[Lisa29]

CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS POST

As we began our descent, they brought sweets round for people to have for landing. I checked the time and we landed precisely at 5.06pm US time. We were at the gate and waiting to get off the plane at 5.20pm. We were told we needed to go to baggage carousel 2 and were walking off the plane at 5.27pm (precise again). We got through to immigration very quickly and we were the only flight in there. As we got near the front, we could see Mum, Dad, Ryan, Bethany, Piper and Cody through in the baggage area. Their flight had been delayed so they weren't that much further ahead of us by the time they landed. They saw us and we waved.

Immigration didn't take long at all and we were lucky with our cases and got these really quickly too. We were walking out of the baggage hall at 5.51pm and we managed to get everything up the escalator so didn't have to do the second bag drop. We had just missed the monorail ahead of us and had seen the others get on it. It didn't take long for one to come back and we were soon in the main terminal

We went to whichever side is to the left as you come off the monorail and found the visitor toll pass desk. There was no one there. We waited a bit and no one came. We saw a member of airport staff and asked them and they said they thought they had closed. It was about 6pm now. There was a number to call but neither of us had a international calls on our phones so didn't want to call and be charged a ridiculous amount. We waited a bit and tried to decide what to do. I wasn't sure if we should go and sort the car and then me come back to see if they were there but in the end we decided not to bother.

We went outside and couldn't see where to cross the road so went back inside (still no Visitor Toll Pass staff) and walked further down inside until we could see where you could cross over. We walked over and into the garage to the Standard SUV row. The cars were quite rubbish; there weren't many and none were what we wanted. We saw a staff member and asked if they were bringing any more cars in or had a Grand Caravan we could have (we like the space of these and the girls love how the doors and boot open). He said to follow him to the mini van row and we could have one from there. I said that we had paid for a Standard SUV and didn't want to upgrade and he told us it was fine to take a car from the minivan row and there would be no extra charge (which of course he was right about).

There were a few to choose from so Phil picked the one with the lowest mileage

The mileage was only 6948

We put the back row of seats down and loaded everything in the car and were on our way at 6.45pm, which shows how long we actually faffed and waited for the Visitor Toll Pass people.

It took ages to drive through the garage and get out and we of course picked the lane where the car in front of us had some sort of problem. I think it took 15 minutes from pulling out of our space to driving through the barrier.

Loved seeing this sign

We went through two tolls on our way to Port Orleans Riverside, $1.75 each, and pulled up outside POR at 7.30pm. I recorded driving under the Walt Disney World sign so don't have a photo!

No photos of outside but I'm sure we have some from another day. I immediately logged onto the wifi and I had a message from Tim (Fairytale Personal Shopper) to say he was in the lobby. We went straight in to meet him and we chatted for a while and he gave me all our parcels. We said goodbye and Phil waited with the parcels whilst Madison and I joined the line to check in.

Phil took some photos while we were waiting

It didn't take us long until we were being checked in. We had booked a garden view room and I had done a room request through touring plans, hoping to be in Magnolia Terrace. This wasn't honoured as the lady checking us in said we had been upgraded to a Royal Room in Oak Manor! I was so pleased, I knew these rooms were lovely and were much more expensive than what we had booked. I didn't ask why we were upgraded but did wonder if it was because it was the girls birthdays the following day. Anyway, she gave us a scroll that you get if you're staying in a Royal Room, sorted the birthday badges for Madison and Kaley and gave us our magic bands.

I also asked if it was possible to opt our of mousekeeping and receive the gift card instead. (There was also a sign for this on the reception desk.) She explained how it would work, said we would receive an e-gift card for $90 and said that we could just call down if we needed anything. She said the email would be with me within a couple of hours and to contact them if it wasn't but it did come straight through, so no issues there.

A couple of maps with our room number on and we were on our way.

We took all the parcels out to the car and followed the signs round to Oak Manor, where we then had a faff trying to work out where to park. We decided to just park where we thought was closest to where we needed to be and headed to our room. It turned out where we had parked was the right place and we were at our room really quickly.

We were on the second floor in room 9248. We went in and took some photos before we brought all of our stuff in

The scroll we were given to take away is what is on the table, as part of the table design.

We were really impressed with the room. It wasn't as small as we had imagined it would be and the Royal Rooms really are done very well.

We then went back to the car and unloaded everything and took it to our room. It was a little after 8pm by now. We just put all our stuff in and went straight out to go to Riverside Mill for some food and to get our refillable mugs and some milk.

It was a lovely walk, we were really close to the bridge back over to the main area and it only took us a few minutes. We were really pleased with the location of our room.

We went to Fultons General Store first to get our refillable mugs. We got pink, green, red and black lids for our cups so we knew whose was whose and used our credits for these. They should have cost $19.99 each. I also got half a gallon of whole milk, $3.69 plus .24 tax, total $3.93. I charged this to the room for some reason, I'm not sure why I didn't pay cash.

From here we went to Riverside Mill and I was surprised at how busy it was. Nothing that caused any issues with getting a table or waiting for food, just more people than I was expecting for 8.40pm. We decided to share two meals and had the chicken tenders and fries and a bacon cheeseburger and fries. We got two big boxes of cookies instead of drinks as we had our refillable mugs. I don't have the individual prices but including tax, this should have cost us $41.07 but we used two credits.

It was around 8.45pm by now and the girls were really tired. We ate our food, which tasted really good, and went back to our room just after 9pm. The girls pretty much fell into bed and were asleep within about a minute.

Phil took a few more photos of the artwork in the room

Phil and I got out the various storage items we had brought with us (hanging shelves and the drawer organisers from Ikea and some pop up baskets from Poundland for shoes and washing) and unpacked and sorted all our stuff. I had just started going through the parcels when Mum and Dad arrived. They were bringing us our Poly magic bands (we were on their booking so we could park there and spend time there all together tomorrow) and some water that Dan had got for us that morning. We talked for a bit and they told us about their travel day and vice versa. While talking, I realised that my Bath and Body Works orders weren't with my stuff so I messaged Tim. He replied quite quickly to say he had found them and arranged to meet again to drop them to me.

Mum and Dad left as they were shattered and we finished sorting through our stuff and wrapped the girls presents.

After a really long day, we were finally in bed at 11.30pm.

Next up, Three Birthdays in Magic Kingdom is HERE!


TODAY'S DINING PLAN ROUND UP - 2 Counter Service used and 0 Snack Credit used. 4 refillable mugs redeemed

OVERALL DINING PLAN ROUND UP - 2/80 Counter Service used and 0/80 Snack Credits used.

DINING PLAN CREDITS REMAINING - 78 Counter Service and 80 Snack Credits.