Trip Report My Tower of Terror-ific Birthday Trip

Hi everyone! We have been back from our trip for a week now, and I am definitely ready to relive it by writing this report! Let's get started!

Who: Me (Amy) and my husband Brian


When: Tuesday, Nov. 19 - Saturday, Nov. 23, 2013

Where: Pop Century

Why: To celebrate my 40th birthday and our 15th wedding anniversary
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Brian decided he wanted to see Lights, Motors, Action!, so we headed that way. I never noticed Gerties footprints in the sidewalk before!





Brian was pleased to be able to see this through the set:





 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Next up:

I'm glad we were able to experience this, as I have a feeling the kids will not want to "waste" their time doing it when we are there in June!





Then back to ToT to use our FP+. I love the way the sky looked against ToT, but I had been hoping it would be darker for our last ride!

 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Finally got to catch up on this! You look you had so much fun and great crowds. And since this is right about the week I'm going to be there next year, this encourages me!
Thanks for reading! We did have fun and the lack of crowds was awesome! Hopefully, it's that way for you next year!
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Since we were right there, we decided to see if we could get into Fantasmic! earlier than our tickets said. We could, and we went right in and were seated in the sorcerer Mickey section.

After procuring our seats, Brian went to get us another nutritious meal.

They had some entertainment going on right up until the show started. It was nothing special, but at least you weren't just sitting there waiting!

















 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I loved that they even themed the trashcans!


Then we started to head out.

I stopped to take this pic, and Brian told me to just keep walking so we could ride one last time! For those of you who lost count, that will make it 5 times that my height fearing husband rode ToT with me on my birthday!!! What a sweetie!




Then we made our way out to the bus stops.


 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Upon arriving at the bus stop, we noticed that the line for Pop was huge and the line for Aoa was nonexistent and a bus was waiting, therefore, we jumped on the bus heading to AoA. I was definitely in the mood to take pics that night, as compared to the previous night!
The lobby:








Then we headed outside and through the Cars section.








Then 1 pic while on the way through the Finding Nemo section.

Mowgli and Baloo (at Pop):

And the final pic of the night:
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Saturday, Nov. 23
We were up fairly early to check our luggage. Brian then took our carry-ons to Bell Services and I took some pics while waiting for him.




Then we were on a bus to MK. I wanted to take a boat to Poly, but they weren't running yet, so we hopped on the monorail instead.


 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We were a little early for our ADR, so we took some time to walk around outside.




Then we browsed through the shops and lobby.


Finally, it was time to check in.

This is what Brian was looking forward to the most:

The lilikoi juice.
This is what I was looking forward to:


It did not disappoint!! Brian ordered the same and enjoyed his as well!
A few pics on the way to the bus stop:

 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We decided to head to DtD for some final shopping.






I went into WoD for something and Brian went ahead to the Lego store. Here is where I found him:

He can never pass up an opportunity to make mini-figures! We ended up making a three pack so each kid got one!
Then we headed over to the West Side.


We were going to run into DisneyQuest just to check it out, but it didn't open until 11:00 and we didn't want to wait.



Next time I am determined to do this:

Then back to the Marketplace.



Lunch:

The meatball sub:

Brian ordered the Original, but I didn't get a pic before he inhaled it!
Then a quick trip in here to get some sweet treats to take home to the kids:

 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Then it was back to Pop.:( The only bright side was that the indoor Christmas decorations had gone up!



We filled our mugs and decided to spend the rest of our time exploring AoA.
A quick pic on the way through Pop:

We ran into lots of these guys when we were walking around that day. I don't know if we just weren't paying attention before, or if the nicer weather that day brought them out, but they were all over the place!





This ended up being my favorite section of AoA:

I absolutely love these walls:





Then on to The Little Mermaid section where we will be staying in June.




 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thank you all so much for reading along! I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

I just wanted to share a few final thoughts.
Magicbands- I think the concept of the bands and having easy access to your room, tickets, FP, PP, dining plan, etc. is good, I just think they needed to work a few more of the bugs out before they rolled them out for testing. I know the issues we had were minor, but some people are having big problems that are really impacting their vacations, and that is a shame. Hopefully, they will have all the bugs worked out by the time we return in June. We did not find them uncomfortable, and in fact, we both felt kind of naked when we took them off while waiting for DME. I could not get mine to fit right without making it the child size. I know it is a little nitpicky, but I liked the way it looked with the edging on it, and mine didn't end up with it because I had to peel it off to make it fit! The only thing that really bothered me about the testing while we were there was the lack of knowledge by the CMs of what testing was taking place. It seemed like none of them knew that Pop guests would not have a KTTW and treated us as if we were stupid when we said we didn't have one!
PhotoPass- I preordered the CD, and overall, I was pleased with the photos we got. I was not, however, impressed with the photographers. We had to really hunt for them this time to be sure we had enough to make it worthwhile to have preordered. And when we did find them, they just kind of stared at you like they had no idea why you would be approaching them! It was really weird! I did like that numerous ride pics magically appeared in our account! Unfortunately, the two I would have really liked, EE and ToT, were the only two that didn't show up. I'm guessing this was happening in preparation for the new Memory Makers!?!
Dining Plan- It was nice that it was "free" this trip, but I don't think we will be using it again for our immediate family. It is just too much food, and my kids are picky enough that it just won't work well for us. We will be getting it in June, only because my parents are paying for the majority of the trip, and it is easier to keep track of 11 people that way!
Child free trips- We had an incredible time, but I think this will be our last one without the kids until they are grown and out on their own! There were just too many times we were saying "_____ would like this" or "_____ would really enjoy riding this", etc. It was different on our 2008 trip because the kids were still little and we were able to ride things that they were too small for or too scared of, now they are big enough and brave enough to ride whatever they want. It makes a big difference! We didn't experience several attractions (It's Tough to be a Bug, Nemo, etc) because Brian kept saying it would make him miss the kids too much! He's such a softie!!
Camera- While I am pleased with the overall quality of the pics I was able to take, my point and shoot was really frustrating me this trip with the lag time between taking one pic and being able to take another! If anyone has any suggestions for a better point and shoot or an entry level DSLR, I would love to hear them!

Once again, thanks for reading and join me again for my TR after our June Dream cruise and WDW trip!
 

ginadee

Well-Known Member
I loved reading and OMG we had tonga toast on our last morning too. I am amazed at how alike our trips were. Too funny. Cant wait to hear about your cruise.
 

TheMouseFan

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I loved reading and OMG we had tonga toast on our last morning too. I am amazed at how alike our trips were. Too funny. Cant wait to hear about your cruise.
Thanks for reading! The cruise will be here before we know it! I can't wait!
 

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