Live from the Poly!- May 27 - June 4

[IrenicMom]

The prize goes to your DS for the biggest fork and drink I have ever seen.

He's already asked "where can I get a drink like this at home??!?"

I had a hard time enjoying casual drinks with the girls in the neighborhood this evening- as I just wanted to get home and read your live trip report from today!!

You are too funny! I won't lie - I get a little like that on trip reports I love, so thank you for the sweet compliment!

Must say we loved the cabana. We also had Heather as an attendant last week. She was a sport!

She is fabulous! She's signing up for round two with us this Friday, too.

Don't be "mean mommy" be "hakuna matatada" mommy! What's the worse that could happen? they take advantage and get Icecream at 10am? whatever!!!

I'm all about hanuka matada mommy, as long as they're not being disrespectful or disruptive. Unfortunately, though, there has been a rash of the disrespectful lately, and that isn't tolerated, period, vacation or not

Aloha!

I am LOVING your live trip report! I will be at the Poly in July and I just cant wait!!! Thanks for taking us along on your trip.

I loved the pics of the storm, these were awesome.

Thank you for coming along!!

Looks like you are having a great time!
How's the temp in WDW? I can't help feeling sorry for the Chewbacca CM.

I contend that DHS is the HOTTEST of the parks - lots of asphalt and concrete, very little green space, and for whatever reason, very little breeze. I'd bet the heat index was well over 100* that day - it was miserably hot.

Hopping on for the tailend...great trip so far!!! Thank you for bringing us along.

Thanks for coming along!

We're heading down in Aug for our first Poly trip and have the cabana for half a day. After reading your report I'm going to see about doing the full day! So glad to finally see a report about the cabana!!

I'll have a more thorough report on the cabanas (ie - more pictures!!) about our Friday day. The first Friday was all about relaxing and detoxing from the chaos of the end of the school year.

Loving your trip report....keep it up!

Ill be interested to hear your via napoli review...! we would like to go there on our next trip.. We popped in there on our last trip, when it was brand new...and the ovens look awesome...all I can think of when I look at them is...mystical greek gods! Id like to know if they toss the pizzas or not.

Thanks for coming along!

We were seated on the other side of the restaurant, so I'm not sure if they toss or not - but I will have a picture for you in just a few!

Lovin' your trip report. We'll be there in one week. We are also heading to SWW so thank you for posting the pics. I hope they open the park early when we go as well. When they did, were all the rides running? We wanted to get there for rope drop.

Aloha - from a fellow mom of twins!

The big ticket rides were open for definite - Toy Story, Star Tours, Tower of Terror, Rock n Roller Coaster. I was in such shock, I didn't notice if the others were or not.

I'm having withdrawals, wondering where you are now!

I'm sorry - my phone has been dying more quickly these last two days - not sure why! I was in Magic Kingdom all day yesterday, and Animal Kingdom most of the day today. More on that in a bit!

I must say, I find myself really looking forward to checking for your posts everyday to see how your trip is going. Thanks so much for taking us along!

I am about to get on the phone right now to see if they have any cabanas left for our upcoming trip. I'll be back shortly to let everyone know if I was successful. Cross your fingers for me please!!

Thanks so much for reading!

Hope you were successful on the cabana!

Of course you are and your live trip report ROCKS the Universe!

Awww, thanks!! You guys rock, too, for reading!!

Hey...Where's the pics!! lol.. Don't feel bad about the pics... Its hard enough just getting up and hitting the parks!! Much less taking the entire Disboard with you! Sounds like your having a ball! ​

Pushing you all in the stroller IS getting a little tiresome

WOW! Your family is(are??) all super-troopers(insert ABBA tune and lyrics). We have NEVER done rope drop to closing, much less 2 days in a row. We all get crabby and tired of crowds and love the afternoon break by the pool.

Can't wait to see the pics but seriously girl, get some rest! This is vacation

You'll be pleased to know I took a nap today

My kids are way not normal - they're warriors!!!

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I just started reading this thread and it is making me so EXCITED about our trip in Aug. it will be our first stay at the Poly. When should I call to reserve a cabana? I am def. hooked from hearing about it. Sounds like you are having a blast!

 

[IrenicMom]

I just started reading this thread and it is making me so EXCITED about our trip in Aug. it will be our first stay at the Poly. When should I call to reserve a cabana? I am def. hooked from hearing about it. Sounds like you are having a blast!

Thanks for coming along!!

Cabanas are available 180 days out (like dining), so call anytime!

 

[IrenicMom]

Monday was Epcot day. Report earlier, now photos.

We walked to the TTC, and caught the Tronorail!

Also had to hit Figment, my favorite:

The playground after the ride is a must-do for my kids. And when I say W is a little crazy, I'm not kidding!!

Mission Space, Green, is a must do for the kids, too. I long to do Orange, again, but I'm alone in that, so we do Green. The post-ride shop is great fun to poke around in......

Shots from our walk to World Showcase:

So glad they didn't take everything down from the Flower and Garden Festival

I joke that I could present a chronology of Epcot, based entirely on this shot, taken every year. The trees on the island have grown so much!!!

We ate at Via Napoli for lunch. The short version? Food - fabulous. Service? Awful.

And, 13 hours after we entered the park, we were ready to head back to the Poly!

 

[IrenicMom]

Again, already did the day recap, now, the photos.

My attempt at the perfect castle shot (this year - I try every year!)

it's a small world. Favorite.Ride.EVER. I won't bore you will all the photos I took. Here's just one.

As I say - this is Q. This is Q on a roller coaster. My girl is an adrenaline JUNKIE! (Which fits her competitive gymnast personality to a T!)

And loves cars, just like her momma:

(as an aside - this is what happens when we get stuck in the "girls ride with girls, boys ride with boys" rut - I get no great pictures of my boys!!!)

And, to prove that she is also a girlie girl -

And them celebrating my Galactic Hero-dom (and yes, she **is** scaling the bars - which was quickly rectified)

More pictures in a second - they're still loading!!

 

[LorieDisneyLover]

**Side Note - another thing I'll need to address is my follow up is how wonderful everyone has been with Q's slightly odd, but still serious, carrot allergy.**

My 15 year old daughter discovered recently that she is allergic to carrots and celery ... we thought that was an odd allergy to have but lately been finding it's not so strange. Good to know that the restaurants have been good about it. We've been concerned b/c it's amazing how carrots are often on a plate when it's not even mentioned on the menu.

 

[JolllyHoliday]

Coming out of lurkdom to say I am totaly enjoying following along on your live report!

 

[IrenicMom]

My 15 year old daughter discovered recently that she is allergic to carrots and celery ... we thought that was an odd allergy to have but lately been finding it's not so strange. Good to know that the restaurants have been good about it. We've been concerned b/c it's amazing how carrots are often on a plate when it's not even mentioned on the menu.

Lorie -
I'm sure you already know this - but I'd feel awful if you didn't and I didn't mention it.

Beware of anything that lists "natural food colorants" - they most likely contain the juice of either purple or black carrots. They're most often found in organic snack foods (Clif Kids Twisted Fruit was where we learned our lesson) and organic drinks (the organic kids capri-sun style juice pouches use them, too). At 15, she's probably past those types of snacks, but it's good to know.

Also - many things that list "a full serving of vegetables" on them (pasta sauces, especially) will have carrot puree or carrot fiber in them. Wishbone Italian dressing packets have dried carrots, but the Zesty version does not. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing has carrots, but the dry packets do not. Kraft Ranch dressing is carrot free.

As far as dining around WDW, the only big "issue" we've had is that the marinara sauce at Tony's in MK contains carrots, so she opted for an alfredo sauce, instead.

Sorry to hear that your daughter is dealing with this, too. And I agree - it's amazing how prevalent carrots are - and so many people give me grief about it! "She's not allergic, she just doesn't like them". Um, no. The hives that she breaks out in beg to differ. (That was from the Clif Kids bar - and it was the last ingredient on the list, listed as "natural food coloring". Not until I called the company did I learn that it **could** have been carrot juice - they also use beet and blueberry juice)

 

[IrenicMom]

Look, kids! The backside of water!!

All that's old is new again (aka, what my husband calls "The reason she **had** to have a new camera )

Magic, Memories and You!

Ha ha!! See what a little wishing can do??

And thus, 15 hours after we departed for the park, we headed home.

 

[dfarner]

Again, already did the day recap, now, the photos.

My attempt at the perfect castle shot (this year - I try every year!)

it's a small world. Favorite.Ride.EVER. I won't bore you will all the photos I took. Here's just one.

As I say - this is Q. This is Q on a roller coaster. My girl is an adrenaline JUNKIE! (Which fits her competitive gymnast personality to a T!)

And loves cars, just like her momma:

(as an aside - this is what happens when we get stuck in the "girls ride with girls, boys ride with boys" rut - I get no great pictures of my boys!!!)

And, to prove that she is also a girlie girl -

And them celebrating my Galactic Hero-dom (and yes, she **is** scaling the bars - which was quickly rectified)

More pictures in a second - they're still loading!!

Love the pics! Your peeps look like they are having so much fun. It makes my heart smile.

 

[disneydreamingdebby]

Great pictures! Your little ones are adorable! It sounds like you are all having a blast! I am shocked by HM--did they really chix out or have something else they wanted to do?

 

[Grace&Carolinesmom]

Did you find out why the quiet pool was closed off??

Glad to hear you took a nap

 

[IrenicMom]

Great pictures! Your little ones are adorable! It sounds like you are all having a blast! I am shocked by HM--did they really chix out or have something else they wanted to do?

Thank you. We really are having a good time - but then again, it's Disney! We always have a good vacation here, even though they're all so different.

And yes, they really did chicken out. It freaks my husband out, and the kids are seriously, nightmarishly freaked out by it, too.

Did you find out why the quiet pool was closed off??

Glad to hear you took a nap

No - but trust me, it was more than lightening in the area - there were wooden barricades all around it. I'll try to investigate more.

And yes, we came home from AK, the kids wanted to go to the arcade (which is totally T's domaine, NOT mine). I stayed back, intending to get my pictures uploaded and to get some dirty laundry packed up, and instead, I sat down and fell asleep

 

[IrenicMom]

Which was Animal Kingdom day.

Which brought us to the bus stop (after breakfast at Kona), and my favorite little guy tucked away in the landscaping:

Obligatory Tree of Life photo:

Like the lemmings that we are, we headed back to Africa.

It was the classic "we could wait in line for thirty minutes, or get fast passes, for which the window opens in 30 minutes, and do something else. As this isn't our first rodeo, we chose the latter.

And the "what we did for the next 30 minutes" really turned into an hour and thirty minutes.

First, file under somewhat obscure character sightings - Pocahontas and Meeko. Which wouldn't be so obscure if they were actually running her show - but they're NOT, which is a vent in and of itself. My kids loved that show! The CM said it would be running over Thanksgiving and Christmas. Hey, thanks. That's helpful now, in the summer

Anyway, running into them fully and 100% justified my reasoning on why we ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS bring our character encyclopedias, Dear. Yes, I know they're heavy. Yes, I know they're not used all the time, every single day. But come ON. If you'd asked me today "hey, do you think you'll run into Meeko at Animal Kingdom today?" my answer would not have been yes. So, buck up little soldier. That's why we have a backpack

And then, because we were over that way (with the intention of seeing Gi'tar Dan), we kind of found ourselves stumbling into The Festival of the Lion King. We were elephants. Again. We're always either elephants of giraffes. ALWAYS!! But, the show was fab, as always.

Afterwards, we found ourselves in the middle of a good, old-fashioned Florida style pouring down rain (helloooooooo, Hurricane Season! Tropical Depression? Check! )

Turns out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Because on the Safari? More animals than we've EVER seen before.

Hippos! Out of water!! I want one for Christmas, only a hippopotamus will do.....

And clearly, this guy has been paying attention in his "posing for tourists 101" class:

And rhinos, which we have in Indy, but these are FLORIDA rhinos

And, in a true first for me (and I've been to AK pretty much every year since it opened in '98), I actually witnessed a male lion doing something OTHER THAN SLEEPING

Did you know their manes get darker as they age? Yep, neither did I. But now you do, and so do I!

From there, it was on to lunch. Yak & Yeti is the only game in town, IMO, at AK. I've eaten every where else it has to offer, and Y&Y is the only one for me!

And despite everyone being tall enough (hooray!! ), this was the closest we'd get to Expedition Everest:

There were big storms a'brewin', and we decided to get out of dodge. It was closing in on 4 o'clock. We stopped into It's Tough to be a Bug, first, though, as it's a necessity every trip.

Which brings me to an interesting aside - I think Disney is at a critical point in their employment ranks. I believe they've cut staffing down to the point where they'll either start to lose the Disney magic, or they'll realize they're operating on what is basically a bare bones staff, and decide to up the ranks again. I've been in three instances now where I looked a CM in the face and said "I'm terribly sorry I had the audacity to expect you to do your job." I was literally yelled at in the Seasons line to, and I quote "Hurry up and make a decision already, my line is getting long!!!". I was dressed down by the check-in CM at Tony's last night. And today, the power monger running the gate at Bug forcibly stopped W from entering (after she told him to go on in) and then yelled (yes, raised her voice, yelled) at the kids to "Take those Bug Eyes off RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE!!!!" I was standing right there, and asked them to put them on so I could take their picture by the roots, exactly like I do EVERY SINGLE YEAR. In every instance, a conversation has ensued, and my closing line has been the same every time.

And interestingly enough, each one of these instances has been with a 60ish year old female CM.

Anyway - there's more to my theory on their staffing, but that's it in a nutshell. W asked what he did wrong, why the bug lady yelled at him.

Anyway - I digress.

After AK, it was back to our room, I crashed, the kids and T went to the arcade, and then we all regrouped and headed to the pool.

And that, in a nutshell, was today.

 

[IrenicMom]

Coming out of lurkdom to say I am totaly enjoying following along on your live report!

Welcome!!!

Love the pics! Your peeps look like they are having so much fun. It makes my heart smile.

Thank you! So sweet

 

[LorieDisneyLover]

Lorie -
I'm sure you already know this - but I'd feel awful if you didn't and I didn't mention it.

Beware of anything that lists "natural food colorants" - they most likely contain the juice of either purple or black carrots. They're most often found in organic snack foods (Clif Kids Twisted Fruit was where we learned our lesson) and organic drinks (the organic kids capri-sun style juice pouches use them, too). At 15, she's probably past those types of snacks, but it's good to know.

Also - many things that list "a full serving of vegetables" on them (pasta sauces, especially) will have carrot puree or carrot fiber in them. Wishbone Italian dressing packets have dried carrots, but the Zesty version does not. Hidden Valley Ranch dressing has carrots, but the dry packets do not. Kraft Ranch dressing is carrot free.

As far as dining around WDW, the only big "issue" we've had is that the marinara sauce at Tony's in MK contains carrots, so she opted for an alfredo sauce, instead.

Sorry to hear that your daughter is dealing with this, too. And I agree - it's amazing how prevalent carrots are - and so many people give me grief about it! "She's not allergic, she just doesn't like them". Um, no. The hives that she breaks out in beg to differ. (That was from the Clif Kids bar - and it was the last ingredient on the list, listed as "natural food coloring". Not until I called the company did I learn that it **could** have been carrot juice - they also use beet and blueberry juice)

Thank You for this valuable information We are just figuring out all that this allergy involves and your info helped immensely. I won't clog up your live report with this ... but I just needed to say thanks!

 

[DT83097]

IrenicMom - your pictures are beautiful. Looks like your kiddos are having a great time and making great memories!! Looking forward to more including tomorrows cabana day when carlnix will be there as well!

 

[swwake]

Thanks for continuing your report, Cheryl. I love the pics and I love your candid, and fun!, writing style!

Sorry about the grouchy 60-ish female CMs. Don't let them bring down your vacation!

 

[IrenicMom]

Thank You for this valuable information We are just figuring out all that this allergy involves and your info helped immensely. I won't clog up your live report with this ... but I just needed to say thanks!

It's my trip report, so I say - clutter as necessary! It's a learning curve, for sure. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to help.

IrenicMom - your pictures are beautiful. Looks like your kiddos are having a great time and making great memories!! Looking forward to more including tomorrows cabana day when carlnix will be there as well!

Thank you so much. Today's update is forthcoming. I can already give you tomorrows - b'fast at 'Ohana, then lounger in cabana, pina colava, pool to cool off, lounger, pina colava, pool. Wash, rinse, repeat. Roll off lounger to harass, er, meet Carl, then off to Artist Point

Thanks for continuing your report, Cheryl. I love the pics and I love your candid, and fun!, writing style!

Sorry about the grouchy 60-ish female CMs. Don't let them bring down your vacation!

Thanks! So kind of you to say.

And it takes a lot more than grouchy CMs to bring me down on vacation - it was just interesting that they were all about the same age, and all apparently on a power trip!

 

[IrenicMom]

Why yes, that IS rope drop. Again.

Today started at Magic Kingdom at Rope Drop (EMH to boot - so it was 8 am) and ended as we pulled out of the Epcot monorail station to the ending strains of IllumiNations.

To quote Bad Brit - Oops, we did it again

We didn't **mean** to spend 13 hours in the parks. Again. It just...well, it just happened.

We really just meant to do a few more things - and it was directed entirely by the kids. All things they wanted to do, within reason.

So, of course, our day started with this:

But that's ok, because it meant I had the chance to look at this:

It also meant this, again. Ugh. The things we do for our kids!

And this, which is right up there with gutting myself with a rusty blade (but see the random head sticking up above the crowd? That's T):

It also included Pooh, the Tomorrowland Transit Authority, Buzz (where I was NOT a galactic hero - darn!), Space Mountain, Teacups and Carousel of Progress (seriously. My kids love this ride. LOVE).

I do love Tomorrowland - there are so many little things tucked here and there - and I love to try to capture it all!!

And I've always loved this view:

I'm always lagging behind my family, because I'm always finding something I want to try to shoot. I'm pretty sure the family who was taking their photo in front of this thought I was shooting them, but trust me, I'm all about as few people in my shots as possible!

Ok - time for a quick break while more pictures load!