The 3rd Installment of the 9 Year WDW Visit Interval Plan

[texbob]

Being a DIS Noob, I guess procedure is to come back here and put in a table of contents and such as time goes on but for now I will just kick it right off.

About 3 months ago, a vote was undertaken in the house over which snow covered mountain we wanted to see this spring break:

or

By a decisive 2-1 vote, the concrete variety was chosen. Yours truely voted for the powerdy type but don't let this make you think I didn't glady agree to the warmer mountain. I am a WDW freak too so once the vote was taken, I was fully on board.

Oh, and no, we are not going to DL. WDW is the destination but for the purposes of this PTR, the Matterhorn fit nicely.

Who are we?

Well, we are a family with Disney on the brain but we really haven't been that often for one reason or another. DW and I visited DL many times growing up, and it was actually part of an early date when we first met. DW and I have now been married nearly 22 years. On a recent visit to DL, DD took this photo in front of the before mentioned object of voting:

DD?

Well, she is well past 16 and growing up fast and next thing we know, she will be gone so the thought is to spend the money now and enjoy these memories before it is too late.

We have also added a new surrogate family member: DDBF. Yes, DD's best friend if that is the appropriate way of putting things. DDBF accompanied us on trip to California a few years ago which included a two day visit to DL. It worked out so well that DDBF won an all expense paid trip to WDW in 1 week.

Here are the two participating in a hula hoop contest at DL in front of a Beach Boys tribute band:

DD won the contest so she had the honor of trying a dozen or so at once:

Still to come:

- some reflective looks back at past trips to WDW
- some idea of our plan even though it is only a week away

 

[texbob]

I guess I have already messed up. I meant to put this in the Pre-Trip Report Thread. Sorry. I can't figure out how to move it.

 

[texbob]

I thought I would go way way back to my first trip to Disneyland in 1975.

I have a project to digitize 1000's of family slides; however, this has been stalled for 2 years because I can't figure out a good way to do it with spending $$$$ to have someone else do it. I finally settled on using the slide projector to project the slide onto a white piece of paper from a few feet away. This seems to keep the image relatively sharp, and then I use my DSLR (Olympus E-510) on a tripod to capture the image. After a simple crop and autocorrect, I am getting a useable image.

Since this trip is upcoming, i wanted to go down memory lane, and I dug up a few old DL photo's. There wasn't much - I guess my dad was trying to conserve valuable 35mm film in the days before unlimited digital memory.

Anyway, my first drive at 13:

Being the year prior to the Bicentennial, the parade had a definite patriotic look to it:

Check out this retro-monorail:

 

[texbob]

Fast forward to the fall of 1990. We decided to take a last trip with freedom....er......no kids. Always knowing that 5 years of marraige would end with a plan for kids, this would be our last trip with this in mind. So, we combined 4 days at WDW with a cruise out of Miami.

I tried to find a few things showing what was then current events at WDW such as this stage for a musical based on "Dick Tracy" at MGM Studios. It was actually very entertaining:

Has everybody forgotten about Roger Rabbit?

What's 1990 about this photo? Well, it has to be those big round glasses as fashioned by DW. Oh yeah, and those semi-short shorts of mine. DD laughed loudly and was highly embarrassed by this photo.

Oh yeah, Goofy. DW's favorite character:

 

[texbob]

Maybe it is time to tell you our plans. Hopefully someone is watching, and once again, sorry for posting this in the regular Trip Report section. I should have known better.

We are traveling Mar 15-21. I know, I know, probably the worst week in 2008 to go to WDW with Easter being the following Sunday. "Unofficial Guide" lists this week as a 9-10 on a scale of 1 to 10 for crowds.

My goal is to make this a photography outing (more on that later) so if the crowd starts to get me down, I plan to excuse myself and take pictures around the parks and not worry about the throngs of people we are sure to encounter.

We are staying at All Star Music and will try out the family suites. Since we made a late reservation, this about the only thing available other than some place in the Deluxe category. But further research reveals that this might actually be a great option for the 4 of us.

I have to go on a business trip this week so I won't be arriving until Sunday night. The rest of the crew flies in on Saturday.

So, after much debate and discussion, here is our touring plan:

Sunday (without me) - Magic Kingdom
Monday - Animal Kingdom
Tuesday - Typhoon Lagoon and Epcot
Wednesday - Epcot
Thursday - Hollywood Studios
Friday - Magic Kingdom with departure late in the day

Food:

We signed up for the Dining Plan, and our ADR's are:

Sunday - Chef Mickey's (late so I can join everybody else)
Monday - Wolfgang Pucks
Tuesday - Spoodles
Wednesday - Rose and Crown (with the hope of watching Illuminations from the deck)
Thursday - Mama Melrose
Friday - lunch at Liberty Tavern

The only thing that worries me is Spoodles. How are we going to get from the Boardwalk back to All Star Music? Still thinking about this.

Oh, and Typhoon Lagoon: During our trip in 1999, I learned how to body surf from where the waves start breaking all the way to the other end. It was an incredible ride. I watched some Australian dude doing it so I asked him about his technique. He basically said to swim downhill when the wave reaches you. After a few tries, it worked! I can't wait to try again.

 

[texbob]

Zip forward to 1999.

It was the first trip for DD to any Disney property. Something we talked about for quite some time. One of my favorite moments of that trip was the walk through the turnstiles and the look on DD's face (age 7) as we walked down Main Street. I am not sure she really knew what to think.

I didn't bring a camera on this trip - only an old analog Sony 8mm camcorder so the following are screen captures of the video.

DD and DW as they walk under the Main Street RR Station:

Of course, like father, DD gets her first drive on Indy Speedway

This was the trip for character autographs.

We did an impromptu dinner at Chef Mickeys. By the time we got there, we were tired, cranky, arguing, bad moods, etc. However, Chef Mickey's and the napkin twirling eliminated all that. We all agreed that this was the #1 priority for an ADR this coming trip.

DW again with her favorite. Gee, am I thought of as goofy too?

 

[Nicole786]

Great resport so far!! The "Patti" and "Doug" In your DD autograph book...does that refer to the "Doug" of Nickelodeon times??

 

[texbob]

Great resport so far!! The "Patti" and "Doug" In your DD autograph book...does that refer to the "Doug" of Nickelodeon times??

Was Doug and Patti from Nickelodeon? I thought it might have been Disney Channel but yes, it refers to those two. There was also a musical play based on the cartoon in what was then MGM Studios.

 

[Nicole786]

Was Doug and Patti from Nickelodeon? I thought it might have been Disney Channel but yes, it refers to those two. There was also a musical play based on the cartoon in what was then MGM Studios.

It was Nickelodeon first, for years and than it was moved over to ABC saturday morning cartoons which might explain the MGM thing. Man! I can't believe I missed that! I'm a little older than your DD, but I was head over heels in love with that show!

 

[texbob]

I will try to dig up a video image of the "Doug" musical. I videotaped nearly the entire thing.

 

[texbob]

I found it although the quality is a little poor:

 

[texbob]

I'll try one more retrospective trip report.

Lets go to 2005 and a trip in a car from Houston to California and back via Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. Disneyland was the highlight and the ultimate goal. DD and DDBF were along for this trip in what would be a warmup and trial run for the trip in about 6 days.

Oh by the way, the photos seen in this thread show a progression of technology: 35mm film with an ancient Yashica Electro 35, a Pentax ME Super SLR, an 8mm Sony Camcorder, and finally here, a Sony Cybershot 3.2MP digicam. I can't wait to try out my Olympus E-500 for this upcoming trip.

Anyway, I have seen a similar image before on other TR's and I wished I took a similar shot until I realized I did!

It is always surprising how much smaller Sleeping Beauty Castle is than Cinderella's Castle.

Probably the funniest thing I have ever seen was this show at the Golden Horsehoe Saloon. I think it was "Bill Hicks and the Hicks". Too bad Magic Kingdom doesn't do something similar.

This was the first trip to DL to see California Adventure.

I guess we are up to date. 6 Days to go.

 

[sunlver]

Just found this. I am enjoying the trip report so far . Cant wait to read more.

 

[AlienBrain]

I like all the pictures. I can tell that this will definitely be a great TR ... have fun on your upcoming trip!

 

[Loriann70]

I'm here too! Thanks for sharing!

 

[texbob]

Thanks y'all for coming.

I hope to provide some live updates at the end of each day but that of course depends on my energy level after getting back to the hotel.

 

[texbob]

I have been away a while but we came home from WDW Friday night exhausted and bummed it was all over. Let me tell you, 6 days is not nearly enough to see it all but we certainly tried.

As I mentioned before, I spent the previous Wednesday to Sunday on a business trip to Vancouver and then flew to meet the rest who flew in last Saturday (Mar 15). I arrived just in time for our ADR at Chef Mickey's and meet DW, DD, and DDBF in the lobby. What a relief after a drive to Seattle starting at 3AM, catching a 7AM flight and tackling the mess of Orlando Intl about 5 PM. But let me tell you, Chef Mickey's and my fav brew of Sam Adams is just what I needed. Oh yeah, I was pleasantly surprised to find Sam Adams all over WDW. I was in true heaven.

Chef Mickey's is the best thing for a tired grumpy traveler. Our last trip to WDW, we just happened upon it by accident. We were all grouchy and tired but there was something about the napkin waving that cheered everybody up.

At this point in the trip I thought I would take all photos in RAW as these are here on this day. However, the 45 minute time it took to upload about 35 photos to my laptop later that night made me rethink my strategy. I eventually took 1053 photos so I would have been uploading all week if I kept at that strategy. Don't worry, you won't see all 1053 photos.

I won the contest for the first hidden Mickey by spotting this. However, I am not sure if 15 foot high hidden Mickey's count:

DW already looking tired. 1 day down, 5 days to go

I told DW that I am leaving her for MM.

I am not sure what is going on here.

That was a preview. This is what follows:

Monday - Animal Kingdom
Tuesday - Typhoon Lagoon, Epcot
Wednesday - Epcot (including Dive Quest)
Thursday - Hollywood Studios
Friday - Magic Kingdom

 

[texbob]

I hope to provide some live updates at the end of each day but that of course depends on my energy level after getting back to the hotel.

um.....yeah right. At the end of the day: what energy level?

 

[AlienBrain]

Nice update ... you have some fans watching this trip report ... keep up the good work.