12 Days at Disney Feb 2018 Trip Report - Day Five
This proved to be yet another perfect Disney day, even if it wasn't a very heavy park day. We originally had plans to go to Disney Hollywood Studios in the morning, but at the last minute, we decided to ditch those plans and visit some of our favorite non-park places.
We started by taking the monorail to the Magic Kingdom where we caught a completely empty bus (everyone was headed to the parks, not from them!) to Port Orleans Riverside. We just love the ambiance at this resort, and we strolled along the Sassagoula river all the way to Port Orleans French Quarter for some beignets. We washed this down with iced cappuccino.
A surrey on one of the quiet paths in Port Orleans Riverside
Breakfast of champion's cravings finished, we went down to the boat launch and took the boat to Disney Springs. We did a bit of shopping at World of Disney where mom finally found the perfect shirt. About this time, my husband and daughter were at the airport, on their way to try to join us. I say try to because where we are from, they got about 6 inches of snow the night before, and flights were delayed, so I was anxiously watching my phone making sure they made it.
After Disney Springs, my mom and I had always wanted to try Columbia Harbour House. There were really good reviews and we'd just never bothered to eat there, so we made our way back to the Magic Kingdom and entered just to eat there for lunch. I have to say the lines were atrocious and an instant turn off. We did find a table upstairs, but for me it was not as special as reviews made it sound. I had the shrimp plate and I forgot what mom had. It was just ok food-wise as well. In retrospect, I'm not sure why we didn't just take advantage of the plentiful yummy food at Disney Springs, but we were just knocking around doing whatever to kill time, so it was fine.
By the time we finished, it was approaching 3:30 and I had received word that my husband and daughter had arrived at the airport, so we headed out of the Magic Kingdom to go meet them at the Polynesian. On the way out, I bought a mickey balloon. Now, these are really overpriced, but the last time my daughter had been at Walt Disney World, she had to relinquish her favorite light up mickey balloon (who she had aptly named "balloony") to go on the cruise and there were tears, so I thought it might be nice to surprise her with a new balloony. Back at the Polynesian, we grabbed some drinks from the lounge. The bartender didn't even bat an eye that two people were carrying four drinks, and then we went down to the lobby to eagerly await the arrival of the Magical Express. I greeted them with a blue glotini for my husband and a watermelon lemonade and balloon for the child and I have to admit, I was so happy to see them.
Drink line-up from Tambu Lounge
We took them back to our room and settled in a little bit before taking the boat launch back to the Magic Kingdom. I had a Fastpass for Seven Dwarves Mine Train again, and we just made it within the window to ride it. Daughter loved it.
After the ride, we headed over to our dinner reservation at Jungle Skipper Canteen at 5:55. The food here was very good as was the ambiance, but our service was not the greatest. Our skipper was not in the joke-cracking mood, I guess, and everything came out sarcastic. Plus, the service was slow. I had the shu mai and a dessert that I didn't care for. My daughter had rice pudding and it was really good.
Having been to the canteen, we needed of course to ride Jungle Cruise, so we dashed over there to catch a ride before the fireworks, and then were able to get a last minute spot at the hub just in time for Happily Ever After, which was a perfect end to the day for all of us. Then, we hopped on the monorail back to the resort.
A little note about DVC Studios at the Polynesian: Husband and I were on the pullout bed, my mom on the bed, and the daughter in the little pull down bunk under the TV. She really liked her little TV bunk. Though it was a lot of people in a room, the DVC studio was pretty workable for all four of us. With two bathrooms, and a kitchenette area (so three sinks), there was plenty of room for us to get ready in the mornings.
Part of our room (the part with the pull down bed, currently cleaned up). We loved our studio room.
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