Resort: Fort Wilderness Resort and Campground (where else?) - camping in our Coleman Utah pop-up
Occasion: The May 8th wedding of Laura Acker and Dave Scribellito at Disney's Yacht Club. I had met Laura on Internet Relay Chat (IRC) in the #radp-friends chat room back in the summer of 1997. I later met Laura and Dave in person at Disneyland back in September 1997 (see Jeff's, Laura's Lee's and Pam's Disneyland Trip Report) along with some other rec.arts.disney.parks (radp) newsgroup and chat friends. Laura and I have been friends since then and stayed in touch via the internet. I was thrilled when Laura invited me to her wedding...I think she might have expected me to say no...surprise! ;-) She not only got me, but the rest of the Spencer clan too! Thanks Laura and Dave for allowing us to participate in such a happy time in your lives.
Day 1, May 6th - Travel
Since the kids were still in school, we wanted to minimize the time they would miss. We were lucky in that each of them had a day off (unused weather day) on either side of the weekend (Katie on Friday the 8th, Brian on Monday the 11th). We decided that I'd drive down by myself pulling our camper and that they would fly down a day later and I'd pick them up at the Orlando airport.
The drive down wasn't bad at all. I left at 7:30 am CDT after dropping the kids off at school. We live in Madison, Alabama, which is a suburb of Huntsville, located in the north central part of Alabama. We've tried a number of routes to Orlando but have found that I-65 south to Birmingham, I-20 east to Atlanta, I-75/475 south to Wildwood, FL, then Florida Turnpike to I-4, to be the quickest route. Since I was alone and only made three short stops, I arrived at Fort Wilderness at 6:15 pm EDT - less than 10 hours! Arriving later in the evening had its advantages - I was the only vehicle in the registration line. A cast member named Jeff checked me in in just a few minutes - assigning me site 1303...woo hoo! Our favorite site again! Things were starting out right. :-)
***Tip***When making your reservations at Fort Wilderness, if you have a loop preference make sure to let the reservationist know. Also, if you're camping and would like to be near a comfort station and/or bus stop, let them know that too and they'll note it on your reservation. If you *don't* want to be near a bus stop (it can be noisy and bothersome if you're a light sleeper) let them know that too.
I had my cell phone and had told Laura Gilbreath (another radp friend and wedding invitee) to call me after she got checked in if she felt like getting together to eat dinner and/or doing something at a park. She called as I was setting up the camper so we made plans to get together later for dinner at Beaches and Cream. After a much needed shower (setting up a camper alone in 86 degree heat is sweaty business), I was off to Beaches and Cream. I had my usual nutritious meal - a wonderfully greasy cheeseburger and fries, with a *very* chocolatey milk shake...mmmm...mmmm. :-) Laura only had strawberry shortcake...they must have fed her well on the airplane. After dinner, we walked around the Boardwalk. It was kind of eerie at how quiet it was, but that may not be unusual for a Wednesday night. We were both a bit tired after traveling all day so we made plans to meet at Epcot in the morning and called it a night.
Day 2, May 7th - Epcot, Wedding Rehearsal Dinner, Airport
Laura Gilbreath is *not* an early riser...I think she blames it on the time difference between the East and West Coasts...how convenient. Anyway, I had some time to kill in the morning so I arranged things in the camper to get ready for the arrival of the rest of the family later in the evening, including making out the kids' bed, storing groceries, fishing out the kids' pajamas, etc. It looked like the cabin on site 1205 was empty so I rode an internal bus up to the Reception Outpost hoping to find a cast member that would let me in to take some pictures but everyone was too busy. :-(
I
met Laura at Epcot's International Gateway at 11 am. Our focus was
on the beautiful topiaries and flowers that were on display as part of
the International Flower and Garden Festival. The first we came across
were those in the UK. I'm a big Eeyore fan so I was tickled to see
Eeyore out front with his tail wagging back and forth. We took the
path back into the garden behind the UK and saw the Piglet, Tigger, Rabbit
and Pooh topiaries too. Rabbit's garden was especially impressive.
The gardens beside Canada, which are modelled after Buchart Gardens in Victoria, British Columbia, are always very pretty but they were even more beautiful for the Festival. After some indifferent debate (where do you want to eat lunch? I don't care, where do you want to eat? I don't care...) we somehow decided on San Angel Inn. I had the chicken enchiladas with red sauce...Laura had a salad with cactus in it...ewww, no thanks. ;-) Total, with tip, was $26.
Exiting
through the side door of the pavilion, we admired the beautiful orchids
on either side of the walkway. There wasn't much to see at Norway
and we really weren't interested in riding Maelstrom so we continued on
to China. There we saw a cool dragon topiary made of bromeliads...very
impressive. In the Outpost area there were neat topiaries of the
Lion King characters including Pumba and Timon, Rafiki holding the baby
Simba, and Scar. We eventually made our way back to the UK pavilion
in time to catch the World Showcase Players. Laura had been hoping
to see them do Romeo and Edna but they were doing King Arthur and the Holy
Grail. (Grail, grail, grail...uhhh!) :-) We sat on a
tea shop window sill, in the shade, near an open door (air conditioned
air pouring out...ahhhh) and were enjoying the show when two women walked
out of the door. One turned briefly, looked at me, then took up a
position *right* in front me...how rude! I didn't say anything though
since I'd already seen the show and Laura could still see. Her buddy,
apparently not satisfied with her position though, moved right in front
of Laura. OK, that's it! I politely pointed out to the ladies
that we couldn't see and they moved on...no apologies, nothing. What
turkeys!
We finished up the World Showcase and made our way to Futureworld to find the coolest bug sculptures. They are called "Big Bugs" and were made by a fellow named David Rogers. There are 15 in all and they range from a giant praying mantis to a beautiful butterfly. Laura and I rode Horizons and Spaceship Earth before deciding we'd better head out and get ready for Laura and Dave's rehearsal dinner.
I
went back and showered and decided on a short nap...that was a mistake.
I didn't set my watch alarm and when I woke up it was 6:30 pm - time for
the rehearsal dinner...dang! I hustled over to the Beach Club but
was still about 20 minutes late. The dinner was held on top of the
snackbar next to Stormalong Bay, which turned out to be a great place.
There was a nice cool breeze blowing and we could watch what was going
on around the pool while chatting with one another. Being late, I
missed the introductions, but I did get to meet Laura
Acker's mom. Lee Zimmerman, Laura Gilbreath's hubby, had arrived
earlier in the afternoon and they were kind enough to invite me to sit
and eat dinner with them. Laura and Dave had quite a nice
spread of food for the dinner, which included bbq pork, fried chicken,
baked beans, and huge chocolate chip cookies. There was a lot of
other stuff too, I just listed what I ate. Oh, and there was a bar
too. ;-)
I had to leave at 8:30 to pick up Susan and the kids at the airport at 9:15 pm, so I thanked Laura and Dave again for the invitation and headed off to the airport. Unfortunately, upon arrival, I found out that their flight had been delayed and wouldn't be in until 10:20 pm. At 10, a Southwest gate employee announced that the flight was still on the ground and probably wouldn't arrive until 12:10 am...ugh! I was sure Susan was having fun entertaining the kids in the airport...not! Not being a patient person, I decided to drive back to Fort Wilderness to rest for an hour and then I'd drive back to pick up Susan and the kids. It sounded like a good plan at the time. I called Southwest when I got to Fort Wilderness to check on the flight's progress, expecting a further delay. Instead, I found out that the arrival time had been moved up to 11:37 pm...sheesh! I hopped in the Explorer and found them at the gate with bags in hand when I arrived. We didn't get into bed until 12:30 am. So much for our plans to get up early to tour the Animal Kingdom. :-(
Day 3, May 8th - Animal Kingdom, Wedding
After going to bed so late, I didn't even think about setting an alarm to wake us. The kids got us up at 8:30 am, which wasn't too late, and we were able to make it to the Animal Kingdom by 9:45. We could tell from looking at all of the cars in the parking lot that we weren't going to be walking into an empty park, as I had read AK might be in the radp newsgroup. It was *really* strange for me to be in a Disney park that I didn't know like the back of my hand. Having to use a map for something other than figuring out show times felt really weird! Of course we blended right in with hundreds of other people that didn't know where they were going either. :-)
We
somehow made our way around the Oasis entry area and caught our first clear
view of the Tree of Life...WOW! I'd read all about it and even seen
some pictures but believe me, pictures do not do it justice. It truly
is a work of art. As we walked further into the park we were greeted
by cast members that were trying to herd folks to Dinoland for Countdown
to Extinction and to "It's Tough to be a Bug!". We decided to go
for the latter and wound our way through the queue that twists around the
Tree of Life. We took our time, pointing out different animals to
each other as we went. "It's Tough to be a Bug!" is a continuously
running 8 minute 3D show that takes place in a theater inside the Tree
of Life.
***TIP***The ITtbaB theater has continuous bench-type seats with strips that define each seat position. To be sure you experience all of the effects, be sure to sit between the strips, not on them.
Be aware that certain effects in this show may be frightening to some children. My 8 year old daughter was crying when she left because one effect hurt her (really surprised more than hurt). I won't spoil it for those that haven't been yet, but if you want to know what it was email me and I'll tell you.
We
then headed for Camp Minnie-Mickey to see "Colors of the Wind, Friends
from the Animal Forest" show at Grandmother Willow's Grove. On the
way we noticed Daisy Duck and her nephews Huey,
Dewey and Louie out for a hike. A nice thing about this show is that
kids are seated first in the front two or three rows to ensure they get
a good view. Pocahontas is the star of the show, along with Grandmother
Willow and several live animals, including a raccoon, skunk, turkey, rabbits
and a porcupine. We all thought the show was cute and definitely
worth seeing. Our plan was to see the "Festival of the Lion King"
next but we encountered an extremely long line upon exiting the Pocahontas
show that wound all the way back past the bridge into Camp Minnie-Mickey.
We decided to move on and do Lion King later or on another day.
The
kids began chanting that they wanted to visit the Boneyard playground in
Dinoland so we headed that way instead. On the way, I noticed that
the we could make the next "Journey into the Jungle Book" show, so I detoured
the kids that way. The Theater in the Wild, where the show is held,
is big and seems to be very similar to the Theater of the Stars (Beauty
and the Beast) at MGM Studios. Disney is making a ton of money selling
ice cream, popcorn and sodas before the show. Overall, we really
liked the Jungle Book, especially the scene with King
Louie where he's kidnapped Mowgli and is trying to learn the secret
of man's fire. The props used to animate Shere Khan were neat too.
The only thing we didn't like was Baloo's strange blue/purple and white
costume. To me it looked like something out of the Broadway show
Cats.
Upon exiting the Jungle Book show we encountered the same crowds and chaos that we ran into when leaving the Pocahontas show. The design of the AK is such that the Tree of Life and surrounding gardens are the "hub" of the park with Camp Minnie-Mickey, Dinoland U.S.A., the Oasis, Africa and Asia being at the end of "spokes". Right now, the scheduling of the shows is such that the exiting crowds are being dumped into the narrow "spoke" walkways that are also being occupied by lines of guests waiting to get into the next Lion King or Jungle Book show. Compounding the problem with the Jungle Book show is the fact that strollers are being parked right outside the exit. Disney crowd management folks hopefully are taking note of the situation and will change the show schedules and/or put up some barriers to better control the people flow.
Boneyard! Boneyard! Katie and Brian were not to be denied any longer so off to the Boneyard we went. At first glance, I thought the Boneyard was similar to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area at MGM Studios but after checking it out, I prefer the Boneyard. The area is more open so it's easier to keep up with where your kid is at any given time. We gave them 20 minutes to play and then we were off to Countdown to Extinction. Katie was wary of this ride but went anyway. She may never go again. She was scared both by the darkness and the loudness of the ride. Brian was less scared but still kept his eyes closed most of the time. I think CtX is a good attraction and has potential but right now it is just *too dark*. The ride itself uses the same technology (motion simulator on wheels) as Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland (my favorite Disney ride), but I like Indy much better. Susan agrees.
We
had lunch at Restaurantosaurus in Dinoland, USA. Susan had a grilled
chicken salad, Brian and I had the quarter pound hotdog meal, and Katie
had a chicken nugget kid's meal. I've seen the complaints about McDonald's
in Disney parks but I don't see what all the fuss is about. It's
not like McDonald's is the first corporate sponsor or anything. Anyway,
the inside of the restaurant was cool, the theming was nice, there were
plenty of seats available and they had a well-stocked condiment bar. Total for the
meal was $23.66. After shopping a bit in nearby Chester and Hester's Dinosaur Treasures,
we wandered into a pleasantly cool attraction named 1998 Dinosaur Jubilee.
Here we found quite a few dinosaur skeleton casts and a few actual dinosaur
fossils on display. This isn't spectacular but well worth a look,
especially if you have kids. I've yet to meet a kid that isn't interested
in dinosaurs. While waiting for Brian to take a bathroom break, we
got a chance to see a real live scorpion. A cast member brought it
out in a terrarium and gave us and others an interesting talk about their
habitat, how poisonous its sting is, etc. A very nice little presentation.
:-)
With
their Boneyard desires satiated, the kids began chanting for the Kilimanjaro
Safari. I tried to explain to them that I had heard the animals weren't
active in the heat of the afternoon (and it was hot) but they wouldn't
listen. After thinking about it, I decided it would interesting to
see for myself how active the animals were in the afternoon versus the
morning (we were planning to do the Safari again Monday morning).
We rode the Discovery River Boats from Safari Village to Asia and then
walked from there to Harambe in Africa. A word or two on the River
Boats. First, it's quicker to walk, by far. Second, the guides
on the boat need some kind of script. Listening to our guide was
like listening to the Animal Kingdom equivalent of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
She couldn't seem to decide if she wanted to be a serious Marlin Perkins
type (from the old Wild Kingdom show) or a Jungle Cruise skipper.
We did get this great view of the Tree of Life before docking.
We walked right onto the Kilimanjaro Safari with no wait...there's one advantage of going in the hot afternoon. Despite what we had heard, we actually saw lots of animals including hippos, zebra, giraffe, antelope, kudu, crocodiles and rhinos. The rhino wallowing in the mud bog was the highlight of the safari in my opinion. We walked down the Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail afterwards and found that the trail isn't just about gorillas. There are lots of pretty birds to see at the beginning, naked mole rats and the hippo pool in the middle, and the gorillas at the end. We only saw a brief glimpse of a single gorilla but that was no big deal as we had seen gorillas at several zoos before. It was now about 4 pm, so we decided to head back to Fort Wilderness to get ready for the wedding at 7 pm.
It
was kind of funny to be walking around in Fort Wilderness dressed
up. Not that campers don't/can't dress up...heck, lots of the
folks there are driving motorhomes and recreational vehicles that cost
tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. We did seem to stick
out a bit though. :-) We drove to the Beach Club and walked
to the Yacht Club wedding gazebo, arriving about
20 minutes before the wedding. We listened to a nice trio of musicians
while waiting for the ceremony to begin. Laura Gilbreath and Lee
Zimmerman barely made it before the ceremony started but how were they
to know that the wedding would start *early*. I've been to a few
weddings and I've never seen one start on time, much less early.
Laura and Dave must really love each other if they couldn't wait that extra
7 minutes. I must say too that Dave was
as calm and cool a groom as I've ever seen. I don't know if I could
have been that calm knowing I was about to be married to Laura - I'm kidding!.
;-)
The
ceremony was short and sweet...I wish mine had been that short. There
were only 40 or so invited guests but many more people watched from the
surrounding balconies. There were also
several ducks that seemed intent on hanging
around despite the Disney folks best efforts to shoo them away. After
the ceremony, there were the obligatory pictures (click here
for a list of the rest of the wedding pics we took) and then we followed
the bride and groom to the Yacht Club dock to board one of the Friendship
boats. After we got underway, the captain said "I normally tell folks
to remain seated at all times but this is your boat tonight so you can
get up and move around all you want". "This is so cool" came to mind
the first of many times that night . Katie had a cute little white
hat that went with her blue dress, unfortunately she couldn't wear it since
it was so windy. After we got on the boat, an envious Laura Gilbreath
tried it on for size...and it fit. :-)
Our
boat circled the World Showcase Lagoon as the captain talked about each
of the countries represented in the World Showcase, and then docked at
Morocco. We all paraded behind the bride and groom, who received
applause from well-wishing guests, to a place called the French Arm (outdoor
park area on the France side of the bridge) for cocktails and an excellent
view of Illuminations. There was shrimp, crab claws, cheese and other
goodies to eat, plus plenty of champagne, wine and other spirits.
We were fortunate in that the considerable wind we had was blowing in the
opposite direction making for a very enjoyable view of Illuminations.
After the park cleared out a bit, we again played follow the bride/groom
to the Italy pavilion for the reception. Once there, we were greeted
by a rather dapper Mickey and a lovely Minnie
dressed in their finest formal wear. There were lots more pictures
taken while Mickey and Minnie made the rounds greeting the wedding guests.
I can't even begin to list all the food we had but it was wonderful!
Laura and Dave had a beautiful wedding cake that
was topped with a white chocolate replica of Cinderella's Castle.
I'm surprised Brian and Katie didn't take a bite out of one of the spires
(at least I don't think they did). :-)
After
dinner, the dancing and partying started in earnest. I guess it took
that long for the liquor to kick in. ;-) We had been worried
about Katie and Brian going to sleep on us, but when the music started
Katie looked over at Lee and said "Come on Mr. Lee, I'm ready to dance!"
True to form for everything that entire evening, the bands Laura and Dave
had selected too were fabulous! There were two bands...the main band
that played on stage (mix of different types of dance music) and an Italian
group, I Cantanapoli, that played while the main band was on break.
Brian turned into a party animal...dancing with as many as three women
at once! I was happy with just one...usually Susan or Katie, but
I did dance once with the lovely bride.
:-) The partying continued until 1:30 am, then we were escorted behind
the American pavilion to a waiting Disney Cruise Line bus, which took us
back to the Yacht Club and dropped other guests off at their resorts.
It was neat to drive behind the scenes and see what was behind the various
pavilions. It really did make me realize that everything park guests
see is "on stage" with cast members being exactly that. We thanked
Laura and Dave for inviting us and said our farewells before heading back
to Fort Wilderness. We didn't get into bed until 2:30 am. For
another view of the wedding and lots more photos, visit Laura
Gilbreath's and Lee Zimmerman's Vacation Page.
Day 4, May 9th - Epcot, MGM Studios
We
didn't wake up until after 10 am and didn't arrive at Epcot until almost
noon. We entered the park via the International Gateway and began
our tour at the UK. If you've read any of our other trip reports,
you know my son Brian is a major Pooh fan, so we always visit the garden
behind the UK pavilion to see Pooh and his friends. In addition to
the Eeyore topiary out front, there was a cute bubble-blowing Piglet
topiary outside of the tea shop, with Pooh, Rabbit
and Tigger topiaries back in the garden area.
We continued past Canada and took the rose-lined walkway to Journey Into
Imagination where we rode JII...Katie is a big Figment
fan. Our next stop was Futureworld East to see the amazing bug
sculptures by David Rogers. While trying to frame the spider
I banged my knee into a wall - Ouch! We then made our way (me hobbling)
back to the World Showcase Hub to take pictures of the Sorcerer's
Apprentice and Fantasia topiaries. It was a pretty hot day so
we ducked into the Mexico pavilion to cool off and ride Rio del Tiempo
(River of Time). We continued around the World Showcase, taking pictures
of the amazing dragon topiary outside of China,
Snow White in Germany, and Beauty
and the Beast in France. We stopped at the American Gardens Theater
so the kids could watch the character show and we could rest, then we visited
Japan, Morocco and France.
We
left Epcot and drove to MGM Studios, where we were to meet Laura Gilbreath
and Lee for the 4:05 Hunchback show, followed by a 5 pm Tower of Terror
(ToT) RADP meet. We stopped in at the Backlot Express for lunch and
much needed rest before meeting Laura and Lee. Total for lunch was $23.59. On the way over to
Hunchback we stopped in at the Goosebumps souvenir shop where I found a
new way to punish Brian for harrassing his sister. The Hunchback
show was good as always...it's just hard for me to believe that we only
saw it once on this trip...definitely a record! Lee is very popular
with our kids - the fact that he gives them piggy back rides has a lot
to do with it, I'm sure. He did so again on the way over to the Tower
of Terror. It's always interesting for Susan and me to see our children
manipulate other adults. ;-)
The
ToT meet was fun. I got to meet Amy (Improvgal on IRC), Bruce (Bruce
on IRC), Bill and Larry for the first time. I had met Rusty and Brian
Martsolf before, but it was certainly nice to see them again too.
Amy had bravely and kindly volunteered on IRC to stay with Brian and Katie
while Susan and I rode
the ToT with the group. Thanks Amy! After the ride we found
Brian, Katie and Amy down the street at a souvenir cart...Brian was trying
to convince Amy to buy him a ToT eyeball...yet another adult to be manipulated!
After lining up for the group photo, most of the folks went back on for
a second ride but I stayed with Brian and Katie and talked to Amy and Bill's
mom, Rosemary. After some more chatting, we said our goodbyes and
snuck in one ride on the Great Movie Ride before park closing at 7 pm.
We drove back to Fort Wilderness and decided to have pizza at Trail's End for dinner. After being kicked out of Crockett's Tavern on our last trip, I decided to boycott them, so I walked over to the Settlement Depot to buy beer and soda to drink with the pizza. Actually, it was a good idea as it cost about half of what they charge in Crockett's. Total for the beer, sodas and sausage pizza was $21.15. After dinner, we went back to the Settlement Depot to buy t-shirts and souvenirs and then went to bed early.