How do I go back to a world that doesn't have fireworks every night?

I love Captain Cook's! Definitely one of my favorite things about staying at the Poly. Great choice going to the Contempo Cafe for the cupcakes for dessert. They are absolutely divine! Oh, I miss them.
 
Loving your TR so far. I gotta say, your title reeled me in. And you are right, how are we supposed to go back to a world where we don't have fireworks every day? And furthermore, how are we supposed to go back to a world where we have to flush our own toilets? Ah ... the Disney blues. LOL. Looking forward to reading more about your trip.
 
I read the updates on the train ride home on my Iphone and somehow missed dinner at Captain Cooks (which we love) and your walking around the resorts. Great photos. If I didn't have my heart set on AKL for our 30th, I'd go back to the Poly in a heartbeat.

I would do AKL in a heartbeat if I had a car, but I just think its too far out for a DH that doesn't like buses ;) We will hit them all before the end of Disney, but this was a great place to start.

I love the update... Your room location looks spectacular! The food looks yummy - and the view... aaaahhhhh.... Sorry your little guy was scared by the lighting ceremony, but I bet the Poly was the perfect place for his first trip. :)

Can't wait to read more. :)

D~

Bradey wouldn't have cared where we stayed for the first trip. It was Bill I was concerned about. If he didn't have a good time, it was going to be even harder to get him back there. So this trip was all about luxury and convenience. I think I hit a home run :)

Great pics ! I'd love to stay at the Poly at some point .. it just looks so incredible .. but looking at pics will have to do for now ! :goodvibes

Yeah, it was neat. We never would've been able to afford it if not for my parents paying for 3 nights. It will be value or maybe moderate from here on out. Unless I get a good discount ;)

Just got caught up...love all your photos! Makes us yearn for the Poly, and we can't wait to go back in Sept! We stayed in tokelau too, bottom floor, the one you said was booked. We loved it...we thought we would use the patio more, but didn't! We were either too tired or just walked out to the "point" to watch fireworks and then off to bed! Can't wait to read more!:thumbsup2

Yeah, I'm glad I didn't put up too much of a fuss about the 2nd floor because we hardly ever used the balcony. We liked going to the smaller beach to the right for fireworks...no music, but no crowds either. Ahhh, Wishes....can't wait to get my CD I ordered of Wishes music.

Great report so far. I am excited to hear more.

Thanks for joining in! I'm excited to share more. It is hard for me to just do a little at a time. I want to do the whole week right now, but I think that would be a little overwhelming for you all :lmao:

Im in!! Can't wait to hear more!!

Welcome! I'm trying to speed things up a little, cause its driving me crazy how much I am forgetting. I'm not old! Why is my brain leaking?? I bought a Mickey journal on our last day and started making a journal of the trip and I can't believe how much I have forgotten already. Yikes! No wonder I can't remember much about my 3 trips as a kid :)

I love Captain Cook's! Definitely one of my favorite things about staying at the Poly. Great choice going to the Contempo Cafe for the cupcakes for dessert. They are absolutely divine! Oh, I miss them.

Yeah, Capt Cooks had cupcakes too, but they were in the fridge and tasted like they had been there a while. The Contempo's were much much better.

Loving your TR so far. I gotta say, your title reeled me in. And you are right, how are we supposed to go back to a world where we don't have fireworks every day? And furthermore, how are we supposed to go back to a world where we have to flush our own toilets? Ah ... the Disney blues. LOL. Looking forward to reading more about your trip.

:thumbsup2 The toilets! I don't know if they are all like the Poly, but when we flushed ours in our room I thought my eardrums would burst. My son was so scared the first time he did it, that he wouldn't touch the flush ever after that :)
 
I didn't sleep very well that first night. I think I was just so excited to get this vacation going. I tossed and turned until I could see a faint light coming from between the drapes, then got up and showered and dressed. I think everyone else was up by 6:30 and I called my mom to see how close they were. They had gotten an early start from Cape Coral and they said they were about 40 mins away. So we waited for them. At around 7:30 mom texted and said they were going under the Magic Kingdom sign, so we headed out towards the parking lot to meet them.

I had gotten passes for them when we checked in, so we were all set and got them settled in the room then headed to Captain Cooks for breakfast. We all had Mickey waffles this morning. That was one good thing about not having the dining plan. If a kid is on the plan, they have to eat off the kids menu. Well, Capt Cooks kids menu is laughable. They had one dish of eggs and one dish of french toast. That was it. So we were fine with Bradey getting a Mickey waffle and he gobbled it right up. The sausage at the Poly is awesome! Not sure if its the same other places, but at Capt Cooks and Kona it is very yummy. The day we were to POFQ for breakfast we were all complaining about the lose of our Poly sausage :)

So after breakfast we went back to the room to make sure we had everything and to grab the stroller. I wasn't sure if I would need it, but it was just a small thing, so I figured it was better safe than sorry. I'm so glad I had it. So off to the bus stop we went. The CM told us the AK bus was just coming through the gate so we didn't have a long wait for that.

mom004.jpg


See our matching shirts? I made them!

So a short ride later we were at AK. It was a little after 9:30, so the opening crowds had dispersed somewhat and it wasn't busy near the entrance at all. We took a few photopass pics (which I haven't got yet, so you'll have to wait for those) including one magic shot with Stitch popping out of a box. Then headed into the park.

Disney031.jpg

mom006.jpg

We didn't run, but we headed straight over to the Safari ride to get that in before it got too busy. This was a great ride. The animals were all out to greet us (expect the lion).

mom007.jpg

Disney034.jpg

Disney039.jpg

Disney033.jpg

mom011.jpg

Bradey was so funny when we reached the bridge that falls apart. I think I lost blood in my leg for a minute he was holding it so tight :rotfl2: But he soon realized that it was all part of the ride and he was fine after a second. He didn't like the smell over by the elephants though. Holding his nose...
mom023.jpg

Disney040.jpg
 
After the safari I wanted to walk both of the trails. There was one near the safari and one over in Asia. I thought I had us going the right way, but I got so totally lost and ended up in the aviary (which I am terrified of and hated) so we got out of there quickly and consulted the map. The map told us nothing, so we consulted a CM we saw walking by and got turned in the right direction. I hate when they end rides in a different place than where you started. I was so confused. But we were on the right track then and we were just wandering around looking at everything.

We came across a CM waiting for some kids to do a "Help me track an animal" exercise. Bradey was all about this, so we stopped and watched.
Disney042.jpg


They talked about how you can track using footprints, poop, signs on the ground. Bradey is from Maine, we hunt up here, he knows all about tracking and footprints and sign and all that, so this was right up his ally. Unfortunately, some older kids showed up and took over and pretty much pushed Bradey right out of there. The CM was great though, he kept making sure he asked Bradey the questions first and if he couldn't answer them, then he opened it up to the pushy older kids. So they followed the signs and found the rhino hear a waterfall. They had a telescope set up that you could look through to see the rhino. Bradey took a quick look in there and promptly told me that it was just a picture taped to the end of it :lmao: Can't fool him!

We wandered around a bit again. I was trying to find the train station and the Jungle Trek to see the tigers, but we just kept getting lost. I hated the layout of AK. Remember, this was our first time in this park and it just doesn't flow well. There was lots of backtracking and I just couldn't get my bearings. So we decided to take a break and have an early lunch. We ate at Pizzafari. We weren't too hungry, so we just got 2 pepperoni pizza meals to split and an order of breadsticks. We all love pizza, so this meal was yummy. They serve a "side" ceaser salad with it and that was huge. It was very good. I didn't get any pictures of the place, but you can find them online. It was not busy at all since it was only 11am. But the place had a big feel to it with lots of brightly themed rooms. It was a great break for us to get back into the park swing.

After lunch we headed over towards Camp Minnie Mickey to see who we could find. On our way we saw another Kidspot learning place. So of course Bradey wanted to stop.
Disney043.jpg

This one was where the kids reach into the holes in the log and try to figure out what they are feeling. He did really well with it.
mom030.jpg

mom032.jpg


The CMs at these spots are really great with kids. She made him feel so smart and special. Love this little touch.

So we walked over to Camp M&M. Right away he spots Chip n Dale which are his favorite. So we hop in line to see them first.
mom033.jpg

The chipmunks' line was really long, and I spotted Donald off to our left with no line. Mom, Dad and Bill held our spot in line for C&D while Bradey and I ran over to Donald. Turns out he was taking a little break, thats why his line was empty. But the CM told us he would be right back and we waited. He was back very quickly and we were still all by ourselves in line, so he spent lots of time with us. I will post photopass pics when I get them. I was nervous because this was his first character interaction of the trip and it went very well.

So back to Chip n Dale's line we went.
mom034.jpg

He was so shy at first, but then Dale got ahold of him and played with him for a bit. It was great. These guys are so much fun to meet. They really have fun and play with you.
mom035.jpg


So after Chip n Dale we looked at the others and their lines were way too long. We had seen who he really wanted to see, so we left. At this point Bradey started saying his tummy didn't feel good and he wanted to go back to the hotel. Yep, it was only noon on our first park day. It was not looking good for the rest of the week. But I told him they had Dinosaurs and we had to go check them out before we left. So thats where we headed next.
mom041.jpg


But wait....before we got there, we saw these guys!
mom037.jpg

mom038.jpg

mom039.jpg

Oh no! What happened to my Tigger picture?! Well, I guess you'll just have to wait for the Photopass :) We met them all anyway and Bradey loved this meeting too. Gotta say, mommy kinda loved it too!
 
Suzi, great updates. AK can be a little confusing on the first visit. I actually can find my way around that park better than the Studios now. :goodvibes

I love how they have all those little stops along the way for the kids to interact with the CM's and learn things. They had little of this when our boys were smaller. :sad2:

And how could "Mom" not be excited about seeing Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. They are my favorites and I got "special time" with Tigger last month.

Keep the great updates coming.
 
Great update. :thumbsup2

I get what you mean about AK set up. It IS confusing ... I also feel the same about DHS . I can't seem to figure the layout no matter how many times I've been there ! :confused:
 
Suzi, great updates. AK can be a little confusing on the first visit. I actually can find my way around that park better than the Studios now. :goodvibes

I love how they have all those little stops along the way for the kids to interact with the CM's and learn things. They had little of this when our boys were smaller. :sad2:

And how could "Mom" not be excited about seeing Pooh, Eeyore and Tigger. They are my favorites and I got "special time" with Tigger last month.

Keep the great updates coming.

Thanks Kathy. We had to wait a few for Tigger cause he was "Taking a Break" just as we got up to him, but there was no way we were gonna wait in that line again, so we just stayed put and waited. He was so fun :)

Great update. :thumbsup2

I get what you mean about AK set up. It IS confusing ... I also feel the same about DHS . I can't seem to figure the layout no matter how many times I've been there ! :confused:

Yeah, I can see how DHS would be confusing. I had nothing I really wanted to see there except the Shrunk the Kids playground, so we just wandered around. If I was looking for something specific and in a hurry I wouldn't like it.
 
Great updates! I hope your DS isn't starting to get sick!! Hopefully just a little upset tummy that went away! Those Mickey Waffles at Cap't Cooks are delish aren't they??? Can't wait to read more!:thumbsup2
 
First order of business in Dinoland was Triceratops Spin. I gotta say, I wasn't impressed. Just like any other ride at any country fair around here and way too short even for Disney standards. We went around 3 times before they turned us off. Seriously, 3 circles.

mom042.jpg


mom044.jpg


mom046.jpg


After Triceratops we let Bradey play a bit at the Boneyard. He loved this place. He loves dinosaurs and also loves playgrounds, so how could he not? And it was really nicely done, so much more than a couple slides.

mom051.jpg

mom049.jpg

mom048.jpg

mom047.jpg

mom061.jpg


These things were neat. If you haven't been in there, they are footprints and if you jump on them (or are heavy like me, just stepping on them) they make an unseen dino roar. Bradey had a blast playing around here for a while.
mom064.jpg

mom065.jpg

mom066.jpg

By now it was getting really, really hot and humid out and the park was getting crowded. My mom wanted to see a show, but I wasn't so sure Bradey would sit for 45 mins of Nemo right now, and we had to wait another 1/2hr for it to start. So we grabbed a snack....me with a frozen banana
mom059.jpg

And Dad, Bill and I decided to ride Dinosaur and Mom and Bradey went back into the Boneyard to play while we were did that.
Disney045.jpg

Hidden Mickey in the "sandbox" area of the Boneyard.
Disney046.jpg

Disney047.jpg

Gotta say, I did not like Dinosaur. I sat on the end that the stupid bad guy always seemed to pop up from. I know, I'm a whimp and they made fun of me the rest of the trip for that :)

mom052.jpg

Dad and I trying to figure out where the heck to go next :rotfl:

We were all pretty cranky, hot and tired by now. Bradey and I just wanted to go back to the Poly and relax, but Mom said we couldn't leave until we walked around the tree of life. So here we go...

Disney051.jpg

Disney054.jpg

It was really cool and I'm glad she made us do that. We got a few more photopass pics on the way out including a magic shot with Bradey holding baby Simba. By the way....I got my CD last night and will upload them to add here tomorrow. Short work day today. My mom had to come home for a week for work, so I am taking her back to the airport this afternoon so she can go to back to FL for the rest of the winter. Don't tell, but I have booked flights for Bradey and I to go down and surprise her March 14-21. Dad and I conspired together yesterday and its all set. Bradey doesn't know either so shhhhhh. :)
 
Great updates! I hope your DS isn't starting to get sick!! Hopefully just a little upset tummy that went away! Those Mickey Waffles at Cap't Cooks are delish aren't they??? Can't wait to read more!:thumbsup2

Nope, he wasn't sick. Just overwhelmed. Remember, this was our first day of our first trip ever. He just wasn't used to spending all day at a park. He was fine though :)
 
So.... far... behind! :lmao:

Okay, I have to comment: You're braver than me for trying Dinosaur. DH and DD will ride it this year, and I'll go play with DS.

Your pictures are great! That stunk that Triceratops only went around 3 times. :headache:

Did your DS collect all the stamps at AK? It looks like they've added more props to the Pooh & Friends area. Glad you got to see them!!!! When we were there in 2009, they had some props, but they were scarce, and you had to stand just right for them to appear in the pictures. :rolleyes:

popcorn::
 
So.... far... behind! :lmao:

Okay, I have to comment: You're braver than me for trying Dinosaur. DH and DD will ride it this year, and I'll go play with DS.

Your pictures are great! That stunk that Triceratops only went around 3 times. :headache:

Did your DS collect all the stamps at AK? It looks like they've added more props to the Pooh & Friends area. Glad you got to see them!!!! When we were there in 2009, they had some props, but they were scarce, and you had to stand just right for them to appear in the pictures. :rolleyes:

popcorn::

Dinosaur wouldn't have been as bad if I was on the other side of the "time rover". If you sit on the far right side instead of the left like I did. I squeezed Bill's arm off a couple of times. Now I see where Bradey gets it from :) He did the same to me in the rides he was scared of!

Bradey got a few stamps, but we only saw a few stations. We didn't even make it over to Asia at all, so there might've been more over there.
 
I have all my photopass pics uploaded, so I will try to get caught up on those now. These are from the Animal Kingdom day. We got quite a few in this park, but it looks like I got jipped on the other parks. I thought I had alot more photos. I know I am missing all the ones out in front of MK with Pluto one day. Good thing my mom had her camera, or I wouldn't have any of those. I can't think what other ones I am missing, but I know we posed for alot more than they have on there :(

So, here are the AK ones.

photopass003.jpg

It looks like it was raining, but it wasn't. It was beautiful that day. Maybe the wet ground is from them watering the flowers before opening??
photopass006.jpg

This was so funny. All the magic shots were. Trying to tell a 5 yo to look at the box because a wild animal was going to come out of it later. Bradey was holding said box and didn't think this would be a fun game :lmao:

photopass028.jpg

photopass022.jpg

In case you can't tell....he was told to growl like a lion. Scary, huh?

photopass024.jpg

photopass025.jpg

Haha ha. This was another funny one. The CM told him to look at his elbow and there would be something special there later. You can tell he wasn't too sure about this one either :)

photopass008.jpg

First character meeting ever. It went really well! Love you Donald!
photopass009.jpg

Donald is pointing at his shirt because he had Mickey on it :)
photopass013.jpg

photopass010.jpg

Of course I had to get in on the Donald love too!

Then we jumped back in line for Chip n Dale.
photopass014.jpg

photopass018.jpg

photopass020.jpg


These are the Pooh and Friends ones as we were heading into Dinoland.
photopass029.jpg

photopass033.jpg

photopass035.jpg

photopass040.jpg

photopass045.jpg

Everyone wanted to meet Tigger!

Okay, so after Dinoland we decided to call it a day and we headed back out. We took our time and looked the Oasis over real well on our way. The bus took a while to get there. We saw buses for just about everywhere else and almost ran over to catch the one to the TTC, but then saw our bus coming.

So we had an ADR at 5 at Kona, but it was way early, so we let Bradey play around in the pool for a bit.

Disney059.jpg

Disney060.jpg

Then we got him changed up and headed over to the GCH for dinner. Sorry, but I didn't get any pics of the meals from here on out. DH was disgusted with me for wanting to take pics of food. So I didn't bother. Pick your battles, right? But I highly recommend Kona. Mom and I had the Coconut chicken and it was fantastic! Dad had the Asian noodle bowl with shrimp and really liked it. Bill had the Coffee rubbed pork chop and that was yummy. And Bradey had the Mickey shaped ravioli. I was so excited for him to try the Kona Kone I had seen on here, but we were all so full we decided to skip dessert. We did run down to Capt Cooks and grab cupcakes and brownies, but these were nowhere near as good as the ones from Contempo Cafe.

So this was Mom & Dad's first Wishes night. We sat on the little beach and watched them. Never got old!

You know what I just realized??? One big plus with staying on the Seven Seas Lagoon is for the nighttime electric water parade. I had planned on that, but for some reason, we never heard anything about it and I totally forgot. I'm not sure if they weren't running it that week or what, but it wasn't in our times guide and I just forgot about it. It was supposed to run starting at 9pm, but after Wishes every night we just went back to the room. Duh, I will have to try to see it next time.

So this concludes our Animal Kingdom day. Overall I think our first park day went well. It was a little confusing to find our way around and hopefully next time to that park it won't be so bad. I want to see the shows next time and make it to Asia :)
 
Just found your TR. How much fun are you all having on your first family trip?!
I too have a 5yr old Brady. Although my kid is known to throw his temper around a bit ;) But usually not at WDW.

Don't quote me on this but I think the EWP ends over by the Poly so it would be awhile after the fireworks before you saw it. When we stayed at the WL we were able to see it pretty soon after Wishes.
 
Just found your TR. How much fun are you all having on your first family trip?!
I too have a 5yr old Brady. Although my kid is known to throw his temper around a bit ;) But usually not at WDW.

Don't quote me on this but I think the EWP ends over by the Poly so it would be awhile after the fireworks before you saw it. When we stayed at the WL we were able to see it pretty soon after Wishes.

Oh we had a blast! It was a perfect trip (well as perfect as it could be with all the closures). Can't wait to go back again once they open the new Fantasyland!

I had heard that the water parade started at 9 at the Poly, then went around to everywhere else. Hmm, guess I'm glad we didn't wait around :)

So fun to read we are getting very excited!
:yay:

Thanks for coming along. Yay for you....2 weeks to go!
 
:thumbsup2 The toilets! I don't know if they are all like the Poly, but when we flushed ours in our room I thought my eardrums would burst. My son was so scared the first time he did it, that he wouldn't touch the flush ever after that :)

The toilets are loud at the resorts. It seems like the higher you are the louder the toilet.
 
































GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE


Our Dreams Unlimited Travel Agents will assist you in booking the perfect Disney getaway, all at no extra cost to you. Get the most out of your vacation by letting us assist you with dining and park reservations, provide expert advice, answer any questions, and continuously search for discounts to ensure you get the best deal possible.

CLICK HERE


facebook twitter
Top