My mom's surprise Christmas trip

The dates of our trip were Friday December 7 to 12. But mom knew nothing about it. On Wednesday December 5th, I knocked on the office door of the Vice President of where she works. I told him that this year mom and I had decided not to exchange Christmas presents. Well imagine his shock when I told him she already ruined that. I've been on disability from work since Oct. 2 and mom has already bought me the first nine seasons of NCIS and a brand new computer since mine died. So I thought long and hard about how to get her back. So when I told him what I wanted to do the only stipulation was that she couldn't miss the Christmas party (she tries to avoid it every year). So I said ok what if we left this Friday and I had her back on Wednesday so that she can get her speech typed up and the bonus checks made up and signed. He did suggest to me that I should maybe ask her about the dates because he didn't want me spending any money if she wouldn't be able to go because of getting this party put together. So that's what I did. I asked her if she had a lot of work to do over the next few days and she said not really, so I told her to go home and pack a suitcase with 5 days worth of clothes. She still had no idea where we were going. This is my mom's most favorite time to visit WDW. We usually go 3-4 times a year but its been about 18 years since we came at Christmas time. So Thursday I spent all day making reservations for resort and dining so that we could leave the next day.

Mom spent the night with me that Thursday night still asking me about where we were going. I told her it was a surprise. We get to the airport at about 430am for our 6am flight. It wasn't until we got to Atlanta that I had to tell her where we were going, because obviously she would have found out then. We land and because of the short notice we had to go get our own luggage. While I did that mom went and got the tickets to DME. We didn't have to wait for a bus because ours was already there and as soon as we got on we left so that was perfect timing. We were the first stop off the bus. We were staying at Old Key West. As we were checking in, Stephanie, one of the Guest Service Managers came over to say hi that she was surprised to see us. She was awesome on our last trip in September when mom fell in the MK. We were shocked that she remembered us and we got to talking. We asked if they had anything on the top floor of an elevator building because my mom can't do stairs. So Stephanie went to do some checking. She came back and said that she upgraded us to a two bedroom villa but that it wasn't ready. Not a problem because we still needed to pick up our rental car. We get our car (thanks Hannah) and head to publix to pick up some snacks only to find out that it was closed. Gasp!!!!!! Our grocery store has closed. I knew there was another one further down 192. As we leave publix we asked them about the other one closing and to find out they just moved to the entrance to Celebration, Florida. By this time our room was ready, so we go and unpack then we head to Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. We had dinner at one of our favorites, Liberty Tree. We were tired from the traveling that we didn't stay til midnight. On to our first full day of my mom's trip. She picked where we went. It didn't matter because all food reservations were made at resorts so we could go to any park she wanted when she wanted. Here comes our first full day......

 

[shuflemstr]

Just on the first morning I can tell that mom is having the time of her life. She is so happy to be at WDW around the holidays. This has always been her most favorite time of year to visit, but ever since I started working retail 18 years ago, we had to stop coming during the holidays. My mom did something today that not only amazed me but several Cast Members at Kona Café.

I have to get a little sappy and tell a story as to why mom did what she did. My grandma started coming on all of our trips to WDW back when I was in the sixth grade. We would come 3-4 times a year. I'm 36 now, so you do the math because it is too depressing for me. Sadly, 5 years ago on Thanksgiving morning my grandma died. My grandma was so special to my mom and I that we still talk about her every time we visit.

So fast forward to Saturday morning where we ate breakfast at Kona Café. It was awesome as usual. As we were getting ready to leave, the hostess sat a couple next to us. My mom tapped her on her shoulder and said, "You remind me so much of my mother that I wanted to give you this". The hostess graciously declined mom's offer. I told my mom that if she wanted to give her something that the cast member would have to decline 3 times per Disney policy in order to accept it. Mom took the hostess' hand and kind of wipes it and says, "ok once, twice three times. I want you to have this because you remind me of my mother."

We stop by our room real quick and I asked mom what she gave the lady. Mom said she gave her $50 because that's what Mema (my grandma) told her to do. I happened to look at mom's lanyard only to notice that she still had her $50 bill. I told mom this and she said that she gave her the wrong one, she had only given her $5 instead of $50. We go back to Kona Café. We find the hostess (Ruth) standing at the hostess stand. My mom told her that she gave her the wrong bill. Mom folded up the fifty and put it in Ruth's hand and then closed Ruth's hand. When she opened it, tears started pouring from all of our faces from her smile of gratitude. She had already told her manager what we did prior, we were hoping that she wouldn't get in any trouble. Ruth told us that her birthday is on December 31 and that this will be her birthday dinner money. And why? Because she reminded my mom of her mom. I'm sorry but I wanted to share this story.

 

[javy2004]

soo much sweetness and magic in those 1st two posts... can't wait to read more

 

[shuflemstr]

So after eating breakfast at Disney's Kona Café, we headed for Disney's Hollywood Studios to check out their decorations and for her to get some red velvet cupcakes. This whole trip was for mom to try and see as much of the decorations as possible, not for me to ride any rides. Everything looked beautiful to my mom. After being there a couple hours, we then headed to EPCOT. We rode Spaceship Earth and then went to the Land pavilion. We went there to get her some carrot cake cupcakes and me some brownies. I don't eat sweets. I never liked them as a child and don't now but I love the brownies here. We took our time and walked thru a few countries before it came time to eat dinner. We had reservations at Rose and Crown. We love this place and we always get the same thing. Mom got the fish and chips (she just loves their fries) and I got the cottage pie. All was excellent as usual. It was getting late after that and I could tell mom was getting tired so after taking some pictures of the decorations we decided to head back to our room. I didn't want her to over do it even though she had an ECV. Before going back to the room we decided to go the Contemporary Resort and play some Ms. Pac Man. She loves this game and can never get enough of it. We played for an hour or so then headed back to our room. This day may have seemed uneventful but it was anything but. After what happened at Kona Café and mom getting to see a lot of the decorations, this was a very productive day.

 

[shuflemstr]

So Sunday is the day we have the Candlelight Processional. Our reservation in Mexico isn't until 2pm we decided to skip our breakfast at Whispering Canyon and sleep in. I woke up around noon. I needed the sleep. Being off work on disability since Oct. 2 and the going to WDW without doing much walking in between is killer on your legs and feet. So we go eat at Mexico. It wasn't anything spectacular but we did it for the tickets. I would have no problem paying the full amount if we could just get the tickets and not have to eat in World Showcase. The Candlelight Processional has always been mom's favorite and its amazing how quickly that hour goes by. We got to see James Denton. He was very good. I asked mom since there would be a new speaker on Monday if she would want to go see it again. Well I knew what the answer would be. So after tonight's Candlelight Processional we went and had dinner at Cape May at the Beach Club. This is my mom's favorite place to eat dinner. As this trip was all about her, I only made reservations at places I knew she loved. She just couldn't get enough of this day. By the time we got back to our villa she was exhausted and was ready for lights out. This was a short and easy day. She kept trying to get me to ride rides but I told her this trip was all about her since it was her Christmas present from me.