ALOHA! Sept. 2015 PTR! * Updated 11/3 - p. 11*

[beckykarstetter]

Hi Becky! I remember speaking to you briefly on one of the Poly threads! Ahh I think staying at Universal 2 days is a great idea. We've already booked everything for this trip, but for next time we go I would definitely consider it, so I'd like to hear how it all works out for you do you think you'll write a TR?! YES we'll be in this together!! I definitely think I need some Food and Wine guidance, if you get any good info!

Well, we had a little bit of a change too...we aren't going to be at the Poly anymore. We decided that with addition of my niece, we needed to save a little $$, so we are spending most of the time at POR and then we will spend four nights at AKL. We will still be at WDW the same dates as you, so I will keep an eye out.

I'm starting to think about ADRs as well, the 180 days out is coming up fast!! Via Napoli, Be Our Guest and O'Hana are at the top of the list, and I love the restaurants at AKL, so we'll definitely eat at those when we are staying there.

I've never done any kind of trip report. Maybe I'll get ambitious...or maybe I'll just read yours...

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Hey Katie! You are so lucky you will be staying POLY TP view CL! That is awesome!!!! You are really getting the best of the best at Disney- Bc &GF for your past trip and now the POLY! So Cool!

I love 1900 Park Faire, the character interaction is great! The stepsisters are a riot.
My Grandparents have been to Shula's many times, and absolutely love it! As much as they enjoy Yachtsman's, Shula's wins by a smidge! The best steak they have ever had!
Kona is great! They have really good sushi and their bread is heavenly! I am taking my friends there for breakfast this spring. I have never been there for breakfast but have heard such good reviews here on the DIS I have to try it. I hear the Tonga Toast is a must!
WCC is also a really great place to eat! The food is great, and the atmosphere is lots of fun!!

I can't wait to hear more of your plans! Planning a trip to Disney is always so much fun!

 

[blklotus]

GIIIIIIIIIIRL! Can I just say, you need to post ONE MILLION pictures from your trip on IG/FB while you're there so I can creep them before our trip?? We're going to be in the new DVC section of the Poly from Nov. 30-Dec. 5 and I am like, DELIRIOUSLY excited!!!! Like, jumping up and down and doing tiny claps just THINKING about it, excited!!

 

[JessicaKnits]

Joining along! Man! I'm so jealous of your three weeks in Disney! I'm excited to see how the Poly turns out after all of the renovations.

I read through your entire trip report and PTR today and I must say, the both of you are just too adorable for words and hilarious!

 

[disneyguy4life]

WOW!! That sounds like a great trip. Two disney trips in one month!!! Could life get any better? I submit that it can not. Congrats on the Masters degree as well. That is awesome. I look forward to your PTR and TR's.

 

[Dentam]

Hi Katie! I've been following your Sept. '14 trip report and saw that you have this one in the works! Wow, this trip sounds amazing!!

As far as restaurants, I really liked Artist's Point - their salmon was SO good! Also, Sanaa at the AKL was one of my favorites. I loved the atmosphere in there, the food was great, and if you go for lunch you can see all of the animals right outside the windows!

Look forward to following along and living vicariously through you and Jamie!!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Here!

 

[STLMickeyMom]

the new format really messed with me too and was one of the reasons I've been gone so long! but i'm getting used to it now. i think i'm all caught up. woo hoo on the room change and upgrade! that is so awesome!

 

[Vernie822]

Hey Katie!

Joining in on your PTR. Holy cow, Poly CL with a Theme Park View! Ahhh! How exciting. We were planning a September trip but we switched to November since that worked better for us - we were there last September and the crowd levels were fantastic. Hopefully you will experience the same.

 

[Sarah84]

.......

 

[DisneyBelle_x]

Joining in sounds like an amazing trip you've got planned with the Poly club level theme park view, will be amazing.
I'm doing something similar to you with the WDW & DLP visit and near the same time, but mine is the other way round and slightly more time between, i get back from WDW and then 10 days later am off to DLP.

Look forward to reading more of your plans

 

[katie west]

Your posts are amazing. Me and my husband are heading out 19th September for 3 weeks for our honeymoon and first anniversary. We got engaged at magic kingdom on our first visit together there back in 2011. Your post have given us so many new ideas of what to do. Literally can not wait

 

[Sailormoon2]

Sounds super-fantastic all around!! You always seem to score an awesome room designation. Yeah you!!

 

[MarieLightning]

First thing I have to say is I am searing with jealousy. But it's okay, I still appreciate you. Theme Park View Club Level, at the Poly, wow! That's the kind of stuff we're planning for our 10 year anniversary. You've definitely got a keeper

We also so want to head over to DLP someday. Well, we want to hit all Disney parks, but my wife really loves the looks of DLP. I hope you'll include it in your TR, I'll be looking forward to reading about it!

Also, those meal options all look pretty great! I wish I could help with some insight but most of those restaurants, we haven't tried. Sometimes what we do though, if we want to experience the other resorts and eat there without having to spend big bucks, is we just head over to their food court! (Which is how we once got lost at the Grand Floridian, but you know, things will happen). I mean, ultimately you always end up having to eat some quick service meals anyway, so it just gives an opportunity to explore a bit. We've done Contempo Cafe at the Contemporary and it was pretty good. It is admittedly pretty standard of most resort food court offerings, but I've found that each hotel tends to have its own little twist on their QS menus. Plus, if you're just looking for a quick break away from the parks without necessarily taking up two hours of your day, it's a fairly short meal.

 

[jandlinz]

Hi Katie,
I came over from your other tr that I haven't finished yet! How amazing! I can't wait to hear more!
Lindsey

 

[Hawkeyegirls]

Wow, 3 weeks..Im jealous!! That sounds like a lot of fun planning for all of those days!

 

[sailored]

Hello! I'm following along, a little late, but I'm here! I can't wait to read more.

 

[Mrsktbrown]

Hi Katie! I'm also a Katie, and it looks like we'll also be Poly CL while you're there! You arrive a few days before we do, so I'll be anxiously following to see what the resort is like!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

ADRs!

Hey friends!!

So, my 180 day mark has been and gone, and it’s now officially 178 days until we head out to Orlando!

But before I tell you about the ADRs we have, there’s a couple of things I wanted to talk about.

Firstly, since we had cancelled our reservation with Disney and rebooked our hotel through hotels.com, we had to re-link the reservation to my MDE account.

I called Disney, and they told me I had to get in touch with hotels.com, and ask THEM get hold of a separate confirmation number… from Disney…



So I called hotels.com and had to say,

“Hey, I have the confirmation number you gave me, but I need the confirmation number that Disney gave you…”

Suffice it to say, the guy had NO idea what I was talking about.



This guy didn’t speak great English and had a VERY thick accent, and I had to attempt to concisely explain the separate confirmation number and the concept of MDE to him, which was pretty awkward and difficult.



But thankfully, after spending a while on hold, he gave me a new confirmation number, which worked perfectly in MDE.



We have also rebooked our park tickets, still taking advantage of the 14 days for the price of 7 offer.




Ok, now onto ADRs!

On March 16th (190 day mark) I had an email from the Polynesian Itinerary Planning Office with a personal itinerary planner attached for me to fill out, which looked like this!

The Disney-obsessed side of my brain had some fun filling this out!

The ADRs required a credit card guarantee so I called them up and gave them my details, which was very easy.

Then it was time to wait!



On my 180 day mark (March 26th) I was reeeaaally busy.

I’m studying for my Masters degree at a university that is about 1.5 hours away from my house, so I was up at 6am, left the house at 7ish to get there at around 8:30am (allowing plenty of time for rush hour traffic / accidents on the motorway) – then I was in class 9am – 5pm, and didn’t get home until 6:30pm, and THEN I had to finish a report that was due in the next day..!!

So having the IPO available to book my ADRs eased my mind a lot.

I finally felt happy with my report at around 1am, so before I went to bed I checked my email, and my MDE account…

And there was nothing from the IPO…

I suddenly realized that the ADR I was probably looking forward to the most was lunch at Be Our Guest on our first full day (September 23rd), which might be a problem if the IPO hadn’t got around to booking anything for me yet.

I checked on the website, and sure enough,

BE OUR GUEST LUNCH WAS FULL.

Exactly 180 days before!

So GUYS. If you can’t book on the morning of your 180 days mark…



Just kidding. Luckily, I quickly snatched myself a reservation for a couple of days later instead, so it’s not the end of the world. It was just because we ate lunch at Be Our Guest on our first day last year, and it felt so special.. It was the perfect way to start the trip.

I had a little hope in the back of my mind that the IPO had already booked it and just hadn’t let me know yet, but the next morning they emailed me to say they hadn’t been able to get Be Our Guest for the first day.

I guess it’s partly my fault for assuming the IPO had nothing better to do than to book my ADRs the second they were released?!
Maybe I should have taken responsibility for the coveted reservations myself.
Anyway, I’m going to keep checking for cancellations!

Everything else was practically perfect though, and all my ADRs are within 15 minutes of my requested times.



Thanks to EVERYONE who took the time to share your experiences and gave me advice! I appreciate it so so much!

Here’s what we got!
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9/23 – 6:45pm – Kona Café
9/25 – 6:30pm – Yachtsman Steakhouse
9/27 – 12:35pm – Be Our Guest
9/27 – 7:30pm – Boma – Flavors of Africa
9/28 – 5:45pm – 1900 Park Fare
9/30 – 8:10am – Crystal Palace
9/30 – 7:00pm – Whispering Canyon Café
10/2 – 7:00pm – Ohana
10/3 – 8:45am – Kona Café
10/3 – 5:55pm – California Grill
10/6 – 12:00pm – Be Our Guest – As long as I can grab this! Resevations will open on Monday.
...EDIT: - We got the 10/6 ADR ​

In the middle of writing this update, as I was re-reading all of your suggestions, I re-visited Kona’s breakfast menu, and I’ve just impulsively booked breakfast at Kona Café for 10/3

Our reservation at California Grill was purely because of ( @SimplyGoofy ) Jenny’s photos from her last TR! We ate there in September 2012 and loved it, but we only had an entrée each.. Usually I can’t manage a three course meal, so I’m thinking this time I’ll go for an appetiser and dessert combo - thanks again to Jenny's suggestion!

One of your most popular suggestions was Artist Point at the Wilderness Lodge.
It was so so hard to choose between Artist Point and Whispering Canyon cafe.
For now I have Whispering Canyon booked because I really want to experience the crazy atmosphere..!
However, last year I cancelled and rebooked ADRs SO many times, and I know for sure I’ll change my mind on this a few times before we go!

Another popular suggestion was Jiko at the Animal Kingdom Lodge.
I totally believe you guys that this place is great, but I’m afraid it’s confession time…
I’m a pretty fussy eater.
I’m really wanting to become more adventurous and try some more exotic food, so I think Boma would be a better choice for me, as it’s a buffet style meal, meaning I can try little bits of everything, rather than ordering one meal at Jiko and not really enjoying it.
So hopefully I’ll enjoy myself at Boma, and feel comfortable enough to visit Jiko in the future!



So that's about all I have to say for now!
Thanks again for your help everyone

Click for next post!​

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[TheLittleKatie]

So happy you were able to get park theme view.

Thanks! Me too!! I don't think I'll believe it until we're actually there

Congratulations on your upgrade to theme park view at Polynesian!!

Ooh, ADRs! My favorite part of planning Disney trips! I have read so many good things about the Yachtsman I considered booking it for our stay at YC and I don't even like steak. I think you can't go wrong there.

I haven't heard anything about Shula's but I found that I totally overlook the restaurants over at the Swan & Dolphin when planning my ADRs. I decided to rectify that and booked bluezoo for our date night dinner and the boys will stay at the Dolphin's kids club.

Prior to this trip we always stayed at WL. We love it there! I know you don't really want to do a lot of fancy meals but I really liked Artist Point. It doesn't seem to get as much love as the other signature restaurants but I really enjoyed the salmon when I went. It has a much quieter atmosphere that California Grill and the views aren't nearly as good but I liked that.

We ate at the Wave at the Contemporary our last trip and liked it a lot. What drew me to it was the local, sustainable menu that they offer. The boys were chosen as the Little Farmers of the Day. It was really cute. We talked a little with the chef and were surprised to hear that he graduated from a culinary school in our city. Small world!

We ate at Boma and loved it. It is my favorite buffet at Disney so far. I'd love to try Jiko and Sanaa someday, too.

I really like the new forum, too. I did lose track of some of the threads I was tracking. Like it didn't alert me that you'd made a new post over in your TR so I had to go look for it and found quite a few others I'd been watching that I hadn't been notified on. I'm hoping that was just due to the changeover and going forward I will get all the alerts.

I hope I didn't share too many of my thoughts on ADRs. Have a great weekend, Katie!

Thank you Colleen!! I'm SO excited

Yeah, I've played it safe and booked the Yachtsman again Oh a date night at Bluezoo sounds lovely! I'm interested to hear what the restaurant is like

I've been gazing longingly at the Artist Point menu! As I said in the update I just posted, I've booked Whispering Canyon Cafe for now, because I really want to experience the atmosphere, but the Artist Point menu does look amazing I'll probably end up changing my mind as time goes by, I'm very indecisive when it comes to Disney ADRs!

I'm glad you enjoyed Boma, I've booked it for our trip! Since I'm quite a fussy eater, I'm excited to try a little bit of everything from the buffet I'm also excited to explore the Animal Kingdom Lodge for the first time! It looks so pretty.

Absolutely not, you can never share too many thoughts with me! Thanks so much for your input!

I bet you're so excited for your trip now!! How are the final preparations going?!

Yes Paris is beautiful. I was very lucky! We love the Lodge. We also love walking to Fort Wilderness from there. It's so nice. I might write a trip report. I always start and halfway through I just stop!!

I love the idea of going for a walk around Fort Wilderness, that sounds like a great idea. I'd maybe like to rent bikes or something, but I don't think Jamie would be very keen. I think he'd like to see the horses the keep there though, so maybe I'll lure him in that way Ahh yeah, it is hard to find the time to update trip reports. Mine is going very slowly, but I love reliving my trip, so once I have found a little time, I really enjoy writing it

If you like Yachtsman, you'll like Shula's. The main drawback to Shula's, IMO, is that it is in the Dolphin and both the S&D are BIG convention resorts. As a result, it will probably be crowded and noisy. The steaks are very good and the prices are roughly the same as Yachtsman's.
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Artist Point at Wilderness Lodge is fantastic! Try the buffalo or cedar plank roasted salmon.
If you go to Whispering Canyon Cafe at WL, get the all-you-care-to-enjoy platter! You will not leave hungry.
As for AKL, Jiko's is our favorite. We rate it in our top 5 restaurants in all of WDW. You can get a couple of different kinds of steak there (Kenyan pepper steak or filet mignon) if you want to kill two birds with one stone but there are numerous other dishes to try too (lamb or pork loin to name a couple).



Go early in the day and during the week. Around 2:00 each week day afternoon and on the weekends, the college crowds arrive as well as regular WDW guests. It can get REAL crowded but for the first few hours during the week days, the crowds are tolerable or better and you can try a lot of different kiosks in a short time. Look at signing up for at least one of the signature dining experiences. These are usually 4 or 5 course meals with limited spots available so book as early as you can. We've been to the Italian Regional luncheon and the Hibachi Experience and both were top notch. In addition, there are numerous inexpensive culinary demonstrations, mixology seminars and wine/beer seminars at the Festival Welcome Center that are interesting and enjoyable plus you might just meet a celebrity chef!

Hey, we booked the Yachtsman in the end I guess the meals are pretty pricey, so we decided to stick to what we know I like the quiet, relaxed atmosphere at the Yachtsman too.

A lot of people have recommended Artist Point to me! Like I said in the update I just posted, I LOVE the look of the menu at Artist Point, but Whispering Canyon has slightly taken the lead for its unique atmosphere. And I have definitely had my eye on that all-you-care-to-enjoy platter! I'm might end up switching my reservations a few times, so Artist Point isn't completely out of the picture just yet!

That's great advice regarding Food and Wine festival, thanks! We'll definitely get there for when World Showcase opens, I can imagine the crowds and the lines for the kiosks get huuuge I had no idea about all of the signature experiences and culinary demonstrations! I'll have to start doing my research. Thanks again!

Three weeks straight of Disney magic -- I'm not sure I could ever go back to work after that. I'm pretty sure I'd want to live in Disney forever

Congrats on your upgrade to theme park view!

I can't wait to hear more on your plans!

Hey, I know right! It will be SO hard to come back to reality! (Oh, poor me, I've spent so much time at Disney and now I'm miserable with regular life.. ... First world problems!! )

Thanks so much! I still can't believe it