Peoplemover TTAs August 2011 Trip Report - But Wait...There's More!

Now that I've been back for a few days, it's time to get started on my first, full-fledged WDW TR. As some of you may know, it's with a somewhat heavy heart, as my mom passed away at the end of June, very suddenly. We booked this trip last August, and had been counting down ever since. My family new that we still had to take this trip, to heal, and because my mom would be mad if we didn't .

I don't want this to be a depressing TR, and I won't dwell on the loss of my mom...I tried to take advantage of this trip to remember her and honor her spirit, and hopefully I was able to do that a bit!

For some of the backstory on the trip and it's major players, details are in my PTR here.

Here's a basic overview:

Originally booked in POFQ with free dining from 8/20 - 8/28, we had to add two nights when airfare on those days was literally twice the price. So, we bookended our trip with overnight stays at POP. Our trip instead became 8/19-8/29. My sister, cousin and I were flying Jetblue, and my grandma and aunt were driving.

Wednesday morning (8/17), I received a text that my grandma was in the hospital. Turns out, she was in renal failure! She was hospitalized for 2 days, and insisted to the doctors that she was going to Disney World and to get it figured out. Not sound medical thinking, but my grandma is 78, has tons of health problems, and we had been through a lot...she wanted to make it on this trip!

Her renal failure was actually caused by medicine she was taking. They tested her extensively and restored all her levels where they should be, then gave explicit instructions so nothing happened while we were on vacation (and she ended up being fine, thankfully). She literally got in my aunt's Equinox on Friday morning after being discharged and hit the road!

With everyone raring to go, we approached 8/19 with excitement. Stay tuned for Day 1 (the first day is a little wordy, but I'm setting up things to come, so bear with me...I hope I don't disappoint ).

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Day 1 - August 19

At long last, today is the day we leave for WDW! Our flight departed at 6:05pm, and I wanted to be sure we were at the airport by 3:30 (I am the uber-early person for everything...a trend you'll see during this TR).

My sister's boyfriend was dropping her off, and my cousin's boyfriend was taking her to my house so my brother could drop us both off easily (although he lives in Boston, my brother was in town for family stuff going on that week). We spent some time munching and chatting at the airport before saying goodbye to my brother, made our way through security, then found ourselves excitedly at our gate.

The 3:30 flight, also to Boston, was at the same gate, and delayed by over 2 hours, so I immediately went to the counter to see if our flight was also delayed...

It was. I was nervous about our connecting flight, which was the last flight out of Boston that night. The Jetblue agent, Tripp (how's that for ironic?), started looking for a way to get us to Orlando, and I grew nervous. I started telling him about our family's rough summer to fill the silence (I'm still kind of in a phase where it just comes up), and he replied, "I am going to get you all on this flight, and you're making it to Orlando tonight."

Tripp was so awesome, and went ahead to get us on the delayed 3:30 flight. I never asked to be on that flight (it was booked, but he said they kept a few seats open for an emergency). I am writing a letter to Jetblue, because he really went above and beyond!

We waited for our flight to MCO in Boston, with a minor delay and a packed terminal. Apparently, weather was affecting flights throughout the Northeast.

Just before boarding, I saw a brown blur run between a little girl's feet, about 10 feet from me. Yeah, there was a mouse in the terminal. Everyone was oblivious, just waiting to get on the flight, but it freaked me out!

So, a little late and tired, we boarded our flight to Orlando, and landed at 12:52am Saturday. We were SO ready to snooze at POP and head to MK that morning before checking in at POFQ. Because it was late, we had to pick up my sister and cousin's bags. We waited forever for the bags, then out of pure exhaustion, went to terminal B instead of A (or was it vice versa?) and had to trek back across to DME. Must...have...sleep...

The DME bus was completely filled - we sat in the last row (a 3-seater). People looked understandably exhausted. When I jokingly said "Who's ready for a theme park tomorrow morning?" as I walked to my seat, no one laughed...ah well, I thought it was funny :lol:

Here's the view from the last row of the bus, using the crummy camera on my iPhone 3GS:

POP was the first stop for our DME bus, so we exited and went inside to get our keys, since I had checked us in online. We waited a few minutes for a CM to come out from backstage, and eagerly made our way to the last building at POP (of course, lol).

Now have any of you seen the news stories about bed bugs? I have, and so the first thing I do whenever checking into a hotel is pull back the covers and look at the sheets and mattress. I never expect to find anything, and I never have.

So yeahh...there were about five tiny bugs crawling in the sheets, and there were about 10 "shells" as well. Not a chance I was sleeping in this bed!

I called the front desk (it was now 2:52am), and was told there weren't any other rooms available, and if I insisted, they would have to send a rep to review the room. But, if they didn't deem them bed bugs, I had to sleep there.

Not a chance! If it were some bug that just slipped in the door, I could understand that but there was clearly some infestation of something, if not in the bed itself, than in the sheets. My cousin got on the phone and told the manager that we were exhausted, but we would not be sleeping in a bed with bugs. If they didn't have a room, they could send us to POFQ, where we were headed anyway. The manager said she would check, but we had to wait for pest control anyway.

45 minutes later (yup!), the manager came with Juan from pest control, he kept muttering under his breath that we were wasting his time (nice), and checked the beds thoroughly. Apparently not bed bugs, but the manager, Gray, said she got us a room at POFQ, and apologized for the inconvenience.

Now comes where they really outdid themselves. I just wanted a bug-free bed so I could finally sleep. Gray refunded our night's stay, got us a cab to POFQ, and chatted with us until the cab came. She really went above and beyond to give us good service. When they refunded the night's charge, they had to put it on the original credit card, which was my mom's...we explained, and said not to worry about it, but they literally just handed us the cash. Wow! We were exhausted, and would appreciate the service much more after some rest, but Gray truly took care of our family, and we appreciated it.

When we finally made it to POFQ we saw a couple waiting for their DME pickup...yeah so it was now morning...we got our keys and were told we had to check out by 11 (no sleeping in, but what can you do).

At about 5am, we finally went to bed.

Sorry this day was so wordy, and pic-less . Coming up, Day 2, and the barrage of pictures!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Day 2 - August 20

Breakfast at Sassagoula and the evening's (morning's!) trials were a distant memory.

My sister and cousin, bright-eyed and bushy...okay, no, we were exhausted, but excited!:

I had to splurge on some beignets - one of the best perks of staying at POFQ. Fwiw, I also had a banana...that evens it out :

My sister got some basic eggs and potatoes, with orange juice:

Now, you may be noticing at this point that I am far from a skilled photographer. Although I adore the beautiful work of folks on the forums here, I just don't have the skill, and I also like the ease of a point and shoot (hopefully, when I upgrade my iPhone, I can just use my phone)! For me, it's mostly about capturing the moment and memory, so I just like to keep it simple. As a result, my pics aren't that great - sorry in advance!

Also, I LOVE the food pics thread, and I vowed to take pictures of all my meals on this trip. I forgot some, but, as you can see, I started off pretty well. While I didn't get every meal, there should be enough to whet some appetites :lol:

After breakfast, we checked out and went to check in for our "real" reservation when we discovered that we actually slept in the room that my grandma an aunt were checking into (next to our room!). We could have slept in, but who cares, we were ready for some magic! We were definitely tired, though, so rather than go to MK, we headed for the boat to DTD.

On the way to the boat dock, I made my DC and DS (cousin and sister) pose for a goofy picture - another trend on this trip (very soon, you'll notice that my cousin hardly smiles at all...boo, hiss!):

I became fascinated with two things on this trip: signs, and odd perspectives. Here is my first sign pic:

And while we were waiting (about 10 minutes), we noticed this particularly large lizard (gecko?). He was gargantuan compared to the others, and he sat here, staring at us. We were convinced he was eavesdropping, and understood every word we said (remember, we were still tired...ah, who am I kidding, we're nuts ).:

And here comes the boat:

Grandma and Aunt update: They left a day later than planned because of my grandma's health issues, so rather than making it in on Saturday, they were due to arrive on Sunday.

Coming up: The rest of Day 2!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Day 2 - August 20 (Part 2)

As we made our way through the Art of Disney and Christmas stores, we decided to stop at Wolfgang Puck's to split a counter service meal. I had never been here, so I was excited to try something new. The super-friendly CM suggested I try the creme brulee for dessert (she boasted it was the best on property), so I eagerly obliged.

We sat in the kitchen area, and made nice conversation with a chatty manager. I also LOVED their iced tea (unsweetened for me, but I'll drink sweet team on occasion).

The pizza was excellent, and the CM did not lie - I thought the creme brulee was amazing. Certainly worth a counter credit!

Here is our delicious meal - enough to tide us all over until dinner:

Summer Sands used to be my favorite store in the Marketplace. We had fun in its replacement, though (can't remember it's name). Here's my sister posing with Edna Mode:

And in another trend, "Things I like but not enough to shell out $30 bucks for so I'll just take a picture of it," here's a neat shirt:

Remember when I said my cousin wasn't smiling much in pictures? I don't know what was up with that, but here is some evidence. I, on the other hand, am a total geek, and I have no problem with that!:

For some reason, I was fascinated by this Mickey-shaped hook thingy. Yeah...I don't know either, but it looks kind of neat:

We headed back to POFQ by bus (a thunderstorm shut down the boats), to check out our room, rest and get ready for dinner. The rooms at POFQ have recently been refurbished, and there were some big differences from our last stay there in 2007 (especially the queen beds!):

Oooh, nice TV:

Plenty of room for all our toiletries. The sink itself, shelf above, and then major storage space below the sinks - nice!:

We took a dip in the pool and a much-needed nap before heading out for our first ADR of the trip - Kouzzina. Coming up, the rest of Day 2 (I'm starting to realize this is going to be a loooong TR :lol:. I am a writer by trade, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised!).

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Day 2 - August 20 (The Conclusion)

Not wanting to sound too much time commuting to our dinner ADRs at Kouzzina, we opted for a cab (bell services at POFQ is just awesome, btw). $10 and 20 minutes later, we arrived at BW with time to spare.

Here it was, my first table service meal with the dining plan. Would it live up to my expectations? I was nervous and excited!

I'm a big Iron Chef fan, so Kouzzina was at the top of my list of restaurants to try. Thankfully, it did not disappoint:

I had the mega berry smoothie (omg I loved that smoothie!), cinnamon-stewed chicken, and baklava for dessert.

My sister and cousin also had the smoothie, but opted for steak instead, and had the AMAZING Greek donuts for dessert. Sorry, no pics of the meals (darn, I already forgot!), but I remembered in time for dessert.

Our server, Brad, was awesome, and we gave a 25% tip as a thank you. I was nervous about being treated differently because of the dining plan, but was happy to see that it had no affect on our service at Kouzzina. My chicken was very good; however, I tried my sister's steak, and it was phenomenal (my favorite of the trip). The potatoes were outstanding as well. Next trip, I'll definitely be getting the steak!

My baklava was very good a,so, but I again I defer to their choices. Those little Greek donuts were delicious! Being fried, I assumed they were hollow inside, but no, just warm, chewy goodness. My mouth is watering just thinking about them:

Also worth noting - the bread (I'm an Irish girl who loves her bread!). The bread and dipping oils were a great say to start the meal. I may have had a piece too many, but it was worth it. Yum:

We walked off our dinner while shopping on the BW, then we decided that we'd take the boat to DHS, then grab a bus back to POFQ.

More experimenting with perspectives:

Not today, DHS, but soon enough!:

We made it back to the hotel, then suddenly refreshed, decided to go back to DTD. My cousin had to pick something up at Arribas Brothers anyway, so we got back on a bus and headed back (after a trip to Jackson Square for some shopping).

Waiting for a DTD bus at POFQ. Again with the perspective (I thought the wrought iron looked cool):

Feeling a little munchy, we made our way to Goofy's Candy Company, where my sister picked up a delicious English Toffee bar, and I decided on a peanut butter cup. No pic of the toffee, but here's my peanut butter cup. I love peanut butter cups, but this one was a bit too rich for me. Still, it was okay:

We walked through the abomination-formerly-known-as-PI, and found it absolutely mobbed with people (with no where to go!). They had some live musicians playing in the streets to give some semblance of activity, but it created utter chaos and confusion among guests. The live music seemed to be aiming for the DLR DTD feeling, but it failed. DLR's DTD is a totally different beast, largely locals, and that vibe works. Shopping, street entertainment...it's really great at DLR. Here, it's just sad (imho). I'm not a staunch "bring back PI" person, but I did enjoy my few trips there, especially to Comedy Warehouse and the Adventurer's Club, and it's a shame that area is languishing (hopefully not for long).

Apparently, I got this shot with days to spare before they took down signage :

Our day of food and shopping successful, we headed back to POFQ (interesting to note: this is the only bus we stood in for the entire trip!).

It was weird being in WDW for an entire day without going to a park, but we'd be fixing that tomorrow .

 

[fractal]

Great start to the TR! looking forward to more.

 

[WDW_Princess24]

Sorry everything started off so rocky but how great that people went above and beyond! So great to hear about JetBlue, I'll be flying out on them in 3 weeks! I've always wanted to stay at POFQ, can't wait to hear your thoughts!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Great report so far! Sad to hear about POP, will be staying there in a few weeks, but I've stayed there many times before and never had a problem. Kind of curious though as to what building it was in....

 

[Sarabell]

I was really sad to hear about your mom. I´m really sorry for your loss. But thumbs up to you and your family for taking the trip and making it a celebration of your mom´s life. I guess it was bittersweet but hopefuly you made some great memories.:wave:

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Loving the TR so far! Glad you guys decided to go, even with the loss of your Mom.

When we go in November we have a flight that gets in late to MCO (midnight) so I'm crossing my fingers everything goes smoothly and we get to bed before 5am!! How unfortunate of an experience on your first night!! BUT - they did go above and beyond to take care of it! Along with JetBlue, you got some great customer service that day (Except for Juan the pest control man! :lol

Can't wait to read more!!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Great start to the TR! looking forward to more.

Thanks - I hope my first TR is half as good as yours

Sorry everything started off so rocky but how great that people went above and beyond! So great to hear about JetBlue, I'll be flying out on them in 3 weeks! I've always wanted to stay at POFQ, can't wait to hear your thoughts!

I've had the pleasure of staying at Poly, Contemporary, OKW, Yacht Club, Caribbean Beach, POFQ, and all the values. For me, POFQ is the best combination of price, theming and amenities. If I don't become a DVC member, POFQ will be my "home!"

Overall, I was extremely pleased with JetBlue. We've flown Southwest exclusively for about 6-7 years, but price won out this time, and JB didn't disappoint. And I didn't realize how much of an impact it would have, but being able to watch Seinfeld on the plane made the flights "fly" by (wow, what a horrible pun :lol.

Great report so far! Sad to hear about POP, will be staying there in a few weeks, but I've stayed there many times before and never had a problem. Kind of curious though as to what building it was in....

I unfortunately don't remember the building. We were so darn tired, we didn't really pay attention. If I had to guess, I'd say 9, but I can't recall.

I really think that there was just some bad luck with the set of sheets...they were seriously infested. Things happen, and although we were exhausted and frustrated, the night manager, Gray, really did go above and beyond.

I was really sad to hear about your mom. I´m really sorry for your loss. But thumbs up to you and your family for taking the trip and making it a celebration of your mom´s life. I guess it was bittersweet but hopefuly you made some great memories.:wave:

Thanks, Sarabell. My mom was my best friend, and I did feel like she was with me often during the trip. And we really did have a great time

Loving the TR so far! Glad you guys decided to go, even with the loss of your Mom.

When we go in November we have a flight that gets in late to MCO (midnight) so I'm crossing my fingers everything goes smoothly and we get to bed before 5am!! How unfortunate of an experience on your first night!! BUT - they did go above and beyond to take care of it! Along with JetBlue, you got some great customer service that day (Except for Juan the pest control man! :lol

Can't wait to read more!!

Good luck with your flight! I have to admit that I will probably only take direct, first-in-the-morning flights from now on, but that's more out of pure preference than because of this experience. The weather is so unpredictable!

I had a trip booked for Nov. 10-15, but I dont think I'll be able to go anymore, unfortunately. I hope you write another TR, so I can live vicariously though you And without a doubt, we were really lucky to have some amazing service from both JetBlue, and the night manager at POP. Both of them turned around what could have been really crummy situations.

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Day 3

Thanks to everyone who's following along. I'm having fun reliving my trip through this TR!

Now here is where my normal trip routine is really thrown off. First, we spent an entire day on Disney property without going to a park. Now, we spend our first serious park time in Animal Kingdom...craziness (We're typically traditionalists, and hit MK, then Epcot, DHS and AK in order...we never made a conscious decision to do it, but it's just always how we roll!).

For some reason, my aunt and grandma do not like AK (boggles my mind), so we decided to hit our favorite AK rides Sunday morning, before they arrive. That way, we won’t have to break apart to get back, or worse, miss out altogether.

After splitting a breakfast platter with my sister at Sassagoula, we went straight to AK, and arrived just as the opening show started (Today, it was at the turnstiles. In the past, I’ve seen it up by the Tree of Life).

I was most excited to head to AK to ride KS. Believe it or not, I haven’t been on KS since 2000. Of course, there is a story: The same crew (plus my mom) drove to WDW in 2000, and we stayed at the Contemporary. Such a fun trip (although I will never drive again!). I was enthralled with KS; however, I became distracted when my sister became sick. The heat just got to her, and after exiting the jeep, she ran to the bathroom and was very sick. We had to take her out of the park in a wheelchair, poor gal. Although not caused by KS at all, my sister always associated it with throwing up, and so I have not ridden KS again (9/10 trips are with my sister, and although I could ride by myself, I always said I would ride “next time.” Well - it’s finally “next time!”).

We grabbed FPs, and I decided to try an Iced Mocha to cool off, as the park was already really hot and muggy. While waiting for my mocha, I snapped this shot of my sister. I don’t know why I love taking pics of people when they’re not looking (Serves her right, texting her boyfriend instead of soaking up the awesome AK atmosphere)!:

We only had about a 20 minute wait before our FPs, but we took advantage and sipped our mochas as we perused shops. I embarrassed myself dancing with a group of drummers (sorry, no pics, lol)

After an 11-year hiatus, we at last made our way to KS. Our safari driver, whose name I cannot recall, was great. She had the right balance of information and story, and she really set the tone well.

Here’s another entry in the “Diana takes pictures of weird angles” file. That’s my bad hair morning under the Disneyland hat:

I love giraffes, such beautiful creatures! Our safari driver explained the difference between these two types, but I can’t remember, other than their spots are different, lol:

Is it weird that I see a sleeping lion and think of my adorable black cat napping on my lap?:

After an awesome safari, we headed out into the wilderness, and I made my sister and cousin come up with an amusing pose here:

As we made our way out, my cousin walked over to a railing and mentioned that she saw gorillas here last time. Lo and behold, we found one having a lazy Sunday morning:

We really took our time in shops to soak up as much AC as possible (the AC was pretty low in AK that day, though). It was only 10am by this point, but it was extremely hot and humid. I was a little disappointed that each shop in AK had, basically, the same items. The bonus is that I spent shopping time instead looking for fun details, like this:

After a lil shopping, we headed over to one of our favorites, ITTBaB. Since the refurb had been canceled, we were able to see it.

Obligatory bug eyes shot:

I was pleased to see that the acid bug on the left was working (my last trip, he was frozen in place the whole show), and Hopper was also functioning. I literally laugh out loud during this show, so I was definitely glad to see it.

Here’s a weird first for me. I decided to skip EE this trip. I am grateful I was able to ride it in its glory days during AP previews back in 2006, and I’ve ridden every trip since. But, my blood pressure has been a little high with stress lately, and for the most part, I avoided thrill rides. I did hit a few, but EE has kind of dropped down my list over the past few years. I didn’t know if Disco Yeti would effect my enjoyment much, but I found on the last trip that, while still a decent coaster, it wasn’t quite the same experience. So, I decided to skip it this time (not a chance my sister would ride this anyway, so I would’ve been going solo).

After ITTBaB, we were still pretty tired, so we headed back to POFQ to nap and wait for my grandma and aunt to make it in, as they were only a few hours away. My sister wanted to see Finding Nemo: The Musical (one of my favorites), but I assured her we’d make it back later in the trip.

When we arrived back at POFQ, we found this awesome little guy in our room:

Towel animals are such a cool touch. I put a note with our tip asking for a few extra soaps, and our housekeeper left this awesome towel animal, with about 5,000 (give or take a few). Awesome!

After a restful nap, we were awaken by an excited call from my aunt - they had arrived! And just in time, as we had a 4pm reservation for dinner at a restaurant I have been anxiously looking forward to for several years...Kona Cafe!

While waiting for my aunt and grandma to freshen up, my sister became obsessed with these weird little bananas that were on the trees outside our rooms. Somehow, she had never noticed these on previous trips, and she was very annoyed that a nearby squirrel wasn’t taking advantage of this “bunch”:

Finally, we piled into my aunt's Equinox and made our way to Poly.

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Day 3 (Continued)


And at long last, here we are:

Our server, Debi, was just awesome. I mentioned how much I liked the megaberry smoothie while at Kouzzina, and Debi let us know that we could order any virgin drink with the dining plan. We took advantage!

Virgin Sand In Your Shoes (I loved this drink!):

Virgin Strawberry Daiquiri (My cousin said it was delicious):

And, every one of us ordered the same thing (on my suggestion - based off reviews from here at WDWMagic) - Teriyaki Steak. I ordered mine medium, and also had the teriyaki on the side, as I’m trying to watch my sodium intake.

Yum:

The steak was delicious, although it was a very close second to my sister’s steak at Kouzzina (I tried her steak the night before). Don’t get me wrong, it was outstanding, but still only 2nd. We were doing really well so far on meals!

Here are the desserts that we tried - I’m happy to say we had more variety than with dinner :lol: :

Fondue:

Pineapple Upside Down Cake:

Banana Chocolate Creme Brulee:

Lava Cake:

I didn’t try the fondue, but my sister said it was really good (the macaroom was her favorite). My aunt had the lava cake and loved it, and my cousin and grandma had the pineapple upside down cake. My grandma *gasp* didn’t like hers, so I helped out . I thought it was pure bliss! My banana chocolate creme brulee was good, but not as good as Wolfgang Puck, surprisingly. My favorite was actually the pineapple upside down cake. I can’t wait to go back to Kona for dinner on my next trip!

After dinner, we checked out the shopping at Poly (which was completely different from when my sister and I stayed there in 2004), then my aunt and grandma headed back for some rest, since they were still exhausted from their drive.

We, on the other hand, decided it was finally time to make our way to the Magic Kingdom!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Day 3 - The Conclusion

I must say that, at this point, I was having a great time, but a little frustrated with our lack of quality park time. I mean we had been here for 2 full days (I don't count Friday night, since we technically arrived on Saturday :lol. Luckily, we'll be remedying that very quickly!

While my grandma and aunt were heading back to POFQ to rest up after their drive, my sister, cousin and I finally went to MK! We hopped on the resort monorail and were quickly inside the park.

More fun perspective:

Maybe it’s getting a little old, but another shot from a different angle:

Daylight was quickly slipping away, and we made our way into Adventureland. Here’s my first peak at the new sign and flat bridge:

I have no idea where I took this. Does anyone know? It was somewhere in Adventureland...maybe the bazaar?

The park was pretty swamped, and we were tired, so we absorbed some ambience and checked out some shops before heading out. My camera doesn’t take very good night pics, so I don’t have many from this evening, but we did make our way onto a few rides, including IASW, Philharmagic (emotional, because my mom and I had a special bond over this show), and Snow White (rode SW 3 times in case I don’t get back before it’s gone).

Here is the one pic I salvaged from that evening. Again, trying for some different perspective:

Coming up - my first time off property in 10 years, as I make my way to Hogwarts!

 

[oommggitskait]

Loving your TR so far. Looks like fun!
So sorry to hear about your mom, but if she was anything like my mom, she would kick your butt for not going and enjoying yourself! And it looks like that's just what you did!

So weird to think we were there at the same time! I'm working on my TR now!

 

[Minnie87]

Awesome trip report so far!! It's getting me super excited for our trip (leaving this Friday)..also staying at POFQ and flying Jet Blue!!

 

[fractal]

I'm also a big fan on AK and can't get enough of the details. ITTBAG is awesome, especially when it's all working! Looking forward to more.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Kona Cafe is DELISH!! We ate there for the first time in May and though we won't be going back in November (were trying 'Ohana) we WILL go in April!!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

I unfortunately don't remember the building. We were so darn tired, we didn't really pay attention. If I had to guess, I'd say 9, but I can't recall.

I really think that there was just some bad luck with the set of sheets...they were seriously infested. Things happen, and although we were exhausted and frustrated, the night manager, Gray, really did go above and beyond.

I'm really glad that POP was able to handle that with some awesome Disney magic And the trip got better from there!

I love Kona Cafe! Tried it for the first time last trip for dinner and breakfast and I have to admit I prefer dinner there.

Can't wait to hear about your trip to Hogwarts! That place is just simply..amazing. I was speechless when I walked in there in January, it was the perfect place for the Harry Potter nerd that I am Hopefully it did the same for you!

 

[PeoplemoverTTA]

Loving your TR so far. Looks like fun!
So sorry to hear about your mom, but if she was anything like my mom, she would kick your butt for not going and enjoying yourself! And it looks like that's just what you did!

So weird to think we were there at the same time! I'm working on my TR now!

Thanks for stopping, and for your thoughts about my mom. She definitely would've been mad if we didn't go and have fun. We were counting down together for over a year, and it was something we couldn't wait for!

I'll look for your TR - and for myself in your pics :lol: Hope you had a great time!

Awesome trip report so far!! It's getting me super excited for our trip (leaving this Friday)..also staying at POFQ and flying Jet Blue!!

Thanks, Minnie! I'm jealous that you're on your way to WDW I can't wait to go back...I hope you're writing a TR!

I hope you have a great experience with JetBlue. They went very far to win me over. And of course POFQ is always perfect. We were in building 3, which has the perfect location. We were facing the parking lot, too, so it was really quiet. I just love POFQ...such a great resort. Have a great time!

I'm also a big fan on AK and can't get enough of the details. ITTBAG is awesome, especially when it's all working! Looking forward to more.

Thanks! I'm having fun reliving my trip through this TR

Kona Cafe is DELISH!! We ate there for the first time in May and though we won't be going back in November (were trying 'Ohana) we WILL go in April!!

I love 'Ohana, although I haven't been there yet for dinner. Not sure how we missed Kona Cafe before, but thanks to these boards, it is now a must-do I'm jealous that you get to go to WDW in November and April! Although in my mid-20s, I was going about 3-4 times per year, so I guess i can't complain much!

I'm really glad that POP was able to handle that with some awesome Disney magic And the trip got better from there!

I love Kona Cafe! Tried it for the first time last trip for dinner and breakfast and I have to admit I prefer dinner there.

Can't wait to hear about your trip to Hogwarts! That place is just simply..amazing. I was speechless when I walked in there in January, it was the perfect place for the Harry Potter nerd that I am Hopefully it did the same for you!

Thanks for following along. I'm just about to post pics from Universal now We actually went to Kona for breakfast later in the trip (did I already mention that, lol, I can't recall). I loved dinner, but I actually had the opposite impression...breakfast at Kona was my absolute favorite meal of the trip (I'm drooling now just thinking about my Tonga Toast, lol).