Stitch and Crystal do WDW - FINALLY finished~!

[WDW Poly Princess]

I decided to make a quick loop around the World Showcase. It must have been a really quick loop, because the time info on my photos shows that it was only 50 minutes!

I also hardly took any photos. I did, however, snap one in France:

From France I could hear that MoRockin was playing, so I hurried over to Morocco, where they had a pretty big crowd. I caught two and a half songs, including Nani Nareen (no idea if I spelled that right), which is one of my favorites.

I didn’t buy anything on my quick loop of the world, but I did take this picture of Morocco:

And this one of a pretty display in Japan:

And this fuzzy one of the British Invasion:

And hey, there’s America across the water!

And the tree! (Can you tell I don’t have any notes from this trip to Epcot, and have no idea what I did?)

I stopped in Mouse Gears on my way out of the park for a quick look around- I love this store! My favorite item was the pirate rubber ducky:

On the bus back to ASMu, I had a nice conversation with a family from Minnesota. Back at the hotel, I grabbed a chocolate croissant (yum!) and set off on the 37 mile hike back to Country Fair Building 6. I plopped down on the bed to get my photos from the memory card, and then ended up laying around watching the Lizzie McGuire movie so my feet could recover. (Yes, when you are at WDW and only get a limited number of TV stations, you too may end up watching the Lizzie McGuire movie. Twice.)

It was only about 10pm, and I wasn’t quite ready to sleep yet, so I took a walk up to the main building to check out the gift shop. I love the 50th anniversary antenna toppers!

If you look in the display case near the bakery section of the food court, you will see these guys! (I want a pair for my kitchen!)

On my way back to my room, I saw this amazing spider web. He was still there when I left, so I guess Disney just lets them stay!

I took one more fabulous photo of the Country building-

And then as I was laying in bed, I noticed something weird.

They were using 52-watt bulbs! Who has ever heard of a Fifty-TWO watt bulb? Weird!!

Coming up tomorrow, my review of ASMu, and Katie finally makes it into the trip report!

 

[declansdad]

Another fun read. Sounds like you had a great time.

 

[fabumouse]

You have a superb eye for detail and such a lovely way of describing it! Thanks for sharing all those great photos. I bought that pirate duck for my neice. Soooo adorable.

 

[MazdaUK]

I'm really enjoying your reports! More please

 

[cannp123165]

Brilliant Start!!!!!! I am looking forward to the next installment!!!!!!!!. )))).

 

[Canuckdad]

You have a great writing style -- I'm totally digging your observations. Can't wait for more!

 

[krismom]

You're sense of humor is exactly like mine. I would love to do a solo trip- I secretly dream of escaping my life and running away ALONE for a few days to WDW. Can you tell I am a stay at home mother?!
More reports please!

 

[goodeats]

I'm loving your reports! Keep them coming!

Hmm, maybe I'll get to take a solo trip one of these days!

 

[swankybeth]

Great report, I love all of the details you add. LOL about the zebra domes and you managed to salvage them too, good work!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

WHEW! I just finished typing up day 2- it is twenty-two pages in Microsoft word!

I should probably hand out awards to anyone who makes it through reading this whole report alive!

Day 2 coming soon! (After I upload all 173 photos. I need to learn to just say NO to the camera! )

 

[pixiedust23]

Great Report! I'm loving it!!

 

[Minniespal]

Fantastic report ~ Can't wait to read more.

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

Day 2- November 27th

Today it was time to say goodbye to ASMu. My own personal way of saying goodbye to a place involves a lot of photo taking. (Okay, there’s another explanation. If I thought getting my luggage *to* the room was hard, it was a million times harder getting it back to the lobby with the strap of my laptop bag broken! Thus, I stopped occasionally, and took pictures while I rested!)

I love how the star on the sidewalk echoes the one on the heel

I noticed for the first time on this trip that each level of a building is a different shade of the same color. For example, the Jazz building is light, medium, and dark blue. Now I know we’ve all made fun of the funky shade of green that the Calypso building is, but could someone please explain to me why that out of all the colors in the world, they chose to paint the Country building *that* color?

Funny enough, the line to drop off my bags at bell services was the longest line I waited in all week! The line at the bell services stand was at least twenty minutes- crazy! Every other trip I’ve been able to walk right up.

All Star Music Review:

Cleanliness- There was a nasty looking burn mark on my nightstand- it looked like a cigarette burn even though it was a non-smoking room. I was a little surprised that Disney hadn’t replaced the table.

Burn mark, actual size

The room itself could have stood a nice deep cleaning- there was dust around the edges of the carpet, and the bathtub was dripping when I got there. However, since I work in a hotel I’ve got a different idea of what a normal amount of wear and tear looks like, so by normal standards, the room was very clean. By Disney standards, it was a little icky. The resort itself looked great, no trash lying around, everything was well-maintained (except my room number star obviously needed some touch-up paint!).

Value- I took paying $100/night for a value resort a little hard, since I’m used to getting it for $55 with an AP discount, but I still think the resort is a good value for the money at $100. You’d be paying $70 for a comparable room most places across the country, and this room has the added bonus of being in Disney with free transportation, so totally worth it!

Food- I am now a big fan of chocolate croissants! I nearly made a trip back to ASMu later in the trip just to get another one. I really like the food court here- lots of choices, and they have a much better selection than the counter service places at the WL or the Polynesian. My only complaint is that I wish they would keep a few pizzas around during the busy parts of the day instead of just putting one in the oven when you ordered it, which meant a 5-10 min wait each time.

Atmosphere- Lets be honest here- if you’re staying at a value resort, you trade in the ambiance of palm trees and white sand beaches or a breathtaking lobby with a huge fireplace for three story cowboy boots trimmed in neon. Somehow, however, Music still seems beautiful at night to me. It’s something about the flickering streetlights near the jazz building, or the tranquil sky blue water of the empty pools at night. The magic of Disney resorts is still there, in the foggy windows of a cab sitting between the Broadway buildings, or in the slow fade of colors as the Jazz icon changes from blue to green.

After checking out, I took the bus to MK, and then hopped the monorail over to the Polynesian- I needed to go “home”. The Polynesian is the first resort I ever stayed at, and it will always feel like home, even when I’m not staying there.

Instead of just going straight from MK to the Poly, I decided to hop off at the Contemporary for a look around. As many times as I’ve passed through the resort on the monorail, I’ve only set foot in there two or three times, so I wanted to do some exploring!

I went down to the gift shops, and I loved that one of the shops (sorry, not sure which!) had large windows with a really nice view!

I’m guessing that rooms on this side of the building would have a similar view?

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

After sufficient wandering around, I hopped back on the monorail to the Polynesian.

In the gift shop, I nearly fell over laughing when I saw that they had a turkey (emu!) leg dog toy! (The one in the middle, sorry it’s blurry!)

I noticed that there were new light fixtures up throughout the main building- they were cute, but up close, they kind of looked like the designs had been drawn on in permanent marker:

They’ve moved the Wyland gallery to where News from Civilization used to be. I stopped in to look around- the art here is always so beautiful! The paintings have this quality where the moonlight looks real.

I wanted this turtle table for my house!

I’m not sure if I can explain this so that it makes sense, but this painting was in the display window outside the shop, and the image you see in this photo is actually the reflection of the painting on the glass, which made it look like the image was just floating in air.

I was excited to check out the new Boutiki shop- I saw a few photos online before I left home, and it looked nice.

I spent some time just wandering around the resort, drinking in the atmosphere. Man I love this place!

My favorite building!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

My main reason for visiting the Polynesian was to grab a Mickey rice krispy treat (breakfast of champions!) and just bliss out on the beach for a while. I’m sure this is probably the equivalent of pool hopping, but I needed some quality time at “home”!

Being shaped like Mickey makes it taste better.

Can’t beat the view!

Except that the view involves my ugly shoes!

I called my mom from the beach to see how things were going at home, and to check on the cats. Then I called Katie, and found out that she was on her way, so we made plans to meet up after she made it to MK.

While I was hanging out on the beach, I noticed a weird looking structure on the little island out in the lagoon. I used my camera zoom to check it out- it looks like some kind of watch tower, maybe? What do you think?

As much as I love the Polynesian, I was itching to get into the park, so I wandered over to the boat dock to catch a boat to MK. Ready for a confession? Of all the times I’ve stayed at the Polynesian, I’ve never taken the boat to MK. I didn’t even know where the boat dock *was*. (There are signs pointing to it, thankfully. You can find it too!)

The signs look a lot like this, but you would want the one that says “boat dock”, not “luau cove”. Just wanted to make that clear.

There’s something about seeing the resorts from the water that makes them look extra-pretty.

Even the giant toaster looks nice.

(SorcererDonald16 requested some Contemporary photos in my request thread, and I aim to please!)

When I got to the MK, it took me a minute to figure out what was different about the entrance.

Thankfully WDW knows how many people take pictures of the entrance to MK, and instead of just slapping up some “this train station is being refurbished for your future enjoyment” walls, they did this!

Main Street is set up with the food on the right side and most of the shopping on the left, with the theory that people walk on their right side, and that they’re hungry when they come in the park, and ready to shop in their way out.

I laughed in the face of this theory and went over to the Emporium on the left side.

Stitch stayed in the hotel room today (jet lag is harsh when you’re an alien), but I found his cousins at the Emporium

Of course when I started taking pictures, they started dancing around, making it blurry!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I love how the MK entrance is set up like you’re going to a movie. First, you have the ticket counter and the turnstiles, then the “Coming Attractions” posters…

Then you hit the popcorn and soda stands, and in front of you is the “red carpet”, that lovely red shade MK uses for the sidewalks:

(I’m not really sure where the horse fits in to the whole thing.)

Then, after you’ve made it past all of that (including the opening credits up on the windows), you come to the star of the show.

I was expecting to hate all the gold, but I really didn’t. In fact, I wouldn’t mind some of it sticking around, if they at least take off the “magic mirror”. (Which is kind of neat on a temporary basis, but I don’t want it there forever.)

I took 30 photos of the castle, and originally had 15 set to go in the report, but then I remembered my bandwidth, decided it might be overkill, and narrowed it down to these:

(Yeah, not a castle photo, but where else would I put it?)

Look, a spire with no gold!

Now, there’s this whole phenomenon when you first get to Disney where *everything* is just beautiful. Trash cans themed to the lands bring a tear to your eye. (Oh come on, you get mushy about the details, too!) Anyway, that is my explanation for this photo. The big bed of pink flowers was *really pretty*, okay?

I decided to walk up and through the castle, and on my way there, the cutest little girl danced her way in front of me.

This was one princess who was ready to get to the castle. I wanted to grab her hand and skip up the pathway with her, but people tend to frown upon total strangers skipping off with their kids. Instead, I went up to the front of the castle to take a picture of Main Street:

It later occurred to me how many of those people down there were taking pictures of the castle, and therefore of me. If there’s a girl in a red shirt in your castle photos from November 27th, that’s me!

I love the shop inside the castle, simply because it’s inside the castle. I like their old selection of souvenirs better, but the art stuff they have now is neat, too. For instance, you can buy a statue of Stitch!

I thought this Ariel statues was cute, too!

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

The mosaics in the castle are incredibly beautiful. I wish the walls of my house looked like this!

I wish this next picture had turned out a little clearer, but it’s just an example of how much detail WDW puts into everything- this was on a column inside the castle:

This photo is simply to show how freaking crowded MK was today.

Oh no! The strollers are multiplying!

I love how the buildings near the castle have a similar architectural style

And this one is because flowers are way prettier at Disney World than they are at home. Shut up, they are!

I knew Katie would be there soon, so I wandered around Fantasyland a little looking for a ride with a short enough wait time. Most of them were 30 minutes and up, but then I stumbled upon Pooh!

Only 5 minutes! Score!


But then I took two steps to the left…

Oops! A little longer than five minutes! Maybe I’ll just skip the whole ride idea and just take some more pictures!


Inside the Pooh shop I found heffalumps…

And woozles!

And look at the cute cash register!

With time to kill, I took a few more pictures…

Have you noticed the swords in the pavement over by where the Sword in the Stone is?

Topiaries over by the teacups

 

[WDW Poly Princess]

I like how if you come upon the castle from this angle, it feels like you’ve just stumbled upon it in the forest.

I seem to have gotten a little carried away taking pictures of Sir Mickey’s:

Katie called to tell me she was in the park while I was over by the castle taking pictures of random flowers. I suggested we meet at the Partners statue, and asked if she knew it. She said she did, so I walked back down towards the hub. I waited at the statue for a few minutes, and then called her again.

“I’m at the statue!” she told me, “Where are you? Um, wait. Which statue did you want to meet at again?”

“The partners statue. I’m there!”

“Oh! I thought you said the bench statue!”

“Bench statue? Um, Katie, that’s not a statue. It’s an actual bench. Kindly step away so tired people can sit on it.”

“No, there really is a bench statue! I swear! Hang on, I’m taking a picture to prove it!”

“Tell ya what, can you see the Town Square Expo hall from there?”

“Yup!”

“There’s a Goofy on a bench outside. It’s another kind of bench statue! I’ll meet you there?”

This is what I look like when I’m walking down Main St to find Katie, hoping that she isn’t erecting some kind of plaque in front of the bench to honor it’s artistic value.

This is Katie’s photo of the “bench statue”.

Ohhhhhhh, *that* bench statue!

“You are both welcome and encouraged to make fun of my shoes”, I told Katie before she had a chance to notice the Crocs for herself.

“Oh my. Those are… something!”

“They’re comfortable!”

“They better be!”

We walked back up towards the castle, and then paused to figure out what we wanted to do. Well, the answer was obvious- we wanted to take pictures in front of the castle!

The beautiful thing was that a random passerby saw us contorting our arms at odd angles, trying to take a picture of the two of us with the castle in the background, and stopped to offer to take the photo for us. Thanks, random passerby guy! We won’t even make fun of you for *cutting half the castle out of the photo*. Well, at least not much.

(We obviously both got the memo that it was red shirt day.)

We also had some photos taken by the lovely Photopass people

We decided to do Pirates first, but we are very easily distracted by shiny things (and short lines), and ended up on the Jungle Cruise instead. The guy at the front of the line struck up a conversation, and asked where we were from. When Katie said she was from near Orlando, this seemed to make Front of the Line guy happy, and as we got into the boat, he mimed “Call me!” to her, complete with cheesy finger-phone-to-ear gesture. And yes, we are one ride into this vacation (actually one LINE for one ride), and Katie is already picking up men. I’m so proud.

Our jungle cruise captain introduced himself as Safari Steve.

“Hey! I think I know him!” I whispered to Katie, who then gave me a look that said “We’re one ride into vacation, and you already see someone you know?”

We saw amazing things on our cruise, like elephants!

And whatever this blurry photo was supposed to be a picture of! (Oooh, look, jungle cruise plants!)

At the end of the ride, I asked So-Called Safari Steve if he was the Safari Steve from the Dis-boards.

“Nope, but I get asked that a lot!” was the reply. So, Safari Steve, just in case you didn’t know, there is an imposter Safari Steve out there! So-Called Safari Steve either needs to get a new nickname or sign up on the boards already!

As soon as we got out of the ride, Katie yelled “Hey! Is that elephant on fire?” and took off towards the fence. I’ve known Katie long enough to not find this particularly alarming. To her credit, she really did see both an elephant and fire:

What I did find disturbing, however, were these random skulls:

We discovered throughout the trip that Disney really likes to fill any empty terrain with random skulls. Just stay tuned, you’ll see!

There was some kind of bird (Don’t ask us, we aren’t botanists!) perched on the rail near the flaming elephant, so we decided to see who could be the best “wildlife photographer”. Here are the results:

Katie’s shot

And mine

Yeah, we both suck. But check out this photo I took of Katie taking a photo of the wildlife!

 

[heaven2dc]

My sides hurt from laughing - your report is great!!

Would love to bring you along on vacation - you'd fit right in with our "crazy" family - my daughter is our "photographer" and am showing her pics of your report, she has an eye for detail like you do. Can't wait for more reports!!

 

[swankybeth]

Great pictures, I just love all of the detail. Polynesian is my favorite resort too and now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever taken the boat to MK, just the monorail. Next time we stay there, I'm definitely doing the boat!