Hello all;
We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside last Monday through Friday and am still on vacation over in Clearwater so I can only give a short version of the trip report.
We had the best time. My wife and I, and our two kids, ages 7 and 2 stayed in Oak Manor 9037. Hardly any rain all week, though hot and humid like a rain forest. We pulled into the property around 11:am on Monday and the first thing I noticed was that the parking lots were only half full. I remembered from our October 1999 trip there that the lots were pretty full. Were told at check in that the room was ready so we unpacked, had lunch at the food court (also very empty) and hopped to bus to Epcot, arriving there around 1:00.
At Epcot, we walked on SE, no line at all, saw that Test Track FP were gone for the day and the line there was huge. Did the Mexico ride, the Imagination ride (nice to see Figment back), the Land boat ride and Living Seas. Only the Land ride had any type of line. Got back to the hotel about 5:00 and spent the evening there.
Tuesday went to MGM. Fast passed both RNR and ToT. Those are great rides. Did the Playhouse Disney show which the kids loved, Muppets, and the Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid was the only major attraction that we did not FP, and we really regretted that as it was a hot wait. We had lunch at SciFi and dinner at the 50s Prime time Cafe. Both were disappointing. They were so much better last time we were there.
Wednesday went to Animal Kingdom. Easily the hottest day of the week. Other than the safari ride and Dinosaur, not much here. We FP both of those and got away from the crowds back to the hotel by 2:00. We then went to FQ to swim at that pool. My 7 year old just loved the sea monster slide. Went to dinner that night at Wispering Canyons and WL. That was fantastic. My daughter loved the stick pony race and we made the mistake of asking for ketchup. Went to DD for some shopping afterwards.
Thursday went to MK. Had a character breakfast at Tony's. Was excellent. Went to Tomorrowland first to FP SM. Then walked on the speedway, TTA before riding SM. Went to Fantasyland and walked on Pooh (that's right, we walked on), walked on SW, waited 5 minutes for PP, then did small world. Went back to Toon Land and saw some characters, went back to Haunted Mansion, county bears, and Jungle cruise before going back to the hotel to swim around 1:30. Had character dinner at Chef Mickey, also excellent and returned to park for spectro magic and fireworks.
Friday, went back to MK to finish up. Busier than Thursday but still did everything else. Left the complex for the beach around 4:00.
Overall a very nice trip. The only negatives were waiting over a half hour for a bus at MGM for the hotel once. A bus marked special finally showed up. The other thing was dropping 4 bucks in a dryer late Wednesday night before I realized it did not work. Avoid the bottom left hand dryer at Oak Manor. I looked closely at the parking lots of the resorts. Attendance was way down at the hotels. I think POR was at 50% capacity and FQ was even lower. The parks were not crowded at all. COP was open on Friday but not Thursday. Everything else was operating. Let me know if anyone has any questions. I am just glad I have a few more days off to recover from the vacation.
Kevin
We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside last Monday through Friday and am still on vacation over in Clearwater so I can only give a short version of the trip report.
We had the best time. My wife and I, and our two kids, ages 7 and 2 stayed in Oak Manor 9037. Hardly any rain all week, though hot and humid like a rain forest. We pulled into the property around 11:am on Monday and the first thing I noticed was that the parking lots were only half full. I remembered from our October 1999 trip there that the lots were pretty full. Were told at check in that the room was ready so we unpacked, had lunch at the food court (also very empty) and hopped to bus to Epcot, arriving there around 1:00.
At Epcot, we walked on SE, no line at all, saw that Test Track FP were gone for the day and the line there was huge. Did the Mexico ride, the Imagination ride (nice to see Figment back), the Land boat ride and Living Seas. Only the Land ride had any type of line. Got back to the hotel about 5:00 and spent the evening there.
Tuesday went to MGM. Fast passed both RNR and ToT. Those are great rides. Did the Playhouse Disney show which the kids loved, Muppets, and the Little Mermaid. The Little Mermaid was the only major attraction that we did not FP, and we really regretted that as it was a hot wait. We had lunch at SciFi and dinner at the 50s Prime time Cafe. Both were disappointing. They were so much better last time we were there.
Wednesday went to Animal Kingdom. Easily the hottest day of the week. Other than the safari ride and Dinosaur, not much here. We FP both of those and got away from the crowds back to the hotel by 2:00. We then went to FQ to swim at that pool. My 7 year old just loved the sea monster slide. Went to dinner that night at Wispering Canyons and WL. That was fantastic. My daughter loved the stick pony race and we made the mistake of asking for ketchup. Went to DD for some shopping afterwards.
Thursday went to MK. Had a character breakfast at Tony's. Was excellent. Went to Tomorrowland first to FP SM. Then walked on the speedway, TTA before riding SM. Went to Fantasyland and walked on Pooh (that's right, we walked on), walked on SW, waited 5 minutes for PP, then did small world. Went back to Toon Land and saw some characters, went back to Haunted Mansion, county bears, and Jungle cruise before going back to the hotel to swim around 1:30. Had character dinner at Chef Mickey, also excellent and returned to park for spectro magic and fireworks.
Friday, went back to MK to finish up. Busier than Thursday but still did everything else. Left the complex for the beach around 4:00.
Overall a very nice trip. The only negatives were waiting over a half hour for a bus at MGM for the hotel once. A bus marked special finally showed up. The other thing was dropping 4 bucks in a dryer late Wednesday night before I realized it did not work. Avoid the bottom left hand dryer at Oak Manor. I looked closely at the parking lots of the resorts. Attendance was way down at the hotels. I think POR was at 50% capacity and FQ was even lower. The parks were not crowded at all. COP was open on Friday but not Thursday. Everything else was operating. Let me know if anyone has any questions. I am just glad I have a few more days off to recover from the vacation.
Kevin
