Pop, MNSSHP, Surprise trip for me & the kids (9/12-9/19)

[Pixiedust34]

Our Surprise Pop Century Trip with Free Dining and MNSSHP (9/12 to 9/19, 2006)

Pre-Trip Report

Cast of characters:

me (37 y.o)

ds (10 y.o.)

dd (8 y.o.)

We went to WDW in August 05, and have a trip slated for August 07. This September trip was an unexpected bonus. Dh is a teacher and cannot travel off-season, but the kids and I took advantage of the free dining deal. This was the first time I traveled alone with the kids, and it went well.

We started off this trip with reservations in April, though we didn't tell the kids anything about the trip then because we didn't want them to wish their summer away. We used www.themagicforless.com for our reservations and I highly recommend that agency. I also used www.tourguidemike.com to make our day-to-day plans. His advice is right on target.

At the end of summer, it was time to tell the kids. They have not flown since they were infants, and we wanted to give them some time to get used to the idea of flying. Plus we wanted them to have some fun anticipating the trip and understanding that Daddy could not come with us.

On the day we told them about the trip, we told them that we are going to BWI for a science field trip so they can learn about planes and how they take off and land. We went to the airport and observed the planes for a while. The kids had no idea of what was about to happen.

Dh and I made candy bar wrappers with this hidden inside:

>>>
How would you like to be SOARIN’ in September?

Maybe POP into a big EXPEDITION?

You might be in store for a MAGICAL experience, where WISHES come true and the night is FANTASMIC.

Breakfast might have you in STITCHES.

You could find yourself flying SOUTHWEST.

Have you solved the mystery yet? >>



I asked the kids if they wanted a snack at the airport, and of course they said yes. They opened their candy bars and didn't even notice the wrappers! We had to tell them to stop eating and look at the wrapper. They both read it, and sat there with confused looks on their faces. Dd said, "This sounds like all Disney stuff!" Then she said, "Are we going to Disney?!" At that point, we spilled the beans and told them about the trip. They were so excited!



We spent the next month counting down the days, planning, and shopping.

 

[Pixiedust34]

I'll try to add pictures with my posts. I hope it works!

 

[Pixiedust34]

Day 1

Home to MCO, Pop Century, MGM

September 12th was our Big Day!

We woke up the kids at 4 AM to get to the airport. We were at the head of Southwest's A line and were able to sit together, which was good.

Once we landed at MCO at 9:10 AM, we found our way to the Magical Express counter and checked in. We were put on a Mears bus instead of a ME bus, but it was a good ride and they showed the WDW video on the way to the airport.

By 10:40, we were checked into our room at Pop Century. We were in the 50s section (Tramp Building) on the 3rd floor facing the lake and unfinished Pop section. My resort review is below. I ordered a case of water from Staples, which was waiting for us at check in. At first I was told that I had to carry the water myself to our room, but I asked if it could please be delivered with our luggage and they agreed to do that.

We grabbed a late breakfast in the Pop food court. We all had waffles so I had to wait in only 1 line. We also bought our refillable mugs. After breakfast, we went back to our room to freshen up and drop off our mugs. I also got our free ME pins and bought myself a lanyard at the Pop gift shop. The kids already had lanyards, though we were all new to pin trading. The kids and I brought pins we bought online to trade, and we enjoyed the trading throughout the trip.

We went to MGM and the first thing we did was see Meeko at the Hat. Next, we did The Great Movie ride. I forgot about The Alien scene and how much it scared dd the last time we rode it. We gave Star Tours a try. The kids loved it, though I thought it was a bit too jerky. We saw Lights, Motor Action for the first time. It was an excellent show! After that, we lined up for Sorcerer Mickey and we did the Narnia walk through. We had enough time to fit in Voyage of the Little Mermaid before dinner. Dd loves this show! We ate at Sci-Fi (review below).

After dinner, we went back to Pop. Our luggage and water were there. It's always good to see your luggage intact and where it should be! We unpacked, took a walk through the resort to check out all of the buildings, and got some shushies in our mugs.
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Pop Century Review:

Pros:
--The biggest pro is the price. The price is very reasonable for an on site stay!
--The icons are cute and colorful.
--The shadow boxes in the lobby are interesting. We looked at them several times.
--The themeing is cute.
--We loved the slurpee machine!
--The bus service was great! The longest wait we had was 20 minutes, but frequently we waited 10 minutes or less for a bus.
--It was nice to not share the bus with another resort. Once you're on that bus, you go straight to the park. You can't beat that!
--The room was small, but it was adequate for the three of us. I think it would have been adequate with dh, too. We don't need a lot of space.
--The lobby music was fun and fit in well with the resort.
--There are 3 pools, and my kids liked the beach balls. We swam in all 3 pools. The Hippy Dippy was our favorite, followed by the 50s pool. The computer pool wasn't themed as well as the others. The 80s/90s music wasn't playing when we were there. I don't know if the speakers were broken or if they just don't play music at that end. We enjoyed the 50s and 60s music--that added a lot to the theme of the pool!
--Mousekeeping did a pretty good job. We didn't get any towel animals or cute stuffed animal poses, but our room was clean. They came pretty early, before noon.
--The laundry room was clean and the location (right next to the pool) was very convenient.


Cons:
--You could hear neighbors too easily. We were near the elevator, which is convenient for walking, but we heard "ding!" and the ice machine a lot.
--We missed the perks of the moderate resorts. I knew ahead of time that we'd not have those perks, but we still missed them.
--Overall, I wasn't impressed with the food court. It was loud and busy at all times and the lines were long. If we wanted food at different stations, our food was cold by the time we waited in line and were seated.
--Pop Century is bright and loud at all times. There is a lot of action here! That's not a bad thing, but I prefer more of a tranquil setting when we take a break from the park. My kids liked all of the bright colors and action, but I fit in better at a quieter setting that is not "hopping" all of the time.

I would stay at Pop Century again if I were taking a short trip and/or if I were on a tight budget, but I prefer a moderate level resort over Pop Century. We do take breaks in our room and swim a lot, so we use the resort for more than sleeping. That said, Pop Century does have it's good points, and we enjoyed all of the pros of this resort!

Sci-Fi Review:

Me: Tossed salad, cheeseburger and fries, apple cobbler with ice cream
Ds: Spinach and artichoke dip, cheeseburger and fries, cheesecake
dd: fruit and cheese plate, chicken fingers and fries, sundae

This place gets an A+ for atmosphere! My kids sat in the front seat of the car and were given driver's licenses. I sat by myself in the middle seat, and our hitchhikers were a single mom and her son in the back seat. We already met them at Pop and it was funny that they were our hitchhikers! The food was average. I'd eat here again for the atmosphere. It really feels like you're in a drive in movie! I thought it was a perfect dinner to kick off our vacation. The bill came to $72.95, but it was free for us with the free dining plan. Our server did say that we could have milkshakes as our beverages plus dessert, but that would have been too much food so we had regular beverages. Service was great! Our waitress was attentive and prompt.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Day 2 The MAGIC Kingdom!

Today was a Magical Beginnings day at the Magic Kingdom, so we were at the gate at 8:00!

We headed straight to Fantasyland, the only part of the park that was open. We stopped at Tink's Treasures and dd had the chance to wake Tink. She loved it! She is a big Tink fan and collected all Tink pins for her lanyard.

There were a lot of characters out playing games with the younger kids. It was cute to watch. The only characters we saw were Piglet and Tigger because no one else was at the Pooh Playground when we were near there, so we stopped by for a quick hello. We made good use of that hour by fitting in a lot of rides with NO lines, since most of the people were playing with the characters. We did Pooh, Peter Pan, Dumbo (No line at Dumbo! And Stitch was riding Dumbo!), Small World, and the Carousel. Goofy was riding the Carousel.

We high-tailed it to Frontierland at 9:00 to ride Splash Mountain. My plan was to grab a Fastpass (FP) so we could ride it later, and then ride the ride immediately. The FP machines were closed. The cast member (cm) said that crowds are so low that they did not need to use the FP machines. He was right! I've been to WDW only during the summer months and it's always been crowded. What a difference it is crowd-wise in September!

We rode Splash Mountain, my Laughing Place! I love that ride and all of the critters and songs and even the big drop! Then we went to Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (BTMRR), another favorite for me & the kids. Next we were off to Adventureland. The newly rehabbed Pirates of Caribbean (P of C) is great! After P of C, we did the Jungle Cruise and the Tiki Room.

We were ready for lunch and we ate at Columbia Harbour House. After lunch we saw Philharmagic, one of the best films every made! Don't miss this one if you're in the MK! After Philharmagic, we got a FP for Space Mountain to use later after we took an afternoon break. On our way out of the park, we saw Captain Hook.

We went back to Pop for showers and a rest. We wrote some post cards and relaxed. We returned to the MK in time to see the new Dreams parade. It was good! We sat right in front of City Hall.

After the parade, we went to ride Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin. I always have the lowest score. LOL. We also found the statue of Pleakly, one of our favorite characters. I snapped a few pictures of the kids with it.

Next, we rode Space Mountain. The last time I tackled Space Mountain was about 20 years ago. I was scared to get on Space Mountain, but I sucked it up and went on for the sake of the kids. I had the following 3 thoughts in my head during the ride:

1. I will become the next Disney heart attack statistic.
2. How far away is the nearest Lenscrafters? Ds' glasses must have flown off his face by now!
3. When is this ride over!?

The ride finally stopped. I asked the kids if they were OK and they yelled, "Yeah! Let's get in line again!" I was a mean mommy and said, "No." There was no way I was getting on that ride again. Ever. Oh, and ds' glasses were just fine. The kids got a real kick out of the fact that I was too much of a geezer to enjoy Space Mountain.

After that, we ate at Crystal Palace. The buffet was good! My favorite item was the Mediterranean pasta salad. We saw Piglet, Pooh, Tigger, and Eeyore. Eeyore came over and gave me a hug after he visited with the kids. Dd did the parade with the characters and thought that it was the greatest thing next to Space Mountain to be bouncing around with Tigger.

We went to the Carousel of Progress, a favorite and must do for us. Every time the scene changed, the kids said, "Look at the dog!" because they were missing our dog at home. While we were in Tomorrowland, we rode the TTA, which will always be The People Mover to me. We took the trail to Toontown and saw Mickey. After that, we hopped on the train to Frontierland to ride Splash and BTMRR one more time before heading back to Pop.
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Columbia Harbour House Review:

me: Garden Galley Salad
ds: fish & chips
dd: mac & cheese kids meal
We all had chocolate cake for dessert, as that was the only dessert choice.

The food was good. I liked the salad! I didn't try the kids' food, but they seemed happy with what they were eating. It's a quiet place to grab a counter service lunch in the MK. There is seating upstairs, but it wasn't crowded at all when we were there so we sat downstairs.

Here are the kids at Crystal Palace:

 

[Pixiedust34]

Day 3 Epcot

I love Epcot!

We were there at rope drop and got a FP for Soarin. Then we dashed over to the standby line and rode Soarin. I love this ride! Love it, love it, love it! We were wearing crocs so we took off our shoes. It was a good sensation to ride Soarin with bare feet!

After Soarin, we rode Figment's ride twice. We headed over to The Living Seas and did Turtle Talk with Crush. Dude, this is not to be missed! Next, we ventured to Character Connection and saw Merry Poppins, who told us not to slouch for our picture.

We headed to Canada to eat lunch at Le Cellier. My review on that is below. In short: Yum, yum and yum! While in Canada, dd picked up a Kidcot mask.

We rode Test Track and did our Disney Visa Meet & Greet with Minnie and Goofy. We went to Club Cool, which was indeed cool! I was warned about Beverly, and the warning was right on! That's nasty stuff! We did some shopping, picked up our Visa picture, rode Spaceship Earth, and headed back to Pop.

We had dinner at Pop's food court. After dinner, we went swimming at the 50s pool and I did laundry. We also got slushies and then decided to give the Hippy Dippy (that name cracks me up) Pool a try. We weren't there for more than 10 minutes when they had to clear the pool to clean it. Poop happens. Then we went back to the room for the evening.
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Le Cellier Review:

We sat in the Prince Edward Island section. Our server explained the breadsticks to us, and they were warm and fresh.

Me: virgin daiquiri, cheddar cheese soup, filet mignon with mashed potatoes, creme brulee sampler

Ds: Ds is 10 but wanted to order off the kids menu. He had cheddar cheese soup, pasta, a chocolate raspberry shake, and the chocolate "moose."

Dd: cheddar cheese soup, hot dog with corn, a chocolate raspberry shake, and the chocolate "moose"


I have made the soup at home and we like it both here and there! My steak was tender and the potatoes were good. The creme brulee sampler was half vanilla bean and half maple. The vanilla was good. The maple was out of this world! The kids' chocolate "moose" really looked like a moose! It was so cute and clever. This was the best meal we had on our trip.

Here is ds with his chocolate "moose:"

 

[Pixiedust34]

Day 4 The Poly, Pop, and MNSSHP (Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party)

We took the bus to the MK, and then took the monorail to The Polynesian Resort to have breakfast with Stitch and friends. We saw Lilo, Stitch, Pluto, and Mickey. Again, dd enjoyed the parade with the characters. Ds enjoyed the food! I enjoyed sitting back and relaxing. We had cereal bars in the room for breakfast on all of our other mornings, so it was a treat to get real breakfast food. I stayed at The Poly long ago and it's just as I remembered it. It's a lovely resort!

We decided to go to the MK for a MNSSHP map on our way back to Pop. While there, we couldn't resist waiting in line to see Chip & Dale and to have the Photopass photographers take our pictures on Main Street.

We went back to Pop and swam in the Hippy Dippy pool. We had lunch at the Pop food court. After lunch we relaxed in the room and got dressed for MNSSHP. I wore orange shorts and a Pluto Halloween t-shirt. Ds was a pirate and dd was Tink.

We returned to the MK around 3:00. The first thing we did was stop at the barber shop on Main Street. Dd got pixie dust in her hair for MNSSHP. She loved it! Since ds waited so patiently while dd was getting pixie dust, I told him that he could pick the next ride. He picked P of C. He wanted to ride it while wearing his pirate costume. After Pirates, we rode Splash and then took the train to Main Street to get our MNSSHP bracelets.

We had dinner at Casey's. We got a table inside, and when ds was finished with his hot dog he enjoyed watching the old movies. Dd is a s-l-o-w eater, and it was nice for her to not rush through a meal because the movies were keeping the kids entertained. Ducks kept walking right into the restaurant looking for food.

After dinner, we rode Buzz's ride again, and then the People Mover. We headed over to Fantasyland and did Philharmagic and Snow White.

Then the big moment came: The voice from the Haunted Mansion came over the speakers and MNSSHP began! The kids and I dashed over to a nearby trick-or-treat station to discover that the candy wasn't there yet. We rode Pooh, and by the time we were finished with the ride, the candy was there! WooHooooo! Trick or treats in the Magic Kingdom! It doesn't get better than that.

It started to rain right when the party started, but we saw some characters. Corella told dd to "fly off to Neverland!" We went T or T'ing through Fantasyland and on the Toontown Trail. We stopped at the dance party in Cosmic Rays (no characters ???) and then we went to the dance party in Fantasyland and saw Chip & Dale dressed at pirates dancing with the kids and Suzie and Perla. By now, it was POURING down rain. I thought that the first parade would be canceled for sure. We were already wet, so we decided to head to Frontierland to T or T. On our way there, the parade started! It was raining hard and I couldn't believe that they were having the characters out in that weather. We had planned on watching the second parade, but since we were right there and the first parade started, we watched it on the spot. It was a great parade! If it weren't for the rain, I would have taken some pictures. The floats, characters and music were all festive and we loved the Halloween theme!

After the parade, the rain slowed down to a drizzle. We took shelter in the rose garden. I gave dh a call on my cell phone and we waited for HalloWishes. We watched HalloWishes from the Tomorrowland Bridge. It was a good show! The castle was spooky with ghost images flying across it. After the fireworks, we decided on 1 more ride before heading back to Pop. The kids wanted to stay longer, but I could tell that they were dragging. We rode the Teacups since we didn't do that already. Main Street looked great with all of the buildings in different colors and with ghosts dancing across the buildings!

We headed back to the room before the 2nd parade started. Dd fell asleep on the bus. I sat next to some Steelers fans on the bus and dh would have loved to have chatted with them. We got back to Pop a little after 11:00. I couldn't believe how many people were eating in the food court and swimming in the pools! That place is always rocking!

 

[Pixiedust34]

Day 5 Epcot

Yippee! More time at Epcot!

We slept in this morning because of our late night last night. Once we were up, we headed to Epcot. We grabbed a FP to ride Soarin later, and waited in the standby line to ride it then. We were disappointed that Living with the Land was under rehab.

We had lunch at The Garden Grill (review below). After lunch, we rode Soarin with our FP, sent some e-cards at Innovations, and rode Figment's ride again.

Garden Grill lunch:

We spent a chunk of the afternoon in The World Showcase. Our first stop was Mexico. We did the boat ride and made a video to send home at the Kidcot station. Next, we went to Norway for the boat ride and for dd to get her Kidcot stuff. I told the kids that we are not visiting every country on this trip and that we would save that for next time when dh is with us. We backtracked and took the boat over to Germany. That was another Kidcot stop and we stopped to see the Hidden Mickey on the train. We did Italy long enough for dd to get her mask token and stamp.

Our next stop was The American Adventure, a must see for ds because he is a history buff. The Hall of Presidents was closed for rehab during our trip, but seeing The American Adventure made up for it. He loves that show!

We stopped at Japan to try Kaki Goris, Japanese snowcones. YUM! They were refreshing! The drummers were there so we watched that while we ate our Kaki Goris. Next, we went to Morocco and dd posed for a picture with Jasmine. We took the boat back to Canada.

The kids wanted to revisit Club Cool, so that's what we did. This time, no one drank the Beverly. We had our 2nd Disney Visa Meet & Greet with Minnie and Goofy. We had dinner at The Sunshine Seasons at The Land. I had a chicken Caesar salad, which was fresh and good. The kids got mac & cheese kids meals at the same location. For dessert, I had the Soarin brulee (citrus flavor--a nice tie in with the orange groves in the film) and the kids had Butterfinger brownies.

We rode Spaceship Earth, and picked up our Visa picture. Then we headed back to Pop for the evening.

Garden Grill Review:

This restaurant revolves over Living with the Land. The kids got a big kick out of eating in a revolving room where the scenes change. The food is served family style. We had a platter of turkey, flank steak, catfish, mashed potatoes, and vegetables. The kids had a platter of mac and cheese, chicken fingers, and french fries. The turkey was a bit dry, and the flank steak was OK. I am normally not a seafood fan at all, but I gave the catfish a try. It was surprisingly good! It was my favorite meat of the 3 offered. The mashed potatoes were pretty good, and the veggies were crisp and fresh. The catfish, potatoes, and veggies were my favorite parts of the lunch. Dessert was excellent! Even though ds is 10 and an "adult" by Disney dining standards, our waitress brought him the kids dessert so he and dd could both decorate their own cupcakes. The adult dessert was a pastry filled with fruit. It was very good!

We saw Mickey, Pluto, and Chip & Dale all dressed in farmer attire. The characters came around twice and were great with the kids! Pluto stuck around the longest and played with us for a while. Overall, The Garden Grill was a good dining experience. We left with full tummies and with good memories of the characters.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Day 6 MGM

We had planned on seeing Fantasmic, but I thought that staying in the park from morning until 8:30ish would be a long time for the kids. We had an early dinner ADR at 3:30, so it would have been impossible to take an afternoon break and to see our morning shows plus be there for dinner. In the morning, I asked the kids whether they'd like to stay all day to see Fantasmic or if they'd like to come back after dinner and go swimming. They picked swimming, hands down.

Our first stop at MGM was the first aid station because I had a horrible blister and wanted to see if they had moleskin. I got some moleskin and the nurse was very nice. Next we went to see some characters under the Hat. While there, Lightening McQueen and Mater drove by!

Next we rode Star Tours again. 3:30 is an "off" time for us to eat. I decided to skip lunch and buy a late, light breakfast to hold us over until dinner. We stopped at ABC Commissary and bought 3 kids meals for a late breakfast. It was enough to hold us over until our dinner time.

We saw the Muppets 3-D movie and the Indiana Jones show. That show is one of ds' favorite attractions in all of the parks. I made sure we got there early and had good seats. He loves that show!

Next, we headed over to see Beauty and Beast. We've never seen that show and we thought it was very good. We did the Mgic of Disney Animation presentation for the first time, too. Mishu was cute! After that, we saw Elasta Girl, my hero!

The kids needed some run around time after sitting through all of the shows, so I took them to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground. I sat and relaxed (why don't they have benches for the parents in there?) and the kids played and played. They loved the spider web! I didn't take any pictures because it was too crowded to pose the kids.

We went to Mama Melroses for dinner (review below), and headed back to Pop right after dinner. We went to the Hippy Dippy pool for quite a while. We decided to give the computer pool a try, so we walked down there. We swam for a while and walked back lakeside to our room in the 50s section. I wonder if they will every finish building the Legendary Years section?
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Mama Melroses Review:

Walking into Mama Melroses is as comfortable as slipping on your favorite pair of jeans. The atmosphere is right on with imitating your neighborhood Italian restaurant! It is the perfect location to take a little break from the crowd at MGM. It's nice & relaxing.

I explained to our waitress that we planned on skipping the Fantasmic show even though we were getting the Fantasmic Dinner Package, and she agreed to pass our certificate to another family.

We started with the tossed salad, which was OK. I almost always order salads at restaurants, and I'd rank this one as average. We had our choice of 4 flatbreads (pizzas) and the 4 cheese one was the only one my kids would eat without complaint, so that's the one I ordered. It was very good! I ordered the oven-baked Chicken alla Parmigiana and that was also excellent! The portion was huge. 1/3 of it was all I could eat. Next to Le Cellier, Mama Melroses was our best meal. Both kids had pasta from the kids menu. For dessert, I ordered the Tiramisu, which was sooooooo good! It was right up there with that maple creme brulee as my favorite sweet of the trip! The kids had chocolate gelato.

Service here was good. Our waitress said that she would space out our food because they usually bring one dish right after another. I told her we were in no hurry because we were just going back to the room after dinner. She timed our courses just right and was prompt with drink refills.

 

[Pixiedust34]

Day 7 The Magic Kingdom

This was our last full day of our vacation. In the morning we were at the MK at rope drop and re-rode our favorite rides. We had lunch at Tony's Town Square (review below).

After lunch, we went back to Pop. The kids rested while I packed all of our luggage. I arranged for bell services to pick up our luggage at 8 AM the following morning.

We went back to the MK and had dinner at Pecos Bill. While in Frontierland, we stopped by the pin trading location. A cm asked dd if she'd play tic-tac-toe with her. They played 3 games and dd got a Magical Moments certificate.

We headed back to City Hall to check in with our SW flight and to get boarding passes. Once again, we were in the A group and happy! We stopped at The Emporium to do some shopping. One of the Main Street characters (Streetmosphere people) came up to ds and chatted with him a little. We rode a few more rides. Our last MK ride was BTMRR.

We staked out some seats for Spectromagic in Liberty Square. I sat next to Steelers fans again! I saw the Main Street Electrical Parade many years ago, but we've never seen Spectro. It was great! We loved the lights and the floats. I kind of missed the old Main Street Electrical tune, though. I'll need to see Spectro again to make that song "fit" with the parade in my mind.

After Spectro, we headed to Main Street to the flag pole area to watch Wishes. I would have liked to have watched it from another location, but since we had an early morning the next day I wanted to be out of the park as quickly as possible. Wishes was new to us, too. As I said before, dd is a big Tink fan. As soon as I saw Tink fly from the castle, I lifted dd in the air to make sure she got a view of that for a few seconds. Dd said, "Wow! Is that a person pretending to be Tink, or is that the REAL Tink?!" I told her that I was too far away to tell, but since we were in the Magic Kingdom that it was probably the real Tink. That made her day! The fireworks were great!

We rode back to Pop and went straight to bed.

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Tony's Town Square Review

Dd is a big Lady and the Tramp fan. She even wore a Lady and the Tramp t-shirt this day! We liked the atmosphere of the restaurant and all of the Lady & the Tramp pictures on the wall. I had read that you can ask your server for Lady and the Tramp's paw print autographs from the kitchen area, but our server knew nothing about this.

Anyway, we all had spaghetti and meatballs for entrees to keep with the Lady and the Tramp theme. The portions were big, and again none of us could finish our entrees. The meatballs were good. The sauce was not remarkable in any way. It was average, at best. For appetizers, I got the tossed salad. I did like this salad better than the ones at Sci-Fi (not an impressive salad at all) and Mama Melroses (an average dressing, IMHO). Ds had the artichoke dip with toast. I took a bite and that was quite tasty! He enjoyed it. Dd had a fruit cup. Dessert for dd was an ice cream sundae served on top of a Mickey ears chocolate chip cookie. It was rather big for a kid's sundae! Ds and I were given the dessert platter to share. It had 2 canollis (yum!), tiramisu (good, but not nearly as good as the one at Mama Melroses), and amaretto cheesecake (major YUM! on that cheesecake!).

It was a fun meal because of the Lady and the Tramp atmosphere and overall we enjoyed the food. It's nice to have a relaxing meal at the Magic Kingdom. Our bill came to over $90, but it was our last free table service meal on our free dining plan.

Other than the autograph thing, our server was pretty good. However, she kept calling ds by the wrong name. We tried to figure out if she was using a Prince's name or a name from the Lady and the Tramp movie, but it kind of baffled us. Is there a prince Alex? Or is there an Alex in the movie? Just wondering. Anyway, she was prompt with drink refills and stopped by plenty of times to see if we needed anything. It was a nice lunch!

 

[Pixiedust34]

Day 8 Animal Kingdom, MCO to home

We were up and dressed early so our luggage would be ready for bell services. We went down to the lobby to check out, and then we hopped on the AK bus. I love AK and wish we could have spent a full day there. I also wanted to try Expedition Everest, but we will wait until dh is with us on our next trip so both kids can sit with a grown up in case they get scared. My ds is scared of the Haunted Mansion, so I figured that the Yeti might not be good if he's sitting alone.

We were at AK at rope drop and we dashed over to Kilimanjaro Safari to grab a FP for later. Next we saw the first Festival of the Lion King show. It was spectacular! Then we headed to K Safari and used our FP, which was a waste because the FP line met up right where the regular line ended. Had I known that, we wouldn't have walked there first thing at park entrance. We enjoyed the safari ride. Our favorite part was the baby elephants.

We had lunch at Tusker House. I had the chicken, mashed potatoes, and green beans. It was good and fresh! Everything on my plate was very yummy for counter service food! Next we moved onto It's Tough to Be a Bug, which terrified dd. I stopped to buy our Photopass CD on the way out of the park.

We took the bus back to Pop. I had 6 snack credits left. We bought 3 Mickey ice cream bars to eat then, and I bought the kids rice krispie Mickeys to bring home and myself a box of mints.

We killed a little time in the kids lounge at Pop watching cartoons, and then we headed outside to wait for our ME bus. There were hoola hoops and sidewalk chalk for the kids to use while waiting for the ME bus--Disney thinks of everything!

Our flight was delayed due to a bad storm in Orlando, but we made it home safe and sound. It was so good to see dh again! We missed him sooooooooo much during the trip. We had fun, but it wasn't the same without him. This is the first time I've traveled alone with the kids, and we made a great team! We were not without occasional meltdowns or bumps in the road, but we traveled together well. Everyone pitched in and carried his own weight (literally, in luggage and food trays) and we made a lot of happy memories. It was a great trip!

The end! : )

 

[ampc3]

what a great trip! You are brave to go by yourself, not sure I would be up for that just yet, but what memories that will have

 

[luvpooh]

I really enjoyed your trip report! Your kids are adorable!
Sounds like Sept is a good time to go, crowd-wise

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

What a nice trip you had! Looks like you had a great time and just went with the flow! I have been traveling with my kids without another parent for years now. You'll be amazed at how the kids will pick up the slack when given a little extra responsibility. We leave Friday! Can't wait! Glad you had a great trip!

 

[Sooze]

Thanks for sharing your trip. Sounds like your kids did very well for you. Wishing I could spend more than 4 days at Disney World because you seem to get to relax and take it more slowly.

 

[SamIAm21]

Can I assume that you are a "podperson" and if you don't get what I mean, please don't take it the wrong way. A certain podcast out there advertises the travel agent you used and that's why I am wondering.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, are you a fan of Lou & Nathan?

 

[Pixiedust34]

Thanks, everyone! I have to say that I was nervous about traveling alone with the kids, but everything fell into place just fine. I wouldn't hesitate to take them to WDW alone again if we ever have the opportunity to go. It was a fun trip!

Sam, I don't know what a podperson is nor do I know Lou and Nathan. TMFL did a great job for me for our 05 trip when I had to reschedule everything at the last minute for an emergency surgery, so I'm a loyal customer. : )

It's hard to believe that we were in the Magic Kingdom only a week ago today. It seems like much more longer than that! We've been playing WDW music every day and using our Pop mug all of the time to keep up the magic.

 

[Nee Nee and Biddy]

Your children are so adorable! It's sounds like you had a great trip and made some good memories!

 

[SamIAm21]

That's okay if you don't know. Lou and Nathan are hosts of a podcast that advertises TMFL agency and I thought maybe I'd found another "podperson" on the DIS. Podperson is just a silly name the hosts of the podcast gave to everyone who listens in every week!

Thanks for the great report. You did your trip exactly the way I want to do mine this coming November. Lots of park action mixed in with rest and naps to keep everyone happy and healthy.

 

[Lan]

I enjoyed your trip report. Your kids are cute.

 

[Glendamax]

Day 3 Epcot
Then we dashed over to the standby line and rode Soarin. I love this ride! Love it, love it, love it! We were wearing crocs so we took off our shoes. It was a good sensation to ride Soarin with bare feet!

I am soooo glad I took my shoes off too, when I rode this a few weeks ago! It was great! Glad to see I'm not the only one!

I really enjoyed reading your report - especially how you did your restaurant reviews! It sounds like you had a really good time. You guys did alot while you were there. I know it will be much sweeter when your husband comes along the next time!

Great Review!
-G