Poly, Princesses and Pixie Dust

[wdwgirl03]

An hour to get from the Polynesian to AK? That's crazy! Who'd you hear that from?!

I love the music in FOTLK too. I even had to buy the soundtrack on one of our trips.

That's so cool you got to meet Thumper and Ms. Bunny!

 

[maiapapaya]

An hour to get from the Polynesian to AK? That's crazy! Who'd you hear that from?!

I love the music in FOTLK too. I even had to buy the soundtrack on one of our trips.

That's so cool you got to meet Thumper and Ms. Bunny!

Someone on the DIS ...
When I was working out our schedule I posted the question (I think in the Poly thread) and I was told about an hour to both AK & HS. Obviously I adjusted our departure time for HS after our early AK arrival!

 

[maiapapaya]

I'm hoping to get back tonight with another installment. Funny how real life gets in the way of our Disney obsessions. But ... I have get something written for my regular gig and something really cool (gives me chills coincidentally cool) just happened this morning that has me scrambling to revisit something I have been toying with writing about for quite some time.

 

[NancyLuvsMickey]

I love your trip report so far and the pictures of the Poly are BEAUTIFUL!!!

And just a quick comment about the automatic flush toilets... The kids have them at their school but forget that we don't have them at home!!! It's always an adventure to use the bathroom after they do...

 

[BreezysMom]

I'm hoping to get back tonight with another installment. Funny how real life gets in the way of our Disney obsessions. But ... I have get something written for my regular gig and something really cool (gives me chills coincidentally cool) just happened this morning that has me scrambling to revisit something I have been toying with writing about for quite some time.

Hence the laundry is sitting and the dishes are piled in the sink and I am here updating my TR

I think I have a bit of post Disney illness. I am so tired and lethargic. I feel like I am coming down with something. Or at least that is the excuse I am using to be here on the DIS I really think you need a vacation after a vacation!

BTW, I remember seeing your DDs at the Poly. I could still kick myself

 

[thechesters420]

I loved the update!

 

[maiapapaya]

Hence the laundry is sitting and the dishes are piled in the sink and I am here updating my TR

I think I have a bit of post Disney illness. I am so tired and lethargic. I feel like I am coming down with something. Or at least that is the excuse I am using to be here on the DIS I really think you need a vacation after a vacation!

BTW, I remember seeing your DDs at the Poly. I could still kick myself

Are you serious?! I clued in last night after I read your TR that we were at the MK the same day! We visited there a lot, but Thursday was our big, full day in the park. We definitely mismanaged this whole thing very badly!

 

[maiapapaya]

I love your trip report so far and the pictures of the Poly are BEAUTIFUL!!!

And just a quick comment about the automatic flush toilets... The kids have them at their school but forget that we don't have them at home!!! It's always an adventure to use the bathroom after they do...

Thanks NancyLuvsMickey and welcome!
I think my DD4 would pee her pants on a regular basis if her school had autoflushers!

 

[maiapapaya]

I could have gone on with a recount of day three, which was Hollywood Studios (and I will get to it), but since the weather's been a little nippy here I thought I would do a gratuitous Poly pool post instead.

So to carry on from my pp, we left the steamy jungles and savannahs of the AK and returned to our beautiful resort. It was our first chance to hit the famed volcano pool and we were not disappointed.

The Nanea Volcano pool, as it is formally known, is a destination in of itself.
Unfortunately there are many others who feel this way and pool hoppers from other resorts (or even off site) are a consistent problem. Of course there isn't really any way to identify them other than the Poly implementing a wrist band policy like that at the BC, and I'm not sure why they haven't.

Another problem is the chair hogs. I've never experienced this anywhere else and I didn't quite believe it when I read about it here on the DIS, but it's true. At any given time during our trip virtually ever chair in the vicinity of the pool had a towel draped over it - and no bottom seated in it. This truly amazed me. I have never felt the desperate need to "reserve" a lounge chair at any pool to the point that I would stake out some real estate hours before my family's arrival.

With those gripes being made, everything else I have to say about the volcano pool is nothing but positive. It is quite big and the deepest areas are only about 4' depth. It is perfect for kids ours' age. DD4 is a beginner swimmer and the zero entry gave her a lot more confidence. DD7 is an intermediate swimmer and we knew she would be fine in any section of the pool without strict supervision.

You would think that the slide would be the biggest attraction for the kids, but not in our case. While DH, DS and BIL loved it, neither of my kids would go near it. I never expected DD4 to try it and I wasn't sure about DD7. Unfortunately DD18 forgot her bathing suit so she never actually made it into the pool, for the entire week! We encouraged her to go buy herself a suit, but she claimed she didn't like any of the styles that Boutiki had to offer. Truth be told it was probably the price tag that she didn't like, but after years of impressing upon her to be responsible (and don't get me started on the passport story!) she probably didn't dare to ask us to help out with financing some replacement swimwear.

So if the slide wasn't the main attraction for the kiddos what was? DD7 loved the waterfall. She'd sit by it, swim under it, try to get us to swim under it. I don't know what it was, but she was obsessed. DD7 also thought it was super cool that there are washrooms in the volcano! While this is handy, especially because there are also lockers in there, I found them fairly dark and cold! I don't know if they had AC blasting or if it was the fake mountain insulating the room, but we found it quite unpleasant to go in there.

DD4's favorite thing about the Nanea pool was this little guy:

Her affection for him was not this tiki's handsome good looks, but the fact that he was a shower/foot wash. DD4 cannot stand dirt on her feet and she found it quite disturbing to come out of the pool only to pick up sand all over the bottoms of her feet. Every exit from the pool involved a trip over to visit her little friend to rinse her feet.

What I enjoyed most about the volcano pool is that it is wrapped in the same beautiful tropical lushness that fills the rest of the resort.

What I was truly disappointed by is that I was only able to convince DD7 to go back in only one other time during our whole vacation. She always had an excuse when it was pool time. She wanted to keep DD18 company. She should do some school work. While I suspected the real reason she only just admitted it to me in the last couple of days. The first day we had been at the pool DS and BIL had been pushing her to go down the slide. DH and I had gone on it ourselves and we finally had to back her up by saying it is pretty fast and if she's not ready to do it that's fine with us (and to let it go). DD told me she didn't want to go to the pool because she didn't want to be bugged about going on the slide. I also think she was a little embarrassed to be afraid to go down it so it was just easier to avoid it.

Lessons learned:
Pee before you hit the Nanea pool because the bathrooms there are down right frigid.
In future we will pay more attention to pressure being put on our kids to do things that they may not be ready to do.

 

[PolynesianLily]

Great trip report so far!
The pictures of the Poly are bringing memories back from the last time we stayed there!!
Can't wait to read more!

 

[maiapapaya]

On our third day we headed for Hollywood Studios, arriving about five minutes after rope drop. Our main objective was Toy Story Mania. The plan was to head straight there. Unfortunately this turned out to be a day of ill-made plans, or lack thereof.

It actually took us about about 20 to 30 minutes to wander over to TSM. Between posing for pictures and trying on goofy hats we certainly took our good sweet time. I began to get really irritated (which, if you know me, is unusual). I just had a feeling this was going to be the theme for the day.

We ended up having about a 20 minute wait at TSM (which I know isn't necessarily all that bad for this attraction, but considering we arrived right after rope drop and most rides so far had been walk on to five minute wait, it could have been less had we not dawdled), but it was definitely worth it! We all had a blast! It's unfortunate that we had dragged our feet getting there because I'm sure we would have loved to have ridden again.

After we exited TSM we happened to hit the start of a queue for Buzz and Woody. We jumped in line and the girls all got their pictures done.

Next we headed to Star Tours. Everyone rode except me and DD7 and DD4. This just added to my grumpy mood. I thought it was a better strategy to split up and actually do something with the kids rather than have to just wait around for everyone else. Apparently no one else was listening to my concerns. I ended up waiting around in Tatooine Traders with the girls. It ceased to be fun after about five minutes!

Once the rest of our group returned to the store DH, DD7 and DD4 decided to build light sabres. DD18 decided she would sulk. We had initially planned to build light sabres on our shopping day at DD. She said building them at HS would ruin the fun of DD and she wouldn't do it (I guess it was more fun to pout. *sigh*)

After we finished "having fun" in Tatooine Traders DH and I took DD7 and DD4 to see the HSM show while DS, BIL & DD18 went to do the Studio Backlot Tour. We were fortunate to arrive at the sorcerer's hat just as a HSM performance was starting. Even though there was no Troy or Sharpay the girls still had a great time. They loved all the high energy singing and dancing.

Soon it was time for lunch and we met up with the rest of our group for a 1:00 ADR at 50's Prime Time Cafe. We had heard such good things about how fun this restaurant can be we were excited about this meal.

Unfortunately, carrying on with the theme of the day, our excitement was short-lived. We had a dud of a server. She did not play into the theming of the restaurant at all. We might as well have been eating in any diner in any other place than Disney. It was disapointing to watch the kids at the next table enjoying all kinds of hijinx with their server while our DD's just sat and played with their food. The only glimmer of our server "playing the game" was when DD18 wouldn't eat her veggies - collard greens with bacon and onions (she has an aversion to most things green and leafy and hates onions). The waitress returned to our table with whipped cream covering the discarded veggies and DD18 was told that this was all she was getting for dessert until she ate up. Of course her delivery was so half-hearted there wasn't even any fun in that.

I will say that the food at 50's Prime Time was pretty good and the portions were huge.

After lunch we once again split up. DS, BIL and DD18 headed to the Tower of Terror and Rockin' Roller Coaster. We took DD4 and DD7 to see the Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Since I've been so negative today with this part of my TR I might as well continue. I wasn't really impressed with this show at all. I thought it would be longer and that there would be more to it. The puppets were great, but the only two actual people were Ariel and Eric and he was only on stage for about three minutes.

After the show the girls spent a good deal of time browsing in the shop by the exit, trying to find the perfect princess souvenirs. We had planned on taking in the Beauty and the Beast show, but by the time the girls had made their purchases is was almost our designated meeting time.

We headed once again to the sorcerer's hat and waited for the rest to arrive. And we waited. And waited. In the mean time the Block Bash started and we were now somewhat trapped. The girls were so hot and tired they took very little interest in the show. I decided if I had to be trapped under a big blue hat waiting for someone on a scorching hot day it was a lot more entertaining than just standing there and sweating.

It actually was a pretty good parade, though I felt so sorry for the CM's. It was so steamy hot. You could see that their hair was soaked in sweat, that is the ones that weren't in full body costumes. I can't imagine what they were going through!

Finally our missing lambs came wandering along. DD18 was once again in a pout. Obviously things didn't go as planned. They did ride TT, twice, but due to DS going off on some sort of tangent involving shopping and a picture of herself and Jack Sparrow RR did not get done.

By this time we had had enough. The younger gals were completely wilted and it was past 3:00 pm. DD18 had hoped that she would still get RR in. We told her she was old enough to stay and finish up what she wanted to do, but that we were done and wanted to get her sisters back to the pool. Once again she chose to sulk and all seven of us headed back to the resort.

On an up note, the day was not an entire mess. Once everyone had some down time and felt a little more refreshed we popped over to MK for some dinner at Cosmic Rays and did some rides there. Then we got a great spot in by the bridge in Frontier Land and watched Spectro. It was beautiful.

It just so happened to be a late EMH day in MK (totally unplanned on our part), so after the parade DH, DD18, DS and BIL hit SM. The fireworks actually started while they were on the ride and they got an interesting view before plunging down the flume. Mean while, DD4 and DD7 were preoccupied by one of those carts with all those darn light up toys that attract kids like little moths to a candle. They were so mesmerized by all the pretty glowing gadgets they paid no attention to the show. It was just as well. It was a terrible vantage point.

After SM, I finally got a turn and DD18, DS, BIL and I rode BTMR. It was then time to get the little ones back to bed, but I knew the night had been a success because DD18 finally had a smile on her face.

Lessons Learned:
Look at a meal strictly as a meal and simply hope for good food. That way if the entertainment or experience you were expecting doesn't materialize you won't be disappointed.

Some kind of rough plan (even if it's not a strict touring plan) is much less frustrating and time wasting than no plan at all.

You can't please everyone, especially in a diverse group, so don't even try.

HS Must-do's:
Toy Story Mania
Tower of Terror

HS Shoulda-done's:
the Beauty and The Beast Show
Rockin' Roller Coaster

 

[1971DBday]

Still here....enjoying your updates. (Have to add it just 13 days to go here.. and throwing some pixie dust for good weather.) My DD(13) will hopefully keep a positive attitude and I won't have to many arguements about "attitude". Only happy thoughts in Disney! We've had a rule that if DD(13) and DS(10) argue or have crappy attitudes [usually DD(10)] then they will not go on the next ride and I will take a happy picture of them hugging in front of the ride to post for their friends when we get back. Usually the mear mention of the threat gets them quiet.

DD(3) can't wait to go down the waterslide at the Poly! She got hooked on waterslides at BB last year and has no fear. Your DD(7) will enjoy it some day....I will post pictures when I get back of DD(3) going down, maybe you can show her.

 

[wdwgirl03]

We always loved the pool at the Polynesian.

Great pictures from DHS! A 20-min. wait for TSM is not bad at all! Bummer your server at the Prime Time wasn't that great.

 

[maiapapaya]

Still here....enjoying your updates. (Have to add it just 13 days to go here.. and throwing some pixie dust for good weather.) My DD(13) will hopefully keep a positive attitude and I won't have to many arguements about "attitude". Only happy thoughts in Disney! We've had a rule that if DD(13) and DS(10) argue or have crappy attitudes [usually DD(10)] then they will not go on the next ride and I will take a happy picture of them hugging in front of the ride to post for their friends when we get back. Usually the mear mention of the threat gets them quiet.

DD(3) can't wait to go down the waterslide at the Poly! She got hooked on waterslides at BB last year and has no fear. Your DD(7) will enjoy it some day....I will post pictures when I get back of DD(3) going down, maybe you can show her.

13 days?! Wow, I'm so envious!! Wishing you pixie dust for good weather too! Will you be going to MVMCP?

I love your attitude containment method! I was actually somewhat disappointed in DD18's attitude at times (she wasn't like this for the whole trip thankfully). She doesn't live with us and now she's away at college, so we see her even less. I would have thought she would be happy to be at Disney and spending some time with her family.

I agree, DD7 will learn to love the Poly slide. I think the biggest source of her fear is that it is in the dark. I'll definitely show her your pic of DD(3). Maybe it'll help!

 

[maiapapaya]

We always loved the pool at the Polynesian.

Great pictures from DHS! A 20-min. wait for TSM is not bad at all! Bummer your server at the Prime Time wasn't that great.

Yes, we were actually lucky to only wait 20 min. for TSM. It was frustrating though knowing it could have only been 5! And yes, the server was disappointing. It may not have been so bad if the rest of the wait staff around us were duds too,but to be seated beside someone who was really playing it up kind of rubbed salt in the wound. Our kids were so bummed.

 

[BreezysMom]

I agree, DD7 will learn to love the Poly slide. I think the biggest source of her fear is that it is in the dark. I'll definitely show her your pic of DD(3). Maybe it'll help!

DD REFUSED to go down the slide our first trip in 2007. It too was because of the dark. Then when we got home she was all ticked at herself that she did not do it.

Our second trip we only had two "pool weather" days and it was that second day she finally tried it and loved it and was so happy. She went down that slide about 20 times in a hour.

Of course all she talked about for this last trip was being able to use the slide the whole trip! Sadly it was closed.

So there is always the next trip I guess!

 

[BreezysMom]

Lessons Learned:
Look at a meal strictly as a meal and simply hope for good food. That way if the entertainment or experience you were expecting doesn't materialize you won't be disappointed.

So true Maia!

Anything extra from a meal is just a bonus

 

[maiapapaya]

DD REFUSED to go down the slide our first trip in 2007. It too was because of the dark. Then when we got home she was all ticked at herself that she did not do it.

Our second trip we only had two "pool weather" days and it was that second day she finally tried it and loved it and was so happy. She went down that slide about 20 times in a hour.

Of course all she talked about for this last trip was being able to use the slide the whole trip! Sadly it was closed.

So there is always the next trip I guess!

Oh, that's right. By that point in the week the slide was closed. Poor Breezy, when it was something she was looking forward to and the weather was so great for the pool. Hopefully it is functioning well in July - the weather def. won't be a problem then!

 

[1971DBday]

13 days?! Wow, I'm so envious!! Wishing you pixie dust for good weather too! Will you be going to MVMCP?

I love your attitude containment method! I was actually somewhat disappointed in DD18's attitude at times (she wasn't like this for the whole trip thankfully). She doesn't live with us and now she's away at college, so we see her even less. I would have thought she would be happy to be at Disney and spending some time with her family.

I agree, DD7 will learn to love the Poly slide. I think the biggest source of her fear is that it is in the dark. I'll definitely show her your pic of DD(3). Maybe it'll help!

We won't be going to MVMCP...can't justify the extra money for 5 of us. I get plenty of snow in Chicago, I can make hot chocolate elsewhere, and we have plenty of chances to go on the rides. Plus, they film the "live" Christmas parade the Saturday we leave (and we don't leave WDW until early evening) and they use the majority of the floats from MVMCP for that if I really want to see the parade that bad. None of the blogs have been able to convince me it's worth the money!

 

[maiapapaya]

On day four we arrived at Epcot bright and early for EMH. It actually wasn't our first visit to Epcot on this trip. We had eaten dinner at Biergarten and stayed for Illuminations two nights before, but I will talk about them in different posts.

Once again we avoided rope drop by about five minutes and it worked out perfectly for us. We walked straight into the park and straight onto Test Track. DH, DD18, BIL and I rode first, to check it out for the kids. While the end of the ride is very fast, there was nothing about it that we thought would be a problem for them. We jumped off and right back on, this time with DD4, DD7 and DS. DD7 loved it. DD4 wasn't quite prepared to make an opinion when she got off. She was a bit in shock I think. She loved the ride right up until the end. I think the speed was a little excessive for her!

DH and I decided that DD4 could stand to take a bit of a break and do something a little more tame for a while. DD7, DD18, DS and BIL went off to take in Mission Space and Soarin' while we took DD4 over to Innoventions.

DD4 spent quite a bit of time making a velcro frog for herself and DD7. Then we saved our house in the fire exhibit and posed for a web-photo with the fire truck.

Then we strolled over to the Seas pavillion. Much to our disappointment there was a CM out front telling people that Nemo was down. We went in for some Turtle Talk with Crush instead. DD4 was fascinated, but preferred to sit with us and not the other kids who had been invited up to the front to chat with Crush. The technology in this attraction is pretty amazing.

As we exited we noticed a CM by what turned out to be the exit for Nemo. They must have just gotten the ride up and running and realized that most of the people who had been turned away had gone to see Crush because the CM invited us all in through the "back" way to jump on the ride. DD4 loved it. She thought riding in a big clam shell was funny and she loved pointing out the characters in the scenes.

After we blew some time in the gift shop we went to meet up with the rest of our gang over at the Earth, where we planned to join up for lunch. We ate at Sunshine Seasons. We liked the variety it afforded us (something for everyone) and it was one of the better CS spots we ate at.

After lunch we all parted ways again. I'm not really sure where DS and BIL disappeared to. DD18 headed for Morocco. Her roommate is from Morocco and she was hoping to find a treat from home for her friend. DH and I took DD4 and DD7 and registered for a Kim Possible mission.

We had a bit of time to kill before our time to meet up with the secret agent and receive our Kimmunicator, so we walked over to the China pavillion with the hopes of meeting Mulan.

Mulan was indeed out front when we arrived, and there was no one else there! Unfortunately DD4 was sound asleep in her stroller! We tried to wake her, but to no avail. Mulan signed both girls' autograph books and had a nice quiet chat with DD7. Then they posed for pictures. At one point she asked me to roll DD4 into the scene and then Mulan and DD7 pretended that they were sleeping too. They are adorable pictures, but unfortunately they are on our photopass CD, which has not arrived yet (I'm not sure why I didn't take any of this) so I can't post any here. Mulan's handler was quite nice and told me when and where to bring DD4 back when she woke up.

We then went and found our mission contact and received our Kimmunicator. The audio on the phone wasn't the loudest and DD7 doesn't read English very well yet (she's in French immersion in school), so DH assisted her while I rolled a still sleeping DD4 into every patch of shade that I could find.

I think DD7 liked her mission, though it didn't seem to take too long. She did choose not to do another one though.

We poked around in the shops for a while and made our way back towards China. It wasn't quite time for Mulan when we got there so DH had a beer and the girls played with the puppets that were being sold in the courtyard. Finally it was time for Mulan.

There were a few kids ahead of us, but as soon as Mulan saw DD4 she exclaimed "You're awake! I'm so glad you came back to see me!" Then she led DD4 away for her own quiet little chat. It was another magical moment.

Soon it was time to head back to the Poly to relax for a while and then head out for dinner. We had a 6:30 reservation at Whispering Canyon at WL.

The boat ride over was nice and relaxing, although it started to pour rain just before we arrived - one of the few times it actually rained during our stay. We hurried inside and had about a ten minute wait to be seated.

Larry "the telegraph guy" was our server. He, unlike our 50's Prime Time server was full on into the theming of the restaurant. He threw our napkins at us and pitched an extra stock of straws at us when he saw that the kids where having a straw wrapper fight (blowing the paper wrappers off of the straws at each other kind of like a pea-shooter). The food here was quite good. The milkshakes were especially yummy as were the apple pie and s'mores cheesecake.

After dinner we made the mistake of stopping to browse through a binder on the Vacation Club desk. No one was there, so we didn't think there would be any harm in just looking. I swear it was a trap! About two minutes after we stopped a sales person pounced on us. Next thing you know she had DH and BIL booking us an appointment for a tour the next day. We actually didn't see the harm in it since we planned on going to DD that day anyways. I was actually a bit shocked. DH had been reluctant to go to Disney and now he was actually considering buying into the Vacation Club (and he really was, it wasn't just a persuasive sales person!)

We finished off the night by watching Hallowishes from our balcony. What a spectacular show! You really get a different perspective of the fireworks from outside of the park. We were amazed by how far across the MK the fireworks were actually launched. What a fabulous way to end our day!

Epcot must-do's:
Test Track
Soarin'
the character greetings - any of the characters that we saw (Mulan was the only one that the girls actually wanted to meet) had very small lines

Epcot shoulda-dones:
We wish we had planned two days for Epcot. Next time we will take a day for Future World and another day for the International Showcase.
Soarin' - DH and I never made it on!
Planned more meals here. We had enjoyed Biergarten a few nights before and would have liked to have tried out a few more of the Epcot offerings.