POP goes the Melancons!

[Victoriasmom98]

Well, well, well, what’s this? Is it perhaps ANOTHER pre-trip report? Could be. I haven’t done one in a while and someone (um Karen ) was hunting and hunting for my non-existent one, so I figured I’d start. After all, I only have 93 more days at this point. My last trip in August 2017 was less than stellar, so I really am putting my hopes into this one. Long story short, August’s trip was with my 77 year old Mom and I. We had stayed at POR and she ended up in the hospital with viral bronchitis. Ugh! She was extremely sick to the point where I thought I was going to lose her. It was not a fun time…..Imagine just getting off of BTMRR and getting a call from the Management team at POR that your mother has been transported by ambulance to Celebration Hospital and that you needed to come right away. I have never made it to the front of the park so fast in all my trips! She’s ok now….still suffers from breathing issues which will probably always be with her now, but she’s a tough old bird! (sorry, Mom)



Ok, so after all that, you would probably like to know who I am, right? I’m Ann.

PhotoPass_Visiting_STUDIO_404571344852 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

I’m a 50 year old Disney lover who works full time as a Child Support Agent for the State of Maine and also works part time for Party City! Can you guess which job I like more? Can you guess which job pays more and thus I stick with it? Yeah, not hard to determine, huh? I am married to a wonderful man Peter who is sitting this trip out.

AK_TRPLAZA_20170520_8039816753 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

He is a manager at Lowe’s and cannot possibly take time off in May when they are getting ready for their big summer season. We’ve been married 7 ½ years now and yes, we Disneymooned! Since he cannot go with me on this trip, my 19 year old (20 on the 18th) daughter Victoria will be my companion.

IMG_5707 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

She is quite the kid, oh, excuse me….young adult! She works full time at Staples as a computer tech and she is also pursuing her degree in English to further go on to becoming a teacher. Yeah, this child FINALLY has a goal. (although we all know young adults ---- this decision could change 10 times before she actually graduates college!) And she may not always do what her Momma wants (green hair, septum piercing and other choices that we won’t get into) I love her with all my heart and soul and am very happy to be doing another Disney trip with her! The rest of our family consists of one 13 yellow lab, 3 cats, 3 rabbits, 1 hamster and many, many chickens!



This trip started out as a solo trip just for me as it’s been one heck of a year and I don’t mean in a good way. I wanted to escape….no, NEEDED to escape real life! The trip with Mom was basically a solo trip as the plan was for her to remain at the resort while I went to the parks. Ah, the best made plans, huh? But after that adventure, I needed a new trip! A do-over shall we say? I am a member of the Disney Vacation Club and an Annual Passholder, so there were discounts available for cash stays. I decided on Pop Century as I’ve seen and heard wonderful things about the remodel and I wanted to stay there. And, let’s face it, it was my cheapest option. I also decided that I wanted to be there on my birthday ---- not “around” my birthday or the month of my birthday, but my actual birthday – May11! I now have my dates ---- May 7th through the 12th (after all, I do have to be home for my Mom on Mother’s Day). It’s not a long trip, but it’s good enough for me! I was able to find some pretty cheap flights, too, so it was a done deal……then, Victoria started sniffing around.



She kept asking me if I was going to be able to have fun alone and if that’s what I really wanted to do. Um, yes honey, I will be fine. Then she was saying that I would have more fun with her and that I really should consider taking her with me. After all, she’s been working really hard and deserves a trip, too. Oh, really? You do, huh? So…..



POP CENTURY, MAY 7TH THROUGH THE 12TH MOMMY & VICTORIA!

untitled by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

 

[abarriger]

I'm so happy you are making it back! I have enjoyed your PTR's in the past. It must be stressful (but also awesome!) to be planning a trip in such short notice! Also-- we're birthday twins! It is also a dream of mine to spend my birthday at Disney, BUT I am a teacher so the chances of that are pretty low.

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Oh, you got here before I added pics!!!! Thank you for the compliment. I do enjoy writing ptr's and Tr's! I hope I won't bore you to tears.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Subbed! Off I go to actually read what you posted!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Shew! Ok. You know I've been waiting, thank you for obliging!

I'm even more excited because you are staying at Pop!!! I'm planning a trip for Sav and i(just 3 nights) Feb 2019, and naturally we will be staying at Pop...do we ever stay anywhere else??

I'm glad Victoria is going with you! I can't believe she s turning 20 and Savannh is turning 18 in the fall. Where did the time go??

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Subbed! Off I go to actually read what you posted!

Yeah, I hope I don't bore you to tears!!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Yeah, I hope I don't bore you to tears!!!

NEVAH!!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

More Details……..



Isn’t there sometimes when you can get a value resort for $74 per night or so? Seems to me I remember something like that not too long ago. Or maybe it was long ago. I’m not sure. I’m just looking over the Disney confirmation email and it states I’m paying $124 per night for POP. Hmmmm……I suppose that’s not too bad. After all we will get Disney transportation and Magical Express and airline check-in, right? Definitely worth it to stay in the middle of the magic! I’ve requested the 80’s/90’s area, so I hope we are placed there.

Pop Century by Craig Cormier, on Flickr

pop century by Renata Weninger, on Flickr

I think the pool area looks so cool and we can just scoot across the parking lot to get to the busses and Classic Hall. Rumor has it that the entire renovation of the rooms will be done by May and I know they did that section already, so I’m sure to get one of the renovated rooms! This will be so different to stay in the 90’s! Last time we were in the 60’s (or 70’s maybe?) facing the lake and that was great, too. This will just be a different experience.

Our outbound flight is EARLY…..5:15 early! OMG!!! We’ve never flown out that early before. That means leaving the house at 3am the latest! That also means we should be arriving in Disney at high noon! (11:58am to be exact). We are going to try to bring only carry-ons for this trip. I wonder if that will really happen, though. Oh, for Victoria it is going to be a piece of cake, but I’m the one who brings the necessities of toiletries, make-up, hair products, etc. It’s going to be a tight fit for me. So, I’ll be bringing my roll on-carryon and my Stitch backpack. I should be able to do it. I’ll have to just make it work. We are flying out on Southwest, but coming back home we are flying JetBlue and I know it’s only $25 for a checked bag, I just don’t want to deal with baggage claim, etc. Let’s make this trip nice and simple, shall we? Our flight back home is a late one and we won’t be home until early morning on Sunday. Hey, the less convenient the flights are, the less expensive they are, right? Our outbound flight was $102 each and the return flight was $132 each. Those are the cheapest flights I’ve ever been able to get so I’m pretty excited about that. Victoria and I are still discussing what she will be financially responsible for. As you can imagine there’s quite a debate going on about this.

Speaking of money, it will be time to do our taxes tonight…….aka let’s see how much money we will have for our other trip to Disney in September. September is our family vacation where we bring Peter along kicking and screaming! No, I’m kidding. He does come willingly. Our September trip will be using the DVC contracts we have but it also means renewing the Annual Passes at $600 a pop. Ok, let’s not think about that quite yet. I have to enjoy planning our May trip first! Although I did just book the September trip today… and had to buy some extra points to make it all work (yeah, shhhhhh……Peter doesn’t know I put it on the credit card yet……let’s just hope the tax refund will cover it…shhhhhhhh!)


So…….here I am back at 9:49pm AFTER doing my taxes. Yeah, um, Poly is going to be a project in savings. We seem to think that when I changed jobs back in August, the powers that be did not update my withholdings correctly. Great! NOT! I was thinking we were going to be getting back about $4,000……yeah, minus $3,000 from that. OMG! Peter came up with a savings plan and if we stick by it, we will be fine for our September trip. I tell you guys if it isn’t one thing, it’s another in my life. But I’m tough…..and we can do this! And yes, Peter now knows that there is an additional charge on his credit card and he was ok with it. He’s so amazingly sweet to me and he will do whatever it takes to give me my dream trip to Disney in the Fall. I really do love that man!


Now, back to the flights. We will have some time in between landing in Baltimore and getting the connecting flight to Orlando, so we usually go to McDonald’s for breakfast. I know….we are living large, aren’t we? I also enjoy sitting in the rocking chairs by the windows and watching the other planes. It doesn’t take much to excite me. Then, on our way!!! I cannot wait. I get so freaking excited to land in Orlando! Off to the Magical Express for us…lining up, waiting to be told which bus to ride on…..yeah, about that…..I HAVE NEVER HAD AN ACTUAL DISNEY BUS FROM THE AIRPORT TO THE RESORT. I mean it! Never! We always seem to be placed on the big yellow Mears bus. Nothing against Mears, but I want a Disney bus to go to Disney!

Disney's Magical Express by Adam Fagen, on Flickr

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Uh yeah, 124$ is a good price, I was just looking and it was 149$ for Pop in February??? (This Feb, 2019 isn't releases yet) and that's not including any percentage off/discounts but I miss the days of cheap pop rooms!

The early flights there are perfect for me because I can't sleep anyway but I'm waffling on a late flight home for the savings! We tried leaving on an early flight, 7am once and it was awful, disney made us go to the airport at 3am! Lol. At least security was a breeze! Late doesn't sound fun either as we have am hour and 45 min drive home from the airport.

I'm glad you figured out finances for the trips, I hate stressing over money for trips but it just is what it is!

 

[Elevationist]

I promised to pop in, so here I am! Great start to your PTR. Our trip dates almost match up, I will be there May 6-11!

 

[klacey1]

Hi Ann! Joining in! It sounds like you have a great trip planned! Honestly I love getting McDonald's for breakfast at the airport too haha. I've had a few sit-down airport breakfasts, mostly when traveling for business, and they've never been as satisfying as a hot hash brown!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Hello All!!! I have more readers!! That is soooo exciting and welcome welcome!!! Thank you for reading along.

So, let's talk about ADR's, shall we? Yeah, I didn't make them at 180 days out. Remember back then it was just going to be myself and I wasn't going to do any table service meals. Miss Victoria changed all that, now didn't she? And that girl loves food. Oh, well who am I kidding, I love my food too! We made a list of favorite restaurants and went from there. We are not used to having such a short trip, so to weed out the list was kind of stressful. What did we decide on?

Arrival Day.....since we'll be there by noon, more than likely we will be hungry (hopefully not HANGRY....I just love that word!) Would you believe this is the one day I haven't booked anything? I don't know what we should do. The usual plan is go to Disney Springs and eat somewhere there. There are sooo many new restaurants there that we've never been to. I'm very interested in the Boathouse, but Victoria is not a big seafood person. I heard of this pizza place there as well, although I don't think it's a table service. Goodness, I can't remember the name of it...oh wait.....is it Blaze?? Something like that? I should go look that up. I will after I write more.

May 8th will be Animal Kingdom day for me (and Victoria for maybe a few hours) so what more perfect restaurant is there......TUSKER HOUSE!!! I have an 8:40am ressie, but I'm going to try to make it a bit earlier if I can get it. Like I said, it's well past the 180 days now so getting exactly what I want has been challenging. Tusker House is a tradition for our family......especially the POG juice baby!! Why can't we find this stuff up here in Maine is my question! This will also be the first character interaction of the trip. I cannot wait to see my characters again. I bet they miss me too, right?

IMG_6018 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

May 9th brings us to the Wave at the Contemporary. We tried this one for the first time during our last trip and it became one of Victoria's favorite. I think her favorite thing was the crème brullee (I don't know how to spell that) for dessert. I like walking around the Contemporary myself. I think it's so cool.

IMG_5811 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

May 10th finds us at the Whispering Canyon Café. This is a major favorite of all of us! Not only is the food wonderful, but the service is amazing! We had such a blast at this one. The food is served family style and it's rich with BBQ fixings. Love, love, love it. We have a ressie for 5:10pm. Yes, we do tend to eat early. Nom Nom!

Whispering Canyon Cafe by Christine Urias, on Flickr

May 11 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!) will be at 1900 Park Fare. Now I'm surprised Victoria wanted this one as she's not heavily into the princesses, although her favorite of the group is Druzella, so she does have fun with her. The food buffet is what attracts both of us. Mmmmmm hungry just thinking about it, especially the carved beef. Oh man, give me a good piece of beef and I'm a happy girl!

1900 Park Fare Sign by disneylori, on Flickr

May 12th is departure day and we have an 8am ressie at O'Hana. Love me some Stitch!!! That blue dude is a true favorite. The food is very good as well. But to me, breakfast food is breakfast food so it's all the same except the characters and the fact that they serve it family style as well. I apparently like family style! The ressie is very early as we don't leave until 7:51pm, but it's the one I could get.

IMG_5747 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

So those are our ADR's.....any comments, concerns, suggestions? Yeah, I want to hear them!!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Love love love Husker House! We are planning on dinner there for our short trip! It's hard for me because all our trips are short and we don't try a lot of new places because we always want to do our favorites!

We went to the wave in 2012, it was nice but it was our last night and I felt rushed to get to MK, so didn't enjoy it like I probably should have. It's good that you are doing breakfast on your last day, are you doing a park after that? I forgot.

We've done 1900 breakfast but never dinner, step sisters always are so fun!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Well, here I am, sitting on the couch, home sick from work due to that blasted nasty cold that most people around me have already had. Lovely! It started in my sinuses and now it's in my chest. The coughing hurts! Hopefully I will be over this soon!! We are now at the 80 day mark. OMG!!! 20 more days and I can make fast passes!! yahooooooo

I'm so happy you are making it back! I have enjoyed your PTR's in the past. It must be stressful (but also awesome!) to be planning a trip in such short notice! Also-- we're birthday twins! It is also a dream of mine to spend my birthday at Disney, BUT I am a teacher so the chances of that are pretty low.

I am so happy you are here and hopefully have come back now that I've added pictures. So, we are birthday twins? Awesome! It will be easy to remember your birthday, won't it? My daughter is going into teaching. What grades do you teach? Victoria is interested in teaching high school age.

Subbed! Off I go to actually read what you posted!

Yeah, my buddy is here!!

Uh yeah, 124$ is a good price, I was just looking and it was 149$ for Pop in February??? (This Feb, 2019 isn't releases yet) and that's not including any percentage off/discounts but I miss the days of cheap pop rooms! The early flights there are perfect for me because I can't sleep anyway but I'm waffling on a late flight home for the savings! We tried leaving on an early flight, 7am once and it was awful, disney made us go to the airport at 3am! Lol. At least security was a breeze! Late doesn't sound fun either as we have am hour and 45 min drive home from the airport. I'm glad you figured out finances for the trips, I hate stressing over money for trips but it just is what it is!

Our ride home from the airport is a little less than 1 hour so I really don't mind the late flights don't bother me.

I promised to pop in, so here I am! Great start to your PTR. Our trip dates almost match up, I will be there May 6-11!

Thanks for stopping by!!! I hope you continue to read on!

Hi Ann! Joining in! It sounds like you have a great trip planned! Honestly I love getting McDonald's for breakfast at the airport too haha. I've had a few sit-down airport breakfasts, mostly when traveling for business, and they've never been as satisfying as a hot hash brown!

YES!!!! Another McD lover! And you are soooo right about those hash browns!!!!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Hi all!!! It is almost fast pass day. Can you believe it? I'm really looking forward to seeing if I'll be able to get one for Flight of Passage at AK. I went on it last September, but Victoria has never done it and I really think she'll love it. Let's get through the days order, shall we?

Day One is Animal Kingdom

IMG_6011 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

with breakfast starting the day at Tusker House. I would really like to try to get an earlier meal time, so I'm going to keep checking to see if someone cancels.

IMG_6018 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

I'm hoping to fast pass Kilimanjaro Safari and FOP, but other than that I'm really not sure. Maybe Expedition Everest, but we usually do this one over and over in the single rider line. Of course it all depends if Victoria is spending the day in the park. Usually she stays for breakfast and that's about it. I'm excited for the new UP bird show --- l love birds!

Day Two will be at Hollywood Studios!!!

IMG_5919 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

and I'll get to see my babe Kylo Ren~~ ah.....love that man! Did you all see that bod in the Last Jedi, did ya, huh? Did ya! Yep, I sure did and I can't wait to buy the dvd so I can watch it over and over and over and over and ov.......ok, you get the picture. Yep, I'm obsessed.....

IMG_5879 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr


So onto fast passes...... this day is pretty easy ---- I fast pass TOT,

IMG_6302 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

RnR, and usually Star Tours, although I'm a big one for changing things up on the fly. As long as I get my TOT and RnR, the rest is gravy!!! I'm anxious to see BatB show as well. I always cry. I just love that show. This is one park that I love just walking around and soaking up the atmosphere. Of course I will watch the Star Wars stage show (they added REY!!!) and the fireworks. HS is always my longest day but soooo worth it.

Day Three is at Magic Kingdom. Fast passes will be Space Mountain, BTMRR,

MK_ROVERMAINSTREET_20170517_8036818047 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

MK_BIGTHUNDERMTN_20170517_8036968557 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

and Haunted Mansion. I must admit this is my least favorite park. I know, I know. Who's least favorite park is MK? OH don't get me wrong, I still love it, but if I have to rate it, that's how it would be. We usually start our day in Tomorrowland and work our way around from there. Maybe we'll change it up a bit.....like maybe hit Fantasyland and try to do Peter Pan and 7DMT before the lines get long. I'm not sure yet. I hate to pan my days to the point where I can't be flexible. Of course I'll want to hit PotC, Jungle Cruise, maybe Splash, too. I'll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

Day Four.......well, what's left, right? Epcot!!! Yay!

IMG_6168 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

Our fast passes will definitely be Soarin, Frozen Ever After and probably Test Track. We love Living with the Land as well, so that's a not to be missed ride. We usually spend morning until night here so it's another long day. It will be the Flower and Garden Festival time so that will be taking a lot of my time. I definitely want to purchase a topiary of Mickey Mouse this time. I regretted not buying one last year.

IMG_6229 by victoriasmom98, on Flickr

I can't believe how short this trip will be and hopefully I can get most of this stuff in. I know I will have more time in September and I'm going to love this little mini trip. I can't wait!!!!

 

[Graciegirl5]

It sounds like you have a wonderful trip planned. I'd love to go with my daughter one day for a mom/daughter trip. I did want to remind you of the tiering of FPs in some of the parks. I know the 3 you listed in Epcot are all Tier 1, so you will only be allowed to choose one of them as part of your original 3. I just didn't want you caught by surprise on your FP day. Good luck and I hope you two have an awesome time!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Gasp! MK is your least favorite park??? Lol, I think I knew that already. Your plan sounds good! I haven't watched any of the new SW movies...I know!

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Ok, shew...I came back after not being on the DIS for a few weeks and thought I might have missed something but it looks like you've been here as much as me!

 

[Victoriasmom98]

Ok, shew...I came back after not being on the DIS for a few weeks and thought I might have missed something but it looks like you've been here as much as me!

Oh, you know me.....busier than a one arm paper hanger!!! I'm working as much as I can at Party City due to that's part of our Disney money now and I must save! (and have play money!) It's now only 47 days to go so things are getting serious. All my fast passes are done and I've organized all the ressies and fast passes into my spreadsheet. I've also been working really hard on finishing all my Disney scrapbooks of prior trips before I leave for this one. That means May 2017, August 2017 and July 2016 so I've been very busy doing those. My final one is August and that's the one I am working on now. It's almost done!!! I now have to make sure that I do both tip envelopes for mousekeeping and dinner servers. But, that's a lot of fun, so I don't mind. So, would you all like to see my plans thus far?


5/7/2018 TRAVEL DAY
6:05 Flight of Passage

5/8/2018 ANIMAL KINGDOM
8:40 Tusker House
10:05 Kilimanjaro Safari
4:05 Flight of Passage
8:35 Rivers of Light

5/9/2018 HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
5:20 The Wave
9:10 Rock n Rollercoaster
10:20 ToT
12:00 Frozen sing a long

5/10/2018 MAGIC KINGDOM
5:10 Whispering Canyon Café
9:25 Space Mountain
11:15 Haunted Mansion
2:25 7 Dwarfs Mine Train

5/11/2018 EPCOT
5:25 1900 Park Fare
9:50 Soarin
11:50 Living with the Land
2:50 Spaceship Earth

5/12/2018 DEPARTURE DAY
8am O'Hana

Of course you all know me......this is subject to change! And it just might! Victoria and her little attitude will be a huge factor. Oh, I know, she's just trying to find out who she is. Oh, Karen, I meant to copy a picture of her new tattoo but I can't find one. I think you'll like it. It has a nice message "love yourself" with a rose, so it's cute. She loves it and that's all that matters.

 

[Twoboysnmygirl]

Oh yes, I want to see it!!

Amazing you got FOP twice for the trip, can't wait to hear about it! And the frozen sing along, that's high on my list to see as well. Your trip is going to be great, we were there at the beginning of May last year and the crowds and weather were good.