Excitement was mounting as we departed the Gelm family reunion on the evening of Sunday, June 10, 2001 as we left Howey-in-the-Hills (pop. 956) behind and headed the fifty miles northeast to Kissimmee, Florida. Here we parked Mom’s van and ourselves at some little dive on the outskirts of the Disney property. In those days, all we cared about was air-conditioning, swimming pool, and a free shuttle to the theme parks. This place had two out of the three. One night after our return from the heat of one of the Disney parks, we were greeted with a room that had no air-conditioning. I had to make them give us another room.
Other than the room incident, this was ideal visit to Disney World. It was the last time to date that I was able to take both Ashleigh and Briana to the parks, so it holds a sentimental place in my heart as the last trip with both of them as children. If I ever make the trek again with both girls, at least one of them will no longer be a child.
Obviously, we ventured into the parks first thing Monday morning. Although I cannot be sure which other two days we went park-hopping, but most likely it was Tuesday and Thursday. The other day, we stayed back at the motel, girls swimming, and me nursing my standard Disney toe blisters.
We started off our three-day Disney week (incidentally, this trip is also the last time to date that I’ve attempted three days at Disney) at the Disney-MGM Studios. I had been to Disney World every year during the late 1990′s, and had pretty much mapped out a standard path to hit the high points at the parks. So we started with our usual first ride, The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. This was right next to the new Rock’n'Roller Coaster, which I had just missed the last time I had been there in 1999, so this was the first time for all of us. Although Briana was a little nervous about the 2.8 second 0-to-57mph acceleration when she saw, we all loved it – so much that we got back on it right away.
I was disappointed that The Great Movie Ride was shut down, but was hoping that they were refurbishing it. Turns out that they were merely constucting the Sorcerer’s Apprentice hat that would become the signature of this park. I’ve never cared for it. One other unique thing about this visit is that they had gotten rid of the walking portion of the Backstage Tour and put Who Wants To Be a Millionaire – Play It! in one of the soundstages, which we saw. Didn’t win though.
This was neither the first nor last photo of Ashleigh with the Tower of Terror looming behind her
Ashleigh in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure
Briana mounts an ant
The girls in front of the Muppet Vision 3-D fountain
The MGM Watertower, which would serve as the park’s icon before the Fantasia hat went up
From MGM, we then went on to the Magic Kingdom and followed our standard path beginning in Adventureland at the Pirates of the Carribean. Ashleigh was still on her photo-kick and wanted lots of pictures taken of her for her scrapbook project. We got a couple of nice shots of the Sword in the Stone next to the carousel before we rode It’s a Small World. We closed the park that night and went back to our room and crashed.
My standard photo of Carl and the boys from Pirates of the Carribean
I’m guessing Ashleigh wanted solo photos for her scrapbook
Then Briana would want one. And so the pattern went…
One of the only two photos of Carolyn and me at Disney
After a hard day at the parks, the girls needed a good night’s sleep
Our next day at Disney began at Animal Kingdom where we naturally hit the big rides, It’s Tought to Be a Bug, Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Sarfaris, and the Festival of the Lion King. From there we headed to Epcot. Before boarding Spaceship Earth, we were suckered into the whole Leave-a-Legacy thing. This was where you could have your image engraved onto these little monolith walls standing at the front of the park. We got one for Carolyn and me and one for Ashleigh and Briana. So if you are ever at Epcot, you can see our mugs enshrined there.
The Tree of Life at Animal Kingdom. I’ve always thought it was kind of ugly.
Yaht and the Tree of Life
Dinosaur no longer scare you
Briana takes in the scenery of the Kilimanjaro Safaris
This was the first time I had seen the magic wand that was erected at Spaceship Earth for the new millenium. I never saw it with “2000″ on it, but rather the word Epcot. This visit was the last time I ever got to see Food Rocks! and the one and only time that I got to see this particular version of Journey Into Your Imagination, which was similar to the current ride, but lacking the Imagination song and the involvement of Figment.
You can find our legacy at West 6-D-2-6-13 the next time you visit Epcot
Briana got to participate in the ‘home of the future’ demostration in Innoventions
Carolyn and me in front of the nighttime Epcot fountain
On our last day at the parks, we decided to visit the big three once again, starting out at Epcot, then going to the Magic Kingdom, and finally over to MGM to hit the Rock’n'Roller Coaster, the Tower of Terror, and finally, to see the Fantasmic! light show for my first and only time to date. It was on the bus between Magic Kingdom and MGM that Ashleigh fell asleep on Briana as seen in the photo at the top. All I can remember was being ready to drop by the end of the last day.
Visiting Epcot and the new Sorcerer’s wand once again
Back at the Magic Kingdom, Briana and Ashleigh find themselves in a predicament in Liberty Square
Ashleigh tries to pull out the sword as Briana and Rerun look on
Briana can’t do it either
We departed on Friday morning, June 15, in order to get back in the nick of time to make it to my cousin Karen’s wedding.
Overall, an excellent trip – as all Disney trips were, are, and forever will be.
2001 will continue with the wedding…
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