Disney for 11 days, but won't you get bored? A May/June 2013 Trip Report Update 6/24

[danicaca]

We have been back from the World for two weeks now, so I suppose it is about time I start my trip report! Thanks to the urging of some of my Disney pals, I am ready! (You know who you are!) To anyone else following along on our adventure -
In case you missed it, here is the link for my PTR:
We are finally going back, and no, we are NOT driving! A May/June PTR

I will introduce my family in the next post, in case you don't feel like reading the PTR, which I totally understand - it is looooong! This trip was 3 years in the making, so I kind of had a lot to say - and DO!

 

[danicaca]

Who the heck are you? An Introduction.
Arrival Day, May 28th, 2013
1. Up, up, and away!
2. ME and POR
3. Epcot and our first mishap
4. Dinner and dancing
5. Swimming and a DISmeet
Day 2, May 29th, 2013
1. Magic Kingdom-did we make our first rope drop?
2. Dinner with a Beast
3. More rides and a Sorcerers tutorial
Day 3, May 30th, 2013
1. Hollywood Studios
2. Lunch at Mama Melroses
3. Finishing up HS and F!
Day 4, May 31st, 2013
1. Animal Kingdom
2. DTD and a surprise!
Day 5, June 1st, 2013
1. Epcot
2. Lunch with the princesses
3. Our afternoon at Epcot
4. DTD and disaster strikes
5. Getting Goofy
Day 6, June 2nd, 2013
1. Up bright and early for SWW
2. Lunch at Pizza Planet, a few more shows, and we are DONE!
3. Swimming, eating and shopping
Day 7, June 3rd, 2013
1. Epcot-did we finally make a rope drop?
2. Our mission in Mexico
3. Lunch in Norway
4. Touring the WS, and E shouts a naughty word
5. Drinking and Duffy
6. More fun in Epcot
7. Dinner and Illuminations
Day 8, June 4th, 2013
1. Magic Kingdom-did I get to see the welcome show?
2. Lunch with a side of rain
3. Fun in Adventureland
4. Dinner fit for a princess or two!
5. Back to MK for another battle with villains
Day 9, June 5th, 2013
1. Animal Kingdom
2. Breakfast with Donald
3. Camp Minnie Mickey and the Lion King
4. Dinoland USA, lunch and the parade
5. Back to Dinoland with a deluge
6. Hoop Dee Doo and a costly mistake
7. Missed our bus, might as well go back to MK!
Day 10, June 6th, 2013
1. Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare
2. Back to MK for more fun and-Tropical Storm Andrea?
3. Back to Riverside
4. Return to Tomorrowland for another surprise!
5. One last ride, and the most horrible bus experience of the whole trip
Day 11, June 7th, 2013
1. Checking out and another bad bus experience
2. Were late! Did they let us in? Breakfast at Ohana-maybe
3. Leaving POR
Final Thoughts

 

[danicaca]

In case you did not follow along with my PTR, here is who the heck you are reading about!

First, there's me, Danica, Minnie Mouse lover, and lover of all things Disney, really.

Then there's Matt, my husband, lover of Disney, but mostly Star Wars and all things geek!

Finally, there's my girls, E and O, princess lovers and thrill seekers!

And here we are:

We are a great looking bunch, huh? I finally had the common sense to coordinate our clothing so the pics would look better, and guess what, it worked! Every photopass pic turned out great! Anyway, on with the show!

If you read my PTR, you would know that it had been three years since we were in the World, much too long if you ask me! We made plans on the last day of our trip to come back after O turned 5, which put us at 2013. It seemed so far away, and it felt like we waited forever, but of course the trip just flew by. We booked in October of last year, and made all of our ADR's, then we just had to wait, then enjoy! If only it were that simple. Come along, and see what kind of adventures we had!

 

[wiigirl]

In for your TR!

 

[dabneywm]

Following along!

 

[Tiggeye]

Can't wait to hear more! I love long Disney Vacations!

 

[danicaca]

In for your TR!

Following along!

Can't wait to hear more! I love long Disney Vacations!

Hope you all enjoy - hopefully adding some updates today!

 

[danicaca]

I thought I would start by explaining my title. We were on the monorail towards the end of our trip and started talking to another family. The mom said "11 days! But won't you get bored? We can only handle 3!" She looked at me shocked when I told her we still would not see all that we wanted to see in our 11 days. She said it was their first trip, and she just could not see what you could do there for 11 days. Um, did you not do ANY research to see what all is available? Yikes! I sure hope they had a good trip! So the answer to that question is NO! Anyway, on with the show!

Our day started bright and early, around 3 am. I was up first and got myself ready, then woke the girls. They were super sleepy, but very excited, and had a hard time staying quiet. We were staying at Matt's parents' house, and his dad would be driving us to the airport. By 4:00, everyone was ready to go, and we loaded up the van. It was an uneventful drive to the airport, and soon we were all checked in. Thankfully, our luggage was not overweight, for I knew we would be filling it up with souvenirs! We headed up towards our gate, and stopped to have some breakfast -



We finished up our meal, then headed through security. What a pain! Getting through security with two kids is no fun! Mostly because I felt like we were holding things up, not that anything bad happened! I don't like to make others wait because of me! Our flight was on time, and soon we were airborne! The girls were so excited, as this was their very first airplane ride!


Thankfully, I had plenty of stuff for them to do, too much, if you ask me. I think next time I will not pack so much for them! They enjoyed a movie, Tinkerbell of course!


Pretty soon, 15 minutes early in fact, we arrived in Atlanta, and caught our connecting flight to MCO! The flight from ATL to MCO was fast! In fact, we arrived 38 minutes ahead of schedule! We caught the faux monorail:




...and we were soon on our way to the Magical Express!

 

[danicaca]

As I mentioned in the last post, our flight was early! We landed at 11am, and we were on the ME and on our way to POR by noon! Here we go!





We are not excited at all!





Pretty soon, O looked like this:



And then we saw this:



I was so excited when we got a front row seat on the bus! I think I got even more excited when I saw this:



We stopped first at Old Key West, then Saratoga Springs, then French Quarter. At 12:45, we pulled into Riverside! We checked in quickly - thank you online check-in! And the CM made our buttons:



She also gave us letters from Princess Tiana, which we opened up when we got to our room. Here is our room:





I was super stoked when we got to our room, and it was a corner room! I had not even requested that! We did get second floor, on the river side of the building as I had requested. Our room was kind of hard to find at first, but we entered the complex in the wrong place. Once we figured it out, it really was not too bad! We had a good location for getting over to the main part of the resort, and we were super close to the East depot, which was perfect for most of our trip! Really, we only had a couple of bus problems, and they were mostly at the main depot.

The girls opened their letters - so cute!




Then we listened to a message from Mickey, welcoming us:




We got settled in and rested for a bit, then headed over to the Riverside Mill around 2:00.



We were not super hungry, and we knew we had a big meal this evening, so we decided to split two meals between the four of us. Even splitting, we were super stuffed - uh oh! Would the whole trip be like this??? We both ordered the make your own pasta. I got the penne pasta with alfredo sauce, shrimp, sun dried tomatoes and prosciutto with red velvet cake for dessert, and Matt ordered chicken fettuccine alfredo with a magic cookie bar for dessert.





I could not believe how much food this was! Even between the four of us, we could hardly finish it, and remember, we had not eaten since about 5am, so that is saying a lot! Maybe we were just excited to be there? Not sure, but it really is a lot of food, and was delicious. I highly recommend the make your own pasta! Here was our view, and in fact each time we came to the food court, the girls insisted we sit here!



I took a few pics on our way back to our room:





Here is our view:



The girls played for a few minutes:



...then we were on our way to Epcot! What surprises would be in store for all of us? You will have to wait for the next post!

 

[cdhale]

I'm in! Staying at POFQ in Sept, so I love your pics of the resort.

Cheryl

 

[disneylvr4vr]

Read along and posted on your PTR! Finally found this TR! Looks like you guys are having fun so far! I LOVED the make your own pasta! It was VERY good! I was wondering what room / mansion you stayed in? I stayed in the princess rooms on the last trip, so I was just curious! Your girls are adorable! Keep up the updates!