Pop century in December with an almost 4 year old About This Page:

[Chanti]

It's that time again... the time to start reading peoples trip reports, to look up everything Disney, to dream away... why, you may ask?... Well, because WE ARE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD AGAIN!!!

It wasn't a planned trip... we were suppossed to go in 2014, no 2013... oh wait no 2012. (I shall explain this later, let me introduce our 'cast members' first)

To start off with the most important person: my daughter Elora who is three and will be three months shy of four when we go on our trip.


Elora is one of those happy go lucky children who is a combination of Donkey (from Shrek, only she talks MORE ) cinderella and stich. Right now her greatest ambition is to be a princess/ mermaid/ ballerina/ animal rescuer and she is going to marry Diego, Prince Phillip and her daddy. She is happy at least 80% of the time and people often marvel at her sunny disposition. Elora only turns into one of the seven dwarves (grumpy) when she is lacking sleep. Jetlag is not her friend (or ours for that matter). She tends to get very stubborn and will say 'no' before you managed to form a question. But even in her grumpy mood she's not too bad, we don't really suffer from tantrums with her, she's more like a propper teen... a little moody.

Then there is my DH


He is the love of my life. I am not going to call him my prince charming (not because he is not, but because I am not the kind of girl who likes princes... I was always more of a sucker for the bad guys ) though he does have all the makings of a prince charming. He treats me really well. Even after 8 1/2 years of being together and 6 years of marriage, he manages to surprise me with the little things in life. I am a lucky woman!
DH never really 'got the disney hype' until we went to 'the world' last December. He went along for me, but it wasn't his first choice. Euro Disney really turned him off a little. To be honest, I don't love Euro Disney (or Disneyland Paris, depends who you are talking to) either. I like it, but I don't lurve it!
But being in Florida changed all that, even though he's mostly in it for the food... but that's okay, I'm not picky. I will take any kind of enthousiasm that I can get.

And lastly, there is moi (It is hard to catch me on film without me looking like I am having some sort of attaque, talking or just generally looking like a turnip, so here's me in a family picture where I don't look all too horrible
I tend to post my wedding or bachellorette party pictures, but that is unfair, because I don't look the same after my pregnancy.

I'm a former primary school substitute teacher and right now I am a social worker, but I really hate my job, so I hope not to be a social worker for very much longer . Like the rest of my family, I'm Dutch, but because I studied in international schools and lived in England for a few years, I am not 'typically Dutch' (if there is such a thing) I am raising Elora to be bilingual.
The disney craziness in my family starts with me. I love all things Disney and defend it against my "holier than thou" friends who shun commercialism. Which I think is ironic, because the arthouse stuff that they are into is just as commercial. Luckily most of my friends are just as nuts about Disney as I am.

My first trip to Disney world was in 1980. I was a little older than Elora is now (for the creative mathmaticians, I am 34 now), and it is one of the few things from that period I have memories off. From that moment on, I was in love!

Our last trip to the world was in December and we took my mum along. That had it's ups and it's downs. My mother is as fanatic about Disney as I am and we had a lot of laughs together... but we stayed at the same room for two weeks... well... what can I say. Anyone who passed their thirties willing to stay with one of their parents in the same room? No takers? I'm not surprised (and for those of you who would, either you are a lot more tolerant than I am... or your parents aren't like mine... I felt like I was stuck in an episode of 'everyone love Raymond')

Last trip we stayed on site and it was my first time staying on site. It was wonderfull and lost my heart to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. We spend 3 weeks there, in December, right before christmas and 3 weeks wasn't even enough to see everything.

Anyway... I think I have told you enough about who we are (though I could fill books about my daughter mind you!) and I should tell you about our plans for this trip.

[DonaldGirl1]

Great start!!!! Your daughter is so cute and it's so good to hear that she is always cheerful! That is awesome! Hope to hear more soon!!

[triddle67]

Congratulations on your trip. We stayed at the POP when we were there over New Year's. It was a bit cold while we were there, but we had a great time. Can't wait to read more.

[Chanti]

"Goodbye Disney World", I mumbled a little teary eyed as we drove away from the Magic Kingdom on the 20th of December, 2009, "See you in 2014". It felt ages away... 4 whole years... The thought alone made me want to cry. It took me 10 years to get back to Disney in 2009... I didn't fancy waiting another four years to go again.

Luckily, I wasn't the only one, because both DH and DD were now hooked! And so we decided not to go in 2014, but in 2013. It only took about a month for the 2013 to turn into 2012. January 2012... that was the plan. Right before Elora would turn 5, so that she could still get out of school without problems outside of the school holidays. In the Netherlands school is manditory when children turn five, but they go to kindergarten at the age of four.

That was the plan... honest it was.... until... well let's blame this one on Elora. Honest, it was the three year old, we adults had nothing to do with it!

It all started on one of those really hot saturday's. The kind where you don't feel like doing anything.

Mommy?" Elora said and I grunted in response (it was hot... we don't have airconditioning), "Do you know what I have here?" she asked impishly, trying to build up the tension. To be honest... I faked interest, because in all fairness, what is treasure to a three year old, tends to be junk to a 34 year old. But I try, you should give me credit for that, I am very good at feigning surprise and awe at little pieces of lint, hairbands and other stuff that she tends to come and show me.

"What do you have there?" I ask my little girl with as much enthousiasm as I can muster. "I have coins" she tells me in an omnious tone, "Do you know what I need coins for?" she asks me and I manage to keep sounding interested: "No... what?".
"I am going to save these coins.... do you know what I need to save them for?". In my head I sigh, this is going to be a long conversation and I am wishing there will be a point eventually, but I still manage to sound chipper: "No honey, what?"

She smiles at me proudly and I feel this sudden burst of giddy love for my little girl, I love it when she is excited about something. Then she says: "I am saving it for Disney World".

And that is how it all started... honest!!

So her words got me thinking... thinking about 2012... and how far away it was, and how much I missed Disney. And then it got me thinking about all these savings that we had on our bank account waiting to be spent on Disney stuff

"What if.." I mused while DH was half passed out (heat) on the sofa, "We didn't go 3 weeks to Disney, but 10 days instead". DH shot up and startled me a little, "You think we could afford to go earlier?". To be honest, I did not expect this enthusiasm because my DH is not really a disney fanatic. "Go check it out" he urged me. And trust me, I don't need to be urged when it comes to Disney.

Now, I am going to make a confession here: No way was I planning on going 10 days! The travel alone takes a full day and we take about a week to get over the Jetlag, so I don't want to go to Florida for anything less than 2 weeks. So I looked up 2 weeks and found it rather affordable. In fact, we had that kind of money in the bank already!

Actually, when I looked at the airplane schedule, it was cheaper to go 16 days (only a few dollars) than it was to go 14 days... so 16 days it was (then, the plot will thicken later)

"Are we doing this?" I asked my husband, who at that time was making up little songs about the Earl of Sandwich (yes that is his reason for wanting to go... Disney food!!... and of course watching his girls go nuts)
"Do you want to?" came the answer.
"Let's sleep on it for a week" I answered sensibly.

[Chanti]

Oh wow, thanks for the fast responses!! We are really looking forward to going to Pop Century. never been there and it looks wonderful

[stobaugh6]

Sounds great so far!

[Chanti]

Needless to say... it didn't take us a week to decide... it took us... one night.

So... now that we knew we were going, we needed to work out the details. Last year we stayed at AKL, but there was no way we could afford that now . I knew a great alternative though, when I planned my vacation last year we were supposed to stay at the Pop Century, so why not do that now.

I got in contact with an American travel agent, because, in my experience Dutch travel agencies are HORRIBLE!! . Trying to get information out of them is like pulling teeth and they are everything but cooperative. It's depressing.

My contact person at the American travel agent is appropriately called "Alice" (she get's to be Alice and I'll be the mad hatter, that would suit me) The poor woman has to deal with my madness and worse... my indecisiveness.

At first we decided to get a room only reservation. There is this great place in the UK that we usually get our tickets from. Last time we had tickets that we could use for all things Disney for 3 weeks in a row, it was perfect. But then Alice mentioned that if we took the Magic your way package we would be elligable for the free quick service diningplan.

Doing a little calculating, I realised it was going to be much cheaper if we went for this option. Alice offered us the normal dining plan for $10,- p.p. ($2,- for elora) per day. Being blonde (though my hair does get darker as I get older) I looked at the quick service restaurant list and I decided that most of the restaurants we wanted to go to weren't on the dining plan. It took me a while to figure out that I had been a tool... so I emailed Alice that, yes please, we would like to make use of the normal dining plan.

Meanwhile I was trying to figure out what flights we were going to take. Last year we flew with the 'airlines of the continents' (dunno if we can mention brandnames, so I am being creative here ). This airline sucked certain parts of ones anatomy (or a different word for donkey). We got to fly person who has not been intimate Airlines on the way there and we were very excited about that. The way there was wonderful.... but on the way back we ended up in a tiny plane that smelled like urine and apparently was the place where the cast of old horror movies came to make some money post glory-days. I swear one of the stewardesses was really the bride of Frankenstein, but then 20 years later.

Now, we were excited about flying with the person who has not been intimate airlines, so why not do this again? There was a slight flaw in my plan though... this airline did not fly from the Netherlands. We would have to find a plane that not only would drop us off at the right airport at the right time to get a connecting flight, but also an airline that was willing to send our luggage straight through to the next flight.

This proved more difficult than I thought and I ended up having visuals of us checking our luggage in and out in the space of an hour and a half. Doom scenarios haunted my mind. They all ended with me snapping and attacking security with a small orange trunky (my daughters suitcase roughly shaped and coloured like a tiger)

Feeling a little evil I decided to ask a dutch travel agency (the one we used last time who screwed us royally) to come up with a plan for us, knowing full well I wasn't going to use them ever again. And they told us that an airline with a gentlemans name would take us directly from Amsterdam to Orlando.... problem solved... yay us.

We decided to splurge a little and get comfort class seats. You see, there is a story behind us and travelling and it isn't a pretty one. DH is TERRIFIED of flying... and I mean terrified. He goes into "zombies-ate-my-brain" mode. My daughter loves flying, but others don't love flying with my daugher. I mentioned before that my daughter is similar to Donkey... well she really is. Once she starts talking, she never shuts up. Those unfortunate enough to have made the mistake to make eye-contact with her can tell you all about it. She NEVER stops, and sitting still for 10 1/2 hours is quite a task for her. Though she did reasonably well last time, but she has gotten chattier still.

And then there is me, I used to love flying. Before I met my husband I loved it, after I met him I just thought it was okay. When my daughter was born, I learn to dread all forms of travel, because I am usually the victim she talks to. And drops her toys on the floor so that I can try and collect them in the confined space that I have. Before I had a family there was one problem I have with flying: Leg space. I am 6 foot tall and have very long legs, I tend to come out of a plane battered and bruised.

Now we won't have this (I hope) because we got the good seats. The most luxurious seats I had before this were the exitrow seats, so this feels really posh!

There was one problem with this dutch airline though... it didn't fly on our travelling days. So we had a choice, go one day less, or go two days more...

well... guess what we chose That is right... not 10 days, not 14 days and not even 16 days... we are going 18 days!!!

[Chanti]

So... hotel: check
transportation to orlando: check
Dining plan: check

We are leaving dutch soil on November the 30th, slightly before three o' clock in the afternoon and will be arriving on Orlando soil at ten pas seven on that same day. Then we will take the magic express to the Pop Century resort. The next morning we are going to pick up our car at the Disney Car Care centre. (I haven't arranged the car yet) It's all booked and paid for and that feels great. I don't want to think about December 18th yet, when we are leaving Orlando at five to nine in the evening (yikes, which is pretty late with a three year old)

So now the fun got to start: making ADR's. To my surprise I found that they changed the ADR making time to 6 months in advance. I wasn't worried, still had 4 1/2 months to go... plenty of time right??

NOT!!

We made some great ADR's, don't get me wrong, but I was very upset when I realised that Garden Grill wasn't happening this year.... It was one of my favourite character restaurants last year (together with the 1900 PF) And Elora had a wonderful time with the characters.

Also le Cellier wasn't in the stars for us this trip. I was very curious about the famous le Cellier, but I wasn't as upset as I was with the Garden Grill.

We still have some great ADR's though. This is what our eating habits will look like from November 30th until December 18th:

On our arrival day we are just going to get a quick dinner at everything Pop. (never done that before)

December 1st is a non disney day (we only have fourteen days to spend our 10 day tickets, and I want to end disney style) so we are going to do the whole 'harry potter' thing and eat at the three broomsticks, if we can. And we might grace ihop with our presence, because we love it there and there is no such thing here in the Netherlands!!

Dec 2nd: Our first taste of Disney at the cape may cafe breakfast. And maybe a late lunch at beaches and cream. We've been to cape may but never for breakfast. Beaches and cream is new to us.

Dec 3rd: breakfast at 1900 PF (been there done that, doing it again!)

Dec 4th: breakfast at Boma and dinner at Jiko's (love love love everything AKL!!)

Dec 5th: (this is a dutch national holiday, the birthday of Sinterklaas (st nicolas)) and we are not doing anything Disney Doing Universal

Dec 6th: early dinner at one of my favourite restaurants Liberty Tree Tavern (as non americans this kind of grub is really special to us) And to top it off we are going to go to the Wishes Dessert Party (This way I get to book two seats just to fit my bottom in on the way back)

Dec 7th: Seaworld day, so no disney dining.

Dec 8th: a double whammy with an early lunch at 50's prime time and a dinner at sci fi cafe (been to both and loved them!)

Dec 9th: Meeting the princesses for dinner in the Akershus (last year was great, Elora was in awe of belle)

Dec 10th: Maybe the Earl (at the request of DH) for lunch and for dinner 1900 PF (princesses in a row, I know, but it just worked out that way )

Dec 11th: breakfast at Kona (this is new to us) and dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe (old favourite, I know some people don't love it, but we did. I especially loved the bottomless milkshakes... *drool* cotton candy flavoured milkshake.... *insert homer simpson sound here* )

Dec 12th: Breakfast at the Crystal Palace (we did lunch there last year, but I am still curious about the breakfast lasagne )

In the evening we are having dinner at the rose and crown (this is new to us, so I am really curious)

Dec 13th: dinner at Boma (*hmmmm*... butternutsquash soup....)

Dec 14th: Dinner at Ohana

Dec 15th: Lunch at the Liberty Tree tavern (I have to try the toffee cake!!) and dinner at tutto italia (again, a first)

Dec 16th: breakfast at O'hana

Dec 17th: Mamma melrose dinner (hopefully with the fantasmic package, I couldn't see how to reserve that online...) Never did this before either

Dec 18th (the dreaded last day): lunch at Kona.

So there you have it... I am pretty chuffed with our choices. Changed my mind about thirty times before we made these final plans. I have been getting very inspired by the "food-porn" pictures in chosing these restaurants!

[triddle67]

I think that you will be very pleased with the selection of food at the food court there. They have a wide variety of food choices. My DH was very pleased. I found it hard to decide what I wanted.

[Chanti]

I've heard good things about pop! We are dead curious!!

[KMB733]

Great Start! You'll love POP! I've stayed there many times and never had any problems!

[mommadjones]

We have stayed at Pop twice and love it! Keep trying for LeCellier, every day if need be. You may get lucky as people do tend to cancel often,

[bsblady01]

I hope that you and your family have a magical time at the world

[Chanti]

Thanks everyone for the responses!!

So right now we are living everything Disney. Even Elora is in complete Disney mode right now.

Today we went to Blijdorp (litteral translation happy village) which is a zoo here in dutchieland

When we came to the giraffes, Elora pointed and yelled: "We saw those at our hotel!". It's true, back in December we stayed at the AKL and we could see the giraffes from our hotel window... *sigh* those were the days.

We had a good laugh at the zoo today. Elora was her usual chatty self and she made strangers laugh. That girl will talk to anyone who will listen!! At one point she was actually entertaining a group of about fifteen adults near the elephants. A lady said to me: "She's quite chatty, isn't she?" And I told her that, though Elora was only 3, she was 65 at heart (a little old lady, that is what she sounds like). Then the woman said to me (jokingly): "I'll bet you are really happy when she goes to bed at night". Lady... you don't know the half of it!!

Soon we are going to make the "paperclip-chain"... it's not very creative, but it survives my daughters genetical roughness. We tried paperchains, but they tend to either break though her enthusiasm or she sneaks around and takes more of the links of than she is allowed

So paperclip chains it is... they are resillient against 3 year old fingers and she needs help taking them off. One paperclip per week. It's fun! Last time we took them off on a sunday, now on a tuesday. I love the excitement of the time before the trip, living towards that moment of actually going!!!

[KMB733]

Sounds like a fun day at the zoo!