Texas Scootin at the POLY

[Redbudlover]

PRE TRIP MACHINATIONS

Day one http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=10358260#post10358260

Small cast: DH, Jimmi, 53, and tolerates a trip to WDW every four years or so out of love for his wife. Once there he enjoys it but tends to race from ride to ride rather than enjoying the ambiance. At 6'1" he tends to cover a lot of ground. He can be the funniest man alive and also the most pessimistic. He adores me when he doesn't find me exasperating. and he is sweet and kind.

Me: Redbudlover, 58, Disney fanatic, want to move to the Beach Club and live there forever - with careful planning for every hour of the day! I want to look at every flower, smile at every child, and amble from place to place on my short legs. I am a little driven, a little obsessive and also a little funny. Happy things make me cry.

This trip came out of having the money and the time to go. We don't usually take more than one trip to anywhere a year and this year we spent 3 weeks in Europe - partly to attend my youngest son's wedding in England in June. So we pretty much had had a vacation for the year. Jimmi certainly thought so.

"What would you think about a few days at Disney this fall during our anniversary? I ask. "No, I really don't want to go," Jimmi says carefully knowing I can get very adamant about Disney.

next week: "Guess what I saw on disney today?" Redbudlover
"What? Saw? What do you mean?" Jimmi

next week: Jimmi says, "It's 10 p.m. What are you doing in the office?"
Redbudlover from the computer, " Look here, honey, this is a great site - a bunch of Disney people on line! It is called Disboards."
Jimmi, "Groan..."

this continued for several weeks - Jimmi shaking his head and beginning to believe I REALLY want to go to WDW this year. (Hadn't we already gone twice before? He couldn't believe there were people who went twice or three every year.... ) Finally we talk and he wonders if I would like to go with a friend. I say yes and call all over creation looking for someone who might want to go with me. I am getting nos everywhere. Either it is the wrong time, too expensive, they can't leave their kids, or they think I am crazy. One idiot shared with me that the food was awful there. An hour later he really regretted saying that as I was still going on about seeing Tink fly from the castle just before the fireworks from our window seat at the California Grill. (due to my perfect planning, which I offered enthusiastically to share with him)

Jimmi began to make noises about maybe going with me, but they were lackluster. that is his way of not doing something he doesn't want to do. We talk again about my going by myself and I start looking into that. We talk again about why I want to go and whether I would have half so much fun there without him. He doesn't think I will - I am not so sure.

I tell him that the reason I want to go is that I NEED to go. I really do need to go. The trip to Europe was hard and stressful. I was getting over a herniated disc and it was painful to walk far. And we had to walk everywhere. And it was stressful vacationing where we didn't speak the language. And meeting my son's new in-laws. And falling down on the cobblestones in Amsterdam and ending up with a knee so swollen it wouldn't bend plus swollen ankles and legs with no doctor to get it medicated. I NEED DISNEY!!! I NEED TO GO TO THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH! I NEED TO GO SOMEWHERE I DON'T HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ANYTHING JUST HAVE PEOPLE SMILE AT ME! I NEED DISNEY!

I should have said all that at the beginning, my lovely DH said. Of course he will go with me to WDW. Now I remember why I married him.

The following weeks I spend cocooned in my office on the Disboards, so excited I can't think about anything else. I make a reservation at the BC and am dancing around about our first stay at a deluxe resort. A check doesn't come in and I fret and worry and then change the ressie to POFQ. I spend hours on the Disboards getting myself all worked up and excited about the POFQ. I agonize over the release of hours from WDW. I make ADRs. I change ADRs. I order tickets to the Party of the Senses. I order tickets to MNSSHP. I create itineraries. I change the dates of the MNSSHP. I order water from Staples to be delivered to our resort. I decide two weeks before the trip we can afford the BC after all when the check does finally arrive. I call with great excitement to change the ressie back after checking carefully on line to be sure it is still available. The BC is sold out! I get hysterical. I calm down and check other resorts. Several are available on line but everything is gone when I call WDW.

They tell me the online site doesn't really show what is sold out or not. I question that. I weep. I beg. They tell me the online site has a different group of rooms than they do on the phone. I can cancel my reservation at POFQ and and make a new one online, but if I do that I will lose my free dining option as you had to make ressies during a short period of time to get it. That won't work - I WANT free dining..... all my ADRs are made based on free dining!

More weeping, more begging. I believe I even mentioned something about a tenth anniversary and a herniated disc. The CM "finds" me a reservation at the POLY. I grab it and we are set! Though I kinda think they may have put "tenth anniversary" on the ressie...... It is two weeks to our sixth, so it isn't a complete prevarication (I like that word much better than flat "lie". So much less guilt.)

So off we go on our Super Duper POLY vacation - which started out as our Very Merry Beach Club Vacation, then changed to our Whoopee Doopee POFQ Adventure... ad nauseum..... as the plans for the trip changed and changed, the trip plan pile got there and the morning before we left I sorted through over an inch of paper looking for the latest itinerary.

It is Sept. 27th. We wake at 4 a.m. to get to the airport and catch a flight at 7 am. Jimmie cannot believe me when I race back into the office to post on the boards that we are finally leaving! We are scooping up the cat and dumping her into a cat carrier and dragging a very depressed golden retriever to the car. He knows what suitcases mean.

I have done the packing job of my life! with all the advice from the Disboards, I have my messenger bag, my green ribbons, my reservation for a scooter from Randy's Mobility - did I mention I had surgery 3 weeks before the trip? No? It wasn't important. Nothing would stand in the way of my trip. A couple of friends wanted to know when I would reschedule. LOL! Reschedule? And miss the trip? Miss MNSSHP? Miss the food and Wine Festival? They must be nuts. I had talked Jimmi into it, our tickets were paid for. for God's sake, I had ADRs!!!

A quick jump onto the Disboards and I was all set with an electronic scooter. Surgery PAH!

So off we go to my son's house in South Austin to drop off the animals, a quick hug goodby and we are in the car on the way to the airport! We are an hour and a half early at 5:30 in the morning, but you don't want to take chances on missing the plane to WDW!

The flight was uneventful - a short trip to Dallas on American, then on to Orlando. Our luggage was neatly labelled with our Magical Express tags and our WDW luggage tags and in good hands.

We arrived on time in Orlando and headed out looking for the Disney person with the white glove. Jimmi tends to be pessimistic and was sure we couldn't find her. "There she is, there she is," I yelled enthusiastically spotting her across the terminal. Now I feel great. I am in Disney's hands and all is well.

Sure enough, she leads us to where we must go to find the Disney second white hand and from there to check in. All moves quickly and we are being escorted to the bus for our trip to the POLY. Jimmi is sure we will sit on the half empty bus for an hour, but within 10 minutes we are on our way. ( During the course of our marriage we have talked a lot about his pessimism. He has worked hard to improve it and in many areas he has, so I give him lots of points for that. but when he is in a new situation where he isn't sure how things are going to go it gets the best of him. I have learned not to take it seriously, not to act on it, and to take it into consideration only as a degree of his anxiety.

The bus ride is great. I always forget how far it is to WDW from Orlando - and what a beautiful ride it is. Within 30 minutes, though, we are walking into the POLY.

WoW! It is even better than the video or all the pictures Tikiman provides. It is gorgeous. I was worried it would be too ho hum after all the banana trees and palms we have planted around our pool, but it is outsize and wonderful. Worth every penny we paid more for it than the POFQ. We walk over to check in and only have to wait for one group ahead of us. They take a lot of time but I am not concerned. I am in WDW at the POLY! And I know the CM will take just as much time with us.

UPGRADE! UPGRADE! UPGRADE! Oh, my god, we have never had an upgrade before! The CM pulls up a room for us in the building we had requested and then tells us we can have that room which faces the gardens or we can have the Tokelau building which is closer to the main building and has a view of the water. We confer like there is really a decision here..... WATER VIEW!

We get our keys, our maps, our welcome folder, our Free Dining! and with great excitement put on our leis. I coerce Jimmi to sit down by the entrance and wait for the guy from Randy's Mobility who I have called from the bus and who arrives in five minutes while I check out the lobby. I am so happy. Everything looks wonderful.

We get instructions about the scooter - it is really easy to operate and I hop on and take off. And boy! Do I take off! I have the fastest scooter in Florida! I am racing down the paths toward Tokelau. We are getting lost around the pools. Everything is wonderful. We zip up to the room after running fairly violently into the back of the elevator with my new fast scooter that has no brakes. Jimmi opens the door and the room is tah da... Wonderful! It really is. It is the biggest room we have every had at WDW. It is beautiful with great closets, a wonderful bathroom with granite counters and a full sized balcony. I took a quick look outside and saw a sliver of water - oh yes, the famous water view I thought. After I got the scooter parked, I checked more carefully.

Another Oh, God! Not only could I see the Grand Floridian from the balcony, I could see the Castle! I could see the Castle! And the Electrical Water parade would float right by us visible from the balcony as well. I had another stab of deep guilt over the ten year anniversary ploy..... but then the joy of having this room overtook me. This was going to be magical indeed!

 

[Miller1412]

Thanks for the great report! We'll be there next year, and even though we celebrated our 10 year anniversary last March, we may need another one.

 

[jennymouse]

Oh, this is gonna be a goodie! More please!

 

[Redbudlover]

Watch for more tomorrow! this is fun!

Redbudlover

 

[mommic32]

Ohhh My.. I feel as if I am there with you...
This report is gonna be a great one.. Cant wait for the rest...

 

[Redbudlover]

Review of Cast:
Small cast: DH, Jimmi, 53, and tolerates a trip to WDW every four years or so out of love for his wife. Once there he enjoys it but tends to race from ride to ride rather than enjoying the ambiance. At 6'1" he tends to cover a lot of ground. He can be the funniest man alive and also the most pessimistic. He adores me when he doesn't find me exasperating. and he is sweet and kind.

Me: Redbudlover, 58, Disney fanatic, want to move to the Beach Club and live there forever - with careful planning for every hour of the day! I want to look at every flower, smile at every child, and amble from place to place on my short legs. I am a little driven, a little obsessive and also a little funny. Happy things make me cry.

Once we had checked out our gorgeous UPGRADED room with the view of the Castle and the Grand Floridian, we headed down to the grill to get something to eat. We were starving! It was our first experience with the free dining plan. My word you get a lot of food. I ordered a hamurger and fries and a soft drink. Jimmi got a sandwich and fries. then we were told we "had" to get dessert. Well, no one held our toes to the fire, but the clerk pushed it pretty hard. So we ordered pies and sat down to eat.

The grill was pretty dirty, which surprised me. Tables were empty and not wiped off. Jimmi got some napkins and proceeded to wipe ours off. What a man! My b urger was good and so were the fries. The apple pie was heavy and we just ate the apples out of it. We have been dieting, though, and the pie tasted delicious. It would just be a warm up to what would come. We were now full and happy about our dining plan and began to head out to AK. The plan was that the park had EMH that evening and even though we couldn't see animals in the dark we could see the animals while it was light and hit the rides in the evening.

I was pretty apprehensive about getting my new scooter onto the buses, but here I was, sitting on it, and we were in WDW so this was not the time for the faint of heart. Off we go to the bus station, Jimmi free to walk as fast as he would without little short legs beside him and me on my hot red electric scooter. The first thing I noticed is that he walks wayyyy faster than I ever knew he did. Over the years we have had a number of discussions of what "amble" means - and what "walk quickly" means and we have come to a pretty good agreement about these actions. I now can keep up with him with little or no effort, though I do see him "catching" himself pretty frequently. Today, however, I learn just what a change he has actually made for me. The man is fast!

I have the scooter at full throttle, zipping down the empty path towards the bus station and having fun watching for kids and parents and maintenance people. The resort seems incredibly empty. The pools have only a lonely family or two playing and I see no one on the path. I am way ahead of him when I slow for an instant to check out a particularly lovely tropical plant, when Zoom, he has caught me, grinning at me as he passes on the left. My word.

"Hey, Easy Rider," he says. And we have the "word". Every trip we go on we seem to find something that becomes the catch word of our trip. "Easy Rider" was to follow me everywhere on my hot red scooter.

We get to the station and wait for the bus. When it arrives, Jimmi goes to tell the driver I will need assistance, but the driver is already out of his seat and moving to lay the ramp for the scooter. I am really nervous as I have been told I will need to back up the ramp. the driver says no I can just drive right up. with a great sigh of relief, I drive carefully up the ramp and banged gently into the back of the bus. Oops. With several turns, though, I was situated and the driver secured the scooter. Now I just had to drive off.

It is a long way from the POLY to AK. It seemed we rode forever and I was getting worried about how much time we would have in the park. We had dinner ADRs at the AKL for Boma that night at 7:30 and it was the meal we were most looking forward to.

Soon though we were at the park and the driver was moving my way to help me get off the bus. It would be my first experience with privilege - but not the last as the week progressed and Disney unfailingly treated me not just with courtesy, but with humor and friendliness, and kindness. I had been so worried about how I would feel with the scooter and whether it would spoil the Magic. Instead I found just the opposite. Everyone made me feel comfortable and secure and no trouble at all.

The bus driver came to the back of the bus before opening the doors for anyone else. He explained that unless he lets the scooter off first, the crowd would block the door and cause an even longer delay for people. He opened the door for the scooter and got the ramp down, then helped me situate the scooter to back out. Backing out was one of the most difficult tasks I faced in the parks, but they always helped me line it up and descend safely. My biggest problem was the world's fastest scooter! It was hard to keep it going slowly, even in reverse. I inched slowly down the ramp with Jimmi standing protectively at the bottom, willing to throw his body in front of my charging scooter if needed to stop me! What a man! I arrived safely and slowly and with no damage to my lovely DH. We were good. Off we raced to the entrance.

The day was sunny and bright and lovely and the perfect temperature and I was so happy to be at WDW. We make it through the examination of our backbacks and through the gates with no problems and begin making our way through a pretty empty park. We throw our park plan out the window. There will be no problems getting on rides today. We have no idea how little problem we will have all week!

It appears the handicapped and those using wheelchairs or scooters, are waved past the lines of people and to the front to wait for special boarding. A cuople of times during the week, special boarding meant a longer wait, but most of the time we went right to the front. At the safari, that was just what happened. We were directed around the line through a wider gate and right up to the place we would board the ride. I am grinning like a six year old! This scooter is turning out to be OK.

We see lots of animals on the Safari - more than we saw the first time we went on it four years ago. I was thoroughly pleased - it was especially nice not to have to worry about catchin pictures of the beasts, since we had lots of beast pictures from our last trip. We could sit back and just enjoy the sights.

From there we wanted to walk through Panganini Trail, but were told it was already closed for the day. We thought maybe that was a fluke of some kind and instead got our bracelets for EMH, (feeling awfully special) and made our way to the Tree of Life. I love the Tree of Life! We spent some time looking at all the carvings and then went to the line for "its tough To Be a Bug". I love this show. Jimmi is a little lukewarm and had not wanted to see it, but I insisted and was glad I had. It is a fun attraction.

We wandered then down to Dinoland, what had been the kiddie section our last trip. It still looked that way from a distance. Jimmi's back started hurting, one of the trials of being a baby boomer and trying keep up with those younger. I told him to sit and I would check out Dinoland. There seemed to be a lot of kiddie rides, but also a few that looked pretty neat. I went back to get Jimmi and found him on his way to me. We made a sharp right turn and made our way to Dinasaur. It was part of my commitment to enjoy some of the rides this time that we had ignored in the past .

Am I ever glad we did. This ride was one of the top three rides we went on the whole trip! Jimmi loved it! We should have gone on immediately again, but instead made our way further into Dinoland. We rode a bunch of rides that we really enjoyed, got lost trying to get back to Micky's Jammin Jungle Parade, and saw lots of pretty landscaping. I am a master gardener and part of the thrill of being in the parks for me is the landscaping. I ooh and ahh over everything. Jimmi is a good sport and is even picking up some of the expertise. I just love the size and perfection of the plants at WDW.

We stopped at the bench outside of Flame Tree Barbeque and agree the food looks great! And smells better. Jimmi's back is acting up and so we sit waiting for the parade. He went to a chiropractor before leaving for our trip, but even so is having trouble with his hip hurting. It makes him cranky. I offer my scooter, but he says he is fine and soon we hear the music of the approaching parade! I am flooded with happiness. I love Disney Parades!

It looks a little less than magical to me for some reason today. I am not sure why. It is cute and the kids are ecstatic, but I find myself people watching. We decide to take advantage of the parade to ride anothe ride and so go back to the Safaris, but they have closed now too. I am not happy with the closed attractions. Although I know they didn't stay open late on EMH, it wasn't even 5 p.m. yet. We go over to India from Africa and find the Trail there closed as well. Jimmi says he doesn't wan't to go on the Kali river Rapids - we will be gong to Boma from the park and he doesn't want to freeze to death in air conditioning. I talk him into splitting a root beer float to regain some of the magic and we head over to Tarzan Rocks. Halfway through it we are pretty bored - and fatigue catches up with us.

We started off this day at 4 a.m. after a restless night and it is now almost 6. I hit a couple of gift shops, find a wonderful gorgeous throw and a beautiful Harambe mug while Jimmi sits outside and rests his back. I wish I had bought several of those mugs. They are beautiful.

We decide to head over to AKL for dinner. We are pretty disappointed with AKs EMH. I know I have missed a lot of what I was hoping for from it, but have scheduled another half day to see what we have missed and I put AK on that list. If you decide to use AKs EMH, keep in mind there isn't much to do there in the evening.

So off we go. I zoom ahead with the words, "make way for the Easy Rider," from Jimmi. We get lucky and the bus comes after just a 15 minute wait. Lots of the folks are grumbling about waiting 45 minutes and are worried about their ADRs. But we get on the bus quickly - the Magic still with us - again with the scooter being manageable - crushed in with a standing room crowd of people.

I am thrilled again with the lobby of the AKL. It is awesome. I spot the gift shop on the way to Boma's and promise myself a stop on the way out. We make our way downstairs and see the first crowd except for the bus all day. I think everyone at the park came here for dinner! But we wait only 10 minutes for our table and are soon seated.

Jimmi and I both love Boma! He likes it better than the California Grill! We sample lots of the soups, salads, and spreads and then head over for the prime rib. We have a couple of drinks with dinner and have no trouble with the dining plan. They just bring us a check for the liquor separately. The people watching is terrific with guests going back to the food stations again and again. We see cranky screaming kids, quiet little kids and noisy happy kids. We see a grandpa carrying a little grandson a matching shirt with his. He carries him all over the room during most of our dinner. That is one proud grandpa!

Finally we are done and grab a bus back to the POLY. We are tired, sleepy, happy and ready for bed. The resort is quiet and beautiful in the darkness as we make our way to Tokelau and our room. I maneuver into the elevator banging hard into the corner. Easy rider scores again! Jimmi raises his eyebrows. Yeah right, he oughta try it!

Back in the room I open the drapes and see the Castle glowing blue in the distance over the lake. I catch a glimpse of the Electrical Water Parade wending its way past us and call Jimmi to see it. He is crashed on the bed. Oh well, we still have five days. I am here and I am happy. What a magical day!