"Only Heaven Is Better than Disney World": Live TR 8/24

[TheNewMrsB]

Well hey, can't blame a girl for trying, can you? I would have gotten on, too!

I just love seeing these pictures, I feel like I'm there with you! Isn't that weird?

 

[heaven2dc]

I love Soarin'!! I would have gone on it too thinking there was enough time. How has the weather been today? It looks overcast.

 

[PamelaKay]

I am loving your trip report. It is helping me pass the 90 some odd days until my next trip.

This will be my first stay at the Poly. Can you tell me your favorite thing about the resort and your least favorite thing so far?

Also, have you stayed at any of the other resorts and if so, how does the Poly rank against the others.

It sounds like you are having a great time. Congratulations on the engagement!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Since we still had a half an hour before our Soarin fastpasses were due, my fiancé suggested we head over to The Living Seas (or whatever it's called now; I'm old school )

First, we rode the Nemo clamshell ride.

Then we went over to the manatee area where we caught them being fed lettuce. I wonder what else they eat? I don't see how they could get that big just eating lettuce

Next, we saw the dolphin trainers doing a demonstration. They would show the dolphin a shape, and then the dolphin would find that shape and point to it with his nose. The dolphins got them right all but one time.

Before we left, we checked out some of the tanks and found a hidden Mickey.

By that time, our Soarin fastpasses came due, so we rode that, grabbed another fast pass for later, and headed over to Japan for lunch.

On the way over, we caught some ducks stalking a woman because they wanted her food, so I had to get some pictures.

We arrived at our destination right on time.

Lunch at Japan was very good. We both got salads as an appetizer, and I ordered this beauty, a green tea martini:

For our entrees, I ordered the filet mignon, and my fiancé got the sirloin. All of the food was very good, but my favorites were the noodles and veggies and the chocolate ginger cake.

Our chef was very good and did a lot of the tricks they do while preparing your food (juggling and stuff). He also told a lot of cute jokes, like when we all told him it was our first time here, he said, "Mine too. But I watched the DVD on it." Then when someone at the table joked, "That must have been one great video" after he did all the tricks, he replied, "I watched it twice." So without further ado, food porn:

Mickey shaped steaming volcano:

After we ate, we decided to ride the friendship boat across the lagoon because we were both tired, and I had a couple of blisters starting to form on my feet (despite liberal Body Glide application to my feet )

As we were waiting, I figured maybe I should get some pictures of us so that you know whose trip report it is that you are following.

Here's me:

And here's my fiancé:

We rode the friendship boat back to Future World, and I headed over to get fastpasses for Test Track while my fiancé ran to the men's room. On the way, I caught a glimpse of the Tron monorail.

As we headed out of the park, it started to drizzle--perfect timing since we were leaving! We waited a little bit for the monorail, and when it pulled up, it was the Tron one from my picture. On the way back to the Poly, I worked on the first half of my morning trip report. When we got back, I decided to take a quick shower to freshen up, and my fiancé headed over to the Grand Ceremonial House to refill our mugs and pick up some more moleskin for my poor little feet. After my shower, I finished up the first part of today's trip report and took an hour nap. Then we got ready to head back to Epcot. I'll give you more specifics on that later; right now we are about to have dinner at Tutto Italia.

 

[Nermel9]

Hey, I'm joining! I was wondering where you went, you didn't update your PTR for a while, I didn't know your trip was already here! I love the live TR so far!!

 

[jdd]

Still following along. This is a great report! I still can't believe we'll be in Epcot this Sunday This is DS13's fav park, so I'll have to show him all your pictures when he gets home.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Heading for our first stay at the Poly in December and I can not wait!

I do have Food & Wine in October first.....AKV...

This is fun...Thanks for posting these live reports...Ready for more...

Sounds like you are having a great time.

I really want to do Food and Wine too, but I don't know how I will work it in with my teaching schedule. I'm sure you will have a great time!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

There is nothing like an nearly empty park, is there? I love it! Too bad about the monorail - between you and me, I think DH's head would explode. He's a monorail enthusiast. I hope he doesn't smack me if he reads this...

Ah, heading back to the Poly for a break - just like we do it! I CAN'T WAIT!

Enjoy!!!

We did manage to ride it twice after that, once back to the Poly and once back to Epcot, plus we will be riding it tonight...so we didn't mind tooooo much!

 

[Kteacher]

great report I love your pictures!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Sorry to hear about the monorail. And the princesses never came to your table Oye! Well, let us know about the RIDES!!!!

We were OK with the princess thing since we wanted to get out to the rides. We probably would have had to wait at least a half an hour more to see all of them.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Still following along. This is a great report! I still can't believe we'll be in Epcot this Sunday This is DS13's fav park, so I'll have to show him all your pictures when he gets home.

Maybe we will cross paths--we are here until Monday!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

I love Soarin'!! I would have gone on it too thinking there was enough time. How has the weather been today? It looks overcast.

It was a little hotter than yesterday but still not too bad. It rained lightly a couple of times but blew by in a few minutes, luckily!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

This will be my first stay at the Poly. Can you tell me your favorite thing about the resort and your least favorite thing so far?

Also, have you stayed at any of the other resorts and if so, how does the Poly rank against the others.

It sounds like you are having a great time. Congratulations on the engagement!

Favorite thing...almost everything! But seriously, I love how big the rooms are and how close together everything is. Also, the monorail transportation is nice to have. Least favorite? Hmm, that's kind of hard. So far, the bus transportation seemed hit or miss, but we only used it one day, so I don't really think that's enough time to know; it could have just been a fluke. Also, the shower pressure isn't the best, though it's better than many resorts where I have stayed. Basically, it's stronger than a watering can (like some other places I have stayed), but not as good as at home. Overall, though, I think the Poly is a great choice and you will really enjoy it. This was our first stay too, and we actually look forward to going back to the room.

As far as compared to other resorts, the only other resort I have stayed at on Disney property is All Star Music. While ASMu is nice, it in no way compares to the Poly. Other than the obvious differences in room size, transportation, theming, and restaurants, the biggest difference is in the staff. At ASMu, the staff was very nice, but business like. At the Poly, the staff is much more warm and friendly. On the day we arrived, walking from the GCH to our room, we must have received at least five or six hellos or alohas from staff that we walked by. It was great!

I hope you enjoy your upcoming trip and please let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[leane]

I actually LOVE the potato cassarole at Akerhaus. Sorry the princesses didn't stop. We were there in March and they all stopped by 2 times. It was really nice to be there when it wasn't too busy. We had to wait a good 20-30 minutes for our table though.


Do you get to see Crush at Living Seas? We didn't get to see that or Turtle Talk with Crush last visit. I am thinking of skipping one of them and after seeing your pics from Nemo I am thinking of skipping Crush.

Do you have any opinions?

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

We headed back to Epcot at five and rode Spaceship Earth first. Out of all the classics, this is one of my favorites.

Entering the past

As I am a teacher, I had to take a picture of one of the greatest inventions of all time...

And, of course, everyone's favorite gal:

I also took a video of our "future" since there is always such a line to email it to yourself, but I haven't decided if I want to upload it or not.

After Spaceship Earth, we were a bit hungry, but it was still an hour and a half before dinner, so we decided to get something to hold us over:

Next up, we went back to Soarin to use our fastpasses. When I rode it by myself this morning, I was seated on the left side, and when I rode it with my fiancé a couple of hours later, we were seated on the right side. Both times we were in the front row This time I was hoping for front AND center, as I have noticed the experience is best there. And wouldn't you know it, we actually got seated there!

After Soarin, it was time to head to dinner in Italy, but my sore little feet did not want to walk there. I asked my fiancé if we could take the friendship boat. He didn't really want to because he was afraid we would be late, but he agreed because he knew I was in pain.

We made it to Italy only five minutes late and were seated within five minutes. After looking over the menu, I saw a drink I immediately knew I wanted to order: a pomegranate cosmopolitan. It sounded so good...and it was!

For our appetizers, my fiancé got the Caesar salad, and I got some kind of eggplant dish. The eggplant was soooooo good! It wasn't breaded or fried; it was mixed with tomato sauce and cheese. This was one of the best things I have eaten on the trip so far!

My fiancé's salad

My scrumptious appetizer

For our entrees, my fiancé got the spaghetti with veal meatballs, and I got the cavatelli in a sausage ragu. This was good, but not as good as the eggplant!

For dessert, I got some kind of chocolate torte, and he got this thick, rich chocolate custard. We both thought they were very good.

His

Mine

We decided we wanted to head back to the Poly beach to try to catch Wishes at 9, so we headed back to the monorail. I took this along the way:

We also tried to stop so I could get a green tea plum slushie from China, but they were sold out, so I'll have to try again tomorrow.

We made it back to the TTC by about 8:50, but we were afraid we wouldn't get to the Poly beach in time and decided to watch Wishes from the TTC. It was a pretty decent view, if a little far. I have lots of pics of the fireworks, so I am going to put up another post of just Wishes pictures.

After Wishes, we headed back to our room. I tried to work on my trip report on the balcony, but for some reason it was very stuffy, even more so than just walking around outside. I decided to come in and take a shower instead, and now I'm sitting on the comfy chair in the corner...wait for it...writing my report. Bet you never guessed that one

Tomorrow is Animal Kingdom in the morning, followed by Epcot later in the afternoon. Having a great time so far, other than my sore blistered feet! Thanks to everyone for reading along, and check out my next post for Wishes pictures.

 

[Joyciemc]

Sorry to hear about your sore feet!

But glad to hear that other than that you're having a great trip!

That eggplant appetizer looks delicious! Tutto Italia just became a must-do for a future trip!

Green tea plum slushie, you say? That sounds really good! Let us know if you get one!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Sorry to hear about your sore feet!

But glad to hear that other than that you're having a great trip!

That eggplant appetizer looks delicious! Tutto Italia just became a must-do for a future trip!

Green tea plum slushie, you say? That sounds really good! Let us know if you get one!

I know; I read about that drink on someone else's trip report and I had to have one...tonight, hopefully.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Do you get to see Crush at Living Seas? We didn't get to see that or Turtle Talk with Crush last visit. I am thinking of skipping one of them and after seeing your pics from Nemo I am thinking of skipping Crush.

Do you have any opinions?

We didn't get a chance to see Crush, but we want to try later in the trip. The Nemo ride is definitely cute, and it's usually a walk-on. The ride itself is less that ten minutes. So really, if you have 45 minutes or so, you could probably do both. The aquarium you tour at your leisure, so you can spend as much or as little time as you want in it.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Hey, I'm joining! I was wondering where you went, you didn't update your PTR for a while, I didn't know your trip was already here! I love the live TR so far!!

Yeah, sorry about abandoning my PTR! I was have some health issues with my knees, and between that and teaching summer school, I never got a chance to come back and finish it. Luckily, the doctor gave me some medicine and my knees are starting to feel better, or else I don't know how I'd be making it around the parks! Glad you found this one!

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Wishes Pictures, Part 1