Poolrat and GoofyFan's Great Adventure- Wilderness in August edition- 8/15 Last day REALLY !!!!!

[Poolrat]

Pat, I'm sorry our paths didn't cross. I guess we went to F&G the day you didn't.

I hope a trip soon in the future works out that we can meet up.

I hope we can meet up in July, I have to update my ticker.......

Glad you enjoyed the race! And you were lucky to participate in the last one. It sounds like a lot of fun!

It was fun but the trip itself was too short.... as always but especially this time.

Waiting for an update!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Or a race TR............

I am finally caught up somewhat on threads. Between work, and the crazy long hours of actual work and when I finally think I have time, yard work or the wireless decide they want my attention and well May has just gone away.



I do need to get trip pictures, no full TR. Honestly park time was at a minimum but between the race and the resort I had a good reason.

 

[Poolrat]

Would this be the top of the page..... well crap the reply was ..... NICE.


Anyhow I will present


THE EXPEDITION EVEREST CHALLENGE INTERMISSION..

It was a short trip May 1-4. It was the last one and a fun sounding obstacle course race/scavenger hunt so I was in. It is a very tough time for me and for Marv, his son's soccer schedule needed to be worked around.

Park time was at an all time low. A night race on Saturday meant we had to adjust to be up late after 2 very early and long days. Then sleep in Sunday and pack up and leave Monday. UGH.

However, we were at a new resort, a BRAND new resort. With rooms limited SSR was my only option once we registered then

THE POLY CAME ONLINE. It was more points than I wanted to use. BUT IT WAS THE POLY.

So it was booked.

With a soccer game Thursday night - we left late and drove part way, spending the night in Byron GA. Up early the next morning we straight to check in. The room wasn't ready yet - But I actually got that text.






A sample clue



Cranes at AK - and yes that is all I saw of AK during the daytime hours.




Packets picked up and heading back to the car, I checked my phone, I HAD A TEXT!!!!!! Room was ready.



in



We were second to last from the end of the hall.



Inside the room



The main HUGE bathroom




Shower curtain



Tile work in tub area





Art- Yes in the bathroom



Standard Amenities



Closet across from bathroom



Big sliding door for bathroom



The other shower area.













The tile not being even really bugged me ....among other things.



The shower on using the rain shower head.

 

[Poolrat]

The clever drain - more about this later....



Best thing about 2 shower areas, 2 sets of amenities.



































This took a little bit to figure out- up to turn on and left and right for hot and cold.




The view - standard





More art.



Look a USB charging port.



Under here - The only problem- hard to see and find, but very useful. adn not taking up space on top of the nightstand.

 

[Poolrat]

Walking out the side sliding door and down the stairs.


Yes that is the ferry dock.


The new wider paths.



Bungalow view



The lagoon or bungalow view of Moorea.



Gated to keep the riff raff and fireworks viewing, window peeking,non bungalow commoner out.



The beach - with NO view



I do like the new wider paths.



Looking towards the GF and volcano pool



Hot tub area - where the old kiddy splash area was.



Pool area



For MEK - Bride alert.



The backside of peekie tiki



Looks like the cleared out the front fountains a bit.





The new Poly sign



The sitting area in the building.

















Seemed like the TTC was just outside the door.




Hopefully soon- Some updates at MK and the lobby at the poly.

 

[Steppesister]

Oh how I love the Poly... more hopefully tomorrow.

 

[GoofyFan1515]

Oh how I love the Poly... more hopefully tomorrow.

If you only knew how crazy Pat's schedule is right now, and will be most of this week following a horrendous weekend (after a horrible week) of work.......I am amazed she was able to pump out this much of an update!!!

 

[MEK]

OMG - FANTASTIC pictures of the Poly! You did REAL good!

So I just have to throw this out there - why oh WHY did the Poly have to open when I am at my all time low in available points. I could have gotten it for our first night in August, but just couldn't spare the points. And I really don't have points for the two nights I need in February, although it would be the MOST perfect addition to my 4 nights at the GF.

I didn't realize you race weekend was short. Oh well, sometimes you just can't take a long trip. I am very excited to hear all about it.

I also like the new wider paths. Very nice. I am going to have to check things out in August!

 

[Steppesister]

If you only knew how crazy Pat's schedule is right now, and will be most of this week following a horrendous weekend (after a horrible week) of work.......I am amazed she was able to pump out this much of an update!!!

I actually meant I was hoping to reply more than just what I did. And that actually may or may not happen depending on whether I can memorize one last set of lab values tonight before tomorrow's exam.

 

[Poolrat]

Oh how I love the Poly... more hopefully tomorrow.

See below but man I am trying.

If you only knew how crazy Pat's schedule is right now, and will be most of this week following a horrendous weekend (after a horrible week) of work.......I am amazed she was able to pump out this much of an update!!!

I am a bit determined and think this can at least help some of this stress. I can 't control most of the stupidity I am dealing with at work but I am trying to knockout what I can in between the chaos.

OMG - FANTASTIC pictures of the Poly! You did REAL good!

So I just have to throw this out there - why oh WHY did the Poly have to open when I am at my all time low in available points. I could have gotten it for our first night in August, but just couldn't spare the points. And I really don't have points for the two nights I need in February, although it would be the MOST perfect addition to my 4 nights at the GF.

I didn't realize you race weekend was short. Oh well, sometimes you just can't take a long trip. I am very excited to hear all about it.

I also like the new wider paths. Very nice. I am going to have to check things out in August!

It was really very short. I left work Thursday afternoon, drove to SC to get Marv and go to a soccer game. We left there and drove south of Atlanta for the night. Up early and on Property by Friday afternoon. We had a part day Friday at MK, Saturday with a very short day at EPCOT and the race, Sunday was sleep in and then to DHS and back to MK at night, Monday was pack up and EPCOT to run around Flower and garden and then drive to Ga for the night and then up and the rest of the way to Marv's then I go the rest of the way home and work on Wed.

Between work and Soccer schedules that is all we could do.

We were at SSR and I really didn't want to be across property from the race venue. I could not get AKL but when POLY came on line I didn't want to use the points but I figured a short trip so overall less points than a full trip. How's that fuzzy Disney math for you?

I have been trying to save points to bank to finally not be so points broke but in the end I just have less to bank now.

Another reason for the short park days. We really spent time at the pool and the resort so we could enjoy it.

 

[Poolrat]

The Poly lobby





Property map



Lights in the hallway.



We did manage a dinner at Kona on short notice.



Drinks and the wonderful bread. The waiter actually bought a second helping.



My steak appropriately made allergy free.



Marv's steak - the original way. I didn't have the clove of garlic or the bread. I could have eaten the bread.



Mickeys in the carpet.





I actually found some that did not upload. I should some as we were waiting for Kona and even a DISmeet .

 

[Poolrat]

I actually meant I was hoping to reply more than just what I did. And that actually may or may not happen depending on whether I can memorize one last set of lab values tonight before tomorrow's exam.

Knowing your schedule, I am amazed you can DIS at all. Good luck on that last test and let's break the 88 streak and go higher.

 

[KatMark]

Pat, this is the first I've seen the new rooms at the Poly. I like the colors...very pretty. I'm still not a fan of the new lobby...I miss the old one. I'm glad you got to eat at Kona (we did too). I did not, however, notice the Mickey's in the carpet.

Oh...and happy you FINALLY got "that" text.

 

[glennbo123]

Great update Pat! So many new things!

I would've liked to have done that EE Challenge before it went bye-bye's, but alas, it wasn't to be.

A Poolrat sighting!

Standard Amenities

You don't know how right you are! These are so "standard", that I have a bunch in my shower right now.

The shower on using the rain shower head.

Ooooo! (Wish I had a little-green-men smiley)

Another Poolrat sighting?

Under here - The only problem- hard to see and find, but very useful. adn not taking up space on top of the nightstand.

Ahh, cool. Now I know where to look. :thumpsup2

The new wider paths.

Don't take it too hard, paths, we're all getting a little wider.

Gated to keep the riff raff and fireworks viewing, window peeking,non bungalow commoner out.

Let them eat cake!

The backside of peekie tiki

Do I detect a little butt-dimple?

That font is so 70's!

The sitting area in the building.

But then again, so is the furniture!

Thanks for the great pictures of the new Poly rooms and resort areas -- awesome!!

 

[mlegerto]

I am so glad that you changed to the poly!

DF and I are staying at the Poly DVC in August/September for our honeymoon - the poly has ALWAYS been my fav resort, but in being DVC members it made no sense to stay there when they didn't have DVC...now that they do though!. EEEK! So excited. Thank you so much for all of the photos, it's making me that much more excited! Everything looks lovely, can't wait to hear your opinions on everything.

Can't wait for more.

 

[Poolrat]

Pat, this is the first I've seen the new rooms at the Poly. I like the colors...very pretty. I'm still not a fan of the new lobby...I miss the old one. I'm glad you got to eat at Kona (we did too). I did not, however, notice the Mickey's in the carpet.

Oh...and happy you FINALLY got "that" text.

I did love the Poly. A short trip for us but when I couldn't book anything but SSR I was a bit bummed. THen Poly opened up and while I was trying to save points... I could not resist.

This was the first time I noticed the Mickeys in the carpet at Kona. I miss the old lobby but I like this one. One thing I will say - we tried 4 times to get into Trader Sam's. The timing and the wait time was just not working with us and the crazy schedule we had with the race.

I have been finally rescued from the "no text" list.

Great update Pat! So many new things!

I would've liked to have done that EE Challenge before it went bye-bye's, but alas, it wasn't to be.

Awww Very hard for me in Early May. Hope they bring it back someday.

A Poolrat sighting!

You don't know how right you are! These are so "standard", that I have a bunch in my shower right now.

Me too.

Ooooo! (Wish I had a little-green-men smiley)

It was nice.... but it came at a price.

Another Poolrat sighting?

Ahh, cool. Now I know where to look. :thumpsup2

I heard about charging ports so I knew to look otherwise I never would have found them.

Don't take it too hard, paths, we're all getting a little wider.

The battle we all fight.

Let them eat cake!

You would think it would be easy to breech.

Do I detect a little butt-dimple?

I believe you do...

That font is so 70's!



But then again, so is the furniture!

So retro ..... it is probably coming back in style.

Thanks for the great pictures of the new Poly rooms and resort areas -- awesome!!

More to come on the ugy side...

I am so glad that you changed to the poly!

DF and I are staying at the Poly DVC in August/September for our honeymoon - the poly has ALWAYS been my fav resort, but in being DVC members it made no sense to stay there when they didn't have DVC...now that they do though!. EEEK! So excited. Thank you so much for all of the photos, it's making me that much more excited! Everything looks lovely, can't wait to hear your opinions on everything.

Can't wait for more.

It was very special and you will have a wonderful time- Congratulations!!!!!


Hopefully I can get a move on a back to my regularly scheduled TR.

 

[Poolrat]

Yes I am finally able to be caught up and maybe even finish this little May update from the race.

We stayed at the Poly, it was beautiful. However one issue haunted us. The beautiful shower with the rainfall showerhead did not work properly.






Within 15 seconds the shower filled up and slowly drained. Then the shower doors had a gap, a gap that water went through. And the ledge was not set properly so the water on it would be dragged outside the shower once you opened the door.

Very frustrating and should have been caught in the pre-opening. The other bathroom did not have these issues. With our short stay we let them know on the way out but my mantra of "turn on every faucet, flush every toilet" when checking new construction obviously was not followed.

Some Random pics

MK and the new hub.









Yup Not real grass Astroturf....







Speakers for Wishes...











The waterplay area at the Poly.











The backside of water.



Guess the joke is on who is waiting the bucket dumps back ..







Interesting chairs nearby.



The hot tub area



Yes I like the tile




infinity... not so much but a pretty nice view



The other side




A castle peek






New "traffic circle" at the Poly




DISmeet with Tammie- Magicfor2



Next up Race Pictures....

 

[Poolrat]

RACE NIGHT - EXPEDITION EVEREST CHALLENGE

First Race for Marv and first night race for me.

He looks so happy.... his race face.






Some Photo Ops




Yes this one is us ...








One stinking blurry race shot.




We did the 5k first then the scavenger hunt. We had 4 clues total and 4 checkpoints to pick up another clue. Then a 5th puzzle to solve to get across the finish line using the other 4 clues. Some were just crazy and not very clear- especially after the brain drain of running 3 + miles and some were pretty easy.



Clue one - I struggled, we guessed and now looking at it it was not clear exactly what they were asking. And really we need to come up with 34 at least - we actually counted more since now is says in the row Or not Even now I lose count. You can see all the scribble- there was no room to actually calculate, count,,, arrrrgh that one was frustrating and the first one.

Clue #2



This one you had to start with the number of years EE has been run. Well this was the 8th year, they told us over and over but 8 didn't work. from the clue and letters I knew the answer but could not get the formula right until I used 7..... Not counting this one since it wasn't over yet? Or the intern made the clue up before the race and only used 7?


Clue #3
Pretty straight forward



Clue #4
A play on words and a recent episode of Amazing race helped....


Last clue


the card looked like this when we were done.



Now I had looked at past years reports, blogs info on the races. Some had you turn over the cards to find the last clue or point to your bib as you cross so you could show the answer.

turning over the cards...



The yeti...

We did get a cool flashlight and blue sharpie to do our clues with.




We headed back in to the after party walked all the way to Everest with a huge wait and said NAH
Got one photo op and then walked out- probably close to 7-8 miles later.




it was a good race, but a night race is just tough for us.

Alright I did a preview and despite turning the pictures twice, they still are sideways so hope they "right" themselves.


Next - hopefully back to Wilderness lodge last Aug.... yikes!!!

 

[GoofyFan1515]

The shower on using the rain shower head.

This is a feature of DVC bathrooms that I really love...............normally. More on that later...........

The main HUGE bathroom

This became my bathroom of choice during the trip. More on that later.............

I see at least three Hidden Mickey's in this shot........anybody else find them?

Walking out the side sliding door and down the stairs.


Yes that is the ferry dock.

An almost perfect room location! This was so convenient for coming and going.

For MEK - Bride alert.

MEK, it took me a second to figure out why she was scrambling for the camera so intently.........

Another Hidden Mickey...........

Drinks and the wonderful bread. The waiter actually bought a second helping.

I promise I didn't poke my finger in the middle of the bread just on the off chance it would get me the whole thing...........

We stayed at the Poly, it was beautiful. However one issue haunted us. The beautiful shower with the rainfall showerhead did not work properly.






Within 15 seconds the shower filled up and slowly drained. Then the shower doors had a gap, a gap that water went through. And the ledge was not set properly so the water on it would be dragged outside the shower once you opened the door.

Very frustrating and should have been caught in the pre-opening. The other bathroom did not have these issues. With our short stay we let them know on the way out but my mantra of "turn on every faucet, flush every toilet" when checking new construction obviously was not followed.

I've learned over time that Pat, with her Disney Dorkiness and love of all things Disney, can't bring herself to say anything really bad about Disney, so I guess that is left to me...........who has no such qualms. To say the shower did not work properly is like saying Vesuvius was a little eruption.

This was either a design flaw of epic proportions, or a horrible job by the installation crew. They tried to get so cutesy with the drain (by making it blend in and being less obvious) that it was terribly undersized. We had water standing in the shower (that was slow to completely drain even after your shower was done), we had water running into the bathroom floor............ I am not one to take lengthy showers, but the first morning while taking my shower, the water was up to my ankles and getting dangerously close to completely overflowing into the bathroom. I had to turn the water completely off while I continued to wash, and then turn it back on to rinse off. I very quickly moved all of my stuff into the other bathroom (which had a normal drain and absolutely ZERO drainage issues). I would have loved to use the main shower with the wonderful rainfall shower head, but it wasn't worth the hassle and the mess).

I always said that if DVC ever opened a resort at The Poly, that was the one I just HAD to own points at. Well if the cost/point, the number of points needed to book a room, and the OMG overly high Maintenance Fee costs weren't enough to squash that idea, this little design flaw would have certainly put things over the edge (no pun intended).

DISmeet with Tammie- Magicfor2

After all this time, it was finally great to actually get to meet you Tammie!!!

 

[Flossbolna]

This was either a design flaw of epic proportions, or a horrible job by the installation crew. They tried to get so cutesy with the drain (by making it blend in and being less obvious) that it was terribly undersized.

My parents have this type of drain. In modern baths in Germany it has become pretty much the standard drain over the last 5 years or so. I know that several friends have it. And one couple has a massive rain shower to go with it (that makes the one at the Poly look tiny). Never heard them complaining. There must have been something clogging up the drain. If installed properly, it works totally fine.

However, things like that really should not happen! And I totally understand your frustation!

Loved the long update about the EE run! I am impressed that you managed to solve these clues. I would have been so frustrated!

I love the pic of both of you with the plane, you look really fit!!

 

[KatMark]

Pat, I'm sorry...I've fallen behind (I don't get here as often as I used to since I took my reports off here).

First, Marv told me our dates do not overlap. I think at first they did, but then Mary needed to change the dates for Cayley's camp, so we are going earlier (the 10th until late on the 18th).

We went to Trader Sams...LOVED it (although the Tiki Gods did not like us because we took a flash photo ).

Love the pictures of the new Hub which I absolutely love by the way.

And the added picturs at the Poly of the pool, etc. are terrific. I like that the traffic circle at the Poly looks like a Mickey head.

Great race pictures. Marv doesn't look all that happy. Great job on the clues.