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Posted

UPDATE: Epcot and Magic Kingdom TR and photos on Page 4. Animal Kingdom and MGM photos on Page 6.

 

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Prologue:

 

My first and only visit to Orlando came when I was 10 years old. My mom took me to Walt Disney World, and I can only describe the memories as being one of the few firm and lasting ones I have from that age. I had always wanted to travel back to Orlando, even moreso when Islands Of Adventure opened in 1999. But being a poor high school kid, and then a poor college kid, didn't help. I finally landed a pretty sweet gig with Disney, although up until this point, I had never reaped the travel rewards of the job.

That all changed in January, when Jim invited me to go along with him, KC, Dan, and Joey to the parks. I jumped at the opportunity, requested the vacation time off, and got a nice bonus of having my division offer to pay for parts of the trip in exchange for a couple days of work. I was more than happy to oblige.

 

So here in lies the travel (and photo) log of my visit to Florida.

 

Day One:

 

I will admit that I did not get much sleep. It was mostly a combination of excitement, nervousness, elation, and 20 ounces of Vault. Those kept me up until 4am, watching reruns of Gilmore Girls and Conan O'Brien. When I finally did fall asleep, it couldn't have been more than 10 seconds before the alarm went off.

The drive to the airport was painless, as was most of the check-in procedure. Apart from a ridiculously long line to go through security and an almost fatal mistake of leaving my wallet on top of my checked bags (thanks to the employee who pointed that out), the airport process was as smooth as can be. I chilled in the terminal and fruitlessly tried to get a WiFi connection. After that failed, I read and listened to my iPod.

Song, the soon to be gone low cost carrier, is actually quite pleasant. My last flight experience prior to this was a trip to Boston in 2000, long before JetBlue came about and brought TV's to the backs of the seats. So all this "fun stuff to do on a plane" is nice to see. I played the trivia game and destroyed the other players. I scrolled through some of the MP3's they offer (Fun Fact: They have the Bright Eyes album "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning", and the first track on the album recounts a very detailed and harrowing experience of a plane crashing. Good times.) Mostly, I've been interested in the Flight Tracker thing, which shows where your plane is on the map, along with your altitude, speed, and other random nonsense. For example, right now, I am over Jackson, Mississippi and we are going 581 miles per hour. Earlier, I discovered a town called Colbert, Texas. I cannot tell you how awesome that is.

 

Having a laptop is a godsend. I just got done watching "Waiting", I messed around with a bunch of pictures in iPhoto, and hey--I'm typing this right now!!

 

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Orlando International Airport is the exact opposite of LAX. It's efficient, laid back, inviting, and incredibly easy to navigate. The contrast between LAX and Orlando is staggering.

 

Let me also mention how much of a joy Disney's Magical Express bus system was to use. I didn't take advantage of the in-room luggage delivery, but the bus itself was incredibly efficient and fast. The only downside was having to listen to the bus driver give an strangely depressing spiel as we ventured into the WDW complex. He brought up Hurricane Katrina, 9/11, auto accidents, budget shortages, and lay-offs. That stuff is just a bummer, dude. People come here to be happy.

 

So I finally arrived at my hotel for the night--Wilderness Lodge. Wilderness Lodge shares a lot of similarities with the Grand Californian at DLR. Wilderness seems to be a bit more rustic, whereas the GC seems a bit more polished. They are quite similar though. Check in was hassle free, and my room is actually quite nice. I'm on the first floor, and my balcony opens up onto a small pond. It's too dark to see right now, but I'm looking forward to waking up early tomorrow morning and sitting on my patio. As I was getting into the room, the Wishes fireworks started. It's quite a nice welcome to see tons of pyro lighting up the sky from your hotel room.

 

I went to eat at the Whispering Canyon restaurant in the lobby. Whispering Canyon isn't quite the name I would use to describe it--more like Very Loud With Lots Of Screaming Children Canyon. It seemed to be one of those restaurants where the waiters are encouraged to interact with the guests. I'll bring this up now, because it's as good of a time as any: EVERYONE HERE HAS BEEN INCREDIBLY NICE. Like obscenely nice. My waitress sat down and talked with me for a good ten minutes. I'm shocked by this level of service. Even DLR cast members aren't this nice.

 

My dinner was very good, despite the screaming children and the restaurant's penchant for yelling incredibly loud for ketchup and having impromptu hors races.

 

So now I'm back in the room, dead tired of course.

 

 

 

 

LAX, aka Hell: The Airport

 

I totally beat Lou's ass in the in-flight trivia game.

 

Colbert, Texas. The truthiest city in the USA.

 

Colbert, Texas from the air.

 

Wow, you mean airports don't have to be ugly cesspools of depravity?

 

The first souvinir shop, and I'm not even out of the terminal! Also, notice the local wildlife: the central floridian land whale.

 

The Wilderness Lodge--it's like the Grand Californian but with less green.

 

A big pole.

 

This is a hand crafted wood carving of what the central floridian land whale looks like.

 

Boy, it sure looks alot like a certain hotel in Anaheim...

 

"Yo, what's up? I'm a buffallo made out of wood. Give me some candy."

 

Because you can never have enough shots of beaver.

 

My sleeping pad for the evening.

 

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Posted

I didn't think it was possible, but I'm more excited to see your update from Florida than I am of actually going to California next week!

 

Luckily, I'll also be in Florida the week after that!

 

Glad you got there safely, can't wait to see and hear more of your thoughts!

Posted

In flight trivia! That's awesome!

 

I love Orlando Int'l Airport, it's definately the best airport I been to. Did you see the statue/art of the tired tourist? Amazing.

 

Great TR so far. Keep it up.

 

Eric

Posted

Nice trip report, I can say your staying at my favorite resort at WDW! I can agree that Whispering Canyon is not quite! But the CM's there are great, very friendly and nice. When my parents had their anniversary there the CM's made them lead the horse race!!!!!

Posted

Here is the view from my balcony. The ducks here are quite aggressive, they were walking up right next to me when I went outside.

 

 

 

 

It's a shame I have to check out of here tonight.

Posted

Great TR!

 

I can't wait until I go to WDW with our band on the 15th! It should be a ton of fun... haven't been to Disney since they had their castle pink for their 25th anniverary!

Posted

^I haven't been to Disney since 1993!!!

 

 

Aww, have fun Wes! I expect to see less pictures of things and more hilarious pictures of people doing random things once everybody else gets there

 

::edit:: a Buffalo! It's like I'm there in spirit!

Posted

Ok I'm in the office and bored, so here's some daylight pics from Wilderness Lodge I took this morning:

 

 

This hotel obviously gets props for being so gosh darn pretty.

 

Wow! I'm amazed how much it looks nothing like Grand Californian!

 

Scientific proof that ducks can indeed swim.

 

The beach and lake area.

 

Sadly, there was no erupting to be had. I'm going to sue for false advertisement.

 

My therapist told me when I get mad, I needed to close my eyes and picture a gentle stream in a pretty meadow. Otherwise I'll turn into the Hulk (aka: the LAMEST superhero ever!).

 

The indians primitive and failed attempt to make a horse drawn carriage.

 

HUMPING BUFFALOS!!! YES!!

Posted

Awesome report and photos so far Wes, looking forward to the rest. Have a great time!

 

I totally beat Lou's ass in the in-flight trivia game.

 

Boooo, I suck!!

 

Oh, and also...

 

I'll turn into the Hulk (aka: the LAMEST superhero ever!).

 

LMFAO! OMFGZ The Hulk is soooo f'ing awesome!!1! Your just jealous!!1!1

 

Have fun.

Posted

The Hulk cannot be the lamest superhero ever, since Aquaman exists. What would you rather be able to do, toss tanks around like they're made of paper, or talk to fish? Case closed!

 

Keep posting the pics. And try not to break Florida before I get there in a few weeks...

 

dt

Posted

Hello everyone, I am alive. Joey and I are sitting in the really rich people's hotel (aka: Grand Floridian) and I just paid $10 to go on the internet. So far the trip has been awesome. I will definately post a more in depth photo TR when I get back to California on Sunday/Monday. So far the highlights:

 

- Everest was pretty cool. The animatronic dinosaur was totally sweet.

 

- IoA kicks major ass. Spiderman rules and Fire Dragon destroyed our souls. Mummy kicks ass too.

 

- Busch Gardens is major ghetto, but Sheikra was pretty awesome.

 

- We heard a morning radio DJ pronounce the word epitome and "ep-eh-tom". LOL @ stupid people.

 

- And finally, we had the most amazing experience ever at a Burger King in Tampa. Words cannot describe the amazingness we saw in there. It was the best thing ever.

 

Okay, see you all in a few days.

 

Wes and Joey (the Jew Crew)

Posted
IoA kicks major ass. Spiderman rules and Fire Dragon destroyed our souls. Mummy kicks ass too.

 

Yes, another Fire fan... Gotta love that airtime hill!

 

Can't wait for the pics, Wes!

Posted

Looking forward to the full update, glad you guys are having fun. Tell Joey I'm thinking about him...!!

Posted

Hmmmm, I always thought Busch Gardens Tampa is a great park. Always clean when I go, nice landscaping etc. I usually find it has pretty decent ride operations and a great coaster collection. Other than the surrounding areas of the park (which is very ghetto), I wonder what made you come away from BGT with that opinion. I am glad you have had a great time so far.

Posted
Hmmmm, I always thought Busch Gardens Tampa is a great park. Always clean when I go, nice landscaping etc. I usually find it has pretty decent ride operations and a great coaster collection. Other than the surrounding areas of the park (which is very ghetto), I wonder what made you come away from BGT with that opinion. I am glad you have had a great time so far.

 

You must be going to a different Busch Gardens. The one I go to has the worst park operations in the state. It takes an hour for the high school dropout operators to dispatch a ride. And while the park has some nice areas, the attractions themselves are very ghetto (both in cleanliness and quality) and it's not uncommon to see trash strewn all over a large percentage of the park. I think highly rated coasters and free beer is all they have going for them.

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