Day 1 - *Still* Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Part 3 - ALOHA!!!
As we pulled into the Magic Kingdom resorts, we were biting our nails as to who would get the privilege of being the first resort stop!!! (ok, well we werent biting our nails, but I was hoping ..) Well, the closer we got, the more confident I felt that it was indeed going to be us!!
Score, said Shawn! Again, Magical Express could not have been more magical! Joe pulled us up to the front, pointing out the Poly bus stop that we would need to go to get to the AK, DHS, and DTD, and soon after that we were getting off our chariot and passing under this sign:
Now you will have to excuse the next group of pictures, as I was walking as I took them. I dont know why I was hurrying, but looking back, I think I was kind of rushing us inside so we could get checked in as soon as possible for fear that a whole bunch of the people sitting behind us on the bus were also getting off here (I wasnt able to see how many people raised their hands for the Poly, since we were sitting up front).
I think, in hindsight, I should have just slowed down and MADE Shawn get out his camera to capture our arrival pics! But no worries, he more than made up for it later with pics around the resort. And at some point during this report, I hope to be able to actually SHARE some of the 1,000 pics he took over the short trip!
So without further adieu, here are my pics of the walkway into the lovely Polynesian resort - some are really blurry - sorry!
(slightly better)
We walked in, turned to the right, and saw a whole bunch of CMs just standing around waiting to help people.
We went to the first lady who smiled at us, and she so cheerfully checked us in after a great big ALOHA!!!
I went ahead and decided to try and put a cash deposit down on our room, instead of a credit card, in hopes that it would keep us on a budget, so to speak.
I will let you know at the end of the trip, how doing that worked (or didnt work out) for us. The CM gave us kind of a strange look at first, but come to find out, she had never actually done that before. She had been there for 3 years, but it was new to her.
She actually complimented us on it, because she said she just got back from a trip (a cruise, I think) and wished she would have done cash down instead of a credit card, because she would have been more conscious of what she was spending .instead she got the insanely long printout at checkout time that made her stomach hurt! LOL!
After a short consultation with someone about how to process the cash, she gave us our handy-dandy little packet of info, our Keys to the World, a map of the resort, and a quick overlay of how to get to our longhouse
..TAHITI!!! Woo-hoo!
After we got leid yes, Shawn thought that was hilarious when I said it apparently we both find the humor equivalent to a junior high-school age boy to be hilarious when traveling alone at Disney World - we were on our way!
Not-so-hidden Mickey!
We exited out the doors to the right of the DVC stand right there and leisurely strolled through the amazing grounds of the Poly until we found Tahiti (we only got lost once .LOL).
(he looks stressed, but he was just trying to figure out which direction we should be going in....apparently we are directionally challenged....but by the end of the trip, we felt like we knew our way around fairly well!)
Just as we were getting to the doors, we saw these two little guys.
(We actually saw MANY of them, but just took a picture of these two .has anyone ever had one of those come into their ground level room? Ahhh I would freak out!
)
Here we are!!!
We paid for garden view, but there was that little glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, we got upgraded .but then again, she would have TOTALLY told us that at check-in, right? We got on the elevator to the 3rd floor (which was what I had requested YAY) and made our way down the hallway. After we were past the first few rooms, and could decipher the sequence of room numbers, we knew we would be on the left side of the hallway, so no upgrade for us. 
Oh well we were at the POLY!!!! I was so freakin excited!!! So now my hopes shifted to at least not a parking lot view!! 
We arrived at Room 3011 .hmmm would we like our room? Would it have a nice view?
(Continued in next post....told you I was slow....)
Sara
Part 3 - ALOHA!!!
As we pulled into the Magic Kingdom resorts, we were biting our nails as to who would get the privilege of being the first resort stop!!! (ok, well we werent biting our nails, but I was hoping ..) Well, the closer we got, the more confident I felt that it was indeed going to be us!!
Score, said Shawn! Again, Magical Express could not have been more magical! Joe pulled us up to the front, pointing out the Poly bus stop that we would need to go to get to the AK, DHS, and DTD, and soon after that we were getting off our chariot and passing under this sign:
Now you will have to excuse the next group of pictures, as I was walking as I took them. I dont know why I was hurrying, but looking back, I think I was kind of rushing us inside so we could get checked in as soon as possible for fear that a whole bunch of the people sitting behind us on the bus were also getting off here (I wasnt able to see how many people raised their hands for the Poly, since we were sitting up front).
I think, in hindsight, I should have just slowed down and MADE Shawn get out his camera to capture our arrival pics! But no worries, he more than made up for it later with pics around the resort. And at some point during this report, I hope to be able to actually SHARE some of the 1,000 pics he took over the short trip!
So without further adieu, here are my pics of the walkway into the lovely Polynesian resort - some are really blurry - sorry!
(slightly better)
We walked in, turned to the right, and saw a whole bunch of CMs just standing around waiting to help people.
We went to the first lady who smiled at us, and she so cheerfully checked us in after a great big ALOHA!!!
I went ahead and decided to try and put a cash deposit down on our room, instead of a credit card, in hopes that it would keep us on a budget, so to speak.
I will let you know at the end of the trip, how doing that worked (or didnt work out) for us. The CM gave us kind of a strange look at first, but come to find out, she had never actually done that before. She had been there for 3 years, but it was new to her. She actually complimented us on it, because she said she just got back from a trip (a cruise, I think) and wished she would have done cash down instead of a credit card, because she would have been more conscious of what she was spending .instead she got the insanely long printout at checkout time that made her stomach hurt! LOL!
After a short consultation with someone about how to process the cash, she gave us our handy-dandy little packet of info, our Keys to the World, a map of the resort, and a quick overlay of how to get to our longhouse
..TAHITI!!! Woo-hoo! After we got leid yes, Shawn thought that was hilarious when I said it apparently we both find the humor equivalent to a junior high-school age boy to be hilarious when traveling alone at Disney World - we were on our way!
Not-so-hidden Mickey!
We exited out the doors to the right of the DVC stand right there and leisurely strolled through the amazing grounds of the Poly until we found Tahiti (we only got lost once .LOL).
(he looks stressed, but he was just trying to figure out which direction we should be going in....apparently we are directionally challenged....but by the end of the trip, we felt like we knew our way around fairly well!)
Just as we were getting to the doors, we saw these two little guys.
(We actually saw MANY of them, but just took a picture of these two .has anyone ever had one of those come into their ground level room? Ahhh I would freak out!
)Here we are!!!
We paid for garden view, but there was that little glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, we got upgraded .but then again, she would have TOTALLY told us that at check-in, right?
We got on the elevator to the 3rd floor (which was what I had requested YAY) and made our way down the hallway. After we were past the first few rooms, and could decipher the sequence of room numbers, we knew we would be on the left side of the hallway, so no upgrade for us. Oh well we were at the POLY!!!! I was so freakin excited!!! So now my hopes shifted to at least not a parking lot view!! We arrived at Room 3011 .hmmm would we like our room? Would it have a nice view?
(Continued in next post....told you I was slow....)
Sara
But I immediately started to picture my family there to see how we would manage in that size room (conclusion very do-able
.just have to get used to the 1 bathroom thing). 
)
This time, the person who answered told me the order was on the way up to the room! Bonus! I sat down and started packing up my bag for the park. I attached my cute TGM May Vacation Club button and loaded up the bag with my park necessities. 
, then explore the Tree of Life up close, then head to the 6:00 FOTLK. 
. Too funny about the CM never having anyone put cash on the room card. I think lots of people just don't care how much they spend since they are on vacation. Glad it owrked for you. Your room is really nice and I love the view 
as well. As for the lizards, you know we had one in our bathroom on the 3rd floor right 
I am the one who wanted to go "on the cheap," so I was shocked when Shawn suggested the Poly! 
