The let the memories begin sept 18-25 TR!

Trip Report Time! My boyfriend (marc) and myself (Laura) travelled from halifax, nova scotia to Disney from Osept18-25th, staying at POFQ! We had the best time and had something VERY exciting happen in the magic kingdom J you will have to read to find out!

Trip Report


Day 1- tuesday September 25, 2012

The day began at 3:00am, we woke up and prepared for the day! We were off to the airport by 3:30am, for our 6:13am flight to LGA. I love the fact that we can clear customs in halifax! The agent I got was awesome and from Orlando! He chatted all about Disney and pofq, never asking me a single customs related question lol. Now ive never flew thru LGA before, and i must say the concept of having 100's of ipads set up for travelers to pay to use is very cool! We sat and waited for 2 hours and then we finally boarded, my only gripe is it is a very long trip with no sort of entertainment on either flights! Now delta does offer wifi, but i couldn’t justify $15 for 2 hours.. It was a pretty bumpy ride down, but I expected that since CNN was reporting it was going to be a “rough travel day”
and lots of storms on the east coast..

We arrived on time at 12:09pm, and we're on our way to DME! We checked in and there was no line at POFQ. When we boarded the bus it was HOT and SUNNY!

As we began to drive the sky became very dark and then opened up, it poured rain, along with thunder and lightening. I began to panic thinking it would be this way everyday. Marc comforted me and reminded me we would have a good time rain or shine! We made a stop at Saratoga Springs and then Old Key West before arriving at French Quarter. We checked in quickly (no line and we had done online check in), we received buttons(one for celebrating our second anniversary together and another for marc’s first visit). We were given room 5109, which was exactially what I requested (a corner room in building 5). This was the best location, we were right across from the pool, and only a minutes walk to the main building/gift shop/ food court.

 

[kasey1988]

Wow, I totally fell off board.. We moved into a new home the beginning of October, then wi Christmas and wedding planning I have been swamped. But I really want to finish this so here we go!!!

When we arrived back to pofq we filled our mugs (I must say I was very disappointed there was no regular lemonade or pink lemonade, the pomegranate flavoured was disgusting). We spent some time splashing around to cool off, spend some time in the hot tub and then layed out to dry off! The weather was amazing, clear sky's and hot! By this time it was around 5:00pm, so we cleaned up and walked to the boat launch for Dtd. Now our room was incredibly close to everything, pool, boat launch and main building..I would not hesitate to stay in building 5 again! The plan for tonight was to do some shopping and have Earle of Sandwhich for supper. After a relying boat ride we began to wander the shops, we were wandering away from Earle of Sandwhich when I began to feel weak, I realized we needed to turn around to eat! I had a club and Marc had the jerk chicken. With the ddp you have a choice of a side or dessert, we both chose a dessert. And best news, they had lemonade now, I had never eaten here before but based off all the reviews on here it was on our must try list! Honestly, neither of us were impressed with our sandwiches, they were a little burnt and the desserts (strawberry shortcake) were nothing exciting. I think next time we will try somewhere else! Now on with the shopping...or so I thought. As I mentioned earlier Marc had a nasty virus before we left (which ended up lasting months and after many rounds of tests and 3 months of being sick we found out he had a virus that attacked his thyroid).. So we were able to only hit up a few stores and he was feeling pretty crappy, at the point where we seen more bathrooms and stores we decided to hop the boat and go back to the resort and call it a night.

 

[kasey1988]

Day 3-September 21,2012

Up bright and early, I really wanted to make it to Epcot for opening today! We had breakfast at the food court, using two qs credits we had breakfasts and chocolate milk, payed oop for fruit bowl and cinnamon bun. The breakfast croissants were great, the fruit was fresh..the cinnamon bun was lacking and didn't come close to the one from Main Street bakery later in the trip! We filled our Brita filtered bottle (best gift from my aunt prior to the trip!) filled with ice and water from the pop dispenser, stayed cold for a long time to! The busses were pretty frequent and we never seemed to wait to long. We picked up our maps and times guide and waited in line to enter. The streamers flew into the air, the music started and we were in straight to Soarin we went! I was on a direct path with Marc behind me (remember this is his first trip..but I was on a mission to get a fast pass and was in a rush) we grabbed fast passes and jumped in line as there was no wait! It's a great ride, Marc was amazed of course. Then off to the land, we spent a lot of time looking in the aquarium. They announced they would be doing a feeding soon and I wanted to stick around for it (and honestly I have never been on mission space, and was scared to ride it so I was avoiding it) lol. We probably spend close to 45 minutes watching the feeding, the divers even led the rays right up to the glass. Then we rode Nimo, a first for me as well, it was being built on my last trip. Very cute. A quick bathroom stop and we were off to mission space. Marc didn't give me an option we were doing the intense version....and I LOVED IT!

As quick as it was over it was coming up on our fast pass return time for Soarin! Explored in innovations before walking back over to Soarin! We still had a wait (10 minutes or so) but chatted with a great couple who were celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary, they actually had received free fast passes for any ride because they had some issues with being stuck on a ride the day before, which they gave to us because they said they were so full from their breakfast at Cape May Cafe ( they raved about it, maybe we will need to try it?).. Rode Soarin' and back over to mission space.. It was great, but I found myself a bit dizzy after this ride. We sat for a few minutes and had some water just people watching (I love doing this ) I was starting to get hungry but we were fast approaching our ADR for LeCEllar.. So I munched on a granola bar we had brought along and off to world showcase we were. It was about 20 minutes before our ADR, we attempted to check in but the girl asked us to come back in about 15 minutes. No problem, we walked to the closest washroom (uk) and then back to the Canadian pavilion, looked at the waterfall, explored the gift shop and talked to a cast member who congratulated us on our engagement and encouraged us to come back to celebrate our honeymoon, (hint hint Marc...I mean he was enjoying his trip but I didn't have him sold at this point).

Finally it was time! We checked in at LeCellar and the lady confirmed that we knew "Theresa", which we confirmed. This was a lady that Marc had gone to college with and knew from back home, we had told her we had reservations that day and hoped we would see her, we were excited to have her as our server! She took our drink orders, I had a trontopoloitian( wow strong! But yummy!) and Marc had Keith's ( a local beer from Halifax where we are from). I knew I needed to try the cheddar cheese soup. And oh my! That was amazing! I ordered the filet with mashed potatoes (no mushrooms) and Marc had the strip, both cooked perfectly and very flavourful. For dessert I had the maple crem' brûlée and Marc had the moose. At this time Theresa surprised us with a congratulations card from the entire staff as well as some champagne. Amazing meal, great service and I am now beyond stuffed! We said goodbye and began our journey around the world. We stopped in each gift shop, until we reached Japan. We watched a drumming show, the performers were so talented! Marc hummed about getting a beer but decided he was to full. On we went to America, another show with performers in period clothing. We stopped and watched this as well. All I could think of was how hot the performers must of been because I was wearing far less and burning up at this point! Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe the heat, maybe all the food but at this point I was not feeling the greatest but we trekked on! I was on a mission no matter how I felt to try some Carmel creation in Germany! I had milk chocolate salted Carmel and Marc had a chocolate covered marshmallow. Both were great, but I preferred mine and he preferred his, all in our tastes I guess! Mine was very sweet so I only ate half and saved half. And on we went, ducking into each shop to catch some a/c! We rode malestorm, great little ride. And we were on our way to the exit, I was overheated and needed a swim! Marc stopped and used the washroom and I sat on a bench with the cutest elderly couple (must of been 70-75) who were sharing a Mickey ice cream Sandwhich and just looked so much in love, all I could think was I hope I am that happy and in love at that age! We hopped on spaceship earth on the way out, great to cool down and relax on! Best luck happened next, our bus was waiting at the stop right into the pool we hopped. Same experience, it was extremely difficult to find two chairs together, so we claimed one to put our stuff on while swimming and when done we went and layed in the sun by the hot tub.

 

[kasey1988]

Our plan for the evening was to go back to downtown disney and see what we missed the night before.. Well, when we were getting ready it began to rain.i mean pour. We waited it out and once it lightened up we decided we would throw on the ponchos and still go! Well the boats aren't running because of the lightening and we had no luck getting a bus! Busses came for every other park..but none for DTD, we waited a half hour, others had been waiting longer when we finally gave up and went to the bar! I had some fruity frozen drink in a souvenir cup and Marc had a beer. It was still raining but the bar was covered and we just enjoyed each others company. There was a couple who had clearly been at the bar for a while complaining about the costs of disney, how it's always the same and don't understand why there kiss want to keep coming back..the bartender (just a young girl) attempted to be positive as they complained to her but I felt bad for the poor girl! We grabbed pizza, salad and rice crispie treat (qs credit) and took it back to the room to eat. The food court seemed very busy tonight (maybe because of the rain ? But the food was very good and hot!). We showered and went to bed early since we had an early morning tomorrow!

 

[prfctlyximprct]

Love your report! Thanks for sharing And congrats!!!

 

[kasey1988]

Day 4-September 22
Got up by 7:00am, today we had our photo session booked with disney photography for 9:00am at Port Orleans Riverside. We grabbed breakfast at sassgaloosa food works.. I'm a regular tea drinker at home, and by this time I was craving a tea, hadn't had one the whole trip! We had our refillable mugs..but I was unable to find milk for my tea and I wasn't up for buying a carton just for one tea oh well.. Back to the room to get ready, you know all those girls things, hair..makeup.. Etc. and we walked along the river over to riverside where we were to meet the photographer in the lobby. Now I had booked this months in advance and had out in my requests that I wanted shots by the river, mansions and fountains, and had put a note that we were celebrating our anniversary (dating), which was now engagement, we had our buttons on and the photographer noticed this when he arrived (5minutes late I mite add). We began the photo shoot, here comes the part where it began to go downhill. The photographer made comments that he had never been to this resort before and didn't know any good spots so I made comments to the notes I put on our reservation, he refused to walk to the mansions saying "it's to far", he took some shots by the boat rental area, the water wheel, water area by the bayou section, inside by boatrights and in the gift shop.. I was upset when it ended, knowing he didn't do the shots we wanted and that some of the photos were so far away I knew it wouldn't capture us and he was awful at suggesting and being open to posing us.. Long behold we received the link a few weeks later and there was 3-5 poses I was happy with, $300 wasted! I waited until the hard copies came in the mail and then contacted disney about the experience, how several shots were taken from so far away that you can't see our faces and how he did not listen to our requests.. They apologized, offered a percentage off another photo shoot and a free 11x14 print. I can honestly say that I would not use this service again.. A funny part to this story is this was the day Marc had originally planned to propose, he was going to do it in the middle of the photo shoot, but he had a nightmare about it our first night there leading him to propose our first day
( these are photos we took, I will try and upload photo shoot ones later)

We changed into our park clothes and hopped on the bus to DHS. I knew it was a long shot but I was hoping for fastpasses for TSM, we arrived at 11:00am..fastpasses return time 8:00pm and a current wait time of 80minutes.. Guess not today for us! We watched/rode muppets 3d, backlot express, star tours and Indiana jones.. Unfortunately LIghts , Motor Action stunt show was cancelled , Marc was disappointed! It was then time to go towards the Rocking Roller Coaster and tower of tower..I had been avoiding this, I have rode both before, but in recent years have a huge fear of heights and falling, so I knew I would be okay with rockin roller coaster, but not tower of tower. Short wait and we were on, Marc says he looked over and I was laughing and smiling. But I just couldn't go in the tower of terror and Marc wouldn't do the single rider line. We went into starring rolls, but I just didn't have a sweet tooth for a cupcake and I knew I couldn't eat a whole one to myself right now, I passed.. Big regret! Next trip I will have a red velvet cupcake. I grabbed a popcorn, then a slush and noticed giant pickles.. I just had to have one. We shared our snack and jumped on the bus back to the resort about 4:00.

We had a short relax and we were on our way to the magic kingdom, I was really excited for tonight, I was able to score seats for he fireworks dessert party! We stopped for a picture with the "let the memories begin" sign and began down main st. Shake it, move it, celebrate it was taking place. Honestly it seemed like this was always taking place when we were in front of the castle/main st area. It became a joke, because when Marc tried to propose, every time he would try there was a show taking place! Any who, we continued on our way, I can't remember exactly what we rode, maybe Winnie the Pooh? Then I realized I needed some food! But didn't want to fill up, we went to cosmic rays, and shared a bacon cheeseburger and fries(didn't eat the dessert, actually forgot about it in the hotel fridge!). We checked in shortly after for the dessert party, we had a table in the front. We pigged out, oh my there was so many options. We had chocolate covered strawberries, mango shooter, cupcakes, cannolies, teramassu, cream brûlée.they were good, but neither of us raved about the desserts.. The view of the fireworks could not be beat, and if we did return it would be for the view, think flies right over your head. But beware people cram around to see, you most likely will not be able to see from your table and will have to get up. I mentioned this for our next trip and Marc didn't really seem like he wants to do it again ( and he is a huge sweets person!). Wen it was done I was so full I could barley move! We shopped around in the emporium, rode the tea cups and the carousel, and went to wait for the bus. We were able to get on the first one that came, it was crowded but we got on! I felt horrible for the parents in front of us, mom had two sleeping kids (a infant and a toddler) and dad was fighting to get the double stroller down, clearly panicking because the bus was crowded and ready to leave, Marc stepped in and helped him get it down and we were on our way. Marc also made the comment that we would never be going to disney with a stroller, our kids must be old enough to walk...I'm sure I will change his mind.. Lol. There was still a ton of people in the pool when we got back to the resort, so we had a late night swim before bed.

 

[kasey1988]

 

[kasey1988]

Day 5-September 23
Today was a bit of non-disney. We had arrangements to pick up a rental car, the shuttle picked us up at 9:00am and took us to the car care Center to get our rental. We programmed the GPS and we were off to the outlet mall! I had a strict plan, we only had so long, I didn't want to take up to much disney time! We arrived at opening, first stop..the disney store! Picked up a tumbler ($7.00, was double that in the parks) and two iPhone cases! I have the 3G and I could not find any 3G cases in the parks, picked up 2 for $15! Great prices in here. Did a bit of shopping, I bought a coach bag, Marc got SPY sunglasses and Nike shox. We didn't buy much, but we were able to get some deals that we can't get up here in canada. We stopped at sonic on the way back to the resort, their food is just okay, but I love cherry limeades! We grabbed some burgers and limeades . When we arrived back, we knew we wanted to catch EMH at the magic kingdom tonight, and we had ADR's at the Wave, but we didn't want to goto MK, then to the Contemporary then back to MK, so I hopped online and seen that Liberty Tree had an opening..but not until 9:00 pm, we decided the book it! I had been wanting to try here since it was a character meal so I was pumped! We cancelled the wave and went to sit by the pool and have a swim.
Around 5:00 we grabbed the bus to MK, we had lots of time, we grabbed fastpasses for space mountain, rode stitches great escape (I like this ride, I don't get all the complaints about it....Marc enjoyed it to!), rode buzz lightyear and then we got in the short line for the people over...well then the rode broke down..we waited and waited, about 20 minutes and got on, I love being able to see space mountain! We then went for some shopping in the emporium and to check out the confectionary, we grabbed a S'more Square, oh my, that was good! Marc still talks about this square! The electrical parade was about to start and main st was PACKED! We went towards frontier land, got a slushie and sat and watched, as it wrapped up we dove over to LTT, there was a ton of people attempting to get a table after the parade, but they were turning people away. Our table was called shortly after checking in. The salad was great, the dressing was delicious, rolls were soft and warm (so hard not to fill up on them), then we were served mashed potatoes, green &yellow beans, Mac and cheese, turkey, pork, beef and stuffing. It was all tastes but so much food for 2 people, and with Marc still having a minimal appetite due to his illness it looked like I had barley made a dent in the food. As we were eating we began to hear POP POP, Marc's comment "disney does such a great job and making things realistic". Me "what do you mean?", he said "can't you hear the cannons going off, just like we are back in time". Me"um babe, that's the fireworks outside, they just started.."... A total DUH moment lol! Dessert was a cake with dried cranberries in it and ice cream on top, I was hoping for sticky toffee pudding I had read about, but its only at lunch...guess lunch is on my list for the next visit. I was so full! I would highly suggest everyone try LTT! EMH now in effect, we decided to ride HM, a little spookier at night. Last time I went cast members gave out brackets for EMH, I wish they still did this..i could see it being a pain to keep digging out your room key at each ride. We snapped some photos of the castle lit up, and the second round of the electrical parade was starting as we decided to leave. I had to make a pit-stop at the main st bakery tho! A cinnamon bun was on my list of things I must try, clearly I was to full now, but I grabbed a take out container and took it back to the resort for breakfast the next morning.

 

[Zman-ks]

Wonderful pics!

 

[farrellbarrel]

Congrats on your engagement!! He did a good job in surprising you!! I love your trip looked like a great first for him!

 

[kasey1988]

Day 6-September 24
Our last full day we still had our rental car and had Gator Land on the agenda for this morning. First we grabbed a breakfast Sandwich and heated up our cinnamon bun. The cinnamon bun was amazing, I hope this returns after the bakery refurb! Then off to gator land, this place was quite busy! We purchased our ticket and explored the park. So many gators, I wasn't really sure what to expect, it was just okay. I don't feel the need to ever visit again, but would suggest it to someone with kids who is interested in reptiles. We watched a cheesy show, fed some gators hotdogs and I sat on a gator and touched a snake ( I am terrified of snakes). We were done around 1:00pm, we were intending to stop at sonic for a limeade, but couldn't find it oh well. We still had a QS credit left to use, we had a quesadilla, homemade chips, Rice Krispie mickey (saved for the trip home!).. The real dessert that day was a cookie ice cream Sandwich. I raved about these for months leading up to the trip. Our cookies were hard, will have to try a different spot for one next time! It also wasn't considered a snack credit, so we paid oop. We went for our last swim in the pool. The pool at French quarter is great, only complaint was the lack of chairs..
We showered and changed, we had to return the rental car prior to our ADR's at whispering canyon cafe. We dropped it off, and used their shuttle to the Wilderness Lodge. We were a bit early so we walked around, I was hoping to see the geyser go off, no luck! We had ADR's as soon as it opened for dinner. We were among the first seated. We were seated by a fireplace, which was nice and our server turned it on for us...but it was away from the main dining room and right by the door to the kitchen. We didn't see any of the fun experiences that take place or experience any either... Our server was very friendly and attentive tho. The chef came out and addressed my allergy( I forgot to mention, the chefs at each restaurant were AWSOME, they came out at each restaurant and noted items that contained coconut)!. The meal is served family style, for meats we tried ribs, chicken, fish and strip loin ( only served 3 at a time, but you can get refills and try something new! ), we also had vegetables, potatoes, beans and corn on the cob. Dessert was a cake with dried cranberries and ice cream (similar to LTT), a Neapolitan cake with pomegranate and a jalapeño cheesecake; which was surprisingly very good, not spicy but very refreshing. The meal was good, service was good, but I think we would try it for breakfast if we were to go again. We looked around in the gift shop and took the bus to Hollywood studios, which was having EMH. Straight to the times board.. Well TSM had no fastpasses left and the wait time was 75 minutes.. I must of looked very disappointed because a cast member over heard us talking about probably not riding it this time, because she came to us and said "congrats in the engagement" and handed us 2 fastpasses for any ride today, and said she knew where we would go with a wink! I thanked her so much, definitely a magical moment! TSM it was! There was still about a 10-15 minute but the ride was great! While waiting for our car the cast member was talking to us about fantasmic, he said we should head there as soon as we get off to get seats. We rode..I beat Marc lol.. And then we went over to Fantasmic is. I had never seen this show before and had no idea what to expect. When we walked into the theatre I was shocked! It was packed! We were able to get two seats together to the far left, not the best seats but we could still see, I guess we know for next time we need to be much earlier! I had some glow sticks in my bag that I shared with the kids around me I loved this show! I will not miss it on my next trip! We then rode star tours twice ( no wait), and I was the spy on board. It was late, there isn't much to do during EMH at Hollywood studios, and Rockin roller coaster had a 70 minute wait.. So we said our final goodbye to the disney parks and went back for our last sleep I was so sad to be leaving.

 

[kasey1988]

 

[tiaragirl]

Really cute pics and a great TR!

CONGRATS on the engagement!

Are you from Halifax? Or NS? I'm a Cape Bretoner, but I'm living in Moncton right now!

 

[kasey1988]

Really cute pics and a great TR!

CONGRATS on the engagement!

Are you from Halifax? Or NS? I'm a Cape Bretoner, but I'm living in Moncton right now!

We are from halifax! (Well actually living in lake echo, which is just outside dartmouth!)

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Congrats on the engagement!! It got me all teary eyed over here!!

Fantasmic is my sisters favorite nighttime show. I love it too, but Wishes is my favorite. How awesome that CM gave you FPs for TSM?! Total Disney magic!!!

POFQ is on our list of resorts to try, hopefully soon. We're staying at All Star Sports next month and Bay Lake Tower in September but we still have to pick our hotel for our November trip. I'm thinking it will most likely be Art of Animation but that could change. POFQ is first on the list if it does. We consider Wilderness Lodge "home" for us though.