The Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Us WDW Trip Report - May. 17-22, 2008 (Pop Century) - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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The Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Us WDW Trip Report - May. 17-22, 2008 (Pop Century)
Yeah, yeah. I should have written/posted this like a year ago, but I was busy. Keep reading. That, and I didn’t know about you Disney fiends until the last few months; so… so, I didn’t know that Trip Reports were a thing. Now I do. So here’s my very belated TR for last year’s much needed, “put that thing in an envelope”, last minute, two family, head first, last minute Walt Disney World Adventure EXTRAVAGANZA!!!!
Phew.
So most of our trips to WDW are kind of last minute (comparatively speaking). We have never had more than 3 months to plan until our upcoming trip in Sept. ’09. This was our second WDW trip as a family and the second in 2 years—we are planning to go once a year from now on… hopefully.
People in this TR:
Me: Naomi, 29
DH: Jason, 34
DM: Cherryl, 57
DD: Johan, 70
DS: Jager, 2
D?: You’ll have to read and find out! (Gestation: 5 months 2 weeks)
Accommodations: Disney’s Pop Century
Deluxe Dining Plan
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Planning Stages and Our Special Plans:
We wanted to go to Disney but since we hadn’t been planning to go we needed to keep the budget small. We opted for our first visit to a value resort and booked a 6 night stay at Disney’s Pop Century resort. I was a little concerned about the hugeness of the resort, especially for my dad who has been putting off a knee replacement surgery for about 7 years now—so we decided to rent him a scooter from an outside provider so he’d have it everywhere. The price was the same per day as renting at a park, but we had it everywhere we went (at the resort, Downtown Disney). It turned out to be a great decision.
I was about 5 and a half months pregnant during this trip. I wasn’t sure how that would be, but I wanted to take the chance. I read lots of stuff about doing Disney with a bun in the oven and felt like while I’d miss out on a lot of rides, I wouldn’t regret the experience. Once we knew we were going we decided to not find out the gender of our baby at that big, scary ultrasound as we had done with our son. It’s not a fun to place to have such a wonderful memory (I break out in hives; it stresses me out so much!) I wanted a better memory this time, so I talked my DH into getting the gender ultrasound put into an envelope to open sometime at Disney. He was anxious to know but thought it would be a great story to tell our baby one day! We just had to decide where in WDW to do it!
As the ultrasound approached we decided to have our son tell us the gender. We had him work with “boy” and “girl” flashcards and asked the UT tech to put the appropriate card into the envelope along with the actual ultrasound so he would be able to “read” it aloud to us. We had the ultrasound and that bright, glowing envelope stood on the mantle for weeks before our trip. Do you know how hard it is to answer the question, “so you’re twenty-one weeks?! What are you having?” when you know that the answer is singing a siren’s song to you from your fireplace!!??? Well, it’s hard, but Disney was worth it.
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Up next Day #1... Arrival, 1900's Park Fare!
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Previous Trips
May/June '96 - WDW Off Site, May '07 - AKL, May '08 - Pop Century, September '09 - Ft. Wilderness Cabins, May '10 - POFQ, December '10 - WL, July '11 - DL - Offsite, November-December 2012 - Contemporary, May '13 - DCL Fantasy & WDW Art of Animation (Nemo Suite), September '14 - Ft. Wilderness Cabins, April '15 - Beach Club (Club Level), May '16 - AKL (Arusha View) / Universal - LRPR...
Great start. It doesn't matter that your trip was a year ago. We love hearing about it.
Your son has an interesting name. I actually first heard the name this year at my son's little league when his team was playing the Jaguars. I kept thinking that someone keeps mispronouncing Jaguar unti I realized that the boy's actual name was Jager.
Great start. It doesn't matter that your trip was a year ago. We love hearing about it.
Your son has an interesting name. I actually first heard the name this year at my son's little league when his team was playing the Jaguars. I kept thinking that someone keeps mispronouncing Jaguar unti I realized that the boy's actual name was Jager.
Thanks! I know it's old, but it was our last trip. We'll have a new and hopefully better one after this next trip in September!
I've never heard of another boy named Jager! It is part of my last name, so I wanted to keep the name in the family somehow. I've heard of Jagger before, but never Jager. Cool!
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Previous Trips
May/June '96 - WDW Off Site, May '07 - AKL, May '08 - Pop Century, September '09 - Ft. Wilderness Cabins, May '10 - POFQ, December '10 - WL, July '11 - DL - Offsite, November-December 2012 - Contemporary, May '13 - DCL Fantasy & WDW Art of Animation (Nemo Suite), September '14 - Ft. Wilderness Cabins, April '15 - Beach Club (Club Level), May '16 - AKL (Arusha View) / Universal - LRPR...
Our flight was at the crack of dawn… well, not even the crack, it was before the sliver of the crack dawn. I thought my son would keep sleeping, but he seemed to sense the excitement and was up for the day from 4:30am—hence his handsome hair-don’t.
We finally arrived in Orlando around noon and hopped on the Magical Express. Jager loved it just as much the second time as he did the year before. There’s just something about that bus ride! We checked in at Pop, went to our room, and then went to the food court from some grub. Jager ate just enough food to feel comfortable then promptly fell asleep in his mac-n-cheese. I’ve never seen him do that! It almost scared me. J We all took a long nap before our respective dinner plans.
My parents had front row seats to La Nouba that night (the last night before it went on hiatus) and ADRs at Wolf Gang Puck Café. They got dolled up and headed out while we got ready for our ADRs at 1900’s Park Fare (a character dinner) at the GF resort. We got there late (traveling from Pop takes FOREVER) but they got us in anyway. We had fun waiting in the Mary Poppins Courtyard.
The seafood salad (not sure if that’s what it was called) and the prime rib are amazing and very worth visiting 1900’s Park Fare for, by the way. It suited my protein cravings just fine!
Jager loved the characters and was just so into them the whole time. He’s quite the charmer so we decided he and Prince Charming were signing some kind of “Passing of the Charm” certificate in this picture. LOL. He was just signing his autograph book, but it all looks very diplomatic.
After dinner we decided to put Jager to bed earlier rather than later so he could have fun the next day. The monorail from GF is great, and we loved the stopover at the Contemporary (we have to stay there sometime), but waiting for the Pop bus at MK was, once again, ridiculous! It was the furthest bus stop and the lines are long and the buses are slow. This was my primary complaint during this trip—we wasted so much time waiting for our Pop buses!
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Up next Day #2... MK, gender revealing and Crystal Palace!
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Previous Trips
May/June '96 - WDW Off Site, May '07 - AKL, May '08 - Pop Century, September '09 - Ft. Wilderness Cabins, May '10 - POFQ, December '10 - WL, July '11 - DL - Offsite, November-December 2012 - Contemporary, May '13 - DCL Fantasy & WDW Art of Animation (Nemo Suite), September '14 - Ft. Wilderness Cabins, April '15 - Beach Club (Club Level), May '16 - AKL (Arusha View) / Universal - LRPR...
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I am so glad you are posting. We are going to be staying at the Pop and I am also thinking about renting a scooter from an outside source for my mother who has a bad back and can't do a lot of walking and standing. I can't wait to hear more.
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Trish
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Me and the family Magic Kingdom New Years Eve December 29, 2009-January 9th, 2010
It's never too late to post a trip report! I love reading all TR's! Thanks for adding the photos too! Your son is precious!
Can't wait to read more about your trip!