Polynesian Pixie Dust: A Love/Hate Vacationship. An October 2017 TR *updated 2/12x3 and Complete*

[xlsm]

Hello and welcome to another xlsm trip report!!

If you're an old friend, hello again! If you're a new friend, I'm happy to meet you!

I am the S from my user name (the other letters are DH and my kids!)



(this photo is from my May solo trip, but you'll see this outfit again during this trip, LOL!!)

I'm an AP holder with several trips under my belt. Mom to two boys, X (14) and L (12), and wife to M. I'm also president of our school PTO and the district PTO governing board. I coach Odyssey of the Mind, and am basically way too busy for my own good. I'm trying to learn the art of saying no, but I carry around a lot of guilt

Most of our trips are family visits, but I have done one solo trip, and now this one with my mom. Out of all of them, family visits are my favorite!



What sort of adventures did you get up to this time, xlsm?? Inquiring minds want to know!

Oh my gosh. So many adventures.

This trip was totally new for me. I brought my mom along for her FIRST EVER Disney World trip.

She is about two and a half years post chemo (although still on lots of meds - which comes into play early in the trip), and was deserving a vacation. We don't spend a ton of time together, and I was nervous about how things would go, but we both survived and no blood was shed.



When was your trip? Where did you stay?? I have so many questions!!

We got home Saturday...the trip was from 10/14 - 10/21. We spent one night at Pop and the rest of the trip at the Polynesian Resort.

As for everything else, you'll just have to read along to find out!

I'm looking forward to sharing this trip with all of you. My mom may have been the true first timer, but we did plenty of things that were new to me as well.

Stick around for food, MNSSHP, characters, and lots of pixie dust!

 

[xlsm]

Chapter One: Just "Pop"ing in
Chapter Two: Welcome to the Kingdom
Chapter Two Part Two
Chapter Two Part Three
Chapter Two Part Four
Chapter Two Part Five
Chapter Two Part Six
Chapter Three: I Only Dine With Princesses
Chapter Three Part Two
Chapter Three Part Three
Chapter Three Part Four
Chapter Three Part Five
Chapter Four: Party Time, Excellent
Chapter Four Part Two
Chapter Four Part Three
Chapter Four Part Four
Chapter Four Part Five
Chapter Four Part Six
Chapter Five: So Many Animals, So Little Time
Chapter Five Part Two
Chapter Five Part Three
Chapter Five Part Four
Chapter Five Part Five
Chapter Six: Those Hollywood Nights...er, DAYS!
Chapter Six Part Two
Chapter Six Part Three
Chapter Six Part Four
chapter Seven: Just a Last Little Bit of Magic
Chapter Seven Part Two
Chapter Seven Part Three
Chapter Eight: So long, Farewell
Chapter Eight Part Two

**Reserved for chapter links**

 

[MeghanEmily]

Wooh! I'm here! First one!?

Hello and welcome to another xlsm trip report!!

Thank you! I feel most welcome!

Most of our trips are family visits, but I have done one solo trip, and now this one with my mom. Out of all of them, family visits are my favorite!

How could you not love hanging out with this gorgeous bunch!?

She is about two and a half years post chemo (although still on lots of meds - which comes into play early in the trip), and was deserving a vacation.

Sounds like she deserved this trip, indeed! I'm glad it sounds like you had such an exciting time! I can't wait to hear about it.

 

[dnllmz]

Following along!

 

[amalone1013]

Yay! I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I love that you coach Odyssey of the Mind! I did it in elementary school, but halfway through we moved and they didn't have it at my new school. And I've never run into anyone who's heard of it.

 

[mamamelody2]

Joining!

 

[Sailormoon2]

Can't wait to read more

 

[coloredimage]

Definitely following along!

 

[xlsm]

Wooh! I'm here! First one!?



Thank you! I feel most welcome!



How could you not love hanging out with this gorgeous bunch!?



Sounds like she deserved this trip, indeed! I'm glad it sounds like you had such an exciting time! I can't wait to hear about it.

Yes, you're first! Meghan is #1!! Be careful telling Donald that, he might get jealous, haha!!

Following along!

Hooray!! Thanks for coming to hang out with me again!!

Yay! I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I love that you coach Odyssey of the Mind! I did it in elementary school, but halfway through we moved and they didn't have it at my new school. And I've never run into anyone who's heard of it.

Ahh!! That's so cool about OM! I totally understand about people not knowing what the heck it is, lol. I get that a LOT! Coaching it is one of my favorite things, and something I won't give up no matter how busy things get. I truly love it! Although I'm not sure I'm up for a trip back to world's this year! I'll be content with a top 5 finish at regionals

Joining!

Welcome, welcome! I'm happy you're here!!

Can't wait to read more

Welcome back! We managed to cram in a lot during the week, so I have lots to tell!

Definitely following along!

I'm glad you're here!! You were part of the magic!!

 

[Princess Leia]

If you're an old friend, hello again!

and am basically way too busy for my own good.

I can relate to this!

I brought my mom along for her FIRST EVER Disney World trip.

That's such a special thing to do together!

As for everything else, you'll just have to read along to find out!

I'll do that!

Stick around for food, MNSSHP, characters, and lots of pixie dust!

I'm sticking around. There's going to be food, MNSSHP, characters and lots of pixie dust. This sounds like a trip I'm going to enjoy. I'm looking forward to hearing about your latest adventures.

 

[Texans_loyal]

Hello, I'm in!

 

[ariane37]

Just grabbing my spot Welcome back!

 

[Lesley Wake]

Following! That Remy shot is awesome! Unfortunately we never got him-we asked twice and accidentally got Chip and then Tinkerbell!

 

[xlsm]

I can relate to this!



That's such a special thing to do together!



I'll do that!



I'm sticking around. There's going to be food, MNSSHP, characters and lots of pixie dust. This sounds like a trip I'm going to enjoy. I'm looking forward to hearing about your latest adventures.

Thanks for coming back for another TR!!

I am always relieved to know I'm not the only one who has a gazillion things going on. Sometimes I feel pretty isolated, like everyone else has it all together and I'm over here running in many directions at once.

I hope you enjoy hearing about this trip...I felt pressure to make sure my mom had a good time, and I think she really did!

Hello, I'm in!

Welcome, welcome!! Thanks for coming to hang out with me for this TR!

Just grabbing my spot Welcome back!

Thank you!! I'm glad to be back. As much as I enjoyed the trip, this is going on my "never again" list, LOL!! Parts of it were so stressful!

Following! That Remy shot is awesome! Unfortunately we never got him-we asked twice and accidentally got Chip and then Tinkerbell!

I'm happy to have you here! That Remy shot is officially my favorite magic shot EVER!! The photographer at Epcot who did it says he is the only one who does the parasol, although there's another girl who will do one with a different type of umbrella. He seemed pretty proud of himself about it, and I was impressed that he took the time to come up with something unique for guests! And actually, he told us this would be for Tinkerbell, so I was so excited to see it was Remy!

 

[ofcabbagesandkings]

Our Poly trip is in 3 days, and instead of finishing packing I'm on the DIS wanting to hear all about your trip. Did you go to Trader Sam's, or Kona? I'm excited to try both but don't know if we'll be able to get into Grog Grotto with the crazy lines for the Haunted Mansion mug.

 

[Tracy161]

I'm here, too!!! Can't wait to hear all about it

 

[xlsm]

Our Poly trip is in 3 days, and instead of finishing packing I'm on the DIS wanting to hear all about your trip. Did you go to Trader Sam's, or Kona? I'm excited to try both but don't know if we'll be able to get into Grog Grotto with the crazy lines for the Haunted Mansion mug.

I didn't end up packing until the night before b/c of all the school stuff I had going on, lol!! I hope your trip is amazing!

We didn't go to Trader Sam's, although it was in the plans. It just never worked out. I've had Kona in the past, but didn't book it for this trip. We had a great dinner at 'Ohana, and a couple of meals at Captain Cook's, but most of our dining was elsewhere this trip. The CMs did tell us to expect crazy lines for the HM tiki glass, but we never made it over there to even see! It's been on my to do list for the past three trips and even staying at the Poly I didn't go, LOL!! Best laid plans, haha!

I'm here, too!!! Can't wait to hear all about it

Yay!! I'm so glad you're here!!

 

[absolutmey]

can't wait!

 

[xlsm]

can't wait!

Welcome aboard!!

 

[xlsm]

Hello!!

It's time to get things rolling!!

I'm still sniffly and coughing, but I am determined not to let it get me down (even though really, I just want to take a nap!! Or 5 naps. Maybe 7.)

I am also currently avoiding responsibility and trying to catch up on Riverdale. That's more important than anything else, right??

Now it's time for my least favorite trip report chapter to write - the travel/arrival day. It's never very interesting, so let's just get it overwith!!

Chapter One: Just "Pop"ing in

If you followed along with my PTR (or last TR, b/c I talked about it there too), you know that the weeks (months really!) leading up to this trip were insanely busy, and plans were made in bits and pieces.

I was chairperson for our school's fall carnival, and it was just pure craziness. It also happened to take place the night before we left for this trip!

My mom got to town after lunchtime, and came to school to help. DH came after work to help, too. It was a successful event and we raised a lot of money - one of the best we've ever done! I sent the family home while my treasurer and I stayed after everything was cleaned up to count and recount the money, and then I headed home. DH had gone to pick up Chick-fil-A for everyone, and got back to the house around the same time I did.

It was a really hot day, and I'd been running all over, so nothing sounded better to me than a shower. After a shower and dinner I FINALLY started packing. Nothing like leaving it until the last minute, right??



Our flight was scheduled to leave at 2:30, boarding at 2:05. It was at a new-to-me airport a little over an hour away. My mom had forgotten something and needed to run by CVS on the way out of town, so we left around 11 or so. I think we got to the airport around 12:30, and I realized we were at the tiniest airport ever.

The parking was free though, and you can't beat that!

The check in desk was empty. In fact, the entire airport was empty except for three or four other people. It was eerie. The only flights out of there were on American to Dallas/Ft.Worth. One terminal. One baggage claim. One plane at a time.

But going back to pluses, security was super easy.

We waited for the desk people to get back from lunch and checked our bags. Then we sat and waited for the TSA people to get back from lunch. They only opened up the security about 20 minutes or so before boarding. I was texting @Raeven because I had to share the airport weirdness!!

Looking back, I think I'd fly out of there again b/c of how easy it was. Although no one seemed to have a sense of urgency about anything, and I like to be early and prepared.

It was a quick flight, around an hour total, and we had just enough time in Dallas to get to our next gate and grab something to go before boarding the next flight to MCO. We ended up with bagel sandwiches from Einstein's Bagels. Mom had never had them before, and she picked a spinach/cheese thing...and by the end of the trip that was the one food she said she wanted again
The flight to MCO was about two and a half hours. Each seat had a tv screen so I watched the original When a Stranger Calls to kill time. My seatmate was coming from Australia and fell asleep immediately upon sitting down. It was impressive.

We landed after 8:30, went to pick up our bags (it took forever), and made it to the Magical Express. The line wasn't too long, and we didn't have much of a wait.

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We got seats right in front, and I was so excited to show off the Welcome to Disney World sign. Unfortunately, and super weirdly, the lights weren't on!! No kidding!! We drove under a dark Welcome sign.

The first stop was Art of Animation where a handful of people got off the bus, and then we moved on to Pop.

I hadn't received a room ready text (I never do! Why??) so we went to the front desk to figure out where our room was. We were booked in a preferred room, and I had submitted a request with Touring Plans for 50s building first floor. I was so curious to see if that's where we'd end up. While waiting we admired the cool lobby area.

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We checked in and got my mom her first visit button...but did we end up with the room area I'd requested??

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No, we ended up on the 4th floor of 60s. It wasn't a far walk from the lobby, but it was far enough that it made dragging our suitcases over there kind of a pain. As far as location goes overall, I think it would be a really good spot for someone there for longer than one night. It was easy to get to the pool, food, and lobby. I didn't see where bus pickup was, so I can't really comment on how close it was to that, but I assume that would be fairly convenient to get to as well.

It was small but functional for the night.

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We had upgraded toiletries, which needed documenting!

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After dropping off our stuff, we were starving. We hadn't had anything but Starbucks and a bagel sandwich all day, so it was time to go visit Everything Pop for some very late dinner. It was close to 11pm at this point. We admired the cool stuff outside our room on the way over.

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I got the kids chicken nugget meal (with juice box and grapes, woo!) and my mom had the Reuben sandwich with fries and pasta salad. I had some of the pasta salad and it was GOOD!! We also picked up our refillable mugs for the week (don't forget about those! They come up again!).

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Oh, and of course I had to get the famous tie dye cheesecake!

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After our late late dinner, we went back to the room and went to bed. We had an early wake up the next morning!



Since neither of us can sleep with a quiet room, I tried downloading a white noise app, but the wifi was being slow. Luckily our alarm clock in the room had a white noise option. It was kind of touchy and made terrible scratchy feedback sounds if you touched it wrong, but eventually we had some ocean sounds drowning out the quiet, and I fell asleep. I didn't sleep well, and was up even earlier than I'd planned. I showered and tried to get ready quietly, but the room is small, and mom was up too. We got ready quickly, shoved the few things we'd taken out of our bags back inside, and drug our bags back to the lobby to check out...so we could check IN over at the Polynesian.

It was a quick process, and within 15 minutes of leaving our room, we were out front waiting for our Uber driver. He got there really fast, loaded our bags into his trunk, and delivered us to the Poly.

We walked inside and I went to start the check in process. She pulled up the reservation, gave us leis and then said, "Oh. Hang on." and called another CM over. He told us our room wasn't ready yet, but went with us out to valet to check our luggage for the day...then he took us back inside, and started giving us a little tour and walked us outside...Um, this is pretty unusual. This isn't normal check in treatment!!

Well, that's because...

We got some Polynesian pixie dust! We'd been upgraded to Club Level. Yep, we'd be residents of Hawaii and the King Kamehameha Club for the week.

Our CM (super sad to not remember his name) dropped us off with the concierge desk CMs inside the Hawaii building.

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They went through the whole spiel again, gave us MORE leis and told us we had access to the lounge. They didn't tell us WHERE the lounge was, so we had to find it ourselves, but we managed. We got some juice, and my mom got something quick to eat to take her pills with, and soon we were headed out to the boats.

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Early morning sun makes pictures a little imperfect, but it was a pretty walk over to the boats...even though we ended up going the most roundabout way possible - we'd learn our way around the resort better later!

We were on our way to the Magic Kingdom!

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I admired the view of the Grand Floridian across the water and was thrilled to see some monorails rolling by...

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The Magic Kingdom came into view, and I was feeling so happy to be home! I was very excited for my mom to see the castle for the first time.

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Ooh, another monorail!

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If you recall from my other reports, I live by the rule: If you see a monorail, you must take a picture of the monorail!!

I wanted to admire alllllllllll the fall things!! Everything looked so pretty!

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After about 10 months of having this tripped booked, we'd finally arrived!!

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Up next will be our first day in the parks!! How will my mom react to the castle?? That's all coming up in the next update!!