Trip Particulars:
Travelers - Me (39), Mary (32)
Dates - Jan 30th, 2004 to Feb 2nd 2004
Accommodations - Pop Century Resort
Parks - EPCOT, MK, MGM
Almost two years had passed since our last trip to Disney. Yes, we were in Orlando just 5 months ago, but we had opted for a week at the Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. <a href = "http://disboards.com/showthread.php?threadid=443696">Click here for that trip report.</a> The seeds of this trip were first planted back in September. Around day 4 of Universal, I was secretly wondering if we could hop a bus to the Magic Kingdom.
As fall turned into winter in Vermont, I was toying with the idea of a quick mid-winter getaway at the Swan and Dolphin. The thought of being within walking distance of the $7 beers at the Rose and Crown held a certain allure. But the plan changed when <a href = "http://mousesavers.com">Mousesavers</a> announced that codes were available for the values at $55 per night.
We've never stayed at a value resort as I've heard that they can be quite boisterous. But, I confess, I find it hard to pass up a deal (ok, ok, I'm cheap) and the price was right. So we called up CRO and they offered Pop Century, Mary took it because she finds it hard to pass up the kitsch (ok, ok, she's cheap too) and it's new.
The journey started with the alarm clocks buzzing at 3am. We were out the door by 4 and on the plane to Cincinnati by 6. After a 45 minute delay and some de-icing, we were on our way to Orlando. We landed around noon and after some initial wandering, found the Avis Preferred pick up booth out in the parking garage. Mary got a great rate of $58 total for the 3 days which was a lot cheaper than getting a car service and a lot more convenient than Mears.
With Mary driving and me navigating, we were doing fine until we got off onto Epcot Drive and started looking for signs for Buena Vista Drive or Pop Century. (Unless we missed them) There aren't any. We ended up at the entrance to the Epcot parking facility sheepishly telling the attendant that we just wished to turn around and go back the other way. He kindly directed us to the 'big-losers-that-are-lost' turnaround.
Yes, I know I was supposed to be navigating but I was working with an outdated property map that was made before Pop Century existed. And I did suggest that we pull over and retrieve the 2004 Unofficial Guide (thick, new, and oh so complete) from the trunk of the car. But Mary was pretty sure that we needed to just follow the signs to Caribbean Beach, as Pop was somewhere near there. Ten minutes later, we were pulling into the parking lot of our new home for the next 3 days.
I had read about Pop Century but had purposely avoided looking at pictures. I don't like to spoil the surprise and prefer my first look to be in person. The phrase 'Bowl-a-rama High School' sprang to mind as we approached the main building (Classic Hall). Now let me say a few things before someone takes offense. I am aware of the fact that Pop was designed with families with young children in mind and I do realize that we don't exactly fit that profile. And besides the eye-popping decor and density of people in the food court around meal times, our stay here was pleasant enough.
At around 1:30pm, check-in was pretty empty - we waited less than 2 minutes in line. Our check-in CM (who normally works at POR) was friendly and helpful. We found the follow exchange amusing, CM: "So have you ever stayed here." Us: "No, not here, last time we stayed at AKL". CM: "Oh, you do realize that this is a value resort, there's a slight difference in the amenities" (holding right hand up near her face and left hand down near her waist as if to demonstrate). Us: (thinking yes the $55 per night and the big bowling pins kind of give that away but knowing that polite is always best) "Yep."
Our only room requests were a non-smoking room that was quiet. The CM suggested the 4th floor facing the lake and produced the property map telling us we could pick any where but the 60's building. We settled on the 70's building room 6447 which was clean and ready for our immediate occupancy.
We moved the car, retrieved our luggage, briefly entertained the idea of shorts (nah!), and headed out to Epcot for a late lunch. In line waiting for the bus with a light drizzle falling and a no-food-headache starting to build I was rethinking the decision to not go to Epcot an hour ago when we accidentally ended up in the parking lot.
20 minutes later we had located the on-call window at Epcot (actually it's just the guest services window) and were retrieving our Alamo 3 day park hopper plus passes. The French CM was understanding when I told him that I neglected to bring along the confirmation number and handed him my driver's license as proof of ID. He simply asked us what kind of passes we purchased and when my answer matched his, we had our tickets. Of course he was also aware that I had just witnessed him replacing a ticket for a mother whose young son had reportedly tossed the pass into a trash barrel. He did this with no other verification besides the word of the mother.
We stored our rain gear in a locker and hoofed it over to Le Cellier hoping that we were not too late for lunch. Le Cellier was fairly empty by 2:30 but we still had about a 5 to 10 minute wait to be seated. On entering the dining hall, I noticed that most people were sitting either along the periphery of the room or directly in the middle in rows of tables set very close together. Our host led us to the last 2 seats with a small table between two other parties. I leaned in close to him and trying to be discrete asked if he had a table that was not sandwiched between two others. Here's a tip, don't use the word "sandwich" in a restaurant. He looked confused and started telling me that yes I can get a sandwich. I tried again to get my point across without offending the diners next to us. He got it the second time, but said that we'd need to go back out and see the hostess. (He was a host, he had one of those little headsets on that let him talk to other hosts, there were tons of empty tables around, anyway...) Not being up for another 10 minute wait, I sat down.
Jennifer, our waitress was personable and attentive. We ordered cheese soup to start. Mary had the Vancouver Chicken Sandwich with wasabi cucumber slaw on the sandwich and Asian Noodle salad on the side and I had a cheeseburger and fries. (Yes, I'm sure there was some fancy Canadian name for it, but it was still a cheeseburger and fries.) The food was tasty and the portions generous. Our soft drinks were refilled before they were completely drained and the bill was easy on the wallet ($35). We even got the recipe for the cheese soup before we left.
On heading out of Le Cellier, the occasional drop had changed into a pretty steady light rain so we headed back to the lockers and retrieved our rain jackets. Since we were right there, we hopped on Spaceship Earth and watched Christian civilization rise, burn, then rise again thanks to the monks and the Muslims to eventually be bedecked in bright colorful lights courtesy of AT & T.
Lunch was still sitting pretty heavy so we got some fast passes to Test Track and spent the next 45 minutes on the dinosaur ride. Yes, I know it's the Universe of Energy but to us, it will always be the dinosaur ride. Interesting note here, the CM hosting the ride took great pains to make sure that everyone understood that the ride was a full 45 minutes and once you entered you could not exit without everyone in the ride exiting. I found this quite curious since you're pretty much stuck in those large moving vehicles in the complete dark. I mean even if you wanted to get off, how would you do it? Is there a CM in there lurking in the dark? Granted I'm guessing if you completely freak out and start screaming you'd probably draw some attention, but why even introduce the possibility of getting off the ride?
With our stomachs sufficiently settled, we redeemed our Test Track fast passes. We had a slight glitch in the acceleration test through the curves and were stuck for around 5 minutes. I really don't mind these momentary stops, they give you a chance to check out the ride a little more and see things you would ordinarily miss. And at least we weren't in the heating or cooling chambers.
Remembering that we usually don't spend any time at Innoventions, we headed over there hoping to explore it a little better. After only a few minutes wandering around Innovations East (or was it West?) - the one with mostly kid's activities, we continued on to Innovations West (or was it East?) to check out some of the games. I don't quite get the idea behind the laptops scattered around. It seems like most of these were hard-coded to only visit certain (uninteresting) web sites. We played around with some of the X-box/Play station type games and went out to watch the fountain.
The fountain made of water, reminded me of thirst, which lead to beer (of course) which brought us to the Rose and Crown. $14 and a slight misunderstanding with the question "Are you staying inside?" which sounded to me like "Are you staying on site?" (think Groundskeeper Willy) later we had our pints and a couple of seats in the then not very crowded bar. That would change as the rain became heavier.
With about an hour and a half to go before IllumiNations, we strolled around the countries, snapped some not very good pictures in the rain and dark, and rode the Maelstrom ("You are not the first the pass this way"). We had scoped out the Japan pavilion as a good viewing spot high up and out of the rain and continued all the way down to Mexico (looking for daiquiris) before turning around and heading back. At 8:30, the pavilion had only a few spectators and I was craving a dessert so we high-tailed it over to France for cappuccino and dessert. Mary had a Napoleon and I had a slice of raspberry chocolate cake. We took it all to go and joined the now growing throng on the pavilion overlook.
We enjoyed the show from this vantage point despite the large Japanese icon in the lagoon that blocks out the lower portion of the fireworks and all the details on the ball. We'd seen IllumiNations before and were just interested in watching the fireworks and the porch did clear off considerably when people realized that they couldn't see all of the lagoon.
The rain and chilly weather had thinned out the crowd so when the show ended, it was not that difficult to make our way back to the bus stop. A bus pulled up 10 or so minutes later and we made it on as the last two people standing behind the yellow line by the bus driver. Soon after we were back in our room and asleep after a very long day.
Continue to Day 2 below.
Travelers - Me (39), Mary (32)
Dates - Jan 30th, 2004 to Feb 2nd 2004
Accommodations - Pop Century Resort
Parks - EPCOT, MK, MGM
Almost two years had passed since our last trip to Disney. Yes, we were in Orlando just 5 months ago, but we had opted for a week at the Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. <a href = "http://disboards.com/showthread.php?threadid=443696">Click here for that trip report.</a> The seeds of this trip were first planted back in September. Around day 4 of Universal, I was secretly wondering if we could hop a bus to the Magic Kingdom.
As fall turned into winter in Vermont, I was toying with the idea of a quick mid-winter getaway at the Swan and Dolphin. The thought of being within walking distance of the $7 beers at the Rose and Crown held a certain allure. But the plan changed when <a href = "http://mousesavers.com">Mousesavers</a> announced that codes were available for the values at $55 per night.
We've never stayed at a value resort as I've heard that they can be quite boisterous. But, I confess, I find it hard to pass up a deal (ok, ok, I'm cheap) and the price was right. So we called up CRO and they offered Pop Century, Mary took it because she finds it hard to pass up the kitsch (ok, ok, she's cheap too) and it's new.
The journey started with the alarm clocks buzzing at 3am. We were out the door by 4 and on the plane to Cincinnati by 6. After a 45 minute delay and some de-icing, we were on our way to Orlando. We landed around noon and after some initial wandering, found the Avis Preferred pick up booth out in the parking garage. Mary got a great rate of $58 total for the 3 days which was a lot cheaper than getting a car service and a lot more convenient than Mears.
With Mary driving and me navigating, we were doing fine until we got off onto Epcot Drive and started looking for signs for Buena Vista Drive or Pop Century. (Unless we missed them) There aren't any. We ended up at the entrance to the Epcot parking facility sheepishly telling the attendant that we just wished to turn around and go back the other way. He kindly directed us to the 'big-losers-that-are-lost' turnaround.
Yes, I know I was supposed to be navigating but I was working with an outdated property map that was made before Pop Century existed. And I did suggest that we pull over and retrieve the 2004 Unofficial Guide (thick, new, and oh so complete) from the trunk of the car. But Mary was pretty sure that we needed to just follow the signs to Caribbean Beach, as Pop was somewhere near there. Ten minutes later, we were pulling into the parking lot of our new home for the next 3 days.
I had read about Pop Century but had purposely avoided looking at pictures. I don't like to spoil the surprise and prefer my first look to be in person. The phrase 'Bowl-a-rama High School' sprang to mind as we approached the main building (Classic Hall). Now let me say a few things before someone takes offense. I am aware of the fact that Pop was designed with families with young children in mind and I do realize that we don't exactly fit that profile. And besides the eye-popping decor and density of people in the food court around meal times, our stay here was pleasant enough.
At around 1:30pm, check-in was pretty empty - we waited less than 2 minutes in line. Our check-in CM (who normally works at POR) was friendly and helpful. We found the follow exchange amusing, CM: "So have you ever stayed here." Us: "No, not here, last time we stayed at AKL". CM: "Oh, you do realize that this is a value resort, there's a slight difference in the amenities" (holding right hand up near her face and left hand down near her waist as if to demonstrate). Us: (thinking yes the $55 per night and the big bowling pins kind of give that away but knowing that polite is always best) "Yep."
Our only room requests were a non-smoking room that was quiet. The CM suggested the 4th floor facing the lake and produced the property map telling us we could pick any where but the 60's building. We settled on the 70's building room 6447 which was clean and ready for our immediate occupancy.
We moved the car, retrieved our luggage, briefly entertained the idea of shorts (nah!), and headed out to Epcot for a late lunch. In line waiting for the bus with a light drizzle falling and a no-food-headache starting to build I was rethinking the decision to not go to Epcot an hour ago when we accidentally ended up in the parking lot.
20 minutes later we had located the on-call window at Epcot (actually it's just the guest services window) and were retrieving our Alamo 3 day park hopper plus passes. The French CM was understanding when I told him that I neglected to bring along the confirmation number and handed him my driver's license as proof of ID. He simply asked us what kind of passes we purchased and when my answer matched his, we had our tickets. Of course he was also aware that I had just witnessed him replacing a ticket for a mother whose young son had reportedly tossed the pass into a trash barrel. He did this with no other verification besides the word of the mother.
We stored our rain gear in a locker and hoofed it over to Le Cellier hoping that we were not too late for lunch. Le Cellier was fairly empty by 2:30 but we still had about a 5 to 10 minute wait to be seated. On entering the dining hall, I noticed that most people were sitting either along the periphery of the room or directly in the middle in rows of tables set very close together. Our host led us to the last 2 seats with a small table between two other parties. I leaned in close to him and trying to be discrete asked if he had a table that was not sandwiched between two others. Here's a tip, don't use the word "sandwich" in a restaurant. He looked confused and started telling me that yes I can get a sandwich. I tried again to get my point across without offending the diners next to us. He got it the second time, but said that we'd need to go back out and see the hostess. (He was a host, he had one of those little headsets on that let him talk to other hosts, there were tons of empty tables around, anyway...) Not being up for another 10 minute wait, I sat down.
Jennifer, our waitress was personable and attentive. We ordered cheese soup to start. Mary had the Vancouver Chicken Sandwich with wasabi cucumber slaw on the sandwich and Asian Noodle salad on the side and I had a cheeseburger and fries. (Yes, I'm sure there was some fancy Canadian name for it, but it was still a cheeseburger and fries.) The food was tasty and the portions generous. Our soft drinks were refilled before they were completely drained and the bill was easy on the wallet ($35). We even got the recipe for the cheese soup before we left.
On heading out of Le Cellier, the occasional drop had changed into a pretty steady light rain so we headed back to the lockers and retrieved our rain jackets. Since we were right there, we hopped on Spaceship Earth and watched Christian civilization rise, burn, then rise again thanks to the monks and the Muslims to eventually be bedecked in bright colorful lights courtesy of AT & T.
Lunch was still sitting pretty heavy so we got some fast passes to Test Track and spent the next 45 minutes on the dinosaur ride. Yes, I know it's the Universe of Energy but to us, it will always be the dinosaur ride. Interesting note here, the CM hosting the ride took great pains to make sure that everyone understood that the ride was a full 45 minutes and once you entered you could not exit without everyone in the ride exiting. I found this quite curious since you're pretty much stuck in those large moving vehicles in the complete dark. I mean even if you wanted to get off, how would you do it? Is there a CM in there lurking in the dark? Granted I'm guessing if you completely freak out and start screaming you'd probably draw some attention, but why even introduce the possibility of getting off the ride?
With our stomachs sufficiently settled, we redeemed our Test Track fast passes. We had a slight glitch in the acceleration test through the curves and were stuck for around 5 minutes. I really don't mind these momentary stops, they give you a chance to check out the ride a little more and see things you would ordinarily miss. And at least we weren't in the heating or cooling chambers.
Remembering that we usually don't spend any time at Innoventions, we headed over there hoping to explore it a little better. After only a few minutes wandering around Innovations East (or was it West?) - the one with mostly kid's activities, we continued on to Innovations West (or was it East?) to check out some of the games. I don't quite get the idea behind the laptops scattered around. It seems like most of these were hard-coded to only visit certain (uninteresting) web sites. We played around with some of the X-box/Play station type games and went out to watch the fountain.
The fountain made of water, reminded me of thirst, which lead to beer (of course) which brought us to the Rose and Crown. $14 and a slight misunderstanding with the question "Are you staying inside?" which sounded to me like "Are you staying on site?" (think Groundskeeper Willy) later we had our pints and a couple of seats in the then not very crowded bar. That would change as the rain became heavier.
With about an hour and a half to go before IllumiNations, we strolled around the countries, snapped some not very good pictures in the rain and dark, and rode the Maelstrom ("You are not the first the pass this way"). We had scoped out the Japan pavilion as a good viewing spot high up and out of the rain and continued all the way down to Mexico (looking for daiquiris) before turning around and heading back. At 8:30, the pavilion had only a few spectators and I was craving a dessert so we high-tailed it over to France for cappuccino and dessert. Mary had a Napoleon and I had a slice of raspberry chocolate cake. We took it all to go and joined the now growing throng on the pavilion overlook.
We enjoyed the show from this vantage point despite the large Japanese icon in the lagoon that blocks out the lower portion of the fireworks and all the details on the ball. We'd seen IllumiNations before and were just interested in watching the fireworks and the porch did clear off considerably when people realized that they couldn't see all of the lagoon.
The rain and chilly weather had thinned out the crowd so when the show ended, it was not that difficult to make our way back to the bus stop. A bus pulled up 10 or so minutes later and we made it on as the last two people standing behind the yellow line by the bus driver. Soon after we were back in our room and asleep after a very long day.
Continue to Day 2 below.
