April 16, 2010
Day 6, Part 3 In Which MOMMMY!!!!!! MOMMMMMY!!! LOOK!!!!!!
Whoa. I'm watching the Smithsonian channel right now (I mean like REALLY right now - not "right now" during our trip) and there is a show on about the African Serengeti and I am filled with the greenest envy possible because right now, as I type this, there are people at Disney's Animal Kingdom hanging out with some of these beautiful creatures. Yes, I got my chance to do so many times, and I will have many more chances, but as I sit here on this dreary, cold, boring day... boy would I give anything to be there right now!
Sigh. I miss you, Disney. This special is also reminding me of the new Disney documentary African Cats that absolutely can't wait for. Go find the trailer on
youtube if you haven't seen it! I will seriously be first in line to see that one.
If our May trip works out, two months from this very moment I WILL BE AT DISNEY WORLD. I'm feeling good about it at this point in time. I'm feeling good in general right now after nearly a year of feeling like total crap, so that's a good sign. I'm hopeful for the rest of 2011. Ok wow, this isn't your diary Lia, get back to the report! I know, I know. But I can just FEEL Disney. I really want to make a PTR but I don't want to jinx us. I have even thought of a title!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh I could cry. OK, back to the TR.
When we last left off on our tale, I had collapsed into my new bed in our new room at my home resort, Pop Century.
It was crash time.
Are you ever so tired that when you hit the bed it's like you can actually feel your body calming down and settling in? Like you can actually FEEL it in your arms and legs? The relaxation? This is what went on with me. It was so nice to just lay down without freaking out that I was missing valuable Disney time.
I drifted off to sleep dreaming of the wonderful days that had just passed, and the final days of our trip I still had to look forward to. My "oh no I am leaving Disney soon" sadness and complete panic hadn't set in yet, so I was genuinely enjoying the reflection and just feeling really lucky and insanely blessed to be at my favorite place on Earth.
I can't tell you how much time passed before my mom got there (she had been relaxing on the CBR beach before our move to Pop while I hung out at MGM and checked in) because I was totally zonked. She found the room easily and said she was really glad to be back at the Pop Century Resort. I remember her saying that, even though she loved CBR and had a great morning/early afternoon on the beach there, Pop Century was way more "our speed". Very true!
Overall, our stay at CBR was fantastic. Everything went perfectly from the cleanliness of the room, to the beauty of the resort, to the great staff. We requested a room in a certain area and got it. I added my birthday to the reservation and they left a card signed by Mickey in the room. I enjoyed it more than I even knew I did at the time. That may sound odd, but a couple of months ago I heard some Caribbean style music and I was practically ACHING to be back at CBR. We probably won't stay there again on our next trip, I will definitely visit and just walk around the absolutely beautiful lake. I really miss the resort and I can't wait to go back. CBR gets a very enthusiastic two thumbs up from the McLovins, and we know our stuff. Obviously this wasn't a thorough review or anything, I *could* write a lot more, so if you have any questions, just ask.
At this point we were both really hungry and couldn't wait to dig into our beloved Pop food. I personally think the food at Pop Century is by far the best counter service at Walt Disney World (not including Wolfgang Puck Express which I think is on par with some of the best food at Disney, period). It's always so hard for me to choose what to get while we're there because everything is really delicious and the menu is so varied and fun.
I really wanted to get up and go to the food court, but I was still dead in bed at this point, so my mom said she would go get it and bring it back to our room so we could just hang out there and eat before heading out for the night. Sounded good to me! Don't you just love Everything Pop food delivered to you in your Pop bed? Pop pop pop!
I pulled up the menu on my phone (even though I already knew what I was getting, and had for months of course LOL) and told my mom I wanted the Chicken Penne Alfredo. This is one thing at Pop I had never tried but everyone here on the DIS loves it so I knew I'd love it. I'm a very bad trip reporter but I can't remember what my mom ordered for the life of me!
I turned on the TV while I waited for her to come back and pixie dust was in full effect - one of my favorite movies, A Goofy Movie, was on! I hadn't seen it in so long, too. Don't you love when the perfect movie comes on TV at the perfect time? I know almost every line in the film due to viewing it about 10,000 times, and yet I still crack up like it's my first viewing. Movies are an obsession of mine, but I hadn't had that good a time watching one in ages. Oh, I was whooping it up, hooting and hollering, enjoying it as much as it can possibly be enjoyed. At Disney World everything is better. Everything is heightened. Funny jokes are hilarious and hilarious jokes are, well, forget about it.
Of course my twitter followers had to get a couple of Goofy quotes:
GOODBYE PILE OF BROKEN WOOD 7:15 PM Apr 16th via txt
It's been passed down from Goof to Goof to Goof! 7:13 PM Apr 16th via txt
After awhile, my mom came back with the food. I started eating so quickly that I forgot to take a pic. Thankfully, here on the DIS there are about 67 pictures of the Chicken Penne Alfredo so here you go.
YUM! It was reallyreallyreally delicious. Like I said, better than any other counter service. If I wasn't staying at Pop I would definitely have to visit, not only because I love the whole resort so much, but because I would need some Pop food!
Even though I didn't ask for a dessert, my mom surprised me with the famous Tie Dye Cheesecake.
This is not your average cheesecake, my friends. Not only is it rainbow, but there is also a layer of red velvet cake under the cheesecake, as if it wasn't insanely delicious enough!
After we ate, my mom opened the door to get some air and we were greeted by some friends:
Considering that there's a whole Disney World out there, we sure spent a lot of time just standing there being amused by/talking to a couple of ducks. Oh, but they were so funny. I mean, it was like they were standing there waiting for us and when we opened the door, they were like, "Finally! There you are!"
We really had to be heading out because we wanted to get to Epcot to see Illuminations.
I can't remember the exact time we got there, but we headed straight to the WS to watch Illuminations from France.
I tweeted:
I JUST MET THE HOTTEST FRENCH GUY OMG I LOVE YOU EPCOT 8:45 PM Apr 16th via txt
Oh god was he BEAUTIFUL! and so sweet! He was even better than the guys working inside of Le Chefs! I remember his name and everything... I'm not going to tell you that, though.
I was offended when he didn't ask me to marry him on the spot. I was so sure we were soulmates!
I had heard on the DIS Unplugged Podcast that the chocolate ice cream at the crepe stand in France was amazingly delicious, and not the same as the kind you can get elsewhere in the parks, so we really wanted to try it.
We waited on the long but fast moving line and then found a good spot for the show to the right of the stand. I tried to take a pic but it was dark at this point and my camera was not cooperating, so I will try to describe the ice cream because it was not your average chocolate frozen treat. No, no, this was above and beyond! It was soft serve, but it was kind of a different texture then regular chocolate soft serve. It was really light, not just in color but like, after I ate it I didn't get that full, heavy feeling I usually get when I eat an ice cream cone. It came in a delicious waffle cone, which normally isn't my favorite (I like wafer cones more) but the whole thing was just sooo good. You must try it!
There were already a few families who were sitting in the area when we sat down. One family included a little girl who had that overly squeaky cute little kid voice that just melts your heart. This child could not have been more excited to be at Disney World. She was the happiest kid in the world at this moment and during all of Illuminations. I wish I had taken a video of her or something because she was saying the cutest things, but I didn't want to be creepy LOL. I first noticed her when a duck came waddling by, very very close to us. "Mommy! Mommy! Daddy!!! LOOOOK! A duck! Mommy! A ducky! Oh my God! Daddy!! Mommy!!!!!!!! He's so cute!!!! Look! Loooooooooook!"
My mom and I just looked and each other and started cracking up. Any time we see a cute animal or kid we act like people who have never seen anything cute in their lives, so we could not have been happier that we had such an enthusiastic kid to watch Illuminations with.
The show started and she just could not sit still or be quiet for a second. I can understand how this may annoy people who just wanted to enjoy the show in peace, but it was the most adorable thing I had ever seen. With every firework that would burst, there were about 10 more "Mommy! Mommy! LOOK! Oh! Mommy! Daddy!" exclamations screamed, and every time she would LEAP out of her parents arms and point high into the sky. It was such a magical moment of pure and innocent joy from a little girl who couldn't be happier to be at Disney World. I knew how she was feeling. I may have not been jumping up and down screaming, but I was feeling it. Illuminations makes me cry anyway, but her joy really made me tear up. The whole thing was just so beautiful and yet again I was filled with so much happiness and appreciation that it felt like I was just going to explode.
Up next: Evening EMH at Epcot and a morning full of mayhem!!
More are coming too.
