Disney Jan 2018 ~ Day 2, Epcot

Hannah and I started our day with breakfast at the resort and then made our way to Epcot.  The weather was still a bit dreary but this time we were better prepared.  Hannah is dressed for the weather while checking out our new ‘Hidden Mickey’ book.

Thankfully by the time we were riding Test Track, our first ride of the day. the sun was out and stayed out for the rest of the day.  Yay!

Hannah and her creation.  She always creates such neat cars!

By the time we finished this ride I realized Hannah’s shoes were not going to make it though the day as her feet were cramping.  Normally we visit Disney in the fall meaning her feet have been wearing Crocs on and off all summer.  With it being January she’s been wearing running shoes with good support and her feet were not liking the jump back into Crocks.  Knowing Disney stores carry a lot of variety i was pretty sure we’d be able to find a new pair of shoes for her.  Oh baby….did we ever!  One look at these adorable shoes and we were both sold!!   Buh bye Crocks, Hello bling!!!



We enjoyed a great day at Epcot hanging out in Future World at first and then moving to the World Showcase in the afternoon.
A highlight of our day was Hannah meeting Mulan.  She wore her costume and it was sweet to watch Mulan slow down and spend some special time with Hannah.  They were probably together for almost 5 minutes and Hannah was in her glory.


Precious!

We made our way through the World Showcase, exited at the International Gateway and took a boat over to the Beach Club for supper at Cape May Cafe.   They have a seafood buffet at supper which mommy really likes and Hannah can find plenty to eat plus she enjoys opening crab for mommy.  It’s a win-win I think!

Opening crab was a tiring job though so Hannah decided to nap a little bit while I waited for the bill.  Love how she can sleep wherever she is!

We decided to make it an earlier night and save ourselves some steps.  Rather than go back to Epcot and walk to the front of park for a bus, we took a friendship boat to Hollywood Studios and took a bus back to Pop Century from there.

Another amazing day with my girl was in the books.
Tomorrow…Magic Kingdom Day 2!

Disney Jan 2018 ~ Magic Kingdom Day 1

This picture from our first morning captures our trip perfectly!!

Hannah and I switched up our touring plans this year and is worked really well as the crowds were higher than what they normally face when we visit in September.  We decided to ‘rope drop’ (arrive in time to be inside the parks when they open) and it made a huge difference!  I can see this being a touring style that works well for us in the future too as we’re both excited to get up early at Disney.
The first morning we had an 8:00 reservation at Be Our Guest.  This reservation allowed us to enter the park early and ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train before the crowds hit.  Perfect!  SDMT is the ride where Disney captured the picture above.  After that I’ll say we had a ton of fun and didn’t stop to capture many pictures.  Dumbo:

it’s a small world:

Hannah was chosen as one of the names to be displayed at the end of the ride.  It’s something we knew was there but the first time we experienced it.

Mmmm afternoon snack Dole Whip.

While we were listening to the Casey’s Corner Pianist he offered Hannah the opportunity to help him play.  Sweet time for Hannah!

We had a reservation at 1900 Park Fare for supper with Cinderella, Prince Charming and friends.


Lady Tremaine

Hannah took a Character Dictionary with her for autographs this year.  Lady Tremaine felt her information was inaccurate in the book so made some 'adjustments’ so that it read better.  LOL!!


Anastasia

and Drizella

felt their information was inaccurate too so they also made some adjustments too.
After dinner we stopped in the Grand Floridian for some pics courtesy of a Disney Photographer.  This resort is amazing!!

I wanted to see the Magic Kingdom’s new firework show called, ‘Happily Every After’ so we took the monorail back to the MK.  It was drizzling out but I had confidence it would improve so we headed back into the park and staked out our site for the fireworks.
Let’s just say Hannah was totally the smart one in this situation and her requests to leave and see the fireworks another night was the right decision.  Too bad I hadn’t listened to her earlier!  D’oh!!

We still laughed and memories were built even though we should have called it a night at this point

and I would have saved myself a 1 hour date with the hair dryer back in our room at the end of a great first day in the Magic Kingdom!!
Tomorrow….Epcot!

Disney Jan 2018 ~ Travel Day Part 2 + Refurbished Pop Century Rooms

(Sat, Jan 27, 2018)
While we were travelling via Disney’s Magical Express to Pop Century, our email arrived advising what room we were in.  We were both excited to get one of the new refurbished rooms at Pop!

Prior to being refurbished the rooms were 2 double beds and in general the rooms were showing their age.  The refurbished rooms are amazing!!
Queen beds – 1 on a regular platform, high enough to store luggage under it

and the second one that appears to be a table and chairs

becomes a second queen bed when folded down! 

Long before the trip Hannah claimed the Pluto bed to be hers and I completely understand why!

The new rooms now have a coffee maker as well as a small fridge. 

Hannah learned to make coffee and it was her sweet gift to me each morning, often with a love note written on the cup!

The rooms now have a large dresser with a huge TV over it.
The bathrooms were also completely refurbished with amazing new showers!  It has both a rain head and option for a hand held shower head.  I want one of these at home!!

There is a lot of storage in the area outside the bathroom that is now separated from the toilet and shower area with a pocket door.  There was more than enough room for us to fully unpack and still many storage areas were empty.



Personally I cannot say enough good about the new rooms.  We loved them!!
Something else that is new is the option to forego daily mousekeeping in exchange for a $10 gift card per night of your stay minus one night.  It was an easy decision to make as we keep the room pretty tidy and I had no problem with making the bed myself each morning.  $70 was appreciated and we used it for various purchases on our trip.  Each morning I would bag up our garbage and bundle up dirty towels and place them outside our room and they were picked up. Mid-way through the trip I called Guest Services and requested additional coffee supplies, towels, etc.  Within 20 mins these were delivered to our room and we were set.  I just feel badly that it didn’t cross my mind to tip the Cast Member who delivered these supplies.  I won’t let that happen again!


I would say the one negative to our room had nothing to do with the refurbishments but with the location.  Hind sight being 20/20 I should have asked if there was another refurbished room available as ours was a looooong walk from Classic Hall and the buses.  After long days in the parks and 8 min walk to our room was not enjoyable.  Lesson learned.  Our room was on the left side where the star is.

After settling into our room we (slowly) made our way over to Art of Animation, stopping to enjoy some of the over-sized games found around our resort.

We walked across Generation Gap Bridge which is partially closed (but still passable) due to the gondola construction that is taking place.

We are really excited to try the new gondolas when they open in 2019!

Following tradition, one of our first stops was to to take a free drawing class at Art of Animation.


I’m so glad we found these classes a few years back as we both enjoy them so much and it’s a great tradition to share together.  (For anyone interested, these free classes are run next to the check-in desks at the Art of Animation resort at 11:00am, 2:00pm and 5:00pm daily)

After the class we boarded a bus and headed to Disney Springs in search of some supper and a little bit of shopping.  We were excited for our Disney vacation to begin!!

Sweet dreams baby girl!  Tomorrow the magic begins!!