Poor Unfortunate Souls: So Wet, So Full ~ Updated 12/22: Day 8 - Complete & New TR!

[Dugette]

I'm glad that they were able to grant your room request.

That's weird about the cup though. What, did they run out of black lids?

Hey, nothing wrong with spending a large amount of time at the Poly. It's my favorite resort too!

That mug was just odd. Is red even a color for this years' mugs? And, yes, absolutely nothing wrong with spending time at the Poly!

I'm in! After reading through your fabulous "Year of Disney" trip reports, I'm really looking forward to another Dug/Dugette report! I'm especially looking forward to seeing some of your choices at Food and Wine this year!

Can't wait to read about your evening at the Poly!

(Do you think I included enough exclamation points in my comment? Good grief...)

I use way too many exclamation points in my comments too! Glad you've been enjoying all the TRs! More Poly coming right up!

The pictures from the boat trip were so nice! It looks like perfect "first day" weather to get you in the vacation mood. I love it that you headed right to the Poly. Why not go to the place that makes you the most happy?

I remember on our last trip we got the refillable mugs, and we thought we had been given the best gift ever. Apparently we aren't that hard to please.

Nice that they were able to find you a King bed! And I'm so impressed with you that you were at the gates of the MK and you resisted the urge to go in!

Yes, it was beautiful first day weather! And a beautiful boat ride. It was hard to resist the MK, though. Especially since the original draft of our plan had us going in for a little bit, but we'd cut that out because time seemed too tight. Luckily, we had the lure of the Poly to distract us...

The refillable mugs were fun. Not something we'd ever get on our own, but a nice free perk!

Love that you went straight to the Poly. It must've been rough staying at Pop after that dream stay in the Hawaii building before! Glad you got the room you wanted at Pop anyway.

Dug's cup is just too funny.

It was funny...we slept at Pop, but did a lot of other "resort stuff" at the Poly. It was like some sort of bizarre split stay. Hawaii really was a dream stay last time, though!

Disney is so detailed oriented, it suprises me that they let those mugs be put out on the shelves.

Me too! We didn't think to check the handle/lid color match until after selecting them. Dug just saw the lid and liked the red and assumed it matched the rest of the cup. Oh, well.

Oh, how I wish I was at Disney right now. Thanks for the pictures. I needed them.

You're welcome! Wish I was there too! It's getting cold here...

Just for the record...us Iowa's call it Pop as well. People always look at us like we're nuts

Funny! Come to MN, nobody will look at you strange! I find it strange when native Minnesotans (like my boss) call it "soda." Can't figure that one out.

Love the popvssoda link! According to the map, we are a mixture state of soda and pop. I say soda but my husband says coke......too funny!

Great update! I told my husband about your great check-in strategy, loved it, that will definitely be copied!!!

Glad you enjoyed the pop/soda/coke map...funny that you're a split household! Yes, the split up check-in works well, especially if you have a full bus!

I'm really enjoying your trip report. Thanks for posting.

I'm glad you're enjoying! Another update coming right up!

 

[Dugette]

We disembarked from the boat at the Poly dock and made our way into paradise. Our goal: Captain Cook’s. We went up to the ordering kiosks and selected a Grown-Up Grilled Cheese with Poly Chips and a Dole Whip. We paid and got our beeper. While Dug filled up a pomegranate lemonade, I filled up a Dole Whip cup as generously as I could.

When the food was ready, we took it over to the quiet dining area off to the side. Neither of us remembers this area, but it was very nice (and quiet, at this time). Our dinner:

I should mention, there were two halves of that grilled cheese stacked on top of each other, so it's bigger than it looks there. And, if you wanted a better look at that Halloween cup:

The food was quite good and we really enjoyed it. And here’s the area we were sitting in (we were in the corner):

Once we’d finished enjoying our meal and quiet corner, we refilled our lemonade and headed out down the hall. Not too far from Captain Cook’s, we came across the art gallery. We had really enjoyed wandering through this in the past, so we wanted to head in again. However, I didn’t think it would be a great idea to bring our drink in there, so we hung out in the lobby and decided to come back to the gallery in a bit.

While we were hanging around there, Dug noticed these on the ceiling:

Who doesn’t love being here?

We decided to wander through the store a bit. Dug saw some Hawaiian shirts he really liked, but they were just too pricey for us. We also saw something that reminds me of a detail I forgot at the end of our last trip (December 2010). Way back on our January 2010 trip, when we stayed at the Poly for one night, we had considered buying the print you see in the background of this shot from that trip:

Well, while Dug was scrambling to get our documents together to board the Magical Express at the end of our December trip, I was charging inside to finally buy this print of Mickey and Minnie on the Poly beach. Glad we got it…it’s a nice reminder of paradise!

As we left the store, I took a picture with this guy:

Then we just wandered around the lower level for a bit and took in the sights:

Then we headed upstairs and took a lap:

Themed machines:

They had changed the waiting areas for the restaurants since we’d been here last:

Pretty:

We made our way back down to the gallery at this point. Such beautiful artwork in there…and very unique! I loved all the ones of Mickey and Minnie—especially in Venice! So cool!

After our gallery tour, I got a quick pic with my old buddy:

Then we headed outside. Made our way through the pretty grounds and out to the beach. We needed some hammock time!

Up next: Hangin’ in the hammocks!

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Your pictures of the Poly are getting me excited for our trip to Aulani, only 5 more months!!!

 

[Sunset Cliffs]

I loved this update! The Poly makes me so happy, and your pictures were so detailed. I have not looked up at the ceiling enough at that resort, since I have not noticed some of the lights and the pattern on the ceiling before.

Is the Grown Up Grilled Cheese just a big grilled cheese sandwich or is there something else that makes it special?

 

[Dugette]

Your pictures of the Poly are getting me excited for our trip to Aulani, only 5 more months!!!

I'm so jealous! Someday we will get there! Sounds wonderful!

I loved this update! The Poly makes me so happy, and your pictures were so detailed. I have not looked up at the ceiling enough at that resort, since I have not noticed some of the lights and the pattern on the ceiling before.

I hadn't paid attention to the ceiling before either, but I even noticed that, in Captain Cook's, the ceiling had a leaf/palm frond pattern in it. Very detailed!

Is the Grown Up Grilled Cheese just a big grilled cheese sandwich or is there something else that makes it special?

Here's what wdwinfo says for the description: Served on multigrain sunflower bread with cheddar, Swiss, and blue cheese, frisee, and tomato. It was quite tasty! I saw it in another TR, which sold me on trying it. We may just have another one before the trip is done...

 

[Dugette]

We walked through the pretty grounds of the Poly out to the beach:

We thought we’d try to get the two hammocks next to each other, near the boat dock, but they were occupied with wet, little kids. But there were two hammocks over on the other end of the beach that were open. They weren’t next to each other, but that was okay. We made our way across the sand. Dug took this hammock:

I took the one you may have seen in a previous update. Dug took some pictures while relaxing:

A quote from his Twitter:

Feathered green palm fronds // Dancing Polynesian breezes // A moment of peace

There I was:

We both mixed relaxation with taking in the sights. While Dug was snapping pictures, I was videotaping from my hammock. It was difficult to really “nap”, because I really could have used a pillow. That rope is not real comfortable! I had dents all over my hand afterwards, since I’d tried to use it as a pillow.

It was really beautiful and peaceful where I was. I could see the castle from my hammock and saw some cranes fly by. There were some noisy distractions to my peace, though. You may have noticed a canoe full of people in one of Dug’s pics above. That group was LOUD. They were counting every stroke they took at the top of their lungs. They stopped briefly on the Poly beach before heading out again. Also, behind me, there was some sort of video shoot happening. We took these shots afterwards, so you can see what I’m talking about:

So, while I was laying in the hammock, I could hear them going through their spiel multiple times (note: boat horns will ruin your clip and cause you to start again!) There was a female host and a male guest and they were talking about how to work Hawaiian traditions into your entertaining. By the time I got up from the hammock and met up with Dug, I could recite their whole bit pretty much word for word. Although all I remember now was that the guy gave three tips for entertaining. One was about giving out little bags of Hawaiian salt to guests. One was about telling stories of each person there. I no longer remember the other tip. Oh, well.

Anyway, feeling refreshed, we made our way to the TTC from the Poly on the nice walking path. Some pics on the way:

Pretty blue flowers.

We were soon loading onto the monorail to Epcot. Watching the world go by from the monorail:

Up next: We finally get some Food & Wine!

 

[Dugette]

We entered Epcot and decided to grab a Photopass pic:

We didn’t get the CD this time, so this was just what they took with our camera.

We checked the times board and saw that Fast Passes for Soarin’ were gone. Oh, well, we’d just hope for a short line later that night, during Extra Magic Hours.

Our next stop was the Festival Center, to pick up our passport. It was in the old Wonders of Life building. As we approached, I was joking, “I can’t wait to ride Body Wars!”

We got inside and wandered around a bit. Got a passport just as they were putting them away for the night. (The passports just let you get a stamp at each booth you visit). Used the restrooms. Tried to find out a little info on the “cheap” seminars, but didn’t end up having an opportunity to do any of them on this trip.

We headed out of the Festival Center and took the Odyssey walkway into World Showcase. We ended up right by the Caribbean Islands booth. So, why not try it first and see if that Dragon Berry Colada is any good? There were a lot of things we wanted at this booth. Two foods and two drinks. We paid cash (room charge) for everything at this booth, as the foods were under $4 and the drinks are not snack credit eligible. Our general policy was that we’d only use snack credits on things $4 and up. This worked out quite well for us. We took our stash and found a standing table near the water. People were lined up in front of it, along the rail, waiting for Illuminations. Here’s our Caribbean treats:

The Ropa Vieja (braised beef) with white rice was very savory and good:

Dug loved the zesty Jerk Spiced Chicken Drumstick with Mango Salsa (I thought it was pretty good too):

The Frozen Rock Coconut Mojito was nice and minty:

The Frozen Dragon Berry Colada was of great interest to me. Last year, at the Puerto Rico booth (which was gone this year), they had a Frozen Torched Cherry Colada that I LOVED. I hoped this one would be as good, even though it was strawberry flavored:

Well, it was very good. Not as good as the cherry, but still refreshing and yogurt-y. I have learned that I seem to prefer drinks that are really just alcoholic shakes. Yum!

Once we finished those up, Dug made a run over to the nearby Argentina booth while I saved our table. While he was gone, some guys who had just been to the Argentina booth shared our table while enjoying their food. And they really enjoyed it…especially the beef skewer. I had remembered from last year that it was pretty good, but it was fun seeing people enjoy it for the first time. They took off soon and Dug arrived with our one snack credit and one cash item:

For the $5.00 Grilled Beef Skewer with Chimichurri Sauce and Boniato Purée, we used a snack credit. It was very tasty and we especially enjoyed the puree (white sweet potato). The Beef Empanada was also pretty yummy. Here’s the inside of it:

After that lovely “second dinner”, we wanted to grab some desserts before heading into Future World for Extra Magic Hours. At the Desserts and Champagne booth, we wanted to try the sampler and we discovered something that was an awesome deal for a snack credit:

That ice cream you see in front was Soft Serve Vanilla Ice Cream with Grand Marnier. Normally $6.50, but we got it for a snack credit. We realized, after eating it for a bit, that the best part (the Grand Marnier) was at the bottom. Enjoyable and a great value for a snack credit.

Here’s the Dessert Trio, which we paid cash for:

The Lemon Chiffon (bottom of pic) was VERY lemony. Too much for me; I didn’t enjoy it. The Tres Leches Verrine (right) was just okay. Didn’t do much for either of us. The one I expected to like, the White Chocolate Macadamia Mousse with Dark Chocolate Pearls (left), was the winner. It was nice and chocolate-y with a slight crunch.

Once we finished up our treats, we made our way back to Future World, just before Illuminations. People were lined up everywhere waiting for it to start. It was also around this time that Dug learned from his iPhone that Steve Jobs had passed away that day. He was subdued for a bit by this news. Dug did a little speech into my camera about how this wasn’t just a loss for Apple, but a loss for Disney. We wouldn’t have Pixar if Steve Jobs hadn’t believed in it so strongly. And his storytelling and imagination would have made Walt Disney proud.

As we walked, we came across the new Cranberry Bog:

Nobody in it now, but we’d see it in action later in the trip.

Lucky for us, going to Test Track right before Illuminations meant that there was only a short standby line:

Soon, we were cruising through the night at 60mph. We hoped that we could see some fireworks from the ride, but no such luck.

Next, in tribute to Steve Jobs, we decided to ride Spaceship Earth:

It was Extra Magic Hours now (9pm to midnight), so we had to flash our room keys. (On a side note, having a KTTW again was nice. After a year of having our separate Annual Passes and room keys, and the annual passes being low-quality and not working half the time, it was nice to have one hard, plastic card that did it all. Never had a problem.)

When we came off Spaceship Earth, we noticed that the Power City games, that are always full when we go by, had no line. There was one game that was finishing up in just a minute or two, so we decided to try it. It was fun, but very difficult to make the little pucks move with the sticks. Didn’t always seem to work right.

Next, we headed over to The Land to check on the Soarin’ wait. It was still long, but Living with the Land had a zero minute wait posted, so we jumped on. Once again (like last trip), we got our very own boat! We sat in the front seat of our nice, private cruise. I guess this is somewhere on the ride:

After our cruise, and enjoying all the veggies in the greenhouse, we decided to bite the bullet and hop in line for Soarin’. It was a decent wait still, but we didn’t really have anywhere else to be. We got third row, which worked out well, as Dug likes to take his shoes off when in the third row. Good Epcot-foot-pain relief!

After Soarin’, our only objective was to do Mission Space before heading out. Dug had done the Orange side a couple times, but I’d only done the Green (just once). I sometimes get headaches from spinning, so I had agreed to try the Orange side only as our last thing of the night. We got our tickets and went in:

We ended up with a couple as teammates who had clearly done Mission Space many times before. They were quite enthusiastic. They assured me that I could succeed as Commander, pushing buttons with the best of them!

I did just fine on this ride, though I feel no need to go on it again. I followed the advice I’d read about keeping your eyes on the screen, which helped. There were really strong g-forces, though, and I didn’t really enjoy that. However, I pushed my buttons at the right time (as did everyone) and we succeeded in our mission! I think we all cheered for ourselves at the end.

We made our way out of Mission Space and out of the park. It wasn’t quite closing time yet, but the bus for Pop Century was full anyway. We stood, as we had on the ride out also. Got back and made the short walk to our room. Once back, Dug went to charge the camera battery and realized that he had somehow lost our two spare camera batteries ($40/each) during the day! The plastic bag he’d had them in (within the backpack) was empty. He thought maybe they came out when he was in the hammock. We are cursed with camera problems on the Poly beach (see January 2010 TR for camera ruining). He also thought they could have been lost in Epcot. We’d try to locate them the next day. He just charged the one we had overnight. Right now, it was time to sleep. Great first day!

Up next: What's better after Late EMH at Epcot than Early EMH at the Magic Kingdom?

 

[reelmom]

I am so sad that we didn't make it to the Food and Wine Festival this year. We decided to take our October trip to Chattanooga this year per DH's request. We had fun but not near as much fun that we have at Disney. I miss eating all the yummy goodies from around the world. Looks like you had a great time.

 

[jc040404]

Yummy update! I can totally support alcoholic shakes. They're about all I can handle now. That sounds yummy, even if it wasn't as good as the other. F&W looks like fun.

Until this update, I never realized you had to do anything on Mission Space though. I just thought it was ride? Glad you did well anyway!

Sounds like a nice evening, minus the Steve Jobs news.

 

[Nermel9]

Great update! I love hanging out on the Poly beach...I really, really need to stay there someday!

I miss the Food and Wine festival already! We seriously did not try enough things while we were there! Everything in your pictures looks so good!

 

[SimplyGoofy]

Too bad about the camera batteries--what a bummer! The Poly beach sure doesn't like your camera!

Out of curiousity, what kind of video camera do you have? I loved the videos you posted during the Year of Disney, and am hoping to bring a video camera along on my own trip. Do you recommend yours?

 

[DisneyDreamerMN]

Your food and wine photos look so good! I am dreaming about going back there during that time of the year one of these years... We were there during food and wine last year, but we were with my in-laws and they weren't into eating around the world.

 

[LizGirl]

I can't wait to read the rest of your trip. I've enjoyed "getting to know you" through all of your old posts. I've been to Disney many times but have learned a lot. Thanks for sharing and contributing to my excitement for my upcoming trip!!!

And I'm sorry if my ticker isn't working. I haven't figured it out yet...

 

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

Bummer about the batteries, my prediction is you find them! Am I right? Can't wait to read more and find out?

How were the crowds overall? When you finally decided to wait for Soarin, what was the wait time?

 

[Dugette]

I am so sad that we didn't make it to the Food and Wine Festival this year. We decided to take our October trip to Chattanooga this year per DH's request. We had fun but not near as much fun that we have at Disney. I miss eating all the yummy goodies from around the world. Looks like you had a great time.

That's so funny you went to Chattanooga. Dug saw this crazy video online the other day of a surprise-Disney-trip-unveiling-gone-terribly-wrong. The parents had told the kids they were going to Chattanooga, then surprised them with WDW. The kids had a fit and kept insisting that they wanted to go to Chattanooga! Glad you had a good time. Hope you can get to F&W soon!

Yummy update! I can totally support alcoholic shakes. They're about all I can handle now. That sounds yummy, even if it wasn't as good as the other. F&W looks like fun.

Yeah, I'm not much of drinker, but it seems that most of the things I do like have a strong resemblance to a shake or smoothie. Either chocolate or fruity.

Until this update, I never realized you had to do anything on Mission Space though. I just thought it was ride? Glad you did well anyway!

As far as I know (being I'm not really the expert on this one), whether or not you do your job well, I think the ride's the same. Although maybe the mission goes horribly wrong...anybody out there who rides more than me know? All it really is is just pressing a couple buttons when they light up.

Sounds like a nice evening, minus the Steve Jobs news.

It was. But, yeah, that news put a little damper on things, especially for Dug.

Great update! I love hanging out on the Poly beach...I really, really need to stay there someday!

You should! But, even if you don't, hanging out there is still fun!

I miss the Food and Wine festival already! We seriously did not try enough things while we were there! Everything in your pictures looks so good!

Everything so far was really good! Not a bad start to F&W for us! Sorry you didn't get to try more!

Too bad about the camera batteries--what a bummer! The Poly beach sure doesn't like your camera!

It really doesn't! We actually still don't know what happened to those batteries.

Out of curiousity, what kind of video camera do you have? I loved the videos you posted during the Year of Disney, and am hoping to bring a video camera along on my own trip. Do you recommend yours?

You know, I actually have a really old mini-DV video camera. It's a Canon ZR500. Hard to even find tapes for it anymore, since everything's going to digital non-tape. It's not even HD. I think you can probably get much nicer ones now for way less than I paid for this way back then. It works fine, but doesn't focus very well at night. Does the job, though. I'd like to get something newer sometime. Our videos in the last TR were made particularly cool by iMovie's trailer-making templates. We just imported my video and picked out clips to fill in the blanks with...very slick!

Your food and wine photos look so good! I am dreaming about going back there during that time of the year one of these years... We were there during food and wine last year, but we were with my in-laws and they weren't into eating around the world.

Aw, you'll have to do that sometime! Such a fun (and yummy) Epcot experience!

I can't wait to read the rest of your trip. I've enjoyed "getting to know you" through all of your old posts. I've been to Disney many times but have learned a lot. Thanks for sharing and contributing to my excitement for my upcoming trip!!!

And I'm sorry if my ticker isn't working. I haven't figured it out yet...

Glad to have you here! Also glad we could share some helpful things. It's amazing that however many times you've been to Disney, you can learn and see new things in other people's TRs! I just had that happen today, actually!

Bummer about the batteries, my prediction is you find them! Am I right? Can't wait to read more and find out?

See an answer above (spoiler alert). We never did recover them. But some of the next updates, we'll go looking for them. And make many, many calls to lost and found! And not just for the batteries!

How were the crowds overall? When you finally decided to wait for Soarin, what was the wait time?

Can't remember for sure, but we think it may have been 30-40 minutes. Not terrible, but more than we usually like to wait. Overall, it was fairly busy and there were lines for food and attractions. Not awful, though.

Sorry I've been away for so long, everyone! I just caught up on a bunch of TRs I'm following this morning. I've been a bad DIS-er. Busy lately and we're hosting our first ever Thanksgiving here, so we've spent most of the weekend cleaning and shopping. I'll try to get the next day started when I can, though. Right now, I've got to make some lunch and do some more cleaning and laundry. No fun.

My one cool recent Disney thing, though, is super soft, comfy new pajama pants from Target. I got a good deal online (since I couldn't find my size in store), so I ended up getting two (buy one, get one 1/2 off). Here's the one I initially wanted and got:

And here's the bonus one I decided to get (and am wearing right now):

So comfy. They have a bunch of other really cute patterns too!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Mmmm, your F&W pictures are bringing back some great memories for sure. Although, I don't know how I missed the Grand Marnier flavored soft serve! I feel so deprived now...

 

[reelmom]

Good Luck for your first Thanksgiving hosting. Don't worry when things don't go just right. I remember my cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner for the family right after we got married. I was so nervous, and so many things didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. But eveybody had a great time and we now celebrate every Thanksgiving at my house.

 

[DisneyDreamerMN]

Super cute PJ bottoms! I know what I will be doing tonight...online shopping. Hoping they have cute tops to match. The snow was no fun this weekend, I was kind of hoping it would stay away until at least mid December.

 

[archdandy]

I just caught up with your TR. It looks like you guys had an awesome first day! I've never stayed at the Poly before but it looks beautiful! It's too bad your peace as disturbed but it must have been nice to be back

 

[Dugette]

Mmmm, your F&W pictures are bringing back some great memories for sure. Although, I don't know how I missed the Grand Marnier flavored soft serve! I feel so deprived now...

I'm glad you had a good time at F&W! Bummer on missing out on the Grand Marnier ice cream, though. It slipped by us initially too, until Dug realized that it was a high value snack credit.

Good Luck for your first Thanksgiving hosting. Don't worry when things don't go just right. I remember my cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner for the family right after we got married. I was so nervous, and so many things didn't turn out the way I wanted it to. But eveybody had a great time and we now celebrate every Thanksgiving at my house.

Thank you! It actually went quite well (and people talked about..."let's do this again next year!"). We tried to make it easy on ourselves by getting the pre-made meal from Target (very good, by the way) and then just making a few extra sides/apps on our own. And guests brought a few things too. Everyone said we could have passed the Target meal off as homemade, but it was super easy. Cook the turkey in the bag from frozen and then pop the sides into the oven for 1/2 an hour. Plus, we have a TON of leftovers. The meal was supposed to feed 8-10 and we had 8. We have enough food left to feed them all again. Lots of hot turkey sandwiches for us! I'm really glad that people had such a good time...whew!

Super cute PJ bottoms! I know what I will be doing tonight...online shopping. Hoping they have cute tops to match. The snow was no fun this weekend, I was kind of hoping it would stay away until at least mid December.

I didn't notice any matching tops, but maybe I missed something. Love the pants, though! I'm so glad the snow is all gone now! Doesn't look like winter anymore!

I just caught up with your TR. It looks like you guys had an awesome first day! I've never stayed at the Poly before but it looks beautiful! It's too bad your peace as disturbed but it must have been nice to be back

We love the Poly, for sure! So nice to spend some time back there!

Hey, everyone! Sorry I have been slow on the updates. Life has been busy and distracting, but I will definitely get working on Day 2 today. A few recent Disney things to hold you over, though:

Dug was at the doctor's office awhile back and saw this display:

Turns out that one of the reception people was a big Disney fan! Cool!

And, after Thanksgiving dinner, my dad and step-mom gave us some items that they decided to give me from my grandparents' house (If you didn't read the PTR, my grandpa passed away in September and my dad and his brothers just recently went to clean out the house. There had been a Mickey piggybank that I asked for and they said they'd check on, as it might be valuable.) Anyway, here's what they brought us:

The piggybank (I should have asked if it had any value, not that I'd sell it):

I love this well-worn Mickey on a tractor (hadn't seen it when we looked through stuff in their house):

And some books that belonged to my dad when he was little:

In addition to the Disney stuff, I had asked for the coasters, because my grandpa had made them (he did a lot of woodworking). They brought me those, plus a napkin holder he had made, plus a jewelry box he had made. Very cool!

Anyway, hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving and I'll update soon!