Pop, Pop, Poppity-Pop! A November 2014 trip report

[annegirl]

I love the interaction with Aurora, the 'are you real' is adorable! Seems like a great meal!

We loved the pavilion in Mexico and the boat ride, that was one of G's favorites. You are so right, it is gorgeous in there!

Love the Pick a Pearl pics, big bonus the girls got the same size pearl! And fun for your mom to get 2! Great updates!

Yes, the interaction with Aurora was so great. She was so sweet and really took that extra time to make it so special for Maddy.
I am so glad we had more time to explore World Showcase this trip. There are so many awesome things to see and do.
I couldn't believe they got the same size pearl. It worked out great!

SOunds like a fun time in World Showcase! The Mexico Pavillion is so cool, and I love pick a pearl!!

It was so much fun. I love Pick a pearl too. It is such a fun thing to do!

 

[annegirl]

For dinner we were going somewhere we had never been before. We were so excited to try out 'Ohana!

As soon as we got to the Polynesian resort I took the girls into the bathroom to change into their dinner clothes.

Then we took a picture of them next to the restaurant sign.

We checked in and settled in the waiting area until we were buzzed.
We were there a bit early so we thought we might have a longer wait.
But in the end we only waited about 15-20 minutes and got in about an hour earlier than our reservation.
It worked out perfectly.
The girls did some play packs while we waited.

We got a big table in the corner with a pretty nice view.
We could even see the castle in the distance.
The only thing we didn't get to experience while here are the activities. They were doing a coconut race when we first got there but it was on the other side of the restaurant and I figured they would do another later.
But they never did any of the activities the rest of the time we were there. (At least that I knew about) But honestly, our experience was so great that didn't even matter. Just gives us something to look for next time!

Blurry... but I still wanted to add it.

The food was absolutely fantastic.
Everything we hoped it would be.
The food came out family style (except for the meat they brought around on skewers) and we could serve ourselves and we all ate plenty.
The girls were the only ones that didn't really like it.
They both kind of tasted things and were not that into it.
Our waiter noticed that and brought out another plate with mac and cheese and chicken nuggets on it.
So, obviously, our girls loved him.
My favorite thing was the Pot Stickers. They were so delicious

You can see the castle way back there...

Soon our "cousin" brought out dessert. Heavenly.

Maddy had noticed thus far on the trip that she was getting birthday cupcakes pretty much everywhere we went and that if she had on her birthday button they would notice.
So she insisted on wearing it every day.
While we were enjoying dessert the waiter came over and was talking to us.
Maddy looked at him intently and started pointing at her button, puffing her chest out.
He noticed, made a big deal, and brought her a cupcake.
She was so thrilled.
It was so funny.

Our 'Ohana experience was fantastic. It is definitely now my 2nd favorite Disney World restaurant (after Be Our Guest).
After dinner we planned on trying to catch the Electrical Water Pageant on the beach.
We watched this last time and it was a highlight of the trip for Abi but my parents didn't get to it.
My dad, however, was feeling tired so he went back to the room.
The rest of us walked around Polynesian for a little while taking pictures and browsing the shops.

Up next: Water pageant
​

 

[annegirl]

After exploring the Poly we made our way out to the beach.

We had the whole place to ourselves until right before the pageant.

The girls played in the sand while we waited and had fun with glow sticks.

We had about 2 hours until the pageant but it was really fun to just hang out in the chairs relaxing and talking while the girls played to their hearts content.
It was kind of windy and pretty chilly but such a great evening.

My awesome Mom...

Me and Mom...

The girls had SO much fun.

When the pageant started we all sat back to watch.
It was a cute show.

When it was over the girls wanted to keep playing but we were all exhausted so we dusted them off as good as we could and went back to the monorail. Rode it to the Magic Kingdom. And got on the bus to Pop.
We got to our room, bathed the girls, showered, and went to bed.
It was a long, tiring, but absolutely great day.
​

 

[missangelalexis]

Awesome getting in earlier than your reservation! Nice view of the Grand Floridian! I'm so glad you enjoyed the food! And nice of the waiter to bring out something for the girls to enjoy. Cute pics on the beach! What a great view of the castle and EWP.

 

[ElsasMom]

Woohoo! Rescued photos! So, nice when everything works out & such cute pictures too!

I'm never been to BOG, but I have seen tons of pictures. I love that mosaic over the door outside! I've never seen it before. Amazing. Speaking of amazing, great job on the shoes!

I love the Mickey's Christmas Carol windows. I gave my DD that book this year we must have read it a thousand times.

Double pearls! That's so amazing! I bet they made a huge deal too. What a lovely Epcot day.

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Such a fun day in the world showcase

 

[annegirl]

Awesome getting in earlier than your reservation! Nice view of the Grand Floridian! I'm so glad you enjoyed the food! And nice of the waiter to bring out something for the girls to enjoy. Cute pics on the beach! What a great view of the castle and EWP.

I was so glad we got in early! Our waiter was so great.

Woohoo! Rescued photos! So, nice when everything works out & such cute pictures too!

I'm never been to BOG, but I have seen tons of pictures. I love that mosaic over the door outside! I've never seen it before. Amazing. Speaking of amazing, great job on the shoes!

I love the Mickey's Christmas Carol windows. I gave my DD that book this year we must have read it a thousand times.

Double pearls! That's so amazing! I bet they made a huge deal too. What a lovely Epcot day.

BOG is my very favorite. It is just awesome in every way!
Thank you. I love those shoes so much. I wear them all the time.
They did make a big deal of the pearls. She called them "Twin pearls."

Such a fun day in the world showcase

Yes! It was so fun.

 

[Liz]

It looks like a perfect day/evening and ending with the girls playing on the beach is precious! So cute how Maddy made sure they noticed her birthday button!!

 

[Gracefulskinny]

LOVE Ohana! And glad to see that construction and the new bungalows haven't ruined the view of the castle.

 

[accountingbabe08]

Geat reviews

 

[annegirl]

It looks like a perfect day/evening and ending with the girls playing on the beach is precious! So cute how Maddy made sure they noticed her birthday button!!

It really was such a nice day from start to finish. And playing on the beach was once again one of their favorite things from the trip.

LOVE Ohana! And glad to see that construction and the new bungalows haven't ruined the view of the castle.

yeah, I was so worried about that before we went. But we still had a great view and nice place to hang out.

Geat reviews

thank you!

 

[annegirl]

Sunday we woke up excited for our one day at Animal Kingdom.

I didn't realize that hours had changed and it was now an early entry day opening at 8am so we thought we were getting there early and were not.

We left our room around 8.

I had the girls dressed in their safari themed skirts from our last trip. So happy they still fit them! They were short so they wore little shorts underneath them and then wore the shirts I made with the Animal Kingdom iron ons.

Of course Maddy had on her birthday button.

She was ready for the HOT and sunny day.

Abi had no idea she was going to discover her favorite ride this day!

When we got there at 8:30 thinking we were early I was so confused to see the park was open already and as we walked in I was like where did all these people come from?
These CM's saw Maddy's buttons and started singing to her.
You can see how happy that made her.

I was worried that my mistake was going to make our day harder and not work out the way I had planned... and while there were a few snafu's it still ended up being fine.
We were heading for the Safari first.

I had a fast pass set up for this later but I really wanted to try to get on first thing if possible.
We lucked out and it was almost walk on.
I think we waited about 5 minutes.

It was already getting so hot and was SO humid. We were melting a little.
So it was nice to sit back and watch for the animals.

Tired hippos...

I have never been on a real safari but there are definitely parts of this "ride" that are what I imagine one would be like.

​

 

[annegirl]

We've got giraffes in the road...

Easily one of my favorite Disney World attractions. ​

 

[annegirl]

After our ride, we had to stop at a snack shop for a snack when I saw that they had pretzels.

I have been looking forward to having one of the jalepeno pretzels since my last one on our previous trip.

The girls got regular Mickey head pretzels.

And I got this yumminess

We had a fast pass for the Lion King show so we went straight to that while we ate our snack.
While we waited for it start I changed the fast pass for the safari that we wouldn't need to one for the Finding Nemo show later on in the day.
Soon the show was starting.
We were in the lion section.

Abi loved the tumble monkeys. She kept saying over and over, "They are awesome!"

It was a fun and entertaining show.
Afterward we went to the train that goes to Rafiki's planet watch. This was something we hadn't done before so we were curious.
Our train pulling up.

It was somewhat of a bust.
Once we got there the girls didn't really want to stop and linger along the way because they kept saying they were hot and needed a drink.
We got to the conservation building and I thought they would think that was a cool place to explore and would want to meet Rafiki but they didn't.
They got drinks at a drinking fountain and then they were ready to leave.
We went outside to the petting area and Abi had no interest in touching the animals but Maddy did so Doug and I took her in while my parents stayed out with Abi.
Brushing the goats...

And this big guy...
I actually thought Maddy would get in there and change her mind but she was totally into it.

Once she had decided she was done, we washed our hands and met back up with my parents and Abi.
My mom bought Abi and Maddy each a gigantic cookie.

And by the way that frosting does weird things to kids tongues, teeth, and ... you know.

We rode the train back and got off.

By then it was time for lunch.
We were excited to try out Flame Tree BBQ.
I had heard great reviews so we wanted to see for ourselves.

I can't remember what my parents ordered but here are the pictures. I think they liked it.

Abi and Maddy both had the hot dog meal with grapes and yogurt. They both really enjoyed it.

Doug had the BBQ chicken with baked beans and coleslaw. He said it was great.

I got the salad and it was delicious.
However I was not a fan of my lime dessert.

We had a visitor during lunch.

​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

Yay for safari! The girls outfits are really cute!

 

[annegirl]

After lunch we went to It's Tough to Be a Bug. Abi was so scared of this on our last trip so I was worried about how Maddy would take it. But I figured that Abi would be fine with it this time.

I was wrong.

Abi still ended up on the floor with her eyes closed and hiding the whole time.

And Maddy was on my lap crying against my shoulder and hated every minute of it.

At one point I just started laughing because the whole place was kids screaming and crying.

It was crazy.

When we got out we wanted to meet Pocahontas but she wasn't out or we couldn't find her.

We did find a Photopass photographer and got some shots.

We skipped Flights of Wonder (even though I really enjoyed it on our last trip) because we needed to get to our Expedition Everest fast pass.
My dad didn't want to ride so Doug, Abi, my mom, and I got in line while he waited with Maddy.
On the last trip Doug and I were the only ones that rode this.
I wasn't sure if my mom would like it or not but Abi kept telling her that they could be brave together and if she could do it, Grandma could do it.
So my mom decided to ride with Abi.
Abi was so excited!

Our ride photo.

Abi was so excited when we got off. She wanted to go on it again right away.
And luckily we had two people in our group that hadn't gone on...
So we switched Abi and Maddy's magic band.
And my mom wore my Dad's band.
And they rode again while Doug and I stayed with my dad and Maddy.
Their ride photo...

This became something very special for them to have shared together. They were so proud of each other for trying it and had so much fun together.
And this is by far Abi's favorite ride in all of Disney World now.

We found another Photo pass photographer and had to get some photos with the mountain behind us.

The proud girls!

At this point we stopped for drinks and then went to ride Triceratop Spin. Maddy was so excited for this ride since it is her favorite kind of dinosaur and she got the green one at Build a Dino on the first night of the trip.
So she felt like we were going on a ride in Cutie Sweetheart.

​

 

[annegirl]

We decided to skip Dinosaur although I kind of wish we hadn't. We needed to get to our Nemo show soon and knew that Maddy wouldn't want to go on and neither would my dad. So we just walked right by.
Soon we were going into the theater and to the fast pass area- very close to the stage!

We were all so sweaty and tired and the girls got super goofy while we waited in the awesome air conditioning.

Then Maddy went to Grandpa for some snuggling time.

We all loved how at certain parts of the show they were right by us.
The girls thought that was the coolest.

Everyone enjoyed the show.
After we got out of Nemo we decided to leave the park.
We all wanted an early day and needed to get some laundry done.
So we made our way back to Pop.

I had a reservation for Beaches and Cream for this night to get the Kitchen Sink again but we just didn't feel like it. We were all too tired to go anywhere this evening.
Luckily they let me cancel it.
We rested, swam at the pool, and did laundry.

We ate dinner at the cafeteria in Pop.
I didn't take any pictures and didn't even take notes of what everyone had.
Like I said, I was tired.

We went back to the room after dinner and the girls were asleep within minutes.

In retrospect I wish we would have worked Animal Kingdom in on another day and had Sunday be a rest day.
Since my parents were leaving soon I tried to pack in everything while they were there with us. And that made for a very tiring trip!
So even though there were a few more things we could have done this day- I am glad we went back to the room early and skipped Beaches and cream because we definitely needed to get to bed early and rest up for my parent's last park day the next day.
​

 

[Gracefulskinny]

And by the way that frosting does weird things to kids tongues, teeth, and ... you know.

And I'm sure that red frosting from Ariel was especially ahhh.....INTERESTING when discovering the.... "you know". I've heard that as cute as they are that they really don't taste that great. This has given me the warning needed

At one point I just started laughing because the whole place was kids screaming and crying.

Thus why I plan to give this ride a WIDE berth while there!

 

[annegirl]

Exactly! They didn't eat the whole cookie and it was just gross. At first it freaked me out and then Doug reminded me of the frosting. Yuck.

 

[annegirl]

Yay for safari! The girls outfits are really cute!

thank you !