Note: Min's trip report is in Coral and Bill's comments are in Blue. In the Gallery links, pictures without a border link to the specific picture and those with a border link to a gallery of related pictures.

Valentine's Weekend & Then Some - Part Two

Click to Read:   Intro   -   Part One

Prelude

It was just after the first of the year and I wanted to do something special for Valentine's Day. Since we had not been to Disneyworld since the first week in December, I thought a day trip for dinner and Illuminations would be nice. So I asked Bill about how much it would cost.

I told her that as long as the meal was not too extravagant, we could afford it with our weekly spending money.

I told him that that is what I wanted to do for Valentine's Day.

Well you know me, I just can't leave well enough alone especially when it means doing something special for Min. I decided that if she wanted to go for the day, then I would see if we could go for the whole weekend. At the first of the year, we always have several weeks of overtime at work so I plugged the figures into the budget and viola, we had money for a Disney weekend. I called Disney travel and booked us a room at Pop Century using the AP discount code. Then I told Min the good news.

I was very happy. We discussed the trip and decided to make a long weekend out of it and both requested the Friday before Valentine's Day off from work.

So we will be heading down to the land of the mouse on Friday the 13th, oh my.

Pre-Trip Plan

Here is what we plan on doing.

We are driving down Friday morning. We will check-in at Pop Century and then head over to Animal Kingdom. We are planning to spend most of the day there and catch Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. Then we will run like you know what to make our dinner PS at 1900 Park Fare. After dinner, we will head over to the Magic Kingdom and end our evening with Wishes.

On Saturday, we have a breakfast PS at Cape May Cape. Then we will spend some time at Disney Studios before heading back to the hotel for a rest break. That evening, we will head for Epcot and dinner at Garden Grill before watching Illuminations: Reflections of Earth.

Sunday morning, we will spend some time at the Magic Kingdom and have lunch at Crystal Palace before heading home.

Trip Report

February 12, 2004 - Thursday

We had planned to head down to Orlando in the morning, but I wanted to go tonight instead. I told Bill and with a quick adjustment to the household budget, he found the money to do it.

It is my mission in life to keep my bride happy... besides, I wanted to go down to Orlando tonight, too...  :)

I found a reasonable rate on king room at Super 8 on 192. We were packed and ready to go by 6:00. I remembered the toiletry kit this time.

Yes she did and without a single reminder from me... (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)

We stopped by an ATM and McDonalds on the way out of town. We were on I-95 and headed south by about 6:30. The drive down was uneventful.

Not much traffic, which was what I had hoped would happen by leaving on Thursday instead of Friday. Wanted to avoid all the race fans headed to Daytona for the weekend.

It took a little over two hours to get to the exit for 192. We turned west and ended up at the wrong Super 8. I thought I had booked us at the Super 8 on West 192 where we had stayed before, but it turns out that I hadn't. We showed the man at the front desk our confirmation number from when I booked the room on the Super 8 web site. He gave us directions to the correct Super 8, on East 192.

I briefly entertained the idea of finding a new navigator... aw, come on folks... I said briefly...

We headed east and found the other Super 8 without any further excitement. We checked in and were in our room by about 9:30. It was a pretty nice room, but it wasn't Disney. We watched some TV and then went to bed.

Both the Ramada, last week, and the Super 8, this week, had the "Seven Must See Things at WDW" channel. I must admit Little Miss Perky, Krissa, has become, with some reservations on my part, one of the signs that "we're here." I really miss the Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah Tip for Today channel.

February 13, 2004 - Friday

We were up and on our way by 9:00. We headed to the Shoney's that we had passed on the way here last night for breakfast. There was pollen everywhere and my sinuses were really bothering me, so I mentioned to Bill that I needed a trip to Wal-Mart to pick up some allergy medicine. We had heard about a Super Wal-Mart on 192, so I asked the waitress where the Wal-Mart was and she told us. We thought she said it was two miles to the east, it turned out to be about ten.

If you are coming from I-4, it is on the right on 192 East. If you haven't passed Medieval Times, you haven't gone far enough.

We got what I needed and then headed for WDW. We arrived at Pop Century at a little after 10:30. We had about a fifteen minute wait to check in. Our room was not ready, so we were given the card with a number to call later in the day to find out our room assignment.

A first for us, in our previous ten trips with various check in times ranging from early in the morning to late at night, our room has always been ready when we checked in.

We did find out that we were staying in the Seventies building, so we parked in the Seventies parking lot right next to the bus stop.

The Seventies building may not be the preferred rooms but it was fine with me. Close to both the bus stops and the main building.

We got the camera and my fanny pack out of the trunk then went to catch the bus to Animal Kingdom. Once there, we got a schedule so we could check out the show times. We picked out what we wanted to see and when to see it, then headed for the Flights of Wonder show via Africa. Leaving Harambe and heading towards Asia, we noticed that a crowd had gathered on the bridge up ahead. The reason for the crowd was DeVine. Bill got some pictures of her including a few close ups.

We had found her again... DeVine... Trust me on this one, the close-ups were really close up. I had to duck one "leg" as she moved by me and was amazed at the way she moved around in the middle of the crowd without "stepping" on anyone...

After the photo session, we continued on to Flights of Wonder. I really like this show, except for the bird swooping inches above my head. Bill got a couple of pictures but most of them did not turn out well.

Birds moving too fast, combined with people's heads getting in the way, made for bad pictures...  :(

After the show we had some time to kill before Festival of the Lion King, we walked around some of the side trails between Asia and Africa. Bill took some more pictures and joked about calling the pictures the Bird Show since most of them had birds in them.

Then, I decided what the heck and started trying to find scenes with birds in them as subjects for pictures.

He took some pictures of the herons, cranes, ducks and a cockatoo on the back trail at the Tree of Life. Then some more shots around the Tree of Life exit. While wandering around the Tree of Life and taking pictures, we saw Flik and Bill got a picture of me with him. We spent some time watching the Asian otter taking laps around his compound.

The otter was neat and I got a good picture of him, too... See, I took a few shots of flowers and other animals, not just birds...  :)

Then we went to Camp Minnie Mickey to see Festival of the Lion King. The show was wonderful as usual. Bill took some pictures of the show but most of them were very dark.

It is going to be a challenge with the changing light conditions to get some good pics of this show.

Afterwards, We rushed as fast as I could go to get to the next Tarzan Rocks show, but we were too late. We sat down and rested for a little while. Then we went looking for a Game Warden Pooh that we had saw last week in one of the gift shops. He was dressed in safari gear and was holding a monkey. I loved him from the moment I first saw him and Bill had promised to buy him for me this weekend. We found him at Mickey's Outfitters, bought him and had him sent to the hotel. Then we walked around the Flame Tree Barbecue seating area and Bill took some more pictures of Expedition Everest construction. After that, we watched the Village Beatniks and then visited with Pooh and friends at the Character Landing. It was time to go back to Tarzan Rocks and as we were walking toward the amphitheater, we ran into RADPer Kenny.

The man with a passion for Mission: Space. The funny thing is that Min had wondered aloud earlier today, if Kenny came to the parks every weekend. When I asked Kenny, he replied in the affirmative.

We sat together and chatted before the show. The show was very good and we got to see a new male singer this time, Jerry.

Jerry... hmmmm, better than Billy not quite as good as Juan...

After the show, Bill and Kenny made plans to try and meet up for Wishes at time board in Magic Kingdom later that night and we went our separate ways. We watched and took pictures of Mickey's Jammin' Jungle Parade. I love the music for this parade. I know most of the words by heart. We had a pretty good spot for the parade until everyone started crowding their kids and then themselves in front of us. I am going to get a front row seat for this one next time we see it.

Maybe bring a baseball bat for crowd control purposes... just kidding...  :)

After the parade, we headed for the exit and the bus stop beyond.

The race to 1900 Park Fair was on.

Bill stopped to take a few more pictures for the Bird Show and I kept walking.

I just needed a few more shots, especially one or two with the Scarlet Ibises...

He caught up with me just before we walked right on to the waiting TTC bus.

And we're off to the TTC...

We get to the TTC and walk right on to the waiting monorail. We arrived at 1900 Park Fair about twenty minutes before our PS time.

Fate had smiled upon us... From the foot of the Tree of Life to the 1900 Park Fair lobby in only 35 minutes...

Bill got a picture of me with Fairy Godmother in the restaurant's lobby and then we were seated with no wait whatsoever. The place was crowded, lots of children everywhere. Bill took pictures of me with the characters and some of the restaurant decor as well. Besides Fairy Godmother, I got pictures with Cinderella, Prince Charming, Suzy, and Perla. The food was very good.

A different menu from the last time we went here for dinner. I really missed the paella but the new dishes were very good. I especially liked the mashed potatoes, which were a mix of red skinned potatoes and sweet potatoes. Plus, they still had my favorite, the chilled strawberry soup.

After dinner, we saw Goofy in the restaurant lobby. A grandmother was trying to get a picture of him with her very young granddaughter and the little one was having no part of it. Bill even volunteered to take a picture of the grandmother standing with Goofy while holding her granddaughter but the little one was still not cooperating. The lady smiled and told Bill if the little one did not want to be in the picture, so be it and asked him to take her picture with Goofy. Bill then had me take a picture of him and Goofy.

I rarely pass up a photo op with Goofy...  :)

We caught the monorail to Magic Kingdom. Bill tried to find whimmel, a cast member who usually works at the Magic Kingdom monorail station and sometimes joins in the RADP IRC chats, but no luck. The cast member that Bill spoke to said that whimmel was on one of the monorail trains. We entered the park and walked up to the platform to the train station. Bill took a very pretty picture of castle at night from here and then we boarded the train.

It is time for me to fess up... The search for whimmel did not go quite like Min described it... The guy at the monorail station said that whimmel was on the train. I thought he meant the WDW Railroad train, this is why we went to the train station. It was only after leaving the cast members at the railroad station puzzled and shaking their heads when I asked for whimmel that I realized the guy at the monorail station meant one of the monorail trains.

We rode the WDW Railroad to Toontown, because I wanted to see Carousel of Progress. We took the "secret" path to Tomorrowland and Bill took some pictures of Space Mountain. We went on the Carousel of Progress and were treated to the Christmas scene twice because the building didn't revolve properly. After Carousel, we wandered toward the hub. Bill took some pictures of castle at night from the Tomorrowland bridge. We found a spot in middle of Main Street near the time board for Wishes. Unfortunately, we could not find Kenny. Still, we ending up having one of those neat Disney experiences. As people were still trying to funnel out of the park before the show, to avoid getting run over we ended up standing in a small bunch with an older couple and a younger couple with a small child. The six of us had a wonderful conversation in the time leading up to Wishes. Bill also tried to take some more Main Street at Night pictures, but they came out too blurry.

I have finally decided that Main Street actually has too much light at night for our camera's default night settings. I am going to start experimenting with the settings for night photography the next time we make it down to the parks.

Wishes was great. It was our third time watching the show and it seems to get better each time.

All I have to say is wow! Maybe it was watching the show with the other two couples and living through their first time experiencing the show or maybe it was where we were standing but this time watching Wishes was truly wonderful.

We strolled through the Emporium on the way out. I stopped at guest services and tried to find out our room assignment, but no one answered the phone at the number I had been given. It was no big deal, Bill said we would stop by the front desk when we got back to the hotel. As we were leaving the park, Mickey was out front on the platform by the train station saying goodnight and Bill got a picture of him. The bus stop had a really long line, we had to wait for five buses before we could board a bus, but our wait was only 20 minutes. Bill and I got a seat, but he ended up standing after giving his seat to a lady holding a child.

This is probably the most crowded I have ever seen any bus stop at any park. They had two boarding queues connected with ropes open for Pop Century.

We got to the front desk and got our room number 0267. We stopped by the car to get our stuff. Our room was on the second floor, so we figured no king-size bed. Well we were wrong, we had a king-size bed. Yay!!! We grabbed some snacks and drinks from the vending machine, watched some TV and then fell asleep.

It was a nice room but was a little noisy because of the door to the adjoining room. The father and child next door were having some issues.

February 14, 2004 - Saturday

We were up around 7:00 AM and out the door about 45 minutes later. We were following what had become our standard plan for reaching Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club Resort for breakfast. Catch the bus to Disney Studios and then catch the boat to the Beach Club. We were a bit under whelmed by our last breakfast here back in October but we decided to give it another try.

Mistake, they had not made any changes since our last visit. There is still a real lack of choices here when compared to the other breakfast buffets on property.

The food was good for what there was but the choices were way too limited. The characters were great but we did not take any pictures at Cape May because we already have so many from here as this used to be one of our favorite places for breakfast. We will keep an eye on the restaurant pages at AllEarsNet.com to see if things change.

Yep, we will be taking this one off our list for a while, which is a real let down as we found when we returned home and updated our list of dining experiences at WDW that the Cape May Cafe breakfast was our most visited restaurant.

After breakfast, we made a stop at Atlantic Wear and Wardrobe Emporium, the Beach Club gift shop. It was one of the locations in the Villaintine's Day trivia contest/scavenger hunt that we had started last weekend.

Answer: The Wicked Queen disguised as an old hag (witch). Question: Who gave Snow White the poisoned apple whose spell could only be broken by "true love's first kiss?" and thus another stamp was added to our card.

We headed back to the lighthouse to wait for the boat back to the Studios. Bill decided to feed the ducks and the swimming birds at the dock.

Oops, I contributed to the "bird menace" at WDW...

On the ride back to the Studios when we docked at the Dolphin and Swan, Bill got a really neat shot of the shell fountain sitting on top of the Swan. We got to the Studios and were inside after a quick trip through security and gate. Bill took some pictures while I took a quick break.

I thought the park was pretty crowded, then remembered that it was early entry day for Disney Studios.

We walked down to the Sorceror's Hat Shop, the pin place under the BAH, and got the Valentine's Day pin with Cinderella and Prince Charming. We also got a pin with Pooh and Friends riding in a car for our Walt Disney World pin for this trip. You can see the pins we bought this trip by clicking on one of the pins on the Intro page.

Unfortunately, we could not find the Mickey and Minnie "Be Mine" Valentine's Day pin that we had saw last weekend. Oh yeah, this was also a Villaintine's Day contest location. Who does Prince Phillip battle in order to get into the castle to awaken Princess Aurora with his kiss? Maleficent. Rack up another stamp on the card for Min and Bill, only three more stamps to go.

After making our purchases and getting the stamp, we looked up and saw the characters for the 10:00 AM meet and greet. It wasn't the regular lineup of characters instead it was the couples from the Disney movies.

I was hoping for this as I had read about it being one of the Valentine's Day events from previous years.

Bill got pictures of me with Hercules and Meg then Li Shang and Mulan. The lines grew rather quickly, so we decided to have a seat and watch all of the other folks interact with the characters.

Min looked a little down because of the long line waiting for a picture with Belle and Beast.

Just after a balloon was handed out to mark the end of the line for this session, the cast member attending to Belle and Beast said that those after the balloon could wait in line for the next meet and greet which was at 11:00.

Since it was 10:30, that was only half an hour away. I asked Min if she really wanted a picture with Belle and Beast and she said yes. I told her that I would stand in line for the next meet and greet. I quickly got in line and was fourth from the front. I had a nice conversation with a mom and daughter from New England as well as two high school students from South Carolina at WDW on a band trip, while I waited in line.

Since Bill have volunteered to stand out in the sun waiting in line for the next meet and greet session, I went in search of drinks. It was a bit of an adventure and took me about 25 minutes. I got back with Bill's water about five minutes before the character couples came back out. Bill got a picture of me with Belle and Beast. He also got pictures of me with Esmerelda and Phoebus and then Pocahontas and John Smith.

I also managed to get a few group shots of some of the comings and goings of the character couples. A couple of comments on the "face" characters. The cast member playing Belle was an excellent fit for the character and looked lovely in the yellow gown. The girls playing Meg and Esmerelda as well as the guy playing Phoebus really looked the parts.

The daily schedule said that Mike and Sulley were doing meet and greets on Commissary Lane, so we took a stroll down that way. We got to their area just before they were about to take a break and Bill got a picture of me with them.

Hey, Valentine's Day and another picture of Min with a Disney couple...  :)

We took a break and walked through the Writer's Shop before heading over to watch the Muppets. I was surprised, they had the queue running down the side of the building open. This was the first time that we had ever had to go through the queue. We walked through the queue and ended up just inside the door. Bill and the man in line behind us took turns reading and laughing at the various listings on the building directory. When the man pointed out "the key is under the mat" note to the lady that was with him, Bill walked over and showed them that there really was a key under the mat. After waiting a few more minutes in line, we were let into the theatre. Bill sat down in his chair and I heard a ripping sound.

It was my pants. Both of my front pockets caught on the armrests of the chair as I sat down. One side was not ripped too badly, but I could feel the air on my upper leg on the opposite side. When the lights came up, I assessed the damage to my pants. The badly ripped side had about a three inch tear right next to the pocket. When I stood up, the tail of my shirt covered the tear so I decided a trip back to the resort was not necessary.

The show was neat as usual. Afterwards, we headed towards Sunset Blvd. We wanted to catch Four for a Dollar and the Beauty and the Beast Show. We had a while before the show, so we took our time. Bill took a bunch of pictures of the back of Min and Bill's Dockside Diner. We walked through Legends of Hollywood. 

Min had to get her Pooh fix for the day... :)

Then we walked through the Sunset Blvd Shops before having a seat on a bench and people watching for a while. It started raining, so we stepped back into the store for a little while as it was only a brief shower. After the rain, we stood in line for the show about five minutes before they dropped the rope. We quickly got our seats and settled in to wait for Four for a Dollar. Doug, Marshall, Andrew and Sammy were the singers and were up to their usual high standards. 

These guys are great, I could listen to them all day...

The Beauty and the Beast show was very good. When we got up to leave, we both hit upon the idea of seeing if we could meet the Four for a Dollar guys.

We walked over to the control "booth" and spoke with the show manager for the Beauty and the Beast show, her name was Claudia. I asked her about meeting Four for a Dollar. She seemed surprised and said that no one had ever asked her about meeting them. She said they usually headed for a break room right after their set and did not hang around at the stage area. She tried calling a couple of different break rooms but could not find them. She recommended that we try before their set instead of after. We chatted with Claudia for a little while and she told us about working for Disney Cruise Lines before getting the job as the Beauty and the Beast show manager. Min told her our story about Min and Bill's Dockside Diner and then we said our goodbyes.

We walked down Sunset Blvd towards Hollywood Blvd, Bill got a Minnie's strawberry bar and I got some great smelling and tasting popcorn. We decided it was time for a break and headed for the bus. On the way, it started to rain again.

Perfect timing, as this time it did not look like it was going to let up for a while.

We got back to the room and rested for a couple of hours. When we were ready to leave for Epcot and dinner at the Garden Grill, it was still raining.

One of those steady drizzles, the kind that soaks you if you stay out in it.

We got the bus to Epcot and after getting into the park, we headed over to Pin Central to look for the Mickey and Minnie "Be Mine" Valentine's Day pin. They didn't have it, but we got a Chip and Dale with Clarice Valentine's Day pin and the Box of Chocolates shaped like Mickey ears Valentine's Day pin.

It was also time for another Villaintine's Day stamp... ponder this... Hercules discovers that a true hero is measured by the strength of his heart. Who is the hot-headed god of the Underworld who tries to destroy him? Hades, of course... and their was much rejoicing by all... well, not really... we just got another stamp on our card.

Then we went to the Land pavilion and rode Living with the Land. We checked in a little early for our PS and were seated in matter of minutes.

I asked if Steve was one of the servers tonight and the hostess said he was, so I requested one of his tables if possible.

The dinner at Garden Grill was very good as usual and Steve is a great server. Bill tried to get pictures all of the characters by themselves but Dale snuck into the booth next to me and would not pose for a solo shot. He kept pointing at me,  then himself, then Bill and the camera. Afterwards, we walked through Mouse Gear to kill some time and see if the rain slacked up or quit. Unfortunately, it did not, so we decided to skip Illuminations and headed for the exit.

The rain made me miss Illuminations... :(  This is my favorite show and I really hated to miss it, but it was just too cool and too wet to stay out in the weather. The rain was the front edge of a cold front moving through the Orlando area.

There was no line for Spaceship Earth, so we boarding a time machine vehicle and settled in for the journey. It was so empty, that we almost asked to stay on and go again then we decided against it. We waddled out to the bus in the rain like a couple of ducks. We had about a fifteen minute wait for the bus and we both ended up standing on the way back to the resort.

(Insert the standard rant from Bill about one of his pet peeves, men sitting while women have to stand)

We made a quick stop at Everything Pop, the gift shop and food court, to get something to drink before heading back to our room. We watched some TV before going to sleep.

Overall, it was a nice day. The character couples at the Studios were great and so was Four for a Dollar.  It was kind of blah end to the day, thanks to the rain... but a rainy day at Disney is better that a rainy day anywhere else...  :)

February 15, 2004 - Sunday

We were up at 8:30 and packed by 9:00. The cleaning lady asked when we were leaving and we said about an hour. Bill spent the hour walking around taking pictures of the 70s buildings. After he finished, we took our stuff to the car then drove to Downtown Disney.

Needed two more stops today to finish the Villaintine's Day scavenger hunt/trivia contest and the first one was Disney's Pin Traders at the Marketplace.

We parked near Once Upon a Toy and headed for Disney's Pin Traders. It was not open yet, so we made a quick trip through Pooh's Corner. Bill brought me the 2004 Tourist Pooh. After that we back to Pin Traders, to get the stamp for Villaintine's Day card.

Did you know that Pete, was Mickey Mouse's first true rival? If you did, then you would have gotten a stamp on you Villaintine's Day card, too. One more stop and one more stamp to finish the contest, We're off to the Contemporary...

We drove to the Magic Kingdom parking lot, caught a tram to the TTC and got on the resort monorail heading for Disney's Contemporary Resort. We chatted on the monorail with a couple that recognized my All Ears Net button on my belt pack. They were headed for a meet with another internet group (sorry, forgot which one) at Chef Mickey's. We chatted about web sites and Mousefest.

Yep, the resort is right next to the TTC but you have to go almost all the way around the monorail loop to get there... well at least the company was nice...  :)

We went to the 4th Floor Pin Station, answered the last question and received our free pin. It had Chernobog, the demon from Fantasia, about to rip into the Villaintine's Day heart on it. You can see it on the Intro page for this trip report. Afterwards it was back on the monorail headed for the Magic Kingdom.

Another almost all the way around the monorail loop to get there trip...  :)

Bill took some pictures of some of our favorite 75 year Mickeys. Unfortunately, our second favorite one, Elton John's Music Royalty, was not on display. When we went into the park, the characters were out and about in Town Square and I got a quick picture with Wendy from Peter Pan. Then we looked up and saw that the horse drawn trolley was out. We passed on the other characters and headed for the trolley. 

This was a first for us, the trolley has not been running on any of our previous trips. It was sort of nostalgic for me, as I remember riding the trolley on my first visit to the Magic Kingdom right after it opened.

We rode the trolley to the castle and along the way were entertained by the Dapper Dans, who were riding on the back of the trolley. We also met and chatted with a cast member during the ride. She was visiting the park on her day off. She cried when she saw Pluto down by the castle. She said she knew the cast member that had been killed in the accident. We said our goodbyes and headed our to Crystal Palace for our lunch PS. We checked in and while we were waiting a group of dancers and singers came out on Main Street. Bill walked over and took some pictures of their show.

Lots of characters everywhere, the horse drawn trolley, the Dapper Dans and now the singers and dancers, wow... I did not realize that Daytona 500 Weekend was a peak time for the parks...  :)  I also managed to get a picture (click here to see it) of the "New Partners" statue, leave it to Mikey Eisner to put himself above Walt...  ;)

The food was great at Crystal Palace and the only difference between lunch and dinner menus that I noticed was no peel-and-eat shrimp and flak steak instead of prime rib on the carving board. After lunch, we walked the through the Emporium and the Main Street Gallery before heading for the exit. Hopped the monorail to the TTC, a tram to the car then we were on our way home. There was no traffic in Daytona at 2:15 PM, when we went through there. Everyone must have been in the stands watching the race.

Great trip... a very enjoyable break from our regular around the house weekend activities... Oh yeah, I wasn't going to leave you hanging... The final question from the Villaintine's Day contest; Who would love nothing more than to eat Captain Hook for a Valentine's dinner? I think you can figure this one out with resorting to crocodile tears to get the answer out of me... :)

Click to Read:   Intro   -   Part One