POP'n back for a visit - 03/11-03/18 - Family of 7

[DH-2-mamaduck]

After our meet & greet with SnowWhite, we move on to Germany, where the beer is tempting, but the chocolate is even more tempting.

...continue the stroll... these are on our way to France (where we stop for Crepe's and Espresso)

In the UK now...

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

So my oldest DD's love the boy band One Direction, so of course we have to get pics of the phone booths in the UK. Probably the only pay phones they will ever see in their lives. DD2 and DD3 wanted to make a phone call.

..moving on. Also by now, it is pretty warm out from what we are use to. DD2 is getting pretty cranky. Started back when we left Germany. We continue the stroll as we are headed to TestTrack to use our FP. DD2 is now EXTREMELY cranky, hot and tired (plus teething). DW takes DD2 back to resort. I end up having to cancel our ADR at Biergarten :sad

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

I like the TestTrack remodel. Like all the mini-games to play.

DS and I designed a truck:

DD14 and DD11 with DD3 designed a car:

Well, I guess DD's design ranked higher (maybe I should have skipped the plasmadrive & gas-guzzl'n engine). I do have a test drive video: http://parklink.disney.go.com/media/ap/parklink/cards/testtrackvideo/video.html#testtrackvideo/2014-03-14/9db2621571664c16

DD14 will get her drivers license this fall. She has been asking for a truck.

But I think she'll be happy with a car (she will get what DW and I buy her).

After TestTrack, everyone is pretty hot and tired. We decide to make our way back to the resort and go swimming. We grab some iced coffees at Starbucks on the way out. Snap a few more pics.

We make it to the bus stop and waiting for our bus. AoA bus shows up, so we hop on that and will just walk over to Pop. We arrive at AoA and DD3 loves all the pics on the wall and starts dancing.

We are back at PoP. Take the kids swimming and order (2) Pizzas for dinner. The pizza at Pop is pretty good (probably the only good tasting food there). I get the kids tucked in bed and there is DD2 putting her shoes on saying "Go walk."

So DD2 and I head out for a stroll. DW gets DD3 to sleep and meets me and we walk around the lake through AoA and back.

Again, PoP and AoA at night are wonderful. It is pretty quiet, not too many out and makes a nice peaceful walk after another day.

 

[BOG Obsessed]

Following along
Great TR so far. We stayed at POP this Christmas, was perfect for our family.
Cant wait to read on with your family's adventure in DW.

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

It's 4am and I'm awake, toss and turn until 5:30 and get up. At 5:50 I get DD14, DD11, and DS9 up as we have Guided Fishing Excursion at 7am. 6:15 and we head to the Lobby and no cabs out front so ask one person and they say talk to this person who send met to another who sends me to another who sends me to that cab van who pulled up. The Cabbie said he was waiting for someone else who called the cab so we have Pop staff call up new cab...

Short ride over to Yacht Club ($10). Since we have time to kill, I have the kids get a bite to eat from the little bakery/coffee shop. We wander out to the Marina, still dark. Let them know we are here and they said give them 10 minutes.

A little stroll along the walk and snap some pics.

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

Back to the boat / pontoon. Barry, a Florida native, is our guide this morning. 7am, still dark but getting lighter out. We motor off the bay through the channel over to Epcot. We tie up just around the channel at the start of the UK pavilion. Barry gets the rods out and baits them up with shiners (~3 inch long bait fish) through the mouth using a circle hook. No weight, no bobber - just let the shiner swim.

For those non-fisherman, a circle hook was designed to prevent gut-hooking for best catch & release practices. WDW is all catch & release.

My 3 oldest are on the front of the pontoon, i'm on back. We have all 4 lines in the water and now waiting for the sun to rise.

I set a few fun rules with the kids:
1. First to catch a fish gets $20
2. You must hold your won fish for a picture
3. If you don't catch a fish, you swim back to the dock

Our bait eater bird to clean up our dead-bait:

The sun is coming up...get ready!

BAM!

The $20 Large Mouth Bass goes to DD14

DS9 snags a Bluegill:

We untie, pull up anchor, and move over to the Light house pier by Yacht/Beach Club....

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

We are in ~5ft of water and you can see right to the bottom and see the bass. We are close to shore and a cast distance away from the Yacht Club / Beach Club lighthouse pier.

DS lands one:

I nab another:

and another...

and another...

DS9 pulls one in:

DD14 another nice sized one:

Poor D11 has yet to get one and getting worried she will be swimming back to the dock. Well, her luck is about to change with these two:

We pull anchor and make our way over to DHS:

DD11

DD14:

DS9:

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

We arrive at Disney Hollywood Studios floating dock where the ferry ties up. It is now good and sunny and getting warm out. It doesn't take long and...

One Bass

Two Bass

Three Bass

#4

#5

#6

#7

Missed a pic of a few (DD14 caught another nice one that I missed a picture of. Barry did take a few pics of us when we were all done:

...and the trip is over. What a blast! All the kids had a good time. 7am start, 7:35 sunrise over Epcot, catching 15-17 Largemouth Bass. It now ~9:30 and we are back at the dock and take a cab back to Pop to meet up with DW and head to DHS.

 

[virgievirgie]

Wow.. you guys caught so many fish! Great trip report. I'll be going to WDW for the first time next month and staying at Pop as well. Thanks for sharing!

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

We arrive at DHS and looks like Cheer competition today. Lots of

Today is our only ADR Character meal. We did Hollywood & Vine for Disney Jr. for DD3 and DD2. Doc McStuffins, Handy Manny, Jake the Neverland Pirate, and Sophia the First.

DW and DD2:

DD3

Jake wanting the treasure:

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

After lunch, we take a journey on the Great Movie Ride
DW takes DD2 over to Playhouse Jr Live while rest of us on StarTours. Was 20 mins on the app but got there and was 30 so use our FP.

Then of course we need to go play on the speeder:

We go see Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney, and then meet up with DW at store where we get MagicBand Accessories.

Over to Rock & Roller Coaster, where we take turns for FP. DW, DD11, DS9 go, then DD14 and I go. Over to Tower of Terror and do the same. DD14, DD11, DD3 and I go on.

Wan't paying attention:

After we are done, DW and DS9 go on and I hang out with little ones.

By now we are all getting pretty tired. We have dinner at the Yacht Club, so we catch the Ferry and hang out for a while.

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

I think this is where WDW sends the trainees and last chance employees. I should have looked for reviews. I never heard so much stuff dropped back in the kitchen and restaurant.

I was extremely disappointed in this place and would not recommend it to anyone. You will get a better dinner at Perkins than this place. Pure #@&@-hole.

Captains Grill @ Yacht Club
Atmosphere:
Service:
Food:
Menu Options:
Price:

 

[daisymomof4]

Hi there! I'm enjoying your TR a lot so far - what a lovely family you have

I don't read a lot of TRs but since I'm close to my trip I was thinking it'd be a good way to pass some time since most of my planning and prepping is done at this point. I haven't come across any with fishing expeditions in them and I am just gobsmacked by the amount of fish you guys caught, and I can't stop thinking how much my kids would love it! So now I am sitting here (at 12:40am) thinking I need to look in to a fishing trip for us in a couple weeks, lol. Maybe I'm not as done with planning as I thought I was!

Thanks for sharing with us!

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

Hi there! I'm enjoying your TR a lot so far - what a lovely family you have

I don't read a lot of TRs but since I'm close to my trip I was thinking it'd be a good way to pass some time since most of my planning and prepping is done at this point. I haven't come across any with fishing expeditions in them and I am just gobsmacked by the amount of fish you guys caught, and I can't stop thinking how much my kids would love it! So now I am sitting here (at 12:40am) thinking I need to look in to a fishing trip for us in a couple weeks, lol. Maybe I'm not as done with planning as I thought I was!

Thanks for sharing with us!

We had such a great time fishing! I'm kicking myself for not doing it in our 2009 trip so made sure we did it this time. It will be on the to-do list for every visit from now on.

We did the 7am (sunrise was 7:35 at the time) and fished until about 9:20 or 9:30.

Look forward to hear about your fishing experience @ WDW

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Joining in!

Love all of your pictures. I think the ones from Epcot are my favorite.

LOL on the conversation with Crush. Cute!

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

Everyone is tired and we are hoping to catch Illuminations @ Epcot. DW takes DD2 for a lap around the boardwalk and over in to Epcot. I take the rest over to Beaches & Cream for dessert. I couldn't figure out why my kids were laughing at me until they told me that I just put the garbage in the towel return for the pool. I mean c'mon, it looks just like a garbage can.

I couldn't reach it to retrieve it, so sorry Beach Club staff.

After dessert, we meet up with DW at Epcot who was on her way out DD2 is not very happy. We take a break on the bridge looking in to Epcot to try to catch the Fireworks. DD2 and DD3 are not happy and want to go. So our options are:
1. Walk to entrance @ Epcot and catch bus
2. Ferry to DHS and catch bus
3. Tire cranky kids and want to get back ASAP... I hail a cab van @ Boardwalk and back in no time.

We tuck in the kids and call it a night.

Tomorrow's adventure: Downtown Disney & Magic Kingdom

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

Sorry for the photo issue. 10GB of bandwith burned up in 5 days. I'll move pictures to another location to share (or wait until next month for Photobucket bandwidth to reset).

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

It is 9:45am and we are off to Downtown Disney to do some shopping and have lunch.

I think DW is still tired ...

That's better (ad DD14 photo-bomb)

First Stop: Disney's Days of Christmas to get an ornament:

Second Stop: Goofy's Candy Company

After 15 minutes of the fun mirror, we step outside to eat our goodies.

Mike Wazowski:

After watching the volcano erupt, we make our way to the carousel:

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

Once Upon a Toy:

Anyone else's kids reading these? DD12 read through one at the store and said she liked it. I have not yet checked for Kindle...I'll have to go do that.

DD14 is still my princess

Next up, World of Disney: where we purchase or refrigerator magnet (we get one from every vacation/trip we go on)

It is now getting close to our ADR for T-Rex, so Lego store will have to wait, but snap a few shots as we wander by:

Ogopogo???

 

[DH-2-mamaduck]

T-Rex @ Downtown Disney
Atmosphere:
Service:
Food:
Menu Options:
Price:

We sat in the ice cave and is it hard on the eyes... it is cool, but the changing of the colors as your are looking around can be a bit tough.

After lunch, we hit the Lego store then back to the bus stop, back to Pop. DW gets DD2 down for a nap and rest of us go for a swim. This evening we are gong back to MK to close down the park!