BethC1952
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2001
- Messages
- 3,949
Cast:
Jim (DH) – 50 something husband
Me – woman of a certain age, wife to Jim. We’re AP holders, so we’re under no pressure to see and do everything. This was a very relaxed trip.
Dates: May 20 – 24, 2005
Location: Port Orleans Riverside, Acadian House, room 8279.
Reason for trip (like we really need a reason!): Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, my birthday
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This was our annual “getting away for my birthday” trip! It’s my last chance to take some time off before the start of the busy summer season at the Jersey Shore, where I live and work. My office provides (among many other services) special concerts and events throughout the summer, and it’s just not possible to get away once Memorial Day has passed. I’m not going to provide a minute-by-minute account of our trip, but the highlights and lowlights of our experience.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Magical Express
Considering that the service had been running less than three weeks when we used it, all things went very well. The check-in process was quick and smooth, and within 10 minutes of arriving at the check-in point we were seated on a bus to Port Orleans. The bus would stop at both sections (French Quarter and Riverside). The only problem we had at the airport was the fact that we weren’t paying attention and got on the wrong monorail. Of course, we do that every time (we did it at Newark on our way to our flight, too). We didn’t pay much attention to the “infomercial” type video that was played on the bus. We’d been traveling for hours, and just needed to close our eyes for a little while. The bus was cool and comfortable, and suddenly we were pulling up to the resort.
Port Orleans Riverside:
Check-in at Port Orleans Riverside was fairly quick. We had reserved a water-view room, and with a bit of searching, the CM (Tym) found us a room that was ready (just around noon!) since I told him we were exhausted from traveling.
Our room was very clean (see the lowlights section for an interesting story), and had a view of the quiet pool next to Acadian House.
The pool was clean, the area around the pool (the deck, the laundry and the bathrooms) were clean and well maintained.
We saw lots of animals during our stay—small bunnies, ducklings and all sorts of other birds, an occasional armadillo and some lizards.
The food court was clean, and the food was good. We ate a couple of breakfasts there.
By the last night of our stay, I had a terrible cold. When I went to check my bill before they charged it to my debit card, the CM asked if there was anything she could do to help…find me some cold pills, give me directions to a clinic, call a doctor. All I really needed was an extra box of tissues for our room, but it was really nice of her to try to help!
Animal Kingdom:
Our second favorite park (Epcot is the first). It was VERY hot and sunny while we were there, but we wanted to make a quick trip through the park to take some pictures. Park was clean, CM’s were friendly. We saw more animals than we expected on such a hot, sunny day. There were plenty of places to purchase cold drinks such as water and frozen lemonade.
Our best souvenir of the trip was purchased at AK—a mister/fan!
Magic Kingdom:
We expected huge crowds. We arrived at the MK at 3 PM on a Sunday afternoon…park was almost empty!
Share A Dream Come True Parade: We walked in five minutes before the parade arrived at the train station, and got a spot right at the rope…no one in front of us, no one beside us. In fact, there were very few people anywhere. Of course, it was about 95 degrees!
Main Street Bakery: The first time we ever stopped here. The strawberry shortcake was awesome, we sat at a table in front and people watched!
Disney Studios:
Our least favorite park
Wandered through the studios to visit “Villains In Vogue” because I wanted to buy a villain mug. No crowds, no hassle, extremely helpful CM.
Epcot:
Our favorite park
Flower & Garden Show: Awesome. I took several hundred pictures, some of which will be posted. We enjoyed the art gallery in the Festival Center.
Boma (at Animal Kingdom Lodge):
Our favorite WDW restaurant. It’s not fancy, but the food is great. We had a glass of wine at Victoria Falls (the bar right upstairs) and watched the Preakness. We were seated less than five minutes after I checked in for our PS (or, as they’re called now, ADR). Jim and I have a hard time agreeing on what to eat, but we both love Boma because there are so many wonderful choices. The food is always good there, and the service is equally good. Our server was able to give us some information about ingredients in the food, since Jim is very allergic to crustaceans.
Columbia Harbor House (in Magic Kingdom):
No crowd, no line, the air conditioning was running, we were hungry—a perfect combination! We always enjoy the clam chowder (see the Lowlights) and fried fish!
Les Chefs de France (in Epcot):
Our first time here, and certainly not our last. We had a very late seating (8:50 PM), and were lucky enough to get a window seat (didn’t request one), just in time for Illuminations. What a birthday treat! All of the food was delicious, especially the French Onion Soup. Our server Vincent was very efficient, kept our water glasses filled, helped us choose a wine, and even tolerated my rather lame French. I haven’t spoken French since high school more than 35 years ago, although I still read it easily and understand it when it’s spoken. I was able to order most of the meal in French. After I was finished, Jim asked Vincent if he had any idea at all what I had said, but we got all the right food, so he must have understood me pretty well! Yes, you can certainly eat there even if you don’t speak French!
Boatwright’s (at Port Orleans Riverside):
Breakfast at Boatwright’s is one of the main reasons we like to stay at Port Orleans Riverside. The Crescent City French Toast is my idea of breakfast heaven! We ate there two of our four mornings at PO Riverside. The trick to breakfast here is that you need to have breakfast fairly late in the morning—10:30 or later, and then there’s no waiting.
Earl of Sandwich (Downtown Disney):
The food is very good, and certainly a lot for the price! (Please see Lowlights).
LOWLIGHTS
Port Orleans Riverside:
We arrived absolutely exhausted from our overnight travels. Our room was ready (and clean and just fine), and we settled in to take a much-needed nap before heading out for the evening. We had just fallen asleep when a maintenance supervisor knocked on our door to tell us they had received our complaint and would be back within a few minutes to answer our complaint by cleaning the stain on our carpet. Please note…we hadn’t called anyone, and couldn’t find any stain on our carpet. However, we were both sleepy and said “Fine, just knock when you’re ready”. About ten minutes later, another maintenance person came to the door about the leak we had complained about in the tub. OK, we still haven’t called anyone about anything, and had no leak that we knew of. Half an hour later, housekeeping came by to check the progress of cleaning the carpet stain. OK, so much for the nap, we got up and went to Downtown Disney!
Columbia Harbor House:
No more bread bowls for the clam chowder! We had to eat it out of a regular bowl. It still tasted good, but just wasn’t as much fun!
Earl of Sandwich:
Very poor ventilation, not enough seating and way too hot inside. They should really relocate the shop located within the restaurant itself and add a few more tables and a lot more air conditioning!
Parks:
I always have the same complaint, and it’s really not something Disney can control. There are way too many out-of-control children. Just because you are on vacation, you do not have the right to let your children run wild. They are your responsibility to control. Pushing, shoving and foul language are not the way to get ahead in the world (or at WDW). I will not get out of your way, but will instead dig in my heels and become immovable. I’m not a tiny woman, and it’s not very easy to get around me when I decide that you’re not going anywhere, so don’t try it!
Smoking:
If you must, do it in the designated area. I do not want to develop a migraine from your stinky habits (especially cigars). There are lots of nice places to indulge in your foul habit. Use them.
Bathrooms:
If you don’t know how to use one, please ask. Someone will explain how to flush, how not to throw your trash around, how not to leave the seat wet.
---------------------
It was a great trip. I can’t wait for my November trip to come!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Beth
Jim (DH) – 50 something husband
Me – woman of a certain age, wife to Jim. We’re AP holders, so we’re under no pressure to see and do everything. This was a very relaxed trip.
Dates: May 20 – 24, 2005
Location: Port Orleans Riverside, Acadian House, room 8279.
Reason for trip (like we really need a reason!): Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, my birthday
------------------------------------------------------------
This was our annual “getting away for my birthday” trip! It’s my last chance to take some time off before the start of the busy summer season at the Jersey Shore, where I live and work. My office provides (among many other services) special concerts and events throughout the summer, and it’s just not possible to get away once Memorial Day has passed. I’m not going to provide a minute-by-minute account of our trip, but the highlights and lowlights of our experience.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Magical Express
Considering that the service had been running less than three weeks when we used it, all things went very well. The check-in process was quick and smooth, and within 10 minutes of arriving at the check-in point we were seated on a bus to Port Orleans. The bus would stop at both sections (French Quarter and Riverside). The only problem we had at the airport was the fact that we weren’t paying attention and got on the wrong monorail. Of course, we do that every time (we did it at Newark on our way to our flight, too). We didn’t pay much attention to the “infomercial” type video that was played on the bus. We’d been traveling for hours, and just needed to close our eyes for a little while. The bus was cool and comfortable, and suddenly we were pulling up to the resort.
Port Orleans Riverside:
Check-in at Port Orleans Riverside was fairly quick. We had reserved a water-view room, and with a bit of searching, the CM (Tym) found us a room that was ready (just around noon!) since I told him we were exhausted from traveling.
Our room was very clean (see the lowlights section for an interesting story), and had a view of the quiet pool next to Acadian House.
The pool was clean, the area around the pool (the deck, the laundry and the bathrooms) were clean and well maintained.
We saw lots of animals during our stay—small bunnies, ducklings and all sorts of other birds, an occasional armadillo and some lizards.
The food court was clean, and the food was good. We ate a couple of breakfasts there.
By the last night of our stay, I had a terrible cold. When I went to check my bill before they charged it to my debit card, the CM asked if there was anything she could do to help…find me some cold pills, give me directions to a clinic, call a doctor. All I really needed was an extra box of tissues for our room, but it was really nice of her to try to help!
Animal Kingdom:
Our second favorite park (Epcot is the first). It was VERY hot and sunny while we were there, but we wanted to make a quick trip through the park to take some pictures. Park was clean, CM’s were friendly. We saw more animals than we expected on such a hot, sunny day. There were plenty of places to purchase cold drinks such as water and frozen lemonade.
Our best souvenir of the trip was purchased at AK—a mister/fan!
Magic Kingdom:
We expected huge crowds. We arrived at the MK at 3 PM on a Sunday afternoon…park was almost empty!
Share A Dream Come True Parade: We walked in five minutes before the parade arrived at the train station, and got a spot right at the rope…no one in front of us, no one beside us. In fact, there were very few people anywhere. Of course, it was about 95 degrees!
Main Street Bakery: The first time we ever stopped here. The strawberry shortcake was awesome, we sat at a table in front and people watched!
Disney Studios:
Our least favorite park
Wandered through the studios to visit “Villains In Vogue” because I wanted to buy a villain mug. No crowds, no hassle, extremely helpful CM.
Epcot:
Our favorite park
Flower & Garden Show: Awesome. I took several hundred pictures, some of which will be posted. We enjoyed the art gallery in the Festival Center.
Boma (at Animal Kingdom Lodge):
Our favorite WDW restaurant. It’s not fancy, but the food is great. We had a glass of wine at Victoria Falls (the bar right upstairs) and watched the Preakness. We were seated less than five minutes after I checked in for our PS (or, as they’re called now, ADR). Jim and I have a hard time agreeing on what to eat, but we both love Boma because there are so many wonderful choices. The food is always good there, and the service is equally good. Our server was able to give us some information about ingredients in the food, since Jim is very allergic to crustaceans.
Columbia Harbor House (in Magic Kingdom):
No crowd, no line, the air conditioning was running, we were hungry—a perfect combination! We always enjoy the clam chowder (see the Lowlights) and fried fish!
Les Chefs de France (in Epcot):
Our first time here, and certainly not our last. We had a very late seating (8:50 PM), and were lucky enough to get a window seat (didn’t request one), just in time for Illuminations. What a birthday treat! All of the food was delicious, especially the French Onion Soup. Our server Vincent was very efficient, kept our water glasses filled, helped us choose a wine, and even tolerated my rather lame French. I haven’t spoken French since high school more than 35 years ago, although I still read it easily and understand it when it’s spoken. I was able to order most of the meal in French. After I was finished, Jim asked Vincent if he had any idea at all what I had said, but we got all the right food, so he must have understood me pretty well! Yes, you can certainly eat there even if you don’t speak French!
Boatwright’s (at Port Orleans Riverside):
Breakfast at Boatwright’s is one of the main reasons we like to stay at Port Orleans Riverside. The Crescent City French Toast is my idea of breakfast heaven! We ate there two of our four mornings at PO Riverside. The trick to breakfast here is that you need to have breakfast fairly late in the morning—10:30 or later, and then there’s no waiting.
Earl of Sandwich (Downtown Disney):
The food is very good, and certainly a lot for the price! (Please see Lowlights).
LOWLIGHTS
Port Orleans Riverside:
We arrived absolutely exhausted from our overnight travels. Our room was ready (and clean and just fine), and we settled in to take a much-needed nap before heading out for the evening. We had just fallen asleep when a maintenance supervisor knocked on our door to tell us they had received our complaint and would be back within a few minutes to answer our complaint by cleaning the stain on our carpet. Please note…we hadn’t called anyone, and couldn’t find any stain on our carpet. However, we were both sleepy and said “Fine, just knock when you’re ready”. About ten minutes later, another maintenance person came to the door about the leak we had complained about in the tub. OK, we still haven’t called anyone about anything, and had no leak that we knew of. Half an hour later, housekeeping came by to check the progress of cleaning the carpet stain. OK, so much for the nap, we got up and went to Downtown Disney!
Columbia Harbor House:
No more bread bowls for the clam chowder! We had to eat it out of a regular bowl. It still tasted good, but just wasn’t as much fun!
Earl of Sandwich:
Very poor ventilation, not enough seating and way too hot inside. They should really relocate the shop located within the restaurant itself and add a few more tables and a lot more air conditioning!
Parks:
I always have the same complaint, and it’s really not something Disney can control. There are way too many out-of-control children. Just because you are on vacation, you do not have the right to let your children run wild. They are your responsibility to control. Pushing, shoving and foul language are not the way to get ahead in the world (or at WDW). I will not get out of your way, but will instead dig in my heels and become immovable. I’m not a tiny woman, and it’s not very easy to get around me when I decide that you’re not going anywhere, so don’t try it!
Smoking:
If you must, do it in the designated area. I do not want to develop a migraine from your stinky habits (especially cigars). There are lots of nice places to indulge in your foul habit. Use them.
Bathrooms:
If you don’t know how to use one, please ask. Someone will explain how to flush, how not to throw your trash around, how not to leave the seat wet.
---------------------
It was a great trip. I can’t wait for my November trip to come!
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.
Beth
I hope you enjoyed the empty park.
