Arrival and Check-In – Wednesday, May 13 - Polynesian Village Resort Club Level
We had a smooth and uneventful flight from Denver at 7:00 AM, which put us into Orlando at 12:30. We were actually a little ahead of schedule and arrived fifteen minutes early, which is always a nice thing. Our luggage was off the carousel even before our driver, Daniel from Happy Limo, had arrived.
The one-way price to the Polynesian was $125, plus gratuity. While we could have easily used Magical Express, I do appreciate a car service, especially when we are so eager to get to our resort. It was warm when we arrived, but I didn’t notice that the humidity was especially high, so that was a relief. At least we felt like we could breathe easily. We put on our Magic Bands and officially felt like we were on vacation!
A golf cart met us in front of the Great Ceremonial House at the Polynesian, and took us to the Hawaii Longhouse, which is the location of Club Level accommodations. We were assigned a lagoon-view room on the 2nd floor. I had requested a room on either the 1st floor (with a patio), or the 3rd floor (with a balcony) – but as most lagoon-view rooms are on the 2nd floor, of course that’s what we got. The nice concierge made some calls and arranged for a switch to the 1st floor the following day, so I must say that he tried his best to make it happen for us.
(Small little rant here – during our last two stays at WDW – here and at the Grand Floridian – we placed special requests during online check-in. However, both times, it appeared to be a complete surprise to the front desk clerks until we mentioned it and they had to do some scrambling. Better customer service would have been to let us know upon arriving that they were aware of our request, but unfortunately the room type was unavailable. The way it is, I feel like it’s a waste of time to request anything. OK, rant over. This was a wonderful vacation, so if that’s the only annoying thing to happen, we’re in good shape…)
Anywho… where was I? Oh, yeah… concierge wanted to make sure that our magic bands were all working properly. DH’s Magic Band was the only one that wasn’t fully activated for some reason (they had us each test our bands on the outside door before we left the desk), but it was easily taken care of by concierge. We picked a new PIN number for purchases as well, as we couldn’t remember what we had set up initially several months ago.
I have to say that the grounds of the Poly are beautiful. We saw a glimpse of the East pool construction projects between our longhouse and another one, but never heard a thing, and never experienced any inconvenience at all from the continuing construction. It was lush, beautiful, and shady all around the resort. The torches were lit, the pool was open and busy, and the kids’ splash area was completed.
When we checked into our room, it was such a beautiful view that we no longer cared about having a patio or balcony – it really could have been considered a “theme park view”.
Here is our view of the castle, although it is not the best photo:
Our room number was 2508. We let concierge know that we would stay where we were rather than switching rooms the next day, and felt very happy about the decision. The DVC bungalows out on the water didn’t detract from the view at all, which was white sand and a gorgeous view of Cinderella Castle in the distance. The concierge host said that it was very common for people to request a different room and then change their mind once they saw the view from their assigned room.
After a quick pause for sunscreen and to inspect our small Club Level welcome box of chocolates (sorry, two of them were eaten before I remembered to take a picture – guess we were hungry)....
we grabbed our Armed Forces Salute ticket vouchers, and headed to the Magic Kingdom via monorail for lunch. It was a very short walk to the Great Ceremonial House, and we stopped into the gift shop on the first floor to browse quickly. DH found a t-shirt that he really liked, and the gift shop offered to send it directly to our room that afternoon, so we didn’t have to backtrack to the room or take it to the park. I also found some really cute leather Dooney bags that I’ve never seen before, although I was not in the market for a new Dooney on this trip.
It was a quick jaunt on the monorail (“¡Por favor manténgase alejado de las puertas!”) to the Magic Kingdom, where we stopped by the ticket booth to activate our military tickets. It was about 2:30 or 2:45 at that point, I think, and there was no one in line, so it was super easy and quick. Then through bag check and into the park, where there were already crowds lining main street for the afternoon parade. We had a FastPass scheduled for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, so we headed straight to that before lunch.
It was a cute ride. Perfect entry-level coaster for the younger set. In-between Barnstormer and Big Thunder Mountain in terms of thrill, although this photo makes it look like we are going full tilt down Expedition Everest.
That’s me and DH (with face partially covered by the rider in front of him), and DS in front of us. Maybe we’re a little dramatic, ya’ think??! I chalk it up to the excitement of the first ride of our Disney vacation. At any rate, 7DMT had great theming, and it is so exciting to have a new ride at Magic Kingdom! Last time we visited, a year and a half ago, it was still under construction, and so it was neat to see it evolve into the final product.
) Much appreciated!! Those pre-RD ADR's are really hard to come by...but the breakfast menu at BOG looks good so I'd like to do it if we get a chance...but we may have to settle for lunch.
But... we always enjoy them, nonetheless.
