The Prius & The Poly Trip Report **Updated 10/31 What I Learned...**

[Bridora]

I really wanna know how you fit all that luggage (and kids) into a prius??!!

Only I can't find the actual 'loaded Prius' pic. It must be on Max's computer. I'll check for it at home...

One has snacks/breakfast items, the other has big toiletries, shampoo, conditioner, sunscreen, etc.

They fit perfectly down here, and get all closed up...and it's like they're not even there!

This is our 'on the road' snack bag.

It goes here, in the passenger side floor. Easy access!

And when I get the luggage picture, I'll add it, too!

 

[Bridora]

When last I wrote I promised food pictures. Not that they are not on the way, but it seems I got ahead of myself. Apparently, before we had DINNER at Coral Reef, we had a full day of the Magic Kingdom. And I cannot trip report out of order!

Day 2 in the parks had dawned. The plan: head to Magic Kingdom until mid to late afternoon. Return to our room to freshen up, then on to Epcot for that Coral Reef dinner.

The Duck Family was out and about early. I took several more pictures of them, but I will spare you!

After our in-room breakfast we hopped aboard the Monorail and arrived at the Magic Kingdom.

Ahhhhhhhh, now that is what I call ‘Disney World’!

This year, our first ride in the Magic Kingdom was:

Allison & Luke: ready to ride!

We don’t do specific Touring Plans. We just kind of go with the flow, see what wait times are, and make our decisions that way. Therefore, Mickey’s PhilharMagic was next!

I love this show! It’s really one of my favorites. We see it every trip.

After that it was Cinderella’s Golden Carousel time…Allison got to ride Cinderella’s horse. It is the one with the golden ribbon on it’s tail.

We were getting hungry by this point. It was up to Max to choose between Columbia Harbor House and Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café. His choice?

Which was mine, too! Good thinking, eh?

We sat in the area that is above the walkway between Fantasyland and Liberty Square. We found this place a year or two ago. It is so much fun to sit up there and people watch! I had the Lighthouse Sandwich. I ALWAYS have the Lighthouse Sandwich--hummus & broccoli slaw--very yummy. No picture! Max had the Fried Fish Basket. He loves to drown his fish sticks in malt vinegar! I’m not sure what Allison & Luke had. They may not have had anything here…they were on a ‘not hungry at lunch’ kick.

When we left Columbia Harbor House we headed straight to the Haunted Mansion! Love that place! When we came out, we spied Donald Duck in his Frontier Garb. We just had to say hello!

According to my pictures we took a ride on Big Thunder Mountain Railroad then.

After that, we hoofed it over to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Oh yeah, I love that one, too!

The kids stopped to play in the Tiki Zone (does it have a real name?) while Max purchased us some water.

We decided to drop in on the Robinsons while passing through. The Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse is yet another favorite of mine. Can one have too many favorites? Please tell me if so…

I stopped to watch this guy, soarin’ past.

It always seems that we move too fast through this place. Allison & Luke just love all the stairs, twists, & turns. They just keep going. They never want to stop to look or read anything!! I am taking almost all of these pictures on the run!

We hit the hub, then, heading for Tomorrowland. But this is going on and so we stop to watch:

It was a cute show, but we missed the beginning.

Heading straight for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, we were!

Max’s score. We were paused for a bit & I snapped a picture!

On our way to the Carousel of Progress we got to meet Buzz himself!

Allison & Luke don’t even mind this one!

I like to embarrass them and wave goodbye at the end of each scene! “Stop it, Mommy!”

Continued Next Post…..

 

[Bridora]

Then, it is time. We must face the reality.

While facing reality, and being generally sad, we heard a commotion. It turned out to be the ill-fated Stitch Stage Show. We stopped to watch for a moment under the TTA tracks.

Allison & Luke weren’t too interested, however. We ended up leaving just before Stitch-as-Elvis showed up. Oh well….but there won’t be a next time for that one.

We took the super secret walkway between Tomorrowland and Mickey’s Toontown Fair. It was even more secretive, I think, because of the Space Mountain refurb. We hopped on the Train and rode around to Frontierland.

We had Fastpasses for Splash Mountain, baby!

We had timed that just right. It was then time to go back to our room to get ready for Epcot and the Coral Reef!

 

[shannon47142]

what a fun day at Magic Kingdom!!

 

[princess_momma]

Yay!! I love your updates again!! So glad to see you back! I can only imagine how much catch up you are having to play!!

I loved the first picture you posted of MK...the clouds look so perfect they almost look fake. The monorail shot is AWESOME!! I love it! i don't think I've seen any from that perspective!! And once again Luke cracked me up when he was showing how wet he got on Splash Mountain!

How was the family reunion too? If you have any good pictures from that perhaps you could do a mini TR of it within a TR?

 

[stacikristine]

How fun!! It sounds like you had a great first MK day!! Your kids are really cute! And I really like the pic of you on the carousel! I can't wait to hear about Coral Reef--we're eating there in Sept

 

[Bridora]

what a fun day at Magic Kingdom!!

Thanks! It was fun!

Yay!! I love your updates again!! So glad to see you back! I can only imagine how much catch up you are having to play!!

I loved the first picture you posted of MK...the clouds look so perfect they almost look fake. The monorail shot is AWESOME!! I love it! i don't think I've seen any from that perspective!! And once again Luke cracked me up when he was showing how wet he got on Splash Mountain!

How was the family reunion too? If you have any good pictures from that perhaps you could do a mini TR of it within a TR?

Thanks, I love taking pictures! Max does, too. We usually end up with some pretty neat shots between the two of us! Family reunion was great...AND i found the shot of the loaded Prius, I just have to load it up! I will surely post some pics for you, but I am going to wait on that a bit!

How fun!! It sounds like you had a great first MK day!! Your kids are really cute! And I really like the pic of you on the carousel! I can't wait to hear about Coral Reef--we're eating there in Sept

Thank you, thank you! The food was very good at Coral Reef. I've got pictures coming right up!

 

[Bridora]

Tuesday evening we headed out to Epcot for dinner at Coral Reef. We had never been here before. We had never even seen the restaurant. We had only heard tale. As it turns out, it was very easy to find.

When you get to the Seas with Nemo and Friends, turn right. You’ll end up right there at Coral Reef. Which explains why we’ve never passed it before: we thought it was a dead end!

Man, this place was crazy when we entered. It was just starting to rain as we arrived to Epcot. By the time we were giving our name at the booth, it was pouring! No one wanted to leave in that mess, so people were huddled around the entrance. It also seemed to be a popular time to eat. And, at 7:10 pm, it was no wonder!

The crowded, but cool lobby.

I can't quite recall what this is a shot of...At first I though floor, but I don't think that orange thing would be on the floor...maybe wall or ceiling?



We waited about 15 minutes for our table. At least the lobby was cute!

We were seated on the upper level, next to the wall. Not quite as far away from the aquarium as you can be seated, but pretty darn close! We still had a great view of everything swimming past, however. We saw sharks, rays, sea turtles, and even scuba divers! It was so entertaining to watch everything that was going on in there! Groups of two or three divers would go by in the distance. Then they would come past the windows…sometimes they would just keep going, but sometimes they would stop for a wave. Twice a diver came and ‘put on a show’ for us. He was trying to communicate to a group of people at a table, motioning to them. He did some tricks and got applause. It was great fun! Unfortunately, we were too far away for any pictures to show up. Boo!

Fortunately, I did take pictures of our food! But, since it was rainy, I only took the small camera. It didn’t take pictures as well as I’d hoped. Only later did I find out it actually has a ‘food’ setting on it! And now, without further ado, our meals:

I love places that bring you bread! I’m pretty sure the dipping sauce was olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette. Yum!

Allison had the cheese pizza with corn chowder. I was to proud of her for trying the chowder--and she loved it! She also chose to have dessert. (They could choose an entrée and two sides.)

Here is Luke’s cheese pizza with sliced apples. He also chose a dessert.

Max ordered something that escapes me. I will ask him later if he remembers! I do remember it was very tasty!

Mine was even better! It was chicken, of some sort, nicely described in the menu. Oops! Next time I am keeping a little notebook handy, or maybe a voice recorder, you know like the kind doctors dictate into?

Allison chose the fruit bowl for dessert.

Luke had the build your own sundae. Fun!

A parting shot of the doors on the way out!



When we passed Nemo with a 5 minute wait, we had to go on!

Seriously, we didn’t even have time to admire all the stuff in the queue!

It was Extra Magic Hours that night, so we wandered around the World Showcase, taking in all the beauty.

Here I used the setting for taking pictures of objects behind glass…pretty cool, I thought!

Of course, no trip to Epcot is complete without a spin on Test Track!


And that pretty much was the evening half of our 2nd day in the parks…

Up next: our very first scheduled ‘pool day’!

 

[shannon47142]

great review of Coral Reef--your food looked yummy

 

[stacikristine]

Yay! Your food looked so yummy at Coral Reef! I was getting kinda nervous about our ADR there because I'd heard that someone had a horrible experience when they were there. But yours looks good! I can't believe Nemo only had a 5 minute wait! Great update

 

[princess_momma]

Oh and I read somewhere that the tiki zone where your kids play DOES have a name...the Liki Tiki's. lol Isn't that cute?

 

[skywaywaver]

I've gotten up to the end of what you've posted and wanted to thank and commend you. BIG thanks on the plastic box idea for toiletries. We usually wind up lugging around a HUGE duffle bag where everything gets lost, but your's is a great idea.

 

[Bridora]

great review of Coral Reef--your food looked yummy

It was yummy!

Yay! Your food looked so yummy at Coral Reef! I was getting kinda nervous about our ADR there because I'd heard that someone had a horrible experience when they were there. But yours looks good! I can't believe Nemo only had a 5 minute wait! Great update

I was a little nervous before we went, too...I think it's something you should definitely do! We were excited about Nemo, too...that's why I love Evening Extra Magic Hours!

Oh and I read somewhere that the tiki zone where your kids play DOES have a name...the Liki Tiki's. lol Isn't that cute?

That is too cute!

I've gotten up to the end of what you've posted and wanted to thank and commend you. BIG thanks on the plastic box idea for toiletries. We usually wind up lugging around a HUGE duffle bag where everything gets lost, but your's is a great idea.

Awww, thanks so much! I liked the boxes very much...the only drawback we had was actually taking them to & from the car...just a little hard to juggle them & carry other things. Next time I may stick them in a bag...but then, does that defeat the purpose of having them?

 

[Bridora]

…….Rewind to May 2008.……..

Our family is on our Disney Vacation. We have just checked in at Port Orleans Riverside. We also have tickets to the Pirate & Princess Party. Those tickets were an addition after we had our trip paid, so we decided we needed to add on another park day. The cast member at the concierge desk suggested we NOT purchase an additional day’s ticket, but just use our Pirate & Princess Party tickets to get into the Magic Kingdom at 4pm and use the morning of that day as a ‘pool day’. Max and I just looked at each other and said, “Nope! We want another full day at the Parks. We don’t need a pool day.”


Sometime in there we decided a pool day wouldn’t be so bad after all. Because, of course, the kids are all about swimming, even if you ARE in Disney World. And, sometimes, it is nice to sleep in and not have to rush anywhere while you are on VACATION!


Which brings us back up to present Trip Report day. Wednesday, June 3, 2009: POOL DAY!


We slept in a bit and had a quick breakfast in the room. Allison, Luke & I dressed in our bathing suits, and strolled out our back door, headed to the pool. Max stayed behind with plans to play on his laptop and then wander around the resort taking lots of pictures. We all met up later and just walked around the resort together, exploring for a bit.


After lunch, Max & the kids went to the Guest Laundry to wash a load of clothes. They gave me some time to relax in a hammock (I think I tried out at least 3) and take a few pictures of my own. Eventually some storm clouds rolled in and I made my way to the Guest Laundry just in time to miss the downpour. We hung out there until the clothes dried. Then it was back to our room to get ready for our dinner at ‘Ohana!


That was our day in words.


Now, our day in pictures:

The Duck Family, out for a morning swim!

The kids liked this 'baby-tiki'.

……………..Continued Below………………..

 

[Bridora]

We took these next few pictures on our exploration trip. We ended up down at Luau Cove.

We also had to stop in at the arcade and spend that 30 minutes!

And it was Captain Cook's for lunch.

I took the small camera with me on my solo trip--these next few shots are from then.

 

[stacikristine]

What a great, relaxing day! The Poly is just gorgeous. I would LOVE to stay there someday!

 

[princess_momma]

Oh man!! That day looks so nice and relaxing!! I wish I was lying in a hammock in the sun right about now!! OH and I love the pic that says "2009 Polynesian" in the sand. Its so cute!!

 

[AGPrincess]

Sigh...I could look at Polynesian photos all day! Love all your shots... Can't wait to hear about Ohana's!

 

[princess_momma]

Where have you been?! Hope everything is alright and you are just busy with life! I leave soon!! Only 9 days now!

 

[Bridora]

What a great, relaxing day! The Poly is just gorgeous. I would LOVE to stay there someday!

I hope you do get to stay there--it was lovely!

Oh man!! That day looks so nice and relaxing!! I wish I was lying in a hammock in the sun right about now!! OH and I love the pic that says "2009 Polynesian" in the sand. Its so cute!!

Thanks! You will be there so soon!

Sigh...I could look at Polynesian photos all day! Love all your shots... Can't wait to hear about Ohana's!

Thanks! That's about all I did before our trip--look at Polynesian photos all day!