Trip Report One-Night, Moms Only Mothers' Day Stay

Hi, there! I'm Sarah, a stay-at-home-mom with a jones for Disney World that has been unmet for nearly two years. On my last trip, my mother, my sister, my daughter, and my niece joined me, and our multigenerational trip was a special and informative experience.

But Mama needs a getaway. So, with a couple year's worth of accumulated credit card reward points, I have booked a night at Pop Century to stay with... wait for it... my sister. My sister/best friend is a WDW local, so she'll be leaving her kids with their grandmother and escaping reality with me for 24 sweet hours.

So here's how we are tentatively planning to fill our Moms Day Out.

May 9: I am hoping to get on the road from NC as early as possible so that I can make the nine hour drive to my sister's place just north of Orlando. I will spend time with her family that night.

May 10: My sister and I will head to Pop to check in. We want to play in the pool, have lunch, and explore Art of Animation for the morning and early afternoon. We sort of want to sit and not have to do anything. Lazy, much? But no beelining it for a potty with a leaky toddler? No cooking? No stepping on Duplo blocks? I'll take one day of that.

That night, we have a reservation for dinner at Boma. I plan to dress up, fill up, and barely be able to stand up. Then, we will traipse our over-stuffed keisters to the Poly for (possible) Lapu Lapus and Wishes from the beach. I think I'll need to do some research when the day approaches to ensure we can see what we want to see from there. Any suggestions for alternate viewing locations?

May 11: Check out. Eat Mickey waffle. Buy something for my kid and tie-dyed cheesecake for my drive back home. Drive back home.

It's a crazy whirlwind trip, but I hope the pieces fall into place so I can get a quick fix as I wait for my daughter to reach 42" tall. Haha!

I'll post a trip report with ten million pictures upon returning. Can't wait!

 

[FlaggNL]

Sounds great! Have a Disneyfull time!

 

[Betsyboo]

Sounds so fun. As for alternate viewing maybe from the GF?

 

[SouthFLMikki]

Have fun and enjoy yourself!!!!!!!!!

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

This sounds so fun!!! Hope you have a wonderful time. Enjoy the smell of freedom!

 

[SarahBella82]

Well, I just got back yesterday evening from my one-day Disney World adventure, and I am looking forward to sharing it. My sister and I had a whirlwind day and evening, so the pictures in this report will be a seeming hodgepodge of activity. But our go-with-the-flow mentality let us try some new things, enjoy some old favorites, and totally relax on our Moms Day Out.

The day began early, when we checked in at Pop Century.

It was a lovely, warm and bright morning.

The lobby was a bustling place, per usual. When we checked in, the cast member told us that the hotel was sold out for the night. Over the course of the day, though, we didn't find it to be overly busy. I will say that the Hippie Dippy pool was crowded when we took a swim in the mid-afternoon. Everyone had the right idea!

Anywho, a couple more check-in pics:

We waited about twenty minutes to check in. Four other families were front of us, and I didn't feel like we waited an unreasonable amount of time.

My first MagicBand experience. We had no trouble with our bands, but we were only using them as a room key.

MagicBands, UNITE! (Sisters can be silly on Moms Day Out, right?)

Opening the door for the first time. Beep, beep! I found the angle to be a tad awkward, but I was squealing with excitement about being at Disney World and having some "me" time. No weird wrist awkwardness was going to slow me down!

 

[FlaggNL]

Nice to know the magic bands actually work

 

[SarahBella82]

We made our way to the room, #2316 in the building at the top of the bowling pin pool. It was a bit of a walk, since the room itself was on the backside of one of the wings of the building. But it was a very quiet spot with a nice view of trees from the 'balcony'. Here are just a couple shots of the room, which was clean and ready for us around 9 am, and several shots of the resort.

Here's Everything Pop! Let's shop and eat and shop and eat and-- well, you get the idea.

 

[SarahBella82]

We strolled around the resort, and I took a few pictures. I was really enjoying being on-site and moving at a pace that allowed me to take photos. Anyone with a toddler/little kid knows that they don't typically have the patience for extensive photo shoots. Ha! This was a real luxury for me.

Loved this showcase by MouseKeeping in a room near ours.

Looking across the lake toward our destination. Even though my sister is a local, she hadn't yet visited Art of Animation. We were both anxious to explore it since we have kids and are kids at heart.

Shooting with the sun along the way.

Saw this heron hiding in the tall grass.

My two-year-old has an unusual affection for yoyos. So, here:

Crossing the bridge to Art of Animation.

Our first impression was a good one. We loved the bright colors and graphic images of AoA. The character statues were spot-on, and we appreciated that even the landscaping suited each area of the resort specifically. What a neat touch!

 

[SarahBella82]

We strolled each section: Nemo to Lion King to Little Mermaid to Cars and back again. We also made a quick stop in the lobby/dining area so we could drool over pastries and rehydrate.

The Big Blue Pool is beautiful. I love that there's a fun splash pad area for the littlest tikes.

Ahhhhh, Rafiki.

Off to the Little Mermaid, where Ursula was catching some rays.

And over to Cars, which was my favorite area. We are big fans of the movie in our house, and this was a neat space to walk through.

 

[SarahBella82]

A bit more from Radiator Springs:

I loved the streetlights with wires. Such a cool detail.

I had to pose with my daughter's favorite and quote from Mater's Tall Tales: Two buck teeth for one buck!

We stopped inside the lobby and dining areas to check them out, drool over the pastries, and rehydrate. We discovered that the Lion King area of the dining section was closed for refurbishment.

It was no easy feat to pass on these sweets.

We made our way back to Pop.

We stopped in Everything Pop to survey the food options. We were hungry, but they weren't serving lunch yet. It was about 1030 am at this point. We decided to catch a bus to Downtown Disney (because on Moms Day Out we didn't want to drive). While waiting (only about five minutes, plus the ride over to West Side which included a stop at Typhoon), we debated where to eat. We decided on...

 

[SarahBella82]

Oh, we decided on Wolfgang Puck Express. I've read so many good reviews of this quick service spot that it had long been on my must-try list. And I'm so glad we went.

We decided to split a pizza and a salad. I let my sister choose the pizza because everything sounded great to me. She chose the Seasonal Veggie. We also shared a Caesar salad. When we get to the pictures below, I'll give you my review of each.

First, a little decor. It's lovely in there. I love the contrast of the dark wood with the creamy paint. It feels stylish without being super trendy.

This Caesar salad was pretty standard, but there was a hit of lemon in it that I thought gave it a little something special. The bruschetta on top was fabulous. I could've eaten a couple of those. The tomatoes were fresh and bright with, I think, lemon and basil. The cheese also added a lot to the salad.

On May 10, the Seasonal Vegetable pizza had red and yellow bell peppers, zucchini, red onion, tomatoes, and brocollini. We loved that it had a drizzle of pesto on top. That drizzle was a game changer. Haha! We loved and devoured this pie.

 

[SarahBella82]

After our incredible lunch, we browsed the shops. I had previously bribed my daughter to let Mommy leave for her Moms Day Out by offering surprises. Time to shop for my favorite person! Haha!

First, let me explain. We were dropped off at the Pleasure Island entrance to Downtown Disney on this morning because the Marketplace stop didn't open until noon. So here are a few shots I grabbed when we first arrived.

I can't wait for Disney Springs. I hope it lives up to everyone's lofty expectations.

New Starbucks looking good!

Two of the food trucks were parked over by Basin. We didn't try anything from the trucks, but I took a browse at the menus. The screens on which they display the menus are vibrant, and the trucks are very handsome.

We stopped in Trend-D where they were doing a make-up launch for the Curiouser and Curiouser line. We opted out of a mini-make-over, but we enjoyed browsing the racks. I loved the retro-looking designs on some of the gear.

We visited Goofy but didn't make a purchase. What is wrong with us?! Well, there was the little issue of melting that we wanted to avoid. Alas, treats later.

 

[SarahBella82]

We continued on, eventually arriving at our final destination: World of Disney. We wandered through the whole store, which was pretty busy that early afternoon. I picked up a few things for my little lady (Tangled figurines, a Buzz Lightyear with parachute, a Frozen crispy treat, and a cool castle shaped sand bucket), and I otherwise coveted everything in the store.

Loved these Mary Blair-inspired 2014 mugs. So much color! So graphic! So much love!

We headed back to Pop for a swim and a shower before our dinner reservations.

 

[SarahBella82]

We had an ADR for Boma at Animal Kingdom Lodge. We had no desire to drive around (although it would have been much more efficient), so we took a Pop bus to Animal Kingdom, then jumped on an AKL bus from there. When we arrived, we meandered through the resort, taking pictures and soaking in the atmosphere of arguably our favorite resort.

We started in the gift shop because... it was hot, and that was the first door we came to from the bus stop.

My kid is a sucker for a bongo. I'm a sucker for a hidden Mickey. Combo:

Mirror shot for @HollyBelle Does this count?

Let's mosey on up into the lobby.

And now let's mosey on out to spot some creatures! Roan Antelope:

Besides the antelope, we saw pelicans, zebra (way in the back), a wildebeest, and giraffes. At least, that's what I think we saw. Here are the giraffes:

 

[SarahBella82]

Playing with the miniatures setting on my camera. It's my favorite setting; super cute, cool color, fun perspective.

Then I decided to play with my low light setting.

Well, friends, our evening was coming to a close. Our ADR was at 625, so we took a few more shots, then made our way down to check in. We were seated at 614 after checking in at 6. Not too shabby. The restaurant was busy but not overwhelming. We didn't wait more than five minutes for the meat station (the only station with a 'line'). Our server was friendly if a bit frazzled. He brought me some POG juice, as I've read a million reviews. Love that tropical sweetness. I'll post a couple of food pics from my phone shortly.

That concludes my too-short trip report. I wish I had more time with my sister, more time to explore, more ADRs, and some park time. But I'm glad I had this opportunity. And as I keep reminding myself, Disney World will always be there waiting for me -- and with new and exciting additions!

Thanks for reading.

 

[SarahBella82]

Here are some shots I took with my iPhone 4S. I was on a mission to Instagram a bit, since I ingest lots of WDW pics from others and wanted to contribute to this massive photo story.

Here's my first official on-site shot after my drive up 429 from my sister's house on Saturday morning.

Duuuuuude!

Art of Animation shot

Animal Kingdom Lodge lobby shot

Love these hallway lights at AKL

Gorgeousness.

Boma food pics. The first plate was a sides plate. Two varieties of couscous, a curry pasta salad, the sambosa with mango chutney (a favorite), toro, and... I can't tell what else from the thumbnail. Ha.

Second picture features meat. The chicken was a hit, as always. I tried it with the tamarind BBQ sauce. It was great too. Loved the beef. The seasoning on the outside was delicious. The ancho chili pork ribs were D-R-Y. No good. The mater paneer was great; very similar seasoning to my Indian in-laws masala.

I forgot to mention that after eating, we took a bus to Epcot so we could take a spin through on the monorail. Monorail yellow pulled up just as we arrived, and we loved seeing the park at night (a rare occurrence now that we have little kids).

That concludes Moms Day Out!

 

[Maggie Mae]

what a great mom's day outting! glad you enjoyed the time with your sis! I am going in November with mine and so looking forward to it! thanks for sharing!!

 

[SarahBella82]

@Maggie Mae Thanks for reading! My sister is the best; I can't even take credit for all the fun we have. I hope you have a TERRIFIC trip in November!

 

[jlsHouston]

What a wonderful Mother's Day weekend ! Thanks for sharing!