An Aussie's Journey. Our final meal before coming home (food porn)....the last post!

[PrincessInOz]

POR - Are we staying in New Orleans or Florida?

At around 6 pm on the 4th May, we finally arrived at the World. It has been a 5 year absence from the last time that we were there and I was determined that the next time we came, we were staying on-site.

Our home for the first 5 nights of this trip was Port Orleans Riverside. For someone that has to travel over 20 hours (and that's just flying time; not including any transit time) just to get to Florida, you would want to maximise the experience. I wanted to test out a moderate and a deluxe resort....

We walked into the foyer of POR and immediately knew that we were in the land on hidden mickeys.

I didn't do on-line check in and given the queues, it didn't make a difference which line I was in.

I had a slight moment of misgiving when I found out that we were allocated a room in Oak Manor. I had requested Alligator Bayou buildings 14, 15 or 18. But the CM that checked me in was "earning his ears". He was obviously new and very nervous (perhaps the supervisor needed to step a little bit back). I didn't have the heart to make a fuss.
Turning around and looking out the window helped settle me.

We got room 9012 in Oak Manor. Our room was on the other side of the building, close to the car park.

It was about 5 - 7 minutes to walk to the main pool, the food court, Fulton's and the main bus stop.

It was about 2 minutes away from one of the quiet pools and the laundry.

We opened our room and were greeted by this. Mousekeeping kept this up every day.

There had been some chat on the DisBoard that POR was in need of a refurb and that the rooms were not up to scratch.
IMO, the rooms were a little well loved but I didn't see anything wrong with the room we had been allocated. It was clean and comfortable. TV worked fine...despite being an older CRT type and not a new flat screen.

And it had airconditioning....thermostatically controlled. Either completely icy cold or warm...till I found out that DH turned the A/C to fan mode.

I had no complaints about our room location. It would take a bigger cynic than me to not appreciate views like this when walking about.

And this...

The food court is found in the blue building at the water's edge.

This was one of my favourite tables to sit at.

Because I could look out and see this and pretend that I am on a paddleboat going down the Mississippi.

One of the attractions for picking this moderate is that it has boat transport to Downtown Disney.

We did get to use this one of the nights...but more about this later.

Yup. There is no doubt about it. POR is a pretty resort and I'm glad I picked it as the moderate to try out.

For the animal lovers, I personally saw heaps of squirrels, rabbits and ducks. And on one of the mornings, DH also saw a black snake (no further description forthcoming because that's all I got out of him).

[Up next - Day 1 at MK and TGM is wrong!]

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Oh god, I cannot wait to go. We're planning on staying at POR and your pics made me completely certain that we chose the right resort

 

[cmp1111]

It's a lovely setting - I've never seen it in person.

 

[manntra]

Hi there!!! Going to mark ny spot here and go back and read! We met at the Ditch on the 5th over far too many margaritas!!! Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!!

Tracy

 

[kcandbella]

I'm here! Your report is great so far! It was nice to meet you at the meet. Your pics of POR turned out great. Can't wait to read more!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Oh god, I cannot wait to go. We're planning on staying at POR and your pics made me completely certain that we chose the right resort

Firefly - we enjoyed our stay at POR. The beds were full sized, the bath was clean and the food court was pretty good. You won't be sorry.

It's a lovely setting - I've never seen it in person.

Welcome back! It's worth a personal visit....are you planning anything soon?

Hi there!!! Going to mark ny spot here and go back and read! We met at the Ditch on the 5th over far too many margaritas!!! Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!!

Tracy

Hi Tracy! Glad you could make it here. Hope you stop by again.

I'm here! Your report is great so far! It was nice to meet you at the meet. Your pics of POR turned out great. Can't wait to read more!

Hello Kayce. Feeling is mutual. I've been enjoying your TR as well.

 

[Ms. Shuttergirl]

Ooooh the resort looks lovely. I love the scenery around the water, so nice.

 

[PrincessInOz]

I have a bad feeling that tourguide Mike's ratings for this week are horribly understated....

We are blessed with a DS that seems to run on a neverending battery. After check-in and unpacking and with this in mind, we began to plan our assault for the night...
MK was opened till 9 pm and that left us with a good 2 hours to hit that park.

I'd forgotten that you can't just park right near the MK gate. You park at the TTC and take one of these to the park.

And when we got through the gate, we met an old friend.

And took a photo of ourselves in front of our dream home.

Oh, oh! This was when I realised that there were a LOT more people at the park than a TGM rating of 4. What's going on?? Don't tell me he was wrong! I developed a very bad feeling about this week...

Undaunted we moved on to face our future.

Where we queued....

To get on this.

Don't get too used to seeing shots like these. I've realised that we seriously underdid photos at the parks!

Then we moved on to another old friend. Where we did more queueing...at 8 pm??? Really people...you should be out there watching Spectro and waiting for Wishes. If I ever meet TGM, I'm going to have words with him.

The boys did their best to save the universe...but I whooped their you know what with my score.

We then made a quick run for the speedway. DS is finally tall enough to drive himself....something that I won't need to really worry about for a few more years.

When we finished, we saw some fancy lights in the sky.

Given that no one seems to report UFOs in Florida, I figured we were safe in Tomorrowland.

Doesn't our house look pretty at night?

To finish the day, we needed some food....specifically DINNER. With nothing opened after 9 pm at MK, we jumped in the car and headed over the DTD.
We ended up at WPE.

Where we cashed in one CS credit for a pizza, huge brownie and drink.

And paid OOP for the soup...it was about $5 and wasn't worth using a CS meal for. Given that it was past 10.30 pm, WPE threw us some bread for free.

We probably hit home at around 11.30 pm and it was way past bedtime for us; irrespective of which timezone you care to use.

 

[bobbiwoz]

I'm enjoying your pictures and TR! Great job!

Bobbi

 

[Adrienne]

fellow aussie subbing in

 

[SoonerGirl]

You're just moving right along! I love your pictures of Riverside, that is the one moderate that I haven't stayed in yet - it looks really beautiful.

Sounds like you had a fun couple of hours at MK, that pic of AstroOrbiter is really cool

 

[kschafer]

I just realize today you started your TR and you are zooming right along!! At least I'm here on time for the margarita meet

 

[cdotla]

Great report so far! Loved the updates from California. Sounds like you guys had a couple of packed days at the start of your trip...and something tells me you likely didn't slow down given that you had been away from WDW for so many years - lots to catch up on!

So, did you luck out at JCrew?

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[Good Ol Gal]

great pictures! What kind of camera do you use?

 

[PrincessInOz]

Ooooh the resort looks lovely. I love the scenery around the water, so nice.

The main pool was good too. We didn't take any photos as we were having too much fun! But I wish we had...

I'm enjoying your pictures and TR! Great job!

Bobbi

Hello Bobbi! Thanks. Good Ol Gal wants me to spend a bit more time in here rather than on other threads I might actually think about it....

fellow aussie subbing in

Adrienne. Always nice to meet another fellow Aussie.

You're just moving right along! I love your pictures of Riverside, that is the one moderate that I haven't stayed in yet - it looks really beautiful.

Sounds like you had a fun couple of hours at MK, that pic of AstroOrbiter is really cool

I'd like to be able to stay in every resort!! I better go back to robbing banks!

Yes, MK was a lot of fun on this night.

I just realize today you started your TR and you are zooming right along!! At least I'm here on time for the margarita meet

Hey there Katie. Your timing for the margarita meet is impeccable, as always! I seriously undertook photos this time round. We've only ended up with about 900 photos...unlike some that have over 3000!!! So, it makes it easier to write the TR when I don't have such a wide selection to pick from

Great report so far! Loved the updates from California. Sounds like you guys had a couple of packed days at the start of your trip...and something tells me you likely didn't slow down given that you had been away from WDW for so many years - lots to catch up on!

So, did you luck out at JCrew?

Can't wait to hear more!

Thanks! I bought a navy dress, a black top and a pair of shorts at J Crew.
I was mindful of your shopping tips but the store didn't stock any other colour for the navy dress and they had the top in white. Given how clumsy I am, I figured that I was more likely to be wearing food on the white top rather than wearing the top...

great pictures! What kind of camera do you use?

Thanks. We purchased a brand spanking new digital SLR Canon for the trip - the Canon T2i.
I spent some time on the photography board trying to work out the best settings to take various shots. We did try some of them out but I can't remember which settings were which.

 

[PrincessInOz]

We first need to talk about Breakfast at POR
This shot was taken at night but it gives you an idea of the seating at the POR foodcourt.

[NOTE: I'm playing with different photo sizes in photobucket; so I'm hoping that the food pics will be a bigger size.]

On the QS dining plan, you can order this as a snack for breakfast.

You can also get muffins, croissants and slices of bread from the bakery section of the foodcourt as a snack. But DH and I just love our oatmeal and we found that we could minimise the sugar intake this way. By Aussie standards, this is the equivalent of cooking about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of oatmeal.

We also ordered cook to order omelettes and DS had loads of mickey waffles for breakfast. I even ordered the bacon and eggs one morning...all these were worth one counter service meal.
I remember taking the photos (as the omelettes were porn worthy) but they seem to have disappeared in the ethernet. This is the closest we've got of the mickey waffles at POR.

I know....it is hard to make out.

These things were a god-send!

Oh yeah - the mug was handy to have as well
It was included as part of the QSDP. We could use the mug for unlimited drinks which included a basic selection of teas, soda and milk....and yes, that black drink that seems to be coffee. We made full use of the mugs at POR and more than got our money's worth for hot tea, cocoa and soda.
[To the US readers...apologies for any slander on your coffee...I couldn't help myself .]

Breakfast all done...time to head for a park. Today is Cinco de Mayo and I have a DisMeet date at Epcot.
We waited for a bus....

...and 5 buses and 15 minutes later, the right one came along.

[Up next - Epcot and that Cinco Meet]

 

[PrincessInOz]

Epcot is probably most likely my favourite park at WDW. Why? Because I can walk around the world in less than 80 minutes….okay, only if I run. And I can eat my way around the world in 80 hours. It’s also the one park that to me is “only at the World” as most of the other parks at WDW can be experienced in SoCal in one form or another.

When we picked the date, I was delighted to be planning a trip in May because this meant that I would get to see Epcot at one of the “events” – the Flower and Garden Show.
And I hooked in with a crowd of May-ers that were planning a DisMeet at noon on the 5th of May for Cinco de Mayo; and the meet was happening at Mexico…over margaritas. Trip planning does not get any better than this. My thanks to kschafer for organizing the meet (reference: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2403199)

We got to the park at about 9.20 am. Excitement levels hit overdrive when we got off the bus (and after bag check and fingerprinting) and I saw this…

Marshmallows are so my thing....although I’m not overly fond of the floral print that Daisy was wearing.

DH could have spent all morning taking photographs and we have a gazillion shots of the topiaries out front. But I was keen to get into Future World in search for excitement and airconditioning….the heat and humidity at this hour was severely testing my comfort factor. It ended up being a day in the 90’s.

I rushed off to get fast passes for Test Track and left the boys hanging around in Innoventions.

The Sum of All Parts looked fun; so I had to have a go myself. The boys must have did this about 5 times!

We then rushed off to Test track

where the stand-by line was 10 minutes. So we queued.

We had to strap ourselves in like the test dummies we passed on the way in. I sure hope we don't end up with their fate and injuries.

I know we hit a top speed of 64.3 mph….at least I think that was the number that I saw. I can’t exactly say for sure as we rushed on by so fast.

When we finished, our Fast Pass window had come up and I rushed off to Soarin’ to claim the next set of Fast Passes.
Of course we did the Test track again using the Fast Passes…I kept seeing a 64.3 mph figure but again can’t confirm or deny as we rushed on by so fast.

And then it was time for the Cinco meet. So I left the boys to their own devices and rushed off here.

I couldn’t wait to order my lime margarita

It was wonderful to see real faces and smiles on the early May Dis planners. I think about a dozen people showed up. Our margaritas sure had a great time chatting to each other.

I was about 30 minutes late…so the party was well underway. I realized that all that running around in the heat and going in and out of air conditioning was bringing on a headache! I didn’t know it at the time, but this was to develop into a major cold that I’ve brought home with me.

I do have a photo with about 5 other Dis-ers. I think I have one with kschafer, soonergirl, kcandbella, hundredacrewood and I believe the last person in the group is you manntra. cdotla was also there on the day but I missed grabbing a shot with her.

Here's the shot at that was taken towards the time I left the meet. I'm real sorry that I didn't get one earlier with cdotla and also of Kangaand2roos. Many thanks to soonergirl's mum for taking the shot.

Kschafer - that t-shirt looks fabulous! I loved seeing it in your PTR but I think it looks GREAT in real life!

After a while, it was time to see what the boys had been up to. Sometimes, I feel uncomfortable leaving them alone for too long…And I knew I was right.

There had been some major cheating going on without me!

OMG! Mickey! How could you do this to me?

Didn’t feel so bad about Pluto – I caught up with him at MK.

Minnie also cheated on me!

As did Goofy…

And I can’t even look at this one!

Et tu, Chip N Dale??

I needed consolation…and Sunshine Seasons provided me with the right fortification.

The salmon, brown rice and carrots was teamed with a pesto that was delicious. We also got some fruit (dessert) and water under the QS dining plan. I haven’t realized it until now – but we’ve eaten a lot of fish to date!

We got on to Soarin’ using our fast passes (5 minutes is a breeze) after the late lunch – the stand-by queue was out to 90 minutes by 3 pm and I realized that there was a lot of people in Epcot on this day.

My headache was killing me by this stage and given the crowd, I suggested that we get back home for a swim and head back out again in the evening. The boys had still not seen the World Showcase. But first, a stop by Test Track for another round of fast passes....just in case.

The pool at POR is good. We had so much fun that we forgot to take pictures of the pool and the slide.

[Up next – a fly-by visit for Fish and Chips]

 

[DisneyFirefly]

Aside from the headache, it looks like you had a good day The salmon you got at Sunshine Seasons looks fabulous, and I don't even like fish (unless it's still swimming or in stick form, anyway... I'm weird)!

 

[hjd0411]

Welcome home! Hope your flight was good.
I am still here, but leave on Wed, so tomorrow is our last day! So sorry I couldn't get to the 2nd meet, but timing was all wrong.
I am loving your photos - the new camera is doing a fine job (not to mention the person behind it!)
Sorry to hear you got sick - I'm surprised that it hasn't happened to us yet - in and out of a/c all the time takes its toll!!
The weather is still hot, and we had a good storm this afternoon!
OK - I look forward to your continuing story!
Keep up the good work!!

 

[shushh]

Great report! We're staying at the POR in Dec and glad to hear of experiences of fellow Aussies. Photos are fantastic too! Looks like the new camera got put to good use.