Trip Report Finally Back in Our Happy Place. A Three Week Trip With a Cruise Included

We’ve been back for just over a week from what was a wonderful three weeks. There were a few hiccups, but for the most part Disney World was just as we remembered it.

This trip was me and my two youngest daughters, Alice (18) and Lexi (15)

We stayed at Pop Century from July 7th-20th, then sailed on the Disney Magic from July 20th-25th, then French Quarter for the last three nights, July 25th-28th. For the Pop Century part of the trip we had the UK 14 day park tickets which included the waterparks.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 24th July (cont)

Alice loves eggs with a runny yolk so had to have the eggs Benedict. This was with smoked salmon

I think she enjoyed it

I only like eggs mixed together, so I had the zucchini frittata with a little drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Very simple and delicious

We shared the ginormous Mickey waffle. I’m not that much of a fan of regular Mickey waffles, this was not like those, it was so much better

Next we shared the ricotta stuffed eggplant, the snapper and the chicken Parmesan. All really good especially the chicken, but I was getting a bit full by now

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 24th July (cont)

Even after so much food we had to look at the dessert menu

I wanted something light so had the Panna Cotta

Alice can’t resist anything chocolate

And she had a cappuccino

We absolutely loved our Palo brunch, it was all so good. And the service was amazing, everything was perfectly paced. Because we were sharing most things we obviously had fresh plates and cutlery for each course. One of the plates our server put down had a few tiny water droplets on it, that was whisked away so quickly and replaced by another one.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 24th July (cont)

Some photos on the way out

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 24th July (cont)

Even the toilet sign is fancy

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 24th July (cont)

We attempted to walk off our brunch with a stroll around deck 4

But we were both so full we just needed a nap. We headed back to our room admiring some details on the way

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 24th July (cont)

After a nap I wanted to go to Cabanas before it closed after lunch. Not to eat, I was still full from brunch, but to take some photos of the wooden artwork that I loved

I managed to get a photo of the splash zone as there weren’t any children in it

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 24th July (cont)

Alice and I went on the adult only Art of the Theme Show tour, where one of the entertainment crew walked us around parts of the ship explaining the design features. It took about an hour and was very interesting. Weirdly this was the only photo I took and I can’t remember the relevance of it

Before dinner we went for a last look around the shops and I bought a new Christmas decoration

Then we stopped by Keys piano bar. I love a piano bar and I wish I had spent more time here, the design is beautiful.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 24th July (cont)

We were back in Lumiere’s for our last night dinner and I was finally hungry again. I think this was the only day that I had no snacks during the day, I’d just stayed so full from brunch

No appetiser photos but I had the shrimp and enjoyed it. Then chicken for Lexi, cod for Alice and the beef for me. Everything was very tasty

Lexi didn’t stay for dessert, she wanted to say goodbye to her new friends

It was no surprise that Alice went with something chocolatey, I’m sure she mentally blanks out the rest of the menu when she sees the word chocolate

And I went with something lemony, this was lovely and light

I’d bought a wine package at the start of the cruise and still had one bottle left so took it back to the room after dinner

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Thursday 24th July (cont)

Then some last night funnelvision

Back in our room, this was a favourite photo. I think Walt would have loved the cruise line

We’d loved our first cruise on the Magic and definitely would sail on her again. We were sad to be leaving her the next day but at least we still had three days back at Disney to look forward to. I still slightly prefer the Dream and Fantasy, not because of anything wrong on the Magic, but because I love the adult outdoor spaces on those two ships. Their adult pool decks are where I spend a lot of time.

I did miss having a veranda but I would be ok without one again, particularly if there was a big price difference which there often is. What I would not want to do again is have an aft room on such a low deck. I’ve had aft rooms on higher decks and the engine vibration has never bothered me but on deck 2 it was very noticeable. It didn’t affect me too much on the earlier nights but that last night it was pretty bad and I didn’t sleep very well because of it.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 25th July

We had to get off the ship . We’d opted to keep our luggage with us and do early express walk off which usually starts at 7ish. If we’d put our luggage out the night before we would have to wait for our group to be called to disembark the ship so couldn’t be sure what time that would be and didn’t want to be late for our bus which was due to leave at 9am. The girls went up to Cabanas and brought some pastries back to the room while I finished the packing and we left our room at 7.15. I had been concerned that there would be a queue to get off the ship and then another queue to go through immigration, but there was nothing. This was the quickest disembarkation ever and we were on our bus at just after 7.30. This did mean we had a long wait sitting on the bus though but I prefer that to being anxious about being late.

The Wish was in port as well

The bus left right on time and it was an uneventful and quick journey. The time stamp on this photo is 10.11, I was keeping an eye on all the timings because even though we didn’t have plans for this day I was going to make plans for after my transatlantic cruise and wanted to know when I should book things

We made a couple of stops, Saratoga as well as Old Key West

And we arrived at French Quarter at around 10.30

It was too early for our room to be ready although the cm who checked us in did try to find something, so we dropped off our luggage at bell services and headed outside

We had a chat about what we wanted to do for the day. We didn’t have any park tickets, frustratingly even though we still had 2 days left out of the 14 day ticket we had bought the use period had expired the day before. We weren’t feeling like going to a water park, I’d have rather done some resort hopping but the girls just wanted to go to Disney Springs. We decided to have lunch before we left as the food court had just switched to its lunch menu

Then a little wander on our way to the boat. We noticed that the pool was packed as we went past.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 25th July (cont)

I love the boat ride over to Disney Springs

First stop was for dessert

Alice went with a simple cup of watermelon dole whip

Lexi had the sampler

And I had the margarita float with lime dole whip

We all enjoyed our treats although Lexi’s was melting so quickly it got a bit messy

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 25th July (cont)

The bad night’s sleep was catching up with me by now and we’d had our room ready notification so decided to head back to the resort. I can’t remember which building we were in, we turned left after leaving the main building, but we were very happy with our room and location

A few room photos before a much needed nap

The room safe was not very well positioned for us short people, I had to stand on my tippy toes to use it

One of my favourite things in the room

And a nice view

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 25th July (cont)

I didn’t want another food court meal and as we were planning to go to Riverside for the evening, I made a reservation for Boatwright’s. I really like the walk over there and we set out in plenty of time.

We only got a bit further than the last building and the walkway was blocked off. I had no idea why at the time, I hadn’t read anything about work being done, but I found out later from another trip report that a bridge had been damaged and needed emergency repairs. So we then had to walk back and wait for the internal resort bus to take us over there. It seemed to take forever and I was getting a bit anxious because I hate being late, but we made it just in time for our 6.30 reservation.

I’ve always liked the cornbread here

I can’t remember what Lexi had, probably chicken knowing her, Alice and I both had the blackened salmon which was very good

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 25th July (cont)

Our main plan for the evening was to watch Yehaa Bob’s show at River Roost, something that we’ve enjoyed many times over the years. It was still a while until the start of the show so we had a wander around the resort, in hindsight I wish we’d gone straight there to get a table but we did enjoy our walk

Riverside is one of my favourite resorts and the one we’ve stayed at the most, I find it very calm and relaxing

 

[Tiggertoo56]

Friday 25th July (cont)

Our main plan for the evening was to watch Yehaa Bob’s show at River Roost, something that we’ve enjoyed many times over the years. It was still a while until the start of the show so we had a wander around the resort, in hindsight I wish we’d gone straight there to get a table but we did enjoy our walk

Riverside is one of my favourite resorts and the one we’ve stayed at the most, I find it very calm and relaxing

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Loving all the pics of French Quarter and Riverside! Bringing back so many memories of our trips. Looking forward to our stay at FQ in March and maybe another lovely meal at Boatwrights.

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Friday 25th July (cont)

On our way back

We got back a little while before Bob’s show was due to start, the tables in the part of the bar where Bob performs were taken so we got a table in the other part. I didn’t mind this at all, we’ve sat there many times and always been able to hear the show even if we can’t see it that well

Not the best view, but we did get there late

Something sweet for Lexi and a chocolate martini for me

We would have enjoyed the show were it not for the group of four adults and four children next to us. They were having constant multiple shouted conversations so that they could be heard to one another above the music, and heard by everyone around them. We tried to wait it out but they just didn’t quieten down and we couldn’t hear Bob over their noise. We eventually gave up and left before the end of the show, something I don’t think we’ve ever done before because we usually wait for a photo with Bob afterwards

So we didn’t get to recreate this

Back to French Quarter

Which is very pretty at night

 

[riverside]

Riverside is one of my favourite resorts and the one we’ve stayed at the most, I find it very calm and relaxing

Couldn’t agree with you more!!

They were having constant multiple shouted conversations so that they could be heard to one another above the music, and heard by everyone around them.

Ugh…..

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 26th July

The plan for the next few days was wake up and see what we feel like doing during the day and then some nice dinners and fireworks in the evening.

I went to get breakfast while the girls were still getting ready

It had to be beignets for breakfast. So yummy, but I did forget plates so we had to eat them over the bathroom sinks because they were so messy

We’d decided on a pool day. After seeing how busy it was there the day before we rope dropped it, we had a couple of lovely shady loungers across from these

That photo was at 9.48, by 10.30 the loungers were almost all gone. The girls managed some time in the pool early on but after a while it became ‘people soup’ and just wasn’t enjoyable for them. Alice and I were quite happy chilling on our loungers but Lexi was getting bored and after an early lunch went for a walk and then to hang out in the room.

Mid afternoon cocktails, margarita for me and I think a strawberry smoothie for Alice

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 26th July (cont)

Heading out for the evening

We were heading to the Boardwalk so took the bus to Hollywood Studios and then the skyliner

We still had some time before our dinner reservation so had a walk around

Then we browsed in the art gallery, this has always been a favourite of ours and I’m sad that it’s now closed.

I didn’t take any photos because there was an artist in there promoting his work and I didn’t think it would be appropriate. His work was just beautiful, wall hanging steel sculptures. I did look him up afterwards, a little bit out of my price range

If I ever win the lottery I do not need mansions or fast cars, I need a house full of Disney art

 

[Piglet_the_brave]

Saturday 26th July (cont)

Dinner was at my favourite restaurant

I love all the little details

Delicious bread and butter

And a glass of my favourite Stags Leap Petite Sirah