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!

Excited to get to WDW!

Super happy!

We arrived!

Arriving at POR!

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.

View from the room

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!!!!

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

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

 

[disneygirl76]

To France! We walked through the shops and wished we were hungrier! But we were getting so full! We strolled around and then watched Impressions de France. After that, we headed to a bench we found and I got us a chocolate crepe, champagne and of course, the grand marnier slushie!

I will be honest, I was not impressed with the crepe. I felt that it was chewy and a bit dry. I was disappointed b/c everything else that I got in France was amazing. We should have gone to Boulangerie Patisserie instead. But at least now I can say I have had a crepe in france!

Two more countries to go! Can we make it? Did we do it???

 

[disneygirl76]

Now, the last two - UK and Canada. We knew what was to come in Canada. Nothing there but a popcorn and beer cart. So we wanted to actually eat something in the UK. Since we couldn't do a full meal and I was dying for a scotch egg, we went into the pub. Illuminations had just started so the place was empty. If you ever want a seat in the pub, grab it during Illuminations!

DH apparently wasn't thinking clearly b/c he thought this would be a good idea! I on the other hand, stuck to cider!

Again - slap me silly this scotch egg was amazing!

And of course - Chips!

Yeah - we were feeling the effects of the day. I will say, neither of us were drunk or even terribly tipsy. It was more a feeling of exhaustion and being full!

And now...for canada!

We watched o'canada! And then finished our job!

And now for the final piece to finish this off!

We didn't get a photo of ourselves in Norway!

WE DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Spikerdink]

Loving the trip recap....but wait...did you ever get back to your ADR....or did you take strike three and go back to the bench???

Your pics are amazing - what's the camera??

 

[ratherbeinwdw]

Love the report so far.... a friend of mine wants to go to WDW...and of course I said I would go too! He wants to choose the resort, although I am hoping he would say POR....but your bus situation gives me pause....

The bus situation has bugged me (minor annoyance really all things considered) for years. With the GPS positioning, security cameras, etc, you would thing that the powers that be could formulate a way to dispatch buses when they are needed. It defies logic that they have someone in a van telling the drivers what route to run. I have sat at a bus stop for 40 mins also waiting for a bus....which is way too long in my opinion.

The other thing they need to do is to find a way to have an information board that will tell you how long to the next bus. IF the board reads MK 30 min, Epcot 2, AK 10 and HS 15 and I want to go to MK, I might decide to go to Epcot and ride the monorail rather than sit and wait.....but who knows if Disney would splurge for that?

We were very lucky at PORS in June except for one time and after 20 minutes, I gave the bus driver that stopped for another park a look of frustration, and he asked where I needed to go and contacted someone and had a bus there within five minutes. Not sure who he contacted since we didn't get on his bus. Other than that one time, we had great service. It may be that during busy times, they keep more buses running. We had a horrible experience with the AoA buses last week.

 

[DisneyDebNJ]

LOVE Epcot!! You both did an outstanding job covering WS!! My first *Epcot* day is my fav, next to seeing my boy Pluto at MK. GREAT job!!!!!!

 

[mousefreak]

Excellent trip report!!!! I began to weep at the pictures of the churros and caramel sauce in Mexico. We had those earlier this month and they were AMAZING!!!!

 

[OswaldTheRabbit]

Ok.... You guys officially ROCK!!!! Eating around epcot looked so fun! I am going to try the cupcake crawl but know I won't make it! Eating around Epcot is such a great idea but I will say I would be completely hammered but canada

 

[disneygirl76]

Loving the trip recap....but wait...did you ever get back to your ADR....or did you take strike three and go back to the bench???

Your pics are amazing - what's the camera??

Thank you! I have a canon DSLR its the rebel xsi. Love it!

Oh - oops, forgot to add that! No, by the time we got to Canada...TOTALLY forgot! We didn't remember that we missed it a second time until we got home and emptied our pockets! Thankfully, it was not fully booked, they had loads of openings. I am usually a very responsible ADR person!

 

[disneygirl76]

Ok.... You guys officially ROCK!!!! Eating around epcot looked so fun! I am going to try the cupcake crawl but know I won't make it! Eating around Epcot is such a great idea but I will say I would be completely hammered but canada

I was really worried about this! But with food and a water and 12 hours, you can do it and not be too bad. Also, with the margarita and gingerita, there was like NO alcohol in there that we could tell. And I will admit, we shared the sake b/c I just couldn't do it!

 

[Blueskyze]

Wow - that is awesome!!! Congrats on completing your mission! Your pictures are making me drool, smile, and long to be back in the World all at the same time. Love it!

 

[disneygirl76]

Day 8...and the rains came...again.

We started the day by heading to POFQ to look around. We had not had much of an opportunity to explore the resort yet. The humidity was high and the air conditioning was so cold in our room that every morning, my camera would fog up. So I never got all the pics I wanted to of the resort. Ironically, I was only able to get the FQ side!

We took the boat to FQ for lunch - we were getting a bit of a late start after the Drinking/Eatting Around the World. I was actually fine. DH though...a little rough around the edges. Poor guy! It was too many things mixed and too much rich food. In hindsight - it was super fun to do once but I don't think we will ever do it again.

PORS Mansion

Arrived at POFQ - I definitely liked the theming a bit more. Seemed more fun and exciting over on the FQ side but I loved the Mansions and liked the buildings over at RS more.

Pool at FQ

We ate at Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory. I thought the food over here was equally as good as RS with the exception of them lacking in the pasta bar!

I got the beef po'boy - OMG! Delicious!!

hubby got the quessidilla and it was good but the rice was aweful!

I got the beignets for dessert! So hot but so amazing! They let you come back and get them so you can have them hot and fresh.

(if you look closely, you can see the steam)

We had Mr. Birdy on the PORS side! I didn't get a pic with Mr. Birdy but he was awesome! The nicest man! This guy was super nice too! Don't know his name but he was fun!

Today was to be an MK day so we thought maybe it would be helpful to pick it up from FQ. Nope. We waited 40 mins and sayw 8 buses come through, again two for AK at the same time. The person I was sitting next said that he had never seen it this bad for buses to MK and he couldn't figure out what the deal was. He speculated b/c they were trying to control how many people into the MK at a time. I couldn't imagine that to be the reason but who knows.

 

[Pooh'sBuddy]

Great TR! Tardy to the party, but glad I made it.

 

[disneygirl76]

We got to MK and our goal was to do the things we hadn't done yet, which were only a few things. As well as see Wishes b/c the last experience was so horrible.

We started on Main Street!

Love the balloon guys!

The crowds were moderate and we really began using the WDW mobile app for wait times. That really helped since we didn't really have a plan this day. Since we had been at MK for 2 whole days (this being our 3rd) we really just did what we wanted when we wanted.

Pirates!

Pics around Frontier Land

Off to Haunted Mansion - can you tell what our favorite two rides are yet???

The new next gen FP system was being used this day. New signage was up:

We heard and saw a lot of people using the new system. It was pretty cool and easy.

So it was interesting. At this point we had been on Haunted Mansion at least 8 times. And not once did we make it through without it stopping. So while stopped, I tried to get a pic.

(no flash used - just tried to stay really still)

(and we stopped again)

After Haunted, finally got a Mickey Premium Bar!

and watched these guys!

I tried to crop it out but the crane was up install of the lights on the Castle! So fun to watch them work!

More work being done on FL

 

[sam_disney]

awesome trip report!!!! really enjoyed catching up with this!

 

[disneygirl76]

I like the new entrance into FL

My DH and I hadn't ridden Tomorrow Land Speedway since we were probably 8 years old! So we went for a spin. DH drove - I was afraid to!

Views from the track

After TLSW, on to Space Mountain

And Buzz again...you thought we were serious before???

We had a FP for Jungle Cruise so headed back to AL

Stopping for a Dole Whip!

we have a new favorite pass time - we love to watch the camel spit water at people. So we took our Dole Whips and sat on a planter and watched for about 15 mins people getting stunned and spit on! Hilarious!

After Jungle Cruise and Magic Carpets, we did Pirates again

On a side note - if you would like the nicest bathroom and best themed one, stop at the restrooms here. We were shocked at how nicely themed they were and they were not heavily trafficked! A nice find! Also - we peeked inside Pirates League - let me say I have zero desire to become a pirate, however, this place looked SOOO cool! It looks awesome in there!!!!!

Some Main Street fun

We had earlier reservations for Plaza. I had not been there since I was a kid. It was super yummy!

And while we were waiting, the dance party came down the street! SO FUN! I will be honest, I like the parties better then parades now. I was disappointed with the parade this year.

 

[disneygirl76]

I got the burger at Plaza - so delicious!

hubby got the meat loaf

We skipped the ice cream b/c we were pretty full and wanted to get a move on before Wishes.

We scouted out our spot for Wishes ( in front of Crystal Palace) because we wanted to make sure we had a good spot to watch. And then headed on to do a few more things before Wishes.

Great decor at Sleepy Hallow. We were headed to the Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe for our ornament.

After buying our ornament, we headed to Haunted.

(never noticed the shovels before!)

(never noticed this door before either!)

as you can see from the que, it wasn't busy. We noticed that Haunted and Pirates were rarely busy. The only thing that was always busy - Peter Pan.

We had a fast pass for Peter Pan and headed there after Haunted

chomp chomp

We then went over and rode Splash Mountain as we had a fast pass for it too

Per the hubby's request, he wanted to climb the treehouse so we did. He loves climbing it at night. I knew this would be our last night at MK so rather then watching the Spectro Magic Parade, we climbed the tree house and atucally, we were able to see it from up there.

we then headed over to our spot for Wishes and waited.

Just as Wishes was starting, it started to spit. About 10 mins in, right before the break in the show where you think it is over and you realize it isn't...it started to down pour! Buckets and buckets! I was recording Wishes and all you can hear is "want to go. yep!" And we took off running into Casey's to put our ponchos on. We got our ponchos on and made a break for it down Main Street. We knew that two things were happening. Everyone was going to make a break for it b/c of the rain and b/c it was the end of the night and there were no EMH's. So we had to get to the bus line ASAP. Its This isn't how I wanted it to end. I love lingering and we planned to watch for a Kiss Goodnight. In hindsight, we should have waited in the shops and gone to get cupcakes as planned.

We got to the line and as expected, we were loading in rows 4 and 5. When it was raining at Epcot one night, they were filling up two buses of PO at a time. And as one set of buses were filled, two more would come right in. However, MK didn't get that memo. We were behind a lovely couple and their kids from PA. They had been in the Sunday night line disaster. however, Sunday had nothing on this night. What was to come was awful! So we are all soaked but we noticed that half the line wasn't. We realized, that was b/c they had been in line that long already!!! After about 20 mins, the first bus arrived and filled up and off it went. We thought surely another bus would come. But it didn't. Not for another 20 mins. And by then, all hell was breaking loose! A bus pulled in and the back door was open for a scooter. The bus driver was loading him in when a group of about 30 people from the back of the line flooded into the parking spot area and started to get on the bus! People were yelling and threatening each other! Finally one of the "security/handlers" for the buses came up with his whistle and got most people back in line but about 10 got on the bus and stayed there. It was mayhem. At this point, they finally started to have the buses come faster and it was the 3rd bus that we were able to get on.

We headed back to the resort and actually wanted to grab some food so we did the pasta bar and dessert for our little picnic since we didn't stop at the bakery for the cupcakes.

I can't tell you how delicious this was!

And look what was behind the door!!

 

[disneygirl76]

Day 9
Last Full Day

Today was a must do's of DHS and Epcot. We had already spent 1 full day there with EMH's, so we are talking 12 hours plus. So this was just to do our faves. And we had Le Cellier reservations for dinner.

We started at DHS and ate on Sunset Blvd for the first time.

By the time we got there at 10 a.m., Toy Story Mania was pulling fast passes at 4:30 to 5:30 so we opted to pull a fast pass for Rockin' Roller Coaster instead. The lines, according to the mobile app, were maxing at about 20 mins.

I can't remember where I got this from - if it was Rosie's or one of the other locations on the strip.

but it was delicious! I got the Italian Sub and DH got the burger

After "brunch" we watched the street performers which we rarely do.

And headed over to Star Tours

and stopped to say to Walt

Star Tours

This Star Tours was totally different in every way from the experience we had twice before. It was SO awesome!!! This is becoming a new favorite!!!

Headed to ride RNRC via the fast pass

and then waited in stand by line to ride HTH

We headed to find a milk shake - this was harder then expected. Gerties said it was open but it wasn't. I'm guessing it opens at a particular time or is seasonal. So we ended up at Tune In Lounge and order milk shakes from the bar. Wasn't exactly what I was looking for but it did the job.

We then decided that we had done everything we wanted and TSM was just not going to happen so we headed to Epcot via the boat.

Stopped at Sids - Bert's Jacket

 

[OswaldTheRabbit]

I am so glad you have shared your bus fiascos! My SIL stayed at a moderate and had the same horrible luck! We have wanted to bump up our room class and it looks like I have the ammo to convince my husband that deluxe is the only way to go. He would be awful at waiting for the buses with the kids fussing at the end of the night!

 

[ctosh]

I'm loving you TR. Your pictures are so good. We are going to stay at POFC our first night in before we move to Kidani. I stayed in RS when it was Dixie Landing I remember it being very pretty.

 

[ExtinctJenn]

I absolutely loved your report! I am so glad I started my day back on the forums (after a small break) with reading it! I have to admit, horribly true but admitting none-the-less... your report makes me long for the days when DH and I could visit the world without a kiddo in tow. Don't get me wrong, I live for the moments we get to take DS6 but there are so many things we'd love to do that just aren't an option anymore (or aren't easily an option). Looks like you guys had a blast!