TiggeRia and Friends--a semi trip report!

[TiggeRia]

I always want to write a trip report, but A. I am terrible at writing and B. I usually start but only ever write the first day or two! This time I am just going to post random thoughts about the different portions of our trip, and hope that I actually finish it! I'll post some photo's, as well.

Cast:
Ria (me) - I am 28 years old and this is my 9th trip to WDW since 2005. My parents never took me as a child, so now I'm making up for lost time! :mickey:
Jenn - Jenn is 27 and a friend from long ago when we went to camp together. She lives 6 hours away, and this was the first time I saw her in about 5 years!
DD - DD is almost 60 and is about as fanatical as you can be about Disney. DD and I are friends through work.
Sue - Sue is in her 40's, and although she went a long time ago as a child, she just started going back to WDW a few years ago and is turning into a lover of WDW. Sue and I are friends through work.

Traveling to and fro
DD, Sue, and I flew down to MCO from ABE on AirTran on the 7th of September after working a half a day. Our flight was delayed by only about ten minutes, and we landed in MCO around 7:30 PM. DD uses an ECV to get around, so we usually rent a car to stay away from having to use the bus system. Rental prices have been outrageous, but about two days before our trip, I found a deal with Payless--a midsize car for 7 days for $112 total. I couldn't believe our luck!! WE hopped on a shuttle at the airport (only had to wait about 10 minutes) and headed off to Payless. Our driver was a bit scary, but we arrived unscathed. DD went in to do the paperwork. After about 20 minutes, she emerged. She was able to upgrade to a small SUV (a Rav4) for only $28 more total! I could not believe that we had a small SUV for 7 whole days for under $150!!!! :number1:

Coming home, I was on a different flight from everyone else. I was originally supposed to leave on the 13th, via AirTran, but Jenn wasn't able to get a flight on that same day, she had to leave on the 14th. No problem, I figure, I'll call AirTran and change my flight. Well, they tried charging me $90 to change a flight that I only paid $54 for. Then they tried charging me $75 to cancel it. I decided just not to show up and book another airline, unfortunately the only other cheap flight I could get was into Philly.

DD and Sue left early in the morning on the 14th, returning the car on the way. I had a 5 PM flight into Philly, and Jenn a 7 PM flight into Pittsbugh, so we both took the Magical Express back to the airport. Everyone was able to check in at the hotel except me. I was flying United/US Air home. They were able to pull up all my information and had me call the 1-800 number to pay for my luggage, but then they could not print out my boarding pass or my luggage tags, so I would have to haul everything to the airport. :( Our bus (2:15 PM) going back was absolutely packed! It took a long time to load everyone and all the luggage. Everyone loaded and unloaded their own luggage underneath the bus. The trip to the airport was uneventful. I was the second stop, and we were at the first stop for quite awhile because they had to unload an ECV. Fine by me, though, we were plenty early for the flights. If I had been running late, I could have just hopped off and cut across to the other side, but Jenn and I just rested on the bus. My flight into Philly took off and landed early. Unfortunately, the luggage carousel in Philly kept jamming, so it took about 45 minutes to get my back. Mom and Dad picked me up and we drove two hours home. It was a long day as we didn't get in until almost 10:30 PM.

Coming up next--thoughts on the hotel!

[nicster]

The transportation end of things sounds just fine... keep goin:thumbsup:

[TiggeRia]

Pop Century

This was my fourth stay at Pop. I typically stay here when I am traveling with friends and we don't spend much time in the room.

We checked into the hotel around 9:30 PM. There was no one in the check-in line. I was a bit worried, because we had the free dining and Jenn wasn't able to get a flight until the next morning. I know in the past they ask to see everyone in the room in order to get the free dining. Check in was a breeze though, they never asked any questions-whew. We had two rooms that were "adjoining" in the 60's building. I was thrilled to be in a new section, because I've always stayed in the 90's and had been hoping for a change of scenery.

My room was 4150, and I started to get a bit nervous as we walked to the room. Our building was right next to the Hippy Dippy Pool, which can be pretty loud, but alas, we were right on the other side of the building. It was a quick and easy walk to the main lobby, yet just far enough away from the pool to keep out some of the noise. Unfortunately however, apparently "connecting" and "adjoining" are two different terms, so we didn't have a doorway through to each other's rooms. A quick call to the front desk straightened that out, and the next day Sue and DD were able to move to the room on the other side of mine so that we were connecting. Something that I didn't think to do was pack some pajamas in my carry-on. Our luggage didn't arrive until after midnight, so I would up just sleeping in my clothes that I traveled in.

The rooms are pretty standard. We had a towel animal waiting for us in our window, but it seems that so did everyone else. Mousekeeping gave us one more towel animal during the week and did a nice job keeping our room clean. No complaints there!

It seems the walls are much thinner at this resort than at the moderates or deluxes. We could always hear water running or drawers and doors slamming closed. People walking up and down the walkway in front of the doors were clearly heard, too. It wasn't too bad, though, I knew what to expect and no one was terribly loud.

The pools are nice enough. We spent a few hours at the Hippy Dippy pool. There were plenty of lounge chairs to go around and lots of lifeguards on duty. The water was nice and warm--I hate cold water! I saw a place for towel returns, but didn't see anywhere that you could get a towel, so we used our room towels and took them back to the room when done. Mousekeeping had been nice enough to leave plenty of extra towels, so we never ran short. We also spent a bit of time at the bowling pin pool, which is considered a "quiet" pool. The afternoon we were there it was just as crowded as the main pool, but there were still plenty of chairs. I think I preferred the main pool.

We didn't really use the bus system, since we had the rental. Jenn and I used the bus on the last day to go to DTD after Sue and DD left, and everything was fine--we only had to wait about 15 minutes.

The food court is pretty standard, too. The first few days we were there it wasn't too crowded, but towards the end of the week and the weekend it was packed! We would have to wait in line for quite awhile to get our food. I'll talk more about food in the dining section, though.

I am sure that I am forgetting something else about the hotel, however, I'll just add it in if I should remember. :) Don't have any pictures of the hotel to share, either, sorry!

[faline]

Glad you got a good deal on the car! Hope the rest of your trip was fun!

[TiggeRia]

Magic Kingdom

We didn't really spend a whole lot of time here, for some reason. On Tuesday before Jenn arrived, Sue, DD and I ate at CP (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2273662900099791469uMNefS) for breakfast. We got to enter the park before it opened. Main Street USA (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2355203030099791469QcuyjJ) is so neat to see when it's so empty!

We spent a half day there on Thursday, and the first thing we did was go see the Move It! Shake It! Celebrate It! Street Party. This was a blast! The music was great, and everyone was out and dancing (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2166178730099791469FBvhgC) with the characters. I love how they are able to freely interact with the guests. They had to be sweltering, though, they were really shaking (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2851270590099791469eSKgzW) it! Sue, Jenn, and I joined in the dancing and had a ball.

We went on POTC (I love Captain Jack :cloud9:), Splash Mountain (which I am terrified of!!), and BTMR. We had gotten a late start, so it was lunch time by then. I've always wanted to eat at el Pirate y el Perico but naturally it was closed, so we headed to the Terrace Noodle Station, which was also closed, so we finally settled on Cosmic Rays. The crowds were very manageable at that point.

After that point, we were going to leave to go swim, but Jenn wanted to go on Buzz. We got in line with a 5 minute wait, but with DD on her ECV, they put us through to the wheelchair entrance and the line there was really long and slow! We waiting about 20 minutes to get on the ride. I rode with Sue and got such a bad score I can't even write it here, but she got 999,999 and no idea how she did it!

We came back later that evening to see Spectromagic and Wishes. We were able to get semi-decent seats on Main Street about 45 minutes before the show. Jenn and Sue ran off to the bathroom, so I put my sweatshirt on the ground next to me to save their seats. Most people were polite and asked if those seats were taken and then stepped over my sweatshirt, but several people came along and just stepped right on it, and they knew perfectly well it was there. Oh well, it's DW, I let it pass.

The parade was wonderful and then we headed up in front of the castle to watch Wishes, which was fabulous as well. We let the crowds thin out before heading back out of the park for the night.

That's all we accomplished at the MK! There were many more things that I wanted to do and ride, but we were making it a leisurely trip, and it just never happened. Next time, I guess!

Coming up next: MNSSHP!!!

[faline]

Nice pictures! They must have just closed El Perico as we dined there just a couple of weeks ago!

[TiggeRia]

Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party!!

We went on September 11th and had an absolutely wonderful time!!!!! I had been to the party once before two years ago with my DBF. DD had been there once many years ago, and this was the first time for Sue and Jenn.

We all sort of dressed up. I'm not sure exactly what I was, but I had a sparkly spider web cape (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2557284350099791469VMxyXZ) and wore it over some black clothes. DD was a vampire. Sue was a lion. Jenn...well, she forgot a costume in her rush to pack. So she decided to be creative. She borrowed some black clothes from Sue and myself and ran out to WalMart for some masking tape. She then proceeded to line the clothes with tape to make herself into a stick figure (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2230958410099791469AwEXCI)--however Sue is much shorter than Jenn, so the pants didn't fit quite right and she looked more like a stick figure (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2204267440099791469CjzdNG) ready for a flood!

We got to the park around 5 PM and had a 5:15 dinner at LTT, which was very yummy. Although not quite the same without the characters....after dinner it was almost time to party!! We wandered around just look at things, waiting for 7 to come! There were a lot of people in costumes, many quite elaborate! We saw tons and tons of pirates, Fred and Wilma Flintstone, Barney Rubble, scarecrows, and of course a lot of disney costumes, to name a few!

Seven o'clock hit and we were off and running. We had decided to concentrate more on the Halloween stuff, rather than the rides (although most of the rides seemed to be walk-on). We started off by trick or treating in a few areas, got our pictures taken with Eeyore (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2611299170099791469fOTYto), and then ran into the line for the 7 dwarfs (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2485796200099791469iJCxDY)!! Hopped right into line here, and I'm glad we did when we did because it got really really long! After the dwarfs it was off for a lot more trick or treating (seeing some scary characters (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2306085180099791469gEXzjA)!) and looking at the decorations.

We stopped at the dance party in Tomorrowland and got a Star Wars toothbrush. We didn't stick around there for long because it was indoors and really crowded. We wandered on over to Adventureland where Jenn and Sue went on POTC again, while DD and I sat and rested--it was sweltering that night! Oh, and the taco restaurant was open that night---I was so mad because I was still completely stuffed from dinner!!!!

We then proceeded over to Frontierland for more candy and had our pics taken with Woody and Bullseye. The first parade had started at that point, so we watched for a few minutes. Captain Jack's (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2102981710099791469OjrTAv) float came by and everyone started screaming. :thumbsup:

Sadly, I can't remember what we did next...and it was less than a week ago! I do recall visiting Rafiki (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2977667200099791469onZesP) and Baloo (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2398299580099791469wxHaSF) at one point. There was no one in line to see them. I tried to see Tarzan, but every time I got in line, he went back inside.

We eventually made our way out to the front of the castle and got into good position for the fireworks. It was so much less crowded than on a regular night of Wishes. This fireworks show is my absolute favorite, I love the music and the lights and of course the fireworks!

We found a seat right in front of the castle along the road for the parade and watched the villains show while waiting. That was pretty good, too, and I got a quick picture with Captain Hook (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2086809680099791469HKdwlR). Here's the one thing that really irked me the whole trip. If you plan on being in the front row of a parade, please sit down!!! These two tall guys next to us decided to stand the entire time so we could not see anything coming until it was almost right in front of us because of where we were seated around the circle. Not to mention that anyone behind them couldn't see, either. Nonetheless, the parade was great (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2548580170099791469CQvELO)! This is one of my favorite parades and Jenn said seeing the parade was her favorite part of the whole trip. I had that song stuck in my head for days!

By that time it was starting to get late. We made another circuit trick or treating with a stop at the Haunted Mansion along the way, because you have to do the HM on Halloween!!

We finally exited the park a little after 12. We chatted a bit with the monorail CM who said that they average giving away 16 tons of candy at each party and 2000 tons of candy actually on Halloween. Can those numbers be true?? He said on Halloween they have 18 fifty foot trucks come in completely full of candy. He also said that the crowds that night were very low compared to some of the more crowded parties that get up to 19,000 people. Anyway, we made it to the car at 12:45 and back into our rooms around 1:15. Of course we had to check out our candy (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2667005430099791469yaLvRM)--we each had several pounds. It was a long night but totally worth it!

[Kathy Jetson]

Sounds great! I can't wait to go to the halloween party in oct. Loved the pic with the 7 dwarfs!

[nicster]

WDW & CANDY! What a great combo!!!:thumbsup:

[mouseketeer mom]

You know, my daughter got that 999,999 score on Buzz last month. She has no idea how she did it either. She said, at one point, her score just increased really quickly, so they
must've found that secret target!
Love the parade photos. We love Halloween at WDW and I love the pic of you with the seven dwarfs. Its a great one!

[SBETigg]

I love the picture of you with Tigger! Fantastic reporting. Great Halloween Party descriptions and pictures. Thanks.

[VWL Mom]

Thanks for the MNSSHP report and pictures, we're going on Halloween and can't wait. But 2000 tons of candy, yikes!

[KylesMom]

I know what you mean about starting a trip report and only getting past the first day or two - I've been guilty of that on more than one occasion!

It sounds like such fun to grab a group of girlfriends and hit the skies for Disney World. What a good time with manageable crowds you've encountered so far. I can't wait to read more! Thanks for sharing.:mickey:

[TiggeRia]

EPCOT

EPCOT is my absolute favorite park and I could spend days here, just relaxing. However we only managed to spend two partial days!

We arrived to EPCOT on Tuesday in the early afternoon and headed straight for Test Track. DD, in all of her many, many trips, has never been on this ride, and we had to beg her to get on. But she wound up having a blast! It was already pretty hot out, so we headed over to Ellen's for a rest and some cool air. After Ellen's we headed off to Soarin' which was great as always! I think that screen 2 seems to be in much better condition than screen 1, though.

After Soarin, we headed into the World Showcase because I wanted to catch Off Kilter, as they weren't scheduled to perform on Saturday. We headed off to the right first, wandering around to kill some time. The place was empty (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2268892180099791469FezKxb)!!! At one point we stopped at a Kim Possible station to get a ticket for a Kimmunicator. We then headed to Norway, making a brief stop to watch the Fife and Drum Corp--I think that's what they are called --and also for a glass of Rosa Regale in Italy (yum yum, my favorite!!! We stopped in Norway to pick up the cell phone and headed off to Mexico where we successfully saved the world, doing a little shopping along the way!

By the time we were done with our adventures, it was time to see Off Kilter, so we made off for Canada. I love to watch them, and was thrilled to see the bag piper there. He doesn't seem to be there too often. By this time it was almost 4 PM, and poor Jenn had been up at 4 AM to head to the airport after only sleeping a few hours. She was exhausted and fell asleep (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2302660530099791469jyxHwM) during the concert :blush:

We had an early ADR at Rose and Crown (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2023887450099791469GeQXVW), which was very yummy. It had started to rain while we were there, and the CM's were nice enough to go around covering all the ECVs and strollers with pieces of plastic. I thought that was very kind of them.

Sue then headed off to do Divequest while the rest of us went on Spaceship Earth. We had fun watching our "future" (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2278259250099791469TPGESJ) and I emailed the video home to dad. :)

Sue had a wonderful time diving in the aquarium. We got to see them dive (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2993861700099791469yCOwkg) for about 45 minutes, and there was only her and one other person in her group. She said she can't wait to do it again in the spring.

We ended the evening watching Illuminations--and even with the park being fairly empty, people were lined up well before an hour prior. We watched from Canada. I love the music!

The second day there (Saturday) Jenn, Sue and I just moseyed around the World Showcase and relaxed. We had a really late start because of the Halloween party the night before and didn't get into the park until after 12. We started in Mexico with some lunch--I had been hoping for some tacos since el Pirato y el Perico had been closed, but alas, no tacos to be found. We gorged ourselves with nachos instead, which were pretty good! After grabbing a margarita, we were off to Norway where we rode Maelstrom--it was a walk-on--and looked through the shops. I wish the stores would occasionally change some of their items for us folk that go so often!

China was next and they have a pretty cool shopping area. Sue bought a shirt and then we went to Germany--my favorite country. Sue grabbed a beer to drink for my dad and we all sat and played a game of cards at one of the outside tables and relaxed and people watched. After awhile we went to Italy, where of course I needed another glass of Rosa Regale. At the American Adventure we enjoyed the Voices of Liberty--one of must dos.

DD caught up with us in Japan, where I had to replenish my stock of Almond Crush Pocky--delicious! I also picked up a pair of neat looking socks that have a separate section for your big toe. By the time we left China, it was almost time for our ADR at LeCellier. We hightailed it to Canada and had a fabulous dinner of fillet mignon. By the end of dinner, Jenn was ready to head back to the hotel. She had a head cold that day (the same thing DD and I had the day prior) so we finished up some quick shopping in Canada and made our way out to the car for an early night in.

Up next: Animal Kingdom!

[SBETigg]

I love World Showcase without crowds! Too fun. Jenn really nodded off there, haha! She looks pretty rested at R & C, so that sleep must have helped. My daughter is also a big fan of the pocky, and shopping in Japan. Great times at Epcot. Thanks for sharing. Looking forward to AK!

[mouseketeer mom]

ooo...never heard of pocky! What is it? Love the pics!

[TiggeRia]

ooo...never heard of pocky! What is it? Love the pics!

Pocky is a Japanese candy (I guess it's considered candy...) that consists of a crispy sort of bread stick that is dipped in chocolate. I prefer the one that's also got almonds in the chocolate. It is very yummy and even better when it's straight out of the freezer or refrigerator. You should try it!

[TiggeRia]

Sorry I'm a bit slow in posting--work seems to keep getting in the way!

Animal Kingdom

We spent almost the entire Wednesday at the Animal Kingdom. We arrived around 10 AM and headed straight for the Safari. Lines were pretty good and we saw plenty of animals (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2057033860099791469oJFquK)-although many were lying down and relaxing (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2155371410099791469phrkkC)!. Our driver was nice enough but she talked a mile a minute and also non stop, so it was pretty hard to understand. We sat in the last row (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2444273290099791469BRpsVD) on the jeep, and I think it's much bumpier!

After the safari we walked through the Pangani forest trail, which is a nice relaxing walk. I love to watch the Meerkats...they are pretty interesting creatures.

Next up was FOTLK, which is another one of my favorites. I can watch that show over and over again, and get the same enjoyment out of it each time.

We ate lunch next at a nice table next to the river and made a few duck friends. We all ate food from the Yak and Yeti counter service, and it was pretty good!

After lunch Jenn, Sue and I went on KRR, which was a first for me. I hate to be soaking wet, but it was so hot that day that I figured I would give it a try. The stand by was only about half an hour, and it's a neat queue to go through. We had a nice group of people on our "raft". Naturally, Jenn and I were sitting in the seats that went down the drop backwards and we got absolutely soaked! I screamed like a baby and everyone laughed at me! I was literally wringing out my shorts when I got off that ride. :) It was a lot of fun though, and I'd definitely go on it again! We then walked the Maharajah Jungle Trek and the tigers (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2411410720099791469trqNQD) were actually awake and moving around!!!

Jenn and Sue went off to ride EE and they both loved it so much they hopped back on for a second trip! DD and I opted for ice cream instead, since we're both roller coaster chickens. :blush: I relaxed in the sun and attempted to dry off, unsuccessfully. While I was sitting there, I saw someone wearing long jeans that must have just got off KRR, because she was soaked! I could never go on that ride wearing jeans---how uncomfortable she must have been!

I'm sure I'm missing a few things in here, but the next thing I remember is getting in line for the parade. I love the music to this parade, it's so catchy and the floats are beautiful! During the parade, the clouds started gathering, so as soon as it was over we decided it was time to do some shopping. Although the gift shops here do seem to carry some more park specific items, I wish it wasn't the same items in every shop in every park. They need to have more variety to keep the interest.

The park was starting to thin out by this point. It must have been close to 5 PM, and we had a 6 PM ADR at the Rainforest Cafe. There was a late showing of Nemo because it was EMH that night, so DD went off to watch that (I didn't care for it so much) while the three of us headed back to the safari, which was pretty much a walk on. This time we were in the front row, and boy can you feel the heat coming from the engine and the front cab! I've never been on the safari in the afternoon, and it was a different experience. The animals seemed to be more active (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2708728220099791469pjHqji) because it was cooler out. We even saw the lion (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2970284830099791469evSgsf) out on his rock. :thumbsup: It always seems to me that I have tons of pictures of animals behinds. Everytime I go to take a picture, they turn around! Lots of the animals not only turned around, but they pooped too! It was so funny to hear everyone laughing at the elephant going to the bathroom. They were all snapping pictures. :secret: Don't worry, though, I won't post that picture!

It was then time for our ADR, so we made our way out of the parks and had a leisurely dinner at the RFC-another first. Might I add, that I was still wet from KRR...

Anyway, after dinner we headed back into the park and it was basically empty (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2943950950099791469rRRROB). We walked around and snapped lots of pictures. The tree of life (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2815421920099791469VsboeY) was so pretty with its reflection in the water. It is a beautiful place in the dark (and the light too!). I had never noticed that there is actually a design on the lamps (http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2851979650099791469IrthcV)...I think it's made to only show up when it is lit, but it was pretty cool!

The park was nearing closing time at 8 PM, so we wandered down for the last showing of ITTBAB, which is always a good show. We slowly meandered out of the park, enjoying the last moments of a wonderful day!

Next up: Hollywood Studios

[Kathy Jetson]

Sounds like a fun trip so far!