Treasure Day 8 - Did Disney Ruin My Birthday?

Debarkation day brought a lot of stress, unexpected challenges, and a pretty rough start to what was supposed to be a magical day. But if there’s one thing Walt Disney World is good at, it’s turning things around when you least expect it.

After leaving the ship, we headed to Disney’s Port Orleans Riverside to regroup, then made a stop at Port Orleans French Quarter to finally try the famous beignets. From there, we explored Disney’s Polynesian Village Resort, took in the atmosphere, and tried to reset the day.

With our original birthday dinner plans falling apart, we made a last-minute change and ended up at Disney Springs… and somehow, that’s where the magic came back. It wasn’t the birthday I planned—but it’s definitely one I won’t forget.

🎥 This is the final vlog in our Disney Treasure series—thanks for being part of the journey!

Transcript

Okay, so let's get this out of the way right away. Did Disney ruin my birthday?

Ultimately, no. But it was a day where I was trying to avoid some stress and I ended up with a whole heck of a lot of it. So, to give you a little bit of a background, we went on this cruise that was actually disembarking on my birthday.

And I'm honestly not a really big birthday guy. [music] I like to get together with my family, have a nice dinner, and kind of let that be the end of it. But I really didn't want my birthday to be the day where we were doing all the lugging around the luggage and traveling and getting on the airplane and flying home and driving home in cold temperatures, all these different things. So, I just talked everybody into letting us stay at a Disney resort for the night.

And I actually considered not making this video because quite frankly, I was a little bit of a baby through the whole thing. But, I want these vlogs to be honest and I have the footage. So, what else was I going to do? It's worth you guys seeing how I was feeling at the time and how this whole vacation came to an end.

First, we go all the way back to the Disney Treasure and we look at the ins and outs about actually disembarking from a cruise ship. Now, you'll have two choices when it comes to getting off the ship. The day before, you're going to be given luggage tags that you can affix to all of your luggage, and you'll leave that out at night, and the crew will come collect your bags and put it in that designated area for you to find when you get off the ship.

Now, the drawback to that is you have to wait until your specific group is called. So, you might be waiting a while to get off the ship. In our case, we were a little bit lucky because we were able to put those tags on our bags, have them taken down, and because we were taking Disney transportation the next morning, we were able to get off the ship first thing.

Now, your other option, if you're not taking that transportation, and say you're parked at the port, is that you can choose to carry off all your bags in the morning. That means as soon as you're given the clearance to disembark, you can take everything you've got and haul it off the ship yourself. Now, that can be a little bit more cumbersome, especially if you got a family with you and littles, because you're hauling all their bags as well. So, whatever suits you best, just go ahead and do it. Our morning started with a nice surprise from the DCL crew. This happy birthday message complete with a pin, which I wore with honor throughout the day.

Then, it was off to breakfast. They let you know in advance where you want to go eat. In this case, it was the place we ate first on our cruise, which was Plaza Coco. And we had a delicious breakfast to get the day started. And just like that, we step off the Disney Treasure and we make our way to our shuttle to go to Fort Orman's Riverside after that. So fun's not done yet, but really, really, really sad to be getting off this ship.

We boarded our coach to take us to the hotel and watched some goofy cartoons before we sadly drove away from the Disney Treasure. We arrived about an hour later at our destination, Port Orleans Riverside, where we'd stay the night before heading home the next day.

The lobby is gorgeous with this holiday decor and this beautiful riverboat model. I'd already checked in in advance, but since there was nobody in line, I thought I'd check in and see what the timeline was on our rooms being ready. Now, it's only a little ways after 10:00 at this point, so obviously I didn't expect the rooms to be ready for us. You're not supposed to really be able to check in until 3:00, but it's worth checking. We'd been lucky before and we had a lot of things that we wanted to get set up in our rooms before we went along with our day.

But guest services told me that they notified the cleaning team and prioritized getting our rooms ready earlier. So, that was good enough for me, and we decided to just check our bags at bag services, so we can go and have some fun. First up, we check out the resort's gift shop, Fulton's General Store.

It's a much larger space than the shops at the Value Resorts. But like all of them, it was full of great merch, like this holiday gear, this other holiday gear, these tumblers and water bottles, this mug that Carrie really wanted me to see, these other mugs, these other other mugs, this collection of tumblers, sippers, and whatever else you might call them. There's a lot of candy, these other treats, including some New Orleans specials like beignet mix and praline mix to take home. Lots of mini ears and this nice throw. A wide variety of drinks to bring back to the room. Some personal items that you may have forgotten to bring from painkillers to pull-ups. These nice fishing tees. Lots of bags. This fanny pack that I love despite owning plenty of fanny packs. Even more holiday merch, magic bands, beach wear, socks, and underwear. More beachwear. lots of toys and plushes for days.

After that, we hopped on a bus to Magic Kingdom and grabbed the Montreal to pick up where we left off on our Montreal tour at the beginning of the trip and headed to Disney's Polynesian Resort. It's not my first time here, but this place is gorgeous. It's also very busy drawing guests to the Polynesian and curious resort hoppers like us who just want to check it out and do something different.

Our version of something different, checking out the gift shops. We went into Moana and saw this Stitch merch and this other Stitch merch. And you don't want to miss all the Stitch merch. Like seriously, all this Stitch merch still going. Then you get some Moana merch. Love that. Heii tea. But then you've got some more Moana merch. Some plushes that are neither Stitch nor Moana. Hand hand cameo. Hand cameo. Lots of toys, magnets, and keychains. Oh, I've heard of them. I don't know. I've only had the one wife, so I can't I don't know for sure. These are cute, too. I do like those.

Next up, we went for a bite at Captain Cooks, where you'll get your quick service meals at Disney's Polynesian Resort. It's typical counter service, but in keeping with the theme of the resort, they do offer options that are a little more island friendly, like the kids chicken drumstick and pineapple skewer with a mixed green salad and sesame soy dressing. The Hawaiian flatbread, which don't get me started, I'm very much a no pineapple on pizza guy, and I won't be taking any questions on that. And you've got the Pan-Asian noodles and vegetables where you can add chicken, shrimp, or tofu.

After lunch, we grabbed a muchneeded cold treat at Pineapple Lai, where we got the pineapple coconut Dole Whip and the pineapple lime Doe Whip. While both were great, that lime Doe Whip was a lifecher. And it might be my favorite cold treat anywhere, not just on Disney property. It was the perfect blend of tart with sweetness, it was insanely refreshing. It was honestly one of the best things I ever tasted. I took some time to walk around the resort and see as much as I could, and this place is just such a vibe. The grounds are immaculate. The swimming area is super cool. just awesome all around.

Next, we headed into Boutiki for some more shopping. There's definitely a theme in here, and that theme isn't mostly Stitch. They have this Hawaiian cookie gift set, a number of planters. I can't take my eye off that cat for fear it's alive. But there's other less scary ones. There's also some holiday merch like this sweater, graphic tees, both holiday and otherwise, flip-flops, autograph books, notebooks, photo books, and some island wear for the ladies and the gents.

We were getting a little antsy, so we headed back to Port Orleans Riverside because we wanted to be close by when our room was ready. So, we toured the grounds a bit. Starting with Boat Wright's dining hall serving up Bayou favorites and barbecue. Then, you've got the Riverside Mill food court with a wide variety of options like burgers, pizza, pasta, and some of those New Orleans [music] flavors. Accents like this water mill really add to the vibes of the resort. And they've got a large swimming area here as well. You can actually fish here at the fishing hole. You pay per half hour, and we probably would have done this had it been open, but it closes at 1:45 with the last polls being given out at 1:15.

Now, enjoying how nice this resort was was a little bit of a challenge for me because I was constantly on the phone with guest services trying to get everything sorted with the rooms. It was actually at this point where I shot footage that was meant to be a short just sharing my frustration with the whole situation. I ended up thinking better of it. I didn't post anything, but in the interest of transparency, I'm going to show it to you here.

So, I'm having what's really a first right now, which is just an overall really bad Disney experience. Uh, we've been at Port Orleans Riverside since about 10:30. We checked in. I had already checked in online days prior. They said, "Okay, well, we're going to let uh Housekeeping know that you're here and we'll get the rooms ready for you, but we couldn't get our bags brought to our room unless we were here and we've got things that we need to set up. We've got CPAT machines and things like that, and there's two rooms for us."

It's now well past 3:00, and the rooms still aren't ready for us. And they said, "Oh, we'll try and get you different rooms." And it was like, "Oh, okay. Well, they're not together." "Well, they don't need to be together. That's fine." "Oh, okay. Well, they're not in the same building. They're okay. They don't need to be in the same building. That's fine." "Oh, okay. Well, one of the rooms isn't ready." Well, then what's the point? What are we doing here, guys? Anyways, it's actually my birthday and we've been pissing away this entire day waiting and my kids are now bored and tired and my birthday kind of sucks right now.

Now, let me be very clear. It is okay to be upset when things are going sideways on you like this. But I'll tell you the one thing that I never did. I never took my frustration out on the cast members. The whole time they were trying their absolute best to resolve my situation. They couldn't have been more friendly the entire time and they're just doing their jobs. And when you keep that in perspective, even when you're upset about external factors, you know enough to treat people nicely. It's the least you can do.

This is a direct message to the people that I see time and time again chewing out cast members for things that the cast member couldn't control. And it's a really quick way to just spin out and let the whole vacation be ruined. Even the nicest people can let frustration overtake them. But it's what you do with that frustration that counts the most. Yes, it's your vacation. Yes, you paid a lot of money for this vacation, but that doesn't open up special doors for you to mistreat people ever.

Now, guest services did offer us a free meal at the food court for our inconvenience, which I did appreciate, but it did create one little problem. We were there for my birthday. My plan was to go and have a birthday dinner at Disney Springs. And now with this presented to us, our option was to either not use it or have our birthday dinner in a food court.

With even more time to kill, we hopped on the boat to Port Orleans French Quarter for their most famous snack, bees. The boat gives you a great look at how big and beautiful the grounds of these resorts are, as well as how well they flow together. So, there was a beignet somewhere under this sugar, and we couldn't wait to try it. So light and airy with sugar. Delicious. That's beignet delicious. What do you think?

And we finally got one of our rooms just before 5:00 and they told us the other one was being cleaned. We got there and it was supposed to be the room next to ours and it wasn't being cleaned. But at least we could get all our bags back from baggage services and get set up a little bit and do a little bit of a room tour.

Lookucky here. All right, so we got the two queens. This actually folds down into another bed. Nice little place to sit and chill out without having to move it out of the way because of Murphy beds, which is cool. Got your Hey, Disney right here. Happy birthday, Joe. Okay.

All right. And then we go into the bathrooms. We got the nice dual sink here and the washboard in case you want to do laundry. Place to hang clothes, extra pillows and blankets, all of that good stuff. And bathroom, toilet, shower, and nice little place to I don't know if you can sit there probably. It's a nice looking shower overall. It's kind of rustic in here. It's kind of nice.

And that up to get your beverage cooler or fridge. I can't really tell. I think it's beverage cooler. coffee machine. Nice bucket. And Reese, do you want to do the honors and pull this down? I think there's ghosts in here. Oh, I hope there's not. Apparently, they both Oh, that's a really nice design. It's nice, though. I'll give it though. Like, there's the space still, even when you fold that down, you can actually walk in here, which is respectable.

Our second room was ready just before 6:00. They ended up putting them in a different room, but this put us really behind on the schedule that we wanted to be keeping for this day. We planned on eating in Disney Springs around 5:00 and that would free us up to have a little bit more of the evening in Disney Springs before we went back to the hotel. Now, we were really kind of rushing, but we sold on and took the boat into Disney Springs for my birthday dinner.

The views on the water at night are absolutely gorgeous. What was less gorgeous though were the clouds gathering in the sky. But we tried to stay upbeat because at least we were here and doing what we came to do. Let's go. [music] Birthday.

Yeah, it's just a little sprinkle. Well, I can deal with a sprinkle. Can you deal with a sprinkle?
No. Yeah. Oh, I thought you said no. I was like, "Oh, okay. It is pouring rain." It is still my birthday, though. We're going to try our best to make the most of It's really been a crappy birthday so far. We're going to try and go to Raglin Road and see if we can sneak in there and get a table. Uh, we weren't able to make a reservation because I couldn't connect to the app from the boat. So fingers crossed.

So here's the thing. Our plans were to go to Raglin Road for my birthday dinner. We went to Ragland Road, but because of the rain, so did a lot of people. As we got there dripping wet, they just announced that they stopped accepting walk-ins for the evening. So we went back outside in the rain to try and decide where we were going to eat. We landed on Maria and Enzo's because I love myself some Italian. And we actually haven't eaten there before. When we got there, I was soaked to the bone. Marian Enzo is themed as a 1930s airport that was converted into a restaurant by pilot Enzo and his baker wife Maria.

On the menu, you've got apps like Fkaca Deacasa and Barata Capresse, a selection of salads and mains like pouo ala parmesana, branzino alorno, and pasta dishes like ravioli alpha maji, companelli and rosetta de lasagna, and a sizable drink menu with things like Enzo's fedora, the N2 bean martini, the hidden Negrroni, and a margarita flight. Reese wanted to show off his fried mozzarella sticks, which was a nice app portion for him and presented nicely.

And we got the fkaca delicaca, which is a rosemary lemon fkatcha with whipped ricotta. That ricotta spread on so nicely. There's a little lemon in the ricotta. It's really, really nice little fresh flavor. The bread on itself [music] is nice. It's a little more dense than advertised, but good flavor. Lots of flavor. We discovered a little pepper in there. Yum, yum, yum. Carrie had the rietoni bologing with a homemade pasta, a mix of ve pork and beef, ricotta and parmesan cheese. And I had the pola ala parmesana with fior de latte mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Meatball. Thank you. That is an excellent meatball.

The chicken was seasoned and cooked perfectly with so much cheese and a nice helping of sauce between the chicken and cheese. And the pennet was perfectly coated in the sauce, which was tangy and very tomatoey, if that makes sense to you. And if my button already didn't tell people it was my birthday, my mom certainly did. And they brought this really nice dessert for me.

Bring it to me. Yay. Yay. That was underwhelming.

Now, for me, pretty much any day at Disney is better than any other day anywhere else. But this was a really stressful experience and did not go the way that I had hoped. But ultimately, I was in my favorite place with four of my favorite people. And what more can you possibly ask for? And looking back on it after some time has passed, that's all I see. Memories have a great way of organizing themselves. So, they really showcase the ones that matter the most. And these were 8 days of spectacular memories that I get to carry with me forever. It makes it easy to laugh at the tougher moments as if they ever had a chance of ruining your good time. And that's not just a Disney thing. That's a life thing.

All right, everybody. I really hope you enjoyed this series. I cannot wait to share another one with you. I don't know exactly when we'll be getting out again. But I'll be sharing more videos with you in the future. All kinds of opinions and news, whatever I can get my hands on. If you made it all the way through this video and have watched the other videos, it would mean a lot to me if you hit like on the video and then hit subscribe, hit the notification bell so you know when I have new videos coming out. Follow me on my socials below and join the Discord to join in on the magic.

If you're interested in theme park videos, I have a POV channel called The Park Lens that you can check out. It's got POVs from some of your favorite rides as well as some stuff I did on this trip. But that is going to be it for this one. Thank you all again so much for watching and until next time, whatever you do, make it magical.