Mandymouse's Pop'ping, Dream'ing with a touch of Pink Trippy (COMPLETE)

[TotallyAngelic]

Excellent photos! Love the silhouette one with the trees Sounds like a lovely day.

 

[mandymouse]

Tuesday 13th September, '11

We were all up around 6am today as Kerry & Bex were checking into the Hard Rock Hotel for the night and wanted to check-in early and get into Islands of Adventure for the extra hour that morning

I got them checked in, and thankfully their room was ready, so they headed off to IOA and the rest of us were heading to Kennedy Space Center

First stop was breakfast at the Ponderosa on I-Drive, it was ok, nothing special, but we were all full when we left. We had a quick wander around Bargain World next door then got back in the car and drove off to Cape Canaveral

We arrived around 9.45am, and went straight to get the bus for the first tour at 10am. First stop was the gantry where we watched a film and took some photos

We then hopped back on the bus and visited the Apollo/Saturn V Center, where we took lots more photos and enjoyed some burgers

Touching the Moon

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[mandymouse]

...

After an hour we caught the bus back to the main visitor complex where we went on a Space Shuttle Launch Simulator (pretty cool), wandered around a Shuttle, saw a Star Trek Exhibition, met an 'astronaut', looked around the rocket garden and of course popped into the gift shop

'Make it so !'

We left around 2.45pm, and we'd all had a lovely day and had enjoyed it a lot more than we thought we would

Once back at the Pop, we chilled by the pool and later in the evening Paul & I caught the bus to Epcot for a drinky or two around 'The World'

Who is this strange woman who is always in our photos ?

 

[jockey]

Another lovely day, and more fab pics! I have not been to KSC since 2006..I think a visit is due

 

[mandymouse]

Wednesday 14th September, '11

We had a bit of a lie in today, and we didn't get up much before 9am. Becky & Luis met us outside our room and we drove over to the Contemporary Resort as we had an ADR at Chef Mickey

We arrived at 10.35am for our 10.45am reservation and the waiting area was very busy. Our pager finally lit up at 11.10am and got seated with a view over to the Magic Kingdom

As always we really enjoyed this breakfast. We all went up for several plates of food, fruit and cakes and we met Goofy, Pluto, Mickey, Minnie and Donald and we took part in some napkin waving too

Becky and Luis kindly paid our bill as a thank you for bringing them on holiday hug: thank you so much !). After a quick look around the Contemporary shops we dropped Becky & Luis back to the Pop, and Paul & I went to pick Kerry & Bex up from the Hard Rock Hotel

Kerry wanted one last look around the Mall at Millenia, so as we were up that way we called in, and she treated herself to a lovely pair of Chanel earrings. As we left the shopping mall we saw a Krispy Kreme shop, so it would've been rude not to call in and buy a few

Once back at the Pop, Paul & I lay in the lovely sunshine for an hour. After a while Becky & Luis went off to Epcot, Kerry & Bex went to the Magic Kingdom to meet up with our friends, and Paul & I took the bus to DownTown Disney (we were hoping to head to Epcot later).

We had a good look around the shops at DTD taking notes along the way of what we were planning to buy later in the week. We called in at TRex and shared some onion rings, chicken wings and a couple of drinks, which was all very nice

We continued round towards Pleasure Island and sat outside Raglan Road (I can't believe this is the first time I've ever been here) and I had a couple of glasses of cider and enjoyed the warm evening sunshine and the salsa music playing at a nearby bar

We stayed at Raglan Road for a while, then realised it was too late to head to Epcot, so we wandered back to the Marketplace and did some shopping

We got the bus back to the Pop and had an early night as we needed to be up early for Magic Kingdom EMH's the next morning

 

[Whisky In A VAse]

Your a superstar with these reports...
Really enjoying reading them and looking at the photos of Disney, Cruising not to mention all the food and drink....
Great work Mandy Mouse ..

 

[jockey]

Another great day

 

[Chilly]

One year I'll go to KSC.

 

[izzie-wizzie]

Wow great TR so far! Makes me really, really want to go on a Disney Cruise some day!!!!

 

[mandymouse]

Thusday 15th September, '11

We were all up around 6.30am and an hour later we took the bus to the Magic Kingdom for EMH's. The opening ceremony was in full swing as we entered the bag check area and once we'd passed it we entered the park, and went straight towards Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin (where Paul whopped me again !)

Next we rode Space Mountain, had a photo with Stitch, and rode Stitch's Great Escape. As it was nearly 9 we thought we'd head over to Frontierland, where we rode Splash Mountain (I got soaked !) and Big Thunder Mountain

Our final attraction was Mickey's PhilharMagic (love this), then we grabbed some pastries and muffins for breakfast before leaving the park and taking the Monorail over to Epcot

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[mandymouse]

...

When we arrived in Epcot, we headed straight to World Showcase, as we were meeting our friends Sandy & Tori here at 11.30am.

It was another scorcher of a morning, so once we had all met up and had a photo taken with Marie from the Aristocats, we found some chairs (which were conventiently next to the drink stand in France ) and when it opened, Sandy enjoyed a Grey Goose Slushie, I had a Kir Royale and Paul had a lager.

We spent a lovely hour chatting and enjoying our drinks, and all too soon it was time to say our goodbyes (it was lovely to see you both again girls)

Becky & Luis went off for a wander around the Japan Pavillion. Kerry & Bex returned to the Pop, and Paul & I went to get some fish & chips in the UK. We walked back through the World Showcase and ran into Becky & Luis who were still in Japan (Luis is a bit of a Japanese nut, he loves the TV programmes, culture and everything really lol), so basically we went to rescue Becky and hurry Luis along with his purchases

As it was so hot we decided to shelter in the Mexico Pavillion and for the first time ever I rode the Gran Fiesta Tour ride, then we exited the park to cool down in the Pop pool

After relaxing for a while we caught the bus back to Epcot as we had a dining reservation at Teppan Edo

I went to check-in, and when I came back, Luis was chatting to some young guy, who turned out to be Anthony Padilla, who is one half of a web based comedy duo called Smosh, he was really nice and had a photo taken with Luis

This was the kids first visit to Teppan Edo, and they really enjoyed the food and the show the chef put on, it really was a lovely meal

When we left the restaurant, Epcot was mega-busy as the Magic Kingdom had closed early for a MNSSHP so we grabbed a beer and Kir Royale in France and drank them as we exited the park

Once back at the Pop, Paul & I enjoyed a Captain Mai Tai before heading to bed and our last full day in WDW

 

[jockey]

Another great report Mandy you really packed in a lot

 

[Chilly]

You've got some lovely family photos this trip.

 

[mandymouse]

Friday 16th September, '11

We were all up around 7.30am and we arrived at Disney Hollywood Studios for normal 9am opening. First we rode Toy Story Midway Mania (I'm rubbish at this ), then we rode Tower of Terror and it was a walk on, as was RockNRollerCoaster which we rode twice

Next we grabbed some pastries, cookies, muffins and croissants in Starring Rolls for breakfast

Once brekkie was over, we walked over to Star Tours, where Luis (the Star Wars geek) was chosen as the rebel spy

We rode it again then went to meet Sully. We then continued over to Animation Courtyard where we met Mr Incredible and Frozone, then a little later we met Mr & Mrs Incredible

After a great morning in DHS we drove over to Wal-Mart for one last shop, then once back at the Pop Paul went to lie by the pool while I did some washing and packing

After quick showers, Paul got on-line and made a 5.15pm ADR at Raglan Road, it was a bit of a rush, but we got there just 10 minutes late

This was our first meal here, and we really enjoyed it . I had the Cluck Curry and Paul had the Shepherds Pie (which looked delish), and we shared some chips and onion rings. The food was delicious, and we will definitely eat here again

After dinner we were absolutely stuffed so we wandered over to Pleasure Island, then we decided to get the bus to the Boardwalk so we could walk our dinner off, then we caught the Friendship Boat to Epcot where we enjoyed a Tokyo Sunset cocktail in Japan and a Rosa Regale and Moretti in Italy. We did one last shop in MouseGear then said our goodbyes to Epcot before getting the bus back to the Pop

 

[mandymouse]

Saturday 17th September, '11

Sorry if today is very brief, but for some reason I didn't make any notes on our final day

What I do know is that once we were all packed, we got in the car and went to DownTown Disney to do Virgin early check-in. We arrived around 8.30am and it was really quiet, and within 20 minutes we were driving away with our boarding cards

We dropped the car back at the Pop Century and took the bus to the Magic Kingdom, and arrived about 9.30am. We had all decided to spend the majority of the day here, so I guess we rode Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean (where we met Pirate Goofy) and we cooled down at Mickey's PhilharMagic and relaxed on the TTA

We had dinner at Cosmic Rays and visited the Christmas Shop, then left the park and WDW as the parade started

We sadly drove back to the airport and dropped off our car, and we found out that our plane had an hour delay, though from what I can remember, the time didn't drag at all

The kids and Paul had dinner at Burger King and I had a tuna sandwich

Basically what I remember of the flight was that as soon as we took off, I put my blanket around me and my eye mask on and pretty much slept through till an hour before landing

Thoughts

Well what can I say ? What an amazing holiday. It was wonderful to holiday with our girls again, and to share it with Bex and Luis too. We did many things together, but still had a lot of our own time too

Pop Century I can't imagine staying any where else in WDW, though if I could ever afford to stay at the Boardwalk, then I might be tempted. Fingers crossed we'll be back next year

Ron Jon's Resort Again we loved staying here, and will definitely again, we will just make sure to eat elsewhere in the future

Disney Dream We all enjoyed our 3 nights aboard the Disney Dream, it's a gorgeous ship and we loved the adult areas. Will we sail on her again ? Probably, but I don't feel I'm 'home' like I do on the Wonder or Magic. The highlight was our afternoon in Nassau. Yes we did drink far too many Señor Frog cocktails, but we all had such a laugh too. Castaway Cay was also fab, it was such a lovely, lazy day

Countdown Sadly I haven't got a countdown at the moment, hopefully this will change in the New Year

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my trip report, I loved reliving it as I typed it up ... roll on the next one

 

[Chilly]

Thanks for sharing Mandy, a wonderful report as always.

 

[queendisney]

absolutely loved your report Mandy. It's only second best to actually being there.

I love the way you do your holiday, nothing is overplanned, you just sort of go with the flow and see what the day brings and what you feel like doing. This is exactly what DH and I do also. Thankyou for taking so much time to do the report.

Vanda

 

[irisheyes123]

Thanks for sharing another wonderful trip report mandy enjoyed reading it all

 

[Jordanblackpool]

Great trip report as always Mandy! Looking forward to the next one....sure it wont be long!

 

[sandym]

As always I enjoyed your report Mandy Some day our families will cruise together again.