1200 pics, 1100 miles, 15 deluxe dining meals, 1 great time at POR *Completed 9/5*

[TXPyroMom]

Joining in! Loving all the great pictures. DH and I are looking to try a moderate next year and POR is at the top of our list. The grounds look beautiful.

 

[maryj11]

Oh wow AK looked crowded ! Thank goodness for fastpass +

 

[darrengs]

One of my favorite TR!

I love all of the resort pictures (my favorite part of any TR), and I am now stealing 2 ideas from you. We have a night booked at POP before our stay at the Yacht Club, so now I plan to drive over there and check in while everyone else is getting ready. And I booked lunch at Kona Cafe.

 

[alan_renfroe]

Nice pics!!! The vulture shot reminded me the other day we rode that ride and we got to the trees near the hippos also and we got held up for a few minutes. A little girl one row up from us said, " Momma, what are the birds doing?" I didnt even hesitate and said, "Waiting", right after the girls statement. The mom and everyone else on the safari car broke out laughing. It was the best!!! Even the CM Guide loved the joke. They now sometimes use it as part of their joke routine.

That's hilarious! That's a great response!

i'm a little late, but i'm reading along

Hi bellesBFF! Welcome!

Joining in! I am all caught up and excited to read more! Your family is beautiful!

Awwww, thanks very much! I'm very proud of them!

Joining in! Loving all the great pictures. DH and I are looking to try a moderate next year and POR is at the top of our list. The grounds look beautiful.

Well I can tell you it's our new favorite. We loved CSR, but I think every one of us liked POR better. One thing I haven't mentioned that we liked about it was how convenient it is if you're driving. I like where it's located.

Oh wow AK looked crowded ! Thank goodness for fastpass +

Yeah, our past trips have been earlier in May....so we are not used to crowds being that big. EasyWDW had that day as an "8"...I would say that was pretty accurate.

One of my favorite TR!

I love all of the resort pictures (my favorite part of any TR), and I am now stealing 2 ideas from you. We have a night booked at POP before our stay at the Yacht Club, so now I plan to drive over there and check in while everyone else is getting ready. And I booked lunch at Kona Cafe.

Awwww, thanks very much for the kind words! Good move on stealing away to get checked in at Yacht Club...and Kona is a great pick for lunch! Are you on the dining plan or out of pocket? Either way Kona is awesome.

 

[Koh1977]

Thanks Cinderella2006! Hope you all will love it as much as we did! Yeah I was a little disappointed also, but I sort of expected that it might not be an option for an appetizer on the Deluxe Dining Plan. I didn't expect them to not have sushi offered at all at lunch. Welcome! Glad to have you along for the ride! We only ate at each food court once, but they were both really good. Hi Andre! Glad to see you here! I've got many more POR pics to post throughout this trip report. And as I said to Venomhatch, I cannot thank you all enough for all the great information provided on the POR thread and the portorleans.org site. You guys are great ambassadors for our beloved newfound Disney home. What we liked about the POFQ was that we could get biscuits/gravy and beignets as snack credits on the dining plan. Thanks Disneymaddness! Glad to have you along for the ride! A new chapter is coming right up.

I planned an off morning specifically for beignets at POFQ!!

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[Koh1977]

You didn't by chance notice how busy the bus stops were, did you?

Can't wait to hear your review of Raglan Road. That's one I keep thinking of trying, but not sure we're going to hit Downtown Disney this trip or not. Don't want to be overly tempted to buy all the neat stuff they have now at the new Centerpiece store and the clothes we load up on when we go to World Of Disney... But that means missing Ghiradelli and Raglan Road...hmmm...

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[KatMark]

You are an updating fool, Alan!

I'm glad I read ALL of your updates before I commented on the boat. I had a feeling Aimee was wrong because our boats from OKW were running to DTD at night...they just dropped us off at a different location than they used to.

I love your pictures of POR-Riverside. I've always said if I ever go back to a moderate and couldn't get CSR, POR-R is the only other moderate I would consider. Mark and I are hoping to get over to their food court in September as we really enjoy it (personally we were not fans of Boatwrights).

Kona Cafe was the surprise hit of the trip for me. We didn't do lunch, but we did dinner. I had the same dessert as your wife and it was yummy...but rich like you said.

I love when you have a great CM on the safari ride...it adds so much to it.
You rode the death ride--EE. I did that with Avery. I told her next time she is on her own...I am so done with that ride. And we got Lisa's son, Hunter (mickeystoontown) to do Primevil Hurl with Cayley because after last year there was no way I was getting back on it.

Can't wait to hear what you thought of Raglan Road (where we also ate).

 

[alan_renfroe]

I planned an off morning specifically for beignets at POFQ!!

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We planned a sleep-in morning and some beignets before an EMH night at Magic Kingdom! In fact, I filled up so much on them that I wasn't hungry at lunch that day!

You didn't by chance notice how busy the bus stops were, did you?

Can't wait to hear your review of Raglan Road. That's one I keep thinking of trying, but not sure we're going to hit Downtown Disney this trip or not. Don't want to be overly tempted to buy all the neat stuff they have now at the new Centerpiece store and the clothes we load up on when we go to World Of Disney... But that means missing Ghiradelli and Raglan Road...hmmm...

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We mainly drove everywhere except to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot once. For the most part we were happy with them, but the MK buses were super crowded at peak times. The only problem we had at all was one evening after dinner my DD and I decided to go back to MK and close it down. We arrived at the East bus stop at 9pm. We saw three or four buses pass for AK, DHS, Epcot, but it was about 30 minutes before the MK bus arrived. Luckily we weren't in a big hurry on that day.

You are an updating fool, Alan!

I'm glad I read ALL of your updates before I commented on the boat. I had a feeling Aimee was wrong because our boats from OKW were running to DTD at night...they just dropped us off at a different location than they used to.

I love your pictures of POR-Riverside. I've always said if I ever go back to a moderate and couldn't get CSR, POR-R is the only other moderate I would consider. Mark and I are hoping to get over to their food court in September as we really enjoy it (personally we were not fans of Boatwrights).

Kona Cafe was the surprise hit of the trip for me. We didn't do lunch, but we did dinner. I had the same dessert as your wife and it was yummy...but rich like you said.

I love when you have a great CM on the safari ride...it adds so much to it.
You rode the death ride--EE. I did that with Avery. I told her next time she is on her own...I am so done with that ride. And we got Lisa's son, Hunter (mickeystoontown) to do Primevil Hurl with Cayley because after last year there was no way I was getting back on it.

Can't wait to hear what you thought of Raglan Road (where we also ate).

Hahahaha! Yes m'aam I am! I'm trying to get several updates in before I have to travel some over the weekend.

We love Kona! We had been there twice before for dinner but this was my first lunch there. (DW ate lunch there when she attended a seminar back in January.) It was quite different this time than in the past because of all the construction at the Poly. Usually the restaurant is loud from all the noise just outside the restaurant, but it was much quieter this year with all the drywall just outside.

The boat dropped us off right in front of Raglan Road, so that worked out GREAT for us!

Oh I do love me some thrill rides! As I've said before, I'm the biggest kid in our family.... so the faster, the higher, the scarier, the better!

Boat ride pics and Raglan Road dining review coming up!

 

[alan_renfroe]

It was about 6pm on Friday, May 30 when we got in the line for the boat service to Downtown Disney. I had been given some erroneous information earlier that the boats would stop running at 5pm. Good thing I investigated on my own! We had to wait for a couple of boats before it was our turn in line, but we were on our way by 6:40pm.























You could clearly see all the construction going on at Downtown Disney/Disney Springs



The boat dock where we landed was right in front of Raglan Road! How convenient!





Coming up next: our dinner at Raglan Road

 

[tinkerbell615]

I'm joining. We stayed at PORFQ a VERY long time ago. It was our first visit to WDW and it was then considered a value resort believe it or not. I just told DH that we maybe should try POR on our next visit. It looks beautiful! Love all of the pictures.

 

[alan_renfroe]

I'm joining. We stayed at PORFQ a VERY long time ago. It was our first visit to WDW and it was then considered a value resort believe it or not. I just told DH that we maybe should try POR on our next visit. It looks beautiful! Love all of the pictures.

Welcome tinkerbell615! Yeah I had a feeling we were really going to like POR, but it's even prettier than the pictures can even capture. I'm already ready to go back!

 

[mickeystoontown]

What a great picture that you took from Expedition Everest. I'm scared of heights so I'm usually looking down instead of around when we're up that high. I took a walking tour of both Port Orleans resorts this trip and I agree that the resort is beautiful!

 

[PinkBudgie]

Joining in. We are leaving for POFQ on Wednesday so I hope you post a lot before then! This is our first trip to WDW and I love seeing the recent pics. I'm glad the boat is running in the evening because we had planned on taking it to DTD on arrival day too. Hopefully, her words never come to pass...

 

[jengru102]

Great report!

 

[alan_renfroe]

What a great picture that you took from Expedition Everest. I'm scared of heights so I'm usually looking down instead of around when we're up that high. I took a walking tour of both Port Orleans resorts this trip and I agree that the resort is beautiful!

Thanks Lisa! My DD was telling me to put the iPhone away before the big drop! hahahaha! I just had to get that picture!

POR and POFQ are great resorts to do a walking tour of for sure. We saw a lot of bicyclists as well.

Looking forward to reading your report along the way as well!

Joining in. We are leaving for POFQ on Wednesday so I hope you post a lot before then! This is our first trip to WDW and I love seeing the recent pics. I'm glad the boat is running in the evening because we had planned on taking it to DTD on arrival day too. Hopefully, her words never come to pass...

Hello and welcome! First trip! How exciting! I think the CM that told me that about the boat to DTD was confused on where the boat would dock once it was at DTD. I didn't really care which dock just as long as I got there and back. The boat picks up passengers at POR first, then reserves several seats for POFQ guests on the way down the river. It's a nice relaxing ride!

Great report!

Thanks alot! Welcome! Glad to have you along for the ride!

 

[alan_renfroe]

We arrived at Raglan Road just a few minutes after 7pm for our 7:30pm reservation on Friday, May 30. They gave us a pager and we were seated by 7:15pm.



I will begin this review by telling you I have eaten here twice before and LOVE Raglan Road! However, both of my previous visits have been for lunch. DW ate dinner here back in January and again had a wonderful experience! She was excited for us to see the celtic dancers since we hadn't been there during dinner time before.

Our server quickly brought us some of their bread and Guiness dipping oil, then took our drink orders. DW got a beer sampler flight and I ordered a New Castle. (sorry we didn't get pics of the beer.) DW and I liked the bread and dip very much but the kids didn't.



Our server's name was Jack. I'm not sure what country he was from, but he was of Asian descent, spoke with a heavy accent and at times was a little hard for me to understand with the loudness of the background music. He was a really good server. He asked if we were on the dining plan and I told him we were on Deluxe Dining Plan.

Now, we had been looking and dreaming about menus on this trip for months, both on the allears web site and the MyDisneyExperience app. However, the actual menu is laid out differently than what is presented. The appetizer menu is split into two sections: "It's all about me" and "It's all about sharing". Jack informed us that on the Deluxe Dining Plan we could each get one item from the "It's all about me" section, but it would take two appetizer credits to get something from the "It's all about sharing" section. DW and I had hoped to split an item on the menu called "Appetizer D'Lirrah for two". I mean it says "for two" right? Well, Jack informed us that that particular dish we could not get as an appetizer on the Deluxe Dining plan. At all. Unless we wanted to pay out of pocket. I was quite upset about this and told him that I wanted him to ask a manager if there was anyway we could get this. I mean for what you spend for the Deluxe Dining plan, I didn't understand why DW and I couldn't use both of our appetizer credits. The result: we were told that we could have that dish, but that it would take all four of our appetizer credits. Well what the kids wanted was on that platter and what DW and I both wanted was as well...so we said okay.

At that point, this was our very first dinner on this trip on the Deluxe Dining Plan. I was really worried that we might run into situations like this at other restaurants throughout the week. (We did not however...only with this dish at this restaurant.)

Ultimately, we got the dish we wanted but it took all four of our appetizer credits.



Everything was very good, but it just upset me that it took an act of congress to actually order what we wanted. By this time I was tired since I didn't sleep hardly at all the night before and I guess I was a little cranky. Even the music and the dancers were sort of giving me a headache. I just ordered another New Castle and kept silent. We ordered our entrees.

DW and DD both ordered the Keen Eye for the Shepherd's Pie:





Several months ago DW found a recipe for this dish online and has made it at home a few times. Hers didn't look as fancy but we thought her homemade shepherd's pie was actually better than Raglan Road's. Not that it was bad by any means, but both DW and DD wished they had ordered something different.

DS ordered the Burger 'R' Way:



The fries were really good but he did not care for the burger at all. (It's served with a tomato chutney on it and a vinegary taste.) He ate the fries and didn't even touch the burger.

I ordered the Lambo (braised lamb shank):



Now THIS was a great dish! I've had lamb chops many times but I had never eaten braised lamb shank. It literally fell right off the bone!



I ate most all of it....very good.

Then we ordered our desserts. DS ordered the Fluffy Lemon Clouds:



He loved it and made all of us try a bite. It was very good!

DD ordered the Strawberry and Apple Crumble:



This was amazing! The crust was baked in that Mason jar! She said it was her favorite dessert of the entire trip.

DW ordered the Trifle Sinful:





She loved, loved, loved it!!! Both she and I both love their bread pudding, but she decided to try something different since I was going to order the bread pudding. She loved this dish so much she didn't even ask for a bite of my bread pudding!

Okay....speaking of bread pudding...I ordered my usual at Raglan Road, Ger's Bread and Butter Pudding:





Oh. My. Gosh. It was as amazing as I remember it being! Maybe even more so! I clumped out the top half onto the plate and oozed the butter and caramel sauce over it. YUMMM! I'm not a big dessert person, but this is THE BEST dessert I've ever eaten. Anywhere. Period.

Overall, our experience was nice but I was just really tired. I think on future trips I will just have dinner at the food court at POR on the first night.

It's hard for me to give this dinner a grade. The food was good, particularly the desserts, the server was good, but a couple of dishes missed the mark and I couldn't really get over the whole "four appetizer credits for one dish" thing. I would give the appetizer an A-, entrees a B-, desserts an A+, service an A-. Normally I would've really enjoyed the celtic dancing and the live music, but I think we were all in need of a good night's sleep. Overall experience on this night: B- (but the bread pudding made it ALL worth it). I will most certainly be back to Raglan Road again, especially if paying out of pocket.

We decided it would probably be faster to take the bus back to POR instead of the boat, so we did. We got back to the room and called it a night.

Tomorrow, we're up early and headed to Epcot for rope drop!

 

[Dreamsdocometrue9112]

Joining in late!! We love POR! Just stayed there for the first time ever May 13-18 and fell in love with the resort we decided this to be our go-to resort, even after staying deluxe a few times! It was just SO worth our money (and the savings from deluxes!) We will be there again in September! I just love reminiscing by looking at the pictures, as well as looking forward to being there again with my parents and in-laws in a few months!

We will be eating at Raglan Road as well on our upcoming trip! Sorry to hear you has a mediocre experience I hope the rest of our dining experiences are better!

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[alan_renfroe]

Joining in late!! We love POR! Just stayed there for the first time ever May 13-18 and fell in love with the resort we decided this to be our go-to resort, even after staying deluxe a few times! It was just SO worth our money (and the savings from deluxes!) We will be there again in September! I just love reminiscing by looking at the pictures, as well as looking forward to being there again with my parents and in-laws in a few months!

We will be eating at Raglan Road as well on our upcoming trip! Sorry to hear you has a mediocre experience I hope the rest of our dining experiences are better!

Looking forward to reading more!

Hi Erika! Never too late to join in. I agree...POR is now going to be our go-to resort. I absolutely loved it!

I guess I shouldn't have made it sound like a mediocre experience at Raglan Road. We do love this place dearly. I think I was more disappointed with the Deluxe Dining Plan than I was with Raglan Road as a restaurant. And yes we did have some absolutely wonderful dining experiences on this trip!

 

[alan_renfroe]

We all had a refreshing night's sleep and on Saturday, May 31, we were ready to tackle Epcot!





We would only have one day at Epcot so we had to make it count. We left POR around 8:10am and were at the Epcot gates by 8:30 for a 9am opening!













The Cast Members opened the park right about 8:50am. We walked with purpose towards Test Track until we got there in the standby line. Within minutes we were designing our car!

DS and I designed this car:



DW and DD designed this car:



This was our first time to ride the re-imagined Test Track. We liked some of the changes but also missed some of the previous features. Overall, I think we all liked it just a little better than the previous version.











We had a great time riding Test Track!



Coming up next: an awesome morning at Epcot!

 

[MommaPeel]

Joining in, I'm loving this TR so far! I love the pics and that resort is so beautiful. Maybe my February welcome home trip!

I can't wait to read more!