Friday August 13th
Day 8
On our Disney trips my dh gets time alone golfing while I get to go shopping and get a massage. I was going to get a massage today, but because of the hurricane they closed down the fitness center. Since I couldn't get a massage the next best thing to do is to go shopping.
When we woke up we had a message. The AK and DTD would be closed due to the hurricane. All of the other parks were going to close at 1:00. Our game plan was that after grabbing a bite to eat from the concierge lounge I would go to Epcot and my dh would take the kids to Fantasia Gardens. We would then meet for lunch in Epcot.
I took the bus to Epcot. There were people working to secure stands and just preparing for the hurricane. It was as if we were going about our day and here they were busy working. I overheard a CM in England complaining about how Disney could care less that they would have to drive home in bad weather. I got some shopping done. I started coming done with a cold so I wasn't really up for to much browsing. I usually like to get a drink or a snack in each country. I was going to have my family meet in France for lunch. Chefs de France wasn't going to open and I wasn't in the mood for the Boulangerie Patisserie so we decided to head back to the AKL.
My dh grabbed some lunch from the Mara and I got two large bottles of water from the Marketplace. We met up in the concierge lounge since the Mara was very crowded. I was happy we had a place to go hang out. While we were up there a
CM gave us a print out of all the activites they were going to have in the Lodge that day. The activites were much like the one's that are usually offered, they were just offered a few times throughout the day. One nice gesture they had were characters greeting people all afternoon. The lines got long, but they would have different characters every so often.
I was thankful that this was going to be a resort day since I was not feeling well. We spent a lot of time in the concierge lounge where it was business as usual. When they played the native instruments down in the lobby you could here them up in the lounge. One of my favorite moments was watching Suzy the mouse from Cinderella do some great dancing to the drums. They lobby got very crowded. We did do a couple of the activites. My dd and I did some shopping and bought a lot of nice things. The Zawadi Marketplace is my favorite resort gift shop.
Later on we spent some time resting in our room. Houskeeping brought in the patio furniture. We would get updates on the storm from Disney or we would watch the TV to find out more. We didn't want to scare the kids. My ds is terrified of tornadoes and of windy weather.
We knew the restaurants were going to close around 3 and that they were going to have a bagged meal for everyone. We went to the lounge to get some food and drinks. The line downstairs for the meal was very long. I much prefer the AKL concierge's food and wine selection over the Polynesian's offerings. It was crowed in the lounge, but there was still enough room for everyone. We hung out here for much of the night. They told us they were going to close down the lounge around 8.
We went back to our room. It was nice because there were 3 different Disney movies on the TV. The kids watched Brother Bear and weren't interested in the weather outside. My dh and I would take a peak outside just to get a glimpse. The kids would remind us to stay away from the windows. When the movie was over we all went to bed. I was happy none of them got real anxious.
Day 9
Today my ds was turning 6
We were scheduled to take the Family Magic Tour. I knew that the MK was open I just wasn't sure if the tour was cancelled or not. I called the concierge desk to find out. Everyone was still sleeping and I didn't want to wake them if we weren't going to be able to go on the tour. Sara called back and said it was still going to take place.
We got a bite to eat and headed to the MK. We got there around 9:30 and the tour started at 10:00. My ds was not happy that we were going on some "stupid" tour. He wanted to go on BTM. We met next to Town Hall. There was another family. Two sisters and their boys. Our tour guide Sara was great. We got some water bottles and we started. I don't want give too much of the tour away. We headed towards the castle then it was over to Tomorrow Land and then we took a break over by the Tea Cups. My ds complained but we just ignored him. He was starting to warm up by now. We made our way over past the castle and to Adventure Land. The kids all played in the Tiki fountains. Now my ds was having as much fun as the rest of the kids. We then headed to Liberty Square. This is where Peter and Wendy jumped out of the bushes and scared me and my dh
I have never jumped so high. This part was so memorable. They have the area roped off and there are two other CM's making sure other guests don't come over. Peter and Wendy were great. I was so happy Wendy was there. My 3yr was in heaven. We got to get some pictures and spend some time talking with them before we headed over to Mickey's PhillharMagic. Wendy and my dd walked hand in hand
The Cm's made sure we weren't interrupted by people wanting pictures or autographs. It was great. We got to go right in line and wait in the back and once we were ready to go into the show we got front row seats. The kids got to sit next to Peter and Wendy. Once the show was over we got a certificate. This was such a wonderful Disney moment. I would highly recommend this for any family.
We were done with the MK. My ds wanted to go to the WCC for lunch. We took the boat over to the WL. Wouldn't you know we got a quiet waitress who was new to the WCC. We enjoyed listening to the other waitresses hoot and holler. We always enjoy eating a meal at the WCC. This time the service was incredibly slow and the AC was on high so we were freezing.
We took the buses back to the AK. There wasn't a lot of major hurricane damage that I noticed. There were trees uprooted throughout WDW and some signs were nocked over. It was mainly just messy from all of the blown foliage and leaves.
While we were resting my ds got a nice birthday cake delivered. We wanted to save it for later since we were going to chow down at 'Ohanas for dinner. We had a 5:45 PS. We have eaten here four other times. We always enjoy the food and atmosphere. This was the first time going by ourselves. I enjoy eating here with a group of people much more than just our family. The food was good, and the service was excellent. It just seemed rather ho hum with the five of us.
We decided to head to the MK after dinner. It was raining off and on. My ds really wanted to ride BTM so my dh took the older two while my dd and I hung out in Toon Town. We were going to meet back at the AKL. On our way out the parade was about to begin and there was a lot of front row seating available so we sat down and watched. She loves this parade.
Intead of leaving I paged dh to see if they wanted to watch the fireworks together. We caught up with each other. We started to watch Wishes, but then we made our way out to catch the bus. My 3 yr old fell asleep along the way. We didn't have to wait long for the bus. We got to our room and everyone was out.
Day 10
Orginally I had a reservation at the Hyatt for tonight. We had a 8:10 flight for Monday morning. I decided it was worth having a room all day long and to tough it out getting up a little earlier, so we cancelled our Hyatt reservation and stayed at the AKL our last night.
Usually when we split resorts I like to spend our time at the AKL relaxing and going to the AK. This trip things were a bit different. One being the hurricane and two my ds's birthday. This is our last day and we had only been to the pool once for about a half hour and we hadn't been to the AK. It was suppose to rain in the afternoon so we decided to go to the pool in the morning and deal with the rain at the AK in the afternoon.
We got down to the pool around 10 and it was packed. I couldn't believe it. What was going on? We couldn't find a chair. This woman told me there were a lot of people there from the Disney Cruise Line. I didn't quite understand what she was talking about, but she made it sound like they were living out of their suitcase? We ended up finding a table behind all of these lounge chairs. It was great because the table was next to a speaker, so we got to relax, have a drink and listen to the African music. We hung out for over three hours.
We made it to the AK around 2:30. We went to see the Festival of the Lion King (a first for us). Then the rain started to come down. We went to see ITTBAB and came out into a downpour. We made our way to Pizzafari got some food and drinks and hung out for a while. I ended up taking our 3yr old back so the other 3 could ride Dinosaur.
We got dried off and grabbed some food and drinks from the lounge. We came back to our room to a beautiful sunset on the savannah. There were animals everywhere. It was a perfect way to end our trip. I did go down to the hot tub for a bit before I packed. I just love this place.
We got up at 5:15 and Michael was down waiting for us at 5:45. It was pretty cool being the only ones down in the lobby. We had a nice drive back to the airport. There were a lot of people flying out that morning. We were off to Philly where the second half of our vacation started.
Four states and 23 days later we are finally home
A few final thoughts~
We had a great stay at the Polynesian. The staff did a great job. We loved our room. We didn't spend much time in the lounge as we usually do with a GVC room. Having said all this I'm ready to try the GF. I really wanted to stay there this trip, but it didn't happen.
I loved the AKL. I think I will always end our WDW trips there. The staff was awesome. There were a handful that worked days before going home. They were very professional even though some of them had to deal with damage that happend at their homes. I ran into a few people who came to WDW to get away from the hurricane or that came afterwords because they didn't have power.
This was the first trip we didn't go with some friends or family. It is much easier for us to travel with other people. My older two drove me crazy at times with their fighting. If others are around there is much less fighting. My dh and I needed a break from the three of them. I can't wait until my 3yr old turns 4 and they can all go to the kids camp!
We have gone to WDW in August 3 times now. I don't think we'll be doing it again for a while. The humid heat really got to us. I think instead of January/August we will try November/April.
Till next time TTFN
Day 8
On our Disney trips my dh gets time alone golfing while I get to go shopping and get a massage. I was going to get a massage today, but because of the hurricane they closed down the fitness center. Since I couldn't get a massage the next best thing to do is to go shopping.
When we woke up we had a message. The AK and DTD would be closed due to the hurricane. All of the other parks were going to close at 1:00. Our game plan was that after grabbing a bite to eat from the concierge lounge I would go to Epcot and my dh would take the kids to Fantasia Gardens. We would then meet for lunch in Epcot.
I took the bus to Epcot. There were people working to secure stands and just preparing for the hurricane. It was as if we were going about our day and here they were busy working. I overheard a CM in England complaining about how Disney could care less that they would have to drive home in bad weather. I got some shopping done. I started coming done with a cold so I wasn't really up for to much browsing. I usually like to get a drink or a snack in each country. I was going to have my family meet in France for lunch. Chefs de France wasn't going to open and I wasn't in the mood for the Boulangerie Patisserie so we decided to head back to the AKL.
My dh grabbed some lunch from the Mara and I got two large bottles of water from the Marketplace. We met up in the concierge lounge since the Mara was very crowded. I was happy we had a place to go hang out. While we were up there a
CM gave us a print out of all the activites they were going to have in the Lodge that day. The activites were much like the one's that are usually offered, they were just offered a few times throughout the day. One nice gesture they had were characters greeting people all afternoon. The lines got long, but they would have different characters every so often.
I was thankful that this was going to be a resort day since I was not feeling well. We spent a lot of time in the concierge lounge where it was business as usual. When they played the native instruments down in the lobby you could here them up in the lounge. One of my favorite moments was watching Suzy the mouse from Cinderella do some great dancing to the drums. They lobby got very crowded. We did do a couple of the activites. My dd and I did some shopping and bought a lot of nice things. The Zawadi Marketplace is my favorite resort gift shop.
Later on we spent some time resting in our room. Houskeeping brought in the patio furniture. We would get updates on the storm from Disney or we would watch the TV to find out more. We didn't want to scare the kids. My ds is terrified of tornadoes and of windy weather.
We knew the restaurants were going to close around 3 and that they were going to have a bagged meal for everyone. We went to the lounge to get some food and drinks. The line downstairs for the meal was very long. I much prefer the AKL concierge's food and wine selection over the Polynesian's offerings. It was crowed in the lounge, but there was still enough room for everyone. We hung out here for much of the night. They told us they were going to close down the lounge around 8.
We went back to our room. It was nice because there were 3 different Disney movies on the TV. The kids watched Brother Bear and weren't interested in the weather outside. My dh and I would take a peak outside just to get a glimpse. The kids would remind us to stay away from the windows. When the movie was over we all went to bed. I was happy none of them got real anxious.
Day 9
Today my ds was turning 6
We were scheduled to take the Family Magic Tour. I knew that the MK was open I just wasn't sure if the tour was cancelled or not. I called the concierge desk to find out. Everyone was still sleeping and I didn't want to wake them if we weren't going to be able to go on the tour. Sara called back and said it was still going to take place.We got a bite to eat and headed to the MK. We got there around 9:30 and the tour started at 10:00. My ds was not happy that we were going on some "stupid" tour. He wanted to go on BTM. We met next to Town Hall. There was another family. Two sisters and their boys. Our tour guide Sara was great. We got some water bottles and we started. I don't want give too much of the tour away. We headed towards the castle then it was over to Tomorrow Land and then we took a break over by the Tea Cups. My ds complained but we just ignored him. He was starting to warm up by now. We made our way over past the castle and to Adventure Land. The kids all played in the Tiki fountains. Now my ds was having as much fun as the rest of the kids. We then headed to Liberty Square. This is where Peter and Wendy jumped out of the bushes and scared me and my dh
I have never jumped so high. This part was so memorable. They have the area roped off and there are two other CM's making sure other guests don't come over. Peter and Wendy were great. I was so happy Wendy was there. My 3yr was in heaven. We got to get some pictures and spend some time talking with them before we headed over to Mickey's PhillharMagic. Wendy and my dd walked hand in hand The Cm's made sure we weren't interrupted by people wanting pictures or autographs. It was great. We got to go right in line and wait in the back and once we were ready to go into the show we got front row seats. The kids got to sit next to Peter and Wendy. Once the show was over we got a certificate. This was such a wonderful Disney moment. I would highly recommend this for any family. We were done with the MK. My ds wanted to go to the WCC for lunch. We took the boat over to the WL. Wouldn't you know we got a quiet waitress who was new to the WCC. We enjoyed listening to the other waitresses hoot and holler. We always enjoy eating a meal at the WCC. This time the service was incredibly slow and the AC was on high so we were freezing.
We took the buses back to the AK. There wasn't a lot of major hurricane damage that I noticed. There were trees uprooted throughout WDW and some signs were nocked over. It was mainly just messy from all of the blown foliage and leaves.
While we were resting my ds got a nice birthday cake delivered. We wanted to save it for later since we were going to chow down at 'Ohanas for dinner. We had a 5:45 PS. We have eaten here four other times. We always enjoy the food and atmosphere. This was the first time going by ourselves. I enjoy eating here with a group of people much more than just our family. The food was good, and the service was excellent. It just seemed rather ho hum with the five of us.
We decided to head to the MK after dinner. It was raining off and on. My ds really wanted to ride BTM so my dh took the older two while my dd and I hung out in Toon Town. We were going to meet back at the AKL. On our way out the parade was about to begin and there was a lot of front row seating available so we sat down and watched. She loves this parade.
Intead of leaving I paged dh to see if they wanted to watch the fireworks together. We caught up with each other. We started to watch Wishes, but then we made our way out to catch the bus. My 3 yr old fell asleep along the way. We didn't have to wait long for the bus. We got to our room and everyone was out.
Day 10
Orginally I had a reservation at the Hyatt for tonight. We had a 8:10 flight for Monday morning. I decided it was worth having a room all day long and to tough it out getting up a little earlier, so we cancelled our Hyatt reservation and stayed at the AKL our last night.
Usually when we split resorts I like to spend our time at the AKL relaxing and going to the AK. This trip things were a bit different. One being the hurricane and two my ds's birthday. This is our last day and we had only been to the pool once for about a half hour and we hadn't been to the AK. It was suppose to rain in the afternoon so we decided to go to the pool in the morning and deal with the rain at the AK in the afternoon.
We got down to the pool around 10 and it was packed. I couldn't believe it. What was going on? We couldn't find a chair. This woman told me there were a lot of people there from the Disney Cruise Line. I didn't quite understand what she was talking about, but she made it sound like they were living out of their suitcase? We ended up finding a table behind all of these lounge chairs. It was great because the table was next to a speaker, so we got to relax, have a drink and listen to the African music. We hung out for over three hours.
We made it to the AK around 2:30. We went to see the Festival of the Lion King (a first for us). Then the rain started to come down. We went to see ITTBAB and came out into a downpour. We made our way to Pizzafari got some food and drinks and hung out for a while. I ended up taking our 3yr old back so the other 3 could ride Dinosaur.
We got dried off and grabbed some food and drinks from the lounge. We came back to our room to a beautiful sunset on the savannah. There were animals everywhere. It was a perfect way to end our trip. I did go down to the hot tub for a bit before I packed. I just love this place.
We got up at 5:15 and Michael was down waiting for us at 5:45. It was pretty cool being the only ones down in the lobby. We had a nice drive back to the airport. There were a lot of people flying out that morning. We were off to Philly where the second half of our vacation started.
Four states and 23 days later we are finally home
A few final thoughts~
We had a great stay at the Polynesian. The staff did a great job. We loved our room. We didn't spend much time in the lounge as we usually do with a GVC room. Having said all this I'm ready to try the GF. I really wanted to stay there this trip, but it didn't happen.
I loved the AKL. I think I will always end our WDW trips there. The staff was awesome. There were a handful that worked days before going home. They were very professional even though some of them had to deal with damage that happend at their homes. I ran into a few people who came to WDW to get away from the hurricane or that came afterwords because they didn't have power.
This was the first trip we didn't go with some friends or family. It is much easier for us to travel with other people. My older two drove me crazy at times with their fighting. If others are around there is much less fighting. My dh and I needed a break from the three of them. I can't wait until my 3yr old turns 4 and they can all go to the kids camp!
We have gone to WDW in August 3 times now. I don't think we'll be doing it again for a while. The humid heat really got to us. I think instead of January/August we will try November/April.
Till next time TTFN
