harper richey
Earning My Ears
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2015
My dad and I just returned from a trip to WDW. This was our first time going outside of summertime other than in 2003 when my parents did the Marathon in January.
I had some thoughts about the trip and decided to post them here.
My parents are DVC members and have been since the late 90's. We generally always go to Disney every other year and stay at Old Key West or Saratoga Springs. Last May we decided to try something different and stayed at Villas at Wilderness Lodge and that was my all time favorite resort stay. You cant beat staying so close to MK and the boat ride back and forth is my favorite form of transportation.
I finally have a job after 20 something years in school and finally have extra spending money. I decided to splurge on an Annual Pass. My dad is also a WDW enthusiast and we found that we could get an AP through DVC for a really good price this year. With our annual pass we decided to start going off cycle now and so we stayed at Pop! century as we are saving our points for our normal every other year trip in May 2018. We felt like Pop! would be a good value resort as it seemed a little nicer than All Stars now that many of the rooms have been renovated. I was also drawn to the fact it only had one bus stop. I started planning this in late July by buying the AP and booking at Pop! At 60 days out I made our FP+ reservations and got everything I wanted including Flight of Passage and Navi River Journey.
We are from SC and live about 8hrs away from Orlando. We have always driven to WDW. We left early last Saturday afternoon (Nov 4) and spent the night in Flagler Beach. We had a reservation at Pop Century Sunday and wanted to get a head start and full day on Sunday without having to leave in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday from SC.
We arrived on property around 6:30am Sunday morning. We went straight to Pop! and ate some breakfast at the food court. Getting to Pop! I got hit with a whiff of nicely scented air as we walked into Classic Hall. I love the scent of the Disney resorts and feel like many have similar scents. I absolutely loved the smell of the Villas at WL last May and have come to find out that many of the resorts have their own unique scent. Pop! was no exception.
After eating, we got on the bus around 7am for DHS. We were there in about 20min and had to activate our AP once arriving at the park. It was nice to find that there was a separate and much less crowded line for AP holders. Upon entering at 8am, we were able to ride Rockin Rollercoaster twice as walk on, ToT as a walk on, Midway Mania with minimal wait and Star Tours with minimal wait as well. By 10am we were walking out of DHS and decided to meander to the Boardwalk and go through Epcot as we wanted to take the monorail to MK for the afternoon and evening. Walking through the Boardwalk we decided this was the place we would be staying for our every other year DVC trip in May 2018. When we got to Epcot I was shocked at the crowd as DHS had very light crowd level. I realized Epcot would likely be crowded this day as it was the same day as the 1/2 marathon and figured crowd level would be higher there. We were able to wait in stand by line for Soarin' and Spaceship earth before heading to MK. Once we reached MK crowds were also unbelievably high as well.
I realized that this trip would likely not have low crowd levels like our January 2003 trip when every ride at every park was a walk on. However, I was not prepared for the level of crowd at the parks for the entire week. I figured kids were still in school until Thanksgiving break and most people would be working and crowds would be much lower, however, I was sadly mistaken. The crowd level for the entire week across all parks was the highest I have ever seen them. And, as I said earlier, we always go in the summer.
Being a party of two and experienced disney travelers we are able to play the FP+ game pretty well. That afternoon we had FP+ for Big thunder, space mountain and haunted mansion. After using those I was able to get two more fastpasses for space mountain between 6:30pm and 10pm. We were able to do all of those plus Philharmagic in about 5-6hrs.
The next morning AK had EMH so we decided to head there as this was our first trip since Pandora opened. As expected there was a huge crowd there and by the time we got in the line for FoP was at 2hrs and winding it's way towards Africa. Since it was EMH the line moved pretty consistently as there was no FP+ interference and we wait right under 2hrs. It was worth the wait as there was so much to see as you wound through the queu for FoP both outside and inside. It was all spectacular and the ride was worth the wait. We had early lunch at Satuli Canteen and it was not dissapointing as well. We both got the bowls with Tofu and Chicken. They were both reasonably priced and very filling. The blueberry cheescake dome was awesome as well. Pandora was worth the wait and the crowd.
We spent a few half days at Epcot for Food and Wine. Favorite dishes included the bushberry shrimp from australia, liquid nitro truffle from chocolate studio, chicken and cornbread with red eye gravy from farm fresh and sweet pancake with spicy chipotle chicken sausage from Flavors from Fire. I had about 15-20 dishes overall and thought they were all pretty good. My least favorite was the seafood cake with cold noodles from thailand and BLT salmon sushi roll from Japan.
World showcase was pretty much a mob of people everyday. I was somewhat disappointed as I expected lower crowds on the weekday but it was always super packed and on the hotter side all week.
On our final night we went to DHS. I generally like to end my trips at MK but it was closed for the first christmas party. However, I was not dissapointed with going to DHS as my last park. Last night was the first public night for Jingle bell, jingle bam! and sunset season greetings. They were both spectacular shows and I was very glad to get to see those christmas shows as I have never been there for the holidays.
Both MK and DHS were very well decorated for christmas and they were both sites to behold and something I believe everyone should do now who is a Disney fan but has never been outside of summer.
Pop! century was a little different experience than what I have become acustomed to staying at DVC resorts. It was much like a regular motel as far as the layout. However, being owned by Disney, it has its own unique flair and is not just a regular motel. We had one of the newly renovated rooms. We were in the 70's building 10 and I believe our room was likely finished a few days before as most of the other rooms in that building were still under renovation. Overall we were pleased with Pop! however missed some of the amenities of staying at a DVC resort. We also realized they stick the value resort bus stops at the end of the line at every park and disney springs which makes for a very brisk walk if you see the bus pulling in or waiting at the gate.
Overall we had a great time, got to do everything we wanted to do (other than Splash mountain which is being refurbished and is also my must do attraction with every trip) and were extremely tired and fulfilled today when we left. We did hate that the crowds were so much higher than what we were expecting for an "off season trip" and also experienced higher temps in the mid to high 80's during the duration of the trip.
I had some thoughts about the trip and decided to post them here.
My parents are DVC members and have been since the late 90's. We generally always go to Disney every other year and stay at Old Key West or Saratoga Springs. Last May we decided to try something different and stayed at Villas at Wilderness Lodge and that was my all time favorite resort stay. You cant beat staying so close to MK and the boat ride back and forth is my favorite form of transportation.
I finally have a job after 20 something years in school and finally have extra spending money. I decided to splurge on an Annual Pass. My dad is also a WDW enthusiast and we found that we could get an AP through DVC for a really good price this year. With our annual pass we decided to start going off cycle now and so we stayed at Pop! century as we are saving our points for our normal every other year trip in May 2018. We felt like Pop! would be a good value resort as it seemed a little nicer than All Stars now that many of the rooms have been renovated. I was also drawn to the fact it only had one bus stop. I started planning this in late July by buying the AP and booking at Pop! At 60 days out I made our FP+ reservations and got everything I wanted including Flight of Passage and Navi River Journey.
We are from SC and live about 8hrs away from Orlando. We have always driven to WDW. We left early last Saturday afternoon (Nov 4) and spent the night in Flagler Beach. We had a reservation at Pop Century Sunday and wanted to get a head start and full day on Sunday without having to leave in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday from SC.
We arrived on property around 6:30am Sunday morning. We went straight to Pop! and ate some breakfast at the food court. Getting to Pop! I got hit with a whiff of nicely scented air as we walked into Classic Hall. I love the scent of the Disney resorts and feel like many have similar scents. I absolutely loved the smell of the Villas at WL last May and have come to find out that many of the resorts have their own unique scent. Pop! was no exception.
After eating, we got on the bus around 7am for DHS. We were there in about 20min and had to activate our AP once arriving at the park. It was nice to find that there was a separate and much less crowded line for AP holders. Upon entering at 8am, we were able to ride Rockin Rollercoaster twice as walk on, ToT as a walk on, Midway Mania with minimal wait and Star Tours with minimal wait as well. By 10am we were walking out of DHS and decided to meander to the Boardwalk and go through Epcot as we wanted to take the monorail to MK for the afternoon and evening. Walking through the Boardwalk we decided this was the place we would be staying for our every other year DVC trip in May 2018. When we got to Epcot I was shocked at the crowd as DHS had very light crowd level. I realized Epcot would likely be crowded this day as it was the same day as the 1/2 marathon and figured crowd level would be higher there. We were able to wait in stand by line for Soarin' and Spaceship earth before heading to MK. Once we reached MK crowds were also unbelievably high as well.
I realized that this trip would likely not have low crowd levels like our January 2003 trip when every ride at every park was a walk on. However, I was not prepared for the level of crowd at the parks for the entire week. I figured kids were still in school until Thanksgiving break and most people would be working and crowds would be much lower, however, I was sadly mistaken. The crowd level for the entire week across all parks was the highest I have ever seen them. And, as I said earlier, we always go in the summer.
Being a party of two and experienced disney travelers we are able to play the FP+ game pretty well. That afternoon we had FP+ for Big thunder, space mountain and haunted mansion. After using those I was able to get two more fastpasses for space mountain between 6:30pm and 10pm. We were able to do all of those plus Philharmagic in about 5-6hrs.
The next morning AK had EMH so we decided to head there as this was our first trip since Pandora opened. As expected there was a huge crowd there and by the time we got in the line for FoP was at 2hrs and winding it's way towards Africa. Since it was EMH the line moved pretty consistently as there was no FP+ interference and we wait right under 2hrs. It was worth the wait as there was so much to see as you wound through the queu for FoP both outside and inside. It was all spectacular and the ride was worth the wait. We had early lunch at Satuli Canteen and it was not dissapointing as well. We both got the bowls with Tofu and Chicken. They were both reasonably priced and very filling. The blueberry cheescake dome was awesome as well. Pandora was worth the wait and the crowd.
We spent a few half days at Epcot for Food and Wine. Favorite dishes included the bushberry shrimp from australia, liquid nitro truffle from chocolate studio, chicken and cornbread with red eye gravy from farm fresh and sweet pancake with spicy chipotle chicken sausage from Flavors from Fire. I had about 15-20 dishes overall and thought they were all pretty good. My least favorite was the seafood cake with cold noodles from thailand and BLT salmon sushi roll from Japan.
World showcase was pretty much a mob of people everyday. I was somewhat disappointed as I expected lower crowds on the weekday but it was always super packed and on the hotter side all week.
On our final night we went to DHS. I generally like to end my trips at MK but it was closed for the first christmas party. However, I was not dissapointed with going to DHS as my last park. Last night was the first public night for Jingle bell, jingle bam! and sunset season greetings. They were both spectacular shows and I was very glad to get to see those christmas shows as I have never been there for the holidays.
Both MK and DHS were very well decorated for christmas and they were both sites to behold and something I believe everyone should do now who is a Disney fan but has never been outside of summer.
Pop! century was a little different experience than what I have become acustomed to staying at DVC resorts. It was much like a regular motel as far as the layout. However, being owned by Disney, it has its own unique flair and is not just a regular motel. We had one of the newly renovated rooms. We were in the 70's building 10 and I believe our room was likely finished a few days before as most of the other rooms in that building were still under renovation. Overall we were pleased with Pop! however missed some of the amenities of staying at a DVC resort. We also realized they stick the value resort bus stops at the end of the line at every park and disney springs which makes for a very brisk walk if you see the bus pulling in or waiting at the gate.
Overall we had a great time, got to do everything we wanted to do (other than Splash mountain which is being refurbished and is also my must do attraction with every trip) and were extremely tired and fulfilled today when we left. We did hate that the crowds were so much higher than what we were expecting for an "off season trip" and also experienced higher temps in the mid to high 80's during the duration of the trip.
