Disney World 2011

Our 2011 Disney World vacation

Our building, #14, the Alligator Bayou at Port Orleans Riverside. We had room 1404. It was a nice room with plenty of room for the wheelchair. But it's hard to find at night since there is very little signage and the front desk provides very little instruction on how to get where you are heading. We got a little lost wandering around looking for our room in the dark at 11 pm after a long day of traveling and travel delays.

But the grounds are decorated nicely. It is Florida so there is standing water everywhere. We discovered what a problem this created as there were bugs in our room every night. You would think that paying what we paid Disney could at least keep the bugs out of the room! We killed 16 the last night there and about the same the previous evening.

Lots of bugs around!

Our room, decorated in the Riverside theme.

Poorly designed closet. We couldn't open a drawer without all the other drawers opening and couldn't use the fridge without closing the doors. Could be easily fixed with a descent hutch.

The Riverside Mill which served as the main building for checkin, gift store, restaurant, and other services.

The fishing hole where you could actually drop a line.

We started off our adventure with a safari ride through the Kilimanjaro Safari ride. It's one of our favorite rides at the Animal Kingdom. Every time we go on the ride there is something a little different. Sometimes certain animals get closer than others, like the time we had to stop in the road to let a giraffe cross.

Giraffes still wander close to the road.

Hungry, hungry hippos

Rhinos

Flamingos

Elephant and a baby


Other animals spotted on the safari.

Magic Kingdom all decorated for Halloween.

People mover. Still operating at Disney World though not accessible for the disabled.


Cinderella's castle, much larger than the Disneyland version.

Tea Cups are covered here, another difference.

After spending a little time at the Magic kingdom, we decided it would be fun to explore some of the other resorts. We took the monorail over to the Contemporary. This mosaic was designed by Mary Blair, the same artist that designed It's a Small World.

The Polynesian was decorated very nice and had very nice grounds. It's another resort we hope to stay at some day.


The third resort we visited was the Grand Floridian, a beautiful (and most expensive of all the WDW resorts).

The weather vane from the wedding chapel at the Grand Floridian.

The lobby of the Grand Floridian. Very elegant. Victoria & Alberts restaurant is located here, one of the finest dining establishments in the region.

A view of the Yacht Club and Beach Club resorts at night as we made our way to dinner.

That evening we then headed to the Beach Club restaurant and ate at Cape May, a buffet restaurant. They had the best red potatoes I have ever had!

Our second day was spent with Dorie, Milan and James at EPCOT.

We love this time of the year with the food festival going on. It's a lot of fun to go around "the world" and sample (at a cost, of course) foods from various parts of the country. Foods I tried included: Canada - cheddar cheese soup; Belgium - Waffle with Berry Compote and Whipped Cream; Morocco - Baklava; Cheese fondue (yuck). I liked the Canadian cheese soup and Belgium waffles I had to return there for seconds! This year they added Portugal, Caribbean and Hawaii booths.

New this year was also a display from Ocean Spray of a cranberry bog. There was even a nearby booth that was giving out Craisin samples.

At the end of the test track attraction, there are various Buick's on display. James couldn't resist taking the new Cadillac for a test drive (in his dreams).

Another favorite ride is Spaceship Earth, a ride-through history of information.
We both loved the Biergarten, the restaurant in Germany in EPCOT. Authentic German food with good old fashioned German music made for one of the few restaurants we will look forward to returning to.

Our third day was spent at Hollywood Studios. It was crowded here as well.

One of the rides we wanted to experience was Toy Story. But when we arrived at 10 am we discovered they had given out a lot of fast passes. In fact, if we had got one, our return time would have been for 5:30 pm. Because we had dinner reservations, we could not take advantage of the fast pass and opted to wait over 100 minutes in line.

Toy Story was decorated very differently than the Disneyland version but the ride was still the same. I liked being part of the story but found the building to be overly warm and noisy.

The wheelchair queue was a little different but still functioned the same way as Disneyland.

We enjoyed lunch at the 50's Prime Time Cafe. Imagine your Grandmothers house in the 50s. that's how they have themed this restaurant.

Kent looking over the dessert menu conveniently loaded on the viewmaster.

A result of the dessert selection.

Lightning McQueen and Mater are both on display outside the park in form of topiary.

Mickey leads the band at Hollywood Studios

The Backlot tour also includes a look at some of Disney's old props, such as the spaceship used in Flight of the Navigator.

Other props from the Disney vaults.

Special effects stage
Catastrophe Canyon on the backlot tour

Street scene along the tour

Costume shop along the tour

Walt Disneys' plane used to scout the "Florida Project"

Dinner that night was at Whispering Canyon Cafe, locaed at the Wilderness Lodge (another future site we want to stay at--both the rooms and in the campground with the RV). Dinner was an all-you-can-eat selection of ribs, pulled pork, chicken beef brisket, mashed potatoes, baked beans, corn on the cob, coleslaw and cornbread. But the best part was when a family asked for ketchup. The server would yell out "We need ketchup" and another family would deliver all 50 bottles to their table. When the next unsuspecting family asked for it, then it was delivered in the same way. Very fun for the kids to see them running around the restaurant with 6-7 bottles of ketchup to deliver!

Our last day was at the Magic Kingdom.

The lay out of the park is a little different, including Tomorrowland.

The Haunted Mansion queue is very different. Very much more interesting artifacts...

... and interactive attractions.

Fun props along the way.

Haunted Mansion seems a little spookier at Magic Kingdom.

For dinner that night we went back to EPCOT to celebrate Oktoberfest at Biergarten, a Geman buffet, complete with entertainment.

All I can say was it was delicious! It's definately a spot to which we will return. Given the quality of Disney food, Biergarten was a welcome respite.

The sun sets on our vacation. Overall I walked 19.1 miles. But it didn't really feel like it.