Our trip with Mamou - Just the facts, Ma'am!

[DVCTiff]

I can tell I'm not going to have time for a proper trip report so here's the Reader's Digest version:

Who: Me (38) , DH (34) , my mom, Mamou (67) .

Where: Villas at Wilderness Lodge, #2503, view of the Lodge and the Lake (to the right), very clean and cute. We loved it!

When: May 1 - 7, 2005

What:
May 1 - Met Mamou at the airport (she was coming from CA, we're from NY), rented car (National), arrived at Lodge (got teary, so beautiful), unpacked and walked around until dinner at Artist Point, EXCELLENT dinner. Window table, excellent food and service, the MAGIC had begun!

After dinner, took boat to MK, rode Buzz Lightyear and TTA, watched Wishes (teary again!), came home by boat. Mamou wearing the Minnie ears headband was just too cute!

May 2 - AK and MGM day. Woke up super early and had time to show off SSR (our home resort) and shop at Goodings. Hit AK and did safari, Pangani trail, Camp Minnie Mickey for photos, and Pocahontas show (Lame. Pocahontas wasn't that good. Cute animals though). DH vetoed Lion King. Boo. Mamou and I have seen the show on Broadway so missing it was not a huge deal (and I've seen it at AK already). Did TTBAB and Mamou LOVED it! Her first 3-D show! We walked through Asia and then grabbed lunch at Tusker House - yummy!

Off to MGM where I was very proud of Mamou for riding both RnR and ToT! She almost lost her glasses on RnR (why don't they tell you to take them off?) and her only regret was that she closed her eyes most of the time. Later in the week she was kicking herself. We did GMR, which she loved, and took her picture with Jessie and then the Singing in the Rain Umbrella, since she loves that movie. On our way out, we stopped at Prime Time and got drinks and a milkshake for me. It was time for Mamou to nap while DH and I rented a mouse boat and toured Bay Lake. It was really fun and a great way to have some together time.

Dinner was at Boma, which I knew Mamou would love. We ate ourselves silly and then headed back to MK for Spectro. Great parade, and I'm so glad Mamou got to see it! Crowd issues revealed people at their best and worst, but what can you do?

May 3 - I had thought we'd have the buffet at Fresh for breakfast but realized booking a breakfast buffet the morning after a dinner buffet was a mistake. Had breakfast in the room and caught the bus to Epcot. Don't hate me for hating the busses - an HOUR later we were at Epcot. Ridiculous. Anyway, we headed straight for Leave a Legacy so I could get a picture with Mamou. Very special, and I can't wait to see it there the next time we go! We had to go to Living Seas on an errand and took a cute pic of DH in Bruce, the shark. Headed to the new and improved The Land to check it out. Skipped Soarin' since we'd done it in CA and the line was long. From there we hit the WS and had a great sushi lunch at the Matsunoma Lounge. I don’t think I’ll ever eat at the counter place again! It was so nice to sit down and relax before conquering the rest of the world. We showed Mamou Mexico and rode the ride which is so silly and dated, but we vacationed in Mexico a lot when I was growing up so I knew she’d get a kick out of it. From there we went to Minnie’s Butterfly Garden which was very cool, and then it was nap time back at the villa.

It was threatening heavy rain but we braved it for our return to WS and dinner at Marrakesh. We were seated right away next to the dance floor. Boy is that restaurant noisy! Nevertheless, the food was delicious and the dancer was beautiful, and we had a wonderful meal. We wanted to stay for Illuminations even though it was really raining hard so we ran to the Amphitheater where we caught the end of the Turtles’ show. Who knew we loved so many Turtles songs? Mamou and I danced like crazy while staying out of the rain and then we ran to Japan to stand under the eaves and watch the fireworks. They went off even though it was POURING buckets of rain!

May 4 - Mamou’s surprise day - Discovery Cove!

Again, the weather was not going to be spectacular, but we were not going to let that ruin our day. We arrived at Discovery Cove at 7:45 (it’s so close to WDW!) and Mamou and DH were assigned a 9:00 dolphin swim time. What a beautiful place. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It’s certainly worth the price. The swim was slightly delayed by a wayward dolphin but everything else went off without a hitch, and we all had a great time. Afterwards we hit the aviary (great fun), snorkeling, and the lazy river until lunch time. Lunch was delicious, and we left around 2:45 feeling like we’d definitely gotten our money’s worth. Photo of Mamou with birds on her head - priceless!

Dinner tonight was at Flying Fish, and it was excellent, as usual. Probably our #1 favorite meal, followed by Artist Point. It was evening Extra Magic Hour at MK so we went there afterwards. We were afraid that the next day at MK was just going to be too crazy for us so we wanted to do it now instead. We got our bracelets at PoC (I recommend it since the line at the park entrance was HUGE) and then rode it. Always a great ride. Then Mamou and I did Splash Mountain and just as we were emerging outside, Wishes was starting. How amazing to be riding Splash amid the fireworks. We both got the Splashed pretty good, and there we were laughing and laughing with fireworks overhead. Definitely a magical moment that I will never forget. We rode BTMR and then hit the teacups in Fantasyland, IASW, and finally Philharmagic. By now it was around 11:45 and we were all about to turn into pumpkins! Time for bed.

*Funny story* We were in line for IASW and I overheard two women behind me saying they were going to come back tomorrow. I turned and asked them - as a compassionate Disney patron - if they thought MK was going to be super crazy tomorrow. They kinda looked at me blankly and I said "Because of the celebration ...." Still no clue what I was talking about. I said "You know, it's the 50th anniversary of Disneyland and they're celebrating it here tomorrow. It's kinda a big deal." All they said was "Are you sure?"

I was just stunned how anyone could miss that! Especially from WITHIN the Magic Kingdom!

Anyhoo.......

May 5 - Since we decided to skip MK today, we took advantage of our free admission to Sea World that came with our Discovery Cove admission. Their park map leaves a lot to be desired and we never did get a show guide, but we managed to hit the major shows and attractions at a good clip - Clyde and Seymour, Shamu, the sharks, the manatees. The only one we had to come back for was Pets Ahoy. Now I had heard you could skip it, but I knew we’d love it and I was right! All three of us LOVED it, and if you love animals you will love it too. Not to be missed! We had a good lunch at the barbeque place and rode the Arctic simulator ride before heading home. No Krakken or Voyage to Atlantis for us. In fact, they were holding those up due to “impending weather” as we ran for the car. Ahhhh, Florida weather.

We escaped the weather and did a little DTD before heading back for a nap. Maybe I jinxed dinner this evening, but my choice was Narcoosee’s and I was not very confident about it. We’d been there on our honeymoon and thought it was just okay. Tonight was worse. Way worse. First of all, we went to self-park and it was full so we had to re-enter through the gate and valet. Not that we cared, but now we certainly weren’t going to be early for our PS. As it turned out, they comped our parking so that part worked out.

From there, we checked in and Mamou used the restroom. She ended up taking a long time because there were young girls in there goofing around and taking up the stalls. Then there was no toilet paper. She was slightly annoyed by the time we got to the table, but the fun had just begun. We had the worst server I’ve ever encountered at WDW. She was rude and sneery and full of contempt. It was like she hated us. Let’s hope Carol was just having an off night. I guess by now we’d been so spoiled that this was our reminder that there was still a real world out there and a little of it had seeped into Narcoosee’s.

Anyway, it took 45 minutes to get our food (with no apologies from Carol) and then my DH’s piece of fish was TINY - the smallest I’ve ever seen served in a restaurant and I used to live in LA! I think a lot of people would have walked their plate right back into the kitchen and said “This has to be a joke!” I ordered the side of lobster tail for $29 (I must have been crazy) and it was no big deal either. So sad. The only thing that saved this uncomfortable, endless, expensive meal was the strawberry-rhubarb cobbler. Never again. Narcoosee’s is off the list. Why settle for that when there are so many other wonderful places to go?

We showed Mamou the Poly and then called it a night.

May 6 - Mamou’s last day (sniffle).

If you thought last night’s dinner was sad, you’ve never seen two sadder folks than me and Mamou this morning. Our trip together was quickly coming to an end. To boost our spirits, I’d booked the character breakfast at Cape May Cafe. We probably didn’t eat $20 worth of food between the three of us, but we had a marvelous server named Cindy who made it all worthwhile. Plus we got to see Minnie, Goofy, and Chip (no Dale) and, best of all, see all the kids see them!

The weather was bad again so after breakfast we just wandered around. We should have gone into Epcot but Mamou had left her pass in the room because she thought we were done. That was sad too leaving a day unused on her pass *sigh*. I decided we’d check out Pop Century which we’d never seen. DH works in computers so we took pictures next to the big laptop. Big hahaha. Soon enough it was time to head to the airport. Mamou was stoic when we dropped her off and wished her Happy Mother’s Day, but we all had tears in our eyes. I was so grateful for such a wonderful trip. We could have wanted to kill each other by now.

DH and I drove back to the VWL in silence and then took a big nap. I was out of plans and laminated itineraries. DH could make all the decisions from here. We ended up hanging out by the pool and then headed to Universal City Walk - a first for us. We got a little lost - I don’t think the signage is great but maybe we took an exit too soon - but finally found it and walked around for a while. There were thousands of school kids everywhere, and it was just too much. DH knew I was still sad so he suggested we head back to the Boardwalk so I could have my favorite dinner: Dingers at the ESPN Zone. He’s so good to me. We came home and packed since we were leaving the following evening.

May 7 - Since our plane wasn’t leaving until 7 pm, we had all day to do whatever we wanted. I had Dinger leftovers on the patio for breakfast and we packed up, checked out, and headed for MGM. We still hadn’t seen Lights, Motors, Action, and we wanted to catch it before we left. It was well worth it and definitely worth doing Fast Pass - you get in quickly AND you get better seats! A great show! We did some last minute shopping and then headed to the pool at Saratoga Springs. We had lunch there and laid by the pool until it was time to head to the airport. I was a little sad watching people begin their vacations as we were ending ours, but I just kept reminding myself that we’d be back. On the way to the airport, we talked about getting one more trip out of our annual passes so we may be back sooner than we ever thought possible.

Thanks for reading and feel free to ask questions! Enjoy your very own trip!

 

[pooksma]

Whata great trip. I totally relate to your comment about usually wanting to kill each other on trips. Although its usually me and my Dad. One's as stubborn as the other!