You can probably walk away now, cause I'm about to start singing! June '12~DONE 12/22

[glennbo123]

Signing-on! You were first to post on my thread, so I need to subscribe over here, for sure. But it looks like it's going to be a great report!

 

[eandesmom]

Signing on, great start!!!

 

[elphie101]

This is looking awesome!

Thanks! More should be coming tomorrow!

I'm In! Unfortunately, can't make Disney World happen for us this summer ...I shouldn't complain as we usually go at least once a year . But wanted to spend my time reading all the Trip Reports to brighten up my mood

Hi there! TRs are definitely one of the best way to brighten the mood I've found - nothing quite like reading about other people's pixie dust (and horror stories ) for entertainment.

Hi! I saw your TR in your signature when you posted on my TR, so I came to visit!
When were you on the CP? and how long did you get to do it?

Congrats on the new job! Good thing you got to go to WDW now I guess!

Glad to see you here and thank you! I did the CP last year, Fall Advantage '11 (if you're unfamiliar with the CP, there are basically two terms, Fall and Spring, and you can chose to add on the summer either at the beginning of Fall or the end of Spring, which is where the Advantage comes from) so I was in WDW from early June till just after New Years. You can extend in the program up to a full year though if you want.

Yay! You guys made it! And glad TS Debbie did not interfere with your
trip!! Can't wait to read more about your trip!!!!

I'm pretty sure I drove my family crazy over-worrying about the TS. I'm glad we weren't there earlier in the week though, we really lucked out with weather!

Joining in! I followed you here from your post on my TR! How cool that you are a CM! Looking forward to reading the rest!

Nice to see you here!

Signing up!

Love the reasons for your trip and I think it is really cool that you were in the College Program.

Love flying out of Manchester!

Love your picture of the WDW sign!

Hate that you can't get Dunkin' Donuts in Disney!

Hi there! I would definitely fly out of Manchester again, it was pretty convenient. And don't get me started about Dunks - I've found once you leave New England it's never really the same.

Joining in too!

Thanks for joining in!!

from NH. I've found my way over here from Natebenma's trip report.

You and your BF are soo cute. Great first installment. We love Manchester airport and SW airlines. We got some great flights for our September trip on SW too! We moved up to NH from Mass about 25 years ago, so I'm considering us neighbors!

Love that you planned your trip and were on your way in only 4 days!

So you were a CM on carousel of progress, it's one of my families favorites. My husband went on it when it was opened at the world's fair (He's a bit older than me ) so we have to go on it every trip. Last time, we got stuck on the second part repeating itself. We all got a laugh out of that, we thought we were going to be stuck on it forever!

Looking forward to your next installment

Hi there! Great to have more New Englanders here. I love NH, and I would love to live up there someday (certainly seems more affordable ). It was definitely cool to be at the only attraction Walt himself physically experienced at WDW (since it's all still the original hardware) and we didn't have to ride inside, although I don't think I would've minded, it's nice and cool in there! 9/10 if you're seeing a scene twice on that ride, it means someone left in the middle of the show - which is why we say to stay seated!

Signing-on! You were first to post on my thread, so I need to subscribe over here, for sure. But it looks like it's going to be a great report!

Glad to have you! I can't wait to hear from more of your report!

Signing on, great start!!!

and great to see you!!

*******
I would like to have an update up sometime tomorrow, now that there are readers waiting for it! I've been roped in (well, I offered ) to visiting colleges with my brother this week to give him my opinion as a recent college grad, and we've got another 6 hour round trip drive ahead of us tomorrow - leaving at 5:30 But I'll get the next installment up soon, I promise!

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Joining in this seems like a fun thread.

 

[shan23877]

I'm glad that the weather held for you guys!

ME always marks the beginning of vacation for us, and I get as giddy as a little girl on the ride. I'm glad that you enjoyed it.

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[elphie101]

Joining in this seems like a fun thread.

Glad to have you! Next update coming right up!

 

[RachVH]

Joining in! Looks like the trip is off to a great start and can't wait to hear more! Congratulations on the job also, as a semi-recent grad I know how hard it is out there!

 

[jecskc]

Joining IN !!! Loving all your photos so far !! Congrats on your new job. Looking forward to reading more !!

 

[elphie101]

Hey everyone! Let's jump right back into the action shall we?​

The Dining Plan: Disney's Bermuda Triangle

When we last left off, we were pulling into here

I was bouncing in my seat I was so excited! We also caught our first glimpse of Art of Animation (the Little Mermaid buildings) through the trees coming up the drive - as if I needed more of a reason to be bursting out of my skin!

On a side note, is anyone else bothered by the fact that there's still only half a century at Pop Century? I'm glad to have AoA and all but the little OCD part of my brain gets a little miffed.

We unloaded from the bus and waited for the suitcases, then headed inside and ran right to the online check-in line ("it'll be faster!" said Jenn of a week ago.....)

My beloved Pop lobby....we have such great memories here.

The CM checking us in was earning her ears in the college program, which had me thrilled to pieces. The downside of that though was that we were at the counter for about twice as long as everyone else.......oops. Guess we'll have to wait till our next stay to see if online check in is really worth it. (Thoughts everyone?) We were assigned to the 80s section, building 9, which we were both SO happy about. We stayed in 90s last year and loved the convenience of being able to cut right through the parking lot to get to the bus stop/Everything Pop and were thrilled we could do it again.

Birthday button, check! KTTW, check! Off to the 80s!

A little up close I know, but I was just so excited to get there!

Our home sweet home! And here's what you've all been waiting for.......the obligatory "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING IN THE ROOM UNTIL IT'S BEEN PHOTOGRAPHED" pictures

My favorite part about the rooms - the decade collages! I loved having my girl Ariel in our section (The Little Mermaid is my favorite movie ) I believe I've read somewhere that before the rooms at Pop were redone, they all reflected the decade on the inside as well? I like the rooms well enough now but that would've been cool to see something more specific inside as well.

I didn't end up photographing the bathroom area (even though I adore the wallpaper - simple yet Mickey!) because we were absolutely STARVING, so we dumped our bags and headed out in search of some lunch.

The view from our room........not quite as nice as the last time (we had 4th floor 90s and could see the Walt Disney World Welcome sign!)

We marched off into Everything Pop for our first battle with the Quick-Service Dining Plan.

A little backstory: I tried out the regular dining plan for the first time when my parents visited for a weekend last December. We booked it because a) there was a CM discount and b) they had two Candlelight Processional lunches booked. Considering that one of them was Le Cellier, that meal alone basically paid for the entire dining plan for three days, so I was pretty much sold on the idea.

DBF HATES the dining plan. HATES it. He doesn't like to plan around ADRs, and his family will typically only have one or two TS meals for a two week trip. (While we're at it, he's pretty against touring plans etc in general, while it took everything I had to hold myself back from making spreadsheets.)

I knew the DDP wouldn't work for us this trip, since I would be working for so much of it. Still, there was always the QSDP, and it was discounted, and DBF prefers Quick Service meals, so I broached the idea after doing some fuzzy Disney math with the menus on All Ears. Kevin reluctantly agreed to book it.

So here we are, about to have our first meal of the trip, and I am determined to champion the QSDP in all ways possible in hopes of using it to sell DBF on the regular dining plan in the future. I tell him with lunch, he gets a dessert, but I'm not sure what's a dessert at the resorts. Kevin doesn't like needing to get his dessert now (when he doesn't want it and usually wouldn't anyway) and suddenly it's a rainstorm of how awful the dining plan is and how it's never going to happen again. In my head, visions of Ohana, Le Cellier and Boma wash down the drain. Kevin 1, DP 0

I grab a sugar cookie for Kevin, because it's one of the only things he'll actually eat out of the options (he's an extraordinarily "plain" eater) and I am trying to sell the idea of the dessert that can be eaten later, and a tie dye cheesecake for myself because, well, why not. We head to cashout when the CM at the register becomes an unknown soldier in the Kevin vs DP battle.

"You know," she says "You also get a bottled drink with each meal."

"But we have our mugs," says I, confused.

"In addition to your mugs." And I have an idea.

"Go grab two waters to take to the park." Kevin thinks this is a great idea and goes off, and I'm about ready to kiss this CM Kevin 1, DP 1.

We finally sit down, and I turn up my "LOOOOOOOK at all we got on the DP!" to full blast. Kevin still isn't happy about needing to buy his cookie now, as opposed to going back later, but likes having cold water to take around the parks. Both sides are happy and the battleground rests for the time being.

I should make note here that Kevin typically only eats three things at Disney - pizza, chicken nuggets, and to a lesser extent, burgers. Variety is not the spice of his palate. Usually I'll get something different but I was starving and just didn't feel like deciding with the stress of the dining plan battle.

The Disney pizza was delicious as usual, and I loved the cheesecake even though I couldn't finish it. Kevin liked his cookie as well

Stomachs full, the next logical stop was to head out to a park......and there's a castle waiting for me!

Coming Up Next: The Line Starts Where?!​

​

 

[elphie101]

Joining in! Looks like the trip is off to a great start and can't wait to hear more! Congratulations on the job also, as a semi-recent grad I know how hard it is out there!

Glad to have you!! Thanks, it's definitely relieving to know that I've finally found a job.

I see you have a Disneymoon coming up? Congrats!!

Joining IN !!! Loving all your photos so far !! Congrats on your new job. Looking forward to reading more !!

and thank you! Hope you enjoy

 

[Leasha_Loves_Disney]

Hi there!!! I just wanted to let you know that I am joining in and loving this TR so far. I adore the title, it reminds me a lot of myself and Andy, we are all into being kids when we are in Disney (me all the time) but when it comes to my spontaneous dancing and singing he tends to step a few steps away

I can't wait to hear more about your trip and how the whole seasonal DCP aspect works!!! I wanted to stay at the POP so bad on our last trip down but it just didn't work out for us. One day!!!

Disney Pizza!!! Yummmmmm. I am obsessed with all Disney food and LOVE the dinning plan, but I can totally see where people don't like it. If you're not going to go to those expensive restaurants and eat your weight in food it's not worth it. I've never done the QSDP but I have a ton of favorite quick service places so one time I should look into that rather than the regular DP. I hope that the dinning plan war doesn't turn up too many casualties and you end up enjoying it.

This may be a really random question but I figured since you seen to have a few CM discount trips under your belt I'd ask you, (sorry if this is off topic) my sister and her friend are looking to visit me while I am doing the DCP and they really wanted to do the dinning plan. Is it possible to get a CM discount on both the room and the dinning plan? I feel like it's not but it's worth the shot to ask.​

 

[shan23877]

Great update!

I've done online check in twice. The first time, we got our packets and were out the door in about 3 minutes. The second time we got an "earning my ears" CM so it took a while, but our room request was honored which I'd heard doesn't happen very often when you do online check in.

I am also a HUGE DDP fan, I hope you convinced DBF before the trip was over. I'm not huge on CS, so I'd be crushed at the idea of not doing all those awesome TS restaurants!

I've gotta get my hands on some of that cheesecake one of these days.

 

[elphie101]

Hi there!!! I just wanted to let you know that I am joining in and loving this TR so far. I adore the title, it reminds me a lot of myself and Andy, we are all into being kids when we are in Disney (me all the time) but when it comes to my spontaneous dancing and singing he tends to step a few steps away

I can't wait to hear more about your trip and how the whole seasonal DCP aspect works!!! I wanted to stay at the POP so bad on our last trip down but it just didn't work out for us. One day!!!

Disney Pizza!!! Yummmmmm. I am obsessed with all Disney food and LOVE the dinning plan, but I can totally see where people don't like it. If you're not going to go to those expensive restaurants and eat your weight in food it's not worth it. I've never done the QSDP but I have a ton of favorite quick service places so one time I should look into that rather than the regular DP. I hope that the dinning plan war doesn't turn up too many casualties and you end up enjoying it.

This may be a really random question but I figured since you seen to have a few CM discount trips under your belt I'd ask you, (sorry if this is off topic) my sister and her friend are looking to visit me while I am doing the DCP and they really wanted to do the dinning plan. Is it possible to get a CM discount on both the room and the dinning plan? I feel like it's not but it's worth the shot to ask.​

Nice to see you! The whole singing-in-public thing carries over into our lives back home, where DBF is FAR more likely to walk very quickly in the opposite direction - he can't at Disney because there's just too many people

Pop is definitely my favorite out of the values (we've stayed at all but AS Movies and now AoA) simply because of the location. I thought the food court and rooms were basically the same, but being much closer to the center of things as opposed to all the way out by AK gives Pop the edge in my book.

I'll PM you re discounts

Great update!

I've done online check in twice. The first time, we got our packets and were out the door in about 3 minutes. The second time we got an "earning my ears" CM so it took a while, but our room request was honored which I'd heard doesn't happen very often when you do online check in.

I am also a HUGE DDP fan, I hope you convinced DBF before the trip was over. I'm not huge on CS, so I'd be crushed at the idea of not doing all those awesome TS restaurants!

I've gotta get my hands on some of that cheesecake one of these days.

I definitely want to try it again, as all of our stuff was ready and she (the CM) only got held up on some technicalities (like that I was paying for the room but we wanted to use DBF's card for charging privileges)

I LOVED doing TS lunches with my parents, because even though we ate fairly early in the day (between 1-2) we were so full we didn't need dinner! That also meant we got to use our CS for breakfast in the morning, and I am a HUUUUUUUUGE breakfast fan. I'd also really like to do more breakfast buffets in the future, so another point (in my book) for the dining plan.

 

[natebenma]

Welcome home!

Loved your arrival to POP- nice pictures of your room. But what I really want to see... do you have a picture of your view of the WDW sign? How cool was that!

The collage is great! I love the Pleasure Island and EPCOT and Figment pictures- reminds me of my trips to Disney in the 80s.

I don't know if it works the same way at POP (and it is a little too late for this trip) but at ASMo you could come back later for your dessert. The cashier would stamp your receipt and you could redeem it later in the day (not sure if it was valid for that day only, or for your entire trip).

Smart move getting the bottles of water!

 

[eandesmom]

The view from our room........not quite as nice as the last time (we had 4th floor 90s and could see the Walt Disney World Welcome sign!)

Yeah, not the most exciting view but for me, at a value or mod, I don't like looking out the room window anyway...something about folks walking by looking in really bugs me so I'd be happy looking at the collage! Or sitting by the pool for a view.

DBF HATES the dining plan. HATES it. He doesn't like to plan around ADRs, and his family will typically only have one or two TS meals for a two week trip. (While we're at it, he's pretty against touring plans etc in general, while it took everything I had to hold myself back from making spreadsheets.)

So here we are, about to have our first meal of the trip, and I am determined to champion the QSDP in all ways possible in hopes of using it to sell DBF on the regular dining plan in the future. I tell him with lunch, he gets a dessert, but I'm not sure what's a dessert at the resorts. Kevin doesn't like needing to get his dessert now (when he doesn't want it and usually wouldn't anyway) and suddenly it's a rainstorm of how awful the dining plan is and how it's never going to happen again. In my head, visions of Ohana, Le Cellier and Boma wash down the drain. Kevin 1, DP 0

I grab a sugar cookie for Kevin, because it's one of the only things he'll actually eat out of the options (he's an extraordinarily "plain" eater) and I am trying to sell the idea of the dessert that can be eaten later, and a tie dye cheesecake for myself because, well, why not. We head to cashout when the CM at the register becomes an unknown soldier in the Kevin vs DP battle.

"You know," she says "You also get a bottled drink with each meal."

"But we have our mugs," says I, confused.

"In addition to your mugs." And I have an idea.

"Go grab two waters to take to the park." Kevin thinks this is a great idea and goes off, and I'm about ready to kiss this CM Kevin 1, DP 1.

I should make note here that Kevin typically only eats three things at Disney - pizza, chicken nuggets, and to a lesser extent, burgers. Variety is not the spice of his palate. Usually I'll get something different but I was starving and just didn't feel like deciding with the stress of the dining plan battle.

The Disney pizza was delicious as usual, and I loved the cheesecake even though I couldn't finish it. Kevin liked his cookie as well

Coming Up Next: The Line Starts Where?![/color][/center]

Well, if that's all he'll eat, I"m thinking QSDP is about the best you can do. Ohana, Boma etc don't sound much like him...bummer but I get it. LOL! That said, why not take dessert back to the room and put it in the fridge for a snack later? We do that all the time on the dining plan.

Great start, sorry online check in didn't go as well as hoped. Honestly I've only done it once. Same trip, 2 deluxe resorts, one online and one not. The Non online was a bazillion times faster and nicer and our room was ready. The online one, no room till about 4pm, confused CM and it felt like it took forever. And we were the only ones in the line!

So...in 2 weeks...I'll probably skip it for all 3 ressies!

 

[StitchIsOurHero]

Ooh, love the update! Like Shannon, I hope you convince DBF to love the DDP before it's over! We just booked for 2013 today, and we are doing DxDP for the first time. I've already started planning my food!

We have always loved Pop! It's so neat! I am on the fence about online check-in. Yes, it's quicker, I guess, but I seem to only get the "here's your stuff, see ya, bye" with online check-in. The times that we have done it are the times our room wasn't ready for quite a while. I don't know if they are connected, but that's how it's been.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[elphie101]

The Line Starts Where?!

We headed out through the shop to the Magic Kingdom bus stop. Going to MK was mostly for logistical reasons - I needed to get my Tomorrowland outfit for when I would be working, and didn't want to waste time on other days to go pick it up. Though if I was being honest, wasn't too disappointed about starting our trip with the castle

We didn't have to wait too long for a bus, and it took us about 20 minutes to get from Pop Century to MK. That puts us at the Magic Kingdom at about 1:00, after many days of people dealing with tropical storms. The week before July 4th.

Hooooooo crowds.

We decided on the bus ride over to grab a fastpass for Splash Mountain, then I would head backstage to pick up my costume (thereby killing some time on the FP). As we entered the park though, Kevin suggested we stop by the firehouse and pick up some Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom cards. I had picked some up during my April work trip and Kevin was interested in starting, plus I needed a new key card (which would become a reoccurring thing ). I also got to give some of my extra cards to kids waiting in line

From there we made our way over to Frontierland to grab our passes.

More photos of Kevin (technically) without him being aware

(With Instagram)

Big Thunder was under refurb last time I was at WDW, so I couldn't wait to ride it again!

It was around 1:30 at this point, and the FP weren't good until 3:50. Normally I wouldn't have gone for this and just said we'd get it another time, but it was hot, and I do love Splash Mountain, and hey, that's what we get for coming at this time of year.

It was time to go backstage now, which really could've been done from anywhere, but we decided to head to Tomorrowland on the off chance some of my friends were working. We said hi to a few people, then I ran back to get my costume, while Kevin just sat around and people watched. He didn't take any photos during this time (and obviously I didn't either). All in all I was back, black and gray in hand, after an hour.

We still had an hour before we could get a FP anywhere else, and we were VERY hot and it was VERY crowded. So what did we decided to take a ride on the highway in the sky

It was at this point that I realized I hadn't been taking many photos, and most of them didn't involve people, so let's fix that shall we?

Much better (well, maybe not much)

I would have to say the Peoplemover is my second favorite ride (after the Haunted Mansion). It's just so relaxing, great for photos and people watching and is almost always a walk-on. Plus I find it's hard not to be partial to things at WDW that came from Walt's mind in some form.

Aye caramba, look at that crowd. Not going near that any time soon.

(With Instagram) This picture actually came from my April trip, but I always try to get a photo of the castle as you go past Stitch and none of them came out as good as this one, so I figured you all wouldn't mind

When we headed into Space Mountain, I pointed out to Kevin that the path to Storybook Circus was now open again, and he mentioned he still hadn't seen it yet. OF COURSE!

So once we were off the People Mover, we headed up through the maze of construction walls to take a peek at the circus.

Casey Jr had come to town since I was last here, so I made sure to get a photo. And yes, based on these kids, you do get SOAKED. I'd definitely bring a change of clothes if anyone's kids are planning on running around here.

See you in 2014 Snow White!

We stopped at this point and thought about what we might do next. It was nearing 3:00, and the heat was really beating down on us. A good chunk of things were at least a 30 minute wait if not longer.

We decided to head to Mickey's Phillharmagic - the show was great, never much of a wait, and best of all, it was inside! So we made our way out of new Fantasyland and back into Fantasyland proper

Let's go ride Snow- oh wait.

We walked right into an empty preshow area at Phillharmagic - we must've just missed a show. No problem, more time in the A/C

(With Instagram)

It was then that we got a little bit of pixie dust. A couple standing next to us asked if we were a party of two, then gave us their Space Mountain fastpasses, they said they had to leave after the show. We'll take those!

The pixie dusted FP with our Splash ones - Glennbo style!

Continued in next post​

 

[elphie101]

The doors opened and we let everyone crush through them - we'll just wait to get our center seats

My eyes always go right to this Mickey - I can't help it!

The show was great, as it always is (for several years it was my favorite Disney attraction). Kevin mentioned as we headed out though that as soon as we sat down, he instantly felt like falling asleep - we had been up for nearly 12 hours after all! We had been planning on moseying down towards Splash Mountain after the show, but now we had Space FPs to use, so we backtracked over to Tomorrowland. (This was the first time I had a twinge of mourning for the old FastPass ways, though I will say overall I didn't really mind needing to be back during our window.)

Another back shot of Kevin!

Has anyone ever really noticed the ceiling in here? The things you pay attention to when you're at Disney....

We had a great time rocketing through space! I always love seeing MK-1 Tomorrowland Station in the unloading area, but I didn't get a picture of it.

It was time to go visit Brer Rabbit and crew, so we headed off to the frontier.

You can never have too many castle photos!

Nevertheless, we were on a mission. On the way, I checked out the Mobile Magic app to see what the FP times were for BTMRR - it was 8:30-9:30. We were already exhausted and tired, and knew we wouldn't make it till then. Until next time.

We realized we had walked a little too fast and still had some time to kill, so we decided to wander into the trading post to check out their Vinylmations. Kevin started collecting them back in 2009 and had collected a fair number since then, and decided to introduce me to them when he visited me during the college program. Biiiiiiiig mistake. We're now both completely addicted (though I'm more into completing sets than he is) and were really looking forward to being on property to get some.

It was here we found out the hard truth - the current run of our favorite series (Parks) were nowhere to be found. ANYWHERE. We never officially asked, but I suspect they had cleared them out quickly due to the next Parks set debuting in mid-July. I was pretty bummed. We didn't actually buy anything this round, and made our way over to the mob at Splash Mountain's FastPass return.

The first of many 'Look at the crowd!' shots I took during this trip. I'm not sure what the standby wait was (something outrageous yet typical for Splash peak season, like 80-90 minutes) but it seems to me this part of the line is always full.

(With Instagram) I love this sign. One of my CP roommates worked at Splash Mountain and said people would always ask her when getting into their logs (which are right next to this sign remember) if they would get wet. That's the true Disney magic folks.

We got just wet enough to be refreshed, and surprisingly there almost every animatronic was working! (Yes, I took note.) At this point, we were at a loss for what to do - we had no FPs and everything had some decently long waits. I checked MM and Jungle Cruise FPs were good around 5:00 (it was 4:30 now), so we decided to head over to Adventureland. Kevin ran off to go get the passes, while I hopped in line for Pirates. It had a 40 minute wait, but there wasn't much else to do till 5:00 and hey, it was cool and indoors!

There was a huge mob outside the entrance to the ride - I don't know what was going on, but everyone seemed to be crushing in all at once. No one had any clue where the line was, so I just slipped into the mob.

Ohhhhh boy

I don't think I have EVER seen the line for Pirates this long. It was moving pretty quickly though, at least in this outside part, and I was still outside when Kevin returned with the FastPasses.

(I took this after the ride, but it goes better here!)

We continued to meander our way around the outside queue area (which is really wide - there was a large family behind us that kept trying to run in front of us ).

(With Instagram)

We were forced into the right-hand side of the line, where we shuffled along, until I noticed something was different.....

A DISser always photographs Disney Construction!! Sure, everyone around us was photographing the cannons and dungeon-like atmosphere - I'm the one who flips over a canvas wall.

As we got to the loading area, I checked my phone - we had only been waiting 20 minutes! Take that Disney wait times!

After the ride, we headed over to everyone's favorite cruise.

This ride has one of my favorite queues - so much to look at!

Continued in next post - stupid picture limit!​

 

[elphie101]

We got onto our boat pretty quickly, and had one of my favorite skippers to date - our boat got stuck in traffic a couple times and he was great at ad-libbing to keep everyone interested. (Still not our best skipper though - we had one once who filled our tour with Lost references )

If you guys get Taylor from Davenport FL, you're in for a good cruise!

Once we were returned to dry land, I checked our app to see if there was anything else we could do before we left. Haunted Mansion was only a 20 minute wait, so we decided to walk up to Liberty Square - but when we got there....

This doesn't look good

The line for HM was out in front of the boat dock, and we threw in the towel. We had been awake for over 14 hours at this point, and the crowds were not letting up, so we decided to head back to the resort for a quiet dinner and a swim (in all my on property stays, I had yet to use a Disney pool!)

Bye castle

The streets by the castle were pretty empty, but there was music playing........and I started to panic a little. The Move It, Shake It, Celebrate it dance party was headed up Main Street, and we had wanted to stop by Uptown Jewelers to check out their Vinylmation trade box before we left (and the Dooneys ). We just managed to make it across Main Street before the CMs closed off traffic - point us! This was also when Kevin realized that if there's a parade or show that performed in the Magic Kingdom, I knew all the words.....and most of the dance moves. So while I kept walking while pumping up the party, Kevin suddenly discovered a keen interest in walking as quickly as possible.

Just made it!

We didn't end up doing any traders in Uptown Jewelers, but Kevin did pick up a Star Wars Vinylmation. We continued to avoid the party by making our way out through the Confectionery.

We decided to poke around the hat shop, because......why not.

Clearly we were reaching the level of tiredness when you go a bit batty.

We made our way to the back of the shop, where Kevin decided to pose for a photo....

"Hey!" He goes, "there's actually people talking!"

We had never heard that before! It was too quiet to make out what they were saying, but it was still fun to discover something new.

On our way out, I ran into the Town Square Theater to snap a photo of the princess board, now that Rapunzel was part of the TST line-up.

At the time I took this to mean that they didn't give Rapunzel a photo - though I'm just now realizing that after 5:00 (I believe) Rapunzel and Aurora rotate, and so they can't guarantee either one (hence the crown). I never checked back so I can't say for certain.

We strolled out of Magic Kingdom and made our way to the bus stop, where a bus was waiting. Gotta love good bus luck

Coming Up Next: 20-Somethings Are Allergic to Water!​

 

[elphie101]

Welcome home!

Loved your arrival to POP- nice pictures of your room. But what I really want to see... do you have a picture of your view of the WDW sign? How cool was that!

The collage is great! I love the Pleasure Island and EPCOT and Figment pictures- reminds me of my trips to Disney in the 80s.

I don't know if it works the same way at POP (and it is a little too late for this trip) but at ASMo you could come back later for your dessert. The cashier would stamp your receipt and you could redeem it later in the day (not sure if it was valid for that day only, or for your entire trip).

Smart move getting the bottles of water!

I don't think we actually got any photos from our view last year! Shame. It was pretty distant though, I'm not sure how well it would've shown up on camera.

We probably should have asked re the desserts....maybe next time!

Yeah, not the most exciting view but for me, at a value or mod, I don't like looking out the room window anyway...something about folks walking by looking in really bugs me so I'd be happy looking at the collage! Or sitting by the pool for a view.



Well, if that's all he'll eat, I"m thinking QSDP is about the best you can do. Ohana, Boma etc don't sound much like him...bummer but I get it. LOL! That said, why not take dessert back to the room and put it in the fridge for a snack later? We do that all the time on the dining plan.

Great start, sorry online check in didn't go as well as hoped. Honestly I've only done it once. Same trip, 2 deluxe resorts, one online and one not. The Non online was a bazillion times faster and nicer and our room was ready. The online one, no room till about 4pm, confused CM and it felt like it took forever. And we were the only ones in the line!

So...in 2 weeks...I'll probably skip it for all 3 ressies!

DBF always swears that he only keeps his eating habits from childhood because he just hasn't bothered to change them, and that he's always willing to try stuff - we went to Teppan Edo for our anniversary last year and he loved it! So I'm hopeful, and worst case scenerio, there's a children's section at the buffets

We did make use of bring things back to the room (I got apple slices with meals a lot to take back, and I would just eat DBF's dessert), we did that with our dinner on day one too

I'm at least glad I got to try the online check in - it's not a big deal if we never do it again hahaha.

Ooh, love the update! Like Shannon, I hope you convince DBF to love the DDP before it's over! We just booked for 2013 today, and we are doing DxDP for the first time. I've already started planning my food!

We have always loved Pop! It's so neat! I am on the fence about online check-in. Yes, it's quicker, I guess, but I seem to only get the "here's your stuff, see ya, bye" with online check-in. The times that we have done it are the times our room wasn't ready for quite a while. I don't know if they are connected, but that's how it's been.

Can't wait to read more!

I would LOVE to do the DxDP - I would have a sit down breakfast every day! That's my idea of a vacation.