Trip Report *COMPLETED* The "What are we waiting on?, Never again!, Help, I'm on a family vacation!" Trip Report

Howdy folks!!

We just got back home yesterday afternoon from a great week in Disney! I'm still trying to get my pictures in order, but I figured I could get the intro started! There were some definite ups and downs (tears were shed for both) on this trip which you will hear about further on, but overall it was a magical trip and we had a great time! So if you care to join me, hop on in as I detail the trip in this report!

Dates: November 24th-December 2nd

Where: Disney's Pop Century Resort

Cast: Josh (DH), Cam (DS) and Heather (Me!)
Also joining us will be my Parents and my niece, Maci

 

[joshsprincess921]

Before long, the Welcome Show began!

Elena of Avalor kept smiling and waving at Cam. He absolutely loved it when all the characters came out. He was yelling out all of their names. So cute!

 

[joshsprincess921]

WELCOME!!

We had a little bit of time before our breakfast reservation, so we decided to go ride Pirates since we hadn't made it there earlier in the week. I wanted to do Jingle Cruise, but Cam really wanted to ride Pirates, so off we went.

Afterwards, we went and checked in for our Crystal Palace reservation. This was another first for us. We were seated fairly quickly. I was very impressed with this buffet. The breakfast was soooo good! And....no pics! But really...we loved it! Cam enjoyed the characters and the parade. We have always been pretty strict with him when we go out to eat, so he was in hog heaven being allowed to run around the restaurant. LOL!

The lady in green shirt was in tears waiting to meet Tigger. You could tell her dreams were coming true when Tigger finally made his way to her table.

Sweet Piglet!

Everything went smoothly, not too quick and not too slow, up until now. We had finished eating and had met everyone but Eeyore. BUT we were having a chill morning so we just relaxed and waited!

 

[joshsprincess921]

It was a great, fun breakfast! Off we went to have some more fun!

We made our way back to It's a Small World. The wait only said 15 minutes but it ended up being more like 30 minutes.

I was laughing so hard at Josh on this ride. This was his first experience and he was just looking around like "what in the world???" I could not stop laughing at his facial expressions! He kept saying how many different rooms are there. Cam was enjoying himself.

Afterwards, Josh said he wouldn't want to be on that ride late at night by himself because it looked like a bunch of Chucky dolls!

It was now time for our FP for the Mine Train. Now this was probably the ONE ride that Cam had really been looking forward to. He would watch it over and over on youtube and every time we got in the car, he wanted to listen to the song. He was FINALLY going to get a chance to ride and he started whining about how he didn't want to and that he was scared. Now every other time during our trip if he didn't want to ride something I didn't force him. However, I put my foot down and told him he was riding. I told him that this was all he talked about leading up to Disney and I wasn't going to let him miss out on it. He was so scared the entire time in line, but I kept telling him that he needed to be brave because he was getting on this ride. He whined a little during the ride, but he loved the cave part. Then when we got off, he said it was SO FUN and he was happy that he rode it! I felt better about having forced him to ride. Then I saw the ride photos....

Cam, you really loved the Mine Train? Yes, Momma, it was AWESOME!!

Next he wanted to ride the Speedway. Josh had said that he did a good job driving when they rode the first time so I let him take the wheel with me. He about gave me whiplash!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Peoplemover was next!

First time that I've seen the lights on in Space Mountain.

We had a FP for Buzz after this, but the FP line was all the way back to the Laugh Floor!! I don't know what was going on, but we decided to just skip it. The crowds were starting to get really heavy, so we decided to start making our way out of the park. We stopped for ice cream on Main Street, then we stopped to get Cam's silhouette done.

I don't think it looks like him, but here is the finished product.

 

[joshsprincess921]

We went back to the resort, had a little lunch and started getting some of our bags packed. After some rest, we got ready for dinner. We took a bus to the MK, then hopped on the Monorail. Apparently the rest wasn't enough, or the exhaustion of the week had caught up with Cam because he was not in a good mood. I'd say this was the crankiest he was the entire week.

We got to the Poly and walked him out to the beach, but he had no love for it. He just wanted to go inside.
I still made him pose for some pictures.

But then it was this....

When we checked in for O'hana they verified that Cam had a nut and tree nut allergy. We were escorted to our seats after a short wait, but did not receive the bread right away due to the Chef needing to come speak to us. We got a really great table near the windows.

Once the chef came, he told us about the food, but it didn't really matter because Cam would be ordering the most expensive grilled cheese sandwich that I ever bought anyway. Our waiter came shortly after and we went ahead and put in Cam's order. He was still being so cranky and waiter was trying to cheer him up but he just wasn't in to it.

We decided on some drinks and I asked if we could have our bread when he returned.

I ordered the Puka Punch and Josh ordered the Hawaiian Mule. When our waiter returned he did not have our bread, so I asked again.
Both of our drinks were so strong that we could hardly drink them. They both tasted like we were drinking pure alcohol.
He did bring Cam a surprise drink which was a non-alcoholic strawberry and coconut frozen drink. However, a lot of people do not realize that coconut is in the tree nut family. A lot of people with tree nut allergies can safely have coconut, but Cam has had a reaction in the past. So I ended up drinking his drink instead since I couldn't stomach mine.

We never did get our bread after asking multiple times. Finally I just gave up. I have to say, I was so disappointed in the food this time. It just wasn't good. The salad was different, the meats had no flavor. I did enjoy the starter plate, but other than that I could have done without! Dessert was still good at least.

Our waiter offered to take a picture. I'm surprised since I was feeling like we were being rushed out of there.

I was sad that O'hana was a bust for us this time since it was one of our favorites on our last trip. Sadly, I'm not sure we will return. We settled our bill then hopped back on the monorail to our next destination.

 

[joshsprincess921]

The Grand Floridian is just stunning especially at this time of the year. Josh fell in love with the place. We walked around for a good bit then decided we would call a van to take us back to Pop.

Our last morning

So after arriving back to the resort the night before, Josh was feeling bad. He was up all night with his stomach hurting. Our flight wasn't too early. We were able to take our time getting ready and getting things in order. Cam wasn't ready to leave...

We went and checked our baggage in and got our boarding passes. Josh was still feeling sick to his stomach. What a bad time to be feeling sick when we would soon be boarding a plane! I had a couple snack credits left so I went to the gift shop to find something to use those on and also bought him some medicine for his stomach. He took that and after about 30 minutes he started to feel a little better. We had to wait around for about an another hour before the bus picked us up so that gave it more time to kick in. The airport was uneventful and we were so happy to have TSA pre-check because security was a madhouse. We were hungry so we picked up some lunch. I pulled out my debit card to pay and I kept putting in my PIN number for my magic band! I did it twice before I realized what I was doing. LOL! The lady told me it happens quite often.

I picked up this chocolate with my leftover snack credit and it was actually really good. I munched on it on the plane while I watched the The Christmas Chronicles on Netflix. (cute movie)

Before we knew it we were back in New Orleans and our trip was over.


Just a few final words...

I am not sure when we will be back, but definitely not this year. It will most likely be next year, but we may end up doing a cruise before we return back to the parks. One thing is for sure, Pop was not for us. I have stayed at the Allstars on previous visits and enjoyed those resorts much better. My husband, however, was spoiled with his first visit being to AKL and doesn't want to return unless we stay Deluxe.

We also realized that the dining plan is NOT for us. The prepayment thing is good and all, but in reality we would never eat that much food. I felt like I HAD to get snacks when I didn't really want them or dessert after dinner. I didn't want to end up with a ton of credits leftover, so I did stay on top of using them daily. Even with using them on coffee, it still felt like too much. We've done both ways now and we will not be using the dining plan again.

Bringing your child to Disney is so magical. He still talks about his favorite moments everyday and he is always asking when we are going back. But traveling with family is very hard!! Growing up, I traveled with my parents and it was no big deal, but I guess when you have a family of your own and are used to doing things your own way now, it becomes difficult. Then due to my Dad's unexpected disabilities, we ended up having to cater to that as well. Things didn't go as planned and I missed out on a lot of things that I wanted to do. However, the memories made with them far exceed the troubles that occurred. I will cherish them forever. That being said...our next trip will be just us.

With that, I want to thank you all for following along!! I look forward to continue reading along on your journeys!!!

 

[Spash007]

View attachment 341160

It was a great, fun breakfast! Off we went to have some more fun!
View attachment 341161

We made our way back to It's a Small World. The wait only said 15 minutes but it ended up being more like 30 minutes.
View attachment 341162
View attachment 341163

I was laughing so hard at Josh on this ride. This was his first experience and he was just looking around like "what in the world???" I could not stop laughing at his facial expressions! He kept saying how many different rooms are there. Cam was enjoying himself.
View attachment 341164

Afterwards, Josh said he wouldn't want to be on that ride late at night by himself because it looked like a bunch of Chucky dolls!

It was now time for our FP for the Mine Train. Now this was probably the ONE ride that Cam had really been looking forward to. He would watch it over and over on youtube and every time we got in the car, he wanted to listen to the song. He was FINALLY going to get a chance to ride and he started whining about how he didn't want to and that he was scared. Now every other time during our trip if he didn't want to ride something I didn't force him. However, I put my foot down and told him he was riding. I told him that this was all he talked about leading up to Disney and I wasn't going to let him miss out on it. He was so scared the entire time in line, but I kept telling him that he needed to be brave because he was getting on this ride. He whined a little during the ride, but he loved the cave part. Then when we got off, he said it was SO FUN and he was happy that he rode it! I felt better about having forced him to ride. Then I saw the ride photos....
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View attachment 341190

Cam, you really loved the Mine Train? Yes, Momma, it was AWESOME!!
View attachment 341188


Next he wanted to ride the Speedway. Josh had said that he did a good job driving when they rode the first time so I let him take the wheel with me. He about gave me whiplash!
View attachment 341165
View attachment 341166

We had a similar mindset when it came to our daughter, except our ride that I "forced" her on was Slinky Dog. I knew she would like it because she loves fast rides and coasters, and at the same time, we had no FP and rope dropping was the only chance we had to go on it. I felt bad at first, and pictured everyone around us staring at me, but in the end she loved it and said it was her favorite ride.

 

[Tuvalu]

Thanks for taking us along! Your family is very photogenic.

 

[Rista1313]

Wonderful TR! Thanks for sharing!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Thanks for taking us along! Your family is very photogenic.

Aw, thanks! Wish we had bumped into you, but maybe next time!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Wonderful TR! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for following!

 

[joshsprincess921]

We had a similar mindset when it came to our daughter, except our ride that I "forced" her on was Slinky Dog. I knew she would like it because she loves fast rides and coasters, and at the same time, we had no FP and rope dropping was the only chance we had to go on it. I felt bad at first, and pictured everyone around us staring at me, but in the end she loved it and said it was her favorite ride.

Yes, there was no way after all that build up for a solid year that I was letting him skip it! I feel like I made the right choice, so I'm good with it!

 

[krisri18]

Great trip report! Cam definitely looked like he was enjoying it all (well, except for the Mine Train, lol)

 

[DisneyGigi]

Enjoyed your trip report so much!

I love the 7DMT pic. Our first trip my son was 3 and 1/2 but tall enough for BTMRR- he got on it and screamed the entire time, Please God get me off of this thing, until it stopped and he says Whoa, I wanna do that again! Lol, one of my favorite memories. I wish we could have captured his on ride face as well as his after face.

 

[MeeskaMooska0714]

Thanks for sharing! I'm sorry not everything turned out perfect, but there is just something about that Disney magic that makes it less disappointing!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Great trip report! Cam definitely looked like he was enjoying it all (well, except for the Mine Train, lol)

He loved it so much!! I can't wait to go back and see how he does being a little older.

Thank you!!

 

[joshsprincess921]

Enjoyed your trip report so much!

I love the 7DMT pic. Our first trip my son was 3 and 1/2 but tall enough for BTMRR- he got on it and screamed the entire time, Please God get me off of this thing, until it stopped and he says Whoa, I wanna do that again! Lol, one of my favorite memories. I wish we could have captured his on ride face as well as his after face.

Thanks for reading!
LOL! It's so funny! I couldn't believe the picture when I saw it since he was going on and on about how much he loved it.

 

[joshsprincess921]

Thanks for sharing! I'm sorry not everything turned out perfect, but there is just something about that Disney magic that makes it less disappointing!

Thanks for reading! You are very right about Disney magic. Just being there with the people I love was the best part!

 

[fractal]

Sorry about your bus incident. What an idiot! I can relate to Josh - when someone is that aggressive against you and especially your family your defender instincts go crazy.

Funny about Josh in IASW!

Looks like you had a nice "date night".

 

[riverside]

Thanks for sharing!! I really enjoyed it!!