Our room at Port Orleans was in that inside corner
Today we are moving to Port Orleans Riverside as part of our first ever "split stay". I had gotten a good deal on a "water view" room, although never having stayed there I didn't know what to expect. Fellow DISers on the DISboards recommended requesting a River View room in Oak Manor, relatively close to to the central building.Our room at Port Orleans was in that inside corner
Upon receiving our bill for AKL, I noticed that the credit that we had been promised had not been applied to the bill, so I had to stop at the front desk yet again, and Carlos managed to get the credit appropriately applied. It was in the system, but apparently the bookkeepers didn't process it.
We packed our bags in the car and drove to POR and entered the main building. It was nicely designed, with a very large checkin desk and a separate concierge desk. I walked up to handle our checkin, which went very smoothly and quickly - and our room was already available. It wasn't in Oak Manor as requested, but was in the actually closer building 14 in the Alligator Bayou section. Our room was on the second floor, 1445, with an inside corner room with a river view.
Unfortunately, going from villas to a typical studio room is a bit of a shock. The room is very small, with the two beds, the bathroom sink area with a "privacy curtain", and a small bathroom. Other than the mini fridge I'm not sure what else it would have that a value room wouldn't, other than perhaps the nicer grounds. It was a short walk along the river to where the Riverside Mill Food Court was (at the main building), a lot closer than where we were to Mara (probably half that distance). We had a quick lunch, and the kids played at the playground near the pool for a while to kill time before our 4:30pm reservations at 1900 Park Fare.Downriver towards the manors
After a while to rest, we drove over to the Transportation and Ticket Center, and took the monorail over to the Grand Floridian. We were there early, and the doors to 1900 Park Fare weren't even open, so we looked around a bit. I also asked at the concierge desk if they had a Magic Kingdom times guide, which they happily printed up for me.
At about 4:00pm, they opened the doors so we could at least check in and also get pictures with the Photopass photographer. We were second, behind a rather large family, so we still had to wait a while. While waiting, a cast member of relative importance (I don't know what her role specifically was, but it seemed to be manager level) named Juliana was chatting with our kids, and and asked if they would be willing to help open the doors to the restaurant when it was time. Of course they agreed, and after a short wait she took them to in front of the main doors, and announced to everyone gathered that the "Princesses from Massachusetts" would help open the restaurant. And then with the words "Bippity Boppity Boo", both of them turned the handles and opened the doors, to see Cinderella and Prince Charming coming to greet them! Cindy and Charming took them by the hands and brought them in, and we were able to get a couple quick pictures alone with them. Then we were seated at our table, which at first blush was right near the kitchen and didn't seem to be a great spot, but the waitress said that we'd have the "best seat in the house" - because as it turns out as each character is announced and enters the room, they do so from the kitchen door, briefly walk around to the center of the room, and then come back to our table first. First up was Prince Charming, then Cinderella, Lady Tremaine, Anastasia and Drisella. All of which were totally in character. Lady Tremaine can make these incredibly condescending bug eye looks at you, Anastasia tries to be all cute, and Drisella is just snobby. This is the only place currently that you can find the latter three on a regular basis as well. Occasionally all the characters will be out and there will be a dance or something with the kids.Our kids get a surprise
The meal is a buffet - similar foods to other buffets around WDW. The "main" proteins were a Roast Beef and a Pork Steamship Round, with a creamy horseradish sauce for the meat which was quite tasty. I think the pork was better than the beef. There was a very tasty chicken marsala as well. There was a small selection of dessert items including Chocolate Mouse cups, as well as a couple of soft serve ice cream dispensers - but they had issues and the ice cream wasn't coming out very solid.Lady Tremaine giving Cindy the glare - she glares a lot...
After dinner we hopped the monorail again to the Magic Kingdom, where we rode Buzz Liteyear, saw the new stage for Stitch's Supersonic Celebration which wouldn't open for a couple more weeks (Update: This closed just six weeks later), and for the first time ever for any of us, we rode the Tomorrowland Speedway since it was only a 20 minute wait, with myself and DD#1 in separate cars and DD#2 riding with DW. I still think it is nothing different than a typical gas-powered car ride at other amusement parks, not terribly interesting, plus we were stuck behind someone who seemed to have a problem keeping their car going.
From there we checked the line at Pixie Hollow, which was 60 minutes so we decided to skip it for now (we'd be back in the morning), so we just rode Goofy's Barnstormer - a first for me as I've never actually ridden it. Then it was a quick ride on the carousel and Haunted Mansion, and then we attempted to get on Splash Mountain, making it all the way to the loading area before it shut down for apparently the second time that day. We were willing to wait it out, but there were cast members running around pretty crazily, including going up and down the line of guests. They kept unclipping and clipping the ropes to get through, and at one point two CMs crossed by each other. I believe on of them thought the other would re-clip the rope, but it just got caught on one of them and then snapped back like a bungee cord, which could have been dangerous. They seemed to be more interested in running around as if they knew what they were doing than be concerned about the guests waiting or giving any information. We waited a while before we gave up and left.The future - and now former - home of Stitch
We decided we'd just start heading out, stopping off at Pirates for a quick ride, then out to the monorail for a ride back to our car. We asked about sitting in the front, but there was only room for two - DW agreed that DD#1 and I could ride up front.
Then back to POR for our first night in the little, tiny room :)
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