Day 5 : Leaving the Poly
and arriving at the Boardwalk
Today we're saying Goodbye to the Poly, and we're sooooo sad !!! We absolutely loved this resort, everything about it. We have many others WDW resorts we want to try, but this is the one that all others will be compared to.
We had finished packing the night before, and once we were ready I called Bell Services to come pick up our bags. By that time, we had 4 duffles and 2 carry-ons

I didn't want to carry my huge laptop all day with me so I put it in the carry-on and hoped for the best.
Bell services showed up almost right away (it was only 8am so they were not very busy) and took our stuff.
Then we took the monorail to the TTC, switched, and headed to Epcot.
One thing I hate about Epcot (the only thing, really) is that the bus stops are soooooooo far from the entrance ! Not a huge problem when you're entering the park early in the morning & full of energy,but when it's time to leave and you spent hours walking around WS, that 10mn walk to the bus stop can kill ya.
So I was thrilled that we'd never have to deal with that on this trip.
We missed the park opening by about 10mns, but it still wasn't crowded. First things first, we need FPs for Soarin'. That took us about 20mns. Then, I wanted to try Test Track.
Grumpy wasn't too sure about trying this ride, and when I saw the look on her face when she was watching the cars speeding above us, I had a bad feeling. We chatted with this CM and asked him how scary it was, was it faster than Everest, did we go upside down... It sort of eased Grumpy's worries but not for long.
The wait time was supposed to be 20mns, but we walked straight in.
So we're in the little room where they're showing the video, and everyone is watching except Grumpy who's lingering by the door. When the video ended and we were supposed to go out, Grumpy grabbed my arm and said "Please, I don't wanna go!!!".
I swear she looked like someone had just stolen her puppy. What did she expect, that I'd force her into the car ? Geesh. I said don't ya worry you'll just take the chicken exit. But I want to do this thing, so just wait for me in the gift shop outside.
We find a CM and she says again "Please,I don't wanna go!" which made him laugh and he let her out. She looked sooo relieved it was hilarious.
That was my first time doing an attraction at WDW by myself and I almost chickened out myself, but after all, I am The Turkey, and turkeys don't chicken!!!
Turns out it wasn't that scary at all and I LOVED IT. Especially the cold room and the speeding part outside. Wow, it was awesome. I think if DM had been with me I would have freaked a lot more, but I didn't really dare to do that with five strangers around me

Didn't scream, either, but that's because I had no voice left.
It was really fun and I'm glad I tried it. This one is going on my list of "must do every time"!
I met DM at the gift shop and we went to Journey Into Imagination. That ride had been down the one time we'd tried to go back in January and I thought the purple dinosaur was cute, so I really wanted to do it. Of course since we'd never been on it, and because we were still not over Small World, we did ask the CMs if there were any singing dolls in there. They looked at us like we were nuts so we didn't insist.
Oh boy. Oh boy,oh boy, oh boy. We should have known. The building was empty, and I mean EMPTY. NO ONE but us in the whole thing. I really hope that they don't take pics of you during this attraction because if they do, then they got about a zillion shots of my tonsils. I was yawning through the whole ride. Well, on the bright side Grumpy didn't chicken out on this one.
We still had about 10mns before we could use our Soarin' FPs so we went to Honey, I shrunk the audience. I'm deathly afraid of mice. My cats used to bring some in our house and several times I ended up hiding in the locked bathroom, calling my dad at work so that he would come and get rid of them.
Well, I'm glad to say that I wasn't scared AT ALL ! Not even a little bit. Everyone around me was yelling and Grumpy grabbed my arm and screamed bloody murder in my ear but I was just laughing.
Of course, it may be due to the fact that I had my MP3 player on,my feet up on the other seat, and was covering my eyes with my hands. But still. Not scared.
HISTA was nice. I wouldn't mind going back, and maybe even keep one eye open during the mice scene, if it wasn't for the 3-hour long Kodak commercial we had to go through before entering the theater. Fine, we'll buy Kodak, JUST LET US IN!
It was finally time to use our Soarin' FPs. Actually since HISTA took a lot longer than planned, we only had 30mns before our ADR at Garden Grill. I took a couple mns to grab us a 2nd set of FPs and we entered the FP return line.
I have to say here that the only time the CM actually checked the time on our FP it was at Soarin'. We used expired FPs several times in MK but I wouldn't try it there, especially at peak season.
Since we didn't want to be in the 3rd row, we chose to wait until the next flight. I hate waiting in line but to me that's one of the very few things worth an extra wait at WDW. Soarin' is just better without 20 pairs of
Crocs dangling in front of you.
I can't say enough how much I love this ride.

Without a doubt our fave in Epcot, and close to being our fave in all WDW. Even though by now my cough had turned into a full blown cold and I couldn't smell the orange trees or the pine trees (for some reason I could smell the ocean) it was still amazing.
We were over 20mns late for Garden Grill but it wasn't busy at all and we were seated almost immediately. This meal wasn't great, I hated the food except for the cheesy potatoes. I should have asked for the kid's food instead, there was one little girl at the next table enjoying her M&C and nuggets and it sure looked better than what I was eating. The dessert was good though, and character interaction was awesome.
A few shots of Grumpy with the characters :
I just love when Pluto puts the book on his nose to sign autographs !!
After lunch we used our 2nd set of FPs and went on Soarin' again. We were in the front row again and it was amazing as always.This time I did smell the pine trees and orange trees, and it was even better.
Then we decided to go check in at BWI. It was a little early but we'd just take a walk around the resort if our room wasn't ready.
We walked into World Showcase and then exited through the International Gateway. Had to wait about 15mns for a boat but it was no big deal.
We enjoyed the boat ride to the Boardwalk, it was a first time for us and I thought it was really nice, relaxing and definitely 300% better than taking a bus!!!
We'd seen BWI once before, an evening when we'd had dinner at Spoodles. This resort is just gorgeous. The attention to details is amazing. You think you just stepped out of a time machine and went back in the 30s.
I took a couple pics of the lobby :
Once at BWI, we went at the front desk and checked in. We chatted with the CM, Hermie, told her about Grumpy chickening out on Test Track. She then said, with a huge grin on her face, "It's your lucky day!!!".
It was barely 2pm and I thought, awesome, our room is ready ! But that wasn't it. Hermie told us we'd been upgraded to CONCIERGE!
WOW. We'd gotten a great rate for BWI with my AP, and I didn't expect to be upgraded at all. Concierge is not something I would pay for, I love planning our trips and reading everything I can about WDW before we leave, so I don't see the need of concierge services. But I knew DM would like the "VIP" feeling of being in Concierge so I was really happy.
There was a little problem though, they had booked us in a king bed room. My mom's first name is unisex here, but it's very rarely used for females in the US. So it's not the first time that we were mistaken as a couple

and given a king bed. Hermie said she'd find us a 2-bed room if we didn't mind waiting. No problem, that gave me some time to check out the gift shop. Which was, unfortunately, the sorriest excuse for a gift shop I've ever seen in WDW.
We got our cards (the Concierge cards are golden yellow instead of blue) and went to our room. I must say, I enjoyed the VIP feeling. Tingly.
Our room was wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy at the end of the hall. It was a little smaller than our room at the Poly, but still really nice!
Unlike the Poly though, the sinks are outside of the bathroom which I like better. Grumpy takes forever to shower and I need the mirror to put on my makeup!
I love the view from our balcony. We could see the quiet pool and the garden around it, and a lot of roofs too

What can I say, I like roof views.
Grumpy kept saying "Wow, I can't believe we are in CONCIERGE". Then, she plops down on her bed and asks "by the way, what's Concierge???".
Truth was, I didn't really know. Except that there was someone to help you make dining reservations (which I'd already done) and that there was some kind of lounge where we could get a snack and drinks during the day.
I don't know if there's any more to Concierge than that, but it seemed to satisfy Grumpy.
We were both beat. I don't require a lot of sleep, but I had slept maybe 8 hours in the last 4 days and it was starting to show. Grumpy hates MGM and didn't want to go, even for Fantasmic. We also decided not to go to AK the next day, it was just too hot. We knew there was a good chance we'd be back in October and so we'd do AK then.
Once we'd decided that, I called and changed several of our ADRs. Canceled Boma breakfast and got Cape May instead, for the next day, then canceled the other Cape May ressie we had. Also I changed our Sci-Fi ADR for lunch instead of dinner.
DM went to the pool and I tried to nap but couldn't. When Grumpy came back I sent her to the Concierge lounge for some drinks. Having the drinks in the lounge was really great since there is nowhere to refill your mugs at BWI. We'd have had to go to the Boardwalk Bakery to do that.
Plus, the lounge had Seagram ginger ale which is my favorite drink in the world and I can only get it in the US. Yummmmm. Grumpy was thrilled to see that she could get a glass of wine. She also got some raw veggies and dip to munch on.
That evening we took a walk on the Boardwalk (there was a guy doing a show but I didn't really pay attention). Had a slice of pizza at the Spoodles window - best pizza in WDW! Shopped at Sweet Sensations and went back to our room to sleep.
Or I shall say, TRY to sleep
