Mom said I had to go! The "Melting in May with Mom" Report! Updated 11/9 - EPCOT!!

[mom2mek]

Sara..your mom is cracking me up! She is gonna see the castle come hell or high water! LOL! Can't wait to see if it all works out. Oh...and it was very nice of you to give up your HA room with the great view. That deserves a view of the MK, I believe!

Considering your timeline for the week, AK was a good choice. And those drinks just look YUMMY!! What a great way to start off a trip!

LOL Missy! That's exactly what I thought - she was definitely on a mission.

Well for all I know, they ended up giving the HA room to the next person that came along, handicapped or not, but I just felt better not taking it. The view was awesome though.

Those drinks were yummy! And we did indeed toast with them to the start of our trip.

Sara

 

[jeremysdisneymom]

Too funny about the room! But, way to go Mom! She is willing to pay theme park view! Oh, you can't keep us in suspense long. I have to know what happened.

Those drinks at Yak and Yeti look amazing! We have never eaten there but will have to put on the list for future visits.

Erika

 

[vamassey1]

Sorry about your room assignment worries. Looks like you refreshing drink and lunch was making up for it. DH has a drink when we ate there in Feb but I can't remember what it was.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

I am at the tiny Mickey Head you had in the room - too funny!

Loved your review of Yak & Yeti. That is one of those places that I always want to try but keep forgetting about. Everything you had sounds delicious!

I think you should bring your mom on all your trips to get your room assignments!

 

[mom2mek]

Too funny about the room! But, way to go Mom! She is willing to pay theme park view! Oh, you can't keep us in suspense long. I have to know what happened.

Those drinks at Yak and Yeti look amazing! We have never eaten there but will have to put on the list for future visits.

Erika

My mom was serious about her room!!

I really loved Y&Y! The food was delicious and the drinks were fabulous! Service was really good too! It's nice to have a good TS choice at AK! (I would like to try TH for breakfast one of these days...)

Sorry about your room assignment worries. Looks like you refreshing drink and lunch was making up for it. DH has a drink when we ate there in Feb but I can't remember what it was.

Yes indeed! Those drinks were definitely helping!

I am at the tiny Mickey Head you had in the room - too funny!

Loved your review of Yak & Yeti. That is one of those places that I always want to try but keep forgetting about. Everything you had sounds delicious!

I think you should bring your mom on all your trips to get your room assignments!

I totally laughed out loud at that mickey head on the bed, Michelle! It's hard to tell how little it was in the picture - I should have stood back to take the picture so you could get the true effect! Hilarious!

Yeah, Mom was in total control of the room assignment fiasco. She did a good job!

Sara

 

[lovegrumpy]

Hopefully you were able to get a better room.

 

[stinkerbell007]

I'll be back to catch up in a minute. Or ninety. But I wanted to sub.

I'm in.

Yay!

 

[stinkerbell007]

Ok. So now I'm caught up. I loved the info about the car rental at Hess. That is great info!!! But I also love taking advantage of the ME, especially if it benefits your time schedule.

For my last little 3-day family trip in April, we did the same thing - took the earliest flight, but we weren't as lucky. No room at the inn for us (we also stayed at Poly - got Rarotonga, monorail view, which was AWESOME for our 9-yr old son). Our room was not available until about 4:00 that day! But, we were having fun in Epcot with family that came over from Tampa to join us for a day.

Love Yak & Yeti. My sis and I like to get the dining room area on the second floor that overlooks the street and try to schedule for parade time. Awesome to watch it from up there. And we loved the food and the service. We are definitely going back for our trip in Sept/Oct.

And, and..... guess what. I just got booked for another trip to Orlando, at the Convention Center in October for work! Scheduled for about 3 weeks after I finish my sister trip. Hm. I have a lot of planning to do to see how I can maximize that little windfall. Likely just add a day or so on the front or back of it, since I sprang for an AP this year.

Anyhoo. Carry on. Enjoying both of your trippies.

I just love your little dramatic questions at the end. So soap-opery (soap-opera-y?) of you!!

Linda

 

[MiNniEDrEameR]

Oooo sorry about the room issues but I must say that the view from the 1st room was wonderful and the 2nd... not so much!! Hope you got a new room that day with an outstanding view cant wait to hear the news!!! also love love love yak and yeti!!! i got the yak attack and fell in love then i got the ribs and well you know how that restaurant leaves you rolling yourself out of there !! hehe !! cant wait for the next update!

Kimi

 

[BippityBoo]

That was SO nice of you to give up the HA room Sorry the view in the 2nd room was not so great. I can't wait to see if they move you again!

YUM!! Always wanted to try Yak and Yeti! Your drinks look amazing All caught up now and excited to read more!!

 

[mom2mek]

Hopefully you were able to get a better room.

Hope to update soon! Thanks for hanging in with me!

Ok. So now I'm caught up. I loved the info about the car rental at Hess. That is great info!!! But I also love taking advantage of the ME, especially if it benefits your time schedule.

For my last little 3-day family trip in April, we did the same thing - took the earliest flight, but we weren't as lucky. No room at the inn for us (we also stayed at Poly - got Rarotonga, monorail view, which was AWESOME for our 9-yr old son). Our room was not available until about 4:00 that day! But, we were having fun in Epcot with family that came over from Tampa to join us for a day.

Love Yak & Yeti. My sis and I like to get the dining room area on the second floor that overlooks the street and try to schedule for parade time. Awesome to watch it from up there. And we loved the food and the service. We are definitely going back for our trip in Sept/Oct.

And, and..... guess what. I just got booked for another trip to Orlando, at the Convention Center in October for work! Scheduled for about 3 weeks after I finish my sister trip. Hm. I have a lot of planning to do to see how I can maximize that little windfall. Likely just add a day or so on the front or back of it, since I sprang for an AP this year.

Anyhoo. Carry on. Enjoying both of your trippies.

I just love your little dramatic questions at the end. So soap-opery (soap-opera-y?) of you!!

Linda

Woohoo Linda for the work trip! I might be able to convince Shawn to go down for the 5K run that is in October!! We are talking!

That's a great idea about the parade time at Yak and Yeti! We were on the second floor but not by a window, but I will have to remember that!

I was very excited to find out about the Alamo rental office right there at the MK! With the pick up service, it really is great! So convenient and you don't lose any of the benefits of ME!

Oooo sorry about the room issues but I must say that the view from the 1st room was wonderful and the 2nd... not so much!! Hope you got a new room that day with an outstanding view cant wait to hear the news!!! also love love love yak and yeti!!! i got the yak attack and fell in love then i got the ribs and well you know how that restaurant leaves you rolling yourself out of there !! hehe !! cant wait for the next update!

Kimi

Thanks Kimi! Man, that Yak Attack is some serious goodness!!

That was SO nice of you to give up the HA room Sorry the view in the 2nd room was not so great. I can't wait to see if they move you again!

YUM!! Always wanted to try Yak and Yeti! Your drinks look amazing All caught up now and excited to read more!!

I was loving the Yak Attack, Katie! It was so refreshing. Yak and Yeti was excellent! We loved it!

Yes, we were a bit disapointed with that second room. Especially after having just seen the other room's view!

Sara

 

[mermaid764]

Sorry to hear about all the issues with your room...hopefully it all worked out for the best in the end!

Your lunch at Yak and Yeti sounds really good...definitely a restaurant we'll have to look into trying sometime in the future!

Anxiously waiting to hear more!

 

[MeMom]

The Polynesian is so beautiful but the smells were particularly wonderful this trip! We had the most gorgeous and fragrant tree right outside of Tahiti (I think it was gardenia) and every time we got close to our longhouse we could smell it and we would take a deep breath and sigh….so pretty!




Well, low and behold, thanks to TGM boards and these forums, I found out that Alamo has an office right there at the MK (right at the Hess station) and they would pick you up when you needed to come pick up your car, and drop you back off after you return your car. Perfect! Plus the prices were lower since there weren’t quite as many airport fees to pay. This is such a great idea if you are planning on needing a car to go to Seaworld or (gasp) Universal, or just want to take a day trip to the coast. You can still have the Magical Express transport you to the hotel, still not have to worry about getting your luggage, but still have the convenience of your own vehicle when needed. I’m so glad I know about that now!

They closed at 6:00 so I scheduled a pick up for 5:40 that afternoon and we were off to the bus stop.

The Polynesian is such a beautiful resort.
So many times we have visited, eaten, and taken pictures there. One day, we will stay there.

Good to know about the Alamo rental. We may use that sometime, so it's nice to hear helpful information about how it works.

 

[mom2mek]

Sorry to hear about all the issues with your room...hopefully it all worked out for the best in the end!

Your lunch at Yak and Yeti sounds really good...definitely a restaurant we'll have to look into trying sometime in the future!

Anxiously waiting to hear more!

Thanks for hanging in there! We really did enjoy Yak and Yeti! It's definitely on our list to go to again!

The Polynesian is such a beautiful resort.
So many times we have visited, eaten, and taken pictures there. One day, we will stay there.

Good to know about the Alamo rental. We may use that sometime, so it's nice to hear helpful information about how it works.

I hope you do get a chance to stay there some time. Believe me, I NEVER thought I would, and now I have stayed there 3 times! Always have found a deal that was do-able, so hopefully that will continue.

The Alamo rental worked wonderfully! So glad to know about it and share it with those who don't!

Sara

 

[mom2mek]

After our very filling meal at Yak and Yeti, Mom and I decided to try and head towards Camp Minnie Mickey for the Festival of the Lion King. Mom had never seen it and I was so excited for her to experience this wonderful show!! We decided to leave and go that direction via Africa and grab fastpasses for the Safari to use after FOTLK. On our way over we caught a glimpse of the Flights of Wonder pre-show that was going on (one of these days I will have the guts to go into that show.....not a fan of birds flying around me, being over top of me, or being near me for that matter..LOL ). We also saw the dancers outside of Tusker House and stopped for a moment to try and see a little bit of the show. Then we grabbed our fastpasses and headed towards CMM.

We arrived at CMM about 30 minutes before the show and grabbed a couple of bottled waters from the stand next door before making our way over to wait outside the entrance. We managed to stand right near one of those misting fans, which made the hot temperatures of the day much more bearable. We were let in and chose seats in the giraffe section and settled in for the show.

I don't know if I was just more observant this time or if they changed some things, but I noticed a lot of things I had never seen before. The tumble monkeys, for one, stayed out in most of the other numbers and did things. In the times I have seen this show before, they were in their number and a few of the bigger, full cast, numbers, but this time they were out for a large portion of the show. Maybe they always have been, I don't know, but I hadn't noticed until now. Also, Timon is now moving his mouth and eyes, and I don't think he was doing that before, was he?

"Fire" guy was impressive as always!

An amazing cast and show:

I was so happy that Mom loved the show. She and my step-dad had gone to see La Nouba a couple of weeks prior to this trip, and although they thought the show was very well-done, it was a little bit "too different" for them to appreciate it at Disney. Mom said if they had been in Vegas or New York, maybe it would have felt more "appropriate", but at Disney, parts of it just felt weird.

Well, when we finished up watching Lion King she was in agreement that that show was just as enjoyable, if not more, than La Nouba. Yes, it is short and of course it does not have the production value that La Nouba has, but she loved it that much!!! She can't wait to come back and see it again!

It was about 3:00 as we left and on our way back towards the Safari, we decided to walk one of the trails up close to the tree to get some pictures. Mom had never seen the tree up close, so she was really looking forward to it.

On our way, we saw these cute little guys:

We attempted to take a self-portrait of the two of us with the tree in the background. When we looked at the picture afterwards, we couldn't stop laughing. It was basically a picture of our eyes - one of mine, one of hers, because I had the camera zoomed in from the last picture. We tried again and got this:

Ok, on to the tree....

It never ceases to amaze me how much detail is on that tree. I see something new each time I look at it. We exited out the other side (near the ITTBAB exit) and then made our way all the way around through Asia (again) and back around to Africa...phew....it seemed long. And hot.

Finally we arrived at the Safari! The standby line was 40 minutes but with our trusty fastpasses we hopped in the fastpass line. Unfortunately, they must have had an issue with the safari, because that was the longest fastpass line for the Safari I have ever been in. We waited about 15 minutes in the fastpass line (how spoiled are we, right? 15 minutes? Oh my goodness! LOL!)

Mom and I sat in the front row right behind our driver, who was great. Jambo everyone - we were off!

(I have to tell you we saw an elephant that looked like it had 5 legs, if you know what I mean....yowzers! I was glad I didn't have my kids with me to have to explain that!!! The driver kind of chuckled and mentioned to those of us in the front row that he wasn't going to comment...LOL!)

One of my favorites, the giraffes, were right outside the vehicle...just feet away from us and one was a baby laying down! So cute!

As is usual, the cats were very elusive and my pictures just look like the rock with a little bit of hair growing out of it.

As we exited from the safari, we checked the time and realized we should probably start to make our way out in order to get the bus and get back to the Poly in time for me to meet the shuttle for the car care place.

We made our way out of the Animal Kingdom having done a meal, a show, a walk around the tree, and a safari! We stopped and got another drink outside the park and made our way towards the buses. As we approached, we noticed a bus that said Poly, GF, Contemporary was sitting in our stop so we picked up the pace. As we were still a ways away it started to pull out. We gave it one last effort by waving at him, and he STOPPED for us! Woo-hoo!! Thank the lord! Our good luck continued when we climbed aboard the packed bus and found one seat open for Mom and a very nice gentleman who gave up his other seat for me.

Well that was just the beginning of a fabulous bus ride back to the Poly. The bus driver was hilarious. He kept everyone singing songs and playing trivia games all the way back to the resorts. He was a hoot and you could tell that he really loved his job. The kids, parents, and a whole bunch of teenagers on the bus were all laughing and having a great time. What a fun way to end a park day (even if for us, it was only a couple of hours at a park). Oh, and I got 2 of the quiz questions right!! LOL! The first one was about the first 3 resorts at Disney World and the other one was what was voted the most favorite seafood restaurant at Disney World. I don't know if this was just his opinion, but I guessed The Flying Fish (having never eaten there though) and he said I was right!

After our very eventful ride back to the Poly (again, we had to go all the way around the Magic Kingdom and get to the Poly coming around via the Grand Floridian) it was 5:00. I headed back to our room to use the restroom, and Mom headed back to the GCH to see if they had any rooms to switch us into yet. Well, low and behold, they did have another room that we could move to, but they would need our KTTW cards to switch them out. I knew that at this point, it would be hard to go all the way to the GCH, fix the cards, come back to the room with Mom to move our bags (that had now been delivered by Magical Express and were waiting in our poor-view room), and all the way back to the GCH to meet the shuttle, so we agreed that I would come that way and meet Mom, switch out the cards, and then she would come back and switch out the luggage herself while I went out to meet the car shuttle. Our new room, was room 2019 in the same longhouse, so Mom was just going to place all our stuff outside the room and then move it in a couple of trips (since the key would only work on the old room one last time before it would be deactivated).

After getting our keys switched, I walked out to the front of the Poly and waited about 5 minutes and low and behold a green Alamo van/bus thing was pulling up to pick me up for the short ride over to the Car Care Center. The people at Alamo were quick and efficient and I was in and out of there in 5 minutes and driving back to the Poly in our cute little Toyota! This is a service I will definitely keep in mind to use in the future.

As I got to Tahiti and made my way to the 2nd floor, I held my breath as I approached our new room, in hopes that this might be a room with a view that would make Mom happy!

Well, what do you think?

Not too bad, huh?

Here is the view from the room with the curtains open. The trees were nicely placed right in between Space Mtn and the castle, so the view was not obstructed unless you happened to be sitting on the balcony right behind the trees, which all you had to do was move your chair over and it was fine! The view was great and we were both very happy with it!! Phew!

We called for our Garden Grocer order, unpacked our suitcases, and settled out on the balcony with a beverage and took it all in!


Sara

 

[ladybugmom]

You got a lot done at AK in a short amount of time!! I'm sooo glad that your mom loved FOTLK!! That's weird that it took 15 minutes in the FP line for the safari?! You got some great pics, though!! Your bus driver sounds amazing!! How nice of him to stop the bus for you and then entertain everyone along the way! And WOW!! Your view from your new room is fabulous!! Just beautiful!!

 

[mrsksomeday]

Looks like you had a great day at AK, you got a lot done in a very short time. Bill and I have to sit behind the driver because of his wheelchair, not a bad view is it?

So happy you got a good view at the Poly and got your rental car easily.

I am envious that you get to enjoy WDW with your Mom, you are so lucky.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

Sounds like a great afternoon to me! I think you noticed more at FOTLK because you didn't have your kids with you!

Love the safari pictures. What, no pic of the 5-legged elephant? Great pic of the giraffes too.

Great view from the new room, way to go Mom!

 

[mommytothreeboys]

A good meal, a good drink, FOTLK, a safari.....sounds like a perfect way to spend an afternoon!

I've never noticed the tumble monkeys out during the show either....but again, now that I think about it, they may have been there but I was too focused on other things to notice! So glad your mom liked the show...it's a favorite in our house!

What a great view from the new room! Your mom's persistence certainly paid off!

 

[mom2mek]

You got a lot done at AK in a short amount of time!! I'm sooo glad that your mom loved FOTLK!! That's weird that it took 15 minutes in the FP line for the safari?! You got some great pics, though!! Your bus driver sounds amazing!! How nice of him to stop the bus for you and then entertain everyone along the way! And WOW!! Your view from your new room is fabulous!! Just beautiful!!

That bus ride was one of those great Disney moments - if getting a whole bunch of teenagers to sing along with "The Wheels on the Bus" isn't Disney magic, then I don't know what is!! The bus driver was a lot of fun. He even did most of the song lyrics - he did the horn when we sang about the horn, he did the wipers when we sang about the wipers, but we did get a little nervous when he did "the brakes on the bus go squeak squeak squeak" and all braced ourselves thinking he was going to tap on the brakes! Luckily, he didn't! He had us all sing Happy birthday to anyone who was celebrating their birthday during their trip, and then he let the parents take a picture of their birthday kid sitting in the driver's seat once we got to the hotels! He was a hoot!

Looks like you had a great day at AK, you got a lot done in a very short time. Bill and I have to sit behind the driver because of his wheelchair, not a bad view is it?

So happy you got a good view at the Poly and got your rental car easily.

I am envious that you get to enjoy WDW with your Mom, you are so lucky.

I have usually liked sitting in the back because you get kind of thrown around back there and the kids all love it, but sitting right behind the driver was so much easier to hear and see exactly what he was talking about and looking at. Plus he was a very good driver with a lot of information so it was really fun to be able to understand exactly what he was referring to!

Disney with Mom was very nice! I would love to do it again someday!

Sounds like a great afternoon to me! I think you noticed more at FOTLK because you didn't have your kids with you!

Love the safari pictures. What, no pic of the 5-legged elephant? Great pic of the giraffes too.

Great view from the new room, way to go Mom!

LOL Michelle! I was so stunned at what I was actually seeing, I didn't even think of taking a picture! If Shawn had been with me, he would have TOTALLY done that though!

Yay Mom!!

A good meal, a good drink, FOTLK, a safari.....sounds like a perfect way to spend an afternoon!

I've never noticed the tumble monkeys out during the show either....but again, now that I think about it, they may have been there but I was too focused on other things to notice! So glad your mom liked the show...it's a favorite in our house!

What a great view from the new room! Your mom's persistence certainly paid off!

Maybe the tumble monkeys switch it up to keep it interesting, or maybe they were short a few of the other animal performers so they stayed out for more of the show. I swear, I don't think they ever left the stage area the entire time. Even during the bird pas de deux they were out there.

Yes, we were very pleased with our room view. 3rd time was a charm!!

Sara