My parents retired in Naples, FL several years ago and it just so happens that Kelly (KCampbell) also lives there! So we were able to meet up for coffee before I left for Disney! It was too fun to meet her in person and to hear all about her amazing Disney wedding experience and her recent anniversary trip! Here's a picture to prove we actually met
:
And so the TR begins! Let me just preface by saying I have never done a TR or any type of blogging or journaling so just bear with me. I am glad I am attempting one before my actual wedding one bcd looking back there are things that I should have taken pics of that I didn't. The initial resort pics are from our last trip to POP bc I didn't even think to take any this time! But it's a start
enjoy!
So Tuesday morning my dad drove me to the Ft Meyers airport to pick up my rental car. There are closer car rental places but this way I could just return it Sunday morning when I flew back to MN. I picked up my little white 2-door Chevy Cobalt, pulled out my brand new Garmin and was on my way!!!! I got to Orlando shortly after noon and Jodi's flight didn't get in til 2:30 so I went to POP to get some lunch and see if I could check-in.
Now this is only the third time I have stayed on Disney property so I am by no means an expert and don't have much to compare it to but I think POP is a great place to stay. Our first trip to Disney we stayed at Coronado Springs which was nice but our next trip we stayed at POP and don't think I would stay at Coronado again. It's just not worth the extra money in my opinion. POP is just a very FUN resort, if you're going with kids I think they would LOVE it there. For those of you that haven't been it is themed off of what was popular in different decades.
So the buildings are named after different decades and feature larger than life replicas of things that were popular during that time.
There is also plenty of classic Disney theming thrown in too.
I really wish I would have taken more pics around the resort because there is so much to see! This next pic was taken from our room the last time, we were in the 60's building on the 3rd floor (which was an excellent location).
I would recommend getting a preferred room at this resort. It is such a big resort that if you don't you could end up with a LONG walk to the food court and bus stops.
Two of the things I love about POP are that the food court area has great selection and the bus service going TO the parks is great. At Coronado you had to make several stops before leaving the resort while at POP there is one large bus stop out front so once you're on you go straight to the parks- no extra stops! The only problem I found with staying at POP this time was the bus service coming home from the parks. Because POP is such a big resort there were HUGE lines to get back at park close- about an hour wait just to get on the bus both times. They had buses coming- sometimes 2 at a time to pick people up but our line was just soooo much longer than the other resorts. If you just left a little before park close you could probably easily miss the rush but we were trying to see as much as possible so spent every last minute we could in the parks. It was just frustrating to look around and all the other resorts bus stops have no one left waiting and you know that you won't even make it on the next bus that comes!
So amazingly enough when I went to check-in our room was ready even though check-in isn't technically till 3 pm! When I checked in they told me that we had a gift from the Disney Florist and asked if it was ok to have it delivered to our room... now I had no idea who would have known about the Disney Florist to send me something but I was sooooo excited
Our room was in the 70's building on the ground level on the corner closest to the food court. I paid for a "preferred" room and the lady said this was one but I know my parents stayed in the 70's before as a regular room. When we previously stayed in a "preferred" room at POP we were in the 60's and had a room overlooking the pool (which was a much nicer location). If DF was there I would have changed it bc he loved the location of our last room but I didn't think it was a bad location by any means and was happy to be able to drop my bags off in the room before I headed to the airport.
So I went and got some lunch in the food court. As I mentioned before I really like the food court at POP- the selection just seemed to be a lot better than even Coronado but other than that I don't have much to compare it to. My favorite all-time thing to get there is the reuben flatbread- it is soooo yummy! And I picked up a refillable mug as well:
I always get the refillable mug but was a little disappointed to find they no longer offer juice or milk. You would think I was 2 but that's what I drink for breakfast! All they have now is soda, coffee, hot chocolate, and iced tea- which is fine but in the am I love juice and there's nothing like milk with Mickey waffles.
After that I went to the gift shop to pick up our ears! Now I have never worn ears at Disney before but Jodi said she was really excited to wear ears so I thought it would be fun to give them to her at the airport along with her first visit button. She had said she wanted the classic ears and I picked up the Minnie headband with the black sequin ears for myself and off I went to the airport!
Here she is when I picked her up at the airport:
When we got back to the room our gift from the Disney florist was waiting for us!
It was from DF, he's so sweet I didn't think he even knew about the Disney Florist- I though I had mentioned it before but figured he wasn't listening
turns out he wasn't
- he said he saw it in our Birnbaum Guide that he loves! They were classic Mickey ears with 2 Mickey Rice Krispy treats, 2 packs of trail mix, a pocket-guide to Disney, and a re-usable shopping bag that folds up to look like Mickey ears! So cute! And he was of course thoughtful enough to send one to BOTH of us
a smart man never forgets it's important for your friends to like him!
Jodi loved it and started to get all teary eyed and we called him right away to thank him! (The only problem was that now Jodi had 2 pairs of classic Mickey ears but luckily they let us exchange them for a different style
she got the silver Minnie headband.) So we got changed and headed out for our dinner reservation at Kona!
Up next
Day 1 continues at the Polynesian
I'm posting the first bit of the mini-TR now!
and I like your mom's dress b/c that color will be really stunning on. 
It was definitely a good time! Well, I think you're off to a good start on the TR! 
and this was my favorite! The seasoning was great and it was done to perfection in my opinion! I'm sure you could get a more well done piece if you prefer.
MCVMP was going on but we had decided before that we weren't going to go- at the time we thought it was too much money, plus I had never been to Jellyrolls so we thought that would be fun. But somehow before we knew it we had bought tickets to MVMCP and were skipping on the streets of Main Street with snow coming down
The parade was going on right when we got there and it was truly just magical and such a great time to share with Jodi as her first Disney experience.
it! It looked really real, it drifted right and melted when it touched your skin.
FYI It is different than the usual Wishes, it is Holiday themed with Christmas music. 
!!!!!! Maybe we'll get some pixie dust and get upgraded but I'm not holding my breath. 
I did manage to see a few pics of your wedding- you looked like a princess!
