Travelers: Me (40), DH (41), DS (6)
Disney Land/Sea Package 6/19/2003 thru 6/26/2003
Pre-Trip and Day 1
Pre-trip
While DH and I had discussed doing the Disney Land and Sea vacation this year once DS finished kindergarten, DH met with the travel agent one day and came home with the dates, cabin and hotel selected (Deck 7 Verandah cabin / Polynesian Hotel). DH also booked the Disney transportation package. At the time, we didnt actually know when DSs last day of school would be but we were lucky and school ended one week prior to our trip.
I then began religiously visiting WDWIG.com, Disboards.com and Passporter.com, and made priority seating arrangements for all of our dinners as soon as the appropriate times came. Luckily for me, DS is not a princess fan, so I didnt have to sweat obtaining a reservation for Cindys.
Day 1
We used a local sedan service (we used our own booster seat for the trip to the airport, and they kept the seat until they picked us up from our return flight no extra charge It would have been an additional $25 each way for them to supply the seat). We had an 8:45 flight out of soggy, rainy Newark, NJ. Flight was on time and un-eventful and we soon arrived in .. soggy, rainy Orlando, FL! Several Disney Reps were available as we approached the baggage claim area (actually not too far from where we exited the airport monorail). We were escorted to a Disney bus there were about 10 of us on the bus. After waiting about 15 minutes the bus started toward the resorts (buses had TVs which played cartoons and a Disney vacation video). We stopped first to drop off a couple at Port Orleans Riverside (looked nice), and then continued on to the Polynesian. The whole process (from the time we got on the bus until we got off the bus at the Poly) took a little over an hour. Check in was quick, and our room was ready. We were given room 1705 in Niue. The view was of some greenery, part of the GCH, and the tops of the umbrellas from the patio at Captain Cooks. We were close to both the quiet pool and the Volcano pool from one side of Niue, and close to the GCH from the other side (which given the continuous rain was a plus as far as I was concerned).
So we entered the room I was kind of nervous about a potential moldy smell Id read about in some reports (I have a mold allergy) No moldy smell (yea!).. but ashtray in the bathroom oops forgot to confirm we had received a non-smoking room. Should have remembered this was a smoking building from everything I had read, but of course DS had to go potty just as we were getting our room assignment, and I was so happy that the room was ready that I didnt even question the assignment. Anyway with the rainy weather it really was a convenient location, so we decided to stay. We dropped off our carry on bags and headed to Kona Café for lunch.
For some reason, DS gets VERY excited whenever we go on vacation. Hes normally a very laid back kid, but We ordered lunch, and started eating hed been fidgeting ever since we got to the restaurant (despite several potty trips) once we started eating he began to cough kicked both of his legs out and knocked over the table!! Luckily, DH caught the table before lunch was on the floor, but my soda and DSs lemonade both ended up totally soaking my perfectly cooked chicken sandwich and fries! At that point, DSs coughing had stopped we confirmed he was just spazzing and not choking I asked DH to order me a glass of wine and exited the restaurant in search of cough drops and sanity. When I returned, my wine was delivered, followed by a replacement lunch - no charge for the extra lunch. (I considered this my Disney magic for the day since DS caused the mess!)
Lunch: grilled chicken sandwich, BBQ pork sandwich, kids pasta & MB, glass wine, 3 soft drinks, Mickey sundae (All very good) $60 with tip.
We walked around the GCH a bit, obtained some pressed pennies, took a circle on the monorail back to the room to rest and freshen up.
We had a 6:30 PS at San Angel Inn for dinner. Left around 5:00 did Space Ship Earth and the Energy attraction (first time I had seen this version thought it was good, and DS enjoyed the dinosaurs), and just made it to our PS at 6:29. Dinner was good: Kids chicken fingers, Mexican plate, beef tips, 1 mixed drink, ½ carafe wine $76 with tip. After dinner we walked back toward test track (although the advertised closing time for future world was 6:00, Test track was open until around 9:00 I think, a couple of the other attractions were also open later than 6:00). DH would have loved to ride TT, but the single rider line had a posted wait time of 60 minutes so we passed on that and went back to the hotel and bed.
Disney Land/Sea Package 6/19/2003 thru 6/26/2003
Pre-Trip and Day 1
Pre-trip
While DH and I had discussed doing the Disney Land and Sea vacation this year once DS finished kindergarten, DH met with the travel agent one day and came home with the dates, cabin and hotel selected (Deck 7 Verandah cabin / Polynesian Hotel). DH also booked the Disney transportation package. At the time, we didnt actually know when DSs last day of school would be but we were lucky and school ended one week prior to our trip.
I then began religiously visiting WDWIG.com, Disboards.com and Passporter.com, and made priority seating arrangements for all of our dinners as soon as the appropriate times came. Luckily for me, DS is not a princess fan, so I didnt have to sweat obtaining a reservation for Cindys.
Day 1
We used a local sedan service (we used our own booster seat for the trip to the airport, and they kept the seat until they picked us up from our return flight no extra charge It would have been an additional $25 each way for them to supply the seat). We had an 8:45 flight out of soggy, rainy Newark, NJ. Flight was on time and un-eventful and we soon arrived in .. soggy, rainy Orlando, FL! Several Disney Reps were available as we approached the baggage claim area (actually not too far from where we exited the airport monorail). We were escorted to a Disney bus there were about 10 of us on the bus. After waiting about 15 minutes the bus started toward the resorts (buses had TVs which played cartoons and a Disney vacation video). We stopped first to drop off a couple at Port Orleans Riverside (looked nice), and then continued on to the Polynesian. The whole process (from the time we got on the bus until we got off the bus at the Poly) took a little over an hour. Check in was quick, and our room was ready. We were given room 1705 in Niue. The view was of some greenery, part of the GCH, and the tops of the umbrellas from the patio at Captain Cooks. We were close to both the quiet pool and the Volcano pool from one side of Niue, and close to the GCH from the other side (which given the continuous rain was a plus as far as I was concerned).
So we entered the room I was kind of nervous about a potential moldy smell Id read about in some reports (I have a mold allergy) No moldy smell (yea!).. but ashtray in the bathroom oops forgot to confirm we had received a non-smoking room. Should have remembered this was a smoking building from everything I had read, but of course DS had to go potty just as we were getting our room assignment, and I was so happy that the room was ready that I didnt even question the assignment. Anyway with the rainy weather it really was a convenient location, so we decided to stay. We dropped off our carry on bags and headed to Kona Café for lunch.
For some reason, DS gets VERY excited whenever we go on vacation. Hes normally a very laid back kid, but We ordered lunch, and started eating hed been fidgeting ever since we got to the restaurant (despite several potty trips) once we started eating he began to cough kicked both of his legs out and knocked over the table!! Luckily, DH caught the table before lunch was on the floor, but my soda and DSs lemonade both ended up totally soaking my perfectly cooked chicken sandwich and fries! At that point, DSs coughing had stopped we confirmed he was just spazzing and not choking I asked DH to order me a glass of wine and exited the restaurant in search of cough drops and sanity. When I returned, my wine was delivered, followed by a replacement lunch - no charge for the extra lunch. (I considered this my Disney magic for the day since DS caused the mess!)
Lunch: grilled chicken sandwich, BBQ pork sandwich, kids pasta & MB, glass wine, 3 soft drinks, Mickey sundae (All very good) $60 with tip.
We walked around the GCH a bit, obtained some pressed pennies, took a circle on the monorail back to the room to rest and freshen up.
We had a 6:30 PS at San Angel Inn for dinner. Left around 5:00 did Space Ship Earth and the Energy attraction (first time I had seen this version thought it was good, and DS enjoyed the dinosaurs), and just made it to our PS at 6:29. Dinner was good: Kids chicken fingers, Mexican plate, beef tips, 1 mixed drink, ½ carafe wine $76 with tip. After dinner we walked back toward test track (although the advertised closing time for future world was 6:00, Test track was open until around 9:00 I think, a couple of the other attractions were also open later than 6:00). DH would have loved to ride TT, but the single rider line had a posted wait time of 60 minutes so we passed on that and went back to the hotel and bed.
