If you hate photos ... this is not the trip report for you

Over 4,000 pictures later, with full bellies and a happy toddler we have returned back to the cold, snowy, and not as fun state of IL. It's been over a week since we've returned and now full Disney blues has caught on for most of us. So with this snow and cold I thought why not write about the warm 75-82 degree, 10 days of awesome we just came back from.

We left for the magic on February 2nd and returned to yuck on February 12th. Our stay started at Pop Century with a hotel switch at the end to Port Orleans Riverside. Did everything go smoothly? Hmmm .. you'll have to read to see.

Let's introduce the party ...

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Hi! I'm your narrator and photographer who will guide you through the good times and the bad times. I'm Jenni, and I've used so much of the good advice from everyone on this board to plan this trip. (Thank you everyone!!) I also found a great crowd calendar that made our wait times so minimal despite the unexpected crowds. I had my first trip to Disney in 2007 on my honeymoon. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge in a Savannah View. I really loved having animals join me for breakfast in the morning. This is where my love for Disney World started. I knew that we had to vacation here every year. This would be my sixth trip to Disney since then. My favorite ride is Splash Mountain, favorite park for rides is Magic Kingdom but ambiance is Hollywood Studios. But really ... I just love everything.

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This is my husband and best friend. We have been together for 10 years, married for 5. He also loves Magic Kingdom for rides but just like me loves the ambiance at Hollywood Studios. He has been to Disney a few times more than me. He is awesome and lets me plan everything. He is the chauffeur this trip and my hero since he saved the day!

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Here is the princess, my DD. Her favorite ride is It's A Small World and she could ride it continuously until they kicked her off. Let's just say for the sake of our sanity, that didn't happen. She's only 2 but she really loves everything about Disney World. She takes in the scenes, loves the rides and likes the characters .. from a distance. This would be her 3rd trip.

My sister-in-law also joined us for the trip but since she wasn't into getting her picture taken I don't really have any for her. Her last trip here was in high school so it's been a while since she has been in the World. So it was like her first time again. It was fun to show her everything and see her reactions to the rides. I love being with first timers.

Last but not least was Heimlich. He joined us for some of the trip. He likes to eat, he's German and is earning his butterfly status. Favorite park, Epcot because of the food.
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So on with the trip report and loads of pictures.

We left the cold state of IL in the early hours of February 2nd. Of course it decides to snow that morning so the drive to the airport was a bit slow. We made it with tons of time to spare so we grabbed breakfast, did a potty break and on we were. I paid the extra $10 to do early bird check-in and it was worth it. We sat 10 rows from the front and practically ran off the plane to get our rental car. We weren't going to waste any time.
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Beautiful skies
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Greeted with this in the sky
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And this also
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And then we saw this

We arrived at Pop Century around 12:00. I had done online check-in. I'm so glad I did because the regular line was about 45 minutes long and there wasn't one person in online check-in. I checked the option to have the room ready upon arrival and to override all our requests. Well the awesome CM was on the phone trying to get us a room. Almost all of our requests were granted, we stayed in 50's and we were on the bottom floor. We wanted a lake view but were willing to sacrifice that for having a room ready. We were in and out of line in 5 minutes. We stayed in 50's last year and it was quiet. This year I was not disappointed, it was very quiet. We did request a pack-and-play and that was not in the room. A quick call to the front desk and we had it to our room within 10 minutes. We were very pleased. Well after a long plane ride all our tummies were grumbling and AOA food court was calling our name. I have to say I wasn't disappointed with the food. The process however was the frustrating part. I think it took about 10 minutes for all of us to get our food and finish the check out process.

I had the meatball sandwich
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DH got the Surf and Surf Burger. We both split our meals and agreed that the meatball was 1,000 times better.
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My Sis-in-law got this sandwich with homemade chips. The chips were good. She liked her sandwich.
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I got the cupcakes for dessert. It was red velvet, chocolate, vanilla and carrot cake. I give it a 6 out of 10. Not bad but not great.
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My DH got this, don't remember what it's called but I called it a garbage brownie. It has every kind of sugar related treat on it .. oh and even brown sugar.
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Next ... Check out AOA and Wishes Dessert Party
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
We will be there from the 8th until the 13th. but if the economy keeps going in the ground like it is we might have to hold off until February of next year. Thanks for you input on the Pop Century. Hope you have a great time when you go in September. How Long would you be going for?

We are planning on going for 8 days with my parents. They have been wanting to take vacation with their only grandbaby so I thought it would be fun if we all went together. I think after that we are taking a Disney sabbatical for a few years. We want to save up for a few years because my DH really wants to stay at Contemporary
 

the1nonlysinger

Active Member
You weren't kidding when you wrote on my PTR that we our itineraries matched up a lot!! I even took a lot of the exact same photos! :) I haven't gotten a chance to write up my trip report yet- but maybe I can just write "See Jennibelle's trip report!" lol

Loving it the TR so far! Can't wait to read more!
 

ILDisneyFan

Active Member
Awesome trip report so far, can't wait for the rest and I LOVE all the pictures! I, too, love the smell of Rome burning. I don't know if you burn candles or not but Yankee Candle has a couple candles that I think smell exactly like it. The names of them are Hearthside and/or Emberlight. Both of them smell like it but Hearthside isn't always available whereas Emberlight is. You should check them out if you do the candle thing. :)
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
You weren't kidding when you wrote on my PTR that we our itineraries matched up a lot!! I even took a lot of the exact same photos! :) I haven't gotten a chance to write up my trip report yet- but maybe I can just write "See Jennibelle's trip report!" lol

Loving it the TR so far! Can't wait to read more!

That's so funny! I can even cut and paste you into my photos as if you were there with me.
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
Awesome trip report so far, can't wait for the rest and I LOVE all the pictures! I, too, love the smell of Rome burning. I don't know if you burn candles or not but Yankee Candle has a couple candles that I think smell exactly like it. The names of them are Hearthside and/or Emberlight. Both of them smell like it but Hearthside isn't always available whereas Emberlight is. You should check them out if you do the candle thing. :)

Thank you! I'm going to have to find those candles. I'm always disappointed when the smell isn't there.
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
Sorry everyone it's been a long week but I'm back and ready to write more. I'm excited to look over my own pictures after the super fun snow we've had the past few days.

Even thought we spend the evening at MK that didn't stop us from going back that morning. We were determined to ride Dumbo so my DH ran and got a FP for all of us. The way Dumbo works is that they have a separate Dumbo for the FP line and one for the stand by line. This works great until the FP one goes down.

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I'm really not a roller coaster person so I thought the Barnstomer would be tame enough for me to enjoy. While I liked it I still screamed like a little girl at a Bieber concert.

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Daddy hugs!

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Yummy snacks!

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The adorable Mickey Cake Pop. The ears are marshmallows and the body is the cake.

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The crowd levels this morning ... not too bad

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Stepmother dancing with a princess

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Peter Pan, our favorite part is finding Ariel

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Splash Mountain work .. Since this is my favorite ride I was bummed it was closed but excited to see it in September

We went back to Hollywood Studios that night. I didn't bring my camera, just my iphone. Pictures aren't the best quality but it works.
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The cute Valentine's Day cupcake

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Buffalo Chicken sandwich from Studio Catering

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Blurry but I got Sulley waving bye to us he leaves for the night

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Again blurry but Mike waving bye

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Vanellope Von Schweetz's car

When we were at the Magic of Disney Animation we went and saw Ralph and Vanellope. I'll post the picture once I get my photopass CD. On to my favorite show ...

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Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
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The park was closing soon so we decided to get in line for TSMM since the wait was only 45 minutes. Again an exaggerated wait time because it was 20 minutes in line. We walked out of the ride at 6:59 and the park was to close at 7:00 so what did I do? I asked if we could get back in line for TSMM. The CM said yes! We had another first .. A walk on to TSMM. What a great night!

That night we packed our things for another first. We were switching hotels in the morning. Will this be a nightmare? Guess you'll find out after we visit Animal Kingdom, lunch at Yak and Yeti and wait, I get a prize for that?
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
We woke up bright and early after packing our things. Got over to the luggage counter where it took about five minutes to check the luggage. Now remember this fact for later .. I told the guy three times we were staying at Port Orleans Riverside. This bit of information comes into play later on. He was very polite and we were on our way.

As a side note if you switch resorts you can check your luggage and they will deliver it for you or you can take it yourself. Because we were going right to Animal Kingdom we weren't about to take all the luggage with us. End side note.

We got to Animal Kingdom bright and early and as half the people went to EE we went with the other half to Kilimanjaro Safaris. The wait was about 15 minutes and we requested to sit in the middle. Last year we were in the back and we almost bounced out of the truck. Well we had no idea they completely changed the end of the ride.

The animals were out in full force today. This was one of the best safari rides I've had here.

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That bird is pretty brave

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The best view

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Giraffes were just hanging out on the side of the road

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LeCellier.Lover

Well-Known Member
Ah yay another Chicago Disney fan! Love the bears shirt ;)
Love love loving your trip report! You're daughter is so cute!
Your dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express looked delicious, I'm going to have to try it out sometime! I also love how you guys got to go on TSMM twice in a row at the end of the night. I think that's the way to go! Get in line right before the park closes (it's typically shorter) and then get to take a nice leisurely stroll out of Hollywood Studios.
Can't wait to read more :)
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
The road was closed so we took the long way to see the Elephants. We got to hear the music but no Simba 1.

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The baby elephants playing

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The artsy shot

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After the Safaris we went to It's Tough To Be A Bug. A 0 minute wait. We got there right as they were opening the doors.

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We were all very hungry at this point so we waited since our Yak & Yeti reservation was only 20 minutes away.

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Time to eat
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
We were the first reservation of the day. They sat us upstairs with a window view.

DH ordered the Kobe Burger
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I ordered the Shaoxing Steak and Shrimp - Skirt steak, tempura-battered shrimp, jasmine rice, stir-fried veggies, and chili plum dipping sauce.
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I really liked my meal. I would have liked to have the Kobe burger but after seeing pictures of this meal in other places I knew I had to try it. I was not disappointed. I would go back again next trip.

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Beautiful blue skies

At this point my DH and SIL wanted to ride Expedition Everest. I don't like roller coasters so I walked up with him to get a rider switch. This was the first time they were weird about giving the passes out. She gave it right to me and made the DH get in line. So once the CM was distracted he left the line, grabbed the pass and rode the ride with my SIL. If we didn't have my DD he would have just FP or stood in line. While we waited for them I decided that I wanted to play at the carnival. I bought five tickets. I figured the DD would want to play games but she decided she didn't want to. We won three prizes out of the five games we played.

Then it was what the DD was looking forward to all day. Finding Nemo the Musical. I've never seen her dance and sing so much before.

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If you haven't seen this yet then I would recommend it. The music is cute and the story goes exactly the same way as the movie. I love the part where Crush comes out. The person that plays him has an amazing voice.

Now it was time to see how smooth our transition over to Port Orleans Riverside is going to go.

We did online check in and there were a few people in line but I was taken by the concierge desk. They got my packet, my room was ready and they were very friendly. Too good to be true. At this point it's about 2 pm so I figure our luggage (dropped off at 8 am) should be there.

I ask my DH to call the front desk and find out. We were transferred to baggage and he said he never had it. This is where the statement from earlier comes into play. He calls over to Pop Century and they told him it was taken to French Quarter. I seriously told the guy three times Riverside. Either way in 15 minutes the bags were delivered to our door. The CM who delivered them was very friendly and even took time to explain the activities and the amenities we have at this resort.

On to the pictures of the Royal Room
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
We opted for the Royal Room to end our trip in luxury or close to it.

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Double sinks with the same faucet

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Shower Curtain

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Pictures on the walls

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Fireworks on the bed frame

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Magic Carpet on the floor

This room really did make you feel like a princess. The beds were more comfortable, the room was very relaxing. I would stay in these rooms again.
 

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