1437 Miles From Mississippi to Magical and Back

[JAMIESMITH]

This trip report will cover my family's first vacation: a five night stay at Disneys Polynesian Resort in September 2012. This is a joint trip report which will be written by myself and my cousin Marie (mjohn9083). Marie and I were joined by my husband, Jamie, and our four year old daughter, Madilyn. Yes, my husband and I are both named Jamie. We will do our best not to be too confusing! The full introductions can be found in the pre-trip report here:http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2956482

Trip Links

The Friday Before
The Trip Down
Magical Moments at Check In
Rapa Nui
Future World: Madilyn Loves to Soar & Character Spot
First Meal at Coral Reef
Naptime and Exploring the Polynesian
Evening at Epcot
Rise and Shine for Safari
Wet Is Fine If You Have a Swim Suit
Flights of Wonder
Wrapping Up at Animal Kingdom
Our Grand Dinner
Boat Ride to Magic Kingdom
So Much to do in Magic Kingdom
Overheated
Eeyore Stole Mama's Chair
Perfect Timing For a Parade
The Steam Train to Frontier Land
A Very Educational Boat Ride
Hallowishes and Captain Cooks
A Late Start and a Scary Character
The Secret of the Wings
Dirty Laundry
The Polynesian Luau
Breakfast at Akershus
The World Showcase
A Parisian Rendezvous
My Husband Is In Love With A Belly Dancer
Wishes On The Beach
Our Last Day at Disney and Our First Day with a Stroller
Princess of the Show
Star Tours
Time For Home Cooking
Countdown to Fun Parade
Mommy Meltdown

Final Thoughts & Photopass Photos

Disney Bucket List
Marie's Wedding

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I don’t have any pictures to go along with this, but I wanted to start at the real beginning of our trip. On Friday, September 7th Marie got off work at 4:00 and was nice enough to pick Madilyn up from our Nanny’s house and bring her home. Nanny is Marie’s and my grandmother. She keeps Maddy on Fridays so that my mom has a day to herself. My husband and I got off work at 5:00. I filled up the car and stopped by Pizza Hut on the way home to pick up our dinner so I was the last one home.

We ate and Jamie and Marie washed our car while Madilyn and I took a bath. While my husband was in the shower, Marie and I loaded everything in the car except our ice chest. We set the alarm for 3:30 am so we could get an early start and we all went to bed early. It seemed like just a few minutes before the alarm was going off and it was time to be on our way!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We made reservations for on the way down for one night at Lake City, Florida’s Red Roof Inn. That meant we would be driving eight hours on Saturday and another three on Sunday morning. There wasn’t much to see on the way down except the tunnel in Mobile, Alabama and the battleship there. We stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Mobile for breakfast around 9:00 so we saw some of the town, too. After the bridge in Pensacola, it started pouring down rain. By this time my husband had taken over driving. We saw three bad car wrecks. One of which he narrowly avoided being part of. It rained all the way to Lake City. I didn’t take any photos of the scenery on the drive down. The only one I can find is this one of Madilyn riding in the back seat. You can see her Disney Character Encyclopedia and Marie kitty.

We checked into our hotel at 4:30 pm. We ate dinner at the Red Lobster in Lake City- just down the street from our hotel. Endless Shrimp Here is a picture of Marie and Madilyn while we were waiting for our food.

If anyone needs a decent hotel at a good price a few hours away from Disney World, I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the Red Roof Inn in Lake City. Everyone was friendly. The hotel was quiet and our room was clean. We tried swimming, but the rain made it not so fun

One more picture. This is of Madilyn's stuffed animals on our bed at Lake City. There will be a few more joining these for the trip home!

We left Lake City at 6:30 am. If anyone is interested, it is feasible to get to Disney World without going through the toll roads. Just be prepared to contend with lots of red lights. We arrived at the Polynesian resort at 9:00 am.

 

[saintstickets]

Hiya neighbor!! I'm subscribed in. Looking forward to your TR. What part of MS? I'm from just outside of Hattiesburg in Petal.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Hiya neighbor!! I'm subscribed in. Looking forward to your TR. What part of MS? I'm from just outside of Hattiesburg in Petal.

Thanks for reading! Marie and I have relatives in Petal on Old Richton Road! Marie graduated from Southern Miss so she lived in Hattiesburg for several years. We are all living just outside Meridian.

 

[saintstickets]

Thanks for reading! Marie and I have relatives in Petal on Old Richton Road! Marie graduated from Southern Miss so she lived in Hattiesburg for several years. We are all living just outside Meridian.

I know exactly where Old Richton Road is located. We live off Sunrise Road. Looking forward to more on your TR.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We pulled up to the guard house at 9:00 on Sunday, September 9th. My husband told the guard that we were checking into the Polynesian and was asked for his driver's license. The guard gave us a slip of paper to tape to our windshield and gave us directions to the Great Ceremonial House. Isn't that a great thing to call a lobby?

We parked under the awning and Marie went to find a cart for our luggage. The nice guy who brought the cart over to my car wouldn't let us lift a finger to help him unload our things. My husband left Marie, Madilyn, and me to check in while he parked the car.

He had a little trouble navigating the parking lot and actually ended up being locked out of it by one of the automatic gates! He had to get back to it from the main road. He was a little annoyed that I didn't answer my phone when he called. I didn't hear my phone ring during all the excitement at check in

Here's a shot of the water feature before you enter the GCH.

Allen checked us in at the Online Check In desk. When he first pulled up our information he paused for a moment and said that he would be right back. He walked around to the concierge and came back with two things. The first was a white box which he sat on the counter in front of Marie.

Inside was a pair of bride mouse ears that Marie had planned to buy during our trip. We found out later that one of her sorority sisters who is now a cast member picked them out for her!

The second box was clear plastic. Allen took a lei made out of real flowers out and put it around Marie's neck. You'll see better photos of it from when we went to the luau later in the week.

Marie also received a "Just Engaged" button. Madilyn got a "First Visit" button. Hey, it was my first visit, too! Allen bypassed the yellow leis and went for pink. He said that my husband could have pink, too since he was traveling with so many ladies.

A few of Madilyn and the water feature inside the GCH.

And the hidden Mickey in the floor

Then Allen noticed our room request and made a quick call to secure us a third floor room in the Rapa Nui longhouse. I requested this longhouse after seeing Tikiman's reviews of each one. My husband's one request was not to be on the first floor. We wanted to be in a quiet area of the resort near the Transportation and Ticket Center for the monorail to Epcot. We were also hoping for a balcony and double sinks.

I took a picture of Allen with Marie later in the week since he made her arrival so special

After we were checked in and heading over to bell services, my husband made it to the GCH from his adventure in the parking lot. Poor guy! The best bell man ever loader our luggage from the cart onto a golf cart and drove us to our long house where we got our first look at our home for the week

 

[reyasmommy]

Great TR thus far.

I'm loving the pictures because they're bringing back memories from my wedding. I have wedding photos in front of that fountain and that area where your daughter is standing.

Excited to read more.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Great TR thus far.

I'm loving the pictures because they're bringing back memories from my wedding. I have wedding photos in front of that fountain and that area where your daughter is standing.

Excited to read more.

Oooooohhhhhh! I had no idea you could have wedding photos done there! Very cool. Marie's in full wedding mode right now. We're 72 hours until go time!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

I forgot to mention the funny look Allen gave me when he realized we'd requested to be in the Rapa Nui longhouse. When I asked him about it, he said that most guests request Samoa or Tokelau and almost no one ever asks for Rapa Nui

Our first look at our long house.

Our wonderful bell man sent us up to our room (#3122) and said that he would bring our luggage right up. When he did my husband gave him a $20 tip (mainly because that was the smallest bill in his wallet at the time). I'm not sure what is customary, but I feel like it was sufficient.

The mats at the long house entrances.

The third floor hallway. Do you see the Mickey heads in the closest patterened carpet?

Storage space. The pretty lighted doors are closets. One of them does lose some hanging space due to the small safe. The coffee pot sits on the center counter with the fridge in the cabinet underneath. The bell man did tell us to leave the cabinet doors cracked so the fridge would stay cool.

Double Bathroom sinks

Duck in the bathroom...

Mickey head on the bed! We were really lucky to have two towel animals when we checked in, but these were the only ones we had all week.

The super comfortable beds.

First family portrait

One of Marie in front of the patio doors. People complain about how dark these rooms are, but opening the first layer of curtains lets in a lot of light.

Madilyn checking out the room.

And finally our wonderful view! Looking ahead and to thr right was the back side of Tahiti. Looking to the left was Tokelau. And of course all the beautiful landscaping in between

Towards Tahiti

Towards Tokelau

I swear we didn't see or hear anyone else in our building for three nights!

 

[Queila]

Signing up.
Love the pictures of the Polynesian.
And that is such a spacial arrival package Marie had waiting for her.
Cannot wait to read more.

Q

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Signing up.
Love the pictures of the Polynesian.
And that is such a spacial arrival package Marie had waiting for her.
Cannot wait to read more.

Q

Yay! I'm glad you're here. I always enjoy reading your trip reports...speaking of which, you need to get to work!

 

[jennyjinx3]

May I join in? We are freshly missing Disney so I am very happy I found your report!

 

[ToddyLu]

I live in Pascagoula and we are headed to WDW 10/26--so today makes one month left. I am enjoying you TR and photos. Our MS friend, Saintstickets owes us a TR from Aulani!! I am so glad to know there are more fans in MS. I live 35 miles from Mobile and I like going through both tunnels ( George Wallace is the one on 1-10 and Bankhead is the old one just north of it on Govt Blvd.)

 

[JAMIESMITH]

May I join in? We are freshly missing Disney so I am very happy I found your report!

I hope your family had a great vacation, too! I hate that we missed meeting one another.

I live in Pascagoula and we are headed to WDW 10/26--so today makes one month left. I am enjoying you TR and photos. Our MS friend, Saintstickets owes us a TR from Aulani!! I am so glad to know there are more fans in MS. I live 35 miles from Mobile and I like going through both tunnels ( George Wallace is the one on 1-10 and Bankhead is the old one just north of it on Govt Blvd.)

Hi, neighbor! You don't see many people here from Mississippi! We ended up going through downtown Mobile in our quest to get from the Cracker Barrell to the George Wallace tunnel. We saw some massive homes!

 

[JAMIESMITH]

We got settled into our room and headed to the TTC to catch the monorail to Epcot. We were actually getting started about an hour earlier than I had hoped. We were in Epcot by 10:30. Before the monorail had even stopped, Madilyn started saying "I want to ride the big ball! I want to ride the big ball!" My husband told her that he didn't think it was a ride and that it was just for looks. Marie and I looked at each other and grinned and said at the same time "It is a ride!" We got our bags checked and got through the turnstiles and headed straight for Spaceship Earth.

A shot of Marie and Madilyn in front of the Epcot icon.

You can see that the ground is wet. It sprinkled off and on all morning and into the early part of the afternoon. Almost no one was in the park! The posted wait time at Spaceship Earth was 5 minutes, but we walked right on I wasn't expecting much from this ride, but it was a really cool way to start our trip. Maddy rode with her daddy and Marie and I rode right behind them.

We checked Marie's watch (something we would do a lot during the trip because neither Jamie nor I wore one) and decided to head over to the Character Spot. The posted wait here was 35 minutes and that was pretty accurate. This would be the longest we would wait to do anything for our entire trip! We met some awesome characters.

First up was Mickey...

Then Pluto...

Minnie...

Marie showed her her engagement ring, but we didn't get a picture until afterwards.

Donald Duck...I love this picture!

And finally Madilyn's favorite: Goofy!

While we were standing in line for the characters, the boy in line in front of us mentioned that the wait time for Soarin' was 10 minutes. We decided that we could fit that in before our lunch reservation at Coral Reef at 12:45. Maddy is a little scared of heights so I wasn't sure how she would do on this ride, but it was her favorite ride of the trip! I forgot to mention that she tripped over the bottom track of the sliding door to the balcony in our room and skinned (to the other Mississippians: I tried to spell it "skint", but spell check caught me)her knee. She skinned her other knee when I tried to help her onto the escalator going back up into the upper story of The Land Pavillion. I am not the most coordinated person in the world! Her daddy picked her up and held her on the way up.

Proudly posing in front of the sign.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

After the Soarin' and the incident on the escalator, it was just a few minutes until time for our lunch reservation at Coral Reef so we headed over to the restaraunt. This is a place that I had read some really awful reviews about, but I really thought that it would be cool to eat near the aquarium and the menu was really appealing. When we walked in, the man behind the counter asked if we had a reservation and I gave him my husband's name. We were given a buzzer which went off within just a few minutes.

A shot of Jamie and me waiting for our buzzer to go off.

The hallway into the dining area.

And some shots of the tanks. Unfortunately, we were seating at the tables farthest from the tanks. I did love how every seat in the booth was facing them. The flash on my camera made the glass look foggy, but it wasn't.

The weakness of this trip report is that we neglected to take any photos of our food. We all ordered something different: Marie ordered the New York strip, Jamie ordered the mahi mahi, I ordered the lobster orrichette (lobster mac n cheese), and Madilyn got the grilled fish of the day which was also mahi mahi. We all tasted a bite of everyone else's food. Everything was excellent, but I believe the steak was probably the best entree ordered. For dessert: Marie had the chocolate wave (tastes much better than it looks), Jamie had the Bailey's mousse (my least favorite dessert), I had the creme brulee , and Madilyn had a fruit cup (what she wanted).

I should not have worried about the negative feedback on this restaraunt. It was one of the best meals of our trip and I believe we will have to try it again on our next trip. I hope we will get a table closer to the tanks next time

We decided to ride The Seas with Nemo (really awesome) and to see Turtle Talk with Crush (pretty lame).

Madilyn wanted to ride Soarin' again, but the wait was now up to 35 minutes and our fast passes from earlier had expired (a trend for the trip). I told her that we would ride it again later in the day. For months now, Madilyn has been saying that she wanted to use some of her piggy bank money to buy a Goofy in Disney World. I told Jamie and Marie to head over to Mission Space and I would take Maddy to Mouse Gears to find her Goofy.

Mouse Gears is such an awesome store! We spent a good bit of time looking around. Madilyn chose the most expensive Goofy ($24.99), paid for him with her money and we went over to Mission Space to look for Marie and Jamie. We had great timing as they were just coming out of the gift shop. Marie said that she and Maddy would find a bathroom if Jamie and I wanted to ride Mission Space. Madilyn didn't make the height limit for this one, but I don't think she would have liked it anyway. We did the orange side (more intense) and it was really cool! This was another walk on ride for all of us.

Marie and Maddy were waiting for us when we came out of the gift shop at the end of the ride. We decided to look for the Disney Chase character spot and gets some free photo pass pictures. It is located past the big fire truck and behind a black curtain in one of the Innoventions buildings. There was a line consisting of three families. The cast member didn't even know which characters were there, but it ended up being Mickey and Pluto. We got the best picture of our trip made here (I haven't scanned it in, though). We had to go back to the photo pass center under Spaceship Earth to get our free print, but there was a short line there as well. If anyone is curious, you can use multiple cards on the same account to get multiple pictures.

After we got our pictures, we decided to head back to the Polynesian to rest. When I was reading other people's trip reports, I thought that a mid-day nap was the stupidest idea I'd ever heard, but it worked really well for us! On the way out of the park, we saw Stitch and Daisy with no line. They started to walk away when we came up, but the cast member with them said to wait three minutes and they would be right back (and they were!)

Madilyn with Stich.

With Daisy Duck.

If anyone is keeping score, we met all of the major Mickey Mouse characters on our first day

Marie and Maddy with the Minnie Mouse at the TTC on the way back to our room.

My husband on the walkway to the Polynesian.

Maddy and me posed with the sign (and her new Goofy!).

Our first picture of the monorail.

And Madilyn and her babies snuggled in for an afternoon nap.

 

[luckylady]

Just found your TR. I love Rapa Nui and stay there when we stay at the Poly. TO me it's the closest to the monorail and the bus stop. On to read more.

 

[luckylady]

All caught up now. Good time so far and I agree mid day naps/rest/swim is a good idea.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

Marie and I left Madilyn (and her Daddy!) in the room taking a nap. We set out to explore our resort and to get our refillable drink cups.

A shot from the balcony at the end of our building facing the other long houses and the Great Ceremonial House.

The water feature behind the Great Ceremonial House.

Marie standing near the creek.

The pool.

Me walking in front of the volcano.

Another pool shot.

From the beach.

Our first look at Cinderella's Castle. This is zoomed in.

A look down the beach.

Fire pit and lounge chairs.

Me chilling out in the hammock.

One of the small boats that goes to Magic Kingdom.

Another shot inside the lobby.

There is a back door that leads to Captain Cooks from the pool area, but we wanted to look around in the gift shops (sorry no pictures there, we were too busy shopping!). Marie bought a shirt for her fiance and our Nanny and I bought a Polynesian magnet (it just dawned on me to look for!).

Isn't this cool?

The deserts inside Captain Cooks.

The refillable mugs (only three color options when we were there).

I'd always wondered when and how you get the mugs that are included on the dining plan. You just give them your key to the world card and they know how many mugs you're supposed to get. They take the credits for the cups just like they would take a dining plan credit. A really easy system, in my opinion.

With our cups in hand, Marie and I headed back to our room. Madilyn was awake and we could tell that the nap really recharged her batteries. Jamie was in the shower. Once they got dressed again, we headed back to Epcot.