After leaving Plains, the ride to Kissimmee was uneventful. Mom, Bob, Ashleigh, and I had stayed longer in Plains than Denise, Aaron, and Adam, so they were quite a ways ahead of us. We arrived at the Pop Century Resort in the early evening. We were glad to be there even though there was (naturally) some confusion about room keys, tickets, and the like. Disney has become technologically advanced enough to print each guests name on their room card keys, apply the park ticket to the card keys, and apply charging rights to each card key.
It’s not even worth telling that story – but the net of the whole ordeal was that we ended up with two adjoining rooms with the Ocks and Ashleigh staying in one and Mom, Bob, and me in the other. What is worth telling is how Bob took the van to a parking lot near to our room while the rest of us walked there from the lobby. Bob then couldn’t find the room and Mom couldn’t find the car. Best of all was Denise’s reaction to Mom telling her “we don’t know where we parked!”
The hotel was very entertaining with different sections devoted to the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s – with appropriate displays and decor in each section. I didn’t actually take any photos of the exterior until our last morning at the hotel – so I will share those later.
The first order of business was to grab some food in the Pop Century food quart. This was a hoppin’ business even at 8:30pm (in fact they stayed active until midnight) – it was all Disney food so it wasn’t cheap by any means, but in truth the food was really good so I wasn’t too enraged to pay about $10 a person for each meal here. The drink bar was really cool also. You could buy a mug for a mere $12 and then fill your cup as often as you wanted with soda, coffee, hot chocolate, or even slurpees during the duration of your stay. I cheated and used Mom or Denise’s cup since I didn’t catch onto the deal until later in the week. After dinner, Aaron and I meandered to the bar where he bought me a beer.
Junk food at Pop Century. ‘Bout time.
I crashed relatively early while watching my portable DVD player. This was for the best – as we popped out of bed at about 6:30am. By staying at the Disney resort, we had the right to enter Animal Kingdom the next morning at 8am – one full hour before it was opened to the general public. So by 7:30 on Monday morning, September 24, 2007, Denise, Aaron, Ashleigh, and I were lined up for the free shuttle bus to Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Mom and Bob were going to watch Adam in the morning and then meet up with us at the Magic Kingdom around 10am.
Excitement mounts as Ash, Aaron, and Denise await the shuttle to Animal Kingdom
Although Aaron had never been to Animal Kingdom, he was in agreement with the consenus that we only wanted to check out three attractions while we were there: the 3-D film It’s Tough to Be a Bug!, Dinosaur, and of course the new Expedition Everest, which none of us had ever seen before.
Aaron and Denise outside Animal Kingdom
Me and Ash in front of the Tree of Life. I don’t really have huge shoulders – there is something behind me
Our group in the vicinity of the Tree of Life. Most strangers simply cannot take good photos
Although we were early into the park at 8am, it still amazed all of us that we were able to enjoy the three biggest attractions in the park and be out of there by 9:15am. Expedition Everest was the first ride we hit and it did not disappoint. It’s kind of like a much more elaborate version of the Disneyland thrill-ride Matterhorn with the track ‘ending’ at one point, sending us passengers careening backward along the track. I almost wish we had ridden it a second time.
Expedition Everest on a lovely Monday morning
Climbing the hills of Everest
We actually look pretty thrilled here
Dinosaur is always a hoot. I had been on this ride when it first opened in 1998 as Countdown to Extinction. Same goes for the It’s Tough to Be a Bug! 3-D movie located inside the Tree of Life. The only difference is that when we first saw it, we waited an hour and a half. This time we waited about a second and a half.
Me, Ashleigh, and a huge dinosaur. I’m the one in dark blue
More thrills in the back row of Dinosaur
Honorary bugs Brad and Ashleigh during the 3-D presentation
Animal Kingdom has a few good rides, but overall it is the least desirable of the parks, simply because there are not enough unique rides to make many return visits worthwhile. This was fine with us though. As holders of ‘park hopper’ tickets, we could all head to our second park for the day, The Magic Kingdom. Here we would remain for the rest of the night – or until our feet were blistered…whichever came last.
Heading to the Magic Kingdom via ye olde monorail
Aaron and me, still happy and not yet exhausted, on the Disney Monorail
To be continued at the Magic Kingdom…
A bonus: sage bathroom advice from the folks at Disney
I particularly like the photo and caption of us not being exhausted…yet. It was strange that the lines for the rides were so short, but the monorail line was ridiculous! Favorite pic is the one on Dinosaur with the kid in front of us in green. Hilarious!
Aaron
October 15th, 2007