Trip report 11/2/15 – 11/9/15 of Port Orleans Riverside and traveling with another family. This trip was me, DH and DD. This was the first trip in 5 years that my mom did not come. She passed away in May and I have not been myself since then. I will admit that I was Grumpy and not very Tinkerbell on this trip.
First, I would like to thank the TSA for going through my bags on the way to Florida and on the way home. On the way home a TSA agent took out the contents of one of my suitcases and did not put them back the way I had it. Lotion, hair spray and I think perfume ALL OVER everything. I use zip lock bags and double bag the liquid items, just in case of leakage. My toiletries were out of the bags and everything was wet and goopy.
We have stayed at CBR, POP, and GF CL on previous trips. Riverside is a very nice moderate resort. The theme is not my style, but there was nothing in particular that I did not like. The food court had meal options for all of us. The bar at the pool and main building were adequate. The buses were fine for a resort with multiple stops. We did have issues almost every day with Mouse keeping. We arrived at around 12pm and our room was not ready, but I did receive a text while eating lunch with the room number. The family that we were traveling with had not received a text, yet. Once I saw where the room was I asked a CM if they could check if any rooms were available closer to the main building/food court. The CM said No….I was shocked. I explained that we were traveling with another family and the mom has a knee injury and her son has Type I diabetes and if possible could she check if they could have a room closer to the main area. And, again no….I’m not sure why. I was not attempting to get a room type that was not paid for, I only wanted to see if something was possible, even if it was a day or two later. I let it go. This was my friends family first real trip and I did not want to start if off unmagical. My friend put off minor knee surgery since she was told 4 days before we leave that her MRI showed a problem (I do not remember where the tear was).
Mouse keeping: I am not sure what the hell the mouse keeper’s problem was and why she felt the need to touch our belongings that were not in the way of her doing her job or provide us with toiletries. The first day, arrival day, our room was fine. Arrival night we showered and used most of the shampoo and conditioner. My DD wanted her own bar of soap, so her soap (face soap, orange wrapper) was on the lower soap dish and our soap was on the top soap dish. On the mouse keeping tip envelope I asked for extra toiletries. We got 2 shampoos and 2 conditions and 1 bar of body soap. I was not pleased with the amount, but it was fine. Every day we did not receive all new toiletries and on our 3rd day, we received no toiletries. DH called for toiletries but c’mon just give us some freaking shampoo and conditioner. 2 members of the other family have very long hair and I shower at night after a day in the parks and in the morning. I only realized when I was packing to leave that the mouse keeper never gave us any face soap bars after the first day. At home I use soap slivers, but I’m on vacation and sunscreen removal takes a bit of scrubbing.
It made me uncomfortable that every day the table where we kept papers and other stuff were moved. And, the bathroom counter area items were also moved. This is my pet peeve and I did not like our toothbrushes being touched. I always make sure to remove personal items from the bed, not leave items in the way of cleaning and organize the bathroom vanity so mouse keeping can clean. I have issues with people touching my stuff. At one point, I felt like she was doing it on purpose.
The bed runners were not used, so I fold them up and put them on the bottom of the night stand. One day they were on top of our food by the fridge. I just assume that housekeepers can read my mind and I never had a problem before with mouse keeping moving our personal belongings. I lost my sh!t when on the day before leaving the mouse keeper moved our luggage. I had it on the extra bed and was putting clean clothes away and packing what we did not need. The Mouse keeper zipped up the luggage and put them on the floor standing up. Every day when she arrived the pillows and blanket from the bed were on the other bed, because DD slept on trundle bed. That extra bed was not made up several times and that was fine since we were not using it. It may have been another mouse keeper who serviced our room that day, but it was very very very upsetting and annoying for our clothing to have been folded and then all messed up when I opened the bag up.
So, this trip was memorable because toiletries were a freaking issue at the resort and when I got home and needed to clean a suitcase. It cold her in the northeast. I think I just need to take the suitcase with me in the shower because the lotion is not cleaning up easily.
Epcot Wine and Dine: We went to Epcot on Wednesday 11/4 and Saturday 11/7. On the first visit we did not sample much of the beverages or samples. The crowds were fine and no one seemed to be out of control. Saturday was a different story. We arrived at Epcot around noon and head to the countries. I started off at Chew Lab with the New York Strip with Parsnip Silk, Balsamic Glaze and Arugula Foam, it was delicious. My daughter had Olive Oil-Poached Salmon with Fresh Corn, Bacon, and Pepper Jam and loved it. We then headed to Hawaii and had the Kālua pork slider with sweet and sour Dole® Pineapple chutney and spicy mayonnaise, again delicious. My hubby stopped in Scotland and had Haggis with neeps and tatties, he said that it was very good. I cannot bring myself to try Haggis. Hubby also had the Glenfiddich Single Malt Scotch flight. Shortly after these meals we encountered crowds that were unruly and not very family friendly. By the time we arrived in Japan, I was done. The crowd level seemed very high and some people were just drunk off their a@@es. Everything that we tried was excellent and very delicious. But, once a group started singing LOUDLY on the steps on Japan and I assisted a drunk man with his beer, I wanted to leave. Hubby yelled at an a@@ who was being very rude to the Japanese cashier by making fun of her accent and then claimed that he did not order sushi. I hope to one day go back and try Wine and Dine again, not on a weekend and not when it will be busy. I curse so it was not just the cursing that got to me. It was the loudness of the cursing. The inability of some guest to walk with the follow of people or to just walk. When we stopped in the craft beer area it appeared that a woman was passed out. I wanted to make sure that she was ok, but hubby told me to leave her alone.