Walt Disney World, 16 Months Later

EPCOT is still my fave, and it keeps getting better. With attractions for kids and adults (and both), it is hard to run out of things to do. Turtle Talk with Crush and the Beatles tribute band British Invasion were our favorite "new" finds. Magic Kingdom is always a must as well and the one park you must do if just because it's Magic Kingdom.

Quick Tips:

Go in the off-peak season. My last three trips there were in fall or winter, and it's a great break from the cold. It's also fairly empty, and while there are some things that aren't open seasonally, I think that what is open is worth what you lose. Stay on property, as the Disney resorts offer such benefits as a good transportation system and delivery of your purchases to your resort.

Best Way To Get Around:

Disney transportation works best for people staying on property, as buses mostly run between parks and resorts, not between the parks. The monorail connects Magic Kingdom and EPCOT and is fast and fun. We used the ferries for the first time on this trip. It was a nice break and a good rest if you have the time.

This was my first time at one of the "moderate" Disney resorts, and it's my favorite level of resort. The "deluxe" hotels now just seem way too pricy for me, and you get much more bang for your buck going "moderate" than to the "value" resorts. The CBR is large, with 30-plus guest buildings. They are broken up into "villages" of about five units, and buses to the parks, and going around the resort itself, stop conveniently near the middle buildings of the villages. Each village has its own quiet pool and a beach area with volleyball nets and hammocks.

The rooms are nice. The basic rooms have a two-sink vanity, two beds, and air-conditioning and ceiling fans. My travel companion, John, works as a cleaning supervisor, so he was a little upset with the housekeeping, but the only thing that caught me off guard was that house services decided to "hide" my pajamas under my pillow one day instead of leaving them on the bed where I left them.

The main house, or Centertown, is great. There were times we happily spent just staying here. The main pool is in this area, which is great for all. Kids love the slide and the small waterfall, while adults can sit in a hot tub. All this is situated around a bridge that looks like an old Caribbean fortress, with water-dripping cannons and such. The water in this pool seemed better than in the pool at the All-Star hotels, so it was very comfortable for swimming. There is a small bar here on the pool deck, too, and a place where you can rent bikes and boats for to use on the resort's lake. In the main building there is a standard Disney resort food court, a restaurant (see the accompanying review for "Shutters" restaurant), an arcade, and a gift shop.

CBR is fairly centrally, located on WDW property, and the buses run frequently. Its location is part of why we first chose this resort. We had a great time here and were happy with how much the resort itself had to offer. We are looking into returning to Disney later this year and almost definitely will stay at the CBR again.

Like so many Disney restaurants, Shutter's fits into the environment of its surroundings. The dining room is the same design as the rest of the building, and the food has a Caribbean flair to it.

For appetizers, we tried a three-dip combination platter, which included hummus and a curry dip... I forget what the third dip was, but it was good, if not memorable. At $3 for this dish (you eat it with the bread they leave for you on the table), we were very happy. We also enjoyed a gorgonzola, tomato, and garlic starter, with nice large chunks of garlic cloves. If my travelling companion wasn't a vegetarian, I wanted to try the green mussels as well.

For a main course, I tried the prime rib, which tasted a little strange to me but was still good. There were a number of interesting-looking things on the menu, but my heart was set on trying the prime rib. My vegetarian friend John went with an island-style tofu. This was the only entree he could eat. He thought it was pretty good.

We didn't try the desserts, but John tried the "banana cabana" specialty drink. I went for a pina colada. Obviously, even the drinks fit into the Caribbean motif. The pina colada had a decent amount of rum in it, and Disney did not skimp out, as some places do when they serve frozen drinks.

If you are here at the right time of night and you are near a window, you can see part of EPCOT's IllumiNations fireworks show from your seats. As a side note, this goes for the pool area of the resort as well.

I wouldn't suggest eating at Shutter's if you aren't staying at the CBR, as there are so many good places to eat in WDW. If you are staying at the Caribbean Beach Resort, though, it's very worthy of one night's meal.

This is the most upscale restaurant I have eaten at yet at Disney. The Coral Reef is part of the Living Seas pavilion in Future World, but not part of the exhibit. The entrance is actually around to the right side of the building and is easily missable if you don't know about it. In fact, when we went to our lunch reservation, my friend and I first went into the main entrance and into the exhibit before being told we were in the wrong place.

The setup is very nice. The dining room is dark and spacious. The room has something like three rows of tables, all built on ramps, one above the other. The reason for this somewhat unique design is that one wall of the dining room looks into the main aquarium tank of the pavillion. The large windows look on a set of reefs, and fish, sharks, and the occasional human scuba diver go swimming by as diners look on.

The menu is nice and may be considered "trendy" by some. There are few straightforward fish dishes, and almost everything has the chef's touch on it. I had a crabcakes (in truffle sauce) appetizer, which I seem to remember having a fruit (mango?) bits in it and a rather normal smoked fish platter. I wasn't all that hungry when we were there, so I went cheap and simple. I was happy with what I had, although next time I eat here (I expect there will be a next time), I'll try something more unusual.

My friend John was impressed with the wine list, as well as our server's knowledge of the wines. I couldn't tell you much about it, but he was happy with the bottle he selected and with our waitress's input on the matter.

We enjoyed the Coral Reef, but I'm a seafood person, and John was able to get by with a salad (being a vegetarian). They do have some non-fish selections, but to me, having fish here is half the fun.

Cracker Jack Stadium at the Disney Wide World of Sports is a huge disappointment. This is surprising, considering the expected excellence of both the Braves and Disney.

The complex is one of the more attractive stadiums I’ve been to. It is the size of a AAA team’s park. It has a springy feel to it and is patterned in a Spanish style, with most of the building a pale stucco, with a few tile motifs adorning the walls. There is a grassy hill wrapping around left field, which looks well-kept and fun, especially for fans with kids. Maps and signs seem very understandable, and even if you can’t find your seats, the ushers are friendly and helpful.

This is a place which sets off fireworks for the National Anthem. It’s not my cup of tea, but I can’t complain, and some people like that stuff.

For many non-fans, the rest of the time may be okay. Most spring training visitors, though, are some of the biggest baseball fans in the world and will find the rest of their time at Cracker Jack Stadium lacking.

In the two games I saw there, the baseball aspect was disastrous. For one game, the scoreboards weren’t working. They are seriously lacking to begin with. There’s only a line score and a small information board. They give you little information, and other spring training parks I’ve been to do much better. They don’t even tell spectators what position a player is playing! They just list "infield" or "outfield" and don’t say the specific position. For that one game, the line score and situational info was not working. They were able to fix the situational (balls, strikes, and outs) but weren’t able to fix the line score.

It was two events at the other game that I consider inexcusable, though. Like many parks, they hold trivia contests here. They asked a young girl what year the Twins beat the Cardinals in the World Series. She answered the question wrong, saying "1986." However, they told her she was right. You cannot say "1986" is right when many visitors are New Yorkers there for a Yankees game! New York fans KNOW it was the Mets and Red Sox in 1986. I’m sorry, but if you don’t want the child to feel bad, you tell her she is wrong and give her the prize anyway. The Mets do it that way during the season, no matter a fan’s age.

The last straw, though, was their treatment of the American flag. It fell off the flagpole during the game. The staff left it there, fluttering beside the scoreboard. Walt Disney was a huge patriot. I think he would have had a heart attack over a Disney park allowing this. MLB, The Braves, and Disney are all American icons, and they should all be ashamed that nobody fixed this. Disney does so much right, it’s a shame they got it all wrong here.

EPCOT is my favorite Disney park. Here are some things that stick out from my latest trip to this park.

First off, for the Disney newbie, here’s a little basic description and history. EPCOT stands for "Experimental Prototypical City of Tomorrow." When Disney first bought the land for Disney World, it was Walt’s vision for EPCOT to literally make it a city and not an amusement park. Disney employees would have lived here in a clean, well-organized suburban neighborhood (all transportation within EPCOT was to be by monorail or electric mass-transit, like the "Tomorrowland Transit Authority" ride at the Magic Kingdom), and the hotels for Disney World were to be here too. Walt died shortly after he unveiled his plans, and ten years later, EPCOT was redesigned as the park we now know it as. The new design was essentially two smaller parks combined into one. There is Future World, which fulfills the "Experimental," "Prototypical", and "Tomorrow" aspects of EPCOT, and then the World Showcase, where people can experience a taste of other countries.

Future World was originally a place to explore where we’ve been technology-wise, and perhaps more importantly, it looked to the possibilities of tomorrow. Most, if not all the attractions were sponsored by big-name companies, but having lost some of those sponsorships, the park has changed somewhat.

The exhibits were based on those sponsors too. The icon of EPCOT, the silver sphere known as Spaceship Earth, was sponsored by a big phone company back when Ma Bell was more-or-less intact. Therefore, the ride was about the history and future of human communications. The ride is still there, but where the entry and exitway were a big demonstration of cutting-edge communications technology, now they are empty spaces.

The Living Seas exhibit was fun to return to. I first experienced the Living Seas in 1992 and didn’t have time to see it in 2003. While they lost some of the viewing areas for fish that I remember from the '90s, the Living Seas now is mostly based around Finding Nemo. Outside the building, there are large metallic statues of the characters. One room is devoted to the species of the Disney/Pixar movie. Another room is about sharks and "hosted" by Bruce. Children can learn here with familiar friends to help teach them. The newest addition to this pavilion is "Turtle Talk with Crush," and it is a fantastic live-action virtual show with everyone’s favorite Sea Turtle. There is an actor somewhere watching and listening to the visitors, and he "plays" Crush, providing the voice while computers animate him perfectly. He talks, swims, and asks and answers questions for the visitors. Sometimes he is crude in ways children laugh about and parents don’t mind, such as when he "gets the bubbles." The actor at the show we saw was sharp; when a young girl asked a question which Crush had already answered, Crush said he would call that girl Dory, referring to the forgetful character of the movie. His delivery was classic. The Living Seas also has a great restaurant called the Coral Reef, and you can find that entry in this journal.

Although it wasn’t opened when we were there in March, final preparations are underway for "Soarin’." This will be a transplant from Disney’s California Adventure park in Anaheim, where its full name is "Soarin’ Over California." It is a hang glider simulator, and I am very excited to ride it once it opens in Orlando. For a ride that keeps its riders in the same place the whole time, it is extremely intense and may get to people prone to motion sickness. Between IMAX technology, wind and scent machines, and seats that move slightly, it does give one the feel of flight. "Soarin’" is scheduled to open in May. It fills what was once The Land pavilion, another fallen attraction.

Mission: Space is a fairly new attraction and is an intense ride. It has been nicknamed by some visitors as "Mission: Puke." You do pull some Gs, but it’s never made me that sick. It is a simulated trip to Mars, with mission commander Gary Sinise calling the shots. They do have air sickness bags available during the ride, so I guess it lives up to its pseudo-name at times.

I have yet ride the Test Track, as this ride seems to break down often. This ride is supposed to simulate the tests a car goes through to get its safety rating. This is the updated transportation attraction, as there was a different one when EPCOT opened.

The World Showcase continues to impress. The employees of each country’s pavilion are mostly natives from those countries. The Biergarten is still my favorite restaurant in all of Disney (see entry in the "old" journal), and where we had seen the lunch show in the past, the dinner show was more entertaining. I got my first real taste of the France pavilion this trip. I never knew soufflés were so sweet.

In the UK pavilion, a band called the British Invasion played, doing an excellent job covering Beatles songs. From the sounds of it, the band is almost a permanent fixture, but they rotate band members in and out for work-permit reasons. The days we saw them, they did five shows a day, and they pride themselves on not playing the same song twice a day. We saw them five times in those two days, and the second day, they did some songs they had done previously, plus some other songs.

Some areas of the World Showcase are more extravagant than others. As much as I love the Biergarten, the German Pavilion is just a shopping area for German products. Italy, Morocco, England, and Japan are like this, too, although there are some "street" performers, and the architecture is superb in conveying a feel of the regions the pavilions represent. Some areas, though, have more attractions. Mexico has a small museum area and a ride called "The River of Time," which feels a little like "It’s a Small World," especially in one scene. The "Maelstrom" in the Norway pavilion is fun. It’s another boat-in-building ride but has less of a Disney feel to it. "The American Adventure" show at the U.S.A. Pavilion is a historical look at the U.S.’s history, in a form similar to the Hall of Presidents at the Magic Kingdom or the Great Moments with Abe Lincoln show at Disneyland.

The night ends with the "IllumiNations" fireworks and video spectacular. The display goes off every night at closing time, and it is so strong that you can feel some of the pyrotechnics from the viewing areas. It is optimistic, but not in the whimsical way one might expect at the Magic Kingdom. Instead, it focuses on a "one-world" mentality.

EPCOT is the most informational of the Disney parks. Perhaps that’s why it’s my favorite. Whether the subject is technology, nature, or culture, pretty much every exhibit has an educational aspect. This is a park which proves (for those who didn’t believe it) that learning can be fun.

DisneyQuest

This large building in Downtown Disney is billed as an interactive theme park. The name is pretty appropriate, as there are a number of rides and tons of activities. Beyond that, though, DisneyQuest promotes personal creativity more than any other attraction in Walt Disney World. From learning to draw like the pros to making your own toys to creating your own roller coaster, DisneyQuest lets one’s imagination run wild.

Yes, they do have rides at DQ, although few of them go anywhere far. In fact, I think I only rode one moving ride. That would be the Buzz Lightyear ride, in which two "players" team up. The ride is a cross between bumper cars and dodgeball. The two-person teams get into enclosed bumper car-like vehicles. The cars have large scoops in the front, and on the floor are a number of Nerf balls. One player drives the car and tries to drive over the balls. The other player picks the balls up and then loads them into an air cannon and fires them at the other cars. A hit sends the victim spinning out of control.

The best ride, though, can be as intense or as tame as the riders want. It is called CyberSpace Mountain. Here people design their own roller coasters and then get to try it out in a simulator! Bill Nye "The Science Guy" guides riders as they build their rides. You get only so much track to work with, but you can do whatever options they offer you in creating your ride. If you want to go loop-after-loop-after-loop, well, go ahead! We almost did that. If you want a ride kids will enjoy, you can make it like a child’s coaster. After you design the ride, you name it and go try it out in a simulator, which turns every possible direction. The only thing missing is the momentum of being launched.

Another favorite is the Pirates of the Caribbean ride here. Unlike the famed original, this attraction makes you the pirate. Four players get on a "boat," which I don’t believe moves at all. The deck of this boat is lined with cannons, and while one player steers the boat through virtual waters, the other players run around the boat firing the cannons at the other ships on the water. It’s a good workout, and in the end, even the pilot gets to fire the guns.

Many of the rides are built on teamwork. There is the Virtual Jungle Cruise, during which all the players paddle their raft as if it were really on the water. I found the paddles to be somewhat unresponsive, although I enjoyed the fact that they found a way to get players wet when they go over rapids. Another ride has three gunners and a driver like Pirates, but instead it is a mission to save refugees from invading aliens.

My time at DQ was short, so I opted to try the active attractions over the more creative ones. Still, I had a chance to see some of these from a distance. In one area, a Disney cast member teaches visitors sitting at virtual easels the finer details of drawing Disney style. Another section allows people to create their own Disney dioramas, kind of like a virtual version of the old Presto-Magic kits.

However, what really excited me about this place was the video games. Cheesy I know, but I’m a child of the '80s. I played the classics way too much as a kid. DQ has the best selection of old arcade games you’ll probably find these days. And they are free to play! Well, excluding the DQ admission fee. Games such as Battlezone, Phoenix, Mr. Do, Bezerk, the original Star Wars... even a few pinball games. They are all here, even games I’ve only played once or twice. I was in heaven, reliving my youth and remembering a time when I was still good in the arcades.

As much fun as I had at DQ, I still would only recommend it for a rainy day. Personally, part of the attraction of Disney World is being outdoors and enjoying the weather. You don’t get that at DQ. DQ opens later than the parks but also stays open into the night. Therefore, for a rainy day or for a day when you finish off one of the parks early, I say this is a great place to spend your time. I thought the price is pretty reasonable and can also be one of your extras if you have a ParkHopper pass.