Disney's Magical Express took just over half an hour to get to Pop, which was the first stop. On the way to the resort we were shown a movie I've seen a couple times before which shows the characters checking into the resort, and talks about the Disney parks and such. Even though I'd see it, and already knew all the information the video was providing I watched it anyway.
A bus passed us on the way that advertised Mickey's Phillarmagic, one of my favorite attractions. I had never seen that bus before, and seeing Donald Duck's butt as part of an ad made me chuckle.
When the movie ended it was only a few minutes later we were driving across the welcome to Walt Disney World sign, and just after that we passed the Wide World of Sports, so I knew we were just minutes away from arriving at Pop.
I was at the check-in desk at 11:30, and got a room right away. Usually I request a room in the 50's, but I hadn't requested anything this time, but I still got a pretty good location in the 70's building, on the second floor, just down the hall from the main staircase. (I consider the staircase by the elevators, in this case just behind the giant Mickey phone, to be the main one.)
I unpacked the few things in my carry-on quickly, and changed my shirt, before heading to Downtown Disney for lunch. I got to Downtown Disney at 12:30, just an hour after arriving in Disney. I was making excellant time! I had lunch at Planet Hollywood since I had a $15 voucher for it. Lunch was good, but I found it to be over-priced basic food. My full review can be found
here.
After lunch I walked through Pleasure Island to the Marketplace, where I stopped at Basin to get some bath salts and bath bombs. I walked around some more shops, but didn't buy anything else. I then went to Goofy's Candy Company, where I used my first of twenty-four snack credits on dark chocolate-covered pretzel sticks with pecans and caramel. These turned out very nicely, but I was never hungry, so I ended up only eating one throughout the whole trip. (The other two I took home, and I've eaten one more since getting home, but I have to hurry up and eat the other one since the pretzel is starting to get stale.)
Looks like the T-Rex restaurant is almost done!
A
Lego display outside the Lego store.
Getting my treat made at Goofy's.
I headed back to Pop around 3:00 to try and take a short nap before dinner. When I got back to Pop I picked up my refillable mug, which was included with the deluxe dining plan, before heading back to my room. About fifteen minutes after I got to my room there was a knock on my door, my suitcase had made it! So instead of taking a nap, I decided to unpack.
I finally laid down around 4:00, after setting my alarm for half an hour later, I did not want to sleep through dinner! I never actually fell asleep, but it was nice to be able to lay down and relax for awhile, remember, I had been up at 3:00 AM that day, and I had only gotten a couple hours of sleep that night. I got up at around 4:30 to get dressed for dinner, and was thankful my suitcase had come when it did because I completely changed my mind about what I wanted to wear to dinner.
I got a bus to the Magic Kingdom at 5:05, and made it to the Contemporary by 5:35, where I checked in for dinner at California Grill. Dinner was wonderful, and my full review can be found
here.
After dinner, instead of taking the monorail back to the Magic Kingdom, I took it to Epcot, and then got a bus to Pop from there. I got back to Pop at 9:20, where I bought my first souvenier, a very pretty purple princess photo album. Even though I don't really buy souveniers the first day, since I like to look at all my options before I start spending money like crazy, I do get a new photo album every trip, and as soon as I saw this one, I knew it was the one I wanted.
Wishes from the balcony at CA Grill.
I went to bed around 10:00 that night, since I had an 8:05 breakfast ADR the next morning.
I wanted to follow this report too! I'm going to use you as my mentor for making that first solo trip I've been dreaming about. Hoping that I'll maybe get a bounce back offer on our December trip coming up and if so I will book that solo trip for myself with that offer. Wish me luck and pixie dust 
! 
