Pixie dust, please! ~August 2011 TR *UPDATED 9/30*

[♫♥MickeyManda♥♫]

Hello all! I just returned from a fabulous Walt Disney World vacation and decided to do my very first trip report I didn’t do a PTR because I figured there wouldn’t be enough info to keep it interesting, so everything you need to know will be written on this post. Hope you all will join in!

What: Family vacation to Walt Disney World; August 16-24, 2011

Where: Port Orleans Riverside & AKV Kidani

Who: My family of 5-
Me- I’m a 15-year-old Disney addict, and I go by the name Amanda. My family likes to call me ‘princess,’ and I was pretty the tour guide of the trip. My favorite ride at WDW is Soarin’, my favorite show is Festival of the Lion King, and my favorite restaurant is Crystal Palace.

Sister- Her name is Natalie, she loves Disney but not anywhere near the level that I do. She is 13 years old, and her favorite ride is Expedition Everest.

Brother- My 7-year-old brother Danny would rather spend his time swimming in the resort pool than walking around a theme park, although he does love meeting the characters. His favorite rides are Toy Story Mania and The Seas with Nemo.

Mom- She is the co-planner of the trip, and also gets to make all the final decisions. I believe she is a Disney addict in denial.
Dad- In a nutshell, would probably love Disney a lot more if it cost less.

This is my first TR, so bear with me. It will probably be much shorter than other TRs, but I’ll try to make it entertaining thanks for coming aboard!

 

[♫♥MickeyManda♥♫]

Table of Contents​

Introduction
Day 1: Magical Beginnings (Part 1)
Day 1: Magical Beginnings (Part 2)
Day 2: How much Disney can we fit in one day? Part 1
Day 2: How much Disney can we fit in one day? Part 2

 

[Disney~Cutie]

I'm in!!
Can't wait for more

 

[MickeyisBeast]

I'm in!
You and your sister are both very pretty

 

[LionKingDramaQueen]

I'm here!! And..did I make the...dun dun dunnnnn....

THIRD POST!!!!????!!!

I can't wait to read more!! I'm sure it will be great!!

 

[♫♥MickeyManda♥♫]

I'm in!!
Can't wait for more

I'm in!
You and your sister are both very pretty

I'm here!! And..did I make the...dun dun dunnnnn....

THIRD POST!!!!????!!!

I can't wait to read more!! I'm sure it will be great!!

Thanks everyone! Sadly I'll only be able to update on weekends, but thanks for joining

 

[♫♥MickeyManda♥♫]

Hello all! I'm now officially starting the report of my vacation to Walt Disney World! This trip was very special to me because it was my second trip, and ever since my 1st trip when I was 12 years old, I had been DYING to return! I created countdowns and each days I would get more and more anxious to go, until FINALLY the countdown reached this:

As always, it was very stressful heading out (well, maybe not for me, more so for my mother! ) but once our car service pulled up around 9am on Tuesday, August 16, we were ready to begin our journey! My brother was so excited, he wore his Mickey hat for the ride to the airport (and wore it for the entire stay).

When we arrived at the airport, we were pretty early for our 11:30am flight, so we grabbed breakfast, and waited...and waited...and waited...

When we finally boarded on our Continental flight, my siblings were thrilled to see that the newer air crafts came with individual TVs. It was an additional cost, however it did make my brother happy to be able to watch Spongebob and other favorites on the way down it was quite a... may i say magical?... start to his trip.

After the flight, I was thrilled to finally land in Orlando! We headed down to the Magical Express counter, and it had then hit me that we really were back at Disney We couldn't wait to board the bus and arrive at Port Orleans Riverside.

I was in heaven the moment I stepped onto the bus. The ride seemed to go by quickly, but it must've been the adorable movie they show that kept me entertained! At last, I saw the famous sign:

After stops at the Boardwalk and Beach Club, we finally saw this:

That concludes the first portion of the Day 1 report! Be sure to check back soon for the next part. I promise it will get more exciting than just airports

 

[♫♥MickeyManda♥♫]

Hello again! When we left off, the Magical Express bus had just pulled into POR. We were overwhelmed with excitement as we stepped off the bus and were greeted at the front of the main building. The Cast Members near the door gave my brother a balloon, which was so sweet and was just one of those little details that makes your stay extra special:

We then went to check in. The lobby was really nice but not nearly as impressive as some of the others, but charming in its own way We were put in building 18, which was really close to the food court, lobby, etc. because we had paid for a preferred room. We don't regret this at all, it was so nice not having to walk long distances just for breakfast

When we left the lobby and stepped outsides, we were immediately impressed by the scenery at POR. It is absolutely beautiful, and we loved the atmosphere. We were so excited when we approached our room, which was on the 2nd floor of Building 18.

Before entering the room, we were already expecting the space to be a tight fit for all 5 of us, which it was, but we were more impressed with the room than we thought. Also, we were thrilled when we realized we had a corner room, which meant we got two windows! Yay! It really does brighten up the room a lot.

On our last trip we had gone to Magic Kingdom on our first night, but this time we decided to keep things simple and just do Downtown Disney. We didn't make it to DD on our last trip, so this was our first time going. Sadly we couldn't take the boat due to weather, so we had to wait for the bus, which dropped us off at the Marketplace. We first went into Once Upon a Toy, and my brother LOVED all of the Toy Story decor and statues!

We had no dinner reservations for the night, so we were hoping to eat at Wolfgang Puck Express, however it was REALLY crowded (probably should have expected this) so we decided to find somewhere else. We ended up at Earl of Sandwich, which was nearby, and it was a great choice in the end. I got a pasta salad and a Caprese sandwich, which was delicious. It's fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, basil, and balsamic. Yum!

After we ate, we headed over to the other side of the Marketplace. My brother LOVES legos, so the Lego Store was paradise to him! All of the lego figures were very impressive.

For our final stop, we headed to World of Disney. It was extremely crowded and made it difficult to browse, so we left. Luckily the weather had cleared up, so we were able to take the boat back to POR! Our boat driver was incredibly funny, telling the passengers different stories that he's encountered while working at WDW. He was definitely one of those CMs you'll always remember. The boat ride back was longer than I had expected, but that is certainly not a complaint, I enjoyed every minute of it!

It was fairly dark when we finally got back to POR, and we were exhausted from our amazing first day. That wraps up this post, thanks for reading, and I hope you join in for the next post, which will take place at our first theme park of the trip

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm joining!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip. I loved POR when we stayed there. I especially love having the boat to take. I think that there's just something about the ride that is relaxing and enjoyable.

 

[♫♥MickeyManda♥♫]

I'm joining!

Can't wait to hear about the rest of your trip. I loved POR when we stayed there. I especially love having the boat to take. I think that there's just something about the ride that is relaxing and enjoyable.

The boat was great. Sadly when we were there it was closed a lot, but when we got to take it we loved it. So relaxing

 

[lbuzz52]

joining in. we are staying at Riverside next trip hopefully, so i'm looking forward to more from you!

 

[♫♥MickeyManda♥♫]

Welcome back! Today I'm starting the beginning of Day 2, which was our first full day, and was going to be spent at Magic Kingdom. Although we were exhausted from our travel day, we woke up around 6:30 in hopes of arriving at MK around 10. It took about 2 hours just to get ready and out of room, mainly because we're 5 people in a tight room, and we all needed to use the shower but we were off to breakfast around 8:30. We were eating at the Riverside Mill for the first time, and it was fairly crowded when we got there. We had to pull chairs from other tables so we could all sit together. The food court has a nice selection of breakfast foods, however I opted for just a fruit salad.

After breakfast, we headed straight the South Depot bus stop, which is closest to the main building at POR. I must say, I miss the excitement of seeing your bus pull up it's just one of those simple things that I love. We heard the POR buses weren't too great, however we never waited more than 15 minutes at most. The buses were PACKED, but never an issue. When our bus finally came, and then dropped us off at MK, I was absolutely overwhelmed with excitement. I really couldn't believe I was back! Walking up to the MK entrance must be the best feeling in the entire world.

I was ecstatic when we finally went through the gate, and entered the park. Near Tony's, we immediately spotted Pinocchio, who happens to be one of my brother's FAVORITE characters. What a magical start to our day-

After meeting the famous puppet, we headed down Main Street. The castle was looking fabulous, as usual

We went to Tomorrowland first so my brother could ride Buzz's Space Ranger Spin, which had a 20 minute wait. It was his first time riding, and he LOVED it. Afterwards, my sister and I grabbed Fastpasses for Space Mountain and then we all headed to Fantasyland. We rode Snow White's Scary Adventures, since it only had a 15 minute wait, plus it was going to be closing soon and I had never been on it before. I wasn't too impressed with it, so I am excited to see what will be replacing it

We went to ride Haunted Mansion next. My brother cried for the ENTIRE ride even though he went on it when he was 4, and it didn't bother him at all then. After we survived that, my sister and I went over to Space Mountain by ourselves while our parents and brother roamed Fantasyland. This was our first time riding SM, since we didn't get to do it last trip, and we LOVED it. I was so excited to get the front car and the blue tunnel was really cool! Once we were done with that, we met up with the rest of our family and began wandering over to Adventureland and Frontierland.

After long walk, it began to pour when we finally got to Frontierland, so we rushed into the nearest attraction, which happened to be Country Bear Jamboree. The sign had said only 6 minutes until the next showing, but it was well over 20 minutes. We still enjoyed everything though:

When the show was over, it was just about time to check in for our lunch reservations at Crystal Palace, which is one of my favorite restaurants to be continued in the next post!

 

[♫♥MickeyManda♥♫]

We arrived at the Crystal Palace a little early for our reservation time, and we waited for about 20-25 minutes. They had Cast Members outside in the waiting area with coloring activities for the little ones, however my brother preferred running around, since he always has so much energy!

When we were called in, we were seated at the right side of the restaurant. I must've forgotten how beautiful the interior is, because I was very impressed once again. Piglet was the first character to greet us, and he came almost immediately after our arrival.

We all headed the the buffet and quickly returned so we wouldn't miss Pooh bear!

Eeyore arrived shortly after-

And finally, Tigger came. We definitely had the best character interaction with him. He came around and kissed everyone on the head, and even kissed my hand what a cutie! He was so funny with my brother, too!

After we saw the characters, we headed back to the buffet for dessert. Super yummy selections! The ice cream was great, and my favorite thing was the banana custard pastry. SO good.

This meal is definitely one of my favorites for a reason! We were stuffed afterwards, and decided to head back to POR for a relaxing afternoon at the pool.

We LOVED the main pool here, it wasn't as impressive as some of the others, but the theming was nice and my brother was in love with the water slide. My whole family had a great time.

Around 5:30, we headed back to the room to shower and change. We would be heading back to the MK for the fireworks check back soon for the next part!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Sounds like a good day so far. I can't wait for the Fantasyland expansion either and to see what everything is going to look like.

Your meal at Crystal Palace looks good. I'm glad that the character interaction was good.

I like the pool at POR a lot too. You're right, the theming isn't overt like other resorts, but it's a lot of fun.