We just got back last night and I'm missing my dole whips. After watching me fill my dish up very carefully the first day, my dh just wanted to hand me my refillable mug to fill<G>
We arrived early ini the morning taking the red eye from LAX. Landed at 6:45, and ME had us at the Poly by 8:10..we waited a bit at the airport.
We weren't expecting a room but they said our room was ready...I asked if we could have a balcony and when they checked they said no balcony but a patio at which point my dh said "GREAT, I love that." (he likes to do his exercises on grass so he would just step out every am and do his routine and watch the monorail go by) We had a first floor room in Aotearoa ...quiet and nice gv with a monorail view. We were out of the room by 8:30 to eat Tonga Toast at Capt Cooks, then after went to the bell captain to ask about finding our bricks we bought 7 years ago AND got our anniversary buttons. This is when we got our first pixie dust. The CM that got our buttons asked how many years and when we said 32, he told us to sit and wait for him. So we waited about 5 minutes and "Auntie" came over with him to wish us a happy anniversary and gave us the most wonderful flower leis, traded some island stories and she made us promise to have 32 more magical years. Headed back to the room and our luggage was there already at 10:30.
Our observations:
Friendly CMs - EVERYONE and I mean everyone said aloha to us with or without our anniversary buttons, but that also might be because we both had these silly smiles on our faces all the time. In fact, my dh went early one morning to fill our cups and 2 CMs walked by and one of them said "Good Morning" and the other went into this funny tirade about saying aloha and this is the poly, and that WE say aloha...the CMs apologized for the good morning and said aloha together sort of in harmony, my dh was in stitches.
Mousekeeping - Was great every day except Saturday. We left a little late and came back late afternoon to go to the pool and our room wasn't done yet. The housekeeper apologized over and over, we said that we would be in and out so while we were gone, she cleaned. In her defense, she was the only one doing the rooms on our floor. And she left us LOTS of extra shampoo/cond/ and lotion<G>
Towel animals - the housekeepr during the week made towel animals, we put our fake leis on them. She put our real flower leis in connected hearts and on our second day...more pixie dust...our anniversary buttons and an autographed pic of Mickey and Minnie were sitting in the middle of the leis.
Trasportation - We didn't wait more that 20 min for any bus to go anywhere. Even when we moved to ASMU the last night.
We didn't realize how much we missed the Poly, it is our "home"...too bad DVC doesn't "convert" some rooms here<G>
Sunday we moved to ASMU...different vibe, more kids...just more people.
We had a room in Calypso on the back side which was very quiet. The room was refurbished and wonderful...loved the privacy curtain and the pegs for hanging stuff. We wanted to take the table home for our DDs room<G> They played a movie at 9pm and there were games and dancing at the pool during the day. It is definitely a possiblity for our extended family next year...we can't afford 3 rooms at Poly...but a family suite with 2 rooms or 3 rooms at ASMU is doable.
The ONLY bad thing was my mistake of forgetting my ipod/charger in our ASMU room when we checked out and by the time I figured I had left it charging , the room had been cleaned and no ipod. But that was my memory lapse and am hoping that the pixie dust will come one more time and someone will turn it in.
We did get one last bit of pixie dust as we left Epcot right before we got on the ME to the airport. We were interviewed by a CM and invited to a cruise focus group and would have received $100 disney dollars for our time BUT we were on our way to the airport. But it was nice to know that there was still some pixie dust out there, when we got to the airport gate, they upgraded our seats to economy plus with extra leg room...my dh was in so happy.
So to you that are Poly bound...enjoy those Dole whips. And to you that are ASMU bound...relax in the middle of pool grooving to the music.
We are so ready to go back...even if it's 102 with the heat index
We arrived early ini the morning taking the red eye from LAX. Landed at 6:45, and ME had us at the Poly by 8:10..we waited a bit at the airport.
We weren't expecting a room but they said our room was ready...I asked if we could have a balcony and when they checked they said no balcony but a patio at which point my dh said "GREAT, I love that." (he likes to do his exercises on grass so he would just step out every am and do his routine and watch the monorail go by) We had a first floor room in Aotearoa ...quiet and nice gv with a monorail view. We were out of the room by 8:30 to eat Tonga Toast at Capt Cooks, then after went to the bell captain to ask about finding our bricks we bought 7 years ago AND got our anniversary buttons. This is when we got our first pixie dust. The CM that got our buttons asked how many years and when we said 32, he told us to sit and wait for him. So we waited about 5 minutes and "Auntie" came over with him to wish us a happy anniversary and gave us the most wonderful flower leis, traded some island stories and she made us promise to have 32 more magical years. Headed back to the room and our luggage was there already at 10:30.
Our observations:
Friendly CMs - EVERYONE and I mean everyone said aloha to us with or without our anniversary buttons, but that also might be because we both had these silly smiles on our faces all the time. In fact, my dh went early one morning to fill our cups and 2 CMs walked by and one of them said "Good Morning" and the other went into this funny tirade about saying aloha and this is the poly, and that WE say aloha...the CMs apologized for the good morning and said aloha together sort of in harmony, my dh was in stitches.
Mousekeeping - Was great every day except Saturday. We left a little late and came back late afternoon to go to the pool and our room wasn't done yet. The housekeeper apologized over and over, we said that we would be in and out so while we were gone, she cleaned. In her defense, she was the only one doing the rooms on our floor. And she left us LOTS of extra shampoo/cond/ and lotion<G>
Towel animals - the housekeepr during the week made towel animals, we put our fake leis on them. She put our real flower leis in connected hearts and on our second day...more pixie dust...our anniversary buttons and an autographed pic of Mickey and Minnie were sitting in the middle of the leis.
Trasportation - We didn't wait more that 20 min for any bus to go anywhere. Even when we moved to ASMU the last night.
We didn't realize how much we missed the Poly, it is our "home"...too bad DVC doesn't "convert" some rooms here<G>
Sunday we moved to ASMU...different vibe, more kids...just more people.
We had a room in Calypso on the back side which was very quiet. The room was refurbished and wonderful...loved the privacy curtain and the pegs for hanging stuff. We wanted to take the table home for our DDs room<G> They played a movie at 9pm and there were games and dancing at the pool during the day. It is definitely a possiblity for our extended family next year...we can't afford 3 rooms at Poly...but a family suite with 2 rooms or 3 rooms at ASMU is doable.
The ONLY bad thing was my mistake of forgetting my ipod/charger in our ASMU room when we checked out and by the time I figured I had left it charging , the room had been cleaned and no ipod. But that was my memory lapse and am hoping that the pixie dust will come one more time and someone will turn it in.
We did get one last bit of pixie dust as we left Epcot right before we got on the ME to the airport. We were interviewed by a CM and invited to a cruise focus group and would have received $100 disney dollars for our time BUT we were on our way to the airport. But it was nice to know that there was still some pixie dust out there, when we got to the airport gate, they upgraded our seats to economy plus with extra leg room...my dh was in so happy.
So to you that are Poly bound...enjoy those Dole whips. And to you that are ASMU bound...relax in the middle of pool grooving to the music.
We are so ready to go back...even if it's 102 with the heat index
the magic.
