Following is a quick trip report. This trip was to celebrate our youngest turning 3. This was our first trip as DVC owners. It was just mom, dad and our youngest daughter whose birthday was in November. Historically I’ve done this trip with each of my kids on or near their 3rd birthday. We have a 13 and 9 year old that reluctantly stayed home with the promise of a March 2022 spring break trip with mom and Grandma. This trip was cancelled and moved around many times; room options were a take whatever you can get kind of scenario to use up 2020 points that were expiring March 1. We had 1 dining reservation for the epcot fireworks, everything else was picked up either an hour before we wanted to eat or just as walk up.
We arrived Saturday afternoon around 630pm, checked into AKL – Jambo club level DVC studio. Room had a pool view which was a bit disappointing. We caught the tail end of evening service; hot options were corn soup and falafel, both were just okay. Cheese, meats and salads were nice. Beer and wine were self serve and a nice selection. Dessert spread was disappointing pre-made options. Could request beer/wine, after dinner spirits self serve. This ended up being dinner for the night as the 3 year old was exhausted out from travel
Sunday – Club level breakfast, boma bread pudding, mom and dad requested mimosas, premade pastries, lots of fresh fruit, cereal, cheese and meat options. Breakfast spread was above a holiday inn, but not amazing. Paid for G+ at 8am during breakfast and got safari for 1020am. Arrived at the park got our wilderness explorers book, walked the gorilla trail while waiting for safari time to open. Immediately after scanning for safari reserved G+ for noon lion king show which turned out not be needed, seemed to be a few empty seats. Reserved Navi River for 330pm. Added ourselves to the Nomad walk-up list. Did a few Wilderness Explorer Badges and the boneyard dig area. Our table was ready fairly quickly and we had the Tempting Tigress, bread service, kids chicken, spicy tuna at Nomad were all great! We loved how calm Nomad was. It was about 2pm when we finished lunch and realized our 3 year old was not going to last until 330pm for the Navi G+ reservation so we left the park for the day. My first experience with G+ felt like a rip-off – for $45 plus tax we saved ourselves about an hour wait for the safari. This first experience kept me apprehensive to purchase again. It’s just so hard to know how a toddler is going to manage the day. I really wish every ride was just an individual lighting lane and had a reasonable cost and almost instant availability; not sure that system is possible. We swam at Jambo pool and grabbed a refillable mug and kids burger for our daughter. She fell asleep at about 7pm so mom and dad once again made dinner from club level. Tonight’s hot offerings were tomato soup with cheese and butter chicken; both were good but we expected a bit more in flavor, they seemed muted. Dessert was more of the same.
Monday - Club level breakfast, hot offering was biscuits and gravy which we did not enjoy. We had to change rooms to a studio savannah view this morning. Unfortunately nothing was ready so we stored our bags and left for epcot. My husband commented that he was so glad he didn’t have to eat at club level anymore. We really just don’t enjoy buffets as they seem to focus on quantity rather than quality. We rode nemo with a 10 minute standby line and spent an hour or so in the aquarium then made our way to via Napoli for lunch, visiting with Pooh along the way. Pizza was really good. Received a message that our room was ready so we went back and took a nap. Luggage delivery took over an hour and they charged us $6 to store our items (seemed odd to me). The room was in the zebra trail section, the long hallway walk was a bummer and the view was only so so. We only saw giraffes one time during our 2 nights stay, mostly birds I honestly don’t think I’d pay for the view again. After nap, headed back to epcot, road spaceship earth then had a rose and crown reservation for the fireworks package. This was a really nice way to experience the fireworks. We had the bangers, salmon and a kids fish and chips; everyone liked their meals and the seat during the show was really nice. Only knock is that the tables felt really close together. It was evening extended hours so we headed to Remy after dinner. The line looked long and our daughter really wanted to ride Frozen so we skipped Remy (which I now regret) and headed to Frozen. Frozen line took about 30 minutes which was followed by a walk on for the Mexico boat ride. At 1030 it was decided that it was time to head home for the night.
Tuesday – breakfast was a few room snacks. I scored an 11am Topolinos reservation the day before so we took a car seat Uber to Rivera. My first time there and man is it nice and shiny. Both adults had an old fashion and the steak and eggs. The steak was fantastic, we both agreed this was our favorite meal of the trip and the characters were just a bonus. From Rivera we took the bus to Animal Kingdom to continue working our wilderness badges. Did the Tiger trail in Asia and found out our 3 year old was just a bit too short for Kali. Took the train to Rafiki’s plant and hung at the petting zoo for awhile. We ate dinner at Yak and Yeti and left the park. Yak and Yeti was good (not as great as I remember), had the Nachos and dragon bowl. We had hoped to get our wilderness explorer completion badge on the way out and were disappointed to find out the booth closed at 5pm even though the park closed at 7pm.
Wednesday – Breakfast was room snacks again. I signed up for G+ at magic kingdom and reserved Jungle Cruise for 230pm. Then we packed up and moved via Uber to Poly. The Poly DVC room was so much nicer than Jambo. At 1030am, we checked our bags and headed out on the monorail to Steakhouse 71 where I was able to score a last minute reservation for 1130. We really enjoyed all food here; bacon and eggs, wedge salad, kids fish and steak and fries. During the monorail ride I grabbed a G+ for peter pan at 2pm. After lunch walked to Magic Kingdom, did the laugh floor than at 1pm grabbed a G+ for speedway. Followed by G+ for dumbo. Did the teacups while waiting for dumbo G+, followed by peter pan G+ and Jungle Cruise G+. It was about 330 and the toddler was DONE. We monorailed back to poly with her asleep in the stroller. I was really hoping we would return to the park that night for extra hours but that was not to be. Nap time lasted until 7pm, was followed by tacos, sushi and drinks on the trader sams patio and fireworks on the beach with the piped in music. The night ended with a Lupa pineapple drink and wings at Ohana’s bar followed by bed. I felt a little bit better about the value of G+ at Magic Kingdom, but it still left me with a bad taste.
Thursday – Signed up for LL for Frozen at 1130am as requested by 3 year old. Walked to the T&T monorail station and rode to epcot for early entry. Held at rope for about 30 minutes, walked to Remy where we waited for over 1.5 hours because the ride broke down. By 10am we had waited in lines for over 2 hours and there was no word on when the ride might restart. We bailed, I was really upset. Such a waste of valuable time with a toddler and staff couldn’t tell us anything and offered nothing. We got breakfast pastries in Morocco, very good. Stopped and talked with Jasmine and Snow White on our walk to Norway, did our LL which I felt fine about spending $27 for the 3 of us on; I got to pick my time and it saved us an hour. Waited about 45 minutes to meet Anna and Elsa. Then added ourselves to Spice Road Table walk up list; we really enjoyed the tapas style food here and the covered outdoor seating was delightful. Remy was back up, but all LL was sold out. I just couldn’t ask my toddler to stand in line again. Monorail back to T&T and walked back to Poly. Swam from 330 to 530pm when it got a little too cold. Dinner was to-go from Kona; noodles were good, burger was dry.
Friday – It was decided that we’d head back to Animal Kingdom to get our final badge; my husband just couldn't leave without it. So one final badge stop, followed by another lion king show and 3 rides on triceratops spin. I kept checking and safari was always over 60 minute wait. I would have paid $5 or $7 a person to ride in LL, but I couldn’t justify $15 a person for LL just for Safari so we took the bus to Saratoga Springs followed by a boat to Disney springs. The 3 year old slept the entire bus and boat ride over even during the boat horns! We had a late lunch at T-Rex, seated immediately with Laundry’s card. Well, the daughter had what appeared to be kraft mac and cheese and we split a flatbread which was simply not good. But, our daughter LOVED the dinosaurs. We did some various shopping and listening to music. Then had a 5pm dinner at Fontera, enjoyed tacos and guacamole and ice cream for the toddler. Took the bus back to Poly, grabbed a drink from the pool bar and sat on the sand to enjoy fireworks on our last night.
Overall - G+ just feels crummy; especially with little kids which are so unpredictable. Having to pay for something that was historically included in the price of tickets especially when you stayed onsite you were almost always guaranteed some of the better rides with low waits. There seems to be so little advantage to staying onsite, how is G+ not included with an onsite stay? Paid LL felt acceptable. I hated having to wake up at 7am to make these reservations or miss out on the “good ones”. I’m dreading this with my family of 5. I wish they would do a length of stay add on for G+ so I didn’t have to think about this decision everyday. Ticket costs were fine. I didn’t even mind paying more for food, drinks and souvenirs; mainly because I could decide if we were going to eat at Topolinos or the Mara instead and not feel that it dictated the entire day. We really enjoyed the vibe and location of the Polynesian.
We arrived Saturday afternoon around 630pm, checked into AKL – Jambo club level DVC studio. Room had a pool view which was a bit disappointing. We caught the tail end of evening service; hot options were corn soup and falafel, both were just okay. Cheese, meats and salads were nice. Beer and wine were self serve and a nice selection. Dessert spread was disappointing pre-made options. Could request beer/wine, after dinner spirits self serve. This ended up being dinner for the night as the 3 year old was exhausted out from travel
Sunday – Club level breakfast, boma bread pudding, mom and dad requested mimosas, premade pastries, lots of fresh fruit, cereal, cheese and meat options. Breakfast spread was above a holiday inn, but not amazing. Paid for G+ at 8am during breakfast and got safari for 1020am. Arrived at the park got our wilderness explorers book, walked the gorilla trail while waiting for safari time to open. Immediately after scanning for safari reserved G+ for noon lion king show which turned out not be needed, seemed to be a few empty seats. Reserved Navi River for 330pm. Added ourselves to the Nomad walk-up list. Did a few Wilderness Explorer Badges and the boneyard dig area. Our table was ready fairly quickly and we had the Tempting Tigress, bread service, kids chicken, spicy tuna at Nomad were all great! We loved how calm Nomad was. It was about 2pm when we finished lunch and realized our 3 year old was not going to last until 330pm for the Navi G+ reservation so we left the park for the day. My first experience with G+ felt like a rip-off – for $45 plus tax we saved ourselves about an hour wait for the safari. This first experience kept me apprehensive to purchase again. It’s just so hard to know how a toddler is going to manage the day. I really wish every ride was just an individual lighting lane and had a reasonable cost and almost instant availability; not sure that system is possible. We swam at Jambo pool and grabbed a refillable mug and kids burger for our daughter. She fell asleep at about 7pm so mom and dad once again made dinner from club level. Tonight’s hot offerings were tomato soup with cheese and butter chicken; both were good but we expected a bit more in flavor, they seemed muted. Dessert was more of the same.
Monday - Club level breakfast, hot offering was biscuits and gravy which we did not enjoy. We had to change rooms to a studio savannah view this morning. Unfortunately nothing was ready so we stored our bags and left for epcot. My husband commented that he was so glad he didn’t have to eat at club level anymore. We really just don’t enjoy buffets as they seem to focus on quantity rather than quality. We rode nemo with a 10 minute standby line and spent an hour or so in the aquarium then made our way to via Napoli for lunch, visiting with Pooh along the way. Pizza was really good. Received a message that our room was ready so we went back and took a nap. Luggage delivery took over an hour and they charged us $6 to store our items (seemed odd to me). The room was in the zebra trail section, the long hallway walk was a bummer and the view was only so so. We only saw giraffes one time during our 2 nights stay, mostly birds I honestly don’t think I’d pay for the view again. After nap, headed back to epcot, road spaceship earth then had a rose and crown reservation for the fireworks package. This was a really nice way to experience the fireworks. We had the bangers, salmon and a kids fish and chips; everyone liked their meals and the seat during the show was really nice. Only knock is that the tables felt really close together. It was evening extended hours so we headed to Remy after dinner. The line looked long and our daughter really wanted to ride Frozen so we skipped Remy (which I now regret) and headed to Frozen. Frozen line took about 30 minutes which was followed by a walk on for the Mexico boat ride. At 1030 it was decided that it was time to head home for the night.
Tuesday – breakfast was a few room snacks. I scored an 11am Topolinos reservation the day before so we took a car seat Uber to Rivera. My first time there and man is it nice and shiny. Both adults had an old fashion and the steak and eggs. The steak was fantastic, we both agreed this was our favorite meal of the trip and the characters were just a bonus. From Rivera we took the bus to Animal Kingdom to continue working our wilderness badges. Did the Tiger trail in Asia and found out our 3 year old was just a bit too short for Kali. Took the train to Rafiki’s plant and hung at the petting zoo for awhile. We ate dinner at Yak and Yeti and left the park. Yak and Yeti was good (not as great as I remember), had the Nachos and dragon bowl. We had hoped to get our wilderness explorer completion badge on the way out and were disappointed to find out the booth closed at 5pm even though the park closed at 7pm.
Wednesday – Breakfast was room snacks again. I signed up for G+ at magic kingdom and reserved Jungle Cruise for 230pm. Then we packed up and moved via Uber to Poly. The Poly DVC room was so much nicer than Jambo. At 1030am, we checked our bags and headed out on the monorail to Steakhouse 71 where I was able to score a last minute reservation for 1130. We really enjoyed all food here; bacon and eggs, wedge salad, kids fish and steak and fries. During the monorail ride I grabbed a G+ for peter pan at 2pm. After lunch walked to Magic Kingdom, did the laugh floor than at 1pm grabbed a G+ for speedway. Followed by G+ for dumbo. Did the teacups while waiting for dumbo G+, followed by peter pan G+ and Jungle Cruise G+. It was about 330 and the toddler was DONE. We monorailed back to poly with her asleep in the stroller. I was really hoping we would return to the park that night for extra hours but that was not to be. Nap time lasted until 7pm, was followed by tacos, sushi and drinks on the trader sams patio and fireworks on the beach with the piped in music. The night ended with a Lupa pineapple drink and wings at Ohana’s bar followed by bed. I felt a little bit better about the value of G+ at Magic Kingdom, but it still left me with a bad taste.
Thursday – Signed up for LL for Frozen at 1130am as requested by 3 year old. Walked to the T&T monorail station and rode to epcot for early entry. Held at rope for about 30 minutes, walked to Remy where we waited for over 1.5 hours because the ride broke down. By 10am we had waited in lines for over 2 hours and there was no word on when the ride might restart. We bailed, I was really upset. Such a waste of valuable time with a toddler and staff couldn’t tell us anything and offered nothing. We got breakfast pastries in Morocco, very good. Stopped and talked with Jasmine and Snow White on our walk to Norway, did our LL which I felt fine about spending $27 for the 3 of us on; I got to pick my time and it saved us an hour. Waited about 45 minutes to meet Anna and Elsa. Then added ourselves to Spice Road Table walk up list; we really enjoyed the tapas style food here and the covered outdoor seating was delightful. Remy was back up, but all LL was sold out. I just couldn’t ask my toddler to stand in line again. Monorail back to T&T and walked back to Poly. Swam from 330 to 530pm when it got a little too cold. Dinner was to-go from Kona; noodles were good, burger was dry.
Friday – It was decided that we’d head back to Animal Kingdom to get our final badge; my husband just couldn't leave without it. So one final badge stop, followed by another lion king show and 3 rides on triceratops spin. I kept checking and safari was always over 60 minute wait. I would have paid $5 or $7 a person to ride in LL, but I couldn’t justify $15 a person for LL just for Safari so we took the bus to Saratoga Springs followed by a boat to Disney springs. The 3 year old slept the entire bus and boat ride over even during the boat horns! We had a late lunch at T-Rex, seated immediately with Laundry’s card. Well, the daughter had what appeared to be kraft mac and cheese and we split a flatbread which was simply not good. But, our daughter LOVED the dinosaurs. We did some various shopping and listening to music. Then had a 5pm dinner at Fontera, enjoyed tacos and guacamole and ice cream for the toddler. Took the bus back to Poly, grabbed a drink from the pool bar and sat on the sand to enjoy fireworks on our last night.
Overall - G+ just feels crummy; especially with little kids which are so unpredictable. Having to pay for something that was historically included in the price of tickets especially when you stayed onsite you were almost always guaranteed some of the better rides with low waits. There seems to be so little advantage to staying onsite, how is G+ not included with an onsite stay? Paid LL felt acceptable. I hated having to wake up at 7am to make these reservations or miss out on the “good ones”. I’m dreading this with my family of 5. I wish they would do a length of stay add on for G+ so I didn’t have to think about this decision everyday. Ticket costs were fine. I didn’t even mind paying more for food, drinks and souvenirs; mainly because I could decide if we were going to eat at Topolinos or the Mara instead and not feel that it dictated the entire day. We really enjoyed the vibe and location of the Polynesian.
