Very First Trip Report

Hello all! I recently attended WDW a few weeks ago. I am new to the boards, so I thought it would be fun to share my trip with you all. This was also my very first time staying on Disney property, so it was a totally different perspective for me this time. I went with my wife (kind of a 5 year anniversary present for the two of us), and my mother-in-law was to join us for the first few days (mainly to see the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, which I will also be reviewing). A couple of notes before I get started: First, although we took a ton of pictures, in compiling this report I've realized we didn't take enough, so I may gloss over some things briefly; Second, although I was intent on taking pictures of everywhere we dined on this trip, I did not take pictures of any of the food we ate (sorry, but this was a vacation afterall, even with all of the planning I had done leading up to it). On with the report....We were staying at the Port Orleans Riverside, and had done online check-in prior to our arrival. I was not impressed with the process of checking in. In fact, it seemed that the regular check-in line was moving faster than our own. I did appreciate the numerous CM's that came and addressed us while we were in line to answer any questions we had, and to tell us more about the resort. Once we got to the counter, it was actually very easy, and I was pleased to discover that my DW's and my room was all ready. My Mother-in-Law, not so much. In fact, we had requested adjoining rooms only to find out that she was in a completely different building. After quite some time and mauevering, the CM was finally able to get her in the same building (Alligator Bayou Building 18). Of course, her room was not ready. We didn't have any immediate plans, so we decided to head to our room while we waited for her room to be ready.

Our building was very convenient to the entrance, and the parking was not a far walk. Our room was located directly in front of one of the quiet pools:

 

[rjhall2]

We stayed at the Port Orleans Riverside, and we had done online check-in prior to arriving. I have to say I was not impressed with the online check-in process, and it seemed that our line was actually moving slower than the regular check-in line. Once we got to the counter, our check in was a breeze, and I was thrilled to find out that our room was ready (roughly 11:30AM). My mother-in-law was not so fortunate. You see, we had requested adjoining rooms, and found out she was in a completely different building. After quite some time and manuvering, the CM was finally able to accomodate, but because of this change, her room was not yet ready. It was fine with us, since we had no plans for early that afternoon, so we decided to head to our room. We stayed in the Alligator Bayou section, building 18:

Our room was located directly in front of one of the quiet pools:

 

[rjhall2]

My mother-in-law wanted to nap, and my wife wanted to veg out on her laptop for a bit, so I decided to explore:

 

[rjhall2]

And a little more...

Needless to say, I loved the look and feel of this resort. It really is stunning, and I could not get over how quiet it was, and how it seemed like I was the only one there at points. I headed back to my room, only to find out that my mother-in-law's (referring to her as MIL from now on) room was still not yet ready. In fact, it wasn't until roughly 4PM that her room was finally ready, leaving us very little time to get ready for our 6PM ADR...

 

[domimickey]

Hey thanks for the report!
I'd love to see the pictures in a bigger size, since now they're so small I can't really make them out properly

Hope to see more!

Dominique

 

[rjhall2]

I know, I've had nothing but issues with these pictures since returning home. I thought my wife was going to stroke out the other night trying to transfer them from Flickr to Snapfish to order prints. I think I have them all squared away now though, so hopefully we're good to go.

 

[PolynesianPrincess]

Check in can sometimes be the biggest pain in the butt! lol We got lucky a few weeks ago when we checked in around 2pm at the Wilderness Lodge and out room was ready. I know check in isn't usually until 3-4pm so we were fortunate!

POR looks like a beautiful resort. I love old plantation houses, big trees and spanish moss so it looks right up my alley!! lol

 

[rjhall2]

After we got my MIL situated in her room, we got changed and grabbed a cab to the Grand Floridian for our ADR. Since we were going to the MK after, we didn't want to deal with the car. We arrived fairly early, so we had some time to poke around the lobby (which was awesome for me as this has always been at the top of my list of resorts I want to stay at:

We absolutely loved the gingerbread house, and the smell was making us really hungry, so we made our way over to Narcoossee's. I took some pics along the way:

We were still early for our ADR, so we waited outside since it was so nice out, and it was crowded inside. My wife grabbed a picture of me waiting, and trying to look unaware...

I was clearly getting really excited since we were so close to the MK. Dinner was awesome. I don't remember what the other two had, but I started with the crab cakes (awesome!), then the ahi-tuna, followed by the creme brulee. I really loved it, and we're from New England, where we get some of the best sea food. Our server was really good, and since it was our first dinner with the dining plan, he made sure to explain the process in detail. I know it's two credits, but well worth it in my opinion! Finally it was time to head to my favorite place on earth, the Magic Kingdom!

 

[rjhall2]

Since the boat launch is right behind the restaurant, we decided to wait for the next boat, which I had never done, and was really excited for the alternate perspective. We also had plenty of company while we waited:

We had to wait about 10-15 minutes for the boat to show up, but it was definitely worth it. We made a stop at the Poly where a few more people got on, then it was on to the Magic Kingdom. It was too dark to get any pics, but I did enjoy this little detail :

Finally we arrived at the Magic Kingdom. It was a saturday night with 2 MSEPs, and Wishes, and was forecasted to be a 10. Needless to say, it was clearly packed. I didn't care, I was home:

As we entered the park and made our way up main street, it was great to see all of the decorations:

The castle lights were just out of this world, we couldn't stop taking pictures. Out of the thousand we took, here are a few:

Unfortunately, my MIL was clearly spent, and decided she didn't want to be there with such a huge crowd, so we walked her back to the entrance so she could hop a bus back to the resort. This was fine for me, as it allowed quality time for me and my wife, and we could jump on a bunch of rides without feeling guilty.