Two Mothers at WDW on Mother's Day PICS

[Alice28]

Trip Report May 11-15 2006

Port Orleans French Quarter

Mother’s Day getaway

Me- my 5th trip to WDW

My mom- her 4th trip to WDW

Let me preface this trip, that I bow down to some of our fabuloso trip report writers we have had here lately- ZZUB, Hucifer, LaLa et al., and tell you that I am not one of them. I’m pretty good at catching typos, but my reports are mostly just the facts ma’am, just the facts. I hope you will still enjoy.

Back in March, I had called my mom up, and was wishing we could take a girl’s trip to somewhere, anywhere. I just needed to get away. I had had a heck of a year or so. My DH was called to active duty with the Army Nat’l Guard to go to Iraq in July 2004; that same month we found out we were expecting our third child. DH was in Texas for 5 months training, and then in Iraq for 1 year. We saw him for 4 weeks during those 18 months. I was full time Mommy to our three children for that entire time (as well as being pregnant for 7 of those months!). Anyway, he made it back safe and sound in January of 2006, the kids were great, everything was great. Except suddenly I felt like I had just run a marathon and realized, “Hey, I’m TIRED!” I just wanted some ME time, and I just wished openly with my mom that she and I could get away- just us, no kids, no husbands. One problem- I couldn’t afford it! But my lovely Mom said, “No problem….I got it covered. Just buy me a drink one night!” WOW! So we did some researching, and decided on POFQ. We had stayed there in Sept. 2005 during the free dining plan. My parents treated us (the kids and I) for a week at POFQ to cheer us up for DH being gone for so long. And they were celebrating their retirement as well. We liked POFQ well enough, and decided to stay there again.

We got some great flight prices with Southwest- less than $400 for both of us to fly round trip from Portland, OR. We decided to use the Magical Express, and we also added the Dining Plan. We fell in love with the dining plan the previous trip. For the two of us, at POFQ, with hoppers and the dining plan, it was less than $2,000, INCLUDING airfare. Not too shabby! We decided to go Mother’s Day weekend, as Southwest had plenty of flight times at the cheap price that weekend. I couldn’t wait to see the flower and garden festival at Epcot, and just have some breathing room. I love my children DEARLY, but it’s hard being Mom to 3 kids at Disney!

Let’s get to the good stuff- the actual trip!

Thursday May 11th- my parents pick me up at O-dark-thirty. AKA 5:15. I know you will all nod in agreement when I say it’s easy to get up at 4:30 AM if it means that a trip to WDW is why you are getting up so darn early! We get to the airport, check in is a breeze, as is security. We wait for awhile for our flight to board, and we’re on our way! We even get in 25 minutes early! (only a 30 minute stop in Kansas City, no switching planes). We find our way to Magical Express and have to wait a few minutes in line. We board the bus and wait probably 15 minutes before we are off. We stop at SSR first, and the POFQ is the next stop! Yay! We are first in line, check in quickly, and are assigned room 7720. The woman standing behind us in line had all the patience of a 15 month old. I wanted to say to her, “Honey, you’re in Disney….the line waiting has only begun! Get a grip, have a martini, and calm yourself!”

I digress; last trip we were in building 1, this time building 7, so we got a whole new view of the property. Our room was about just at the top at the flight of stairs, so that was convenient. Room was neat, tidy, no complaints. We refreshed ourselves, grabbed a Diet Coke at the food court in our mugs, and were off to Epcot! We were ahead of our best case scenario time plan! Woo! Get into Epcot and look at the cool Donald and Daisy topiaries!

But before I get to more details of Epcot, you know how on every trip, you come across a family who just ISN’T feeling the magic? We encountered this family at the POFQ bus stop. I call them “Moe and Co.” It was a family at 5, and at first glance, they looked like a nice little family. Mom, Dad, daughter about 11, son about 7, baby daughter about 18 months or so. But then things unraveled. The son, Moe, started barking like a dog and mom would just ignore him, then scream at him out of nowhere. On the bus the baby started screaming and no one did ANYTHING! It was awkward. The dad just absently held her on his lap, didn’t try to calm her, talk to her, nothing. The mother had her body turned the other way, and wouldn’t even look at the daughter. The son started barking again (he had his Pluto hat on, so I guess he thought he was Pluto), and he gets a smack across the face from his father. It was so sad. I thought of Moe and Co the rest of the weekend, and hoped that their spirits lifted. I also thought, I wonder how bad things have to get with families before a Disney cast member will step in and say something- I mean, that smack across the face was pretty ugly, IMHO.

Back to the fun stuff!

We wonder through Future World and make a stop in the new “club cool.” Ice Station Cool it is not. No more cool igloo. No more cool snow. No more blasts of cold, cold air. Instead it’s just basically another shop, but with the free soda samples. Most of the samples were not available. Tried the Beverly- is it still disgusting, like the pith of the most bitter grapefruit? Yep. It is. The Israeli soda is as refreshing as I recall.

We move onto the World Showcase. We decide we have enough time to start in Mexico to be in Canada by our 8:00 ADR time at le Cellier. We mostly just wander through the Showcase, enjoying the flowers, the smells, the people watching. I had to make a pitstop in the Germany restrooms. Um, it wasn’t Disney bathrooms at its finest. Definitely needed some spritzes of Febreeze. And a power wash. Make another stop in the Japan department store to check out Yu-Gi-Oh cards for my sons. They had nothing Target didn’t have (well, they did have the Japanese cards, but kids didn’t want those). I kept forgetting I wanted to get a snack somewhere, as I was getting pretty darn hungry. Woulda, Shoulda, Coulda got an eggroll or pretzel, but I didn’t. We make it to Canada around 7:45 and we check in. I love the gardens in Canada, don’t you?

Our server is Lindsey and she is just a pleasant as can be. She was also extremely busy, and wasn’t quite on the ball. I was watching her, and she was working her buns off, but her timing just was off- I felt bad, as I have been there done that in my former-life-waitressing days. The thing was though, I was STARVING, and didn’t have a ton of patience. I wanted those darn pretzel breadsticks everyone raves about on the DIS. When we were finally able to order, we were really quick about it and she was amazed- for some reason, all of our fellow patrons had 100 questions each about the menu, and that was part of what was slowing Lindsey down. Poor girl. I ordered a Caesar salad, the prime rib, and an iced tea. My mom ordered the shrimp cocktail, the mushroom filet and an iced tea. Our appetizers came and I inhaled my salad- it was quite good- little kick to the dressing. Mom’s shrimp appetizer had a very cute presentation with the shrimp and a wasabi sauce; came with a little Chinese box on the side. The breadsticks came, and yep, that pretzel one is a goodie! I could have easily had another, but before I could ask for another, our meat came. Pretty good. Nothing I would being scrambling to try again- if you ask me, if you want a primo steak at WDW, go to Shula’s. I realize they are not on the DDP, but they are divine steaks. Dessert- I ordered the chocolate whiskey cake, and mom the sorbet. Unfortunately the cake was dry. I ate only the frosting. Mom’s sorbet was delightfully refreshing. Words of note about le Cellier- it’s dark…..like, um, a cellar. If you want romantic ambience, I don’t feel this place delivers. It’s also VERY loud. Tables are close together, like they are at many WDW restaurants. You WILL hear your neighbor’s conversations no matter how hard you try not to. Finally, it’s good food, nice bang for your DDP buck, but I personally don’t feel it lives up to the hype. BTW, our bill came to $104.

We caught some snippets of Illuminations on our way out, and decided we wanted to make our way out of the park before the swarms of people came. We bee-lined through Mouse Gears, just to get a taste of the merchandise….and we saw nothing that was blowing our socks off! I can’t believe it!

We get to the Epcot bus stop and are ready to crash. But of course we get a fit of the giggles and chat until midnight. And we have an early morning tomorrow at MGM! Will these west coasters be able to get up in time? Early birds, we ain’t! But Tower of Terror is calling our names………………………..

 

[OhMari]

Don't worry that you won't match up to other people's Trip Reports, you did a fine job. Hope to read the rest.

 

[Alice28]

Day Two May 12th

Oh my goodness does that wakeup call come early. I think I hung up on Stitch. Oh, funny story- I read how if you put in an odd time for the wake up call, you get Mickey, not Stitch. So I keep trying to enter 7:32 and it wouldn’t let me. What the heck!? I get put through to a Disney operator, and she says, “Ma’am, you have to do it by 5 minute increments- 7:30 or 7:35.” She must have thought I was such a freak for saying "I want to get up at 7:32!" I learned it’s Stitch, then Mickey, but I hung up that first day before Mick could even squeak a word out. I was tired, what can I say. But I KNEW that darn line to the Tower would be horrid if we weren’t there early, so I got my butt up. We shuffled around, got ready, and were at the bus stop, Diet Cokes in hand by 8:30.

We are in MGM by 9:05. The coffee and DC had gone right thru me- I swear, I think I only go to the bathroom in MGM at that restroom on Sunset Blvd that’s on the right. It’s like that’s MY potty stop or something. ;-) Look for the Robin plaque next time. We get to Tower and I grab a FP before we hop in line. The sign said 13 minutes, but it was more like 20. We had the BEST drop sequence EVER. Up and down 4-5 times- it was AWESOME. Tower is probably my favorite ride at WDW.

Off to look at the Rock N Roller Coaster line- my mom wasn’t sure about it. She tried to go on last fall and she just didn’t think her knees would bend for the car- she has both knees replaced, so they don’t bend like they usta. We asked Phillip, at the FastPass return entrance if there were certain cars with more leg room. He said, “Yes, the odd numbered rows, and here is a free FP for you to go on now!” WOW! Thanks Phillip! A Magical Moment for sure! We get in, and we’re OFF! WOAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Love Aerosmith! But Mom felt a bit woozy afterwards, so we had a sit and a water break. OK, nuff of that, onto Tower of Terror again!

We had a young girl in line in front of us. Maybe 9? She was scared and my mom was coaxing her that it was a fun scary, and that she would really like it. Well, the ride is going and this little girl is TERRIFIED and screaming and crying. My mom felt so bad. Like she steered her to the dark side or something.

We make our way off of Sunset Blvd and decide just to wander around the park to the back alley near Muppets. We like the new San Francisco back drop! I feel like I’m home! We get to 50’s Prime Time within a couple minutes of our ADR time and we’re seated almost immediately. Cousin Joey was our server….Auntie Claire was in the next room and she was entertaining. Joey was very friendly, very efficient. We’re goodie two shoes, so we didn’t get in trouble or anything like that. I ordered onion rings, mom shrimp cocktail for our appetizers. For lunch I had the fish sandwich, and mom had the pot roast. Here we are at our table-

The onion rings were crispy, but a bit lukewarm. Mom said her shrimp were perfect. The sandwich was fine- I am normally not a fish person, but I am only supposed to eat 8-10 ounces of animal protein per day due to kidney stone issues. Seafood is fine. So, I’ve been trying to eat one meal a day either seafood, or no meat at all. We shared the smores and angel food cake with berries for dessert. The smores were heaven on earth! Just perfect! I kept taking berries and swirling them around in the chocolate goo- just wonderful! Weight loss efforts be darned!

We exit MGM after a bit more window shopping. We had seen most of the shows our last trip, so we were happy just to ride our favorite crazy attractions. We catch a bus to the Magic Kingdom, which actually drops you off at the Ticket and Transportation Center. We decide to take the ferry over to the MK, as we have never done that before. What a great view of the MK as you are waiting for the ferry to come!

We make our way to the Magic Kingdom and our first stop is the Emporium. I like shopping there in the early afternoon or morning, so your not knocking elbows with other people. I grab a few items and have them sent to the hotel. We make our way over to Splash to get a fastpass for later. We give our feet a rest and take the train around 1 1/3 times and get off in Toontown. We head over to PhilharMagic- unfortunately we have to sit in the front row and it was bothering my eyes for some reason. Still a great show, don’t miss it! I love the gift shop – there is a t-shirt of Donald that says on the front “Crabby” and on the back “but lovable.” It’s only in adult sizes, but it fits my second son’s personality to a “T”.

Before we head on Splash, we grab a FP for Big Thunder Mountain. We ride Splash and it’s a good trip as usual. It’s one of my all time favorites. We head over to Big Thunder and it’s not so good- it is hurting my mom’s knees- I guess she just had to keep them bent at an awkward angle and it was bothering her. OK, enough crazy rides for today, time for a Dole Whip break! Luckily for us, these are now on the snack list for the DDP! I wait in a long, hot line for our Dole Whip- we decide just to share one this time. After eating the soft serve, I decide I am truly hungry for dinner, even though it’s only about 4:45. We decide to head over to Pecos Bills.

I get a cheeseburger, mom the salad, diet cokes, and the peanut butter mousse cake dessert. I think I devoured that burger in less than 5 minutes, I was so hungry! For whatever reason, we were given 3 diet Cokes, which we managed to drink- we were thirsty! We just rested for awhile inside the cool restaurant- we had been really go-go-going all day and we still weren’t quite adjusted to the time change.

Next to us at dinner, was a family from ‘across the pond.’ The little boy was grumpy and whiny and his mother very calmly told him, “If you want some pie, you will stop crying.” And he did! Quite a refreshing change from what we overheard from Moe and Co the day before. I’m a fan of the firm grip on the leg with my kids, and talking in a low voice to get them to knock off naughty behavior. It almost always works. I hate the screeching in public. But, once again, I digress.

After our recharge, we head to Haunted Mansion, which was a walk-on. We walk on it’s a small world after that. During almost the entire ride, the gal behind me was talking on her cell phone. Annoying, and on top of being annoying, I had no idea how she could hear anything! It is not exactly quiet in there! We head to Tomorrowland and ride the classic Tomorrowland Transit Authority, affectionately known as the People Mover in our circle. I just love that ride, and hope the rumors I read are true about it coming back to Disneyland. We decide to be adventurous and see what Stitch is all about – this is a new one for us. Well, it’s pretty silly. Been on it once, don’t care if I go on it again, unless the kids really want to.

We decide it’s time to head back to the hotel to get some sleep. We stop off and get some ice water in our mugs, and I want to put my feet in the pool. I talk to DH on the phone for awhile- apparently my DD didn’t care for the babysitter too much. My DS’s went to her for all of their first years of life when I worked, but I quit working in 2003, when my boys were 5 and 2. DD never has had to go to a babysitter, except for friends or family watching her. That stressed me out a little bit, but I knew my babysitter was A+ quality and that even if Molly didn’t like it, she would be cared for and live through it.

Lights out! Day 3 is next!

 

[llij]

Robin - Great start to your trip report!! I can't wait to read more about your wonderful adventure with your mom.

BTW, I love the pictures too. The picture of you and your mom at Prime Time is great! You can see the family resemblance! Epcot sure is beautiful in May!

 

[Alice28]

Saturday, May 13th. Day 3

I got up early this day, at 7:15, to stumble down to the food court to get us breakfast. I got the Royal breakfast, with eggs, sausage, a biscuit and potatoes. I grabbed Mom some French Toast and sausage. FYI, this particular cashier told me you can’t grab a dessert with breakfast on the DDP. Who knew? (I had grabbed some grapes and a Mickey Krispy for later, but she let me put them back). I should have just paid cash for it, but I wasn’t thinking clearly yet. I did grab a milk and juice. It wasn’t the best use of my counter service for the day, but oh well. No big deal in the scheme of things.

Whenever we are at WDW, I always like to do Epcot on a Saturday. It seems the least crowded of the parks. Perhaps that’s not true for the Food and wine festival, but it works throughout other times of the year. Just my .02. We are in the Soarin line by 9:10 and it’s about a 25 minute wait. The girl next to me was afraid of heights- she had been on the attraction before, but I could tell she was jittery as she kept wanting to make small talk. We were in the third row, which barely lifts you off the ground. It’s a wonderful experience- a must do. I had been on it over in California, but this was my first trip here- and of course, it’s the same.

Mom’s feet were bothering her, developing a blister, so I hoofed it over to Test Track and grabbed some FPs while she sat over by the Imagination pavilion. I walked through Minnie’s butterfly display on the way to TT. Here is a pretty picture:

We wanted to go on Figment, as we had never done it before. I think this may qualify as one of the lamest WDW attractions. At least I can say I have done it. But it’s pretty bad.

After Figment we are on a mission to take some snaps of all the topiaries around Future World. Here are some of the highlights:

Now for our grand tour of the World Showcase. This is what I always think about when I dream of a WDW vacation. Touring the W.S. at a leisurely pace, soaking up the ambience, having snacks here and there. It rarely works out that way, but we were determined to make it happen this day. And the weather was absolutely STUNNING. About 84, and NOT HUMID at all! Breezes blowing periodically. Just lovely! We start in Canada this morning and check out the shop- a HOTTIE Canadian CM was working in there- my oh my, he was handsome! We move onto the UK, probably my favorite pavilion. I love the shops, the winding cobblestone pathway, the gardens. I usually stop and sniff all the lotions in the one shop, but my head was slightly bothering me, and I didn’t want to risk getting a full blown headache.

The Impressions de France movie was on our agenda this day- something else I had never done. We walked right in and the show began within 5 minutes. Lovely scenery! I’m ready to go to France! I hadn’t been back in the ‘streets’ of France in the last few trips, so we enjoyed shopping and I bought a great wooden spoon. I planned on telling my boys that that was all I bought, a spanking spoon for them. LOL. It was time for our 12:00 ADR at Les Chefs de France. Another first for me! I’m loving this trip for all the firsts we’re doing!

My mom was being a jokester- the maitre ‘de said my last name, which is Black. So my mom says to him, “Don’t you mean ‘noir’?” And he says, “No, Black.” And my mom says, “Yeah, Noir!” He just looked at her like she was crazy, and then the lightbulb went on and he laughed, and said “Yes, noir.” (Noir means black in French- I know, I didn’t know it either until my mom said it).

What a lovely restaurant! I love it! So bright, cheery and pleasant! I would go back just based on the atmosphere alone. Our waitress was equally lovely – extremely friendly and attentive. I had a salad and mom the onion soup. I decided to try something totally unusual for me- the fancy macaroni and cheese. I normally do not like this dish, but thought I would try it. Mom ordered the sole with mushrooms and linguine. The salad and soup were perfect, as were the crusty rolls brought out with them. I had an iced tea, which was always filled, and mom tried an Orangina soda (not on the DDP, so she had to pay OOP for it…oh well!). Our entrees came and it was the HUGEST bowl of mac and cheese I had EVER seen. There was no way I could come close to finishing it. It was very, very rich, and the cheese was a bit sharp for my palate. But I gave it a good ‘college try.’

For dessert I ordered the almond macaroons with orange sorbet, and mom ordered the crème brulee. Oh my goodness, the macaroons and sorbet turned out to be my FAVORITE dessert of the entire trip! Here I am enjoying them:

note the bite I had already taken out of one of the cookies!

FYI- France has a meal deal that is great- onion soup, a ham and cheese sandwich and crème brulee for dessert. Just about everyone around us ordered it. It’s only $14.95. A bargain for WDW! This restaurant definitely gets a thumbs up from me- A+ service and lovely atmosphere, and good food too!

I wanted to look in the pastry shop, but I had a funnel cake calling my name. We skipped Morocco this trip as we spent a ton of time there last fall, and went onto the USA. I got my big plate of fried dough AKA funnel cake. Not on the snack plan by the way here at Epcot, although it is over in the Sleepy Hollow restaurant in the MK. Weird. We listen to a great USA band for a few minutes:

And head over to Italy to enjoy the funnel cake. We sit on a cool bench in the shade and enjoy the scenery. Quite relaxing. I am enjoying my World Showcase morning greatly! We walk over the bridge to where the Italian pavilion kind of juts out into the lagoon and we just stood and gazed for sometime. It was heavenly, something I won’t soon forget.

We decide to head over to Germany to shop some more. Mom bought some candies, and I grabbed a water and sat on yet another bench. The flowers everywhere are just spectacular! I sit looking at the huge pretzels and wished I had some room left in my stomach for one. Later, I tell myself.

We wander through China and oh, does that Chinese food smell good! What is with me and food today? Everything just smells so good, and looks so pretty! I cannot tell you what a perfect day it was! My DH calls and he is taking the kids to the zoo- brave man! I was impressed, as I don’t think he had even taken all three of them to the grocery store yet by himself.

Here's a panda topiary in China- looks real, huh?

We take some pictures in Norway- I had never noticed the flowers growing on the rooftops:

I smirked to myself thinking of ZZUB’s contemplation of why the heck Maelstrom is a FP attraction. We decide to skip it this trip. Onto Mexico- there are some GORGEOUS orchids off to the side of the pyramid. You gotta see:

We shopped and sat, and sat and shopped. People watching is just the BEST in WDW, isn’t it? I realize it takes all kinds, but people never cease to amaze me with either what
they are dressed in, how they behave, or words that come out of their mouths.

I was amused you could buy those authentic, truly ethnic types of tortilla chips in the Mexico pavilion- you might have heard of them. Tostitoes. Isn’t that amazing that they sell such an uncommon product? Who would buy those there, at a jacked up price? I don’t get it.

We had to go on Rio del Tiempo, just for kicks. Yep, it’s as silly as I remembered, but Figment still takes home the prize for lamest Epcot attraction in my book.

We end our day at Epcot with a spin on Spaceship Earth. There is NOTHING in the exit area now. Nothing. Kind of sad.

We make our way back to POFQ for a rest.

And rest we did. We laid down and just chit-chatted for an hour or so. Freshened up and made our way to the Downtown Disney boat. There was quite the line, but we all fit on the boat. Our skipper, Karrie, had a LOT to share with us on the way to DTD. It got to the point that while I appreciated her enthusiasm for her job, I wanted some quiet! We get to DTD and it was quite busy- no surprise for being a Saturday night. We wanted to hit quite a few stores, so we started off at the Pooh store, which isn’t so much Pooh anymore. My mom bought some new Nikes at Team Mickey’s, as her feet were really hurting from her shoes. We went over to Earl of Sandwich for dinner. Man, you gotta get a sandwich here on your next trip! We had bought some last trip, and they were just as tasty as I remembered! That bread is to die for! I had chicken salad, mom had roast beef, and I got a side of cole slaw and bag of chips to share. We paid OOP for this.

Let’s see, we head over to Basin- this store is so much fun! We each pick out a couple bars of soup and I grab some bath salts too. From there we head over to World of Disney and oh my gosh, mob scene! I got a bunch of food items- my younger son’s birthday is next month, and he chose a Mickey Mouse theme. So I bought some Mickey pretzels, cheese crackers, lollipops for his party. Some snacks for my dad and DH for watching the kids while I was gone. I found a neat keychain for myself and I was stewing over what to get my older son. I had already bought my daughter a plush ‘baby’ Belle, my younger son some race cars and a tracing set, but nothing for my 8 year old. Well, ladies and gents, they now have an entire BOYS’ room in the World of Disney! And in this BOYS’ room, there is a neat set up where you can pick out a treasure chest ($14) or a skull ($18) and stuff it full with tattoos, bugs, grody eyeballs or brains, stickers, compasses, bouncy balls, and more fun stuff. I knew my 8 year old would LOVE it, so I carefully packed it to the brim with pirate booty, and added some extra stuff for my 4 year old too. What a great idea! Thank you Disney marketing, for FINALLY realizing us parents of boys are dying to spend our hard earned money on our sons….enough with the princess stuff already!

Oh, and FYI- I didn’t know this, but you can get 10% off your purchase with your Disney Visa by just showing your Visa. I thought you had to use it! I wanted to pay cash for everything this trip, so when the cashier asked if I had the Disney Visa, I said, “Yes, but I really want to pay cash.” And he said, “Oh, all you have to do is show me the card.” Cool!

We were pooped by this point. We get back on the DTD boat and we had to make a pitstop. Another boat had something wrong with it, and stopped! So we had to grab onto the other boat to keep the boats together so the other people could board our boat! Kind of exciting! We make it back to POFQ safe and sound. We grab some Pina Coladas at the pool bar and bring them back to our room. We hang out, shower, and turn in for the evening.

 

[Alice28]

Sunday, May 15th, Day 4.

Yay, yay, YAY! It’s our Animal Kingdom day! I have been chomping at the bit to ride Expedition Everest! We are on the bus by 8:30, and it takes quite awhile. I forgot that in addition to the 4 stops at Riverside, we stop at Blizzard Beach too. Come on, come on, come on….I have a date with a Yeti! We get to AK, and first go to Guest Relations cause we had our free picture coupon after playing a game on the internet via Disney. (free 5x7 picture for Expedition Everest). We get our vouchers and ‘fastwalk’ to Asia. I grab mom’s ticker from her and kick it into high gear to the FP machines. Get our FPs and then we get in the standby line. The wait is about 25 minutes. We stand behind this lovely Scottish woman and her grandsons and chitchatted with them. The younger boy tells me he hasn’t screamed on any ride yet, not even Tower of Terror or Rock n Roller Coaster. I look him in the eye and said, “I bet ya screamed on Dumbo though.” He gave me this look and then realized I was kidding him. I’m just so funny.

The EE line is great- Disney theming at its finest! We’re there in no time and sit in the way back. What a great ride! I was laughing and whooping the entire time! Here is me- do you think I thought it was fantastic, or what? I'm the crazy lady in the back....

From there we do the Tiger Walk to pass the time til our next meet with the Yeti. We just missed the tigers prancing about- we saw it just go walk and curl up under a tree for a snooze. Bummer. We head back to EE and practically are able to walk on. This ride was just as good as the first time- not quite as smooth, as we were in the way back the last time. Here is pic I took on the ride

OK, I think we had enough of the Yeti. We figured we would come back the next day, so I didn’t buy the postcard I wanted. We walked the bridge to Dinoland USA and walked through the hot blazing sun, and annoying bleeps and blips of the cheesy carny games. I walk back to get a FP for Dinosaur (yet ANOTHER ride I hadn’t been on before!). There was hardly a wait, but we were hungry, so the FP was a good idea in this case. We make our way to Flame Tree BBQ. I was looking forward to this meal- we usually eat at Tusker. We both order ribs, sub coleslaw for beans, diet Coke and we plan to pay OOP for onion rings. The lovely cashier, Barbara, said, “put your money away! Use a snack credit!” OK Babs, we will! Thank you! So, FYI, you can use a snack credit for onion rings at Flame Tree. And my those o-rings were TASTY! Everything was! Huge thumbs up for quality of food! And I wandered down the pathways to find one of those seating areas on the water like I had read about here and in Passporter. Very tranquil! Thanks for that tip, my fellow DISers!

We head back to Dinsosaur and that was a fun one. Kind of more silly than scary. I’m glad we went on it- I had never even walked back there before, so it was nice seeing the plants, and Dino Sue and such. I just felt like we were doing so much new stuff this trip- I was breaking out of some patterns and it felt great!

We decided to walk off a calorie or two and do the Pangani Trail. I was bummed not to see any hippos, but my oh my, the gorillas were out in full force. Here is a picture of one of them:

We shopped for awhile and made our way to the picture pickup place. I’m darn glad I checked the picture before we left the park. There was only one picture in there! So I guess a manager trekked back to Asia and printed up my picture and brought it back. Added on a half hour of just sitting there….I will say there is a nice little selection of scrapbook supplies in that little shop! Near the stroller rental area.

We finally are on our way. We sat next to a family who was already planning their next trip. People after my own heart.

Once again we grab some Diet Coke refills (oh how I love my mug) and rest up for a little bit in the room. We’re off to the Magic Kingdom tonight! We leave the hotel about 4:15 or so, and decide to do some Adventureland rides before our 6 o’clock ADR at Crystal Palace. We go on the carpets (our driver did not want to go high, so I did my best of tipping us back and forth). And looking at my ‘scarab’ controller, I just kept thinking of that season of Amazing Race where some of the competitors were supposed to look for a scarab in the sand and half of them didn’t even know what a scarab was. Guess they hadn’t been on Aladdin’s Magic Carpets!

Next up was Jungle Cruise. It was a so-so cruise. Nothing to report about. Afterwards we went shopping in Frontierland, and then my mom realized her glasses case had fallen off somewhere! Oh no! We backtracked everywhere and it wasn’t turned in anywhere. We get to Crystal Palace and check in. We decide to call the hotel to see if it was turned in there. It was! Yay! What a relief! My mom had her prescription sunglasses, so that was helpful, and she’s not that blind without her glasses, so we managed just fine. Dinner was pretty good! Noisy restaurant, lots of kids of course, since it’s a character meal. The salmon was so GOOD! As were the veggies, and rolls, and rice…it was just so delicious! I was ready to roll out of there… I only got one small brownie square for dessert cause I was just way too full!

After dinner we head to Fantasyland and go on Winnie the Pooh and the teacups. We also got our Magic Hour wristbands before the lines got too long. I decided to check out the rose garden for a fireworks viewing spot. I think I read that either in my Passporter or here on the DIS. It was quite pleasant. While the hub and Main Street were quickly becoming a mob-scene, we were almost all alone down there in the Rose Garden. A small family soon joined us, and then a few others a few minutes prior to the beginning! Quite secluded! It wasn’t a full frontal of the castle, but quite good, and Tinkerbell’s wire was practically overhead. Around 8:15 I got in line for some popcorn while mom kept our bench warm. What a line! At least 25 people, but I was dying for a Diet Coke and we hadn’t had any popcorn yet. It took about 20+ minutes to get to the front. Mom thought I got lost or something.

The fireworks began and they were wonderful as always. Here is a picture of the castle with some pyrotechnics goin off behind it….I can just hear Jiminy talking, can’t you?

We sat for awhile after the fireworks ended and went the LONG way to Splash Mountain. We did not even want to go near the hub, so we walked back through Fantasyland, through Liberty Square, to the wooden boardwalk that leads to Splash and Big Thunder. Splash was a walk on! I love Splash at night- it’s just kind of exciting, and reminds me of being in high school in 1989/90 when Splash first opened at Disneyland, and my friends and I would wait for an hour or two to ride it. Ah….memories.

We really couldn’t think of much else we wanted to do, and we were wiped out from trekking all over Animal Kingdom and then the Magic Kingdom, so we decided to head out about 9:45.

And might I add, that there are TONS of people out there who do NO research, nor do they read any literature posted or given to them upon arrive to WDW? I say that because I must have heard 25 different people saying, “Let’s go to Pirates now” and I guess they didn’t realize it was down for rehab. I mean, even before internet, I was Miss Anal, and would call the Disneyland hotline before a trip to find out which rides would be down for rehab so I could plan for any disappointments. I must say, MK didn’t seem as whole without Pirates to go on. For one ride, it seems to take a chunk out of my touring enjoyment when it’s not open.

We shuffle our way to the front of the park, glazed, tired, sweaty. The POFQ bus comes pretty quickly and I do believe I fell asleep quickly this night. We did tune into the Survivor reunion show to see that Aras had won. At least it wasn’t Danielle. I was bummed that Terry or Cirie was not the winner….oh well.

 

[Alice28]

Monday! Last day. May 15th

No pics for this day....we didn't bring the camera as we packed it the night before.

We had left this day up in the air the entire trip, cause we just weren’t sure where we would want to go on our last day. Yesterday we thought we would want to go back to AK, to ride the Yeti again, and eat lunch at Tusker House. And yet, we just weren’t feeling it. Epcot again? Nah. Nothing could top last Saturday, and we had pretty much seen and done everything. Plus I was out of spending money, and what fun is the World Showcase if you don’t have any cash to burn on souvenirs? MGM? Nope….no good counter service restaurants there anyway. So, we decided to end our trip on a MK note. Why not? We know we love it. We don’t get there until 9:10 or so, as we wanted to check our luggage, etc. The night before, when we got mom’s glasses from the front desk, the CM had printed our SWA boarding passes for us, so we were set there. We had to be back by 2:40 for the Magical Express.

OK, so we get to the MK and we head to Tomorrowland. I direct mom to go wait for me by Buzz Lightyear, and I grab us some FPs for Peter Pan. I meet her by Buzz, taking note of all the places to use our snack credits. We ride Buzz- I got just under 300K. Not bad. Next we did Carousel of Progress- guess what- yet ANOTHER first for us! We loved it. Except the theater could have used a spritz of Febreeze. A bit musty. I can see why it’s a Disney classic. There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow……

Next up is TTA. Notice that we roller coaster fans did not go on Space Mountain. For some reason, I just do not like it at MK. I love it at DL, but it hurts my neck at MK- too rough or herky jerky or something. So, we skipped it. Mom grabs a Root Beer Float in Auntie Gravities. Instead of only 1 snack credit left, the ticket says we have 3! SCORE! I guess our popcorn and soda didn’t scan through last night or something. How exciting!

We move on to Peter Pan, which had about a 20 minute line by this points. The crowds were very tolerable this weekend- I recommend this time of year HIGHLY. If you get to the parks early and utilize FP, you will have no problemo getting to see everything you want. And did I mention the low humidity? Gotta love that.

Back from Neverland, we decide we’re hungry and go to Columbia Harbour House. It was open at 10:45….I thought we were going to have to wait around for 15 minutes. I got a tuna sandwich, chips, DC and cake, and mom got the fish, DC, and cake. We hoof it upstairs where the was the most darling older gentleman, in the corner table, nibbling on his chicken strips. I wanted to know his story- he was all alone and acted like a regular. I wonder who he was? He was so darn cute! What a great vantage point to people watch. I felt like a Queen, watching over my kingdom. I said to my mom that there should be an eject button for anyone wearing inappropriate foot attire, or crazy clothes combinations. And we could sit on our perch and hit our button as we please….aren’t we sweet and capture the endearing Disney spirit? Not quite.

Done with our lunch we wandered around Liberty Square for quite some time, shopping, perusing. We debated seeing the presidents, but I just wasn’t in the mood. What to do, what to do. I grab a pretzel, even though I wasn’t really that hungry, but the whole trip I wanted one. I meant to include that in yesterday’s report- for the life of me, I couldn’t find a hot pretzel in AK on Sunday. Apparently, they don’t fire up the pretzels until after 11. Same at MK. I wanted one for breakfast over at the Lunching Pad in Tomorrowland and was told, “Not til after 11.” Bummer. So I got one from a Frontierland cart (snack credit approved!) and sat in Adventureland and ate it while my mom talked to my dad on the phone. I ate only half and dumped the rest. We decided to go down Main St., and take a lap on the train one last time. And that we did. We love the train!

Time to go. We head back to POFQ one last time and refill our mugs one last time. I got a Powerade to take back to my boys – I just was so uninspired by POFQ’s snack selection. We get on the Magical Express bus and make several stops before we get to the airport. Our driver was talking the entire time as the video player was out, telling us stories about Walt Disney. But he got a bunch of facts wrong. I restrained my anal self from correcting him.

We make it to Orlando airport and get home about 9:45 pm Portland time. It was still 82 degrees in Portland! Did I not actually leave Florida? What was up with this weather!?

I had missed my kids so much, and really at times had to make an effort to make myself laugh and have fun. My DD is only 14 months and I had never left my boys for more than a night until they were two. And she wasn’t quite weaned, so it made for some sore moments on my part in the chestal area. DH let the boys stay up to see me- apparently they were both quite sad the last 24 hours I was gone and missing me a lot. Made DH a little sad because he was gone for 17 months, and they rarely, if ever cried. I tried to tell him it was just different with me- I was there with them during that time, and the 4 of us really had become bonded, more than most kids/parents I think. DS is still telling me, days later, “I sure missed you Momma….I’m so glad you’re home! I love you!” Awww…and I woke DD up so I could hold her for awhile. It was good to be home, but a fantastic trip overall!

I keep telling DH about the dining plan and how it’s so worth it. The only thing is, we qualify to stay at Shades of Green. We will have to do some serious math to figure out if it’s worth it to spend the extra money at a Disney resort to do the dining plan, or if we would save more by staying at Shades. But the WL is calling our name….however, the next WDW trip probably will not be for 3-4 years. Sigh. We need to go SOMEWHERE else before we go back to Disney. Probably Hawaii. Like I can complain about that! But we all know how Disney just calls your name, whispering for you to come on back.

Thanks for reading!

 

[kcdarr]

Great report. Thank you for sharing your trip.

 

[Tasha+Scott]

Great report, Robin! Some things that I wanted to comment on:
My mom and I took a girls-only trip a couple years ago and had a blast. My mom also payed my way. She also payed my way and my brother's way shortly after dh and I were married (I can't believe that trip was over 6 years ago though!) Gotta love the free trips with mom! We don't have any plans to do it any time in the near future but I hope to one day do it again! We made some awesome memories!

I also found Le Cellier to be overhyped. The food was good but definitely overrated. Glad I am not the only one that thought this! I was beginning to think something was wrong with me. Dh on the other hand raved about it. I took a lot of the same pictures of the Flower and Garden Festival. I love Epcot in May! Thanks for sharing your trip! It sounds like you had a great time!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reports ~ Thanx for sharing.

 

[kathmzh]

Wow, great report. It sounds like your batteries got a much-needed recharge, and the time your husband spent alone with the kids is a very good thing, too. Thanks for sharing!!

 

[averill94]

Thanks do much for reporting- sounds like a great much needed trip! Hope you got home refreshed and renewed
I am one of "those" that cant imagine going without my kids or dh but now that I've read your report......

Oh that poor Moe and Co - YIKES a slap in the face? Poor them- imagine what they get at home (Weve certainly had our moments at WDW but nothing like that)

 

[lissawynn]

Robin - Great trip report! I love your pics from the F&G fest, especially the one of Cinderella and Prince Charming. I'm glad you and your mom had such a good time! If anyone deserved a trip, you did! I can't wait to hear about DL this summer!

 

[mrstbalt]

What a nice report! We are going in late April into May next year, I hope the flower displays at Epcot will be there...beautiful! See you on the Gymbo boards!

 

[toyman70]

And might I add, that there are TONS of people out there who do NO research, nor do they read any literature posted or given to them upon arrive to WDW? I say that because I must have heard 25 different people saying, “Let’s go to Pirates now” and I guess they didn’t realize it was down for rehab. I mean, even before internet, I was Miss Anal, and would call the Disneyland hotline before a trip to find out which rides would be down for rehab so I could plan for any disappointments. I must say, MK didn’t seem as whole without Pirates to go on. For one ride, it seems to take a chunk out of my touring enjoyment when it’s not open.

sounds like a porn award
good report though,thanks

 

[heaven2dc]

Thank you for posting your pics and loved your report Robin!!

Hard to believe 82 degrees in Portland - wow! I grew up in Portland (John Marshall my alma mater (sp)) but lived in Gresham before we left in 1994.

You got awesome airfare for your trip too! Glad you had a great time with your mom - that pic of the two of you should be framed - beautiful!

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

I loved your report!!! I would love to plan a trip to WDW with my mom but she's just not into it. Hawaii is another story!

I am so glad you both enjoyed yourselves and you finally got to experience the world showcase exactly the way you've always imagined...

And I'll bet it was so nice to come home to your family...

Thanks for writing it, I truly enjoyed reading it!

 

[Alice28]

Thank you for posting your pics and loved your report Robin!!

Hard to believe 82 degrees in Portland - wow! I grew up in Portland (John Marshall my alma mater (sp)) but lived in Gresham before we left in 1994.

You got awesome airfare for your trip too! Glad you had a great time with your mom - that pic of the two of you should be framed - beautiful!

I know- I was stunned at the 82 degrees too! And then it was mid 80s the rest of the week and didn't really cool off at night. Weird!

Thanks everyone for the nice comments!

And um, Miss Anal as a porn name....hmmmm....kinda scary!

 

[disneyjunkie]

I so glad you posted this picture. I've booked Prime Time for our August trip. Since I have a small family(just son and I) I was afraid we wouldn't get seated at one of the nice tables. For some strange reason I was thinking those tables for only for large families.

 

[DisneyPhD]

Robin, I haven't finsihed yet, but I have to say, we ate at Pecos Bill on May 12th too. (but around 12:00, so we were there before you.) We also had a family from England close to us that we had a nice chat with. Too bad we didn't see each other! (we did stay at MK that night.)

I have to say that your trip report has got me thinking. We have AP that will be good in March, but we are going in Jan with the girls, and then the curise in May with my BIL and SIL. We would love to go in March too since DH has a week of for spring break, but I think taking my DD out of Kindergarden 3 times in one year is a bit much I don't think we should.

However if we could find someone to wacth the girls for us..................

We have never been apart from them (one night for our 10th wedding aniversay) and it will be 6 years by then. I think I could use it. Your trip sounds divine. DH and I would have blast (except we are are missing the girls, but we will buy them gifts..........

Anyway I look forward to reading the rest.