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

[mom2mek]

LOVE Boma!! I agree, the soups are to-die-for!

The boardwalk looks like a great little place to enjoy the evening. I've only been over there during the day....hmmm...something else to put on the list!

Thanks Missy! We did have a great time at Boma and the Boardwalk - definitely try to check it out in the evening. Such great atmosphere (and way cooler, temperature wise).

Thanks, Sara, for the info on JellyRolls. My sister and I were considering it for our upcoming trip. I believe we have it penciled in for one of our evenings. I think we will love it!

I'm so excited that our trip is in less than 30 days!! Woo Hoo!!

Linda

Oh that's great, Linda. You and your sister will have a great time at Jellyrolls - especially since I know you girls have a great time together!

Sara

 

[mom2mek]

Day 5 – May 19, 2010
Last day of classes


Today was our last day of classes at the Gaylord!! Can I get a woo-hoo????

I awoke to yet another beautiful "picture-worthy" shot of the Seven Seas Lagoon, courtesy of our Polynesian Lagoon-view room. How will I be able to stay anywhere else?

Sigh….gotta go to classes.


We had an extra long break today at lunch because neither one of us had signed up for a class during the 3rd session (4 sessions a day – 1 and 2 were prior to lunch, then an hour and a half for lunch, followed by sessions 3 and 4) so we had like 3 hours in between sessions 2 and 4 and decided to leave the confines of the Gaylord and head to Downtown Disney for lunch and some shopping instead. Here is what was staring at me outside of the Gaylord’s windows on our break between sessions 1 and 2!

Can you see it? The DTD balloon? I would watch it go up and then go back down again…up…and then down…

We got to DTD and lucked out by finding a parking spot right up front and right outside Basin!

First stop – SOAP!! I loaded up on some more Mickey soap for the girls (and me) and also got Michael some pirate soap. Not my pictures, but here is what they look like:

(Katie likes to get it wet and then punch out all the mickeys into individual mickey head soap…makes for a big “hole-y” bar of soap, but oh well…she loves it)

Then we headed over to Earl of Sandwich for a quick bite. It was pretty busy in there but we managed to find a small table after placing our order and then took turns waiting for the food, saving the table, and using the bathroom. For the life of me, I can’t remember what Mom ordered, but in keeping with our Polynesian theme, I ordered the Hawaiian BBQ sandwich - ham, grilled chicken, Hawaiian BBQ sauce, Swiss cheese and pineapple- and it was delicious!! I wish I had one right now!! When we finished up in there, we made our way over to the toy store and then on to the World of Disney store. I was still on a mission to find Emily a super-soft (as per her request) t-shirt with the UP characters on it (preferably Dug). I had no luck unfortunately, but figured we were headed to the Studios this night and they probably had something in the Pixar section over there. I did manage to find some other stuff though (shocker). I got the kids a couple of t-shirts and a pin trading binder thing for all of our pins that were, up until then, pinned onto envelopes and sitting on a shelf in Michael’s room.

Then we went over to the Christmas store and Mom got a couple of ornaments. Our last stop was Goofy’s Candy Co. I was so excited to share this yummy place with Mom as she had only been in there one other time – the Saturday after Thanksgiving in 2007 we stopped in there with the whole crew of kids along with a bazillion other people who were there on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I think my mom went in and went right back out it was so mobbed then.

This time, it was empty. And I had my mind set on some pretzels to bring back to the Poly with me for the rest of the week. Yum!!!

We made our way back to the make-your-own-goodies area, where we noticed a family that was going over their choices. I grabbed a card and started filling it out while they talked to the CM who was making their goodies. Then she put the ones she was working on in the fridge, the family walked away, as did the CM. Um…HELLO???? It was like I was invisible.

There was an oh-so-NOT-goofy lady standing down by the counter where the baked goods are in the cases and she saw me, but she never would come down and help me. I caught her eye at one point and thought for sure she will come down here, but nope. We stood there a bit dumbfounded, until I finally said “could someone take my order form, please”. The oh-so-NOT-goofy CM came down and said, kind of agitated, well you can just put that form here and she will see it when she comes back.”

Ugh.

I told her, (trying to keep the air light) that I was only doing what Goofy said to do on the instructions sheet…LOL…”HAND it to the person to make your goody".

I mean, really? Why would I just leave it there and HOPE someone saw it? It could get blown off the counter, or she could just not see it for a while. And for that lady to say that to me, instead of just taking the ticket and apologizing to me for having to wait there while hardly NO ONE was even in the store and they were all just standing around. I felt bad for my Mom that this was her first “real” experience at Grumpy’s, oh, I mean, Goofy’s. LOL!

While we waited, we wandered over and got a latte (yes, it was like 90+ degrees that day, but we are die-hard coffee lovers) and looked around a little bit more. Mom bought a regular rice krispy treat from the case (the fresh ones, but not the make-your-own treat ones). We studied this rice krispy treat thinking we could SO do that. (Haven’t yet tried, but with the right stuff I think we could do it).

Then the very nice CM who was making my yummy pretzels, called us over to pick them up! She definitely had the “right spirit" to be working in Goofy’s!! The other lady needed to find Grumpy’s or Donald’s to work in – she would have been much more suited to a store with that name!

Oh well – still love that place and the cheerful CM who was actually doing the making of treats was very pleasant (as were the ladies working the Glacier/Coffee place). Funny how just one person with a bad attitude can really detract from your experience, isn't it?

With soaps, ornaments, shirts, pin holders, and pretzels in hand we made our way back over to the Gaylord (yes we had to pay for parking twice on this day – what a rip off) and took a quick cat nap for about 30 minutes in the car before heading back inside for our last session. Between the latte and the nap, I think we felt rejuvenated enough to push through for the hour and a half!

(Yes, I brought my pretzels inside with me to class so they wouldn’t melt! Just from the short walk from Goofy’s to the car at DTD, they had started to, and I certainly wasn’t going to let THAT happen to my prized pretzels!)

As soon as we were done with class, we headed back to the Poly to freshen up and change to go to the Studios for the evening. We managed to get out to the lobby just in time to see our favorite Aloha Man….although we missed getting outside to see him from the front so we had to watch from behind the ropes on the other side, but honestly, I don’t think this is a bad view do you? LOL! I might even argue that it’s an even better view!

Very short clip, just click on the picture:



We drove to the Studios, and got a parking spot pretty close to the front since a lot of people had left for the day already. This was not a good day for the Studios, per TGM, but we had not been able to go by his charts all week due to only having the evenings to tour. Fantasmic was playing tonight, and that was the main reason we were here.

However, even with what looked like fewer crowds due to open parking spots, it was anything but empty here tonight. We were getting used to dealing with crowds though, and when you aren’t there to ride rides but more just for atmosphere, food, and nighttime entertainment, they aren’t too much of a problem. I would not have done this had I been on a trip with my kids! Ack!

(SWW was starting that weekend)

As we approached the hat, the High School Musical 3 show was out so we stopped for a minute to watch. It really looked like a cute show!

My destination in mind though was Pixar Place as I thought I would be able to find some Pixar merchandise in and around the area....more importantly, an UP tshirt! So I took this pic in my information-gathering mode. This was about 6:30 on a red/yellow TGM day. Obviously, fastpasses were long gone but the wait was only a mere hour! LOL!

So, we found absolutely nothing in the entire Pixar Place area with anything related to UP on it so we turned around and decided to go into the Animation store and then wandered around inside the Animation area.

(Again, walking while taking pics is not usually the BEST way to get a pic)

(Couldn't wait to go see Toy Story 3 a couple weeks after this trip)

So after striking out at every store in and around Pixar Place for anything UP related, we decided to head towards a place I had read a lot about in weeks leading up to this trip, but have never actually stopped and checked out....The Writer's Stop.

On our way, we saw a few things set up for Star Wars weekend, but for some reason, this was the only picture I took:

A picture of a picture....I tell ya, I'm a genious!



We reached our destination, right next to one of our favorite places to eat at the Studios, Sci-Fi Drive-In Theater. I couldn't believe that we had never stopped in the Writer's Stop before.

What a cute little place. There was hardly a soul in there, just some music playing and a few people flipping through some of the books on display. I looked at a few of the cookbooks and pondered about getting one as I'm always thinking about how nice it would be to cook up a favorite Disney dish from time to time.

(loved the mirror)

But then I remembered the real reason I wanted to stop in to the Writer's Stop....the infamous carrot cake cookie. Mom grabbed us a corner seat by the window, and I grabbed us an iced coffee and the cookie. Remarkably, this ginormous cookie was only like $3.00!! I couldn't believe that - so many of the other things looked way smaller and were more expensive.

We tore into this yummy cake/cookie concoction - boy, was it sweet! But really, really good!!!

I took this opportunity to give Shawn a call to see how Michael's Advanced Soccer League tryouts were going and Mom called to check in at home as well.

With a sufficient amount of sweetness in our bellies, we set out on our mission of finding an UP themed t-shirt.

(Wow - taking more than one post for this day!!!) Continued soon....



Sara

 

[vamassey1]

Okay so now I'm hungry. I really need to find this store. I've never been it and I want to try that cookie. I was telling DH about it the other day. He loves the carrot cake in Disney so I'm pretty sure he would like the cookie too.

So sorry about the Grumpy CM.

 

[mom2mek]

Okay so now I'm hungry. I really need to find this store. I've never been it and I want to try that cookie. I was telling DH about it the other day. He loves the carrot cake in Disney so I'm pretty sure he would like the cookie too.

So sorry about the Grumpy CM.

Oh you should definitely check it out if he loves carrot cake!! It was absolutely delightful. I first saw a video of it by Lou Mongello where he was on the quest for the best snack in all of DHS. This was the top choice, which is what made me want to seek it out! It is VERY sweet, but with a cup of coffee, it's really perfect! And of course, someone to split it with, as it is HUGE!!

Sara

 

[vamassey1]

Oh you should definitely check it out if he loves carrot cake!! It was absolutely delightful. I first saw a video of it by Lou Mongello where he was on the quest for the best snack in all of DHS. This was the top choice, which is what made me want to seek it out! It is VERY sweet, but with a cup of coffee, it's really perfect! And of course, someone to split it with, as it is HUGE!!

Sara

I don't think I'll have any trouble finding someone to split with.

 

[mkluvsmickey]

What a great idea to head over to DTD to spend your lunch break. Sounds like you got a lot accomplished. Sorry about the not-so-Goofy CM though. Your story did make me smile though.

I can't believe that was your first time in the Writers Stop! My favorite store in all of DHS.

So glad your classes are over now and you can enjoy WDW without that interruption.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

How did you ever manage to sit through class with that view of DTD?? I'm not sure I would have made it!

Too bad about the grumpy CM at Goofy's. You work at a CANDY store at WALT DISNEY WORLD.....good grief, what could be less grump-inducing than that??? I'm glad you got your pretzels though...YUMMMM!!

That carrot cake cookie looks so good! I always think about buying one of those cookbooks too...maybe I'll put it on my Christmas list!

 

[mom2mek]

What a great idea to head over to DTD to spend your lunch break. Sounds like you got a lot accomplished. Sorry about the not-so-Goofy CM though. Your story did make me smile though.

I can't believe that was your first time in the Writers Stop! My favorite store in all of DHS.

So glad your classes are over now and you can enjoy WDW without that interruption.

Yeah, we had held off on leaving the Gaylord at lunch time when we only had the lunch break because it just doesn't give you enough time to do much, but 3 hours??? Heck no we weren't sticking around. You can only look at the alligators for so long, am I right???

Love the Writer's Stop! Hope it doesn't go anywhere anytime soon because I want another one of those cookies!!

Yes, classes were now done!! What a pain, huh?

How did you ever manage to sit through class with that view of DTD?? I'm not sure I would have made it!

Too bad about the grumpy CM at Goofy's. You work at a CANDY store at WALT DISNEY WORLD.....good grief, what could be less grump-inducing than that??? I'm glad you got your pretzels though...YUMMMM!!

That carrot cake cookie looks so good! I always think about buying one of those cookbooks too...maybe I'll put it on my Christmas list!

Well the view was outside the classrooms - only during breaks did I have to stare at it longingly!

Exactly what I thought about that CM! FOr pete's sake - we all can have our bad days, but you work at Goofy's Candy Co in WDW - put on a happy face and when we all leave you can whine and complain about how you hate having to be so cheerful all the time!

Carrot Cake Cookie - Yum!!
Peanut Butter Cup Covered Pretzels - Yum!!!

Sara

 

[laashley]

Your making me hungry for some WDW snacks! Yummy!

How nice to have a 3 hour lunch break to go to DTD. I have never eaten at EoS, if we make it to DTD I hope to eat there. In April we ran across a not so happy Goofy's employee. Maybe it was the same grump.

Yay for classes being over, now for the full day of fun to begin!

DHS on Fantasmic night and start of SWW. Glad you found a nice, out of the way place to shop. Have never been in there either, have to check it out.

 

[kaysmommie]

Hi Sara,
Finally caught up on our last two updates. Glad your mom loved Boma! Also enjoyed your videos from Jellyrolls. I looks so fun and I have been wanting to go there for years. The BW is so pretty at night. I do enjoy the Epcot resort area as much as the MK area resorts just for the atmosphere. Sorry about the rude Cm's at Goofy's how very rude they were. Yay on the DTD shopping during your lunch break though. I just love Basin and want to buy everything in that store. Also I like the Writer's stop, I have been in there for coffee twice before. Never had the Carrot cake though. I can't wait to read about your next two days when your not in conferences .

 

[mom2mek]

Your making me hungry for some WDW snacks! Yummy!

How nice to have a 3 hour lunch break to go to DTD. I have never eaten at EoS, if we make it to DTD I hope to eat there. In April we ran across a not so happy Goofy's employee. Maybe it was the same grump.

Yay for classes being over, now for the full day of fun to begin!

DHS on Fantasmic night and start of SWW. Glad you found a nice, out of the way place to shop. Have never been in there either, have to check it out.

I was really torn about where to eat lunch that day because I really wanted to try out Wolfgang Puck Express. Mom didn't want anything too heavy, so we decided on Earl. Of course my sandwich was probably just as heavy as anything I would have picked out at WPE! Definitely check EoS out - it's really fabulous!!

Woo-hoo!! Yep - after this day, we had 2 full days of fun!!

Hi Sara,
Finally caught up on our last two updates. Glad your mom loved Boma! Also enjoyed your videos from Jellyrolls. I looks so fun and I have been wanting to go there for years. The BW is so pretty at night. I do enjoy the Epcot resort area as much as the MK area resorts just for the atmosphere. Sorry about the rude Cm's at Goofy's how very rude they were. Yay on the DTD shopping during your lunch break though. I just love Basin and want to buy everything in that store. Also I like the Writer's stop, I have been in there for coffee twice before. Never had the Carrot cake though. I can't wait to read about your next two days when your not in conferences .

Thanks Nichole!! Yes, you should check out Jellyrolls at some point (it would be great on a Moms trip..)- really fun place!

We really loved the Writer's Stop - so tiny and out-of-the-way - it was GREAT!!

Woo-hoo! Yep - the next two days are completely conference free!!

Sara

 

[NOLAdisneymom]

Love your TR so far! Great Update!

 

[mom2mek]

Love your TR so far! Great Update!

Thanks so much! Glad to have you along!

Sara

 

[mom2mek]

Day 5 - May 19, 2010
Disney Hollywood Studios...continued....

We made quick time on devouring that carrot cake cookie and were soon off to see about that UP tshirt for Emily. We went back towards Hollywood Blvd and decided to check out pretty much all the stores we could find…

Walk in, ask about shirt, leave….
Walk in, ask about shirt, leave….



Apparently, according to a CM that I finally asked about availability ANYWHERE at WDW, there is no UP merchandise in the parks yet (as of this trip in May) other than a pin or two and the DVD and music CD.

Seriously, people? It won an Oscar for crying out loud! And was nominated for Best Picture!

Nothing?

Sigh.

We made our way down Sunset Blvd to see how long the line was for the 1st Fantasmic. I was thinking we would need to stick around for the 2nd one due to the crowds, since I hear it is definitely less crowded than the first. I actually preferred to walk around to see some more stuff, possibly ride GMR, see Little Mermaid, maybe the Muppets....but Mom was very interested in seeing the 1st Fantasmic if possible. So...first show it was.

There was no line for Fantasmic because people were already starting to go in and sit down so we decided to grab a quick bite from Rosie’s and attempt to see the first show. How bad could it be, right? There was no line, just people walking in.

After that big cookie, we weren’t exactly STARVING, but we decided to split a chicken fingers meal (weird, I know – my Mom does not eat chicken fingers! LOL!) We grabbed two drinks and made our way towards the theater. The food was actually smelling really good and quite a few people around us commented on how they wish they had some of that to eat. Peculiar! It’s just chicken fingers and fries, folks!

We made our way about ½ way down that ginormous path to get to the theater when it pretty much came to a crawl as people were herding themselves into the theater. As we approached the area where we could see into the theater, we realized why there had not been a line. Everyone was already in there!!! Oh boy. We shuffled along with the rest of the herd until we got to the far end and could see a few benches down towards the front (but not too close) that had some empty spots. Phew. We plopped ourselves down and dug in to the chicken fingers. They were good. LOL!

Not really paying much attention to the time at this point, we figured we didn’t have too long before the show started. Um, nope…we were gonna be there a while – still had 45 minutes to go. The crowd was in good spirits though – lots of “the Wave” action going on, which cracked up the kids sitting next to us (and made me miss mine dearly), and Mom and I grabbed some caramel corn and enjoyed the festivities. Only wish those seats were more comfy. Ouch.

Here is what the crowd looked like from where we were sitting:

(Fantasmic was showing at 9 and 10:30 this night and from what I can tell from this cell phone pic, this was taken at 8:19 – so about 40 minutes to go)

Here it is with about 5 minutes to show time:

I loved how when the lights went out, you could see the sea of glow lights from all the Fantasmic viewers!

Then the main mouse started the show:

Our seats weren’t GREAT, but they weren’t AWFUL either.
(Rest assured though….I am still, however, an AWFUL photographer).

It really is such a great and unique show, and I LOVE all the different Mickey Mouse incarnations they have…fancy Mickey (tux), regular Mickey (shorts), Knight Mickey (cape and sword), Sorcerer Mickey, Steamboat Willie (Black and White Mickey)….which am I forgetting?

However, my only critique would be it seems that they could do a little “less” with the Pocahontas section. It’s fairly long and a little puzzling, considering the overall popularity of that movie. Nothing against Pocahontas (and I do really love the portion where John Smith flies across on the rope) – it’s just that for any ONE movie to have such a prominent role, it seems they might have made it something else by now. Anyways…

A terrible picture of a slightly listing ferry boat…

We both really enjoyed the show and stayed put for a while to let the crowds clear before making our way down the rows of seats. No, we didn’t climb over the seats, just went down our own row walking on the concrete but avoiding all the crowds of people up high. This was easy to do since we waited for about 10 minutes afterwards for the crowds to clear from the seat section. Easy peasy and we were out of there fairly quickly.

As we exited, we encountered some thick crowds and although I was missing my babies at that point, I was so glad to not have little ones to keep track of or a stroller to push in that mob of a crowd. We noticed that the line for the next show was lining up and boy was I glad that we had gone in to the first one. Yay Mom!!

I actually think the crowd was indeed smaller for the 2nd show - I mean EVERYONE who was going into that 2nd showing was standing out there so it just looked WAY worse than it probably was once you were inside the big theater. But it was really nice that Mom and I had been able to avoid the standing and waiting by just waltzing into the first show and finding seats (yes, I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that we were able to do that)

The line was so long and jumbled with people that we didn’t even want to go down Sunset, so we cut through the stores. Of course, then we got sidetracked with what else….SHOPPING!!!

Since by that point I knew I would not be able to find Emily a super-soft UP character t-shirt, I decided to just look for a super-soft t-shirt of any kind. I found one, along with a few other things, and we were on our way. I grabbed this disgusting picture to send to Shawn of The Terminator.

When we exited the gift shop at the corner of Hollywood and Sunset, the line for Fantasmic was there and wrapped around onto Hollywood already. Geez!!

An attempt at another “picture-while-walking”:

By the time we got out to the parking lot, the tram lines were pretty empty. I’m guessing those that were still at the Studios, were inside Fantasmic (or waiting to get in), and those that had left, left a while ago because Mom and I ended up being like two of very few people on our tram.

Up next….our first full day at Disney….


Sara

 

[kaysmommie]

Wow you had some serious crowds at Fantasmic and at HS in general! Happy to her you were able to get into the first show. We usually wait for the second one especially now that it's only offered a few days a week. I can't wait to hear about your day in Disney without any conferences!

 

[vamassey1]

We love Fantasmic! Were you all the way if the Jafar section like us? We usually grab food for the wait too. I do love that Good triumphs evil once again. The music is great too. And of course seeing Steamboat Willie and all the characters at the end.

 

[mom2mek]

Wow you had some serious crowds at Fantasmic and at HS in general! Happy to her you were able to get into the first show. We usually wait for the second one especially now that it's only offered a few days a week. I can't wait to hear about your day in Disney without any conferences!

Yeah, I was glad we were able to get in the 1st show since standing in that line for the 2nd one seemed ridiculously long! I'm guessing the line for the 1st one wasn't as bad (even though it was a full audience) because you can start loading in a lot sooner plus the dining package people go to the 1st show and go in the other entrance.

We love Fantasmic! Were you all the way if the Jafar section like us? We usually grab food for the wait too. I do love that Good triumphs evil once again. The music is great too. And of course seeing Steamboat Willie and all the characters at the end.

I'm not sure what section it was, actually, but it was pretty far over to the left side. There were still a few sections to our left though. Overall, the seats weren't bad but being just the two of us it was a lot easier to find a couple of spots on the end of a row. If I had had my family with me we would have had a much harder time finding a spot to fit all of us.

LOVE Fantasmic!! I was so happy to see it again, as it had been since Jan 2006 since I had seen it!

Sara

 

[mkluvsmickey]

I'm shocked that there isn't any UP! stuff to buy too. Disney doens't usually miss an opportunity to sell us something, you know? I think they used to have some stuff, maybe when the movie was out? I know I saw a Dug shirt there in the little outside store in the Animation Courtyard. It was a while ago though.

You are making me want to see Fantasmic again! I've only seen it once as it's just not fit into our schedule on other trips. Our trips are often short and many times it's not even playing during our trips. I just finished the third Kingdom Keepers book which involves the Fantasmic show so now I'm aching to see it even more.

 

[mom2mek]

I'm shocked that there isn't any UP! stuff to buy too. Disney doens't usually miss an opportunity to sell us something, you know? I think they used to have some stuff, maybe when the movie was out? I know I saw a Dug shirt there in the little outside store in the Animation Courtyard. It was a while ago though.

You are making me want to see Fantasmic again! I've only seen it once as it's just not fit into our schedule on other trips. Our trips are often short and many times it's not even playing during our trips. I just finished the third Kingdom Keepers book which involves the Fantasmic show so now I'm aching to see it even more.

That's exactly what she wanted - an UP Tshirt with Dug! Drat! The last girl we asked actually called somebody (I'm assuming "higher up") to find out if there were some merchandise anywhere at WDW other than the DVD, pin, and CD. Maybe like you said it was right when the movie came out.

I have yet to finish the 1st book but I'm looking forward to reading them all!

Sara

Oh yeah....see you tomorrow!!!!

 

[laashley]

Sad that there was no Up shirts. I also think that they should carry them somewhere. Afterall, the characters just left the parks and I hear they will return for a new parade in January.

Fantasmic is Noah's favorite, he calls it "Mickey fights the Dragon". Glad that you were able to find a seat, it is crazy how early you have to get there for a seat. It is worth it though!