Princess Girls Magic Bands, FP+, MDE App, OH MY... Trip Report!

Cast of Characters:

Julie Disney planner
Fred Good Sport
Morgan 14
Maddie 13

Resort: Pop Century
Dates: November 20-27!!

We flew out of Newark on Jet Blue at 10am on Thursday 11/20 with no problems, everything on time, landed, quickly made our way to the Magic Express bus took off within 20 minutes of us getting there, and with one stop at the Art of Animation, we found ourselves checked in to a great room on floor 2 of building 5 facing the lake at the Pop! We ditched our carryon's put on the Mickey Ears and were off and running over to Epcot (Magic Kingdom had a Christmas Party that night). Did a few attractions, had character interaction with Minnie, Mickey and Goofy, had a terrific dinner at Teppan Edo, first of many Starbucks throughout the week and were treated to a wonderful fireworks display after the crowd cleared out in the World Showcase, as Disney was honoring their 10/15/20/25+ year employees with a big party over at the studios, and had a awesome firework display that was shown behind the American pavilion. We had a great view and this was a bonus treat!
Friday was a fun day at the Studios, which we used our FP's, met up with a CM that I know, who gave us more FP's to make for a great day, headed over to the Rose and Crown for dinner, which turned out to be a new family favorite!!! I met up with Intercot's very own Christine Warner at Gary's Column for a few :beer::beer: and some fun with British invasion! Love that Christine!!! I watched illuminations while my family was on Test Track...I had a "puker" behind me:ill: and annoying people in front of me with their kids sky high on their shoulders. Thanks for blocking my entire view....:confused: so I had to move to enjoy!!!
Saturday brought the Magic Kingdom and meeting up with Marci aka Disney4me2 from Intercot and Intercot's very own Hammer!!! Great to hang with fellow Intercotee's!
By my 3rd day in Disney I discovered that I was NOT a fan of the FP+ system at all..... I felt like we hardly did anything, and we did do a full out 13 hour day in here, and got 5 FP's today. Not enough. Highlights today were meeting up with Marci and Jess and our first Mine Train experience, and eating at Be Our Guest and meeting up with Christine! It was warm too! Peter Pan was never under 90 minutes all day either.....:confused: We had a great dinner at Whispering Canyon and went back to the Magic Kingdom. We did manage 3X on Splash, 2X on Big Thunder, and 2X on Space, plus a Mine Train.
Sunday was another Magic Kingdom day!! We got 6 FP, 3 after we used our first 3 and one for Peter Pan...because who would want to wait 90 minutes for Peter Pan??? Good Magic Kingdom day with a delicious dinner at Liberty Tree!
Monday brought Animal Kingdom and 87 degree heat and humidity. Yes, it must be an Animal Kingdom day. I do love this park! The African Vibe, and it's becoming a party park! The Harambe area in the afternoon was fun. Band playing, some nice drinks, sunshine...It was all good!
We did 3X Expedition Everest, Festival of Lion king, lunch, Safari, Dinosaur and hung out for a while enjoying the sights and sounds and :beer: before heading over to Boma for dinner. Great experience, and delicious food! After Boma we hit the studios for the Osbourne Lights, which we all really enjoyed. Beautiful spectacular as always. We hit a few attractions here as well. Our only bad bus experience was here too. Scooters and their families of 20+ people who don't have to wait in line made our line extremely long, and it was hot, and after 10pm, so people were cranky and tired. I have no problems with scooters or people who need them. I do have an issue when your entire family reunion hops on the bus when you have been in line for over 1/2 hour. (Rant over)
Tuesday brought EPIC EPIC FLOODING RAINS ALL DAY LONG!!!! Whoa.... We had an early start in Epcot in Norway at the Askerhaus Princess Breakfast, which is a family favorite, and the skies opened up. Askerhaus was leaking inside, and the water from the rain was pouring in the front door. The manager here was working his hardest to combat the situation. Also, a tornado warning, screamed on most people's smart phones, which was a bit unnerving. We enjoyed our Princess time here though...and decided that the rains let up enough to head over to the Land, where we felt like we could spend some time, we had a Soarin' FP to use too! Half way to the land, the skies opened up again, and there was so much water everywhere, that we took off our shoes and socks because there was 2' of water in places, and we had to pick up the pace because Disney CM's were out telling us to take cover because of the Tornado warning. I didn't think it rained this hard in November...really I didn't!!!! We were completely soaked, even in poncho's/raingear, but we made it to the Land, where we were hunkering down for a while. We enjoyed the day in Epcot, and even did Ellen's energy Adventure solely for napping purposes... before making our way over to the Magic Kingdom and dinner at the Kona Kafe, which was the BEST meal of the week!!! Everything was simply delicious!!! The rains were back with a vengeance, but that would not stop us from an evening in the Magic Kingdom, we actually got on a lot of attractions. NO wait for anything, but the weather was miserable, which lead me to make my next decision after drying off back at the hotel room. All the weather forecasts were predicting a major impact storm for the Northeast for Wednesday..our departure day...the busiest travel day of the year. Storm would be worse as the day wore on. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 7:30pm, which meant only delays or cancellation. I called Jet Blue who I saw were waiving fees if you were in the affected weather area. I was able to get the last 4 seats on a 10am flight out Thursday (Thanksgiving day) and a quick call to the Pop front desk revealed that we could stay in our room another night for a $150. Done. We were staying. Not dealing with being at the airport all night. We had planned to spend the day in the Magic Kingdom before we needed to be back at the Pop for the Magic Express bus, and even had a few CS meals left on our dining plan. Winner!!! WE ARE STAYING AN EXTRA DAY!!!
Enjoyed a beautiful last day in the Magic Kingdom, our favorite park. Had another Mine Train experience, watched the parades, had dinner at Cosmic Ray's, rode on lots of attractions, and I had a delightful cup of Starbuck's while we enjoyed Wishes before heading out of the park. Perfect day!
Our travel home was uneventful and timely!! We were able to watch the Thanksgiving Parade while flying, and we made it to Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's on time!
It was an amazing fun good trip! I will post a final thoughts too! I do have some!!! Thanks for reading!
Julie:mickey: