Art Smith's Tidbit Report
October 2001

Let me preface this by saying that I am neither, organized enough, nor interesting enough to submit a comprehensive "Trip Report" so I am calling this a "Tidbit Report". I will post this to a couple of lists, so if you see it elsewhere, feel free to ignore it. Actually, you could ignore this one too, but don't tell me, I may be in a fragile after-Disney condition.

First the particulars:
We (Wife, Judi; Daughter, Wendy; and I, Gary - aka Art) left St. Louis, by car, on Oct 11 (Thurs) drove through to Macon, GA having stopped enroute for a Cracker Barrel dinner (which cost $13.00 with tip for the three of us (again with "free certificates") We stayed at the Hawthorn Inn. It was $59.00 and we had a nice breakfast Friday morning. (Eggs, bacon, cereal, juice, milk, etc) We left Friday and arrived at Villas at Wilderness Lodge at 5:00 pm. As you can tell, we have found that a leisurely drive is much more relaxing than a commando raid. Gas was pretty cheap ranging from $131.9 in MO to $109.9 in GA. I had budgeted about $150.00 for gas based on Oct 1 prices. We spent less than $60 round-trip and since we had $25 in "free gas", it was $35 out of pocket. Quite a surprise. Our car ride was not without it's problems. At the 90 minute mark, we heard a "thump" "thump" "thump" sound coming from the left side. It stopped and we figured it was the road. The next morning, the same sound happened again, only more frequently, faster and louder. We pulled off the road at the next exit and the sound subsided. I checked the car out, couldn't see anything, made a minor non-related adjustment and drove off. the noise was gone. I, from the inside, re-adjusted my non-related adjustment and the sound came back.

Moral of the story: If your antennae is on the top of your car and you put an antennae ball on it, make sure the wind doesn't cause it to bounce up and down on the top of your car.

Chattanooga and I don't get along. It may be a nice place to live, I like the song, but it just doesn't like me. A few years back, a tanker overturned and caused a 5 hour delay. Three years ago, we stayed over nite and were attacked by locusts. This year a (probably) fatal accident happened just as we were past the exit preceding it. We waited for about an hour and then were directed around the accident (which looked terrible) by way of a grassy field. Other than that, the trip was just fine.

When we arrived at VWL, we were met by the guard as usual, but he told us that we would have to show a picture ID whenever we entered, which was no big deal. We checked in, went to our room and we were settled in in less than 20 minutes. We stayed at a studio for the first two nights and transfered to the 2 br portion for the next five night. We have stayed at WL in the past and it was always our favorite non-DVC resort. The rest of our trip was spent doing what we had time for, knowing that we could always come back next year or whenever. There were hardly any lines. Our longest wait was 20 minutes and that was for train rides. We did skip the Pooh and Living the Lands because the stand-by time was 60 minutes and fast pass was 2 hours. Those were the only lines. I guess it's because the Land had alot of places to eat and wait out the fastpass and the rides around Pooh were walk-ons. We don't hit the parks until Monday. We spend Fri, Sat and Sun doing non park stuff. We always see a movie, usually at Celebration but this time at Downtown Disney. Once again - free tickets. We went to Old Town in Kissimee for my daughters yearly "weird fix". Actually many of the crafty things you find in Adventureland (wind chimes, etc) are also in Old Town for 1/4 the price. We ate at Red Lobster (again free) and hit the AS food court (we had to pay for that). One morning we ate at Whispering Canyon at WL. We went last year and enjoyed it more than this year. Maybe it was because the novelty wore off, maybe because there were few people there and the atmosphere was just different.

On Sunday we always go to Walmart for our weeks worth of groceries. Because of coupons, etc we got out of there for less than $35.00, not bad for 5 days food at Disney.

I know alot of people don't want to cook on their vacation, but our family leads such diverse work shifts that vacations are one of the few times we can eat together so it is a luxury for us. People also think it's a bother to collect coupons and get free certificates from the internet, etc; but it is one way we can stretch our vacation planning and involvement all year long. We don't have to buy anything we don't need and it takes very little time. Often we will get offers for test drives for anywhere from $25 to $50 for a 5 minute drive. We may be weird but we just like to do this stuff. It gives us satisfaction when we can go into Red Lobster or Planet Hollywood, buy 3 large dinners and drinks, give a large tip (my daughter, the waitress forces us to tip more than normal) and pay nothing.

We also don't spend those state quarters, we just put them is a bank (actually a converted Pringles can) and use the money for souvenirs.

My impressions on VWL:
I am an OKW owner. I missed being able to unload my car right in front of our door and bring (mainly $35 worth of groceries) stuff in. The rooms at VWL were adequate and if I had never stayed at OKW, I would have felt that I was in heaven, but I have stayed at OKW and it just isnt the same. The transportation was fine and I like the boat ride from WL to MK. I do miss walking around OKW and feeling like I belong to DVC. At VWL, you are just another guest at WL. There is no "Welcome Home" except for the occasional guard greeting and the person stuck in the corner trying to sell DVC to guests. I still like WL and will visit it whenever I come to WDW, but OKW is my "home away from home". I know many will disagree, but thats the way I see it. WL makes me feel good, but OKW makes me feel special.

Gary a.k.a. Art from St.Louis - ready to start saving for the 7 day cruise/3 day VB 2003 trip.