Everything You Do, CELEBRATE YOU! - Polynesian - Club Level - TPV

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 6
Sunday 27th September 2015
Part 1 – Lunch at Magic Kingdom

Good morning!

After my late night last night, I allowed us to sleep in a little today

We got up and ready at around 9:45am.

We left the room at 11:15 and there was a boat waiting there to take us to Magic Kingdom!
Talk about Disney service!

Here’s our lovely longhouse, on a somewhat cloudy morning.

We had a lunch reservation at 12:35pm, but first we had a fastpass to pay Mickey a visit, so we headed straight to the theater!

The line went down really fast and we were in Mickey’s dressing room in no time.

Has anyone who’s visited Mickey at the theatre noticed this before?
These items on the shelves are meant to represent the four parks!
(Books = MK castle, crystal ball = Epcot, plant = Animal Kingdom, hat = Hollywood Studios)
I wonder if they’ll have to think of something new to replace the hat?

Soon it was time to meet Mickey!
And as a bonus, we got to meet TALKING MICKEY!

How cuuute!!
I always have to meet Mickey at least once per trip.

We said goodbye and headed into the park.

Of course Mickey, being the talented track star that he is, had run ahead of us to start the castle show!

DO NOT EVEN TALK TO ME ABOUT HOW THEY’VE JUST GOT RID OF DREAM ALONG WITH MICKEY.

Maybe I should stop listing my favourites things on the Dis, because at this point I’m sure Disney are keeping note of them and CANCELLING THEM FOR SPORT.

(Celebrate a Dream Come True, Move it Shake it CELEBRATE it, Wishes fastpass…)

But you know what, honestly,
I don’t even particularly care for the plot of the show.

But the two songs at the beginning and the end are an integral part of the Magic Kingdom to me!

Walking into the hub and not being able to hear,

“Join the party, a castle party! You’re all invited to come and join the fun!”
and,
“Share the magic in your heart, there’s nothing you can’t do! Oh anything is possible, so find the dream inside of you!”

..will be major sadness for me!

I think they’ll do a good job with the new show though.
I’m glad Princess and the Frog will be a part of it, I love that film and its soundtrack.

Anyway, RIP Dream Along With Mickey!
We’ll take the dream with us, wherever we may go!


Phew.
Who needs a shrink when I’ve got you guys?
I’ll reign myself back in.

We went to Memento Mori where Jamie bought his Ghost Host t-shirt for the Halloween party!

Then we used our fastpass at Buzz.
Who’d have thought?!

The line smelled really bad, I’m pretty sure someone had puked.
I was very glad we got to walk straight to the front.

We defended the galaxy against the evil Emperor Zurg.
Some of us better than others

We still had a little time before our lunch reservation, so we went on the PeopleMover.

As we sat down I experienced a momentary panic attack where I thought I had some kind of huge blood clot bruise on my leg…!!!!

Thankfully it rubbed straight off
I think it was the ink from the Disney Parks carrier bag!

I was tempted to send a picture of this to Mother bear and ask her what she thought of my new tribal tattoo, but I know better than that.

We had a real nice ride, it was really hot today (as evidenced by the melting carrier bag!), so it was nice to feel that PeopleMover breeze.

Then it was time for our lunch at Be Our Guest!

Today we did something unprecedented; we sat in the gallery!
I’m a die-hard ballroom fan, but the gallery was really nice!
It was very calm and quiet compared to the ballroom.
And I never realised how HUGE the portraits and tapestries are!
It’s a beautiful room.
I’ll sit in here again for sure.

We both got the turkey sandwich with green beans, as always.
Don’t ever underestimate our ability to be totally boring.
But we love this sandwich, so we have it every single time.
It’s probably the number one thing Jamie reminisces about back home

He was upset today though because I got three slabs of turkey in my sandwich, and he only got one.
I gave him one of mine because I know how much protein means to him. I know, I'm great.

We also split a strawberry cupcake!
Doesn’t it look perfect.

What a cute little cake.
This was our first time trying the strawberry, and although we both prefer the Master’s Cupcake, this was still really good!

But what is the deal with these wrappers?!
Unless we’re being totally dumb, they seem impossible to remove.
We made a bit of a mess trying to cut the cake in half still in the wrapper

Overall, another thumbs up from us for Be Our Guest lunch!

After lunch we headed to Liberty Square to use our final fastpass at the Haunted Mansion.

When we were in the stretching room, right after “of course, there’s always MY way…”, ie. the most intense moment in the preshow,
SOMEONE TOOK TWO FLASH PICTURES that lit up the room and totally ruined that momentary effect on the ceiling.

WT actual F.

And to make matters worse, one of the pictures was a selfie.
How obnoxious.


Anyway!

We had a fun ride, and the ghosts at the end swapped our heads over!

We managed to escape, and we got a nice photopass picture on the way out.

I spotted the Mr. Toad statue in the pet cemetery, here’s a terrible on-the-move photo of it as proof:

It was about 1:30pm now so we headed out of the park.
It was a quick lunchtime visit, but that’s fine because it was SO HOT!!!

On the way out we saw the piano player outside Casey’s.
He’s always worth stopping to watch, even in the heat.

Piano player goals:

We walked up Main Street and exited the park, and there was a boat right there.

Here’s our fancy longhouse entrance.

We grabbed some cookies and diet coke from the lounge and relaxed in our nice air-conditioned room for about an hour.

Then we decided to go resort hopping!

The hotels are probably what I obsess over the most out of everything at Walt Disney World.
I wanted to visit three brand new resorts that I’ve never been to before.
One value, one moderate, and one deluxe.

So we left the room at about 3pm and we headed out to the monorail so that we could get a resort bus from the Magic Kingdom.

As we walked through the upper floor of the lobby towards the monorail I realised it must be a Halloween party night because there were a few people walking around in costumes.

I noticed a family of four all dressed up as Russell from Up, gahh we loved them, they looked so perfect!

Then, as we were waiting to board the monorail, one of the Russells came up to me, and asked if I was Katie from the Disboards!!!

Turns out Mother Russell was actually Carol ( @pcbianchini ) who had been reading my 2014 trip report!

I was so excited because this was my first Dis-meet!!
And I told them we’d just been marvelling at their costumes, it’s crazy they actually noticed and recognised us too!

I asked for a picture, because if you get chatting to these guys, how can you not get a picture?!

We ended up riding the monorail together, and we chatted about the Halloween party, Food and Wine Festival, and the younger daughter showed me her pin collection!

I’m so glad I got to meet Carol and her awesome family!

Carol, thank you for saying hi, we both loved meeting you!

Jamie was really excited too, I don’t think he realised that some people actually read my Disney ramblings!

We arrived at the Magic Kingdom and said our goodbyes, and Jamie and I headed over to the bus stops.


Click for Day 6, Part 2!​

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[pkondz]

!

(had to, sorry. It's a rule.)

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 6
Sunday 27th September 2015
Part 2 – Resort hopping: Art of Animation

We hopped on a bus at Magic Kingdom, and soon we were arriving at our value resort of the day, Art of Animation!

We got off the bus at 3:45pm and entered through the gift shop.

This gift shop has a lot of resort-specific merchandise such as clothing, mugs, flasks etc.
I love that kind of thing.

We walked into the lobby, yum and wow, it is beautiful and it smelled all clean and citrusy.
(Which is ironic considering the video that surfaced recently… )

We walked through the lobby and admired the concept art along the wall.

I LOVE CONCEPT ART.

We found this snazzy light fixture.

Apparently some of these pictures are signed by Disney artists!
In fact, on the picture of Lightning McQueen, you can see John Lasseter’s signature!

We had a quick look in the arcade, then we exited the lobby at the Big Blue Pool.
The theming of this pool is really well done, I can see why kids like it.
And apparently you can hear music playing under the water!

This model of Crush is HUGE!
I think maybe you’re supposed to be Nemo-sized in this section?!

After looking around the Finding Nemo area we continued left into the Lion King section!

So cool!
There was Lion King music playing too

We liked this guy best.

Ugh, I'm such a tourist.

I’m THAT guy that gets THAT shot at the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
(Yes, I’m being serious. I actually have that picture.)

Embrace your inner cheesy tourist.

“Who me?”

Yes you, Zazu.

We then continued through to The Little Mermaid section.
This area probably has the best photo opportunities of the bunch!

“Daddy I love him!”

These fish are infectiously happy.
You can’t help but join them in their merriment.

Seriously, how can you not love this face?!

We had a lot of fun taking crazy pictures here.

Hurrayyy for The Little Mermaid section!
Throw your hands up and rejoice!

Next we backtracked through the Lion King section and the Finding Nemo section, then walked along the river towards the Cars section.

We spotted Pop Century right across the river from AoA.

Soon we found ourselves at Radiator Springs!

(Unpopular opinion: I kinda like Cars.)

We met Lightning McQueen!

Jamie likes Mater’s goofy face.

I really like the Cars section!

I put together a little video, because we were singing this song from the movie the whole time we were exploring Cars!

We really enjoyed our visit to Art of Animation!

It’s very immersive and detailed, even the foliage used in each area is carefully chosen. For example, The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo sections have plants that portray ocean-based plants.

I’m not sure I like the boxy feel of the buildings, but the outdoor theming (and the rooms themselves from what I’ve seen) more than make up for that!

At 4:30pm we headed back to the lobby to find the bus stops.

It was still BOILING hot while we were walking around, so we were ready for an icy cold bus-ride!

We were heading to Hollywood Studios to get a resort bus to our next destination…


Click for Day 6, Part 3!​

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[pkondz]

Hi!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 6
Sunday 27th September 2015
Part 3 – Resort hopping: Coronado Springs

Our next stop was Coronado Springs!

Hollywood Studios is right in between AoA and Coronado, so that was our first stop.
This was our first visit to Hollywood Studios this trip, and we were passing straight through!

We got straight on a bus to Coronado.

As we rolled into the resort I realised I hadn’t done enough research on this little semi-impromptu resort hop, because Coronado Springs has about a billion bus stops.
Ok, like four.
But still.
We didn’t have our bearings at all.
So we just got off at the first stop which happened to be stop 2, behind the Casitas buildings, but that’s fine.

We’re here!
And so are the storm clouds!!!

(Surprisingly, we made it around the whole resort without it raining, so that’s something )

We walked through Casitas in the direction of El Centro.
These buildings are beautiful!!
It’s definitely my favourite section of Coronado.
I’ll probably request Casitas if I stay here one day.

We reached El Centro in no time.

I like all the string lights outside.
I bet it looks lovely at night.

There were a few people sat drinking outside, it looks like a pretty place to hang out.
Coronado has a large convention center so there were a lot of business people about. We hardly saw any children throughout the entire resort!

We also spotted the topiaries of the Three Caballeros.
From photos I’ve always thought the topiaries were small, maybe half the size of me.
I was very surprised at how big they were in real life!

Then we went into the lobby…
You guys…
IT SMELLED LIKE THE BEACH CLUB.
That smell that was missing from the Beach Club yesterday?
It had appeared at Coronado!
So I was very happy!

Who’s spotted the hidden Mickey in the check in area?!

I was loving this resort!

We had a look in Panchito’s.

It’s a fun store, with lots of authentic (looking) Mexican/Spanish gifts.

I lost Hymie for a minute, but I found him crouched down playing with the Star Wars toys

After Panchito’s we had a look in Café Rix next door.
Everything looked so good!
They had huge cakes and muffins, and the muffins were just $3!

The gelato looked great too.

And as if I wasn’t loving this resort enough, we next paid a visit to Pepper Market.

Holy cow.
THIS QUICK SERVICE RESTAURANT HAS ENCHILADAS AND TACOS.
As well as empanadas, nachos, etc etc.

Yum and WOWOWOW.

Sadly we weren’t getting any food because we had an ADR later, but I’m happy to know that I would love to stay at Coronado some day.
Mexican food is my favourite!
Jamie and I have it once a week

​

We got a bottle of water from Pepper Market, and I had to be dragged away from smelling everyone’s food.

We went back outside and it was looking pretty stormy, but we decided to walk around the resort anyway.

Goodbye Casitas!

Hello Cabanas!

Cabanas is a really nice area, with hammocks along the sandy beaches!

The buildings themselves don’t really thrill me too much though.
Compared to the Casitas buildings anyway.

Having said that, I do like to have no one stomping around in the room above me, so maybe these two-storey buildings would be good for me?
I don’t know.

Some of the Cabanas buildings have a “business class” classification too, apparently it’s like club level at a more moderate price, so that seems like a fun option!

Cabanas are also much closer to the main feature pool.
This is called the Dig Site, and it has great theming!
They also had a fun quiz going on, which was covering Disney movies, parks and history.
It was nice seeing the kids showing interest in the history!

More views of El Centro from the Cabanas area:

And pretty Casitas:

We took the short route around the lake, but we did catch a glimpse of the Ranchos section.
Even though we didn’t take a proper look around, Ranchos would probably be my least favourite option at Coronado.
But I don’t really know what I’m talking about.

We completed our full circle and made it back to Casitas:

Some of the Casitas buildings are quite far from the Dig Site pool, but they have their own quiet pool, which was pretty and chilled.

We got back to the main building and entered by Maya Grill, Coronado’s table service restaurant.
It smelled goooooood.

Then we went to the bus stop to make our way to our next destination.

This is when it started raining, so we did pretty well to make it all the way around the resort keeping dry!

Overall, I loved Coronado a lot more than I thought I would.
My family and I stayed at Riverside every year we visited together, so that’s always my go-to moderate resort.
Even though I’ve never been in person, I always thought French Quarter would be my second favourite, but now I’m not so sure.

The theming at Coronado is awesome, and they have lots of great options for food and drink.
I really like the light blue and dark wood rooms too, although the bathrooms could do with an update.

Jamie said he wouldn’t want to stay here because it is so huge, and if you were placed at the back of Ranchos it’s quite a trek to the main building.
I think Coronado would really benefit from a big bridge across the lagoon like Riverside has, but there’s probably a reason they haven’t done that already.
We did see a few CMs driving people around on golf carts, so at least there are options.

I believe some of the Casitas buildings are classed as preferred rooms, so maybe booking those is the way to go


Click for Day 6, Part 4!​

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[TheLittleKatie]

Hi!

You're a real piece of work.

 

[pkondz]

You're a real piece of work.

This is correct.

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 6
Sunday 27th September 2015
Part 4 – Resort hopping: Animal Kingdom Lodge

We waited at the Coronado bus stop and the rain started pouring down.
But that’s OK because we’re not going to a park tonight.
We’re going to Animal Kingdom Lodge!

An Animal Kingdom bus came along real quick, and Jamie mentioned how lucky we’d been with transportation today.
But just as he said that, the bus drove straight past us as we stood out in the rain.
It was like a comedy sketch

The next bus that came was for Hollywood Studios so we hopped on since it’s fairly close to Coronado.

We arrived at Hollywood Studios and it was raining REAL hard!
We got off the bus and had no idea where to find an Animal Kingdom Lodge bus, so we were dashing around leaping over puddles like crazy people

Thankfully there was an AKL bus loading as we got there.
Although those icy-cold buses aren’t the best when you’re soaking wet!

Soon we arrived at Animal Kingdom Lodge!

(And as it turns out, this is where we'll be staying this year!)

Oh boy!!!

What a beautiful place.

The resort lobbies usually have a distinct smell, but AKL just seems to smell of food!
Probably because Boma is kind of open plan into the lobby.
That would probably just make me hungry all the time.

The back of the lobby has huge windows that look out onto the savannah, but it was still raining so we stayed indoors for now.

We spotted a big fireplace that was calling our names.
We needed to warm up and dry off!

We were eating at Boma later! It’s our first time so I was exciteddd.

We had some time to kill so we browsed the Zawadi Marketplace giftshop.

I can’t believe they still do this t-shirt!!
I had this when I was a kid, only it was a plain white tee.

Zawadi Marketplace has a lot of fun stuff, I love Animal Kingdom merch.

The gift shop also had an African man making hand-made gifts!
He had a little crowd, everyone was very impressed.

We couldn’t admire him for too long, because when in Africa, we had to do as the Africans do.

Lightsaber fights.

We finished looking around Zawadi’s, and we still had half an hour before our ADR, so we headed out to see if the rain had stopped.
And it had!

So we went outside to explore.

Here’s the cute fire pit area

I love this building.

We walked over to the animal viewing area and spotted us some critters.

Here are the children getting a better view:

Who am I trying to kid, I joined them up there

I can’t believe this hotel exists.
So cool!

After watching the animals for a while, we went back inside to check in for dinner.


Click for Day 6, Part 5!​

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[pkondz]

I promise no more posting between updates.


Whoops!

 

[TheLittleKatie]

Day 6
Sunday 27th September 2015
Part 5 – BOMA COMA

Boma time!

Our ADR was at 7:30pm so we checked in around 7:15, and waited for our table.

The smells coming from the buffet were making me drool (staying classy).

It seemed really busy and I was a little worried because I don’t like eating super close to strangers, but we were shown to a big table of four all to ourselves right by the entrance to the buffet.
Perfect!

We ordered some drinks and headed straight up!

Ok, I’m almost embarrassed to share this meal with you.
But we’re all friends here right?
Well, I had THREE PLATES of dinner,
AND I had an additional plate of pretty much every dessert on offer.
THE BOMA COMA IS REAL PEOPLE.

Here’s plate #1.
I had steak, pork and Durban chicken, with all five side dishes.
This was all just from the first buffet station!!!
I’m such a mess.
But no ragrets.
Boma4life.

​

The side dishes were pap cornmeal mash, regular mash, fufu (western and central African sweet and white potato mash), Chakalaka South African spicy tomato stew, and Yassa-style fish.

Yum and wow.

It was all so good.
My favourites were probably the steak and the fufu, but it was all delicious.

Here’s Jamie’s first plate.
I didn’t note down what he had, but I can see some steak, pork and chicken, and the closest thing he could find to his beloved Disney broccoli

Our drinks soon arrived.
I got the all natural lemonade with wildberry foam. It was delicious, but very sweet! So I saved it to have with my dessert.
Jamie got the coconut elixir, he really liked it. I tried some and it was very refreshing, it was kind of pinappley.

Here’s plate #2!
I had some bobotie, penne, meatballs in marinara sauce, mac and cheese, more pap cornmash, sweet potato fries and broccoli.

Yummmm.
I wasn’t keen on the bobotie, but the sweet potato fries were awesome!

Here’s Jamie’ second plate:

I was pretty full by now, but if I can only get to Boma once a year, you better believe I’m going for that famous Boma coma!

Plate #3!
More steak, peas and corn, basmati rice, broccoli and sweet potato fries!

Can’t. Stop. Now.
Must. Try. Every. Dessert.

Bread pudding with caramel sauce, chocolate cake, zebra domes, Mickey cupcake and Kenyan coffee tart.

Just wow.
Boma knows how to end a meal on a high note!

The bread pudding was awesome, and quite different to other Disney bread pudding. It was kind of cinnamony.
The zebra domes were so tasty, they’re described as “amarula mousse dome covered with a chocolate ganache.”
And to top it off, the chocolate cupcake I’d picked up turned out to be red velvet instead!
Score!!

This was such a great, unique Disney dining experience!
I’m quite a fussy eater, but I got to try some new foods without worrying.
So so good!
Boma is one of our new favourites!

We settled the bill and headed back to the lobby.
On our way through the restaurant I saw a young boy who was literally passed out on the bench with his stomach out and food all over his face.
BOMA COMA IN THE WILD.

We said goodbye to the Animal Kingdom Lodge and got the bus back to Magic Kingdom.

On the way back we reflected on our great day of resort hopping. I had a lot of fun, and I definitely want to do this again!

We arrived back at Magic Kingdom and got on the boat back to the Poly.
As we were calling at the Grand Floridian, we saw the Electric Water Pageant alongside us!

Jamie and I were the only ones left on the boat after stopping at the Grand, so the captain offered to take some photos of us on our private cruise!
How nice!

We got back to the Hawaii longhouse at around 9:30pm, and we HAD to look at what desserts were out…

Nope, I just couldn’t do it.
You know you’ve eaten too much when you pass on free brownies.

We did get a beer each though.
I never drink beer at home, but I really fancied it on this warm evening.

We’d had some turndown service!

MORE FOOD.
What are you trying to do to me, Disney?

Would anyone believe me if I told you I actually lost weight on this trip…?!
WELL I DID.
Disney magic folks.
(Plus the fact that we were averaging around 22,500 steps a day )

We connected Jamie’s laptop to the TV and watched Crazy Stupid Love for a while.

Then at 10pm, the fireworks started across the lagoon, so we paused the movie and went out on the balcony.
It’s another HalloWishes night!
I’ll forever associate HalloWishes with our Poly stay.
It’s one of my favourite shows now

There were low clouds again, and the fog was lingering which made it kind of hard to see the castle at times!
It was difficult to get good photos of the fireworks, but it kind of added to the Halloween theme. It was more spooky I guess.

When the show ended everyone down our longhouse clapped and cheered again!
It was so great, I had a huge smile on my face.
I’ll always cherish the memories of watching this show from our balcony

We went back inside, and I fell asleep watching the movie.
Or the Boma coma actually did hit me.
We will never know.
Goodnight!


Click for Day 7, Part 1!​

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[TheLittleKatie]

I promise no more posting between updates.


Whoops!

If I don't get any bonus points to make up for what you've done to me today, I will not be happy.

 

[pkondz]

If I don't get any bonus points to make up for what you've done to me today, I will not be happy.

This seems fair.
Wish granted.

 

[Dentam]

We love Boma also! The breakfast buffet is also amazing!!

Great updates! I love resort hopping!

 

[heatherrrrz]

Every time you call Jamie, Hymie I laugh because I have a really annoying customer at my job with that name. I'm not sure if that's how he spells it though.

 

[FantasiaMagic]

Katie! Yay you're back!!

Has anyone who’s visited Mickey at the theatre noticed this before?
These items on the shelves are meant to represent the four parks!
(Books = MK castle, crystal ball = Epcot, plant = Animal Kingdom, hat = Hollywood Studios)
I wonder if they’ll have to think of something new to replace the hat?

That is so cool! I never noticed that or heard of that before! Did you read that in a book or something?

Aw! So cute! Also, I love Jamie's shirt

I always have to meet Mickey at least once per trip.

Same here, it's very important!

Of course Mickey, being the talented track star that he is, had run ahead of us to start the castle show!

How does he do it all?!

I think they’ll do a good job with the new show though.
I’m glad Princess and the Frog will be a part of it, I love that film and its soundtrack.

I was pretty upset about the change as well, but I guess since it has been there for 10 years, it was time... I am so happy I was able to see it one more time last Spring! I am very excited that Tangled and The Princess and the Frog will get more recognition.

Anyway, RIP Dream Along With Mickey!
We’ll take the dream with us, wherever we may go

We both got the turkey sandwich with green beans, as always.
Don’t ever underestimate our ability to be totally boring.
But we love this sandwich, so we have it every single time.
It’s probably the number one thing Jamie reminisces about back home

I wouldn't expect anything less of you two at BOG

We also split a strawberry cupcake!
Doesn’t it look perfect.

Oh my gosh that looks heavenly! So pretty too!

I noticed a family of four all dressed up as Russell from Up, gahh we loved them, they looked so perfect!

AW!!!!

Then, as we were waiting to board the monorail, one of the Russells came up to me, and asked if I was Katie from the Disboards!!!

Turns out Mother Russell was actually Carol ( @pcbianchini ) who had been reading my 2014 trip report!

This is sooo cool!!!
Aw, I hope one day we can meet Katie!

I asked for a picture, because if you get chatting to these guys, how can you not get a picture?!

Adorable, that's so fun! I love how one of the kids is holding a Dug stuffed animal!

Jamie was really excited too, I don’t think he realised that some people actually read my Disney ramblings!

Aw! We all love your TRs Katie!

We hopped on a bus at Magic Kingdom, and soon we were arriving at our value resort of the day, Art of Animation!

YAY!

This gift shop has a lot of resort-specific merchandise such as clothing, mugs, flasks etc.
I love that kind of thing.

Me too, gosh that gift shop was deadly for me last Spring. Every time I walked in there I always had the urge to buy something!

We walked into the lobby, yum and wow, it is beautiful and it smelled all clean and citrusy.
(Which is ironic considering the video that surfaced recently… )

??? What video???

I LOVE CONCEPT ART.

Me too! All the pictures are beautiful. That is my favorite part of the lobby!

Apparently some of these pictures are signed by Disney artists!
In fact, on the picture of Lightning McQueen, you can see John Lasseter’s signature!

Yes! I remember seeing that, soo cool.

This model of Crush is HUGE!
I think maybe you’re supposed to be Nemo-sized in this section?!

Yes! I think the Imagineers built the resort so you felt like you were apart of the movies it represented.

We liked this guy best.

These fish are infectiously happy.
You can’t help but join them in their merriment.

We loved posing with those fish! There are so many fun pictures you can take in the LM section!

We also spotted the topiaries of the Three Caballeros.
From photos I’ve always thought the topiaries were small, maybe half the size of me.
I was very surprised at how big they were in real life!

This is so cool! Even though the movie is a little strange, I love that Donald is in it. This must be one of the only resorts with topiaries I assume?

Then we went into the lobby…
You guys…
IT SMELLED LIKE THE BEACH CLUB.
That smell that was missing from the Beach Club yesterday?
It had appeared at Coronado!
So I was very happy!

Yay!

I lost Hymie for a minute, but I found him crouched down playing with the Star Wars toys

Coronodo is a very pretty, unique resort. I like the look of their main pool!

(And as it turns out, this is where we'll be staying this year!)

You and Jamie are staying at AKL?!?!?! That is so exciting!!!
When are you guys going?
If you decide to do another PTR, definitely let us know!!!

This was such a great, unique Disney dining experience!
I’m quite a fussy eater, but I got to try some new foods without worrying.
So so good!
Boma is one of our new favourites!

Wow all that food sounds/looks awesome. I will have to make sure to get there one day! Glad you and Jamie enjoyed it!

SOO cute! I love that turn down service. They are too cute I wouldn't want to eat them

We connected Jamie’s laptop to the TV and watched Crazy Stupid Love for a while.

I love that movie!

That is such a cool shot. Very Halloween and magical like. That's great you were able to catch HalloWishes from your balcony again! It sounds so nice!

I loved this update!

 

[pagek83]

Maybe I should stop listing my favourites things on the Dis, because at this point I’m sure Disney are keeping note of them and CANCELLING THEM FOR SPORT.

Maybe we should all start posting about how we "love" Stitch's Great Escape and they'll close that puppy down.

 

[Mollydolly334]

Yay for updates!!

Here’s our lovely longhouse, on a somewhat cloudy morning.

Love this photo! Gives me nostalgia from when I stayed at the Poly in 2002

Maybe I should stop listing my favourites things on the Dis, because at this point I’m sure Disney are keeping note of them and CANCELLING THEM FOR SPORT.

(Celebrate a Dream Come True, Move it Shake it CELEBRATE it, Wishes fastpass…)

OMG YES YES AND YES. Getting rid of Celebrate a Dream Come True was an absolute travesty. I was just listening to the soundtrack walking to class this morning!

We both got the turkey sandwich with green beans, as always.
Don’t ever underestimate our ability to be totally boring.
But we love this sandwich, so we have it every single time.
It’s probably the number one thing Jamie reminisces about back home

Because of your amazing reviews, I've decided that this is what I'm ordering when I eat there for lunch in September!

he hotels are probably what I obsess over the most out of everything at Walt Disney World.

Um, seriously. I think we are twins. Sometimes, I find myself more excited for the resorts than the parks themselves . It is my ultimate goal in life to stay at all of the Disney resorts for at least one night!

Ugh, I'm such a tourist.

HAHAH KATIE I LOVE THIS PHOTO!!

More views of El Centro from the Cabanas area:

What a gorgeous picture! For our last trip, my mom and I were between CBR and CSR. This picture kinda makes we wish we had chosen CSR

I can’t believe they still do this t-shirt!!
I had this when I was a kid, only it was a plain white tee.

Oh my gosh, I remember always wanting that shirt!! My 8 year old self thought it was the funniest thing ever

(And as it turns out, this is where we'll be staying this year!)

How exciting! I visited AKL for the first time last trip and LOVED it Nothing beats seeing animals right outside! Plus the ambiance is second to none. It looks so cozy outside with the fire pits and such!

 

[disneyguy4life]

Yes write a TR! And be sure to let me know if you do

Can do. It should be a pretty entertaining one as it will be my sons first time on a plan or even on a trip. Can't wait to read more of your TR. You are a champ!! Keep it up.

 

[disneyguy4life]

DO NOT EVEN TALK TO ME ABOUT HOW THEY’VE JUST GOT RID OF DREAM ALONG WITH MICKEY.

Maybe I should stop listing my favourites things on the Dis, because at this point I’m sure Disney are keeping note of them and CANCELLING THEM FOR SPORT.

(Celebrate a Dream Come True, Move it Shake it CELEBRATE it, Wishes fastpass…)

Ain't it the way it always goes!!! #thanksShanghai

I wanted to visit three brand new resorts that I’ve never been to before.
One value, one moderate, and one deluxe.

That is a great idea. My wife and I visited a lot of resorts our last trip and it was pretty cool. I love seeing the theming and sounds. One of the best parts of staying at Port Orleans Riverside was the sounds they piped in. I loved it. Sometimes when work and life get crazy I sit back, close my eyes and imagine walking around the resort and listening to the sounds. It makes me feel happy.

 

[Whit64130]

(And as it turns out, this is where we'll be staying this year!)

Love the AKL! Trying to figure out a way to work it into our upcoming trip!

bahahaha

On the way back we reflected on our great day of resort hopping. I had a lot of fun, and I definitely want to do this again!

Looks like y'all had fun!

There were low clouds again, and the fog was lingering which made it kind of hard to see the castle at times!
It was difficult to get good photos of the fireworks, but it kind of added to the Halloween theme. It was more spooky I guess.

This was our MNSSHP night. Granted Hallowishes was AMAZING, I was a little disappointed with the fog. I know this couldn't be helped but I would have loved to see Hallowishes in all of its glory without the fog. Just another reason to plan another trip!