Party at the Poly-Our first trip report-LAST ENTRY-5-21-07-page 4

[lklasing]

Thanks, everyone, for reading and responding!

Great TR! I am planning an anniversary trip for DH and I at the Poly and was contemplating whether or not I should go concierge but reading your report I think Ive already made up my mind. Breakfast, dessert and wine before bedtime what more could a girl want?

You got that right! A lot of people want to know whether paying to go concierge is "worth it" and it all depends on how you define worth. We have never eaten dinner in the lounge, though I did get to see it one night and it looked great. Clearly since we don't do dinner there we're probably not getting a dollar-for-dollar value out of it, but having perks like a spot to go in our own building to stretch out, grab a snack, let the kids relax in front of the tube for a few minutes without having to subject everyone to it, and, like you picked up on, having a late night cocktail and dessert makes it totally worth it for us! We also do most breakfasts there too and that part saves money. (Granted, I don't do pasteries or really anything in there for breakfast for me so I do take out from CC's, but the girls love the offerings in there for breakfast.

Great report!!! We are going to be staying at WLV in September..glad to her your brother and family enjoyed their stay there.

AWESOME pixie dust!!! That family was very luck to run into you! You were your very own Dream Team!!

Cannot wait to read more!

Wow, you're so lucky to get that boat ride and the fastpasses!! I'm jealous! Can't wait to hear more about your trip!

Great TR so far! Your DD's are too cute!

Can't wait for more!

Thanks! Y'all are all so sweet! We really had a good time getting to share our fun! We had a few more chances while we were there, which should be in an installment in the next few days.

BTW - does anyone know how to change the title of this thread? I was going to do that when I posted a new entry, but can't figure out how! Thanks!!

Leslie

 

[soxnation]

i have done 3 parks in one day family tradition well crazy family tradition!!
loving your report can not wait to hear more

 

[thptrek]

To change the title go to your first post and click on edit. Then when the edit panel comes up, click on the advanced button. From there you can edit the title.

 

[pierresgirl]

Great report so far, can't wait for more! You guys were SO lucky with the 2 dreams!!

 

[happybratpack]

Super report, can't wait to read more!!

 

[Cory's Gal]

Enjoying your TR!! Two dreams in one day, WOW!!!! It was so nice of you to share what was left too!! What a great example for your girls!! They are adorbale, can't wait to hear more!!!!

 

[lklasing]

Thanks for your sweet words, everyone! And thanks, thptrek, for telling me how to change the title - i couldn't figure it out for anything. Anyway, on with the report:

Day Three – Friday, May 4 – Once again we awoke to a pretty early wakeup call – I think Ray caught it this time. After a big breakfast at Captain Cook’s, we headed to the bus stop and quickly caught a bus for the AK.

We arrived at the AK right on time (for me at least – definitely a little early for Ray given that it didn’t open for about 30 more minutes ), but we were able to sit and relax for a minute and, of course, get all juiced up with sunscreen.

Once inside, Ray and the girls headed to DinoLand, while I dashed off to get FPs for EE. FPs in hand, I caught up with the gang just as they were starting to ride Primevial Whirl – heaven forbid, they talked Ray into going on it!

I warned him to keep his head back on the headrest, with the hope of avoiding whiplash and off they went. A minute later they were done, and it looked like Ray could have used a little more time between eggs and sausage and that ride! The girls wanted to ride again, so I took off with them this time.

Next, Danielle and Ray wanted to ride Dinosaur, but Jodi had no interest at all, so we split. Jodi enjoyed the Boneyard, even though I think she worried she was a little old for it.

After a run-in with T-Rex,

(I told you that darn hat covers too much of Jodi's face!), we were off to tackle Everest. Jodi had been on the fence about whether or not to ride this one for the entire trip, but after a long conversation with a very sweet CM working EE, she decided to give it a shot. Both Jodi and Danielle rode the entire ride with their eyes covered, but everyone survived and everyone loved it! That is, everyone except maybe Ray, whose breakfast had still barely settled after Primevial Whirl, but he thought it was great too. Jodi even wanted to ride again, but the standby line was longer than I was into, and I was afraid Ray might actually get sick if we made him do another exciting ride so early in the morning.

After yet another snack of drinks and ice cream , we headed to a ride none of us had ever ridden before but all were excited about: Kali River Rapids! The line was not too bad and we really enjoyed the part of the wait when we happened to run into Earl, Leigh and Evan coming off the ride, soaked to the bone. The ride itself was great. We were sharing a raft with a fun assortment of people, including two teenaged boys. We knew we were in trouble when we were unknowingly headed for the big drop and one of the boys saw what was coming and said, “Oh Snap!” Next thing we knew we were drenched.

After KRR, we decided we’d head over to MGM. We had done most of the rest of AK on a previous trip and while we would have loved to do Safari again, no one wanted to wait the 30 minutes Leigh told me was the stand-by time. (We had gotten way too spoiled the day before with our Dream FPs! ) So we headed off to the busses and started to wait for the MGM bus. And wait. And wait. And wait. We must have been waiting for 40 minutes or more. I don’t know if that’s usual or if we were just unlucky, but it sure got tiresome. Regardless, we finally made it to MGM, where we grabbed a FP for Tower of Terror and then caught the live performance of High School Musical, much to Jodi’s delight. We were starving by then, but didn’t have ADRs anywhere since I hadn’t planned for us to be at MGM that day. I managed to get us into 50’s PT Café, which was fun, but not as fun as I had hoped. I think it must be totally dependent on who you have as a server as to whether you get excessively picked on or not. Regardless, the food was good and we were glad to have a cool place to sit and eat.

Next, we headed to Star Tours, as Jodi is a HUGE Star Wars fan.

After the ride, we of course landed in the gift shop but sadly, Jodi had spent virtually all her money. But her sweet sister (who still had lots of her money left) decided to get her a couple of figurines, which went over very well.

Then, back to Tower of Terror which we all rode, but which Ray and Jodi were not too fond of. Since the wait for Rock’N’Roller Coaster was too long (50 minutes), we decided it was finally time for a swim and headed back to the Poly.

After a relaxing dip, it was time for our sitter from Kids Night Out to arrive. Leigh and I had decided back when we originally booked the trip that we would get a sitter one night for our girls plus Evan and have fun in Epcot with just Ray, Earl, Leigh and me. When I booked it, I requested a college-age sitter and was told they would do their best to get us one, but that they couldn’t promise anything. I understood that, but was still surprised when our grandmother-age sitter arrived. Let me first say that she was very kind, obviously very competent and very qualified, but she definitely was not the sitter my girls were hoping for. My impression was also that while she loved taking care of smaller children, she wasn’t too fond of ‘tweens. Nevertheless, we were very comfortable with her taking care of the three kids and the four of us took off toward Epcot.

When we first arrived, I had planned to go grab FPs for Soarin’, as this was Earl and Leigh’s only chance to ride it, but they were out for the day and it was a 90 minute wait. So instead, we just headed straight toward our main destination – Wine! We had a glass in Germany, a flight in Italy (Ray and Earl were particularly impressed by the 20-something babe working in Italy ), another glass in France (Ray and Earl only), and then we stumbled toward Canada just in time for our ADR at Le Cellier. After some work by me, we were seated at one of the 2 full booth tables in the restaurant. Yay – we love booths! Anyway, dinner was absolutely to die for. Lots of steaks, mushrooms, potatoes, etc. Everything was great except we weren’t too fond of the asparagus side, as it was a plate of big (I mean BIG) asparagus, and we apparently are a group of tiny asparagus lovers. After one last glass of wine, we decided that Soarin’ was more important to our group than Illuminations, so we did that with only about a 20 minute wait. The funniest thing, though, happened while we were walking to Soarin’. I’m tall and a fast walker and so is my brother, so Earl and I took off. Ray, while tall, is not a fast walker and Leigh is a good bit shorter than all of us, so they lagged behind. Apparently, the whole way there, Leigh was complaining to Ray about how fast Earl and I were going and why we were going so far. Come to figure out later that she thought Soarin’ was in Canada and Earl and I were just being mean in making her walk so much! (I’d say her confusion was because of all the wine, but I think she was just genuinely confused!) Regardless, we eventually made it there and everyone enjoyed the ride. Somehow, we managed to all stay awake on the monorail ride home, relieved the sitter (and, in their minds at least, rescued the girls from the sitter) and said good night to Earl and his family. I made everyone go right to bed because (1) we were exhausted after having done all the parks except MK in one day, which is totally NOT our style and (2) we had yet another early morning the next day, starting with 8:10 ADRs at CRT!


Next up: Princesses and more magic to share!

 

[kdzbear]

I love your trip report. You and your family take such great pictures! I can't wait to hear more!

 

[ObsessedwithWDW]

Subscribing CUTE FAMILY!!!!! And we are booking the Poly soon so I am eager to hear all about it!

 

[lklasing]

I love your trip report. You and your family take such great pictures! I can't wait to hear more!

Subscribing CUTE FAMILY!!!!! And we are booking the Poly soon so I am eager to hear all about it!

Thanks, guys! I had fun taking pictures this trip more than I usually do. Even though there is always so much to do, it was easier this trip since it was the girls' third time and I was not feeling like I had to show them everything. I could just enjoy being there with them and taking their picture! Danielle actually tired of me and my camera by the end of the trip, but she knows the rule - if mom's taking me to Disney, I have to let her take my picture!

Leslie

 

[donnajean17]

Subscribing!! Love reading about your adventures!

 

[disneyfan67]

So far, so good! Excellent trip report and you have done a good job of taking pictures. I'm looking forward to the next installment. I hope you took some "Hanging around the Poly" pictures and had a chance to relax in that beatiful resort and the volcano pool.. Keep the report comming.

 

[Dicecatt]

I'm really enjoying your report...I love giving stuff like Fast passes away...not that I've gotten a dream fast pass but I sort of know how you felt!

One thing I want to know...how on earth did it happen that one of your girls bought the other souvenirs because she was out of money? I'm not sure my kids would ever do that (actually, they all buy things for the little one but are wretched to each other!)

Sounds like you had an amazing trip, it makes me long for September and the Poly! And you described Concierge very well...so many people ask "is it worth it" but you can't really answer that question because it is very subjective. Kind of like the view

 

[lklasing]

Subscribing!! Love reading about your adventures!

Thanks! Glad you found us!

So far, so good! Excellent trip report and you have done a good job of taking pictures. I'm looking forward to the next installment. I hope you took some "Hanging around the Poly" pictures and had a chance to relax in that beatiful resort and the volcano pool.. Keep the report comming.

Oh, I hate to say it but I really didn't. I did take a couple more pics in the lounge that I haven't posted. I have them at work and will get them posted tomorrow.

I'm really enjoying your report...I love giving stuff like Fast passes away...not that I've gotten a dream fast pass but I sort of know how you felt!

One thing I want to know...how on earth did it happen that one of your girls bought the other souvenirs because she was out of money? I'm not sure my kids would ever do that (actually, they all buy things for the little one but are wretched to each other!)

Sounds like you had an amazing trip, it makes me long for September and the Poly! And you described Concierge very well...so many people ask "is it worth it" but you can't really answer that question because it is very subjective. Kind of like the view

Don't be deceived - my girls can act very poorly to each other at times, but most of the time do pretty well. Now at Disney, it's just somehow easy to behave better than at home - that's one of the billion reasons we love it there. They both are very sweet to the other, though, when they are worried that the sister won't get something they would otherwise want.

You're right about the concierge thing being so subjective. I actually had a travel agent try to talk me out of it before our first trip saying it would never be worth doing. Happily I knew what we like better than she did and booked it all on my own.

Thanks for reading!! I'll have the next installment up probably tomorrow.

 

[ADP]

lklasing

This is a great trip report. You shouldn't have blown your cover and told us this was your first trip report. I would have believed by reading so far that you were well experienced.

Thanks for the Poly concierge info. We are staying Poly CGV in July and any information or opinions are very appreciated.

 

[ctmomof4]

My family and I just got back a couple of weeks ago from The World, and we LOVED the California Grill. We had a 7:30 reservation and stayed for the 10:00 showing of the MK fireworks right outside on the balcony. What an amazing view!!!! It was spectacular to see Wishes from up that high. The food and service were outstanding, it was one of our most MAGICAL nights there. Runners up were Artist Point and Flying Fish. You have a beautiful family, keep the adventures coming!!!!!!

 

[lklasing]

I hope you took some "Hanging around the Poly" pictures and had a chance to relax in that beatiful resort and the volcano pool.. Keep the report comming.

Somehow, I really didn't do a good job of taking pictures around the Poly - rather silly given the number of pics I took in the parks, combined with the fact that hanging around the resort is really one of our favorite activities on our WDW trips! However, I did find a few more from the beach and the lounge from our California Grill night:

Jodi playing on the beach:

The girls writing in their journals in the lounge:

Ray and I enjoying our last glass of wine for the night:

Sorry I don't have any more Poly pics!

lklasing

This is a great trip report. You shouldn't have blown your cover and told us this was your first trip report. I would have believed by reading so far that you were well experienced.

Thanks for the Poly concierge info. We are staying Poly CGV in July and any information or opinions are very appreciated.

Thanks! You will really love Poly concierge! Have you made a request about which floor you want to be on? If you are on the first, like we were, I would try to avoid the room closest to the elevator - the patio would pretty much face the side of whichever building is next to Hawaii. We were in the second room from the elevator, though, and it was fine. I'm so jealous of you going in July!

My family and I just got back a couple of weeks ago from The World, and we LOVED the California Grill. We had a 7:30 reservation and stayed for the 10:00 showing of the MK fireworks right outside on the balcony. What an amazing view!!!! It was spectacular to see Wishes from up that high. The food and service were outstanding, it was one of our most MAGICAL nights there. Runners up were Artist Point and Flying Fish. You have a beautiful family, keep the adventures coming!!!!!!

Of all the restaurants we've been to at WDW over our several trips in the past few years, the only one that will now be a must-do for each trip is California Grill. We didn't even do the fireworks from there and it was fabulous! I definitely want to try Artist Point and Flying Fish next time. Thanks for reading!

Leslie

 

[Dicecatt]

Your girls are so completely cute, I love the dimples. They are lucky they inherited those from you!

My kids are actually a bit nicer to each other at Disney, but on my last trip I just had my twins with me...they argued about who got to sit next to me, who got to press the elevator button (they are 8, how is that still thrilling?) and who got to hold the restaurant buzzer. Drove me crazy! When they start bickering at Disney I get a slightly hysterical tone to my voice and say "you aren't being very magical!" I probably sound idiotic but how can anyone fight at Disney???

 

[lklasing]

Dicecatt - Thanks for your comments about the dimples! Obviously they run strong in our family - Earl and Evan have them even bigger than my girls and I do! (BTW - mine still argue over elevator buttons and they're 8 & 10! Oh well...)

 

[lklasing]

Day Four – Saturday, May 5 – This morning when the wake-up call came (Stitch is now getting a little tiring), we were all noticeably more tired than all previous days. We had done reasonably well getting to bed before too late, but we were still going to bed much later than we generally do at home but getting up close to our usual time. Regardless, we quickly got ready and grabbed the monorail back to the MK (still didn’t manage to get to ride in the front – one of the highlights of our last trip) for our breakfast with the princesses. Of course, this was originally supposed to be our big day at the MK, but fate had intervened (actually, the Dream Team) and we had done that on Thursday, which meant we still hadn’t been to Epcot. So, the plan now was to do breakfast and hustle over to Epcot – thank goodness for the dual monorails!

We arrived at the MK and were easily admitted – no one even asked for our name or ADR number to ensure we actually had a reservation. It was about 8:00 and the park didn’t open till 9:00, so it was almost deserted. It’s such a neat place to be when there’s so much room to walk and take pictures.

On our way to the castle, there were several groups of people taking pictures, and we did what we always try to do when we see that happening – we took pictures of them so they could have their whole group in a few pics. Then, we went straight to the castle and checked in for breakfast. Just as we were being directed to enter the castle to get the picture with Cinderella (which turned out great, by the way), a security guard stopped us. It actually scared me for a minute, though I knew we hadn’t done anything wrong. But, we weren’t in any trouble after all – somehow he had seen us offering to take other people’s pictures and as somewhat of a “reward” for our good behavior, gave us special “Where Dreams Come True” commemorative pins – one for us to keep and one for us to share with someone else.

It was really very neat to get. I had heard about them here on the Dis, but never expected to get one. I was worried that the girls would argue about who got to keep possession of the pin we kept, but somehow that never happened. I was just really honored to get it and proud that we had done something that someone else had thought worthy of such a neat gift!

Breakfast was wonderful, as always. The girls were both given “Wishing Stars” and magic wands. We all loved the stars, but the wands looked like they were going to give us trouble – all we had to carry things were the girls’ fanny packs and my Baggalini, and those wands weren’t going to fit into any of those. We’d have to figure out what to do about that. Interestingly, Jodi was much more impressed with the swords they were giving the boys, so she traded her wand in for a sword on our way out – very cute.

Picture in the lobby with Cinderella (not the one their professional photographer took, which turned out much better, but I like this one too):

Pictures during breakfast (for the first few pictures, I forgot how important it is to make sure to not have everyone standing in front of the windows or else it messes up the picture. Don’t forget when you go!)

If you’ve ever been to this breakfast, you know that everyone there is very sweet. But the funniest thing happened when we were with the Fairy Godmother. The girls were having any character autographs signed directly on their hats (we’ve already done the books twice and this was a fun change of pace). The Fairy Godmother started giving me advice about how to take care of the hats! Apparently, I need to get scotch guard so the ink won’t run, and if I ever wash them, I’m supposed to put them in the top shelf of the dishwasher! Now, the scotch guard advice was great as I never would have thought of that and I need to make sure and get some. The dishwasher thing I’m sure works, but I don’t plan to wash these hats – they’re fun souvenirs now. Very cute too – I’ll try to get a pic to post with all the autographs.

Breakfast was very quick, as I think it usually is when you have an early morning ADR. We would have been perfectly primed to be ready at the rope drop to dash off to whatever rides we wanted to hit first, except instead we were going to do the unthinkable: Leave! Yup, since we had done the MK twice already and Epcot was soooooo calling our names, we headed toward the front. But first, we found a cute family with a young girl dressed up like a princess waiting to go into the castle for breakfast and gave them the second “One to Give” pin. Once they determined that I was not some crazy woman trying to freak them out by approaching them while they minded their own business, they seemed very happy and appreciative.

Having the several opportunities that Disney gave us this trip to share the magic – first with sharing the remaining FPs and now with the pins – was really special to all of us. It’s odd approaching complete strangers who don’t know what you’re doing, but once they figure out you’re OK, it really brightens them as well as you. I was especially thrilled to get to share in that activity with my girls – they clearly loved it, as would become evident on our monorail trip to Epcot in just a few more minutes.

After giving the pin, we started heading toward the exit. Well, let’s call it the entrance as that’s what everyone else was using it for right at opening time. By the time we got to Casey’s, a wave of humanity hit us. Never have I felt so much like the proverbial salmon swimming upstream – we even had both guests and CMs telling us we were going the wrong way. But, we were all determined that we were doing the right thing to get on to Epcot, and we were right. But it sure did seem like a wasted opportunity to be there so early on a non-early entry day and be leaving while everyone else was getting there!

We grabbed the monorail heading to the TTC, sure that we’d get the front seat this time, but still no luck. The girls now feared we wouldn’t get to do one of our favorite rides – piloting the monorail – this trip. Oh well, can’t do everything and we certainly have already done more than our share! Once to the TTC, we catch the monorail to Epcot and end up sharing the cab (what do you call those things?) with a cute family with a young boy and girl. Danielle and Jodi had the idea to give those kids their wand and sword, which wasn’t solely altruistic as they had no desire to carry them around all day, but I thought it was nice that they wanted to share them with this family that had the right age and gender kids (and, thankfully, also had a big bag the dad was carrying that would easily hold the items). So, my girls shared and the brother and sister seemed very happy to receive something unexpected. I was very happy that my girls really seemed to be totally tuned in to the “Share the Magic” theme – it’s one we are trying to continue on even now at home.

Well, we finally made it to Epcot and made it through security – a much longer line than we had encountered at any of the other 3 parks. Don’t know if it was because we were there shortly after opening, or if they didn’t have enough guards, or just bad luck, but it was no big deal. Once we made it in, I took off to get FPs for Soarin’ (got ‘em – yay!) and then we all rode Test Track together. Jodi hadn’t liked it 2 years ago on our last trip but she really loved it this time. Next was M:S, but Ray and Jodi decided to sit this one out. So, even though I would have much rather stayed on the ground with them, off I go, blasting off into space with Danielle, determined not to get too scared or claustrophobic this time. And, amazingly, I did it! Don’t know how, don’t know if I could do it again, but somehow I didn’t get freaked out like I did last time.

Afterward, Danielle and I hooked up back up with Ray and Jodi and we all did Soarin’ with our FPs. It was wonderful as always, but this time we were lucky to be on the first row – it was fun to ride without seeing everyone’s feet in front of us! Afterward we caught Honey I Shrunk the Audience, which was fun but the Kodak commercial before it started got a little long…. Anyway, afterward, Ray and Jodi were about done for and decided to head back for a rest. Danielle and I did some gift shop shopping and then did something I had been wanting to do on this trip – took the boat to the Y/BC so I could check out SAB. I’ve thought about staying there for a future trip and wanted to see if it was worth giving up on our beloved Poly. Well, SAB was absolutely fabulous, but I don’t think I can give up the monorail, so I think we’ll keep staying put!

Once back at the Poly (thank goodness for cabs – much quicker than getting back to the front of Epcot and then riding the monorail), we hit the beach

and then the gift shop yet again – the girls still had money burning holes in their pockets. Finally, after another swim and clean up, we decided it was time to head to the AKL for dinner at Jiko. I had been so excited about eating there – the pictures I have seen are so pretty! But first we had to figure out how to get there. There is no direct route, of course, and we were kind of tired of the busses after Thursday’s long wait to get to MGM, so we decided to cheat and take a cab. What the heck, we’re burning so much money anyway that a cab wasn’t going to kill us. We were heading for the cab area coming out of the GCH when we stumbled on something I had been wanting to see since our last trip to the Poly – the torch lighting ceremony! It was really cool. They had the path blocked so no one would get flamed, but it was over quickly (too quickly). The girls really enjoyed it and we did too!

When we were about to get in the cab, the girls saw the fire dancer (is that what you call him?) and wanted to get their picture with him and he very sweetly obliged:

When Danielle asked him how he does what he does, especially the part where he puts the torch on his tongue and appears to catch it on fire , he said all it takes is lots of practice and lots of water. He was very cool.

The cab ride to AKL was quick and easy – much quicker and easier than Disney transportation, so well worth the money. AKL is absolutely gorgeous! The girls looked for animals while I checked in at Jiko, but I don’t think they saw any. Regardless, it’s a beautiful resort. I’d love to stay there except for the transportation – again, I’m just too spoiled at our ability to get to 2 different parks from the Poly without getting on a bus to go to a resort where you have to take a bus to get anywhere.

Jiko was great. Ray had the barbeque chicken flatbread for his appetizer and I think the braised short rib for his entrée, while I had the cheese plate to start and the jumbo scallops. It was all great, but I loved the cheese plate the most. The girls both got kid dinners (we were waaaaay out of dining credits by now) and they were both happy. Danielle got the PB&J, which came on very cute pink and purple bread (but apparently tasted like white, as she didn’t complain) and Jodi got the world’s biggest bowl of mac and cheese. It was all great. The desserts (‘smores and the puzzle thing) went over very well too.

On our way out, we ran into the nicest gentleman who was working the door. He very sweetly agreed to have his picture taken with the girls.

He even gave us a card with his email address. We haven’t done it yet, but I plan this weekend to send him an email and include the picture. He was very neat and the girls really enjoyed him.

After cabbing it back to the Poly, Ray hit the lounge and the girls hit the beach while I did the least fun part of any vacation: packed to go home. I HATE going home from any trip, especially this one. It had just been too much fun the whole way through! But, at least we had a late flight out the next day and would get to have most of another day to have fun, so I tried to fight off the depression for the moment. Around 9:45, Ray called me and I joined him and the girls on the beach, where they had secured one of those lovely hammocks and we all watched Wishes together. It was such a wonderful way to end yet another glorious Disney day.

Up next: But I don’t want to go home!