Escaping The Brutal Northeast For Sunny, Warm Florida and Fun! Completed 7/12 About This Page:

[SuperDave]

Well, here it is. My second attempt at a TR! I think my first stab at it, (http://www.passporterboards.com/foru...te-6-13-a.html) went rather well. It was a lot of work with the photos and Photobucket, not being so cooperative at times, made it a project at times. I had plenty of notes, so remembering exact places and sights was never really a problem. It was well worth doing and glad I’ll always have a memory of it here, where I can relive it, whenever I desire to!

The Details

Adventurers: Just Myself

Dates: Saturday, March 29-Friday, April 4

Where To: Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Florida

Resorts: Port Orleans Riverside for 6 Nights

Activities: Golf, Theme Parks, Dining and Fun

Meets: None, I’m sorry to say. Wish I did!


I decided not to do a PTR as I was still working on my France TR, but all of those details, that I would have included in one, will be in the first part here.

So, when did the planning of this trip start? It was the week of October 6, 2013, when I received a few emails from Disney regarding Room Offer Deals that were for the Spring. After, doing a big trip to Europe earlier last year, I was thinking about scaling it back a bit and possibly head back to WDW. Going to Europe and especially for 15 nights can get quite expensive, so it’s only something I can do every couple of years or so.

I looked at the resort room deals on the WDW site and it started to become more appealing. I want to do the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, but I couldn’t hold out that long and wanted to go in the Spring. I thought, after the university and school breaks and before Easter would be a good time to go. The room rates, would be a bit better a few weeks after Easter, but wanted to go in early April as I never had gone to Disney during this time and the weather is usually quite good.

So that was it....a done deal...I’m going to the Magical Place for the 11th time since 2002!

Friday, October 11 (Correction as I originally typed March!)
I decided to just do a room offer and not tack on a dining package. Don’t feel you save much, especially for a solo traveler. It makes more sense for families or parties of more than one. The other thing is I don’t have a big breakfast as continental works fine for me. Lunch wouldn’t be big on a regular basis as I’d be playing golf on a few days and grab something on the course. While in the parks for lunch, I’d just do CS for the most part. Dinner is completely different as I always do TS for this. Overall, I didn’t think it was worth it. At best, it may equal out, depending on which plan I went with, so I decided no to this.

I did a lot of looking around on various Disney sites for the regular rack rates and how much I’d be paying each night and whether I wanted to go with a Moderate or Deluxe resort. Value Resorts are not an option for me as I want something a bit better. Even with the discounts, I felt the deluxes with their discounts were more than I wanted to spend on a room. So, it would now be a Moderate Resort, I would go with, but which one?

I’ve stayed at all of the moderates and most recently Coronado Springs in 2012, so that was out. I stayed at Carribean Beach back in 2007, but wasn’t crazy about it. Didn’t like the idea of the Customs House (check in etc.) being far away from the food court and shops. There are also seven bus stops and that was a bit annoying, so this was out as well.

I’ve stayed at the two Port Orleans Resorts a couple of times a piece. I prefer the French Quarter out of the two resorts as I find it more intimate, less travel time by boat to DTD, love Sassagoula Floatworks food court (my favorite of all Disney resorts) and beignets!

The French Quarter it would be with Riverside as a backup, if I can’t get my dates!

NEXT: Booking my Room and ADRs!