Day One: WDW Trip January 2008

Lake Buena Vista, Florida: With just over a month left before out annual passes scheduled to expire, we decided to squeeze in one last trip to Walt Disney World. We booked a short stay at the Port Orleans Riverside Resort, a moderate hotel in which we had not stayed at yet.

We arrived at WDW early in the morning dropped the dog off at the Fort Wilderness kennel and then headed to Port Orleans to check in. Then we boarded the bus and headed to Epcot. When we arrived at Epcot, we were given some bad news, our passes were blacked out until tomorrow. I misread the blackout dates on the back of the pass and the passes did not come out of winter break blackout until tomorrow. Not only did that put us behind schedule on our park plan, but try taking a 2 year old to the front gates of the park and then turn around and leave…what an awful feeling.

But we went back to the hotel and made the most of a bad situation. Fortunately for us, our room was ready early. We moved our stuff into the room and then went to explore the resort. The grounds of Riverside are amazing, no details were spared in making this closely resemble the Louisiana bayou. Our room was in a rustic building in the swamps, while other buildings on the property were made to look like antebellum mansions.

We headed to Ol’ Man Island, the main amenities portion of the resort. Here we went cane pole fishing on the lake. I broke by bad streak of not catching a fish by pulling in a miniature bass. It was barely measurable, but at least it was something. Our son then played on the playground for a little while before we headed to lunch at the Riverside Mill.

After lunch we rented a boat from the marina and toured the resort and neighboring Port Orleans French Quarter via the water. We took the leisurely trip down the Sassagoula River to Downtown Disney and back in the Boston Whaler boat. It was a peaceful trip.

We spent the evening on I-Drive in downtown Orlando and then had dinner at Sal’s at the Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal before heading back to the hotel for the night.