Ms. Shuttergirl
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 20, 2009
Day One
The morning our adventure was going to start dragged on and on. Why is that always the way. Finally it was 10am, a friend arrived to take us to the airport and we were off. Canberra flight smooth, then on to customs which was also very quick and relatively painless. Considering how many people they are moving through there each day they really do a fantastic job. Had a lovely lunch and champers in the International Qantas Club, very civilised really but ultimately I just wanted to get on the darn flight.
The luggage
Qantas this was our first time flying Qantas internationally and I was interested to see how they differed from our Delta experiences. I thought they were good, say a 7 out of 10. Sometimes I thought the female flight attendants couldve been friendlier, the guys were lovely. I thought their movie selections were small compared to the abundance of choices on Delta but I did feel like the seats were very comfy and the food selections were tasty. I didnt see the snack bar Ive heard talk of but that wasnt a problem because I had packed little lolly/snack bags for us all anyway. Sleep was elusive but I think if the kids hadve slept better, I would have. I cant relax if I know they arent sleeping.
Finally after god knows how long we arrived at Dallas. We had nearly 5 hours stopover here. Again customs was smooth as a babies bottom and we were soon settled into the American Airlines lounge for a rest and some eats. The time went surprisingly quickly thank goodness because we were dragging by then. When we were walking to our gate we saw lots of great places to eat, most especially a cool tequila/taco bar and an irish bar. I wont bother with the AA lounge on the way back.
A view that became very familiar along the way, me trailing behind everyone
We eventually made it to Orlando and made the exact same mistake as we did last time. Once we collected our baggage we didnt cross back to the right side of the airport before going down to the ground floor to catch Magical Express. Grrrrr. We seriously did this same thing last time. I found the lack of signage annoying on both occasions. We finally found them and were on the bus on the way to the resort. I love it when that movie starts. Embarrassingly I started to have a little cry watching all of those real home movies of little ones being surprised with Disney trips. My husband just smiled and shook his head. The kids groaned hahaha. What can i say, I was tired, emotional and I was at Disney. Happy tears were mandatory.
Port Orleans French Quarter our home away from home for 11 nights. What an absolutely quaint and charming resort. Everything is so close by and the theming is spot on. I love the jazz music playing as your walk along the little streets, overlooked by the beautiful buildings with the ornate wrought iron trim. All of the tree lined streets and details are gorgeous. Im totally in love. Our room is lovely, very regal, and all of the beautiful mardi gras colours of purple gold and green are included into everything. Im really impressed with this resort for the money. The buses are good too. When its busy we have our own bus and when its quiet we share with Riverside but POFQ gets picked up and dropped off first which means you always get a seat and always get home first. And the pool is just so cute with the big serpent water slide and all the alligator musicians watching over you. The boat to Downtown Disney is a nice touch and having the river so close is a bonus.
We arrived at the resort at a few minutes after midnight, I worked it out that it was a little over 30 hours door to door, mainly due to the long stopover in Dallas. Very long and tiring but oh so worth it when we arrived.
We were had our garden grocer delivery dropped straight to the room and we were in bed unpacked by 1pm.
The street our room was on. So pretty
Absolutely gorgeous pool
We woke up by 8am and were in the food court scoffing down a Bounty Breakfast by 9. We then headed off to Animal Kingdom for a leisurely first day in the parks. Headed straight to Dinosaur and Primevil Hurl then wandered over through Asia and then into Camp Minnie Mickey to see the beautiful themed Christmas trees and then onto Festival of the Lion King. What a great show it is. Even better than I remembered. Everyone is so talented and the colours are vibrant and the whole 30 minutes is wonderful. A real favourite.
We completely skipped lunch because we simply werent hungry and we were booked in for an early dinner elsewhere. I then made my biggest mistake of the day. Agreeing to go on Kali River Rapids. I love this ride but I hate getting wet. I had ponchos in the backpack but my husband talked me out of wearing it because no one else had one on. Well needless to say I got fairly wet the first time around so when the kids begged to go on again, stupidly I said, well hell, I cant get any wetter. Sigh, why would I tempt the gods with such a statement. This time I seriously got dumped with water to the point where water was continually dripping off the bottom of my pants and my shoes would leak water every step I took. Yes there is a photo, and no Im not ready to share it publicly, maybe one day haha. How very silly of me to try that ride again hahaha. That of course put an end to the day and we sloshed home. You should have seen the big puddles on the bus seats when DH and I got up hehe.
Home for a quick shower and change then off to Hollywood Studios for an early dinner at Sci Fi Diner. We dined here last time and loved the atmosphere, I mean where else are you going to be able to sit in a car, watching tragic old black and white movies, while eating. The food was just okay last time but alas this time it was bordering on the blech. I adore the theming here but we wont go back now, the food just isnt nice enough. Its not that hard to make a nice burger surely.
With that we quickly rode Star Tours and I had totally forgotten how fun that ride was. It was being refurbished last time so we hadnt ridden it since DL in 2009. That is such a great family fun ride, love it.
Then we hightailed it over to Fantasmic. We have missed this the past 2 visits and I was determined to see it. I thought scheduling it for the first night might be a big mistake but I felt it was important that we didnt go to bed too early. Boy was I glad we soldiered on for this. I couldnt believe how beautiful the outdoor amphitheatre was and how large. That baby must fit quite a few thousand people in it. The show blew us all away. The way they project the images onto the screens of water is stunning and just the whole show was amazing. Even my husband loved it and thats not an easy feat.
We still had enough left in our energy tanks to wander over to Osborne Lights. Sigh, what an amazing, festive, beautiful, stupendeous sight to see. All of those Christmas lights displayed so beautifully. It is truly a magical sight.
We finally decided to call it a day. Headed back to the resort, picked up our refillable mugs and some beignets (which Im sorry to say I didnt love) and then drifted off into the sleep of the dead.
Im so happy we managed to get through the day and accomplish everything we had hoped to even though we were tired.
Highs - Festival of the Lion King, Port Orleans French Quarter, Fantasmic, Star Tours
Lows - Sci Fi Diner, tiredness, Kali River Rapids
Weather - high of 27 low of 18
The morning our adventure was going to start dragged on and on. Why is that always the way. Finally it was 10am, a friend arrived to take us to the airport and we were off. Canberra flight smooth, then on to customs which was also very quick and relatively painless. Considering how many people they are moving through there each day they really do a fantastic job. Had a lovely lunch and champers in the International Qantas Club, very civilised really but ultimately I just wanted to get on the darn flight.
The luggage
Qantas this was our first time flying Qantas internationally and I was interested to see how they differed from our Delta experiences. I thought they were good, say a 7 out of 10. Sometimes I thought the female flight attendants couldve been friendlier, the guys were lovely. I thought their movie selections were small compared to the abundance of choices on Delta but I did feel like the seats were very comfy and the food selections were tasty. I didnt see the snack bar Ive heard talk of but that wasnt a problem because I had packed little lolly/snack bags for us all anyway. Sleep was elusive but I think if the kids hadve slept better, I would have. I cant relax if I know they arent sleeping.
Finally after god knows how long we arrived at Dallas. We had nearly 5 hours stopover here. Again customs was smooth as a babies bottom and we were soon settled into the American Airlines lounge for a rest and some eats. The time went surprisingly quickly thank goodness because we were dragging by then. When we were walking to our gate we saw lots of great places to eat, most especially a cool tequila/taco bar and an irish bar. I wont bother with the AA lounge on the way back.
A view that became very familiar along the way, me trailing behind everyone
We eventually made it to Orlando and made the exact same mistake as we did last time. Once we collected our baggage we didnt cross back to the right side of the airport before going down to the ground floor to catch Magical Express. Grrrrr. We seriously did this same thing last time. I found the lack of signage annoying on both occasions. We finally found them and were on the bus on the way to the resort. I love it when that movie starts. Embarrassingly I started to have a little cry watching all of those real home movies of little ones being surprised with Disney trips. My husband just smiled and shook his head. The kids groaned hahaha. What can i say, I was tired, emotional and I was at Disney. Happy tears were mandatory.
Port Orleans French Quarter our home away from home for 11 nights. What an absolutely quaint and charming resort. Everything is so close by and the theming is spot on. I love the jazz music playing as your walk along the little streets, overlooked by the beautiful buildings with the ornate wrought iron trim. All of the tree lined streets and details are gorgeous. Im totally in love. Our room is lovely, very regal, and all of the beautiful mardi gras colours of purple gold and green are included into everything. Im really impressed with this resort for the money. The buses are good too. When its busy we have our own bus and when its quiet we share with Riverside but POFQ gets picked up and dropped off first which means you always get a seat and always get home first. And the pool is just so cute with the big serpent water slide and all the alligator musicians watching over you. The boat to Downtown Disney is a nice touch and having the river so close is a bonus.
We arrived at the resort at a few minutes after midnight, I worked it out that it was a little over 30 hours door to door, mainly due to the long stopover in Dallas. Very long and tiring but oh so worth it when we arrived.
We were had our garden grocer delivery dropped straight to the room and we were in bed unpacked by 1pm.
The street our room was on. So pretty
Absolutely gorgeous pool
We woke up by 8am and were in the food court scoffing down a Bounty Breakfast by 9. We then headed off to Animal Kingdom for a leisurely first day in the parks. Headed straight to Dinosaur and Primevil Hurl then wandered over through Asia and then into Camp Minnie Mickey to see the beautiful themed Christmas trees and then onto Festival of the Lion King. What a great show it is. Even better than I remembered. Everyone is so talented and the colours are vibrant and the whole 30 minutes is wonderful. A real favourite.
We completely skipped lunch because we simply werent hungry and we were booked in for an early dinner elsewhere. I then made my biggest mistake of the day. Agreeing to go on Kali River Rapids. I love this ride but I hate getting wet. I had ponchos in the backpack but my husband talked me out of wearing it because no one else had one on. Well needless to say I got fairly wet the first time around so when the kids begged to go on again, stupidly I said, well hell, I cant get any wetter. Sigh, why would I tempt the gods with such a statement. This time I seriously got dumped with water to the point where water was continually dripping off the bottom of my pants and my shoes would leak water every step I took. Yes there is a photo, and no Im not ready to share it publicly, maybe one day haha. How very silly of me to try that ride again hahaha. That of course put an end to the day and we sloshed home. You should have seen the big puddles on the bus seats when DH and I got up hehe.
Home for a quick shower and change then off to Hollywood Studios for an early dinner at Sci Fi Diner. We dined here last time and loved the atmosphere, I mean where else are you going to be able to sit in a car, watching tragic old black and white movies, while eating. The food was just okay last time but alas this time it was bordering on the blech. I adore the theming here but we wont go back now, the food just isnt nice enough. Its not that hard to make a nice burger surely.
With that we quickly rode Star Tours and I had totally forgotten how fun that ride was. It was being refurbished last time so we hadnt ridden it since DL in 2009. That is such a great family fun ride, love it.
Then we hightailed it over to Fantasmic. We have missed this the past 2 visits and I was determined to see it. I thought scheduling it for the first night might be a big mistake but I felt it was important that we didnt go to bed too early. Boy was I glad we soldiered on for this. I couldnt believe how beautiful the outdoor amphitheatre was and how large. That baby must fit quite a few thousand people in it. The show blew us all away. The way they project the images onto the screens of water is stunning and just the whole show was amazing. Even my husband loved it and thats not an easy feat.
We still had enough left in our energy tanks to wander over to Osborne Lights. Sigh, what an amazing, festive, beautiful, stupendeous sight to see. All of those Christmas lights displayed so beautifully. It is truly a magical sight.
We finally decided to call it a day. Headed back to the resort, picked up our refillable mugs and some beignets (which Im sorry to say I didnt love) and then drifted off into the sleep of the dead.
Im so happy we managed to get through the day and accomplish everything we had hoped to even though we were tired.
Highs - Festival of the Lion King, Port Orleans French Quarter, Fantasmic, Star Tours
Lows - Sci Fi Diner, tiredness, Kali River Rapids
Weather - high of 27 low of 18
so sorry you got dumped on while on KRR. when i was in universal doing the popeyes barges (similar ride) i made the same mistake. rode it 3 times and i think i was drier during the shower i took later that night than i was on that ride 
ugh. being drenched in public is never fun... 
and hit Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and Splash Mountain. Both were walk ons so we rode Big Thunder 3 times and then Splash. We then wandered around Adventureland and nibbled on a corndog which we all loved, yum. Then off to Tomorrowland to get all competitive on Buzz Lightyear. DS10 ended up being the star performer with the overall high score from our 2 rides. Again, walk on, no wait. Then I made the ultimate sacrifice as a mummy and rode Space Mountain with DD14. I hate this ride, it goes too fast for my comfort and the whole speeding through pitch black thing does not appeal but no one else would ride and I couldnt let her go on alone so off I went. It was less scary last time because I didnt know what to expect. This time I was sweating bullets in the line, only 10 minutes, but I got through it but told her I hope she enjoyed it as I wouldnt be doing it again this holiday hahaha.
