Day 1 (27 April) - Arrive PO FQ late afternoon. I had already faxed the room controller a few days before and mentioned it was my father's birthday, we were due to have a standard parking lot view but to our delight were given an upgrade of 2 connecting rooms overlooking the beautiful pool in building 5 which had the added bonus of being right opposite the food court and very close to the bus stop. Couldn't have asked for a better room location. Walked along the Sassagola to Riverside for dinner at Boatwrights. I'd make all our PS requests before we left the UK so didn't have to worry about anything when we arrived. No problems with the bus system, despite hearing worrying reports on the boards, Disney now have bus controllers at all the resort stops so if the queues start getting long they call another bus, and if the buses get too full they call some more.
Day 2 (28 April) - Full day at Beltz and the Florida Mall, gave the credit cards a good bashing but we look at it positively, stuff is so cheap compared to the UK that we ended up buying 2, sometimes 3 things, for the price of 1 back home. Had a light dinner back at PO FQ Scats Cats Lounge and then drank cocktails whlst listening to Elliott the jazz player, a perfect end to the day.
Day 3 (29 April) - Full day at Epcot, my favourite park. Quite a lot of teenagers as it was grad weekend but didn't really encounter any long queues. Dinner at Le Cellier, everyone was right, the cheddar cheese soup is to die for!
Day 4 (30 April) - Full day at MGM, our next favourite park, got their early so did all the rides without queuing for more than 5 minutes, started to get a bit busier later on in the morning but still not too bad. Had dinner PO FQ food court, which for a food court was pretty good, then finished off with cocktails at Scats Cats (we're not alcoholics, honest!).
Day 5 (1 May) - Went to Universal Studios for the day, the rides are so cool. We loved MIB and went on it 5 times! Don't want to sound disloyal to Disney but Universal have a really good system with Express Pass where you can get up to 3 passes at a time if you have a 2 day multi park pass. We didn't have to queue once, and the longest we waited was 5 minutes. Had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and this was one of the best meals of the holiday, the food was excellent.
Day 6 (2 May) - Went to the Magic Kingdom AM and Epcot PM. Had dinner at the California Grill - can see why everyone raves about this place, the food was marvellous and we couldn't fault the service, we got a bit carried away with the wine though and our bill came to nearly $300 for the 3 of us, but it was our hoilday afterall and we were having fun.
Day 7 (3 May) - First trip to Islands of Adventure, this place is awesome! Again used the Express Pass system and didn't have to wait at all, went on Spider Man 6 times. We'd been advised to take a change of clothes if we were going to do the water rides, thank goodness we did, we were soaked! Another expensive dinner tonight, Victoria & Alberts. Although the food was very good personally we felt it was overpriced and overhyped and there were other equally good not so pricey Disney restaurants (i.e. Artist Point and California Grill).
Day 8 (4 May) - Went to Animal Kingdom for the first time, this place is brilliant. On the Kilamanjaro Safari we saw all the animals, it was just like being on a real safaria. As we loved California Grill so much we're back again, this time we took it easy on the wine and our bill was much less than before. Loved the Sushi!
Day 9 (5 May) - Our last full day before flying home so as I had booked the Food Among the Flowers Brunch at Epcot we dediced to spend most of the day there. Went to Magic Kingdom first for one last ride on Splash Mountain then caught the monorail to Epcot (rode up front with the driver, brilliant view). The brunch was fantastic and we didn't finish until 3.30 pm (we sat down at 1.30 pm!), the park was closing early at 4.00 pm due to a travel agents convention but we were allowed to stay in until 5.30 pm (don't know how come we were allowed to stay, but noone tried to throw us out!).
Dad's birthday so we went to Artist Point for dinner and had a special birthday cake for him. It was a brilliant night, made even more special by the excellent server Pok.
Day 10 (6 May) - Our last full day so you guessed it, we went shopping again to get those last minute bargains. Spent the late afternoon/evening at the Boardwalk and had our last dinner at the Flying Fish Cafe but although the food was excelelnt service was terrible, we waited nearly an hour for our starters (so did everyone else) adn our waiter had a serious personality problem which spoilt eerything for us. Unfortunately the atmosphere seemed very unDisney, we won't be gonig back there in a hurry.
Day 11 (7 May) - As we were flying out in the afternoon we were a bit restricted on time so we walked along the Sassagola to Riverside and caught the boat to Downtown Disney for a look around and some more last minute shopping. A tip if you're staying at PO FQ, take the 5 minute walk to Riverside to catch the boat to Downtown Disney as quite often the boat is full on leaving Riverside so doesn't stop at FQ.
Day 2 (28 April) - Full day at Beltz and the Florida Mall, gave the credit cards a good bashing but we look at it positively, stuff is so cheap compared to the UK that we ended up buying 2, sometimes 3 things, for the price of 1 back home. Had a light dinner back at PO FQ Scats Cats Lounge and then drank cocktails whlst listening to Elliott the jazz player, a perfect end to the day.
Day 3 (29 April) - Full day at Epcot, my favourite park. Quite a lot of teenagers as it was grad weekend but didn't really encounter any long queues. Dinner at Le Cellier, everyone was right, the cheddar cheese soup is to die for!
Day 4 (30 April) - Full day at MGM, our next favourite park, got their early so did all the rides without queuing for more than 5 minutes, started to get a bit busier later on in the morning but still not too bad. Had dinner PO FQ food court, which for a food court was pretty good, then finished off with cocktails at Scats Cats (we're not alcoholics, honest!).
Day 5 (1 May) - Went to Universal Studios for the day, the rides are so cool. We loved MIB and went on it 5 times! Don't want to sound disloyal to Disney but Universal have a really good system with Express Pass where you can get up to 3 passes at a time if you have a 2 day multi park pass. We didn't have to queue once, and the longest we waited was 5 minutes. Had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and this was one of the best meals of the holiday, the food was excellent.
Day 6 (2 May) - Went to the Magic Kingdom AM and Epcot PM. Had dinner at the California Grill - can see why everyone raves about this place, the food was marvellous and we couldn't fault the service, we got a bit carried away with the wine though and our bill came to nearly $300 for the 3 of us, but it was our hoilday afterall and we were having fun.
Day 7 (3 May) - First trip to Islands of Adventure, this place is awesome! Again used the Express Pass system and didn't have to wait at all, went on Spider Man 6 times. We'd been advised to take a change of clothes if we were going to do the water rides, thank goodness we did, we were soaked! Another expensive dinner tonight, Victoria & Alberts. Although the food was very good personally we felt it was overpriced and overhyped and there were other equally good not so pricey Disney restaurants (i.e. Artist Point and California Grill).
Day 8 (4 May) - Went to Animal Kingdom for the first time, this place is brilliant. On the Kilamanjaro Safari we saw all the animals, it was just like being on a real safaria. As we loved California Grill so much we're back again, this time we took it easy on the wine and our bill was much less than before. Loved the Sushi!
Day 9 (5 May) - Our last full day before flying home so as I had booked the Food Among the Flowers Brunch at Epcot we dediced to spend most of the day there. Went to Magic Kingdom first for one last ride on Splash Mountain then caught the monorail to Epcot (rode up front with the driver, brilliant view). The brunch was fantastic and we didn't finish until 3.30 pm (we sat down at 1.30 pm!), the park was closing early at 4.00 pm due to a travel agents convention but we were allowed to stay in until 5.30 pm (don't know how come we were allowed to stay, but noone tried to throw us out!).
Dad's birthday so we went to Artist Point for dinner and had a special birthday cake for him. It was a brilliant night, made even more special by the excellent server Pok.
Day 10 (6 May) - Our last full day so you guessed it, we went shopping again to get those last minute bargains. Spent the late afternoon/evening at the Boardwalk and had our last dinner at the Flying Fish Cafe but although the food was excelelnt service was terrible, we waited nearly an hour for our starters (so did everyone else) adn our waiter had a serious personality problem which spoilt eerything for us. Unfortunately the atmosphere seemed very unDisney, we won't be gonig back there in a hurry.
Day 11 (7 May) - As we were flying out in the afternoon we were a bit restricted on time so we walked along the Sassagola to Riverside and caught the boat to Downtown Disney for a look around and some more last minute shopping. A tip if you're staying at PO FQ, take the 5 minute walk to Riverside to catch the boat to Downtown Disney as quite often the boat is full on leaving Riverside so doesn't stop at FQ.
