Third time is a Charm***Our Halloween at the Poly!

[cdhale]

Subscribing... followed from the Poly thread. We can't wait for our first trip to Poly in January, so I'm loving all of your pictures of the resort.

Cheryl

 

[Zuzu03]

Breezysmom - were there any older kids there at the Pirates League? I'd love for my DD to do it, but she'll be 17 when we go and I'm not sure if she'll think it's too kiddish. I think it would be a hoot! LOVE your TR so far, thank you for all the great photos and descriptions!

 

[stich626]

i'm 3o and i want to do the pirate league!!!

 

[BreezysMom]

Breezysmom - were there any older kids there at the Pirates League? I'd love for my DD to do it, but she'll be 17 when we go and I'm not sure if she'll think it's too kiddish. I think it would be a hoot! LOVE your TR so far, thank you for all the great photos and descriptions!

There were a few kids and a few adults there as well. It is so much fun I think a 17 year old would love it! I am seriously thinking about all 3 of us doing it our next trip we had such a good time. It is too bad they discontinued the P&P parties because it was be awesome to do the Pirate League and then attend the party!

 

[Zuzu03]

Cool - then I'm in too! Why not?

 

[BreezysMom]

So after we finished up at the Pirate League we headed to the Rose Garden to get our MNSSHP wrist band. The atmosphere was totally different this year than it ws 2 years ago. I can't really pinpoint what was lacking for us. I missed the blow up Mickey Ghost near the castle and the blow up Stitch! We finally saw the Mickey Ghost near toontown later in the evening.

We decided we should proabably eat dinner so we headed to Cosmic Rays. We ate at the counter and people watched for a while. It was fairly hot and humid so we were taking our time so we did not burn out too early. It was only 6pm so we had an hour until the party even started.

After dinner we headed to the COP. It was our first time seeing it. It was kind of boring but interesting nonetheless. We were in an airconditioned room and sitting for a bit. We rode a few rides and then decided to head back to Main Street. It was a bit after 7pm and I noticed that people were already staking out their spot for the parade. I was frustrated by this because I love the parade and wanted a good spot so we copped a squat in front on the castle! We saw the Villan Show and it was cool and then we waited. Not my idea of how I wanted to spend the an hour of precious party time but the parade was a priority for us.

Of course while we waited we snacked on Mickey Ice Cream Bars and popcorn and soda...later in the evening this came back to haunt us!

The CMs in the area kept the kids busy and then the Villans started to come around and one was messing with DH. It was pretty funny. I am sorry, I am not up on my Villans so I don't know who the he was

Then one CM had the kids line up and hold hands to do sort of a costume parade and the next thing I know DD was totally missing in this crowd of parents and kids. I was flipping out so I ran to go see if I could track her down and of course that two minutes I was gone DH had to fend off parade space invaders

So seriously, losing DD in the crowd set a bad tone for the rest of the night for me. I just about had a nervous breakdown there in front of the castle! I know some of you Moms know what I am talking about. It is that like 20 seconds of sheer terror that seems like it is 20 minutes. Thankfully I found her...well actually after I was yelling her name she yelled "here I am Mom". I think the CM realized that it had become quite chaotic so he sent all the kiddos back to their parents.

Finally the parade started! I really love the Boo to You Parade. I think it is really creative and the music is the best..."this is Halloween, this is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween...

One of my favorites is the Grave diggers and of course all the Characters in their costumes.

So this is when my camera started to act up. I could not zoom in and it kept shutting down on me and the shutter kept making weird noises and getting stuck. I thought maybe the battery was pooping out. So I did not get a lot of parade pics but DH got it all on video which is much better anyway

So we had the parade out of the way and Hallowishes was not really a priority because in my experience they were better from the Poly beach which was our plan for the next night and Halloween night! So lets ride some rides and go get some merchandise. Well DDs tummy was hurting I gave her some chewable pepto and we chilled for a bit to see if it subsided. She seemed better so we headed to Toontown to ride the Barnstormer.

After a few rounds on that we went to get our t-shirts and party pins. Well how stupid were we We had to go from store to store to find the t-shirts and we never did find a pin which actually ticked me off. There really should be enough of that merchandise. We paid good money for that party and only party goers are able to buy that stuff so why would they not have enough? I should not have to miss out because they start the parties so far in advance. It was almost Halloween! Ok, rant over. I need to check out e-bay to see if I can a 2009 Halloween Party pin for DDs collection?? At least we got our t-shirts and we also got a few other things to decorate the house with next Halloween. We also did a couple of trick or treating lines but they were really all jammed packed! I am a mean Mom and really did not want a ton of candy to contend with anyway so we skipped the remaining lines

It was still somewhat early but DD was still complaining about her belly ache. Now I will honestly tell you that this whole situation was because she was not eating and drinking well. It was a long, busy day and I kept stressing that she needed to eat and keep up with her fluids. We were all starting to get crabby and the fireworks had not even started yet. We decided to go on Astro Orbitor which I really hate going on but DD likes it. It turned out to be cool because the fireworks started while we were up there and we got to see most of them from up there That was quite magical.

But that seemed to make DD feel worse. It was only 10 or so by now and we made the decision to leave the party.

So maybe it was our experience that night but like I previously hinted, the parties are ticking me off. First of all it was really crowded. It was not nearly as festive as it was in 2007 where it seemed the park came alive. The just sell too many tickets to these events and frankly I am done paying for them. I felt bad for DD becasue she feels so special being able to stay out to midnight and party, but we just were not feeling it that night. We planned on going back to the Nov 1st party and am glad we decided not to buy the tickets prior to going that night.

Regardless, we still had a wonderful time even though it was cut short and we got to see our favorite parade. As you can see, we had did no character pics. The line for Cinderella's carriage was insanely long! We did get a great pic of us in front of the castle from Photo pass though!

So we headed back to the resort and I got DD some food and she took a shower and passed out cold very quickly after that as did Mom and Dad

The next day we planned on heading to Animal Kingdom...sleeping in and taking our time getting there. It did not happen though!

Coming up...last minute park change and Spirit of Aloha Dinner show!!

 

[maiapapaya]

I felt the same blah about MNSSHP and we'd never been before. There was nothing magical about it except for the parade and the fireworks. We went on Halloween, so we expected it to be crowded, but it was bad. The line ups for everything were so long and we were constantly fighting the crowds to get anywhere.

 

[praisehisname]

I'm enjoying your report!

 

[tarak]

We went to the MNNSHP and it wasn't exceptionally crowded for us, but we went on Oct. 2nd. We'd never been, so I might have been expecting much bigger crowds. I liked the decorations and the parade was great. I don't think I'd do it again. I thought about the Christmas party next year when we go, but a friend of mine whose done it said that every year she gets excited and goes and ends up disappointed. I wonder if they're selling more tickets than in the past because of the economy?

 

[maiapapaya]

We went to the MNNSHP and it wasn't exceptionally crowded for us, but we went on Oct. 2nd. We'd never been, so I might have been expecting much bigger crowds. I liked the decorations and the parade was great. I don't think I'd do it again. I thought about the Christmas party next year when we go, but a friend of mine whose done it said that every year she gets excited and goes and ends up disappointed. I wonder if they're selling more tickets than in the past because of the economy?

I'd like to try the Christmas party too. For me, what I think would be different, first, is that we wouldn't be going right on Christmas, unlike MNSSHP where we went right on Halloween (way too crowded). But, what I think exaggerated that feeling for us was that we were waiting in line for trick or treating. That would not be a factor at the Christmas party.

 

[BreezysMom]

I'd like to try the Christmas party too. For me, what I think would be different, first, is that we wouldn't be going right on Christmas, unlike MNSSHP where we went right on Halloween (way too crowded). But, what I think exaggerated that feeling for us was that we were waiting in line for trick or treating. That would not be a factor at the Christmas party.

We did the Christmas party last year and I have to say I liked our FIRST Halloween party the best our of all the parties we attended. We did have a blast at the Christmas party though. The parade was wonderful but you still get the benefit if the decorated park and Castle all lit up without the party. The hot chocolate and cookies were a nice treat while we were waiting for the crowds to thin out after the parade. The snowing on Main Street was very cool

If you are cash strapped and your money would maybe be better used elsewhere then I would skip the party otherwise it is always good to try things.

 

[ladybugmom]

Oh no!! I'm so sorry the party was so crowded and that your DD wasn't feeling well. I hope things get better!!

 

[ReneeDisney]

Wonderful trip report! Looking forward to reading more. I'm so sorry your DD wasn't feeling well at the party. Love the pirate league pictures and your DD looked too cute!!!

 

[iloveeeyore]

Hi, BreezysMom! I'm really enjoying your trip report! Thanks for putting so much time into it. Can't wait to hear about how you liked SoA!

We attended MNSSHP in 2001 and found it overly crowded and not very much fun at all. The lines for everything were just horrendous, from picture-taking to trick-or-treat to rides. We managed to get one photo of the kids in front of some MNSSHP sign, and the only ride we were able to get on was the steamboat; even that was horribly crowded, so many people shoulder to shoulder and we couldn't hear the narration at all over all the noise.

On the good side, we really did enjoy the parade and fireworks, which alone were worth the price of admission. We would never do it again though. Sorry your experience was similar!

 

[IheartDDuck]

I'm joining your TR! We were there a couple weeks before you and stayed at the Grand Floridian. I liked it very much, but I found that I like the Poly better, so I think you made the right decision. Can't wait to read more!

 

[BreezysMom]

So after a very long first full day we woke up a little tired. We had briefly discussed our next day plans but never really came to a final decision. The only thing that was confirmed was the Spirit of Aloha Dinner Show at 5:15 that evening. I did subscribe to Tour Guide Mike and Mike told us it was a great day for DAK and DHS.

We dragged ourselves out of bed and after breakfast and showering we decided to go to Animal Kingdom. A park we had never yet been to. So we headed to the bus stop and on our way out of the CL lounge we decided to grab a DAK map so we could plan our day on the bus....this is mostly how we do our touring plans. Although, to be honest I always have my DIS knowledge either written down or tucked away in my brain to help facilitate a plan It makes DH feel better to think we are just winging things even though I am subtlety steering the way.

So we get to the bus stop only to see the DAK bus just pulling away and the Studio bus pulling up. OK, I guess we'll go to the studios

So this is how we roll. It was only our second day, we'll hit DAK another day. We went straight to TSM there was a 10 minute wait and the fast pass return was 2:55 to 3:55 so we got fast passes. We had to be at the resort by at least 4:15 at the latest to get ready for dinner so this would work...hopefully!

After getting our fastpasses we saw a line to meet Chip and Dale We had yet to ever meet them in our past trips and the line was short so we jumped in! It was blazing hot and after a waiting a bit I realized that I had a little crab AND a big crab to share my day with We had our first meeting with C & D and DD was really happy...for about a minute

Then we headed to RNRC. It showed a 10 minute wait but after being in line for 20 minutes DH called me on my cell to say he could hear people that were exiting talking about something be wrong with the ride. Breezy had been crabby since we got in line and I had had enough so we got out of line and decided to head elsewhere. I was thinking that my buddy Tour Guide Mike was a little off because it was quite busy at he the studios! I am sure it did not help that we strolled in well after opening and had no plan.

We ended up catching the Indiana Jones Stunt show that DD and DH love. I hoped it would get them to both lighten up a bit We then saw the Jedi Training Academy. Yea, DH is a Star Wars fan. Not a convention going super fan but grew up with the triolgy and is always up for anything Star Wars. He then wanted to wait in line for DD to be part of it but apparently it is like the first 15 kids and there was like 30+ in line. I asked a CM and he said they were waiting for the next show. Ummmmm, No I don't think so. Sorry DH, Breezy will have to learn how to use the force another day.

It was time for lunch so we went to the ABC commissary. DH took DD to the bathroom and I ordered lunch. I was a bad RULE BREAKER and ordered 3 kids cheeseburger meals. The cashier looked at me like my third grade teacher Sister Helen Denise, like I committed this moral sin! But good gracious, we just wanted a quick smaller lunch since we were heaving the Luau feast later. She ordered the meals, which included the burger, fries and a small drink which is all we needed. I paid my cash and sulked back to my table I really don't condone breaking the rules. I buy a new refillable mug on every trip I swear! By the way, the burgers were not so great and the fries were cold so I didn't feel so bad after all! DHS needs to amp up their counter service options because I really have a hard time finding something to eat there!

We headed back to RNRC and the line was only 10 minuted so off we went....

DD wanted me to take a picture with her and the Miley Cyrus Picture! I love RNRC. It is a great coaster even for the hesitant riders like myself! DD got a little nervous before we went on even though we had ridden it plenty of times before, but it sort of broke her in for the rest of the trip. We got off and then rode again.

I tried to get her on Tower of Terror but she still is not ready. It is not the ride itself but I think the que that had her a little scared We saw it on a Disney Travel Special and since then it has been her hang up. She is sensitive to spooky areas which is confusing considering she has been a Scooby Doo freak since she was like 3! Oh well, I was not too keen on TOT myself but would have done it for her!

It was finally time to head to TSM. It would be our first time. When we went in December we went to DHS only one day and the fast passes were gone quickly and the wait times were like 2 hours! We were excited to finally be able to try it!! We still waited a good 20 minutes or so to ride but it was worth it What a fun ride!

After we got off we ended up chatting with a CM who notice DH Blackhawks t-shirt and we started talking about hockey. We are huge hockey fans and are season ticket holders to our AHL team the Chicago Wolves. It just so happened this CM was good friends with the goalie on the Wolves! The CM used to play pro Hockey! It was really cool talking to this gentleman. We chatted with him for a while and then we realized that we had to head back to the poly for the SOA! We said our goodbyes and headed back to the bus stops.

Of course, just our luck...the Poly bus was pulling away despite us running like crazy to catch it. Thankfully a TTC bus was sitting waiting and empty. We hopped on and once a few more people got on, off we went! This is a nice perk of staying at the Poly We knew we were going to have to hussle from the TTC back to our room to get ready in time for dinner!

Coming up...a full review of the Spirit of Aloha dinner show!

 

[BreezysMom]

Hi, BreezysMom! I'm really enjoying your trip report! Thanks for putting so much time into it. Can't wait to hear about how you liked SoA!

We attended MNSSHP in 2001 and found it overly crowded and not very much fun at all. The lines for everything were just horrendous, from picture-taking to trick-or-treat to rides. We managed to get one photo of the kids in front of some MNSSHP sign, and the only ride we were able to get on was the steamboat; even that was horribly crowded, so many people shoulder to shoulder and we couldn't hear the narration at all over all the noise.

On the good side, we really did enjoy the parade and fireworks, which alone were worth the price of admission. We would never do it again though. Sorry your experience was similar!

Thanks!

I will never forget our first MNSSHP in 2007. It was a blast although it was a Tues in late Spetember so it was not crowded at all. Disney's deals have changed the whole crowd calender and I am not quite sure if there really is a quiet time anymore! I am glad we went though. Being the huge people watcher it made for some interesting sights!

It looks like you and I might be missing each other in July at the Poly. We are arriving 7/17. We initially only booked 5 nights but I added two more. Airfare is still quite high so I have not booked that yet!

 

[BreezysMom]

I'm joining your TR! We were there a couple weeks before you and stayed at the Grand Floridian. I liked it very much, but I found that I like the Poly better, so I think you made the right decision. Can't wait to read more!

We considered doing GF for Christmas of 2011 but then we decided we may want to do a nice long Poly stay over the holidays. Since it will be crazy busy in the parks we figured really doing a resort vacation with the parks secondary.

DH and I did compromise doing a cruise for my 40th and we will do a land/sea package and that is when we will stay at the Grand but that is not for a long, long time...well 2012 that is

 

[tarak]

We considered doing GF for Christmas of 2011 but then we decided we may want to do a nice long Poly stay over the holidays. Since it will be crazy busy in the parks we figured really doing a resort vacation with the parks secondary.

DH and I did compromise doing a cruise for my 40th and we will do a land/sea package and that is when we will stay at the Grand but that is not for a long, long time...well 2012 that is

I would love to do a mostly resort vacation. My older daughter wanted to see pictures of Stormalong Bay. She wants to go there and not even bother with the parks. I'm thinking that sounds like a lot of fun, even though the theme of the Yacht/Beach Club doesn't appeal that much to me. Maybe a split stay. I'm thinking of getting APs for the girls and for me next year so we can do another trip in 2011. Not sure I'm up to taking them all by myself, though. I might have to talk my sister into going.

 

[BreezysMom]

I would love to do a mostly resort vacation. My older daughter wanted to see pictures of Stormalong Bay. She wants to go there and not even bother with the parks. I'm thinking that sounds like a lot of fun, even though the theme of the Yacht/Beach Club doesn't appeal that much to me. Maybe a split stay. I'm thinking of getting APs for the girls and for me next year so we can do another trip in 2011. Not sure I'm up to taking them all by myself, though. I might have to talk my sister into going.

I talk myself out of a a split stay all the time. I just want to get unpacked and stay that way! It is not ruled out forever. Maybe when the tween of mine is older and brings a buddy we may do a split stay.