Trip Report 5/26/08 Day 5

Day 5 May 26

Memorial Day!

We meet for breakfast at 7:30ish. This is going to be a busy day so I want a good breakfast. French toast Plate. Great! We leave POP after 8, and arrive at the Studios about 15 minutes later. I say rather shyly, let’s see if Toy Story is open. Hey, they all agree! We walk over, it is open. Stupid me, I should have suggested getting a FP, and then getting on ride. No just got in line. What a great attraction! Words cannot describe this. The walk through is fantastic. Every game I had as a child was displayed, and then some. Mr. Potato Head is up front talking up a storm. He is interactive with the crowd. I rode alone, but got teamed up with a guy from the single line. He had to have been on it before! I will not tell you my “score,” but he had over 300 thousand.

After that we headed over to TOT to get FP, and on to Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster Staring Aerosmith. I suggested that my wife get the FP’s, as she doesn’t like coasters, but the girls said “no, mom should not go alone.” What is she going to do, get lost? Ok, the wait is 30 minutes, but it really only took 15. I love this ride!

Now we are off to Indiana Jones. It is full. My wife is disappointed. “Let’s do the great movie ride.” Really? It wasn’t too long of a wait; however, the fiancé decided to run over to Toy Story for FP’s, so we were separated. When he got off the ride, he was not happy. His reaction is not repeatable.

Now our FP’s are ready for TOT. My wife actually likes this ride, and does not like coasters. Go figure! The youngest does not like free falls, but went on with us. To me it’s ok. I do it every time, but I can take it or leave it.

We went to a counter service place and had hot dogs. At the table next to us a little boy was screaming. Apparently, he did not eat his “regular” food, so he could not have a brownie, which his parents and sister were enjoying. ';Hey parents you want to teach your kids, do it at home not on vacation.';

After lunch, we got over to Indiana Jones. IMHO, it is a fun show out of the sun. Next we did the Back Lot Tour. This tour has improved as it goes by the practice area for the Lights, Motors, Action Extreme Stunt Show. So we saw them practicing; now we had to see the show. I had seen the show last year, but this year I didn’t have to be worrying about the little ones. It is a really great show. A definite must see.

Muppet Vision 3D is cute, and since the FP’s were now due for Toy Story, we went back. All of us enjoyed this ride. I did score better than the 1st time, however not quite 300,000; nor 200,000. However, I did enjoy it as a fun attraction!

We had an early dinner reservation for Hollywood %26amp; Vine at 5:30, so we headed there. This is a nice place to eat to get the Fantasmic Package, but my choice was 50’s Prime Time, but when I was making the reservations, my wife said no to 50’s thinking it was the Sci-Fi diner. She did not want hamburgers.

After dinner, we walked around, shopped, shopped. By shopping, I mean looking. Why? Let’s do something like Rock n’ Rollercoaster, TOT, or Toy Story. Nooo.

Fantasmic was great as usual. It is so neat how they do the projections, along with the real performers. Just beautiful! We sat behind a little girl and her family from Wales. We had a really enjoyable time with them, exchanging stories, and pictures. One of the gentlemen liked our prices for ';petro.'; I explained to him that basically everything is relative. He kind of agreed after a while. I also explained to him that most wages in the UK were probably higher than here in the US.

Ok, Fantasmic finishes, let’s get an Ice-cream, or something. I want to let the crowd leave so we can relax a little and wait here, not at the buses. Why would tonight be any different?

Yes, this was the longest wait for the buses. They did have two when we arrived, but there were also two different sections for POP. OK, tomorrow we are going to EPCOT. It is my birthday eve. Future world opens at 9:00 AM. Let’s do breakfast at 8:00 AM, please? “No, let’s sleep in our last day, and meet at 8:30 AM.” Why did I bother to plan?

Trip Report 5/26/08 Day 5

Another great report, Cookieman!!

I hope birthday-eve will go more your way.

By the way, how did you like staying at Pop Century? You really haven%26#39;t addressed the resort yet in any of your reports, so was wondering about your ';good/bad/ugly'; experiences there and if you liked or disliked it.

Trip Report 5/26/08 Day 5

Hi, Kat

I liked the resort. As my reports state, we did not spend much time in the rooms. When I%26#39;m on vacation, I want to see things, not hang around the hotel. I%26#39;m happy if the room is clean. I only need the room to change and sleep.

I did like the icons on the resort. We stayed in building 6, 2nd floor. Rooms 6222, 6223, and 6224. The maids left us extra towels when we needed them for Typhoon Lagoon. We tipped $3 per day for the doubles, and $2 per day for the single. On the extra towel day we tipped $5 and $3 respectively.

The counter service meals (breakfast) was good. We did not do Pizza there. Staff were very good. The Everything Pop store was adequate.

Basically, I can%26#39;t say anything bad about the place. I%26#39;m sure the moderate are much more elaborate. but for me it was fine.

Now my wife - she told me next time she wants to stay at the Poly. She had stayed at the Contemporary when her daughters were little.

Did I answer your question?

My greenhouse has a vacancy in August if you are still interested.

Yes, Cookie, that%26#39;s a fine review of Pop. I understand about just needing the ';bed and shower'; aspect of a hotel.

We were supposed to stay at Pop last December for the first time, but we were surprised with a free upgrade to Coronado. I%26#39;ll be shooting for a stay at Pop again this year, however, and just like to get everyone%26#39;s opinions on it.

We toured around the Pop resort on our December visit on our ';leaving day'; and loved the ';frozen smoothies'; at the food court...helped ourselves to several refills there with our mugs.

Going from Pop to the Poly on the next visit will be a big ';hunk'; out of the wallet, however, so be prepared.