The 50th, 50th & 50th Disney trip April/May 2022 - Travel day

[sha9]

The link to the dining report is here.
As usual in the airport hotel I had a rubbish sleep. I couldn’t get to sleep but must have eventually because I woke around 5. I lay for a wee while then decided I was awake and may as well just get up and get showered. We had a coffee in the room but Dad was dressed early so went down to see what breakfast had on offer. He said there was plenty, they had hot food etc. he just had cereal though.
We headed over to the airport about 7am for a 10.20am flight. I couldn’t figure out how to check out on the app so just gave our room numbers as we passed reception.
The walk across took about 5 minutes and was pathway all the way, although a few pot holes.
Check in was smooth and there was a security guy checking Covid status in the queue. No need to have stressed at all! We headed through security where Mum needed a check because she hadn’t put the hand gel in her clear bag. This took ages. We had a look at Duty Free and some of the shops but didn’t buy anything. I was looking for a Clarins sun cream but they didn't have it and to be honest I find QVC the best for most of the beauty products I need.
We went straight to the lounge and there was no issue with being a bit early (due to flight change of an hour). It was busy but we got a nice table. Hot rolls for breakfast, pancake machine, cereals and pastries. I didn't take photos of the food on offer as it was quite busy.

Wifi seemed to be down and I realise I hadn’t downloaded my Jack Reacher book to my kindle. Wifi didn’t work the whole time we were in the lounge but the time passed really quickly and before we knew it the gate was displayed and boarding started. We headed to the gate and joined the queue for priority boarding. I was selected for additional security checks so everyone else was in their seats by the time I arrived. We were at the back of PE in front of economy. The plane is a lot smaller than we're used to with the 747 and wasn’t full. Unfortunately because everyone else was in their seats I couldn't take any photos (no one wants to be in the report!).
I read for a while then watched Sing 2. Lunch was served just before 12. It was a choice of paneer curry, salmon or chicken lasagne. M&D got the curry, I had salmon and Marie the lasagne. The starter was not nice but the salmon was lovely. Very nicely seasoned. Marie said the lasagne had a bit of spice but was nice. The dessert was some sort of mousse or panna cotta or something and was fine.

I'm very bad at taking photos on the plane!

We got an orange ice lolly a couple of hours after dinner then afternoon tea a couple of hours before landing. The sandwiches were cream cheese and dill and cheddar and pesto and tomato chutney. They were fine. The scone was nice. I had the pink cake but the buttercream was too thick so I didn’t eat the other one which Marie said was nice. The tea was a bit stewed.

This was our first time in PE that wasn't in the 747. The seats were the same but the cabin wasn't as nice. I think because everyone in economy has to pass you it doesn't feel as exclusive - I always enjoyed getting settled in to my seat with a drink while everyone else boarded behind me. The plane was so much smaller though that it felt less crowded and boarding and getting off was so much quicker.

We landed early at 2.15 and by 2.45 we were off the plane, through immigration and had collected our bags. We headed on the monorail and stopped at the other end to get our bearings and check who needed to go where. We had booked Mears Connect for Mum and Dad to get to POFQ as we knew the car would be too small for 4 of us and luggage so they had to head to the Mears Connect area on B side and Marie and I to collect the Visitor Toll Pass then Hertz at A side. Marie and I got a bit lost having got off on the wrong floor for the VTP. It’s actually right at the rental car desks. There was no queue at Hertz and no hard sell. We paid $93 for fuel and then headed across to collect the Range Rover Evoque we’d been allocated.

(Pictures from the future .)

We got our room number on the drive to POFQ but Mum and Dad didn’t. They arrived before us so we said to head to reception and we’d meet them there. We were emailed the dining credit before we even arrived at the hotel however again Mum and Dad hadn't been.I'm not sure what was different as we'd both done OLCI. Our pre paid magic bands weren't there for some reason so we were given vouchers to buy them from any of the shops and key cards to enter our rooms and the parks. We were in building two on the second floor (our first floor) in rooms 2221 and 2222 which are adjoining rooms as we requested. This was a Garden View as the cheapest included in the offer this year.

I had fell in love with POFQ when we popped over for some beignets in 2019 and staying there was exactly as I'd hoped. The room location was excellent - not to far from the centre but round the corner so very quiet. We were also really close to both the pool and the boat dock but with no noise from either.

We unpacked a bit while we decided if we were up for a boat ride to DS or just use the food court. We were starving and thirsty and decided to just go to the food court. We used mobile order. I cut and paste the gift card number as someone suggested and that worked great. Everyone else got chicken strips and I got a burger. Dad and I went halves. This was all fine, typical QS food. We also purchased refillable mugs. Again we used the credit but this time I had downloaded it to apple wallet and the staff member was able to scan the barcode on my Apple Watch. These were $19.99 pre tax and we’re so close to the food court we knew we'd get our moneys worth. It's Coke freestyle at POFQ so I had Minute Maid peach juice.
They had two choices of mug, both 50th anniversary ones so we got two of each with Mum & I getting one and Dad and Marie the other in the hope they wouldn't get mixed up. It didn't really work as Dad couldn't really tell the difference.

We headed back to the room to find our celebration basket had been delivered. This was a Disney cooler full of "stuff".

This was handy for the journey home as I put all the breakables inside it in my case .

We unpacked properly then went for a wander round the resort.
The temperature was perfect, just warm enough for a stroll.

While we were out we decided we had waited long enough for beignets and headed over to Scat Cat's Club to get some to take back to the room.

We tried to stay awake as long as possible but Marie gave up about 8pm and I was just behind her. We both woke about half 2 and I discovered I was in the background of someone else’s blog photo following a post on our team WhatsApp group at work .
Thankfully we got some more sleep before our first day back in the parks!

[ClaireNJ]

POFQ looks amazing very pretty, we stayed at Dixie Landings years ago, now of course Riverside and visited the pool next door, kids loved it
I love your celebration basket very handy

[mick]

Good travel day

Joan

[sha9]

Originally Posted by ClaireNJ

POFQ looks amazing very pretty, we stayed at Dixie Landings years ago, now of course Riverside and visited the pool next door, kids loved it
I love your celebration basket very handy

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It's amazing! Definitely my new favourite resort!

Originally Posted by mick

Good travel day

Joan

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Thanks!

[SuziQz]

Sounds like a good travel day. POFQ looks lovely, we really enjoyed our stay at POR in 2016 😀

[sha9]

Originally Posted by SuziQz

Sounds like a good travel day. POFQ looks lovely, we really enjoyed our stay at POR in 2016 😀

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We stayed at POR in 2017 but love the size of POFQ.

[no1Disneyfan86]

Good travel day. We stayed in Riverside in 2008(?) and visited FQ while we were there.

[Goldia]

French quarter looks so beautiful. It really is a lovely resort, the size was perfect for us when we were there with my parents back in 2019. I love those 50th refillable mugs, I'm definitely going to have to buy one of those. I'm glad you decided to do a trip report Lisa, I'm looking forward to reading all about your trip

[danisleigh]

We were at POFQ last month also in building 2 but the other side overlooking the pool. We loved it, would definitely stay there again. Looking forward to reading more.

[sha9]

Originally Posted by Goldia

French quarter looks so beautiful. It really is a lovely resort, the size was perfect for us when we were there with my parents back in 2019. I love those 50th refillable mugs, I'm definitely going to have to buy one of those. I'm glad you decided to do a trip report Lisa, I'm looking forward to reading all about your trip

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Originally Posted by danisleigh

We were at POFQ last month also in building 2 but the other side overlooking the pool. We loved it, would definitely stay there again. Looking forward to reading more.

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We’ve booked again for next year but this time a standard room. I reckoned there wouldn’t be a huge difference but it’s cheaper.