Finally Made It Back!!! - a college student's first trip to WDW in years (Feb-March 2020)

[andy_dangg]

Hi everyone!

My name is Andy and welcome to my spring 2020 trip report! I'm new to these forums but I have been a longtime lurker and Disney fan. I'm from the Tampa Bay area but I'm usually in Gainesville, FL studying at the University of Florida! I'm a sophomore hoping to become a dentist. I've been utterly obsessed with all things Disney since I was five but ESPECIALLY Disney Parks. I'm hoping that this trip report will cure some of my post-Disney depression, but I am very lucky to have three more trips planned this year (more on that later)! This is my first Disney trip report (I've written a few for cruises) so please bear with me, but I hope you enjoy!

A little background on our trip:

We stayed at Port Orleans Riverside for three nights from February 29-March 3, and visited Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom (with morning EMH at AK). If you'd like more details on me, my trip and how I planned it, keep reading!

For some context, I am a compulsive planner. I plan all of our family vacations, but Disney World is my forte. I used to read guidebooks repeatedly when I was younger and it just feels like second nature to me. I am very grateful for my parents funding this trip, and they are very grateful for me planning the ins and outs of it

My family (me, my mom, dad and younger brother and sister in their teens) haven't been on an overnight trip to Disney World since 2014. My dad and brother haven't visited Magic Kingdom since 2010 and I personally haven't been to Animal Kingdom since 2010! I went on a day trip to EPCOT with my school in 2016, and visited Disney Springs countless times, but beyond that, no trips to the parks. So needless to say I was psyched for this trip.

Due to college, school, and work schedules, we were not able to take one long trip. So we decided to split the trip into two parts: one in February/March and one in May. Based on crowd calendars and EMH days, we decided to do Magic Kingdom and Animal Kingdom this trip and EPCOT and Hollywood Studios on the May trip. As a sidetone, I'll be making two more short two-night trips this year--my boyfriend's parents bought us Disney tickets for Christmas, so we'll be making a trip in May (returning a day before my family's trip) and one in June for his birthday. What a way to kick off a six year Disney drought, right?? Scenarios like these make me very happy to be a Florida resident and is really helping keep that infamous PDD at bay.

I have always wanted to stay at Port Orleans Riverside. We didn't book this trip until early December so availability was slim. Port Orleans Riverside was the only moderate that fits five that was available for our dates, so we booked it in early December (we're staying at Caribbean Beach in May). This was also our first time at a Disney Resort! We previously stayed at Disney Springs area hotels (back when they were the Downtown Disney hotels).

We purchased the four day Florida Resident Discover Disney tickets for about $200 a person, which is a great deal! We decided not to upgrade to the park hopper. Again, we decided to do two parks on this trip, we will still have two days remaining on our tickets for our May trip.

We decided not to do any table service meals this trip. We personally find Disney table service to generally be a little too pricey for a family of five--those meals easily get into the $150+ range without drinks or appetizers and desserts. We only ate at counter service places this trip. I decided that I wanted to eat at Be Our Guest for lunch on our Magic Kingdom day and I was able to snag a 11a reservation a few days before the trip.

Up next: our arrival day, Port Orleans Riverside, and Disney Springs!

ps: please let me know if any of the photos are not displaying or formatting properly!

 

[A&LDisneyChicky]

Hi Andy, really looking forward to hearing about your trip!

 

[dwonderz]

Joining in!! Can't wait to hear how the rest of your trip goes!

 

[andy_dangg]

Hi Andy, really looking forward to hearing about your trip!

Joining in!! Can't wait to hear how the rest of your trip goes!

Thanks guys! New posts coming today

 

[andy_dangg]

February 29, 2020: DAY ONE - ARRIVAL

We had a pretty early start this morning. We wanted to get the WDW early to hit Disney Springs and enjoy our hotel, so we left St. Pete around 8am.

Frozen is one of my favorite Disney movies and my favorite soundtrack, so naturally we had to sing along to the entire soundtrack on the way to WDW, much to my parents' chagrin. My siblings and I absolutely love Frozen and Frozen 2 so that made the drive feel short. After a quick stop at a rest stop (cute cows!) we finally drove through this beautiful sight at 10:13a:

The best feeling is seeing the green highway signs change to the purple and red...you know you've really made it!

We drove to Port Orleans Riverside first. We already completed the online check in, but we wanted to swing by the resort to make sure our requests were in the system and to make the staff aware that we were on property. An insanely friendly cast member with an iPad confirmed our requests and noted that we were on property (which she said helps our room become available sooner). More on that later...

We parked our car in front of the main lobby area and walked to the boat dock for a ride to Disney Springs. The ride was nice and scenic, especially in the Treehouse Villas area. The cajun music they played was cute! But as soon as Disney Springs was in view, the music abruptly transitioned to some hits from the early 2010s (Break Your Heart by Taio Cruz and Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus, namely).

We were feeling a little hungry so we decided to grab some poutine from A Daily Poutine. The classic poutine is my go to snack at Disney Springs and I've had it too many times to count. As usual, it was delicious and actually seemed to be a bigger portion than before due to the new bowls they're using.

The next stop was the Lego store where I spotted an amazing Frozen display. Of course, I couldn't resist grabbing a picture:

A few months ago my mom and I ate at Maria and Enzo's and LOVED it (literally the best lasagna I've ever had). On the way out of the restaurant we spotted the quick service spot Pizza Ponte, which looked so good! This is where we decided to eat. There was a wide selection of sandwiches and pizza. I ended up getting the chicken parmesan. Excuse the bite taken out of it, I was sooo hungry:

It doesn't look pretty, but it was pretty good! The sauce was very flavorful.

My sister ordered a slice of cheese pizza which was easily the biggest slice of pizza I have ever seen in my life. I'm a big eater and I doubt I would be able to finish it in one sitting. At about $8 it's a great deal for a meal at Disney! Sadly I forgot to take a photo

 

[andy_dangg]

After lunch, we decided to do some shopping. Our first stop was Uniqlo, which is one of my favorite stores! I didn't really find anything I wanted, but I'm sure my wallet was okay with that!

Around 1pm we got a text that our room was ready! Yay! I looked up the room on the Touring Plans room finder and sadly, neither of our requests (corner room not facing a parking lot) were fulfilled. I actually initially misread the room number and thought that both were fulfilled and got excited, but then I realized. So we decided that once we got back to the resort we would talk to someone at the lobby to see if we could wait a little longer for a new room.

On the way back to the boat dock we stopped in the Star Wars trading post store in Marketplace. My brother (a HUGE Star Wars fan) was disappointed we weren't going to DHS this trip to see Galaxy's Edge. He really wanted to buy Rey's lightsaber. We both thought that they were only sold in the park, but much to our surprise, they were being sold right in the store! Here he is, clearly very happy with his purchase:

I made a much less extravagant purchase of an adorable Ewok:

Once we arrived back at the resort, we headed over to the front desk to inquire about our requests. I know the requests aren't guaranteed, but we figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Not only did it not hurt, but it surely paid off! The cast member (who appeared to be some type of manager) did a lot of typing on his computer before he told us that he was able to find a corner room and upgraded us to a garden view! We booked a standard view so this was a REALLY nice gesture. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, right??

We drove over to our room and found our building, lodge 37 in the Alligator Bayou section:

We were greeted with quite a lovely view from our room:

I don't have any great pictures of our room, but you can find lots of pictures online, just search "Port Orleans Riverside Alligator Bayou renovated room". Our room was VERY clean. It wasn't huge but the bathroom area with double sinks was really well designed. I particularly loved the Princess and the Frog touches throughout the room, especially Louis sleeping next to the Murphy bed:

 

[andy_dangg]

After getting settled into our room, we realized we had forgotten to pack toothpaste. My mom and I decided to check out the store in the main building to see if they sold any. The walk was honestly really lovely and I snapped these pics:

Spot the guy fishing?

I really love this area:

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The toothpaste turned out to be $3 for a tiny travel sized tube that wouldn't last for our family of five, so we just got my dad to pick up some when he had to leave the resort anyways for an errand. The trip to the store was not completely fruitless though! I bought a POR pin to add to my collection. Ran into some guests who lived in Gainesville and worked for the UF College of Medicine--that was pretty cool coincidence!

On the walk to the store, we walked past the main pool on Ol' Man Island. It looked really fun so I convinced my sister to join me for a swim before dinner. It was cold, but the sunny parts of the pool were really pleasant. The slide was really fun too--we took a few trips down! I didn't want to take photos, it was hard to take a picture that didn't have someone's kids in it and I felt kind of uncomfortable about that.

My sister and I ran back to the room and changed before dinner. The menu at the Sassagoula Floatworks food court at French Quarter looked pretty tasty so we made the nice walk over to the sister resort.

 

[dwonderz]

Not only did it not hurt, but it surely paid off! The cast member (who appeared to be some type of manager) did a lot of typing on his computer before he told us that he was able to find a corner room and upgraded us to a garden view! We booked a standard view so this was a REALLY nice gesture. You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar, right??

Such good luck!! We had the same thing happen at CBR - we did the whole touring plans room request, got the complete opposite of what we wanted (lol), and the front desk ended up upgrading us! Totally unexpected!

We were greeted with quite a lovely view from our room:

That view is fantastic - I love all of the landscaping - totally makes me want to stay at Port Orleans!

I particularly loved the Princess and the Frog touches

So cute!

 

[andy_dangg]

Such good luck!! We had the same thing happen at CBR - we did the whole touring plans room request, got the complete opposite of what we wanted (lol), and the front desk ended up upgrading us! Totally unexpected!

Crazy how that happened to you as well! I called AND faxed in my room requests a few days before my stay! I don't expect this to happen every time, but really shows that there's no harm in asking.

That view is fantastic - I love all of the landscaping - totally makes me want to stay at Port Orleans!!

Isn't it? Even as a Florida resident who is very used to these types of plants, it made for a very restful place to stay. You really felt so far from the worries of the world!

 

[andy_dangg]

The Port Orleans French Quarter food court offers a selection of New Orleans inspired dishes like jambalaya and gumbo. But on this somewhat chilly day, nothing sounded more comforting than these shrimp and grits:

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This dish was SO delicious. It honestly was table service quality. The cooks in the food court cooked the shrimp, veggies and sauce fresh, so it tasted so great and was really filling. The grits were super creamy and it was definitely one of the best meals I've had in WDW (including table service)! Makes me wonder how similar the more expensive shrimp and grits at Boatwrights are...

No visit to French Quarter is complete without the beignets and they were as delicious as ever. The last time I had them they were not Mickey shaped, so that was fun! Just look at those peaks of powdered sugar!

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After dinner we meandered back to Riverside. It wasn't late at all at this point, maybe around 7pm. But we were all exhausted from waking up early and all the walking we did at Disney Springs and around the resort. So we decided to call it a night and just relaxed in the room before showers. Can I take this moment to say how much more I like the pumps of shampoo and stuff compared to the little bottles?? You can use as much as you like and it's much more practical for a family. Not to mention that the supplied products are actually quite nice!

Of course, before bed I had to watch Stacy (aka Must Do Disney) in full at least once. Such a quintessential aspect of a Disney vacation. I really wish I could be as peppy as she is!

I'd also like to point out that the Murphy fold out bed can definitely fit smaller adults in addition to children. My dad, who is about 5'6 or 7, slept relatively comfortably (he volunteered to sleep on his own due to a recent surgery). I tried the bed out too and while its a bit too small for me (I'm about six feet tall), I could have made do if need be and I've definitely slept on worse. The moral of the story is if you have a smaller adult in your party, the Murphy bed is bigger than it appears and they will likely be comfortable!

I drifted off to sleep around 9pm (which is SO early for me). But I was slumped, and the prospect of rope dropping Magic Kingdom was a nice thing to think about as I drifted off to sleep.

Up next: walking Main Street for the first time in six years, dealing with crowds, Be Our Guest, and more!

 

[andy_dangg]

MARCH 1, 2020: DAY TWO - MAGIC KINGDOM

I was awoken to the musical stylings of the WDW Today channel. It's honestly quite magical.

Our goal for the morning was to be at the bus stop by 7:45 for a 9am park opening. I was ready quite some time before that (I was very eager to get the park). My brother was feeling a little hungry, so I decided to run to the food court to grab him a muffin. I figured a quick walk around the resort would be a nice way to start the day.

It was a very chilly Florida morning, at about 45 degrees. The water was steaming off of the river, which was really cool looking:

Almost to the food court!

I got my brother's chocolate muffin from a pretty busy Riverside Mill. I also decided to buy a hot chocolate which was perfect for a cold morning. One of my Disney-obsessed friends says that Disney hot chocolate "hits different" and I can indeed confirm this is the case.

The following incident was not the best start to our morning:

With a predicted bus arrival of 7:50, I hurried my family out the door around 7:40. We got to the bus stop and I think I might have seen a Magic Kingdom bus depart as we were walking up, but I only saw the "kingdom" portion of the name so I couldn't tell if it was MK or AK. The next bus that arrived was a AK bus, so I was pretty sure the first bus was indeed a MK one. Over the next half an hour ten (10!) Epcot, DHS, or AK buses arrived one after the other. At one point there were two Epcot buses at the bus stop at the same time! There was no prediction for MK buses on the app or on the screens at the bus stop. After the sixth or seventh bus, my mom and another guest asked the bus driver where the MK bus was. He rudely said he didn't know and that you can wait up to 45 minutes for a bus to arrive. I've never heard this 45 minute number--can anyone attest to this?

Anyways, at about 8:10 a Magic Kingdom bus arrived almost full (it already stopped at the first internal stop). Luckily, we were able to get on, but many others at our bus stop were not. I was pretty shocked that there had been no bus to MK for at least 30 minutes. I guess a benefit of the full bus was that we got to skip the other internal stops, but I felt bad for the guests at those stops too.

Even with all the hassle, we still got to Magic Kingdom by 8:30, and I turned the corner on this stunning view by 8:40:

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We had FastPasses for Space Mountain (1:05), Peter Pan's Flight (2:05), and Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (6:10). Since we had FP for the big Fantasyland and Tomorrowland headliners, we were able to do the much more peaceful Frontierland rope drop. There were still a lot of people lined up, but not nearly as much as Fantasyland. Here's the crowd at 8:47:

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The welcome show began promptly at 8:55. It was cute, and a nice way to start the day. I still prefer the original welcome show with the railroad, but I much prefer being let into Main Street before opening compared to being held outside the park.

At 9am, the mass of people gathered on the bridge started heading towards Frontierland. It moved briskly, but was manageable and not toooo stressful.

Rivers of America at 9:01:

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Right around the Country Bears area, there was a secondary rope drop we had to wait about a minute for. We waited on the boardwalk along the river. I don't think it really gave us an advantage but it also didn't put us behind.

We got in line for Big Thunder around 9:05. I don't remember when we finished the ride. They were only running one side of the station at opening, but it wasn't an issue as the line only backed up to the ramp to the platform. The ride was just as fun as I remembered it! So whippy and exciting without being scary. It's my mom's favorite coaster of all time, so I enjoy seeing her have so much fun (she's usually not a roller coaster person).

We were thinking of doing Splash Mountain right after Big Thunder, but I felt the chilly weather would dissuade most people from riding first thing. We went over to Haunted Mansion where there was a fifteen minute wait posted. We only had to wait briefly outside the stretch room. This ride is still one of my favorites. The theming is sublime and has an undeniably Disney feel to it.

After our journey with the ghosts, we hopped back over to Frontierland to ride Splash Mountain. It was pretty much a walk on. It was closed the last time I was at Magic Kingdom, so I was VERY happy to ride it again. A few days before the trip I went to the Dollar Tree to buy some cheap ponchos explicitly for this ride, and they were nice to have. I wouldn't have gotten soaked, but it was really nice to enjoy the ride without the fear of getting wet. I wouldn't say Splash is one of my favorite rides in MK, but its still themed well and has a good length, which I appreciate.

We were done with Splash just after 10a. I felt like riding three of the most popular rides before 10a on what would turn into a very busy day was a successful rope drop! I'm very glad to say that the bus issues in the morning did not derail our day

Up next: what will we do with the hour before our (early) lunch reservation at Be Our Guest? plus, lunch in the Beast's castle, our first time using Fastpass+ (spoiler alert: I don't really miss paper FPs), and how we spend a very busy afternoon in Magic Kingdom!

 

[cocofifi]

I’m so enjoying your trip report! Looking forward to following along.

 

[andy_dangg]

I’m so enjoying your trip report! Looking forward to following along.

Awesome! More MK goodness coming today!

 

[andy_dangg]

After our trip down the briar patch, I saw that the line for Dumbo was only 25 minutes. We still had an hour before our lunch reservation, so it seemed like a good time to ride.

Dumbo is such a classic ride that I've never ridden. My mom finds Dumbo adorable so we decided to ride together. My siblings are still in that typical teenager "I'm too cool for this" phase so they didn't want to ride. We really waited only about ten minutes, they weren't even using the play area yet. It really is such a fun ride if you're young or young at heart. I haven't ridden one of these spoke-type rides in a while, and I forgot how fun they were. A cute elephant makes it even more fun!

​

We got off Dumbo around 10:40. I saw that Under the Sea only had a fifteen minute wait so I figured we could squeeze it in before our 11a Be Our Guest reservation, especially considering Disney seems to overestimate wait times.

However, the line stopped moving for a while (I think the FP queue was backed up). We were all stressing in line because we were worried that we'd miss our reservation. We ended up getting off the ride at 11:10a, which was within the fifteen minute grace period for reservations. But we didn't really fully enjoy the ride, so I would definitely advise that you shouldn't cut it close. Under the Sea is an alright ride to me. I like the visuals and music, but something about it just seems to lack the character of other Disney dark rides. Luckily, it never seems to have a lengthy wait.

Now, time to enter the Beast's castle!

I was so happy to snatch a lunch reservation at Be Our Guest a few days before our trip. For some reason I forgot that the restaurant existed when I booked the resort and FP reservations. But when I was looking into the best counter service places in MK, I remembered that they had a counter service lunch and set a Touring Plans dining reservation alert. It came in handy, as I got a text that an 11a spot opened up just as I was getting out of the shower two days before we left! I don't think I've ever clicked on a link so quickly. It is an early lunch, but it worked perfectly with our FP times so I just took it.

We preordered our food before we left for the trip, so when we checked into the restaurant, they gave us a yellow rose puck and told us to move to the order ahead line. The cashier took our puck and scanned our Magic Bands for payment, and told us to take a seat!

The interior of the restaurant is just as beautiful as it is in the movie. We found a large table close to the "windows" with the falling snow. It was a perfect spot to have lunch.

 

[andy_dangg]

Within about ten minutes of sitting down, our food arrived in a cute trolley. I ordered the croque monsieur:

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The sandwich wasn't revolutionary, but it was very tasty! The béchamel sauce added a richness, and the ham wasn't too salty like I was worried about. My family also had the French dip (very good), the chicken coq au vin (a little dry but tasty) and the nicoise salad (yummy). The quality of all of the dishes was excellent and was much better than a typical counter service meal. I also enjoyed eating on actual plates compared to the paper ones.

For dessert, we ordered both the grey stuff cupcake and the chocolate one:

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The grey stuff was indeed delicious. It's actually a lot lighter and less sweet than it looks, which was a pleasant surprise. Some people said the cupcake isn't anything special but I loved it and would gladly order it again. On the other hand, the chocolate one was unremarkable. The ganache was a bit too rich and while the cupcake was overall tasty, I wouldn't order it again.

On the way out of the restaurant, I grabbed a hot cocoa and checked out the other dining rooms. The rose room with the statue was cute, but the West Wing was awesome. I feel like it's too dark and loud for a relaxing meal, but it was still cool (and cold!).

A petal falls!

The theming and mosaics at this restaurant are incredible:

 

[andy_dangg]

At this point in the day, Fantasyland was starting to get a little too packed. We wanted to minimize time spent in Fantasyland (aside from our FP reservations), so we rode one of my favorite rides:

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That sign doesn't lie! It's a Small World truly is such a happy cruise and I am in LOVE with everything about it. I find the song charming and the dolls adorable. I know this isn't a very popular opinion, but its my favorite ride in Fantasyland and probably in my top ten for all of WDW. It's so fun to figure out what countries the dolls represent and the ride is filled with fun sights.

I think we were the only guests on our boat with Magic Bands; in the final scene, all of our names but mine showed up on the screens! I'd like to think that the ride knew I was a true fan and didn't need to be impressed with some RFID trickery

Little did we know that the 35 minute wait (40 minutes posted) would be our longest wait of the day. It moved really quickly and we were all still in a food coma, so it wasn't bad at all.

By the time we got off Small World, it was time for our 1:05p Space Mountain FastPass. This is the first time I haven't rope dropped Tomorrowland, so it was nice having one of my favorite rides "waiting" for me in the busy afternoon.

I honestly love the new mid-century modern aesthetic Tomorrowland is taking, don't really miss the old sign:

Hey there, old friend. The sign is looking a little faded, though:

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This "flight" on Space Mountain confirmed that it's still one of my favorite roller coasters at WDW. It is a little rough, but I'm really into big roller coasters (we have Busch Gardens annual passes and I went to Cedar Point last summer). This ride was just pure fun to me. There's something so free feeling about it, you know what I mean? It's definitely a must ride.

I don't think my mom or brother agreed. My sister likes it, but it left my mom with a headache and my brother hated not seeing where we were going. I did have a slight headache coming off of it, but I'm chalking it up to being dehydrated.

We had some time to blow before our 2:05 Peter Pan's Flight FP. Initially, we tried to ride the PeopleMover, but it was moving no people and the queue was empty. We moved on to one of my other favorites, the Carousel of Progress!

We waited about ten minutes without the line moving, I think there was an issue with the carousel moving, because I saw running cast members and it didn't move for a while. Even with the large crowd that accumulated, we were able to all fit into the theater. Carousel of Progress is such a classic and I LOVE "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow". That final scene definitely needs updating, but it's such a lovable attraction.

On our way over to Peter Pan, we stopped for some pictures in front of the castle:

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We also stopped at one of the snack kiosks in the Hub for some water. I had such funny interaction with one of the cast members working there! I asked for ice water with just a little bit of ice. He said that it's very difficult to know what a little bit of ice is, so he made me a cup and asked me how I'd rate the ice content on a scale of 1-10. I said nine and of course he was like "how can I make it a ten??" I suggested a little more ice and he asked me to rate the next cup, which was a ten! He then asked me to rate every subsequent cup of water that he made for my family. Some people might not enjoy this, but I played along and it was honestly really funny.

Time for Peter Pan!

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This was actually my first ride on Peter Pan! The line was always too long on past visits, so I was excited to finally ride this opening day attraction. It was cute and enjoyable but short. I couldn't imagine waiting over half an hour for that. I don't feel the need to get a FP for it next time, but I was really happy I finally got to ride it.

I read before my trip on some Disney planning sites that you should get all of your FPs early in the day so you can start getting more FPs ASAP. I disagree with this strategy. It's really nice to know you'll have some popular rides to ride during the really busy afternoon hours. And it leaves your morning free for riding attractions with short waits. I really loved how FastPass+ gives you three "guaranteed" rides you can be sure that you're going to ride. The old FP system involved so much running around the parks and you could only have one FP at a time. I can see how FP+ is a disadvantage to locals, off site guests, or people who don't like to plan, but I enjoyed it much more than the old system. Can't wait to make my selections tomorrow morning for my May trip with my boyfriend!

 

[noodle73]

I'm loving your trip report so far! Can't wait to hear more. Great photos too!

 

[andy_dangg]

Hi everyone! I’m sorry for the lack of updates yesterday and today. I’ve been busy spending time with family and friends on my break. I’m also going back up to my college tomorrow morning, so I’ve been busy packing. I’ll definitely have lots updates tomorrow—I’ll be able to write in my nice, quiet dorm room

 

[andy_dangg]

I'm loving your trip report so far! Can't wait to hear more. Great photos too!

Thanks! More on the way tonight!

 

[andy_dangg]

After we rode Peter Pan, crowds were starting to get larger. It was really oppressive in Fantasyland, not shoulder to shoulder, but almost. In the afternoon I thought it would be a good idea to do those attractions that barely have a line. The first one we did was the Liberty Belle Riverboat. We've never done it before, so I figured it would be a nice and relaxing break from the crowds. It was really enjoyable! I liked the narration, and you really felt so far away from the crowds and craziness of the rest of the park. Here are some of the great views we got from that attraction:

The Festival of Fantasy parade was occurring while we were on the riverboat; I had to get a picture of the Frozen float!

If you told me this shot was taken in a theme park, I would not believe you:

Such a beautiful day: