Just the three of us- a pre-trip report

[sydney]

We are all booked for a week at Port Orleans French Quarter! This trip it will be DH Ron (who will be almost 38), DS Jared (who is 15), and me- Sydney (who will be 39).



Taylor and his girlfriend, who is as huge a Disney freak as the rest of us, are going for four days in Dec. of this year, so we don't feel so bad going without him.



Our very first trip back in 2002 was in April, and then every other trip has been Sept., Oct., Nov. twice, Jan., and Feb. I love going when it's cooler, but I'm excited this time to be able to enjoy some warmer weather. I think we've done the dining plan on every trip except our very first one, so that will be another difference in this trip. We're going to pay out of pocket and order what everyone wants, and I think we'll still come out ahead, based on our eating habits and amounts now. That's another thing we're doing for this trip- eating at places we've never tried before. With the exception of the quick serve at POFQ (which we've eaten at for lunch and dinner, and this trip we're only doing for breakfast) every place we eat will be a new adventure!

On Sat. March 5th we will get everything packed, drop the dogs at the boarder, go to church, and try to get a good night's sleep. Then we'll get up on Sun. March 6, eat breakfast, load up the last few things, and hit the road! It's only about a 6 hour drive for us. As is tradition, we will stop in Jacksonville for lunch at Whataburger. We had them in Texas and miss them in SC. This should put us arriving at POFQ between 3-4pm. We have visited here before, but never stayed here.



I was able to book a river view room at a great rate with the military discount.

After unpacking and checking out the resort a bit, we plan to head to DTD, or Disney Springs as it will now be called. I like that we get to take a nice boat ride. We want to eat at House of Blues, but I can't make reservations there yet, so we'll see as it gets closer. My other choice would be the Bongos quick serve- their menu looks pretty good. If Disney Quest is still open, we will spend the rest of the evening there.



If not, we'll probably just look around and do some shopping. Then back on the boat to the resort, maybe grab some drinks with our mugs, and off to bed.

[susanm]

cool planning is almost as much fun as being there

[ilovdisney]

You are going too love FQ. It's smaller and the bus loads first before heading over too Riverside. Enjoy the planning.

[sydney]

Monday March 7th will be water park day! While we've enjoyed water parks here in the Charleston area and back in Texas, we've never been to the ones in WDW .

Blizzard Beach is the one that is open during our visit. Since it doesn't open till 10am, I figured we'd just wake up whenever, get our things together, and jump in the car. While Ron and I both agree that we like relying on WDW transportation, for this day we'd rather just use our car. We'll stop by the Caribbean Beach Resort for a quick breakfast at Old Port Royale and a look around the resort. We drove around once a long time ago, but have never really checked it out. Now that they've switched to queen beds it may be an option to stay there. Then it will be on the Blizzard Beach!

All of the attractions here look like fun, but I'm most looking forward to Summit Plummet! I don't know if I will convince Ron and Jared to do it with me (Ron cuz of his ankle and knee issues since surgery, and Jared cuz he's not fond of heights) but I won't miss it!!! We'll hopefully be able to try all the other slides, spend some time in Melt Away Bay, and relax in between thrills in the Cross Country Creek.

I looked at menus for all of the counter service options here and nothing really stood out. We'll be eating lunch here whenever we get hungry and most likely will just stop at whatever is nearby.

I figure we'll probably leave at closing time which is 5pm. In the event that it's raining too bad to enjoy the water park, we'll try to switch our plans to Thursday and maybe just resort hop or hang around Disney Springs or go to Disney Quest if it's still open.

After going back to POFQ and getting cleaned up we will head over to Coronado Springs Resort. We have stayed here twice but never eaten at Maya Grill, so I made a 7:15pm adr. The menu looks really yummy! We may take a stroll around the lake and then head back to POFQ to hit the sack.

[sydney]

Tuesday March 8 is EPCOT day! During our last three trips we've been able to enjoy the F&W festival, so on this trip I figure we'll actually have more time to enjoy Epcot attractions.

To go along with my plan of trying all new places to eat we will take a bus to MK then walk over to the Contemporary for a quick breakfast at Contempo Café. We also should have time to look around a bit too. Then we'll hop on the monorail and continue our journey to Epcot.

We'll start our day in Future World. I am hoping to get fast passes for Soarin' or Test Track at least. Other must-do's in FW are Spaceship Earth (which we'll probably do again before we leave for the night), Ellen's Energy Adventure, The Land, Figment, Nemo, and a drink stop at Club Cool.

Next we'll make our way around the World Showcase, starting in Mexico. Our lunch adr is in Germany at Biergarten at 1:20. There's a place in Texas like this that both Ron and I have been to as kids, so I think it will be fun. If we get hungry before that we may stop in the bakery in Norway for a snack. We're so going to miss Maelstrom! It was one of my dad's favs, and Ron's too. Taylor found a shirt that I ordered to give Ron for Christmas- "Maelstrom- Never Forget" with an image from the mural. He will love it! We'll just enjoy the afternoon and evening meandering through the pavilions, listening to music, checking out shops, and enjoying the attractions and shows. I planned to grab a quick dinner whenever we get hungry at Lotus Blossom in China, and maybe an ice dessert in Japan later. Depending on how much we go to do before lunch in Future World, we may go back later to do some more. Illuminations isn't a must-do, so it will depend on if we feel like watching or not. Epcot has extra magic hours from 9-11, so that gives us plenty of time to do everything we want. Then it will be back to POFQ for bed.

[Dave]

Sydney,

Please tell me where you found the Maelstrom shirt. My ancestors were Norwegian and I have always loved everything about the Norway pavilion at Epcot. I would love to have one of those shirts.

Dave

[ilovdisney]

Sounds like a fun trip so far. Glad Dave asked about the shirt. Think your DH is going too love it.

[sydney]

The shirt is from www.redbubble.com. Taylor discovered it and it has sooooo many cool things! If you just type in "Disney" it comes up with over 16,000 items!

The shirt we got Ron you can see if you search for "Epcot Maelstrom"- it's the one with the boy's face. We have a family joke about that on the mural.

I'll warn you- that website may become addicting!

[sydney]

Wednesday March 9 is Magic Kingdom day! We will take a bus to MK then hop on the monorail to the Poly for a quick breakfast at Captain Cook's (ok, and so I can get Tonga toast). We've eaten at O'hana's and Kona before, but this time I wanted to spend more time looking at all the renovations. Then we'll head back to MK.

I am hoping to get fast passes for Seven Dwarves, Peter Pan, and one of the mountains, because we have to do Space, Big Thunder, and Splash! I still have to get familiar with what tiers you can pick from for fast passes because last trip we could pick from any offered. Unless we have an early one, our first destination after wandering down Main Street will be Adventureland, and Pirates will be our first ride. Other must-do's are Jungle Cruise, Aladdin, Haunted Mansion, Buzz, Monsters Inc., Tomorrowland Speedway, TTA, Carousel of Progress, Pooh, Mickey's Philharmagic, Dumbo, Small World, Little Mermaid, and of course, a trip around the park on the train. I am dying to see the Festival of Fantasy Parade, especially the Maleficent float! We probably won't makes any other shows or parades a must. If there are any character meets with ones we haven't done before we may get pics with them.

I picked out quick service for lunch and dinner here so we could really tour at whatever pace we wanted. We'll do Sleepy Hollow for lunch because I've been wanting to try the waffle sandwiches and I think the guys will love them too. We may stop for a snack at Gaston's Tavern. For dinner I picked the Lunching Pad, and then if we stay for emh till 11:00, I see us getting dessert somewhere too. After doing everything we want at MK we'll hop back on a bus to POFQ and crash for the night.

[Dave]

Oct 31, 2015 8:07:13 GMT -5 sydney said:

The shirt is from www.redbubble.com. Taylor discovered it and it has sooooo many cool things! If you just type in "Disney" it comes up with over 16,000 items!

The shirt we got Ron you can see if you search for "Epcot Maelstrom"- it's the one with the boy's face. We have a family joke about that on the mural.

I'll warn you- that website may become addicting!

Thanks for the info on the shirt, Sydney. I'll take out a second mortgage on the house and head on over to redbubble.

Dave

[sydney]

Thursday March 10 is another down day for us. When the boys were younger we used to arrive, do 4-6 park days in a row, then depart. Now that they are older and can appreciate a more relaxed pace and other things, I 've been planning that in. We will begin our day at Fort Wilderness with breakfast at Trail's End. We've never been to FW before, so it will give us a chance to look around here too. Our adr is for 9:25, so this will give us a chance to sleep in a bit from the MK emh the night before. I think Ron and Jared will really enjoy this breakfast- especially the biscuits and gravy! I can also see Jared going back to his Scoutmaster after seeing the camp grounds and suggesting a trip for the troop next year!

We will most likely have the car that day so we can come and go as we please. We'll probably get in a game of mini golf at Winter Summerland sometime that morning since it will be included in the military salute tickets, and it's always a good time. Lunch is planned at Beaches and Cream at 1:40. I figured that depending on how full we still are from gorging ourselves at breakfast, we could eat something lighter, or maybe we'll share the kitchen sink! Actually we'll probably wait till we have more help with that one. But the smaller Mickey sundaes look good. This will give us a chance to look around the resort too, which we've only seen on the outside from the water.

If the weather is nice we may head back to POFQ and relax at the pool for the afternoon. Then we'll get cleaned up and hop on the boat to DTD (I'm still calling it that, I know). We have a 7:20 adr at Paradiso 37. The menu here looks amazing and I don't know how it took me this long to discover it. I'm hoping it will be as good as it sounds. After dinner we may get in some time at Disney Quest, again if it's even still open. If not, we may just do a little shopping and then hop back on the boat to "home" for the night.

[Dave]

Sydney,
Have you ever stayed at Shades of Green? DW and I are eligible to stay there but never have. Is it a better deal than some of the Disney-owned resorts? Do they have the same amenities as the Disney resorts?

Thanks,
Dave

[sydney]

Nov 7, 2015 8:28:24 GMT -5 Dave said:

Sydney,
Have you ever stayed at Shades of Green? DW and I are eligible to stay there but never have. Is it a better deal than some of the Disney-owned resorts? Do they have the same amenities as the Disney resorts?

Thanks,
Dave

We have never stayed at Shades of Green or even visited to see it. It's funny- when Ron was active duty, his attitude was that he's around the military for work, so he didn't want to be on vacation. Plus we really like being immersed in the Disney magic while we're there, and we are having fun trying different Disney resorts. SoG just doesn't seem to have that same appeal. It may end up being cheaper in some cases, but when we can take advantage of the military discount at Disney resorts, we'd rather do that.

[Dave]

We are going to WDW later this month. I think we'll visit SoG to see what it's like.

[sydney]

Friday March 11 will be Hollywood Studios day. We will get breakfast at Sassagoula before heading over there- I know I'm getting beignets! I'm hoping to get fp+ for Toy Story, Rock 'n' Rollercoaster (although Jared probably won't ride), and one of the shows- either Indiana Jones or Lights, Motors, Action. Depending on whether the guys want to ride or not, I know I'm definitely doing Tower of Terror, so if I have to do the single rider line I will. Other must-do's for us will be The Great Movie Ride, Muppets 3D, and checking out the new Star Wars stuff and hopefully meeting some characters. Ron and I can't do the Star Tours ride (motion sickness) but Jared might. We may even get in a show- we've never done Beauty and the Beast or Voyage of the Little Mermaid, but now with no Backlot Tour to do, we may try it.

Lunch will be at the Brown Derby at 1:15. I went once as a kid and fell in love with the Cobb salad, which is exactly what I'll be getting again. The lunch menu looked more appealing for what the guys would like too so that's why I booked it then. The offer three mini desserts as a dessert option, so if we still have room we may get that and split it. Dinner I just planned on the Studio Catering Company whenever we feel hungry again. If we need a snack before or after I'd like to stop into Starring Rolls and grab a cool cupcake.

DHS has emh from 7-9pm, so I'm sure we'll still be there for that. We may hit some other attractions again and we will end the night at Fantasmic! This should still get us back to POFQ at a decent hour and give us a good night's sleep before our last park day.