Does This Ride Go Upside Down? Sloshing Thru Hurricane Isaac - Pop Century Aug 2012

[VACamm]

Hi!! And welcome to my first Trip Report on the Dis Boards. I'm so glad that you clicked on this post and I hope that you decide to stick around for the journey. I took 599 photos on this vacation, and it’s a lot to sort through. I’ll try to post as many as I can for sure… and let you know how we toured and planned and made it from rope drop to park closing every day for 6 days… PSHEW!!!

If you would LIKE to read more about how this trip came about and all of the obsessive and crazy pre trip planning... feel free to read my Pre Trip Report which is in my signature I’m one of those annoying over thinkers and WAY over planners, but sometimes I do have some good ideas and we did not forget to pack ANYTHING because of all of my lists everywhere… Oye.
There are a lot... and I mean a LOT of 'firsts' on this trip for my family and it was just such an awesomely (is that a word???) amazing and fantabulous vacation that we are already planning our next trip for June 2013 for 8 nights at CSR

Well I guess I'll get started.................. so I’ve always heard that the best place to start a story is always at the beginning... right? In that case, I suppose I better introduce ourselves to you (in case you havn't read our pre trip report ) and tell you a bit about our trip.

The important stuff:
When?? August 25-30, 2012
Where?? Pop Century with Disney Dining
Who? Myself, my husband, my 2 sons, and my father & stepmother
Why? Uhhhhhh…. Because WE LOVE WALT DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!! xoxo

This is my family. We like photos. .... and we apparantly like to match our outfits

I'm on the left I normally am the vacation photographer so there are rarely any photos of me by myself. Ever.

Aimee: This is me. I've been to WDW many times and I'm quite obsessed with all things Disney. My dad took my brother and I on our first trip to WDW during Christmas Week when I was 9 yrs old and we instantly fell in love with the entire place, even though back then it was only Magic Kingdom and Epcot I've been so dang lucky to go back many times since that first magical trip I love love LOVE Disney Food!! I love Classic Disney Rides!! I love Disney clothing!! I love Disney busses, monorails, the smell of Pirates of the Caribbean, and I love watching Tinkerbell fly out of Cinderellas Castle at night. I totally want to retire and get a job in Magic Kingdom greeting smiling faces every day for the rest of my life... that would be AH-MAZ-ING !! I’m currently in Sales and Marketing for a Major Furniture Manufacturer and have worked in their corporate offices for 12 years.

Favorite WDW Park: Epcot
Favorite MK Ride: Space Mountain
Favorite Epcot Ride: Spaceship Earth
Favorite HS Ride: Rock N Roller Coaster
Favorite AK Ride: Expedition Everest
Favorite World Showcase Country: Morocco
Favorite WDW Character: Pluto
Favorite WDW Nighttime Show: Fantasmic
Favorite WDW Show: Beauty and the Beast
Favorite WDW Restaurant: Wolfgang Pucks (The Dining Room Upstairs)
Favorite WDW Snack: Popcorn on Main Street
Favorite Disney Movie: Pocahontas

Kevin: My husband of 2 years and this was his FIRST TRIP EVER EVER EVER to Walt Disney World!!!! Can you believe it? More on that later and his reactions or lack of reactions to experiencing WDW shows and rides for the first time. Oh… by the way….a sidebar just to let everyone know that….. Today is actually our 2 year anniversary!! …..and I am sitting here on my laptop typing a Walt Disney World Trip Report hahaaaa. We did go out to dinner tonight already … so I’m excused. Kevin agreed to go on this trip without having previously watched barely any Disney movies (GASP!!!). My kids and I for 5 months prior to the trip had Disney Movie Nights until we watched every single Animated (and some non animated) Disney Movie to catch Kevin up to speed so that he would know what was going on while we were on rides, parades, nighttime shows, etc… I am pretty sure that he liked most of them actually because I saw him laughing in all of the right places. We also submerged him into the Disney Music CDs every single time we were in the car together…. I know our belting out “A Whoooooooooooooooooole Neeeeeeeeeeeeew Wooooooooooooooooooooorld” and “Hakunaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Matadaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa What a Wooooonderful Phraaaaaaaaaaaaaase….” Over and over and over again was slowly sinking into his head because over the months leading up to our vacation I caught him singing along. Kevin is the Extension Agent, the Agricultural Agent, and 4-H Agent for our city so I kept telling him how much he was going to LOVE The Land in Epcot to keep him interested and not try to back out of the vacation. How do you even explain to an ADULT who has never gone to WDW… that its not just for kids? Will he like it? Will he hate it? Will he leave early? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… you’ll just have to wait and see!!!!!!

Favorite WDW Park: Epcot
Favorite MK Ride: Splash Mountain
Favorite Epcot Ride: Living With The Land
Favorite HS Ride: Tower Of Terror
Favorite AK Ride: Kilamanjaro Safari
Favorite World Showcase Country: United Kingdom
Favorite WDW Character: Donald Duck
Favorite WDW Nighttime Show: Fantasmic
Favorite WDW Show: Indiana Jones Stunt Show
Favorite WDW Restaurant: Rose And Crown
Favorite WDW Snack: Beer
Favorite Disney Movie: The Jungle Book

Zack: This is my 17 year old son. He is obsessed with Halo, Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Competitive Paint Ball. He also runs track for his High School. Zack has absolutely been obsessed with all things Disney since he was a toddler…. I trained him right! While he is a Thrill Ride Junkie, he also can appreciate the finer details in Disney Attractions such as exploring the countries in World Showcase or in searching for Hidden Mickeys.

Favorite WDW Park: Hollywood Studios
Favorite MK Ride: Space Mountain
Favorite Epcot Ride: Mission Space
Favorite HS Ride: Star Tours
Favorite AK Ride: Expedition Everest
Favorite World Showcase Country: Japan
Favorite WDW Character: Mickey Mouse
Favorite WDW Nighttime Show: Fantasmic
Favorite WDW Show: Festival Of The Lion King
Favorite WDW Restaurant: Sci Fi
Favorite WDW Snack: Frozen Lemonade
Favorite Disney Movie: Mulan

Ethan: This is my 9 year old son. He is my little obsessive planner who loves to watch Disney attraction videos on Youtube, scour park maps, and plan dining ADRs with me. Ethan is still at that magical age where he still sits on the sofa rewatching his favorite Disney movies over and over and over again. While he is NOT up for riding ANYTHING scary or anything that goes upside down… he absolutely surprised me on this trip by riding all 3 of MK’s Mountains!

Favorite WDW Park: Magic Kingdom
Favorite MK Ride: Thunder Mountain
Favorite Epcot Ride: Ellens Energy Adventure
Favorite HS Ride: Star Tours
Favorite AK Ride: Kilamanjaro Safari
Favorite World Showcase Country: Mexico
Favorite WDW Character: Abu
Favorite WDW Nighttime Show: Fantasmic
Favorite WDW Show: Flights Of Wonder
Favorite WDW Restaurant: Crystal Palace
Favorite WDW Snack: Mickey Ice Cream Bar
Favorite Disney Movie: Aladin

My Dad and my Step Mother also came along on this adventure with us. We were able to have adjoining rooms at Pop Century. We stuck with them some of the time… and then other times we split up went our different ways during the day. We ALWAYS met up for dinner each night though because I had made ADR’s for all 6 of us, so they had no choice but to eat with us

Again, thank you for joining in, and please say “Hello” !! Also if you have any WDW Park questions, WDW Restaurant / Disney Dining questions, or any Pop Century Questions be sure to ask and I hopefully will be able to offer some advice.

 

[deedee2177]

Yay!! I have been anxiously hoping you would do a TR. I followed your PTR so I can't wait to see how your trip went especially with the hurricane coming along for the ride!!

 

[MEK]

Welcome Back. Can't wait to hear all about your trip! Sounds like you had a blast and shared some pixie dust with your DH.

Oh - and congrats on already booking next years return trip!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Hi I'm joining in. Can't wait to hear all about your trip.

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

joining in!! I came across your PTR a few days back, and was waiting for your TR to pop up!! Looking forward to reading along about your trip

 

[teekathepony]

Hello! I'm joining in for your story!

 

[VACamm]

Yay!! I have been anxiously hoping you would do a TR. I followed your PTR so I can't wait to see how your trip went especially with the hurricane coming along for the ride!!

Awwww... YAY! So glad you're here to follow along... I'm going to continue my story tonight. Its hard to find time because I work full time... and kids... and kids homework... and dinner... and housework..... I'm sure I'm not the only one though so I need so Suck It Up Buttercup and get my Trip Report Rolling along

 

[VACamm]

Welcome Back. Can't wait to hear all about your trip! Sounds like you had a blast and shared some pixie dust with your DH.

Oh - and congrats on already booking next years return trip!

Thank you SO MUCH for joining along with me... I hope this trip report doesn't disappoint... lol

 

[VACamm]

Welcome Back. Can't wait to hear all about your trip! Sounds like you had a blast and shared some pixie dust with your DH.

Oh - and congrats on already booking next years return trip!

Oh wait... I just realized from your signature that I had read your 'Will You Chill Out..." TR and I LOVE LOVE LOVED it!!!

 

[VACamm]

Hi I'm joining in. Can't wait to hear all about your trip.

Thank you... its so great to have you along for the ride

 

[VACamm]

joining in!! I came across your PTR a few days back, and was waiting for your TR to pop up!! Looking forward to reading along about your trip

Awesome!!!!!!!!! Its nice to 'Meet' you! Thank you for reading along

 

[VACamm]

Hello! I'm joining in for your story!

Hi!! I'm glad to have you here, and I'm kinda sweating now that I already have readers since I began last night! I guess I better get going and type the next update... Thank you so much for reading!!!!

 

[VACamm]

Friday August 24, 2012
- Leave money for house sitter: Check
- Get Pedicure: Check
- Go to Walmart to purchase heavy duty rain ponchos (In addition to our cheapo dollar ponchos) because Tropical Storm Isaac may or MAY NOT affect our vacation: Check
- Lay out our Disney traveling clothes: Check
- Zip up suitcases / carryons (because I had obsessively packed the entire week before) and put into Jeep: Check
- Set Coffee Pot on timer: Check
- Set Alarm Clock for 3:15am

Saturday August 25, 2012

Holy Moly!! 3:15am is ridiculously early. Who was the bright person that booked a 5:29am flight? Geesh!!!

My alarm clock went off, and I jumped out of bed and took a shower... I think I washed my hair with body wash by accident. I threw on my clothes and blow dried my hair... put makeup on and proceeded to wake up my husband... then woke up both boys. Everyone showered and put their brand new Mickey Mouse t-shirts on with huge smiles... ok nobody was smiling because we were all sleepwalking. We poured coffees to go .... said goodbye to our dog and 2 cats ... and walked out of the house. Goodbye house! We will see you in 6 days!!! Its 4:15am and We are going to Walt Disney World!!!

We drive the 15 minutes to the Lynchburg, VA airport, which by the way is so tiny it only has 2 gates I popped in a Disney CD and we all listened to Aladin "A Whole New World" and "A Part Of Your World" on the way.... I think we were beginning to wake up for this family sing-a-long.

Arrived at the airport and parked... checked our baggage... went through security with no issues.... and grabbed some chairs together to begin our wait for boarding....only to find out that we could not board at our normal time because our plane had issues and we had a 30 min delay to wait for another plane to get gassed up and checked. While waiting we took some very sleepy pictures:

Zack is ready to go... but is he awake?

Ethan and I.... we are READY TO GET ON THAT PLANE!!

Yes Kevin is going to WDW for his FIRST TIME>>>>>>>>>

A Disney Baggage Tag...

The Airline finally announced that we could board the plane, and off we went! We were so sleepy, but excited at the same time if that makes sense???

Here we are on the plane:

Kevin and Zack

Ethan and I

I had loaded a bunch of Disney Movies on my iPad before we left, so Ethan and I watched "The Emperor's New Groove", Kevin read on his Kindle, and Zack slept with his iPod. The flight was only 45 minutes, and before we knew it we landed in Charlotte, NC to switch planes and had a 45 minute layover.

While at the Charlotte airport, we stopped at Burger King in the terminal (ewww) and grabbed breakfast. We almost missed our flight because they seriously were taking FOREVER to cook our biscuits, but we were STARVING! We ran and ran and ran with our breakfast in Burger King bags and made it to the gate. We were the last ones on the plane: Ooooops. ********NOTE******** If you were on that flight from Charlotte to Orlando, we apologize, sincerely. I know for a fact that our sausage biscuits, hashbrowns, egg biscuits, and coffees really must have smelled like a giant turd and stunk up the entire plane while we were waiting to take off... but like I said we were STARVING! We got up at 3:15am and hadn't eaten anything.... so I do admit that it was us. We were those annoying people who brought stinky food onto the plane. (embarrassing)

The flight was 2 hours.................................................... and then we landed. We were in ORLANDO!

We hopped on the baby MCO monorail for our trip to the main terminal so that we could find Disney Magical Express.... and by this time we were all smiles and were fully awake. Its about 9:30am and we are almosttttttt there:

We hopped into the Magical Express Line... and were only in line for about 3 minutes until we were ushered outside....

...where I see this amazing bus:

YES!!! We got to ride the ultra cool Disney Cruise Line Bus I think it looks so awesome and I feel really lucky that while we didn't get an actual ME bus... we DID NOT have to ride on the ugly yellow generic Mears Shuttle.

Then the ME movie started.... I love classic Disney Cartoons!!!

To be continued...

 

[VACamm]

And we are on our way to our home for the next 5 nights / 6 days!! I texted back and forth with my dad who was on a layover in DC and would arrive later in the day.

Soon ... out the window we saw this:

And then .... I saw this:

We were finally pulling up to POP Century!! And its only 10:35am!!!!!! We have the entire day ahead of us (just like this over obsessive planner had planned... wooooo hoooooooooo!! )

A side note: Previously I had only stayed at Moderate Resorts (POR, POFQ, and CBR)... I had never stayed at a Value Resort. After doing tons of research and stalking the Pop DisBoard daily for months I felt like we had made a good decision to try a new resort. At the end of this TR I'll give a full review of my thoughts / feelings about POP and staying in a WDW Value Resort.

I'm going to stop here because Survivor is on... and my husband started it without me!! Tomorrow I will continue with my story............

In the meantime... heres a teaser of whats next on our arrival day:

 

[VACamm]

We arrived at Pop Century and we went straight inside to check in. On the phone, I had previously requested connecting rooms so that my father and stepmother could be near us. However, our room was not ready yet... but thats ok!!! We got our Key To The World Cards and Kevin got a First Visit Button that he immediately put on. We quickly pulled our Previously Packed Park Bags from our Carry On Bags (remember: obsessive packing skills) and checked our bags with the very nice and extremely helpful baggage clerks outside the main entrance. They assured us that they would receive a text message from the front desk when our room was ready and they would deliver all of our bags including our checked luggage. Perfect and easy cheezy!

We walked across the front of the main building to the bus stop .... headed to MK for our FIRST DAY!

Since we missed rope drop, our plan of action was:
1. Take photos in Mickey Shirts and Mickey Ears in front of the Castle as soon as we arrived to MK
2. Grab FP for Splash Mountain
3. Eat at Pecos Bills
3. Ride Thunder Mountain
4. Use FP for Splash Mountain
5. Tour Frontierland and Adventureland throughout the day
6. Dinner ADRs at Liberty Tree Tavern
7. Electrical Light Parade / Magic Memories and You / Wishes

Our plan was actually very nuts considering we woke up at 3:15am... but heck... we're in Disney and as all Dis'ers know... Who needs sleep in Walt Disney World???

Literally 10 minutes after we left the resort, On the bus ride to MK, I got a text message that our room was ready.

So we arrive at MK and went through baggage check, and walked straight to the entrance into the happiest place on earth I just cannot get over how amazing I feel every time I start walking down Main Street USA. Its beautiful! The buildings are so friendly and the smells are wonderful and the music piped in just automatically makes me smile

We made our way up Main Street peeking in the windows of the shops and found a nice spot in front of Cinderellas Castle for our first day pictures. We asked a man and his wife to assist and be our photographer... the man said "Sure!". His wife was yelling at him the whole time because he was doing it wrong

Awesome! Pics are done, so now its time to get going to see some more awesomeness!!

We walked around the hub and began our journey over to Adventureland...

I just can't get enough of that beautiful castle

 

[BearcatsFan]

Loving all the photos! 3:15? Zack looks sleepy-sleepy in every single one of them! Totally *love* your ears! (Goodness, only a DISer would understand that comment! )

Can't wait to read more!

 

[VACamm]

We walked over to Frontierland and headed straight to Splash Mountain and snagged Fast Passes. Our PLAN was go to eat lunch since it was about 12:00ish (I can't remember exact time) now ....................................................... but everyone wanted to head over to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad to see how long the wait was. Luckily it was only 20 minutes so we hopped in line and zipped right through in less time than that.

It was AWESOME!!! I think it was the absolute best decision to ride before lunch... we had a ball and screamed the whole time!

We walked over to Pecos Bills for some delicious lunch! I got a chicken wrap, Kevin and Zack got some HUGE burger with onion rings on it!!! Ethan got a PB&J kids meal.

Lunch was pretty good... not the best I've had there... but it was edible and we were starving.

After lunch we went to use our Splash Mountain FP's !!

The fast pass line for Splash Mountain was only as long as it took us to walk through it.... we walked past a couple hundred people in line. Why do people NOT use Fast Passes? We literally walked right onto the ride while the standby time was about 75 minutes long! Anyway.... we all love Splash Mountain. Its one of the most intricately themed rides on all of Disney Property! The little details are amazing! We got wet... not soaked, but pretty wet

We immediately got more FP's for Splash Mountain as soon as we got off Then we got some drinks at a cart and walked over to Pirates of the Caribbean in Adventureland.

While in line for POTC a family in front of us turned around and asked if we would like 4 FPs for Thunder Mountain...... Are you kidding me?? We thanked her several times... what a nice thing to do! We vowed to pay it forward to an unsuspecting family later in the week somehow. We only waited about 4 minutes in line before we were loaded into the boat. There was barely anyone in line! I always love seeing the ships battle and the pirates causing loads of trouble in the town... and of course we all love the dog with the keys... such a classic Disney experience!

After POTC we raced back over to Frontierland and used our FREEEEEE FP's for our 2nd ride on Thunder Mountain of the day.

I wish Zack would quit making that face for every picture

To Be Continued....

 

[VACamm]

Oh did I mention that it was like eleventy billion degrees out?? We were buying waters and frozen lemonades like crazy in Frontierland to stay hydrated. We were sweating bullets, but we were also having the time of our lives!

Oh look at the time!!??!! It was already time to use our 2nd Splash Mountain FP's!!!

Round 2!!

This picture is Zack and Ethan in the front row with Kevin and I behind them... and we are headed up the final big hill....its very intimidating because you can't see exactly where you are going. We LOVE IT!!!

As we were walking out of SM, my dad called to say they were in the park. We met them in Front of Splash Mountain and they got FP's for them to ride later in the day. We all walked BACK to Adventureland where we rode the craziest most exciting Jungle Cruise Ship in history! While The Jungle Cruise is so cheezy and silly, we HAVE to ride it at least once every visit because ... well just because.

We made it back in one piece. Barely.

Since there was like a 5 minute wait, we got in line for POTC again with my parents... so much fun every single time

I don't know why, but we started back to Frontierland AGAIN... oh it was so my parents could use their fastpasses for Splash. Anyway, we bumped into the parade!!

Thats the beautiful Princess Tiana and Prince Naveen!

For some reason we hopped onto the raft and went to Tom Sawyer Island. We walked around for a bit... but it was SO DANG HOT. We needed water, and the water fountain on TSI tasted like rotten eggs. We headed for the mainland in search of ice cold waters.

Heres where it got tricky: My parents were going on Splash Mountain to use their fast passes.... Kevin and Zack were going on Haunted Mansion... but Ethan wanted to ride the train. Soooooooooo we all made plans to split into 3 groups and we would all meet up for our ADRs at Liberty Tree Tavern at 5:00 for our 5:15 reservations. Ethan and I got to spend an amazing time riding the train which is something that we don't normally get to do that often. It was so nice and relaxing and we had a much needed 'rest time'.

We got to see some really cool things on the train ride, like this Indian Village!

We went past the Fantasyland Station where people got off and some more got on. When we got to the Main Street Station we decided to get off and go SHOPPING First we payed a visit to 2 amazing people:

Ethan and I went into the best store in all of Magic Kingdom... The Emporium on Main Street. Ethan got a Pin Trading Starter Pack (Ut Oh... the insanity begins!!) and a lanyard, and 2 special pins. I got a stainless steel Mickey trivet, black and white Mickey kitchen towels, black and white Mickey oven mitts, and a black and white Mickey tote bag Apparantly we had been shopping for quite some time, there is SO MUCH TO LOOK AT! After we checked out, we looked at the clock and realized that we had less than 10 minutes to meet everyone in Liberty Square at LTT for our ADR's! We speedwalked as quickly as we could. Ok... we took our time admiring the sights along the way.... man is Magic Kingdom gorgeous or what???!!!!

Finally we arrived at Liberty Tree Tavern and everyone was already there waiting for us... OOOOOPS! We were taken straight to our table... awesome! This restaurant is one of our absolute favorites... and my Dad just absolutely loves it. While we do miss all of the Characters that used to be part of this amazing meal... the food really is still delicious. This was one of my dads only ADR requests over the 6 days we were going to be here... and it did NOT disappoint. The turkey and beef and macaroni and cheese and mashed potatos and gravy and stuffing and rolls... all you can eat... Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm Yummo!!

Ethan was so stinking tired by this point that he literally laid down and took a nap. Embarrassing.

And I FINALLY got some MUCH NEEDED COFFEE!!! (I'm a coffeeholic and finding coffee in the parks is always a daily mission)

Dinner was as good as we remembered... dessert was delicious too. Honestly they bring you so much food that there is no way that 6 of us could possibly eat it all. Here is a pic of the leftover food.... crazy right??

During dinner (and while Ethan was sleeping zzzzzzz) they all told me about their adventures while Ethan and I were riding the Train and Shopping. Kevin and Zack had a ball on Haunted Mansion while my parents were on Splash Mountain. When my parents were finished, they called Kevin to see where they were and they all 4 rode HM again together I'm glad they all had a nice time. I was kind of bummed that I missed out on riding HM, but I got to spend precious one on one time with Ethan instead

 

[VACamm]

Loving all the photos! 3:15? Zack looks sleepy-sleepy in every single one of them! Totally *love* your ears! (Goodness, only a DISer would understand that comment! )

Can't wait to read more!

Awww thank you!! I had ordered the ears online before we left from Ebay!! They were cute...but kind of dug into my head a bit.

We were ALL exhausted...but we kept chugging along

 

[tinawv]

Cannot wait to read more. You have a beautiful.