MNSSHP Take Two and Upgrade to Poly Concierge!

[makinorlando]

Poly and MNSSHP Mini Trip Report

10/12-13/2006

Cast - Martha and Tara



Pre-Trip and the Arrival

I had decided a few weeks ago, when the AP rates came out to treat Tara (9) and myself to a night at a resort. Since we were planning on going to MNSSHP, I decided this would be a great night to also stay at a resort. This way we could enjoy the party, and I would not have to drive home (all 30 miles) after the party was over. First I thought – value – Pop Century, then I decided… what the heck… MK, late night, MNSSHP, I don’t want to have to drive or take a bus! That left us with a monorail resort… that decision was fairly easy, since I was sure Tara would enjoy the pool at Poly the best – as that is another plus of staying at a resort, trying out the pool. I choose my date of 10/12, since school was on break the 12th and 13th.



It seemed to take forever to get here, and you would have thought we were going away on a BIG vacation, not just one night at Disney! I suddenly realized that since moving to FL 3 years ago, I have only left the state for one week when we visited home (PA) last summer. When we “vacation” it is usually with folks from home visiting US. I need to do something about this in 2007! Disneyland maybe?



My plan was to leave home to be at Poly around 11am – well, as usual, we were not out quite that early, but we did still make it by noon! I left our menagerie at home in the capable hands of our pet sitter ($20 for her to stay the night in my house and care for 2 very spoiled dogs and 5 cats…. Sure beats $35 for the kennel for just the dogs, everyone is much happier with this arrangement!) After a quick stop at Winn Dixie for a gallon of m favorite Iced Tea, we were on our way!



We arrived at Poly about noon time, and when the valet opened my door, and asked are you “Checking in”, it was nice to say, “Why yes I am”, and not “No we are just dining with you today!” I left my car in their capable hands, and proceeded to the front door. We were met by a nice CM who “lei’d” us, Tara, Build a Bear Mickey & Minnie that Tara insisted join us on this trip, and myself.

There was a short line at check in, and after about 5 minutes, it was my turn! After typing away (what do they type?), the CM (whose name escapes my relaxed mind) announces “your room is ready, and you have been upgraded to Concierege!” While I “splurged” for us to stay at a resort, I did not splurge for any extra view or concierge service, so this was exciting. Tara and I are rarely sprinkled with Pixie Dust at Disney or anywhere, so this was BIG for us – maybe not to you – but for us – it was!!! Key cards in hand and leis around our necks, we proudly headed to Hawaii!!! We were met by a nice CM on our way who decided to escort us to the door!

TO BE CONTINUED - I just realized when I uploaded my pics to Photobucket from the "trip" that I mad them all way too small - so I need to re-upload them!

 

[makinorlando]

Hawaii

This is where we met Daysi (I like that spelling of Daisy!). She filled us in on the concierge lounge and free “eats”, and we headed to our room #2253. It didn’t take long until we were headed for the volcano pool where Tara enjoyed the slide for a bit and I sat and watched and just enjoyed being there! After a bit she decided she wanted to check out the other pool, so we headed to the quiet pool, where she swam and had a good time. She is a Pisces, born of two Pisces, so the child is destined to be in the water!!!

After a bit we headed back to our room, somewhere along they way during the afternoon we had a rain shower, but I can’t remember where it appeared. Whenever it was we were happy to be enjoying our beautiful room. Tara decided to take a bath (she loves to relax and play in the tub – even at nine (are you noticing the water thing?) – but we had not brought anything that even resembled something to play with – she plays with all types of figures in the tub – her princess play sets, Polly Pockets, etc. So we headed to the gift shop. She decided on Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty play sets (you know the ones $12 for the main character and supporting characters) - she could not make up her mind, so I let her have both!


While she enjoyed her bath, I enjoyed the bed and oh so comfy pillows. I had not slept much or well the two previous nights, so just laying down felt great.

The original plan was LTT at 6pm before the party, we would head over about 5pm and catch a ride or two before. Neither of us were particularly hungry, and as much as I love character meals, and LTT, we choose to skip it, and dine on the food from the concierge lounge. The opened up at 5pm. We grabbed some won ton chips (like nachos), cheese sauce for dipping, veggies, cheese & fruit, and I made an oriental wrap. Tara also had a PB&J uncrustable. This was plenty to fill us up. Most times in the parks especially when it is hot, we drink water and don’t each much, so I knew this would do.

 

[makinorlando]

MNSSHP

Tara then dressed in her costume,

and we headed to the monorail. The line at that time going in was not bad – there was a steady stream of non party goers leaving.

We headed directly for Tomorrowland, so we could hit Stitch’s Dance Party at Cosmic Ray’s at 7pm. In the meantime we rode the TTA, Tara rode Astro Orbitor – the line was not too bad. We then headed into Cosmic Ray’s grabbed some water and by then the PARTY started. I know many don’t like Stitch as a character, but I just love him. I think he has a good heart, he just gets in lots of trouble. Our Yorkie Maia is nicknamed Stitch, and resembles him sometimes! Now Stitch in an ELVIS costume was just TOO TOO funny! The DJ was great, and the kids were all getting down to the Macarana, the Twist and many other dances. Donald in his pumpkin costume, and Pluto were in the crowd dancing as well. They did a congo line too. Then they gave out candy and the party was over!

At this point we headed to Toontown – with what seemed like the rest of the party! We had missed Mickey on 9/22, so he was our first stop. My photo didn't turn out well, so I ordered my 50% off from Photopass. Different than when I ordered pics from 9/22 - they have a MNSSHP 2006 border, so I re-ordered the Minnie photo from that night as well - still 50% off! The line was a bit long, but nothing like Minnie’s on 9/22. Once that was done we headed to Toontown Trail. I was in search of Joanna the CM/CP. (I can never remember the numbers after her name!) Well this was soooo crowded. We didn’t want to stop and see characters – we had them all – but once you get in the flow of folks you are committed since it is one way – I don’t know how long it took – I didn’t time it – but it was a while. We got some candy, and at the end o the trail Tara decided to take her costume off for a bit.

Next stop Indy Cars. The line was not long, so she headed over, while I headed to the bleachers to watch. She had fun, we don’t bother with these on hot days, or when lines are long so this was good!

Next stop was to be the Villian Dance Party, but then I spied Piglet and Tigger. I had missed them last party, and wanted the picture, so we waited in line – maybe 5 minutes. All was good with character hunting. We approached a HUGE line right down the middle of Fantasyland that I knew could only be one thing – Snow White and the Dwarves. I was so glad that I got that photo at Characters In Bloom weekend!

We got to the Dance party and not a villain in sight. I am glad we saw them all there when it first started on 9/22. Chip & Dale in cavalier type hats were there. Tara loves them, so she was happy to get a hug from one of them, and they did a little dancing. She danced for a bit – YMCA, and a few other songs that I can’t remember. Chip & Dale left and Suzy and Perla took over. I tell you that Perla can boogie!!!!

Not a great pic - but the best I could do - they never stood still!

I remembered that my other mission for the night was to get Tarzan and Jane – so we headed over between Peter Pan & IASW. What a gridlock! Once we broke free of the crowd we passed by Haunted Mansion (I did not ride it at EITHER party – what’s wrong with this picture) – then I remembered BULLSEYE – he was leaving for oats when we saw him the last party, and was not coming right back out, so we missed him. We have not seen Bullseye since our vacation in 2003! I was very happy!

Moving right along we headed into Adventureland, and into the meet & greet for the Adventureland friends. Baloo was first, we stopped and go his photo, then we were able to skip Rafiki – we saw him not too long ago, and then the Holy Grail of the night – well sort of – Jane and Terk were there, but no Tarzan. The CM said he would be out in about 5 minutes, and most likely that was who we would “see”. (Tara was off in another room playing a Ninetendo DS, they had Ninetendo games set up for the kids to try…. Tara has not stopped asking for the Suite Life game she played!) But NO – I need them both, and she would not be back out for ½ hour! As the moments ticked by, I got more and more anxious. I did not think at this point I would get another ½ hour out of Tara!!! Fortunately Jane was having a good time, and seemed to be ignoring her time to leave. I got a picture with Tarzan, Jane & Terk. I was really happy now!

The Exit (to steal a line from The Great Movie Ride!)

At this point Tara’s feet were bothering here (she DID NOT wear her Crocs, flip flops were more in tune with her Geisha outfit!) We decided it was time to call it a night. We had seen the fireworks and parade at the other party – so this was not a must do! It was a bit after 10pm, so we headed out the entrance to catch the boat to Poly. As we were nearing the lagoon we saw the Electric Water Parade. I like to see this. It was a nice boat ride. We have never ridden it at night before.

The boat dock is nice and close to Hawaii – the pool looked really nice – but I won’t wear a bathing suit it public – that’s why I bought a house with a pool!!! We passed what I guess was a CM with pizzas to deliver, and I decided we really did need something else to eat.

So at 11pm, we entered the room to nicely turned down beds (I forgot about turndown service!)

I ordered a pizza from room service. It arrived at about 11:30, and we had a little “party” while we watched That’s So Raven or something on the Disney Channel!

Not too much later, I was off in slumber land (apparently before Tara) totally enjoying a bed all to myself (no dogs, cats or kid) and knew that I could get up when I WANTED to in the morning, not when the dog decided it was time!

 

[makinorlando]

Friday the 13th – how would our luck hold out?

I thought maybe I would sleep late, but I awoke at 6:55, which really is late because Maia seems to have a 6am internal clock right now.



Now I am not really a superstitious person, but October has not always been the best month for me – I have historically had some set backs in this month – and as a matter of fact this one started with some major fraud against my bank account through Pay Pall(all fixed and all better now), so the fact that the month had a Friday the 13th was a bit unsettling!



Our original plan for the day was to head to EPCOT to preview the Nemo Ride, and meet another DISer – Tracy (schatz5k) who I met on the DIS, but is from near my hometown in PA. She is down on a girls weekend – she deserves it – she’s got SIX kids!!!!



I decided we just had to go back to MK – after all we were on the monorail line!!! We never make it to MK from home for the opening – it just never works, no matter how hard I try to get out of the house in plenty of time! We got ourselves together (had showered the night before) and again enjoyed the free eats from the Concierge Lounge – Continental Breakfast - they had cereal, fruit and assorted bagels, Danish and Ohana PINEAPPLE bread! The lounge is really nice they were adding new furniture the day before. It’s a very comfy place! The view is lovely as well, and I really should have been out on the beach earlier to see the sun come up!



Magic Kingdom

We then headed to catch the monorail. It was purple and we got to ride up front. This particular monorail had a nice design for the new celebration, but the doors opened before I could snap a photo. We rode up front with the driver, and I figured I would get the picture at the MK station – no – the design was only on ONE side – the OTHER side – so this photo op will have to wait!



There was barely a line for security – we had gone BAGLESS. It appeared that there lines at the turnstiles, but then I realized that the SILLY people weren’t using both sides – so we quickly went to an empty turnstile with a green arrow and used our newly renewed APs for the first time ever and the both WORKED. We have bad luck with our magnetic strips demagnetizing – even though I take great care to protect them. It’s a joke each time to see who is going to have to get a new ticket!



We were “in” and it was 8:30 – woo hoo!

We found a seat near one of the trees and waited. The CMs handed out Mickey head confetti, and folks played with a beach ball to pass the time, and then- out came Smokey Miller to announce the arrival of Mickey and the opening of the park! We had a decent view and it was enjoyable. I almost cried.

Once the park was opened, we headed inside with the masses, and decided to catch the first horse drawn trolley down Main Street. We waived at all the CMs welcoming us, and next thing I know the Dapper Dan’s were hopping on to hitch a ride and serenade us down (or is that up) Main Street to the castle. They are good, and I totally enjoy that type of music. We arrived at the castle, and I asked for a group photo. The obliged, and when they heard me speak asked if I wanted to join them. You see, I have a paralyzed vocal cord, and for the most part sound like I have a bad case of laryngitis, especially in noisy environments where I have to “turn up the volume” – I have NO volume! We had a nice little chat with them and then headed to Adventureland, which was still quite closed up.

We decided on POTC (Jungle Cruise did not open until 10am), and walked right on. Then we decided to ride again, and it was maybe a 5 minute wait. When we were done that ride, they were announcing as we walked past the entrance that the ride was temporarily closed due to technical difficulties, and would be re-opened once they figured out how technical the difficulties were. I thought that was quite funny, but those who had not already ridden found NO HUMOR!


It was now 9:40, and time or the new castle show…. We arrived just after it started, but still saw enough to appreciate it. I love Mickey and Minnie in blue!

By now Tara wanted to head back to the pool, and I needed to get our bags out of the room for 11am checkout. We walked down Main Street and it was pretty busy. The lines for the characters in Town Sq were already quite long, and then when we got out to the entrance area – WOW – it was a sea of people. We had to fight our way OUT of the park like salmon swimming up stream, and I was grateful that we had not planned on spending the day in there!

 

[pumba]

what a fantastic weekend.....I would love to live that close to Disney too....but Maine and Florida are on opposite ends.........thanks so much for the great photos you did too.......Enjoyed it

 

[campinggal]

Sounded like the perfect mini-trip!

Glad you got some pixie dust sprinkled on you with the upgrade!

Always enjoy your pics and frequent reports from WDW!

 

[OhMari]

Congradulations on the upgrade at Poly. I always wondered what the room looked like for conciere. I always imagined it was just another room without the beds, but it is really a beautiful room. How lucky to live so close to WDW. What do you do in Florida?

 

[makinorlando]

Thanks for the comments so far! Here's the final hours. I was too sleepy to finish last night!

The Rest of the Day!

Now you might ask what happened to EPCOT. We decided that we could catch the preview Saturday or Sunday, and that I would figure out another time and place to meet Tracy. We will be dining with her entire family and going to the Princess & Pirate Party in January when they are on vacation! (I talked to Tracy later and it seemed like there were some technical difficulties and they got stuck on the ride for a bit..... maybe we will just wait to ride it with the rest of the world - they didn't give you anything special for riding during the preview!)



We headed to the Poly, stopped in the store to see if they had a swim suit for Tara – her’s was a bit more wore out on the tush then I had thought, and needed replacing! I had ordered one online but it was out of stock and we just never made it to Sports Authority for another (she likes Speedos) - alas, they don’t have the same suits as Beach Club has (where she got the one that is wearing out) so we just had to make sure she was careful! I won't share photos of that!!



We got back to the room at 10:40, called bell services, and by 11am a nice young man was picking up our bags. We chatted about how wonderful the rooms were – I had not seen them before the remodeling so I have nothing to compare it to. We also remarked how nice the new TVs are and wondered if they would miss one if I put it with my luggage. I decided against grand theft. He wisked our bags off to store them for us and we headed to the pool.



Tara enjoyed the slide for a while, and did some swimming, whilst I watched. I watched the life guards – they really are attentive. Every few minutes one would walk the perimeter of the pool, and the guy up on the volcano made sure the kids were a safe distance away from the slide before the next one took their turn. It was quite busy (now I don’t know what it looks like in the middle of the summer) but there were lots of families enjoying the pool even early in the day!

These flowers were near the slide.

Tara was then ready for some peaceful pool time (the water fall was getting on her nerves (she is NINE – she should have no nerves to be gotten on!)- I could listen to the waterfall sound all day, and I was nice and comfy but like the good mother we moved to the quiet pool, that was VERY quiet. Tara found two friends to talk to and play with, and we all had a few laughs when the ducks came for a swim, and two hours later) 2pm – we decided it was time to head home.

We claimed our car and luggage from valet and headed on home. Next time I think we need to stay another night or two to really feel like we are visiting, but then I think we really should spend that money to go someplace we have not been or some place we can’t drive to in under and hour! Even though we were only gone 28 hours – I did miss my “furbabies” - and it’s always nice to see their wagging tales when we get home!



Thanks for reading! Who knew one could write some much about a 24 hour period of time! But then again my favorite show “24” takes a full TV season to tell us about 24 hours!!!!



Post script!

We had a wonderful time, and truly appreciated the upgrade to concierge. It was nice that they acknowledged a one night stay with the upgrade. We may not stay at resorts for a week at a time, but in the long run over the course of a year the money that goes from my pocket to Disney's is probably as much as i not more than an average vacation for two!

This is the early morning view from the concierge lounge.

I totally understand why people pay the premium to stay on the monorail, especially with kids.



Every Disney employee we came in contact with (with the exception of one monorail operator this morning, but I will give her the benefit of the doubt since it was barely 8am!) was very pleasant and ready and willing to help. I would have LOVED to see some of those dream team folks we saw always walking the other way share some dreams with us…. But again, feel lucky to have been given the upgrade!



MNSSHP – As much as we enjoyed both nights, and as much as a tradition this has become for us since 2003 – I am not so sure I will spend the extra $$$ next year. Tara will be 10 – that dreaded age where everything at Disney becomes substantially more expensive – and I’m just no so sure it will be worth it. Each year the events get more and more crowded, and we are running out of characters to find – one of my main goals. Living locally we can find plenty of times to go when the rides are walk on – and neither of us really need the candy! I might change my tune next October if I here reports of new and different things.... we will see.


Well we are off to enjoy this BEAUTIFUL FL morning at Canaveral Nat'l Seashore. I hope to see some flora, fauna and wild life to photograph.

It is SO gorgeous out this morning - almost fall like - I wish I could post the feel in the air for you all the experience!

 

[mlill]

Wonderful trip report!!! Your pictures are great, too! I can't wait to be there in less than 2 weeks!

-Michelle

 

[swankybeth]

Great report and pictures. Thanks for posting. I'm happy that you were upgraded to concierge, that must have been amazing!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Aww, I love your pictures of the Polynesian!! I miss staying there.

 

[Alicnwondrln]

nice report

 

[Minniespal]

Excellent report and fab piccies.

 

[tarheel]

I enjoyed your report and pictures. Where in Adventureland were Tarzan and Jane? It looks like they were in a room of some sort. We haven't met them before either and it might be something my kids would like to do. Also, is there a face painting place in Adventureland during the party? I know there is one in Toontown, but it sounds so busy. My 11 year old is thinking she will just wear a Halloween shirt and get her face painted. Thanks!

 

[makinorlando]

I enjoyed your report and pictures. Where in Adventureland were Tarzan and Jane? It looks like they were in a room of some sort. We haven't met them before either and it might be something my kids would like to do. Also, is there a face painting place in Adventureland during the party? I know there is one in Toontown, but it sounds so busy. My 11 year old is thinking she will just wear a Halloween shirt and get her face painted. Thanks!

Just as you cross the bridge into Adventureland from Main Street, on your right you will see a sign something to the effect of Adventureland Friends and Trick or Treat. You won't be able to miss it - it is before the Dole Whip stand. There are two lines that go through that "room" - one just for candy and one for candy and characters. They rotate there - when we walked through there was Baloo, Rafiki, Jane & Terk at first, then I saw that Baloo was replaced by King Louie and Rafiki was replaced by Timon, and Tarzan came out to replace Jane, but fortunately all three stayed for a bit.

The face painting was in the some area - between the exit and entrance doors for the meet & greet/candy location. Both the Toontown & Adventureland face painting locations were pretty busy. It seems like you almost have to be waiting in line befor 7pm.....

 

[JJClemson]

Great TR Lucky you being upgraded to concierge, what a treat! That is such a lovely picture from the lounge looking at the lake and GF!

 

[Angelrose]

Thank you for a wonderful report. I would love to get an upgrade to concierge when we go in December.