Disney world continued

Since we were staying at the Pop Century hotel and the new Art of Animation hotel is a short walk away, we decided to check it out.  I took video of our visit and would love to share it here but, alas, it is in my stolen phone.

The kids swam and discovered that the pool has music piped in underwater.  They thought that was the coolest thing ever.

We ate at the restaurant and my reviews for the first night were pretty good.  They are going green so gone are the paper plates and plastic utensils.  You get to use real plates and real silverware.  The restaurant is set up like all of the moderate and value resorts - a food court.  One thing I do like better is the layout of the dining area.  There are four sections and each one has a beverage and condiment station of its own so no long treks and crowded areas.  The food was good.  We ate some exotic dish with curry but there were "normal" options.

The kids loved it so much that we ate there the next night as well.  What a difference.  On that second night, half of the counters were closed and the ones that were open only had half of the entrees available.  Also, I got Lil' Bit a bowl of chicken soup (which is an item on the kid's menu at the Pop) and discovered that it was not considered the kids menu there.  So, we ended up paying for milk and grapes that we didn't want (but had grabbed because they are usually on the kids meal).  My husband actually brought this to my attention after he had paid and when I was confused about what he was telling me, we drew the attention of a manger.  I will say that the manager offered to make it right and give us the extra items for free but we had already paid for them.  I appreciate his efforts to please us but the evening was a bust compared to the previous night.  I will cut the Art of Animation a break though, they had only been open about a week so maybe they were working the bugs out.

We did take a tour of the property and were shown one of the family suites in the Cars building.  It is really nice (again, pictures and video on my phone)

The rest of the vacation was pretty uneventful.  Lil' Bit lost her Minnie hat (purchased on a  previous trip) and when I asked lost and found at the front desk, the cast member ran my room key.  He apparently read the notes attached to my room record about my tragic loss.  He asked me how much the hat was and gave me a $20 bill on the spot to replace it.  It was totally unnecessary because the loss of the hat was not Disney's fault at all but I stashed the bill in my pocket anyway.  ($575 to go).  You have to love Disney's customer service.