Mom...am I supposed to have shoes on?? - August 2013 ***FINISHED 5/5***

[Simba22]

Joining in! Bradey is so cute! I love that picture of him with the little fish! How adorable!

 

[Pixiedust530]

WoooHooo....the details have begun!

I can't believe they took out The Disney Store! What were they thinking?!? that's just so sad...although I'm sre Mo wouldn't mind a visit! You could always visit Louisville...we have a Disney store here. I'm not sure how it compares to other cities...it's the only one I have ever been in. The hotel near the airport looks very nice! Great job! Sounds like you all had a good nights sleep and were ready to go for the day!

Bradey is just absolutely adorable...reminds me of my Caden a little bit! Something about those 6 year old boys and their still sweet and innocent faces!

Looking forward to reading more...like if your room was ready or not...you're such a tease! I would LOVE to stay at the Poly one day...ONE DAY!

 

[sjs314]

Excited to read along on your TR. Love the Poly and will stay there one of these days, until then I can get my fix with your TR

 

[PrincessInOz]

Nice start. Sounds like SWA might need to come up with a better boarding system sometime.


And they now scan for your barcode at ME???

 

[DMGeurts]

I can't believe I missed your update this morning!

I know how you feel - I cannot concentrate on a single thing the day before a trip - And then the day OF the trip... Hahaha... I am lucky to get out the door in one piece.

The hotel you stayed at for one night looks very nice... I wish Disney would do half suites - that would just work out so well for so many.

Ahhh - Yah - they do look like Princes from the back... LOL I'll have to show Alli that picture. LOL

I know what happened... I know which room you got, in which building... Hehehee... But I won't tell - I promise.

And yes... That precious little Bradey... And Sara is just so sweet... She has a wonderful relationship with him, and it shows in every thing she does.

D~

 

[sweetpeaandevie]

Great start, except for the Disney store!!! Can't wait to hear more...

 

[Sweetly]

Joining in!! Can't wait to here all about your trip. Bradey is just adorable! I understand how you feel about your Disney store. The two we had here closed and the closest Disney store is the outlet an hour away.

 

[RGirl]

Oooh...I will have to read yours too. I would love to take a Disney cruise, but I just love Celebrity...not sure I could ever leave them as long as they keep going to ports I want to see. I know Disney Cruises are way more expensive, but they have some pretty neat features that other lines just can't match. So maybe someday...

Thanks - I would love to have you join! Yeah, the DCL cruises are pretty pricey, but we just love 'em! I had actually never even thought about doing any cruise and then out of the blue booked us for Alaska last year. We were totally sold after that.

Oh, I too hate that day of work before the vacation. I always chip away at it - a few months out, I plan to leave an hour early, etc. By the time the trip rolls around, I have been approved for a half day of leave and am rolling out of the office at about 11:00.

Your pre-Disney hotel looked really nice! But what a shame about the Disney Store.

Too funny about the potential princes on board! How cool would it have been to re-discover them in the parks as princes?

Can't wait to hear about your room and what you did with your early-arrival travel day!

 

[solana131]

Silly girl....if you come to see Mo, you have to see me too!

Can't wait to see if your room is ready.

Well, yeah. I would hope we could set up a DISmeet with you. We will let you know when we figure out the who, what, when and where details.

Joining in! Bradey is so cute! I love that picture of him with the little fish! How adorable!

Welcome aboard! And thank you...I think Bradey is pretty special

WoooHooo....the details have begun!

I can't believe they took out The Disney Store! What were they thinking?!? that's just so sad...although I'm sre Mo wouldn't mind a visit! You could always visit Louisville...we have a Disney store here. I'm not sure how it compares to other cities...it's the only one I have ever been in. The hotel near the airport looks very nice! Great job! Sounds like you all had a good nights sleep and were ready to go for the day!

Bradey is just absolutely adorable...reminds me of my Caden a little bit! Something about those 6 year old boys and their still sweet and innocent faces!

Looking forward to reading more...like if your room was ready or not...you're such a tease! I would LOVE to stay at the Poly one day...ONE DAY!

I highly recommend that hotel. The one we stayed at this past Feb was so dirty and noisy and just not Marriott like at all.

Yeah, not sure where we would have to go to get to a Disney store now. Maybe there's one down near Boston?? Driving the 2 hours was bad enough. I guess I have to just buy online now

We love the Poly, but I'm not sure we will stay there once it goes DVC. The plans just look like they will totally ruin the feel of it. Not to mention how much the price will go up. And we like POFQ just as much. It was only because we needed a third bed that I even considered someplace else. It will be FQ for us most trips from here on out.

Excited to read along on your TR. Love the Poly and will stay there one of these days, until then I can get my fix with your TR

Thanks! The Poly is great....hopefully it stays that way after DVC. I have my doubts, but time will tell.

Nice start. Sounds like SWA might need to come up with a better boarding system sometime.

And they now scan for your barcode at ME???

The boarding procedure is definitely strange. Can't figure out how it benefits them to do things this way. It takes way longer to load the plane when people pick their own seats. You always have people going to the back in search of a window/aisle then realizing there are none, trying to fight their way back tot he front to look again. It just takes sooo long. With Bradey, I always pay the extra for Early Bird just so we have a better chance of sitting together.

I can't believe I missed your update this morning!

I know how you feel - I cannot concentrate on a single thing the day before a trip - And then the day OF the trip... Hahaha... I am lucky to get out the door in one piece.

The hotel you stayed at for one night looks very nice... I wish Disney would do half suites - that would just work out so well for so many.

Ahhh - Yah - they do look like Princes from the back... LOL I'll have to show Alli that picture. LOL

I know what happened... I know which room you got, in which building... Hehehee... But I won't tell - I promise.

And yes... That precious little Bradey... And Sara is just so sweet... She has a wonderful relationship with him, and it shows in every thing she does.

D~

Sara and Bradey get along okay. I don't think she realized what it would be like to be with him 24/7 though.

Great start, except for the Disney store!!! Can't wait to hear more...

Yeah, not impressed that they took that out. Are there any down by you??

Joining in!! Can't wait to here all about your trip. Bradey is just adorable! I understand how you feel about your Disney store. The two we had here closed and the closest Disney store is the outlet an hour away.

Welcome!

An hour??? I would LOVE to have one an hour away! We have to drive at least 40 mins to anything (groceries, movies, anything) so an hour is nothing to me. Not sure where my closest one is now

Thanks - I would love to have you join!

I'm there!

Yeah, the DCL cruises are pretty pricey, but we just love 'em! I had actually never even thought about doing any cruise and then out of the blue booked us for Alaska last year. We were totally sold after that.

Wait...Disney goes to Alaska?? I want to do that for our 15th anniversary in 2017. Hmmmm.....good to know.

Oh, I too hate that day of work before the vacation. I always chip away at it - a few months out, I plan to leave an hour early, etc. By the time the trip rolls around, I have been approved for a half day of leave and am rolling out of the office at about 11:00.

Your pre-Disney hotel looked really nice! But what a shame about the Disney Store.

Too funny about the potential princes on board! How cool would it have been to re-discover them in the parks as princes?

Can't wait to hear about your room and what you did with your early-arrival travel day!

I am absolutely sure that it was Aladdin...I know he was a CM of some sort because of what he was saying to the woman in front of me. Hey....what else am I to do with a 3 hour flight without headphones?? I didn't MEAN to eavesdrop, just can't help it when you are that close and they are talking about Disney!

 

[RGirl]

Wait...Disney goes to Alaska?? I want to do that for our 15th anniversary in 2017. Hmmmm.....good to know.

I am absolutely sure that it was Aladdin...I know he was a CM of some sort because of what he was saying to the woman in front of me. Hey....what else am I to do with a 3 hour flight without headphones?? I didn't MEAN to eavesdrop, just can't help it when you are that close and they are talking about Disney!

Disney does go to Alaska! It is a phenomenal cruise.

You really had no choice!!!!

 

[RHMH]

On Board the Suzie Trip Report... WOW!!! Dani and Sarah looks like twins. I had to go back through our pictures to see which one of the two we met in 2012. OOO Yea! Dani is the one we met.

Pictures looks super and waiting for the next round.

 

[babynala]

Great start to your TR. That hotel does look really nice, especially for being close to the airport. That distinction always makes me nervous

Oh and BTW everyone... That little Bradey is the CUTEST little guy ever!! Seriously!!! My girls are in love with him! You see pictures of him, and you expect him to be shy... Oh no... LOL... Not shy at all, once you spend some time with him.

D~

OK, for some reason I totally figured Bradey would be shy also. I guess that cute little face makes you think he is shy. How fun that he and the girls had fun together.

It totally irks me on Southwest when people save seats. Especially after they make the announcement "please don't save seats". I used to really hate it before they had the assigned boarding spots and they would herd you like cattle onto the plane. People would be sitting it that line for hours before the plane even arrived.

So you have arrived at the resort, what next????? Can't wait to hear more about your trip (and see all your pictures).

 

[Simba22]

It totally irks me on Southwest when people save seats. Especially after they make the announcement "please don't save seats". I used to really hate it before they had the assigned boarding spots and they would herd you like cattle onto the plane. People would be sitting it that line for hours before the plane even arrived.

I won't fly Southwest anymore because we had so many irritating things happen the one time we used them! The cheap airfare does not make up for the fact that I can not sit with my family, or that I get stuck next to someone who does not understand the meaning of the term "personal space." I'll pay a little more and have a comfortable flight!

 

[babynala]

By the way, can't wait to figure out why you picked that title for your TR.

 

[solana131]

On Board the Suzie Trip Report... WOW!!! Dani and Sarah looks like twins. I had to go back through our pictures to see which one of the two we met in 2012. OOO Yea! Dani is the one we met.

Pictures looks super and waiting for the next round.

Hi Bob! Yes, Sara and Dani look a lot alike. Sara is only a couple years older than Dani. Totally, totally different people

Thank you....another update on the way.

Great start to your TR. That hotel does look really nice, especially for being close to the airport. That distinction always makes me nervous

So true. We were literally at the end of the runway and never heard anything all night. It was very nice. The free breakfast buffet looked amazing too, but we left too early to try it.

OK, for some reason I totally figured Bradey would be shy also. I guess that cute little face makes you think he is shy. How fun that he and the girls had fun together.

LOL...he is really quiet and shy. He only talks a lot around people he knows. Not sure why he was so talkative with D and the girls. Probably because Sara was there.

It totally irks me on Southwest when people save seats. Especially after they make the announcement "please don't save seats". I used to really hate it before they had the assigned boarding spots and they would herd you like cattle onto the plane. People would be sitting it that line for hours before the plane even arrived.

One guy was saving a whole row....all six seats across. There was a flight attendant standing right behind him and I made a comment that it wasn't fair, thinking that she might speak to him, but she said nothing. Oh well...nothing to get upset about and ruin the start of vacation, so we just continued on and found a row together. Pick your battles.

So you have arrived at the resort, what next????? Can't wait to hear more about your trip (and see all your pictures).

I know....I meant to get a couple updates done this weekend, but we have had bad storms here and I didn't dare to leave my computer on. Sorry for the slow start.

I won't fly Southwest anymore because we had so many irritating things happen the one time we used them! The cheap airfare does not make up for the fact that I can not sit with my family, or that I get stuck next to someone who does not understand the meaning of the term "personal space." I'll pay a little more and have a comfortable flight!

I always pay the small extra fee for Early Bird just so I can get good seats. Even though we were way at the end of the EB boarding section....we still had plenty of seats to choose from. It just takes some getting used to. I honestly wouldn't take Southwest if not for their direct flights. Up here, we don't have many choices when it comes to direct.

By the way, can't wait to figure out why you picked that title for your TR.

Oh you'll see....It was just one of those "mother-of-the-year" moments that made us laugh and we kept repeating it all week

 

[solana131]

Okay, sorry for the slow start everyone. We have had bad thunder storms here all weekend and I didn't dare to turn my computer on. But here we go...


So we were on the Magical Express and after stopping at Wilderness Lodge and the Contemporary, we were finally on the way to the Polynesian. We were first off the bus and a super duper nice (and very tall) CM met us with his handy dandy iPad. He walked us in and checked our reservation. I told him we did online checkin and were hoping the room was ready. He said it was! And he lead us over to the open desk....no line!

I had made up my mind earlier that I would not complain if our requests were not met as long as the room was ready. I honestly couldn't believe the room was all set. I didn't dare to ask him which longhouse we got, let alone which floor etc. But he stepped away to check on something real quick and I snuck a look at the paper. We got Tokelau! It is my favorite and I just love the location. I still didn't know room number, but he came back soon and told us we were on the third floor.

YES! All of my requests were met. I wanted third floor Tokelau and that's exactly what we got. Room #3948!

So we skipped off to our room and dropped our carryon bags. I had to grab a few pictures of the room before we got it all messed up.



I had seen pictures online of the new room decor, but it was just so beautiful and calming in person. I liked the old decor too, but this was wonderful.



And the couch where Bradey would sleep



Oooh, kinda blurry...sorry

The chair and ottoman. Last year we had two chairs and it certainly looked like something was missing. I wonder if they took them all out, or if something was being fixed on ours. We didn't miss it, and it was nice to have the extra floor space.




And the new bathrooms were....interesting. Much brighter than last year. The turtle motif was a little strange, but it worked.





I know a lot of people like the moderates and values because the sinks are outside the bathroom, but it never gave us a problem. Plenty of counter space and it was always clean.

Our view was a huge surprise. The room category was just standard view. Out front we had the quiet pool



To the left was this



And to the right.....we were right in the middle of the building. The longhouse kind of juts out at that point so instead of a solid side wall on the balcony, we saw the lagoon. I know it's hard to tell from the crappy phone picture, but you can see the Castle clear as day! Amazing view!



Okay, so you can't see it at all in the picture, but take my word...and D's...she saw it too. It was visible. We even saw the fireworks from the balcony one night. It was better fromt eh beach of course, but hey, I didn't pay any extra for that view.

I was so excited that we got that view! It was perfect. We were right next to the outdoor stairwell, so no neighbors to our right. And I never heard anyone on our left either...we felt like we had the whole floor to ourselves. The balcony felt so much bigger having that open end. Sara sat out there a lot. It was kind of hot for me, but we did use it some.

Bradey enjoying the view...

 

[solana131]

I had FP+ for lunch at Be Our Guest, and we only had about an hour to get there. So we quickly went potty and headed out to the monorail.

I thought we would have more time to slowly walk through Magic Kingdom on our way over to Fantasyland, but it was more like a mad dash to make it in time. That was not the way I wanted Sara to experience MK for the first time. I didn't count on the Magical Express taking so long. But I did slow down as we rounded the corner at the top of Main Street so she could slowly glimpse the castle for the first time.

We finally made it to the bridge and checked in at the podium. We were escorted right in and ordered in no time. After looking in all the rooms, we chose seats in .... is it the ballroom or the library that has the lifesize "music box" of Belle and Beast dancing??



Well, that's where we sat anyway. We were in the far corner at a booth. It was a great spot to see the whole room. I just loved the decor. The West Wing was way too dark and the other big room was super super noisy. And, this room had my favorite tapestry...



Ummm...what happened to my food pictures?? I wonder if they are on Sara's camera. Well...Bradey had the cutest kids meal ever. The Mickey meatloaf. It was turkey meatloaf in the shape of you-know-who. He gobbled it right up and said it was great. He ate his broccoli, but not the strange orange stuff. Sara had the quinoa salad which looked amazing, and I had the grilled ham & cheese. We all enjoyed our meals and it was great to have free drink refils. We filled our cups with ice water before heading out.

We walked (slowly this time) around the back to Tomorrowland and rode my traditional first ride



The Peoplemover of course. What else can you just hop right on at 1:00 in the afternoon at MK?? Plus, we all wanted to go back and shower, but I just wanted Sara to get a feel of something.

We took the boat back to the Poly just because it was there waiting and we didn't feel like walking up the monorail ramp. The boats are a nice option, but after stopping at the Grand Floridian, they are much slower than the monorail.

On our way to the room, we stopped at Captain Cooks to get our mugs and we got some cupcakes too since we were too full for dessert at BOG. Again....I don't have pictures of them But Bradey got the Mickey one, Sara got the Minnie one and I got the Red Velvet. Sara and Bradey's were a chocolate cake with mousse on top (Bradey's peanutbutter, Sara's chocolate) and oreos for ears.

We got back to the room and I realized that I had forgotten to take a picture of this



We all showered and changed to get out of our nasty travel clothes. Then we walked over to the Transportation and Ticket Center to catch the Epcot monorail. This is what I like best about the Tokelau longhouse. It is smack dab in the middle of the Great Ceremonial House and the TTC. And just steps away from the bus stop. Very easy to get to everything we need.

So....it was around 4:30 at this point and we had an ADR at Via Napoli for dinner at 6:20. So we had a little time. I knew Spaceship Earth was going to be closing in the next couple days, so we hopped on that first. Bradey and Sara sat together and I was behind them. She has pictures of how their future turned out. I didn't even do mine because I was leaning over their seat to see theirs.

On our way by, we decided to stop in at Club Cool so Sara could try the Beverly. Totally got her on that one! She had NO CLUE! Alas...no pictures. Sorry Mo.

Then we walked over to Figment. Bradey traded his first pin. He was so proud of himself. He had a pirate themed lanyard and pouch, so he was trying to pirate themed pins most of the week. His first pin was a hook




We rode Figment, then made our way over to the World Showcase. We rode the Mexican boat ride, but didn't enjoy it. We noticed as we were getting on the boat that somewhere between Figment and Mexico Bradey had lost his first pin! Yes, there were tears.

We promised him we would look for it, but I didn't have much hope. We couldn't retrace our steps all the way because it was getting close to ADR time and we still had half the world to walk around. So we looked inside the pavillion and outside briefly. We had just given up and gone into the little shop at the edge of Mexico when Bradey spotted it. No, it wasn't his pin, but the CM there had the same one. So we grabbed it. He was happy...I was happy...it was all good. Lesson learned....GET LOCKING PIN BACKS!

It was just starting to rain and there was a bad storm brewing, so even though we were a little early for our ADR, we walked straight over to Italy. We were seated in the "sun room" area in just under 5 mins.

I had eaten here with Dani for the first time last year and I just loved it. I ordered the aranchini (rice balls) to start. I remembered them being in a meat sauce, but not to have meat in them. Well..





I was wrong. Meat. In. Them....Sara. Vegetarian.....oops.

We had the Aqua Frescas....yum!



And we ordered a four cheese and a pepperoni to share between the three of us. We had plenty.



It was delish. I had been dreaming about their pistachio gelato all year, but.....we were too full because they messed up and brought us a double batch of aranchini. So we all skipped dessert.

It had stopped raining by the time we were done. So we poked around Italy for a bit, but we were getting tired by this point. We had been up since 4:45 that morning. So we continued the walk around the world and headed out. But not before I treated Sara to one of these little beauties.



I waited about 10 mins for that annoying guy in pink pants to move out of my picture, but he was on the phone and wouldn't move. So he is now named Jorge and he will forever be in my memories. Hey....my drink was melting...I had to make a choice.

On our way out, we scooted over to Nemo and rode him without any line. We hopped back on the monorail and got back to the Poly just in time for the Electric Water Pageant. It was so nice and a new one for me. Again...Sara has those pictures. We sat on the point in between the beaches and under the trees. We had ants crawling all over us by the end, so we had to shower...again. Then it was off to bed.

It was a very long day, but we got a lot accomplished. We had lunch at BoG, rode Peoplemover, monorail & boat, Spaceship Earth, Figment, Mexico, and Nemo, ate dinner at Via Napoli, and saw the water pageant. Oh, and we traveled from Maine to Florida! Phew...I'm tired just reliving it for you....off to bed for me now too. Hope you enjoyed the first day.

Up next....our first Mickey Waffles and Animal Kingdom day!

 

[PrincessInOz]

Great first day.

Yikes! I had forgotten how much time it takes to get to everything from the resort to the parks. An hour from Poly to BoG? Yikes!

 

[solana131]

Well, an hour from door to door. We had to walk to the GCH, up the stairs to the monorail...wait for the monorail to get there, let people off, load us up...ride to GF, let people off, load people up...ride to MK, walk down the monorail ramp and around the corner to the gates...thru the bag check line, thru the ticket gates, slowly down Main Street....and that annoying Move it, Shake it parade thing was going on....so it was busy....over to the right of the castle and up the side path, then through Fantasyland. Yep...about an hour

 

[DMGeurts]

Sorry about the storms all weekend - glad you are well though.

I am so happy you were able to get all of your room requests. Now that I have seen more of the Poly - If I ever stayed there, I think I would probably request that same building - or one near it. It was beautiful!

Your room was gorgeous!!!

I totally agree about the bathroom - we do LOVE and USE the seperate sink/bathroom... However - I have given it some thought and the way we do things while we are on vacation, we would probably be ok in a bathroom like that. I have heard that a few of the longhouses at the Poly do have the seperate bathroom/vanity... I would have to do research - but I would still request one of those, I think?

I did take a picture of the castle from your balcony... And I believe it turned out... It was a beautiful view to have and certainly - I bet it was ASTOUNDING during Wishes... (feel free to take my photo to add to your trip pics if you'd like)...

I loved the room you had your lunch in at BOG.. And it sounds very nummy. We had dinner there - so our food choices were way different. But I have heard that lunch is excellent there and well worth the cost of a CS meal.

We did not get a chance to get on the People Mover this trip.

Yay for getting to ride on SSE... It is actually a ride we avoid because the backwards drop makes all of us VERY uneasy... Even last year - Alli was in the back seat by herself and she was almost in tears. So, now it's a ride that we just don't do - and my girls are THRILL RIDERS, so this is a little shocking to me. LOL

LOL about Sara and Beverly... I actually didn't mind it. But my drink of choice is H2Oh... And I think Beverly is very similar - so much so - that I had seconds.

I am so proud of Bradey for trying his hand at pin trading! And I am soooo excited that he enjoyed it. Such a bummer about losing his first pin. I usually leave our traders with the rubber back... I do have the locking pin backs - but I usually don't use them until we get home. However, this trip, V was collecting certain pins, and decided to use them to attach them to her bag strap - it worked out well.

Via Napoli looks wonderful - and I would like to try to eat there some day.

LOL about Jorge and his pink pants... At least you have a picture of him to remember him by.

You had a CRAZY first day!!! I cannot believe how much you accomplished!!! Fantastic!!!

D~