Just got back from our WDW vacation, a day late, but all in all a good time.
Arrived Monday afternoon into MCO. The limo driver was late, but eventually showed up w/ profuse apologies. Got to the Poly and was taken directly to the Hawaii bldg. The valet brought us up to our room, 3518. When we walked in, he could tell I was not happy w/ the room. He immediately got on the room phone and got our room changed to 3513. Much better location and a perfect view of the lagoon and castle. We got all settled in and headed to Downtown Disney. Not crowded at all in the afternoon and we managed to get most of our souvenier shopping done. Back to the Poly, grabbed something to eat and the kids hit the pool. Watched the water parade and Wishes from the beach. Time for bed and early wakeup on Tues.
Tues we were up early and had room service breakfast and then we were off to MK. Got there a little after 9 and managed to hit Splash mountain, BTMRR, Philarmagic, goofy Barnstormer, all w/ minimal wait times. Got a FP for Space mountain and walked around a bit and rode on the (can't remember what they call it) train that goes through space mountain. DD 16 and DS 11 rode space mountain while DD 8 and I played in the arcade. Headed back to the Poly around 3 pm to get ready for the Luau show. We enjoyed the show and then headed back for more pool time and water parade and wishes from the beach again.
Wed. we spent the morning at the pool and headed out to MGM in the late afternoon. We had a PS at 50's Primetime and then we were going to watch Fantasmic. Had planned for the older two to do their favorite rides, but shortly after arriving at MGM, DS 11 got sick, right in front of some store. I managed to push this guy out of the way before DS lost it, but I of course was right in the line of fire. Spent about 45 mins at the first aid station and they were really wonderful there, very helpful and sweet to all of us. DS recovered enough for us to see Indiana Jones and make our PS at 50's PT. Decided to skip Fantasmic that night and headed back to POLY. Again, watched Wishes from our balcony and then to bed.
Thurs. DS was feeling fine and we headed out to Animal Kingdom. Rode Kali River Rapids, Primevel Whirl, Dinosaur and saw Bugs Life show. Grabbed some lunch and headed out. We were drenched from Kali and on top of that was the usual afternoon downpour of rain w/ thunder and lightning. I would highly recommend ponchos for the Kali ride. I should have listened to the advice from these boards about that ride. But it was so much fun. Being wet sure helped keep us cooled down!!
Got cleaned up back at the room and headed to MGM for some shopping and Fantasmic. The show seemed somewhat different from previous years, but still enjoyable. Fought the crowds out after the show and caught a bus back to the poly.
Fri was our Character breakfast at O'hana's at 10 AM. Kids had so much fun with Goofy, Chip, Dale & Mickey. Goofy was very funny w/ DD 16 and made her laugh so much. She wasn't feeling really well that day and spent most of the day in bed. The parks were all closing at 1, so we hung at the resort and DD 8 and DS 11 spent the day in the pool until they closed due to rain and thunder and lightening, not due to the hurricane. Kept cking on DD 16 who hadn't eaten much all day. At one point, she decided to take a hot bath and then her and I went down to the lounge to see what we could get for her to eat. She turns to look at me as we were standing in a long line, says she feels dizzy and proceeds to faint. Thank God I caught her before she hit the ground!!! There were guests who happened to be nurses who came to our rescue and castmembers called their first aid people who rushed over and took care of her. By 8:30 they had closed down the lounge and told all guests to stay in their rooms, keeps all curtains closed and bring balcony furniture into the the room. We never lost power and we just laid in bed and watched TV and listened to the storm rage outside. Later that night DD 8 got sick , she tried so hard to make it to the bathroom, but fell short. I had to clean up the mess, because Housekeeping was not available, which I totally understand. i cleaned up the best I could and reported the incident to concierge in the morning. We did have some water come into the room from the balcony, but nothing too bad.
Woke up Sat. and got ready to head home. Called Delta airlines and was told all was well. Got a valet to help w/ the bags and went to wait out front of GCH for our Limo ride to the airport. It never showed up and no one answered the phone. The valet got us a taxi to the airport, $50 later, we get to the airport to find total mayhem. The airport is closed and our flight to DC cancelled.
Managed to get a hotel room at the Marriott near the airport and spent the day there on the phone w/ Delta to get us a flight home. The best they could do was Monday. That just wouldn't work for us. They managed to get us a flight out of Gainesville to Atlanta and Atlanta to DC. I had to hire a limo service to drive us to Gainesville. We made it there and waited around for our 6:20 pm flight. We finally made it back to DC at 11:30 PM Sunday.
Considering everything, we did have a good time. The staff at the Poly were great. The smiles never faded even when someone was reaming them for not warning their paying guests that a hurricane was coming. I actually heard this from someone out front of GCH on Sat morning. The valet who took the beating kept on ticking. We let them know how much we appreciated their hard work during such trying times.
Sorry that this is so long and I'm sure I left out tons of details. If anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer them
Thanks for all the great advice and tips I got from this board. It really helped make our trip fun.
Nina
Arrived Monday afternoon into MCO. The limo driver was late, but eventually showed up w/ profuse apologies. Got to the Poly and was taken directly to the Hawaii bldg. The valet brought us up to our room, 3518. When we walked in, he could tell I was not happy w/ the room. He immediately got on the room phone and got our room changed to 3513. Much better location and a perfect view of the lagoon and castle. We got all settled in and headed to Downtown Disney. Not crowded at all in the afternoon and we managed to get most of our souvenier shopping done. Back to the Poly, grabbed something to eat and the kids hit the pool. Watched the water parade and Wishes from the beach. Time for bed and early wakeup on Tues.
Tues we were up early and had room service breakfast and then we were off to MK. Got there a little after 9 and managed to hit Splash mountain, BTMRR, Philarmagic, goofy Barnstormer, all w/ minimal wait times. Got a FP for Space mountain and walked around a bit and rode on the (can't remember what they call it) train that goes through space mountain. DD 16 and DS 11 rode space mountain while DD 8 and I played in the arcade. Headed back to the Poly around 3 pm to get ready for the Luau show. We enjoyed the show and then headed back for more pool time and water parade and wishes from the beach again.
Wed. we spent the morning at the pool and headed out to MGM in the late afternoon. We had a PS at 50's Primetime and then we were going to watch Fantasmic. Had planned for the older two to do their favorite rides, but shortly after arriving at MGM, DS 11 got sick, right in front of some store. I managed to push this guy out of the way before DS lost it, but I of course was right in the line of fire. Spent about 45 mins at the first aid station and they were really wonderful there, very helpful and sweet to all of us. DS recovered enough for us to see Indiana Jones and make our PS at 50's PT. Decided to skip Fantasmic that night and headed back to POLY. Again, watched Wishes from our balcony and then to bed.
Thurs. DS was feeling fine and we headed out to Animal Kingdom. Rode Kali River Rapids, Primevel Whirl, Dinosaur and saw Bugs Life show. Grabbed some lunch and headed out. We were drenched from Kali and on top of that was the usual afternoon downpour of rain w/ thunder and lightning. I would highly recommend ponchos for the Kali ride. I should have listened to the advice from these boards about that ride. But it was so much fun. Being wet sure helped keep us cooled down!!
Got cleaned up back at the room and headed to MGM for some shopping and Fantasmic. The show seemed somewhat different from previous years, but still enjoyable. Fought the crowds out after the show and caught a bus back to the poly.
Fri was our Character breakfast at O'hana's at 10 AM. Kids had so much fun with Goofy, Chip, Dale & Mickey. Goofy was very funny w/ DD 16 and made her laugh so much. She wasn't feeling really well that day and spent most of the day in bed. The parks were all closing at 1, so we hung at the resort and DD 8 and DS 11 spent the day in the pool until they closed due to rain and thunder and lightening, not due to the hurricane. Kept cking on DD 16 who hadn't eaten much all day. At one point, she decided to take a hot bath and then her and I went down to the lounge to see what we could get for her to eat. She turns to look at me as we were standing in a long line, says she feels dizzy and proceeds to faint. Thank God I caught her before she hit the ground!!! There were guests who happened to be nurses who came to our rescue and castmembers called their first aid people who rushed over and took care of her. By 8:30 they had closed down the lounge and told all guests to stay in their rooms, keeps all curtains closed and bring balcony furniture into the the room. We never lost power and we just laid in bed and watched TV and listened to the storm rage outside. Later that night DD 8 got sick , she tried so hard to make it to the bathroom, but fell short. I had to clean up the mess, because Housekeeping was not available, which I totally understand. i cleaned up the best I could and reported the incident to concierge in the morning. We did have some water come into the room from the balcony, but nothing too bad.
Woke up Sat. and got ready to head home. Called Delta airlines and was told all was well. Got a valet to help w/ the bags and went to wait out front of GCH for our Limo ride to the airport. It never showed up and no one answered the phone. The valet got us a taxi to the airport, $50 later, we get to the airport to find total mayhem. The airport is closed and our flight to DC cancelled.
Managed to get a hotel room at the Marriott near the airport and spent the day there on the phone w/ Delta to get us a flight home. The best they could do was Monday. That just wouldn't work for us. They managed to get us a flight out of Gainesville to Atlanta and Atlanta to DC. I had to hire a limo service to drive us to Gainesville. We made it there and waited around for our 6:20 pm flight. We finally made it back to DC at 11:30 PM Sunday.
Considering everything, we did have a good time. The staff at the Poly were great. The smiles never faded even when someone was reaming them for not warning their paying guests that a hurricane was coming. I actually heard this from someone out front of GCH on Sat morning. The valet who took the beating kept on ticking. We let them know how much we appreciated their hard work during such trying times.
Sorry that this is so long and I'm sure I left out tons of details. If anyone has any questions, I'll try to answer them
Thanks for all the great advice and tips I got from this board. It really helped make our trip fun.
Nina
