Pop, Pop, Poppity-Pop! A November 2014 trip report

[annegirl]

Hello everyone and welcome to my 2nd trip report!
Pop! Pop! Poppity-Pop!
A November 2014 trip report.

We were in Disney World from Tuesday, November 11th to Friday, November 21st staying at Pop Century resort.​

I am so excited to start our report... but first some introductions:​

For those of you who followed along with my pre trip report so glad to have you here still! For those of you who are new ,welcome! If you want to read my pre trip report for this trip or our trip in 2010 the links are in my signature.

So, who are the people you need to know for this trip report?

I am Cheryl. 37 year old stay at home mom. I love reading, traveling, planning, movies, pretty much anything British, crafts, and hanging out with my family. My username Annegirl is a nod to one of my favorite literary characters of all time- Anne Shirley of Anne of Green Gables.
I have been to Disneyland 3 times (8 years old, 18 years old, and 24 years old) and Disney World twice now (2010 and this trip)
For this trip here are some of my favorites:
favorite ride: Peter Pan has been my favorite for years and this year I think I added 7 Dwarves Mine Train. I just had so much fun on that ride.
favorite show: Elsa lighting the castle
favorite park: Magic Kingdom
favorite meal: Dinner at Be our Guest followed closely by lunch at Be Our Guest and dinner at 'Ohana.
favorite treat: Masters cupcake at Be our Guest followed by jalepeno pretzel at AK
favorite character: my favorite character is Belle but my favorite interactions this trip were the talking Mickey, the stepsisters, Pooh Bear, and Duffy Bear.
Favorite memories: Meeting talking Mickey, Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique/ Maddy's birthday, being silly in the rain, and Belle's village... more on those later.
souvenir: Lumiere
​

My DH Doug- He loves gaming (especially World of Warcraft), movies, playing and listening to the bagpipes.
For this trip these are his favorites:
ride: Toy Story Mania
show: Impressions de France and Indiana Jones
park: Magic Kingdom
meal: Dinner at Be Our Guest
treat: Masters cupcake or ice cream Mickey bar
Character: the stepsisters
memory: discussing rides in Liberty Tree Tavern (that will make more sense later)
souvenir: a Family Crest
​

The most important members of our
Abigail (age 8) and Madeline (age 5- turned 5 on the trip)​

Abigail:
favorite ride: Expedition Everest followed by Splash Mountain
show: Disney Jr. Live on Stage
park: Animal Kingdom (because of EE)
dinner: anywhere she had chicken nuggets and fries
treat: popcorn
character: Duffy Bear
memory: meeting Duffy Bear
souvenir: Duffy bear- yes... a pattern is developing here.

Madeline:
favorite ride: Winnie the Pooh, followed by Spaceship Earth, Figment, and Peter Pan
show: Nemo the musical
park: Magic Kingdom
meal: dinner at T-Rex
treat: popcorn
character: Winnie the Pooh
memory: meeting Winnie the Pooh, her birthday
souvenir: Ariel music set

​

Next up: My parents joined us for part of the trip. They were there with us when we flew into Orlando and they stayed until the next Tuesday (the 11th-18th)​

My mom: Marcia
She is my best friend, loves all the same books, movies, tv shows and activities as me but she also is a marathon runner (which I am certainly not)
My daughters adore her. She is the most involved and fun grandma in the world.
Her favorites from this trip:
ride: Expedition Everest
show:Finding Nemo the musical
park: Magic Kingdom, especially Fantasy land
meal: Be our Guest dinner
snack: carrot cake
character: stepmother and step sisters
memory: one that involves the above characters and Abi's necklace (more on that later) and Abi helping her to be brave and going on EE twice together and MAddy's birthday

My dad- Jim
He is more of a homebody. He is a retired Naval officer and decorated Vietnam veteran. Disney was a bit harder on him as he has bad knees and a bad back. My mom calls him Eeyore because over the past ten years or so he has developed a little bit of an Eeyore attitude.
Favorite ride: Soarin'
show: Lion King and Fantasmic
park: Hollywood Studios
meal: Bog lunch
snack: soda
characters: stepmother and stepsisters
memory: same as my mom's
​

We also had one little addition to our party on Friday the 21st, our last day. We ran into Doug's sister and her family in Fantasyland and spent a few hours riding rides with her and her little girl Lizzie.

So there you have it!
It was an amazing trip full of ups and downs and magic and schedule changes.... and I can't wait to tell you all about it.​

​

 

[annegirl]

Table of Contents
Day One: Tuesday November 11, 2014
Part one: Let's play hooky.... I think I'm going to faint!
Part two: Is that Grandma?
Part three: Pop!
Part four: Dinner with Dino's part one
Part five: Dinner with Dino's part two

Day two: November 12, 2014 Hollywood Studios
Grandma, you ate a Ted! part one
Grandma, you ate a Ted! part two
Fire! I don't like Fire! Deja Vu.
Hidden Mickey
Fantasmic!
Swimming​

Day Three: Thursday November 13, 2014
Went to sleep as a four year old, woke up as a five year old!
Fantasyland with the birthday girl!
Archery with Merida
Birthday Brunch in the castle

Princesses for the birthday!
An Enchanted Afternoon
Bibbidi Bobbidi boutique
Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique part 2
Princess photo shoot
Birthday party!
A Grand Dinner
A Grand Dinner, part two
Park Fare photopass pictures

Day Four: Friday November 14, 2014

Breakfast in the Hundred Acre Woods
Breakfast in the Hundred Acre Woods part 2
Having an adventure part 1
Having an adventure part 2
Photopass pictures
Liberty Square and Tomorrowland
Circus Area
Be Our Guest part one
Be Our Guest part two
The End of the Night

Day Five: Saturday November 15, 2014

Akershus breakfast
Epcot Morning
World Showcase part 1- Mexico, China, and Germany
World Showcase part 2- photopass and Japan, Pick a pearl part 1
World Showcase part 3- Pick a Pearl part 2, France, UK and back to Future World
'Ohana
Electrical Water Pageant

Day Six: Sunday November 16, 2014

Animal Kingdom- safari
Animal Kingdom part 2- Lion King, Rafiki's planet watch, and Flame Tree
Animal Kingdom part 3- rides!
Animal Kingdom part 4- end of the day

Day Seven: Monday November 17, 2014

Another magic kingdom morning
Frontierland and then onto our first ride on the mine train
More mine train
Gaston
Be Our Guest fast pass lunch
Be Our Guest part two
Meeting Mickey!
Meeting Tinkerbell and some surprise Mice!
Having Fun in the Rain! A break at Gaston's Tavern
More of Gaston's Tavern and the rest of the afternoon
Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern
Girls' Night at Downtown Disney

Day Eight: Tuesday November 18, 2014

Morning at the resort/ saying goodbye to my parents and then meeting Marie at Magic Kingdom
Mary Poppins and lunch
Fantasyland and a parade
Meeting Peter Pan and riding a mine train
Meeting the Fairy Godmother and Anna!
Meeting Elsa!
Castle Shows
Dinner and the Electrical parade
Meeting Tiana And Naveen

Day Nine: Wednesday November 19, 2014

Epcot Morning
Canada and the UK- meeting Alice
Agent P- UK
Agent P- UK continued
Agent P- France, meeting Belle
Leaving Epcot for not so fun reasons
Exploring Art of Animation
Exploring Art of Animation

Day Ten: Thursday November 20, 2014

Going to The Grand Floridian for breakfast
Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare
Going to Epcot again and meeting Duffy
Agent P, Mexico, Norway, and China and meeting Mulan
USA and Italy
A mission in Germany
Riding some rides
Figment and leaving Epcot
Dinner at Chef Mickey's part one
Dinner at Chef Mickey's part two

Day Eleven: Friday November 21, 2014

Our last morning: going to Magic Kingdom
Fantasyland with family
More Fantasyland
More meets
Meet with Rapunzel and Cinderella
Lining up for lunch
Another Be Our Guest lunch!
Meeting Chip and Dale
Splitting up for a couple of rides
Tea cups
White Rabbit and leaving the park
Going home

After the trip




​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

You've started your TR! Looking forward to seeing how things went.

 

[missangelalexis]

YAYYY you started!! So excited, can't wait to hear all about your trip!!

 

[DisneyAndrew]

Yay! I'm the 3rd one to post. I don't think I've ever been this early. Anyway, looking forward to reading your report.

 

[MarbleBob]

Cool! Looking forward to following along!!!

 

[Denovagirl]

I'm here and subbed! Be back to read up later

 

[Newsies]

Following along. What a beautiful family. It sounds like you had a fun trip and I can't wait to read about it

 

[annegirl]

You've started your TR! Looking forward to seeing how things went.

Yes! Finally! I can't wait to share it!

YAYYY you started!! So excited, can't wait to hear all about your trip!!

I can't wait to see if we were ever in the same place at the same time without knowing it!

Yay! I'm the 3rd one to post. I don't think I've ever been this early. Anyway, looking forward to reading your report.

Thank you! Welcome! I hope you enjoy it!

Cool! Looking forward to following along!!!

Yay! Glad you are here!

I'm here and subbed! Be back to read up later

Woo hoo! I am really enjoying your updates so far.

Following along. What a beautiful family. It sounds like you had a fun trip and I can't wait to read about it

Thank you! It really was a fun trip. Can't wait to share it all. I followed over to your trip report and started reading that this morning. I am really enjoying it so far. I will comment over there soon!

 

[Vernie822]

Joining in - can't wait to hear about your trip!!

 

[annegirl]

After spending months and months keeping this trip a secret from our daughters, I couldn't wait to FINALLY tell them.
On Monday the 10th I bought some balloons to set up for the reveal. I told Maddy that they were for my sister in law that lives upstairs and she believed that so the plan was still going good even though I had a little sidekick with me whenever I needed to get trip stuff done.
I had finished the main packing over the weekend while Doug was out of town. He got back Sunday night and so Monday night I made him pack his bag. I cleaned the house. Everything was in order.
Tuesday November 11th I woke up excited! Got showered and dressed, got Doug up, van was packed. Now we just had to wait for the girls to wake up.

They are usually early risers. Really early risers. But today.... they slept in.
I set up the things I wanted to use for the "reveal" on our bed.

I had doughnuts set up on the table in the shape of Mickey heads.

And then we waited. Finally around 7:15 they both came out of their room. I was bursting at the seams to tell them. They sat down at the breakfast table with Doug. I sat on the couch next to the table with the camera waiting...
We had the video camera set up taping but it turned itself off so I'm not sure if we even got the good stuff on tape. I will have to still look at that and I will upload it if it's good.

So, the girls were eating their doughnuts. Doug was driving me nuts with small talk. I was giving him some major stink eye trying to get him to start THE conversation.
Finally, he says "I don't really feel like going to work today. We should go do something fun instead."
Abi makes a sound of protest and says, "That wouldn't be fair if you guys get to go do something fun together and I have to go to school!"
So Doug says, " Well, you can play hooky too. What do you guys want to do?"
Abi gets a huge smile on her face and says, "Disney world!"
Maddy repeats, "Yeah! Disney World!"
Doug and I both say, "Okay. Let's go to Disney World!"
Then they make these faces....

But they didn't really believe us. I said, "Come on! Let's go!"
And I started walking to our room. They both got up and started following me, thinking we were just playing around.
Abi told us later that she thought we were just pretending that our room was Disney World.
When we got to our room and they saw everything set up they finally started to believe us.

Abi kept saying over and over, "Catch me! I think I'm going to faint!"
Finally she just sat on the bed and stared at everything while Maddy went through her backpack...

Maddy kept saying, "Is this for real? Are we really going?"
Doug reminded us that we needed to go.
In my pre trip report I had mentioned many of the ways we were going to get to the airport but what we finally decided on was that my parents were just going to drive themselves there and meet us at the terminal for another surprise. My brother lives about ten minutes from the airport and so to save on parking we were driving to his house this morning, he would go with us over to the airport and then take our van back to his house.
Then when we got back he and his wife came to get us. It worked out perfectly.
We needed to get to his house between 8:15-8:30am and so we needed to leave soon!
I got the girls into their reveal shirts, their skirts and leggings, and did their hair and then we finished packing up the van.
I grabbed some photos as we left the house:

Up next: Is that Grandma?

​

 

[annegirl]

Joining in - can't wait to hear about your trip!!

Welcome! Glad to have you along!!

 

[missangelalexis]

I love the reveal story, so awesome that you were able to pull it off! The girls looks so happy, YAY!!

 

[stephm0188]

Such a cute reveal! They look thrilled!

 

[annegirl]

I love the reveal story, so awesome that you were able to pull it off! The girls looks so happy, YAY!!

Thanks! I really wondered sometimes if we were actually going to make it to trip day without them finding out. It was great!

Such a cute reveal! They look thrilled!

Thank you! They were SO excited!

 

[annegirl]

When I left off, we were leaving our house. Our van was packed to the brim. I had majorly over-packed. I didn't really know what to expect weather wise and after having such cold weather unexpectedly on our trip in 2010, I was really concerned about being prepared for every possibility. And.... (foreshadowing) it was a good thing we were!
So, our van was packed with 1 big suitcase and 1 small suitcase that we would check, 4 small suitcases that we carried on, our umbrella stroller, and 4 backpacks full of activities for the plane.

We got to my brother's house in great time, I hopped in the backseat, and we were on our way to the airport.

Apparently the girls still didn't really believe us until we got into the actual airport. I told them that would be really mean to take a joke this far....

We had them wear their winter coats since it was getting cold here in Utah and that way we could pack their lighter hoodies and still have their bigger coats if we needed them.
Maddy got to ride through the airport in her umbrella stroller being in charge of her backpack.

At this point we had still not told the girls that my parents were going with us. So, we were full of anticipation as we neared our gate. I knew my parents were already there.
It was very obvious the moment Abi saw my mom because she took off running!

She was SO happy!

Pretty soon we were boarding our flight. We had two seats in each row for three rows so Maddy and I were in the first row of our three, Doug and Abi were right behind us, and my parents were right behind them.
I have no idea why we did it that way. It would have been way better if we had got them the aisle seats of our rows... but whatever. It worked.
One thing you should know about me is that I HATE flying. Hate it. Seriously. Cannot tell you how much I hate it. And my dad does too. He had to take some kind of pill to fly. But I don't let it show. I don't want our girls to be afraid of flying so I don't let them see how much it scares me. But, when planning this trip we knew that now that we aren't in Wisconsin anymore the drive is a lot less doable. Last time we drove it in a day and a half but this time we were looking at 3-4 days unless we drove like crazy all day and night. So we flew. And it was pretty bad. I get super dizzy when the plane banks a lot and this one did. And there was turbulence. But I did it.
You can see in the picture how my dad feels as we are about to take off...

Maddy spent most of the flight doing her activities and playing with toys from her backpack.

Abi did her homework. She was so good about it. She didn't even touch her fun things and instead worked on her ginormous 2 weeks worth of homework packet the entire flight.

We were on the flight at lunch time so I brought along lunchables for the kids and Doug. I just had a very squished peanut butter sandwich.

We finally landed in MCO at around 4:30 Orlando time. That really did make it feel like we had been flying ALL day. We hopped on the fake o rail and made our way to baggage claim to get our bags that we had carried on. They had taken them from us at the plane and stowed them below with the stroller but then we had to go pick them up- usually when we have done this they have them back up at the plane for you after the flight so that was a bit of a surprise but it was still worth it to not have to pay for those extra four bags.

Then we made our way to Magical Express. I was really excited for this since we hadn't used it before. Our bands worked great, there was hardly anyone there, and we were first in line for Pop!

They let us on the bus after about 10 minutes. We were the first on, but the first seats were reserved so we were in the second and third rows.

At this point we hit our first snafu of the trip. I had taken Maddy to the doctor the day before for a check up because she was complaining of an itchy bum. While we were flying the doctor called and said her urine had come back with a trace of bacteria that starts UTI's. So they needed us to get a prescription for her. I had no idea what to do. I called the nurse and told her we were in Florida on our way to our hotel (they actually knew we were leaving) and that I would call her when I found out where a pharmacy was.
We have this insurance where we pay everything for the first few thousand dollars and then after that we pay nothing for the rest of the year. So, if we had been home this would have been free. But we knew that here it wouldn't be so unfortunately this made my ride on the bus a little less magical as I worried about that and talked to the nurse.
But STILL, we were on our way to Disney and I wasn't going to let it get me down completely.

And pretty soon we were going under these gates!!

up next: Pop!
​

 

[annegirl]

And then we saw the sign for POP!

We were getting off the bus at Pop! at about 5:30pm and it was SO dark. It felt really late. We were so excited to be there.

The girls played with the big blocks while we got our luggage.

And then we walked in!
I just love walking into Pop! It is so shiny.

We had already checked in online and so we went up to online check in.
Check in was fast and easy. We got all of our requests- 70's building, ground floor, and rooms that were right next to each other!
And there was one more bit of magic... but I will tell you that in a minute!

First, I asked the CM about a pharmacy and she told me about Turner drugs. They deliver and are open late. We don't have to be there when they deliver. All the things I was worried about. I called them right away and had our nurse fax the info to them. Unfortunately it was going to be very expensive. But the pharmacist recommended that since it wasn't a full blown UTI and mostly just keeping it from developing, that I only do half time. So that right there saved us half the money. It was still a lot but much more manageable.
They said they would deliver later that evening.
My dad was also supposed to get a delivery of oxygen from a nearby place that will deliver oxygen to veterans for free while in the area. He doesn't need it all the time but uses it when he sleeps. They were going to be delivering right at the time of our dinner ADR and unfortunately would not leave it at the hotel without him being there. He decided to stay behind while we went out later which was sad. But there really wasn't much we could do about it.

So... onto the magic.
I thought the room number seemed familiar. I figured it must be pretty close to our room last time.
We were right next to the giant Mickey phone and foosball area.
We made our way to our room....

And we got to our room...
It was the EXACT same room we had on our last trip!!!
We thought that was amazing. And we were really happy.

And we even had one of these guys...

We settled into our rooms and then met up to go to Downtown Disney for our first ADR of the trip.

Up next: Dinner with Dino's
​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

How wonderful!

What a bummer that the call from the doc didn't come in till after you got there.

What a small world afterall that you ended up in the same room as your last visit.

 

[missangelalexis]

Abi looks SO SO happy to see her grandma, that is so sweet!

I'm sorry to hear you hate flying so much But you made it!

Oh no, total bummer about Maddy needing the meds. I'm glad it wasn't as bad as it could've been though.

Yay for getting all your room requests! And how COOl that you got the same exact room!

 

[Biggie Smalls]

Your girls are adorable! I love that your parents surprised them at the airport, I know my son would seriously freak out if he saw his gram when we we're traveling too! Following along for the fun