Miaka1
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 24, 2013
Also known as my Trip Report!
A ten day trip to Disney!
Quick introductions, I’m Miaka, and my Husband and 2 DD’s (ages 11 and 12) just returned from our second family trip. Our younger daughter turned 11 on our last day at Disney. She wore her birthday pin all week and received lots of birthday wishes!
Our last family trip was in February 2014. This was our first trip with the kids and we tried to do it all in 5 days. That didn't work out very well. By the end of the 5 days we were fried. Sore legs, swollen feet, and everyone was super cranky. We knew the next family trip would have to be longer. We started planning this trip the day we got back from our last trip,and we got so excited about disney that DH and I took a last minute quick trip in May 2015. Without the kids to hold us back we decided that we could really do it all (in 3 days) by the time day 3 was over, my feet were so swollen I could hardly walk. (it was worth it though!)
So this trip, the plan was go slow, see everything, but pace ourselves. We had ten park days. It was a complete success!
I will try to cover everything in this trip report, although I may gloss over some things I consider boring. If I gloss, and you want clarification, just let me know!
~Travel~
The Plan-
Drive from Dallas to Biloxi. (Approx. 8 hours) Sleep. Drive from Biloxi to POFQ. Arrive about 3:30pm.
The reality-
Left Dallas about 9am, which was earlier than we wanted, but a storm front was moving in and we wanted to get ahead of it. Kids were fine during the drive, arrived in Biloxi about 5:30. (Not really Biloxi, but Ocean Springs right off of I-10.) Ordered pizza and then went to bed early. The Holiday Inn was fine. Clean, decent breakfast, nice staff.
Left Biloxi about 6am, was making great time until we hit Mobile. Now, if you have never driven on I-10 through Mobile you wouldn’t know this. There is a bridge that goes across the Bay of Mobile (basically part of the Gulf of Mexico) and its 8 miles long. They call it 8 mile bridge. It is divided, and is only 2 lanes, with no shoulder. For 8 miles. So when there is an accident, you don’t move. For 2 freakin hours. It was horrible. We sat there. Not even inching along. No movement. No exits. Just stuck. While we were sitting there, the storm that we had been trying to outrun moved in.
Arrival! (Thursday)
We finally got to POFQ about 5:45. We were tired and grumpy, but very glad to have arrived. We did the online checkin, but the only text I got was at 10am saying our room wasn’t ready. So we headed to the front desk to check in. Girls received beads and doubloons from this lovely cast member.
Our room was ready, we were in building 1, with a garden view. The view from our window was absolutely gorgeous!
I was a little concerned about POFQ at first, because it’s a moderate and so much smaller than our last trip. During our last trip we stayed at my parents DVC home resort of Old Key West, and each girl had their own bed, we had a washer and dryer and of course the full kitchen. I shouldn’t have been. This place was perfect! Kids did fine sharing a bed, we did laundry twice at the facilities at POFQ but we were not on the dining plan, so I really missed the kitchen. We made the best of it, and hit up Winn Dixie. Stocked up on cereal, milk, poptarts, sandwich stuff, fresh fruit, juice, chips, cookies, microwave corn dogs. I was very pleased with the amount of space the room had. The shelf above the hangers basically became our pantry. After a couple of days the kids had no problem keeping things tidy.
We found our room, and unpacked. I cannot relax until everything is in order. Once everything was in its proper place the kids helped me hang up their drawings. They colored these during the drive. I thought they looked so nice!
After the window was set and everything was unpacked we headed off to find the boat to Disney Springs. We took the long meandering way so we could see more of the resort. Did I mention this place was beautiful? Everything was so green and peaceful!
The boat to Disney Springs was prompt and not over crowded, but we were running short on time. We had an ADR 8pm for T-Rex and I wanted to check in a few minutes early. Once we got off the boat we had to rush, and were able to check in 15 minutes early. We were seated right away. (yay!)
~T-Rex~
This was my first time eating here, I had read reviews so I kind of knew what to expect, but not really. So, first off, the food was really really good. We had a bit of a crisis with this meal. DD-12 is a type 1 diabetic and even though I asked her twice as we were leaving the room, she still managed to forget her test kit and insulin.
Since we couldn’t really go back to the room and get it, and come back and still expect to have our ADR honored, we took a page out of Crush’s book and decided to “Go with the Flow oh oh oh oh” This really became our theme song for the trip.
We started off with the Dexters Dual Dip. The whole family agreed that the Shrimp Artichoke dip was excellent, and the queso Dip tasted like dip you find anywhere.
DH and I both had yummy adult drinks. DH had the Category 5 and I had the Caveman Punch. Both were very sweet and had more banana liqueur that I’m used to, but over all very good.
For dinner I had the Mastadon Stuffed Chicken. This was probably the best chicken I had the entire trip. The mashed potatos and veggies were good, but the chicken was absolutely amazing.
DH had the Layers of earth Lasagna. He said it was good, very filling. He did not finish it all.
DD -12 had the Mega Mes-O-Bones. She liked the ribs, but did not like the fries. Said they were soggy. She also did not finish all of her meal.
DD-11 had the Shrimpkens with the orange slices. She liked the shrimp and the chicken, and was very impressed that it was a lot of food. She did not like the oranges. (I agreed, the oranges were sour) so she ate some of my veggies and was a happy camper.
Once we had our food we explained to the server that we would need to leave as soon as we were done eating, and he was great. He got our bill ready, and processed our payment, and as soon as we were done we headed back to the room to get DD-12’s insulin.
Overall impression:
Service A+
Food: A+
Environment: C-
Environment... .yea. This place was a mad house. The animatronic dino’s are cool (and loud) and there is a lot to see, but I didn’t like how the servers were encouraging everyone to get up and walk around and look at everything. We had our table bumped and were tripped over (one little girl nearly fell in DH’s lap) multiple times. Also, the whole meteor strike thing is really dumb (and loud). The lights go dark, there are a lot of flashing lights, and every dino roars, at least that’s what they say happens. All I heard was every child under the age of 6 screaming in terror. They do this every 15 minutes!
Food was great, but I don’t think we will return. The noise and chaos was just too much.
Once we got back to the hotel and administered DD-12’s insulin, kids decided they wanted to go to bed and DH and I headed to the hot tub! I am happy to report that the hot tub at POFQ is still unmonitored. We visited the hot tub multiple times after midnight (once at 2am) and cast members would come check on us, but no one told us it was closed or asked us to leave. This hot tub really saved my feet during this trip.
After hot tub it was time for bed to rest up for our first day in the park.
Coming soon:
Day One, The Magic Kingdom and we learn to really "Go with with Flow oh oh oh oh!"
A ten day trip to Disney!
Quick introductions, I’m Miaka, and my Husband and 2 DD’s (ages 11 and 12) just returned from our second family trip. Our younger daughter turned 11 on our last day at Disney. She wore her birthday pin all week and received lots of birthday wishes!
Our last family trip was in February 2014. This was our first trip with the kids and we tried to do it all in 5 days. That didn't work out very well. By the end of the 5 days we were fried. Sore legs, swollen feet, and everyone was super cranky. We knew the next family trip would have to be longer. We started planning this trip the day we got back from our last trip,and we got so excited about disney that DH and I took a last minute quick trip in May 2015. Without the kids to hold us back we decided that we could really do it all (in 3 days) by the time day 3 was over, my feet were so swollen I could hardly walk. (it was worth it though!)
So this trip, the plan was go slow, see everything, but pace ourselves. We had ten park days. It was a complete success!
I will try to cover everything in this trip report, although I may gloss over some things I consider boring. If I gloss, and you want clarification, just let me know!
~Travel~
The Plan-
Drive from Dallas to Biloxi. (Approx. 8 hours) Sleep. Drive from Biloxi to POFQ. Arrive about 3:30pm.
The reality-
Left Dallas about 9am, which was earlier than we wanted, but a storm front was moving in and we wanted to get ahead of it. Kids were fine during the drive, arrived in Biloxi about 5:30. (Not really Biloxi, but Ocean Springs right off of I-10.) Ordered pizza and then went to bed early. The Holiday Inn was fine. Clean, decent breakfast, nice staff.
Left Biloxi about 6am, was making great time until we hit Mobile. Now, if you have never driven on I-10 through Mobile you wouldn’t know this. There is a bridge that goes across the Bay of Mobile (basically part of the Gulf of Mexico) and its 8 miles long. They call it 8 mile bridge. It is divided, and is only 2 lanes, with no shoulder. For 8 miles. So when there is an accident, you don’t move. For 2 freakin hours. It was horrible. We sat there. Not even inching along. No movement. No exits. Just stuck. While we were sitting there, the storm that we had been trying to outrun moved in.
Arrival! (Thursday)
We finally got to POFQ about 5:45. We were tired and grumpy, but very glad to have arrived. We did the online checkin, but the only text I got was at 10am saying our room wasn’t ready. So we headed to the front desk to check in. Girls received beads and doubloons from this lovely cast member.
Our room was ready, we were in building 1, with a garden view. The view from our window was absolutely gorgeous!
I was a little concerned about POFQ at first, because it’s a moderate and so much smaller than our last trip. During our last trip we stayed at my parents DVC home resort of Old Key West, and each girl had their own bed, we had a washer and dryer and of course the full kitchen. I shouldn’t have been. This place was perfect! Kids did fine sharing a bed, we did laundry twice at the facilities at POFQ but we were not on the dining plan, so I really missed the kitchen. We made the best of it, and hit up Winn Dixie. Stocked up on cereal, milk, poptarts, sandwich stuff, fresh fruit, juice, chips, cookies, microwave corn dogs. I was very pleased with the amount of space the room had. The shelf above the hangers basically became our pantry. After a couple of days the kids had no problem keeping things tidy.
We found our room, and unpacked. I cannot relax until everything is in order. Once everything was in its proper place the kids helped me hang up their drawings. They colored these during the drive. I thought they looked so nice!
After the window was set and everything was unpacked we headed off to find the boat to Disney Springs. We took the long meandering way so we could see more of the resort. Did I mention this place was beautiful? Everything was so green and peaceful!
The boat to Disney Springs was prompt and not over crowded, but we were running short on time. We had an ADR 8pm for T-Rex and I wanted to check in a few minutes early. Once we got off the boat we had to rush, and were able to check in 15 minutes early. We were seated right away. (yay!)
~T-Rex~
This was my first time eating here, I had read reviews so I kind of knew what to expect, but not really. So, first off, the food was really really good. We had a bit of a crisis with this meal. DD-12 is a type 1 diabetic and even though I asked her twice as we were leaving the room, she still managed to forget her test kit and insulin.
Since we couldn’t really go back to the room and get it, and come back and still expect to have our ADR honored, we took a page out of Crush’s book and decided to “Go with the Flow oh oh oh oh” This really became our theme song for the trip.
We started off with the Dexters Dual Dip. The whole family agreed that the Shrimp Artichoke dip was excellent, and the queso Dip tasted like dip you find anywhere.
DH and I both had yummy adult drinks. DH had the Category 5 and I had the Caveman Punch. Both were very sweet and had more banana liqueur that I’m used to, but over all very good.
For dinner I had the Mastadon Stuffed Chicken. This was probably the best chicken I had the entire trip. The mashed potatos and veggies were good, but the chicken was absolutely amazing.
DH had the Layers of earth Lasagna. He said it was good, very filling. He did not finish it all.
DD -12 had the Mega Mes-O-Bones. She liked the ribs, but did not like the fries. Said they were soggy. She also did not finish all of her meal.
DD-11 had the Shrimpkens with the orange slices. She liked the shrimp and the chicken, and was very impressed that it was a lot of food. She did not like the oranges. (I agreed, the oranges were sour) so she ate some of my veggies and was a happy camper.
Once we had our food we explained to the server that we would need to leave as soon as we were done eating, and he was great. He got our bill ready, and processed our payment, and as soon as we were done we headed back to the room to get DD-12’s insulin.
Overall impression:
Service A+
Food: A+
Environment: C-
Environment... .yea. This place was a mad house. The animatronic dino’s are cool (and loud) and there is a lot to see, but I didn’t like how the servers were encouraging everyone to get up and walk around and look at everything. We had our table bumped and were tripped over (one little girl nearly fell in DH’s lap) multiple times. Also, the whole meteor strike thing is really dumb (and loud). The lights go dark, there are a lot of flashing lights, and every dino roars, at least that’s what they say happens. All I heard was every child under the age of 6 screaming in terror. They do this every 15 minutes!
Food was great, but I don’t think we will return. The noise and chaos was just too much.
Once we got back to the hotel and administered DD-12’s insulin, kids decided they wanted to go to bed and DH and I headed to the hot tub! I am happy to report that the hot tub at POFQ is still unmonitored. We visited the hot tub multiple times after midnight (once at 2am) and cast members would come check on us, but no one told us it was closed or asked us to leave. This hot tub really saved my feet during this trip.
After hot tub it was time for bed to rest up for our first day in the park.
Coming soon:
Day One, The Magic Kingdom and we learn to really "Go with with Flow oh oh oh oh!"