K Clancy, Pop Century, Oct 9-12, 2011

[Mickeymarathonman]

Travel dates: October 7-12, 2011
Travel method: Motorcycle
Resort: Pop Century
Accommodations: Standard Room
Ages Represented in Group: Myself/Dad 50+, and my two daughters; Shannon 25 and Tara 22
Disney Resort Experience Represented in Group: Veterans

Pre Trip Info

This trip has become somewhat of a tradition for me over the past few years. Our daughters are attending school in the Orlando area and Ive taken the opportunity to make a solo trip down to visit them each fall. The visit somehow always manages to include WDW to get my never ending Disney fix as well as to enjoy the Food and Wine Festival.

In my middle aged life I have picked up a new hobby which I thoroughly enjoy - riding my motorcycle. The trip from the Florida panhandle to Orlando is a leisurely 7-8 hour ride depending on the number stops I make. I keep off the interstate highways for the most part and enjoy the back country roads until hitting the Florida Turnpike. I make stops about every 125 miles or so to stretch, grab something to eat/drink, and to top off the gas. Making this trip in October is nice as the summer heat has somewhat diminished although in Central Florida it can still get oppressive at times.

This years trip has me leaving home on Friday, October 7th and returning on Wednesday, October 12th. The first couple days will be spent at my oldest daughters apartment and then well make the move to Pop Century for the remainder of my visit. Our oldest daughter, Shannon, is a student at the Aveda Cosmetology School in Winter Park and our younger daughter, Tara, attends nursing school at the University of Central Florida. Shannon will stay at the resort with me as she doesnt have class during my stay but Tara will only be able to come down to Disney on Sunday where well hit Epcot for the Food and Wine Festival.

My job requires me to travel from time to time and my company gives us the option of using a company credit card for our travel expenses or using our own personal credit card and getting reimbursed. I opt to use my own card which just happens to be a Disney Visa card. We are allowed to keep the award dollars gained during these business trips for our own personal use. This can add up to a good bit of Disney cash depending on the amount of travel I do during the year. The last couple of visits to Disney World Ive used the awards card to pay for our food and drinks throughout World Showcase during the Food and Wine Festival. Its very easy and convenient to just give the cashier my card and let them swipe it to pay for our items and I get a receipt with the remaining balance. My current awards balance is fairly sizeable so it will take a lot of eating and drinking to use up that amount Im sure well try none the less.

Being a Florida resident has its perks with WDW. Disney routinely has Florida resident discounts for both resort rooms and park tickets. From early August I had been following the room rates closely and was waiting for the Florida Resident rates to come out for October, but, nothing was being offered. As a side I had requested the free Disney Vacation Planning DVD that you can order on-line at the Disney World website. Even though I have visited WDW numerous times, I still enjoy watching these planning videos. One of the questions asked when requesting the free DVD is when do you plan to visit. I put in my October dates and a couple weeks later I received both the DVD plus a Disney promotional letter with a special rate key code to use when making room reservations. Using this key code I made room reservations at Pop Century which saved me $130 over the listed on-line rates for my total stay. I also purchased the Florida Resident 3 day Magic Your Way tickets for my daughters and myself.

So, all of my planning is complete and now comes the hard part waiting for the journey to begin. Im looking forward to the trip and a chance to see both my girls and Disney World a great combination!

[rph13]

Sounds like it will be a fun trip. I enjoyed riding a motocycle ( not driving just as a passenger) when I was younger, so your trip down sounds like a lot of fun to me.

[TinaMouse]

Wow, you don't see "method of transportation--motorcycle" often! COOL~

[relaaxedwheniamthere]

lucky you on the disney visa $$$$

[tappenfeat]

Your pre-report is very interesting reading, can't wait to read the trip report when you return!

[jrtomasella]

We'll be there for the same dates in October. I'll look for two beautiful women and a handsome dude in Harley gear.

[Mickeymarathonman]

We'll be there for the same dates in October. I'll look for two beautiful women and a handsome dude in Harley gear.

I'll agree with the two beautiful women part but won't comment on the handsome dude! Probably won't be wearing any Harley gear in the park but I would like to figure out how to get Mickey Ears attached to my helmet! Hope you enjoy your visit!

[Barberella]

I'm really looking forward to this trip report too - hope that you give plenty of details about the ride down!

[Mickeymarathonman]

Update
I did the online check-in this morning and paid the remaining balance on the resort so hopefully check in will be a quick and easy process. We’re planning to get to Pop Century Sunday morning around 9:30 am. The room probably won’t be ready but maybe we’ll be surprised. From there we’ll most likely take my daughter Tara’s car and drive over to the Boardwalk to park. She’ll need to leave sometime later that day to head back to UCF and get ready for class on Monday so parking there makes it a little easier for her to get in and out. Shannon and I plan to spend the whole day at Epcot including staying for IllumiNations. On our way in to Epcot we’ll need to stop at Guest Services at the International Gateway entrance to pick up our park tickets. And then, hopefully, the timing will work out and we’ll be walking into World Showcase and the Food and Wine Festival right when it opens up.

My preliminary plan is for us to go to the Magic Kingdom the following day on Monday and Hollywood Studios on Tuesday. I don’t think the parks will be that crowded but I’m trying the “go to the park that had Extra Magic Hours the night before” concept so we’ll see how it works. Less than a week until I hit the road – I’m already half packed and have the motorcycle ready to go. I’ve been watching the extended weather forecasts hoping the weather will be rain free so I’ll have a nice ride down. So far, so good; the temperatures have taken their first noticeable dip of the fall this weekend which has been nice. Will look to have the trip report for you soon after I get back!

[love4mousetx]

Sounds like a great plan...one thing to check is Magic Kingdom closes at 7 on Monday the 10th due to MNSSP. My family will be there at the Pop at the same time (first time Diney World) so I can not wait to read about your experience.