Do you remember your first time? I sure do, it was like a week ago. UPDATED 3/2

RollTideinMD

Mouseketeer
Joined
Aug 13, 2018
Hey y'all! I am beyond thrilled to share my Trip Report with y'all!
:chat:


WHO:

Hi, I'm Shanna and I'm a 31 year old divorced mother of two ridiculously awesome kiddos. I was born & raised in Alabama and we call the Baltimore area home. I work as a Senior Operations Manager for a robotics engineering company. My favorite ride is Space Mountain and my favorite park is Magic Kingdom, of course!

DS9 is a little foodie like his mama. He plays basketball and is on a travel baseball team. His favorite ride is Expedition Everest and he isn't committed to selecting his favorite park.

DD6 is a little thrill seeker, just like her mama. She plays soccer and rides horseback. Her favorite ride is Expedition Everest and I'm not sure what her favorite park is, she can't seem to pick one!

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WHERE:
Disney's Pop Century Resort

WHEN:
February 11 - 16, 2019.
:rainbow:



 
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I look forward to reading along! I am a single mom of 2, a daughter age 9 and son age 6. We've been 4 times before, but not just the 3 of us. I am so nervous to take them to Disney alone. So I'm really looking forward to your trip report!
 
Day 1: Arrival and MK Day!

Despite having my alarm set for 3:00am, I woke up at 2:00am out of pure excitement. IT'S DISNEY DAY! We had a couple of rough days leading up to the trip, DD6 was recovering from a pretty bad cold and we were expecting another winter storm. I did some last minute cleaning around the house, packed our park bag, triple checked for Magic Bands and my ID, then woke up the kids by 3:30am. We needed to be in the Uber to head to BWI by 4:00am.

Yes, I am one of those ridiculous people that wants to be at the airport 2 hours early.

With our ears on, we made it right out the door on time and downstairs to our apartment lobby to wait on the Uber Driver to arrive. We arrived to the airport by 4:40am, checked our bags, and made it through security right behind another Disney Bound family! The kids were dragging, I was running off of pure adrenaline. We stopped for a quick breakfast with my beloved, Chick-Fil-A, and then got situated at our gate. Despite the freezing rain, we were scheduled for an on-time departure of 6:30am.

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Time to board! DD6 was asleep before the wheels were even off the ground! We had a nice flight from BWI to MCO, it was a little under two and a half hours. I tried to convince DS9 to get some sleep, but had no luck.

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Before long, we landed in Orlando and made our way to DME. The line for the check-in counter was longer than I expected it to be, but really, I have no realistic expectations for anything as a first timer. We made our way through the check-in line and then were assigned our row to wait for a bus to Pop. We didn't have to wait here very long at all, I would say less than 15 minutes passed before we were boarding the bus!

We arrived to Pop Century and I was blown away by the theming (again, first timer). The larger than life theming and beautiful landscaping was so much better than I could have imagined. We walked into the lobby of Pop Century and I immediately noticed some wonderful smell - ugh goodness - it was one of my favorite things ever. After a short wait for online check-in, we went back out to Bell Services to pick up the stroller I had rented last minute for DD6. Like I mentioned earlier, she was recovering from the crud and still didn't have her usual energy about her, so I went ahead with a stroller for the first couple of days as she recovered.

Almost immediately, we hopped a bus to MK. Our first FP+ was for Space Mountain.

Stay tuned as I share our first day with y'all!​
 


Hey, from Alabama. Born, raised and still living in Alabama. We went for the first time in over 20 years last September. Look forward to reading about your trip!
 
Day 1: Arrival and MK Day!

Um, it's hotter than I imagined. No seriously, we left snow on the ground in Baltimore. What is this big ball of fire in the sky?

There was basically no wait to hop onto a bus at Pop headed towards MK. By way of what could only be Pixie Dust and Magic, we were almost immediately off to Magic Kingdom. That initial bus ride felt like it took forever! Eight months of planning went into this trip and it was finally here. It was such a surreal feeling. On our ride to MK, we saw ToT and Galaxy's Edge as the bus rode by. Before I knew it, we were passing The Contemporary and making that left hand turn to the bus depot at Magic Kingdom.

We disembarked the bus and I tried to unfold the stroller. Honestly, I didn't think I was going to be able to do this. I rented a City Mini, which was super easy to fold up when we got on the bus, but I couldn't undo what I had done! I panicked, started looking for someone to help, but we were basically alone at the bus depot at that moment. My 9 year old tried to help, I started looking for YouTube videos. After what felt like 15 minutes, I got the stinkin thing back in the upright position and DD6 climbed in.

Uhhh..I hadn't used a stroller in, like, 3 years. Also, DD6 was a lot heavier than I expected. I thought to myself "well, everything that I eat this week will work itself out by the time that this is all said and done."

After we made it through the security check and Magic Band scan point - there we were.

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We came out on the other side of the tunnel and I felt like screaming; MAIN STREET. THE CASTLE. I've basically dreamt of this moment since I was a child. I've read blogs, I've seen pictures..but nothing compares to that moment of stepping onto Main Street for the very first time. I will not lie, I totally got emotional.

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Also, people. People everywhere. I genuinely thought that by going during the school year in February, it would be a little less crowded than what is was. I knew it could've been so much worse than what it was, but I was still surprised.

And this folks, is how I got super overwhelmed.

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After making our way down Main Street (slowly, taking every moment in), we popped into Casey's Corner for a quick lunch. I ordered the chili cheese dog with fries, DS9 ordered the bacon mac & cheese hot dog with fries, and DD6 had a plain hot dog with fries. We all liked our food, especially DS9 who is a mac and cheese lover. We could've all split one order of fries, so let this be a lesson if you're a first timer like me! The fries were hot, crispy, and salty. Basically everything that a french fry should be. Casey's Corner is chaotic and I highly recommend using Mobile Order at Casey's Corner on the Disney app. As we were enjoying our lunch, the piano player came out and was soon joined by a gentleman who was singing. Despite being on the dining plan, I chose to pay OOP for this meal because we were dining at a 2 credit restaurant during our stay. For 3 hot dogs, 3 fries, and 3 drinks, the total was around $47.

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With our bellies full, we made our way to Tomorrowland for our first FP+ of the day - Space Mountain!

As a first timer going to Disney, I can't say enough good things about the theming in the parks. Everything is so thoughtfully planned out, clean, and just beautiful. I lack enough words to fully describe how I was feeling in the moment as we were walking over the bridge to Tomorrowland. It's just magical.

We moved through the FP line pretty quickly and we were all filled with a ridiculous amount of excitement. This was DD6's first big kid ride! Ever. OH MY STARS - I LOVED Space Mountain. Out of everything we rode, it's by far my favorite ride.

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Our next FP+ was Buzz's Space Ranger Spin, but we had some time to kill. We hopped in line for a Meet and Greet with Buzz Lightyear and then took a breezy ride on the People Mover.

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Can we talk about our faces here? Goodness gracious.

So, I really wanted to get a picture with the insta-famous Purple Wall, but I couldn't find it. Well, I didn't look hard enough. So, that's saved for a future trip.

After time spent in Tomorrowland, it was time to head to Fantasyland for our 7DMT FP+. Again, with more time to kill before the FP+ window opened, we decided to hop onto the teacups since DD6 really wanted to and there was less than a 10 minute wait for standby. I ALMOST chose to sit this one out and decided to ride with them last minute. I can't do things that just spin round and round without getting stupid nauseous. The ride started out innocently enough, but soon the kids had that tea cup spinning around like mad and I knew I was going to feel like death walking off of it. Thinking about it now makes me want to hurl.

After the tour de death on the teacups, we made our way to 7DMT. We breezed right on through the FP+ line and we were off! I LOVED this ride. LOVED IT. As a curvy gal, the lap bar was tight on my thighs, but I made it work. The three of us loved every moment on the ride.

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Up next - dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table!

 


I look forward to reading along! I am a single mom of 2, a daughter age 9 and son age 6. We've been 4 times before, but not just the 3 of us. I am so nervous to take them to Disney alone. So I'm really looking forward to your trip report!
Glad to have you here! I can't wait to share it with you from my perspective as a single mom. I hope that you find a lot of value in my report :)
 
Joining in! It's really nice to read a trip through the eyes of a first timer!

Sounds like you were off to a magical start and really enjoying your first rides at MK!!
 
Day 1: Winding down with Dinner at CRT

Whew! What a day that shaped up for us. After waking up at 2:00am, I hit a wall about an hour before our dinner reservation. We walked around in Fantasyland, poking in at Castle Couture, where DD6 fell in love with an insanely overpriced Belle dress. I did NOT think that we were going to make it out of that store in one piece. The kids had a generous amount of spending money for the trip, but I was afraid she'd blow it on our first day. I managed to talk her down and we continued throughout the shop, finding a giant wall of ears. I didn't think hoarding all of the ears would have been a thing for me, but it totally is. I want ALL OF THE EARS.

DD6 chose a pair of bride ears (I know, she walked around in a veil for the rest of the week), I chose Maleficent ears, and DS9 chose a Mickey's Sorcerer hat.

It was finally time to check in for dinner!

We were called inside the entry foyer of the castle. I turned the corner and let out a squeal. Like, a loud squeal and I just started tearing up (I'm tearing up again as I write this); Cinderella was just standing there and I managed to choke out "Oh my God, you're just right there!"..the Photopass photographer got a good chuckle out of my reaction to meeting Cinderella for the first time.

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(sorry for the various sizes of photos - the forum keeps yelling at me that my files are too big!)

After our photo op, we were seated in the lobby as we waited for our name to be called. There were more families coming in with their daughter's all made up from BBB, it was absolutely adorable to watch them come through and meet Cinderella.

We were finally seated at our table upstairs, not directly by a window, but close enough for a decent view of Happily Ever After. After several moments, we were greeted by our server. The kids chose soft drinks and I ordered a glass of the Beso Del Sol Sangria

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I thought that the Sangria was very good! It wasn't overly sweet and just what I needed after a long day.

Our Server was very attentive and he collected our orders after delivering our drinks. The kids opted for mac and cheese (as you continue to read this trip report, you'll see that my kids basically ate mac and cheese the whole time), with a side starch, so basically carbs on carbs. But, they did select the kids salads as their appetizer.

I ordered the Castle Salad as my appetizer. I thought that the salad was very good, my body was craving something fresh and I wasn't disappointed in the freshness of the greens. However, after finishing my salad, I noticed that the table next to us had balls of mozzarella on their salad (hence buffalo mozzarella on the menu..) and my salad didn't come out with that! I didn't say anything to our server about it, I already ate the whole thing, but I thought it was a funny thing to forget. For dinner, I chose the Beef Tenderloin with shrimp. My dinner was good, I ordered my beef cooked to medium and it was cooked perfectly. I was disappointed by only having two shrimp, but that's a case of my eyes being bigger than my stomach. The one thing I wasn't a fan of were the roasted potatoes, I wish they were mashed, but it's not a big deal. Overall, I thought the food was nicely seasoned and beautifully presented.

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Both of my kids enjoyed their dinners, but you really can't go wrong with mac & cheese. For dessert, DS9 ordered the decorate your own cupcake.

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DD6 ordered the raspberry sorbet, which she enjoyed. I ordered The Clock Strikes Twelve, which was ultra rich and oh so perfectly decadent. The texture of the mousse was on point, the dark chocolate made it not overly sweet, and the raspberry coulis was the perfect component to the dish to really elevate a wonderful plate.

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Throughout dinner, we were greeted at our table by Ariel, Jasmine, Snow White, and Aurora. I felt that we got the best character interaction from Snow White and Jasmine, but really, all of the princesses were wonderful. My favorite princess is Ariel and I, again, got emotional when she came to our table for a quick meet and greet. We DID get the Ariel picture, but her eyes were closed and I didn't notice it until too late!

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Hands down, the most magical part of our evening was watching the fireworks from inside of Cinderella's Castle for Happily Ever After. Honestly, eating inside of the castle with princesses walking around with fireworks going on outside? That can not be topped. Everything that led me to this moment was so incredibly worth it and, again, I was overcome with emotion.

So, yeah, Disney makes me weepy.

My overall thoughts on Cinderella's Royal Table? For this two-credit, signature restaurant, I feel like it's something everyone has to experience once. Obviously the theming is out of this world and is hard to top, the character interaction was great, the food was just fine. I've had better and I've had worse, but I have zero regrets about eating at Cinderella's Royal Table.

What a magical end to the most perfect day.

Up next: Day 2: Magic Kingdom (aka this is the happiest place on earth, why are you grouchy!?)

 
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So happy to hear you like CRT! We haven’t done it yet but it’s planned for our next trip and I’m really excited for it!

It is so overwhelming to walk in to the MK emotional and on all your senses! I think till you experinace it you don’t really get it.

Trip is off to a fabulous start!!
 
Joining in! It's really nice to read a trip through the eyes of a first timer!

Sounds like you were off to a magical start and really enjoying your first rides at MK!!
Welcome! Thanks for joining in! We got super lucky with our FP+ choices for the whole trip!
 
Great start. There’s nothing like that feeling when you’re actually walking up Main Street for the first time.
I miss doing CRT now the kids are grown up and refuse character meals.
Looking forward to more
 

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