Poly, Princesses and Pixie Dust

[maiapapaya]

This is my first trip report and I think I’m going to do it a little differently than a lot of TR’s that I’ve read. For myself, reading a TR is an opportunity to glean info from someone else, learn from their mistakes, maybe pick up a good tip or two. So, in that vein, I’m not going to just do a rehash of our Disney adventure. I’m simply not convinced that people who don’t even know us really care about the minute details of our trip. So hopefully I will give a good recap with some useful info. If you have any questions along the road fire away!

The cast of characters in this little adventure include:
Me – former career gal working in orthopedics, now a full-time mom and aspiring writer
DH - a chemist by education now working as a control room shift supervisor at a nuclear generating facility
DD18 – DH’s daughter from his first marriage, following in her daddy’s footsteps studying chemistry at college
DD7 –spunky little pocket rocket
DD4 – princess through and through
DS (that’s sister, not son!)
BIL

 

[maiapapaya]

To be honest, the Polynesian wasn’t our first resort choice. We had initially scoped out the Wilderness Lodge, mainly because my DH loves the architecture. It is also pretty close to the MK and has a great pool for the kids. Fortunately at some point early in the planning process it occurred to us that we would have five in our room (and DS & BIL weren’t willing to take on any of our brood). At first we thought we would have to get a suite, then a friend who had recently returned from the Poly told me that the rooms there can accommodate five. I crunched the numbers and realized that, although Poly is generally more expensive than WL, it would be cheaper to get a regular room there than to stay in a suite at WL.

It took some convincing to get DS & BIL to shift resorts, but the promise of a tropical paradise directly on the monorail quickly changed their minds. So Poly was booked and we never looked back.

Somewhere along the way, DH, who initially was a WDW skeptic (he had had a not so fun trip with DD18 as a single dad when she was only 4) got the bug and insisted that we upgrade to MK view. Score! I will admit there was a bit of sticker shock for me as the accountant for this adventure, but who am I to mess with DH’s dream … he wanted to be able to watch the fireworks every night from his balcony. I upgraded the ressie and put in our room requests: third floor Tahiti, connecting with my DS. The week of our arrival we did online check-in.

After months and months of anticipation we finally rolled up to the Poly on October 24 on board a Magical Express bus.

Here is our first lesson. Do you know how our mothers used to tell us that we don’t always know what’s good for us? Well, mother was right. When we booked Polynesian, as I mentioned, we requested a third floor room in the Tahiti long house. Everyone raves about this location. There is a great view of the castle, a quiet beach and it’s close to the TTC. We were very disappointed at check-in when the CM informed us that we would be staying in Tuvalu. Tuvalu! Nobody wants to stay in Tuvalu! It’s small, and shoved off in the corner. Up until this point we were loving the online check-in. There was virtually no line and the CM had our package all made up and waiting for us. Now I was regretting this decision. It seemed much harder to argue about room assignment when the key cards were already made.

Not being one to stir the pot I begrudgingly accepted our fate and quipped that maybe we could at least enjoy the music from the luau. Now I’m wondering if the CM was secretly smiling and thinking “don’t worry lady, we did you a favour” and he would have been right. Now I think that no one talks about staying in Tuvalu because those that have are trying to keep it a secret.

We are so glad this was our long house (sorry Tahiti!). The location was (almost) perfect. Tuvalu sits right on the water, with no lawn or beach between the building and the lagoon. From our third floor balcony it felt like we were right over the water. We had a stunning view of the Grand Floridian to our left and the boat dock to the right. Straight on was the castle. We really felt like we were in the heart of the Seven Seas Lagoon area and we quickly came to love the sounds that drifted up to our room, the boat horns, the train whistle from the MK, the drums from the luau, the Electric Water Pageant …

We were quite close to the GCH and volcano pool. I have heard people complain that in order to get to these locations you have to walk around the marina from Tuvalu. I didn’t mind this at all. It was always a pleasant walk. We did, however, find the walk to the TTC a bit of a hike, especially for our kids.

I have seen reports with people complaining that their Poly long house was dated and not so clean. This was definitely not the case with Tuvalu. It had the traditional Poly décor, but it seemed like it had been redone fairly recently. The room, especially the bathroom was spotlessly clean.

The kids got towel animals the first day, but none for the rest of the week. The mousekeeper did take the time though to do different little poses with the kids’ stuffed toys each day. And our room was always done by noon.

If my words haven't convinced you, here's some pictures from beautiful Tuvalu.

Lessons learned:
Online check-in was worth it for us (despite our moment of doubt)
Sometimes not getting your requests turns out to be a blessing in disguise.
And it's sometimes better to take the road less travelled.

I will cover the pool, GCH, restaurants, etc in another post.

 

[maiapapaya]

If you've ever wandered the grounds of the Poly you will know that they are lush with beautiful tropical gardens, the buildings tucked behind bamboo and bursts of vibrant floral colours. The atmosphere there truly makes you take a deep breath and relax. I get now why there are so many die hard Poly fans. Staying at this resort is a vacation in of itself.

And this leads me to lesson number two. If you are staying at a beautiful resort like the Poly MAKE THE TIME to enjoy your resort! This was probably our biggest regret. Being our youngest kids' first trip to Disney we had a full schedule for the week. Even though we tried to plan for down time at the Poly it didn't work out to be as plentiful as we had hoped. There is so much to do there and it is so stunning we could have skipped the parks and still had a fantastic holiday.

Of the two pools we did only enjoy the volcano pool. It is zero entry and the deepest area is only about 4'. It was perfect for the kids. The water slide made it great for the big kids too, although for the last two days of our stay the slide was down for repairs. What makes this pool even better is that while you are taking a dip you never lose sight of the Disney magic since the castle is in perfect view off in the distance. While we never got around to doing it, I've heard that watching the fireworks from the volcano pool can be a wonderful nightime experience.

DS and BIL did venture over to the "quiet pool." It is more removed from the centralized location of the GCH and is, I suppose, thought to be less of an attraction for the younger patrons, hence the name. However, my DS reported that it was anything but quiet and the it was not as warm as the volcano pool.

While the shores of the Poly are lined with pristine white beaches the kids never ventured over for to play in the sand (note to self: don't bother packing the pail and shovels next time). We live near the beach and they just didn't see the attraction of playing in the sand if they couldn't drag buckets of water out of the lagoon to make sand castles. If you haven't heard, there is no swimming in the lagoon. I have read it is because of snakes and I have read it is because of some sort of nasty micro-organism. What ever the reason, my kids had been warned to stay out of the lagoon. What amazed me is that despite the clearly posted signs there were kids who were thigh deep in the murky Seven Seas water.

Lesson learned:
Plan for time to enjoy our resort and stick to it!
Avoid packing extra stuff that the kids might use. Next time I'll leave the pails at home and if it becomes an issue I will deal with it then.

 

[BreezysMom]

I'm here... I can't wait to read more

 

[maiapapaya]

I'm here... I can't wait to read more

Hey! Welcome! I'm still puttering around but should be off to bed. I look forward to your new TR too!

 

[maiapapaya]

Top Ten Poly-must-do's:
1. watch the fireworks from the beach
2. take in the torch-lighting ceremony

3. rent a sea racer

4. walk through the gardens
5. attend the beach campfire and movie
6. take the boat to or from the MK

7. watch the Electric Water Pageant

8. hula lessons in the lobby
9. try a lapu lapu, or two if you're brave
10. indulge in a dole whip, or three

Poly shouldda-done's:
1. rent a surrey bike
2. take part in the beach games
3. attend the luau
4. indulge in club-level
5. stayed longer!

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

I'm on board and am looking forward to your TR. I love the format!!

 

[rpbear]

Wondful TR. I am hooked and looking forward to reading more.

 

[maiapapaya]

Welcome Gianna'sPapa and rpbear! And thanks for the positive feedback. This is my first TR, so it's nice to know that someone might find it interesting/useful. Doing this is helping me deal with my Poly withdrawl.

 

[tarak]

Lesson learned:
Plan for time to enjoy our resort and stick to it!

This is so, so true. Our trip in 2008 to the WL was so packed with ADRs and park time, we didn't have any time to enjoy the resort. I took my mom and daughters to AKL a month ago and made sure we spent plenty of time at the resort and the difference in how much we enjoyed the trip was like night and day. I swear, I'm at the point where I don't care how much time we spend at the parks next year. We're also going with my sister and BIL and as long as there is a tiki bar nearby, they're happy to stay at the Poly!

 

[maiapapaya]

I will stop my obsessing now about our resort and get to the real reason why we were at WDW. For us the Magic Kingdom is the main attraction. After all, when you think Disney the first thing that comes to mind is the castle. The Magic Kingdom is the heart of Disney.

As soon as we checked out our rooms we jumped on the monorail and hit the Magic Kingdom.

Our first stop was city hall where we picked up DH's birthday gift card and DD4's guest accomodation card. She is hard of hearing and it had been recommended to us to get her a card so that she could be seated up front in the live shows (so she can see the performers' faces). The CM's were extremely friendly and helpful in this regard.

Next we hit the streets and it was a sight to behold. The park was all decked out for the season with pumpkins and scarecrows and other Halloweeny things. Fall is my favorite time of the year, so this was a special treat for me.

Over the next eight days we hit the MK at least five times. This was the beauty of staying at a monorail resort and having purchased a parkhopper - seriously two of our best decisions with this trip. The kids LOVE the MK rides and it was so easy and convenient just to pop back for a few hours when the mood stuck us.

MK Faves:

Rides: Splash Mountain, BTMR, Goofy's Barnstormer

Show or Parade: Spectromagic - so beautiful!

Shopping: The Emporium

Snack Spot: The Main Street Bakery - yummy, yummy treats! What a great use for all those snack credits!

MK Disapointments:

Rides: Space Mountain - closed for refurb, total drag!

Foody Things: the counter service restaurants. They weren't bad, but they weren't great either. I'll post more later in my restaurant review


Most Magical Moments:

The look on DD4's face the first time she rode the Barnstormer. She had never been to an amusement park before and we were a little apprehensive with how she would react to the rides. We got her onto the Barnstormer and held our breath ... as the coaster dropped down the first hill and banked around the turn she erupted in laughter. Her face was filled with pure joy.

The transformation of DD7 from a timid, reluctant rider into a ride warrior. Before our trip she would only commit to riding BTMR and that is only because her friends had gone on it when they visited WDW (nothing like good 'ole peer pressure!) Thanks to some encouragement from DS and DD18, DD7 really pushed her boundaries and overcame a lot of her fears.

DD4's encounter with the Fairy Godmother. DD4 and I just happened to bump into FG behind the castle. She signed DD's book and was trying to engage in a little chit chat. Unfortunately DD wasn't really responding to her questions. Then FG noticed DD's hearing aids and immediately crouched down and started signing to her. I didn't have the heart to tell her that DD can't sign yet, but she does lip read, and FG was close enough that they had a nice little conversation. I thought it was such a sweet and spontaneous guesture on the CM's part.

 

[maiapapaya]

This is so, so true. Our trip in 2008 to the WL was so packed with ADRs and park time, we didn't have any time to enjoy the resort. I took my mom and daughters to AKL a month ago and made sure we spent plenty of time at the resort and the difference in how much we enjoyed the trip was like night and day. I swear, I'm at the point where I don't care how much time we spend at the parks next year. We're also going with my sister and BIL and as long as there is a tiki bar nearby, they're happy to stay at the Poly!

Wecome Tarak!. This is pretty much how we feel about our next trip. We are already talking about what we aren't going to bother with next time so we can just enjoy the resort. Next time will be just as much a Poly trip as it will be a WDW vacation.

 

[dizfam4]

Great trip report so far!!! I love how succinct you are We are looking forward to our January WL/Poly split stay trip and your report is so informative! Thanks...looking forward to reading more and of course....subscribing

 

[BreezysMom]

Awesome Maia...I wish we could have met!

Can't wait to read more. I need to start mine but I am too busy messing with the Poly FAQ thread!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Sigh. I love love LOVE your Polynesian pictures. We used to stay there all the time and it's one of my favorite resorts. So glad you enjoyed it!

 

[gretchenohar@hotmail]

I'm on board. Love your TR & your pics are great - esp the 1 of DD and FGM! How precious is that story?!?
Can't wait to read more....
Thanks.
Gretchen

 

[DisneyBoundinDec]

subscribing.. love all your pictures and can't wait to read more.. we are staying for the first time at the Poly next November.

Then FG noticed DD's hearing aids and immediately crouched down and started signing to her. I didn't have the heart to tell her that DD can't sign yet, but she does lip read, and FG was close enough that they had a nice little conversation. I thought it was such a sweet and spontaneous guesture on the CM's part.

what an awesome story..

 

[maiapapaya]

Welcome dizfam4, wdwgirl03, gretchenohar and DisneyBound! I'm glad you're enjoying my report! I loved the planning phase and really enjoyed reading about others' Disney adventures (ok, I was really living vicariously through them until we could get there, but I'm sure I'm not the only one ...) In fact, I love planning so much as soon as I'm done this report I'm going to start working on our next trip (of course I've already got plenty of mental notes, I just haven't "officially" started!)

Awesome Maia...I wish we could have met!

Me too! Next time I'll tackle you if I see you on the stairs. Of course if it's not you I run the risk of security dragging me away ...

 

[thechesters420]

I can't wait to hear more about your thip!

 

[maiapapaya]

I can't wait to hear more about your thip!

Thanks chesters!