Poor Unfortunate Souls ~ A Spooktacular Trip Back to the World! UPDATE Reality Check

[Stefy]

Well we've been back for over two weeks and I've only just got started on our TR. There was love, laughter and maybe a few tears, but all in all a fantastic trip, for which we eagerly anticipate next years

So...............where to begin, I guess introductions are in order.

Hi My name is Stephanie and I'm a Disneyholic. I first tasted the sweet nectar of Disney back in 2007 and can't seem to stop myself from going back.

My favourite character is Stitch and favourite movie is Beauty and the Beast. Favourite park is a toughy, but I would have to go with MK as my first and Epcot as my second. I don't really have a favourite ride, but I love all of Fantasy Land if that counts.

Next up is....

This is David, or Dave as he prefers, who is also a Disneyaholic. I think he was the one that first introduced me to Disney. What can I say I succumbed to peer pressure as he's just so darn cute

His favourite character is also Stitch, sorry Goofy you just haven't got anything on this little guy but you will always hold a special place in his heart. His favourite film is The Lion King. Magic Kingdom is also his favourite park with PhilharMagic being his favourite attraction.

Right, thats enough of the introductions, if you fancy reading our PTR you can do so here, but be warned its alot of pages Doin' it in Style @ The Poly

 

[KatMark]

I'm here, Stefy, and can't wait to read all about it and see all of your pictures.

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Finally!! I'm ready!

 

[Mickey_Mom]

Haven't even read your post on my PTR yet, saw your link and hopped over!!! Now going back to read the start of this one too.

 

[Stefy]

Guess we'd better get this party started then.

Arrival Day - Wednesday September 29th
The day had finally come, after months of planning and posting on the Disboards we were finally on our way to Walt Disney World.

My dad had kindly offered to take us to the airport, which was fab, saved on the cab fare Our plane didn't take off until 1pm, but we left around 8am so we could get there bright and early and get the bit and pieces we generally tend to get before flying.

Our first stop was Pret-a-Manger for one of these babies

Latte's, which are now my new favourite beverage, next to peppermint hot chocolates from Starbucks

I remember me and Dave sat there discussing all things Disney and also trying to work out who else in the airport might be going to Florida.

After all the shopping was done and our gate opened up, we made our way over to the gate. Now this is something we don't normally see when we get to our gate as we usually have to wait in a long line and then get searched when we get to the front.

So there we sat waiting, until it was time to board. Once on board we received our complimentary drinks. Dave had champers, whilst I went for an apple juice.

Not bad legroom for Premium, so worth the extra money.

I'm stretched out to my fullest there.

We had a little hiccup before take off, but nothing too major. There were some seats down in Economy that appeared to be broken and the just as the pilot was leaving the dock he got the call and announced over the tannoy that we would have to redock and see if an engineer could fix or if we would have to leave the plane. Thankfully, the engineer fixed it and we were off on our merry way.

I don't think I watched any movies on this trip, apart from Eclipse, but they had a good selection such as Princess and the Frog, Toy Story 3 etc

We checked out our menu selection which was pretty good.

I went for the braised beef and mash, whilst Dave went for the chicken tikka

Dave of course had to have another beer.

Yay we're nearly there

All in all not a bad flight, apart from the flatulent food intolerant man in front of me who did not stop farting!!! It was sooooooooooo disgusting I wanted to shove a cork up his bum and tell him to go to the bathroom as it smelt like he needed to do a No. 2

Next up our Magical Express Transportation

 

[Stefy]

Finally!! I'm ready!

Yay you made it and your first too

Haven't even read your post on my PTR yet, saw your link and hopped over!!! Now going back to read the start of this one too.

Yay, thanks for coming over Ignore my comment to yours on your PTR, I wasn't getting notifications for some reason

 

[KatMark]

Nice start, Stefy. How nice that you get a menu on your flight and can choose your food. That is just about the guy sitting in front of you. I don't think I could have stood that without saying something.

 

[KatMark]

Yay you made it and your first too



Yay, thanks for coming over Ignore my comment to yours on your PTR, I wasn't getting notifications for some reason

Excuse me....but I was first...you missed me.

 

[disneybarbie]

I'm here! can't wait to hear all about the trip... it was great following you two on Twitter/Facebook during the trip.. but a proper TR can't be beaten

Great to see you photos & thought on Premium Economy, since I just booked it for Honeymoon! fingers crossed 'that guy' isn't on our flight lol


Emma x

 

[Stefy]

Nice start, Stefy. How nice that you get a menu on your flight and can choose your food. That is just about the guy sitting in front of you. I don't think I could have stood that without saying something.

Thanks for stopping by :

The food was pretty good and dessert was a blackcurrant mousse which was nice, but a bit dry on the throat after a while. Most long haul flights from the UK get to choose from a menu, esp the prices we pay too.

Oh man he was so disgusting, I wish we had said something, but I think after a while his wife noticed how sick and green I looked (luckily I had my scarf to cover my face with) that she must have said something as towards the end of the flight it wasn't to bad.

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

I'm here! Glad that I made the first page!!!

 

[Stefy]

I'm here! Glad that I made the first page!!!

Yay you made it Am signed in too fyi

Dave said to tell Joe that Walking Dead is on AMC tonight and he must watch it because it is frickin@ epically awesome

 

[JMat]

Excellent Welcome back and Im in for the TR! Great so far!

 

[OhioDisneyLover]

Yay you made it Am signed in too fyi

Dave said to tell Joe that Walking Dead is on AMC tonight and he must watch it because it is frickin@ epically awesome

I'm signed in too.

 

[Soopafly]

Woohoo I'm in, can't wait to re-live the trip hehe

 

[Stefy]

Finally after 7hr30mins we touched down in Orlando We braced ourselves for the hour long wait at Customs, but to our surprise there was no line at all Think it might have had something to do with getting off the plane first

Off we trotted to our custom agent, together this time as we both live together now. Dave got through no problems, then it was my turn. I think my passport must have broken the computer as it froze somehow. But luckily after 5mins it was up and running and we were on our way.

We decided to collect our bags and keep them, rather than collect and drop, as we thought we got them we might as well keep them, rather than wait ages for ME to deliver it.

Manoeuvring 4 suitcases is not an easy job I tell you, esp when we hit the mob for the fake monorail. Man that place was packed, must have had two plane loads there or something.

After a short ride we made it to the main part of the airport and headed over to the ME desk. Nice short line, checked us in no probs and away we went. I didn't get a pic of the bus, must get that next time, but we did manage to snag the front seat behind the driver. Once everyone was on board we were off.

Awesomely the first stop was the Polynesian, this was where I started to get all giddy and Our driver was really cool he slowed right down to nearly stopping point so everyone could get a picture of this lovely wonder

Note the lovebug infested window, all everyone could get picture wise was them, kept focusing on the little critters. Funny fact for you, we hardly saw any lovebugs on this trip, which was weird. Must have been the heat, to hot to handle!

and then we saw this wonderful sign and knew we were nearly home

Once we arrived at the Poly we hot footed it over to Check In, but got a little confused as to where to go as there were signs for CL and Online Check In. A CM beckoned us over and checked us in. I asked if there were any third floor balcony rooms available and he rang and checked for us, said one was available. Keys printed and map marked we headed off to go find our LH. The CM showed us a nice short cut through Rarotonga. As we were walking along I thought I had better get the keycards out, so I searched and searched and then dumped my whole bag out to discover that I had lost the keys Dave had to leave me standing in the middle of the corridor whilst he ran back to GCH to look for them. Apparently we had left them on the counter and a CM had destroyed them, so they printed another set.

Key crisis averted we made our way to (now we arrived in the evening, this pic was taken on our resort day).

We discovered early on what an awesome location this LH is in. Minutes from GCH and a 5min walk to TTC. Our room was also at the end of the LH near the stairs which was another plus, meant we only had one person on one side of us.

Oblig door pic

Now I must confess, we weren't very forthcoming with the room pics, but let me tell you they are awesome, huge and v comfortable. My only qualm is that the lighting during the day isn't very good.

This was how excited I was, I even took a pic of the TV showing Barney from How I Met Your Mother

So once we were settled, we decided to head down to Captain Cooks to get some food. Gotta admit that I am not a huge fan of the place, doesn't have enough food options to choose from. But its good enough for a resort meal if you fancied it so.

The system was quite easy to use once you got the hang of it. We ended up ordering one meal as we weren't that hungry but thought we should eat something. We got the Aloha Pork Sandwich which was delish

Tummys full we wandered on over to the beach and grabbed a lounger to settle down and wait for Wishes. At this point I wasn't too fussed as I was knackered, but we said we would we watch it on the first night and watch it we did. We are firework converts now and love watching them and the music

We didn't go snap happy as we only had our phones.

Cntd...

 

[Stefy]

After experiencing Wishes for the first time we went made our way back to our room with big smiles and a warm fuzzy feeling in our hearts, ready for our first full day at the most magical place on earth. But not before stopping off at reception to see if we had any deliveries (Garden Grocer).

They came out with two gift baskets and our groceries, we had to ask them to get bell services to bring them over in the end as it was too much to carry.

They were such a wonderful surprise, we were well chuffed. Was a perfect start to our vacation.

We got a lovely basket from our good friends Sophia and Joe

We had some yummy chocolates, some cheeses, sauces and crackers and sparkling wine which tasted delish. Thank you guys again it was such a wonderful surprise

The other basket was Halloween themed from our other good friends Karin and Tom.

It was rice krispie Mickey overload, but very cool. A perfect way to start off Halloween Thank you again guys, was lovely of you to think of us

Next up Magic Kingdom in all its glory

 

[Stefy]

Excellent Welcome back and Im in for the TR! Great so far!

Thanks for stopping by Lots more to come, stay tuned

Woohoo I'm in, can't wait to re-live the trip hehe

Hey you

 

[NikkiLovesWDW!]

Wow, what nice friends you have to send you those baskets!!

SCORE on the first seat behind the driver on ME! We always try to get those seats. Makes for the best pictures of the sign!

Can't believe the flight is over 7 hours!! When it showed 2 1/2 hours and you said "almost there," I was like The flight is only 2 hours TOTAL from NJ...well maybe a little more...

Oh Tokelau!! That's the LH we were in on our honeymoon! We had 3rd floor pool view too, but from your pic, I can tell we were further into the building. Wouldn't that have been funny if we were in the same room?!

Sounds like things went very smoothly for your arrival day (minus the key card mini-crisis) and so nice to end the first day with Wishes from the Poly beach!

Can't wait to hear more!!!!

 

[KatMark]

Love the room pics (I do love the Poly) and the pictures from the beach. The best way to watch Wishes in my opinion (no crowds).

Love the gift basket from Sophia & Joe (can't wait until you meet them) and Karin & Tom. Wonderfu, wonderful people -- all four of them.