Trip Report Pop & Hop, Snack & Shop, Graduation Celebration - Sept 2016

We arrived home late last night and as usual, we are all in Disney depression mode. Seriously, the return to reality is so hard!

It was an AWESOME trip. However not without a few hiccups. Let’s just say that the name of my Trip Report could easily have been, “I Almost Killed My Husband In The Happiest Place On Earth” or… “”Did The Ride Just Stop?” or… “Bathrooms Around The World”

Needless to say that Disney Magic outshines small issues – even my husband’s behavior that almost landed him in Cinderella’s moat more than once.

Warning: I have some commitments over the next few weeks, so I’m not sure how much updating I will be able to do. But I wanted to start writing before my memory and notes start to fade away. Besides, I’m so sad – it helps to re-live it! Lol

For those of you who don’t know us – our cast of characters:


Me – Mary

Ross – My hubby who drove me INSANE throughout our trip.

Julia (14)

Hope (7 with Autism & Sensory issues)

What I didn’t mention in my Pre-Trip Report is that we were celebrating the fact that Julia is starting 9th grade this year. As homeschoolers, we have never acknowledged graduations or moving up ceremonies. So since my sweet girl is starting high school, I figured she deserved a Disney Celebration, so I had that put on our reservation.

Since Ross agreed to family shirts, I had my friend make them for us. Julia was surprised and really happy!

So if you are ready to join in the fun & craziness… welcome aboard!!

 

[Scoppin]

We loved All Star Movies - but POP & AoA are both exceptional. They really make you feel like you are a part of the action.

I mentioned to DS that maybe we should have gone to Pop and AoA to explore and take pictures. He mentioned he heard/view on Youtube that people don't like Pop due to rumors of it being 'haunted'/strange noises. I told him you can't believe everything you see on You Tube.

 

[Scoppin]

Day 2 Continued…

More pictures of River Country
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We were not the only ones paying our respects, there was another guy there who apparently keeps very up to date about they RC updates.

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He said the week before he noticed they had started to fill in the pool area where the Slippery Slide Falls was. Indeed Julia conformed that the whole area was filled in.

We obviously took a lot of pictures. She wanted to make sure she had enough just in case they decided to demo the area before we returned.

Hope wasn’t that enthused – but she was a good sport.

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Kids can be so dramatic at times. But cute at the same time. I hope she was able to find some things she could enjoy. Can't image that occurring at WDW.

 

[Scoppin]

Day 2 Continued...

After a quick stop in the gift shop, we headed back to the boat to MK. It was HOT – actually, I have never experienced a September trip as hot as it was this year. On quite a few days, a CM would mention it was over 100 with the heat index!

Anyway… away we sail to MK…

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Then on a monorail to the Contemporary.

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The Contemporary is Julia’s dream resort. She would love to stay here one day. We went to the food court to get some cold drinks. Hope really wasn’t interested, but I forced everyone to drink so we stayed hydrated. I had to take a picture of the fixins bar for Ross he loves tomatoes & pickles. He could live off the fixing bar and a pack of salad dressing!

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We looked around the shops.

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Hope found something she really wanted. A princess Magic Band. She was so funny – she just found it, took it off the rack and gave it to the cashier and said, “Buy this please!”

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How could I said no?

And maybe some caramel and chocolate with those tomatoes and pickles.

 

[Scoppin]

Back to the monorail again – we were going to head over to Riverside to see about our room and get a quick swim in, but something was calling our names…

Yep – a Dole whip float. To the Poly!

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They were handing out cookies in the lobby as we walked through.

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Then Julia actually decided on a cinnamon bun and pineapple juice while I had the float and Hope had some vanilla ice cream.

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We walked around and enjoyed the beauty of it all for a few minutes.

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@Tuvalu – are you here?

What came first, @Tuvalu the visitor/long term resident or Tuvalu the residence?

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

Interesting pictures of River Country. And the soaps at Basin look pretty cool!

 

[dizfan917]

I can believe that it was over 100 with the heat index. we had never seen the big decanters of ice water with cups placed outside of restaurants and various places before, so we assumed it was HOT. :0) we still bought water in bottles (cuz some of the FL water tastes funny to us), but the opportunity to rehydrate throughout the parks was nice. Love following along with your trip!

 

[Figment Forever]

I was intrigued by your photos of River Country. I've heard so much about that place (never actually went there in the past), and I'm wondering what the "plans" are for that area. So they're filling in areas--other previous photos I've seen elsewhere showed it looking very swampy, and overgrown with brush, etc.

Love the fancy "ears" on both of your daughters! So cute!

Seems so weird that Disney just left to to decay... It does spark that "intrigue" factor. I think Julia said the rumors to why they filled it in had to do with the crocs or Zika Virus. I hope if they do something with the area, that they honor RC's memory in some way.

Oh those ears... Hope insisted on bring both pairs with her and I couldn't pack one without the possibility of them being destroyed - so Julia wore them out. So now that we were changing resorts - I had the same issue - so once again Julia donned the extra ears for me!

 

[Figment Forever]

Interesting pictures of River Country. And the soaps at Basin look pretty cool!

It's a very cool store to check out. I was bummed we didn't buy anything!

 

[Figment Forever]

I can believe that it was over 100 with the heat index. we had never seen the big decanters of ice water with cups placed outside of restaurants and various places before, so we assumed it was HOT. :0) we still bought water in bottles (cuz some of the FL water tastes funny to us), but the opportunity to rehydrate throughout the parks was nice. Love following along with your trip!

We found ourselves taking advantage of Disney's FREE water a lot! I don't think in years past we even asked for one cup - but we made up for it this time!! I was shocked that they gave us a full size cup everytime! Sometimes it did taste funny - but I don't think we cared - it did the job! I tried to bring a bottle of water with us each day but within an hour, it was too warm to drink! lol I like the heat and it still had an effect on me - so it had to be hot!

 

[Figment Forever]

I mentioned to DS that maybe we should have gone to Pop and AoA to explore and take pictures. He mentioned he heard/view on Youtube that people don't like Pop due to rumors of it being 'haunted'/strange noises. I told him you can't believe everything you see on You Tube.

I don't think Julia heard about the haunted POP - I'll have to mention it because that stuff intrigues her!

 

[Figment Forever]

Kids can be so dramatic at times. But cute at the same time. I hope she was able to find some things she could enjoy. Can't image that occurring at WDW.

Oh - she did fine. She has sensory idea, so I think she actually liked the way the rock felt. It was probably calming to her. (The great Hope meltdown would take place a little later in the trip.)

 

[Figment Forever]

And maybe some caramel and chocolate with those tomatoes and pickles.

HAHA - I didn't even noticed that until your comment!

 

[Figment Forever]

Day 2 Continued...

We boarded our last monorail trip back to MK and then we boarded a bus for Riverside. While we were on the monorail, I actually called over to Riverside to see what was up with our room. It was almost 4:30 and I still hadn’t heard anything yet. They had me on hold a few minutes and then told us our room was ready and gave us our room number - 8032. Of course, as soon as I hung up – I got the text info!

I quickly checked the map and figured we were right next to the North Depot – which was awesome. I love being close to the busses. We had a Mansion room - I was hoping for that.

Once back at the room, I had to call Bell services because our bags weren’t there yet. It only took a few minutes to have it all brought to us and then while the kids rested, I unpacked all our stuff. It was really nice to be able to set up the room without being exhausted or feeling like we were missing time in the park. Unfortuatley, we did have a slight problem…

The refrigerator wasn’t working. We take some supplements that require refrigeration, so I called down and within a few minutes someone was there checking it out. Turned out, it wasn’t working so they dragged it out and brought in a new one.

We had all wanted to go swimming but unfortunately, it had started to pour rain – I mean torrential downpours, thunder & lightning! It was crazy! So sadly, we were stuck in our room until about 8:00 when we were all so hungry, we decided we didn’t care if we got wet. Instead of trying to figure out the walk in the rain, we hopped the bus to the South Depot and found the food court. It was busy - but not crazy. There were a lot of empty tables so we found one easily. Hope was kicking off a bit and I knew we would have to call it a night soon. Even thought we hadn’t swam or gone to Downtown Disney – oops – Disney Springs.

Dinner was sooooo much better here than at POP. Hope got “normal” mac & cheese and eat every morsel!

Julia got a grilled chicken sandwich.

I got the pulled pork with chips.

Everything was supper yummy.

Before we returned to our room, we hit the gift shop where once again, Hope took it upon herself to do some shopping.

I was looking at something when suddenly a shoe went flying by me in the air. Just as I started to think “how do parents allow their kids to do this kind of thing…” I realized it was Hope who “removed” her shoe to try on a new pair of Crocs. Boy - it stinks to find out you're "that parent". lol

After Hope made her purchases, I stopped in the lobby to pick up a celebration button for Julia. Hope watched a little TV.

Then we headed back to our room. We once again took the bus back since it was still raining somewhat. We all turned in by 10:30. A little disappointed we didn’t get to everything we wanted to. Our "park" days would start tomorrow and Ross would be with us once again! I have to admit, although it was odd being without Ross for 2 days and not being in the parks, it was an awesome experience. To have a chance to experience a less rushed side of Disney was a great treat and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

I fell asleep that night knowing that I had a challenge in the morning - to make a pre-park opening ADR at BOG. Would I be able to do it?

 

[FlaggNL]

As always a great TR! Following along, lthough in 44 hrs we are back in the world ourselves, so no time for forum
Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Scoppin]

As always a great TR! Following along, lthough in 44 hrs we are back in the world ourselves, so no time for forum
Thanks for sharing!!

Sounds like you were able to make the best of your non park days. Can be a nice way to get ready for the parks.

 

[Figment Forever]

As always a great TR! Following along, lthough in 44 hrs we are back in the world ourselves, so no time for forum
Thanks for sharing!!

Thanks for following along! Thinking of you as you embark on your adventure!!

 

[Figment Forever]

Sounds like you were able to make the best of your non park days. Can be a nice way to get ready for the parks.

The non-park days were awesome! I would do it again if we could.

 

[Figment Forever]

Before we get to Day 3…

A couple things I haven’t mentioned, but they will make sense in a little bit.

First, the sunscreen that I had brought with me didn’t seem to be working well. – A strange thing, but alas, Hope & I were pretty burnt on the first day. Julia tends to tan more but Hope & I are very fair skinned – so we burn. So I had asked my sister to pick me some high level – heavy duty sunscreen and send it along with Ross since she was driving him to the airport. In addition to sunscreen, she was also going to pick up a new set of Earplanes for Julia because she thought the kid size would work better for her.


Remember Ross’ suitcase issue? He was emphatic that I not place a single item in his precious suitcase. So I ended up stuffing everything into what the girls and I took. Yes @Scoppin even the juice boxes came with me. The only exception was a spray bottle of foot and shoe deodorizer that I forgot about until after our bags were in the car, so I tucked it into one of the side pockets – no big deal. So except for my bottle of “feet don’t stink” and the tube of sunscreen from my sister – his bag was all his. Oh – I also had forgotten a nail scissor, so I requested he bring that too. Not too bad right? Okay – hold that thought…

 

[Figment Forever]

Wednesday September 14th – Day 3

I woke up to my alarm at 5AM and once again started to get ready before I woke up the girls. I texted Ross who was on his way to the airport and told him I was up and getting ready.

We had an 8:15 ADR for BOG – the park opened at 9:00 so this was my chance to enter the MK before it opened. I always wanted to walk down Main Street and get a few pictures in front of the partner’s statue and the castle with a limited amount of people. But I have never been successful. We ended last year’s trip to a DISATEROUS breakfast at BOG – so Ross didn’t have much hope I would be successful this time – he thought it would be a big mistake. However, I on the other hand, felt ready to go.

As I got out the shower, I received a text from Ross. He apparently decided he didn’t want to wait for the Jet Blue counter to open up and brought his suitcase on the plane with him. You know what’s coming right? On his journey through security, they tossed out the foot spray and the sunscreen! However, apparently the nail scissors made it on with no problem! I was a tad annoyed that he couldn’t have waited the time to check his bag – especially since he had ME and now he would have to lug his bag with him. Yet I was even more perplexed that security found stinky foot spray to be a larger potential threat than scissors!

However, it was what it was. We would be burnt and have really smelly feet for the week!

By 7:30 the girls and I were out the door and waiting for a bus. We walked to the North Depot, which was pretty much only a 2 minute stroll and right onto a very crowed MK bus. But we all got seats and we were on our way. I figured since the bus was so crowded, the driver would bypass the other stops, but – no, that was not the case. Not only did he stop, he loaded a scoter on at the next stop! The people were so annoyed; I mean it was beyond any capacity I have ever experienced at Disney. People were so jammed together and he kept yelling at everyone to keep moving back! Finally, people started to yell back and saying there was nowhere else to move!

As smashed as we were, we were finally on our way! Ross texted me again to say his flight was delayed because apparently one of the stewardesses left her I-Pad in her hotel room. I thought he was joking at first – but no he was not.

Believe it or not, it was 8:00 when we arrived at MK. I found the breakfast line and in we went!

We did it!!!

 

[Scoppin]

Before we get to Day 3…

A couple things I haven’t mentioned, but they will make sense in a little bit.

First, the sunscreen that I had brought with me didn’t seem to be working well. – A strange thing, but alas, Hope & I were pretty burnt on the first day. Julia tends to tan more but Hope & I are very fair skinned – so we burn. So I had asked my sister to pick me some high level – heavy duty sunscreen and send it along with Ross since she was driving him to the airport. In addition to sunscreen, she was also going to pick up a new set of Earplanes for Julia because she thought the kid size would work better for her.


Remember Ross’ suitcase issue? He was emphatic that I not place a single item in his precious suitcase. So I ended up stuffing everything into what the girls and I took. Yes @Scoppin even the juice boxes came with me. The only exception was a spray bottle of foot and shoe deodorizer that I forgot about until after our bags were in the car, so I tucked it into one of the side pockets – no big deal. So except for my bottle of “feet don’t stink” and the tube of sunscreen from my sister – his bag was all his. Oh – I also had forgotten a nail scissor, so I requested he bring that too. Not too bad right? Okay – hold that thought…

Sorry to hear you and Hope were getting burnt.

Now, what is he suppose to do when he gets thirsty?