kristie73
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2006
- Messages
- 469
So we are back from our first trip to WDW. I will write a quick trip report. Thanks to those that helped with advice and from others that shared their experiences to help us plan.
We flew into Orlando and used the Magical Express Bus. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Just a little about our experience at POR. Magical Express bus wait was short from the airport. It was cool having our luggage and groceries brought to our room. We booked a garden view room and requested the Magnolia Terrace. We got the Magnolia Terrace building! But I was a little disappointed in the location. It was the 3rd floor, back of building...parking lot side and a view of a tree blocking the parking lot. Not really what I would call garden view, but it was fine.
The room was nice. The ice machine on the 3rd floor never worked. Other than those, no complaints. The walk to the pool and main lobby was a short walk across the bridge. We only ate breakfast twice there. It was a mad house but fine. We bought two of the disney mugs and filled them up as often as we could. We didn't have a dining plan and maybe next time that is something we will need to learn about. Expecially if we can get a free dining plan. We only took the boat the first evening to Downtown Disney. It's a nice ride. But our last night we took the bus to Downtown Disney. We usually left and got off out the East depot because it was closest to our building. The buses sometimes got crowded or was a little wait, but I don't think it was anything unusual or worth complaining. We went to the pool every afternoon at least for a few hours. My boys loved it and loved the slide. Sometimes it was hard finding an ideal place to lay down but someone was always leaving and you could grab their chairs. There was a lot we didn't do like the movie night or campfire. We would definitely come back to Port Orleans Riverside. I was a little confused with the Magical Express checkout and luggage procedure. They checked us in and 4 of our bags. But I didn't know that. So I logged onto the airline website and checked in and paid for 2 checked bags. But it was $35 each. I thought that was weird. But it charged us that because they thought we already checked in four bags. Whatever, I called Delta and they are going to refund us some money as we only had 2 bags checked. Thanks for sharing your experiences with POR to help make our trip great! I'm sad we are back home, but thankful that my feet get a rest.
Oh one other thing. My son had a stuffed Mickey Mouse that he brought from home. It has movable arms and legs. He left it on a bench at the East Depot bus stop. Boo! Someone took it and didn't turn it in. So that makes me sad.
The first day we didn't do a park. We went to downtown Disney and had dinner at the T-Rex Cafe. My boys enjoyed it. I wish we would have sat in the back room with more dinosaurs.
Hubby got the half rack of ribs with mashed potatoes
.
I got the Paleonzoic Chicken Sandwich with fries.
We both thought it was good. Expensive but fine. My kids got the mac n cheese and pizza. Those were fine. We used those 99 cent coupons from the Rain Forest Cafe. That helped with the cost.
We flew into Orlando and used the Magical Express Bus. We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside Resort. Just a little about our experience at POR. Magical Express bus wait was short from the airport. It was cool having our luggage and groceries brought to our room. We booked a garden view room and requested the Magnolia Terrace. We got the Magnolia Terrace building! But I was a little disappointed in the location. It was the 3rd floor, back of building...parking lot side and a view of a tree blocking the parking lot. Not really what I would call garden view, but it was fine.
The room was nice. The ice machine on the 3rd floor never worked. Other than those, no complaints. The walk to the pool and main lobby was a short walk across the bridge. We only ate breakfast twice there. It was a mad house but fine. We bought two of the disney mugs and filled them up as often as we could. We didn't have a dining plan and maybe next time that is something we will need to learn about. Expecially if we can get a free dining plan. We only took the boat the first evening to Downtown Disney. It's a nice ride. But our last night we took the bus to Downtown Disney. We usually left and got off out the East depot because it was closest to our building. The buses sometimes got crowded or was a little wait, but I don't think it was anything unusual or worth complaining. We went to the pool every afternoon at least for a few hours. My boys loved it and loved the slide. Sometimes it was hard finding an ideal place to lay down but someone was always leaving and you could grab their chairs. There was a lot we didn't do like the movie night or campfire. We would definitely come back to Port Orleans Riverside. I was a little confused with the Magical Express checkout and luggage procedure. They checked us in and 4 of our bags. But I didn't know that. So I logged onto the airline website and checked in and paid for 2 checked bags. But it was $35 each. I thought that was weird. But it charged us that because they thought we already checked in four bags. Whatever, I called Delta and they are going to refund us some money as we only had 2 bags checked. Thanks for sharing your experiences with POR to help make our trip great! I'm sad we are back home, but thankful that my feet get a rest.
Oh one other thing. My son had a stuffed Mickey Mouse that he brought from home. It has movable arms and legs. He left it on a bench at the East Depot bus stop. Boo! Someone took it and didn't turn it in. So that makes me sad.
The first day we didn't do a park. We went to downtown Disney and had dinner at the T-Rex Cafe. My boys enjoyed it. I wish we would have sat in the back room with more dinosaurs.
Hubby got the half rack of ribs with mashed potatoes
I got the Paleonzoic Chicken Sandwich with fries.
We both thought it was good. Expensive but fine. My kids got the mac n cheese and pizza. Those were fine. We used those 99 cent coupons from the Rain Forest Cafe. That helped with the cost.
and we just didn't want to push it. Oh well. Something for next time. Then got hungry for lunch so headed to Pizza Planet. It was fine. My kids split a pepperoni pizza and hubby and I split the veggie pizza meal and caesar salad. It was good enough. We didn't play any games in there. It was time for the Jedi Training. My older son was really nervous and hestiate, but they did the Jedi Training and got to be up on the stage to fight Darth Vadar. Great experience and memory for them and us. We watched the Indiana Jones show, the Muppets show, met Phineas and Ferb, McQueen and Mater and rode Star Tours again. Somehow we got a similar ride experience on Star Tours. 
Wish it was a little more different than our first ride. Then we did Lights Motor Action show. That was really cool. 
It rained a little while waiting to enter this show. No big deal though. The kids played in the Honey I shrunk the kids playground and then we had dinner at the Sci-Fi Diner. Cool place. 
It never reopened so we totally missed Pirates! Hubby went to get Splash Mountain fast passes. We watched the Pirate show, younger son went up on stage and got a souvenir scroll. We met Pirate Goofy too. Then we rode Splash Mountain. That was hit! 
We swam at the pool and got ready for dinner. We took the bus back to Magic Kingdom and then took the monorail to Polynesian for our reservations at Kona Cafe. It was a very crowded monorail at dinner I guess. There's a lot of hype for this restaurant. I thought it was good, but not great! 
). We did the Carousel of Progress. I guess you gotta do it once. Then we did Stitch. I think that is kinda dumb. 
The kids danced in the dance party. That was funny. Then we left the park. 
Then we did the Flight of Wonder bird show. This was fine. Hubby grabbed fast passes for Expedition Everest. Then we did the Nemo show. I really liked this show! I rode Expedition first then hubby. My older son was too scared to ride. 
We saw Thumper. We wanted to see Chip N Dale but just missed them. We skipped the Lion King show and all the rest. I would have loved to see the parade, but everyone was grouchy and tired. We went back and swam at the hotel. 
