"IF I HEAR SLEIGH RIDE ONE MORE TIME" - A Nov 2012 Holiday Extravaganza UPDATED 10/18

I just read the last installment of your summer trip report. Thanks for sharing that one and I'm looking forward to reading along again.
 
It's never too late for a Christmas themed trip report. I am finally going back this December for the holidays so maybe your report will hold me over until then. :)
Yay for holiday trips! I will definitely try my best to tide you over!
Jambo! :wave2: I'm not sure I've ever delurked to comment on one of your trip reports before, but I've read all of them. You are hilarious and seriously a fantastic writer. I'm already looking forward to your take on the holidays at Disney.
Jambo! :rotfl: Thank you so much!
I'm totally in! This seems like a lot of fun and I love TRs with people around my age. Can't wait to read more :)
Welcome!!
Woo-hoo!!
I'm in! I've read a few of your other TRs and love your writing style. :) I might not comment constantly because I'm trying to keep up with everyone's TRs and write my own and then there's life and all that jazz.. but I am definitely reading along!

Your title cracked me up because we were in Disneyland the same week you were in Disney World and definitely noticed them playing certain songs... a LOT. It must be Disney's thing. :laughing:
I totally understand. Writing TRs and keeping up with everyone else's is hard work.

It must. Those Christmas loops are quite repetitive. I love Christmas music, but it was too much.
My husband has a string of christmas lights that are up at all times in his hobby room. They are pretty no matter the season!
That is so true. :thumbsup2
Oh, Kara, I never tire of your trip reporting skills! Thank goodness for this one, the only thing worse than a TR ending is an actual trip ending!!! ;)
Aw thanks!!
 
Ohhh yes. I am so in. Like chocolate dunking, pool jumping, puertas avoiding, lap bar down and tugged on IN. This is gonna be so freakin entertaining. There should be Oscars for trip report entertainment. I nominate you.
That is such an honor! I hope I win! ;)
So glad you're doing this TR just so I can subscribe and make page one. That's why you're doing it... right?
Oh, and incidentally I still have my Christmas tree up (ok, it's a Christmas Palm Tree but it's still decorated), so we're all good.
That is totally why I'm doing. And your Christmas Palm Tree sounds wonderful.
OH HELLO, I'm here! I've been really REALLY bad at commenting on people's TRs lately so I will be making up for it with this one!

Ya know, Sleigh Ride is one of my favorite Christmas songs (just the instrumental version... I'm one of those people who have to crack the whip and pretend I'm galloping along with the beat. It's just fun.) BUT I agree that hearing it over and over and over is just ENOUGH! ENOUGH OF THAT. Also, as great as Christmas music is, you really miss the regular Disney loops! Anyways, I can't wait to read about this!
We played Sleigh Ride for our Christmas concerts in high school orchestra, so I'm quite attached to the orchestral version too, but hearing it over and over was too much. And, yeah, after a few days of Christmas music, I missed the regular Disney loops.
I'm in! I don't post often, but I love your trip reports! You always make me laugh and you really have a great voice for writing!

And then there are pictures, no offense to the non picture trip report writers, but they are not as much fun to read!
Thank you!!!
I am reading along!!
Welcome!!
As a fellow Disney rice krispie treat lover, I'm in! (My fave is dark chocolate, oreo crumbles and a white chocolate drizzle, in case you were just dying to know:rotfl2:) I loved your last TR.
Yummm. That sounds delicious. :mickeybar <---That's a Mickey bar, but let's just pretend it's a Rice Krispy Treat haha.
 


Made it to page 1! Can't wait to read more!!
Yay!!
I'm in. You're funny.. and I like funny. That pretty much covers my criteria for trip report subscriptions. However, there is the added allure of this being a Holiday trip report which is of particular interest to moi because we are planning our first Disney holiday trip.
So..
funny..check
and
Christmas theme..check :thumbsup2
Welcome! That's so exciting that you're planning your first Disney holiday trip! This was my first holiday trip, so I'll be writing from the perspective of a holiday newbie. Hope it helps with the planning!
It's never too late to start a Christmas trip report!! I mean, I still have my Merry Christmas mat at my front door...:confused3
Right? Taking down Christmas decorations is overrated.
Welcome!!
subbing! my middle son has your exact sense of humor, and we just spent the last few days laughing over "more like weekend at Bernie's". we've also begun quoting you at odd times - is that weird???
Not weird. Flattering. Thank you!
Looking forward to reading more.
Thanks!!
I just read the last installment of your summer trip report. Thanks for sharing that one and I'm looking forward to reading along again.
Thank you!!
 
November 25th Part One: Getting There
Before we get to the good stuff, there are a few days of prep/travel to cover. This is largely unimportant, but I felt weird skipping it.

November 23rd
The Friday after Thanksgiving was the day before we left for Florida. Instead of waking up before dawn to get trampled by crazed bargain hunters in a Wal Mart, I slept in, ate leftovers, and lounged around the house watching football. Not a bad way to spend the day.

Sometime after midnight, I decided it would probably be a good idea to start packing. Yes, I am one of those people who wait until the last second to pack. Packing is horrible and I hate doing it. Well, once I start, it’s not that bad. At this point, I have packing for these trips down to a science. There’s a mental checklist I go through and then I’m all done. I just have a hard time motivating myself to get packing. It’s a lot more fun to try not to trip over the empty suitcase in the middle of my room as I do 82394348 other things that don’t involve putting stuff in it.

When I finally got down to business, I quickly realized I was in over my head. You know that mental checklist I was talking about? It really only applies in the Spring/Summer. I pulled out a trip’s worth of surface-of-the-sun-warm weather clothes, but that’s not what I was packing for. So then I pulled a trip’s worth of cool weather clothes, but hats and gloves weren't right either.

Prior to this trip, I had never been to Florida in the fall. In my memory, Florida was surface-of-the-sun-warm always. I mean, I’d never worn a pair of pants within state lines. Cold is just not something I associate with Disney vacations.

I looked at the forecast and I had an idea of what late November was like weather-wise from reading trip reports, but there’s a difference between having an idea of something and having experienced it. Obviously, being from Ohio, I know how to dress for cool fall weather, but I didn’t know to dress for cool fall Florida weather and it threw me off. Is Florida’s late November our late September? Or our middle of October? Or are they not comparable at all because of the humidity? Is it even still humid in late November? How does humidity work anyway? Why isn’t Bill Nye here to do an experiment and explain it to me in an easy to understand way? These are the questions I had. I’m someone who likes feeling 100% prepared and sitting on the floor in my room surrounded by way too many clothes for way too many seasons, I didn’t.

This caused a bit of meltdown. I was tired. I was stressed. I was mad at myself for putting packing off. I always get a little anxious before I travel and this just made me more anxious. There were tears. It wasn’t great. You’re not supposed to cry the night before you leave for Disney.

I woke my mother up for a pep talk and a list of what she had packed. It helped. I still over-packed, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. There wasn’t a time during the trip where I was like “I really wish I had this” so that’s a good thing. And now, in the future, I’ll know exactly what to bring, so let’s just chalk this one up as less of a meltdown and more of a learning experience. :thumbsup2

I cleaned up everything I didn’t pack so I wouldn’t come home to a disaster, painted my nails, and, around 5 AM, I finally went to bed.

November 24th
We were supposed to leave fairly early, but, after the late night, I slept in. As you know if you’ve read my previous TRs, we drive, so it didn’t matter that we left later than planned.

We wound up hitting the road right at noon. This also happened to be kickoff time for the Ohio State-Michigan football game which is a pretty big deal in these parts. The rivalry is fierce and we all get really into it. I was decked out in Ohio State paraphernalia, had been singing “Hang On Sloopy” all morning, and I made my parents hang one of my Buckeye necklaces in the car for good luck.

It was weird having to listen to the game on the radio instead of watching it on TV (or in person). Picturing football just isn’t the same as actually seeing it. I think it was more stressful too. My nerves gave me a stomach ache. :rotfl: Like I said, I get really into it.

We wound up winning by 5 points so YAY! It was an exciting win for many reasons which I won’t go into because most of you probably don’t care, but know that it left me in one of those verklempt “I JUST LOVE EVERYONE SO MUCH” moments.

As I tweeted: It's fitting that Ohio's shaped like a heart because I'm filled with so much love right now.

Oh! Fun fact: I didn’t know this until afterward, but the OSU Marching Band’s halftime show was set to the music from Fantasia! How fitting!

Here's a video.

While I recommend watching the whole thing, if you don’t have 10 minutes to spare, skip ahead to 3:38-4:18. It’s worth it. Trust me.

After the game, I took a nap. After that, I just listened to music and stared out the window. I’ve never been someone who needs things to keep her occupied during road trips. I’m cool with just watching the world as we pass by.

We spent the night in South Carolina. As soon as we got into the room, I pulled out my laptop to watch clips from the game. :p I messed around on the internet for a bit, watched some TV, and went to bed. I wasn’t all that tired since I’d slept some in the car, but I figured I’d try to stock up on sleep while I still could.

November 25th
We woke up early-ish and got back on the road. It was an uneventful drive so we made great time. I slept some more and then stared out the window some more too.

As we got closer to Orlando, the excitement built. By the time we passed Universal, I was freaking out. That’s when the trip became real. We weren’t 100% sure this thing was happening until, like, the week before, so all throughout the packing and travel phases, I was still kind of in denial. But being in Orlando, seeing all the tourist-y stuff, and passing those beautiful Disney billboards had me pumped.

Right around 1:30, we drove onto Disney property. WOO-HOO!!​
 
November 25th Part Two: The Arrival
We went straight to Pop Century.



This was our first time staying at a Value. I didn’t really know what to expect. There are people who love ‘em and people who hate ‘em. People who think they’re charming and people who think they’re gaudy.

My first impression? Fun.

I mean, I could see the giant bowling pins and Rubik's cube. I don’t know how anyone could look at those and not think fun.

We parked in the front lot and headed into Classic Hall.



Look! It’s me in pants! In Florida!



I <3 resort welcome mats.



CHRISTMAS!



While Mom checked us in, Dad and I explored. The Shadowboxes of Nostalgia (Feel free to use that, Disney) lining the walls were awesome. The 90s boxes were a walk down memory lane. I pretty much just said “MY CHILDHOOD!!!” and cried. OK I didn’t cry, but the Pink Power Ranger action figure stirred up a lot of emotions. Not so much the Furby. Furbies will never not be terrifying.

I have to say, I was bummed to be missing out on the regular Classic Hall music loop. The Christmas music was fun and got me even more excited about the new-to-me holiday stuff that lay ahead, but still. I’d just rather jam out to some ABBA than “Jingle Bells” while staying at a pop culture themed hotel.

When Mom finished, we moved our car over to the designated parking lot. Our room was in the 70s section. Which meant I had the jingle from VH1's "I Love the 70s" series stuck in my head all trip.

We decided to go find it before we started hauling luggage. I took some pictures along the way.



That’s Art of Animation across the lake.



One of the 80s buildings. I had to take a picture because it's Pacman! So cute.



My birth year!



Our room was in this building (Building 6) on the second floor. There are stairs behind the giant 8-Track.



PALM TREEEEEE!!!

Our room faced the 70s courtyard and was third from the lake end of the building.

I wasn’t exactly thorough when it came to taking pictures of the room, but here are the few I did take.



The covers feature the Fab Five doing things iconic to each decade. Pluto is breakdancing. It’s awesome. I mean, if you’re going to assign Pluto something to do, breakdancing is the ideal choice. I wonder if he’ll breakdance for me in the parks…



There are Hidden Mickeys in the carpet. Then again, when aren’t there Hidden Mickeys in the carpet at WDW?



The bathroom was clean and functioning. No complaints.

Overall, I thought the room was fine. It’s nothing fancy, but it works. It's a little tiny and the beds are only doubles, but it has Stacey and that's really all that matters.

Actually—and you guys are never going to believe this—I didn’t immediately watch three loops of Stacey upon walking into the room. Forgive me, Walt, for I have sinned. The Browns game was on and I kinda really wanted to watch that. So I did. No regrets. I love me some football.

We hauled the luggage in and then went back to watching the game. At halftime, we went over to Everything Pop for lunch. I forgot to bring my camera with me, but I got the Chicken Penne Alfredo and it hit the spot. Thanks for speaking so highly of it, Lia!

Here are a bunch of pictures of the 70s courtyard from our walk back to the room.







Our building had the giant Mickey phone in front of it.





Mickey’s the best.





I think the dancing people on the buildings are my favorite. Or the GET DOWN sign. Every time I walked by that thing I got down. Sometimes only in my head, but, trust me, my brain was getting down.



Back in the room, we unpacked and watched the rest of the game. The Browns actually won. Disney magic at work, folks.

Also, during check-in, the Cast Member gave us buttons for my parents' anniversary, a button for Mom’s birthday, and an “I’m Celebrating” button for me.

Because I never travel without a Sharpie, I did this.



It’s a play on 12-0 (as in undefeated) which my Buckeyes were after their win over Michigan the day before. It's what I was celebrating so...

BTW I really do recommend traveling with a Sharpie. You will not believe how many times having one has come in handy over the years.

After that, we changed out of our sit-in-a-car-for-hours clothes, got ready, and headed out for the evening.



The first of many poinsettia sightings. It must be Disney’s go-to holiday plant. Not that there are a lot of holiday plants to choose from. It’s kind of everyone’s go-to holiday plant.



If you know me or if you’ve read my other TRs, then you know that I’m a big *NSYNC fan. They’re my boys. They were my first concert and I had posters of them on my walls and I learned all the dance routines and I was going to marry JC. It doesn’t matter that they haven’t released new music together in over 10 years. They will always have a place in my heart.

Well, whenever I saw the big POP signs, the *NSYNC song “Pop” would start playing in my head. Specifically the “This must be…POP!” part. It was the best. Thank you, Pop Century, for that. I still think that, instead of the usual “This is Disney’s Pop Century Resort” spiel Bus Voice Guy gives, they should just play that line of the song.

Anyway...

“Where were you going?” you ask.

Stay tuned. :santa:
 


I am EXACTLY the same when it comes to packing. Omg it's ridiculous, I'll be so excited for a trip and then the day comes and I'm like...oh wait right I should probably pack now.

Yay for Pop Century!! It's such a fun resort, one of my favorites. I love all the little details!

and omg I am dying at the NSYNC thing. I loved them when I was younger and now that's all I'm gonna think of when I look at the giant POP! things everywhere haha. excited to read more! :)
 
:rotfl:
I can completely relate to your packing problem. I go to Disney in the summer. I know what to pack. It's easy. But cold at Disney? I can be sitting there staring at the current Orlando temperature. It says 49 degrees. I know that is cold and yet I still can't compute that I need to put a sweater in that suitcase. Florida is warm..How could this be?:confused3. It's confusing.
Now give me my yearly August trip? I know what I need to pack..shorts, t-shirts.. the number for the med emerg clinic for when I keel over from heat and dehydration. That I can deal with:rotfl:
 
I love how you can make the lead-up and travel days so entertaining. And I'm right there with you... I hate packing. Of course I hate the return packing MUCH more. :goodvibes

I just statyed at POP for the very first time last month and that was my initial impression as well... fun. And energetic.

Plus I became totally obsessed with resort welcome mats. :thumbsup2
 
Just subscribed and got caught up. I'm looking forward to reading all about your Christmas trip! Why didn't your sister (Katie?) go with y'all? I'm glad you're liking POP so far. I prefer POR (but haven't stayed at FQ side yet), but POP is a good value. If only they had queen beds!
 
I was planning on joining in and then I read that you're a buckeyes fan and I dunno if I can do that to my Michigan ways :P

I guess I'll still stick around though.
 
I'm in and caught up! Looking forward to your TR - great start!! BTW, who said we are supposed to take Christmas decorations down? I didn't get that memo!! :lmao:
 
Subbing. Reading from my phone so I still need to see your pics. They just load so slowly.

I love the way you described people"s opinions of the value.

Fun thread.
 
Great trip report title! We loved Pop Century too! I look forward to reading more about your terrific trip!
 
Whoops, forgot to add: That is great advice to always bring a Sharpie. I have a mini one that I take with me everywhere in my cellphone/key holder!
 
I had the same problem the first time I went to Florida in December! Then when I went the next year, I knew exactly what to pack. Except it was much warmer the next year, so I really can't win. :laughing:

OH MY, your Pop pictures are getting me EXCITED. BAHHH. And I totally hear that exact line from the song every time I see pictures of POP too! Great minds.
 

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