Disneyzone News - March 2001 Issue - TEXT VERSION This is the text-only version of the DZ News. This version will not include any photographs, special charts, calendars, or graphs. Please note that Disneyzone is not affiliated with Disney in any way. We are a group of Disney World enthusiasts who want to assist you in making the most of your next Disney World vacation Newsletter and content Copyright © 2000 & 2001 Disneyzone - Please do not alter or copy any or all of this material, or use it on a website, or printed media without prior written permission, from Disneyzone or from the individual article's author.. When, Where and Everything Else... The most commonly asked questions on the site are: When should we go? Where should we stay? What tickets should we buy? and Where should we eat? The first step would be to decide when you want to go to Disney World? Try to think of all the factors in making that decision. What type of weather do you enjoy? How large of crowds can you endure? Going mid-summer may be the easiest on your schedule, but it will be very hot and very crowded! Early January is not very crowded, but it can be cool and the parks are not open late. Fall is nice, weather is mild, crowds are not too bad, but if you have children in school you need to consider what affect taking them out of school will have. Spring is a great time, too. Nice weather, but a bit crowded. Spring break is extremely crowded! There are pros and cons to each month. Figure out when to go. Another hard question, where would you like to stay? On-site or off-site. This is purely a personal decision. That is a whole article in itself! Lets assume you want to stay on-site (for ease of access to the room/early entry privileges/e-ticket night availability).. There are many choices among the Disney properties. Value resorts start around $80 and the deluxe resorts go up to about $500 per night. You can see there is quite a range available. The site has some great descriptions of the different resorts. The basic differences are amenities, size of rooms and locations. The value resorts are the smallest rooms, with the most basic amenities/services. You will have bus service to all parks. The deluxe resorts have the best locations/largest rooms/most services and amenities. You will have variety of transportation choices. The moderate level resorts are in-between the value and deluxe, will also use busses for most transportation to the parks. After you have those 2 things figured out, you need to go ahead and make your reservations. That is a dilemma in itself for some. Travel agent or just call Disney themselves. It’s a coin toss—travel agents can save you lots of time and effort, but may not save you any money. Some travel agents are great and will research and get you the best deal, but others will sell stock packages where you pay for lots of things you will never use. If you don’t buy a package, you will need to consider which tickets you want to purchase. There is a page on the site dedicated to tickets! There are quite a few ticket choices to choose from! Where to eat? Good question! There are 100s of good choices! I suggest you read the Restaurant Reviews on the site to get an idea of what each restaurant has to offer! More confused? Visit the message boards to get your questions answered! The boards are visited by some Disney Experts! Go to www.disneyzone.net and click on FORUMS or SITE CONTENTS! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Disney vs. Universal By Gary M. Our yearly trip to Disney last summer was an experience to remember. We were down at Disney for almost 2 weeks. The first part of our vacation was "of course" at Walt Disney World. We were staying at the Disney's Boardwalk Hotel (We are Disney Vacation Club Members - I highly recommend checking into this if you frequent Disney). It was our first time at the Boardwalk and our expectations were well surpassed. The service, accommodations, activities...were beyond what we would have ever expected. We felt like we were in a magical heaven. The people at the hotel were curteous, helpful and caring. They were full of ideas for the kids and always smiled. Since we had been to Disney many times before we knew what to expect from the Boardwalk, but still it was magical. Well we had decided to "treat" the kids to a few nights at Universal Studios and what better way than to stay at Portofino Bay Hotel. We arrived at Portofino on Thursday and were to stay 2 nights. We had heard that if you stay at the hotel you would get front of the line access at the Universal parks. I will admit the hotel rooms were incredible. The bathroom was almost as big as the room. We were in one of the more expensive rooms over in the Villas. The cost was about $350.00 per night (yes very pricey). This is where our vacation took a nosedive. We arrived at the hotel (around 2:00pm) and we were able to check right into our room. Since we did not have lunch we decided to go to one of the many restaurants at the hotel. Well to our surprise we had a hard time finding anything open. Yes we were starving, but finally we found one of their counter service cafe's open. The menu was very limited and the prices were rediculous. My son ordered a ham and cheese sandwich which cost $9.00. There was no children's menu at all and most of the items were more "adult oriented". The only thing my children really even recognized on the menu was pizza. After spending $65.00 for a pizza, sandwich and drinks we decided to walk around to get aquainted. The hotel seemed deserted and none of the shops were open. We felt as though we were in the twilight zone. We did however find some noise at the large pool. The children's arcade was not open (big surprise) until 4:00pm. We had only been here 2 hours and so far we were disappointed. We decided to take a swim at our quiet pool. I will say the pool was beautiful. After spending the rest of the day at the pool we decided to go out for dinner. We went off property and had a great meal (needless to say it was cheaper than our lunch). We got a restful night and headed to the parks early to take advantage of the early in. OK I thought only the hotel guests were able to get into the Universal Parks early. If this was the case no one told the other 5,000 people at the gates. Once we passed the gates we proceeded to the rides. We decided to do Islands of Adventure first. To our surprise we had a hard time finding any of the rides open. Our trip to Universal was just getting worse. Another problem we continued to run into was that many of the rides did not even realize that we were supposed to be able to go to the front of the line because we were guests of the Portofino Bay hotel. Ok, so maybe they forgot to let the parks know this. Our day was long the rides were fun. Duelling Dragons was a blast, but all in all the parks DID NOT even compare to Disney. I will say if you are only in it for the thrills then you won't be disappointed, but if you are a family and have kids Disney wins hands down. Most of the rides were loud. The rides were poorly staffed with employees that were unable to answer simple questions like "where's the closest bathroom?" Another ride warned passengers that "you may get wet". Well here's a warning - "you will get soaked". After a very disappointing 2 days we couldn't go home ending our vacation this way so we decided to head back to Disney. We checked into Coronado Springs for one last night. We felt that we were back in heaven. Sorry Universal you don't even come close to Disney. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I need to go to Disney World because: Cailyn, 8 3/4 , it’s my favorite place to have fun Tony, 11, I didn’t ride the Rockin Roller Coaster last time so I need to go back. Tyler S., 6, I need a haircut! (Note: He has had his last 3 haircuts at WDW—Tyler says his dad needs a haircut, too) Rochelle, 6, I want to give Tigger a gigantic hug Rocky, 5 1/2, the video makes it look so fun and I want to eat at the place with the giant elephants. Bree, 9, I have to see Tigger again, ride Big Thunder Mt. Railroad again, Be a world explorer again, Be a Movie Star again, Have a really GREAT time with my family again, And I have to have fun again, and again, and AGAIN!!! Ryan, 11, I am so bored of school and I need a vacation and that’s the very best place to go on a vacation. Tori, 7, because Cinderella lives there. I love Cinderella. I want to eat at the castle and meet her. Drew, 12, I have to go to summer school and that’s a drag. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Grandma Jeannie will be back next month with her next series of articles! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Restaurant Review By Collins Family On our last day in the Magic Kingdom, we celebrated my daughter Mary's ninth birthday at Artiste Pointe in Wilderness Lodge. Pooh is her favorite Disney character, and this breakfast was wonderful. After packing and checking out of Dixie Landings on our last day of vacation, we headed over to the Wilderness Lodge for breakfast. Wilderness Lodge was decorated for Christmas and our three girls couldn't have been more amazed at the huge Christmas tree in the lobby. We were about fifteen minutes early for our reservation at Artiste Pointe and we were seated immediately. The dining room is beautiful in the morning. There are huge windows that make it very bright and cheery and the "Lodge-like" decorating is very charming. That morning, Pooh, Eeyore, and Tigger were entertaining everyone in the restaurant.We were served breakfast quickly at our table and it was hot and delicious (and quite filling!). We had blueberry and pumpkin breads to munch on with our juice and coffee before our breakfast came. We had a huge plateful of eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, and cheesy potatoes. My husband was able to fit in a second plateful of everything. We had unlimited orange juice which was terrific. The characters really spent a bit of time with each of the tables. All three characters visited our table twice. All the characters stopped by while we were eating, then came by to give our birthday girl an extra hug after the waitresses and Tigger sang. Tigger even fed my smiling wide-eyed two year old picky eater a spoonful of eggs and sausage. She ate it with the biggest smile on her face (she spit it out as soon as he left of course). Our birthday girl was given a birthday post card signed by the Pooh characters. Afterbreakfast, we walked around the pool area of Wilderness Lodge which was very beautiful. The girls had been looking for princess and Pooh penny press machines for the whole week and found both in the lobby. We had a very memorable, and very enjoyable breakfast at the Wilderness Lodge. It was also a terrific way to end our vacation on a Disney note when we didn't have time to go to the parks. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Kids’ Views By Alisi I am 4 and my mom is typing for me exactly what I say. I love to go to Daisy World because of all the flowers and birds and fun things there. I like to eat at Cinderellies Castle and I like to eat at the Palace Place with Pooh. I like the Pooh ride the best and I like to wear my mickey ears hat with my name on it. My daddy bought that for me. He is a good daddy. Does Pooh have a castle? No, he is not a princess, silly.. By Erick, 9 1/2 I made a name acrostic for the contest but my mom said I should send it as an article. Mother is a ape Out with the animals a lot Wild but human Gorilla’s friend Lives in the jungle I would like to be him ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Travel Polls There is a Poll on the DZ Resort Biographies Page on the site. In March it asked you how many days your next Disney World trip would be.. Here are the results : 1-2 days : 7% 3-5 days: 38% 6-7 days: 27% 8-9 days: 13% More than 10 days: 15% We’ll have a new Poll for April! The more people who participate, the more accurate the poll will be so visit the link below TODAY and submit your vote! www.disneyzone.net/resortbios.htm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fun Contests The contest currently running is a great one a Virtual Suggestion Box! Go to the contest page for more details! The prize is a Mickey and Friends Scrapbooking Kit from Hot of the Press. It’s a great kit & would be a wonderful prize to win! DZ Contest Page: www.disneyzone.net click on the NEW contest link to play! All prizes for the contests are donated. A sincere Thank You to the generous contest sponsors. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hey Kids Complete this sentence: I would love to be a Disney character because... Send your replies to us, and some of them will be included in the next, and future newsletters! Include first name and age! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Happy Birthday to: Nick, Bob, Susie and every other DZ’er that has a birthday in April! If you would like a birthday announced in the DZ News, send name, and birthday (and age if you want that in, too) to kimmi@disneyzone.net ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THANKS to all the Disneyzone visitors for their help with the newsletter and the site!!! Newsletter and content Copyright © 2000 & 2001 Disneyzone - Please do not alter or copy any or all of this material, or use it on a website, or printed media without prior written permission, from Disneyzone or from the individual article's author..