On Our Way…Now With a Place to Stay!

See that above? That is the extent of my rhyming ability! Sorry if it’s a bit corny, but Dr. Seuss I am not.

We can check off another step on our path to Disney. On Thursday, my parents and I went down to the travel agency and booked our trip! Though we were considering staying in a moderate resort, after getting estimates, we’ve decided to return to our usual stomping grounds.

That’s right—it’s back to Pop Century for us!

(Building in the 80s at Pop Century)

We are also trying the dining plan this go-round, so expect a review of that from me. Hopefully, they’ve ironed out the wrinkles and the confusion we’ve seen in the past years, when we were the annoyed customers behind the people who couldn’t figure out how to use the plan.

Adventures in Arriving

So, in my last entry, I wrote about how we found out the day before we left for our vacation that our flight had been bumped up an hour. So, we were all up and ready by 5:30 am Wednesday morning. That is a full hour before I even wake up for work on a regular day! We were all ready but the car wasn’t. We had to give them a call since they are usually prompt and they had a car to us within fifteen minutes.

Our driver got us to Newark and my mom arranged for a car to pick us up when we returned in fifteen days. We raced through the terminal to the Continental domestic flight check-in area and discovered the first line of our Disney trip. Fortunately, the people at Continental moved us along. Baggage check-in was automated and everything moved quickly. We got our gate and eventually made it there with ten minutes to spare before they started boarding our plane.

We were unable to get four seats next to each other, so we were separated into pairs. My sister and I boarded the plane first and quickly found our seats. I was slightly disappointed to see I was sitting on the aisle—I ALWAYS get a window seat. Even when I went to London, I still managed to swing a window seat. We were settling in when a commotion was raised by another passenger. He demanded to sit next to his two small children. The Continental flight attendants were accommodating and people began to shift their seats around. In the shuffle, I ended up sitting in a window seat next to my mom because the passenger assigned to that seat needed to sit on the aisle due to a broken arm.

My mom later teased me because I ended up sleeping the entire flight, so she didn’t see the point for me to have a window seat. As for the passenger who wanted to sit next to his children, turns out he only had ONE child and was trying to angle a seat for his wife. The flight attendant managed to get him next to his child but refused to do anything else after discovering his dishonesty.

We arrived in Orlando and thus began the Quest for the Boarding Pass. Our boarding passes held our baggage claim numbers and mine had disappeared. I swore my mom had taken it when I moved to my new seat. She swore she didn’t have it. I checked my bag but it seemed lost to the ages. So I now had to get a lecture in responsibility while we dashed for the monorail.

In the end, the Quest for the Boarding Pass was in vain because we didn’t need our claim numbers. We had signed up for Disney’s Magical Express. A cast member would collect our baggage, signified by a yellow tag, and deliver it to our rooms for us. We just needed to find our bus to Pop Century and begin to relax.

Check-in was a breeze, though our rooms weren’t ready yet. However, Disney promised to send us a text message with our room numbers when they were. So, we dropped off our carry on items at baggage assistance. They would bring them to our room with our luggage.

We were free to begin our adventure in the park.

Disney pampering is the best pampering in the whole world.

PS: My missing boarding pass was found that night. My mother DID have it the entire time. She just put it away separately from the others.

90 Days to Go: Hotel Accomodations

With 90 days left till I go to Disney, I'm going to start the countdown with our hotel accomodations!

Once again, we're staying in Pop Century, a hotel dedicated to everything pop culture from the last five decades and putting "Talk About Pop Music" and the theme for "Pop Up Video" on loop in my head everytime I see the bus come. We've already stayed in the 80's and the 70's while my parents have stayed in the 50's. I'm personally rooting for the 60's, mostly for the pool. If we get that decade, we'll have the Hippy Dippy Pool again. It's shaped like a flower and comes with flower shaped showers, pouring cold water into the pool. And when you're swimming in Florida during August, the pool water is like bath water. Cold water is refreshing.

This time though, I am definitely going back to the eighties with my photographer (AKA my sister) in tow. We're getting pictures with the Pacman ghosts!

Speaking of Pacman, we're going to have to hit the arcade again. Imagine an arcade filled with the best games of the past decades--you have the Pop Century arcade. My mom and I rock the Skeeball game while Kathleen flits from game to game, racking up her share of tickets. I've also been trying to convince my mom that she can play "Invisible Space Invaders" even though it won't give us tickets to no avail. I know she loves that game as much as Skeeball.

I am also looking forward to the cafeteria, particularly the desserts--delicious chocolate/chocolate cake. Yum! The pizza isn't so bad--a good hold over until we return to the superior New York pies.

The rooms themselves aren't anything special--your typical hotel room. There are two beds, a night stand, TV, table, sink and bathroom. However, it works for my family as we primarily sleep there. And the cleaning staff at Disney are a creative bunch. I remember to pack my Lambie (who still comes with me for home away from home) or else he'll end up in strange scenes (like listening to my walkman). However, we did get a very impressive toothbrush holder last time.

So, here's to you, Pop Century!

The toothbrush holder by the Disney staff!