I've been a long time reader of the forums and I don't post much but considering how much enjoyment I get out of reading everybody's amazing TRs (seriously, some of you are master story tellers 
), I figured I should pay it forward and share our recent WDW vacation this past Spring Break. So, this is my very first TR so please bear with me if my report seems a bit hard to follow and lacks cohesion.
This was our 3rd trip to WDW and 1st trip for our DD6. Living in Seattle, which is about as far as you can be from WDW, we don’t get the opportunity to get to WDW as often as we’d like considering that Disneyland is only 2 ½ hours away by flight. Our last trip to WDW was back in 2004 before our DD was born when hurricane Charley, a category 4 hurricane went through Orlando at the end of our trip. We were one of the very few lucky people where we were able to rebook our flight out of West Palm Beach (as Orlando Airport was shut down) and secure transportation down to West Palm Beach.
DW: Deona | DD6: Madelyn | ME: Danny
Our WDW trip was a surprise trip for our DD which included a 10day stay at Port Orleans Riverside in the new Royal rooms with a day at Discovery Cove to swim with the dolphins.
Our planning for this trip started back in July of 2011 and we had a few close calls and slip ups but fortunately we were able to keep it a secret until the day we were leaving for the airport for a red-eye flight out of Seattle to Orlando, arriving at POR at 9:30am.
Before we begin our Trip Report, I wanted to share some general comments regarding our trip.
The “Left Rule”:
I remember reading somewhere that when you enter Magic Kingdom at rope drop and look down Mainstreet toward Cinderella’s castle, you’ll notice that more people are walking on the right side of the street than the left side of the street and they called that the “Left Rule”. Meaning that for whatever reason, people at WDW tend to favor right side over the left side. This was absolutely true during our trip where lines on the left side were usually less busy than lines on the right side whether it’s the ride lines, FP ticket lines, or food queue lines.
Speaking of FP ticket lines, here was an interesting observation. I’ve never noticed this before but it was a very common sight during this trip especially on the popular & busy rides where there would be a group of people that would have 1 person wait in each of the FP ticket lines and whoever got to the FP dispenser the quickest, all the others would join that person (I think they were part of a tourist group) with each having a stack of tickets in hand for the FP tickets. This really didn’t bother me at all but it noticeably bothered a few others in the FP distribution lines. I had more fun trying to pick them out in the FP lines and watching for other people’s reactions.
Weather:
The weather was simply AMAZING the entire duration of our trip. Average temperature was in the upper 70s when we arrived, gradually increasing to 90 degrees by the end of our trip with no noticeable humidity that we’re used to during the summer months. We did have 1 thunder & lightning storm on the day of our Discovery Cove excursion. They actually had to close Discovery Cove until the lightning storm passed. It was the typical torrential downpour that you experience during the summer months and then clearing out after a few hours.
Free WiFi:
There was free WiFi at the POR property (with pretty good signal at our room) and for those that care, this was what I logged on the average internet speed:
1Mbit download | 0.20 Mbit upload
Dining Plan:
This was the first time we used a Dining Plan through the free-dining-promo and I would have to say that this is a great plan for people that want a low stress dining experience without having to worry about the individual cost of the food items. It was very nice having your meals pre-paid and being able to enjoy any entrée/ dessert/ drink that you wanted rather than deciding what you’re going to eat based on the cost of the food items. While the Dining Plan is not for everybody, we will definitely add the Dining Plan to our future WDW vacations. Based on our eating habits when we’re on vacation, we most likely would have spent about the same amount on meals & snacks. Just the convenience of not having to worry about the cost of the food while on vacation and being able to order just about anything on the menu is a good trade off and worth it for us.
Most Expensive Counter Service Meal: $45 (lunch) – Sunshine Seasons @ EPCOT
Least Expensive Counter Service Meal: $22 (breakfast) – Riverside Mill Food Court @ POR
Most Expensive Table Service Meal: $130 (dinner) – Princess Storybook Dining at Akurshus @ EPCOT
Least Expensive Table Service Meal: $87 (breakfast) – The Crystal Palace @ Magic Kingdom
Total cost of Snacks, Counter & Table Service Meals (including gratuity): $1360
Breakfast meals by far were the cheapest so if you’re looking for the best bang for the buck on your meal credits, I would recommend using your Meal credits on Lunch or Dinners and using your Snack credits on breakfast.
Now onto the TRIP REPORT !!!
), I figured I should pay it forward and share our recent WDW vacation this past Spring Break. So, this is my very first TR so please bear with me if my report seems a bit hard to follow and lacks cohesion. This was our 3rd trip to WDW and 1st trip for our DD6. Living in Seattle, which is about as far as you can be from WDW, we don’t get the opportunity to get to WDW as often as we’d like considering that Disneyland is only 2 ½ hours away by flight. Our last trip to WDW was back in 2004 before our DD was born when hurricane Charley, a category 4 hurricane went through Orlando at the end of our trip. We were one of the very few lucky people where we were able to rebook our flight out of West Palm Beach (as Orlando Airport was shut down) and secure transportation down to West Palm Beach.
DW: Deona | DD6: Madelyn | ME: Danny
Our WDW trip was a surprise trip for our DD which included a 10day stay at Port Orleans Riverside in the new Royal rooms with a day at Discovery Cove to swim with the dolphins.
Our planning for this trip started back in July of 2011 and we had a few close calls and slip ups but fortunately we were able to keep it a secret until the day we were leaving for the airport for a red-eye flight out of Seattle to Orlando, arriving at POR at 9:30am.
Before we begin our Trip Report, I wanted to share some general comments regarding our trip.
The “Left Rule”:
I remember reading somewhere that when you enter Magic Kingdom at rope drop and look down Mainstreet toward Cinderella’s castle, you’ll notice that more people are walking on the right side of the street than the left side of the street and they called that the “Left Rule”. Meaning that for whatever reason, people at WDW tend to favor right side over the left side. This was absolutely true during our trip where lines on the left side were usually less busy than lines on the right side whether it’s the ride lines, FP ticket lines, or food queue lines.
Speaking of FP ticket lines, here was an interesting observation. I’ve never noticed this before but it was a very common sight during this trip especially on the popular & busy rides where there would be a group of people that would have 1 person wait in each of the FP ticket lines and whoever got to the FP dispenser the quickest, all the others would join that person (I think they were part of a tourist group) with each having a stack of tickets in hand for the FP tickets. This really didn’t bother me at all but it noticeably bothered a few others in the FP distribution lines. I had more fun trying to pick them out in the FP lines and watching for other people’s reactions.
Weather:
The weather was simply AMAZING the entire duration of our trip. Average temperature was in the upper 70s when we arrived, gradually increasing to 90 degrees by the end of our trip with no noticeable humidity that we’re used to during the summer months. We did have 1 thunder & lightning storm on the day of our Discovery Cove excursion. They actually had to close Discovery Cove until the lightning storm passed. It was the typical torrential downpour that you experience during the summer months and then clearing out after a few hours.
Free WiFi:
There was free WiFi at the POR property (with pretty good signal at our room) and for those that care, this was what I logged on the average internet speed:
1Mbit download | 0.20 Mbit upload
Dining Plan:
This was the first time we used a Dining Plan through the free-dining-promo and I would have to say that this is a great plan for people that want a low stress dining experience without having to worry about the individual cost of the food items. It was very nice having your meals pre-paid and being able to enjoy any entrée/ dessert/ drink that you wanted rather than deciding what you’re going to eat based on the cost of the food items. While the Dining Plan is not for everybody, we will definitely add the Dining Plan to our future WDW vacations. Based on our eating habits when we’re on vacation, we most likely would have spent about the same amount on meals & snacks. Just the convenience of not having to worry about the cost of the food while on vacation and being able to order just about anything on the menu is a good trade off and worth it for us.
Most Expensive Counter Service Meal: $45 (lunch) – Sunshine Seasons @ EPCOT
Least Expensive Counter Service Meal: $22 (breakfast) – Riverside Mill Food Court @ POR
Most Expensive Table Service Meal: $130 (dinner) – Princess Storybook Dining at Akurshus @ EPCOT
Least Expensive Table Service Meal: $87 (breakfast) – The Crystal Palace @ Magic Kingdom
Total cost of Snacks, Counter & Table Service Meals (including gratuity): $1360
Breakfast meals by far were the cheapest so if you’re looking for the best bang for the buck on your meal credits, I would recommend using your Meal credits on Lunch or Dinners and using your Snack credits on breakfast.
Now onto the TRIP REPORT !!!
