She's Five at Riverside - A September 2014 Trip Report (Completed 2/27)

[MonsterWDWmom]

Awesome update!

We didn't make it to Oaken's, but it looks like it was fun! I mean building a snowman when it is 90 outside that is great!

I love Space Ship Earth! You pictures make me miss it so much.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Following along... Love the commentary from you both on this TR.
Can't wait to read on.

Welcome BOG Obsessed. We're glad that you enjoy our conversations back and forth. Hopefully you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoy going over the fun we had. By the way, we had a great dinner at BOG that we'll report on from Thursday night...

Awesome update!

We didn't make it to Oaken's, but it looks like it was fun! I mean building a snowman when it is 90 outside that is great!

I love Space Ship Earth! You pictures make me miss it so much.

Thanks, we're glad you're enjoying it so far.

We definitely enjoyed Oaken's, and it made it worth the trip to HS before we went to Epcot, which is our very favorite.

Spaceship Earth became one of Allie's favorites instantly, and we knew we'd be back...

 

[TheMaxRebo]

"Nothing beats that first morning when you still have the entire trip ahead of you" ... that is very true - and it is also shocking how quickly you get to the point where you wake up on the last day of your trip.

Glad you liked your location - seems like it was good and not too far at all form things. Also sounds like a nice breakfast.

Our recent trip we visiting the Oaken Trading Store, but didn't make it into the area with the ice skating or snow. Looks like fun though

Spaceship Earth is one of my favorite rides... though our last trip my son pressed the "German" button at the last second so we probably didn't get as much out of the trip this time than I have in the past

Sunshine Seasons is definitely a pretty great quick service location - lots of good and varied options. That salad sounds pretty darn good!

 

[Wood Nymph]

POR looks like a beautiful resort. Did you request Alligator Bayou or was it just a random room assignment? The food court looks like it was well planned out for kids.

We watched the Frozen parade, or at least stood near it while it happened out of site. We saw the little welcome on the stage. It was cute. We also checked out the build a snowman and ice rink. I think it is a great addition to DHS. Has Allie had a lot of experience in building a snowman?

Spaceship Earth is always a must do for us on every trip. What took you so long to go on it?

 

[Marsheliz]

I'd have to wholeheartedly agree about the waking up and the whole trip being in front of you. LOVE IT!

Great early morning shots. Looks like a beautiful morning.

We have never done LM at DHS but that is going to have to change soon. Both of my boys love Ariel!

The Frozen thing with the snow is sooooo neat.. Have they closed that already? My boys would love that and I love the pic of you guys with Elsa and Anna!!!

 

[BarbP]

Beautiful pictures, good looking family and precious baby girl! Thanks for the report. Looking forward to more!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

"Nothing beats that first morning when you still have the entire trip ahead of you" ... that is very true - and it is also shocking how quickly you get to the point where you wake up on the last day of your trip.

Glad you liked your location - seems like it was good and not too far at all form things. Also sounds like a nice breakfast.

Our recent trip we visiting the Oaken Trading Store, but didn't make it into the area with the ice skating or snow. Looks like fun though

Spaceship Earth is one of my favorite rides... though our last trip my son pressed the "German" button at the last second so we probably didn't get as much out of the trip this time than I have in the past

Sunshine Seasons is definitely a pretty great quick service location - lots of good and varied options. That salad sounds pretty darn good!

Yes, that first day feeling is about as good as it gets, since it is as far as possible from that dreaded last day. Time does fly by.

The location was exceptional, even for a preferred room. We are glad we paid the extra for the location since it kept the walking distances super short for my Mom. Being under 100 steps from a mug refill came in handy too.

POR looks like a beautiful resort. Did you request Alligator Bayou or was it just a random room assignment? The food court looks like it was well planned out for kids.

We watched the Frozen parade, or at least stood near it while it happened out of site. We saw the little welcome on the stage. It was cute. We also checked out the build a snowman and ice rink. I think it is a great addition to DHS. Has Allie had a lot of experience in building a snowman?

Spaceship Earth is always a must do for us on every trip. What took you so long to go on it?

At POR all of the preferred rooms are in Alligator Bayou. This worked out great for us because we prefer the smaller Alligator Bayou "Lodges" to the larger "Mansion" buildings. It is interesting that AB rooms are some of the closest to the lobby, but also some of the farthest away as we found by exploring the resort. The Mansions are farther than our room was, but generally not a super long walk from the lobby as long as you go across the island.

Allie played in real snow a little bit at Grandma and Grandpa's old house before they moved to Arizona. She was pretty small then though. She had fun playing there at HS, and it was so nice and cool in there.

I'd have to wholeheartedly agree about the waking up and the whole trip being in front of you. LOVE IT!

Great early morning shots. Looks like a beautiful morning.

We have never done LM at DHS but that is going to have to change soon. Both of my boys love Ariel!

The Frozen thing with the snow is sooooo neat.. Have they closed that already? My boys would love that and I love the pic of you guys with Elsa and Anna!!!

The Little Mermaid show was pretty neat. If you can work out the timing to arrive about 10 minutes before the show time it becomes almost a walk in. We arrived at the show time a couple of years ago and missed it.

It's funny how just about every morning at Disney feels extra beautiful. One of my favorite things to do is to go walk around the resort in the morning. There are so many excited people in such a pretty setting that it is fun to people watch.

The Frozen stuff we saw ended September 28th after being extended, but I just read the following:
"Wandering Oaken's merchandise location and play area will move to the former American Film Institute Showcase, located at the exit of the Studio Backlot Tour. There will be no ice skating, but the real snow playground and Frozen merchandise will continue to be available."
So it seems they are keeping the best parts. It is worth checking out if you get a chance.

Beautiful pictures, good looking family and precious baby girl! Thanks for the report. Looking forward to more!

Thank you so much! We're glad you're enjoying following along and we'll post more of our adventures soon.

 

[WDWKOOK]

BarbP is right!

Your first POR post brought back good memories of our two stays back in 1996 and 2001. Dixie Landings was our first onsite resort and we then chose it for DD's first visit. We also had a corner room in AB and DD also loved sitting in the children's area (she was three). I remember feeling like DH and I were having some "quality time," just the two of us, when she would sit over there by herself. Aren't the grounds gorgeous and now they have queen beds

I think your MBs are more special, but it's fun seeing the new designs (and prices). It's also fun seeing your photos of attractions that our almost-16 DD doesn't go on anymore. Did Allie not like the Anna/Elsa photo op because they weren't really there? The buckets and ice look like a cute and novel activity for the kids…and adults

 

[kastoney]

Finally found some time to catch up on all your adventures. What a great first day you had and so i pressed Allie hung in there so long. Really loved bring able to follow along with you all in flight. JetBlue definitely understands customer service, emergency landings aside ; ) Though guest services always baffles me. No matter what we've had to do it always takes 45 minutes. While I like the convenience of the magic bands linking tickets and annual passes seems to be decidedly inconvenient.

Your second morning should just be called everything I wanted to do last trip and didn't get to. No little mermaid, no trading post, no listening to the land, and no sunshine seasons. Really disappointed we didn't get to the trading post, especially since you just showed me they had snow. How cool is that. Of course my kid would have likely eaten it as she is convinced when winter comes if she eats snow she will get Elsa's magic powers. And sunshine seasons is always great. Your salad sounds divine. I had a beet salad two trips ago and I still drool when thinking about it.

Your pics of riverside are great. Never been there, but your room locale looks perfect. And the pool looks like a ton of fun.

Can't wait for more.....

 

[GrandCalifornian]

BarbP is right!

Your first POR post brought back good memories of our two stays back in 1996 and 2001. Dixie Landings was our first onsite resort and we then chose it for DD's first visit. We also had a corner room in AB and DD also loved sitting in the children's area (she was three). I remember feeling like DH and I were having some "quality time," just the two of us, when she would sit over there by herself. Aren't the grounds gorgeous and now they have queen beds

I think your MBs are more special, but it's fun seeing the new designs (and prices). It's also fun seeing your photos of attractions that our almost-16 DD doesn't go on anymore. Did Allie not like the Anna/Elsa photo op because they weren't really there? The buckets and ice look like a cute and novel activity for the kids…and adults

Aww, that's neat. We're glad out trip reminds you of your earlier trips with your daughter. We look forward to still going with Allie when she is almost 16. Having the TV in the food court is great, and Allie loved it. We really did love the grounds, and appreciated the similar quiet feel to WL.

The Frozen MBs are interesting. It is an impressive bit of Disney marketing to be able to sell a fancier wrist band and be able to program it right there to your existing account. They seemed nice, and we all kind of wanted one...

Allie just had a brief moment of not wanting her picture taken, which happened a lot last year but much less on this trip. By just going on with the picture without her we didn't hold up the line and we got our picture. She got over it really quickly though, which was nice.

Finally found some time to catch up on all your adventures. What a great first day you had and so i pressed Allie hung in there so long. Really loved bring able to follow along with you all in flight. JetBlue definitely understands customer service, emergency landings aside ; ) Though guest services always baffles me. No matter what we've had to do it always takes 45 minutes. While I like the convenience of the magic bands linking tickets and annual passes seems to be decidedly inconvenient.

Your second morning should just be called everything I wanted to do last trip and didn't get to. No little mermaid, no trading post, no listening to the land, and no sunshine seasons. Really disappointed we didn't get to the trading post, especially since you just showed me they had snow. How cool is that. Of course my kid would have likely eaten it as she is convinced when winter comes if she eats snow she will get Elsa's magic powers. And sunshine seasons is always great. Your salad sounds divine. I had a beet salad two trips ago and I still drool when thinking about it.

Your pics of riverside are great. Never been there, but your room locale looks perfect. And the pool looks like a ton of fun.

Can't wait for more.....

We're glad you're following along. It is so funny that we hit all those extras that you wanted to do in one morning. We got them in then on our first full day because we didn't want them to get missed. That's so funny about eating the snow, probably not the best choice here, although they did a good job of raking up the snow between groups I don't think any of it would be considered food grade. Now we know where Elsa's magic comes from.

Riverside is really nice, even if just to visit for the food court. We like taking the boat to DTD, which makes it a little easier to work a visit into a trip when we are staying somewhere else.

 

[scholastica]

Just joining in! I love it so far, can't wait for the rest of it!

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Just joining in! I love it so far, can't wait for the rest of it!

Great, we're glad you are here. Fortunately you won't have to wait long for the next update, because it is ready to go.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

When we left off, we had just ridden a double dose of Living with the Land, and after that we still had some time to kill before our Character spot Fastpass+, so we walked over to the Seas and checked out the aquarium for a bit.

Allie wanted to play on the "playground" I'm not sure what she thought was a playground but she liked checking out the section that has Bruce and his buddies.


We also watched the manatees eat. I think they're always eating. To be that big and only eat lettuce they must have to eat all the time.


We also saw one of the manatees pass gas which Allie thought was hilarious.

Ahh, must have been a byproduct of the lettuce. Actually it was pretty funny. (thus showing my true age).
Next up was the Character spot, and we had almost no wait with the Fastpass. Allie smiled for the characters, and explained to Minnie that her Mom sewed her dress, and from the gestures it looked like Minnie was impressed.


Allie really wanted to meet Minnie Mouse after meeting Mickey the night before. She was so excited. Yes Minnie asked if I would sew her one. Side note about that dress.... it has been officially retired to the keepsake bin this week. Here are pictures from its first and last trip to Epcot:




Aww, that was a special one. It was one of the major sewing projects for our trip two years ago before she turned three. It is neat that it wound up making three trips.

We took some group shots with the characters as well:




Next up was Test Track, and we convinced Allie to give it a try since she's now tall enough.


It started out well, and she had fun designing her own pink truck.


It didn't take much convincing we just kinda got in line like it was no big deal and she was going to like it.

We were all able to ride in one car, with one other single rider joining the party. Hello random person.


The ride turned out to be a little fast for Allie, and Grandma, and maybe a little rough for Grandpa. Oh well, it is still my favorite. Afterward we asked Allie what she thought, and she said, "That was Terrible!" but at least she didn't cry over it. We told her she wouldn't have to ride it again, and we had fun looking through the cars at the ride exit before After Market.

Allie liked being able to race her car and I had to tear her hands off the steering wheel.


Next we wanted to start working our way towards Italy for dinner, so to minimize walking we hopped on a boat headed for Germany.

We didn't exactly remember where Italy was in World Showcase, but we figured out it was right next door so we did pretty well. Since we still had some time before dinner we stopped and let Allie watch the model trains for a while. I enjoyed this too.


The trains are pretty cute and Allie chased them across the bridge a couple of times.


After that we decided to shop a little bit in Germany while Grandma waited in front of Italy. It was pretty warm that afternoon and the air conditiong in the German shop felt good. Allie found a Playmobil figure that she wanted, so she spent some of her birthday money on it. We figured that would help keep her busy while we waited for dinner, and it was cheaper than anything Steif would have been.
Then we headed to our ADR at Via Napoli. We had never been there before, and everybody was looking forward to it.


We were a little early for our ADR but they seated us pretty quickly. Allie and I fell in love with the chandelier in the foyer of the restaurant.


Despite seeming very calm outside, the restaurant was really busy inside. We got our table quickly, but it was a table for four with an extra chair added for Allie. We looked over the menu and decided on a couple of pizzas and salad for the adults, and Allie ordered Spaghetti and meatballs.

The salad was so good. I really enjoyed that it had all kinds of yummy stuff mixed in.

For the pizzas, we ordered a Prosciutto and Melon one and my less advenutous parents stuck with Pepperoni.




I really enjoyed the Prosciutto pizza. It was something totally unique. I would have never thought to put cantalope on a pizza but it was surprisingly delicious.

I did enjoy the pizza, and it was unique yet very tasty. Overall though the meal just wasn't what quite we had hoped for. I think some of it for me was the loud environment, perhaps we would have done better to do something a little more comfortable the first day and then do Via Napoli once we were better adjusted. Another factor might have been that we were doing it out of pocket, so we were looking at prices which is one of the nice things to avoid when using the dining plan.

I think we were all tired and cranky and hungry at the end of a long day and that made things harder than they should have been. Also our waitress, while very nice, had a REALLY thick accent which made her difficult to understand which complicated things. Either way though the food was great and I'd definatley eat here again. Though next time I think I'd order pasta. Allie's spaghetti was amazing.

I do agree that I would eat there again, and the food was great too. I think we would do better knowing more of what to expect. It is really great that in retrospect this meal was our least favorite of the trip, yet still had really great food. We had a wonderful week of dining still to come.
After dinner we all wanted to ride Malestrom since we had heard of its upcoming change to a Frozen theme and had never gotten to ride it, so we walked over to Norway.

Once again we just kinda got in line with Allie and didn't tell her what to expect except that it was a boat ride.

Allie wound up being fine with it, although when the boat started going backwards I think Grandpa just about jumped out of his seat. The intensity of the ride surprised them, but it was a lot of fun, and Allie was fine with it. Afterwards she posed with the trolls.


After that Grandma and Grandpa were done, so they headed for the front of the park to catch a bus to the hotel. We walked with them to the Mexico pavillion, where Allie wanted to visit one of her favorite boat rides, the Three Caballeros, or as she called it last year "The Three Mousekamaeros". As is now tradition, Allie and Melissa tried on tiaras at the shop by the ride exit.


Someday I'm going to buy one of those for each of us and we can wear them all trip. I mean where else in the world can you wear a tiara during a normal day and people not think you are a lunatic?

After Mexico we decided to head out the International Gateway and we got on a boat headed for Boardwalk. We had a goal of dessert at the Boardwalk Bakery, but first things first we stopped for a mug refill.


We had a lot of nice options to choose from, but chose a cheesecake brownie and a specialty bat cupcake for Allie.

The cupcake was delish! The cheesecake brownie was yummy too but I prefer lighter cake to brownies.

We had a great time sitting outside on the the boardwalk, and while we were sitting there the Frozen fireworks started, so Allie and I went over to get a better view of those.




I enjoyed people watching and just relaxing, for some reason it took longer for me to get into that chill "vacation zone" than normal this trip.

I really enjoyed having the chance to relax for a bit, and then we headed out to explore the Boardwalk a bit and take the walkway back to HS. On the way we stopped to see the strange "clown pool" in person and agreed that it was slightly disturbing, but not a deal breaker.


The walk back to Hollywood Studios was nice and not real far at all from World Showcase.

It reminds me of walking between the parks at Disneyland.

only it's still farther than that. Maybe from Fantasyland in Disneyland to the Pacific Wharf area of California Adventure?

Yeah, that's probably a good gauge of the distance, with the hotels in the middle.


We liked the Boardwalk location when we visited during our honeymoon, and we still find it to be very nice. It was our first time walking the path to HS, but it was a pretty quick trip. We got to HS a little after 9:30. A bus soon arrived and it was packed full with three ECVs, but we made it on and got back to the resort just after 10 PM. Allie watched cartoons in bed until we went to sleep about 11 PM. It was a nice way to end a long first full day, but we didn't want to stay out too late because we wanted to make morning EMH at AK the next morning, which will be in the next update.

 

[MonsterWDWmom]

[/COLOR]Someday I'm going to buy one of those for each of us and we can wear them all trip. I mean where else in the world can you wear a tiara during a normal day and people not think you are a lunatic?

Yes I agree, I got a small tiara this year and wore it in the parks most days, just yesterday morning I put it on and asked my husband if he thought the parents in the drop off line would think I was crazy

I was obviously joking but this is one of the reasons why I love Disney you can be who you are down there and not worry about what people think (or even sticking out).

Wow what a great day you did a lot!

Epcot is so nice, I haven't eaten at Via Napoli yet but one day hope to.

After seeing the pictures from the Boardwalk bakery I think it will be on my must do list, plus seeing the frozen fireworks from there talk about an added bonus

 

[Batgirl67]

Such a sweet trip report so far. I like the diff points of view betwixt DH and DW.

I adore the phrase "The Three Mousekamaeros" for that ride. Lil' ones say the most unique things.

I'm thinking a tiara next summer at WDW is in the cards for me, as you put it, where else would it be considered normal headwear.

Cheers!

Lisa

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Yes I agree, I got a small tiara this year and wore it in the parks most days, just yesterday morning I put it on and asked my husband if he thought the parents in the drop off line would think I was crazy

I was obviously joking but this is one of the reasons why I love Disney you can be who you are down there and not worry about what people think (or even sticking out).

Wow what a great day you did a lot!

Epcot is so nice, I haven't eaten at Via Napoli yet but one day hope to.

After seeing the pictures from the Boardwalk bakery I think it will be on my must do list, plus seeing the frozen fireworks from there talk about an added bonus

Sometimes it's a good thing if the other parent's think you're crazy, maybe I'll just have to wear my tiara tomorrow....

We love Epcot, and fortunately got to spend a lot of time there this trip.

Boardwalk Bakery has been on our list for a couple of years too, especially since they remodeled it. It is a great spot, and pretty easy to stop by from Epcot.

Such a sweet trip report so far. I like the diff points of view betwixt DH and DW.

I adore the phrase "The Three Mousekamaeros" for that ride. Lil' ones say the most unique things.

I'm thinking a tiara next summer at WDW is in the cards for me, as you put it, where else would it be considered normal headwear.

Cheers!

Lisa

Welcome! Thanks for reading and commenting. We have fun discussing the trip, and going over it, and we found it is easier to put the whole conversation than to try to merge it into a single report. We're glad you like it.

We set up the TR diologue like this so that I'm not constantly reading over Paul's shoulder telling him what to write.

We wanted to have "The Three Mousekamaeros" put on our Christmas ornament we bought last year, but they wouldn't do it. Oh well, we still remember it fondly even though Allie now knows how to say Caballeros now, and sings it along with most of the rest of the song from the ride...

 

[SimplyGoofy]

I'm in! Birthdays at Disney World are magical - I can't wait to see what Allie thought about celebrating her birthday there!

I'm sorry you didn't love Via Napoli - I agree it can get a little noisy. During our last visit there we were seated in the little glass-windowed room to the front right of the restaurant and that was a lot more quiet. (It's on your right side as you're walking into the restaurant, just behind the outdoor tables.) If you're able to request a table next time, perhaps you could ask to sit there? Also, I would highly recommend the spaghetti - it's great!

I'm looking forward to more!

 

[kastoney]

Allies dress is adorable. Can't believe she got to wear it for 3 trips. Mine can't make it a season without growing out of everything ; )

Yum, may favorite via Napoli pizza ever. Glad you all enjoyed it, though Via is definitely not the place for a nice quiet meal. I opted for the artichoke and truffle this time and missed my prosciutto oh so much.

And glad you all made it over to the boardwalk bakery, it is definitely worth the trip. And totally agree the walk to MGM is much closer than anticipated.

Gearing up for day 3....

 

[Wood Nymph]

Next up was the Character spot, and we had almost no wait with the Fastpass. Allie smiled for the characters, and explained to Minnie that her Mom sewed her dress, and from the gestures it looked like Minnie was impressed.

......
Aww, that was a special one. It was one of the major sewing projects for our trip two years ago before she turned three. It is neat that it wound up making three trips.

That is a really cute dress. I'm glad she was able to wear it for three trips. There will be plenty of fond memories, too.

The ride turned out to be a little fast for Allie, and Grandma, and maybe a little rough for Grandpa. Oh well, it is still my favorite. Afterward we asked Allie what she thought, and she said, "That was Terrible!" but at least she didn't cry over it. We told her she wouldn't have to ride it again, and we had fun looking through the cars at the ride exit before After Market.

Allie liked being able to race her car and I had to tear her hands off the steering wheel.

Test Track is one of my favorites, too. Kids seem to like the real cars a lot more.

Then we headed to our ADR at Via Napoli. We had never been there before, and everybody was looking forward to it.

I really enjoyed the Prosciutto pizza. It was something totally unique. I would have never thought to put cantalope on a pizza but it was surprisingly delicious.

I did enjoy the pizza, and it was unique yet very tasty. Overall though the meal just wasn't what quite we had hoped for. I think some of it for me was the loud environment, perhaps we would have done better to do something a little more comfortable the first day and then do Via Napoli once we were better adjusted. Another factor might have been that we were doing it out of pocket, so we were looking at prices which is one of the nice things to avoid when using the dining plan.

We've eaten at Via Napoli twice and we have an ADR for our next trip. The first time we ate there we had an amazing time. Our waiter was great. He was lively and funny and he made the whole experience feel special. I think we had the pepperoni pizza, although I would have loved to have tried the prosciutto and melon. The second time we ate there we had a normal waiter, good but not exciting. The waiter can really make a big difference.

After dinner we all wanted to ride Malestrom since we had heard of its upcoming change to a Frozen theme and had never gotten to ride it, so we walked over to Norway.

One of the nice things about our September trip was that we were there for the final days of things like the Maelstrom. I'm glad we had a chance to ride it before it was gone. We even watched the little movie afterwords.

We walked with them to the Mexico pavillion, where Allie wanted to visit one of her favorite boat rides, the Three Caballeros, or as she called it last year "The Three Mousekamaeros". As is now tradition, Allie and Melissa tried on tiaras at the shop by the ride exit.

Someday I'm going to buy one of those for each of us and we can wear them all trip. I mean where else in the world can you wear a tiara during a normal day and people not think you are a lunatic?

The Mousekamaeros is cute. And I think I need a tiara to wear around Disney. It would be so much fun.

We had a great time sitting outside on the the boardwalk, and while we were sitting there the Frozen fireworks started, so Allie and I went over to get a better view of those.

We liked the Boardwalk location when we visited during our honeymoon, and we still find it to be very nice. It was our first time walking the path to HS, but it was a pretty quick trip. We got to HS a little after 9:30. A bus soon arrived and it was packed full with three ECVs, but we made it on and got back to the resort just after 10 PM. Allie watched cartoons in bed until we went to sleep about 11 PM. It was a nice way to end a long first full day, but we didn't want to stay out too late because we wanted to make morning EMH at AK the next morning, which will be in the next update.

We were walking on the Boardwalk when the Frozen fireworks started. We noticed that you could watch them in the reflection on the Dolphin resort. It was kind of neat.

We love the walk from the Epcot resorts to DHS. This last trip I think we walked it at least 6 times. We beat the boat almost every time, too.

What a nice first day you had.

 

[Marsheliz]

What a precious dress! I LOVE IT. Since I have two boys, we don't get to do the whole dressing up thing but I sure hope that one day we will be able too.. <3

That pizza looks SOOOOOO good. Especially the prosciutto one.. I could go for a pizza right about now.

The Boardwalk area is SO nice. I also love the Beach Club. I wish we could afford to do deluxe and stay there. Maybe one of these days!