At the end of September, 1991, Barb and I made a special pilgrimage to Disney World, staying onsite at the resort for the first time, and combined it with a three-day cruise to the Bahamas.
One of Barb’s dream vacations was to go “first class” to Disney World as an adult. We decided to do it combined with a Disney cruise to the Bahamas, and a visit to Universal Studios thrown in. This was a package with 4 nights at Disney and 3 nights on the cruise for a total of $2,282, plus $670 for the air. I daresay it would cost considerably more today, but Disney makes pricing a package difficult without calling them. The cruise alone would be $1,400 for two, the hotel would likely run about $500/night and I don’t think that includes park passes. I note all this because it seems the dream never dies with Barb, and we will likely do it again after she retires.
We flew from BWI to West Palm Beach on Friday morning, September 20, 1991, and stayed with Mom and Dad for two nights. We drove up to Orlando on Sunday.
We stayed in the Contemporary Resort, the one with the monorail running through it. We checked in Sunday, September 22 for four nights. The Contemporary was 20 years old at that point, and while it was showing some signs of wear, it still seemed kind of retro-futuristic. I remember when Disney World opened in 1971 and the promotions were on TV everywhere, this hotel seemed like the coolest thing. We were eager to stay there.
As we checked in with our package, the staff made us feel welcome and a bit special which was a nice touch. We were able to get into the Magic Kingdom for the first evening and enjoyed the fireworks.
On Monday, we learned about the joys of early admission to the parks: an extra hour or so to run around and get on rides multiple times before the rest of the daily crowds. We returned to the Magic Kingdom and made several runs on Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain before 10am when the park opened for mortals. Fast Pass was also great for short-cutting lines and was included in our package.
For nostalgia and archival purposes, here are pages from the Magic Kingdom brochure, with Barb’s notations of which rides we went on. It might be fun to note which rides have changed and which have stayed the same over the ensuing decades.
A priority for Barb was to take a spin on her favorite ride, the tea cups at the Mad Tea Party. She loves the spinning sensation. I know from bitter experience that spinning rides make me queasy. I can handle coasters and going upside down, but spinning rides are not for me.
We spent the day at the Magic Kingdom, doing all the rides we cared to do, sometimes twice. We even succumbed to “It’s a Small World” which was simultaneously the height of kitsch, the most boring ride at the park, and the most annoying for its ever-repeating song.
On Tuesday, we took on Epcot. We’d been to the park with my Mom and Dad in 1984, but with the full day we could explore all the rides and pavilions, and stayed for the IllumiNations integrated laser, music, fireworks and fountain show which was pretty impressive for its day (see full show, which finally closes at the end of September, 2019). I’m still a sucker for Epcot’s one-world-many-cultures theme and its focus on technologies, even if it smacks of too much corporate advertising even for my tastes.
Wednesday we did a double-bill of movie theme parks. The morning was spent at what was then Disney World’s newest park, Disney-MGM Studios which had opened in May 1989 and we wedged in a visit to Universal Studios in the afternoon. It was easier then because there weren’t so many rides.
Judging by our change of clothes in the pictures, I think we went back to the hotel for a while, then headed over to Universal a few miles away. The Universal Studios Florida theme park opened in 1990 and was geared a little more toward teens and adults, but it was still missing the big coasters and rides, much less the whole second park that have been added since.
I can’t remember if it was before or after this visit, but I was also able to visit the Universal park as part of a trade show I attended in Orlando. The show rented the entire park for the evening from 5-10pm and a few thousand of us telecom types had the run of the place…with alcohol. It was pretty wild.
On Thursday, we drove an hour or so to Cape Kennedy for our first-time tour of the Kennedy Space Center, part of our Disney package. We started at the visitors center and then got on a bus for a drive around the facility. It was a very cool few hours, and we even got to see the space shuttle land, piggy-backed on a 747 flying from California. Sadly, none of our pictures were close enough to be useful.
We then headed over to Port Canaveral to board our Big Red Boat, the grandly named Premier Cruise Line Starship Majestic. This was in the days before Disney having its own line of cruise ships. The Majestic was already a 20-year old ship, and though it had been refurbished, even as first-time cruisers we could tell it had seen better days. I didn’t know until now that it had been the original Love Boat in the 1976 movie. If only we had known, Barb may have appreciated it even more.
Our little three night cruise was just over to the Bahamas. We mainly sailed over to the Premier Lines’ private island in the Bahamas where we docked and folks could play on the beach. Barb took advantage of snagging a hammock and getting some sun. I don’t know what I did but probably found some shade. There was a little dolphin show which even then seemed depressingly exploitative. We had options on the second day to tour around Abaco and Marsh Harbor but I don’t think either of us did. I don’t remember too much else about the cruise; it wasn’t unpleasant, but we didn’t hurry to go on more cruises.
All in all, the combination of Disney World and some time in the sun may have made this one of Barb’s happiest vacations ever. And that made it more fun for me. It would not be our last time in Orlando.
You must be logged in to post a comment.