Epilogue

With needing to visit Kathy's family in Hawaii this summer, a vacation to Walt Disney World seemed like a faint dream at most. But somehow we managed to find the time and the money to make it happen. With us planning to buy a house this year and hoping to expand our family soon, we knew that if we didn't go this year, it would be many, many years before we'd have the chance to return. Happily, everything came together and we were able to enjoy a great fourth wedding anniversary at the place where we had honeymooned.

The best part about the trip was spending it with Kathy. She and I could be in a 10'x10' room with nothing but white walls and still have a good time together. But let us go to Walt Disney World and it becomes a great time. She's the love of my life and my best friend and I'm so thankful that she wanted to share this experience with me.

I felt bad about getting sick and thought that I had ruined Kathy's vacation but she was a real trooper. Before we left, I really thought she'd be the one sleeping all day. But she always had energy to go out and about and the extra energy to take care of me. She was great the whole trip.

As with any planned event, there are bound to be surprises and deviations of plans. Presented below are some of the highlights and disappointments of our travels:

Thumbs Up

Wilderness Lodge wound up being the perfect choice of a resort hotel. Located close enough to the action, yet seemingly far enough removed from the chaos, we found the resort to be beautiful and homey all at once. Though we like the idea of staying at different resorts each time we can visit Walt Disney World, it will be hard for us to pass up a chance to stay at the Wilderness Lodge again.

The food at Walt Disney World was as good as we remembered it. Though the Disneyland Resort has improved its dining options with the additions of places to eat and renovation of some of its restaurants' offerings, Walt Disney World still has it beat. Artist Point served the best food I've ever had anywhere. Kathy loved her Cobb Salad and I loved my quesadilla at the Brown Derby. Fulton's Crab House and Big River Grille were good. The curry in Japan left me wanting more. We wound up eating a lot of quick meals at Roaring Fork, which had plenty of variety for a snack bar-like restaurant and was always good.

Besides eating, a favorite activity of ours is shopping and there was plenty of that to do at Walt Disney World. Kathy found lots of great scrapbooking supplies throughout Walt Disney World. We loved visiting the various shops at the different resort hotels, especially the Mercantile at Wilderness Lodge. Luckily, we don't buy nearly as much as we used to but it was a lot of fun to see what was available for sale.

Kathy loved our surrey bike ride between the Wilderness Lodge and the Fort Wilderness Campgrounds. It was probably the highlight of her trip. Little, unplanned adventures like this certainly improved our vacation. It is fun to plan what you want to accomplish but it is more fun to wander upon little things that you didn't think of.

Though we're not the biggest ride people anymore, it was great to be able to experience the various Walt Disney World attractions. It was cool to blast off with Mission: Space before it officially opened to the public. I was happy to finally visit with Figment in the newly reopened Journey Into Imagination. I enjoyed old favorites like Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin and the Carousel of Progress. And we were able to catch some of the attractions we missed on our last visit, like Splash Mountain and El Rio del Tiempo. It was busy but we never waited too long for our rides or we utilized FastPass to minimize our time in line.

Disappointments

Getting sick had to have been the biggest bummer of our trip. It took me by surprise and I didn't have many options to battle it when it hit me. Despite the slowdown it caused and the adjustments we had to make to our schedule, we were still able to accomplish most of what we set out to do and still had a pretty good time. I can tell how sick I must have been by reviewing the amount of pictures I snapped before I took ill and after.

The next time we go to Walt Disney World, I'm renting a car. For just a little bit more than we paid Mears, we could have had the freedom to come and go as we pleased. After such a good experience with Mears our first trip, the second time was such a bad one. Walt Disney World transportation was mainly adequate -- we loved the boat ride to the Magic Kingdom -- but we would have still preferred to avoid the overcrowded buses of early entry and at closing times.

The Extra Magic Hour didn't live up to its name. I know that a lot of guests were unhappy when early entry was taken away but its re-introduction didn't do much for us. The (potential) extra hour that resort guests could have at the theme park of the day wasn't worth the extra crowds. If you've left enough time in your schedule, you'll be able to get everything in and you'll get to relax and sleep in a little bit longer in the morning.

A couple of things that couldn't be controlled but still took us by surprise based on our experiences in 1999 was the large crowds and the rainy weather. On our last trip to Walt Disney World, it never really felt that crowded and it only rained one day out of the weeklong trip. This vacation, it felt very crowded despite the claims that attendance is down at Walt Disney World. I don't know if the Fairy Tale Package helped to get people in or what but it definitely felt like more people than four years ago. And it rained every day, which wasn't as unexpected, but didn't leave me with as many opportunities as I would have liked for taking pictures with golden light and blue skies.

We had to curtail or abandon some of our plans, some of which were a little disappointing, mainly because of my illness or because of the weather. The biggest disappointment was that I didn't get to spend as much time in World Showcase at Epcot as I would have liked. The first couple of days there, I thought we'd have time to go back. But our final trip to Epcot included a rushed run-around of the World Showcase and the skipping of most of Japan, Morocco and France. Because I didn't have much of an appetite the second half of the week, we missed out on Ohanas and never made it back to Beaches and Cream to try a Kitchen Sink. Lack of energy prevented us from making it to all of the resort hotels like we had hoped and nixed our plans for doing an E-ride Night. And we never fit in time for miniature golf or touring around with Pal Mickey like we had hoped.

Overall

As good of a time as we felt we had at Walt Disney World while we were there, looking back on our trip makes it seem even more wonderful. We had planned this to be our last trip for up to 10 years but if there is any way possible, we'll be back before then. We didn't want our vacation to end and kept telling ourselves that we wanted to return as soon as we got home.

If you believe everything that you read about the demise and decay of the Walt Disney Company, you might be led to believe that Disney is slipping in terms of quality at its theme parks but there's still plenty of magic to be found at Walt Disney World. The cast members were all friendly. The place was clean. It was everything that we would hope to have in a Disney vacation. The fact that we wanted to start planning our next vacation as soon as we got home is a clear indication that we had the best time.

We realize how lucky we are to be able to take a Walt Disney World vacation. I hope that we never take for granted our ability to get on a plane, fly 3,000 miles from home, stay in a great hotel, eat well and enjoy our time together. It is a luxury that not everyone can experience and we feel we are so lucky to have had the chance to do it.

A trip to Walt Disney World was a great way for Kathy and me to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary. It's always fun to take a Disney vacation with the ones you love. We'll enjoy all of the happy memories we made for ourselves this trip and when the time is right, we'll start planning for a whole new set of memories on our next visit.

- Story and Photos Matthew Walker
Posted

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