I had the opportunity to go to Orlando and then stay a couple extra days at Walt Disney World. I was there for just over 4 days (part of Thursday, all Friday, Sat, Sun, and part of Monday). I stayed at the All Star Sports Resort and bought an Annual Pass because of these five days and a return trip planned for later this year. My last trip to the WDW was in December of 2000.

The 100 Year Celebration: I really enjoyed this and liked how it was woven into all the parks and a lot of the shows. For example at every park there was a set of interactive Kiosks you could visit to learn about Walt and his connection to that park. Another example is before many of the shows and all the parades an announcer would come on and have a quote from Walt and how it relates to that experience. For example before the Flights of Wonder show started there was a quote from Walt about how people should see animals in their natural environment or something like that and then the announcer would go on and explain how the show relates. I was a little dissappointed in the pins. They are all starting to look the same after awhile. The detail just is not there in my eyes anymore on many of them. Plus they are getting expensive and the market seemed flooded with them. Pin trading still seems to be going strong though. Another change for the 100th is now each cast member has their "magical moment" on their nametag instead of where they are from. I thought the hometown was a better conversation starter and much more interesting than the magical moment. I talked with several people (CMs and guests) and most agreed and hoped they would change back after the celebration.

Crowds/Weather: I was surprised a little by the weather. It was in the mid 90s and humid during the day with a breeze starting up in the evening. It rained for a total of like 5 minutes the entire week I was in Florida. The crowds were healthly, but not overly large. The busiest park was the Magic Kingdom and I went on a Saturday which had extended hours, so it was very crowded, but by using time wisely and FastPass I still managed to get on everything I wanted with time to spare. It also seemed to be a different sort of crowd. They did not appear to be spending as much money as others I have seen. I saw more "boxed" lunches than I have in a long time. The lunch crowds in the better dining places was almost empty. Dinners had more people, but you could still get reservations pretty much any time you wanted for most places.

Park Hours: Everything seemed to be running on reduced hours. For example the first few days I was there Future world did not open till 10am - 7pm and Worldshowcase till 11am -9pm (with a couple exceptions, namely Test Track). AK was open 8am to 5pm only a couple days. The MK only had Spectro Magic and Fireworks Saturday night. The secondary attractions also had reduced hours. For example Disney Quest closed at 11pm which I thought was way too early. If you stayed till park closing to watch Fantasmic or Illuminations the earliest you could get over to DisneyQuest (first stopping at Resort to change) was 10:30ish.

All Star Sports: It had been about 6 years since I last stayed there. The resort seems to be aging ok. The room was in great shape and I had a good location (only a short walk to the bus stop). One thing that I did not realize was how much Disney charges for phone calls, even 800 numbers. I wanted to use a calling card and there would have been a 75 cent charge from my room. So it was off to find a payphone, and of course the only phones I found were in the main building and there were several other people with the same idea.

Other Disney Resort: I went to a couple other resorts to see what was new.

Animal Kingdom Lodge: This is Disney's newest resort and it looks incredible. I cannot wait to stay there later this year. The detail in the lobby exceeded my expectations. The Savana was a little bit of a disappointment to me. I had expected Disney to do a better job of "hiding" the boundries. Instead the back fence is in clear view and the "retainers" for the animals are extremely obvious. I will have more to say after staying there....

New Pools: The Grand Floridian and Polynesian both got new pools since my last visit. The Polynesian's volocano pool looks great. It really fits in and is a great addition to the Poly skyline. (Check out the photo's in the Day 2 Update). The Grand Floridian has a rock formation for its pool. It looks ok, but with the GF I was expecting more. Also the location seems ackward to me. It is on the South beach between the GF and the wedding area. The pool was is done really nicely, but just does not fit with my idea of the GF.

Pop Century: I drove by this resort twice, no good pictures though. The first thing that struck me was how close to the main roads it is. You can clearly see it while driving around. This wouldn't be bad, except that it is not an architectural marvel. It is basically the same idea as the All Star Resorts but with a theme for each decade. I wish they would have built a larger berm or it further from the road.

Transportation: Some people complain about the Disney transportation system. I have to say I have never really had a problem with it. Yes sometimes if you miss a bus it takes 15 or 20 minutes longer to get somewhere, but on the whole I rarely had to wait more than 5 minutes for a bus and they dropped me off right where I wanted to be.

The Parks:

Magic Kingdom: The Aladdin ride actually fits into Adventureland better than I thought. They are still working on completing it, the shade for the queue is not done. The new Emporium on Main Street did not impress me much. The building itself is great looking, but the merchandise selection is the same as always. I really hate what they did to the Main Street Cinema, making it into a store. I do like the theme of the store though, it has merchandise from all the other Disney parks. Even a sweatshirt for Hong Kong Disneyland. Also new was the George Bush addition to the Hall of Presidents. I thought it was done very well, and the crowd was the most supportive I have ever seen at that show (and one of the largest too).

EPCOT: The Flower & Garden show is going on and this was my first time to see it. I thought it was impressive (too bad I am not into that sort of thing or else I would have enjoyed it a lot more, after a while one flower looks like the next to me). Mission Space is moving along nicely and looks impressive as you walk up to it. The Living Seas on the other hand has seen better days. I was really disappointed with how run down it looked and felt. It really needs a facelift. The Annual Passholder Lounge is located in the Land Pavilion above the Garden Grille. Its a great place to just get a way for a few minutes and catch your breath and enjoy something cold to drink. The first time I went up there I had the place to myself pretty much (except for one couple and Mickey Mouse stopped by). I made the mistake of stopping by mid afternoon on Sunday (mother's day) and the place was a zoo. Still nice, but really crowded. Also I enjoyed searching for and finding my Leave a Legacy tile, much more than I thought I would.

Disney MGM Studios: This park has really transformed over the past 10 years or so. The idea of a movie studio has pretty much gone out the window. I am extremely disappointed that it has. I really enjoyed learning about movies and movie making. Now the park is big on thrill rides and childrens shows. Even the Animation Tour now features alot more time with films and presnetation than watching the animators. This was the so called "hub" for the 100 Year Celebration. Yes the hat was there, but the One Man's Dream display seemed to be off by itself and not drawing large crowds. Which is too bad because its great. The hat icon blocking the theater kind of bugs me, completly covering the parks icon seems strange...

Animal Kingdom: Not much has changed with this park since my last visit. The new area in Dinoland was open, and boy how I hate it. I had all sorts of DCA flashbacks, but on a worse level. The tacky carnival games and rides just do nothing for me. I wish they could have figured something else out for the area. They did achieve the goal of having a cheap carnival that celebrates dinosaurs, so we have to give an "A" for theme, but the theme itself is annoying. I also went on Kali falls to try to compare to GRR and I have to say I enjoy GRR much more (look for more in my comparison latter this month).

Other: I learned you could return National Rental cars to the Dolphin, and what an easy process it was. I had a car from the first part of the week, drove to WDW, checked in the All Star, then drove over to the Dolphin and turned in the car and then it was off to EPCOT. The whole process took like 5 minutes. It was great.

Going by yourself: I went to WDW by myself this time, first time. I met some friends the first two days for meals and the afternoon. The other days I was on my own. It was a completely different experience than going with a group. You could do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted. You would run into the most interesting people and talk to them. It was great.

Conclusions: As always WDW was great and I wish I could have spent more time there. I was surprised with how much ground I covered in 4+ days and the number of attractions I got on.

Well I guess that is it for now.... thanks for reading.

the disneygeek@disneygeek.com