Pop Century for the weekend - La Nouba, MK, Jellyrolls, Boardwalk, Mini golf, & more!

1MegMeg

Mouseketeer
Joined
Mar 31, 2004
Messages
313
I've lived 90 minutes away from WDW my entire life and have been literally 100s of times. Since DH and I are FL residents we are lucky enough to have the FL resident annual passes so we frequently go over for just the weekend.

This past weekend we went over and stayed at Pop Century, our first time there.

Overview of Pop Century
Friday we both left work around lunch time to head home and get ready to go. We left early because a) we were seeing La Nouba at 6pm and B) I hate driving to WDW during rush hour. We have to drive through Tampa and it's crazy during rush hour.

So we got over there around 2:30 and checked right in to Pop Century. The hotel is so fun, I am so glad we stayed there! Inside the main building (where the food area is, gift shop, guest services, etc.) they have huge shadow boxes on the walls with memorabilia from different decades. Each building at the resort is a separate decade, we were in the 70s building (there is also the 50s, 60s, 80s, and 90s). Our area was called "The classic years", they are also building an area called "the legendary years". At the end of each building there is a giant (the height of the building) toy/thing that was an icon of that time period. Our building had an 8-track tape, the 60s had a yo-yo, and the 90s had a cell phone.

Our room was really nice and I was quite impressed, considering it was a value resort. First, if you stay at Pop Century, try and get into the 70s building. It's close to the main building, parking, and transportation, but it's regular price (not premium). We had a king size bed and there was plenty of room in our room. The area by the door was very open and spacious, there weren't table/chairs or the bed crammed right over by the door. Since the hotel is new everything is still very new and modern looking, yet it still fits with the decade theme. Overall I am *very* happy with the resort and would definitely stay there again. It's a great location for us because it's close to the Boardwalk and DT Disney (2 places we always go to).
 
Friday Night

We hung out for a while then went over to Downtown Disney to get some early dinner. We ate at Bongos Cuban Cafe, and I highly recommend them! We got there around 4:30 and had no problem at all getting a table. The food was yummy and I had some of the best ceviche I've ever had and I finally got to have a mojito! Mmmm, it was good good stuff!

We finished dinner just in time to head over to La Nouba - wow! what a spectacular show (sorry no pictures, flash photography wasn't allowed and it was too dark to take pictures without the flash). It was so unique and different from anything I've ever seen - kind of a combination of dance and acrobatics. The theatre is smallish and round so there isn't a bad seat anywhere, we were in the second level and we saw everything perfectly. In fact, I would recommend getting the cheapest (3rd level seats). A lot of the performing during La Nouba is trapeze, ropes from the ceiling, etc. and even on the 2nd level we were craninng our heads up to see. The theatre is small enough that even on the 3rd level I think you would still be able to see the ground stuff, yet you would be able to comfortable be able to see the ceilng stuff too.

After that we went over to the Boardwalk for our traditional night at Jellyrolls. We love love love that place and always go every time we go to WDW. I highly highly recommended it! It's addictively fun! I would love to go with a group of DISers sometime. Normally it's just DH and I, but I think it would be tons of fun with a group.

We stayed at Jellyrolls for a while and then headed back to Pop around midnight.
 
Saturday

Saturday we went to Magic Kingdom. Since we've been to WDW about 8 thousand times we don't worry about getting there super early or doing every sing ride. So by the time we got up, went through the drive through at McDonalds for breakfast, drove over to TTC, and rode the monerail over it was probably around 10:45 when we got there.

We headed straight for Stitch's Great Escape since we hadn't been on it yet. The wait was 35 minutes, but I saw that the fast pass was for only 45 minutes later so we picked up a fast pass. To kill time we rode Space Mountain (waited 15 minutes) and the Carousel of Progress (walked right on). I was so glad to see that CoP was open! It's one of my rides, but it's been closed the last few times we were there.

By this time it was time for Stich. I loved it, but my DH didn't like it as much, he likes Alien Encounter more. But I really like Stich, it's a cute/funny ride (kind of gross), not as "scary" as Alien Encounter.

After that we headed over to Fantasyland and saw Mickey's Philharmagic 3-d show (waited about 15 minutes). I loved it! I love all 3D shows, but I think this one is my favorite because of all of the Fantasia things incorporated.

By now we were starving so we headed to the hot dog stand in Frontierland on our way to Thunder Mountain. TM was the longest wait (abour 45 minutes), but it was probably 1-1:30 by the time we got there, so I'm not really suprised by the line. So we road that then headed back to Pop. DH relaxed back at the hotel and I headed over to DT Disney for a little shopping. I got some soaps at Basin and some pins from the Pin Trader place.


For dinner we went to the Big River Grill and Brewery, at the Boardwalk. We've eaten there a number of times and always enjoy ourselves. We got there probably around 6:30 and were seated immediately inside. For dinner I had the beer cheese soup and a salad and DH had the burger. We each had some different beers and they were all great, especially the winter seasonal, Sweet Magnolia Ale.

After dinner we walked around the Boardwalk area and played some games. Our favorite game is the one where you wack the lobsters into the pot. Last time we played we got one in so we got one small prize - it was a turquoise shark at the time. This time we also got one in so we got the latest small prize, a jelly fish! So we have quite the undersea adventure going on at home.

Once we were done with the game fun we went to the Fantasia mini golf course right around the corner. I hadn't played mini golf in years and we had so much fun! Each hole has different characters/themes from Fantasia, Disney really did it up right! We had such a good time, just being goofy, hitting the ball around, and acting like kids.

Sunday
We got up and headed home. Boo!

Pictures next....
 
DH and I in Jellyrolls
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Me in front of the Boardwalk Resort
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Pop Century (it was really foggy Saturday morning, hence the haze in the picture)
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Continued...
 

Saturday night on the way to dinner. Look at the clouds from the cold front rolling in? It almost looks the way a hurricane looks (with the round circular motion)!
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Inside the Boardwalk, after dinner at the Brewery (With the jellyfish we won at the lobster game)
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Mini Golf
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Cute report and great pictures..thanks!

I'm a HUGE Jellyrolls fan too! I love it there!
 
Wonderful report, and great pics! Thanks for posting.
 
Thank you all so much! DH and I had a super fun time (as we always do), so I thought I would share our adventures. :)
 















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