Canadave
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 25, 1999
- Messages
- 891
The CAST: DD1 (Brittany, 15 yrs. old), DD2 (Emily, 11 yrs. old), DW (Marylynn, let's just say early 40's) and myself (Dave,same)
Thursday Jan. 29/04
Weather forecast - Sunny, High 60's low 70's
I'm up at 6:45, here at the beach resort in Daytona Beach...when is sunrise? I walk out on the balcony and am soon joined by DW and DD2 (DD1 tells me to tape the sunrise and she'll watch it later...teenagers ). It was about 45* out, but I was not going to miss this. If you haven't seen the sunrise on the Ocean...you have missed something amazing. The colours were phenomenal, constantly changing, and when the sun poked it head up over the horizon, DD1 started singing "Circle of Life"...certainly a moment to remember. When we finally got our breath back, it was time to pack up and get onto WDW.
We were off before 9 and headed onto the I4 (we went past the site of the Daytona 500....pretty neat). It was a beautiful cruising morning...you could tell everyone was getting excited as we all were singing to the Shrek tape (I know, it's not Disney, but it sure has that Disney aura about it). We encountered our first real traffic delay with an accident just before WDW, but it only slowed us down about 15-20 minutes...no problem. First thing you should know about the Pop Century Resort...because it is so new, there is very little mention of it on the road signage, but check your map and you should have no problem finding it. I loved the location of it in relation to the rest of WDW...it was very central, and getting to all the places was very handy (unlike the All Stars). Anyway, DW had the camcorder going as we passed through the gates, officially entering WDW! Even though this was our third trip, we still got goose bumps.
If your into nostalgia, PC is your place. As you drive down the entrance-way to PC, you feel like your heading to a motel from the bygone days...signs announcing Color TV, etc....and then stopping at the gates, this trip's first encounter with a Cast Member...friendly, smiling, helpful...looking like they're enjoying their job and are genuinely happy to see and serve you...yes, we're in Disney. As we get closer to the buildings, the giant bowling pins give us that "All Star" feeling. We pull into the 'registration' parking lot and head over to the lobby. It's only 10:30 am, but we thought we would check in and then just wander around the resort, maybe go for a swim until our room was available. The large icons outside the hall give us an idea as to what to expect with this resort. Each of the years have their own stylized look. Detail, detail. As we enter the large hall, we get our bearings...the gift shop and food court are together on the left (denoted with a large "Everything Pop" sign) and the check in/out and guest relations are on the right. Way down the hall, across from check-in, is a neat little area with a large TV, for the kids to wait for Mom and Dad to do their business. The luggage area...which we didn't find until later in the week...is outside to the right. There is also an arcade on the check-in side. The walls are decorated with shadow boxes with neat things from each era (1950's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's). Look at the time line above the boxes to follow the years. Wonderful memories seeing the toys and games that I used to play with so many years ago. I only wish they had more boxes. When you're in the main lobby, check out the floor, the sparkling area is quite neat. The check-in area has a line up of 4 families...I had heard that the resort has been full or near capacity since it opened in December...rumours also abounding that registration was mayhem. My personal opinion...based on our 10 days at PC...was that either they have got most of the bugs out, or that the others had just hit a bad time. I was into the main building many times during our stay and the most I had seen in the line-up, including on the weekends, was 6 families...but then again, it was off-season. We were about 10 minutes waiting to check-in.
Behind the registration area is large photographs from the different eras. Once again, great memories. DW wasn't too impressed with the CM's outfits, pretty bland...I have to agree. We looked for Tyler (see Resorts Board for this 'famous' CM DISer)...but we didn't see him. Check in was smooth...we had requested the 1950's buildings, ground floor and non-smoking when we booked and had faxed the room controller a few days earlier with a request to be facing the pool...bingo!...we had not only received everything we wanted, but our room was available right now! Yes, sounded good to us...our Disney vacation has now officially begun
Reasoning behind picking the 50's building: close to main hall... without paying extra $10 US a night for preferred; close to parking lot (we are using our car to get around this week); has it's own pool; loved the idea of waking up each morning to see Lady and the Tramp outside our door (they are the giant icons in the 50's area...Lady at one building and the Tramp across from her at the other building...A giant jukebox adorns the third building). Last time we were here, we stayed at the ASMu...DW didn't think it was "Disney" enough...so these icons, along with Mowgli and Baloo in the 60's area, gave a nice Disney feel.
The girls were checking out the gift shop while we checked in...so many things to buy ...we then checked out the food court...a pretty large area with lots of seating and large icons (roller skates, yo-yo's, etc) all around. There was an area with a small adult bar (I think) just out of the main artery. There was a cooler area with items like milk and fruit, and several hot food areas with choices like pizza, hamburgers, chicken fingers etc. (there are more specific menus on this site and other Disney sites). I didn't think the prices were that bad, especially considering where you are. There are three beverage stations, although one was closed intermittently during our stay (which also included a microwave and a toaster). The usual drinks were there and they also had a frozen coke dispenser (coke flavour and some kind of blue berry coke flavour) They were OK, DD2 really liked them...made her tongue blue, too. I didn't mind the coffee...many other DISer's have complained...but then again, I don't like Tim Hortons coffee, so there you go. A neat thing in the States was the flavoured coffee creamers...DD2 especially liked the french vanilla, which she would drink on their own out of the little containers! and DW liked to add 4 of them to the hot chocolate...it was actually quite good. We bought our 4 mugs ($11.99 now, but still a good bargain, especially if you're staying for 10 days!) We do have mugs from the All Stars, but felt we should buy mugs from here... I'm not getting into that debate right now...I did see some people using mugs from the AS's. Besides, the mugs make a great souvenir and we use them a lot at home.
Back to the van to find our parking lot...yes parking was a bit of a pain, especially on the weekend, when the resort was busier. Note - although the 60's is the preferred building, closest to the main hall and the main pool, it is the worst building for parking. We eventually found our room...the room indicators on the side of the buildings, you know, the ones with the range of room numbers and arrows, were terrible. We walked completely around the one side of our building before we found our room. Note about room size - if you're hoping for something "suite size", check somewhere else The rooms are the same size as the All Stars, pretty well the same set up, which was no problem for us...we didn't plan to spend too much time in the room and would rather spend our money at the parks...on souvenirs and food. The rooms did have an extra large safe, taller but the same depth as the AS's.
The DD's went for a swim, while DW and I went for a walk around the resort. Grabbed the camcorder for some taping, got our first 'refill' for our mugs, and off we went. The icons around the resort were great...giant yo yo's, rubiks cubes (really neat at night), sony walkman (very realistics...once again, details details), a giant Big Wheel (ahhhh memories), Mickey phone...walking through a giant foosball game...how cool is that. I was disappointed that, although they had 2 twister games outside, the needle didn't work very well, always pointed down. There was a kid's water play area with a large Goofy and a cool corvette. The larger than life replicas of Mr and Mrs. Potato Head were sooooooooo great....can you say photo op! The computer pool in the 80-90's was OK, but kind of boring. The flower pool, with water shooting flowers, in the 60's was interesting. Our pool, in the 50's was a bowling pin shape...but get this, the depths of the pool varied to the exact contours of a bowling pin (details, details)...and the bowling balls were a neat addition...no, you couldn't use them. Our stroll around the walkway along the edge of Hourglass Lake took you through a time line with signs highlighting different milestones in the past. You could see the beginning of the matching "Legendary Years" resort of PC on the other side of the Lake. A couple of buildings and footings were nearly finished and they were working on some landscaping when we were there (you didn't hear any construction from the rooms). It will be nice when it's finished...whenever that is. There were so many other neat things around the resort. Very colourful and fun...too many details to mention. If you have any specific questions, fire away.
After our walk, we joined the girls at the pool and confirmed plans for the next few days.
Next part: dinner at Boma's
Thursday Jan. 29/04
Weather forecast - Sunny, High 60's low 70's
I'm up at 6:45, here at the beach resort in Daytona Beach...when is sunrise? I walk out on the balcony and am soon joined by DW and DD2 (DD1 tells me to tape the sunrise and she'll watch it later...teenagers ). It was about 45* out, but I was not going to miss this. If you haven't seen the sunrise on the Ocean...you have missed something amazing. The colours were phenomenal, constantly changing, and when the sun poked it head up over the horizon, DD1 started singing "Circle of Life"...certainly a moment to remember. When we finally got our breath back, it was time to pack up and get onto WDW.
We were off before 9 and headed onto the I4 (we went past the site of the Daytona 500....pretty neat). It was a beautiful cruising morning...you could tell everyone was getting excited as we all were singing to the Shrek tape (I know, it's not Disney, but it sure has that Disney aura about it). We encountered our first real traffic delay with an accident just before WDW, but it only slowed us down about 15-20 minutes...no problem. First thing you should know about the Pop Century Resort...because it is so new, there is very little mention of it on the road signage, but check your map and you should have no problem finding it. I loved the location of it in relation to the rest of WDW...it was very central, and getting to all the places was very handy (unlike the All Stars). Anyway, DW had the camcorder going as we passed through the gates, officially entering WDW! Even though this was our third trip, we still got goose bumps.
If your into nostalgia, PC is your place. As you drive down the entrance-way to PC, you feel like your heading to a motel from the bygone days...signs announcing Color TV, etc....and then stopping at the gates, this trip's first encounter with a Cast Member...friendly, smiling, helpful...looking like they're enjoying their job and are genuinely happy to see and serve you...yes, we're in Disney. As we get closer to the buildings, the giant bowling pins give us that "All Star" feeling. We pull into the 'registration' parking lot and head over to the lobby. It's only 10:30 am, but we thought we would check in and then just wander around the resort, maybe go for a swim until our room was available. The large icons outside the hall give us an idea as to what to expect with this resort. Each of the years have their own stylized look. Detail, detail. As we enter the large hall, we get our bearings...the gift shop and food court are together on the left (denoted with a large "Everything Pop" sign) and the check in/out and guest relations are on the right. Way down the hall, across from check-in, is a neat little area with a large TV, for the kids to wait for Mom and Dad to do their business. The luggage area...which we didn't find until later in the week...is outside to the right. There is also an arcade on the check-in side. The walls are decorated with shadow boxes with neat things from each era (1950's, 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's). Look at the time line above the boxes to follow the years. Wonderful memories seeing the toys and games that I used to play with so many years ago. I only wish they had more boxes. When you're in the main lobby, check out the floor, the sparkling area is quite neat. The check-in area has a line up of 4 families...I had heard that the resort has been full or near capacity since it opened in December...rumours also abounding that registration was mayhem. My personal opinion...based on our 10 days at PC...was that either they have got most of the bugs out, or that the others had just hit a bad time. I was into the main building many times during our stay and the most I had seen in the line-up, including on the weekends, was 6 families...but then again, it was off-season. We were about 10 minutes waiting to check-in.
Behind the registration area is large photographs from the different eras. Once again, great memories. DW wasn't too impressed with the CM's outfits, pretty bland...I have to agree. We looked for Tyler (see Resorts Board for this 'famous' CM DISer)...but we didn't see him. Check in was smooth...we had requested the 1950's buildings, ground floor and non-smoking when we booked and had faxed the room controller a few days earlier with a request to be facing the pool...bingo!...we had not only received everything we wanted, but our room was available right now! Yes, sounded good to us...our Disney vacation has now officially begun
Reasoning behind picking the 50's building: close to main hall... without paying extra $10 US a night for preferred; close to parking lot (we are using our car to get around this week); has it's own pool; loved the idea of waking up each morning to see Lady and the Tramp outside our door (they are the giant icons in the 50's area...Lady at one building and the Tramp across from her at the other building...A giant jukebox adorns the third building). Last time we were here, we stayed at the ASMu...DW didn't think it was "Disney" enough...so these icons, along with Mowgli and Baloo in the 60's area, gave a nice Disney feel.
The girls were checking out the gift shop while we checked in...so many things to buy ...we then checked out the food court...a pretty large area with lots of seating and large icons (roller skates, yo-yo's, etc) all around. There was an area with a small adult bar (I think) just out of the main artery. There was a cooler area with items like milk and fruit, and several hot food areas with choices like pizza, hamburgers, chicken fingers etc. (there are more specific menus on this site and other Disney sites). I didn't think the prices were that bad, especially considering where you are. There are three beverage stations, although one was closed intermittently during our stay (which also included a microwave and a toaster). The usual drinks were there and they also had a frozen coke dispenser (coke flavour and some kind of blue berry coke flavour) They were OK, DD2 really liked them...made her tongue blue, too. I didn't mind the coffee...many other DISer's have complained...but then again, I don't like Tim Hortons coffee, so there you go. A neat thing in the States was the flavoured coffee creamers...DD2 especially liked the french vanilla, which she would drink on their own out of the little containers! and DW liked to add 4 of them to the hot chocolate...it was actually quite good. We bought our 4 mugs ($11.99 now, but still a good bargain, especially if you're staying for 10 days!) We do have mugs from the All Stars, but felt we should buy mugs from here... I'm not getting into that debate right now...I did see some people using mugs from the AS's. Besides, the mugs make a great souvenir and we use them a lot at home.
Back to the van to find our parking lot...yes parking was a bit of a pain, especially on the weekend, when the resort was busier. Note - although the 60's is the preferred building, closest to the main hall and the main pool, it is the worst building for parking. We eventually found our room...the room indicators on the side of the buildings, you know, the ones with the range of room numbers and arrows, were terrible. We walked completely around the one side of our building before we found our room. Note about room size - if you're hoping for something "suite size", check somewhere else The rooms are the same size as the All Stars, pretty well the same set up, which was no problem for us...we didn't plan to spend too much time in the room and would rather spend our money at the parks...on souvenirs and food. The rooms did have an extra large safe, taller but the same depth as the AS's.
The DD's went for a swim, while DW and I went for a walk around the resort. Grabbed the camcorder for some taping, got our first 'refill' for our mugs, and off we went. The icons around the resort were great...giant yo yo's, rubiks cubes (really neat at night), sony walkman (very realistics...once again, details details), a giant Big Wheel (ahhhh memories), Mickey phone...walking through a giant foosball game...how cool is that. I was disappointed that, although they had 2 twister games outside, the needle didn't work very well, always pointed down. There was a kid's water play area with a large Goofy and a cool corvette. The larger than life replicas of Mr and Mrs. Potato Head were sooooooooo great....can you say photo op! The computer pool in the 80-90's was OK, but kind of boring. The flower pool, with water shooting flowers, in the 60's was interesting. Our pool, in the 50's was a bowling pin shape...but get this, the depths of the pool varied to the exact contours of a bowling pin (details, details)...and the bowling balls were a neat addition...no, you couldn't use them. Our stroll around the walkway along the edge of Hourglass Lake took you through a time line with signs highlighting different milestones in the past. You could see the beginning of the matching "Legendary Years" resort of PC on the other side of the Lake. A couple of buildings and footings were nearly finished and they were working on some landscaping when we were there (you didn't hear any construction from the rooms). It will be nice when it's finished...whenever that is. There were so many other neat things around the resort. Very colourful and fun...too many details to mention. If you have any specific questions, fire away.
After our walk, we joined the girls at the pool and confirmed plans for the next few days.
Next part: dinner at Boma's
