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
 

juniorthomas

Well-Known Member
Yes! We just had a ganster the other day and I was cracking up in the front seat since my boyfriend & good friend lives there. In return for me laughing, he scared me to death when he got out of the car haha

Well, now you have time to plan for getting him back next time!
 

EvilQueen-T

Well-Known Member
love your report. you take great pics. can i ask was there much shade around the main pool at AoA as compared to say the main pool (if you were able to get over there during your stay) at POR?
 

disneygirl1024

Well-Known Member
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.

Seeing these pics makes me excited for my trip coming up this week because this is what we are staying in. Thanks for the pics. They are awesome!!!
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
love your report. you take great pics. can i ask was there much shade around the main pool at AoA as compared to say the main pool (if you were able to get over there during your stay) at POR?

PORS has more shade by the chairs but not really in the pool. AOA has little to no shade in the pool and chairs. Depending on where the sun is you may have some shade because the buildings are higher. The AOA main pool is bigger and has a lot of stuff for kids.

Seeing these pics makes me excited for my trip coming up this week because this is what we are staying in. Thanks for the pics. They are awesome!!!

I hope you have a great time!
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
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 :)

Thank you!! You will it is so yummy and I'm so glad I listened to people's recommendations to go there.
 

disneygirl1024

Well-Known Member
PORS has more shade by the chairs but not really in the pool. AOA has little to no shade in the pool and chairs. Depending on where the sun is you may have some shade because the buildings are higher. The AOA main pool is bigger and has a lot of stuff for kids.



I hope you have a great time!

Thank you!!!!
 

mouse_luv

Well-Known Member
I love your TR! You have awesome pics! :)
Someone mentioned candles that smell like burning Rome (which is my fave by the way). Fireside by Yankee Candle smells EXACTLY like it! just a little fyi!
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
After a long week at work and my masters classes back up again, I don't have a ton of time to update but today I'm going to try and get another day in before we go back to Disney. On this day we decided that we were determined to get a lot done. We were on our second to last day and didn't want to waste a second. So we got up super early and headed right over Magic Kingdom. We have never gotten there early enough to watch the opening show but it was important we saw Tinkerbell today since the line was never under 45 minutes the entire trip.

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I can't wait to leave today and enter the world of yesterday, tomorrow and fantasy again.

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Almost time!

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Good Morning!

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I love walking in and seeing this beautiful view ... minus the crane

Well we were in about 15 minutes before officially opening time. We darted quickly to meet Tinkerbell and Periwinkle. We were second in line.
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Once I get my Photopass+ pictures uploaded I'll post them. In those I have the pictures of us and the ladies.

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The pics the photopass photographer took with my camera I had my eyes closed in both

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Riding Magic Carpets .. And then something amazing happened
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
As we were on the ride we saw Jasmin and Aladdin walking up the exit side of the ride. Were they going to ride the carpets or were they just there to say hello.

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And then as we were walking off they get on the ride. I've never seen characters on rides before so this was a neat experience.

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Since at this point my DD was just in love we had to go see Jasmin and Aladdin.

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My DD had a silver bow in her hair. Aladdin was telling her that Abu loves shiny things and that if she saw him to hold onto her bow.

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Aladdin and Jasmin were both very friendly and my DD talked about them all day.

My DH went and got fast passes to Dumbo so we were on our way over there. Passed the DD's favorite ride.
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We will visit this ride later

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Crowds at this point were non existent .. but that would change later

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I love the smell of the pie in this show

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We made it to Dumbo!

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Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
I wanted to ride Barnstormer once more.

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Pretty skies

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On our way up!

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We spent a lot of time in here .. again

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Trying on all the hats

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At this point shes like ... Really mom?

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All of our tummies were grumbling so it was time to get food. Most places just opened and we were excited to try the flat bread pizzas at Pinocchio's.

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Our awesome view of the ride

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The Caprese Flatbread, this is the SIL

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I don't like balsamic vinaigrette so this is what the Caprese Flatbread looks like without it.

Before we went over to Dumbo we got some FP for The Mermaid Ride (as DD calls it) and we headed in that direction.

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Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
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Once we exited the ride we were asked if we wanted to take a survey. This would be about our 5th survey for the trip. We were honest with every survey question we answered.

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I was in the mood to just snap and shoot. I had no idea what my pictures were going to look like until I was able to check them out. I probably took about 100 random snapshots but some turned out pretty well. We were on our way back to Dumbo to ride the train.

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I love this shot of the girls holding hands.

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Heimlich has come back for his last day in the MK

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We were here all day, why not go and see some characters
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
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Crowds are crazier now

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They had CM directing traffic because it was crazy crowded by Peter Pan and IASW. The wait for IASW was about 30 minutes. Usually it's a walk on.

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Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
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The past couple of times we had seen this it was a screen, most likely for the next gen FP thing but this time it had this taped over it.

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My DD goes, Mommy someone lost a lot of money.

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And my DH's favorite part of the ride
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And it was about time I became a galactic hero and get the pin I deserved

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My DD was so excited to meet Merida
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I think she was more excited to color
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We were excited for dinner. This would be our first time eating at Kona.

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At this point in the trip I hadn't taken any pictures of the DD's food since it's just your average mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, or whatever she ate off our plates. This time I thought the ravioli was very cute.

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My SIL and I got the Coconut Almond Chicken - Sauteed chicken breast served with Asian greens tossed with honey lime dressing, golden pineapple, strawberries, and toasted almonds.This was delicious.

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My DH got the Teriyaki New York Strip with a pineapple teriyaki glaze with rice and brocolini.

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Close up of the DH's food

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And for dessert, Banana Chocolate Creme Brulee

We loved the everything we had here and we want to go back but for their lunch menu.
 

Jennibelle

Member
Original Poster
Photopass+ Pictures!

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These are the majority of our photopass pictures. I was really irritated that none of the Minnie Mouse pictures made it to our account.
 

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