Pre Trip - PART 5! SOME PLANS!!!
"The firsts of this trip"
Every trip has firsts, right? It could be your childs FIRST time at Disney? It might be your FIRST time eating breakfast in the castle? Maybe you are getting the chance to take your FIRST tour? Maybe your child is tall enough to ride Splash Mountain for the FIRST time? I think no matter how many times you go back to Disney, you will always have a few FIRSTS!
Well, for Shawn and I .this trip is going to have a few FIRSTS as well.
The first FIRST is the most obvious the Poly!
Not only is it the first time staying there, it is our FIRST time staying onsite!!! Shocker, I know. 
Technically, I have stayed onsite before, but I was a child so I have no recollection of it. 
Since then, we have stayed in offsite hotels (in the 80s) and offsite houses (more recently). We will pretty much stick to the big houses for trips with the family, as they just make much more sense on so many levels
Space, Money, Kitchen, Private Pool, just much, much, more practical and fun than hotel rooms yes, even Disney ones!! 
That is, if you enjoy being with your extended family
.which we do
.
We might stay onsite with just OUR family of 5, but with 5 it limits you to either certain deluxe hotels, POR with a trundle, a FW cabin, or DVC .all pretty much out of our price range, except POR maybe (but its still more $ than a big offsite townhouse/condo/house ) Ahhhh.
....but I digress
.I mean, we are after all
staying at the POLY this trip, and I never thought we would do that! LOL! Never say Never, right? 
So, the FIRST time at the Poly ..thats a biggie! We will also NOT be renting a car, so this will be the FIRST time we use Magical Express, and the FIRST time we rely on Disney transportation to go to and from the parks. Im a little nervous about this, I gotta say.
However, since we are at the Poly, and since we are spending 2 days at Epcot, 1 day at the MK, and 1 evening at the AK .our only actual bus experience will be getting to the AK, so Im not AS concerned. And again, since its just Shawn and I, I dont have to worry about hiking it to a hotel room a mile away from a bus stop with a sleeping child on my shoulder. (One of the other nice things about offsite houses pull up in a driveway and you are steps away from your house very nice when carrying a heavy infant, toddler, or child).
So without further adieu, here are our arrival day plans .
Our flight leaves VA around 11:30, so my plan is to get the kids off to school and then home to pack up the car and leave for the airport around 9:15. Its about 30 minutes to the airport, so give or take a few, we are aiming for an airport arrival around 10:00.
Spend an hour and a half of sheer terror on the airplaneuntil we land in Orlando around 1:15 (yes, I hate to fly)! 
Im thinking we should grab some lunch at the airport to eat while we are on the ME bus. Can you bring food on the bus?
Try to locate the ME check-in desk and get us checked in as quick as possible (anything I should know about this other than to bring my ME paperwork, find the place, get in line, check in, and follow directions to the bus?) We have never done this before so it will be a change in procedure for us!
Im hoping to make it to the Poly by 3:00 do you think that is do-able with a 1:15 flight arrival? I have no idea of how fast/slow ME works I have read different accounts of how long, but what has been your experience? I have no idea how the resorts are lumped together on ME, but Im assuming the MK resorts are together Poly, CR, GF but what about WL or FW? Anyone know?
I have not figured out if I want to try online check in (or, for that matter, if I am eligible, since I used an agent to book our room guess I could ask her, huh? LOL) If I can, I dont know if I want to as I am putting a longhouse request on our reservation and I dont think you can add that kind of stuff when you do online check in. Maybe you can? Maybe it doesnt matter anyway and I will just get what we get? I will be at the Poly I will be happy with whatever I get!
Im assuming we will be able to get in our room, as it will be close to 3:00, so if we can, we will go check it out, freshen up, and then head over to the Animal Kingdom
Now, here is another FIRST. We will be going to an EMH at one of the parks.
Now if it were a trip with my kids, I would say we would get settled in our resort, check everything out, go swimming, eat a nice meal, unpack, and then hit the sack so we could hit the parks early the next day. Thats what I would recommend to any one of my friends who were traveling down with their families (especially on a first trip)!
HOWEVER, since its just the two of us we are headed to a park!
And since we have always wanted to see the AK at night, we are going to take advantage of the EMH that night at the AK, even though it is going against TGMs advice. 
I have heard good things about the evening EMH at AK, so if any of you have been, please do share!
So, we will be using the bus system to get over to the AK. Ugh. I have used the bus system ONCE - on our trip over Thanksgiving- and knew right then and there, that we would always want a car when going to Disney. I just didnt think Shawn could handle the waiting, and then the stop-and-go action of the busses. When he is going somewhere, he just wants to GET there! Im hoping he will be in a more relaxed state of mind since it will just be us no kids, no strollers! Fingers are definitely crossed! If nothing else, it will assure us that we will always have a car when traveling with the kids!
Hoping to arrive at the AK around 4:00 realistic? The parade will be finishing up and hopefully the park will be starting to clear out of regular day guests. Im thinking we will head back to the Safari as soon as we can and try to get on the Safari, as it closes earlier than the other attractions. Im actually not even sure if it is open at all during EMHs. I have heard conflicting accounts. Maybe it is dependent on the time of year. I dont think it will be dark until 6:30 or 7:00, so maybe they will keep it open. Anyone know?
After that, the only things I really want to do are FOTLK and Everest. I believe there is a 6:00 showing of FOTLK during EMH, so that is the plan for now. After that, say 6:30, we will make our way around towards Asia for a ride (and maybe two) on Everest. Shawn wants to see the Tree of Life up close, so we will be attempting that as well. Anything else we can do (ITTBAB, Dinosaur, PW) will just be gravy...
We have an ADR at Boma that night at 8:30, so we will be leaving the park right when it closes at 8:00 and heading over to AKL to eat.
When leaving the AKL, should I try for a taxi to get back to the Poly, or should we get a bus to the MK and then get on the monorail back to the Poly? The MK closes at 9:00 that night, so I figure the busses should still be running people back and forth to there right? Or will they have stopped going TO the MK and will only be taking people back FROM the MK to AKL? Im thinking we will be done with dinner and various shopping/looking around the resort/other stuff around 10:00. Again, Im a newbie to all this bus stuff, so I was thinking that maybe a taxi would be easier. Oh, wait. What about the busses to DTD? Should we get a bus from AKL to DTD and then a bus from there to the Poly? Ugh. I dont know. 
So those are the plans for travel, and Day 1. Hopefully we will have our luggage when we arrive back that night and can sit out on the balcony and/or patio and enjoy the Orlando air.
Thoughts/Ideas/Comments? Fire away please....
Sara
"The firsts of this trip"
Every trip has firsts, right? It could be your childs FIRST time at Disney? It might be your FIRST time eating breakfast in the castle? Maybe you are getting the chance to take your FIRST tour? Maybe your child is tall enough to ride Splash Mountain for the FIRST time? I think no matter how many times you go back to Disney, you will always have a few FIRSTS!
Well, for Shawn and I .this trip is going to have a few FIRSTS as well.
The first FIRST is the most obvious the Poly!
Not only is it the first time staying there, it is our FIRST time staying onsite!!! Shocker, I know. Technically, I have stayed onsite before, but I was a child so I have no recollection of it. Since then, we have stayed in offsite hotels (in the 80s) and offsite houses (more recently). We will pretty much stick to the big houses for trips with the family, as they just make much more sense on so many levels
Space, Money, Kitchen, Private Pool, just much, much, more practical and fun than hotel rooms yes, even Disney ones!! That is, if you enjoy being with your extended family
.which we do
.We might stay onsite with just OUR family of 5, but with 5 it limits you to either certain deluxe hotels, POR with a trundle, a FW cabin, or DVC .all pretty much out of our price range, except POR maybe (but its still more $ than a big offsite townhouse/condo/house ) Ahhhh.
....but I digress
.I mean, we are after all
staying at the POLY this trip, and I never thought we would do that! LOL! Never say Never, right? So, the FIRST time at the Poly ..thats a biggie! We will also NOT be renting a car, so this will be the FIRST time we use Magical Express, and the FIRST time we rely on Disney transportation to go to and from the parks. Im a little nervous about this, I gotta say.
However, since we are at the Poly, and since we are spending 2 days at Epcot, 1 day at the MK, and 1 evening at the AK .our only actual bus experience will be getting to the AK, so Im not AS concerned. And again, since its just Shawn and I, I dont have to worry about hiking it to a hotel room a mile away from a bus stop with a sleeping child on my shoulder. (One of the other nice things about offsite houses pull up in a driveway and you are steps away from your house very nice when carrying a heavy infant, toddler, or child).
So without further adieu, here are our arrival day plans .
Our flight leaves VA around 11:30, so my plan is to get the kids off to school and then home to pack up the car and leave for the airport around 9:15. Its about 30 minutes to the airport, so give or take a few, we are aiming for an airport arrival around 10:00.
Spend an hour and a half of sheer terror on the airplane
until we land in Orlando around 1:15 (yes, I hate to fly)! Im thinking we should grab some lunch at the airport to eat while we are on the ME bus. Can you bring food on the bus?
Try to locate the ME check-in desk and get us checked in as quick as possible (anything I should know about this other than to bring my ME paperwork, find the place, get in line, check in, and follow directions to the bus?) We have never done this before so it will be a change in procedure for us!
Im hoping to make it to the Poly by 3:00 do you think that is do-able with a 1:15 flight arrival? I have no idea of how fast/slow ME works I have read different accounts of how long, but what has been your experience? I have no idea how the resorts are lumped together on ME, but Im assuming the MK resorts are together Poly, CR, GF but what about WL or FW? Anyone know?
I have not figured out if I want to try online check in (or, for that matter, if I am eligible, since I used an agent to book our room guess I could ask her, huh? LOL) If I can, I dont know if I want to as I am putting a longhouse request on our reservation and I dont think you can add that kind of stuff when you do online check in. Maybe you can? Maybe it doesnt matter anyway and I will just get what we get? I will be at the Poly I will be happy with whatever I get!
Im assuming we will be able to get in our room, as it will be close to 3:00, so if we can, we will go check it out, freshen up, and then head over to the Animal Kingdom
Now, here is another FIRST. We will be going to an EMH at one of the parks.
Now if it were a trip with my kids, I would say we would get settled in our resort, check everything out, go swimming, eat a nice meal, unpack, and then hit the sack so we could hit the parks early the next day. Thats what I would recommend to any one of my friends who were traveling down with their families (especially on a first trip)! HOWEVER, since its just the two of us we are headed to a park!
And since we have always wanted to see the AK at night, we are going to take advantage of the EMH that night at the AK, even though it is going against TGMs advice. I have heard good things about the evening EMH at AK, so if any of you have been, please do share! So, we will be using the bus system to get over to the AK. Ugh. I have used the bus system ONCE - on our trip over Thanksgiving- and knew right then and there, that we would always want a car when going to Disney. I just didnt think Shawn could handle the waiting, and then the stop-and-go action of the busses. When he is going somewhere, he just wants to GET there! Im hoping he will be in a more relaxed state of mind since it will just be us no kids, no strollers! Fingers are definitely crossed! If nothing else, it will assure us that we will always have a car when traveling with the kids!
Hoping to arrive at the AK around 4:00 realistic?
The parade will be finishing up and hopefully the park will be starting to clear out of regular day guests. Im thinking we will head back to the Safari as soon as we can and try to get on the Safari, as it closes earlier than the other attractions. Im actually not even sure if it is open at all during EMHs. I have heard conflicting accounts. Maybe it is dependent on the time of year. I dont think it will be dark until 6:30 or 7:00, so maybe they will keep it open. Anyone know? After that, the only things I really want to do are FOTLK and Everest. I believe there is a 6:00 showing of FOTLK during EMH, so that is the plan for now. After that, say 6:30, we will make our way around towards Asia for a ride (and maybe two) on Everest. Shawn wants to see the Tree of Life up close, so we will be attempting that as well. Anything else we can do (ITTBAB, Dinosaur, PW) will just be gravy...
We have an ADR at Boma that night at 8:30, so we will be leaving the park right when it closes at 8:00 and heading over to AKL to eat.
When leaving the AKL, should I try for a taxi to get back to the Poly, or should we get a bus to the MK and then get on the monorail back to the Poly?
The MK closes at 9:00 that night, so I figure the busses should still be running people back and forth to there right? Or will they have stopped going TO the MK and will only be taking people back FROM the MK to AKL? Im thinking we will be done with dinner and various shopping/looking around the resort/other stuff around 10:00. Again, Im a newbie to all this bus stuff, so I was thinking that maybe a taxi would be easier. Oh, wait. What about the busses to DTD? Should we get a bus from AKL to DTD and then a bus from there to the Poly? Ugh. I dont know. So those are the plans for travel, and Day 1. Hopefully we will have our luggage when we arrive back that night and can sit out on the balcony and/or patio and enjoy the Orlando air.
Thoughts/Ideas/Comments? Fire away please....
Sara
[I'm getting real excited too! 
Glad to have you here!! 
I'll forgo the membership $ and stick to the advice of my Disney friends here. I can't wait to hear more about your Poly trip!
I hope to be able to experience some of the FLower and Garden festivities that will be going on as well. 
I saw it in December on the girls trip I went on and fell in love. Now I really want Shawn to experience it in that way. 
