HO HO HO at the Poly! & Mousefest too!

[eyenjeff]

HO HO HO AT THE POLYNESIAN AND MOUSEFEST 2008

First of all I will introduce the cast of characters:
Me- Eileen, mom, age 43, many, many trips to Disne
My husband, Jeff, age 42, 4th trip to Disney
My son, Noah, age 10, 4th trip to Disney
My daughter, Brigid, age 2, 2nd trip to Disney
Resort of Choice this stay: Polynesian resort, garden view
Travel methods: Limo to airport, plane, Limo to Poly, Disney transportation

This trip all came about because we went to Disney the first week of November last year on a spur of the moment trip. My cousins from England came in for the Iron man triathlon and called and asked if we could “pop” down and see them in Florida as they were going to be at Disney World. I asked Jeff, and he said that somehow we would make it work, tell them yes. So we made reservations at All Star Music resort, got decent airfare, and off we went. As soon as we entered MK, ( as it does to most of us), Jeff caught the Disney Magic and said, “ We are coming back here next year at Christmas for sure and we are staying at the Polynesian like I did when I was a kid.” Well, who am I to argue? So when we came back, I started making reservations and dining plans and you know what happened next, a whole year of planning and excitement. The added excitement this year was we were going to attend some parts of Mousefest too. Somehow I was going to super plan our way thru a weeklong stay at the Poly, add in MK, Epcot, and DHS, MVMCP, Candlelight Processional, Osbourne Lights, and some Mousefest festivities! Sooooooooo Off we goooooooo!
The limo came to pick us up at 7am to take us to O’Hare airport. Our flight left at 9:30am so we were good. The hardest part of any flight for us is security. Everyone’s shoes off, all coats off, all bags on the rollers. Stroller folded up, car seat upside down and try to fit it through the scanner, etc…. all the while trying to keep track of your 10 yr old and 2 yr old who only care about when are they going to get their McDonald’s breakfast? Oh my! Luckily, for once, the departure gate was literally 2 mins from the security section and was next to a McDonald’s counter. We had our breakfast, and waited for the boarding call. We did ask to board ahead as we had to install a car seat, but were denied. (As we were on the way home, and you will read later how ugly that got!) We were in row 1, yes row 1, so while I installed the car seat under the pressure of everyone’s glaring eyes because I was holding up the line, Jeff tried to get the stroller folded and tagged to be put into the cargo hold. We finally got seated and off we went.
Of course, we hadn’t eaten in ages (according to Noah), so when the flight attendant announced that there were snacks for sale, Noah was of course starving and had to have a snack or else he might die! The boxes were $5 for a variety of little snacks in the box. Noah had a bag of tortilla chips and salsa, Jeff at the cheese and salami, and I had the roasted almonds. Brigid was sleeping but we saved the applesauce in case she woke up. All good I guess, and not worth the battle for quiet on the plane.
We arrived at MCO and found our luggage and our Limo driver, the same one we have had for years, and he knows us by name and does an awesome job! He took us right to the Polynesian while catching us up on Disney gossip and what has been going on in Orlando in general.
As always, we got excited when we entered the Disney area, saw the welcome sign and then the Magic kingdom sign! Love that part! We pulled up to the Poly and were instantly impressed by the beauty.

We had been there to visit before but never to stay, so never had seen the main entrance before. The aroma of the flowers was so awesome, and the sound of the water falls was wonderful.

Plus all the pointsettas were beautiful!

Check in went fairly well, the CM were nice and polite. I sensed they were very busy, as they looked kind of harried. We had requested the Tokelau building upon a recommendation of someone, first or third floor, and they could not honor our request. They put us in Tahiti instead, although on a 3rd floor with a big balcony. In the end, this building worked out great as it was right next to the TTC and every type of transportation there is. There was short path from the TTC right to the Poly and our building, and at the end of a long day, let me tell you, it was a Godsend!
They took us to our room on a golf cart with all of our luggage, the stroller, car seat, groceries we had ordered from Gardengorcer.com and our new Owner’s locker. They had to go back for the packages we shipped down ahead of time because there wasn’t any room on this trip. The porter was nice enough to show us around the room, point out any hidden Mickeys and explain about the frig, where the ice was, etc… he did a great job.
Normally on our first day, we go right to the park, but we decided this trip to stay at the resort and explore and have dinner and watch the fireworks and electrical parade on the beach. This was a good idea as we were very tired from the trip. (Plus I had been battling the stomach flu for 2 days before we left and needed to catch up on some rest). We unpacked all of our stuff, organized some things, and the kids played on the balcony and of course watched the Disney channel. The room was beautiful and huge!

It had 2 queen beds and a sofa that turned into a twin sized sofa sleeper, which my 2yr old thought was great. Mousekeeping delivered a bed rail and it was perfect. She went to bed willingly every night in “her” bed.

Plus there was a sitting area with 2 chairs and a table.

The big sliding doors led out to the balcony with chairs and table out there with a nice garden view.

There was a large dresser with 6 drawers and a large area on top for “STUFF”, which we seemed to have a lot of, and then a desk area with lots of room to charge whatever you needed. The desk had a rolling table under it, which slid out to use for the laptop, or eating room service, packing, or wrapping presents.

It was a great idea and addition to the room. The closet area had two closets, lots of hanging space, a safe, ironing board and iron and a little area with the coffee pot, glasses, fridge, and some drawers to store snacks etc…

We could have had a microwave if we wanted one, but we knew we wouldn’t use one, so did not request one. Lots of amenities at the Poly!! It was awesome! I know why people love this place!
When we were finally settled in, and I relaxed a little on the balcony, we headed off for the Grand Ceremonial House which is where the lobby, shops and eateries are. It seemed like a long walk the first time we did it, but I think it was because we did not know where we were going. We eventually found it, after we checked out the pool and the crazy people who were swimming in it. There was steam coming off the water and it had to be about 50degrees out, C R A Z Y!!!! We had dinner reservations at Kona, and we were a little early, but of course Noah was about to die from starvation, so we checked in early, and they gave us a beeper. We wandered over to the little shop by Kona and then the beeper went off within minutes. We had a nice dinner and great service there.

I always forget how nice the presentation is in Disney. They really do a good job in the table service eateries. The kids and Jeff got a dessert with their meal which also came beautifully presented. The kids just got a Sundae with their meal, and I expected a scoop of ice-cream in a small bowl, with some sauce on top. Not at Disney! They got the ice cream in a large bowl, a separate bowl of sauce, M&M’s, and Mickey heads made of sugar. A kid’s delight!

My husband ordered Crème Brule and it looked awesome, too good to eat almost.

I do have to mention in all the places we ate that included an entrée and a dessert, they were very understanding that I could not eat dessert and switched it to giving me an appetizer instead with no trouble at all. I don’t even get that here at home.
After dinner, we walked around the stores some more and then decided to take a monorail ride just for fun and because it was there, and because we could! LOL! It was a fun way to get our first ride without going into a park and experience the Disney magic! We thought the fireworks were at 9pm, so we headed out to the beach, and then found out they were at 930pm. We did see the electrical water parade, which is always cool.

But let me tell you it was FREEZING!!! First of all we were not dressed appropriately for the cool weather. We were in shorts and did have our coats, but light ones, and I had on sandals. My toes almost fell off! When we went back to the room, we looked on the weather channel and it was 42 degrees. Oh my! Ok, if you are dressed appropriately, but we were not. If we were closer to the Pool area we would have gone back to our room and changed and/or warmed up for sure. (We would later find out that we could have watched the whole thing from the beach right outside of our building, where there were chairs and a hammock and everything. UGH!! Live and learn). The fireworks were beautiful, it was Holiday Wishes as there was a MVMCP that night, another reason we did not head over to MK that day, as we would have been kicked out pretty soon after going in.
After fireworks, it was back to the room, bedtime for the kids, and Jeff, and time for mommy to go into the “Fairy mode” as I call it.
Fairy Mode means….a little fairy comes and charges all the phones for the next day, charges the camera batteries, the DVD recorder batteries, packs the backpack/diaper bag, packs the coats backpack, gets snacks together , plans out the wardrobe and lays it out, etc……. The Fairy’s job is never done. Then the fairy gets to sit down with a bottle of propel and try to hydrate herself so that she can start the new day a little ahead instead of behind, plus go online and read twitters, emails, and any new posts of people who are coming down after us, and/or meeting up with us later.
Then finally the fairy gets to lay her head down on her pillow and before you know it, the wakeup call comes! OH MY GOD! Time to start our first full day at Disney!!! Off to Disney Hollywood Studios!!

 

[eyenjeff]

Ho Ho Ho at the Poly day 2

Day 2: Disney’s Hollywood studios
We had very good intentions to getting up and moving early and getting there when it opened, but I think the fact we were all sick the week before and that I was sick right before put us in slow motion. We wanted to go right to Toy Story Mania and get fast passes, or see if we could ride with a shorter time than what was being posted. The other thing was that it was such a nice room, I think that lead to a lot of dawdling that we would normally not do when we are in one of the value resorts and there is no place to move except OUT of the room.
This was our first attempt at using the transportation at the Poly and I am so glad I read a lot of posts about walking to the TTC and getting the bus there. We left our building (Tahiti, for those Poly fans) and walked down a short path and VOILA! There was every kind of transportation we needed. There always seemed to be what we needed when we needed it. We never had to wait on that end. GREAT plus to the Poly, it spoiled us rotten! Something we will probably never get to experience again, but glad we got a chance to once. We got on the bus with all of our belongings, (remember we have a 2yr old so that includes too much stuff including the stroller). Off we went to the Studios! We were so excited to finally be going to a park, and glad to try out the new Toy Story Mania ride!

Our goal was to go straight into the park and get fast passes for Toy Story Mania, or ride it with a shorter wait time, but since we were running later than planned I figured we had lost our window of opportunity. We grabbed a map to find out the best way to get there and of course stopped a few times to get some photo pass pictures, and eventually made our way to the ride.

The fast pass return was already at 6:45-7:45pm and we knew we would not return then, we were going to see the Osbourne lights at the end of the day and knew we would be tired. The standby time was 60 minutes and from what I read, that sounded reasonable so we got in line. It was 45 mins and we were on the ride, so I think we made the right decision. The cue area is very cute and lots to look at and Mr. Potato head kept us very entertained while we were in line.

It really keeps moving pretty well. We got on the ride and Noah and I went together and Brigid and Jeff went together. WE HAD A BLAST! Great ride, wish we could have done it more than once! It will be a great thing to look forward to on our next trip!
After TSM we had a short time before our lunch ADR for Prime time Café at 1pm, so we leisurely walked over there, looking at the time for Playhouse Disney and Little Mermaid knowing that we wanted to take Brigid there. We made it to Prime Time Café a little early and they said it was ok and would seat us soon. We were seated in about 10 mins.

We had never eaten there before, although we have a similar place here called Ed Debevick’s, and it was pretty good. Again they honored the no desert for me, and gave me an appetizer instead. I had some crab cakes that were very good. I ordered the chicken pot pie, but the size of the chicken and veggies were so big that it was hard for me to eat, but the crab cakes made me over full anyway, so I was good. Jeff got a desert with his and had a large strawberry sundae!

It looked really good. Noah only ordered onion rings, and Brigid had Mac and cheese and a dish of ice cream, her favorite! All in all it was a good lunch. The waitress did not interact with us that much, but I think she knew we were having trouble with Noah and knew not to mess with him. (He really has a hard time handling all the stimulation of Disney the first days, it usually calms down as the days go on). She did ask Jeff, “Were you planning on wearing that hat in the house the whole time?” I laughed because he looked so surprised she said that. The baseball hat will get you every time! She also mentioned about not putting your elbows on the table, and setting our own table etc… All in all it was a fun lunch.
We left and went to get out spot on Main Street for the 3pm parade. We had some extra time so I took Noah to get the popcorn he had been asking for since we got in the gates every minute on the minute. He can be exhausting when he gets stuck on something he wants. By the end of this day, I was spent from all of his begging. I really wondered if we made a mistake coming at this time of the year when we know that this time of the year he has the hardest with. As always the street performers kept the crowd busy and entertained before the parade.

Being that we were on the beginning of Main Street the Block party started with us, I did not realize that it was a stationary kind of thing and that they were going to put on a show of sorts and then move on to the next section.

It was fun, they are really high energy and Noah loved all the dancing and jumping all around. Brigid loves music and dancing and all the characters. Good time was had by all. I do have to say I miss the old parade, I really enjoyed seeing ALL the characters, but I know they have to change it up sometimes to keep it all new.
We headed over to the Playhouse Disney area and we had just missed a show, and the Little Mermaid was just about to start, so we quick ran over there and got to see that. When that ended the line for Playhouse Disney was just about to go in, and there was hardly anyone in it, so off we went and got to sit up close to the front on the right side, which Brigid loved, being so close to all her friends. Brigid being 2 is a huge Playhouse Disney fan, so I knew she would love this one! You know how you dream before your trip that if you can bring the Disney magic to your kids, then life it great? Well, life was great that day! Brigid was soooooo excited during this whole show, she called out all of her friend’s names and sang and danced right along with them.

I really was overwhelmed with happiness for her; I actually had tears of joy in my eyes. My husband thinks I’m nuts, but who cares? I KNOW she loved it, and even Noah was dancing and clapping along, so you are never too old to love MICKEY!
We left PHD and went across to the shop, as we always do and Brigid found a set of Mickey and friends perfect for the pool or tub, so we got those for her. Last visit, I bought her some Nemo and friends from the same store to keep her busy while her brother and dad went on the Star wars ride. She still plays with them in the tub!
We walked over to the Great Movie ride and it was a walk on! I love that ride. We got to sit in the front seat which was kind of cool because the CM that was our tour guide would give us little tidbits of info that she did not give the others over the microphone. Let’s see if I can remember some of them:
The voice of Judy Garland in the Wizard of Oz scene was done by Liza Minnelli; I would never have known that unless she pointed it out. If you listen carefully, you can hear the small difference, a great impersonation!
James Cagney’s suit was his real suit. His family came and previewed the ride before it opened and did not like the suit he was wearing, so they brought one of his own suits for him to wear.
When they filmed singing in the rain, they couldn’t get the rain to show up on the screen, so they added milk to the water and that is how it showed up on film! Very cool.
Charlton Heston’s signature in the front of the theater is spelled wrong because he got distracted by a fan and crossed the “l” instead of the “t”; he is the only one who misspelled his OWN name!
I know she told us more, but that is all my brain can remember!
It made for a fun ride! We gave her a Christmas Thank you card we had printed before we left. She seemed genuinely grateful for it!
We thought maybe Noah would enjoy the Indiana Jones show, but by the time we walked over there, he did not want to go in, he heard some loud noises and although he is 10, he still gets scared at loud things; I think it is a sensory thing for him.

So we walked over to Main Street and shopped a little and bought light up necklaces so we could be as colorful as the Osbourne lights itself.

We already had the stroller decorated with battery operated lights and jingle bells so we were set. (I had read about that on another board, as a way to be able to find your stroller in the dark, when the CM move them all over the place, and guess what, it was a great trick, and we always could find our stroller!)
We saw a few other strollers and ECV’s decorated while we were at Disney too. Very festive!
After shopping we headed over to the Osbourne Lights, which was very crowded as we had expected. Mostly the traffic jam was at the beginning as people are trying to take it all in, so we joined right in. It really is beautiful, I know it seems overdone, but I think that is what I like so much about it.

The music is cool especially when the lights dance! We took some photo pass pics and leisurely strolled down the streets and enjoyed the lights.

We knew we would be coming back later in the week, as we were meeting friends who live in Orlando on Thurs night.
By this time, we were all starving and the little natives were very restless! There isn’t much open in the park at that time of night, so close to closing time. We tried to get into Sci Fi but they couldn’t guarantee us a seat and the kids were ready to eat cardboard. We found out that the ABC commissary was open so we went in there. It so empty, probably because it was the end of the night, so we got our food right away. I actually had a kid’s meal, tortilla wrap that was pretty good. Everyone got the hunger bug out, thank goodness and we made our way to the front of the park and out to the bus. The bus was waiting for us, how lucky, and fairly empty, hurray! I think, that because we were going to the TTC that they always have a bus ready to go there more so than to the resorts. Another plus to the location of our room being so close to the TTC! (0ur original plans were to see the Osbourne lights early enough to make it MK for EMH and to see Wishes at 8pm. Whoever came up with that plan must have been smokin’ somethin’ because it was happenin’ NO way NO how!) (I have since given up smokin’ anything! LOL!)
We arrived back at the room and got everyone bathed and to bed, and then the “nighttime Fairy” came along and charged all the stuff, packed the bags, laid out the clothes for the next day and spent some time on the internet reading everyone’s posts that were coming down soon for Mousefest! That is wind down time for me, I enjoy the quiet when everyone is sleeping and I have some ME time. Then it was off to bed, as we were going to Chef Mickey’s at 10:15 for our character breakfast, then off to the marina, to rent a pontoon boat, and then off to Magic Kingdom! Hurray! For Mickey’s Party! It was going to be a long but great day coming up!

 

[eyenjeff]

HO HO HO at the Poly day 3

Here is it already day 3, time goes way too fast when you are at Disney! We got up and got ready for our day, and you would think for having 10:15 reservations at Chef Mickey’s we would be good. But of course, as always we ran late. Not by much, I think we got there at 10:30, and were seated right away, so not too bad. We took the monorail from the Poly over to the contemporary because we did not want to deal with folding up the already over loaded stroller to get on the boat. We were out for the day, so we had our jackets, blankets, etc...in the stroller basket. I guess you really don’t need all that extra stuff, it just felt like you were getting more for the money.

The characters came over one by one and took their time with the kids. It was Goofy, Donald Duck (one of Brigid’s favs this trip!) Minnie and Mickey. We had Brigid in her Halloween costume which was the Playhouse Disney Pink Minnie dress and ears.

She loves to dress up! She kept her ears on for quite awhile. I was surprised! We stuffed ourselves because we knew the next real meal would be at MVMCP that night!

We walked around the Contemporary gift shops and bought a few gifts and had them sent back to the Poly. I love that service! They were having a sale, plus we were able to get one of the canvas bags for $10. This is where Brigid got her Donald Duck she carried around the rest of the trip and still does today!

We had previously planned to rent a pontoon boat and go for a ride on Bay lake and Seven seas lagoon and then head over to Mickey’s party. It worked out great, it was a nice day for a ride, not too hot, a little breezy, and sunny. We went down to the Contemporary marina and rented one of their larger pontoons so we could fit the stroller on it, and off we went.

My husband’s family has a pontoon boat up in Wisconsin so we are familiar with one, so it was no problem. Plus the motors on these pontoons are 9.9 horsepower, because anything over 10hp and you need a boater’s license. Our motor on the pontoon in WI is 85hp, so 9.9 I can handle, heck Brigid could handle it.

None the less, we had a great ride, and got to see all the resorts from the water, and take lots of pictures. WE have rented the mice boats in the past, but Brigid can’t go on them yet, so we had to get a boat that could take us all. It really is a pleasant ride around and gives you a different view from the water! Very peaceful.

This is our building at the Poly, water view, we had a garden view.


We returned to the marina and the marina guy for lack of better terms, told us about the walkway to MK, and we were all for it, so we walked over to MK and we were on our way to our first look at Cinderella’s castle down main street. It is such a big deal for us to see that castle for the first time every trip. It is kind of the “We have finally arrived” feeling. It is different than any other park for us.
We got into MK right around parade time, and actually got a seat on the curb right outside the candy store, so we plopped down and I ran and got some waters and pops, and came back just in time for the parade. I thought Brigid was going to pop out of her skin when she started seeing all her friends come by on the floats. She was waving and yelling to them, she even kept saying to a total stranger sitting next to us, “ Look there is Mickey!, Look there is Donald!” He did not seem to mind and she was so excited that she wanted to tell anyone who would listen that her friends were here to see her! Noah still enjoys these parades too; he waves just as much as Brigid and loves to see all the characters. Jeff and I just love the music and the whole magic of it all.
When the parade was over we took some photo pass pics and made our way down Main street and took in the whole castle view!

We knew we had to get our MVMCP bracelets starting at 4pm in the Rose Garden, so we hung around and took more photo pass pics on the bridge to Tomorrowland in two different spots and then got in line for the bracelets.

While we were in line, Brigid had a secret admirer, a little boy who had his hair done at the barber shop with all the sparkles in it, came up and gave Brigid a big hug and some Mickey stickers.

She was shocked at first and then she flirted back! It was hilarious. I looked at Jeff and asked if he thought of bringing his shotgun to Disney, and he said he never thought he would need it at this age!! LOL! It was really cute actually. We made it thru the line and got our MVMCP bracelets and our guide. We decided to see if we could go see Tinker bell and her fairy friends because I have read about such long lines and someone wrote that they went towards the end of the day right before the party and they had luck. So off we went to Toon Town. (much to Noah’s dismay! Oh the sacrifices you have to make for your little sister!).
We got to the line and it said 60 mins so we got in because I read how it can be up to 2 hours. So we took our chances and waited. I do have to say it is kind of excruciating because you stand still for long periods of time, and the movement is really slow. Once you get to the rope, then you are taken into Pixie Hollow and all is good! I see how they make it work, and the kids love it, but the wait is boring. In the end it was worth it because we got to meet Tink, Irridessa, and Rosetta. They were all great and spent a lot of time with us. At first Brigid was a little afraid, but by the time we got to Rosetta she was all laughs and smiles. In the end I think it was worth it for sure.

Princess for a minute!


We left Toon town after a quick “potty stop” and went to Fantasyland to see what the wait time was there, as we were getting hungry but wanted to take advantage of short wait times if we could. Pooh was a walk on so off we went to ride Pooh! Both kids love this one.
We decided to go have dinner so we could ride the rest of the night as much as we could so off to our favorite counter service place Cosmic Rays for dinner. We went in to Cosmic Rays and boy was it crowded! We were talking to one of the managers there and asking if there were any other CS places open during the party, and of course she said, “Why would you want to go anywhere else, we have the best food here!” “You have to stay here!” So off I went to find a table as Brigid was sleeping in the stroller, and Jeff and Noah went to wait in line. I can’t eat a lot of fast food stuff so all I wanted was some of the grilled chicken they have there, it is soft and really good, so Jeff was going to get the chicken and ribs platter, which we were going to share. Sonny Eclipse was still playing and doing his thing at the time, we like to watch him, and he is entertaining. I had seen a sign that said there was going to be special entertainment for the party later on.
Jeff came back to the table with a pulled pork sandwich (which I can’t eat by the way), and said that just as he got up to the front, they changed the menu back to the lunch menu and he couldn’t get any more grilled chicken. I was so hungry at this point, and was frustrated because we waited a long time to get to the front of the line, and then they change the menu. I decided to go up there and find out what the problem was, and to see if I could eat anything else. I saw the manager we had talked to previously and told her what happened, that we HAD stayed at her place, and when Jeff got up to the front, they changed the menu and I could no longer eat here, I think I was about to cry. She said to come with her, and she went to the front of the line and asked her staff to get me whatever I wanted, I told her if I could just get a piece of grilled chicken that would be great, instead she brought me 2 full grilled chicken dinners with all the trimmings and said it was on her! I was not looking for a free meal, we had the credits, but she did a very nice thing for us. When I got back to the table within minutes with 2 full dinners and told Jeff they were free, he could not believe I had gotten that done. He is very passive and I am not! That is why we fit together so well I guess. In the end, everyone was happy and very full. Then when Brigid woke up there was plenty for her too.
All of the sudden, Sonny told us he had to take a break and would be back later. Then his stage went up into the ceiling and another stage came up with a live DJ dressed as an elf, playing dance music. He was very good! He got all the kids and the parents up dancing. He taught the dances as well as playing the music!

Both kids loved it, I think we could have stayed there all night and they would have been happy! But we were at Mickey’s party and had to ride some serious rides! Off we went to see how much we could accomplish in a short time.
I think the first place we went to was Fantasyland to see Mickey’s Philharmagic (one of our favorites!), Then small world which was a walk on! (another favorite) and then off to Tomorrowland for space mountain. Oh my, I haven’t ridden Space Mtn in many years. I promised Noah I would go on with him, so we did. It was a walk on also! I really needed some wait time to get up my nerve, but it was not to happen! Noah rode in the front of the car, I was behind him and another guy was behind me. Noah and I screamed the whole time and the guy behind me laughed the whole time, not sure if he was laughing at us or that was his way of screaming! Boy was I shaking after that ride! It was a blast! I was so worried about fitting in it, but I did ok, and getting out was a little challenge, but I did it! Noah was beaming when we got off the ride. That made my night!

From there we went to Pirates and then to get our spot for the fireworks in front of the castle. We took a photo pass pic, which turned out to be our Christmas card photo, and decided that was the best vantage point for the fireworks as it was really crowded!

The Holiday Wishes with the castle in the background is awesome! They have the awesome part when the fireworks are going off all around you, now that was cool. After the fireworks we went and got our spot for the parade in Frontierland, after fighting a big crowd to get there, and had a hard time finding a good spot. I guess more people are researching good spots, and everyone had the same idea! Usually you can go there and it is empty for a late parade, not this yr! But in the end we found a good spot and camped out for the parade and took turns walking around and getting snacks etc... And then the Christmas Parade began! As always it did not disappoint! The kids loved it, especially the end when Santa comes! It is so festive and lots of characters and Christmas cheer!
We waited for a few mins after the parade to see what the crowd was going to do, and then decided to walk to the Christmas store, which was crazy crowded, and the Tinker bell store, again crazy crowded, and then decided on Haunted mansion, at about 10 mins to 12, right before the park closed! It was kind of fitting seeing it was so late at night and we were going into a “spooky” ride. I love the haunted mansion and always have since a kid! We casually walked out of the park, taking time to enjoy the lights on the castle, taking some more pictures, and then walking down Main Street, taking more pics and walking through the shops as they were closing them one by one as we were walking thru. (Ever feel like you were not welcome? Or that someone just wanted you to get out? LOL!! That is what I think CM thought, why don’t they all just leave so we can go home? So we obliged them and went on our merry way back to the TTC and back to our room, exhausted but happy with our first day at MK and all we had accomplished during the party. I know we could have done more had we not stayed so long at Cosmic Rays, but the kids were having fun, and they did not care that they were missing out on some rides or shows. All that matters is that everyone had a good time, and we saw the fireworks and the parade!
This night, the kids went straight to bed, and so did Jeff, I stayed up a little, but not too much as we were all beat! We were supposed to spend the whole next day at Epcot with our Rose and Crown ADR’s and then Candlelight processional reserved seating at 8:15pm. Did that ever happen? Did we keep to our plan? Did we pull and audible and do something different? Stay tuned for the next installment………….!

 

[eyenjeff]

HO HO HO AT THE POLY DAY 4

We woke up this morning and looked outside and saw beautiful sunshine and watched the weather channel and saw that the temp for today was going to be a high of 84F. The rest of the week was going to be colder and possibly rainy. We talked about both keeping our plans and going to Epcot for the day, or spending the morning and early afternoon at the pool/beach and then make it to Epcot for our ADR’s at Rose and Crown and the Candlelight Processional at 8:15.
Staying at the Polynesian is really wasn’t a hard decision, we of course chose to stay and swim and play at the beach. The kids were so excited that we weren’t going to rush them off to a park and that we could relax a little and then go to Epcot later in the day. We got ready and made our way over to Captain Cooks for what turned out to be lunch, (we were so tired from the night before, and no one was in a rush to get moving). I have read lots of reviews of Captain Cooks and did not really understand what people were talking about when they explained the computer ordering system. Now I get it. It is VERY confusing and really no one around to explain it. We finally figured it out and got our receipt to take to the cashier, and when we got up there, she told us one of the things we ordered (Hawaiian pizza) was not being served that day. UGH!! It took so long to figure out how to use that ridiculous computer and now we had to do it over.
The other issue with this system, if you don’t know exactly what is included on the plan for counter service in that particular place, it can be even more confusing. Jeff ended up with a huge Turkey sandwich and Polynesian chips, which looked really good and Jeff said it was good. I had a stir fry plate that was awesome although it took me a few hours to finish it, it was worth it.

The kids had grilled cheese and lots of sides, they were very happy with their meal.
The other cool thing about the Polynesian is that one of their snack choices is a Dole whip! Boy did the kids and Jeff like that! I did have a few spoonfuls of a taste, just to say I enjoyed a Dole whip at the Poly! YUMMY!
We made our way out to the pool/beach and found a table and got set up. It was partly sunny and warm. I decided to take pictures first and Jeff, Noah and Brigid decided to check out the pool.

They were going in so slow; I knew the water had to be cold! If Noah wasn’t running in and splashing around then I knew something was amuck. The water was freezing! I thought they heated the water in the winter, but either the heater was broken or because the temp at night kept going down so low the heater couldn’t keep up, I don’t know. I love the water and I never really made it past my waist in the water. I was really looking forward to going down the water slide but that never happened. Maybe next time. Brigid has really never been to the beach to play in the sand so she was excited when she realized there was sand there.
She ran into the sand and started to dig and play in it.

I was relieved because I could sit in a lounge chair and she could play, I was suddenly so tired from all our activities and needed a nap. Jeff and Noah came over and showed Brigid how to build a “castle” and dig a mote and she was so thrilled.

I was thrilled because I could rest my eyes a little bit in the warm sunshine on that wonderful lounge chair on the beach at the Poly! Life was good.

They all let me rest for about an hour, just what I needed to recharge my batteries and then I went in the water to play. Like I said, I did not make it in very far, but the kids had fun splashing around and running in and out of the water. We went back to the table and dried off and made our way back to the room to shower and get ready for our ADR at Rose and Crown.
Since we had 5:30 reservations at Rose and Crown, and it was at Epcot, we knew we needed to leave enough time to get there. I think we left at 4pm and because we were right next to the TTC, we were able to get on the Epcot monorail and over to Epcot in plenty of time. We went through security which for us is always a chore because of the stroller and the bags etc... We stopped to take pictures of the Christmas topiaries and made our way nice a leisurely over to England for our ADR.

We were a little early, but they took our name and gave us a buzzer. Brigid had fallen asleep on the monorail so she was out cold from all the swimming, so we sat on a bench outside with our buzzer and people watched. I love to people watch. It is a favorite past time of mine, especially at Disney, where there are all kinds to see. We waited about 20 mins and the buzzer went off and we were seated 10 mins before our actual ADR. That was great. Brigid was still sleeping so they let us bring in the stroller and sat us outside where there was plenty of room for her at the table. That was really nice of them.
We were in England so of course we ordered fish and chips and Jeff got some sort of cider ale, and he enjoyed it. I ordered potato leek soup, which prompted Noah to order the same. I was surprised because he does not step outside his box with food. He loved it! ALL he talks about now is that potato leek soup. Good for him! We enjoyed our dinner and Brigid woke up just as we were finishing. We ordered her a kid’s meal to go and made our way over to the Candlelight processional line for those that had the package. It seemed to be a very long line at the time we were in it, but it really wasn’t. They came along and gave us a sticker to wear and when it was time we went right in. We had awesome seats, right in the middle in the first row behind the break.
I love the candlelight processional! I can’t say enough about it. It really helps you remember the reason for the season. The choir is awesome, the music beautiful and of course the story is stirring. Our narrator was Marlee Matlin. She really was so expressive and in to the whole performance. Her interpreter, as always, did a great job. Her performance made the whole thing that much more special. She gave herself a shameless plug at the end to come out and watch her in the Dancing with the Stars tour! She also introduced a Dancing with the Stars alum Joey Fatone, who was sitting about two rows in front of us and I didn’t even know.
After our great show we tried to find a good place to watch Illuminations and ended up walking all the way to the Future world part of the lagoon and sneaking in a small spot to see it with lots of heads in the way. It is my fault for not planning ahead and finding out where to go to get a good view. We did get to see pretty much of it, and of course the ending was the best. Disney really does know how to put on a fireworks show, especially at the holidays. I will make sure next time we know where to go to watch with a better view.
After Illuminations, it seemed like everyone that was in Epcot was leaving so we decided to linger and slowly walk out, and go into Mouse Gears to do a little shopping. I usually can find tons of stuff in there and end up shipping things home, but for some reason this year, I only found a few magnets and post cards so no shipping.
We took our time in the shop, stopped at the “potty” and made our way to the monorail back to the TTC and to our little path to our room.
Night time routine done, baths, snacks, bed and then the fairy came and got us ready for our next day……….a big one! We were meeting Tina for breakfast at Ohana at 8:30am and spending the day running all over and attending our first Mousefest meets!!!

 

[matthew_hull]

Loving the Trip report so far!

You have a beautiful family and it is so nice to hear how y'all had a wonderful time down at WDW. Can't wait to read more (but not tonight).

 

[momatater]

Great trip report!! You have a lovely family and I can't wait to read more!! Also, your pics are wonderful!! Thanks so much for sharing!!

 

[blessedby3]

Hello Eileen
I just wanted to say thanks again for the Poly Postcards you sent to me!! The kids were very excited to learn about our March trip and staying at the Poly
I am enjoying your trip report and your kids are so cute. Glad you had a great trip. Cant wait to read the rest

 

[jmamom]

Hi, Love all the pics! Subbing!

 

[lisalawless1979]

Subbing! I'm going to Poly 02/25 and love your photos and descriptions!

 

[eyenjeff]

HO HO HO AT THE POLY DAY 5

We woke up today knowing that it was going to be a very busy day! More importantly it was the day I was finally going to meet Tina in person! We had been “talking” online forever and made plans to meet for breakfast at Ohana and then tour the Monorail resorts and see all the decorations and Gingerbread houses.
Of course everyone could not get ready and out the door: as planned. We were supposed to meet Tina at 8:15 at Ohana for an 8:30 ADR. We walked out of our room at 8:15, and we were the farthest bldg from the Grand Ceremonial house. On our way to the GCH, Tina called us and I told her we are on our way, and just about to get in the elevator to come up to meet her. I was excited to finally meet my friend I had only seen in pics!
We finally made it up to the 2nd floor and there she was! How fun was that to make all these plans for so long and then finally have them come about. Only at Disney! I had made our ADRs at the 180 day mark before Tina and I made our plans, and I called almost everyday to add her to our ADR and was told, “I’m sorry there are no more tables available for a party of 5, and you cant add one extra person to a table for 4, due to fire regulations.” When we checked in I checked with the concierge and they told me to check with the Ohana manager on that day and they have the power to over ride the ADR. So I was a little worried but due to my sometimes overwhelming personality I was sure I could somehow make some magic work for us that morning. I went up to the desk at Ohana to check in and asked if we could add one person to our table, I was wearing a Hawaiian shirt, and she asked if my whole family was dressed like me, and I said, “ Yes, they are over there”, and she said that since we came dressed for the occasion it was no problem.” All that worrying for nothing.

So we sat down and finally got to talk to each other in person and had a great breakfast. We took lots of pictures and Tina flirted with the characters, especially Pluto!!

Our server also brought over a plate of cupcakes for us because the manager said that she liked the way we were dressed! That was so nice! We had treats to take back to the room!

Here is what my poor Noah looks like after a late night, then early rising and then a big breakfast!!!

We had our photopass pic taken before we were seated and they brought it to the table and we did not like it, so they offered to retake it after breakfast. That was nice, especially since we wanted to have a pic with Tina to remember the day. We retook the pic and the manager made sure we got it in a very timely manner. We decided to shop while we waited and take pics of the gingerbread houses there, and the manager came and found us with the new pics in the shop. That was so nice. We bought Disney ponchos because it was raining like crazy and we had a lot of stops to make that day.

After we had looked around the Poly GCH, we decided to go back to our room to drop off things and to show Tina the room. Tina was so nice to bring us Christmas stockings filled with goodies , and we wanted to leave them in the room so we wouldn’t wreck them in the rain. I was hoping that Mousekeeping had already been there, and thank goodness they were. We have enough stuff all over without the beds being made etc… So I was glad they had been there. After changing out of our Hawaiian shirts and into warmer clothing and packing up the stroller off we went to see the Gingerbread house at the Grand Floridian. Since we were so close to the TTC, we walked over there and got on the monorail and off we went.
When you get off the monorail and enter the GF, you can already smell the gingerbread house. YUMMY! We did stop at the gift shop before going down to take pics just in case there was anything we “needed”. I had seen the gingerbread house there 2 years before, but it was still so cool to see such a work of art. We took lots of pics from the second level, and then took the elevator down to see it in person.

It is so intricate and all made out of gingerbread and sugar.

Of course my son, Noah, who has to spend money everywhere, had to buy a gingerbread cookie from the house. It was $4.95 for one gingerbread cookie! He had lost his mind! I took a pic of him so that I could show him what he spent his money on at the end of the trip!

On top of it all, he only ate a small bit of it and then decided that he did not like it after all. ( go figure). I think Brigid ended up finishing it later on in the day. We took pics under the tree there, beautiful, very Victorian, and fancy.

Our next stop was the Contemporary resort for the Mousefest 101 reception after the meet. It was still raining cats and dogs and mouses and ducks, so we got on the monorail. When we reached the MK, there was an announcement that they were trying to take a monorail off the track with a crane and that the monorail would be down for awhile. We decided to get off and walk to the contemporary, which would have been fine, if it wasn’t raining, but the things we do for free snacks!
We made our way into the contemporary and found the hallway where the reception was going to take place, after much searching, and found others waiting for the Mousefest 101 part to get over. We got in line for snacks and made our way into the meeting room. The snacks were kind of different, all they had to drink was a high energy drink which I was NOT going to give my already hyperactive son!
We did get to meet a lot of people we see on the boards, hear on podcasts, and read on the websites. I also got to meet some people from Tagrel that Tina had already met and introduced me to. It was fun.
Tina wanted to get to MK and ride some rides before the Dole Whip meet and then the Tomorrowland Big Three meet with Tagrel, so we parted ways until the meet. We hung around the Contemporary for awhile and then saw the sun coming out and blue skies peeking through so we decided to go to MK early.
What a great day it turned into! We walked into MK just as they were getting ready to have the parade, and found a spot right on the curb of mainstreet, minutes before the start of the parade. You can tell a lot of people left because of the rain, and the fact that there was a MVMCP that night anyway. We got to see the afternoon parade from a great view, and of course Brigid got to see all her “guys” again and she was extatic!
After the parade we made our way over to Tomorrowland and still had time before the Tomorrowland Big Three meet, and we had never been to the Monsters Inc laugh floor and they were just getting ready to seat, so in we went, another instance of good timing! It was pretty funny, I would go again for sure. I like how they interact with the audience and how people play along so well.
On our way to meet up with our Tagrel friends, we stopped for stuffed pretzels, our new favorite snack at MK, and then saw a large group of people standing by Buzz, and made our way over to them. We got to meet more of our new friends , how fun! I had never been to a Mousefest meet so I was curious as to how such a large group of people were going to ride all these rides together. As each smaller group of people arrived, they took our pictures and handed out momentos of the meet, another bonus! The first ride we went on was Buzz and we had a longer wait than we expected. All of the sudden, the line stopped moving and we did not know why. I figured that someone needed help getting on or off the ride, and that it would start again soon and it did. I later found out it was my new best friend Tina that BROKE the ride with her coat that held up the line!!! Everyone had a great time and we met out in front of Carousel of Progress.
We made our way to the front of the line and then in the theater, and everyone was excited to be in there together, and taking pictures and video of each other etc.. We had already talked on the board before we left about singing during the show together so we knew what we were in for, but the unassuming others that were not part of our group did NOT know what they were in for! First of all there was a loud announcement made from an elderly cast member who obviously took her job very seriously, for us all to sit down and get ready for the show to start. Then she made the announcement that NO FLASH Photography or video taping was allowed during the show. We were all like second graders on our first field trip, and could not be contained. The show started and we were all singing, and all the non-Tagrel members were kind of scared of us all I think. LOL! The CM made a few more announcements during the show about flash photography, although I did not see any, and I was afraid we were going to end up on the Disney news channel………(Large group rowdy COP fans were asked to leave the theater after refusing to behave!) OMG, we almost got kicked out of COP! How fun was that?
Then it was off to our favorite THRILL ride in Tomorrowland, no not space mountain, but TTA!! We all made our way up the ramp and rode all the way around with our hands up and cheering at other cars as they went by us! I have never had so much fun riding TTA! ( and by the way, I love that ride!)

This is what Brigid looks like after her first Thrill ride!!

Our first meet was over and we had a great time! It was fun to see how this Mousefest thing was going to work and just made me more excited for the other meets we were going to attend.
We had plans to meet up with some friends that live in Orlando to see Osbourne lights and they were up in the air because of the weather. Just as we were leaving the TTA, my phone rang and it was them saying that since the weather changed for the better, they would love to meet us at DHS. I figured, what the heck, we hadn’t been to that part of the world today so lets go! Off down mainstreet to the buses to go to DHS. As our luck would have it there was an empty bus waiting right outside to go to DHS, so off we went again.
We were meeting a great friend of mine, Nancy and her mom. Nancy was my babysitter when I was a kid, and we loved her! She was crazy and still is. She it one of the most interesting people I have ever met and I love meeting up with her when we come to Disney! She always makes time for us.

Her mom and my mom were like cousins and we always called her mom Aunt. I always thought we were related until I was older and my explained that she was really just a REALLY good family friend, like family. Anyway we consider them family so it was fun to see them especially at Christmas time. Her mom, has gotten much weaker since the last time I saw her, and we pushed her in a wheel chair to see the lights.

She loved them as did we! Nancy hadn’t been there to see the lights in a few years so it was all new to her again. We hung out for awhile, took lots of pics, and strolled along to the music.

It was getting cold and Nancy’s mom was ready to go, we said our goodbyes and we headed off to the bus back to the TTC to go “home” to the Poly. We were going to go to Captain Cooks to get some dinner, but on the bus on the way back I made the executive decision to order room service, and everyone was happy. I really did not feel like walking back to the GCH to eat and then back to the room again, after all the activities of the day. It was one of the better decisions of the trip.
We ordered our dinners, bathed the kids, got them in their jammies, the food came, everyone “slept ate” and the kids went right to bed after eating. This was all by 9pm! Hurray! I have to admit even I was sleep eating, and went to bed early that night.
It was fun filled day, a great day, a day of meeting new friends, meeting old friends, and taking in as much of the magic of Disney that we could fit in a day!
Next day our breakfast ADR wasn’t until 10:15! Hurray, for us that is like a leisurely morning!