MKFan family’s Dec Trip Day 2-Where we enroll in the Monorail frequent traveler plan

[MKFan-PR]

The MKFan family’s Dec Trip

The cast:

MKFan-PR: Me, 35, Disney maniac since my first trip way back when I was 5. This was my 11th trip, the 7th with my DW, the 3rd with our DD. I love planning, but I’m no commando. I go to WDW to relax.

DW, 39. This is her 8th trip total. We really enjoy being here. And she loves the fact that she’s becoming an expert.

DD, 4. We’ll call her Non-Stop, since she literally was during the trip. This is actually her 3rd trip, but it will also be her most memorable, since she was 9 months and 3.5 YO on her two previous ones.

I forgot to mention previously that I am a HUGE fan of Delswife’s trip report. I updated my DW on it and she was just amazed. She kept asking me for status of each new part! If I can do half as good, I’ll be satisfied. But she also taught me to see the little things, and it made us enjoy the trip even more! Thank you!!

Day 2 – Nov 29: Where we enroll in the Monorail frequent traveler plan

ZZZZZZZZ…Wha…What is that noise?...What time is it?...6:15…6:15!!!!

Non-Stop is still in Puerto Rico time. At home is 7:15, around her usual wake-up time. In here it’s…6:15!!! So she is up. *%^&# Daylight Savings Time!

I turn on the TV to Toon Disney, so she can watch. I’m awake now, so I’ll try to get out of bed.

Wait. Yoda says ‘Do, or do not. There is no try’. Ok. So I do not. I’ll stay in bed and watch a little Toon Disney myself. Let the commandos wake up at this ungodly hour.

After a while I manage the strength to get up. Non-Stop is excited because this is the first park day. Well, I’m excited too. We are going to check out from AS-Sp, check-in at the Poly, then head out to Epcot (Today is Saturday, during Thanksgiving weekend. MK will probably be insanely crowded, so we’ll avoid it…maybe).

While DW gets dressed, I go out to get some coffee as an offering to Mrs. Evil Crab (see my Day 1 post), so she won’t appear at around noon. Ah, the wonders that little bean can do!

Hey! Where did the perfect weather go? It’s sunny, but I’m freezing my a** off! (and my hands, my face…). The temp is about 60, but to us this is VERY cold!

While they finished dressing and cleaning up, I go to check out. I must comment on the AS-Sp. This is a great resort. Some people feel it’s tacky, but we all agreed it was actually fun. It’s a great place for families (and we saw a lot). Obviously, if you’re looking for a romantic getaway this is not the place, but for families it’s great. Non-Stop got a kick of the large tennis rackets and the Coke cup. We’d stay here again for the whole vacation in a heartbeat.

After check-out we head out to the Poly. This is our dream resort. I am SO looking forward to staying here. If the room is not ready here, it’s ok. We’ll just hop on the Monorail and go to Epcot. We can unpack later.

‘Your room is ready’. YES. Again! Tokelau, Room 3945. Just as I requested: Tokelau, 3rd floor! Since we haven’t had breakfast yet, and it’s now 11, I’m thinking we could eat something at Captain Cook’s, then go see the room, then leave for Epcot. But DW and Non-Stop are so excited to see the room, that we go directly there. Non-Stop has her own keycard, and she loves pressing elevator buttons and opening the door to the room (no matter how tired she felt, she would always shoot out of the stroller to do this).

As usual, we take the looooong way to get to the room. We always do this. After the first day I always manage to find a shorter way to get to it.

Once we’re in the room we realize the difference between the values, the moderates and the deluxes. This room is HUGE! Again, the perfect location for us. Tokelau was right in the middle of it all. A very short walk to the GCH, a few steps to the Arcade and the new bus stop. A short walk to the TTC. The quiet pool right in front, with the Volcano pool just a few steps away. Plus an added bonus:

We go to the balcony, where we have a nice view of the quiet pool. Then, I turn to my right to see if…

OMG!!! I can see the Castle!!!! When you lean to the railing, if you look to your right, you can see the Castle! I took Non-Stop in my arms, and showed it to her. Her eyes lit up like stars! She realized she was in a magical place!

Room 3947, which has no other room to its right, has a great view of the Castle, because the balcony is open to the right. All those rooms are Garden View rooms, so if you can get that one you’ll have a very nice view of the Castle without paying Lagoon View.

We take our stuff out of the car and into the room, where, finally, it will stay until Dec. 6. Then we grab a bite at Captain Cook’s. The cheeseburger I had was good. The mini pizzas that the ladies has were also great. (They eventually fell in love with them. I think we had one of those every day at some point). I bought the Refillable Mug, which was a great deal. We drank nothing but lemonade and pink lemonade for most of the trip.

We then take the walkway to the TTC (very nice), and in no time we are in the Monorail on our way to Epcot. The first leg of quite a few miles on the Monorail today.

Once Non-Stop saw the Monorail, she kept asking about ‘the train’, and when we’d get on ‘the train’.

We arrive at Epcot, breeze through security, and take our customary pictures on front of ‘the ball’. Non-Stop differentiates each park by its icons: ‘The Castle’, ‘The Ball’, ‘The Hat’, and ‘The Tree’. (BTW, if I need to explain which one is which, then you need to spend a little more time on these boards!*).

We get the times guide to see the schedule for the CP. My cousin, Andy Garcia is the guest narrator from the 28th to the 30th. (DISCLAIMER: before I get sued for defamation of character, I must tell you that I’m only kidding when I refer to Andy Garcia as my cousin. He is one of our favorite actors. We share the same last name, but that’s all we have in common. Well…maybe the charming good looks too… ).

We ride ‘the ball’, since it’s only a 5 min. wait (I know, I know, it’s supposed to be left for the end, but it was such a short wait that we couldn’t resist!). We then get the stroller and go to Imagination.

Although there wasn’t as much people as it could have been, Non-Stop was starting to get shocked by the many people she was seeing. Especially at stroller level, where she basically saw a lot of butts!

We go into the Imagination ride with about 10 min. wait. This version is better than the first rehab, but I still liked the original better. In the ‘smell’ part, where Figment turns into a skunk and then ‘stinky’ air is blasted in your face, Non-Stop was really shocked. She went really sad and cried a little…’Daddy, it stinks…’. Made us laugh and cry at the same time.

We tried to go into HISTA, but Non-Stop was still in shock and wasn’t in the mood for a dark place. She started crying and didn’t want to go. We tried a little convincing, telling her it was just a movie, but no way. Ok. No biggie. We didn’t want to force anything, so we decided to go into Wonders of Life, where she could enjoy the different things there. As we passed M:S, I checked out the Fast Pass and Single Rider line… Are you kidding me? 70 minutes for the Single Rider line??? 90 minute wait for FP return line? I’ve got two words for that: Nah-ah. Especially when we’ll see lighter crowds later in the vacation. I can wait a little more.

Non-Stop enjoys the different stuff to see and do in WofL. We spend quite some time there, and have a snack there. We buy Non-Stop a Minnie tennis player doll, which she loved. She actually wanted everything Minnie in the store (BIG fan), but what we do is start narrowing down the choices to two each time…this one or this one; you can’t have both. She settled on the Tennis Minnie, while I buy some clip-ons for my eyeglasses (left mine in the car at home).

By this time Non-Stop is getting tired and cranky, and doesn’t seem to be wanting to get into any rides. It’s now about 4 PM, so we decide to take a break back to the Poly, then head back to catch the CP. So, on to the Monorail again.

We get some rest. We then have dinner at Kona Café. Very good meal, although I can’t remember now what we had. We then take the Monorail to get back to ‘The Ball’. When we arrive at the MK stop, I see that it’s about 7:45. We won’t make it to the 8:00 show of the CP, which is the last of the day. Maybe we could catch Cousin Andy tomorrow, while we do some things at the MK, and catch Wishes. The idea is approved by all, when…

‘Please stand clear of the doors…’

Arrrrghh! We took too long to decide! We’re moving now!

So we stay in the Monorail. I told DW that we could get off at the CR, then use the walkway to MK, but she said…’I’m on vacation. I’m in no rush. I can wait’.

It’s great when your loved ones remind you of what’s important!

So we take the grand tour on the Monorail, racking up miles on that frequent traveler plan…it was Poly, GF, MK (where we took too long to change plans!), CR, TTC,…the Poly (again), GF (again), and finally the MK (again!). As soon as the doors go ‘bing, bong…swishhhh…’ we go ‘swooosh…’

A breeze through security, then we’re quickly in the Main Street Plaza. Stop. Close our eyes. Take a deep breath… Aaaaahhhh the MK aroma. I’m back to being a kid.

The Christmas decorations are beautiful, and we linger around a little on Main Street. Wishes time is getting near, so we park ourselves near the tree, at the Main Street plaza.
Last year Non-Stop got a little nervous when she saw the Fireworks. But after seeing her with the characters at Chef Mickey’s yesterday I was convinced she was going to be alright and enjoy the show.

We then enjoyed Wishes. Two words for it: a-mazing! It’s the best show in WDW! At the end, when the Fireworks start shooting al around you, it’s…it’s…like…Wow! Taking a cue from Delswife, I watch the show, but also watch Non-Stop’s face while she watches. She’s loving it, and singing. I didn’t need a picture. That face I will remember forever.

MK closes today at 11:00. We still have some time to do a few things with practically no wait. We ride the Mad Tea Party, then Dumbo, and the Carousel, all basically walk on. We have Fantasyland practically to ourselves. After exiting the Carousel, we manage to catch the last show of Mickey’s PhilharMagic. Wow! It was great! And it was exciting without the ‘scary’ stuff of ITTBAB or HISTA.

When we exit, it’s now 11:00. Everything in Fantasyland is now closed. We stroll casually through the Castle, and when we exit on the other side, we catch SpectroMagic as it goes past. Non-Stop enjoys it, and, of course, wants more. But we tell her that tomorrow we would be coming back. That there are more days left. That seems to do the trick, and she falls asleep in the stroller as we exit the park.

We ride the Monorail (what else?) back to the Poly (love those MK resorts!), and get to our room. Non-Stop is asleep, so we change her quietly. DW then showers, changes and also crashes. After I shower a think about getting the stuff from the suitcases to the drawers, but I choose..’do not’. After getting one last look at the lighted Castle from my balcony, I get in bed to watch a little TV before sleeping.

The Zip-a-de-do-dah tip of the day is gone, but there’s a channel with ‘The Top 7 Must-Sees at WDW’ or something like that. It runs all day, and it’s hosted by this girl called Krista. She so upbeat and enthusiastic that it’s actually quite fun, because she seems like a ‘real’ person, not one of those ‘fakey’ hosts…Maybe I’m not making any sense…I just want to sleep…

…and enjoy our first night at the Poly.

RHETORICAL QUESTIONS:

-Is everyone who comes to WDW a Patriots fan? I must have counted like a hundred Patriots T-shirts and caps today!

-Why is it that the ‘Monorail guy’ and the ‘Please stand clear of the doors’ message almost always gets you excited?

-Why did they turn some of the best ‘little corners’ in the MK and turned them to smoking areas? (although I’ll trade that for a Non-smoking park any day!)

-Was it just me, or did I notice A LOT more vendors on the street on the parks?

-Isn’t Pink Lemonade great?


Tomorrow…Day 3 – Where we try to get some dinner and Cousin Andy

Stay Tuned!

 

[Chip n Dale's Dad]

I love your trip reports! Keep it up. I am learning so much from your report. We are staying at the Polynesian in Feb. and you have been a great help. Thanks!

 

[Linxzy]

Keep going with your reports, I love them
Can't wait for my trip and the faces of my nieces when we get there.


________ Linxzy_____________
only 11 days to go

 

[delswife]

I watch the show, but also watch Non-Stop’s face while she watches. She’s loving it, and singing. I didn’t need a picture. That face I will remember forever.

That brought tears to my eyes.
Great report!

 

[Minniespal]

Wonderful trip report ~ Thanx for sharing.