TRIP REPORT: September in WDW Part 1

When famous author Ray Bradbury, who knew Walt Disney personally, was asked if Walt was an optimist, Ray suggested that Walt was an Optimal Behaviorist. Boiled down in an over-simplified form, this mean you do, do, do then pause and reflect. It is in that spirit I hope you will indulge me as I provide one man's impressions of his recent visit to Walt Disney World. I shall try and avoid the what I did on my summer vacation cadence as much as possible.

My last trip to Walt Disney World was January of 2009. That was before the idea of maintaining a blog came into my little brain. This recent trip was motivated by reasons as outlined in the article First Impressions. This trip report will trickle over the next two days because I took a lot of pictures. So ready for the ride..er...trip report!

The photo below is the view from my second room. Wonderful. The weather was very hot (insert understatement here) and very humid. I am a Southern California boy. Humidity over 30% has my skin wondering what is happening. Obviously my camera wasn't quite up to it yet either. You got to like how Disney themes the weather to go with the resort.

I stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge in April 2007 and the construction for the Jambo House DVC was just beginning. Kidani Village was only a grading project. It was nice to see the resort all zipped up. The guard gate was moved and I noticed that security was tighter than ever. You had to show a room key or photo ID to move about the resorts.

Animal Kingdom Lodge is a unique experience and the public areas are some of the best on property. The entire arrival experience from the oversized porte cochere narrowing to the double doorway enclosure, opening slightly at the orientation point and then the space exploding upward and outward through the enormous lobby space. I feel this is the best of the late Peter Dominick's Disney lobbies (Grand Californian and Wilderness Lodge) Throughout the week, looking out my window, I wondered if the expanding savannas came with an expanded inventory of animals? I didn't seem that way.


Since I have just purchased an Annual Pass (I have joined the bi-coastal AP club!), I thought I would get right to it. So off the nearest open park...Epcot.


Much to my surprise, the Florida AP is just a regular ticket. A cardboard ticket. The DL AP is a hard working plastic card with your photo. Let's just say that my ticket(s) and the entry machines did not want to get along for much of the trip. I was envious of those with plastic room key cards that worked.




Ah, it's late September and Halloween is just around the corner. Okay, a long corner since this photo is from September 25th. At least is was already past Labor Day. The Magic Kingdom looked beautiful this early in the morning. As you can see, it was a very quiet day. The Halloween party was that evening and the park was scheduled to close at 7p. For much of the time, they were struggling to get enough bodies in the center for the little opening show with the Mayor, the train, and a gaggle of characters. For me, a lovely bench under the shade of the train tracks was called home until the countdown.



Typically this would be the time when one walks quickly toward the ropes at the end of the trail past the always closed Tomorrowland Noodle/Upcharge for Wishes viewing spot or the Adventureland bridge on your way to Frontierland (oops, did I just mention two shortcuts?) so you can be ready to run to your favorite E-ticket.


On this trip I ran straight toward the Harmony Barber Shop. They have turned most of Main Street USA into a mall (including the fire station and the movie theater - what were they thinking?!) but you can still get your haircut. This will be the subject of a separate post and a great memory from this trip.

Since Space Mountain was closed I thought everybody would be running toward the westside for the big Frontierland attractions. I decided I would go east toward my favorite first experience at the Magic Kingdom - the AstroOrbiter. The line was still non-existent when I arrived. I just love this thing. It is over 70' in the sky and you get a stupendous view of the park, Bay Lake Tower, the Contemporary, and all of WDW off in the distance. This space age spinner is not stuck in a hole like the one at Disneyland. It is up near the clouds where it belongs. Okay, I rode it twice in a row. Do you blame me?

Walking the empty path along the backside of Tomorrowland on the way to Fantasyland (by the way, did you know this is the only spot in the Magic Kingdom without music?), I got onto an empty Peter Pan (still a classic, love the ramping up of the scale of the scenery at the beginning but prefer the island room in California), then off to the Haunted Mansion.


I love the Florida version of the Haunted Mansion with the recent enhancements and wish that the "stretching" sounds could be brought back to Disneyland. Of course, if you squint really hard to can see this little guy in the pet cemetery.

As it was bloody hot already, Splash Mountain felt great. I noticed that the front row gets drenched and the fourth row is subject to a water cannon that whacks you just before the big lift hill. The very funny Queens in the Kingdom guide to the parks comments on how frequently you are exposed to Br'er Bear's behind and that image was reinforced much to my regret.


Big Thunder was an immediate repeat ride as usual. That extra little section with the flood scene and the characters brought over from Nature's Wonderland just crack me up. I like little details like the reuse of the pigs in Pirates now finding a home in the west just before the tunnel at the end of the flood. Another bonus over the California edition is a full minute of ride time. The major elements are the same in both parks and even come in the same order. The only difference is the setting (Monument Valley vs. Bryce Canyon) and you got clockwise vs counter-clockwise.

Brilliant. Loved the redo. The central theme of "one of us" is relatable narrative hook that allows the writers the ability to highlight a number of our leaders. I thought the message was balanced and the presentation of the three(!) talking audio-animatronics was timed nicely. Somehow I would think Mr. Washington's accent would be different but I almost teared up hearing Royal Dano as Lincoln again. His reading of the Gettysburg address is definitive and I am even more anxious to see the revised presentation of Lincoln in Disneyland with the rumored 1964-1965 World's Fair speech. The Obama figure...let's just say they had a real challenge and they exceeded my expectations. I know you can see the show on the internet but they don't do the real thing justice. I noticed this rarity, both hands were fully animated. The mouth movement is superior to anything else I have seen. Amazing use of technology and a touching show. I did make repeat visits during this trip.

Next to the Mad Tea Party is this Randy Pausch quote . Gets me every time.

While waiting for my first visit to Tony's Town Square, I was able to relax and listen to music from Mary Poppins rendered in rich deep tones from the Porter music box. The Porter was the ultimate high tech music machine of its day. The soothing sounds combined with the Victorian Period detail made waiting for lunch a nice rest.

I have never eaten at Tony's before but it is a wonderful spot to have lunch. The food is your basic Italian that is not going to make food critics swoon but is was tasty and large portions. The salad with roasted garlic vinaigrette dressing is prepared at the restaurant and was very good. My chicken parmigiana featured a nice sized breast and was well prepared but the amount of marina was so slight that my wonderful server Casey had to laugh. The real highlight was the dining room. While I was eating I also noticed a little detail that is so well thought out and ties together multiple things....well it is worthy of its own article. A hint? Just look out the window to the north.

Don't all trip reports require a photo of the castle?

Another one of the little discoveries. If you bend down just right, the background and the statue reveal who is truly in charge of the castle that you are standing right next too. Perfect height for a child. Adults must make the effort.


After lunch it was time to go back to the hotel and rest for a long stay at the Halloween Party. I won't repeat what I said previously but I did want to leave you with some of the pumpkin characters who graced Town Square. Cleverly linked to other parts of the Magic Kingdom, they put on a nice welcome to twisted things that were to come that evening.

Strike up the band.

A welcome from the Mayor.

I revisited the Magic Kingdom a couple of times throughout my trip and enjoyed the low crowd levels. I can't get enough of the TTA, can't figure out why the characters in MILF (got to love the name) are presented in 2D when they are 3D characters (picky I know), and I can't wait to see what might be happening with Space Mountain after passing through the lighted dome a few times. What is growing out of that ceiling material?


I missed out on the Liberty Belle but found a perfect spot to eat and watch the fireworks on the upper level of the Columbia Harbor House. They pipe in the music! I confirmed that the perfect parade spot is across from the Country Bear Jamboree and if you time it right, you can get to the perfect fireworks spot on the Tomorrowland bridge. One last thing...When are they plowing under Toontown Fair again?


Come back tomorrow for more, if you dare.