Bill and Tracy’s Kinda Excellent Adventure 5/7 M & M Day 2 Cinderella Castle Suite

We woke up from our fairytale knowing today we would be moving to Pop Century. Now don’t get me wrong, we have stayed at Pop Century seven times. I love Pop, I love the colors, the music, the atmosphere, but come on you can’t compare the Boardwalk Resort to Pop Century, it would be a totally unfair comparison. I didn’t mind us moving to Pop, I am comfortable there, there is no stress when we stay there because I know what to expect.

Now many of you might be asking, why the heck did you go to BWV’s then split stay going to Pop Century, wouldn’t it be smarter to go to Pop first then “upgrade”? Well a little thing called D23 is the culprit. If you have followed any of our trip reports in the last two years you would know I have mentioned D23 so much they should give me a free renewal membership for all the advertisement I give them. We love going to the events they have at WDW, they are unique and fun experiences. We had the BWV portion of the trip booked, we were happy with that time frame, and then the D23 Magic and Merriment announcement came out. Oh no, Bill would want to go, especially when the ending dinner was after closing at Animal Kingdom. We had never been to AK after dark and knew it would be gorgeous. I didn’t even fight him this time, I knew he would get his way, but I insisted we needed to save money somewhere and that somewhere was POP.

Before we said goodbye to the BWV, I took a picture of the light fixture above the vanity. Why? Because of a Mickey head that is why:

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I called Bell services to transfer our bags to Pop Century and no kidding there was a knock at our door within 3 minutes. A very sweet gentleman explained the procedure to me, they would be sending our stuff to Pop between 3 and 4pm. He gave me a receipt for our bags and he was on his way. It was time to leave our newest happy place, but we already knew we would be back because we had rented points (from another DVC rental company) for our May 2012 trip. We took a friendship boat to DHS and went to hop the bus to Pop Century to check in. DHS has changed the bus stops, Pop Century used to be #9 right outside the park, now it was #14 (I think) all the way at the end BOO HISS!!! Oh well, I can actually understand why they did it, it would get pretty crowded right there outside the park with all the Pop guests waiting for the bus. We were pulling up to Pop within 10 minutes, gotta love how close it is to DHS.

Check in was fine, she was Ms. I.wish.I.was.anywhere.else. She just had no personality, come on I want you to WELCOME US!!! I had asked if our request for a shower chair was granted and if there was a fridge in the room. She said the fridge was noted and she didn’t think they had any shower chairs with arms, she called housekeeping and they tried to tell her they didn’t have any either. Well every other trip we have gotten a shower chair with arms because of Bill’s balance. I told her I would handle it if they didn’t give us the right thing when we got to the room. She had no clue and I wasn’t going to argue with her.

It totally cracks me up how some of these CM’s tell you how to get to your room. I don’t think they have ever walked the grounds of the resorts at all. The room was ready, we were in the 50’s section, the 3rd door away from the Lady statue. The bowling pin pool was on the other side of Lady. She told me the best way to get there would be to go out in front of Pop Century, go past where you check your luggage and go that way. HELLO what if I wanted to go eat something?? Yes, technically it is fine going that way but kinda inconvenient when you want to do things at the gift shop or the food court. I just smiled at her politely, took my folder and we were off to have some grub.

Pop holds a bunch of great memories for us. We took my son and his then girlfriend and her kids there. We met Tammy and her family there, we also met the Oregon’s… Toni and Terry there. So we had to honor them by the lunch offerings we chose:

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Chocolate Milk in honor of our sweet Princess Hannah, who we miss so very much.

Nachos because Terry said they were good.

Chicken Penne Alfredo because well Bill loves it but so does Toni.

Most of all the CARROT CAKE. Every time we see carrot cake it reminds us of the sweetest little boy EVER named Gavin that we met in Dec. 2010. He went off with his Dad while Bill and I were talking to Tammy and came back all excited, eyes bright, cheeks flushed and said very loudly in the happiest voice… “THEY HAVE CARROT CAKE” and then he went back to his Dad. Bill just loved it and now it is mandatory to say that every time we see carrot cake.

We got to the room and decided to wait for the luggage, I like to have the room organized and taken care of right when we get to a hotel room. They brought a shower chair with no arms, I explained that wouldn’t work, we needed one with a back and arms. They stated they didn’t think they had any like that. I said I would call. I called housekeeping and they were snippy with me, I explained that this was our 8th trip to Pop with the last stay being in May 2011 and we have had one every other trip. Well guess what, we got a shower chair with arms. A horrible plastic, flimsy one with no support, we are going to be buying a travel shower chair and taking it with us from now on. Then another knock with the fridge, there is one thing I don’t understand. In the deluxe resorts, they have a place for the fridge and it is usually hidden by a door. At Pop when they did the refurb they put in a dresser with a hole for the fridge, but when they bring one they will NOT put it in the hole. The only thing I can think of is that the fridge gets too hot for that pressed wood or whatever it is that is used for the dressers. I asked the guy to just put it in the hole and he looked horrified and told me he couldn’t.

About five minutes after he left the luggage arrived, I sorted everything out and we were off to Downtown Disney. I had to take a couple pictures first. See our pretty door??

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See how scratched up it is? Yes I know wheelchairs can do that and we are in a wheelchair accessible room, but I thought come on slap some paint on it. I know I was being witchy, but we were in Disney, things are supposed to look perfect aren’t they?


See how close we were to Lady:

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Lady was looking at bit odd don’t you think?? That is because this beautiful puppy was getting a makeover, a freshen up, well actually she was getting a paint job. Hey buddies, be a doll before you leave bring a paint brush over to our door, ok?

We walked up to the bus stop and saw this:

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YAY finally, look at it and read people (not DISers, you guys are nice) I mean the not so nice people that glare when Bill is allowed on the bus first. I like how this is written out about groups of 6 or less will be allowed to enter through the back with the disabled person. Now this should cut down on the threads here where people complain about granny in the wheelchair and 27 people boarding the bus with her, well if the CM’s enforce the rules that is, we will see. We hadn’t been in line for 2 minutes when the DTD bus pulled up. We always have bus mojo at Pop Century, although I probably just jinxed us forever by saying that oh well.

I was on a mission. A friend had asked if I could do her a favor while we were in WDW. Her daughter had a My Disney Doll and she had requested some outfits for Christmas. The CM’s on the phone were clueless when my friend talked to them on the phone. She wanted to know if I could find the sku numbers for her. NO PROBLEM!!! Being in that store really had me missing Hannah and Christian, Josh had broken up with Abbey this summer and the thought of not seeing them anymore was weighing heavily on me as well as the fact that it had been Hannah’s birthday the day before. Being around all the princesses stuff made me sad and happy at the same time if that makes any sense. Well when we found the outfits I was blown away, they were freaking adorable. Her daughter had asked for Snow White and Tinkerbell. Ummm, I wanted to spread some pixie dust so got the idea that we would buy the Tink one for her. Well Bill wanted to pick out something for my friends son. This made us so happy because we didn’t have any little kids to buy for. After we completed our purchases, I called my friend because I my worry gene kicked in, I was hoping I hadn’t overstepped my boundary by buying that for her daughter without asking. I told her to be expecting a package from Disney. We talked and she reassured me that is was ok and thanked me. We just adore their kids and at Christmas I got the cutest video text ever with daughter saying “thank Mrs. Tracy and Mr. Bill”. I cried when I got it.

After World of Disney we made the mistake of going to the pin shop. Why must we go there? Why do we like these little things so much?? Well here is the loot, please forgive the crappy pictures, I took these after we got home with my new Iphone and I am just getting used to the flash:

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We were hungry by that time, spending money at WDW does that to a person so we did a walk up at the Rainforest Café. Then it was time for the Christmas store. We were in search of more Victorian ornaments. We have slowly been gathering them because Christmas 2013 is when our tree is going to get Disneyfied. We got the Minnie topper and the Mickey and Minnie tree skirt along with assorted ornaments. Normally I would balk at the price but Bill loves this stuff so much that he has made me love it too.
We headed for the bus and back to Pop, again with hardly no wait.

Next intstallment… To MVMCP or to not MVMCP??
 
Bittersweet - moving from BW to Pop. I'm with you - we've stayed at Pop many many times and so it's very comfortable. I love the food court; the bus service is usually very good - but after a deluxe it's just ... a little letdown. I really can't believe how many unpleasant CM's you encountered there - usually everyone there is full of pixie dust!

I also love the Up pin. I really regret not picking one up the last time we were there. Hopefully they'll still have them when we go back.
 
I totally know what you mean about directions to your room!
Nova and me were in the 80's. the directions were to go all the way thru the main building and take the winding pathways all the way around.

All we did was go out the front by the bus stops and cut thru the 90's parking lot area. So much quicker and less confusing.
 

Awww.... What a sweet thing to do for your friends' children! How strange that the CMs at Pop can't get it straight about the shower chair, especially since you have had them before. Love the new pins, by the way.
 
Yay being at POP. Makes me really want to go now instead of waiting until August. Pffft, we should give the CM's directions;)

Love the pins.

And the Christmas Store - Jim always says to me if Disney bought the rights to Christmas we'd be bankrupt. Have no idea what he means:rotfl2:
 
Whew, I am all caught up after being sick for a while.
The storytellers in Epcot sound awesome, and you are making me want to plan a Christmas trip!
Cape May is definitely on my "to try" list. I think we might try that instead of the traditional Chef Mickey's brunch next time.
I would have freaked out if I woke up only to realize that it hadn't charged! Thankfully it wasn't a technical problem and that it did charge that morning.
Moving to Pop! must have been kind of sad, but at least you were saving money to use for the d23 event!
Downtown Disney is so fun, and that was so sweet of you guys to get the Tink outfit for her! :)
 
I love your pin loot - especially the Walt Disney pin. Too bad the front desk and housekeeping can't get it right on the first try:confused3.
 
I'm so sorry to hear Josh & Abbey broke up! :sad1: That must be so hard for all of you. :hug:

We are doing the same thing with our split stay coming up in April... We are starting at BC, then moving offsite. :headache: Yes, we'll have more room, but we'll miss SAB & the awesome location! We had already reserved our timeshare condo, expecting to visit DBIL first, then we decided not to & booked Hard Rock at Universal to fill those three nights... then we changed to BC!! :banana: I'm so excited to finally stay there, but yes, it will be tough to leave!

Love all the pins! And I hope we'll get to see a picture of that Disney Christmas tree!!
 
I love your pin purchases. I actually bought my very first pin of my own in August...and now I want more. I don't want to trade, but I just kind of like having a few. I might have to look for one from each resort we have stayed at now. LOL
 
I really like The Ellie Badge pin

I love that pin, Up is one of my very favorite movies. I love how Pixar can say so much without a word.

Bittersweet - moving from BW to Pop. I'm with you - we've stayed at Pop many many times and so it's very comfortable. I love the food court; the bus service is usually very good - but after a deluxe it's just ... a little letdown. I really can't believe how many unpleasant CM's you encountered there - usually everyone there is full of pixie dust!

I also love the Up pin. I really regret not picking one up the last time we were there. Hopefully they'll still have them when we go back.

We love the food court too and the bus service. The CM's just were not in a good mood that day, but I got what we needed, well the only thing they had close to what we needed. We will be bringing a travel shower chair with us from now on. I would think that pin would still be there, it seemed to be popular.

I totally know what you mean about directions to your room!
Nova and me were in the 80's. the directions were to go all the way thru the main building and take the winding pathways all the way around.

All we did was go out the front by the bus stops and cut thru the 90's parking lot area. So much quicker and less confusing.

We had the same thing happen to us when we were in the 80's section, we made our own way :rotfl:.

Awww.... What a sweet thing to do for your friends' children! How strange that the CMs at Pop can't get it straight about the shower chair, especially since you have had them before. Love the new pins, by the way.

Bill and I adore those kids and would do anything for them. I really believe the CM's are not trained that well when it comes to mobility issues. They have a little knowledge but not nearly enough. They need to give Bill a job to train them :goodvibes.

Yay being at POP. Makes me really want to go now instead of waiting until August. Pffft, we should give the CM's directions;)

Love the pins.

And the Christmas Store - Jim always says to me if Disney bought the rights to Christmas we'd be bankrupt. Have no idea what he means:rotfl2:

We do love Pop, I think you will have a great time there. The other day Bill and I were having a very bad day and I said, "why don't we just move the trip up to tomorrow?" He said "if you were serious I would do it in a minute". That Christmas store is dangerous, we could go crazy in there.

Whew, I am all caught up after being sick for a while.
The storytellers in Epcot sound awesome, and you are making me want to plan a Christmas trip!
Cape May is definitely on my "to try" list. I think we might try that instead of the traditional Chef Mickey's brunch next time.
I would have freaked out if I woke up only to realize that it hadn't charged! Thankfully it wasn't a technical problem and that it did charge that morning.
Moving to Pop! must have been kind of sad, but at least you were saving money to use for the d23 event!
Downtown Disney is so fun, and that was so sweet of you guys to get the Tink outfit for her! :)

We loved Cape May breakfast, we have it booked for May. I am happy we could do the D23 event and it takes up so much time we are rarely in the room so why not Pop?

I love your pin loot - especially the Walt Disney pin. Too bad the front desk and housekeeping can't get it right on the first try:confused3.

I love pins that feature Walt, I seek them out.

I'm so sorry to hear Josh & Abbey broke up! :sad1: That must be so hard for all of you. :hug:

We are doing the same thing with our split stay coming up in April... We are starting at BC, then moving offsite. :headache: Yes, we'll have more room, but we'll miss SAB & the awesome location! We had already reserved our timeshare condo, expecting to visit DBIL first, then we decided not to & booked Hard Rock at Universal to fill those three nights... then we changed to BC!! :banana: I'm so excited to finally stay there, but yes, it will be tough to leave!

Love all the pins! And I hope we'll get to see a picture of that Disney Christmas tree!!

I am still so sad about Josh and Abbey but they both need to grow up. I can't wait to read your report about your stay at BC!!

I love your pin purchases. I actually bought my very first pin of my own in August...and now I want more. I don't want to trade, but I just kind of like having a few. I might have to look for one from each resort we have stayed at now. LOL

We don't trade anymore, we just buy :rotfl2:.
 
We were finally going to Magic Kingdom, we were both happy about this. There is nothing like walking “right down the middle of Main Street USA”. We decided to go in the afternoon since we were going to buy MVMCP tickets and stay for the party that night.

My heart always beats a little faster when I see the Castle. It just brings back so many fantastic memories for me with Bill, with Josh, Hannah and Christian, with Kathy and her family, and with Toni and Terry. It is my favorite thing in all of WDW.

We did a little shopping killing time before our late lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table. This would be our first time. After checking in we got in line and Bill got his picture taken with Cindy. It comes in a pretty folder:

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Here is Bill and Cindy (after he saw this picture he was upset he had wanted to get his hair cut before we left on the trip and we never got around to it, he does NOT like this picture):

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They wanted to sit us at a two topper with me across from him. I asked if I would be in the way if I moved my chair so I was next to him, they then asked if we would prefer a 4 topper and I said YES and thank you. It is so much easier.

I am crazy for Disney lighting fixtures, I have no idea why but I am, so here are some pictures of the fixtures and other things I noticed during our time in the Castle:

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Bill seemed to be happy at the bigger table, but I took this picture to show part of the CM’s outfits:

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We got the cheese platter for an appetizer:

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This is Bill’s dinner, for the life of me I can’t remember what I had:

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It was time for the Princesses and of course Bill got his pictures taken with them:

First up Snow White:

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Best Ariel ever, in character, funny, and very talkative:

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Sleeping Beauty:

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Finally Belle:

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After a good dinner we went to see Mickey’s Philharmagic. When we got out the weather had turned, it was cold, windy and misting rain. I knew Bill wanted to do MVMCP, at this point my cold had started getting worse but I wasn’t telling him about it. I wanted him to have a good trip. I had walked past this several times but never taken a picture:

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Oops, I had forgotten the flash, is this better:

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We turned the corner going toward Liberty Square from the Castle and I realized the lighting ceremony was going on. I had forgotten all about it, that proved to me this stupid cold was messing with me. The ceremony is one of my very favorite things, I am always right in front of the Castle at the hub for it if we are in MK. I was almost in tears, the wind was picking up and Bill said he didn’t want to stay it was getting cold. I was thanking God and told him I thought that would be a good idea. We made our way through the Emporium it was warmer that way, then Bill asked me to put his hat on:

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I absolutely LOVE this picture, he loves this hat and it is very warm. I love that we can act like kids all we want in WDW. We made our way to the bus, there weren’t many people in line at all. I sat by Bill and a great family from New Jersey sat across from us, their little boy was so cute. I saw something that just had me cracking up and Bill was laughing too:

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It looked like they had folded up the stroller with their toddler still in there. The Dad looked in the stroller and started laughing too. He said thank goodness I didn’t really do that.

We got back to the room and I was miserable, I couldn’t breathe at all. We decided to go to bed and watch tv and relax. I helped Bill into bed, spent 20 minutes getting the charger to work on his chair and took some Nyquil.

We woke up the next day and I was still feeling awful, Bill declared this a rest/DTD day. He wanted me better before my birthday the next day. He had major plans for it and I had to be well. We stayed in the room until about 1:30pm and checked on Lady’s progress before we left:

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We just wandered around DTD that day going into shops we don’t normally go to. Then we hopped a bus to the Polynesian Resort. Bill was going to get his Ohana dinner. He was really looking forward to this. I was looking forward to the booze hoping it might make me feel better. Did I take pictures? Not really… well I took two. One of Bill:

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The other picture? Our empty drink glasses, the smaller two were mine, I had two Long Island Ice Teas and Bill had his Bahama Mama, Disney was driving so why not?

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It was a good dinner, I was feeling FINE by the time we left LOL and we had a surprise when we got back to our room, Lady was mostly finished. Look how pretty she looked:

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Next installment… Tracy’s Birthday extravaganza!!
 
Bill and Cinderella: Looks more like Justin Bieber and Cinderella! :rotfl::rotfl:

Something just looks off about that Cinderella and that Snow White.

Bill's meal looks yummy. Was that the Major Domo's Pie?

20 mins on getting the charger to work? More panic for you on top of not feeling good. :sad2:

A day of rest was wise.

Yea for Ohana!!! I couldn't move after that place. I hope you were feeling much better by that time.
 
[They wanted to sit us at a two topper with me across from him. I asked if I would be in the way if I moved my chair so I was next to him, they then asked if we would prefer a 4 topper and I said YES and thank you. It is so much easier. [/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

Just love when they accomadate these little requests that make the trip so much more enjoyable!:goodvibes

We woke up the next day and I was still feeling awful, Bill declared this a rest/DTD day. He wanted me better before my birthday the next day. He had major plans for it and I had to be well. We stayed in the room until about 1:30pm and checked on Lady’s progress before we left:[/COLOR][/SIZE][/FONT]

I hope the rest helps!
 
I hate not feeling well at Disney, too bad about it being so cold, it is so hard to have a good time when you are freezing. I love Ohana's, sadly my family is not a big fan with the exception of my soon to be son-in-law he loves it and will make my daughter take him there :thumbsup2.

Hopefully you are feeling better and can enjoy the rest of your trip.
 
How did I miss the last update?????

I smile every time I think of our visit at Pop with you and Bill. The kids still talk about playing with Bill's chair. I know you have made an impression on them too.

You also neglected to mention that you are now Brenda's hero! The outfit did save the day from a bad mommy moment. She still holds out faith, because of the Tinkerbell outfit from you and Bill, that we will get to go back to Disney.... and she is starting to drag Jon along with her. He thinks we are going back in June 2013. It won't be Christmas but I might get to enjoy my birthday there! In any case, Dana (Brenda's doll) wears her tink outfit AT LEAST 3 times a week. Brenda even made sure that Dana slept in the Tink outfit the other night for the tooth fairy's first visit. Brenda wanted the Tooth fairy to feel comfortable and know that she had a fairy friend at our house! It melted my heart! :lovestruc I can't thank you and Bill enough!

We LOVED CRT!!! I think if I were you would be keeping an eye on Bill with those princesses though! :lmao:

We really want to try Ohana for Dinner. We did breakfast there when we were on our trip and it was MY FAVORITE breakfast. I am betting dinner is over the top yummy too!

I was hoping it would be nice and warm the whole trip since it got downright bitter last December. Hoping this is a small bump and not an arctic blast!
 
I missed your last update. The pins were great. I am going to buy some for my trip in August with the grandkids. It will be their first trip and I have to get them started on pin trading. I was sorry to read about Josh and his girlfriend. I remember your TR with her kids and know how much you love them.

That was lousy with the CM's attitudes towards the shower chair.

I loved the pic of Bill with Cinderella - very handsome guy.

The pic with the fountain looks better without the flash. It looks good with it but without just seems to have more character. I have Ohana planned for breakfast in August. I have to pay OOP so I am going a little cheaper where I can. That and the kids will like the characters. Glad you felt a little better after eating there.
 
Bills dinner was pork 3 ways and I did not like it on my last trip... did Bill like it?

Good idea to skip the party, you wouldn't have had fun and it would have been a waste of money
 















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