We first went into the lobby and dining areas.  This has not been changed, but it gave us a chance to look at the area.  The lobby is reminiscent of a boat on the mighty Mississippi. 

We walked through to see the dining areas as well as the outside area where you can rent boats or catch a ride to Downtown Disney.

Next we went to Alligator Bayou.  These room will accommodate up to 5 guests with one being under 12 years old.  With the renovation, all of the rooms in Alligator Bayou will be able to accommodate five.  I really like the way the fifth bed is stored and used in these rooms.  No longer is it a trundle bed that is right by the door and connecting door.

After Alligator Bayou, we went over to the mansions at Magnolia Bend.  These rooms will only sleep up to four.

Finally, we had a chance to see the Royal Guest rooms.  These are in two buildings of the Mansions, 90 and 95.  One building is completed with the renovations and the other one will be done soon.

We loved the appointments in the room.  There were things representing all of Princess Tiana’s friends and their princes.  Note the magic lamp faucets!

The headboards on the beds have a button on the side where you can make fireworks appear!

All of the details in the room are just amazing.  Check out the borders in the bathroom and main room, plus the lamps!

These rooms are sure to bring together the princess experience for all children.

Let’s start out with the title of this blog.. Disney resolutions.  Honestly, I’m not usually the type to make resolutions but I’ve come to think that I need more structure and stick-to-it-ness in my life so I figured I’d start with things that I enjoy.  Here are my resolutions:

1.  Stick to this blog!  Ok, ok.. I’ll admit it.  There are a few blogs floating around out there in the universe that I started then abandoned on the side of the internet highway.  My goal here is to keep this blog going!  I am making a goal of posting at least once a week here.. probably Sunday or Monday sometime.  So that’s the best time to look for new updates!

2.  Run a Disney Race!  Time for another confession.  Growing up I have NEVER been the athletic type. But over the past few years I have listened to stories of my Disney friends flying down to Florida in order to run a 5k, a half marathon, or (gasp!) a full marathon and I’ve always thought “Wow! I want to do that!”.  2012 is going to be that year for me.  I am planning on signing up for and running in the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror 10 mile-r weekend this end of September.  Now don’t panic, I’m only running the 5k, but I’m completely out of shape right now and still have a long journey ahead of me.  Cheer me on as I progress towards this goal please! 

3. Lose weight!  Yeah, I know everyone has this goal in mind but this time I have a real deadline and a set amount that I want to lose.  By the aforementioned run in September I want to lose 60 pounds.  Another “hefty” feat but I know I can do it!

So that’s it.  Three small goals that I really think I can achieve and will be blogging about time to time along with my other topics along the way.

Oh, and I forgot the most important thing… the thing I really wanted to tell you about in the first place.

wait for it…

I’M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! 

That’s right.  My family and I are headed down to Florida on Feb 14th to meet up with my parents, my sister, and her husband.  This will be my son’s first Disney trip (besides when he was in my belly!) and we will spend a glorious week at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside resort!  When we get back I will have a TON of stuff to blog about and pictures so there is a lot of fun stuff in the future for this blog!  I hope to make this blog a place where people can come interact and have fun so please come back and support me in my “Disney” resolutions!  Thanks!

We’re once again staying at Port Orleans Riverside. As I’ve mentioned before… I love this resort! This will be our first trip to Disney World during the “Value Season,” and I can’t wait to see how it compares to our summer trips.

And… I know I’m not a huge fan of the Disney Dining Plan, but since Disney was running a special offer for a free dining plan… well, who can say no to free food!? The huge advantage of getting the dining plan for free is that it will allow us to go to a few restaurants that were beyond our price range on previous trips. We have reservations for Chef Mickey’s, the Sci-Fi Dine-In Theater (in Hollywood Studios), Via Napoli (in the Italy Pavilion at Epcot), and the Garden Grill Restaurant (in the Land Pavilion at Epcot). Both Chef Mickey’s and the Garden Grill will involve character dining, which we’ve experienced before, so we’re all very excited!

As our boys keep saying, I can’t believe we’re going to Disney!

—

POR boat to DTD

WDW Transportation:

Magic Express – Free is good!

Airport Transportation: 
Magic Express: Love this free airport service. Since we’re staying at POR for the first half of our trip we can use ME Service to get from Orlando Airport to the resort.  Totally stress-free is the way to be!

Our picture with Yehaa Bob

Yehaa Bob performs his comedy/music show on select nights at Port Orleans Riverside’s River Roost bar area. The bar is in the main hotel building, not far from the hotel’s front desk and check-in area. You can see when he’s scheduled to be there by checking the calendar on his website. (Hover over the color-coded bars on the calendar to see details for each event. If you check the site with your mobile phone and can’t hover over to see the details, his Riverside nights are the light blue bars, and his start time is nearly always 8:30 pm.)

I’ve known about Bob’s show for a while, but even though I’ve stayed at Port Orleans Riverside, we’d never been to the show until this past Saturday night. After leaving Animal Kingdom at around 6:30 pm, we were looking for something else to enjoy at Walt Disney World before heading home. We initially tried to go to Downtown Disney, but after driving around in the parking lot for 25 minutes trying to snag a parking place on the Marketplace side, I remembered that Port Orleans Riverside was just around the corner and that Bob might be playing that night, so we drove over to check it out. He was indeed playing, we had a great time at the show, and now I wish we’d gone a long time ago. We’ll definitely be back to see him again soon.

Our personalized handsome photo of Bob

His show is a mixture of comedy and music, with lots of chances to sing along or get involved in the show in other ways. There are some running gags that I won’t ruin, but they get better and funnier as the night goes on and more and more people join in on them. He plays a wide variety of music and will keep you laughing and entertained through each song. We took our five year old daughter (children are allowed in the River Roost bar area) and she was just as entertained as we were even though she wasn’t as familiar with the songs and sing-along parts as my husband and I were.

When the show is over (the show we saw started at 8:30 pm and wrapped up around 10:00 pm) Bob invited people up to the stage to take a photo with him. You could also get a “handsome picture” (8×10 of his publicity shot) that he would autograph for each group.

If you want to see the show, I recommend that you verify his schedule at his website (he does not play at Riverside every night) and that you arrive early to get a table in the smallish bar seating area. (We arrived around 7:40 pm and there were still a few tables left.) There is a small menu at River Roost, but after ordering some drinks, we were assured by our server that it would be okay bring back some dinner from the nearby counter service location, The Riverside Mill, and eat it in the bar. Many people tipped Bob at the end of the show ($5 seemed to be the most common amount) and after having such a great time, we were happy to add our tip to the pile as well. It is not mandatory, though, and the show itself is free.

If you are staying at the Walt Disney World resort and you’re using Disney transportation, there are a few ways to navigate through the system to and from Port Orleans Riverside. If you’re starting out from your resort, you can take a bus to any theme park or Downtown Disney, and then transfer to a Port Orleans Riverside bus. If you’re starting from a theme park, just hop on the bus headed for Port Orleans Riverside from there. There is also a water taxi system that stops at Downtown Disney, both Port Orleans resorts, Old Key West, and Saratoga Springs, so if you are starting out in one of those places, you can use the water taxi to reach Riverside. To get back to your resort at the end of the night, take the bus (or water taxi, if they’re still running) to Downtown Disney and then transfer to a bus going to your resort. Buses at Downtown Disney usually run quite late into the evening, so you should be able to use it as a transfer point after the show.

Here’s a short video clip from the night we were there to give you a taste of the show. You can find many other clips of Bob on his website and on YouTube, but try not to spoil the show too much for yourself before you go.

A Mickey Mouse towel was waiting for us on our Riverside bed at the end of our first day!

Let me repeat: I love this resort!

We stayed here in June 2009, and enjoyed every minute of it. Of course, with the passage of time and further Disney World experience under my belt, I would probably do things a bit differently now. Here are my top 5 tips for a family of five’s stay at Riverside:

1. First thing: feed the kids! There’s a great food court just down the hall from Riverside’s lobby. Although I haven’t yet done this, it seems like it would work well to get the kids a quick bite while my husband checks us in. It’s a great way to beat the low-blood-sugar blues. That way, we can leave our carry-on bags at the hotel (the checked baggage is delivered right from the airport to our room by Disney, free of charge!), hop on the bus to our park of choice, and get right into the fun!

2. Skip the Parkhopper option. On our first trip, we purchased the Parkhopper add-on. It might work well if you have little ones who need to go back to the room during the middle of the day for a nap, and want to go to a different park afterwards. Or, if you want to spend the majority of the day at a certain park, then go to another park for dinner. However, on our first family Disney trip, it seemed like we spent too much time riding on buses between hotels and parks. On our most recent trip, we skipped the Parkhopper and just did one park per day. This worked out great! We’d spend as much time as we wanted at our park of the day, then head back to the hotel for the night. On those days where we decided to head back to the hotel early in the evening, we took advantage of the nice pools to get in some fun swimming time. And, keep in mind, even without the Parkhopper, you can go to the same park multiple times in one day. For example, if someone in your party just needs to go back to their room and rest for a while, they can meet back up with the rest of you later on at the same park.

3. Bring breakfast things with you. We usually bring a box of breakfast cookies, two boxes of cereal, and a few protein bars right in our suitcases. With five of us sharing one bathroom at the hotel, there’s plenty of time for us to take turns eating breakfast and getting ready each morning. That way, everyone is fed and ready to roll at the same time, and we can get to the park without delay!

4. Bring Purex Complete laundry sheets if you plan to do laundry at the resort. On our first family trip to Disney, I didn’t do laundry, but packed LOTS of clothes (including extra outfits for when the boys got messy). This led to more baggage charges from the airline than was really necessary. For our most recent trip, I packed 3 or 4 outfits for each of us and brought along several Purex sheets in a zip-loc bag. At Riverside, the pool near our room had a building with laundry facilities right next to it. I could do a couple of loads while lounging by the pool. What a nice way to multi-task!

5. Skip the Dining Plan, unless it’s included as a “Special Offer.” When we purchased the Dining Plan, we ended up with more food than we needed. Plus, since the plan included one table service meal per day, we wasted way too much time sitting around restaurants when we could have been on rides! We have found that, for our family of five, we can purchase 3 or 4 quick-service meals and share them. Everyone gets plenty, no one goes hungry, and we have room a couple of hours later for an ice cream break!

A Family Suite at All-Star Music was about $150 more expensive than two standard rooms at Pop Century. If you can get the two rooms adjoining, this sounds like the best deal for a family of five. However, a standard room at Port Orleans Riverside was about $340 cheaper than booking two rooms at Pop Century.

If you want the most space for your dollar, booking two rooms at Pop Century is the way to go. If the lowest possible price is the bottom line, Riverside rules!

I’ve never stayed at All-Star Music, so I can’t comment on the resort itself. I have, however, stayed at Riverside and Pop Century, and enjoyed them both! Pop Century is a Value resort, with brightly-colored decor and everything we needed. Riverside is a Moderate resort, with a very relaxing vibe and lovely pools. I had heard that bus service to the Value hotels could be slower than at the Moderates, but we didn’t find this to be the case. We had no travel issues at either of these resorts, and enjoyed our stays at both. Really, when we’re at Disney, we are so on the go that all we need is a place to rest our weary heads at night.

That being said, I really love the laid-back atmosphere of Port Orleans Riverside. I think it’s safe to say that when the time comes to book our next Disney trip, this hotel will be at the very top of our list!

Photo Credit: http://www.disneyworld.com

It’s been 11 or 12 years since I last was at Walt Disney World. A very long time for me considering that I was going every year for ten years. Marriage, moving, new job promotions and a baby put a lot on hold. My husband and I were not able to go on a honeymoon or even a mini vacation. Finally a breath of fresh air! I was six months pregnant and I told my boss,  ”I am going on vacation in 13 months”.  (Maybe it was Disney withdrawals, the hormones raging, or that I just really needed a vacation!) Without missing a beat I went to Walt Disney World’s Vacation Website and ordered the Vacation Planning DVD. I needed to see what had been built and improved over the years. This would also give me  the opportunity to show my husband what he would be in store for!!! Not having met my little one yet, I knew Disney could take care of her no matter what! I had for the most part always stayed on the WDW property. Why? If Disneyworld was my only destination (why anyone would go anywhere else?), there is no reason to stay off property. The conveniences and the ease of the transportation are priceless. 

Knowing your budget is where you need to start. Walt Disney has many resorts for different budgets which is great!!

 To save money; Value Resorts-All-Star Music, All-Star Sports, All Star Movies and POP Century

I only recommend these if you have a large group , such as sports teams, or if you only need a place to shower and sleep. They do not have any sit down dining restaurants, (Something to think about.) and are located farthest from the 4 Parks.  I stayed at All-Star Sports in 1998 and it is too small for my family for today. The rooms do not have as much closet or drawer space, and there is only one sink and mirror. Two adults and two children will be able to stay here in comfort, but more than 2 adults may be too much. There were no elevators to speak of that I remembered. So if stairs are a challenge, it is best to request a floor level room. The rooms are brightly colored and a sports theme is carried through out the resort, the room I was in had crayon marking on the walls and I could hear all the surrounding happenings. The pools were always too crowded for me. If you are new to staying on property and your budget conscious you may want to start here. There is a playground, arcade, laundry facilities and a food court with an average price 15.00 a person. Another little tid-bit ; The All Star Resorts are in a different county so they have a higher tax rate.

 For those who need a little more room to breath; Moderate Resorts-Caribbean Beach, Coronado Springs, Port Orleans Riverside, Port Orleans French Quarter and Ft. Wilderness Cabins.

 I have stayed at both Port Orleans French Quarter (1999) and most recently Caribbean Beach Resort (2010) The Moderate resorts will have at least one sit down dining restaurant  and are not as far away from the 4 Parks as the Value Resorts. Carribean Beach or CBR has Shutters for sit down dining and a tasty food court to experience. These rooms not only have more space but a dual sink vanity. YEAH! The beds are better and the décor is just up my alley. While the All-Star Resorts and POP have three or four levels, I loved the Caribbean Beach Resort because it only had two stories and each village surrounds the bay. The pathways are wide and not cramped for walking. There are many villages named after Caribbean islands with their own bus stop. You can catch the theme park buses as well as an internal bus system to get you from village to village. This was helpful because we were in Trinidad South and the grandparents were in Aruba. I could have walked along Barefoot Bay but it was so hot and muggy that I wanted the bus with air conditioning. We opted for the Pirates of the Caribbean Themed rooms (Trinidad South only) and I loved it! The beds are not as comfortable as the normal Finding Nemo themed rooms. Why? The Pirate Ship beds are so high that the mattresses they have are about 5 inches thick and no box spring for support. The village pools were quiet and not many kids, that is because of the cool main pool at Port Royale. This is a fun pool! It is a themed old Spanish fortress, complete with towers, antique cannons (that spout water) and a water slide. So if you are looking for a more relaxing resort that has hammocks, child playgrounds and for those who walk, the stroll around Barefoot Bay is for you. Other amenities are beaches, an arcade, volleyball courts, bike rentals,  marina/watercraft rentals, and laundry facilities at each village pool.

 For those who have who want to experience a Deluxe Resort-Animal Kingdom Lodge, Board Walk Inn, Contemporary, Grand Floridian, Polynesian, Wilderness Lodge, Yacht Club and Beach Club, and the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin.

 These may not be the Disney Vacation Club Villas but they are sure spectacular! The Deluxe resorts are normally located just a hop skip and a jump to the Parks. I stayed at the Grand Floridian in 1997 and it was fantastic. I love the old feel of the 1900’s Victorian. The grand atrium is overwhelmingly immaculate and if you are lucky to see the cockatiels in the lobby they are beautiful. If you can, try to stay at a Deluxe resort once. The monorail and the water taxis make it very easy to get to the Magic Kingdom and the Transportation Center. The rooms are lavish and have a balcony or porch to extend your room space. Deluxe Resorts also have more combinations of rooms to accommodate your party. A choice of sit down dining options, baby and childcare services, pool of course, spa and health club, watercraft rentals, beaches and the possibility of having the best seat in the house to see the fireworks; from your room!!

For more information and updated refurbishments at WDW and new attractions please go to www.waltdisneyworld.com                                         

Fall cupcakes from the Blue Ribbon Bakery on Main Street USA.

Gingerbread Mickey beignets from Cafe Orleans at Disneyland in California. Beignets are like a French donut that are very popular in New Orleans. They generally are covered in loads of powdered sugar (like at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort) but at Cafe Orleans, they use granulated sugar instead. Grab a cup of java and find a seat near the entrance to Pirates of the Caribbean and just watch these Mickey-shaped treats melt in your mouth!

Check out more Disney Halloween treats!

Are you ready to try something new on your next trip to Walt Disney World? If you’d like to do something fun without having to purchase a special ticket, check out Bob Jackson – who leads a great boogie-woogie sing-along at the River Roost Lounge in Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside Resort. 

Here’s what to expect:

• Expect a tall man in brightly colored pants (yellow, the night we were there) playing a ragtime piano and leading songs that everybody knows -  songs like Hey, Jude; Piano Man; I Got You, Babe; Sweet Caroline, and The Addams Family theme song.  He’s an energetic performer with a gift for encouraging audience participation.  
• The atmosphere is fun and energetic. It might not appeal to the very dignified but is probably perfect for people who enjoy a good time and who don’t take themselves too seriously. You’ll get to beat your chest and yell, “Charge!” at the end of a bugle call, and you might get to do the hand-jive, or swing your arms in your best Elvis style.
• Bob signed autographs, posed for photos, and seemed genuinely interested in every person who came to say hello during the intermissions.
• The show is family-friendly. The night I was there, there were several kids present until about the second intermission. The River Roost has a bar but I didn’t observe anyone in an intoxicated state. The wait staff are available for drink orders but there was no pressure. I purchased two sodas over the course of the evening and that didn’t seem to be unusual. It is probably a good idea to tip very generously if, like me, you are there for several hours. There is a no smoking policy at the River Roost.
• Cost: no admission charge, no cover charge. My husband & I spent about $10 on beverages over a 3 hour period – it was a fun date for not much money.
• If you want to take the fun home with you, there are five different CD’s available for $10 each.
• Schedule: Bob is usually at the River Roost Lounge Tuesday through Saturday nights and plays from 8:30PM – Midnight but the schedule is subject to change.  He posts his schedule on his website at the beginning of each month. 
• You can team this up with the Campfire on de’ Bayou story time & campfire sing-along that is being offered on Thursday nights at Port Orleans Riverside’s Ol’ Man Island Fishin’ Hole from 6:30 – 8:00PM through March 2009.  This activity is also offered on Sunday nights but Bob doesn’t perform then. 
• You do not have to stay at Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside resort to enjoy these activities. If you drive, just tell the gatekeeper that you’re going to be visiting the resort for a few hours and they’ll direct you to the visitors parking area.