WDW: louisiana in the sunshine state

When you travel with Disney, if you do it right-- you arrive at the airport, you get on Disney's Magical Express, and then Disney magic envelopes you and you're suddenly being dropped off at your resort, giddy with excitement due to the video they streamed on the way through Orlando (-- which you totally missed, by the way--) and you're transported. You may be transported to the Polynesian islands, to the great lodges in Montana, to Key West, or...

... to Louisiana. We agonized over where we'd stay when we started planning our trip to Disney. The hotel is a BIG part of the experience, so we wanted to pick a great place... We wanted to pick a place other than the Animal Kingdom Lodge -- we went there for our honeymoon, and might stay there when we go back for Liam's birthday in 2012, so we wanted to stay somewhere for us.

We chose the Port Orleans: Riverside.
Port Orleans has 2 "parts:" Riverside and French Quarter. Riverside has multiple stand alone buildings, each only a few floors high, modeled either after the Antebellum mansions of the plantation south, or after bayou cabins. We stayed in the mansions, and it was be-e-a-utiful.

I die for the tile floor in the sink area, and loved that they left us towel animals.
They always make me smile.

The resort grounds itself were incredibly beautiful. Magnolia trees, oak trees with spanish moss, gardenias... it was gorgeous. 

The lobby/ sit down restaurant/ dining hall/ shop were all in one big, v shaped building- but each part had different architecture. 

When you walked out the back of the lobby, you came out on the edge of the lake.

Outside lobby/entrance. Bridge to left takes you to 'Ol Man Island and the main resort pool.

There were boats for the guests to rent, and a landing with a boat (pictured to the left) that would take you to Downtown Disney (we TOTALLY employed the use of that boat-- twice!)...

Boatwright's Dining Hall (left), Riverside Mill Food Court (right).

Entrance of the main building, from the back.

Check-in lobby, from the back.

When I say that I loved the Antebellum Mansions, I really mean it. I dare any girl not to be giddy with excitement about the idea of staying in one of these:

Now, I wish to goodness I'd snagged a picture of the pool. It looked like a backwater swimming hole, and it was so incredible. In addition to the main pool, between the line of mansions, there were smaller, mini pools. There were 7 pools total at our resort, and they were all beautiful. The ones between the mansions reminded me SO much of the pool that Tracy Samantha Lord has at her house in The Philadelphia Story (haven't seen it? You're seriously missing out.)... it also had 4 bus stops, which was nice, and we were at the "north" stop, and it was SO close to our building, it was incredibly nice.

All in all, I loved this resort. It was quiet, and sweet. You could hear the crickets at night when we walked back to our room.  I loved the aura of the place, I loved everything about it. I would recommend it to anyone who asked. It is perfect for a family, or for a couple-- young or old. 

Honestly, I cannot tell you how RIGHT Disney gets everything. There's a reason we keep going back, and it's more than the parks. Did you know from the time we left IAH to the time we arrived back at IAH, I never had to TOUCH my luggage? Did you know that they do everything so right, that it's hard to talk ourselves into going anywhere else? I know when I go to WDW that I'm going to have a fantastic time, every time.  I know my resort will be gorgeous, my room will be spotless, the guest relations will bend over backwards to help us, and the cast members are all to-die-for nice.

We'll be going back in 2012, as I said. We're planning on October, we'll take Liam to Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, and The Pirate's League... we've decided to give him the option of where we stay, given a few choices. We're going to give him the Polynesian, the Animal Kingdom Lodge or the Port Orleans.

(I've stayed at all 3, and I'm ALL ABOUT all 3.)

God, I love Disney.