Celebrating DH's MBA at POP 9/27-10/2 and now with a baby on the way!

[Malibelle]

I have never done a trip report other than our Disney wedding on the boards so I will give it shot.

Welcome to my Pre trip report!

Cast:
Me (35) Daniella
DH(38) Phil

Hotel: Pop Century
Dates: Sept 27th- Oct 2nd

Intro
I haven't been to disney since our Dis Bride weekend meet in January and it was a quick trip. My DH (Phil) has not been since last THanksgiving along with my mom. THis will be our first vacation alone since our 1st wedding anniversary last March. We are DVC members but are opting to get the free dining by booking a value resort. We have never been to the POP Century so I am rather excited because I have heard so many good things about it. I do love the DVC resorts so it will be a big change. ONe thing DVC resorts do not do is housekeeping everyday which I kind of miss so staying at POP and having housekeeping everyday will be a treat. We never intended to go again this year but when I heard free dining and got a fantastic rate I couldn't resist plus I really wanted to go to the MNSHHP and the Food and Wine Festival!

When I booked the trip they asked if we had anything to celebrate. Well, I said, not really. But I then just recently realized that we do! Phil is finishing up his MBA in 3 weeks and will recieve his degree in September So I now have to call Disney back and have them mark it on our reservations as a celebration. I am hoping to celebrate something else by then but I don't want to jinx anything. I will let everyone know if we have something else to celebrate by then.

We got incredable prices for our flights on Spirit airlines. They always offer $18 fares which I have never ever been able to get. Well, the email just came in my inbox while I happen to be checkinga at work..oops! So I went to the site and believe it or not I got the $18 fare going down and $65 comming back! Our total airfare for the two of us was $226 including taxes and fees but not baggage. We are going to try to do carry ons this trip, not sure if that is going to work out well. If not we will just pay the $15 for the luggage. Its still a great deal!

We live in PA but fly out of Atlantic City often, its much less hassle to park and board the plane. ITs so convienent since my family lives at the Jersey shore and my mom watches our cat so we will drive down the day before to drop her off in Cape May. So she gets a 2 week vacation down the shore. I think she is the only cat who has a shore house!Our ride from my moms to the airport is 40 minutes.

Our kitty Malibu

Dining Plans

I am currently trying to figure out where to eat. I wish the hours would come out so I can plan better. We had each won tickets to Universal during the superbowl from our local news station. This was another incentive for planning a trip. They expire the end of the year and we really have only ever been to Universal once and never to Island of Adventure. I am not a thrill ride person but wouldn't mind going to check it out if its free! So we plan on spending a day and maybe a 1/2 at Universal and 4 days at disney. Since we go to Disney often its ok that we don't do everything, we want to try to relax and enjoy it and go commando style like I usually do.

Here are our restaurant picks so far: We are staying 5 days so we have 5 TS, the rest we will pay out of pocket or upgrade to Delux but DH doesn't want to upgrade.

Lunch- The Plaza
San Angel
Sci Fi

Dinners: Tuto Italia
Turf Club
Kona
Yatchsman/ Flying FIsh/ Citricos (never been to these three)or Narcosees(one of our favorite). I am having a hard time deciding on a signature restaurant.


DH is a golfer so to throw a wrench in my plans tonight he says to me are we gong to golf? Well, I didn't factor that in but I guess I can. So we plan to do one round of golf. I think I read that you can get free rental clubs if you book by a certain time. Thats great because we wont have to lug golfclubs on the plane! I will goft but I am not that good at it

So far thats our plans. So 4 days disney including a round of golf, MNSHHP, and 2 days at Universal and free dining. September can come soon enough.

 

[Malibelle]

Does anyone know if you have a base ticket in your package, can I upgrade to a 4 day Hopper or AP when we get to the resort or does it have to happen before hand?

 

[Malibelle]

I called Disney yesterday to have them add the Celebration for Phil for our trip. He doesn't know! I also asked about upgrading to Deluxe Dining. I am so tempted but the whole point of the trip was to go and not spend alot. Its 32 a day to upgrade so that would be an extra $320. There are about 4 restaurants ( 3 lunch) and 1 breakfast that we would pay out of pocket. I have to do some calculating but I don't think it would come to $320 so it may not be worth it to upgrade. Although we do get appetizers which I sometimes am inclined to order, I'd rather have aps that dessert most times. I am just not sure yet.

 

[NLD]

Hi Malibelle,

Stopping by your PTR since you stopped by mine. Your plans sound so fun! Will you do a TR when you get back? Would love to hear about Universal--would like to go but not this trip (save it for when dd is older).

Can't wait to hear if you'll be able to celebrate whatever it is you don't want to jinx! Sending good vibes out for you.

Your cat is so pretty, love that long hair.

And wow, what a great airfare you got! Seriously jealous, LOL.

 

[Malibelle]

Thanks Nicole. Yes I will do a trip report when we get back. Thanks for the good vibes. I really need them!

 

[Malibelle]

I made some autograph books back in November for a friend of mine kids. It was thier first time to Disney. Well, they were so excited when I sent them thier books, they couldn't wait to use them. So I decided to make one for myself but I realized that it says 2008 since I used it on our last trip at Thanksgiving. Oh , well, I am taking it again. I am not going to make a whole new one for myself.

Some pictures:

Here is mine:

Inside:

 

[Malibelle]

I am really debating whether to upgrade to deluxe dining. I can't decide! Help!

We are planning on only going to the parks 4 days and Universal for 2 day. I really doubt it will take 2 days for universal. I have been there, don't like it too much plus it closes @ 6pm. So we would still have time in the parks to grab dinner when we get back. I th ink I am going to up grade to a 6 day hopper, there is not much difference in price between the 4 and the two. That would leave us to be able to go into the parks after visiting Universal too.

My DH is not a big eater, or should I say rather a picky eater but he goes with the flow. We will never pay full price for Deluxe so I am thinking of just doing it! I like the fact apps are included plus we don't have to worry about what meals we are going to pay for or us on the DP. We can try some additional @ts meals as well.

 

[Malibelle]

I finally got PHil to talk about the trip. He has been occupied with school so I have kept it quiet. We were going back and fourth on how many day hopper tickets we need. If we just went for 4 its only 13 less than 6 days. Universal closes at 6pm, which is really early isn't it? Anyway there is time to go back to a park at night for dinner..etc. SO we can use all 6 days.

More great news! I upgraded to Deluxe Dining tonight. I am so looking forward to it now. No worry about what meal we are going to pay out of pocket for and we can go to 2 signature restaruants!

So my initial reservation which started at $625 is now $1371. Its still an great deal, you figured for another $746 that includes our tickets and Deluxe dining food.

Here are tenataive ADR plans- this will probably change by the time we get to make our ADRS.

*=never been

Sunday:
Lunch- Plaza*
Dinner- Tuto Italia*

Monday:
Breakfast- CS @ Pop Lunch- somewhere at universal(Counter service)
Dinner- Yatchsman steak house*

Tues:
Breakfast: CS @ POP
Lunch: counter Service at universal ( If we are still there)
Dinner: Turf Club @ SSR*

Wed:
Breakfast- Snack item
Lunch- Sci Fi
Dinner- Narcossees

Thurs:
Breakfast- Snack Item
Lunch- Coral Reef ( Is this good for lunch or would you pick Le Cellier or Teppan Edo?)
Dinner- Kona Cafe*

Friday:
Breakfast- Cape May Cafe
Lunch- Snack items
Dinner- CRT( early before we leave)

 

[mickeystoontown]

Count me in as a reader! I just added you to the Pop Century Countdown list.

I love the autograph books you made. Too cute!

Yeah for your decision to do deluxe dining. There's no way that we could eat that much food. But, we aren't big breakfast eaters and usually just snack for breakfast. So, we'll just stick with the regular dining plan.

Hope you'll come over and read my trip report. We surprised our son with a trip to WDW last year and we had quite a few funny mishaps too. The link is in my signature.

Looking forward to reading more.

Lisa

 

[Malibelle]

Lisa- I have been gone a few days down the shore. Thanks for stopping by and adding me to the list!

I am very excited that we can now book ADRs online! I need to get my final list down so I know what I am doing!

 

[disneygirlinnj]

I'm on board! I'm so jealous of the flights! I live in north Jersey so getting to AC is out of the question.. especially since newark and the nyc airports are all about 20 mins from my house if there's no traffic.

We really enjoyed Pop when we stayed there in '07. It wasn't AMAZING but it was cute and just enough for us. We hardly were in the room or at the hotel so it did it's job. And it's definitely the nicest value resort Disney has!

Good job on convincing the hubby for deluxe dining. It's going to be a TON of food for my mom and I too but I do really like the idea that we can order apps. And for only $32 extra a person? You can even skip meals and still come out on top or at least even.

I think (hope?) you're really going to love Tutto. it's one of my favorite restaurants on property! SOOO yummy! Kona is also in my top 5 restaurants too. The teriyaki sirloin is by far my favorite thing on the menu. That and the duck dumplings.

We're trying the Plaza for the first time too. Cross your fingers! The one I'm REALLLLLY looking forward to is Citricos! The menu looks fabulous!

As for your question about Coral Reef.. I'm not a huge seafood person and there's NOTHING that my mom would eat on the menu so we always shy away from it. Just doesn't appeal to me although the atmosphere sounds cool if you get a good table. We really enjoyed Le Cellier (for dinner though) as well as Teppan Edo. We're going to try to do both actually when we're there too. I think either one would be a good choice.

 

[Malibelle]

disneygirlinnj- Thanks for stopping by and checking out my wedding trip report too. Yes it was a dream wedding, I couldn't have been better than it already was. That stinks about the flights. I know Lehigh Valley has cheap flights too and its not that far from Newark but it goes into Sanford, not Orlando. Oh well. We have flown out of Newark and JFK a couple times but I try to avoid those as much as possible. I can't wait to try the Plaza too! Citricos was on our list but we like Narcossees so much I couldn't pass it up again, we did last time so its time to go back. I already know I am probably skipping Coral Reef.

 

[dawnbu40]

Hi! I saw your link on disneygirlinnj ptr and thought I'd check yours out. Our visits to the Pop overlap! DH and I will be there Sept 28-Oct 1. (never been there and really hoping we like it!) We're also thinking of upgrading if I can get all the adrs we want. I love the autograph books! Those are adorable!

 

[Malibelle]

Hi! I saw your link on disneygirlinnj ptr and thought I'd check yours out. Our visits to the Pop overlap! DH and I will be there Sept 28-Oct 1. (never been there and really hoping we like it!) We're also thinking of upgrading if I can get all the adrs we want. I love the autograph books! Those are adorable!

Dawn-Thanks for stopping by. Thats cool we will be there at the same time maybe we will run into to eachother. I am excited to see POP and hope we get a good room! You should do the upgrade, its such a good deal. I know I would never pay the $80 per day so we are taking advantage of it.




Yay, 1 more week until I can call for our ADR's!!!!!!!!!!

Hopefully tonight I can finalize everthing and be ready. Once my DH returns today from playing 54 holes of golf...yes you heard right 54 holes! Its a tradition he does with his buddy on teh first day of summer! Crazy but I told him to be prepared no matter how tired he is to talk about disney tonight so I can finalize everthing. We still have to decide if we are renting a car to go to Universal and and how many days we are going there. I only wnat to go one day. I think that is plenty.

 

[cinderella73]

Hey Im here! So are you guys doing MNSSHP ? The way I read it I thought you meant you were going but I wasnt sure. I have never been but want to check it out this year. Are you guys wearing costumes?

I cant wait to read more! Your kitty is sooo cute. She has one of those little scrunchy tiny faces I love. Is she a persian or persian mix?

Can u believe I am going same time as you I have none of our resturants planned yet!?

 

[Malibelle]

Hey Im here! So are you guys doing MNSSHP ? The way I read it I thought you meant you were going but I wasnt sure. I have never been but want to check it out this year. Are you guys wearing costumes?

I cant wait to read more! Your kitty is sooo cute. She has one of those little scrunchy tiny faces I love. Is she a persian or persian mix?

Can u believe I am going same time as you I have none of our resturants planned yet!?

MNSHHP is great. Its my favorite thing and the fireworks are spectacular, the best by far. I didn't like the Christmas party nearly as much as the halloween. We don't wear costumes but I ordered Sally and Jack Skellinton tsirts from the disney outlet a few weeks ago so we will probably wear them.

Yes,my cat, Malibu, is a hymalyan persion blue point. She doesn't quite have the squished nose and face like most but its good because she doesn't tear as much.

 

[Malibelle]

SO today I figured out our tenative ADR plans that I am going with come next Monday when I get to call for ressies:

You can tell I had too much time on my hands..so I made up a spreadsheet.

I just found out a friend will be there the same time so we are going to try to make plans to go to Jellyrolls one night. If you have never been its such a fun place.

 

[Malibelle]

We are not dressing up in a costume for the MNSHHP but I did score these great tshirts cheap on the disney outlet site that we will wear.

 

[disneygirlinnj]

great plans! We wont be at any parks on the same day except MK on the first day. Maybe we'll run into each other along the way (we're going to try to eat at Tony's though for lunch lol).

 

[Malibelle]

great plans! We wont be at any parks on the same day except MK on the first day. Maybe we'll run into each other along the way (we're going to try to eat at Tony's though for lunch lol).

Well, thats out tenative plans. WE usually don't stick to park plans, just dinner. We don't mind hopping from park to park for dinner. I want to make sure this trip we find some rest and relaxation. That is one good thinkg about owning DVC, we don't have to see everthing in one trip. We know we will be back so we can relax and take our time. My problem is remembering to do it!