FLSharon
09-26-2003, 09:25 PM
Sharon & DH, John
Sept Weekend at POR
Friday
We were off on our way around 10:30 with a few stops to make: the bank, gas station, and shoe store. Port Orleans Riverside was awaiting for us and John was anxious to put more marks in his AP holder. When we reached the Disney area, we decided to stop first at the outlet mall for a look at the Character Warehouse, one of my favorite places. The last time here we bought Mickey's Self Portrait for 29.95 that's usually 65.00. For some reason they were having this special for just a very short time. During this visit it was the regular price again.. Go figure. I picked up a tank top..nothing exciting.
On to the resort to check in. They didn't have our favorite room available in the Oak section by the fountain-matter of fact nothing was available here at the Oaks. So we stayed in Magnolia which is the one with the rose trellises lining the main walkway. It's absolutely beautiful. This resort is just about full so we were on the second floor which is quite different for us. I haven't seen so many cars in the parking lot for ages. I think everyone in the state of FL decided to visit this weekend. Later I found out that the Resident 4 day park hopper pass expires at the end of the month. The few out of state folks with whom I spoke had purchased the Fairy Tale package. Anyhow, I guess those two reasons explained the crowds.
The first thing on my agenda was to head to the pool. It was soo hot ...well duhhh, of course, Sept in florida. John wasn't feeling too well so I first headed to the Ol' Man Island for a ride down the slide. It's tradition. Gotta do the slide. Then I headed to the quiet pool. I met some really nice couples one of which had just escaped from Isabelle.
Around 6 pm we took the boat ride to DD for dinner. We got off by Blues and decided to eat at Wolf Gang. We weren't too adventurous.. I had a pizza and he got a hamburger. Actually they had the nicest area to sit outside by the water. Oh, we tried Bongo's b/c john wanted a cuban sandwich, but they wouldn't serve it for dinner. After eating dinner which was really good, we walked a bit then took the boat back around 9pm.
What a delightful ride! I just love it. I missed FQ being open b/c sometimes we get off there and I get a some wine at the pool bar for my walk back to Riverside. Anyhow, after we got home, while we were on our nightly walk we stopped in the River Roast Lounge to have a beer (me) and nonalcoholic fruity drink with umbrella, (john). The server switched the drinks when he served us ! LOL. I said that umbrella thing is not mine. lol. The gentlemen who does the singa longs was here.. What a hoot. This is really fun family entertainment. He had the kids and adults on their feet doing all kinds of crazy things.
Saturday
It was up and at ‘em early to scoot to Mk for the opening show. The mayor must have been busy for a citizen greeted us for the opening. The singers and dancers performed as always and then the train came with all the characters. Today we pick Fantasyland to target at the rope drop. We really have to make use of that first hour w/o any wait. When we get there we see a line of people at the new attraction, Mickey's Philharmagic. The CM's said they were fixing a glitch but it would open very soon within the hour or so. So off to Dumbo we went. I noticed the little signs with the storks were gone..probably for refurbishing. Also I noticed that my pink elephant could use a little touch up and cleaning. As soon as were off Dumbo we headed to Philharmagic. We didn't actually realize that it was only for AP holders but no one said anything so in we walked. We weren't quite sure if our seasonals would qualify (they did) but I wasn't going to speak up. I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone, but it's truly adorable and we saw many favorite characters from the past. A wonderful delight to watch... each of the four times I saw it!!!! After the third time we stood in line for 10-15 min to buy an AP pin. By this time, 10:30 the lines are forming so we left the area and went to HH.
We had a very relaxing lunch at Columbia Harbor House and sat upstairs and people watched. While sitting up there we noticed there was no line at the Haunted Mansion. Even thought we've seen this so many, many times, we still spotted some things we never noticed before this. It's one of the reasons we keep going back. Next in Adventure Land, We lucked into seeing the pirate group singing outside of PoC and DH took my picture with them. They do a really cool mixture of comedy and songs. On our way to Main St we heard the Main Street singers and dancers performing. They are such fun to watch. Time to head back to Riverside to swim.
As soon as I reached Ol' Man Island, I saw two security guys in a cart by the pool. I talked to them for a couple minutes and as I was leaving they told me to hang around cause big things were going to happen. I thought they were kidding but they said no, they were going to do a drill. So I hung around to wait on the lady in the black suit to come down the slide. As she laid face down floating in the water, the life guard looked at her for a few seconds before he jumped in. It looked obvious to me that he knew something was up, but the security said he didn't know. Anyhow, I got my junior security badge and went on to the quiet pool with far less action. We saw the same couples we met yesterday and had a fun time reliving our activities.
Around 4:30 we headed to MGM for a 630 PS at Prime Time. Walking down the main street, Hollywood Street (?) I took lots of pics of the billboards. They are so cool. We really enjoyed our visit and dinner at PT. The Moroccan server was fun and nice, a bit difficult to understand though. I was highly praised for my clean plate and bowl. And our cousins at the other table were from Iran and France. Man oh man, it was so much fun looking at all the things from the 50's. Unfortunately I remembered so many of them. And I loved the living rooms for the waiting areas. It was such a fun time, we will go back again. Almost forgot, DH wanted a pineapple shake...no can do .... wasn't available in the 50's. I would NOT recommend the peanut butter and jelly shake. We are having a fun time making our way to all the restaurants in the parks. At the last min we decided to stay to see Fantasmic which was great as always....except for the stale popcorn. I learned that the next time I will buy it at the bottom of the hill where it's popped fresh.
Since I had soup and salad for dinner by the time we returned to POR, I was getting hungry so I got a small pizza. Then after a walk around the resort we headed to bed.
Sunday morning
I did my usual check out day routine... which is a walk clear around the whole resort ( with a stop for breakfast in the middle) followed by a swim. For breakfast I had the forbidden banana pancakes and john had an omelet. Both were really good and this was from the counter service not the sit down. Back to the room to change followed by a few slides down the slide and then a swim at the quiet pool.
Sadly the weekend was almost over so we packed up to be out by our 11 am checkout time. However we decided we couldn't go home just yet. So off to the Beltz outlet mall for another Character Warehouse stop. John got a hat at the CW and then found some shoes at the shoe store across the aisle. Then to Epcot for a couple hours. We just don't want to head home. While splitting a Fish and Chips order we listened to Off Kilter whom I love. DH really wanted to do TT so we did with a quick single riders turn. We then split a small slice of pizza ( yes I'm a pizza nut). The last thing we saw was the movie in France. We walked a million miles this trip and I feel like my feet are falling off so I pleaded to head to the car.
Definitely time to go home but it was a really fun weekend.
Sept Weekend at POR
Friday
We were off on our way around 10:30 with a few stops to make: the bank, gas station, and shoe store. Port Orleans Riverside was awaiting for us and John was anxious to put more marks in his AP holder. When we reached the Disney area, we decided to stop first at the outlet mall for a look at the Character Warehouse, one of my favorite places. The last time here we bought Mickey's Self Portrait for 29.95 that's usually 65.00. For some reason they were having this special for just a very short time. During this visit it was the regular price again.. Go figure. I picked up a tank top..nothing exciting.
On to the resort to check in. They didn't have our favorite room available in the Oak section by the fountain-matter of fact nothing was available here at the Oaks. So we stayed in Magnolia which is the one with the rose trellises lining the main walkway. It's absolutely beautiful. This resort is just about full so we were on the second floor which is quite different for us. I haven't seen so many cars in the parking lot for ages. I think everyone in the state of FL decided to visit this weekend. Later I found out that the Resident 4 day park hopper pass expires at the end of the month. The few out of state folks with whom I spoke had purchased the Fairy Tale package. Anyhow, I guess those two reasons explained the crowds.
The first thing on my agenda was to head to the pool. It was soo hot ...well duhhh, of course, Sept in florida. John wasn't feeling too well so I first headed to the Ol' Man Island for a ride down the slide. It's tradition. Gotta do the slide. Then I headed to the quiet pool. I met some really nice couples one of which had just escaped from Isabelle.
Around 6 pm we took the boat ride to DD for dinner. We got off by Blues and decided to eat at Wolf Gang. We weren't too adventurous.. I had a pizza and he got a hamburger. Actually they had the nicest area to sit outside by the water. Oh, we tried Bongo's b/c john wanted a cuban sandwich, but they wouldn't serve it for dinner. After eating dinner which was really good, we walked a bit then took the boat back around 9pm.
What a delightful ride! I just love it. I missed FQ being open b/c sometimes we get off there and I get a some wine at the pool bar for my walk back to Riverside. Anyhow, after we got home, while we were on our nightly walk we stopped in the River Roast Lounge to have a beer (me) and nonalcoholic fruity drink with umbrella, (john). The server switched the drinks when he served us ! LOL. I said that umbrella thing is not mine. lol. The gentlemen who does the singa longs was here.. What a hoot. This is really fun family entertainment. He had the kids and adults on their feet doing all kinds of crazy things.
Saturday
It was up and at ‘em early to scoot to Mk for the opening show. The mayor must have been busy for a citizen greeted us for the opening. The singers and dancers performed as always and then the train came with all the characters. Today we pick Fantasyland to target at the rope drop. We really have to make use of that first hour w/o any wait. When we get there we see a line of people at the new attraction, Mickey's Philharmagic. The CM's said they were fixing a glitch but it would open very soon within the hour or so. So off to Dumbo we went. I noticed the little signs with the storks were gone..probably for refurbishing. Also I noticed that my pink elephant could use a little touch up and cleaning. As soon as were off Dumbo we headed to Philharmagic. We didn't actually realize that it was only for AP holders but no one said anything so in we walked. We weren't quite sure if our seasonals would qualify (they did) but I wasn't going to speak up. I don't want to ruin the movie for anyone, but it's truly adorable and we saw many favorite characters from the past. A wonderful delight to watch... each of the four times I saw it!!!! After the third time we stood in line for 10-15 min to buy an AP pin. By this time, 10:30 the lines are forming so we left the area and went to HH.
We had a very relaxing lunch at Columbia Harbor House and sat upstairs and people watched. While sitting up there we noticed there was no line at the Haunted Mansion. Even thought we've seen this so many, many times, we still spotted some things we never noticed before this. It's one of the reasons we keep going back. Next in Adventure Land, We lucked into seeing the pirate group singing outside of PoC and DH took my picture with them. They do a really cool mixture of comedy and songs. On our way to Main St we heard the Main Street singers and dancers performing. They are such fun to watch. Time to head back to Riverside to swim.
As soon as I reached Ol' Man Island, I saw two security guys in a cart by the pool. I talked to them for a couple minutes and as I was leaving they told me to hang around cause big things were going to happen. I thought they were kidding but they said no, they were going to do a drill. So I hung around to wait on the lady in the black suit to come down the slide. As she laid face down floating in the water, the life guard looked at her for a few seconds before he jumped in. It looked obvious to me that he knew something was up, but the security said he didn't know. Anyhow, I got my junior security badge and went on to the quiet pool with far less action. We saw the same couples we met yesterday and had a fun time reliving our activities.
Around 4:30 we headed to MGM for a 630 PS at Prime Time. Walking down the main street, Hollywood Street (?) I took lots of pics of the billboards. They are so cool. We really enjoyed our visit and dinner at PT. The Moroccan server was fun and nice, a bit difficult to understand though. I was highly praised for my clean plate and bowl. And our cousins at the other table were from Iran and France. Man oh man, it was so much fun looking at all the things from the 50's. Unfortunately I remembered so many of them. And I loved the living rooms for the waiting areas. It was such a fun time, we will go back again. Almost forgot, DH wanted a pineapple shake...no can do .... wasn't available in the 50's. I would NOT recommend the peanut butter and jelly shake. We are having a fun time making our way to all the restaurants in the parks. At the last min we decided to stay to see Fantasmic which was great as always....except for the stale popcorn. I learned that the next time I will buy it at the bottom of the hill where it's popped fresh.
Since I had soup and salad for dinner by the time we returned to POR, I was getting hungry so I got a small pizza. Then after a walk around the resort we headed to bed.
Sunday morning
I did my usual check out day routine... which is a walk clear around the whole resort ( with a stop for breakfast in the middle) followed by a swim. For breakfast I had the forbidden banana pancakes and john had an omelet. Both were really good and this was from the counter service not the sit down. Back to the room to change followed by a few slides down the slide and then a swim at the quiet pool.
Sadly the weekend was almost over so we packed up to be out by our 11 am checkout time. However we decided we couldn't go home just yet. So off to the Beltz outlet mall for another Character Warehouse stop. John got a hat at the CW and then found some shoes at the shoe store across the aisle. Then to Epcot for a couple hours. We just don't want to head home. While splitting a Fish and Chips order we listened to Off Kilter whom I love. DH really wanted to do TT so we did with a quick single riders turn. We then split a small slice of pizza ( yes I'm a pizza nut). The last thing we saw was the movie in France. We walked a million miles this trip and I feel like my feet are falling off so I pleaded to head to the car.
Definitely time to go home but it was a really fun weekend.