The Most Magical Time of Year in the Most Magical Place on Earth! Nov. 2010 NEW 4/5!

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Hello, and welcome to my second trip report! If you are new to my reports, thanks for stopping in! I hope you will continue reading and let me know you’re here! If you’ve joined me in my previous adventures, thanks for joining in again!

I’m Courtney, and my fiancé Miguel and I just returned from a 5 night stay at Port Orleans Riverside to kick off the “most magical time of year in the most magical place on earth”. I have been a long time Disney lover, and have recently converted Miguel as well! This was our fourth trip together, but certainly will not be our last!

And speaking of future trips, we are currently planning our Disneymoon next June following our wedding on the 18th and are so excited! I have a PTR going for that trip here, and I would love for you to join in the planning fun with me if you haven’t already. I also dicussed this November trip there also if you want to get a behind the scenes look at the planning that went into this trip.

We knew that we could not wait the year and a half between our January 2010 trip (you can find the TR here) and the June 2011 Disneymoon so we made some time to squeeze in this short trip in the meantime. Even though the trip was quite a bit shorter than the one’s we normally take, we still managed to fit in lots of park time, some pool time, relaxation time, and of course LOTS of food!

Now that all of that is out of the way, you probably want to see some pictures of the cast of characters in this trip.

Here's Miguel...

And myself...

And the two of us.

So there we are, and this is our trip!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Table of Contents

DAY 1 - Arriving at Disney!

DAY 2 - Pt. 1
DAY 2 - Pt. 2
DAY 2 - Pt. 3
DAY 2 - Pt. 4
DAY 2 - Pt. 5
DAY 2 - Pt. 6
DAY 2 - Pt. 7

DAY 3 - Pt. 1
DAY 3 - Pt. 2
DAY 3 - Pt. 3
DAY 3 - Pt. 4

DAY 4 - Pt. 1
DAY 4 - Pt. 2
DAY 4 - Pt. 3
DAY 4 - Pt. 4

DAY 5 - Pt. 1
DAY 5 - Pt. 2
DAY 5 - Pt. 3
DAY 5 - Pt. 4

FINAL THOUGHTS

 

[disneybarbie]

Subscribing! Can't wait to hear all about it

Emma xx

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Subscribing! Can't wait to hear all about it

Emma xx

Yay! So glad to have you here, Emma!

 

[Nermel9]

I'm here, can't wait to hear about your trip!!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

DAY 1 - ARRIVING AT DISNEY!

Since our vacation was starting on Thanksgiving day, we obviously had to have some turkey before we left! Thankfully, my grandparents live right next door so after some last minute packing and getting ready, Miguel and I walked over for lunch. We had a lovely time enjoying the holiday and anticipating the trip ahead.

Our plan was to hit the road by 2:00 at the latest so that we could make it to Orlando by 9:00. We live in Atlanta, so it takes about 7 hours to get to Disney. We were right on schedule and left just a few minutes before 2:00.
The drive was very smooth – thankfully there was minimal traffic with the holiday, and we pulled into POR around 8:30! Since it was dark when we arrived, I don’t have any outdoor shots, but I promise to make up for that later in the report!

I had requested a room in the Mansions section, since Alligator Bayou didn’t really appeal to us. I knew that it wasn’t a guarantee, so I was a little nervous when we went to the check-in counter to find out where our room was!

I was so excited when the CM showed us the map to our room, which lead us right to Parterre Place!

We excitedly drove around to our mansion, and started to make the long haul to our room. We later found out that we were actually pretty close to the parking lot, but it was dark and we were tired and trying to get adjusted to the layout of the hotel so we seemed to go around and around in circles until we finally made it here:

After unloading the car, we headed to Riverside Mill, the food court, to grab some dinner. By this time it was after 9:00 and we were starved! I chose the Muffaletta with homemade chips and Miguel got the Cajun Chicken Sandwhich with fries. We also each got a cup of soup: chicken noodle for Miguel and potatoe and cheese for me. We took the food back to our room to enjoy it there. Unfortunatley, we took the long way back as we were still a little disoriented as to where everything was, so we were walked for a good 15 minutes with our trays in the muggy weather back to our room!

I was a very good DISer this trip and took pictures of all of our food. I did take a picture of this meal, but due to some unfortunate events (coming up in a later update) I don’t have them anymore. Sorry!

Miguel said he enjoyed his food. My muffaletta was…interesting. Not necessarily interesting in a bad way, but I probably wouldn’t order it again if I was at POR. It was basically tons of Italian meets and tons of olives. So, if you like those two things, you’d probably love this sandwich. Our soups were tasty as well.

After dinner, we showered, got our clothes ready for the next morning and fell into bed! We were exhausted from the drive and needed to be rested for an early morning at MK!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I'm here, can't wait to hear about your trip!!

So glad you're joining in!

 

[DisneyCrafter]

Hi Courtney! Very excited that you started your TR! Can't wait for the next update!

Score! I'm glad you got the mansions. That's what I would have requested as well!

 

[klacey1]

Yay, first page! I'm going back now to read what you posted!

ETA: Caught up! Wow, you guys made great timing on your drive down! So glad you got your room request-- the Mansion rooms are so pretty! I love the outside of those buildings, too.

 

[arbolita]

I'm here!

We didn't eat too many times at Riverside Mill outside of small things for breakfast, but I absolutely loved our room at POR. I would stay there again in a heartbeat.

 

[Nermel9]

Yay glad you got the mansions section! POR is a little confusing at first, it's so big! We only ate at POR a few times but everything we had was pretty good! I really liked the make your own pasta section!

 

[Princess_K]

Woo hoo! I made it over here. I'm so glad to have another TR to follow along with. My mom is actually at POR this weekend and said it is really beautiful.

Can't wait for the next update!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

Hi Courtney! Very excited that you started your TR! Can't wait for the next update!

Score! I'm glad you got the mansions. That's what I would have requested as well!

I was so happy to have gotten a mansion. I think I would have been really disappointed if we were in AB.

Yay, first page! I'm going back now to read what you posted!

ETA: Caught up! Wow, you guys made great timing on your drive down! So glad you got your room request-- the Mansion rooms are so pretty! I love the outside of those buildings, too.

Me, too. I especially love that each of the mansions is different. I didn't know that before going, so it was fun getting to take a look at each one.

I'm here!

We didn't eat too many times at Riverside Mill outside of small things for breakfast, but I absolutely loved our room at POR. I would stay there again in a heartbeat.

Yeah, that was the one and only time we ate at the food court there. We just didn't have time!

Yay glad you got the mansions section! POR is a little confusing at first, it's so big! We only ate at POR a few times but everything we had was pretty good! I really liked the make your own pasta section!

Yes! It's much bigger than I was anticipating. I knew it would be bigger than POFQ, but I didn't realize just how big it would be.

I wish we would have had the chance to try out the food court more, but we just ran out of time. That was the only meal we ate there.

Woo hoo! I made it over here. I'm so glad to have another TR to follow along with. My mom is actually at POR this weekend and said it is really beautiful.

Can't wait for the next update!

Yay! Thanks for joining me again! How neat that your mom is at POR right now!

 

[Joyciemc]

I am impressed that you fit in Thanksgiving dinner (lunch) on your travel day!

Your room is beautiful- POR is really a fantastic resort.

The 'arrival disorientation' you describe is so familiar- it's funny how confusing resort layouts are when you first get there compared to how well we get to know them by the time we leave!

Can't wait to read the rest!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I am impressed that you fit in Thanksgiving dinner (lunch) on your travel day!

Your room is beautiful- POR is really a fantastic resort.

The 'arrival disorientation' you describe is so familiar- it's funny how confusing resort layouts are when you first get there compared to how well we get to know them by the time we leave!

Can't wait to read the rest!

That is so true! By the end of the vacation we know the resort and Disney like the backs of our hands, especially since we drive. But that first day or two is so confusing getting around!

 

[alliebelle3]

I'm here! Super excited for your TR! Glad you got a room request in the mansions section. POR is huge, so I totally understand getting lost!

Also, I'm jealous of your 7 hour drive to Disney...beats my 20hr one

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I'm here! Super excited for your TR! Glad you got a room request in the mansions section. POR is huge, so I totally understand getting lost!

Also, I'm jealous of your 7 hour drive to Disney...beats my 20hr one

Yay! Thanks for coming over!

We're pretty lucky to be in driving distance of Disney. It's nice to know we never have to factor airfare in to our budget.

 

[tigerdragon]

I'm jealous of your driving distance too! It takes us a day and a half to drive to WDW.

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[SOUTHERNtinkerBELLE]

I'm jealous of your driving distance too! It takes us a day and a half to drive to WDW.

Looking forward to reading more!

Thanks for stopping in! We're definitely very lucky!

 

[therussells08]

I'm here! DH and I stayed at FOFQ for our Disneymoon and it was really great, but looking back now I wish we would have stayed at POR. It just looks so much more romantic!

I am really excited about your TR. I can't wait to read more!