Doing the World, Poly-style, WITH PICS!!

[sydprincess]

The Introductions

Hello everyone!

Can't believe it's time to begin my trip report! YES!!!

Here is my Disney lovin' clan that will be a part of this report:

Me! 31 year old stay at home mom who loves Disney and, therefore, am a DIS addict (aren't we all?!). That's okay, I'm cool with it. This will be my 11th trip to WDW. I would like to thank my parents who helped me along in my addiction, which started with my first visit at the ripe age of 1. For the first time ever, I will be staying at the Polynesian. This time, I won't be one of those visitors who walks into the lobby with their mouth dropped open in awe. I... will be... a GUEST.

DH! 34 year old hard workin' dad. When we met, he knew so little of Disney, it made me feel sorry for him. His one and only experience to the World was bad. He left with one lousy sucker, and a love for only the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. He hadn't heard of half of the Disney movies out there, and definitely did not know one name of any of the princesses. Now, 2 trips and 3 daughters later, he's a bona fide expert. He's even comfortable enough to jump into trip discussions with the other moms at ballet class and offer advice. He's come a long way, and I'm proud of him. He has an annoying love for Gaston, but I guess I should just be glad that he's found a character to identify with.

DD6! This will be her 3rd visit, and a special one as well. She will be turning 7 smack dab in the middle of the vacation, and I have lots of special surprises planned to help celebrate. She is beginning to get away from the Princess and starting to ask if the characters are people in costumes, but I just brush her off when she asks such nonsense and pretend I didn't hear her. So far, this tactic has worked and she hasn't seemed to find a definite answer to her question, so let's hope that doesn't change from now until we leave. She is an incredibly good student and has been working hard all year. She is in 1st grade, but goes to 2nd grade for reading and spelling, which means more work for her than the rest of her peers. She takes gymnastics, piano lessons, dances at two studios, and participates in pageants. She loves it all (really, moms) but needs this vacation to relax and get a break from it all.

Here she is giving up her most recent pageant title:

DD3! This will be her second visit, but DH and I see it as an opportunity to re-do her first. She was just 2 at the time and, like many 2 year olds, had a tough time waiting in lines, standing still for photos, and being patient until the characters came to our table. However, she had been dealing with ear infections throughout the previous year and we had yet to have her ear tubes inserted. The sights, and sounds especially, over stimulated her and she had meltdown after meltdown. We did our best to adjust things to make it easier for her, but there were still many grumpy moments on her behalf. She turns 4 in just a few weeks, and is now a completely different child. Since getting her tubes and working with a top notch speech therapist in our district, she no longer experiences any auditory processing issues. She is excited to get back to see Mickey, and I am very, very excited for her.

Wearing her Mickey ears on our 100 Days To Disney celebration

DD 5 months! She is the newest addition to our family, and we don't know how we ever lived without her. She is a perfect baby (the other two were not, so we were due for one) and I do not foresee any issues with taking her on this trip. We are going to modify our plans when necessary to accommodate her needs, but I am confident that she will enjoy it all, and take her initiation into our Disney obsession quite well.

Thanks for reading! Up next...The Details!

 

[sydprincess]

The Details: Part 1

Our last trip to WDW happened in June of 2007. For the first time for all of us, we stayed deluxe at the Wilderness Lodge and had the best time because of it. It truly made the trip all the better. At the time we booked it, we felt it would completely wreck us to stay deluxe for 10 days (we didn't do the dining plan, so no package deal) but looking back, it was worth every penny. Most surprising was the fact that DD6 completely fell in love with the place. Both girls were amazed by it, but DD6 was the one who cried when we walked out of the lobby for the last time, and who STILL cries when she talks about having stayed there. I don't exactly know why she has such an attachment to it, but I do know that it has a special place in her heart.

I took this on our way to dinner at Artist's Point. Happy as a clam!

A few more shots of her from the trip.

Meetin' the Mouse!

With DH by the castle

Meeting Sleeping Beauty at My Disney Girl's Perfectly Princess Tea.

Doing the Mickey hands!

Meeting Art the Greeter, one of the highlights of our trip!

And now some of DD3's grumpy moments that I was talking about.

Who doesn't like meeting Sleeping Beauty?!

Ripping off her brand new Mickey ears.

Making me hold her still to take a picture.

There were plenty of good moments as well!

They loved Bruce!

Meeting Ariel

On our way to the castle for breakfast

Relaxing on the beach at Caledesi Island

When we returned from this trip, I knew we would do a few things differently the next time around. The first thing on my agenda was to talk DH into staying at either the Poly or the GF. DH of course shot both ideas down in about, oh, a nanosecond. But just as fast, I plotted a way to work one of the resorts into our '09 plans. I had loved our time at the Lodge, but without a doubt wanted to try a new resort. I knew I had to get DH on board, otherwise there was going to have to be some sneaky dealings going on behind his back when I went ahead and booked one of the resorts without his consent, and I just didn't want to have to deal with all of the work that such a cover-up requires.

Then along came my pregnancy. I had an ah ha moment and realized that nothing could sell the Poly to him better than the fact that the monorail would be so much better for us now that we would have a baby in tow. I sweetened the monorail deal even more and told him that I would work the schedule to allow us to ditch the rental car a few days earlier, let us sleep in later, AND have the awesome advantage of being able to check into our flight and check our luggage at the hotel instead of the airport. I totally thought I would have him when I made this point. See, when we were checking into our outbound flight on the last trip, we were the couple that was shouting to each other when it came time to move the luggage from the check-in counter to the luggage handler on the side of the counter. DH didn't see where he needed to move the luggage to, so as I was struggled in line with my 2 and 4 year olds and 10 pieces of luggage, I did my best to show him where to go. Our exchange went something like this-

"Take the suitcases over there." That's me, as I'm clearly pointing to the location I am referring to.

"Where?" Geeze, DH- THERE! The place my finger is pointing to, the location that is right in front of your face!

"There!", I say louder, really pointing now. I continue to get the blank stare from DH.

"Where?" I'm beginning to wonder why in the world my used-to-be-intelligent husband cannot see the same area that I am looking at with my own two eyes, not to mention frantically pointing to.

"THERE! THERE! Right there!!" He should have it now, I say to myself. I can stop this embarrassing exchange because he's got to see it now.

"I don't see it!" Well, it was about this time that I pick up my two children, somehow squeeze past the 50 million others around me, and step two inches from him to point to the location that is just 4 inches from him.

"Here! Carry the luggage from our place in line and bring it here, right here. Do you now see where you are going to bring the luggage? Because I need go get back in line and check us into our flight!!!"

Not that I dwell on this incident a whole lot mad but it made me fairly confident that DH would want to avoid that situation again as much as I wanted to. I mean, there's no way he would pass that up!

Nope, no dice. He tells me to book Coronado Springs, as originally planned, and let it go. Let it go? I was not ready to let that happen. So I went with my last resort...praying to the Disney gods. I knew I would be given an answer, and sure enough, that answer came in the form of a buy 4, get 3 free deal. I love it when things go my way! As soon as I read about the deal here on the boards, I waited for DH to slip off to his second shift job and then dialed Disney reservations to book our 7 nights at the Polynesian. Now, our original plan was to go for 11 days and spend them all at Coronado Springs. But since we were doing the 7 nights at the Poly with the package deal, I couldn't help but notice that we saved a decent amount of money. It was about this time that I looked over at my DD6 innocently reading a book on the couch, when an idea popped into my head. It may only be for 3 days, I said to myself, but I am taking her back to the Lodge...

Next up, The Details: Part 2...

 

[sydprincess]

The Details: Part 2

It was time to break the news to the hubby. I knew what my angle had to be. I would play it up like we struck the lottery by getting this deal, and on top of it, get across to him what a fantastic mother I am to have booked a 3 day stay at the WL to surprise DD6 for her birthday. How could he not be totally pleased with me?

Well, he was...until he found out that we would still be paying the regular rate for the 4 paid nights of the package. I definitely did not tell him the EXACT per night rate ($350, I think? $400? Something like that...), and was sure to remind him it's JUST a standard view, nothing fancy. I threw in the fact that I also booked the Dining Plan with the package, which would be saving us even MORE money.



In the end, he accepted the fact that I made the very wise decision to upgrade ourselves to a hotel that I have always, always, always wanted to stay at. I am beside myself with happiness that we are booked, paid and ready to go.

The other exciting part of this obviously is the surprise for DD6 of staying at the Lodge. When DH and I were considering staying at Coronado Springs, she and I would go back and forth about why we weren't going back to WL. She would reluctantly look at the Coronado Springs website page with me, any and all enthusiasm drained from her body. She tried time and time again to talk me into going back, and each time I reminded her that we wanted to try something new as well as save some money. She was persistent and I have to give her credit for that. It thrilled me to be able to throw the three day stay in, and as hard as I knew it would be to keep it from her, I made DH swear that he would not let the cat slip out of the bag. I have these visions of us pulling up to check in and seeing her look up, realizing exactly where we are. Now, I'm sure it will go just the opposite, and that her and DD3 will be fighting too much to notice at that moment, or even worse, she'll just throw me a half-smile. But I know deep down that she will be a happy camper about it, and when we get home, will continue to miss it as much as she does now.

Which brings me to the things that we have planned to make her birthday in the World special. When DH and I discussed going there over her birthday, we had mixed feelings about it. No one loves birthdays more than DD3, and we didn't want her to feel left out. We know that we will take her to WDW over her birthday some time in the future, but we want it to be when she can really appreciate it and remember it, so that is a few years off. On the upside, we don't have to plan a huge birthday party for DD6. For the last two years, she has had parties with 80-90 of her "closest" friends and their parents, and frankly, it pained me to think of once again going through the months of planning that go into these parties of hers. Bypassing all of that was so tempting, and this Disney trip was going to kill two birds with one stone if we planned it over her birthday. DH wholeheartedly agreed with me on this, so it was decided that it couldn't get any better than to have a party with Mickey.

In wanting her to still have some sort of celebration, I booked a fireworks cruise as a surprise for the night of her birthday. I let her pick the park to go to and rides that she wants to go on, and of course booked breakfast at Chef Mickey's. I am going to decorate the room and bring a few presents with for her to open. She can spend her free gift card on whatever she wants. I promised her I won't tell her no, no matter what she picks. We're also going to do a family photo session that day to get her official 7 year old pictures. Hopefully these things will help make her day extra special.

So, here is what our schedule looks like. At this point, it is set in stone. The ADR's are booked, the flights are in place, and the rental car is reserved. There is not a whole lot left to do!!

The details~

Trip dates: May 21st-31st

Staying at WL May 21st-24th

Staying at the Poly from May 24th-31st

Arriving on Air Tran at 10:50 on the 21st; departing on Air Tran at 12:30 on the 31st

Celebrating:

DD6's 7th birthday
DD baby's first trip
DD3's success in her progress with speech

I will post the itinerary next!

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

I'm in! You will LOVE the Poly! I wanted to stay there my whole life and finally did. Like you said, it was AMAZING to finally be a GUEST!! Getting off the monorail to go to YOUR ROOM, not a restaurant!! Your kids are adorable and I'm excited to read more!

 

[sydprincess]

Yeah! Thanks for joining! Let's hope I enjoy the Poly as much as you did!!

 

[sydprincess]

Where We're Chowin'

Okay, I lied. I'm going to list our dining plans first. I've been thinking about all of the fun places we're going to be dining and I wanted to jump right in with the plans.

The package we booked includes the Basic Dining Plan. We did not do the plan on our last trip and should have. We would have saved over $400. I didn't want to deal with the counting of credits. Isn't that just the stupidest reason ever? This time around, I'll be counting the credits AND the extra money in my pocket.

We booked way too many character meals on our last trip, so I decided to scale those back a bit. We kept the places that are traditions for us, as well as added a few new ones in. In the end, we love eating anywhere in the World, and I of course love the fact that I get out of preparing meals for an entire 11 days!!!

There are a few things we won't while on vacation in the World. While we do pick up groceries, we don't buy food for breakfast in the room. We do enough cereal and granola bars at home- I want a change! We also do not skip any meals. We eat three meals a day here, and the heat doesn't stop us from eating three meals in FL. We are also big, big snackers, so I know in advance that our snack credits will not cover us for the entire trip. My daughters will have to have popcorn, at least 2 ice cream treats and some kind of candy or cookie every day. And with staying at the Poly and having that incredible Dole Whip sitting waiting for me at Captain Cooks, I will no doubt be making at least two stops a day to pick me up some of that yummy treat.

With that said, here is the list!

Day 1

Lunch at the WL food court
Dinner at Whispering Canyon- we have only done breakfast here, so I am looking forward to this meal

Day 2

Breakfast at Cape May- this stop is a tradition for us; I absolutely love the Beach Club and enjoy the atmosphere of this restaurant
Lunch at T-Rex- can't wait for this one! The menu looks incredible!
Dinner at Boma- my favorite restaurant of ALL time. I think about Boma often. I think about the food at Boma often. I think about standing in front of the buffet at Boma and filling plate after plate after plate of food. This place is the BEST, and I cannot wait to go back.

Day 3

Breakfast at Roaring Forks
Picnic lunch on the beach at Fort De Soto
Dinner at Artist's Point- love this place as well. DD6 can't wait to have another chocolate puzzle.

Day 4- Birthday Day!

Breakfast at Chef Mickey's- we have never done this character meal, and I think the girls will love it. I have arranged for a celebration centerpiece to be waiting for the birthday girl when we get there!
Lunch at Kona Cafe
Dinner at Pinocchio Village House- DD6 loves It's A Small World, so I am hoping we can get one of those coveted window seats.

Day 5

Breakfast at Captain Cook's
Lunch at Studio Catering Company
Dinner at Sci Fi Drive In- this is a new one for us. Normally we go to '50's Prime Time, but Sci Fi looks like a lot of fun. We're giving it a try!

Day 6

Breakfast at O'Hana's
Lunch at Leaning Palms
Dinner at Captain Cook's

Day 7

Breakfast will be room service
Lunch at Flame tree
Dinner at O'Hana's- we have never tried this meal here but my parents have highly recommended it to me.

Day 8

Breakfast at Crystal Palace
Lunch at Pecos Bill
Dinner at Columbia Harbor House

Day 9

Breakfast at 1900 Park Fare- this was one of my favorites when I was a child, and I still love it. We get the picture in the carriage outside the GF before heading in to look around the hotel before our ressie.
Lunch at Liberty Inn
Dinner at Coral Reef-a new one for us! I love seafood so I am looking forward to it!

Day 10

Breakfast at Cinderella's Castle!!
Lunch at the Plaza Restaurant
Dinner at Cosmic Rays

Day 11

Breakfast at Kona Cafe
Lunch at the airport

Day by day schedule, up next! For real this time!

 

[sydprincess]

Day One- Arrival Day

We will be rising early to get to the airport in time to make our 7:15am flight. I figure DH and I will get up around 4:15, get the kids up at 4:45, and leave around 5:00. We live 5 minutes from the airport so it will be a quick drive. I hate to do the advised arrival of 2 hours prior to flight departure, but with security and such these days, I don't want to risk being late due to some sort of delay. Who cares anyway, right? We'll be on our way to Disney!!

Out flight touches down at 10:50am, and from there, we will grab the suitcases and head over to the National counter to get our vehicle. We rented a mini-van (which DH is NOT happy about, seeing that is what we drive at home) but I couldn't justify the price we'd be paying for a higher grade car, so mini-van it is! We will be renting for 6 days at a total of $555. We will be dropping it off at the Dolphin because- hello!- we'll have the monorail. Let me say it again- we'll have the monorail.

We will immediately head to WL to check in. Remember, this is also where we surprise DD6 on our 3 night stay here. So, let's hope that when I'm writing my report after the fact that there are a lot of happy tears and "You're the best, Mom!" to report.

After getting the bags in the room, the next item on the agenda will be to eat, since it will be around 1:30, 2:00 at this point. We'll head over to Roaring Forks since that's the fastest and most convenient option we will have. We like this food court a lot. It has some terrific desserts and we have never come across anything we didn't like.

By this point, the kids will be begging us to go swimming. If the weather permits, we will agree to this, but only for an hour or so since we will have other things to accomplish on our first day "back home".

Once we get that out of the way, we'll return to the room where DH and I will unpack while the kids watch Stacy on tv. It will be about now that I bust out the Clorox wipes I packed and clean everything I possibly can that passes my line of vision. This will be followed by me ripping off the bed comforters and promising a swift death to anyone who goes near them. After my inspection for bed bugs is complete, I will be able to take off my OCD hat and relax, knowing that my most important next step is ensuring that my Purell is never far from my grasp and that the children have had a squirt of it in their hands at least every half an hour. This may be Disney World, but to me, it's also Germ World, and that ain't good when it comes to a clean freak like myself.

Now that we are fed, swimmed and settled, we can head over to Goodings to buy some seriously overpriced groceries. Every time we leave this place, I shake my head and ask myself why I don't head over to any one of the other, more affordable grocery stores in the area. Is it the fact that the store is carpeted that keeps drawing me back? Is it the Disney merchandise that they sell that happens to be the first merchandise I come across on the trip and calls to me to purchase it? Nope, neither one. For me, it's just a weird tradition that started with my parents. Our first night dinner was always at Jungle Jim's. Back before the place got shut down most likely due to a roach infestation, it was a fun, lively, super busy restaurant that we loved to eat at on our arrival night. We would head over to Goodings when we were finished and pick up items for the rest of our stay. When my parents travel to the World with my sister and her family, they still stop there, too. For me, it's just a reminder of the days when I traveled with them as a kid, and it brings back happy memories. Just one of those things.

We will now head back to WL and check in for our 7pm dining ressie at Whispering Canyon. We have yet to have dinner here, and I'm looking forward to it because that skillet looks SOOOO good! I am crossing my fingers that it is not too busy and we are seated close to our ressie time. I know the kiddies will be losing steam at this point, and there is shopping to be done before we head back to our room!

The girls like to hit the gift shop and pick up their first souvenirs. I pick up postcards and such, and let the girls get a few things that catch their eye. DH will most likely get a new shirt. I refrain from buying a whole lot for myself. I'd rather the girls get something with that money. I rarely say no to what they want when we are there, and that is important to me because it's their vacation and their memories, and I don't want them to look back and remember the time mom told them no to something they really wanted. It makes me happy to see them happy, so that's the way I view the souvenir situation.

Now that we have had a few hours for it to sink it that we are truly back at WDW, we will head up to our oh-so-comfy WDW beds and sleep that deep, heavy sleep that I only achieve while I am here on vacation. Ohhh, I am so looking forward to that...

Next up, Day 2!

 

[AlohaPolynesian]

Dining plans look great and your first day sounds exciting! Ohana is my absolute favorite place to eat dinner in all of WDW! My family and friends have enjoyed it, too. I am going there next week and the only ressie available the entire time I was there was Friday at 9:15PM, but I took it! Coral Reef is also another one I really like. I tried the Plaza last trip for the first time and am looking forward to going back next week. Also, when you eat at Captain Cooks, try the 'Grown Up Grilled Cheese' - so good!

 

[sydprincess]

Thank you, AlohaPolynesian!! I love your feedback! Have a wonderful time on your own vacation. I hope to have a trip report of yours to read! Enjoy!!

 

[sydprincess]

Day Two- Downtown Disney and Boardwalk

Due to Disney's "creative" May scheduling (less Fantasmic, Spectro and Wishes) the order we are doing things is going to be somewhat backwards. Also, due to the fact that we are getting rid if the rental car halfway through our trip and solely using the monorail, we put the places we needed to use the car to get to at the beginning of the vacation, and saved the Magic Kingdom and Epcot for the end. Not ideal for us, because like everyone else, we want to hit those parks first, but we decided to try something different. We hope it works!

I prefer to go to DTD towards the middle to end of our trip because this is the big shopping day for us. If we hold off on getting something, it's because we want to see what DTD has to offer first. I'm trying to figure out if that is how we should proceed this time as well. I think it will be a play it by ear type of thing.

We are going to start our day off with a 7:45 breakfast at Cape May Cafe. We enjoy this buffet and character meal so much. I always look forward to it, and of course love visiting the beautiful Beach Club. I am crossing my fingers that Art will be working that day. It would be such a treat for us to be able to visit with him again.

I have 9:50 BBB appointments scheduled for the girls at the DTD location. Even though we do not plan to make it to any of the parks today, I am still wanting them to have the experience of the BBB. We had quite a fiasco with DD6's appointment on the last trip. I didn't make one for DD3 because we knew she would not sit for it. But DD6 really wanted to go and so I booked her an afternoon session. Well, we got to DTD on time, but the parking was awful. It took us a good 10 minutes to find a spot to park. By the time we made it to the BBB counter, we were slightly late. Our wait time ended up being around 40 minutes, and we had to bail out on it because we had to get some shopping in before DD6 and DH went to Cirque. This time, I have allowed for plenty of time to park and arrive early for their appointments. I also realize that they are less likely to be super behind early in the day, which should shorten our wait time. Let's hope my strategy pays off! I have booked the Crown packages for the girls. We won't be getting the professional shots taken when they are finished. We have shopping to do!

After getting a good hour and a half of shopping in, we will head over to T-Rex for our 12:30 ressie. Has everyone seen their menu?! It's amazing! I have looked at it at least 5 times already and still cannot decide what I'm going to order. From pictures I have seen, I cannot wait to get an up close look at the inside of this restaurant. Both girls love dinos, and I know they're going to get a kick out of this place.

After lunch, we will have another 4 hours to shop. We of course stop by the Lego Dragon to get some pictures, as well as make a stop at Ghiradelli's. I can't leave DTD without topping out my daily calorie intake with one single sundae. And that will be BEFORE the stop at Goofy's Candy Company!!

But I will have to save room, because for dinner, we are going to Boma. You know, the place I love to eat more than anywhere else on this earth. The place where no one is allowed to bother me while I am eating so I can accomplish scarfing down as much food as I possibly can. Yeah, that place. I will most likely dart to the check-in counter, leaving DH and the kiddies in the dust, because I will need to get to that buffet before everyone else has the chance to eat up all of that yummy, yummy food. When we leave, there will likely be tears, but as they say- "It is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all".

All of us like this hotel a whole lot, so we will take some time to walk the grounds, take pictures and visit the animals. Here are some shots from our lat visit (remember DD3 wasn't much for taking pictures that trip, so these just have DD6 in them).

Hanging out in the lobby

Viewing the animals

We are then heading over to the Boardwalk for a quick visit and a stroll around. We have never been on a Friday night before, so if there's some fun entertainment going on, we'll stick around to watch. I'd like to get back to WL by 8:00 so the kids can play on the beach for a little bit while I take some pictures of the WL at night. It's so homey and beautiful at dusk.

That will wrap up our first full day in the World!

 

[Disneylove1228]

omg I can feel the excitement build in myself just as I read your PTR! ahhh! i'm so excited for you! what a beautiful family you are!!! I can't wait to read more, I love that you are all so Disney Obsessed!! Isn't it FUN!? lol! Can't wait to read more!

 

[sydprincess]

Hi Disneylove1228! Thanks for joining! And yes, it IS so fun to be Disney obsessed! Takes one to know one, right?!

 

[sydprincess]

Day Three- The Beach

Nope, not as in Blizzard. This is a mostly non-Disney day for us, and I am already looking forward to it!

When DH and I were planning our last trip, we planned a day to take a break from WDW and show the girls more of Florida other than Disney. We decided we had time to make a one day trip to Caladesi Island in Dunedin, just north of Clearwater. It ended up being one of the best days of the trip for us. The girls LOVED the gulf and could have spent all day on the beach. The island was gorgeous!

DD6 taking it easy

DD3 LOVED the water!

While it was tempting to want to return to Caladesi, we opted to try something different this time around. However, it was hard to find somewhere that would fit well into the schedule. We knew we wanted to return to the hotel by night, so wherever we picked had to be within a few hours of WDW and somewhere that was also kid friendly. I scoured the internet for about two weeks before I decided that the north beach at Fort De Soto would be a great place to visit. My parents, who were at the time visiting FL for a month, had just been to both Sanibel and Marco Island. They suggested we try one of those beaches, but I took one look at the map and knew it would be too long of a drive. DH and I both agreed that Fort De Soto would work well, so I stuck it into our plans.

Our plan for this day is to wake up early and grab breakfast from the food court. We'd like to be on the road no later than 7:00. If all goes well, we will arrive by 9:30, 10:00. The only thing on the agenda is to play on the beach. Whatever the girls want to do and see, we will do. I am going to pack a picnic lunch with the food we purchased from Goodings. I've read there are great picnicking spots at this location, and figured it would save us some time as opposed to finding something there to eat. The more play time, the better! Everyone cross your fingers that we have perfect weather this day. There is no backup plan if it rains.

Once we have had our fill of the sand and sun, we will make the drive back to WL, hop in the shower, and get spruced up for our dinner reservation at Artist's Point. DH missed out on the ressie the last trip because DD3 was acting up and did not want to go. He offered to stay with her while DD6 and I went and enjoyed an amazing meal. Thanks DH! He would have really enjoyed it here, so I am glad that he will be able to experience it this time around. In my opinion, this is one of the best restaurants on WDW property. There was no way that I wasn't fitting it into our dining plans!

After our meal, we are going straight up to the room to pack up our stuff, because in the morning, we are checking in...to the Poly!!!! It will also be DD6's birthday, so once the kiddies are asleep, I am going to call the front desk at the WL and set up a wake call with a special birthday message from Goofy. Before we head to bed, DH and I will spend some time sitting on the balcony to enjoy our last night at the Lodge.

Next report...DD6's birthday, and a dream come true for all of us!

 

[sydprincess]

Day Four- Birthday Day!

This day will hopefully be the best day of the trip. It's going to go either very smoothly, or...not. We have a lot going on, so I will have to be on top of my game today, making sure we stay on schedule and avoid any and all disasters.

We have an early birthday wake up call from Goofy coming our way around 6am. I will for sure send DD6 back to bed once she hears it, then nudge DH to get his butt up. That's one thing he loves about Disney vacations- he gets to sleep in. We have to load the luggage into the car since today is the day we are moving to the Poly.

The first agenda on the list is to check out of WL (sniff!), if I'm able to drag DD6 out of there without a fight. She gets so emotional over this place and will for sure be crying as we walk out, which will get me bummed because it's her birthday!

As we were driving out on the last trip, I took this picture and told DD6 that we would be back.

I'm glad I was able to fulfill that promise. I think I will take that picture again and tell her the same thing.

But enough tears already. We are checking in- yes, CHECKIN' in- to the Polynesian. It is about this time that I will call up my parents and lead them on a long guilt trip, telling them how unfortunate it was for me to have to wait 31 years before I was able to stay here, and because of my age and status as a wife and mother, had to pay for it out of my own pocket. Once I get that out of my system, I'll be able to proceed to the check in desk, because darn it, I want my lei!!

This is when I start praying to those Disney gods again- "Gimme an upgrade, gimme an upgrade. Don't hold it against me that I was too cheap and booked standard. Gimme an upgrade...". If there happens to be a male checking us in, it is not beneath me to flirt with him to get said upgrade. And I don't care if DH is standing beside me either. Take one for the team, DH.

I'm aware that we won't be able to check in quite yet (we are doing so early because we need to activate our Dining Plan so we can use it that day) so we will leave our luggage in the car and hop onto the monorail for our ADR at Chef Mickey's. We have never been to this character meal before. I had it scheduled on the last trip but ended up cancelling it because we were too exhausted to get up in time. I have read mixed reviews of it here, but I am so hoping we hit it on a good day. It's DD6's birthday breakfast, and I want it to be special. I have called ahead and requested that the celebration centerpiece be placed on the table. I might arrange for some balloons as well, but I haven't decided yet.

After breakfast, we are returning to the Poly to have a photo session at the hotel. I think it's a great way to commemorate our first stay there, as well as DD6's birthday. These will be her official birthday pictures and I can't wait to see how they turn out! It will be great to have family pictures taken among the beautiful grounds as well. I am still on the lookout for outfits for the pictures. I want something very nice, not too casual, so it's going to take me some time to find exactly what I'm looking for. I will post when I do!

We have lunch ressies at Kona Cafe. We have only eaten breakfast here, but I have seen pictures of the lunch items and think that we're going to enjoy lunch here just as much as breakfast. We will head here after the photo session, and then hopefully be able to go to our room once we are done.

After we get to the room and I'm done jumping on the bed in excitement, I am going to have DH take the kiddies out for a short walk so I can attempt to decorate the room with some b-day decs I stashed in the luggage. It's not going to be anything spectacular, but I want to at least try to make it feel like a birthday. I think she will be surprised and thankful for the effort.

When they return to the room, it will be time for us to head to the MK!!! I let DD6 plan exactly what she wants to do at the park, so here is her list, in order:

- Afternoon parade (while waiting for this, I am going to pick up her birthday gift card)
- Splash Mountain (DD3 gets to ride it this time!)
- BTMR (another new one for DD3!)
- Mickey's House
- Minnie's House
- Judges Tent to meet Mickey!
- Topping it all off with It's A Small World, her favorite. I have a feeling we'll have to ride this one twice.

Now, this will be a weird move for us. We are very used to going to the park first thing in the morning and staying all day. We do not park hop, we do not leave to go back to the hotel. I hope I can adjust to this, and I think I will, but it's going to feel a bit weird. There was no way we could NOT go to the MK on her birthday anyway. There is no better place for us to be!

She wants to eat at Pinocchio Village House because I told her it overlooks IASM. Otherwise I'm sure she wouldn't have requested it because she has never eaten there before. I'm going to have to score a window seat by luck, or slip a fiver to whoever is sitting there so they move for us.

Dinner will be followed by some shopping. I am going to let her spend her $65 gift card on whatever she wants. I will do everything in my power to bite my tongue if she picks something cheap (can't really apply that to anything Disney, but I'll try) and trinkety. It's her money, and I'm going to respect that.

We are going to leave the park at this point and head back to the hotel. I will be bringing a few small presents with for her to open. She will have opened the majority of them at the family party we are going to have before we depart for the trip. I am also taking her to the American Girl store in Chicago mid-April. I told her she could pick out 2 new dolls and accessories, and those would count as part of her birthday presents. She agreed that that was a good deal. I have no idea what I will bring down to Disney with us, but I'm thinking around 4 or 5 things for her open.

After she is done opening them, DH and I have one more b-day surprise for her. We scheduled a birthday fireworks cruise! I read that they decorate the boat and will bring a cake on if you want. Prior to leaving, I am going to order her a custom made one. I am going to request an It's A Small World theme, which I'm sure they can do. So, we will have the cruise to watch the fireworks and eat cake to wrap up the day. I truly hope she likes it and is surprised. We're not going to tell the girls where we are going- we'll just let them see the boat pull up and off we'll go! On a side note, every year, at the time of her birth (10:45pm), I videotape her (always sleeping ). I think it will be neat to have her on tape awake while on the boat in WDW. In the end, I hope she is pleased with her Disney birthday, and remembers it for a long time to come.

Day 5 is up next!