*PICS!*The 'I-should-really-be-studying-for-finals' Trip Report! *NEW UPDATES*

[CinderellyCinderelly]

Thanks again for all the support about my aunt I decided to start finishing my TR and it would help me take my mind off of everything...here goes.

So after my dad came up to our adjoining (NOT connecting!) rooms, we headed down to the concierge lounge. So far, despite our room issue, everyone loved the Polynesian! My mom said she really liked it and my dad described it as “nice and comfortable at the same time” which he said is usually hard to find. Even the little brother said “it’s good” and would spend most of the time not at the parks on the beach in a hammock in front of our longhouse! Anyways, luckily there were snacks out in the lounge and my dad’s bad mood was quickly forgotten! We went back to our rooms to unpack and rest before our 9:15PM ADR @ ‘Ohana! I LOVED ‘Ohana when I was there in March of ’07 with my girlfriends on our spring break, so I decided to bring my family back there because they had never been. A few weeks before we left for the trip however, I read right here on the DIS that the potatoes were being replaced with noodles!!!! This made me pretty nervous considering how much I loved the potatoes and how much I hyped them up to my foodie family. As a vegetarian, though, I decided that this was a great alternative because now I didn’t have to order a separate vegetarian meal!

My little bro and I left our room at about 8:45 to explore the resort a little bit more and to hit up the gift shop before our dinner ressie. We checked in at about 9PM at the podium, and five minutes later just as my parents were coming up the stairs they buzzed us! Since we just found out about my aunt’s death early that morning, we were all kind of still in a sad mood (especially my dad). But I knew the magic had already started as soon as we were seated at our table – which was right next to the window right across from the castle, and I hoped it would lift my dad’s spirits a little bit.

Our waiter was cousin Chris, who took a loooong time before coming over to our table to take our drink order. He was very nice and pretty attentive after that, though. (Oh yeah and he was kind of cute!) My dad was about to order a Mai Tai but I convinced him to get a Lapu Lapu, which made him smile for the first time all day as soon as it arrived to the table! The bread pineapple flavored and was soft and warm. Soon after the bread came we got the salad and the wontons. I did not eat the wontons because they had pork in them, but the rest of my fam said they were pretty good. The salad was as good as I remembered, and my mom really liked the honey-lime dressing that is served with it. We then got the wings and my dad and brother liked those, but didn’t eat much because the noodles were quickly brought out after that. Now my dad is not a pasta person, which is funny because my mom is Italian so she cooks it quite often, but he LOVED these noodles! Then as we passed the bowl around and took our first bites all we could say was YUM! The stir fry veggies were broccoli and peapods and were also very tasty. The family said the meat was pretty good, though as you may have guessed…I didn’t have any!

The night ended with dessert just as Wishes was beginning. My family RAVED about the dessert, which was still the bread pudding that I remembered from the year before. Also for anyone trying to decide if they want to dine at ‘Ohana, my family said at the end of the vacation that it was one of their favorites and would want to go back for sure! I LOVE Wishes, and just in that moment, it felt REALLY magical, and I knew that this was just the vacation we needed right now...

Here are some pictures I took later in the week that I'll post here now. These are the views we had from the Hawaii Longhouse, and they are better than the pics I took on the first day we were there b/c it was kind of cloudy!

 

[Cinders Mum]

I am so sorry for the loss of your aunt.

Great first meal for you all, and I look forward to reading more, when you get the chance to post.

 

[Hedy]

Can't wait to hear more about the Poly!

 

[CinderellyCinderelly]

*the memory card from the 1st half of my trip is at home, so these pictures will all be added later. but I took a TON so please come back to check them out!*Thanks for your support *So on 3/22, we decided to do MK. We woke up and got there about an hour after opening (my parents were totally not into being there for rope drop!) and took the resort launch from the Poly to the MK. It was a little bit chilly and kind of cloudy, and we were the only people on the boat. How could this be? All of you DIS’ers warned me of the ridiculously unbearable Easter crowds! Once we passed through the gate we headed over to Adventureland, and walked on everything over there. We even had our own boat for POTC. My brother and I rode Splash Mountain with a 10 minute wait and BTMR with a twenty minute line! We then hit up all of the other main MK attractions with pretty average wait times – nothing longer than 30 minutes!

Unfortunately in Toontown, after going through Minnie’s house, the line was SOOOOOO long to meet her. I wanted to wait, but my parents said no!!!! So I just tried to take a picture while we were walking away. At this point two CM’s JUMPED in front of my camera and posed, blocking Minnie. I laughed and told them to please move because I was trying to take a picture of Minnie. The one CM started lecturing me about how that would be cheating because I am not waiting in line like everyone else! I said but I’m not in the picture with her, I just want to take it OF her! He still wouldn’t let me, so I just walked away.

We then headed back to the Poly via the monorail for a break in the concierge lounge and a nap before our 6:50PM ADR at Coral Reef. It was raining pretty hard when we left for Epcot, but when we got to the restaurant there was hardly anyone inside waiting. After our trip here last year I remembered the lobby as being super crowded with people waiting for their names to be called. This time there were a few families waiting around us, but it definitely was not packed like last year. The family next to us walked in and had what they said was a twenty minute wait. However, I overheard their conversation where the wife was mad at the husband for not making ADR’s because apparently they could not get any for the rest of their vacation and the CM at Coral Reef told them they wouldn’t be this lucky at other places with a walk up! Boy were my parents glad when they heard that! And they laughed at me for being so anal about our ADR’s!!

We were seated and our waitress, Patsy, came over pretty quickly. She was sweet with a southern accent and teased my shy brother, which made me laugh! I was sad I didn’t have the same cute waiter from last year, Brandon, but Patsy was awesome! I ordered the Great White smoothie, which was basically a virgin pina colada. My brother had the Pirate Punch, which he also enjoyed, and my parents each had a glass of wine. I ordered the tofu dish, which I was surprised to see on the menu since it was on on the one I read at AllEars. It was actually very delicious and I would definitely order it again. My mom and brother ordered the salmon, which they loved, and my dad really enjoyed the catfish. After the meal Patsy recommended that since we are on the DDP it would make sense to each order one of the desserts so that we could try all four. They were all very good!

Back to the Poly we went after watching Illuminations with a really good view! (We were next to that store by where WS ends and you’re walking towards the main entrance) My parents were happy to return to the Poly and again commented on how they liked the relaxed feel of the resort. Before bed I reminded my parents that we had a 7:30AM –“WHAT?!?!?!?!?!” – reservation for Kona so that we could get to the parks early. Would they get up?

 

[xominnieox2]

Great TR! Can't wait for more!

 

[LaurenMic]

Love your report so far! I started writing a TR myself, it is a great way to procrastinate!

So how much do you LOVE the Poly? It's the best, I can't wait to stay there again someday.

Can't wait for more, keep writing!

 

[CinderellyCinderelly]

Well Friday is my day off so I decided to keep on writing...I REALLY want to get to the Animal Kingdom/DHS day so I can upload some pictures! (That is where my memory card - that I actually have - starts off) Here goes...

So on Easter morning, the family woke up and agreed to indeed make it to our 7:30AM ADR, on the condition that we could return to the room to nap before hitting up the parks. (Oh joy…no Tonga Toast and no Easter crowds? OR Tonga Toast and Easter crowds?!) I agreed. I wanted to try this Tonga Toast everyone raves about!! We headed over to Kona and were the first people there, LOL! They let us in to be seated and a few other families trickled in after us. Some passersby thought it looked good and tried to get a table, but we head the manager telling the CM at the podium not to give tables to walk-ups until people are late for their reservations! (And by the time we left, it was packed, so I’m guessing all of those people showed up!)

I order some smoothie that I forget about now that it has been so long, but it was delicious! I skipped on the press pot because I figured if we were going to go back and nap then I didn’t want to be wide awake! My mom and brother got your average breakfast foods and said they were good, but dad got the (I think this is what it is called but I am too lazy to go on Allears right now and look) Big Kahuna. Dad is a big eater (and usually I yell at him for it!) but I let him eat this with no trouble – it was Easter, he was sad, and he WAS paying for this vacation, LOL. He really enjoyed it and we were all happy. I thought I could eat all of my Tonga Toast since I was so hungry, but I stopped with about 5 bites left, ha. Our waitress was Nikola and she was awesome! She was very attentive and sweet despite the large crowds that came in after we ordered.

So we went back to the room for a nap, and my little bro opted to take his name on the hammock right on the beach in front of our longhouse, Hawaii. I started to feel sick from trying to finish my delicious TT, so I stayed in the room and tried to feel better. A few hours later we were up and ready to head over to Epcot!

So at Epcot we met up with my little brothers friend and his parents. Which meant my little brother was instantly too cool for big sis, and the two kiddos didn’t want to hang with the parents either. So all of the parents went off, and the two boys were allowed to go off on their own for like an hour at a time before checking in, and that left me to wander on my own. I was kind of upset that my parents just wanted to sit there, but they kept saying things like “well you are SO into this, we would ruin your fun” or “we don’t care about this stuff like you do, it’s fine. We’ll meet you back here.” So then I kind of got mad, it almost felt like they were making fun of me. So I happily went off on my own and checked out the WS.

I LOVE the WS! Over in Mexico there was the CUTEST painted wooden doggy that looked exactly like my dog (well, my dog isn’t bright pink, but you get what I mean – I hope!) Except some kid dropped it and then it cracked, and she said they weren’t making anymore! Sad. I headed over to Germany where I got myself a pretzel (I LOVE THOSE THINGS!) and tried to speak German to the woman at the cart. See, I took German for about 5 years, all of high school and my first year here at college. I then decided that I would probably never ever use German again in my life, so I switched to Spanish (which BTW is SO MUCH harder than German!). Anyways, last year when I went with my friends we went into one of the stores in the Germany pavilion and bought some candy. I attempted to chat with the girl at the counter and she was a real sweetheart. I don’t remember much of my German (which makes me sad) but she helped me remember what I was trying to say and thought it was awesome that I was trying to talk to her in her language! This year, NOT so much. I said “Guten tag!” to the girl at the pretzel stand and she rolled her eyes at me! OK, I was done, I wasn’t even going to try. Then when I left I said “DANKE!” just for fun. I’m sure she hears people trying to speak German and be cute about it all day, HA!

Anyways, I met back up with all of the parents and we were ready for our late lunch. I told them I wanted to eat at Sunshine Seasons since I had heard so much about it and knew there were a few vegetarian options. My dad proceeded to tell my brother’s friends dad that I was “running a prison” and so they “had to go where I say” or else I “will get crabby.” Ughhhh. Were they trying to make fun of me or just poke fun at me? I don’t know but it ticked me off for some reason, but I didn’t say anything. We headed into the Land and I got a vegetarian Cuban sandwich, which was AWESOME! I also got the most amazing strawberry cake EVER, and devoured the whole thing. I found a table and waited for my family to figure out how to use their DDP that they claimed they knew how to use (after I nagged them about it and told them how and what to order the day before). So they come over to my table, and my big eater dad has like, 3, bags of chips and proudly told me that he “used the snack credits for them!” and they “were just $1.99!” I tried to explain that that is NOT what you should do, but he said “I’m not trying to pinch pennies on my vacation, relax.” It kind of made me mad that he wanted to do the DDP but he defeated the whole purpose. He would order like 2 lunches everyday because he didn’t know what he wanted, etc. I was in a bad mood, officially.

My parents wanted to see the first show for the Flower Power concert series, so my brother and I headed to Club Cool for some Beverly (haha) and Mouse Gears to pick up some souvenirs. I remembered how nasty the Beverly was, but I decided to play a trick on my brother. I told him that it was THE BEST ONE! And that he had to try it. So he was a little suspicious until a stranger came over to help me out. This kid was probably 17 and caught on to what I was doing, so he tried to help me out. He took a big gulp of Beverly and said how yummy it was, so my brother took a sip. HAHAHHAA! After I got a good laugh out of my brother’s face when he tasted it, the kid exclaimed how disgusting that stuff was LOL! I did feel bad though because an older woman must have caught part of the conversation where I said the Beverly was good – and she tasted it! I felt bad.

Anyways, we finished our day at Epcot and went to the WL. My dad was angry that we had to take the bus over there and didn’t like how long the wait was. I love my dad more than life, but he is SOOOO impatient that it drives me nuts! He wanted to take a cab EVERYWHERE, and insisted on having a rental car the entire trip even though we only needed it for one day. But we made it to the WL via bus and headed over to WCC. I warned my family about the interaction and was worried that we weren’t in the mood for this since everyone was starting to get crabby. OTOH I thought maybe it would lift our spirits. Well, we were seated ALLLLLLLL THE WAY IN THE BACKKKKK and had a pretty bad waitress, Becky. She wasn’t around at all and she reeked of cigarette smoke. She was really a nice girl, just not a good waitress. The tables around us with other servers were having fun, even though we were all away from the main dining room. Besides that, our food was pretty bad. My mom and I ordered the veggie enchilada and it was gross. It wouldn’t have been so bad had it not been soggy with that AWFUL BBQ sauce! My dad enjoyed his skillet, but he was the only one. My little bro didn’t really care for his peel and eat shrimp (prob cuz the spoiled brat had to actually peel it himself! Ha ha) But the dessert was awesome! I got the banana cinnamon thing and it was absolutely delicious. I probably wouldn’t eat there again though…

We then met up with the other family again at MK for EMH and it was awesome! My dad was sooo mad that we ACTUALLY wanted to stay until 3AM, since I was “making” us get up early again the next day! We compromised and stayed until about 1:30, and it was actually enough time to do everything we wanted. It was funny though because my dad would try to convince us that anything longer than 30 minutes wasn’t worth it, and would say “LET’S BAG THIS!” if it was anything longer than that! We all overruled him though and made him wait a ½ an hour for Peter Pan! Then he said that since it had no wait, we could go on “It’s a Mad, Mad World.” No he was NOT joking. Maybe he was way too tired, or maybe he SERIOUSLY thought that is what it is called, but he said it. We all just about DIED laughing because really it is a pretty mad world when you sit there and get stuck in the boats all night! Then we headed back to the hotel and fell right asleep.

 

[CinderellyCinderelly]

So how much do you LOVE the Poly? It's the best, I can't wait to stay there again someday.

Can't wait for more, keep writing!

Thanks! And OMG I ABSOLUTELY LOVED the Poly! It was awesome! My parents liked it too because they said it was upscale but relaxed, not like GF and YC where a lot of times the people there act stuffy. I would definitely go back to the Poly but I really, really, really want to try AKL!

 

[TDISFAMILY]

Great TR so far can't wait to read more

 

[sandym718]

Loving your report so far!!! We fell in love with the Poly in '07 and are returning in '09, loved seeing your pics!!

 

[CinderellyCinderelly]

So on the 24th, I made the family get up early so we could make rope drop at AK. We got up early, but didn’t make it for rope drop.

When we went in and walked straight over to Asia to ride Everest!

My mom and dad sat this one out but my little brother and I got in the 20 minute line and probably only waited about 15 minutes before we got on. This ride is awesome! Mom got some coffee and we met up with them after the ride and headed over to Kilimanjaro Safari! I loooooooove this! Before we got on we grabbed some FP to ride again later. Our first ride was probably the best one I’ve ever done, and we saw SO many animals!

The lions were GOREGOUS, and after the male walked over to the edge of the big rock the female joined him and they kind of nuzzled while his mane blew in the breeze. It was sooo cool.

Unfortunately, we had to leave the spot rather quickly because this white rhino was about to eat us!!

The second ride was not as good, hardly saw any animals even though it was just about an hour later. We decided to do the train and go to the building where you can watch the veterinarian’s do their work and ask them questions. My dad was soooo crabby and did NOT want to do this! We told him to go find a bench, so he literally sat on a bench and fell asleep sitting up – it was hilarious! When we found him he was doing one of those dozing off but trying to keep your head up things…you know what I mean? Like on the Pepsi commercials! I always find myself doing that on the airplane, LOL! Anyways, when we came back on the train my dad said, “should I warn these people and tell them to stay back!?” My mom and I didn’t think it was funny, because we really enjoyed the interactive Q&A with the vet and thought it was pretty interesting.

After that we headed over to Dinosaur and hopped into the 40 minute line because the FP time was already about an hour before our dinner reservation, so that wouldn’t work. My dad decided to sit this one out b/c he did not want to wait in line, but ended up finding us right before we entered the inside building and asked if he could jump back in line. The nice family behind us let him join us and we all rode together, but he didn’t really like the ride. My mom said it was her favorite of the whole trip LOL! We tried to look for some lunch but the lines were CRAZY and only a few places have vegetarian options, grrrr! So we headed back to the Poly and grabbed some lunch at Capt. Cook’s. My mom was obsessed with the noodles there, and I got the “grown up” grilled cheese which was yummy.

 

[CinderellyCinderelly]

We headed back to the hotel for a quick nap, shower, and then we were off to Jiko. We were running late so we decided to hop in a cab outside the Poly, so dad was happy about that – no waits!! We got to AKL and looked around a little bit before we checked in. AKL is beautiful! My dad LOVED it and said next time we go to Disney (YAY! THERE IS GOING TO BE A NEXT TIME!) he wants to try staying there!

So after looking a Jiko’s menu on-line, I didn’t know what to order. We got there and I saw the tofu on the menu but for some reason I just wasn’t in the mood for tofu. Luckily our wonderful waitress Janet let me kind of make my own entrée that counted for the DDP of the tamales appetizer and macaroni and cheese! That mac&cheese is AWESOME, and so are the tamales! Nooo idea what my mom and dad and brother got, I was too obsessed with my own food, hehe. They did each have a glass of some South African sauvignon blanc that had a little bit of grapefruit flavor to it. My parents liked the Janet didn’t just automatically recommend the most expensive wine on the menu, but actually tried to help them find something they liked that would also taste good paired with their food. My dad would shoot me if he ever saw me even SMELLING alcohol (AND I’M GOING TO BE 21 IN LESS THAN 3 MONTHS!) but my mama let me have a sip when he got up to go to the bathroom (DON’T TELL!) and it was reallllly good wine! Or maybe it just tasted good compared to the boxed wine my friends and I –umm, I mean, just my 21 year old friends- drink here at college! Desserts were awesome, too. The lavender ice cream that comes with the cheesecake is absolutely delish! We had all of the desserts besides for the lemon curd, and they were all tasty.

After dinner we headed over to DHS to catch Fantasmic, and my brother and I rode ToT!

Both lines were CRAZY. My dad thought I was kidding when I said you need to line up AT LEAST 45 minutes before the show. So at about 8:20 he said we should go “stand in the back” of the first show. I tried to tell him it would be full but for some reason he didn’t believe me, grrrrrr. So we got over there and guess what? IT WAS FILLED!! So we waited until the last show and got in this huge line!

When we got in my dad walked alllllll the way over to the right to get a seat so we could get out quickly. After the show we went back to the hotel and got a good night’s sleep for tomorrow’s non-Disney adventure!

 

[godfrey]

"They did each have a glass of some South African sauvignon blanc that had a little bit of grapefruit flavor to it. "

Glad you liked the South African wine, that's where I am. I live quite close to the main wine-growing area.

BTW, I'll be at WDW end August

 

[2ScottishPrincesses]

Coming out of lurkdom to say I'm realy enjoying your TR, we're thinking of staying 7nts BC & 7nts Poly next year so any tips you can think of would be greatly appreciated

 

[xominnieox2]

Great update! The wine sounds delicious (but I'm only 13 so I've a while to wait be for I can have any )! Can't wait for more!

 

[CinderellyCinderelly]

Coming out of lurkdom to say I'm realy enjoying your TR, we're thinking of staying 7nts BC & 7nts Poly next year so any tips you can think of would be greatly appreciated

Thanks! Did you have any specific questions? Just let me know and I will try to answer them! We did YC in '04 which is right next to BC, and it is a nice resort. I also love being in the MK area so I am jealous that you are doing a split stay!!

 

[John's Mom]

Just found your TR and am really enjoying it. My DH and I will staying at the Poly CL LV in December. I am going to request a third floor room. What was your room number?

 

[CinderellyCinderelly]

Just found your TR and am really enjoying it. My DH and I will staying at the Poly CL LV in December. I am going to request a third floor room. What was your room number?

Our rooms were actually on the 2nd floor and they were 2707 (I think) and 2708. It was awesome because it was on the same floor of the concierge lounge, and even though we didn't have a balcony it was amazing! I miss it - you will have SO much fun!

 

[CinderellyCinderelly]

OK, It's been awhile. I've been busy with school and religiously watching American Idol! Finally though, I got a hold of my first memory card with pics from the first half of the trip so I can update those earlier posts ASAP! Also, here are my photos from the last day. It was a long, busy, crabby, day. My dad refused to let me take my little brother to MK for EMH at night b/c it "wasn't safe" and started yelling at me when I reminded him that I am almost 21 years old and my brother is 11!!! So I escaped and went by myself!! Anyways, the rest of the day was somewhat drama free before that, so here are the pics.

]

 

[CinderellyCinderelly]