How'd I get here from there?

[jmsvss]

I can't believe I did this - This morning I booked Poly for four nights the week after Easter. My trip started with "Oh i don't need to stay at a resort" and slowly became the Poly.

Now I'm totally excited but I need to rethink my plans. We fly in to MCO at 9:30 am on the 28th. I was planning on only 3 parks, skipping AK because I didn't think we would have enough time. On the first day I had PS at Chef Mickeys that night and planned to catch Wishes and the water pageant from the Contemporary before heading back to our off-site resort. Now that we are at the Poly I'm thinking maybe we should try to hit all four parks. I did make PS for the character breakfast at Ohanas on the 29th.

I'd love the benefit of your opinion on the following-

How is the Poly? is it worth skipping AK just to explore and swim?
I included 4 day tickets with our reservation, if we only go three days is it refundable or do I have to add the no expiration option? (we are not park hoppers)
Hows the view of Wishes from the Poly compared to CR (I saw a poll somewhere that said Poly was best)?
Any strategies for obtaining the best view of the water parade and Wishes?
Since I have the character breakfast at Ohanas on the 29th (DD is 11) maybe I should skip Chef Mickeys dinner on the 28th (I've read a lot of negative reviews about Chef Mickeys)? If we cancel Chef Mickey's where is the most convenient, magical place for dinner?

I've never stayed at a resort before so feel free to enlighten me with any other Poly tidbit.

Thanks for your advise!!

 

[johnsonet]

Sounds exciting !
We will be there around the same time (25-29 then moving over to Boardwalk Inn)
It is difficult for me to advise you on whether or not to skip AK, b/c I love AK . But for a 4-night trip it might be a bit much to do all 4 parks AND enjoy your resort, especially during such a crowded time of year . The weather should be ( fingers crossed ) beautiful so spending a day at the resort would be wonderful . However, what we tend to do is go to AK on an Extra Magic Hour morning(therefore opening at 7am that week, I believe) and stay until about 11am and then hop the bus back to the resort and spend the rest of the day by the pool. The pool WILL be packed.
This will be our first stay at the Poly so I can't answer many of your questions on that but I have watched Wishes from the beach there after dinner at 'Ohana and the view is to die for! Look no further...
We are having dinner our first night at Chef Mickey's (this is our ritual ) and also dinner one night at Kona Cafe and one night at 'Ohana. Keep your PS for Chef Mickey's. I would recommend going b/c it is so festive and just a monorail ride away from the Poly.
Good Luck!

 

[copper68]

hi..

was just wondering what you were planning on doing after you arrived that first day.. if you get in at 930 they may not have your room ready.. if you have the extra day on your passes, why not hop over to AK until your room gets ready.. just an option..

also, the view of wishes and the EWP are both excellent from the beach..

you should check out tikiman's website if you haven't already..

http://tikiman2001.homestead.com

and you will love the poly... love it!!!

 

[jmsvss]

Thanks for the info - I'm so excited about staying at the Poly (I haven't told DH yet - now won't THAT be a surprise!). So any info from folks that have been there is greatly appreciated.

My plan was MK-Tues, Epcot - Wed, MGM - Thurs so AK on arrival day cetainly became a possiblility once we moved to Poly. i just don't want to overdue it. Also, our flight on Friday doesn't leave until 3:55 pm. I hope the resort can be somewhat accomodating on both ends.