"One Step Ahead of the Slowpokes!"- A Dec '10/Jan '11 Trip Report! FINISHED 3/9 pg 38

[ChildAtHeart82]

I guessed you drove through to Disney too, but it sound like you made the right decision. It seems like online check-in is hit or miss for shorter wait times. It also seems like the more of a hurry you're in, the more likely you'll have a longer wait.

The clouds did look ominous that morning. I hope y'all made it in. I'm looking forward to seeing if we crossed paths that day without realizing it.

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Wow - I can't believe that price for Pop! I think you definitely made the right choice. I'm sorry you didn't get the king bed you requested. After two stays at mods with double beds, I think we'll be requesting a king on our next stay, too. The doubles work just fine, but a king would be so nice.

I hope MK isn't too crowded by the time you get there!

 

[Nermel9]

Oh gosh, who else died laughing when Eric was getting his highlights done? I just love him!

LOL of course, that was great! I also loved when he was talking to Arlene's kids and said "goodbye tiny humans" (or something like that!) and flew away! I can't wait for that show to come back on!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

That doesn't seem very magical to me I would have checked back in the lobby about the room when you returned but I guess if you don't mind 2 beds, that's fine. I wonder where the non-preferred room would have been? I've been in standard rooms and have been in building 10 and 6 with standard rooms which are in the same building as preferred so that would have been curious to see where it was!

Hopefully you make it to MK before it closes!!

 

[lauren_elizabeth]

YAYYYY! Yall made it to Pop! Seeing all of your pictures makes me so happy. We've stayed at Pop the last 3 trips to Disney and it just feels like "home" to me! Love it!

 

[Shannon84]

POP! is my home away from home...but that online check in got me in September as well....it seemed like it took forever before it was my turn

I can't wait to see how MK was for you guys...I love all the Christmas decorations down there, but have never been so close to Christmas itself...so I am interested to see how it was!!

 

[therussells08]

First, before I comment on your update, let me just say that I LOVE Eric on True Blood, long hair or not! He's my favorite character on the show! I was just so upset watching Pam cut his hair off that first episode of Season 2! I got used to it, though!

Anyway, great update! I'm surprised you didn't stay at Pop your first night, but then again, paying $80 for a room is a lot different than $179! I can't believe that's what they charge for values in peak season, that's just crazy!

Pop looks like so much fun! If I ever go back to a value again, it will be Pop, or the new Animation resort! I have only stayed in ASMu and like you said, it was nice, but nothing special. And I didn't like the location, which is actually making me nervous about AKL, since it's even farther away than the AS resorts...

I can't believe they were taking regular check in people in the online check in line! I've used it twice now and really liked it, it's too bad you didn't have a good experience!

Hope you made it to MK in time!

I love Eric too! Lafayette is my favorite character, but Eric is definitely my second favorite!

Yeah I was pretty shocked by the price for one night at POP too. Although I was also frustrated when I found out we weren't getting a king room, because that was the main reason we didn't stay at POP the first night, since we thought we would be changing rooms the next day. Oh well!

I definitely want to stay at the new Animation resort when it opens. I wonder when that will be? That sounds like a good place to stay with my children when I have them...someday!

I think our next trip I will go back to regular registration and see how I feel about it. I don't want to complete write off online check in because of one bad experience, so I will probably try it again someday!

I guessed wrong but sounds like you made the right decision to stop off outside of Orlando...means you could spend more money in the happiest place on earth!

Great first few pics of Pop. on not getting the king room and the amount of time you had to wait at check in - have heard mixed reviews of this v check in on arrival.

Hoping you managed to get into MK, the weather cleared and you enjoyed your meal and wishes

Thank you! The money was definitely a big issue...I wasn't too keen on paying that much money just to sleep at POP for five hours!

Thank you! I was bummed about the king room, but I got over it pretty quickly! As long as I'm in Disney I will sleep anywhere!

Thanks for your good wishes! Stay tuned to find out what happened!

Oh gosh, who else died laughing when Eric was getting his highlights done? I just love him!

Yikes, $179? You guys made a good decision! But horray for finally checking into Pop and being at Disney! Pop is our favorite, it's our home away from home

Looking forward to hearing what you thought of LTT! I've been wanting to go there for lunch.

That was hilarious! Eric cracks me up, and so does Jason! Jason is such an idiot, you have to laugh at him!

Thank you! We definitely loved POP! I can't wait to show you guys our room!

It is a long drive from NC. Great price for one night. Been to Carowinds, it's not to bad as long as you keep reminding yourself this is not disney. I had to do that 2 years ago. They do have some great rollercoasters if your into them(I'm not but DD is.) Can't wait to hear about your first day. Oh we got 8 inches of snow that storm. Todays brought 4 1/2

Maybe that's my problem- I always compare Carowinds to Disney! I'm not a big fan of the huge roller coasters, but the Hurler is pretty fun. My dad loves the traditional roller coasters with the big drop but that don't go upside down or anything, so the Hurler and Thunder Road are his favorites!

John called me from Fort Bragg yesterday and said post closed at about 9:30 because of the weather. It's closed today too! I have been off work for two days, and now I have to work on Saturday because of it!

I guessed you drove through to Disney too, but it sound like you made the right decision. It seems like online check-in is hit or miss for shorter wait times. It also seems like the more of a hurry you're in, the more likely you'll have a longer wait.

The clouds did look ominous that morning. I hope y'all made it in. I'm looking forward to seeing if we crossed paths that day without realizing it.

Haha, I think you're right about being in a hurry and having to wait! I think I may have exaggerated a little, too. I'm sure the wait wasn't really that long, it just seemed that way to me!

 

[therussells08]

Wow - I can't believe that price for Pop! I think you definitely made the right choice. I'm sorry you didn't get the king bed you requested. After two stays at mods with double beds, I think we'll be requesting a king on our next stay, too. The doubles work just fine, but a king would be so nice.

I hope MK isn't too crowded by the time you get there!

Thank you! We usually stay in a king room on vacation because it's such a nice extra treat to have that huge bed to sleep in at night! John is so huge he takes up the majority of any size bed smaller than a king, so I look forward to being able to stretch out a little on vacation. But it's okay, I think I could sleep good on a plank of wood at Disney because I'm always so tired when I got to bed!

LOL of course, that was great! I also loved when he was talking to Arlene's kids and said "goodbye tiny humans" (or something like that!) and flew away! I can't wait for that show to come back on!

That was hilarious! His delivery of his lines is great!

That doesn't seem very magical to me I would have checked back in the lobby about the room when you returned but I guess if you don't mind 2 beds, that's fine. I wonder where the non-preferred room would have been? I've been in standard rooms and have been in building 10 and 6 with standard rooms which are in the same building as preferred so that would have been curious to see where it was!

Hopefully you make it to MK before it closes!!

I should have checked again, but by the time we got back I was so tired I didn't even care!

We ended up having a great room, so I couldn't complain too much. The location was excellent!

YAYYYY! Yall made it to Pop! Seeing all of your pictures makes me so happy. We've stayed at Pop the last 3 trips to Disney and it just feels like "home" to me! Love it!

I can definitely see why so many people love POP...we really enjoyed staying there!

POP! is my home away from home...but that online check in got me in September as well....it seemed like it took forever before it was my turn

I can't wait to see how MK was for you guys...I love all the Christmas decorations down there, but have never been so close to Christmas itself...so I am interested to see how it was!!

I guess like ChildAtHeart82 said, online check in is definitely a hit or miss. I guess it was a miss for both of us!

Stay tuned for tons of Christmas decoration pictures!

 

[therussells08]

Hi everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I am STILL waiting on my Photo Pass CD, even though I ordered it on the 2nd and paid for express shipping! I didn't post an update today because I was hoping it would come in today, but I was hoping in vain. I am keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow, but even if it doesn't come I will just update and add the PP pictures later. I'm going back to work tomorrow on a 2 hour delay, so my update will be a little later! See you then!

 

[stephielela]

I would have stopped too if i was you. $174 is over twice as much as the room you got!

Online check in is definitely a hit or a miss. In September, there was no line, I walked right up and was ready to go in under 5 minutes, except my room wasn't ready (but I attribute that to my very specific requests, which were granted!) In December, we waited probably 10 minutes, and then check in took another 5 at least. I think it depends on crows levels, how many people working etc. I will continue to do it, just because it is fun and makes me feel like I'm almost there!

I'm sorry you couldn't get a king preferred room. I would have asked where the kings you could get were located, since some non-preferred rooms are just as close, but she didn't sound like the sharpest (or friendliest) tool in the shed so it might not have helped.

Can't wait to hear about your first day!!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Just finished catching up and am so excited you guys made it down there past the snowstorm! I cannot believe how expensive POP was! But I guess during the holidays, everything is like that. Sorry your first CM experience getting there wasn't so magical, but it can only get better I hope!

 

[shelbys mommy]

Ok as I was reading I started sobbing. I can't believe we are not going back this year, but anyway....I am so anxious to read more!!!!

 

[dancin_princess]

I need to go back and play catch up but I just wanted to know if I can add our picture from our meet up.

 

[therussells08]

In our last update, we were racing to Magic Kingdom, desperate to get into the park before it reached capacity. It was already about 9am, and the park had been open since 7 for EMH! I had heard so many horror stories about the insane crowds during the holidays, so I was panicking big time. As it turns out, I had no reason to worry. We pulled into the MK parking lot and I thought to myself, "Surely they wouldn't let us park here if we weren't allowed to go in..."

As we drove in I snapped a picture of a really cute sign with Santa Claus on it that I had seen on the DIS before.

Wow! The parking lot wasn't crowded at all! I can't remember where we parked, but I do remember it wasn't very far back. I'm always a really bad judge of
distance in the MK parking lot, so I felt like we were way further back than we actually were. We waited around for about five minutes for a tram, and once we were on and it was moving it took us less than a minute to reach the monorail and ferry entrance. I always love that tram ride because they are welcoming you to Magic Kingdom, and I always sit back and soak in the fact that I'm actually at Disney World! However, this tram ride wasn't the most pleasant I've had, because it was FREEZING. I mean, it was seriously cold, ya'll. John checked the weather on his phone and it was only in the 30s, and the wind was blowing like 20mph.

Because of the cold I said "No way, Jose!" to riding the ferry. So, we joined the herd heading to the monorail and hopped in line.

I can't for the life of me remember if we got seats or if we had to stand, but I'm pretty sure we got seats. On our way to MK I enjoyed the familiar sounds and smells of the monorail and snapped a few pictures.

Ahh, Space Mountain! One of our absolute favorites! This was definitely on the top of our "Must-Do" list, since it was closed for refurb on our last trip.

The Grand Floridian! Full House is my absolute favorite TV show, and I've watched the episodes where they go to WDW so many times I have them completely memorized. We'd never been there, so we would be eating at the Grand Floridian Cafe for breakfast on our departure day so I could take the obligatory Full House pictures and tour the "historic" filming sites. (Or would we? Psst, Rachel: foreshadowing! )

As you can see, it was still pretty cloudy out, but that didn't put a damper on my overwhelming joy!

As we approached the station, I was immediately blown away by the beautiful Christmas decorations. This was also about the time that John had to pry my death grip from his arm because I was so excited I was about to squeeze it in half. I could NOT believe I was finally back at Disney World! Usually we start our trips with DHS, but starting this trip with MK was definitely a good idea. It just felt so magical, being at WDW for the first time in so long and starting out at the park where it all started.

As we got off the monorail I snapped a quick picture of the train station and headed through bag check. Usually I don't carry bags into the parks, I just stuff John's pockets with all my junk, but I had my new beautiful Dooney and Bourke bag to show off!

After we got through back check and a turnstile (it felt so good to use that brand new Key to the World) I stopped immediately to "ooh" and "ahh" over the gorgeous Christmas Tree and take a picture. I then proceeded to "ooh" and "ahh" some more over the Christmas decorations hanging over Main Street USA. *Note: Please excuse the poor quality of these pictures. My camera does
terrible in low lighting, but they get a lot better as the day goes on, I promise!

It was during my "ooh"ing and "ahh"ing that I saw a PhotoPass photographer standing around with no one waiting for a picture. I grabbed John and dragged him over as quickly as possible. I was determined to get as many PP pictures as we could on this trip, since I had preordered the CD!

The photographer was really nice and super funny, and he took several pictures of us together in front of the castle.

As you can probably tell from my rigid stance in these pictures, I was SO stinking cold. I had not prepared for this weather at all, and all I had on was a Disney t-shirt and a very thin hoodie. I found myself hoping desperately that the weather would warm up very soon.

Now, here's a little factoid about John: he isn't really a smiley person. Don't get me wrong, he's a really happy guy and he smiles all the time normally, just not in pictures. I'm so used to it I don't even notice, but usually photographers (especially at Disney) will try to get him to show some teeth in pictures. I guess they think I will be disappointed if he doesn't "smile pretty". Like I said, I really don't mind, but I do appreciate their effort. This PP photographer just couldn't stand that John wasn't smiling big, so he started picking on him a little. First, he told me to tickle him right before he took the picture. As you can see, this
made me laugh more than John. (Ugh, I look so tired in the pictures! Forgive me, I had on NO eye makeup!)

Then, he decided to really let John have it. He pulled him aside, and made him do the Tinkerbell pose all by himself. At first he told him to look at his hand and look surprised, which John did, but you could tell he was a little uncomfortable. Still, he was a good sport about it.

Next, the PP guy started joking around with him and he FINALLY got John to laugh. This ended up being one of my favorite pictures from the whole trip!

I was so thrilled with our first PhotoPass experience of the trip. I already couldn't wait to see our shots, and we were less than five minutes in! We thanked the photographer, grabbed our card, and headed off.

As we headed further up Main Street USA, I walked slowly so I could take in all of the sights, sounds, and smells. It was such an amazing feeling, being back and knowing I had a whole week of fun in front of me. Surprisingly, the crowds were not that bad at all. I stopped to snap one more picture of the castle, but my camera still didn't want to cooperate. Don't worry, the pictures I took later were much better!

Up Next: With an entire day at MK in front of us, what did we ride first? Also, would I be able to stand the cold?! Stay tuned to find out!

 

[therussells08]

I would have stopped too if i was you. $174 is over twice as much as the room you got!

Online check in is definitely a hit or a miss. In September, there was no line, I walked right up and was ready to go in under 5 minutes, except my room wasn't ready (but I attribute that to my very specific requests, which were granted!) In December, we waited probably 10 minutes, and then check in took another 5 at least. I think it depends on crows levels, how many people working etc. I will continue to do it, just because it is fun and makes me feel like I'm almost there!

I'm sorry you couldn't get a king preferred room. I would have asked where the kings you could get were located, since some non-preferred rooms are just as close, but she didn't sound like the sharpest (or friendliest) tool in the shed so it might not have helped.

Can't wait to hear about your first day!!

You have a point about online check in! It is definitely fun to do, and it helps you pass the time before your trip because you know it's so close!

I feel like I should have tried harder for the king room, but I was so desperate to get to MK I really didn't care at the time. I ended up regretting it, though, because I really love the king rooms. Next time I will make sure I try my hardest to get one!

Just finished catching up and am so excited you guys made it down there past the snowstorm! I cannot believe how expensive POP was! But I guess during the holidays, everything is like that. Sorry your first CM experience getting there wasn't so magical, but it can only get better I hope!

Yeah, the resort prices for the holidays are insane! I couldn't believe how much a value cost!

The CM interactions got much better, thank goodness!

Ok as I was reading I started sobbing. I can't believe we are not going back this year, but anyway....I am so anxious to read more!!!!

I'm so sorry girl! I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a Disney miracle!

I need to go back and play catch up but I just wanted to know if I can add our picture from our meet up.

Yes, please feel free to post the picture anytime! It will probably be ages before I am to that point in the TR, but you can add it whenever you want and I will refer back to it later! Thank you!

 

[TinkerbellLuvr7]

Great update!!!

Love the PP Pics!! Ours at Mk NEVER seem to turn out. I think out of the last few years, we might have had one or two okay..good enough to buy type of pics but that's about it!

 

[TanzUnited99]

on being able to get in to MK for your 1st day! Felt your excitement when you were 'oohing' and 'aahing' over the Christmas tree and decorations.

on it being so cold but if there is one place to grin and bear it then Disney World is it! on PP photographer getting John to look surprised and then laugh!

Am going to guess that your first ride was Space Mountain. Looking forward to finding out if I am right or not

 

[Nermel9]

Yay, you're finally in the Magic Kingdom!

It must be so strange to be in Disney when it's that cold! No way would have take the ferry either...especially on the first trip into MK, you gotta ride the monorail!

Ooh, can't wait to see if you got your Full House pictures or not! We didn't have a chance to visit the GF on our trip, I really wanted to, but somehow, in 8 days, we didn't have a chance to fit it in.

My camera is the same way, it's fine during the day, but forget about good pics when there is no light! I REALLY want a new one before my October trip...I wanted a new one for this past trip, but Brandon said no, because we bought it right before our November 09 trip! I don't think your pictures were bad though, you can see what you're taking a picture of! I love the MK tree, it's never up when we go because we always go before the parade taping, so I haven't seen it yet! Someday!

I love your PP pics! I was laughing when you were describing how John isn't a smiley person, Brandon is the same way with pictures, which is why he looks so awkward in all of our pictures, his smile is so forced and it doesn't even look like him! He smiles enough in real life, he's the funniest person I know, but get him in front of a camera and literally forgets how to smile!

Your pics are so cute though! I don't think you look tired at all, you look great! And I love the pics of John with Tinkerbell alone, those are definitely frame worthy!

Can't wait to see what attraction you did first! I'm pretty sure you told me when we were texting that morning but I forgot, so I'm excited to find out again! That seems like it was so long ago already and it was just a couple of weeks!

 

[Cat0727]

Yay for getting to Magic Kingdom Your PP pictures came out cute! Although I hear ya on the eye makeup- I forgot my concealer last time we went to Disney and what a mistake that was! I'll never do that again LOL. My bf is the same way as John in pictures, he doesn't really smile so he looks kind of like a grump sometimes John's picture holding Tinkerbell really is great though

 

[laashley]

I really can't believe Pop is that much on Christmas! Good decision on staying off-site!

Sorry you weren't able to get a king bed in a preferred room. I think all the preferred rooms are in the 50's and all the rest of the decades are non-preferred.

Yay on getting into MK! Great pp pics! Looking forward to the rest of the day!