My family vs. the Happiest Place On Earth

[goodferry]

I am going to attempt to keep this trip report all on one thread, so you won't have to hunt around for the other parts.
Pre-Trip Background Information:
In mid-November, DH and I decided that it was time to take the kids back to Disney. Our youngest would be one in June, so we decided to go in June and celebrate her birthday, that way the other three kids wouldn't have to miss any school. For our last trip, in February 2000, I took the oldest out of school and felt guilty about it, so we decided we would leave on the last day of school, June 4th.
Having six in our party, including the baby who would sleep in a crib, we debated over two rooms at a moderate or going for it and staying at a deluxe resort. We decided to give up bathroom space and privacy in exchange for the convenience of staying on the monorail. By January, our reservations we made, our flight booked, we were all set.
Before I tell you what happened next, it's necessary to know that my husband and I ran our own business, a business we were in the process of buying from my FIL, who started it 30 years ago.
On March 3, the IRS showed up and SHUT DOWN OUR BUSINESS because my FIL owed back taxes. A situation we knew nothing about. I ended up in the hospital for a week, positive that life as we knew it, was over.
Well, things got better. DH was very upbeat and supportive, surprisingly, and the medication they put me on kept me calm. We got things straightened out, got a loan, paid his taxes, and he signed over all his property to us. In the meanwhile. I was sure we would have to cancel disney. To my surprise, DH said, I think we need a vacation, so we were game on!

[goodferry]

Planning:
Deciding we wanted to do this vacation right, I upgraded our room to Garden View Concierge at the Poly and reserved a stretch limo through FL Tours. I didn't tell any of the family about this, of course, so it would be a surprise. As a matter of fact, we didn't tell the kids about the trip at all. Before all that happened in March, they knew we had thought about going, but they figured we would cancel after the IRS mess. I made our reservations and studied the boards regularly. I bought many meal vouchers and had our touring plan ready. All I had to do was wait for June to arrive!

[goodferry]

Getting There:
For two weeks leading up to our trip, I packed. I over pack, it's an illness, I can't help it. Anyway, can I tell you that the kids never noticed? And I always thought they were so bright!
When they got home on the evening of June 3rd, the car was packed. We told them we were going to stay at a hotel in Pittsburgh because IKEA was having a big sale, and I wanted to go. The five-year-old started crying. She hates IKEA, they all do. DH and I decide to give in and finally tell them where we were really going, Disney! They were very excited, and the tears stopped. They quickly called their friends and said good-bye and we were off.
We spent the night at an Embassy Suites near the Pittsburgh Airport that I got on Hotwire for $40 a night. What a great deal! It was definitely a positive Hotwire experience.
The next morning we flew to Orlando with no problems, arriving around 11:30. We head to baggage claim, DS (12) says "hey, mom ,there's some guy standing there with a sign with your name on it." We walk over to the gentleman who quickly rounds up a skycap to help us collect our luggage and explains that he is going to get the car and told us where to meet him. The kids were in shock. Where was the waiting in 2 hour long lines at car rental? You should have seen their faces when the limo pulled up, they were like the Beverly Hillbillies. "Is this really for us mom" I must have heard that a hundred times. Then DH turned to me and said "you did a really good job planning this". That made my trip and we weren't even there yet. After a quick grocery stop at Goodings (expensive and they didn't have the baby food I needed) we were off to the Poly!

[goodferry]

Our Disney Trip:
Cast- myself, 35, DH, 37, DS, 13, DS, 8, DD, 5 and DD 11 months.

We pulled up to the Poly and were immediately treated like royalty. People were tripping over each other to help us. They unloaded our luggage and checked on our room, it was ready! We waited about 3 minutes for a gentleman named Eb who took us to our room, explaining to us what a wonderful building we were staying in, and showing us a little bit of the resort. He was very nice, joking with the kids and denying that he looked like Morgan Freeman (he really did, even sounded like him) We were greeted with leis upon our arrival and shown to our room. Our room was right next to the third foor lounge!

[Minniespal]

Enjoying reading your report ~ Keep it coming.

[goodferry]

Back to Day One:
When we walked into the room there on the bed was a beautiful Cinderella Dress and an autographed picture for Shelby. I thought she was going to pass out with joy. I had asked the concierge staff to arrange this since we had a Princess breakfast the next morning and I wouldn't have time to pick one up and sneak it into the room. It was done to perfection, and she still believes that Cinderella left that dress for her.
As my family enjoyed the lounge offerings (is this really FREE mom?) I took the baby downstairs to check-in. This process took all of three minutes and we were ready to go. Kathy brought over pails and shovels for all the kids.
Back in the room, we discussed what to do next. The kids wanted to swim (this should be an indication of the direction this vacation is going) so DH took them while I unpacked and the baby explored our new room. It was larger than I expected with a nice enough view (it ended up not mattering that we had a balcony because I only sat on it one morning for about 5 minutes) We didn't get upgraded at check-in and never missed the lagoon view.
After taking what seemed like forever to unpack (remember the overpacking thing?) the kids were back and thrilled with the pool. The slide was great and the pool a comfortable temperature. Even DH enjoyed it.
A knock came at the door, and there was a cake and balloons for Zoe, who would be turning 1 in June. It wasn't necessary or expected, but a very nice gesture.
We packed up the backpack and stroller and headed to the MK to look around before our 6:30 reservation at the Whispering Canyon Cafe. I was worried that the kids wouldn't want to leave the MK to eat dinner, but decided what to see what happened.
On our way out to the boat to the MK, the wildlife at the Polynesian got it's first taste of wildlife explorer Shelby. On the way to the boat she found two bunnies, multiple geckos, and several ducks, and tried to catch them all. Any of you that were staying at the Poly that week and saw rabbits and ducks running for their lives with a five year old not far behind, that was her. She can't help herself she LOVES animals.

[pjlla]

Keep it coming.... I'm ready for the next installment!.......P

[goodferry]

Finally, we were on our way to the MK, if I had my way, we would have gone about 5 minutes after we checked in! We headed straight for Buzz Lightyear and then over to (try) find the Pirates of the Carib. I think the addition of the new Alladin ride threw us off. After the Pirates we headed to Fantasy Land so Shelby could ride "Peter Man" which we did, twice. We were amazed that the crowds seemed so light.
Along the way we talked to lots of CMs who told us about the drought in Florida and about how it hadn't rained in six months. Cue the rain. We decided since it was raining, we would indeed keep the reservation at Whispering Canyon and we took a rather scary boat ride over to the WL (lightening was striking all around us) The lodge was BREATHTAKING. Pictures do not do this resort justice. What it didn't have that I did feel at the Poly was a homey feel. It was so large and impressive that it was almost intimidating.
Dinner was lots of fun, we were in the corner, but had a great waiter who joked with the kids and myself a lot. We all got silly hats, including my pilgrim hat. It was a great time, a nice side trip from the MK, and the food was terrific.
The rain had stopped by the time we finished dinner, but we decided to head back to the resort since we had an 8 am breakfast at the castle.
We returned to the lounge to get drinks and dessert and then we stood on the beach and watched the fireworks while having a drink. Wishes was incredible and we all fell into bed exhausted, knowing that Mickey would be calling soon.

[#1hockeymom]

I found your report and can't wait to read all of it!

[goodferry]

Day 2, Saturday June 5
The phone rang bright and early at 6:30 am "Up and attem folks" how cute. By day 7, not so cute anymore, but I digress.
There was a little bit of grumbling about the hour and we were all tired and did we ALL have to eat at the castle, that sort of thing. Then Zack "mom, can we go swimming?" No hunny, mom spent $1700 on park tickets for everyone, we are going to the parks. Luckily the lounge opened at 7 and everyone but the baby and I went down to have coffee and juice and complain about me while I finished getting ready and picked up.
We head out to the monorail. "Look mom a duck" off she goes into the bushes in her princess dress. No sooner had we distracted her from the duck, then along came a bunny. Luckily it was a short walk to the GCH.
We were on the monorail and ready to go by 7:30 for our 8:05 reservation. No problem, right? MK doesn't even open until 9:00, so we should have no problems.
We get to the Mk and the line for people with early breakfast reservations is only about two miles long. I should mention at this point that today was "Gay Day" at the MK, so there were lots of red shirts and tiaras in line with us and the crowd was very pleasant, if it wasn't for the red shirts, the tiaras and the occasional feather boa, I wouldn't have even known.
At 8:00 they START admitting people to the MK, how are we going to get there by 8:05? We finally make our way up in line and one of our tickets is not working, so we have to wait while a CM goes to guest services and sees how to fix the problem. DH sends me off to breakfast, while he and DS wait for the problem to be fixed. Off we go, jogging down Main Street, me, a princess, an eight year old that only wants to swim, and the baby. Then we hear "Hey Princess" and over comes a CM. We are all the way to the statue of Walt and Mickey, we are almost there, doesn't this man know that we have a reservation that we are late for?
This is when I learned a very important lesson about Disney trips. You can plan a magical vacation all you want, but sometimes the magic happens when you HADN'T planned for it.
"Princess," he says again. "Could you help me?"
Shelby looks down, feeling a little shy.
"What's your name Princess?"
"Shelby"
"Who is this guy your bodyguard?" he asks, pointing to Zack (more like her lifeguard I think)
She smiles and shakes her head.
"Could you come help me. I am training some new cast members and I need to teach them how to behave when they meet a princess."
Off she goes with him looking very regal in her Cinderella dress and pink pointy princess hat that totally does not match her outfit but that she simply HAD to have, he teaches the other CMs how to greet a princess (bow or curtsey), how to talk to one and how to wave to one. She felt like a real princess, more than she ever did during the breakfast I had planned.
By now "King Matt" and "Prince Chris" had joined us. They had given them a one day resort pass and told us to fix our room key ticket when we got back to the resort. We all strolled up to the castle a good 25 minutes late for our reservation.

[WDWLinda]

"and I thought they were so bright"

That was funny. So what happened next???

Thanks, I'm enjoying your trip...some day I hope to stay Concierge at the Poly...let me know if its worth it...

~Linda

[lovesdumbo]

GREAT report-can't wait to read more.

[Disney01]

Please tell me how your 13 year old liked his trip. Did he get into the spirit of Disney?

[babybunrab]

Aggh! Don't leave us hanging like this! What happened next?

This is a great trip report. You are very funny!

[goodferry]

Day 2-Breakfast at CRT
WORTH EVERY PENNY Do you hear me all of you non-believers. It was awesome. You think, no big deal, breakfast in the castle, kind of cool, until Cinderella walks up to you and you are five years old again and speechless.
We checked in, apologizing for being late, and were immediately ushered up to our table. The kids were awestruck by the castle and the site of the princesses roaming about. We were seated and our food was brough out rather quickly. I was pretty happy to see the food as I was starving. This is the perfect time for the Princesses to start arriving. First Mary Poppins, then Snow White, then Belle, then Cindy herself, then Aurora. Who has time to eat? We took at least a thousand pictures. The baby was quite amused by the whole thing and laughed as each princess arrived. Chris was a little shy, we promised him we wouldn't tell his friends if he had fun and acted like a kid for a week and then he lightened up. He admited that he thought Aurora was pretty hot. I have to say that the Cinderella we had for the breakfast was the best one we saw all week. The same goes for Snow White. Those voices, how do they do that all day long?
Needless to say, I didn't eat very much because of all the excitement. Shelby was in seventh heaven and even DH had fun. We had a wonderful waiter named Sir Dana, the kids even got his autograph!
After breakfast Shelby discarded the Princess garb and we headed for Fantasyland to ride a few rides. (Zack wanted to go swimming for the record) We were surprised to find no lines!! We rode Dumbo, Peter Man (twice), Pooh (twice), Snow White, and the Tea Cups rather quickly. We saw Alice and the Mad Hatter (without a doubt the funniest characters we encountered all week)
By this time the masses of red t-shirts were streaming in so we decided to take the boat to the Poly and then head to MGM. First the kids swam for a few minutes, of course and we grabbed a cookie in the lounge and a coke.
Before I tell you about MGM, I have to explain about the ID tags I made. I got some of the green paint chips at Home Depot and decorated them with stickers. I put pictures of the kids on one side and our cell phone numbers and resort info on the other side, I laminated them so the kids could carry them. They all laughed at me. Even the baby. The first day they carried them, and I never saw them again. This is important to remember as I talk about our trip to MGM.
Our Zack is a Star Wars fan, so I was sure he would love Star Wars weekend at MGM. We were surprised when we arrived to find no characters at all. I don't know if it's because we got there late or what, but we saw two storm troopers and Darth Vader, that was it.
When we got to MGM we rented a stroller for Shelby, since she was tired. It was time for our reservation at Sci-Fi Dine in, but no one wanted to go, so I canceled. Cue the rain. Again. We got a fast pass for TOT and then rode Star Tours since the line was pretty short. We looked around and it was almost time for our TOT fast pass, so we got another Fast Pass for Indiana Jones and headed for TOT. We bought some ponchos on the way to cover the stollers, so the rain quit. When we arrived at TOT it was now 2:15. I needed to be back at the resort with the baby by 4 pm since we had a sitter. We planned on doing rides for a while without the baby and the stroller, and then we had a fireworks cruise planned with two other Dis families at 9:15.
Zack did not want to ride TOT so I volunteered to wait with Zack, the baby, and the two strollers and then use the rest of the fast passes for my turn. We got Mickey Bars and sat on a bench to wait. and wait. and wait. Not only had the rain stopped but it was now about 200 degrees out. At 3:00, we went into the gift shop and got a t-shirt for Chris and Shelby ( I survived type of thing) and went back out to the strollers. And sat. And sat. At 3:15 we went in to wait in the shade where you exit the ride. We waited until 3:30 and then left a note in the stroller we had rented saying we had gone to the room and that I would meet them at Star Tours at 5:30. We went to the bus stop and my cell phone rang.
"Where are you, is everything alright?" I demanded.
"I am in the room, where are YOU?"
After a ten minute long heated debate it turned out that me must have been sitting next to each other for at least half and hour. He claims I wasn't where he left me. I was sitting ONE BENCH DOWN FROM WHERE HE LEFT ME.
Needless to say, he was furious and it pretty much ruined the whole night. Matt was there to greet the sitter, named Wendy, from Kid's Night Out and I got there about 4:15. She was really great. Very thorough, good with the baby, brought lots of toys.
We decided after lots of dirty looks back and forth between Matt and I to go to Epcot for a while. We got there and headed for Test Track. The stand-by line was like 2 hours long and there were no more fast passes. (The same thing happened last trip) We headed to find something to eat since we hadn't eaten since breakfast. Along the way, we came to Norway and went by since we were in search of food. Matt proceeds to start complaining that we were passing up rides. So I asked if they wanted rides or food, he wanted to ride Malestrom, fine, so we did. We ride and leave to find food once again.
We get to China and Matt decides this is as far as he will go, he is eating now. I can't eat Chineese food, but that's ok, we go in to the counter service place and everyone eats but me. Matt is still not speaking to me over the TOT mishap. I say to him "why didn't you call my cell phone in the park?"
Chris pipes up "He doesn't know your cell phone number and his cell phone was dead. He had to wait until we got back to the room and could look at our ID cards you made to get the number"
Turns out they went to Guest Services in the parks and they asked my number, he turned to Chris and Shelby and said "Did you bring your ID cards." No you told them they were dorky. So the cm asks what room they were in at the Poly "I don't know." Great. I am sorry, we can't help you then.
Now that the truth is out I am mad.
"Aren't you going to eat anything?" he asks as we book through World Showcase. "No thanks, let's just get back to the Poly so we can go on the cruise." We head for the monorail.
Cue the rain, the thunder and the lightening. Back at the Poly we check on the baby and ask the concierge desk about the cruise.
Nope, not cancelled despite the pouring rain and the lightening. We got a glass of wine in the lounge (actually several) and went to stand in the rain. No one was there. No one, it was dead. I go back to the concierge desk. Are you sure they aren't cancelled?
Nope, not cancelled. Why is no one there? Because the little rat behind the desk told us to wait at the boat launch not at the marina, where we should be.
We head to the marina. I don't want to go on this cruise at this point, I just want to go to bed a start over. It turns out the cruises were cancelled. So we go back to the room and release the sitter and go to bed. Still mad. (and hungry)

[goodferry]

Day 3-Sunday June 6th
Mickey called to wake us up. Again. I let Chris answer this time. We were doing early entry at the MK today. The kids got dressed and went to the lounge with DH to have breakfast. I fed the baby, got dressed and packed up our gear. I stopped in the lounge, gathered the family and a coke (I take medication that requires that I can't eat for an hour after I take it) and we headed to the monorail. Not before, however, Shelby found THREE lizards. How does she do it? How does she spot those tiny little things. She was determined she was going to catch one before the trip was over.
The MK was already fairly crowded by the time we got there (about 8:10) We got Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear and went to Fantasyland. Can't get enough of that Peter Man. After Buzz, we got fast passes for Splash Mountain. Shelby wanted to ride it, despite seeing that big fall. Once on the ride, she cried the whole way through, afraid that big waterfall was around the corner. I tried to reassure her, but no dice. She cried the whole time. We went to baby swap with Matt, and Shelby wanted to go with him. So all the kids rode with him and Shelby cried the whole way again. So I guess you could say she has a love/hate relationship with Splash Mountain. We headed to Space Mountain to get Fast Passes, but the return time was late in the afternoon and we planned on heading back to the resort soon to swim. With each ride we would go on, poor little Zack would have fun, but as soon as it was over, he would say "can we go swim now?"
At this point it is almost noon and I haven't eaten anything with the exception of a chocolate chip cookie in the lounge. (let me add that I am not a bad mother. The kids had eaten in the lounge the night before plus they had eaten in China. It just always seemed when it was time to go to the lounge to eat, I was taking care of the baby, or cleaning up or something)
I was ready to pass out between the heat and the lack of food, so we decide to go to Casey's and grab a hot dog. On the way there we see that Cinderella's Surprise Celebration just started and Shelby desparately wants to go watch. I take her and Matt takes the rest of them to Caseys to get food. It turned out well, she watched the show in awe and it is one of my favorite memories of the trip, watching her cheer the characters on and boo the villains. She starts school in the fall and I know how quickly they grow up.
We head back to Casey's to meet the rest of the gang and I have the best hot dog I have ever had in my life. I gulped food down. I can remember after I had Zack and the nurse brought me a tray of food. I had been in labor forever and I swore that was the best meal I had ever had. That is no longer so. The best meal is now the hot dog I had in the MK.
After our lunch we shopped a while before heading to the Poly to swim and rest. I must add at this point that the kids have been so well behaved. They haven't asked for anything, we had to beg them to buy souveniers! That was one of the nicest parts of the vacation, seeing what nice little kids my babies are turning into.

[megan4777]

Thank-you for being such a WONDERFUL mommy and wife!!!! I would do alllll the things you did and do. It's so funny because people think you're "horrible" for arguing with you DH or wanting to drop your kids off somewhere...but you're not. You are great. Thanks!! I was so worried about our camping trip this summer to Lake George, NY and then our trip to Disney next year and now I'm not. Thanks soooooooooooooooooooooooo much!!

[MAGICinMYHEART]

goodferry

I'm enjoying you trip reports so much...Thanks for posting...can't wait for the next.

[goodferry]

Day 3 continued:
Back at the Poly DH and Chris decided to rest for a while, so the rest of us headed to the pool. The baby really enjoyed the zero entry pool. She loved sitting in the shallow water and splashing. Luckily I could sit with her and just keep an eye on the other two because we have a pool and they both have had swimming lessons since they were babies.
The pool was not empty, but it was not packed either. We managed to find a table, although you couldn't see the pool from it. DH and Chris joined us after an hour long nap and I changed the baby who fell asleep in my arms. DH and I decided to enjoy one of the Barefoot bar's frozen drinks. Their Pina Coladas are soooo good. We sat there chatting while the baby slept in the stroller when the older lady at the table next to us screams snake. What do I do? Grab the baby? Yell to the kids? Nope, I put my feet up in the air, lucky thing too because it was under our table! Now it was just a garden snake, but had it slithered over my foot I would have had a heart attack!
Once Shelby and Chris had enought swimming (for the record Zack wanted to stay in the pool) we talked about what we wanted to do.
As usual Chris said "whatever you want to do is fine". I decided he deserved a treat for being such a sweety this trip, so I suggest we go to Downtown Disney. I know that he has always wanted to go to Disney Quest, but I don't mention that it's there. It looked like rain again, so we grabbed our ponchos and headed for the bus. We walked around and did some shopping. I got some christmas ornaments and lots of stuff in the Lego store. At the Lego store, I had our purchases mailed home. I spent about $80 and the shipping was less than the sales tax I would have spent. The box arrived home about the same time as we did. The kids all got pin trading gear, the pin store there is great! We walked over to DTD West Side after having dinner at Mickey D's. This was when I broached the subject of going to Disney Quest. DH was against it until I told him what it was and that it was included in our park admission. I wanted to take Shelby and the baby and head back to the room so they could enjoy themselves, but DH was hesitant to leave me. Chris even said "Mom, it's not fair if we go without you". I insisted that they go and Shelby really wanted to go back to the room so that sealed the deal. We headed back towards the bus stop, and decided rather than pickup the bus at the West Side stop to walk back to DTD and get ice cream and get the bus there. Cue the rain. We gave up on the ice cream and ran to the bus stop.
Back in the room, we went to the lounge and enjoyed dessert and wine (chocolate milk for Shelby).
The boys got home around 11 full of stories about how much fun DQ was, the awesome roller coaster they built and what they did.

[Disney01]

I'm not sure who's who...Is Chris the 13 year old, and Zack is 7? And Shelby is 5? And there is a baby?? Help!!

Great reports!! Did your kids all get autographs or just the younger ones?

[goodferry]

Sorry! Zack (8), Chris (12 almost 13), Shelby (5) and Zoe (almost one) Matt (DH)

[goodferry]

Day 4 could not come fast enough for wildlife explorer Shelby-we were finally off to Animal Kingdom.
Mickey woke us early and we followed our usual routine, get the kids dressed, DH takes them to the lounge to eat while I got ready and dressed the baby. We had dinner reservations for that evening for dinner with Cinderella at 1900 Park Faire. I had made this ressies before we got CRT, but decided to keep it anyway. We had two kind of meal vouchers with us and hadn't used them yet, so I asked Renee at the concierge desk to get us PS for the RFC for noon, and she came through.
We got to AK shortly after opening. We were developing a system now. I wore the fanny pack and took the backpack through bag check while DH took all the kids with him and headed to get a stroller.
We immediately went to ride the safari, which was difficult because Shelby wanted to stop and look at everything, but we really wanted to get the safari done early, so we left a lot for later.
The safari was fun, the animals were not as active as I remember from our trip in Feb. 2000. We headed to Kali River Rapids, which the kids all loved, then to Dinoland. The kids were not interested in any of the new rides (Primeval Whirl and Triceritop Spin) so we went to Dinosaur to get Fast Passes. We got snacks and took the kids to the boneyard for a little while. We stolled along the walking paths around Dinosaur and it was time for our Fast Passes. Once again, we all loved this ride, even the five-year-old. I will take this opportunity to say that the baby swapping worked very well at every ride in WDW, we never ran into one single problem.
We had time to see Festival of the Lion King (the baby's favorite thing of the whole week) which was really good, then it was time for lunch.
We used three $30 lunch vouchers at RFC and got over $300 worth of food that more than fed all of us. We had steak, lobster, shrimp, you name it. This was definitely the best deal of the week. All the kids loved the RFC, we were seated next to the dancing monkeys, and I almost wish we had time to go back again, they liked it that much.
We headed back for the Poly after lunch to rest and swim before dinner with Cindy. On our way out we ran into Goofy, who played with Shelby for a long time, tickeling and teasing her. Bus service was excellant, we had no trouble all week long.
Along the way we discussed the fact that the Mk was open late that evening for E-Ride night. According to the notes I had taken before we left, the Mk was open until 9 pm, then until midnight for E-Ride night. We decided to get a sitter for the three younger kids, since they couldn't stay up that late, and take Chris. I should have checked my notes first...

[Mary Anne]

This is just great, I am really enjoying it. Thank you so much for keeping it all in one place!

[goodferry]

Day 4-continued
Back at the Poly we ordered up a babysitter and decided to swim for a while, poor Zack was going into withdrawl at this point, it had been nearly 24 hours since he got his volcano slide fix.
Cue the rain.
We rested instead, enjoying the lounge, watching Disney cartoons and coloring. It was actually a nice forced break.
We got Shelby back into her Princess Gear and headed for the monorail, right on time for a change.
Let me tell you before I describe the experience that we all had a bad attitude going into this dinner. Noone was especially hungry yet after the huge lunch we had, and Shelby was happy to eat with Cinderella and Prince Charming, but she could have done without it.
The boys were princessed out.
Zoe, however, maintained the sunny disposition she had displayed throughout the entire trip. You may have noticed that I hardly mention her, that's because she was no trouble what-so-ever. She was just a joy to be around.
The GF is an absolutely beautiful resort. It is so white and pristine and I really wanted the family to enjoy this visit, as I would love to stay there on a future trip.
Unfortunately, the cms we encountered were aloof and the whole place seemed unfriendly to DH and Chris. Zack just wanted to see the pool and Shelby was too busy acting regal to give her impressions.
We were seated immediately upon arrival at 1900 Park Faire, much to the dismay of four other families that arrived before us. The restaurant is sort of unremarkable. It isn't awful or anything, but other than the characters, I can't recall any details that stand out. The food was ok. Typical buffet food and the character interaction was fine. The mice were lots of fun, the baby enjoyed them a lot. Cinderella visited for a little bit, but Prince Charming never did make it to us. We had to hunt him down for a picture and autograph.
Out in the lobby we finally got to hook up with the Fairy Godmother and our experience at the GF was over.
Overall, I would love to stay there someday, but I don't know about with the kids. I know that one friend from the resort board transfered to the GF after a bad experience at the WL and loved it there, so I think a lot depends on the expectations you go in with.
We left the GF for the hotel where we were scheduled to meet the sitter at 8:00. It was still raining, pouring as a matter of fact, and the thunder and lightening had started up.
The sitter arrived right on time and she was nice, the kids seemed to like her. We gave them time to get adjusted then headed downstairs. We stopped at the concierge desk to buy eride tickets only to find out that regular hours for the MK had been extended until 11 pm and that eride night was from 11-2am. No way could we say up that late! Plus it was still pouring and the electrical storm was still pounding away. We walked around the lobby of the Poly and went up to the lounge for a drink. (Chris got to try a virgin Pina Colada) We decided to head over to the MK for a while until closing since the rain looked to be letting up. We arrived to find the rain had finally stopped!! We got to ride lots of rides, inluding Space Mountain (my first time!) as there were virtually no lines. We got to see Wishes standing right next to the castle, it is an incredible show. We shopped a little and rode Pirates again before heading home at 11:30 to release the sitter.
Now it may seem like we are pawning our kids off on sitters a lot, but it was mostly the baby I worried about. We kept her slatered in sunblock, but she very fair skinned with red hair and not used to the Florida sun and heat, plus it gave the kids time to rest when we didn't need it so much. The only problem with a sitter is you really should plan for one in advance and you never know when your plans will change. For example, the night when our fireworks cruise was cancelled. We really could have done without a sitter that night, but we were past our time to cancel when we figured that out.

[goodferry]

Day 5
My original "plan" (which was all shot to hell at this point anyway) was that we would do a water park today, kind of a break from the parks. I reserved a sitter for the baby so we wouldn't have to torture her by dragging her through the water slides etc. Surprise, surprise, the kids didn't want to go to a water park. There were too many other things we hadn't done yet.
Shelby wanted to go back to AK, DH wanted to go back to AK. Chris wanted to go to MGM, I wanted to go to AK and Zack wanted to go on the volcano slide. We decided on AK since we were planning on going to MGM the next day.
Our sitter (Jo) was late today, the only time all week. After getting Zoe settled in for the day, we headed for AK. We did all the shows we hadn't seen the day before. We spent a lot of time looking at the Tree of Life. We went on all the trails and saw all the animals we had missed the day before. It was a very nice day. We saw Mickey finally and Minnie. All was good.
We had to be back to the hotel at 1:30, so we went back and released Jo. We swam and hung out until the rain started again. We decided to use some more of our vouchers and get a look at another resort, so we headed over to the MK and took a bus to the Beach Club where we had dinner at Beaches and Cream.
The Beach/Yacht Club resort is beautiful. We hadn't even made it to the pool yet and the kids announced they wanted to stay here next trip. The they saw SAB and they were amazed. Our next trip will definitely be a split stay between the Poly and BC.
We used three Q&C vouchers for the five of us at dinner and had more than enough to eat. Our waitress showed us how to split our meals and get the most out of our vouchers. She even gave the kids free drinks! I had the best chocolate cake ever for dessert. We watched three different tables eat a Kitchen Sink. It was lots of fun and the food was good for what it was, burgers and fries.
It poured the whole time we were there, I mean POURED. It rained so hard the roof started leaking at the front of the restaurant. But, by the time we finished it quit! We strolled along the Boardwalk heading for Epcot to watch Illuminations. We did a little shopping. We got t-shirts and Shelby got a charm bracelet. I bought the soundtrack for Wishes. It was a very pleasant, relaxing evening.
Once at Epcot we picked a spot near France to sit and watch Illuminations. We were about 30 minutes early, so Chris and I went to France to shop a little. We took silly pictures and bonded a little one on one. We met lots of great people while waiting for Illuminations.
The show was amazing and our exit was not stressful at all!

[goodferry]

Day 6--In my mind I figured we would be needing more rest time by now and that we would spend the day at the resort and then head to MGM in the evening. Wednesday morning came, however, and they wanted to go to MGM. (All but Zack, you can imagine by now what he wanted to do) We did all of MGM that day, with the exception of TOT and RNRC. We didn't even go back to that general area. It was like the ride didn't exist. No one mentioned it, no one casted a glance in that general direction. Bad vibes.
We FINALLY got to see Indiana Jones. It was closed down during our last trip and we had missed our fast pass time on the day when we all sat next to each other on benches at the TOT looking for each other. It was OK. Not what I expected, after all the hype and all the buildup, so many people say it's their favorite thing at MGM, it was not what I was expecting for some reason.
We had lunch at Pizza Planet, which the kids did not think was as cool as I thought they would think it was. We skipped Millionaire because we didn't think the youngsters would enjoy it.
We headed back to home base to relax and swim. We had dinner reservations at 'Ohana that night, but intended to cancel because we planned to go back for Fantasmic. It ended up raining so we decided to keep the 'Ohana reservation and pulled out our Hawaiian garb. I had gotten the girls matching blue Micky hawaiian dresses at the Disney Store. Won't that be cute, I thought, they will have Mickey luau dresses instead of regular hibiscus shirts like everyone else. Apparently everyone at the Poly the night, or at least 50%, had the same idea. They had on either that dress or the shirt that matched it.
Upon arrival, we waited in a HUGE line to check in. Apparently the luau was cancelled due to the rain, so everyone from the luau poured into 'Ohana. We waited a good while for a table. Luckily, they serve excellant drinks and my family had finally hit their stride. We were in "no worries" mode. Nothing was getting us down. Dinner was good. The kids didn't participate in any of the festivities, but they watched from a far and they LOVED the food. This would probably be a really fun place to go with a large group. As we were finished eating the pineapple and carmel (really, really, really good) the waitress brought a plate of steaming hot towels. She said these are hot towels FOR YOUR HANDS. She was serious. Chris said "What does she think we are going to do, eat them?" Which prompted DH to pretend to eat his, which prompted Zack and Shelby to burst out in hysterics. Everybody around us thought we were nuts. Oh well, no worries.

[luckywife]

Loving your trip report Goodferry! What a great mother and wife you are. Can't wait to read the rest.

[H&Hmommy]

What a nice trip. Now tell us more!!;)

[Jen D]

This is my FAVORITE kind of trip report, and very funny.

I love that the kids were so traumatized by your cover story of going to IKEA that you had to break the Disney news early.

[LeslieM]

What happened NEXT ???

Loving the part about the "fight" at MGM !! For just a sec, I thought you were describing DH and me !

[mareb66297]

keep it coming!!! i feel like i was there with you!!!! can't wait for more!!!!

[eeyore45]

thank you for the report on the shirts - I saw them on the DS online, and almost bought them for DD and me! Decided to save the money and use what we have... I keep 2nd guessing myself!!

[goodferry]

Sorry this took me so long to finish. We went away and then had family in town for the week.
Day 7-- Like I said, we had hit our stride. Since this would be our last full day, the kids voted for going to the Magic Kingdom and then to see Fantasmic. We were up and out early. I actually made it to the lounge to get something to eat this morning! We enjoyed a nice morning at the MK and were actually getting to ride stuff despite the crowds. I finally got to rid Big Thunder Mountain Railroad!!! It was one of those rides I had always wanted to go on, but just never made it too. DH took the older three on the ride while I waited with Zoe. I noticed as I sat in the shade and people watched, that everyone was smiling that came off the ride, big wide, ear to ear smiles. Since we had fast-passes, we hardly waited at all before the it was my turn to go. Shelby decided to wait with her dad, so the boys went with me with a baby-swap.
We rode a lot that morning and also got to see Mickey's Philharmagic, which we loved. It was one of our favorite 3-D movies.
When it came time for lunch, the kids wanted to go to Casey's for hot dogs again. Remember how good that lunch tasted earlier in the week, I agreed. After lunch we were able to slip into the crowd and watch the afternoon parade, which was fun and mercifully short and sweet! It was hot and very muggy. We headed back to try Pirates of the Carib. again and the Jungle Cruise. Shelby desperately wanted to ride Alladin's Magic Carpet. I waited with Zoe, and just as they got on the ride, the rain started. Not too hard, but hard enough. We got out our ponchos and kept moving. We had fast passes for Space Mountain, so we headed there. The rain let up and we decided to ride on Buzz Lightyear first. Just as we came out it started POURING!!! I have never seen it rain like that! There was a huge lightening storm, and there we are in Tommorowland (forever known from this day on forward as Metal Land to my family) The storm was so bad, we were pressed up tight next to the doors for the Timekeeper waiting out the. It was so bad, that you couldn't see the castle and the rain on the walkways was up over my ankles!
We waited about an hour, talking to other guests and watching Cast members try to entertain people. The we decided the worst of the lightening was over so we headed back out. The line for Space Mountain was monsterous, so we were preparing to leave and there was Buzz Lightyear. Zack wanted his picture with Buzz so bad, we had to go wait in line. Had it not been for Buzz, we probably would have made it back to the monorail and remained relatively dry. The rain started again, just as we left Tomorrowland. We ran to Main Street, laughing the whole way. We wound our way through the stores, shopping a little bit, and then ran as fast as we could to the monorail, soaking wet and resolved to the fact that we were probably not going to get to see Fantasmic.
More to come, soon I promise!

[roberrl187]

Great report. I can't wait for more. Thanks. :flower1:

[goodferry]

Day 7-the evening
Back in the room, we headed for the lounge since the dinner offerings were out. There were ribs and spring rolls, rice, that sort of thing, plus drinks and PB&J uncrustables. The lounge offerings are not a meal plan, however, on this particular evening, it was more than enough to fill us up.
After dinner DH hung out in the room watching Donald Duck cartoons with the kids and I headed over to the gift shops to get some souveniers to bring home. By the time I was done, the rain was over and the kids wanted to swim (imagine that).
The pool was not crowded at all until it was almost time for Wishes. The kids rode the volcano slide at least one hundred times and we sat in the shallow end and watched the fireworks for the last time (sniff, sniff)

[goodferry]

Day 8--departure day :(
(I bet you are all thinking "thank god this is over"
We all got up in the morning and had breakfast (together!!) in the lounge. We reviewed what we wanted to do since our limo wasn't coming until 2:00. DH and Chris still had not gotten to ride the Rock N Roller Coaster or Test Track and Shelby wanted to see more characters, Zack, you guessed it, he wanted to swim. DH and Chris decide to go to MGM and Epcot if they had time while Shelby, Zack, Zoe, and I head to MK.
We had been trying the whole trip to get to ride up front on the monorail, as it pulls up, no luck, it's full. It's the only thing (other than swim) that Zack has really wanted to do.
We arrive plenty early at MK, it isn't even open yet! (a first for us) We see tons of characters, including Ariel (so not worth the wait!!) too many to list here. There were a lot of characters from Pinochhio this trip, I don't remember seeing any last time. We ride the teacups again and do a little shopping, then it's back to the room.
We walk up to the monorail just as it arrives. We ask about riding up front, the front car is full, but they have room for one, so Zack gets his wish. On our very last departure from the Mk to the Poly, he gets to ride up front.
We meet up with DH and Chris. (We had requested and received a late check-out) He takes the kids swimming while I finish packing stuff up and get our bags taken up front. They had a great time at MGM, turns out it was Star Wars weekend again, and there were characters EVERYWHERE! They got to see the opening of the park with the Storm Troopers. They rode RNR twice and loved it, saw the Muppet 3-D show again (go figure), rode Star Tours and had lunch. It seems to me like they had the better plan than waiting in line over half and hour to meet a "mermaid".
It was during their last swim that we had our only unfortunate experience. Shelby got turned around on the slide and slammed her head against the side of it. DH took her over, crying her eyes out, to get her a towel. The towels are in the little hut where they do hair wrapping. The woman in the hut wouldn't give him a towel because he didn't have a room key with him. He explained the situation, that she had hit her head and she was crying about having water in her eyes and that the room key was on the table clear at the other end of the pool. She asked him what room he was in, he said "Hawaii" and told her the room number. She says, we have no building named Hawaii and tells him to leave before she calls security!! Well, he just brought her back to the room and we took care of it, not really a big deal but kind of uncool. I understand that they are trying to cut down on people using the pool from other resorts that shouldn't be, but there are exceptions, especially when a child is hurt.
We were on our way out of the building and who stops us, but the manager of the Poly, asks us about our stay etc. DH tells him about the "towel natzi". He said he was going to take care of it right away and apologized.
We were out front by 1:45 and our limo was right on time at 2:00. This was really much too early for our 5:45 departure, but I guess better too early than too late, but that's a really long time to sit in the airport with four kids.

[goodferry]

Wrap up
Things we loved:

Staying concierge--worth every penny

The Polynesian--very laid back and friendly. I loved the ease of being on the monorail and zipping around at will. Thanks to these boards, though, I kept hearing in the back of my mind "it's a story, of a man named Brady..." It is a little '70s looking.

CRT--we had an early ps, made by the concierge. We didn't wait at all. I don't know if having the concierge make your PS for you makes a difference in how long you wait, but it seemed to us like it did. We had excellant Princess interaction and good food.

'OHana--really good food and fun!

Vouchers--we saved a bundle at RFC at AK and B&C. Everywhere else we pretty much broke even.

Yacht and Beach Club-- It is beautiful and SAB looks amazing. I loved being able to stroll along the boardwalk to Epcot.

Springing for the limo--it started the whole week off right

Watching Disney cartoons in bed at night--even though we saw the same ones over and over, we loved them!

[luckywife]

Great trip report, Goodferry! ::yes:: I really enjoyed learning more about you and your family. So glad you all had a good time at Poly CL. When we stayed there in May/June, it was our first trip to that resort and first time for CL. You hit it right on...Concierge is worth every penny and then some. Thanks for sharing your vaction adventure!

[goodferry]

Things we didn't love so much:

Dinner with Cinderella at 1900 Park Faire--the food was just OK, and I kept getting the impression that they were trying to get rid of us. We did get to meet Prince Charming, though (we all know THAT doesn't happen every day)

Loosing each other at the TOT--lesson learned. Make sure you know your spouses cell phone number.

Rain--it seemed to rain a lot while we were there. Keep that in mind if traveling during the rainy season and when planning when to go. It wasn't the type of Florida rain I remembered either, it was major electrical storms that lasted quite a while.

Babysitters--although all the sitters we had were great and the kids loved them, it crimped our style a little bit. We would be in the middle of something and then would have to rush back to the resort to meet the sitter, or we would have to leave the parks because it was time to pick up the baby from the sitter. Only one of them was late and that wasn't by much, I would say it would be ok for a date night with DH, or if you were going to La Nouba.

Towel Natzi--enough said.

[Shelby5514]

Great trip report...deserves to be bumped up!

[Minniespal]

Excellent reports ~ Thanx for sharing.

[Nanajo1]

I'm so glad this report got bumped. I missed last year. I enjoyed reading about your trip. You did a great job writing about it.

[goodferry]

Thanks! :blush: It was a lot of fun to write! We will have lots of reports this year because we have two trips planned :banana: :banana: :banana: DH and I are going alone and staying at the BWI for our 15th anniversary and then we are going back in December with the whole family and staying at the Poly, no one wants to do a split stay as of now and everyone loved the Poly so much.
I just read this report over and it is funny to see how much things have changed in the last year! Zoe (the baby) will be so much more a part of the December trip, I think. She will be two, and she LOVES Pooh Bear and Jo Jo the Clown and Mickey Mouse. I am really looking forward to showing her WDW! This time we ARE telling the kids about the trip, but what we are NOT telling them is that their beloved Aunt Beth is coming along this trip for her first ever visit to WDW, they will be just thrilled! :grouphug: