Polynesian Concierge and the Dolphin 11/27/06-12/3/06

[luvmarypoppins]

We booked our trip last minute, about 3 weeks out due to dh work schedule. This time ds19 would not be coming with us, it was just dh, myself and ds16 and ds15. They go to private school so they are o.k. with them missing school. DH called and booked the trip. I carefully researched everything on the disneyworld website as far as rooms go. We would go with Polynesian Garden View. When dh called cro the cm said, oh the last garden view room just went, hmm all is left is concierge. We quickly talked and decided we would take it for only 4 days of our trip and the other 2 we got the govt. rate at the Dolphin, we wanted the swan but it was sold out. Hmm convention never entered my mind at that time. Cm made all our dining reservations, candelight package and MVMCP tickets too.
We arrived around 2 pm or sooner and our room was not ready. We were up in the concierge lounge for a while. We did get to kill some time at check in as I asked for our dining printout and gasped when I saw we were eating in 3 places in less than 2 hours of each other. CM made some phone calls and fixed the problem. We finally got to our very expensive concierge room, while on the lst floor it was only 1 room away from the exit which happened to be at the far end of the longhouse, note the farthest away from the lounge and exit to the GCH and bus stop. Not good for someone who walks very slow like me. Our room had some major problems: 1. Locked safe - dh computer is owned by the govt. and its worth 6K plus so he was not happy, there was a hole in the wall and our slider would not lock (HUGE safety issue) and the one electrical outlet pulled right out of the wall. All was fixed but this cut down on some of our park time but we made it to our adr.
I have done seperate dining reviews and room review of the Poly, but I will briefly sum up everything:
Parks: Thought they were really crowded more than usual for this time of year. MGM we went to 2nd fantasmic one night and even the cm thought it was way crowded. Loved all the decorations, Really puts you in the christmas mood, last year at epcot they had more christmas music playing.
MVMCP - I cant remember if the price was the same as last year but they cut out the free picture. We really missed that this year. This year they handed out apple slices along with the hot chocolate and cookies. The party was fun as usual. Got to take a picture with my favorite character, why Mary Poppins of course!! We even got to meet one of the Mousefest events hosts, Ray Sharpton. What a great guy. My ds met him last year. He said we are a nice family,
Candelight Processional - We went to the Garden Grill and enjoyed the food. We got the last wheelchair seating for our show, I think the 6:45. It was really raining and so many people got soaked and left but John O'Hurley did a great job of narrarating.
Dining - We only do one big meal a day and its usually a buffet. I asked everyone what they want too. We ate breakfast from the concierge but if we didnt have that it would be our own granola bars etc. We ate at:
Garden Grill for CP - Good and we had 2nds. Didnt care for the dessert.
Crystal Palace - Lunch with Pooh and the Gang. Great as usual. Our server seemed like he was rushing us out, giving us the check before we even got up to get dessert. Kids kept staring at us from the outside window. Hmm , now I know what the fish in the fishbowl feels like
Hollywood and Vine - the ds asked for this. O.K. Nothing great, Very crowded.
Rainforest at AK - Fun for the ds. Always have the coconut shrimp.
Kona Cafe - dinner was great. Line was huge. Please make an ADR. Loved the food, terriyaki steak, very good.
Cape May Buffet - Just dh and I. Way too crowded and lines too long and food was not too good. We will go somewhere else next time.
Counter Service - Cosmic Rays, Mrs. Potts,loved the roast chicken at rays. Mexico - the ds love this place and usually get the wet burritos and churros.
The Dolphin - never stayed here before. usually stay at the Swan. Saw they were having a big baseball winter meetings here. Lots of drunk men at night. Not good for my ds to see when I am trying to talk to them about the evils of alcohol etc. Well even they commented that they never saw so many drunk guys in one place at one time etc. DH was starting to witness the start of a fistfight or something so he wisked me up the elevator. Our room was nice. A corner balcony room. There was a funky smell in the hallway. The ds said it smelled like fried chicken. Our neighbor kept insisting on sitting on the balcony with her white robe on. Hmm the ds kept insisting on staring at her because they stated, we paid for our balcony too and we are going to sit here. O.k.,they have a point and robe lady has a point too. Oh well. Double beds dont cut it for 6'4 dh, next time it will be back to the Swan. We did hear a nice piano player in the lobby and the tree was beautiful. The setup of our room did make tv viewing from the 2nd bed about next to impossible unless you sat up sideways. More to come.

 

[luvmarypoppins]

Part 2 -
We wanted to see some of the resort christmas decorations so we went to the GF. The tree is huge and we saw 2 brides too. We bought some gingerbread shingles, yuck!! We also liked the carousel in the lobby of the beach club.
Year of a Million Dreams - We never saw the dream team per se but we did see people with the ears, dream fastpasses and a family of the day at cosmic rays sitting at a table with a gold plastic tablecloth and another family got to bang some musical instruments before Mickeys Philharmagic, our 2 teen ds thought that was dumb. Dont set your heart on any dream, just make your own magic and if something happens, that will be wonderful magic. It really is an overated disney marketing plan.
Swimming - yes you can swim in december, well at least our brave teen ds did. They didnt even have time to go in the volcano pool at the polynesian, it was rainy and cloudy alot but they did go into the grotto pool at the dolphin and prounced it freezing, freezing and more freezing but they stayed in.
Wheelchair viewing areas - Alot of time I do sit in the wheelchair because I have a very bad back. Sometimes I walk and use the wheelchair like a walker. O.K. at the MK in the wheelchair viewing area I know you can have your family with you. Sometimes my one ds sits in front of me and doesnt obstruct anyone elses view. DH is tall and always stays in the back, not by me, well one 6 yo boy kept knocking into my wheelchair. and let me tell you with my 3 back surgeries it might look like a knock but it sends searing pain up my spine. I told him to stay away, politely a few times, finally my ds saw the grandmother yell at him, I really dont know who he was with but this was not good. Another time there was no more wheelchair viewing space left, I dont have a problem with that, the cm told my ds where to park me, normal area. Well the ds left to go on rides and a family had their 3 kids squeeze into every available inch around me. o.k. I dont have a problem sharing my space, but I DO have a problem with kids touching the wheelchair. I had to tell another little one, hands off. I know there was a language problem and also the little one kept hitting into my left leg, can you say shooting searing pain again, I finally had to resort to using my unopened umbrella as a barrier stick that he would not crash into my leg again, what is wrong with some parents. I have always taught my ds to be respectful of all etc.
We all enjoyed the new nemo ride at epcot and also the newly refurbished pirates ride at mk.
One night we closed down the mk as the boys would say. We actually got the last bus 1 hour after the offical park closing, o.k. we were doing alot of shopping on main street. It was nice not to take a crowded bus back to the resort.
We did get stuck on the TTA and had to walk off the ride. I think I was holding up the line with my slow walking. We all got fp to use on 1 ride any day.
Icing on the cake - while doing one of our mk days they were taping the christmas parade special, I think a wednesday and who was singing in front of the castle but none other than Beyonce hereself. The teens were elated and one got in the 2nd row. He looked for himself on tv christmas day and he thought it looked like they substituted the crowd in the film, hmm can this be done? I guess anything is possible.
Transportation - We only stood on a bus once or twice, even still this was not good with my bad back. The friendships for epcot were great. I missed the swan and its lst bus stop as compared to the dolphin. I usually wait for the next bus so I will get a seat. We used Tiffany Towncar for our airport transfers, efficient but we miss Berkley Edwards, he is going independent now. We had Sergio, he is definetely not the talking type.
Concierge - Definetely not worth the money unless you take advantage of all it has to offer or are celebrating something special. We already had all our dining arrangements and we did use the lounge for breakfast and some soda for the ds. We dont drink alcohol so we didnt take advantage of that and we had the desserts once and dh did the 5 oclock thing himself once and dh and I did it once together. It is really like snacks. Nothing great and very crowded.
All in all its one of our favorite times of year to go to Disney.