I love Toy Story, so seeing the entrance to Flower & Garden Festival last year was awesome. 🙂 Just one of the hundreds of pics I took at the Festival last year, a photographer’s (and scrapper’s) dream! Oops, this is supposed to be a wordless post, so let’s just get to the picture!
Hello! Today I am going to post a review of the Pop Century resort. I had the occasion to stay there in September 2011 for a Mousescrappers meet. I was hesitant to stay at a value resort, but since it was a room share I decided to go with the flow. You see, my last stay at a value resort was less than stellar so I was really hoping that the POP would live up to all of the hype I have read about it on-line. At the very least I knew it would be a great place to take some photos!
My roommate told me that check-in was smooth and effortless. The group I went with were picking me up at the airport later in the day, so they arrived first and did all of the check-in for me. This is on par with most of my other resort stays in WDW. After a long day of travel and dinner with MouseScrapper friends, I finally got my first view of the resort very late at night. It was very easy to navigate the parking lot and find a parking space. We had a room in the 50s section and our walk to the room wasn’t too far from parking. We stayed in room 3307, which was located just behind the statue of the Tramp and overlooking the bowling pin pool. I have read on-line that sometimes the pool view rooms can be noisy, but I did not find that to be the case. There were a lot of people in the pool when we got back to our rooms late in the evening, but the noise levels were pretty low and never penetrated our room. Here is the view from the balcony outside of our room and from ground level:
The room was clean and tidy, and certainly big enough for me and my roommate. There was a flat screen TV on top of a dresser with 3 drawers and a few shelves. There was also a table with 2 chairs and a nightstand between the beds. We found that there was enough storage for the two of us. A family of 4 would be comfortable here, as long as they didn’t have too many bags to take up space. The bathroom was an adequate size. There was only a single sink, so that area got a little crowded with the toiletries for two women. A hairdryer was included in the sink area, so it was nice to not have to pack one in our suitcases. The closet space was adequate as well and included a room safe that was big enough to hold 2 small laptops. The room theming was clean, simple and modern. The carpet had Mickey heads in the design. The bedspreads were color blocked with character silhouettes, and there was one piece of artwork on the wall with a montage of elements from the 50s. While there were certainly no frills here, it was definitely comfortable and clean.
I finally got a chance to check out the lobby and main area of the resort on the first morning of my trip. I am a fairly early riser, so everyday after getting up I went over to the food court to get some tea and breakfast. My first impression of the lobby was that it is huge, and surprisingly not very crowded. It was 7:30 in the morning though. I was impressed with the wall of memorabilia that they had there. All along the wall across from the check-in desk they have several large shadow boxes for each decade with all kinds of items found in their respective decade. I found myself drawn to them and looking in wonder over all of the items I remember from my childhood. At the far end of the lobby there is a cute kids’ area with Disney videos playing on a cool retro designed TV. It was one of the biggest kids’ areas I have seen at a Disney Resort. Considering the potential volume of guests though, it seemed adequate. At the other end of the lobby is the huge food court and shopping area. The whole area is called Everything Pop, and certainly has just about everything you might need on vacation – from toiletries and sunblock to bathing suits and souvenirs. The food court is made up of several different food stations, where you can get what you like and then you go to check out at a central set of registers. This again was typical for a lot of Disney resorts just on a larger scale than most. Most prices are fairly reasonable. I spent less than $5 every morning for a cup of tea and a banana or pastry. I splurged on the last day of my visit and got a kids Mickey shaped waffle with two pieces of bacon and applesauce with my tea for about $7. I keep hearing good things about the mickey waffles and was really excited about trying one. It did not disappoint. It was very fluffy and light and tasty. The only other meal I ate in the food court was a late dinner I got one night. I ordered a tuna salad sandwich and that was also very tasty. The service was good and I had no complaints about the food court at all, though I would like to see how smoothly it would go getting a meal for my whole family there.
The bus area is just outside the front lobby and is huge. From our room in the 50s section it wasn’t a bad walk, only about 5-7 minutes. There are large queuing areas for each park stop, and for Downtown Disney. My biggest complaint about the whole resort is that there is no cover for the waiting area for the buses. I am very fair-skinned and definitely felt a little cooked after waiting in the hot sun for 10-15 minutes for a bus. I would definitely advise putting your sunblock on before waiting in the queue area. Though the lines could seem long at times, they were really good at at keeping buses coming to the park stop we were at until they got everyone waiting loaded up. On our return trips from the parks they were the same, and I felt that the buses were pretty consistent overall at showing up every 10-15 min, sooner if the lines were huge.
I had the occasion to try out the laundry facilities. It was right across from my building next to the pool area. I was up especially early one morning and decided to do a small load. I think the cost for a wash was $2 and $2 for a 30 min drying cycle. I only had a small load to do, so one drying cycle was fine for my needs. If you have a larger load of wash you may need more drying time. The area was clean, had a change machine and the option to purchase laundry soap and fabric softener. I always bring my own laundry soap and dryer sheets, so I did not need to purchase these. If you go outside of the regular opening times for the laundry, just make sure you have your room key to get you into the laundry room. They lock it late in the evening until the morning. It is nice that it is right by the pool. I was able to run and get some breakfast and sit at a table by the pool to enjoy the view while I waited for my laundry.
Every morning after I had my breakfast I would take short strolls around the other areas of the resort to see some of the other icons and details. Here is where I really enjoyed the resort the most. Like most scrapbookers I know, I love taking pictures and this resort did not disappoint with all of the photo opportunities. Each pool has its own unique theming and the larger than life icons were such fun to take pictures of. What I didn’t plan on was feeling the same sense of wonder and joy I did as a kid when seeing all of the toys I played with as a child. It really took me back to that time in my life. Aside from all of the toy icons, they have a lot of other neat items there. The front of the resort has large displays of the years and the resort signage is not to be missed. They also have a 50s style golf cart and luggage carriers that look like real luggage. If you have time for a stroll as I did on my last morning at the resort, you can walk along the path next to hourglass lake which has signs with facts about each year from 1950 to 1999. I was also able to catch a few glimpses of the new Art of Animation resort across the lake on my stroll and I can’t wait to see what that place will be like when its finished. I also loved how amazing night time at the resort was to take photos too. Everything is all light up and it really makes for some fun photo opportunities too.
Overall I have to say I really enjoyed my stay at the Pop Century resort. It has great theming, service, friendly staff, and fabulous photo opportunities. The only downsides for me on this trip was the lack of shade at the bus stop and the long lines that can develop at the bus stop making travel time seem longer than it is at some of the other resorts I have been to. I would definitely stay here again sometime. I also had a chance to scrap a few pages from my stay here.
I hope you enjoy them!
Julie
One of Walt’s most famous edicts about Disneyland, whilst it was still in the design phase, is that it would be “surrounded by a train”.
The Disneyland Railroad (formerly the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad) opened with the park in 1955. Equivalent Railroads have been opening day attractions at Walt Disney World (WDW), Tokyo Disneyland (TDL), Disneyland Paris (DLP) and Hong Kong Disneyland, with one planned for the forthcoming Shanghai park.
With the exception of TDL’s Western River Railroad, all Railroads circle the park and have stops by the park entrance. There is so much that can be written about all five Railroads (not to mention the other train rides at the parks, such as Big Thunder Mountain, Casey Jr. or the Wildlife Express Train) but this article will focus solely on the basics, specifically referring to WDW and DLP.
THE NOMENCLATURE
DLP’s Railroad is now known as the Disneyland Railroad, although it opened as the Euro Disneyland Railroad in 1992. Although the attraction changed its name in the mid-1990s, the trains themselves didn’t lose the word “Euro” until early 2002. The word wasn’t removed from the water tower by Frontierland Depot until 2009, and the initials EDRR are still visible on the iron railings at Main Street station.
The trains are called George Washington (with its carriages named after places important in Washington’s life: Mt Vernon, Boston, Philadelphia, Yorktown and Valley Forge), C.K. Holliday (with carriages named after the top vacation locations from yesteryear: Coney Island, Atlantic City, Chesapeake, Long Island and Niagara Falls); W.F. Cody (with carriages named after Western US cities: Silverton, Durango, Denver, Wichita and Cheyenne) and Eureka (with carriages named after Californian cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Monterey, San Diego and Sacramento).
WDW’s Railroad is called the Walt Disney World Rail Road. The trains are called Walter E. Disney, Lilly Belle, Roger E. Broggie and Roy O. Disney, but the carriages do not have individual names.
THE STATIONS
Main Street Station was an opening day attraction at both resorts. Taking this stop as a starting/ending point, the trains in WDW currently call at the following stations: Main Street Station, Frontierland Station (which opened in its original position in 1972, and in its new location in the early 1990s); Fantasyland Station (which opened in 2012, replacing Toontown Fair Station, which had replaced Duckberg Station); Main Street Station.
The route at Disneyland Paris is as follows: Main Street Station; Frontierland Depot (which opened with the park in 1992); Fantasyland Station (which opened with the park); Discoveryland Station (which opened in July 1993 to coincide with a new post-show to Star Tours); Main Street Station.
The Main Street Stations are the only ones not to use the title of their land in their nomenclature, seeing as neither feature “U.S.A.” in their official name. In terms of theming and location, there are many ways in which both versions of this stop are similar. For example, both are located above the entrance to the park, both are themed to a small town station from the turn of the twentieth century, both have featured prop fire buckets which many Guests believe to be there in case of a genuine emergency and both feature announcements solely made in English.
Three other details which set Main Street Station in Paris apart are: the viewing area for the parade (although this is often shut), the maroon band organ in the centre of the platform and the stained glass windows representing landmarks which can be found in the other lands of the park. From left to right, these windows show the Orbitron (Discoveryland), Sleeping Beauty Castle (Fantasyland), Captain Hook’s Galley (Adventureland) and the Mark Twain passing Big Thunder Mountain (Frontierland).
In Disneyland Paris, the stop in Frontierland is the only one in the park to not feature the word “Station” in its title; it is officially named Frontierland Depot. Its look is based on the original design for the Frontierland Station in California (still visible the other side of the tracks from New Orleans Square Station), which in turn was based on the one which appeared in the 1948 Disney film So Dear to My Heart.
Both Frontierland Depot in DLP and Frontierland Station in WDW feature a telegraph key which taps out part of Walt Disney’s 1955 dedication to Disneyland. The former has a water tower for replenishing the tenders of the Railroad trains; in WDW the water tower can be found at Fantasyland Station.
THE GRAND CIRCLE TOUR
Both Railroads travel solely in a clockwise direction and have 3ft narrow gauge tracks. The length of the onstage portion of the tracks is 7817ft in Florida and 7217.8ft in Paris. Due to the difference in distance travelled, one would expect WDW to have the longer “Grand Circle Tour” (i.e. getting on at a random station, riding the Railroad past all stops, then getting off where one boarded) yet this lasts approximately twenty minutes in Florida and thirty in France.
The WDW Grand Circle Tour features glimpse of outdoor animatronics in WDW not visible from anywhere else accessible to Guests. It also passes through Splash Mountain, and gives an up-close view of Big Thunder Mountain. The DLP Grand Circle Tour goes through Pirates of the Caribbean and an equivalent of Anaheim’s Grand Canyon Diorama.
Other than when a station is shut for a refurbishment, generally Guests can embark or disembark at any stop of the Disneyland Railroad in WDW. In DLP, this is not always the case, especially off-season and/or early or late in the day. It has been known for Guests to only be allowed to board or exit at the station in Main Street, U.S.A. A variant on this (which usually occurs when staff is limited) is where Guests can only board at that station but can disembark wherever they wish.
Another time when the DLP Railroad has specific boarding requirements are when the park runs “Good Morning Fantasyland” character breakfasts. This means Guests can get to a restaurant in Fantasyland, without having to go through Main Street, U.S.A., which may not have opened to the public yet, and may still be full of maintenance staff.
“Times and conditions change so rapidly that we must keep our aim constantly focused on the future.” – Walt Disney
If you’ve been to any Disney Park more than once, then chances are you’ve probably experienced the closing of one or more attractions. Since my first visit as a child to Walt Disney World in 1972, I’ve witnessed the closure of several attractions including two of my childhood favorites, Skyway to Tomorrowland/Fantasyland and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. I’ve yet to visit the Magic Kingdom without reminiscing about these and other “gone but not forgotten” attractions and feeling a little sad that they are no longer part of the magic.
Photo taken on one of my husband’s childhood trips in the 70’s.
When Disney announced that they were going to be removing an entire land due to the Fantasyland expansion, it was almost too much for me to comprehend. I mean, just like the skyway and submarines of my childhood, there were attractions in Mickey’s Toontown Fair that have been part of the lives of my own children that they will not be able to revisit with their children one day. Curiosity soon replaced nostalgia and excitement began to build as details emerged with sketches of new places to visit in this new area. It helped that the Dream Builder signs on the retaining walls in Fantasyland reminded us in Walt’s own words that Disney must move forward and focus on the future. No Disney park is a museum enshrined in the past, but an environment that must keep growing and changing with the times and with technology. That means we have to let go a little of the past to make room for the future.
As memory keepers, we have our own special way of coping with change by documenting these attractions so we can keep their memory fresh in our minds. There are many ways to document attractions in your scrapbook that are closed or are scheduled to be closed. A scrapbook layout can be made of pictures taken at or on the attraction throughout the years. Another way to document the change is to include pictures of the attraction before it closed and then another picture in the same spot after it has been replaced with something new. I made the following layout after our trip in 2010 when we knew it would be our last trip to Toontown to document all the years we visited Mickey’s Toontown Fair.
This column will be used to discuss and reminisce about favorite Disney attractions, parades, restaurants, etc. that are no longer in existence. We hope to inspire you to preserve your own memories of not just these things but for all of your Disney memories.
‘We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney
If you use Disney Transportation to get back and forth from the parks, then a lot of that worry is conveniently taken care of for you. We drive to Disney and stay off property since we tend to stay together in a larger group. The one thing I suggest if you are not familiar with Disney property and getting around … pre-program the address of the destination you are heading to into your GPS. I keep a log of all the addresses of all the parks and destinations in my travel log notebook … so just in case we are on the road and change destinations we can input the information quick and easy. The first few times we had to do this then quickly were able to find our way around.
The “first” thing I do when I get out of the vehicle is take a photo of the nearest sign for where we parked either on our digital camera or camera phone. After a long day at the park you can fast forward through the pictures you took and remember exactly where you need to be. This has been a big help and a great way to avoid arguments as to others lack of direction … not that anyone of us has ever had a significant other ever screw up directions? Or ever have a significant other own up to being lost.
One thing we do by staying off property is freeze bottles of water back at the vacation home and take those frozen bottles with us when we go. The bottles will thaw out through the day, but you will always have a cold drink of water at your hands. Very important in the hot summer months. Bottles of water at the parks are very expensive in my opinion. So we go to a place like Walmart and buy a case of water when we first arrive.
Note if you are going to do this … you will have to open the bottle and pour a small amount out of it before freezing it. This will allow for expansion in the bottle when the water freezes and the bottle won’t explode. Trust me .. I am speaking from experience here.
Now that our children are older they all are required to carry backpacks or small drawstring bags (like you see above), with all their necessities. They carry their autograph books/pens, a camera if they are carrying one, baby wipes or hand sanitizer, gum (this isn’t sold in any of the Disney parks), travel size Kleenex, a small change carrier for pennies to put in the penny press machines, rain poncho, sunglasses, extra zip-lock bag, an extra shirt in a zip lock bag. You have no idea how much that comes in handy sometimes if spills happen. I also put their bottle of water or drinks in a zip-lock so just in case something explodes or pops … everything in their backpack doesn’t get ruined.
Now that we don’t have little ones … there isn’t that room to stick things in the basket of a stroller. So we don’t take in too many items into the parks. The adults both carry a backpack as well. And are usually the ones with pain medicines, bennadryl (especially for me since I fall allergic to certain things), band-aids, insect repellant, sunscreen, extra zip-locks (these come in handy for food that you might want to stick in there and snack on later while you are in the parks). I also carry snacks for the kids in my bag. If they carried it in theirs they would have it all gone before we got into the parking lot. This helps cut down on the “I’m hungry” whine all the time. We usually will snack while we’re standing in long lines. Instead of stopping everything to snack … we snack while we wait, just helps us make the most of our time at the parks.
I hope a few of these little tips and tricks help you make your trip to Disney a little more enjoyable and a much easier so everyone can enjoy the experience. I have tons more ideas and look for another blog post later in the month from me how I put together my own travel log/Disney diary, that keeps track of where we went when and any special moments we experienced.
