Minnesotans Celebration Cruise Day 2
For those who dont remember the background, heres the real quick and dirty version. For more detail please find my pre-trip or Day 1 report on the DIS boards, Passporter Boards, or my web site at http://www/geocities.com/picturedisney
My best friend, Sara, and I went to Central Florida for 12 days, 4 of which were on the Disney Wonder. The rest were spent in Sea World, WDW and Universal Studios. We were celebrating my Associates Degree and the end of Saras Personal Injury Settlement. On with the story
Day 2 January 1, 2004
Happy New Year!
This day dawned even earlier than the day before, we had only gotten about 5 hours of sleep that night when the alarm clock went off at 6:00 am. We packed up what we had taken out of our luggage and set it out for pick up to be delivered to the Polynesian and headed by bus to the Magic Kingdom where we got a monorail to the Poly.
Once there we had the worlds slowest check in. There was only one cast member helping people at 7:30 ish in the morning and he was not moving very fast with anything. To make matters even worse the couple infront of us also took forever. We were kind of annoyed but it might have also been the lack of sleep and being so close to the Magic Kingdom that made our patience short.
We got checked in and put in our room request again with the cast member and he said they would do what they could and the room, where ever it would be located, would be ready at about 3:00 pm. We didnt mind as we now had park tickets! We also told him that our luggage was being sent over from the Pop Century and he said it would be brought right to our room when it arrived and the room was ready.
With that we then went to the DCL desk and checked in there. To answer a common question on both boards, we wanted to each put our own expenses on our own credit cards. If you are charging AT THE RESORTS you can only put down ONE credit card, but when ON THE SHIP you can put down a SECOND card and then get separate bills. This is what we did and it worked out just fine.
Finally we were all checked in with everyone and free to go to the parks. Dispite the urge to go into the closest park we took the monorail to Epcot and rode Mission Space first thing. Neither of us got sick but it was slightly challenging to walk in a straight line. It was a fun ride and we probably would have done it again but with only 3 days in WDW we wanted to do more things than keep repeating the same things. So we went on to Innoventions, the living Seas, Imagination Pavilion, and the Land Pavilion where we also had lunch. After riding the Living with the Land ride we got on the Friendships and went to MGM Studios.
Once there we got a good spot to watch the Stars and Motor Cars Parade which was still decked out for the holidays. This was becoming a trend around WDW, one we didnt mind at all, we both always wanted to see the Christmas Decorations around WDW.
When the parade finished we saw a number of Characters coming out for Autographs so we took some time and stood in line for a few. Each of us were collecting them in a small scrapbook so once we got the pictures developed we could put the picture of the character next to their signature.
Then we decided that we really had to do some more of the park so once the session was finished we went to Sounds Dangerous. We were able to walk right in to the next showing and once that was finished we learned our Fantasmic Dinner Package was a little mixed up but we got it sorted out and everything fixed. Not having much time until Fantasmic we did a little shopping then headed to our priority seating in Fantasmic which was in the second row, the best seats weve ever gotten. We were sitting so close we got a little spray from the water screens.
After getting lots of good pictures we then headed to dinner at Hollywood and Vine. The food was good but we were getting too tired to eat and made it a short meal. Even though we were REALLY tired we figured we would still go to the Magic Kingdom until it closed at Midnight but we would stop by the Poly to get jackets since it was cooling off.
We left MGM taking some cool night pictures then made it back to the poly a little while later. First thing was to check with guest services and get our room number. We got the room location we were looking for, second floor courner room in Tokalau. From our balcony we could see all the mountains in Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary and if we looked through or under the palm tree we could see Cinderellas Castle! This room was billed as a Standard View which we would take again at anytime.
The room was HUGE with a split bathroom that was bigger than most I have ever seen in a hotel. The wallpaper in the bathroom was a bit obnoxious but the actual room itself was very nicely decorated. We had 2 queen beds, a huge entertainment center/dresser, another dresser, a futon couch, a table and 2 chairs. Out on the balcony we had another table and two chairs.
While we had a great room, we were missing our luggage and it was 10:00 at night. We placed a call to luggage services who had no luggage under our names but they would see what they could find after we told them that 9 pieces were coming from the Pop Century (Obviously we had not re-packed well). A few minutes later they called back and told us that the luggage was still at the Pop Century. It was explained to us that since the room at the Pop Century was in MY name and the Poly was in SARAS name they didnt transfer it. The only problem with that is since we were on the cruise, MY name was also listed on the room at the Poly so if they would have looked closer they would have found me too. They found me when we sent packages back from Downtown Disney.
2 hours later and a number of phone calls a porter brought our luggage up to the room. The front end guest services manager from the Pop Century called and made sure it had gotten there and compensated us nicely for missing 2 hours of time at the parks.
At this point it was midnight and we just got ready to go to sleep instead of doing anything else. That was when Sara noticed that her bear was missing. She had had this bear since she was hospitalized from her car accident and it was a gift from her younger brother. After another few calls to the Poly luggage services desk and the luggage services desk at the Pop Century we went to sleep with the promise that they would look for and/or compensate Sara for the loss of her bear which had been secured to the top of one of her suit cases.
On a side note I was also wearing a pedometer while in WDW. I meant to put this in the day 1 report but didnt remember to until now so from now on Ill be noting the mileage we made each day on average. Day 1 (Dec. 31) we made 10 miles and Day 2 (Jan. 1) we made 6 miles.
Coming soon: Day 3 January 2, 2004. We continue our commando raid on WDW including a behind the scenes tour and more PS dinner arrangements.
Minnesota
For those who dont remember the background, heres the real quick and dirty version. For more detail please find my pre-trip or Day 1 report on the DIS boards, Passporter Boards, or my web site at http://www/geocities.com/picturedisney
My best friend, Sara, and I went to Central Florida for 12 days, 4 of which were on the Disney Wonder. The rest were spent in Sea World, WDW and Universal Studios. We were celebrating my Associates Degree and the end of Saras Personal Injury Settlement. On with the story
Day 2 January 1, 2004
Happy New Year!
This day dawned even earlier than the day before, we had only gotten about 5 hours of sleep that night when the alarm clock went off at 6:00 am. We packed up what we had taken out of our luggage and set it out for pick up to be delivered to the Polynesian and headed by bus to the Magic Kingdom where we got a monorail to the Poly.
Once there we had the worlds slowest check in. There was only one cast member helping people at 7:30 ish in the morning and he was not moving very fast with anything. To make matters even worse the couple infront of us also took forever. We were kind of annoyed but it might have also been the lack of sleep and being so close to the Magic Kingdom that made our patience short.
We got checked in and put in our room request again with the cast member and he said they would do what they could and the room, where ever it would be located, would be ready at about 3:00 pm. We didnt mind as we now had park tickets! We also told him that our luggage was being sent over from the Pop Century and he said it would be brought right to our room when it arrived and the room was ready.
With that we then went to the DCL desk and checked in there. To answer a common question on both boards, we wanted to each put our own expenses on our own credit cards. If you are charging AT THE RESORTS you can only put down ONE credit card, but when ON THE SHIP you can put down a SECOND card and then get separate bills. This is what we did and it worked out just fine.
Finally we were all checked in with everyone and free to go to the parks. Dispite the urge to go into the closest park we took the monorail to Epcot and rode Mission Space first thing. Neither of us got sick but it was slightly challenging to walk in a straight line. It was a fun ride and we probably would have done it again but with only 3 days in WDW we wanted to do more things than keep repeating the same things. So we went on to Innoventions, the living Seas, Imagination Pavilion, and the Land Pavilion where we also had lunch. After riding the Living with the Land ride we got on the Friendships and went to MGM Studios.
Once there we got a good spot to watch the Stars and Motor Cars Parade which was still decked out for the holidays. This was becoming a trend around WDW, one we didnt mind at all, we both always wanted to see the Christmas Decorations around WDW.
When the parade finished we saw a number of Characters coming out for Autographs so we took some time and stood in line for a few. Each of us were collecting them in a small scrapbook so once we got the pictures developed we could put the picture of the character next to their signature.
Then we decided that we really had to do some more of the park so once the session was finished we went to Sounds Dangerous. We were able to walk right in to the next showing and once that was finished we learned our Fantasmic Dinner Package was a little mixed up but we got it sorted out and everything fixed. Not having much time until Fantasmic we did a little shopping then headed to our priority seating in Fantasmic which was in the second row, the best seats weve ever gotten. We were sitting so close we got a little spray from the water screens.
After getting lots of good pictures we then headed to dinner at Hollywood and Vine. The food was good but we were getting too tired to eat and made it a short meal. Even though we were REALLY tired we figured we would still go to the Magic Kingdom until it closed at Midnight but we would stop by the Poly to get jackets since it was cooling off.
We left MGM taking some cool night pictures then made it back to the poly a little while later. First thing was to check with guest services and get our room number. We got the room location we were looking for, second floor courner room in Tokalau. From our balcony we could see all the mountains in Magic Kingdom, the Contemporary and if we looked through or under the palm tree we could see Cinderellas Castle! This room was billed as a Standard View which we would take again at anytime.
The room was HUGE with a split bathroom that was bigger than most I have ever seen in a hotel. The wallpaper in the bathroom was a bit obnoxious but the actual room itself was very nicely decorated. We had 2 queen beds, a huge entertainment center/dresser, another dresser, a futon couch, a table and 2 chairs. Out on the balcony we had another table and two chairs.
While we had a great room, we were missing our luggage and it was 10:00 at night. We placed a call to luggage services who had no luggage under our names but they would see what they could find after we told them that 9 pieces were coming from the Pop Century (Obviously we had not re-packed well). A few minutes later they called back and told us that the luggage was still at the Pop Century. It was explained to us that since the room at the Pop Century was in MY name and the Poly was in SARAS name they didnt transfer it. The only problem with that is since we were on the cruise, MY name was also listed on the room at the Poly so if they would have looked closer they would have found me too. They found me when we sent packages back from Downtown Disney.
2 hours later and a number of phone calls a porter brought our luggage up to the room. The front end guest services manager from the Pop Century called and made sure it had gotten there and compensated us nicely for missing 2 hours of time at the parks.
At this point it was midnight and we just got ready to go to sleep instead of doing anything else. That was when Sara noticed that her bear was missing. She had had this bear since she was hospitalized from her car accident and it was a gift from her younger brother. After another few calls to the Poly luggage services desk and the luggage services desk at the Pop Century we went to sleep with the promise that they would look for and/or compensate Sara for the loss of her bear which had been secured to the top of one of her suit cases.
On a side note I was also wearing a pedometer while in WDW. I meant to put this in the day 1 report but didnt remember to until now so from now on Ill be noting the mileage we made each day on average. Day 1 (Dec. 31) we made 10 miles and Day 2 (Jan. 1) we made 6 miles.
Coming soon: Day 3 January 2, 2004. We continue our commando raid on WDW including a behind the scenes tour and more PS dinner arrangements.
Minnesota
