Solo driving to Disney, Pop Century Resort and Star Wars Weekend Fun - PART 2

Ok, so as I mentioned in Part 1, we left EPCOT and headed to the airport to pick up my husband AKA Nicolas' daddy as he was flying into town to join us on the trip. It was a quick drive to the airport, we waited in the cell phone lot until he called (which was crazy crowded and his flight was late) and then picked him up and came back to our hotel room.


We then headed back to EPCOT for a little while that evening. Since Frank also had a season pass there was no extra cost there. We enjoyed a little more of the park, I think we even had dinner there but I can't recall for sure, then headed back to the hotel.


That night Nicolas wanted to experience the much larger Hippy Dippy Pool at our resort. This time Frank and I joined him. This pool was much louder and crazier than the pool closer to our room. It was packed solid even close to 9pm that night. Nicolas still had a great time there.

The next morning was our planned day of the Stars Wars Weekend event at Hollywood Studios. We could not wait to surprise Nicolas with this. We drove to the park and took the tram to the front entrance, while I carefully made sure Nicolas could NOT see the Stormtroopers that I knew from reading would be atop the front gates. When we walked up and he saw the large poster advertising the Star Wars Weekend he finally really GOT it and he was so excited. Not long after that he spotted the Stormtroopers and he was even more thrilled. It was so cool to walk down the street in the park and see them perched high above. While this day did involve hitting some of the main rides at Hollywood Studios, for the most part it was all about Nicolas and the Star Wars events there.

We did ride Toy Story Mania with him for the first time and he LOVED that. I think we got at least two rides out of it that day. There were many long lines for photos and autographs with Star Wars Characters, there was lots of stopping in the streets to greet Stormtroopers and other Star Wars Characters and even though I'm not a big Star Wars fan I couldn't help but enjoy it. Nicolas got photos with Darth Vader and Chewbacca among others, we browsed the large Star Wars Merchandise shop and we secured a great spot early to watch the Star Wars Parade.

It was definitely hot but it was a great day overall. Dinner that night was at the 50s Prime Time Cafe which was another fun event that even Nicolas got into. We really could not have asked for a better trip for him.

We did head back to our hotel earlier in the evening than I would have liked, but with the heat I knew everybody just needed a break. There was more pool time for a little bit and dessert from the food court - Tie-Dyed CHEESECAKE! The next morning we would pack ourselves back into the car and make the 9+ hour drive back to my parents house.

I have to say if you have any friends and family that are even REMOTELY Star Wars fans, attending just one day of the Star Wars Weekends events at Walt Disney World would be totally worth it. I'd love to try to go back someday myself and take some of our friends and family!

Solo driving to Disney, Pop Century Resort and Star Wars Weekend Fun - PART 1

Back in June of 2008 I completed my very first somewhat solo drive to Walt Disney World with my then 8-year-old son Nicolas. I have never done a trip report from that experience, but I'll try to summarize it here now.

After a few years of struggling through elementary school, Nicolas was on par for a very good school year as a 2nd grader. We (ok mostly me with my husband's blessing) decided to reward him and what better way to reward a child who is a Star Wars fan than with a trip to Walt Disney World for Star Wars Weekend!

I began the trip by driving to my parents' home in North Carolina, about an 8-hour drive from our home in Maryland. It was me and the three kids as my husband had to work and could not afford the time off. I spent a day or two there with them, then I left the two youngest kids with my parents and packed my oldest son into the car for what I would only tell him was a surprise.

He refused to get into the car.

Nicolas was not up for another long car ride (shouldn't have mentioned that) and he didn't want to leave. I refused to give in and tell him where we were going other than it was a special surprise. I finally forced him into the car with much protest...and called up my husband in TEARS about the whole thing.

Not the best way to start out a fun trip.

At some point I mentioned to Nicolas that our final destination was somewhere in Florida and gave him a map to help navigate. This helped a little bit and eventually he was in a little bit better spirits. About 6 hours or so later or so we crossed into Florida...and not too long later we were in a torrential downpour which lasted a good 45 minutes! I have driven in some hard rain in my life...for quick spurts but this was CRAZY! We trudged onward determined to get to our destination though.

When we arrived in the Kissimmee area and pulled into a gas station nearby Nicolas noticed the Walt Disney World front gates. I had been hopeful that he would not notice the big billboards advertising Star Wars Weekends but as I recall he did at one point mention something about seeing Star Wars stuff on signs but I passed it off. After filling up the tank we crossed into the Walt Disney World Resort area and Nicolas' excitement was obvious! He could not BELIEVE we were at Walt Disney World! Nine hours or so after hitting the road we pulled into the driveway for the Pop Century Resort and entered the building for check-in and Nicolas was over-the-moon thrilled and thanking me a million times!

He still had no idea what else was in store for him...he was in Walt Disney World and that was enough for him. He had mom all to himself (rare in our house of five) and we would get to do some fun stuff together. We checked into our room in the 50s section and he saw the bowling pin pool and LOVED it. He couldn't wait to try it out later.

After settling into the room I called a friend of mine from high school...she lives in the area but I hadn't seen her since my 1990 high school graduation. We met her and her daughter, who is just a little younger than Nicolas, for dinner at Downtown Disney. She introduced us to the Wolfgang Puck Express restaurant...and it was GREAT! Nicolas and her daughter got along well and we had a chance to catch up which was such fun. It was like we had never lost touch at all and she's now become somebody I talk to quite regularly and see more often too.

That evening I let Nicolas have some time in the pool at the resort, which he loved. It was so nice that I didn't have to get into the pool, but could just watch him safely from the side as he enjoyed an evening swim.

The next day was our solo Epcot adventure. I had a season pass and bought a 2-day ticket for Nicolas for our trip. One day for Epcot and one day for Hollywood Studios for Star Wars Weekend. It was such fun exploring Epcot with just Nicolas and spending time doing many things we had never done before, such as Innoventions. We even got in line for the special Disney Visa character photo which I had never done before...and it was so cool to have a photo with so many characters at once!

As dinnertime approached, I informed Nicolas we had another trip to make...but this one was much shorter. We drove out to the airport to pick up my husband so Nicolas would now get to spend time with both Mommy and Daddy at Walt Disney World!

(coming up next...Star Wars Weekend fun!)

Four More Weeks!!!

In just over four more weeks, I'll be heading back to Florida. My oldest son (age 8) is a huge Star Wars fan and so I'm surprising him by taking him to Hollywood Studios for one day of the Star Wars Weekend festivities. I can't wait to see the look on his face when he find out about it. It has been really really hard NOT to tell him but I really want my husband to be there with us as we drive up to Hollywood Studios and he sees the Stormtroopers atop the entrance. How cool will THAT be?

This will be my first solo drive to Florida, but I'm only making the trip from southern North Carolina and it's estimated to be about a 9-hour drive. Since I have made the 8-hour drive to North Carolina from Maryland a few times, it shouldn't be too bad. The hardest part of this will be explaining to my younger two kids (age 5 and 3) where I am going, why Nicolas gets to go and they don't and why I'll be gone for about four days. Obviously they will eventually find out that Nicolas got to go to Disney without them, but the plan right now is to only visit Hollywood Studios and EPCOT and those aren't really favorite parks of theirs anyway. Can I handle visiting Disney and NOT seeing the Magic Kingdom? I think so.

Anyway, we have a room reserved at Pop Century for 3 nights. We'll arrive around dinnertime the first night (Wednesday), and I'm considering heading over to the Boardwalk that first night with Nicolas to walk around and have dinner. The next morning (Thursday) we'll get up early and hit EPCOT for most of the day. We'll leave the park around dinnertime where we will then head out to the airport to pick up my husband, who flies in around 5pm that night. Hopefully we'll be able to get back to Disney and then maybe even spend a few more hours in EPCOT that evening. Friday morning we will get up early and be at Hollywood Studios before the park opening. The plan is to spend all day at Hollywood Studios taking in all of the Star Wars events and fun as well as some other stuff. Since it will be Friday the 13th as well, a ride (or two) on the Tower of Terror is a MUST! Nicolas still can't do Rock N'Roller Coaster, which is a shame, but the new Toy Story Mania will be open and I think we'll enjoy that one too. I have a dinner reservation at the Prime Time Cafe there which I think Nicolas will also enjoy.

Saturday morning we'll basically wake up, check-out and head back to North Carolina together. I'm hoping to arrive with plenty of time to take my dad out for an early Father's Day dinner. The next day we'll be heading back to Maryland so we'll have two days in a row of long drives but I think we'll be okay.

Once we return, I'll have only another two weeks before I'll start making calls to DVC to plan out our January of 2009 trip back with the whole family to Walt Disney World. It looks like once again we'll be driving there since flight prices have just continued to go up but I'm okay with that. After all, we'll be flying down there in October for the big 10-year anniversary trip already. So I'll be in Disney 3 times over the course of about 9 months! I think I'll be okay with taking a 2-year break after that.