Kimpup and MLinDisney CELEBRATE!!! ~ 1st TR~ POP/POLY, DxDP!! 8/31 -9/8 UPDATED 10/24

[MLinDisney]

This is my first trip report. We arrived on August 31 at POP for one night, then went to the Poly for 7 nights. What a trip! We did so much in such a short amount of time! The last time we were at Disneyworld was 2008 and we stayed for 4 days at the Contemporary, so we were really looking forward to this!
Introductions:

My name is Mary Lou (MLinDisney on Disboards) and I'm celebrating my retirement from 25 years of teaching :
As you can see we started celebrating at JFK!!
and my DD, Kim (Kimpup on Disboards) is celebrating graduating with her MBA:

We got those shirts on ebay, but the same seller is on Etsy.
Here is DD with her graduation hat:

I wish I had taken another pic with this hat. It said "Class of 2012" on it with a little blue mortarboard and tassel on top! We really wanted to celebrate in a big way. We decided to stay at the Polynesian. We were there when Kim was 8 and her brother was 10 and loved it then. I always wanted to go back. Originally we decided on the DDP and upgraded to deluxe when we had so many restaurants we wanted to try!

After this trip, I wished I had taken more photos. I have so many of the food, sooo I decided to make both a TR and a DR. I'll link the dining report here.

We were planning this trip from August, 2011 and booked it December, 2011. We didn't take the free dining because I had a pin with a room only discount that saved us more than two of us on free dining. We decided later to stay at POP for one night (See WE'RE AT POP below.)

Since this is my first trip report, I want to make links as I go along. Here is my table of contents: (Actually more like an outline, I may change this as I post links.)
INTRODUCTIONS, MLinDisney and Kimpup!! and JFK JET BLUE TERMINAL 5!!!! We start our drinking and dining!
WE'RE AT POP!! Trying out the tie-dyed cheesecake!
ALOHA! CHECKING INTO POLY! Tokelau!
DAY 1 PART 1 EPCOT
DAY 1 PART 2 EPCOT
DAY 1 PART 3 EPCOT AND SURPRISE!!!
DAY 1 PART 4 MK - First Time Attractions!!
DAY 2 - PART 1: SAME PARKS AS DAY 1 - EPCOT
DAY 2 PART 2: Halloween Decos, MK open until 2!
DAY 3 PART 1 MK - KTTK TOUR
DAY 3 PART 2 MK - KTTK TOUR CONTINUED
DAY 3 PART 3 HS and Fantasmic for the first time!!!
DAY 4 AK, Wild AfricaTrek, Water Pageant and Wishes on the Poly beach!!!
DAY 5 PART 1 HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS
DAY 5 PART 2 DOWNTOWN DISNEY
DAY 5 PART 3 TOMORROWLAND TERRACE DESSERT PARTY!!
DAY 6 EPCOT - Pick a Pearl! First Dole Whip! Wishes on the Poly Beach!
DAY 7 LAST ANIMAL KINGDOM DAY PART 1
DAY 7 LAST ANIMAL KINGDOM DAY PART 2
DAY 7 LAST ANIMAL KINGDOM DAY PART 3
DAY 8 MK, CHECKOUT AT POLY , OUTLET STORES, EPCOT - Running wild trying to use up snack credits!!!

Be back in a little while I'm going to start the Dining Report and link it up!

 

[Terrie..]

YEA!! You finally started!! Can't wait to read all about this trip

 

[JaxMama]

Excited to read all about it!

 

[Grumpy's Wife]

Hi joining in.

 

[MLinDisney]

YEA!! You finally started!! Can't wait to read all about this trip

Yes it took awhile to get this started, but I'm getting the hang of it. Thanks for reading!

 

[MLinDisney]

Excited to read all about it!

I'm so excited to write about it. Brings back memories of the trip!!

Hi joining in.

Thank you for reading! Enjoy!

 

[MLinDisney]

We landed at MCO at around 8:15pm. DD went to get our luggage and I headed to Alamo Kiosk. After a little confusion with the extra driver, we headed to the Alamo garage. We didn't find any economy size which is what I reserved. There was only one compact car to choose from so they told us to choose a mid-size. Little Pixie dust!

We then headed to POP. We were not originally going to POP, but Jet Blue emailed us a few months before our trip and moved our 6 am flight on September 1st to 7:30 am. I called them and they said they would change our flight with no fee. I asked if they had room on a flight the night before, (August 31st) and they said yes!! More pixie dust. Another night at the Poly would have been a large expense and we wanted to try POP. That is how we ended up at POP for one night. Here is when we first arrived:

A little dark but taken from the car at around 9:15 pm. We checked in and went to our room.

We were in the 70s Building on the first floor, close to Classic Hall.
After we put our luggage in our room, we decided to go to Everything Pop. By then it was around 9:45.

We had been looking at the tie-dyed cheesecake on Disboards for a while and wanted to try it out. We headed for the dining area and shared a piece and also each got a bottled water. After that we went to the gift shop.
We purchased two rain ponchos, $17. The CM asked if it was raining out. I said no but this is insurance against rain. If I didn't buy them it would be sure to rain ~ and we really lucked out with rain this vacation!
We decided to leave Everything POP and go get some sleep.

This is what we saw when we exited.

The next morning, we went to Everything POP for breakfast at 6:00. and then walked around the property before we left to check into the Poly. We saw:

The bowling pool in the 50s. It was a little cloudy this early in the morning.

and:

I have a pic with DD here to show how huge this is:

We also went on the Generation Gap Bridge which leads over to AoA. We walked a little further and noticed this:

Mr. PotatoHead!!

POP was ok, my DD summed it up very well: She said she would have loved it there when she was younger. I was observing the children there. They were having such a great time. The theme there was great for kids!

We grabbed our luggage and headed to the Poly!

Next Up CHECKING INTO THE POLY!!

 

[MLinDisney]

So we jumped in the car and headed for the Poly:

We're here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Checking in I took this of the lobby:


So pretty!
Our room wasn’t ready, but they told us it will be on the third floor of Tokelau!!! Just what we wanted!! While we were checking in, I called Turner Drugs to order water. They said they would deliver it by 3:00. We ordered two cases of 32 or 36 pint bottles. We checked our luggage with bell services and walked to the TTC and headed for Epcot!


NEXT UP: DAY 1 Part 1 EPCOT and Back to Poly for a SURPRISE!

 

[Terrie..]

Looks like a nice start to the trip. Poly is so pretty. Love the waterfalls!

 

[celeste.]

Great start to your first TR! Love the morning pictures of Pop!

 

[luckylady]

Score on getting in the night before. Extra magic time at the world.

 

[MLinDisney]

Looks like a nice start to the trip. Poly is so pretty. Love the waterfalls!

Yes the landscaping was beautiful there!!

Great start to your first TR! Love the morning pictures of Pop!

Thank you! I would like to get a look at AoA too!

Score on getting in the night before. Extra magic time at the world.

Yes it was great that Jet Blue moved us at no cost!! Thanks for joining in!

 

[MLinDisney]

After leaving bell services, we walked over to the TTC at the other end of the Polynesian property. We took the Epcot Monorail:


The Monorail platform was very empty. It was around 8:40am.

DD waiting for Monorail.

Empty!!

This is me in my retired princess shirt and celebrating button. I made this shirt on Zazzle.

Here is our monorail. We were the only ones on this morning. This is the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, but the entire weekend and week after was pretty much empty early in the morning.

We pulled into the Epcot station, after making the loop around Epcot and from the Monorail we saw the streamers go up in the air for rope drop time. We missed it by 5 minutes (the time it took us to walk down there and go through security.) We headed for:

Soarin'!! My favorite ride! We were in the second row. After soarin we went on Living with the land. I haven't done this one in 25 years. I loved how they were farming in small spaces, but the Tilapia farm upset me. All those fish in such a small tank.
We then headed for Mission Space:

Very empty. If you look at the cloud above the trees you can see a hidden Mickey cloud tilted a little! We couldn’t decide if we should do green or orange. I have never been on Mission Space, so we decided to try green. We walked right on. It was a pretty good ride and kind of mild so we went onto orange, again walk on. Orange was frightening for me. I felt pressure on my lungs. It made it scary to breathe. Anyone else feel this way?

Another attraction that I never tried:

This is another favorite now! There was a 2 minute wait. We went into a room and stood by one of the computer/tables. We chose the type of ride we wanted to create and the speed, number of loops etc. Then we named it.
We went on our simulated ride:

This is a must do! We went on it again another day!
Each time you go on they give you a card. You can go to a website and see your ride in cartoon form and the name that you chose for your ride will be on the card too. It shows the speed, loops and the amount of times you go upside down etc. I looked at this online when I got home. Here are the cards:



CONTINUED IN NEXT POST.......................

 

[MLinDisney]

We then headed over to the world showcase. It was shortly before 11, but we walked over to Mexico. We went on the Gran Fiesta Tour boat ride and saw the three Caballeros. We shopped in Mexico and saw a t-shirt that DD wanted, but she decided to wait. It had a drawing of a drink in each country. Very cute.
We then headed over to La Cantina de San Angel. We had lunch there (see my DR, link in my signature.)
We strolled over to Norway and went on:

Even though stand-by times were always 5 minutes, they all were walk on! Love this ride! We skipped the movie. I have been on this every time I came to Epcot. Last time I went on was August, 2009. They seem to be building or fixing something here:

Not sure what they are doing. I wanted to get a photo of a boat coming close to that opening but couldn’t. Anyone know what's happening here? I saw so many of these fences put up in each park, where they are putting up new attractions, I wish they would put a sign up about what they are doing, but I guess that would spoil the surprise.
We then went shopping in the Norway shops.

The Troll!!

DD with "Drink Glasses" sunglasses!

DD wearing aTiara!
We ended up our Norway area with a SCHOOL BREAD that we shared!!! (see DR). We walked past China. We had watched the movie in there and spent time in the shops and exhibits there last time we went. Then we walked past Italy and stopped in a shop there. When we got to Germany, we went into Karamell Kuche to take a look around. We decided to wait to buy because at that point we got a text from the Poly that our room was ready. It was around 1:00. We took the boat across the lagoon:

Boat was empty! Here are shots from the boat:

Gondolas!

The dock on the Future World side.
We took the monorail back to the TTC:

Here is a photo of a Mickey topiary at the TTC.

Also at the TTC, starting to put up Halloween decorations!!!

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST...............................

 

[MLinDisney]

We walked from the TTC to the Poly on the pathway. It is such a short walk with beautiful plants and trees. There are also bricks with names of people and families on that walkway, like the ones leading from the contemporary to MK.
We got back to the Poly, got our luggage from bell services and went to our room. We were on the third floor of Tokelau, room 3901. It was the first room on the left after the elevator. Here is what we were greeted with:

I was excited because I never had one of these in all the trips to Disneyworld!
I went out on the balcony and saw these views:

Pool and GCH!

Walkway to the beach!

Gardens. The landscaping was breathtaking there. I took these with my ipad.
The rooms had wifi. I was able to get my email, and go online. I also took notes for the TR. (sometimes I forgot to)
There was a delivery for me at this time. SURPRISE!!! I got a beautiful present from DD!! I answered the door and was shocked that it was for me! She gave me this as part of my retirement surprise:

A monogrammed bag in the shape of Mickey pants filled with all those goodies!! It has a bottom part that zips and is insulated! This came in handy later. It had beautiful ribbons and a card (on the left.) There was also a pair of 3D glasses in here made for the fireworks. You can see Mickey heads mingling among the fireworks during wishes. I used them and they really worked!!! I took this photo of the 3D glasses when I got home:


This bag was from Disney Florist. THANK YOU AGAIN DD!!!!!!!!!!

We also got the Turner Drug water delivery two cases of 36 ( I think it might have been 32) pints of purified water, as promised at 3:00. We threw some into the refrigerator for future use and kept the rest in a corner of the room. The Poly rooms are huge! I didn't take any photos except the one above and a few towel animals.

At this time, we showered and rested. Later we went to Citricos for dinner. (See DR.) We were going to walk to the Grand Floridian, but decided to take the monorail. As we were walking off the monorail at the GF, we saw a bride and her Groom and family getting on the monorail at the GF! We saw a few brides this trip. After Citricos, we took the monorail to the MK!!

***NOTE - I didn't realize that the first day would be so long so I had to make continuations in a few posts.

NEXT UP - DAY 1 PART 4 MK - first time rides!

 

[Terrie..]

Nice updates! Soarin' and Maelstrom are my favorites! We never tried Sum of all Thrills. Looking forward to trying it in January!!

 

[MUFFYCAT]

What a awesome trip! The Polynesian is our favorite resort, feels like home. The POP is great for what you did. I love how you were up talking pictures at 6 a.m. The Polynesian is so nice at that time. Congrats to you and your DD and enjoy!!

 

[MLinDisney]

Nice updates! Soarin' and Maelstrom are my favorites! We never tried Sum of all Thrills. Looking forward to trying it in January!!

You will love SOAT!!

What a awesome trip! The Polynesian is our favorite resort, feels like home. The POP is great for what you did. I love how you were up talking pictures at 6 a.m. The Polynesian is so nice at that time. Congrats to you and your DD and enjoy!!

I love the Polynesian too! The rooms are huge and views are beautiful. Love the walk to the TTC! Thank you!

 

[MLinDisney]

We took the monorail from the Grand Floridian to MK. I couldn’t believe how many Halloween decorations were up at MK.

I stopped to take this one. We walked up Main Street and over to Space Mountain to get a fast pass. Then we went over to Monsters Inc, Laugh Floor. We both had never been to this attraction and were pleasantly surprised. We made a mental note to try it again. We then went over to Stitch's Great Escape, which I had never been on either and we enjoyed that one too! I liked Laugh Floor better. Two new experiences that were pretty good!

We went on the people mover, which I always enjoy, especially at night. We hadn't been to Space Mountain on our last trip in 2009 because it was closed for refurb. So we got a preview on the People mover before we went onto SM. After the people mover we went onto SM and it didn't look like it changed a lot since I was there in 1999. It was dark and I didn't get many photos of Tomorrowland.

We left Tomorrowland, and headed for Fantasyland. I wanted to try Peter Pan. I had never been on Peter Pan and wanted to see why there was always such a long wait. The fireworks were starting so we had to go behind the Castle and get over to Peter Pan that way. The wait was 20 minutes but it moved fast and ended up to be only 10 min wait. I can see why it is popular, especially with younger children and fans of the story of Peter Pan.

We then headed for Main Street where there was a MSEP added on that night at 11. So we lined up and got a good spot.

Here is a view of the Castle from our spot. I haven't seen the MSEP since 1985!! I really loved it then so I took so many photos. I'll only put a few here.





I don't remember this last float. It may be new. I really love this parade and I'm humming the song right now!!
We headed for Main Street after this to buy our breakfast for tomorrow at the Main Street Bakery. We then shopped a little:

DD trying out some sparkly Minnie ears!
We took the monorail back to the Poly and went to Captain Cooks to get our mugs. We were so tired and we had to get a good sleep to get to rope drop the next morning so we headed back to the room.

NEXT UP: DAY 2 -SAME PARKS AS DAY 1 Epcot - Halloween Decos, MK open until 2!

 

[Terrie..]

The Halloween decorations were up early. One day I'll have to get there to see the Fall decorations - they look so nice. Great pics of the MSEP! Kimpup looks so cute in the sparkly ears!!!