Taylor's Royal Room Pre-Trip Report

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Cast:
Me-Amy (MississippiDisneyFreak)-age 47
Mom-Patty-age 69
Maranda-age 22 (first trip-other than 1 day partial visit to DHS 8 years ago)

Resort-Port Orleans Riverside Royal Room-Poolview (1st time in this resort)
Dates-January 25 through February 1, 2017

Last year my mom decided she would like to visit again this year, so we started looking and decided to stay off season for once. We've always gone at Christmas time, with the exception of our last trip for MNSSHP and Food and Wine and although we love all the seasonal decorations, we wanted to go at a least crowded time. After much research we deciced the last week of January would be the best time for us.

My son used to date a young lady named Maranda who has a few learning disabilities and her family has kind of turned her loose to fend for herself. Her grandmother does what she can but has limited resources. My mom and I became very attached to her,helped her apply for some aid, as well as taking her to doctor's and dental appointments, taking her to church and including her in some of our family activities. She calls us mom and maw maw. Although my son isn't dating her anymore they are still friendly so we still see her on a regular basis. So, mom and I started talking and said why don't we take Maranda with us to Disney. She was so excited. She has been packed for a month now, lol. She actually went to Universal with her sister a few years ago and they went to Hollywood Studios for part of one day, but other than that this will be her first Disney trip. Mom has always wanted to stay at Port Orleans Riverside and with Maranda with us we decided we should splurge on a Royal Room. We have 8 day hoppers and the dining plan>

Our Plans are as follows:

January 25-arrival day (10-11 hour drive)-tradition for us is to check in, get mom's scooter from bell hop, go to the room and unpack, then go to Downtown (Disney Springs) do some shopping and eat dinner at Wolfgang Puck Express before heading back to the resort for the night.

January 26-Magic Kingdom Day-We plan to do Tomorrowland and as much of Fantasyland as possible. FP+ for -Peter Pan, 7 Dwarf Mine Train and Meeting Tinkerbell -We have a Dinner ADR for Be Our Guest-Ending the night with Wishes.

January 27-Hollywood Studios-We will let Maranda ride Rockin Roller Coaster first then we have FP+ for Toy Story Mania, Indiana Jones and Star Tours. We have a lunch ADR for 50's Prime Time-a first for me and Maranda-ending the night with Fantasmic

January 28-Epcot-We have FP+ for Soarin, The Land, and Spaceship Earth. We will mostly spend the day in Future world but venture over to UK for fish n chips for lunch-Our dinner ADR is Coral Reef-a first for all of us-I have been nervous about this one due to mixed reviews but the aquariums are so cool-We will end the night watching Illuminations.

January 29-Animal Kingdom-We have FP+ for Safari, Tough to Be a Bug and Festival of the Lion King-Lunch ADR at Rainforest Café-and hope to see the tree lighting ceremony. I wish Rivers of Light would be running but it doesn't look that way-We will go back to the resort this evening and I will do laundry-Maranda may take a swim depending on weather conditions.

January 30-Epcot-This is our world showcase Day. We have a FP+ for Frozen and dinner ADR for Tutto Italia-this is new for all of us.

January 31-Magic Kingdom-We have a 900am appointment at Harmony Barber Shop for Maranda to get Pixie Dust and then we'll head to Frontier Land so she can ride Big Thunder and Splash Mountain. We have FP+ for Pirates, Jungle Cruise and Haunted Mansion-We'll try to finish anything we didn't ride in Fantasy Land and will finish the evening with an ADR at Ohana. We will return to the room and start packing up.

February 1-Epcot and Departure Day-After packing up and checking out we will head over to Epcot for our ADR Garden Grill Breakfast-also a first for me and Maranda. We may ride Soarin again I got a FP+ just in case and then will stroll over to World Showcase for a couple of hours before returned to Riverside for our car and heading out-We always stay this night in Lake City so we can spend a few hours in the park before leaving.

I'm hoping weather will be nice and crowds will be low. We will be doing some firsts with the resort, royal room and some of our dining. I have been saving Starbucks rewards to use but now am wondering if I can use them in Disney, I hope so. Anyway we are very excited and I will post trip reports when I can. Thanks for reading.

[faline]

Sounds like a fun trip!! Can't wait to hear how it all goes!!

[Zippy 1]

Looks like fun! We tried Tutto Italia for the first time our last trip. We loved it. That is saying a lot as my husband and mother in law are Italian. We have been to Coral Reef a bunch of times. Twice on the last trip. We have always had great service and good food. This last time we asked to sit by the aquarium even said we would wait longer if necessary. They got us in right at the time of our reservation, right where we wanted to be.

[Kairi_7378]

Your plans sound lovely. Great selection of ADRs and FPs.

The thing I was most worried about for our last trip was Coral Reef, also due to the mixed reviews. (To the point where my husband said, "It will be cool and there's a fish tank. Calm down!") I was pleasantly surprised. It wasn't our favorite meal, but it was a lot better than I'd set myself up for.

[VWL Mom]

Hope you have a great trip, look forward to hearing all about it when you return.

[Euby]

I have been saving Starbucks rewards to use but now am wondering if I can use them in Disney, I hope so.

I used my Starbucks rewards there without a problem last May. They are just like a regular Starbucks, just that they happened to be located within each Disney park. Not sure if you are into collecting the Starbucks "You Are Here" mugs, but they do have a design for each park. They are $14.95 each. Much cheaper than trying to get them on eBay.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

Thanks!

[Euby]

Oh and I almost forgot to mention... The Starbucks at the Magic Kingdom is the busiest in the world (as in globally not just WDW). So be prepared for even more than the usual Starbucks line. We went at park closing to get our mugs and there was little to no line. Also, there were no tables or chairs at any of the locations. Strictly a "grab-n-go" situation.

[MississippiDisneyFreak]

The grab and go is fine, that line though....