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

[Chicago Mo]

I called dibs in June.... haha... There's already a line, and Suzi doesn't do FPs (I asked...)

D~

If i use my FF+ i can get in front of all of you.. If I have knee surgery then i get the GAC. then your all screwed..

 

[KatMark]

Three down and only 50 more to go...threads that is!

I'm now caught up on yours. I love your room location...very nice (we like Tahiti best, but your location is our second favorite). I've not decided how I feel about the new decor...perhaps I need to try it out myself (although that won't happen next trip as we are treating Mark and Alisha next year for their one year anniversary).

You got a lot accomplished on that first day with your early wake-up call, getting to Disney, etc.

Just an FYI in case you didn't know...you can buy a whole package of those pin backs.

 

[DMGeurts]

If i use my FF+ i can get in front of all of you.. If I have knee surgery then i get the GAC. then your all screwed..

Crap... Do you take passengers on that ECV of yours?

D~

 

[Chicago Mo]

Crap... Do you take passengers on that ECV of yours?

D~

for a price...








i can hitch a trailer to it maybe???

 

[Sweetly]

It's been rather busy here and I am now all caught up on your TR so far.

So glad you got your choices at the POLY ! Love it when everything comes together.

BOG sounded great! That is on my to do list the next time we go. Our to list keeps getting longer and longer. We just might have to stay longer

So sorry that Bradey lost his pin. Glad it all worked out in the end.

Looking forward to more of the TR.

 

[DMGeurts]

for a price...

i can hitch a trailer to it maybe???

Hmmm... I have a little red wagon... It's missing the front wheels though.

D~

 

[solana131]

Your first day sounds MAGICAL and you got so much accomplished. I can't remember...was this Sara's first trip to Disney? Was she hooked by the end of the first day? I can't imagine how you wouldn't be...I mean...BOG lunch, seeing the castle, riding the People Mover, EPCOT, multiple rides, dinner in Italy, Electric Water Pageant....OMG...AWESOME!!!

On the flip side...I can only imagine how exhausted you all were at the end of that first day. OMG...I might have passed out BEFORE my head hit the pillow

Yes, this was Sara's first trip to the world. She is hooked now. She has plans to bring her mother in a few years for her 50th birthday.

It was a pretty exhausting day. But I just love that combination of things: arrival, MK, unpack, Epcot. It is sort of my new arrival day tradition. I think we will always head over to MK to ride PeopleMover then dinner at Via Napoli. Just a great way to welcome us to the world...my favorite two parks.

Loved reading about your first day, or should I say 1/2 day. Wow, you guys got a ton accomplished in that short period. Glad you were able to find another hook. That Bradey had a great idea to collect pirate themed pins to go with his lanyard.

He had a pirate lanyard and a plain black one (Sara wasn't using hers). You will see later that he decided that he would collect pirate ones for the pirate lanyard and Duffy ones for the black lanyard.

Well, your arrival day sure was great! I absolutely love the new look for the Poly rooms. WOW!

And it sounds like a lot of great food. I'm glad to hear lunch at BoG was so nice, and VN always looks delicious.

I can't believe you managed to do so much on arrival day. Very impressive!

Thanks. It sounds like a lot, but we took our time (well, other than the made dash to make it to BoG in time) and just soaked up the sights. We know we are not going to ride many of the good rides when we don't get to the park until noon time. But it works out well for us.

Joining in.

I love the poly and would love to stay there some day!

I hope to take my son (who just turned 1) to Disney when he is 6. My husband is definitely not a Disney loving guy either. I hope to turn him into one after he sees it through a kids eyes. Wishful thinking

Can't wait to hear more!

My hubby is not a Disney fan either. But I hope to change that when next we go back. The first and only time he has ever been, I had too much planned and we were just go go going all the time. I think the next time I will make sure I slow things down a little. Now I know a few more tricks and what attractions we need to see and what we don't need to bother with. It will make for a much more relaxing trip for him.

And you are so right. Once you see the magic through your child's eye....oh God it is just amazing! Mo complains that I didn't take enough pictures, maybe I didn't, but I was too busy just watching Bradey's expressions and wonder. Trying to constantly get him to "smile for the camera" would have taken that magic away.

thankfully someone took pictures......

JUST KIDDING.. well kinda. I do really really LOVE your room.. i am learning SO much from you and D~... which longhouse and now to ABSOLUTELY go to BOG either lunch of dinner!!!

I'm not sure we will ever do BoG for dinner when lunch was so much easier and just fantastic. Although, if they keep it as that is the only place where you can meet the Beast, I guess we will have to at some point.

And there will be more pictures.....just waiting for Sara. She took a lot of the food pics and low light pics because her camera is better than mine. Wait until you see the fun Water Pageant pics! It was fun. Did you guys see that last time you stayed at the Poly?

Joining in! Great TR so far. Bradey is a cutie!

We arrive at the Poly in 3 days!!!

Yay! Did you request a certain longhouse?? Have a great time! I miss it so much. I hope there isn't too much DVC construction going on while you are there. I heard they just got the green light for the GCH reno. But I can't imagine it would start that soon. Fingers crossed for you!

Yay! Awesome first day! We loved our lunch at BOG as well

You're really selling me on the poly! That room looks amazing!

You were a busy lady for sure! So lucky you got to ride SSE! It closed the day we arrived

Hubby didn't realize there was a ride "in the ball" and was pretty bummed we missed it. But good to have things for next time I suppose!

Can't wait to read more!!

Too funny...I call it "the ball" too. Yeah, it's not any wonderful ride or anything, but it is just classic. And where Sara was a newbiw...I had to get her on it. I'm glad I remembered it was closing the next day.

GRRRR~ I knew you started this.. but like MO, I don't Dis on the weekends.
Then by the time I made it back to work Tuesday...I forgot! I made it on page 8...so getting to yours on page 4 is at least better than that.

Loving it so far, Suzi! Your room view was AH.MA.ZING! I did get to see D~'s picture from hr TR. The Disney gods were definitely smiling on you when rooms were assigned!

I am appalled at your lack of food porn, friend. You know I love my Disney food porn! Oh well...it really is a great TR so far, so I guess you are forgiven.

Oh, one last thing....can I be your cousin???

Thanks oopsi....and don't worry. There is plenty of food porn. The pics are just on Sara's camera. I will get it in there, I promise. There might have been one meal all week that we forgot to take a pic of. We were good DISers

And sure...I can always use more cousins

I called dibs in June.... haha... There's already a line, and Suzi doesn't do FPs (I asked...)

D~

If i use my FF+ i can get in front of all of you.. If I have knee surgery then i get the GAC. then your all screwed..

Crap... Do you take passengers on that ECV of yours?

D~

for a price...


i can hitch a trailer to it maybe???

Hmmm... I have a little red wagon... It's missing the front wheels though.

D~

You guys.... Love you! I am totally willing to pay for it all if we can all go together. It would be EPIC! D sleeps on the balcony though...we already determined this, right? I'll give her a poncho if she wants

Three down and only 50 more to go...threads that is!

I'm now caught up on yours. I love your room location...very nice (we like Tahiti best, but your location is our second favorite). I've not decided how I feel about the new decor...perhaps I need to try it out myself (although that won't happen next trip as we are treating Mark and Alisha next year for their one year anniversary).

You got a lot accomplished on that first day with your early wake-up call, getting to Disney, etc.

Just an FYI in case you didn't know...you can buy a whole package of those pin backs.

Thanks Kathy....Tahiti....which side is that on??

Yeah, I can imagine that you won't be treating them to the Poly...although, it is very romantic there...don't you want a grandchild??

I did buy 2 packages of the locking pin backs. We put them on the keepers and kept the rubber backed traders in a baggie in my purse.

It's been rather busy here and I am now all caught up on your TR so far.

So glad you got your choices at the POLY ! Love it when everything comes together.

BOG sounded great! That is on my to do list the next time we go. Our to list keeps getting longer and longer. We just might have to stay longer

So sorry that Bradey lost his pin. Glad it all worked out in the end.

Looking forward to more of the TR.

Isn't it funny how our to-do lists just grow and grow. Too hard to fit everything in with just one week. I would love love love to go for 2 weeks next time, but I only get 2 weeks for vacation, so I would have to commit to spending it all on Disney that year and I just don't know if I could do that. We'll see.



So, Sara didn't show up tonight with her pictures But she says she will get them to me this weekend. I promise they are coming. And once they do.....this thing will be off and flying. Almost time to start a new PTR

 

[DMGeurts]

You guys.... Love you! I am totally willing to pay for it all if we can all go together. It would be EPIC! D sleeps on the balcony though...we already determined this, right? I'll give her a poncho if she wants

Seriously - the balcony??? Well - we need to request a view of the Castle then...

D~

 

[Chicago Mo]

Seriously - the balcony??? Well - we need to request a view of the Castle then...

D~

as long as you don't jump off...

Suzi does the reclining chair fit out there? make D~ a little tent!




Still no pictures.. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! this all could have been avoided HAD someone pulled out their OWN camera!
Love you

















mean it.....................


i am IN for a girls trip...

Of course now you have until Monday to get the pictures since i won't be on all weekend!

 

[babynala]

Mo complains that I didn't take enough pictures, maybe I didn't, but I was too busy just watching Bradey's expressions and wonder. Trying to constantly get him to "smile for the camera" would have taken that magic away.

(Mo, don't be mad at me) but I kind of agree with Suzi on this point. Although I do love looking at the pictures from our previous trips. Hopefully Sara took some pictures and those PP pictures arrive soon.

Obviously Mo will have to come along on your next trip so she can be your official photographer.

So I'll just be waiting for Sara's pictures

 

[Chicago Mo]

(Mo, don't be mad at me) but I kind of agree with Suzi on this point. Although I do love looking at the pictures from our previous trips. Hopefully Sara took some pictures and those PP pictures arrive soon.

Obviously Mo will have to come along on your next trip so she can be your official photographer.

So I'll just be waiting for Sara's pictures

Mad?!?! ME?!? what do you think this is??? the Dis???

I fully agree i think i need to just GO with her...
Yes looking behind the camera watching life.. well you will miss some stuff!

Still won't stop me from whining about no pictures!

 

[solana131]

Seriously - the balcony??? Well - we need to request a view of the Castle then...

D~

Or....we could buy earplugs and just turn my noisemaker up really loud

as long as you don't jump off...

Suzi does the reclining chair fit out there? make D~ a little tent!




Still no pictures.. SERIOUSLY?!?!?! this all could have been avoided HAD someone pulled out their OWN camera!
Love you

















mean it.....................


i am IN for a girls trip...

Of course now you have until Monday to get the pictures since i won't be on all weekend!

That chair doesn't recline. Just a chair and ottoman. Maybe we could muscle the couch out there???

Sara finally dropped off her pictures and boy were they worth waiting for. I had a tear in my eye looking at them. She got some great shots of Bradey. They are uploading to Flickr as I type....update coming soon.

(Mo, don't be mad at me) but I kind of agree with Suzi on this point. Although I do love looking at the pictures from our previous trips. Hopefully Sara took some pictures and those PP pictures arrive soon.

Obviously Mo will have to come along on your next trip so she can be your official photographer.

So I'll just be waiting for Sara's pictures

Got them....uploading to flickr as I type. And yes...next time Mo is coming along as my personal photographer. That has already been decided.

Mad?!?! ME?!? what do you think this is??? the Dis???

I fully agree i think i need to just GO with her...
Yes looking behind the camera watching life.. well you will miss some stuff!

Still won't stop me from whining about no pictures!

Whine away Mo...they are coming soon


*************************************************

So I guess Sara was more in love with Disney than I thought. We have been back, what, 15 or so days??

She just informed me tonight that she has applied to the Disney College Program! She is in stage three of the application process and has a character audition in CT on Oct 6th!

OMG I am so excited for her! That would be a dream come true Everyone cross your fingers for her!

 

[KatMark]

Fingers, toes and everything else I can cross are crossed for Sarah!

 

[solana131]

Sara's pictures of our first day:

Okay, we have to back up a little. I just got my Photopass CD as well as Sara's pictures from her camera. We didn't get any PP pics that first day because I had PP+ and I had to exchange my voucher for the red taggy thing. All the lines were super long for this and we were kinda busy anyway. So we just planned on getting it done the next morning at the Poly.

So....going back to the plane ride:





So excited to be heading to Disney!

On the Magical Express. I didn't get a shot of it, but I believe we had a normal bus. Not the cool water park one, but not a yellow Mears bus either. Sara got a better shot of the sign than me.



And Mickey



She took a few pics while I was checking us in...





And we've arrived!



You can kind of see the castle in this shot. See it there under that hanging limb. D's pic was the best, but I can make it out in this one too.



So moving along....

We are entering Beast's Castle. It is just so cool in there. Bradey liked the suits of armor.







I loved how they had the menu in the middle of the line ahead of time so you were ready to order when the time came. Makes it go much faster I think



Almost there. Just love the decor in here.



Bradey was hungry. Heck, by this time we were all hungry. We hadn't eaten since 7am!



Continued in next post

 

[solana131]

After you order, you get this rose shaped "buzzer" that lets the servers know which table you are at. It is such cool technology and really feels "magical".



Again...we chose the Library, I think....



Sara had the quinoa salad. It was yummy, she gave me a bite.



My grilled ham & cheese doesn't look very impressive, but it tasted good.



And Bradey's Mickey meatloaf. Turkey meatloaf with broccoli and zucchini with an orange dressing to dip it in. Gotta say...that dressing was strange. It was kinda like a french dressing, but frothier. Just weird. But he loved the meatloaf and broccoli, so it was worth it.



Sara went to get drink refills, but I think she really just wanted this picture.





A couple pictures of the ballroom area as we left.







And the West Wing



Sorry, it's dark in the West Wing...

Had to get a photo here as we left with our ice water



Oh and a hat picture.....just for you Kathy (well, really for Mark)



Continued in next post...I don't know how many photos I can have in one post, so I don't want to overload it.

 

[solana131]

We took the boat back to the Poly...very slow trip, but a pretty approach.





These two were so funny...taking video of each other taking video. Weird...



Stopped at the GF first



Almost there. The longhouse going the different direction, right in the middle is Tokelau. Love that place!



And our cupcakes. This is Sara's Minnie Mouse one with chocolate mousse under



And all of ours. Bradey had the Mickey one with peanutbutter mousse. I had the Red Velvet one. Yum! So good.



This is what you don't get in a moderate or value...a balcony.



It was too hot for me out there most of the time, but Sara and Bradey used it often.



Oops...thought I had all of the first day uploaded. Gotta go back to Flickr... Be right back.

 

[solana131]

Okay, so we have traveled all morning, checked into the Poly, ran to MK for lunch at BoG, taken the boat back to the Poly and eaten cupcakes. We chilled in the room for just a bit. Sara and I showered and we all changed into new clothes then walked over to the TTC to catch the Epcot monorail around 3:30pm.

I am so glad Sara had her first glimpse of Epcot from the monorail. There is just something so neat about gliding over Future World and circling around Spaceship Earth. You can just see across the lagoon to World Showcase. It is just a great first impression.



We knew SSE was going to close in the next couple of days, so we had to ride that first.



There was a small line, but it moves fast. Soon we were off to see what our futures held.



I had Sara and Bradey sit together on this one so she could have cool pictures. It's no fun with only one floating head. I didn't even do the thing, I was looking over their shoulders to see what they did. Let me tell you, that was tricky while going backwards down the Ball.





We hit up Mr Figment, then headed to WS. Remember, Bradey traded his first pin, then promptly lost it on our way to Mexico....

Well go back a few pages and re-read about it then.

Moving along....Sara's next pictures are from Via Napoli. We had a couple pizzas and the Arancini...which Sara couldn't eat because they had meat in them. But it makes a pretty picture.



And a view from Sara's seat. Like I said, we were seated out in the "sunroom" area. Looking back into the main dining room...



And Sara's first Disney Drink....the Grey Goose Slushie



We stopped to chat with some rabbits that came to say "Hello" as we walked back to Future World



We rode Nemo, then hung out with the dolphins for a bit before heading out.







Spinning Mickey and Minnie topiaries at the TTC on our way back to the Poly.





And we made it back in time to see the Water Parade they have out on the lagoon every night at 9. I totally missed this on our first trip staying here, so it was really neat to see.







I know...pictures just don't do it justice. These lights moved to the music...it was really cool.











And the ending brought tears to my eyes...





It was just a wonderful way to end our first day!

Okay, I think I am all caught up with Sara's pictures and my report now. We can just continue with Day 2 - Animal Kingdom....

 

[DMGeurts]

Yay!!! Suzi got Sarah's pictures!!! WHOOT!

Ok - LOVED the cupcake pictures, NUMMY!

And - I do wish we had a balcony - it's just so nice to sit out there and your view was spectacular!

I am glad that Sarah has her first glimpse of Epcot from the Monorail too - perfect!

Loved the electric water parade, I've seen parts of it, but I've never watched the whole thing... Some day - when I stay at the Poly - I will do that. It' son my bucket list.

Can't wait to hear about the rest.

D~

 

[KatMark]

Yay for more pictures of your first day. Sarah did a great job taking pictures and she looks very happy with that slush.

 

[Pixiedust530]

So happy that you got the pictures from Sara and shared them with all of us. It looks like your first day was full of magic!

OMG...those cupcakes look divine. I'm a HUGE peanut butter fan, so I probably would have had to go with the same choice as Bradey! Were these from the Poly? Where exactly? I have NEVER had a cupcake anywhere in WDW, but these look nommy-licious! I have heard good things about the ones from Starring Roles in HS also.

I have never ridden the monorail to EPCOT, so i have no idea how awesome this view of the ball is. However, judging by the comments here it is apparently a wonderful view and a great way to see EPCOT! I posted over on my PTR suggestions on how to travel to EPCOT from BLT...I guess that question has now been answered...monorail all the way!