Note: Min's trip report is in Coral and Bill's comments are in Blue.

Click to Read:   Intro  -  Part 2  -  Part 3  -  Part 4  -  Part 5  -  Part 6

Part One

October 18, 2003 - Saturday

We were up at 7:30 AM on a Saturday morning. Why? My parents wanted to take us out for breakfast, a sort of birthday celebration before our trip. We to the restaurant and it was easy to spot them, there were balloons floating in the air above their table. We enjoyed eating and talking with them about our upcoming trip. They gave me two birthday cards, one from them and the other from my grandmother Vadie. Birthday money for Disney, yay! After breakfast, they asked us to followed them out to their car. They had more balloons and a mini-cooler full of things for our trip.

Nice balloons, those "Look Who's Thirty" kind.  :)

We went on home so I could put another couple of loads of laundry in the washer and dryer. Then we make a run to the mall to get Bill some new walking shoes Afterwards, we went to Wal-Mart for some last minute shopping before our trip.

Looked really hard at a digital camera, but the one I wanted along with two 256 MB memory sticks was a bit too much of an investment at the time.

We got back home by about 1:00 PM. The laundry was done and I folded the clothes while Bill checked his email. I called him to help with the packing and loading the car. By about 3:00, we were pretty much finished with getting everything ready for the trip and were staring at each other wondering what now. I asked Bill if could head down to Orlando today instead of waiting until in the morning. He looked at me and told me to guess what he was thinking. It took me about 10 minutes figure out that he wanted to leave for Orlando and get a room on property for the night. We called CRO and got the Florida Resident's rate on a room at Coronado Springs. We were on our way by about 3:30.

We tried for a room at the All-Stars but there were none available at the Florida Resident's rate. Since the Florida Resident's rate for a moderate is about the same as the All-Stars' rack rate, we booked the room at Coronado Springs.

We ran into traffic problems just as we got into Flagler County. It was rough.

It sure was rough. A slow crawl from north of Daytona almost all of the way into Orlando. Speeds were rarely close to the speed limit and we must have come to a complete stop at least thirty times. It took two and a half hours to travel what we normally cover in an hour. I was really frustrated and hoped it was not an omen of things to come on this trip.

Once in Orlando, we got off I-4 at International Drive. I wanted lobster and we remembered mention of a Boston Lobster Feast on International Drive. I Drive was like a parking lot.

My fault really, I got off at the first International Drive exit instead of the second International Drive exit. Driving the northern part of International Drive on a Saturday night is not something I would wish upon my worst enemy.

Once we got past Sand Lake road we were moving, but there was no sign of Boston Lobster Feast. We saw a sign for Charlie’s Lobster House and were so tired of driving that we decided to eat there. The food was pretty good but the service really sucked. We had on shorts and once we stepped up to the hostess desk and had a look around, we realized we were under-dressed. The hostess looked at us king of funny when we asked for a table and then seated us at a table in the back of the restaurant. This place is on our never again list. After getting back on International Drive, we saw Boston Lobster Feast. It was only two blocks south of where we turned to go to Charlie's.

The I-4 nightmare, the International Drive fiasco, Charlie's Lobster House and then Boston Lobster Feast just another two blocks down the road. I was praying that this would be the worst part of our trip. All the bad luck at once, better karma going forward, please.

We arrived at Coronado Springs and checked in at about 9:00 PM. We took a quick trip through Panchito's Gifts and Sundries, the gift shop, and grabbed sodas before heading to our room. Our room was on the first floor and was okay except for the two double beds. I was tired so I grabbed one of the beds and told Bill to take the other. I fell asleep right away.

Mary at the Coronado Springs front desk was both fast and efficient. Check in was a breeze. We were given room 9523 in the Cabanas 9B building. In the gift shop we saw the Halloween Pooh plushes. The small one was Pooh dressed as a cat and the large one was Pooh dressed as a vampire. Min loved them both, so I was sure they would both be added to her collection before the end of our trip. After the stressed filled day, I was kind of glad that Min wanted separate beds instead of both of us trying to cram into a double. I watched the end of the Florida State-Virginia football game before going to sleep.

October 19, 2003 - Sunday

The morning started at 6:00 AM with the alarm going off. The people who had had the room before us must left it on. We both went back to sleep for a while and got up around 7:30. After our showers, we grabbed our overnight bag and headed out to the car. We debated about going to Maya Grill or Boma for the breakfast buffet and decided to go to Boma. When we reached the entrance driveway and I saw the sign for the Animal Kingdom Lodge, my heart jumped. We are here!!!

We self-parked and headed into the Animal Kingdom Lodge. This place is beautiful. Even if you are not staying at the resort, I would recommend a visit to it just for a look around.

We checked in at the hostess desk for Boma and was told it would be about a 30 minute wait. The food was very good. I tried some of the different foods but stayed mostly with the traditional stuff. Bill loved some of the non-traditional breakfast foods.

The frunch was great but the real kicker (and I do mean kicker) was this sausage and biscuit dish with curry. A bit spicy but I loved it.

After breakfast, we checked into the hotel. We were given room 5464, a pool view room as we had requested. Since our room was ready, Bill went and got the car while I waited in the lobby.

I took a quick trip through Zawadi Marketplace, the gift shop, to get some tip money for the bellhop as all I had in my pocket were twenties. While in the gift shop, I saw a Happy Birthday pin with Mickey and Minnie on it. I bought the pin and hid it. I planned to surprise Min with it on her birthday.

Bill found me in the lobby and told me our luggage was at the bell services desk. We went over to bell services to tell them our room number. They said our luggage would be sent right up, so we headed for our room. We did a quick walk through of the room and checked out the view from our balcony, both were very nice. When our luggage arrived, we unpacked and then rested for about an hour before heading down to the bus stop. It was off to Epcot where we planned on going to the All Ears™ mini-meet/coffee break at the Fountain View Cafe later that afternoon. Bill snapped a picture of the Minnie and Mickey Epcot Food and Wine Festival topiary at the Epcot entrance. Since we were a couple of hours early for the mini-meet, we decided to do some attractions and headed to Spaceship Earth. Unfortunately, the line did not appear to be moving so after  waiting a few minutes, we headed over to the Living Seas.

We got to see the fish feeding, which was a first for us. It was neat seeing all of the fish swarm around the divers as the food pellets were dropped. The divers were almost invisible behind the mass of fish. We also watched the manatees for a while. We did not get to see the dolphins' training session this time, it was too long of a wait before the next session.

Next, we headed over to The Land pavilion. We grabbed fast passes for Living with the Land then headed over to Food Rocks. We thought we would see it one last time before it closed in January. Then it was back to Living with the Land. Afterwards a quick check of the watch showed it was nearing 3:00, so we headed towards the Fountain View Cafe. The mini-meet was neat. Bill got a picture of me with Deb Wills, Debra Martin Koma and Dotti from All Ears™. We picked up two All Ears™/Passporter™ bottle straps. We also got to meet several members of the RADP and All Ears™ community. We met Donna (WDWGrandma) and her "better half," John; Martha from Melbourne and her husband (sorry, I forgot his name) as well as Keith and Cindy from Orlando. After sitting and chatting for a while at the meet, my back starting bothering me so we said our goodbyes and headed off to Ice Station Cool.

We later found out that we missed an easy chance to succeed at the "Paragon Challenge." She arrived at the mini-meet shortly after we left.

After a little liquid refreshment, we headed for the Imagination! pavilion. First, we took a Journey Into Imagination with Figment. Then, I got an Epcot ID badge from Image Works. We finished with Honey, I Shrunk the Audience. Bill and I both agree that we like the True Colors pre-show better than the new one with the lost dog. Since it was still some time before dinner, we walked back up to the entrance and rode Spaceship Earth. Then we did Ellen's Energy Adventure. Walked in right at the end of the pre-show and straight onto the ride vehicle. Afterwards, we walked through the Mission: Space gift shop and post-ride area. Our PS time was fast approaching so we headed towards The Land pavilion. We arrived at the Garden Grill about 10 minutes early and were seated after a very short wait. Our server was the same man we had had on our visit in July. The food here is great. We especially love the salad, bread, catfish and flank steak.

It is rather simple faire, but quite good. Due to an issue with the first table where we were sat, something spilled under the table by the previous guests, Allison the chef came over to talk with us. We were moved to another table and Allison came by several times during our meal to make sure everything was okay. It was great getting to talk with her about some of the things we like and our one dislike about the Garden Grill.

I was given a birthday cake and serenaded with the Garden Grill birthday song, E-I-E-I-O. We took a lot of pictures with the characters including one of me and Mickey holding the birthday cake. After dinner we ran into Big Bob, a fellow RADPer, who lives in Daytona.

I had saw Big Bob standing in line to meet the Debs and Dotti at the mini-meet earlier that afternoon but it was only in passing as we were leaving. When I ran into him after dinner outside the Garden Grill, I took the opportunity to introduce myself and say hello. After a short conversation in the Garden Grill lobby, we all decided to head for the World Showcase to get a spot for Illuminations.

Illuminations: Reflections of Earth was awesome. We watched from our favorite spot near the boat dock right next to the bridge going to Mexico. Bill and Big Bob talked a lot about WDW and music before the show. They also talked some more on the way out of the park after the show. 

The most interest thing we discussed was the Illuminations show. We had both seen the show several times this summer and both remarked on how this show seemed to be the most "complete" show that we had seen in a while. All of the big shots seemed to be there, maybe minus one or two. I thought it was what I would call an 80% show. Most of the ones we had seen during the summer I would have classified as 60% maybe 70% shows. This left us both with a question about Illuminations. Since the show is computer controlled, can they load all the shots then close to show time make a call on how big a show to run based on the crowd size?

The bus ride back to AKL was uneventful and we both got a seat. We made a quick stop at the Zawadi Marketplace for our nightly refreshments and then headed back to the room. We could see some of the Ankole cattle sleeping right beside the balcony of one of the Zebra Trail lounges. We were in bed and off to sleep before 11:00 PM.

Altogether a great start to our trip. Getting to meet the Debs and Dotti. Getting to put some faces to the names and handles we see on RADP. Getting to meet and talk with Big Bob. The only disappointment was missing Paragon. Oh well, at least we are not the first to fail the "Paragon Challenge."

Click to Read:   Intro  -  Part 2  -  Part 3  -  Part 4  -  Part 5  -  Part 6