The Orlando Airport is a cluster of a maze. There are two parts: A and B. In order to get to A or B you have to take a mini monorail from either side. By monorail I mean a train-like thing with no seats and that has nothing to really hold onto when it comes to a complete stop. Translation: All your luggage and you will go flying and possibly take out a kid when it stops!
Finding the Magical Express was a pain in the ass. For something that’s probably extremely popular, it’s really not marked. You kinda get an essence of where it should be. So after back and forth in the lower level (past 500 rental car outfits), we finally found it only after seeing the big bus marked Magical Express drive by.
Travel Tip: Use the Magical Express. Worth every penny! Drop your bags off at the airport and Disney will deliver them to your room. Doesn’t get better than that.
Of course, once we lined up for Port Orleans Riverside, the excitement started to really kick in. The bus ride was more Disney filled information overload. Do we really need to watch a movie with Goofy riding Space Mountain….again? The highlight of the trip was when we were approaching the property of Disney that has a huge gate with Mickey and pals. The bus driver tells everyone, “Here’s a photo opportunity.” I thought he was going to stop but he didn’t. Ass, but I digress. So the guy in front of me pulls out his camera, takes a shot and has his girl asking to see the photos. She’s flipping through the digital images of them by a bus, in the hotel room, her flashing her boobs to the camera….what! She gets pissed at him and says, “I thought you deleted that.” He tells her he did (they magically must’ve reappeared. The power of Disney) and finally takes the photos and “deletes” the boobie shot. Be unbeknown to the girl, he deleted the gates of Disney photo and left her nips for all time. Oh, such fun!
We arrived at Port Orleans Riverside still a little groggy from the flight and bus ride of porn. We checked in and to our surprise, the room was ready at 11 am with check-in “officially” at 3 pm. Hooray! What luck! Could we be even luckier and expect our luggage to be in the room? Haha, even Disney can’t guarantee that magic.
Travel Tip: Make sure everything you need for the day is in your carry on luggage. Chances are, you won’t be seeing anything for at least a few hours.
Isn’t this a great welcome?
We wanted to grab a quick bite at Riverside Mill Food Court. Now we signed up for the Disney Dining Plan and really had no idea how it worked. We were kinda stumbling along wondering if this or that was on the plan. What actually constitutes as a “dessert?” Finally, mom and I decided on burgers for the refuel. She had a plain one and I had a Chipotle BBQ with cheese…mmm good. I didn’t expect much from a Disney burger but it was pretty good.
All refilled and we were off to fun at our 1st stop at Epcot.
Epcot had always been my favorite park when I was little. How cool is it to “visit” all those different countries? Yes, I was a little social studies nerd as a kid. But even today, it’s still pretty cool…not that I can drink a beer in the park! It was a little surreal going back. Both mom and I didn’t feel like we were actually here. Only a few hours earlier we were in Chicago. But it started to kick in. The first ride we went into was Spaceship Earth. I always thought this ride was the shit. But we got on it and it seemed really cheesy. The automatronics seemed so outdated and worn out. Then we got stuck by the creepy guys on the boat scene (Arab travelers). Yes, fun to past by, not fun when they’re staring at you.
Next on the agenda was Turtle Talk with Crush. We almost made it in but the combo of crying kids, lack of sleep and the heat sent me into a pity party. We decided to mozy on over to the pier by England and catch the next boat over to the Beach Club for some seafood eating. The boat ride was nice, we were able to see the Swan and Dolphin Resorts and the Yacht and Beach Clubs. The Boardwalk seemed to be the happening place with Jellyroll’s night club and Cat Cora’s restaurant.
We were to dine at the Cape May Café at the Yacht and Beach Club. It sounded like a good deal..all you can eat seafood buffet. Do you have to ask twice? I’m definitely down for that. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as good as the hype. The food was cold, not refilled and the service kinda sucked. I did manage to down six, yes six plates of crab legs.
Screw them, it was the only thing getting refilled.