Doing July a Whole New Way...

[tyandskyesmom]

We landed, gathered up our stuff (which was all under the seat in front of us) and waited for the half plane in front of us to de-plane...why does it seem I am the only one ever in a hurry for this??? LOL

We headed to the rest room and while there I got a text that our room was ready! Awesome!!!

So we headed to the mini-monorail and Cary thought we were seeing The Contemporary already...LOL! It does look a little similar. SO we got off that and headed to the Magical Express area. The scanned our bands and we were directed to an empty line. We stopped and at the end and as soon as we did we were directed to follow someone to a bus! So far, maybe our slightly bad luck this morning was turning around! It was 9:28am and our driver was Don.

When did they get seatbelts of the buses???

We were pulling away at 9:48am. Someone let a balloon go as we were pulling away...such a welcome! There is a lot of construction right outside of the airport.

We were on Disney Property at 10:06am. And Don encouraged people to come use the two reserved seats in ght efront to get better pictures while he slowed.

We stopped at Art of Animation first (10:11am till 10:12am) and then around the back way to Pop Century. We were there at 10:16am. We gathered our stuff and walked one Pop Century property!

We headed through the building to get a feel!

And out into the bright courtyard!

I do not like the fencing at all!

And straight back to room #5427...top floor around the back of the 60s Building!!!! Perfect!!! Our view was mostly trees but off to the side and beyond the trees was Hourglass Lake, Generation Gap Bridge, and Art of Animation! Exactly what I wanted!

We headed inside to check it out and change.

We changed into our swim suits, put on sunscreen, and headed to Everything Pop for some food! Our elevators were right behind Baloo and we were a couple of rooms around the corner.

In the lobby they had fun props and a background for taking pictures for their Friday Celebration.

We checked out the shopping before food.

And then headed in for our first foray of actually paying for food!!!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Everything Pop

We had decided to get two refillable mugs to share. We do like having our own because we all like to drink different things at different times and Tyler carries a back pack so when we're done with them we have some place to put them. We did not like the new times filled mugs. Skye like to mix sometimes and she had a little bit with this sometimes.

It was just after 11am when we arrived. The only lunch place open was the pizza counter. And there was one breakfast place still open. I did not want breakfast and I did not want pizza. They were getting other counters ready for lunch but there was a woman standing at the end of the line telling people kinds rudely that they were not serving lunch yet. She was not letting you stand in line to wait either.

So I decided I'd wait. Everyone else was happy with pizza. I also don't like the slices they serve now. We liked the individual pizzas. One of my problems was that the slices are hand cut so of course, they are not all the same size. And it seemed like a lot of the time, you got a piece that had been sitting a while waiting for someone to order it. And even as early in the lunch services as it was, they only had one piece of pepperoni left!

So Tyler got the Monster Slice of Pepperoni Pizza - with a caesar salad (but subbed Chips).

And Skye and Cary got Monster Slice of Cheese Pizza - with a caesar salad.

And the cashier was the only one out and she was slow. I get that she has to explain dining plans and such but then when she got to us and we were paying cash, things should have gone quickly...but they didn't.

Any way, they liked their pizzas. The chips were really good and I don't even usually like potato chips and expecially not the hard kind like these were but they were good and salty. The salads were good too but I think they were afraid of running out because there's barely any on their plates.

The plastic wear was empty, most of the ice machines were empty, and the drink stations were full of sticky spilled pop all over the place. Must have been one heck of a breakfast rush that completely cleared out before we arrived!?!?!?!

So they got theirs and a table and they started eating. I waited, munching on Tyler's chips. They had checked out at 11:09am.

TOTAL = $69.18

At about 11:20am, they started taking people at the one counter I wanted. So up I went. They had one person taking the order and then filling part of it and placing it on the back counter for someone else to finish...but no one else was there???

I ordered the Picnic Burger - with grilled hot dog, cheddar cheese, sauerkraut, onions, picklets, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, vine-ripe tomatoes, with a choice of two sides...that I got fries and pasta salad for.

The fries were good and hot. Tyler and Skyler snagged them. Pasta salad was good. Cary really liked it and ate a lot of it. The burger was all mine. It was good. Not great. Very greasy and fell apart really easily. I would probably have been better off eating it with a fork and knife. I don't know that I'd order it again. I mean it was good but eh...I don't know.

But now here's my issue. Do you see how much food is on my plate? Did you see how much food (mainly the salads) that are on the other plates? Ya. Mine was $4.00 more than theirs but I believe that would be because my hamburder cost more than their pizza...the sides are negligible!

I rang out at 11:24am.

TOTAL = $14.90
Grand TOTAL = $84.08

So far I was very disappointed with Everything Pop.

TOTAL so far... $99.08

 

[Denamac]

When we stay at Pop we always eat at Art of Animation. Their food court is so much better than Pop's!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

The kids and I have stayed at Pop a bunch of times, it's actually usually our favorite value hotel...love the music at Christmas (Skye missed the Hippopotamus for Christmas song and Alvin wanting a hula hoop for Christmas last time around!)...but I have never seen the level of dirtiness there before...or the amount of empty items. And I was not thrilled with the change over process. If you say lunch is served at 11am, I expect to be able to get lunch at 11am. A lot of people have plan for the day and if lunch is off by 30-60 minutes, that could really be an issue. It wasn't for us but it was inconvenient since we hadn't really had anything but some junk at the airport.

And we do end up at Art of Animation...that was part of my reason for wanting the room we had!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I've always wanted to do a trip with 1-2 ADR's, eating more CS that I never get to try because of all my ADR's and just adding an ADR if we want it the day of. Look forward to hearing how you liked it!!! We paid OOP last year for our family of 4 but we did a lot of ADR's. I wanted to cut it back but it was my boyfriends first trip and I wanted him to experience the places we loved so much.

I so know what you mean about teen boys and long showers. I always have to hound my son to hurry up. The only times he's quick is if he HAS to be somewhere fun (party, movies), football is coming on or a Disney trip. lol

 

[tyandskyesmom]

The kids and I never wanted to do a trip without the Deluxe Dining plan. I have tried to plan without the dining plan but using the same sort of ADR making...thinking we'd just order what we actually rather than all ordering appetizers AND desserts (at home when we do get out we normally would not order dessert most of the time at all!) but then just in the planning process I'd start freaking out about how much a plate of pasta cost and knew it wouldn't work for us at all! So until now, we haven't done it. This trip was a planner's nightmare!!!! I felt like I had nothing to do leading up to the day...no ADRs to watch and tweek, nothing! LOL

The teen boy may just be the death of me!!!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

The kids and I never wanted to do a trip without the Deluxe Dining plan. I have tried to plan with the dining plan but using the same sort of ADR making...thinking we'd just order what we actually rather than all ordering appetizers AND desserts (at home when we do get out we normally would dessert most of the time at all!) but then just in the planning process I'd start freaking out about how much a plate of pasta cost and knew it wouldn't work for us at all! So until now, we haven't done it. This trip was a planner's nightmare!!!! I felt like I had nothing to do leading up to the day...no ADRs to watch and tweek, nothing! LOL

The teen boy may just be the death of me!!!

My son complained whether we had an ADR or were eating QS. He drove me crazy for part of the trip because of the contact complaining or wanting to do the exact opposite of what was planned.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Surprisingly enough, Tyler will get up at all hours to make an ADR and would stay out all night if I would allow it when we are in The World...home, it's a whole different story though! Except for eating, when he doesn't have to cook for himself...he's up for the whenever!

In fact, he did a lot of Pokémon hunting this trip so would go wandering around POP and AoA at night after we were in bed.

 

[Terra Nova guy]

Otherwise we are paying out of pocket and expecting to be doing all counter services and snacks for the first time in over 8 years!

I'm interested in hearing your experience with all counter service, since I am thinking of a similar trip in April, but I need to be on a budget. Here's a slightly shortened version why (it involves dance, so perhaps you can relate ):

So, a few weeks ago youngest DD's dance studio announced they were going to do a dance trip to WDW in July. Great!...not...when I found out the dates I realized I could not go due to work commitments. OK, so reluctantly I told DD and DW they could go without me. Its been eating away at me ever since. I hate the idea of them being on a Disney trip without me, and it's been two years since our last (for various reasons) so I have the itch to go. Anyway, I decided to do the financially irresponsible thing and plan a family trip for April when both I can be away from work and the girls are off school for Easter break. Long story short, to cut down cost I'm looking at value resorts or off property (we're used to moderate/suite) and also counter service meals (we normally do at least one table service a day). It will be different, but still a good trip I'm sure.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Skye's team travels every other year...but it is a very small group of them that end up going. Two trips ago they went to Land (which for some reason doesn't interest me that much???) and the last trip (two seasons ago) was to The World. While we would have liked to have gone, it was coming up on our big Christmas Trip and I just couldn't pull out another one...and there is no way anyone would have allowed themselves to stay home...plus, the way everything is scheduled, I knew we would not be getting a trip the way we like to vacation so it just wasn't worth it for us. This year we are supposed to be traveling. Her coach is talking about a cruise thru New Orleans with a clinic with the Saint's Cheerleaders before the cruise...but so far we're still waiting on details.

Right now, I just need to get through Nutcracker Season...yes, in our house there is a Nutcracker Season! She has been doing great with it all though! The only day she has off completely is Mondays...Tuesday is 2 hours in the gym tumbling, Wednesday she has Hip Hop, Ballet 6 (lower level class she takes just for the heck of it), Intermediate Pointe (another lower level class she takes just for the heck of it), and Competition C (which is the highest level competition class that does not have high schoolers in it...unfortunately due to IHSA rules, the high school girls cannot compete until the Poms and Cheerleading season is over for them at school so even though Skye is in the Advanced Comp teams with the high school girls she wants to compete so she does Comp C...which ends up being a lot of girls her actual age!) from 4pm - 9:30pm, Thursdays she helps level 5 classes and comp A and B classes from 4pm - 9:15pm and then has her tap class from 9:15pm - 9:45pm, Fridays she's back at the gym for two hours tumbling, Saturdays she is usually at Nutcracker from around 11am - 2:30pm (depending on the roles rehearsing) and then goes straight to her Advanced Classes for regular class (she misses some due to Nutcracker) until 5:30pm and gets back up on Sundays to be back at Nutcracker at 9am - 7:30pm!!! And this morning while standing at the bus stop for school she texts me "Mom!!!!!!" which of course freaks me out because I'm at work and I think something is wrong. And I ask what. Her next text is "Remember that big unit Science Test I took?"... which again gets me worried because the last time she did something like this was at about 10pm when laying in bed and she starts hysterically screaming form her bed and crying that "Oh my god, I knew I didn't do great but I didn't think I did that bad!"...like I though someone was cutting her leg off in there she was crying so bad! SO I'm now wondering what's up...well, in between all her travels (dance is about 45 minutes away and Nutcracker is about 1 1/4 hour away) and waiting around and the brief time at home, she obviously did something well because she got a 100%!!!! And to top that off, she has a 99% on her last big Math unit test!!!! She is in the Academy (tested into from the #1 rated magnet school in Will County thank you very much!) so they are doing advanced work (7th grade math is really 8th grade math and the Science teacher treats then like they are little scientists)...so needless to say she was very pleased with herself and I am a very proud momma!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

So I have to correct myself a little here...before we went for lunch we DID NOT change for the pool.

After lunch we walked back up to our room to change for the pool and get our pool bag (which was my carry on) and all of our luggage and Garden Grocer order was there. The cold fridge! It as 11:50am. So in less than three hours we landed, got to Magical Express, got on the bus, drove to Disney Property, stopped at Art of Animation before getting off at Pop Century, headed to our room to check it out, headed to lunch, ate (and waited for lunch), and are now back in our room...that's some awesome timing I think!

So Skyler was already dressed for the pool (she wore her suit under her clothes on the plane!) so she put the Sprite and a bunch of waters in the fridge while the rest us us got our suits on. When we were all suited up, we headed to the pool. We swam until about 2pm.

Can you tell I was loving my new underwater camera??? Very cool...and actually took some really good pictures. I did miss my big camera sometimes though.

We had fun playing in the pool. It was not crowded at all and we had a ton of room to spread out and toss a ball around without worrying about hitting anyone.

One of the main things everyone wanted to do was to be able to hang at the pool more. We kinds missed the hot tub being at a value hotel but really, other than possible relieving some achy muscles, we probably would not have been able to stand it very long anyway...it was really HOT outside!

Like I said, around 2pm we had had enough for now and headed back to our room.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

We all showered in turn and got re-dressed. Tyler went out to hunt Pokémon and the rest of us took a nap! At 4pm we got up and headed across the Generation Gap Bridge to check out Art of Animation! We were in awe the whole time!

This is the view from outside our door...

On the bridge...

Finding Nemo!

Lion King was tied for our favorite section!

Heading towards Little Mermaid...

TO BE CONTINUED>>>

 

[tyandskyesmom]

AoA Continued...


The pool...

And then our other favorite section...

See that sun....ya, it was a killer!

And then we headed inside to Landscape of Flavors just to check it out.

We really enjoyed looking around AoA! But I don't know that I would pay to stay there. I mean for the price of anything other than the Little Mermaid rooms I could get two rooms value or even a moderate depending on season. And even the Mermaid rooms are more than a regular Value room and as far as I know, they are the same basically. But since I can go walk aroud there and take it all in, I don't really need to stay there, right?

 

[tyandskyesmom]

At 5:20pm we got to the bus stop and that is the time the automated sign said the bus to Hollywood Studios would be here...no bus. It came at 5:25pm.

We arrived at Hollywood Studios shortly after.

And headed on back to Pixar Place...

And were at the fast pass line for Toy Story Mania at 5:40pm (FP time was 5:30pm - 6:30pm).

Our first official ride of the trip! We had a great time. Me and Skye rode together and Tyler and Cary together. Tyler won, then Cary, then me, and then Skye...but the three f us were all pretty close in score.

After that we headed towards Star Tours. The fast pass line was crazy long! So we jumped in the standby line (it said 20 minute wait) and were on the ride in 10 minutes. Then we used our fast passes (return time was 6:30pm - 7:30pm) and walked right on a second time. Skyler was the REBEL SPY this time!

By now we were all getting a bit hungry so we went to Backlot Express for dinner. As we were walking form Star Tours to Backlot Express it was starting to drizzle. We hadn't bought our ponchos yet...uh oh!

The kids hadn't remembered ever being here before because it has been that long since we've done counter service! Everyone though it was a pretty cool set up. It was not crowded when we got in but as it began to rain harder more people poured in. We found a seat outside but under some type of covering but we could see and hear the rain pouring down!

For dinner Cary ordered the Chili-Cheese Dog...served with coleslaw and choice of French fries or carrot sticks (he got fries)...

He though this was a very good dog and his bun didn't fall apart too much so that's always a plus with a chili dog!

Skye and I decided to share. We got the 8 piece Chicken Breast Nuggets...served with French fries or carrot sticks (with fries)...

It was plenty for both of us and I even think Cary had one. They were nice and hot and not dried out like a lot of chicken cooked like this gets.

Tyler got the Dark Side Chicken and Waffles...Chicken and Vadar Waffles with maple syrup.

This was a ton of food! And he loved it! He didn't actually eat chicken and waffles though, he kinds ate chicken------and-------waffles...separate! But whatever! He finally agreed to let Skye have apiece of one of the waffles...she said Mickeys are better! LOL

We also got two soft drinks and you can refill at the machines. This was a bonus. But this is also where we started to have a little bit of the no dining plan blues...see Cary and Tyler don't share pop well... Tyler scarfs it down and then when Cary wants some there's none left. So this was a point of problem every meal. I just don't see that we need to order 3 or 4 pops each meal! Well, they didn't like having to share.

Other than that though, we had plenty of food for all of us. On the dining plan, even a CS one, would I have chosen to share nuggets...no, probably not. But, when I'm paying for it, I will take one for the team...and I'm not opposed to nuggets, I just bet there issomething else I would have rather had if cost was no issue. And honesly, we had plenty of food.

While we were eating Cary made a friend ...

He was running around under tables looking for food. SO Cary helped him out with a French fry...and then I yelled at him! And then I explained why I yelled at him. And he didn't do it again. But this little guy sat right there next to the chair Tyler was sitting in and ate his fry until it was gone.

It was till raining pretty hard so we took our time eating and enjoying our first night in The World for a while.

You can't really see the rain in the picture but it was pouring down!

All in all we liked our dinner. It was fast, it was hot, it was good, and there was not a huge crowd. The place was clean and well stocked and you get free refills on the pop.


TOTAL = $38.93
TOTAL so far... $138.01

 

[Terra Nova guy]

All in all we liked our dinner. It was fast, it was hot, it was good, and there was not a huge crowd. The place was clean and well stocked and you get free refills on the pop.

Looks like a good one to keep in mind. I've never been, but if I go to WDW in April and do more counter service to cut costs, I might try it.

 

[tyandskyesmom]

After dinner the rain had slowed but not stopped. We knew we were going to need ponchos eventually so we stopped at the Frozen shop and grabbed three. Skye had an old yellow one she was using ($30.01).

We headed over to the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I love this show...the combination of the puppets, live action, movie clips, lazers, fog, etc...it's just fun...although it is in need of some touching up. Anyway, we had fast pass return times for 7:45pm for the 8:05pm show so we were let in right away to the holding room. Then in a bit, into the show.

After that we went to check on the line for the early Fantasmic show...it was back to the corner by the old Villain Store!!! Nope, not waiting on that! So we went to the Great Movie Ride. The sign said 30 minutes but we waited about 20. We got the gangster side.

We love this ride! Every time I hear rumors of it going away, I get very sad! There is something to be said for keeping some of the old rides! Not everything needs to change!

After letting out we played here...

We ended up back visiting the Jawas. Skye loves them! And this time she was prepared to trade!

She gave him a pin (it was a Star Wars pin...I want to say BB-8 but I don't think so because BB-8 is Tyler's favorite) and she got...

We had fast passes for Fantasmic at 10:30pm but we just decided to head out for the night. it had been a very long day!

On the way out Skye was caught again...you'd think she'd learn by now!

The Star Wars Fireworks were delayed because of rain so there were a lot of people waiting around in front of Mann's Chinese Theatre.

They did start the fireworks while we were on our walk out and we were able to watch from the bus stop...those things were huge!

We were the first in line at the bus stop so we had a little bit to wait but fireworks are great entertainment. As the bus pulled up, a TON of girls, a Brazilian Tour Group to be exact, walked up and around the line barriers. Now normally, Tyler would be in heaven being surrounded by a ton of teenaged girls but even he was not thrilled! The were pushing to all be ion one small spot and chanting and singing at the top of their lungs. I get having fun, but other people are trying to too! So we were carefully watching the leaders because there was no way in *#$^ they were getting on that bus before us...and all the other people who had been waiting before they even walked up. And thankfully, the bus driver told then that when it pulled up a few minutes later. He did, however call another bus (that pulled up as soon as we were leaving) all for them...although I am going to guess, even a Disney bus driver could not fit all of them on one bus!

We get back to Pop quickly and of course we have munchies (we didn't get munchies on the Deluxe Dining Plan!). We headed into Everything Pop and grabbed a Tie-dyed Cheesecake ...

and a King Whoopie Pie...which was peanut butter, chocolate, banana, and bacon. We didn't get a picture tonight but Cary got that again another night and I believe I have a pic then. It was very good but really needed milk! Skye ate her cheesecake for breakfast. It was very good but it was better when you got an actual slice of cheesecake not a prepackaged product.

TOTAL = $7.58
TOTAL so far... $145.59

Tyler took off to the room while we were at Everything Pop and wasn't there when we got back. He was Pokemoning and had gotten caught up in the horde of teenaged Brazilian girls who were meeting on and at the bottom of the stairs between the main building and the pool...like they were ALL there and you could not get through them!!! Unbelievable! We have never actually had a problem with tour groups, or POP Warner, or anything like that...this was just the beginning!

Once Tyler got there he grabbed his charger and a mug and took off again. Skyler said she had a headache. Cary was sun burned. Ty and I were slightly pink but not bad (that's normal for him and me). Skye and I passed out, Cary waited up for Tyler and once he was back we were all out for the night!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Saturday, July 16, 2016 began at 7am. We all showered and got ready to go.

We headed out....

we filled up our mugs and headed out to a waiting, almost empty bus to the Magic Kingdom. We were on at 8:44am. At 9:02am we arrived at our destination.

We waited about 5 minutes to use out fast passes (9am - 10 am) for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and then headed to a trip Cary had yet to experience...

 

[tyandskyesmom]

WOW...I've been MIA a while!

Time has been flying by so fast and we've been so busy!

Nutcracker was awesome and I know she's my kid and all but she truly was THE BEST Clara we've had in the five years we've been there! It was a joy to watch her on that stage for seven shows...she's a natural and loved every minute of it!

Our Holiday Inn Express & Suites we stayed at for five nights however, not so awesome! I am very disappointed and upset at their lack of compassion. I will never return to the Hillside, Illinois location and I think Holiday Inn would have to be the last place with vacancies for me to stay there again!

But I need to get on with this TR. I still have not done my photo pass pics either.

We do have some good news though! Skye's dance teams travel every other year. 2017 is a travel year. We have never travelled with them though because it is always on a bad year for us. This year should work out. The coach was talking about doing a cruise out of Louisiana and a clinic with the Saints Cheerleaders but found it is actually cheaper to sail our of Florida and dance at Universal instead! Now, when we were doing Louisiana, I was trying to sneak in Disney (In mean we're so close, how could we not!) but now, she's practically placed us RIGHT THERE! So it sounds like we are getting 3 nights at Portofino Bay at Universal, 3or 4 night cruise, and we are trying to add 4-5 nights at Disney before or after. I am leaning towards before because after runs over 4th of July and it will be sightly more crowded but cost is about the same it looks like. However, discounts may not be available over 4th of July so I am still checking into that! But we should be back in about 6 months!!! I GET TO PLAN AGAIN!!!!

 

[momplus3]

Glad to see you are back!

I wish I had a girl - dance classes would be a welcome change from soccer - muddy cleats, uniforms, and the smell!

Is your son filling out college applications? That is what is consuming our house now!

Merry Christmas!

 

[tyandskyesmom]

Glad to see you are back!

I wish I had a girl - dance classes would be a welcome change from soccer - muddy cleats, uniforms, and the smell!

Is your son filling out college applications? That is what is consuming our house now!

Merry Christmas!

Ya, years of baseball and football are very different than years of dance and tumbling!...although you've never smelled a dance bag or a dressing room full of girls at the end of a show!!!

Nope! He's not sweating it...does not seem phased by any of it. And even though it goes against my motherly grain, I am trying to not do it for him! We filled out the financial aid stuff (so different than when I went to school!) but that was mostly me. I keep telling him his best bet (even though I an so entirely anti community college usually) is to go to the community college and do all his boring Gen Ed courses (and grow up a little) and then transfer somewhere else after that...that is rubbing me wrong too but I really think he is not thinking maturely enough to waste so much money at an away from home university! I am hoping that some more growing up time will get him ready to not waste thousands of dollars. And that, while I think it is the best decision for him (although he hasn't agreed nor has he begun to attempt to prove me wrong) is leaving me feeling very disappointed. But I cannot see letting him go away to college and bomb when there is so much money and wasted time involved there.

I'm hoping to get some reporting done while no one has any extra curricular activities for a couple of weeks.

Merry Christmas to you too!