Parks and Pop Century *And* A Park and Pop Century Christmas! *Plus* Downtown Disney

[WDW Fan]

Wonderful pictures! I loved seeing the Epcot 25th Anniv. Exhibit pictures. We've visited WDW three times during this celebration and keep forgetting to see this, but I am going to definitely check it out in Sept. when I go!!!

 

[meeko_33785]

What wonderful pictures! I can't wait to read and see more.

Glad you're enjoying them. I was pretty happy with the pictures so it's great to know that others are enjoying them too.

Awesome TR so far... we can't wait to read more!

Thanks. More is on the way soon.

Wonderful pictures! I loved seeing the Epcot 25th Anniv. Exhibit pictures. We've visited WDW three times during this celebration and keep forgetting to see this, but I am going to definitely check it out in Sept. when I go!!!

The 25th Exhibit was really nice and well done. I'd definatly recommend it. You do kind of have to search for it a little (it's sort of tucked away near the Character Spot exit and the back of Club Cool) but it's worth it. It was nice to see all the exhibit pieces, plus the music they have playing in the gallery really takes you back ("Veggie Veggie Fruit Fruit", "One Little Spark", etc.").

 

[MelaBella]

Great trip report so far! I look forwarding to reading the rest of it. We will be headed to the Pop in just 19 days.

I was wondering what camera you use? Your pictures are great!!

 

[meeko_33785]

Great trip report so far! I look forwarding to reading the rest of it. We will be headed to the Pop in just 19 days.

I was wondering what camera you use? Your pictures are great!!

Thanks so much. Have an awesome time at Pop Century. We had a great time there, and there should be more pics of the resort coming up.

The camera I used it a Canon Powershot. It's a fairly basic camera, but I do think that it does take some nice quality photos.

 

[meeko_33785]

As we’re heading off to Mexico, we stop briefly in Showcase Plaza to get a quick picture.

I think that it’s amazing how the Tower of Terror just seems to fit so nicely with Morocco that you don’t normally notice that it’s there. I meant to get a photo of this after the Friendship boat ride over from Morocco, but the rain kind of nixed that plan. On to Mexico!

There was a new animatronics parrot in a cage in the market. If you go down the ramp on the left down to the marketplace, it’s right there before you reach the exhibit with the virtual postcards and Kidcot table.Rumor has it that this will be a part of a new Kim Possible Interactive Adventure that’s set to open later this year. Could be interesting.

Mom suggested riding Gran Fiesta Tour since we’re already there which was a great idea. I’d only done it once before and was trying to take pictures the whole time (all of which came out blurry ), so I feel like I missed a lot the first time around. This time was great, except we had a family in front of us who didn’t seem to understrand the concept of “No flash photography on this ride”. All those flashes weren’t really pleasant, especially in the dark area at the beginning around the pyramid, but once the actual ride started everything was fine.

Norway was next. I never seem to take many photos in Norway for some reason, so I wanted to see if I could get any good ones here. After passing a gigantic line of parents and little girls in Princess dresses trying to get into Akershus we make it into the courtyard.

While I’m taking pictures, I notice that some of the windows, crevices and landings all have little trolls on them. Don’t know if this is new or not but I’d never noticed it before. I pointed this out to the rest of the family and soon we’re all searching for trolls around the pavilion.

There’s a troll!

Maelstrom appeared to be having some problems. After a few minutes the CMs began sending people away before eventually closing the two large doors at the ride’s entrance. Shortly afterwards, we noticed that there was an empty Viking boat perched at the top of the waterfall. Not sure if there was an evacuation, but that would be my best guess. No Maelstrom today.


On to China. When we got there, Mushu was just coming out to join Mulan for meet-and-greets near the movie entrance. I got in line to see them, but it was fairly long and very slow moving so I passed on them. The lines for them always use to be much shorter for them when they were kind of hidden back on the side streets, but not anymore. Maybe next time guys.

Over by one of the large ponds near the entrance of the pavilion we heard some interesting noises and tried to figure out what it was.

Turned out to be a bunch of frogs hanging out by the lillypads (where else?). I'm convinced that some people must think that these are animatronics or something, but they are real-live frogs, and loud too!


Next Chapter: More World Showcase

 

[Disney Brat]

I'm joining in!! Great pics!! Can't wait to hear more!

 

[meeko_33785]

I'm joining in!! Great pics!! Can't wait to hear more!

Glad to have you aboard.

 

[meeko_33785]

After leaving China, we headed on towards Germany, but took a quick break to check out these guys in the Outpost.

For some reason, I find it odd that out of all the characters from the Lion King, they pick Scar (at least I think that’s who it’s suppose to be) and Zazu. No Simba, Timon, Pumbaa, Mufassa, Nala, Rafiki, etc.? Oh well. They were still pretty cool.

Welcome to Germany. This is defiantly one of my favorite pavilions. Love the look of it.

St. George battles the dragon.

There were tons of sparrows just flying around the pavilion, landing everywhere, almost flying into people. I managed to catch this photo of one in-between flights. After doing a little looking around the shops and taking in the ambiance, we headed over to the Railway Garden.

A little messy from all the wind and rain, but nice.

Italy’s next. We did some looking around at some of the shops and all. There was some entertainment going on so we watched some of that for a bit (no pictures though; the crowds were huge when we got there so all I would have gotten were the backs of people’s heads).

Another attempted artsy shot.

Before the trip, we’d heard about a new exhibit at the American Adventure about national treasures (not to be confused with the movie ) so we went over to check it out. When we got there, everyone was lining up to get into the show so after the crowds cleared a little we checked out the exhibit. There were some interesting things in there.

Abraham Lincoln’s hat. This kind of amazed me. You always see photos of drawings of him in a hat like that and there in front of you is one of them! For some reason out of everything that was there, this seemed to impress me the most.

Lunar Sample (aka a moon rock).


Next chapter: Day One ends

 

[kcork1026]

I'm in and enjoying your report

 

[RachelNinja]

Wow, you have such an eye for framing your shots! Are they all unaltered or do you crop? When I take pictures, I only realize after seeing them after the fact that I could have taken them differently.

I particularly like your World Showcase pictures because I have never fully explored it before. I'm excited to see Belle's Library for myself! Great TR, can't wait for more

 

[Jenvenza]

I love love love your TR!! I cant wait for more!

 

[meeko_33785]

I'm in and enjoying your report

Thanks. Glad you're in.

Wow, you have such an eye for framing your shots! Are they all unaltered or do you crop? When I take pictures, I only realize after seeing them after the fact that I could have taken them differently.

I particularly like your World Showcase pictures because I have never fully explored it before. I'm excited to see Belle's Library for myself! Great TR, can't wait for more

Thanks. As far as cropping goes some are and some arent'. I try to get it as right as possible while I'm taking the shot, but crop is helpful too. The other thing I've found that helps is taking a lot of pictures from different angles and such, experimenting on what looks best. You can always delete the bad ones and you're left with a nice shot. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the rest of the report too.

I love love love your TR!! I cant wait for more!

Thank so much.

 

[missj1975]

I love all your pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Disney Brat]

Loved the pics of WS!! Beautiful shots!!

 

[MrsGrumpy2009]

Wow, Meeko! Great pictures! I am thoroughly enjoying this trip report!

I'm new here, and trying to figure out how to subscribe to this thread, so I can find it easier when I return...can someone help?


Thanks!!!

 

[meeko_33785]

I love all your pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Glad you're enjoying them. I'm happy to share them.

Loved the pics of WS!! Beautiful shots!!

Thanks so much.

Wow, Meeko! Great pictures! I am thoroughly enjoying this trip report!

I'm new here, and trying to figure out how to subscribe to this thread, so I can find it easier when I return...can someone help?


Thanks!!!

Thanks. If you like, you can click on the "Thead Tools" link at the top of the thread across from the "Post Reply" button. "Subscribe to this thread" should be one of the choices. Hope that helps.

 

[MrsGrumpy2009]

Thanks Meeko!

 

[Nancy for Disney]

Had to get the shot of Spaceship Earth with the monorail going by.





Next Chapter: What makes the United Kingdom feel so authentic?

I just started reading. This is me this morning.
I wanted to say that I love, love, love this picture. You should submit it somewhere. I know some of these Disney websites are always asking for pictures. I just really think it is a cool shot of EPCOT.

 

[meeko_33785]

Thanks Meeko!

You're welcome.

I just started reading. This is me this morning.
I wanted to say that I love, love, love this picture. You should submit it somewhere. I know some of these Disney websites are always asking for pictures. I just really think it is a cool shot of EPCOT.

Thanks. I'd never thought about submiting any of the photos to a Disney site. I might have to consider doing that. Glad you're enjoying the report.

 

[meeko_33785]

On to Japan!

The gardens here are really beautiful and relaxing. Plus the koi in the pond are fun to watch.

A look down at the pavilion from the top of Mitsukoshi.

Spaceship Earth though the Tori Gate.

After a brief look through the shop and the Tin Toy exhibit, we head off to France to get some crapes to hold us over until we get back Pop Century for dinner. Once we got our crepes there weren’t any tables outside to eat at so we headed inside the main shop in the pavilion that has a few tables for dining. For the amount of food and pastries that France seems to sell, they seem to barely have enough tables. After enjoying our crepes, we start the long walk back to bus stop. On our way, Buzz pointed out a certain rodent hidden in the Kidcot Station in France, and it wasn’t Mickey.

A hidden Remy! Can you believe that this was the only Ratatouille thing I remember seeing in the parks this whole trip? It’s kind of shocking since the movie seemed so popular. I liked it at least.

On our way out, I asked if anyone was interested in seeing the new movie in Canada with Marin Short, but nobody else was interested. My parents really didn’t seem interested in standing through a movie after a long day of walking all over EPCOT. Maybe next time. We did pause for a few quick pictures in front of the pavilion before biding World Showcase adieu.

After walking through Future World, we finally make it to the bus stop. We have a bit of a wait but finally get on the way back to Pop. The bus had music this time which was nice. For some reason I think that I like the music on the bus coming back from the parks than hearing music going to the parks. I think it makes the moment you step off the bus into the park and hear all the music filling the air less special since you’ve been hearing that music your whole ride over. On the way back though you’ve been hearing music all day around the park so it feels like more of an extension of the experience so something like that.


When we get back to Pop, Mom suggested that we grab some sandwiches at the food court to take back to the room with us so don’t have to make an extra trip back to Classics Hall. I got the Turkey Ciabatta which was good. Once we all had our to-go food, we re-parked in the 80s lot and got to our room for the first time.

Don’t want to bore everyone with a bunch of pictures of the room since I know a ton of trip reports here include tons of pictures of the rooms here, but here’s a few. First the overview. This was Buzz and my room.

The posters in the room are so fun. Buzz and I were 80s kids, so it was fun looking at the posters and seeing things we had as a kid. I know we had at least one of the Oliver and Company toys from this poster.

Here’s the poster from Mom and Dad’s room. We use to have some of the Disney Afternoon toys and comic books from this one, but some of them are actually from the 90s if you want to get technical.

Look who was in the border around the room- Ariel and Flounder. Most of the other decades we’ve stayed in had pictures of the characters from the giant icons outside the hotel, but apparently the used the Little Mermaid instead of Roger Rabbit. Actually, Roger wasn’t in any of the posters either. I’ve heard there’s some legal issues between Disney and the companies they co-own Roger Rabbit with, but it seems odd that they’d let them have a giant statue of him outside the hotel but have no sign of him at all anywhere else.

Found this guy in our window. Not certain what it’s supposed to be but it kind of reminds me of a camel.


It’s been a long day, so we end it by doing a little unpacking, having the dinner we got to-go at the food court and relaxing in the room. We’ve got to get up early tomorrow to make it to rope drop at Magic Kingdom!

Goodnight Roger. See ya in the morning.