It was another Disney vacation day for us at Pop Century. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a super rainy and windy day with even a few tornadoes in the surrounding area of central Florida (mainly to the west in Polk county). One of the areas hit hardest by the storm was the annual Sun n' Fun international fly in and air expo in Lakeland, Florida. A tornado flipped planes, uprooted trees and tore up tents. A few people were injured, but no life threatening injuries were reports.
Since we were forced to stay indoors we, of course, headed straight to the Everything Pop Shopping and Food court. For lunch we split one of our favorites - a cheese steak wrap:
We like this wrap better than the more traditional cheese steak sandwiches we've tried around the parks, including the Disney All-Star Resorts. The sandwich is filled with quality meat, just a touch of barely-noticeable onion (the way I like it) and melting white cheese. Eating half if actually quite filling.
My only complaint, and this is true of most Disney counter service food items - the wrap was not as hot as it could be. This wrap has been on the Pop Century menu for a long time now. Long ago they used to make the wraps to order. The meat was always hot of the grill and super fresh. These days, they pre-cook the meat and let it sit in a holding container. This makes the meat warm - not hot. Plus, there is a lot of liquid in the there. I supposed to keep it moist.
By the time you wait through the check-out line and reach your table, your sandwich is cold - especially if you are waiting in line behind someone who hasn't yet figured out how to use their Disney Dining Plan credits.
Don't get me wrong, it was still a tasty sandwich and one of the better offerings that Disney's Pop Century serves for lunch. I just wish they'd go back to cooking the meat to order. It makes for a hotter and better tasting sandwich.
Confession... you're probably going to see a LOT of visits to the Pop Century Resort in this blog. We have stayed at almost all of the Disney hotels on property from the value hotels to the luxury resorts on our vacations, but we always go back to Pop Century. Even if our "vacation" is an afternoon strolling the grounds and getting a bite to eat at Everything Pop (shopping and food court area). It is a place we like to visit just to get a taste of Disney without crowds or bigger attractions.
As locals, we see (and visit) the Walt Disney World Resort differently than when we were simply vacationers. We don't race from one top attraction to another or even try to grab fast passes. We just like soaking in the magic of simply being there and that's exactly what we did today at Pop Century.
When we first arrived, we immediately headed to the Hippy Dippy pool for a favorite cold weather pastime: to see how many vacationers from colder climates were swimming. The lifeguards on duty were bundled up like they were on ski patrol. We can relate. As soon as the temps drop below 60 we can barely stand to be outside. To our surprise, no one was in the pool - we usually see at least one or two kids who are determined to go swimming. I don't care if the pool is heated to a balmy 82 degrees, it is still way too cold to consider jumping in. So, we did what many other Floridians do on a cold 50 degree January day, we hurried inside and ordered up two hot chocolates. Of course, hot cocoa needs a sweet treat to go with it so we also shared a delicious crumb cake. A couple hours of relaxing in a booth and listening the the sounds of hit music from decades gone by made for another perfect Disney afternoon.
