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

[marDgreen88]

Hi! I'm joining in and I'm really loving your TR! You're hilarious! It's also awesome to hear some CM insight. Can't wait to read more!

 

[Merida]

Subbing in!

I love trading Vinyls; it's not a big deal at Disneyland and we really missed that during our last trip. We might have to resort to pin trading our next time!

Not a big fan of the dining plan anymore - I like planning out things separately (and not having to get just what's covered under the plan) and being able to use AP/TiW discounts. Much easier to figure out and no credits to keep track of.

 

[RachVH]

Two awesome updates! I had to gasp in fake horror when you said your BF doesn't like touring plans! I absolutely cannot imagine doing Disney without very specific plans (at least to start). I am flexible, but I feel like without a plan you just stand around and waste so much time deciding what to do next! Luckily my DH is perfectly willing to let me plan everything and then come along for the ride. When I started planning our Disneymoon I asked him how involved he wanted to be. His response? "I just figured it would be similar to the wedding when I showed up at the time you told me to be there in the outfit you picked out for me".

 

[StitchIsOurHero]

Love reading all of the updates! DH & I have a love for Vinylmations, too!

Thanks for the pic of the Casey Jr Playground! My DS is SO excited to play in that next time--it opened about 4 days after we got home from our last trip!

 

[elphie101]

Hi! I'm joining in and I'm really loving your TR! You're hilarious! It's also awesome to hear some CM insight. Can't wait to read more!

Hi there! Glad to have you

Subbing in!

I love trading Vinyls; it's not a big deal at Disneyland and we really missed that during our last trip. We might have to resort to pin trading our next time!

Not a big fan of the dining plan anymore - I like planning out things separately (and not having to get just what's covered under the plan) and being able to use AP/TiW discounts. Much easier to figure out and no credits to keep track of.

I've been dying to try Tables in Wonderland (it's actually a better deal than the CM discount since it includes alcohol) and DBF's family is planning on getting it for their trip, so we may end up using that in the future.

And awesome name BTW

Two awesome updates! I had to gasp in fake horror when you said your BF doesn't like touring plans! I absolutely cannot imagine doing Disney without very specific plans (at least to start). I am flexible, but I feel like without a plan you just stand around and waste so much time deciding what to do next! Luckily my DH is perfectly willing to let me plan everything and then come along for the ride. When I started planning our Disneymoon I asked him how involved he wanted to be. His response? "I just figured it would be similar to the wedding when I showed up at the time you told me to be there in the outfit you picked out for me".

He doesn't mind planning to a point (like where's the first FP of the day going to be) but I start talking about crowd levels and most recommended park and I get that look. Other than that he's pretty easy going (sounds like your DH haha).

Love reading all of the updates! DH & I have a love for Vinylmations, too!

Thanks for the pic of the Casey Jr Playground! My DS is SO excited to play in that next time--it opened about 4 days after we got home from our last trip!

Glad to be a help! I think the train cars can move, because I've seen pictures elsewhere where they are arranged differently, but we never went back in person so I can't tell you for sure.

And again, DEFINITELY bring a change of clothes for your DS! We're talking Kali River Rapids wet here. I don't think it's a coincidence that it's located right next to the bathroom.

 

[elphie101]

Sorry about disappearing everyone! I start my new job on Monday so the past week or so has kind of been like the last week of summer vacation - the last one I'll ever have! Very bittersweet, but I'm so grateful to actually have a job relatively soon after college.

Now where were we?​

20-Somethings Are Allergic to Water!

Where we last left off, the two of us were making our way out of Magic Kingdom, hot and exhausted with visions a cool dip in the pool and an early night with resort TV propelling us to the bus stop. It is here where the first real snag of the trip hit (which really was all my fault).

To back up a bit: during the 7 months I lived in Orlando, I didn't put on a pair of sneakers unless it was to go to work. I'm one of those people who wears her flipflops until it's October and my toes are blue before I'll finally dig the socks out of my drawers. So being able to wear sandals during the wintertime - and when going to the parks - pretty much put me in heaven. I got used to touring the parks in my $10 WalMart flip flops.

I forgot, of course, that touring the parks during my CP meant showing up at Studios at 6:30, squeezing in a quick ride on ToT before Fantasmic and then going right back home. Stupid me.

So when packing for this trip, I brought my chunky work sneakers, but the rest of my shoes were flip flops - even my good cushion Nike ones. I knew the cheapies weren't going to do my feet any good this time around, so I made sure to pack the platform ones for extra cushioning (dun dun dun).

So here we are at the present time of our trip, making our way towards the buses, me ever so smartly in extra thick flip flops......which I haven't worn in a year......and are more height than I'm used to having in a shoe..........

And before I know it, my left ankle rolls. Hard.

We stop, and I test it out, and I can actually walk ok, so we keep going, and I think nothing of it. But obviously, that's not the end of the story

We hop right on a waiting bus, and are on our way back to Pop. It's about 15 minutes, and as we get close, I do a little stretching, since we've stiffened up on the bus ride back.

Except I can't roll my left ankle in a complete circle. In moves up and down, but any movement left or right does not happen without pain. And instantly I knew what happened.

We're back at Pop now, and we head right into the shop to check out their first aid supply. It's walkable, with only a mild pain, but it's definitely not pain free. Plus our next day would be our only full day together (since I would be working our last three nights) and we were planning on a long one, so we wanted to be prepared.

We head back to the room and finally unpack, since everything is still in suitcases in our rush to eat lunch and then get to MK. We can't decide if we'd rather head for the Hippy Dippy pool, since it's bigger, or stick by the Computer pool since it's closer to our room. We're pretty hungry at this point, so we decide to change and go get dinner, and bring towels in case we decide to swim in the 60s.

Shirmp lo mein for me, chicken and fries for Kevin (yes they do give you plenty more fries, he just ate most of them while waiting to pay ) and two Mickey crispy treats for me for later. That's chosing your desserts wisely if you ask me

I LOVED my lo mein - it had a nice kick to it and there was plenty, and the shrimp was delicious. I have a hard time finding anyone to get chinese take-out with me back home so this really satisfied my craving. Kevin had no complaints, and I ended up using the treats as snacks during my shifts later in the week.

Kevin didn't see anything too appealing about the Hippy Dippy pool, so we decided to head back towards the room for the Computer pool.

The keyboard was pretty neat.......but not neat enough to be the theming for this pool. It's a square. That's it. It's not that I'm complaining, we really couldn't have cared less.......it's just certainly not something to write home about.

In front of our building, opposite the Roger Rabbit

Our beloved 90s......we were glad to be back!

As you can tell from the last photo, the sun was setting now, and the water was actually a little colder than we would have hoped - it probably would've felt more refreshing had we gone at 3:00 in the afternoon when we were sweating in the parks. Still we were enjoying ourselves.

There were a fair number of families also hanging out at the pool, and we quickly noticed we were the only group without children - and the other adults took notice too. It did irk me a bit that they seemed surprised and confused that a couple of 20 somethings would want to be swimming at 8:00 at Disney World - it's our pool too! If you ask me, the more surprising thing was the number of teenaged girls reading 50 Shades of Gray poolside

The water temperature was quickly becoming more cold than refreshing, so we headed back to the room to dry off, get pajama-ed, and find some Big Bang Theory on the TV to fall asleep to. We were fast asleep by 10:00, but we had an early day tomorrow! As I mentioned before, it was our only full day together - and Toy Story Mania was calling my name!

Coming Up Next: A Trip to the Toy Box!​

​

 

[ShortStuff]

Oh my, I hope your ankle lasted throughout your long day!! I also hope that you get to try the basic dining plan in the future. If you show Kevin the menus on allears.net, I bet he would find things at many restaurants he would be willing to try!! :

Looking forward to more trip report!! Hope your new job is all that you hope for and more!!

 

[RachVH]

Hope your ankle gets better fast! I have been dealing with some phantom ankle swelling for a couple of weeks now, so I know how annoying it can be.

And the teenagers reading 50 Shades of Grey!? Seriously? That would have been my reaction too!

 

[shan23877]

All caught up! I hope that your ankle didn't ruin the trip for you!

Dinner looked good! We haven't stayed at any of the values, but I think Pop and AoA would be on the top of my list.

I actually laughed out loud about the teenagers reading 50 Shades of Gray. My girlfriend and I were just talking about books the other day, and I commented that my mother must have been crazy because she handed me all of her V.C. Andrews books when I was 15. And my grandma loaded me up with Danielle Steele! At least the teenagers were reading I guess!

Can't wait to hear about the TSMM dash on a bum ankle.

 

[natebenma]

So sorry to hear about your ankle! Hope it does not bother you the next day(s). Especially for your visit to HS.

Your shrimp Lo Mein looked yummy! Good choice on the mouse krispie treats, too.

I'm glad you got to use the pool, too bad it was a bit on the cool side- but hey, you're from New England. Isn't anything about 65 degrees virtually a hot tub???

 

[glennbo123]

Ouch! Sorry to hear about your ankle roll. You'll have to be careful of it now -- once you do it, it's easier for it to do it again. Ask me how I know. (Well, you probably don't need to. I'm sure you can guess.)

 

[jecskc]

I need to find that Jungle Cruise skipper that does the Lost references. I miss Lost ..... I really do.

 

[Leasha_Loves_Disney]

Oh no!!! i don't like the sound of that dun dun dun.... i hope it doesn't turn out too badly for you guys.

Did you stay in the Rodger Rabbit section? That's really the only reason I wouldn't want to stay there haha. Weird right? I have had this strange fear of him since I was a child. I really have no clue why. I know that if I were to stay at POP I would end up with a great view of him, that would be just my luck

On our last trip down I feel like I was getting the same kind of look at the pool on our last day as well. Our plane was delayed about a million and one times and that's how we sent the extra hours. I payed the same rate for this hotel please let me use the pool in piece. And teenagers reading 50 shades of Grey?! I haven't read it. I've only heard a little about it but that hardly seems like a book to be reading at that age, let alone when you are in Disney!!!

Can't wait to read more. Hollywood Studios is my favorite. Can't wait to hear what you do on your day there!!!​

​

 

[eandesmom]

on the ankle!!!! And folks thinking it was odd you were at the pool. Still, other than those snafus sounds like a decent evening

 

[elphie101]

Oh my, I hope your ankle lasted throughout your long day!! I also hope that you get to try the basic dining plan in the future. If you show Kevin the menus on allears.net, I bet he would find things at many restaurants he would be willing to try!! :

Looking forward to more trip report!! Hope your new job is all that you hope for and more!!

He always swears he's willing to try anything, and he's just a creature of habit.....I talked him into Teppan Edo last year and it was a HUGE success! So I'm hopeful

Hope your ankle gets better fast! I have been dealing with some phantom ankle swelling for a couple of weeks now, so I know how annoying it can be.

And the teenagers reading 50 Shades of Grey!? Seriously? That would have been my reaction too!

It didn't end up creating much of a problem - to be honest I was more concern about working on it then touring on it - I just felt I had to include it in the TR since it made for some drama on our evening!

All caught up! I hope that your ankle didn't ruin the trip for you!

Dinner looked good! We haven't stayed at any of the values, but I think Pop and AoA would be on the top of my list.

I actually laughed out loud about the teenagers reading 50 Shades of Gray. My girlfriend and I were just talking about books the other day, and I commented that my mother must have been crazy because she handed me all of her V.C. Andrews books when I was 15. And my grandma loaded me up with Danielle Steele! At least the teenagers were reading I guess!

Can't wait to hear about the TSMM dash on a bum ankle.

I remember back in 8th grade my friends starting to read the Clan of the Cave Bear......my mother was reading them at the same time and did NOT approve. I guess it has some questionable passages for a teenager

Pop is my favorite of the values because it has a better location than the All Stars, they feel like they're in the middle of nowhere. I assume I'd like AoA for the same reason, and I'm dying to try out the Little Mermaid rooms (even if they are on the other end of the resort) once the hype dies down.

So sorry to hear about your ankle! Hope it does not bother you the next day(s). Especially for your visit to HS.

Your shrimp Lo Mein looked yummy! Good choice on the mouse krispie treats, too.

I'm glad you got to use the pool, too bad it was a bit on the cool side- but hey, you're from New England. Isn't anything about 65 degrees virtually a hot tub???

I know, I know, I shouldn't have been bothered by the water temp - I think living in FL for a bit softened me up!

Ouch! Sorry to hear about your ankle roll. You'll have to be careful of it now -- once you do it, it's easier for it to do it again. Ask me how I know. (Well, you probably don't need to. I'm sure you can guess.)

I know what you mean - it's actually the same ankle I sprained back in 2010 doing a Ropes course with my school, though this time wasn't nearly as bad (no bruising and barely any swelling). I figure it's just going to be a little prone to that from now on.

I need to find that Jungle Cruise skipper that does the Lost references. I miss Lost ..... I really do.

I wish I could remember some of the direct quotes......DBF remembers it better than I do. It was hilarious though!

Oh no!!! i don't like the sound of that dun dun dun.... i hope it doesn't turn out too badly for you guys.

Did you stay in the Rodger Rabbit section? That's really the only reason I wouldn't want to stay there haha. Weird right? I have had this strange fear of him since I was a child. I really have no clue why. I know that if I were to stay at POP I would end up with a great view of him, that would be just my luck

On our last trip down I feel like I was getting the same kind of look at the pool on our last day as well. Our plane was delayed about a million and one times and that's how we sent the extra hours. I payed the same rate for this hotel please let me use the pool in piece. And teenagers reading 50 shades of Grey?! I haven't read it. I've only heard a little about it but that hardly seems like a book to be reading at that age, let alone when you are in Disney!!!

Can't wait to read more. Hollywood Studios is my favorite. Can't wait to hear what you do on your day there!!!​

​

We didn't actually see Roger Rabbit again (see our lovely view of the laundry bins in my previous update) but I'm sure you could request NOT the 80s/90s!

Part of me wonders if we wouldn't have been as out of place had we been at a mod or deluxe, where they might be other young kid-less couples......but then again, as a young kid-less couple we couldn't really afford an upgrade

on the ankle!!!! And folks thinking it was odd you were at the pool. Still, other than those snafus sounds like a decent evening

It was! Nothing like a relaxing, low key evening on your early arrival day

 

[elphie101]

A Trip to the Toy Box!

We went to bed with an alarm set for 7 AM with the goal of making it to Hollywood Studios' rope drop for TS Fastpasses, and to finish out the night at Epcot with dinner and Illuminations. Additionally, we had another goal of meeting up with my former roommate from the college program Kat, who had recently left Splash Mountain for Toy Story Mania and who I hadn't been able to see when I was down in April. She was working that day, so we made plans to try and catch her on her shift.

I woke up at 6:15 wide awake, and promptly wondered what was wrong with me. I did the math and figured out that I had gotten 8 hours of sleep, so I guess I had just had enough rest! I figured I would just lay in bed and relax for 45 minutes - until I realized that there was an empty resort in early morning lighting just begging to be photographed. Plus I had forgotten to fill my mug up with coffee the night before so I could have iced coffee in the morning.



I quietly got dressed, grabbed my camera, scribbled a quick note to Kevin, and set off to explore Pop Century. Neither of us had ever really walked around the property, since our rooms on both stays were a short walk through the parking lot to get to the bus stop/food court, so I was excited to see something new!

Good morning computer pool..........looks a lot more like a computer from this distance.

The Cars section of AoA from our 80s building......the first of many, MANY photos, trust me

I definitely have a soft spot for the 90s, because it's only one building and it was my first on property stay ever....my beloved 90s!

I made my way downstairs and started walking around the edge of the 70s towards the back of the resort.......when I realized I left the refillable mugs in the room 10 minutes later I continued my tour, mugs in hand.

AoA from across Hourglass Lake - love the reflection!

This was (as you may remember) the week after the Cars section had opened, and I couldn't wait to get over there to see it (we made it over on Sunday, our last day - and there are PLENTY of photos in that update, never you fear)

My parents got a kick out of this (the stairwell in the 70s section) - inspired my dad to dig out his old collection!

Just so dang photogenic

The bridge from Pop to AoA - is it still called the Generation Gap bridge? Doesn't make as much sense now

Another peek at the Little Mermaid section, far far away

It just past 7:00 now and the food court was open (and Kevin would be waking up) so I decided to circle back to the front of the resort to grab our breakfast.

This was my favorite of all the stairwells!

I wish the bushes hadn't been in the way so I could've gotten the whole building!

Quiet (almost) empty Hippy Dippy pool - I just noticed the guy in the bottom corner. Sorry sir!

The food court wasn't too busy - the majority of people up at this hour were headed to the bus stop for character breakfasts

Cinnamon roll for me, bagel for Kevin (he eats them plain, untoasted, just as is - the cashier didn't seem to believe I didn't want cream cheese) and some OOP grapes to share, which we ended up barely eating, plus coffee for me and hot water for the tea Kevin brought for him.

It was at this point that I had a chance to look at my phone and see several text messages from a confused Kevin wondering where I was. Right as I called him, he found my note and so I headed back to the room so we could eat. Kevin also wrapped up my ankle, and we quickly got ready to go.

We didn't have a long wait for the bus, but didn't get out of the room as quickly as we would've like (which was probably my fault) so we didn't get to Hollywood Studios until past 9:00. The line at the bag check was monstrous - I could see the SA tour group from the bus stop. So we decided to take a different route:

My favorite hidden bag check line! It's slightly more convenient if you're driving, but still not out of the way from the bus drop off, and never has a line.

The chaos we were avoiding - point us!

We got through the turnstiles as quickly as we could, and Kevin took off like a shot for TSM, while I made a pit stop.

Confession: I am obsessed with Disney's band aids. For some people it's Dole Whips, for me I guess it's bandages. The straps on my flip flops from yesterday had rubbed my feet hard enough that there were a few cuts, and I wanted to cover them up with Disney's super industrial H-shaped band aids! Seriously those things are like the cockroaches of the first aid world - they're indestructible.

I taped my feet off and headed to the back of the park so we could ride TSM standby.

Side note - I actually found a photo from my family's 1994 trip and I was shocked to see no Sorcerer's Hat! Poor Chinese Theater....

If you're not on a mission to get in line/grab FPs, this seems like the perfect time for a M&G to me.

Continued in next post​

 

[elphie101]

When I met up with Kevin, the standby line had jumped to 30 minutes, but we decided to hop in line - it's a great queue inside and how often is the TSM line that short?

It was only about 9:15, so things were moving pretty quickly

Our FPs for later in the day.....which would end up being a problem *foreshadowing*

I love how much there is to look at back here - love the solider catching the 'ME'!

The wait when we got up to the building - I assured Kevin that it was 60 minutes at the end of the line, and we would still only wait 30 (which was true)

The point where I realize I haven't taken a photo of either one of us yet - good morning Kevin!

This is definitely one of the best Disney queues there is.....it's like they knew it would always be full

It was early enough that they didn't even have the entire queue open yet......so I could photograph the floor!

I love how these are actual shots from the movie

In a house of cards!

I tried to get a photo of me holding up the lincoln log.....but Kevin was a little too close

Quickest way to get my attention: the word Tomorrowland

I'm in LOVE with this ceiling - I totally feel like I'm inside Andy's toy box and he just dumped the Scrabble board on top of everything

I'm tempted to make a sarcastic comment.....but this is probably my favorite photo from the trip

You can see it best on the left corner of the doorframe, but somehow people had gotten money under the plastic covering. We were baffled how they might've done it

Hey there Potato head!

Finger painting on the wall

My favorite part about riding TSM is how they send single riders and parties of two up the little staircase (I've only ever been on it with Kevin) ahead of the line. We actually had someone ask if we were in the Fastpass line......not quite sir.

So close!

We were loaded into our cars and off we went! I was dying to play Kevin since I was positive I had gotten better since our last time - he still beat me, but I got my best score yet!

We had a bit of a wait unloading, so I took more photos, of course.

Tin Toy by Lasseter! Love little things like this that Disney does

We walked off TSM without a game plan - we couldn't grab any Fastpasses for another hour and the headliners were all about an hour wait. And then I realized my mistake - Kat didn't start work until 4:45, and I knew we needed to have FPs for when she was working if we wanted to see her (since we wouldn't know where she would be within the ride). Our current FPs were essentially useless, since we would need to get new TSM ones as soon as we could so we could move on to Epcot, and therefore wouldn't be able to get any at Rockin Roller Coaster or Tower of Terror.

We were stuck. What could we do?

Coming up next: The Great Fastpass Switcheroo​

 

[shan23877]

That's a great tip about the hidden bag check line!

Nice Pop photos, and I can't wait for the AoA pictures! It looks so cool!

Love the TSMM queue. It's so adorable, and there's something to see everywhere you turn!

Great scores!

That's a really nice photo of the two of you.

Sounds like the day was going to get rough...

 

[ShortStuff]

Awesome update! Your pictures keep making me more excited for our September arrival at POP. I understand they have said that POP and AOA are 'sister resorts' and that you can 'pool hop' between the two. I don't see that occuring for us, but I would like to eat at their food court one time!

Will be on the lookout for your next update.

 

[natebenma]

Great start to your morning!

I love your early morning tour of the resort, and the pictures from AoA. Beautiful!

Sounds like a great ride on TSM. I love the early morning stand-by line there. 20 to 30 minutes is just perfect to enjoy the fun, creative queue.

I think I know what you are going to do with the FP, and if so, BRILLIANT!