Poly, Princesses and Pixie Dust

[Zippa D Doodah]

I just found your TR an am enjoying reading through it all. Wonderful pics of Poly, parks, and family! Your girls look like they are having just the best time imaginable. Cute as can be.

How was the monorail ride over to Epcot from the Poly? I know you said it was a bit of a hike from Tuvalu, but is TTC pretty accessible once you traverse over to the other side of the Poly? How long was the actual monorail ride?

Bummer about maybe not going next year. I hope things work out for you and you are planning another trip real soon.

 

[maiapapaya]

I just found your TR an am enjoying reading through it all. Wonderful pics of Poly, parks, and family! Your girls look like they are having just the best time imaginable. Cute as can be.

How was the monorail ride over to Epcot from the Poly? I know you said it was a bit of a hike from Tuvalu, but is TTC pretty accessible once you traverse over to the other side of the Poly? How long was the actual monorail ride?

Bummer about maybe not going next year. I hope things work out for you and you are planning another trip real soon.

Glad you made your way over to my TR, mr. romantic husband! I think it's great how you're surprising your DW and doing all of this planning!

The walk to the TCC probably isn't that bad if you don't have kids in tow. We were also heading there from the opposite side of Poly, so it all depends on what long house you end up in. I think it took us about 10 minutes to get there from Tuvalu.

The TTC is super accessible once you get there, very easy to navigate. There is a clearly marked ramp for each of the monorails - MK express/resort/Epcot. Once the train comes the ride from TTC to Epcot is about 10 minutes.

 

[iloveeeyore]

Hey, Maia! DH and I seriously considered DVC several years ago (before there was even an AKV), and though we never went to the presentation, we did do a lot of number crunching and we came to he exact conclusions you did. No DVC for us; we only go every few years, but when we do go, we stay exactly where we want. VC works beautifully for some people, and I admit I am intrigued by BLT and AKV, but it so far, we haven't seen it as making sense for our family.

I just read your report to my DH, who has some experience in sales. We agree that maybe you're lucky that sales dude was a rude deadbeat. If he were a GOOD salesman, you might have made a commitment that wasn't best for you. Did you let DVC know about his attitude?

Looking forward to reading more about your trip.

 

[maiapapaya]

Hey, Maia! DH and I seriously considered DVC several years ago (before there was even an AKV), and though we never went to the presentation, we did do a lot of number crunching and we came to he exact conclusions you did. No DVC for us; we only go every few years, but when we do go, we stay exactly where we want. VC works beautifully for some people, and I admit I am intrigued by BLT and AKV, but it so far, we haven't seen it as making sense for our family.

I just read your report to my DH, who has some experience in sales. We agree that maybe you're lucky that sales dude was a rude deadbeat. If he were a GOOD salesman, you might have made a commitment that wasn't best for you. Did you let DVC know about his attitude?

Looking forward to reading more about your trip.

You're probably right. Sales dude likely did us a favour. No, we didn't tell DVC about his attitude. When we left the sales centre we weren't 100% positive that we weren't going to buy. In the end I don't think his attitude was going to make or break the deal - it was the numbers - besides, he wasted an afternoon with 3 bored kids and didn't make a sale (so no commission) That was probably punishment enough.

 

[BreezysMom]

We too explored DVC but came to the same conclusions. While even though BLT is not our style we actually considered buying into it and almost did but considering that Poly is our home and hubby is a numbers man...he crunched the numbers and it just did not add up for us. We want to go to the Poly and DH knows we would still be shelling out extra cash to stay at the Poly somehow!

As far as DTD. We have not ever gone because I have also heard you can just about get anything in the parks or resort that is there. We like shopping at the Parks. We usually head there is the evening and just wander through the stores for hours. That is prefect for us!

Sorry about your lack of trip coming soon. I understand his thinking. I don't now if it helps but DH always says that after we start planning a return trip. After a month or so he says he does not think it is possible or wants try to go somewhere else. Then he changes his mind after a certain amount of time because he starts to long for the magic....and the Poly.

That is the problem with loving the Poly! DH tells me if we didn't stay there we could go more often. Oh well, once a year is enough for me at this time. I like my Poly

Get back on the wagon and tell us more! It may help

 

[Simba's Girl]

After DH and I had a chance to discuss things more we decided that VC is probably not for us at this point. We would either have to buy a nice chunk of points in order to have a one bedroom villa for our visits ($$$) or be resolved to save our points and only visit every couple of years (which actually seems to be the place DH is at right now anyways, but I digress ... ) The other problem we had was that we have fallen in love with the Poly. At least for now, we can't imagine staying at another resort. Unfortunately the way the points are set up it is very prohibitive for us to stay there (I'm sure TPTB have done this on purpose). So for now, no VC for us. At least we got free ice cream and gift cards.

The DVC gods will probably be hunting me down for telling this on a public forum, but....




DH & I just sold *both* our DVC contracts because

1.) Disney keeps offering pretty good "sales" to the parks (Free Dining, 4+3, 40% off etc) and we were paying *THE SAME* amount every year to DVC (one contract still being financed + Dues + full price park hoppers) as our trip in January is costing us staying Poly CL. We were owners for the last 6 years and never saw Disney not offer any 'sales' ever.
2.) If I were to buy DVC again, I'd go the resale route.
3.) "Trading" to another resort (like for ex. in the Caribbean) is not as easy as they led on, plus they changed who they are 'partnered' with recently and some of the resorts are not as good.
4.) We like the freedom of *not* committing to a Disney vacation every year-there is just so much more cool stuff in the world to see & frankly Disney will always be there, but opportunities to travel to unique places in the world are few and far between. Point 3 reinforces this belief.

So, IMO you guys made a great decision!

Loving your TR, but waiting for the dirt on Jasmine still!

Heather

 

[maiapapaya]

Yes, I'm hoping DH changes his mind. DD4 is having the most difficult time with it. She asks almost everyday when are we going back. Last night I told her it probably wouldn't be until she is 6 because it costs a lot of money and we need to save. She put her head down and very quietly said we could have her money. Of course I made a point of telling DH my story. If I have to deal with the fallout of his decision I'm going to be telling him about every time one of the kids comes to me upset.

 

[maiapapaya]

The DVC gods will probably be hunting me down for telling this on a public forum, but....




DH & I just sold *both* our DVC contracts because

1.) Disney keeps offering pretty good "sales" to the parks (Free Dining, 4+3, 40% off etc) and we were paying *THE SAME* amount every year to DVC (one contract still being financed + Dues + full price park hoppers) as our trip in January is costing us staying Poly CL. We were owners for the last 6 years and never saw Disney not offer any 'sales' ever.
2.) If I were to buy DVC again, I'd go the resale route.
3.) "Trading" to another resort (like for ex. in the Caribbean) is not as easy as they led on, plus they changed who they are 'partnered' with recently and some of the resorts are not as good.
4.) We like the freedom of *not* committing to a Disney vacation every year-there is just so much more cool stuff in the world to see & frankly Disney will always be there, but opportunities to travel to unique places in the world are few and far between. Point 3 reinforces this belief.

So, IMO you guys made a great decision!

Loving your TR, but waiting for the dirt on Jasmine still!

Heather

Thanks for giving us some reassurance that we made the right decision Simba's Girl. We wondered too how much of a savings there really is when you still have to pay the yearly fees (which are always increasing and not locked into a guaranteed rate of increase), plus pay full price for tickets and meal plan for every trip etc. Sales dude tried to tell us that when the economy improves that Disney may not offer the discounts that we have been seeing. I find that hard to believe. Many of their visitors go or at least go at a higher frequency because of the discounts. I think attendance would drop dramatically if people had to pay rack rates all the time and there were no more deals offered. Sales dude also told us that you don't need the meal plan, that since the villas have kitchens you can buy groceries and bring sandwiches into the parks. While I'm sure we would bring some food and there probably are families that do go this route, there is no way that I am going to be cooking dinner every night while we are on a Disney trip as well as packing lunches every day. Not. going. to. happen. He was clearly a bachelor.

 

[BreezysMom]

Yes, I'm hoping DH changes his mind. DD4 is having the most difficult time with it. She asks almost everyday when are we going back. Last night I told her it probably wouldn't be until she is 6 because it costs a lot of money and we need to save. She put her head down and very quietly said we could have her money. Of course I made a point of telling DH my story. If I have to deal with the fallout of his decision I'm going to be telling him about every time one of the kids comes to me upset.

In the mean time DS is starting to tick me off. She was really pushing for another "family trip" in Dec. 2011. She was worried that if we went next year that we wouldn't go back with her and BIL in 2011. So now she keeps trying to back DH up, saying "well, most people don't go to Disney every year", "just focus on our big family trip" ... ya, easy for her to say. Her and her DH are already going back in April for an anniversary trip! (she got a 40% off pin) So I don't really want to hear her "pep talk" (it feels more like she's doing a happy dance because of DH's decision - it works in her favour) Sorry about the vent, but I've been sick and I'm feeling particulary crummy today.

Feel better Maia...vent away! We are listening!

Besides being sick you are probably just suffering from PDTD...post Disney Trip Depression. We have all been there. I am in that place now too!

 

[maiapapaya]

I am mostly recovered from my illness (still have a bit of sinus pain, but can actually talk now, so I'll doing well!) so on with the trip report ... (this is actually my second attempt at this ... DD4 just hit the back button on my keyboard and lost my post! )

Because this was our younger daughters' first trip to WDW they were new to the whole character meet and greet thing. In order to make it easier for them (and us!) and eliminate a lot of waiting in lines we booked four character meals: Chef Mickey's, Cinderella's Royal Table, 'Ohana and Crystal Palace. This worked out well for us. With the characters at the meals and those that we saw in the parks - mostly by accident - each girl got about 35 signatures in her book. However, the downside is of course most of the character interaction is like an assembly line ... sign the book, pose for a pic, wave good bye, see ya!

There were some fun exceptions to this though:

We dined at Chef Mickey's our first night to celebrate DH's birthday. After two trips to our table for his regular rotation, the mouse himself returned a third time with a cupcake and birthday candle for DH's celebration. The girls' thought this was very cool.

The other meal that brought us great character interaction was the 'Ohana breakfast. First, as Mickey was leaving our table and Stitch was approaching, and not paying attention to where he was going, the two collided. This resulted in a smack down between the two that only ended when Lilo intervened.

Stitch then played some mean air guitar when he spotted DD7's "devil in disguise" t-shirt which featured Stitch in his Elvis costume.

Pluto was another highlight of this meal. He ended up in a tickle fight/wrestling match on the floor with DD4 and DD7 and then enjoyed some ear scratching from DD18. It looked as though he had been involved in some hijinx at someone else's table too since there was a biscuit wedged in the back of his mouth.

As I mentioned, most of our other character sightings were random meetings, but there were a few exceptions. On our "princess day" we planned on visiting the fairies at Pixie Hollow. We had had an 8:00 appointment at BBB in the castle. The girls were finished in plenty of time for us to enter Fantasy Land at rope drop. It wasn't quite time for the opening of Toontown, but we happened upon the arrival of Ariel in her grotto. The girls ended up being first in line that morning for a visit with Ariel. She was quite chatty with the girls and she and DD7 had a nice conversation about their collections.

After a little snack we headed over to Toontown around 9:30. There were only a few other families waiting at the rope. The CM's entertained us and then walked us in at 9:45 for the "soft" rope drop that many people have reported, and didn't make us wait until 10:00, the advertised opening time. Thanks to DD18's skillful maneuvering the girls ended up first in line for Pixie Hollow.

A CM led us down the corridor and gave us the spiel about shrinking down to the size of the fairies. As I mentioned in a pp, DD7 wasn't buying it. I can't say that I blame her. It was just a normal hall way with some murals painted on the wall. Nothing magical about it at all. It was actually a little disappointing after some of the hype I had heard about it. I was happy to hear though that TPTB plan on building a proper Pixie Hollow with the Fantasy Land expansion. I hope they do a good job of it. It's a concept that has so many possibilities!

The morning that we were there Fawn, Tink and Terence were the fairies in residence. The CM told us that we were very lucky to meet Terence since he had only made his debut the week before and wasn't in high rotation yet. The CM who played him was quite cute and very good with the girls.

After we were done at Pixie Hollow we had quite a bit of time to kill before lunch. DD18 decided that she wanted to meet Aladdin and Jasmine. We headed over towards Adventure Land, but spotted Jessie and Woody along the way. Although we had already met Woody at DHS seeing Jessie was a treat. We had to wait about five minutes in line and by this time the morning was scorching hot. DD4 was fading fast and it wasn't even noon yet!

Finally we made it over to Adventure Land and found Aladdin and Jasmine. They too had a line and DD4 decided that she was going to have no part of it. She and I stood in the shade while DD18 and DD7 waited. A & J's line took about ten minutes. Aladdin seemed to be worth the wait, but not Jasmine. I'm not sure why the CM who was playing her was chosen for the job other than her flat abs because she was a dud. She made very little effort to interact with the kids and basically spent the whole time posing with her hand on her hip. That's it. She'd smile (kind of an "aren't I pretty with fantastic abs" smile) and giggle at Aladdin's jokes, but she barely spoke to anyone. That got DD18 a little annoyed, but there was something about her that made it a lot worse for DD18. The CM who was playing Jasmine appeared to be a caucasion girl. DD18 is partly of Native Canadian heritage (on her mother's side) and although she has faced racism at various times through out her life, as a young woman she has come to be very proud of her "exotic looks" (because of DH's dark colouring and his ex-wife's background, DD18's ethnicity is kind of ambiguous and she has been mistaken as being from a variety of other ethnic backgrounds). She found it somewhat insulting that someone would cast a caucasion CM to play a character that is from a particular ethnic group - and this is clearly not the CM's fault, but just added to DD18's irritation with her - she felt like the CM was just a "poser", literally. DD18 made the very good point that they wouldn't throw a black wig on a caucasion girl and call her Mulan or try to pass anyone other than an African American CM as Princess Tiana. I actually felt a little embarrassed that as a white person Jasmine's appearance initially hadn't fazed me - because I hadn't even noticed until DD18 pointed it out. As a mother of two transracial children it was a lesson learned about how my kids perceive themselves and others from a racial standpoint.

Hmmmm, seems to be some imitation going on here ... (Aladdin had asked DD18 to pretend she was Jasmine and ask "hey Aladdin, where's my magic carpet ride?" She obliged. Jazzy didn't look too amused! )

Fortunately DD18's next character encounter was much more positive. I had made the girls matching sister t-shirts from a picture I got from the "creative Disigns" forum (that I think the Diser stole from a website called "Deviant Art"). The illustration is of the princesses pulling funny faces while Aurora gives Alice a noogy while she has her in a headlock. Well, as we were strolling back through Fantasy Land one day we ran into Alice by the tea cups. She was quite traumatized in recalling how nasty the princesses had been to her on the day they had posed for the picture on the girls' shirts. Then she and DD18 posed for their own picture ...

Character Breakdown:
best character meal interaction: 'Ohana breakfast
worst character meal interaction: CRT
character meal shoulda-done: 1900 Park Fare dinner - we really don't have a strong desire to do all the character meals again next trip, but we are interested in this one - we've heard Lady Tremaine and the step sisters are quite entertaining
most magical character encounters: my pp's about the Fairy Godmother and Mulan, Pluto at 'Ohana
honourable mention: Peter Pan - DD4 and I ran into him behind the castle around the same time that we saw FG. The CM was very in character. First he asked us where we were from. When I told him Canada he said "oh, you must live in a maple tree then. That must get pretty sticky!" Then a little girl with a missing front tooth caught his eye. He asked her with the most incredulous voice "what happened to your tooth?! Did a pirate knock it out?!"

 

[BreezysMom]

Very sweet!

I am glad you are feeling better.

It truly is an interesting lesson learned from your DD18. You have a beautiful family!

Yes, you have to do 1900 Park Faire dinner. We have had a blast both times! I am glad that we did our Character meals and have those experiences when DD was younger. But I am equally thankful she is not so interested in them now. We had great luck seeing some classic characters in the parks this trip but Mickey and Minnie eluded us all trip.

I missed doing Ohana breakfast this trip but the only ADR we could get was 7:30 am on our last day so we decided to skip it this year.

 

[maiapapaya]

Very sweet!

I am glad you are feeling better.

It truly is an interesting lesson learned from your DD18. You have a beautiful family!

Yes, you have to do 1900 Park Faire dinner. We have had a blast both times! I am glad that we did our Character meals and have those experiences when DD was younger. But I am equally thankful she is not so interested in them now. We had great luck seeing some classic characters in the parks this trip but Mickey and Minnie eluded us all trip.

I missed doing Ohana breakfast this trip but the only ADR we could get was 7:30 am on our last day so we decided to skip it this year.

DH is totally with you on no more character meals. He will agree to 1900 Park Fare though because the characters actually entertain you and don't just whip around signing autographs. DD7 isn't completely sold yet. She's afraid of Lady Tremaine! And she and DD4 still want to do CRT. It was neat to eat in the castle and the meal was fantastic (yummy Major Domo's Favorite pie... ), but the princess interaction was not so great. I'm not convinced that I would like to do it again.

Oh, and we would do the 'Ohana breakfast again. DD7 is a huge Stitch fan and the characters there were very entertaining! Unfortunately it's so hard to get in there now. My DS & BIL are going back in April headache: jealous pause ...) and couldn't get in until 10:30. What a waste of a morning! Although I think they are going to use it for an excuse just to hang out around the Poly, which is never a waste of time!

 

[maiapapaya]

We ate this trip courtesy of the Mouse. Well, the Mouse and DS. We had already booked with the dining plan and then my sister received a free dining PIN. Because our reservations were tied together the CM that DS dealt with gave us the free dining too.

Here is a breakdown of our dining experiences. And my apologies to you foodies out there. I don't really have any food porn for my post. DS is the one who took all of the food pics and I don't have a copy of her photos yet.

Table Service:
Our table service restaurants were: Chef Mickey’s, Biergarten, 50’s Prime Time Café, Whispering Canyon, ‘Ohana (breakfast & dinner), Cinderella’s Royal Table, Kona and Crystal Palace.

Chef Mickey’s: great birthday fun for DH’s celebration, the food was good, not bad character interaction. As I mentioned in my pp, Mickey actually made an extra trip to our table (above and beyond the two that he had already made) to bring DH a cupcake for his birthday.

Biergarten: disappointing table location – surprisingly it is possible to be seated almost behind the stage. The food was good – delicious potato and leek soup and German cheesecake. Very disappointing that a German restaurant did not serve black forest cake!

50’s Prime Time Café: Again, the food was pretty good. Huge portions. Unfortunately we had a dud of a waitress who didn’t play into the theming at all. We might as well have been eating in any diner in any town. It was disappointing to watch the kids at the next table enjoying lots of hijinx with their server while our children just sat and played with their food.

Big desserts!

Whispering Canyon: the polar opposite to 50’s Prime Time. We had a fantastic server who really got into the fun atmosphere of the restaurant. The steaks were great, as were the milkshakes and the s’mores cheesecake was absolutely delish!

"Hey, we need some ketchup over here!"

‘Ohana: One word, yummy! The breakfast was good, with good character interaction for the kids. (see my post above)
Dinner here was delicious. All of the food was great and we topped it off with lapu lapus. Need I say more?

Cinderella’s Royal Table: We considered this a must do, to eat in the castle at least once. The setting of course was perfect Disney. The food was wonderful. We all had Major Domo’s Favorite Pie. It was our favorite entree of the trip and the Chocolate Cream Cheese Buckle we had for dessert was divine! Our only complaint with this meal really was the character interaction. Although our girls were excited to meet the princesses it was too much of an assembly line. There was hardly any chit chat with the kids, just sign the book, snap a picture, see ya. I understand that there are a lot of tables to visit, but for most of the kids this meal is the highlight of the trip. Ariel seemed to make an effort, but Snow White, Aurora and Belle were in much to much of a rush.

Kona breakfast: Macadamia Pineapple Pancakes. To. Die. For. Tonga toast just didn’t appeal to me, but my sister assures me that all of the rave reviews are justified. We paid for this meal OOP and in retrospect probably would have ordered less food and shared. The portions were huge!

Crystal Palace: the buffet was fine. The character interaction was pretty good. Pooh and Eeyore dropped by for extra hugs and cuddles. The girls loved it.

Counter service:
To be honest, I didn’t really care for much of the CS restaurants in the MK. The food was just mediocre, with the exception of the fish at Columbia Harbor House. DH also enjoyed their tuna sandwich. The kid’s choices were way too limited. It would have been nice to have more variety from restaurant to restaurant as well.

We liked Sunshine Seasons at Epcot. We mostly ate from the noodle counter.

We had the picnic in the park at AK and really enjoyed it. We chose the rotisserie chicken option, with potato wedges and coleslaw. Our dessert selections were corn bread and cookies. As I mentioned in my AK post, we only purchased the meal for three and it was plenty for our family of five (if you are big eaters this probably wouldn't be the case).

Our favorite CS meals were at the resorts. We had a lunch and breakfast at Captain Cook’s. DH really liked the noodle bowl and the club sandwich I had was quite good. I just wish that the chips had been hot/crisper. Of course you can’t beat a dole whip for dessert!

We also grabbed a quick supper from the Gasparilla Grill at GF. Again, the sandwiches there were really good, with bakery goods for dessert and smoothies as a drink option.

Dining Highlights:
Favorite Character Meal: 'Ohana breakfast

Favorite meal: This is a tough choice ...
breakfast - Kona
dinner (non character meal) - a tie between 'Ohana and Whispering Canyon - If I just consider the food and not the entire dining experience - CRT

Favorite CS restaurant:
Captain Cook's (probably showing some bias here!)

Favorite snack: Again, a tough choice ... but since I'm a sucker for sweets I'm going to have to say Dole whip (I actually preferred the "twist" option) and Mickey head ice cream bars

Worst Meal: Considering food only - Crystal Palace - I should qualify this by saying the food wasn't terrible, it just wasn't that great

Biggest Dining Disappointment: 50's Prime Time Cafe - definitely did not live up to the hype, at least for us. I think this is one of those dining "experiences" that heavily depends on the quality of your server.

Worst CS: Cosmic Ray's. Blah Like a bad fast food place. Oh, wait, that's what it is ...

And one other note about the food at Disney. What's with the taste of the pop?! It tasted like the fountain drinks were mixed with that swampy Florida tap water! Was it just us that think this? I've never really noticed this mentioned on the DIS before. Everyone in our group felt the same. Fortunately by the end of the week we had become used to it and the drinks were more palatable, but for a while there ... ugh!