MouseFest Hop till You Drop at Pop - Day 2 -- UPDATED 1/6 About This Page:

[Minnie Lor]

MouseFest Hop till You Drop at Pop
December 4-11, 2007 Pop Century Resort

Ok, I know that in the past I’ve written pre-trip reports and I always fail to turn them into post-trip reports when I return. It’s so daunting to write a TR that will hold anyone’s interest when you have other Passporter’s like Cheryl that could write a guide book, or Nala that is so eloquent, or Sharon and/or Karen that are so hysterical with their TR’s. I’m really going to try to finish this one though. Promise.

I figure since I’ve never completed a TR I should give you some background. My DH and I went to WDW for the first time back in October 1999. It hadn’t been my life long dream to go but my sister really ‘talked’ it up. She and her family had gone the year before and loved it. (For some reason, now they can’t stand it.) At that time we were D I N K S (double income no kids). The girls are all grown up with families of their own. So we saved for a year and planned a trip. I spent enormous amount of time planning and still we didn’t know very much. This was going to be our one and only trip to Walt Disney World. After all, we’re not kids and why in the world would you want to go more than once?

My husband is a retired Air Force officer and so we heard about Shades of Green. (wonderful place, btw) Anyways, we called to make a reservation and they were already booked. What!? You’ve got to be kidding! Our vacation is still 10 months away. At that time SOG was still pretty small and they started booking 366 day’s in advance. They filled up pretty quickly. Now what do we do? Well, SOG has an overflow program where Disney will let you stay at a moderate for a reduced price. So SOG booked us at Coronado Springs Resort.

I won’t bore you with all of the details but it rained everyday that we were there except the day we arrived and the day we went home. It rained and it rained and when it wasn’t raining it was pouring. For me, Disney was not fun in the rain. I had on this stupid yellow poncho and I kept my head down the whole time because I didn’t want the rain running down the inside of my poncho. I didn’t see much of anything except the pavement. Hindsight, I should’ve just bought a hat with a big brim. (NOW, I could do Disney in the rain but it was all to new back then)

I remember that I had tears running down my face as we left Epcot and world showcase for the last time but you couldn’t tell with the rain. I was crying for so many reasons. Our once in a life time trip was literally being washed down the drain. I knew that given different circumstances that I could fall head over heels in love with this place but it was just beyond my reach. My sweet DH knew that I needed some serious pixie dust. He took me by the hand and led me to the monorail. I had no idea where he was taking me but we transferred to another monorail. (You can guess where we are going)

I finally figured out that we were going to the Magic Kingdom. We hadn’t been there yet. We had visited MGM for a day and Epcot for one and half days. So my feeling was “Eh! It’s going to be the same as the other parks – Wet and miserable”.

Well, we walked out from under the train station and lo and behold it stopped raining. The sun came out and …. I think I heard a choir of angels singing.

it wasn’t angels but the afternoon parade was just coming down the street. I could look up and out and see the wonder before my eyes. I don’t know how to describe it but I know my heart was just bursting at the seams.

I don’t remember a lot about the parade other than several dancing female cast members in yellow tights. Their tights were soaked clear past their knees because they were dancing and walking thru huge puddles left from the rain. I figured they had to be miserable. My eyes moved from the puddles past their soaked feet and soggy stockings to look at their faces. Oh my word! They didn’t look put out, miserable, or anything. They had huge grins on their faces and in my mind, they actually glowed, sparkled, whatever. They really looked like they were having a ball and that a little rain wasn’t going to get them down. I started to feel the magic of this wonderful place. It’s like a dark cloud had lifted.

We still had to contend with a ton of rain for the rest of the week but my heart was light. …. I had fallen in love. Both DH and I knew that this wasn’t going to be the last time we visited WDW. We had to come back. We started planning the next trip on the plane ride home.

Next up....
Why in the world did you decide to take a trip to WDW by yourself ?

[Colexis Mom]

Great start Lorie More please

[mcc0313]

Great start....loed your story of your first trip and can't wait to hear your plans for this one....

[TheThomasFam]

Okay, so far so good. Can't wait to read more!!

[DyanKJ130]

Great start!! Can't wait to hear all about your plans!

[Grammy Grumpy]

Lorie, can't wait to hear more. Sure hope we finally get to meet at Mousefest!

[jpod523]

great start!! i'm looking forward to the tr! anything to do with my beloved POP makes me happy!!

[bsblady01]

more please

[Brettchief]

Sounds great! more please!

[PrincessSharon]

Great start, Lorie! You MUST write the post trip report portion, just so you can tell everyone how wonderful it is to meet ME! (And how humble and modest I am ). Can't wait for more!

[Minnie Lor]

Originally Posted by Grammy Grumpy

Lorie, can't wait to hear more. Sure hope we finally get to meet at Mousefest!

I can't wait to meet you. I'm sure we'll meet because as you'll see later in my PTR _ I'm going to be everywhere.

Originally Posted by jpod523

great start!! i'm looking forward to the tr! anything to do with my beloved POP makes me happy!!

This is my first time staying at Pop and I'm excited about it. I'm a frequent visitor on another forum and they have a thread everything that you ever wanted to know about Pop. It's something like 310 pages long and I've read it all. I know that I'm going to love the place!

Originally Posted by PrincessSharon

Great start, Lorie! You MUST write the post trip report portion, just so you can tell everyone how wonderful it is to meet ME! (And how humble and modest I am ). Can't wait for more!

And I'm excited to meet you! I promise, I'll let everyone know how cool it is to meet a real live Princess. Maybe you can show me your secrets for scoring with Buzz. (On the ride silly, not for taking pictures of his butt)

I'll update my PTR on Tuesday. I have a ton of stuff to do this weekend. I know, I know ~ I'm prograstinating.

[MickeyMAC]

Great start

[DrDolphin]

Great start Lorie!! I can't wait to meet you at Mousefest!!

[Minnie Lor]

Originally Posted by DrDolphin

Great start Lorie!! I can't wait to meet you at Mousefest!!

Most definitely! It's going to be a blast.

Hey everyone! it's taken me a bit to get back to posting an update. The last week has been eventful. A friend of mine lost her long battle with breast cancer and my step-Daughter had a baby. He was in the NIC unit for a week with lung complications but is now home and doing wonderful. I'll post a picture in the 'Family Room' in a little while. Anyways, it hasn't been a week conducive to writing.

I'm working on an update

[Minnie Lor]

Since our first trip in 1999 we’ve been in May ’02, Oct ’04, and May ’06. Each time falling more in with the thought and care that went in to designing and building of Walt Disney World. In 2004, we took the Keys to the Kingdom Tour. I have a design background and I love details. I love to know how things work, why they were designed that way, etc. The KttK Tour was perfect in every way for me. It made me want to slow down, stop and smell the roses, listen to the music, ride my favorites over and over until I knew them by
I want to absorb and cherish the ambiance that makes WDW so

My DH loved the KttK tour and loves going to WDW. He just doesn’t want to experience it the way that I want to. He would be content to watch every showing of the British Invasion and Off Kilter. Where as, I want to stay for Illuminations every night that we are in Epcot and don’t mind staking out a spot early. He would rather beat the crowds and leave. He doesn’t think MK is a full day park and isn’t big on scoping out a spot for SpectroMagic or Wishes. Here's a picture of him waiting for SpectroMagic. We only waited maybe 15 minutes.


He looks thrilled doesn't he?

Through the years, I’ve read several TR’s from people that had gone solo. I’ve always thought that it sounded wonderful ~ to take it at your own pace; see what you want, when you want; as I said earlier ~ stop and smell the roses if that’s your thing. Ok, confession time. I didn’t even know that there was a rose garden at Epcot or the MK or even where the wishing well was located. I know where they are now from looking at a map.

So on our last night of our trip in May ’06 we were at Epcot. They were having EMH and DH didn’t want to stay. He wanted to go back and pack. (I’m the one who pack’s so it doesn’t affect him) I wanted to see Illuminations one last time (it would only be the 2nd time for that trip) and then I wanted to meander around WS and take in the ambiance. I also wanted stop and take a lot of night time photos of my favorite park. His comment was “How many times are you going to take a picture of that thing?” " ,it's a digital camera. As many times as it takes. I'm not Princess Sharon for pete's sake." Obviously, I didn't say that.

Well, we didn’t squabble but we headed back to the resort to pack.

But in the back of my mind, a plan for a solo trip was planted.

Next up: How are you going to pay for this little trip and what are you going to do all by yourself?