At the Poly for one night

[Masonmj84]

prior to a Disney cruise.

This is a very special trip that my siblings and I are celebrating with my parents for their 50th anniversary.

We're planning on arriving at the resort somewhere around 2 pm Friday and were originally planning to hang out at the pool that afternoon (we have a 7 pm dinner reservation at 'Ohana).

Right now, they're forecasting thunderstorms for that afternoon and I know they'll close the pool if there's any lightning in the vicinity (I also know from experience that they err on the side of caution and tend to keep the pool closed until well after the storm has left the area).

So I'm looking for some other options (note that we don't have park tickets and don't plan to buy any).

Here's what I have so far:

(1) Peruse the shops in the Poly lobby area and then take the Monorail around to the other Monorail resorts and do the same thing (one risk of this is that the Monorail sometimes gets stuck or stops operating during thunderstorms).

(2) Hang out at Trader Sam's (the problem here is that none of us drink alcohol and we don't want to eat much given we're having dinner at 'Ohana - in addition, it doesn't open until 4 pm).

Other ideas?

 

[Ben E N]

Depending on how severe the storm is, just sitting on the balcony watching it and the surrounding landscape could be fun. I was there for 6 days, so I wasn't so rushed, but it was one of my favorite memories of staying there.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would do a combination of options 1 and 2. Trader Sam's now opens at 3:00 pm. If you arrive at 2 pm, I would peruse the lobby and shops and then get in line around 2:30 pm to be in the first wave of people who get in. No one in my family drinks, but that doesn't stop us from enjoying Trader Sam's. They have delicious mocktails ($4.99 each!) and we each order one and sit and wait for other guests to order the specialty cocktails that set off the antics and effects. I would then do a monorail tour to GF and CR. If you get to CR around 5 pm, you can even go up to the California Grill lounge, order some sodas or other mocktails and see the fantastic view from both observation decks (you go to the second floor of CR to go up to the Cali Grill lounge) or, you can simply walk out to the 4th floor observation deck for a nice view of MK. Both GF and CR also have some nice shops to look in. That should fill up enough time and then you could go back to your room to get ready for 'Ohana at 7 pm.