Disney trip report Party of 14

[BIGDOG]

Trip report 1/11/18 thru 1/17/18

Location: Disney’s Port Orleans River side; building 14 - River view

Party size 14... 7 Adults, 4 teens, 3 infants… We had 3 rooms 2 were adjoining.

Frontier Airline: Providence to Orlando; flight time 2hrs 20 mins. faster than expected. Both flights on time, paid extra for special seats, legs room ok. Only bad thing just before landing they try to sell credit card deal over load speaker (Volume was very loud) and woke up sleeping children.. Overall GRADE B
Magical Express Orlando Airport: Receptionist at first desk was rather short with us and a little rude. After reaching our line to wait there were no employees to ask questions, and we all waited at least 35 to 40 mins. … Overall GRADE C

Check in Port Orleans Riverside: No wait we were the only group in line, but problem with rooms. We paid for pool view and requested 3 rooms in a row and first floor. They had our 3 rooms scattered after very little complaining they fixed the issue. They upgraded us to 3 rooms in a row (2 adjoining) in bldg 14 River view. These had the shortest walk to food court, and buses possible. Also gave each of us 3 additional fast passes of our choice for the next day; and tossed in a free horse and carriage ride for my Grandson. I can’t say enough about the gentleman who helped us he was great … Overall GRADE A+

Weather: was cool according to the Cast members 50’s to 70’s but for our group of northerners it was great we wore shorts and T’s all week … I will not Grade the weathers that’s gods doing.

Crowds were very manageable cast members told me crowds were light to them, I thought line were kinda long but with fast passes who care’s.

Day 1 Magic Kingdom (Of course we start here): Hit the park for our magic hour and saw the opening show very cool. We had 6 fast passes each (3 original plus 3 additional given to us) and we used them very wisely. We hit all the major rides before lunch; Seven Dwarfs, Space Mountain, Pirates, Jungle cruise, Haunted Mansion, plus others. Stopped for lunch @ Peco’s Bills food was ok nice fix em bar and lots of empty tables. A lot of us ordered the Taco platter and many couldn’t finish it very large portion. I am a burger guy and it was a better than average burger. After lunch used the rest of the fast passes and saw the Frozen Princess meet and greet my Granddaughter loved it and took a lot of great pictures. Had dinner at Crystal Palace food was not as good as I remember but no complaints. We decided to head out before closing! That was the only thing I regret wish we stayed for the show on castle, I found that out on the last day. Only bad thing was we didn’t know Splash Mountain was going to be closed. Overall GRADE A+ (Magic Kingdom will always get an A+ no matter what from me)

Day 2 Hollywood Studios: What can I say there are only 4 or 5 rides to do here, we did them all also saw mostly all shows. We saw the Star Wars march down Main St. for the first time; kids met a ton of characters, including Chewbacca. The kids and I went on the new toy story ride 3 times and loved it. Entire family had a great meal at HOLLYWOOD AND VINE. The food was very good pay no attention to bad reports on food it was excellent; I was Chef for over 20ys thumbs up. The assorted characters were very engaging with the children as well. The meal also included a special seat at the show at the end of the night, FRONT ROW. …Overall GRADE B (I miss the Movie ride)

Day 3 Epcot: Hit up Joffrey Coffee first thing on the way in. Hit the ride inside the Ball (I miss Walter Cronkite’s voice). Then off to the Nemo ride and turtle talk with crush. We used the fast pass at the Frozen ride and Soaring really enjoyed Frozen they did a really nice job on that one. I don’t miss the Viking ride at all, but bought some trolls for my collection in the gift shop. We spent a lot of time up in the countries and had dinner at Tappan Eddo it was ok nothing special. Overall Epcot is a lot of walking many big wide open areas with nothing to do in them. … Overall GRADE B

Day 4 Animal Kingdom: What can I say Pandora is really great we spent hours inside the Avatar area. The entire area is just great (My family all loved the Avatar movie) If you’re not fans of the blue guys you might not think as highly as we do. It’s my 2yr old Grandsons favorite movie so we see it 3 times a week. Between all of us we spent over a thousand dollars in the 1 gift shop Pandora has. Our sit down meal was at Rain Forest Café. All I can say is it was not my choice and we will never darken their doorways again. As a former chef I do not speak poorly of food establishments. Animal Kingdom jumped to my second favorite park look forward to returning. …Overall Grade A

Day 5 Magic Kingdom: (We always end here as well): Re did pretty much everything that was popular the first day. Jungle, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Snow White, Space Mnt, and others. I want to mention the Mickey Mouse head shape Cinnamon bun at Star Bucks is such a great deal huge and delicious; and as a snack on the meal program tough to beat. Now the show on the castle is amazing wish we had stayed the first day at MK. They have done a great job on the projection and fire work combo shows. After the park closed we walked over to Chef Mickey’s and again the food was great finally found my favorite meal Prime Rib it was very good. …Overall Grade A+

Now our 6 night at Disney were over took Meers up to Universal for 5 nights at The Cabana Bay resort

Again I do not speak poorly of food establishments but any food we had was far from Disney quality and sit down meals were inferior as well. We had 5 day passes only used 4 the water park was closed too cold. Most of the days it was too cold for the hydraulic fluids on the roller coaster rides. So they decided to shut down all outdoor rides using fluids till about 2 in the afternoon. Other then the Harry Potter sections in the 2 parks, King Kong and Jurassic Park section I will never go back to Universal enough said.

In all a great trip with 13 of my closest friends we are looking forward to going back to just DISNEY IN THE Fall of 2019 when Star wars is finished.

[Cinderelley]

Sounds like you had a great trip.

[JanetMegan]

Excellent report, you did very well considering it was such a big group. I'm with you (total foodie here, not chef but I appreciate food-too much) I've really enjoyed my last few meals at Hollywood and Vine, best buffet on property I think.

[faline]

Sounds like a wonderful and fun trip made all the better by being able to share it with your extended family!!