Fay, Fay, Go Away... and don't come back!! A soggy TR - Day 3 *updated 9/15*

[kimisabella]

Hello everyone - you will have to bear with me since it my first real trip report. I've done a couple of dining reviews, and resort reviews, but, never all in one thread, an in sucession!

First we will have the standard introductions:

Me - I'm a 35 yo wife and mother of 2 dd's - I work part time for my bil's business. I love Disney, always have, always will. When Dh and I got married in 1998, we went to WDW for our honeymoon - it was his first time ever being there (poor deprived child) and we've been back almost every year since our honeymoon, with the exception of one year.

DH - he's a 35 yo Police Sgt. for the NYPD, he's not as "disney crazy" as I am, but after going on all of these trips over the last 10 years, he really does enjoy it and wants to join DVC. He is most like Grumpy, but, surprisingly he was actually the most positive, upbeat person during the bad weather on this trip (and there was plenty) and he actually pulled me out of a funk a few times!

DD#1 - "K" - 8 yo, lover of all things HSM and Hannah Montana of course. Loves Philharmagic and any of the 3D movies, not into thrill rides, she's getting away from the princesses :sad1:

DD#2 - "I" - 4 yo, also loves HSM and Hannah Montana, but LOVES the characters, doesn't matter who or what they are, just goes crazy for them.
Loves parades, princesses, also not into the big thrill rides/coasters.


As I said earlier, we have gone almost every year for the past ten years, we've been lucky enough to snag free dining three times. Last Sept,we went during free dining, stayed at POFQ, my parents came with us, were in the next room over from us and received the "bounce back" flyer in their room, nothing in our room, hump, I said..... Of all people, they forget us :confused3 ?????
At the time, we weren't sure of DH's schedule so I wasn't too worried about it.

Fast forward to January 2008 - all the buzz on the resorts board was about the postcard that was being sent to people with 40% off rack rates for the resorts. Low and behold, my dsis calls me and tells me her DH gets one of these post cards - he's only been to WDW 2x, and the reservation was always under my dsis's name. Now I'm mad, someone at Disney has put us on the pay me no mind list.... How could they keep overlooking us?? (DH has a theory :idea: that they will NEVER send us any kind of pin/postcard/flyer because they know we will be back, they don't have to give us any kind of incentive :confused3 - I don't know if that's true or not, but he's convinced)

Dsis says she wants to go in August and that we should book together so we could get the 40% off as well. So that is exactly what we did - we both booked for August at the Poly and I got the discount as well, all was well with the world :cool1: .

Turns out, dsis had to cancel her part of the reservation, as I said earlier, her dh owns a company and this year it just got so busy that taking time off during the busy summer months was not really an option. So she cancelled.

It ended up just being the 4 of us, which actually my dh prefers - when we go w/my parents or another family we always feel that we have to wait for them to catch up.... or wait for them to make decisions on what they want to do or not do - this way we could come and go as we pleased!!

The date was set for August 18 - 25. We decided to fly into West Palm Beach airport since my uncle lives in Jupiter, FL and he's basically alone there, my aunt died a couple of years ago from cancer and we have no other family there. We only see him every 6 months or so and he's thrilled when we are able to pay him a visit. We planned on spending most of the day with him, then taking the 2 1/2 hour drive up to WDW.

I booked the flights with JetBlue (love them), booked a rental car - even though we were on a monorail resort, dh REFUSES to take Disney bus transportation - I think it's because he goes into Manhattan every day and has to take mass transportation (train, bus and subway) and just the thought of having to do that on vacation makes him upset.


I made adr's at the 180 mark, not knowing the park schedules, but we were going to get park hoppers, so, I wasn't too worried.

We were set, all we had to do was wait :hourglass ....... but the time went fast, too fast, and before we knew it the summer was just about over and it was time for us to leave for WDW!!!

[Villainess]

popcorn:: I'm in!

[castmemberb4]

popcorn:: I'm in!

Me too ! I love tropical storm trips ! :thumbsup2

[kimisabella]

Seeing that DH has school tonight (he's going back to college so he can become a CPA) I figured I'd jump right into the first installment.....

So, as in the immortal words of Peter Pan, "here we goooooooo......."


We woke up the morning of Monday, August 18th at 3:30 a.m., we had a 6:35 a.m. flight out of JFK into West Palm Beach. I had arranged for a private car service to come pick us up and drive us to the airport since I wasn't going to ask my father (who usually does these tasks) to wake up that early on a work day to take us to the airport. When I called for the car, I told them it was 2 adults, 2 kids, 2 suitcases and 2 carry on's - the man said a Town Car would be fine for us - OK, a Town Car it is.

As we were bringing out our luggage onto the front porch at 4:00 a.m. that morning, I started to think I made a HUGE mistake - not only did we have 2 suitcases, 2 carry on's - we had a stroller, a booster seat, 2 kids backpacks and a partridge in a pear tree.. Oh boy, how was this going to work out????? I looked at DH and told him I really tried to cut down w/the luggage this year, but it seems to have grown :confused3 .

Just then, the car pulls up in front of the house, and I was relieved - the driver didn't come w/a Town Car, he came w/a HUGE Lincoln Navigator - not only did it have the third row seating, it had a HUGE trunk that fit everything we had and more, if that was even possible. Major pixie dust floating in my head, and I'm thinking, we didn't even leave the house yet and we're off to a great start!!!

We get to the airport in no time - about a 30 minute drive from our house on LI to the airport - we manage to get all of our junk out of the car, pay the driver, walk into the terminal and are shocked - it's not even 5:00 a.m. and there are so many people in this terminal you would have thought the whole state was going somewhere. We finally check our bags and are off to checkpoint #1 - the TSA agent has everyone stand in lines and checks the boarding passes & licenses - he uses some kind of special light and is really scrutinizing our licenses, I mean to the point that it became comical.... I'm all for security checking, but, this guy was over the top.... He kept looking at the licenses, looking at us, the license, his light thingy - I've never experienced anything like that before, but, he was doing it to everyone, so I didn't feel too self-conscious. Satisfied we were OK, he let us through to checkpoint #2 - the dreaded xray machine...

When you see us go through the xray machines, we look like a comedy act, I'm trying to fold the stroller, take the girls shoes off, take my shoes off, take my keys, phone, ect.. out of my bag - dh is taking his laptop, keys, his phone ect. out - we use up about 5 of those tray things with all our stuff and pray that our bags go through without someone pulling us aside.

When everyones stuff goes through with no problems, we are frantically trying to pack up all our stuff, put shoes on, jackets back on, keys, phones, computers back where they belong - all with other people behind us passing us up, it is just pathetic, we have so much stuff.

We walk to our gate and dh realizes he forgot his watch in one of the numerous trays we were using - by this time, it was a good 10 passed, and I tell him to run back over and see if he can sift through the trays and find the watch - it wasn't a "good" watch, just one he could wear to work and not really care if he lost it, BUT - he had just bought the watch a couple of days prior. Starting to lose the pixie dust.

DH comes back a few minutes later and is wearing the watch - I couldn't believe it, we WERE in NYC of all places, I would have thought the watch was LONG GONE - he said it was just sitting on the ground, right where we had our final comedy act of trying to put everything back in it's place - it was a miracle that is all we left behind.

So, we get something to eat and drink, and wait for the plane to board - the plane was supposed to leave at 6:35 a.m. - but when the clock struck 6:15a.m. and there was no activity going on at the litle desk at the gate I started to worry, apparently the plane was coming in from San Fransico and was late - it finally arrived and by the time we got on it and took off we were already a good 45 minutes behind schedule - not to worry, I thought - it's still very early and we'll be fine...... The pixie dust is slowly slipping away.

The flight was uneventful - JetBlue is a savior since they have a TV at every seat which means the kids are quiet for the entire flight. It was such a smooth flight, things were going so nicely, the captain comes over the loudspeaker and informs the passengers and flight crew to sit as we were making our final descent. The plane gets lower, and lower, and lower, and I can see the ground and it's so close, and...............the plane then makes a huge upward swing and we're going higher, and higher, and.....not landing.

Everyone is looking around, no one is saying anything, and the pilot keeps cruising higher and further away from WPB - the thing about JetBlue is that they have a specific channel on their television called the "Live Map" and it shows you exactly where you are, what speed your going, and how high in the air you are. According to the map, we were no where near WPB anymore.

After about 20 minutes, still, no word from the pilot, crew, nothing, the plane lands, the Pilot gets on the intercom and says, "Hello everyone, welcome to...............................Fort Meyers, FL. FORT MEYERS????? WTH? I didn't sign up to land in Fort Meyers - the captain goes on to say that the WPB airport was temporarily closed due to bad weather, and the plane couldn't land - bad weather? I was looking out the window of the airplane and all I saw was blue skies. Now, I know weather changes within minutes in Florida, but, we were thisclose to landing in WPB and now were are on the other side of the state. The pixie dust has officially left.

The pilot comes on to say that he is watching his weather radar and we're going to sit on the plane for a while to see if the weather changes - OK, we'll sit, as long as they keep those TV's on!!! Pilot comes back on 1/2 hour later or so and says there's a band of good weather coming in with a band of bad showers behind it and he is going to time it so he lands the plane into WPB within the band of good weather - but advises us it's going to be a bumpy ride - he then goes on to say if he gets near WPB and he is flying into the bad weather he is not going to land the plane and either come right back to Fort Meyers or land in Sarasota or Orlando.

Now, I am secretly praying that he can't land the plane in WPB and has to land in Orlando, but it seemed that 99% of that plane lived in the WPB area and they all wanted to get home in the worst way - no one on that plane wanted to go to Orlando. We had to wait some more for this "good weather" band and then we were off, back up into the sky headed for the other side of FL - he lands the plane 20 minutes later in WPB after a pretty smooth flight and the airplane errupts in claps and cheers.

We finally deplane, get our bags and suitcases and head for Dollar Car Rental. When I made the reservation, I signed up to be in their Dollar Express club - it was free and it enables you to basically cut the line, so I was all for saving some time - and we were now over 3 hours behind.

We get to Dollar and there are a few families already waiting in line, and 1 employee checking people in. We get in the "Dollar Express" line as the employee is just finishing up w/his customers. He looks over at us and says, "Dollar Express?, come right on up" - now this enfuriates the lady who is waiting on the regular line, and she starts to make a stink - he explains to her that we are express members and we get served first, there was literally steam coming out of her head - she was going on and on about us cutting the line, like we weren't even standing there. Being from NY, I usually don't let someone get away with acting like that towards me or my family, but, I let it roll off my back and decided I wasn't going to make a scene.

At the WPB airport you have to take a shuttle to all rental cars, which I hate, so we get on the bus, now loaded with the full amount of all of our junk, and the driver lets us off at our car - a nice shiny black Chrysler Pacifica. We drive out of the lot and my phone rings, it was my uncle telling me to not worry about coming to visit him since he heard from my mother about the fiasco w/the plane. (The captain let us use our phones since we were waiting so long on the plane)

Since we were only 20 minutes from my uncles house, I told him not to be silly and of course we would still come to visit, but we would't stay long. I would feel terrible just bypassing a visit w/him so I could get to WDW a little quicker.

We got to my uncle's house, and it just lightly raining at that point, nothing too terrible. We go inside and he says he feels so bad, he wanted to take us out for lunch and now the plans were all ruined - I told him not to worry, and we made the kids some sandwiches to eat.

Now my uncle's house is like a museum - he never had any children, it was just him and his wife, so let's just say his house is not "child friendly" He has white rugs - expensive cream colored couches w/beadwork, a lot of old expensive knick knacks and everything is so squeaky clean thanks to his house cleaner that no sane person would want to even walk into the house or attempt to use the bathroom for fear of not knowing which little beaded hand towel to dry their hands on. My girls were finished eating their sandwich's and were starting to play around a bit, I gave them the "stop right now" look, but, they ignored me, and the inevitable happened......

DD#1 knocked over a glass topped table - not only did she knock over the table and all the knick knacks onto the floor, but, the glass top of the table hit into the glass wall that seperates his bedroom from the lanai - I was paralized with fear - I couldn't move, I felt like I was glued to the chair, my dh goes over to survey the damage and I couldn't believe it. Nothing broke, nothing. I still don't know how that is even possible, but everything on that table was in one piece, along w/the glass top of the table that hit the ground w/such force it made me cringe - of course all along my uncle was saying not to worry about it, but, I did a silent sign of the cross thanking my lucky stars that nothing broke.

OK - we were there 1 hour and almost wrecked the place so it was time to leave - we had a 2 1/2 hour drive up to WDW and it was already after 3:00 p.m.

As soon as we walk out the door to our rental car, it starts to pour, and I mean POUR - like crazy.... We drove up to WDW in a monsoon like rain for about 1/2 an hour, then it stopped and when we got to WDW it was sunny and very nice.

Next up .....................FINALLY checking into the Poly after our horrendous travel day. There are pics in the next installment, I promise ;)

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Hey there! Followed your link over from Kat's report.

I am really enjoying your writing.

That flight sounds horrific, glad you finally got to land in your destination.

My grandparents have a museum house, my brothers and I were never allowed to play in any of the room except for one growing up for fear we would break something. Even now I am terrified I will break something when I visit them. :rotfl:

[kimisabella]

popcorn:: I'm in!

Me too ! I love tropical storm trips ! :thumbsup2

Thanks, glad to have both of you along!


Hey there! Followed your link over from Kat's report.

I am really enjoying your writing.

That flight sounds horrific, glad you finally got to land in your destination.

My grandparents have a museum house, my brothers and I were never allowed to play in any of the room except for one growing up for fear we would break something. Even now I am terrified I will break something when I visit them. :rotfl:

Thanks for popping over!
That's exactly why we don't stay over his house - for fear of breaking things - it's just an uncomfortable situation to be in, and the kids were a little antsy from being up since 3:30 a.m. and they knew they were on their way to WDW!

[KatGarcia]

saving my place...i'm going back to read!

[KatGarcia]

Great start!!!!! See you can do it?! Sorry we didn't run into each other at the airport!

[brandi~momof3]

great start, can't wait to read more :) and see your pics.

on a side note, my dh is a SGT. in the MD State Police, he never went to WDW as a kid. His first trip was when we were dating and we have been 6 times in the 11 years we have been married. He loves Disney as much as I do, thank God! LOL Our 3 kids love it too :)

[kimisabella]

Great start!!!!! See you can do it?! Sorry we didn't run into each other at the airport!

Hi Kat - glad you found it - actually you gave me the encouragement to start the report!! And, after all, you do have a starring role in it.....coming soon! ;)

great start, can't wait to read more :) and see your pics.

on a side note, my dh is a SGT. in the MD State Police, he never went to WDW as a kid. His first trip was when we were dating and we have been 6 times in the 11 years we have been married. He loves Disney as much as I do, thank God! LOL Our 3 kids love it too :)

That's so funny how similiar our stories are!! I think I would have taken DH to WDW when we were dating, but, I have strict Italian parents and wasn't allowed to go away before I was married - we couldn't even go away to the Poconos when we were engaged!!!! Glad you could join in!

[teruterubouzu]

Hi, you flew in the day we left. I just started my trip report too. (http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1944437) We had similar issues with our flights, but in reverse. The first 45 minutes or so when we left Orlando on the 18th were SCARY. I'm looking forward to reading about your stay at the Poly. After visiting it on my last trip, I definitely want to stay there sometime.

[kimisabella]

Hi, you flew in the day we left. I just started my trip report too. (http://disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1944437) We had similar issues with our flights, but in reverse. The first 45 minutes or so when we left Orlando on the 18th were SCARY. I'm looking forward to reading about your stay at the Poly. After visiting it on my last trip, I definitely want to stay there sometime.

Hi! Thanks for reading, our stay at the Poly was very nice - I'm going to go into that in the next installment - we try to stay at a different resort each time we visit wdw - we've only stayed at 10 different ones, I believe, so we have a ways to go!!

[kimisabella]

Day 1 - Part 2

We survived the drive from West Palm Beach to WDW and arrived around 6:00p.m. to the Polynesian. We parked the car and went into the lobby to check in - that is the most wonderful part of the trip. We only waited about 10 minutes to check in. The cm checking us in was nice, but not overly "disney" it's a good thing we know almost everything about tickets, transportation, and dining since she offered no information regarding any of them.

She gave us our packet and sent us on our way. We were in room 3119 in the Rapa Nui longhouse. I didn't request any specific longhouses or locations because I felt that I wanted to roll the dice and see what we would get.

We went to our car, and using the map, found the small but empty parking lot for Rapa Nui - the nice thing about this longhouse is that the parking lot is so close to the building and it was usually empty. It also has a nice drop/off, pick/up lane in front of the building which was very handy when it was raining, or when we checked in and out. No lugging suitcases around.

We used the elevator to get to the third floor and got into our room. The room was very large, much larger than any other disney resorts that we've ever stayed at. It also had a nice balcony that looked out into beautiful lush gardens and trees.

I was disappointed somewhat because we like to be near to the "action" - the food court, pool, ect. and this was probably the furthest longhouse away from everything.

The big positive about this location is that it is literally thisclose to the TTC. We would walk out of our longhouse and be on the monorail to the MK or epcot within a minute.

Here are some pics of Rapa Nui - or, as my DH kept calling it, "Roopie Nooie"

Outside the longhouse
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00921.jpg

In the lobby
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00923.jpg

"I" on the balcony
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00930.jpg

View from balcony
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00931.jpg


After we checked in, we were hungry so we decided to go the MK to get something for dinner. As I said, it was just so easy to get to the MK from where we were located - we got into the MK around 7:15 and were catching the end of the dreams come true parade. We walked around for a little while and ended up at CHH for dinner. It was completlely empty in there and was so nice just to relax, eat, and not be rushed. We didn't do any rides as we were so tired from the day, we were just happy to walk around and enjoy all the sights and sounds. It was a beautiful night and I wanted to enjoy it since we all knew Fay was on the way. We were tired and wanted to go back to the resort, but, DH was looking for something sweet to eat (when aren't we) and I suggested we go to the main street bakery for a ice cream cookie sandwich that everyone talks about.

We entered the bakery, is was also empty and asked for two since I figured we'd just split them between the four of us. Well, the CM starts to make the sandwiches and my dh looks over at me and keeps raising his eyebrows as he is watching the cm make this creation. The cm literally kept plopping on so much ice cream that it became comical and we were starting to laugh at the amount of ice cream he put onto one cookie, then topped it with another. I swear, that ice cream sandwich must have weighed 3 lbs. He then tried to put it in a big plastic to-go container, but it was so big it wouldn't close. We were hysterical when we left the bakery and everyone that we past was staring at us and these two HUGE sandwiches we were holding. It was actually quite embarassing - all four of us could have eaten one of them and there would have been some left. Of course, I took my camera out to take a pic, but, I left the battery in the battery charger back at the resort :sad2: .

We came back to the Poly, changed the girls into their pajamas, and went to the food court so DH could get some coffee, and the girls could play in the arcade for a little while

Lobby of the Poly
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00910.jpg

Inside the food court
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00907.jpg

So that ends the first day of our vacation - we went to sleep excited for the week ahead, but nervous about the coming storm.

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

Good to know about the parking lots at the Poly being close to the building. I plan on staying there in the future and we always rent a car. :thumbsup2

:rotfl: At the ice cream sandwiches, those things are huge!

[KatGarcia]

That ice cream sandwich is something I always forget is there! I gotta get one next time.

[dlwharp]

Day 1 - Part 2

We came back to the Poly, changed the girls into their pajamas, and went to the food court so DH could get some coffee, and the girls could play in the arcade for a little while

Lobby of the Poly
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00910.jpg
.
Hi just found you - I'm subbing! The girls' pjs are just beautiful! I love them! princess: princess:

[teruterubouzu]

Day 1 - Part 2
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00931.jpg


Sorry you didn't get as close to the action as you wanted, but what a gorgeous view. I just have to stay there someday!

[kimisabella]

Good to know about the parking lots at the Poly being close to the building. I plan on staying there in the future and we always rent a car. :thumbsup2

:rotfl: At the ice cream sandwiches, those things are huge!

I don't know if all the parking lots are as close in the other areas, but this one was great if you had a rental

That ice cream sandwich is something I always forget is there! I gotta get one next time.

You definatley have to get one next time, but there is NO WAY you will be able to finish it alone, you will have to share it w/your dh

Sorry you didn't get as close to the action as you wanted, but what a gorgeous view. I just have to stay there someday!

The view was really great, but, having 2 dd's that LOVE the pool and are always going for drinks and stuff at the food court, I would have traded the view to be closer to the GCH

Hi just found you - I'm subbing! The girls' pjs are just beautiful! I love them! princess: princess:

Thanks for joining in - I got those PJ's at the Disney Store when they were having a big sale a few months back, I saved them for the trip and the girls would wear them around the resort at night

[kimisabella]

Day 2 - Part I - Tuesday, August 19th

This was our first full day at the parks, we woke up and saw that the weather was OK, but we knew what was coming - I decided that we should go to DHS because my girls were going crazing wanting to ride TSM. Before we left, they would show a preview of TSM on the disney channel on one of their "Disney 365" episodes and we would get excited knowing we would be able to ride soon.

We got to DHS about a half hour after rope drop and went right to TSM - we got fastpasses first, then got on the standby line, which was about a 40 minute wait. DH wasn't feeling well so he decided to wait outside while we went on the ride. We finally rode and it is a GREAT attraction, so fun!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00911.jpg

After we rode we were hungry so we went to Starring Rolls Bakery and had some bagels/ muffins for breakfast - while we were eating they started the first show of HSM 2 - my dd's are HUGE HSM fans so we had to choke down the rest of our food so we could see the show (we already had seen this version a couple of times last year, but, that made no difference to them)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00912.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00913.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00915.jpg


Next we went to see "The Little Mermaid" show, very cute, and Ariel is "I"'s favorite princess. We then went into the Magic of Disney Animation, we've never been in there before and it's really cute - there were characters and I really wanted to do the drawing class but "K" didn't want to do it, I should have insisted as I knew that no one would want to sit through that movie again just to get into the attraction. It's one of those things at the time I didn't feel like arguing w/her, but on the other hand I didn't get to do something that I really wanted to do - oh well thats the joys of being a parent!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00920.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00918.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00919.jpg

We then walked around a bit and went into the Muppet 3-D movie, it's always funny and I love those old guys that sit up in the balcony. I remember when I was young they had the Muppet Show on at night, loved it! That was a long time ago!!

It was time to use our fastpasses for TSM so, we went into the fastpass entrance and this time DH came w/us - we all had a good time - that ride can be addicting!!

At that point, it was time for lunch, and we decided to go to Toy Story Pizza Planet - it was close, and everyone likes pizza. The pizza isn't exactly the same as we get at our local pizza place, but, hey - what are you going to do, it's a theme park. I do like the fact that they give you a nice salad w/the pizza (we were on the dining plan) - the meal is really enough for 2 people, or 1 REALLY hungry person - there is no way to eat one of those pizzas, salad, a huge drink, then dessert. My dd's usually shared meals - not to save credits or anything, just for the fact that it was just too much food and it was really a waste to order something for my younger daughter who eats barely anything.

After lunch, we walked around a bit and I believe that is when it started to rain, so we left and went back to the Poly. We had dinner adr's for Le Cellier that night.

We came back into our room and took some silly pics

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00932.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00927.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00926.jpg

We stayed in the room for a while and played on the internet - and I was getting worried as I ordered something special for my DH through room service and it was supposed to be delivered at 4pm, but it was almost 5pm at that point and we had to leave for our adr's at Le Cellier.

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

I agree, we could never finish off the whole meal when on the dining plan, way too much food!

[KatGarcia]

I love the pics of you are your girls at the Hotel! Very cute!

Ut oh did your surprise arrive in time????

[Wilsonfamily4]

I am in!

[Crystal824]

I love the Poly. Such a fun resort. I can't wait to ride TSM, but I will have wait until next summer.

[Momof2princess]

Great report, cant wait to read more.:thumbsup2

[Villainess]

Surprise?! What surprise? More! More!

[swankybeth]

Enjoying your report so far. I hope DH's surprise arrived on time, looking forward to the next installment. :)

[teruterubouzu]

Hope the surprise turns up!

Your daughters are so cute. I love your eldest daughter's glasses. She looks adorable in them.

[kimisabella]

I agree, we could never finish off the whole meal when on the dining plan, way too much food!

I think we're pretty good eaters, and we ended up not using any of our snacks because we were so full

I love the pics of you are your girls at the Hotel! Very cute!

Ut oh did your surprise arrive in time????

Thanks - info about the surprise is coming up next!

I am in!

Great! Thanks for reading!

I love the Poly. Such a fun resort. I can't wait to ride TSM, but I will have wait until next summer.

The Poly is really beautiful, TSM is worth the wait, so cool!

Great report, cant wait to read more.:thumbsup2

Thanks for joining in!

Surprise?! What surprise? More! More!

It's not a huge surprise, but I thought it was nice

Enjoying your report so far. I hope DH's surprise arrived on time, looking forward to the next installment. :)

Thanks, next installment coming soon......
Hope the surprise turns up!

Me too!

Your daughters are so cute. I love your eldest daughter's glasses. She looks adorable in them.


Thanks - it's so funny, she got those glasses last Oct. and WOULD NOT wear them for months, then all the sudden she started wearing them and would not take them off - I guess she just had to get used to them. She just broke them the other day, and we had to get her a new pair, almost the same as the old ones, but the old ones had cute rhinestones on them.

[kimisabella]

Day 2 Part 2

So, where were we... Ah yes, we were about to trudge through the heavy rain to get to our coveted Le Cellier adr's. We got to Epcot and it was really raining hard, rain that is not fun, we went straight through to World Showcase since we had about 45 minutes to our adr. We went into Japan and Miyuki was just finishing up a demonstration - we always get picked when we go to one of her demonstrations, I think it's the big puppy dog eyes "K" gives her when we are there. Anyway, we go into the big department store in Japan - I always forget the name, because "K" wanted to pick a pearl and get it set into a necklace. We did this last year, but, she picked a setting that wasn't the most secure, and, you guessed it - it broke and she was very upset. We ended up finding it, she lost it when we were at a party, and it was actually outside the party on the sidewalk, but, I promised her next time we were in Epcot she would be able to get a new one.

We go to purchase the ticket to pick the pearl and the girl told us that if we wanted something set it would be an additional 30 minutes. We had about 20 minutes until our Le Cellier adr, so it wouldn't be ready before we had to go to eat. The thought of walking all the way back to Japan from Canada in the pouring rain was not so appealing, so we promised "K" that we would definatley be back to Epcot, and it was only day 2 of our vacation, so we had plenty of time for her to get the pearl.

She reluctantly agreed, and we put our ponchos back on and braved the walk from Japan to Canada. We got to Le Cellier and checked in, it was pouring and all sorts of people kept coming in and asking if there was any availability - silly people - don't they know that you can't just walk into Le Cellier? We had to wait a while for a table and one of the cm's was asking Canadian trivia questions to all of the people sitting to help the time go by.

We finally got to sit down and had a really good meal. We had the new 3-course menu where we got to choose the appetizer, entree and dessert and it was 1 credit on the regular dining plan. We also got smoothes, which was nice. We were seated in the back near the bathroom, but, that's fine with me. My two girls must have the smallest bladders in the free world because we are ALWAYS in the bathroom. I had the cheese soup - really good, I've tried to make it at home, but, it just doesn't taste the same, and prime rib. It was actually pretty good, I'm not really a prime rib person, I usually get the mushroom filet, but I really enjoyed it. Grumpy got the salmon - I tried it and it was REALLY good - I make salmon at home alot, but, this had a really nice "crust" and I couldn't figure out what it was. Here are some pics from dinner -

"I" coloring her menu
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00939.jpg

"Grumpy & K"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00945.jpg

"I" with the cherry from her smoothie
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00942.jpg

"I" always trying to take pics of me
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00949.jpg

"I" and her "chocolate moose"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00947.jpg


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00946.jpg

When we finished Le Cellier, we decided to just leave Epcot, it was just too miserable to do anything - they were going to start Illuminations soon, and it was just dead - there was no one that was staying to watch it. I was starting to get depressed thinking our whole vacation was going to be clouded by the rain - we walked to the parking lot and my dd's would jump in all the puddles and squeal w/delight - it was cute, and it took my mind off the rain.

We got back into the room and discovered that my surprise had been delivered
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00950.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00951.jpg

(we were celebrating our 10th anniversary a little early)
I was happy, but, we were just too stuffed to enjoy it - as I had said earlier, I wanted it to be delivered at 4:00 p.m. because I knew we would be in the room at that point, we were having a later dinner. It must have arrived while we were at dinner. We all forced ourselves to have some because it looked so beautiful and I have to say - it was DELICIOUS. It was so moist, and the mousse inside was really good - as a matter of fact, I wish I had a piece right now....It was REALLY GOOD, but, I don't know if it was $75 good. Do you know how many cake mixes and cans of frosting I can buy for $75?????
Oh well, our 10th anniversary only comes around once (I hope), so I didn't mind.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00954.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00956.jpg

With that ends our first full day, we went to bed in a sugar induced coma with dreams of better weather, but that was not meant to be..........yet.

[Villainess]

Beautiful cake - what a wonderful surprise!!!!

[KatGarcia]

Was that a gold plated cake? It better have been for that $! :lmao: Happy Anniv tho!

[Crystal824]

Yeah, I agree Disney's cake prices are pretty high. Our last trip was both my mom and nephew's birthday. We paid $50.00 for the nephew's cake and $85.00 for mom's. They were both very good. We were sort of a capative audience. I couldn't let them go without birthday cake so...what are you going to do?

[kimisabella]

Beautiful cake - what a wonderful surprise!!!!

It was beautiful, just expensive!
Was that a gold plated cake? It better have been for that $! :lmao: Happy Anniv tho!


:rotfl2: It was gold colored tin foil over cardboard - you would have thought they would have put in on an actual plate for that much.

Yeah, I agree Disney's cake prices are pretty high. Our last trip was both my mom and nephew's birthday. We paid $50.00 for the nephew's cake and $85.00 for mom's. They were both very good. We were sort of a capative audience. I couldn't let them go without birthday cake so...what are you going to do?

I agree, if you want the cake, you've got to pay the price - if it was horrible I would have been really upset, but, it was really good. I also think they charged me a "room service" fee or something like that because they brought it to the room & set it up w/all the utensils.

[swankybeth]

Gorgeous cake! I'm glad it finally made it to your room. :)

[kimisabella]

Gorgeous cake! I'm glad it finally made it to your room. :)

Thanks - I was happy to see that it finally arrived, I was getting a little nervous when it wasn't there when it was supposed to be

[kimisabella]

Day 3 Part I

Wednesday, August 20th

I woke up that morning and went straight for the window, yup, it was still raining, it was the constant, hard rain that you knew would be like that the whole day.

We didn't really rush since the weather wasn't so great, so we all got ready, dressed and went down to the food court to try the famous Tonga Toast!!

We had a great breakfast, the Tonga Toast was GOOD!!!! In our week at the Poly we had Tonga Toast a total of three times, but, this first time we ordered it was the best tasting of the three. It was perfectly cooked, I didn't use much syrup as it was SWEET!!

"I" digging into my Tonga Toast
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00960.jpg

"K" eating a Mickey Waffle
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00959.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00961.jpg

We finished up our breakfast, sufficently stuffed, and headed into the GCH to wander around. I went into Boutiki - the big gift shop in the GCH to look around. I found a really cool sweatshirt that I wanted and casually showed it to DH and mentioned how cute it was - and, I added, with any purchase of $40 or more you could purchase a really cute tote bag for $10!!

So as I was wandering, somthing caught my eye, it was, a........... LGMH - yes, the famous paint chip that all good diser's look for. Then I looked at the person it was attached to, and I recognized KatGarcia - I knew from her pre-tr that she would be coming over to the Poly for breakfast one morning, and lo and behold, this was the morning!!! I rush over to DH and tell him of my sighting and he literally pushes me over her way so I could talk to her. I was a little hesitant as I never approached another diser before. I ended up going up to her and introducing myself, and we had a nice chat. Of course, we had to take the obligatory photo for proof of a diser sighting

Here's Kat and I
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00958.jpg

After our first (and only) diser sighting of the trip, we decided to hit DTD for some shopping. Our usual tradition is to go to DTD the first night of our trip and go into the Christmas shop where I purchase all the ornaments and have them personalized so they are ready by the end of the trip - but because of the bad weather, we didn't get to it until that day. We got to the Christmas shop and were surprised to see that all personalized ornaments would be ready the next day - score! There's usually a much longer wait for the personalization, so that was good.

Next we went into Goofy's Candy Kitchen - love that place, but, even though there was literally no one else in there, the service was s l o w.....
DD's made their own treats, and we were off.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00967.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00964.jpg

We left Goofy's and it was lunch time so we hit Earl of Sandwich - this is my dh's favorite place to eat - which I find odd, since he rarely eats sandwiches at home - oh well... We were lucky since it was still before the lunch rush and we were able to snag a table right away and get the food fairly quickly. Only problem was when I went to give "I" her pb&j sandwich, we opened it up to realize it was just a bun, with nothing inside - guess they forgot the pb&j - dh had to go and get it fixed and the rest of the meal was uneventful.


After lunch we went back to the Poly and decided to hop on the monorail to the MK -

"I" with her Goofy's creation
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00968.jpg

"K" and I on the monorail over to the MK
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00971.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00973.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00974.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00995.jpg

We we supposed to have our family photoshoot at the Poly at 6:30 p.m., but as it was STILL raining, we had to postpone it - I went over to the photopass stand the day before and they couldn't be more helpful, and we postponed it to Friday evening.

I had not made an ADR for that night as I wasn't sure of our schedule w/the photoshoot and all, so we found ourselves hungry and tired after a day at the MK - it was about 7:30 p.m. - we went over to the GCH and walked over to Kona Cafe - it looked really busy, but we tried anyway, and they gave us a beeper and told us they would fit us in. I held onto the beeper while Grumpy and K went down to the Boutiki store, and they came back with, you guessed it - the sweatshirt and bag that I had said I liked earlier in the day. It was a good thing since it rained so much and was much cooler than I anticipated, I ended up wearing that sweatshirt almost every day.

We had a REALLY good dinner at Kona Cafe - probably the best meal of the trip. We tried later on in the week to get another ADR, but, they were always completley full.

Me and my newly acquired sweatshirt
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00998.jpg

Bread and butter at the Kona Cafe - it was really delicious
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00999.jpg

Sticky wings - these were really good as well, we paid oop for these since we were on the basic dining plan
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC01001.jpg

the Kona Kone
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC01004.jpg

"I" sleeping through dinner
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC00997.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC01005.jpg

After dinner we went back to our room, the girls changed into the pj's and we headed back to the GCH to hit the arcade

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC01006.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v668/kimisabella/DSC01007.jpg

And with that, we end the day - we accomplished alot even though it did rain most of the day!

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

:woohoo: You got to meet Kat, isn't she a sweetie!

That Kona Cone looks delicious! I always end up craving ice cream whenever a Diser posts a picture of one. :rotfl:

[kimisabella]

:woohoo: You got to meet Kat, isn't she a sweetie!

That Kona Cone looks delicious! I always end up craving ice cream whenever a Diser posts a picture of one. :rotfl:


Yes, she is very sweet - I was so excited and nervous at the same time - I've never done the "dis approach" to anyone before :laughing:

The Kona Kone was so cute - DH was surprised as he thought he was just getting a sundae or something

[KatGarcia]

I was the only did sighting?! Wow! It was def great to meet you, I'm glad you came up to me as I was oblivious that morning to most things- no real coffee does that to ya! We were probably having breakfast at the same time too, but I sat outside!

[kimisabella]

I was the only did sighting?! Wow! It was def great to meet you, I'm glad you came up to me as I was oblivious that morning to most things- no real coffee does that to ya! We were probably having breakfast at the same time too, but I sat outside!

Well I did spy your dh that one night at the Emporium, but, I don't consider that a real sighting since I didn't approach him.

If you ever decide to have a NYC dis meet, let me know, however, I'm not too good with navigating around the city. I mostly only know the area in Brooklyn that dh grew up in :confused3

[KatGarcia]

I thought I'd have a lot to catch up on, I have been MIA for one reason or another for a while now.... is everything ok???