Special event AND a holiday?! Yep, crazy. 10/21 - Link to TR up!

[glennbo123]

Always be selling!

Congratulations.

Can't wait to read your Star Tours report.

 

[hstrickland]

I like the room! This is one of the resorts that are in the running (no pun intended) for the Princess Half....we can't decide....I'm sure you're shocked POR, CBR, AKL, or SSR????? Just don't know...but I really like the look of the refurbished rooms! They are queens, right? Which room category is that anyway?

 

[onelilspark]

I've not seen full pictures of the new rooms at POFQ -- very nice.

My question is: was anyone at the bar watching the high school game? My guess is probably not. I don't see why they couldn't change it.

Well, at least you guys had a nice drink (well, water in your case), before crashing for the night.

I don't think anyone was watching it. But it was ESPN...so you know, synergy, right??

The pics of the lobby and rooms look gorgeous! My brother-in-law & wife stayed at Port Orleans back in 1996 and absolutely loved the resort (their first WDW visit).

Congrats on your sales figures! (and beating out the older ones) I have been in sales and know how hard selling is (one thing I could never figure out is I made the most revenue over all the other sales reps but was never #)

POFQ is pretty much my favorite Disney resort, even over the Poly and the Beach Club!

Thanks for the congrats!

Always be selling!

Congratulations.

Can't wait to read your Star Tours report.

Thanks! Spoiler alert: it was awesome.

I like the room! This is one of the resorts that are in the running (no pun intended) for the Princess Half....we can't decide....I'm sure you're shocked POR, CBR, AKL, or SSR????? Just don't know...but I really like the look of the refurbished rooms! They are queens, right? Which room category is that anyway?

Are you going with your kids or just you & your husband? I mean, I *love* French Quarter, but I think it would be a little cramped for a family of 5.

That room is just a standard king room. POFQ doesn't have preferred rooms (they might have different water view rooms, but we didn't pay for one.)

The new 2 bed rooms are Queens.

 

[hstrickland]

Are you going with your kids or just you & your husband? I mean, I *love* French Quarter, but I think it would be a little cramped for a family of 5.

That room is just a standard king room. POFQ doesn't have preferred rooms (they might have different water view rooms, but we didn't pay for one.)

The new 2 bed rooms are Queens.

For the Princess Half weekend, it's just going to be us...no kids. I'm going to have to check out each of these resorts. If the 3 children were with us, there would be no way to do a mod...well...except for FW. They would kill each other. I keep hearing such great things about POR and POFQ...really want to try them.

Thanks for the info!

 

[onelilspark]

For the Princess Half weekend, it's just going to be us...no kids. I'm going to have to check out each of these resorts. If the 3 children were with us, there would be no way to do a mod...well...except for FW. They would kill each other. I keep hearing such great things about POR and POFQ...really want to try them.

Thanks for the info!

Then I think you should definitely try FQ.

...or you know, at least start there

 

[hstrickland]

Ha....Thanks! I'll at least START with POFQ...but as you know (my Sig gives it away) it will probably change 5 times.

 

[petals]

joining in! love it when the planes leave on time.. I don't mind them getting delayed on the way home but not when you want to get to Disney ASAP

 

[onelilspark]

Ha....Thanks! I'll at least START with POFQ...but as you know (my Sig gives it away) it will probably change 5 times.

So I'm debating re-booking Bistro de Paris for dinner in September. I can always cancel it before I get there if I change my mind. But what if it's awful weather and rainy?? It might be nice to spend 2 hours in doors at a restaurant

joining in! love it when the planes leave on time.. I don't mind them getting delayed on the way home but not when you want to get to Disney ASAP

My luck for planes lately has been awful. I've had so many canceled!! Thanks for joining!

 

[hstrickland]

So I'm debating re-booking Bistro de Paris for dinner in September. I can always cancel it before I get there if I change my mind. But what if it's awful weather and rainy?? It might be nice to spend 2 hours in doors at a restaurant

Gosh....I'm floored that you are thinking about changing...that's so not you I would really like to try the Bistro...I hear you can get a great view of Illuminations, too, if you time it just right.

Heather

 

[onelilspark]

Gosh....I'm floored that you are thinking about changing...that's so not you I would really like to try the Bistro...I hear you can get a great view of Illuminations, too, if you time it just right.

Heather

So today I was faced with trying to come up with things we still have to get done for the wedding. Instead I was pricing out how much it would be to fly down to Orlando in August.

Luckily Geoff is home today (he has summer hours and works extended hours Mon-Thurs and has Fri off) and was able to talk some sense into me.

I think I have a problem. I then thought about extending my trip by a day, but I'm not spending $400 to stay at BLT. So I went back to my to-do list.

 

[hstrickland]

So today I was faced with trying to come up with things we still have to get done for the wedding. Instead I was pricing out how much it would be to fly down to Orlando in August.

Luckily Geoff is home today (he has summer hours and works extended hours Mon-Thurs and has Fri off) and was able to talk some sense into me.

I think I have a problem. I then thought about extending my trip by a day, but I'm not spending $400 to stay at BLT. So I went back to my to-do list.

O geez!! This isn't good! Are you driving down by yourself???

 

[onelilspark]

The next day was Saturday, and from what I could tell, it was also the best day over Memorial Day Weekend for us to try to hit Star Wars weekends.

Now I had been keeping up to date on SWW news over at www.studioscentral.com and rumor had it that the park was consistently opening early during the festival weekends. Now, if I was wrong, there was no way I would hear the end of "you made us get here an hour before the park opened!" so I compromised and asked everyone to be ready to leave by 8am, that way, if the park opened at 8, we'd still be there ahead of the major crowds.

The morning was gorgeous, this was our view when we were getting ready to head out:

Before we left, we headed over to the food court for some breakfast.

Decorations in Sassagoula.

Part of the reason my Mom and I love staying at French Quarter is the excuse to get beneigts in the morning!

We split these. I love that they make them fresh!

After breakfast (which wasn't crowded, considering it was about 7:30) we were ready to head out to the park! ...well, after my Dad went back to the room, brushed his teeth and got some cold water for the day ...oh, and then my Mom needed to change her shoes But pretty close to 8am we were heading to the car.

Which was good because we saw this when we arrived!

Yep! Sure enough, the park opened early!

We paused just long enough to catch a couple photos of these guys on the roof:

And then Geoff and I collected the park tickets and we were off! Our plan was this: if the park was open, Geoff & I would run and grab FP's, by the time my parents got back there (my Dad had recent knee surgery, so he was moving slower than usual) we would have them in hand and be ready to jump in line. If the park wasn't open, we'd be able to walk with the crowd and jump in line for Star Tours, then get FP's afterwards. Perfect plan

Right as we were finishing up, my parents were joining the end of the line, which was growing, but moving outside of the attraction. The next thing my Dad let out with "I'm glad we got here early! I wouldn't have wanted to get here when the park actually opened! Good work Kelly!" I love it when my genius is recognized

20 minutes later, we were ready for our first flight!

I have to say, I *love* the new ride. I think it's great. Geoff loved it because it had so many Star Wars references, I loved it because it was a story in itself even when you didn't know the movie that well It was so much smoother than the last version too. My Dad had a small problem with it when we got off the first time but the second time we rode it he was fine. And my Mom used to not be able to do the ride at all and she was fine both times!

Coming up...where do we head next??

 

[onelilspark]

O geez!! This isn't good! Are you driving down by yourself???

I have a free ticket I'm flying down on. I was hoping I could fly down Thursday, but I checked the flights that are currently available and there's nothing I'm crazy about, I wouldn't get in until 5. But I could leave Monday. But then I'd be back to renting a car instead of going with my parents.

So I'm just leaving it and not messing with it. I have issues apparently. And it's related to wedding stress (because hello...99 days away .)

 

[wdwgirl03]

Joining in a little late.

 

[Disneyfreak616]

Again late on joining, but I'm here!

Your pictures of POFQ are gorgeous! I'll be there in 3 days!!!!

 

[hstrickland]

Glad you did get there early!!

I'm kinda liking the looks of POFQ!!...especially if all the rooms have queen beds now. That is correct, isn't it?

 

[onelilspark]

Joining in a little late.

Welcome!!

Again late on joining, but I'm here!

Your pictures of POFQ are gorgeous! I'll be there in 3 days!!!!

Hi!

You must be very excited!!

Glad you did get there early!!

I'm kinda liking the looks of POFQ!!...especially if all the rooms have queen beds now. That is correct, isn't it?

Yep, all the rooms have queens...except of course the ones that have kings.

 

[KatMark]

Great job, Kelly! See there is a reason we do all this research and they wonder why!

I can't wait to try out the new ride.

 

[onelilspark]

Great job, Kelly! See there is a reason we do all this research and they wonder why!

I can't wait to try out the new ride.

You guys will love the new ride, it's really really well done!

And exactly! They tell me I'm nuts until we don't have to wait for over an hour for the latest and greatest thing

 

[onelilspark]

We skipped TSM. Don't get me wrong, we enjoy the ride, but we just don't understand the craziness behind getting a FP or standing in line for hours for it. So we skipped it.

Instead, we headed down Sunset to the thrill rides!

Our first stop was Rock N Roller.

Geoff isn't really a fan of roller coasters, but I persuaded him to try this one and he loves it. So now it's on his must-do list. He really hates the dropping feeling from going down a hill (or an elevator dropping...) but he says he doesn't get that same feeling on RnR.

Afterwards, my Mom and I went on Tower.

You see, as I just mentioned, Geoff doesn't like the whole drop feeling, so he flat out refuses to do Tower. And I don't push that one. My Dad is afraid of heights.

My Mom and I? Love Tower of Terror. So we went on and left the boys outside for a little male bonding. Which included Geoff checking out the SWW merchandise tent behind RnR, he got this:

It's a bobble head that sits on his desk at work. (Side note: his cuff links for the wedding will be Darth Vader and he's getting his groomsmen Storm Trooper ones. I think it will be epic. )

And there's a coffee cart outside of the exit to ToT that my Dad enjoys hitting up. So he got coffee and they were waiting for us when we were done:

Our fastpasses to Star Tours were ready to use, so we made our way back across the park...I didn't take any pictures this time, but it was as equally as awesome. The standby line at that point was ridiculously long and the FP return window was past when we knew we'd be in the park, so we didn't get another.

Next we made our way back across the park to watch the Beauty and the Beast show. We haven't seen it in years, so we thought it was time to check it out again:

I sent this picture to my Matron of Honor and told her I found her dress

After the show was over, it was about time for the Star Wars Parade. We made our way up through the shops. I liked this Donald Duck hat:

And eventually found a place where we could kind of see what was going on and was in the shade. My Mom moved and had a better view, but she's short and can't look over people.

It was neat to be able to see all the fans in costume, and I loved seeing the little kids from the Jedi Academy in the parade, how cool for them!

...You can kind of see Mickey, right???

Next up: Lunch!!