[LuvMyLittleNoah]

OK here goes. My first trip and trip report. Please keep in mind that I am not a Disney expert and I did not take notes during the trip so I am doing this from memory which may not be very good I am also going to break this up into many posts since I have about 1 kazillion pics sorry

Cast
Me-37
DH-Mark-36
Noah-3

We left home around 6pm on Wed Sept 5th to stay overnight at a hotel near the airport in Toronto. We live about an hour to 45 min away from the airport but we just figured this would be a fun way to start our trip and we wouldn't have to get up as early in the morning. Plus parking, breakfast and the shuttle to the airport was included.

Noah loved the hotel, but kept us up late gabbing away. He would NOT shut up. At one point I said "Noah just hug your teddy and close your eyes and go to sleep" to which he answered "But Mommy, where is your teddy? we need to find your teddy" then went on about where my teddy could be for the next 20 min...OY...Not much sleep that night.



We got up at 5:30am, got showered and dressed. We took advantage of the free breakfast and then caught our shuttle to the airport. This was Noah's first time on a plane. He did pretty good.



Our flight landed at about 11:30am and we took ME over to Pop. I think we arrived at Pop around 1pmish. Because we decided to collect our own bags and bring them to the ME bus, Mark stayed with the bus to get the luggage off and Noah and I went ahead to check in. There was a bit of a line, but it went pretty quickly. I found what was taking the most time was folks complaining about pretty petty and stupid issues. One guy at the counter next to me was smoking angry because he wanted to change his room and was told it would take 30 min for luggage services to bring his bags to the new room. Geez, 30 min isn't bad...these people are not machines, come on now.

Here is a bit of what Pop's lobby looks like. I am at the counter at the very far left side.

[Caseys Corner]

Wow pics look great. It reminds me of when my kids were that age. 1st trip welcome to your new life.

[LuvMyLittleNoah]

Check in day continued...

I was part of a fridge swap through the DIS board. Kim from MB actually had the fridge before me So I asked about our fridge at check in. The lady at the front desk couldn't find it. But apparently they had it over at luggage services with our groceries from GG, so we were told not to worry it would be brought to our room.

We decide to just head straight to our room and unpack. We had an ADR for 5:45pm at Ohanas and it was now 2pm. We weren't doing a park until the next day, so we decided to get the unpacking over with and just unwind at the resort.

We got our room request which was the 70's section, top floor room. As we were walking to the room I was looking all around. Pop is really cool. Nice and clean, everything looked new. So far I am impressed. Now I am just afraid of those awful buses and tiny rooms I heard so much about

When we got to our room it was just fine. There was plenty of space for the 3 of us. It was clean and neat and had everything we needed. We were in building 6 overlooking the lake, our building was right behind the Mickey phone icon. We had 2 double size beds, but they were comfy.

We unpacked, while Noah jumped on the bed The fridge and groceries still hadn't arrived so we decided to put Noah in his bathing suit and head down to the kiddy pool. He was excited try it out. I went to the food court to buy 2 refillable mugs.

Noah had a blast playing in the pool, while Mark and I sat in the shade enjoying a frozen coke. Alas this would be our only frozen coke for the rest of the trip...the machine seemed in and out of commission for the remainder of our visit.



Noah also enjoyed the refillable mug and blue slushie!



Here are just a few more pics of us at the kiddy pool.
Me and Noah


Mark and Noah

[emamasa]

I have been looking forward to this TR!!! so glad you are back!

[PhilliesFan]

Sounds like your trip started off great. Good TR and your son is adorable.

[vlogilvie]

Great Report so far. I love Pop, and you are right about how clean and nice everything it. When I stay at Pop I really feel like I am getting good value for the money. Your pictures look great!

[dznylvr]

I have been looking forward to your TR. I am excited to hear the rest and hear about your first WDW trip.

[dancing4disney]

Great rip report so far. I love the pictures.

[LuvMyLittleNoah]

OK sorry....supper and life getting in the way . This will probably be my last installment for this evening.

So after Noah's swim we headed back to our room. When we got there we happily discovered that our DIS fridge had not only arrived BUT luggage services took it out of the box, plugged it in and put our perishable groceries inside. Pretty good huh?

We freshened up and headed out to catch the bus to MK for our dinner at OHanas. Worry was setting in again about the terrible buses. Walked out front to the bus stop and basically walked up to the MK bus stop just as the bus was pulling in. WOW this has to be a fluke. No waiting. The bus wasn't crowed at all. Found a seat and headed off.

We took the Monorail from MK over to OHanas. Thinking that I needed much more time for the buses etc...we were 1 hr early for our ADR We checked in anyways and they gave us a pager and we looked around the Poly. We checked out the gift shop and got Noah an autograph book.

We were paged for our dinner and were seated at the exact time of our ADR The food was good, but by this time Noah was exhausted and really acting up, so it wasn't as enjoyable of a meal as it could have been. This trend continued thoughout the week . There is really way too much food here too. But the turkey was my favourite, along with the peanut sauce. Noah mostly ate those chip things and some ice cream Does anyone else's child not eat while on vacation at Disney?

After dinner we took the Monorail back to MK to catch the bus back to Pop. Something to point out here from our perspective. Yes the Pop bus stop is further away than the other stops, but it is not THAT much further. From some things I had read I swear I thought it was going to be miles away. For us the distance really wasn't a big deal. We are in relatively good shape and we had Noah in the stroller, so we didn't mind the extra walking. And it really isn't that far IMHO. Once again we walked up to the bus stop and caught another incoming, uncrowded bus back to Pop.

So that brings me to the end of our check in in day. Tomorrow I will post our first full day at the park...MK. Some teasers for tomorrow.

First real view of the castle in person.
I get to be in a parade.
Ride breakdown while we are on it.
LOEMH...what a great idea!!!!
Shunned by Tigger.
Killer migraine makes it's ugly appearance.

[tinkerbelle24]

Great TR so far!! Cute pics. I cant wait to read and see more.

[lovemysons]

Oh Noah is soooo cute!!

Great start, can't wait to read more.

[dznylvr]

I am excited about reading your about your first day at MK. I love to hear about when people first see the castle.
My now three year old, who was almost 2 on his first WDW trip, lived an entire week solely on ketchup and ranch dressing . I understand where you are coming from!!

[LuvMyLittleNoah]

Originally Posted by dznylvr

My now three year old, who was almost 2 on his first WDW trip, lived an entire week solely on ketchup and ranch dressing . I understand where you are coming from!!

LOL....mine ate bread, chocolate milk, and apple juice. That was basically it for 8 days. Oh and 2 Mickey ice creams. I even offered him some of my Le Cellier steak and he turned it down

Thanks to everyone for reading this. I am worried this is going to be boring for you all. Esp since this is our first trip and half the things I have no idea what I am talking about. Also the pic taking got a bit out of control. I am trying to weedle out the doubles and less interesting ones.

Well I was just checking in quickly. Just now finished the last of the trip laundry. Hurray!!!! Now I can resume regular loads of laundry tomorrow. Noah's fever is back up, but he kept down his motrin and some cold tablets and took a 3 hr nap today. He is off to bed as soon as I read him his story.

[woohoo]

You would be surprised- its the fresh perspectives from those that have never been there before that makes it all new again for me. After a while you start to feel like "been there done that" and seeing a different point of view is always a great thing! Lots of pics are great too- it helps share in your excitement!

[vlogilvie]

Originally Posted by woohoo

You would be surprised- its the fresh perspectives from those that have never been there before that makes it all new again for me. After a while you start to feel like "been there done that" and seeing a different point of view is always a great thing! Lots of pics are great too- it helps share in your excitement!

I agree. I love to hear about first impressions, and the first time. One the things I enjoy most is taking someone who has never been to WDW before, so I can see the surprise and joy of it all.