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Pre Trip info:
Around December 2005, I realized that my mother was turning 70 yo, and for some reason I was fine with the idea of a 70 yo father, but not my mom. I knew that I wanted to do something special and I thought the best thing was to take her to Disney and treat her like a seven yo for a week. I talked it over with Derek and the planning began. I knew that this trip needed to be as magical as the trip that I took my niece and nephew. I started collecting anything Tigger for presents and pins for her to trade. We surprised her with an invitation to celebrate her birthday at Disney World from Tigger and she said yes. Every week we sent her a Disney package. Some weeks it was just Mickey Cookies from Walgreen's and an article from All Ears, other weeks it was Pooh playing cards for School Vacation week. I believe that a week at Disney can be a whole lot more fun if you start enjoying your vacation two moth ahead a time. It was also fun for Derek and me to get her thank you notes and notes about some new ride that she read about in her Birnbaum book. I really wanted her to have a good understanding of the size of WDW and get a good dose of the magic before we even landed in Florida, and all of these packages helped.
April 28th:
With a Party Hat and Birthday Horn I welcomed Patsy Ann at South Station. We then took a taxi to Derek and my apartment which was decorated with Disney Birthday balloons, streamers and posters. After putting Mom's bags down we headed to Derek's Concert. The music was a wonderful Vivaldi piece. It helped add to the excitement that was running trough our veins about our upcoming
adventure.
April 29th:
Many of you know that part of this trip involved foraging in Wendy's Dumpsters for cups so that we could take advantage of an Airtran promotion. We got the free flight but they weren't ideal times. But we where happy and tried to standby on an earlier flight and we got it! Early flight means that we arrived at Pop Century 6
hours early! When we arrived and checked in, I was very happy that my Netgocer package and priority mail had arrived. We went to the room. We had a great view from building 2 3rd floor of the pool, Lady and the Tramp. Mom loved the 50's Buildings. I sent her and Derek off to buy a refillable mug and I quickly decorated our room. Over the past several months I had been collecting Tigger decorations
for her birthday. I hung a flag up in our window with suction cups. It had Tigger wearing a birthday hat and holding a cupcake. I took a paper Pooh and gang table cloth, and cut it up to cover the table, top of the entertainment center, and hanging rod. Next I put up a bit of crêpe paper, and Tigger clings on the mirror. Lastly, I had a 4ft inflatable Tigger bursting out of a birthday cake in the corner by the window. When Derek and Mom returned she was just tickled.
After she took in all of the party decorations, we were off to MGM! In an effort to get ahead of the week my desire was to see Fantasmic anything else was just extra. That plan was in my head when we were arriving on time. Since we were 6 hours early we got to take in Voyage of the Little Mermaid, the Great Movie Ride, and the Narnia Exhibit. All were great and mom loved them all. Since I had lowered my expectations so low for Narnia Exhibit, I was thrilled with it. I love anything Narnia and my brain really played tricks on me when I entered the wardrobe. I loved seeing the White Witch! Wow. We all enjoyed F! Mom was just awe struck with the whole production. I knew this was a great way for her to begin the Disney experience.
April 30th:
Up and out the door early and off to MGM. Mom rode the Tower of Terror when it first opened so she knew she was up for it. And she loved it, as we all did. Then we were off to Rocking Roller Coaster. I told her that it was fast and dark but that my sister had done it and she should be okay. Well Patsy Ann did it. She screamed
and her hair stood on end. When she got off it I thought she was going to kiss the ground. This was not her idea of fun. But she was glad that she did it when we told her that it was the most intense coaster at WDW. After RRC I gave her a pink feather boa to play up the part of being a movie star at MGM. We did a bunch of photos and headed off to the Animation Tour. I have enjoyed this presentation
and learned a bit about story development in the past. The presenter this time was so-so. But the real reason why we needed to do this was to see Chicken Little. Derek is obsessed with CL. So he did his photo shoot and then came Patsy Ann with the boa on. Opps I forgot that CL might not like seeing a boa! Well Abby Mallard quickly grabbed it and put it on. It was hilarious. AM wouldn't give it back until the CM told AM that she would get one on her birthday. This is one of the funniest character moments that I have ever seen.
We were early for lunch so Derek suggested Sounds Dangerous – sorry to those who love this show, but I find it boring- well in we went and when we came out my mother was just giddy telling us that it was just like when she was a kid and they listened to the radio. Derek will never let me live down this choice. So now it is lunch time and we went off to the 50's Primetime Café. What a wonderful time we had there. My mother loved the decor, food and server, Cousin Mary. Derek helped to entice Cousin Mary and the funniest moment was when she held up his empty plate and exclaimed what a good job that he did. Oh, Dad's Sundae is HUGE!
We then enjoyed Indian Jones' Stunt Show, Beauty and the Beast, Muppets 3D, San Francisco Movie Set, Parade, Lights Motors Action, Walt Disney Movie, and Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Mom stated that she wants to be a stunt care driver after LMA! And Derek and I did pretty well at WWTBAM. And the parade was just plain fun. The grand marshals were two of the cars form Cars. And I always get a kick out of Mary Poppins and Bert on the carrousel horses. After a short rest at the hotel we headed off to EMH MK.
I know that this was crazy idea because of the crowds but we all wanted to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and this was the last hours before the rehab. Well Main Street was a mob scene! Total and complete grid lock with non EMH people trying to get out and EMH people entering the park. We tried to go to Adventureland, but we gave up and went to Tomorrowland. There we enjoyed Buzz and Stitch. My nephews are enthralled with anything Stitch and Mom wanted to see what it was all about. When we entered the theatre and the seats came down on her like RRC I think she got a bit scared about what might happen. At the end she looked at me and said "Is that it?" anyway the crowds had cleared and we went to ride POTC and Aladdin's Magic Carpets. Now it was time to return to Pop. This was the longest bus line that we waited in all week. Lessons learned about EMH today, but so glad that we got to go on POTC.
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