Riverside

One more post of Orlando. I ought to share a little more about the resort we stayed at. I won’t bore you with the itty-bitty details because you can get all that at the website – actually, you can go to the main Disney World website, which is great for vacation planning, but Riverside was the one we chose. We had stayed there 5 years ago on our first visit, and had liked it so much we decided to re-visit it, rather than experiment with another. I’ll just share a few more photos of us having fun there.

One question you might have here is where, exactly, is the hotel? Well, it’s a resort, it’s ALL over here. The place is huge – huge like only Disney Orlando can manage. The main play/pool area is 3.5 acres alone. It’s located on the left side of the bridge in the background of the photo above. My family is standing in the front ‘garden’ of our building, which also had a large pool attached. The main lobby, restaurants,  and marina were located across the river, off to the left of the play island, over another bridge.

It was pleasant to go for walks in the morning and evening.

Lots of ‘decor’ around the park.

Port Orleans is an area with two resorts. We stayed at Riverside, but the French Quarter was a short(-ish) walk downstream, or a short ride by ferry. It looks nice too.

We enjoyed the boat taxi. It was often quicker to get a boat to go back and forth downtown than a bus, although the boat ride could take about 25 minutes, but it was always a pleasant ride.

Sailing into the lake near Downtown Disney was a lovely sight in the evening… everything all lit up.

Cirque de Soleil – we LOVED the show!!! We dined at Planet Hollywood late in our stay and they gave us a 20% off coupon for tickets, but this was after we’d already been.

Honor and I took some ‘stormy night’ photos as we returned one evening and some of them turned out very nice. The light played tricks with the camera and the photos came out looking almost like paintings.

and yes, I am tilting the photos… some were taken at odd angles. What can I say? The boat was moving!

 

Aren’t these blues amazing? The stormy weather was lovely… despite getting us too soaked to be comfy in air conditioned restaurants at times!

Inside the lobby was lovely too.

I didn’t take any photos of the resort dining rooms or shops. Although I got some from the T-rex restaurant at Downtown Disney – it was a fun place to go out to dinner.

We sat in the ice cavern, although I think my favorite was the room with the pteranodons and the “kitchen of fire!"

Could you enjoy your dinner with this guy breathing down your neck? “Are you gonna finish those ribs?!”

All in all, I think we managed a successful Disney vacation. :)

Honor doesn’t know whether to show off her pirate salute, or the fancy ring that the boat captain gave her.

Brian scored some awesome new sunglasses.