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???

 

[real mad hatter]

Looking good,and the food is bringing back so many memories of yumminess,darn it,think I'll order a Mexicano pizza tonight and a nice bottle of Chenin Blanc to stop my Disney depression.

 

[Weather_Lady]

Your pictures are so wonderful -- I just love the one of you, nose-to-nose with Pooh! Thanks for "bringing us along" on your trip!

 

[RickP330]

Hey Great TR! I love the part about TSI. I didn't make it with DD this trip, but maybe next time. Hey, I never noticed the half white washed fence before! Great pictures and I believe you have to cross the rope bridge to get to the fort, sounds like you missed that, but you can check it out next time!
RP

 

[Spikerdink]

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?

 

[disneygirl76]

Day 5

DHS had EMH this day so we decided to get a bit of a later start and head to Poly for breakfast at O'hana. I will be honest, not impressed with this character breakfast. I think there are better ones out there. Personally, if you want breakfast at Poly, stick with Kona Cafa and keep O'hana for dinner. We checked in on time and when our buzzer went off we stood in the line to get seated so long that the thing stopped buzzing. There wasn't a line, just no one there to take us to our table. So once we went and find someone they had us marked as a no show. So we were put at this random table and I could tell, out of order then where they normally sit people. We had to ask for almost everything from our server. Had to ask for the bread and fruit and then cream and sugar, and had to ask for juice. It just seemed out of order. We got two character right away ( i should add - I don't like Lilo and Stitch - freaks me out a bit - seriously).

Here's are breakfast of eggs, meat and potatoes. And mickey waffles.

We then finished our breakfast, had another cup of coffee, more juice, and then waited...and waited...and waited... After about 20 mins we finally asked when Mickey would be coming around, and Pluto too. It was about another 15 mins to see Mickey.

And another 15 for Pluto.

This breakfast took forever! And it was just okay.

Off to DHS! We caught the bus to DHS from Poly. Only waited about 5 mins.

We decided to start with something sweet! Actually at this point, it had been almost 2 hours since we had breakfast. So...snacks!

I never did get my candy apple. Super bummed about that!

But I did get this!

Hollywood Tower of Terror!

We started with the Beauty and the Beast show after grabbing a fast pass for HTH.

The show was awesome as usual. I have mentioned this previously and will mention it again. I felt like this trip, there was a lot more rude and inconsiderate people. We had one woman sitting in front of us and she said, I can't believe you came here with out kids. We were a bit stunned! And then a family a few rows in front of us thought it would be okay if their kids sat on the back of the metal seats. My husband who is 6' 1" couldn't see over them. They were not like toddlers, they had to be about 10 or older. We could barely see over them and I had to switch places with him b/c I couldn't see at all.

**** I have to tell you another story about what happened on Pirates that I forgot to add to the previous day's trip report. My DH and I were on Pirates at night and we were on with part of one of those tour groups of people. They were talking so LOUD! I get some chit chat on rides, but this was full on conversations like they were not even paying attention to the ride they were on. So finally, half way through, I said "SHHHHHHHH!" And the reply, "why shhhh? why shhh? WHY SHHH!?!?!" They didn't stop talking but they did quiet down a bit. It was totally obnoxious. Again, I need to state that I understand that we are all there to have a good time. And I don't want to effect anyone elses good time. But is it wrong to expect a bit of the same in return? Although these instances bothered us in the moment, it did not effect our trip and overall Disney experience. But I did notice there was a difference this trip. ****

On to THT!

Grabbed a FP for Rockin Roller Coaster and off to Great Movie Ride

Off to the Muppets!

Never noticed this before!

 

[disneygirl76]

Or this!

Next up - lunch at Pizza Planet. This is a great QS spot! We love it here! The Cappicino Cupcake is worth the trip alone!

This was the only cupcake on the tour that actually was eaten. I think we bit of more then we could chew thinking we could do a cupcake tour along with every thing else we were doing.

Back to Rockin' Roller Coaster!

We were feeling very snacky today so after going on the new Star Tours - which was awesome!! Rode it twice in a row - no wait! The middle section was different but the first and last part were the same. It wasn't until a few days later that we got a totally different experience.

Here is a pick of the snack after Star Tours!

Pineapple with chocolate!!!

We then did Back Lot Tour

Flight of the Navigator!

We then headed to Animation Alley and tried to do the character palooza. However, as I wrote in a seperate thread, they moved it from animation to streets of America. We missed it by minutes! I was disappointed! I so wanted the expierence to see Mary and a penguin!!

After missing Character Palloza, had to stop by and see Mater and Lightening. I am a nanny - this pretty much blew the kids minds who I sit for!

We then stopped at Min and Bills and I had the pretzel dog and a beer! Very good!

It started to rain a bit, only for a little bit and we dashed into the stores for some cover from the rain.

We then kind of just wandered around a bit trying to figure out what we wanted to do next. We had planned to do the later Fantasmic and then stay for EMH. We decided to go to the earlier show (should have stayed for the 2nd). We had some snacks while watching Fantasmic! Such a good show! I had only seen it once before and it was better then I remembered.

Lesson learned for the day - should have gone to the 2nd show. We found that the line for people leaving, the line for people waiting for the next show, and then everyone heading out of Fantasmic and running to HTT and RNRC to ride before EMH started was just too many people all at the same place. So we found a little place to sit for a few minutes, let the crowds die down and let the line for the people going into Fantasmic go in and the line for people heading out to leave the park. Then we were able to ride RNC one more time as well as HTT.

We didn't stay to the end of EMH. We were exhausted and thought it would be best to try and catch the bus before the 2nd show of Fantasmic got out. This was a good plan as we got into line and didn't need to wait long for a bus. We actually met this group of people who were talking about the Sunday bus situation at MK. But we waited only about 10 mins for the bus this evening.

 

[disneygirl76]

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?

A lot of people mentioned this in line - that they should have boards with the info. I know there is technology out there to do this already. It just needs to be implemented.

 

[Ariel484]

Oh man, that Nutella/fruit/waffle sandwich...*faint* Definitely on my to-do/to-eat list for my next trip. It looks incredible!

 

[RickP330]

A lot of people mentioned this in line - that they should have boards with the info. I know there is technology out there to do this already. It just needs to be implemented.

Hey this is a great TR, thanks for such nice pictures and I am loving following along.

I mentioned this before, I stayed with someone a while ago and they rented a car. It sounded like such a waste to me till I realized how convinent it was. Now if I am not staying at a delux I will always rent a car. $80-$90 bucks for the week so worth it in the grand scheam of things IMO.
Rick

 

[jdnetone]

We had a table and ordered the magical wonderful waffle sandwich from Sleepy Hallow and watched the parade! It was awesome!!

We will half to try this, DW would love this! Thanks for the great report and pictures looking forward to more!

 

[miriamsolana]

Great TR, I'm loving it! Pics are great! Oh MyGod the nutella-fruit waffle! want it now!

 

[disneygirl76]

Day 6

Lets call this - let the rain begin.

Today was supposed to be a pretty relaxed day. Head to AK, then to the Resort for lots of Resort Activities. We were supposed to watch Tangled, and roast s'mores. And take a carriage ride!! Supposed to is the important thing here!

We got to AK via the bus (only waited about 10 mins) and we had Tusker House ADR's at 11:25. We arrived at AK around 10 a.m.

We slowly walked to Everst and grabbed a FP for later and rode the ride. Half way through the ride was said - I don't remember this ride having water???? Big drops of water were pelting us in the face!

By the time we were off the ride, it had stopped raining. So we headed to Tusker House to check in for our ADR. I had not had lunch there before. It was okay over all. The chicken was really good! And super happy that they had some left over breakfast items! So kind of the best of both worlds!!

And then for dessert......RAIN! RAIN RAIN and more Rain! Ponchos and an umbrella were used to protect us! It pretty much rained rained all day. We decided to see what we could ride and make the most of it.

So we ventured to Dinosaur knowing it was all inside.

A great ride in my opinion!

Kangaroos and Flamingos on our way to Bugs Life (again...inside!)

We asked if the safari was still running and they said that it was. As long as there was no lightening or a complete downpour. Since it was just spitting, we decided to do the safari. It was honestly one of the best ones we had ever been on! I think the cool air the rain brought in was welcoming to the animals. It was really excellent! I had not been on it since they changed the script and did away with the little red part. I like it better now.

(it was bumpy after all )

Male Lion was sleepy. We didn't see the female until the last second as we rounded the corner and she popped up on the rocks! It was amazing to see her. I didn't get the pic though!

Sleepy warthog

After the safari, the rain started again so we just called it and headed home. It was about 4 pm. So we headed home and grabbed dinner at Riverside Mill. I can't say it any more then this - this pasta bar is fan-frickin-tastic!! It was so yum!

I got the pasta with Alfredo, prosciutto, mushrooms, and peas! And cherry cobbler for dessert! OMG! It was warm and amazing!

We just headed back to the room after this. The rain kept coming so we just vegged. In the end, it was a much needed rest and break. Our tootsie toes had gotten pretty wet and our feet still hurt from all the long days before so it was nice to just sit back and relax for a bit.

 

[Spikerdink]

Day 6

quote]

Did ya see the hidden Mickey?????

 

[ratherbeinwdw]

Some additions to the day 2 trip report:

I wore my sneakers - the ones I have worn for a year and half. I am not sure what happened but seriously - my tootsie toes were in pain! After 16 hours on your feet, nothing feels good on your feet but I ended up with blisters on my baby toes and that started the downward spiral of my tootsie toes. It got worse! Just when it would get better - it got worse. So my question - what shoes do you wear? Later, the rain and wet shoes made things impossible for my tootsies. So i'm curious on what everyone does in regards to this.

I have to take at least two pairs of shoes and switch them out daily. It makes a huge difference. I also found these little things at Wal Mart in the section with innersoles and such called Blisters. They can be used to stop or control the pain after you get blisters. They are incredibily thin with a padded center. If you start out in them, you won't get blisters on or between your toes. Mole skin is better if the blister is bad. Nothing can ruin a trip to Disney faster than painful feet. Others who wore flip flop type shoes got blisters where the piece goes between the toes even though they had been wearing those shoes forever. It's the constancy and walking on concrete that makes the difference. My daughter walks miles everyday, but her feet actually hurt her this time.

 

[disneygirl76]

DRINKING AND EATING AROUND THE WORLD

DAY 7

Hold on to your stomachs kids - this is going get intense!

But first...a quick glimpse into our morning at Epcot!

We got to Epcot around 10. Waited only minutes for a bus. We first hit the Land, pulled a fast pass for Soarin' and rode it, and rode living with the land as well. I love that silly little ride!

Then off to the Seas!

We walked right on the clam-mobile!

And look - Nemo and his dad!

We did Turtle Talk with Crush and then ... went to Mexico!

Get ready!

We started in Mexico. We also decided that we would do everything in the countries too - not just eat and drink. We were starving since we had not had breakfast so we started with nachos and tacos and churritos. Also, a margarita! It's 5 o'clock somewhere!

We ate at La Cantina De San Angel.

Nachos - tasty - but I don't think they have drippy cheese in Mexico! The tacos were good. DH didn't like the soft shells, they were corn and we usually have flour. The Churrittos with caramel were tasty.The Margarita was typical over processed frozen concoction. We did try to get one inside which is what I heard makes a killer margarita but they were not open yet.

Who can walk by and NOT put on the huge hat!

We did listen to the mariachi band but we did not get to see Sombrero Donald.

Since we ate more then what we would eat in the other countries to come, we headed back to Future World.

Love you Ellen!

My DH loves Innoventions. (I would rather put oyster forks in my eyes)

We were going to do Mission Space but opted out b/c we didn't want a tippy tummy with all of our eating to come. We did Imagination a few days prior so we skipped that and headed to Norway!

So there is something called a glacier shot. I am not sure what is in it - what it is - but yowza it tastes funky! So we got a beer to chase it down!

We rode Malstrom and saw the museum and then went for food.

We ate at Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe and I got first the Troll's horn - pasty with lindenberry cream. I chickened out when I saw the school bread.

But then - the heavens opened up and it poured!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So what do you do when you are at a table in a cafe out of the rain with beer?? Eat more!

 

[disneygirl76]

So I tried the school bread!

And I LOVED it!! Seriously! If you had any doubt if you would like this, let it go! This was tasty!!

Me...as a blond?

Next up - China

We watched Reflections of China and walked through the shops. I tried to see Mulan but the line was SO long!

(oh - it stopped raining)

We ate at Lotus Blossom Café and DH got us drinks from the cart out front. We had the mango gingeretta. Again, not sure how authentic this was but it was tasty!

We had the egg rolls

And the dumpling/potstickers

Both had pork and both were AMAZING! I mean, I could eat like a whole platter of them right now!

Something I had never seen before - the drawbridge up!

The other side of the bridge

Now...Germany!

We knew we were going to eat at Somerfest and had already tried a few treats the Karmel shoppe. We said we would go back for more sweet treats but sadly, we never made it back.

DH got his brat, and I got the apple strussel. And of course - Octoberfest beer!!

Shhhh don't tell the Octoberfest beer that it is in a cup from Norway!

Oh - and looky what I found! Actual printed napkins!!!

Unt beer!

 

[disneygirl76]

When in Germany?

Is that a pig on your head?

I need this!
(not the pig hat - the kermit!)

On to Italy. Now about this time I realized oh, we should be eating at Via Napoli. Oh yeah, you mean that reservation you made that was an hour ago???? I should mention now some rules about drinking around the world:
1) drink water
2) take it slow
3) eat
4)drink more water
5) try not to forget your ADR for the same restaurant...twice!

So I hit the little cart outside Italy. And got the peach bellini and the strawberry domizino (spelling???) If you try anything in Italy! Eat this!!!!! Dear heavens this was slap me stupid good!!

Whip Son Cream was dripping everywhere!

So since we missed the Via Napoli ADR at 3:10...we made another one...for 9 p.m. Let me just say this...it seemed like the right thing to do at the time.

He is so funny!!!

On to America!

We watched American Adventure - I loose it every time. Once I see Walt....I start sobbing!!!!

We picked up some Sam Adams at the Fife and Drum

Side story - so when my DH and I lived in Michigan, we had these two ducks that lived in the pond that we made out back. We named them Ferdinand and Hildegarde. Every trip to WDW, we see a duck couple and we say - Its Ferdinand and Hildegarde!!!

And how fitting - now that we live in DC, we see them again in USA pavillion! Here they are, coming to say hello as I buy a funnel cake. Which believe it or not, I have never had before.

So I get my funnel cake

And then Ferdinand wants one! "excuse me, sir, a funnel cake please!"

As for funnel cakes - I am not sure I will ever have one again. I felt pretty gross after. However, that could have been the fact that we already ate half way around the world.

 

[ShookieJones]

ABSOLUTELY LOVING THIS TRIP REPORT!

I love your PIP idea on Main Street!

I have to say I've never seen someone have so much fun interacting with the characters.
I think you're making their day as much as their making yours!

Great Job! Keep it coming!

 

[disneygirl76]

On to Japan. Okay - this one was tough. I don't do sushi and i'm a pretty picky eater so we came up with a plan. Sake (shudder) and japanese candy. While at the Fancy Food Show, I had some Japanese candy so I all about that. It was pretty good. But the sake... (Shudder)

all i have done so far...is smell it...

tasting it

reaction one

reaction 2

reaction 3

This goes without saying...I still don't like Sake.

It was getting later so many of the demonstartions and groups to see and listen to had stopped for the day. So we just walked around the shops and then headed to Morocco.

Morocco

We went through the shops and I will be honest, the smell of incense was getting to me. I have gone through them before but this time, it seemed really strong.

Short and sweet stop in Morocco for Sangria and Baklava. Now this was confusing...we though Baklava was Greek. So... not sure how authentic this was...but it counts!

We sat by the fountain that we never noticed before!

We were disappointed that we missed Mo'Rockin. We have not ever seen them before!!

 

[disneygirl76]

yep! I didn't have a good angle for it though!