Return to Riverside ~ Food For Thought

[NeverGrowingUp]

Hi and welcome to my first ever pre trip report.

As it's my first please be patient as I figure a few things out, including what on earth I am going to write about!

I guess the first thing to do would be an intro to the cast of this PTR.

I am NeverGrowingUp, or if you prefer go with the shorter J.

I've been lurking on the Dis for over 18 months now, and finally gained the courage to post. I wanted somewhere to document my plans and also practice for writing a TR after as I've read so many really enjoyable ones over the last 18 months that its made me want to give it a go too. I also thought I'd better get started as (spoiler alert) the preliminary schedule for the month of my trip has just come out so I'll soon be able to plan which park on which day etc.

As there's still quite a while before my trip I'll leave it there and come back with more info on the who, where, when and other details later.

See ya real soon.

 

[NeverGrowingUp]

*reserved for when I figure out how to do chapter links*

 

[NeverGrowingUp]

Hello again and Happy Easter

About time I get on with the who of this tale.

The cast of this trip will be me and my DH. We’re both 30 somethings, who act like we’re more like 5 sometimes, hence my user name here.

I’m the real Disney obsessive, who loves pretty much everything about it, and my obsession seems to have grown since revisiting the parks in the last couple of years. I love the rides, the characters, the parades, the theming, the sounds and whole pixie dust atmosphere. My DH on the other hand is all about the rides, especially thrill rides.

I can’t really say what my favourite characters, rides, or even parks are as I change my mind so frequently. I don’t think my DH has a favourite character but his favourite ride is either Expedition Everest of Space Mountain and favourite park is Epcot.

This will be my sixth trip and my DH’s second. We last went in 2012 and I am so pleased he had a great time too, as it meant he agreed to come back so soon and before we went he had a bit of a take it or leave it attitude. It will be our first trip just the two of us as last time all my family came along too.

We may also be meeting up with a neighbour who will be on the college programme at the time, but we've not made any firm plans yet as that will depend on her role and schedule.

See ya real soon.

 

[NeverGrowingUp]

So, when is this return trip happening?
Some of you may have spotted I referred to the preliminary schedule coming out earlier this month, which means November 2014! The first 2 weeks of November to be precise. Sometimes I feel like that's still a really long way away, but considering we booked this trip in June 2013 it feels positively close now. We started out with over 450 days to go so getting under the 200 day mark felt really good and 180 days is approaching

Why book so early? Well looks like I forgot to mention in the who section that we're from Englad, so to get good deals you have to book early, they are generally released about this time of year (deals for 2015 were released a couple of days ago and although I don't see another return on the cards for us then I'm still tempted to look!) So booking last June got us a $200 gift card, free QSDP, 14 days in the parks for the price of 7, and I think there was supposed to be a room discount, but because I didn't check the prices before April last year I don't know whether there really was.

Why November? Well we went in the last week of October, first week of November last trip and the weather was pretty good, there were some gusty winds the first few days making it a bit cooler, but aside from that and some cooler evenings it was pretty perfect. I think we had one day where it rained and that passed over pretty fast. My previous trips had all been in July / August so I'd seen Florida rain and it felt pretty good not having to don a poncho every day at 3 or 4pm or dash inside somewhere. It was cool then to see the Halloween decorations and the start of the Christmas decorations, and I'm hoping we'll see more Christmas being there that little bit later. Aside from more time with christmassy stuff up my main reason for going later was the £500 price difference, which I think is down to flights and many schools in the UK having a half term break that last week in October.

My only concern is the crowd levels rising for Jersey week / wine and dine marathon / veterans day. We were there Jersey week last year and didn't really notice an increase but I don't know if that's because it was the end of our stay and we'd pretty much done our Must Dos by that time or if it just really isn't as bad as some people make out? One thing I want to do more of is seeing some of the resorts so maybe we'll do that on the weekend to avoid the crowds.

I'll back back with more detailed plans about our days soon, but am still working on those for now.

See ya real soon

 

[NeverGrowingUp]

Well this has been given away in the title, but I will state the obvious that yes, we will be staying at Port Orleans Riverside.

It will be our second trip there. I was keen to rebook as we had such a brilliant stay last time. We wanted to book moderate as the UK doesn’t offer free dining on value resorts and deluxe was a bit too pricey for us, plus I’m not sure we’d like the restriction of having ADRs everyday with all those table service meals as while I like to plan to an extent we like to be able to change things up depending on our mood. POR seems a bit smaller than the other moderates, although I know it’s still quite spread out. I liked the food court, and the ability to walk over to POFQ for a change of scene, the boat to DTD and the fact it didn’t feel like any park was too far away. I’ve only ever stayed off property or at All Stars before last time so don’t have the proximity of the Epcot or MK resorts to compare it to.

We’re booked in a standard room as I really don’t care about the view, especially when the door opens onto a walkway rather than having your own balcony, as most of the time we’ll be in the room it will be to sleep.

Having said I loved it last time now I’m getting a little nervous though that it won’t be as good as I remember. It certainly won’t be the same just being the two of us, and perhaps I should have tried somewhere new, but that shouldn’t stop it from being as good should it? Any reassurance from those of you who’ve been in this situation yourselves would be appreciated!

See ya real soon

 

[NeverGrowingUp]

Just a quick note to say sorry for the lack of photos so far, I need to post more before I can add links...oh and set up a photobucket site or the like, which I do not have yet and keep putting off having read many complaints about it on here!!!

 

[NeverGrowingUp]

Decisions, decisions...


We have the QSDP and will be mainly eating at QS places, but are thinking about having a TS meal or two in addition. I’m not sure how this is going to work out as last trip we actually had exactly the right amount of CS meal credits for our 14 days. But the difference was we had 2 snacks per day and often used snack credits for breakfast, plus we had a couple of meals eating round the world at F&W, so I’m thinking as we’ll have fewer snacks we could use a couple more CS credits on breakfasts (Mickey Waffles - yay) and have some meals left to account for.

Now the only TS meals I recall eating at on previous trips were Crystal Palace and Empress Lilly (yes, that was a long time ago, but it was my first charcater meal and so I remember it, and also I have the certificate to prove it!).


My thoughts are we should go with lunch or dinner TS meals because I don’t want to waste morning park time, but I could be convinced to do breakfast, especially as it should be cheaper OOP.


Originally I had in mind going to Sanaa, then I started looking at other options and my list started growing, ok so it only got as far as 4, but that’s because I’ve stopped looking before I get even more confused :, my thoughts so far are:

Sanaa

Boma

Teppan Edo

Kona


I am a vegetarian and these all have options that are appealing to me, DH is really not interested in character meals so I’ve avoided those. Criteria for TS places is really somewhere that offers something a bit different.

Sanaa – was the first place I thought of as I want to see AKL, possibly being able to see animals as you eat (although not guaranteed I know) would be cool, the menu appeals – I’d probably go for the bread service followed by vegetarian curry sampler. Cons: we have a lot of good curry places here and I’m not sure if we’d be disappointed by a Disneyfied version.

Boma – another opportunity for seeing AKL, having a wander outside to the Savannah, but on the list really for my DH who is a buffet fan. Cons: cost, plus I am less of a buffet fan because I usually find I don’t eat my moneys worth but I’ve heard it’s a good one for veggies.

If we don’t pick one of these two we’d probably still head to AKL for a look around and possibly food at The Mara

Teppan Edo – I love noodle dishes, and the entertainment value looks like it could be fun. Cons: lots of other QS places I love in Epcot.

Kona – I think I’d go for the noodles, the desserts look great, lunch prices in particular are good, good break from the parks but still close to pop back in. Cons: again good QS options nearby (in MK or Cap’n Cooks / Contempo Café)

I’d welcome thoughts please….

Oh and hopefully we’ll be headed to Beaches & Cream for a Sundae but probably not a main course.