We spent 9 nights, 9 days and it was all a fun filled blur, (and Mom tried to pick up a Prince).
Who? Just us girls on our first ever getaway! Mom and Me. That's us above.
When? January 21-29, 2012.
Where? We stayed at Pop Century 1 night.
Then Port Orleans French Quarter for 8 nights.
Dining was great! We had all good experiences and there was only 1 that we voted not to return to. More on that later.
Here's where we ate:
Pop Century Food Court
Boatwright's Dining Hall
Ghiardeli Chocolate/Ice Cream
50's Prime Time Cafe
California Grill
Port Orleans French Quarter Sassagoula Floatworks food court
Le Chef's de France
Rose & Crown Dining Room
Restaurantosaurus
Boma
Liberty Tree Tavern
Le Cellier
Via Napoli
Main Street Bakery
Captain's Grill
Garden View Lounge
Akershus
Lotus Blossom Cafe
'Ohana
We enjoyed our meals and desserts and did a lot of dining but also a lot of walking too.
1 day at Animal Kingdom
1 day at Disney's Hollywood Studios
1.5 days at Magic Kingdom
4 days at EPCOT
Trip reporting is going to be a lot harder than trip planning was I can tell already. I took a spiral notebook to make notes at the end of each day, but do you think I bothered to touch it even once? Oh no...I had my trusty camera and had it all on the memory card.
So, the plan was I was doing a photojournal starting at my sleepy little airport and the plan was to capture the entire trip. Which I did rather well, even to the point of purchasing more batteries at the resort gift shop (Twice!) so I could save every moment. Mom was even great at letting me get pics of her food before devouring it and oh! I came home with over a thousand pictures! That's the good news.
But... due to operator error in downloading, there was a loss of the first half of my trip. (Stupid me, I made the same error and lost our family reunion pics last year too, the same way, anyhow, I did IT again.) If hubby hadn't been watching me try to create and put my pics in their own neat little file folder, they would have all been lost. Sooo, thanks to my HERO husband I was able to save the rest of the pics and still have the last 4 days to share. And now with no photojournal and an empty spiral, well it could get a bit blurry as the memories have already run together.
Travels went well, and I met up with Mom in Houston and we flew in to Orlando together. See, there is Orlando down there.
We only got lost once in the airport trying to find the right direction to get the monorail tram thing to the main building.
It was easy to find the Magical Express and we were greeted and boarded on a bus immediately.
We boarded immediately and we were on our way!
Almost there.. on Disney roads now!
Yay! At the resort!
We checked in to Pop Century around 1:30 pm and headed straight to the food court for some lunch. Lucky for you, I took a pic with my cellphone. I had the chicken alfredo with salad and a breadstick. Yum.
We enjoyed the food court's food. The food was hot and fresh and very tasty too. I hadn't expected it to be as good as it was. But then again I dine on hospital food regularly, so.... We had lunch there as well as breakfast the following morning. The food court layout was confusing at first and hard to navigate as we thought we were in the wrong place when we entered the gift shop. I didn't understand the gift shop idea in the food court, all I could think of was all those people eating and then touching the merchandise and thought what a bad idea it was.
Our room was in the 50's section. We were in building 1 up above Lady facing the bowling pin pool. It was a nice view and a good location and close proximity to the main building/food/bus stop. Everything looked new and fresh and very well cared for. The resort was cute and we loved the different themes and the decor and walk down Memory Lane. It was fun to reminisce.
Our room was comfortable, clean, and decent enough for our stay. I would compare to it in quality to a Motel 6, not fancy and no frills, but it has the basics and will work for a couple of nights. The decor was plain and simple and really sort of sad and lacking when compared to the usual detailing I have been used to with Disney. The room itself was fine and we had plenty of room for 2 adults for only a short stay. We had enough dresser space but it was just barely enough for our things as the drawers are small and don't hold much.
The dressing area was small, but functional and the bath area was large and plenty of elbow room in there. There was a curtain to close off the dressing area. The bath area was much larger at POP and we sure missed it when we moved to POFQ as it had a very tiny bathroom.
The curtains closed completely and the air conditioner seemed to be working quietly and efficiently. There was not a ceiling fan though.
The mattresses were firm but soft, similar to the feel of a pillowtop type mattress, but I don't think it was a pillowtop. Mom and I both liked the beds here MUCH better than the firmer mattresses at Port Orleans French Quarter.
We used the concierege desk numerous times and always had great service. On check out and transfer to Port Orleans French Quarter, they handled the luggage and even sent someone up to our room to get it for us and they transported it over to our new resort.
Although I would stay here again for an overnighter or weekender, I would not choose to stay here though for week's stay though as it was just a busy place with lots of activity, sound, color, and vibrant life. The overall resort atmosphere was hustle and bustle and it was full of energy and excitement. There was a lot of sounds/noise everywhere and especially at the main pool. The sound did tend to travel quite some distance too. Not restful at all but there is no doubt you are immersed in Disney there.
If I had small children or teens, this would be a great fun place to stay, crowded, but FUN.
BOATWRIGHT'S and OTHER STUFF
Son and Daughter in law drove in from Daytona Beach and met us in the food court. We did some resort touring, took lots of fun photos, which I deleted in my downloads, stoopid me
We drove over to Port Orleans Riverside resort and toured there too. It is a beautiful resort set in the Old South complete with spanish moss draping the trees and the banjos playing. This is the sister resort French Quarter.
We all loved the look of the mansions and we did take a peep inside the window of an empty room. The mansion rooms looked very very nice inside. We all voted we would like to stay there sometime. The Alligator Bayou section was themed very cutely too and although the room decor there is rustic, the closest building to the action/food/drinks/boats/concierege was the rustic looking Alligator Bayou.
We ate at Boatwright's for dinner. Mom had the jambalaya, Son had the crawdads with remoulade sauce, and daughter and I had both had the VooDoo Chicken. The service was good, the food was out to our table very quickly and was hot and fresh. Four of us dined here Jan 21 for dinner. The chicken was served though as a quarter piece with the wing still attached and on the bone. I would have much preferred boneless chicken. The menu selections were very limited and picky eaters may have difficulty finding a choice here. There was a steak entree but it way overpriced for my budget and came with macaroni and cheese and a crawdad beignet. (I can't imagine the calorie count for that entree.) I had a difficult time choosing an entree but I settled on the chicken. It was served with beans and rice and had a good flavor but it was still on the bone and that bothered me. I really would have been happy with a salad or nice cajun seasoned burger with cajun mayo but they did not offer it on the menu. I would dine here again if someone in my party wanted to, as it was tasty but it just doesn't suit my dining preferences.
We tried to get a ride on the horse and carriage but they were booked until 8pm and it was only 6 so we opted to pass and not wait seeing as we had already walked the resort and seen everything, saving me $45. So we stopped in to check out YeeHaw Bob who was just finishing a set and taking a break, drats! We planned to come back and catch him another time, so we took the ferry over to Downtown Disney and did some window shopping.
Arribas Bros.
Making the castle:
And the finished product!
We wanted this one too. Only $37,500. We'll take 2 please.
All that window shopping and wish listing at Arribas Bros. made us hungry and my daughter in law smelled Ghiardelli chocolate, so we just had to get some. She found some free chocolate samples inside, but all I found was the line to order a hot fudge sundae. And for January it was a loong line and the place was packed! They gave me a number and we found a table outside to dine at. It seemed to take a long long time but finally we got our sundae. I wasn't too happy with the cost, as it was around $8 for an ice cream, but Mom and I shared it and when we couldn't finish it, DS & DD grabbed spoons and polished it off for us. It was really good ice cream and great chocolate. Rather pricey for 1 person unless you plan on subbing it for a meal, but for a small group it was just right. After all that, we rode back on the ferry to Port Orleans Riverside and DS drove us back to POP Century and dropped Mom and I off, while they went back to Downtown Disney for a while.

Who? Just us girls on our first ever getaway! Mom and Me. That's us above.
When? January 21-29, 2012.
Where? We stayed at Pop Century 1 night.
Then Port Orleans French Quarter for 8 nights.
Dining was great! We had all good experiences and there was only 1 that we voted not to return to. More on that later.
Here's where we ate:
Pop Century Food Court
Boatwright's Dining Hall
Ghiardeli Chocolate/Ice Cream
50's Prime Time Cafe
California Grill
Port Orleans French Quarter Sassagoula Floatworks food court
Le Chef's de France
Rose & Crown Dining Room
Restaurantosaurus
Boma
Liberty Tree Tavern
Le Cellier
Via Napoli
Main Street Bakery
Captain's Grill
Garden View Lounge
Akershus
Lotus Blossom Cafe
'Ohana
We enjoyed our meals and desserts and did a lot of dining but also a lot of walking too.
1 day at Animal Kingdom
1 day at Disney's Hollywood Studios
1.5 days at Magic Kingdom
4 days at EPCOT
Trip reporting is going to be a lot harder than trip planning was I can tell already. I took a spiral notebook to make notes at the end of each day, but do you think I bothered to touch it even once? Oh no...I had my trusty camera and had it all on the memory card.
So, the plan was I was doing a photojournal starting at my sleepy little airport and the plan was to capture the entire trip. Which I did rather well, even to the point of purchasing more batteries at the resort gift shop (Twice!) so I could save every moment. Mom was even great at letting me get pics of her food before devouring it and oh! I came home with over a thousand pictures! That's the good news.
But... due to operator error in downloading, there was a loss of the first half of my trip. (Stupid me, I made the same error and lost our family reunion pics last year too, the same way, anyhow, I did IT again.) If hubby hadn't been watching me try to create and put my pics in their own neat little file folder, they would have all been lost. Sooo, thanks to my HERO husband I was able to save the rest of the pics and still have the last 4 days to share. And now with no photojournal and an empty spiral, well it could get a bit blurry as the memories have already run together.
Travels went well, and I met up with Mom in Houston and we flew in to Orlando together. See, there is Orlando down there.

We only got lost once in the airport trying to find the right direction to get the monorail tram thing to the main building.

It was easy to find the Magical Express and we were greeted and boarded on a bus immediately.

Almost there.. on Disney roads now!

Yay! At the resort!

We checked in to Pop Century around 1:30 pm and headed straight to the food court for some lunch. Lucky for you, I took a pic with my cellphone. I had the chicken alfredo with salad and a breadstick. Yum.

We enjoyed the food court's food. The food was hot and fresh and very tasty too. I hadn't expected it to be as good as it was. But then again I dine on hospital food regularly, so.... We had lunch there as well as breakfast the following morning. The food court layout was confusing at first and hard to navigate as we thought we were in the wrong place when we entered the gift shop. I didn't understand the gift shop idea in the food court, all I could think of was all those people eating and then touching the merchandise and thought what a bad idea it was.
Our room was in the 50's section. We were in building 1 up above Lady facing the bowling pin pool. It was a nice view and a good location and close proximity to the main building/food/bus stop. Everything looked new and fresh and very well cared for. The resort was cute and we loved the different themes and the decor and walk down Memory Lane. It was fun to reminisce.
Our room was comfortable, clean, and decent enough for our stay. I would compare to it in quality to a Motel 6, not fancy and no frills, but it has the basics and will work for a couple of nights. The decor was plain and simple and really sort of sad and lacking when compared to the usual detailing I have been used to with Disney. The room itself was fine and we had plenty of room for 2 adults for only a short stay. We had enough dresser space but it was just barely enough for our things as the drawers are small and don't hold much.
The dressing area was small, but functional and the bath area was large and plenty of elbow room in there. There was a curtain to close off the dressing area. The bath area was much larger at POP and we sure missed it when we moved to POFQ as it had a very tiny bathroom.
The curtains closed completely and the air conditioner seemed to be working quietly and efficiently. There was not a ceiling fan though.
The mattresses were firm but soft, similar to the feel of a pillowtop type mattress, but I don't think it was a pillowtop. Mom and I both liked the beds here MUCH better than the firmer mattresses at Port Orleans French Quarter.
We used the concierege desk numerous times and always had great service. On check out and transfer to Port Orleans French Quarter, they handled the luggage and even sent someone up to our room to get it for us and they transported it over to our new resort.
Although I would stay here again for an overnighter or weekender, I would not choose to stay here though for week's stay though as it was just a busy place with lots of activity, sound, color, and vibrant life. The overall resort atmosphere was hustle and bustle and it was full of energy and excitement. There was a lot of sounds/noise everywhere and especially at the main pool. The sound did tend to travel quite some distance too. Not restful at all but there is no doubt you are immersed in Disney there.
If I had small children or teens, this would be a great fun place to stay, crowded, but FUN.
BOATWRIGHT'S and OTHER STUFF
Son and Daughter in law drove in from Daytona Beach and met us in the food court. We did some resort touring, took lots of fun photos, which I deleted in my downloads, stoopid me


We drove over to Port Orleans Riverside resort and toured there too. It is a beautiful resort set in the Old South complete with spanish moss draping the trees and the banjos playing. This is the sister resort French Quarter.

We all loved the look of the mansions and we did take a peep inside the window of an empty room. The mansion rooms looked very very nice inside. We all voted we would like to stay there sometime. The Alligator Bayou section was themed very cutely too and although the room decor there is rustic, the closest building to the action/food/drinks/boats/concierege was the rustic looking Alligator Bayou.
We ate at Boatwright's for dinner. Mom had the jambalaya, Son had the crawdads with remoulade sauce, and daughter and I had both had the VooDoo Chicken. The service was good, the food was out to our table very quickly and was hot and fresh. Four of us dined here Jan 21 for dinner. The chicken was served though as a quarter piece with the wing still attached and on the bone. I would have much preferred boneless chicken. The menu selections were very limited and picky eaters may have difficulty finding a choice here. There was a steak entree but it way overpriced for my budget and came with macaroni and cheese and a crawdad beignet. (I can't imagine the calorie count for that entree.) I had a difficult time choosing an entree but I settled on the chicken. It was served with beans and rice and had a good flavor but it was still on the bone and that bothered me. I really would have been happy with a salad or nice cajun seasoned burger with cajun mayo but they did not offer it on the menu. I would dine here again if someone in my party wanted to, as it was tasty but it just doesn't suit my dining preferences.
We tried to get a ride on the horse and carriage but they were booked until 8pm and it was only 6 so we opted to pass and not wait seeing as we had already walked the resort and seen everything, saving me $45. So we stopped in to check out YeeHaw Bob who was just finishing a set and taking a break, drats! We planned to come back and catch him another time, so we took the ferry over to Downtown Disney and did some window shopping.



Arribas Bros.

Making the castle:

And the finished product!

We wanted this one too. Only $37,500. We'll take 2 please.

All that window shopping and wish listing at Arribas Bros. made us hungry and my daughter in law smelled Ghiardelli chocolate, so we just had to get some. She found some free chocolate samples inside, but all I found was the line to order a hot fudge sundae. And for January it was a loong line and the place was packed! They gave me a number and we found a table outside to dine at. It seemed to take a long long time but finally we got our sundae. I wasn't too happy with the cost, as it was around $8 for an ice cream, but Mom and I shared it and when we couldn't finish it, DS & DD grabbed spoons and polished it off for us. It was really good ice cream and great chocolate. Rather pricey for 1 person unless you plan on subbing it for a meal, but for a small group it was just right. After all that, we rode back on the ferry to Port Orleans Riverside and DS drove us back to POP Century and dropped Mom and I off, while they went back to Downtown Disney for a while.