sydprincess
Crazy about Mickey and my girls!
- Joined
- Mar 18, 2004
- Messages
- 620
Our family returned yesterday from a 10 night, 11 day stay at Riverside. This was our 5th trip as a family (my 17th) and it was one of our best trips! Many highlights along the way, with just a few complaints. We hit the parks for 6 days and did full commando, up at 5am, home at 11pm. We're tired now that we're home, but my kids were real troopers while we were there and got so much done! We also spent a day in Clearwater/Sand Key and visited Winter the dolphin and enjoyed some downtime at the beach, as well as a full day at Downtown Disney and day another resort hopping/sea racing/ swimming. Here are some highlights:
- The newly refurbed Alligator Bayou rooms! I requested building 38 prior to arriving, but was told my request for that building wasn't met upon check-in. The manager moved things around and got us in building 36, which worked great. We loved it there! The room was spotless and we loved the updated theming. Felt well worth the money spent!
- The staff at Riverside! Terrific, helpful people who answered any and every question we had. We also took the kids on a surprise carriage ride and had a wonderful driver who talked to us about the resort as we made our way through. The kids loved it, and it reminded us that the magic doesn't just happen at the parks!
- Pirates League! Wow, this was probably the BEST part of our vacation. All 3 of my girls got pirate makeovers, and honestly loved every minute of it. DH and I enjoyed watching the girls transform and got a kick out of the CM's doing the makeovers. We went on Pirates right afterwards, then hit some other rides in Adventureland, and it was twice as fun walking around with pirates! One of the CM's approached me when we were ready to check out and thanked me for bringing my girls in. It touched my heart- she didn't have to go out of her way to say so. We will definitely be back, no doubt!!!
The parks were very clean, the CM's nice and helpful, and most importantly, the other guests were kind and friendly. So many lovely families there were having a great time, and all were polite despite the massive crowds. We had nice conversations with quite a few families and were always interested to discuss how many times they had been, where they were staying, etc.
This trip was to celebrate my DD's 7th birthday so we did quite a few additional things to make it special for her, like door decs, Jefi Training, Characters in Flight, and the Wishes Fessert Party. She had the "best birthday" ever
Disney still gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling and we will be back just as soon as we can refill our wallets for Mickey. Until then, I will be treating my post-Disney depression by reading the boards and living through the rest of you who are on your way to the most magical place on earth!!!
- The newly refurbed Alligator Bayou rooms! I requested building 38 prior to arriving, but was told my request for that building wasn't met upon check-in. The manager moved things around and got us in building 36, which worked great. We loved it there! The room was spotless and we loved the updated theming. Felt well worth the money spent!
- The staff at Riverside! Terrific, helpful people who answered any and every question we had. We also took the kids on a surprise carriage ride and had a wonderful driver who talked to us about the resort as we made our way through. The kids loved it, and it reminded us that the magic doesn't just happen at the parks!
- Pirates League! Wow, this was probably the BEST part of our vacation. All 3 of my girls got pirate makeovers, and honestly loved every minute of it. DH and I enjoyed watching the girls transform and got a kick out of the CM's doing the makeovers. We went on Pirates right afterwards, then hit some other rides in Adventureland, and it was twice as fun walking around with pirates! One of the CM's approached me when we were ready to check out and thanked me for bringing my girls in. It touched my heart- she didn't have to go out of her way to say so. We will definitely be back, no doubt!!!
The parks were very clean, the CM's nice and helpful, and most importantly, the other guests were kind and friendly. So many lovely families there were having a great time, and all were polite despite the massive crowds. We had nice conversations with quite a few families and were always interested to discuss how many times they had been, where they were staying, etc.
This trip was to celebrate my DD's 7th birthday so we did quite a few additional things to make it special for her, like door decs, Jefi Training, Characters in Flight, and the Wishes Fessert Party. She had the "best birthday" ever
Disney still gives me that warm, fuzzy feeling and we will be back just as soon as we can refill our wallets for Mickey. Until then, I will be treating my post-Disney depression by reading the boards and living through the rest of you who are on your way to the most magical place on earth!!!
Thanks for the very upbeat, positive report 
The girls got a lot of comments on their get-ups. 
. By the time all was said and done, we had been there from 9:30am until 3:00pm. I could have stayed longer as well because we didn't get everything in (a look inside the 
they have done BBB and they would rather be pirates than princesses. 
