Sunshine and Rain...but no Snow!! COMPLETED 5/12

[bluechic03]

Subbing here too! Looks so relaxing at the Poly....Im here in Maine and could SO use some sunshine....today was our first day of really "nice" weather...sunny and 60! Your TR is making me want to go back RIGHT NOW, but I have to wait 9 more months

 

[California Jenn]

Thanks so much for the info on the photo shoot! It sounds like you got a fantastic deal and so much interaction. I'll have to see what they're charging when we go, but it seems totally worth it.

Love the photos of the resort --it puts me in that "poly" good-vibes feeling

The braids in your DD's hair are adorable and can't believe how long it lasted. How fun for her.

 

[sandym718]

Ahhh I love the Polynesian pictures! Did I mention yet that I'm jealous you stayed there? haha

I just adore it!!

Subbing here too! Looks so relaxing at the Poly....Im here in Maine and could SO use some sunshine....today was our first day of really "nice" weather...sunny and 60! Your TR is making me want to go back RIGHT NOW, but I have to wait 9 more months

I want to go back too!! We had a gorgeous day here yesterday - 80's and sun. But today it's rainy and looks like next weekend it could Snow again. Grrrr....

Thanks so much for the info on the photo shoot! It sounds like you got a fantastic deal and so much interaction. I'll have to see what they're charging when we go, but it seems totally worth it.

Love the photos of the resort --it puts me in that "poly" good-vibes feeling

The braids in your DD's hair are adorable and can't believe how long it lasted. How fun for her.

You're welcome. And believe it or not, 16 days later, those braids are still in!! They really don't look bad, but they were supposed to come out last night. We forgot before her shower (it was so nice out, we didn't want to go inside!), so they're coming out tonight!!


Coming up...our first park day!!

 

[sandym718]

Day Three- Sunday, March 27th - MK and Epcot

Finally - a park day!! Of course we were heading to the MK in the morning. I just can't imagine NOT doing the MK first, but in the future, the kids might have something to say about that....we'll see...

Rope Drop was 8 AM. I wasn't really thrilled about that. We're RD people - we know it's worth it line-wise. But on our previous trips, RD was 9AM. Fine by me, I can sleep until 8, dress quickly, eat something fast and be there for RD at 9. 8 AM RD meant waking up at 7 - the same time we get up at home. Not fun!! But we figured we'd at least give it a go this first day, since the kids wanted to do all 3 MTN's and see how it went. Plus we were in the room early last night, got a good night's sleep.

So up at 7, dressed, simple breakfast (mini-muffins, etc) and on the monorail by 7:35/7:40. We were meeting DSis and DSB at the MK gate. Well, too funny - they actually SAW us on the monorail. We stopped for a minute between the Poly and GF and their bus went right underneath or something and they could see DS with his face pressed against the window, LOL!!

We arrived, went through bag check and turnstiles (quickly) and we were just in time for the opening show. Wow, RD is much less crowded at 8 am than 9 AM. We were over to the left, so perfect for getting right in. A CM came up to DD and gave her this:

Mickey-head confetti to toss after the countdown!!

And then we were in.....aaah....

DSB was pretty excited to see the castle "for real" - other than from the monorail last night. So, we had a plan and we pretty much followed it.

First us, FP's for Splash Mountain - we wanted to ride this later. It was warm, but no one wanted to walk around wet all day. We then went to BTMRR - walk on, twice!! I went once and stayed off the 2nd time to take pics.

Kids love this ride!!

Next up was Tomorrowland. On the way over, we got a PhotoPass photographer to take this pic, my favorite:

We figured we'd grab FP's as soon as possible for Space Mtn, but there was no line, so we rode. This was a FIRST ride for all of us, except DSis. I never rode as a child. Our first family trip, the kids weren't big enough and in 2009 it was under refurb.

Well, I can say this - I'm glad I tried it, but once was enough. I get motion sick fairly easily, and not being able to see where I"m going=motion sick. I was OK after one time, but would not have been after two! The kids loved it though, and it remained a walk-on, so DSB and I stayed off and the 4 of them did it again.

While he and I were waiting, I remembered that Mickey was supposed to be in Tomorrowland. Looked at the Times Guide and sure enough - right over there!! If you read my dining report, you'll remember that DSB missed Mickey while at the buffet last night. So we went over and, with NO wait, he got his pic with Minnie and Mickey!! My photo didn't turn out well - too much sun, so we're waiting on the PhotoPass one.

We met back up with them and did the rest of Tomorrowland (minus AstroOrbiter). Stitch (first time for all of us - eh), Buzz, Laugh Floor (also a first time, very cute!), People Mover, Speedway (longest wait at about 10 whole minutes) and Carousel of Progress.

Speedway

Carousel of Progress- I forced everyone to do this one, hadn't done it since I was a teen. Well, it's strange isn't it? Does anyone else think it's weird that they skip the 50's -90's entirely?? And that the last seen is "present day" with the people in 80's clothing? Strange!!

AT this point the kids wanted Haunted Mansion, so we headed over there. The new queue was not open. We walked right on. The "hitchhiking ghosts" were still under rehab.

This was about 11:40 or so and we were all HUNGRY!! CHH was right there, so in we went!! See my dining report for more on that.

After lunch, we could tell the crowds were really beginning to pick up. But no problem, we had just one more thing to do that day and we had FP's - Splash Mountain!

DD was bursting with excitement!! She had passed on this ride last trip and regretted ever since. This is one of my most favorite rides, same for DSis. I think it's one of the most well-done, well-themed rides and it's long!! DH, however, doesn't ever want to get wet. Silly man. He and DSB decided to stay off and we took the kids on. They did get some good pics though:

As soon as we were done, the kids begged to go on again. I remembered we still had the guys' FP's. So, DSis and I walked them all the way through the FP line and then we took the "chicken exit". The kids rode alone (we watched until they loaded and then met them at the exit), which they loved, of course!

Now it was break time!! We headed to the monorail and DSis and DSB to the buses with plans to meet up after dinner in WS (we had separate ADR's this night). The Resort monorail was down - wish they would've posted that on the sign directing to walk out and around to get on the Resort monorail!! We were then (at the bottom of that ramp) redirected to the Express Monorail , which meant re-entering and having to go through Bag Check!!! Not very Disney-like!!

Back to the resort and it was straight to the pool!

To be continued...evening in Epcot..

 

[sahm2two]

great report so far! subscribing

 

[wdwgirl03]

Darn, I was hoping I might be able to see me and my sister in your pictures from the opening. We were also on the left, but a little more to the left I guess. haha

It is early but we kind of prefer the 8 am rope drop. That extra hour is actually really nice!

 

[sandym718]

great report so far! subscribing

Welcome, thanks for reading!!

Darn, I was hoping I might be able to see me and my sister in your pictures from the opening. We were also on the left, but a little more to the left I guess. haha

It is early but we kind of prefer the 8 am rope drop. That extra hour is actually really nice!

It wasn't bad - we ended up doing it 2x on the trip. I think the adjustment was hard for us, DD especially, sleep-wise, because we're used to 9 PM fireworks and 9 AM RD. So 10 PM fireworks (which we love to watch from the Poly) and 8 AM RD....less sleep!! She was crashing each night, asleep and snoring in 2-3 minutes. Luckily she slept a LOT on the drive home so she was back to normal for school.

 

[sandym718]

Day Three (continued) - Sunday, March 27 - Evening in Epcot

So after our pool time, we all showered up and got dressed and we were off to Epcot for dinner. This is where I started wishing I had made later dinner ressies. We eat around this time (6) at home, but I was wishing for more RELAXING time. We often didnt' want to leave the pool and then we were rushing to get to dinner. I'm thinking next trip - some later dinner times (kids can have a larger afternoon snack if they're hungry) and maybe some TS lunches? So we can tour in the morning, have our big meal and then be "FREE" the rest of the day? We'll see...

on our walk to the TTC (I love this walk at the Poly!)

So, we left with plenty of time to get to Biergarten for dinner. Except we waited over 20 minutes for the monorail at the TTC and then the lines to get into Epcot were ridiculous!! Seriously, does anyone know what the deal was this week with Epcot? No matter what time of day - morning, afternoon, evening, we did them all - we were entering Epcot, the lines to get in were crazy. It seemed like there was a problem with the finger scanners, though DH and I never had a problem with ours.

By the time we got through that mess, it was 5:55, so we were running to Germany!! We made it there just a few minutes late and you can check out the details in my Dining Report.

After dinner and getting a snack at the Karamel place (also in the dining report), we wandered around WS a bit and then met up with DSis and DSB.

DD was SO excited to stumble upon this, which we had read about and then I forgot about it. So glad she saw it or I never would have remembered to look for it - it's Rapunzel's tower from Tangled. EXCELLENT movie, btw, we bought the DVD while in Disney (it was released then), so DD could watch it on the way home.

We found DSis and DSB relaxing in "France". Belle is DD's favorite Princess, so we had to get a pic, even in the dark:

We decided to stake out a place for Illuminations. Where to go? Even though it's not the BEST viewing, we knew Canada was a convenient place to watch, and not too crowded. So we headed there. I can't believe I didn't get any pics of Illuminations, but I didn't!! It's honestly not our favorite night show. I could see us skipping it altogether next time. That mass exodus afterwards isn't really fun, either!!

After Illuminations, DD was EXHAUSTED. We headed to the monorail and DSis and DSB to the buses. All we did was crash that night, though I did enjoy some more reading. I love reading in bed!!

Next morning we were headed back to Epcot- Future World!!!

 

[jenseib]

I love your DD's dress on the walked to the TTC/at Epcot. Where did you get that?
My DD never ended up getting the braids. We kept asking her and she said no.
It looks like you had a great start to your trip. I think we always forget something. My case was I kept leaving things that I brought along.

 

[kaysmommie]

Hi there,
Loving your trip report so far! Your DD is so pretty and I love the braids. That would be great for my DD's hair and so much easier on vacation I bet. Your Poly pics are great too. We are very excited for our third stay there this summer. We tried a few other resorts last couple years but I have missed Poly. I'm enjoying your dining report as well. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip

 

[sandym718]

I love your DD's dress on the walked to the TTC/at Epcot. Where did you get that?
My DD never ended up getting the braids. We kept asking her and she said no.
It looks like you had a great start to your trip. I think we always forget something. My case was I kept leaving things that I brought along.

I love that dress, too!! We got it at Gymboree just before we left, so I'm sure they still have it!!

Hi there,
Loving your trip report so far! Your DD is so pretty and I love the braids. That would be great for my DD's hair and so much easier on vacation I bet. Your Poly pics are great too. We are very excited for our third stay there this summer. We tried a few other resorts last couple years but I have missed Poly. I'm enjoying your dining report as well. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip

Thanks for reading!! The braids do make the hair so much easier to deal with on vacation!

 

[annabug]

oh my goodness....i am so thankful to have stumbled onto your fabulous report!! DH and I just decided to SPLURGE and spend 3 nights at the POLY post Disney Dream cruise next June/July. We have never been there before, but I have spent extensive amounts of time drooling over pics and reports of the resort!!!!
we will be traveling with our 2kiddos
After looking at the map I hope to be able to request Tokelau also. My children will be 7 and 3, so I want a central but quiet location!! LOL..that doesnt make sense, but hopeully you kwim!
annabug

 

[sandym718]

oh my goodness....i am so thankful to have stumbled onto your fabulous report!! DH and I just decided to SPLURGE and spend 3 nights at the POLY post Disney Dream cruise next June/July. We have never been there before, but I have spent extensive amounts of time drooling over pics and reports of the resort!!!!
we will be traveling with our 2kiddos
After looking at the map I hope to be able to request Tokelau also. My children will be 7 and 3, so I want a central but quiet location!! LOL..that doesnt make sense, but hopeully you kwim!
annabug

Makes total sense - it IS central but quiet!!

 

[lovethattink]

I love how the flower looks like it's in your daughter's hair!

Great pics and report!

 

[jenseib]

I love that dress, too!! We got it at Gymboree just before we left, so I'm sure they still have it!!

!

I see it online. I'll have to check out our store then. I have a 20% off coupon too!

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Loving your report so far! We are staying at the Poly for the first time this August Your pictures are making me sooo excited!

 

[sandym718]

I see it online. I'll have to check out our store then. I have a 20% off coupon too!

Loving your report so far! We are staying at the Poly for the first time this August Your pictures are making me sooo excited!

Thanks for reading. You're gonna LOVE it!!

 

[sandym718]

Day Four - Monday, March 28th - Epcot and DTD

Rain!! In Disney??? No way!! On our previous 2 Disney trips, we had been lucky enough to not experience a drop of rain. That was not to be this time, but I guess we were due. The forecast had gradually been changing over the last few days and ended up calling for rain/storms for pretty much all day today.

It wasn't bad this morning, a little drizzle, off and on.

We decided to just go with our jackets/raincoats and not take the Dollar Store ponchos I had brought. I had planned to take my nice camera (Nikon D60) to Epcot today to get some great F&G Festival photos, but alas...not with the rain.

Breakfast in the room this morning. I think DH and DS brought back some snacks from CC's - chocolate chip croissant for me, cheese danish for DS, cinnamon roll for DD - when they went to fill the refillable mug. Can't remember for sure if it was today or not!

Being goofy before heading out:

So we walked over to the TTC to catch the monorail (we were meeting DSis and DSB at Epcot gate). Kids were REALLY hoping we got the Tron monorail. Now they know NOTHING about Tron. But my BIL had told them about it when they were there in early Feb, and they just wanted to ride it. Well, we got lucky, because there and back today were the ONLY times we'd see/ride it!!

The rain started picking up as we rode over. Once again, long lines to get into Epcot and we entered just as Rope Drop was happening.

I'm almost out of pics for this day - it was so rainy I just didn't bother to take out the camera!!

We definitely had a goal in mind this morning - Test Track. Kids' favorite ride last trip. We went there immediately and ended up riding it three times with no wait at all. once we saw most of the "movie" but the other 2 times we didn't even see that!! Kids had a blast of course, and DSB really liked this one! I can add a pic once we get our PhotoPass CD.

The plan after this was for everyone else to go to Mission:Space while I got Soarin' Fast Passes. it was pouring at this point, so they decided to skip M:S and we all headed over to Soarin - so we could do multiple things in there without being out in the rain. There was some pretty good thunder and a real downpour as we walked over. FUN!! The wait for Soarin' was only 20 minutes, so we decided to get FP's AND ride it!! We only ended up waiting about 10 minutes, so score!!

After Splash, this is my favorite ride!! I can only ride it once, though, and then have to wait quite awhile because it pushes me to the edge with my motion sickness. Glad it's not longer!! We ended up in the back row this time, which isn't as great b/c of the feet, but we still had fun.

We then rode the Land with no wait. DH and his brothers are part-time farmers and we have a large garden as well, so we really enjoy this ride. When we came out of the Land, holy cow was the building filling up!! Everyone had the same idea as us - go here to do multiple things in one place!!

We had never done the Circle of Life movie, but it was absolutely pouring, so we tried it. Not bad, pretty cute!!

Still too early for lunch, so now what to do?? We decided to make a break for The Seas to enjoy those things. RuN!! No wait for Nemo - I think this is such a cute ride. On our first trip, we got Dream FastPasses in Epcot. DD was too small for Soarin or Test Track, so DH and I took turns riding with DS. DD repeatedly requested Nemo, I think I rode it 8 times!! Good thing I like it!! We did Crush next. I LOVE this, but this time wasn't as good - the questions the kids asked (not mine, they sat back with us, they were being shy) weren't as good and that really makes the show. My nephew was chosen for a question on their trip and he asked why fish are so stinky?!! Crush said he didn't know but that was a good question!!

We checked out the aquariums for a bit and then ran back through the rain (not too bad at this point) for The Land/Soarin' pavilion to have lunch at Sunshine Seasons. You can see my review of that in my Dining Report. The crowds in here were just nuts!!

After lunch we rode Soarin' with our Fast Passes. This was one of the longest waits of our trip - about 20 minutes WITH the FP's!! The standby line was 90 minutes I think.

We decided to just skip M:S and Journey into Imag. and never did see them this trip - no big loss in my mind. DD had also planned to see the fairies today. They had moved inside, but she didn't want to go today b/c she was soaking wet. We did get to do that another day. We definitely had to do Spaceship Earth, though, even the kids really like this. We did that before heading out of the park. DH was getting tired of the rain:

We split up for the rest of the day at this point. DSis and DSB bussed it back to CSR, napped and then went to DTD for the night- dinner at WPE (that they loved!), some shopping and then a late-night swim.

We monorailed back to the Poly. We all took nice hot showers and took a nap. Now swimming for us today. We also headed to DTD for the evening. We had ADR's for dinner at Wolfgang Puck Cafe, one of my favorite places!!! It was wonderful once again, see my dining review!!

The plan for the night was originally dinner and shopping. With all the rain, I figured we'd just do dinner and then maybe go back to the Poly. As we pulled into the parking lot, I saw the movie theater and a lightbulb went off!!

DS is a HUGE Diary of a Wimpy Kid fan. He started the books last year and when the first movie came out (last March), he had two of his good friends spend the night and we all went on opening night. About a month before our trip, we realized the Rodrick Rules movie came out on the day we left home for our trip - March 25. I told DS we'd see it when we got home, unless we had some bad weather, then maybe in Disney. Well, even with all the rain, I had forgotten about it. As soon as I saw the theater, I knew that was the perfect plan for the evening.

DH is NOT a movie fan, any kind. So I asked him, saying he could take the car back and we'd hop a bus, but he decided to see it with us. We arrived at DTD at about 5:30, and the 5:40 show was sold out at that point. So we knew to buy our tickets now for after dinner. I can't remember what time our movie was- 8:10 maybe?? They said to come 1/2 hour early to get seats all together.

So we had our dinner, browsed a few stores (magnet store I remember) that were right there (WPC is right across from the theater!), and then went in. The theater was still emptying and being cleaned so we joined a line in the lobby area. That grew into a long snake. We were OK, because we were maybe only 20 people back. Well right before they let us in, this family joins the end of the line, which happens to be right by the doors. When we start filing in, they turn and face the doors and start going in. A guy about 5 in front of us tells him, No - this is the line, you need to follow it. The "cheating" guy says "We've been waiting a long time". And the other guy told him NO, we all have been, you're at the end of the line. The cheater then said "No habla ingles" and they went right in. Again, I knew we'd have seats, so I didn't fret, but I did point out loudly to DD how rude some people are and they think the rules don't apply to them, as did a lot of other families around us. They could clearly speak and understand English - they had been speaking it just fine AND they were going to see an English language movie!! Duh!!

So we enjoyed the movie a lot, it was a nice break for the evening and when we came out - Finally, the rain had stopped!!!!

It was after 10, though, and we wanted to do AK rope drop at 9, so we headed back to the Poly to bed!!

Up next...AK, DTD (again) and DHS!!

 

[jenseib]

Thanks for reading. You're gonna LOVE it!!

I'm gonna blame you! I went to Gymboree yesterday and bought that dress. I had a 20% coupon too. I picked up a couple of ohter outfits because they were on sale, plus that 20% off. So $100 later I walked out of the store. Then we walked down to Childrens Place since we were at the mall...and $50 later walked out of that store. LOL!

 

[sandym718]

I'm gonna blame you! I went to Gymboree yesterday and bought that dress. I had a 20% coupon too. I picked up a couple of ohter outfits because they were on sale, plus that 20% off. So $100 later I walked out of the store. Then we walked down to Childrens Place since we were at the mall...and $50 later walked out of that store. LOL!

Blame me

Not an update but I wanted to share....looks like we're going back in March 2012 - and we'll be a Grand Gathering!! Talked it over this weekend. Looking like March 2-10. The core group will be 11 - us 4, BIL and SIL and their son (age 5 then) and then our good friends - their kids will be 9 (their son and my son were born a week apart) and 7 for the trip. We'll be celebrating DD's bday and their younger son's bday on the trip - both in March.

We're also hoping my other BIL can fly down from 3/2 until the 7th or 8th. He's a teacher so he can't get the whole time off, but there's no school on the 2nd and he can take 2-3 days off the following week.

And then my MIL will likely drive up from Ft. Myers (where she'll be for the winter) for a day or two to celebrate DD's bday.

I'm not sure where everyone will be staying, but we'll definitely be at the Poly!! I know the main key for me will be RELAXATION! This will be our 4th trip in 6 years, we've pretty much done everything we want to do. We'll hit the favorites and I'd like to have a lot of downtime at the pool, etc. (hope it will be good weather!)