8 rainy days at WDW - Day eight - "Homeward bound...and final thoughts"

[GaDisneyDad]

Cast:

Norm (me) (39); husband, father, trip planner, scribe and photographer
Robin (39); wife and mother with veto power over trip plans, wants a more relaxed Disney trip this time (Ha!)
Kent (14); teenage son, not interested if it’s not fast, loud, or scary (preferably all three)
Whitney (13); teenage daughter, into thrill rides like her brother, but will do the others with less complaining (usually)

Setting:

7 days at Port Orleans Riverside, plus 1 offsite at Islands of Adventure (son’s favorite, of course). This is our second straight year at POR, and third WDW trip in four years. Due to finding a discounted resort rate back in January, we decide to stay longer than our usual 4 or 5 days to have more time to “stop and smell the roses”.

Scene 9 – Saturday, June 22 – “Homeward bound…and final thoughts”

I had my watch set for 7:30, but woke up before that to the sound of thunder. Very loud, and very close. I don’t think this is going to work. Islands of Adventure is my son’s favorite park, and as much as I hate to miss it myself (Spiderman ranks right up there at the top of my list with anything at Disney), I just don’t think we can handle another day sloshing through a park in ponchos. We decide to pack it in, and save our passes for another day. We roll over and go back to sleep. Good choice – we find out when we get home that Orlando got almost 3 inches of rain on Saturday, bringing the 8 day total for our visit to over 9 inches. Incredible.

Finally about 9:30, we get up and hit the road. We make a quick stop at McD’s for breakfast and then hop back on the freeway home. Somehow in getting off the exit for McD’s, I missed the exit for the turnpike and wind up going 15 or 20 minutes out of our way on I-4 before I figure out what went wrong. We turn around and head back. We’re not off to a very good start so far. Got off on the turnpike – traffic was HORRIBLE. Stop and go for several miles. I never saw any accidents, so I have to assume it was just heavy volume and the toll booths. It took over 2 hours to make it past the last toll booth and get back on I-75. Rest of trip home was uneventful.

Some final thoughts –

- Despite the rain, we still enjoyed ourselves. We pretty much managed to fit in everything we wanted to do; it just took more energy to do it than we had planned. The original plan with a 7 day stay was to have time to relax, and while that didn’t work out, I’m still glad we had 7 days; otherwise with the rain, we wouldn’t have been able to do much.
- Disney is still Disney. Overall, we were very pleased with the CM’s we met (with a few notable exceptions), with the cleanliness and maintenance of the resort and the parks, and with the general quality of our stay. The magic is still there.
- It is CRITICAL that you start your day early. Even on the days it rained a lot (and there were several of them), the rain didn’t move in until early afternoon so we still had time to get several rides in because we got up early. Even if it doesn’t rain, you are just asking for trouble (and crowds, and long lines, and empty FP machines, etc.) if you don’t get there early. Disney is not the place to sleep in.
- Crowds were still big – even with the rain. We have always gone to Disney in June, but after this trip, I am seriously considering trying another time of year. I know the hours will be shorter, but it may be worth it to get cooler (and drier) weather, and smaller crowds. I don’t know – just something to think about.

- Favorite attractions (by park, in no particular order):
o MK – Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear
o MGM – Rock-n-roller Coaster, Tower of Terror, Millionaire
o Epcot – Test Track, Honey I Shrunk the Audience
o AK – It’s Tough to be a Bug, Festival of the Lion King Show

- Favorite food/snacks:
o Ghiradelli’s sundae’s
o Strawberry fruit bars
o Nestle’s Toll House cookie ice cream sandwiches – we found these at all the parks, except MK for some reason. They look like a couple of chocolate chip cookies with a slab of ice cream in the middle, but instead of cookies, it’s cookie dough so it’s nice and soft. Delicious!

- Favorite after vacation activity:
o Planning our next trip! I can’t wait!

 

[vald1977]

I enjoyed reading your report! I am chuckling right now just thinking about the cleaning crew swarming in on the spilled milk in AK. I can just see them calling it in on their radios ! After dealing with the heat in May we too are going at a different time of year next time around. We are thinking late October 2004. I can't wait ! Thanks for taking the time to post your report.

 

[BusyMomof3]

Thanks for posting your trip report. I have enjoyed reading it. We were there the same time as you and were also at POR. We were in rooms 8569 and 8570 in Magnolia Terrace from 6/17 - 6/21. We had also planned a longer trip this time, so we could try to relax more, but the rain caused problems with that plan. We did like you did, and just kept going. We also did most everything we wanted to do despite the rain.

Glad you had a good trip. Hope you can get back soon to do IOA. We were there on Fri. 6/14 and had a great time, but did have to deal w/ afternoon showers. We had to sit and wait them out several times. We thought it wasn't too bad, if that was all we had to deal with. If only we'd known how much worse the whole next week would be.

I think they have the Nestle Tollhouse ice-cream sandwiches at Sleepy Hollow in the MK. The only problem is, it was closed the whole time we were there. We went there several times trying to get caramel popcorn. We finally asked a CM and he said he thought Sleepy Hollow was closed for rehab. Maybe you can try there next time.

 

[Liz]

Enjoyed your reports! We arrived the day you left and believe me the weather didn't improve any over the next week! Lots and lots of rain!!! Glad you had fun and we loved the cookie/ice cream sandwich too!

 

[yup I'm Goofy's sis]

Wow, I've been reading the strategies and resort boards for a while now, but just took a look at the trip reports. Yours is a great match for my family's upcoming trip! We will be driving from St. Louis, arriving at POR on August 3 for six nights. Our 4 DSs are 10, 14, 18 and 20.

My DH is a strong advocate of using WDW transportation, I think when you drive to get there, leaving the car parked is truly part of the magic. It is great to hear your experiences on the busses and boat.

Any specific tips about our room requests? Connecting rooms are my top priority. [I'm with you about sharing maximum time as a family, I would hate to miss out on too much of the late-night/early morning converasation if our rooms did not connect.] Other than that, do you think there are any truly undesirable locations/buildings in POR? Any thoughts on Bayou vs. Mansions?

Miniature golf is something we also intend to try this trip--do you make reservations ahead of time, or just show up? Did you wait long to play? Is it open late? It's great to hear that you can walk to it from somewhere--I was afraid it would be a hassle to drive there. Have you seen the winter-themed gold course?

About the POR pools--I've been reading something about the "bridge" at the pool being closed--is this any concern? Did your kids use the "quiet pools", or the central one?

Did you do an E-night?

What about the Mickey wake-up call--is there a trick to getting Mickey's voice?

What about the Character Caravan--did you ever see this at POR? Worth doing for pics with my 10 yo? Does it cause any crowd or delay getting underway?

Thanks a million!

Dottie

 

[susy]

We are from south FL and have season passes.
The best time as far as crowds/weather is probably mid- Nov ember. Our DS' first time ever at the MK was last year on the day after Veteran's Day (Tues). We got to the park about an hour early and he was picked to be the gatekeeper! It was very memorable (got in all on video) and we have the certificate up in his room.

If I could have controlled the crowds/weather myself, it could not have been more perfect. We rode all of our 9 "must see " attractions by 10:30- the park had opened at 9. We still had an hour before our PS at the Crystal Palace! The off season is definitely worth it. With our little one we still take breaks, but with your family, you could probably go all day . The weather is so nice (it's the heat that does you in!)

 

[GaDisneyDad]

My DH is a strong advocate of using WDW transportation, I think when you drive to get there, leaving the car parked is truly part of the magic. It is great to hear your experiences on the busses and boat.

To me, one of the best parts of vacation is not having to drive and deal with traffic for a whole week. Disney transportation is the way to go. I hear that it varies by resort, but we have never had any problems with POR.

Any specific tips about our room requests? Connecting rooms are my top priority. [I'm with you about sharing maximum time as a family, I would hate to miss out on too much of the late-night/early morning converasation if our rooms did not connect.] Other than that, do you think there are any truly undesirable locations/buildings in POR? Any thoughts on Bayou vs. Mansions?

We've only stayed in the Mansions section, so I can't speak to comparisons with the Bayou section. We enjoy Magnolia Terrace because of its location - main pool and food court a short walk away on one side, a bus depot just across the parking lot on the other.

Miniature golf is something we also intend to try this trip--do you make reservations ahead of time, or just show up? Did you wait long to play? Is it open late? It's great to hear that you can walk to it from somewhere--I was afraid it would be a hassle to drive there. Have you seen the winter-themed gold course

We only did the Fantasia Gardens and didn't make it to the Winter-Summerland course at BB. We didn't have any trouble with crowds, but it's hard for me to say if that was due to the rain. We like to go at night and so were there both nights about 9:30 or 10:00. We just showed up - no reservations. We all really enjoyed the Fantasy course here, but would recommend you stay away from the Fairways course. Once you get there, take a look at it, and you will see what I mean - too hard to be fun. The FG course closes at 11:00, with the last round starting at 10:30. It is a short walk over from the Swan/Dolphin, so my recommendation would be to go there after leaving a park and take the bus/boat directly to the Swan/Dolphin. You know how much harder it is to take a bus from resort to resort. If you want to do the Winter-Summerland course, it is right next to BB, so you can take the bus there. Not sure of the operating hours there, maybe someone else can help.

About the POR pools--I've been reading something about the "bridge" at the pool being closed--is this any concern? Did your kids use the "quiet pools", or the central one?

There is a bridge over one section of the main pool. You used to be able to swim under it, but it has been closed off now and you have to walk around it to get to the other section of the pool. All sections are open for swimming, they're just not connected anymore. It wasn't a big deal to us, it just looked kind of tacky. We just used the main pool, although due to the rain, we honestly didn't spend as much time at the pool as we planned. We may have used the quiet pool (there's one right next to the Magnolia Terrace building - another reason to stay there) if we had had better weather.

Did you do an E-night?

We had planned to do the E-night the Tuesday night we were there, but decided against it. The rain messed up my itinerary and we had to change plans. Overall I've heard good things about it, but I can't speak to them myself.

What about the Mickey wake-up call--is there a trick to getting Mickey's voice?

The only trick I found was to WAIT for the voice to begin after you pick up the call. It takes a few seconds to begin. I believe the messages are just randomly rotated, although we had Mickey each day until Friday when we heard Stitch (the movie opened that day - any connection? hmm...). Also, make sure you hit the speakerphone button when you answer the wakeup call. That way everyone gets to hear the message. BTW, the message played twice each day for us, so stay on the phone if you miss part at the start.

What about the Character Caravan--did you ever see this at POR? Worth doing for pics with my 10 yo? Does it cause any crowd or delay getting underway?

My kids are past that age, so we didn't look for it. On the other hand, we didn't see it either, so we didn't notice any crowd problems as a result of it.

Hope you have a great vacation!

 

[yup I'm Goofy's sis]

Thanks, GaDisneyDad!

We appreciate your feedback!

 

[yup I'm Goofy's sis]

Thanks, GaDisneyDad!

We appreciate your feedback!

 

[Nanajo1]

In spite of the rain you had agreat trip. I've enjoyed reading about it. Thanks for posting.

 

[Poohshoney]

Thanks for all the great trip reports! I really enjoyed them. I'm so glad you didn't let the the weather spoil things for you all.

 

[swankybeth]

Thanks for taking the time to share your report with us, I've enjoyed reading it.

 

[yepod]

Have enjoyed your reports!
Thanks for taking the time to post em!

 

[Credit Man]

Great report! I tsounds like you handled the weather well. Thanks for posting.

 

[Tina26]

Thanks for your report! Glad you guys still had a good time in spite of the rain. It rained A LOT on our July/Aug trip last year too. I sure hope the weather is better this trip, I get so sick of those wet ponchos.

Tina

 

[luvmy2sams]

Thanks for taking the time to post your trip report. I'm having Disney withdrawal right now, so living vicarously through your family for awhile helped calm me down. It sounds like you had a wonderful trip, despite the rain.