Tiki-tastic Graduation Celebration - May 2016 TR - Updated 2/9 - D-Luxe Burger and Ample Hills

[kadrachb]

Aloha!​

And welcome to my trip report!​

In case you didn’t follow my PTR (and if you want to go back and look at it, the links below!), here is a little info about our trip:

Who?
My boyfriend and I (Kenny)! This was our third trip together in the past three years, our first being in May 2014 and second being May 2015. We really love this time of year!

Why?
To celebrate my graduation from Millersville University of Pennsylvania! Also, to celebrate getting into graduate school at American University!

When?
Our trip was May 17th – May 25th, a total of 8 nights!

Where?
We stayed at the Polynesian Village Resort in a Club level garden view room, our room number being 2532!

We had a great trip (even though I got sick on the last day…) and can’t wait to share it with you! While originally the Polynesian wasn’t my first choice, and once arriving I didn’t love it like I did the Contemporary or AKL, it eventually grew on me, and we definitely want to stay there again!

The first half of our trip the crowds weren’t bad – our first bad crowds day was on Sunday at Animal Kingdom, it was wall to wall people! Crazy!

Anyways, sit back and relax – remember to keep your hands, legs and feet in the Trip Report at all times – and here we go!

 

[kadrachb]

Table of Contents

Travel Days
Arriving at the Poly
Disney Springs and Dinner at Raglan Road
A Magical Morning! - Day 1 Part 1 + Lunch at BOG
A Magical Afternoon! - Day 1 Part 2
Dinner at 1900 Park Fare - Day 1 Part 3
Wrapping Up A Magical Day - Day 1 Part 4
An Early Morning In Epcot - Day 2 Part 1
All You Can Eat German Feast! Lunch at Biergarten and Evening in Epcot - Day 2 Part 2
Feelin' A Little Frozen - Day 3 Part 1
Squeezing In a Little More Spring - Day 3 Part 2
Finishing Off With a Little Starwars! - Day 3 Part 3
Break Day and Lunch at Sanaa - Day 4 Part 1
Break day! ... Or Not, Night at MK! - Day 4 Part 2
It's a Jungle Out There! - Day 5 Part 1
It's a Jungle Out There! - Day 5 Part 2
D-Luxe Burger and Ample Hills - Day 5 Part 3​

 

[Legendofthehawk]

Subbing!

 

[Stitch808]

Sounds like fun!

 

[Saphire5742]

Looking forward to hear all about it!
That's a really nice Castle pic of you and kenny.

 

[NJlauren]

Here! Looking forward to hearing about your trip!

 

[dreamit]

Looking forward to reading more!

 

[kadrachb]

Subbing!

and thanks for joining in!

Sounds like fun!

And it was so much fun!

Looking forward to hear all about it!
That's a really nice Castle pic of you and kenny.

Thanks! It's hard to choose my favorite castle picture to start a TR!

Here! Looking forward to hearing about your trip!

I need to catch up on some of your TRs! I completely fell behind on a bunch of them... oops.

Looking forward to reading more!

can't wait to tell everyone about it!

 

[kadrachb]

Travel Days!
​

As some may know, I ended up flying by myself this year to Orlando. And while this post doesn't have any pictures (sorry!) I thought it would be a good short post to start off the TR!

On Monday around 7am, Kenny left from his parent's house in Silver Spring to drive down to Savannah, Georgia. He made it by 6pm! Thats 9 hours! He said all went really well (I mean, we didn't think he'd be there in that time) and he actually liked driving down.

By 6:30pm on Monday I was leaving my parents house in Carlisle, PA to drive to his parents house and then to the hotel. I had to stop by his house because he had my boarding pass and the DME luggage tags. I got to his house a little after 8pm, and his dogs went CRAZY when I walked in. He has one (which was originally just his - but his dad has kind of taken love of her, and now she's never going back to Kenny), Kaylee, who absolutely loves me (I find her a tad annoying sometimes...) who couldn't contain herself.

I was at the DoubleTree outside BWI by 9pm. It was a nice room, kinda small. Also the faucet in the bathtub leaked at it was super creepy when I woke up at 3:30am and was doing my makeup. But yeah, I was up then and getting ready! I ended up using FastPark2 to shuttle to the airport, and met a nice steward on the shuttle. I ended up getting through the check in process (which is now completely self-serve at BWI for southwest) and security with no problems and was at my gate by 4:30am. Which was crazy because security wasn't even supposed to open until then!

I waited for Dunkin Donuts to open, got an iced coffee and a muffin and read a little...

Then it was time to board! I was A30, Kenny was just waking up and texting me.

I landed by 8:30am, and was on Magical Express around 8:50!

I'll leave the rest for the next post!

 

[purplelover88]

Joining in! Congrats on your graduation and grad school acceptance. Can't wait to read more, sounds like a great trip. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who wasn't wowed by the Polynesian, maybe I need to try a longer stay?

 

[westcoastfldisneygirl]

Following along! Can't wait to read more!

 

[chunkymonkey]

Congrats on your graduation and acceptance into grad school! That is wonderful!
What better way to celebrate than at WDW? It sounds like a fabulous trip!

Love the title too! Tiki-tastic! I really enjoy the concept of tiki bars and feel like they are slowly disappearing...I guess that's why I love the Poly so much!

 

[kadrachb]

Joining in! Congrats on your graduation and grad school acceptance. Can't wait to read more, sounds like a great trip. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who wasn't wowed by the Polynesian, maybe I need to try a longer stay?

, and thank you!

I think what really did it for us was being by the Oasis pool in the early morning (which was the most relaxing pool we've been to a WDW - it very much keeps up with the theme of the poly) and all the transportation methods, plus the view from the club level lounge, which this lounge beat out AKL's lounge easily. I think the lobby kind of undoes it for me, because it's so chaotic, also how big the whole property is. There are definitely things that got better with time. I don't think I would stay here without either being at club level, or having a TPV room. Last year we weren't wowed by just visiting the poly for a meal, so I was definitely worried I wouldn't like it.

Following along! Can't wait to read more!

, so glad you decided to join in!

Congrats on your graduation and acceptance into grad school! That is wonderful!
What better way to celebrate than at WDW? It sounds like a fabulous trip!

Glad you're here! Thanks!
I mean, I'm not really sure how to celebrate anything anymore other than visiting WDW... since that's what we've been doing the past 3 years!

Love the title too! Tiki-tastic! I really enjoy the concept of tiki bars and feel like they are slowly disappearing...I guess that's why I love the Poly so much!

Thanks! While I'm not a fullout tiki fan. I think tiki-bars are really cool. Sadly, I did have surprise plans to go to Trader Sams on our final night, but due to my cold and I felt completely nauseated even thinking about alcohol and most foods, we had to skip it. But there's always next time! And I have definitely now seen the reason why people love the Poly so much, originally I didn't understand - but after a week I do!

 

[nilla]

Yay, another TR! I'm in

 

[AllysonL]

Following along!!

 

[LinderInWonderland]

Oof! I am late, but all caught up now!!! Looking forward to all your updates!

 

[Sarahh1027]

Yay yay yay yay yay!!! So happy you started this! Aloha!
How was flying alone? Hope your seatmate was a good one haha

 

[kadrachb]

Yay, another TR! I'm in

Glad you're here!

Following along!!

, and thanks for joining in!

Oof! I am late, but all caught up now!!! Looking forward to all your updates!

I'll have a new update tomorrow (probably)!

Yay yay yay yay yay!!! So happy you started this! Aloha!
How was flying alone? Hope your seatmate was a good one haha

Flying alone wasn't bad at all! Actually, on my flight in I had no one sitting next to me because the plane was only 1/2 full! On the aisle seat I had a guy who boarded the plane in the C group (I was A), and he seemed really nervous because I saw him take anti-anxiety meds. On the way home I also had no one sitting next to me, but someone in the aisle - however my cold made me feel like during landing my whole head was going to explode! It was AWFUL. I can't even imagine now what it was like with you and an ear infection!!

 

[Fantasia79]

Nice start, can't wait for more!

 

[kadrachb]

Arriving At The Poly​

Once boarding DME, I had to wait about 30 minutes, which wasn’t bad. 5 others boarded (all women, one was before me and also a single). We were off! Our first stop the Contemporary around 9:50am – and I was starting to get hungry! I thought it was weird at first because in my mind it was still breakfast time and I had eaten, but I had eaten 5 hours ago!

Deboarding the DME, I was actually met by someone! Not one of those people with an iPad, but a CM carrying lei’s, and instead of taking me to the front desk, she took me straight to club level! Which was really nice – and she was great! I wish I remembered her name. She actually told me the reason they got rid of the curbside greeters is because shanghai got too expensive, but she likes to go out and greet people still. After checking in, my room wasn’t ready, but I went up to the lounge and had a snack (Kenny had texted me that he was leaving the base – and it was super early so I was worried something went wrong, but he should be there around 1pm, but it ended up being later due to traffic).

I ended up walking back to the lobby, giving my bag to bell services, and walking around the gift shops. And then I think I might have accidentally fallen asleep!

To keep myself awake (it was around 11:40am at this point) I just decided to walk around the resort – I didn’t take any pictures though. By noon the snacks were out at club level – so that’s were I went!

After much waiting, I ended up going back to the lobby and buying a signature book (I just can’t help myself – I love getting signatures!) and waiting for Kenny, he arrive around 2:20pm, and our room was ready by 2pm. We grabbed some more snacks at the lounge – and then headed for a much-needed nap, before hand though, we received a welcome gift!

I was surprised because I didn’t think they were doing these anymore!

To end the post… I’ll leave you with some views from our room!

Next post (probably coming around Friday – I’m leaving for MD to look at apartments with Kenny!) - Disney Springs and our dinner at Raglan Road!