Sorry for the tardiness, but this is the 1st chance I got to write a trip report.
My wife, 8- and 6-year-old daughters and I stayed at Pop Century from Mon. 9/20 thru Fri. 9/24. It was our first family vacay, and first time my kids were at DisneyWorld. We flew into MCO from JFK in NY and used the Disney Magical Express bus. The driver was great, talkative and slowed down so we could take pics are various photo ops (entrance to the resort, etc.).
Our family did online check-in, and the staff were great from the getgo, giving us buttons to commemorate our wedding anniversary and the kids 1st visit. We got to our room within minutes of arriving at the front desk.
We were housed in a preferred room on the 2nd floor of the 1960s area. My mom and sister were in the adjoining room and would travel with us all week. We quickly hit the pool as it was still warm and sunny at 6pm. Our luggage did not arrive in our room until about 2 hours after we arrived, but we planned ahead and brought our bathing suits and a change of clothes in our carry-on luggage. Everyone at the pool was friendly and my kids made several friends right away. At this point, we noticed that it was love bug season, and thousands of them were flying about nonstop. Although harmless, they were annoying and would often land on you so you'd have to shoo them off.
After dark, we hit the food court and were a bit uneducated about what was included in the deluxe dining plan. Everyone always suggests getting the dining plan and they were right. You get so much food and drinks, you can't eat it all. We realized we weren't at Tavern on the Green and thought the food was your typical resort fast food. Every meal, we left stuffed. Since we were a table of 6, we would often have to scout out available seating, and sometimes would have to wait during peak eating times before the parks opened and after they would close. IMO, the best thing I ate there was the beef and blue roast beef sandwich.
We didn't hit the parks until the 2nd day. We arrived at Magic Kingdom using the resort bus at around 9:30. One of my kids wanted to ride the rides, and the other wanted to take photos with the characters. So we accomplished both. The crowds were light and we were able to ride the major rides several times, and never waited more than 10 minutes on any line. I had a guest assistance card but never had to use it. We made it through Tomorrowland and Mickey's Toontown then had the Pooh and Friends lunch at the Crystal Palace. The food was good and there was plenty of photo ops with the characters. After lunch, we went through Frontierland and Fantasyland. The park closed at 7pm that day and after returning to PC and swimming, we ate at the dining hall again.
We hit Magic Kingdom the next day as well, and hit anything we missed on day 1 or re-rode our favorites. We also did the lunch with the princesses inside the castle which was great. Although I must admit my pork chop arrived a bit on the raw side. This didn't ruin my time as we once again made it thru the park without much waiting. Our longest wait would prove to be meeting the fairies in Toontown and taking photos with them.
Day 3 brought us to Hollywood Studios. Although it was a sunny day again, I knew things were not right as the #1 ride I wanted to go on--The Rock and Roller Coaster w/Aerosmith--was out of service. I got a fastpass and waited on the line anyway, but after 45 minutes my gut told me to go elsewhere which proved to be a good decision as the ride did not operate at all that day. We enjoyed a few attractions, especially the Little Mermaid show and the Beauty and the Beast live show, meeting the Playhouse Disney characters, etc. But my kids were bored with the lack of actual rides and we left the park early at around 3pm. This day was my wedding anniversary and we had reservations at California Grill in the Contemporary Hotel at 7pm. We were impressed with the food and the view, which was awesome on such a nice evening. After dinner, we went onto the rooftop terrace and watched the fireworks show. An excellent way to end the night.
On Friday, we knew we only had a half day at any park since our flight back home was leaving at 7:30pm. Originally we were going to visit Animal Kingdom, but at the last minute my kids decided they wanted to visit Magic Kingdom again. So we checked out of PC and checked our luggage/got our boarding passes, etc. We stayed at MK until 2:30pm, when it rained so hard as my daughter and I were on Thunder Mountain Railroad that we had to buy new clothes on Main Street. No kidding.
Our flight home to NY was delayed 3 hours, but all in all, it was a memorable, wonderful vacation. We are already planning our trip for next year. We loved PC, but will probably give another Disney resort a try.
My wife, 8- and 6-year-old daughters and I stayed at Pop Century from Mon. 9/20 thru Fri. 9/24. It was our first family vacay, and first time my kids were at DisneyWorld. We flew into MCO from JFK in NY and used the Disney Magical Express bus. The driver was great, talkative and slowed down so we could take pics are various photo ops (entrance to the resort, etc.).
Our family did online check-in, and the staff were great from the getgo, giving us buttons to commemorate our wedding anniversary and the kids 1st visit. We got to our room within minutes of arriving at the front desk.
We were housed in a preferred room on the 2nd floor of the 1960s area. My mom and sister were in the adjoining room and would travel with us all week. We quickly hit the pool as it was still warm and sunny at 6pm. Our luggage did not arrive in our room until about 2 hours after we arrived, but we planned ahead and brought our bathing suits and a change of clothes in our carry-on luggage. Everyone at the pool was friendly and my kids made several friends right away. At this point, we noticed that it was love bug season, and thousands of them were flying about nonstop. Although harmless, they were annoying and would often land on you so you'd have to shoo them off.
After dark, we hit the food court and were a bit uneducated about what was included in the deluxe dining plan. Everyone always suggests getting the dining plan and they were right. You get so much food and drinks, you can't eat it all. We realized we weren't at Tavern on the Green and thought the food was your typical resort fast food. Every meal, we left stuffed. Since we were a table of 6, we would often have to scout out available seating, and sometimes would have to wait during peak eating times before the parks opened and after they would close. IMO, the best thing I ate there was the beef and blue roast beef sandwich.
We didn't hit the parks until the 2nd day. We arrived at Magic Kingdom using the resort bus at around 9:30. One of my kids wanted to ride the rides, and the other wanted to take photos with the characters. So we accomplished both. The crowds were light and we were able to ride the major rides several times, and never waited more than 10 minutes on any line. I had a guest assistance card but never had to use it. We made it through Tomorrowland and Mickey's Toontown then had the Pooh and Friends lunch at the Crystal Palace. The food was good and there was plenty of photo ops with the characters. After lunch, we went through Frontierland and Fantasyland. The park closed at 7pm that day and after returning to PC and swimming, we ate at the dining hall again.
We hit Magic Kingdom the next day as well, and hit anything we missed on day 1 or re-rode our favorites. We also did the lunch with the princesses inside the castle which was great. Although I must admit my pork chop arrived a bit on the raw side. This didn't ruin my time as we once again made it thru the park without much waiting. Our longest wait would prove to be meeting the fairies in Toontown and taking photos with them.
Day 3 brought us to Hollywood Studios. Although it was a sunny day again, I knew things were not right as the #1 ride I wanted to go on--The Rock and Roller Coaster w/Aerosmith--was out of service. I got a fastpass and waited on the line anyway, but after 45 minutes my gut told me to go elsewhere which proved to be a good decision as the ride did not operate at all that day. We enjoyed a few attractions, especially the Little Mermaid show and the Beauty and the Beast live show, meeting the Playhouse Disney characters, etc. But my kids were bored with the lack of actual rides and we left the park early at around 3pm. This day was my wedding anniversary and we had reservations at California Grill in the Contemporary Hotel at 7pm. We were impressed with the food and the view, which was awesome on such a nice evening. After dinner, we went onto the rooftop terrace and watched the fireworks show. An excellent way to end the night.
On Friday, we knew we only had a half day at any park since our flight back home was leaving at 7:30pm. Originally we were going to visit Animal Kingdom, but at the last minute my kids decided they wanted to visit Magic Kingdom again. So we checked out of PC and checked our luggage/got our boarding passes, etc. We stayed at MK until 2:30pm, when it rained so hard as my daughter and I were on Thunder Mountain Railroad that we had to buy new clothes on Main Street. No kidding.
Our flight home to NY was delayed 3 hours, but all in all, it was a memorable, wonderful vacation. We are already planning our trip for next year. We loved PC, but will probably give another Disney resort a try.
I think I should do one like this for the next time...
