Without any further ado, lets get this August report started!
Welcome to Port Orleans Riverside!
We arrive at the resort in the early afternoon, which is actually somewhat of a departure for us. For most of our family trips in the past few years we have arrived at the resort early in the morning and head straight to a park. This time around, we decided to arrive a little later and spend the first day relaxing, enjoying the resort and visiting Downtown Disney.
Shortly after arriving, we head to the lobby to check in. We found the window for online check-in (which was a little hidden and not in the direction that a sign in the lobby had pointed us to) and received our room keys and information packet. I really liked how online check-in worked- very quick and convenient. Im sure it would have taken a little longer if we had arrived at the same time as a Magical Express bus, but since there werent many people checking in at that time, we got taken care of in no time!
Our rooms were ready (adjoining as requested), but we were all pretty hungry and headed to the Riverside Mill food court to get some lunch first. I knew we didnt have any plans for going to any Italian restaurants this trip, so I decided to start my Disney trip with some pizza. I love the personal pizzas the quick service places have at Disney (well, most of them; Pizzafari at the Animal Kingdom was the only one I can remember not being thrilled with). With some food in our system, we went off to find our rooms.
We were in the Magnolia Bend area of Riverside where all the mansions are. Our mansion was Acadian House, which wasnt far from a bridge to the pool area and the main building. It was also near a small pool area and has a bus stop fairly close by, neither of which we really used this trip.
After three trips in a row at Pop Century, the rooms here felt a good bit bigger than I had remembered. It also has a refrigerator which I dont remember Pop having. I took a few photos of Buzz and my room when we arrived.
We even had a Mickey made of towels waiting for us. Unfortunately Mickey didnt last very long. I tried moving it later that night and it fell apart. Good thing we got pictures early!
The print on the wall was titled something like Celebrating Mardi Gras on the Mark Twain Based on the title and photographs, Im pretty sure that its a painting of the riverboat at
Disneyland. I would love to know more about the painting- whether it was sold or part of concept artwork for something- but I cant seem to find anything about it online yet.
No sooner had I gotten the last bag into the room than I hear thunder and grey clouds begin rolling in. We had planned to hit the main pool on Ol Man Island that afternoon, and the rest of the family was already getting ready to head over there. I told everyone it looked like it was about to rain, but we all got ready anyway. We started walking over there and, not surprisingly, it began to rain. We changed plans, headed back to the room and decided to make some slushies in the room (Mom and Dad had brought a blender with them for just such an occasion) and wait out the rain. Once the weather was looking clear we tried again to head to the pool.
This time we were a little more successful. We managed to get in a bit of a swim. After a while though, it began to thunder again, and the lifeguards had everyone clear the pool. We headed back to our rooms, got cleaned up and waited to see if the rain would let up. Buzz and I watched the new Must Sees with Stacy than replaced the Top 7 show. Its a bit shorter than the Top 7 and got old fairly quickly. We switched to the channel that gives all the park hours and info on it. Love the music on that! After a while I began to get a little cabin fever and was really wanting to go out exploring Disney! Once the weather looked like it might start clearing up, Buzz and I headed over to the lobby to look around a bit.
Along the way, I got some shots of the pool on Ol Man Island closed and devoid of people.
Once inside, I go ahead and get my first and only souvenir of the trip- a pressed penny. In December, I started collecting the Walt Disneys Princes pressed pennies. I found Prince Charming and the Beast at Magic Kingdom last year and ended up finding Snow Whites Prince near the Riverside Mill. Apparently, there was supposed to be a John Smith penny at the Animal Kingdom, but I never found it, so just Snow Whites Prince will have to do for this trip. Since its the Princesses that always get all of the attention, I thought it was cool that they at least gave the Princes their own pressed penny collection.
A few more photos of the lobby since I didnt get than many when we were checking in.
A few hidden Mickeys just to remind you that youre at Disney World.
Next chapter: Will the weather scuttle our boat ride to Downtown Disney?
Those songs all sound great.
It was so great, and I cant wait to share the report with you all. First of all, Ive picked a name for the August portion of the report- Days of Discovery. I think it will be a good fit for the tone of the trip, and hopefully by the end I think youll see why. Ill get started on getting it up as soon as I can, but I thought Id at least post a little preview of what you can expect to read about and see photos of: 
looking at all of these Riverside pictures! The lobby is so beautiful. In fact, I have a picture of the lobby on my desktop at work right now. I had someone ask me if it was my house. 
Don't I wish!
