POP Before the Christmas Rush-Who's with me!?

[Bethipooh4]

A sad note,
Our beloved daschund of 14 years, Maxwell passed away today. Yep, and of course the guys were camping.

Staff meeting is out of the way, travel essentials are bought, laundry is done. Door magnets are made and a feeble attempt at window clings has been done. 1 more day of work next week....

Monica, our crazy lady voices can have a conversation, I am about to start packing too..

I have been looking at Intellicast, it is not my favorite place to look at....rain rain go away....

 

[monymony3471]

Beth I am so sorry about your dashhound. I bet you would have felt worse if he passed while you were on vacation.

Rain is not a word in my vocabulary at the moment. We are just looking at white stuff at the moment.

3 more days and I am craming for one last exam on Tuesday and also a quiz that goes along with the regularly scheduled part of the class. I already took my monday exam on Friday but we have a socratic seminar that day that I have to attend and then I have to write a paper about it and turn it in on Tuesday. Usually we have a week to write these papers.


Tuesday afternoon I will be officially down with my semester. I tell you, it was a beast for me to conquer.

 

[Bethipooh4]

Monica,
Thanks, I would have been devestated if it happened while we were away, especially since he was going to stay with our friends that were suppose to be going with us.

How do you find time to do it all? Good luck this week...

I am at a loss on how to pack, I see everything from 80's to 60's, sun to rain to wind....

Snow would be nice right now as long as it was gone by Tuesday. Here in NC everything shuts down at the first flake.

 

[ryanshana]

So funny story. My DH has use them or lose them vacation days that he is using tomorrow till friday so jokingly I said lets go to disney would you believe it he said YES!! OMG So luckily we got a POP Century for 12/9-12/13 very short trip but it will hold us till we go again in Sept 09. I can't believe this I feel so disorganized. We didn't bother getting a dining plan cause what's the point everything will probably be booked! But we did get a Kona ressie so i'll be getting my TONGA toast!

How busy is it right now? Anyone know?

 

[ryanshana]

omg I didn't read previous post before I posted so my start saying funny story wasn't so nice....I am sorry about you doggie. I know how difficult it can be to lose a loved one!

 

[Bethipooh4]

Its ok....don't worry, I was sitting here thinking lucky girl!!!
We had 14 good years with him and he didn't suffer....
I am OK today!!

Congrats on the trip, maybe we will see you there!!

 

[skhermsmeyer]

Just found this post! We're going to be at POP Dec 14-20! This is our first trip to the World and we're sooooo excited!

Hope to see some of you fellow disser's there! Any tips I should know about for Epcot, MK, or DHS?

It will be me, DH, DS 15mo, my mom, and my sis. I'm just waiting to see what the first fight will be with my sis.

Can't believe we leave next Saturday!

 

[monymony3471]

I'm just waiting to see what the first fight will be with my sis.

You have one of those too?


DHS: 15 month old must take to Play House Disney, sit in the way back and he can have some floor time. Great break from the stoller lots of interation and the bubbles falling from the ceiling he'll love!

Epcot: Indoor character meets and greats when you walk in the park stay on the right and as you are walking toward Innovations and next to the coffee shop


MK: If you get a times guide when entering the park under the trainstation to being to catch any of the street performers

AK: It's a tough park to walk and it's one of the hottest. Came ready to walk and keep hydrated.

 

[monymony3471]

So funny story. My DH has use them or lose them vacation days that he is using tomorrow till friday so jokingly I said lets go to disney would you believe it he said YES!! OMG So luckily we got a POP Century for 12/9-12/13 very short trip but it will hold us till we go again in Sept 09. I can't believe this I feel so disorganized. We didn't bother getting a dining plan cause what's the point everything will probably be booked! But we did get a Kona ressie so i'll be getting my TONGA toast!

How busy is it right now? Anyone know?

I love Tonga toast!

We have a ressie for breakfast at O'hana's for the first time. Mmmmmmmm.

 

[Tigjam630]

Hello! I just stumbled upon this thread today. My DH and I will be at Pop from 12/16-12/21. We stayed at Pop earlier this year and really enjoyed it, but this will be our first Christmas time trip. We are so excited to get away from the snow and cold....only 8 days to go!!

 

[Bethipooh4]

Welcome Tigjam!!

well the bags are packed, we are checked in at Southwest, and the final lists of things to do at the house have begun.

When I woke up DS this morning he informed me it was only 22 hours to go...gee, do you think he is excited?

Monica, I hope all went well for you today. For anyone in the midwest and up north, I hope the snow stops and that you can get your flight on time, if you are driving be safe!!! We're suppose to have rain tomorrow when we leave.

See you guys at POP!!!!

 

[monymony3471]

The bags are packed here too.

It's been raining ALL day, that cold hard rain.

If it was snow, we'd be in trouble.


We leave in the morning! Woooooo Hoooooo!



Thanks, everything went great at school and I'm done for a month!


Tomorrow this time I'll be at the pool.

 

[leelip1982]

very very busy stayed at POP and now at CSR. Expect crowds.

 

[monymony3471]

i missed you guys at the pool yesterday ak day today and storms joy! even a tornado watch more joy

did catch wishes last night in its entirty

 

[JMSRTM]

We got home at 11pm last night... I'm still on cloud 9. We had such a wonderful time!!!

Monica, I'm sorry I never sent a pic... I couldn't get it to work and was sooo busy with last minute preps that I never got back to send it... plus, on the 10th was gorgeous weather so we did a marathon day at the parks since we knew a storm was coming the next day...

I didn't meet anyone from our group here, but I did meet one DIS'er on the bus, FairlyOddFaery!! She saw my mickey head on my purse (which was the wrong color green by the way!!) and we had a nice little chat. I did see several women staring at me, but other than that, not a single mickey head... and we walked around a little bit but I didn't see any boards on doors, and our board didn't have a marker so I didn't put it up... so anyway, the DIS'in meet and greet type interactions was not quite what I imagined it might be, but that's okay because I had no idea how BIG the place was, or how CROWDED!!!! The food court was nutty busy... and so loud! But we thoroughly enjoyed the hippy dippy pool the two times we took 5 minutes from the parks...

Quick highlights... our first morning we went to AK and were there before anyone else not eating breakfast. waited patiently. got in, walked up to the rope. asked a CM which way should we go to get to the safari. he said stand right here and I'll talk to you in a few. then he let us through the rope and walked us back to the safari before everyone else. turns out we were the honorary safari family and got our own personal safari ride and a pass to go back as many times as we wanted that day!!! started our vacation off feeling the magic!! We loved the Yeti (expedition everest) and the Dinosaur ride there.

HS: Osborne Christmas lights were phenomenal. the highlight of my trip. be sure to walk down there at dusk (around 5:45pm) and stand there before the lights go on. Then they turn them all on at once, very cool. They were handing out 3D glasses to AP holders only, but a very nice person gave our DD hers and then we taught her how to pay it forward later when we saw a little girl crying in her stroller and DD gave her the glasses and she calmed right down. later DD saw her happily riding up the road staring at the lights thru her glasses and really felt good about her sharing. We liked the lights even better than illuminations.

ADR's: we didn't use a single ADR we made. were never in the park I had planned for. I was able to cancel most but some just didn't show up. I gained 3-4 lbs. from eating only counter service junk food. even with the marathon walking we did. If I had to do it over again I would have tried to plan better for ADR's. We did go to DD our last day and ate at Rainforest Cafe which we really enjoyed.

Crowds: I can't believe how crowded it was. I was expecting to have the parks to ourselves. not so. some people told us that December is now very crowded, everyone goes for the holidays now and that January is the time to go. even with crowds though, we were able to ride everything we wanted to. and often without even using fastpasses.

All in all we had a rockin great time! best vacation our family has ever taken!!!

Judi

 

[JMSRTM]

oops... forgot to say... we were in the 60's building... room 5324 facing the lake... one bed was great, one hurt my back... we had two christmas candles in our window, some generic Christmas clings in the window and some stuffed animals... I forgot to take pics of it, too. we walked around a little bit one night but I felt weird walking the halls looking for DIS doors and my tootsies were screaming STOP WALKING WOMAN!! so I did...

 

[Pikester]

Hello everyone!

We drove into our driveway at 8:45am this morning. We left Pop at 8:15am yesterday morning! DH wanted to get home ASAP to check on the house (NH was hit by a major ice storm! Power is out all over the state. We are one of the lucky ones that were without power for only a little while.) and he wanted to avoid morning traffic in all the big cities we had to go through.

We were in the 50's Jukebox building, 4th floor,lakeview, Room 2447, with a connecting room. It was everything that I requested. We could see Illuminaties from the walkway every night and could even see the Magic Kingdom fireworks (I had to step out of my room and go around the bend in the walkway to see because a tree was blocking my view from my room).

I walked around the POP property looking for DIS decore but didn't see anything. I did see lots of Christmas stuff but didn't feel comfortable walking right up to the windows for a better look.

The only DISers I met this week were BKMETV who I chat with on a Thread Killers thread, Dawn's MOM and I think WDWDreamin. I didn't think to write the names down and if WDW is reading this I hope I didn't come across as unfriendly. I was having a scatterbrain moment!

We had a good drive down. The kids did a great job! We went over the George Washington Bridge, saw the NY skyline, went through the Baltimore Tunnel, saw the upper half of the Washington monument, read bill board after billboard (At South of the Boarder: Everyone's a Weiner! ).We stayed overnight at a Super 8 Hotel in SC, then hit the road again at 7:00AM. We stopped at Daytona beach so we could drive, park and then get out to see the ocean. Fed some seagulls which was hilarious! DS7 was mobbed and then they chased him up and down the beach thinking he had to have more crackers on him. MINE! We got to POP around 2PM and was really pleased to be able to check in and get a room. We dropped all the luggage off, unpacked a little and decided to hit DTD for a little shopping. It was packed!

My parents arrived around 7:00pm and were in a connecting room to us. We spent the rest of the evening at POP to get ready for our big day at DHS.

The rest of the week went very well. We made rope drop everyday. We used Fast Passes for the rides we really wanted to do. We often rode the ride first and then got a Fast Pass for later. I planned our ADRS for the parks that we would be in for that day.

DHS: We had ADR at Sci-Fi. I was worried about this as I had heard bad reviews but we all had a great time. I thought the food (on a scale of 1-10) was about a 6. We had a counter service at Studio Catering. Food was typical Disney. 4

1st Day at MK: We had an ADR at Ohana's for breakfast. The characters were great. The food was a 5. We also tried Casey's Corner. Great Hot Dogs,a 5. We did a CS at Columbia Harbour House. Food was a 4.

2nd Day at MK: ADR at LTT. The Characters were hit or miss. I think Goofy, Minnie, Chip & Dale, and Pluto were there but we only saw Goofy, Chip and Pluto. We missed the others because they never came around. The food was a 4. There was a young guy there who proposed to his GF. The staff brought over a Mickey Head Ornament that opened up and the ring was inside. She said YES! (She did let him sweat for a few seconds though. )

EP: ADR for LeCellier. Had to wait almost 20 minutes before we were seated even though we showed up 15 minutes before the ADR time. It was for a late lunch. The food was great and so was the atmosphere. I give it a 7.

AK: We had an ADR for Whispering Cayon(Wilderness Lodge) at 5PM. Great atmosphere and food! I gave this a 9. Loved the ribs! We ate at Pizzafarri. I wanted to eat at Flame Tree but I only saw outdoor seating and it was CCCCOOOOLLLLDDD that day!

Our final ADR was the Spirit of Aloha. The show was a little corny but the guy who dances with the flames was really cool. I personally didn't like the food. It got cold fast because the seating is outdoors and once again it was a cold evening. I give the food a 3 and the show a 5.

It was so crowded this year! DH took DS11 to DTD our final night there and he said that it was so crowed they had security guards closing stores because they were at capacity! You had to wait until someone came out so you could go in. Maybe they need Fast Pass machines down there.

Over all we had a great trip! We are allready talking about going back "someday".

 

[Bethipooh4]

We're home too...

I can't believe the wild weather swings we had...
It went from the 80's and swimming to cold windy, and freezing.

I didn't get to meet anyone either, and all the decorated windows I saw, none of them were DIS related. We were in the 60's building, 4311, facing the pool.

We loved the room(bigger then what I expected) and the fun theme, but customer service there stinks. Did not give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Check in was a nightmare, and it went downhill from there. I don't know if we will stay there again or not.

We spent a rainy day at the MK, but even with the rain we had a BLAST! It was empty. To me the parks seemed pretty quiet, the only real crowd we encountered was a 40 minute wait on Sunday for Space Mountain. We did use fast passes ( and got a surprise one even, I didn't know the machines would spit out magical fast passes..lol)

We got off BTMRR and our entire car was awarded year of a million dreams hats! Pretty cool...and very random. People who got off on the other side were a little bit uspet they didn't get them.

The only disappointment we had ADR wise was at The Wave in the Contemporary. After we checked in they lost us in the computer, and after a half hour( and 10 other families being seated), I said something and they were like, we don't have you here...I was like please explain the pager you gave me... While the food was excellent, the portions were tiny...My guys are big guys and both left STARVING....we got to MVMCP and they grabbed hot dogs. lol...T REX at DTD was alot of fun and the food was good. I liked it better then RFC. We also ate at Coral Reef and Sci Fi.

We tried the tye dye cheesecake, and I warned my DH about the...END results...SURPRISE...enough said...

So now its catch up on Christmas, laundry, and life...Oh and we need to put the tree back together. The cats were kind enough to take it apart for us, ornaments everywhere and they used the garland for floss. I am still finding little beads and balls everywhere. Yep, they chewed right through it...Thankfully we anchored it to the wall or it would have been on the floor.

Anyone want a cat, or 2 or 4?

 

[JMSRTM]

Bethipooh, we noticed poor attitudes in the Pop food court. One time a CM came up to the counter as I waited with my purple tray and said "can I help you?" and then when I said "can I have a beef and broccoli" she walked away! And proceeded to clean up and wipe around the counter along with the other CM for at least 5 minutes totally ignoring my DD and I standing there. We were the only people in line, too. My mouth was hanging open! Finally the other CM said "can I help you?" and I kind of madly said "Uh, yeah!" and my DD said I was being mean. But I couldn't believe they ignored us like that. And the cashiers had the hardest time ringing people through.

We have cat problems since we got home, too. One cat pooped several times on my living room rug while we were gone, I got those spots out luckily... and this morning peed on my bathroom mat!!! I had to throw it out, it still stunk after washing it with cat odor spray and laundry detergent. I think maybe they didn't like us being gone so long or maybe our family didn't keep the litter box clean enough, I don't know...

 

[monymony3471]

Hi! We are home too.

Judy! I did see your daughter and husband a few times in the main building and like a stalker rotfl: )stood there one time watching them to see them walk over to you, but they either walked up to order food in the food court or I lost them.

What made me notice your daughter was we were walking into the main building from the pool and she was running by us toward the bathrooms and tripped and fell right in front of us. I asked her if she was ok and she shook her head yes, then I looked up to see a man and asked him if she was with him and he said yes and then he tended to her. Then the tears came. That's when I suspected it was her from the photos you sent me. But I had to be sure to see her with you, which never happened. I didn't remember seeing your DH in the pics, just you and your daughter.

I had my tye die mickey heads plastered on our bags and stroller.



We were in the 50's building facing the lake, 3rd floor, rooms 2343 and 2342.

We were right under you Pikester.

I'll post some pics later.

Not sure if I'll do a TR, 10 days, ugh to write about.

Besides I have to finish the 4 day. I can now that school is done.