They Came With Ma & Pa to Escape Mardi Gras! A February 2020 TR * 7/1 Aulani TR Started & Link Posted

Sounds like a great evening! So sweet of that DIS Dad to treat you to Mickey bars! And I'm so glad you all got to see HEA and loved it so much!
 
When we got back to him, he said another DIS Dad had liked the post he had shared on their FB group of the kids eating Mickey Bars at Fantasmic the other night, and had sent him a message saying the next round of Mickey Bars was on him, then sent him enough on Paypal for 4 more! How kind is that?!
Very nice! I guess that was D'Uncle Joe, he loves to give Mickey bars to the kids...and the adults too!
I really like the DIS Dad group, a lot of nice guys there.

Fantastic fireworks pictures! It is really hard to choose only a couple pictures, especially when they are so well done. I have very little talent for photography, but is certainly is rewarding when you have that skill.
 
I’m really enjoying your TR. Thank you for taking the time to write it—I know it takes effort. Reading it is giving me some much-desired Disney magic!
 
Very nice! I guess that was D'Uncle Joe, he loves to give Mickey bars to the kids...and the adults too!
I really like the DIS Dad group, a lot of nice guys there.

Fantastic fireworks pictures! It is really hard to choose only a couple pictures, especially when they are so well done. I have very little talent for photography, but is certainly is rewarding when you have that skill.

Yep, The kids loved D'Uncle Joe this trip for the extra Mickey bars!!! Dis Dad's are the best group out there.

I wish my photography skills were better but I have fun doing it.
 


I love the Swiss Family Treehouse. I don't think I've climbed it for at least the last few visits, but it's such a classic Disney attraction.

Your husband's HEA photos are just breathtakingly beautiful! What a talent he has!

That's cool that you ran into a former co-worker. I love when things like that happen.

Honestly, I'm not sure if I had ever done it before this trip! It was pretty fun though, and the kids really enjoyed it.

Thank you!!

I couldn't believe how many people we ran into this trip, but that's what tends to happen when you're from Louisiana and visit for Mardi Gras :rotfl:

Sounds like a great evening! So sweet of that DIS Dad to treat you to Mickey bars! And I'm so glad you all got to see HEA and loved it so much!

It was a great night with the free Mickey bars & amazing fireworks! The kids loved it, and so did we!!

Very nice! I guess that was D'Uncle Joe, he loves to give Mickey bars to the kids...and the adults too!
I really like the DIS Dad group, a lot of nice guys there.

Fantastic fireworks pictures! It is really hard to choose only a couple pictures, especially when they are so well done. I have very little talent for photography, but is certainly is rewarding when you have that skill.

The DIS Dads are pretty great, I have to say. The Mickey bars was super sweet.

Yes, it was hard to choose!! DH does such a great job even though he's a little critical of himself.

I’m really enjoying your TR. Thank you for taking the time to write it—I know it takes effort. Reading it is giving me some much-desired Disney magic!

Thanks so much!! I'm glad it can help through the Disney withdrawals.
 
Day 5: Wednesday February 26th

After 3 fun filled park days, we were more than ready for a rest day! Our original plan had been to spend this day in the pool before heading to Fort Wilderness for Hoop Dee Doo Musical Revue for dinner. However, as the week had progressed, the forecast had gotten worse and worse, so it was looking like we needed something else to do besides the pool. There was a lot of rain forecasted for the afternoon, followed by a drop in temperature. So as a backup, we had decided to schedule a DVC Member Reception which would allow us to visit the new Disney’s Riviera Resort instead.

We didn’t have an alarm set because we had nowhere to be early. Of course, once you have kids, “sleeping in” expectations have to be adjusted, so we were happy enough to get to sleep in until 7:30 am before they woke us up. We had breakfast in the room, and the kids played with DD’s Frozen II figurines and their Mickey balloons, and played on their tablets.



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DD had been begging to get her own pressed penny book, so we went down to the gift shop to look around and get her a pressed penny book. Of course, we can’t just go into a gift shop, get what we want and leave. We also had to spend time looking all around at the stuff we had already seen several times now.


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Once we had her book, we made a quick detour down to the bus stop since there was a pressed penny machine so the kids could each get one.

We wanted to explore the resort a bit, and we saw something posted about a Hidden Mickey hunt around the resort, so we stopped at the front desk to get one of the clue sheets to keep for later. We decided we wanted to give the pool a little bit of time before the rain and temperature drop hit, so we went back up to the room to change into our suits and put on some sunscreen.


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DS was of course excited to hit the water slide again, and DH decided to give it a try too.


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The kids had a lot of fun, but after about 45 minutes, it was getting to be just too chilly to be out in the pool. The sun was permanently parked behind the clouds, and it was windy, so there was no warming up. We called it quits around 11 am, and headed back up to the room to rinse off, get dressed, and have some lunch. One of the things we had purchased on our grocery run was a frozen pizza, so that was our lunch for the day.

After some relaxing in the room while our food settled, we decided to grab our Hidden Mickey clue sheet and go looking for Hidden Mickeys until it was time to catch our ride over to Riviera.


The clue for the last Hidden Mickey took us to the lounge, where a CM helped us find the most difficult one of all…on the ceiling!


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Then she gave us each a button to say we had completed the scavenger hunt.


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For the DVC Member reception, they sent a van to Wilderness Lodge to pick us up. There was a booster seat & car seat available for the kids, which was really nice.


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We arrived at the Riviera resort and checked in for our tour in the lobby.


Since we were a little early for the tour, they invited us to go explore until it was time to assemble as a group to check out the resort, so we walked around near the lobby area for a bit. There are some beautiful mosaics from Tangled and Peter Pan, and really lovely artwork all around the resort.


Continued in next post...


 
Day 5 Continued: Wednesday February 26th


Then it was time for the tour. We headed up to one of the 3 bedroom grand villas where they had some drinks available for us, and we watched a few videos about new and upcoming DVC opportunities, and our tour guide gave his presentation.


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Hidden Minnie in the hall carpeting


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DH and I joked that we would probably have hundreds of photos of our tour guide, because DS had his smaller camera and he was just snapping away during the whole presentation.


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I think when I was uploading photos, I counted 40+ photos that DS had taken of our guide. :rotfl2:!! He said he was really taking photos of what was on the screen behind the guide, but it was still very funny that we did indeed end up with so many photos of him.

When they say this is low pressure, they absolutely mean it. I was a little hesitant to schedule this because we have had such sour experiences with our Wyndham timeshare updates, but I did really want to see the Riviera resort. However, this was such a great experience. After the presentation, the guide said if you’d like to set up a one-on-one to discuss purchasing more points (since this was a tour for existing members already), there was someone standing by to take your name and they would arrange for that after viewing the available types of units. If not, no worries. We didn’t sign up for a one on one, but we were able to sign up for transportation to take us directly to Fort Wilderness afterwards for our dinner show. Then it was time to explore the 3 bedroom.


The talk of the group was how enormous the master bathroom, especially the shower, was! You could fit a large family in there.


After the grand villa, we saw one of the studio towers, which are SO small, and a deluxe studio/1 bedroom lockoff. The artwork in the rooms and hallways was really beautiful. DH didn’t take a bunch more pictures while there, but DS sure did.


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They even had great artwork inside the pull down beds!


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Besides the great artwork, there were also lots of awesome Disney items on display.


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Overall, we were very happy to have taken the tour. The resort was absolutely gorgeous! It’s very expensive to stay there though, when it comes to using points, so who knows if we will ever have a chance to stay there. I was also very impressed with the kids, and relieved that they were so well behaved, especially during the video presentation part. They were the youngest kids on the tour, and they were not wiggly or loud throughout any part of it. Also, as a great bonus, we each got 3 FPs added to our account that could be used over the next 3 consecutive days for any attraction in any parks with a few exceptions…no Toy Story Land rides, no FOP, no Peter Pan’s Flight, no Galaxy’s Edge attractions, and no 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. But it was still nice to know we had those 3 anytime FPs available to use!


UP NEXT: Hoop Dee Doo

 


At least you got in a little bit of pool time and the boys got to go on the slide!

The scavenger hunt sounds like a nice activity for a rest day!

That's awesome that you got to see the new resort, and without a ton of pressure to do a one-on-one! It looks like such a beautiful place to stay! And I love that DS is so into taking pics like his dad!
 
Very nice and relaxing day. Scavenger hunts sounds really fun. Love all the pictures of Rivera. We have an ADR for Toppolin's in October, looking forwards to looking around.
 
Of course, once you have kids, “sleeping in” expectations have to be adjusted, so we were happy enough to get to sleep in until 7:30 am before they woke us up.
True...until they are teenagers!
My youngest just had a birthday and is now a teenager, so all summer it's been me trying to get her up out before lunch time!

As if I didn't have enough reasons to want to stay, I didn't know they had a rock display!
Yes, that is a very geeky statement, but I have a degree in geology, so it excites me.

Then she gave us each a button to say we had completed the scavenger hunt.
What a great thing to do on a resort day.
I am determined to stay at WL someday, so hopefully I will remember to check this out.
 
At least you got in a little bit of pool time and the boys got to go on the slide!

The scavenger hunt sounds like a nice activity for a rest day!

That's awesome that you got to see the new resort, and without a ton of pressure to do a one-on-one! It looks like such a beautiful place to stay! And I love that DS is so into taking pics like his dad!

Even though it was a bit cool, it was nice having time to enjoy the pool this trip. That doesn't seem to be something we usually get to do on our Disney trips! And the WL pool was pretty nice also.

After doing so many Wyndham member updates and hating it, the DVC experience was so much better! And getting to see Riviera was pretty cool too since we don't usually go tour other resorts when it's not Christmas time or something.


Very nice and relaxing day. Scavenger hunts sounds really fun. Love all the pictures of Rivera. We have an ADR for Toppolin's in October, looking forwards to looking around.

The hunt for Hidden Mickeys was a fun way to explore the resort!

Riviera is beautiful, especially all of the Disney artwork they have in the hallways and around the lobby! Hope y'all enjoy your meal there!

True...until they are teenagers!
My youngest just had a birthday and is now a teenager, so all summer it's been me trying to get her up out before lunch time!


As if I didn't have enough reasons to want to stay, I didn't know they had a rock display!
Yes, that is a very geeky statement, but I have a degree in geology, so it excites me.


What a great thing to do on a resort day.
I am determined to stay at WL someday, so hopefully I will remember to check this out.

HAHAH I can imagine!!! I remember what I was like as a teenager when it comes to sleep all too well. Waking up early, even in WDW, was cause for lots of complaining!!

There's actually a lot of really cool items to check out around the lobby at WL! It's one of my favorite resorts. I hope you get to stay there some day! It's so beautiful. I remember visiting there for the first time to have a meal at WCC and it became a goal of mine to stay there as well.
 
Day 5 Continued: Wednesday February 26th

Once the tour of Riviera was over, we tried to go down to the first floor to get a better view of the mosaics since they arched over the walkway, but it was POURING down rain by then!! So we decided to call that the end of our time there, and went out front to catch our transportation to Fort Wilderness. I was really hoping he would be able to bring us right to Pioneer Hall like the Minnie Vans do, but no such luck. We had even packed for this trip ponchos and rain coats, but this was the one day we could have used them and we left them in the room! We had to run through the rain all the way over to Pioneer Hall, which was not fun, but our driver did try to get us as close as he possibly could so we wouldn’t have to walk too far. Even still, we were soaked by the time we made it over to the porch, and the bad weather meant they were not taking Photopass photos out front like they normally do. We were going to the 4 pm show, so by the time we got there, they immediately started letting everyone in.

We had booked Category 1, because when looking at the pricing, yes it’s an expensive meal, but there’s not enough of a savings between the categories to downgrade to Category 2 or 3, so we went for the best. We ended up in the table right up against the stage!


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First up we got some delicious cornbread and butter, and also a salad.


DS still had his camera. I won’t even tell you how many photos he took of the cornbread!! lmao


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DH was excited about the included beer and the fact that he could indulge since he wasn’t driving.


Soon enough, the show was on! We LOVE this show!! So incredibly funny and entertaining!! Plus being right up front, they teased us quite a bit, especially DH.


One of the best parts of the show is when the actors go around the restaurant to find out where families are from, and if anyone is celebrating anything special while they are singing a song, and they put together improvised verses about the families they are talking to. Of course, one of the families was from Louisiana, and that’s where the title of the TR came from when one of the performers improvised, “They came with Ma & Pa to escape Mardi Gras!” It was very fun!

Then it was time for the next best part…THE FOOD!!! It’s so delicious. Buckets of fried chicken and BBQ ribs, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes, and normally they have baked beans but we asked about a substitute and were able to get some really yummy macaroni & cheese instead.


The kids were also really into the napkin twirling!


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Continued in next post...
 
Day 5 Continued: Wednesday February 26th

Then there was a washboard parade for the kids.


Then it was time to cap off a delicious meal with an even more delicious dessert…


…Strawberry Short Cake!!!


I was stuffed, but not so much that I couldn’t find room to put some of that cake away. But it’s ok because it includes fruit, so it’s healthy.


The dinner & the show did not disappoint. We absolutely loved it, and it was a very fun way to spend the evening on our non-park day. Thankfully, the rain had stopped while we were inside, and we didn’t have any more rain to battle the rest of the week. It was the best day we could have picked for our rest day so we didn’t have to dodge rain while in the parks!


That was really the end of our evening. We took the boat back over to Wilderness Lodge, which didn’t take long at all, and it was only us and a handful of other folks, since it seemed most others were taking the other boat back to MK. That boat had a huge line waiting for it! We got back to WL around 6 pm, and had a relaxed evening and got to bed early so we could be ready for our Early Morning Magic event in the morning!


UP NEXT: Fantasyland Early Morning Magic
 
Hoop Dee Doo sounds so fun! Someday I want to give it a try. It really was the perfect ending for your non-park day.

I hope you're staying safe. We have had rain bands and tornado watches and warnings so far.
 
How cute that your kids looked like they were really paying attention during the presentation! The Riviera is just beautiful.

Hoop De Doo Revue is so much fun! I don't believe that has reopened and I wonder when it will. I'll say it again, it is so strange to see how quickly life changed.
 
What a fantastic non-park day!

Riviera is such a gorgeous resort and holy cow I think that bathroom is the size of my bedroom lol.

Sounds like a perfect time at Hoop. We love it there too and I agree- it's worth the few extra dollars by the time you're spending that much money for the category 1 seating- especially when you get those tables right on the stage! I never knew you could get mac and cheese instead of the beans. I'll have to remember that for whenever we're able to go again-our beans also go untouched.
 
Hoop Dee Doo sounds so fun! Someday I want to give it a try. It really was the perfect ending for your non-park day.

I hope you're staying safe. We have had rain bands and tornado watches and warnings so far.

I hope you do get to try HDD one day, it's SO fun!! Not only that, the food is great. We really enjoyed it, and it was absolutely the perfect end to a non-park day. It was probably the best non-park day we have ever had!

Thanks for the well wishes. I was really scared during the night with the wind and possibility of tornadoes but we were just fine. Never lost power and didn't have any damage. I hope y'all fared well too!

How cute that your kids looked like they were really paying attention during the presentation! The Riviera is just beautiful.

Hoop De Doo Revue is so much fun! I don't believe that has reopened and I wonder when it will. I'll say it again, it is so strange to see how quickly life changed.

I was totally shocked at how well behaved they were for the entire thing. I didn't have to tell them to quiet down or settle down even once. It was such a relief! Riviera is gorgeous, I'm glad we had a chance to visit it and walk around.

You guys got an awesome table! I'm glad it was a fun night! HDDR is one thing I still need to do one day!

Yes, you really need to! It's so fun!! It was even better being right up front. We had the best time!

What a fantastic non-park day!

Riviera is such a gorgeous resort and holy cow I think that bathroom is the size of my bedroom lol.

Sounds like a perfect time at Hoop. We love it there too and I agree- it's worth the few extra dollars by the time you're spending that much money for the category 1 seating- especially when you get those tables right on the stage! I never knew you could get mac and cheese instead of the beans. I'll have to remember that for whenever we're able to go again-our beans also go untouched.

Yes, it was probably the best non-park day we have ever had! HDD & pool time were really all we had planned on, so it was great we got to add the Riviera tour on to it, and it filled in our afternoon perfectly.

Riviera is beautiful! I hope we are able to swing a stay there one day. We actually booked it for our pre-cruise night in January (assuming we even are able to cruise...) but then once flights came out and we realized we wouldn't really be getting to the resort until the evening, we decided it wasn't worth spending all those points on one night just to sleep pretty much. Maybe one day! The bathroom was ENORMOUS!!

Tier 1 at HDD is probably one of the few things at WDW where we feel like it's totally worth it paying for the top option! Sitting in front of the stage for literally just a few more dollars than what the people are paying to sit on the balcony is worth the upgrade, for sure. We felt like we were part of the show! I don't know if it was just our server but she kind of made it seem like she wasn't sure she'd be able to get us the mac & cheese. We were glad she was able to since we are not big bean eaters and the kids are not huge fans of the mashed potatoes with bits of peel in them, so had we not been able to get it, they wouldn't have eaten much. It's definitely worth asking!
 
Thanks for the well wishes. I was really scared during the night with the wind and possibility of tornadoes but we were just fine. Never lost power and didn't have any damage. I hope y'all fared well too


Glad you fared well, we did too. My family in Lake Charles are suffering. Family around you did ok too.
 

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