Linda N. & Mom- May 2007

WHO: Linda N. (age 40-something), MFLT Agent and Mom (age 65) who lives in the Vero Beach area. Mom is very active and walks two miles every day, rides her bike a couple of days a week, but has no kneecap due to a car accident in 1972. Theme parks wear her out.
WHEN: May 13-16, 2007
WHERE: Disney's Pop Century Resort
WHY: "Research" trip to see Laugh Floor, Nemo Musical, and partake of some grown-up restaurants without kids. (Except for the big kid also known as my Mom)

DAY 2: EPCOT, May 14, 2007

We get the wake up call at 6:27am and its too early for me. I would have been happier at 7am. Mom was sleeping like a rock (she wears earplugs so she doesn't hear her husband snore or the cat meow at night) but she wakes up when the phone rings. I have her answer it and she can't figure out what's going on. She gets up and starts to get organized.

Mom needs to eat three meals a day, and must have coffee in the morning. She gets ready and heads to the food court for coffee to bring back to the room for both of us. When she returns she fixes her breakfast (cereal and fruit) and watches a bit of the news. At 7:45am she decides she needed to curl her hair because it was too flat. Geesh… We have to get out of that room at 8am to get to the park bus. She doesn't "get" the fact that Disney is best experienced in the morning before it gets crowded. I tell her she can have some more time but we need to drive, which is not a problem for her. I didn't really want to drive because of the whole bug thing on the car. Mom assures me that the worst bug problem is over on the coast and Orlando does not have as many of the critters as they do by the water. I give her the extra 15 minutes and will deal with the bugs on the car. Also decide that tomorrow (day 3) I will be the one getting coffee to speed things up.

We get to Epcot just a few minutes after opening. The topiaries are great in the front of the park and we head towards Soarin. We both queue up but she was not riding; she did not like this in October and once was enough for her. Hakuna Matata… I send mom out the Chicken Exit and ask her to wait for me on one of the benches. Five minutes later I find her and we go to Living With The Land (LWTL).

LWTL has been changed in that the narration is now done via tape recording. A HUGE improvement! Some of the CMs did not do the spiel very well and sounded apathetic and bored; others could barely be understood. The recording is clear and easy to understand. Much better. Then its on to The Seas with Nemo. Cute ride—did it in October. Still don't know how they do this, but I like the ride. We notice some of the topiaries and I take photos.

After the Land and the seas we head over towards Test Track for FPs. Mom will ride TT as I sort of tricked her on it a few years ago. We go to the butterfly garden and I get a phone call. Its my husband telling me we have a problem with the house. A little background on my house: three rooms have been gutted because we are putting in a new kitchen (there goes my two weeks at Disney this summer!). I'm thinking the worst here, like something serious has happened and the cabinets are delayed, or we have a well or septic problem. He tells me that he thinks there is a skunk living underneath our finished porch. Says he can call an animal control guy and pay to get it taken care of, or he can do it himself. The pro will cost $250 but he can borrow a trap and a rifle. I tell him to make the decision but I have no ethical problems to putting a 22 into a stinky rodent, however I am the one who is home all day long working and would prefer not to smell said stink. (UPDATE: skunk not caught, and he's not even certain that is it a skunk. First night he caught a cat. Second night was a raccoon. Can't smell a skunk either, and they're usually a bit odorous).

Mom is getting a good chuckle out of this—her biggest problem in FL is lizards and an occasional snake. Oh well, this is what happens when you live in the Indiana countryside.

We ride TT and mom is convinced the ride has changed since 2004. I assure her it is the exact same thing but she has no anxiety and knows what to expect. We leave TT and head to the WS; its just after 11am and its time to check out the new attraction in Mexico.

The Three Caballeros is not a well known movie and I was pretty surprised to hear that Disney was going to put these characters into Mexico. However that attraction really needed some help and it was a natural fit to put Panchito, Jose, and Donald into the story. Or better yet, create a story for the attraction, even if it was a pretty old movie with a couple of unknowns. We walked right on and I really enjoyed what they did. The updates were good, however Disney could have done more at the end of the ride where the Carrousel was located. Would have made a good place for some Audio Animatronic characters. Maybe they can do this on the next upgrade.

On to China where we saw the show. Neither one of us is really thrilled with the CircleVision films so we both leaned on the rail in the back. After China it was time for lunch so we headed towards the Biergarten.

I really enjoy the Biergarten; its basic food with a german twist. Although I am not a fan of "authentic" German food, Disney has Americanized it enough so its not strange. For the unitiated the Biergarten seats you banquet style at a table for eight. So basically you sit with strangers during your meal, and you can either socialize or just sit there. (Only once were we with people who did not talk). We were seated with a couple from Florida and a family of four (two parents/two college students) from Kentucky. The oldest had just graduated from college and this trip was her graduation present.

Had a nice time making new friends and I learned that the family had NO DINING RESERVATIONS for the entire seven night trip. She mentioned that she wanted to go to Le Cellier and the Teppanyaki—I had to tell her that these places were closed. Also mentioned that if she did not get some reservations, chances were pretty good that they'd be eating sandwiches for most of the trip rather than steaks. I jotted down a couple of restaurants and she said she would see about reservations. Hope she was able to get some tables.

The Biergarten has changed their menu since August. Gone is the wonderful cucumber spelt salad. They did have a really great potato leek soup (better than the Rose and Crown version) and the pretzel bread was out on the lunch buffet. (Used to be available only at dinner). This is the same bread that they have at LeCellier, but a different shape. The Biergarten has greatly improved the dessert offerings with far more than in prior years. They were a bit weak in the fresh vegetable/salad area, but I got enough to keep me happy. I was glad to see that they had their steamed carrots—I love these. By the time we left we were quite full. The band had played and I got to visit a bit with Renata, who has been there for 20 years (and has served me probably each of my trips).

After lunch we moseyed around the World Showcase taking pictures. Headed towards Japan and I finally saw Miyuki, the candy lady. She made me a horse and mom got a Flamingo. Its amazing how she takes that candy and turns it into a shape. Not that I'd eat it (seemed rather unsanitary) but it was a fun way to spend 20 minutes. Went into the store and mom was fascinated with the oysters. She had never seen one of those oyster tanks where you pick one and get to keep the pearl. Then we went to the back of the store and I got my cup of plum wine. Yum, yum… I really like the stuff made in Japan, and he even gave me one of those little sour plums. Mom tried a bit of the plum and was not at all thrilled but she seems to like a lot more sugar than me. By the time I left Japan I was half looped from that little cup of wine. Sure was good though one was enough.

Neither one of us wanted to see the American Experience, and we had missed Voices of Liberty. We went on towards France and saw the show. I absolutely love Impressions de France. The music is wonderful and the scenery is beautiful. Really makes me want to go to France, which is the point, right? From there we went into the shop and I found a t-shirt on sale for my daughter. (She's fascinated with France while my son is obsessed with Norway). Had a nice chat with a CM from Paris about her experiences in the USA. She had already been to Puerto Rico and was off to other places in the USA before she left. I was glad to see she was getting out of FL to experience more of our great nation. There is so much to do here and Florida is not like the rest of the states.

We went to the Perfume Garden sponsored by Guerlain. It was really pretty, but basically a commercial for their fragrances. But who cares??? I saw Aurora standing all by herself and had a picture done Headed towards Canada where I saw what I thought was the best topiary: Bambi, Thumper and Flower. The Victoria Gardens also looked really nice. Then we saw the water gardens by the Rose Garden walk and entered Tinker Belle's Fairy Garden. It was OK.

Went towards Club Cool and I stopped by the Character Connection. Disney is doing a great job of corralling crowds and characters with this venue. The characters are in the old Segway classroom and they limit the number of people in there. I got my pictures taken with Mickey and Minnie, Goofy and Pluto, and Chip and Dale. Then it was time to go to Club Cool. Mom had never been and didn't want to try all of the soda. They now have an explanation of each flavor on the fountains so you know what you're getting into. For example the Beverly label says it is "bitter". Of course I skipped that one.

It was after 5pm and we were pretty much done with what we wanted to see. We had dining reservations at the Yacht Club Galley and I was not hungry. Stopped in to see Spaceship Earth one last time before the refurbishment as well as the Siemens display at the end. This will be a lot of fun once it is filled up. Then we left and went back to the resort. Mom went swimming for a bit while I checked out the rest of the resort and took pictures. I had her cancel the YC reservation as I couldn't handle the thought of a full meal as I was still full from lunch.

We decided we were hungry at about 8pm and headed to the food court. The shortest line was for pizza/flatbread, so I ordered my version of the Chicken Mediterranean pizza. By the time I was done with my changes it was just a chicken pizza--no Mediteranean. LOL. Fortunately the CM explaining the ingredients made it for me as I think I had two others confused about what I wanted. Mom didn't want a flatbread so I ordered her a pizza kids meal. She got a little bottle of wine (one glass) for $6.10 and we were done. From there we decided that Ghiradelli at DTD would be a good place for ice cream so we took the bus to DTD. Bad idea (read on)… but I didn't want to deal with bugs on the car.

Hopped on the bus to DTD and it took about 15 minutes to get there. Ghiradelli's was packed (no surprise) but mom found us a table. I had a hot fudge brownie sundae and she had hot fudge. Couldn't finish it. Bought my son some chocolate and headed to the bus.

The return was time consuming. The DTD busses start at the marketplace, go to Pleasure Island, and then the West End, and then go to the resort. We had a scooter that had to be loaded and the guest had difficulty maneuvering it into position on the bus. Finally it was done and we got on our way.

Got back to the resort around 11pm and I caught up on email. Mom was starting to feel really tired. Her lack of kneecap has made her leg crooked and a day in a theme park is not like her brisk two mile walk. She's lamenting that she missed Desperate Housewives (we were watching Fantasmic) so I load it up on the laptop for her to catch up. She's happy, but its late. We both finally turn in by 12:30. Wake up time is 6:45am—must leave room at 8am to head towards MK for opening ceremonies.

Next up - DAY 3: MAGIC KINGDOM

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