Walt Disney World

The World Showcase Dancers

28 August 2009 by Suzannah Otis Leave a Comment

Anyone remember the World Showcase Dancers? They were a favorite for my family, since my mom was a professional ballerina. I was very shy, but my mom pushed me up to dance with that guy when they came around looking for volunteers. All I remember is how sweaty he was. And those blue socks I’m wearing. And that I wish I could still get away with wearing matching short/tank top sets.

I have a couple of other pictures I’m saving for an upcoming blog entry on the World Showcase Dancers. Great memories.

Gearing Up for Some Dining with the Mouse

18 August 2009 by Suzannah Otis 5 Comments

Those of you following me on Twitter are aware that tomorrow we leave for 5 days in Disney World. It’s been a while since we stayed that long there, and I am SO looking forward to this getaway. We were there briefly in June visiting with friends from California but before that it was back in December, when the baby was only 10 weeks old and quite the handful. I’m pretty sure back then we had not yet upgraded our Seasonal Passes to Annual ones, so we were blacked out anyway, but just went to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party. Anyway, this will be crowded and hot, but fun.

I’ve mentioned before how my mother is our Cruise Director for trip planning. She sets up all the Advanced Dining Reservations and all that good stuff. I’m excited because we are straying from our usual Japan Teppan Edo and Boma for dinner.

We arrive on Wednesday and will be heading to lunch at the T-Rex Experience in Downtown Disney. A friend of mine has raved about the Cotton-Tini (Martini poured into a glass full of cotton candy!) so I’m hoping I can try that. We’ve been there about 3 times already, but I do enjoy it. I think the food is actually better than RainForest Cafe, despite the same ownership. Overpriced and loud? Sure. Welcome to Orlando! 😉 Dinner that night is being played by ear, which is always fun to do too.

Thursday we’ll be heading to ‘Ohana at Disney’s Polynesian Resort for breakfast. They have a delicious all-you-can-eat breakfast, sort of like a buffet you don’t have to get up for. They bring it to you in a skillet. The kids always love dancing around the restaurant there too – we’ll see if they are officially ‘too cool’ for that now. That night we’ll be trying out the all-new Sanaa restaurant over in the recently opened Kidani Village section of the Animal Kingdom Lodge Villas. I’ve heard nothing but good reviews for it, so I can’t wait.

Friday we’ll be heading to Maya Grill for breakfast. That place is sort of our little secret (well not anymore)…it offers a delicious breakfast buffet but is usually never crowded (there are no characters, which is probably why). The scenery is always beautiful over at Coronado Springs Resort as well. For dinner we’ll be heading to the Garden Grill in Epcot, which we have fond memories of. If you saw the last entry on birthdays, you can see our daughter enjoying some time with Dale there. A friend of the family is a server there as well so we like to say hello if we catch him working.

Saturday will bring us to The Crystal Palace at Magic Kingdom for breakfast, another wonderful buffet, and Pooh characters. I can’t wait for the baby to meet them. We’ll be trying out the new Paradiso 37 for lunch that day – from what I’ve seen it looks fabulous. That night we’ll be headed a few towns north to celebrate my mom’s 70th birthday with all her friends. Should be a blast.

Sunday we’ll be checking out, but not before Cape May Cafe at Disney’s Beach Club Resort for breakfast and Liberty Tree Tavern in the Magic Kingdom for lunch. Can you believe in all our years and hundreds of visits we have never eaten at the Liberty Tree Tavern?? I guess being from New England it just seemed like Sunday dinner so we never needed to check it out, but we are going to finally get to see for ourselves.

We had planned to head home after lunch on Sunday, but Disney has thrown us for a loop by inviting all the Mickey’s Mom’s Club members to an Illuminations party that night. If you had applied to the Disney Mom’s Panel in the past, you were given an invite to join the MMC website and invitations were extended to those members. I’m very excited to meet my fellow MMC members, as well as some of the Disney Mom’s Panel which I’ve been getting to know on Twitter for the past several months. Can’t wait!

I will try to update while we are gone with at least some picture posts, and there will definitely be a full trip report upon my return. You can also keep track of my updates and cell phone pics by following me on Twitter (click on the bird to your right). Wishing you all some end-of-summer Pixie Dust while I’m gone!

Disney’s Lake Buena Vista Villas-a Blast From the Past

13 August 2009 by Suzannah Otis 35 Comments

I mentioned in my Disney Resorts entry how our first foray into “on property” resorts was Disney’s Lake Buena Vista Vacation Villas. I found a few pictures that I scanned in and thought I’d share here.

As I described before, there were 4 different types of Lake Buena Vista Villas: Club Lake Villas were, if I recall correctly, more luxurious than the Vacation Villas. The Fairway Villas were smaller and on the golf course. The Vacation Villas were the attached townhouse style and the Tree House Villas were the really cool two-story tree house style homes nestled in the forest. The only remnants of this era of Disney resorts are the Tree House Villas, now refurbished after being used for years as homes for College Program International Cast Members. You can view the Tree House Villas from the boat that sails from Port Orleans and Old Key West Resorts to Downtown Disney. I always loved riding the Disney resort buses from the parks to the Vacation Villas, because we had to go through the Tree House Villas first and you never knew what you’d see on those dark roads; raccoons, bunnies, deer…it was great fun.

My mom and I posing as my dad took the picture from the loft above.

The layout for the Vacation Villas we stayed in was a typical condo layout downstairs: small kitchen with pass-thru and bar stools at the counter, dining area, bathroom, and family room with a sleeper sofa, tv, etc. The fun was upstairs, where the master bedroom was actually an open loft design. You have no idea how cool this was to an 8 year-old. The master bedroom had a king bed and a tv, then a bathroom too as I remember, but the wall that the tv was on was completely open to the family room downstairs. It was so exciting to me. There was another bedroom upstairs with two twin beds and a bathroom. The family room downstairs had sliding glass doors leading to a patio with chairs. There were several options for views, but we always requested and received an Empress Lily view.

This was me, before heading to dinner at the Empress Lily Room. Pre Pleasure Island too!

Another great part of staying at the Lake Buena Vista Villas was you were able to rent a golf cart for the length of your stay. You could then get anywhere you needed to go in that area with the golf cart. We drove to breakfast at the Buena Vista Club restaurant. (This was the Club attached to the golf course). We explored the other villas…if my dad had been a golfer obviously he could’ve used it for that too! The best part was driving to the Lake Buena Vista Village Marketplace. You may know it now as Downtown Disney.

We could drive our golf cart over the bridge in the area that now houses the bus stops for Downtown Disney. From there we could park over where Downtown Disney Guest Relations now is, plug in the golf cart and explore the shops and restaurants. I think there were only a few at the time Cap’n Jack’s was one, and Chef Mickeys, which stood where Rain Forest Cafe now exists. It was a quaint, little place then. Dark wood decor, windows overlooking the lake and the Empress Lily. It had a separate lounge where you could wait and have a drink while you waited for your table. Back then, if you ordered one of a few specific drinks, you could get a souvenir plastic mug to keep. I remember getting a drink similar to a Shirley Temple, with rock candy swizzle sticks. A lot. I have quite a few of those red mugs with Chef Mickey’s image on them. I had to stop using them because the dishwasher was wearing off the design.

Souvenir mugs from the *original* Chef Mickey's Village Restaurant — Souvenir mugs from the *original* Chef Mickey

I think the only other restaurant was Heidelberg’s deli where Earl of Sandwich is now. Mickey’s Pantry was there, a jewelry store called 24-K and a few other shops. Can you imagine a Marketplace without World of Disney, Once Upon a Toy, the Lego Store or even Pleasure Island?? That’s how it once was. The Marketplace truly was a rainy day excursion and not an attraction unto itself like it is now.

Sadly, Disney decided to discontinue operations of the Villas. They used some of the buildings during the Disney Institute years, but then demolished all of the original villas (apart from the Tree House Villas) and built the Saratoga Springs Resort as part of the Disney Vacation Club program. Saratoga Springs now offers some of those same gorgeous views of the Empress Lily that we once enjoyed, even though it’s now called Fulton’s Crab House.

Another thing I found in my search for old pictures was this coupon for the arcade at the Lake Buena Vista Villa Center. Think they’ll still honor it? 😉

Arcade Coupon good for 1 game at the Lake Buena Vista Center

I welcome any information, links or pictures from this time period at Walt Disney World!!