Back from POR!

jelo

Preparing for our Universally Magical vacation
Joined
Oct 7, 2000
After a 1 1/2 years of researching/planning and saving....it's over!!

We had a wonderful time :) The trip was originally booked for my family of 4 and our friends family of 4. One month before we left, our friend wasn't feeling well...which resulted in surgery and they had to cancel their trip, everyone was so disappointed.

We had the quick service plan, 4 parks and Universal for 1 day.

The only negatives that impacted our perfectly planned vacation, not getting the room request...we were put in building 36 Alligator Bayou, all refurbished and clean. But sooo, far away from the lobby etc...Especially when you get lost every single time coming and going. It got a little better by our 9th day, but still got lost!

The 2nd negative, don't listen to everyone's advice totally. Sit and think about your family and what makes sense for you. We are night owls, usually waking for the day around 8:30-9:00 in the morning. We are not breakfast eaters and are all slow to get our act together!!! I know this, but I got sucked into the "book your fastpasses first thing, do rope drop..." So for the 4 park days, that's what I did. We were exhausted!! After using the 3 fp's, there was very little available in the afternoon that we wanted. We left all 4 days around 7pm, missed the night time activities....:( On our MK day, I actually approached a CM and asked if she thought it was a good idea to go back to POR (at 2:30pm) and return after dinner. She didn't advise it, telling us that POR is the furthest away and we wouldn't get much rest before we had to return. So we toughed it out till 6pm, thinking we would come back on the Friday, cutting our Epcot a little short. However, with the MNSSHP MK was closed at 6pm and no fireworks. So we never did get back.

I really wish we had nice quiet mornings, headed over to the parks after lunch and stayed till close...the parks got way quieter in the late afternoons, everyone goes in the morning and it was packed and 96' most of the week!

We've been 7 times now, this trip will probably be it for awhile...my girls are 24 and 16 now and we are thinking a more "adult" type vacation without so many strollers!! But I'm sure we will be back some day, Disney always pulls us back! I would stay at POR again for sure, but I would book a closer room

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has, about Disney or Universal....:) time to unpack!
 
Sounds like you had a great time despite that your early mornings killed your evenings. But now you know for next time :). I could easily see this happening with our family while planning too. It seems Disney is a very comando planned type of trip with even more and more planning to get to see and experience everything we want to do. Not that it is not fun....because IT REALLY IS!!!! But it is not a relaxing vacation. I hope you get to go again in the near future. Thanks for your trip summary
 
After a 1 1/2 years of researching/planning and saving....it's over!!

We had a wonderful time :) The trip was originally booked for my family of 4 and our friends family of 4. One month before we left, our friend wasn't feeling well...which resulted in surgery and they had to cancel their trip, everyone was so disappointed.

We had the quick service plan, 4 parks and Universal for 1 day.

The only negatives that impacted our perfectly planned vacation, not getting the room request...we were put in building 36 Alligator Bayou, all refurbished and clean. But sooo, far away from the lobby etc...Especially when you get lost every single time coming and going. It got a little better by our 9th day, but still got lost!

The 2nd negative, don't listen to everyone's advice totally. Sit and think about your family and what makes sense for you. We are night owls, usually waking for the day around 8:30-9:00 in the morning. We are not breakfast eaters and are all slow to get our act together!!! I know this, but I got sucked into the "book your fastpasses first thing, do rope drop..." So for the 4 park days, that's what I did. We were exhausted!! After using the 3 fp's, there was very little available in the afternoon that we wanted. We left all 4 days around 7pm, missed the night time activities....:( On our MK day, I actually approached a CM and asked if she thought it was a good idea to go back to POR (at 2:30pm) and return after dinner. She didn't advise it, telling us that POR is the furthest away and we wouldn't get much rest before we had to return. So we toughed it out till 6pm, thinking we would come back on the Friday, cutting our Epcot a little short. However, with the MNSSHP MK was closed at 6pm and no fireworks. So we never did get back.

I really wish we had nice quiet mornings, headed over to the parks after lunch and stayed till close...the parks got way quieter in the late afternoons, everyone goes in the morning and it was packed and 96' most of the week!

We've been 7 times now, this trip will probably be it for awhile...my girls are 24 and 16 now and we are thinking a more "adult" type vacation without so many strollers!! But I'm sure we will be back some day, Disney always pulls us back! I would stay at POR again for sure, but I would book a closer room

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone has, about Disney or Universal....:) time to unpack!


I think the CM was out of line and Wrong! about telling you would not get much rest before returning due to the distance of POR! We have stayed at POR many, many times, and always come back at noonish and rest up. Then we head back to another park for the rest of the evening. We have never had a short rest due to the buses or distance to POR. Never ever happened to us. Sorry you missed out on getting a rest and heading back. It is no farther that many other resorts, so it was never an issue for us. We love POR and the alligator bayou area. Glad you had a good trip and thanks for the great trip report. Just had to chime in about that statement which is totally false by the CM.
 
Sounds like you had a great time despite that your early mornings killed your evenings. But now you know for next time :). I could easily see this happening with our family while planning too. It seems Disney is a very comando planned type of trip with even more and more planning to get to see and experience everything we want to do. Not that it is not fun....because IT REALLY IS!!!! But it is not a relaxing vacation. I hope you get to go again in the near future. Thanks for your trip summary

Disneyland doesn't require all the pre-planning. I absolutely hate this about WDW.
 


Disneyland doesn't require all the pre-planning. I absolutely hate this about WDW.

Totally agree with this. Maybe try a Disneyland trip next time! A lot less travel time between hotels and parks and a lot less planning! It's definitely a different Disney experience compared to Disney World.
 

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