"This is the Best Trip Ever!" An August PTR with lots of Pics! NEW 8/14

[Nicole786]

Today we are 8 days to our trip!! I can't believe it! I hope this week flies by (I know it will) We got our travel documents, and everything is all set!! So all that worrying for nothing! I was so excited to open up my booklet and see:

It's really really real! We are staying at the Poly! And even so, I don't think its hit me yet!!

More pics of Disney mail!!

I also realized that they marked David as a 17 year old, I guess CRO just assumed because I said he graduated HS. I'm sure it isn't an issue and I'll just bring it up at check in!

We're in the home stretch now!! ONE WEEK FROM TOMORROW!!

 

[Native NYer]

Yay on getting your travel documents
Your trip will be here before you know it!

 

[YukiPhnx]

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! It's just so exciting to get that stuff, isn't it???

 

[MeMom]

It's really really real! We are staying at the Poly! And even so, I don't think its hit me yet!!


We're in the home stretch now!! ONE WEEK FROM TOMORROW!!

I would be beyond thrilled to be staying at the lovely Polynesian Resort! I am so excited for you - and for us getting to see your pictures.

You may find that your eyes are more sensitive to light with your contacts. You may need darker sunglasses than you usually wear. It might not bother you, but it did me, so I just thought I would throw that thought out there.

A week?!?!?!?

 

[Nicole786]

Yay on getting your travel documents
Your trip will be here before you know it!

I know the time will just fly by!! When it gets down to the wire like this, I just hope it slows down a bit cuz i know the trip will be over before I know it!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! It's just so exciting to get that stuff, isn't it???

I love it!!!

I would be beyond thrilled to be staying at the lovely Polynesian Resort! I am so excited for you - and for us getting to see your pictures.

You may find that your eyes are more sensitive to light with your contacts. You may need darker sunglasses than you usually wear. It might not bother you, but it did me, so I just thought I would throw that thought out there.

A week?!?!?!?

Oh there will be plenty of pictures thats for sure!! My eyes are definitely more sensitive to light, I find myself needing sunglasses indoors sometimes. I hope that my eyes adjust before the trip, but I won't wear them all day if I have the same issues i'm having now.

 

[Nicole786]

Less than a week to go now! So the suitcases are out, and full fledged packing has begun!! Today is my last day off until the trip, so I made my packing spreadsheet, here's a sample of what that looks like:

Yes, I know i'm crazy

I've taken a break, so I could focus on more important things, like envisioning where I'll be a week from right now!! David came to the conclusion that we would have finished with Wizarding World and gone off to explore the rest of Islands of Adventure lets see if he gets that right!

It's never too early to start pondering the first Disney day, is it? So lets fast forward to Sunday, August 22nd, our check in day at the Polynesian!

My dream vision for this moment, is that we pull up to the entrance and get welcomed with an Aloha and have them unload the luggage. David will either sit with the luggage, or Bell services will and I will park (I would love to splurge on Valet, but on longer trips like this it adds up quick! )

In the next 5 minutes either at check in, or before check in, I want one of these:

Sometimes, David and I get overlooked for such small things because of our age. Many CM's assume we don't want the Lei's, or don't want to participate in certain things...In reality we all know this is far from the truth, and if I don't get a Lei, i'll simply ask for one, but I'm hoping our stay at the Poly will be off on the right foot!

It takes us a good few minutes to actually reach the check in area when we arrive because we (or I) are savoring those first few moments when you arrive, and especially since we are staying at such a place as this, you better believe I will be taking my sweeeeet time to that desk.

Of course, the longer it takes me to reach the desk, the longer it takes for us to actually move into this vacation, so lets check in! We're doing online check in, but I'm pretty sure the first things out of my mouth are gonna be

"Hi, I'm checking in. Here's my last name. What longhouse are we in?"

It's not that I'm high maintenance, this is just really important to me. The Lei sets the pace for the check in scenario, the location of our room sets the pace for the rest of the vacation! I don't want to be too far from the lobby, and I don't want to be too far from the TTC, so I hope we get a nice central location...or perhaps my request. A balcony in the Tokelau building

I'm weird in the sense that I actually don't want the room to be ready, I like the unknown and the excitement of that text message, but I'm not sure what time we'll be checking in, so of course I'll be ecstatic either way!

Lets move on to our arrival park, the Magic Kingdom!

Uh, duh, of course we'll be taking the monorail over there!!

I don't have an exact course of action. It would be nice to catch the parade if we're there in time. And I'd like to grab a FP because we'll be coming back after dinner!

The Fast Pass contenders are the three mountains. Priority would be Space, but sometimes those FP are out in the middle of the day. We love this ride!

With the time we have left, I envision us leisurely walking around and getting on the attractions that don't have waits like Pirates or Haunted Mansion.

Its so up in the air right now because our departure time from Universal is unknown! The element of surprise is half the fun, I can't wait to find out how this works out!

When the time comes, we'll depart the MK for either the Poly or straight to AKL for Boma! I just can't wait for Boma!!

THE SOUPS!!

THE ENTREES!!

The DESSERTS!!

And this is the night we hope to have a DIS meet and run into YukiPhnx on our way back to the MK! She'll be entering Boma just as we leave!

Aaaaand back to the MK for the Main Street Electrical Parade, Wishes and Extra Magic Hours!! Not sure how long we'll stay for EMH, last time we did this, we left almost right after it started!! We will definitely use those FP, and I want to try the ice cream sandwich on Main Street before we go. Everything else is fair game! Well except the MSEP and Wishes, those are a must!! Since this is our only chance for the MSEP!

We'll travel back to the Poly by Monorail or by Boat, and get plenty of rest because tomorrow we wake up in Disney!!

 

[wdwgirl03]

Woo hoo, less than a week! My sisters and I had so much fun at WWOHP and I'm sure you and David will too. We did think that IOA was more crowded than any of the Disney parks though. Hopefully it won't be too bad for you.

Ahhh still so jealous about the Poly. And the getting leis part. I love how they do that there!

 

[HeatherBelle614]

Everything looks so great!!

I LOVE your spreadsheet; did you make it in Excel?!

I just got a Mac book TODAY!! Do you love yours?! I can't wait to start playing around with mine!!

I've never had a zebra dome, so it's one of the top things on my list to try this time around!!

You're SO close!!!!!

 

[Nicole786]

Woo hoo, less than a week! My sisters and I had so much fun at WWOHP and I'm sure you and David will too. We did think that IOA was more crowded than any of the Disney parks though. Hopefully it won't be too bad for you.

Ahhh still so jealous about the Poly. And the getting leis part. I love how they do that there!

I can't wait to hear about your WWOHP time so you better get started on that TR soon!!!! I keep hearing IOA is crowded, and I'm not sure it will be any better for us because we'll be there on a Saturday. I'm hoping our express passes will get us through it!

Everything looks so great!!

I LOVE your spreadsheet; did you make it in Excel?!

I just got a Mac book TODAY!! Do you love yours?! I can't wait to start playing around with mine!!

I've never had a zebra dome, so it's one of the top things on my list to try this time around!!

You're SO close!!!!!

You are gonna LOVE your Macbook!!! I actually made the spreadsheet in Numbers, which is Apple's version of Excel. I can send it to you in an Excel format if you want it though!!

Zebra Domes aren't my thing but my brother loves them!!

 

[wdwgirl03]

I can't wait to hear about your WWOHP time so you better get started on that TR soon!!!! I keep hearing IOA is crowded, and I'm not sure it will be any better for us because we'll be there on a Saturday. I'm hoping our express passes will get us through it!

haha, I'm not sure I'll get to the WWOHP part that fast since we went on Wednesday. But getting there early definitely helped us...we were able to do all 3 of the rides (Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, and Dragon Challenge) within an hour, FJ taking up most of that time. The worst part of FJ is trying to get a locker to put your stuff in since they don't let you carry any loose items on. A couple other hints for FJ: if you want to ride it again like we did, try using the lockers near Dragon Challenge instead. We ended up leaving WWOHP for a while, came back, and the line for Forbidden Journey was WAY out of the area. It was probably an hour wait just to get a locker! Also, they don't really advertise that it has single riders, atleast that we saw, so make sure you use that. You will want to go through the queue the first time to see all the details but we were able to ride a second time and only waited 10 minutes tops.

If you have the Express pass I bet that will make a world of difference.

 

[Nicole786]

haha, I'm not sure I'll get to the WWOHP part that fast since we went on Wednesday. But getting there early definitely helped us...we were able to do all 3 of the rides (Forbidden Journey, Flight of the Hippogriff, and Dragon Challenge) within an hour, FJ taking up most of that time. The worst part of FJ is trying to get a locker to put your stuff in since they don't let you carry any loose items on. A couple other hints for FJ: if you want to ride it again like we did, try using the lockers near Dragon Challenge instead. We ended up leaving WWOHP for a while, came back, and the line for Forbidden Journey was WAY out of the area. It was probably an hour wait just to get a locker! Also, they don't really advertise that it has single riders, atleast that we saw, so make sure you use that. You will want to go through the queue the first time to see all the details but we were able to ride a second time and only waited 10 minutes tops.

If you have the Express pass I bet that will make a world of difference.

Thanks for the advice!! This is the one thing I'm nervous about its the fear of the unknown, now I know how first time Disney visitors are! I'll be finding out how this works out soon enough!

 

[Nicole786]

Okay guys this is it!! We are leaving TOMORROW!!!! I can't believe it, to this moment it still doesn't seem real, and it hasn't quite "hit" yet.

I want to thank you all for the support on this PTR and I hope you will continue to follow us when we return and start a TR!!! If you're interested, we will be tweeting live from the parks!! The link is in my signature, just go to http://www.twitter.com/nal107

See you real soon!!
Nicole & David

 

[wdwgirl03]

Aww, have fun! Please say hi to the Polynesian for me and drink a butterbeer for me. That stuff is fricken awesome. I'll be following you on twitter!

 

[Native NYer]

Have a wonderful trip!!!

 

[MeMom]

They have arrived at the Polynesian!

 

[eandesmom]

I hope you had as great a time at IOA and WWOHP as we did! Looking forward to hearing about it.

 

[Nicole786]

HEY GUYS!! We're home, we had an amazing time, lots of things to talk about!! I'll be starting the TR as soon as possible!! When I do, i'll be posting the link here!! Two of the titles we've considered:

"Where did you get those shirts?"
"My hands feel weeird"
and lots more we talked about during the trip!

Can't wait to share all the details with everyone!

 

[YukiPhnx]

I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR ABOUT IT!!!

I can't believe you guys walked right by us and I didn't see the shirts!!

 

[MeMom]

Sorry you had to come back to reality, but I am glad you had a good time and made fun memories with David.
At least it is not long before you get to go back.
You are still set for October, right?

 

[Nicole786]

I CAN'T WAIT TO HEAR ABOUT IT!!!

I can't believe you guys walked right by us and I didn't see the shirts!!

I KNOW!! But in your defense, it all happened so quickly!

Sorry you had to come back to reality, but I am glad you had a good time and made fun memories with David.
At least it is not long before you get to go back.
You are still set for October, right?

Right now October with my friends is up in the air. I have some work stuff that might interrupt it, but I'd still like to go to the F&W so if I can manage a weekend, its either going to be towards the beginning of October (6-9) or towards the end of october, closer to halloween