Bride In The Attic
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 18, 2004
- Messages
- 681
Cast Members:
Me (38) Many, many trips to WDW since 1972 and love it more each time!
DH (39) Plays along with my obsession
DD (8) 3rd trip and learning to love it as much as me!
11/27 Arrival Day!
ITS HERE! I had made reservations for this years trip the week after we returned last year but a year seemed so far away. I thought it would never come. But, its finally here! We are taking our 8 year old, Abby, back to WDW for a week at the Poly. We have a 2 ½ year old DD Emily who will be staying home with my mom for the week so we can give Abby some alone time. Shes such a wonderful big sister and works so hard in school she deserves a break!
I work for an airline which means we fly for free which is great. It also means we fly standby which means sometimes having to travel at off times. Since this is the Sunday after Thanksgiving and a busy travel day our only shot at getting to MCO is the 6am flight. So, the alarm goes off at 3:45am and I hop out of bed funny how when you are off to Disney it is so easy to jump out of bed when I would normally be engrossed in some quality REM. I had all of our clothes laid out and everything packed so we are quickly out the door at 4am. We drop our car at The Parking Spot (if you live around DFW airport this is a great off airport parking facility) and we are at the gate at 5am perfect. We are standing by for first class and the agent calls our name first sprinkling of pixie dust 3 seats together in first class!
The flight leaves right on time and we touch down at MCO at 9:15am. We are using DME so we bypass baggage claim and head to the DME counter. We are put in line for a bus and within a few minutes someone with the big white hand comes by and gathers our line along with the line for the CR and GF. Out to the bus we go and we are off. So far so good .we ended up loving DME and you certainly cant beat the price! I will say we got on a bus that had obviously seen better days very worn. The TVs didnt work so no cute little video Ive been hearing about. And, our driver drove sooooo sllllllloooooowwwww ..Im all for safety but this bordered on ridiculous I almost offered to switch seats with him and drive us there myself. We made one stop at the CR and the next step was us- the Poly.
It was around 10:45 when we pulled up in front of our second home the Polynesian. I began staying here in 1972 when I was 5 years old and have been back too many times to count. It is one of my favorite places on this earth and completes my WDW experience. I had put a room request on my ressie for the Fiji longhouse facing the marina this was a view we had never had and it looked like a great location on Tikimans site. I also followed up this request with a fax about 4 days before we arrived. Of course, I was happy just being at the Poly so any room would have been great. We were the first ones off the bus and walked right up to a waiting CM. She was very friendly and efficient check in took all of 5 minutes. I asked if I could make a room request and she mentioned that I could but one had already been blocked for us. I asked if it was Fiji facing the marina by any chance and she replied that it was and on the 3rd floor right in the middle of the building perfect! And what made it even better it was ready for us!! At 10:45 am on a busy weekend more pixie dust! We got our leis and were off to check out our home for the next week. This was by far my favorite GV location we had a great view of the marina, lagoon, CR and the electrical water pageant at night. And, it was a hop skip and a jump to the GCH to pick up the mono. The new rooms are fabulous love the linens, the pictures, and the new wall coverings. And of course, DH loved the new flat screen TV!
Since we were eager to hit the parks (we had 7 day hoppers) we grabbed a quick bite at Captain Cooks. As I mentioned in my resort review this is one of the (very minor) disappointments of the Poly. CC is so small and so slow we really ended up avoiding it for the rest of the week except when we need to refill our mugs or grab a quick breakfast. For lunch Abby and I had the hotdogs and DH had the pulled pork sandwich all were good but it took us a bit longer than Id have liked. No worries, though we knew the Thanksgiving crowds would probably still be lingering so we planned this day at Epcot as it seems to be able to handle crowds the best. And since it only cost a few dollars to go from a 5 day PH to a 7 day PH I really thought of arrival and departure day as free days in the parks what we get done, we get done no stressing.
We had a 6pm ADR at Chefs for dinner so we hop the monorail and arrived at Epcot around 1. We quickly grabbed FPs for Soarin. Our return time was between 5 and 6 so we had a while and opted to do the standby line. It was a 40 minute wait and this ended up being the longest line we waited in all week. It was worth every minute we all loved Soarin! I had heard so many great things about it from the DIS that I was nervous my expectations were too high. I really, really loved this attraction! We were glad we had the FP so we could experience it again later. While we were waiting we visited most of FW SE (I dont know why but I could ride this over and over and not get tired of it), Living Seas (our first time doing Turtle Talk with Crush big thumbs up from all 3 of us), JIYI (Gosh, I really miss the original ride in this pavilion). Abby wanted to take a spin on TT (her favorite attraction in all of WDW) but the standby line was too long and we couldnt get another FP yet. We would be back to Epcot several times during the week so wed just have to wait. We ended up spending some time shopping and made our way over for our second trip on Soarin just as great the 2nd time around! When we got off it was time to start making our way over to Chefs. We arrived a bit early and caught Pierre Noel telling his story in the little area to the right of Chefs. He was wonderful and Abby had her picture taken with him as well as Belle, Beast and Sleeping Beauty who were all out in that general area.
Time for dinner! Unfortunately we didnt get to participate in the dining plan as we got a discounted room the dining plan would be great for us as eating nice meals is a part of our whole WDW experience. Dinner was great Chefs is becoming one of our regular restaurants. For an appetizer I had the Tarte a la Flamme Alsacienne (Flatbread baked with cream fraiche, onion and bacon) this was very, very good but also very rich. David had the lobster bisque and said it was extremely good and he is a self proclaimed lobster bisque connoisseur! For our entrees I had Cabillaud en croute de pommes de terre (Baked cod fish stuffed with salmon and scallop mousse, wrapped in potato slices with a lobster demi glace, served on a bed of leeks) and David had the beef wrapped in puff pastry with green beens. Both were good but I have to say I liked his better. The sauce inside the pastry was wonderful. Abby had the breaded chicken strips served with pasta she ate the whole thing but was a bit disappointed that the pasta was not shaped like Mickey. We shared the apple tart for dessert.
Tired and full we caught the monorail back to the TTC and then on to the Poly. I had called earlier to request turn down service for the length of our stay but they must have gotten the message too late to turn down our beds tonight. Not a big deal at all we were all so tired we flopped into bed! Mickey and Stitch would be calling us at 8 tomorrow for our first full day at the parks next up the Magic Kingdom!
Me (38) Many, many trips to WDW since 1972 and love it more each time!
DH (39) Plays along with my obsession
DD (8) 3rd trip and learning to love it as much as me!
11/27 Arrival Day!
ITS HERE! I had made reservations for this years trip the week after we returned last year but a year seemed so far away. I thought it would never come. But, its finally here! We are taking our 8 year old, Abby, back to WDW for a week at the Poly. We have a 2 ½ year old DD Emily who will be staying home with my mom for the week so we can give Abby some alone time. Shes such a wonderful big sister and works so hard in school she deserves a break!
I work for an airline which means we fly for free which is great. It also means we fly standby which means sometimes having to travel at off times. Since this is the Sunday after Thanksgiving and a busy travel day our only shot at getting to MCO is the 6am flight. So, the alarm goes off at 3:45am and I hop out of bed funny how when you are off to Disney it is so easy to jump out of bed when I would normally be engrossed in some quality REM. I had all of our clothes laid out and everything packed so we are quickly out the door at 4am. We drop our car at The Parking Spot (if you live around DFW airport this is a great off airport parking facility) and we are at the gate at 5am perfect. We are standing by for first class and the agent calls our name first sprinkling of pixie dust 3 seats together in first class!
The flight leaves right on time and we touch down at MCO at 9:15am. We are using DME so we bypass baggage claim and head to the DME counter. We are put in line for a bus and within a few minutes someone with the big white hand comes by and gathers our line along with the line for the CR and GF. Out to the bus we go and we are off. So far so good .we ended up loving DME and you certainly cant beat the price! I will say we got on a bus that had obviously seen better days very worn. The TVs didnt work so no cute little video Ive been hearing about. And, our driver drove sooooo sllllllloooooowwwww ..Im all for safety but this bordered on ridiculous I almost offered to switch seats with him and drive us there myself. We made one stop at the CR and the next step was us- the Poly.
It was around 10:45 when we pulled up in front of our second home the Polynesian. I began staying here in 1972 when I was 5 years old and have been back too many times to count. It is one of my favorite places on this earth and completes my WDW experience. I had put a room request on my ressie for the Fiji longhouse facing the marina this was a view we had never had and it looked like a great location on Tikimans site. I also followed up this request with a fax about 4 days before we arrived. Of course, I was happy just being at the Poly so any room would have been great. We were the first ones off the bus and walked right up to a waiting CM. She was very friendly and efficient check in took all of 5 minutes. I asked if I could make a room request and she mentioned that I could but one had already been blocked for us. I asked if it was Fiji facing the marina by any chance and she replied that it was and on the 3rd floor right in the middle of the building perfect! And what made it even better it was ready for us!! At 10:45 am on a busy weekend more pixie dust! We got our leis and were off to check out our home for the next week. This was by far my favorite GV location we had a great view of the marina, lagoon, CR and the electrical water pageant at night. And, it was a hop skip and a jump to the GCH to pick up the mono. The new rooms are fabulous love the linens, the pictures, and the new wall coverings. And of course, DH loved the new flat screen TV!
Since we were eager to hit the parks (we had 7 day hoppers) we grabbed a quick bite at Captain Cooks. As I mentioned in my resort review this is one of the (very minor) disappointments of the Poly. CC is so small and so slow we really ended up avoiding it for the rest of the week except when we need to refill our mugs or grab a quick breakfast. For lunch Abby and I had the hotdogs and DH had the pulled pork sandwich all were good but it took us a bit longer than Id have liked. No worries, though we knew the Thanksgiving crowds would probably still be lingering so we planned this day at Epcot as it seems to be able to handle crowds the best. And since it only cost a few dollars to go from a 5 day PH to a 7 day PH I really thought of arrival and departure day as free days in the parks what we get done, we get done no stressing.
We had a 6pm ADR at Chefs for dinner so we hop the monorail and arrived at Epcot around 1. We quickly grabbed FPs for Soarin. Our return time was between 5 and 6 so we had a while and opted to do the standby line. It was a 40 minute wait and this ended up being the longest line we waited in all week. It was worth every minute we all loved Soarin! I had heard so many great things about it from the DIS that I was nervous my expectations were too high. I really, really loved this attraction! We were glad we had the FP so we could experience it again later. While we were waiting we visited most of FW SE (I dont know why but I could ride this over and over and not get tired of it), Living Seas (our first time doing Turtle Talk with Crush big thumbs up from all 3 of us), JIYI (Gosh, I really miss the original ride in this pavilion). Abby wanted to take a spin on TT (her favorite attraction in all of WDW) but the standby line was too long and we couldnt get another FP yet. We would be back to Epcot several times during the week so wed just have to wait. We ended up spending some time shopping and made our way over for our second trip on Soarin just as great the 2nd time around! When we got off it was time to start making our way over to Chefs. We arrived a bit early and caught Pierre Noel telling his story in the little area to the right of Chefs. He was wonderful and Abby had her picture taken with him as well as Belle, Beast and Sleeping Beauty who were all out in that general area.
Time for dinner! Unfortunately we didnt get to participate in the dining plan as we got a discounted room the dining plan would be great for us as eating nice meals is a part of our whole WDW experience. Dinner was great Chefs is becoming one of our regular restaurants. For an appetizer I had the Tarte a la Flamme Alsacienne (Flatbread baked with cream fraiche, onion and bacon) this was very, very good but also very rich. David had the lobster bisque and said it was extremely good and he is a self proclaimed lobster bisque connoisseur! For our entrees I had Cabillaud en croute de pommes de terre (Baked cod fish stuffed with salmon and scallop mousse, wrapped in potato slices with a lobster demi glace, served on a bed of leeks) and David had the beef wrapped in puff pastry with green beens. Both were good but I have to say I liked his better. The sauce inside the pastry was wonderful. Abby had the breaded chicken strips served with pasta she ate the whole thing but was a bit disappointed that the pasta was not shaped like Mickey. We shared the apple tart for dessert.
Tired and full we caught the monorail back to the TTC and then on to the Poly. I had called earlier to request turn down service for the length of our stay but they must have gotten the message too late to turn down our beds tonight. Not a big deal at all we were all so tired we flopped into bed! Mickey and Stitch would be calling us at 8 tomorrow for our first full day at the parks next up the Magic Kingdom!
Great start - going to read day 2!
