Trip Report Completed Lebeau Family 2014 Disney World Trip Report

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

When we got back to Port Orleans, it was raining heavily. We decided to wait out the rain by grabbing a snack in the food court. Anyone who has followed my trip reports may remember that when we stayed at Port Orleans in 2010, Mindy fell in love with the chocolate cupcakes at the Riverside Mill. The cupcakes are very simple. Chocolate cake with vanilla frosting. Nothing at all like the fancy mousse-filled desserts at Be Our Guest. But Mindy is a simple girl with simple tastes. She has been craving this cupcake for the last four years and it did not disappoint.

Josie got a very chocolatey chocolate cake which she announced that she was not sharing. She was especially suspicious of me since I didn’t order anything for myself. Kara got a big cookie with M&Ms. We sat there for a while as the girls enjoyed their treats and Josie protected her cake from would-be cake tasters. I watched the rain for signs that it was letting up. We had ponchos in our room, but we would get drenched getting to them.

Throughout the day, I was having flashbacks to our 2010 rain out. At least this time, we weren’t trapped at a park with a wet stroller and sniffling kids. I kept thinking back to what went wrong four years ago and what I could do differently in the present.

My solution was to buy a poncho at the hotel gift shop. Then I would walk back to the room and retrieve the other ponchos and we could all walk back to the room together. Of course by the time I returned with the extra ponchos, the rain had more or less stopped. Josie had some extra cake left over as I knew she would. So I stole it and then gloated about how I got her cake after all.

Every day when we returned to the room, Mousekeeping left us another towel animal. They didn’t stop at just animals either. They created a toothbrush holder and a tissue cozy. There were fancy towel creations everywhere. Someone in Mousekeeping was very talented when it came to folding towels.

On this particular day, we came home to a monkey hanging from our light fixture. The girls loved it.

The girls’ toys were always rearranged on the bed. The arrangements became more elaborate as the number of souvenirs increased.

Mindy had promised the girls that she would take them swimming at some point. So for our afternoon break, they went to the nearby quiet pool. This pool had laundry facilities, so Mindy did a load of laundry to keep us in clean clothes. Meanwhile, I stayed in the room and watched Jaws on AMC. They’re gonna need a bigger boat.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

After our afternoon break, we headed to Epcot for our dinner reservations. We made a quick stop at Club Cool where the girls sampled drinks from around the world.

To my surprise, I actually kind of liked Beverly. I’m not saying I’m going to have the stuff imported from Italy or anything. But I drank it without making a bitter face.

The girls decided to get creative and mix their own drinks.

We had FastPasses for Maelstrom, but no one wanted to ride it but me. So Mindy took the kids to the Mexico pavilion to color Duffy bears while I ran ahead to Norway and rode Maelstrom by myself.

With all the rumors that Maelstrom may be getting a Frozen-inspired face-lift in the near future, I wanted to experience the attraction one more time in its original form. This was only my third time riding Maelstrom. The first was in the 80s and the second was over ten years ago. So I was glad I got to check it out. I was also glad the girls stayed behind. They wouldn’t have liked it.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

After my ride on Maelstrom, I returned to the Mexico pavilion to collect the girls. Then we all reported to Akershus for dinner. We were seated right away. The restaurant was at least 1/2 empty which made me wonder if a lot of people had cancelled reservations due to weather.

The girls posed for their pictures with Belle. When I handed her the autograph books, she said “Thank you, papa.” which made me feel about 100 years old. When did I become “crazy old Maurice?”

I showed Belle the page that Gaston had prepared for her to sign above his name. She asked if it would be okay to leave that page blank and declared that Gaston was “positively primeval”. It was the exact response I was expecting of course.

We had eaten at Akershus previously in 2012 and thought the food was passable. The primary draw here was to see a lot of princesses at once without waiting in a bunch of lines. Since Akershus only costs one table service credit and Cinderella’a Royal Table costs two, Akershus is the best deal on property for princess dining. But based on our previous meal here, no one was especially looking forward to the food. I was a little worried about what Josie would eat.

Dinner at Akershus is a three-course meal. You start off with a cold buffet which is called A Taste of Norway. The cold selections include a lot of meats and cheeses. There are some fruits and veggies. There’s also a couple of salads.

This was my plate from the cold buffet. The salami and cheese were exactly what you would expect salami and Swiss cheese to taste like. The carrot dish was loaded with cinnamon and tasted a lot like an apple pie. The fish was a pickled herring which I was surprised to enjoy. I picked it to be adventurous.

The last time we ate here, the asparagus was my favorite dish. That time, it was served with a tangy barbecue sauce. This time, it was served without the sauce. It was still good. But it was just plain old grilled asparagus. The pasta salad was also fine, but unremarkable. But the chicken salad was delicious. I went back for a second plate before my entree arrived.

Since I could not decide what I wanted, I left it up to our waiter. He was a big fan of the Kjøttkake which are basically meatballs. They are served over mashed potatoes with gravy and lingonberry sauce. This is actually what I ordered in 2012 and I didn’t especially care for it. The potatoes were very lumpy that time. But based on our waiter’s enthusiasm, I gave them another try.

I can’t share my waiter’s enthusiasm for the dish. He raved about it several times even after I had ordered it. But this time, the mashed potatoes were creamy instead of lumpy and that did make a difference. Although I probably won’t order it again until I have sampled some of the other entrees, I did enjoy my meal this time around.

Mindy ordered the ribs which she loved. She decided that this was one of the best meals of the trip. This is quite a turn around considering she didn’t really want to eat here in the first place. Kara ordered the kid’s meatballs and Josie ordered a cheese pizza. Kara saw Josie’s pizza and decided it looked better than her meal. So we asked our waiter to bring out a second pizza which he did.

The princesses didn’t start coming around until relatively late in the meal. This is actually the way I prefer it. Last time, princesses arrived at our table as we were being seated which made the meal feel rushed and chaotic. The first princess to stop by was Aurora.

Next up was Cinderella. She asked the girls if they had their own fairy godmother and if she said “bippity bopiity boo” like hers did.

Then came Ariel. This Ariel was in a very bubbly mood. She kept “swimming” and dancing everywhere. She had the unbridled enthusiasm Ariel showed when she first discovered things from the surface world.

We were sitting next to a family that spoke French. We were all quite impressed with how fluently Ariel spoke to them in their native tongue. I guess mermaids are bilingual.

Finally, we saw Mary Poppins. We were very glad to see Mary here as we have never met with her before. I had been keeping an eye out for her at the Magic Kingdom, but we never crossed paths. So it was very convenient to see her here instead of Snow White or Jasmine whom we have met several times before.

Mindy and I both agreed that Mary was one of the best characters we had ever met. She had the accent and the mannerism down. She kept primping her hair and checking everything to make sure it was just perfect. She was everything you would expect from a proper English nanny.

The girls had been planning what they would say to Mary Poppins leading up to the trip. Kara had learned out to say “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” and she was eager to show of her new skills. Josie planned to ask Mary to say it backwards.

Kara managed to say the big word and Mary congratulated her. She then went on to do an entire routine about “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” which included saying it backwards. We were all quite impressed. I told her that the kids had been wondering for months if she could do that. She gave me a look and said of course she can say it backwards. She can also spell it. But we had best be careful how and when we say it because it can change your life.

Unfortunately, my pictures of Mary do not do her justice. I caught her mid “Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious” . But next to Gaston, she was our favorite character of the trip.

After our last princess visit, the dessert plate came out. They are served family-style which means everyone is expected to share. In 2012, Josie fell in love with the chocolate mousse and ate two helpings almost entirely by herself. So this year, she laid claim to the mousse almost as soon as it came out. I had to bat away little hands to snap this picture.

The other two desserts are rice cream with strawberry topping and an apple cake. I like the taste of the rice cream, but I am not a fan of the texture. Mindy, on the other hand, loved it. We split the apple cake which was tasty. But frankly, I preferred the fruit tart that used to be included in the dessert plate.

Josie and Kara split the mousse less than evenly. Eventually, we asked our waiter for a second helping of just the mousse. Wise man that he was, he brought out two individual servings – one for each girl. He was the best waiter of the trip by far.

While we were eating dessert, the Princess Processional started up. Basically, the princesses come out and lead the children in a walk around the restaurant before they go on their break. Our girls were reluctant to participate. In 2012, they had been left behind by a less than observant mermaid.

After a bit of coaxing, the girls agreed to give it another try. It turns out, Ariel was leading our room again this year. We told them to make sure to stick close so they didn’t get left behind again.

This time, they made it back safe and sound.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

It probably would have been the perfect night to stay for Illuminations. The threat of storms was keeping crowds relatively low. We had only been in the park for a couple of hours and really only for a sit-down meal. But no one liked the idea of dealing with post-fireworks buses. So we decided to call it a night early.

Still, I couldn’t just go home after Club Cool, Maelstrom and dinner. So we went back to the Mexico pavilion for the Gran Fiesta Tour. Kara’s ride avoidance was getting increasingly worse. So even though there was no line and the ride isn’t remotely scary, it took some convincing to get her on board. Josie enjoyed the ride as always. Kara decided it wasn’t so bad as we got past the darker scenes into the well-lit scenes that resemble Small World.

Kara had it in her head that she needed to have a Mickey bar before we left. On the one hand, we had just finished a three course dinner including dessert. On the other, she was kind of cranky and we had snack credits to burn. So we went ahead and picked up a couple of Mickey bars.

Probably because we had just finished a three course meal, the girls ate their ice cream rather slowly. Kara in particular. I told her to hurry up and eat because her ice cream was starting to melt. A few minutes later, she was making noises that told me to pull over the stroller. The Mickey bar had melted enough that it had fallen off the stick. Her attempts to remedy the situation ended with her being covered in melted ice cream and chocolate.

We pulled over by the Character Spot. Mindy took the girls into a restroom to clean them both up. I grabbed some napkins to clean up the stroller before we dropped it off. I couldn’t help noticing that there was no wait time for the Character Spot. So when the girls came out, I made a quick detour.

There was one other family ahead of us. So we walked right into our meet and greet with the mouse. He was feeling a little feisty because a new castmember kept promising him cheesecake but never delivered.

Next up was Goofy. What I remember about this meet and greet was that the Photopass photographer was a little slap happy. He kept belting out Hakuna Matata for some reason. He was really entertaining himself.

Finally, we visited with Minnie before we headed home for the night.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

There comes a point in most trips where we shift gears. We stop setting alarms and stop trying to make it to the parks for rope drop. We start using counter service credits for breakfast instead of lunch. Plans get thrown overboard in favor of spontaneity. We had reached that point in the trip.

Once again, we considered walking down to French Quarter for breakfast. And once again, we decided it wasn’t worth the effort. If either of the kids had wanted beignets for breakfast, we would have made the trip. But Josie wanted a Mickey waffle and Kara wanted eggs. So we decided to have breakfast at Riverside Mill instead.

To make things easier, I went ahead and got a Mickey waffle as well. Mindy and Kara got in line for bounty platters which included the eggs Kara wanted. A little tip if you are on the dining plan with kids, counter service credits all spend the same. If you don’t tell the castmember that a counter service meal is for a child, you can order off the adult menu. This has proven handy at times when Josie didn’t like the child menu options which are quite limited.

While I have enjoyed a number of counter service lunches as much as I have table service meals, the counter service breakfasts at Disney World are usually passable at best. You can pretty much count on getting a sausage or two that has been burned beyond recognition or a biscuit with the density of a hockey puck. Pancakes and waffles are usually a safe bet, but I can only eat so many pancakes and waffles in a week.

After breakfast, I stopped by the gift shop to see if our souvenirs from Downtown Disney had arrived yet. They had not. The girls wanted some markers so they could finish coloring the Duffy bears they picked up at Epcot the night before. So I bought a $20 marker set. Ouch.

When I got back to our room, the girls were playing in the flower garden. We kept finding those little lizards that live all over the place in Orlando. There was a very high concentration of these lizards in the flower garden. For whatever reason, Josie got it in her head that she was going to catch one of these lizards and keep it as a pet.

It turns out that when the girls returned to the room, Mousekeeping was already cleaning it. So they were biding their time chasing lizards. When I brought out the markers, they began coloring instead. You’re welcome, lizards.

Once Mousekeeping was done with our room, we went inside. The girls wanted to play with their dolls and color with their markers. Mindy wanted to do anything that didn’t involve getting on a bus or visiting an amusement park. So I started going through pictures to prepare for this trip report. Every now and then, I would check the time as patiently as I could muster.

Around the same time I was preparing to ask permission, Mindy suggested that I could go ahead and go to Epcot by myself. If the girls wanted to go, she would bring them later. Or they would just meet me for dinner. As soon as I was certain that the offer was legit and I would not get in trouble for accepting it, I grabbed my stuff and headed for the bus station.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

Now, don’t get me wrong. I love taking the family to Disney World. Seeing the parks through my kids’ eyes is a wonderful experience. I wouldn’t want to go to Disney World by myself with no one to share my experiences with. However, after several days of dragging my increasingly tired family from attraction to attraction, there was something liberating about being set loose on my own.

Not only did I not have to worry about strollers or potty breaks, I could do whatever I wanted to do without having to worry if it was too boring or too scary. For example, I could ride Spaceship Earth – an attraction that triggers Mindy’s claustrophobia and bores the children. As it turns out, the line for Spaceship Earth was prohibitive. So I skipped it and scheduled a FastPass for later in the afternoon.

My first stop was at The Land Pavilion. For Soarin’? Don’t be silly. I wasn’t about to wait in an hour-long stand-by line. No, I was going to kick it old school.

The posted wait time for Living With the Land was 15 minutes. I hadn’t ridden the boat ride since my first visit to Epcot in 1988. This point was driven home to me as I waited in line and noticed the quote from George Bush Sr. on the wall.

In many ways, this reminded me of that day back in 1988 when my parents dropped me off at Epcot with two of my younger siblings and $20 spending cash for each of us. At 17, I felt a heady sense of freedom being allowed to roam the park unsupervised. And here I was once again set loose on the park accountable to no one.

I don’t know what a peanut butter tree is exactly, but I think I want one.

In 1988, Epcot was just a mind-blowing experience to me. I really felt like I was getting a glimpse into the future. Experiencing these old attractions again more than 25 years later was more like getting a glimpse into the past. It was enjoyable from a nostalgic point of view. But it no longer blew my mind.

To follow up on Living With the Land, I doubled down on nostalgia and headed to the Imagination Pavilion. No, not to see Figment. I was going to see Captain Eo.

I don’t feel a great deal of nostalgia for Captain Eo. I saw it in 1988 when Michael Jackson’s popularity was one the wane. I enjoyed the 3-D and in-house effects. But mostly, I left the theater wondering what the hell it was I just sat through. Since that time, I have watched Captain Eo nostalgia and wondered what exactly people were feeling nostalgic about. It was a grossly overproduced music video that brought out the worst excesses of everyone involved. And considering that two of those people are Michael Jackson and Francis Ford Coppola, that’s an awful lot of excess.

Following Jackson’s death in 2009, Disney brought back Captain Eo in Disneyland for a limited engagement. After that proved to be popular, they brought the movie back to Epcot in 2010. This was announced as a temporary tribute to the late King of Pop. But at Disney World, “temporary” is a relative thing. Four years later, Eo shows no signs of going anywhere.

Before the movie starts, there is a pre-show. The pre-show invites the audience to return to 1986 when Captain Eo made its debut. It mentions that this was “almost 25 years ago”. Of course that pre-show was created several years ago and is now out of date. 1986 is now more than 25 years ago. I couldn’t help but chuckle that this “temporary” revival is now out-dated.

Anyway, I enjoyed revisiting Captain Eo. Not for any artistic merits the movie might have. I still think it’s an outdated music video and a relic of the 80s. But it was fun to laugh at this silly, silly movie. Especially after watching the pre-show from 1986 in which everyone involved clearly thought they were making the theme park equivalent of Citizen Kane.

By this point, I figured I would be on my own until dinner and I began to plan my afternoon accordingly. I texted Mindy and told her if she wanted to, she could just take a taxi to the Contemporary to meet me for dinner. I decided I would work my way around the World Showcase to the American Adventure as I had never seen that show before. First stop, the Canada Pavilion.

I decided to go ahead and check out O Canada while I was here. I haven’t seen any of the movies in the World Showcase since 1988. I know this one got an update several years ago. But before the movie started, I got a text from Mindy. She was in Epcot with the girls.

I decided to abandon O Canada to go meet up with the girls. They had been playing in the fountain outside of the World Showcase and they were soaking wet!

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

It tuns out that the girls came to Epcot in search of churros. Kara had asked for churros earlier in the day. I had told her they had them at Epcot and we could get some while we were there. So when I left to go to Epcot by myself, she just assumed I went to get her some churros. Eventually, she got tired of waiting for me. So they came to Epcot to get churros.

So naturally our first stop was at the Mexico pavilion so Kara could get her churros. By this point, I was actually getting kind of hungry. I didn’t want a full counter service meal because we were having dinner at Chef Mickey’s later that evening. But I wanted something more substantial than churros. We had both snack credits and counter service credits piling up, so I decided to mix and match.

I ordered two counter service meals which came with drinks and churros. I got one order of nachos and one order of pork tacos. Then I got two additional orders of churros using snack credits. That way, everyone could have churros and we had nachos and tacos to share.

Apparently, Kara had also been wanting to have a picnic. Somehow, this translated to all of us sitting on the ground eating Mexican food. For the record, if anyone suggests eating Mexican food on the ground at Epcot, you should probably reconsider. Especially if you are wearing a white shirt which I was.

I took one bite into the pork tacos. They were tasty, but also extremely juicy. The juice came dribbling down off my taco on to my shirt making a nice stain. I decided to go ahead and finish our meal/snack and then I would run to the nearest gift shop and purchase a replacement shirt.

That plan took me to the Duffy gift shop at the front of the World Showcase. There was a surprising amount of soccer stuff in a store that is themed around a teddy bear. But I guess with the World Cup approaching, it made sense.

I had no interest in buying an overpriced soccer jersey. I wanted an overpriced T-shirt. Disney sells two kinds of T-shirts; tasteful and gaudy. When it comes to theme park attire, I prefer mine as colorful as possible. I found a tie-dye shirt with each of the four park logos. It also had one of the Fab 5 in a costume to represent each park. Goofy was wearing safari gear, Mickey was wearing his sorcerer costume, Donald was dressed as a film director and Pluto was wearing an astronaut helmet which presumably represented Epcot. This struck me as appropriately gaudy, so I picked it up.

I went to the counter where the only cast member on duty was assisting someone else with the purchase of a little red soccer ball. She gave me a sign and said “I’ll be right back.” Then they went off to look at a bunch of other mini-soccer balls. When they returned, she rang up the guest who purchased the red soccer ball they had originally selected. I prepared to but my T-shirt when about a half dozen other guests came to the register bearing similar mini-soccer balls.

I wasn’t sure if these guests were all together with the first guest or not, so I stood there in my stained shirt waiting my turn. The cast member waited on one guest after another each of them buying a small soccer ball of a different color. After about 10 minutes, they were done. Then another couple tried to jump in front of the register. I cleared my throat and held up the T-shirt I wanted to purchase. The cast member saw me and remembered that she had promised to get to me next about 6 guests ago. She apologized profusely which I assured her was no necessary.

With my new T-shirt purchased, I went into a nearby restroom to change. When I returned to the Mexico pavilion, the girls were still there munching on nachos and churros.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

By this point, our FastPasses were starting to kick in. The first one on our list was Test Track. We had narrowly missed Test Track when it closed for refurbishment in 2012. So I wanted to make sure to catch the new version this time around.

As soon as Kara heard the roar of the passing vehicles, she was out. She wanted no part of it. So we knew we would have to do a child swap to ride it. That meant Josie would get to ride twice. So it’s a good thing she loved it. On her first ride through, the two girls designed a pink monstrosity that looked like it had already been in a 10-car pile-up. When Josie and I used the child swap pass, we were assigned a pre-made vehicle that was extremely eco-friendly and sucked at pretty much everything else.

Although the ride experience hasn’t changed at all, the overall feel of Test Track is very different. The idea is that you are inside the computer world designing a car or something. It doesn’t really make a lot of sense compared to the old version of the ride. Any attempt at education – which was always tenuous at best anyway – has been abandoned. Now you’re just riding a car through Tron-like light effects and taking one speed lap around the building.

It’s not exactly a satisfying experience. There really isn’t any sense of immersion. But it’s fast and colorful and fun. Given the alternatives, it’s still one of the best rides in the park.

While we were riding, Mindy took Kara for another potty break. While Josie and I waited for them to return, she decided to check out the Cool Wash.

The very first spray sent her running.

Our next FastPass was for The Seas With Nemo and Friends. The girls wanted to ride Figment, so I went online and changed our Spaceship Earth FPs (which no one but me would even consider using) into FPs for Figment (which we really wouldn’t need).

We didn’t really need our FastPasses for The Seas either. It was a walk-on as it almost always is.

Then it was time for Turtle Talk with Crush. The girls sat up front and we tried to find a spot where we could see them so Mindy wouldn’t have a panic attack. The girls continued their long running streak of not asking Crush any questions. But they did enjoy the show.

After the show, we spent quite a bit of time exploring the aquarium.

When it was time, we headed over to the Imagination Pavilion to use our final FastPasses of the day for Journey Into Your Imagination With Figment. What can I say? It’s not a good ride. But the kids kind of like the purple dragon.

After Imagination, we hopped a monorail over to the Ticket and Transportation Center. Then we made the jump onto the resorts line so we could get to the Contemporary Resort for dinner.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

When we ate at Chef Mickey’s in 2012, the food was okay. But we had a great time with the character interactions. Especially Donald who was very impatient with the amount of time it took me to get my camera and the autograph books together when he came to our table.

This year, the food seemed better. But the characters felt rushed.

When we were seated, Goofy was already in our area. So he stopped by to see us before we got our plates. After Goofy, left, the characters went in for their break and we were told it would be ten minutes or so before the next one came to our table. So we went ahead and got our food.

It turns out that while we were away, the characters returned from their break and they started up in our section. By the time we returned to our table, we had already missed Donald. Not that it mattered too much. At the rate the characters were flying through the room, Donald would be back before long.

Pluto came to our table, but got distracted almost immediately by a kid at the next table. We waited for him to come back for our pictures and autograph book, but off he went. I called out to him as he was leaving our section. He came back and showed remorse for leaving before completing his meet and greet tasks.

Then came the head mouse. Mickey was in and out so fast, I didn’t get a chance to snap a picture. Fortunately, Mindy did. (If you see a vertical picture which is more suited to a cell phone than a blog post, odds are it was taken by Mindy or the Photopass photographers).

Since we missed Donald, it would be a while before he would come back around. But that was fine. We weren’t in any hurry and it would give us time to eat. For my money, the best item on the buffet was the lobster mac and cheese. Having had a late lunch/snack, I didn’t eat a ton here, but most of what I ate was good. The one menu item I remember not liking was the cold potato salad. The potatoes had a really hard consistency that made me think they were under-cooked.

As we started on dessert, Donald came around. I told him I hoped he wasn’t still mad at me for taking too long last time we visited. If he was upset, he didn’t show it. He signed the autograph books “Donald #1″ as he usually does. I told him that I thought he was better than Mickey and the place should be called Chef Donald’s. He readily agreed.

When he walked away, the girls were very excited. They were planning to tell Mickey Mouse on me for saying I liked Donald better. Every time Mickey or Minnie got anywhere near us, they started laughing about how they were going to tell on me.

Eventually, they started doing the thing where the characters twirl their napkins in the air. Goofy was very near us at the time and he started shaking his rear end like crazy. The girls started laughing even harder, so Goofy came over to our table and really played it up.

The characters started coming by for another round. I didn’t bother snapping any more pictures, but I did talk them up a little more. I told Goofy he had spilled something on his apron which he sheepishly covered up. When Mickey Mouse finally came by, the girls couldn’t bring themselves to tell on me. It’s not that they didn’t want to get me in trouble. They did. They were just being shy.

I asked Mickey if he made all the dishes himself. He indicated that he had and I told him he did a good job because we were all full. At some point, I believe he kissed Mindy on the head. Not sure what that was all about, but Mindy enjoyed it. The entire reason we first started coming to Disney World over ten years ago is that Mindy is a Mickey fan.

When it came time to go home, we just couldn’t handle the idea of taking a monorail back to the Magic Kingdom and then waiting for a bus. So we headed out to the main entrance of the Contemporary and asked about a cab. We were sent to the valet parking area where there was a cab already waiting for us. The cab driver was a little odd. She had some kind of scanner which she kept reading aloud. It didn’t make any sense to any of us since we are not Orlando cab drivers. But that didn’t stop her from trying to work it into casual conversation.

Including tip, the taxi cost us about $15. Mindy says it was the highlight of the trip. I have definitely learned that sometimes it pays to go ahead and splurge on a taxi cab instead of relying on Disney transportation all the time.

That night, we discussed our plans for our final day at the parks. We had to go to the Magic Kingdom if for no other reason than we had FastPasses to meet Anna and Elsa. Our other two Fastpasses were for Big Thunder and Splash Mountain. Since we had already ridden Splash and Kara didn’t want to ride it again, we changed that selection to the Tinkerbell meet and greet on Main Street.

Originally, our dinner plans were to eat at Tony’s Town Square. But I knew Mindy wouldn’t want to go to the Magic Kingdom twice. So I asked if she would rather eat at Downtown Disney. She indicated that she would, so I changed our dinner reservations to Planet Hollywood which is where we were supposed to eat on our arrival day.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

Our first FastPass on our last day wasn’t until 10 o clock. So we slept in and then had breakfast at the Riverside Mill again. Once again, it was less than spectacular. The girls each got pancakes. I don’t think I ordered anything at all. I just picked off of their leftovers. From there, we headed off to Magic Kingdom one last time.

When you rent a stroller, they give you a little title card to fill out with your family name so you can more easily identify your stroller. Each time Josie filled it out, it got fancier. By this point, every letter had to be done in a different color. Kara added hearts and flowers. Had we stayed there another day, I think they would have had to learn calligraphy.

Our first stop of the day was Big Thunder Mountain. No surprise that Kara wouldn’t ride it. We used a child swap again. Fortunately, Josie loved it and was willing to ride twice.

From there, we headed over to Fantasyland where we had an appointment with the Frozen sisters.
We walked right in to see the princesses with almost no wait at all. I commented that it was very cool in the room and wondered if that was Elsa’s doing. A castmember assured me that Elsa was probably a little nervous.

A little girl in the group in front of us had no interest whatsoever in meeting Anna and Elsa. She was busy on her handheld device and completely ignored the cast member who kept asking her to move. The girls’ parents were completely oblivious to the situation. They either didn’t notice or didn’t care that their youngest child was not with them.

The girls insisted on bringing their Anna and Elsa dolls with the to the meet and greet. Anna and Elsa voiced their approval upon seeing themselves in plastic form. The asked the girls if they were sisters and engaged in a little sister talk.

It ended with hugs before we were ushered to the next princess.

You have to feel a little bad for Aurora. She is the princess no one is waiting in line to see. But the girls were happy to see her even if she wasn’t the reason we were there.

The meet and greet exited into a gift shop that was about 50% Frozen merchandise. The stuff is so popular, there are limits to how much you can buy. I thought about buying an Olaf plush for Daffy. Maybe next time.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

Mindy decided she wanted some cotton candy. I wanted to squeeze in at least one more attraction before we left. Specifically, I was wanting to check out Circusland. We had visited the Dumbo-themed area briefly on our last trip in 2012. But since we had FastPasses, we basically hopped on Dumbo and left. Since it is considered part of the Fantasyland expansion, I wanted to explore a little more as part of this trip report.

Since Mindy hates spinners, she went into the big circus tent to get some cotton candy while I took the girls to ride Dumbo. Pre-expansion, riding Dumbo was a test of endurance. If you didn’t make it your first stop of the day, you could count on an hour-long wait in the blistering sun. There was almost no shade and very little to distract the kids.

While the ride itself remains largely unchanged, Disney has taken drastic steps to address the issues with wait times. First, they doubled the number of Dumbos by adding a second spinner. More capacity = shorter waits. Then they moved the wait indoors. No more blistering sun.

Finally, they built a distraction-filled play area so kids no longer have to wait in line to experience the attraction. Instead, you are given a pager. You can turn the kids loose in the play ground until the pager lights up and it is time to ride.

Since the changes, wait times have been less than half what they used to be. This is probably due to the change in location. Dumbo used to be located in the center of Fantasyland, the busiest land in Disney’s busiest park. Now it is no longer centrally located. It’s even a little hard to find.

As a side effect, the ride no longer offers the terrific views of Fantasyland that were part of its appeal.

Josie and Kara mostly stuck to the ground instead of climbing around the play area. In the lower left hand corner of this picture, you can see them playing with a sliding puzzle like the kind that were in the old Dumbo queue.

We only waited about five minutes before our pager signaled it was time to ride.

I wanted to let the girls ride together. But I was told Kara was too young to ride without me. So we all crammed into one elephant. It was snug to say the least. While we were riding, there was an issue. They unloaded us all and then reloaded us for a second ride through. Not everyone stuck around for the second ride. So this time, I let Josie have her own elephant while I rode with Kara.

Kara enjoyed having complete control of the ride vehicle’s movement. She kept bouncing Dumbo up and down. The end result was like Tower of Terror if Tower of Terror also spun. But the little maniac loved it.

After our ride, we met up with Mindy who had finished her cotton candy. The kids decided they wanted a snack, so we went under the big top to let them pick something out.

Josie wanted a chocolate covered strawberry which counted as a snack credit. Kara wanted a caramel apple which was not covered under the dining plan.

The cast member offered to slice Kara’s apple for her which Mindy and I thought was a good idea. Especially given how her last Mickey bar turned out. But Kara decided against it at the last minute.

Surprisingly, the caramel apple didn’t turn into a mess. Kara ended up sharing the giant snack with her sister. I even got a bite. I’m not a caramel apple fan, but I had to admit that this was a good caramel apple.

After the kids got soaked in the Epcot fountain the previous day, we decided to speed past the Casey Jr. water play area as quickly as possible. The kids who were playing there seemed to be having a lot of fun. But we were planning to leave soon and didn’t want to deal with soaking wet kids.

The wait times for the meet and greets at Pete’s Silly Sideshow were minimal. Kara had mentioned wanting to see Daisy Duck before we go. So we hit up the Sideshow on our way out.

The circus-themed meet and greets with members of the Fab 5 are hidden in the back of Circusland. Since they are somewhat out of the way, the wait times are usually pretty short. We met with Minnie and Daisy, but no one wanted to queue up again for Donald and Goofy on the other side. We were ready to pack it in.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

Our final ride of the day and of the trip was the Walt Disney World Railroad. We boarded at the Fantasyland Station and road around to the main entrance.

We actually had a few minutes left on our Tinkerbell FastPasses. I asked the girls if they wanted to see the fairy before we left the park. But they were out of gas and ready to head home.

On the way out, the girls took notice of the shoe shine chair underneath the railroad station. Having no idea what a shoe shine was, they decided the chair was a throne and took turns sitting on it.

I didn’t see any reason to correct them.

We took one final moment to turn around and say our goodbyes to the castle. No literally. But we soaked it all in one last time before we left. There’s something comforting knowing that you will be coming back.
When we got back to the hotel, Mindy and the girls headed back to the room. I made a brief stop at the gift shop to pick up the items we had purchased at Downtown Disney. Then I stopped in the Riverside Mill for a snack. We had snack credits to burn and I was craving a sundae.

Back at the room, there was a note waiting for me. How sweet! I thought. Were the girls thanking me for all the effort I put into planning the trip? Not exactly.

No, they wanted me to take them back to Old Man Island. Of course I could not say no. So we went back to the “big pool” for one last swim.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

We decided to take a boat to Downtown Disney so as to avoid another bus ride. The boats aren’t as efficient as the buses, but everyone gets to sit down and they are very stress-free. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea. Because there was a long wait for a boat.

We ended up having to wait for a second boat to arrive. While we waited, a younger couple started talking to the girls. Turns out they were locals. They asked us which hotel we were staying at. I confirmed we were staying at Riverside. I asked if they were staying here as well. They said they were locals, so duh no.

I tried as politely as I could to ask what they were doing at Port Orleans if they weren’t staying at the hotel. Their answer was that the liked to “roam the parks sometimes”. I wanted to follow up by pointing out that Port Orleans was a hotel and not a theme park. But I guess if you’re a local with time on your hands, it’s all the same.

On our slow boat ride to Downtown Disney, we got a look at the neighboring Port Orleans French Quarter.

Here is a look at the resort’s Mardi Gras themed water slide.

There is currently just a ton of construction going on at Downtown Disney. They are building a parking structure. Over the next couple of years, the entire shopping and dining complex is supposed to double in size.

There is our destination, Planet Hollywood. Beside it is the Characters in Flight hot air balloon.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

Planet Hollywood is a chain and I try to avoid chain restaurants when I am at Disney World. But we don’t have a Planet Hollywood at home and I genuinely enjoy the movie theme. So I was willing to make an exception to my no chains rule for Planet Hollywood.

There is movie memorabilia all over the place. Most of it comes from the 80s and 90s. As a result, the place is almost like a“What the Hell Happened?”themed restaurant.

Some of the memorabilia is more memorable than others. We were seated next to an ice sculpture of the boat fromSteven Seagal’sUnder Siege. It seemed appropriate given Seagal’s popularity here at the site.

We were seated on the second floor. There was interesting stuff to look at all around. The girls didn’t recognize most of the non-Disney stuff. But I did.

There are TVs and monitors everywhere. A DJ plays music videos (most of which are quite old) and makes announcements about birthdays and such. It is not a quiet place to eat, but it is a lot of fun.

Mindy and I both ordered the ribs which we enjoyed. The girls each ordered mac and cheese which they picked at. I can hardly blame them. For one thing, the kids menus are so limited that they had eaten mac and cheese an average of once a day. Maybe more. But this mac and cheese was heavy on the mac and light on the cheese. I tasted it and thought it was tasteless.

For dessert, the girls each got a scoop of ice cream. No toppings of any kind. Mindy ordered a bananas foster cheesecake which she liked, but didn’t love. I got a slice of key lime pie which was the clear winner at our table.

For the most part, we enjoyed our meals. But our service was slow. We encountered a lot of low service during our trip and the service at Planet Hollywood was among the slowest. Dessert didn’t arrive until after I had paid the bill.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

As we exited the restaurant, there was a live band performing. It contributed to the party atmosphere that makes Downtown Disney a fun place to visit.

Since we had already paid for a stroller for the day, we decided to get a stroller for the rest of our night at Downtown Disney. There are stroller rental places on the extreme ends of the complex. Josie wan’t to check out the Vinylmation Store, so I took Kara Disney Quest to pick up a stroller.

Along the way, she asked me if we could “make this quick”. I told her I would make it as quick as I could. A few minutes later, she sighed and said, “I thought we were going to make this quick.”

Not long after, we did pick up our stroller. I was glad to see they had a double stroller available as I had not been expecting that. I was less excited when they informed me there was a $100 deposit to use the stroller. I can understand why. At the theme parks, you can’t steal a stroller without getting past the front gate. At Downtown Disney, you could easily steal a stroller if you were so inclined.

Armed with a stroller, we met up with Mindy and Josie. While Mindy completed her souvenir shopping, I took the girls to the Lego Store. They played around for a while, but didn’t find anything they wanted to buy.

As the theme parks closed, crowds at Downtown Disney were starting to pick up. The Lego Store was a zoo and the girls were ready to leave.

Before we called it quits, we had one final matter to attend to. The girls wanted to redeem what was left of their “points” from the trip. Mindy took them into World of Disney. I sat outside with the stroller. I wasn’t about to leave it unattended since I needed it to collect my $100 deposit. But the store was way too busy to maneuver a double stroller through it.

The girls decided they wanted princess dolls. But they couldn’t narrow it down to one a piece. So I got a text asking if they could each have two. I responded with “whatever it takes”.

All that remained was to drop off the stroller before we headed home. Disney Quest was a long walk from World of Disney. So I went to the stroller rental in the Marketplace. Fortunately, they were able to check in my stroller and refund my deposit. Unfortunately, it meant using a code that the cast member didn’t have.

She called a manager who had the code. While we were waiting on the manager, three more families arrived to check in strollers. I told the cast member it was okay with me if she checked in the other families while we waited. She told me she couldn’t do anything until she had the code. So we waited and waited. About ten minutes later, the manager arrived and seemed horrified that the line had backed up so much.

A short while later, the stroller was checked in. We made our way to the bus stop to return home.
The next morning was the last of our stay. No more theme parks for us. We went to the Riverside Mill for one final breakfast. Josie and I ordered Mickey waffles which were consistently a safe choice. Kara ordered the bounty platter though mostly she just ate the eggs with ketchup. Mindy selected biscuits and gravy which she deemed inedible.

After breakfast, we tried to use up our remaining snack credits. In 2010, we had used the remaining snack credits to bring back a bag of Mindy’s favorite cupcakes. That was what we hoped to do again. However, since it was still morning, the bakery had their breakfast selections out. These didn’t appeal to the girls. I spied a tray of brownies off to the side and asked if we could get those early. The cast members conferred and eventually agreed to sell us the brownies early. So we ended up bringing home a bag of nine giant brownies.

Josie had wanted to get another slice of the chocolate cake she enjoyed the other day. But she sampled the brownie and decided it was just as good as the cake if not better.

We hung around in the lobby until it was time for our Magic Express shuttle. The girls watched some cartoons and played with their dolls. Before we knew it, we were headed back to the airport. Our vacation was over.

Well, not exactly. We had one last little bit of excitement at the airport. After getting through the security checkpoint, we stopped for a bit of lunch. When we finished, we noticed we were missing one of our bags. The best we could figure, it got left behind at the security checkpoint.

I knew there was no way we would get to the checkpoint and back with the kids in tow. So I sent Mindy and the girls to board the plane. Then I hopped the shuttle back to the security checkpoint. They said any bags that were left behind had already been sent to the lost and found. So I ran to the lost and found.

When I got there, I was informed that they had not received the bag. It was a valiant, but fruitless effort on my part. Now I had five minutes to get back through security and clear across the airport to board our plane. I immediately started getting texts from Mindy saying they would not hold the plane for me.

So I ran. And folks, I am not a runner. But long story short, I made it back just in time. The next day, Mindy called the airport lost and found. To our surprise, the bag had been located. They are shipping it to us at our expense. I will be curious to see if all the contents are in place. Either way, I will be glad to have the bag back.

And with that, another Disney World vacation is in the record books. I had fun, but I’m not in any hurry to go back again soon. I figure I can wait until Disney has opened the new attractions at Animal Kingdom in a few years. By then, the girls should be old enough not to need strollers or worry about animatronic witches and frequent potty breaks. Maybe I will have gotten the Frozen soundtrack out of my head.

Ideally, I would like to avoid another summer trip. With proper planning, the heat and lines were manageable. But traveling in the off season is just so much easier. We will have to see how schedules plan out.

Thanks for reading and sharing our latest Disney World memories.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

StarBurst said:
well done TR..

father of the year here folks

*blush*

I do the best I can. I like to think I do more right than wrong on the daddy front.

lebeau · Jun 13, 2014

StarBurst said:
i bet..

now about POR..what r some tips for a 1st timer goin solo..

best place to eat there and places to check out?

ETA i just chose a reg. room but id like to have a river view what should i ask for?

First, let me share the best resource I know of for all things Port Orleans, PortOrlreans.org. It's comprehensive.

In terms of places to eat, you basically have three choices. If you want a table service meal at the resort, it's Boatwright's Dining Hall. We ate there on our arrival day and found the meals to be good. The service was slow, but we ran into that in a lot of places. The best thing about it is convenience.

For counter service meals, you have two choices. At Riverside, you have the Riverside Mill. Breakfast there is adequate. It's on par with most counter service breakfasts at Disney. They have better options at lunch and dinner. I recommend the build your own pasta. If you want to take the 10 minute walk or boat ride to French Quarter, there is another counter service restaurant best known for their beignets.

You can get a River View Room without booking a Royal Guest Room.

As far as places to check out, POR is a sprawling complex and has lots of amenities. Check out the River Roost Lounge in the main building. Yee Haw Bob puts on a good show there. There's also bikes and carriages to rent if that is your thing. The main pool has a hot tub and nearby hammocks. There's an arcade and even fishing. Lots to see and do outside of the parks.

Plus, if you want to get to DTD, it's a slow relaxing boat ride away.

smk · Jun 13, 2014

Thanks for a great report! The pictures are fabulous and your kids are adorable and totally sweet to each other for sharing so many things between the two of them. The points system was and is a great idea, I will be sure to use that option when I take my grandson in the future. I am happy you all had a good time!

lebeau · Jun 14, 2014

smk said:
Thanks for a great report! The pictures are fabulous and your kids are adorable and totally sweet to each other for sharing so many things between the two of them. The points system was and is a great idea, I will be sure to use that option when I take my grandson in the future. I am happy you all had a good time!

Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed the TR.

Disney trips are lots of fun. But realistically, they are also exhausting. Especially for kids. I try to take that into consideration. Tired kids will act up. I try to defuse that with afternoon breaks and using a stroller. But sometimes, the pace will catch up with everyone including me. I tries to be aware of everyone's mood. If I felt myself getting frustrated or grumpy, I knew the others were probably feeling that way too. So it was time to shift gears.

The "points" system worked out well for us. I'm sure mileage will vary. My kids are obsessed with gift shops. Every time we go anywhere, their first question is "Do they have a gift shop?" So they will do just about anything to get to go to the gift shop. We deducted points if they whined or fought with each other which prevented some acting out. Of course, the points were really meaningless anyway. But they didn't know that.

DisSplash · Jun 15, 2014

I enjoyed your trip report! I do feel a little bad that you did not make it over the American Adventure, but maybe in a couple of years your girls will want to do that with you. I love the World Showcase, and all the movies, restaurants, and other scenic things scattered throughout it. (The Eiffel Tower is a pretty neat forced perspective photo op). My kids, on the other hand (10 and 7) are more about getting to the next ride, so while we have dragged them across the World Showcase, and while they have tolerated the movies and have appreciated the air conditioning, I know there are more pressing things they want to get to -- like another go at Test Track or a trip on Maelstrom. So I think your plan to go back in a few years will work for all of you, and you it appears that you will have a lot of "new" stuff to explore together! Every year we have gone with our kids there is still something "new" that we haven't done yet.

Score on the Elsa and Anna meet and greet! They were still set up over in Epcot when we were there in January with a 5 hour wait and no fast passes - that was a definite NO for us. I did hold my 7 yo daughter up as we walked past the doorway so she could get a glimpse of them tho, so I keep telling to this day that yes, she "saw" Elsa and Anna at WDW.

So glad you all found your luggage, and that you took it all in stride (or "sprint!"

)

Trip Report *Completed* Lebeau Family 2014 Disney World Trip Report

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Trip Report Completed Lebeau Family 2014 Disney World Trip Report