Well, after almost five months from starting this journey as a pre-trip, its time to wrap things up. So here are just a few final thoughts that I have from reflecting on the trip through writing this report.
Pop Century
This was all of our third time staying at Pop Century and we all really enjoyed it. The amenities were good and suited us just fine. The rooms were great, the cast members were all great, and even though the 80s/ 90s section was the farthest from the food court and bus stop, the walk was not too long at all. Plus we all really enjoy the theme and setting of the resort- it defiantly has things that bring back memories for all of us. All in all, a great stay.
New Attractions
The biggest new addition for this trip and undeniably my favorite was Toy Story Midway Mania. Id been saying for years that the Studios needed a good dark ride that the whole family could enjoy and with Midway Mania we get one thats all that and more! The games are fun and the theming of ride and queue were fantastic. The only downside was that, at least in the Summer, if you dont get in line or grab a Fastpass at park opening, youre in for at least an hour wait. There are worse things than spending an hour checking out the fantastic queue, but Id still recommend getting there after rope drop and doing the full queue since if you do go through the FastPass queue, you will miss a lot of fantastic theming including Mr. Potato Head.
Also new to us on the trip was the Re-Imageneered Haunted Mansion and Spaceship Earth. Out of the two, I think Haunted Mansion really got the nicer makeover. The new effects are all great additions and I think that in general Ive never seen the ride look better. Spaceship Earth was nice. The new finale with the interactive screens is really was a lot more fun than it sounds, but I still think the narration was a little lame in places. In general, a few improvements, a few missteps.
The other new attractions for this trip were a few new or rotated exhibits in the parks- the 25th Anniversary Gallery and National Treasures exhibit at EPCOT and the Journey into Narnia: Prince Caspian attraction and the newly-updated Villains exhibit at the AFI Showcase at Disneys Hollywood Studios. Out of them all, the Anniversary Gallery was my favorite, though its sadly been closed since I started writing the trip report. After that, Id say I did enjoy the Villains exhibit particularly for the costumes from Enchanted. The National Treasures gallery was alright and worth a look through. I wasnt really impressed with Narnia in general. Unless you really want to meet the Prince Caspian character or youre really into Narnia, Id recommend skipping it.
Two new additions that we had intended to see but missed this trip were Block Party Bash (due to rain) and the new O Canada film at EPCOT. Both will have to be put on a maybe next time list.
Rediscovered Attractions
Every year, it seems like there are a few attractions that we do that for some reason or not I havent been on in years and rediscover them. For me, those attractions were Living with the Land, Tomorrowland Speedway and Beauty and the Beast- all of which we hadnt done in at least five years (besides the Speedway which only Buzz had done the Speedway more recently). I still cant believe it took me five years to see Beauty and the Beast again since its one of my favorites, but regardless it was great to see it again. The Speedway and Land were nice to revisit was well, but I dont see them being added to my must-see-every-trip list. Good rides though. This was also the first time we had been at Magic Kingdom to see the morning Welcome show at the train station (we seemed to be on a kick of going to MK or EMH days in the last few years and it wasnt performed those mornings). It was a cute show and its fun to see all the characters together riding in on the train.
Dining
Let me start by saying that I have to give the award for favorite meal of the trip to lunch at the Plaza Restaurant. Im still asking myself why we never tried this place before! Great food, great atmosphere, great service. None of us are big fans of the food at Magic Kingdom, but we all gave thumbs up to the Plaza, which really says something! I can defiantly see myself going back here.
The rest of the meals were fine too. and such. Rose and Crown and Hollywood and Vine were good- no complaints. I think this was our first time of having an actual mean (not just drinks or snacks) at the Farmers Market food court on Sunset Boulevard. The food was good but not remarkable- normal food court fare. Hollywood Studios doesnt really have a bunch of good counter service restaurants that are very good, but this ones fine, plus I like all the vintage 40s theming around it with the Victory Gardens. The food court at Pop was good too, I think above average for a food court as far as the food goes. And of course, you cant go wrong with desserts in EPCOTs France! The crepes were great, but really anything you could pick Im sure youd be happy with.
Characters
I was actually impressed with the amount and variety of characters out this year. EPCOT seemed a little light on characters in general, but Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios seemed to have a good amount. I got to meet and get photos and autographs of two characters I had never seen before- Jiminy Cricket at Magic Kingdom and Prince Caspian at Hollywood Studios- and meet three characters that I had only gotten photos of in passing of from the side on previous trips- Bert, The Queen and Jafar. All the characters I met were a lot of fun and very much in character. For any character fans who were interested in a more complete list of what characters that I spotted that were out on the trip, heres a full list. The ones underlined are the ones that I met. If you are curious to exactly what location the characters were or when they were spotted, feel free to ask.
EPCOT: Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy,
Chip & Dale, Snow White & Dopey, Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Mary Poppins,
Belle & Beast,
Princess Aurora, Aladdin & Jasmine, Genie, Mulan & Mushu, Caballero Donald
Magic Kingdom:
Jiminy Cricket, Pinocchio & Geppetto, Chip & Dale,
Mary Poppins & Bert, Snow White,
Lady Tremaine, Anastasia &Drizella, Alice & Mad Hatter, Buzz Lightyear,
Captain Hook & Mr. Smee, Peter Pan & Wendy Darling, Pooh, Tigger & Darby, Timon & Rafiki (I did not go into Toontown Hall of Fame, but the Princesses listed for the day were Belle, Cinderella and Aurora)
Disneys Hollywood Studios: Minnie Mouse & Daisy Duck (wish I could have met Daisy; I spotted her on my way to Narnia and figured I could come back to see her later, but she never came back out due to rain
), Pluto, Goofy, Chip & Dale, Prince
Caspian, Mickey Mouse, Mr. & Mrs. Incredible, Mike Wazowski & Sully, JoJo & Goliath, Three out of four of the Little Einsteins (not sure of the names, the one in the purple dress was not out), Handy Manny,
Kim Possible & Ron Stoppable, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Green Army Man,
Belle, Snow White & Pocahontas, Aladdin & Jasmine, Mary Poppins,
Gov. Ratcliffe, The Queen & Jafar
Sadly, Ive heard that since the trip that Bert, Wendy, Kim and Ron are not doing meet-and-greets. Too bad, they were always a lot of fun to meet.
Weather and Crowds
Admittedly, this was not the best weather, but not the worst either. Primarily on Day One and Three there was a good amount of time in the late morning and afternoon with intermittent showers. The only thing that it really messed up was raining out Block Party Bash and some entertainment. Other than that, the rain wasnt too much of a problem. The mornings and evenings were nice though. Thats the Florida summer for you! Crowds werent too bad considering it was still Summer. I didnt see a lot of rides besides a few of the big ones (which seems to include Toy Story Mania) with waits over an hour. Fast Pass defiantly helped. In general, if you can be a little flexible with the crowds and weather, August is fine.
Well, I think that pretty much wraps things up. If you have any questions, I can attempt to answer them, but Im out of story and photos to post. Thanks to all of you who have read and especially to those who have responded. I immensely appreciate your feedback and encouragement to keep going. Thanks to you all! I anticipate a short weekend trip around Christmastime since we all still have one day left on our passes that will expire after the end of the year, so keep an eye out for that trip report if you enjoyed this one. Im thinking maybe a day at Animal Kingdom since we skipped it on this trip. Regardless, thanks to all of you and I hope youve enjoyed it!
hey gave us like 10 drops and then when we landed and the music started, we thought it was over, but no they shot us back up and down 4 more times!!! It was awesome!
There was no way I was going to miss it this time. I think that this might be the most photo-heavy chapter for this report which Probably is not surprising. Ive never been the best at getting photos at this show in the past so I wanted to try to get as many good ones as possible. The photos Ive posted here are the ones that Id consider somewhere between ok and good. Didnt really get any great ones IMO. Hopefully the show will stick around a bit longer so perhaps I can. 
In any case, we break out the ponchos and head for Hollywood Boulevard hoping that the rain and stop and Block Party Bash would still be performed. As were rounding the Sorcerers Hat an announcement is made that this performance of Block Party Bash has been
I'm hoping to finish out day 3 this evening.
I know that Ive heard some mediocre reviews of this place on the DIS, but I really enjoyed it. The atmosphere isnt Disneys most fantastic, but its charming and nostalgic. Mom likes it because it reminds her of the cafeterias that she ate at when she was little. The buffet was good- nice selection and tasty. The desserts were great too! All in all, a fantastic meal. It was nice to be able to relax, have some good food, reminisce about the trip, check out each others photos, be dry (!), and listen to the background music piped into restaurant which primarily consisted of songs from many of the MGM musicals I had been watching. It was a terrific finale for the day. For some reason I didnt think to take any pictures. Sorry everyone. 
