Resort Review - Pop Century Resort

Ok I will admit this to all of you....I am a resort snob!  Yup I said it.  I was one of those, only liked to stay at the best of the best and blah blah blah.  Well recently we went to Disney and I finally tried out a value resort.  The one I decided to try was the Pop Century and I really enjoyed it!  I don't have anything negative to say about it.  And my kids - well ask them where they want to stay and the answer - "The one with the BIG doggies!"  They are referring to the incredibly large Lady & the Tramp statues.

Just as I did with the Wilderness Lodge I will share with you a video done by one of my favorite Disney based sites - allearsnet.com.  Double click to enlarge and you will be sent to youtube.com.

Pulling up to the Pop Century you will see fun signs welcoming you to the resort!  Find a parking spot - if you have a car - or hop on out of the Magical Express bus and walk into the lobby.  The lobby area is themed based on the decades.  It is retro and bright.  There is an area for the kids to watch a show while you check in.  After checking in walk around and check out your surroundings.

Hippy Dippy Pool - The main pool at Pop Century

Down the hall from check in is the resorts mercantile store, the arcade, and the large quick service restaurant.  The quick service restaurant has many stations and array of options.  There are several beverage bays and TONS of seating.  Some seating even has flat screen TVs surrounding them with Disney Channel favorites playing.  If you walk out the back of the seating area you will be at the Hippy Dippy Pool - the main pool of the Pop Century Resort.  This is also the 60s building - one of the preferred buildings if you book that option.

So where is your room?  Well what did you book?  For a little extra you can get a preferred room category, which I do recommend for this resort.  It isn't a big cost and you will be in either the 60s or the 50s building.  Why is this worth it?  For one you are a very short walk to the many pool, mercantile and quick service as well as the lobby.  Also you are a close walk to the only bus stop for the resort.  This is located out the front doors and to the right of where you originally walked in.

Our large Lady statue!

When we stayed we were in the 50s building - which is where the Lady and The Tramp statues were, as well as the bowling pin shaped pool!  The stair cases were also encased in bowling pins and there were 50s style sock hop dancers decorating the buildings.  We were a short walk from the elevator.


The rooms are on the smaller side and the beds are definitely a bit tighter than the queen I sleep in at home, but I was very satisfied with it.  It was clean, nicely decorated, and had the right amount of space for our group - 2 adults and 2 small children.  Rather than go into detail with words, allearsnet.com also happened to post a video of the interior of the room:

This gives you a good idea of what to expect!  You enter from the outside - motel style.  You will see a nice feature offered is the curtain that can be pulled to separate the bathroom area from the rest of the room.  Perfect for having the privacy needed in small quarters for dressing.  The sink is outside of where the toilet and shower are.  There is no closet but there is a hanging area and shelf by the sink.

We were only there for 4 nights and 5 days, so I did not get to overly explore as most of our time was spent in the parks.  But that was one of the main reasons this resort is so perfect for us.  We are park crazies!  There morning til night and really only using our rooms to sleep, shower and dress.  So for us being in the lap of luxury is not as necessary as it once was.  Also for me I wanted the extra money to use down there, rather than have it out into my room.

If you have never stayed at a value, but have been thinking of giving it a try and just weren't sure, I say go for it!  Like I said the kids LOVED it.  It is where you will find us in the fall while we take advantage of the kids stay and play offer (have you booked your trip yet???) and may be where we are for years to come!  Although I will still be making stops at my other must stay locations...ahem Wilderness Lodge...ahem!

Happy Reading Disney friends and have a magical day!!

Crazy Crazy Day!!

Hello to my fellow Disney fans!

Well today has been a crazy day for Be our Guest Vacations!  Late last night I found out that someone else had started a Disney based travel business named...........Be Our Guest Vacations.  It happened as a fluke as the guy just started the business.  Facebook was running slow and I was typing in the page to go and make some additions.  Well I ended up typing in the whole name since it was going so slow and imagine my shock when there was another Facebook page with the same name?!  So I immediately contacted the owner of the page and went on to tell him that I had filed paperwork in PA and that this was my business name.  I thought I was pretty nice considering I felt like I had the wind knocked out of me, but long story short we went back and forth and he didn't do his homework - no google search?!  - and well I have no legal action against him. 

So as if that wasn't bad enough....I have, or should I said had, Vistaprint hosting my site.  It was what I used to build it and everything.  So in the last month I have been having problems with them and not been able to update my billing info, well all that led to them suspending my site, even though the problem is on their end not mine, AND it won't be fixed for at least a month.  Ummmm I am an internet based business, my site can't be basically down for a MONTH!

So BIG changes are coming!  The blog is going to be moving to the website when it is all said and done and I couldn't be happier.  Like many supportive friends on Facebook told me, everything happens for a reason, and I think the reason this happened is to wake me up as to how much I enjoy doing this! 

I want to give a very special thank you to all of you that were so supportive today!  It was a rough day and a real wake up call.  It has been a LONG overwhelming day, but I think in the end Be Our Guest Vacations will be EVEN better and so will I!

Tuesday's Tip

Hey there Disney Fans!!

Ok my tip today is a simple one! Take pictures of your passes! Did you know that if you lose your Disney park ticket you can get it replaced? Now for some of you this is not an issue - Annual Passholders simply go to the ticket counter with your ID and they will reissue it, those with a Key To The World (what you get with a vacation package) just need to get a new Key To The World from the front desk of your resort. But those that just have a park hopper - whether it be from the Disney Store, a broker, or where ever, if you lose that ticket it's gone right? WRONG!!

If you lose your ticket and have the numbers that are on the back they can reissue your ticket!! That's right, Disney will replace the ticket if you produce those numbers. The old one will become void. So the way I have handled this in the past - take a picture with my phone AND digital camera. Plus I usually write it down on a slip of paper that I keep in the room safe. Seem a bit like overkill, well maybe. But what if I lost my bag and my camera, ticket and phone were in there. First I am bummed, but if that was also holding all my ticket records I am even more bummed!! So having a slip with it in the room is a good back up. :-)

Also jot down your photopass number and take a picture of it as well. Why? Well if that gets lost and you have the number you can still access all those photos on disneyphotopass.com when you get home! You create an account and can input several photopass numbers on that account!

Resort Reviews - Disney's Wilderness Lodge

Disney's Wilderness Lodge Resort

The Wilderness Lodge Resort - this will cover both the villas and the standard I guess you would say part of the resort.

First here is a video, courtesy of http://www.allearsnet.com/.  This is really well done and really gives you a feel for the resort.  (double click to make it bigger and it will redirect you to youtube.)

When you pull into the resort you will be in awe of the larger than life Lincoln Log Hotel, or as my daughter likes to call it "the green roof hotel."  You will be surrounded by wilderness and pull up under a great big green roof, where you will be greeted by wonderful Disney cast members.  If you have chosen to take Disney's Magical Express from the airport, you will pull up and be helped with your luggage (if you got it yourself) and then you will get to enter one of the most beautiful lobbies on Disney property!

Lobby of the Wilderness Lodge

The lobby at Disney's Wilderness Lodge is impressive to say the least and this is reason number 1 that it is one of my favorite places to stay.  You enter and just look up at the massiveness of it.  It goes up 7+ stories and makes you feel like you have just entered the coziest and nicest log cabin home ever.  And it will be your home, for the duration of your stay.  Off to the side there is a nice area for the kids to sit in rocking chairs and watch some Disney classics while you check in.  There are comfortable chairs everywhere to take a rest or read a book by the fireplace.  There is a small bridge and a little stream that runs out to the pool area.  My kids favorite spot!  (Tip: take a dollar up to the check in counter and ask for two rolls of pennies!  My two love throwing coins into the stream and this will save you a lot of aggravation!)  Also in the lobby area is one of the two restaurants that the hotel has - The Whispering Canyon Cafe.  You can also find the hotel store here as well, where you can get anything from souvenirs to some food and drinks for your room!

Ahhhhhh your room.....take the elevator on up to your room and be ready to relax and enjoy.  If you got a standard room, meaning you didn't pay any extra to upgrade you will probably have a view of a parking lot or some other not so great view.  But who really cares!  You have a balcony and I have been in a standard room that while it looked out and the cast member parking it also had a perfect view of the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom every night!!  Bonus!!  You may have chosen to upgrade to woods view or even courtyard view.  I have stayed in both.  And both are nice.  The woods view gives you a view of....yup the woods!  And the courtyard view looks out at the pool area or Bay Lake.  In the woods view and courtyard view rooms you can also upgrade to have a set of bunk beds instead of two queen size beds.  I have not done this yet, but I do plan too at some point!

Regardless of the view you get a balcony with your room.  Out here you will find two chairs and a small table.  I find this a great spot to sit and unwind after a long day while the kids go to sleep in the room.  Most rooms have two queen size beds, which is an upgrade from moderates and values that have full size beds.  Some rooms do have one king size bed, which they will not put you in if you have children, don't worry!  And then of course there is the upgrade that I mentioned with the set of twin bunk beds in lieu of the one queen bed.

Your bathroom is separated - you have the two sinks outside the actual bathroom where the toilet and tub/shower are.  This is nice and helpful when getting ready in the morning!  Your room will also have a small cube refrigerator, a closet with a safe in it, a pack in play is usually provided as well and you will have a flat screen TV.  Some rooms even have DVD players in them.  There is a small table and two chairs and this is where you can also plug into the Internet with a good old Ethernet cable - yes I know...where is the wireless???  Beware - the Internet comes with a NIGHTLY fee of $10/night!  So there you have it your room....nice huh?

Villas at the Wilderness Lodge

But wait there is more - at the Wilderness Lodge you can also stay over in the Villas at the Wilderness Lodge.  Here you will find Disney's Home Away from Home rooms.  These are Disney Vacation Club rooms, but can also be made available through Disney when booking a room.  Here you can have a studio, a one bedroom or a two bedroom villa.  I have stayed in all of them and they are very nice.  It is a bit darker at this end of the resort because it is set more into the woods.  You do not have view choices, so you get what you get and it is a bit of a walk to the boat that takes you to the Magic Kingdom and to the counter service restaurant.

In the studio you will have a queen size bed and a sleeper sofa.  These rooms are slightly larger than the standard rooms in the main building.  You will also have a small kitchenette.  No stove or anything, but you have sink. microwave, a "college" size fridge, larger coffee maker, some dishes and silverware, etc.  It is a nice little area.  Your closet is smaller and you get one sink at your vanity, but the bathroom area is still separate.  

In the one and two bedroom you definitely get a BIG upgrade.  The two bedroom is simply the one bedroom with a studio attached to it, although sometimes it is a dedicated two bedroom meaning that you will have basically a standard hotel room and not a studio attached.  So what do the one and two bedrooms have that's so great?  Well a full kitchen for one thing!  Think stove, large fridge, counters, the whole deal.  Now I don't like to cook on vacation, but this is a definite plus!  Comes in handy, just for space if nothing more.  You also get a large bedroom that has a king sized bed, tv, and enters into the LARGE bathroom with a jacuizzi tub with a sink.  The closet is here as well.  This connects to antoher part of the bathroom with a shower stall, another sink and then yet another door that leads to the toilet room!  Then you get a family room, with a sleeper sofa, table and chairs, tv and the entrance to the balcony.  Off of the main room is also a stackable washer and dryer - a definite plus!!

Those are the rooms you can stay in if you pick the Wilderness Lodge.  I have stayed in every level of room there and I have to say I haven't had a bad night sleep!  

The Pool @ Disney's Wilderness Lodge

The pool area is also to die for.  There is a pool bar here and you can walk back into the hotel to the Roaring Forks - the resort's quick service restauant.  There are a couple of hot tubs, a kiddie pool and a water slide.  You can look out at Bay Lake while you relax on a pool side chair.  Be sure to watch for Old Faithful - the geyser that goes off periodically thoughout the day.  Another fun tidbit if you chose to stay at the Wilderness Lodge - ask at check in if you can be the Flag Family.  It is a first come first serve extra that you can do and can only be booked when you arrive.  If you are able to do it, be sure to.  It is a site to see.  You will have to get up early and meet a Cast Member in the lobby.  Then you will be guided up to the roof, where you get to raise the flags on the top of the resort and see views that you can't get anywhere else!

I also love that the Wilderness Lodge has a boat that takes you to the Magic Kingdom.  This is a major plus in my mind if you have little ones!  If you get lucky and get the big boat, you don't have to fold up your stoller - hugely helpful if you have a sleeping child!!

All in all I love the Wilderness Lodge.  When I walk in there I feel like I am at home.  It is my all time favorite and while it is not as affordable as a value, I think it is a must do for at least a couple nights at least once!!

Resort Reviews

Whenever I am booking a trip for someone I always get asked where to stay, or where do I like to stay, or, well you get the idea!  First I will say I LOVE staying at Disney on site resorts.  I have never stayed off property and I don't think I ever will.  That being said I am going to start giving you all some reviews on resorts I have stayed at.

So which ones have I stayed at?  Well it is easier to tell you which ones I haven't....

I have never stayed at:
Disney's Grand Floridian Resort (Deluxe)
Disney's Polynesian Resort (Deluxe)
Disney's Old Key West Resort (Villa resort)
Disney's Cornado Springs Resort (Moderate)
Disney's All Star Music Resort (Value)
Disney's All Star Movies Resort (Value)
Disney's All Star Sports Resort (Value)

So as you can see I have stayed at all the others for at least a night.  :-)  I will do my best to give you my perspective on the resort.  If any of you have stayed at one that I haven't and would like to write a guest post let me know!!

Let the reviews begin!!  I will be starting with my favorite and then going from there....in no particular order!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Saint Patrick's Day Disney Fans!!!

Just popping in to say a quick hello!!  I hope the luck of the Irish is with you all today!  :-)  So did the crazy leprechaun play any tricks on you?????

P.S. - Here is a great deal for Disney Family Fun Magazine!
http://deals.mamapedia.com/deals/disney-family-fun-magazine-1yr?ref_id=176858&utm_source=share_link&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=disney-family-fun-magazine-1yr&utm_term=176858&fbshare=1

PPS - Only 10 more days to book the Kids Stay & Play deal!!!!

Rider Switch

Going to Disney with a little one and think that means you won't be able to go on the "BIG KID" rides? Think that you have to wait again after the other adult you are traveling with has gone on with the child that is tall enough for you to get to experience the fun of Splash Mountian? Well think again!!! Disney has a great program called Rider Switch. I am always amazed at how few people know about this handy tool and I find myself making sure to tell everyone I help book a trip that I know it will benefit. So how does it work....
Well basically you go up to the entrance with the child that is too small for the ride in question. (This works only for height requirements as far as I know, not for children that are simply too scared to ride.) There will be a cast member there, tell them you are in need of a rider switch ticket. This is what you will receive:
As you can see it says the ride it is for, the date (it is only good on the date it is issued) and that it is good for up to 3 guests! That's right you don't have to go on alone or wait in line again. Nor do you have to go on as soon as the rest of your party gets off. Simply get your ticket and arrange a meeting place with those in your party that are going to ride then and off you go. Head on over and do some shopping if you are lucky enough to have the little one sleeping in their stroller, or if they are up take them on some rides that they can do.
This is a great way to make the most of your time in the parks too rather than sitting and waiting for your group. I have to say it will be a sad day when we no longer have a little on in our party that we can get a rider switch pass for! It is something we have been using for the past 8 to 10 years at least! And the older kids love it too because they get to ride again without waiting in the long line or waiting for a new fast pass to become active. Remember if you are in a large group with several kids that are too small and more than one person sitting and waiting then be sure to get more than one rider switch pass. Each person waiting will have to walk up with the child they are waiting with, but it is so worth it!!
So there is a secret, although it isn't meant to be one, so I guess a better way to describe it is a little known fact about making your Disney touring a little easier and more fun! Oh and it takes the argument out of who is going to sit out and wait!!