Once Upon a Lifetime

Maddie and I got to spend this last weekend down at Disney and we stayed at one of our go-to favorite resorts, Pop Century. This resort checks a lot of boxes for us and we have stayed here more than any of the other resorts on property. It’s in the “value” category, so it’s usually pretty budget friendly (by Disney standards), it’s located on the skyliner line (one of my favorite ways to get around Disney), has updated rooms and very nice pools. Anytime I can find this resort with a passholder discount I will usually book it because the rooms go fast since it’s one of the most affordable on property.

We headed down Friday morning around 10am and we had an exceptionally smooth trip with no traffic and no stops. I got the text that our room was ready while we were still about 30 minutes away, which is always a great way to start a trip! I love using mobile check-in, you can use your magic bands or phone to get into your room and since they text you the room number there’s no need to go to the front desk. We arrived around 12:20 and brought our stuff to the room, which was in an amazing location! For anyone who has stayed at this resort before, we were in the 60’s section, building 5- which put us so close to the skyliner (as well as Art of Animation, the Hippy Dippy Pool and Classic Hall). I’m not sure if the room was categorized as a preferred room or not because I paid for a standard room, but the location was such a perk.

We immediately headed to the skyliner to go to Epcot because Flower and Garden Festival is going on right now, and Maddie’s all time favorite dish- the shrimp and grits from Sunshine Griddle was our first priority. I love this booth as well and we were lucky enough to have made several visits to it last year. I was also able to grab the bison ribeye with creamy leek fondue and the hibiscus lemonade from Farmers Feast. We loved all of it and I’m kinda sad that the ribeye will not be on the menu the next time we go back to Epcot because the menu at Farmers Feast rotates as the festival goes on. The wait times for rides were pretty high and since we weren’t arriving until the afternoon I didn’t want to waste money on Genie+ so we decided to enjoy the beautiful day and walk around world showcase. We did some shopping, picked up the Spike the Bee scavenger hunt, Maddie got her face painted and we tried some food from the Primavera Kitchen in Italy. The arancini was tasty but expensive for the portion and Maddie wasn’t a fan of the bomboloni, so this booth will likely be a skip for us in our next visits. By the time we made it all the way around World Showcase, Maddie wanted to go back to the hotel for a swim so we hopped on the skyliner and went back to the resort.

She fell asleep on the way back and by the time we got back to the resort she didn’t want to swim anymore, but she did want to get some blue milk from Galaxy’s Edge, so we headed back to the skyliner to Hollywood studios for the evening. We couldn’t decide if we wanted to share a ronto wrap, the awesome charcuterie board from Baseline Tap house, or the grilled cheese and tomato soup from Woody’s Lunch Box. We got the blue milk, then shared the grilled cheese and tomato soup before we got in line for Slinky Dog Dash. We waited until about 8:45 to get in line and the standby line said the wait was 55 minutes, but we were off the ride by 9:15! We stopped in Celebrity 5 & 10 on the way out where we found some cool stuff to bring home and luckily that pit stop on the way out was enough for the skyliner line to be gone!

We slept in a bit Saturday morning and took our time getting to Animal Kingdom. This is not a great plan if you want to ride everything and not wait forever, but we’ve been to the parks so many times that rides are not always our priority. We walked around Asia, got Mr. Kamal’s chicken dumplings (one of my favorite AK snacks!), shaved ice and tried to get on Kali River Rapids but Maddie decided the line was too long. We headed over to Pandora where we FINALLY tried cheeseburger pods! We walked over to Africa and got some treats from Zuri’s and Maddie decided it was time to go back to the resort and swim. We spent the afternoon by the pool until the breeze became a little too chilly for us around 5. I ordered us some dinner from uber eats, we got to roast marshmallows by the campfire, we colored in the kids zone and played a bunch of games in the arcade. The coloring and games are not typically part of our visits but it was really nice to change it up a little and we had a ton of laughs playing games! We were going to watch the movie by the pool, but by the time we were done with the games the movie was already on for 30 minutes and there weren’t any lounge chairs left so we ended the night watching Happily Ever After in bed (which is by far my favorite way to end a Disney day!)

We got another late start Sunday morning, but the extra sleep was a great addition to a great weekend. I did wake up around 7 initially and I made an individual attraction reservation for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train for later that morning. I got our stuff packed and put into the car and we hopped on the bus to Magic Kingdom. Our lightning lane started just as we got over to Fantasy Land, and we were able to catch the Festival of Fantasy parade just after we got off Mine Train- which was a first for both of us! We picked up our favorite snacks: cheeseburger spring rolls, ‘I lava you’ dole whip float, pork & veggie pot stickers for lunch before we tried to right Buzz Lightyear (which turned out to have an hour wait). We found a new (probably to us) relaxation area in Storybook Circus where we lounged for a bit while we had some popcorn and decided how to finish our afternoon before we headed home. Dole whips from Aloha Isle and picking up some to-go treats from the confectionary were the last stops before we headed back to the resort to get the car and head home. I have to mention how delicious the ‘Crooning Flower’ from Aloha was! Both of us were seriously impressed and could not stop eating this! It was lime dole whip with vanilla soft serve and pineapple juice and it tasted so much like Key Lime pie- so yummy!

We made the difficult walk back to the car and I gave Maddie several pep-talks about how lucky we are to be able to visit as often as we do, and that we would back in just a few weeks, even though I also share her sentiments of being super sad when an adventure is over. The ride home was just as smooth as the trip down, no traffic and no stops 🙂

Our next adventure will be April 27th- I have rented DVC points at Old Key West- we’ve never been there before and it’s on a night when there are extra magic hours in Magic Kingdom after the park closes, so that trip will be awesome! Check back soon to see more of our adventures!

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