Jenn and Kevin: Honeymoon at Port Orleans Riverside 4/30-5/6

[renholder777]

The main characters of this tale: Jenn, 27, beautiful, intelligent, funny, and my new wife. Kevin, 29, your humble narrator and recent new husband.

We slept in nice and late on Thursday. It was after ten before we even got out of bed. Jenn was feeling a lot better. She had a sore throat, but other than that she was fine. If you are staying for seven days, I highly encourage you to take some time in the middle of the week and just crash. We both felt a lot better with some solid shut-eye.

We leisurely went down for lunch, since we’d slept through breakfast and picked up all of our packages that had been accumulating at the General Store. Again, I cannot stress enough how great it is to ship everything you buy back to the resort. With another leisurely stroll back to the room to drop off our packages and coffee mugs, we were on our way to the Animal Kingdom.

It was after noon by the time we entered the park, but with the temperature rising over 95 that day, I don’t think we could’ve done more than five hours anyway. We took some pictures at the entrance and got a Photo Pass guy to shoot us in front of the Tree of Life. We bought me a cool over-the-shoulder bag and got a locker to keep most of our junk in. We knew it was going to be hot and we were trying to lighten our load, but it was going to be rough regardless.

Anyway, as if guided by some cosmic force, we found ourselves headed straight for Asia. We took some pictures of Expedition Everest when it drew near and we were very impressed by how authentic the Asian town looked. It looked just like something you’d see on a travel show about the Tibetan/Nepalese/Chinese/Mongolia area. I know I’m mixing a few cultures there, but so did Disney. The point is, it looked pretty real, or at least as real as American tourists are willing to have it look.

As we walked up to the entrance of Expedition Everest, we decided we weren’t going to wait for a Fastpass and we were just going to get into the standby line. The posted wait time was 40 minutes and we were fully prepared to wait that long. However, fate decided we needed to be on the ride immediately as some gentleman walked by and handed us two Fastpasses valid for right then! Apparently his family was leaving, and instead of throw them away, he gave them to us. Score!

So we walked right onto the newest and most popular attraction at Disney World. And it was terrific. Excellent theming, which really put you in the Himilayas and a killer ride. I don’t scare easily, but you throw a shaggy animotronic Yeti at me at 45 miles an hour, and I’ll duck like a little girl. Just a great overall experience. We exited and immediately grabbed Fastpasses to ride it again.

We killed some time waiting to ride Everest again in the Maharajah Jungle Trek. We got some great pictures of the tigers, but the fruit bats utterly creeped out Jenn. I would say some teasing remarks here, but I learned my lesson when I got creeped out by fish later in the trip. But more on that later.

After that, we had an overly long trip looking for a restroom that practically put us right in Dinoland. As long as we were that close, I decided we might as well ride Dinosaur. Let me say right now that I understand Dinoland is trying to reconstruct one of those little roadside carnivals that were all over America in the 50s and 60s. My question is why? Those things don’t exist anymore for a reason. It’s kind of lame, Dinoland. Not kitschy. Lame.

Dinosaur The Ride isn’t much better. The animotronics of the dinosaurs are great, but the pre-show is pretty bad, and the actual ride just throws you around. It’s like if a big muscled guy took you into a dark room with a strobe light and shook you for five minutes while someone else showed you dinosaur images. Would anyone line up for that? Well, they line up for Dinosaur, so I guess they might.

With the torture finally over, we made our way back to Expedition Everest for an equally cool second ride. Unfortunately, when we exited this time, the sun was beginning to get to us. The blister on my left foot was doing fine, but a new, evil blister had formed on my right. We decided we needed to get soaked on Kali River Rapids, but there was an hour standby wait. So we grabbed Fastpasses, and I finally broke down and forked over $17 for one of Disney’s portable fans/water bottles. We should have just bought one the first day. They help tremendously. Jenn sat in the shade in a little Asian outdoor dining area and I went on a quest for ice cream. Unfortunately, I had to walk all the way back to Expedition Everest to find any. When I finally got back to Jenn, my blister was killing me.

The ice cream was tasty, though. We drank some water and before we knew it, it was time for Kali River Rapids. This ride isn’t exactly original for anyone who’s ever been to an amusement park. Every place has one of these, whether they’re called Thunder Canyon or White Water Falls or whatever. It’s a circular raft and you get wet. But even that Disney was able to make unique through theming. It really feels like you’re floating through India, and they make an environmental statement about clear-cutting forests. It’s all very well and good, but first and foremost we wanted to get soaked, and it delivered. We got absolutely drenched.

Afterward, we walked over to the Tree of Life to sit in the air-conditioning at It’s Tough to Be a Bug. Not as good as Mickey’s Philharmagic, but still pretty good. When the wasps supposedly “sting” you, I admit that I jumped a little. All in all, it was just nice to sit in damp clothes in some dark AC after the excessive heat of the afternoon.

When we got out, we took some up close pictures of the Tree of Life and then it was time for the parade. The parades are definitely for the little kids, but we had a good time taking pictures of the floats and the characters. Some of the animal creations were truly magnificent. Even though we hadn’t planned on it, I’m glad we caught one of the parades that week.

As soon as it was over, we hightailed it over to the Lion King just in time for the last performance of the day. Again, this was largely for the little kids, but the acrobatics were very impressive. Plus, it was a lot cheaper than shelling out $150 a pop for Cirque du Soleil. The Lion King was the closest to that we were going to get, and it delivered as far as we were concerned.

With the end of the performance, the park was closing. We decided we’d come back on Saturday to check out Africa, but for then, we were starving. We hopped a bus over to the Animal Kingdom Lodge for our dinner reservations at Boma. When we initially began planning the trip, we wanted to stay at AKL, but the cost for the Luxury Resorts was just a little too steep. But we really liked getting a chance to visit. Maybe for our anniversary some year we’ll finally stay there. It is a beautiful resort. However, we really did like the bungalow feel at POR. AKL, for all its beauty, still is just a hotel.

Dinner was fabulous. If you are at all adventurous in your cuisine, I don’t think you can do better than Boma. It’s all you can eat, and I didn’t try anything that was inedible. Some were better than others, but I had a little prime rib, a little chicken, an unusual salad, some great soup, and some other items I can’t even describe, but enjoyed. The desserts were wonderful, too.

After dinner, we caught the bus back to Downtown Disney and did a little shopping at the Virgin Megastore. We were going to hang out in Pleasure Island, but it didn’t open for another hour. My blistered feet decided that they’d had enough, so we caught the boat back to our resort and had a nice evening swim. After the pool, it was my turn to be exhausted and I fell asleep while Jenn was watching TV. For those traveling there, I warn you: The Animal Kingdom will wear you out, especially if the temp is in the high 90s.

I’ll report more with Day 6: Typhoon Lagoon soon…

 

[MichelleChell]

Great trip report!

I have to chuckle at how hot you were though. High 90's is not hot for me. I mean it is hot but come to TX or Florida in July and you will feel hot.

 

[schoen]

Can you believe the Tigers are actually doing well this year?! I have enjoyed your trip report thusfar. My Husband and I are both from Michigan (we both graduated from MSU) and I can appreciate many of your viewpoints. Kali River Rapids IS just a fancier version of Big Thunder Cannon at Cedar
Point . We just got married in July and went to Disney World for our honeymoon. In any case, keep writing!

 

[Philadisney]

Dinosaur The Ride isn’t much better. The animotronics of the dinosaurs are great, but the pre-show is pretty bad, and the actual ride just throws you around. It’s like if a big muscled guy took you into a dark room with a strobe light and shook you for five minutes while someone else showed you dinosaur images. Would anyone line up for that? Well, they line up for Dinosaur, so I guess they might.

THAT is hilarious!!! and so accurate! I hope you don't mind if I use your description next Sunday when DBF and I are at AK - he has never been and I'm hoping to convince him not to drag me on that awful ride I'm loving your report!

 

[Sweedee]

Looking forward to Day 6!

 

[DeterminedOne]

Excellent report! Thanks for sharing.

 

[renholder777]

The main characters of this tale: Jenn, 27, beautiful, intelligent, funny, and my new wife. Kevin, 29, your humble narrator and recent new husband.

Again, we slept in pretty late, but we did manage to make it down to Riverside Mill in time for breakfast. Then we went back to the room and completely covered every part of skin not clad in a bathing suit with sun block for our wet and wild adventure to Typhoon Lagoon.

It was around noon by the time we got there, but we were only planning on being there a few hours anyway. We bought some beach towels and a waterproof container for our room IDs and money. Then we got a locker and put everything in it except for the waterproof container and locker key, which I wore around my neck.

We scouted out a couple of beach chairs and laid our towels out on them. Then we ran into the wave pool. The waves in this thing are pretty intense. It was a lot of fun, but at one point, I went crashing into the back of some strange guy, which is pretty awkward. When we got out, Jenn revealed that the waves had busted the plastic connector of her suit around her neck. We went back to our chairs so she could Macgyver a solution out of a strap from her pants. The kids at the wave pool were almost privy to a lot more of my wife than we would have liked. But she managed to make it work, with nothing X-rated about it, despite the wardrobe malfunction.

After that, we opted for something a little less intense with a tour around the park in the Lazy River. No matter what age you are, drifting along in an inner tube getting randomly sprayed with jets of water is always highly delightful. After our lazy floating, we decided we were hungry and got a burger and a sandwich from Leaning Palms.

We digested our lunch at our beach chairs for a while, and then took the Lazy River over to the water slides. My feet were still sore, so we used the Lazy River for all major traveling. Much easier than walking. We rode Gangplank Falls together and then gave ourselves wedgies and back bruises on Humunga Cowabunga. That was enough with the water slides for the day.

It was now time for Shark Reef, something we had looked forward to since our initial planning. We got in line and they issued us our masks and snorkels. So far, so good. The group ahead of us got in the water and received their instructions. Doing fine. Our group came up next and Jenn went ahead of me. Still doing okay. Then it was time for me to get in the water. As I was casually listening to Buff McRipplesixpack give me the instructions for using the snorkel, a small stingray swam by my feet. I got goose bumps. All of a sudden, I was not doing so well.

I placed the snorkel on my head and pushed off into the lagoon. Basically, you’re supposed to swim slowly to the other side of an aquarium roughly the length of an Olympic sized pool. Well as I gazed into the depths below me, I saw dozens of fish, including small sharks. I knew this was the point of the attraction, but I hadn’t realized how it would make me feel. I began to breathe erratically through the snorkel and somehow managed to breathe through my nose and get a bunch of salt water in my nasal passage. I began to panic, so I spit out the snorkel and grabbed a lungful of air from the surface. Of course, as petrified as I was by the marine life all around me, I wasn’t able to hold my breath long. At about the midway point, I decided speed was of the essence and began to swim faster. I was reprimanded for kicking my feet, which is a big no-no at Shark Reef, but my fight or flight reflex was fully engaged and I really had little choice.

Eventually, I made it to the other side and I hurriedly climbed out. So, Jenn’s afraid of bats, and I’m afraid of fish, especially fish with teeth. I’ve never felt like a bigger pansy in my life, but I have to be truthful. I was scared out of my mind in that tank. I know it’s safe and those fish were harmless, but that’s not the point. It stirred some deep primal survival instinct in me to get away from the sharks. In fact, if you could translate my inner thoughts at the time, I think they were basically saying, “Get away from the sharks, stupid!” So I did. Sue me. Still, it was definitely a unique experience and I’m glad I at least tried it. Of course, Jenn had no problems at all, which made me feel even wussier.

Well, that pretty much was all we wanted to do at Typhoon Lagoon, so we Lazy Rivered our way back to the front and got all of our stuff out of the locker. As we waited for the bus, it suddenly occurred to me that I didn’t have the waterproof container around my neck anymore. Jenn didn’t have it either. It was then we realized that we had left it dangling from the locker key back at the lockers. Oops.

We ran back inside only to find that a kid had returned it to the locker rental counter and it was at guest relations waiting for us. All of our money was still in it, too. The kid could’ve taken five bucks at least. Oh well. Crisis averted.

We took the bus back to our room and we showered and changed for dinner. We had reservations at Flying Fish on the Boardwalk, so we dressed up a little nicer than the rest of the trip. Unfortunately, my travel plan to get us there was flawed. I knew the Boardwalk was in the Epcot area, so we grabbed the bus to Epcot. I assumed there would be a bus to transfer to that would take us to the Boardwalk. I was wrong. I thought that the monorail must go there, then. I was wrong. The only way to get to the Boardwalk from Epcot is to walk all the way through Epcot and exit out of the International Gateway between the UK and France. Are you kidding me? That’s exactly what I asked the poor monorail worker when she informed me of my options. It just seems ridiculous that there’s no direct mode of transport from the main entrance at Epcot to the Boardwalk.

So, in our dressy clothes and on our blistered feet, Jenn and I walked all the way through the park. Just as we arrived at the boat landing to the Boardwalk, the boat took off, leaving us to walk the rest of the way, as well. I looked at a map a few days ago and that was a mile and a half. In our dressy clothes. Under the early evening sun. Not a good start to a romantic dinner, but we managed anyway.

We actually made it a little bit early for our reservations despite the error in travel plans. We took some pictures on the Boardwalk and had a drink in a very fancy bar. The whole place felt like we were in the Great Gatsby or something. Our dinner was impeccable. I had the wood-fired Mahi-Mahi. I forget what Jenn had, but she loved it as well. I loved the fact that on a $176 bill, all we paid for was the wine because of the dining plan.

After dinner, we wandered around the Boardwalk Inn before we finally found the bus stop. We hopped aboard the Downtown Disney bus and headed straight for Pleasure Island. We had been meaning to do this all week, but never had the energy. Well, Friday night was finally ripe for the picking.

We tried out the Adventurer’s Club first, but it really wasn’t our taste. From the descriptions I’d read, I thought it could be a pretty cool, unique experience. Unfortunately, it was just a little bad dinner theater with way too many patrons. We moved on.

We got to 8-Trax and the place was dead. But we decided to stick around and have a few drinks. We got a locker and put Jenn’s purse in it, and then we had a shot of Tequila and a Corona for Cinco de Mayo. Before too long, the place began to fill up, and we had a great time dancing to the music of the late 70s and early 80s. The best part of the club is that they show the actual music video. It had been since my childhood since I’d seen some of those videos. Hilarious styles and choreography all around.

After a while, we danced ourselves out and we decided to head home. We were a little tipsy, so it’s nice to have your own personal bus to come and take you back to the resort. We got back to the room, crawled into bed, and were immediately sleep. Pleasure Island gets a thumbs up.

Only one day left! I’ll post soon with Day 7: All Good Things Must Come to an End

 

[renholder777]

The main characters of this tale: Jenn, 27, beautiful, intelligent, funny, and my new wife. Kevin, 29, your humble narrator and recent new husband.

We awoke with only a slight headache from our efforts the night before. With a good shower and a breakfast, we were feeling fine. We picked up all of our remaining packages at the General Store and packed up our luggage as much as we could. Then we headed out to the Animal Kingdom to finish what we’d started on Thursday.

I switched from my Tevas to my Reebok tennis shoes and that helped, but nothing short of a few days off of my feet were going to save them now. Oh well. There would be plenty of time to not walk when we got back to Michigan. Right then, there was still things to do!

We got to the Animal Kingdom and immediately grabbed a Fastpass for Kilimanjaro Safaris. The African town of Harambe was just as well done as the Asian town. We killed some time in the Pangani Exploration Trail. Our feet were killing us, but getting to see the gorillas up close was very cool. Afterward, we grabbed some lunch at Flame Tree Barbecue. I liked the ribs, but they weren’t nearly as good as some of the reports made them out to be.

After lunch, it was finally time for our safari. It truly is the best the Animal Kingdom has to offer from an animal standpoint, with Expedition Everest being the best thing the park has to offer period. We saw giraffes, hippos, rhinos, lions, crocodiles, and all sorts of antelope and birds in close approximations of their natural environment. The only difficulty was snapping pictures of them because of the bouncy nature of the safari vehicles. It was well worth it, however.

With that completed, we thought about riding Everest one more time, but then just decided to head over to Epcot to do some things before our 5:30 dinner reservations at Coral Reef. So, we hopped the bus and went back to the golf ball one more time.

This time around, we rode Spaceship: Earth inside the geodesic sphere. Not an exciting ride, but definitely a cool one. Then we found the Camera Center to view and purchase our PhotoPass photos. While Jenn waited in line, I booked it over to Mission: Space and grabbed myself a Fastpass. Jenn didn’t want to ride it because of all the spinning and G-forces, but I had to check it out. Even though I’m an overweight grant writer, I still like to fool myself into thinking I could be an astronaut if somebody asked me to be. I had to prove that to myself with a simulator that demonstrates a tenth of the trauma the human body goes through with a launch into space. Okay, it’s not the actual thing, but it’s as close as I can get.

I booked it back over to the Camera Center and we bought our CD from a couple employees who were incredibly psyched to be working at Disney. It’s nice to get service from people who like their job, but yowza! These two were having a grand old time.

Anyway, Jenn walked with me over to Mission: Space before heading to Italy to buy her sister a necklace. We made plans to meet in Mexico afterward, and I was off for my launch into the heavens. I wound up riding with three 14-year-old kids who weren’t nearly as into it as I was. Of course, I wouldn’t have been at 14, either. Basically, Gary Sinise assigns you a role to play during the mission, which launches you toward the moon, where you slingshot around the moon and shoot off toward Mars. Then they put you into hypersleep before waking you for the landing. I was navigator.

The launch was awesome. I can’t really describe it, but they put you under a lot of Gs and the simulation really works. I navigated our plot around the moon successfully, and then we experienced weightlessness. Not actual weightlessness, since that’s impossible on Earth, but a very convincing illusion of weightlessness. Then Sinise put us to sleep, which consisted of the instrument panels going dark and ice forming on the cockpit “window”. Then he woke us up to blaring alarms and red swirling lights. There’s a comet in our path trailing ice particles! Oh no!

The pilot unsuccessfully flew us threw there, so the computer had to do an override and bring the shields up. The pilot wasn’t very good. 14-year-olds should pay more attention to their jobs. Well, it was time for the navigator to plot the descent into Mars, and I was successful again. That’s how it’s done, pilot. You press the flashing button when it’s flashing. The G-Forces began to hit us hard again as we careened over the surface of Mars. Then it was time for all of us to pull on the control stick so we didn’t hit the walls of the canyon we found ourselves in. After a couple hairpin turns, we landed safely and the ride was over.

I loved it. I know it’s not for everybody, but it was my favorite ride of the trip. Definitely unique, and the simulation was very realistic. I bought a coffee mug in the shop to remember my flight to Mars and went off toward Mexico. I found Jenn and we had a margarita before heading over to the Coral Reef for dinner.

We were a little early for our reservations, but we got seated right on time. This was our last meal in Disney World and Jenn was unaware that I had worked out some special arrangements for the last dinner of our honeymoon. Since she loves marine life, I got us seated right next to one of the aquarium windows. I encouraged her to pull out the camera and take some pictures of the fish, which she did.

There were several divers in the tank and they swam by and waved to the crowd several times. Then one of them came over to our window and gestured for Jenn to pick up the camera, which she did. Then he pulled out a sign that read, “Happy Honeymoon, Jenn and Kevin!” She just about died from surprise. It was only after a few more pictures that I revealed to her that I had set it up several months in advance by calling Coral Reef directly and speaking to the manager. She was speechless. I knew she’d like it, but her reaction was even better than I would have hoped. She had a big smile on her face and she kept blushing. It was so cute.

We both had shrimp cocktail and New York Strip and it was excellent. With our dining plan concluded, it was time for us to go. But we rode Spaceship: Earth one more time on the way out of the park and briefly entertained taking in a fireworks show. Our feet were killing us though, so we went back to the hotel, packed up some more and went swimming one last time. Our flight required that we check out at 5:30 am the next morning, so we just took it easy that last evening, relishing in the last few moments of our honeymoon.

All in all, I have to say that it was a perfect honeymoon. The weather was clear, if a little hot. We managed to stay healthy, despite sore throats and sore feet and we spent almost every second of seven days together without a care in the world. You can’t beat Disney for that.

Thanks for reading my report! I can’t wait till we go back and I can write another!

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Thanks!! That was a great trip report. I'm glad you had a great time and I look forward to the next one!!

 

[OhMari]

Thanks for sharing your Honeymoon vacation with us.
I have one question. How did you get back to POR from the Flying Fish. Did you walk back over to Epcot and catch a bus?

I have another question. At POR you said there were mansions, are there mansions at POFQ too?

 

[MichelleChell]

I'm so sad your report is over! I hope my vacation is as smooth as yours.

 

[Disneysnel]

Thank you SO much, what a wonderful report and since you went the same time we will be going next year and staying in the same place, it was also helpful. One thing I am going to do (after reading your report) is get myself some shoes now and walk in them everyday until I leave on 4/22/07. You must have been miserable with those blisters! We took our honeymoon at WDW 11 years ago and stayed at POFQ we still talk about the great time we had all the time.

The best of everything to both of you and congratulations!

 

[MagicMe]

Congratulations on your marriage! Great report! Thanks for sharing your honeymoon trip with us. I've always been a fan of POR (it will always be Dixie Landings to me!!!!).

 

[renholder777]

Thanks for sharing your Honeymoon vacation with us.
I have one question. How did you get back to POR from the Flying Fish. Did you walk back over to Epcot and catch a bus?

I have another question. At POR you said there were mansions, are there mansions at POFQ too?

OhMari:

We took the Downtown Disney bus from the Boardwalk Resort and danced at 8-Trax before taking the bus back to POR from Downtown Disney. And, there are no mansions in POFQ as far as we could tell. Looked like pretty cramped quarters actually. POR seemed much prettier to us.

 

[renholder777]

Great trip report!

I have to chuckle at how hot you were though. High 90's is not hot for me. I mean it is hot but come to TX or Florida in July and you will feel hot.

Come to Michigan in the winter sometime and we'll see who handles the cold better

 

[DianelovesDisney]

Thanks for the awesome report. I just wanted to say hello and I'm sure we passed somewhere near the building. We stayed in 3752 from May1-7. I agree, what an awesome resort and am in the process of booking the same resort for April 30-May 9 for 2007. Can't wait. We were the loud family of 5 Congrats on your marriage...........

Diane

 

[renholder777]

Well, we didn't hear you, whether you were loud or not! It is a terrific resort isn't it? I'm afraid Building 37 is always going to have a special place in our heart...I just can't wait to go back!