PeaJay's Hot!Hot!Hot! Trip Report (Sept 29th-Oct 10th)

[peajay18]

Welcome to my 1st ever pre-trip report!

Background
My wife and I (both mid 30s) are visiting WDW for our 4th time (the first two times we were accompanied by others, but this trip will be the sequel to our 2007 honeymoon jaunt.)
We travelled at approximately the same time of year in '07 and found it to be the perfect combination of pleasant weather, low crowds and special events.

This will be our first stay at Pop Century, having stayed at ASM, Sheraton Vistana and POFQ before. We are flying direct to MCO with BA (having always flown with Virgin in the past) and have a rental car booked.

I always enjoy planning WDW trips (and the DLRP ones we've taken in between to sate our Disney thirst) and this one is no different!
The DIS boards have been a great source of info so I'd welcome any feedback on our plans.

We like to get up early and eat breakfast in the room (just fruit or a yogurt) and make it to the parks for rope-drop wherever possible.
We then stop for pastries for elevenses and head back to the room after lunch for a swim/nap/shower before heading back out. We also like to explore the resorts and eat at places we haven't tried before.

Here's a day by day breakdown for those of you that are interested:

Tues 29th - flight lands at MCO 3.30pm. Pick up car and check in at POP.
Acclimatise ourselves and eat at Epcot's F&W booths in the early evening.

Weds 30th - No particular park earmarked at the moment, but we have an ADR for the Cape May Cafe at 7pm so we can flit between Epcot and DHS' EMH if we like.

Thurs 1st - Plan to drive over to Universal Studios for opening and head back in time to get ready for our Whispering Canyon Cafe ADR at 8.30pm.

Fri 2nd - I've been reading that today there will be a ticker-tape parade at MK to honour the International Space Station crew with an appearance by two Buzzes (Aldrin and Lightyear), so we'll be around to watch that.
8.30 ADR at Turf Club Grill.

Sat 3rd - Might try and make the DHS morning EMH.
Have an ADR for Olivia's Cafe at OKW for 5pm and then hopefully on to MK to catch Spectro.

Sun 4th - Seaworld day (We were going to skip it this trip, but I want to ride Manta after all the good reviews and my wife loves the Pets Ahoy show!)
Did plan to eat at a Ponderosa on the way back to POP - but decided on an ADR at Kona Cafe for 9pm instead.
Then on to MK for the evening EMH where, depending on whether you believe the US or UK Disney site, it is open until 12 midnight or 1am.

Mon 5th - More MK action with a breakfast ADR at the Crystal Palace an hour before park opening and then the Wishes Dessert Party at 8pm.

Tues 6th - a lie-in and some time by the pool/at Downtown to recharge in time for MNSHHP that evening.

Weds 7th - An ADR for the Garden Grill at 8pm means we'll be well placed to enjoy Epcot's evening EMH.

Thurs 8th - Islands Of Adventure day and then back for our 8pm ADR at T-Rex.

Fri 9th - It's Animal Kingdom day! Breakfast at Tusker House a half hour before park opening and then an ADR at Yak & Yeti at 4.30 puts us in a good position to enjoy the evening EMH.

Sat 10th - Last day
Flights leaves MCO at 7.40pm.
Might plump for the Keys To The Kingdom tour at MK as it seems a good note to finish on.

We're also going to try fitting in the Behind The Seeds tour at some point on this trip and, weather permitting, a half day at Typhoon Lagoon.


EDIT* Been back a couple of days now, so what better way than to get over the post-WDW blues than with a trip report! Let's go....

 

[mark&sue]

sounds fantastic. Have a great time



susan

 

[florida sun]

Your plans sound lovely, have a great trip

 

[jockey]

Your plans sound great, have a wonderful time

 

[peajay18]

Thanks for all the good wishes!
Just over a week to go.

 

[SusanEllen]

Excellent plans for a trip packed with fun and just enough wiggle room to allow for a revamp on the fly if needed. I'll bet you'll have at least as much fun living the trip as you had planing--and that was quite a lot of fun, wasn't it?

 

[peajay18]

OK - this is my last chance to post before we head off to the airport hotel for the night, so stay tuned for a TR in about 2 weeks!

 

[peajay18]

So here we go....

Day 1 - Tues Sept 29th

Kathryn & I drove to Gatwick from Peterborough on Monday night and stayed in the Yotel at the airport. We decided on Yotel after reading some positive reviews of it here on The Dis and we weren't disappointed!

Yes it's small, but the room (a deluxe) was perfectly formed and the price (£80) was well worth the piece of mind of being at the airport a full 12 hours in advance. The small amount of contact we had with the staff was all great too.

Kathryn - all packed and ready to go!

The Yotel was small but cleverly designed.

So after a good night's sleep we rose at 8am and checked out an hour and a half later and make our way over to the North Terminal,
go through security etc and grab a disappointing breakfast at Lloyds No1.

Then Kathryn realised that she had forgotten her sunglasses - she had a "backup" pair packed in the luggage we'd just checked,
but she didn't have her fave ones in her hand luggage. We popped into Boots so K could treat herself to some new ones.
As we're paying, she reaches into her bag to put her purse away and finds the missing shades!

Boarded the BA flight at 11am and arrived at MCO at 3.15pm local time after an uneventful flight.
We got through immigration and luggage retrieval pretty quickly and the lady at Avis was very helpful in sorting out our rental car - a Chevy Cobalt.
So far it's all gone so smoothly that I'm just waiting for something to screw it up, but so far so good!

Two essentials for any Orlando holiday - a car and refillable mug.

We drove to Pop Century and were checked in by 5pm- luckily they got my fax with the room request and we are assigned a fourth floor, lake view room in the 70s section (room 6450). We took a few minutes to unpack and freshen up and then go out to explore the resort and pick up those all important refillable mugs.

Kathryn and The Big Cheese outside our building.

I think about attempting a kick, but decide against it.

Look! A Dreamcast! These displays in the lobby are well worth examining.

The view from our room promised a quiet stay.

Up next - off to Epcot for the evening and a sampling of the Food & Wine Fest...

 

[natalielongstaff]

love the photos of Pop, great resort

 

[Cyrano]

The Yotel looks very compact

 

[suzycute]

Great start to your trip report - I love your photos and the Yotel looks great!

 

[peajay18]

The Yotel looks very compact

Great start to your trip report - I love your photos and the Yotel looks great!

Thanks - the Yotel was very small, but designed in a way that made maximum us of the space.
It was perfect for what we wanted and wouldn't hesitate to use it again.

BTW, the next installment is now up - find it here.

 

[peajay18]

And now day 2 is up - find it here.

 

[peajay18]

Day 2, part 2 is now up and can be found here.

 

[peajay18]

Day 3 at Universal is here