Trip Report I know, Disney is just SO horrible (alternate title: Is there a sign on my scooter?) - COMPLETED

Who: My husband Scott and I
When: May 5th-11th, 2018
Where: Pop Century Resort

This is my first trip report, so please forgive me if I make an trip report faux pas!

DAY 1

Up at 4am to get a morning shower (it's my equivalent of coffee)
got ready and woke hubby up at 430am.

Scott's mom picked us up at 5am to shuttle us to the airport (she's a trooper)! We got to the airport about 530am and we were number one in the queue for Southwest. Sent off our luggage, and we had reserved a wheelchair for hubs because he's disabled, and although he can walk, he can't DISNEY walk, and in the airports we just find it easier. It also allows us to board first on Southwest, so that works out great. But before we got the wheelchair, he wanted to go outside to smoke his pipe for a bit, since we were so early (the flight was at 720am, but I worked for the airlines for 13 years, and you are suppose to be at the airport 2 hours prior to departure... I can't break that habit, and I don't like to feel late!

wow, what a wrinkly sleeve!

While we were outside, there was a dude out there dancing and facebook live-ing it.... ok then. You do you dude!

Went back to the Southwest desk to call for a skycap with a wheelchair, and we were whisked thru pre-check/handicap security really quickly.

edited to add: I did get stopped at security because of my splint on my arm/hand. the lady inspected it, wanded it, and drug tested it. All which took about 1 minute or less.

Here we are at the gate, waiting for boarding... hubby looks thrilled.

mandatory plane picture

We were off right on time. From Grand Rapids, MI, we had to change planes in Chicago Midway.

This was an interesting relic to see there:

Everything was also on time to MCO, the flight was full however, and I refuse to sit in a middle seat. Usually, I get hubby to sit aisles across from eachother, but he was being ornery this morning, so he was sitting at the window, and I'm on the aisle in the same row, with a confused person between us. She tried to get each of us at separate times to move over next to eachother, but each of us refused. Sorry lady, you were almost the last person on the plane... you get the middle seat!

Next: Day 1 continued...

 

[Rista1313]

Baby hippo was hanging out lazily sunning himself.

And these birds.... with their wings all spread out where cracking me up.

Lots of animals out today... giraffes, rino's, and even a baby elephant butt.

I won't bore you with my bazillion pictures!

I felt we got to see a lot of animals so I considered this ride a success!

Time to back track yet again, this time we were headed for lunch.. Satuli Canteen was preplanned, but I couldn't get hubby to pre-order food until we got just outside the restaurant. No matter, we did mobile order, and while hubby grabbed a table, I went in to collect our food. Long lines at the ordering stations, but I just walked right up, our food was waiting, and I wouldn't do this any other way. Who are these people who are oblivious to the app?

I had a beef bowl with rice/grains.. and the garlic dressing. To be honest.. I didn't care for this dressing much, and next time I would try the onion dressing.. formerly a chimichurri.

Hubby had curry pods I think... I thought he would be getting the cheeseburger ones... but nope!

and we got a cheesecake to share... and had we known how small it actually is (pictures always make it look normal size) we would have ordered two.

After lunch it was time for our Jimi Hendrix black light experience!

I didn't take any pictures, but I actually really enjoyed this... maybe because I was born in 1970...

After Navi, hubby wanted to do a bit of Pin trading. He was really happy he was able to complete some sets.

Not really my thing, but it made him happy!

It was really hot this day... and after this we decided we were done, and we went back to the hotel. More pool time for me at the bowling pin pool while Scott napped.

 

[Rista1313]

This evening, we had a ADR for Cape May Cafe. DH decided to leave his scooter behind, and we took an uber to get over the the Beach Club. I found the extra money I used for uber/lyft/minnie vans were so worth it this trip. Who wants to take two buses to get to dinner?

We checked it at cape may... and waited maybe 10 minutes... we were brought to our table... and waited a bit for the waitress... I ordered a sangria, and DH ice tea. It took FOREVER for the waitress to get out drinks, and then when she came to our table to deliver it, she ended up dropping her tray and this was crash #2. This time, it wasn't cleaned up as fast as it was at chefs de france... she just stood there in horror!

We found the buffet great... always lots of hot crab and warm butter. Lots of other options too, but I was there for the crab... and I ate quite a bit.... and then dessert. They had the tiny desserts, which I love.. sometimes you just want a taste, ya know?

After dinner we really needed to walk off our food, so we decided to walk over to the boardwalk and walk around.
On our way, we could see fireworks...from epcot maybe?

We were still full from dinner, so no ample hills tasting this time... (it was packed!)

Hubby and I went into a gift/grocery store .... and he was looking at pins, when we saw a couple with a little girl who was wailing... and I asked her what was wrong. The mom told me that a cast member had given her a cinderella shoe pin, and she had lost it, and they couldn't get her to calm down. I turned to Hubby and ask him.. "Don't you have a shoe pin in your trades?" Well he didn't have the cinderella shoe, but he had the belle shoe. He offered it to the little girl, but she wouldn't take it... but Hubby ended up giving it to her mom and he mom gave it to her, and that seemed to be acceptable and calm her down. Yay! I'm so glad we could help them!

This is also where a CM was rude to hubby.. he asked to see her pin board, and she said, you know, this is for KIDS, not for adults.. and basically refused him. Hubby said you better get that board out and show me those pins, or get me the manager... Pins were traded.

While he was doing that, I went outside and sat on a bench, and there was a guy doing some ball/juggling entertainment.

We finished our walk, and went up to the driveway of the boardwalk hotel, and called an lyft to get us back to the hotel.

Spent the rest of the evening packing up all our things. I had purposely made sure, that one was for clothes, and the other was for all our souvenirs.

Our ME wasn't until 1045am, so we had enough time in the morning to get breakfast, and had bell services come get our bags to check them in. We turned in the scooter, and then went to get a bite.

We had 2 snack credits left, so we went to the gift shop and each picked out a snack to take back with us.

Soon enough, it was time to go:

When we got to the airport, we found that Southwest doesn't have wheelchair assistance at the disney area, but management was able to get someone down there pretty quickly, to take us to Southwest, and hubby transferred wheelchairs. Because of wheelchair service, security wasn't too bad.

One thing that I noticed was a problem, is that disney boarding passes don't mark when you have a wheelchair listed in your reservation, and Southwest isn't cool with that. They let us go in Orlando, but in Baltimore, I made sure to have them reprint Scott's boarding pass, so they wouldn't harass us while boarding.

I had to take this picture in the Baltimore airport bathroom.

We made it home on time, however, our suitcase with all the souvenirs didn't make it.

In fact, it took Southwest 2 days to locate it. I'm not sure what adventure it went on, but it was finally delivered to us a couple days later.

Back with final thoughts later.

 

[DisneyJeff]

Baby hippo was hanging out lazily sunning himself.
View attachment 293803
And these birds.... with their wings all spread out where cracking me up.

View attachment 293804
Lots of animals out today... giraffes, rino's, and even a baby elephant butt.
View attachment 293805

I won't bore you with my bazillion pictures!

I felt we got to see a lot of animals so I considered this ride a success!

Time to back track yet again, this time we were headed for lunch.. Satuli Canteen was preplanned, but I couldn't get hubby to pre-order food until we got just outside the restaurant. No matter, we did mobile order, and while hubby grabbed a table, I went in to collect our food. Long lines at the ordering stations, but I just walked right up, our food was waiting, and I wouldn't do this any other way. Who are these people who are oblivious to the app?

I had a beef bowl with rice/grains.. and the garlic dressing. To be honest.. I didn't care for this dressing much, and next time I would try the onion dressing.. formerly a chimichurri.

View attachment 293807

Hubby had curry pods I think... I thought he would be getting the cheeseburger ones... but nope!

View attachment 293809
and we got a cheesecake to share... and had we known how small it actually is (pictures always make it look normal size) we would have ordered two.
View attachment 293810
After lunch it was time for our Jimi Hendrix black light experience!

I didn't take any pictures, but I actually really enjoyed this... maybe because I was born in 1970...

After Navi, hubby wanted to do a bit of Pin trading. He was really happy he was able to complete some sets.

View attachment 293811
Not really my thing, but it made him happy!

It was really hot this day... and after this we decided we were done, and we went back to the hotel. More pool time for me at the bowling pin pool while Scott napped.

I've never really understood the whole pin trading thing. I'd probably be the guy who trades the rarest, most valuable pin in the world for some garbage pin.

On a related note, is he using a tie as a pin lanyard? That's ingenious!!! Much more room to attach pins vs a regular lanyard.

 

[Rista1313]

I've never really understood the whole pin trading thing. I'd probably be the guy who trades the rarest, most valuable pin in the world for some garbage pin.

On a related note, is he using a tie as a pin lanyard? That's ingenious!!! Much more room to attach pins vs a regular lanyard.

I would do that too! doh!

Not a tie, they have really wide landyards now, for ample pin trading room.

 

[Songbird76]

This evening, we had a ADR for Cape May Cafe. DH decided to leave his scooter behind, and we took an uber to get over the the Beach Club. I found the extra money I used for uber/lyft/minnie vans were so worth it this trip. Who wants to take two buses to get to dinner?

We checked it at cape may... and waited maybe 10 minutes... we were brought to our table... and waited a bit for the waitress... I ordered a sangria, and DH ice tea. It took FOREVER for the waitress to get out drinks, and then when she came to our table to deliver it, she ended up dropping her tray and this was crash #2. This time, it wasn't cleaned up as fast as it was at chefs de france... she just stood there in horror!

We found the buffet great... always lots of hot crab and warm butter. Lots of other options too, but I was there for the crab... and I ate quite a bit.... and then dessert. They had the tiny desserts, which I love.. sometimes you just want a taste, ya know?

After dinner we really needed to walk off our food, so we decided to walk over to the boardwalk and walk around.
On our way, we could see fireworks...from epcot maybe?

View attachment 293814
View attachment 293815

We were still full from dinner, so no ample hills tasting this time... (it was packed!)

Hubby and I went into a gift/grocery store .... and he was looking at pins, when we saw a couple with a little girl who was wailing... and I asked her what was wrong. The mom told me that a cast member had given her a cinderella shoe pin, and she had lost it, and they couldn't get her to calm down. I turned to Hubby and ask him.. "Don't you have a shoe pin in your trades?" Well he didn't have the cinderella shoe, but he had the belle shoe. He offered it to the little girl, but she wouldn't take it... but Hubby ended up giving it to her mom and he mom gave it to her, and that seemed to be acceptable and calm her down. Yay! I'm so glad we could help them!

This is also where a CM was rude to hubby.. he asked to see her pin board, and she said, you know, this is for KIDS, not for adults.. and basically refused him. Hubby said you better get that board out and show me those pins, or get me the manager... Pins were traded.

While he was doing that, I went outside and sat on a bench, and there was a guy doing some ball/juggling entertainment.

We finished our walk, and went up to the driveway of the boardwalk hotel, and called an lyft to get us back to the hotel.

Spent the rest of the evening packing up all our things. I had purposely made sure, that one was for clothes, and the other was for all our souvenirs.

Our ME wasn't until 1045am, so we had enough time in the morning to get breakfast, and had bell services come get our bags to check them in. We turned in the scooter, and then went to get a bite.

We had 2 snack credits left, so we went to the gift shop and each picked out a snack to take back with us.

Soon enough, it was time to go:

View attachment 293817


When we got to the airport, we found that Southwest doesn't have wheelchair assistance at the disney area, but management was able to get someone down there pretty quickly, to take us to Southwest, and hubby transferred wheelchairs. Because of wheelchair service, security wasn't too bad.

One thing that I noticed was a problem, is that disney boarding passes don't mark when you have a wheelchair listed in your reservation, and Southwest isn't cool with that. They let us go in Orlando, but in Baltimore, I made sure to have them reprint Scott's boarding pass, so they wouldn't harass us while boarding.

I had to take this picture in the Baltimore airport bathroom.

View attachment 293818

We made it home on time, however, our suitcase with all the souvenirs didn't make it.

In fact, it took Southwest 2 days to locate it. I'm not sure what adventure it went on, but it was finally delivered to us a couple days later.

Back with final thoughts later.

What kind of bull is that....pin trading is only for kids? I know a LOT of adults do that. It is absolutely not just for kids.
Nice that you were able to calm the little girl down. I would have done that too.

 

[Tuvalu]

Like the Baltimore airport bathroom pic!

 

[Rista1313]

Like the Baltimore airport bathroom pic!

I thought you might like that!

 

[Rista1313]

Just book a trip to New Orleans today... anyone from there?

 

[MinnieM123]

Got our return time, and headed off to the safari... our driver was actually very boring... not funny or punny what so ever. I was actually disappointed in that. Are they suppose to be?

The job for the safari drivers is to point out the animals, and share facts about them. Don't recall any of them being funny, per se, but I never expected that. I'm happy that they can drive the vehicles, remain pleasant, and provide helpful comments about the animals on the safari. (As a side note, they also have to keep an eye on the guests, as there is always someone who wants to stand for a photo, or some kid who trys to lean outside of the vehicle, etc. With the bumpy terrain, they don't want any guest to fall. So the drivers really have a lot to deal with.)

This is also where a CM was rude to hubby.. he asked to see her pin board, and she said, you know, this is for KIDS, not for adults.. and basically refused him. Hubby said you better get that board out and show me those pins, or get me the manager... Pins were traded.

My jaw dropped reading this--your hubs was being friendly with the CM about pin trading, and she shuts him down?! Good grief . . . sorry he experienced that. It was uncalled for. And as @Songbird76 mentioned in her post, both adults and children engage in pin trading. It's a fun, interactive hobby for some guests.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

This evening, we had a ADR for Cape May Cafe. DH decided to leave his scooter behind, and we took an uber to get over the the Beach Club. I found the extra money I used for uber/lyft/minnie vans were so worth it this trip. Who wants to take two buses to get to dinner?

We checked it at cape may... and waited maybe 10 minutes... we were brought to our table... and waited a bit for the waitress... I ordered a sangria, and DH ice tea. It took FOREVER for the waitress to get out drinks, and then when she came to our table to deliver it, she ended up dropping her tray and this was crash #2. This time, it wasn't cleaned up as fast as it was at chefs de france... she just stood there in horror!

We found the buffet great... always lots of hot crab and warm butter. Lots of other options too, but I was there for the crab... and I ate quite a bit.... and then dessert. They had the tiny desserts, which I love.. sometimes you just want a taste, ya know?

After dinner we really needed to walk off our food, so we decided to walk over to the boardwalk and walk around.
On our way, we could see fireworks...from epcot maybe?

View attachment 293814
View attachment 293815

We were still full from dinner, so no ample hills tasting this time... (it was packed!)

Hubby and I went into a gift/grocery store .... and he was looking at pins, when we saw a couple with a little girl who was wailing... and I asked her what was wrong. The mom told me that a cast member had given her a cinderella shoe pin, and she had lost it, and they couldn't get her to calm down. I turned to Hubby and ask him.. "Don't you have a shoe pin in your trades?" Well he didn't have the cinderella shoe, but he had the belle shoe. He offered it to the little girl, but she wouldn't take it... but Hubby ended up giving it to her mom and he mom gave it to her, and that seemed to be acceptable and calm her down. Yay! I'm so glad we could help them!

This is also where a CM was rude to hubby.. he asked to see her pin board, and she said, you know, this is for KIDS, not for adults.. and basically refused him. Hubby said you better get that board out and show me those pins, or get me the manager... Pins were traded.

While he was doing that, I went outside and sat on a bench, and there was a guy doing some ball/juggling entertainment.

We finished our walk, and went up to the driveway of the boardwalk hotel, and called an lyft to get us back to the hotel.

Spent the rest of the evening packing up all our things. I had purposely made sure, that one was for clothes, and the other was for all our souvenirs.

Our ME wasn't until 1045am, so we had enough time in the morning to get breakfast, and had bell services come get our bags to check them in. We turned in the scooter, and then went to get a bite.

We had 2 snack credits left, so we went to the gift shop and each picked out a snack to take back with us.

Soon enough, it was time to go:

View attachment 293817


When we got to the airport, we found that Southwest doesn't have wheelchair assistance at the disney area, but management was able to get someone down there pretty quickly, to take us to Southwest, and hubby transferred wheelchairs. Because of wheelchair service, security wasn't too bad.

One thing that I noticed was a problem, is that disney boarding passes don't mark when you have a wheelchair listed in your reservation, and Southwest isn't cool with that. They let us go in Orlando, but in Baltimore, I made sure to have them reprint Scott's boarding pass, so they wouldn't harass us while boarding.

I had to take this picture in the Baltimore airport bathroom.

View attachment 293818

We made it home on time, however, our suitcase with all the souvenirs didn't make it.

In fact, it took Southwest 2 days to locate it. I'm not sure what adventure it went on, but it was finally delivered to us a couple days later.

Back with final thoughts later.

Total BS about that cast member and the pin board being for kids only. Glad that he got to make his trades, especially after being so kind to that little girl.

I feel your pain about the Southwest baggage. They recently lost my bag, long story short...it was supposed to be going to Atlanta with me (even was promised it was moved from the St. Louis flight) and when I got to my final destination in Minneapolis at about 1 am no bag. I checked and they said it was in St. Louis and would arrive in Minneapolis the next day at around 1pm. Since I live outside the delivery zone they were going to FedEx it to me but my hubs had to go to the airport a couple days later so I said I would just pick it up then. So two days later when I went to pick it up it had a Chicago Midway tag on it! What?! I thought it went to St. Louis! I didn't ask I was just happy to get it.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

That bugs me that the CM was rude about the pin trading. I remember when my kids first got into it, I read that CMs with a green lanyard can only trade with kids. Still, in all of our visits, I can't recall ever seeing a green lanyard CM. Plus, I would think that any decent CM wearing a green lanyard who was approached by an adult would have the common sense and customer service training to know how to professionally and courteously turn away an adult. My mom LOVES to pin trade and while she's noted a few less than magical CMs, she has yet to have anyone try and turn her away.

Sad to see the report coming to an end, but looking forward to your closing thoughts.

 

[Rista1313]

Final Thoughts:

I thought this might be a once and done trip for us... but after we got home, we both felt like we wanted to go again, that we didn't accomplish everything, and hubby is looking forward to Star wars, so I think we are targeting 2020. I would like to go sooner... we shall see about fitting another one in Sept 2019.... Maybe I should book now... I can always cancel it later right?

Hotel:
We really enjoyed POP.. maybe it was the newness of the renovations, but the rooms were comfy and quiet, the hotel suited our needs since we really just slept there. My only complaint... the bus stops.... Always the farthest! I get it.. your paying less, you gotta walk farther...

Parks: How can I not say Magic Kingdom was my favorite. I really just want to sit and take the time to look around at all the details next time. I think my favorite rides were, FOP, Soarin', and 7DMT. The video immersion really speaks to me on the first two! And the 7dmt is not too rough for me, as I don't like roller coasters usually, but I laughed and squeeled all the way thru this one. I loved it!

Transportation: Buses were great for getting the Scooter on/off. Minnie van's served their purpose well for us... and uber worked out well too. While we could have used the buses for everything, sometimes we wanted a quicker ride.

I don't think I could stay off property. Having stayed on property, I'm spoiled by all the transportation, sending packages of souvenirs back to the room, and not worry about car navigation was a plus that I don't think I could live without.

HEA dessert party was worth the money I spent on it. Just having room to move in the garden was the best, and a great view for the castle projections!

Food: my favorite meal was in Disney Springs. The Polite Pig was so good, and such a good deal for a QS meal. So much food. Until I start hearing better reviews for Ohana', we wouldn't go again. Which makes me so sad. Hoop dee doo revue is a must do! Not every trip, (but maybe trails end for the food)

For us the dining plan worked well. We pretty much broke even, maybe came out a little ahead with snacks actually, so we would maybe do that again. The only thing I didn't like was being tied to reservations, it would have been nice to be a bit more spontaneous.

Same with fast passes... I have a love/hate. I felt like we were constantly headed from one FP+ to another... and missing all the good stuff in between. Anyone have an suggestions on how to combat this?

Park hopper. Although we used it, I think we could do without it.

If you made it this far, thanks for following along!

Feel free to follow me on Instagram: Rista1313 where you can see my other trips. We are going to St. Pete Beach in November (with a day trip to Disney Springs, so you'll get a mini trip report) and in February, we will be going to New Orleans. (Did I mention i worked for the airlines for years? I have the travel bug, BAD!)

 

[meggo819]

Same with fast passes... I have a love/hate. I felt like we were constantly headed from one FP+ to another... and missing all the good stuff in between. Anyone have an suggestions on how to combat this?

I've been thinking about this too, for our upcoming trip. At the risk of not being able to get a 4th (or more) FP, I think I'm going to space ours throughout the day, so that we have time to do everything we want in between, without running back and forth all over the park.

 

[Rista1313]

I just realized I never talked about the rest of the title... (Is there a sign on my scooter?)

At home... when people continuously pull out in front of me in their cars... I sometimes wonder if there is a sign on the front of my car that says... go ahead, pull out in front of me... it's ok.. I'll stop. We felt the same way about the scooter in Disney... people would blatantly look you in the eye, and then step or cross in front of you. Not realizing there are no brakes on scooters... it takes them a moment to stop...

DH got a little upset one day and purposely didn't slow down. He ended up hitting an ankle of some woman who gave us a dirty look.... What are you looking at us for lady, you're the one who walked right out in front to traffic?!

 

[Rista1313]

Apparently this is why I need two orange birds. The car wash ripped off an ear. (Ok people don’t tell me to take it off before the car wash, that involves a step ladder because I’m short!)

 

[fractal]

I just realized I never talked about the rest of the title... (Is there a sign on my scooter?)

At home... when people continuously pull out in front of me in their cars... I sometimes wonder if there is a sign on the front of my car that says... go ahead, pull out in front of me... it's ok.. I'll stop. We felt the same way about the scooter in Disney... people would blatantly look you in the eye, and then step or cross in front of you. Not realizing there are no brakes on scooters... it takes them a moment to stop...

DH got a little upset one day and purposely didn't slow down. He ended up hitting an ankle of some woman who gave us a dirty look.... What are you looking at us for lady, you're the one who walked right out in front to traffic?!

Yia-Yia just runs them over.

 

[fractal]

Final Thoughts:

I thought this might be a once and done trip for us... but after we got home, we both felt like we wanted to go again, that we didn't accomplish everything, and hubby is looking forward to Star wars, so I think we are targeting 2020. I would like to go sooner... we shall see about fitting another one in Sept 2019.... Maybe I should book now... I can always cancel it later right?

Hotel:
We really enjoyed POP.. maybe it was the newness of the renovations, but the rooms were comfy and quiet, the hotel suited our needs since we really just slept there. My only complaint... the bus stops.... Always the farthest! I get it.. your paying less, you gotta walk farther...

Parks: How can I not say Magic Kingdom was my favorite. I really just want to sit and take the time to look around at all the details next time. I think my favorite rides were, FOP, Soarin', and 7DMT. The video immersion really speaks to me on the first two! And the 7dmt is not too rough for me, as I don't like roller coasters usually, but I laughed and squeeled all the way thru this one. I loved it!

Transportation: Buses were great for getting the Scooter on/off. Minnie van's served their purpose well for us... and uber worked out well too. While we could have used the buses for everything, sometimes we wanted a quicker ride.

I don't think I could stay off property. Having stayed on property, I'm spoiled by all the transportation, sending packages of souvenirs back to the room, and not worry about car navigation was a plus that I don't think I could live without.

HEA dessert party was worth the money I spent on it. Just having room to move in the garden was the best, and a great view for the castle projections!

Food: my favorite meal was in Disney Springs. The Polite Pig was so good, and such a good deal for a QS meal. So much food. Until I start hearing better reviews for Ohana', we wouldn't go again. Which makes me so sad. Hoop dee doo revue is a must do! Not every trip, (but maybe trails end for the food)

For us the dining plan worked well. We pretty much broke even, maybe came out a little ahead with snacks actually, so we would maybe do that again. The only thing I didn't like was being tied to reservations, it would have been nice to be a bit more spontaneous.

Same with fast passes... I have a love/hate. I felt like we were constantly headed from one FP+ to another... and missing all the good stuff in between. Anyone have an suggestions on how to combat this?

Park hopper. Although we used it, I think we could do without it.

If you made it this far, thanks for following along!

Feel free to follow me on Instagram: Rista1313 where you can see my other trips. We are going to St. Pete Beach in November (with a day trip to Disney Springs, so you'll get a mini trip report) and in February, we will be going to New Orleans. (Did I mention i worked for the airlines for years? I have the travel bug, BAD!)

Thanks for sharing!

I'm going to have to put Polite Pig on my list.