Disney World Trips

We have quite a bit of experience going to Disney World and Universal Studies in Orlando, Florida. This section is intended to provide some historical perspective on our experiences and we also hope it will help others in planning their trips. To date we've been to Disney World 13 times, with Mark having been there an additional 2 times. We've experienced Disney with our kids, with our extended family of 24 people, and as a romantic getaway with just Mark and Jeanne.

We've stayed at several of the resorts, have rented a townhouse, a full-sized house, and condos. We've never had a bad experience. On these pages we've documented some details from our trips; the places we've stayed and what we liked, where we ate, and what we discovered that was special on each trip. Not only should this help others who are planning a trip, but it helps us to remember the great times.

Trip History

This is brief summary of our trips, where we stayed, who went and one or two of the memories that made the trip stand out. If you click on the year of each trip, you get a more detailed description of the trip - at least based on our memories so far. We've found that as we talk about these trips more and more of the details emerge and we then write them down. Its amazing how a little time can clarify the events that were memorable.

This following is not arranged consistently. If I have robust content and lots of time I created a separate page for the visit. For visits where I have less content or less time there is probably just a brief description below.

Year	Special Happenings Summary	Where we stayed	Who went
2011 Disney Trip	We spend a full week doing SeaWorld, Universal Studios, Islands of Adventure and the four DisneyWorld Parks	Animal Kingdom Lodge	Mark, Jeanne, Kelsey, Ty, Matt, Stacy, Xander
2011 Disney Cruise Highlights	Our first Disney Cruise!!! Dave, Bev, Martha, Margrette and Clara Phillips join us for the entire vacation.	Disney Dream Cruise Ship and Port Orleans Riversides	Mark, Jeanne, Ty
2010 Highlights	Ty was sick and it poured rain for two days. Out of our five-day visit we only had two decent days. Not exactly our best trip. Beverly Phillips, Martha and Margrette join us for the first two days.	Carribean Beach	Mark, Jeanne, Kelsey, Greg, Ty
2008 Highlights	Our flights get cancelled and we need to quickly make other arrangements. We have a great time with the families of a number of Jeanne's brothers and sisters	Port Orleans Riverside	The entire family
2007 Highlights	We try taking the Travel Agency approach from Boscov's. One important benefit is the direct flight from Avoca to Orlando - no layovers!!!	Wilderness Lodge	Mark, Jeanne, Greg & Ty
2007 May	Mark goes solo as part of a business trip. Its no fun this way	Carribean Beach	Mark
2006	One of the best ever. Matt & Stacy join us and we get a chance to spend a day with Frank, Nancy, Elizabeth, and Brian Melliand.	Wyndham Palms Resort	Mark, Jeanne, Kelsey, Greg, Ty, Matt, & Stacy
2004	We have a great time with Dave, Beverly, Martha, Margaret, Diane, Riki, Ali and Ericka. Ty gets sick towards the end of the vacation (we suspect the water in the kids play area at Universal) and ends up in the hospital.	Animal Kingdom Lodge and Wyndham Palms Resort	Mark, Jeanne, Kelsey, Greg & Ty
2002	We discover that Animal Kingdom is more fun than the first two times. We have a great time with Dave, Beverly and Martha. We also learn that there's no place like the Disney resorts - and we move spontaneously in mid-vacation	Homewood Suites and Port Orleans Riverside	Mark, Jeanne, Kelsey & Greg
2000	We discover Narcossi's. This is opening year for Islands of Adventure.	Coronado Springs	Mark & Jeanne
1998	We discover Steak & Shake. We get separated from kids at Typhoon Lagoon during a terrible hailstorm. Boy's discover turkey legs. This was opening year for Animal Kingdom.	Rented a house in Kissimmee	Mark, Jeanne, Brian, Eric, Kelsey, Greg & Ryan Corrigan
1996	We discover Rainforest Cafe and evening drinks by the lake.	Carribean Beach	Mark & Jeanne
1995	Matt breaks leg week before we leave - we get to enter many attractions via disabled entrance. This is the first time we visit Universal Studios	WestGate Villas	Mark, Jeanne, Matt, Scott, Brian, Eric, Kelsey & Greg
1989	First plane trip for everyone except Mark. Jeanne is pregnant and visits every restroom in park. This was opening week for MGM Studios	FantasyWorld Villas	Mark, Jeanne, Matt, Scott, Brian & Eric

Highlights

2007 - May

Who went: Mark
Month of Trip: May
Where we stayed: Caribbean Beach
Where we ate: California Grill at the Contemporary Resort

Mark went by himself as part of a business trip. This is a terrible way to go. How the heck can you justify going on Rockin-Rollercoaster by yourself when your over 50 years old? Anyway, there were a couple really special opportunities from this

IBM invited a few of us to dinner at the California Grill at the top of the Contemporary resort. The food was outstanding! We had a private room, and endured the normal sales pitches that we normally get from vendors. Then, they brought our a person employed by the Disney Institute to talk to us about customer service. What an incredible presentation i`n true special Disney style. Below are some of the tidbits from that hour-long presentation.
Following the IBM dinner, they took us out on the roof of the Contemporary to see the fireworks from the Magic Kingdom. The music/audio was piped in and perfectly timed with the fireworks.
Cognizant took a number of us by bus to a tremendous Italian restaurant near Universal Studios. I thought it would be easy to do an internet search to get the name of this restaurant. Italian, great food, roaming accordion player - there must be a dozen of them. I'll keep searching since I'd love to visit them again.

2006

Who went: Mark, Jeanne, Kelsey, Greg, Ty, Matt & Stacy
Month of Trip: April
Where we stayed: Wyndham Palms

One of the delights from our 2006 was going to the Teppanyaki Restaurant in EPCOT-Japan. The chef "Ken" was an absolute delight. He challenged Matt to a dual for his scallops and kept grabbing them before Matt could get them. He pretended to sprinkle Kelsey with pepper, and called her a spice girl. He had this big belt buckle with his name on it. We had one of the best times ever; laughing and having a raucous time. None of the tables around us were were having as much fun as we were having. And the food was outstanding!

While the older kids were riding Mission Space in EPCOT, Ty was playing in one of those gerbil-like playgrounds. Well, he got stuck and Jeanne thought she'd have to climb in after him. Fortunately we got off the ride just in time, and Greg was able to rescue Ty.
While at Universal Islands Of Adventure, Matt took great pleasure is soaking guests riding on the water flume. People thought their wet ride was over, and Matt spent about $20 shooting them with water jets.
We met up with the Melliands at Magic Kingdom and had a fabulous time together!

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2004

Who went: Mark, Jeanne, Kelsey, Greg, Ty; Dave & Beverly Phillips, Martha, Di & Rikki Young, Ali & Erica
Month of Trip: April
Where we stayed: Animal Kingdom and Wyndham Palms

Ty gets very, very sick after a visit to the kids water park in Universal Studios. Mom spends the entire night in the hospital with him trying to get him rehydrated. We leave the next day, and he's sick all the way home.

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2002

Who went: Mark, Jeanne, Kelsey, Greg
Month of Trip: April
Where we stayed: Homewood Suites and Port Orleans Riverside

We spend much of the week with Dave & Beverly Phillips and Martha, and have a wonderful time.

We initially stay at a Homewood Suites just outside the park. Its very nice with suite-type rooms, but it doesn't "feel" right. Mid-week we spontaneously decide to check out and we move into the Disney World Port Orleans Riverside resort. What a difference - now we have the "feeling".

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2000

Who went: Mark & Jeanne
Month of Trip: April
Where we stayed: Coronodo Springs
Where we ate: Narcossi's at the Grand Floridian

We were walking through the Comic Book Heroes section of Islands Of Adventure. It was later in the day near closing time, and they had a number of table set up in the center of the street in preparation for a private party to be held after closing. Suddenly a tremendous wind stirred up. One of the big red table cloths flew off the one table and surrounded Mark. It looked like a giant super-hero cape. Because of the wind, it was very difficult to remove.

We met Tom and Beth Collins for dinner at the Ohana Buffet at the Polynesian Resort.
Jeanne and I had just purchased a new dining room set, and the hutch needed some decorating. We had a terrific time browsing through all the shops in DisneyWorld, especially through the countries at EPCOT, and we bought many things for display in the hutch.

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1998

Who went: Mark, Jeanne, Brian, Eric, Kelsey, Greg and Ryan Corrigan
Month of Trip: April
Where we stayed: Rented a House in Kissimmee
Where we ate: Steak N' Shake, Fort Wilderness HoopDeeDoo Review,

We have a number of great memories from our 1998 adventure. The boys got Turkey Legs and squatted on this rock looking every bit the cavemen. (Unfortunately the rock is no longer there). Other memories:

Life Changing Moment: The seven of us went to Typhoon Lagoon for a day of fun with the water slides and wave pool. Later in the afternoon, we were floating around the lazy river as a family. Greg would have just turned seven, and the oldest, Brian, would have been 18. Mom and dad started to drift to the back of the pack and before long we couldn't see the kids in front of us.

Suddenly a violent storm hit the park. The staff demanded that we immediately exit the lazy river, and it was obvious that the kids were farther ahead exiting at another spot. We became concerned - what if they began to panic?

Jeanne started back for our base location - where we had left the towels, while Mark went forward to the next exit. No kids. Mark kept running (hard to believe) around the park following the lazy river thinking that perhaps they were even farther ahead than we realized. The storm worsened, and now big chunks of hail started to fall. None of us had realized before how much hail hurts when it hits you. All I could think of was that by now the kids were in complete panic. What if Brian had become separated from Greg. What if Greg was all alone?

I started searching each of the enclosures around the park. Still no kids. I made my way back to our base location hoping that Jeanne had been more successful, but still no kids. I've never been so scared.

We grabbed our stuff and headed for the lockers, and there they were - safe under the protection of a store awning.

From that experience, each of the kids has used this story as a backdrop for a change in their perspective. It may not seem like much, but it truly improved our overall sense of family, our perspective on safety and our caring for others. The kids have all written papers (for the past 10 years) for school describing the event, and Mark used this during his Dale Carnegie training.
We rent a full house in Kissimmee with a pool inside the screened porch. The pull out couch sits broken in the garage, so Eric sleeps on the hard floor.
We are on our way to dinner at the Steak 'n Shake. Ryan is adamant that we need to turn left, but he's wrong and we spend the rest of the week (and beyond) reminding him that he isn't perfect.
Greg is so excited about jumping into the pool, he runs right into the closed sliding-glass door.
Jeanne and the boys spend every night playing pinochle while Mark works on his school work.

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1996

Who went: Mark and Jeanne
Month of Trip: April
Where we stayed: Caribbean Beach
Where we ate: Morocco, China, and Norway at EPCOT

We planned this as a romantic getaway at the end of Mark's MetExpress involvement. Mark had been travelling on business for almost two years, with the second year being primarily in Chicago, and a trip together was exactly the right reward for this sacrifice.

Jeanne Books a Trip By Herself At one point Jeanne decided to change the flights to get a better departure time. On the way back from Chicago, Mark just happened to ask the airline ticket agent about the upcoming trip, and it was discovered that Jeanne had only changed her flight, and not Mark's. There weren't enough seats for Mark, and he had to fly standby. This end up working out, but we've always joked that Jeanne really preferred to go on the romantic getaway without Mark.

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1995

Who went: Mark, Jeanne, Matt, Scott, Brian, Eric, Kelsey, and Greg
Month of Trip: April
Where we stayed: WestGate Villas
Where we ate:

Matt Breaks His Leg Matt breaks his leg just prior to the trip while doing a team building activity at Boy Scout Camp. We tried crutches and a wheelchair, but in the end he was able to walk fine without the additional help. He had a difficult time getting into many of the rides, but we often got into the handicapped access line to give us more time.

We meet Alex from Germany Over the course of the week, we end up in line with the guy in this picture. It almost feels like he is following us from park to park. We run into him in several different parks on different days, but we don't introduce ourselves until the last day. As we are leaving the park early, he climbs into the tram right behind us. How weird is that. We introduce ourselves and get this picture. He's a student from Germany visiting by himself. As we walk to our car - he's parked next to us! Weird.

Dad Gets Mad Dad gets really frustrated when everyone wants to go back to the condo to rest instead of continuing to wait in the long lines and heat. He takes the family to the condo, and Eric and Dad explore MGM on their own.
Greg Falls Asleep Greg falls asleep on the Ghostbusters ride in Universal and Dad has to carry him for hours.
Mom finished with chemo Mom had just finished chemo - this was a real special trip for the entire family.