Cancelled, Then Rebooked - A Trip Report (July 2 to 7)

Okay, everybody...here's my annual attempt to entertain and inform the masses of here on the WDWMagic boards with a retelling of my latest trip to the World. As always I'll write a day or so at a tme here on the same thread. So, if you enjoy what you read so far, keep checking back until it's all through. I apologize now, I am a rambling writer at times.

Preface

Last July, after returning from our yearly trip, we began to tentatively plan thi year's little jaunt to Orlando. We were planning on travelling with a family we've come to be very close to, the 4 "K's, Mom K, and the 3 daughter Ks. This trip started as a joke by Mom K. She kept saying to her daughters how if they ever went back to WDW they should go with my wife and I. The joke grew to more serious conversations to actually planning.

We set the dates of July 7th to July 15th for our pilgrimage. As time passed, we got more and more excited until late March/Early April of this year. We found out the father in the family lost his job, followed shortly by serious health issues which would obviously effect things. We all still kept the trip booked with the hopes that things would get better. Unfortunately, they did not, and the "K"s had to make the tough decision to pull out of the trip.

We cancelled and did not rebook. My wife and I decided for the time being that we would not go this summer since money is always tight. A tough decision was made, a decision which weighed heavy on us for quite some time.

Re-Planning

Fast-forward to early June, and the Disney bug was biting us HARD. We started to try to figure out if there might be a way to go, no matter what we had to do to get there. After much deliberation and lots of math, we figured we could do it and rebooked. All of the Value resorts were sold out at the time, so went Moderate, a first for me since we've only ever stay in either the Comtemporary on our honeymoon or Values for everything else.

Interestingly enough, our new trip days overlapped a trip by the "M"s, Mom and Dad who are co-workers and their daughter "C". They are huge Disney fans as well as DVC members, so needless to say, we were excited to spend a little time with them at Disney.

Now, with very short time (as opposed to usual). we came up with our general game plan and counted down the days, hours and minute until we would hit the road.

The Final Plan

July 2nd - 7th at the Caribbean Beach Resort on the Disney Dining Plan

Coming soon...The Final Countdown

 

[popsicletrees]

This trip report is awesome! Just from reading your description of the fireworks on the 4th I know I would have absolutely balled if I had been there. I can't wait to read more!

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Another day well worth the wait to read.
A little surprised about your AK visit....not a coaster fan to try EE?
No LotLK? or Jammin' Jungle Parade?

As for Segways, if you are able to next year, do consider the "Around the World at Epcot" Segway tour, you'll love it!

Loved hearing of the Illuminations enhanced fireworks. While Illuminations is great on it's own, and I've had the luck to enjoy the Christmas/Holiday verson, I'll bet this is something that just has to be experienced. :sohappy:

Three more days of report to look forward to, keep 'em coming.

 

[cpcpjfan]

Let me jump on the bandwagon here and say that I have been thoroughly enjoying your reports. Any chance that you will be posting the video you shot of RoE? I'd love to be able to see what you have described. We opted to go to MK on the Fourth in 2003, but I have always heard that Epcot is fantastic. Can't wait for tomorrow!

 

[DarkImage4]

Another day well worth the wait to read.
A little surprised about your AK visit....not a coaster fan to try EE?
No LotLK? or Jammin' Jungle Parade?

As for Segways, if you are able to next year, do consider the "Around the World at Epcot" Segway tour, you'll love it!

Loved hearing of the Illuminations enhanced fireworks. While Illuminations is great on it's own, and I've had the luck to enjoy the Christmas/Holiday verson, I'll bet this is something that just has to be experienced. :sohappy:

Three more days of report to look forward to, keep 'em coming.

I'm not a big "thrill" person, and I really want to go on Expedition Everest with my wife, but even she told me I made the right choice. We've seen the parade, but I still have not seen the Festival of the Lion King. I look at i this way, I'll always have something new to see on the next trip.

 

[DarkImage4]

July 5th - Surprises and Discoveries

Today was a new day! For a needed break we slept in a little today, just to get a little extra push to the end of the trip. We decided to have breakfast in the resort before taking the drive over to MGM for what we had planned to be a more relaxing day than the past few.

A very short drive and a tram ride away and we were in the Studios, and to keep up with our streak, my wife was asked to do a survey. Every trip we have gone together, at least one of us has done a survey. Well, after she was finished with the questions, we decided to enter our park with one of our favorite pasttimes, shooping through the stores (if you haven't noticed, we like to do this ).

Now, We leave the store near the intersection where you make the left towards the 50's Prime Time Cafe. See stop to take a few picutres of the BFH, and start to try to decide what to do at this point (it's around 11:20). My wife says, well let's just go this way. She passes the attraction wait board and heads towards the Animation Courtyard, BUT she turn right and walks into the Brown Derby.

Apparently, my little sneaky wife booked a "Lunch with and Imagineer" for us!!! We had though about it, but decided to leave it for another trip, mostly due to the cost. Well, my wife charged it!

We checked in and got our nametags and waited until the manager came out to talk with everyone about a little history of the Brown Derby. He then took as through the main dining area and into the "Bamboo Room" to meet our Imagineer, Dan Dillon, my wife remembers his specific title, but he is in charge of graphic design in Epcot. (I'll edit this later after my wife corrects me).

First of all, the food was great. the meal alone was worth the price for the whole event. We had lobster bisque, Cobb salad, a choice of a few entrees and a creme brulee for dessert. During all of these course, Dan talked to us about his history, his job and how he got it along with what he does and has done. He shed light on bits and pieces of an Imagineers life, he answered all of our questions as best he could and inspired us all to take part in these conversations with the group. It was also cool to find out he was a NJ native, born in Planfield, just minutes from where my wife and I were raised.

We hit him up with the usual set of questions about rumors we've read, but we were careful NOT to monopolize the entire time. For those interested, NO 5th gate, NO plans for Wonders of Life, he has heard nothing about "Beastly Kingdom" & Future World is NOT planned to become Discoveryland. He did confirm as we all knew, that Reflections of Earth is going to be replaced, but has heard no date as a final performance, and no information about it's replacement.

The story I will relate in most detail, however, was spurred on by my wife. Dan asked us is we had any other questions to ask, everyone thought for a moment, and my wife said yes..."

"What is your favorite question to answer?"

We all kind of chuckled, but then Dan started to answer, "great question..."

He began to tell us the story of 9/11. Numerous multi-million dollar projects were on there way. Many large projects were greenlighted, and were coming to the World. Then, someone flew a few planes into the Twin Towers.

He continued, with the uncertainty of the future and the unknown financial climate to come, he said no one in Imagineering, or in the company as a whole would have been surprised if Michael Eisner had decided to withdraw all of the projects. It would've made business sense and no one would have blinked had it occured.

To the surprise of everyone, Eisner did NOT put a hold on any projects. He told everyone that, now, more than ever, people needed these new attractions and thing like them. People needed a get away and more things to look forward to when they got there, so they could truly forget about the world outside even more. He said, we are going to build them. A huge risk was taken, but paid off because people did come for their escape.

Had Michael Eisner not made this decision, we would NOT have Mission: Space, Expedition Everest, Mickey's PhilharMagic or Saratoga Springs today, just the name a few.

He concluded by telling us about the immense respect that Imagineering had and still has for Eisner, and for his vision, imagination & forethought, many viewed him as another Walt.

Well, the lunch drew to a close, 3 hours after we had begun and the time just flew by. I think my wife and I will try to do this again in the future. One last thing, the souvenir plate is amazing, and with the personalized autograph would without a doubt be worth more than the price of admission.

After all of that, we took a little stroll back to get our picutres taken with Mike and Sulley from Monsters Inc. Then off to experience and shop at MuppetVison 3D. Then into Tattoine Traders to check out the latest wares from a galaxy far, far away.

From here we strolled back into the Animation Courtyard and did the Animation tour/show and had our pictures taken with Mr. Incredible, Mrs. Incredible and Frozone.

It was here that we discovered a little gem of an atraction that we were completely unaware of, and for the 2 of us to say it, that says something.

What is it? The Animation Academy.

We had a blast! The character of our studies? Goofy. And it's was amazing the likelesses that my wife and I were able create. My wife's was scary good and I was a bit jealous.

We decided to go back in, and we learned how to draw Dale. This time, my drawing rocked. Reluctantly, we left since it was getting a bit late and we wanted to take a little break in the refuge of our room. So, we picked up our plate from the Brown Derby, and headed back out to our car.

Dinner was at Shutters in the main building of the CBR. We had decided that we really should eat at lest one meal in our own resort's resaurant. The food was great, but to tell you the truth, it's not necessarily a place I would go out of my way to go back to again. Don't get me wrong, it was fabulous, but it's is not Le Cellier.

OK, so we were at an impasse. What to do now?

We finally figured we'd go back to the Studios, with the main intent to see Fantasmic! The first show was already in progress, so we browsed through shops on Sunset Blvd and headed back to wait for the show. After about 45 minutes of waiting, we were in the ampitheatre, with seats dead center.

It was a very cool show, and I say that because the winds was coming into our faces, so whenever the mist screens were in use, we were getting a nice mist shower.

I then asked my wife, what now? It was EMH and we had our wristbands, so what next? My wife, "I dunno...". Me, "Want to go draw some more Disney characters?". Her, "OKAY!"

Back to the Animation Academy! When we got there, we sat in our seats and learned we were going to draw Stitch. This one was a littl emore evenly matched, but my wife's was a bit better.

Well, we were gettgin really tired, but promised each other that we would come and just draw for a good part of a day on our next trip and build a collection of our drawings of Disney characters.

As per usual, we headed back to the room, showered and turned in for the night. Tomorrow would be a big day, and we would need all the energy we could get.

Why? Tomorrow was our day in the Magic Kingdom!

Coming Soon...July 6th - One Final Day in the Magic

 

[DarkImage4]

FYI, the next installment is coming this afternoon. Hopefully I'll finish it out tomorrow. I'll start posting photos soon after in a new thread!

i'm really excited that many of you are enjoying my trip report so much. Hope the rest lives up to your expectations!

 

[ClemsonTigger]

As usual, worth waiting for. I was really interested in hearing about your meal with an Imagineer...one of those things on my to do list.

I also really liked hearing about the animation academy. We did it many years ago, but I've really wanted to go back, especially after they almost closed it last year (well substitued average CM's for the artists). Do you remember the names of any of the artists you worked with?

 

[Murtieeee]

great trip report thanks for posting

 

[DarkImage4]

As usual, worth waiting for. I was really interested in hearing about your meal with an Imagineer...one of those things on my to do list.

I also really liked hearing about the animation academy. We did it many years ago, but I've really wanted to go back, especially after they almost closed it last year (well substitued average CM's for the artists). Do you remember the names of any of the artists you worked with?

Unfortunately, I do not remember the names of anyone from the Animation Academy.

As for the Lunch With An Imagineer, I really think it is worth the price. A must do for any WDW fan.

 

[DarkImage4]

July 6th - One Final Day in the Magic

This was our earliest morning of the trip. We planned on going to the Concourse Steakhouse in the Contemporary for a Sticky Mickey and then going to the Magic Kingdom for EMH.

We arrived at the MK parking lot before 7am to find no one in the tolls collecting parking fees and no one in the lots directing cars, not that there was any type of a crowd there. The cool thing about today is we were parked in the 5th best MK parking spot possible for a guest who was not in the handicapped row. The walk to the TTC took 2 minutes tops. It was really nice getting there with the lack of people around. Once at the TTC, were were asked where we were going and had our resort IDs checked. We were on the first monorail of the day and were in the Comtemorary by about 7:15.

The Steakhouse doesn't open until 7:30, so were waited a few and were seated pretty quickly. the Sticky Mickey was sinful as usual, as was the banana maple french toast.

From there we walked to the MK and arrived at the front gate by about 8:15. EMH had started about 15 minutes before, but the crowds were still very light.

Let me stop for a moment and say that I can never get enough of the experience of just walking into the MK for the first thing in the morning. Approaching the Train Station, walking under and then hearing the Main Street USA music just before seeing Town square for the first time. Then just a few more steps until the big reveal...the view of Cinderella Castle down Main Street. Nothing beats that feeling, and we both get choked up each time we experience it.

We stroll up to the Hub and take the right into Tomorrowland, And to my wife's surprise, I say we should check out the wait time for Space Mountain. Now, I have been to WDW 8 times, and I had not yet gotten up the nerve to ride Space Mountain, but today, was to be the day! The wait was only 10 minutes, not nearly enough time for my nerves to really work me up into NOT wanting to be there.

It was SO much fun and I loved it, as I knew I would. Of course, it will now be a must do for all future trips!

Now off to Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin where I completely creamed my wife...luck of course . Then we headed over to visit Stitch. i still don't see why some people hate this attraction, we both really enjoy it. I know everyone is entitled to their opinion, so I'm not going to try to convince people otherwise. We had our photo taken with Stitch before we continued into Fantasyland where my wife met with Alice for an autograph and a picture.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was a 5 minute wait, or as we kept joking, no wait, but a 5 minute walk through the queue. Now, we had never been to Ariels Grotto, so we decided to check it out. The wait to meet Ariel was over 30 minutes, so we opted to just get a little cooled off in the water fountains just outside. Well, I got a little wet, my wife got really drenched :lol: .

Snow White's Scary Adventures was next, and again, this was something neither of us had experienced. We were both a little surprised at just how scary it was! My wife then really wanted to ride the carosel, and who am I to say no?

A short hop across the path took us over to Mickey's PhilharMagic then over the everyone's favorite pleasure cruise, it's a small world.

Now, into Liberty Square where we wanted to ride the Haunted Mansion, but alas, it was closed at the moment :brick: . Oh well, we'll come back later.

We walked through Liberty Square, careful to avoid the "River of Ick" and over into Frontierland where we took a moment at the Disney Vacation CLub kiosk to ask a few questions. The both of us know that someday we were going to join, just not today, but we really wanted some cold hard facts on everything...especially the money aspect (which was the only thing that is really holding us back.) We scheduled an appointment for the next day so that we could see what it was all about and get all the information. The "M"s are DVC and they have always said that if anyone should be DVC, it was us, so we knew some of the information through them, but not everything.

We headed to the western mountains of the MK and got a fastpass for Splash Mountain, then got on the standby line for Big Thunder Mountain. That was probably the longest line we waited in this trip, about 45 minutes.

After our ridwe, it was time for lunch, and we decided on Pecos Bill's for some surprisingly tasty BBQ sandwiches and a little air conditioning, it was HOT today.

At this point we headed towards PoTC to see the Pirate Tutorial with Captain Jack Sparrow. My wife got the whole thing on video from the front row of the show. The deckhand was great and Jack was dead on in looks and mannerisms, however, his voice was just a little deeper than it should have been. I had watched a video of the show online, and Jack has improved. The overall show is a welcome addition and I would definitely watch again.

Following the show, it was time to use our fastpasses for Splash. Yes, folks, Todd actualy did all 3 mountains in the MK. I had done Splash before, but always avoided it becuase I really had issues with the final drop. Upon realization of my accomplishment, my wife says, "now we just have to get you on the Tower of Terror". Um...NOT!

Well, we were starting to walk our way out and passed the HM and it was open, so, we hopped in line for what is one of my favorite attractions on property.

Back down Main Street as we headed for a short break at our resort. On such a short trip, this was actually the only time we used the pool on this trip. This trip was weird bacause on most of our past trips, we drive down and get into the pool first thing at around 10pm after our long ride. It's kind if a slap in the face that says, "Hey, you're on vacation!" It was a really nice that the pool was only about a minute walk from our room.

After a quick shower and a short nap, we were back in the truck headed to the Polynesian for dinner. This would be yet another first for us, since we usually eat a meal at O'hana, it was strange to not be going there. We decided that for this trip we would try the Kona Cafe instead.

Well, the sky opened up as we pulled up to the Poly and we figured we'd go for the Valet parking. There was yet another discovery for us today. It was about 6pm, and we were in time to watch the "Torch Lighting Ceremony" at the main entrance. It was only a couple minutes long, consisting one of the performers from the Luau lighting the torches then a short display of fire twirling (I guess thats what it's called) while another CM played the large drums that are located just opposite the valet parking desk.

About the dinner, let me say, WOW was this a great restaurant. The "sticky" wings were tasty, the filet and potatoes perfect and the Kilahua Torte was amazing. Think a chocolate volcano on steriods. My wife sais it was one of the best chocolate cakes she has ever eaten. Now, that's saying something.

The rain slowed enough for us to brave the MK, so, we hopped on the monorail and headed in. It was still raining when we got there, and out of curiousity, we stopped into Guest Relations in City Hall, and asked if they had any idea about Spectromagic and Wishes. At the time, no final decisions had been made, but she said she would not be surprised if the first Spectro was cancelled.

Sure enough an announcement came about 5 minutes before the start time that the 9pm performance had been cancelled. At least we still had the 11pm performance, we hoped. We walked over into Tomorrowland and checked on the wait time for Space Mountain, over an hour, not this time. Instead we climbed onto the TTA and took 2 laps around. My wife fell asleep for most of the ride. This trip was finally beginning to wear us out.

We made our way back onto Main Street to get our spot for Wishes, which did go on this evening. Then, we shifted to the side and staked our claim on a curb spot for the 11pm Spectro, which also went on. We videotaped both to add to our collection for our future enjoyment.

It was at this point, as the crowds started to filter out, we made our way up towards the castle, stopping momentarily to say good night, good bye and thank you to Walt and Mickey. Then, we sat on the side of the hub facing the Castle, we hugged each other and cried a little, because this was going to be the last of the parks we would see for this trip. We stayed long enough to watch (and tape) the "Kiss Goodnight".

Slowly we walk back down Main Street and turned to get one last look at the hub and the Castle. It is really difficult for us to leave (as I'm sure it is for many of you), so we walked very slowly, taking in as much as we could, in Town Square, on the monorail, in the Poly, until we were in our car driving away.

It was a "little" easier this time because we knew it was not going to be a full year until we returned. We will be back in December to visit a former student of ours as she does the College Program (possibily as friend of her favorite character).

Tomorrow, we plan to do our DVC appointment, shop in Downtown Disney and stop by Mouse Surplus before we begin our long trek back to New Jersey.

Coming soon...July 7th - An Appointment, A Shock and A Cancellation

 

[ClemsonTigger]

O man.....a cliffhanger.....:brick: :lol:

Well this sure has been a trip of new firsts, great opportunities and lots of surprises. Now about that last chapter....

 

[DisneyMarg]

Great report! I love the way you two enjoy it together. My husband very kindly tolerates my love for Disney, and no longer complains, but I can't say that he relishes like I do.

 

[DarkImage4]

July 7th - An Appointment, A Shock and A Cancellation

So here we are, as we wake up we are slow to rise, it was check-out day. Sometime later this afternoon/evening, we would be on the road, heading north, and away from the Magic. It's a sad morning to be sure, and we grudgingly pack everything up and drag it out to the truck.

We are still going to be doing some Disney things today, just not any of the parks, we've decided it would be way too hard to have to leave again. The plan for today, our DVC appointment at 9:30am, followed by some shopping in DTD and a side trip to Mouse Surplus as we head home.

First stop, DTD, we parked just outside of the World of Disney where we would meet our ride to Saratoga Springs for our appointment at DVC. We really wanted to get all of the information about DVC, so we have the knowledge when we eventually buy. Our driver is a very nice guy who we find out, as usual, is originally from a town within a 30 minute drive of where we live.

We're sat down in a large wating area and offered a drink, after a few minutes, our guide, James, comes out to meet us and brings us back to one of the small meeting rooms.

He does a small bit of a presentation before taking us for the tour. We're shown the storybook room, which is a room that decorated in very Disney fashion with video screens etc. where we see representations of all the place we can go around the world. We are also shown a couple short videos of testimonials of current DVC owners. From there were taken to see the model rooms, the studio, 1 bedroom, were explained that a 2 bedroom is those first 2 combined, and finally, the 3 bedroom grand villa. WOW.

I'll stop now to say just how surprised we were, not only about the rooms themselves, but about how much we liked them. Neither of us came here expecting to like the resort at all, but it was all really, really nice.

Anyway, we walked past the main pool, through the community rooms and checked out the laundry facilities before heading back into the small meeting room where we started.

James began to break down the most important item for us, the money (the reason we came here today). He showed us all types of comparisons of paid vacations vs. DVC points used, what the total cost was and monthly payments and so on. The sales pitch was NOT over the top and in you face or high pressure. After he finished his presentation he left us to read and re-read the information and discuss among ourselves.

He came back.....and here's the shock, we signed up! :sohappy: Yup, folks the "B"s are DVC owners at Saratoga Springs with 150 points as of July 7th. Neither of us had any forethought that we would do this and had defintiely NOT planned to even consider it, but for us, the price was right. Whodathunkit?!?

So here's the rub, we were told the DVC meeting generally lasted between 60 and 90 minutes, well, because of the large number of questions we asked and asked, and then signing everything, we were there for nearly 3 hours.

We got our free ice cream as we left and hopped our ride back to DTD with our nice new DVC totebag full of books and information...and our memebrship cards... :sohappy: .

Since it was much later than we thought it would, I agreed with the tough decison to NOT go to Mouse Surplus on this trip. I guess I'll have to keep browsing eBay.

We shopped for a few hours through Once Upon A Toy, all the way to the World of Disney. Armed with handfuls of shopping bags, we made a run through the rain (which had started mid-way through our shopping trip) to the truck, and settled in for the long drive back to NJ.

The drive was not as bad as previous years because we just kept pulling out the DVC books to talk about future trips.

This journey into the Magic had come to an end, and as usual, we were sad to be going home, but happy with everything we had just done. The 18 hours would actually fly by as we recounted events of the past week, planned future trips through DVC and talked about the day when we would finally move to Florida to be around the Magic year round.

It's kinda like Christmas though, if you keep the spirit with you , it's never over. My wife and I live as much Magic as we can daily...so were never really that far away.

I hope you've all enjoyed my ramblings that I call a trip report. To those of you wo alreayd expressed your feeling about it, thanks, I enjoyed writing it and see it as a way to re-live the trip and share a little of the Magic and Pixiedust with those who read it.

I'm currently working on uploading photos into Photobucket, and as soon as I get that done, I will reply to this thread with a collection of our pics. If my wife and I figure out the video thing, we'll post that too.

Thanks for reading :wave: !

Coming Soon...Our Picture Collection

Coming after that...Our December Trip

 

[FanofDinsey1981]

Congrats! You will love DVC, my parents have been members since 1994, and we have loved every trip staying there. I would recomend Vero Beach as well, the beach is beautiful and the resort is magical!

Thanks for the great updates, and I can't wait to see the photos.:wave:

 

[ClemsonTigger]

Well, for a cancelled then rebooked trip, I would mark that one down as a major success!

Congrats on your new membership. The things offered to DVC members seems to be constantly expanding in the parks, so more new things to discover. We could never quite make that jump ourselves...just continues to be too complicated for my simple mind.

Looking forward to the picture links.

 

[nibblesandbits]

great report!!! I have enjoyed reading it over the past week or so!!!

I can't wait to see the pics!!

 

[Jerm]

Again one of the best trip reports EVER!!!!


Congrats on the DVC membership.

J

 

[Ciciwoowoo]

Very wonderful narrative!

Congrats on DVC... My parents are members (I always tag along) and we love it soooo much! Our home is Boardwalk, and its also our favorite place to stay. We haven't stayed at Saratoga Springs yet, so I have nothing to say about it either way. The fantastic thing about DVC is you don't have to stay at your home place.

 

[tigsmom]

Fantastic report as usual! :sohappy:

Congratulations on joining the DVC and hope you have many years of enjoyment from it. :wave:

*sits back and waits for the pictures*

 

[DarkImage4]

*sits back and waits for the pictures*

ARGH...my computer is being dumb with the pics...working on it!