Ride all the boats, meet all the characters - a first-timer's Jan '15 TR 7/28 updates and conclusion

[ursalita]

Sounds like you had a fairly easy, relaxing drive. That's great.

The taco place you stopped at for dinner looks so good I had to Google it. I love that they give back to provide meals for kids.

I LOVED Serial. DH told me about it since he'd heard about it from a co-worker. He didn't want to listen but I did and told him the main parts of the story. I was completely hooked and can't wait to see what they do next season.

Congrats on the room upgrade. I'll have to do some research at the YC thread and figure out what we want so we can ask for it.

It's cool you were able to detour so DS got to see the ocean.

I will never understand people who come to a complete stop on a highway to take pictures and it happens so much there are signs warning against it.

 

[GrandCalifornian]

Yay for building 14! POR at its best in our opinion. Glad you had a good trip down.

 

[SarahDisney]

Sounds like the travel day went well ... always a good thing when taking a long car trip with the kiddo!

I don't understand why people stop at the sign that says "no stopping" to take a picture. Really, if you need a picture and there's no passenger in the car to take a picture, get one off the internet. It's like people are trying to cause car accidents ... everytime I hear/read a story like that, it makes me so angry.

Yay for the upgrade - always nice to be closer, especially when walking is hard or painful. Ground floor is also great - we always ask for that because for us it's easier not to have to deal with elevators/stairs at the end of the day.

 

[chiefdragon]

So glad that everyone is ok. Enjoying your report. Can not wait to read more.

 

[gracer9977]

Joining in.

Just found your TR and went back and read your PTR and now I am caught up on both.

Great news about the upgraded room and the much closer building. I love POR we stayed in the mansions last time and plan to stay in them again in Sept. So happy to see that lobby. Can't wait till it's my turn to check in there.

Awesome pics so far. Looks like everyone is having a fabulous time. You should have had a 1st trip button too. It's been 25 years since you were last at WDW so I would say you totally qualify!

Sounds like your trip went nice and smooth. My kids are good travelers too. We fly to Disney but I live in NH now but take 3-4 trips to PA every year to visit my family. It takes us 8 1/2 hours to get there and my kids never complain. Of course they have been making that trip since they were infants so they don't know any different.

That's really cool that you did a Memory Maker share. Good way to save some money but still get all the pictures. Especially those ride photos. Those are our favorite. I have always gone with my extended family so there is 12 of us so we just all pitch in and get the Memory Maker for ourselves.

Looking forward to reading all about your trip.

 

[Chicago Mo]

YAY for some pixi dust and an UPGRADE!!! That is fantastic! I adore POR. it's a beautiful resort.
Love the pictures of the ocean too! ohh the arch! didn't it feel like you transform once you pass?!?

OMG! I can't believe people! Stopping in the middle of the road! yet there are always stupid people everywhere...

 

[STLMickeyMom]

subbed and all caught up! what a great start to your trip--and pixie dust on the room to boot! awesome!! can't wait to hear more and see pictures of POR. we've only stayed there once, but I lllloooovvvvvee it!

 

[ach222]

You guys are great! Glad to have everyone along

Great start to your trip. Those tacos look great.

Yay for the room upgrade!

The tacos were great, not sure why DH and I were so enamored with them haha!

I'm going to comment on your drive down (over??). It seemed to go so.....nice! Easy, uneventful, calm. We have debated driving a few times but our youngest DS9 is SUCH a pain on car trips I love him to death but even when we drive to our friends house 50 minutes away, it's a constant "Oh my God are we almost there???" DH and I try very hard not to throw him out of the car.......BUT, we are now seriously considering adding another trip this year(going March and Nov. and thinking about Aug) but Aug. we would drive. For us it's 24 hours but we'd stop overnight.

I think I'm going to use your drive as an example for younger DS - "if a 5 year old can make it 17 hours with his movies and Ipad and not drive his parents crazy, you can too! You may have 7 more hours but you've got 4 years on him!!"

Or I'll use your other example and have younger DS stay home with Grandma

Down and over haha! We are for sure a road trip family. DS did 12 hours to Co when he was 3 (almost 4) and that was far less painful than we thought as well. I think if you have enough movies and snacks you'll be good to go! (and iPads with games)

Sounds like a pretty smooth trip - well, other than almost having a multi-car pile up when that car stopped to take pictures. I mean, sure it's a multi-lane highway but stopping shouldn't be an issue, right?

I wonder if Disney has considered having an area you can safely pull of too take pictures.

Your tacos sounds really good (though I am not a huge coconut fan) and that is cool that they give a meal away

So glad you got the check-in pixie dust and were happy with your location. I just love how happy Grant looks in basically every photo.

I was so thrilled with the room placement, just perfect!
I will say the coconut taco wasn't as good as the other one, it's a bit of an odd combo, but good to me since I don't mind that flavor. DH doesn't like coconut either.

Joining in! Looking forward to hearing all about your trip!

Lucky on the upgrade! That is fantastic!

So lucky - thanks to The Dis for sure!

Sounds like you had a fairly easy, relaxing drive. That's great.

The taco place you stopped at for dinner looks so good I had to Google it. I love that they give back to provide meals for kids.

I LOVED Serial. DH told me about it since he'd heard about it from a co-worker. He didn't want to listen but I did and told him the main parts of the story. I was completely hooked and can't wait to see what they do next season.

Congrats on the room upgrade. I'll have to do some research at the YC thread and figure out what we want so we can ask for it.

It's cool you were able to detour so DS got to see the ocean.

I will never understand people who come to a complete stop on a highway to take pictures and it happens so much there are signs warning against it.

Glad someone else here has listened to Serial, such an interesting case! Even having heard it once, listening on the drive down made time fly.

I just couldn't get past the guy stopping in the middle when he had someone with him that could've been snapping pics - crazy!

Yay for building 14! POR at its best in our opinion. Glad you had a good trip down.

It was so nice to be right there - we ran up and filled mugs all the time and when our feet were so done at the end of the day it was great to have the bus drop us off so close. I'm spoiled now!

Sounds like the travel day went well ... always a good thing when taking a long car trip with the kiddo!

I don't understand why people stop at the sign that says "no stopping" to take a picture. Really, if you need a picture and there's no passenger in the car to take a picture, get one off the internet. It's like people are trying to cause car accidents ... everytime I hear/read a story like that, it makes me so angry.

Yay for the upgrade - always nice to be closer, especially when walking is hard or painful. Ground floor is also great - we always ask for that because for us it's easier not to have to deal with elevators/stairs at the end of the day.

Yes the no stairs was great - we brought a jogging stroller so I was glad to not have to haul it up and down (although it ended up staying in the car, but in theory...)

So glad that everyone is ok. Enjoying your report. Can not wait to read more.

Glad you are reading along!

Joining in.

Just found your TR and went back and read your PTR and now I am caught up on both.

Great news about the upgraded room and the much closer building. I love POR we stayed in the mansions last time and plan to stay in them again in Sept. So happy to see that lobby. Can't wait till it's my turn to check in there.

Awesome pics so far. Looks like everyone is having a fabulous time. You should have had a 1st trip button too. It's been 25 years since you were last at WDW so I would say you totally qualify!

Sounds like your trip went nice and smooth. My kids are good travelers too. We fly to Disney but I live in NH now but take 3-4 trips to PA every year to visit my family. It takes us 8 1/2 hours to get there and my kids never complain. Of course they have been making that trip since they were infants so they don't know any different.

That's really cool that you did a Memory Maker share. Good way to save some money but still get all the pictures. Especially those ride photos. Those are our favorite. I have always gone with my extended family so there is 12 of us so we just all pitch in and get the Memory Maker for ourselves.

Looking forward to reading all about your trip.

I think if it were DH and I we'd LOVE the mansions, but DS was obsessed with the murphy bed so it's AB for us for a while.

I have crazy anxiety when I fly so if we can save some $ by driving I'm the first one to sign up haha!

I just downloaded the MM share pics yesterday. I wasn't sure if I would think it was worth is but there were so many great pics! And DS will like that I can add signatures. At $40ish with the share, it was a bargain.

YAY for some pixi dust and an UPGRADE!!! That is fantastic! I adore POR. it's a beautiful resort.
Love the pictures of the ocean too! ohh the arch! didn't it feel like you transform once you pass?!?

OMG! I can't believe people! Stopping in the middle of the road! yet there are always stupid people everywhere...

I have to admit, I am glad we stopped to see the ocean - it was so peaceful and lovely. G really enjoyed it and I got some nice pics! it did make me feel like I was really in Fl.

subbed and all caught up! what a great start to your trip--and pixie dust on the room to boot! awesome!! can't wait to hear more and see pictures of POR. we've only stayed there once, but I lllloooovvvvvee it!

Hi! I wasn't great about taking room pics but I have a few. I truly couldn't believe how little we were in our room. I can't say enough good things about the resort/our room. With young kids, I think for us it makes sense to stay at a moderate. (I had originally thought of staying at WL but now knowing how little we were in the room I'm glad I switched. And I can't imagine liking it that much more than POR)

 

[ach222]

I forgot to post our exact room location for the POR buffs

We were in 1426.

After check-in we made our way over to the bus stop and caught a bus for EPCOT.

I was a little wary of the MLK weekend crowds and I was right to be. Sunday and Monday were a bit of a madhouse! Very tough days to be be starting out/trying to get your bearings.

We arrived at EPCOT around lunch time. After stopping for a photo pass, we headed to Sunshine Seasons for lunch.

So I have no pics of this lunch at all because SS was NUTS - we were trying to figure out how quick services locations/ordering for the meal plan worked and it was tough with the mass of people. There was a sweet CM who clearly saw our bewildered faces and came to our rescue though.

I had tilapia fish tacos and they were great! For sure the best QS meal I had all trip. DH had Mongolian beef and DS had mac and cheese. DS was more interested in the cookie the size of his face than the mac & cheese but as a general rule, he ate very well the entire trip.

After lunch, we reviewed the park map and headed towards our 1pm FP+ for Test Track. We stopped to listen to some drummers (and I had not yet embraced the camera, sorry) which was a lot of fun. G got a sticker from them so he was super pleased.

When their show was done we were only a few min out from our FP time so we sat down for a bit and waited. We quickly were in line and on our way. DS designed our concept car.

Then we were off to our car. I had watched the ride videos with DS before we came but we didn't realize it was fast while you were still inside. DS was not a fan of that at all. He was ok once we were outside (said he liked that part) but wasn't a fan of the ride overall.

You can see in the ride pic that we are both spending our ride making sure DS was doing ok haha.

Jon enjoyed the chevy concept car before the ride as well as the showroom afterwards. He is a truck guy and this was right up his alley. In retrospect, we could've started DS out on a bit less intense ride but that's when I could snag a FP, so oh well.

I knew we needed to get g on a ride that would in no way be scary before proceeding, so we headed to Mexico and visited Donald's boat ride. We would be back many times throughout the week as Grant LOVED it.

We decided to meet Donald as well.

I had also planned on snagging an avocado margarita but La Cava was insanely busy. So we headed back to Spaceship Earth for our next FP. The wait for SE was something like 50 min so I'm glad we had the FP as G was excited that you could ride in the 'giant golf ball'.

Our future ...

Grant was again not a huge fan of this ride. Too much darkness for him (I told you he was timid). An alternate trip report title could easily have been "I liked it, but don't want to do it again".

We had a FP for the character spot but the wait was only about 10 min so we went ahead and got in line before our FP time. This was a hit (as were all character meets throughout the week)

This was all amazing for Grant. After meeting these guys, we jumped back on a bus for POR.

Next up - evening in DTD

 

[TheMaxRebo]

First off, I must say that I just get a kick out of Grants face in every photo - he just looks so happy and just joyful

I got the fish tacos our last trip (which was also our first time eating at SS) and thought they were great - really impressive for a quick service location.

Yeah, TT could be a bit intense for a first ride but like you said that was when the PF+ for for. Glad Grant enjoyed Mexican It's a Small World - that is one of our favorites as well (my kids seem to love any of the boat rides).

Even on low crowd days La Cava can get pretty crazy but it is so worth it - those are my favorite drinks in any of the parks!

Riding in the giant golf ball is definitely a must!

 

[Chicago Mo]

ohhh That picture with Goofy just takes the cake. Look at his adorable face the pure JOY and excitement!!!

I am glad he went on both TT and SE sorry he didn't really enjoy them poor kid!

I am going to have to try the Fish tacos!!! they sound delightful! Your Futures are adorable too!

 

[DisMom1981]

My son, who LOVES Cars, was also not a fan of TT the ride, but enjoyed the dump shop area activities and cars.

G is such a ham with the characters!

 

[SarahDisney]

Sorry to hear that the crowds were a problem. I've been the week before and it's not bad, but I guess the holiday weekend makes it bad. My parents were there that week as well and said it was more crowded than they expected.

Sad that DS didn't like Test Track ... but I guess it's not for everyone. I also much prefer the outside to the inside part (but I also like the whole ride). The Mexico boat ride is definitely a good way to relax after TT. I can see why Spaceship Earth would be a problem for him with the dark ... at least he can now say that he did it once!

I love all the character pictures - G really looks like he loved meeting the characters! I know you were hesitant to start at a park other than MK, but I'm glad you guys got to see Mickey with a short wait on day 1 and got some great pictures!

 

[ursalita]

Too bad you got the crowds at the start of your trip. It looks like you still had a great time, DS looks soooo happy! I love your TT ride photo with you two looking at DS. I think I spend more time watching their faces than I do enjoying the ride. Great pic.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

looks like a good start even with the crowds and being less then excited about the rides. at least DS tried them--that's a great start! and i love the character pictures--he looks so excited and happy!

 

[KathyM2]

Following along! Sounds like a great trip so far! BTW G is so brave compared to my kids who are years older LOL. They wouldn't go on SE or TT last time we were there....so he is doing very well!

 

[ashw100]

Hi subbing in. Everything sounds great so far. So awesome about your room. I feel like now I need to need to go to Sunshine Seasons, sounds yummy.

 

[ach222]

First off, I must say that I just get a kick out of Grants face in every photo - he just looks so happy and just joyful

I got the fish tacos our last trip (which was also our first time eating at SS) and thought they were great - really impressive for a quick service location.

Yeah, TT could be a bit intense for a first ride but like you said that was when the PF+ for for. Glad Grant enjoyed Mexican It's a Small World - that is one of our favorites as well (my kids seem to love any of the boat rides).

Even on low crowd days La Cava can get pretty crazy but it is so worth it - those are my favorite drinks in any of the parks!

Riding in the giant golf ball is definitely a must!

Thanks, wait until you see his face with the princesses haha.

Don't worry, I made it back to La Cava!

ohhh That picture with Goofy just takes the cake. Look at his adorable face the pure JOY and excitement!!!

I am glad he went on both TT and SE sorry he didn't really enjoy them poor kid!

I am going to have to try the Fish tacos!!! they sound delightful! Your Futures are adorable too!

I think his face looked like that about 95% of the trip haha

My son, who LOVES Cars, was also not a fan of TT the ride, but enjoyed the dump shop area activities and cars.

G is such a ham with the characters!

Yes, G was very excited he could look in/get in all of the cars in the dump shop!

Sorry to hear that the crowds were a problem. I've been the week before and it's not bad, but I guess the holiday weekend makes it bad. My parents were there that week as well and said it was more crowded than they expected.

Sad that DS didn't like Test Track ... but I guess it's not for everyone. I also much prefer the outside to the inside part (but I also like the whole ride). The Mexico boat ride is definitely a good way to relax after TT. I can see why Spaceship Earth would be a problem for him with the dark ... at least he can now say that he did it once!

I love all the character pictures - G really looks like he loved meeting the characters! I know you were hesitant to start at a park other than MK, but I'm glad you guys got to see Mickey with a short wait on day 1 and got some great pictures!

I think getting to meet Mickey at EPCOT was the way to go, we weren't in a park that long and it probably would have been hard to pull G away from MK

Too bad you got the crowds at the start of your trip. It looks like you still had a great time, DS looks soooo happy! I love your TT ride photo with you two looking at DS. I think I spend more time watching their faces than I do enjoying the ride. Great pic.

I love that pic too, pretty much sums up the trip!

looks like a good start even with the crowds and being less then excited about the rides. at least DS tried them--that's a great start! and i love the character pictures--he looks so excited and happy!

He was pretty good about trying most rides which was a relief.

Following along! Sounds like a great trip so far! BTW G is so brave compared to my kids who are years older LOL. They wouldn't go on SE or TT last time we were there....so he is doing very well!

Welcome! I'm guessing we won't be going on TT on the next trip haha

Hi subbing in. Everything sounds great so far. So awesome about your room. I feel like now I need to need to go to Sunshine Seasons, sounds yummy.

Welcome! I was very pleasantly surprised by those tacos, yum!

 

[ach222]

After a quick afternoon at EPCOT, we caught a bus back to POR and stopped by the room. We quickly made our way to the boat dock to head to DTD. I cannot say enough how much I loved having the boats at POR, it was such a pleasant ride. Such a huge bonus for POR and POFQ.

We were on a boat fairly quickly - Grant was a fan.

The boat dock is near the Christmas shop, so we stopped there first and grabbed a 2015 ornament. We then hit the Lego store. Grant is obsessed with Legos so this was a bunch of fun for him. He also made 3 mini figures, one who looks suspiciously like Walter White from Breaking Bad lol.

We then hit World of Disney for a quick browse, we didn't buy anything as we knew we'd be back Thursday and the crowds were a bit nutty.

We then headed over to TRex. I had hopes of checking in a bit early, but the crowds were crazy and they wouldn't let me check in until exactly 15 min before my ADR. We hung out outside TRex for a few minutes and were seated fairly quickly once our check in time rolled around.
The check in system here is a bit wonky, I guess it's controlled chaos, but it seems more like chaotic chaos. Maybe it was because it was a holiday weekend but the craziness was giving me anxiety lol.

Once we were in, we were seated next to an animatronic baby mammoth. Grant, of course, wanted nothing to do with the randomly moving beast, but was brave enough to sit next to him. (other kids were going up and petting it, getting pics - G would have none of that)

I ordered a margarita that came in a souvenir glass that I managed to forget to get before I left the place, oh well. I had the flatbread from the app menu :

Footprints Flatbread - Warm flatbread topped with cheddar, mozzarella, parmesan and goat cheese, rotisserie chicken and carmelized onions, drizzled with a balsamic glaze $10.99

This sounded good in theory but was pretty bland. Palatable though. Jon had a steak and was pleased with the cook but thought the cut of meat could've been better. Grant had chicken nuggets and was happy as a clam. I had heard the food was nothing to write home about so we were prepared for that. Overall, the place was very cool. I don't know that we will go back until our younger DS is into dinos, but it was a good choice for this trip. (this was our out of pocket meal as we were one meal short on the dining plan)

We decided to head back to POR by boat and have an early night.

Such a great first Disney day!

 

[librarygeek]

Your son reminds me a bit of me when I was that age - I was scared of everything, even in Disney! My brother and I loved the boat ride in Mexico as well because it wasn't at all scary

DH and I actually really enjoy the food at T-REX. We go there even though we don't have kids. Their portions are huge though! In fact he requested that we try to get a reservation for our trip in a few weeks when I told him I didn't have anything planned for one night - T-REX is where he wanted to go!