Just got back from a three and a half day trip to WDW. We live two hours south so we make short trips. This time we arrived Thursday Apr. 27th and left this morning (Apr 30) after breakfast.
Click here for pictures of our trip
note: I am not in any of the pictures, I'm the photographer. We did get some good PhotoPass pictures of all of us though.
Day One:
Cast-
Me
Mom
Sis
Ill get the hot topics out of the way first- Weather was perfect. Sunny and warm without being hot and cool in the mornings and evenings. Pool temp Cold. If that pool was heated Id be shocked. We didnt go to the main pool, maybe that one was warmer. No cheerleader groups in our hotel (POR) or anywhere else. Many school groups in the parks but not in our hotel either.
Day one.
We planned to be on the road by 7:30 and by some miracle we actually were. Drove north on the FL turnpike to Oceola Pkwy and pulled in to Port Orleans, Riverside 2 hours and 6 minutes later. Check in went smoothly but for the fact that the rooms we got were pretty much the exact opposite of what we requested. The only good that could be said was they werent too far from things. We were in Oak Manor, facing the parking lot. Had someone said, Here, mark on the map where you dont want to be. Those were the rooms Id have picked. However, as it turned out they were just fine. To those worried about the size of this place and being too far away, dont be. This place is laid out in such a way that even buildings that look super far away on the map arent.
Back to the report. So we got checked in and left our bags and then hopped on a bus over to Epcot. We didnt have much planned for this day. Just to see some of the flower show and have lunch. We knew Soarin was going to be a lost cause since we were getting there so late. Last time we were at Epcot it was in early December. A lady with a stroller was using it like a weapon and after about the tenth time she smashed it into my mother my mother (who is actually a very mild mannered person) snapped at her and told her to back off (or words to that effect.) So as we walked up we reminded each other that we were at the happiest place on earth and no matter how obnoxious anyone might be we would rise above it. Remember that, it will come back to haunt me later.
The flowers right from the moment you approach the entrance are fantastic and we were oohing and ahhing and snapping photos straight away and I never stopped. Oh, hang on a sec, heres a bit of info about entering the park that some might find interesting. Back in December I bought a Fl. Seasonal Pass. My mother and sister bought 3-day play tickets. They each had one day left on those tickets and were going to upgrade them to Seasonal Passes. We werent sure how that worked or what it was going to cost. Turns out they each paid $101.00 and their passes are good until next April! Fantastic deal.
Back on track again (we arent even in the park and I cant stay on topic. This doesnt bode well. I was a computer Science major. We didnt have to write much.) I actually made notes (theres the science major coming out) and it was 11:15 when we got to the park info board (or whatever its called) and it turns out that there are fast passes for Soarin! I grab all our passes and book over there to grab three. At the fast pass distribution I was about to slide the first ticket in to get a FP when a woman said to me, We have two for right now if you guys want them, we cant use them. Hmm, you guys? I look behind me and sure enough there is a man standing there getting tickets for his group too. We looked at each other for a sec and I suppose he was thinking the same thing I was, How would my family ever know if I snuck in a ride with this perfect stranger??? But we took the high road and admitted we werent together and they went off to offer their FPs to someone else. At 11:20 I got fast pass return for 1:54! Excellent! It fit right in with our plan to head over to Morocco for lunch.
We checked out some flowers and caught the boat to Morocco. Along with a big group of kids from a school in Plantation FL. They were loud and boisterous and very polite. School groups would be a recurring theme of the trip. They were everywhere in the parks and most were fantastic.
We grabbed lunch at the Tangerine Café (2 chicken sawaras, 1 lamb sawara, 3 sodas, $13.00 each for a total of $39.00) and then wandered back towards the land pavilion while checking out the gardens. The perfume garden in France was really clever and we loved that. There was an adorable topiary of Piglet and Eyore in England and in the garden there was Mary Poppins! Our first character of the trip. The great thing about traveling without kids is that you dont have to wait in line for character pics. You just take a pic with any kid. They are all adorable so it works out perfectly. Just remember thats what you did and maybe make a note of it in your memory book, so down the road when youre asked Who is that child? you can just make something up and dont go crazy thinking its one you ought to know.
Then it was off to ride Soarin. In Dec. my sister and I rode this and my mom waited outside. She didnt want any part of it. Well, we told her how gentle it was and how much shed love it so she decided to ride it this time. Big mistake. She was terrified and we felt awful. She said she had her eyes closed most of the time but still I felt bad that we told her shed love it and she was scared. We made adjustments to the plans for the next few days to make sure there was nothing remotely scary for her after that! We headed back to POR and went to find our rooms, which were fine. I dont care for the Magnolia Bend section because I dont like that style of Pseudo Tara architecture but it grew on me. Mostly because the grounds were so lovely. My mother and sister really loved it and requested we change our Christmas reservations from CSR to POR.
After a bit of a rest we took a cab over to the Poly ($10.75 plus tip) for dinner at the Kona Café. Best meal of the trip. Ill post details in a dining thread with pictures. The only thing is, why are all restaurants at WDW so loud? There is no soundproofing so they all sound like school cafeterias with no lunch monitor on duty. Its my goal to find a few quiet ones next trip.
Our after dinner plan was to take the monorail over to MK and see Spectromagic and Wishes. We were done in though. We did go over and we rode the train all the way around and then headed for the bus stop and back to POR. It was a great day (other than scaring my mother!)
Click here for pictures of our trip
note: I am not in any of the pictures, I'm the photographer. We did get some good PhotoPass pictures of all of us though.
Day One:
Cast-
Me
Mom
Sis
Ill get the hot topics out of the way first- Weather was perfect. Sunny and warm without being hot and cool in the mornings and evenings. Pool temp Cold. If that pool was heated Id be shocked. We didnt go to the main pool, maybe that one was warmer. No cheerleader groups in our hotel (POR) or anywhere else. Many school groups in the parks but not in our hotel either.
Day one.
We planned to be on the road by 7:30 and by some miracle we actually were. Drove north on the FL turnpike to Oceola Pkwy and pulled in to Port Orleans, Riverside 2 hours and 6 minutes later. Check in went smoothly but for the fact that the rooms we got were pretty much the exact opposite of what we requested. The only good that could be said was they werent too far from things. We were in Oak Manor, facing the parking lot. Had someone said, Here, mark on the map where you dont want to be. Those were the rooms Id have picked. However, as it turned out they were just fine. To those worried about the size of this place and being too far away, dont be. This place is laid out in such a way that even buildings that look super far away on the map arent.
Back to the report. So we got checked in and left our bags and then hopped on a bus over to Epcot. We didnt have much planned for this day. Just to see some of the flower show and have lunch. We knew Soarin was going to be a lost cause since we were getting there so late. Last time we were at Epcot it was in early December. A lady with a stroller was using it like a weapon and after about the tenth time she smashed it into my mother my mother (who is actually a very mild mannered person) snapped at her and told her to back off (or words to that effect.) So as we walked up we reminded each other that we were at the happiest place on earth and no matter how obnoxious anyone might be we would rise above it. Remember that, it will come back to haunt me later.
The flowers right from the moment you approach the entrance are fantastic and we were oohing and ahhing and snapping photos straight away and I never stopped. Oh, hang on a sec, heres a bit of info about entering the park that some might find interesting. Back in December I bought a Fl. Seasonal Pass. My mother and sister bought 3-day play tickets. They each had one day left on those tickets and were going to upgrade them to Seasonal Passes. We werent sure how that worked or what it was going to cost. Turns out they each paid $101.00 and their passes are good until next April! Fantastic deal.
Back on track again (we arent even in the park and I cant stay on topic. This doesnt bode well. I was a computer Science major. We didnt have to write much.) I actually made notes (theres the science major coming out) and it was 11:15 when we got to the park info board (or whatever its called) and it turns out that there are fast passes for Soarin! I grab all our passes and book over there to grab three. At the fast pass distribution I was about to slide the first ticket in to get a FP when a woman said to me, We have two for right now if you guys want them, we cant use them. Hmm, you guys? I look behind me and sure enough there is a man standing there getting tickets for his group too. We looked at each other for a sec and I suppose he was thinking the same thing I was, How would my family ever know if I snuck in a ride with this perfect stranger??? But we took the high road and admitted we werent together and they went off to offer their FPs to someone else. At 11:20 I got fast pass return for 1:54! Excellent! It fit right in with our plan to head over to Morocco for lunch.
We checked out some flowers and caught the boat to Morocco. Along with a big group of kids from a school in Plantation FL. They were loud and boisterous and very polite. School groups would be a recurring theme of the trip. They were everywhere in the parks and most were fantastic.
We grabbed lunch at the Tangerine Café (2 chicken sawaras, 1 lamb sawara, 3 sodas, $13.00 each for a total of $39.00) and then wandered back towards the land pavilion while checking out the gardens. The perfume garden in France was really clever and we loved that. There was an adorable topiary of Piglet and Eyore in England and in the garden there was Mary Poppins! Our first character of the trip. The great thing about traveling without kids is that you dont have to wait in line for character pics. You just take a pic with any kid. They are all adorable so it works out perfectly. Just remember thats what you did and maybe make a note of it in your memory book, so down the road when youre asked Who is that child? you can just make something up and dont go crazy thinking its one you ought to know.
Then it was off to ride Soarin. In Dec. my sister and I rode this and my mom waited outside. She didnt want any part of it. Well, we told her how gentle it was and how much shed love it so she decided to ride it this time. Big mistake. She was terrified and we felt awful. She said she had her eyes closed most of the time but still I felt bad that we told her shed love it and she was scared. We made adjustments to the plans for the next few days to make sure there was nothing remotely scary for her after that! We headed back to POR and went to find our rooms, which were fine. I dont care for the Magnolia Bend section because I dont like that style of Pseudo Tara architecture but it grew on me. Mostly because the grounds were so lovely. My mother and sister really loved it and requested we change our Christmas reservations from CSR to POR.
After a bit of a rest we took a cab over to the Poly ($10.75 plus tip) for dinner at the Kona Café. Best meal of the trip. Ill post details in a dining thread with pictures. The only thing is, why are all restaurants at WDW so loud? There is no soundproofing so they all sound like school cafeterias with no lunch monitor on duty. Its my goal to find a few quiet ones next trip.
Our after dinner plan was to take the monorail over to MK and see Spectromagic and Wishes. We were done in though. We did go over and we rode the train all the way around and then headed for the bus stop and back to POR. It was a great day (other than scaring my mother!)
