StacyMarie
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2009
- Messages
- 1,222
After a week of vacation withdraw, I thought I would post some of the ups and downs of our recent trip to Disney staying at the Poly from August 28th through September 5th 2010. I took 600+ pictures (Husband said take a lot of pics because we are not going back for a while. He wants to try a Disney Cruise in 2012 instead). I don't now how to post pics or I would.
We ate at the following places:
O'Hana - Dinner
: This was the best meal of our trip. The atmosphere was wonderful. I had a Lapau before my dinner while we were waiting for our table. It was delicious. The food was amazing. I ate myself sick, LOL. I just could not stop eating.
O'Hana breakfast with Lilo and Stitch : This was a great breakfast. The food was served family style and was quite good. You just could not beat the character interaction. I have some wonderful pictures and my girls loved every minute of it (and they are teenagers, LOL). We had pictures with Lilo, Stitch, Pluto, and Mickey. The characters stayed at each table as long as you needed them to so you could get multiple pictures. It was wonderful.
1900 Park Fair - Dinner
: On check in day, we headed over to the Grand Floridian for this dinner. It was great. Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella were awesome (Lady Tremaine is one of my most favorite villains). They were fantastic at being in character. Prince Charming and Cinderella were also fabulous but I would have to say that Lady Tremaine stole the show for us. It was just awesome character interaction. The food was FABULOUS. I had read on the DISboards to make sure you try the strawberry soup if you ever eat here so I reluctantly did. It was one of my top 3 absolute favorite things that I ate my entire trip. If I could, I would have bought it by the gallon and brought it home, LOL! The buffet was great, the characters were great. This was my second second favorite meal of our entire trip!
Cinderella's Royal Table - Lunch: We had done this last year so we knew exactly what to expect but seeing as how this was my mother's first trip to Disney in 25+ years, we had to do it again. Our characters this year were different than last year. We were able to see Princess Aurora, Snow White, Belle, and Ariel. The food was great and the character interaction was perfect. Our server was fabulous too. My girls really did not want anything off the adult menu so he was nice enough to let them order off the kids menu and he doubled the portion for them so they would get enough food (they are 14 and 15). He was great!
Hollywood and Vine - Dinner
: The most AWFUL meal of our entire trip and I think pretty close to being one of the worst meals I have ever had. When we walked in to be seated, I instantly smelled food that did not agree with me. I can't explain it but I wanted to turn around right then and there and leave but my girls were hungry and wanted to sit down to eat. It was a typical buffet but the food was not up to what I have come to expect from Disney AT ALL! The meats were dry, the salads were warm, and the desert buffet looked like it had been trampled on by a herd of elephants. There were things spilled everywhere. There were probably 3 salads to chose from, none that my kids would eat, 3 or 4 sides, and 2 or 3 meats. The kids buffet looked better than the adult. I was totally disappointed with this meal!
Earl of Sandwich - Lunch : This was a great, quick place to grab lunch. The food was fabulous. The service was fast. They really should put one of these in the MK or HS. Yummy!
Le Cellier - Dinner 
: We had a 7:40 ADR but we were not seated until 8:30. 
Once we were seated, from that point on it was great. We had a wonderful server. I of course had to try the cheese soup. It was yummy! My DD14 had the New York Strip and also a side of macaroni and cheese, my other DD15 had mushroom filet as did I, my mother had the coffee-rubbed Kansas City strip, and my DH had the halibut (I laughed at his choice because we had talked about how fabulous the steaks are supposed to be here, LOL). The food was WONDERFUL. This was my third favorite meal we had (I felt O'Hana and 1900 Park Fair were better). For desert, my daughter had the S'more, my other daughter was too full for desert, my mother tried the sorbet, my husband just wanted vanilla ice cream, and I had the chocolate on chocolate whiskey cake. It was fabulous.
Sci-Fi - Lunch : This meal was a hit with my girls and my husband. I didn't tell them anything about the set up so it was a complete shock when we walked into the room with the booths that are cars. My husband let out a loud chuckle. My girls were excited too. I loved seeing the reaction of my husband especially because he usually does not have much to say about anything, he just goes with the flow. I could tell this was a pleasant, fun surprise for him. The food was great, our service was great, and once again we left so full we felt sick, LOL.
Kona Island Sushi - Snack for me twice
: I am the only sushi lover in our party so twice during our trip I went and had them make me some sushi and I kept it in our fridge in our room for a snack later that night after we would get back from the park. It was delicious!
Starring Rolls Bakery - Breakfast : We ate here one morning just so I could try/see the butterfinger cupcake. The thing was huge. We had various pastries, bagles, and juice. I never did try the butterfinger cupcake. I should have bought one and taken it back to our room but by the time I went to do so, they were closed (they close at 4 p.m.). 
Oh well, maybe next time.
Several counter service locations around MK for lunch.
We also went to Goofy's Candy Co. in Downtown Disney and did the create your own chocolate covered pretzels. We also tried the sweet almond covered pretzel in Norway in Epcot. It was delicous. We had tons of various other treats throughout our vacation (as obvious by my 6 pound weight gain) but those are the 2 that stand out for me.
Pros:
1. Staying at the Poly: You just can't beat the location of the Poly. We had a wonderful stay. I requested and was granted the Tokaleau building. I did online check in 10 days prior to arrival. When we arrived at 1 p.m. our room was ready and waiting for us. The room was clean and gorgeous and just out the door and we were at the quiet pool (We ventured to the volcano pool once. It was too crowded and too loud and never enough seating.) Captain Cook's was okay. They offered the same choices day after day after day for each meal. We also ate breakfast once at Kona Cafe. I tried the Tonga toast and was not a huge fan. The outside was wonderful and crunchy. The inside was mushy (I have a texture thing, LOL). We also had breakfast with Lilo and Stitch and friends and the food was served family style. It was fun! We also had dinner at O'Hana and I actually ate myself sick
. I could barely move when we left. The food was WONDERFUL. It was the best meal of our trip.
2. The weather. We could not have asked for better weather. It sprinkled on our first evening for about 10 minutes, otherwise it did not rain AT ALL. Sure, it was hot but we would get an early start, go until lunch, then we would go back to the room for a few hours and rest and go to the pool, and then we would get back out there, go to dinner/back into the parks.
3. The lack of crowds. We did not wait any longer than 15 minutes to get on ANYTHING. We used fast pass for Toy Story Mania and Soarin only and then the return time was within an hour on both of those. We rode multiple popular rides multiple times. I think my daughters rode Space Mountain 6 times over the course of our entire trip.
4. The CMs. There were several things that the CMs went out of the way and were amazing during this trip. First, my 14 year old daughter celebrated her birthday while at Disney and it was amazing to me how many times she was told happy birthday by the CMs. Every person we encountered was happy, helpful, gracious, and just plain nice. On that day, we went into Main Street Bakery for some breakfast treats and they gave my daughter a GIANT chocolate chip cookie. It was bigger than her head! Second, on the first night at the Poly, we got back to the resort after the stores had all closed and my daughter had a headache. I of course forgot to pack any Tylenol so I went to the front desk and the CM actually took the keys and my KTTW card and went up into the store from a back entrance and charged some Tylenol to my room and brought it back down to us. It was WONDERFUL. I totally did not expect her to do that! I just wanted to give her a big hug
Third, while we were at Downtown Disney and shopping for pins, my daughter came up to me and said "Oh no mom, I lost my 2009 pin, it fell off somewhere and it is gone!" She was quite upset and a CM had heard my daughter tell me this. The CM asked my daughter which one it was and my daughter explained it to her. The CM told us to wait right where we were, so we did. She came back with the EXACT same 2009 pin my daughter had lost and gave it to her. They obviously had a secret stash of pins behind the counter. It made my daughter's day. After that, I invested $40 in the locking pin backs so we did not have any more lost pins.
Cons:
1. Generally grumpy, rude people. We encountered quite a few grumpy, rude people. I learned no matter how nice I was to people, they generally were not going to be nice back. We saw a lot of families arguing and a lot of parents yelling. There was one couple in particular while we were waiting on the curb for SpectroMagic to start that had an absolute meltdown in front of us. They were arguing and yelling and arms were swinging and gesturing in the air. The guy was red in the face
he was SO MAD. At that point, I counted my blessings that the meltdowns my girls had up to that point were trivial, LOL! Also, there were a lot of foreign families that were extremely rude and just didn't think the rules of courtesy applied to them. In particular, whenever we were at a character spot, they would just shove their kids up by the characters even though there was a line and a CM was telling them there was a line and they needed to get in the line. I know they understood what they were being told, but they disregarded anyway. When my girls met Alice and the White Rabbit, I actually had to ask a woman to get her child out of the shot so I could take a picture of my daughters with them. She had been told 3 times by the CM she had to get in line but kept on pushing her kid (literally) up to the characters so she could snap a picture. Her child was bascially hanging on the white rabbit's leg for about 5 minutes while 3 other sets of kids who had been in line visited with them and had pics. I was polite and nice, but finally another parent stepped in and was loud and rude. I had to walk away chuckling.
2. Traveling with my mother, LOL! I felt so proud that I could afford to invite my mother on our trip and pay for everything for her except for her spending money. It was a very proud moment in my life because my sisters will never be in a position to do such a thing because of the life choices that they have made. HOWEVER, after about 4 days, I had enough. That is all I am going to say about that, LOL!
3. Too much food. The dining plan for us is just too much food. When we ate a counter service meal, we found ourselves taking our deserts back to our room and putting them in the fridge until later. When we ate a table service, a lot of times we did not even get the desert. I gained 6 pounds in 9 days. The food for the most part was wonderful! We did eat at one place that was one of the most unpleasant meals out I have ever had. See above.
We had so much fun and I can't believe we are not going back next year. We will be taking a very small vacation next year possibly to Cedar Point because in 2012, my DD who will be 17 is going on a 2-week trip to Brazil with her choir, BUT while she is gone, we are going to go on our first Disney Cruise 
(my daughter going to Brazil has a fear of cruise ships so this is a perfect time for us to go on a cruise with my other DD). So, I have to pinch my pennies until then and read about everybody else's great trips here on the DISboards! 
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!
We ate at the following places:
O'Hana - Dinner
: This was the best meal of our trip. The atmosphere was wonderful. I had a Lapau before my dinner while we were waiting for our table. It was delicious. The food was amazing. I ate myself sick, LOL. I just could not stop eating. O'Hana breakfast with Lilo and Stitch
: This was a great breakfast. The food was served family style and was quite good. You just could not beat the character interaction. I have some wonderful pictures and my girls loved every minute of it (and they are teenagers, LOL). We had pictures with Lilo, Stitch, Pluto, and Mickey. The characters stayed at each table as long as you needed them to so you could get multiple pictures. It was wonderful.1900 Park Fair - Dinner
: On check in day, we headed over to the Grand Floridian for this dinner. It was great. Lady Tremaine, Anastasia, and Drizella were awesome (Lady Tremaine is one of my most favorite villains). They were fantastic at being in character. Prince Charming and Cinderella were also fabulous but I would have to say that Lady Tremaine stole the show for us. It was just awesome character interaction. The food was FABULOUS. I had read on the DISboards to make sure you try the strawberry soup if you ever eat here so I reluctantly did. It was one of my top 3 absolute favorite things that I ate my entire trip. If I could, I would have bought it by the gallon and brought it home, LOL! The buffet was great, the characters were great. This was my second second favorite meal of our entire trip!Cinderella's Royal Table - Lunch
: We had done this last year so we knew exactly what to expect but seeing as how this was my mother's first trip to Disney in 25+ years, we had to do it again. Our characters this year were different than last year. We were able to see Princess Aurora, Snow White, Belle, and Ariel. The food was great and the character interaction was perfect. Our server was fabulous too. My girls really did not want anything off the adult menu so he was nice enough to let them order off the kids menu and he doubled the portion for them so they would get enough food (they are 14 and 15). He was great! Hollywood and Vine - Dinner
: The most AWFUL meal of our entire trip and I think pretty close to being one of the worst meals I have ever had. When we walked in to be seated, I instantly smelled food that did not agree with me. I can't explain it but I wanted to turn around right then and there and leave but my girls were hungry and wanted to sit down to eat. It was a typical buffet but the food was not up to what I have come to expect from Disney AT ALL! The meats were dry, the salads were warm, and the desert buffet looked like it had been trampled on by a herd of elephants. There were things spilled everywhere. There were probably 3 salads to chose from, none that my kids would eat, 3 or 4 sides, and 2 or 3 meats. The kids buffet looked better than the adult. I was totally disappointed with this meal!Earl of Sandwich - Lunch
: This was a great, quick place to grab lunch. The food was fabulous. The service was fast. They really should put one of these in the MK or HS. Yummy!Le Cellier - Dinner
: We had a 7:40 ADR but we were not seated until 8:30. Once we were seated, from that point on it was great. We had a wonderful server. I of course had to try the cheese soup. It was yummy! My DD14 had the New York Strip and also a side of macaroni and cheese, my other DD15 had mushroom filet as did I, my mother had the coffee-rubbed Kansas City strip, and my DH had the halibut (I laughed at his choice because we had talked about how fabulous the steaks are supposed to be here, LOL). The food was WONDERFUL. This was my third favorite meal we had (I felt O'Hana and 1900 Park Fair were better). For desert, my daughter had the S'more, my other daughter was too full for desert, my mother tried the sorbet, my husband just wanted vanilla ice cream, and I had the chocolate on chocolate whiskey cake. It was fabulous. Sci-Fi - Lunch
: This meal was a hit with my girls and my husband. I didn't tell them anything about the set up so it was a complete shock when we walked into the room with the booths that are cars. My husband let out a loud chuckle. My girls were excited too. I loved seeing the reaction of my husband especially because he usually does not have much to say about anything, he just goes with the flow. I could tell this was a pleasant, fun surprise for him. The food was great, our service was great, and once again we left so full we felt sick, LOL.Kona Island Sushi - Snack for me twice
: I am the only sushi lover in our party so twice during our trip I went and had them make me some sushi and I kept it in our fridge in our room for a snack later that night after we would get back from the park. It was delicious!Starring Rolls Bakery - Breakfast
: We ate here one morning just so I could try/see the butterfinger cupcake. The thing was huge. We had various pastries, bagles, and juice. I never did try the butterfinger cupcake. I should have bought one and taken it back to our room but by the time I went to do so, they were closed (they close at 4 p.m.). Oh well, maybe next time. Several counter service locations around MK for lunch.
We also went to Goofy's Candy Co. in Downtown Disney and did the create your own chocolate covered pretzels. We also tried the sweet almond covered pretzel in Norway in Epcot. It was delicous. We had tons of various other treats throughout our vacation (as obvious by my 6 pound weight gain) but those are the 2 that stand out for me.
Pros:
1. Staying at the Poly: You just can't beat the location of the Poly. We had a wonderful stay. I requested and was granted the Tokaleau building. I did online check in 10 days prior to arrival. When we arrived at 1 p.m. our room was ready and waiting for us. The room was clean and gorgeous and just out the door and we were at the quiet pool (We ventured to the volcano pool once. It was too crowded and too loud and never enough seating.) Captain Cook's was okay. They offered the same choices day after day after day for each meal. We also ate breakfast once at Kona Cafe. I tried the Tonga toast and was not a huge fan. The outside was wonderful and crunchy. The inside was mushy (I have a texture thing, LOL). We also had breakfast with Lilo and Stitch and friends and the food was served family style. It was fun! We also had dinner at O'Hana and I actually ate myself sick
. I could barely move when we left. The food was WONDERFUL. It was the best meal of our trip. 2. The weather. We could not have asked for better weather. It sprinkled on our first evening for about 10 minutes, otherwise it did not rain AT ALL. Sure, it was hot but we would get an early start, go until lunch, then we would go back to the room for a few hours and rest and go to the pool, and then we would get back out there, go to dinner/back into the parks.
3. The lack of crowds. We did not wait any longer than 15 minutes to get on ANYTHING. We used fast pass for Toy Story Mania and Soarin only and then the return time was within an hour on both of those. We rode multiple popular rides multiple times. I think my daughters rode Space Mountain 6 times over the course of our entire trip.
4. The CMs. There were several things that the CMs went out of the way and were amazing during this trip. First, my 14 year old daughter celebrated her birthday while at Disney and it was amazing to me how many times she was told happy birthday by the CMs. Every person we encountered was happy, helpful, gracious, and just plain nice. On that day, we went into Main Street Bakery for some breakfast treats and they gave my daughter a GIANT chocolate chip cookie. It was bigger than her head! Second, on the first night at the Poly, we got back to the resort after the stores had all closed and my daughter had a headache. I of course forgot to pack any Tylenol so I went to the front desk and the CM actually took the keys and my KTTW card and went up into the store from a back entrance and charged some Tylenol to my room and brought it back down to us. It was WONDERFUL. I totally did not expect her to do that! I just wanted to give her a big hug
Third, while we were at Downtown Disney and shopping for pins, my daughter came up to me and said "Oh no mom, I lost my 2009 pin, it fell off somewhere and it is gone!" She was quite upset and a CM had heard my daughter tell me this. The CM asked my daughter which one it was and my daughter explained it to her. The CM told us to wait right where we were, so we did. She came back with the EXACT same 2009 pin my daughter had lost and gave it to her. They obviously had a secret stash of pins behind the counter. It made my daughter's day. After that, I invested $40 in the locking pin backs so we did not have any more lost pins. Cons:
1. Generally grumpy, rude people. We encountered quite a few grumpy, rude people. I learned no matter how nice I was to people, they generally were not going to be nice back. We saw a lot of families arguing and a lot of parents yelling. There was one couple in particular while we were waiting on the curb for SpectroMagic to start that had an absolute meltdown in front of us. They were arguing and yelling and arms were swinging and gesturing in the air. The guy was red in the face
he was SO MAD. At that point, I counted my blessings that the meltdowns my girls had up to that point were trivial, LOL! Also, there were a lot of foreign families that were extremely rude and just didn't think the rules of courtesy applied to them. In particular, whenever we were at a character spot, they would just shove their kids up by the characters even though there was a line and a CM was telling them there was a line and they needed to get in the line. I know they understood what they were being told, but they disregarded anyway. When my girls met Alice and the White Rabbit, I actually had to ask a woman to get her child out of the shot so I could take a picture of my daughters with them. She had been told 3 times by the CM she had to get in line but kept on pushing her kid (literally) up to the characters so she could snap a picture. Her child was bascially hanging on the white rabbit's leg for about 5 minutes while 3 other sets of kids who had been in line visited with them and had pics. I was polite and nice, but finally another parent stepped in and was loud and rude. I had to walk away chuckling. 2. Traveling with my mother, LOL! I felt so proud that I could afford to invite my mother on our trip and pay for everything for her except for her spending money. It was a very proud moment in my life because my sisters will never be in a position to do such a thing because of the life choices that they have made. HOWEVER, after about 4 days, I had enough. That is all I am going to say about that, LOL!
3. Too much food. The dining plan for us is just too much food. When we ate a counter service meal, we found ourselves taking our deserts back to our room and putting them in the fridge until later. When we ate a table service, a lot of times we did not even get the desert. I gained 6 pounds in 9 days. The food for the most part was wonderful! We did eat at one place that was one of the most unpleasant meals out I have ever had. See above.
We had so much fun and I can't believe we are not going back next year.
We will be taking a very small vacation next year possibly to Cedar Point because in 2012, my DD who will be 17 is going on a 2-week trip to Brazil with her choir, BUT while she is gone, we are going to go on our first Disney Cruise (my daughter going to Brazil has a fear of cruise ships so this is a perfect time for us to go on a cruise with my other DD). So, I have to pinch my pennies until then and read about everybody else's great trips here on the DISboards! If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!
