Our Poly Dream Vacation - April, 2012 TR *Update 08/26 pg8*

[204charity]

Awesome job so far.....looking forward to day 2 HWS is my favorite.

Thanks. I love HS too!

Glad you went down and watched it anyways And funny to run into the people you are vacationing with, when you aren't planning on it!

Me too.

loving your TR...making me more excited for our trip this sept!

Oh I love it when the kids get into finding the hidden mickeys...so cute! Why the Canadian flag pin? Just curious...fellow canadian here!! thanks for updating when you don't feel good...

Yup - we are from Canada as well!

Glad you're feeling better

It would have been a shame if you missed Wishes from the beach on your first night! Glad you were able to join them. Love that last picture of the fireworks!

Thanks Dave!

Hi I just found your trip report and I'm loving it. I've secretly wanted to stay at the Poly for so long. I've been to the resort for Ohana but I really want to stay there. I can't wait to hear all about this trip.

Thanks so much! The Poly was a beautiful resort. We spent a fair bit of time eating and shopping at the other monorail resorts, but to us, the Poly just felt like HOME. Hope to go back and stay there some day.

 

[HalloweenNut]

We're just back from our Poly trip and I'm already missing it badly! Will have fun getting caught up and following along on your trip report.

 

[solana131]

Glad you decided to go see it. We liked to watch it from the "quiet beach" too. Although we did go over to the main beach once to see it with the music Ahhhh....the Poly

 

[auprincess]

we watched wishes from the beach Saturday night, too! Actually, not really the beach, but we were on that big grassy hill between the two beaches.

Your daughter is so cute!! She looks nothing like my oldest DD, but does somehow remind me of her!

 

[WhereOurDreamsBegan]

I just bumped into your TR and I'm loving it already! I love the way you go into great detail! Looking forward to reading along

 

[Tinkerbellie16]

Glad to hear you are feeling better - hope you are back to full throttle soon!

 

[HalloweenNut]

Just finished getting caught up on your TR. Great job so far!!! We also just loved Turtle Talk with Crush. Our DD did the same as yours and sat right up front (almost the same spot from the looks of it) and was also picked to ask a question (hers: where do sea turtles go when it's cold?) it must be a magic spot. It's such an incredible experience even as an adult you totally lose yourself and believe 100% in Crush. Such fun. Looking forward to reading more from your trip.

 

[204charity]

Sorry for the big breaks in between updates everybody. I am still not 100% up to par, and for those of you that don’t know, I am a SAHM and part-time student, so I have to try and balance things carefully and not spend too much time on the Dis Boards. (Although I’d love to!)

Day 2 - First full park day!! Disney’s Hollywood Studios

So, this day was going to be my DD’s first day at a Disney Park and we were all SUPER EXCITED to get it started! So, even after such an early morning the day prior, and a very long day to follow, we were still up and running at 6:30 in the morning! I was a tad nervous that my well-thought-out-plans wouldn’t work out as smoothly as I hoped, but I didn’t let my troops in on my nerves. We got dressed and ate some muffins and coffee in our room and walked down to the Poly Bus Stop to wait for the Hollywood Studios bus.

The weather was beautiful this day. Very sunny and even though it was kind of cool in the morning, as you will see, it ended up being an extremely hot day.

Quite a few busses went by before the Hollywood Studios bus came. I would say 3 Animal Kingdom busses, and a DTD/Typhoon Lagoon bus and then finally our bus. LOL - We were seriously hoping our bus wouldn’t make us miss opening.

At 8:45 am, we got off our bus, and walked towards the gates of HS and got in line, this was the sight before us:

We had a brief wait, and then we started to notice the crowd of people slowly making their way towards the gates, had our bags “searched” and then entered the park. We were instantly in love with the theme and “vibe” of the park. Of coarse, being there with a “tween” helped I’m sure.

We started off our day headed towards Star Tours. As a huge Star Wars fan, this was one I could not wait to try out. As we were on our way over, we ran into none other than Stitch! This was our first actual character interaction, so DD was a tad apprehensive about going up there, but I convinced her with my silliness! I can’t remember what I said now, but it was funny anyways.

After our photo op with Stitch was done, we walked over to Star Tours. My DD had already decided well in advance of the trip that she would be sitting this one out, so the plan was she and Mom would look around Tatooine Traders while Dad and I rode. When we came to the attraction, I was all agog I wanted to just stand there and stare all day at everything, but I was determined to follow my plan, so I marched on! Little did I know we were the only people in the place! LOL Dad and I waited and waited and waited for like 5 LOOOONG minutes and then boarded the space ship to prepare for our flight. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I had read lots of mixed reviews on this one, some people get sick, others love it, some kids hate it, others ride it over and over and over again. Well, all I can say is my Dad and I LOVED it and I wish we had taken the time to ride it again before we continued on our trek through HS. Oh well, just another reason to go back I suppose. In fact, some day I would love to go for Star Wars Weekend, I just don’t know if I could handle the heat in May in Florida. I know, I know, a die hard Star Wars fan would NEVER say that! LOL

So, after riding Star Tours (did I mention I was the Rebel Spy?) we met up with my Mom and DD who were in Tatooine Traders, I laid down some serious cash buying souvenirs and toys for my DS’ upcoming bday, as did my parents. We paid for our goodies and had delivery arranged to our hotel room the following day. (SO easy!)

After some retail therapy we went over to see “Muppet Vision 3D”

It was a funny show, very funny. Even though DD really didn’t know who the Muppets were (she hasn’t seen the new Muppets movie yet) it ended up being her favourite attraction in all of HS! I didn’t see a retail shop for the Muppets, and assumed their wasn’t one, but just saw on easywdw that not only do they have a shop, but it is designed to look very much like the set of the original Muppets Show! D’oh! Seriously ticked off I missed this store, as I love the Muppets and I love shopping! We happened to see Lightening McQueen and Mater with no line, so we scooted in their quick for some pics.

On our walk towards the “Honey I Shrunk the Kids” Playground, we took some decent pictures and enjoyed the sights of HS. It was so quiet there, we felt like we had the park to ourselves. Many times during the morning we said that to one another. It was so peaceful, and nice. A great start to our busy week!

The HISTK playground was a total hit with DD (of coarse) and she could have stayed all day, but there was no way we were going to let that happen. I wish they had seating in their for parents. I had to cop a squat on the ground while my Mom and Dad went to find Mom a place to smoke. Needless to say, it was comfortable temp wise in the shade, but the seating was less than ideal. (Perhaps they do that on purpose so people move along quicker?)

After leaving the playground, we stumbled upon the character spot for Monsters Inc. Sully is my favourite Pixar character of all time, our dog is actually named after him if you can believe it, so I had to wait in line for this one. There was maybe 2 or 3 families ahead of us, and no Mike and Sully out yet. Didn’t take long though, they came out - I got all excited, embarrassed my DD with my child like joy and had our pics taken. SOOO exciting! (this is not a great pic, we haven’t gotten our photo pass pics yet so this will have to do in the meantime)

After our photo session was done, we were getting hungry, so we cruised back over to Pizza Planet and had lunch. Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it. We did find it funny that when we ordered our food, they jammed it all onto 1 tray. So I had to take a picture of it, it made us all laugh pretty hard. We went up to the second floor to eat, it was quieter up there as their was a bit less noise from the arcades.

After lunch, we headed towards the Animation Academy cause DD wanted to draw a character. We ran into this guy along the way and he made us march for our picture:

When we got up to the Animation Academy area, we saw that their was only a 15 minute wait for the Little Mermaid show, so we decided to go see that first. What a great show. We had great seats, 2nd row, off to the left, but we could see EVERYTHING perfectly. Ariel was a great singer and Ursula was fantastically evil - just the way I like her! We loved the magic of it all, the rain, the bubbles, the smell of the sea air. At one point I leaned over to my Dad and said “Wouldn’t it be amazing if ALL movies were so life-like?”

Leaving Little Mermaid, we went straight to the Animation Academy and filed into the theatre to see the show. It was NOT what we expected. It was a small room, with a man talking about the process of brainstorming a character to it’s eventual animation. We knew there was another section where you could actually draw the character, but we were afraid we were getting tight on time as we had planned to see Beauty & the Beast as well. So we all decided together to skip the drawing and head out. On our way out, we ran into Sorcerer Mickey

and none other than Winnie-the-Pooh! I called him “Pooh Bear” and DD was mortified!!! LOL - Isn’t that what all his fans call him? Doesn’t Piglet just call him “Pooh”? I’ve never heard anyone call him “Winnie” before is all I’m sayin’……. lol

We left the character spot and were instantly hit by…..a wall of HEAT……wow, not what we were used to so far on this trip, so we made the decision that instead of waiting around for Beauty & the Beast to start, we would head back to the shopping area and do some shopping and sight-seeing. DD loved the shopping at HS the best the whole week, in fact, I think if we ever go back to DW, this would be a 2-day park for us, or at least a park we would do in the morning and head back to after supper. Found these silly cops cracking jokes with people at the park and stopped for a picture with them. (Note the banana in his holster - so very funny)

ANDDDDD....there you have it! Hollywood Studios!!! We left the park at around 3:30 in the afternoon to catch our bus back to the Poly!

A Quick Review of our shopping purchases at Hollywood Studios:

DD - Plush Wicket Ewok
Black & White Mickey Mouse canvas running shoes
Cutester Vinylmation

Me - Star Wars bath toys
Star Wars Blaster
Star Wars Rifle
2 Star Wars Pez Dispensers
2 Mystery Packs of Star Wars figurines

Up next: Our evening at Downtown Disney!!!

 

[the_green_machine]

Looks like you guys had a great time. I definitely agree...when we go back, HS is definitely going to be a 2 day park for us. You didn't eat supper in the park?

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

That picture of the tray from Pizza Planet still cracks me up!

A fun day at DHS! I tried very hard to look for us in the pic you took at the entrance gate as we arrived 8:30am but I think we were lined up on one of the right turnstiles.

 

[mindystar]

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the heat and humidity when we go down at the end of this month But I just have to tell myself "I'm in Walt Disney World, I'm staying at the Poly, and I get to be with my whole family and fun with the nieces"
Sounds like fun and not following everyone to ToT, RNRC or TSM makes for a quieter morning!
Glad you all had great character interactions, and yeah I never go up and say "Hi Winnie" it's Pooh, def Pooh

 

[204charity]

Looks like you guys had a great time. I definitely agree...when we go back, HS is definitely going to be a 2 day park for us. You didn't eat supper in the park?

We had such a great time in Hollywood Studios! After re-reading my update, I see I didn't tell you guys what time it was when we left the park, looking back, it was around 3:30 when we headed for the bus back to the Poly. Our plan all along was to hit up Downtown Disney for some shopping and dinner, so that's why we headed out. And since we saw every attraction we wanted to see except Beauty & The Beast, we didn't feel the need to stick around.

That picture of the tray from Pizza Planet still cracks me up!

A fun day at DHS! I tried very hard to look for us in the pic you took at the entrance gate as we arrived 8:30am but I think we were lined up on one of the right turnstiles.

Yeah, we just missed one another! No photobombs yet!!!

Yeah, I'm not looking forward to the heat and humidity when we go down at the end of this month But I just have to tell myself "I'm in Walt Disney World, I'm staying at the Poly, and I get to be with my whole family and fun with the nieces"
Sounds like fun and not following everyone to ToT, RNRC or TSM makes for a quieter morning!
Glad you all had great character interactions, and yeah I never go up and say "Hi Winnie" it's Pooh, def Pooh

Yeah, I think at some point you just have to suck it up! I told DH last night, we should really put Star Wars Weekend on our bucket list for our DS. To go when he is still young enough to believe it is all real ... it would be super awesome! Hey Dave - maybe you can finagle a solo weekend for that and meet us there?!?!? That'd be awesome!!!

We certainly made our time at HS easier by avoiding the main thrill rides, and TSM as well. In fact, there was NOTHING on our list for the week that we missed except for B&theB!!! So, we did really well IMHO

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Visiting WDW during SWW is without a doubt on my wish list! I wouldn't even mind the heat or the crowds during SWW. DD is just not into SW. DS is too young to tell the difference Vader and Yoda. DW is like DD - not that interested. So, it's been hard to get family excited about the idea of a SWW.

 

[204charity]

Visiting WDW during SWW is without a doubt on my wish list! I wouldn't even mind the heat or the crowds during SWW. DD is just not into SW. DS is too young to tell the difference Vader and Yoda. DW is like DD - not that interested. So, it's been hard to get family excited about the idea of a SWW.

LOL - two words - SOLO TRIP!!!! It may be the only excuse you'd have to go alone!!!

 

[auprincess]

Looks like a fund day at DHS!!

 

[Britard]

Love it so far... too bad you missed the actual animation class, it is pretty fun, but it does take about 30 minutes from start to finish.

Pizza Planet stacked our food too...seeing your picture reminded me of it!!

 

[jennyjinx3]

What a lovely update! I love all your pics...such REAL smiles! I found that about all our trip pictures...all my smiles were so real and filled with happy Your mom is one hot babe! She looks great, and when you three are together in the pics the resemblance is scary!

 

[solana131]

Fun HS day! I can't wait to see all the shows. Thats one thing I know Dani will love. And I'm impressed at how easily the crowds thinned out after you entered the park. The crowd looked pretty crazy going in. They must have all run over to TSM

 

[204charity]

Love it so far... too bad you missed the actual animation class, it is pretty fun, but it does take about 30 minutes from start to finish.

Pizza Planet stacked our food too...seeing your picture reminded me of it!!

Yes, next time perhaps DD and I will take the time to do the AA class and DH can take DS to TSM or something like that! I am sure we can find a way to work it into our day next time around!

What a lovely update! I love all your pics...such REAL smiles! I found that about all our trip pictures...all my smiles were so real and filled with happy Your mom is one hot babe! She looks great, and when you three are together in the pics the resemblance is scary!

Yes, we certainly had a really fun time - there were some times later in the week when DD was REALLY tired and you could see she was forcing her smile. She turned around by the end of that day too though. That's funny you think we all look alike. I'm adopted!!! People always say my DD looks like my mom though, so there I see the resemblance, but me - not so much. If anything, I think I look a tad like my dad!

Fun HS day! I can't wait to see all the shows. Thats one thing I know Dani will love. And I'm impressed at how easily the crowds thinned out after you entered the park. The crowd looked pretty crazy going in. They must have all run over to TSM

LOL - you know, it always seems that way at RD. Once you walked through the gates - it was so relaxing. We really like HS for that especially. MK can't help but feel jammed since you can only go up Main St USA and then split up. Here in HS, you can almost split up immediately. We went the opposite way of everyone else too, so maybe that was a factor? I have often heard that when going to the parks, you SHOULD start on the left and then go around that way, because most people just start on their right for some reason??

 

[auprincess]

okay...I actually have a minute now. LOVE your pics from DHS! I love this park as well. We actually went two days this time, well, 1.5. We had a blast!! My oldest DD loves ToT and I loved being able to ride it with her this year (I was pregnant last year when she was finally tall enough). It was the only "big" ride that I really liked! I sucked it up and did space and EE with her, but I just can't do coasters anymore!