Our Poly Dream Vacation - April, 2012 TR *Update 08/26 pg8*

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DIS Veteran
Joined
Sep 14, 2011


Our Cast of Characters -

My parents - The people who allowed me the pleasure of planning the trip in it‘s totality, but paid the bill IN FULL!!!!! (I know, I know - I am a VERY lucky girl!!) Last summer, they decided that my daughter was the perfect age to go to Disney World and offered to take her away the following spring. The catch was, she had to go with them alone. No mom, no dad, no little brother. Well, she didn’t mind the boys not tagging along for the trip this time, but there was NO WAY she was stepping onto a plane without bringing her Momma along for the ride! So, they extended the invitation to me as well and the rest, as they say; is history!

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My daughter - The light of my life and the reason this trip is happening in the first place. 9 years old, and a Disney-Newbie. This trip was to be her very first trip to Disney World.

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And of coarse - ME. Those on the April 2012 boards and the Polynesian Boards know me pretty well already but for those that don’t, I am a SAHM and a part-time student who has recently realized that she is completely and totally addicted to all things Disney! I need rehab bad. Oh wait - no I don’t….I have family who lives in California and I can stay with for free and go to Disney Land with……oh yeah, I can be addicted. FOREVER.

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Anyways, that’s us - our small cast of characters. If you’d like to read more about the plan for our trip, you can just follow the link to my PTR in my signature below!

Thanks for joining in and let the fun begin!!!!
 


Day 1 - Travel Day to Disney World

Well, today’s the day! The sun is shining, the tank is clean! Oh no wait, that’s Nemo’s story, not ours. Let's try this again......

Well, today’s the day! The moon is out, the sky is foggy and we have a flight to catch to Disney World!!!!

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We woke up at the VERY ungodly hour of 4:00 am to get ready and wait for my parents to pick us up for our trip. It was still inky black outside and terribly foggy. I am a nervous traveller in both cars and planes. Unless I am the one driving, I’d rather just not be going somewhere to be honest. So, the car ride to the airport was a tad hair-raising for me. It took around 35 minutes in total, so it wasn’t long in length, but it was on unlit back country highways, so it was hard on my nerves. It had been raining all night, and their were lots of deep, deep puddles in the curb-side lanes, and once we got to the city we were following some pretty heavy traffic towards the airport, my dad nearly rear-ended someone who slowed WAY down in front of us while in one of said deep puddles. Well, when I kind of shouted out “Watch out!” he bit my head off and said ‘Would you like to drive?!” My Mom gave him a little swat on the arm, and said not to worry about his snapping at me, as she knew it wasn’t my fault I just had a gut reaction when I told him to watch out. Anyways, it kind of made me nervous to think maybe he was going to be a grumpy bear to me all day. (or worse - the ENTIRE trip?!!) As it turns out he is just a tad hyper when it comes to airports and flights to catch. He wants to get to the airport, check the luggage, get through security and breathe. Oh wait, and then when it comes time to pre-board, he wants to get on the plane ASAP so that he can have HIS carry on in the bin above HIS head. Cause God forbid it should be 1 or 2 rows behind him. LOL! :rotfl2:

Anyways….we make it to the airport and we get through security with no issues at all. Sit down for a quick really gross breakfast at TGI Fridays, buy some magazines for the plane ride and sit down to wait for boarding. Here's DD showing your our plane.

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This was DD’s first plane ride and she was a tad nervous. She gets car sick, so I bought her those sea-bands to wear on the plane and gave her 1 Gravol just in case she did get plane sick as well. She took the window seat and excitedly waited for the plane to take off. She was a really great flyer. Me, not so much. Like I said, unless I am in control of the vehicle, I panic. Although this logic is completely illogical because if I WAS flying the plane, clearly we would be in a flaming pile of rubble, and not safely in the sky! There was some turbulence, but nothing bad. Just when I got up to use the rest room and the FA told everyone to go back to their seats because the captain had put the seatbelt signs back on - I flew out of there like a bat out of hell! I never did use the restroom on the flight after that. Just white-knuckled it the rest of the way there! :scared1: On the plane ride down, I had some little knick-knacks and special surprises for DD to open, one of them being a Toy Story Vinylmation. I knew what they were from my overly-extensive research of all things Disney, but she wasn't sure what it was. Didn't matter - she loved it anyway! In fact, she ended up getting 2 more while in Disney and even ended up doing a couple of trades with CM's!

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The whole flight took a total of around 3 and a half hours, so it really wasn’t bad at all. When we arrived at the airport at 11:25 am, we found our driver and collected our luggage and headed to - Disney’s Polynesian Resort! Yes, we stayed in style folks. My Dad let me and DD choose the resort for this trip, his only prerequisite - that it be on the monorail. We considered BLT first, but didn’t like the “sterile” feel of the décor, and then we also considered the GF, but it seemed a bit too “Cinderella” for us, and so we settled on the Poly. Beautiful, lush, quaint and tropical. We thought it would be a vacation within a vacation, and sure enough, it was.

Our driver had us at the resort in around 25 minutes I think. We had checked into our room 10 days prior and requested either Tahiti or Fiji. (When we originally booked our trip with our TA, she also requested these rooms on the 3rd floor) It was our lucky day cause our room was ready for us when we arrived and we got EXACTLY what we asked for - 3rd floor GV room in the Tahiti Longhouse. Room 3012 to be exact. Walking through the grounds to get to our longhouse was totally surreal. Seeing Cindy’s castle across the lake, hearing the toot of the ferry whistles, the faint whisper of luau music playing over the sound system of the Poly. It was all so completely magical and we hadn’t even stepped into a park yet!

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Walking into room 3012 in the Tahiti, we were blown away first, by the décor - it was warm and lush feeling. The view was gorgeous, the bathroom was large enough for a group with 3 adults. We had double sinks in the bathroom, but with that extra ledge for our toiletries, we were a-ok for space. We checked out the coffee makers and were disappointed to see we could not use our coffee from home. We called the “front desk” and asked if their were any old-style coffee makers we could have for our room and their were not. We did however, get extra mugs and towels brought up to our room and they were there within minutes! We also had groceries pre-ordered from Garden Grocer and they were at the Poly waiting for our arrival. They were also brought up to our room almost immediately. We found all of the CM’s to be so welcoming and accommodating during our stay, but no more so than that first day. We felt like royalty. Here's one of the shots from our balcony on that wonderful arrival day.

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Anyways, I think that’s it for now.

Up next……will we head to Blizzard Beach as originally planned or will this over-planner let go of the reins and let someone else from our cast of characters pick an activity?



 


HI :goodvibes I'm joining this train! I'd love to read your trip report, as I am very much looking forward to our first POLY stay this Oct....Sept 28-Oct 4, to be exact :) GV CL looking forward to trying the POLY CL lounge :cloud9:
I was so excited to read your live reports while you where there....and I am glad you loved it! Can't wait to read more! thanks for sharing :)
 
HI :goodvibes I'm joining this train! I'd love to read your trip report, as I am very much looking forward to our first POLY stay this Oct....Sept 28-Oct 4, to be exact :) GV CL looking forward to trying the POLY CL lounge :cloud9:
I was so excited to read your live reports while you where there....and I am glad you loved it! Can't wait to read more! thanks for sharing :)

Awe, thanks so much for subbing in! :flower3:
 


Great start to your trip! We will be at the poly in a little over a month! We have never stayed at the Poly before, and because of the $$ probably never will again....:confused3 I can't wait to read more!
 
Great so far!!! Can't wait to see how the rest of your trip went. We probably arrived at the Poly around the same time you did!
 
Subbing! Love the photos so far! I am jealous about your Poly stay. We went to Ohana's for breakfast one morning, and it looked so nice.
 
Great start to your trip! We will be at the poly in a little over a month! We have never stayed at the Poly before, and because of the $$ probably never will again....:confused3 I can't wait to read more!

Hey elder - thanks for joining in! Oh, you'd be surprised what you'd do to go back to the Poly for a second stay....I dunno....sell a kidney maybe? :lmao: No, but in all seriousness, I hope to go back someday. It may not be til I'm a grandmother, but hey - a girl can dream right? ;)

Great so far!!! Can't wait to see how the rest of your trip went. We probably arrived at the Poly around the same time you did!

Thanks Stevie! Yes, I think we both got there around the same time. Who knows, you may have photobombed some of my pics and not known it! We shall see I guess! :thumbsup2

Subbing! Love the photos so far! I am jealous about your Poly stay. We went to Ohana's for breakfast one morning, and it looked so nice.

Yes, the Poly was positively luxurious. I would love to go back, but I am not sure that will happen anytime soon. If we go back, it will have to be a moderate or value, or MAYBE we can swing renting DVC points for the BLT.

I've been to the Polynesian several times. What can I say - you go once, and you're hooked. I love reading the reports of people who experience the Polynesian as a guest for the first time, so I'm subscribing.

Oh hey WinnietheGoof - I STILL love your siggie! Pooh bear is my favourite!
 
popcorn::Looking forward to reading more!!! I love the Poly, one day I want to stay there... What an awesome trip that her Grandparents gave her and then you! Your daughter is so cute, Can't wait to read more!
TexasBelle
Carolyn
 
I am here!:wave: Have been following along and can't wait to read about your adventures! What wonderful parents you have to give your family the trip! I would be like you though, going with the DD! No way you could have missed out her first time to WDW! BTW she is a cutie:flower3:
 
Coming over from the Poly thread. So far, looks awesome and I can't wait to see what happens!

Thanks for joining in!

Loving your trip report!! Hmmm, your views from your room look awfully familiar. :goodvibes

HAHAHA - yeah, same as yours only higher!

I am here!:wave: Have been following along and can't wait to read about your adventures! What wonderful parents you have to give your family the trip! I would be like you though, going with the DD! No way you could have missed out her first time to WDW! BTW she is a cutie:flower3:

Thanks so much for joining in! Yes, I am certainly a very lucky girl getting to experience this whole holiday WITH dd. I hope to go back again one day with all of my family this time.
 
Arrival Day Part 2 -

Well, we last left off with you wondering if we would follow through on our original plan of hitting up Blizzard Beach or trying something NOT on the schedule. For those of you wondering, we HAD to make time to hit up both water parks during our trip because we all LOVE waterslides and we LOVE swimming. We were worried we wouldn’t have any downtime during our week to go to both water parks, so it was really important to us that we utilize our arrival day for park time.

WELL…..when we arrived at the Poly it wasn’t sunny at all. L It was very cloudy and EXTREMELY windy, and we were worried it would start to rain. We could not envision ourselves have any fun at all soaking wet, waiting in lines for water slides, so instead of hitting up BB as originally planned, we decided to explore the grounds of the Poly for a bit, get our bearings and then walk over to the TTC and catch the monorail to Epcot! Yippee!! My favourite park! (Or is it? I think I’ve changed my favourite this time around, we shall have to see later in the TR)

Walking through the grounds of the Poly we were immediately struck by the sheer beauty of it. There was always lots of wildlife wandering around, little bunnies, lizards, DD even found a large frog one night on the path, squirrels, ducks and their babies (I think some of them pestered those on the ground floor rooms quite a bit - Dave….did they bug you guys at all?) and these super cool birds with really long curved beaks. What are these? I loved them a lot and felt like I was really in the tropics when I saw these birds around.

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We wandered along the path that goes along the beach - we tried out the hammocks

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walked pass the Hawaii CL building (and I briefly had a pang of jealously that I didn’t let my dad splurge on the CL TPV room in Hawaii as he originally wanted to) and came upon the famed Volcano pool! The pool itself is really quite neat. It has a waterfall (that hides a cave with bathrooms, showers and change space in it) and a really cool waterslide that I enjoyed many times during the week. The thing that I liked a lot about the Poly Pool was the amount of lifeguards we saw on duty their at any given time. They always rotate between 3 or 4 stations and are constantly scanning the pool for kids that are submerged for too long. In fact, twice when we were there during the week we saw a female lifeguard jump in fully clothed to grab a kid. There was really no tolerance for rough housing or anything of that sort, and as a parent, this made me feel very confident in my daughters safety in the pool. The slide is also equipped with a light at the top that is RED when you can not go down the slide, and then it switched to GREEN when the slide is clear and you can go down. We often drive down to the states and go to the Canad Inns Hotel & Water Park in Grand Forks, ND, and although they have lifeguards, they do not have this light system and I think every pool with a waterslide should have this as it really prevents injuries to kids from getting kicked in the back while going down the slide. Anyways, enough about that - overall, the energy at the volcano pool was high. There were activities going on for the kids pool-side and their was pretty loud kids music playing at the time. (DD said it was the soundtrack to Lemonade Mouth, a Disney Channel movie?) Not a relaxing place to hang out, but if you are a kid, or a tween - this was HEAVEN ON EARTH.


We continued our walk past the volcano pool and walked over to where the water sport stuff is and looked at the other building we had requested - Fiji. My Dad and I both agreed, Tahiti was the better of the two. We were closer to the TTC, the quiet beach AND it certainly had to be more peaceful when sitting outside on your balcony.

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After wandering around, DD decided she wanted to hop onto the volcano slide, but alas - no such luck. The pool was closed! WHAT?!? It’s mid-afternoon…..what’s going on?!?!!? Uh-Oh, pool fouling!!! (AKA poop-in-the-pool) So no swim for us. We took that as our cue to head to our room, get changed and head over to the TTC. It was a very short walk for us from the Tahiti Longhouse. Maybe 10 minutes max? And once there, we literally had ZERO wait for a monorail to arrive. DD loved the monorail. Well, we all did. We were able to visit with other travellers, and see the sites of Disney from above. It was always nice to cruise along the track together. One thing that I particularly like about the Epoct Monorail is that you don’t just pull up to the gates and get out, but you go all the way through Future World first. It helps you to get a birds-eye view of the crowds at various rides, and really gives you a sneak-peak of all the fun to be had when you walk through the gates.

Continued....
 

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