Trip Report BLAKE SHELTON!And Spring Break in my happy place.

Hello people! I am sooooo happy to be writing a trip report once again! My last trip report was in November 2013, so clearly it has been too long. This trip all began when Knoxville,TN (where I live) had the cloudiest, gloomiest, grossest winter ever.
* I have no scientific proof to back this statement, it is only how I feel *

In desperate need of the sun, I started pricing a Disney vacation! (Duh!) At first I thought June, right after school (I'm a teacher assistant) but I just couldn't wait that long! So I booked it! Spring Break, only about 46 days out. Reserved my fastpasses and an ADR at Kona for some Tonga Toast!

About a week before I left my Aunt asked if I would mind if she came along. So now it was a two person trip! LUCKILY I was able to add her to all my fastpasses except 7 Dwarves Mine Train! Pretty good considering those included Soarin' and Toy Story.

When: March 16-19
Where: Disney's POP Century Resort- 80's section
3 day park hopper

So, my Aunt arrived Friday evening from Virginia. We had Saturday to get each other on the same page and gather whatever else we needed and Sunday afternoon we were off! Headed to Lake City, GA for the night so we could spend most of Monday at DISNEY!!

We were stopped in traffic in Atlanta, but it allowed me to take a picture of the city!

Made it to the hotel, had dinner, and hopped into bed! I had a big day tomorrow!!

 

[KappleB2]

Day 2: We are here!!
Oh yes! My report title. I don't even remember the conversation except that we were trying to come up with Blake Shelton's name and just couldn't do it for several hours!

You know, that guy from the Voice? The country guy! Not the Maroon 5 guy- Adam- or Pharrell.....

We finally did, and went on asking each other to come up with the name randomly throughout the trip.

Ok, Monday morning we are up bright and early. Had some breakfast at the hotel, stopped for gas and off we went!
Made it to Florida!

We came up to an accident but luckily had the GPS ready and took a nice scenic route around the traffic. Florida horse country is absolutely beautiful! I'm actually kind of glad we had that detour.

FINALLY we were on Disney property! And then got lost. I'm awful at following those Disney signs. I seem to get lost a lot.
Checked in to POP, our room wasn't ready yet so we headed to Downtown Disney, by bus, for some Earl of Sandwich and a little shopping! We still heard nothing about our room so we walked across the bridge from POP to Art of Animation. I was so excited to see this resort!
First, some POP!

A happy place!!

It would be hard to choose the Finding Nemo or Cars section as my favorite. They are all so beautifully done!

 

[KappleB2]

More Day 2

On to the Lion King and Little Mermaid sections!

How fabulous is this Ursula?

By this time were very hot and ready to get in our room for a minute before we head to the park.
We got a cold bottle of water and rested in the cool lobby for a bit before we asked about our room again. When we checked they told us our room was being cleaned so 4 hours later, we didn't understand why it wasn't done yet. Turns out it was just a computer mix up. Good thing we asked though because I didn't get a text until 2 1/2 hours later!
Our room was in the 80s section, 2nd floor.
Cute little decorations

After we were settled in to the room, it was off to the Magic Kingdom!
My Aunt hasn't been to Disney World since the early 2000s so many things were like new to her!

First stop, New Fantasyland!! My first ride on 7 Dwarves Mine Train!

 

[Gaston's gal]

I love all of your pics at the POP and Art of Animation resorts. They both look like a lot of fun.

 

[unkadug]

Nice report....even though I feel a little gypped because I thought Blake Shelton was going to be here also.

BTW...Did you use a selfie stick? Did you hit anyone with your camera or see anybody get hit by a sticker?

 

[FlaggNL]

LOL, I thought... hej she met Blake Shelton from the voice.... Great start and following along

 

[mrdrift]

Great start to the report and the pictures from Pop and Art were really cool. Following along.

 

[KappleB2]

Nice report....even though I feel a little gypped because I thought Blake Shelton was going to be here also.

BTW...Did you use a selfie stick? Did you hit anyone with your camera or see anybody get hit by a sticker?

Ha! No Blake Shelton here And no selfie stick either, but I did see quite a few!

 

[KappleB2]

The end of Day 2

Off to 7DMT and with my fastpass I walked right on! Because my Aunt decided to come so late in the planning, I wasn't able to get her a fastpass for Seven dwarves, but I did get her one for The Little Mermaid so she didn't have to wait for me.

With my fastpass+ I walked right on to the train, seriously. Meanwhile there was at least a 100 minute wait in standby. I thought the ride was fun! The cars were seriously tiny though. I am an average size person and it was tight. Someone just a little taller than me would likely be very uncomfortable.

I NEVER buy ride photos, and even though I'm by myself on this one, I think I will have to get it. Basically I seem to be having the time of my life! PURE JOY!

We found each other after our rides and headed back to Under the Sea because I HAD to see the updates! It looks much better! Especially the Under the Sea room.

Hit up Enchanted Tales with Belle, before heading over to Space Mountain, then back to Fantasyland for Peter Pan and Small World. Pleasantly surprised, given how busy it was, that our boat did not get backed up at all in Small World! Did Haunted Mansion and Mickey's Philharmagic before calling it a night. It was hard (in my heart ) to leave while everyone was watching Wishes but we had early breakfast at Kona tomorrow!

I didn't take my camera that night so I don't have many pics, just a few from my phone.

 

[KappleB2]

Day 3: The LONGEST Day

Today, we had breakfast bright and early at Kona Cafe. 7:30am comes fast, but it was a big day at Disney so who cares!! We left a little later than I wanted, and then I got lost...again. We finally got there and I was ready for TONGA TOAST!! Just as good as I remembered! With fully bellies we hoped on the monorail, headed to EPCOT!

Hello Flower and Garden Festival!

I love these little chipmunks!

I love flowers so the fact that this trip coincided with all these beautiful flowers was so wonderful!

And we were amazed at these beautiful trumpet trees! One sign we saw said they were used in treating cancer?! Really cool. And gorgeous!

Our first stop was Journey Into Imagination with Figment. Which we walked right on to. It was a cute way to start the day.

We moved on to some more beautiful flowers. Then to the butterfly garden! I am a teacher assistant in a first grade class and we study caterpillars and butterflies so this was a special exhibit for me!

And with that, my 6:30am alarm clock is quickly approaching so I must call it a night. Hopefully more tomorrow!

 

[mrdrift]

All of the pictures of Epcots plants and flowers and the butterflys are really beautiful. I need to make an effort to visit during the flower and garden festival. Following along.

 

[KappleB2]

Day 3: We see our future!

After visiting the butterflies, we headed over to Spaceship Earth! I believe there was something like a 35 minute wait, but luckily we had our fastpasses! I really enjoy this ride, and my aunt had no recollection of it, so I was excited to take her! Everyone knows the best part of this ride is making your future at the end!
We laughed so hard!

And look at us being healthy eaters!

Then we laughed even harder when we saw our pictures up on the big wall at the end. We stopped to email ourselves. Unfortunately, we never got emailed the video. She wanted to show her kids and watch it again cause she got such a kick out of it.

This day I had a schedule since I wanted to get back to MK in time to see the 3:00 parade. We had just enough time for lunch at Sunshine Seasons. I had read about the food here but had never eaten it. I was glad I did! The turkey sandwich was delicious!

And then...

Mmmmmm, mmmmmm! All you strawberry shortcake lovers were right! This is one good piece of cake! And it was nice and cool.

We hit up Soarin' (with our fastpasses) resulting in a 15 minute wait instead of 115 minutes!
Auntie Karen LOVED Soarin'! She grew up in the Napa Valley in California and said it was almost like visiting home! We would dive or rise and she would say "wow!" or "oh my gosh!". I wish we could have gone again because she really would have enjoyed it.

That ended our time at EPCOT for today. We headed to the monorail towards the Magic Kingdom and the Festival of Fantasy Parade!

 

[LisaBelle]

I learned about the strawberry shortcake at Sunshine Seasons from this forum. Tried it for the first time last summer and I loved it!!! I am also a huge fan of Soarin'. Enjoying your report and looking forward to more.

 

[KappleB2]

I learned about the strawberry shortcake at Sunshine Seasons from this forum. Tried it for the first time last summer and I loved it!!! I am also a huge fan of Soarin'. Enjoying your report and looking forward to more.

Thank you for reading! And I can't believe it took so long to try that strawberry shortcake!

 

[KappleB2]

Back to Magic Kingdom!

Who was that guy from the Voice? Who sings the Dave Barnes song? BLAKE SHELTON!

Just in case you forgot

We basically walked right on to the monorail and headed to the Magic Kingdom! I LOVE the ferry, and LUCKILY the express monorail was down for maintenance! Off to the ferry!

This view is why I love the ferry so much. You already anticipate your arrival and watching the castle get closer makes it that much more exciting!

Hello train conductor!! It's like he was welcoming us in personally! What service!!

We had a little bit of time before we needed to find a spot for the parade so we went on over to the fastpass+ kiosk by the Jungle Cruise.
But first, a picture with the Castle

Got to the front of the line jawdrop: to get in another line later ) where we discovered...one of our fastpasses from EPCOT was not yet used, and he made it sound like we couldn't even cancel it! A bit frustrated we then questioned what to do. The Enchanted Tiki Room pre-show was just starting so we decided to head in there and out of the sun for a bit. Did some singing and dancing with the birds and headed on over to Frontierland to hopefully find a spot, on the porch area, in the shade for the parade! And we totally lucked out! We had a great spot!

I eventually figured out how to cancel the fastpass and went back to Adventureland to make a new fastpass for Pirates of Caribbean.
Next up, finally seeing the Festival of Fantasy parade in real life!


Time to load more photos on photobucket since the up-loader on the page doesn't work for me .

See ya real soon!

 

[mrdrift]

Great picture in front of the castle. The ferry pictures of you arriving at Magic Kingdom has great depth of the main street train station and the castle. Following along.

 

[sheriffwoody]

Living vicariously through you right now I'm going to have to try that strawberry shortcake this year!

 

[CtDisneyGuy33]

Great pics and trip report!!!

 

[KappleB2]

Living vicariously through you right now I'm going to have to try that strawberry shortcake this year!

Yes! Try the shortcake! And thanks for following!

 

[KappleB2]

Great picture in front of the castle. The ferry pictures of you arriving at Magic Kingdom has great depth of the main street train station and the castle. Following along.

Thank you!