Another awesome Disney Vacation!!! Trip Report

[LuvMyBoys]

Thanks for the insight The only experience I have with Port Orleans is all of our trips to the French Quarter CS restaurant for numerous beignets

They are going in February, first time staying there and really excited since they were not fans of the value resorts.

[MdCaterer]

They will love POR. They can swim at either themed pool Old Man River at Riverside or they can hop the little boat over to French Quarter (and get beignets) and swim in their Mardi Gras or Jazz themed pool. Those same boats will take them to downtown Disney too or they can just ride it for the fun of it. The life guards at Old Man River play games with the kids during the course of the day (they play giant jenga or throw coins in the pool, etc. they used to play bingo and I believe they are bringing that back). Both pools are great, if the boys are younger they may really enjoy the serpent's tongue at French Quarter. There are also quiet pools in between each of the mansions and they are never crowded.You can also do laundry while you swim because the washers & dryers are located at the quiet pools. There is a nice playground right beside the Old Man River Pool, they have an arcade in the building that houses the lobby, bar, restaurant & store.
For the adults the man that sings in the piano bar really gets them singing and standing and carrying on (I think he is there evenings Wednesday thru Saturday). They have a surrey you can rent to peddle around but you need someone with strong legs!! They also have carriage rides in the evening. You can go fishing down by the pier and they also have movie night at the mansions where they play a Disney movie outside for anyone who cares to grab a towel or blanket and go watch.

The restaurant, Boatwrights, has wonderful food I can highly recommend the bbq pork chop with homemade onion rings and fresh cornbread!! The food court is huge and offers a wide variety of choices icluding the typical burgers & chicken fingers, pizza, pasta, awesome sandwiches muffaletas & homemade chips, salads, roast turkey & beef). They have toasters and a microwave that you can use so have them pack some microwave popcorn. I hope they have a blast!!!!

[poshpartymommy]

Great TR! i love reading about great visits to the world,

[MdCaterer]

Thanks, I will try to hurry up and finish! Sorry I posted this in the wrong spot, I did not realize there was a trip report section here on the boards

Day 5, we got up early for early opening at Epcot. We were able to get Fastpasses for Soaring and ride it once before 9 am when we were scheduled to meet Bill. We met him at the Big ball and we headed over to Test Track for a ride. The line was only about 20 minutes which gave us some time to start catching up on what had been happening in our lives. Bill is very excited to find out he is going to be a grandfather We are very happy for him and his daughter. Anyhow we rode Test Track then headed over to Soarin, Living with the Land, Sum of all Thrills then we hopped a boat and headed to the Boardwalk for lunch at ESPN. We had a great lunch at ESPN the Asian Chicken Salad was delicious and it was not crowded because it was early afternoon so we were able to linger and talk. After lunch we headed back to Epcot and got our picture taken together and Bill headed back home. We decided to get a copy of the picture printed for Bill and give it to him before we left so we went to get our pictures printed. My husband and I were both wearing shorts that our son had made for us with Disney characters on them I was wearing one with Maleificent on the back and my hisband was wearing one with Goofy! We got many compliments from cast members who wanted to know who made the shirts?? They were amazed when we pointed to our ds who is 12, the guys at the Photopass shop were crazy about his artwork and encouraged me to keep supporting our son's talents because he told them he wants to be a Disney Artist one day. After we got the pictures we went back to POR and changed to go to Blizzard Beach. We got there and the weather was looking a little iffy and right after we got in they closed the waterpark for about 30 minutes. It was late enough in the day and the weather was such that most people left so the waterpark was pretty much empty. We rode the family raft ride twice, a couple of the slides, my husband decided to give summit plummet a try (YIKES) even he said it was a little "unnerving" because when you lie down you can't see the slide and it seems like you will just pitch headlong off the mountain!! My son and I did some of the smaller slides, he did the hang and swing out over the water until you get knocked off ride (don't know the name). We made the most of the vacant waterpark and stayed until closing. Needless to say we were tired and went back for some sleep.
Day 6 we decided to try Typhoon Lagoon. The water wave was very cool, I liked, my dh loved it but my ds was not so sure of the wave of water. So we tried their family raft ride which is noce but too short when you comparre it to the one at Blizzrd Beach. We enjoyed it but it was over in the blink of an eye. We tried some of their other slides, enjoyed the lazy river, decided the swimming with the sharks kline was too long so we passed on that and then we hit the water coaster! That was some srious fun, we went over and over switching between the two lines that would allow 3 riders. That was definitely our favorite ride in that park. We had lunch and enjoyed the fresh made mini donuts!!! Oh my, why don't they sell THOSE in the regular parks they are awesome!!! After a long day of water fun we headed back to POR and rested and then did a quick trip to HS and got in a drawing at the Animation studio, rode Star Tours several times and then caught Fantasmic again because we love the villains. We decided since it was Saturday night we would get some rest and hit MK for emh on Sunday night.
Day 7 we got up and headed to Animal Kingdom caught the show Lion King,
stopped into AFrica and said hi to Bill and gave him the picture of all of us from Epcot, then we rode the Safari and then we all braved Everest, I was not too crazy about my first ride on Everest but my son rode with me and kept me up on what to expect next. I am not too sure about going again...but he loves it! It was very hot so we decided to hit Blizzard Beach for the afternoon. Really enjoyed the family raft ride, the wave pool and the slides where you race and of course the lazy river. Got back to the room and took a rest and then got up at 10 and headed to MK. We got to see the fireworks and images on the castle,managed to do POTC, Pooh's Ride (they have changed the waiting line and have all kinds of fun interactive things to do while you wait including 4 big windows with golden hunny running down them and as you wipe away the hunny different characters are revealed.....not one person walked by that without giving it a try!! Mickey's Philharmagic, Haunted Mansion, The Laugh Floor, BTM several times and we did Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin a bunch of times dh & ds both broke the 999,999 but I only got into the 700,000s. They talked me into trying space mountain and I was terrified. However, I thought it was a little bumpy and jerky mostly because I was so stiff on the ride. It is one I think I can ride again and maybe relax and enjoy!! Back to POR exhausted!
Day 8 We decided to go back to Hollywood Studios. We started at the Animation Studio. We got to see Derek, who is another favorite cast member who drew a picture of Captain Hook for William 7 years ago when he was 5. Then because William had watched so closely, he let William sit at his artist desk and draw his own picture of Peter and Hook. He made William the artist of the day and hung his picture in the Disney Store where he was working. I took about 8 pictures while this unfolded and they are framed and hanging in William's room. I think he knew that day when he sat at that animator's desk that he wanted to go to work for Disney. We ran into Derek about 4 years later while we were on a Disney cruise we were up at Topsiders having breakfast and Derek walked up and said, "Are you the Baxter family?" When I looked at him i realized it was Derek! He was on vacation with his wife and in-laws but he recognized our family and took the time to come say hello to us!!! Happily he is doing great and he and his wife now have an adorable one year old son!!! Then we ran into our cast member friend Isaac, he imediately recognized William and gave us a very warm welcome. We were able to catch two of his classes and I learned how to draw Woody! It was wonderful to catch up with Isaac and Derek. Then we took the backstage tour and it was really quite impressive. I can't believe we have missed it all these years. Then we headed over to ride Toy Story Mania, when we got out of the ride we were in the middle of a thunderstorm so we threw on our ponchos and headed to the 50's Prime Time Diner and had a wonderful lunch! The rest of the day was for R & R

[MdCaterer]

Day 9 :Spent the early part of the day lounging at Blizzrd Beach. We had invited my Mom and her cousin to come to WDW and have dinner with us at 5pm, since they are both older he drove to Orlando and picked them up and brought them back to WDW. We had a delicious dinner at Boatwright's. The BBQ pork chop with Fried Onion rings and cornbread were yummy!!! MYy husband enjoyed a steak and my mom the fish but the pork chop could not be beat!!! AFter dinner, he took the ladies back to Orlando and when he got back to us we headed to Magic Kingdom! We rode Buzz and Big Thunder repeatedly!!!
Day 10 Just when we think we are winding down, we decided to head to Animal Kingdom first thing in the morning and say goodbye to our buddy Bill and take one last ride on Everest. William had drawn Bill a picture of Rafiki because Rafiki is one of Bill's favorite characters. I was wearing a Tigger shirt William had drawn for me and my husband was wearing one with Scar on the front. Apparently my husband walked by the spot where Tigger was signing autographs so he called me to go there and get my picture with Tigger and our son and me wearing the shirt. William was carrying his Rafaki picture and a cast member asked him about the picture. William told him it was for his favorite cast member Bill. My husband joined us and after the pictures with Pooh, Eeyore & Tigger we were walking away and the cast member who had been talking to my son and admiring our hand drawn shirts walked up to my son and said, "I bet I can become your favorite new cast member" my son told him he could possibly become one of his favorite cast members but he couldn't beat Bill. The cast member proceeded to ask us if we wanted to ride in the parade on the Rafiki float!!!!! He said he wanted to do something nice for William the artist and seeing Rafiki made him realize that the Rafiki float would be perfect! SO we agreed and he told us to meet him at 3:10 by the Safari.

So, our quick morning at AK turned out to be an all day adventure. We saw Bill and told him what had happened, we rode Everest, and I wasn't as scared this time, we say Nemo, shopped, did the safari again, worried about rain canceling the parade because it came down in bucketfuls!! Had a delightful lunch at the Yak & Yeti, rode Everest again...I am getting used to it! It was finally time for us to go to be in the parade. The weather held off and they led us backstage and gave us vests and safari hats and loaded us into the jeep that pulls Rafiki. Everyone back stage was so friendly and nice we had some stilt walkers in front of us that had just come from performing at the Lion King!!!! They gave us earplugs and told us to smile and wave that there we 17,000 guests at AK that afternoon. The music started the big doors opened and we were off....my son, husband and I all had smiles from ear to ear, we waved until my fingers felt like they would fall off. But the looks on the people's faces as they smiled and waved back were so awesome!!! We all agreed it was THE BEST RIDE IN THE PARKS!!!!

Day 11 our last day...we spent the morning/afternoon at Blizzard Beach and finished the day at Magic Kingdom winding up our evening with 4 consecutive rides on Big Thunder Mountain. Hard to believe the time could fly by so fast. We can only say it was another awesome Disney vacation and as we were pulling out of the parking lot the next morning we were already making plans for our next trip

[dwkay8]

Loved reading the TR!

It's so great that you have these relationships with Cast Members. It's a wonderful personal connection to have on vacation.

How fun and exciting to be part of the parade! That's a magical way to end a trip. Hope you were able to get good pictures so you look back on this moment.

[PSL1013]

Loved the TR...I felt like I was right there with you!

[poshpartymommy]

Wow, I love reading magical trip reports. We have never done the water parks but will probably do one of them for our next trip. But Blizzard Beach defineately sounds and looks like alot of fun.

[MdCaterer]

Thanks for reading my trip report. Sorry I posted in the wrong spot.
We have been to WDW about 23 times and we never visited the waterparks until last year with some friends who went on vacation with us. I loved the water parks and particularly Blizzard Beach. They are one of the best deals Disney offers. An annual pass to their water parks is $99 and it is $49.95 for a single visit, so annual is the ticket if you are staying in Florida for any length of time. Blizzard Beach is huge fun especially the Family Raft Ride, the lazy river and the red slides and the racers it is a blast! However, to give Typhoon Lagoon it's due their Water Coaster is awesome and their tidal wave pool is pretty spectacular and I did not get the chance to try swimming with the sharks!!!
Thankfully, both water parks offer the fresh made mini donuts and you don't feel bad eating them because you do alot of swimming and walking! I always felt I would rather do the regular parks and visit a water park closer to home but Disney really knows how to make these water parks rock so definitely do yourself a favor and check them out!!!