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

[VACamm]

I'm back from my hiatus...

When we left off, Ethan was taking a nap in the Liberty Tree Tavern, but of course he woke up for Dessert Dinner was delicious as always at LTT... our family absolutely always has a terrific meal each visit. We highly recommend this dinner

After dinner we went back to Adventureland where we walked through the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. Wouldn't it be so fun to live in a Treehouse?

And then we went to ride Aladdins magical mystical and super fun carpets where Ethan and I got spit in the face by the camels

Here is where I took one for the team, and I volunteered to head over to Main St to reserve 6 curbside spots 2 hours early for the Electrical Parade / Magic Memories and You / Wishes. I got everyones backpacks and said goodbye to my family and headed over to Main Street....

My ideal spot was already taken as tons of people were already grabbing spots. I found a good spot (more on this 'good spot' later... ) at the corner at the end of Main St where it turns left around the hub. I put everyones backpacks on the curb to reserve our 6 spots and I sat. And sat. And sat. And sat. While I was sitting I saw this:

I love balloons.

Some CM's came by and marked the pavement right in front of me and my backpack collection with masking tape for the parade route. I chit chatted with them about the parade and the heat (OMG it was HOT!). They assured me I had found great viewing seats for the parade

My butt started hurting so bad from sitting there on the curb for so long. I couldn't get up because more and more people were coming and looking for spots to sit. I was getting so frustrated because people were trying to squeeze me out! People were moving my packs further in and there literally was a family behind me sitting on the sidewalk with the mothers feet touching my back! I was about to go crazy on some folks! I cannot begin to tell you how many times I said "Excuse me, someone is sitting there". I mean... would YOU move someones personal backpack so that you could sit there??? I would never think to do that... and it was quite obnoxious.

It started to get a bit darker, and I called Kevin to come over because it was getting harder and harder to hold the spots. They came quickly in about 10 minutes and brought me an iced coffee However, it wasn't REALLY an iced COFFEE... it was one of those iced coffees that they used instant coffee in instead of brewed coffee. HUGE difference to coffee addicts. Anyway, I appreciated it because I was so hot and thirsty.

As the sun was going down, and before the parade we decided to take a few cute pics:

 

[VACamm]

The parade was about to start!! How exciting!!!!!!!! We could hear the music coming and ............................................

.............................people started literally walking OVER US and sitting IN FRONT OF US ON THE PAVEMENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ok, so I got there 2 HOURS EARLY to save our seats, and you literally just got her about 3 seconds ago and think you can get front row???? Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm we all took turns asking them to move, but I guess they all had their hearing turned off and completely ignored us . It was so beyond rude and I was so ticked off it was all I could do not to kick them It was very un-Disneylike.

The parade was right in front of us... Holding my camera up high to get pics OVER PEOPLES HEADS of the parade...

As soon as the parade ended, the entire street began to fill up with people and we couldn't see a thing... I completely missed Magic Memories and You Wow this is just not working out the way we planned... but you know what? We are in Disney and we're just happy to be here

I could see some of the Wishes fireworks that were up high, but I still missed a lot of it. Here are a couple of pics with my camera held up over my head

Note to self: Never ever ever sit in that spot for nighttime shows at MK. Also, make sure to have Wishes Dessert Party ADR's.

Once Wishes was over, it was a nightmare trying to get out of MK. Myself, Kevin, Zack, and Ethan took off and left my parents to fend for themselves We made our was through the crowd and out the entrance to the busses. The line for Pop was ridiculously long. We ended up waiting total about 45 min for our bus (there were busses coming and going the whole time, but the line was very long and lots and lots and lots of electric wheelchairs to load). Busses were very crowded... Ethan sat on my lap while Kevin and Zack stood.

We made our way to Pop.... and went to our room for the first time. We didn't know what to expect because this was our first time at a Value Resort (only Moderates previously). Our luggage was in our room as promised We had cute little towel animals waiting for us And we could NOT WAIT to get into bed. We were exhausted from getting up at 3:15am.... but we had an absolute amazing first day.

I forgot to take room pics... sorry. Time for bed.

 

[beachmama3]

Loving your TR!! Adorable pics! The Aladdin ride pic is so cute! So are the pics of you and your hubby in front of the castle.

We heart Librety Tree Tavern too, think we have eaten there every trip!

Can't believe the rude people at the parade! Okay, I can believe it. We've had grown adults stand right in front of our kids after stalking a spot for an hour. People can def be obnoxious!

Can't wait to read more!

 

[VACamm]

Day 2: My alarm clock went off at 6:30am I literally dragged myself out of bed and trudged to the shower.

Observation: The Pop bathrooms are really tiny...

After my shower I turned on the tv to watch Stacey and her Must Do's at Disney Kevin Zack and Ethan started to open their eyes magically while watching all of the amazingness that we would experience on this fantastic vacation!!! Kevin hopped in the shower followed by Zack and then Ethan. We quickly dressed and repacked our park bags. My dad opened the connecting door and we all went to the food court for breakfast.

Our room number:

My parents had room 3131 in case you were wondering...

Here we go...

Our room was on the first floor of the 50s building overlooking the lake. We could see AOA across the water

Walking to breakfast...

The food court was BUSY!!!! I mean, there were people everywhere!! It was chaos! Kevin and Zack got eggs, sausage, bacon, and biscuits, Ethan and I got toast. In the checkout line we also picked up all of our refillable mugs which I quickly filled to the brim with coffee.

Observation: Pop coffee is not very good. HOWEVER>>>>> at this point coffee is coffee is coffee and helped to wake me up and feed my addiction.

We finished breakfast and headed to the bus stop. On the way ... my dad and Ethan decided to play in the 1980 statue

At the bus stop Zack of course was texting his girlfriend back home in VA:

After only about 5 minutes, our bus came. Yep... we are headed to my favorite park on this day... EPCOT!

Ethan wanted to sit in the front seats behind the driver with me...

Kevin is checking Facebook... caught in the act

My parents and Zack...

So a funny thing happened on the way to Epcot... I was crossing my legs and my flip flop flew in the air off my foot and landed flat in front of the door Kevin was cracking up behind me so bad and he told me to take a picture of it:

 

[VACamm]

I got my flip flop.

On our way walking to the entrance of Epcot.... yaaaay! The Monorail:

We quickly went through bag checks... we had a funny guy who was cracking jokes the whole time. I love getting a chipper friendly bag checker I do listen to EasyWDW advice and we walked allll the way to the right and went through a completely empty turnstile while there was a hundred people in the middle turnstiles

PS: We missed Rope Drop by only about 5 minutes.

Oh how I love Epcot. I love everything about it. I love the cleanliness, the topiaries, the fountains, the World Showcase, the food, Future World, and the absolute amazingness of it all!

Here is our First Epcot Day Obligatory Photo Shoot:

Awwwww... Family

Where should we go first? Well, if you are a regular Dis'er you know what you MUST do first. RUN RUN RUN RUN to The Land to get Soarin' Fast Passes

On our way we had to take another pic only because Spaceship Earth is just so fabulous!

Have I told you how HOT it was already this morning?

 

[VACamm]

We got to The Land... and as usual the Mosiacs were gorgeous. What a beautiful pavillion!

We got Fastpasses for Soarin' and we literally walked right onto Living With The Land.

Now let me tell you, my husband Kevin is the Agricultural Agent / 4H Agent / and Extension Agent for our city. This is also Kevins FIRST TIME EVER at WDW. I kept telling him how much he was going to LOVE LOVE LOVE this ride!! I was so nervous that he wouldn't like it... and that maybe I had talked it up to much to him. Boy was I wrong.... he LOVED IT!! Absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED it! We took about a billion pics of Living With The Land.... here are just a few of the really interesting ones:

Gross Fish.

Trust me.... we have LITERALLY ABOUT 50 more pics from this particular ride through Living With The Land... but I'll spare you IF you are interested in seeing more, let me know and I can post more!

When we got off, Kevin was SO EXCITED and was chattering so much about all of the growing techniques that Disney utilizes to grow so effectively that he went straight to the information desk and signed up for our 2nd Epcot day later in the week with my stepmother to take the Behind The Seeds Tour!!

We had about an hour before our Soarin' FP's could be used, so we decided to head over to The Seas With Nemo.... we rode the clamshells and saw the Manatees and peeked at the fish. Not so exciting... but you can't go to Epcot without making a visit

We went back to The Land and had lunch at Sunshine Seasons. DELICIOUS Quick Service Meal... Highly recommend!!!! Their grilled chicken Caeser Salad is so yummy! Kevin had chinese food.... and I really can't remember what everyone else had but everyone had smiles on their faces!

Observation: The DESSERTS at Sunshine Seasons are worth the stop! Strawberry Shortcake, Chocolate Mousse Cake, Tiramisou, and so many others....

 

[VACamm]

Loving your TR!! Adorable pics! The Aladdin ride pic is so cute! So are the pics of you and your hubby in front of the castle.

We heart Librety Tree Tavern too, think we have eaten there every trip!

Can't believe the rude people at the parade! Okay, I can believe it. We've had grown adults stand right in front of our kids after stalking a spot for an hour. People can def be obnoxious!

Can't wait to read more!

Awwww thanks for sticking with me xo

And I dont know what it is about LTT...but their mashed potatos and gravy are especially yummy for some reason

 

[VACamm]

After lunch, we headed over to the Imagination Pavillion... and it started sprinkling... and then in typical Florida fashion... it started to RAIN pretty hard.

Let me back up a few minutes here... We had been watching the weather channel like crazy before our vacation because Tropical Storm Isaac was making its way towards Florida for several days. Nobody was sure where the storm was headed OR if it was even going to make it to Hurricane strength. By the time we made it to Florida the day before, we knew that the storm was headed into the Gulf and could possibly effect our vacation in Orlando, but we weren't sure to what degree. Whether or not it hit us directly wouldn't matter, because we KNEW that we were going to get the outer bands of the storm regardless. On this day in Epcot (Sunday) we knew that the storm was headed towards LA. The storm was absolutely huge and I believe what we were experiencing this particular day was some of the outer bands.

We ran inside of Imagination Pavilion to visit the Figment! Since I was a little girl at 9 yrs old, he has always been one of my favorites. I DO miss the Dream Finder for sure. My dad still has a pic of me with the Dream Finder with the Figment Puppet

Once the ride was over we played around for a bit with all of the cool toys ... and it was pouring outside. We headed over to watch Captain EO... because Kevin had never seen it and it makes me laugh Here we are in our super cool glasses during the pre show.

Captain EO is just so ridiculous. Ya gotta love it

It stopped raining, so we watched the backwards fountain for a bit and headed towards Spaceship Earth............................ we walked RIGHT ON! Of course we all Oooooh'd and Aaaaaaaa'd over the fabulous scenes through history. The only part I don't like about Spaceship Earth is going backwards down the descent... I always sort of freak out like we are going to go flying backwards. Anyhooo....

Zack was dying to go on Mission Space... Ethan will NOT do any intense rides and he kept asking "Does this ride go upside down"???? "No Ethan, it doesn't go off the ground..." The wait time was 5 minutes for the Orange Side! We walked straight through the line and all of a sudden Ethan started freaking while we were almost at the end of the line... and THEN he started crying Oh Geesh. I took Ethan outside while the others went on Mission Space...... Ethan and I sat on a nice bench and we had a heart to heart conversation. I assured him that 'Its Ok' and that he didn't have to ride anything that he wasn't comfortable with.

He stopped crying.... and all was happy in the world again ....................................... until 5 seconds later the Heavens Opened up and a Flash Flood downpoured upon us!!!!! Holy Moly!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When I say downpour, I mean we could barely see anything!!! It was sudden and it was a complete flood.

The rain / downpour wouldn't have been so bad.... except that our Ponchos were IN KEVIN'S BACKPACK

Ethan and I took off running... we had no idea where we were going but were actually headed towards Ellens Energy Adventure. It was pouring... and we were running.... Ethan jumped off a landscaping wall (in the pouring rain) and ended up tripping and sailing through the air and falling on the sidewalk... in the pouring rain. Ugh. I grabbed his hand and kept running... he was limping and running now. Soooo, we ended up at Ellens Energy Adventure next door just in time for the pre show to start! Everyone inside was soaking wet. We were soaking wet. We were freezing too!!! I texted Kevin what happened and told him where we were. I opened up my bag and got out bandaids (yay!!) that already had antibiotic cream inside of the bandaid... he needed 2 on the palms of his hands and 2 of his feet which were all bleeding. Luckily I also had some napkins stuffed in my bag to dry and wipe blood.......... what a nightmare but at least I was prepared.

While we were still in the preshow, the rest of my family walked into the back entrance and joined us right before we walked into the theater What a LONG BORING RIDE... no wonder I don't visit every time we are in Epcot. Its like 45 minutes long! My stepmother laid down on the bench and literally fell asleep and took about a 30 minute nap (mission space didn't agree with her too much ) Ethan of course absolutely loves Ellen and the whole Dinosaur adventure and learning about Energy...

When we left, the rain had stopped, thank GOODNESS! Actually it was misting off and on a bit, and actually it misted and or rained for the rest of the day pretty much. We all needed a restroom break so we headed towards Mousegears and used a restroom somewhere near that but I can't exactly remember where.... and THEN we headed into Mousegears Ethan and I bought some amazing Mickey Hoodies (because we were still freezing every time we walked into a store with A/C from being poured on!!). Ethan also picked out a big Agent P because he is obsessed with Phineas and Ferb

We decided to head over to World Showcase.... and we saw the coolest topiaries that Ethan flipped out over.... especially since he was wearing his new Phineas and Ferb t-shirt for the first time AND holding his new Agent P!

 

[VACamm]

Since we had dinner ADR's at San Angel Inn, we decided to skip the Mexico until later.................... but we did take a pic first as we were walking by.

Next stop? Norway!

Oh I forgot to mention that when we were at Mousegears earlier, my stepmother headed back to Pop for a nap... she would do this most days by herself I didn't say a word and just kept my mouth shut... Back to Norway........

We were pumped to get on Maelstrom... and we stood in line for 20 minutes

We skipped the movie at the end (yes you CAN skip it... just walk across the front and exit through the opposite door ) and we magically were deposited into the gift shop!

We didn't buy anything... but we spent WAY too much time in there

Next we went to China.

It was drizzly, so we spent a long time in the gift shop and looked all around. We had fun smelling all of the incense and admiring the jade figurines.

We had 5:15 ADRs for San Angel, so we headed back to Mexico. My dad was getting texts from my stepmother that she was headed back on the bus from Pop for dinner so he walked towards Future World to meet her by himself.

MEXICO!!!

Kevin Zack Ethan and I hopped on The Gran Fiesta Tour!! YAY! I love floating past the pyramid... and then into the land of dancing dolls and Donald Duck!

Kevin and Zack decided to go put our name in at the podium and check out the shop while Ethan and I walked back through the non-existent line to ride again! Yay!

After our 2nd ride, and all 6 of us were together, we were seated right away! While we did NOT get a riverside table, we had a very nice table that was along the side of the restaurant and not in the crowded center The wait for a riverside table was 2 hours

Our food was absolutely amazing... and so were the Margaritas!

My fish tacos... DELICIOUS!

Ethans kids cheese quesadillas:

Zack and Kevin each got the steak dish which they said was out of this world...

Desserts were amazing........... I wish I took pictures but I was in food heaven and I forgot. Sorry We paid out bill and off we went... back into the most perfect place on earth................. World Showcase.

 

[VACamm]

Ethan was absolutely going bananas to do the Agent P Adventure... so we all split up. My parents went with Kevin and Zack to check out some countries while Ethan and I set off to sign up for Agent P and find some clues! It only took about 5 minutes to sign up and we got some instructions from the Agent P Kiosk CM who wished Agent E "Good Luck". We were off to save the day!!!

Oh did I mention it was raining again? Poncho time!! The good thing is that the rain / drizzle was off and on.... it really wasn't that bad and we had a flippin' blast! It would drizzle for a few minutes... then stop. Then it would rain for a few minutes... and then stop. Not too bad... it could have been a lot worse!

We did Germany, Japan, and United Kingdom. We were amazed at HOW COOL the missions were and the special effects were so impressive! We did have a problem in Japan because we could not find the windchimes... We walked around and around and around and up the stairs and searched everywhere for them! Finally a family sitting down near the entrance to the gift shop and they said "Are you looking for windchimes? We have watched about 4 kids go up to them and they start moving... we can't figure out how they are making them move!!??" They showed me where they were and I explained to them all about the Agent P Adventures... they were all adults with no children but got up to go get their own F.O.N.E to play along too!

United Kingdom had the best special effects by far. Also, in UK Ethan had to go into the tea shop and ask the CM inside a question, and she secretively went behind the counter, looked both ways... and handed Ethan a Chai Tea Packet and said "good luck". It was so cute and Ethan was just so amazed. He actually believed he was on a secret mission. Disney really does go all out for the kids in this game...

We ended the mission and I texted everyone and told them it was time to find a viewing spot for Illuminations. I was very worried about the weather, but at the moment it wasn't raining Ethan and I went to the bridge between UK and France and walked down towards the water and found it completely empty! We sat on the wall and waited for everyone else.

There were 2 guys down there who I struck up a conversation with to pass the time. One of the guys was a CM who worked at the Yacht Club I asked him if he had seen the weather report and asked him if there was any updates on Isaac. He said that it was headed directly towards New Orleans and that we would start getting HEAVY RAIN during the night and into the next day (Monday). As we were talking... the heavens opened up again.... great. Poncho time again!!! Luckily the rain only lasted about 4 minutes ... but I started worrying if it would start up again about how not fun it would be sitting in the rain during Illuminations.

The rest of my family showed up just in time for the torches to light up

Love Love LOVE Illuminations. I always get teary eyed because the music is so moving. Of COURSE we have ZERO pics of Illuminations this night... but thats ok!

After Illuminations we headed to the bus stop... which always seems like a 10 mile walk at the end of the night. We only waited about 10 minutes for a bus which was AWESOME!

Observation: The Pop buses really were great on this trip. I was impressed

Back at Pop... we walked past the pool and saw a LOT of people swimming. We all took showers since we were rained on virtually all day long and we felt disgusting.

I think we were asleep in under 3 minutes. Exhausted... and it was only the 2nd day

 

[beachmama3]

I seriously love Epcot! And I think we missed you guys by a day--we were there Sat the 25th and Monday the 27th!

My boys also LOVED the Agent P adventure!! They liked it when it was KimPossible, but the Phineas and Ferb element made it even better. We only finished France. Will have to sign up again next summer! I know you are still early on in your trip, but did your boys do the Scorceror's of Magic Kingdom game??

Cracking up at your flip flop!! And the Captain EO pic is classic. I remember seeing that when I was a kid- we missed it this year. Also, my son had the SAME reaction to Mission Space. My husband and my two older boys got into line while I waited at that little playground with our youngest. My middle son totaly came out in tears escorted by a CM because the pre-show made him soo nervous about getting sick! I am too nervous to ride it! lol

 

[Kbendig]

You have me hooked!

Ellen's Energy Adventure is definitely a loooong ride, but it is definitely useful in bad weather. Last time we went it was freezing, so we went for a long WARM ride and by the time we got out the sun was out and it was nice and warm again.

Agent P's adventure looks fun! I am a big Agent P fan and told my husband I'll be doing it when we go. Not my son, ME!

 

[15isto2]

Love the report so far