Mary Poppins Wished Me a Happy Birthday!!! TR *Updated 9/24 Room is Ready!*

[ashleighbass06]

Hi! I'm Ashleigh and I just got back from my 26th birthday trip to the world! It was unbearably hot but it was magical!

Who:

Me, Ashleigh, 26. I am a preschool teacher and I am teaching part time this summer, so we'll see how that goes...I am a huge Disney fan and have been to the World 10+ times since I was 2. I am also the co-host of the Generation Mouse Podcast (www.generationmouse.net). I am a foodie and an amateur photographer so be prepared for photo overload. I just imported the photos onto my computer and I took 993 with my camera and an additional 329 with my phone. You have been warned

DH, Chris, 26. He's the Director of Operations for a Biggby Coffee franchisee (if you know Biggby, comment, and we'll be friends). He's not the biggest Disney fan (although he always gets mad when I tell people that. He says he likes Disney, he's just not crazy like me ) but I think he had a blast this trip. He was even talking about what we'll do next time! This was his 5th trip (His 3rd longer than 1 Day).

When:
June 15-19, 2014
We drove so we extended the vacation by stopping at St. Augustine, Savannah, and The Smokies on the way back to the mitten.

Where:
We stayed at Pop Century. I'd been to AsMu and AS Sports before but this I was my first time at Pop. This was only the 2nd time DH has stayed on property (the first time was when we did Magic Music Days in high school. Yes, we were high school sweethearts ).

Why:
We've been married for 2 years and haven't been to WDW since January 2, 2011 for a 1 Day Trip . So, when DH asked where I wanted to go for our summer vacation, you know what I said, DISNEY! But I wanted to be there on my BDay! So this trip was born!

 

[ashleighbass06]

5/29: The Plan #3
6/26: Arrival & DTD #6
7/7: Seralago Hotel #11
7/14 Welcome Home #12
7/31 Birthday in My Favorite Park #13
8/7 Exploring Future World West #17
8/11 Best CS in WDW #22
8/21 Finishing Future World #26
8/27 Strolling the Boardwalk #29
9/13 Relaxing in World Showcase #32
9/24 Room is Ready! #35

 

[ashleighbass06]

Photo from our one day in Disney, 2011

Here's an overview of our trip:

Day 1:
Begin Driving
Arrive Lexington: Bluegrass Extended Stay

Day 2:
Depart Lexington
Arrive Orlando: Seralago Hotel
Visit DTD

Day 3:
Check-in Pop Century
Visit Epcot
Lunch Sunshine Seasons
Dinner Le Cellier
Hop to MK EMH

Day 3:
Visit Epcot
Lunch Katsura Grill
Dinner Via Napoli
Hop to DHS EMH

Day 4
Visit AK
Lunch Flame Tree
Dinner Boma
Hop to MK

Day 5
Visit DHS
Hop to Epcot
Lunch Yorkshire County Fish Shoppe
Dinner Landscape of Flavors

Day 6
Check-out Pop
Breakfast Whispering Canyon
Visit MK
Lunch Be Our Guest (FP)
Hop to Epcot for Dinner at Sunshine Seasons


Day 7
Depart Orlando
Travel to St. Augustine
Travel to Savannah: Skidaway Island State Park
Dinner Sweet Potatoes Cafe

Day 8
Visit Savannah
Travel to Great Smoky Mountains: Elkmont Campground
Dinner Smoky Mountain Brewery

Day 9
Visit Great Smoky Mountains
Travel Home

 

[Oodalally13]

I think MK is open till 1 am during late June. You could always hop back there in the evenings and maybe catch some short lines and do re-rides or take pictures and snack.

 

[ashleighbass06]

I think MK is open till 1 am during late June. You could always hop back there in the evenings and maybe catch some short lines and do re-rides or take pictures and snack.

We're only planning on staying at the studios till 1 or so, so we may hop over to Epcot or MK. I'm going to just play it by ear and see what we feel like

2 weeks from today I'll be celebrating my birthday in Epcot! We start driving in 12 days!

 

[ashleighbass06]

Hey everyone! I'm back from WDW and ready to start this TR! Who's with me?

So, we started the drive Friday afternoon. DH managed to make his last meeting of the day in Toledo, so we were able to start the drive from farther south. We drove to Lexington that night and had dinner with our friends (and my podcast co-hosts), Mark & Libby at a place called Ramseys which was really good (I didn't take any pictures although I really wanted to)! That night we stayed at a place called the Bluegrass Extended Stay, which was cheap and served a purpose. We woke up early the next morning, had the donuts that the hotel called "breakfast" and hit the road!

We drove and drove and drove all day. We did get some nice views through Kentucky and Tennessee:

I swear I thought we would never get through Georgia (anybody who has done the drive knows this feeling)! We did stop for our favorite southern fast food, Bojangles (any other Bojangles fans out there?)! Finally we saw this at about 7:30:

We were headed to DTD for the night! As I mentioned, this was a birthday trip and I had signed up for the Earl of Sandwich eClub so I got a free sandwich!

I had the Original

DH had the Holiday Sandwich

I had the Holiday Sandwich before so I was excited to try something new. I actually preferred the Original this time around, but it was probably just more of what I was in the mood for.

I should mention, it was a Saturday night when we were there and it was really busy and the staff was rather rude. The cashier was short with us and seemed very annoyed to see my coupon. This won't keep me from going back, the quality and value is definitely the best in DTD, they just need to hire people who can handle a crowd because the ones that were on that day, could not.

With all the construction walls up, it was SO packed. We had to park at Casting which did provide this cool view:

There were so many people we pretty much gave up walking around and decided to take the boat over to the Port Orleans resorts. We got this cool view of the West Side at Night:

It was my first time at French Quarter and it was a nice place to walk around at night. Of course, we had to stop and get bengiets:

We ate one before I took the photo. Sorry.

After our snack we walked to the boat dock at Riverside and caught the last boat back to DTD. FYI they stop running the boats at 11, I wasn't aware of that and we almost got stuck at Riverside lol.

Coming Up: An Offsite Hotel to Avoid

 

[freckles04]

Following!

Totally get what ya mean by that drive though GA (Tennessean here). Was very glad when Southwest came to Memphis (cheap flights to Orlando!!!)

The situation at DTD sounds pretty bad. I'll take the advice to avoid it on the weekends.

Can't wait to read more.

 

[OhMari]

Hi I have you moved.
I feel your pain with the road trip to WDW. I live in Wisconsin.
When we road tripped we stopped on St Augustine, Savannah too. I have been back to Savannah numerous times.

 

[ashleighbass06]

Hi I have you moved. I feel your pain with the road trip to WDW. I live in Wisconsin. When we road tripped we stopped on St Augustine, Savannah too. I have been back to Savannah numerous times.

Thanks!

 

[ashleighbass06]

Following!

Totally get what ya mean by that drive though GA (Tennessean here). Was very glad when Southwest came to Memphis (cheap flights to Orlando!!!)

The situation at DTD sounds pretty bad. I'll take the advice to avoid it on the weekends.

Can't wait to read more.

Thanks for joining! I hope you enjoy!

 

[ashleighbass06]

If you would like to hear more about my trip, you can listen to the Generation Mouse Podcast! Our last episode is all about this trip! You can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, and Tunein Radio! I hope you enjoy it!

So after our late night exploring DTD and The Port Orleans Resorts we drove to our hotel for the night. I should mention, we bid for a 2 star hotel in the Orlando area for one night on Priceline for $25. I should have known what I was getting into at this point. We ended up getting the Seralago Hotel which is right off of I-Drive and I have to say, we got what we payed for.

Frog on the outside of our window

The furniture was outdated and not in great shape but the room was clean. The bed was horribly uncomfortable, it was reminiscent of a trampoline. There was something about the hotel that just had me on edge. So we did not linger in the morning. We just got up, got dressed, and headed to Pop to check in. I actually left my pillow here accidentally. We tried to contact them to get it back and they were really gave us a hard time about it. I think they have probably kept it and a guest probably slept on it last night. All-in-all I would not recommend it. Spend more money and get a nicer hotel that won't have you running out the door in the morning or keep your things.

Next up: Checking In to Pop Century

 

[ashleighbass06]

As I mentioned in my last post, we woke up early and didn't want to stay any longer than we had to at Seralago so we drove back through the gates and arrived at Pop for check-in at 7:45.



I didn't anticipate being there that early, I think I had done online check-in for 8:30 and my stuff wasn't ready yet so we had to go through the whole check-in process. We requested a King bed and it was early so I wasn't expecting our room to be ready. So after we got checked in, we put on our buttons (we were celebrating our anniversary and it was also my birthday!) we explored Pop a bit.

We did have the dining plan so we went to Everything Pop to get our mugs and for whatever reason all the mugs they had were yellow . Not that I don't like yellow, I just wanted different colored mugs so we can tell our mugs apart. If this happens to you at Pop, they had all the colors at AoA and you can use your mug credit at any resort food court.

Since our room wasn't ready yet, I was supposed to get a text when it was ready. Come 3:00 I still didn't get a text so I had to call the resort and they told me that our room was ready, which made me wonder how long it was ready before I called. We checked in the day before they started the test to skip the front desk during check in. The fact that I never got the text did not give me hope for this test.

Anyway, after walking around the resort for a bit we got on the bus and headed to the park of choice for my birthday: Epcot!


Up Next: Celebrating the Birthday in my Favorite Park!

 

[ashleighbass06]

After exploring Pop we decided to get on a bus and head to my favorite park, Epcot. I have to admit I was surprised to get there before Rope Drop, but then again I didn't think we would be checking it at 7:45 either. This was a first for me. I had utilized EMH mornings but I had never seen a Rope Drop Ceremony before. I'm glad I did it, but it wasn't really anything that exciting or memorable IMHO.

We had a Soarin' fastpass for later in the day so we decided to make the trek to Test Track instead. It was the first time I'd ridden the new Test Track (this is going to be a theme of this TR) so I was really excited to design our car. I will admit, this time we made a bad car, but I love how the wheels stuck out of the car. It came in 3rd in our car, out of 3

After that, we had a FP+ for SSE (which was really weird but I didn't know what else to get). SSE is one of our favorites and we probably rode it 5+ times this trip, basically any time the line wasn't very long and we wanted to get out of the heat, which was a lot. I know people hate on the new narration and yes, I think Jeremy Irons was better, but I love the touchscreen ending. I think its a fun, and dare-I-say Horizons-esque, way to engage the touch-screen generation.

After SSE we headed to Club Cool (another place we frequented any time we needed to cool off. I mean, how can you go wrong with free soda?). As someone who doesn't drink carbonated beverages, I was glad to see a couple of non-carbonated options added when they recently changed the sodas. For those of you who are like me, I believe Japan and South Africa are non-carbonated. And I need to mention that DH enjoyed Beverly

I should mention that we were able to do a TON this first day because we are the Commando type and we used TouringPlans.com. No, they didn't pay me to say this, but Len Testa, if you're reading this, I wouldn't object . Their customized Touring Plans allow you to customize the plans for your FP+ and ADRs and we were able to see everything we wanted to see by 3 pm.

Because of this, this post is running long and I will be back next time with the rest of Future World West! Thanks for reading

 

[Goofy442]

Joining in, I will not stay at a hotel outside Disney, you never know what your going to get. My DH always sit outside when we go into Club Cool, because he does not drink soda. I will have to let him know which ones they are, and he can enjoy it on our next trip.

 

[scholastica]

Hi! Joining in here!

Yes that drive through Georgia is painfully long! It is like half the trip.

And yes Biggby! My favorite!

 

[ashleighbass06]

Joining in, I will not stay at a hotel outside Disney, you never know what your going to get. My DH always sit outside when we go into Club Cool, because he does not drink soda. I will have to let him know which ones they are, and he can enjoy it on our next trip.

I was really glad to see they added them too! Hopefully your DH will find something he enjoys!

Hi! Joining in here!

Yes that drive through Georgia is painfully long! It is like half the trip.

And yes Biggby! My favorite!

Yay! Another Biggby fan! Thanks for joining in!

 

[ashleighbass06]

Oh man! Where did this summer go? I have to go back to working full time next week I will try to keep updating this TR at least once a week, but the beginning of the school year can be exhausting! Will try my best

Future World Friday: Imagination Institute w/Figment by bassclarinetgrl, on Flickr
Anyway, where did I leave off...oh yeah, Club Cool! So, we left Club Cool and were sufficiently hydrated and cooled and we headed to Captain EO. This was another first for me. I mean, I saw it during its original run and I would've been 8 when it left and I was TERRIFIED by it (I was also terrified by HISTA, its replacement) so I was kind of excited to see it as an adult and I have to say I enjoyed it. DH is not really a fan of "cheap 3D tricks" and he appreciated the way they used the 3D in EO.

After EO we headed to what was the favorite attraction of my childhood and now makes me sad when I ride it, Journey into Imagination WITH FIGMENT. Why did they make figment so obnoxious in this version? Sometime I wish they would bring back the second version because I would really just like to remember the cute, naive, and clever Figment from the original. Anyone else?

Next we headed to another attraction that makes me miss the original (gosh, I must secretly be an Epcot Center purist), The Seas with Nemo and Friends. Unlike Imagination, I do enjoy this attraction. Its just that all the blacked-out tanks on the ride make me sad because you used to be able to see real fish there. Now, you see projected fish. All they would have to do to make me happy would be to put the projected fish on the tanks full of real fish like they do at the at the end. Instead, they blacked out the glass and those tanks are probably empty. Does that make anyone else sad?

We walked around the exhibit area for a bit and then headed over to the Land pavilion for the CS meal that DH compared everything else to the rest of the trip!

Next: Lunch at Sunshine Seasons

 

[Goofy442]

I don't like the new Test Track, I like the old one better. As my DS tells me with a new sponsor for the ride, they had to give it a over haul. Guess I like the old ones better.

 

[starshollowchic]

How fun! I love seeing pics!! I am so jealous

 

[ashleighbass06]

I don't like the new Test Track, I like the old one better. As my DS tells me with a new sponsor for the ride, they had to give it a over haul. Guess I like the old ones better.

I don't know, I like the new Test Track. My one complaint (which I forgot to mention in my post) is that is wit all the changes, they didn't change the track. I was able to forget about it after the beginning, but the capability test, is obviously the non-ABS/ABS break test. I am definitely glad they got rid of the screens in the cars that never worked, though. And I liked being able to design my own car and the new look of the attraction.