Friday, January 30, 2009

Disney World, Here We Come! (Yeah, I know, it's 3 months late...)

Okay, so a lot has been going on in my life over the last three months and I've been slacking on the blog posts! I had a discussion in my mind about what the topic of this post should be, and I decided to continue where I left off in Florida.

After the conference in Tampa, my three coworkers and I drove to Orlando to spend some time in Disney Worl
d. This was a first-time event for two of my coworkers, the Hamster and Finance Man (I guess now he's Judiciary Man, but we'll just call him Finance Man for purposes of this post). Gym Boy and I have both been there several times. What really made this trip enjoyable for me was seeing the reaction of the Hamster and Finance Man as they experienced things for the first time. Even though much of it was not new to me, the newness they were experiencing made it much more pleasurable.

The Hamster, Finance Man, and I all had rooms at the POP Century resort, while Gym Boy had a room at All Star Sports (a long story which is a sore subject that we won't
get into here!). These are all "value" resorts by Disney standards. Basically, it's like a motel, but Disneyfied. Disney was very smart in creating their resort system -- value, moderate, deluxe, and home-away-from-home. The price levels are commensurate with the level of amenities provided, as well as convenience to the parks. But a value resort is still better than staying offsite, in my opinion. Transportation is very convenient, and one of the best amenities is package deliveries. You can even have one small item delivered from the parks to your resort.

I did not make any special requests for my room, but was quite pleased with the
location. Top floor (4th), with a view of Spaceship Earth way in the distance. I also had a view of a lake. The room itself was adequate and comfortable for my needs, but again, it's Disneyfied, so that makes it more special than staying offsite. The "mousekeepers" do special things like making towel animals and leaving them in your window to greet you upon your return from the parks.

But you know what my favorite thing is about POP Century? The Food Court. It's the awesomist food court ever. Just ask the Hamster. The Hamster never lies. Well, almost never. Even during slow periods of the year, it's open from 6 a.m. until midnight. It's kind of like a school cafeteria, where you grab a tray and you can go to different stations to select different types of food. There's also a general area with a refrigerator if you just want to grab something and go. Then you go to a bank of cashiers and pay for your food. It's super convenient if you just charge it to your room. You don't even have to sign for it. And the food is actually pretty good! My favorite is the pizza, especially for a late night snack.

One last thing about the food court, and this is something offered at all Disney resorts -- refillable mugs. The initial cost may seem pricey, about $12-$13 for a plastic mug, but if you fill it at least 4 or 5 times, you've already made up the cost. Plus, once you've paid for the mug, you don't have to wait in a line to get your drinks filled since the drink station is beyond the cashier. There is a whole slew of drinks to choose from, including hot chocolate! One woman told me that you can even get milk or orange juice if you take the mug to the bakery area. We all got a mug. I only used mine at night after spending the day in the parks, but my cohorts used it for breakfast too.

I'll stop here and will continue later -- it's not much, but it's a start! Coming soon...day 1 in the Magic Kingdom and getting soaked in EPCOT.