It's An Old Dog; New Tricks; Pop And Fort TCD Trip Report

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

Well hurry up then!!!!

:dance:

[Momof6....aka Marty 769]

I love all the little details you find and share. Thanks for making WDW extra special for all of us. :D

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I'm kinda glad the report took a turn because I never knew the rooms at the contemporary were basically plug and plays. Now that is some cool info. I wonder if that was cost efficient back then or just an easy way of construction. I see a few things nowadays that are prefab and it makes me wonder how cost efficient it is. Great job on all these pics.

Clearly, the modular construction method did not catch on. It has been 40 years since the Contemporary and Polynesian were built (which is hard to believe). I have never heard of anyone trying this method since.

Jeez... a girl takes a few hours off (ok.. more like a half a day) to clean house and she gets pages behind..... but I did learn a lot of new things from this TR!

Look, things have picked up around here.

If you take time off you will fall behind.

Get someone else to clean the house.

Or you are going to miss something.

Well hurry up then!!!!

:dance:

Did you see post #100 at the bottom of page 5?

I am working on the next installment, but part of it is still being reviewed by the TCD research department, and it may not post until tomorrow.

TCD

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

Look, things have picked up around here.

If you take time off you will fall behind.

Get someone else to clean the house.

Or you are going to miss something.

TCD

I wish. We are doing that final clean before you move and cleaning services charge about $200 for that one. That's $200 I could spend on my next trip to the Fort!! Yes, I have noticed that if I don't check in every few hours you fall very...very...very behind. I am very glad you finally started posting!!

[YodaGirl 13]

I'm behind, already!

Let's see...

I remember the Shoe Tree, although I'm not sure that we've got pictures of it. I had never heard the story behind it, though. Pretty cool.

I still don't like BLT. Maybe I just haven't been to the Fort enough to get used to it. I should remedy that. After all, more visits couldn't hurt, right?

We do have pictures of the Flag Retreat from our 82 trip, I think. I don't believe that we've watched it since. I'll have to put that on a list of things to do.

It's kinda cool about the water bridges. Unfortunately, my dad passed along his bridge phobia to me. For me, though, it's not really a bridge phobia, but more of a falling phobia. I saw news footage of the LA earthquake back in the 90's. Cars were falling straight through. I'm sure the water bridges are safe. I mean, how long have they been there without accident, right? Of course, FL doesn't have earthquakes, right? I've never been there when FL had an earthquake. Don't correct me if I'm wrong. A little ignorance never hurt anyone.

Pretty cool that you got the 80's section at Pop Century. I hear they made good things in the 80's...May 1981 to be exact.

[Nicki aka Rebelstand 272]

I remember the rubix cube. As a matter of fact, I finally defeated the sucker in a year back. The internet has great instruction on how to do it!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I wish. We are doing that final clean before you move and cleaning services charge about $200 for that one. That's $200 I could spend on my next trip to the Fort!! Yes, I have noticed that if I don't check in every few hours you fall very...very...very behind. I am very glad you finally started posting!!

OK- you have a good excuse for your Fort Fiends slacking. Just don't let it happen again.

I'm behind, already!

Let's see...

I remember the Shoe Tree, although I'm not sure that we've got pictures of it. I had never heard the story behind it, though. Pretty cool.

I still don't like BLT. Maybe I just haven't been to the Fort enough to get used to it. I should remedy that. After all, more visits couldn't hurt, right?

We do have pictures of the Flag Retreat from our 82 trip, I think. I don't believe that we've watched it since. I'll have to put that on a list of things to do.

It's kinda cool about the water bridges. Unfortunately, my dad passed along his bridge phobia to me. For me, though, it's not really a bridge phobia, but more of a falling phobia. I saw news footage of the LA earthquake back in the 90's. Cars were falling straight through. I'm sure the water bridges are safe. I mean, how long have they been there without accident, right? Of course, FL doesn't have earthquakes, right? I've never been there when FL had an earthquake. Don't correct me if I'm wrong. A little ignorance never hurt anyone.

Pretty cool that you got the 80's section at Pop Century. I hear they made good things in the 80's...May 1981 to be exact.

Good Lord, are you saying you were born in May 1981?

I am getting old.

No worries about the water bridge. I would venture to guess that most people don't even realize that they are traveling on a water bridge when they head from Fort Wilderness to the MK. So don't even think about ti.

I remember the rubix cube. As a matter of fact, I finally defeated the sucker in a year back. The internet has great instruction on how to do it!

If you like 80's memorabilia, or memorabilia from the other decades of the second half of the 20th century, then you will want to check out the Pop lobby. They have big display cases of artifacts from each decade. I enjoyed showing my DD's some of these things. They had the exact model of my first cell phone in one of the cases. The the battery was like a small suitcase that you had to carry around with a shoulder strap. I got my cell phone when they first came out in 1986. I paid about $2000 for that damn thing, and it was huge! But I was pretty pimp with that thing. It is pretty mind boggling to look at how far technology has come since then.

TCD

[Lou... 3,118]

No worries about the water bridge. I would venture to guess that most people don't even realize that they are traveling on a water bridge when they head from Fort Wilderness to the MK. So don't even think about ti.

I drive under those 3 water bridges quite often, especially the MK one, and for some reason I do think about it, especially when they leak. Yup, there is water on the roadway sometimes. There are workman around the MK bridge a lot. They were there this week. I have no clue why.

[WannaBeImagineer 98]

Pretty cool that you got the 80's section at Pop Century. I hear they made good things in the 80's...May 1981 to be exact.

Hey you got me beat by a month, I'm June 1981.

Happy Birthday by the way! (I'm assuming you already had it) How are you taking this big 0 birthday?

I actually stayed in the 80's section at the Pop when we were there for Expedition Everest. When we stay in a Value resort I think Pop is way better than the Allstars.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I drive under those 3 water bridges quite often, especially the MK one, and for some reason I do think about it, especially when they leak. Yup, there is water on the roadway sometimes. There are workman around the MK bridge a lot. They were there this week. I have no clue why.

Lou-

Help me out- I can't find the third water bridge on Bing.

Obviously, there's the one just South of the Contemporary Resort.

And, then there's one between the Yacht and Beach Club and the International Gateway entrance to Epcot.

Where is the third?

Hey you got me beat by a month, I'm June 1981.

Happy Birthday by the way! (I'm assuming you already had it) How are you taking this big 0 birthday?

I actually stayed in the 80's section at the Pop when we were there for Expedition Everest. When we stay in a Value resort I think Pop is way better than the Allstars.

Alright, you kids keep it down with all your youngster chatter.

And quit your bragging.

I'm having a big 0 birthday this year too.

So Whoop Dee Doo.

I agree with you on the Pop. If you are staying at a Value resort, the Pop beats the All Stars. But I think it is harder to score a reservation there.

TCD

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

I agree with you on the Pop. If you are staying at a Value resort, the Pop beats the All Stars. But I think it is harder to score a reservation there.

TCD

I totally disagree there. All-Star Music is the BEST Value Resort. Mainly because it has the smallest capacity!!!! POP went too big. With almost 2800 rooms, there are just TOO many people there. The bus lines are way too long, the food court is always a zoo and the pools are all wall to wall people in the summer.

By contrast, All-Star Music has a capacity of about 1600 rooms (they lost capacity due to the the Family Suites). It is a lot calmer place!!!!

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I totally disagree there. All-Star Music is the BEST Value Resort. Mainly because it has the smallest capacity!!!! POP went too big. With almost 2800 rooms, there are just TOO many people there. The bus lines are way too long, the food court is always a zoo and the pools are all wall to wall people in the summer.

By contrast, All-Star Music has a capacity of about 1600 rooms (they lost capacity due to the the Family Suites). It is a lot calmer place!!!!

Wow! I had no idea that Pop Century was that much bigger than All Star Music. It doesn't feel that way. But, there is one thing that I do not like about the Pop compared to the All Stars- the layout. Because of the big lake that bisects what were to be the two parts of the resort, it is a hike to some of the rooms from the parking areas. At the All Stars, there is parking on every side of the resort, so you are never as far from the parking areas.

I have only stayed at Pop Century for a night or two here and there, and never in the summer, so I have not experienced the crowding.

TCD

[devores 382]

For the record, I love America and the flag.

But, for now, I have had enough flag discussion.

Besides, Devores, you have to be in a great mood today . . .

GO BOLTS!

Game 7 tomorrow, and then Vancouver is next!

YES.....They pulled out another clencher. One more game to take the bruins out, then on to the Canucks.

[Lou... 3,118]

Lou-

Help me out- I can't find the third water bridge on Bing.

Obviously, there's the one just South of the Contemporary Resort.

And, then there's one between the Yacht and Beach Club and the International Gateway entrance to Epcot.

Where is the third?

I may have confused the issue.

I call it two water bridges but it may actually be classified as double water bridge. The one at the Epcot Resort Area has two roads running under it, Epcot Resorts Blvd which outside the park and Ave of the Stars which is the perimeter road inside Epcot. The two roads run parallel to each other, but you can't see one when your in the other, so it seems to be two water bridges. So I guess there are two, but they go over three roadways. Does that make any sense?

[Lou... 3,118]

YES.....They pulled out another clencher. One more game to take the bruins out, then on to the Canucks.

Yada, yada, yada. The phrase "counting your chickens before they hatch" comes to mind.

How are your and TCD's Rays doing? I always want to put the word pizza after Rays.

[BradyBzLyn...Mo 2,023]

Another fun and informative TCD TR!!

Who'da thunk hijacking a thread would actually result in MORE information! :protip:

[mgsmom 9]

Here I go taking a week or so off to study my masters stuff... geez... and I miss 6 pages!

Ok, let me get caught up...

1) I saw the Flag Retreat at MK when we were there Christmas '99. It was wonderful. I only cried a little. Ok, a lot. Got a real soft spot for the selfless people who serve and defend my country.

2) Love love love the interactive line at Pooh - DD will just LOVE that when we go back. She still talks about riding the honey pots last summer - and she was only 2.

3) Rubik's cube - one of my students brought one in to play with when he finished his test this week (state test - they are supposed to bring in something to read quietly when done - I told him I was totally cool with the cube.)

4) Shipwreck Island - you want me to get some intel on that? Or are you seeing if someone else already knows?? Going to see super-disney-peeps this summer.

5) We stayed in the Contemporary that trip in 99 and had a room on the Garden Wing facing the lake. We could just sit on the patio and watch the electric water parade. It was very nice. Had no clue how it was built, though!!!

That is all - I like lists, too. :banana:

Thanks for all the great pics and conversations!

[Roller ... aka Ed 351]

You forgot to skip #4

[LONE-STAR 370]

:popcorn: keep it coming

[YodaGirl 13]

Good Lord, are you saying you were born in May 1981?

I am getting old.

Yes.

I mean, yes I was born in May 1981.

Not yes as in you're old.

No worries about the water bridge. I would venture to guess that most people don't even realize that they are traveling on a water bridge when they head from Fort Wilderness to the MK. So don't even think about ti.

Thanks!

I drive under those 3 water bridges quite often, especially the MK one, and for some reason I do think about it, especially when they leak. Yup, there is water on the roadway sometimes. There are workman around the MK bridge a lot. They were there this week. I have no clue why.

Ok, Lou, you're not helping me out here. Just sayin'... Okay, I'll just repeat lots and lots of times..."They've never fallen before. They've never fallen before..."

Hey you got me beat by a month, I'm June 1981.

Happy Birthday by the way! (I'm assuming you already had it) How are you taking this big 0 birthday?

I actually stayed in the 80's section at the Pop when we were there for Expedition Everest. When we stay in a Value resort I think Pop is way better than the Allstars.

Thanks! Happy Early Birthday to you! I'm actually enjoying 30, thus far. :)

Alright, you kids keep it down with all your youngster chatter.

And quit your bragging.

I'm having a big 0 birthday this year too.

So Whoop Dee Doo.

TCD

Thought about saying something snarky, but I'm not quick enough this early in the morning. lol

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

I may have confused the issue.

I call it two water bridges but it may actually be classified as double water bridge. The one at the Epcot Resort Area has two roads running under it, Epcot Resorts Blvd which outside the park and Ave of the Stars which is the perimeter road inside Epcot. The two roads run parallel to each other, but you can't see one when your in the other, so it seems to be two water bridges. So I guess there are two, but they go over three roadways. Does that make any sense?

I understand what you are saying, and thanks for clearing it up. I will need to take a closer look at the one by International Gateway. I have only driven under that one a couple of times. I didn't realize that there were two separate roads on two different levels that travel beneath it. Very interesting.

Yada, yada, yada. The phrase "counting your chickens before they hatch" comes to mind.

How are your and TCD's Rays doing? I always want to put the word pizza after Rays.

Well, right back at ya!

I notice that you waited until your Red Socks finally won a couple of games in a row before you started with your smack talk.

It's a long season. We will see.

The hockey game tonight is huge!

Go Bolts!

Another fun and informative TCD TR!!

Who'da thunk hijacking a thread would actually result in MORE information! :protip:

It just goes to show you that Fort Fiends rock!

Here I go taking a week or so off to study my masters stuff... geez... and I miss 6 pages!

Ok, let me get caught up...

1) I saw the Flag Retreat at MK when we were there Christmas '99. It was wonderful. I only cried a little. Ok, a lot. Got a real soft spot for the selfless people who serve and defend my country.

2) Love love love the interactive line at Pooh - DD will just LOVE that when we go back. She still talks about riding the honey pots last summer - and she was only 2.

3) Rubik's cube - one of my students brought one in to play with when he finished his test this week (state test - they are supposed to bring in something to read quietly when done - I told him I was totally cool with the cube.)

4) Shipwreck Island - you want me to get some intel on that? Or are you seeing if someone else already knows?? Going to see super-disney-peeps this summer.

5) We stayed in the Contemporary that trip in 99 and had a room on the Garden Wing facing the lake. We could just sit on the patio and watch the electric water parade. It was very nice. Had no clue how it was built, though!!!

That is all - I like lists, too. :banana:

Thanks for all the great pics and conversations!

That is a very impressive list.

Good job!

I dont' think there is much to find about Shipwreck Island. I'll share what I heard in my final post for this TR. I think it was just a boat driver running his mouth.

Make sure not to miss the new Pooh interactive line- I would say your DD is the perfect age to enjoy it. I'll bet she enjoys the line more than the ride!

You forgot to skip #4

Good catch.

And very funny!

TCD

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Thanks! Happy Early Birthday to you! I'm actually enjoying 30, thus far. :)

Thought about saying something snarky, but I'm not quick enough this early in the morning. lol

Thanks for saving the snark!

I already feel bad enough after hearing that you and WBI are only 30 years old.

Enjoy your 30's!

I know that I did.

I'm just sad that I am almost done enjoying my 40's.

TCD

[doodlebug....Cherie 461]

Thanks for saving the snark!

I already feel bad enough after hearing that you and WBI are only 30 years old.

Enjoy your 30's!

I know that I did.

I'm just sad that I am almost done enjoying my 40's.

TCD

50's aren't so bad either :banana:

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Well, we have made it to the end of another TCD trip report.

That makes three this month.

If you haven't read the other two, make sure to look them up.

And not to worry, there are still a couple more on the way.

As I said earlier, things are different here now.

So be sure to check back.

As for this trip report, we have finally made it to day two of our trip.

We had been at the MK until about 2 am, and didn't hit the hay until 3.

The girls were sleeping in.

So, I took some time to look around the Pop Century resort.

It is nice enough.

Does anybody know very much about this place?

It has a very weird history.

The resort was supposed to open some time early in the new millennium.

But, even though it was nearly complete in 2001, its opening was postponed.

It finally opened in December, 2003.

Well, actually only half of it opened.

The concept was that one half would be called Classic Years, and would be themed based on the decades of the 1950's through the 1990's. The other half would sit across a lake and would be called Legendary Years, and would be themed based on the decades of the 1900's through the 1940's. I understand the attraction of the 50's through the 90's. I never understood who would be attracted to the first part of the 20th century. Apparently, someone in management wondered the same thing, and only the Classic Years part opened.

But the odd thing was that they had already build the reception building and some of the buildings for the rooms when the Classic Years portion opened. But, they never went any further with finishing the Legendary Years portion. They just left that part to rot.

You can see the abandoned buildings here in this screen cap from Bing:

The lake that bisects the resort is called Hourglass Lake. The bridge that connects the two halves of the resort is called Generation Gap Bridge.

And here are some shots of what the abandoned reception building eventually looked like:

It wasn't until last year that WDW management finally announced that they were going to complete the second half of the resort.

But, they 86'd the Legendary Years concept.

Instead, the second half of the resort will become Disney's Art of Animation Resort.

Which leaves the Pop Century Resort as really only being the Pop Half-Century Resort.

Construction of the new buildings was going full steam ahead during our visit in early March, as you can see in these photos:

As you can see from these photos, Generation Gap Bridge is designed with the theme of all of the decades in the 20th century. I am not sure what the plan is now that the first half of the century will no longer be represented at this resort.

Here we are at the end of Generation Gap bridge. As you can see, if I was so inclined, I could have ventured on and taken a closer look at things. But I was not so inclined. Actually, I am not really very interested in this new resort. If this construction was going on at Fort Wilderness, it would be a different story entirely. But it wasn't. So, this is the last of the Pop Century construction photos you will see from me:

I let the girls sleep until the last possible minute before we had to start packing to get out of there by the 11 am check-out time.

And, then we hit the food court for our final meal.

One of the DD's wanted her photo taken in the zero from "her" decade, so I obliged:

And that's it.

We headed home after our late breakfast.

And, our short trip to the Fort was over.

That's all I got.

Except I need to finish that Shipwreck Island story.

There isn't much to tell.

On a boat trip from the MK to Fort Wilderness a few years back, a boat driver pointed out what I have been calling Shipwreck Island as we passed it. He said that it was called Shipwreck Island because a boat on which Walt Disney himself was riding ran aground on it when he visited Bay Lake shortly after he had purchased the land in Florida for Walt Disney World. I have never heard this story before or since. And, I have never heard that Walt every rode in a boat on Bay Lake. I have heard that one of the features that attracted Walt to the property was Discovery Island, which existed before the Florida property was purchased. Supposedly, Walt noticed it while surveying possible land tracts from the air. I have heard this story a couple of times, and it sounds plausible to me. But for now, I am filing the Shipwreck Island story under B.S..

Alright, now that really is all I got.

Another one done.

Have a great weekend everyone.

I'll get cranking on a new report after Memorial Day.

TCD

[anolefan 8]

Does anybody know very much about this place?

It has a very weird history.

The resort was supposed to open some time early in the new millennium.

But, even though it was nearly complete in 2001, its opening was postponed.

It finally opened in December, 2003.

Well, actually only half of it opened.

The concept was that one half would be called Classic Years, and would be themed based on the decades of the 1950's through the 1990's. The other half would sit across a lake and would be called Legendary Years, and would be themed based on the decades of the 1900's through the 1940's. I understand the attraction of the 50's through the 90's. I never understood who would be attracted to the first part of the 20th century. Apparently, someone in management wondered the same thing, and only the Classic Years part opened.

But the odd thing was that they had already build the reception building and some of the buildings for the rooms when the Classic Years portion opened. But, they never went any further with finishing the Legendary Years portion. They just left that part to rot.

You can see the abandoned buildings here in this screen cap from Bing:

TCD

I have never stayed at Pop and didn't know about this. I can imagine that view would have been quite annoying for the past 8 years though. It amazes me that Disney does this so often.

Great report Andrew!

Can't wait for the next one.