It's Here! It's finally Here! Mickey 626's WDW 2K7 Trip Report! (Part 1 of 6)

**Mickey626** · 06-14-2007, 04:05 PM

Hey there fellow Disney geeks! Sorry for the incredibly long wait (over a month now!) I have been very busy and havn't had a whole lot of time to write my report. But now it is finally done and here in all its glory, complete with numerous pictures! So without further ado, I present to you...
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Mickey 626's 6th Trip to Walt Disney World 2007 Trip Report (56k Warning!)

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CAST OF CHARACTERS:
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STARRING:
Dylan Weidner (a.k.a Mickey626/ ME!)

Age: 16 years young

:
Bio: I'm eating a Mickey Rice Krispie Treat right now. What does that tell you?

Full time Disney Fanatic! I've been to Disney 6 times! Yippee! I also suffer from Chronic Kidney Failure, so I have to be on hemodialysis, which I got at the lovely Central Florida Kidney Center in Orlando on Wednesday the 9th and Friday the 11th.

SUPPORTING CHARACTERS:
Kim and Joe Weidner (a.k.a. Mom and Dad/The Parents)

Ages: Old enough to be my parents

(Like I’m going to tell you!)
Bios: Mom: Not a full time Disney fanatic, but loves to go to Disney World though any chance she gets! She also enjoys just about any Disney/Pixar movie. Dad: Not openly enthusiastic about the World, but deep down inside he loves it. He just doesn't have enough time for it!

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SPECS:
Resort: Disney's Beach Club Resort and Villas
Length of Stay: May 7th-13th, 2007
Departing from: Philadelphia International Airport
Arriving at: Orlando MCO Airport
Parks Visited: All four! (Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Disney-MGM Studios, Animal Kingdom) + Downtown Disney Marketplace and West Side
Special Events: Cirque Du Soleil: La Nouba + Hoop De Doo Musical Revue
Restaurants Eaten At: Flying Fish Cafe, Le Chefs de France, Artist's Point, Jiko: The Cooking Place, House of Blues, Spoodles, Cape May Cafe, Yacht Club Galley
SOUVONEARS BOUGHT:
Pirate Mickey Ears hat
Pirate Autograph book
Official Walt Disney World 2 disk Album CD
Magic Kingdom DVD
8 pins (Soarin’, Space Mountain, EIF&GF, HOB, Cirque Du Soleil, Hoop De Doo, WDW 2K7, POTC)
Various candy (from Norway and Japan)
POTC 3 t-shirt
WDW 2007 t-shirt

TRIP REPORT:

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DAY 1: MONDAY, MAY 7TH, 2007 [Arrival]

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DEPARTURE:

Woke up at 5:30am SHARP to the sound of the Mickey Mouse Club March coming from my alarming Magical Countdown Clock on our computer. Got dialysis at A.I. Dupont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE and arrived at Philadelphia International Airport at around 12:00pm for a 1:45 flight. Flight was largely uneventful, but entirely magical, heightened by the listening of "Wheel of Fortune" from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest during take-off. Arrived in sunny Orlando, Florida at around 4:30pm. Upon arriving in Orlando we took a shuttle from the airport to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car where we picked up our Nissan (I forget the model...) From there we drove to Disney's Beach Club Resort...where the magic REALLY begins!

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CHECK-IN:

Upon entering we immediately fell in love with the turn-of-the-century charm and grace that is Disney's Beach Club Resort. From the mild pastel colors to the clapboard sidings to the seashell accents it was truly magical. Cast Member Michelle checked us in promptly. I received a complimentary issue of Disney Adventures magazine, a wonderfully magical moment to start our vacation.

ROOM:

After checking in we promptly went to unpack and investigate our room, Room #3553. We had a spectacular view of the quiet pool, with Disney's Boardwalk Inn and the Walt Disney World Swan in the distance. Unfortunately there were some trees blocking my view of the Boardwalk. But the room itself was very cozy and charming in its own right. I loved the Lifeguard Mickey lamp on the desk, as well as the day bed. We soon discovered the Hidden Mickeys in our bedspread and bathroom wallpaper, much to our delight.

RESORT GROUNDS:

After unpacking our luggage in our cozy little room we walked around the beautiful Beach Club Resort grounds. The beach has a great view of the Boardwalk, and Stormalong Bay (the pool) is absolutely HUGE! There's also the lighthouse out by the Yacht/Beach Club dock- great photo op!

DINNER + BOARDWALK

After checking out the grounds, we walked on over to Disney's Boardwalk Inn and Villas for a wonderful dinner at the Flying Fish Cafe. Our meal was excellent at the Flying Fish, a toss up for the best dinner we had during our trip, along with Artist's Point. I ordered the Peeky Toe Crab Cake with Ancho Chile Remolaude and Flying Fish Slaw. It was the best crab cake I have ever had! It was nice and crunchy on the outside buy nice and moist on the inside...and plenty spicy too, which I like! This is considering that we come from Maryland, which usually has the best crab cakes in the world.

Mom ordered the signature dish- the Potato Wrapped Red Snapper with Creamy Leek Fondue and Red Wine Reduction. Mom thought that the red wine reduction was superb. “It tasted like intense French onion soup,” was her praise. I tried some of the fish and I thought it wasn't terribly special, but it was pretty good. The potato wrapping seemed a bit papery to me. I honestly forget what Dad ordered for his entree, but I do remember that he ordered the Timbale of Hearts of Palm salad with Oven-Cured Tomatoes, Avocado, Frisee, and Balsamic Reduction.

We also ordered the Cheese Plate, which had some really good Sharp Cheddar cheese. Sadly we did not order dessert

We found that about half the people dining at the Flying Fish were actually observing the business casual dress code (this included us), while the rest were not. The place was really noisy and rather dark too. The decor on the other hand was very whimsical and charming, evoking the scene of an old-time carnival.

After dinner we walked around the Boardwalk and peeked inside the resort itself. There was also a magic show of some kind being performed on the Boardwalk, so we watched that a bit. We also stuck our heads inside the two nightclubs (Dueling Pianos and Jellyrolls), but we didn't actually go inside. After the Boardwalk we walked around the other half of the loop, past the Swan and Dolphin and Yacht Club to our room, and went to bed.
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DAY 2: TUESDAY, MAY 8TH, 2007: [EPCOT]

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That morning I woke up at 7:00am and walked to the Boardwalk Bakery on the Boardwalk, where I bought a Chocolate Chip Muffin, an Almond Bear Claw, and an Apple Turnover for the three of us for breakfast. All were very tasty. After walking back to the Beach Club and eating breakfast, we headed out for the day to our most favorite park of all...

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EPCOT:

We started off our magical day at Epcot with a leisurely stroll through the International Gateway and United Kingdom. Jolly old England was filled with beautiful flowers and topiaries of characters from the Hundred Acre Woods in celebration of the Epcot International Flower and Garden Festival.

FUTURE WORLD:

After walking past Canada we walked briskly to The Land to ride our favorite ride: Soarin' Over California! After a wait of only about 5 minutes (it was early entry day and the park was open at 8:00) we rode the magical ride. We then went on over to Test Track, which I rode for the FIRST TIME! Needless to say, I loved it. I actually was a little nervous about going on it because of the fast, banking turn, but it was actually really awesome. I’ll definitely go on it next time. The post-ride area was also pretty cool, with all the GM made cars.

After Test Track we went on over to ride Mission: Space…the less intense version, that is. I didn’t think I’d be able to handle the original one-especially after a couple people have died on the thing! Personally I thought this ride was a little on the boring side…you just tilted back and forth and pressed buttons. That’s it. I realize Soarin’ is essentially the same idea…I don’t know why I like Soarin’ more than Mission: Space…it’s just more magical I guess :p What was cool was that we each got FREE Year of a Million Dreams mouse ear hats from a Cast Member in line! Mom and Dad gave their hats to a couple of kids behind us that didn’t get any, but I just HAD to keep mine! I ended up buying a Pirate Mouse Ear hat later that day as well, which I wore most of the time

We then traversed from the western side of Future World all the way to the opposite side to The Seas with Nemo and Friends (it will always be The Living Seas to me, though.) here we waited a LONG, LONG time for the Finding Nemo, which sadly was not worth the long wait. It is geared towards much younger children. It’s basically just a movie that you ride through, with some fish at the end. Turtle Talk with Crush, on the other hand, even though we had to wait a while for it, was much better. Though it is still geared towards younger children, the technology behind it is cool (I wish I knew how they did it!). Too bad Crush didn’t talk to me…ah well. After Turtle Talk, we looked at the different exhibits about sea life. It was cool to “sea” the different types of fish represented by the characters in Finding Nemo (like clownfish).

By now the World Showcase was open, so we headed towards there. On the way we saw Stitch (my favorite character of all time!) standing just outside Character Connection, so we had to go say hi to him. We also went to Minnie’s Butterfly Garden near the (now defunct) Odyssey Center, which was very pretty. After this we headed to the

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WORLD SHOWCASE:
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First up was the Mexico pavilion. Here we rode the brand new Gran Fiesta Tour starring the Three Caballeros. I have to say it is a lot better than the old El Rio de Tempo. Rio de Tempo just seemed like one big travel advertisement for Mexico. This new ride actually has a plot (albeit a simple one) and it is just more, well, interesting. Very well done. After the ride I got my little thingy for my Kidcot…thingy. I don’t know the technical name for it. I guess you could call it a lanyard. I didn’t do the mask since I’ve done that so many times already. After Mexico was the Norway pavilion. Here we didn’t do much except I visited the Kidcot station (I did this with all the countries except Japan) and I also bought one of those Daim candy bars (chocolate-coated toffee) at The Puffins Roost. After Norway, we skipped over China (for the moment) and went on to Germany to eat lunch at the…
BIERGARTEN:
Lunch at the Biergarten was surprisingly good! The pork schnitzel (breaded pork cutlet) was especially good, as well as the roasted potatoes and the macaroni and cheese. For dessert the apricot & almond bars were good, as well as the mini vanilla pudding filled chocolate tarts. What was the best was the live Oompah band that performed. It was a rousing good time. Dad thought the beer was good too

Overall very good.

While Mom and Dad lingered over dessert at the Biergarten, I scurried over to China to get my Kidcot thing, and who should I find but Mushu! I decided to see him a little later, because I needed someone there to get my picture with him. So I went back to the Biergarten. On the way I stopped by a little craft kiosk and made a little caterpillar clothespin magnet craft. Then I went back to the Biergarten, got Mom and Dad, and went back to Mushu and got my picture with him and his autograph.

After looking around China a bit, we went back to the Beach Club via the International Gateway. There we swam a little in Stormalong Bay. I found the sandy-bottomed pool a little too shallow. Unfortunately, by the time I got out of the shallow pool to find a deeper pool to swim in, it had become rather overcast and windy, so I got too cold. I decided instead to go lay out in the occasional patches of sun and get warm. By the time I was warm and everything, we decided it was time we’d better head back to Epcot. That would be the first and only time I would swim in Stormalong Bay on the trip. Too bad considering we paid so much for the room. I have to say though; we did make good use of the quiet pool. It was right in front of our room and it lived up to its name by indeed being much quieter than the larger Stormalong Bay. The hot tub was nice too

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~~CONTINUED IN PART 2!~~