Family Camping at Ft. Wilderness - Summer 2003

[radar]

Four Birthdays, One World…
radar’s Walt Disney World Camping Report
July 25 - August 4, 2003

PRE-TRIP & PLANNING

Since I am primarily writing this report in repayment for all the great trip tips I’ve received from friends on the various web sites, I felt it might be beneficial to post a little background information about my family for those who might be new to the site and reading this report. Most of this information was probably contained in posts on various Disney web sites during the trip planning process, but will also serve to introduce me to those long-time website members who may have "missed a post".

MY FAMILY

radar- Randy (that’s me) lives in suburban Kansas City and also posted as rad2002 in the Magic Alley forums and rad at Kathi and Brian's. . Worked as a pharmaceutical sales rep for ten years and owned my own DJ and Karaoke business for five. Made a career/lifestyle choice to devote my life to the calling of youth ministry about four years ago. I’ve had an irrational love of Disney for years, buying, reading and re-reading Disney travel books before discovering the incredible amount of information available on the web.

Rhonda- radar’s wife for ten wonderful years. Currently works as a Cast Member at ON STAGE, the primary call center for Disney Catalog and The Disney Club. Loves Disney almost as much as radar (a serious Dopey fanatic, has a pretty good collection of "Dopey stuff"), but thinks the research he puts into travel is a little weird.

Andrew- radar's son from previous marriage. Bright kid with a good heart, but forgets these facts sometimes because he’s now a teenager. Usually outgoing, and is quite over any previous fears of roller coasters and now would qualify as a "thrill seeker" by Disney standards. Turned 15 years old on this trip.

Elizabeth- Andrew’s sister. Sweet girl and seems to be outgrowing her former love of princesses a bit (shot an entire roll of film at Hunchback show of her beloved Esmarelda at Disneyland when she was five). Also up for any ride, not many fears. Turned 12 shortly after returning from this trip.

Zachary- Boisterous and very active just-turning-seven-year-old. Possibly the best personification of Peter Pan I’ve ever seen one Halloween. Just tall enough this year for Rockin’ Rollercoaster, probably knows as much about WDW as most travel agents I’ve talked with as far as what rides are in what park, etc. Very outgoing and willing to try just about anything.

Tyson- Five year old with a stubborn streak. Pretty attached to his mom, tends to be very hard to persuade to do things he "doesn’t want". Fortunately, he tends to like things his older siblings do, so he was game for most any ride and at just at 44 inches, that was most everything. Also has a gift for remembering details—watch a movie, describe some details about a character and 9 of 10 times, he remembers the name. He’s a darn good Disney Trivia player.

DISNEY HISTORY

I suppose my history with Disney planning actually starts during my first marriage. My first Birnbaum’s is dated 1992 and I had priced with a travel agent a planned stay at the Contemporary. Now by no means would I say that this planned trip caused my divorce, but I think it is a testament to the differences in the goals and values of my first marriage that Andrew and Elizabeth have NEVER gone on a vacation with their mother. Definitely a case of the wrong people marrying each other, but that’s a discussion for a different forum.

Shortly after Rhonda and I were married, she accompanied me on a business trip to San Diego. Having relatives there and sort of knowing the area from a previous trip, we planned an additional week to tour Southern California. It was a MAGICAL trip filled with romantic carriage rides and bike rides on the beach. Knowing what I know now, I’m amazed at how much I intuitively did right while planning before I had the wonderful resources available online. We stayed at a fantastic Bed & Breakfast in Santa Ana and had a great deal on a Friday night at the Disneyland Hotel with a two-day-pass included in the price (I remember getting this deal from an ad in the San Diego paper a couple of months prior to our trip. I’m guessing it was a CA residents deal, but no one ever challenged my eligibility, ignorance is bliss).

I still refer to this trip in ‘94 as our "perfect" vacation. Along with wonderful sightseeing in So. CA, this fall weekend was the final running for most parades/ shows on Sat. (quite crowded), but nearly all rides were walk-ons that Friday. Our first taste of Disney left us wanting more. We were hooked!

Subsequent years brought more trips and our love of Disney has grown with each. Our original plans were to travel to each coast on alternate years, visiting Disney each summer, but career choices and finances slowed that plan severely. After a hiatus from Disney 1997-2001, three things happened that allowed us to return to the place of our obsession; 1) I discovered the wonderful source of informative web sites, 2) we bought a tent and loved camping and 3) Rhonda started working as a Disney Cast Member, opening many great discount opportunities for us.

2002 was our first family camping trip to WDW and we learned much. It rained EVERY day of our trip, often for hours. The 20-plus hour drive to Orlando was something we hadn’t adequately prepared for and naturally we tried to cram too much into each day. Still, we had a BLAST! The first day in the parks was my and Rhonda’s 9th wedding anniversary and the last was my 41st birthday. So many magical things happened that I just can’t detail here. Maybe someday I’ll go through my notes and write that Trip Report as a "pre-quel" of sorts to this one.

Anyway, spending my birthday in the parks last year served as inspiration for this year’s trip. Three of our four children have birthdays within a month of each other—why not celebrate them at Walt Disney World? The decision was made to spend the week between Andrew and Zach’s birthdays this year, while "celebrating" Elizabeth’s (just a couple weeks later) and Tyson’s (in February, but how could we leave him out?) also. And so our trip was planned…


PRE-TRIP PLANNING & TRAVEL TO FLORIDA

Let me preface all of this section of my report with the fact that it was great fun celebrating four birthdays at WDW. Rhonda and I spent many hours discussing the kids’ likes and dislikes and figuring out how to make each day special. That being said, I’d NEVER do it again I just feel it put too much pressure on us and the kids to "force the magic" to happen each day and consequently to kind of "tone things down" some days to try to keep expectations somewhat equal.

We had enough Cast Member passes to spend four days in the parks, making it obvious that each child should have one "special day". We also have found it wise to have "extra days" outside the parks for meeting others, shopping, exploring the resort etc., so it made sense to plan our trip for about a week on property. We checked in 7/26 and out 8/2 so that both Andrew and Zach would spend their "actual" birthday (&/27 and 8/1) in the parks.

We learned much last year while camping in the rain. I packed plenty of tarps and an extra smaller tent for dry storage in addition to our sleeping tent and dining canopy that we had last year. Also, I planned better for travel including asking for a cargo carrier (like a small trailer with no wheels) for my birthday to free up leg room in the van, and we purchased a new 13-inch television, a better cooler and gave the boys Gameboys prior to the trip. Also, last year we thought we’d save money by just sleeping a bit at Georgia rest stops, but after that fiasco, we reserved a room for an overnight stay this trip.

Finally, I’d like to take this time to mention outside the body of my report the GREAT benefit having a cast member in the family is. When Rhonda first started working for Disney, I asked many times on different boards about the policies and benefits for different employees and was consistently told "it’s Disney policy NOT to discuss these things—tell your wife to ask her coach". Honestly, I think now that I’ve been on some cast member boards and know some CMs, I probably know more than ANY of Rhonda’s coaches ever did. My main gripe is that I just don’t understand the "don’t talk about it" policy. What harm could possibly come from letting people know that if they chose to WORK for the place they love to visit that they could save a little money. I for one am CERTAIN that if some of the knowledge that resides on these boards started to infiltrate the local Disney Stores and reservation call centers, Disney and their guests would only benefit. Oh well, off my soapbox…

Among the benefits for "full-time" employees:
Cast Member gets in free to all parks
At least two free single day park hopper tickets every six months
Free stroller and locker rental in the parks
Half price for CM and one guest to DisneyQuest and water parks
Special rates at Disney resorts (limited like AP rates, but up to 50% off)
Up to 20% discount at full service restaurants (some restrictions) and
Some "cast member only" shopping opportunities (LOVE these!)

We’ve taken advantage of nearly all of these benefits in the two years Rhonda has been a cast member and have saved hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on our three trips in the past 13 months. If this inspires another Disney-lover to look into becoming a cast member, I would not hesitate to take the credit. Fact is though, if not for these discounts, we wouldn’t have spent more money, just less time there. Our budget is tight and we have a certain amount to spend—we just try to get the most magic for our money. Hopefully, this report will help everyone get more for their money, heaven knows we pinch every penny we spend!

THE TRIP

As I mentioned earlier, last year we insanely tried driving all the way to Fort Wilderness from Kansas City. In our younger days, Rhonda and I drove a 23-hour trip to Las Vegas a few times without stopping-switching drivers/sleeping as needed. This about killed us last year. With six in the van and one seat removed to accommodate our TV/VCR, sleeping was not a joy. We thought we’d just see what was available in the Atlanta area when we got there, but the week we left, Rhonda got online and booked a Howard Johnson stay in Macon, Georgia.

Macon was about where we had wilted on our trip last year (around midnight), so seemed a logical choice for a hotel stop this year. Also, our plans were to leave at 3 AM rather than 8:00 as we did last year, putting us in Macon in the early evening. Our plan worked okay, except that Rhonda and I were late packing and didn’t actually get to sleep Thursday night. So we left at 3 am Friday as planned, already having been awake for 21 hours or so.

I made it across the state of Missouri while the rest of the family slept, eating sunflower seeds and humming every song I could think of trying to stay awake. We made it through, picnicking with food we’d packed in coolers at rest stops in Illinois and Tennessee. We also made an unscheduled stop in Mt. Vernon, IL at a Wal Mart to replace the VCR which inexplicably quit working. It simply would not power up no matter what we did. There was a $50-plus expense not budgeted for. We had purchased a 13-inch TV specifically for this trip and had debated buying a TV/VCR combo, but unfortunately had decided the TV only would be more versatile. Oh well hindsight is 20-20.

We rolled in to Macon about 6:30 PM—30 minutes AFTER the confirmed reservation cancellation deadline. The confirmed non-smoking double ressie seemed innocent enough when Rhonda made it, but when Rhonda went in to get our room—NO non-smoking rooms left! ARRRGH! We got a key and checked out the room anyway, and it REEKED of smoke! Assured that our card would NOT be charged (it was, and after some hassle and a couple of phone calls we got the charge removed), we ventured off to find a non-smoking double room with continental breakfast and pool elsewhere in town. Stopped at 3-4 places before locating a brand-spanking new Super 8 that fit all our wants! Indoor pool open to 11 and make your own Belgian waffles in the morning! $66.08 with tax (vs. $41 50 at HoJo), but truly a comfortable place that I’d recommend to others.

We were on the road before 8:00, but road construction slowed us to a crawl almost immediately. At 9:00 we were maybe 2 miles further down the road before we were able to drive the speed limit. Last year we enjoyed our stop at the Florida Welcome Center and our free orange juice. Also tried the grapefruit juice this time—just practicing up for the Beverly at Ice Station Cool! This stop was really worth our while last year as we’d picked up a brochure with coupons for an off-site Mc Donald’s that saved us some money. In addition, they have a coupon for a free gift at the Ocala Disney Welcome Center and I picked up several brochures for Saint Augustine, which we planned to visit on the trip home. Since it was about noon at the border, we has a picnic lunch (the gnats were terrible) and snapped several pictures.

For those who have never been to the Ocala Disney Center, I feel it is worth the stop if you are driving through. It is right off Highway 75 (can be seen from the road) and it really sets the stage for our final push to Orlando. From the 15-foot Mickey and Minnie out front to the theater-style showing of the WDW promo video, it just whets your appetite for the parks! Also, even though it says one per family, we asked nicely and all four of our kids got the free gift, a Mickey key chain (two different designs this year). There is also a small Disney Store-type shop and plenty of photo op statues and such.

Finally we hit the turnpike and started off toward Orlando. I still get that butterfly-feeling in my stomach each time I see the welcome gate as we enter Disney property. Naturally it started raining about the time we hit Orlando—thankfully it stopped as we reached Fort Wilderness to set up our campsite. Our adventure was about to begin!!

DAY ONE- CHECK IN AND CAMPFIRE PROGRAM

Check in at Fort Wilderness is a breeze. Imagine checking in at your resort and never having to leave your car—that is Ft Wilderness, drive through registration! One change made since last year we noticed, a security gate prior to the check in and guest parking lot. In essence they’ve divided the parking lot in two so any car entering the resort HAS to pass a security guard. There is now well-marked parking on the other half of the lot for Pioneer Hall (where the Hoop-Dee-Doo dinner show is held). Guess they finally got tired of turning away all those cars trying to drive to Pioneer Hall. Cars are not allowed in unless you have secured a site. Busses take you everywhere at this resort and though people often complain that it’s inefficient, we’ve found just the opposite.

We think the internal bus system to be wonderful (a 5 minute wait is usually the maximum for us) and if you simply look at the map they give you on check in (and are posted at each bus stop), the routes are quite simple. Just learn the color your campsite/cabin is in and take that bus to either the settlement (marina) area or the outpost (front desk) area to transfer for a bus to anywhere else on Disney property. Easy Parcheesi to me, but I often see posts regarding how confusing the bus system is.

We have requested the 1500 loop both of our stays. Think of a loop as a sort of cul-de-sac off the main road. Loops have anywhere from around 20 to 50 individual campsites or cabins. We like 1500 because it is rather small (21 sites) and all are fairly close to the comfort station (restroom/laundry). It has a great location and is walking distance from the Meadow area which has the main pool, campfire area, Bike Barn and store. Also since it was designed for tent camping, the sand pad for pitching tents is larger and we don’t pay for the unneeded sewer or cable hookups that are found on the preferred sites. For us this loop is the best location and still the least expensive sites on property.

After check in, Rhonda and I sent the kids to the pool while we set up camp. I am so thankful that our kids are now at the age that they can supervise themselves. Andrew and Elizabeth are great at watching after their little brothers. As I said, we learned a lot camping in Florida weather last year. We set up a large tarp area and four man dome tent for storage/play areas for the kids when it rains, freeing up the main tent and canopy for eating and sleeping areas. I even strung up a hammock between two trees on our site. When all was set up, we certainly looked like experienced campers!

It was nearly 7:00 when we fired up the grill (each campsite has it’s own charcoal grill) and we simply had hot dogs and chips. By the way, let me give a rousing endorsement here for the Coleman Extreme 5-day Cooler. We packed frozen meat when we left and still had probably 75 percent of the ice unmelted when we opened the cooler about 44 hours later. We spent about $20 for this at WalMart, and just by adding a bag of ice about every other day, we kept meat good for over a week.

We rushed to the campfire program shortly after 8:00. Sundee (the sing-a-long cast member) had already started and Chip and Dale were making the rounds through the crowd. This was by far the largest crowd I’d ever seen at the campfire! I don’t know if it was because it was a Saturday night or the designated movie (Lilo and Stitch), but we struggled to find a location where we could set up the chairs we’d brought
and not block others’ view.

Chip made it to us before the cartoon started, but we’d have to see Dale another day. Andrew didn’t want to get on stage for his birthday as the entire crowd sang even though all audience members having birthdays this week were invited. Guess it’s a teenage thing. We’d brought all the fixin’s for s’mores, but left our water and roasting sticks at the campsite. Rhonda bought two bottled waters and four sticks (about $6.50) at the concession stand which got us through. As has become our tradition, we left the movie shortly after 9:00 to catch a bus for the marina to see the Electric Light Parade. We own the Lilo and Stitch video, so I didn’t mind missing it (although it is fun in the Drive-In-type atmosphere), but it’s Andrew’s favorite Disney movie so he chose to stay (yes, that’s the teenager who was too cool to get on stage for his birthday). We left him one of the cell phones and the rest of us grabbed our chairs and headed for the bus stop.

A short bus ride and we were at the beach. More crowded than I remembered it last year—maybe this is a trend? Set up chairs… Hmmm, five people, four chairs…did we leave one? (this was merely a precursor of the numerous things we lost and recovered this week—I nearly titled this trip report "Land of the Lost") We called Andrew, no answer. Finally after several tries, Andrew answered and recovered the lost chair. We watched the Water Parade and fireworks from the Ft. Wilderness beach. I really like this view and while I can’t figure it out on the map, the fireworks seem much closer here than at the Poly. The timing for both events is much better here also with just a few minutes wait between Water Parade and Fantasy in the Sky in the summer(9:45 and 10 respectively).

We met Andrew back at the campsite and got ready for bed. While our bodies said it was still before 10 PM Central, we had no problem getting to sleep. One might think the Florida heat would be too warm for sleeping, but with the two fans we brought blowing, everyone crawled inside their sleeping bag before the night was over. We were to sleep quickly after prayers—tomorrow is Andrew’s birthday!

DAY TWO- ANDREW’S BIRTHDAY @ EPCOT

I had set my alarm on the cell phone for 6:00 AM. Though it’s rare I sleep until I hear the alarm, it woke me this day. I got up, started my camp stove for coffee and watched Ft. Wilderness wake up. I just can’t stress enough how peaceful this darn place is in the morning! I woke Rhonda, knowing that there would be a surprise for her this morning.

I made mention to Howie and friends at the Breakfast Club on the Magic Alley website that the one complaint Rhonda had shared about camping at Ft. Wilderness was that since there was no phone, we couldn’t get a Mickey wake up call. Howie and our good friend JimH conspired to arrange for Jim’s computer to call our cell phones each morning with the recorded wake up, adding a little extra magic as we started each day this trip. I am so thankful for my internet friends!!

This very first call, perhaps we hadn’t worked out all the bugs in the system yet, because Rhonda didn’t quite understand what the call was all about and started to hit callback in order to find out who was calling her this early in the morning while on vacation. So I sort of had to spill the beans concerning what the call was so as not to wake up Jim’s household on this Sunday morning. Jim had scheduled a second call one half hour later which we let Andrew answer on his birthday—that sure brought a smile to his face!

A CHANGE IN PLANS...

After pop tarts and cold cereal for breakfast, it soon became apparent that it was taking us longer to get ready than we’d anticipated. We weren’t going to make it to Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hour @ 8:00 for rope drop like we’d planned, so we shifted gears and decided to head to Epcot for rope drop @ 9:00 instead. We’d planned to hop there mid-afternoon anyway and had a Priority Seating for Rose & Crown that evening.

Epcot had been the most neglected of the parks last year, we’d barely even set foot in World Showcase. Besides Andrew was anxious about Mission Space and wanted to get this new ride (not yet "officially" open) in on his special day. We hopped on the bus near our site, transferred to an external bus and were at Epcot about 20 minutes later.

The "getting into the park" ritual is actually quite an ordeal for us. We use "Team Disney Complimentary Passports" which must be traded at Guest Relations for one-day hoppers, we had three backpack/purses plus a collapsible cooler needing to be inspected and Rhonda must enter through the cast member entrance by showing her ID. Then once inside, Rhonda uses her ID to get strollers and rent a locker. These are GREAT cast member perks by the way. I’d hate to add up how much we’d have spent on strollers and lockers in our three trips we've taken since she's been a cast member. We often split the family up just to try to get all of these things accomplished as quickly as possible upon entering the park, calling each other on cell phones to keep in touch.

Accomplishing all this before rope drop, we joined the throngs of people greeted by the character bus and headed straight for Test Track at rope drop. Rhonda took the passes up to get Fast Passes (she is our designated Fast Pass runner, since she has to be there and talk to a cast member as her ID won’t scan in the machines) while the rest of us stood in line (20 minute standby wait). I then questioned whether Test Track was worth standing in line for. We planned to come to Early Entry at this park later in the week and could ride it then. Asking everyone if they’d prefer to ride later with no line—everyone agreed and we left the line. MISTAKE!! Seems not everyone had understood my question and now were wondering why we’d gotten out of line. YIKES! Not 15 minutes into the park and everyone is mad at me!

However, just a little bit of Disney magic and all was forgotten. We cut through MouseGear thinking we’d head to Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, a family favorite. Almost as if on cue, the music started for the choreographed fountain show as we passed. We’d never seen it and were mesmerized by it. We then ducked into Ice Station Cool even though we weren’t near the heat of the day and had the most fun we’ve ever had there. You know the "snow" that is all over the floor as you walk through on a hot afternoon? Well we discovered that it comes from the ceiling at the beginning of the day! Walking through was sort of like being randomly pelted with snowballs. Great fun!

Also this morning, we went to guest relations and got Andrew a birthday button. I had given him mine to wear that I’d picked up at the Magic Kingdom last year, but Epcot has one with a different design that has Happy Birthday written in many languages. We also bought a Pal Mickey with the idea that each kid would carry him on their special day, but Tyson immediately laid claim to him this day. He loved telling us all when he shook that "Mickey wants to tell us something!". Too cute! Also at this point, Tyson started trading practically any pin on his lanyard for ANY Mickey pin. He had quite a Mickey collection by the end of the day.

We did Honey and Journey Into Imagination with no wait, sending an e-postcard to several folks back home afterwards. Then we walked back to Test Track for our Fast Pass getting on immediately(why does ANYONE do standby?) and trekked back to The Land pavilion. Outside of the Ice Cream Social last year, we didn’t spend any time here at all and Rhonda and I hadn’t done the rides or shows since 1996.

THE LAND

Rhonda grabbed Fast Passes to Living with the Land and we watched The Circle of Life (didn’t remember this one at ALL, must’ve fallen asleep last time). We then went down to the food court with Zach and Tyson eating pasta, Liz eating Peanut Butter and Jelly and the rest splitting Chicken Sandwich and Chicken Strips ($26.15). After eating, we rode the boat ride and started to wait for Food Rocks, but the Toll House cookie baking was about to begin, so Rhonda stayed with the three younger kids while Andrew and I took off to Innoventions to get in some quality video game time.

From Rhonda’s description and the pictures she took, the cookie baking seemed a worthwhile diversion. Zach and Tyson were issued a Chef’s hat (Liz bowed out even though at 11 she was within the age limit, she’d have been the oldest participant by far) on which they wrote their names in crayon. Ingredients were combined and with a little magic, chocolate chip cookies were "baked". Since Zach was the last to put his cookie on the baking sheet, he got to make the BIGGEST cookie (all that was left in the bowl).

Meanwhile Andrew and I were off checking out the latest video games in Innoventions West. Not really my favorite way to spend an hour, but Andrew loved it! He likes the Tony Hawk-type skateboarding stuff which I just can’t seem to get the hang of. We did get to try one of the new dance-type video games (we were terrible, but had fun). We also made a trip to the restroom, during which I managed to catch my cell phone on a door and snapped the antennae clean off (this becomes important a little later in the trip)!

My phone seemed to work fine when I called Rhonda. That was important since we had changed our calling plan right before leaving home. We now have Verizon’s America’s Choice Family Share Plan which allows us to call each other’s cell phones 24/7 at no additional charge. Because of this plan we opted not to bring 2-way communicators this trip. Our family often splits up in the parks though, so working phones were important.

After meeting back up, we toured Living Seas, just missing the dolphin demonstration, but the kids had never been so we took our time viewing here. We rode Spaceship Earth and then went to check if Mission Space was open. The information we had heard was that it was opening around 4:00 for the general public. It was right around 3:00 and sure enough, it was open! Unfortunately, I knew Rhonda and Zach (both get VERY motion sick) probably shouldn’t attempt this one without medication, so we popped some Dramamine and went off to ride the Universe of Energy. None of the kids had ridden this one yet, but we just missed getting into the pre-show and were first in line outside.

MISSION SPACE

After our adventure with Ellen and Bill Nye, we went off to try the newest Disney had to offer. Heading back into the pavilion, I noticed the Fast Pass machine. Why aren’t these out in front like all the other rides? We could have easily gotten Fast Passes earlier had we known they were available. Maybe because it was a "soft" opening they didn’t want to draw attention? Anyway, we headed back to a posted 40 minute standby line. Hot and sticky. That is the best way to describe the queuing area before the preshow. And with that infernal spinning gravity wheel thing while you wait in line, my theory was they were trying to get people nauseous BEFORE they got to the pre-show so they wouldn’t ride if they had any doubts at all. Why else keep the queuing area noticeably warmer than the pre-show?

I really enjoyed this ride. I think I would have enjoyed it more if our entire family could experience it together, but there are only four to a pod, so we were split 3-3. I had Zachary with me and figured he was probably the most likely to upchuck. He got through, but don’t think he could have been persuaded to ride again. He had a rough time on Body Wars last year though and is usually only good for one ride on Space Mountain per trip.

I was the commander for our crew, Liz the pilot, Zach the navigator and some stranger was our engineer. We each had a particular button to push when it flashed during the ride. I later learned that Rhonda was annoyed by the button pushing and it sort of stressed her out (she had our 44 inch exactly five year-old in her pod and had to push his button, he physically couldn't reach it). INTENSE is definitely the best description for this ride. I’d read all of the Internet reviews of this ride and even knew the technology behind it, but HOLY COW! You blast off and feel the skin being pulled tighter on you face and then AYE CARUMBA! you break free from the earth’s gravitational pull and are FLOATING! QUITE intense, yes.

It took a while for our entire group to get it’s earth legs back, so we took some time in the gift shop (The interactive game area was quite crowded). Rhonda was definitely feeling a little queasy and I figured it best to abandon Future World and go see World Showcase. Rhonda and I had spent a lot of time here in February, and we were anxious to share with the kids some of our favorite live performers. Here’s where we started to get in trouble as I might have started trying to "force" the magic.

WORLD SHOWCASE

I had a copy of Steve Soares’ Live Entertainment Guide printed out and knew if we could get to France in five minutes we’d catch the chair balancing guy. So off we rushed, but kids needed to stop at the bathroom, so I stopped at Trader Bob’s for Beaver Tails ($6) in Canada. We got to France for maybe the last five minutes of the chair guys and really couldn’t see much because we were at the back of the crowd. Still, this guy is fascinating! Then, I thought we’d better try to get the rides in so I started to urge my family to take off to the OTHER side of the lake for Maelstrom and El Rio del Tiempo and we could catch the Living Statues on the way. Elizabeth had her eye on one of the personalized French parasols they can paint and wanted to spend her own money, so we decided Rhonda, Liz and one stroller would stay while Andrew and I took off to the other side. Then the mutiny began.

In retrospect, the upcoming incident seems pretty silly. We’d had a few long days with very little sleep Andrew didn’t want to walk all the way over there and chose to tell me so with a few choice words in a too loud voice. We stopped before things got too ugly, but suffice it to say that we needed a little cool down time. All the time I preach in my posts to "let the magic come to you". "Don’t expect too much and Disney will exceed your expectations every time". Guess I wasn’t quite practicing that which I preached.

We spent a little time just sitting on a bench and then walked only as far as Japan to watch the drummers (Man those guys are in shape!) before turning around to get Liz’s parasol. The boat rides, American Adventure and the Living Statues will be there later in the trip (or in this case NEXT trip, we never got back). Better to stop and smell the roses now. We were very disappointed though to miss Miyuki, the candy lady at the Japanese Pavilion. She was on vacation. If you have the chance to see her, take it. She is quite talented and quite fascinating. Well I mis-read my schedule and the mime wasn’t in France when we returned as I thought, but we did get the kids’ pictures taken with Aladdin in Morocco

It was now about time for our Priority Seating at Rose and Crown. We checked in at 7:28 for our 7:30 PS (I know the time because literally all four people that checked in front of me had a 7:30 PS AND requested the patio).

I was sure to tell them we were celebrating a birthday and said we were willing to wait for a good view. They said 25 minutes when they gave us the pager, but it was close to an hour actually. I took the three younger kids to Canada while Rhonda and the birthday boy waited on a bench outside the restaurant. We came back at 25 minutes and I finally went back to the podium at about 8:15.

At the podium they said it would be just a few more minutes because they were waiting on the best seat in the house--perhaps there is a better seat for Illuminations, but I can't imagine where!

We were seated at the large umbrella tables directly in front of the globe. At first I thought the landscaping might block the little kids' view, but all could see fine. With the audio coming over the restaurant speakers, I truly enjoyed the show!

Perhaps the only thing that could have been better would have been the timing of the meal. With our long wait, everyone was starving and the kids didn't care much for the cheese on the fruit and cheese appetizers. Our entrees came just as Illuminations was starting and some of us were sharing food, so we weren't too focused on the show as we were divvying out food. All together we ordered 2 cheese and fruit plate appetizers the steak and prawns entree and three kids meals (chicken, fish and pizza). After cast discount and 15% tip, bill was $50.05.

Overall, I really enjoyed this, and while it may go into the "been there-done that" file like the Illuminations Cruise we took in February, you wouldn't have to twist my arm too hard to do this again. Andrew was offered a dessert for his birthday, but he passed since we had promised him the Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream to end the day.

As the park closed, my plan of slipping out International Gateway developed a kink—we’d left our collapsible cooler in the locker at the front of the park! While I trudged all the way up and back to retrieve our things, the rest of our crew shopped a bit and then hung out with the cast members at International Gateway. One of the cast members (unfortunately I didn’t get a name) "traded" pins with Andrew and then "couldn’t find one on his lanyard she liked", so just said "Happy birthday" and let Andrew keep the pin.

EVERYTHING PLUS THE KITCHEN SINK

We walked to Beaches and Cream, probably waiting 40 minutes or so for a table while the kids spent some quarters in the arcade next door. Andrew got a balloon and was sung happy birthday to in addition to the normal hoopla that goes on when you order the Kitchen Sink. And just in case you were wondering, no, we couldn’t eat it all. (Coffee and Kitchen Sink, $25.33)

Rather than take a bus to Downtown Disney and transfer to a Ft Wilderness-bound bus, we opted for a cab. Best $13 I could’ve spent that night! What a great FULL day of new experiences. By the way, just in case you were wondering, Andrew was wished "Happy Birthday 27 times by cast members and others while wearing his pins (he counted). AND a Disney first for the family; a day at Walt Disney World with NO RAIN! Tomorrow we sleep in!

DAY THREE- CAST MEMBER SHOPPING AND DOWNTOWN DISNEY

I don’t recall the exact time our Mickey wake up call came from JimH today, but I do know that I was the only member of the family awake when my phone started ringing in the tent. We had a well-deserved sleep in day planned. It’s tough for me to sleep while at my favorite place on the planet, so I was up and puttering around the camp around sunrise. In retrospect, I kind of wished I had taken some time to explore some of the walking trails at the resort, but I guess that will be left for next time…

I started breakfast sometime between 9:00-10:00. Something about the sound and smell of sizzling bacon seems to wake most of my crew. The boys are a little more like me and tend to get up so as not to miss anything—They headed to the pool for a quick dip before breakfast. Elizabeth could sleep until afternoon each day—and for the most part usually tried. Pancakes, scrambled eggs, bacon and fried potatoes smelled awfully good! I enjoy being the camp cook when we tent, burnt the heck out of my thumb this day though.

CAST MEMBER SHOPPING

After breakfast we had a pretty light agenda. The kids wanted more swimming and some arcade time, and while it made us a bit nervous, we chose to leave them at the campground while Rhonda and I did some Cast Member shopping. We’d had a taste of some of the offerings during our trip without kids in February, but Rhonda can only bring one guest who must be over 16.

There are really several special shopping options available to cast members while at WDW. First there are several "Company D" stores scattered all across the property. These are small "stores" with various sundry items at NON-touristy prices for cast members. Along with general items they also have name tags, cast lanyards and some "cast exclusives" like watches, shirts and other practical items. We went to several of these in February and they are located backstage at some parks and at "corporate" locations like the Team Disney building (very cool place) and Disney University. This is also where cast members can pick up discounted tickets and information about WDW cast events.

The REALLY COOL places though are Cast Connection and Property Control. They are located near the Magic Kingdom, but not within walking distance. The story of how Rhonda and I first found this place is a pretty good one, maybe if I write the February Trip Report someday you’ll hear it.

Cast Connection is like a Disney Outlet on steroids. All the items are new, just like off the shelves at the stores, but discontinued. Sometimes they even have current park items that are overstocked at a very good discount. It also seems to be a good place to get watches and some collectibles at very good prices. My bet is that a lot of the Disney stuff you see on ebay comes from Cast Connection. I seemed to notice a lot of odd lot-type items, like maybe a cream/sugar/teapot set sold separately and all the sugar bowls were gone…You get the idea?

The real fun place for a bargain hunter like me though is Property Control. Imagine what it would be like if Walt Disney World had a garage sale—THAT is Property Control! Departments throughout WDW send company assets to Property Control for disposal. Items include office equipment, furniture, costumes, etc. Some large items are sold through auction, but this place also includes damaged (you see TONS of Mickey frames, statues, etc. with ears or noses snapped off, sometimes the piece is taped on and can be easily fixed) and discontinued or dated merchandise from the parks. EVERYTHING is 75 percent off the original retail price, regardless of what price might be marked on it. Also included here are unclaimed lost and found items. It’s sort of sad, but what can they do if no one ever claims an item?

Property Control used to be housed under an open tent, really giving it a "garage sale" feeling, but I’d been monitoring some cast member web sites and knew that a new building was had recently been built for this stuff—climate controlled and with indoor plumbing! That was where we were heading today!

Once we got there, we learned that they were having a back to school sale and any number of children could accompany the cast member. Oh well, too late to go back now, maybe we’d bring the kids later in the week. Also, Cast Connection was being refurbished and all of those items were in the new building. The place was a ZOO!

We bought all kinds of stuff, from a 100 Years of Magic license plate to polos. Plenty of T-shirts which we kept back for future gifts for the kids and Rhonda and I both got new watches. Mine says "Four Parks, One World" on the leather band and has Mickey and all four park icons on the face. My price after discount? $6.99!! Did I mention I love this place?

I think they do this just for shock value, but the receipt first rings up your total at regular price, THEN the discount, THEN the amount you need to pay—in our case $344.48, $242.59 and $86.12 respectively.

Figuring the kids were probably fried to a crisp at the pool by now, we headed back to Fort Wilderness. They were still going strong and still not real hungry after such a big breakfast. I went a little wild and started some charcoal about 2:30, grilling more chicken breasts and pork tenderloin then we could possibly eat that had traveled with us from Kansas City ( I had not yet been convinced of the Coleman Extreme Cooler’s powers). I also wanted some mashed potatoes, so Rhonda went to the Meadow Trading Post for milk and butter as she got the kids from the pool.

DOWNTOWN DISNEY

After eating, we got in the car for Downtown Disney. We parked behind The World of Disney store, knowing that we usually spend the most time at Legoland and the playground there anyway. We headed straight for Once Upon a Toy. This very cool store had been under construction last visit, but Rhonda and I knew the kids would love it. We got the standard photo by Buzz out front and then went inside. We had Pal Mickey and he immediately started shaking and told the kids to make a card at the Mr. Potato Head display. The three youngest kids used the computer kiosks to make their own "personalized" Mr. Potato Head which printed out on a card that had a "Family Trivia Game" on back.

I could really spend a lot of time at this store. They have a great collection of Disney compact discs and the entire Monorail set in the center of the store. At the back they have a pretty cool princess display set up and the Cast Member there told us Pal Mickey would tell us something about it.

Hmmm… where WAS Pal Mickey? After a frantic moment or two, I re-traced our steps and there he was, patiently waiting by the Mr. Potato Head display where Zach had left him. I was awfully glad we’d found him. Hey I sure liked the guy, but $40 for one day would’ve been quite an expensive rental had we lost him.

We then stepped outside and headed to Pin Traders. I had collected a dozen more certificates from Kellogg’s cereals, making each kid eligible for one of the free pins they have there. We spent quite a bit of time here, and the kids used some of their own money to purchase pins.. I have to admit though that I really don’t like to have my kids trade pins there. There are too many people there who do this to make a profit while my kids are there just to have fun. Rhonda and I decided early on that these were the kids’ pins and we wouldn’t get upset at their trades. Have to admit needing to bite my tongue though as Zach traded one of the "Mount Rustmore" pins we’d given him (exclusive to Castaway Cay on the Disney Cruise) for a Father Christmas Pooh pin that I’d seen on close-out at the Disney Store for 50 cents. Actually, our kids have a lot of cool pins that Rhonda has gotten at a discount or on close out from the catalog. We are probably a pretty easy "mark" for some cunning pin traders.

It was about then that it started to rain. Now THIS is the Disney my family knows and loves! We ran from shop to shop, not bothering to get the ponchos out, ending up at, you guessed it Legoland.! Now how did this rehab get by all my Internet friends? Legoland playground was closed? Sheesh, must’ve missed that post. I know that they just rehabbed this place last year, because it just had reopened before our June 2002 trip.

The kids bought some Bionicles (you can get these at WalMart, but somehow my boys want to save their money for here) and we decided to grab a quick bite at Mc Donald’s. We were shocked last year when Rhonda had said jokingly "Maybe they give a cast member discount here", and they immediately took 20 percent off our bill! We ate our fill of burgers ($20.47) and then hit the separate dessert counter for (ice cream $8.03). It was well after 8:00 by the time we’d finished and played with our Happy Meal Spy Kids toys. The kids also looked over all the new pins they’d bought and traded for today.

The only other thing on the agenda for the evening was a grocery run. I’d printed off the directions to Publix and even with buying the kids some swim goggles our total to purchase groceries and snacks for the rest of the week was only $62.38.

When we returned to the camp, I discovered our tarp had blown down, but thankfully hardly anything that mattered underneath had gotten very wet. We scurried off to bed, knowing that tomorrow was early entry at MGM for Tyson’s special day. And Zach was tall enough this year for Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster!

DAY FOUR- TYSON’S "DAY" @ DISNEY/MGM STUDIOS AND DISNEY’S ANIMAL KINGDOM

If memory serves, there was no Mickey wake up this morning. Whether that was because I tried changing the wake up schedule close to the date we left (probably confusing the heck out of JimH) or if it was because my broken-antennae cell phone was getting awful reception in Fort Wilderness I’m not sure. Regardless, we got around in plenty of time to drive to Disney-MGM Studios for Extra Magic Hour after our cold cereal/pop tarts breakfast. The plan was to hit MGM early, get the big rides out of the way, then hop to Disney’s Animal Kingdom in time for Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle Parade (the only WDW parade that Rhonda and I have not yet seen) at 4:00, close down that park, return to MGM and if we had the energy, stay for Fantasmic!. Yeah, that was pretty ambitious, but I’d rather over-plan then back off if it gets to be too much.

Well, we did get a good parking space in the lot (no need to ride the tram), but where did all these other people come from? At probably 20 minutes before 8:00, there was a sea of people outside the gate. As we did our get-tickets-pass-security-find-cast-member-entrance shuffle, we noticed several people being denied entrance because they didn’t have their resort ID. Perhaps some had forgotten to bring it, but I suspect more were staying off site and trying to "sneak through". If I were to stay off site, I sure wouldn’t chance it. As it was, we went straight to Tower of Terror for Fast Passes and they were already for 10:20. And we hadn’t even taken the time to pick up strollers or get a locker yet!

I’ll also share one advantage that Rhonda, as a cast member, has in getting Fast Passes. We learned this our last trip, but it really came into play as the parks were much busier this time. As I mentioned earlier, since her ID doesn’t scan in the machine, she must talk to the Cast Member and show her ID to get one. Then either she will be handed a pre-printed pass or the cast member will press the "magic button" on the back of the machine and out will pop a fast pass. If she hasn’t already run our park hoppers through the machine yet, sometimes the cast member will ask, "How many do you need?" and hand her all six. When this happens, there is no two hour wait until we can get new Fast Passes. So she has learned to always ask BEFORE running our hoppers through the machine. Now before members of the "rules police" start emailing me, I’m sure that it’s probably not Disney policy to do this (we never complain if they do say we need to run the hoppers through the machine) and we try not to abuse it, but it is a nice advantage to have when there are two VERY popular rides close together like Tower of Terror and Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster.

While Rhonda entered the mass of humanity that was the Tower of Terror Fast Pass line that day, the rest of us went to check out the standby line at Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster-already at 40 minutes and the park had just opened for early entry! Rhonda had gotten the Fast Passes for Tower of Terror without going through the machine, so we got additional ones for the coaster with a 11:00-12:00 window. That might prove problematic, since we had a Priority Seating at Sci Fi for 11:10, but we’d cross that bridge when we came to it—I was ready to head to a less busy portion of this park. We’d been at the park for nearly an hour and not ridden anything yet.

We’d accidentally left our water bottles in the car. I know some people don’t care for the taste of WDW water, but we don’t mind it. As a church youth director, I see lots of kids getting dehydrated on trips which sure messes up the day—I try to make certain that we are drinking plenty of fluids and I can’t imagine how much we’d spend if we only drank purchased bottled water. I was fine with purchasing a couple of bottles to refill versus traipsing back out to the car, but then we realized we’d left Pal Mickey also. Since Rhonda doesn’t care much for Star Tours (the motion-sickness thing), we split up. She went to the car for the left items, would pick up strollers and store stuff in the locker and then meet up with us after we’d saved the galaxy on Star Tours.

IT WAS A GOOD PLAN, BUT…

The kids and I completed our portion easily, with maybe a five minute wait in standby. Rhonda didn’t fare quite so well. First, she stored our collapsible cooler with lunch in a locker but then had a bit of a problem locating our car in the lot. She tried calling my cell phone, but no one answered. Then by the time she’d retrieved the items and returned to the gate, the sea of people there had turned into an OCEAN of people. Not sure how long we had to wait in standby, she got through the gate as quickly as possible and got strollers. We prefer a double when possible, but when the park is busy, they’ll give cast members two rather than a double. Did I mention the park was busy?

This park is also home of our least-favorite Disney strollers. I think I understand what they were going for with the lighter, more umbrella-like design, but for whatever reason, we seem to find more wobbly-wheel-turn-to-the-side ones here (the tops aren’t as sturdy as the other parks for resting backpacks on either). So Rhonda headed off toward Star Tours trying to control two wobbly-wheel strollers through a mass of people—all the time wondering why I wasn’t answering my phone.

Meanwhile, having long since completed our Jedi-like tasks on our trip to the Moon of Endor, I was wondering where the heck Rhonda was—or at LEAST why didn’t she call? I first sent the kids into the gift shop, while I waited outside the ride. Then when they got bored there, I walked them up to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground to kill some more time. When I finally thought to call Rhonda, my phone wasn’t working at all. I guess the reception at this park wasn’t good enough for my antennae-less phone.

When we finally met up, neither of us were in the best of moods, but realized we couldn’t have done much differently. My broken phone was really throwing a monkey wrench into our plans. We gave Zach some Dramamine, spent a little more time with the kids at the playground (I think this place is great for photo ops) and then went to Muppet-Vision 3-D. By then it was time to run to the other end of the park for our Fast Passes. Rhonda and I had experienced the new drop sequences back in February, but this time there were MANY more ups and downs at Tower of Terror. Fun, but Rhonda and Zach were a bit queasy.

LUNCH @ SCI FI

Now we had a decision to make. It was almost time for our Rock ‘n’ Rollercoaster window (11:00-12:00), but we had a 11:10 Priority Seating. Since Tyson couldn’t ride anyway, we figured he and Rhonda could zip back across to Sci Fi, wait until about 11:25 to check in (they’ll let you check in 15 minutes on either side of your Priority Seating with no repercussions) and try to stall them until we got back from the ride (keeping in touch with our cell phones of course- hahahaaaaaaa….).

Well, naturally there was a brief shutdown while we were in line, cell phones DIDN’T work and it was probably 11:45 before we met up with Rhonda and Tyson. Zach enjoyed his first ride with Aerosmith, by the way He now says it’s his second favorite ride (he has 5 or 6 "first favorite rides" though). Somehow, Rhonda had miraculously gotten them to hold our table, a full 35 minutes late. We were ushered up to our white "convertible" in the second row.

Our original plan was just to do appetizers and maybe dessert here. We didn’t think we had the money for a full-fledged meal in the budget, and we had brought PB & J, carrots and apple sauce in the cooler for later. However we were pretty hungry and I was not excited about running back across the park to the locker any time soon. So we ordered fairly carefully and only paid $36.61 (after discount and gratuity) for all six of us. We had 3 kids meals (corndog, mac & cheese and burger-4.99 each without the flying saucer) while Rhonda and Andrew split the adult burger (10.99) which seemed to be enough for them. I simply ate a bowl of the chili (4.59) and ordered one of the glow ice cube drinks with ice tea and then switched cups with Tyson who was "celebrating" his birthday this day. An ordinary drink had come with the kids meal and the "glowing" drink really made him feel special. Our waiter also gave him a flying saucer (Frisbee) that matched the cup and a birthday card signed by the "Sci Fi Gang".

I should probably throw in another piece of information here that I’ve seen mentioned on several boards. The glowing ice cubes DO have a battery, but it is NOT replaceable. The cubes can be turned off and on by "banging" them on the table. Our cast member seemed to think that left on, a cube would last about 18 hours. However, by turning it off after each use, a cube should be good for dozens of drinks back home.

Having finished lunch, we figured we’d probably have to start prioritizing what we wanted to do before hopping to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. We wanted to do the parade there, but Kali River Rapids was a must—Tyson’s favorite ride. Knowing we couldn’t get them all in, we asked Tyson which he’d prefer to do at the Studios; Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular, Who Wants To Be a Millionaire or Beauty and the Beast? I fully expected him to say Indy, (one of his favorite movies), but he chose Millionaire. Zach still talks about how last year he was in second place for the hot seat (with a little help from Dad).

We walked toward Mickey Avenue, past Mike and Sulley’s garage. The characters were there, but getting ready to take a break, so the line had been cut off. Rhonda really wanted a picture of the two youngest with Mike and Sulley, their entire room is themed in Monsters Inc. stuff and she wanted to add a 8x10 to the mix. We’d have to come back later.

We got Fast Passes for Millionaire—the 3:45 show. I guess that ruled out the Mickey’s Jammin’ Jungle parade. Now we needed to find something to do until Millionaire. Standby lines at Voyage of the Little Mermaid and Playhouse Disney were much longer than I cared to wait. We wandered over to the Animation tour building, remembering that Stitch was supposed to make character appearances over here somewhere. We asked a cast member who said "Follow the footprints" which were painted on the cement and seemed to lead directly into the waiting Animation Tour crowd. We kind of stood in line with everyone else until they opened the doors to the tour. once the line for the tour cleared, the footprints led beyond the lines and we had just a short wait until Stitch came out (I assume they time it this way so the two lines aren't confused). The cast member playing the part was GREAT! He was VERY animated and had a water spray bottle that he kept squirting the kids with. No sign of Lilo though.

By this point we had finally had our fill of not being able to communicate when we split up. We dropped into the shop to buy some two-way communicators. We’d had our eye on the Motorola Mickey ones since before last Christmas when Rhonda had seen them in a mock up of an upcoming Disney catalog, however they were pulled before it went to print. Since she gets an even bigger discount on catalog orders, we had been patiently waiting until they showed up in a catalog. The church I work for also has some Talk-Abouts that we use for travel that I can easily borrow, so it hadn’t been a necessity. However, the Mickey ones have never shown up in subsequent catalogs, so now seemed like a good time to buy them. Since they weren’t sold in this shop, we had to go back to the front of the park (sheesh, anyone keeping track of how many times we crossed the park this day?).

Well, the $60 communicators were $48 after discount (I have since found them at Target for $39.99) at The Darkroom camera center. With two four-packs of AAA batteries ($5.50 EACH!) our total bill after tax was $60.50 (being able to communicate…PRICELESS). I also went to Guest Relations while in the area and got Tyson a birthday button. While it wasn’t his ACTUAL birthday, we were still celebrating it. Obviously they don’t get as many requests for buttons here since the cast member had to go to a different desk to find one. It was the same design as the Magic Kingdom one, with the castle.

Anxious to try out our new purchase, we split up. Andrew and Elizabeth figured they could shop/trade pins in the area while the rest of us got that picture with the guys from Monsters, Inc. We got the desired shots and met back up at the Big Hat while some sort of character meet/greet was going on. We had a little bit of time before Millionaire, so I pulled out my Steve Soares’ pages and saw that Andy Mation, the Balloonimator would be performing soon.

ANDY MATION, THE BALLOONIMATOR

I don’t recall seeing much on message boards about this guy, but I was mesmerized. I’d describe him as a "World-Class Balloon Twister". We got Mickey bars for a snack while waiting ($15). Andy started about 15 minutes later than the guide said (I usually find Steve Soares to be amazingly accurate—maybe he was just running behind that day), but a mother and son were waiting with us who had seen an earlier show assured us that this was the location he’d told them to return to (on Mickey Avenue by the character trailers, he also performs by the Hat). Andy blows up and twists balloons, all the while talking into a hands-free microphone about Disney history and the character he is making. In our case it was Mickey Mouse.

He created an amazingly detailed Mickey, all the while talking about Walt’s creation of Mickey and asking trivia questions. I bit my tongue and let others answer most of the questions ("What was Walt’s original name for Mickey?", "Who convinced him ‘Mickey’ was a better name?"), but when he got to questions about Mickey’s first movie ("No, not Steamboat Willie…") I sort of wished that I had MY pin lanyard with me that day since I collect black and white pins and the entire left side is dedicated to the boxed set of "Plane Crazy" that Rhonda had given me for my last birthday. But that would have just been showing off…

Much like Miyuki, the candy lady in Epcot, Andy gave his creation to the child we had waited with earlier who had returned to watch his show a second time. However seeing Tyson’s birthday pin, he didn’t want him to feel left out so he told him that he heard Captain Hook had been spotted about the park and quickly fashioned a balloon sword and "knighted" Tyson "defender of Disney-MGM Studios". Andy is a class act, I’d really encourage others to catch his show.

CHARACTER FAST PASSES?

Still with a little time before our Millionaire Fast Pass, we headed over to Al’s Toy Barn, the area where Toy Story characters pose for pictures. Earlier while Rhonda had been waiting for our Sci Fi Priority Seating, she had picked up some Fast Passes being handed out by the fountain in front of Muppets (I had seen the table also, but it was unclear to me what they were for). Turns out they were fast passes to see Woody and Buzz for a photo op. This was before noon and the FastPasses were for 3:30-3:45.

When we showed up to use them, we were shuffled around the side right to the front of the line (probably 30-40 people) waiting for pictures. As we walked by I noticed a Disney suit-type woman with a clipboard taking notes. I asked if this was a test. Sure enough, she said they'd been testing Character Fast Passes for the past couple of weeks. She then asked me a few questions about whether we'd enjoyed it, was it worth coming back for etc. Just thought I'd pass this along--we may see more Fast Passes for other things in the future.

Finally we hustled over to Millionaire and waited about five minutes until the doors to the theater opened. This has become the most frustrating attraction for me! I usually know most of the answers, but typically make some goofy mistake that keeps me out of the hot seat. Plus, as a cast member, Rhonda isn’t allowed in the hot seat—so it’s a little boring for her. And to top it all off, my kids think that I am the smartest person in the world, so I can’t help but think I’m disappointing them when I don’t win them a cruise…

After Millionaire (neither contestant did particularly well), it was pretty late to be hopping to a park that closed at 6:00, but we had promised Tyson that we’d hit Kali River Rapids on his day, so off to the bus stop we went, leaving our strollers parked by the rest rooms at the front of the park. We often leave strollers unattended, knowing we’ll be back later, but this time we took our valuables out (or so we thought).

[b:34c3259fd7]HOP TO