Niki - October 2001

Who: Niki (me), 25 y/o Disney Veteran, Tim (DH) 32, Disney Pin Addict, Zoe (DD), 4 y/o daredevil, Patti (my mom) 52 and Lenny (my dad) 52 - last trip for both of them was 1989. Where & When: All five of us at the Boardwalk Villas 10/24 - 31, and Tim, Zoe and I at the AKL 10/31 - 11/2.

We got there around noon on 10/24 and checked into the Boardwalk. We had a terrific view of the Boardwalk, Spaceship Earth and the Yacht & Beach. It was so nice to not fight the crowds every night at Illuminations; we could watch the fireworks from our balcony! We had a two bedroom villa and it was worth every point we used. There were five of us and we had more than enough room. We ate lunch at Beaches and Cream upon arriving my dad fell in love with their chili dogs. :) We spent the rest of the day wandering Downtown Disney and ate dinner at Boatwrights in Riverside. I'd have to say that was one of our best meals. We took the boat from Marketplace to Riverside - very relaxing!

10/25 we had a character breakfast at 'Ohana. This is my favorite character breakfast next to Cindy's. It's served family style and the food is very, very good. I love how they do the potatoes. :) We then went to the MK and OMG - was it mobbed and HOT! It was so bad, we left and went swimming at the Boardwalk pool and got a light lunch at the pool bar. We went to MGM around 4pm and had dinner at the 50's Prime Time. Being that it was my dad's birthday on 10/26, they let us celebrate it a day early. We asked for an outgoing server and this man was a riot! My DH wouldn't touch his green beans and "Dad" made him stand with his nose on the wall in a time out. LOL! My mom tried to sneak her green beans in a napkin (they really could've been cooked longer!) and some waitress *screamed* at the top of her lungs, "Dad, somebody is trying to hide their vegetables!" To my mom's benefit, Dad didn't hear her. :) Then, Dad brought out a huge cupcake and made my dad stand in the middle of the room and sing Happy Birthday to himself. And my dad being well, my dad, he proceeded to quitely sing to himself... LOL! We finally coaxed it out of him and after the meal, he told me that I was in serious trouble. LOL! After dinner, Zoe met Cruella DeVil. Cruella asked Zoe where she was from and Zoe had to think for a minute. Cruella said, "spit it out, Zoe!" And Zoe spit her gum on Cruella's shoe! LOL! Cruella tried very hard to keep from laughing! And that was all Zoe could talk about - meeting Cruella. My parents are slow walkers (my dad has a pinched nerve and my mom has fibromyalgia) and we didn't make it to Fantasmic!. We did ride the Tower of Terror - hardly anyone around. My daughter was finally tall enough to ride it and she had an absolute blast - she wanted to ride it again, but the park was soon closing. But that didn't stop Tim and I from *running* to the Rockin' Roller Coaster - we were the last people of the day on that ride - hands down my favorite ride in all of Disney World.

10/26 was our Animal Kingdom day. We got breakfast at the Boardwalk Bakery and did just about everything in AK, except for Tarzan and the Lion King show. We had lunch at Restaurantosaurus - McDonald's. It was pretty good and they had a great fixin's bar with great fried onions. We got back to the room around 3:30 and did some laundry and got ready for our big night! We took my daughter to the Harbor Club for the evening and the four adults got all dressed up and went to Victoria & Albert's! This was my father's birthday present. He absolutely loves the fine dining and wining. :) It was a fabulous three-hour meal and I watched my mother eat things I never thought she'd touch in a lifetime. It was a great feeling to get all dressed up with my parents; we took plenty of film, but with my uncle and great-aunt's passing this past week, I haven't even touched the camera to download my pictures. My dad talks about it just about everytime I talk to him. :) If you'd like to know what was on the menu, let me know and I'll dig it out and let you know. After the meal, we went back to the room and changed into more casual clothes and intended to go to Jelly Rolls, but as soon as we neared the place, cigarette smoke hit us and we decided to just wander around the Boardwalk (I'm asthmatic and cig smoke doesn't sit well with me). We picked Zoe up around 11pm and she had a blast playing with other kids and I'm sure, being away from the adults for a bit! :)

10/27 was to be our water park day at Blizzard Beach, but it was too darn cold - 68 degrees! We decided to go to Epcot instead, thinking we'd just switch days around to get to the water park, but it never did warm up the rest of the time my parents were there. My parents couldn't get over how Epcot had changed, since they hadn't been there since 1989 and only a handful of countries were open in the World Showcase! We had lunch at the Electric Umbrella pretty early. Test Track had a 90 minute wait posted and Fast Pass was down for refurbishment until Christmas. We went back to the room around 3pm to get ready for our 5pm Hoop Dee Doo show. My parents hadn't been there since 1980! We were right up against the stage (we called over a year in advance - you get the best seats that way!) and had plenty of interaction with the players. Of course, my dad was all embarrassed when we told them that he had just had a birthday - I still haven't gotten my punishment, but I'd better watch my back, huh? *L* After the Hoop, we decided to try to catch the Spectromagic parade at the MK. It was actually my father's idea. Um, dad, it's 10 minutes 'til showtime and you want to go in *that?!* I think that was the worst part of my vacation - getting stuck in horrible crowds and my daughter almost getting burnt by a cigarette (she was asleep in her stroller). I was never so happy to kiss the steps of a Disney bus when we left the MK that night. LOL! BTW, we never saw the parade - just kinda saw bits and pieces from behind the castle. *sigh*

10/28 - still too cold for the water park, so we went back to Downtown Disney to do some shopping. It was a nice relaxing day. We had breakfast at Spoodles; I didn't care for it too much but my parents liked it a lot. We went back to the Boardwalk around lunchtime and had a snack at the pool bar and swam for a bit. We went to Epcot for dinner at Le Cellier, then it was time for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party! The parade was great (missed it last year) and we were able to ride rides with no waits at all! My daughter rode Splash Mountain (didn't like it, got wet, what a girl!), but made us ride Big Thunder three times in a row - that is her favorite ride now! It was Goofy's Barnstormer but that's a "baby" ride now! LOL! My parents left early because they were aching and the three of us stayed 'til about 11:30 just enjoying the rides and the night.

10/29, we had breakfast at Hollywood & Vine at MGM - food was pretty good and the characters were great, but it's just too close for comfort for me in there. I just do not like tight spaces and lots of people! We rode ToT and RnRC again, took the backlot tour, saw the Little Mermaid show, did lots of shopping and for the first time, did Who Wants to be a Millionaire. I gotta brag and say that I was in the top 10 the whole time and when our time ended, I was number one! I could've been in the hot seat! I never did make it back to see if I could get in the hot seat; maybe in January! :) We had lunch at one of the burger joints near the Star Wars ride; kinda yucky but it was food. That day we were all winding down and decided to cancel our PS at the CA Grill. I was disappointed, but we all just didn't have the energy to do it. We ended up eating the grossest meal of our entire vacation - at the ESPN club. I got a grilled chicken sandwich - no taste and the bun was hard as a rock. The fries were like chewing on cardboard and the "9th hole" drink I got was all rum. I thought I was going to hit the floor after the first sip! Horrible, horrible food and very uncomfortable seating. Our server was excellent, though. The ESPN Zone here in Baltimore is delicious; you can get one of the best steaks of your life there and the food is excellent. Not so at Disney!

10/30, still not warm enough for a water park. We ended up finishing at Epcot (World Showcase) in the morning (after room service for breakfast) and my dad finally was able to try sake at a booth in Japan. I didn't care for it, but he loved it. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool and went to the Yachtsman's Steakhouse for dinner. We got there early and each got a drink in the lounge (my daughter had her first Shirley Temple!). I got a raspberry colada and I'm hooked - my favorite drink of all time now. Dinner was quite superb, a step below V&A's. I got a crab cake as an appetizer and it was absolutely delicious. I made the mistake and got NY strip instead of my favorite filet mignon and was slightly disappointed. NY strip can be dry and I wasn't able to finish it, no matter how much water I drank. This was my mom's pick and she really loved it. After dinner, we wandered the Boardwalk some more and then took on the daunting task of packing.

10/31, my parents left for home. They had a fantastic time! We checked out of the Boardwalk and checked into the Animal Kingdom Lodge for the next two nights (AP rate). We had a savannah view room on the Kudu trail. When we walked in, we were just bowled over by this place. We did NOT want to leave! We got up one morning to two giraffe standing right by our balcony!!!! We spent that afternoon swimming and then took Zoe over to Downtown Disney for trick-or-treating. After dinner at the Rainforest cafe (blech - the one up here is way better!), all Zoe was getting was Wonderballs and black beads. Not very much variety! We decided to head over to the Boardwalk to see if they were doing anything, but we were a bit early. We then wandered through Epcot, first stopping to hear the British Invasion. On our way out, we heard Off Kilter begin to play. As we exited the UK, we heard someone yelling for Zoe. To our astonishment, it was Mary Poppins! How did Mary know Zoe's name? Well, it just happened to be our old friend Cruella. ;) Mary talked with Zoe, I know a good 10 minutes. Zoe was Sleeping Beauty for Halloween and she drew many compliments that night. :) People waiting in line to see Mary were getting very impatient! LOL! We finally broke away from Mary and watched the rest of Off Kilter, my husband's favorite show at Epcot. He has all of their CD's and thinks they're great. And for me, who could resist a man in a kilt? ;) We called it a night around 10pm after wandering aimlessly through closed FW.

11/1, we had a quick breakfast at Mara at the resort. Pretty good. We spent most of the day at the MK - that place was deserted! There were many curbside spots during the 3pm parade too! I couldn't believe it. We had a nice, relaxing day there (lunch at the Diamond Horseshoe Saloon Revue). Since this was our last night in Disney, we made arrangements for Zoe at Simba's Cubhouse and Tim and I ate at Boma. I can't say enough wonderful things about Boma. The food was excellent and there was definitely something for everyone. We wandered the resort, played air hockey in the arcade, met up with some British friends we had met that morning, and spent the rest of the evening just relaxing by the pool bar (raspberry coladas - mmmmmmm!). Zoe had a blast again playing with kids her age and seemed totally rejuvenated the next day.

11/2 - we had to go home. :( Had an excellent breakfast at Boma and hit the road around 10 am. Stopped in Santee, SC for the night and got home around 4pm on 11/3. Our cats almost knocked us dead when we got home! LOL! Pet sitter took great care of them.

We had a trip planned for January - 5 nights at OKW. We liked AKL so much, we scaled back to 2 nights at OKW and added 3 nights at AKL concierge on points (sure beats paying cash!). We'll be there for my birthday and I'm ready to go now! :)

Take care,
Niki ºoº