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Disney Port Orleans Riverside Resort Review

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Continuing with my Walt Disney World resorts reviews, today I’m covering Disney Port Orleans Riverside! I most recently stayed here in December of 2023 when I reviewed the princess themed rooms at this resort. However, I also stayed in a regular room back in 2016. So, this review will be based off of both stays.

Disney Port Orleans Riverside

Disney Port Orleans Riverside

As I mentioned in my Port Orleans French Quarter Resort review, there are two sister resorts under the Port Orleans Resort name. There’s French Quarter (a much smaller resort with jazz vibes) and this one, Riverside. Both resorts are considered moderates as they are a higher price point than the values. However, they also have classier themes and nicer food. In fact, Riverside even has a sit-down table service restaurant. Both resorts also provide boat transportation to Disney Springs!

Riverside Theme

Port Orleans Riverside is a large resort with multiple bus stops. It’s themed to the stately mansions of the bayou. There’s even a section of princess themed rooms. Overall, it’s a beautiful, peaceful resort. Currently, the regular rooms look very similar to the ones found at the French Quarter. The beds are moderately comfortable, but you are also paying for that comfort.

Now, on to the pros and cons of staying here.

Pros

  • Beautiful resort – This truly is a pretty and calm resort, which is good since you will be doing a lot of walking here.
  • Comfortable rooms – Again, both stays here have been quiet and we slept well. I also appreciated the good water pressure, particularly after staying at Cabana Bay at Universal.
  • Good for adults only stays – The classy touches are perhaps better appreciated by the adults. Children may find the theme (aside from the princess rooms) a little under-whelming.
  • Royal themed rooms – The princess/royal themed rooms we stayed in were really nice! The theme was beautiful and delightful. It’s the only resort to have these sweet rooms.
  • Boat transportation to Disney Springs. If you are planning a visit to Disney Springs, then you can enjoy a lovely boat ride over there.
  • On-site perks – Once again, I love staying on-site for the free park transportation and 60 day advance dining reservations.
  • Boatwright’s Dining Hall – This is the table service restaurant at the resort. We ate here for dinner prior to heading over to Hollywood Studios for Jollywood Nights. We didn’t have a reservation, but they were able to accommodate us within 10 minutes. We enjoyed the sweet cornbread that was more akin to a corncake with its sweet flavor. I got the Taste of the Bayou and enjoyed sampling lots of things. I published a full Boatwright’s Dining Hall review last week if you want to hear more. Suffice it to say, it was nice to have a sit down meal without having to go anywhere else.
  • Carriage rides – We didn’t get a chance to take one, but we did see a couple taking a carriage ride around the resort. It looked lovely.

Cons

  • Large resort – More than likely, you won’t be right beside the lobby or a bus stop. If you book a stay here, know that you will be doing some serious walking.
  • Multiple bus stops – Due to the size of the resort, there are multiple bus stops. That might not sound like a big deal, but when you are tired at the end of the night and you have to stop several times, it adds up. Also, if you are at the last bus stop, then it might take a while for a bus to actually pick you up. Basically, give yourself extra time to get anywhere when you stay here.
  • Bus transportation to parks – We didn’t have time to visit Disney Springs in December. So, we spent a good amount of time waiting for and sitting/standing on the buses this trip.
  • More expensive than value resorts – Yes, you get a lot more and better things for the price here. However, it’s never cheap. We used a Disney+ discount on our stay in December, but it was still pretty expensive to stay here.

Is Port Orleans Riverside Worth It?

I think this is a lovely resort. It’s certainly a unique and relaxing resort. However, it’s expensive and expansive. Personally, I prefer the more compact French Quarter or somewhere on the Skyliner. Have you ever stayed here? What was your experience like?

Mickey’s Very Merry Dessert Party Review

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You already know about Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party, which I reviewed last year. However, did you know that you can also book a Very Merry Dessert Party for a seated view of the fireworks and a dessert buffet? My mom and I booked this add-on experience on my most recent trip, so I thought I would do a review in case anyone else is considering it.

Very Merry Dessert Party

Very Merry Dessert Party

Anyone who has ever visited the Magic Kingdom knows how crowded it gets for the fireworks. It’s not unusual at these special events to stake out a spot for the parade and/or fireworks 40 minutes or more in advance. In fact, that’s what my mom and I did last year. So, this year we decided to spring for Minnie’s Wonderful Christmastime Fireworks Dessert Party! Basically, you get a reserved seated fireworks viewing area and a tasty spread of sweets!

Party Food

Unlike at the Oogie Boogie Bash Dessert Party where you are given a plate of food, at this one there’s a whole buffet to select from! My mom remarked that she really liked this one since she wasn’t limited to eating whatever items they gave everyone. There was an apple caramel crepe that was tasty! I also enjoyed the chocolate covered strawberries and some cinnamon doughnuts! There was a mini key lime tart that surprised me as I don’t typically think of key limes for Christmas, but it was a nice reminder that I was in Florida.

There was also a variety of beverages to enjoy! They had a nice sparkling apple cider as well as some hydrating water. I tried the sparkling wine as I typically like champagne, but it was just ok. My mom got some juice and water. They had plenty of beverage options.

The only complaint I can come up with is the fact that there are so few savory/salty items. They had some cheese and crackers, but everything else was sweet. So, this is definitely for the folks with a sweet tooth!

The View

We headed over to the Tomorrowland Terrace after waiting over an hour to meet the Seven Dwarfs. So, having a seat for the fireworks show was amazing after that! We checked in early, around 8:40 to ensure we got a table by the railing and we got an amazing view! Everyone is seated at the Tomorrowland Terrace with a view of the castle, but those who arrive early get the prime spots. So, I encourage you to arrive 20-ish minutes earlier than they tell you to for the best spots. You are free to come and go, so you could pick out your table and come back later.

I also have to say how nice it was to just sit and take in the show/view without a bunch of people pushing up on me. I was reminded just how nice this was when we left the terrace to get a spot for the second parade and was surrounded by pushy people.

Is the Very Merry Dessert Party worth it?

The Christmas Party is already an expensive separately ticketed event. Then, you add another $100+ for this dessert party. So, it’s a very expensive evening. It also takes time away from the party to sit and enjoy your treats. It also doesn’t leave any stomach space for the party exclusive treats. However, you can see an obstructed view of the parade and castle stage show from this area. Plus, the cookies they give out at the party come individually wrapped, so you can take some with you. My mom and I really enjoyed this experience and highly recommend it if you like desserts and want to sit down.

Have you ever done the Very Merry Dessert Party? What did you think?

Disney Jollywood Nights at Hollywood Studios Review

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I’ve just returned from a trip to Orlando to celebrate the holidays. One of the special events I was able to experience was the new Disney Jollywood Nights held at Hollywood Studios.

Disney Jollywood Nights

Disney Jollywood Nights

For years, Walt Disney World has had one Christmas themed add-on event: Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party at Magic Kingdom. You can read my review of last year’s event at that link. Then, this summer they announced that Hollywood Studios was getting its own special event for the holidays! It was sold as a glam holiday themed after hours event, so it’s shorter than the other party in duration but also includes small crowds.

I purchased tickets for my mom and I as soon as they went on sale. Then, I eagerly awaited the event, until I saw the meltdown on social media from the first event. I was hesitant to go after seeing reviews, but decided to go ahead with the plan since we already had the tickets. Thankfully, Disney made a few changes after the first night and subsequent nights didn’t sell out. So, this is my experience of the December 4th event.

Rides

One of the reasons we were content to attend the party after the negative reviews was the low wait times for rides. We ended up riding only ride, however it was the best one. A virtual queue opens up at 8 PM for Rise of the Resistance. So, I joined right at 8 and got group number 5! My mom had never been on this ride, so I was very excited to be able to get us on this ride. While she’s not a Star Wars fan, she really enjoyed the ride. So, that was a nice way to kick-off the party.

I periodically checked the app throughout the night and noticed that most rides had low wait times. However, it was chilly and I wasn’t too interested in riding rides at that point. Plus, we had other things we wanted to do.

Characters

Initially, there was only a handful of special character meet and greets. The lines for those meets were really long. So, for the second event and onwards, Disney added some additional characters to the line-up. While at the party, my mom and I were tickled to meet a few rare characters!

Pinocchio and Jiminy Cricket switch out during the party. So, we got in line first to see Jiminy, but then he switched out with Pinocchio. I was equally excited to meet both characters, so I was happy to meet Pinocchio. We came back later in the night and got in line again while Pinocchio was meeting and he switched out with Jiminy. So, we ended up being able to meet both of them during the party! I’d say we waited about 20 minutes each time and felt it was a good use of party time since you can’t currently meet either character in the US parks.

We also attempted to see Donald Duck in his special outfit, but he switched out and we saw Daisy instead. While I appreciate the short waits between character breaks, it was mildly annoying to get in line and not know for sure who we were going to meet.

I did appreciate the fact that the event came with free picture downloads. So, we didn’t have to worry about how my cell phone would perform in the low lighting or draining the battery.

Jollywood Nights Shows

Disney made and put on two special shows just for the event. We were lucky enough to catch both of them! We watched the second showing of the night of Disney Holidays in Hollywood. It was a cute little show that we both enjoyed. My mom remarked that it appeared that most of the budget went towards making this show and she might be right.

We caught the last show of the night of What’s This? Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas Sing Along. This show appeared to have a much smaller budget. I applaud the actors in the show as they did a great job. It was neat seeing the big Jack puppet on stage. However, no one in the crowd was singing along and it came across a little awkward.

Holiday Entertainment

Just for the event the Jingle Bell, Jingle BAM! nighttime show returned. I had seen this show previously when it was offered to regular park guests years ago. So, it was neat to see it again. However, it would have been nice to see it with a regular park ticket. It was nice to end the event with a nighttime fireworks show, like a regular park day.

Room for Improvement

Given the public backlash on this event and the inability to sell out the event, I wonder if it will return next year. If it should return, I imagine it will need to change drastically. For starters, it would be nice to have beverages and some food included, like other parties. Additionally, there needs to be more stuff going on around the park. Parts of the park were crowded while other parts had nothing going on and were empty.

Is Disney Jollywood Nights worth it?

If you have already purchased tickets to this year’s event, I say go for it! My mom and I had a good time at this event. We enjoyed meeting the characters and seeing the shows. It was also really nice to see everyone’s glamorous outfits for the event. It seemed like it would make a good date night activity for couples.

So, have you attended this event? What was your experience like?

Goofy’s Kitchen Character Dinner Review

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Much to the surprise of any Walt Disney World frequent visitor, Disneyland has only one character dinner option. So, on my most recent trip with my mom, we had to check out Goofy’s Kitchen character dinner!

Goofy's Kitchen Character Dinner

Goofy’s Kitchen Character Dinner

On my previous trip, I dined at Goofy’s Kitchen for breakfast and enjoyed it. On this trip, we decided to try the restaurant for dinner. As with breakfast, it’s a buffet meal featuring fun pizzas! It’s currently priced at $55/adult and $32/child.

The Characters

You meet the exact same characters at dinner and breakfast here. My mom and I got a picture with Goofy prior to entering the restaurant. Then, while we were eating we also met Minnie Mouse, Chip, Dale, and Pluto! We had a great time meeting the characters and enjoyed taking photos with each of them. My mom loves Pluto, so it was a hit with her. We also enjoyed the little dance around the restaurant when everyone holds their napkin up in the air.

The Food

I will start by saying if you want to try something fancy or high class, this probably isn’t the restaurant for you. However, if you are looking for some good classics, this is a good place. I was surprised to find BBQ ribs on the buffet. They weren’t the best I’ve ever had, but they were pretty good. I also enjoyed a creme brulee cornbread. It was sweeter than traditional cornbread and a nice surprise. They also had a good turkey pot pie.

If you eat here, you have to check out the variety of pizzas available. I liked the buffalo chicken one as well as the peanut butter and jelly one. The s’mores pizza was pretty good too.

Unfortunately, the desserts weren’t that good. I took a bite out of several things, but didn’t care for much. They tasted really sweet and artificial to me. I liked the lemon bars that they also had at breakfast previously though.

My Mom’s Birthday

This trip was a few days out from my mom’s birthday. I had noted that on every reservation and this was the only place to acknowledge it. Our waiter brought out a special cupcake with a candle on it just for her. Then, they sang happy birthday to her and gave her a celebration button. My mom was over the moon with this little celebration. So, I recommend eating here if you want a little extra something for someone’s birthday!

Is Goofy’s Kitchen Character Dinner worth it?

As with all character meals, this is a pricey experience. However, it is really nice to have characters come to your table to meet you. Plus, the food wasn’t bad and they had a good amount of selections for picky eaters to enjoy. I mentioned in my breakfast review that this restaurant is located away from the parks a good pace. I think this is a good option for folks staying at the Disneyland Hotel since it’s right there. However, I don’t know that it’s a good fit for people staying off-site due to its location. It’s also hard to recommend a character meal to someone on a tight budget.

Have you ever eaten here? What was your experience like?

Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot Review

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When my husband and I visited Walt Disney World last month, we booked a new to us experience, the Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot! Today I will review it and let you know who I think it’s good for and who should maybe skip it.

Behind the Seeds Tour

Behind the Seeds Tour

For those who don’t know, the Behind the Seeds Tour at Epcot is a backstage look at The Land Pavilion! The Land Pavilion is where the Living with the Land ride and Garden Grill Restaurant is located. Having eaten at Garden Grill a few times and ridden the ride even more times, I was excited for a walking tour to see how Disney grows its own food!

I booked this tour 60 days out when I made our advance dining reservations. We paid $35/each. Thankfully, this was prior to Disney’s most recent resort wide price hikes. As of this writing, this tour has gone up in price and varies from day to day. It now starts at $39 and goes up to $45, depending on which day you select. There doesn’t appear to be a discount for children.

Very Informative

This one-hour walking tour is information heavy. The tour started out with a look at how Disney is fighting pests. Then, we moved on to the actual greenhouses. It was neat to see the ride from the other side. Boats rode by as we looked at squash and tried some cucumbers grown there! It was neat to see all of the different varieties of plants being grown, from coffee to vanilla beans! We even saw a picture of some Mickey shaped cucumbers they are working on.

Our guide was very knowledgeable about plants in general as well as what was in the greenhouses currently. We got to see the last of the pumpkins being grown and they were beginning to hang up the Christmas lights. The guide explained that the tours vary a little bit depending on the time of the year since they grow some food for the Epcot festivals here. So, it has a repeatability factor if you enjoy learning about different seasons.

Hands On Learning

There were a few other interactive aspects to the tour. The tour not only includes the four greenhouses, but also the fish farm. We learned about the fish and then got to feed them. They gathered everyone around the tank and we all put the food in at the same time. The fish went wild to get the food! It was neat.

We also got to pass around some spices to smell. It was fun to try and guess which spice we were smelling. The tour ended with a little picture session in front of the Mickey shaped tree.

Is the Behind the Seeds Tour worth it?

For $35, it was a neat experience. The new price hike gives me pause on value. $45 sounds a little steep to me, but I would probably still do it at least once. That being said I do not recommend this tour for children. It was a lot of information and I don’t think people with short attention spans would enjoy it. I suppose that’s why there’s not a discount for children.

Our group was mostly adult couples (think late twenties and up). It’s a good time for anyone interested in plants or seeing how Disney grows its own food. For thrill seekers, it’s best to spend time riding the rides. I also must point out that’s an hour long walking tour with most of that time spent standing or walking. So, if standing and walking for an hour doesn’t sound doable, it maybe best to avoid this one. Although, it is wheelchair accessible if that is of concern to you.

Have you done the Behind the Seeds tour at Epcot? What did you think of it?