10 days of Magic, Mickey, and Memories

Hi all!

And so it has come to an end. All the months of planning and preparing resulted in the best 10 days for my husband and I! Here are the basics:

Who: My DH and I
What: 10 days of Memories and Magic at Walt Disney World
Where: Port Orleans Riverside
When: September 13 to the 22
Why: A trip for resting and relaxing after a very long and hard year and in preparation of starting another personal journey.

Some background: My DH and I have traveled to Disney every year since we were married. So this marked our 8th trip in a row. Now the last two trips, I went solo. I went to Disneyland in 2010 and went for a girls getaway with my mom in May 2011. Since we started going to WDW together, a lot has happened. We moved twice, went through some very hard times, and have struggled with infertility. So this trip was focused on reconnecting and putting all of that "stuff" behind us. In the past, we have stayed either offsite (in 2005 and 2006) and then onsite at Deluxe Resorts. Since 2007, we have been able to drive to WDW since we lived only 4 1/2 hours away from the World. Okay, we are pretty much up to speed so now, on with the show! Or as Peter Pan would say...Here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This was the first time we stayed at POR as well as using DME. I will say to both, I would definitely recommend and stay/use again. We left very early on Thursday, September 13 and flew AirTran. It was a great flight and we got exceptional prices! We will definitely fly with AirTran again! The flight was smooth and on time so we arrived around 10 am at MCO and DME was ready and waiting for us! We did not have the fancy blue and cream DME bus which I was a tad disappointed about as I had never ridden on one! But we had a Mears bus and we were just ready to get to WDW!

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Excited to get to WDW!

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Super happy!

We arrived!
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Arriving at POR!
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We went ahead and did the online check in which didn't seem to make a difference. It was not busy, we still had questions, and we still talked to an agent. I will do it again, but didn't really notice that it made that much of a difference. We had called and requested a corner room on a higher floor and paid for garden view Royal Room. We got everything we asked for, except, our corner room faced a parking lot and was as far from everything as possible. So immediately called the front desk and I explained that I paid for garden view and would like garden view. We were moved to another room, that was near the pool, and a good location. It was not a corner room. The reason for the request for the corner is that I understand that the rooms can be quite dark so a corner room would let in more natural light. It would have been nice for that corner room but it didn't really bother us much at all.

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View from the room

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We first ate lunch since we were starved! We headed down to Riverside Mill. The DH tried to the pasta bar with cheese cake and I the burger and red velvet cake! All were delicious!!!!

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The Royal Rooms were so nice! We really liked them a lot! They were beautiful!!

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Yep, that's Stacy! The Must-Do's! Unt Beer???

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disneygirl76

Carey Poppins - Nanny and Disney Enthusiest
Original Poster
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Loving the TR! Would love to meet you two at EPCOT next year and have some beers. A couple of WDW freaks that just enjoy the World. By the way, that guy in the photo, does he work at HM? Pretty creepy looking.

I know right! SO funny! Would love to meet up next time!!!
 

disneygirl76

Carey Poppins - Nanny and Disney Enthusiest
Original Poster
Just saw your update about your feet and I had the exact same thing happen to me last year in Disney. It was awful. I had blisters all over my feet (especially my toes). I had to buy crocs (the cute Mickey ones) out of pure desperation and wear them with socks.... I know.... Awful. I was on my first day too. The crocs helped so much. I am not sure what I am going to do this trip. Maybe a new pair of crocs?!?!?!

I was so tempted! But couldn't bring myself to spend $50!! I was so close about 3 times! It was terrible! Will plan differently next time! :)
 

disneygirl76

Carey Poppins - Nanny and Disney Enthusiest
Original Poster
Day 3

Relaxing to Roaring to Rain to Romance

So the idea for the day was to do a Tusker House breakfast before park opened and then off to Epcot later in the day for dinner. Basically - I don't know what I was thinking. After a 16 hour stretch at AK, we canceled the ADR (at 1 a.m.) and then slept in, having breakfast at the Resort. I swapped a bunch of ADR's around this day. Was able to score a Le Cellier dinner for a different day and swapped it with Les Chefs de France and then got another Tusker House but for lunch. This was all happening at about 1 a.m. and I knew to check back and see if I could get a AK breakfast Tusker House later in the week. I will flash forward to another lesson learned. Even though you cancel your character dining meal before hand, you SHOULD cancel more then 24 hours in advance. The cast member I spoke to later in the week informed me that since I canceled at 1 a.m., still before hand, that it was less then 24 hours so I could be charged. Luckily, I was not charged. However, I could have been. And if charged, it is a hassle trying to deal with the restaurant directly for the refund. So...now that all character meals are booked with a credit card, make sure you really want to eat there b/c you will get dinged if you cancel last minute.

We decided to head to breakfast at Riverside and it was delicious.

We went with the Big Plate and an extra Mickey Waffle.

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After breakfast, we headed to room to rest a bit more and get ready for going to AK. We decided to head there for a few rides, and maybe lunch since we had almost 8 pm ADR's for Les Chefs de France.

Waiting for the bus (say hello to Mavrick and Goose)

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The wait for the bus was nothing, only about 10 minutes. As I stated before, we never had any bus issues except for to and from MK.

We pulled a fast pass for Expedition Everest and went for lunch at Yak and Yeti

Honey Chicken - yes please!

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Shortly after we got there, it started to sprinkle. Then it started to spritz. And then Dribble. Then Rain. Then this happened.

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I am not sure if you can see it but the water is half way up the box of food.

Right as we ordered, it started to rain. The one day! ONE DAY I just grabbed a purse (see...animal print! Totally had to do it!)

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Any way - the one day I didn't bring all my stuff - the ponchos and everything - it started to pour! We were under the ledge of a roof at a table and we were fine while it was raining. Then it started pouring and we got up on chairs and stood on them up against the wall. That worked for awhile until the wind started blowing and all the rain was blowing in at us. We then made a break for it and ran to buy ponchos. Who doesn't have enough $9 ponchos????

We decided to call it a day at AK and headed to the Boardwalk/Yacht Club since we had dinner at Les Chefs de France that night.

By the time we got to YC/BC, the rain had stopped.

We freshened up and it was good to get back to the YC. We hadn't been there since we stayed there in 2008!

We walked to Epcot - I love the back gate!

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And strolled through our favorite countries!

Germany!

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After watching Stacy 800 times at this point - we claimed the phrase "unt pretzel and beer". So it became "unt" everything for the rest of the trip!

Unt Beer!

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And then ...there was caramel! I have no idea how this has passed us by! We had NEVER been in here before!!

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Oh yes kids - I did this! And it was amazing!! Pineapple, Chocolate, Caramel! OH MY!

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And this too!

Caramel and Marshmallow what!?!?!

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In Norway - I just thought this was so darn cute!

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After Maelstrom and snacking in some countries, we decided to head to France and see if we could check in early for our ADR at Les Chefs de France and Oui Oui they did!
 

disneygirl76

Carey Poppins - Nanny and Disney Enthusiest
Original Poster
Started off with some champagne!

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And then French Onion Soup! OH DEAR ME! SLAP ME STUPID!

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And for dinner - le beef!

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To finish - a cappuccino like no other

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The Creme Brulee for dessert - it was good - not slap me stupid good - just good

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We then headed home. We didn't even wait for Illuminations. We thought we would be practical and beat the crowds out so we could grab a seat on the bus. This plan worked and we still had to wait about 20 mins but we made it on the bus first.

That's it for day 3!
 

HouCuseChickie

Well-Known Member
You said you'd be starting your trip report and you've delivered :D

I'm sorry the bus situation to MK was so bad. This was the biggest issue that scared me away from POR. We had some horrible bus experiences at WL and I just didn't want to risk it. The room does look neat though. I agree about going less often, but staying deluxe. The convenience really is one of the big deal makers.

I also shouldn't be eating dinner while reading your report. I'm eating chicken and wild rice, but dreaming of your French onion soup and caramel treats. What an awesome table @ R&C on your first night as well. Glad you got your sticky toffee pudding.

Can't wait to read more!
 

the1nonlysinger

Active Member
LOVING the trip report so far! We're staying at POR in February- so I'm living vicariously! :)

As far as the sore feet, I used to have the same problem. So before our last trip we each bought a pair of walking sneakers, meant specifically for long-distance walking (not running). We did 16 hour days too and not a blister in sight. Our backup plan (which coincidentally came from the wdwmagic forums) was this amazing thing called Dr. Scholl's Moleskin. Google it, buy it, it's AMAZING stuff. Makes walking bearable if you DO end up with any blisters...

Can't wait to read more! ;)
 

hellowonderland

Well-Known Member
Awesome TR!

Sadly, I am most excited about Tortuga Tavern being open while you were there! It always seems to be closed and I've never had a chance to try it! Mmmm, plastic cheese.

That pic you took of Mary Poppins (quoted above) is truly stunning. :)
 

disneygirl76

Carey Poppins - Nanny and Disney Enthusiest
Original Poster
Really like your TR but I am having a hard time with your above comment. o_O

LOL. JK. However I would have stayed for Illuminations. I just cant help myself.

Hee hee We had already seen it 2 days before and actually - DH and I both prefer the pre-millenium version. :)
 

PartOfYourWorld

Well-Known Member
Great TR so far! You're pictures of POR are getting me excited for Wed! Alas no Royal Room ( I would totally be in heaven there I'm a princess nut!) but we do know someone who is staying in one so shes letting me go and check it out in person :). Who knows maybe we'll get lucky and they'll upgrade me and my mum! LOL. might be wishing too much!

Sad to hear about the buses. Hopefully it isn't too bad this week. I have heard though to use the main bus stop vs the smaller ones around the back of the resort.

Can't wait to read more! (Might not be until I come back!!)
 

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