This trip was to celebrate my sister's 40th birthday. When I turned 40 in July 2009, my husband, son (then 10, now 12), sister and I celebrated at WDW and she'd decided she wanted to do the same thing.
This time, however, my husband stayed home and two friends from the UK came over to join us.
Resort: We stayed at the Pop Century resort, my first time there! I've stayed at ASMu and ASMo, as well as the Poly, Beach Club, and Animal Kingdom Lodge. For a short trip, the Pop was fine, though it was a
little tight with three of us trying to get ready at the same time in the morning.
Room: I booked a preferred room, but found that I did not prefer it very much as it faced the Hippy Dippy Pool. This would have been nice if we'd spent any time at the pool, but as it was a bit cool we didn't. However, lots of people did, including a group of kids who were screaming their heads off at 6:45am one morning! That said, the room was spotless and everything was in working order.
Food: The food court was fine, if a bit busy in the mornings. We did not eat any lunches or dinners there, though we did stop by in the evenings for tea or a snack. We did not do the DDP - we just never eat enough food to justify the cost!
Bus service: Overall, the bus service was surprisingly good. I've heard reports of long waits at the Pop and have experienced long waits at the parks, but we must have been very lucky, because the longest we waited for any bus was maybe 8-10 minutes, including to and from Downtown Disney.
Crowds: This was MLK weekend, but I would put the overall crowds levels around a 6 or 7. While there were a couple of crowded moments, we had little to no waits for most rides (of course, some of that was also due to a good park strategy!). Yes, there were a lot of Brazilian tour groups, but we never had any issue with them and actually found them to be relatively well-behaved.
Thursday, January 14
Our evening flight arrived a few minutes early and our bags were among the first 25 off the plane. We headed straight down to the Magical Express area and checked in with no problem, though I was surprised to see so many people at 10:30pm.
We waited maybe 15 minutes before our bus arrived and were on our way to Pop Century! But after we dropped off half the bus at Caribbean Beach Resort, it was nearly 11:30 before we got to the check-in desk. Though you would think it was a quiet time of night, there were quite a few people waiting to check-in and only 3 CMs on the desk. Knowing that a ME bus was due to arrive, you'd think they'd have a bit more. Then again, it wasn't their fault the group of four women in front of us wanted to buy their park tickets right then, all with different forms of payment! As it was, we didn't get to our room until nearly midnight where we headed straight to bed!
Next Up: Day by Day reports and some photos!
This time, however, my husband stayed home and two friends from the UK came over to join us.
Resort: We stayed at the Pop Century resort, my first time there! I've stayed at ASMu and ASMo, as well as the Poly, Beach Club, and Animal Kingdom Lodge. For a short trip, the Pop was fine, though it was a
little tight with three of us trying to get ready at the same time in the morning.
Room: I booked a preferred room, but found that I did not prefer it very much as it faced the Hippy Dippy Pool. This would have been nice if we'd spent any time at the pool, but as it was a bit cool we didn't. However, lots of people did, including a group of kids who were screaming their heads off at 6:45am one morning! That said, the room was spotless and everything was in working order.
Food: The food court was fine, if a bit busy in the mornings. We did not eat any lunches or dinners there, though we did stop by in the evenings for tea or a snack. We did not do the DDP - we just never eat enough food to justify the cost!
Bus service: Overall, the bus service was surprisingly good. I've heard reports of long waits at the Pop and have experienced long waits at the parks, but we must have been very lucky, because the longest we waited for any bus was maybe 8-10 minutes, including to and from Downtown Disney.
Crowds: This was MLK weekend, but I would put the overall crowds levels around a 6 or 7. While there were a couple of crowded moments, we had little to no waits for most rides (of course, some of that was also due to a good park strategy!). Yes, there were a lot of Brazilian tour groups, but we never had any issue with them and actually found them to be relatively well-behaved.
Thursday, January 14
Our evening flight arrived a few minutes early and our bags were among the first 25 off the plane. We headed straight down to the Magical Express area and checked in with no problem, though I was surprised to see so many people at 10:30pm.
We waited maybe 15 minutes before our bus arrived and were on our way to Pop Century! But after we dropped off half the bus at Caribbean Beach Resort, it was nearly 11:30 before we got to the check-in desk. Though you would think it was a quiet time of night, there were quite a few people waiting to check-in and only 3 CMs on the desk. Knowing that a ME bus was due to arrive, you'd think they'd have a bit more. Then again, it wasn't their fault the group of four women in front of us wanted to buy their park tickets right then, all with different forms of payment! As it was, we didn't get to our room until nearly midnight where we headed straight to bed!
Next Up: Day by Day reports and some photos!
