As you may or may not have heard, I'm heading down to Walt Disney World in June. It's going to be a rather large trip; my wife, three children, and I are going as well as my parents, sister and her boyfriend. Planning for nine is no easy undertaking, so I've been working on this for a while. After nailing down the dates with working around school ending and everything else, first up was figuring out the resort we would visit for our stay.

Deluxe was pretty much out of the question from the start; instead, we were trying to decide between the moderate resorts and Art of Animation. We stayed at Pop Century last time and at Coronado Springs in the past and wanted to try something new, so both of those were out. My mother and sister stayed at one of the All Star resorts on a trip they took with a dance team my sister was on (and they weren't too thrilled with the resort), so that left Art of Animation as the only value everyone wanted to consider. All the moderates except for Coronado Springs were up for grabs too.

Since Art of Animation is new, it was pushed at first. However, the family suites are fairly expensive, and we would need two family suites. The only standard rooms, in the Little Mermaid section, are the furthest away from the main building. No one was happy to hear that as we would be pushing strollers.

We then went down the list of the remaining moderate resorts. Port Orleans - French Quarter was eliminated very quickly as my parents and sister wanted something other than New Orleans-style architecture. At this point we were down to Caribbean Beach and Port Orleans - Riverside. This discussion went around in circles for a while and my parents leaned toward Caribbean Beach until I mentioned the boat that travels from the Port Orleans resorts to Downtown Disney. This swayed my mom and sister to Riverside and the decision was made.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Riverside Mill at Port Orleans - Riverside
Photo © Joe Penniston, used under Creative Commons license[/caption]

Since that's where we're staying, let's talk a little about beer at Riverside. The two primary places to drink at Riverside are the pool bar, Muddy Rivers and River Roost Lounge. Both have the usual menus but also serve the three most popular Abita beers, Amber, Purple Haze, and Turbodog. Boatwright's Dining Hall also serves a similar menu, but is Riverside's table service restaurant.

[caption id="attachment_6193" align="aligncenter" width="605"] Jenn's Abita flight from Boatwright's Dining Hall[/caption]

I'll probably kick back in River Roost Lounge, drink a beer, and take in Yehaa Bob Jackson at least one night while we're there.

[responsive_youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSHRSekCfYU]

Since Port Orleans - French Quarter is just a short walk away, I'll probably also explore that side of Port Orleans as well. The beer selection there is pretty much the same; Mardi Grogs pool bar and Scat Cat's Club serve similar beers to Muddy Rivers and River Roost Lounge.

As we get closer to the trip, I'll be writing more about where we're eating and other spots I'm hoping to check out!