drgnfly30
<font color=deeppink>Take my advice, never pay ful
- Joined
- Apr 14, 2002
- Messages
- 3,836
I had an opportunity to tack on an extra night onto a business trip to the Orlando area this week. I was staying in Lake Mary & originally had planned to stay put & travel to WDW from there. The morning of my last business day I changed my mind & booked a night at POP - Preferred room for $101.xx.
I got out of work around noon on Thursday 2/2, threw my bags in the rental car & headed for POP. I arrived around 12:40, check in was no problem, got my room (60's building room 4116) right away. I hightailed it to my room, changed out of my work clothes & ran to the buses for Epcot. We saw many buses come & go before an Epcot bus finally arrived (around 20-25 minutes). I pondered just driving myself but knew that as soon as I did the bus would arrive. Plus I knew I'd be coming back after dark & I don't have the best night vision. Once at Epcot I needed to find our Legacy tile from 2004, located it with little problem, then went straight to Spaceship Earth since my family refused to ride it last time around! Then I did some shopping at Art of Disney, purchasing the Tinker Bell Seasons prints & a 'get well' post card for Kitty! I proceeded to the Land for Soarin' it was either a 30 minute standby or 30 minutes for the next FastPass time... I got my fastpass & went over to Seasons(?) to eat. I opted for a ham & salami on a crusty bread. It was good but way too many onions for me! with about 15 minutes to go for Soarin I went over to the land boat ride to see the veggies growing! Just in time for my FastPass time I headed over to Soarin'.... it was neat but I wouldn't have wanted to wait in line that whole time... some observations... I was on the bottom tier & could see both the bottom 'corners' of the screen & the peoples feet above me... a clearer view would have made the experience more realistic. Also, the scene changes were too pronounced, a smoother transition from scene to scene would have been better. I would like to see how the experience differs if you are on the top tier. Then I hit the Worldshow case, took the boat to Germany then walked to Japan where I picked my pearl (got a 7.5 mm so I got the drum banged & cheered on by the crowd) I picked out a pretty drop necklace & browsed while they mounted it. As I walked around the worlds, I stopped & watched Romeo & Edna & then bought a Tiara ($28) in Germany which I immediately crowned myself with... I got some stares but generally smiles & a few "where did you get that!" I meandered around the rest of the evening, taking some pictures, sending some 'postcards' from Innoventions & enjoying the walkway lights, fountains etc...
I decided to head back to POP around 7:30pm as the part started getting more crowded. At POP I picked up some magnets & candy for the kids & picked up a Pizza, cookie & some wine! I soaked my feet in the pool & decided to get some rest. My POP observations... I think it was fine for me but DH would have complained endlessly about the paper thin walls & exterior - you could hear EVERYTHING! The turbo flush toilets & the beds! With the kids & us.. the rooms would have been WAY TOO SMALL! Maybe two connecting rooms but for $202.xx a night I'd probably opt for another off site option. Generally speaking when I paid $99 a night at PO in 2001, I'd have a hard time paying $101.xx a night here.. those $49 a night bargains, definately but not much more.
I awoke Friday 2/3 morning to rain... lots & lots of rain! I watched the news hoping it was just a passing storm.. nope just more rain. I threw a shopping bag over my head & mailed my postcard to Kitty & went to the shop to buy a highly sought after rain poncho for a mere $7.00! I put my bags in the car since I wouldn't be returning & drove over to MK. Got there about 5 minutes before park opening. It was not crowded at all. I walked right onto every ride I attempted... Pirates first, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Carousel of Progress, Buzz Lightyear, It's a Small World & so on... Then I started some shopping... pins for me & the family to add to our collections, tshirts for the boys, hat for DH, 12 Mickey Rice Krispy treats for the girls at work. They had a deal at most of the shops, spend $60 get a Mickey throw for $15, so I hopped on that deal! Around 1:45 I'd had enough of the rain.. I was soaked! I headed out to the monorail to get to my car. Since I was flying out & didn't want to be stuck in wet clothes & changed in the back of the rental car, hoping no one would walk by!!! All in all I enjoyed myself completely! I thought one night (two days) would be a tease but it fulfilled my Disney fix for a time! All my co-workers thought I was quite brave to go it alone but I just shrugged it off... I'm hoping to get the family down again in June when school is out but I'll have to see how the budget goes! If you've stuck with this thanks!
I got out of work around noon on Thursday 2/2, threw my bags in the rental car & headed for POP. I arrived around 12:40, check in was no problem, got my room (60's building room 4116) right away. I hightailed it to my room, changed out of my work clothes & ran to the buses for Epcot. We saw many buses come & go before an Epcot bus finally arrived (around 20-25 minutes). I pondered just driving myself but knew that as soon as I did the bus would arrive. Plus I knew I'd be coming back after dark & I don't have the best night vision. Once at Epcot I needed to find our Legacy tile from 2004, located it with little problem, then went straight to Spaceship Earth since my family refused to ride it last time around! Then I did some shopping at Art of Disney, purchasing the Tinker Bell Seasons prints & a 'get well' post card for Kitty! I proceeded to the Land for Soarin' it was either a 30 minute standby or 30 minutes for the next FastPass time... I got my fastpass & went over to Seasons(?) to eat. I opted for a ham & salami on a crusty bread. It was good but way too many onions for me! with about 15 minutes to go for Soarin I went over to the land boat ride to see the veggies growing! Just in time for my FastPass time I headed over to Soarin'.... it was neat but I wouldn't have wanted to wait in line that whole time... some observations... I was on the bottom tier & could see both the bottom 'corners' of the screen & the peoples feet above me... a clearer view would have made the experience more realistic. Also, the scene changes were too pronounced, a smoother transition from scene to scene would have been better. I would like to see how the experience differs if you are on the top tier. Then I hit the Worldshow case, took the boat to Germany then walked to Japan where I picked my pearl (got a 7.5 mm so I got the drum banged & cheered on by the crowd) I picked out a pretty drop necklace & browsed while they mounted it. As I walked around the worlds, I stopped & watched Romeo & Edna & then bought a Tiara ($28) in Germany which I immediately crowned myself with... I got some stares but generally smiles & a few "where did you get that!" I meandered around the rest of the evening, taking some pictures, sending some 'postcards' from Innoventions & enjoying the walkway lights, fountains etc...
I decided to head back to POP around 7:30pm as the part started getting more crowded. At POP I picked up some magnets & candy for the kids & picked up a Pizza, cookie & some wine! I soaked my feet in the pool & decided to get some rest. My POP observations... I think it was fine for me but DH would have complained endlessly about the paper thin walls & exterior - you could hear EVERYTHING! The turbo flush toilets & the beds! With the kids & us.. the rooms would have been WAY TOO SMALL! Maybe two connecting rooms but for $202.xx a night I'd probably opt for another off site option. Generally speaking when I paid $99 a night at PO in 2001, I'd have a hard time paying $101.xx a night here.. those $49 a night bargains, definately but not much more.
I awoke Friday 2/3 morning to rain... lots & lots of rain! I watched the news hoping it was just a passing storm.. nope just more rain. I threw a shopping bag over my head & mailed my postcard to Kitty & went to the shop to buy a highly sought after rain poncho for a mere $7.00! I put my bags in the car since I wouldn't be returning & drove over to MK. Got there about 5 minutes before park opening. It was not crowded at all. I walked right onto every ride I attempted... Pirates first, Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain, Carousel of Progress, Buzz Lightyear, It's a Small World & so on... Then I started some shopping... pins for me & the family to add to our collections, tshirts for the boys, hat for DH, 12 Mickey Rice Krispy treats for the girls at work. They had a deal at most of the shops, spend $60 get a Mickey throw for $15, so I hopped on that deal! Around 1:45 I'd had enough of the rain.. I was soaked! I headed out to the monorail to get to my car. Since I was flying out & didn't want to be stuck in wet clothes & changed in the back of the rental car, hoping no one would walk by!!! All in all I enjoyed myself completely! I thought one night (two days) would be a tease but it fulfilled my Disney fix for a time! All my co-workers thought I was quite brave to go it alone but I just shrugged it off... I'm hoping to get the family down again in June when school is out but I'll have to see how the budget goes! If you've stuck with this thanks!
