My Trying New Things Trip Report

Dates: 9/24 - 9/29

Went to Florida to visit my sister, who is in the college program this semester. As a veteran of many trip to WDW, I decided to use this excursion as an opportunity to try things I never have before. This is my first report so bear with me.

Day One
Arrived in Orlando and proceeded straight to Port Orleans - Riverside. I really enjoyed the hotel. Everything you guys said on the board was true. Caught up with sis, who told me all about her attractions work at MGM, and went to sleep. A side note, don't use Hertz in Orlando. They are not on the airport and the shuttle bus is a pain.

Day Two
Got an early start because we had PS's at the Whispering Canyon Cafe at the WL. I had never been there before and found it to be amazing. The breakfast was great. We had the skillet for all we could eat stuff. If you haven't been there, they try to make the cafe one of those family style places where everyone interacts with everyone else. It's fun, but don't ask for ketchup or you'll get every bottle in the restaurant and you then become responsible for delivering it to the next person who wants it.

Sister then took me to the cast member store at Disney university to buy my park ticket. We then went to the lost and found store. It was neat to see some of the area behind the MK. Saw the monorail roundhouse and some of the storage areas. Cool stuff.

It was then back to the room to get ready for my golf game. I played at Osprey Ridge, which is part of the Bonnet Creek CC. It was a great course, very challenging. The weather cooperated for the most part, at least there was no lightning in the immediate area. There was plenty of rain though, but fun nonetheless.

After a brief nap and shower, I went to MGM to activate my pass. It was about 6:30 and there was hardly anyone there. Anyone who was there, was gearing up for the Fantasmic. If you just want to ride rides, it's the best time to go. I went by Star Tours to see if I could see sis in action, but no luck. Then went to RNR and rode it twice before it was time to meet sister who got off of work.

After dinner off property (some place called Bahama Breeze, nothing spectacular), it was time for bed.

Hope this is ok. More to come.
 
Click to expand...
wilary

wilary

New Member
Original Poster
Part II

Day Three
Got up early for the extra magic hour at DAK. The commercials say that it is Nahtazu, but I really think it is. That said, we hit the big stuff. Kilamanjaro Safari had more animals out than normal it seemed. Rode Dinosaur three times (you gotta love Claire Huxtable), the spinny roller coaster and then The Bug's Life movie. After all of that, it was 9:30. So, off to Epcot.

We made a bee line for Mission: Space, but it was down for the moment. So, we got fastpasses and headed for the singles line at Test Track. Waited about 5 minutes. Sister and I got split up, as it happens in the singles line. As I was getting ready to start the ride, it broke down. After a 5 minute wait, it started again. I really enjoy that ride. It's a very cool concept. Anyway, I get done and sister tells me we can go again because her ride got stopped in the middle of the bumpy section. So -- we went again....and it broke down again. Thought about going again, but decided to see if M:S was open yet.

Luckily, it was. We didn't even have to use the fastpass the line was so short. I was little anxious going in, but the star studded preshow helped me relax a little. The ride itself was amazing. There's no other words to describe it. It's easily one of my Top 3 at WDW.

After M:S, we hit the Imagination ride. I'm glad that they put Figment back in, but it's still not as good as the original. I'm sure a lot of people think that way. I digress.

After imagination, it was lunch at the Garden Grill in the Land. The food was great. But I think the waitress had anger management issues. She kept picking fights with character Chip and threw his crayons over the rail into the attraction. Of course, Chip was trying to draw on the waitress. It was all very funny.

After lunch, sister had to go to work, so I was left to explore on my own. I decided to walk around the World Showcase. It was pretty typical really. Something new I saw was the American Vybe prior to the American Adventure show. American Vybe is an accapella jazz group. They put on a very good show. In fact, I think one of the Vybes was Jennifer from the 90's MMC. Can anyone confirm this?

American Adventure was superb as always. No trip to WDW is complete without the AA or the HOP. I then continued around WS, hitting Maelstrom, El Rio Del Tiempo (which really needs an upgrade), and SSE on the way out.

I came across another off property restaurant as I met some family for dinner. Orlando Ale House has good cheap food and good cheap beer. The one off of 535, I think is a cast member hangout -- I saw some of the American Vybes having a beer.

More to come...
 
wilary

wilary

New Member
Original Poster
Continued

Saturday opened up with sister a little under the weather. The plan was to get up early for extra magic hour at the Studios. She told me to go without her.

I got to MGM about 5 minutes to opening. I've never seen the big opening to do before. Very interesting. When they started letting people in, I got a fastpass for TOT, then hit RNRC. Just about I to get in my limo, the ride shut down with some computer glitch. After about 10 minutes and a couple of test trains, I was on the first one with people on it. The possibility of death and/or dismemberment made for a thrilling trip thru neon LA. Arriving back safely, I rode RNCR three more times and then TOT twice.

With queasy legs, I headed for GMR. I didn't mind the subtle script changes. What bothered me was that they were only running one car. I guess that's necessary on slow days, but there was no possibility for the cowboy hijacking, which was disappointing.

After a quick Muppet movie, I met sister for lunch at the Commissary. She then went to work and I went to Millionaire. A guy from Orlando actually won the cruise. That was very cool as he kept pulling answers out of the air. I noticed that they spread the shows out too, so that they would always start with a fast finger question.

I then stopped by Indiana Jones for old times sake. I hadn't seen the show in about 5 years. It's still a cool show but nothing has changed. You would think after this much time, they'd have changed it a little.

It started to rain hard, so I went back to the room for a little college football and a nap. After which, I went to MK. Saw Philharmagic and was blown away. It's easily the best 3D movie on property. Then just killed time before Spectromagic.

I did notice on TTA that they added some background music. Tunes is noticed were "It's a great big beautiful tomorrow", "The best time of your life" and "If you had wings". Now that brought back memories. I couldn't tell if they had any others, was hoping to hear the theme from Dreamflight.

Spectromagic was great as always. I really have to commend the job the parade control cast members do. People are jerks sometimes, and the CMs always deal with jerks with a smile. If you every want to get a good look, stand by the ice cream parlor at the top of main street (behind the ropes of course) and you'll get a good idea of what I'm talking about.

After the parade, I went to the Poly for the most anticipated new experience. Dinner at Ohana. Wow! That's all I can say. Great food! Great atmosphere! Great show!. Even saw the fireworks over the castle and the Electric Water Parade.

Will definitely do Ohana again.
 
wilary

wilary

New Member
Original Poster
Sunday opened with Extra Magic Hour (actually 49 minutes) at MK. We did everything that was open (disappointed about BTM) by the time sister had to go to work.

After lunch at the Columbia Harbour House (fish place! fish place! fish place!), I went over to Epcot. It was very crowed due to the WDW Triathlon. I stayed a couple of hours before heading back to the room to watch some NFL.

Orlando, by the way, gets the worst games. Sunday, I was treated to Jags v Texans and Falcons v Panthers. Very disappointed that the national telecast of the Cowboys was nowhere to be seen. So I took a nap as well.

Sunday night, I hit MGM again. Rode the big stuff one last time. Star Tours twice, RNRC four times and TOT once in an hour and a half. I then walked to the Boardwalk to meet a friend for dinner at the ESPN zone. I had never been, but they have great cheese fries. Even better, they have Yeungling Ale which I thought you could only get in Pittsburg. That was a great surprise.

Monday, sister was off all day, so we got up early and went to Cocoa Beach. The sea was angry that day my friends, but fun none the less. I thought that Typhoon Lagoon had big waves, you should see the Atlantic.

We stayed about an hour. Got back in time to check out of Riverside. We then hit Epcot one last time before my flight. Lunch at Nine Dragons was awesome. Last thing I saw: Food Rocks. "Choose before you chew, baby."

So there you have it. So ends my first trip report. Hope you all enjoyed it.
 
wilary

wilary

New Member
Original Poster
I really enjoyed the Port Orleans. The theming was amazing. We were on the mansion side, Oak Manor to be exact, but spent a little time walking around. The actual room was comfortable and clean, but nothing super spectacular. The quiet pools were nice. The big pool had too many kids and was kind of far away. The resort was very spread out, which helped the quiet feel, but made for long walks to the bus and lobby.

Didn't really eat much there. Food court seemed pricey. One thing I did learn is that the beers they sell in the food court for $4.50 are only $2 in the gift shop. Something to think about....

And one more thing, if you are on the mansion side -- the East Bus Depot is the last stop at POR. So, if you get on there, it's straight to your park. The stop at the front is the first, so you have to ride all the way around if you're leaving. Leave by East and Arrive by Front worked best for me.

BTW, they still do have the boat to DTD.
 

Register on WDWMAGIC. This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.

Back
Top Bottom