First of all, I really have to say that the trip down wasn't all that bad. We left our house at around 5:30pm on Friday evening. The kids fell asleep between 9 and 10. The only emergency car activity I had to pull out of my "Mom Bag" was Halloween window clings. I let the kids decorate the back side windows and they loved that! The rest of the time they watched movies. Bryan and I didn't talk for the first 2 hours because we were just reveling in the silence. It. Was. Amazing. We stopped around 4am to sleep, and got back on the road at about 7am when Kennedy declared nap time over because she couldn't sleep any more. Once we started driving, she was asleep. Figures. Without stopping, the road trip would have taken 14 hours, roughly, but it took us about 20 since we stopped to sleep and to let Little A have a potty break every so often.
We got to Disney's Pop Century Resort around 1pm, and we immediately loved the lobby. Super fun in décor, they had games for the kids to play while the parents were checking in, and everyone was amazingly helpful. ** TIP: Check in on-line in advance. All I had to do was show my ID, and they gave me our room keys and a map and a few other bits of info. ** The pool was shaped like a hippy flower, and there was fun 60's music playing everywhere in our area. There was a giant statue of Baloo and Mowgli that my inner child was super-psyched about. The rooms had an exterior corridor, which I kind of hated. Pop Century is a value resort, so it is on the bottom tier price-wise (along with All-Star Sports, The Art of Animation and All-Star Movies). The beds weren't very comfortable, but after full days of parks, we almost didn't even notice. I feel like the rooms were right on par with a nicer Motel. It's a lot cleaner and the service is, of course, way better than one of those sorts of properties, but that's just kind of the feel I got from it. The beauty of Disney properties is that even if you are staying at a Value Resort, it is kept up and cleaned just as well as a Deluxe property. We had our first Disney meal (counter service) at Pop Century and we were all pleased. K got pizza with Ceasar Salad and there was PLENTY to share with Little A, Hubs got a Jalapeno cheeseburger that he was delightfully surprised with, and I got the Cuban sandwich. We all got bottled sodas, a cup that was refillable for the entirety of our stay, and cheesecakes or fruit for dessert that we saved for later. We got to 'pay' for our meals with our Magic Bands. (I explained them in a previous post.) Upon check-in I declined the ability for K to charge things to our room via the Magic Band, but she could still use it to get snacks and meals if she wasn't with us (which, of course, she always was). That first afternoon we basically just hung out at the pool, explored the resort to get our bearings, and checked out the gift shop.
Sky writing over the Hippy Dippy Pool
** We chose to take part in the Disney Dining Plan for our stay. Hubs, K and myself each got an entrée, dessert and non-alcoholic beverage (with refills) for every meal. Each day we got a Table service meal, a counter service meal and a snack. Little A ate off from our meals sometimes and at other times we ordered off the kids menu for her. The DDP was offered to us for FREE during October so it felt like a no-brainer to us. We rarely ever finished all of our food because the portions were pretty big, and sometimes we took dessert to go and ate it for breakfast the next morning. I would use DDP in a heartbeat for our future trips!! **We chose to take the Disney transportation throughout our stay, but there were a few places we decided to drive after checking out this site. It tells you approximately how long Disney transportation will take to get you from one place to another. It was a HUGE help to us in the planning stage of our trip!
Little A, myself and K at Kiwani Village
On our first night, we visited Kiwani Village at Animal Kingdom Lodge for dinner at Sanaa (we drove our own vehicle, as it was only a 15 minute drive, but on the Disney bus, it would have taken about 40 minutes). The kids thought that it was pretty cool that as we waited for our table (not too long since we had reservations) they got to check out some cool animals from the Animal Kingdom park. I definitely want to stay at the Animal Kingdom Lodge sometime in the future!
Sanaa takes it's menu from different regions of Africa with hints of Indian flavors. K and I ordered the slow-cooked butter chicken and the braised short ribs and it was served with your choice of rice. Hubs ordered the NY Strip over potatoes and vegetables, and Little A got the kids fish with rice and mixed veggies. K closed her eyes in absolute kid-foodie delight when she tasted her meal. The chicken had hints of curry and the short ribs tasted almost like there was cinnamon in the background. I was kind of surprised that she liked it so much, until I tasted it myself. Good. Lord. Hubs wasn't super impressed with his steak...It was cooked well, but the seasoning wasn't quite to his liking. When they brought the steak out it was a little over-cooked so he had to send it back. Little A ate almost all of her fish, and a lot of her rice, but she's not a green bean person and since there were green beans in the mixed veggies, she pretty much left those alone. We all got the same dessert: a plate with chocolate mousse, chai cream and coconut cheesecake. I seriously couldn't eat it all, but I really REALLY wanted to.
I know that this post was super long, but I just have SO much in the way of information and reviews that I want to share with all of you! I planned this trip for almost seven months, and darn it, I want to re-live it as much as possible!! Stay tuned for more (unless you're already bored, then don't...)!!
Kinda worn out,
KDub
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