Honey, can we go to Disney??............AGAIN???!!!! - adult only Poly TR

[Melknor]

Six months later I finally decided to write a TR about my "adult only" trip from September. I was reading Nancy for Disney's adult only TR, and decided I need to post mine as well. It brings back wonderful memories and I like looking at our pictures. Besides, we are taking our 2nd family trip in 46 days, so this will help me pass the time too................

I wish I was able to come up with some of these catchy titles like the rest of you do. I don't have much, so VIOLA! Here is my TR

DH and I celebrated our 10yr anniversary in April, but had a cruise planned just the two of us for September (cheaper cruise dates). The cruise was out of Tampa, which is good since the airfare from Iowa to Tampa is pretty reasonable. The cruise had been booked for over a year, but I don't book airfare until closer to the dates so I can watch for deals. After our April trip, I fell in love with WDW and got to thinking (I know, dangerous at times) why not add on a couple of days at "my happy place" before the cruise? They were running 40% off the rooms for military (DH is active Army) so I started crunching the numbers.

I gotta go to DS's basketball game. I'll post more later today and add some pics.

 

[Melknor]

Ok, so I started an updated, had a bunch of it typed up and my computer froze and I lost it all.

It was such brilliant writing............. Here goes again.

So I left off crunching numbers with the 40% military discount. Since we hadn't stayed on-site before, I definately wanted to try it out since we didn't have the kids. Looking over the resorts, I wanted to stay away from the values since they seemed more kid-oriented. I was drawn to POFQ since it looked romantic. I used Dreams Unlimited to book this trip and in retrospect, should have just done it myself. I didn't have any problems using them and they were very responsive to all my changes, but they didn't offer anything above and beyond what I could have done for myself.

So I booked us three nights at POFQ at the discount. Later I added on our tickets and then we decided to try the DDP out since it was just us. Before adding the ddp, I wanted to make sure I could get ressies at places we wanted to eat before spending the money. Once they were made, I added the ddp to our ressie. Of course I can't leave anything alone................

I really fell in love with the Poly when we had breakfast there in April on our family trip. I knew I really wanted to stay there sometime and didn't think we could afford to spend a week there with the kids so I talked DH into upgrading to the Poly for the three nights. Hey, it was to celebrate our 10yr anniversary! (also I also like to justify to my self that since DH works 4 hours away and commutes home on weekends, that we deserved to have a wonderful, romantic trip!) He loves me and wants me to be happy so it wasn't too hard to talk him into the upgrade.

So after that long and drawn out story................we stayed at Disney Sept 17 - 21st. (Thurs - Sat) We stayed at the Poly, gardenview room and requested Tokelau (after much debating and studying.........)

Will we get our requested room location? How will we like the DDP and our stay at the Poly?

Here is a pic of me and DH

 

[Melknor]

Since we were going to be gone for 10 days total and the kids were in school I had to engage the help from family to take on kid-duty. Even though I had a day-by-day schedule for them to refer to (including pre-school scheduled and sports practices/games), of course it didn't run as smoothly as I would have hoped. You know how a 9yr old trys to get by with stuff with Grandma who doesn't know any better ................ The worst part was that once we were on the cruise ship, they couldn't just call us with questions.

Anyway, my sister and BIL (who don't have kids) agreed to watch my boys for 2 days until my mother came up for the week from TN. BIL stayed at our place that night after work so he was already there when we left in the morning.

We woke up at 3am to get ready. Amazingly I slept really well that night. We left the house by 4 am and had the car parked and inside the airport by 4:25. We live about 20 minutes from the airport and that time of the day/night there is no traffic. The ticket counter for United didn’t even open until 4:30, so we had a little wait to check in. Got checked in and the luggage checked. Because of the split vacation, we had a large suitcase for the cruise stuff & toiletries then a duffle bag with our snorkel gear and smaller suitcase for our Disney clothes. We only checked the large suitcase and used the small rolling bag and the duffle bag for our carry-on. We had a short flight to Chicago where we had a layover. I was nervous about flying into Chicago as I had heard it can be a nightmare. It was fine; no changing terminals or anything. We grabbed some breakfast from a nearby McDonald’s to eat while waiting. The flight to Tampa was fine; I did manage to catch some sleep on the plane, which I normally never get to do when we fly with the boys. That and I have a very hard time sleeping anywhere other than in a bed (preferably my own). I can't sleep in cars, need dark and quiet. I attribute that to my parents must have had the house completely quite when I was a baby. None of that quiet for my baby's. Heck I vaccumed under their cribs when they were sleeping! They can sleep anywhere.

We landed on time in Tampa and our luggage was waitng for us. Whheww (I always get a little worried what if it won't show up). I had a rental car reserved for us with Thrifty. Went out the terminal and across the street (all within the airport) to Thrifty to get our car. They were out of compacts and only had mini-vans left. Now why in the world, on my kid-free trip do I want a &*#^$ mini-van???!!!! Well, I didn't want to wait until they got anything smaller back in, so we took it.

We ended up with a Silver Town & Country. Not too bad for $17/day ($70 total for the 3 days) which was the price for a compact. We got the GPS set up and made it out of the airport on the right road this time (last April we ended up going South in Tampa instead of north to Orlando Traffic was fine out of Tamp and the drive from Tampa to Orlando is smooth once you get out of the city. Pretty soon we saw this:

and this:

Isn't that the best sign EVER??!!!! Through the toll gate where we get to tell them we are CHECKING IN!!! Then we get to see this:

I'm so excited I could just pee my pants! I don't but you get the idea! We pulled up to the guard house, they check our name off the list, gave us our parking pass and off we went. Well, I'm to busy gawking and before you know it, we are pass the self-parking section and we can't turn into the valet section, so we had to go all the way out and back in again, stopping again at the gate. Boy did I feel like an idiot!

We parked and transferred our toiletries to the Disney bag I had packed (so we didn’t have to drag all our stuff in to the hotel for the 3 days). As we were walking in, a CM was also headed that way so she started chatting with us and directed us to the online check in desk, even though we didn't do online check. There were no other lines, so we went there. I felt like a VIP right out of the cornfields. Ok, we don't live in a cornfield, or even in the country, but you know what I mean.

When we were checking in, they had us in Roratonga on the first floor facing the parking lot. I mentioned that I had requested Tokelau and asked if they had anything available over there. The CM saw our request and was able to move us to that building on the 3rd floor. I will leave you with some resort pictures. Ahh a little slice of heaven!

 

[Melknor]

The lobby area

Headed towards Tokelau and the quiet pool:

This is by the volcano pool to rinse off your feet. I took the pic for my kids. We thought it looked like it was peeing.

My next post will have a ton of room pics for ya all. Have I mentioned how much I the Poly? I wish I could bottle the smell of that place.

 

[heaven2dc]

Joining in for this one! Can't wait to see what view you got! The Poly is so serene and peaceful looking - I would love to stay there sometime - solo, of course We will be arriving 11/28/10 & staying at BWV and there will be 9 of us Your pics are so beautiful!

 

[Melknor]

Joining in for this one! Can't wait to see what view you got! The Poly is so serene and peaceful looking - I would love to stay there sometime - solo, of course We will be arriving 11/28/10 & staying at BWV and there will be 9 of us Your pics are so beautiful!

Thanks for joining in! The Poly is wonderful. It's like two vacations in one; a beach/paradise vacant combined with Disney. I made sure to get plenty of resort time just to enjoy the atmosphere. I hope you get a chance to stay there sometime.

 

[Melknor]

Ok, where did I leave off................. with resort pics. We were assigned to room 3919 in Tokelau. 3rd floor with a balcony. YIPPEE!! I really wanted a balcony so I could sit outside in the mornings.

Here are the room pics I took. I didn't think we would get a chance to stay here again, so I took a bunch.

Me with our Mickey head towel

This is looking from the bathroom. The closets are on each side behind the doors and the frig and coffee pot are behind the small doors. They had really cool lighting behind the big doors.

The bathroom. Plenty of space. I loved the toiletries they give you. I use them every once and a while at home and the smell reminds me of Disney

So there are the room pics...........I bet you are wondering what kind of view did we end up with??? Well......................

 

[Melknor]

And our GV room with a view of.........................

and my artistic picture:

Our GV room had a view of the lagoon and the Contemporary! I was very excited to see more than just the beautiful landscaping.

Can you spot the hidden mickey in the carpet?? This is in the hallway. My DH thought I was loony to take it........... he hasn't drunk the kool-aid yet.

We (ok, I) unpacked our clothes for the next 3 days and then we set off to explore the resort. We checked out the quiet pool that is outside our building, the beach areas, the volcano pool and other areas of the resort and took a bunch of pictures. We grabbed pina colava’s from the pool bar and sat in the swings on the beach just relaxing and looking at the castle. What a way to spend an anniversary-moon.

Tonight we had dinner reservations for 5:20 at

We checked in and were given a pager even though the restaurant was basically empty. I think we did have to wait until after our ressie time, but not sure how much longer. I didn't wear a watch on the trip. We looked around in the shops on the second level while waiting. Keith forgot to bring his sunglasses from home, so we found some new ones for him up there in the gift shop.

When our pager went off, we were shown to our table, but first with a stop by the desserts they have set up so you can visually see them. I think this is a nice touch. They all looked so yummy!

Since we were on the dining plan, we got drinks, entrees and dessert. We both had a smoothee for our drink. The mega berry smoothie is delicious! (the pink one)

Then they brought out the bread with the macadamia nut butter (yummy) and we also ordered the duck pot stickers ($7.49) which were delicious. This isn’t included on the dining plan, so we paid out of pocket for them.

For our entrees, Keith had the shrimp & scallops and I had the teriyaki New York strip steak which I substituted the rice for the Yukon gold mashed potatoes (delicious). This was the best steak ever!!

For dessert Keith had the white chocolate cheesecake and I had the coconut cream kiki tart. We only ate half of the dessert and saved the rest for breakfast the next day. This was the best meal of the trip and we will definitely eat here again.

After dinner, we rode the monorail around the loop, just because we could. By the time it was finished with the loop, we were pretty tired from being up since 3am, so we called it a night and went to bed. I awoke at 9pm to the sound of fireworks going off. I jumped out of bed with hopes we could see something through the trees, but unfortunately, I couldn’t see them from the balcony due to a tree blocking the view and I didn’t want to throw on clothes to go outside to see them.

Up next, our first day at MK....................will we make rope drop? How much will we get done without any type of plan?

 

[glennbo123]

I've never seen a Poly room -- thanks for sharing your pics and memories!

 

[Dugette]

Great start. I love the Poly! We stayed there one night on our last trip and it was awesome. We were in Tokelau too, but 1st floor. (I'm with you on wanting a balcony usually, but since we were only there one night, we weren't picky.) I think we have exactly that same picture of the Hidden Mickey in the carpeting...but, my DH actually took it...he's chugging the kool-aid

Your view from the balcony looks beautiful! And happy you had a good meal at Kona. We loved it! Ended up eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner there at some point during our trip...and all were delicious! That steak looks good...I might have to try that next time.

Looking forward to more!

 

[happybratpack]

Loving your trip report! Thanks for the Poly pics, it's my "holy grail" of resorts.

 

[Melknor]

I've never seen a Poly room -- thanks for sharing your pics and memories!

Thanks for reading! I hope to post more shortly.

Great start. I love the Poly! We stayed there one night on our last trip and it was awesome. We were in Tokelau too, but 1st floor. (I'm with you on wanting a balcony usually, but since we were only there one night, we weren't picky.) I think we have exactly that same picture of the Hidden Mickey in the carpeting...but, my DH actually took it...he's chugging the kool-aid

Your view from the balcony looks beautiful! And happy you had a good meal at Kona. We loved it! Ended up eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner there at some point during our trip...and all were delicious! That steak looks good...I might have to try that next time.

Looking forward to more!

Kona was sooo yummy! I think the steak was so good just because of the sauce. I wish we were eating there again in April, but we decided to do all new restaurants and not any repeats.

Loving your trip report! Thanks for the Poly pics, it's my "holy grail" of resorts.

I heart the Poly. "Holy grail"......... I love it!

 

[TinyDancer]

LOVE your Poly pics!!

Disney at the Poly with no kids = dream come true!

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Joining in. Poly and food porn pics, I am in heaven!

 

[Melknor]

Today is Friday, 9/18 and we are headed to the Magic Kingdom today. There is a MNSSHP tonight so the park is closing early. We are not going to the party, but planned on enjoying our resort.

I didn't set an alarm the entire trip. I'm usually up early so I figured I would be here as well. I woke up early and made coffee, and then sat out on the balcony drinking it while eating my left over dessert from the night before. (hey, I'm on vacation, I can have dessert for breakfast!) What a view to enjoy!!

I woke Keith around 8 hoping to make the opening at MK as I still haven't see the opening ceremony. Once he was up and had his dessert for breakfast, we hopped the monorail at the Poly for the MK. The opening ceremony was over by the time we got there, but we couldn’t have missed it by much as they were starting to clean up from it. The parks were decorated for Halloween. I loved all the fall decorations and details.

I love the CM's greeting everyone in the mornings waving their Mickey hands. I told DH I want a Mickey hand so I can wave to the kids when they leave for school in the mornings. I have to apologize for some of the pictures. For some reason, my camera made them super light. Must have been the early morning sun. As we were walking towards the castle, they were playing waltz music, so DH twirled me around as we were walking.

We headed first for Splash Mountain (no kids so no Dumbo dash). On our way, we stopped to get a bottle of water for each of us. I thought they would charge our room when we handed him our room key, but it deducted from our snack credits. I wasn’t happy when I realized it, but it was already done and didn’t think they could undo it, so on we went. This is our first time on the dining plan, so we didn't know any better to tell them to charge to room versus snack credit. Oh well, lesson learned. It worked out fine in the end. I picked up FP’s to use later and then we hopped into the standby line. It was walk on and we ended up in the first seat and got completely drenched! Good thing we had on lightweight clothes that dried fairly quick. Afterwards, we walked over to the Haunted Mansion as we didn’t do this in April with the boys. Good thing they weren’t with us. It wasn’t scary for us, but I could definitely see why it would be for kids in the stretching room. It was dark and loud and a little girl near us was crying. We both enjoyed the ride though and can't wait to go on it again.

Since we were near Fantasyland, we decided to check that area out. We walked onto It’s A Small World. At the end of the ride just as our boat was set to load onto the conveyor belt to unload, we got stuck. We all rocked left to right and that didn’t get us unstuck. They had a call into maintenance to push us out. We then all rocked front and back and that seemed to work enough to get us up on the belt and we were moving again. Everyone in the queue cheered for us!! Glad we weren't stuck farther back in the ride.

I really liked this headband and wished afterwards I had bought it for Halloween. It would have been perfect for trick or treating with the kids!

After ITASW, we walked around Fantasy land some more. We hopped onto Pooh since the wait was 10 minutes. It’s a cute ride and makes me think of Pooh on acid in the one part. After Pooh, we decided to cut by Mad Hatter Tea Party since we were going to Toontown. Alice was out so we got in the short line (one family finishing up) to get our picture taken. We then walked towards the castle, but they had a show going on so we couldn’t go all the way through. We browsed in some of the shops and as we were headed to the other side of the park again, the celebration parade was starting so we stopped to watch this. One of the CM’s on stilts pulled us out to dance with them, so we did and it was a lot of fun.

Someone was nice enough to offer to take a picture for us. Just when he was getting ready to take it, Frozone jumped into it too. It was great to act like a kid again

Will we have better luck using the dining plan or will we have more problems (caused by us?) I'll updated again later after I add some more pics.

 

[Melknor]

LOVE your Poly pics!!

Disney at the Poly with no kids = dream come true!

It was the best trip! I'm afraid our upcoming one will be a let down since the Sept trip was so wonderful. I know they are each wonderful and memorable in their own ways. The upcoming will be just as great as it will be family memories.

Joining in. Poly and food porn pics, I am in heaven!

I have more!!! I took food porn of all our meals to share on here!

 

[Señor DonDuck]

I have more!!! I took food porn of all our meals to share on here!

 

[Melknor]

I think I left off where we were dancing in the parade.

Then we then headed back to Tomorrowland to Cosmic Ray’s to eat lunch. We haven't eaten there before, so I was glad we were able to try it. Keith had the rotisserie chicken meal, carrot cake and lemonade. I had the cheese steak sandwich (with applies), chocolate cake and bottle of water. It was very good; lots of food. I saved my apples for us to eat later since they were packaged.

I forgot to take pics of this food, so here is all I have: I love this chocolate cake.

We got FP’s for Buzz Lightyear to use later (which we never did) and then hopped into the standby line, which was walk on. I hit some large target right away and got 999,999 and wasn’t able to finish the game since you can’t go any higher. I have no idea what or where I hit. I can't see the lazer very well to know where I'm pointing at. I still love this ride and to compete with DH. We rode the Transit Authority, Carousel of Progress and then did Buzz Lightyear again. TTA and CP were new for us this trip. I really enjoyed both of them.

We did Stitch’s Great Escape so Keith could see what DS9 kept talking about from our April trip. It was still just as bad; however we didn’t have the cheeto/chili breath blown on us this time.

Once we were done with Tomorrowland we headed over to Adventureland and rode Jungle Cruise (walk on; wait time showing 5 min). The guide this time was hilarious with his jokes.

We then walked on to Pirates of the Caribbean. After this ride, we got DS4 a pirate hat with Mickey ears and a sword/eye patch for Halloween from the gift shop. As we were leaving this area, we saw a rope set up for the Pirate Tutorial. Since I wanted a good look at Jack Sparrow, we waited for it to start. It was really cute and made me miss the boys as they both would have loved to take part in this little show.

The one boy at the pirate tutorial, they had to take the wood sword away from as he kept striking the guys with it. He had a little too much energy for them.

I'm going to leave you to enjoy the pics of Jack

 

[heaven2dc]

And what a nice of Jack that was He's probably the most handsome of all I've seen (of course, not as handsome as Johnny Depp). That chocolate cake looks so yummy! I would love to have that for breakfast!! (hmm...wonder why I can't lose this 40 lbs that seems to have sneaked up the last couple of years )

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Glad to hear I'm not the only one that likes TTA.

Look forward to more of that promised food porn.