[ILUVMICKEY333]

Cast of Characters: Me, DH, DD1, DD2, DD2's best friend, DBIL, DSis, DNephew

8 people travelling and 100 pieces of luggage! We loaded into the van at 10 am and headed off for the airport. We always fly Continental non-stop for our short 2 hour flight from Houston to Orlando. Flight was great, we got a big giant plane and had a variety of movies to choose from on our personal monitors. I, of course, chose Beauty and the Beast since we were headed for WDW. Plane landed 10 minutes early and our driver from Mears was there waiting for us. A word about Mears: We always use Mears because they are one of the few that offer limo service. Our driver was slightly unfriendly and very put out by how much luggage we had, but we were there so we paid him little attention! If anyone knows of a better limousine service please let me know! We checked in to Pop Century about 5 pm. The CM's at checkin were sooo friendly! When we told him we would be checking into the Poly the next day he asked us to take a lot of pictures and keep an open mind to this resort and consider it for our next trip if we enjoyed it. He also asked us to check out the tie-dye cheesecake. We ended up getting an additional room for the two teenagers in our group.....at this price it seemed foolish to be cramped. The resort was able to give us all 3 rooms right next door to eachother. We had paid the extra 10 dollars to have a room close to the main building and got the 60's building. We were, however at the farthest end and other buildings were closer that didnt have the extra fee. Our rooms overlooked the lake (which we preferred over the pool view) and also had views of the 2 buildings under construction. Anyone know what those buildings were? I think one is called Legendary years, but doesnt really look like a hotel, more like a convention building. The other looks something like a Motel 6. Very plain and not so pretty. This was a Sunday and the resort was very quiet. The theming is fun and we spent a lot of time just looking at everything and laughing at how old we felt when we recognized things that our kids had no clue about. When the luggage was delivered to our room we made reservations for 9 am the next day to have our luggage transferred to the Poly, the lady that handled it was very nice and reassured us that everything would go smoothly and our luggage would be in our rooms at the Poly by 3 pm. After settling in we took a bus to the TTC and then the monorail to the Contemporary for dinner at Chef Mickeys. It was almost a bittersweet dinner because as much as the grown ups loved it and we all loved the Disney ambiance of the place, our kids who get a year older everytime we visit werent overly excited about the characters at our table. I almost felt sorry for the characters who didnt get much of a reaction from our table. Dinner was good and we shopped a little at the Contemporary and then decided to just catch a cab (or 2) back to the Pop Centruy for an early night. Warning......the short distance between the hotels cost us $40 in cab fares. I was exhausted after a day of airports and luggage so I went to bed while my kids enjoyed the arcade. They really do have a nice arcade here! Tomorrow morning we transfer to the Poly (although our luggage gets there own destinations) and the Magic Kingdom!

[LRTJS]

About the kids reaction to the characters. Been there but at least we have pictures, videos, and memories! Hope you get back soon to post more.:D

[tinkerbell]

pictures?? I hate to beg :whistle: but I am begging since we will be staying at the Pop Century in march I am dying to see all the pictures possible !!

[ILUVMICKEY333]

Pictures? Ill see what I can do. Im not all that computer literate but I bet my husband can figure it out. Dont worry...you will really enjoy this resort! Like I said it is very nicely laid out and it has its own bus system which was excellent. The food court was great and the gift shop too.

Day 2-Monday Jan 12
Woke early and spent a few enjoyable minutes alone in the food court while my family slept. The food court at 6 am is an interesting place. ONLY men! Where were all the women? Do the men go have breakfast so that the women can sleep? Are they being nice? or are the men having their morning coffee while the women get the kids up and ready for the day? hmmmm. Anyway...We called and confirmed the transfer of our luggage then headed off to check in at the Poly. At 8 am both of our rooms were ready. We didnt get anything we had asked for, but Mickey knows best and our rooms actually turned out to be a better choice. We were in Tokeleau 3rd floor overlooking the gardens and quiet pool. We had balconies and if you looked to the right you could just see the castle through the palm trees even though we were technically garden view. By 9 am we were strolling down Main Street! I cant describe how perfect the weather was. There wasnt a cloud in the sky...NOT ONE! It was only in the low 70's during the day, and cool in the morning and evening, but it was beautiful and the little bit of cool kept us energetic. I love January in Florida! Everything at the park this day was a walk on. We did just about everything once and had lunch at Pecos Bills then at 3 decided to run back to the hotel for a swim and to check on our luggage. We took the boat across and stopped at the poolside bar for a drink and to rest our toes and at 3:30 found that our luggage was missing. They found some at the Grand Floridian, piece by piece they were retrieved. Maybe the Poly wasnt good enough for our jaded luggage. At 6:30 we were still missing the laptops and carryons. We ended up missing the fireworks at MK while we waited and by the end of the day we were still short a bag (which wouldnt be found for 4 more days). Dinner at OHana appeased us all, it is one of our favs. Tomorrow: My youngest DD's Birthday. She gets to plan the entire day.

BTW: Philharmagic was excellent! Big theater and even on crowded days the line was quick. A must see!

[ILUVMICKEY333]

Day 3-Tuesday Jan 13

Oops...we overslept and spoiled DD's well planned day. We were supposed to have breakfast at Chef Mickeys, but had to skip it to stay on schedule. Today is her 10th B-Day and she has a complete day planned for us. First off to Epcot to ride Test Track and try Mission Space. Both were walk ons...woohoo! Mission Space is AWESOME! Even the one in our group that gets car sick and cant handle Star Tours did fine. In fact we all rode it several times over the week. We did stop and pick up a Birthday pin and we also bought the Birthday hat so she was getting lots of attention throughout the park. 2 turns on each ride and we headed back to MK. We picked up another Birthday pin and by this time she was almost starting to look silly in all her birthday gear. Lunch at Caseys Corner and a every ride in the park, again today all walk ons. At 7 we made our way to CRT for her birthday dinner. Cinderella was greeting people in the lobby and spent a few minutes sitting with my daughter. Dinner was good, not great but good. The service was just OK. And we did get to see the fireworks from the window. Has anyone ever heard the rumor that an apartment was going to be built in the castle for the Disney family in the beginning? Well I had heard that rumor and I asked our waiter about it and he told me that the restaurant was an after thought, that in the beginning the entry to the restaurant was going to be the parlor of the apartment with the upstairs restaurant being the rest of the living quarters. Dont know how true but interesting. After dinner we slowly made our way out of the park. The park was closed and there were only a few people there and it was really cool to walk down Main Street with the lights and the quiet. Back at the resort the adults sat on the balcony while the kids explored the beach and the arcade. I love being at Disney and not worrying about the kids. Its nice to give them a little freedom and I think they sat on the beach and gossiped like teenagers. Tomorrow: AK and MGM.

[jodiemckenna]

Try out Tropical towncar.com. We use it every time we go and it is a little bit cheaper then mears but the service is like nothing i've ever experienced. They are so polite and pretty much do everything from carrying our luggage from baggage claim to unloading it and taking it to the front door of your resort.

[ILUVMICKEY333]

Day 4-8

Im gonna kind of speed through the days and give you the high points and low points. We only spent half a day at AK. Its not our favorite park. We love Dinosaur and this year my daughter and I made a goal to keep our eyes open throughout the entire ride. I succeeded, she failed! That ride is so scary! We decided that we didnt like Primevil Whirl afterall. Its very uncomfortable and jerky.

We spent an entire day at MGM. We did TofT and RR a bunch of times and I think just about everything else, including Fantasmic. Again no lines anywhere. We had 2 bad experiences with some new rule at WDW. It seems that lines or no lines that have to squish a certain number of people on each seat on rides. On The Great Movie ride the number is 6 per seat. So my daughter was on the bench in front of us completely squished and I asked the CM to allow her to move to our seat. He made a huge scene about how 6 people were supposed to fit and at first wouldnt allow her to move. I nearly lifted her over the seat myself when he wouldnt stop blocking the door to let her out. He was very put out by the entire scene and everyone was embarrassed. Let me add that there was no line for this ride. The same thing happened on Pirates of the Carribean. Most of the boats were going through empty and when we all tried to spread out throughout the boat we were yelled at and told we had to ride 4 per seat. so all 8 of us rode in the first 2 rows all comfy and close while the rest of our boat was empty. WHY????? CM Pete you need to find a new job! This is the most rediculous thing I have ever witnessed at WDW! We learned quick though and when there were no lines we simply started splitting up our group in smaller numbers. Instead of syaing 8 we said 3 and 3 and 2.

The crowds started coming in on Friday for the long MLK weekend. So we spent Friday doing the countries at Epcot. Instead of drinking the beers throughout the world we decided to eat throughout the world. One dish in each country shared between 8 people. SO it was pretty much only a bite but we had fun with it (and got grossed out sometimes). In Norway we had Smoked Salmon and scrambled eggs on toast, China-Rice and an eggRoll, Italy-Gelato, America-Chicken and fries, Morroco-the lamb and chicken plate (our favorite), France-Champagne and Crepes, Germany-Bratwurst and saurkraut, and England (we were full!) just had an english candy bar.

We did something new this trip and spent an evening at Downtown Disney shopping. We enjoyed it and wished we had time to go back. Next trip!

Every trip my husband and brother in law come up with a quest. Last time it was to get a trainer pin (which they got) this time it was to be the "First Family" at MK opening ceremony. On Saturday they got up at 6 am and with 3 of the kids got on the first monorail to the MK. See the poly has the advantage because the first monorail of the day only stops at the Poly and the Grand Floridian before the MK. They werent the only ones on the monorail so they sprinted to the gates and were the first family there. BUT....apparently Disney has an idea about what a "first family" should be. Young children are a must and our 3 teenagers with 2 men didnt fit the profile. I stayed in bed. Anyway....the manager of Main Street took heart and my sleepy eyed family became FIRST FAMILY. All the CM's kept saying "wow, theyve never picked a family like yours before!" lol. They were whisked back to Toon Town by antique firetruck to get on the train with the characters (only 5 were allowed so it was my husband and the 4 kids) while me and my sister and BIL were given front row for the show. Mickey sat with them and they played charades since he doesnt talk and they said the bears were hillarious and impatient while the train was stopped waiting for its grand entry. Then the trained pulled into the Main Street Station and my family got out with Mickey and waved to the crowd and did the countdown. Then they all threw Pixie dust. We took tons of pics and WDW gave us free pictures from their photographers and a certificate. It was all very cute! My family was recognized all day at the park.

If anybody says that MLK weekend isnt a big crowd time...dont listen. MK was packed and there were long lines for everything. It was a good time though to enjoy our resort and rent little watermice.

Of course all good things must come to an end and the weather changed with our moods. The rain came in on our last day. So now we plan next years trip. But its too depressing to post a countdown yet.....I dont want to see 356 days till.....

[DisneyTeacher]

How wonderful that your family got to be the "first family," that sounds so cool. I love your trip report...do we get pictures???

[JM0318]

Pictures Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssseeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! Pretty Please with Pixie Dust on Top
:D :whistle: :dazed :heart :) :heart Judy

[MickeyMamma]

Sounds like you had a great time. I bet we passed you at the MK at some point. We were there all day Thursday. Friday, we hit MGM on the early side and then escaped before alot of the MLK weekend crowds hit.

As for the cramming too many people in the rows, when we go in a big group, it is just easier to tell them a few smaller groups as you learned. Some groups really want to stay as together as possible even on the rides - not sure why. Not sure why they crammed you in on the Movie Ride either.

Now, you are all set to start planning for your next trip! At least it is in less than a year! :)