Port Orleans and the Boredwalk

SUNDAY, MAY 8, 2011

Mommy's birthday began with a big breakfast - more food! - and some pretty decent weather as we started out on our next Disney vacation. We went to Port Orleans Riverside, which was a decent hotel. In retrospect, it wasn't our favorite - but that's not to say it wasn't good. We just prefer the others a little better.

Remember Madison's camera? Here's a photo she took of the water wheel at the hotel:

She snapped several shots at the hotel today, and also took some shots of Mommy and Daddy too. She was having a good time with that camera!

One place we thought we'd explore was Disney's Boardwalk. Though scenic, at this point I am more inclined to spell it "Boredwalk." There was nothing to do there, particularly for Madison. At least, not compared to the Disney Village. Still, we took plenty of photos of the area (research for an upcoming KidPak series). One thing that didn't help was the fact that it took AN HOUR AND A HALF to get there. That's right: it took longer to get from our hotel to the Boardwalk than it did for us to drive to Disney from Ocala, Florida. What's up with that?

Attempting to salvage the day, we returned back to the Downtown Disney (which was actually a quick trip), where we had a nice meal at the Rainforest Cafe. Madison snapped photos of the gorillas as they made a lot of noise. We didn't have much time, but we did manage to drop by the Disney Store in search of something we would not find this whole trip: Kingdom Keepers IV. This is a new book that came out a few months ago. You'd think a new book about Disney that takes place in Disney would be available at Disney, but after searching through several stores that featured all sorts of Disney books, we did not find it.

One of the neater things about our hotel is the boat you can ride to the Downtown Disney. While it's a relaxing and quiet ride (unless you have boisterous and somewhat tipsy Irish people behind you), the travel time is longer than expected. Additionally, many people are waiting for this very same boat, so therefore you can expect to miss a boat or two as you wait in line to go from here to there. It's better to just get in the car and drive. That is, unless you just want to go for a nice quiet - and long - boat ride.

Madison went on plenty of boat rides this trip. We counted about ten this time, actually.

We got back reasonably late, but we got to bed rather quickly: tomorrow would be a big day at the Magic Kingdom!