Linda Mac's Orlando Adventures

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Hello from a very dreary and wet Walt Disney World. I am staying on the 4th floor in the 60's section at Pop Century for the week. I rented a camera lens for the AllEars Southwest Adventure By Disney and was hoping to practice with it this week. Since I checked in on Tuesday, there has been lots of rain. We had a storm come through on Tuesday afternoon that had some of the darkest storm clouds, yesterday it rained from about 4 pm till almost 11 pm and it has been raining for most of today. Although the rain has recently let up, the sky is still full of storm clouds. It's late in the afternoon and that's about the time the regular showers start. So I am not holding out too much hope for sunny skies today. I wanted to share some photos from the last few days, some are with the new lens and some with old one.

Pop Century afternoon storm coming in on Tuesday. The clouds were much darker then they appear in the pictures. Except for cropping, these are untouched photos. Talk about having a dark cloud over your head!

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Construction continues on the mystery project at The Contemporary Resort. I heard the rumors it will be a vacation club or a family suites hotel. I have also heard that the next DVC resort to be announced will be at Disneyland. Hmmmm......

On a side note: There has been no work started on future Tempo Grab and Go on the 4th floor that was set to temporarly replace the food court earlier this week. A source tells me that the change will not take place for at least another month. We will have to wait and see.

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The bus lanes at the All Star Movies Resort are currently being repaved. Temporary bus stops have been set-up in a section of the check-in parking lot for Magic Kingdom and Epcot. Guests traveling to other locations can now catch their buses to the left of the luggage assistance area.

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Ever Wonder Where The Towel Animals Come From?

Hello Fellow Disney Fans! My name is Linda Mac and I am going try my hand at Blogging. As a member of the AllEars team for the past two years, I have been the Universal Orlando Resort Correspondent as well as a contributor of photographs from anything interesting or new that I can find at Walt Disney World. I have just recently moved to Orlando as a full time resident. Enough about me. Let the Blogging begin.

Having stayed off-site before Pop Century opened in December 2003, I missed out on a lot of the extras that come with staying at a Disney resort. Needless to say after one 2-night stay at Pop Century, I was hooked by the Disney magic and resort benefits.

The first time I returned to my room to find a small towel animal left by the mouse keeping staff, it felt magical. It was on my 3rd or 4th stay that I first received a towel animal, not my first visit. Just remember, if for some reason you don’t find one of these little beauties in your room, please don’t feel overlooked. These are just a little bonus that you will find in your room from time to time and most likely not on every visit.

I have seen these small handcrafted pieces of magic go from a simple animal using just a small towel and maybe a rubber band to some very elaborate creations. The mouse keeping staff at Pop Century takes great pride in crafting bundles of towels into unique creations that are not just limited to animals and mouse ear silhouettes anymore. I personally think there are a few members of the mouse keeping staff that spend their entire shifts making these magical treats for us.

A few weeks ago, while staying at Pop Century, the mouse keeping staff set up several tables in the lobby near the Fast Forward Arcade and gave everyone a glimpse of how they make the magic happen. As you can see from the photographs, the towel creations now include all kinds of decorations. And guests were given a chance to take home some of the wildest designs in towel creations I have ever seen. Any guest not checking outing on the day of the demonstration had an opportunity to enter their name and room number for chance to win a special towel creation. Anyone need a four layer towel birthday cake compete with flowers, lace and ribbons? A little too much? Don’t worry there are vases of flowers, some with butterflies, momma and baby bears, puppies with different colored ears and more. These demonstrations take place once a month and the dates are random. Hope you enjoy the photos.