The Trip, Trip, Trip Report

[lklasing 16]

A few final thoughts for Trip #1:

 

Port Orleans Riverside – Loved it!  I would stay there again in a heartbeat.  Like I said earlier, the only downside I can say is the fact that it is so spread out.  That made going to get breakfast in the mornings, refills on drinks, etc. a little burdensome and time consuming.  But other than that, I had absolutely no complaints.  The room was a good size and very quiet, we were close to a quiet pool, and I loved the décor of the room and the resort as a whole.

 

Kidani – Loved it too!  Having a Savannah view was awesome.  And on DVC with a studio, I didn’t think the points used for it was too much at all.  I would say, however, that if we stay at AKL again, I’ll definitely try to get Jambo House.  As with POR, it was tough going to the counter service spot to grab meals.  Unlike POR, it wasn’t even an easy walk.  I took the shuttle each time.  If we had been there for longer than we were, I would have tried the walk to see how that compared to the shuttle and to the walk at POR, but I really didn’t have time this time.  But we all enjoyed the Savannah view enough that I hope we get to stay there again, even if we are in Kidani instead of Jambo.

 

The weather – Couldn’t have been any better.  Highs each day were anywhere from 72 to 85 and sunny most of the time.  No rain at all.  It was tough returning to the cold, wet and for Megan, snowy, weather at home. 

 

Crowds – They were definitely there!  We arrived on New Years Day, so it was most assuredly not a down time.  But with some planning, we were able to do most of the things on our list for this trip, especially since we managed to get up and out early most mornings. 

 

Magical Express – I’m not so much a fan.  It was functional and I’m glad we did it to try to save money where we could, but I doubt we’ll be doing it again.  It was an awfully long walk down to the ME check in, plus a wait to get on the bus, plus a wait to get moving, plus a stop at three resorts before finally getting to ours.  I’m confident that any time saved with not having to get our bags was more than made up for with all the waiting and driving around to other spots.  Same with the return to MCO.  But again, it functioned perfectly so I’m glad to have been able to use it.  But I honestly don’t expect to us ME again on future trips.

 

This was an incredibly awesome trip, for lots of reasons, the main one being getting to spend time with Danielle.  She and I are very close now and it was just so wonderful getting to spend so much non-stop time with her.  I loved getting to meet and really get to know her best friend Megan, who was an absolute sweetie.  I also loved getting to stay at POR and Kidani – both brand new resorts to me.  But mainly, I got to be with Danielle, which made the whole trip perfect.

 

And that was it!  An awesome trip with two awesome girls.  Happily, I didn’t have to wait too long for the return, which will be where we pick up next.  But y'all are going to have to give me a couple of days to get the pictures going on that one.  Thanks for reading!!!

[dblr....Rennie 224]

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip and will be talking about it for a long time. Spending time with your kids, priceless, I usually do a dad & sons ski trip with my 2 boys and it always seems like 2 different kids then when we are at home.

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Love that the 3 of you got to do a girls trip!

 

The Sanaa bra reappeared! 

 

Great dragon photo.

 

Thanks so much for sharing this trip with us. I can't wait to read about trips 2 and 3. 

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

If you liked POR, you should consider POFQ for a future trip.  I always avoided it because I thought we wouldn't like it, but it is way more compact than POR, which means a lot less walking.

 

TCD

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Great final thoughts!

[ependydad...Doug 176]

If you liked POR, you should consider POFQ for a future trip.  I always avoided it because I thought we wouldn't like it, but it is way more compact than POR, which means a lot less walking.

 

TCD

 

We sayed at POFQ and loved it. I'm afraid that POR won't live up to my expectations from FQ.

[lklasing 16]

Sounds like you had a wonderful trip and will be talking about it for a long time. Spending time with your kids, priceless, I usually do a dad & sons ski trip with my 2 boys and it always seems like 2 different kids then when we are at home.

 

It really was a wonderful trip. Getting to spend that time with Danielle before she went back to school was just wonderful.  Dad and sons ski trips sound super too!

 

Love that the 3 of you got to do a girls trip!

 

The Sanaa bra reappeared! 

 

Great dragon photo.

 

Thanks so much for sharing this trip with us. I can't wait to read about trips 2 and 3. 

 

Girls trips really are fun.  I did miss Ray and Jodi, though.  Luckily I didn't have to wait too long to get to go with them!  That's coming up very shortly.

 

Yup on the Sanaa bra!  We just couldn't go and not do it.

 

Thanks for reading and commenting!!

 

If you liked POR, you should consider POFQ for a future trip.  I always avoided it because I thought we wouldn't like it, but it is way more compact than POR, which means a lot less walking.

 

TCD

 

I definitely will try to stay at POFQ.  That was what I had initially booked rather than POR.  But, Danielle looked around at the pictures and decided POR looked better for this trip.  I know they both have to be great.  I'm just really thrilled to have stayed at a moderate and loved it so much.

 

Great final thoughts!

 

Thanks!!

 

We sayed at POFQ and loved it. I'm afraid that POR won't live up to my expectations from FQ.

 

You try POR and I'll try POFQ, and we can compare notes!

[lklasing 16]

Tuesday, January 23:

 

Like I think mentioned earlier in this report, Ray and I had initially planned to do this trip on our own and leave Jodi at home for most of the week.  But we wound up deciding to bring her along after all, which I’m glad we did as we had such a great time.  But the addition of Jodi plus her friend Susan meant that we would not fit into the studio at BLT that we originally booked (at least we wouldn’t comfortably fit), so I wound up rebooking fairly late in the game, resulting in us having to switch to SSR for a one-bedroom.  We had stayed at SSR before and, while it’s nice and all, it is probably our least favorite resort.  But, I’m game to stay most anywhere so I was looking forward to seeing whether we would enjoy it any more this trip.  And I’m happy to say that we did enjoy it lots more this time.  As with so many things, location is everything.  We had a much better room assignment this time and somehow it really made a big difference.

 

Despite a big winter storm elsewhere on the day we left, thankfully we had a very uneventful trip down to Orlando.  After deciding to not use ME again, we got the same towncar driver we used last summer, and it was great.  We landed at 9:20 and were already checked in at SSR, after a grocery run, by 10:30.  Easy and quick.  Perfect.

 

Look!  Epcot!  (If you squint, you can see it!):

 

 

Our room was ready when we got to the resort, and I was thrilled to be assigned to the Springs portion – the part that is closest to the CS, restaurants, one of the pools, etc.  Just where I had hoped to be.  And the room looked great!

 

 

 

Our view:

 

 

We got out bags dropped off and headed straight to Epcot, where we started off the trip with Ray’s all time favorite meal – fish and chips from the Yorkshire County Fish Shop.  We got a great table looking out over the lake and just reveled in soaking up the sun.  It was a little cooler than when I had been there with Danielle, but 60 degrees and sun beats out a winter weather day at home all the time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we made it to Soarin’, Nemo, Spaceship Earth and TT.  Soarin’ was great as always, spots on the film and all.  We hung out in the acquariam area after Nemo, which I had never been to.  We pretty much decided after TT that we may be done with that ride for a while.  (I think I might have said that last time we rode TT, but we really mean it this time!  :) )  Even with FPs, it was 25 minutes between walking into the building and getting on the ride.  The whole create the car thing, plus the funneling us into the next room and more waiting just seems to me to not be what FP is supposed to do.  Plus, we just don’t like the ride much since they made all the changes.  So, we’re done with that one for now.

 

Here’s the room after the “design your car” area.  This line moved slow…

 

 

(Despite all that, I still like the picture, especially since it was dark outside – taking it outside is a nice change.)

 

 

After Nemo, we went into a part of the Seas pavilion that we’ve never been to – the room with a series of smaller aquariums.  Don’t know why we’ve never been in there before, as it was great!  Definitely worth going to see especially if you haven’t been in before.

 

 

 

 

You know – I just can’t take Ray anywhere:

 

 

Other than our renewed ban on TT, our arrival day was just great!  We wound up doing an early walk-in for dinner at Via Napoli, Ray’s other favorite restaurant at WDW, so it was definitely a great day of eating for him.  After dinner, we made our way back to the front (carrying leftover pizza, no less), hopped a bus to SSR, and crashed.  It was a big, but extra fun, day.

 

Weather wasn’t too shabby:

 

 

Fun outside France:

 

 

 

 

Ray’s favorite restaurant!

 

 

This was the view from our table:

 

 

 

 

Up next:  The discovery of something new on Everest, an absolutely amazing dinner (that I've never seen written about on FF!), plus the arrival of teenagers! 

[DaveInTN 3,247]

I'm caught up.  And glad I got a cameo!  

 

I'm not a fan of TT any longer either....the problem is there isn't much else to do in Epcot when you are entertaining kids.  It's fine for an adult evening out, but as a theme park the place kinda SMB.   

[mouseketab.....Carol 1,261]

If you liked POR, you should consider POFQ for a future trip.  I always avoided it because I thought we wouldn't like it, but it is way more compact than POR, which means a lot less walking.

 

TCD

Agreed, we LOVE POFQ, same size rooms, very nice atmosphere, and very compact, not lots of walking!

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Yum! Via Napoli! 

 

SSR is another place where we've been looking at DVC points.... Interested to get your opinion. 

 

 

I'm caught up.  And glad I got a cameo!  

 

I'm not a fan of TT any longer either....the problem is there isn't much else to do in Epcot when you are entertaining kids.  It's fine for an adult evening out, but as a theme park the place kinda SMB.   

 

Hmmmm... I think there's another TR you need to catch up on.... 

[Littleolwoman.aka.Kristie 119]

Trip number the next. Off to a great start. 

[twiceblessed....nacole 433]

Caught up.  Serious fun!!   LOVE all the pics :)

[dvccamper 32]

We haven't stayed at SSR yet but I would like to try the Treehouses there. Have you stayed in one of those?

Interested to hear about the amazing dinner!

[Northerngirl--Lori 5]

I enjoyed your first report, enjoying your second report. Can't wait to read more!

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Caught up.

We visited SSR last summer. DW and DD decided to walk from the main building to DTD and I decided to take the bus. We left from the boat launch area and they beat me by at least 15 or 20 minutes. I never realized how big that place is. I think that bus took me to every area at SSR before stopping at DTD.

[Tri-Circle-D 2,059]

Hooray for an update!

 

Y'all had a fun day in Epcot.

 

I agree with you about Test Track.  FP+ guests should be given the option of skipping the design room.  That adds so much time to the wait, and it isn't that much fun anyway.  As for the rest of the ride, they sure wasted their money with the re-do.  The original was better, and made more sense.

 

I am interested in hearing about the new discovery you made on Expedition Everest as well as the amazing dinner.

 

TCD

[lklasing 16]

Yay!  I didn't lose y'all between trips!

 

I'm caught up.  And glad I got a cameo!  

 

I'm not a fan of TT any longer either....the problem is there isn't much else to do in Epcot when you are entertaining kids.  It's fine for an adult evening out, but as a theme park the place kinda SMB.   

 

Dave!  So glad you're back.  It was really great getting to see you and the whole family last month.  

 

And it's good to know that we're not the only ones who aren't big TT fans any more.

 

Agreed, we LOVE POFQ, same size rooms, very nice atmosphere, and very compact, not lots of walking!

 

I can totally see that.  Despite all my complaining about the spread out nature of POR, I really loved walking from POR to POFQ.  How's that for inconsistent? 

 

 

SSR is another place where we've been looking at DVC points.... Interested to get your opinion. 

 

 

SSR was where we bought our first contract and I haven't regretted it, especially since it was the contract we could afford at the time we were deciding to buy.  The great thing is that you can use the points at any resort as long as you can get availability.  We haven't had any trouble with availability as long as we plan far enough ahead.  Me deciding to take Danielle to WDW about 10 days ahead of time over New Years weekend was a fail as far as my inability to use points went, but obviously that was my own fault.

 

Having said all that, we really enjoyed SSR more this trip.  The first time we went, we stayed in the Grandstand area, but I really didn't like it.  It was so far away from everything that it seemed like its own separate resort.  This time with our great location, I really felt like we were right in the middle of everything and enjoyed it much more.

 

Trip number the next. Off to a great start. 

 

Thanks!  Glad you're here!

 

Caught up.  Serious fun!!   LOVE all the pics :)

 

Thanks!!  We definitely have loads of fun down there.

 

We haven't stayed at SSR yet but I would like to try the Treehouses there. Have you stayed in one of those?

Interested to hear about the amazing dinner!

 

No, but I've been eyeing them for a while!  In fact, later in this report (maybe the next entry?), I take a run through the tree houses just for fun.  

 

And, if you can keep a secret, I'll let you in on the fact that I actually have one booked for next New Years weekend!  I'm not telling anyone in my family as I have a long way to go to save up enough money for that one!  It's likely to involve not one but two teenage boys, so I really need to save up for just enough food for everyone!

 

I enjoyed your first report, enjoying your second report. Can't wait to read more!

 

Thanks!!  Glad you're here!

 

Caught up.

We visited SSR last summer. DW and DD decided to walk from the main building to DTD and I decided to take the bus. We left from the boat launch area and they beat me by at least 15 or 20 minutes. I never realized how big that place is. I think that bus took me to every area at SSR before stopping at DTD.

 

That's definitely one thing that's not so great about SSR.  We wound up figuring out which bus stop was last to pick up each time and made sure to leave to go to the parks from there.  When we got back, we would usually get off at an earlier stop than that one and just walk to the room.  We decided that getting off at the first stop (Grandstand) and walking was really the fastest way to get back to the room, which seems totally illogical to me.  But we really liked it better getting off the bus earlier and not driving around so much.

 

Hooray for an update!

 

Y'all had a fun day in Epcot.

 

I agree with you about Test Track.  FP+ guests should be given the option of skipping the design room.  That adds so much time to the wait, and it isn't that much fun anyway.  As for the rest of the ride, they sure wasted their money with the re-do.  The original was better, and made more sense.

 

I am interested in hearing about the new discovery you made on Expedition Everest as well as the amazing dinner.

 

TCD

 

Another TT detractor!  I totally agree that FP+ guests should get to choose whether to do all the extra stuff or not.  I agree even more that the re-do is a waste.  They just dumbed it down so much.  It's like we're supposed to go through pointing at neon and saying, "Ohhhhh, shiny!"

[lklasing 16]

Wednesday:

 

Thankfully, I slept a little later than usual at home, and Ray slept a lot later than me, so we both woke up feeling refreshed despite our long travel and Epcot day yesterday.  We debated whether to go on a run around the resort.  The angels on our shoulders reminded us how much we like doing that to get our bearings in a resort and just be able to check everything out, while the devils said that we should go straight to eat breakfast instead.  The angels won out, but not by much!  We went for  a short run which was lots of fun, especially when we stumbled upon the bridge to DTD, which we used later in the day, so it was good to find out exactly where it was. 

 

 

 

One thing totally weirded me out about SSR – anyone notice anything odd about this map?

 

 

Check out the compass.  Its North points down.  That’s how about 75% of the maps scattered around are.  But some of them had the compass the right way – with North pointing up.  It made it a lot harder to get our bearings in the resort for a day or so.

 

We grabbed some breakfast after the run, cleaned up and headed out for AK.  We had a decent number of FPs in our pockets, between our MBs and also those belonging to Jodi and Susan, but we really didn’t use many.  We rode Safari and EE (twice for me – the single rider line was non-existent!), and watched Nemo for the first time.  It was cute and I’m glad we saw it, but I definitely prefer FOTLK if I’m going to have to make a choice next time.

 

 

Birds!  At Animal Kingdom!   Crazy, right?

 

 

Love these guys:

 

 

 

 

No rhinos this trip! 

 

 

 

 

My new favorite picture with Ray:

 

 

 

(Check out my single rider companion on my second ride on EE – this dude held onto the bar the whole time!)

 

 

So, here’s my new find on Everest!  Has anyone ever notice that apparently it’s a thing to throw your hairbands over to the right when you’re at the broken track?  I hadn’t, but apparently I’ve been missing out on an opportunity to get rid of some ponytail holders.

 

 

 

Weird, huh?

 

Dave, since we're all so glad you're back with us, I'll warn you now.  Close your eyes!

 

 

After a while, we decided to head back to SSR and walk to DTD for some lunch.  Earl of Sandwich was calling out to us, especially Ray who had their holiday turkey sandwich.  Ray was tickled by their sign saying that they had “The World’s Greatest Hot Sandwich”, and thought about running inside and shouting congratulations to them, ala Elf with the world’s best cup of coffee, but wound up just walking in and ordering his lunch instead.

 

While we were eating, some big deal was going on at the carousel.  There were a bunch of CMs, some costumed and some not, celebrating a group of kids and parents who were riding.  Signs, shouts of celebration, the whole shebang.  We never figured it out, but it looked like fun for whoever all those happy people were.

 

 

 

After a tiny bit of shopping (Ray doesn’t tolerate shopping very well , we headed back to the room and rested for a bit.  We didn’t have long to let our food digest before it was time for dinner at Bluezoo at the Dolphin.    We had gotten ADRs at Bluezoo as Ray liked the looks of it when I gave him some choices.  I’ve never really heard anything much about it but I was interested as Todd English has opened a restaurant in our area that I’ve thought about going to and I figured if Bluezoo was good, then his other place near us would be good too.  So, off we went.

 

 

 

(Note to self – dress up more next time.  This place was a lot nicer than I was expecting.)

 

(Another note to self - next time, try to go a little later when we might not be the only ones there for a while.)

 

 

Y’all, the food was awesome.  I had a shrimp and grits appetizer, Ray had oysters, and then we both had the fish (grouper, maybe?). 

 

 

 

 

I don’t know how to say enough about Bluezoo.  It truly was amazing.  The food was great – about the best we’ve had anywhere – and the service was outstanding.  It was a little more expensive than, say, California Grill or Jiko would have been, but not much.  And the experience was many times better than those.  It was really first rate.  Sadly, we were in a hurry or else we would have gotten dessert, but there will definitely be another chance for us.   We’ll be back as soon as we can.

[lklasing 16]

The reason we were in a hurry at Bluezoo is we had to make it back to SSR before Jodi and Susan arrived.  We made it, but just barely!  We took what we thought would be a cab from Bluezoo back to SSR, but I noticed that the van wasn’t marked with any cab company markings.  I didn’t think anything about it until he told us  when we got to SSR that it would be $20 for the ride.  Given that the cab that took us to the Dolphin (exact same ride, just in reverse) cost $12, we knew we were getting the shaft.  But we just paid it and went on about our business.  I guess it was because the Dolphin isn’t really a real Disney resort that that happened.  I just don’t think that a Disney resort would put its guests in a shady van to get overcharged like that.

 

Oh well, no biggie.  The big news now was that Jodi and Susan had finally arrived!  They made the trip with no trouble at all and were ready for some fun.  Ray was stuffed from the big dinner and tired out, so he stayed behind while I took them to Epcot for a couple of relatively late night rides before they closed up.

 

First, though, Jodi had to check out the oddly-shapped shower.

 

 

 

Someone tickled someone else right as I was trying to take a picture at M:S:

 

 

Here’s where I learned something that I’m so glad to know about TT!  I don’t have to ban it altogether after all!  As long as you can get in on the single rider, you get to skip all those areas I was complaining about so mightily just one day before.  So, it turns out that I’ll get to go on TT again after all.  :)

 

 

 

After a while, we decided we were too pooped to keep on, so we headed on back.  We got off the bus at a different bus stop, trying out a different route to the room, and walked through one of the pool areas, where we saw this:

 

 

Weird, huh?  What’s that about?  It was just an umbrella which was being “protected” by this thing.  So, when it’s clear that you’re not supposed to accost an umbrella, what has to happen?  This, of course:

 

 

So that was that!  Another fun day!

 

Next up:  An epic FP hack!

[DaveInTN 3,247]

Devine.    :banghead:

[GaDawgFan.....Kelly 799]

Never heard of the rubber band thing on Everest. Interesting. I think. What's up with that!

 

I've often wondered about Bluezoo. 

 

We got into a "not really a cab" at the taxi area of Epcot. We didn't realize until we were part of the way. I'm surprised Disney is allowing that. 

[h2odivers...Ray 952]

Which bridge to DTD did you find? The one by the boat launch at the Springs? Or the one at Congress Park?

DW and DD walked from the Springs to Congress Park and then to Ragland road 15 minutes before I got there on the bus from the Springs.

[dvccamper 32]

Too funny on your (2nd) Everest picture. The guy looks terrified! Be thankful he wasn't sniveling into your shoulder the whole ride. Although he looks so uncomfortable the way he was.

And I already can't wait for your Treehouse trip...start saving those pennies!

[CCIntrigue...aka Gwen 547]

Another great update!