Trip highlights while staying at pop century

I’ve never written a trip report so here goes! We arrived on Tuesday the 22nd. Got in around 11 am. We stayed at pop and got a connecting room with my friend and her daughter. We were in 50’s preferred section. We were on the 3rd floor close to buses and food court. We got lunch, went swimming and disney springs on 1st night. Did trex for dinner, but I don’t think we will go again.
Our 1st full day started early arriving at 7:30 am at MK for crystal palace breakfast. We really enjoyed the god and characters! We got so much done at MK including BOG for lunch. We all enjoyed the lunch there as much as dinner we had on a previous trip. We were able to get FP for mine train. While I enjoyed the ride i would not wait very long for it! Our day ended with the MVT dessert party at EPCOT where we were able to see illuminations. I enjoyed illuminations a lot!
Day 2 another early day with pre RD reservation at Hollywood and Vine. We were the first family of the day and got a special picture with all the characters. My oldest son did Jedi training and that was very cool. We enjoyed lots of Star Wars stuff as my husband is a huge fan. Only ride we wanted to do but didn’t was rnrc just because of time. We left before fantasmic because we were so tired.
Day 3 up early for mk emh. Loved the morning hours because we got a lot of stuff done including Peter Pan which we couldn’t do last time as it was closed for refurbishment. Did Chef Mickey for lunch the back to pop for naps. Headed back to park around 5:30 for MNSSHP. I’ve never done a party before and absolutely found it to be worth every penny. However, my friend had gotten extremely dehydrated and overheated so she ended up at the ER. The rain was kind of a bummer because if meant we missed spooktacular stage show and no headless horseman for 2nd parade.
Day 4 we headed to EPCOT did soarin right off twice because wait was so short. Did Garden Grill at 10:00 am and I really liked it. Much better than chef Mickey because much lower key and food is brought to you! Did a bunch of rides including figment which I hadnt done before. We did dinner at Via Napoli. We ordered the mezzo metro pepperoni which fed 6 of us. Then it started pouring out and thunder and lightning so we hit karemel kuche for some goodies and headed backbto hotel.
Day 5 was our final Animal Kingdom day. Arrived around 7:45 am and waited until 8:15-8:20 am to get into park then headed to Pandora where we waited s little longer. About 8:40 they let us into Pandora and we head to navi river and had no wait. When we were down river ride had to wait for store to open so my oldest son could get a banshee which he absolutely loves! Next up was 4 rides on Everest, dinoland for dinosaur, primeval whirl and 4 trips on triceratops spins for my youngest ds (1). Next up was safari then tusker house. Went on safari again after lunch then Everest with FP. Hit kali river rapids and s couple trails before dinner at rainforest cafe. This was the worst meal we had all week. I’ll never go back. Our waitress was no good and food was just yucky. We hit the safari again after dinner and got to hear the female lions roaring at each other. Another trip down Everest and then back to hotel.
We left this morning( 8/28) and I can’t wait to come back. I did learn some stuff from this trip though. First I will never travel with a friend again. We definitely vacation differently and it caused some tension. I hope that once we are back to real life the friendship survives. Right now it’s just ackward because of some stuff she said and her not understanding why my oldest daughter was acting the way she was. My oldest daughter was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety a couple months ago. The adjustment to her new personality has been challenging for us but my friend just doesn’t understand.
I’m not a huge fan of pop. It isn’t bad but I think I like POR must better. It seemed like pop was always the farthest bus stop!

We came on the free dining which was great but I think I wouldn’t pay for it anymore. We ate differently on this trip than in the past and would rather do just a few table services.

We loved pandora and flights of passage. That ride was truly amazing. Well I think that does it! I’m sure I missed lots of amazing stuff we did but as always Disney was magical!

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Thanks for sharing! Hope you and your friend make up now you’re back. Disney can be stressful with the heat and the crowds.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Hope things work out with the friend. I agree, I would not travel with a friend either. In fact, the only person I ever want to travel with is my husband. We did a trip to Las Vegas with my sister and her husband. It was ok and everyone got along fine, but I hated having to compromise on things like where to go next and where we were going to eat.

The first year my husband and I were together we took a family trip to visit his mom in Alabama. His step dad, sister and niece were in one car and me, my husband and his youngest daughter were in another. His middle daughter flew in later. It was a miserable experience sharing a condo with his daughters (adults,) They are slobs and just completely inconsiderate. I wanted to ring his youngest daughter’s neck by the time we made it back home. Never again!

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Thanks for your trip report. You eased some of my anxiety over going to MNSSHP in the rain!

I had a similiar experience with my sister about 10 years ago. She actually tried to get them to ignore my room request! We were both at POR and I love the mansions. She loves AB, so she had me moved- I moved right back! Since then we may meet for a meal in the world but that is it!

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