Just another Disney journal

In the Magic Kingdom: Pirates and Space Mountain always are my favorites. EPCOT: The new Mission Space ride is exciting and the launch sequence is fabulous, complete with the pull of gravity.

Quick Tips:

The Animal Kingdom was a letdown. My friends complained that they expected to see herds of animals on the plains during the safari ride, but they didn't see nearly as many animals as expected. If you must blow off a park, this is the one.

Best Way To Get Around:

If you're staying on the property, and have no need to go to Universal or other nearby attractions (or the city of Orlando itself), then just use the Disney transportation system. Buses connect the resorts to all the parks. Of course there is also the monorail, but that really only serves a purpose if you are staying in the "luxury" resorts.

Disney’s All-Star resorts are a decent option for people and families that wish to experience Disney World on a relatively cheap budget. The three resorts are based on three entertainment industries (Movies, Music and Sports), with a fourth opening in December 2003 ("Pop Century"). My friends and I stayed in the All-Star Music Resort.

Each of the three resorts consist of ten three-story buildings and one main hall. The main hall is a high-ceilinged building which houses check-in, guest relations, a large Disney store, arcade and a restaurant. The store offers the usual Disney gifts plus toiletries, bottled drinks and magazines. The restaurant is cafeteria-style and the menus change depending on the time of day. There is also a small self-serve "Market" area to buy drinks and packaged meals instead of waiting on the regular food lines. It seems like most of the food is prepared when it is ordered. We found the chicken quesadilla to be pretty good for lunch and dinner hours.

Right outside the main hall, heading to the guest buildings, is the first of two pools for each resort. Each pool is shaped to fit into the theme of the resorts. For instance, our resort had pools shaped like a guitar and piano. It seemed at our resort that the pool nearest the hall was used more and seemed to be heated better.

The buildings also fit into the themes of the resorts. Our building was not only number 8, but also the Broadway building. The buildings are painted in eye-catching (eye-burning?) colors, and have designs to fit into their individual themes.

The guest rooms are comfortable but basic. The TV has an abundance of channels, although many are WDW-related. I thought the bathtub was quite comfortable, unlike many budget places I have stayed. I am told that all the rooms are the same (except those for wheelchair guests, although I don’t know what makes those rooms special) to a point where a friend of mine who was staying in the same building said we had the same print from "Beauty and the Beast" hanging in our respective rooms. There is no room service except for pizza delivery from the main hall.

The hotel key-cards are also park-hopper passes, so guests can go everywhere in WDW. That’s one of the perks. One of the other budget drawbacks is the transportation system: these resorts seem to be the furthest from most of the action. I timed the bus from my resort to the Magic Kingdom at about 20 minutes, and I would guess from experience that these budget hotels have fewer buses serving them for each park. In contrast, the monorail to the top resorts runs every five minutes or so and the ride is shorter. Also the buses to the All-Star resorts are always the furthest from the park gates.

I love German food. Therefore as I was planning this trip, I immediately made a reservation to eat at the Biergarten. When we ate there, I wasn't disappointed. The Biergarten is a buffet-style restaurant. At the time we went, the price was $14.95 for all you can eat, including deserts. That price however does not include beverages, alcoholic or otherwise.

The food is basically a sampler of German cuisine. Sausages, pork, patatoes and cabbage are all represented. The schnitzel was chicken and not veal, perhaps for political correctness. The spatzel was some of the best I've had in the U.S. I didn't see any sauerkraut though, although I've heard they have served it at points. Deserts include pudding, strudels and black forest cakes. The Biergarten offers the usual soft drinks, plus wine and beer. They serve beers in normal-sized (to Americans) pint glasses or in large glass steins (which will run patrons almost as much as the meal itself, about $9). The beers are German, such as Becks.

The dining hall is designed like a small Bavarian town plaza at night. The ceiling is dark with the moon over one of the mock buildings. The tables are communal and you may be seated with complete strangers. This also fits into the Oktoberfest feel of the place.

On the wall opposite the entry and buffet is a stage. At fairly regular intervals a band comes out and offers a sampling of German music. They play mostly "oompah" music like polka, but there are also demonstrations of German tradition instruments, such as bells and horns. There is a dance floor right below the stage where the bandleader invited people to dance, but nobody took up the challenge while we were there.

As this trip was to celebrate my 30th birthday, I wanted to do everything right. That included having dinner in perhaps the most magical building in all of Disney World: Cinderella's Castle.

During breakfast hours, Cinderella's Royal Table offers character-meeting breakfasts. By dinnertime, CRT is one of the upscale restaurants in the Magic Kingdom. Although it's not meant as a character meet-and-greet, Cinderella and Belle (from "Beauty and the Beast") were in the lobby greeting people while they waited to be seated. One of the people waiting said Cinderella will sometimes grace the patrons as they eat, but we did not see her again once she left the lobby.

The dining room (accessible by spiral staircase or by elevator) is what one may expect from Castle dining. The ceilings were high, the tables long and looked like mahogany wood and the lighting was dark. The outer wall has large iron-cast windows (as one might expect when thinking about a castle) which are partially-stained. There are individual tables for each party, so it's not like a single table from festive medieval lore.

The food was great. The bread before the meal was soft pretzel-bread rolls. We had an appetizer, but I forget what we had. For a main course I had prime rib of beef which was well-prepared and had a delicious spicy almost-crust. For desert, the waitress brought out a small birthday desert with candle. My friends slipped the message to the hostess before we went up, so I got embarrassed by "Happy Birthday" in the lobby and again at dinner.

As we were waiting for dinner, the Magic Kingdom fireworks were going off. We were able to see parts of it through the window. I am fairly certain if we were closer to the windows, we would have seen much more, but you still see quite a bit even from the back of the room.

This place is made to look like an old-time drive-in theater. Most of the "tables" are made out as 50's-style cars and face a small version of an old drive-in screen. B-movie trailers, "News of the Future" featurettes and ads for movie concessions stands are shown on the screen. Many of the hosts and waiters roll around on old-style roller skates.

The food is typical Americana. Burgers, ribs . . . I had the ribs but wasn't overly impressed. They serve thick shakes, which fit into the era of the drive-in. For an appetizer, we all shared the artichoke dip. It was good if small.

The place is fun, but not all that comfortable. Most of the tables are of the car variety and most patrons wait for these tables, as that's what the place is all about. There are a few other tables, like picnic tables or outdoor McDonald-type tables. The car tables are situated so that all patrons face the screen, so if you have a party larger than two, you'll be sitting one behind the other. The lighting is dark and the speakers for the screen are loud enough so all can hear, so if you are planning an intimate dinner or to talk to the people you are with, then this place is not for you.

Disney's Typhoon Lagoon staff members say that the park's wave pool is the biggest in the country and the second biggest in the world. With that in mind, they seem to live up to the cliché, "If you've got it, flaunt it." On certain days of the week, the park opens up early to offer surfing lessons.

The prices seemed reasonable to me. For $135, they give you access to a surfboard, towels, lessons and two hours worth of surfing.

The instructors run the Cocoa Beach Surf School and have all competed or won various surfing competitions. Two of the instructors were from the U.S. National Surf Team.

The actual instruction took very little time. All they do is show you for a couple of minutes how to paddle out and raise yourself. You take a dry run on dry land and then they tell you to throw your board into the pool and catch a wave. It was more of a trial-and-error learning process. For me, it took a couple of waves to realize just how much time I really had to prepare. At first you feel like rushing through the process, but soon I realized I actually had time to think about the motions as I went through them.

Once you hit the water, you go to the instructor. He hooks you up to the board, makes sure you are in position on the board, and then gives you a push as the wave comes up. They try to get the students to paddle themselves into the waves, but most of the time, they tell the students just to hold onto the rails (sides) of the board as they give the students a push. Once your first wave is over, you paddle out to the second instructor. This guy will try and correct what you've done wrong on your first wave. After you second ride, you get out and wait for your next two waves.

On typical days, the number of waves and students should work out to each student having ten waves per lesson. We had fewer students than they usually have, so we got more waves. It also meant though that at times the students didn't have the time to rest between rides. On my last ride, when a couple more people had dropped out, I didn't have the energy to get up properly.

The instructors were all kind and didn't yell, even though at times I'm sure it seemed we the students weren't getting it.

Surfing is not for those who are going to tire out quickly. The arms seem to get the biggest workout, between paddling out and having to do a push-up to get up. Then walking through the undertow and carrying the board gets to the legs. Despite this, I had a blast and intend to go again.

Disney's Animal Kingdom's slogan is "Nahtazu," which I presume is a made-up African-sounding word. Sound the word out, and it's "not-a-zoo," which the Animal Kingdom claims it is (or isn't), but during my time in the park, I kept thinking that a zoo is exactly how I would describe this place.

Before I start describing my visit, I'll tell you that I come from the Bronx, and our zoo is probably one of the best in the world. Therefore, I may be spoiled, and what I consider zoo-like might be much more to others. Also, as the park closed at 5pm (earlier than any of the other parks), we didn't have as much time to explore as we had hoped.

As soon as you enter, you walk past a number of small habitats, each with zoo-like displays discussing the animals in their pens. One of the big attractions is the Kilimanjaro Safari, which my friends and I considered a disappointment. My friends felt cheated 'cause they expected to see herds of animals instead of a handful of each species. I was put out because they made the ride a little too Disney: a shaking bridge, fake radio transmissions, a race to stop poachers. The exit of the Safari ride lets you off on the Exploration Trail, which had some cool (still zoo-like) exhibits. For instance, the hippo pool was fun, with the window looking in the habitat both above and below weather.

Rafiki's Planet Watch was also a letdown. I felt I was behind the scenes at a zoo instead of in a place where I was learning about saving the planet.

Camp Minnie-Mickey was more amusement-based. There are character meeting areas here, and they even had Koda and Kenai from the brand-new "Brother Bear" movie here already. At one point, a guy with a guitar was singing childhood animal favorites, and he was very entertaining. This area is also where you find two stage shows. One of them, "The Festival of the Lion King," was really good. All the songs from the movie were performed, along with exciting acrobatics and dancing. The mechanical animation versions of Simba and Pumba are incredible.

The Jungle Jammin' parade combines complex puppets (such as seen in the Lion King Broadway show), music, and numerous Disney characters in a walk around the park.

As I alluded to, this park has short hours. Therefore, my party didn't have time to see much more. One of my friends said she'd seen the "It's Tough to be a Bug" movie in the past and was not impressed. We never made it to Dino-Land, but this is where the zoo-ness wears off and this becomes an amusement park again.

Hopefully Disney continues to work on this park. It's a great concept and can be a good way to teach people about the environment and animals.

The cliché that comes to mind for me at Disney-MGM studios is "quality over quantity." This park is small, but it has some of my favorite attractions in Disney World.

I'm a huge fan of "Star Wars," the Muppets, and "The Twilight Zone," and this park has attractions connected to all. Star Tours is a galactic sightseeing tour that goes awry. For me, waiting on line is almost as fun as the ride itself. Between R2 and 3PO and the videos of other destinations, waiting to board the ride is a charming time (although I had more fun in Euro Disney, where 3PO talks French and English . . . Protcol droid indeed!). Also the instructions are fun, with wookies and ewoks boarding the shuttle.

Muppets 3-D also has a fun wait, with a video starring Sam, Rizzo and Gonzo. Muppets 3-D is mainly a movie, but also incorporates bits of live-action and animatronics.

The wait for the fairly new Tower of Terror doesn't have the same attraction, but the ride lives up to its name. You board an "elevator" which ends up leaving its shaft and then turning into a freefall ride. The word is that it's never the same ride twice; that each shaft offers its own intro and the drops change constantly. We only rode the ride twice, so I can't tell how true that is.

MGM has its own version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire," in which all people in the audience have a chance to play and possibly win a Disney cruise.

Like all the Disney parks, MGM offers a multitude of restaurants, each with a theme of its all. My friends and I ate at the Sci-Fi Drive-In (look for separate review).

There is a parade around midday, where the characters of Disney, Henson and Lucas ride around in some pretty spiffy cars. A hostess, much in the style of Joan Rivers at Oscar time, announces those riding down the road.

The Aerosmith Rock and Roller Coaster is somewhat like Space Mountain, in the sense that it's an indoor roller coaster mostly in the dark. What makes it different is that you are riding in a stretch limo and the launch is one of the fastest bits of any ride in all of Disney World.

The night is capped off with Fantasmic. Wizard Mickey fights a number of Disney villains.

MGM and EPCOT are for older patrons than the other two parks. Still there are a number of things even the youngest should like, such as the usual Disney characters and the "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids" Playground, where kids can play with super-large toys, made to mimic the backyard scene from the movie. Also, Disney Playhouse should be good for younger kids.