Bornieo goes to Disney World - The Official Trip Report

[Bornieo: Fully Loaded]

Walt Disney World Impressions

I’m trying to pinpoint exactly what my experience of my first trip to Walt Disney World is - and in beginning this report, I am truly unsure what that is exactly. For the last 30 years I’ve been told about WDW, seen thousands of pictures, heard stories, seen video and watched all the specials that have been on tv. Yet nothing could prepare me for what I experienced over the 10 days in Florida. Nothing was what I felt I knew it would be. I guess there was no real way of explaining it - one had to experience it.

So, here’s just a small bit of what happened.

Day One:
After spending the day at Disneyland, I flew out of LAX on the 9:20pm plane to Orlando. This was officially the 2nd time I’ve flown in my life and I spent the next 5 hours trying to sleep. I was stuck in the middle of a three seat row with little ability to move - which sucked. The movie for the flight was "Evan Almighty" which wasn’t any better without sound.
I arrived at Orlando International Airport at 5:30am, their time, and proceeded to the Magic Express area where I would be taken to the resort. Unfortunately my bags were miss marked because since I had added days to the trip, the new tags to the All Star Resorts had not arrived in time. But I was told to let the people know and they would see it changed. Mistake #1

It was a nice ride to the resort, but it was dark out and the bus was a "Everest" clad bus so it was hard to see out. I did see the lighted up "Welcome" sign and I knew I was home.




Nice Maracas!

I stayed at the All Star Sport for the first few days. My building was by a big football and helmet. I was pleasantly surprised to find my room available at 8am when I checked it and before I knew it I was settling in for a short nap. Then after a couple hours of sleep, I took a walk around the resorts and had some lunch in the cafeteria type place they had. I was waiting for my bags which had failed to show up. I called and they had ended up a the other hotel. So I waited patiently - so I could get cleaned up for the afternoon at Magic Kingdom and dinner at the Hoop Dee Do Revue at Fort Wilderness.




But the bags still did not show as of 2pm, so I headed out to the Magic Kingdom.

Very cinematically, I arrived by bus and walked thru the gates to Main Street. It seemed so familiar with the music, but it wasn’t my Main Street but some dream like/ bizzaro version. It was just beautiful. The biggest chore was, of course, figuring out what would be my first ride. I went with a classic from my youth - the Country Bear Jamboree. Thank god it was the original show and it was just like being in an old bed from my childhood - I knew all the words and knew the show like my own reflection. It was a joy but so very sad to see it in the delapidate state it was in. It wasn’t as bad as I expected but during the finale the music wasn’t coming thru, for whatever reason.

I only had a few hours to spend, so I ogled the castle - rode Space Mtn, the Tomorrowland Transit, sat thru Carousel of Progress, Mickey’s Philharmagic and Hall of the Presidents. I caught a small part of Dream Along with Mickey - the show where the mouth and eyes move. It was very cool to see in person and really placed the character’s by having the movement.



I had reservations at Fort Wilderness for the Hoop-Dee Doo Revue dinner show, so I took a boat over. It was a nice ride where you can see the Contemporary Resort and all the DVC construction going on. The show itself was a corny Revue show with singing, dancing and comedy. The food was surprisingly very good with buckets of Fried Chicken, mash Potatoes, BBQ Ribs, Baked Beans, giant slab of Corn Bread, Salad and an awesome Strawberry Shortcake for desert. It was a good show, but extremely corny - one of the cast really looked like DLRP_Bopazot’s double.

After the 2 hour show/ dinner I made my way back to MK which was in full swing with the Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party. The fireworks had just began as I rode the bus back to my hotel to meet up with DLRP_Bopazot and hopefully my luggage. Lucky both were there and me and Louis headed to Downtown Disney for a look-about. The DTD area is much broader that ours and was pretty cool. After touring the area I headed out - I was in need of some sleep having stayed up during the flight and only having a short nap earlier.

DAY TWO!-
Today was Universal Orlando - I met up with Louis, and later Figment1986 - for both parks and the Halloween Horror Night. The parks are really well done - especially Island of Adventure. The themeing rivals a lot of what Disney has and the details are just amazing. The Spider-man ride is just a marvel (No pun intended) and the Men IN Black ride puts Buzz to shame.

The whole Lost Continent area is probably the best themeing ever in a park and the Poseidon show, though lacking in any substance is just amazing to look at. At the Studio Park, Jaws was a lot of fun and a nice change from the tour we have here in LA. The worst ride I have ever been on was the Jimmy Neutron simulator ride which is nothing but a paint shaker made up to look like a space ship. You are thrown in all directions and reminded me of a quarter ride you’d find outside of Thrifty’s but stationed somewhere in Hell. There was nothing redeemable about that ride.

The Horror Night was a huge disappointment also. The place was jammed packed with drunk guests and very very long lines. Most of the mazes were 120 minutes and didn’t let up at all. There were Jello-Shot girls every 5 feet and trash everywhere. The mazes were good if you could get into them and the scare zones were as vacant as DCA on a Tuesday. It was way far below what I had expected and had been told about. The only highlight was the ride on E.T. who didn’t speak my name, damnit!! And the Bill and Ted stage show, which was a scream. The youtube is making the rounds.

It was a late night and I didn’t get back until almost 3am, since the Mears transportation I was using stranded me there. After repeated calls they sent a Taxi. That was the worst transportation issue I had thankfully.
More to come...

[keith - SuPeR K!]

I'm glad you got to experience Spiderman! Nothing compares to the awesomeness of that attraction...

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by Bornieo: Fully Loaded

Very cinematically, I arrived by bus and walked thru the gates to Main Street. It seemed so familiar with the music, but it wasn’t my Main Street but some dream like/ bizzaro version.

This was exactly how I felt at DL Paris - bizarro world Disneyland, especially Main Street.

Glad to hear you're having fun (and your bags showed up, too!)

[Snowflake]

Great Borneo! More when you get a chance and keep having a wonderful time!

Glad the baggage showed up!

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Bornieo: Fully Loaded

Very cinematically, I arrived by bus and walked thru the gates to Main Street. It seemed so familiar with the music, but it wasn’t my Main Street but some dream like/ bizzaro version. It was just beautiful.

That is exactly how I felt when we went in June. It's the same. But completely different.

Looking forward to the rest of your report

[Gemini Cricket]

How exciting!

[figment1986]

Originally Posted by Bornieo: Fully Loaded

DAY TWO!-
Today was Universal Orlando - I met up with Louis, and later Figment1986 - for both parks and the Halloween Horror Night. The parks are really well done - especially Island of Adventure. The themeing rivals a lot of what Disney has and the details are just amazing. The Spider-man ride is just a marvel (No pun intended) and the Men IN Black ride puts Buzz to shame.

The whole Lost Continent area is probably the best themeing ever in a park and the Poseidon show, though lacking in any substance is just amazing to look at. At the Studio Park, Jaws was a lot of fun and a nice change from the tour we have here in LA. The worst ride I have ever been on was the Jimmy Neutron simulator ride which is nothing but a paint shaker made up to look like a space ship. You are thrown in all directions and reminded me of a quarter ride you’d find outside of Thrifty’s but stationed somewhere in Hell. There was nothing redeemable about that ride.

The Horror Night was a huge disappointment also. The place was jammed packed with drunk guests and very very long lines. Most of the mazes were 120 minutes and didn’t let up at all. There were Jello-Shot girls every 5 feet and trash everywhere. The mazes were good if you could get into them and the scare zones were as vacant as DCA on a Tuesday. It was way far below what I had expected and had been told about. The only highlight was the ride on E.T. who didn’t speak my name, damnit!! And the Bill and Ted stage show, which was a scream. The youtube is making the rounds.

It was a late night and I didn’t get back until almost 3am, since the Mears transportation I was using stranded me there. After repeated calls they sent a Taxi. That was the worst transportation issue I had thankfully.
More to come...

ET said my fax name... though you didn't give the card till you got in... maybe the "bikes" behind us said it...

if you were stranded you could have called bopazot as soon as the bus wasn't showing up...

[Prudence]

More More More!

[Gemini Cricket]

I can't wait to read the Unofficial Trip Report. I hear that version contains details about Bornieo's adventures with Ariel. I hear body shots were done.
Signed,
Perez Cricket

[katiesue]

I'm with Perez, let's hear the good stuff