"WAIT! You Never Told Me POP Is Really a Half Century!" a PTR

[beckyx3]

I had these grand plans of starting a PTR around 50 days out. Then life happened. It took a little time and patience, but I'm here and able to start. Now we're just 33 days away from our trip, but before I get into the details, how about I introduce the cast.

Me:

That's me, Bec. Don't let the picture fool you, I'm not a runner. A friend asked me to run the Phillies 5K with her this year, and since I've been a fan since the age of 3 (Philadelphia fans start their kids young) I decided to give it a try. I'm not a runner by nature so it wasn't pretty . My day job involves me working in a cubicle. Even though I do have a job, I'm still not sure what I want to be when I grow up. When I'm not watching baseball or trying to run 5Ks, I'm busy planning imaginary Disney vacations. I've been to Disney World more times than I can count. I love every little detail and Disney History is just fascinating to me. My favorite park is the Magic Kingdom and my favorite resort is the Beach Club. This is my first trip I've really gotten to plan, and I LOVE it!

Meet my travel partner:

This is DBF. Rick and I have been together for over 4 years and I have to say, I'm the luckiest girl alive. Rick is well on his way to becoming a pharmacist, he has less than a year left. He likes baseball too, the first time we hung out was at a Phillies game . He's the smartest guy I know and, BONUS, he loves Disney! Like me, Rick has been going to Disney with his family for a looong time. He loves the parks and the history just like I do. He also loves all of the old run down stuff. His dream is to see River Country but he would never act on it. Rick's favorite park is Epcot and his favorite resort is the Poly. He is slowly but surely coming around to the idea of DVC, we'll see how that goes!



So that's us! In the early early stages, this trip was going to be with some friends. My best friend ended up getting a second nursing job scared so she and her BF had to back out. It kind of snowballed from there. Rick and I appreciate the time alone though, so I'm happy it'll be just the two of us.

Our dates are August 10-August 16 and we are staying at POP. It'll be the first time either of us will be staying there. We're really excited to try a new resort.

This is my first PTR so I hope someone enjoys it, if not, it'll help the time go by faster. Let me know if you decide to follow along. It's always nice to get some feedback and some hellos.

 

[beckyx3]

So how about a story?
How did this trip come to be?

Well we'd have to go back 2 years.
In March of 2011, we decided to visit Disney. It had seemed like the natural thing to do. We usually go away to the Outer Banks with my family and we had never gone away on our own. Disney seemed like the obvious choice. We booked through Southwest vacations and we stayed at the Dolphin for 5 days in the beginning of July. We had a blast. We ate at the Boardwalk Bakery almost every morning and even had dinner at Ohana the first night. We spent 4 days in the parks but it felt way too short. We didn't do much that required planning. We had base tickets and only had one table service meal. Ohana is Rick's absolute favorite restaraunt in all of Disney World, it was my first time there, but I'm definitely a believer. During that trip, we decided we had to go back together.

That spring we were both in our 3rd year of school. While I was about to graduate the next year, Rick still had another 3 years of school at that point. We knew we wouldn't be able to go until he had some type of break from all of his craziness and I had had a job. We decided that we would go in 2013 when Rick was working on his rotations and he'd have some time off. At that point it felt like forever away. A whole 2 years later, here we are. It went by much faster than I ever could have thought.

While planning this trip, we originally were hoping for October. I've always wanted to go to the Halloween party and I would love to experience the Food and Wine Festival. Unfortunately, he didn't have any rotations off during that time. So it was between the week of August 10, or a week in December. We weighed the pros and cons of both times. In December we'd get to see the Christmas decorations, but it seemed like a long way off. In August we'd definitely be able to go to a water park and it was much less of a wait. I would love to go in December though when our schedule is much more flexible.

So there you have it. That was how we decided to go in August! Yes, it'll be hot , and yes it'll be crowded . But hey, sometimes you just have to work with what ya got!

Up Next: Dining Plans!

 

[ziggystardust]

I'm in. You sound like me - I ran my first 5k last year and I too am not a runner. My Dbf and I will be traveling this December (dolphin) and only for a short trip. I'm the planner, he's the going along for the ride guy.

Anyways! I hope you have a great trip. So soon!!!

 

[beckyx3]

I'm in. You sound like me - I ran my first 5k last year and I too am not a runner. My Dbf and I will be traveling this December (dolphin) and only for a short trip. I'm the planner, he's the going along for the ride guy.

Anyways! I hope you have a great trip. So soon!!!

Hi! Thanks for stopping in!! The running thing was okay, it felt good to do it and I was proud of myself when I was done, but it'll probably never happen again. Have you stayed at the Dolphin before? I loved it so much. And thanks!! I'm so excited!! It's funny to think that 100 days ago it felt so far, it snuck up fast. Your trip will be here before you know!

 

[momminnie]

I stumbled in and now I am on board with you. Can't wait to hear more.

 

[ziggystardust]

Hi! Thanks for stopping in!! The running thing was okay, it felt good to do it and I was proud of myself when I was done, but it'll probably never happen again. Have you stayed at the Dolphin before? I loved it so much. And thanks!! I'm so excited!! It's funny to think that 100 days ago it felt so far, it snuck up fast. Your trip will be here before you know!

Yea I felt the same. It was on my bucket list and felt super accomplished once I finished but haven't run since. :/ I hope to get back into it but lacking the drive.

Yes! Stayed at the dolphin last year for a quick trip with my parents. My only complaint is how huge the resort is. Felt like I walked a mile to my room once I got off the elevator. But everything else i just loved. Can't beat that location!

Pop has been our go-to for most trips. It's a great hotel. You will love it

 

[beckyx3]

I stumbled in and now I am on board with you. Can't wait to hear more.

Thanks for joining!! I really appreciate it

Yea I felt the same. It was on my bucket list and felt super accomplished once I finished but haven't run since. :/ I hope to get back into it but lacking the drive.

Yes! Stayed at the dolphin last year for a quick trip with my parents. My only complaint is how huge the resort is. Felt like I walked a mile to my room once I got off the elevator. But everything else i just loved. Can't beat that location!

Pop has been our go-to for most trips. It's a great hotel. You will love it

I feel the same way about running. I really wanted to keep my pace up but I started walking more after that and lost it. I completely agree with you about the long walk at the Dolphin. It was like a never ending hallway. But I loved the lobby and boy do I wish I could've gone to the spa! And thanks! I'm really looking forward to POP.

 

[courtneybelle]

You will love Pop! I've stayed at all the Values, and I love them all, but if you made me pick I would choose Pop. It is sooooo much fun, if they still have the tie dye cheesecake at the food court I would definitely recommend it! Can't wait to hear what else you have planned.

 

[beckyx3]

You will love Pop! I've stayed at all the Values, and I love them all, but if you made me pick I would choose Pop. It is sooooo much fun, if they still have the tie dye cheesecake at the food court I would definitely recommend it! Can't wait to hear what else you have planned.

Thank you, I'm so happy that you've joined! I've heard so many great things about POP. I will definitely be adding the food plans tomorrow, so I hope people don't hesitate to tell me what they think!

 

[beckyx3]

Let's talk dining, shall we?

I was a little worried that since we booked with less than 180 days we wouldn't be able to get good dining. We weren't even sure how many meals we would sit down for, especially since our last trip we only had one. We were really fortunate though that we could get places we wanted to eat. I'm not sure how many of them are in high demand, but we were happy!

My family never really did that many sit down meals on our vacations. We usually did one or two, but they were normally the same places. My sister remembers doing Chef Mickey's when it was at Downtown Disney, I absolutely have no recollection of ever going to Chef Mickey's. Rick's family though, they did sit downs. Some of it he didn't really like. So we were both excited to be able to pick and choose some different places to eat.



Saturday, August 10:
Of course we had to choose Ohana. This is his absolute favorite meal and I have to say, I loved it as well. They only thing he doesn't care for is how rushed you feel eating. We figured we'd grab dinner at the Poly and then take the monorail to the Magic Kingdom or Epcot since we have an early reservation.

I forgot to mention that we do have Park Hoppers this trip so it was easier to plan meals.

Sunday, August 11:
For Sunday we decided to try Via Napoli. This is a first for both of us. But we had some friends visit back in April and they said it was a great choice! We're both really excited for something new. We had a hard time trying to decide where we should eat in World Showcase. I really wanted to eat in Japan, but we do have a Benihana here that we will be eating at this month for my birthday. SIDENOTE: if you have a Benihana near you, I highly suggest signing up for their Chef's Table. You basically get a $30 gift card towards a meal during your birthday month. They used to allow you to go any day of the week, now it's limited towards Monday-Thursday. It's still an awesome deal though. We also thought about dinner at Rose and Crown since I've been kind of obsessed with London since my sister lived there for a while. I'm way too excited for that royal baby and boy do I love Kate Middleton and the Royal Family. But we decided we could always stop at the fish and chips cart for lunch. Last, we thought about Mexico. The issue with Mexico is that I'm very picky when it comes to Mexican food so we figured it wouldn't be worth the money.

Monday, August 12:
We decided to just go with the flow and see where the day takes us!

Tuesday, August 13:
We're going to the Beach Club . This is my favorite resort. I just love everything about it and remember having a blast when I stayed here with my family. So we're heading to Cape May Cafe! ANOTHER SIDENOTE: if you want to experience the real Jersey Shore, Cape May is one of the best little towns to go to. There's no boardwalk, but it's absolutely adorable and so picturesque in my opinion. It's what the Jersey Shore was meant to be. The crowd down there seems to be a little older, so that's always a plus! Anyway! We both really like seafood. Rick's never been to the Beach Club so here was a new opportunity for him! I'm just so excited to show him my favorite resort and eat some crab legs!

Wednesday, August 14:
This day we decided to go with an old favorite of ours: Sci-Fi. This was my absolute favorite meal as a kid. I loved the drive-in feel and sitting in the cars watching the screen. The atmosphere was what it was all about for me, and it still is. Rick also loved Sci-Fi. On his Senior trip they got to eat here. I can't even tell you the last time I did. We thought about eating at 50s Primetime, but he wasn't sure how he'd like the schtick. I'm hoping we can save that for when we go with friends. It would be awesome to see the reaction of those who don't know about it!

Thursday, August 15:
Another day with no planned meal. Since it'll be our last night, we just wanted to go with the flow.

Friday, August 16:
And time for a little breakfast! I love breakfast, Rick isn't as into it as I am. I could eat breakfast all day, every day. But we decided to head back to the Poly for some Tonga Toast and the Kona Cafe. He's had breakfast there before, but never had the Tonga Toast. My friend's sister's fiancee (phew!) worked at Kona for his college program placement, he highly recommends it. As if I need any more of a reason to try it

So those are our planned sit down meals! We talked about Be Our Guest but knew it would be impossible at that point to get a reservation and neither of us were really sure what we'd order. There's always lunch for that.

Sorry there aren't any pictures and it's all boring text. If I had my own pictures of the places, I would've shared, but I'm a slacker like that. Let me know what you think of the plans. I love feedback! Or just stop by and say hi! I love that too

Coming up Next: How about a story behind the title?