Me, DW, author of trip report and big Disney fan
DH, just as a big a Disney fan as me!
May 1-10
Port Orleans Riverside
Pre Trip Comments:
The night before we were to fly out, we had no electricity from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Of course my husband had all his stuff packed weeks ago. He has special clothes just for Disney and was so proud of himself that he could get it all in one back pack as a carry on. (More comments on this later.) I got quite a bit packed before the lights went out but it was still a little unnerving. Good thing I didnt have to do any laundry for the trip. I was finally able to bathe and I felt much calmer. It seems our local electric company had made a boo boo and quite a large number of people in the surrounding area had no electricity for hours.
Day 1 Tuesday, May 1
Up around 4 a.m. (Who cares! Were going to Disney!). Off to the airport in plenty of time. I dozed on the plane ride to Orlando. Uneventful, but quick flight.
Brian from Tiffany Towncar met us at the bottom of the escalator in Orlando. This is the second time weve used Tiffany and were very pleased this time too. Will definitely use them again. Made a brief grocery stop for spring water and iced tea.
Got to Port Orleans Riverside around 11 a.m. but our room wasnt ready. Were used to this and were prepared to go the parks right away. We absolutely have to go to the MK the first day. It just doesnt seem like Im there yet until I see the castle. Took a bus to Magic Kingdom but it was very slow in coming. This was a sign of bad things to come. The bus service was terrible this trip!
We were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and used this as a reason/excuse to go to WDW. But then again, this was our 12th visit, so who needs an excuse. Our anniversary is at the end of May but my Annual Pass expired May 10 so we had to visit earlier in the month to get another trip on my pass.
Before our trip we made anniversary badges for ourselves. I know, were pathetic. Such self-promotion. Anyway, we photocopied a wedding picture and added 25th anniversary and our names and wedding date, May 1976. I found clear plastic badge-button thingies at Wal-Mart. They come apart and you can insert whatever you wish between the two halves. It came with a pin on the back just like any button/badge. I made four in case we lost one so we each had one to wear. Well let me tell you, they got a lot of attention. Cast members seemed friendlier and even some other guests offered their congratulations.
Back to the story. Of course we were famished by the time we got to the Magic Kingdom, so we ate lunch at Tonys. We didnt have priority seating but only had to wait a few minutes for our table. When we got to the table, it had been decorated with pixie dust and streamers. Ive always wanted that pixie dust stuff and finally got some. Its little Mickey Head confetti. I love it. That was so sweet of them. I scooped up some of the pixie dust to take with me, but they also brought me a large handful in a plastic bag. And they also gave us a dinner menu autographed by Tony, Joe, Lady, and the Tramp. It was the long narrow dinner menu, not the newspaper breakfast one. So cute. Lady and the Tramps autographs were paw prints.
DH had the special calzone for the day and I had the antipasto. Both were very good.
We didnt do too many attractions our first day. We stayed in the MK all day and just shopped and browsed through the stores. A friend back home wanted the new Disney Barbie so that was the first thing we bought. I cant remember the exact name but it was something like Theme Park Barbie. She carried a water bottle on a strap with Mickey heads like the ones they sell at the parks.
We usually see plenty of rabbits and squirrels and sometimes even a gator, deer, or armadillo. But today for the first time while riding the bus I saw a live wild turkey near Fort Wilderness. Theyre not very attractive are they?
For supper we had burgers at The Plaza. Mine with bacon and cheese and DHs with cheese, mushrooms, and onions. Very good. Didnt stay out too late because we were tired from our first day.
Day 2 Wednesday, May 2
Up fairly early as usual. I figure if you want to sleep, stay home. Cant waste time sleeping at Disney! I set up a Mickey wakeup call the night before while DH was in the shower. He was so surprised when he heard Mickey on the speakerphone in the morning. We didnt know about this little trick so it was our first Mickey wakeup call. Nice touch.
We find the food court at Riverside very handy. We ate breakfast here most mornings. This morning we both had raisin bran and fruit. The cash registers in the food court were down so they had to calculate everything by hand, which really slowed things down. It seems they just switched to new software and this problem continued for several days.
Went to MGM first. I just had to ride the Tower of Terror. Its my absolute favorite. DH wont ride though. There was no line so I rode it twice. I peeked in the activity board display in the lobby and saw the fallen letters in the bottom of the case. They spell Evil Tower. Very cool.
Back to MK for lunch at the castle. We waited about 20 minutes and Cinderella visited the lobby for a while posing for photos. For lunch DH had Royal Poulet Pasta with chicken, kalamata olives, spinach and feta cheese in a roasted tomato pesto, very good. He also had an orange smoothie that was to die for and we also bought the special mug before leaving. I had the Major Domo's Favorite Pie - tender slices of prime rib of beef simmered in rich cabernet sauce with red skinned mashed potatoes, crowning a light pastry, also excellent. The mashed potatoes were so good, and lets face it, anything with puff pastry is divine! Once again before being seated at our table, it was decorated with pixie dust and blue and white streamers. Our server was Mark and he was very attentive even though the place was packed. He gave us a special certificate commemorating our special anniversary lunch. Much to our surprise, he also gave us a complimentary set of Cinderella Royal Table champagne flutes. We were too stuffed to try dessert.
Walked (or should I say waddled) around the MK for a while then headed back to the hotel for a nap. Its amazing how tired one gets having so much fun! We napped almost every day. I woke up in the room around 5:15 and was so out of it couldnt remember if it was a.m. or p.m. Very scary.
We were both still full from lunch so didnt eat much for supper. We wanted to do Fantasmic tonight because there was a possibility of rain the next two nights and we didnt want to miss this show.
We arrived at Fantasmic two hours before the performance and were seated in the Mickey section, almost dead center. Great seats. I cant stress enough how it is important to arrive early or you may not get in. We were a little disappointed that there was no special entertainment before the show like there had been on other trips. The crowd did eventually get a wave going so that distracted us for a while. As usual, Fantasmic was wonderful. I love the music and my favorite is when all the characters ride by on the riverboat. Theyre all there, even Steamboat Mickey! I believe this is the only place Ive seen him.
On our way out, DH wanted to get a Mickey duffel bag he had seen earlier. It was the coolest thing. It has a big leather Mickey logo and yellow zipper tags with Mickey written on them. It also has wheels and a collapsible handle and the bottom wheeled portion of the bag zipped open revealing an extra compartment. He just had to have it. Good thing too, because we filled it to capacity with all of our purchases for friends and family (and us too) at home. Before the trip I suggested that we each bring our own large wheeled duffel bag because I expected to be making lots of purchases. Well I guess he didnt take me seriously. He actually packed all of his clothes in an overnight, carry-on bag and was so proud of himself. Silly fellow. I knew this just wouldnt do. Maybe next time hell listen to me, but then again, maybe not. I told him that was the last piece of luggage he will ever purchase for the rest of his life. LOL
Now the bad news. We expected a large mass of humanity leaving Fantasmic. No problem. But when we got to the Port Orleans bus stop, what a mess. It was the only bus stop that had hundreds of people waiting. This happened to us several times and we couldnt figure it out. The new busses on demand system doesnt seem to be working. It took a long while, but we finally made it back to our room.
Day 3 Thursday, May 3
Slept in a little bit today. Holy cow would you believe until 7:30?! Breakfast in food court. I noticed something different about the self-serve soda fountains. On one side they offer Diet Coke and on the other they have Caffeine free diet Coke.
Usually every morning there was a cast member or two at the Port Orleans bus stops with clipboards and microphones counting people waiting for busses. There was usually quite a large group waiting for the first busses. This new system of theirs really needs some work. We stayed at Dixie several years ago and didnt have much wait for the busses at all.
Headed to Epcot because I was on a pin mission. I wanted the Epcot Flower and Garden Show Pin. It was the second in the series and I thought it was the cutest. It was a flower box, tools, and Mickey garden gloves. Walked around the shops and Mouse Gear for a while. Of course we had to go into the Art of Disney shop. They had something we had been searching for for months. The Magic Kingdom Railroad Attraction Poster. So we bought one for DH and his son. Didnt find any cels this trip, thank goodness, but we bought plenty of other stuff instead.
Had lunch at The Land. DH had an Italian sub and chicken soup. I only had Vegetable soup so I would leave room for the Carrot Cake. Its very good here. Also the vegetable soup is very much like the one they have in Tomorrow Land at Cosmic Rays.
Back to the room for another nap. Its unbelievable how tired we get. It did rain a little bit for a while this afternoon. Supper at the food court. DH had roasted chicken dinner with fries and I had the Nachos Supreme. Next time Ill order the Taco Salad because it comes with real cheese as the Nachos Supreme comes with Velveeta.
After supper we decided to do some monorail resort shopping. For some reason, half the monorail platform lights were out at the Polynesian and all the lights at the Grand Floridian monorail platform were out. Even the monorail cars themselves had reduced lighting. No one knew why. Mickey didnt pay the light bill?? I think we found a few pins but not much else.
To be continued in Part 2.
DH, just as a big a Disney fan as me!
May 1-10
Port Orleans Riverside
Pre Trip Comments:
The night before we were to fly out, we had no electricity from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Of course my husband had all his stuff packed weeks ago. He has special clothes just for Disney and was so proud of himself that he could get it all in one back pack as a carry on. (More comments on this later.) I got quite a bit packed before the lights went out but it was still a little unnerving. Good thing I didnt have to do any laundry for the trip. I was finally able to bathe and I felt much calmer. It seems our local electric company had made a boo boo and quite a large number of people in the surrounding area had no electricity for hours.
Day 1 Tuesday, May 1
Up around 4 a.m. (Who cares! Were going to Disney!). Off to the airport in plenty of time. I dozed on the plane ride to Orlando. Uneventful, but quick flight.
Brian from Tiffany Towncar met us at the bottom of the escalator in Orlando. This is the second time weve used Tiffany and were very pleased this time too. Will definitely use them again. Made a brief grocery stop for spring water and iced tea.
Got to Port Orleans Riverside around 11 a.m. but our room wasnt ready. Were used to this and were prepared to go the parks right away. We absolutely have to go to the MK the first day. It just doesnt seem like Im there yet until I see the castle. Took a bus to Magic Kingdom but it was very slow in coming. This was a sign of bad things to come. The bus service was terrible this trip!
We were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and used this as a reason/excuse to go to WDW. But then again, this was our 12th visit, so who needs an excuse. Our anniversary is at the end of May but my Annual Pass expired May 10 so we had to visit earlier in the month to get another trip on my pass.
Before our trip we made anniversary badges for ourselves. I know, were pathetic. Such self-promotion. Anyway, we photocopied a wedding picture and added 25th anniversary and our names and wedding date, May 1976. I found clear plastic badge-button thingies at Wal-Mart. They come apart and you can insert whatever you wish between the two halves. It came with a pin on the back just like any button/badge. I made four in case we lost one so we each had one to wear. Well let me tell you, they got a lot of attention. Cast members seemed friendlier and even some other guests offered their congratulations.
Back to the story. Of course we were famished by the time we got to the Magic Kingdom, so we ate lunch at Tonys. We didnt have priority seating but only had to wait a few minutes for our table. When we got to the table, it had been decorated with pixie dust and streamers. Ive always wanted that pixie dust stuff and finally got some. Its little Mickey Head confetti. I love it. That was so sweet of them. I scooped up some of the pixie dust to take with me, but they also brought me a large handful in a plastic bag. And they also gave us a dinner menu autographed by Tony, Joe, Lady, and the Tramp. It was the long narrow dinner menu, not the newspaper breakfast one. So cute. Lady and the Tramps autographs were paw prints.
DH had the special calzone for the day and I had the antipasto. Both were very good.
We didnt do too many attractions our first day. We stayed in the MK all day and just shopped and browsed through the stores. A friend back home wanted the new Disney Barbie so that was the first thing we bought. I cant remember the exact name but it was something like Theme Park Barbie. She carried a water bottle on a strap with Mickey heads like the ones they sell at the parks.
We usually see plenty of rabbits and squirrels and sometimes even a gator, deer, or armadillo. But today for the first time while riding the bus I saw a live wild turkey near Fort Wilderness. Theyre not very attractive are they?
For supper we had burgers at The Plaza. Mine with bacon and cheese and DHs with cheese, mushrooms, and onions. Very good. Didnt stay out too late because we were tired from our first day.
Day 2 Wednesday, May 2
Up fairly early as usual. I figure if you want to sleep, stay home. Cant waste time sleeping at Disney! I set up a Mickey wakeup call the night before while DH was in the shower. He was so surprised when he heard Mickey on the speakerphone in the morning. We didnt know about this little trick so it was our first Mickey wakeup call. Nice touch.
We find the food court at Riverside very handy. We ate breakfast here most mornings. This morning we both had raisin bran and fruit. The cash registers in the food court were down so they had to calculate everything by hand, which really slowed things down. It seems they just switched to new software and this problem continued for several days.
Went to MGM first. I just had to ride the Tower of Terror. Its my absolute favorite. DH wont ride though. There was no line so I rode it twice. I peeked in the activity board display in the lobby and saw the fallen letters in the bottom of the case. They spell Evil Tower. Very cool.
Back to MK for lunch at the castle. We waited about 20 minutes and Cinderella visited the lobby for a while posing for photos. For lunch DH had Royal Poulet Pasta with chicken, kalamata olives, spinach and feta cheese in a roasted tomato pesto, very good. He also had an orange smoothie that was to die for and we also bought the special mug before leaving. I had the Major Domo's Favorite Pie - tender slices of prime rib of beef simmered in rich cabernet sauce with red skinned mashed potatoes, crowning a light pastry, also excellent. The mashed potatoes were so good, and lets face it, anything with puff pastry is divine! Once again before being seated at our table, it was decorated with pixie dust and blue and white streamers. Our server was Mark and he was very attentive even though the place was packed. He gave us a special certificate commemorating our special anniversary lunch. Much to our surprise, he also gave us a complimentary set of Cinderella Royal Table champagne flutes. We were too stuffed to try dessert.
Walked (or should I say waddled) around the MK for a while then headed back to the hotel for a nap. Its amazing how tired one gets having so much fun! We napped almost every day. I woke up in the room around 5:15 and was so out of it couldnt remember if it was a.m. or p.m. Very scary.
We were both still full from lunch so didnt eat much for supper. We wanted to do Fantasmic tonight because there was a possibility of rain the next two nights and we didnt want to miss this show.
We arrived at Fantasmic two hours before the performance and were seated in the Mickey section, almost dead center. Great seats. I cant stress enough how it is important to arrive early or you may not get in. We were a little disappointed that there was no special entertainment before the show like there had been on other trips. The crowd did eventually get a wave going so that distracted us for a while. As usual, Fantasmic was wonderful. I love the music and my favorite is when all the characters ride by on the riverboat. Theyre all there, even Steamboat Mickey! I believe this is the only place Ive seen him.
On our way out, DH wanted to get a Mickey duffel bag he had seen earlier. It was the coolest thing. It has a big leather Mickey logo and yellow zipper tags with Mickey written on them. It also has wheels and a collapsible handle and the bottom wheeled portion of the bag zipped open revealing an extra compartment. He just had to have it. Good thing too, because we filled it to capacity with all of our purchases for friends and family (and us too) at home. Before the trip I suggested that we each bring our own large wheeled duffel bag because I expected to be making lots of purchases. Well I guess he didnt take me seriously. He actually packed all of his clothes in an overnight, carry-on bag and was so proud of himself. Silly fellow. I knew this just wouldnt do. Maybe next time hell listen to me, but then again, maybe not. I told him that was the last piece of luggage he will ever purchase for the rest of his life. LOL
Now the bad news. We expected a large mass of humanity leaving Fantasmic. No problem. But when we got to the Port Orleans bus stop, what a mess. It was the only bus stop that had hundreds of people waiting. This happened to us several times and we couldnt figure it out. The new busses on demand system doesnt seem to be working. It took a long while, but we finally made it back to our room.
Day 3 Thursday, May 3
Slept in a little bit today. Holy cow would you believe until 7:30?! Breakfast in food court. I noticed something different about the self-serve soda fountains. On one side they offer Diet Coke and on the other they have Caffeine free diet Coke.
Usually every morning there was a cast member or two at the Port Orleans bus stops with clipboards and microphones counting people waiting for busses. There was usually quite a large group waiting for the first busses. This new system of theirs really needs some work. We stayed at Dixie several years ago and didnt have much wait for the busses at all.
Headed to Epcot because I was on a pin mission. I wanted the Epcot Flower and Garden Show Pin. It was the second in the series and I thought it was the cutest. It was a flower box, tools, and Mickey garden gloves. Walked around the shops and Mouse Gear for a while. Of course we had to go into the Art of Disney shop. They had something we had been searching for for months. The Magic Kingdom Railroad Attraction Poster. So we bought one for DH and his son. Didnt find any cels this trip, thank goodness, but we bought plenty of other stuff instead.
Had lunch at The Land. DH had an Italian sub and chicken soup. I only had Vegetable soup so I would leave room for the Carrot Cake. Its very good here. Also the vegetable soup is very much like the one they have in Tomorrow Land at Cosmic Rays.
Back to the room for another nap. Its unbelievable how tired we get. It did rain a little bit for a while this afternoon. Supper at the food court. DH had roasted chicken dinner with fries and I had the Nachos Supreme. Next time Ill order the Taco Salad because it comes with real cheese as the Nachos Supreme comes with Velveeta.
After supper we decided to do some monorail resort shopping. For some reason, half the monorail platform lights were out at the Polynesian and all the lights at the Grand Floridian monorail platform were out. Even the monorail cars themselves had reduced lighting. No one knew why. Mickey didnt pay the light bill?? I think we found a few pins but not much else.
To be continued in Part 2.
