The Prince Charming has met his match trip report - 8/23 - 9/1 at Pop - UPDATED 9/21 - Final installment - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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The Prince Charming has met his match trip report - 8/23 - 9/1 at Pop - UPDATED 9/21 - Final installment
On Saturday Aug 23rd, 2008 myself and my two wonderful children, Jordan 11, and Brendan 9 embarked on a wonderful Journey to Pop Century resort at WDW that would last until Monday Sept 1. Since school doesn’t start until after Labor day up here in Michigan, We figured this would be the perfect time to go. The trip included many magical moments, one of which included a kiss from Ariel for my mermaid adoring daughter, and one incident where Prince Charming himself asked me for advice! (Hence the title of this report!)
The plane left and arrived on time with no glitches whatsoever, which was a bit of a relief since it was an Airtran flight and they have received much bad press lately. Upon landing my two kids and I collected our luggage and headed for the rental car shuttle. We rented a minivan from Advantage since we were meeting friends and would very likely need the extra passenger capacity. Again, it went like clockwork, and it was almost a bit unnerving. Things were going too smoothly! We were in Orlando, driving to our Happy Place, the skies were clear and sunny (Fay had just cleared out). Upon arriving at Pop our room wasn’t ready but I was told my request was granted: a standard room in Building 9 with a pool view! Again: everything’s going too well! We met up with Smilechaser and her group of girls who were very happy to see us, or more likely just happy to see sunshine as TS Fay had pretty much confined them to quarters for the past few days, and was the source of more than a few errr ummm ‘issues’ for her which I know she would love for you to read about in her trip report!. We grabbed lunch at the food court, and then I happily left my kids in her care while I went on a grocery run. (We like to grab a quick bowl of cereal in our room in the mornings and head off to the parks.) We grabbed some swimsuits out of our luggage, because we HAD our luggage with us (Sorry Smilechaser!)
Upon returning from the Publix Supermarket (Nice place!) our room was ready, and it was indeed just what we wanted. 4th floor of building 9 in the 80’s section with a view of the pool. Here is what the view looked like out of our room.
I put my suit on and we all went for a swim then my kids and I hopped on the Disney bus to head to Downtown Disney for La Nouba. Great show! We absolutely loved it! Went pretty much straight back to the hotel though because it had been an early morning to catch our flight, and I had to get up early in the morning to go to the front desk at Pop. See we arrived a day before the free dining promotion started, so we booked the first night room only, and had to go back to the front desk the next morning to ‘check out/check in’ for our free dining package. We were keeping the same room so it was not a big deal, I just wanted to beat the crowd because a lot of people would be doing that that next morning.
Day 2 Animal Kingdom
Woke at 5 am and met smile chaser at the front desk to ‘check out -check in’ to get our dining plan package and was told the computers weren’t ready for it yet. Sigghhhh. But a very nice cast member told us he would do it for us and have our new cards delivered to our room by 8:00 am. Sure enough at 7:30 they were there. Since we were awake anyway, Smilechaser and I took a walk around the resort. Very nice warm morning. Went for a quick swim, breakfast in the room then drove to Animal Kingdom. Rode Expedition Everest a few times with the benefit of FastPass. Love that coaster!! Got off then met up with Smilechaser and group and headed to Kilamanjaro Safari. It was still early in the day so crowds were not very bad yet. Kids played the drums a bit then saw the Lion King show. Had Lunch at the Flame Tree, and my ribs were quite leathery. A disappointment after all the good things I had heard. Took some pictures, then back to the resort for a swim before dinner at the Whispering Canyon.
We all piled in our rental van to head for dinner at Whispering Canyon. It was great. I swear Brendan my son is destined to work there someday! He got right in the middle of the hijinx and personally delivered Ketchup to more tables than I can remember. He also passed time with Smilechaser’s daughter Cheyenne building a tower with logs in the waiting area. Then we all piled back in the van back to the resort. More later, hopefully my Photopass CD will be in soon so I can share some pictures from that.
Coming soon: A day at Blizzard Beach then a Princess lunch at Epcot and Rain! (Something Smilechaser was all too familiar with!!!)
Later in the trip: A kiss from Ariel, and giving Prince Charming advice! (Maybe I should've called this the "Prince Charming's worst Nightmare" trip report!
Brent
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Last edited by Disdadnmi; 09-07-2008 at 04:36 PM..
Great start. I loved Pop. I checked out on 8/24, so we were there almost at the same time. This was also my first time at WCC and I really liked it. Great pictures. More please.
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Location: Physically stuck in Michigan while my heart and soul reside in Disney.....
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Oh the fun we had....I want to go back! We were so happy to see you guys on the 23rd! 'Weather' it was still raining or sunny, as the case may be, you guys brightened up our trip! WCC rocked! That is a MUST DO for next year! You are right, that is definatly Brendans calling! LOL
BTW, thanks for the forethought on that rental van thing.....it was more than a convenience!!!
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Brent! Great start- looking forward to more.
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