It's a-LIVE, a-LiVE...Trip Report, That Is

[mylittlebuttercup]

So excited for you. Rather new DISer subbing in.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Excited to read all about your POP experience!
We'll be staying there for the first time in October.

 

[raraavis]

followed your link over from the POP century thread. love that you're giving all of us a live update with pictures! quick question, about how long did it take from when you left the airport on ME until you were dropped off at POP?? thanks!

 

[Goofy22]

I followed from the POP Link also! Happy Anniversary! Me and DS will be there in 2weeks and we have a Standard Poolview and we requested 50's Building #1 . We had 80's last year and loved it but it's just the two of us this year so we prefer 50's hoping we get it Can't wait to read more .

 

[LuvGoldens]

Look forward to following along! Have a terrific trip

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

followed your link over from the POP century thread. love that you're giving all of us a live update with pictures! quick question, about how long did it take from when you left the airport on ME until you were dropped off at POP?? thanks!

I meant to check on the exact time, but I forgot :-/. But it was definitely an hour or less. I will check with my husband and see if he remembers more exactly.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

I followed from the POP Link also! Happy Anniversary! Me and DS will be there in 2weeks and we have a Standard Poolview and we requested 50's Building #1 . We had 80's last year and loved it but it's just the two of us this year so we prefer 50's hoping we get it Can't wait to read more .

I really like the location of 50s/building 1. So close to Classic Hall. Thanks for the anniversary wishes!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Look forward to following along! Have a terrific trip

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Once we got all settled in, we decided to wait a little bit before heading to the parks. Originally, we were thinking of heading over to MK, coming back for a late lunch/nap, and then heading back to MK for dinner. However, since it was already after 10 by this point, we decided to just stick around the resort for a while and head to MK after a nap. (Crazy right!? How did we resist!?)

I have heard good things about the food court over at Art of Animation, so we decided to walk over there and grab lunch. We took a few pictures of Pop on the way:

The area around the bridge joining Pop and AoA is really pretty. We even saw big turtles in the water! We could also see the Little Mermaid area way on the other side of the lake. It is far from the rest of the resort.

When we got over the bridge to AoA, I was immediately drawn to the theming and detail of the buildings.

Nemo area:

Cars area:

When we got to the main building, there was a sidewalk artist outside drawing characters on the pavement. I have seen this at a park before but never at a resort!

The entrance to Landscape of Flavors is actually through the gift shop, which I though was a little weird, but probably good for them from a marketing standpoint. (I later realized that Pop actually has a similar setup.)

When we got there, it was about 11, and they had only switched half the stations over to lunch. (The other two were still serving breakfast until 11:30.) We decided to pick up our refillable mugs first and then sit down to decide if we wanted to go to the sandwich/burger and pizza/pasta stations that were open or wait for the others to open in half an hour.

The new refillable mugs are so much cuter than the last ones! (I realized afterwards that I think we were supposed to pick these up from OUR resort. They didn't give us a problem, though, but I feel bad if I accidentally broke the rules!)

After checking out the menu, my hubby decided to get a chicken burger with a candy bar as his dessert item. It also came with their house-made fries. When we checked out with our mugs, the lady reminded us that we could also get a drink with our meals, so he also picked up a bottle of water for later:

I decided to get the make-your-own pasta, which turned into a mini-debacle, but all worked out in the end. First, you get in line and tell them what you want from a huge list of choices.

I got the campanelle pasta with onions, garlic, sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and andouille sausage, with marinara sauce. They give you a number, so I asked my husband to pick it up and went in search of drinks. One of the ladies working there told me you can use your dessert credit for a fresh fruit smoothie, so I decided to go over and order one. They also had pomegranate limeade at the same counter that you could use for your drink credit. I decided to try both. When they made the limeade, they topped it with a foam Mickey head!

Here's where the pasta mini-debacle comes in. When I went back, my husband said he hadn't heard my number called, so I asked. They tried to give me one with pesto, which is not what I ordered. I think they either made it with the wrong sauce or accidentally gave someone else mine. I had to wait for a whole new one to be made. The lady kept apologizing though and made sure to correct it right away, so it all worked out fine.

Both of our meals were very good for food court food; probably the best food court food I have had at Disney! Mine actually came with a REALLY good piece of garlic bread too. The pomegranate limeade and smoothie were decent, albeit a little sweet for my tastes.

The portion size was HUGE. I maybe ate 2/3 of it and had to throw away the rest.

On the way back to resort, I snapped a couple more Pop pictures.

Then, we took about an hour and a half nap...well, my husband did, at least. For some reason, I could not seem to do much more than doze off for a little and wake up multiple times. We got up around 2:15, and now we are off to the Magic Kingdom!

 

[Dancing Queen]

Wow! What a great first day (and it's not over yet)! enjoy mk.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

We had a big thunderstorm; cell service was horrible during it, but it looks like it is working now. MK update coming shortly!

 

[Goofy22]

Awwhhh we had the same here in Jersey !! with Horrible downpours !

 

[TinkerbellsMom0923]

Happy Anniversary and Have Fun at The Happiest Place On Earth! I too followed your link from the Pop board. We'll be there in 4 weeks, I am meeting my son (he works at Disney) and my girlfriend who has never been before. Staying at Pop of course. It's our favorite!

 

[Dancing Queen]

We had a big thunderstorm; cell service was horrible during it, but it looks like it is working now. MK update coming shortly!

We've had wicked weather up here- was hoping you didn't get it down there! stay safe.

 

[MissPrice]

A live report!!!How exciting Looks like you've got nice weather today. Looking forward to read about your MK exploits of the night. -Amanda

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

I had a bit of technical difficulties at the park today--Photobucket kept crashing, and trying to get it to work sucked the life out of my battery. I managed to conserve enough battery to still get some photos, but unfortunately that meant I had to wait until we got back to the resort to post on here. Welcome to everyone who is new, and thanks to everyone who is still sticking around! And now, Magic Kingdom!!!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

We waited less than ten minutes for a bus to Magic Kingdom, and soon we saw a very welcoming sight:

As we walked down Main Street, I snapped a few pictures, and we stopped for a few Photopass opportunities:

Since it was mid-day, it was HOT, so we stopped in Adventureland to pick up some waters with our snack credits. (Side note: We almost always use our snack credits for waters or soda. Since the DxDP includes so much food, we don't snack very often.)

Then, my husband ran ahead to grab some Fastpasses for Splash Mountain since the wait time was already about an hour. When he came back, we headed to the first ride of our trip, Pirates of the Carribean:

After Pirates, we were thinking about going on the Jungle Cruise, but it was about a 25 minute wait. While that wasn't bad, we thought another one of our favorites might have less of a wait: The Haunted Mansion.

We haven't been to Disney for a couple years, so we were very excited to check out the new interactive queue. We loved it! It's a great addition to the HM. I've included a few pictures below:

We absolutely loved the new hitchhiking ghosts too. We got the one that switches the two passengers' heads.

Once we got off HM, we still had about 45 minutes before we could use our Splash Mountain fastpasses, so we headed over to another oldie-but-goodie:

The CBJ let out five minutes or so before our Splash Mountain return time, which normally would have been great timing. When we got out of the show, though, there was a huge thunderstorm going on...buckets and buckets of rain, coupled with both thunder and lightening. You can somewhat see the extent in the picture below but still not fully:

Having been two other times in August, we knew that these storms sometimes blow over quickly, so we tried to wait it out. Twenty minutes or so later, it was still pouring, and we had a dinner reservation at 6 over at The Crystal Palace. We decided to buy some ponchos (we had left our ponchos/umbrella back in the room), and hurry over to Crystal Palace as quickly as we could!

Our Crystal Palace dinner is coming up in next post! Plus--will we still get to use our Fastpasses!?

 

[DonnaBoo]

I'm really enjoying your live trip report. We only have 2 more weeks, and your live trip report makes me wish our wait time will go by fast.

 

[yourhighwayinthesky]

I'm reading!
Leaving on Wednesday for my trip, and my first day in Disney will be on Friday (Two days at Universal) Reading live trip reports is making me so happy!
I'm expecting the rain that you posted about....August trips
How have the crowds been?

 

[Emteach]

Loving your trip report so far - and the fact that it is a live trip report makes it even better! Looking forward to hearing about where you dine, the rides and your resort. We are headed to WDW in a couple weeks so this is getting me pumped (other than the rain but I guess that has to be expected in August).