumbo? Mickey's Philharmagic? Small World? Boom, baby! Right in, or one cycle at most.

Peter Pan? Fifteen whole minutes. An aberration.

We stumbled on to the afternoon parade and boogied down with some characters. We left early for a swim, some laundry, and relief for our aching feet. We knew we would be back in MK on Thursday, and the focus then would be the evening festivities -- namely the parade and fireworks.

After a hot, humid day in the parks, the dip in the small pool in Saratoga Springs' Congress Park was a small taste of heaven. From there, the laundry was easily monitored. Dinner was a bit late, and bedtime even later -- but hey, we're on vacation.

Next: An aside into what I call Disney Style

 

[brandtb]

Observations on a week at Disney World, Part 5: Disney Style

I think that one of the things that brings people back to the Disney resorts and theme parks is the amazing attention to detail, or what I like to refer to as "Disney Style". Another way of describing it is "total immersion" and it is one of the ways that they offer not only value, but a more effective means of leaving your day-to-day realities behind.

I was reminded of this our first full day at Disney Hollywood Studios as I walked through the various attractions and noted the droid workshop with active repairs in progress at Star Tours, complete with a dinged-up shuttle, or the musty, crusty, dusty, rusty basement at the Tower of Terror, or the recording studio and parking garage in the Aerosmith roller coaster.

Epcot also does this well with the crash test dummy workshop and vehicle proving grounds at Test Track, or the crazy fountains at the Imagination Pavilion. And how about the quasi-academic atmosphere at the Imagination Institute with a perfectly-cast Eric Idle as Chairman? Or the fountains that shoot water from place to place including right over your head? Since my first visit in 1988, I can't help but turn into a kid again when I see that.

Let us also not forget the sheer scale and precision of the fountain at the center of Futureworld at Epcot...I'm sure that superior examples exist elsewhere, but I've not seen them in my own admittedly limited travels.

There's a lot more...and other folks have dedicated books to this, so I don't really feel the need to rant, rave, gush, or whatever.

From the time that you enter an attraction to the moment you are thrust into the post-ride merchandising (yeah, it's lame, but they're in it to make money -- I walk right through them without a second look), Disney creates an experience that doesn't fail to suck you in -- and in the process it becomes much more than an amusement park ride or show.

All of these things and more have raised the bar for other theme parks and resorts and we, the consumers have been the beneficiaries of this. In this age of insurance services getting more expensive with fewer benefits amid record profits -- or record profits by oil companies while gas prices continue to rise...

Disney isn't perfect -- over the years I've seen all-inclusive park admissions diminish into park hopper, water park, and non-expiring tiers while prices rose -- or the dining plans removing appetizers and no longer including gratuities while the prices don't change.

At the same time, they continue to improve attractions and also offer enhanced services like Magical Express, which takes care of luggage and makes getting from the airport to the resort a much less stressful experience.

The difference is that Disney gets our discretionary dollars -- so they have to work for it. Oil companies and the insurance industries have us "over the barrel", because for many Americans these things are a necessary evil and end up on the have-to-pay list.

Despite all of this, it's the Disney Style and attention to details that is among the things that bring us back time and time again.

 

[brandtb]

Observations on a week at Disney World, Part 6: Wednesday and Thursday

Before I get back into it, one of the things we told Paul when we announced that we were going to WDW was there would be No Bedtime. At a place like that, you can't enforce it anyway -- and unless you have separate bedrooms the reality of it is that everyone goes to bed at the same time.

So, out of necessity, all of our evenings were late by Paul's standards, and some even late by ours considering the amount of activities we had participated in on a given day. The saviors for Terese and I were acetaminophen and ibuprofen to ward off the "ooches" and "eeches" that are the direct result of a long day walking in Florida's Heat and Humidity.

At a band practice not long ago, my friend Sal -- who had lived in Florida for many years -- remarked about our complaints of humidity in North Carolina that it was "fairly dry if you compare it to Florida". I was given to believe him at the time at a conceptual level, and the reality of it was driven home during our stay last week.

As a consequence of the late nights (if you want to call it that), we also had (relatively) late mornings. There were no mornings where we rose before 8:30am, and usually it was much later. Being a sufferer of sleep apnea, I use a CPAP machine nightly, a gizmo we have affectionately dubbed the "Snore-Be-Gone". My machine was recently replaced with a rather whiz-bang model and among its features is the display of average nightly usage over 7 and 30 days.

I bring this up because I averaged *more than* eight-and-a-half hours a night throughout the week we were there. This was a good indicator that we kept busy and slept hard last week. I know that I did not go through my days feeling tired all day.

So, this brings us to Wednesday, which you can guess was not an early day. We had not planned on visiting any parks this day, we had instead planned on taking it easy and doing laundry and just plain hanging out. Since it was a "free" day, I picked up Paul and did the "Strawberry Banana French Toast" chant to Terese -- and with that we headed off to Port Orleans Riverside. I've already told that story of how the restaurant closed, so I'll just say that we went back to Saratoga Springs to hang out.

The laundry had been done the night before out of necessity (meaning multiple changes of clothes per day), so that meant that our one have-to-do was already done. Terese wanted to go over to Downtown Disney to find some lighter, more weather-appropriate clothing, so Paul and I went ahead over to the Big Pool in the central part of Saratoga Springs.

Like good campers, we immediately hit the water slide and spent several easy hours just splashing and hanging out. The pool had plenty of people, but it was far from crowded. Terese eventually joined us in our splashing around. Since we didn't have dinner reservations made and our have-to-do's were done, we decided that we would head over to Epcot and maybe (or not) catch Illuminations, and grab some grub.

The last time we went to Epcot, Paul was only three and frankly, he didn't "get it". This time, it was a completely different story. Immediately, he was drawn to Spaceship Earth, which we rode twice in a row. Did I mention the lack of wait times? Plus, he really liked the activities you could participate in after getting off the ride and "building your own future". With each ride, our pictures got wackier as we made silly faces to superimpose on the computer images.

From there, we headed to The Seas for our first visit there (not The Visit, but still fun) and experienced the Nemo ride and then watched Paul bounce like a pinball through the aquarium and other exhibits.

It was getting onto dinner time, and we figured that we'd need to find a counter-service place to eat. After some walking and gnashing of teeth (mostly on Picky Paul's part), we ended up at The Land pavilion and ate our counter service there. I had a pretty fair Cashew Chicken, while Terese had a big salad with chicken, and Paul had the ubiquitous PBJ.

When we left The Land, we debated on what we wanted to do next -- Soaring was backed up and Fastpasses were done for the day -- a rare exception this trip. As we all know, a day in the heat and humidity takes a lot out of you -- and after two furious days of parks, we decided to take it easy and head back for a (relatively) early night with a quick detour first.

For giggles, we boarded a monorail and took a quick round-trip to the transportation center so that Paul could see what the "cool train" was like. As we returned to Epcot, we saw bits and pieces of the fireworks at MK and then trudged to the car for the quick ride back.

I'm not recalling why, but we stopped at the Carriage House at Saratoga Springs before returning to our room and noticed that they were showing a movie at the pool on a large, inflatable (yes, inflatable) screen. We sat for a short time and watched some of Enchanted before showers and bedtime.

Besides, tomorrow we were going for Strawberry Banana French Toast!

Knowing that we wouldn't be up early, we had told Lori at Riverside that we would arrive on Thursday morning around 10am. Again, I have already told this story -- suffice it to say that the Strawberry Banana French Toast was nothing short of yummy-licious.

Our next destination would be a return to the Magic Kingdom. We planned on hitting the parade and fireworks that night, so we knew that we would not need an early start seeing as that we would be there Very Late.

More Pool-Foolery ensued at The Big Pool with more attention paid to sunscreen on Paul's face.

As an aside, he has always referred to it as "Sun-Scream" because the spray cans of sunscreen are ColdColdCold when you apply their contents to young skin. After another warmest part of the day spent basking in the pool, we showered and got in the car to Magic Kingdom.

The AAA Diamond Pass was again awesome as we were one space over from the handicapped folks. Many of you know that you still have to get a ferry or monorail ride across/around the Seven Seas Lagoon to get to the front gate -- we were hoping that the great exodus after the festivities would not be too arduous.

The trip from parking lot section Dopey 102 (I got the picture to prove it) to Main Street USA didn't take too long and Terese immediately went in search of The Place from which we would watch the parade and fireworks. Knowing that Paul wouldn't tolerate sitting and waiting, I took him off to Tomorrowland where we hit the Buzz ride again and also went to Stitch's Great Escape. The latter was pretty cool, but I thought it a bit intense for the target audience. Paul was scared at the time, but when we were done it went from "scary" to "pretty cool".

We found Terese back in front of the castle and prepared to wait the last twenty minutes for the parade to begin. Terese immediately requested popcorn and bottled water (we had lots of snacks remaining on the Dining Plan) and I braved The Crowd to acquire same -- after giving her lots of *** looks knowing that navigating the ever-increasing parade-and-fireworks crowd was only going to get much more difficult, especially on the return trip. I made my way over to the popcorn kiosk with other frazzled parents then ventured "once more unto the breach" to deliver the goods to Terese and Paul.

I got back in plenty of time. 8pm came and went while the parade crept down Main Street. Impatient people everywhere squirmed in anticipation when Jiminy Cricket announced that it was almost upon us. It had just gotten dark when the parade hit us. We sat on a wall and could still see a lot of stuff despite the masses (washed and unwashed) standing in front of us. Standing, we had a great view. Paul stood on the wall and gawked in wonder. Terese was probably watching Paul as much as the parade just to take in his reactions.

When the parade passed us, we still had fifteen minutes to the fireworks -- and an increasingly tired and impatient six year-old demanded to know when they would start.

The good news is that they were worth waiting for, if only to see Tinkerbell light up and wave to the crowd as she flew off the castle. I still think it's nuts that anyone would want to do that, but hey, let's remember where we are.

Knowing that the unwashed masses would sprint for the exits at the conclusion of the fireworks, we deliberately took our time by walking through the castle into a now-quiet Fantasyland, taking rest room breaks, getting a scoop of ice cream (Paul still doesn't navigate the cone very well -- he hasn't grasped that you have to keep it upright and constantly be on the patrol for drips around the cone), followed by another rest room break to wash sticky ice cream off young hands. By that time, Main Street had just about closed down and we walked to the ferry for a ride across. We climbed the stairs to the upper deck of the ferry to take advantage of a better breeze before hitting Dopey-Lot and riding back to Saratoga Springs for our evening "Welcome Home".

We had packed our swimsuits in the car, so we cruised over to the pool to catch part of 101 Dalmatians (the animated version) and cool off before heading back to our room. Terese and Paul camped in the shallow end within sight of the screen while I bobbed around and cooled off and enjoyed having some of the pressure taken off of my feet. When the movie ended, we gradually made our way out of the pool and back to the room.

The pre-bedtime showers were a blessing and bedtime even sweeter. We had hit a good rhythm, but there were now fewer vacation days ahead of us than now behind us. How could it be that this vacation was passing so quickly?

Next up: Fun times and Dopey moves at Epcot and then Animal Kingdom with our little animal...

 

[minnie_michelle]

Observations on a week at Disney World, Part 2: People Watching and Timing


SPOTTING THE AMERICANS

Now, on a less fun note -- it was easy to tell who the Americans were for the most part:

They were the fat ones. Not just fat, but OBESE. Sure there had to be some heavy foreign folk, but it was pretty obvious that the larger folks were overwhelmingly American.

I know that I am no shining example of fitness and health, but I felt downright petite at times. There were more of those electric scooters at the the parks than I have ever seen before, and it wasn't just old people riding them. Plenty of folks close to my age (plus or minus ten years) were rolling along on these rented conveniences.

Now, I could stand to lose more than a few pounds...a lot more than a few -- but when I was in the parks, I WALKED in those parks -- sweating profusely with a knapsack on my back containing our daily necessities (I'll write a chapter on WDW travel hints later).

Sure, my feet hurt and I got my share of blisters -- but I'll be d@mned if I will succumb to one of those scooters.

For a moment, I though I was watching Wall-E again...that movie might have been for kids, but I found it to be a troubling statement of the human condition -- further borne out in this trip to WDW.

For those of you who haven't see Wall-E, the setting was the not-to-distant future and the world's citizens were living in space-borne resorts having their every need catered to while robots on Earth cleaned up the huge mess left behind by humankind. All of the people on the ships were hugely obese and carried around in these automatic reclining carts while they Super-sized everything and didn't think or do anything for themselves. The scary part is that it could become true and we are well on our way...we need to do better.

You could not have said it any better. It is sad to see what America is becoming....I posted something similar in another thread and was jumped all over by people that have real medical conditions where they can't walk for long periods of time. Of course, I understand this, but what about the other 95% using the scooters because they refuse to get in better shape and avoid gaining vacation weight by actually walking around the parks.