The Trip We Waited Four Years to Take! - August 2014

[kbmartin]

Hey y'all!

I've been looking forward to the time I could post my very first trip report on the DIS! We just got home last night from our 9-day stay at Port Orleans Riverside at Disney World. I can't wait to share it all with all of you who really understand!

First, here is a little background.

My DH and I met four years ago and got married in August 2013. Since we met, we have been desperate to go to Disney World together! I have been to Disney World many times, but my DH has only visited twice - and only to Magic Kingdom and Universal. So, this was a trip in which I was able to share everything with a newbie. We both love Disney movies (our favorite is Up) and everything about going on a vacation to Florida. We're in our late 20s, no children.

We were not able to go anytime earlier for a number of reasons. I am a teacher with limited times to visit (summer and major holidays - naturally, when the parks are crowded and expensive). I was in grad school online for two years during our relationship, which would have made a trip difficult. My DH went through a few jobs in the past four years and just didn't have the vacation time. And of course, we didn't really have the money to go anytime sooner. We decided on our vacation dates (August 15th-23rd) about a year ago when we realized that this could finally become a reality! This was our honeymoon AND first anniversary trip.

I booked our trip in April and did research over Spring Break and all summer. My ADRs changed a few times, as well as our day-to-day plans. Of course, our plans changed quite a lot while we were actually on our trip, too.

I will post about our first couple of days very soon!

Bye y'all!

 

[jerseygal]

GREAT for you!

HOPE that your Honeymoon was AWESOME!!!

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences!

 

[kbmartin]

Here's a first trip report for everybody! It's a long post - read it if you dare!

We came in on a late flight on Friday and got to Port Orleans Riverside around 2 am. The room was exactly where I had requested - in Magnolia Terrace with a river view! Just gorgeous. We were pretty tired and actually were able to ride with our luggage on a golf cart to our room.

First full day we started our day by taking the boat to Port Orleans French Quarter. I really wanted to try the beignets for breakfast. I honestly didn't think they were anything special and have had better at Bastille Days in Milwaukee. Our plan was to take the boat from there to Downtown Disney and use our free admission coupons for Disney Quest that afternoon. Unfortunately, I discovered at French Quarter that I had forgotten the vouchers! We eventually got what we needed and headed back out again - but this time on a bus. Just so you know, we used the East Depot (behind our building) for everything. We preferred catching a bus at the East Depot because it usually stopped there before heading to the South Depot (the big bus stop in front of the resort).

Disney Quest for us was not all that exciting. I had been to Disney Quest in Chicago (before it closed) when I was in my early teens, and this was the exact same attraction, just really outdated 10+ years later. We enjoyed the free play arcade, but some of the attractions were just embarrassing. For example, the Alien Encounter game seemed like a Nintendo 64 game... I can see why these free vouchers are offered. I would have been very angry if I had paid full price to go!

We went to Cape May Cafe at the Beach Club for a late dinner. We had a reservation, but they weren't ready for us yet, so we sat on a swing on the beach, which was relaxing and romantic. When we finally got in to the restaurant, the food was delicious - all you can eat crab legs, clams (tried those for the first time), carved beef, salmon, etc. After dinner, we went to Jellyrolls, a piano bar at the Boardwalk. We thought it was both good (I'd say that the highlight was probably "Bohemian Rhapsody" - a classic) and bad (people kept requesting country music - DH just can't stand it). This was my first visit to the Boardwalk. It wasn't as great as I had hoped, but I'm glad we checked it out. To me, it seemed like the same old shops at Downtown Disney with some entertainers that kids might like to see.

The next day was our first day in the parks, and going with my research of crowd calendars, we chose Hollywood Studios. Rock 'N Roller Coaster was NOT as scary as I remember but Tower of Terror was! We LOVED the Toy Story Midway Mania ride and wanted to do it again or get a FastPass, but it's the busiest ride in the park, so alas, it was not to be. The most pleasant surprise for me was Star Tours. I'm a HUGE Star Wars fan. I remembered Star Tours being really lame in the past, but I enjoyed it immensely on this visit. The big rumor is that Star Wars Land is coming to Hollywood Studios - bring it on! Hollywood Studios needs SOMETHING desperately! We took a long break around 3 pm and came back late that night for the Frozen fireworks show and Fantasmic. The Frozen fireworks were amazing - they were perfectly set to all of the songs on the soundtrack. Fantasmic was great as usual, and DH really enjoyed it. He was experiencing a lot of Disney for the first time this visit, so it had been fun for me to show him around.

On Monday, we went to Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure. I had never experienced any part of the Wizarding World there before this trip, and I have to say that it was what I was looking forward to most! I have loved Harry Potter since I was in middle school. I worked at Barnes and Noble when some of the books were released. This is embarrassing, but I sobbed when I saw the last movie in theaters. I see it as a huge part of my adolescence and was so excited to feel like I was actually at Hogwarts, Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley, etc. We went to Hogsmeade first since apparently everybody RUNS to Diagon Alley upon park opening. It was SO hot out, but I got chills every time I saw glimpses of Hogwarts while walking there, and of course, I teared up walking into Hogsmeade approaching the castle. We rode Forbidden Journey twice and then went to Ollivander's. I was hoping so badly to be picked for the wand demonstration, but alas, children were chosen. I smiled while thinking that I've been a HP fan longer than they've been alive, but whatevs... ... We then had lunch at the Three Broomsticks. I liked Butterbeer ok but didn't finish mine. DH, however, went on to have three Butterbeers during our visit! Later on, we took the Hogwarts Express (YES, the Hogwarts Express!!!!!) to King's Cross and then went into Diagon Alley.

Man, I thought Hogsmeade was impressive, but it was NOTHING compared to Diagon Alley. We went to the Escape from Gringotts ride right away because the ride had been closed all morning, and I was afraid it would break down again and we wouldn't be able to ride. So, we went in, even though the wait was over two hours. The first hour was a pretty brutal wait, as it was outdoors. Even though it's in the shade, it was still VERY hot and humid. I had never experienced the intensity of this weather and did not acclimate to it as well as I hoped... Anyways, after the first hour, we started hanging out with the young couple (students from MIT) behind us and played games and chatted the entire way up to boarding, which made it so much more tolerable. Once we were indoors, the queue was incredible. I've never seen such lifelike animatronics (the goblins, specifically), and the theming was spot-on. Just before we boarded, about two hours in, it was announced that the ride went down, but it was back up within five minutes, luckily. This was easily the best ride I've been on in a LONG time! We said goodbye to our new friends and moved on to explore Diagon Alley. We went in Wiseacres, Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, Borgin & Burke's, Madam Malkin's (DH treated me to a Hufflepuff robe, which I justified by saying I'll wear it when I hand out candy at Halloween, haha), etc. I have never seen so many people dressed in HP gear, so I didn't feel like a freak wearing my robe the rest of the time there!

Unfortunately, we didn't stay at the park as long as I had hoped because I was starting to feel ill. Like I said earlier, I didn't deal very well with the heat/humidity. I got a HUGE headache towards the end (even though we had been drinking LOTS of water), in addition to a stomach ache. You know I'm not feeling well when I refuse ice cream at Florean Fortescue's! We came back to the resort where I immediately took ibuprofen, laid down, and fell asleep for a few hours. I felt much better upon waking up. DH and I ordered a pizza from the resort (I was SO hungry after just eating fish - didn't even eat my chips - at lunch), which wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. So here we are! Next up is Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom, and Epcot!

 

[jerseygal]

Toy Story and Fantasmics for us in Dec! CAN'T WAIT!

Wish that Frozen would be around! SO SAD in Dec!
Looking SO FORWARD though to HS Osborne Lights!!!

ENJOY! We ALWAYS enjoy Universal and Islands of Adventure!
Our sons LOVE IT!

 

[Goofy442]

Love your TR. August for us is just to hot. When is Frozen closing, we haven't had a chance to see it yet. My kids want to see HP but I think we will wait just too many people.

 

[ribollita]

Sounds like you had a great time!

 

[NoOrdinaryPrincess]

Lovely start! Can't wait to read more!