Mommy & Me Girly Fun Bday 10/31 Last Day & AT home

[Trentmom]

Sounds like a great day minus the wait for the epcot bus. That stinks they shot monorail down earlier now

how cool you did so many modes of transportation in the same day

 

[Marshay]

There is a chandelier with about 70 pages of drawings on it from the movies. It actually tells the complete story for all 4.

John Lasseter, or so the story goes, liked the resort and chandelier so much that he wanted to become an immortal part of the resort and got up on a ladder to sign this page.

As you enter the gift shop and food court, the story continues to unfold and now the Concept Artists (CM) are in color uniforms...and along the top of the gift shop are larger than life paint color tubes/jars that all use the exact same colors from the 4 movies -- Nemo, Cars, Lion King and Little Mermaid.

The idea of this resort is to become immersed in the story. You are a part of the story. So in the Nemo section, you won't find any evergreen plants or tulips or roses. All the plants resemble underwater plants flowing in the current. Even the palm trees are chosen and bent to look like they are being moved by the ocean waters. You won't find a straight palm tree!

 

[Trentmom]

AOA looks amazing!!!

I wish the single rooms were not Little Mermaid though. They really should have picked something good for both boys and girls for that one

The lobby looks so cool

I believe the car with lightning Mcqueen is Sally

 

[Marshay]

Sounds like a great day minus the wait for the epcot bus. That stinks they shot monorail down earlier now

how cool you did so many modes of transportation in the same day

Yeah, when it's late and you are tired and you have to wait longer than normal, it's tiriing. I knew the monorail closed earlier now but just forgot all about it with the fun we had at MK.

All we needed was plane and I think we would have covered the main ones! RAchel said going on Mission Space counted as Flight!

 

[Marshay]

So we entered the Cars Family Suite and it is really nice. My first thought was it is cool ... but I can't wait to see Nemo or Lion King as I'd enjoy those themes more.

I'm glad I have girls who don't want to stay in Cars!

As you enter the room, here is the dining table

And here is the table becoming another bed (notice his black and white vest that I was talking about earlier)

Night night! I was on a tour with some travel agents who were staying in the Nemo section and they said that this Table Bed was more comfortable than the sofa bed.

The 2nd bathroom -- love the "Spiffy in a Jiffy" slogan

The little kitchenette area

The living area. The sofa converts to a bed

The table -- which has a hidden Mickey on it

Ignore the pic of Rachel -- she is a bit tired here (probably from going to the top of the Yo-Yo!) I do like the lights as traffic cones

The main Bedroom

And the beautiful bathroom -- reminds me of the bathrooms in a 1br DVC

The room is nice ... I just can't get into the theming. When you look at the Nemo or Lion King rooms, it just looks more themed to me ... but it's probably just because I like those themes more.

 

[Marshay]

So after taking the tour, I wanted to see the landscaping again ... Yep, this does look more like underwater plants.

And I love these types of plants, too -- I'm into more spiky plants than roses.

See the palm trees are NOT straight

And the roofs do look like waves

After taking the tour, I could definitely appreciate the resort even more and I recommend doing so if you are into that kind of stuff. The tour lasted about 30 minutes and is offered a couple of times a day.

Another milestone for the resort is the Arcade. They have sofas and chairs as you first enter so mom and dad can sit while the kids play.

Here is one of the lights inside the Food Court -- the Food court is divided up into 4 sections, one for each movie. I understand there is a hidden mickey on this light but we didn't stay to find it. -- Saved that for next time.

Rachel did find her sun hat (one of the cashier's held it for us) so all was well.

At this point we are both tired and decided to head back to Pop. After seeing all the animated beauty of AoA, Pop Century was B_O_R_I_N_G!!

I mean Pop is nice with all the larger than life icons ... but they look randomly placed...there is no story....

Yeah, I got all caught up in the Disney Tale!!

 

[Marshay]

AOA looks amazing!!!

I wish the single rooms were not Little Mermaid though. They really should have picked something good for both boys and girls for that one

The lobby looks so cool

I believe the car with lightning Mcqueen is Sally

Sally! That's right.

AoA is truly amazing. If you have a few hours of down time, I'd suggest wandering over. It really is a joy to see.

I'm actually surprised they didn't do a Cars, Little Mermaid and Nemo Family Suites ... and then do Lion King as the rooms.

Or put rooms and Suites in each section. Who knows? Maybe they will renovate the rooms to more fairly balance out the rooms throughout the resort and not all in one section....or lower the price of the Family suites...

The Concept Artist that gave the tour said that the Little Mermaid rooms are actually the "hot ticket" and filling up fast...and they haven't even opened yet. But that all the little girls want to stay there.

The Little Mermaid section is the fartherest from everything -- the pool, the lobby, etc.

And the Lion King section has a "playground" ... but in actuality from the pictures I've seen (it wasn't opened when we were there), it's is just an single elephant bones forming a tunnel. I'm a bit disappointed in that b/c the CA made it sound like it would be a big playground.

 

[kaoden39]

That HM photo was really a tough one ... I was just standing in line and saw the fish and knew I wanted to get a photo of it to use as a quiz for my TR!



Yes, we had fun!

That lady was something else.

More is coming shortly!!

Yeah, that fish is cool.


Love the updates.


The blue car is Holley, she is Mater's girlfriend. The van is Fillmore which is funny to me because in San Francisco there is a theater called "The Fillmore" and believe me a hippie would fit in there.

 

[Trentmom]

I loved the rest of your AOA photo tour. That is way cool how imagineers designed nemo section to feel like you are under the sea. Even the fences are wavy looking, like a wave

I love the Cars room and Know Trent would get such a kick out of it.

 

[Marshay]

Yeah, that fish is cool.

Love the updates.

The blue car is Holley, she is Mater's girlfriend. The van is Fillmore which is funny to me because in San Francisco there is a theater called "The Fillmore" and believe me a hippie would fit in there.

Thanks for the names!! That's too funny about the Fillmore...maybe one of the writers had visited there.

I loved the rest of your AOA photo tour. That is way cool how imagineers designed nemo section to feel like you are under the sea. Even the fences are wavy looking, like a wave

I love the Cars room and Know Trent would get such a kick out of it.

Yep, those fences are bright blue and wavy, too!

Yeah, I'm sure boys would love the Cars section...the rooms just didn't do it for me but I did like the pool area and all the cars all over...plus the wheel well motel was neat!

 

[kaoden39]

Thanks for the names!! That's too funny about the Fillmore...maybe one of the writers had visited there.



Yep, those fences are bright blue and wavy, too!

Yeah, I'm sure boys would love the Cars section...the rooms just didn't do it for me but I did like the pool area and all the cars all over...plus the wheel well motel was neat!

With Pixar being right across the bay from San Francisco I shouldn't be surprised. They tend to put bay area things in their movies like Fenton's Ice Cream Parlor in UP.


My girls would love the Cars rooms. They are bigger fans of that series than Loren.

 

[lovesdumbo]

Enjoying your trip report. I take my 3 kids on one on one trips. My DH isn't the Disney fanatic I am. He tolerates an annual trip but I need more. I started with a one on one trip with my oldest for her 7th birthday. I took my other 2 for their 7th bdays too. The family trips are really wonderful but the one on one trips are really special.

On my last one on one with my youngest-DD (9) - we did 4 parks in one day. Had our photo taken at each park icon. Didn't do a ton of rides but had a blast.

AoA looks so fun. I've stayed at Pop a lot.

Cars you have pictured are Flo, Guido, Filmore, Sally and Sarge. Holley is purple
not blue.

 

[lbuzz52]

I just noticed you had started this! Again i love the mother daughter trip! and i can't wait for my turn with maya. i know rachel will remember this forever! the whole AOA is amazing. i'm afraid to look at it next trip for the reasons you mentioned- the rest will seem so dull.

 

[KangaFan]

Subbing--what a great Mom/daughter trip. We'd love to do one of those sometime.

Thanks for all the good autotrain info. We've ridden once before in coach. We're taking it both ways for our end of January family trip & staying in roommettes. We originally were going to take it home & drive down, but we wanted to squeeze in an extra day without pulling the kiddos out of school and DD10 didn't want to fly--she's so excited to sleep on the train.

Quick question--are the dining/lounge cars for sleepers upstairs or down? I've gotten some conflicting info.

Thanks!

 

[Tallent]

Loving your report! No worries on the ice cream bar but it would be fun to meet up in January!! Thinking of taking the train for our trip next summer (first time for train and the heat!)---am taking tips from your trip! lol

 

[Marshay]

Enjoying your trip report. I take my 3 kids on one on one trips. My DH isn't the Disney fanatic I am. He tolerates an annual trip but I need more. I started with a one on one trip with my oldest for her 7th birthday. I took my other 2 for their 7th bdays too. The family trips are really wonderful but the one on one trips are really special.

On my last one on one with my youngest-DD (9) - we did 4 parks in one day. Had our photo taken at each park icon. Didn't do a ton of rides but had a blast.

AoA looks so fun. I've stayed at Pop a lot.

Cars you have pictured are Flo, Guido, Filmore, Sally and Sarge. Holley is purple
not blue.

I think I will definitely start taking some one on one trips, too with one girl, then another. Just even a night at a local hotel or a fun day trip. It was so neat to get to spend that time together.

And we will save WDW for the big 7yo trip. I think that was the perfect age, too!

4 parks in one day -- I gotta do that too!!

Thanks for the names of the cars!!

I just noticed you had started this! Again i love the mother daughter trip! and i can't wait for my turn with maya. i know rachel will remember this forever! the whole AOA is amazing. i'm afraid to look at it next trip for the reasons you mentioned- the rest will seem so dull.

Welcome back!! You will have a wonderful time with Maya. I highly, highly recommend doing this.

Yes, AOA is amazing!! And for the rooms, it's only like $10/night more than the other values (I think). I would recommend trying it at least once to decide for yourself.

I definitely got all excited for it!

Subbing--what a great Mom/daughter trip. We'd love to do one of those sometime.

Thanks for all the good autotrain info. We've ridden once before in coach. We're taking it both ways for our end of January family trip & staying in roommettes. We originally were going to take it home & drive down, but we wanted to squeeze in an extra day without pulling the kiddos out of school and DD10 didn't want to fly--she's so excited to sleep on the train.

Quick question--are the dining/lounge cars for sleepers upstairs or down? I've gotten some conflicting info.

Thanks!

Welcome!! If you haven't joined yet, there is an Autotrain thread in the Disney Transportation section of DIS. Tons of photos and current updates from those who just took the train.

Also, there are Official January 2013 threads, too and a FB page to join. (Sorry if you already joined, I can't remember).

All dining and lounge cars are on the upper level. This makes for the better views as you can see more on top.

We normally get a family room but for this trip we did the roomette and it was fine. As the girls get older I can see us getting 2 roomettes.

The way it works out for us, we end up getting MORE days at Disney by taking the train. We pull Rachel out of school around noon-ish but it still counts for a full day of school. Then we arrive the next morning. If we drove, we wouldn't arrive until the next late afternoon (and would be exhausted) and if we flew we would only fly in the next day (since I like early flights) since late afternoon or evening flights don't work too well with young kids.

Also, the time on the train is really an adventure in itself -- if you can enjoy it, those hours 4pm to 10am (ish) really do extend the vacation.

Loving your report! No worries on the ice cream bar but it would be fun to meet up in January!! Thinking of taking the train for our trip next summer (first time for train and the heat!)---am taking tips from your trip! lol

Well, if we meet up then I owe you an ice cream bar!! I usually put one quiz in my TR and promise an ICB but never had the chance to meet up with the winners.

I was going to try to organize a DHS EMH meetup on 1/14 and maybe a NFL meetup for 1/20 or 1/21. We'll see. I'm still waiting to plan the Disney Dessert party and D-Tech Me experience and then I think I will have January all planned out ...at least for notw...

I highly recommend the train ... but to make it economical, you really need to either get a special or book 11 months in advance. If you have any questions, let me know.

Also, see the Autotrain thread in the Transportation section of DIS!

 

[mickeyplanner]

Marsha, I have been following along and awaiting a new post with pics.

 

[pld5]

I'm looking forward to reading more too.

 

[Marshay]

Marsha, I have been following along and awaiting a new post with pics.

I'm looking forward to reading more too.

Thanks guys!

I'm hoping for an update this weekend. With school starting and Girl Scouts starting soon and my PTA volunteer work and then I got sick for 5 days, it's been busy.

I can't wait to share more with you too!

 

[Marshay]

Soooo sorry, for the long delay in this Trip Report. School, Girl Scouts and Family visits started up in September and I got completely distracted. So let's dive right in! -- literally!

After touring AoA, we decided to tour Pop Century some more. We still hadn't gone to any of the pools but this Hippy Dippy Pool looked nice ... not as nice as the Nemo pool though...

We ate our first Tie-Dye Cheesecake -- it was good, not great, but we had to try it.

Then we walked around taking pictures of Pop Century:

Sexy car shot

I always wanted one of these Mickey Phones!! This was right outside the building we were in.

Rachel liked this since she rode one not too long ago

Fun with Fooseball

Ok, getting tired

Mrs. Potato Head

and Mr.

And we took some time to play