[cinderbella]

Yahh!! Finally..
So..the trip go-ers included...
Me, 24, often referred to as "I, Me and Hottie"
Dave, my Fiance, often, okay, always, referred to as..The Dave.

After a VERY long work day on Thursday we finally left Columbia, SC at 8:00 p.m. for the 2 1/2 hour drive to my parents house in Hilton Head...we like to do this because it shortens up the trip to 5 hours instead of 7 1/2..plus my parents always love to see us..
Sadly, my Dad was asleep by the time we got there and my mom had been waiting up for us but went to bed almost as soon as we arrived..oh well..the Dave and I were excited...Okay, I was a little more excited than he was..We didn't get to sleep until 2 a.m...
Which made it VERY hard to get up the next morning when the alarm started going off at 6:30 a.m. After a little bit of procrastinating and coazing The Dave out of bed..we were on the road by 7:30..after a brief stop for gas and McDonalds biscuits (a Disney tradition for us) we didn't stop til we reached the Flordia Welcome Center. Shortly after we stopped for our traditional bathroom/orange juice/Disney brochure gathering it started to downpour. I was a nervous wreck because I HATE being in the car when it's raining...FINALLY we reached Orlando at around 12:30..and we saw the funniest car I have ever seen..It was a little Volkswagen Bug with a HUGE lobster on the top (I have pictures..don't worry) It was hilarious......there was a little traffic so seeing this calmed by anxious excitement for a few seconds!
Finally, we pulled onto the Disney property and found Port Orleans with no trouble at all! The CM security gaurd was fantastic! He kidded around with us at first asking if I was sure I wanted to take the Dave to Disney World and asking if he deserved to go...he was the first of many fantastic Cast Member's we encountered on this trip!
We arrived a little before 1:00 p.m. and there was NO line to check in..we waited about.025 seconds for a CM to help us and we checked in with absolutly no problems. It was a little errie how empty the place was!
We were assinged room 9220 in Oak Manor..we were VERY excited..since I had gotten the room at a VERY steep discount ($79.00 a night AP rate) I was a little nervous we would be given a room in Alligator Bayou, 9 million miles from the Lobby...but we were happy to find our room was just a short walk from the Lobby!

[cinderbella]

Here is the back of the Lobster Car..the back said something funny like "Best Tail in Town" or something like that...check out that NASTY weather!

[cinderbella]

From the side...I can only imagine what the driver thought of us..

[cinderbella]

My first look at Port Orleans Riverside

[WishUponAStar]

Originally Posted by cinderbella

From the side...I can only imagine what the driver thought of us..

OK, the lobster is BIGGER than the CAR?!? How can that even be legal, haha? Oh, that's right, this is Florida, I forgot.

I am SO glad you got a picture of that car!! hehe. So far, so good...

[c-palace]

Wow it sounds like a great time!!!! And I love mickey d's biscuts they totally rock!!

[daisyd]

LMBO!!!! What a car! I know you said the lobster was HUGE, but YOWZA!
I'm so looking forward to this report

[cinderbella]

Before we checked in we had to make use of the facilities in the lobby...as most people do after long car rides...I was sooooooo amused by the toilets I had to take a picture to show Dave...who then went in the Men's Room to confirm that they had the same kind...they did in fact..he pulled it also so he wouldn't feel left out.

[cinderbella]

Our room was amazing!
I was soooo glad we got a mansion room, they are so elegant. After arriving in our room we officially arrived when we turned on the TV to watch Stacey give us the Top 7 Must See's while we unpacked......The Dave was SO EXCITED to find a fridge in the room...I LOVED the curtain seperating the bathroom from the room AND the two sinks. It really didn't matter too much for us, but I can see how great that would be for families with kids...We hung out in the room for a few minutes and decided we were hungry so we went to try out the Riverside Mill...
First things first..we bought our mugs! After years of staying at POP it was nice to finally get a different pattern on our mugs! We only bought one because we knew we wouldn't use it too much. (And we actually only used it that one time) I ate my official "Welcome to Disney Meal" of Cheeseburger and Fries and The Dave had the Chicken Parm Sub, I tasted it and it was very good--but the BREAD...oh my goodness..it was SOOOOOOOOOOOO good. I could have just eaten that..but then he may have gotten mad at me for eating all of his bread. We headed to Fulton's General Store..which was better than I expected it to be! There was a lot of cute stuff, but we knew we were going to DTD so we waited to buy things until then.
By this time, I am officially in love with Port Orleans Riverside...I will never go back to Values if I can help it!!
Then we went back to the room to shower and relax for awhile (and get away from the rain) before heading to DTD where I was really excitied to go because I hoped I'd get to meet Erin!
We arrived at DTD by way of bus around 5 p.m...the boats were running because of the lightening and thunder..

[cinderbella]

Here is me...so excitied to be at Riverside! I was testing out the bed!

[Peppertink]

Bella..great TR so far...you enthusiasm is great..takes me back to when I was at POR in November....

[ingamba]

Originally Posted by cinderbella

when we turned on the TV to watch Stacey give us the Top 7 Must See's .

Oh no!! That's the most annoying woman in the world! She is even worse than the one on the other video.

Great TR Bella, more, more! And more pics too, just no pics of Stacey please.

[tiggerlover1971]

POR and POFQ are my favorite resorts for moderates I love going there Was your room facing the water or the parking lot or their courtyard ?

[cinderbella]

So we arrive at DTD and head immediatly for the nearest store (to get away from the rain!)..which happened to be the Christmas Store! I had never been in there before--I am not sure why--but I LOVED IT! If I could have bought everything, I would have, alas, I bought nothing.
Then we headed to Team Mickey (Dave's favorite) and then World Of Disney..where they had some very cute Disney Couture shirts ladies! I very cute one with Tinkerbell on it and Peter Pan on the back...I wore it the next day so you'll see pictures! No fear.
After WOD we headed over to the West Side to shop around..there was no word from Erin so I figured she got caught up so we decided it was safe to leave DTD to go eat...and we went to...BOMA!
I convinced The Dave with the Wood Roasted Meats..from that point on..he was all about it..
We hopped the bus to AKL, where we sat in front of some people who knew nothing about Disney, but pretended they knew everything...(Example, we passed AK and saw the top of Exp. Everest and they said "Ohh..it's Blizzard Beach" the husbands insisted it was Everest, but they said that the guy at check in told them AK was 10 miles away from AKL so there was no way that could be Everest"
I just laughed..I would have corrected them, but, I didn't see the need.
Now, I have never been to AKL before..but all I can say is..WOW..
This place is amazing..I loved loved loved it! It has become my new "Dream Resort"..ah, one day..
We checked in at Boma about 15 minutes before our ADR and we only waited about 5 minutes to be sat. I heard the hostess say that the "walk up" wait was over an hour.
BOMA..is AMAZING..I loved everything I ate. Everything was soo..flavorful..nothing was bland at all..I particularly enjoyed the Sirlion. And, under the advice of everyone here I had a Zebra Dome...Let's just say..I went back for many many more after that......
After we ate soo much we couldn't walk we headed back to the bus stop. The EPCOT bus came first so we hopped on that, and walked over to POR stop to find the bus pulling up..we were back in the room by 9 p.m. where we both fell right to sleep...

[cinderbella]

A picture of AKL..