Embracing Our Inner "Them" - A January TR

[Colleen27]

Hi, and welcome to another Colleen27 trip report, this one for a trip done very differently from my usual uber-planning, TGMer, DISBoard pro touring style!

For those of you who have every subscribed to or even checked out Tour Guide Mike's site, my title should be obvious enough - instead of following the plan and "zigging" when they "zag", on this trip we embraced our inner "them" - the non-planning, non-researching masses of guests who don't know that a proper Disney adventure takes military-like precision and coordination.

How did it work out? Well, you'll have to keep reading to find out!

Table of Contents
The Who
The Where
Off Like a Herd of Turtles - Travel Day
Sleeping in and Lazy Touring - Epcot part one
Distractions, Distractions
Le Cellier Lunch
Around the World in an Afternoon - Epcot part two
... And Evening - Epcot part three
Forget the Stampede, Let's just Mosey - Ropeless Rope-Drop at Studios
OMG, Did We Really Do It All in a Day? - Studios part two
50s Prime Time Dinner
Disney Quest
Teppan Edo Dinner
​

 

[Colleen27]

And now, on to the cast of this little adventure.

First, there's yours truly. Master planner, DISboard addict, 30 something SAHM to three kids and all-purpose office girl for DH's small business. I didn't really get hooked on Disney until my first trip as a parent in 2005, and we've gone almost every year since. I have lots of Disney favorites, from Figment to Tower of Terror, but with another trip always on the horizon I'm over my commando days of needing to fit them all into every trip.

I'm the photographer of the family, so forgive the ancient picture... It isn't easy to find one that I'm in! My oldest & I on the Magic Behind Our Steam Trains tour in Jan '08.

In a supporting role and funding my habit is DH. He's not as big a Disney fan as I am but he is a sucker for anything the kids and I enjoy so he comes along for the ride. He often jokes that we need a vacation after our vacation and only joins us for about half our Disney trips, but when I do go without him he's the one asking when we're all going back.

Had to go all the way back to '05 for a Disney pic of DH! Between rides on Rock & Roller Coaster

But the real stars of the show are the kids.

DS14, aka Stitch, isn't a big Disney fan but he'll take any excuse to get away from Michigan winter. His favorite rides are Mission Space Orange, Test Track, and Rock N Roller Coaster, and he loves Disney dining and swimming at all hours of the day and night.

Pirate makeover on our Christmas trip in 2009

DD10, aka Pocahontas, is my little mini-me. She wants to be in on all the planning, go over the menus for our ADRs, make packing lists, and has a great eye for the details. She's a bit of a bookworm, which was a big part of the reason for our January dates because she was over the moon excited about the chance to attend the YES Literacy Week seminar with Ridley Pearson.

Singing in the rain on our girls' only trip in 2011

And last but certainly not least is DD3, aka Boo. The biggest Disney fan of us all, she's 30lbs of park commando. She can do rope drop to close and still have energy left to swim afterwards, and is the most wonderful traveler ever. If she's tired she just pulls down the shade on her stroller for a catnap, but doesn't mind being woken up for a ride or character either.

Waiting for Rapunzel in March '11

My mother and brother also joined us on this trip. My mom travels with us often and follows my lead, but traveling with my brother took some adjustment! A lot of my carefully-laid plans went right out the window and he's the main reason this trip was so different from what we're used to. The kids loved having him along, though, and any minor frustration I felt at some of the changes was easily forgotten since this was likely the only time he'd ever join us for a Disney vacation.

While I'm on the introductions, I want to add a little note by way of explanation for some of what is to come. My brother has had some chronic medical issues that still aren't fully controlled, so at times in this report where he's being especially difficult or just doesn't seem interested in being with the family that is often why. He started a new medication just before the trip that seems to be helping but causes stomach issues and sleep problems that really interfered with his enjoyment of the trip at times. But at the same time, vacationing with the kids was really good for him in terms of staying positive so we were all glad he could come even though he wasn't 100%.

 

[Colleen27]

Because we needed two rooms for this trip and because my mom & brother were on a semi-tight budget since my brother hasn't been getting many hours at work, we decided to stay at Pop for this trip.

Well, Boo was part of the reason too. She absolutely adores the place! On our first stay there, for our girls' trip in March, every night when we were on the bus back to the resort passing the resort sign she'd say "We're home!" in this sweet, excited little voice that was just irresistible. So when my mom asked about ways to make the trip a bit cheaper, it was very easy to give into Boo's wish to go back there.

But while I'm on the subject of "where", I'll give my mini-review of Pop Century.

I did have some misgivings about booking Pop for a whole family trip, and a few turned out to be well founded.

We'd requested 50s, ground floor because Boo just loved the "big puppies" on our first stay, but the only connecting rooms available were in the 80s, building 9, on the 3rd floor. They did offer us the option of moving the next day to our preferred location but I didn't want to hassle with that so we gave the Walkman building a try.

Our rooms were in a nice location within the building, near the elevator with a view of the gardens between the 70s and 80s, but unfortunately over the area where they park the grounds crew carts which were noisy at times. We were also very close to the computer pool but it was on the cool side compared to the main pool so only Stitch and my brother spent any time there.

The rooms were both clean and free of problems, but small. I knew they were small from our previous stay, but I didn't realize just how small until I was sharing that room with my whole family!

For some reason all the kids wanted to sleep in our room, probably because my brother was up late watching TV and just restless at night. Usually when we have two rooms and my mom is traveling with us the kids argue over who gets to camp out in her room, but this trip they were all with us for 7 of 8 nights. We brought an air mattress so that Stitch wouldn't have to share a bed with anyone and it fit okay, but didn't leave much walking space.

Storage space was also an issue. With 7 people, the dressers in both rooms were full to overpacked, most of the hangers were in use, and there just wasn't room for all our stuff. And I think I travel pretty light - 4 carry-on sized roller bags for my family of 5, including the air mattress.

But the biggest issue was privacy. The curtain is only so helpful when everyone was trying to get ready at the same time, and bedtime was tough without a "quiet" room for the kids (a function usually served by my mom's room, since she heads to bed early). The bedtime issue was further complicated by the fact that the air mattress was in a position without a view of the TV. We brought a few movies with us on Pocahontas' iPod Touch but Stitch couldn't lay down to watch them, and his frustration with that only confirms my doubts about the room layout at Art of Animation where one of the fold-outs is in a similar position.

Aside from the rooms, the resort was great. We had a few bumps at check-in, mostly related to how late we arrived, but the kids had a great time at the pools and took advantage of the daily pin trading on several days.

The staff was polite and friendly as usual, everything was clean and pretty and colorful, and the facilities were more than adequate for our needs. And my very favorite part of our first stay at Pop - the transportation - was just as good as I remembered, with no long waits and the wonderful perk of only one bus stop and no sharing with other resorts.

Will we stay there again? Not likely, at least not with the whole family. I might consider booking two rooms for the 5 of us if for some reason two rooms at a resort where a king bed is bookable isn't possible and the ASMu suites aren't available, but I won't plan another trip that has DH & I sharing a double bed unless there aren't any better options open.

 

[Colleen27]

Day 1 - Jan 24

Our dates for this trip were a matter of much uncertainty and many changes, as is fairly usual for our travel planning, but in the end we settled on Jan 24 to Feb 1 to accommodate the kids' schedules, specifically Pocahontas play rehearsals. To that end we booked a late flight on the 24th so that we could leave after school.

I will NEVER do that again!

The drive down to the airport went smoothly. We left our little town a few minutes before 4pm, picked up my mom and brother around 4:45, and got to the airport by 5:45 with plenty of time to spare before our 7:45 flight. I'd expected more traffic - when we've flown out early in the morning it takes 2 hours or more to get to the airport, but the bulk of the evening rush hour was going in the opposite direction and we made great time.

Getting through security was a breeze. Well, as much of a breeze as possible with 3 kids, 4 rolling suitcases, two backpacks, a camera bag, and a stroller can be.

Since we were flying Delta we were leaving from the McNamara Terminal of the Detroit airport, which is absolutely huge. And with the change in Michigan's smoking law they no longer have a lounge or bar where smoking is permitted past security. We had almost 2 hours before our departure, so we found a seat near the fountain at the center of the terminal so that DH & DB could go out for one last smoke before heading to our gate.

The kids were fascinated by the dancing fountain, and Pocahontas had to take a video of it.

The terminal is so big it has its own monorail to get to the gates at the far ends.

Boo got a little too close to the fountain.

We landed a few minutes early, about 10:15 and quickly made our way down to the Magical Express counter, where we ran into the first drawback of arriving so late. We got right onto our bus... and waited. And waited. And waited some more. I understand that they don't want to run the buses empty, but I'd almost rather they shared between more resorts rather than sitting there for 15+ min waiting for more people bound for Pop and CBR!

Eventually we were on our way and watching the welcome video.



Boo was VERY excited to see the Pop Century sign at last!



At long last we headed off to WDW, where Pop was our first stop. Good thing, too, because everyone was getting a little hungry and if we'd been the second stop the food court probably would have been closed! It was 11:20 when we arrived at the resort so I figured we were okay to check in before heading to the food court.

Here's where we ran into the second drawback of arriving so late... The front desk was seriously understaffed and there was no real order to the line - check-in and online check-in and concierge issues were all being handled by the same couple of cast members. So check in took forever!

I hadn't done online check in because of the reports of it erasing room requests, but checking in so late got us the last of the availability. The only one of our requests that was met was connecting and I think if we ever arrive late again I'll roll the dice with online check in to maybe get a better chance at ground floor at least.

It was about 11:50 by the time we got through the line and made it over to the food court. At that time of night I knew only the pizza station would be open, but I wasn't prepared for them to be out of everything except pizza nor did I think they'd have all the mug refill stations shut down already. I thought that kind of cleanup would happen post-closing rather than during the last half hour of the night, but we found that the soda machines were often all closed down by 11:45 or so on this trip.

We were all tired and a little cranky, so we grabbed some pizza and a sushi roll, gobbled it down, and headed off to find our rooms. Unpacking and checking out the resort would wait for morning. We all headed straight to bed.

 

[DisMomAmy]

Welcome Back!!

And what's this about "Maybe May?" Sounds good to me!!

 

[jenseib]

I'm here

 

[dara00]

joining in!

 

[Colleen27]

Welcome Back!!

And what's this about "Maybe May?" Sounds good to me!!

I'll get to the details later but in a nutshell there is a special Girl Scout event over Memorial Day weekend that I would very much like to take Pocahontas to, just the two of us. I brought it up to DH while we were at WDW last week and to my surprise he didn't object, but we did agree that it isn't in the budget and wouldn't be right to cut back on our summer family plans to afford it. So that's where the maybe comes in... 112 days for me to save/earn an extra $1200! I have about $150 set aside so far, but the real effort won't start until next week when I'm setting up my Etsy store and listing some things on the local sell/swap Facebook group.

 

[khertz]

Checking in & ready for your TR! Sorry about the disappointing check-in experience. hopefully everything is on the upside for the rest of the trip!

 

[Colleen27]

I'm here

joining in!

Checking in & ready for your TR! Sorry about the disappointing check-in experience. hopefully everything is on the upside for the rest of the trip!

We got off to a rough start, but it quickly got better!

We also took a little detour over to WBC just to look around one afternoon, and DH is totally sold on staying there on our next trip with an eye to buying in. More than the rest of us he really felt cramped in the rooms at Pop and missed having a balcony. It isn't DVC, but I'm excited because it would take us a while to save for DVC even on the resale market. WBC, on the other hand, we could manage pretty much as soon as we decide to take the plunge, so if we like it that would be in the near future.

I'm working on my day 2 pics now, and should have another installment up sometime tonight.

 

[lledman]

signing on.

 

[Colleen27]

Our first full day took us to Epcot. I didn't count on an early start because I knew we'd all still be a little worn out by the late arrival, but the girls were up and ready to go by about 9:30 nonetheless.

The first order of business was to take a very excited Boo over to see "her" Lady in the 50s section.

While we were out walking, we took the path along the lake to scope out the progress on Art of Animation and then headed up to bell services to pick up our fridge and groceries. The package I was expecting from Soap.com hadn't yet arrived, but a quick check on my phone shows a delay in shipping and a scheduled delivery for later in the day. Good thing I packed a travel tube of sunscreen just in case!

With the fridge tucked into the corner between the bed and the bathroom wall and the milk, berries, and beer chilling inside we headed off to Epcot. My brother still wasn't up and moving so we left him behind; he'd catch up to us later for lunch.

We got to Epcot around 10:30 or 11. Picking up our YES tickets at will call took just a minute and we were quickly through the gate and headed for the Land. On the way we were sidetracked by the Jammitors. Stitch had never seen them before, and since he's a drummer he really enjoyed the show. Pocahontas wasn't as impressed but she passed the time by reading all the inventions plaques embedded in the walkway outside of Innovations. When the show wrapped up we continued along our way.

It was an absolutely beautiful day, about 80° and sunny with just a little breeze that kept it from bordering on too warm for our used-to-the-cold systems.

Once we parked the stroller and headed into the Land I took everyone's tickets down to get FPs for Soarin' while everyone else headed for Living With the Land.

I love these balloons.

Our FP return was 2:40, not too bad for so late in the morning. As usual there was no wait for Living With the Land, so we walked right on as soon as I caught up.

Boo was a little scared by the storm scene but really liked the greenhouses. She's my little garden helper at home - I plant the veggies, she harvest and eats them. I've always enjoyed LWtL because of the greenhouses, and never fail to notice something new each ride. This time it was sweet potatoes grown in the same method as their famous tomato tree. I wouldn't have thought root crops would grow that way - the tubers were just hanging underneath the vines in open air!

On the next trip I'm going to make a point of taking the Behind the Seeds tour again. We took it on our '07 trip, but it was August, about 100° outside and even hotter in the greenhouses, and I had the start of a wicked migraine so I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I would have liked. I think it would be a much more enjoyable experience in more comfortable weather anyway.

Next we headed over to The Seas pavilion. Boo loves the Nemo ride, and Pocahontas always wants to spend some time just watching the fish, dolphins, and manatees.

Of course we had to take a few minutes to watch these guys.



Boo found Nemo hanging out with Marlin.

And spent some time playing Mr Ray's trivia games.

We checked out the seahorses and their friends.

And of course took some time to watch the manatees.

Boo decided she needed a break while we were waiting for the next Turtle Talk show.

She wasn't all that impressed with Turtle Talk. About halfway through the show she got bored or scared or something and came back to sit with me instead of hanging out on the floor with the kids.

After the show we headed back out into the sunshine. My mom snuck off for a minute to buy Ken a tee shirt with the seagulls on the front, because when we gave him the coffee cup with them on it from our last trip he mentioned that was a Disney shirt he'd actually wear.

The monorail rolled on by as we were loading up the stroller.

Then we headed off, intending to catch Journey into Imagination but the ride was closed briefly and a couple of chipmunks sidetracked Boo.

Dale is always so impressed by his picture in Boo's autograph book!

While Boo & I were busy with Chip & Dale, Ken took the older kids to explore Innoventions for a bit. Around this time my brother called to let me know he was at the gate, so I headed back to the entrance to meet him rather than trying to give directions since neither of us could hear our phones very well.

Then we headed back by way of Innoventions to get everyone together and start making our way back to Canada for lunch.

 

[jenseib]

Fun morning. I love Boo's outfit

 

[Colleen27]

Fun morning. I love Boo's outfit

Thanks. I think that was my favorite of the outfits for this trip because it is just so unlike anything you can buy. I didn't get a good picture of it because it was too warm for her to wear it, but the jean jacket Pocahontas wore matches - it has the same painted Figment with a reverse-applique of his name across the shoulders.

 

[Colleen27]

Somehow it always happens that we have some event to go to right after getting home from WDW. In March it was the circus. For this trip, it was Sesame Street Live. My mom ordered tickets long before our dates were set, knowing that 1) we don't travel over Super Bowl Sunday because I don't want to waste a vacation day on watching football in our room and 2) the evening show during the big game was likely to be less packed than other weekend shows. And she got the good seats - front row and included a character meet & greet.

So before I've even finished unpacking from visiting Mickey & friends it was time to go meet Elmo!

I made her this outfit on Saturday. That may or may not be why very little of the vacation laundry has gotten done...

One nice thing about having Disney trip experience is that we knew she wouldn't be afraid of the characters for this. The two families in front of us both ended up with crying kids when it was their turn to meet Elmo & Ernie, but Boo was just plain happy.

The theatre where they hold the show is just beautiful, and our seats were great - front row just left of center.

Now, back to the Disney adventures...

 

[Colleen27]

So when I left off we were all meeting up on the bench outside of Innoventions to head off to lunch.

On the way (sort of) I took everyone's tickets and ran over to grab Test Track FPs.

To say crowds were light would be an understatement. This was at about 1:30pm.

On my way back through to meet up with the rest of the family I cut through the hallway of the building that holds Club Cool, Fountainview, and the character spot. I'm not sure I've ever been in here before, and I thought this was a really neat little display that I'm sure most people have no idea exists.

It is a timeline of Epcot with the opening and retirement of each attraction.

It didn't take long for us to get to Canada. They had a check-in stand at the top of the path for Le Cellier, which was something we've never seen before and a vast improvement of waiting at the restaurant itself behind a bunch of people looking for walk-up availability!

After we checked in, my mom found a seat in the restaurant waiting area while we took the kids down to the Kidcot station so Pocahontas could get her passport page stamped and Boo could color for a bit.

Who would have thought a building this big would hold a restaurant so small?

About 15 min later they called our name and we were taken to a table in Newfoundland, near the kitchen door. It wasn't a great location because of the high volume of passing traffic and in what would turn out to be the start of a trend we were seated at a table for 6 with Boo's high chair pulled up to one end, but I was very impressed to be seated in a reasonable time for a change.

I'm not doing a dining review for this trip for reasons that will become abundantly clear as I get further into this report - it just got impossible to keep track of credits and meals with us going in so many different directions - so I'll roll the few full dining reviews I do have in here.

Our server was Casey, and she was attentive if a little slow sometimes between courses. Everyone ordered something different for lunch, and only my brother and I passed on the price fixe menu in favor of the pricier cuts of steak.

Stitch, Pocahontas, and my mom all started with the cheese soup. It was good, but I have to say I'm not sure I really get the hype. Apparently I was the only one who didn't get it, though, because all three bowls were soon empty and we ran out of pretzel bread entirely.

Ken ordered the chipotle chicken & sausage appetizer, which I thought was much better than the soup. A little sweet, a little heat, and a great combination of flavors and textures.

For his entree, Ken got the Korean BBQ skewer. I only tried a small bite of the meat, which was tender and not over-sauced, but I didn't think it was all that impressive. I think I'd probably have liked it better if I'd had a proper taste of meat with the accompaniments, but I still don't see myself ever ordering it for myself. Not with so many other good steakhouse options available.

My mother surprised me by ordering the vegetarian option, potato gnocchi with spinach and eggplant. I'm not sure I tried this at all. If I did it wasn't terribly memorable but my mom enjoyed it. She's not a big beef eater so this was much more to her taste than most of the menu.

Stitch got the house burger, hold the mushrooms, which was a very good but familiar/basic steakhouse burger. The sauce was a nice balance of tangy and sweet and the onion straws were crisp, and the burger was cooked to a perfect medium-well as he requested. I especially liked the Black Diamond cheddar; the sharpness of the cheese was a good pairing with the other flavors.

Pocahontas ordered the steak & potato skillet, which was an excellent choice for her. The beef was tender and lightly seasoned, the potatoes were nicely crisp on the outside but soft inside, and she was able to eat around the mushrooms (which we were told couldn't be left off of this dish). She didn't much care for the salad, but that was no surprise as she doesn't really like arugula or blue cheese, but I enjoyed it.

My brother ordered the NY strip with cream cheese mashed potatoes, but he only picked at his food. It was done to a nice medium and he said it was good but he wasn't feeling all that well and ended up taking most of it to go.

Somehow I managed to get photos of everyone's entrees except my own, which is a shame because mine was the best of the bunch. I ordered the signature mushroom filet and with the first bite I finally understood all the hype over Le Cellier. It was amazing, rich and earth and fork-tender, and the risotto was the perfect creamy accompaniment without being overpowering or overdone. The lunch portion is just right too, filling without being too much and leaving just enough room for a few bites of dessert.

For dessert Pocahontas and Stitch both ordered the seasonal sorbet. The flavor of the day was passion fruit, which Pocahontas liked but Stitch just kind of picked at.

Fortunately for Stitch, I ordered the white wine semi-freddo, which was a very interesting dish. It tasted almost like an icewine meringue and while it was very enjoyable it was also very intense and there was no way I could even come close to finishing it. The passion fruit sorbet was much more to my taste, light and fruity, so Stitch and I traded desserts after just a few bites.

Ken and DM both ordered the chocolate moose. The consensus on this one is that it looks better than it tastes. The mousse inside was pretty good, but no one cared for the crust, and not being fans of maple flavour none of the adults liked the cookie-antlers. Boo enjoyed the cookies, though.

I didn't get a pic or a taste of DB's dessert because he ordered the chocolate whiskey cake to go. I didn't think to ask him how he liked it later.

After lunch Brian decided he wanted to go back to the room. The combination of the late night and his meds had him feeling really off and I don't think the warm day was helping matters any - even with this warm winter we've been having a 40° temperature difference from one day to the next can take some adjustment. He just wanted to nap or maybe have a swim, so we decided to head for Journey Into Imagination at Boo's request before he left.

Unfortunately, the ride was closed. Boo teetered on the brink of a meltdown for a minute or two before something else caught her eye while we were deciding on a new plan for the afternoon. DM and DB decided to head back to the resort for a while, and Stitch opted to tag along for some pool time. I had thought we would send Boo back too, so she could have a nap with Grandma, but she really wanted to stay and had gotten her attitude in check so Ken & I headed off into the World Showcase with our girls while the others left.

 

[jenseib]

I didn't think the soup was anything special either. It was pretty salty (all our food was) and it didn't have a cheese flavor at all.

 

[jecskc]

I loved your sea horse photos. Enjoying your TR, looking forward to reading more.

 

[Colleen27]

I didn't think the soup was anything special either. It was pretty salty (all our food was) and it didn't have a cheese flavor at all.

I'm glad it wasn't just me. It wasn't terribly salty for us, but it just didn't have an outstanding flavor. It certainly wasn't the best cheese soup I've had, and it isn't a dish I love even when the preparation is absolutely top-notch.

I loved your sea horse photos. Enjoying your TR, looking forward to reading more.

Thanks. I swear the sea horses were posing for me!

 

[EastYorkDisneyFan]

It's funny how you mentioned that such a small restaurant is in such a large building the restaurant is only in the bottom of it the rest of it was more shops when the Canadian pavilion first opened.

Another question why does everyone on the dis seam to get the chocolate moose for desert. I don't get it what is Canadian about it? As for the saltiness of the soup a lot of that probably has to do with the cheese used in it and the bacon.