Lizards, ducks, and FUN! Our week at the Polynesian!*Updated 7/21* Page 10

[stace208]

Hi there! Welcome to my first ever trip report! I read along with so many PTR's and TR's to get ready for this trip, I figured I would go ahead and do my own trip report. Hopefully some folks will join me, but if not, it's a good way for me to relive my trip.

First up, some introductions on the cast of characters and the details of the trip:
Dates were June 18-27th and we stayed one night in Tampa and the rest at Disney's Polynesian Resort

On this trip were the following folks:
Me, Stacy. I am a 38 year old second grade teacher and the Disney planner (fanatic) of my household. I've always loved Disney but found an all new love for it 3 years ago when we first took our kids. This past trip made my 7th trip to the World.

DH, John, also 38. He loves Disney too, just not as "loud" as me He is an electrical engineer by trade but is more on the managerial side of things these days. He lets me plan most things but voices his choices for the meals. We do love to eat!

DS, Ben. Ben is 8 and all boy! He loves Disney too and loves to eat! This was his third trip and I loved seeing how each trip has been different for him. Ben is most like me both in looks and personality as he is social and loud! Ben's favorite character is Goofy and he loves rides of all types.

DD, Ellie. My little girl is 6 and just as sweet as she can be. She's slightly girly but not too much so. She loves Minnie the most and likes to see the princesses and fairies but isn't "into" them that much. Ellie is like my dh, very quiet and reserved. Thrill rides are not her thing but she loves everything else about Disney.

Also along with us was my niece, her husband, and stepdaughter, 12. My niece and her hubby had been before but this was his daughter's first trip. They were with us some days, not on others and it worked out great. Ben loved hanging out with her and her dad loved that Ben helped her see the magic and not get so "tweeny" about it all!

I can't seem to find a picture of all of us in the ones I uploaded to photobucket today so I will just put one of the kids in front of Nemo at The Seas. They're the cutest ones anyways.

 

[stace208]

DH and I had both been to the world several times as kids. Then we went together on our senior high school trip (Epcot only) and to MGM on our honeymoon. In January of 2006 we took our kids who were 5 and 3. We stayed at Wilderness Lodge, no dining plan. We had a great time and I fell in love. I wasn't working at the time so we couldn't go back the next year.

In January of 2008 we returned. This time we stayed at the Beach Club. We loved its location as we were doing the dining plan this time and eating multiple times in Epcot. We also lucked into warm weather and got to experience SAB. During this trip, we made a major family decision. We had been tossing around the idea of getting a pool AND we all wanted to start coming to Disney every year SO that all meant one thing...mom returning to work. So, within two weeks of being home my application was in to personnel. I was very active in the PTA at my kid's school so as soon as he had a position open up, the principal there hired me. Pool went in and we picked our trip dates in June for as soon as school got out.

I immediately started checking flights and resorts. We all had ideas about where we wanted to stay so we looked at pictures and talked about them all. Eventually everyone fell in love with the Poly so that decision was made! I kept my eye on flights. Then in September one of our cars broke down and we had to get a new one which we weren't expecting. After that, DH proclaimed that we were driving to Florida. We had driven the first time and it was fine but took too long because we stopped overnight. We eventually decided to just leave very early one morning and go all the way through. Somewhere in all the planning we decided to add in a day at Busch Gardens Tampa (we have passes for the local Busch Gardens that gets us in free there). It worked nicely because we wanted to check in to the Poly later so our room would be ready and we would have an extra meal so we could do the Hoop De Doo Review. All of this leads us to this trip!

 

[stace208]

Day 1 Thursday June 18

We wanted to leave between 3:30 and 4:00 am...Yikes that is early! I contemplated not even going to bed but I had everything ready to go so I did get some sleep. DH and I got up at 3, got ready, and finished loading the last few things. The kids had gone to bed in their traveling clothes. We woke Ben up, got him in the bathroom and moving towards the car. Our plan had been to carry Ellie out to the car still sleeping. Yea, NOT!! As soon as she heard us all up and around the girl perked right up. Nothing like going to Disney to get the excitement flowing. We then pointed her towards the potty and then the car and by 3:40 we were all buckled in and ready to go!

I figured the kids would settle in and go back to sleep but I was wrong! They stayed awake chatting and talking. Somebody watched a movie I think at some point and I know Ben was playing his PSP too. Ellie mostly just drew and watched the scenery. I packed breakfast so we didn't stop for that. We stopped a few times at rest areas and for lunch around 11. We kept right on trucking only stopping when someone needed the potty or if we needed gas. I did talk dh into stopping at the Florida welcome center to get the free oj

We arrived in Tampa around 4:30 that afternoon so a full 13 hours in the car. Total sleeping time in the car: Me, 10 mins. Ellie 10 mins., Ben 20 mins. Needless to say, we were ALL pooped out. We checked in and then went to Chili's for dinner. Back to the hotel. The kids wanted to swim but I hadn't packed swim suits in the overnight bag plus I was too dang tired! We all got showers and watched some tv. I know Ellie was asleep by 7:30, I went at 8 and John said he and Ben went at 8:30.

I have looked twice and apparently I took no pictures of the kids in the car or along the way anywhere. How crazy is that??? I know I meant to. Ah well, there's always next year!!

Up next, early wake up call to hit Busch Gardens!

 

[Hollywoodhaha]

I'm here! I love your writing.
Keep on going!

 

[stace208]

I'm here! I love your writing.
Keep on going!

YEA! My first reader!! Thanks so much for your compliment and for posting!!
The next installment will be up tonight!!

If there's anybody else reading along, please post! I know it can be hard...it took me forever to finally post on other's threads. But it is true that the more the merrier!!

 

[Mommy2BnB]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your TP!

 

[GreatBiscuit]

Great start! I was equally amazed when I roused our crew at 4 AM that they all perked right up and were raring to go. If only Disney could figure out how to package that for school days. Looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.

 

[stace208]

Looking forward to reading the rest of your TP!

Thanks for joining in! The next update will be tonight after I get the kids settled. Pictures this time too!!

 

[stace208]

Great start! I was equally amazed when I roused our crew at 4 AM that they all perked right up and were raring to go. If only Disney could figure out how to package that for school days. Looking forward to seeing how it all comes together.

Thanks and !! Oh yes, I need a case of that stuff for school mornings. Ben gets up easily but Ellie, that's a whole 'nother story!

 

[dmaz]

Sounds like a very similar story to ours. Back to work part time(teacher too), to pay for the extras, staying at the Poly, driving far and tossing around the pool idea.
Can't wait to read more!

 

[stace208]

Sounds like a very similar story to ours. Back to work part time(teacher too), to pay for the extras, staying at the Poly, driving far and tossing around the pool idea.
Can't wait to read more!

Thanks for joining in! I oh so wish that my district had part-time positions but no such luck for me.

When are you staying at the Poly? You will just love it! Oh, and go for the pool...it's wonderful

 

[Angies1274]

I'm in It looks like it going to be a fun trip. I'm hoping to to stay at the Poly someday. It looks like a beautiful resort.
Can't wait to read more....

 

[cjackearl]

I'm here! I'm here! Our departure mornings sound remarkably similar. What made us think our kiddos would go back to sleep when they realized they were on their way to Disney?

Ooh, the Poly! Can't wait to see some pictures. We ate dinner at Kona one night and wandered around just a little while we waited for our table.

What night did you do HDDR? We were there on the 21st (Father's Day). Looking forward to more.

 

[tinkgurl]

I'm joining! I was there June 22-July 1!

 

[stace208]

Friday June 19

Due to our very early bedtime, 3 of us woke up pretty early. We were very excited not only for Busch Gardens but also because we knew that by tonight we'd be in Disney!

We got up and started getting dressed and roused the little sleeping princess to get her dressed. The hotel we were staying in had a breakfast so we headed down there for that. Uh, Ok, ok, so maybe not that bad but it wasn't the best continental breakfast I've ever had. But, we were on our "vacation is just beginning" high and we headed on out.

Busch Gardens Tampa is one of those theme parks that seems to sit right in the middle of a city block. I know Sesame Place in Pennsylvania is like that too. It's weird for us because Busch Gardens Williamsburg is kinda all by itself, if that makes sense. Whatever, my point is it only took us about 3 minutes to get from our hotel to the parking lot. A quick show of our season pass and we were parked and walking to the gates. We got through bag check and through the gate with no troubles thankfully. We watched the band playing out front and then right at 9 they dropped the rope.

Now, I'll be honest here, I didn't want to spend too much time here because I wanted to get to Disney. So I told Ben that we were only doing things that we can't do at our BG. I don't see the point in waiting in line for an hour to ride a roller coaster that is exactly like one he has ridden half a million times. He was okay with it because he was just as excited to get to Disney as I was, I think Anyhoo, John and Ben headed off to ride some wooden coaster thing. Ellie rode something while we waited. We then headed over to ride Rhino Rally which is like the safari ride but shorter but a little more action. Unfortunately, it was not working properly and wouldn't open until later. So, we headed over to the kid's area. Ellie rode the carousel and Ben rode a little coaster. Then Ben went in and climbed all the ropes and rode these cool zipline things that they had. Ellie wouldn't even go up the steps to check it out and she hates the ropes because her feet fall through. So, we waited at the bottom, played in the fountains a little (it was HOT-a theme repeated daily on this trip), and checked out some animals they had around that area.

On our way to find a place to eat lunch we stopped and took our picture under the Timbuktu sign. Ben studied that city in school this year as it's in Mali and third graders learn about Mali around here. Hey, don't ask me, I just work there

We found a nice, cool place to eat and ordered our food. Again, this was the beginning of another pattern on this trip...the kids meal was simply not enough food for Ben. So, I gave him some of my lunch. Everyone was rehydrated and happy.

Now, if you have stuck with me this long, you may be wondering about the title of this report. Well, the lizard portion starts today. Ben sees a lizard on a rock. Then another, then another, and you get the picture. It becomes all that they are doing. "Hey kids, look at this awesome tiger over here!" "Oh yea mom but LOOOK, there's a lizard on this rock!!!" Out of protest, I didn't take a single picture of any of the lizards. Honestly, most of them ran for cover and I don't blame them!

Anywhoo, after lunch, besides looking for lizards we walked around and saw a few more of the animal exhibits. We also went to the Egypt section and the kids did a neat dig in the sand thing where they had Egyptian artifacts buried. I took a bunch of photos in the King Tut exhibit because 2nd graders in Virginia study Ancient Egypt. Again, no comment.

By now it was almost 2:30 and we were ready to head out. We made it back to the car, stopped for gas and drinks, and then hit the road. We decided to stop by Wal-Mart to get milk, swim goggles for Ben who left his at home, and whatever else we desired. We got there about 3:30, got our supplies, and back out on the road for the short drive to Disney World!!!

 

[stace208]

I'm in It looks like it going to be a fun trip. I'm hoping to to stay at the Poly someday. It looks like a beautiful resort.
Can't wait to read more....

Yea! Thanks for joining in! The Poly was absolutely beautiful and I hope you get to stay there. We will definitely be going back!

I'm here! I'm here! Our departure mornings sound remarkably similar. What made us think our kiddos would go back to sleep when they realized they were on their way to Disney?

Ooh, the Poly! Can't wait to see some pictures. We ate dinner at Kona one night and wandered around just a little while we waited for our table.

What night did you do HDDR? We were there on the 21st (Father's Day). Looking forward to more.

Hooray! Thanks for coming over! I know, right, about the kids going back to sleep??!! When I read your TR it was like deja-vu!
Pictures of the Poly will be starting tomorrow. Oh so gorgeous. We never ate at Kona but my niece did for breakfast. They loved it.

We did HDDR on Wed. night so that would be the 24th. I wish I had thought to do it the 21st as my DH loved it and it would've been a good Father's Day treat.

I'm joining! I was there June 22-July 1!

Yipee! Thanks for coming over!! I read along on most of your PTR too! I'm just discovering the joy of posting and joining in...now I'll be hooked in even more! I'm looking forward to reading about your trip too...10 days..wow!

 

[micandminforever]

Great trip report, and I am looking forward to the rest. I love your tie-dyed shirts.

 

[Lady Lallie]

I'm joining in!

I'm amazed by that white peacock! I have never seen an all white one before, it's beautiful.

Can't wait to read more!

 

[stace208]

Great trip report, and I am looking forward to the rest. I love your tie-dyed shirts.

Thanks so much for joining in! The shirts were tons of fun to make!

I'm joining in!

I'm amazed by that white peacock! I have never seen an all white one before, it's beautiful.

Can't wait to read more!

Hi LL! Thanks so much for coming over!! That peacock is amazing, isn't it? I did some research because I thought it was albino but it's actually just a color variation. Just beautiful!

 

[stace208]

Here are a few more Busch Gardens shots.

They had this neat box in the tiger exhibit where you could stand up and look in the habitat. The tigers were laying on the top of it so Ben climbed in to "touch" the tiger.

Up next...our arrival at Disney!!!