CJK
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 5, 2001
- Messages
- 7,638
We were in the world from Sept. 29 - Oct. 9. We hit the tail end of free dining.
Weather: Fantastic! We had one afternoon where it rained for 10 minutes. On a couple other days, it rained a few raindrops, but that was it for the entire trip. Weather was sunny, between 88 and 92 (or so our lifeguard chair read!) each day.
Crowds: They were definitely heavier than we expected, especially this past weekend due to Columbus Day. The Wine & Food festival must be very popular for Floridians b/c the weekends were mobbed. We always had to use fastpass on Soarin' since I never saw the standby line drop to less than 55 minutes the whole week (especially bad on weekends - up to 110 minutes). During the week, the crowd wasn't as bad, but we still used fast pass a lot. We didn't mind the crowd so much for ride/show waits (we always use fast pass if possible and never wait more than 20min. for anything). The struggle was just in walking around the parks. We just left during the really heavy times or switched to a different park.
Food: Wow! This trip, we ate ate Boma, Kona Cafe, Coral Reef, Artist Point, Planet Hollywood, Le Cellier, Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Narcoossee's & Concourse Steakhouse. All were good (favourites were Wolfgang Puck and Narcoossee's). For our counter service meals, we did end of sharing (or I basically had a few bites of dh's meal!). We ate at Pop Century food court, Flame Tree, Sunshine Seasons, Tangerine Cafe, Cosmic Ray's, Toy Story Pizza Planet, Pepper Market, Old Port Royale, Mara, Wolfgang Puck Express. All were fine, but highlights were WPE, Old Port Royale (fantastic spicy turkey club) and Flame Tree. For our snacks, dh basically lived on sundaes and smoothies. I had some of those, but also had fudge (boardwalk and MGM), spicy pretzel and rice krispie treat at DTD smothered in chocolate, m&m's and white chocolate and caramel drizzle. Oy! We had leftover credits so we just bought some take-home snacks for friends and family.
Pop Century: This was our first time staying there. We liked the resort and liked the music at the various pools. I liked how the food court had slushies for your refillable mugs. It's very similar to other Value hotels, but I might give it a slight edge over All-Star since you can see fireworks from the hotel.
Transportation: We had a car for most of the trip, but we did use the bus for the final 3 days. It worked fine for us, until parks ended. Getting onto a bus after MK closed was chaos. Buses broke down, people were yelling, and our line kept growing while no bus came for a few minutes. We did make it home eventually, but on two nights (again, could be because of Columbus Day weekend) we ran into the same problem. Still, as far as problems go, this was definitely manageable!
Basically, we had a wonderful time! We enjoyed all the new things this trip (Expedition Everest, mild version of Mission: Space, Turtle Talk, Captain Sparrow in PotC). We also went to the Oct. 2 Halloween Party. We got so much candy, that we're probably going to give some away. It was a lot of fun. It's hard to get back into reality. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer. I will be doing a full trip report later this week.
Weather: Fantastic! We had one afternoon where it rained for 10 minutes. On a couple other days, it rained a few raindrops, but that was it for the entire trip. Weather was sunny, between 88 and 92 (or so our lifeguard chair read!) each day.
Crowds: They were definitely heavier than we expected, especially this past weekend due to Columbus Day. The Wine & Food festival must be very popular for Floridians b/c the weekends were mobbed. We always had to use fastpass on Soarin' since I never saw the standby line drop to less than 55 minutes the whole week (especially bad on weekends - up to 110 minutes). During the week, the crowd wasn't as bad, but we still used fast pass a lot. We didn't mind the crowd so much for ride/show waits (we always use fast pass if possible and never wait more than 20min. for anything). The struggle was just in walking around the parks. We just left during the really heavy times or switched to a different park.
Food: Wow! This trip, we ate ate Boma, Kona Cafe, Coral Reef, Artist Point, Planet Hollywood, Le Cellier, Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Narcoossee's & Concourse Steakhouse. All were good (favourites were Wolfgang Puck and Narcoossee's). For our counter service meals, we did end of sharing (or I basically had a few bites of dh's meal!). We ate at Pop Century food court, Flame Tree, Sunshine Seasons, Tangerine Cafe, Cosmic Ray's, Toy Story Pizza Planet, Pepper Market, Old Port Royale, Mara, Wolfgang Puck Express. All were fine, but highlights were WPE, Old Port Royale (fantastic spicy turkey club) and Flame Tree. For our snacks, dh basically lived on sundaes and smoothies. I had some of those, but also had fudge (boardwalk and MGM), spicy pretzel and rice krispie treat at DTD smothered in chocolate, m&m's and white chocolate and caramel drizzle. Oy! We had leftover credits so we just bought some take-home snacks for friends and family.
Pop Century: This was our first time staying there. We liked the resort and liked the music at the various pools. I liked how the food court had slushies for your refillable mugs. It's very similar to other Value hotels, but I might give it a slight edge over All-Star since you can see fireworks from the hotel.
Transportation: We had a car for most of the trip, but we did use the bus for the final 3 days. It worked fine for us, until parks ended. Getting onto a bus after MK closed was chaos. Buses broke down, people were yelling, and our line kept growing while no bus came for a few minutes. We did make it home eventually, but on two nights (again, could be because of Columbus Day weekend) we ran into the same problem. Still, as far as problems go, this was definitely manageable!
Basically, we had a wonderful time! We enjoyed all the new things this trip (Expedition Everest, mild version of Mission: Space, Turtle Talk, Captain Sparrow in PotC). We also went to the Oct. 2 Halloween Party. We got so much candy, that we're probably going to give some away. It was a lot of fun. It's hard to get back into reality. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer. I will be doing a full trip report later this week.
Sounds like you had a wonderful trip! It's good to hear about Pop Century, as my mom and I will be staying there for the first time this Dec. Which building did you stay in? I asked that we stay by the Lady and the Tramp building(50's area). And how did you like Pop Century's food court & Gift shop?
