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

[KatInHat]

I've been following (lurking) on your trip report and I followed your dining report. It looks like you had a great time. We'll have to stop in at Jellyrolls next time were there.
We are thinking about taking a trip next year around Memorial Day.. how were the crowds?
thanks for sharing.

 

[wdwgirl03]

Great pictures of Port Orleans. It really looks like a pretty resort. I need to get over there some day just to visit!

 

[onelilspark]

Great update!
I stayed at POFQ on my last trip, but we did visit POR twice..it's pretty, but I love how small POFQ is!

That's my favorite part I think!

See what you can learn on the DIS!


I love Port Orleans! (But I'm more of a Riverside guy.)

I haven't stayed at Riverside yet...I was going to this trip, but I was drawn in by the refurbed rooms!

Great update, Kelly and very pretty pictures. We've not stayed at either, but we'd probably go with POR-Riverside for hte fact that they have quiet pools and POFQ does not, plus POR has a much bigger hot tub (this is something very important to DH and I). But I do think POFQ is very pretty.

LOVE the unicorn song.

At least you'd be able to visit both!

I'm thinking about your Dining Reviews... the "Toddler & Tequila"....still don't get it!

POR looks nice, too....the pool area especially. Not sure which one I would choose. When going to DTD, which resort gets picked up first on the boat?

I'm not sure. I think it might be POR. When we took the boat down they had quite the line at POFQ, so they sent a separate boat for us!

I've been following (lurking) on your trip report and I followed your dining report. It looks like you had a great time. We'll have to stop in at Jellyrolls next time were there.
We are thinking about taking a trip next year around Memorial Day.. how were the crowds?
thanks for sharing.

I didn't think the crowds were that bad. But we were out of the parks by mid-day and we got there right at opening, which helped a lot. And thanks for joining in!!

Great pictures of Port Orleans. It really looks like a pretty resort. I need to get over there some day just to visit!

It's so pretty! Especially at night!

 

[onelilspark]

My mickey mail came yesterday too!!

 

[hstrickland]

Congrats!!! You're basically down to 2 weeks!!!

 

[onelilspark]

Congrats!!! You're basically down to 2 weeks!!!

Tomorrow I can check in online!

We're also 2 months away from the wedding today

 

[onelilspark]

The final day we were splitting up. Geoff and my Mom had their school bread for breakfast, my Dad isn't much of a breakfast person, so I was heading out to breakfast on my own.

A few more picture of French Quarter from my walk over to Sassagoula.

Our room:

View one way:

View the other:

Courtyard at the main building:

I settled on a breakfast sandwich that morning:

My Mom was meeting me in the main building and the two of us were heading over to the Magic Kingdom for the morning! Literally 2 hours Since we weren't going to be there long, we broke the rules (a little) and parked in the Contemporary lot. We didn't want to waste time with the monorail, and we'd be in and out within the 3 hour parking pass time frame they usually give you

We got there about 10 minutes before rope drop! Perfect timing! ...and I apparently took a million pictures of rope drop...so enjoy!

Some artsy shots:

Where would we go first??

 

[onelilspark]

I forgot to show some pictures that my Mom & Dad took.

While we were racing down to get FPs to Star Tours, my Dad stopped and took this one of the Storm Troopers up on the roof.

Another one down Hollywood Blvd, even the CMs getting in character!

In line for Star Tours:

My Mom had a better spot for the parade...

The cool thing is that the guys that are Storm Troopers are just fans, they're not otherwise characters at Disney.

 

[KatMark]

for online check-in tomorrow.

I cannot believe that the wedding is two months away. Where did that time go?

The pictures at the MK for opening ceremony are great.

 

[wdwgirl03]

You sure have a busy couple of months coming up! Yay for being able to do online check-in soon!

Loved all the pictures from the MK opening show.

 

[hstrickland]

11 days!!!! .....jealous!!! Are all your wedding plans in order? I'm assuming you'll be doing a TR for both the solo trip and honeymoon cruise

 

[glennbo123]

I love that picture of the CM in the helmet (Boba Fett, I think?) and Mickey glove!

 

[onelilspark]

for online check-in tomorrow.

I cannot believe that the wedding is two months away. Where did that time go?

The pictures at the MK for opening ceremony are great.

If you find it, let me know

Glad you liked the pictures

You sure have a busy couple of months coming up! Yay for being able to do online check-in soon!

Loved all the pictures from the MK opening show.

I checked in this morning, I'm pumped!

11 days!!!! .....jealous!!! Are all your wedding plans in order? I'm assuming you'll be doing a TR for both the solo trip and honeymoon cruise

They're in order...we just sent out invites last week and got our first RSVP yesterday!! I'll definitely have a TR for my solo trip (and DR! my favorite!) And I'll do a report for the cruise over on Cruise Critic, so I'll link to it!

I love that picture of the CM in the helmet (Boba Fett, I think?) and Mickey glove!

I missed her because we were rushing to get FPs, I'm glad my parents were a little slower so I got to see it!

 

[onelilspark]

When the rope dropped, we headed right down Main Street!

Our first stop was to take our annual picture. BUT I had to find someone who knew how to take a picture using the iPhone I asked a young couple and luckily the wife was familiar, and then we took a picture of them

If you guessed that our first ride was the Jungle Cruise...well, A) you're as crazy as we are, and B) you were right!

We waited a bit, only one other family joined us (apparently they were also on the non-touring plan - touring plan!) We had a great skipper, we were cracking up, it was a great way to start the day!

The whole purpose of heading over to the Magic Kingdom was to check out the new graveyard at the Haunted Mansion...but they were closed! Oh no!!! We continued on our way through Fantasyland to check out the construction, hoping that before we left we'd be able to get to the Haunted Mansion.

These are my not-so-sneaky pictures

Our next stop was Tomorrowland. My Mom and I love Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin.

I think part of the reason I like the ride is because I know how to get the high score

Our next stop was over to the Peoplemover. When I was younger, my Mom and I used to ride the Peoplemover in a continuous loop as my Dad & brother rode Space Mountain for the second time. It's my Mom's favorite ride at WDW!

And no ride on the Peoplemover is complete without this classic picture:

We skipped across the middle, on the way back over to the Haunted Mansion to see if it had opened...

Would we make it to the Haunted Mansion?? Stay tuned!!

 

[onelilspark]

We came up to the Haunted Mansion and held our breath...would it be open?! Could we check out the new graveyard??

YES!

Let's take a bit of a tour...

This was one side, you could press against the instruments and they would make noise!

The end of that structure, which was an organ. If you pressed the keys, it would play.

And the other side, which had some interesting instruments!

The tombstones were still there:

My favorite picture that I took on the entire trip...it's the background on my iPhone. I think that might be a little on the creepy side, but I'm okay with that

Overall, I liked the addition. I also liked that you could skip the extended line if you didn't want to play. Now that I've seen it, I'll probably skip it! It'd be fun for kids though!

After we rode, we headed back up Main Street to check out the Emporium before leaving the park.

I got a Vynalmation Jr, I love the series 2 that has all the characters.

I got Tigger!

We then headed back to the car...and promptly got lost trying to leave the Contemporary We eventually got ourselves straightened out and headed back to French Quarter to pick up the boys. Then we left to the airport

In no time at all, we were through security and waiting for our plane

By Florida, see ya real soon!!

In the next 8 days I'll come back and do a wrap up on this trip and a brief PTR for my trip next weekend!!!

 

[hstrickland]

Like the picture for your phone!! Have you started packing, yet? 6 short days!!!! It's gonna be a nice little get away for you

 

[onelilspark]

Like the picture for your phone!! Have you started packing, yet? 6 short days!!!! It's gonna be a nice little get away for you

Not yet! I just got back yesterday from my Bridal Shower! I'll start doing laundry today and pack tomorrow!

 

[onelilspark]

Just a quick wrap up of the trip. Obviously we went for Star Wars weekends and it was over a holiday.

Getting to the parks right at opening was huge. We really didn't notice crowds since we were leaving the parks right as it was starting to get crowded for the day, plus we were able to spend time at the pool.

I also stalked www.studioscentral.com in the weeks leading up to the weekend so I caught on to the fact they were opening "unannounced" an hour early every day for SWW. We also found out through there that they changed the parade time from the year prior and the parade route slightly. Just some great information over there.

The new rooms at POFQ were just lovely, I love the refurbishment. I'm still a huge fan of the resort. It's small, so even though it was a holiday weekend, it never felt too crowded. If you're thinking about staying there, stop thinking and just book it!

The trip was a great weekend trip and I'm sure when we move down we'll be visiting for SWW again!

Highlights:
- Throwing the Touring Plan out the window on our Epcot day.
- The quick 2 hours in the MK with my Mom on departure day.
- Room with a view!

Lowlights:
- Ummm...pouring when we got in? We'll go with that. There weren't too many things that really went wrong, we had a fantastic trip!

 

[onelilspark]

I know I've posted details on my upcoming trip (in 3 days!) but I thought I would do just a 1 post official PTR.

Who:
Me!

With special guest appearances by my Mom & Dad.

When:
September 9-11. I'll be totally solo on the 9th and most of the 10th. My parents are joining me for dinner on the 10th and all day on the 11th, including taking me back to the airport

Where:
Bay Lake Tower! I got a great rate for a lake view studio, paying cash.

Why:
I'm taking a page out of Norybell's book and escaping wedding planning for a weekend!

How:
Back in February I discovered I had been sitting on enough miles through USAir for about 2 years for a free flight!

The Plan:
Friday -- Check in, head straight to Animal Kingdom to see the parade! Then head over to Epcot for EMH. I had booked an ADR at Bistro de Paris, but I've decided to go ahead and cancel it (after much back and forth!) in favor of just doing some counter service. Right now I'm leaning towards trying Mexico!

Saturday -- I'm either going to spend all day in the MK or I'm going over to DHS for a few hours in the morning for Star Tours and Tower. There's EMH Mornings at DHS, so I'm not sure I'll be totally up for waking up that early!! Then my parents will be joining me for dinner at California Grill. It's the first time in a few years that I've been, but I figured it was time to give it another try, especially since I was staying right there!

Sunday -- Mom & Dad are joining me again. We decided to skip a big breakfast since we just had the big dinner the night before and head over to the Liberty Tree Tavern for lunch. Since we made that lunch ADR, we're going to spend the morning in the MK! After lunch, it'll be time to head to the airport

 

[hstrickland]

Sounds like a great plan!! I'll be expecting lots of pictures I'm curious to see what the room looks like. Hopefully y'all will have a great experience at Cali Grill this go round.

Have a great time and safe travels!