Dolphins, Rhinos, and Bed Bugs, Oh My!!! 5/19-6/2

[diswedwish]

My mom and my adventures to WDW

Cast - me, 28, super planner
my mom, 28 + 30, a Disney fanatic in training

A bit of background: When I was 5 my parents took me to WDW for the first time. We stayed off-property in a Days Inn, took afternoon naps, stayed out late at MK every night, waited 45 min. for my first ride (Dumbo, and waited an extra 5 min. for a pink elephant thank you very much!), watched Sally Ride take off in the distance, counted cockroaches in a gas station when our rental car broke down, rode It's a Small World and Pirates until my eyes fell out. How do I remember all this? Because my mom made a scrapbook and my dad typed up what we did every day. Because on way out on the monorail our last night I was on my dad's shoulders crying and informed them that I couldn't wait to be all grown up so I "could live in WDW".

Well, that didn't quite happen. lol. A lot of other stuff happened, see the Community Boards and past threads of mine if you're interested. In short, a lot of bad stuff in my life, and my parents supported me as they always have. I wanted to thank them. For me that means two words - Disney Trip!!!! To my dad my thank you was coming home again - enough said - no Disney trip necessary; the thought of an extended period of time with no set area to smoke and large amounts of people was not appealing. My mom was all ready to go

So, first, the time... My mom's retired so that wasn't an issue for her. I could do anytime between May and Sept. You've got to love working at a college! So, May it was. Then, the length of time. I wanted 2 weeks, and wouldn't you know, Allegiant, the discount air carrier near us only flies on certain days, and gee, it worked out to 2 weeks Although that did take some persuasion for my mother on why 14 nights was much much better than 10 days. But I won in the end... Did I mention I am an only child? lol

Then the long, long wait for AP rates began. I talked my mom into doing a split between POFQ and AKL. This was no mean feat considering that most of my childhood trips were spent in a Motel 6. Lots and lots and lots of persuasion. And somewhere along the line this got shifted from me paying for everything to us splitting things because "otherwise *you'll* call all the shots and *I* want to have some say in this". Okay, okay, but I did schedule and pay for some surprises which you'll read about later So eventually the AP rates came out - no POFQ for us, but 8 nights at POR and 6 nights at AKL pool view it was. Smoking please.

So let's discuss smoking and WDW. I don't smoke. Not going into morality at all - just the simple fact that touring WDW with a smoker is very different than going without smoking. My mom is nothing like my dad (he needs one about every 30 min) but I still needed to study the maps and figure out just where exactly these smoking areas were. I know WDW cold. I don't need a map. So I tried my hardest to memorize where these puppies were to make everything as smooth as possible.

The other issue was dining. I plan my trips around dining. My mom has IBS (irritable bowel syndrome). She has meds and they work, but food worries her. She is a little eater. She does not plan her life around the enjoyment of food. How sad... So I needed to introduce her to the ways of the force. I cut and pasted menus from All Ears (with prices removed) and pictures of places I enjoyed. She figured out how to go to All Ears and quickly got sticker shock. I told her we could split meals. Or that she could get an appetizer. Or that we could only eat 1 sit down a day. Anything, but not all counter service all the time. Not scary to eat at sit down places. Really So I planned all our ADRs including some of my favorites, a few new places and 2 character breakfasts for good measure.

Then the tours... Again, because of the IBS, she is leery of scheduling anything too early. I really really really wanted her to do the Backstage Safari tour. I had done it twice and knew she would love it. So I talked her into that too. And Cirque because I knew she loved that, since she loved the DVD. Did I mention I'm an only child?

And as her mother's day present/trip surprise I booked Dolphins in Depth. I figured it started at 9:30 - late enough so that we could just show up outside of Epcot and she wouldn't be suspicious and her IBS wouldn't bother her. She's always wanted to do some type of dolphin interaction experience and hasn't been able to yet, so I knew it would be a big hit. Maybe not as big a hit as her waiting with me for my pink Dumbo but I can only try, right?

Oh, yes, I booked Sun Ray for our town car transportation from Sanford, and we were just about ready to go!

 

[lauraf]

I am really enjoying your trip report, can't wait for more.

 

[OhMari]

Great start. How long did it take to get from Sanford to WDW.

 

[diswedwish]

My dad dropped us off at the Allentown airport after a slightly joking/slightly desparate admonishment from my mother not to leave her with the Disney nazi for 2 weeks. She was a little worried about being away from my father for 2 whole weeks - that's the longest that they've been apart since they were dating and that's been about 40 years. I hope to someday have as happy and successful a marriage as they have

I had to take off my brand new Crocs Athens sandals to go through security, other than that we made it through with no problems. Did I mention my new Crocs sandals and how happy I was to have found them 2 days before we left at Cabela's? I loved them. I wore them everyday. Everyone else hates them, but I love them. I also purchased regular Crocs in case I couldn't find the Athens - everyone hated them even more. I never did get to try them out except to the pool. But the Athens get a They felt like big comfy slippers, especially at first. I did get hideously ugly tan lines on my feet, but that's okay.

Anyway, our flight was very uneventful. Allegiant was fine. It's always interesting to note the differences between the flight to FL and back home again. The way there everyone is bursting with energy and perky. The flight attendants told us that if we wanted to we could write our names on a dollar bill, they'd collect them, someone would draw a name and win. Sadly we did not win. The flight home was different. Everyone slept. lol!

We arrived at Sanford on time. Bob from Sun Ray was waiting for us. This was a treat for my mom as she'd never had someone waiting with a sign for her before. Our luggage arrived fairly quickly and we were at Port Orleans Riverside within about 45-60 minutes I believe. I was a tad distracted since I'd just met my Prince Charming about a month before we left for our trip so I had a charming text message to answer, plus alligators to look for (we saw a big one on someone's dock), and Bob was very friendly (we exchanged our backyard bear stories versus backyard alligator stories) as well so the drive went by very fast.

Before I knew it we were pulling up to Port Orleans Riverside. I was very very excited to share what was my home away from home with my mother. The reason we had originally planned on POFQ was because my mom thought that staying at POR would bring back too many painful memories; but practicality won out - discount at POR and no discount at FQ. Besides she was the one that thought that *I* never did. And when we pulled up and got out and Bob pulled away I knew that I was right. It smelled right and looked right and felt right and it was wonderful to share all of that with my mom.

Unfortunately the bell hops did not seem to be feeling this sense of rightness since I think there was a shift change. Before I hopped out of the towncar and *poof* there they were. This time we hopped out and stared pointedly and I walked over and *poof* we were ignored. But I knew my way around, we were fresh, who cared if my mom is old, I'm excited and she can drag a suitcase if she has to!!! So we hauled our stuff in the lobby and I dumped her, um, politely told her to wait on one of the comfy round padded benches while I handled check-in.

By the time we arrived it was between 4-5 pm so I figured our room would be ready and I was right. I made sure we had a smoking room and asked if anything was available in the AB section since I hadn't specified when I made the reservation. No luck, but we ended up with a very lovely room in Oak Manor. I think that was secretly what my mom wanted anyway, so it worked out. The whole process took all of about 15 minutes waiting included. Very much faster than I expected on a Friday afternoon!

Our journey continued as we trekked to the room. Because I wasn't about to go get bell services. We'd made it this far after all. Besides, while I knew what we were in for, my mother didn't. "Sure, it's that building right over there, not far at all" About halfway over the bridge I think my mom was ready to kill me (or was convinced I was trying to kill her) since it was hot and humid and she did have a heart attack some years back after all (in my defense that was in '94 and she's been just fine since). But no, we found our room on the third floor of Oak Manor and she was happy with it. Especially once we cranked up the AC and she had a cigarette and called my father to inform him of my foiled attempt to kill her. Meanwhile, I travel often, so I had us unpacked in literally 5 minutes flat.

"You ready yet, huh? huh? huh? huh? Let's go, go, go, go, go!!!!!"

 

[diswedwish]

Ah yes, so I hauled my mother off of her bed and drug her out of the door. Thankfully it was easy for me to navigate my way around Riverside, and we were quickly at the boat dock for DD. One of my piano students was performing in his high school madrigal group in DD and we would make it in time to see him sing. At his last lesson, he had told me he would be in WDW and performing but, in typical high school senior fashion, did not know what day or where that would be. So I looked it up on Steve Soares' site and lo and behold it was listed.

We endured the long, hot and humid boat ride there. I had been very excited about sharing this with my mother, but somewhat to my dismay we got one of those extremely perky yet extremely corny (a tad too corny for our taste) drivers. It was a looooooooooong ride. lol! My mom was fascinated by the tree houses and wanted to know when we could stay there. Again She was excited to see the Cirque tent, where we would see Cirque the following night.

She was even more excited to see that there are no designated smoking areas in DD - basically find a trash can and there you are. Okay, maybe I exaggerate a bit, but it was a bit of a relief for me not to have to hunt down a specific area. So we wandered into an air conditioned store after we found the stage where my beastie (my common nickname for my piano students, as differentiated from my college kids or my "singers") would be performing. I tried to find the giant kaleidoscope only to be told that it was no longer there My mom was amused by the giant spitting Stitch outside of one of the stores whose name escapes me - World of Disney, Once Upon a Toy? My mom also purchased her AP, and I activated mine.

Then we watched the madgrigal choir - um, misnamed show choir. They were pretty good and my piano student had a brief solo. I said hello on his way out and I think he was shocked that I was there. Then we went back into World of Disney to do some serious shopping with our very new AP discounts. I restrained myself and chose only a few items. Really. Only one sparkly $50 t-shirt that I would only consider purchasing at WDW. And no princess hats - I had visions of myself and my mom in matching princess hats, you know the ones that you build yourself with the veil and snap on princess parts. Boy, was that notion quickly squashed by my mom! I did manage to buy those Mickey head ball shaped pony tail holders (I have long hair) - but she doesn't so that wasn't quite as much fun as matching. So no cute headbands and/or hats. And since I am still the spoiled only child, at check-out my mom informed me that she would be buying with her "mad $" that "my dad didn't know about". Works for me

By that time I figured it would be late enough that it was time to expose my mother to the wonders of Rainforest Cafe. "Really, mom, it's a quiet, subdued restaurant, serving tiny portions of quality cuisine that you will enjoy" No, I told her the truth - the thunderstorms, loud sounds, screamy children, the fact that I had a Safari Club card so we wouldn't have to wait and we'd get a free appetizer (translation she'd get a free meal) . Yes, so I saw the sign out front about making reservations even with a Safari Club card and freaked. Then I went to the desk and asked. Sure enough, we were quickly ushered into the depths of the "quiet subdued" restaurant.

It still took some time, but we were seated along the wall. I graciously gave my mother the table that overlooked the restaurant so she could see everything and our very friendly waitress came to take our order. Diet be hanged, I ordered a Rainbow Colada, and my mom ordered her standard glass of Zinfindel. One recurring problem of the trip that we noticed - the pushing of alcohol by our friendly servers. Due to her blood pressure meds and her small size, my mom's limit is one glass, otherwise she'd be in the bathroom puking her guts out all night. However, this is not exactly the most polite thing in the world to share with your friendly servers and they'd say "but it's vacation, blah, blah, blah". Most times one "no" was not enough, even if accompanied by "due to my medication". So be forewarned if you have similar problems.

So next to us was (surprise, surprise) a screamy child. A very very unhappy screaming child, with a very very unhappy screaming mother who was very very loudly screaming that the child needed unsalted mac 'n cheese. This is after said child was given salt by said mother after screaming. Our friendly waitress obliged, returned with new mac'ncheese and a repeat of the same. After 2 weeks of seeing incidents like this one my mother and I agreed that they must give the workers happy pills to work at Disney because for the most part everyone remains calm and happy. In any event, we heaved a sigh of relief (as did our waitress) when they left.

So in the meantime we observed a thunderstorm and placed our order. We decided to use the Safari card to get $8.99 off the awesome appetizer adventure and split that. Then we split the stuffed lobster. I used my persuasive techniques for lobster on the first night of vacation for that one You see my childhood vacations consisted of breakfast - tastycakes, lunch - bread picnic in the car (see the Great Salt Lake Jamie, there it goes, we don't need to stop), dinner - Grand Slam at Denny's. I know that's how they were able to afford us going away to so many places and I should just be quiet, but now that I'm older and we're able, it was time to splurge

We ended up stuffed, it was way more than enough food for both of us. My mother enjoyed the experience but it was time to go. Especially since a table of about 8 very very drunk guys sat down next to us. My mom was getting a tad freaked out by the whole situation (no guys with us), so we asked for our bill and high-tailed it out of there.

Then it was time for - you guessed it - a cigarette! And the obligatory phone calls to our 2 Prince Charmings, the elder (don't tell my dad I called him that) and the younger. Mine first though since my mom was occupied with her cigarette. It was a perfect conversation - looking over the lights of DD reflecting on the water, feeling the warm air that was about 20 degrees warmer than at home, knowing I still had 2 weeks at WDW ahead of me, knowing I had my new found Prince at home who missed me very much to look forward to seeing after Disney, and laughing at all of the funny things that he was saying and making him laugh.

So after my mom called the Elderly Prince, we caught the boat back to Riverside where I purchased my refillable mug and discovered that yes the DDE works at the food court in POR, and yes, you can use the discount on a refillable mug. We returned to our room and I discovered that while my mother is an excellent traveling companion, she snores

Up next... Expedition Everest, Cirque, and Fulton's

 

[Disney owl]

Great start

looking forward to the rest.

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

Can't wait to read more!

 

[diswedwish]

Before our trip I had prepped my mom as to what to expect. I am not very good with keeping secrets. I had described Mickey (and Stitch's) wake-up call with great glee. Imagine my consternation when the wake-up call was just that - she picked it up and there was dead silence This happened for several mornings. I tried different times - 7:07 instead of 7 with the same result. We had better luck at AKL. Me and my big mouth...

Anyway, I bounced out of bed cheefully at 6:45 am and my mother seemed a bit confused. Usually me and morning do not equate cheerfulness. She followed behind after the usual morning cigarette which equaled some cheerfulness. She expressed her concern on the way to the food court that at night alligators would lurk in the Sassagoula River and attack us on our way back. Did I mention that she is an avid reader and enjoys horror novels? I laughed and told her that I would walk on the river side.

We had a very nice breakfast at the food court. My mother, true to form, decided to get a child's breakfast and water (which is free). She did this most of the trip and it was enough for her. I got my adult breakfast platter and ended up stuffed. I did not get water, but instead filled up on coffee, or what passes for coffee there anyway. Put enough equal and creamer in and I don't care. Give me caffeine and lots of it and I'm happy

Then we were off to the bus stop. Another worry of my mother's. I had told her that I knew every bathroom from here to Timbuktu in Disney, but that there would be a brief period of time (again note my exaggeration with the word "brief") when she would be on the bus when there would be no bathroom access. This is worrying to a person with IBS. Thankfully this morning the AK bus came right away, and we arrived at AK with no problems. Oh yes, and my Prince began the start of what became a tradition - I would text him where we were headed and he would call on his way to work and we would talk for a few minutes. It was another pleasant start to my day.

While we were waiting for park opening one of my mother's "to-do's" appeared. Now, during the trip planning phase, I dumped all of my planning materials on the sofa. Much to my surprise, my mother actually read through them all and took notes on what she wanted to see and do. One of those things was Wes Palm. So I was very happy that before we even entered a park, she got to see something. She was very amused.

Now AK is my second favorite park after MK. Okay, check that, when it is cool out in Jan., Feb, or Nov, AK is my second favorite park. I love wandering the trails and taking the time to really explore. I'd forgotten what it was like to do AK in the heat. It is torture. There is little AC. It is no fun at all. Yep. Scratch AK off my favorite list for now anyway. But that came a bit later. For now I was all excited to run off to do Everest!!!!! And as I was saying, AK is usually a favorite. I know how to approach it - slowly, with care, really looking around at everything.

Yep, so I told my mom we were running to Everest as fast as she could manage. Screw all of that stop and smell the roses stuff, we could do that later. I can't believe I did that to her! Or to me. But a new coaster awaited! I am a bit of a coaster fanatic. I love coasters. My second favorite park is Cedar Point (well as far as coasters go it is first but don't tell Mickey). So I was very excited. My mom is not so much of a coaster fanatic. Give her the train. That is about as much excitement as she can handle. But I had given her a very detailed run through of how the "chicken exit" works - down to how at ToT the chicken exit is an actual elevator. She agreed to walk through the queues with me the first time to get that experience anyway.

So we got to EE pretty quickly. Fast enough that we were able to get FPs and then walk through the stand-by line. My mom exited and I asked very politely if I could please ride in the front. Score!!!!! Yay!!!!! I loved Everest. Very detailed, and a very good ride. Not Millenium Force or Top Thrill Dragster, but definitely my favorite WDW coaster. My mom was waiting in the convenient gift shop that they have located at the exit of the ride. We were quite surprised to find a gift shop there

So then it was time to find a smoking area. The ones in AK are very nice. Although sadly all of my time trying to memorize where they were was not effective. I needed a map... So then it was time to do Pangani while I waited for the FP time. This is when I began to realize how much more enjoyable AK is when it is below 95 degrees... After Pangani, guess what? Time for my FPs and a convenient place to leave my mother was - you guessed it a smoking area!! But on the way to EE I noticed Devine, another "to do" on my mother's list. So I ran back, grabbed my mother and ran to Devine. We enjoyed watching her do suggestive things with the trees for several minutes, then I told my mom to go pose with her. Which, even though my mom is quite shy, she did. So now we have pitures

Then I led her back to the smoking area (my mom is pretty bad with directions), and went over to EE to use both FPs. The first time, it wasn't too crowded, so I very politely asked if I could ride in the back and was told yes. Double yay!!!!! The back was much better, but I was glad to have ridden in the front the first time around. The second time it was pretty crowded, so I just took what they gave me, the middle. Then I retrieved my mom (smoking areas are handy places to leave someone who is bad with directions) from the shady, cool smoking area and we tried our luck with the Safari. Our luck was in and we had a good time on that. See, no hills, my mom can handle that... I took many many baby elephant pictures and told my mom what their names were and what they meant. She laughed and told me to tell Andre (my prince) later to see if I could scare him; he only laughed. He has no idea.

By that time we were hot, tired, and hungry. I wanted my mom to see FOTLK before Cirque, so we decided to try Pizzafari for lunch since it was both on the way and air conditioned. But on the way we saw Princess Anett from a Bug's Life and I didn't have her autograph. My mother insisted we stop since she wanted to try this whole autograph business and we got a picture with her. Her first character picture since I was 5. Very cute

We split a mediocre pizza and water (hard to mess up water) at Pizzafari. I was happy for the DDE discount. We were still early for the Lion King, and I had never seen Pocahontas, so we decided to catch the training show for that. I didn't know what to expect. Yep, yep, that's about it. lol. Not much. It was semi-interesting, but not very. One part was neat since a hawk flew fairly low above the audience and its jesses hit my mom's head. A precursor of things to come...

I was still hot, so I decided to get a waffle cone before I turned into a whiny 28 year-old who sounded like a 5 year-old. Oh yes, and my mother enjoyed another cigarette. And got Kenai's autograph. She was enjoying the whole autograph thing. On previous trips I had gotten several, so I made a list of whose I had and she made it her quest to get those I didn't have.

Then we saw FOTLK which my mother really enjoyed. She wanted to see it again, but we never got around to it. At that point we had both had it with the heat, so after yet another cigarette - and taking all these cigarette breaks did allow me to stop and notice things like the different trash cans in the different areas and the fact that I never sat down in Camp Minnie-Mickey for longer than 2 seconds before and it's well themed too! so it worked out in the end - we headed back to POR to change for Cirque.

 

[VanniGirl]

Great report - looking forward to the rest.

 

[diswedwish]

We returned to POR, showered, and felt slightly less repulsive, hot and sticky. At least until we opened the door... But at least we looked a little nicer. We opted for the bus to DD this time to at least enjoy a bit of air conditioning. My mother was a bit confused when we didn't get off at Marketplace, but trusted me when I told her that there would be much less walking involved to get off at PI.

Then we passed the Planet Hollywood store. Now usually I don't go in for any type of "saying" shirts unless they're Disney. But the "You can't afford me" in rhinestones shirt, now that one just screamed "Buy me, buy me right now!!!". So I did. I'll wear it when I'm out with the girls since Andre didn't seem to appreciate the humor in that one very much . By this point I was greatly enjoying my AP since I got a discount there too.

A stop had to be made at the Cirque store before Cirque so I could purchase the Cirque CD. Last time it was the DVD, this time the CD. Now the circle is complete. Then we found our seats, 203 FF 3 and 4 and settled in for the show. My mom had never seen Cirque before except the DVD which doesn't count since they focus in on what they want you to see.

Once the show started she loved every minute of it. Especially the aerial silk ballet. So I met Andre at the gym (we went to the same college for 4 years and never met but met at the gym go figure) and he said without sounding like a jerk if that's at all possible that he was working on his 6-pack (pretty close actually). My mother didn't know what that was. Then she saw the ribbon guy as he will be known henceforth. She leaned over and whispered "Is that a 6-pack? I didn't know it was possible to have so many muscles!" Followed quickly by "Do you think your father would mind if we took him back to our room?" La, la, la, I don't want to know what she thinks about in that way

So after Cirque we went outside and found a smoking area - kudos to my mom for making it over 2 1/2 hours without one! We then made the long walk over to Fulton's. My parent's friends have eaten here and rave about it; I have also eaten here many times while on the dining plans and had enjoyed it. This was my first time without any type of plan and first time with my mom, and she was in sticker shock before we went but willing to try since she had these good reviews.

I guess you can guess how our time was... First we had to wait about 45 min., even with the ADR, which I'd warned her about since it was a Sat. night. Then we were seated downstairs and it was very loud. Our server came and my mom got her usual Zinfindel, I decided to be virtuous and have a diet coke. Here we decided not to split anything; my mom would get an appetizer, I would get a meal. Our server did not appear to be too thrilled with this and from this point on our service was lousy. I understand that we did not spend a lot of $ and that we were not a big party, but come on, we tip well if we're treated well! So it took quite a while to get everything, he disappeared for extended periods of time, didn't refill my mom's water or my drink, and we practically had to beg for the check. My mom got the chilled king crab leg/shrimp appetizer and I had some kind of fish dinner. Both of us thought the food was just kind of -eh, not great and certainly not what we had hoped for. Definitely the worst time I've had here - best company, but worst service and food. Oh well.

Then I decided it was time to relive my childhood and do the build your own My Little Pony at Once Upon a Toy. That was fun. I don't think my mom had as much fun as me, but she did have plenty of time to have a cigarette Then we took the bus back to POR, made our calls to our respective princes (my dad did not quite appreciate my mom's fondness for the ribbon guy) and crashed. Or rather, my mother fell asleep and started snoring instantly, I stared at the ceiling and hoped that soon I would be so exhausted that I too would fall asleep instantly.

Up next: IBS strikes! MK and Tony's

 

[exwdwcm]

enjoying your report, thanks for sharing!

 

[diswedwish]

No early wake-up call today. Well okay, 8 am would be considered early in the real world, but still. I became a bit concerned as my mother disappeared into the depths of the bathroom for longer than 10 min. and didn't reappear. IBS had reared its ugly head. *Sigh* She insisted that I ditch her and she would join me later. Now what kind of daughter would I be to do that? At least at this point, give me a few days then I'll do that

So we hung out in the room for a while. Eventually we headed for the food court, mostly so my mom could stare at the inside of another bathroom for a while. I had breakfast (with the DDE discount) and people watched. And worried about 5/25 the scheduled Dolphins day that I hadn't told her about. Should I tell her so she was super pilled up and ready to go? But that would ruin the surprise. Then my stomach started to hurt... Usually I just get migraines, but on occasion I get stomachaches too - mine pale in comparison to my mother's however.

Eventually she felt well enough to attempt the bus ride to MK. She did okay and we headed for Tomorrowland. The upside of her having a stomachache is that she doesn't smoke as much. Bathrooms are easier for me to find So I left her at the bathroom by Space Mountain and got FPs for that. When she felt okay we headed for Stitch. She watches every Disney movie with me so she was familiar with all the characters. And she'd been on the old Alien Encounter. Surprisingly she loved Stitch's Escape. I'd always thought it was okay, but we ended up doing this at least 4 times this trip, I was really surprised. We also did a spin on the TTA and reminisced about how we used to ride this when I was 5 and we were waiting for my dad to get off of Space Mountain. Then I drug her through the queue for SM - couldn't quite convince her to try it though. She thouroughly kicked my rear at Buzz. I stink at Buzz. I told her this. She still gloated. Every single time we did this during the whole trip. At least she was happy

Throughout all of this she visited the bathroom numerous more times. I visited the FP machines at various other rides for later times. It actually worked out - leave my mom in the AC while I run all over in the heat. I didn't mind. We got to ride Winnie the Pooh which she thought was cute. Haunted Mansion and Small World were some of my favorites from when I was little - and guess what, she had stomachaches on them then too - so it was really a flashback for her! No, by that time her meds had kicked in and she was feeling much better. Hot and her mouth was dried out (side effect from the meds) but not in the bathroom every 2 seconds. Life was good.

She felt good enough to attempt lunch and I chose Columbia Harbour House. I was new to most of these counter service places, so I was just hoping for the best. I had eaten here on the Keys to the Kingdom tour, and knew about the upstairs dining room and how quiet it was so that's where we went. I had the chicken/fish combo meal and my mom had a kid's meal. We were both happy with our meal. My mom was starting to get used to Disney prices.

After lunch we wandered over to Big Thunder Mountain and Splash to get FPs. It was HOT so we wandered through some stores and took in Cinderellabration. Eh. Now I've seen it. Yep, yep. We saw the Tiki Room. I saw the smoking area and enjoyed a Dole Whip. My mom watched. lol. Somewhere around here was where we heard the typical hear it once in your vacation "So, we're going to MGM today, that's in here right on the other side of Splash, right?". *sigh*. My mom called me a Disney snob when I snickered. I suppose...

I dumped, er, left my mom at the smoking area in Adventureland and headed back to Frontierland to use my FPs. On the way I called one of my friends who had been at Disney with her husband, 2 year old and family the week before we arrived and said "guess where I am now?" That was fun since I hadn't gotten to talk to her and hear how their trip had been yet. Not that I could talk very long, but it was still nice to hear about it a little bit.

After riding both BTMRR and Splash and returning back to my very worried mother (I'd forgotten to explain how long Splash takes) we rode Jungle Cruise. My mom said "but it seemed so much better when you were little". Well, yes, sort of. Then we headed back to Main Street to wait for our ADR at Tony's. We amused ourselves at Exposition Hall at all of the photo ops. I'd read about them, but had never really poked around and found them. This time I did, it was very cute and we had fun.

After our time at Fulton's, I was very concerned about Tony's. I've eaten there many times and like it - it's nothing out of this world, but I like it. My mom loves Lady and the Tramp so I thought she'd like it, but you never know... We had to wait a long time past our ADR to be seated, and for some reason the movie wasn't playing in the waiting room like it usually is. So we just people watched. That was fun.

We got a wonderful table in the sun room right next to the window and our waitress was very friendly. We had a great view of Spectro, so it was well worth the wait and we really enjoyed our meal. Phew, another worry of mine gone... My mom played it safe and had soup as her entree. I had the seafood pasta which was very good. We both had dessert - she had the tiramisu and I had the creme brulee.

After dinner we waded our way up Main Street and got a spot on the Tomorrowland Bridge to watch Wishes. The only Disney night show my mother had seen was Fantasmic and she was blown away by that, so I was fairly certain she would love Wishes. We had a great view of Tinkerbell and my mom was fascinated that the fireworks made shapes and loved it. Not quite as much as the ribbon guy, but what can you do

Then my mom got to experience the joy that is catching a Disney bus after the fireworks. Yesiree Bob, that's some fun. Then we talked to our respective Princes. My mom told my dad what we'd been having to eat the past few nights. What had my dad had for dinner? Yes, that's right, soup out of the can. Out of the can? Cold? Yes, that way he wouldn't have to dirty any dishes heating something up. After I reassured my mom that she shouldn't feel guilty, I told her that the ribbon guy was sounding better and better wasn't he?

Up next: MGM and my mother's Mickey melt-down

 

[MelessaG]

see the Great Salt Lake Jamie, there it goes, we don't need to stop

That's exactly how my Dad took us to Washington DC the first time. Actually, a lot of your childhood vacation memories sound similar to mine. I had better luck with the Mickey/Stitch calls at AKL too, much to the disappointment of my daughter on our following trip to POR.

I can't wait for more report!

 

[diswedwish]

I can't believe I forgot these

You know those moments you have when you see the Castle. We all them in some way or another. Now my family (consisting of my mom, my dad, and myself), we are not criers. We are not huggers. We are not touchy-feely people. We do not say "I love you". We are not gushy or mushy. Do I know they love me? Oh my, yes. They show it in a thousand ways. My mom does cry at Bambi and just about every Disney movie. Silently and hides her tissue. I cry during Wishes and Illuminations. Silently and try to hide my tissue.

So I wondered what she would do when she saw the Castle. I watched. Unobtrusively. She didn't tear up. Damn, I had failed. I had hoped for some Then she turned to me and started pointing out all of the gold characters which she thought were very cool. We began walking into Tomorrowland and she told me that she didn't know how she was going to be able to leave this after 2 weeks. Okay, my task here was done, no tears necessary.

The other moment was after Philharmagic. That is my favorite 4D movie by far. I was hoping she would like it. She did. And I thought it was the neatest thing how she kept wondering how they did that - how they made the stuff come out at you so it looked the same for everyone. "It's magic mom". lol

 

[diswedwish]

After an 8 am wake-up call "Must we really get up this early?" my mother groaned. We were out the door on our way to a sit-down breakfast at Boatwright's. I had my usual banana stuffed French toast and my mom tried the sweet potato pancakes (wow, finally an adult meal!!). I was glad she got those because I finally got a chance to sneak a bite, they were good. Mine was better but hers was good too. She asked for the recipe and 2 seconds later our server came back with a print out of it. All in all a wonderful breakfast!

Once we got to MGM I was in somewhat of a tough spot. I hadn't done MGM where I needed to do all the shows and stuff in a while. MGM doesn't lend itself well to this and I was somewhat frustrated. It actually worked out just fine and I was all in a tizzy about having to run back and forth and wasting time for nothing...

First I got us FP for RnR (my mom loves Aerosmith - not as much as the Ribbon guy, but enough to walk through the queue). Then we did the Magic of Disney Animation. She'd never seen the original one with the real live animators and the cartoon with Robin Williams so she thought it was very cute. I kept my mouth shut as much as possible. We skipped the drawing class at the end. One of these days I will force myself to actually try that. Not this time though... Then back to the obligatory smoking area and RnR. This was very funny since once we got out of the pre-show and were in the actual line we were in front of a 75 year old woman who was riding by herself. I ended up riding with her. She was attempting to talk my mother into riding with me I just kept thinking "I know you mean well, but give it up, you could be 105 and there could be a 2 year old here and she still wouldn't ride". My mom met up with me in the *surprise!* gift shop. She had been talking with a woman who was telling my mom how she had been in the front row of an Aerosmith concert - close enough to get Steven Tyler's sweat on her. My mom was still considering whether this was a good or a bad thing. Thankfully, to my way of thinking, she decided this was gross. So we moved right along to get our ToT FPs...

We were able to do the Backlot Tour which my mom enjoyed, breifly drug her through the Honey I Shrunk the Kids Playset (I think we went inside exclaimed "boy it's hot!" and left) and Millionaire (guess it's a good thing we did that!) and it was time for our ToT FPs. Here my mom was prepped for the chicken exit or I think she would've killed me. She waited by the exit before the *surprise* gift shop and made friends with another scared person. This one was a very straightlaced teen from England. Apparently this guy came off with tons of tattoos, numerous body piercings, and so on and my mom asked him why he didn't dress that way. "My mum would kill me" was his reply. I asked her to please stop hitting on strange men when she told me. How could I ride my favorites if she intended to *gasp* talk to people?! She wasn't allowed to do that!!!

Then it was time for lunch in a dark place that she wouldn't be allowed to converse with people - Sci-Fi. My mom is a big Sci-Fi person. She watches Star Trek and Stargate and all of those types of shows. Give me Lord of the Rings and Star Wars and fantasy books, but I'm not so into those old horror/sci-fi movies. Still I'd eaten here before and knew she would enjoy the atmosphere.

We were "hitch hikers" in the rear of someone's car in the front row. I didn't realize that for someone with IBS that they actually like to *see* the food they intend to eat - thereby knowing whether it will make them sick. Oops. So she ordered chili and then picked at it. She said it tasted good but was afraid to eat it since she couldn't see it. Oh well. I enjoyed my diet coke, milkshake, bbq chicken sandwich and fries very much. She doesn't need to eat. Right? j/k She said that her stomach hurt anyway. But I think that was just a vain attempt to put on a brave face for the rest of the day. Or something. She did enjoy the movie clips very much.

After my sizeable lunch and her water we watched the Indiana Jones show which left my mother unimpressed (she's not big on stunt shows). We did find the well and this she found cool. We also found the smoking area which got a We did Star Tours which she enjoyed - she likes the simulators. We watched Muppets which was a hit. By Lights, Motors, and Action she was really dragging and was not a happy camper. Did I mention that she hates stunt shows. I really wanted to see it. It was on my AP after all and I like cars. I had to endure several biting not so nice comments from my mom about the nature of the show and the bleachers and the heat. I thought it was a neat show - not something I'd see more than once a trip, but a neat show.

To be continued...

 

[diswedwish]

First, thank you all for your kind replies And thank you also to those who just read (that's what I usually do since I don't know what to say)

So we had just left LMA and the hot hot hot bleachers with my mom complaining rather loudly. I figured a cigarette should do the trick. For her anyway. Yep Temporarily... She did suggest that we should get a weapon, er, a stroller. Even though we didn't have a child. Just for the pleasure of running people down. People were starting to get to her. I suggested she have another cigarette. She agreed.

I figured some quiet air conditioned attractions were in order before Fantasmic because I knew how that would be as far as people went, so did she for that matter... So we headed for One Man's Dream and Narnia. We didn't see Narnia until we got back, but it was still just what we needed at the time, nice, AC and quiet. Then we waited for Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Is it me or have they taken a lot of stuff out of that? It seems that way every time I go. And Eric's role is just so sad. What does he have, one line?

This prompted a discussion on the way over to Fantasmic about the limited role of princes in Disney movies. We all know that the Disney princesses are by far more important as they should be but it's rather sad that the princes are for the most part merely ornamental arm candy. We're not talking about the more recent ones like the Beast, more like Cinderella's Prince Charming (he doesn't even have a name!), Snow White's Prince, etc, etc. I suppose we shouldn't be analyzing these types of things. Just like the ribbon guy - just admire from a distance and don't think too much

So by that time Fantasmic was about to start. It was my bright idea to just sit/stand in the standing section instead of in the regular seating so we could get out faster. Especially since we'd both seen this before. So we calculated the amount of $ that must be spent each night on the flashy light thingys and I wondered what my mother's reaction would be if I started begging her for a flashy light up wand. Eventually it started and we enjoyed the show. I was a tad distracted by the Illuminations fireworks in the distance, but managed to enjoy the show. We followed the herd out "moo!" and we went to the buses. My mom refused a smoke break. She just wanted to get to POR and maybe have a bite to eat.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out what was about to happen. She was hungry, tired, and crabby. Add to that the tiredness of pushy shovy people and the fact that she was into a bit of nicotine withdrawal. So we got to the food court and I got in line for a meatball sub. She got in line for something else. At the wrong end. And no one told her until bunches of people got into the other end and someone snapped at her. After about 10 min. of waiting. She had her Mickey melt down and started to cry (okay, we do cry sometimes). I had my food by then and paid quickly.

We went outside and I told her we'd go back to the room. I didn't think she could find it by herself yet. She said she just wanted to sit and smoke for a minute. I scarfed down my dinner as fast as I possibly could and then we walked back to the room. I left her alone so she could call her Prince and cry. And I could call my Prince and tell him all about my day. Which was fun even though I felt slightly bad about leaving my mom in the room, but she *had* asked me to leave after all. So I wandered around by the fountain in front of Oak Manor and watched the rabbits, and wandered by the gazebo and wandered along the river with an eye out for those pesky imaginary alligators while talking to my prince. I wander while I talk in case you couldn't tell. It was very much fun and gave me the chance to soak in the atmosphere of the resort which otherwise I wouldn't normally do.

Then I wandered back to the room and felt really bad since my mom who is slightly cell phone challenged couldn't get decent reception with her cell phone so she had just been sitting there eating animal crackers and tea after getting a shower. In the end that worked out better since she had time to feel better before calling my dad and he didn't worry about driving to FL to make her feel better. And she didn't feel so guilty about having a nice dinner while he had cold soup out of a can since she didn't have dinner

Although my father was beginning to get bored which is a dangerous thing. My dad is slightly OCD (my term). He cleans. He does yardwork, we havea very pretty yard with waterfalls and paths and gardens that he built himself. He has projects. Like getting a couple dumptruck loads of mulch or stone and hauling it all over. And he has a hernia. Or two - that aren't quite bad enough for surgery just yet. And he cleans the gutters himself. And power washes the house if he can borrow a friend's power washer. My mother understandably worries about all of these projects so he told her about a select few that he had planned when we were away. The rest we found out about after we returned. Today he told her that he waxed the washer and dryer and hot water heater. Why? Who knows. But you can see your face in them. Tune in later and you'll hear about what else he waxed But tomorrow was golf day (every Tues. and Thursday) so at least we knew he wouldn't hurt himself and he'd be fed.

Up next: Epcot, Le Cellier, Illuminations, and more IBS - can I keep my secret?

 

[missj1975]

I love your trip report so far. Can't wait for the rest

 

[diswedwish]

Another 8 am wake-up call followed by a brief detour at the bathroom. I caved slightly and told my mom that later in the week on a day that I couldn't specify she would need to take her meds and be ready to go early. "What day? Why?" "Oh before Sat." "WHAT DAY?!" "I'll tell you later".

Luckily I got off easily... We had breakfast at the food court. My mom had yet another kid's meal for breakfast. As soon as we got to Epcot it was time for me to hit another new ride - Soarin'. One even my mom would ride!! We picked up FPs for later and watched Circle of Life. Now I can say that I've seen it. Yep, yep... Then we did Journey into your Imagination or whatever it's called. My mom really liked that one. Another surprise for me - that she liked it so much that is. We played around in Imageworks for a while then found the smoking area on the way back to Soarin.

Wow, Soarin'. We both loved it So we got another round of FPs for later. Living with the Land's line wasn't too long so we rode that. Then we went to the Living Seas where we saw Calvin and Rainier and wait were there more dolphins than on my last visit?! My mom knew I had done Dolphins in Depth on my last trip, but thankfully she didn't ask any questions. Do you know how hard it was for me to keep my mouth shut?!?!?!?! Meanwhile she's still asking why she needs to drug up one morning this week. Anyway, we visited Nemo but decided to save Crush for another time since the line was very very very very long.

We still had some time before our FP so we headed over to Spaceship Earth. My mom wanted to know if it was possible to etch off pictures from the Leave a Legacy tombstones and I told her that they were only temporary, not to scare the poor Cast Members... Instead, I told her that I would be much happier if she rode Test Track with me. I had been lobbying for this since we had decided on the trip. She thought it would be like a coaster which equals scary with hills to her. I explained that it was like driving with me in my Miata (boy do I miss that car being practical and "adult" stinks!!) - you just go fast in a circle at the very end. So she agreed that I could get some FPs later.

Then we headed for Universe of Energy. When I was 5 we came to Epcot. It was really hot then too, and the trees were much smaller. The lines were very long my mom informed me, and the only ride we did was Universe of Energy which I loved because of the dinosaurs. I told her that she would really love it because it was air conditioned. So we passed a pleasant air conditioned 45 minutes.

Remember those books my mom read? I tried to get her to try Beverly. Note the word tried She remembered that. We ate a late lunch at Sunshine Seasons - this was my mom's favorite counter service lunch of the trip. She had some sort of oriental kiddie meal. Then we went on Soarin' again

Then we tried Honey I Shrunk the Audience. My mom agreed that out of the 4 movies, this she liked the least. Still neat, but not as good. At some point in here we got our TT FPs. And went to Mexico and Norway and the boat rides in each. Hey, my mom was pretty brave going on Maelstrom if you ask me We even watched the movie on the way out; it was actually quite pretty I'd never bothered to watch it before .

On the way to TT she needed a cigarette or 3. We entered the FP queue, got in line for the pre-show and it promptly broke down. We were behind a grandma and her 2 grandkids aged 5 or 6 and 8. The 5 year old girl proceeded to give us a play by play of the entire ride once she knew that my mom was scared. It was absolutely adorable. Then she continued with ToT. My mom still wasn't convinced with that one.

She survived and even lived to tell another scared woman in the smoking area outside that it wasn't that bad, she should try it.

And we were off for dinner at Le Cellier one of my favorites. We approached the check-in podium and saw numerous people being turned away since they didn't have ADRs. I was so happy to actually tell the girl that we had ADRs since she looked pretty down to have to tell people that they weren't seating anymore. We were seated right away and had a wonderful dinner. My mom had *gasp* a real adult meal!!!!!!!! She started with the closest thing they had to Zinfindel, I had some kind of red wine. I had the salmon which was quite good, she had the pork chop. We split the dessert trio. It was heavenly. We needed to be rolled out.

I got to talk to my Prince early tonight before Illuminations began. So tonight I overlooked the gardens in Canada and listened to the "in just 10 min." "in just 5 min." and he asked confusedly "what is that?". We were situated very close to a convenient smoking area (this one I planned ahead for after the whole Fantasmic thing - after dinner we get the smoking and the fireworks). My mom liked Illuminations. Wishes was still her favorite though.

We returned back to the room. On the way I finally broke down about the dolphins. I had to; she had begun worrying. We are all excellent worriers. She thought that we had to be out of the room at a certain time because I was having it decorated, or because I'd arranged a special meet with the ribbon guy, or because we were going to a Princess breakfast, or because she had a private meeting with Mickey, you see where this is going. And this is just one day of worrying. She had a few days left yet. So I told her. She was ecstatic and very happy that I had told her. Then she yelled at me about how much it cost - shouldn't have let her read my books She thanked me for telling her early because now she could look forward to it. So even though I didn't keep my mouth shut it worked out okay. She couldn't believe that I'd kept it a secret for so long and that my dad knew and didn't tell her.

So of course she had to call my dad, and I had to call Andre and tell him how pathetic I am at keeping secrets. Little did I know that he is quite good at keeping secrets and was keeping one of his own (a good one, I've had quite enough of the bad ones) Little did he know that the rest of my family is as bad at keeping secrets as me

Up next: My brilliant plan to drive us both into the ground by hitting all 4 parks in one day, my mother gets to be part of a show, and us, co-pilots

 

[diswedwish]

We were up and at 'em early yet again. My mother asked if there would be a day when we would sleep past 8. We had a scrumptious breakfast at the food court. Okay, maybe I exaggerate a bit. I did have a Mickey waffle and it was good. My mom had the kid's breakfast again.

Our goal for the morning was Crush. Just Crush. Now my mom knew about the Dolphins in Depth tour, so the whole way to Epcot I filled her in on what would happen, where we would meet, all that kind of stuff. And that although Calvin and Rainier had teeth she would not get bitten Every other year she and my dad go with my aunt and uncle on a cruise (guess who's going with them this year to meet Jack - shh don't tell Andre ) and last time she had planned to do the dolphin swim. Guess who was elected to look up dolphin attacks in the Western Caribbean? I'm not kidding. Anyway, due to whatever hurricanes were 2/3 years ago they were rerouted to Eastern Caribbean and it was cancelled. So now I got to re-reassure her that while yes, dolphins have teeth, and yes, there are (rare) documented bites that she would be extremely safe with Calvin and Rainier. Much safer than those places in the Caribbean even.

Anyway, we got to the Living Seas and visited the dolphins then waited in line for the first showing of Crush. My mom absolutely loved it as I knew she would. And you know how he tells the little dudes and dudettes to say "dude" the rest of the day? Guess who took that to heart? Nothing like hearing your 58 year old mother yell "dude" the rest of the day

Up next was MGM, we still had to see the Beauty and the Beast show. We did do GMR and Sounds Dangerous the other night (forgot to mention that, guess it wasn't a hit with my mom! She did like the noise things after Sounds Dangerous and enjoyed dubbing over the Evil Queen's voice however!) so B&B was the only thing in MGM we hadn't done except Playhouse Disney which we had no intentions of doing. And I had to do ToT and RnR of course. So we hit the first show of B&B. Here's where I almost got run over by an ECV. Apparently that lady could've used a cigarette because she actually said "Well, if they get in my way they deserve to get run over" as I get pushed by a stroller person into her pathway and she nails my ankle. Oh well, it was early and people weren't getting to me yet so I just tried to move quickly and massaged my ankle. Thankfully my mom didn't hear her or she might have said something as she needed a cigarette too.

My mom thought this was a cute show and she liked 4 for a Dollar. She didn't like the heat though. So why did I think it would be a good idea to go back to AK to do the things we missed? I have no idea But I did We were hungry so I drug my mom to Flame Tree and showed her all the cool pavilions to eat at along the river. I think if it weren't about 9000 degrees she would've enjoyed it more. Some day when I am in my late 50s and out of shape and tired I'm sure she will laugh at me when my children put me through this...

So we headed for Rafiki's Planet Watch because - it was Air Conditioned!! And heard the funniest comment of the trip by far. You know the place where they have the stuff set up that you can touch/play with? They have an ostrich egg, a real one that is hollowed out that you can pick up, then a plastic one that is filled to approximate the weight. Some adult woman with no kids goes up and asks the Cast Member "Is that a rhino egg?" I know, I know, it's mean to laugh, but it was just too funny. The CM politely said "No, ma'am, rhinos give live birth, this is an ostrich egg."

Anyway... So we listened to the rainforest being destroyed and went out to look at the petting zoo. Then I drug my mom back to the heat and we did the Safari again followed by a forced drag on the Maharajah Jungle Trek. I utilized her AP to get myself an additional EE FP so I dumped her in an A/C shop while I amused myself. Then I relented and took her to Dinoland where we went on Dinosaur in the AC and It's Tough to be a Bug. See I'm a good daughter smetimes.

And somewhere in here was one of our trip highlights. I had told my mom about Flights of Wonder. When we sat down I told her about the dollar bill part - they ask someone in the audience for a volunteer to hold up a dollar bill (one time someone held up a $100 and I'm not kidding). So when we got to that part of the show my mom was ready to go and she was picked. She was very very very very happy She even had little scratch marks on her arm where the bird landed she was ecstatic

Then I was a bad daughter and talked her into dinner at Rainforest again - hey, it's air conditioned after all! She fell for it. This time we had the pleasure of sitting next to a family where the mother told the screaming child that if he didn't eat the gorillas would get him. Imagine the poor 4 year old kid every 20 min. during the thunderstorms after that. It was okay, but afterwards my mom informed me that she would not be eating in another RFC for a very very very long time.

Then we waited a very very very long time for a bus. We started out waiting for one to the TTC. We were by a family that thought it was cute to let their kids race up and down the aisles and swing off the bars. My mom and I took bets as to which kid would fall and knock their teeth out first and would the parents sue?

So eventually a bus pulled up to Epcot so we took that instead. It ended up being a good choice since we got to be co-pilots on both legs of the monorail to the MK Another thing my mom had wanted to try and we accomplished. Then we watched Wishes from the train station at the MK. So even though my mom was very hot, very tired, and very crabby (not much time for cigarettes in there), it was also a very magical ending to the day.

And I accomplished dragging my mother to all 4 parks in one day This night after talking to our respective princes we were both so tired that we both fell asleep instantly, snoring or no snoring

Up next: Dolphins!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Katy]

Your report is wonderful. How lucky you are to be able to share 14 days at Disney with your mom. I'm waiting for the day that my three daughters are able to take me!! Keep up the good work!