Mom lets go to WDW next week 8/1/09 - 8/6/09.. TR COMPLETE!! 9/9 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Mom lets go to WDW next week 8/1/09 - 8/6/09.. TR COMPLETE!! 9/9
Mom lets go to WDW next week TR
We just got back from WDW last week. This was a spur of the moment trip with Mom. It was so much fun. How did this come about??? Read on
During the end of July I started realizing that I had to schedule a conference this year. Time was getting away from me and my schedule in the fall was not looking good. So one night I was looking for conferences around Disney World (of course). I found one that would work however it was literally just around the corner. It went down like this.
Me: “Honey do you care if I go to Disney World while you stay home and take care of the kids?”
DH: “Not at all, have a great time”.
Me: “Mom would you want to go to Disney World with me in 9 days?”
Mom: “Sure”
Me: “Sheryl (my scheduler) could I have Aug 1 through Aug 6 off?”
Sheryl: “Absolutely”.
The Basics:
Who: Me and Mom (59)
When: August 1 through August 6
Where: The Swan
Why: Enhancing my knowledge
Saturday August 1, 2009.
That morning I woke up at 8 AM after having only 4 hours of sleep. I had worked 3- 12 hours straight (2p -2a) prior to Saturday. I had packed the day before so the girls and I got our bathing suits on and went swimming. Around 11AM people had started arriving at my house for my nephews 4 year old birthday party. We swam until around 2PM. I got in the shower and finished up some last minute packing. I said “goodbye” to Patrick and the girls . Then mom dad and I were off to the airport by 3PM.
We checked in with no problems. Mom and I were so excited about the new Non stop flight to Orlando out of Charleston. We usually don’t get Non stop flights to anywhere. We arrived at MCO around 6:10. Since we were staying at the Swan and not a “Disney” property I had to make arrangements with Mears to get us to the Hotel. So instead of heading to the DME we headed to Baggage claim. It took us 45 minutes to get our luggage. We then went downstairs the Mears counter. I pulled out my wallet and couldn’t find my Drivers License!! The lady at the counter said “we can not let you use your voucher unless you have a Drivers License.” WHAT!!! Never mind the shuttle, how was I going to get home on the plane. Finally I looked a little further and found my license. That was a little scary. Within 30 minutes we were happily on our way to the Swan.
We made it to the Swan by 8PM. Check in was a breeze. We had a lovely view of the Boardwalk and the water way to DHS. The room was clean and the bed was COMFY!!! We freshened up a bit then made our way out to the Bus. We were pleasantly surprised at how close the Bus stop was to our rooms. The bus to Downtown Disney came within 5 minutes. We made our way to my favorite counter service in all of Disney: Wolfgang Puck Express. Mom had the Chicken Tortilla. I had the organic Baby Greens Salad with a Citrus Vinaigrette and the BBQ chicken Quesadilla. They were both wonderful. Mom was now a fan like me
We headed out to the Pantry. On our way to the World of Disney we stopped by Guest Services. We had still not purchased our WDW tickets. We chose to buy the 5 day Magic your way without the park hopper option. With that done we headed to the World of Disney. My goodness it was crowed. I got a silver ring. Mom was looking for some Mickey Mouse Earrings but couldn’t find anything she really liked. We then went in the Christmas shop. Mom loves all things Christmas so I knew she would love it. However none of use made any purchases. I did find a Cookie plate for Santa that I might have to pick up in September. We made it back to the bus stop and boarded the bus to the Swan (it was crowded!!!) Luckily we were the first stop.
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Magic Kingdom- We got to the bus stop by 8:15 AM and were at the Magic Kingdom by 8:40PM. We were able to see the Opening Ceremonies. I have to say Disney sure knows how to get the party started!! We really didn’t have any plans. We ended up going to Tomorrow Land. We rode Buzz Light-year first. Mom got 3300 and I got 239,000. Mom couldn’t figure out how to aim her gun. At this point everything was a walk on. We went to Stitch, and Mike’s laugh factory. One of our phones starting ringing during the show OOPS!!!! This was my first time seeing it. I thought it was really cute. I'm a big fan of Monster's Inc. I think it's because I love to laugh!!
We started to think about lunch at this point. Mom wanted to go to the Columbia Harbor House (and it sounded good to me) so we headed to Liberty Square. We saw the Hall of Presidents. Loved the addition of President Obama and 9/11 stuff. (I hadn’t seen it in years). For some reason this attraction brings tears to my eyes. I can safely say that I wasn’t the only one crying. We then went into the Columbia Harbor house. We both got the fish dinner. We went for a short visit to the Haunted Mansion and made our way over to Frontier Land.
We got in the Splash Mountain line. The cast member said the wait was 1 hour. NO, it couldn’t be. Oh yes it was!!!! UGH. After our plunge we were done for the afternoon. There were practically no waits that morning but the afternoon was crowded. We hoped on the train and made it out of the Park. We needed some rest so back to the Swan. We walked over to Picabo’s located at the Dolphin resort for some cokes to take to our room. This was their “little market” for both resorts. There was not much of a selection at all.
After cooling down for a few hours we headed to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at Boma. Our family is not very adventurous when it comes to food so mom and I decided to try something different since it was jus the 2 of us. We were looking forward to this meal. We checked in 30 minutes early and were seated within 5 minutes. We went off to the appetizer section. I got the lentils and sausage and mom got the seafood soup. The lentils and sausage soup tasted like Beanie Weenies. (Which I love ). Mom liked her soup. They had Carrot and Ginger soup. We thought we would give it a try although I had no hopes of liking it. Boy was I wrong! This soup was amazing. We loved it. I would go back just for that soup!!!!! The desserts were OK. I had heard so much about the Zebra Domes that I was anxious to try it. However I didn’t care for it too much. They were just OK.
After dinner were decided to pick up some refillable mugs. (I love to use these at home.) We went to the Mara and picked those up then out to the buses. The Magic Kingdom bus came within 5 minutes. So far the bus service was wonderful. Very short waits but quite crowded though.
We rode POTC first. I was really excited to see the new addition of the water mist picture thing. The last time I rode it, it wasn’t working. However it wasn’t working again this time either!! What’s up with that??? Has it been working? Does it just go down every now and then?? I hear it’s pretty neat.
We went into Fantasy Land and on to IASW. By now it was 8:00PM. How do I remember that?? We got to see the Clock open. That was really neat. I didn’t know it -did that. The wait was not long, just about 10 minutes. Nothing was a walk-on this evening. Next we saw Mickey’s Philharmagic. We just love that show. All I could think about was taking the girls to see it in September. I can’t wait to see their faces!!! We rode SWSA. We had about a 20 minute wait to ride Pooh. By this time we were ready to head out.
We stopped and got a Mickey Bar and made our way to the Toon Town Train Station. It was closed!! So we took the walkway to Tomorrow land. I guess that wasn’t the shortest route to the front but just don’t tell my mom!! We headed back to the Swan.
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). I found one that would work however it was literally just around the corner. It went down like this.
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Pixie Dust
Liz 
I would have been in a panic if I couldn't find my driver's license.
PassPorter Guide Author
We really didn’t have any plans. We ended up going to Tomorrow Land. We rode Buzz Light-year first. Mom got 3300 and I got 239,000. Mom couldn’t figure out how to aim her gun. At this point everything was a walk on. We went to Stitch, and Mike’s laugh factory. One of our phones starting ringing during the show 
. Mom wanted to go to the Columbia Harbor House (and it sounded good to me) so we headed to Liberty Square. We saw the Hall of Presidents. Loved the addition of President Obama and 9/11 stuff. (I hadn’t seen it in years). For some reason this attraction brings tears to my eyes
. I can safely say that I wasn’t the only one crying. We then went into the Columbia Harbor house. We both got the fish dinner. 
We went for a short visit to the Haunted Mansion and made our way over to Frontier Land. 
. After our plunge we were done for the afternoon. There were practically no waits that morning but the afternoon was crowded. We hoped on the train and made it out of the Park. We needed some rest so back to the Swan. We walked over to Picabo’s located at the Dolphin resort for some cokes to take to our room. This was their “little market” for both resorts. There was not much of a selection at all. 
Has it been working? Does it just go down every now and then?? I hear it’s pretty neat. 
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