Trip Report The Real Housewives of Disney-A Sept 2013 Cruise/WDW Trip Report

I guess I'll join the Girl's cruise crowd and start my trip report!

“Howdy Folks!” Welcome to another PartOfYourWorld trip report! This is my second attempt at writing a trip report, because I was about 4 days in when my Mac decided to not download something and my hard drive had to get wiped..well at least this was the only thing I lost really! I just had to start over again! Here is a little bit of info before we begin….

The When: Saturday September 7th-Sunday September 15th

The Where:7: POR Royal Room; 8-12: Disney Dream; 12-15: Wilderness Lodge

The characters: Mom and I along with 20+ of our WDWMagic friends! (Thanks to someone for the instagram pic!)

I had the most amazing time with the ladies on this cruise, and highly suggest it if you can go since it is now an annual thing! We made some lifelong friends here, and I can’t wait to get this trip report started! “Now then, hang on to them hats and glasses, cause this here’s the wildest ride in the wilderness!”


Saturday September 7th-Arrival Day

We arrived at the airport for our flight, before anything though, some Dunkin was a must!

Before we knew it, it was time to board and we were ready to head to Orlando!

We had some nice seats right over the wing!

Another thing that was pretty cool was that it was a wi-fi enabled flight, and I was pretty excited to use flight tracker! Here we are flying over North Carolina.

Finally, after what seemed like forever we were in the sunshine state!

Our flight landing was pretty rough; it felt like the left side tires in the back had hit the ground first along with the front, then the right followed after. We definitely landed at an angle and it was a little scary! But we made it safe and sound after that and soon we found ourselves on the lovely monorail wannabe!

We had to wait a good 30 minutes for our luggage, it took awhile for the bags to come off our flight. I know we should make use of the luggage service for DME, but I would rather take my own bags and have them right away then wait for possibly 3 hours until you get your bags in your room.

Once we got our luggage we headed straight to DME where we were able to use our magicbands that we got for this stay! It was super easy and great because you didn’t have to fumble with the paperwork!

We didn’t have to wait long at all for a bus, there was one already outside waiting! And look at this sign…we’ll be headed that way tomorrow!

We didn’t end up with the regular DME bus, but rather a Water Parks one!

Showing off our magicband bling.

Finally, the heaven’s gates opened and…oh wait it’s just the gates to Walt Disney World no big deal or anything

We were the last drop-off on DME (figures usually we’re always one of the first) but we were finally here at Port Orleans Riverside (my favorite moderate resort!-next to POFQ)

Check-in was a breeze and we were soon on our way to our Royal Room!

We were in the beautiful Oak Manor section.

Letter from Tiana welcoming us into her room

This will be the first of many light fixture pictures this trip…

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

Looks like we all took our turn on the throne for pictures!
Awesome report!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Loving the report, Jess. Can't wait for more!

Thanks! And now I went back and fixed your WDWMagic name..I was looking for Mrs.JSkellington for some reason LOL.

Woohoo! Another report!

Great Riverside pictures...so glad we met up with you ladies at the Earl. Great start to the trip!!

Thank you!!! And yes it definitely was!!! Hopefully we're down at the same time again!!!

Looks like we all took our turn on the throne for pictures!
Awesome report!

hahaha definitely! Thanks Sherry!

 

[Tiggerish]

Just finished conducting our open enrollment meeting, so I needed to hit your trip report and re-live our wonderful cruise.

I have a feeling that we are going to have "near-misses" in May for eternity, as our anniversary is May 3, and we like to spend it at WDW. You never know, one year we might overlap! I should have been delighted that Bob was romantic enough to choose the Valentines cruise, but was a bit disappointed that he didn't pick the later one, because I knew that would have meant we could meet up again.

Anyway, I'm all caught up on your report, and I made notes!!

POR looks gorgeous, I always wanted to stay there from back when it was Dixie Landings. In fact, I had a reservation there (for the first week of May!) the year we bought in to DVC, and they switched it to OKW and used our points. So I missed my chance. The face on the tree was cute. And that Royal Room is outstanding!!! Almost makes me sorry to have DVC Wouldn't it have been cool if that bench had a wagging tail and barked? LOL And the genie lamp faucet, wow!

Could tell by the appearance of the rainstorm that as you were headed for DtD, I had just checked in at the Contemporary!!

That's my suitcase on top of the pile in your picture of the luggage trailer! I got a kick out of that. (yeah, it doesn't take much...)

I don't have any pictures from boarding the ship either, like you, I was just too excited and trying to take it all in and keep up with the rest of the group so I didn't get lost. I'll have to make sure to do that better in February (90 days tomorrow until my next Dream cruise!!)

I loved that shot of you, Jess, and Steph in the round cubbies--too cute!!

Ewww on the open snack container...

Even though I am completely spoiled by the aft verandah, after seeing your inside stateroom in person I would definitely consider staying in one--the virtual porthole is really cool.

Incredibly, I did not set foot in single shop while on board. My husband would have died from shock if he saw that.

I loved Enchanted Garden, the restaurant was so pretty and the dinner was soo good. I didn't pick up on the chair backs being hot air balloons until I saw your photo. Every time I see pictures from there, I notice more details.

Great report, as usual!!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

LOVE the title of this!! We defiitely were the Real Housewives of Disney!!! Only, I'm not married. And neither is Ashley. haha. The little details..... Oh well!

Love the looks of POR! We originally scheduled to stay at POR the night before the cruise that we booked with a bounceback in May but then we changed it to the Poly when discounts came out. Loved the Poly but it's just way too expensive to justify. Hope you have an awesome stay there during the Princess Half!! We were booked at AKL for the first week of Feb, but just changed it to POFQ. I know that one is your favorite! We are hoping AP rates come out and we can change to WL (lots of changing over here!!! lol)

Your pics of POR at night are gorgeous!!! Can't wait to read more!!!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Just finished conducting our open enrollment meeting, so I needed to hit your trip report and re-live our wonderful cruise.

I have a feeling that we are going to have "near-misses" in May for eternity, as our anniversary is May 3, and we like to spend it at WDW. You never know, one year we might overlap! I should have been delighted that Bob was romantic enough to choose the Valentines cruise, but was a bit disappointed that he didn't pick the later one, because I knew that would have meant we could meet up again.

Anyway, I'm all caught up on your report, and I made notes!!

POR looks gorgeous, I always wanted to stay there from back when it was Dixie Landings. In fact, I had a reservation there (for the first week of May!) the year we bought in to DVC, and they switched it to OKW and used our points. So I missed my chance. The face on the tree was cute. And that Royal Room is outstanding!!! Almost makes me sorry to have DVC Wouldn't it have been cool if that bench had a wagging tail and barked? LOL And the genie lamp faucet, wow!

Could tell by the appearance of the rainstorm that as you were headed for DtD, I had just checked in at the Contemporary!!

That's my suitcase on top of the pile in your picture of the luggage trailer! I got a kick out of that. (yeah, it doesn't take much...)

I don't have any pictures from boarding the ship either, like you, I was just too excited and trying to take it all in and keep up with the rest of the group so I didn't get lost. I'll have to make sure to do that better in February (90 days tomorrow until my next Dream cruise!!)

I loved that shot of you, Jess, and Steph in the round cubbies--too cute!!

Ewww on the open snack container...

Even though I am completely spoiled by the aft verandah, after seeing your inside stateroom in person I would definitely consider staying in one--the virtual porthole is really cool.

Incredibly, I did not set foot in single shop while on board. My husband would have died from shock if he saw that.

I loved Enchanted Garden, the restaurant was so pretty and the dinner was soo good. I didn't pick up on the chair backs being hot air balloons until I saw your photo. Every time I see pictures from there, I notice more details.

Great report, as usual!!

Oh man really?! And we're going a week before our anniversary because a friend of ours is getting married Memorial Day weekend or else we would have gone the week of our actual anniversary on the 21st. That's funny. Maybe they'll overlap one day! In 2015 I know we're thinking of going to Disneyland instead to experience that!

still cool though that you have DVC because you can stay in all the awesome rooms that they have set aside for DVC members...can you stay in any DVC resort or does it have to be in the one you bought into? That would have been awesome if it had a moving tail and actually barked! Disney why didn't you think of that?!

Wasn't that rain awesome?..NOT

You must be so excited to go back on the Dream! And to take your hubby! The Valentine's crusie will be nice though I am sure soon you'll be able to check in! Or I think it's actually earlier now that you're a Castaway Club member!

The virtual porthole was pretty cool, seeing the different characters come by..you have to be quick with the camera to catch them too! I missed a few!

What! You didn't go into any of the shops!? I think you need to change that in Feb!

You know what's funny about the chairs...I didn't even realize it was a balloon until you said something....... I just thought it was a cool design LOL.

Thanks for reading More coming soon!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

LOVE the title of this!! We defiitely were the Real Housewives of Disney!!! Only, I'm not married. And neither is Ashley. haha. The little details..... Oh well!

Love the looks of POR! We originally scheduled to stay at POR the night before the cruise that we booked with a bounceback in May but then we changed it to the Poly when discounts came out. Loved the Poly but it's just way too expensive to justify. Hope you have an awesome stay there during the Princess Half!! We were booked at AKL for the first week of Feb, but just changed it to POFQ. I know that one is your favorite! We are hoping AP rates come out and we can change to WL (lots of changing over here!!! lol)

Your pics of POR at night are gorgeous!!! Can't wait to read more!!!

hahaha I guess we all looked like we were from one of those Real housewives tv shows then?

Lots of changing over there, but if you change to WL I wouldn't blame you because it is just beautiful over there! And yes POFQ is one of my favorites! Even if you stay there you'll love it tooo! They have discounts out already for Feb don't they? I got a discount for the Poly with my Disney Visa but then the discount came out to the public like 4 days later or something. Can't remember if Wilderness Lodge was in that group though, but I'm sure it was!

Thank you!!!!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Monday September 9th-Nassau

Mom woke up first to go for a walk around Deck 4 as well as hand out her fish extender gifts…me, well I decided to sleep in a little bit.

When I got up Mom was still out, so I decided to watch one of the many free movies Disney Cruise Line has for us to watch! What did I end up picking?

Aladdin! Not sure why, but I was in an Aladdin kind of mood. I have been waiting for it to be released again from the Vault and on blu-ray. But this would be the next best thing! I also love how you can pause these at anytime and just pick up watching it where you left off.

As I watching Aladdin, I was able to get my camera out in time to catch the Chesire Cat come across our window!

I wish I could keep this pillow…or buy it for that matter….but its WAAAY too much money.

Mom came back and we got a call from our friends Jess and Stephanie asking if we wanted to watch the boat dock in Nassau from their balcony. So we went over to watch us dock in Nassau!

We headed down for breakfast since Jess & Stephanie were getting ready for a day on the island. We decided to have some at the Royal Palace!

We sat near some awesome plates on the wall

My new Dooney had to have it’s own seat you know too

First pastries came around; danishes, muffins, and yummy cinnamon buns!

Love the detail on the chairs in here.

Coffee? Well don’t mind if I do!

I had the Disney Cruise Line Breakfast

 

[LuvsTheMouse]

Yeah!!!!! You started your report. Can't wait to read your take on this trip. No need for me to write one since we were roomies . It's like reliving the trip all over again! Love all the pictures and all the little details I missed. Thanks Joanna @joanna71985 for taking the picture of us on the Red Carpet!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Mom had the Eggs Benedict.

After breakfast, we saw Princess Minnie was coming out so we went to wait in here line.

As we were waiting, I looked down and saw a scene that looked like it came out of a Disney commercial or advertisement, something. It was just so cute. I didn’t want to be weird taking a picture of someone else’s kids with a character but seriously, just look at this picture!

Princess Minnie had arrived!

Hey look! I was such in an Aladdin mood today that I wore my Aladdin and Jasmine shirt!

We ended up meeting Siobhan and we decided to go up on deck to hit up Goofy’s minigolf! What a view from up here!

Deck toes!

Had to take a picture of this Math like book, don’t need to see this while I’m on vacation!

Love the view of Nassau from up here.

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Next up we decided to play the MidShip Detective Agency and save some puppies!!!

This quest took us all over the ship! I think in total we went to 8 different paintings on all the different decks. Here’s one of the first! It reminded me exactly of Sorceror’s of the Magic Kingdom, you stand on the mark and point the card at the potrait.

At first I think it took us towards the back of deck 4 where in the District. Here we were in PINK.

This is definitely one of the cutest lounges in the District.

Look at all the bottles!

Mirror shot with the ceiling!

We gotta find those puppies still! Oh wait we found a couple!

We also were taken through the Buena Vista Gallery with the Minnie Lisa!

We took some time to admire the beautiful artwork in there. I love this cruise ship made out of pins.

I love this Tangled painting!

This was also one of my favorite pieces as well depicting Castaway Cay.

Our next puppy had to be found!

Our adventure took us in the back of the Walt Disney Theatre near the balcony with a bunch of awesome pictures of Uncle Walt.

It even took us all the way down to Deck 2 and an empty Enchanted Garden..it was very peaceful.

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

After venturing around the whole ship we finally found the nasty culprit! Anyone take a guess?

That darn Jafar! I should have known the way this Aladdin day was going!

Saving puppies was exhausting and we needed some energy! We headed on up to Cabanas to grab some lunch!

Here was my lunch plate, I think I forgot to take a picture of Mom’s…oops!

Our gorgeous view at lunch time!

We enjoyed lunch with Siobhan (and her lovely French family! ), but parted separate ways because she was heading to a DVC member gathering on the ship and we were heading to draw a character over in the DLounge!

It was a lot of fun and we ended up drawing Goofy for our session!

It was already afternoon time and we couldn’t believe it! We had a BINGO date at 4ish so we headed up to the room for a bit before heading down to BINGO. This time I was able to catch Russel from Up!

We headed down and we spotted some characters out in their Nassau outfits! We hopped in Mickey’s line.

It’s so cute sometimes just watching other characters.

As we were heading up to the D-Lounge we ran into a few characters in the Wild! Belle and Tiana!

One of my favorite pictures

It was finally time for some…BINGO!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Unfortunately, we didn’t win anything at BINGO and to went to go visit Donald so he could cheer us up!

Since it was almost show time we headed upstairs to get changed for dinner. Nothing came across our window this time

On our way down we saw that Captain Mickey was out so we hopped in line to meet him!

Captain Guus was also out with no one in line to take a picture with him so we did!

It was time for Villain’s Tonight! I was so excited for this show because if you don’t know some of my new favorites are Hades, Pain and Panic! It was a pretty awesome show!

After the show we stopped out on deck because there was a beautiful sunset

Dinner tonight was in Royal Palace where we had breakfast this morning.

Vanna Whiting the menu

Bread in such a regal basket

Love the detail on the wall of the princesses

Wish I could sit under this big light fixture so I could feel special!

Mom asked for a kids menu so I could color because I made a mention the night before that I wanted to so here it was for me to color!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

For an appetizer I decided to try the duck…but unfortunately it was pretty disgusting.

Mom and I both had the French Onion Soup..it was just okay nothing to write home about.

I had salmon again for dinner, it was better than the previous night, but it was just okay too. I forgot what Mom had, I forgot to take a picture!

Dessert Time!

I had the strawberry shortcake while Mom had the dessert trio.

The whole group of us headed over into Evolution after dinner to watch the Newlywed Game! But first Jess and I wanted to check out what was going on in the D-Lounge.

Deck toes!

Jess went into the smoking section for a bit, and I couldn’t resist taking a picture because it was a pretty cool area.

Some Mirror, Mirror quiz show was going on…more for families rather than adults

We headed back into Evolution to wait for the Newlywed game to start…looks like this guy was pretty excited for it too dressed up with some fairy wings! @blackthidot thought of you when I took this picture LOL only because you take many a pictures of people wearing....strange things.

The Newlywed game wasn’t all that exciting. The couples that were chosen didn’t answer the questions very good in my opinion. I mean ya it was truthful I guess, but really not too funny. Except for the end when one couple admitted to having a little bit too much fun on their verandah the previous night…..(which Jess actually mentioned before the game started to me that if someone had said that it would be pretty funny) And it happened.

After the game, Mom headed back up to the room where she made a pit stop to take a mirror shot!

We had this lovely seal waiting for us!

Meanwhile a group of us headed into PINK. We picked up a few other ladies that were from the boards and here with their families…shoutout to you guys! @rani8600 (I think?)

We all ordered drinks and were having a great time. We didn’t realize that PINK closed at midnight. But we couldn’t leave because we didn’t have our checks. None of the bar tenders told us to get out so we just stayed. Well it was around 12:30 and still nothing. So we decided to just get up and leave and unfortunately, Siobhan was the last one to walk out and the bartender stopped her and asked if she was paying for everyone…obviously she wasn’t so we all went back in and up to the bar to pay. Well at that time their computer happened to break down and he had to hand write some of our checks. It eventually started working again, but it was a long and painful process by the time we got out of there it was almost 1 am. It was pretty annoying.

I headed back up to the room and went to sleep…we had a busy day tomorrow because we were going to Castaway Cay!

Stay tuned!

 

[PartOfYourWorld]

Yeah!!!!! You started your report. Can't wait to read your take on this trip. No need for me to write one since we were roomies . It's like reliving the trip all over again! Love all the pictures and all the little details I missed. Thanks Joanna @joanna71985 for taking the picture of us on the Red Carpet!

Finally right? Thanks Mom!

 

[diddy_mouse]

I don't think I'll ever get tired of reading these cruise reports.

 

[fractal]

Great start Jess! Love the title -

I know I would get a kick out of Yee-haw Bob.
Those new rooms at PORS - very cool and yes, Tonga Toast is worth every calorie. I hope you enjoy your stay at the Poly (and BC)!

I was cracking up at the pictures of all the ladies in the limo on their smart phones - just like my teenagers.

The ship is amazing - the different clubs and bars and fixtures and chairs...that luggage seat is so clever! Looking forward to more good stuff!

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

hahaha I guess we all looked like we were from one of those Real housewives tv shows then?

Lots of changing over there, but if you change to WL I wouldn't blame you because it is just beautiful over there! And yes POFQ is one of my favorites! Even if you stay there you'll love it tooo! They have discounts out already for Feb don't they? I got a discount for the Poly with my Disney Visa but then the discount came out to the public like 4 days later or something. Can't remember if Wilderness Lodge was in that group though, but I'm sure it was!

Thank you!!!!

Yeah, WL was in that group but we booked AKL because it was a bit cheaper (only like $100 or so) and we wanted to try something new. But now we want to stay at WL and the discount rate is gone. We're kicking ourselves for not booking it back then! Crossing our fingers that an AP rate comes out soon!!!!!

And we definitely have to do what @Disney_Belle suggested on FB and have a Rainforest Cafe meet up!!

 

[Tiggerfanatic]

I am loving this! It's great to see all the stuff I missed, and I am definitely taking notes for next time. Mini-golf and playing detective for sure. And I am going to spend more time just exploring the ship.

Keep it coming - can't wait for more.

 

[myhappyplace]

Loving it so far!! Where did you get the shirt you wore on your first day (the day you arrived)? I love it!

 

[Disney_Belle]

Finally getting caught up on your report I wish I was on the cruise with you girls, looks like you all had so much fun!

I did the animation class, too. I loved it. But unfortunately our instructor couldn't draw very well haha.