Sit back, because this PTR is going to be legen... Wait for it dary! UPDATED 7/4/13

[Wanna be Ariel]

Wow, that is a long list! But there are a lot of good places on there. I was just thinking about Wolfgang Puck Express last night and how I want that margherita pizza. So good! It's such a hard decision with Earl of Sandwich and WPE! Via Napoli is so good!

I know that is a REALLY long list. Trust me it got cut WAY down. I am hope to be doing a update this weekend. Life got a little crazy around here.

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

Joining in! Love your PTR so far

We have gone three of the last four years in September and love it! The crowds are super low, and the weather has generally been really nice for us. It can get hot in the afternoon, but mornings and evenings are great! We usually took the afternoons to go back to the resort and rest or get ready for dinner, anyways, so it didn't bother us too much. I can't imagine going in the summer and having to deal with even more intense heat and the crowds. It doesn't sound that enjoyable to me, and I LOVE Disney!

We went last September with our 1-year-old and stayed at the Poly. We had an issue with our room that I won't even go into detail about because I think it was just something with our specific room and not the resort as a whole. But the resort is beautiful, and it has great restaurant options, too! It is a great retreat from the parks - especially when your little one needs to rest! And it was SOOOO quiet when we were there - like I"m not sure there were even any other guest in our whole building -I'm pretty sure we didn't see anyone the entire time!

I would definitely recommend taking advantage of eating at Kona while you are staying at the Poly - it is soooo good, and really convenient since it's in your resort! I ordered the pork chop, and it is maybe the best piece of meat I've ever eaten in my life. I am a total carbs person and usually don't care for meat, but at this meal I actually passed up the delicious mashed potatoes to save room for more of the pork chop. I don't think that's ever happened before in my life!

Ohana was great, too, but we had to wait around 30 minutes to be seated, even though we had a reservation. I know this is common practice at a lot of restaurants, even during low season, and not worth complaining about. And if I wasn't trying to entertain a 1-year-old in a super crowded lobby, it may not have mattered that much. But it was pretty stressful trying to keep him happy and by the time we were seated, we were pretty worn out. The food and service were great, so it might be worth it, but I don't plan on going back until DS is a few years older

Thanks for joining in. We can't wait to stay at the Poly for the first time. Oh no you had room problems. Maybe I want to know We are also looking forward to some afternoon breaks at the pool. Mason LOVES the water and I know this will a big deal for him. Thanks for the telling us Kona was good. I hope we will make it there. 30 min wait for Ohana with a ADR YUCK! I would not be happy about that. We are going to do a early dinner @ 5:00 I am thinking just so we wont have that problem.

Your little guys is super cute. I just read your PTR and it looked like you all had a lot of great stuff planed. Did you do a TR yet? I would love to read that.

I hope that you keep reading along, I should have a update this weekend.

 

[Dugette]

I stumbled across your PTR awhile back and subscribed, but just finally got around to reading it now, since I'm home sick. Congrats on your little guy! It will be so amazing to take him to WDW!

I'm excited to see how your plans come together and how your trip goes. We're planning our baby girl's first trip at the Poly (Garden/Standard View) this December, when she'll be about 14 months old. We can't wait. We love the Poly! So jealous that you booked Club Level! We were upgraded to Hawaii Club on our Dec. 2010 trip and it was AMAZING and really hooked us on the Poly. Hanging out in that lounge, watching Wishes, with free appetizers and drinks was pretty awesome. And just a few doors down from our room. We booked the Poly this upcoming trip for reasons you mentioned...the convenience with a little one. That's how we're justifying it, anyway!

I can also second the recommendation for Kona. We love that place. Especially breakfast and dinner. Yum!

 

[Fratthouse]

Thanks for joining in. We can't wait to stay at the Poly for the first time. Oh no you had room problems. Maybe I want to know

Well, since you asked (sort of) I will share - but only because I wish we had handled it differently and maybe that will help in case your room has a similar situation. I will stress that I really think it was a problem specifically with our room, because I read soooo many positive reviews of this place on the Dis and almost everyone has great things to say about the poly. So I don't want to discourage you from going there!! So our room at first seemed awesome. We were in Tahiti, which was far away from GCH, but super close to the TTC. We also had a theme park view from our balcony, which was amazing. The first day, everything seemed fine, but the next day we noticed the air in our room started feeling really humid. It wasn't hot, the air just felt really damp. Like the papers on our dresser were starting to crinkle up because they were so damp. And nothing made it better - we tried all kinds of settings with the A/C, opening the doors to the room, etc. It just felt like we were walking into the bathroom after someone had taken a shower every time we entered our room. At one point, I wore jeans on an evening after it had rained and the bottom of my jeans got wet (not soaked, just damp). TWO DAYS LATER they still had not dried out! I remember thinking at one point, "Man, I can't believe they don't have issues with mold if it's this damp in here all the time." But I never noticed anything. Until the last night of our trip. My husband looked up around the A/C vent and noticed all kinds of black dust around the vent - you can infer what I thought this was. He called maintenance, who said that the dampness in our room was just due to the Florida humidity, and that the black dust was just dirt from the inside of the air vents. He did offer to let us switch rooms, but since it was 9pm and we were leaving at 6am the next day, we decided not to bother. I will also note that we got VERY sick the day after arriving at WDW and got better within 24 hours of being home. In retrospect, I wish we would have just called maintenance sooner and changed rooms, but we were gone so much of the day it didn't really seem like a big deal. I'm not saying for sure that there was mold in our room or that that's what caused us to be sick, but I will just recommend that if you have any issues with your a/c, switch rooms right away Obviously most of the rooms are not like this or people would not rave about they Poly as much as they do! The rest of the resort is stunning and you can't beat the location or food options, so I'm sure you'll still have a great experience!

We are also looking forward to some afternoon breaks at the pool. Mason LOVES the water and I know this will a big deal for him. Thanks for the telling us Kona was good. I hope we will make it there. 30 min wait for Ohana with a ADR YUCK! I would not be happy about that. We are going to do a early dinner @ 5:00 I am thinking just so we wont have that problem.
Your little guys is super cute. I just read your PTR and it looked like you all had a lot of great stuff planed. Did you do a TR yet? I would love to read that.


I never did get around to doing the trip report. To be honest, the trip was kind of a bust because we were so sick and DS refused to sleep the entire time And because I was feeling so awful, I didn't take hardly any pictures! So it would be very dull We are planning two trips this year - one in early September and one the first week of December for my b-day, so I'm thinking of starting a PTR soon and then doing TR's for these trips.

I hope that you keep reading along, I should have a update this weekend.

I'll definitely keep reading along - I love to hear about other people's plans, especially ones travelling with small children. It's not for the faint of heart

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

I'll definitely keep reading along - I love to hear about other people's plans, especially ones travelling with small children. It's not for the faint of heart

Oh no that is bad That sucks that you guys got sick too. I am hoping that with the major renavations that things will be working better and cleaner. Let's hope. I hope your 2 trips this year will be better.

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

I stumbled across your PTR awhile back and subscribed, but just finally got around to reading it now, since I'm home sick. Congrats on your little guy! It will be so amazing to take him to WDW!

I'm excited to see how your plans come together and how your trip goes. We're planning our baby girl's first trip at the Poly (Garden/Standard View) this December, when she'll be about 14 months old. We can't wait. We love the Poly! So jealous that you booked Club Level! We were upgraded to Hawaii Club on our Dec. 2010 trip and it was AMAZING and really hooked us on the Poly. Hanging out in that lounge, watching Wishes, with free appetizers and drinks was pretty awesome. And just a few doors down from our room. We booked the Poly this upcoming trip for reasons you mentioned...the convenience with a little one. That's how we're justifying it, anyway!

I can also second the recommendation for Kona. We love that place. Especially breakfast and dinner. Yum!

Thanks for joining in. We are really looking forward to it too! How fun for you to be planning your own trip with your DD. I bet you cant wait.

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

Well I think I have a trip changing problem. I just keep making changes. As I started to make-up our family’s itinerary and I just felt we did not have enough days. So I did what any crazy Disney person would do and added one more day . Yep we are now going from 9-20-13 to 9-28-13. I really think I am done changing the dates (or am I ) Okay let me recap for you all just in case you forgot or just can’t keep track with all the changes. Oh one last thing. In order for us to add one more night at the Poly, I had to switch to a Standard Garden View room. Boo I know, but the good thing is that we have access to the Club Level till midnight on the 27th. Okay here we go…
Date-September 20st thru September 28th
Transportation- Flying and using Magical Express
Location: Hyatt at MCO night of the 20th, then Club Level at the Polynesian Resort (except on the 27th that is a SGV room)

All right! We can move on now. Since it has been almost a month since I have done an update, a few things have happened. We have booked our flight there. We are leaving MKE on Southwest (gotta love free bags) at 1:00 p.m. on Friday the 20th. We were able to book a non-stop flight which with Mason I think is key to a happy toddler. We then get into MCO at around 4:30 p.m. We are still staying at the Hyatt in MCO, we just have a little more time at night then I originally thought we would. I have to say I like this a little better. We can check in get settled and then go get dinner at one of the restaurants in the airport. I think this is going to be a great time and I am really looking forward to doing this. The plan is that we will still get to bed by 8:ish. We have not booked our flight home yet. I am not that worried about this yet. If I have to add another day on to the end of the trip to get a non-stop flight home I will. I am also hoping that the price for our there will go down and I can rebook and use the credit towards our return flight.

I am thinking that we will get up the next morning pretty early feeling very well rested. I also think that we should be able to get down to ME by 8:30 a.m. and be on our way to the Poly.


Coming up next: That long list of food is cut down just in time for my 180 day mark

 

[gracer9977]

This was my first year in 2 and it did get a little crazy. My DH are in both of the leagues together so that make it fun plus like you one of them is made up of all our friends so that gets a little wild too when we all get together. We do the draft at Buffalo Wild Wings and try to all get together at least ones to watch and talk smack during the season.

Since we are going on out Disney trip durning the football season it will be hard not watching football at all that day. I dont know who will have a harder time with it. Me or DH

I can't wait to hear about your plans too! When are you thinking about going?

Been off the dis for awhile. I know, totally crazy!! But I am back and getting caught up on everything.

We are going to be going Jan 17-25th. We have never been in Jan so it will be interesting. At least we will be done with FF by then.

We usually go in Sept/Oct which is right in prime FF time so my DH and I are always checking our phones to check scores and stuff. Keeps us busy while in line.

 

[blessedmom4]

I am so far behind, I just wanted to say...


​

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

Been off the dis for awhile. I know, totally crazy!! But I am back and getting caught up on everything.

We are going to be going Jan 17-25th. We have never been in Jan so it will be interesting. At least we will be done with FF by then.

We usually go in Sept/Oct which is right in prime FF time so my DH and I are always checking our phones to check scores and stuff. Keeps us busy while in line.

Jan sound fun! We are hoping to be able to get a BB for next year and we are thinking of trying Jan or early May. I cant wait to hear about how you like Jan over Sept/Oct.

That Sunday is going to be rough Trying to enjoy the MK for the first time with Mason and us checking our scores. Hope me and DH dont play each other that week

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

I am so far behind, I just wanted to say...


​

THANK YOU!!! That was very nice. Hope you had a wonderful weekend. I am far behind on my PTR AND trying to read other PTR and TR. No worries

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

Well Monday is our 180+10 mark. I have decided to let the Poly IPO book our reservations for us. I have read so many things about the new site and the problems that people have had making their ADR. I hate that I am not making them myself since I am the crazy Disney planning type, BUT I did not want to chance having a problem. That would make me CRAZY


So what did we pick? I know that you all have not been able to sleep since seeing that long list of place that I posted awhile back. I know what you are saying, “Jill, how could you possibly narrow that list down to just a few.” Well it was hard, but in the end we came up with a good list. So without further ado here is the list: *SIDE NOTE* I am not telling you what time we are eating or what day, you will have to stay tuned for that in my itinerary updates

Okay here they are:


HOLLYWOOD and VINE:

OHANA:

CHEF MICKEY'S:

CRYSTAL PALACE:

BIERGARTEN:

So there they are!
Since we are staying club level and this being our first trip with Mason we thought it would be better to make only 1 ADR a day. This way we can get the full benefits of staying club level and partaking in the food and drink offerings. Plus since we are still not sure how much or little Mason will eat or how much he can handle in a day we wanted to keep it simple. I still might add one or two place, (I will take my chances of them being available or not) but not sure yet. And we do have 2 days where I did not book an ADR. As I am sure you all know by now, I tend to make changes a lot.



UP NEXT…Starting to layout our Itinerary

 

[marDgreen88]

I think you picked some great places! I actually think one ADR per day is more than enough! Especially since you do have the Club Level option. It'll be nice to have to run run run to ADRs all day.

 

[starann]

joining in!

We will be down the same time you are, but will be staying at WL! My youngest DS will be 2 for our trip and I can't wait to see him with all the characters. He is a happy little guy, so I am hoping there is no fear (there wasn't when our older 2 were 1.5 and 2.5 on their 1st trip).

Can't wait to hear more!

 

[gracer9977]

Great choices for your ADR's. We usually only do one table Service Meal per day. Too tough to be running around trying to get to meals. We have eaten at all of the places you chose except for Ohana's. We really like Chef Mickey's, we eat dinner there on our first night. My dad and brother LOVE Biergarten. Course we are German....

Anyway love the choices. Looking forward to hearing about your continued plans and the upcoming Itinerary.

We are under the 300 day mark. Yeah!!! We will be able to make our ADR's in the early party of July. That seems SO far away but I know it will be here before we know it.

 

[Wanna be Ariel]

HAPPY 4th of July EVERYONE!!! I have not done an update in months. Life has gotten in the way of me writing, BUT I will be starting up again soon. We are down to 78 days now. I just cant wait.

Talk to everyone soon

 

[spiritsim]

Ok so you should have been there and back so did you make more TS where did you go? Love your little boy so cute did he love Disney......duh of course he did.