Trip Report My Trip to New Orleans

[Exprmnt626]

I got to go to New Orleans after Thanksgiving, and here are some photos!

There was SO much good food in the Crescent City:

Beignets and Cafe au Lait with chicory from Cafe du Monde


Roast Beef Po' Boy and famous cheese fries from Parasol's Bar:




The world-famous Commander's Palace (unfortunately, no pictures of the food )



The *real* French Market


I took this streetcar:


To this:


The exhibit was absolutely fantastic, narrated by John Goodman (Big Daddy LaBeouf from The Princess and the Frog). In order, the exhibit covered the classic Disney fairy tales starting with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and The Princess and the Frog. There was a LOT of original artwork from all of the films, as well as little interesting vignettes about the process of making the films. i bought the exhibit catalog from the museum shop and it has the original version of all the tales in the exhibit followed by the Disney version.

After the museum I took the streetcar back to Canal but stopped and strolled around the Garden District, looking at all the gorgeous homes. You can definitely see that the artists for Princess and the Frog definitely did their research.













It's several months to Mardi Gras, so I took a trip to Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World to see the floats up close and in person!





This guy is known as Le Boeuf Grand, who represents the fatted cow, eaten right before the start of Lent. Charlotte's father is called Big Daddy LeBoeuf...coincidence?


The famous Leviathan float, built for the legendary Superkrewe, the Krewe of Orpheus:



Leviathan is well over 96' long and carries 130 riders. The Orpheus parade is over 30 floats total!


This particular float was originally built for USF's Halloween event, but came back to N'Awlins for a Halloween parade:


Much of the construction of the floats are very simple- just muslin stretched over wood framing and painted with latex:


The props are usually foam carvings with fibreglas or papier-mache laid over top These are for next year's Krewe of Bacchus parade:



Hey, Look! It's Flik!


I love these:


I spent a really rainy/windy day walking around the French Quarter, snapping photos:






I visited the St. Louis Cathedral, which also plays a significant role in The Princess and the Frog:






I think that be it for now...



THE END...and thanks for looking!

--nick--

[Lectrorail]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

My hometown. GREAT trip report. Thanks for sharing!!!!

[MsSarah]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

Loved the trip report. I've always wanted to visit New Orleans, and those pictures make me want to go even more.

[Joshnyah]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

Great trip report, Great photo's, Now Im hungry that sandwich looks incredible, How was it? I never knew that disney charactures were such a big part of the mardigra parade. Great great great. A+

[dsnylndmom]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

What great pictures! Thanks so much for sharing.

[Stitchy]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

Okay. That made me hungry! I'm from....a little bitty city just north of Nawlins. About an hour away. And seeing those beignets made me drool. The poboy actually made my tummy growl!!! LOL. How did you like all the food?

Great pictures. Looks like you had a wonderful time!

[SummerInFL]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

Great TR! Looks like you had a wonderful time! More please!

[Athlonacon]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

It's amazing how realistic New Orleans Square looks when compared to the real thing. In some instances, it's almost like looking at Disneyland itself. Excellent trip report! Especially for doing a place that doesn't come up a lot in MiceChat.

[MsSarah]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

I knew that New Orleans Square was supposed to resemble New Orleans...but it looks like Disneyland really got the themeing down. It's amazing how similar the buildings look. I had to do a double-take, for a second...I thought a few pictures were from Disneyland.

[Coheteboy]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

Great report!

[cositaluvsmickey]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

:yea: Awesome pics..Now I have some idea where to go when I go to N'orleans this coming April..I will be there during Mardi Gras..is there a particulary place where you would recommend me to go while I'm there? thanks





These two remind me a lot of the Haunted Manison

[expedition_evan]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

Great pictures! i live in louisiana so these were fun to look at! and i loveee Commander's Palace.. im craving it right now haha

[BlAcKoUt510]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

Thanks for sharing. I thought of Haunted Mansion right away when I saw the pics of that house cositaluvsmickey pointed out. A couple of those pics made me hungry too!

[penguinsoda]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

Awesome! That food looked so good! Talk about a pile of powered sugar!! Thanks for sharing your pictures with us!

[Exprmnt626]

Re: My Trip to New Orleans

Thanks for all your awesome comments, everyone! I had such a great time out there. In San Diego, we get about 2" of rain a year. We got double that in one day in N'Awlins! The Imagineers certainly did their homework when it came to designing and building NOS. The beauty, definitely is edged out in favour of the real thing. There's just something about New Orleans that can't be described in words; it's an emotion! As far as the food, even the air is caloric. I gained seriously 6 pounds in 6 days!

:yea: Awesome pics..Now I have some idea where to go when I go to N'orleans this coming April..I will be there during Mardi Gras..is there a particulary place where you would recommend me to go while I'm there? thanks





These two remind me a lot of the Haunted Manison

Both those homes are actually in the Garden District, on 2nd or 3rd Streets near St. Charles Avenue. There are certainly amazing homes to see, and I spotted more than a few people just walking around taking pictures of the architecture.
You mentioned you were going there for Mardi Gras...I learned that Carnival parade season actually starts the 2 weeks preceding Mardi Gras day (The Tuesday before the start of Lent). Many of the parades go down St. Charles Avenue, as the French Quarter is too narrow for the modern floats.
Food is absolutely great here, and the locals all have their strong opinions about who makes the best! The roast beef po'boy came from Parasol's in the Garden District. That's on Constance Street between 2nd and 3rd Street. You can actually take the St. Charles Avenue Streetcar and get off at 2nd and walk the 3 blocks or so. Mother's Restaurant on Canal Street has REALLY excellent fried chicken, but the best I had in the city was at Dooky Chase's in the Treme neighbourhood. I took a cab to get there and back, as it's still not the safest of areas. But the food is totally worth it. Another good bet for the best fried chicken in NOLA is Willie Mae's Scotch House. Whenever I asked any local, they always mentioned one or the other! It's only open from around 11 to about 3 pm, and they only make the chicken in small batches. Once they run out that's it for the day.
The Palace Cafe on Canal Street is a good place to go that's slightly upscale and still a local's hangout. Try the crawfish cheesecake!

There's a record place called Peach's that was full of good local music and helpful employees. The owner pointed me towards the best pralines I had during my time there (Southern Candymakers, I think it's on Poydras Street)

There was a little boutique called Pop City in the French Market, where I bought a lot of really unique art t-shirts. The Southern Food and Beverage Museum in the Riverwalk was really nice, and the ladies who run it were oh-so-helpful!

I had fun exploring Mardi Gras World, but as you'll be there for the real thing I'd recommend picking up a guide as to the parade routes. Certain Krewes only parade routes on certain days, and the best throws happen on days when the big Krewes are out and about. Try to catch the Orpheus, Rex, Zulu, Endymion, and Bacchus parades! Have fun in New Orleans!