50 Not Out. Solo In September. Party At POP!

[Orlandobelle]

Arrived at 8pm pretty much on schedule and went to check in - it was fairly busy and noisy. Got checked in by a CM who seemed a little disinterested and rather vague about my deliveries.
Was assigned a room in 50s block so headed over as I was really tired by now

I'd requested high floor, Lake view - one out of 2 ain't bad! Corner room on floor 2 with a lovely view - and I can see the fireworks from my room.
Headed over to the food court to pick up my mug and a snack as I was starving. Red velvet whoopie pie - you yum.

Unpacked a few bits and watched the fireworks (10pm) before crashing.

Up early this morning for s pre dawn stroll via the lake for some much needed coffee. AoA looks lovely at night

Pop doesn't look too bad either

I know is not the best use of aQS credit but it was starving and I needed a bottle of water for later... My parcels haven't materialised yet

Back to the room - via the lake - to get ready to hit AK for early entry. Sum was just coming up.
Long queue of people waiting for the bus but 2 arrived together.

Arrived at AK at 8am - crowds didn't seem to bad so I headed to everest and rode it x3 with no wait.

It was a beautiful morning and going to be warm!
Rode the safari twice - standby and fastpass - and actually saw the lions move 😀
By now the park was really busy so I decided to have lunch before heading back to pop. Flame tree was just about to open (11am) so I watched their little opening ceremony and enjoyed a leisurely lunch down by the lake.
By the time I left there even the seating areas were full so I swung by guest relations to check the right ticket had been used (I have several non expiry ones) and get my very old (2005) ticket updated. It still had 2x PH days and a water park day left.

Got the bus back to AoA as it arrived first and walked across the bridge. Chilling out more in my room but still no sign of my parcels. Check in said they'd be delivered to my room but all that was here was the "Magical extras" booklet that was supposed to be given to me at check in (said she was disinterested) but no luggage tag even though it's listed as being included.

Hung out by the bowling pool for a while as it was quite a bit quieter than the hippy dippy pool. Temp was up in the 90s. There's nowhere by the pools to refill your mugs unfortunately which is a shame.

Back at the room and still no sign of my parcels so I went back to the front desk. A lovely CM gave me some luggage tags and could see my packages on the system straight away - all 11 of them!
They filled a trolley and she arranged for someone from bell services to walk back with me to assist. I got some stares from the check in line ! 😀
This is my (sideways) basket from Mouse to Your House.
Fortunately a lot of the deliveries had been split into multiple parcels and were in oversized boxes. So I managed to consolidate them into 2 boxes and it *should * fit in my case if I don't do any more shopping...

The plan had been to head back out to a park - either AK or DHS for an hour but there were reported of an accident on world drive (a sign had come down after being hit) and the traffic was backing up. So I decided to take the camera over to AoA and grab some food at landscape of flavors. Creste your own pasta (really good) and a dory cupcake - plus I switched my drink for a pastry for the morning. It seemed a lot less hectic over there than at Pop.
Started to stroll around the resort looking for potential night shots as I had my gorillapod but with the darkening skies and lightning in the distance decided I didn't want to get rained on! Headed back and watched the star wars fireworks - the were some lovely colours on the lake, I must try to get some pictures before I leave here.

Day 2 at Pop and I've finally had dome semi decent coffee now my coffee maker has arrived. Went well the last night's Danish.
It's early entry here at DHS. The park has just opened to non resort guests and I've got my first fix of ToT.

My favourite ride. Even better when it's a walk on 👍

For those thinking QSDP is just burgers and nuggets...

Yesterday I had pulled pork and ribs, last night shrimp pasta and today new York strip.

Did my 3 fast passes - star tours, toy story and ToT (again) and caught the little mermaid show. Lunch was steak (as above) in the commissary. Started to flag again by now - I'm not sleeping very well still so decided to head back to chill and pack. Yes pack!
I made a last minute decision to stay somewhere "nice" on my birthday...

..so I'm currently chilling at the Poly after renting dvc points. Bit of an extravagance but I'd like a nice meal and cocktail without having to travel too far. I've also got keys to the Kingdom tour tomorrow morning so it made sense.

Unfortunately this is my expensive lake view. the only request I made was high floor.
The front desk say they've nowhere else, it's a busy weekend. To say I'm disappointed doesn't come close. It's a MNSSHP night and I had planned to watch the fireworks from the balcony. So if you book lake view at the Poly - this Falls into that category. I'd call it bungalow and fence view. OH but I can hear the ferries coming in and out of the dock...

I did pop into MK for an hour - got a fp for buzz and people watched for a while. It's a party night and there arw some fabulous costumes.
The plan is now dinner at Kona, a lap lap or 2 and watch the fireworks from the beach if I'm still awake!

Dinner at Kona was good. had an excellent server named Tammy.
The lapu lapu made things seem a little better

I ended up having dessert to go after being brought a birthday cup cake. Made a nice late night snack lol!
I could see the high level fireworks from the one side of the patio so it wasn't all bad. I'm still going to send some pretty frank feedback though.
Off to bed and an early start for KTTK (no monorail or boats so lost some of my location advantage after all)

Early morning on Main Street - the line for those with pre park opening reservations was huge - so glad I left early.

Five and a half hours later we finished.
We had an unscheduled so to rescue a lost child enroute!
Now there's a storm brewing - we've had no rain done I've been here - and it's time for my BOG lunch 👍

I sat in the main room - it was busy!

I'd preordained the turkey sandwich! It was good!

...and the chocolate cupcake. Say no more

It really is a pretty setting in that area. I had fp for Ariel and splash but decided to head back after little mermaid.

Tuesday 27th - Last full day at Pop.
I had a breakfast reservation at BOG - couldn't decide whether to do lunch or breakfast so did both '

I had the doughnut - so glad there was fruit in the page to make it healthy...

Then headed over to splash to ride standby as I'd missed it out last night. It was a walk on as the park hasn't long opened and everyone was in the mine train line

It was another glorious morning but there was a fairly high chance of a storm later. If just managed to miss my first train yesterday while having lunch

Got the monorail over to Epcot - I had fp for the frozen ride. It have been "temporarily interrupted" on several occasions according to MDE over the past few days but luck was on my side. It's a well done ride but I wouldn't wait 75mins as a lot in the standby line were doing!

Visited the festival center and bought a sampler package for the food and wine festival and bought my first "sample" in France after having lunch in katsura in Japan

You know how you can feel a Florida storm coming? When the wind starts to pick up and those ominous black clouds appear?

Just got to spaceship earth..

When the heavens opened! Thunder, lightning ⚡

Made a dash for the pop bus stop which obviously is the furthest one away - a common theme...

Splashing through the puddles didn't do my feet much good though. Wet shoes = blisters unfortunately

So final night at Pop and I decided to go to the all new and improved Disney Springs for dinner and a wander

Lovely view from the Coca-Cola bar

Headed to Blaze for dinner. The build your own pizza was lovely as was the blood orange lemonade

Not too sure what to make of DS now - bit too much like the generic shopping malls

With the addition of the obligatory Mickey balloons 😎

Want really in the mood for shopping but went to Sephora so I could collect my birthday treat (Marc Jacobs mini lipstick and eye liner). I've not done any shopping yet!

Popped into world of Disney for a wander then headed back to the bus stop. Long way!
Tomorrow is Wednesday and I had to the Boardwalk and a new trip report.
Thanks for reading so far 👍

[Floridaagogo]

Great start.cant believe the lions moved.thought they were stuffed 😀

[Jake71]

A good first day.

[Melbatb]

A busy mornng

Hope the parcels turn up soon!

[mick]

Great first day glad you got all your parcels

Joan

[Orlandobelle]

Originally Posted by mick

Great first day glad you got all your parcels

Joan

See more...

Not as glad as me!
Got a couple of really cool things from Hot Topic - quite impressed as I thought it was a bit of a teenage geek shop but their plus size range is nice

[Cinderella]

Glad you have your parcels!

[mick]

Happy Birthday for today have great day

Joan

[Jake71]

I'd be disappointed with that view too, such a shame. But you had a good day at HS, ToT is one of my very favourites. Hope you had a nice birthday dinner and some cocktails.

[Michelle]

Great start Tracy..

Poly room looks lovely, what a shame about the view though not nice at all.