Childless Couple, Oct 14-18, All in one thread

[Candicno]

We just got back and I wanted to write a trip report while it was fresh on my brain.

Stayed at POP and was on the dining plan.

ABOUT POP-

The Pop Century Resort was adequate. We intended on being at the parks and not in the room, so we just need a place that had transportation and a place to sleep and shower. Pop met this.

We requested a king bed and ended up in the 70's section in a handicapped room, room 222. We had no problems with this, even though the shower pretty much soaked the bathroom floor. For those using electric wheelchairs--I don't know how you will be able to transfer from your chair to the bench and leave the chair in a place where it will not get wet. I'm curious to know how you do this. The shower curtain stopped about a foot above the floor, which let the water go everywhere.

The hot water took FOREVER to get to our room. The water saver faucets did not let enough water through for it to get hot, so I had to turn on the shower too. I hate the faucets. I usually wash my face with A LOT of water, but I was forced to use a washcloth because the water coming out was so little.

The room was clean, with the exception of a few stains on the carpet. The bedspreads are starting to look a little worn, but I don't use them anyways. The rest of the furniture was IKEA quality. Adequate, but nothing special.

The king bed was not great. I could feel MANY MANY springs in the bed. We're not picky so it didn't bother us much. We were so tired we slept sound every night.

We swam in the computer pool and it was VERY VERY cold. We enjoyed the lake and spotted 5 or 6 different species of cranes, grebes, and other fish eating birds. The unfinished side of Pop was just kind of creepy looking to me.

The themeing at POP is nice on the outside, and it is definitly FUN. It's not really my style, and if I had a choice I probably wouldn't stay here if I wanted to spend more money. Like I said, adequate for a place to sleep and shower. If you want a "resort vacation," I'd suggest something else.

 

[Candicno]

ABOUT THE DINING PLAN-

DH and I did not feel like this was too much food. We are thin people (I am a size 6 and DH has a 32" waist and is 6'3"), but we are BIG EATERS. We used our TS credits for dinner each night and the counter service for breakfast or lunch.

We were allowed pretty much whatever we wanted. No exclusions for anything at Kona, CRT, or Le Cellier. A surf and turf at Le Cellier was not offered. We were allowed smoothies or virgin frozen drinks if we wanted for our beverage. One morning we were allowed a muffin for our breakfast "dessert" at POP, and the next we were not. I can't believe how clueless Disney lets their staff be. Most of them have no clue what is going on half the time. If I did that with my job I'd be fired.

We used our snack credits for the Food and Wine Festival, and that was a waste. We should have used them for ice cream. More about that later...

 

[Candicno]

FRIDAY, OCT 14--

We arrived via Southwest Airlines from Philly about an hour and a half late (some dumb guy went through security and they closed the airport down). We used Magical Express and it was VERY easy to find. It wasn't busy and the bus left pretty quickly. We were the first stop, I think we were at POP about a hour after our flight landed.

We checked in (nobody in line at noon), were given a number to call for our room when it was ready, and headed to AK.

We got to AK at 12:40 pm and grabbed a fastpass for Dinosaur. We ate at ribs at Flame Tree BBQ, which were EXCELLENT and way too much food! We ate our lunch down by the water behind the restaurant and were able to catch the Mickey boat as it went by.

Went back to Dinosaur and used the fastpasses. Didn't need them because it was a walk on. Loved the ride, and did a second time. Then we headed over to It's Tough to Be a Bug and that too was a walk-in. Loved it.

Next we did the Safari--it was probably a 15 minute wait. I was not impressed with this AT ALL. What a bust. Let me say, I am a former zookeeper and my husband and I are big animal people. We honestly got off and though "That's it??" So much hype for so little. I guess it was okay for children, as the "cheesey" factor is certainly there. The animal enclosures didn't even look that nice to me, nor did they look well cared for. I honestly thought there would be more animals. They certainly have the market on antelope/deer/hoofstock species, but how exciting is that? We saw all of the animals except the rhinos, and I kept thinking, shouldn't there be more?

We walked through the animal trails in Africa and Asia next, and I did like those. The exhibits are set up nicely and the landscaping/horticulture is very nice. The gorrilla exhibit was good, and the male silverback was impressive, although VERY SHY. I don't blame him--I'd run and hide from most of the people at Disney too!

Next we rode Kali River Rapids. This was another "that's it?" ride for me and my husband. It was probably a 20 minute wait and we both decided we would never do it again unless it was a walk on. It is so short and so tame. I guess I am used to the Six Flags version of this ride. The wait area was BEAUTIFUL though, probably more interesting than the ride itself!

We finished out the day by walking on the Discovery Island Trails around the Tree of Life. Very beautiful views from here, and there was NOBODY else walking on these trails with us. It was quiet, romantic, and a wonderful way to see the tree.

We left AK, went back to change clothes, and went to Kona Cafe for dinner. I had the ceasar salad, char-crusted filet medallions, and the white chocolate cheesecake and DH had the pot stickers, shrimp and scallops, and the chocolate tort. THIS WAS THE BEST MEAL we have had in a long time! The service was slow though. We ate at 7:40 pm.

As we finished our meal, we heard the fireworks start, so we headed out to the Poly Beach to watch with everyone else. It was VERY CROWDED. We watched the water pageant, but found that to be a little too much on the "cheesy" factor for two adults with no children.

 

[Candicno]

I'll post more tommorrow!

 

[Cinerama]

I'm enjoying your report so far...looking forward to more!

 

[Alicnwondrln]

nice posts thanks for reporting

 

[Candicno]

SATURDAY, OCT 15--

Up bright and early for MK!

DH and I got up at 6:45 am. We grabbed a bite to eat at Pop's food court in a take out container. DH was waiting at the bus stop and I had to run with the food to make the bus. We got to the gates at MK at about 7:45 am for a 9:00 opening. DH and I are all about getting their early, and we were the first ones through the turnstiles at about 8:45 am. They held us right at the tunnels until the opening show was finished, about 8:55 am.

We headed with the crowd towards Tommorrowland to wait for the rope drop, taking the Noodle shop's shortcut found on Allears. There was no rope on this pathway, but we were stopped. Off to Space Mountain!

We got a Fastpass for Space Mountain, and then got in line. We were out at 9:16 am (loved it of course!) and headed over to Buzz Lightyear. This was a walk on and it was cute, but not really my sort of thing. DH liked it.

We headed over to Peter Pan (walk on). Loved it! Then we went to Big Thunder and rode it twice in a row (walk on). Our fastpass window was now open so we grabbed a FP for Splash. It was a walk on, but it was too early to get wet.

We headed to Pirates and that too was a walk on. Followed by a walk on to Haunted Mansion, a 5 minute wait at small world. We walked around the castle a bit, and then had lunch at Columbia Harbour House (it's now about 11:15). We shared a fish and chicken basket, which was good, but nothing special.

We really had everything done that we wanted to do, so we went to Mickey's Philharmagic (walk in), then over to Futureworld to use our Space Mountain FP. Space Mountain was shut down, so we decided to grab FP for Stich. Carousel of Progress was open, so we did that with no wait (DH thought it was cheesy, but it was air conditioned and had seats!). Back over Stich, where we turned in our FP and waited maybe 10 minutes. Stich was okay, definitly not Alien Encounter, and the chili dog burp made both of us a little grossed out.

Whew, what to do now? The day started to lag a little bit. We went and used our Splash FP, didn't get wet at all because I wore my rain coat. Walking through Fantasyland was a nightmare!! It was packed! Then we went to the Tiki Room (NOT IMPRESSED with the new version!), and picked up a FP for Jungle Cruise.

We were really starting to lag a bit, so we rode the train around 2 loops, and then rode the Tommorrowland Transit Authority to relax. Space Mountain was open, so we used our FP.

We had about 2 hours to kill before dinner, so we walked again through the maddness and got a FP for Pooh. Over to Jungle Cruise, which was cute a relaxing, and then walked around the Treehouse.

It was STILL NOT TIME YET! We'd basically done the whole park, so we checked in at 5:30 pm for our 6:10 ADR at CRT. We sat inside, and waited until we were seated at about 6:15 pm.

Let me say, I was NOT IMPRESSED with CRT dinner. The carpet needs to be cleaned really badly in this restaurant. Our waitress did her job, but she was very abrupt and definitly was not in character. She talked loudly to us, basically shoved the plates in front of us, and just wasn't that pleasant. It was odd, because she was VERY NICE to the two tables around us. Was it because we were on the dining plan? I couldn't tell...but it did cross my mind. The other two tables were not on the plan.

I felt VERY rushed through this dinner. I had the ceasar salad, DH had the spring roll. The ceasar salad was just okay, the spring roll was good, but not great. I wasn't half finished with my salad before the meal came out. Our server put my prime rib down on the table and slid the plate over, pushing the plate of salad I was eating along with it too. Not very classy. I felt like I was eating at a truck stop!!

DH also had the prime rib. It was good, but not great. It really lacked flavor. The root mashed potatoes were good, but nothing to write home about. I had the Fantasyland Sundae and DH had the chocolate cake for dessert--Both were very good! The berries were very fresh in my sundae, especially the blueberries.

We were "shooed" out of CRT and went to use our FP for Pooh. It was very cute, and Dh and I really felt like we were kids again. We headed down main street and took up residence at the train stop to watch spectro and wishes. Spectro was slightly boring for me (is it over yet??), but Wishes was AWESOME!!!

Because of being close to the exit, we were able to get to the POP line very quickly. I think we waited for probably 30 minutes to get on a bus. Not because there were lots of people, but because we had 3 handicapped people to load first. I can't believe how long it takes to load them up! I'm thinking WDW needs to run a shuttle service of special equipped vans/buses for wheelchairs. A "call and we'll pick you up" type of service. My college did this and everyone loved it.

 

[Candicno]

SUNDAY, OCT 16--

Once again, we were up at 6:45 am. We got to epcot at 7:45, and guess what, we were the first through the turnstiles again!

They stopped us at Spaceship Earth, we saw the bus full of characters, did the countdown, and we were off to Soarin'! I got our FP for Soarin, and got back into the standby line. We were in the first group on, but there was either a technical problem or they weren't ready for us. It was about 9:30 before we got on. We ended up in the third row, middle. It was a nice ride, but I definitly felt it was overhyped on these boards.

We headed over to Test Track, and rode in the singles line. We walked RIGHT ON! We ended up being put in the same car, but different rows. A family of 4 was split 2 and 2 in the two rows, so they switched with mom and the 2 kids in front, and dad in the back with us so we could sit together. Very nice of them!!

We both liked TestTrack a lot. Definitly better than Soarin'.

DH went on Mission Space next (he loved it!) in the singles line, and since I am probe to motion sickness, I went back to the land and grabbed FP for Living With the Land. I waited for him for a little while, and we both headed to Spaceship Earth (walk on). We walked through Innoventions West, and then play with the Kodak Imageworks stations in the Imagination Pavilion. We tried to catch a Honey I Shrunk... show, but the next show wasn't for an hour away.

We went back to the Land, and did Living with the Land and Soarin' again. DH and I loved Living with the Land, as I am an agriculture person and DH is also a big geek when it comes to these things. We ended up in the first row of Soarin' this time, and it was MUCH BETTER. Still not as good as the hype though!

We decided we were hungry so we started clockwise around the world showcase. We rode Maelstrom (very fun!) and used out snack credits for Food & Wine samples. We saw Reflections of China and Oh Canada, and loved both.

Neither of us wre impressed with the Food & Wine samples. We had the Florida Shrimp with Chutney, the Popiah, the Salmon and Soda bread, the Pumpkin Bredie, the Cheddar Crabcake, the Beef Shish Kababob, and something else that wasn't memorable because I don't remember it!

I thought most of the food was kind of disgusting. Not great quality at all. I should have used my snack credits on Mickey bars. I don't think we will be visiting the F&W festival again.

Afterwards, we grabbed a burger at the Electric Umbrella because the F&W samples just didn't fill me up (okay, I didn't eat mre than a bite of many of them). We had some time to kill, so we rode Journey into Your Imagination and then watched Honey I Shrunk... (both were walk ons) We both really liked Journey, although I admit I don't remember the original at all. Still more time to kill, so we headed over to Ellen's Universe of Energy (walk on) and that killed a good hour. I liked the Dinosaurs, but slept through the rest of it. One more trip on Spaceship Earth (walk on) and through Innovations east.

Time for dinner!

We had 6:10 ADR's for Le Cellier, and we were glad we did! we had booked for a party of 3, and they had no problem with this. Our waiter was Benjason and he was EXCELLENT! I had the cheese soup, Dh has the cheese sampler, we loved both! Dh had the mushroom filet, I had the filet, we loved both, although my medium rare steak was actually very rare. It was supposed to be 7 oz, but I think it was probably closer to 10 oz--probably why it was undercooked. I'm not opposed to eating a still mooing piece of meat, so I gobbled it up. Dh had to finish my steak, and he liked the rarer meat better.

For dessert I had the brown betty, and it was HUGE. I loved it but could only eat half. We tipped Benjason extra, and headed to our spot to watch Illuminations. We picked the walkway along the water between France and the UK, and it was wonderful and not crowded at all.

A wonderful end to a good day. All in all, DH were surprised that Epcot was out least favorite park. We are a couple that loves culture, food, and science, but Epcot seemed just a bit outdated and cheesey to us. I can't help but feel that Epcot is just one HUGE ADVERTISEMENT. Dh was dissappointed with the the technology side of it. He is an engineer and was really hoping that innoventions was going to be a lot moe interesting.

 

[Kris & Steve]

Loved your trip report! I hope there's more It sounds exactly like one that me & my DH would write as it's just the 2 of us.

 

[Olallamom]

Great to read your trip report. My DH and I will be doing our first childless trip to WDW next week. We are trying out POP and will be doing lots of eating.

 

[Credit Man]

Enjoying your report. Thanks for posting.

 

[DaisyGirlAllTheWay]

Great Report!! Thank you!! Its always great to read a trip report from a couple!

 

[Candicno]

MONDAY, OCT 17--

Since MGM is so close to Pop, we decided to "sleep in" a little bit. I think we got up at 7:15 am this morning and we were headed to the bus stop by 7:45 am.

Lo and behold, we were the first through the turnstiles AGAIN! We waited with everyone else for the rope drop at 9 am, and headed to Rock'nRoller coaster. First we got a fastpass, and to our surprise, the return time was at 9:20 am. I totally didn't expect that.

We walked right on to the coaster, and we loved it. It was our favorite ride in all of WDW. It wasn't scary, it was just FUN. I loved the music and the themeing. Awesome!!

When we walked out, it was 9:18 am, and we waited the 2 minutes and got a second fastpass. We then headed over to Tower of Terror, it was probably a 10 minute wait. Loved that too. We got out and it was AGAIN time for a new fastpass, so we got one for ToT. I didn't realize they had 20 minute fastpass windows at MGM!

At this point, we walked across the park to StarTours, again a walk on. This ride is in some SERIOUS need of updating. I remember liking it in the past, but the "movie" seemed like we were in an old videogame or something. The graphics are definitly retro. I would LOVE to see this ride updated to the "new" Star Wars, complete with high definition screens. The movement on this ride is still good though.

Next was MuppetVision 3-D, a walk on. Very cute show, however it too is starting to get a little outdated. The 3-D and effects just doesn't match up to the It's Tough to Be a Bug or Philharmagic.

Next we backtracked to The Great Movie Ride, which was about a 15 minute wait. I knew we should have done this earlier, since it is the one ride that everyone sees when they walk in, but honestly DH and I really weren't striving to see it. Also cute, but LONG, and those munchkins really freaked DH and I out!

It was now 11 am, and it was time to grab a bite to eat and go to see Lights Motors Action for the first show at 11:30. Of course, I HAD to have a turkey leg since this was my last day and I hadn't had one yet. Too bad, Toluca Legs is ALL THE WAY on the other side of the park from the ampitheater. We grabbed our food, and made it to LMA at about 11:25. It was surprisingly at least 3/4 full, but there were plently of seats in the shade. Of course, the "sun section" was totally full. I guess they thought they would get a better view up close.

We ate our food, with many onlookers impatiently licking their lips around us. I could tell everyone was thinking, "why didn't we get food?" We both really enjoyed LMA, and it is MUCH better than Indy IMHO. If you can only do one, do LMA.

We walked by Indy afterwards, but it was 10 minutes before the first show, and there was standing room only. DH and I passed on that.

We headed back to RnR and used our FP. WHAT A WASTE!! The line was posted at 30 minutes standby, but it was actually more like 20. All but maybe 3 minutes of that was past the FP merge, so the FP really did a whole lot of nothing. Okay, so maybe we got in front of about 5 people. LOL.

I would have ridden again, but I was starting to feel a little lightheaded, as I said before, I am very prone to motion sickness. We opted to do ToT one last time instead.

ToT had a 40 minuted posted standby, but it had to be closer to 30 mins. With our FP, we walked right into the preshow, but there was still at good 15 minute wait on the other side.

This time, my BIG NERDY ENGINEER asked me for a Cheeto (they give you a HUGE bag with the dining plan as a side with the Turkey leg), and I thought he was hungry. Nope, he wanted to hold it in his hand on the ride and see how fast we were falling as opposed to gravity.

I know you are dieing of suspense here...

Well, the cheeto hit the ceiling of our cab, and did survive the whole trip. DH picked it up off the floor on our way out, and proudly showed me. I had no clue what he was doing until he explained. I swear, he is such a little kid, so happy because he got to play with a cheeto!

It was about 12:45 and we were ready to get out of there. The crowds were picking up, it was getting hot, and we had done everything we planned on. Back to POP, and we jumped in the VERY COLD computer pool. There was maybe a half dozen other people in the pool.

We went back to our room, and DH took a nap while I watched some TV. We originally had dinner at 50's Prime Time, but we decided that morning why eat meatloaf when we can go back to Kona?? We got dressed and headed over to the Poly for our 5 pm ADR. It was early, so we rode the monorail around once around the MK loop.

After another AWESOME dinner at Kona, this time with GREAT service too, we decided to ride the Epcot monorail for a little relaxation time. It was a fun trip and neat to see Epcot from that angle. I'd never done that before. We walked back to Poly from the Ticket and Transportation Center, and waited for the bus to Downtown Disney. It took 45 minutes for the bus to come at 7:30 pm, and there WERE mosquitos and the Poly. Not very pleasant.

Downtown Disney was a bust, we walked around, bought a tiny amount of candy for $12 a the candy store, and played in the Lego store a bit. Back to POP, and time for bed.

OCT 18-THE BIRD DAY!

This morning was sleep in morning, but I only managed to sleep until 8:00 am. Oh well, I had enough sleep. We got up, packed, took a shower and checked our bags at the main hall. After grabbing a breakfast that was just OK, we decided to wander the hotel a little.

This was PROBABLY the most memorable part of the trip. Of course NOBODY was out there by the lake at 10:00 am. As I said before, DH and I are big wildlife people, especially birds, and we were THRILLED with all the wildlife we saw. We love turtles (we own two ourselves), so we hung around and watched the snapping turtles on Generation Gap bridge for awhile. They obviously are used to being fed, the little beggars!

While on the bridge we spotted two birds hanging out on the cement footings of the bridge. One was a comorant and the other was an anhinga. The anghina let us sit and talk to him for about 30 minutes, and then we spotted the comorant. He decided it was time for a meal, and began darting through the water catching fish right along the bridge. AWESOME!

We moved on around the lake, and we spotted 3 sandhill cranes JUST STEPS from the housekeeping buggy outside a room. I wonder if these guys get fed. Further along, we talked to a few ducks, saw a grebe diving through the water, and also saw a great blue heron and a few great egrets. As we sat down to watch an anhinga catching fish, the sandhill cranes flew RIGHT over us. Too cool!

It was lunch time so we headed back, grabbed a bite to eat, and jumped on Magical Express to the airport. We were about 2 miles from the airport when we saw a BALD EAGLE fly right over our bus. While I have cared for injured bald eagles as a zookeeper, I have NEVER spotted one in the wild before. It was a perfect ending to an awesome trip!!

 

[fizz13]

Thanks so much for the great trip report. How great to be able to experience the world without kids and do what you want to do ( a luxury I will have to wait quite a while for). Glad you had a good time and welcome home,

Claire xx

 

[Ellester]

Thanks for the report! I agree that bald eagles in the wild are amazing. I once saw two either fighting or mating (don't know much about their habits, but there was LOTS of screaching and diving) over a parking lot near the Des Moines river in Iowa. I'll never forget it, they are majestic birds. Glad you had such a great trip!

 

[Minniespal]

Enjoyed reading your reports ~ Thanx for posting.