There's No Place Like Home......

[thornton0511]

That's the extra reason to start so early. I wouldn't even know there was a 2:45am (unless I just hadn't been to bed yet, lol) if there was no Disney.

"The Parking Spot". What a clever name! Hire them Disney!

You got lost???? The heck you say.

Curious Jenn. How long was the stopover in New Orleans? I've always wondered about that since you didn't have to de-plan.

Yes Rob lol not even to Disney yet and we were lost.....
The stopover in New Orleans was not very long at all, maybe 20-25minutes? But we took almost the exact flight back home and this time the stop in New Orleans was well over an hour and that was stupid. They finally allowed people to unboard the plane to purchase snacks and use the restrooms because there were so many people that did not get off at New Orleans and were continuing to Dallas like us. That line for the bathroom was a mile long lol

 

[JDUB]

Joining along this trip too Jenn! Awesome double dose - my wife and I got a quick weekend trip to the World in Feb and now we are getting ready for our family trip in Dec! Double Dose!!!
I'm the disney nut in my family so I'm waiting for one of my 3 kids to be my trip buddy. Or I'll be going solo!!!
Thanks for sharing your trip with us!!

 

[BellaBaby]

I forgot to say last time that I never realized all that was involved in getting free dining!!

So glad you were able to snag it!!

 

[amandaw]

Joining in!

I'm going to have to check out those airplanes ear buds. I've never heard or seen those before. My son always has trouble as the plane begins descending. Do they sell them at most pharmacies like CVS?

So excited to hear all about y'all's trip!

 

[thornton0511]

Joining along this trip too Jenn! Awesome double dose - my wife and I got a quick weekend trip to the World in Feb and now we are getting ready for our family trip in Dec! Double Dose!!!
I'm the disney nut in my family so I'm waiting for one of my 3 kids to be my trip buddy. Or I'll be going solo!!!
Thanks for sharing your trip with us!!

oh wow how awesome is that?! I already miss it so much too lol. So jealous that your family is going in December! You are going to have so much fun!! I am sure that you can make at least one of your kiddos your Disney buddy! So glad to have you follow along again too

I forgot to say last time that I never realized all that was involved in getting free dining!!

So glad you were able to snag it!!

Ha lol! Yes I will do crazy things if "free" food is included

Joining in!

I'm going to have to check out those airplanes ear buds. I've never heard or seen those before. My son always has trouble as the plane begins descending. Do they sell them at most pharmacies like CVS?

So excited to hear all about y'all's trip!

Hey so glad to see you found me!! Glad to have you here too Yes I believe you can get the earplanes at CVS or any drugstore. I think that I even bought one of the kids' pairs at Walmart. Make sure and get the kids size however even for big kids. For some reason I bought an adult size pair for my oldest and it was almost impossible to get them in lol. I don't know how they work so well but they do for my kids anyways.

 

[Elevationist]

Hi, Jenn! I stumbled over here from Rob's TR. Following along and looking forward to your adventures!

 

[thornton0511]

Hi, Jenn! I stumbled over here from Rob's TR. Following along and looking forward to your adventures!

Well hi there and welcome ! Any friend of Rob's is a friend of mine!! So glad that you stumbled across and found me! I am so happy to have you follow along too

 

[thornton0511]

Taking the Express……the Magical Express

The hubs just left today for a 4 day trip to Colorado to visit his brother,so I will be distracting myself from his absence with this TR. We are never ever apart like this and I already miss him Plus I know it sounds silly and irrational but with him flying out of Dallas and the whole Ebola thing I just need to keep my mind off of worrying Anyways back to Disney....
​

Upon disembarking the ever famous fake-o-rail we made our way to Magical Express as the excitement of getting closer to "home" became apparent. We stopped for a moment to take an airport Mickey picture.

Then it was down the escalator. Thankfully we have been here before and so this confusion with thinking you are already on ground level does not end with us getting lost. Plus we had technically already been lost once today and I was making it my goal to limit the times this family could get lost on this trip.

I always get butterflies in my stomach when I see the actual signage and I know that I get to partake in the experience!

We made our way to the glowing Mickey head counter to check in. I was all like AHHHH Disney cast members!!!!

We made our way to our line for POR. Unlike in December there were hardly any people waiting for the buses today. We ended up 2nd in line behind another family. I did a little hooray cheer in my head because I knew this meant front of the bus …..no leftover seats for me this time!!!

The time was now inching to noon as we tried to contain ourselves long enough for the bus to arrive.
We did not have to wait long at all as a bus pulled up….and it was a real Mickey bus too! It was so nice to just hop on the bus and not stow a bunch of luggage. Yay for simple!! We had no problem picking our seats and decided on the second row. The very front row had a reserved sign but row two is just as good!

GAH! It's funny how you can look back at a picture and remember just how you felt at the time that picture was taken. Obviously I was as happy as a kid on Christmas morning here. Goodness gracious how I love Disney so much you guys!!! Now let's get the show on the road people, Disney is waiting!!!

And in less than an hour the trumpets in my head sounded as we came across this lovely sight.

And then as the bus made its way into Port Orleans Riverside my heart skipped a beat or two. We are here. We are really and truly here and I cannot believe how excited I am right at this very minute! I know you guys know this feeling, and it's such a wonderful feeling too.

And then from the moment we turned into the resort we were cut off by this guy who proceeded to go 5 miles an hour all the way to the drop off area lol. Nice. It made for an awkward entrance as we approached the building at sloth speeds.

It was now 1:00 pm and finally we had our feet planted on Disney ground. And as far as being at Port Orleans Riverside, which I have always wanted a chance to stay, it was love at first sight. Today was going to be a good day…..a good day indeed.
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[scottny]

I am here for the journey also.

Cute magic bands. I would have put Olaf all over mine. LOL.

Her haircut looks nice.

I hope the GoPro worked, love videos.

We have those parking lots here too by our airports and they are great.

The flight seemed easy enough even with the stop in New Orleans.

Yeah you are on property. POR is my favorite non dvc resort. Can't wait for more.

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Awww that's cute that you miss hubby already. Not silly at all.

Honestly, shouldn't all airports have that Disney photo op? I mean, aren't most people at any airport going to Disney?

Haha, funnily enough, even though I've yet to use Magical Express (though next trip I might just do that), I still know exactly where the Magical Express area is.

Hahahaha, only you would get stuck behind a golf cart (that's what I'm calling it anyway).

But nonetheless, you have arrived!!!! And I have a feeling this is going to be a very (relatively speaking) low crowd trip.

 

[thornton0511]

I am here for the journey also.
YAY!!! Welcome to the new crazy TR Scott lol!!!
Cute magic bands. I would have put Olaf all over mine. LOL.
Oh I know he cracks me up!!!
Her haircut looks nice.
thank you
I hope the GoPro worked, love videos.
it did overall and the clarity is amazing! the only thing is that we did not have the LCD viewing screen attachment (sold separately) and so we were blind shooting the entire time lol. They do have an app that you can download on your smartphone that enables you to see what you are filming and also control the camera but it has a delay on what you are looking at so it was kind of a pain. overall we liked having it and we also saw so many others with gopro cameras on this trip and found that quite funny
We have those parking lots here too by our airports and they are great.
yes we will definitely be using them again for future trips
The flight seemed easy enough even with the stop in New Orleans.
it really was not bad. we prefer nonstop direct flights but this worked just fine
Yeah you are on property. POR is my favorite non dvc resort. Can't wait for more.

oh my goodness POR is amazing and my favorite!

Awww that's cute that you miss hubby already. Not silly at all.
lol Rob thanks!
Honestly, shouldn't all airports have that Disney photo op? I mean, aren't most people at any airport going to Disney?
yeah I would think so....but then again how depressing if you saw reminders of Disney and yet not able to actually be going to Disney. I would be embracing the wall and crying lol
Haha, funnily enough, even though I've yet to use Magical Express (though next trip I might just do that), I still know exactly where the Magical Express area is.
yeah you need to right that wrong and soon
Hahahaha, only you would get stuck behind a golf cart (that's what I'm calling it anyway).
yes that is what i would call it too and lol i know right?
But nonetheless, you have arrived!!!! And I have a feeling this is going to be a very (relatively speaking) low crowd trip.

Yes we have and yes sir it was

 

[thornton0511]

Falling in Love with POR and Checking In

Once we were off the bus we headed toward the registration in this beautiful resort.

Let me just emphasize again how wonderful POR is. It's AMAZING!! Hands down my favorite of all the mods IMO. I am a sucker for the theming of places like Tom Sawyer Island, Liberty Square and Frontierland so it was probably no surprise that I would instantly fall in love with this place. It just seems so relaxed and quaint and I dunno I just loved it. So anyways back to the story….

After taking a moment to take it all in the kids separated from us and we headed for check in line.

Since we had already checked in online I assumed that this would make things quicker. Apparently so did everyone else as the line for online check in was looong. Thankfully it went pretty fast and we ended up being pulled out of the line by a friendly CM with an Ipad who was able to get things going for us. We found that our room was already ready for us…..YES!! This is always a plus when we arrive before the actual check in time. Now it was off to gathering up the children.

We found Sydney over by the TV watching Mickey cartoons with Duffy.

Cory was off to the side on his Iphone . Typical.

He may be growing up but he is never too old to pose for a picture with his mama.
Now it was time to head off to see our room…..a very special room!
​

 

[thornton0511]

The Room Reveal

I was excited to see how close our building was to the main area. We were going to be staying in Oak Manor. I know that some find the theme of Alligator Bayou to be fun but I thought that was a bit too rustic so we wanted to be assured that we were getting a mansion room. We were a short walk and one bridge away from the main resort area and also fairly close to the Ol' Man Island where the pool was located.

We have arrived at our mansion lol! But there was something else special about this one night's stay at this particular resort. We were not only going to stay in a mansion room…..

But a royal room!!! Oh yeah!

Standard Room number 9219….here we go!

GAH! These rooms you guys are something out of a Fairytale. No picture or video can capture the amount of awesome detail they put into this room.

The heavy elaborate curtains over the window were nice and fancy and even the light fixture over the table was neat.

More Fancy.

Magic Carpet!!!

The bathroom area even had that little bit of "extra magic" in it

Obsessed.

I would even feel like royalty while showering lol!

Beauty and the Beast?!!! DSFDJFDSJFSDFJDFJDKRJR!!!!

I especially appreciated the story behind the royal rooms in which all of the Disney Princesses donated something from their story to Princess Tiana to help decorate her new home.

But as you all probably know the coolest thing about these particular rooms are the magical headboards above the bed. And yes we probably pushed the button on the side to make the fireworks appear a gazillion times and it never ever got old.

And of course no room tour would be complete without capturing the Mickey towel head.

Once I had finished with my room tour everyone was itching to get going. For today's adventures were not going to include a park. No, today was all about relaxing, no plans, and exploring the resort. In fact this theme kind of carried over the entire trip. For once it was no longer about minute by minute planning and seeing how many rides we can cram into a day. Since we have been lucky enough to vacation here a few times before we no longer felt that we had to do everything, just what we felt like doing, and maybe throw in a few new things while we were at it. With that in mind we headed off to see what adventures this enchanting resort had in store for us….but no one should explore on an empty stomach so it was off to Riverside Mill first for some grub.
​

 

[thornton0511]

Lunch at Riverside Mill

We made our way to the bridge back to the main resort area just as a DTD ferry boat was making its way down Sassagoula River. Could not get over this resort. It was perfect.

Once over the bridge we followed our noses in the direction of food…..at Riverside Mill

I would say that this might be one of the best counter service locations in WDW.

Plus who doesn't appreciate having an enormous real life working waterwheel attached to it?
We did run into a tiny bit of confusion when trying to order our food. There are several different stations to order different types of food from depending on what you are wanting i.e. pizza, hamburgers, chicken, whatever. The goal is to get in line in each station, gather your ordered food, and proceed to the next until everyone has what they want, then take your arrangement of food to the checkout line. You guys know the drill. All of this is great except when you do not have access to a tray to place the food for 4 people on lol. We could not find a tray for the life of us. Finally I asked someone and they said that you get the tray at each ordering location…..only they were all empty which would explain why we were having such a time finding one. I'll be honest it was a bit chaotic for a few moments and plus we were in prime lunch time and the place was packed. But all ended well when I found a CM who was able to alert someone that they needed to get some clean trays out stat, which they did super fast! And all was well. This is Disney after all!

With food in hand we then headed in the direction of a table.

We were lucky enough to find one right by the waterwheel too! Score!!
Since we were not on the dining plan today lunch would be OOP for us.

Cory went with a soda and a kid hamburger with grapes and a cookie for his two sides.

Sydney had the same thing only with a kid cheese pizza instead.

DH and I decided on the same which was a soda and the blackened chicken sandwich and fries. We received no complaints from the kids as they inhaled their food. The chicken sandwiches were a new pick from the usual Disney quick service food we get and it was not bad. The only thing that kept it from being awesome was the seasoning on it apparently is the same that we have on salmon that we eat quite a bit at home, which is not a bad thing except when you are wanting a chicken sandwich. Every bite I took made me think I was eating fish instead of chicken lol. Anyways total for this meal was right at $40 OOP which is not really the cheapest meal in the world but, hey we are on vacation so it's justified right?

After filling our bellies we regrouped outside by the waterwheel, that I am now obsessed with, to figure out what our next plan of action would be.
​

 

[thornton0511]

A New Adventure Awaits
The kids were wanting to swim but as everyone knows swimming right after eating could cause a cramp so we needed to do something else right now. Safety first people.

The kiddos were not too happy with our decision to not immediately swim so we made a deal that we would go ahead and make our way back to the room and change for swimming so that it would definitely be in the plans for later. They reluctantly agreed (no kid ever fully wants to let on that they think mom and dad might have a good idea) and we headed back to the room for a quick change.

The courtyard area on the walk to our room was so beautiful. I just kept being amazed by this wonderful resort.

I was glad that we had made the decision to pack one bag to carry with us on the plane since our luggage had still not arrived. Otherwise we would have had some unhappy kids without swimsuits. Now we were ready to go! Cory got my attention on the way out by saying "look mom, hidden Mickey" lol.

We then made the walk back to the main area. We were definitely getting a good walking workout today! This workout would soon continue with our next adventure. That's foreshadowing guys!

We decided to do something we had never taken the time to do before…….

Can you guess what that was?

How about now? Yup a family ride on a surrey bike lol. Here's to new experiences.

30 minutes would give us time for about 2 laps around the resort for $22.oo

Then the kids had to be measured. I did not even think about the fact that their height might hinder the ride. Thankfully DS was more than tall enough to sit in a pedal seat but poor Sydney not quite. At first the CM was telling us that she would have to be buckled into the basket in the front of the bike which sent Cory into a hysterical laughter thinking that his 8 year old sister would have to endure the embarrassment of sitting in the basket like ET but thankfully he informed us that she could sit in the back with me as long as she remained in the center where there are no pedals.

This made Sydney happy. She was not really digging the ET situation either.
Then we were off. Oh boy what an adventure. The bike trail took us all over this beautiful resort. We went up hills and down and had a great time dodging people and ringing the bike bell anytime we were in the vicinity of any unsuspecting pedestrians. It was quite fun. But we should have stopped after that first lap because halfway through lap 2 none of us thought we were going to make it around alive….well except for Sydney who was now laughing hysterically at her brother who was having to endure pedaling why she was able to sit back and enjoy the ride. Funny how that karma works right? Somehow we made it back to the rental area, exhausted and drenched in sweat from the high temps and humidity that make Sept in Disney unforgettable. But we made it. It was a great adventure. Not necessarily something we would want to do in a Sept trip again but glad we experienced it this time.

After all of that there was no way that we could not take the kids swimming. Sydney was ready to hit the pool lol! As far as the main pool goes it is really neat. It was also extremely crowded at this time of day. After watching the kids swim a bit I decided to walk back to the room to check and see if our luggage had arrived while DH stayed and swam a bit longer with the kids.
To be continued…….
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[petals]

Sounds like a fun arrival day so far. I love the story of the royal room it looks amazing!

 

[DisneyKid4Life]

Haha, I don't think I ever made it to the actual checkin desk before being greeted by a CM with an iPad. It sure does speed things up.

I've said it before and I will say it again... I guarantee I would break the fireworks headboard from overuse. Guar-an-teed!

That is the beauty of being fortunate enough to visit the World relatively often. Just the ability to not feel the need to rush everywhere. Take your time and enjoy the moment no matter where it is. It's all Disney.

Ahh not swimming after eating is just an old wives tale. And you're not an old wife Jenn.

Hahahaha, I'm just picturing the ET potential. Glad it didn't come to that though. And loving the get back of having her brother have to peddle her around. Karma is real.

 

[amandaw]

Sounds like a great start to y'all's 1st day!

POR looks beautiful! And the Royal Room! I would love to stay in one some day. Although, I don't think my DS would like it too much. Just curious....how comfortable were the beds? We stayed one night @ POFQ on our trip @ the beginning of the month. We loved the resort grounds but the beds we found to be awfully uncomfortable.

The bike adventure sounds like lots of fun! Something to keep in mind for a future trip when we're looking for something different to experience.

 

[thornton0511]

Sounds like a fun arrival day so far. I love the story of the royal room it looks amazing!

That's one of the things I love about Disney is that everything has a story behind it

Haha, I don't think I ever made it to the actual checkin desk before being greeted by a CM with an iPad. It sure does speed things up.
yes it does. no complaints here
I've said it before and I will say it again... I guarantee I would break the fireworks headboard from overuse. Guar-an-teed!
ha ha Rob I could see how you would be like my 8yr old with that! Seriously though between the four of us I think we gave it a pretty good workout and it still lit up everytime! I so want to stay at DLH someday for this reason, plus that one plays music! Can you imagine?! Lol I may never leave the room
That is the beauty of being fortunate enough to visit the World relatively often. Just the ability to not feel the need to rush everywhere. Take your time and enjoy the moment no matter where it is. It's all Disney.
I totally agree 100% and this is why Disney will never ever get old for me
Ahh not swimming after eating is just an old wives tale. And you're not an old wife Jenn.
lol thanks Rob
Hahahaha, I'm just picturing the ET potential. Glad it didn't come to that though. And loving the get back of having her brother have to peddle her around. Karma is real.

yeah I was pretty proud of myself for finding a way to add an ET reference into my story because I loved that movie....but that is for another time

Sounds like a great start to y'all's 1st day!

POR looks beautiful! And the Royal Room! I would love to stay in one some day. Although, I don't think my DS would like it too much. Just curious....how comfortable were the beds? We stayed one night @ POFQ on our trip @ the beginning of the month. We loved the resort grounds but the beds we found to be awfully uncomfortable.
Oh it was wonderful! Honestly I kind of worried with both my DH and DS how they were going to react to the "princess" room but honestly they both thought it was pretty cool. They could give a crap about the story and the details behind everything but they thought the headboard was pretty cool and since the colors are not screaming pink and girly that helped too. The beds were very comfy IMO and a good size too. The worst beds ever are the pirate beds at CBR. I thought the floor would be more comfy on that trip lol. But yeah I would say that they were very nice and we all slept well and felt like we had room too move around ya know?
The bike adventure sounds like lots of fun! Something to keep in mind for a future trip when we're looking for something different to experience.

Ha! Yes it was something new for us and we did have a good time, but we warned it is definitely a workout lol

 

[thornton0511]

Luggage and Toe Hiccup and a Boat Ride to DTD

After watching the kids swimming for a bit, since I was not partaking in swimming today, the heat from just standing there was really getting the best of me. The kids and DH were having a good time and not ready to call it quits yet so I decided to head back to the room to get out of the heat and also check to see if our luggage had arrived. It had been several hours since we had arrived so I was keeping my fingers crossed that our bags would be there. I stopped first at Riverside Mill to refill my soda. Something I found interesting about having a normal paper cup and not a refillable mug is that they also have a chip in them and so when you purchase a soda it gives you a time frame of several hours to refill your soda in the cup. I thought this was awesome and enabled us to stop and get a refill several times on this one day.

With my refill soda in hand I made the very nice and quiet walk back to our room. Please , please, please let there be luggage! I opened the door to see….well…..half of our luggage. Um, okay. What's this all about? A bit of panic set in as my first thought was oh no they lost some of our luggage! I knew I should not have checked all of our bags!! Lol. I can't help it. It's how I am wired and my mind automatically goes to worst case scenario everytime. The good thing is that, unlike me, my DH has opposite reactions when things happen, and so I have learned that when my mind goes to bad to stop, take a deep breath, and think like the DH lol. Stay calm. Just walk down to bell services and ask them about your luggage….

And so I did, with the sticker from one of our already delivered bags. Even though this is not our first time to use the Magical Express service, it was our first time to use the luggage service and this was a whole new experience for me….a learning experience. Finally I had made the walk back over the bridge and to the main area where bell service is located. I explained my situation and she made eye contact with the other CM there and then got on her walkie. For some reason the CM delivering our luggage had only delivered some of it and not all of it. I don't know why. I don't know if this is normal. I am sure there was a reason. The only thing that mattered was that she reassured me that by the time I walked back to our room the luggage would be there. And it was, so all was well.
By the time I had gotten back to the room the kids and DH were only a few minutes behind me. Ha I had accomplished a lot. This is when I also learned that somehow while swimming and picking up the children and chunking them into the air to splash in the pool he had jammed his big toe. Ouch. I shutter just thinking about it even now. But yup sure enough he had a swollen big purple and black toe. This is not how you want to start your Disney vacation. I felt so bad for him but he was being a big boy about it and assured me that he would be okay. I told him that if it came down to it we would rent an ECV and manage that way lol.

After freshening up a bit we headed towards the boat dock, but first we needed to stop at bell services, again for me, to let them know that we needed to have our bags transferred tomorrow to CSR since we were moving there for our free dining package for the rest of the week.

It was a super easy process and then we made our way to the boat dock for DTD. The entrance was located right behind the bike rental area and I was excited about taking a boat to DTD. Not sure why but it seemed like it would be more fascinating than a bus so……

Then we came upon the line for the bus lol. That's the good thing however about a schedule free day at Disney. We were not on a time schedule today so this was a no worry situation.

We passed the time waiting by watching a man feed potato chips to the fish below. It doesn't take much to entertain us. I'm just sayin.

At this point we had been waiting in the same spot for about 20 minutes and this line was not going anywhere. My only complaint was the heat…..just standing there with zero wind was a bit uncomfortable. It was starting to wear on the kids a bit and then we saw a boat come around the corner….HOORAY!! Everyone clapped and cheered lol.

Thankfully we were able to get on this boat and not have to wait for another. A fairly substantial line had formed behind us in those 20 minutes and the boat captain assured the others still waiting that they were dispatching more boats and they would not have to wait much longer.

Once we had boarded and found a seat the captain went on with his spill and all the while I was just thinking can you please talk while moving the boat because it's like 150 degrees and we need to make some wind happen lol. I know everyone else on the boat was thinking the same thing I was, don't judge me….I could see it on their faces lol.

Finally we were making our way down the Sassagoula into the French Quarter side. We stopped to pick up a few more passengers (I forgot to mention that they count how many passengers they take from both so that French doesn't get left out) and made our way down to DTD from there.

The boat ride was very nice and relaxing. I do wish that they would have played classic Disney music instead of current pop music, but it was otherwise a very relaxing trip.

At 6:15pm we were approaching our destination, which was about 45minutes from when we got in line at the boat dock. I would say that's not too bad considering. I could see firsthand the construction that everyone had been talking about. I am excited to see what it all looks like when it's done. I bet it's going to look amazing!

We were unloaded at the new Marketplace dock that apparently had just been finished and opened. It was really nice. As soon as we stepped off the DTD music began to play and I once again had that feeling of "welcome home". Man it's good to be back. Now off to dinner!


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