DAY 2 - Part 1
Sept. 21st, 2014 - Sunday
Pop Century Check-In
So my morning didn't start out very magical.
A night of rolling in and out of mattress craters like I was the Mars Rover made it so that my neck greeted me at sunrise in the following fashion:
The right side of my neck, from base of my skull all the way to my shoulder, was in horrendous pain from sleeping wrong. Booooo! But... deep breaths.. Going to Disney World today... No... Big... OW OW OW... Deal...
Got up and got dressed, and wandered on down to the lobby for breakfast. It was a pretty decent buffet, lots of hot items. Crowded, though. Was moving gingerly, but I could feel the pain slowly improving, so I sat and people-watched for a bit after eating, drinking my juice. (They had this delicious kiwi strawberry cocktail that I couldn't get enough of!)
Finally headed back to my room, and still had some time before I had to go. Suddenly the lightbulb went off...
One of those "last minute items" that I randomly threw in my suitcase totally on a whim... JUST IN CASE... was my heating pad. It was in the big suitcase, which was still in the car, so I instantly went out to grab that sucker. Brought it back in my room and laid down with it rolled under my neck, and oh my god...
That thing was
exactly what I needed! Well, that paired with a couple of Aleve.
I laid there for about an hour until check-out at 11am. When I got up to gather my things, it pain was just a fading twinge. I was ready to rock now! Threw my overnight bag in the car, checked out of the Clarion, and off to Pop Century I went!
When I was driving in the day before, I was so focused on traffic that I wasn't able to do what I usually do, which is look around around for WDW icons... Spaceship Earth, Tower of Terror, etc... to know I'm REALLY REALLY there finally. This was a bit of a disappointment. So as I hit the WDW property, and first saw Expedition Everest, then others, I just started... screaming. Like a lunatic. While driving. It was pretty intense. It was also pretty ridiculous.
#thingsyoucanonlydosolo
I had given myself an hour to get to Pop Century, given the traffic craziness, but in reality it only took me about 15 minutes and I was pulling into the parking lot! (Cue more fangirly screaming.)
After managing to moderately compose myself, I headed into the lobby for the first time.
I was surprised at how long the line was for check-in at this early hour! I didn't mind, though. Eventually it was my turn and a gentleman with a tablet pulled up my reservation, and pointed out that it was showing two people in the room... both with my name. Erm...
He called over somebody from the Concierge end of the desk, and put me with her after explaining the situation. He name was Stephanie, and she was from Las Vegas (at least according to her name tag). I am here to tell you... Stephanie was a freakin' Disney HERO.
She was just fantastic. She had NO idea what was going on with me being duplicated on my booking, but she went above and beyond to find out how to sort it out for me. She literally had the desk phone in one hand calling one number, and her cell phone in another calling another one, until she found somebody who could correct it. Just amazing! I was perfectly happy standing there chatting away with her while she sorted it out, and eventually, all was well with my reservation once again.
Then came time for the room assignment, and While I had gotten my 1st Floor, 50s Section, Close to Transportation requests, I did not get the King bed. This was of particular importance to me, because I use an
ECV in the parks due to some health issues (Lupus & Fibromyalgia) that bring with them chronic pain and inflammation when I do too much. This was to be my first time renting one from off-property, and I couldn't imagine trying to get the thing squeezed into a room with two double beds!
So she went to work, seeing what was out there and available for me. She went in the back for a few minutes to get approval, and came back and said she had a King Bed, 50s section, Building 1, First Floor, AND... it was already clean and ready. But it was Handicap Accessible with a roll-in shower, was I okay with that?
And then she explained why she needed to go in the back for approval. I had booked a Preferred room, but this one was actually considered a Standard, but it was VERY close to the Preferred section in the building. However, because it was a price decrease, they would be putting a $73.00 credit on my room charge account. ...Seriously?!
When that was all said it done, I'd now been standing there with her for about an hour. So. She told me to make up for all trouble with my check-in, she'd would like to give me THREE ADDITIONAL FASTPASSES.
I just had to tell her what date/attraction I wanted each one for, and she would make the FP available from park open to close, whenever it was convenient for me to use it that day. And because I suffer from SDPS (Severe Disney Planning Sickness), well
of course I had handy the print-out of my 10-page Excel file with my daily itineraries, including park hours, FP+, and ADR times. So it only took me a moment to tell her where to assign those babies!
So then I was off to my room! Moved my car around to closer to Bldg 1, and grabbed my suitcase and overnightbag from the back, and went off in search of Room 1103.
Following the signs, I emerged from a hallway and met this lovely Lady...
And as it turned out, I was only three doors down from her!
And the room pics...
Got my fridge all loaded up and ready to go for the week ahead...
Home sweet home for the next 6 nights!
Up Next... Lunch at Everything Pop!, and Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party!
Welcome!
I'm flattered! Welcome! 
I'll get on it right now, I promise! Hahaha. 
Awww, love Lady! How fun to be able to see her every day. 
