Our Crash Course in Disney 101 - Trip Report - COMPLETE 10/1 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Our Crash Course in Disney 101 - Trip Report - COMPLETE 10/1
It’s hard to believe we’re back home again, after this much-anticipated first trip to WDW – but here we are. And now that I’ve had a few days to integrated and muse over our experience, I think I’m ready to write up this trip report. And yes, it truly was a crash course in Disney 101!!!
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
ME : Cathy, age 45, Disney Planner and Creator-in-Training. Most looking forward to The Haunted Mansion and dining at Raglan Road…and seeing the look on my girls’ faces when they behold Cinderella’s castle for the first time (so I can say ‘told ya so!’)
DH : Kevin, age 52, Amazing Musician, IT Genius and Martial Artist Extraordinaire. Can throw a double spin jump sidekick but cannot ride the Teacups without yakking. Can mix it up grappling with the guys but thinks roller coasters are too rough and hurt his head. (Why is he on this trip?) Most looking forward to getting away from work for awhile!
DD1: Alexa, age 17, Indie-Rock-Girl and Talented Artist. Has her own band “Rock Paper Scissors” (when they become famous, remember you heard it here first!) Most looking forward to ToT and RnRC (sorry ‘bout that one) and terrorizing her sisters on ITTBAB. (She’s been to WDW before – nyah nyah!)
DD2: Kelley, age 9, Little Angel and Former Princess. Quiet, sensitive and takes things to heart easily, but rarely shows her true feelings. Most looking forward to ‘everything’ and seeing if there are Hello Kitties at the Japanese pavilion.
DD3: Cory, age ALMOST 8, Chief Mischief-Maker and Ballerina. Clone of big sister Alexa (we call them Dr. Evil and Mini Me.) Most looking forward to Dinosaur and swimming at the resort. Will wear a “It’s My Birthday” button at the parks.
Not appearing in this production are:
DS: Tyler, age 19, at his dad’s getting ready to depart for basic training (Marine Corps) in a few months. Most looking forward to staying at Shades of Green in a few years!
DDog: Duncan, age 2, Velcro Dog and Lassie-Lookalike. Most looking forward to us returning home – he’s never been away from us so long before!
And now…on with the show!
Now, the first thing to keep in mind is that I had this vacation all planned out. I read, I researched, I asked questions, and more questions and felt, for a newby, I had a pretty good handle on knowing what was up at WDW. I had a rough itinerary down, and thanks to TourGuideMike, a more detailed itinerary. Listening to the seasoned advice of others, I left plenty of room to rearrange plans and tried to add in times for relaxing and soaking up the ambience. I had family meetings where I explained the game plan and tried to give each family member a chance for input so that everyone could do the things that were most important to them. I felt prepared!
Monday morning the alarm went off at 5:00am – it seemed so surreal after all these months of planning (and more planning) to finally jump out of bed and run to the girls’ room to wake them with a “Time to get up and go to Disney World!” They shot up like rockets, ready to get dressed and eat breakfast and jump in the van.
However, my plans of leaving early (6:00am) didn’t materialize. DH Kevin (who is usually the one waiting for us to finish getting ready) took his time that morning, making sandwiches for the trip and doing last-minute packing. We have a tradition of eating sandwiches on the road while driving to our vacation destinations – we’re so anxious to get there, we don’t like to waste time stopping to eat. At last we made it out the door and on the highway at 7:17am – and estimated a 10 hr. drive from Nashville to WDW.
The drive down was smooth and easy; we ate lunch in the van – and only stopped twice for gas and bathroom breaks. Everybody’s spirits were high – we were excited to finally be realizing our dreams. As we crossed over the Florida state line, the weather began to get cloudy and it looked like rain. Sure enough, the raindrops began to splatter on the windshield as we approached the Fl Turnpike. And then… the sun appeared through a break in the clouds as Alexa shouted, “Hey look everyone – a rainbow!” Sure enough, right in the general direction of The World, a rainbow had appeared, sending us a magical welcome. How cool is that?
Alexa had created a Disney music CD for us and we played Disney music for the rest of the way to get us in the mood. We used the ‘back door’ entrance to Disney (many thanks to Susan for giving me the directions! ) and were able to navigate the maze of roads that make up the Disney complex very easily thanks to all the directional signs. And ohhh – the look on the girls’ faces when we crossed under the arch that announced “Welcome to Walt Disney World!!!”
We made one quick stop at a Hess gas station (TIP – definitely the best prices around) and then drove on to Port Orleans Riverside. Driving time was exactly 10 hours!
Check-in was a breeze – the girls sat down to watch a Disney movie in the lobby as we completed the paperwork, got our Keys to the World cards and buttons for “My First Visit” and “Happy Birthday” for Cory (who finally decided it was okay to ‘pretend’ her birthday was that week instead of the first week in October!!)
Alligator Bayou was our home for the next four days, right next to one of the quiet pools. The theme of the room was excellent – very rustic and warm. We had a corner room with two windows which really added to the charm. I had high hopes ( and had planned) that we would have arrived sooner so we could have played a round of mini-golf or gone on a carriage ride that evening. But it was getting late and we were getting tired, so as soon as all our luggage and stuff was carried in, we took a stroll through the grounds back to the lobby and the Riverside Mill food court to have dinner. Ahh, the Dining Plan!! What a wonderful concept! How divine to order anything you want without worrying about a budget!! The food court was quite tasty, and offered each of us a variety of food items to choose from. I have no idea what everyone else had, but I headed straight for the Carving Board and ordered roast beef, mashed potatoes and gravy, carrots and corn bread!
After we ate, we visited Fulton’s General Store and then walked back to our room via Ol’ Man Island pool. Swimming at the resort pools was a Big Thing for the girls, something they were really looking forward to doing. Back at the room, the little girls jumped in the shower and we tried to get to sleep for an early day on Tuesday. But then came The Trundle Bed Situation…
Neither little girl would sleep on the trundle bed. No way.
In their defense, it was a bit scary, pulled out right in front of the door and with a big space between the top of the trundle and the bottom of the bed frame. Who knows what scary thing might be lurking underneath the bed at night – ready to pounce as soon as the lights were out?!?
All the girls decided to sleep in one of the full beds. Kelley fell asleep immediately but Cory and Alexa had a couple rounds of pushing and poking at each other until after about an hour or so, poor Alexa had enough and headed down for the trundle bed. Kevin, in the meantime, was fuming – he’s one of those extremely light sleepers who can be awakened by a pin drop.
I think we all tossed and turned the entire night – too excited by the coming day – and when the wake-up call came at 6:00am (The Big Cheese Himself calling), we felt as though we hadn’t slept a wink.
Alexa's Notes: Let me tell you, one adult-sized person and two (almost, ha!) adult-sized kids trying to sleep in a full bed does not work... I'm glad I got a good nap in on the trip down. However, if anyone (adult or child) finds themselves sleeping on a trundle bed at POR, it may help to sooth your unease by sticking a few pillows or stuffed animals in the gap between the trundle bed and the bed frame. I would say it definitely helped me sleep easier, and I'm not afraid to admit that even at 17 I still get those monster-under-the-bed jitters!
That being said, I very much enjoyed the atmosphere at the resort -- I wish we would have had more time to spend just looking around. I think I could have entertained myself for an entire day just exploring the different trails that connect all of the "mansions". The Cast Members working at the Riverside Cafeteria looked adorable in their old-time-y dresses and hats... it added to the charm! (And the food was good, too!)
For anyone interested in creating their own Disney Mix for the trip down, dogpile.com is a nice resource to find obscure Disney songs that are hard to find on CD. I had a fun time creating the cover of our Disney Mix in photoshop, and listening to and arranging all the songs made me super excited for the trip!
Up next……how NOT to get ready in the morning and Entering the Magic Kingdom!
WDW - August 1997 Off Property
WDW - January 2005 AKL
WDW - May 2006 Pop Century
WDW- november-dec 2007 pop century
WDW- dec/jan 2009/2010 pop century
WDW- oct/nov 2012 art of animation
WDW- sept 2013 port Orleans riverside
WDW- july 2015 beach club
Oh, I'm so excited you're sharing your trip!! I do hope that it went well, b/c honestly, even though you're in good spirits now, I'm not sure what's going to happen next in your TR!!
Thanks for the POR pics. We'll be there Saturday, and I can hardly wait!!
__________________
Looking forward to another Christmas with The Mouse!!
How NOT to Get Ready in the Morning and Entering the Magic Kingdom
So here we are – up bright and early , and soooo excited for our first day at WDW that all of us can hardly stand it!!
(Oh! I almost forgot to mention that when Kelley and Cory awoke that morning, they discovered that Tinkerbell had been there during the night, sprinkling pixie dust all around their bed!!!)
The plan was to be at the bus stop for the first bus and to arrive at the Magic Kingdom before the rope drop – so the five of us had to really rock to make it happen.
My itinerary for the day was to tour MK, take a break in the early afternoon to return to the resort for a swim, and come back to MK for dinner and Wishes. Alexa, however, had cautioned me that her sisters would be so excited, they wouldn’t want to take a break. If that turned out to be the case, the back-up plan was to tour all day and return to the resort after dinner to swim.
Now, let me preface the following by saying that as The Mom, I am generally relied upon by everyone in the family to take care of Everything. Not sure how it works in other families, but in ours, the buck stops with me. That said, the girls each had a fanny pack for their autograph books, pens, pressed pennies, lip balm, granola bar and water bottle; Alexa was responsible for her own stuff and I had purchased a Baggallini especially for touring the parks (the agreement was to get a khaki color so that Kevin could carry it part of the time, too.)
The girls had packed their packs before we left home and a good thing they did – we discovered that the autograph books we made were too big to fit in their fanny packs (I had forgotten to take into consideration the spiral binding which added enough width to make the packs unzippable.) And alas – Alexa’s cute little bag was only big enough to hold her cell phone and wallet. So before we left for the Magic Kingdom, I was frantically trying to fit everything (including water bottles) into the Baggallini – discovering things I had forgotten about or decided to take at the last moment.
My mistake was in thinking that everyone else was focused enough to remember their own needs!
Since everything we wanted couldn’t possibly fit in the Baggallini, Kevin and I made an executive decision to ditch the water bottles and just use our snack credits for drinks if needed. With one last check to see if we all had our Keys to the World, we were out the door and headed to the bus stop – right on schedule. (TIP: Pack your park bag the night before – or better yet, before you leave home!)
Our lodge was very close to the West Bus Stop at POR, and as we approached the bus stop, the very first bus of the day pulled up – lights on for MK!! We walked right on and had our choice of seats (we found out later that the West Stop is the first stop for all the PO resorts. Ahh, another Magic Moment!
The girls were absolutely thrilled with the bus – and the fact that we would soon be seeing Cinderella’s Castle for the first time!!!
On the way, Kevin turned to me and asked if I had packed his Dramamine. Now you need to understand that Kevin is severely ‘motion-challenged.’ He can get motion sickness just by riding in a car he’s not driving – and most thrill rides really make him ill. But because he wanted to experience all the attractions at WDW with his girls, he was willing to try Dramamine. I must have looked at him like he was nuts – I assumed he would have taken the Dramamine before we left as it takes an hour to get in the system!! ….and that’s when he asked if I forgot to pack the Advil, too…. (sigh)
That’s the first it dawned on me that my plans weren’t going to go totally as scheduled. Our first stop would have to be one of the park stores to get some Dramamine….And I’ll admit I felt a bit frustrated and disappointed – I was really looking forward to seeing how well TGM’s suggestions worked and to see how smoothly this vacation could go. Ah, well - the best laid plans of mice and men….
But the excitement is building now – we’re approaching the Magic Kingdom!! And then we’re off the bus and walking up to have our bags checked and present our key cards and arrive at the park entrance – all decked out in Halloween finery!!!
It’s beautiful, but we all realize it won’t be ‘real’ until we walk under the arches and step onto Main Street and see the Castle at the end.
We were virtually one of the first families there and were lucky to see the Pixie Dust Mickey’s on the ground. The girls each took a few sprinkles and put them carefully in their fanny packs.
We had plenty of time before rope drop, so Kevin and I walked over to the little gift shop that was outside the entrance to see if they had any Dramamine or Advil. No. We rejoined the girls by the roped- off entrance and talked to a very pleasant CM who gave us guide maps and told us we could find Dramamine at the Emporium just as you entered Main Street. So Alexa decided as soon as we could enter, she’d take her sisters and run straight over to Space Mountain (following the itinerary) where they would wait for us while we dashed to the Emporium.
All of a sudden, out of the blue came the announcer’s voice and that golden, stirring music that announced the arrival of Mickey, Minnie and the Opening Ceremony!! One of the songs they played was “Good Morning, Good Morning” – the same I always sang to my children when they were little to awaken them each morning. And suddenly all of the hard work and dreaming and planning and believing that I had been through for so long hit me – and I couldn’t help it…the tears began to fall. The rope dropped…and there we were, standing on Main Street with a throng of happy families streaming by. The girls were off at a run towards Tomorrowland and Kevin turned to me to say, “Well, you’re finally here,” when he noticed I was crying.
In retrospect, I wish there had been a Photopass photographer handy. At that moment, I was trying very hard not to let anyone see my tears, but I think a photo of that moment would have been one of my most treasured memories over time.
About This Page: 
I had a rough itinerary down, and thanks to TourGuideMike, a more detailed itinerary. Listening to the seasoned advice of others, I left plenty of room to rearrange plans and tried to add in times for relaxing and soaking up the ambience. I had family meetings where I explained the game plan and tried to give each family member a chance for input so that everyone could do the things that were most important to them. I felt prepared!
) and were able to navigate the maze of roads that make up the Disney complex very easily thanks to all the directional signs. And ohhh – the look on the girls’ faces when we crossed under the arch that announced “Welcome to Walt Disney World!!!” 
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Pixie Dust
Glad you made it to the world, but sorry about the trundle bed! I think that would have freaked me out too 
– I was really looking forward to seeing how well TGM’s suggestions worked and to see how smoothly this vacation could go. Ah, well - the best laid plans of mice and men….
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