9 nights on Premium Plan @ Poly. Just Back w/ PICS! Done! pg.4!!

[caralyn817]

I was wondering where exactly in which section you found the NSYNC Leave a Legacy Pictures. A family member of mine is a big fan and I want to take a picture for her on my next trip.

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

I am really enjoying your report and pictures. Looking forward to more...

 

[happybratpack]

Really enjoying your report & pics! You guys make a very cute couple.

 

[DeterminedOne]

Thanks friends for the pleasant replies!!

caralyn817 ~
I know the tile is on a monument close to the entrance, under the monorail in an F section. There are lots of F sections so it took me a while to find it. The first time I found it was completely random.

 

[DeterminedOne]

Five days on the Premium plan. Here's how our
adventures were adding up: Dining - $1200 ~ Rec/Tours - $600

Day 6 - Friday, September 29th

This was a fun filled morning - Breakfast at Chef Mickey's!
Plenty of clapping, singing and napkin twirling!
Character interaction was great!

After breakfast, we lingered at Contemporary to search
for hidden Mickeys. From there we walked to Magic Kingdom.
First stop, Town Hall to check for the sunglasses I left on Pirates.
I did not know that after 24 hours, all lost and found is sent
to the central lost & found at the Kennel Club.

From Town Hall we made our way to Adventureland
to ride Jungle Cruise. I did not know that JC opens at 10:00.
We rode Pirates again, but only to to search for
Hidden Mickeys. We spent the rest of the morning riding
only the attractions with confirmed hidden Mickeys.
Hidden Mickey on Buzz Lightyear

We attempted Jungle Cruise again, but the wait was
35 mins and we didn't FP. We had a 2:00 ressie at
Liberty Tree Tavern. The one and only ADR that
we blew off. It was before 2:00,
we were ready to leave the park,
and therefore skipped it. We did eat lunch
that day, though. (Earl of Sandwich)

But not before doing .
My first time EVER doing laundry on vacation.
The horror!

Oh, ... while we were at Downtown Disney we went
to Disney Quest. Many of the games were out of order
but not marked as such. That was kind of frustrating.
We managed to play Pac Man, Ms. Pac Man, Asteroids,
Centipede and Frogger. We did some other stuff but
those were the highlights.

As if Chef Mickey's and Earl of Sandwich weren't enough,
we had a 7:15 at Hoop Dee Doo Review.
(The dining componentwas what we loved most about
the Premium plan. Being able to experience so many Disney
restaurants in one trip was amazing!!)

Hoop Dee Doo was a lot of fun! Now I understand why it's
so popular. It made for one of the best nights of our trip!
We laughed ...
We sang ...
We drank ...
The food was good, too! The fried chicken was really, really good!
The show left DH in such a good mood, he tipped extra!

NEXT UP - Golf and La Nouba!!

 

[PrincessAlways]

Enjoying your TR! Sounds like the premium package was a great idea. Love hearing about your quest for Hidden Mickeys!

 

[DeterminedOne]

Day 7 - Saturday, September 30th

After a knee-slapping good time at the HDDR, we rested up
for an early morning on the links. DH insisted on getting there
waaayyy before the tee time - before sunrise.

This time we played Eagle Pines. It's right next door to Osprey
Ridge so I looked forward to getting more wildlife pics. But the
animals stayed hidden this time around.
Random shot of course

At one point during the round, I saw a HUGE snake slithering
across the cart path!! I wanted a pic of that,
but by the time I finished screaming it had disappeared into the woods. True story.

We lunched at the clubhouse. The Sand Trap Bar & Grill. I'm glad
this place was included on the package since we didn't have a
ressie anywhere else.

Here's another true story. I went to the ladies locker room
to wash my hands. Didn't get too far inside before seeing
urinals on the wall. My brain didn't compute quickly enough
so I took another step inside. Looked to my left and there was a man
at the sink. It took me a second to realize I was in the
MENS locker room. How embarrassing? I blame the heat.

We went back to the room for a few hours then headed to
Downtown Disney around 4:15 to pick up the La Nouba tickets.
(Another perk Premium plan perk.) They tell you to pick up the
tickets by 5:00 or they release them to the public. We cut it
close leaving the room so late, but made it to the box office right
at 5:00.

The show started at 6:00 so we spent some time beforehand
looking around the La Nouba store. After that I snapped these pics:

Hidden Mickey on bathroom floor

This was our third time seeing La Nouba and it's still a
great show! We couldn't help notice changes made
since we last saw it in '04. The stunts/acrobats are
the same, but the order is different. Some of the cast members
have changed. The lead vocalist is definitely different.
No big deal -just meaningless things I noticed.
La Nouba is still my favorite Cirque show!! I've seen
Mystere, "O" and Ka.

After the show, we had a dinner ressie at Fulton's. Notice, we
ate there twice this trip. It's one of our favorite restaurants! I don't
think it will be included on any of the Disney packages
starting 2007.
I like going there just for these babies ...

King Crab Claws- YUUUMMMY!

Not quite ready to go back to the room, we walked
around West Side for a while. I fell in love with
a Cheese Danish magnet in Magnetron's display case. It was
the only one they had so they sold it out of the display.

Stay tuned for day 8 ~ Princess Storybook breakfast,
Brown Derby and California Grill!

 

[Adi12982]

What an incredible trip!! Thanks for sharing - I'm looking forward to the next chapter!

 

[kaysmommie]

Love your trip report and all the pictures! How did you like Poly compared to the other deluxes you have stayed at?

 

[Am_I_There_Yet]

Still waiting for pictures of the Polynesian...

Surely you guys took a rest day, right? All those bugs and slithery things take it out of a girl!

Really enjoying your trip report so far! Thanks!

 

[disneytraveler]

Did you enjoy the carriage ride? I am considering it next time i take the package. I did not do it this time because i was wondering about the heat /hot weather during september.

 

[dolphinrescuegirl]

Great report, can't wait for more!

 

[tammy]

I am enjoying your report and pictures. That was really funny about you in the men's locker room. Yeah, we will blame it on the heat.

 

[DeterminedOne]

How did you like Poly compared to the other deluxes you have stayed at?

We liked it! GF is still the favorite but Poly is nice, too.

Still waiting for pictures of the Polynesian...

Surely you guys took a rest day, right?

Not really. Which is why a week later I'm still tired.
But it was SO worth it!

Did you enjoy the carriage ride?

Yes, but I wish we had done it before dark. The Fort Wilderness campground is a lovely location for carriage rides. Helps if you can see where
you're going.

 

[DeterminedOne]

Day 8 ~ Sunday, October 1st

This day began with the Princess Storybook Breakfast
at Epcot.
Shot of Epcot before park open

We preferred PSB to CRT. I'll save the reasons why for
the Dining board.
DH also preferred this Jasmine to the Jasmine at CRT.

We finally got some pics with Snow White!

Too bad! No pics of Belle in her yellow dress. We purchased
the photo package, but neglected to get pics of our own.

After a wonderful breakfast with the Princesses was
Test Track. We had no real ride strategy this trip.

What we really wanted was to explore World Showcase, but
it wasn't open yet. We ended up at Mousegears where I finished
off the Rewards points. It still wasn't time for WS to open so
we headed to MGM.

It was too hot to walk so we took the Friendship boat.
We knew it would take longer, but it sure beat walking
in that heat! Made it to MGM 50 mins. later.

We found two hidden Mickeys at the entrance!
The wait for Rockin' Rollercoaster was 60 mins so
we grabbed some FP's. Can you guess what we did next?
Searched for hidden Mickeys!!

There are so many good ones at MGM - we had a ball!
A CM at RNRC graciously took the time to point out one
that's not in the book. He showed us right where
to find it! A CM at Mickey's of Hollywood spent a lot
of time making sure we found all the ones in his store.
Just more reasons to love WDW!!

The ride on RNRC messed me up a bit. I walked away with
a really bad headache. Heat may have been a factor.

We had a 1:00 at The Hollywood Brown Derby.
Thank goodness 'cause I needed to sit!
Florida + September = HOT!!
I had considered canceling this one. So glad I didn't!

I fell in love with the decor. It may or may not have something
to do with this hidden Mickey.

Caricature of Jimmy Dodd, former Mouseketeer,
wearing his mouse ears.

The only thing we did at the Studios after lunch was Muppets.
We found 3 hidden Mickeys - but there are more!

I have no idea what we did when we left the Studios. (Didn't
write it down for some reason.) What I know for sure is we
had a 7:20 at California Grill and got there at 7:00.

As we walked into the restaurant the sun was setting.
Incredible view! We sat at a window table facing the
Wilderness Lodge area. Couldn't quite see Magic Kingdom
from there, yet still had an amazing view! We watched
Wishes from the observation deck. Also incredible!
California Grill is a new favorite!

Coming up -our last full day at Disney. One more character meal, one more
search for Hidden Mickeys, Parasailing and 'Ohana.

 

[kimberh]

Great trip report.

 

[Cass]

How was your lunch at the Brown Derby? what did you order.

Looking forward to reading the rest of your report.

 

[pumba]

thanks again for the gorgeous pictures and the incredible trip report.......You have done GOOD!!!

I think when we were there once in September.....we sort of just shuffled our feet all thru the parks because the heat took such a toll on us......and yes headaches too

 

[DeterminedOne]

How was your lunch at the Brown Derby? what did you order.

Brown Derby was lovely. The food was good, too. I tried two of the most
popular dishes, the Cobb Salad and the Grapefruit Cake. Will share more
on the Dining forum

I think when we were there once in September.....we sort of just shuffled our feet all thru the parks because the heat took such a toll on us......and yes headaches too.

It was downright oppressive at times!

 

[DeterminedOne]

Day 9 ~ Monday, October 2nd

Up early, per usual - 8:00 ressie at Cape May Cafe.
Had to decide how to get to the Beach Club.
Monorail to Epcot, walk through IG?
But Epcot wasn't open. Could we still walk through?
Bus to MGM, walk from there?
But that meant leaving an hour early...
We took a taxi!

Cape May was a blast! No clapping, singing
and napkin twirling, yet still a blast! The characters
were incredibly playful. They came around twice,
so we spent a lot of time with them.

After breakfast we spent some time searching
for the hidden Mickeys around the BC.
There are two in this picture:

We took the bus to Animal Kingdom and headed
straight to Everest. The wait was 10 mins. Another fun ride!

We rode Kali River Rapids; the first and only time
I wore a poncho this trip. People in the raft razzed
me for it! Since when is wearing a
poncho on Kali not cool? Didn't they use to sell
ponchos to guests along the queue?

We made our way to the Pangani Trail. Saw
this beauty (first time) along the way.
Devine

Then we went to Africa for a pic of one of the most
beautiful hidden Mickeys I saw this trip. It was
difficult to photograph because of foot traffic
and shadows. Lean your head to the right.
Mickey outlined in the cement at the rear of Africa.

We searched for the one on the Tree of Life but
never found it. We left before noon, just as the crowd
seemed to pick up. I've never seen so many
people at AK!

It took a while to get back to the room. We waited
35 mins for the bus. THEN, we stopped at Blizzard Beach
and Contemporary.

We relaxed for a while then ate at Kona for
lunch. At that point we still had 8 meal coupons left!
A few hours later we headed over to the Contemporary
to parasail.

It was incredible!! We went tandem, 450 ft. up. Did I
mention how incredible it was? The most exciting part
was seeing the icons - even Everest!

DH was queasy the whole time. His experience was
not as incredible as mine! In fact, he was so sick
afterward that we ended up back at the room.

He encouraged me to go to MK w/o him. I played
while he slept. Spent most of the time videoing
as much as I could. Including the new stage show,
Dream Along with Mickey.

We had an 8:00 ressie at 'Ohana. DH was feeling
better. I think he just needed to rest. The only pics
I managed to get the rest of the night involve food.
Will share more on the Dining forum.

The fireworks started late. I think it had something
to do with MNSSHP. We caught the show from
the beach. It was a beautiful way to end an amazing trip!
The Premium plan rocked!!

Stay tuned for final thoughts, etc. But that's another time,
perhaps even another thread.

Thanks for sharing our trip!